XII. Nov. 22. stantly devising means to cover the country, and CHAP. hoping to be joined by the continental force under Lee and by volunteers of New Jersey. But 1776. Lee, weakened by the return home of about three thousand of the Massachusetts militia, remained in idleness for sixteen days, pretending to defend a country which there was no enemy near to attack, indifferent to the "full and explicit" and constantly reiterated orders of Washington. On the twenty-third, Washington sent Reed, who was a native of New Jersey, to the legislature of that state then assembled at Burlington, and Mifflin to the congress at Philadelphia, to entreat the immediate reënforcement of his dilapi dated army. Mifflin fulfilled his mission with patriotism and ability. Congress, in their helplessness, called on the associators in Philadelphia and the nearest four counties to join the army, if but for six months; begged blankets and woollen stockings for the bare soldiers; and wrote north and south for troops and stores. The state of Pennsylvania was paralyzed by anarchy, continuous revolution, and disputes about the new constitution, which the majority disapproved, and of which the complete establishment was effectually resisted for three months to come; but Mifflin successfully addressed the old committee of safety, and the new assembly; he reviewed and encouraged the city militia; with Rittenhouse in the chair, and the general assembly and council of safety in attendance, he spoke to the people in town-meeting with fervor, and was answered by unanimous acclamations. All this while, the British officers were writing home from New 23. CHAP. York: "Lord Cornwallis is carrying all before him XII. in the Jerseys; it is impossible but that peace 1776. must soon be the consequence of our success." On Nov. 28. 30. the twenty-eighth, the advanced guard of Cornwallis reached Newark, just as it was left by the rear of the Americans. On that same day, Reed, who had been charged to convey to the New Jersey government "a perfect idea of the critical situation of affairs, the movements of the enemy, and the absolute necessity of further and immediate exertions," shrunk from his duty, and, seeking definitively to quit the army, sent back his commission to the president of congress. But the prospect of unsparing censure, and a cold rebuke from Washington, who had seen proof of his disingenuousness, drove him, at the end of four days, to retract his resignation, though he could not as yet wholly overcome his reluctance at "following the wretched remains of a broken army." At Brunswick, where that army arrived on the evening of the twenty-eighth, it found short rest. Lee, though importuned daily, and sometimes twice a day, still lingered on the east of the Hudson; Pennsylvania had no government; the efforts of congress were as yet ineffective; and the appeal of the governor of New Jersey to its several colonels of militia could not bring into the field one full company. All this while Washington was forced to hide his weakness, and bear loads of censure from false estimates of his strength. To expressions of sympathy from William Livingston he answered: "I will not despair." As he wrote these words, on the last day of November, he was parting with the XII. Nov. New Jersey brigade and that of Maryland, which CHAP. formed nearly half his force, and claimed their discharge, now that their engagement expired; while 1776. the brothers, Lord and Sir William Howe, were pub- 30. lishing a new proclamation of pardon and amnesty to all who would within sixty days promise not to take up arms in opposition to the king. The men of New Jersey, instead of turning out to defend their country, made their submissions as fast as they could, moved by the wavering of their chief justice, and the example of Samuel Tucker, who, though he had been president of the convention which formed the constitution of the state, chairman of its committee of safety, treasurer, and judge of the supreme court, yet signed the pledge of fidelity to the British. From Philadelphia, Joseph Galloway went over to Howe; so did Andrew Allen, who had been a member of the continental congress, and two of his brothers; all confident of being soon restored to their former fortunes and political importance. Even John Dickinson, who was free from malice and struck wounds only into his own breast, discredited the continental paper, and for two or three months longer, was so thoroughly convinced of the necessity of returning to the old state of dependence, that he refused to accept from Delaware an appointment to the congress of the United States. The state of Maryland was willing to renounce the declaration of the fourth of July, for the sake of an accommodation with Great Britain. 1 Force, iii. 1255, 1294, 1370. Robert Morris to Jay, January 12, 1777, MS. John Dickinson to George Read, January 20, 1777, : CHAP. XII. Nov. On the other hand, Schuyler, always on on the alert to send help where it was wanted, ordered 1776. from the northern army seven continental regiments of New England, whose term of service would expire on the first of January, to march to the Delaware. Wayne burned to come "to the assistance of poor Washington," but was kept a little longer in command at Ticonderoga. In the darkest hour, Trumbull, of Connecticut, professing a due dependence on the divine disposer of events, said, for himself and for the people of his government: "We are determined to maintain our cause to the last extremity." Dec. 1. Yet the fate of America was trembling in the scale, when the infatuation of the Howes rashly divided their forces. Two English and two Hessian brigades, under the command of Clinton, assisted by Earl Percy and Prescott, passed through the sound in seventy transports, and, on the seventh of December, were convoyed into the harbor of Newport by Sir Peter Parker, with eleven ships of war. The island of Rhode Island could offer no resistance; the American armed vessels that were in the bay went up to Providence for shelter. This useless conquest, which kept a large number of troops unemployed for the next three years, was made against the advice of Clinton, who wished rather to have landed at Amboy, or to have ascended the Delaware with the fleet to Philadelphia. On the first of December, just as Washington was leaving Brunswick, he renewed his urgency with Lee: "The enemy are advancing, and mean to push for Philadelphia; the force I have with XII. 1776. Dec. 1. 2. me is infinitely inferior in numbers, and such as CHAP. cannot promise the least successful opposition. I must entreat you to hasten your march as much as possible, or your arrival may be too late." On the evening of that day, Cornwallis entered Brunswick. Washington, as he retreated, broke down a part of the bridge over the Raritan, and a sharp cannonade took place across the river, in which it is remembered that an American battery was served by Alexander Hamilton. With but three thousand men, half clad, poorly fed, he marched by night to Princeton. Leaving Stirling and twelve hundred men at that place to watch the motions of the enemy, he went with the rest to Trenton. His mind derived nourishment from adversity, and grew more strong and serene and pure through affliction. He found time to counsel congress how to provide resources for the campaign of the next year; and as he has himself written,1 he saw "without despondency even for a moment the hours which America styled her gloomy ones." Having transferred his baggage and stores beyond the Delaware, he faced about with such troops as were fit for service, to resist the further progress of the enemy, and to await the movements of Lee, whom he sought, by a special messenger, to animate to rapid movements. But on the sixth, Cornwallis, who was impatient at his orders not to advance beyond Brunswick, was joined by Howe and nearly a full brigade of fresh troops. On his way to Princeton, Washington met the detachment of Stirling retreating before a vastly superior force; 1 Washington to George Mason, March 27, 1779. 6. |