avoid the necessity of using stamps, proceedings in the courts of justice were suspended, and disputes were settled by arbitration. The Stamp Act was subsequently repealed, as were several other revenue laws enacted in 1767; but, by this vacillating policy, which alternately menaced without intimidating, and yielded without conciliating, every concession being accompanied with a tenacious assertion of the unconstitutional right which it was found imprudent to enforce,— no other effect was produced, than to render the contest more clearly a contest of principle, and to prepare the minds of the colonists for the trying and terrible struggle that was approaching.

No event of any importance took place till the year 1774, when the British Legislature passed two acts, which had for their avowed object, to punish the New Englanders for their contumacy in refusing to permit the landing of some tea, that had been sent out loaded with a duty. One of these acts was for closing the port of Boston, and removing the custom-house to Salem the other took the executive power out of the hands of the general court, and vested it in the Crown. These violent and vindictive measures originated with the administration of Lord North, who had succeeded to the helm of public affairs on the resignation of the Duke of Grafton. As Archbishop Laud may be said to have unwittingly laid the foundations of the New England colonies by his tyrannical measures against the Puritans, so, to Lord North, the United States may ascribe the origination of their independence. From the passing of the Boston Port Bill, the American Revolution dates its commencement. Although ostensibly directed against a single port, its injustice roused a unanimous spirit of indignation throughout the country. In Virginia and most of the other colonies, the 1st day

of June, when the law began to operate, was observed as a public and solemn fast; and in all the churches, the Divine interposition was implored to avert the evils of civil war, and to give to the people one heart and one mind firmly to oppose every invasion of their liberty. Standing committees had been appointed in the preceding year, by the colonial legislatures, to correspond with each other; but it was now resolved to convene a general Congress of Delegates from the several colonies. On the 5th of September, 1774, the delegates met at Philadelphia, when Peyton Randolph of Virginia was unanimously elected President. By this Congress, addresses to the people of Great Britain, to the inhabitants of Canada, and to their constituents, were prepared and published; and a spirited petition to the King was agreed upon, soliciting a redress of grievances. In these state papers, a desire of Independence was explicitly disavowed, and they contain the strongest professions of attachment to the mother country, and of loyalty to the Crown. Even after active hostilities had commenced, the Colonies still professed allegiance to the British monarch, and protested that a redress of grievances was the sole object of their measures. "In the beginning of the contest," remarks an American historian, "these professions in most instances were sincere; but a state of hostility produced a rapid change of sentiment. In place of attachment to monarchy and Great Britain, succeeded devotion to republican principles and wishes for independence. Essays in the newspapers and pamphlets industriously circulated, appealing to the reason and to the passions of the people, enforced the necessity and policy of a separation.” * A pamphlet

* Hale, p. 261,

entitled "Common Sense," written by the notorious Thomas Paine, an Englishman, in which the excellences of republican institutions were set forth, and the principles of hereditary government were attacked with caustic ridicule,-was, in particular, universally read; and its effect in making converts to republicanism, is described as astonishing, and perhaps unprecedented in the annals of literature.

At length, on the 7th of June, 1776, it was resolved by Congress to declare the Independence of the United Colonies. A committee, consisting of Messrs. Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston, were accordingly instructed to prepare a Declaration, which, on the 4th of July, was almost unanimously adopted. On being communicated to the army, it was received with enthusiastic plaudits; and in almost every city, it was welcomed by a great majority with public festivities. Complete unanimity, however, did not exist. Some of those persons who had more recently emigrated from England, the most of those who held offices under the Crown, and many others under the influence of timidity, deprecated the separation, and declared themselves the adherents of the mother country. These were denominated tories; the friends of liberty, whigs. On the issuing of the Declaration, many of the former joined the royal armies, and exhibited, during the war, the most cruel hostility against the whigs, their countrymen.

The first engagement between the royal forces and the colonists, was a skirmish near Lexington in Massachusetts, in April 1775. A more serious and bloody conflict took place on the 17th of June, at Bunker's Hill, near Boston, in which the royal troops were twice repulsed by the steady bravery of the provincials. The latter were finally compelled to yield to

superior numbers; but the victory was very dearly purchased by the loss of 1054 men in killed and wounded, on the part of the British, while the Americans lost only 453, including Major-general Warren. In the meantime, the Congress had determined to raise forces in the name of the United Colonies; and in June of this year, by a unanimous vote, the office of Commander-in-Chief was conferred upon George Washington, the delegate from Virginia. To this wise election, the United States were greatly indebted for the successful issue of the struggle which achieved their independence. The difficulties and discouragements with which this extraordinary man had to contend, were of no ordinary kind; and at one period, the cause seemed all but lost. On the 23d of August, 1776, British troops to the number of 24,000, under the command of General Sir William Howe, landed at Staten Island near New York. The American forces under Washington did not at that time exceed 14,000 effective men, chiefly raw troops and indifferently pro.. vided. A partial engagement took place near Brooklyn on the 27th, in which the loss of the Americans, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, exceeded a thousand men; and so dispirited were the militia by this defeat, that they deserted by companies. Under these circumstances, General Washington adopted a cautious system of warfare; and by skilful changes of position, he contrived to lead on the enemy to a distance from his resources, without being brought to a general engagement. Leaving one division of his army under General Lee in New York, he retired through New Jersey, and across the Delaware into Pennsylvania, so closely pursued, that the advance of the British army was frequently in sight. Small as was his force when the "On the last of retreat began, it diminished daily.

November, many of his troops were entitled to their discharge, and not one of them could be persuaded to continue another day in service. Such, he had reason to fear, would be the conduct of the remainder, whose time would expire at the end of the year. He called on the militia of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but none obeyed his call. The population around him were hostile or desponding, and withheld all aid from an army whose career seemed near its termination. In this darkest hour in American history, General Howe issued a proclamation offering pardon to all who would declare their submission to royal authority. The contrast between a ragged, suffering, retreating army, and a full-clad, powerful, exulting foe, induced many, despairing of success, to abandon the cause they had espoused, and accept of pardon. Among them were two individuals (Mr. Gallaway and Mr. Allen) who had been members of the Congress. On the day that Washington was driven over the Delaware, the British took possession of Rhode Island. On the 13th of December, General Lee, having wandered from his army, was surprised and taken prisoner. In the experience and talents of this officer, the people reposed great confidence, and they lamented his loss like that of an army. The enemy now regarded the rebels as almost subdued. They rioted upon the plunder of the country, and enjoyed in prospect the fruits of an assured and decisive victory."*

Such was the gloomy and apparently desperate aspect of affairs towards the close of 1776. Washington, whose elastic energy was only increased by the pressure of adverse circumstances, saw that this tide of ill fortune must be stemmed, or it would soon

• Hale, p. 271.