1777.

The sufferings of the American army had CHAP. VIII. been so great from the severity of the season, and the very active service in which they had been engaged; their complaints, especially on the part of the militia, were so loud; their numbers were reducing so fast by returning home, and by sickness; that general Washington found it impracticable, immediately, to prosecute further offensive operations, and deemed it absolutely necessary to retire to Morristown, in order to put his men under cover, and to give them some repose.

The bold, judicious, and unexpected attacks made at Trenton and Princeton, by an enemy believed to be vanquished, had an influence on the fate of the war much more extensive in its consequences, than, from a mere estimate of the killed and taken, would be supposed. They saved Philadelphia for the present winter; they recovered the state of Jersey; and, which was of still more importance, they revived the drooping spirits of America, and gave a sensible impulse to the recruiting service throughout the United States.

The problem, whether a nation can be defended against a permanent force, by temporary armies; by occasional calls of the husbandman, from his plough to the field, was already solved; and, in its demonstration, the independence of America had nearly perished in its cradle. All eyes were now turned on the

CHAP. VIII. army to be created for the ensuing campaign, as the only solid basis on which the hopes of the patriot could rest. During the retreat through the Jerseys, and while the expectation prevailed that no effectual resistance could be made to the advance of the enemy, some spirited men indeed were only animated to greater and more determined exertions; but such was not the operation of this state of things on the great mass from whence is to be drawn the solid force of armies. There appeared, especially in the middle states, the pause of distrust. Doubts concerning the issue of the contest became more extensive, and the business of recruiting proceeded so heavily and slowly, as to excite for the future the most anxious solicitude.

The affairs of Trenton and Princeton were represented, and considered as great victories. They were believed, by the body of the people, to evidence the superiority of their army, and of their general. The opinion that they were engaged in a hopeless contest, yielded to a confidence that proper exertions on their part, would be crowned with ultimate success.

This change of opinion relative to the issue of the war, was accompanied with an essential change in their conduct; and although the regiments required by congress were not completed, they were made much stronger than, before this happy revolution in the aspect of

public affairs, was believed to have been pos- CHAP. VIII. sible.

1777.

congress.

The firmness manifested by congress through- Firmness of out the gloomy and trying period which intervened between the loss of fort Washington, and the battle of Princeton, entitles the members of that day to the admiration of the world, and the gratitude of their fellow citizens. Unawed by the dangers which threatened them and regardless of personal safety, they did not for an instant admit the idea, that the independence they had declared was to be surrendered, and peace to be purchased by returning to their ancient colonial situation. As the British army advanced through Jersey, and the consequent insecurity of Philadelphia rendered an adjournment of congress from that place to one further removed from the seat of war, a necessary measure of precaution, their exertions seemed to increase with their difficulties. They sought to remove the despondence which was seizing and paralyzing the public mind, by an address to the states, in which every argument was suggested which could rouse them to vigorous action. They made the most strenuous efforts, too, to animate the militia, and impel them to the field, by the agency of those whose popular eloquence best fitted them for such a service.

* General Mifflin was on this occasion peculiarly useful.

CHAP. VIII. Europe; and proper persons were appointed to 1776. solicit their friendship to the new formed states.

These dispatches fell into the hands of the British, and by them were published; a cir cumstance by no means unwished for by congress, who were persuaded that an apprehension of their making up all differences with Great Britain was a principal objection to the interference of foreign courts, in what was represented to be no more than a domestic quarrel. A resolution adopted in the deepest distress, and in the worst of times, that congress would listen to no terms of re-union with their parent state, would, it was believed, convince those who wished for the dismemberment of the British empire, that it was sound policy to interfere, so far as would prevent the conquest of the United States.

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

NOTES.

NOTE....No. I.

It will not be unacceptable to the reader to peruse this first report of a young gentleman who afterwards performed so distinguished a part in the revolution of his country, it is therefore inserted at large.

I was commissioned and appointed by the hon. Robert Dinwiddie, esq. governor, &c. of Virginia, to visit and deliver a letter to the commandant of the French forces on the Ohio, and set out on the intended journey on the same day: the next, I arrived at Fredericksburg, and engaged mr. Jacob Vanbraam to be my French interpreter, and proceeded with him to Alexandria, where we provided necessaries. From thence we went to Winchester, and got baggage, horses, &c. and from thence we pursued the new road to Wills' creek, where we arrived the 14th November. Here I engaged mr. Gist to pilot us out, and also hired four others as servitors, Barnaby Currin, and John M'Quire, Indian traders, Henry Steward, and William Jenkins; and in company with those persons left the inhabitants the next day.

The excessive rains and vast quantity of snow which had fallen, prevented our reaching mr. Frazier's, an Indian trader, at the mouth of Turtle creek, on Monongahela river, till thursday the 22d. We were informed here, that expresses had been sent a few days before to the traders down the river, to acquaint them with the French general's death, and the return of the major part of the French army into winter quarters.

The waters were quite impassable without swimming our horses, which obliged us to get the loan of a canoe from Frazier, and to send Barnaby Currin and Henry Steward down the Monongahela, with our baggage, to