States, whither the enemy were attracted by the prospect of easier victory. Savannah, the capital of Georgia, was captured by the British; after which, Sunbury, the only other military post in the province, surrendered at discretion; but an attempt on Charleston was gallantly and successfully repulsed. In the following year, however, the siege was renewed by the British, and the city was compelled to capitulate. The greater part of South Carolina was now overrun by the invaders, and measures of inhuman severity were had recourse to with a view to over-awe the inhabitants. General Gates, on advancing to their relief, was totally defeated at Camden by Lord Cornwallis, who had succeeded to the command of the British army. The gloom that these reverses in the south occasioned, was still further increased by intelligence that treason had appeared in the American camp. In September of this year, the American General Arnold, whom bravery in battle and fortitude in suffering, had placed high in the affections of the people, but who had recently incurred the reprimand of a court-martial for peculation, sought to avenge his wounded pride by delivering up to the British the important post of West Point. Accident led to the discovery of the plot, on which Arnold escaped to the enemy; but Major André, adjutant-general to the British army, who had been employed to concert with Arnold the execution of his treason, was taken in disguise, and hung as a spy.

By the northern army, little more was attempted during the year, than to watch the motions of the

Arnold received as the reward of his treachery, the sum of 10,0007., and the rank of brigadier-general in the British army; but he was detested by his new associates, and his name has become proverbially infamous.

enemy in New York, and protect the inhabitants from their incursions. The troops, unpaid, ill-fed, and unemployed, discovered at various times a disposition to mutiny; but, although emissaries from the British commander were sent among them, inviting them to repair to the city, where comfort and abundance awaited them, they remained proof against all their offers. At the close of the year, they retired to their old winter-quarters, where they were exposed to great distress, owing to the disgraceful supineness or inadequate powers of the public authorities. "The harvest had been abundant: plenty reigned in the land, but want in the camp of its defenders. Selfishness had succeeded to patriotism, lassitude to enthusiasm, in the breasts of the people; and Congress exerted its powers with too little vigour to draw forth the resources of the country." At length, on the night of the 1st of January, 1300 soldiers of the Pennsylvanian line, on a concerted signal, paraded under arms, and declared their intention of marching to Philadelphia, to demand of Congress a redress of their grievances. The officers strove in vain to compel them to relinquish their purpose. Having elected temporary leaders, they moved off in good order to Princeton, where they were met by three emissaries from General Sir Henry Clinton, who made them liberal offers. Instead of complying with them, they seized the emissaries, and placed them in strict custody. There also they were met by a committee of Congress and a deputation from the State of Pennsylvania; and a part of their demands being granted, they were persuaded to return to their duty. The agents of the British General were then given up and executed as spies.

This mutiny, and another in the Jersey line, which was instantly suppressed, roused the attention of the

States to the miserable condition of the troops. The amount of three months' pay was raised and forwarded to them in specie. This had the effect of reconciling them to their privations; but the want of reinforcements and supplies compelled the northern army to consume in inactivity the early part of the following

season.

In the southern provinces, a desolating warfare was in the mean time laying waste the country. The inhabitants of the Carolinas, in particular, endured calamity and distress from which humanity revolts with horror. "The country was ravaged and plundered by both armies. The people, in sentiment, were about equally divided. Village was hostile to village, and neighbour to neighbour; and their hostility had been embittered by accusation and retort, by attack and reprisal, until pillage, burning, and murder became familiar to all. Whenever a republican or a royalist fell into the power of an adversary, he was instantly sacrificed in revenge of a friend, or to gratify political hatred. It is asserted, that, in this manner, thousands were put to death. Each party aimed at the extirpation of the other, and the whole country presented an unvaried scene of blood and slaughter." In January 1781, an American detachment under General Morgan, who had been despatched into the western section of South Carolina, to arrest the ravages of the British and the Tories in that quarter, obtained a brilliant victory over a superior force, at Cowpens, taking 500 prisoners. In March, the American General, Greene, was defeated at Guildford by Lord Cornwallis; but the victory was dearly bought. Cornwallis shortly afterwards moved his army into Virginia; and Greene returned to South Carolina, where, after suffering a partial check near Cam

den, he gained a decisive victory at Entaw Springs. This sanguinary battle was followed by the retreat of the British towards Charleston. Cornwallis in the mean time, having received reinforcements, marched to York-town in Virginia, where he threw up entrenchments. Washington, who had been threatening New York, having learned that a French fleet with 3000 troops, had sailed for the Chesapeake, resolved to march to the south, and attack Cornwallis. At Chester, he received intelligence that the French Admiral had entered the Chesapeake, and formed the blockade; and he was shortly afterwards joined by the French troops. His whole force now consisted of 16,000 men, with a large and powerful train of battering artillery. On the night of the 6th of October, the investment of the British posts took place; and on the 17th, two of the British redoubts having been carried by assault, and nearly all their guns silenced, Cornwallis surrendered with his whole army as pri soners of war. Their number exceeded 7000, of whom nearly 3000 were not fit for duty. This event was decisive of the contest.+

The loss of a second army extinguished every rational hope on the part of the British Government, of subjugating the Colonies; and the voice of the people loudly demanded that an end should be put to a ruinous and disgraceful war. Lord North resigned the office of prime minister, and another cabinet being formed, early in the spring of 1782, pacific

The forces on each side amounted to about 2000 men. On the American side, the number of killed and wounded amounted to 550; on that of the British, to nearly 700.

The news of this success produced throughout the United States the most rapturous exultation, under the effects of which some, we are told, were deprived of their reason, and one aged patriot in Philadelphia expired.-Hale, p. 330.

overtures were made to the American Government. In November, preliminary articles of peace were agreed upon at Paris by the commissioners on both sides; and on the 3d of September, 1783, was signed a definitive treaty between the parent country and her former colonies, by which the Independence of the United States was fully ratified. In November of that year, the patriot army was disbanded, and again mingled with their fellow-citizens. In the same month, New York was evacuated by the British troops. General Washington, taking an affectionate leave of his officers, repaired to Annapolis, where Congress was sitting, and there, at a public audience, resigned his commission as commander-in-chief, and returned to his residence at Mount Vernon.*

Independence and peace did not immediately produce all the advantages that had been anticipated by

* In a letter (in the Editor's possession) addressed to the Rev. Dr. Gordon (author of the History of the American War), dated Mount Vernon, December 23, 1789, General Washington thus expresses his unaffected predilection for the retirement of private life. "How far I may ever be connected with its (America's) political affairs, is altogether a matter of uncertainty to me. My heartfelt wishes, and, I would fain hope, the circumstances are opposed to it. I flatter myself my countrymen are so fully persuaded of my desire to remain in private life, that I am not without hopes and expectations of being left quietly to enjoy the repose in which I am at present. Or, in all events, should it be their wish (as you suppose it will be) for me to come again on the stage of public affairsI certainly will decline it, if the refusal can be made consistently with what I conceive to be the dictates of propriety and duty. For the Great Searcher of human hearts knows there is no wish in mine, beyond that of living and dying an honest man, on my own farm." In the same letter, the illustrious Patriot declares, that the prospect of there being a good general government established in America, afforded him more substantial satisfaction than he had ever before derived from any political event: "because there is a rational ground for believing that not only the happiness of my own countrymen, but that of mankind in general will be promoted by it."