thing off but a few pieces of cannon, notwithstanding the ships of war lay within a quarter of mile of some part of it.*

Since the affair of Long-Island, endeavors have been used to keep up the spirits of the people, by puffing accounts of the extraordinary bravery of the troops, and the destruction they made of the enemy. But that matters are not very promising, appears from a letter of gen. Mercer, who commands the flying camp, dated September the 4th, wherein he writes, "Gen. Washington has not, so far as I have seen, 5000 men to be depended on for the service of a campaign, and I have not 1000. Both our armies are composed of raw militia, perpetually fluctuating between the camp and their farms; poorly armed, and still worse disciplined. These are not a match for, were their numbers equal to, veteran troops, well fitted and urged on by able officers. Numbers and discipline must prevail at last. Giving soldiers, or even the lower orders of mankind, the choice of officers, will for ever mar the discipline of armies." The wretched choice of officers in the Massachusetts, is complained of in a letter of this purport to a gentleman of that state-" I can account for the strange military appointments in your state, on no other principle, than that your people mean to guard against the danger of an army, by making it contemptible. Without officers we shall never have soldiers. They arc sinking the state in the eyes of the whole continent. At the end of a campaign we find butchers, bakers, sutlers, and a large tribe of contractors, with fortunes made at the public expence, while a young officer of merit, on twenty-six dollars a month, is a beggar. A man of honor and spirit cannot herd with company unworthy of him; yet there is no one beneath a field officer, whose pay gives him a right to company above a shoe-black. The great number of southern officers now in York, who are but little used to the equality which prevails in New-England, are continually resenting the littleness of their pay." A third gentleman tells a member of congress-"I cannot agree with you on the frequent calling out of the militia. They are uneasy, restless, and discontented. They leave their business in a most perplexing situation when called out suddenly, and must be very great sufferers in their private property. Their minds are always at home, in their shops, or on their farms. This readers them low spirited; a dejection fast seizes them; sickness and death are the consequences. The only purpose a militia can serve, under present

*The particulars of the retreat are taken from Dr. Rodgers's thankf giving fermon; from col. Glover's letters, and from the information_of perfons who were present.

regulations,

regulations, is, on some sudden invasion, to assemble and repel the enemy, and return to their business again."

The account will shock your humanity; and yet you must be told, that since the conquest of Long-Island, the American captives, in several instances, were tied up to be fired at by the royal troops, openly and without censure.*

You will not wish a detention of this letter, that the intelligence from New-York may be brought down to a later period, it shall therefore be closed with an account of the troops to the northward, and of some proceedings in the Massachusetts.

The return of the troops serving in Canada, under gen. Sullivan, was 7006. When gen. Gates first joined them, the smallpox raged; not a cannot was mounted; the vessels were lumbered with stores; the men were dispirited with defeat and fatigue; in short, the whole was a scene variegated with every distress and disappointment which can conspire to ruin an army. Gen. Sullivan left it the 12th of July; when he first joined it in Canada, it was torn to pieces by sickness and unaccountable occurrences; its present security is thought to be owing to him; and therefore the field officers addressed him when leaving them; and said, "It is to you, Sir, the public are indebted for the preservation of their property in Canada. It is to you we owe our safety thus far. Your humanity will call forth the silent tear and grateful ejaculation of the sick; your universal impartiality will force the applause of the wearied soldier."

With the losses sustained at Quebec, Three Rivers, the Cedars, the consequent retreat from Canada, together with the deaths. and desertions which have happened since the first of April, the northern army has been diminished upward of 5000, exclusive of 3000 sick. Till these were separated, and sent off to Fort George, at the head of Lake George, where the general hospital has been established, the camp itself had the appearance of a general hospital rather than an army. The small-pox had infected every thing belonging to it, the cloths, the blankets, the air, the very ground the men walked on. Gen. Gates exerted all his powers to prevent this pestilence from nxing at Skeensborough, to which place the militia ordered to reinforce him, were directed to repair. The army is now at CrownPoint, for a council of general officers unanimously determined to retire from thence, and take post at the strong ground opposite to the east point of Tyconderoga. By the end of the month

*See M'Fingal, a modern Epic Poem, in four cantos, p. 82, Printed at Hartford, in Connecticut,_1782. The Author is known to be Mr. John Trumbull, the American Butler for wit and humor.

VOL. II.

affairs

affairs began to wear a less gloomy aspect. The fleet upon Lake Champlain increased rapidly. The militia began to come to Skeensborough. On the 6th of August the general was joined by 600 from New-Hampshire; but many, both officers and soldiers, were detained on their march by inoculating, contrary to orders, through fear of being infected with the small-pox in the natural way. While the army was in Canada, regularity was dispensed with, or neglected; and the ruin of affairs there was ascribed by some members of congress to the want of regular returns. Who was general, who quarter-master, who pay-master, who commissary, were important secrets, which all their penetration was never able to discover. Gates has sent them a return, the most systematical they have seen. The utmost exertions are applied in building galleys and gondolas, to continue a.naval superiority upon the lake, whereby to prevent Sir Guy Carleton's penetrating into the United States by way of Ty. The post opposite to it, occupied by the army, has been called Mount Independence, since the declaration of independence reached them; for that was received with the usual applause.

[Sept. 2.] The Massachusette house of representatives have, in an address to congress, requested that they would form a confederation. [Sept. 14.] They have also chosen gen. Lincoln to command the militia ordered to New-York. An attempt which is now making, to fix by an act of the general court, the price of various articles, may be well intended by the generality. The characters of many who are for the measure, are too fair to admit the suspicion of a bad intention. But the measure will at length prove ineffectual for the good meant to be answered by it, and be productive of great evil. The most conscientious and patriotic will be injured, while the crafty and unprincipled make their advantage of it. Prices of provision, and divers other articles, like water, will find their own level; and be high or low, according to the quantity of stock in hand, and the demand that there is for them. But warm theorists will not be easily convinced by any other arguments than those which result from experiments.

LET

THE

LETTER V.

Roxbury, Dec. 20, 1776.

HE American army having providentially escaped from Long-Island, gen. Sullivan was immediately sent upon parole, with a verbal message from lord Howe to the congress; importing, that though he could not at present treat with them in that character, yet he was very desirous of having a conference with some of the members, whom he would consider as private gentlemen. He informed them that he, with the general, had full powers to compromise the dispute between Great-Britain and America, upon terms advantageous to both-that he wished a compact might be settled at a time, when no decisive blow was struck, and neither party could say that it was compelled to enter into such agreement-that, were they disposed to treat, many things which they had not yet asked, might and ought to be granted-and that, if upon the conference, they found any probable ground of an accommodation, the authority of congress would be afterward acknowledged to render the treaty complete. The general arrived at congress with this message on the 2d of September; and was desired to reduce it to writing. They received a letter at the same time from gen. Washington, acquainting them with the removal of the army from Long-Island. On the 5th, gen. Sullivan was requested to inform lord Howe, "that congress being the representatives of the free and independent states of America, they cannot with propriety send any of their members to confer with his lordship in their private characters, but that ever desirous of establishing peace on reasonable terms, they will send a committee of their body to know whether he has any authority to treat with persons authorised by congress for that purpose in behalf of America, and what that authority is, and to hear such propositions as he shall think fit to make respecting the same. The next day they elected by ballot, for their committee, Messrs. Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge. Eight days after, the committee met lord Howe, upon Staten-Island, opposite to Amboy, where his lordship received and entertained them with the utmost politeness; the committec in their report, summed up the account of the conference, by mentioning that it did not appear to them, that his lordship's commission contained any other authority of importance than was contained in the act of parliament; for that as to the power of enquiring into the state of America, which his lordship men

tioned to them, and of conferring and consulting with any persons the commissioners might think proper, and representing the result to the ministry, they apprehended any expectation from the effect of such power would have been too precarious for America to have relied upon, had she still continued in her state of dependence. Thus the hopes of negociation by the commissioners ended. The friends to independency rejoiced that it was brought to so happy a conclusion. They almost trembled lest it should prove insnaring and something should take place under it, which, in the present distressed circumstance of their military af fairs, might demolish the fabric they were erecting. It served to gain time for recovering from the shock occasioned by the lasses sustained on Long-Island. If it delayed the operations of gen. Howe, it answered another valuable purpose; and it is hard otherwise to account for his delay. The committee managed with great dexterity; and maintained the dignity of congress. Their sentiments and language became their character. His lordship was explicitly and authoritively assured, that neither the committee, nor the congress which sent them, had authority to treat in any other capacity than as independent states. His lordship had no instructions on that subject." The Ameri cans must therefore fight it out, and trust in God for success.

General Washington's situation, after evacuating Long-Island, was truly distressing. The check which the detachment had sustained, dispirited too great a proportion of the troops, and filled their minds with apprehension and dispair. The militia were dismayed, intractable and impatient to return. Great numbers went off, by companies at a time, by half regiments, and in some instances, almost by whole ones. The flying camp was too literally such. Whole battalions of them ran off from Powle's (the mode of speiling Pauls two hundred years back*) Hook and the height of Bergen, upon the firing of a broadside from a man of war, when no one was hurt by it. An entire disregard of that order and subordination necessary to the well-being of an army, made his condition still more alarming; and occasioned a want of confidence in the generality of the troops. The number of men fit for duty, taken in the main body and all the out posts, was for some days under 20,000; but the militia, too contemptible to merit the name of soldiers, with the new levies, alike despicable, composed more than a third of the army. The militia did inexpressible damage, by telling the other troops-" all is gone-the regulars must overcome."

* See

Yard.

queen Elizabeth's bible, printed 1572, for Jugg, in Powie's Church

By