hazard a battle. On the 20th of November Fort Mercer was abandoned to the British; and thus General Howe obtained undisputed control of the Delaware.

After the battle of Germantown Washington took up his headquarters at Whitemarsh, twelve miles from Philadelphia. Winter was approaching, and the patriots began to suffer for food and clothing. Howe, knowing the distressed condition of the Americans, determined to surprise their camp. On the evening of the 2d of December he held a council of war, and it was decided to march against Washington on the following night. But Lydia Darrah, at whose house the council was held, overheard the plan of the enemies of her country. On the following morning she obtained a passport from Lord Howe, left the city on pretence of going to mill, rode rapidly to the American lines, and sent information of the impending attack to Washington. When, on the morning of the 4th, the British approached Whitemarsh they found the cannon mounted and the patriots standing in order of battle. The British general manoeuvred for four days, and then marched back to Philadelphia. During the remainder of the winter the city was occupied by nearly twenty thousand English and Hessian soldiers. There they reveled and rioted. Everything that the magazines of Great Britain could furnish was lavished upon the army of invaders who lay warmly housed in the city of Penn. In the patriot camp there was a different

scene.

On the 11th of December Washington left his position at Whitemarsh and went into winter-quarters at Valley Forge on the right bank of the Schuylkill. The march thither occupied four days. Thousands of the soldiers were without shoes, and the frozen ground was marked with bloody footprints. The sagacity of Washington had pointed to a strong position for his encampment. To the security of the river and hills the additional security of redoubts and entrenchments was added. Log cabins were built for the soldiers, and everything was done that could be done to secure the comfort of the suffering patriots. But it was a long and dreary winter; moaning and anguish were heard in the camp, and the echo fell heavy on the soul of the commander. These were the darkest days of Washington's life. Congress in a measure abandoned him, the people withheld their sympathies. The brilliant success of the army of the North was unjustly compared with the reverses

of the army of the South. Many men high in military and civil station left the great leader unsupported in the hour of his grief; even Samuel Adams, impatient under calamity, withdrew his confidence. There was a miserable conspiracy headed by Gates, Conway and Mifflin. Washington was to be superseded, and Gates or Lee was to be made commanderin-chief. But the alienation was only for a moment; the allegiance of the army remained unshaken, and the nation's confidence in the troubled chieftain became stronger than ever. Still, at the close of 1777, the patriot cause was obscured with clouds and misfortune.

FOUR

CHAPTER XLI.

FRANCE TO THE RESCUE.

OUR months. before the declaration of independence, Silas Deane of Connecticut was appointed commissioner to France. His business at the French court was to act as the political and commercial agent of the United Colonies. His first service was to make a secret arrangement with Beaumarchais, a rich French merchant, by which the latter was to supply the Americans with the materials necessary for carrying on the war. The king of France and his prime minister, Vergennes, winked at this proceeding; but the agents of Great Britain were jealous and suspicious, and it was not until the autumn of 1777 that a ship laden with two hundred thousand dollars' worth of arms, ammunition and specie could be sent to America. In that ship came Baron Steuben, a veteran soldier and disciplinarian from the army of Frederic the Great. Arriving at Portsmouth, the baron tarried a short time in New England, and then repaired to York, where Congress was in session. From that body he received a commission, and at once joined Washington at Valley Forge. His accession to the American army was an event of great importance. He received the appointment of inspector-general; and from the day in which he entered upon the discharge of his duties there was a marked improvement in the condition and discipline of the soldiers. The American regulars were never again beaten when confronted by the British in equal numbers.

In November of 1776 Arthur Lee and Benjamin Franklin were appointed by Congress to negotiate an open treaty of friendship and com

merce with the French king. In the following month they reached Paris and began their conferences with Vergennes. For a long time King Louis and his minister were wary of the proposed alliance. They cordially hated Great Britain, they rejoiced that the British empire was about to be dismembered, they gave secret encouragement to the colonies to hold out in their rebellion, they loaned money and shipped arms to America; but an open alliance was equivalent to a war with England, and that the French court dreaded.

Now it was that the genius of Dr. Franklin shone with a peculiar lustre. At the gay court of Louis XVI. he stood as the representative of his country. No nation ever had an ambassador of greater wisdom and sagacity. His reputation for learning had preceded him; the dignity of his demeanor and the simplicity of his manners added to his fame. Whether as philosopher or diplomatist, no man in that great city of fashion was the equal of the venerable American patriot. His wit and genial humor made him admired; his talents and courtesy commanded respect; his patience and perseverance gave him final success. During the whole of 1777 he remained at Paris and Versailles, availing himself of every opportunity to promote the interests of his country. At last came the news of Burgoyne's surrender. A powerful British army had been subdued by the colonists without aid from abroad. The success of the American arms and the prospect of commercial advantage decided the wavering policy of the king, and in the beginning of winter he made an announcement of his determination to accept an alliance with the colonies. On the 6th of February, 1778, a treaty was concluded; France acknowledged the independence of the United States and entered into relations of reciprocal friendship with the new nation. It was further stipulated that in case England should declare war against France, the Americans and the French should make common cause, and that neither should subscribe to a treaty of peace without the concurrence of the other. In America the news of the new alliance was received with great rejoicing; in England, with vindictive anger.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, the author of the first treaty between the United States and a foreign nation, was born in Boston on the 17th of January, 1706. His father was a manufacturer of soap and candles. To this humble vocation the young Benjamin was devoted by his parents; but the walls of a candle-shop were too narrow for his aspiring genius. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to his brother to learn the art of printing; but the brother beat him, and he ran off to New York. There he found no employment. In 1723 he repaired to Philadelphia, entered a printing-office, and rose to distinction. He visited England; returned;

founded the first circulating library in America; became a man of science; edited Poor Richard's Almanac; originated the American Philosophical

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

Society; discovered the identity of electricity and lightning; made himself known in both hemispheres; espoused the cause of the patriots; and devoted the unimpaired energies of his old age to perfecting the American Union. The name of Franklin is one of the brightest in the history of any nation.

In May of 1778 Congress ratified the treaty with France. A month before this time a French fleet, commanded by Count d'Estaing, had been despatched to America. The object was to sail into the Del

aware and blockade the British squadron at Philadelphia. Both France and Great Britain understood full well that war was inevitable, and each immediately prepared for the conflict. George III. now became willing to treat with his American subjects. Lord North, the prime minister, brought forward two bills in which everything that the colonists had claimed was conceded. The bills were passed by Parliament, and the king assented. Commissioners were sent to America; but Congress informed them that nothing but an express acknowledgment of the independence of the United States would now be accepted. Then the commissioners tried bribery and intrigue; and Congress would hold no further conference with them.

From September of 1777 until the following June the British army remained at Philadelphia. The fleet of Admiral Howe lay in the Delaware. In the spring of 1778, General Howe was superseded by Sir Henry Clinton. When the rumor came that the fleet of D'Estaing was

approaching, the English admiral withdrew from the Delaware and sailed for New York. Finally, on the 18th of June, the British army evacuated Philadelphia and retreated across New Jersey. Washington occupied the city, crossed the river, and followed the retreating foe. At Monmouth, eighteen miles south-east of New Brunswick, the British were overtaken. On the morning of the 28th General Lee was ordered to attack the enemy. The first onset was made by the American cavalry under La Fayette; but they were driven back by Cornwallis and Clinton. Lee, who had opposed the battle, and was not anxious for victory, ordered his line to fall back to a stronger position; but the troops mistook the order and began a retreat, the British charging after them. Washington met the fugitives, rallied them, administered a severe rebuke to Lee, and ordered him to the rear. During the rest of the engagement the haughty officer, half treacherous in his principles and practices, remained at a distance, making satirical remarks about the battle. The fight continued till nightfall; the advantage was with the Americans; and Washington, in hope of a complete victory, anxiously waited for the morning. During the night, however, Clinton succeeded in withdrawing his forces from the field, and thus escaped the peril of defeat.

The loss of the Americans in the battle of Monmouth was sixtyseven killed and a hundred and sixty wounded. The British left nearly three hundred dead on the field. On the day after the battle Washington received an insulting letter from Lee demanding an apology for the language which the commander-in-chief had used. Washington replied that the language was warranted by the circumstances. This Lee answered in a still more offensive manner, and was thereupon arrested, tried by a court-martial, and dismissed from his command for twelve months. The brave, rash man never re-entered the service, and did not live to see his country's independence.

The British land and naval forces were now concentrated at New York. Washington followed, crossed the Hudson, and took up his headquarters at White Plains. On the 11th of July Count d'Estaing's fleet arrived off Sandy Hook and attempted to attack the British squadron in the bay; but the bar at the entrance prevented the passage of the French vessels. D'Estaing next sailed for Newport, Rhode Island, where the British, commanded by General Pigot, were in strong force. At the same time a division of the American army, led by General Sullivan, proceeded to Providence to co-operate with the French fleet in the attack on Newport. Greene and La Fayette came with reinforcements, and the whole army took post at Tiverton. On the 9th of August Sullivan succeeded in crossing the eastern passage of the bay, and secured a favorable position