University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER V.

January 1.—The virtue of the British court seems to
have swallowed up all the virtue of the island of Great Britain.

The common people are lost in a night of ignorance.
They annex no ideas to slavery but wooden
shoes and soup meagre. Even the Roman Catholic religion
has now no terrors in it to Englishmen.

The American colonies are just beginning to emerge from
Egyptian darkness, with respect to the rights of human nature.
About two hundred years ago, the human heart discovered its
folly and depravity upon the theatre of religion; about one
hundred years they both appeared through the medium of
science. We are shocked at our species, when we read the history
of the human understanding at these memorable periods.
The present age shows equal absurdities and vices upon the
theatre of politics. Here we discover in other forms every
thing for which we condemn our ancestors. Posterity will
tread most heavily upon our ashes, as the principles of government
are more simple than the principles of religion and
science. They will wonder whether we were men or brutes.

There has always been such a mixture of monarchy and
aristocracy in republics, that they never have had fair play in
the world. We can say but little from experience of their expediency
or duration. Most of the free states in the world have
been formed by men just emerged from a state of slavery.
No wonder, therefore, they have been liable to disorders, and
a speedy dissolution. What sort of government would the
negroes in the southern colonies form, if they were suddenly
set at liberty? Almost all the blood that has been shed in

contests for liberty, has been to shake off a subjection to foreign
states.

The British constitution, with all its imperfections, even
absolute monarchy itself, would insure more happiness to the
colonies than they can expect (according to the usual operation
of moral and natural causes) from a union with the people, or
a dependence upon the ministry of Great Britain.[2]

It is wonderful how happily the Americans have been preserved.
From Bunker's Hill fight to the present day, the regulars
have fired, on the Cambridge side, about a thousand
balls, bombs, and carcases; and, on the Roxbury side, better
than two thousand, and have killed, including those who have
died of their wounds, on the Cambridge side, seven, and in
Roxbury, five.

Yesterday the new Admiral Shuldam, arrived at Boston,
with several ships, which occasioned great firing most of the
day.[3]

January 2.—Yesterday, at about quarter after three
o'clock, the British fleet lying off Norfolk, Virginia, commenced
a cannonade against that town, from up-

wards of one hundred pieces of cannon, and continued
till nearly ten o'clock at night, without intermission.
It then abated a little, and continued till two this morning.
Under cover of their guns, the regulars landed and set fire to
the town in several places near the water, though our men
strove all in their power to prevent them. The houses being
chiefly of wood, took fire immediately, and the fire spread
with amazing rapidity. It is now become general, and the
whole town will probably be consumed in a day or two. Expecting
that the fire would throw the Americans into confusion,
the enemy frequently landed, but were every time repulsed.
The burning of the town has made several avenues
through which the enemy may now fire with greater effect.
The tide is now rising, and we expect, at high water, another
cannonade. May it be as ineffectual as the last, for we have
not one man killed, and but a few wounded.[5]

Deacon Whitcomb, of Lancaster, Massachusetts, (who was
a member of the assembly of Massachusetts Bay, till the pres-

ent war commenced, had served in former wars
and been in different engagements,) had served as
a Colonel in the Continental army; but, on account of his age,
was left out upon the new regulation. His men highly resented
it, and declared they would not enlist again after their time
was out. The Colonel told them he did not doubt there were
sufficient reasons for the regulation, and was satisfied with it.
He then blamed them for their conduct, and said he would enlist
as a private. A Colonel Brewer heard of it, and offered to
resign in favor of Colonel Whitcomb. The whole coming to
General Washington's ears, he allowed of Colonel Brewer's
resignation in favor of Colonel Whitcomb, appointed the former
barrack-master till he could further promote him, and acquainted
the army with the whole affair in general orders.
Let antiquity produce a more striking instance of true greatness
of mind.[7]

A correspondent in London says: "Several contractors have
set off for Rome for a fresh supply of Jesuit's bark; as tea
does not agree with an American stomach, being apt to produce
the heartburn. There is a rumor the new parliament intends
to force the bark upon the Yankees, especially as Doctor
Bute recommends it as a great specific for the fever of rebellion,
for which, no doubt, they will have gratitude enough to
thank the doctor, by heartily wishing he may very soon experience
the quintessence of the axe, the halter, or the syrup of
gun flints.[8]

"Colonel Allen is now chained and kept close in Pendennis
Castle, in Cornwall, England. He was brought over to be

tried by the act which passed last session, and which was repealed
two days before the unhappy prisoner arrived."[9]

We hope our countrymen will not be at all dispirited at
the destruction of Norfolk, but rather rejoice that half the mischief
our enemies can do us is done already. They

have destroyed one of the first towns in America,
and the only one (except two or three) in Virginia, which carried
on any thing like a trade. We are only sharing part of
the sufferings of our American brethren, and can now glory
in having received one of the keenest strokes of the enemy,
without flinching. They have done their worst, and to no
other purpose than to harden our soldiers, and teach them to
bear without dismay, all the most formidable operations of a
war carried on by a powerful and cruel enemy; to no other
purpose than to give the world specimens of British cruelty
and American fortitude, unless it be to force us to lay aside
that childish fondness for Britain, and that foolish, tame dependence
on her. We had borne so long with the oppressions
of an ungenerous restriction of our trade—of a restriction, in
some instances, which seemed calculated merely as badges of
our subjection, and had been contented so long with barely
refusing to purchase commodities which they had taxed for the
purpose of raising a revenue in America, that our patience
and moderation served but to encourage them to proceed to
greater lengths. To greater lengths they have proceeded, as
far as the proudest tyrant's lust of despotism, stimulated by
cruelty, a rancorous malice, and an infernal spirit of revenge,
could hurry them. How sunk is Britain! Could not Britons
venture to wage war with America till they were told that
Americans were cowards—till they had disarmed them, or
had, as they thought, put it out of their power to procure
arms; nor even then without the assistance of Roman Catholics
and Indians, and endeavoring to raise amongst us a domestic
enemy? Was this like a brave and generous nation?
If they were lost to all the feelings of Britons, for men contending
for the support of the British constitution, if they
were determined to conquer America, why did they not attempt
it like Britons? Why meanly run about to the different
powers of Europe, entreating them not to assist us? Why
make use of every base and inhuman stratagem, and wage a
savage war unknown amongst civilized nations? Surely who
ever has heard of Carleton's, Connolly's, and Dunmore's plots
against us, cannot but allow that they must have been authorized
by a higher power; and whoever believes this cannot but
wish to be instantly and forever removed from under such a
power, and to be guarded most effectually against it. Most
freely would we cut the gordian knot which has hitherto so
firmly bound us to Britain, and call on France and Spain for
assistance against an enemy who seem bent on our destruction,
but who, blessed be the God of Hosts, have been baffled
in most of their attempts against us, been chastised in all, and
have made many attacks against us without being able to kill
a single man.[11]

January 7.—This morning, the sixth daughter of Captain
Bancroft, of Dunstable, Massachusetts, was baptized by the
name of Martha Dandridge, the maiden name of his Excellency
General Washington's lady. The child was dressed in
buff and blue, with a sprig of evergreen on its head, emblematic
of his Excellency's glory and provincial affection.[12]

As Lord North has owned in Parliament that the ministry
have been misled and deceived by American informers, it is

but justice that the public should know them.
Here they are: Wentworth, Governor of New
Hampshire; Hutchinson, late governor of Boston, pensioner
on Ireland, £1,000 a year; Benj. Hallowell, a commissioner of
customs at Boston, £600 a year; Ruggles, one of the council
of Boston, £200 a year pension; Oliver, lieutenant-governor,
made such by Hutchinson; Moffat, custom-house officer at
New London, £300 a year; William Smith, an attorney at
New York, and a counsellor; James Delancey, a captain in
the army; John Watts, a contractor with Harley and Oliver
Delancey; Stockden, an attorney and king's counsellor at
New Jersey; Franklin, governor of New Jersey, son of Benjamin;
Dulany, an attorney and commissary at Maryland;
Dunmore, Governor of Virginia; Martin, brother to Target,
governor of North Carolina; Jonathan Sewall, a school-master
at Boston, judge of the admiralty, £600 a year; Auchmuty,
a priest.[14]

January 8.—This evening, Major Knowlton was despatched
with a hundred men, to make an incursion into Charlestown.
He crossed the mill dam, which lies between

Cobble Hill and Bunker's Hill, about nine
o'clock, and immediately proceeded down the street, on the
westerly side of Bunker's Hill. A part of the men, under
the command of Captain Keyes, at the same time were ordered
to take post on the east side of the street, just under the
hill, in order to intercept any person who might escape from
the houses in the street, some of which were occupied by the enemy.
These houses, which are a little without the compact
part of the town, the enemy suffered to remain, in June last,
for their own convenience.

They were now surrounded and set fire to by our men.
In one of them they found six soldiers, and one woman, all of
whom, except one refractory fellow who was killed, were
brought off. In another of the houses, according to the information
of the prisoners, lived seventeen of the enemy's carpenters.
The woman says she went to this house in order to
borrow something, just before our men arrived; but seeing no
light, and not being able to get into that part of the house
where they kept, she concluded they were all asleep. As it is
very certain no one escaped from the house, and as our men
set the building on fire very suddenly, it is thought the whole
seventeen perished in the flames. We burnt ten houses, and

brought off six or seven muskets. Three or four houses are
still standing. The whole was performed in less than an hour,
without the loss of a single man, either killed or wounded.
The regulars in the fort on Bunker's Hill did not act with that
regularity which those gentlemen who labor hard to show the
superiority of red coats over brown coats, would persuade us
that regulars always do; for they kept a hot and close fire on
absolutely nothing at all: that is, they fired without an object.
Our people calmly executed their purpose, laughed in security,
and in security returned to their camp.[16]

January 17.—Though much has been said of late about
Whig and Tory, few persons are acquainted with their ori-

gin:—In the year 1679, King Charles the Second
fell sick in the summer, upon which the Duke of
York, his brother, an avowed papist, returned immediately to
court, without the king's leave, with a view to secure the succession
of the crown to himself, as his Majesty had no legitimate issue.
This alarmed the Protestants, and made them eager for the
sitting of parliament, and gave rise to sundry petitions, signed
by great numbers of hands, both in city and country, which
was very displeasing to his Majesty. That arbitrary tyrant
told the petitioners, that he was judge of what was fit to be
done. "You would not take it well," said he, "if I should
meddle with your affairs, and I desire you will not meddle
with mine."—Upon this, counter-addresses were promoted by
the influence of the court over all the nation, expressing a
detestation and abhorrence of the practice of the petitioners,
and referring the sitting of the parliament absolutely to the
king's pleasure, by which they obtained the name of abhorrers;
which occasioned a great ferment among the people, so
that sundry of the privy council deserted their stations at court.

The petitioners for the sitting of parliament, and their adversaries,
the abhorrers of such petitions, gave rise to the two
grand parties, which have since divided the nation under the
distinguishing names of Whig and Tory. The Whigs, or low-churchmen,

so called from moderation about the hierarchy and
their charity for their fellow-Christians of other denominations,
were the more zealous Protestants, declared enemies to
Popery, and willing to remove to a further distance from the
superstitions of the Church of Rome. They were firm to the
British constitution and the liberties of their country. The
clergy of this persuasion were eminent for their candor and
charity, so that they were far from confining salvation to their
own communion. Their laity were remarkable for their zeal
in promoting the famous bill for excluding the Popish Duke
of York from the crown, as the best expedient to secure the
Protestant establishment. They were for confining the royal
prerogative within the compass of law, for which reason their
adversaries charged them with republican principles, and gave
them the reproachful name of Whig, or sour milk, a name first
given to the Presbyterians in Scotland, when they were persecuted
by the high church, because, when they were forced to
flee from their habitations, hungry and thirsty, they often
drank butter-milk whig, or whey, when they came to any
friend's house that would shelter and entertain them.

The Tories, or high-churchmen, stood on the side of the
prerogative, and were for setting the king above law. They
went into all the arbitrary measures of the court, and adopted
into our religion (says Dr. Welwood) a Mahometan principle,
under the names of non-resistance and passive obedience;
which, since the times of that impostor who first broached it,
has been the means of enslaving a great part of the world.
These gentlemen leaned more to a coalition with the Papists,
than with the Presbyterians. They cried up the name and
authority of the church, and being men of little tenderness and
conscience themselves, paid no regard to the consciences of
others. They were for forcing the non-conformists to come
into the church by all kinds of coercive measures, as fines, imprisonments,
gibbets, &c. But with all their zeal about the
church, they were, generally, persons of lax and dissolute
morals, and would risk the whole Protestant religion, rather
than go into any measures of exclusion or limitation. Most of
the high-church clergy were for raising money without Parliament;

one or two court bishops giving measures to the rest,
and they to their clergy. No men did more to enslave the
nation and introduce Popery, than they. Their adversaries
therefore gave them the name of Tories; a name first given to
Irish robbers or highwaymen, who lived upon plunder, and
were prepared for any daring or villanous enterprise. The
non-conformists fell in unanimously with the Whigs, or low-churchmen,
in all points relating to liberty and the civil constitution,
as they must do always, if they are consistent with
themselves.

Whig and Tory, then, are names used only with allusion to
their originals, from whence they are borrowed—sour milk and
highway robber. Such as trust to our common dictionaries for
an explanation, will only deceive themselves; and they should
know, that they only discover their ignorance in history,
when they profess they are not Tories, because they are not
Irish robbers.[18]

Mr. Washington is just such another character as my Lord
Essex, the Parliament's general in King Charles the First's

time. Putnam may very well be compared to
Ireton. Hancock is one of the greatest desperadoes
living. Adams generally sleeps with the memoirs of the
Cardinal de Retz under his pillow. The slow and lenient
measures of the British Government have been interpreted by
our rulers into fear. We poor, distressed Americans, make a
fine joke of your pity. Do not imagine we desire peace, even
upon those terms we seem to solicit it. Were you to agree to
those terms, behold some new demands without satisfaction
for which we cannot think of laying down our arms. The
king must dismiss and punish those servants who have so
highly offended us. After King Charles had granted the Rebel
Parliament all they could ask, for want of a better pretence,
they declared they could not trust him, and so began
the Civil War. Let somebody remember, that the Congress has
amused you with proposals of accommodation, merely to gain
time; it has answered their end, and they were tolerably well
prepared by the latter end of the summer. This winter some
of their grand schemes are to be put in execution. They have
had amazing success; for all Canada is in their hands already.
The Canadians have used General Carleton extremely ill. Montreal
was taken almost without a blow. Troops are now
marching for Nova Scotia, and you may expect to hear of the
surrender of Halifax some time in February. The American
cruisers have had as good luck with your transports; indeed
the country is so well provided for defence, that every town
looks like a store-house, filled with all kinds of warlike necessaries.
All people, both high and low, seem as unanimous, as
easy, and composed as if engaged in the most safe and justifiable
undertaking in the world.[20]

The following lines were spoken extempore by an American
lady, on hearing that the conquering hero, General Gage, was
on his passage home to England:

January 20.—Scylurus the Scythian, having fourscore sons,

desired nothing so much as to bring them up in the love of each
other, and to show them how invincible concord would render
them, as he lay on his death-bed, he called them
around him, and giving to each of them a bundle
of javelins, bade them try if they could break the bundles. The
young men having attempted and declaring it impracticable,
Scylurus united the bundles in their presence, broke the javelins
one by one, with the greatest ease, and from thence took
occasion thus to address his children: "Behold, my sons, your
strength, whilst linked together in the bonds of amity; on the
contrary, how weak, and what an easy prey you must be,
when separated in your interests by discord and sedition."[24]

January 23.—The Jersey boys are scouring Long Island.
They have taken Justice French and some more ringleaders,

and a great many arms. No opposition is made to
them. The people curse their leaders, say they deceived
them, promised to support them, and in the time of danger
left them. They will never trust them again. An officer
in this expedition says: "We set out from Woodbridge on
Wednesday the seventeenth instant, with about six hundred
militia, and were joined at New York with a detachment from
Lord Stirling's battalion, consisting of near three hundred. On
Friday morning we crossed, with all our troops, at Horn's Hook,
near Hell Gate, and met with no opposition; we then proceeded
on our way towards Jamaica, took in custody some of
the principal persons proscribed; sent out parties, and brought
in many of those who voted against sending delegates; disarmed
them and required them to sign an obligation we had
drawn up, in which we enjoin them not to oppose either the
Continental or Provincial Congresses, but to be subject to them,
and not to aid or assist the ministerial troops in the present contest.
From Jamaica we went to Hampstead town, where we expected
the warmest opposition, but were disappointed, as the inhabitants
came in and brought their arms voluntarily, for two
days, as fast as we could receive them. We have about three
hundred stand of arms and a considerable quantity of powder
and lead. We are now on our way to Oyster Bay, and shall
scour the country as we go, and exert ourselves to discharge the
trust enjoined on us. Colonel Heard sent his detachment home
last Tuesday, as he thought the militia sufficient. He is indefatigable
in discharging his duty; treats the inhabitants with
civility and the utmost humanity. The delinquents express
themselves well pleased that a detachment of Jerseymen, and
not of New England, were sent to disarm them. Many of those
who are proscribed as principals, have either fled or secreted
themselves; several we have in custody. Some others, I believe,
are yet to be had, but by some means or other they procured a
list of the persons pointed out as principals before our arrival.
We are making inquiry how they got their intelligence, but are
not yet informed. Those that have come in, and surrendered their
arms, are much irritated with those who have led them to
make opposition, and have deserted them in the day of difficulty.
I conceive they will be as safe if not safer in our custody,
than at present among their neighbors, of whom some of
them seem very apprehensive, and complain that they have
met with insults already."[26]

January 25.—We hear that the enemy, in Boston, the
evening on which our troops burnt the houses at Charlestown,
were entertaining themselves at the exhibition of a play,
which they called the Blockade of Boston; in the midst of
which a person appeared before the audience, and with great
earnestness, declared that the Yankees were attacking Bunker's
Hill. The deluded wretches, at first, took this to be merely
farcical, and intended as a part of their diversion. But soon
convinced that the actor meant to represent a solemn reality,
the whole assembly left the house in confusion, and scampered
off with great precipitation.[27]

Lately, we have had several deserters from the enemy.
One of them stationed at Charlestown mills, pitched his companion
over the dam, and then ran for Cobble Hill.

Last Friday, General Clinton, with a considerable number
of grenadiers and light infantry, sailed from Boston, and were
supposed to be bound for Virginia.[28]

The Whigs in South Carolina, are in high spirits. They
have large supplies of powder and arms; and having resolutely

refused the men-of-war provisions or water, they
were obliged to quit the coast. The Tamer (on
board of which is Lord William Campbell, late Governor of
South Carolina) having taken a sloop from Bermuda, with two
hundred and sixty half johannesses, the property of a house
in Charleston, the convention granted the injured an order to
sell as much of his lordship's goods and chattels as would
repay the money, &c., stolen from them; on which they sold
his coach, horses, &c., and have written him, that they have a
balance of thirty pounds, which they are ready to pay to his
order. His lordship has stolen sixty or seventy negroes.—
How is England fallen; when its king is a butcher, his
ministers knaves, and its nobles negro thieves![30]

January 30.—A paragraph in a late number of the London
Packet, says: The public may depend upon the authenticity
of the following articles.—"By a letter from

Boston, we learn that the army now have plenty of
provisions, and are in much better health and spirits than of late.
General Lee, a few days before the letter writer sent his information,
had a mutinous soldier in his corps, upon whom he drew
his sword, and, running it through his body, instantly despatched
him. It is thought that General Lee is not now alive,
in consequence of this violence."[32]

Mr. Washington, we hear, is married to a very amiable
lady, but it is said that Mrs. Washington, being a warm
loyalist, has separated from her husband since the commencement
of the present troubles, and lives, very much respected,
in the city of New York.[33]

February 1.—The plan which Lord George Germaine has
laid down for the operations of the next campaign in North
America, is for the main army to take the march

along the line of coast, and utterly to destroy every
city, town, and village, on both sea and great rivers, to which
a ship of any burden can come up, which will entirely cut off
all the naval designs of the Americans, and perhaps prove the
most effective means of putting an end to the war. Several
members of the cabinet seconded the opinion, and it is imagined
it will prove the prevailing one.—Lord North is against it.

Letters by the packet declare, that on an epilogue being

spoken by Ridesdale, after the Beggar's Opera, which was
acted in Dublin for a public charity, the audience were so
much offended at a line in it, where the Americans were styled
rebels, and made so great a disturbance, that the major thought
it prudent to omit the exceptionable passage, when he spoke
the epilogue again a few nights afterwards.[35]

February 4.—This afternoon, between two and three
o'clock, General Lee arrived at New York, from the eastward.

He was escorted into town by Captain Leary's
troop of light horse, and a great number of the inhabitants.
About the same time General Clinton arrived from
Boston, in the ship-of-war Mercury, in company with a transport
brig. The committee of safety met immediately, and we expected
something like a commencement of hostilities, but the
mayor went on board the Mercury, where the general assured
him that not a man is to be landed. Clinton is going to the
southward, probably Virginia. Lee says he will send word
on board the man-of-war, that if they set a house on fire in consequence
of his coming, he will chain one hundred of their friends
together by the neck, and make the house their funeral pile.[37]

February 6.—The Virginia forces, under Colonel Howe,
abandoned Norfolk this morning, after removing the poor in-

habitants, with such effects as they could carry
along with them, and demolishing the intrenchments,
which Lord Dunmore threw up a little before he fled on
board the fleet, now lying before that place. What few houses
remained after the late bombardment were likewise destroyed,
after being valued, to prevent the enemy's taking shelter in
them. Thus, in the course of five weeks, has a town which
contained upwards of six thousand inhabitants, many of them
in affluent circumstances, a place that carried on an extensive
trade and commerce, consequently affording bread to many
thousands, been reduced to ashes, and become desolate, through
the wicked and cruel machinations of Lord North and the
junto, aided by their faithful servants, my Lord Dunmore,
with his motley army, and the renowned Captain Bellew,
commodore of his Britannic Majesty's fleet in Virginia, and his
generous and valiant crew. Truly may it be now said,

The troops are now stationed at Kemp's Landing, the Great
Bridge, and in and about Suffolk.[39]

February 10.—Some people among us seem alarmed at the
name of Independence, while they support measures and pro-

pose plans that comprehend all the spirit of it.
Have we not made laws, created courts of judicature,
established magistrates, made money, levied war, and
regulated commerce, not only without his Majesty's intervention,
but absolutely against his will? Are we not as criminal in the
eye of Britain for what we have done as for what we can yet
do? If we institute any government at all, for heaven's sake
let it be the best we can. We shall be as certainly hanged for
a bad as a good one, for they will allow nothing for the waverings
of filial tenderness. It will all be placed to the account of
blundering ignorance. If, therefore, we incur the danger, let
us not decline the reward. In every other instance, Independence
raises an idea in the mind that the heart grasps at with
avidity, and a feeling soul never fails to be stricken and depressed
with the very sound of dependence. If in a private
family the children, instead of being so educated as to take
upon them the functions of good citizens, should be brought to
years of maturity under the apparel, food and discipline of infancy,
what laws, natural or civil, would acquit the parents of
the child of infamy and criminality? A set of great lounging
infants tied to mamma's apron at two-and-twenty, with long
bibs and pap-spoons, would put a Sybarite to the blush.

Now, as every moral virtue or vice is vastly enhanced
when considered in relation to a community as well as individuals,
I insist upon it that he who would keep a community in
a state of infantile dependence, when it became a fit member
of the great republic of the world, would be vastly more
criminal and infamous than the imaginary family mentioned
before. Whenever I have been an advocate for dependence, I
have felt a conscious want of public virtue. I own it arises from
laziness in me. I was willing to brush through life as I began
it, and to leave the rooting out the thorns and thistles, as well
as the harvest of the laurels, to posterity, and this, I think, was
the case of most of us; but now that we have gone through
the rough work, to desert the glorious prospect it opens
to us, would be heretical, damnable, and abominable, even to

a sensible Pope. It is a duty of much moment to us as men,
and of the last degree of magnitude as citizens, to maintain,
at every risk, a perfect independence of every thing but good
sense, good morals, good laws, good government, and our good
Creator.[42]

February 11.—Last night, about eleven o'clock, intelligence
was received at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, that the
man-of-war, transports, and tenders, which fell

down on Sunday, from the harbor of New York,
to the watering-place, with two hundred marines on board, intended
to commit depredations on Staten Island, and furnish
themselves with live stock. General Livingston[44] ordered three
hundred of the militia to march forthwith to prevent the intended
robbery; and having despatched the necessary orders,
and a party to reconnoitre the south side of the island, and to
procure all possible intelligence of the motions of the enemy,
marched himself about three in the morning. The several
detachments met at Ward's, in sight of the light-house, and
were there joined by a company of light horse, under the command
of Captain Blanchard; but, learning that the fleet had
left the Hook the day before, the greater part of the troop, still
on their march, were ordered back, and a proper number directed
to guard the coast, under the command of Colonel Thomas,
(lest the departure of the enemy might prove a feint,) to
give instant notice of their return.

The alacrity with which the men enterd into the service, is
truly laudable, and worthy that spirit which ought to animate
every honest American.[45]

February 14.—About four o'clock this morning, a large
party of ministerial butchers, supposed to be about one thousand,
were discovered crossing the ice from Boston

Neck to Dorchester Neck. The sentry immediately
discharged his piece at them, and ran for the guard house to
inform Captain Barnes, (commander of the guard,) who had
already taken the alarm by the sentries firing their pieces; and,
from information he could get of the course they were steering,
judged their design was to cut off the retreat of the guard,
which consisted only of sixty men. Captain Barnes immediately
marched his guard off the neck to the edge of the marsh,
and just escaped them, and lest the guns that had just been
fired should not alarm the camp, he sent off several messengers.
The enemy marched along with two field-pieces, and posted
themselves in so advantageous a manner, that Captain Barnes
could not attack them with the least hope of success, and he
was obliged to wait for the arrival of reinforcements. In the
mean time the cut-throats improved every minute of their time
in setting fire to the buildings on Dorchester Neck, while they
still moved toward the castle, where boats were ready to receive
them. But our troops were so close upon them, that they put
out the fire of six or seven of the buildings, and gained the
point next to the castle, before the sons of Belial had reached
their lines. They made prisoners of six of the guard and one
old man, an inhabitant.[47]

February 16.—This evening, Captain Souder arrived at
Philadelphia from Grenada. On his passage, he spoke a ves-

sel from Cork, the master of which informed him
that twenty-five transports, with four thousand
troops on board, had sailed from Cork for America. Captain
Sounder says, that before he left Grenada, a London paper of the
thirtieth of last November arrived there, in which was a list
of the thirty-nine commissioners appointed to treat with the
Congress, among whom were Lord Howe and Governor Johnston.[49]

February 19.—This day, the ship Hope, from Bristol, in
England, arrived at Annapolis. By her we learn, that Lord

Cornwallis, with five regiments, was to sail about the middle of
December last, to rendezvous in Virginia, and a part or all of
his forces to proceed to South Carolina. Cornwallis is to resign
the command when at Williamsburg (if he ever arrives there)
to General Clinton, and is there to act under that officer, or
command a detachment, as the exigency of affairs may require.

The commissioners would sail about the middle of January,
and were to be followed by as large an armament of ships and
troops as was possible for Britain to raise in her present state.
The ministry breathe nothing but murder, and it is thought
that the commissioners are only sent out as a stop-gap, while
they have time to raise troops or try the arts of corruption.
Among the commissioners, it is said, are Lord Howe, Lord
Littleton, Captain Barrington, Governor Pownal, Governors
Johnston and Gage, who are all to come out in an eighty or
ninety gun ship.[50]

February 20.—The blockade of Quebec is kept up completely,
and the Americans are receiving frequent deserters
from the town. The regulars have been seen breaking up the
vessels in the harbor for firewood. This absolutely does great
honor to General Arnold and his little party. They will now
get ease, as troops are coming in pretty fast. One company of
Pennsylvania troops arrived yesterday with some American
manufactured gunpowder, and many of the New England volunteers.
We now have about fifteen hundred men before
Quebec, but before the reinforcement arrived, the blockade
was kept up by five hundred men, exclusive of a few Canadians,
in whom little or no dependence could at that time be
put, nor indeed at any time, without a greater force of continental
troops.[51]

February 23.—Whatever may be reported by the ministerial
agents spread through the country, rest assured that the
accounts of American weakness contain not one syllable of
truth. The Congress have in nothing taken greater pains than

in making themselves perfect masters of the resources of
the whole continent; they know that matter completely,
and having gained it, upon the very best authority,
have rejected the offers they have certainly
received, both from France and Spain. It is no secret at
Philadelphia that such offers were made; the agents were
known, and they had several repeated conferences upon the
offers they brought from the house of Bourbon, to become mediators
in the quarrel between England and her colonies. What
the answer precisely was, is not known; but the offers were certainly
civilly refused for the present, till the further conduct of
the mother country should be experienced. Certain it is there
is no apprehension in any part of America, of not being able to
resist the whole force of Great Britain; and this confidence is
founded on the determination to sacrifice every city of America
to the same fate which Norfolk has experienced, rather than to
submit to political permanent evils, esteemed much worse evils
than any that can accrue from the passing mischiefs of burning
and destroying. They have certainly objects at stake of much
greater consideration than houses and towns, and they will defend
them upon that idea. Besides, if government was to be successful
in conquering, in what manner are the Americans to be
kept in subjection? Nothing less than an army, almost equal to
that which effects the conquest, could do this; and what
would be the benefit of these provinces to Great Britain, kept
in such a manner and at such an expense? No truth appears
clearer to the best informed people in all parts of America,
than the absurdity of the conduct of the British Parliament and
Ministry.[53]

February 27.—The pamphlet entitled "Common Sense,"[54]

is indeed a wonderful production. It is completely calculated
for the meridian of North America.—The author
introduces a new system of politics, as widely different
from the old, as the Copernican system is from the
Ptolemaic. The blood wantonly spilt by the British troops at
Lexington, gave birth to this extraordinary performance, which
contains as surprising a discovery in politics as the works of
Sir Isaac Newton do in philosophy. This animated piece dispels,
with irresistible energy, the prejudice of the mind against
the doctrine of independence, and pours in upon it such an inundation
of light and truth, as will produce an instantaneous
and marvellous change in the temper—in the views and feelings
of an American. The ineffable delight with which it is
perused, and its doctrines imbibed, is a demonstration that the
seeds of independence, though imported with the troops from
Britain, will grow surprisingly with proper cultivation in the
fields of America. The mind indeed exults at the thought of a
final separation from Great Britain, whilst all its prejudices
and enchanting prospects in favor of a reconciliation, like the
morning cloud, are chased away by the heat and influence of
this rising luminary, and although the ties of affection and
other considerations have formerly bound this country in a
threefold cord to Great Britain, yet the connexion will be dissolved,
and the gordion knot be cut. "For the blood of the
slain, the voice of weeping nature cries it is time to part."[56]

This morning, the North Carolina minute men and militia,
under the command of Brigadier-General James Moore, had
an engagement with the Tories, at Widow Moore's

Creek bridge.[58] At the break of day, an alarm
gun was fired, immediately after which, scarcely leaving the
Americans a moment to prepare, the Tory army, with Captain
McCloud at their head, made their attack on Colonels Caswell
and Lillington, posted near the bridge, and finding a small
intrenchment vacant, concluded that the Americans had abandoned
their post. With this supposition, they advanced in a
most furious manner over the bridge. Colonel Caswell had
very wisely ordered the planks to be taken up, so that in passing
they met with many difficulties. On reaching a point
within thirty paces of the breastworks, they were received with
a very heavy fire, which did great execution. Captains McCloud
and Campbell were instantly killed, the former having
nine bullets and twenty-four swan shot through and into his body.
The insurgents retreated with the greatest precipitation, leaving
behind them some of their wagons, &c. They cut their
horses out of the wagons, and mounted three upon a horse.
Many of them fell into the creek and were drowned. Tom
Rutherford ran like a lusty fellow:—both he and Felix Keenan
were in arms against the Carolinians, and they by this time
are prisoners, as is Lieutenant-Colonel Cotton, who ran at the
first fire. The battle lasted three minutes. Twenty-eight of
the Tories, besides the two captains, are killed or mortally
wounded, and between twenty and thirty taken prisoners,
among whom is his Excellency General Donald McDonald.
This, we think, will effectually put a stop to Toryism in North
Carolina.[59]

March 1.—When the last transport that arrived at New
York was off Sandy Hook, the little piratical schooner belonging
to the "Protectors of our Trade" in the harbor, was sent
down with a pilot to bring her up, but the captain of the transport,
taking her to be a New England privateer, and being
unprepared for fighting, having but eighteen men, six muskets,
and two swivels on board, stood off to sea again, and the
schooner followed her. The captain of the transport seeing it
impossible to escape, hove to, in order to let her come up.
The schooner, seeing this, took her also to be a privateer, and
imagined this only to be a manœuvre to decoy her, and so, in
her turn, began to run away, and after mutually chasing each
other for about two hours, the transport came up with, and
hailed her, which soon rectified the mistake, to the great joy of

both the heroic commanders. This intelligence was received
from a person who was on board the transport at the time.

A correspondent in London says:—Lord Howe is to go
first commissioner, in the new, idle, ridiculous commission that
is to be made out, to treat with America. His lordship is not
to be, nor to act as commander of any force, but in a civil
capacity only.

Discerning men already say this commission scheme will
not succeed. America will not treat with those men, nor with
any persons (however otherwise respectable) sent by those who
advised the late barbarous bloody measures against her.

First remove Lord Mansfield, and the tools of Lord Bute,
and then, and not till then, America and England will believe
the court are truly desirous of peace.[60]

March 9.—Last Saturday night, the artillery at the fortresses
of Cobble Hill and Lechmere's Point, below Cambridge, and
at Lamb's dam in Roxbury, bombarded and

cannonaded the town. The following night, the
same was continued with great briskness; and the whole of
Monday night, the artillery from all the above fortresses played
incessantly. The shot and shells were heard to make a great
crashing in the town, but we have not learnt any of the particulars
of the execution done thereby. The regulars returned
the fire from their batteries at West Boston, and from their
lines on the Neck, very vigorously. They threw many shells
into the battery at Lechmere's Point, one into the fort on
Prospect Hill, and one or two as far as fort "number two,"
within a quarter of a mile of the College.[62]

The grand object of the Americans was, to draw off the
attention of the British from Dorchester Heights, until they
could take possession of that position on Monday night. This
was accomplished by three thousand men, under General
Thomas.[63] The men worked with such alertness, that by morning

they were in a condition to sustain any attack of the
enemy. On Tuesday, the whole army were assembled at
their proper posts, to act as circumstances required. It was
expected and hoped that General Howe would send out such a
force as he thought competent, to dislodge the Americans from
Dorchester Hill; that being the case, they were prepared to
push into Boston, from Cambridge, with four thousand men.
We are since informed that Lord Percy was detached, with
three thousand men in transports, to the castle, in order to land
on Wednesday from that quarter. On Tuesday night there
was such a high gale of wind, which continued part of next
day, that, glad of a plea for not attacking, they returned to
Boston, and have been busy ever since, in carrying off their
best effects from Boston on board their ships; and by their
movements, which we can plainly discover, they are now busy
in dismantling their fortifications and in getting ready to go
off. This is confirmed by the captain of one of their transport
vessels, who escaped from them the night before last, with all
his crew. He says, on Tuesday morning, our works being discovered
from the shipping, the Admiral immediately sent word
of it to General Howe, informing him at the same time, that
unless he could dispossess the Americans of that post, there
was no safety for the fleet, and he should immediately fall
down to Narraganset Road. We longed for nothing so much
as their coming, but they are too prudent. It is reduced to
the greatest moral certainty, that they are now preparing with
all despatch, to abandon the town. This does not slacken, but
rather increases the ardor of our troops to push on their works
on Dorchester Hill, so that by the middle of the week, we may
expect to have constructed such a battery there, as will command
both the town and shipping, and if they don't leave it
before, will oblige them to hasten their departure, and, we
hope, compel them to abandon many valuable articles they
wish to take off with them.[64]

March 14.—The common topic of conversation, since last

Friday, has been the evacuation of the town of Boston by King
George's plundering, murdering army, under General Howe.
On that day, a paper was brought out by a flag of truce, to
which was affixed the names of sundry inhabitants, among
which were some of the selectmen, advising that they were
permitted by General Howe, in behalf of the town, to notify
our army, that if the firing into the place was discontinued, the
British troops would leave the same in three or four days,
without destroying it. Though the enemy might really be
preparing to leave the town, this paper was thought worthy of
little attention, as being nothing more than a mere finesse, to
induce a relaxation in our proceedings. Sundry persons, since
the above paper came out, have escaped from the town, and
inform that the enemy are very busy in shipping their effects
on board the transports, and that there is great appearance of
their going off very speedily. Yesterday it was reported that
they were plundering the town, breaking and destroying every
thing they cannot carry away.[65]

The ministry have boasted much of their regular, their
disciplined troops, which they fancied capable of beating all
the irregulars in the world. One would wonder

how men of any attention to what has passed,
could deceive themselves into such an opinion, when so many
FACTS within the memory of men not very old, evince the
contrary.

The following Yankee song gives us a pretty little collection
of those facts, and is printed for the encouragement of our
militia; for though it is not safe for men too much to despise
their enemies, it is of use that they should have a good opinion
of themselves, if just, when compared with those they are to
fight with.

If we search for the cause of this superior bravery in the
people of a country, compared with what are called regular
troops, it may be found in these particulars: that the men who
compose a European regular army, are generally such as have

neither property nor families to fight for, and who have no principle,
either of honor, religion, public spirit, regard for liberty,
or love of country, to animate them. They are therefore only
pressed on to fight by their officers, and had rather be anywhere
else than in a battle. Discipline only gives the officers
the power of actuating them; and superior discipline may make
them superior to other troops of the same kind not so well disciplined.
Thus discipline seems to supply, in some degree, the
defect of principle. But men equally armed, and animated by
principle, though without discipline, are always superior to
them when only equal in numbers; and when principle and
discipline are united on the same side, as in our present militia,
treble the number of mere unprincipled mercenaries, such as
the regular armies commonly consist of, are no match for such
a militia.

Let us, however, not be presumptuously careless in our military
operations, but mix caution with courage, and take every
prudent measure to guard against the attempts of our enemies;
it being as advantageous to defeat their designs as their forces.

March 16.—This day, Governor Tryon, now on board the
ship Duchess of Gordon, lying in the North River, sent the

following message to the inhabitants of the colony
of New York:—"Notwithstanding prejudice,
delusion, and faction, have hitherto, among too many, usurped
the seat of reason and reflection, and every exhortation I have
offered to the inhabitants of this province (in whose affection I
have been taught to be happy) has been reviled and treated
with neglect, yet as my wishes for their prosperity, and feelings
for their calamities, cannot easily be suppressed even towards
the disobedient, I cannot but repeat my endeavors to recall
those who have revolted from their allegiance to a sense of
their duty, and to comfort those who have been the objects of
oppression, for their zealous attachment to our happy constitution,
and their steady obedience to the sovereignty of the British
empire.

"It is in the clemency and authority of Great Britain only,
under God, that we can look for happiness, peace, and protection,
and I have it in command, from the king, to encourage
by every means in my power, the expectations in his Majesty's
well-disposed subjects in this government, of every assistance
and protection the state of Great Britain will enable his Majesty
to afford them, and to cherish every appearance of a disposition,
on their part, to withstand the tyranny and misrule which
accompany the acts of those who have but too well hitherto
succeeded in the total subversion of legal government. Under
such assurances, therefore, I exhort all the friends to good order
and our justly admired constitution, still to preserve that constancy
of mind, which is inherent in the breasts of virtuous
and loyal citizens, and I trust a very few months will relieve
them from their present oppressed, injured, and insulted condition.

"England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales have united to place
their whole strength, power, and confidence in his Majesty's
hands. The numerous addresses from all parts of the king's
dominions in Europe, speak the loyalty and zeal with which
his subjects there engage to support his Majesty, in asserting
and maintaining the just sovereignty of the British empire over
all its members.

"The British state moves not by sudden and violent sallies,
nor wantonly oppresses. She has lenity for her basis, and is distinguished
for moderation and forbearance; but when her
just indignation is roused, the experience of other nations can
testify her weight and force. It cannot be sufficiently lamented,
that the conduct of this country has called for so severe a rod.
May a timely and dutiful submission avert its stroke.

"I have the satisfaction to inform you, that a door is still
open to such honest, but deluded, people as will avail themselves
of the justice and benevolence which the supreme legislature
has held out to them, of being restored to the king's
grace and peace, and that proper steps have been taken for
passing a commission for that purpose, under the great seal of
Great Britain, in conformity to a provision in a late act of Parliament,
the Commissioners, thereby to be appointed, having

also power to inquire into the state and condition of the colonies
for effecting a restoration of the public tranquillity."[70]

A few days ago, a sloop, bound from Hispaniola to Philadelphia,
the property of Mr. Beveridge, a merchant in that

city, and commanded by Captain Forrester, was
taken by a tender belonging to the Roebuck
man-of-war; and one Roger, a midshipman, with five seamen,
was put on board to conduct her to Norfolk, Virginia,
at the same time taking out all the hands, except the mate
and a boy.

On her voyage there, one of the casks of wine in the hold,
by some accident becoming leaky, the midshipman and his
party went down to stop the leak, when the mate and boy, with
great heroism, shut down the hatches and secured the prisoners,
and then pushed for the Eastern shore with the vessel and cargo,
the latter worth at least four thousand pounds sterling.

Captain Hammond, on hearing of this affair, ordered Captain
Forrester, who was on board the Roebuck, up to the prison
ship at Norfolk, in a pilot boat, under the escort of a midshipman
and six hands; but the vessel running aground on an
oyster bank two miles below Dunmore's ship, the midshipman
ordered one of the seamen into a canoe to do something for
the relief of the vessel, when Captain Forrester, seizing the opportunity
and leaping into the canoe, cut the painter with a
jack leg knife, on which he swung off with the tide; then turning
to the seaman, swore he would cut his throat if he offered
to obstruct his escape. His menace quieted the fellow, till
Captain Forrester had paddled about one hundred yards, when
finding his escape practicable, he pulled with his might, and both
got safely ashore, amidst a cloud of curses and imprecations
from the midshipman and sailors. The captain and his comrade,
whom he has taken, have gone to Accomack to look after
the vessel and to dispose of the cargo to the best advantage.

Captain Forrester says that the Kingfisher has gone round
to Boston to bring a number of ships-of-war up the Delaware

River, to prevent the Philadelphians from making any further
preparations for the defence of their city; it being determined
upon, it seems, that the grand attack shall be made upon Philadelphia
as soon as the fleet and troops arrive from England,
but we hope will prove equally abortive with the rest of the
cursed ministerial schemes to enslave America.[72]

The following odd affair happened at Stratford, in Connecticut,
a few days ago:—A child of Mr. Edwards, of that
place, was baptized by the Rev. Mr. —, of Norwalk, and
named Thomas Gage. This alarmed the neighborhood, and one
hundred and seventy young ladies formed themselves into a
battalion, and with solemn ceremony appointed a general and
the other officers to lead them on. The petticoat army then
marched in the greatest good order to pay their compliments
to Thomas Gage, and present his mother with a suit of tar and
feathers; but Thomas's sire having intelligence of their expedition,
vi et armis, kept them from entering his house, so that
the female soldiers returned to head-quarters without effecting
what they intended, and disbanded themselves.[73]

March 17.—This morning the British army in Boston,
under General Howe, consisting of upwards of seven thousand
men, after suffering an ignominous blockade for

many months past, disgracefully quitted all their
strongholds in Boston and Charlestown, fled from before the
army of the United Colonies, and took refuge on board their
ships. The most material particulars of this signal event are
as follows:—About nine o'clock, a body of the regulars were
seen to march from Bunker's Hill, and, at the same time, a very
great number of boats, filled with troops, put off from Boston,
and made for the shipping, which lay chiefly below the castle.
On the discovery of these movements, the continental army
paraded; several regiments embarked in boats and proceeded
down the river from Cambridge. About the same time two
men were sent to Bunker's Hill, in order to make discoveries.
They proceeded accordingly, and, when arrived, making a signal
that the fort was evacuated, a detachment was immediately
sent down from the army to take possession of it. The troops
on the river, which were commanded by General Putnam, landed
at Sewall's Point, where they received intelligence that all
the British troops had left Boston, on which a detachment was
sent to take possession of the town, while the main body returned
up the river. About the same time, General Ward, attended
by about five hundred troops from Roxbury, under the
command of Colonel Ebenezer Learned, who embarked and
opened the gates, entered the town on that quarter, Ensign
Richards carrying the standard.

The command of the whole being then given to General
Putnam, he proceeded to take possession of all the important
posts, and thereby became possessed, in the name of the
Thirteen United Colonies of North America, of all the fortresses
in that large and once populous and flourishing metropolis,
which the flower of the British army, headed by an experienced
general, and supported by a formidable fleet of men-of-war,
had, but an hour before, evacuated in the most precipitate and
cowardly manner. God grant that the late worthy inhabitants,
now scattered abroad, may speedily re-occupy their respective
dwellings, and never more be disturbed by the cruel hand of
tyranny; and may the air of that capital be never again
contaminated by the foul breath of Toryism.

The joy of our friends in Boston, on seeing the victorious
and gallant troops of their country enter the town almost at
the heels of their barbarous oppressors, was inexpressibly great.
The mutual congratulations and tender embraces which soon
afterwards took place, between those of the nearest connections
in life, for a long time cruelly rent asunder by the tyranny of
our implacable enemies, surpasses description. From such a
set of beings, the preservation of property was not expected.
And it was found that a great part of the evacuated houses
had been pillaged, the furniture broken and destroyed, and
many of the buildings greatly damaged. It is worthy of notice,
however, that the buildings belonging to the honorable John
Hancock, Esq., particularly his elegant mansion house, are left

in good order. All the linen and woollen goods, except some
that may be secreted, are carried off,[75] and all the salt and
molasses is destroyed. The regulars have also destroyed great
quantities of effects belonging to themselves, which they could
not carry away, such as gun carriages and other carriages of
various kinds, house furniture, &c., together with a quantity
of flour and hay. All their forts, batteries, redoubts, and
breastworks remain entire and complete. They have left many
of their heaviest cannon mounted on carriages, and several of
them charged, all of which are either spiked, or have a trunnion
beaten off. They have also left several of their largest mortars;
quantities of cannon shot, shells, numbers of small arms, and
other instruments of war, have been found, thrown off the
wharves, concealed in vaults or broken in pieces. In the fort
on Bunker's Hill, several hundred good blankets were found.
It is said about fifteen or twenty of the king's horses have also
been taken up in the town; and it is thought that about the
same number of Tories remain behind.

We are told that the Tories were thunder-struck when orders
were issued for evacuating the town, after being many
hundred times assured, that such reinforcements would be
sent, as to enable the king's troops to ravage the country at
pleasure. Thus are many of those deluded creatures, those vile
traitors to their country, obliged at last, in their turn, to abandon
their once delightful habitations, and go they know not
where. Many of them, it is said, considered themselves as
undone, and seemed, at times, inclined to throw themselves on
the mercy of their offended country, rather than leave it. One

or more of them, it is reported, have been left to end their
lives by the unnatural act of suicide.

The British, previous to their going off, scattered great
numbers of crows' feet on Boston Neck, and in the streets, in
order to retard our troops in case of a pursuit; and with such
silence and precaution did they embark, that a great part of
the inhabitants did not know it until after they were gone.

To the wisdom, firmness, intrepidity and military abilities
of our amiable and beloved general, his Excellency George
Washington, Esq., to the assiduity, skill, and bravery of the
other worthy generals and officers of the army, and to the hardiness
and gallantry of the soldiery, is to be ascribed, under
God, the glory and success of our arms, in driving from one
of the strongest holds in America, so considerable a part of the
British army as that which last week occupied Boston.[76]

This afternoon, a few hours after the British retreated, the

Reverend Mr. Leonard[77] preached at Cambridge an excellent
sermon, in the audience of his Excellency the General, and
others of distinction, well adapted to the interesting event of
the day, from Exodus xiv. 25: "And took off their chariot
wheels, that they drave them heavily; so that the Egyptians
said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth
for them against the Egyptians."[78]

March 22.—Yesterday, about noon, an effigy was exhibited
through the principal parts of New York city, attended by a
great concourse of the inhabitants, and others, with the following
labels:

"William Tryon, late Governor of this province, but now a
professed rebel and traitor to its dearest rights and privileges,
as well as to his native country, who, in order to

extinguish every spark of American liberty, and
recommend himself to the favor of a brutal tyrant, and an
insidious court, did illegally, unjustly, and cruelly, shed the
blood of an innocent and worthy citizen, when he had the
command in North Carolina.[80] For which, and his numberless
traitorous practices against the liberties of this country, he is
to suffer the just demerits of his atrocious villany, as a warning
to all others,

"Secondly.—Behold the bloody tool of a sanguinary despot,
who is using his utmost efforts to enslave you!—`With how
secure a brow, and specious form he gilds the secret traitor!'

"Thirdly.—Tories take care!!!"

After it had been sufficiently exposed, it was hung on a
gallows, which had been prepared in the middle of the parade,
where, after having received the contempt of an oppressed,
insulted, and incensed people, it was cut down and destroyed,
the whole being conducted without any manner of injury to

any person whatever, unless it was the person who kept the
sign of Tryon's Arms, which were taken down by some of the
procession. In one hand of the effigy was placed Tryon's late
address to the inhabitants of this province.[81]

Lord Dunmore has made an excellent use of Mr. Holt's
press, which he moved by violence out of Norfolk on board his

ship; publishing a weekly paper in two half
sheets which he calls the "Virginia Gazette," and
sends to such tools as he would choose to work with him; and
this is done at the expense of the crown!

His behavior shows how necessary it is to put a stop to
all communication with him; and from the quick intelligence
his lordship has of every intelligence in this city, it becomes
highly so to endeavor to discover who are the spies amongst us.
It may not be amiss to warn such persons of their danger, and
to remind them how severe a punishment may be inflicted on
them by the law of nature and nations. They will not be held
up to contempt, which was the punishment that was adapted
to offences before the war broke out; but death, inflicted by the
sentence of a court-martial, or by the just indignation of our
enraged people, is the punishment due to their crimes.[83]

His Majesty has been pleased to present Mr. Peter Johnson,
son of the late Sir W. Johnson, Bart., to a pair of colors

in the twenty-sixth regiment. This young gentleman
distinguished himself greatly during the late
campaign in Canada, particularly in an action with a party
of rebels, commanded by Colonel Ethan Allen, in the neighborhood
of Montreal. The latter had formed a design to surprise
and take possession of that city; on which a party of the Royalists
and some Indians went out and attacked them. In the
engagement, Major John Carden, a brave veteran, late of the
sixtieth regiment, was mortally wounded by Allen. Presently
after, an encounter happened between him and the above-mentioned
Mr. Johnson. Allen fired at him without effect; on
which, the latter marched up with his fuzee presented, and
demanded of Allen to surrender, who instantly complied, by
laying down his arms, exclaiming, "that his piece had never
before failed him." The Indians presently finding Mr. Johnson
had taken this famous leader, proposed sacrificing him to
the manes of Major Carden, but Mr. Johnson humanely interposed,
and with much difficulty saved Allen's life; since he
had already generously given him quarter.[85]

March 25.—Yesterday being the Lord's day, the Reverend
Mr. Bridge,[86] of Chelmsford, in Massachusetts, preached a most
animating discourse from these words, 2 Kings vii. 7: "Wherefore
they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and
their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled
for their lives."

This passage of Scripture is a good description of the late
flight of our ministerial enemies from Boston, for they left
their tents and their horses, and a number of Tories for asses! [87]

The Tory General McDonald,[88] lately taken prisoner at the
defeat of the Tories in North Carolina, was in rebellion in the
year 1745, against his lawful sovereign, and head-

ed many of the same clan and name, who are
now his followers. These emigrants, from the charity and benevolence
of the assembly of North Carolina, received large
pecuniary contributions; and, to encourage them in making
their settlements, were exempted from the payment of taxes
for several years. It is a fact that numbers of that ungrateful
people, who have been lately in arms, when they arrived in
Carolina, were without the necessaries of life—their passages
even paid by the charitable contributions of the inhabitants.
they have since, under every encouragement that the province
of North Carolina could afford them, acquired fortunes very
rapidly, and thus they requite their benefactors.[90]

Notwithstanding the various reports of the fate of Colonel
Allen, who was taken and sent to England in irons by General
Prescott, we are assured that he has been seen in England,
confined in a loathsome jail, and suffering under a heavy load
of irons. How different the situation of Allen and Prescott:[91]
the first, taken fighting for life, liberty, and property, is treated
as a villain; while the other, taken fighting to support the
cruel edicts of a tyrannical ministry, whose aim is to rob and
enslave, is lodged at a first-rate tavern in Philadelphia, and
fed with the best the markets afford. Oh! George! who are
the savages? After this can any man blame the Americans.
should they retaliate?

A correspondent, upon hearing that the real errand of the
commissioners coming from England was to grant pardons
from the king, asked, "whether it would be featherable for a
man to be detected with one of them in his pocket."[92]

March 28.—This day, the Thursday lecture, which was established
and has been observed from the first settlement of

Boston, without interruption until within these
few months past,[94] was opened by the Rev. Dr.
Eliot. His Excellency Gen. Washington, and the other general
officers and their suites, having been previously invited, met in
the council chamber, from whence, preceded by the sheriff with
his wand, attended by the members of the council, who have
had the small-pox, the committee of the House of Representatives,
the selectmen, the clergy, and many other gentlemen,
they repaired to the old brick meeting-house, where an excellent
and well-adapted discourse was delivered from those
words in the 33d chap. of Isaiah and 20th verse.

After divine service was ended, his Excellency, attended
and accompanied as before, returned to the council chamber,
from whence they proceeded to the Bunch of Grapes tavern,
where an elegant dinner was provided at the public expense;
after which many proper and pertinent toasts were drank.
Joy and gratitude sat in every countenance, and smiled in
every eye.[95]

March 29.—There is a report that General Clinton is arrived
at Cape Fear, North Carolina, with the troops he brought
with him from Boston, and that he has been since joined by
twelve or fifteen hundred from England, or the West Indies.
We likewise hear that the Provincial troops are in motion,
and marching from all quarters to attack him, so that we may
soon expect to hear of another battle in that province, which
we hope will prove equally glorious to the American arms as
that which was, but a few weeks ago, so successfully fought
by the brave Colonel Caswell, at Moore's Creek.[96]

This afternoon, Captain Jolly Allen, late a shop-keeper in
Boston, with some other Tories, besides women and children,
in a sloop, ran ashore on the back of Cape Cod, thinking they
had got into the harbor of Halifax. This is a valuable prize,
being laden with piece goods and some cash.[97]