pended from his command for one year....The thanks

of

congress presented to general Washington and his
army, for their conduct in the battle at Monmouth.

CHAPTER IX.

Count D'Estaing arrives on the coast of Virginia with a
French fleet under his command....He meditates an at-
tack on the British fleet at New York, but is obliged to
relinquish it....Sails out to Rhode Island, and arrives off
Newport....Sails to attack lord Howe, who appears off
Rhode Island....General Sullivan lays siege to Newport....
Both fleets dispersed by a storm....D'Estaing returns
to Newport, and against the solicitations of Sullivan,
sails for Boston to refit....In consequence of the depar-
ture of the French fleet, Sullivan raises the siege of
Newport....Action between Sullivan and the British ar-
my....Sullivan retreats with his army to the continent....
Sullivan, in one of his general orders, makes use of ex-
pressions which offend the count....Count D'Estaing ex-
presses to congress his dissatisfaction with general Sul-
livan....General Washington labours to heal these dis-
contents, in which he succeeds....Lord Howe resigns the
command of the British fleet....Colonel Baylor's regiment
surprised....Captain Donop, with his corps, attacked by
colonel Butler, and defeated....Expedition of the British
against Egg Harbour....Pulaski surprised, and his in-
fantry cut off.

CHAPTER X.

Arrival of the British commissioners....Terms of concili-
ation proposed....Answer of congress to these proposi-
tions....Attempts of mr. Johnson to bribe influential
members of congress....Congress order the publication
of the private letters from Johnson to the members of
that body....Manifesto of the commissioners, and counter
manifesto by congress....Arrival of Gerard, minister
plenipotentiary from the king of France....His reception
by congress....Hostilities of the Indians.... Colonel John

Butler, with a party of Indians, breaks into the Wyo-
ming settlement....His treachery to colonel Zebulon
Butler....Kingston besieged by the Indians; surrenders,
and the garrison and inhabitants butchered.... Wilkes-
barre also surrenders, and meets the same fate....Dis-
tresses of the settlers in Wyoming....Colonel Alden
surprised, and with some of his party killed....Colonel
Clarke surprises St. Vincents, and takes possession of
it....Congress determine to attack Canada and the other
British possessions in North America....General Wash-
ington urges reasons against the plan....Has a personal
interview with a committee of congress, and induces
that body to abandon the enterprise.

LIFE

OF

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER I.

Arnold defeated on the lakes....General Carleton appears before Ticonderoga....Retires into winter quarters in Canada....Indian affairs....Treatment of prisoners.... Maritime exertions of America....Paper money....General conduct towards the disaffected....Observations on militia and other defects in the structure of the American army.

ALTHOUGH the Americans had been driven out of Canada, and the hope of annexing that province to the union was abandoned for the present, the northern department was still of the utmost importance, and the transactions of that quarter were, in a high degree, interesting to the whole. The war had indeed changed its object, and its character. Instead of conquest, the views of the United States were now limited to the defence of their own territory; and so great was the force directed against them, as to render their ability to repel inva

1776.

CHAP. I. sion, extremely doubtful: But as the theatre 1776. of action approached nearer home, the scenes assumed a deeper interest. The possession of lakes Champlain and George by the enemy, which might lead to the acquisition of Albany, and all the upper parts of the Hudson, thereby opening a free communication between the northern British army, and that in New York, and enabling them to co-operate with each other, while it would in a great measure sever and disconnect the eastern from the middle, and southern states, was an event as much to be deprecated on the one side, as it was wished on the other. Its importance would be very much increased by the political temper which continued to be very prevalent in the state of New York. The royalists were still powerful in the middle and upper country, as well as on the seaboard; and required only the protection of a British army, to show themselves in great force.

Congress was well aware of the vast importance of securing this frontier, and made great exertions to effect it. But the same mistaken policy, which had so enfeebled the army in the middle department, had also shed its baneful influence on that of the north.

On opening the campaign of 1776, instead of re-enforcing, it was necessary to re-create the army; and we have already seen how much these raw troops were weakened by the enemy,

by the small-pox, and by other diseases. Under CHAP. L the pressure of these calamities, it had been 1776. deemed necessary to strengthen them by such large draughts from the army designed to act under general Washington, as to compel him to rely so much upon militia, that he was exposed to the most serious hazards.

The command of this department had been intrusted to general Schuyler, a gentleman of considerable talents, who possessed great and deserved influence in the country. General Gates was named to the command of the army of Canada, and on his reaching Ticonderoga, he still claimed the command of the army, though it was no longer in Canada, and was in the department of general Schuyler, a senior officer, who had rendered very eminent services* in that station, and who, if placed under general Gates, must have felt it impossible to continue in the army. On the representation, however, of this circumstance to congress, it

The duties of general Schuyler had been laborious, intricate, and complicated; and he had discharged them with fidelity and talents. On him, almost exclusively, had devolved the difficult task of conducting the affairs of America with the Six Nations: and, while employed in furnishing the army of Canada with provisions and ammunition, in forwarding the re-enforcements designed for its aid, and in preparing the means for retaining the command of the lakes; it was also necessary to bestow a considerable share of attention on the tories of that country, who were numerous, and much disposed to aid the enemy