independent of ourselves-something fixed and firm something which we know that our will cannot subvert, and beyond which, therefore, our hopes do not aspireseems requisite in all human society to its present peace and well being, and still more to its future security and permanence. Until 1776, views like these, so far as the United States are concerned in them, might have been warnings for the future. Since 1782, at the latest, they are merely day-dreams of the past. In place of them, let us now indulge the hope and expectation that the American people may concur with ours in desiring that no further resentment may be nourished, no further strife be stirred, between the kindred nations; so that both, mindful of their common origin, and conscious of their growing greatness, may both alike discard, as unworthy of them, all mean and petty jealousies, and be ever henceforth what Nature has designed them - friends. 1776. WASHINGTON AT NEW YORK. 107 CHAPTER LIV. As sent forth by the Congress, the Declaration of Independence having reached the camp of Washington, was, by his orders, read aloud at the head of every regiment. There, as in most other places, it excited much less notice than might have been supposed. An American author of our own day, most careful in his statements, and most zealous in the cause of independence, observes that, "No one can read the private correspondence of the times "without being struck with the slight impression made on either the army or the mass of the people by the "Declaration.” * The Adjutant-General, in his familiar and almost daily letters to his wife, does not even allude to it. But though there was little of enthusiasm, there were some excesses. At New York, a party of the soldiers, with tumultuary violence, tore down and beheaded a statue of the King which stood upon the Broadway, having been erected only six years before. Washington, greatly to his honour, did not shrink from the duty of rebuking them next day, in his General Orders, for their misdirected zeal. It was at this inauspicious juncture-only a few hours after Independence had been proclaimed in the ranks of his opponents-that the bearer of the pacific commission, Lord Howe, arrived off Sandy Hook. He had cause to regret most bitterly both the delay in his passage and the limitation in his powers. He did not neglect, however, whatever means of peace were still within his reach. He sent on shore a declaration announcing to the people the object of his mission. He despatched a friendly letter, * Life and Correspondence of President Reed, vol. i. p. 195. Washington, however, in his public letter to Congress, (as included in Mr. Jared Sparks's collection) says, that the troops had testified "their warmest approbation." Writings, vol. iii. p. 457. written at sea, to Dr. Franklin, at Philadelphia. But when Franklin's answer came, it showed him wholly adverse to a reconciliation, expressing, in strong terms, his resentment of the "atrocious injuries " which, as he said, America had suffered from "your uninformed and "proud nation." Lord Howe's next step was to send a flag of truce, with another letter, to Washington. But here a preliminary point of form arose. Lord Howe, as holding the King's commission, could not readily acknowledge any rank or title not derived from His Majesty. He had, therefore, directed his letter to "George Washington, Esq." On the other hand, Washington, feeling that, in his circumstances, to yield a punctilio would be to sacrifice a principle, declined to receive or open any letter not addressed to him as General. Thus, at the very outset, this negotiation was cut short. In the lofty tone which he here adopted, Washington was not swayed by any overweening notion of his strength. His troops had dwindled to 17,000 men, of whom above 3000 were sick, and as many detached on posts; so that around him at New York there were only 10,000 fit for duty. In one of his letters to the Congress we find him state the heavy disadvantages under which he should labour in case of an immediate attack from the English army. But in that case, he adds, "so far as I can judge, "from the professions and apparent dispositions of my 66 troops, I shall have their support. And though "the appeal may not terminate so happily as I could wish, yet the enemy will not succeed in their views without "considerable loss. Any advantage they may gain I "trust will cost them dear."* In that passage surely we see displayed a hero's mind; calmly foreseeing defeat as certain, yet as calmly resolved to abide it in the path of duty, and to contest it as long as possible. This letter bears date the 8th of August. Not many days afterwards the American army was reinforced by two regiments from Pennsylvania, and by large bodies of New England and New York Militia, which increased it to 27,000 men. Of these, however, nearly one fourth * This passage is cited in Marshall's Life (vol. ii. p. 393.), though omitted in Sparks's collection. 1776. BATTLE OF BROOKLYN. 109 were sick. To guard one of the main approaches to New York, a part of this army was stationed in the furthest western angle of Long Island, with directions to throw up entrenchments in front of the little town of Brooklyn. The command of this important post was entrusted by Washington to General Greene, an officer of bravery and enterprise, but whose talents were as yet known only to his friends.* Washington himself found it necessary to continue his head quarters at New York, since there seemed great probability that the English, whether or not conjointly with an attack on Brooklyn, might avail themselves of their naval force, and make a direct attempt upon that important city. It was not until towards the middle of August that General Howe was joined by the main part of the expected troops from England. On their arrival, he determined, as the first step to the reduction of New York, to attack the Americans at Brooklyn. He sent over to Long Island a division- some 8000 strong: the English under General Clinton and Lord Cornwallis; the Hessians under General Heister and Count Donop. On the American side, the troops being reinforced from New York, were estimated by General Howe at 10,000 men, but in all probability were not more than equal in numbers to the British. Their chief, General Greene, had been smitten with a raging fever, and it had become necessary for Washington to despatch General Israel Putnam in his place. On the 24th, the 25th, and the 26th of August, there was some slight skirmishing between both armies, the American having advanced to a low range of hills about two miles and a half in front of the Brooklyn lines. On the 27th the English, marching to the attack before day-break, fought the action sometimes called the battle of Brooklyn, and sometimes the battle of Long Island. The Americans from the southern states fought well; the others made but slight resistance; but, indeed, raw levies such as these, even with some advantage of ground, were no match for disciplined troops. By noon the rout of the enemy was complete: they were driven back in confusion Greene, dont les talens n'étaient encore connus que de ses amis. These are the words of La Fayette; Mem. et Corresp. vol. i. p. 21. ed. 1837. to their lines, leaving on the field many hundreds killed and wounded, and above a thousand prisoners. Among these was General Sullivan, and another of their fieldofficers whom they called Lord Stirling. His name was William Alexander; he had been Surveyor-General of the Jerseys, and was a distant kinsman of the last Earls of Stirling, whose title he had claimed at the Bar of the House of Lords. The Lords, after full consideration of the evidence, decided against him. The Americans, however, with a nicer discrimination of the claims of peerage, acknowledged his pretension as well-founded, and consented to address him by the rank which he assumed. Neither Sullivan nor the titular Lord Stirling, I may remark in passing, were for any long period withdrawn from the service of their native or adopted country; for a cartel being established between the two armies, the prisoners on both sides came to be exchanged on equal terms. Washington, who had hastened over from New York at the sound of the firing, beheld, with the keenest anguish, and without the power of giving aid, the discomfiture and slaughter of his best troops. He saw them pursued by the victorious British almost to the foot of the Brooklyn lines, and even those lines on the very point of being scaled. In the words of General Howe, who had also arrived upon the ground, "such was the eagerness (of my troops) to "attack the redoubt, that it required repeated orders to 66 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." By such illtimed caution, arising probably from an over-estimate of the insurgents' force, the English General flung away the fairest opportunity of utterly destroying or capturing the flower of the American army. The respite thus afforded was most judiciously employed by Washington: he rallied as he best might his broken troops, and on the 28th and 29th awaited another battle at his lines. So great were his exertions and anxieties, that during forty-eight hours he was hardly off his horse, and never once closed his eyes. Yet his position was in truth untenable, and on the even |