University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER VII.

July 1.—Every moment that I reflect on our affairs,
the more I am convinced of the necessity of a formal declaration
of Independence. Reconciliation is thought

of now by none but knaves, fools, and madmen;
and as we cannot offer terms of peace to Great Britain, until,
as other nations have done before us, we agree to call
ourselves by some name, I shall rejoice to hear the title of the
United States of America, in order that we may be on a
proper footing to negotiate a peace.

Besides, the condition of those brave fellows who have
fallen into the enemy's hands as prisoners, and the risk which
every man runs, who bears arms either by land or sea in the
American cause, makes a declaration of Independence absolutely
necessary, because no proper cartel for an exchange of
prisoners can take place while we remain dependants. It is
some degree of comfort to a man, taken prisoner, that he
belongs to some national power, is the subject of some state
that will see after him. Oliver Cromwell would have sent a
memorial as powerful as thunder to any king on earth, who
dared to use prisoners in the manner which ours have been.
What is it that we have done in this matter? Nothing. We
are subjects of Great Britain and must not do these things!
Shame on your cowardly souls that do them not! You are
not fit to govern!

Were Britain to make a conquest of America, I would for
my own part choose rather to be conquered as an independent
state than as an acknowledged rebel. Some foreign powers
might interpose for us in the first case, but they cannot in the

latter, because the law of all nations is against us. Besides,
the foreign European powers will not long be neutral, and
unless we declare an independence, and send embassies to seek
their friendship, Britain will be beforehand with us; for
the moment that she finds she cannot make a conquest of
America, by her own strength, she will endeavor to make an
European affair of it. Upon the whole, we may be benefited
by independence, but we cannot be hurt by it, and every
man that is against it is a traitor.[2]

July 4.—This day, "after much deliberation, the Congress
has adopted Independency, for the following reasons:"

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary
for one people to dissolve the political bands which have

connected them with another, and to assume
among the powers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature's God
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the causes which impel them
to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.—That to secure these rights
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any
form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new government, laying its foundation on such principles,
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should
not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly,
all experience hath shown, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right

themselves by abolishing the form to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to
reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is
their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new
guards for their future security. Such has been the patient
sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity
which constrains them to alter their former systems of government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a
history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in
direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over
these states. To prove this let facts be submitted to a candid
world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate
and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation
till his assent should be obtained, and when so suspended,
he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation
of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish
the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable
to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public
records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance
with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for
opposing with a manly firmness his invasions on the rights of
the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to
cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers,
incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large
for their exercise; the state remaining in the mean time
exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without, and
convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these
states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization

of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their
migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations
of lands.

He has obstructed the administrations of justice, by
refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the
tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their
salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither
swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies
without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and
superior to the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction
foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws;
giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment
for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants
of these states.

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world.

For imposing taxes on us without our consent.

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by
jury.

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended
offences.

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring
province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and
enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example
and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into
these colonies.

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable
laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments.

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves
invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of
his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign
mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and
tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy,
scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the
high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners
of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves
by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the
merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for
redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions
have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose
character is thus marked by every act which may define a
tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British
brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts
by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction
over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances
of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to
their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured
them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these
usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections
and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of
justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce
in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them,
as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace,
friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of
America, in general congress assembled, appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions,

do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of
these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these
UNITED COLONIES are, and of right ought to be, FREE
AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved
from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political
connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and
ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent
States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace,
contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts
and things which Independent States may of right do. And
for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.[4]

July 5.—This day, the Virginia Convention resolved, that
the following sentences in the morning and evening church

service shall be omitted:—"O Lord, save the
king, and mercifully hear us when we call upon
thee." That the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
sentences in the Litany, for the king's majesty, and the
Royal Family, &c., shall be omitted. That the two prayers
for the king's majesty, and the Royal Family, in the morning
and evening service, shall be omitted.

That the prayers in the communion service, which acknowledge
the authority of the king, and so much of the prayer for
the church militant as declares the same authority, shall be
omitted, and this alteration made in one of the above prayers
in communion service: "Almighty and everlasting God, we
are taught by thy holy word, that the hearts of all rulers are in
thy governance, and that thou dost dispose and turn them as it
seemeth best to thy goodly wisdom; we humbly beseech thee to
dispose and govern the hearts of the magistrates of this commonwealth,
that in all their thoughts, words, and works, they may
evermore seek thy honor and glory, and study to preserve thy

people committed to their charge in wealth, peace, and godliness.
Grant this, O Merciful Father, for thy dear Son's sake,
Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen."

That the following prayer shall be used instead of the
prayer for the king's majesty, in the morning and evening
service: "O, Lord, our heavenly Father, high and mighty, King
of kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of the universe, who
dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth, most
heartily we beseech thee with thy favor to behold the magistrates
of this commonwealth, and to replenish them with the
grace of thy Holy Spirit, that they may always incline to thy
will, and walk in thy way; endue them plenteously with
heavenly gifts; strengthen them, that they may vanquish and
overcome all their enemies; and finally, after this life, they
may obtain everlasting joy and felicity, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, Amen."

In the twenty-sixth sentence of the Litany use these words:
"That it may please thee to endue the magistrates of this
commonwealth with grace, wisdom, and understanding."

In the succeeding one, use these words: "That it may please
thee to bless and keep them, giving them grace to execute
justice and maintain truth."

Let every other sentence of the Litany be retained, without
any alteration, except the above sentences recited.[7]

Married, a short time since, in Mansfield, Connecticut,
Mr. Luke Flint, of Windham, to Miss Mary Slate, daughter of
Mr. Ezekiel Slate,—an agreeable and happy pair. What deserves
the public notice, and may serve to encourage the manufacturers
of this country, is, that the entertainment, though
served up with good wine, and other spirituous liquors, was the
production of their fields and fruit gardens, assisted alone by a
neighboring grove of spontaneous maples.

The bride and two of her sisters appeared in very genteel-like
gowns, and others of the family in handsome apparel, with sundry
silk handkerchiefs, &c., entirely of their own manufacture.[8]

Titles are the offspring of monarchical and arbitrary governments.
While the object of the present war with Great Britain

was reconciliation, the titles of excellency, honorable,
&c., were submitted to by the people of
America; but since the Declaration of Independence, the colonies
have divorced monarchy forever, and become free, independent
states. It becomes then necessary to adopt the simple
language of free governments.

The Roman Senate in the height of its glory and happiness
had no other title than Senatus populus que Romanus, that is,
the senate and people of Rome. Scipio was addressed by the
name of Scipio, at the head of his army. Aristides was called
Aristides, in the councils and public streets of Athens. Let us
leave the titles of excellency and honorable to the abandoned
servants of a tyrant king,—the King of England, while we
satisfy ourselves with beholding our senators, governors, and
generals rich in real excellence and honor.[10]

Day before yesterday, Governor Franklin, of New Jersey,
passed through Hartford, in Connecticut, on his way to Gov-

ernor Trumbull, at Lebanon. Mr. Franklin is a
noted Tory, and ministerial tool, and has been exceedingly
busy in perplexing the cause of liberty, and in
serving the designs of the British King and his minions. The
people of the Jerseys, on account of his principles, connections,
abilities, and address, viewed him as a mischievous and dangerous
enemy in that province, and consequently thought it
expedient to remove him, under a strong guard, to Connecticut.
He is safely arrived, and will probably have leisure to reconnotire
his past life. He is son to Doctor Benjamin Franklin,[12]
the genius of the day, and the great patron of American Liberty.
If his excellency escapes the vengeance of the people, due to the
enormity of his crimes, his redemption will flow, not from his
personal merit, but from the high esteem and veneration which
this country entertains for his honored father.[13]

July 8.—At twelve o'clock to-day, the Committees of Safety
and Inspection of Philadelphia, went in procession to the State
House, where the Declaration of the Independency of the
United States of America was read to a very large number of
the inhabitants of the city and county, and was received with
general applause and heartfelt satisfaction. And, in the evening,
our late king's coat-of-arms was brought from the hall in the
State House, where the said king's courts were formerly held,
and burned amidst the acclamations of a crowd of spectators.[14]

The Declaration was received at Easton, in Pennsylvania,
and proclaimed in the following order:—The Colonel and all
the other field officers of the first battalion repaired to the
court-house, the light infantry company marching there with
their drums beating, fifes playing, and the standard, (the device
for which is the Thirteen United Colonies,) which was
ordered to be displayed. After that the Declaration was read
aloud to a great number of spectators, who gave their hearty
assent with three loud huzzas, and cried out, "May God long
preserve and unite the Free and Independent States of
America."[15]

At Trenton, New Jersey, the Declaration was this day
proclaimed, together with the new constitution of the colony,
lately established, and the resolve of the Provincial Congress
for continuing the administration of justice during the interim.
The members of the Provincial Congress, the gentlemen of the
committee, the officers and privates of the militia under arms,
and a large concourse of the inhabitants, attended on this great
and solemn occasion. The Declaration and other proceedings
were received with loud acclamations.

The people now are convinced of what we ought long since

to have known, that our enemies have left us no middle way
between perfect freedom and abject slavery. In the field, we
trust, as well as in council, the inhabitants of New Jersey will
be found ever ready to support the freedom and independence
of America.[16]

July 9.—This evening Nassau Hall, at Princeton, in New
Jersey, was grandly illuminated, and Independency proclaimed
under a triple volley of musketry, and a universal acclamation
for the prosperity of the United States. The ceremony
was conducted with the greatest decorum.[17]

On the late alarm at Elizabethtown, when an immediate
attack of the regulars was expected,[18] and every man, capable

of bearing arms, was summoned to defend it,
there were three or four young men (brothers)
going out from one house, when an elderly lady, mother or
grandmother to the young men, without betraying the least
signs of timidity, with a resolute calmness encouraged and
assisted them to arm. When they were ready to go, and just
setting out, she addressed them thus:—

"My children, I have a few words to say to you; you are
going out in a just cause to fight for the rights and liberties of
your country. You have my blessing and prayers, that God
will protect and assist you. But if you fall; his will be done.
Let me beg of you, my children, that if you fall, it may be like
men; and that your wounds may not be in your back parts."[20]

July 10.—This afternoon the Declaration of Independence
was read at the head of each brigade of the Continental Army,

posted at and in the vicinity of New York. It
was received everywhere with loud huzzas, and the
utmost demonstrations of joy; and to-night the equestrian statue
of George III., which Tory pride and folly raised in the year
1770, has, by the Sons of Freedom, been laid prostrate in the
dirt—the just desert of an ungrateful tyrant! The lead wherewith
the monument was made is to be run into bullets, to
assimilate with the brains of our infatuated adver-
saries, who, to gain a pepper-corn, have lost an
empire.[23] A gentleman who was present at this ominous fall
of leaden majesty, looking back to the original's hopeful beginning,
pertinently exclaimed, in the language of the Angel to
Lucifer,

A few hours before the Declaration was read, the light
dragoon regiment of Connecticut troops arrived in the city,
and paraded on horseback through the streets, making a noble
and martial appearance. Nothing could be more agreeable or
animating to all the true friends of their country, than the
sight of this corps, which is composed of the substantial yeomanry
of a virtuous sister state. Some of them assisted, in
their present uniforms, at the first reduction of Louisburg,
and their "lank, lean cheeks and war-worn coats," are viewed
with more veneration by their honest countrymen, than if they
were glittering nabobs from India, or bashaws with nine tails.[24]

July 20.—This day, Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson, of the
British army, came to New York, from Lord Howe's fleet,

and landed near the main battery. He passed
through a file of the Life Guards of General
Washington, and had a private conference with him, at
Colonel Knox's, for near half an hour.

After usual compliments, in which, as well as through the
whole conversation, Colonel Patterson addressed General
Washington by the title of Excellency, he entered upon the
business by saying, that General Howe much regretted the
difficulties which had arisen, respecting the address of the
letters to General Washington,[26] and that it was deemed
consistent with propriety, and founded upon precedents of
the like nature by ambassadors and plenipotentiaries where
disputes or difficulties of rank had arisen. He also said that
General Washington might recollect he had, last summer,
addressed a letter to General Howe, To the Hon. William
Howe, Esq.; that Lord Howe and General Howe did not
mean to derogate from the respect or rank of General Washington;
that they held his person and character in the highest
esteem, and that the direction, with the addition of &c., &c.,
&c., implied every thing that ought to follow. He then
produced a letter, which he did not directly offer to General
Washington, but observing that it was the same letter which
had been sent, with a superscription To George Washington,
&c., &c., &c., he laid it on the table. The general declined
the letter, and said, that a letter directed to a person in a
public character, should have some description or indication
of it, otherwise it would appear a mere private letter;
that it was true the &c., &c., &c., implied every thing, and
they also implied any thing; that the letter to General Howe
alluded to, was an answer to one received under a like

address from him, which the officer on duty having taken, he
did not think proper to return, but answered it in the same
mode of address. He then said he should absolutely decline
any letters directed to him as a private person, when it related
to his public station.

Colonel Patterson then remarked, that General Howe
would not urge his delicacy further, and repeated his assertions,
that no failure of respect was intended. He then said
that he would endeavor, as well as he could, to recollect
General Howe's sentiments on the letter and resolves of
Congress, sent him a few days before, respecting the treatment
of our prisoners in Canada. "That the affairs of Canada were
in another department, not subject to the control of General
Howe, but that he and Lord Howe utterly disapproved of
every infringement on the rights of humanity."[27]

Colonel Patterson then took a paper out of his pocket,
and, after looking it over, said he had expressed nearly the
words. General Washington then said that he had also
forwarded a copy of the resolve to General Burgoyne.

To which Colonel Patterson replied, he did not doubt a
proper attention would be paid to it, and that he (General
Washington) was sensible that cruelty was not the characteristic
of the British nation. Colonel Patterson then
proceeded to say he had it in charge to mention the case of
General Prescott, who they were informed was treated with
such rigor, that under his age and infirmities, fatal consequences
might be apprehended.

General Washington replied that General Prescott's treatment
had not fallen under his notice; that all persons under
his particular direction he had treated with kindness, and their
situation was made as easy as possible; that he did not know
where General Prescott was, but believed his treatment very
different from their information.[28] General Washington then
mentioned the case of Colonel Allen, and the officers who had
been confined in Boston jail. As to the first, Colonel Patterson

answered, that General Howe had no knowledge of it but
by information from General Washington, and that the
Canada department was not under his direction or control;
that as to the other prisoners at Boston, whenever the state
of the army at Boston admitted it, they were treated with
humanity and even indulgence; that he asserted this
upon his honor, and should be happy in an opportunity to
prove it.

General Washington then observed, that the conduct of
several of the officers would well have warranted a different
treatment from what they had received; some having refused
to give any parole, and others having broken it when given,
by escaping or endeavoring so to do. Colonel Patterson
answered, that as to the first they misunderstood the matter
very much, and seemed to have mistook the line of propriety
exceedingly; and as to the latter, General Howe utterly
disapproved and condemned their conduct.

That if a remonstrance was made, such violations of good
faith would be severely punished; but that he hoped General
Washington was too just to draw public inferences from the
misbehavior of some private individuals; that bad men were
to be found in every class and society; that such behavior
was considered as a dishonor to the British army.
Colonel Patterson then proceeded to say that the goodness
and benevolence of the king had induced him to appoint
Lord Howe and General Howe his commissioners to accommodate
the unhappy dispute; that they had great powers,
and would derive the greatest pleasure from effecting an
accommodation; and that he (Colonel Patterson) wished to
have this visit considered as making the first advances to this
desirable object. General Washington replied he was not
vested with any powers on this subject, by those from whom
he derived his authority and power. But from what had
appeared or transpired on this head, Lord Howe and General
Howe were only to grant pardons; that those who had committed
no fault wanted no pardon; that we were only defending
what we deemed our indisputable right. Colonel Patterson said
that would open a very wide field for argument. He then

expressed his apprehensions that an adherence to forms was
likely to obstruct business of the greatest moment and
concern.

He then observed, that a proposal had been formally made
of exchanging Governor Skene for Mr. Lovell; that he now
had authority to accede to that proposal. General Washington
replied, that the proposition had been made by the direction
of Congress, and having been then rejected, he could not
now renew the business, or give any answer, till he had previously
communicated it to them.

Colonel Patterson behaved with the greatest attention and
politeness during the whole business, and expressed strong acknowledgments
that the usual ceremony of blinding his eyes
had been dispensed with. At the breaking up of the conference,
General Washington strongly invited him to partake of
a small collation provided for him, which he politely declined,
alleging his late business, and an impatience to return to General
Howe, though he had not executed his commission so amply
as he wished. Finding he did not propose staying, he was
introduced to the general officers, after which he took his leave,
and was safely conducted to his own boat, which waited for
him about four miles distant from the city.[29]

July 22.—Day before yesterday, the honorable the General
Assembly of Rhode Island, being then sitting at the state
house in Newport, at twelve o'clock, the brigade

stationed there, under the command of Colonels
William Richmond and Christopher Lippit, marched from
head-quarters, and drew up in two columns, on each side the
parade, before the state house door. His honor the Governor
and the members of the Assembly then marched through and
received the compliments of the brigade; after which the secretary,
at the head of the company, read a resolve of the assembly,
concurring with the Congress in the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration was then read; next thirteen cannon
were discharged at Fort Liberty, and then the brigade
drew up and fired in thirteen divisions, from east to west,
agreeable to the number and situation of the United States.
The Declaration was received with joy and applause by all
ranks, and the whole was conducted with great solemnity and
decorum.[31]

July 30.—The straggler from Howe's army at Staten Island,
who was taken by our troops a few days ago, at Elizabethtown
Point, was brought into camp at New York,

this afternoon. He says he was pressed into the
King's service early in September, of last year, and sent to
England by Lord Dunmore; that he returned to Charleston
with Sir Peter Parker, and was about the only sailor that was
left whole, out of the entire fleet, after the fight at Sullivan's
Island; that Sir Peter said he never saw such courage as
Moultrie's men showed; and that in the hottest of the action
a ball passed so near Sir Peter's coat tail as to tear it off, together
with his clothes, clear to the buff, without drawing a
spot of blood. * * * * He also says, that just before the
thunder-storm we had week before last, the troops on Staten
Island were preparing figures of Generals Washington, Lee,
and Putnam, and Doctor Witherspoon, for burn-
ing in the night, but were  prevented from finishing 
them by the great rain. The figures had all been erected on
a pile of fagots, the generals facing the doctor, and he represented
in the act of reading to them a late address. All of
them, except General Washington, had been tarred and prepared
for the feathers, when the storm came on and obliged
the troops to find shelter. In the evening, when the storm was
over, a large body of the soldiers gathered around the figures,
which, being prepared, were set on fire, amidst the most terrible
imprecations against the rebels. One of the party, seeing
that Generals Putnam and Lee, and Doctor Witherspoon burnt
furiously and were almost consumed, while General Washington
was still standing, with the tar burning off, ran away
frightened, and was soon followed by most of his companions.
The next morning, the figure was found as good as it ever was;
a fact which caused a good deal of fear among the Hessian
troops, most of whom are very superstitious, and it was not
until after some of the officers told them the cause of its not
burning, that they appeared contented. The reason was, that
having no tar upon it before the rain commenced, it became
saturated with water, and the tar only would burn.[35]

The representatives of the State of Rhode Island and Providence
plantations have passed a resolve, That if any person

within that state shall, under pretence of preaching
or praying, or in any other way or manner
whatever, acknowledge or declare their late King to be their
rightful lord or sovereign, or shall pray for the success of his
arms, or that he may vanquish or overcome all his enemies,
shall be deemed guilty of high misdemeanor, and therefore be
presented by the grand jury of the county, where the offence
shall be committed, to the superior court of the same county;
and upon conviction thereof, shall forfeit and pay, as a fine, to
and for the use of that state, the sum of one hundred thousand
pounds lawful money, and pay all costs of prosecution, and
shall stand committed to gaol until the same be satisfied.[37]

August 7.—This day was carried into Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, by the Hancock privateer, which sailed from Phil-

adelphia, a large three-decked ship, named the
Reward, of between five and six hundred tons
burden. She was a twenty-gun ship last war, in the service
of the British King. She was from Tortola, bound to London,
and had on board between ten and eleven hundred hogsheads
of sugar, eighty-six hogsheads of rum, twelve bales of cotton,
and nine cannon, some of them brass. There were on board
the ship a number of turtles, directed to Lord North, with his
name cut in the shell, the best of which Captain Wingate Newman,
master of the privateer, is determined to send to the
Honorable John Hancock.[39]

The committee of inspection for the county of Cumberland,
in the State of New Jersey, the officers of the militia,
and a great number of other inhabitants, having

met at Bridgetown, went in procession to the
court-house, where the declaration of independency, the constitution
of New Jersey, and treason ordinance, were publicly
read, and unanimously approved of. These were followed
with a spirited address by Doctor Elmer, chairman of the
committee, after which the peace officers' staves, on which were
depicted the King's coat-of-arms, with other ensigns of royalty,
were burnt in the street. The whole was conducted with
the greatest decency and regularity.

The following is the substance of the before mentioned address:
"Gentlemen of the Committee, Officers of the Militia,
and Gentlemen Spectators:—From what has now

been read, you see the long wished for, but much
dreaded period has arrived, in which the connection between
Great Britain and America is totally dissolved, and these colonies
declared free and independent states. As this is an event
of the greatest importance, it must afford satisfaction to every
intelligent person to reflect that it was brought about by unavoidable
necessity on our part, and has been conducted with
a prudence and moderation becoming the wisest and best of
men.

With the independency of the American States, a new era
in politics has commenced. Every consideration respecting the
propriety or impropriety of a separation from Britain, is now
entirely out of the question; and we have now no more to do
with the King and people of England, than we have with the
King and people of France or Spain. No people under heaven

were ever favored with a fairer opportunity of laying a sure
foundation for future grandeur and happiness than we. The
plan of government established in most states and kingdoms
of the world, has been the effect of chance or necessity; ours
of sober reason and cool deliberation. Our future happiness or
misery, therefore, as a people, will depend entirely upon ourselves.
If actuated by principles of virtue and genuine patriotism,
we make the welfare of our country the sole aim of all
our actions; if we intrust none but persons of ability and integrity
with the management of our public affairs; if we carefully
guard against corruption and undue influence in the
several departments of government; if we are steady and
zealous in putting the laws in strict execution, the spirit and
principles of our new constitution, which we have just now
heard read, may be preserved for a long time: but if faction
and party spirit, the destruction of popular governments, take
place, anarchy and confusion will soon ensue, and we shall
either fall an easy prey to a foreign enemy, or some factious
and aspiring demagogue possessed of popular talents and shining
qualities. A Julius Cæsar, or an Oliver Cromwell, will spring
up among ourselves, who, taking advantage of our political
animosities, will lay violent hands on the government, and sacrifice
the liberties of his country to his own ambitious and
domineering humor. God grant that neither of these may ever
be the unhappy fate of this, or any of the United States! To
prevent which, while we are striving to defend ourselves against
the unjust encroachments of a foreign and unnatural enemy,
let us not neglect to keep a strict and jealous eye over our internal
police and constitution. Let the fate of Greece, Rome,
Carthage, and Great Britain, warn us of our danger; and the
loss of liberty in all those states, for want of timely guarding
against the introduction of tyranny and usurpation, be a standing
admonition to us, to avoid the rock on which they have all
shipwrecked.

Let us, as honest citizens and sincere lovers of our country,
exert ourselves in the defence of our state, and in support of
our new constitution; but, while we strive to vindicate the
glorious cause of liberty, on the one hand, let us on the other

hand, carefully guard against running into the contrary extreme
of disorder and licentiousness.

In our present situation, engaged in a bloody and dangerous
war with the power of Great Britain, for the defence of our
lives, our liberties, our property, and every thing that is dear
and valuable; every member of this state, who enjoys the benefits
of its civil government, is absolutely bound, by the immutable
law of self-preservation, the laws of God and of society,
to assist in protecting and defending it. This is so plain and
self-evident a proposition, that I am persuaded every person
here present makes it the rule of his conduct on all occasions;
and consequently, in a time of such imminent danger, will be
extremely careful, at our ensuing election, not to trust any one
with the management of our public affairs, who has not, by his
vigilance and activity in the cause of liberty, proved himself
to be a true friend to his country. The success, gentlemen, of
our present glorious struggle wholly depends upon this single
circumstance. For, though the situation and extent of the
United States of America, and our numberless internal resources,
are sufficient to enable us to bid defiance to all Europe;
yet should we be so careless about our own safety, as to intrust
the affairs of our state, while the bayonet is pointed at our
breasts, to persons whose conduct discovers them to be enemies
to their country, or whose religious principles will not suffer
them to lift a hand for our defence, our ruin will inevitably follow.

As it is impossible for any one, possessed of the spirit of a
man, who is a friend to the United States, and whose conscience
does not furnish him with an excuse, to stand by, an
idle spectator, while his country is struggling and bleeding in
her own necessary defence; all such inactive persons ought,
therefore, to be shunned as enemies or despised as cowards.
And as I have reason to believe that many who plead conscience
as an excuse, are sincere in their pretensions; and as
every man's conscience ought to be free from compulsion, this
single consideration should restrain us from forcing such into
any of the departments of government. For to put such persons,
at this time, in places of public trust, is actually to deprive

them of liberty of conscience; for we thereby compel
them either to betray the trust reposed in them, or to act contary
to the dictates of their own consciences. A dilemma in
which, act as they will, their conduct must be criminal. Besides,
if we consulted only our own safety, it is plain, that to
intrust the affairs of our government, at this juncture, to such
people, is as dangerous as to intrust the management of a ship
in a violent storm, to an infant, or an idiot.

As a friend to my country and a lover of liberty, I thought
it my duty to address you on this occasion, and having now,
as a faithful member of society, discharged my duty, I shall
leave you to the exercise of your own judgment, and conclude
with a request, that you would conduct yourselves this day in
such a manner as to convince the public that your abhorrence
of the cruel and bloody Nero of Britain, and his despicable
minions of tyranny and oppression, arises, not from the mere
impulse of blind passion and prejudice, but from sober reason
and reflection; and while we rejoice in being formally emancipated
from our haughty and imperious Task-masters, let us remember,
that the final termination of this grand event is not
likely to be brought about without shedding the blood of many
of our dear friends and countrymen.[42]

A correspondent in London says:—A certain popular
preacher not far from town, last Sunday took his text from
these words, Isaiah xxi. 15: "For they fled from the sword—
from the drawn sword and the bent bow, and from the grievousness
of war;" which words he thought to be highly descriptive
of the inglorious retreat of the King's troops from Boston.
And if it really was true, that these troops had ever turned a
house of religious worship into a play house, he thought, go
where they will, they can never expect success in any one enterprise,
till by deep repentance they had conciliated the favor of
heaven.

A most furious quarrel happened at the club in St. Paul's
churchyard, between two of the fugitive clergy from North

America. The cause, it is said, was about who should be the
bishop in that country, the idea of a suffragan being revived.
Cooper[43] was much too many for Peters, and
would, if Tucker and Vardil had not interposed,
not only have won the mitre, but have rendered his competitor
totally unfit for any episcopal function. Alas! alas! these
men in black are not all of them under the operation of grace.[45]

August 10.—At Savannah, in Georgia, a declaration being
received from the honorable John Hancock, Esq., by which it
appeared that the Continental Congress, in the

name and by the authority of their constituents,
had declared that the United Colonies of North America are,
and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States, and
absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, his Excellency
the President,[47] and the honorable the council, met in the
council chamber and read the Declaration.

They then proceeded to the square before the assembly
house, and read it to a great concourse of people, when the
grenadier and light infantry companies fired a general volley.
After this they proceeded in the following procession to the
liberty pole: The grenadiers in front; the provost-marshal,
on horseback, with his sword drawn; the secretary, with the
Declaration; his Excellency the President; the honorable the
council, and the gentlemen attending; then the light infantry
and the rest of the militia of the town and district of Savannah.

At the liberty-pole they were met by the Georgia battalion,
who, after the reading of the Declaration, discharged their field-pieces,
and fired in platoons. Upon this they proceeded to the

battery, at the trustee's gardens, where the Declaration was
read for the last time, and the cannon of the battery discharged.

His Excellency and council, Colonel Lachlan McIntosh, and
other gentlemen, with the militia, dined under the cedar trees,
and cheerfully drank to the United, Free, and Independent
States of America. In the evening the town was illuminated,
and there was exhibited a very solemn funeral procession, attended
by the grenadier and light infantry companies, and other
militia, with their drums muffled, and fifes, and a greater number
of people than ever appeared on any occasion before, in
that province, when George the Third was interred before the
court-house in the following manner:

"Forasmuch as George the Third, of Great Britain, hath
most flagrantly violated his coronation oath, and trampled on
the constitution of our country, and the sacred rights of mankind:
we, therefore, commit his political existence to the ground
—corruption to corruption—tyranny to the grave—and oppression
to eternal infamy, in sure and certain hope that he
will never obtain a resurrection, to rule again over these United
States of America. But, my friends and fellow-citizens, let us
not be sorry, as men without hope, for Tyrants that thus depart—rather
let us remember that America is free and independent;
that she is, and will be, with the blessing of the Almighty,
GREAT among the nations of the earth. Let this encourage
us in well-doing, to fight for our rights and privileges,
for our wives and children, for all that is near and dear unto
us. May God give us his blessing, and let all the people say
Amen."[48]

August 12.—A correspondent gives the following account
of the capture of the privateer Yankee Hero:—Captain James

Tracy sailed from Newburyport, in New Hampshire,
on the seventh of June, in the Yankee
Hero, for Boston, with twenty-six men only, including officers.
This number was not a quarter of his complement; he was
provisioned for a six months' cruise, and was to take in the
remainder of his men at Boston. The afternoon he went out,
going round Cape Ann, he observed a sail in the offing, but in
his situation did not think of looking after her. Two boats
full, manned with their muskets, who had put out after the
sail, came on board and informed him a number of transports
had been close into the Cape that day, and fourteen men from
the two boats joined him, and sent their boats on shore. He
had now forty hands in the whole, (only a third of his complement,)
and with these he put away for the sail, which bore E.
S. E., about five leagues distance, the wind being then westerly.
At six miles distance they perceived her to be a ship,
and soon, from her management, to be a ship-of-war. As a
contest with her must have been very unequal, Captain Tracy,
who intended to make a harbor that night, ordered the brig to
be put about for the shore, not then suspecting that the ship
would come up with him. But he had not tacked ten minutes
before the westerly wind died away, and the ship taking a
fresh southerly breeze, came fast in, endeavoring to cut the
brig off from the shore. After some time, the ship thus getting
in the wake of the brig, the wind again came fresh to the
westward, upon which the brig hauled to the wind in the best
angle for the shore. The ship gave chase, and in an hour came
up within half a mile, and began to fire her bow chasers,
which the brig only answered with a swivel, Captain Tracy
reserving his whole fire until the ship, keeping a constant fire,
came up within pistol shot upon his lee quarter, when the brig
gave her the best return they could make from their main and
quarter deck guns, swivels, and small arms, and after kept up
a constant fire. The ship was soon up alongside, and with
twelve nine-pounders on a side, upon one deck, besides forecastle
and quarter deck guns, and with her marines overlooking
the brig as high as her leading blocks, kept up a continual
fire. After some time, the ship hauled her wind so close (which
obliged the brig to do the same) that Captain Tracy was unable
to sight his lee guns. Upon this he backed under her stern,
but the ship, which sailed much faster and worked as quick,
had the advantage, and brought her broadside again upon him,
which he could not evade. In this manner they lay, not a
hundred feet from each other, yawing to and fro, for an
hour and twenty minutes, the privateer's men valiantly maintaining
their quarters against such a superior force. About
this time, the ship's foremast guns beginning to slack fire, Captain
Tracy tacked under her stern, and when clear of the smoke
and fire, perceived his rigging to be most shockingly cut, yards
flying about without braces, some of his principal sails shot
to rags, and half his men, to appearance, dying and wounded.

Mr. Main, his first lieutenant, was among the first wounded,
and Mr. Davis, one of the prize masters, fell in the last
attack. In this situation they went to work to refit the rigging,
and to carry the wounded below, the ship having then
taken a broad sheer some way off, and none of her guns bearing.
But before they could get their yards to rights, which
they zealously tried for in hopes still to get clear of the ship,
as they were now nearer in shore, or to part from her under
the night, she again came up and renewed the attack, which
obliged Captain Tracy to have recourse to his guns again,
though he still kept some hands aloft to his rigging; but before
the brig had again fired two broadsides, Captain Tracy
received a wound in his right thigh, and in a few minutes he
could not stand. He laid himself over the arm chest and barricade,
determined to keep up the fire; but in a short time,
from pain and loss of blood, he was unable to command, growing
faint, and they helped him below. As soon as he came
to, he found his firing had ceased, and his people round him
wounded, and, not having a surgeon with them, in a most distressed
situation, most of them groaning and some expiring.

Struck severely with such a spectacle, Captain Tracy ordered
his people to take him up in a chair upon the quarter
deck, and resolved again to attack the ship, which was all this
time keeping up her fire. But after getting into the air, he
was again so faint that he was for some time unable to speak,
and finding no alternative, but they must be taken or sunk, for
the sake of the brave men that remained, he ordered them to
strike to the ship.

Thus was this action maintained upwards of two hours, in

a low single-decked vessel, with not half the metal the ship
had, against an English frigate, whose navy has been the dread
of nations, and by a quarter the number of people in the one
as in the other; yet the victors exulted as though they had
overcome a force as much superior as this was inferior to them.
The brig had four men killed and thirteen wounded, including
officers. The number in the Milford wounded is not known,
though there were some. The deprivation of these brave
officers and men is to be regretted by all friends to this country.

With justice to Captain Burr, of the Milford, it must be
acknowledged he treated with humanity and politeness the
officers and men that were wounded; but to the eternal disgrace
of Britain, and the present King and Parliament, let it
be recorded, that in this very action above related, upwards of
thirty Americans, prisoners in the Milford, were forced, at the
forfeit of their lives, to fight against their countrymen; and
the officers and men of the Yankee Hero, that were not
wounded, are now detained in several of their ships, and may
meet with the same cruel fate; an exaction that even savages
have not been known to require. It is to the credit of the
Hero's men, that not one would enter upon the ship's books,
though not only urged by every persuasion, but by threats.[50]

August 14.—Yesterday, a number of women belonging to
Fishkill, in Duchess county, New York, collected together in
order to purchase some tea of Alderman Lefferts,

of New York, as he had a large quantity of it
there, which he sent up last fall, to make a prey of the friends
of the United States by asking a most exorbitant price for
the same. Three gentlemen passing by the house where
they were assembled, the ladies saw them, sallied out from
the house, and entreated them, in the most humble manner,
to assist them. The gentlemen refusing to assist, obliged
the ladies to use means of force. After confining the gentlemen
under guard, they proceeded to the choice of a committee
of ladies, and chose three, and then chose a clerk and
weigher. They then proceeded to open the boxes, and served
out the same, and received six shillings for each pound, which
the lady committee intended to remit to the general committee
of the county.

The ladies offered for the tea, nine shillings per pound before
they made the seizure, but upon Mr. Lefferts' refusing,
they told him he must then take up with the continental
price. The quantity taken was two boxes. Mrs. L—shoped
that none of the relations would assist in the mob, but the
persons she mentioned were the first in fact.[52]

August 17.—A gentleman who lately escaped from New
York, and joined the army on Staten Island, says:—"Every
means of defence has been concerted to secure the city and
whole island of New York from an attack of the royal army.
Should General Howe succeed in that enterprise, his antagonist,
Mr. Washington, has provided a magazine of pitch, tar,
and combustibles, to burn the city before he shall retreat from
his present station. The numbers of his men are daily diminishing;
they desert in large bodies, are sickly, filthy, divided,
and unruly. Putrid disorders, the small-pox in particular,
have carried off great numbers. When I left the city there
were six thousand in their hospitals, to which use they have
devoted King's College.

John Morin Scott is appointed Governor of New York,
and Samuel Tucker, a cordwainer of Trenton, is exalted to
that rank in New Jersey. The persecution of the loyalists
continues unremitted. Donald M`Lean, Theophilus Hardenbrook,
young Fueter, the silversmith, and Rem Rapelje, have
been cruelly rode on rails, a practice most painful, dangerous,
and, till now, peculiar to the humane republicans of New
England. Mr. John Rapelje, of Brooklyn, and Mr. James
Coggeshal, have been seized on their way to join General
Howe, with a quantity of sheep in their possession; however,
the latter afterwards escaped, and found means to carry a
number of fat wethers to the army.

Mr. John Foxcroft, postmaster-general, Mr. Dashwood,

Mr. Smith Ramage, Messrs. Hugh and Alexander Wallace,
and Mr. Abraham Lott, the treasurer, are committed to gaol,
having refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Congress;
in short, every one suspected of an hostile disposition to that
body, are disarmed and conducted into a d—nable durance,
which was the case of the venerable chief justice Horsmanden,
who, at eighty, was hurried into the country by a party of ruffians;
but he proved so troublesome on the journey, that they
chose to leave him on the road, without performing the injunctions
of their demagogues.

Frequent have been the messages from General Howe to
Mr. Washington, and Colonel Patterson has also been repeatedly
in conference with the latter; but it seems that Mr.
Washington's ultimatum was, that he would hearken to no
propositions from the British commissioners. The Phœnix
and Rose men-of-war, have passed up the North River about
twenty-four miles, where they were attacked by row galleys
and floating batteries, all which they either burnt or sunk,
with a vast number of men. It was a dangerous service, and
to the honor of Captain Hyde Parker and Captain James
Wallace, most intrepidly and effectually performed. They are
just returned, having expended all their ammunition.

On my arrival in General Howe's camp, I found Mr. Cortlandt
Skinner appointed colonel, and Mr. John Morris, late of
the 47th regiment, lieutenant-colonel of a corps consisting of
fifteen hundred loyal Americans, and Major Rogers, the famous
partisan in the last war, colonel of a corps of rangers. The
Hessians arrived here on the 12th instant, full of health
and ardor for immediate service. The guards, on their arrival,
were ordered to land and refresh themselves after a tedious
voyage, but they desired to be led on directly to action, in resentment
of the atrocious insults to their King and country.
Their impatience was beyond expressing, when they were told
of some indignities lately offered to the statue of their royal
sovereign in New York. I find the whole British army is now
increased to between twenty-four and twenty-five thousand men,
and not more than one hundred sick and disabled men among
them.

Some people, lately arrived here from Philadelphia, tell us
that Mr. J. Dickinson is employed by the Congress, in digesting
a code of laws for the United States of America. We are
informed that Mr. John Alsop, one of the New York delegates,
has escaped from the Congress, and is on Long Island,
on his way to join General Howe. Dr. Peter Middleton, Mr.
Theophilus Bache, Mr. Philip John Livingstone, sheriff of
Duchess county, Mr. John Watts, jun., recorder of New York,
Mr. Augustus Van Cortlandt, and Messrs. Robert and Samuel
Auchmuty, are lately arrived in this island, having narrowly
escaped from their pursuers.

Lady Johnson is seized by order of General Schuyler, by
way of reprisal for Sir John, her husband, who has taken an
active and loyal part, at the head of his faithful Mohawks.
These have declared that, should the least injury be done to
her, they would desolate and extirpate every person and property
belonging to this same general. A person just escaped
from New York informs us, that there is again a fresh hunt for
the friends of government, who are called Tories, and that Mr.
Augustus Van Horne, Mr. Vincent Pearce Ashfield, Captain
Haradd, Mr. John Roome, jun., Mr. John Stone Fairholme,
and Captain Turnbull, late of the Royal Americans, are made
prisoners; Captain Archibald Kennedy, of the royal navy, is
confined in Morristown, and Governor Franklin, accompanied
by that merry heart, David Mathews, Mayor of New York,
now under sentence of death for eminent proofs of loyalty to
his King and the old constitution, are removed into Connecticut
government for the better security of their persons. Early
this morning a petiaugre, with sixteen of the provincial soldiers,
completely armed, arrived here. They found means to
desert to us, and have each man received £3 currency for their
firelocks; the general has disposed of them on board the men-of-war,
to act as marines. Five guineas a man is given for recruits,
who daily enter in great numbers. We are told by
persons escaped from Jersey, that Lord Stirling, who commanded
and was reconnoitring at Amboy, was killed by a
cannon ball from our batteries, and that he was buried at that
place. Colonel Guy Johnson is arrived here from England.

On the passage in a Halifax packet, a privateer engaged her;
but after Captain Boulderson had gallantly defended his ship
three glasses, the adventurer ended the contest by a retreat.
On this occasion Dr. Constable received a wound, but is likely
to do well. The episcopal churches in New York are all shut
up, the prayer books burned, and the ministers scattered abroad
in this and neighboring provinces.

It is now the Puritan's high holiday season, and they enjoy
it with rapture all over the continent. Their behavior exactly
assimilates the manners of the king-killing tribe during the
English grand rebellion, but perhaps they may soon find an
alteration in their spirits, from the execution of a plan for a
general attack of the island of New York, &c., for which preparations
are now making. The whole army is on ship board;
General Clinton with the guards, Highlanders, and some other
troops, is to land and attack the enemy's posts on Long Island.
Lord Cornwallis is on the point of departure, with a considerable
detachment of troops, round Long Island, and to land at
New Rochelle, near West Chester; and General Howe, with
the main body of the army, to proceed up the North River,
and make a descent into West Chester county, as nearly opposite
as possible to the place where Lord Cornwallis may secure
a landing. Should General Howe succeed in this arrangement,
it will be difficult for Mr. Washington to move from the
island of New York, so that a general engagement may be
expected.

We fancy that several days will elapse before the attack is
made, to give time for Lord Cornwallis to get into the Sound,
before General Howe attempts his landing in West Chester
county. It is said that Mr. Washington's magazines are all in
Cortlandt's Manor, and to get possession of them must surely
be an object of General Howe's serious attention, and an additional
inducement to attempt a landing in the rear of the
provincial forces.[53]

A correspondent wishes some able hand would undertake

to describe General Lee's march from Boston to Charleston,
and would point out the remarkable circumstances of his meeting
General Clinton at New York the day he arrived there;
of his finding him in Hampton Road when he came to Vir-
ginia; of Clinton's leaving Cape Fear just after
his arrival in North Carolina; and of his unlucky
meeting at Fort Sullivan. The world must have a high opinion
of General Lee's activity and vigilance, when they read of his
march of more than eleven hundred miles, and of the circumstances
attending it throughout; and Clinton himself must look
on General Lee as his evil genius, thus haunting him along a
coast of such vast extent, and meeting him at last in Philippi.[55]

So early as the reign of Charles the Sixth, of France, (the
time of our Henry the Fourth,) the French King (Charles)

gave a masquerade, in which himself and five
courtiers disguised their persons to imitate satyrs,
by covering their naked bodies with close linen habits, which
habits were then to be besmeared with rosin, on which down
was stuck all over. One of the company, in a frolic, touched
one of these satyrs with a lighted torch, as they were dancing
in a ring; the consequence was, all the six masques or satyrs
were enveloped in flames instantaneously. Four of the six
died immediately, and the King never recovered the fright and
disorder occasioned by the accident.[57]

August 20.—Last Friday two fire-ships, commanded by
Captains Fosdyke and Thomas, gentlemen volunteers of rank

in the army of the United States, proceeded up
the North River with intent to give a suitable
warming to those piratical gentry that have infested it since
the 12th of July last.

The night was dark and favorable to the design, and the
enemy did not perceive our vessels till they were near aboard
of them. Captain Fosdyke grappled the Phœnix, but the fire

not communicating so soon as was expected, she disentangled
herself in about twenty minutes, after sustaining considerable
damage in her rigging. Captain Thomas fell on board one of
the tenders, which was soon consumed; and we are truly sorry
to inform the public this intrepid commander is yet missing.
This gallant enterprise struck so great a panic upon the enemy,
that they thought it prudent to quit their stations; and yesterday,
taking advantage of a fresh wind at S. E., attended with
considerable rain, they run the gauntlet, through a great number
of well-directed shots from our batteries in and near New
York, which no doubt must have damaged them much.

Our galleys played smartly, and followed the ships a considerable
distance into the bay. The enemy's fire seemed to
be mostly directed upon the city, as the tops of the houses
were crowded with spectators; but very little damage was
done to the buildings, nor any lives lost upon the occasion.[59]

August 22.—This night we have reason to expect the grand
attack from our barbarian enemies; the reasons why, follow:
The night before last, a lad went over to Staten

Island, supped there with a friend, and got safe
back again undiscovered. Soon after he went to General
Washington, and upon good authority reported, that the
English army, amounting to fifteen or twenty thousand, had
embarked and were in readiness for an engagement; that
seven ships of the line, and a number of other vessels of war,
were to surround this city and cover their landing; that the
Hessians, being fifteen thousand, were to remain on the island
and attack Perth Amboy, Elizabethtown Point, and Bergen,
while the main body were doing their best at New York; that
the Highlanders expected America was already conquered, and
that they were only to come over and settle on our lands, for
which reason they had brought their churns, ploughs, &c.;
being deceived, they had refused fighting, upon which account
General Howe had shot one, hung five or six, and flogged many.

Last evening, in a violent thunder storm, Mr. — (a very

intelligent person) ventured over. He brings much the same
account as the above lad, with this addition:—that all the
horses on the island were by Howe's orders killed, barrelled up,
and put on board—the wretches thinking they could get no
landing at New York, and of consequence be soon out of
provision; that the Tories were used cruelly, and with the Highlanders
were compelled to go on board the ships to fight in the
character of common soldiers against us. The British army are
prodigiously incensed against the Tories, and curse them as
the instruments of the war now raging. Mr. — further informs,
that last night the fleet was to come up, but the thunder
storm prevented. The truth of this appears, from the circumstance
of about three thousand red coats landing at ten
o'clock this morning on Long Island, where by this time it is
supposed our people are hard at it. There is an abundance of
smoke to-day on Long Island, our folks having set fire to stacks
of hay, &c., to prevent the enemy's being benefited in case
they get any advantage against us. All the troops in New
York are in high spirits, and have been under arms most of
the day, as the fleet have been in motion, and are now, as is
generally thought, only waiting for a change of tide. Forty-eight
hours or less, will determine it as to New York, one
way or the other.

The thunder storm of last evening was one of the most
dreadful we ever witnessed; it lasted from seven to ten o'clock.
Several claps struck in and about New York. Many houses
were damaged, and several lives lost. Three officers, a captain
and two lieutenants, belonging to Colonel M`Dougal's
regiment, were struck instantly dead. The points of their
swords, for several inches, were melted, with a few silver dollars
they had in their pockets; they (the persons) were seemingly
roasted. A dog in the same tent was also killed, and a
soldier near it struck blind, deaf, and dumb. One in the main
street was killed, as likewise ten on Long Island. Two or
three were much burnt, and greatly hurt. When God speaks,
who can but fear?[61]

August 26.—Tuesday last, a number of ships with troops
on board, sailed from Staten Island out of the Narrows; next
day they were followed by many more, and about

ten o'clock Thursday morning, about ten thousand
men landed between New Utrecht and Gravesend, on Long
Island. Friday, a party of them came and took possession of
Flatbush, which immediately brought on a very hot fire from
the Americans, who are advantageously posted in the woods,
and on every eminence round that place.

The advanced party of the regulars are encamped a little
to the north-west of Flatbush church, and have a battery
somewhat to the westward of Mr. Jeremiah Vanderbilts, from
whence they continue to fire briskly on our people, who often
approach and discharge their rifles within two hundred yards
of their works. We have had only four men wounded since
the enemy landed, but we were certain many of them fell; and
a Hessian was killed last Friday. Several dollars were found
in his pocket, and he had an excellent rifle. Many of the
regulars are in rifle dresses.[63]

August 30.—About twelve o'clock last Monday night,
(26th,) we were alarmed by the return of some of our scouting
parties, who advised us that the English were

in motion, and coming up the island, with several
field-pieces. It was generally thought not to be the main
body, but only a detachment, with a view to possess themselves
of some advantageous heights. On which near three
thousand men were ordered out, consisting chiefly of the Pennsylvania
and Maryland troops, to attack them on their march.
About sunrise the next morning, (27th,) we came up with a
very large body of them.

The Delaware and Maryland battalions made one party.
Colonel Atlee with his battalion, a little before us, had taken
post in an orchard and behind a barn; and, on the approach
of the enemy, he gave them a very severe fire, which he bravely
kept up for a considerable time, until they were near surrounding

him, when he retreated to the woods. The enemy
then advanced to us, upon which Lord Stirling, who commanded,
drew us up in a line, and offered them battle in the
true English taste. The British army then advanced within
about three hundred yards of us, and began a very heavy fire
from their cannon and mortars, for both the balls and shells flew
very fast, now and then taking off a head. Our men stood it
amazingly well—not even one of them showed a disposition
to shrink.

Our orders were not to fire until the enemy came within
fifty yards of us; but when they perceived we stood their fire
so coolly and resolutely, they declined coming any nearer, although
treble our number. In this situation we stood from
sunrise till twelve o'clock, the enemy firing upon us the chief
part of the time, when the main body of their army, by a
route we never dreamed of, had entirely surrounded us and
drove within the lines, or scattered in the woods all our men
except the Delaware and Maryland battalions, who were standing
at bay with double their number. Thus situated, we were
ordered to attempt a retreat, by fighting our way through the
enemy, who had posted themselves, and nearly filled every
field and road between us and our lines. We had not retreated
a quarter of a mile before we were fired upon by an advanced
part of the enemy, and those upon our rear were playing upon
us with their artillery. Our men fought with more than Roman
virtue, and would have stood until they were shot down
to a man. We forced the advanced party, which first attacked
us, to give way, through which opening we got a passage down
to the side of a marsh, seldom before waded over, which we
passed, and then swam a narrow river, all the time exposed to
the fire of the enemy. The companies commanded by Captains
Ramsey and Scott were in the front, and sustained the first
fire of the enemy, when hardly a man fell.

The whole of the right wing of our battalion, thinking it
impossible to march through the marsh, attempted to force
their way through the woods, where they were almost to a man
killed or taken. The Maryland battalion has lost two hundred
and fifty-nine men, amongst whom are twelve officers. Captains

Veazey and Bowey, the first certainly killed; Lieutenants
Butler, Sterret, Dent, Courley, Muse, Prawl, Ensigns
Coats and Fernandes; who of them are killed or who prisoners,
is yet uncertain. Many of the officers lost their swords
and guns. We have since entirely abandoned Long Island,
bringing off all our military stores.[65]

Generals Sullivan and Stirling are both prisoners; Colonels
Atlee,[67] Miles, and Piper, are also taken. There are about a
thousand men missing in all; we took a few prisoners. By a
lieutenant we took, we understand they had about twenty-three
thousand men on the island that morning. Most of our generals
were on a high hill in our lines, viewing us with glasses.
When we began our retreat, they could see the enemy we had
to pas through, though we could not. Many of them thought
we would surrender in a body, without firing. When we began
the attack, General Washington wrung his hands, and
cried out, "Good God, what brave fellows I must this day
lose." Major Guest commanded the Maryland battalion, the
colonel and lieutenant-colonel being both at York; Captains
Adams and Lucas were sick. The major, Captain Ramsey,
and Lieutenant Plunket, were foremost, and within forty yards
of the enemy's muzzles, when they were fired upon by the enemy,
who were chiefly under cover of an orchard, save a few

that showed themselves and pretended to give up, clubbing
their firelocks until we came within that distance, when they
immediately presented and blazed in our faces. They entirely
overshot us, and killed some men away in the rear.[68] I
had the satisfaction of dropping one of them the first fire I
made; I was so near that I could not miss. I discharged my
rifle seven times that day as deliberately as ever I did at a
mark, and with as little perturbation.[69]

August 31.—A few days ago, a most infamous letter from

Colonel Zedwitz to Tryon, the late governor of New York,
was intercepted and fell into our hands.[70] After presenting
his compliments in a formal manner to Lord
Howe, and begging the contents of his letter
to be explained to him, Zedwitz proceeds to profess a consciousness
that the world will censure him for his treachery in
corresponding with the enemy of those in whose service he had
engaged; but he apologizes for himself by appealing to the
governor as a person who knew he had been forced to accept
his commission for fear of ruin to himself and family; and as
he had engaged through compulsion (a most villanous lie, for
he solicited for it) from a rebellious mob, he infers that he can
be under no obligation to conform to his engagements. Besides
this, he observes that previous to his entrance in the continental
army, he took the governor's advice on the occasion,
and promised to do all he could in his new capacity, for his
Majesty's service.

He next declares that ever since his return from Canada,
he had been laying plans for the performance of his promise,
and was in a fair way of doing something, when Forbes and
the mayor were detected in their conspiracy,[72] which obliged
him to lay aside his schemes; as Forbes had indiscreetly mentioned
to the court on his trial a message from Governor Tryon
to him, to wit: "that he would make his fortune if he would
execute a certain commission." This, he says, rendered him
suspected, and for the present frustrated his designs. However,
as an instance that he was returning into favor, he informs
the governor that General Washington had lately employed
him to translate a paper into high German, which was
to be printed and distributed among the Hessian troops. He
advises to keep a good look-out.

In his next paragraph, he invents this abominable falsehood,
that he had lately seen four villains at General W.'s
house, with fourteen bottles of a mixture as black as ink, with
which they were to poison the watering place on Staten Island,
and were to receive a recompense of one thousand pounds
each from the general.

He then informs, that a person always near the general,
who was a friend to the King, though an interested one, had
offered to furnish him with weekly returns of the strength and
detail of the army till December, for the sum of four thousand
pounds sterling, to be paid beforehand in hard gold; that
he had proposed a reward of two thousand pounds sterling,
which was agreed to, and he therefore desires (if the plan be
agreeable) that the money might be immediately conveyed to
him. He concluded with informing them that he shortly expected
a full colonel's commission, with the command of the
three forts up the North River.

The wickedness of this despicable man was discovered by
the person whom he engaged to convey his letter. He endeavored
to debauch one Steen, who, being a German, in but indifferent
circumstances, and unemployed in our service, he imagined
would be a proper instrument for his purpose. But
Steen perceiving his intention, and being an honest man and a
friend to the country, only amused him with a seeming compliance
till he got his letter into his hands, and then, without
delay, had it laid before the general.

Zedwitz, on his trial, acknowledged the letter to be his own,
but pleaded that it was intended merely as a trick upon the
enemy, to extract from them two thousand pounds sterling, in
lieu of certain expenses he had put himself to in raising a regiment
in Germany, at the request of the Marquis of Granby,
for which he had never been reimbursed. The verdict of the
court-martial is not yet known, but 'tis supposed he will suffer
according to the merit of his crime.[73]

September 3.—General Howe gives the following account
of the late action on Long Island:—On the twenty-second

of last month, in the morning, the British, with
Colonel Donop's corps of Chasseurs and Hessian
grenadiers, disembarked near Utrecht on Long Island, without
opposition, the whole being landed with forty pieces of cannon,
in two hours and a half, under the direction of Commodore
Hotham, Lieutenant-General Clinton commanding the
first division of the troops.

The enemy had only small parties upon the coast, who,
upon the approach of the boats, retired to the woody heights
commanding a principal pass on the road from Flatbush to
their works at Brooklyn. Lord Cornwallis was immediately
detached to Flatbush with the reserve, two battalions of light
infantry, and Colonel Donop's corps, with six field-pieces, having
orders not to risk an attack upon the pass, if he should
find it occupied; which proving to be the case, his lordship
took post in the village, and the army extended from the ferry
at the Narrows, through Utrecht and Gravesend, to the village
of Flatland.

On the twenty-fifth, Lieutenant-General de Heister, with
two brigades of Hessians from Staten Island, joined the army,
leaving one brigade of his troops, a detachment of the 14th
regiment from Virginia, some convalescents and recruits, under
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, for the security
of that island.

On the twenty-sixth, Lieutenant-General de Heister took
post at Flatbush, and in the evening Lord Cornwallis, with
the British, drew off to Flatland. About nine o'clock, the
same night, the van of the army, commanded by Lieutenant-General
Clinton, consisting of light dragoons and brigade of
light infantry, the reserve under the command of Lord Cornwallis,
excepting the 42d regiment, which was posted to the
left of the Hessians, the first brigade, and the 71st regiment,
with fourteen field-pieces, began to move from Flatland across
the country through the new lots, to seize a pass in the
heights, extending from east to west along the middle of the
island, and about three miles from Bedford, on the road to
Jamaica, in order to turn the enemy's left, posted at Flatbush.

General Clinton being arrived within half a mile of the
pass, about two hours before daybreak, halted and settled
his dispositions for the attack. One of his patrols, falling in
with a patrol of the enemy's officers, took them, and the
general learning from their information that the rebels had

not occupied the pass, detached a battalion of light infantry
to secure it, and, advancing with his corps, upon the first
appearance of day, possessed himself of the heights, with such
a disposition as must have insured success, had he found the
enemy in force to oppose him.

The main body of the army, consisting of the guards, 2d,
3d, and 5th brigades, with ten field-pieces, led by Lord Percy,
marched soon after General Clinton, and halted an hour before
day in his rear. This column (the country not admitting of
two columns of march) was followed by the 49th regiment, with
four medium twelve-pounders, and the baggage closed the rear
with a separate guard.

As soon as these corps had passed the heights, they halted
for the soldiers to take a little refreshment, after which the
march was continued, and about half an hour past eight
o'clock, having got to Bedford, in the rear of the enemy's
left, the attack was commenced by the light infantry and
light dragoons upon large bodies of the rebels having cannon,
who were quitting the wood heights before mentioned, to return
to their lines, upon discovering the march of the army.
Instead of which, they were driven back, and the army still
moving on to gain the enemy's rear, the grenadiers and 32d
regiment being in front of the column, soon approached within
musket-shot of the enemy's lines at Brooklyn, from whence
these battalions, without regarding the fire of cannon and
small arms upon them, pursued numbers of the rebels that
were retiring from the heights so close to their principal
redoubt, and with such eagerness to attack it by storm, that it
required repeated orders to prevail upon them to desist from
the attempt. Had they been permitted to go on, it is my
opinion they would have carried the redoubt; but as it was
apparent the lines must have been ours at a very cheap rate,
by regular approaches, I would not risk the loss that might
have been sustained in the assault, and ordered them back to
a hollow way, in the front of the works, out of the reach of
musketry.

Lieutenant-General de Heister began soon after daybreak
to cannonade the enemy in his front, and, upon the approach

of our right, ordered Colonel Donop's corps to advance to the
attack of the hill, following himself at the head of the brigades.
The light infantry, about that time, having been reinforced by
the light company, the grenadier company, and two other
companies of the guards, who joined them with the greatest
activity and spirit, had taken three pieces of cannon, and were
warmly engaged with very superior numbers in the woods,
when, on the Hessians advancing, the enemy gave way, and
was entirely routed in that quarter.

On the left, Major-General Grant, having the fourth and
sixth brigades, the 42d regiment, and two companies of the
New York Provincials, raised by Governor Tryon in the spring,
advanced along the coast with ten pieces of cannon, to divert
the enemy's attention from their left. About midnight, he
fell in with their advanced parties, and at daybreak with a
large corps, having cannon and advantageously posted, with
whom there was skirmishing, and a cannonade for some hours,
until by the firing at Brooklyn, the rebels, suspecting their
retreat would be cut off, made a movement to their right, in
order to secure it across a swamp and creek, that covered the
right of their works; but being met in their way by a party of
2d grenadiers, who were soon after supported by the 71st
regiment, and General Grant's left coming up, they suffered
considerably. Numbers of them, however, did get into the
morass, where many were suffocated or drowned.

The force of the enemy detached from the lines where
General Putman commanded, was not less, from the best
accounts I have had, than ten thousand men, who were under
the orders of Major-General Sullivan, Brigadier-Generals Lord
Stirling and Woodhull. Their loss is computed to be about
thirty-three hundred killed, wounded, prisoners, and drowned,
with five field-pieces and one howitzer taken.

On the part of the King's troops, five officers, and fifty-six
non-commissioned officers and rank and file are killed; twelve
officers, and two hundred and forty-five non-commissioned
officers and rank and file are wounded; one officer and twenty
grenadiers of the marines taken, by mistaking the enemy for
the Hessians.

The Hessians had two privates killed, three officers, and
twenty-three rank and file wounded. The wounds are in
general very slight. Lieutenant-Colonel Monckton is shot
through the body, but there are the greatest hopes of his
recovery.

The behavior of both officers and soldiers, British and
Hessians, was highly to their honor. More determined courage
and steadiness in troops have never been experienced, or a
greater ardor to distinguish themselves, as all those who had
opportunity amply evinced by their actions.

In the evening of the 27th, the army encamped in front of
the enemy's works. On the 28th, at night, broke ground six
hundred yards distant from a redoubt upon their left, and on
the 29th, at night, the rebels evacuated their intrenchments, and
Red Hook, with the utmost silence, and quitted Governor's
Island the following evening, leaving their cannon and a
quantity of stores, in all their works. At daybreak on the
30th, their flight was discovered; the pickets of the line took
possession, and those most advanced reached the shore
opposite to New York, as their rear guard was going over, and
fired some shot among them.

The enemy is still in possession of the town and island of
New York, in force, and making demonstration to oppose us
in their works on both sides of King's Bridge.

The inhabitants of Long Island, many of whom had been
forced into rebellion, have all submitted, and are ready to take
the oaths of allegiance.[75]

September 4.—We hear that the main body of our enemy's
army are now encamped near Hellgate; to which place they

have transported a number of boats over land;
and it is supposed they intend to cross and land a
little above their encampment, and attack our army near King's
Bridge, where we are making great preparations to receive
them.

General Sullivan and Lord Stirling, who were both missing

after the battle of the 27th ult., are both alive and well;
the former, on his parole, having obtained leave to go to Congress
last Saturday, passed New York on his way to Philadelphia.
It is said his business is to obtain an exchange of himself
and Lord Stirling, for General Prescott, a prisoner in
Pennsylvania, and General McDonald, a prisoner in North
Carolina.

Since our troops have evacuated Long Island, the Tories
and regulars treat the friends of their country with great severity
and cruelty. Colonel Woodhull, late President of the
New York Congress, for refusing to give up his side arms, was
wounded on the head with a cutlass, and had a bayonet thrust
through his arm.

By some people who left Huntingdon last Monday, we hear
that the inhabitants of Suffolk county were to give up their
arms yesterday.

Yesterday sixty-four women landed at Milford from Long
Island, and we hear numbers are coming off daily to the continent.

Colonel Zedwitz has had his trial, and has been acquitted
by a casting vote. He is yet held a prisoner.

A letter from New York mentions that when the Tories on
Long Island went to congratulate General Howe on his success
in driving the rebels from thence, he replied they ought
rather to condole him on the loss of eighteen hundred brave
men, and three generals.[77]

September 6.—A meeting of a large body of the inhabitants
of Long Island, New York, was held, at which the following
speech was delivered by an American re-

cruiting officer in the Provincials, now raising
for his Majesty's service, by order of his Excellency General
Howe:—

Gentlemen, Friends, and Countrymen:—Being appointed
by his Excellency General Howe to raise a corps of Provincials
for his Majesty's service, I readily engage in the attempt

from principle, and in consequence of the fullest conviction
that there are yet very many among us who still retain the
most unshaken loyalty to our gracious sovereign, and zealous
attachment to the blessings of the British constitution; who
have long been anxious to wipe away from our country the reproach
of a supposed universal revolt and disaffection of the
Americans; and who are prompted as well by inclination, as
by a sense of duty, to embrace the earliest opportunity of testifying
by their conduct a continuance of their allegiance to
his Majesty King George the Third, and a willing acknowledgment
of the necessary and constitutional supremacy of the British
legislature over the whole empire.

It is irksome to censure any collective bodies of our countrymen—we
wish their conduct had been less culpable. I am
confident we all hope that the sword of justice may be directed
by the hand of compassion—that the guilty may be reclaimed,
and that the deluded may be received with tenderness and
mercy. But, gentlemen, now is the time to exert our endeavors
if we wish to rescue ourselves from the evils of Republican
tyranny, or our country from ruin. The misrule and persecutions
of committees, conventions, and Congresses are no longer to be
endured; they have become insupportable—they are too enormous
for description. There are none of us but what have already
either seen or felt the cruelty and oppression of their
Republican despotism. Without effecting one salutary purpose,
those self-created bodies have violated all the sacred ties
of civil society, prostrated all law and government, and arbitrarily
usurped an absolute control over the natural rights,
the reason, and the consciences of their fellow-subjects. Instead
of supporting constitutional liberty, and redressing public
grievances, the special purposes of their original associations,
they have denied their fellow-citizens the greatest and
most valuable of all possible privileges: those of personal liberty,
and freedom of speech. Instead of endeavoring, by
dutiful representations in a constitutional method, for a reconciliation
with the parent state, and thereby restoring to us the
innumerable benefits and advantages of the former happy
union between Great Britain and the colonies, they have most

unjustifiably and perversely erected the standard of independency.
This is not all. They have increased and multiplied
the distresses of poverty and want among our poor. They
have, moreover, deliberately involved their country in all the
turbulence of faction, in all the evils of anarchy and licentiousness;
and to complete the transcendent enormity of their
crimes against the interest and prosperity of America, as well
as the state to which we are united by the ties of nature, and
bound by every civil, moral, and political obligation, they
have disregarded the liberal and benevolent declaration of his
Majesty's commissioners of peace, and with the most obdurate
and unfeeling dispositions for the distresses of their countrymen,
obstinately and wickedly precipitated the whole British
continent of America into all the guilt of rebellion, and all the
horrors and calamities of a civil war. In a few words, gentlemen,
they have deluded the populace, they have betrayed their
trust, they have forfeited the confidence of the public, they
have ruined our country. Not to oppose them and their
measures, were criminal. Not to join and assist the King's
forces at this time would be at once unwise, unmanly, and
ungrateful. And, gentlemen and countrymen, permit me to
add, that the repeated assurances which have been given by
the friends of government and good order, of their readiness
to enter into his Majesty's service, leave me no room to doubt
of the most immediate and honorable success. Your loyalty
to your King, your duty to your country, your regard for your
wives and children, the cause of violated justice and of injured
majesty, all call aloud for your strenuous aid and united endeavors
in assisting the royal army and navy in re-establishing
the authority of his Majesty's government in the colonies, and
with it a return to America of those happier days we all have
seen, when the voice of peace and plenty was heard in our
land, and we experienced, under the protection and benignity
of the British State, the tranquil enjoyment of such constitutional
and established liberties and privileges as were equal to
our wishes, and known only to British subjects.[79]

September 7.—Since our victory over Mr. Washington and
his dirty pack of New England long-faces, we have received
several challenges from the rebel camp, to fight man to man.
Mr. Washington, who is one of the most capable men in the
rebel army, don't seem to know that he might send his messages
in by a flag, and therefore we receive most of them on
the wind.[80]

The following letter to Lord Viscount Howe, commander-in-chief
of his Britannic Majesty's forces in North America, is

published in the paper of to-day:[82] —My Lord:
I am told there is great exultation among the
English and mercenary troops under your lordship's command,
on account of the late victory they obtained with an army of
ten thousand men, (having a large train of artillery and many
light horse to assist them in the work,) over three thousand
Americans, having neither artillery nor horse to oppose their
enemies with. Your army was commanded by a great many
generals, colonels, &c., which, by superior cunning or generalship,
had inclosed this handful of Americans, in full confidence
of taking captive all that they spared alive; but the
courage of these men baffled your hopes, who after laying
great numbers of their enemies dead, that opposed their retreat,
more than two-thirds reached their own lines in safety;
therefore, we think you have no cause to exult.

My Lord, I assure you the Americans are not in the least
dispirited at this unequal defeat; but, on the contrary, are
much exasperated that you should act so cowardly in attacking
three thousand men badly provided, with at least ten thousand
of your veteran English troops, accompanied by thousands
of orang-outang murdering brutes. The Americans
wish for an opportunity to fight the invaders of their once
happy land, on an equal footing, and let the fate of America
rest on the issue of this conflict.

The mode we would propose is as follows, and which we

are anxious for your lordship to adopt; and, it being equitable,
and your lordship being famed for generosity of sentiment, we
have no doubt of succeeding to your wish. Let your lordship
select ten thousand of your best troops and officers, with
your lordship at their head; draw them up on the extensive
plains of Long Island, where you will have every opportunity
of displaying your great abilities. Arrange them in whatever
manner you please; then let an equal number of Americans
form themselves in battalia, and let each army be provided in
all respects equal, with trains of artillery, and all other offensive
weapons; then, on a given signal, begin the attack, and
leave the issue to the God of armies. This is what the Americans
have requested me to propose to Lord Howe; and the
sooner he agrees to the proposal the better.

September 9.—Since the retreat of our army from Long
Island, the British have extended themselves a considerable
length on the shore bordering the Sound, and on

Tuesday a large number of them landed on Blackwell's
Island; but the shot from our batteries soon made them
recross the river. On Wednesday, a ship from the fleet, supposed
to be a frigate, passed between Governor's Island and
Red Hook, and that evening reached a position in the Sound
abreast of the island the enemy had been driven from; when,
under cover of her guns, they, the next day, again came over to
it in large bodies. This brought on a brisk cannonade for nearly
two hours, in which the ship sustained so great a damage in
her hull, as obliged her to move close in with the Long Island
shore, for shelter from our shot and bombs. At the same time
of attack, a firing also began from the enemy's batteries on
Long Island, opposite New York, which was returned with
such spirit by our people, in their fortresses at and about the
ship yards, that they have given us little or no annoyance
since, from that quarter.

Several men-of-war now lie within gun-shot of our main
battery, and the greatest part of the fleet is stationed behind
Governor's Island, though they have lately had very favorable
winds to come up to New York; which gives us reason to

think they do not mean to attack it by water, until they know
the success of their forces in attempting to land on York island.

Last Thursday, a barge was seen in the East River, sounding
the channel, where it is obstructed by scuttled vessels; but
she soon made off, in consequence, it is supposed, of observing
our people at the main fort, preparing to give her a suitable
salutation.[84]

September 16.—Yesterday morning, about eleven o'clock,
the British troops, under cover of a tremendous fire from eight

or ten ships-of-war, effected a landing near Mr.
Stuyvesant's house in the Bowery, and in a few
hours after took possession of the city of New York. About
the same time, the Asia man-of-war and two other ships proceeded
up the North River, but were very roughly handled by
the American battery at Powle's Hook. This morning, at
daylight, the Asia came down much faster than she went up,
she and her consorts having narrowly escaped destruction by
four of our fire ships that run in among them.[86]

A party from the enemy attacked the Americans, when
a battle ensued, and continued about two hours, when the
enemy gave way, and were pursued about two miles. In
this action, the brave and intrepid Colonel Knowlton,[87] of Ashford,

NEW YORK IN 1776.

From the rear of Col. Rutgers House, East River.

in Connecticut, was killed; and it is said Colonel Seldon,
of Lyme, is among the slain. The loss the enemy sustained
is said to have been very considerable. Our army is now between
the nine and ten mile stones, (Harlem,) where they are
strongly fortified and intrenched. The enemy's lines are
about one mile and a half below them.[89]

September 22.—Yesterday there was a terrible fire in
New York. It broke out first at the most southerly part of the
city, near White Hall, and was discovered be-

tween twelve and one o'clock in the morning, the
wind blowing very fresh from the south, and the weather
exceeding dry. The rebel army having carried off all the bells
of the city, the alarm could not be speedily communicated, and
very few of the citizens were in town, most of them being
driven out by the calamities of war, and several, of the first
rank, sent prisoners to New England and other distant parts.
A few minutes after the fire was discovered at White Hall, it
was observed to break out in five or six other places, at a
considerable distance.

In this dreadful situation, when the whole city was threatened
with destruction, Major-General Robertson, who had the
chief command, sent immediately for two regiments that were
encamped near the city, placed guards in several streets, and
took every other precaution that was practicable to ward off
the impending ruin. Lord Howe ordered the boats of the
fleet to be manned, and after landing a large number of
officers and seamen to assist us, the boats were stationed on
each side of the city in the North and East Rivers, and the
lines near the royal army were extended across the island,
as it manifestly appeared the city was designedly set on
fire.

The fire raged with inconceivable violence, and in its
destructive progress swept away all the buildings between
Broad street and the North River, almost as high as the City
Hall; and from thence, all the houses between Broadway and

the North River, as far as King's College, a few only excepted.
Long before the main fire reached Trinity church, that large,
ancient, and venerable edifice was in flames, which baffled
every effort to suppress them. The steeple, which was one
hundred and forty feet high, the upper part wood, and placed
on an elevated situation, resembled a vast pyramid of fire,
exhibiting a most grand and awful spectacle. Several women
and children perished in the fire. Their shrieks, joined to the
roaring of the flames, the crush of falling houses, and the widespread
ruin which everywhere appeared, formed a scene of
horror great beyond description, which was still heightened
by the darkness of the night. Besides Trinity church, the
rector's house, the charity school, the old Lutheran church,
and many other fine buildings, were consumed. St. Paul's
church and King's College were directly in the line of fire, but
saved with very great difficulty. After raging about ten
hours, the fire was extinguished between ten and eleven
o'clock this morning.

During this complicated scene of devastation and distress,
at which the most savage heart might relent, several persons
were discovered with large bundles of matches, dipped in
melted rosin and brimstone, attempting to set fire to the
houses. A New England man, who had a captain's commission
under the Continental Congress, and in their service, was
seized, having these dreadful implements of ruin. On being
searched, the sum of five hundred pounds was found upon
him. General Robertson rescued two of those incendiaries
from the enraged populace, (who had otherwise consigned them
to the flames,) and reserved them for the hand of deliberate
justice. One White, a carpenter, was observed to cut the
leather buckets which conveyed water; he also wounded, with
a cutlass, a woman who was very active in handing water.
This provoked the spectators to such a degree, that they
instantly hung him up. One of those villains set fire to the
college and was seized; many others were detected in the
like crime and secured.

The officers of the army and navy, the seamen and soldiers,
greatly exerted themselves, often with the utmost hazard to

themselves, and showed all that alertness and activity for
which they are justly celebrated on such occasions. To their
vigorous efforts in pulling down such wooden buildings as
would conduct the fire, it is owing, under Providence, that the
whole city was not consumed; for the number of inhabitants
was small, and the pumps and fire-engines were very much out
of order. This last circumstance, together with the removal of
our bells, the time and place of the fire's breaking out, when the
wind was south, the city being set on fire in so many different
places nearly at the same time, so many incendiaries being
caught in the very act of setting fire to houses; these, to mention
no other particulars, clearly evince, beyond the possibility
of a doubt, that this diabolical affair was the result of a preconcerted,
deliberate scheme. Thus, the persons who called
themselves our friends and protectors, were the perpetrators
of this atrocious deed, which in guilt and villany, is not inferior
to the Gun-powder Plot; whilst those who were held up
as our enemies were the people who gallantly stepped forth, at
the risk of their lives, to snatch us from destruction. Our distress
was very great before, but this disaster has increased it
tenfold. Many hundreds of families have lost their all, and
are reduced from a state of affluence to the lowest ebb of want
and wretchedness—destitute of shelter, food, and clothing.

Surely "there must be some chosen curse—some secret
thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath to
blast" the miscreants who thus wantonly sport with the lives,
property, and happiness of their fellow-creatures, and unfeelingly
doom them to inevitable ruin.[91]

This day, one Hale,[92] in New York, on suspicion of being a
spy was taken up and dragged without ceremony to the execution
post, and hung up. General Washington has since sent
in a flag, supposed to be on that account.

September 29.—A few days ago one Dr. Hull, belonging
to Wallingford, Connecticut, was drummed out of his regiment,
at the American camp at Harlem, for selling sol-

diers certificates that they were unfit for duty.
He charged eight pence for each man, and any one in his regiment
might have had a certificate for that sum. He deserves
to be advertised as a scoundrel as much as Wentworth.[94]

Since the victory at Charleston, the inhabitants of the
southern colonies are more unanimous and spirited in support
of the cause of American Independence than they

were before. A very artful speech made at
Philadelphia by Samuel Adams (who is esteemed by all as
one of the most subtle men in the Congress) to a very numerous
body of the citizens, militia, &c., has almost irritated
them to madness against Great Britain, and made them resolve
to conquer or die in the cause they have espoused.[96]