with each other, was cut off by an act of parliament; by another, several of them were entirely prohibited from the fisheries in the seas near their coasts, on which they always depended for their sustenance; and large reinforcements of ships and troops were immediately sent over to General Gage.

Fruitless were all the entreaties, arguments, and eloquence of an illustrious band of the most distinguished peers, and commoners, who nobly and strenuously asserted the justice of our cause, to stay, or even to mitigate the heedless fury with which these accumulated and unexampled outrages were hurried on. Equally fruitless was the interference of the city of London, of Bristol, and many other respectable towns in our favour. Parliament adopted an insidious manœuvre, calculated to divide us, to establish a perpetual auction of taxations, where colony should bid against colony, all of them uninformed what ransom would redeem their lives; and thus to extort from us, at the point of the bayonet, the unknown sums that should be sufficient to gratify, if possible to gratify, ministerial rapacity, with the miserable indulgence left to us of raising, in our own mode, the prescribed tribute. What terms more rigid and humiliating could have been dictated by remorseless victors to conquered enemies? In our circumstances, to accept them would be to deserve them.

Soon after the intelligence of these proceedings arrived on this continent, General Gage, who, in the course of the last year, had taken possession of the town of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, and still occupied it as a garrison, on the 19th day of April, sent out from that place a large detachment of his army, who made an unprovoked assault on the inhabitants of the said province, at the town of Lexington, as appears by the affidavits of a great number of persons, some of whom were officers and soldiers of that detachment, murdered eight of the inhabitants, and wounded many others. From thence the troops proceeded in warlike array to the town of Concord, where they set upon another party of the inhabitants of the same province, killing several and wounding more, until compelled to retreat by the country people, suddenly assembled to repel this cruel aggression. Hostilities, thus commenced by the British troops, have been since prosecuted by them, without regard to faith or reputation. The inhabitants of Boston, being confined within that town by the general, their governor, and having, in order to procure their dismission, entered into a treaty with him, it was stipulated that the said inhabitants, having deposited their arms with their own magistrates, should have liberty to depart, taking with them their other effects. They accordingly delivered up their arms, but in open violation of honour, in defiance of the obligation of treaties, which even savage nations esteemed sacred, the governor ordered the arms deposited as aforesaid, that they might be preserved for their owners, to be seized by a body of soldiers; detained the greatest part of the inhabitants in the town, and compelled the few who were permitted to retire, to leave their most valuable effects behind.

By this perfidy wives are separated from their husbands, children from their parents, the aged and the sick from their relations and friends, who wish to attend and comfort them; and those who have been used to live in plenty and even elegance, are reduced to deplorable distress.

The general, further emulating his ministerial masters, by a proclamation bearing date on the 12th day of June, after venting the grossest falsehoods and calumnies against the good people of these colonies, proceeds to "declare them all, either by name or description, to be rebels and traitors, to supercede the course of the common law, and instead thereof to publish and order the use and exercise of the law martial."-His troops have butchered our countrymen, have wantonly burnt Charlestown, besides a considerable number of houses in other places; our ships and vessels are seized; the necessary supplies of provisions are intercepted, and he is exerting his utmost power to spread destruction and devastation around him.

We have received certain intelligence, that General Carlton, the Governor of Canada, is instigating the people of that province and the Indians to fall upon us; and we have but too much reason to apprehend, that schemes have been formed to excite domestic enemies against us. In brief, a part of these colonies now feel, and all of them are sure of feeling, as far as the vengeance of administration can inflict them, the complicated calamities of fire, sword, and famine. We are reduced to the alternative of chusing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery.Honour, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.

Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable. We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favour towards us, that his providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown up to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, DECLARE, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves.

Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them, that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. Necessity has not yet driven us into that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war against them. We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great Britain, and establishing independent states. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death.

In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it--for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.

With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil

war.

"At the opening of the second continental congress at Philadelphia, on the tenth of May, 1775, Mr. Hancock laid before that body depositions, proving that, in the battle of Lexington, the king's troops were the aggressors; together with the proceedings of the provincial assembly of Massachusetts on that occasion. The crisis had now arrived, which required the other colonies to determine, whether they would maintain the cause of New-England in actual war; or, withdrawing from those colonies, and abandoning the object for which they had so long contended, submit to the absolute supremacy of parliament. The delegates in congress did not hesitate which part of the alternative to embrace. They unanimously determined, that, as hostilities had actually commenced, and large reinforcements to the British army were expected, the colonies should be immediately put in a state of defence; but as they wished for a restoration of the harmony formerly subsisting between the mother country and the colonies," they resolved that, "to the promotion of this most desirable reconciliation, an humble and dutiful petition be presented to his majesty."*

66

In the autumn of 1775, a body of troops, under the command of General Montgomery, besieged and took the garrison at St. John's,

• Holmes' American Annals, vol. ii. p. 335.

which commands the entrance into Canada. The prisoners amounted to about seven hundred. General Montgomery pursued his success, and took Montreal; and designed to push his victories to Quebec.

A body of troops, commanded by General Arnold, was ordered to march to Canada, by the River Kennebeck, and through the wilderness. After suffering every hardship, and the most distressing hunger, they arrived in Canada, and were joined by General Montgomery, before Quebec. This city, which was commanded by Governor Carlton, was immediately besieged. But there being little hope of taking the town by a siege, it was determined to storm it.

The garrison of Quebec, at this time, consisted of about 1520 men, of which 800 were militia. The American army consisted of 800 men. General Montgomery having divided his little army into four detachments, ordered two feints to be made against the upper town; one by Colonel Livingston, at the head of the Canadians, against St. John's Gate; the other by Major Brown, against Cape Diamond; reserving to himself and Colonel Arnold the two principal attacks against the lower town. At 5 o'clock in the morning, General Montgomery advanced against the lower town. He passed the first barrier, and was just opening to attack the second, when he was killed, together with his aid-de-camp, Capt. M'Pherson. This so dispirited the men, that Col. Campbell, on whom the command devolved, thought proper to draw them off. In the mean time, Col. Arnold, with 350 men, made a successful attack on another part of the town. In the attack of the first battery Col. Arnold was wounded, and was obliged to be carried off the field of battle. His party, however, commanded by Capt. Morgan, of Virginia, proceeded, and entered the town; but not being joined by the other parties, was obliged to surrender to superior force.

The loss of the Americans in killed and wounded, was about 100, and 300 were taken prisoners. Historians will do justice to the bravery of the provincial troops on this occasion.

After the defeat, Col. Arnold, who now commanded the troops, continued some months before Quebec, although his troops were reduced in numbers, and suffered incredibly from cold and sickness.

The death of General Montgomery was greatly and sincerely regretted on both sides. "His many amiable qualities had procured him an uncommon share of private affection, and his great abilities, an equal proportion of public esteem. His name was mentioned in parliament with singular respect. The minister himself acknowledged his worth, while he reprobated the cause in which he fell. He concluded an involuntary panegyric, by saying, "Curse on his virtues, they have undone his country."

About this time, the large and flourishing town of Norfolk, in Virginia, was wantonly burnt by order of Lord Dunmore, the then royal governor of that province.

General Gage went to England in September, and was succeeded in the command by General Howe.

Falmouth, a considerable town in the Province of Maine, in Massachusetts, shared the fate of Norfolk; being laid in ashes by order of the British admiral.

The British king entered into treaties with some of the German princes for about fourteen thousand men, who were to be sent to America the next year to assist in subduing the colonies. The parliament also passed an act, forbidding all intercourse with America; and while they repealed the Boston port and fishery bills, they declared all American property on the high seas, forfeited to the cap

tors.

"General Washington, on his first arrival in camp, had found "the materials for a good army;" but they were in the crudest state. The troops having been raised by the different colonial governments, no uniformity existed among the regiments. Animated by the spirit. of that very liberty, for which they were preparing to fight, and unaccustomed to discipline, they neither felt the inclination, nor realized the importance, of subjection to military rules. The difficulty of establishing subordination was greatly increased by the shortness of the terms of inlistments, some of which were to expire in November, and none to continue longer than December. The general soon made the alarming discovery, that there was not more powder than sufficient to furnish each man with nine cartridges. Although by great address this dangerous deficiency was concealed from the enemy; yet the want of bayonets, which was very considerable, could not be kept secret. The army was in such need of tents, as to be unavoidably lodged in barracks; a circumstance extremely unfavourable to sudden movements, to health, and discipline. There was no commissary-general, and therefore no systematic arrangement for obtaining provisions. A supply of clothes was rendered peculiarly difficult by the non-importation agreements. There was a total want of engineers, and an extreme deficiency of working tools. The general, happily qualified at once to meet difficulties, and to remove them, took immediate care to organize the troops, to fit them for actual service, and to make arrangements for the necessary supplies. Next to these objects, he considered the re-inlistment of the army the most interesting. To this essential object he had early solicited the attention of Congress; and a committee had been appointed, with directions to repair to the camp at Cambridge, there to consult with the commander in chief, and with the chief magistrates of New-Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode-Island, and the council of Massachusetts, "on the most effectual method of continuing, supporting, and regulating a continental army." Recruiting orders were at length issued; but the progress in raising recruits was by no means proportioned to the public exigencies. On the last day of December, when all the old troops, not engaged on the new establishments, were disbanded, there had been inlisted for