CHAPTER LIV. LIV. 1776. As sent forth by the Congress, the Declaration of CHAP. 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 AdjutantGeneral, 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 66 * Life and Correspondence of President Reed, vol. i. p. 195. Washington, however, in his public letter to Congress, (unless Mr. Jared Sparks has improved this passage) says, that the troops had testified "their warmest approbation." Writings, vol. iii. p. 457. CHAP. tumultuary violence, tore down and beheaded a LIV. statue of the King which stood upon the Broadway, 1776. having been erected only six years before. Wash ington, 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, 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 LIV. sacrifice a principle, declined to receive or open CHAP. 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 troops, I shall have their 66 support. .... And though the appeal may not "terminate so happily as I could wish, yet the 66 66 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 This passage is cited in Marshall's Life (vol. ii. p. 393.), though omitted in Sparks's collection. 1776. CHAP. by large bodies of New England and New York LIV. Militia, which increased it to 27,000 men. Of 1776. these, however, nearly one fourth 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 of intemperate habits.* 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 * Greene, un général souvent ivre. These are the words of La Fayette; Mem. et Corresp. vol. i. p. 21. ed. 1837. LIV. men, but in all probability were not more than CHAP equal in numbers to the British. Their chief, General Greene, had been smitten with a raging 1776. 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 the ground, were no match for disciplined troops. By noon the rout of the enemy was complete: they were driven back in confusion 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 field-officers 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 dis crimination of the claims of peerage, acknowledged his pretension as well-founded, and consented to |