LETTER I. The Author's Voyage from France to America.— Arrival at Boston.—Boston and its Harbour.—Manners and customs of the inhabitants—of the Quakers, and remarks upon their mode of worship —American Ladies.—Commerce of Boston.—Colleges at Cambridge. —American prejudices against the French Nation.— Arrival of Count Rochambeau and the French Army at Newport, in Rhode-Island.

I HAVE at length, my dear friend, accomplished my long Voyage over the vast Atlantic. For the space of no less than eighty five days we were tossed about in our floating habitation, but in the word of our danger, and when we were seemingly upon the point of being overtur [...]ed by the fury of the winds and waves, I had the satisfaction to find that our ship constantly returned to her original position by that universal all-pervading principle, the central attraction of gravity. How many efforts, how much time must it have taken to have perfected these huge and unwieldy machi [...]es, by the aid of which man are enabled to despise the utmost fury and most violent agitations of the waves! Like new E [...]luses t [...]y curb the impetuosity of the winds, or by the power of reaction f [...]ce th [...]m to contribute to the progress of the voyage, in almost opp [...]si [...]e directions.

But [...]las! this noble art has not yet been able to secure the voyager from that disagreeable malady called sea sickness, occasion­ed by the motion of the vessel. I believe I have suffered as much from this nauseous complaint as any person that ever went to sea, and notwithstanding the frequent use of acids, it for a long time [Page 10] wholly prevented me from attending to any kind of business, or paying a particular attention to the many objects that surrounded me. Languishing with weakness, and confined to the narrow bounds of this floating prison, hearing nothing from morning till night but the barbarous phrases peculiar to the sea and sailors, I was in no condition to observe or reflect upon the awful beauties of the ocean, or the grandeur of the scene around me. With per­fect indifference I beheld it tossing, boiling and foaming; swelling into mountains, or jumbled into a chaos of confusion; its vapour exhaling into the air, or forming artificial rainbows about our vessel, while it at the same time menaced us with destruction. With little or no emotion, I saw it abate of its rage, grow smooth, extend the limits of the horizon, and presently resemble an immense mass of oil, still however retaining its undulation. But it was difficult for me to withhold my attention from those scintillations of light, which the most inconsiderable motion in the water struck out of obscurity; they were particularly remarkable when a fresh g [...]e drove the vessel through the water with an increased rapidity; she then seemed to plunge into torrents of flaming phosphorus, and to be making a tremendous progress through plains of liquid fire. I revolved in my own mind, what could be the cause of this singular, though common appearance, which I believe has never been thoroughly investigated: Are they atoms of salt which, from their several surfaces, reflect the rays of light? Or is it their collision with the sulphurous particles, that kindles them into flame, or are they rather the igneous fluid, the radical fire that is supposed to be the first cause of fluidity in the other elements?

We steered a southerly course till we came to the 30th. degree of North Latitude. The sea in this climate appeared to me to have more of a greenish cast than before, and to abound throughout with this fire resembling phosphorus; we there saw the goldfish, the voracious dolphin, and the flying fish, which to escape the former, flies out of the water, but falls down again as soon as the air has dried the moisture on its wings. I did not know the galley fish, tho' common enough on our coasts; but the sailors caught one, which I examined with the most scrupulous attention. Nature has given it a bladder, which buoys it up and serves as a rudder to direct its cours [...]; its whole contexture is nothing more than a slimy mass, the organisation of which I had not time thoroughly to consider; it is provided with long fibres encircled with rings, which serve to give it a hold in the water, so as not to be driven away by the violence of the wind; and through these fibres they also suck up the food that serves for their subsistence. I touched this animal with my finger, and immediately had the painful sensation of a burn, ard forty-eight hours afterwards I still felt the effects of this penetrating caustic.

In fine weather I used to take great pleasure, at night, in con­templating the grand prospect of the starry firmament over our heads; but the wonted order and regularity of the Heavens was [Page 11] wholly altered; the ecliptic circle had withdrawn itself a great distance from the Horizon, the pole-star had approached very near thereto, and the great Bear was about setting and concealing himself entirely from our view: what surprised me most, was, that the milky way had disappeared, although I plainly perceived the constellation of the Swan ▪ which is known to have its place in the midst of it—I could wish the philosophers would explain this astronomical mystery, those especially who argue that the Galaxy is nothing more than an immense collection of stars; for why should these stars disappear, when all the rest of the heavenly bodies are visible here as well as in other places?—I now no longer wondered at the idea of the ancients about the rising and setting of the sun in the ocean:

Being often forced for the sake of fresh air to be upon deck at the time of his appearing or disappearing, I observed him some­times detaching himself slowly from the line that bounded the skies and waters, and at other times falling perpendicularly into the midst of the waves; the eye, with a momentary deception, persuading itself that the Horizon was plunging after the great luminary.—

The sea, you well know, has plants and herbage peculiar to itself; it is remarkable that nature has formed them considerably different from land vegetables in colour, shape and properties; and if of a less delicate structure, it was doubtless ordered so because she did not intend this element to produce animals as precious and so exquisitely wrought as the other. The marine plants, however, are not without evident traces of the wise hand that formed them; I often saw the sea covered with these saline herbs for a great space, and in examining them, remarked among other things that instead of fibrous roots, they had parts somewhat like hands to attach themselves to the rocks, a stem flatted at the end, and thick leaves, the better to resist the shock of the waves; and all provided at small intervals with cells nearly empty of air, which by this means counterpoised their specific weight, and forced them to tend con­stantly in a perpendicular direction toward the surface of the water.

I cannot give you a competent idea of the agreeable emotions I experienced at the sight of land, which at first appeared like a thin mist at the very extremity of the Horizon. What moment of life is comparable to that when a man is upon the point of re-enjoying his health, coming within reach of objects which interest the mind, the heart and the senses, and finding, instead of a late chaos and the ghastly image of destruction, a world of nature everywhere organized into the most elegant symmetry and perfection—to walk upon the grassy plain, to breathe the perfume of a thousand flowers, to enjoy the shade of the trees, to listen to the harmony of the birds of the grove, and to see them soar aloft and poise themselves in the air!

[Page 12]It is absence from these enjoyments that makes their value the better known, and that swells the soul with gratitude to the benign creator of all, when we are restored to them. A leafy branch float­ing on the surface of the water made my heart leap with joy, as this was the token of a new world r [...]ady to appear. We had now doubled Cape A [...]ne and were at the mouth of the great Bay of Massachusetts, could plainly perceive the waves breaking upon the rocks of Cape Cod, and in a few hours might have been at Boston, had not a thick fog suddenly surrounded us, and left us at a loss which way to steer, being in the midst of shoals and ledg [...]s: In this uncertainty we cast anchor, but soon after, a strong contrary wind drove us from our anchors, broke the cables, nearly forced several of our ships foul of each other, and threatened us with in­evitable shipwreck in these very dangerous Latitudes.

The greater part of the vessels put before the wind and steered from the land, despairing of gaining this much desired port, but after two days of uncertainty and da [...]ger, a happy change of wind and weather brou [...]ht us safe into the Harbour of Boston. From this road, which is interspersed with several agreeable little Islands, we discovered through the woods, on the side toward the west, a magnificent prospect of houses, built on a curved line, and extend­ing afterwards in a semicircle above half a league—This was Boston. These edifices which were lofty and regular, with spires and cupolas intermixt at proper distances, did not seem to us a modern settle­ment so much as an ancient city, enjoying all the embellishments and population, that never fail to attend on commerce and the arts.

The inside of the town does not at all lessen the idea that is formed by an exterior prospect: a superb wharf has been carried out above two thousand feet into the sea, and is broad enough for stores and work-shops through the whole of its extent; it com­municates at right angles with the principal street of the town, which is both large and spacious, and bends in a curve parallel to the harbour; this street is ornamented with elegant buildings, for the most part two or three stories high, and many other streets terminate in this, communicating with it on each side. The form and construction of the houses would surprise a European eye; they are built of brick, and wood, not in the clumsy and melancholy t [...] of our ancient European towns, but regularly and well provided with windows and doors. The wooden work or frame is light, covered on the outside with thin boards, well plained, and lapped over each other as we do tiles on our roofs in France; these buildings are generally painted with a pale white colour, which renders the prospect much more pleasing than it would otherwise be; the roofs are set off with balconies, doubtless for the more ready extinguishing of fire; the whole is supported by a wall of about a fo [...]t high; it is easy to see how great an advantage these houses have over ou [...]s, in point of neatness and salubrity.

All the parts of these buildings are so well joined, and their [Page 13] weight is so equally divided, and proportionate to their bulk, that they may be removed from place to place with little difficulty.— I have seen one of two stories high removed above a quarter of a mile, if not more, from its original situation, and the whole French army have seen the same thing done at Newport. What they tell us of the trav [...]lling habitations of the Scythians is far less wonder­ful. Their household furniture is simple, but made of choice wood, after the English fashion, which renders their appearance less g [...]: their floors are covered with handsome carpets, or painted cloths, but others sprinkle them with fine sand.

This city is supposed to contain about six thousand houses, and thirty thousand inhabitants; there are nineteen churches for the several sects here, all of them convenient, and several finished wi [...]h taste and elegance, especially those of the Presbyterians and the Church of England; their form is generally a long square, ornamented with a pulpit, and furnished with pews of a similar fabrication throughout. The poor as well as the rich hear the word of God in these places in a convenient and decent posture of body.

Sunday is observed with the utmost strictness; all business, how important soever, is then totally at a stand, and the most innocent recreations and pleasures prohibited. Boston, that populous town, where at other times there is such a hurry of business, is on this day a mere desert; you may walk the streets without meeting a single person, and if by chance you meet one, you scarcely dare to stop and talk with him. A Frenchman that lodged with me took it into his head to play on the fl [...]te on Sundays for his amuse­ment; the people upon hearing it were greatly enraged, collected in crowds round the house and would have carried matters to ex­tremity in a short time with the musician, had not the landlord given him warning of his danger, and forced him to desist. Upon this day of melancholy you cannot go into a house but you find the whole family employed in reading the Bible; and indeed it is an affecting [...]ight to see the father of a family surrounded by his houshold, hearing him explain the sublime truths of this sacred volume.

Nobody fails here of going to the place of worship appropriated to his sect. In these place [...] there reigns a profound silence; an order and respect is also observable which has not been seen for a long time in our Catholic churches. Their psalmody is grave and majestie, and the harmony of the Poetry, in their national tongue, adds a grace to the music, and contributes greatly towards keeping up the attention of the worshippers.

All these churches are destitute of ornaments. No addresses are made to the heart and the imagination; there is no visible object to suggest to the mind for what purpose a man comes into these places, what he is and what he will shortly be. Neither painting nor sculpture represent those great events which ought to recall him to his duty and awaken his gratitude, nor are those heroes in piety [Page 14] brought into view, whom it is his duty to admire and endeavour to imitate. The pomp of ceremony is here wanting to shadow out the greatness of the being he goes to worship; there are no pro­cessions to testify the homage we owe to him, that great Spirit of the Universe, by whose will Nature itself exists, through whom the fields are covered with harvests, and the trees are loaded with fruits.

The Quakers, still greater enemies to outward ceremonies in worship, have banished from amongst them the very appearance of a priesthood: In vain will you look into their meeting houses for a minister particularly commissioned to speak in the name of the D [...]vinity. The eye can discover nothing but a silent, meditating, melancholy assembly, collected together without any app [...]nt motive or design; till at length the holy spirit, seizing upon the faculties of some one in the congregation, heats, agitates, and makes a priest of him in an instant. This infusion of the spirit, is bestowed without exception of age, sex or condition. He who has been engaged all his life in the m [...]anest and most insignificant occupations, and the circle of whose ideas nature has circumscribed within the most narrow bounds, becomes all at once an oracle, and an interpreter of the sublime truths of christianity. The prin­cipal virtue of the Quakers ought to be patience: for their inspired orators often put it to severe proof, and the women, always atten­tive to the suggestions and dictates of this divine spirit, make, it is said, very free use of the precious gift of speech.

Such an extraordinary manner of worship, could not long retain its credit in the world, unless its followers manifested greater sim­plicity in their outward appearance, were more humane toward their fellow creatures, more upright in their dealings, and more disinterested in civil society, than other men. But that enthusiasm, which first gave birth to the sect, is now in a great measure ex­tinguished; so that we must take them as they are in the present age, to form a proper opinion of them.

Such virtues as the above, in which the Quakers are said to ex­cel, have been more prevalent among them and of longer duration in America, than elsewhere, because the climate and the life they lead is favourable thereto.

Piety, is not the only motive that brings the American Ladies in crowds to the various places of worship. De­prived of all shows and public diversions whatever, the church is the grand theatre where they attend, to display their extrava­gance and finery. There they come dressed off in the finest silks, and over-shadowed with a profusion of the most superb plumes. The hair of the head is raised and supported upon cushions to an extravagant height, somewhat resembling the manner in which the French ladies wore their hair some years ago. Instead of powdering, they often wash the head, which answers the purpose well enough, as their hair is commonly of an agreeable light colour; but the more fashionable among them begin now to adopt the pre­sent [Page 15] European method, of setting off the head to the best advantage. They are of a large size, well proportioned, their features general­ly regular, and their complexion fair, without ruddiness. They have less cheerfulness and ease of behaviour, than the ladies of France, but more of greatness and dignity; I have even imagined that I have seen something in them, that answers to the ideas of beauty we gain from those master-pieces of the artists of antiquity, which are yet extant in our days. The stature of the men is tall, and their carriage erect, but their make is rather slim, and their colour inclining to pale. They are not so curious in their dress as the women, but every thing upon them is neat and proper. At twenty-five years of age, the women begin to lose the bloom and freshness of youth; and at thirty-five or forty, their beauty is gone.

The decay of the men is equally premature, and I am in­clined to think that life itself is here proportionably short. I vi­sited all the burying grounds in Boston, where it is usual to inscribe upon the stone over each grave, the names and ages of the deceased, and found that few who had arrived to a state of manhood, ever ad­va [...]ced beyond their fiftieth year; fewer still to seventy, and be­yond that scarcely any. ^*

Boston is situated on a peninsula, upon a descent towards the sea side; this peninsula is connected witn the continent only by a neck of land, which at full tide is not more than the breadth of a high way, so that it would be no difficult matter to render this a place of great strength. Hard by is an eminence which commands the whole town, upon which the Bostonians have built a kind of light-House or beacon, of a great height, with a barrel of tar fixed at the top, ready to set fire to in case of an attack. At such a sig­nal, more than forty thousand men would take arms, and be at the gates of the town in less than twenty-four hours.

From hence may be seen the ruins of Charlestown, which was burnt by the English, on the 17th of June, 1775, at the battle of Bunker's Hill—a melancholy prospect, calculated to keep up in the breasts of the Bostonians, the spirit and sentiments of liberty. This town was separated from the peninsula only by Charles river, and was built in the angle formed by the junction of this river with the Mystic. The buildings in it were good, the whole ca­pable of being fortified to advantage, and seems to have been about half as big as Boston.

The harbour of this last mentioned city, can receive more than five hundred sail of vessels, but the entrance is difficult and dan­gerous, being only a channel about the breadth of three ships. Some strong batteries, erected upon one of the adjacent islands, protect the road, and consequently relieve the town from any ap­prehensions of an insult from an enemy by sea. The capes that [Page 16] bound the entrance of the bay,—the reef of rocks that edge the outlet of the road, and the little islands that are seen every where scattered up and down, form so many obstacles, which diminish and repress the sea-swell, and render this harbour one of the safest in the world.

The commerce of the Bostonians formerly comprized a variety of articles, and was very extensive before the breaking out of the present war. They supplied Great Britain with ma [...]ts and yards for her royal [...]avy, and built, either upon commission or their own account, a great number of merchantmen, remarkable for their superiority in sailing. Indeed they were of such a slight and peculiar construction that it did not require the abilities of a gr [...]at connoisseur to distinguish their ship in the midst of those belonging to other nations. Those that they freighted on their own account were sent either to the American Islands or to Europe laden wi [...]h timber, plank, joiners stuff, pitch, tar, tupertine, ros [...], beef, salt pork and some furrs; but their principal object in trade was the codfish, which they caught upon their own coasts, and par­ticularly in the bay of Massachusetts ^§

The product of this fishery was about fifty thousand quintals, annually, which they exported to the other neighbouring pro­vinces, and even to Spain, Italy and throughout the Mediterr [...]nean, while those of the worst quality were destined to the use of the negroes in the Caribbee Islands. In this fishery they employed a great number of hands, and by this means furnished themselves with excellent sailors. The province of Massachusetts, tho' inferior to the rest in the quality of the soil, will always be rich and power­ful while it retains this branch of commerce, and if at some future period this new world shall display a great and formidable fo [...]ce upon the sea, Boston will be the place from whence we shall first see them advancing to assert an equal right to the watry Emp [...]re. In exchange for these exports they return with wine from Madeira, Malaga and Oporto, which they prefer to ours on account of their sweetness, or perhaps rather because they are more accustomed to them.

From the Islands they bring vast quantities of sugar, which they consume with their tea, a [...] article the North-Americans make us [...] of at least twice a-day; molasses they import in still greater quantities, they distil it into rum, which when mixed with water is their ordina­ry drink. The demand for this article was considerable, and the quantity imported so great that, before the war it was not worth more than two shillings the gallon ^*. They often when in Europe, [Page 17] disposed of their ships and cargoes together, and went over to England to purchase their manufactures, which they transported to America in English Bottoms, and thus the mother country increased, by the American commerce, the value of her own commodities, while she supplied them only with articles of con­sumption. By this double exchange with the Americans, the English manufactures were in great demand, although they could not be afforded so cheap as those of other nations, owing to the excessive price of labour in England. Their fisheries, their trade, and the vast number of vessels they built has rendered them the car­riers of all the Northern colonies.

It is computed that from 1748 to 1749, inclusive, there were 500 vessels employed from this port in foreign commerce, and inward entries were made of 430; and the coasting and fishing vessels amounted to at least 1000. It appears however that after this, as a certain English author remarks, their commerce had declined.

In 1738 forty-one ships were built at Boston making in the whole 6380 tons; in 1743 were built 28; in 1746 twenty; in 1749 fifteen, amounting in all to 2450 tons. This decrease in the commerce of Boston probably arose from several new establish­ments that had been formed along the coast, which drew to themselves those different branches of trade which their several situations favoured them in.

The great demand for rum among the Americans led them to form connexions with the French Colonies: and our wines and brandies making this liquor of small request among us, they flat­tered themselves that they could import molasses to advan­tage. This attempt succeeded beyond their expectations, although they had nothing to give in exchange but lumber, and some salt provisions. But the English government perceiving the injury its own islands thereby suffered, prohibited this commerce entirely. The colonies, upon this, complained bitterly, and represented, that by hindering them from exporting the productions of their soil to what port they pleased, they would be rendered unable to pay for those indispensably necessary articles, which they purchased at an exorbitant price in England.

The government then took a middle way; permitted them the exportation of lumber, and loaded french sugar and other foreign commodities imported, with very heavy duties. But this did not yet satisfy the colonies: they considered the mother country in the light of a jealous and avaricious step-mother, watching every opportunity to turn to her own advantage those channels of gain, which would have enabled them to live in ease and plenty. This was one of the principal causes of the misunderstanding between England and her colonies; from thenceforward the latter perceived what a change independence would make in their favour, and France was by no means ignorant of the political advantages that would accrue to her from such a revolution.

[Page 18]The Irish Presbyterians, discontented with their landlords at home and attracted by a similarity of sentiment, have established in this place, with some success, manufactories of linen, and have made some attempts at broad cloths; those that have been lately manufactured are close and well woven, but hard and coarse; their hat manufactories have succeeded not better than the cloths; they are thick, spungy and without firmness, and come far shore of the beauty and solidity of ours.

The province of Massachusetts-Bay has mines of iron and copper; the iron is of a quality superior to any other in the world, and will bear hammering and drawing to a surprising degree.

The Europeans have long been convinced of the natural and moral dangers to be apprehended, in acquiring education in large towns. The Bostonians have advanced farther, they have pre­vented these dangers. Their University is at Cambridge, seven miles from Boston, on the banks of Charles River, in a beautiful and healthy situation. There are four colleges, all of brick, and of a regular form. The English troops made use of them as barracks in 1775, and forced the professors and students to turn out. The library contains more than 5000 volumes; and they have an excellent printing house, well furnished, that was originally intended for a college for [...]e native Indians. To give you an idea of the merit of the several professors it will be sufficient to say, that they correspond with the literati of Europe, and that Mr. Sewall, in particular, professor of the Oriental languages, is one of those to whom the author of genius and ability has been lavish of those gifts; their pupils often act tragedies, the subject of which is generally taken from their national events, such as the battle of Bunkers-Hill, the burning of Charlestown, the Death of General Montgomery, the capture of Burgoyne, the treason of Arnold, and the Fall of British Tyranny. You will easily conclude, that in such a new nation as this, these pieces must fall infinitely short of that perfection to which our European literary productions of this kind are wrought up; but still, they have a greater effect upon the mind than the best of ours would have among them, because those manners and customs are delineated, which are peculiar to themselves, and the events are such as interest them above all others: The drama is here reduced to its true and ancient origin. ^*

[Page 19]It is difficult to imagine what a strange idea the Americans had of the inhabitants of France, prior to the war; they looked upon them as a people bowed down beneath the yoke of despotism, given up to superstition, slavery, and prejudice, mere idolaters in their public worship, and, in short, a kind of light, nimble machines, deformed to the last degree, incapable of any thing solid or consist­ent; entirely taken up with the dressing of their hair, and paint­ing their faces; without delicacy or fidelity, and paying no respect even to the most sacred obligations.—The English, it seems, were pleased to disseminate these prejudices amongst them, and confirm them therein; Presbyterianism, a most bitter enemy to the Catho­lic Faith, had likewise rendered the Bostonians, among whom this sect is predominant, more ready to listen to and believe them.

In the beginning of the war, every thing seemed to concur to strengthen these prejudices. The greater part of the French, who came into America at the first appearance of the revolution, were men loaded with debts, and ruined at home in their reputation; and yet, by assuming titles and fictitious names, they obtained distinguishing ranks in the American army, received advances of money to a considerable amount, and then immediately disap­peared. The simplicity of the Americans, added to their little ex­perience, re [...]dered these villanies less liable to be detected. Ma­ny of these adventurers even committed crimes in America, wor­thy of the most rigorous punishments.

The first commodities, too, that the Bostonians received from France, contributed, by their bad quality, to suggest unfavoura­ble ideas respecting our upright dealing, and industry. For this reason, only, those goods which were imported hither from France, [Page 20] are sold at a considerably lower price than English articles, not in any respect superior.

At the arrival of the Count D'Estaing, the people here were much surprised to find that the French were not such weak, diminutive and deformed little mortals, as their prejudices had painted them: They however at last concluded, that the Count and the people in his fleet, had been picked out on purpose, in or­der to give them a more advantageous idea of the nation. Some coloured figures, having accidentally stained one of the dressing cloths, confirmed them in the opinion, that the French made use of vermillion to colour their faces.

Notwithstanding my being known for a Frenchman, and Roman Priest, I was continually receiving new civilities from several of the best families in this town; but the people in general retain their old prejudices: I saw a remarkable proof of it one day from a trifling occurrence, which at the same time served to give me a better idea of their character. The chimney of the house I lodged in, and which belonged to a Frenchman, happened to take fire; you may easily conceive what an uproar this would occasion in a town chiefly constructed of wood. The people collected in crowds; but after they were told whose house it was, they remained idle spectators of the scene. I then caused the doors to be shut to stop the draft of air, and closed up the chimney, in which the fire was, with a wet blanket; we also threw water down incessantly, to ge­nerate a moisture; the women of the house, who were Americans, were however, much displeased at the sight of the floors, covered with water and foot; and if we had not, in despight of them, acted as we thought fit, I think they would rather have had the house burnt, than the floors and ceilings spoiled.

We have just heard the news of the capture of St. Eustatius by the English: without doubt, avarice had a greater share in ad­vising this expedition, than sound policy. The Americans, not pleased with such of the French manufactures as were first sent over, went thither to purchase those of the English, which after the war with Holland, were sent out to that island under neutral flags; and thus they ruined one of their principal branches of commerce, and forced the Americans to have recourse to our productions, which experience has now taught them to have a more favourable opinion of than before.

The arrival of the army, under M. le Comte de Rochambeau, at Rhode-Island, spread a general terror through that place: the fields became mere deserts, and those whom curiosity led to visit Newport ^* could scarcely perceive a hum [...]n form in the street. [Page 21] Every Frenchman saw the absolute necessity there was for obliterat­ing these prejudices, and every one sacrificed something to his own feelings, in order to accomplish this desired end. The superior officers established the strictest discipline among the troops: and the officers in general manifested upon every occasion that politeness and sweetness of behaviour peculiar to the nobility and gentry of France: In consequence of this the soldiery became mild, circum­spect and moderate, and for a whole year there was not a single complaint made.

The French at Newport were no longer that fickle, presumptuous, blustering, haughty people that prejudice had pictured them; at the entertainments they gave, their whole behaviour was quiet and reserved, and their conversation confined to the American guests, to whom they became every day more and more dear. These young French noblemen, whom fortune, birth, and the habit of a court life, commonly leads to dissipation, luxury and a love of empty pomp, were the first to set the example of a simple and frugal manner of living; and they now showed themselves as affable and as courteous to all, as if they had lived their whole lives with these citizens, in the quality of equals. This conduct, strictly persevered in, brought about a total change in the opinions of the Americans, regarding us. Even the Tories ^‡ could not but respect the French, altho' they detested the cause they supported, and I am informed they were infinitely more affected with sorrow at the departure of the army, than they had been alarmed with fear at their arrival.

The French have in general, been upbraided a long time for paying no regard to the most sacred of all connexions, when their gallantry is concerned. Perhaps Newport may have afforded some examples. A French officer, by his attention and assiduity, gained the affections of a young and amiable lady. Her husband, who loved her tenderly, was soon convinced of the reality of this new attachment, and altho' afflicted in the most sensible manner, he did not discover his trouble to her either by complaints or reproaches; the reputation of his guilty spouse was still dear to him, and he was even afraid she would discover that he had knowledge of her infidelity. "And yet if she continues doubtful of it (said he to a friend) she will give over all hopes of regaining my esteem; her ruin will of consequence ensue, and my own peace be sacrificed: let us then endeavour to awaken her tenderness, and recall her to her duty by remorse for what is past." From this moment he became more assiduous and complaisant to her than ever; with sorrow and despair in his soul, he showed a countenance serene and satisfied. He received at his house, with attention and civility, the very officer who was the author of his misfortune; but, by the assistance of a friend, so contrived matters, as to hinder him from [Page 22] any private interviews with her whatever. These repeated disap­pointments appeared to the Frenchman to be mere effects of chance; he, however, grew fallen and peevish upon it, and consequently became less amiable in the eyes of the lady, and her husband more so than ever; and thus, that virtue which had not lost all its claims to her seduced heart, soon recalled it to its duty. Such a procedure as this, in so delicate an affair, discovers great knowledge of the human heart, and still more of dominion over itself.

The army left Newport the 9th of June to go, it is supposed, to the Southward, and they are now actually at Providence. I am just setting out to join it, and if it continues its march. I make no doubt I shall be enabled to entertain you with particulars still more interesting.

LETTER II. The author joins the French army at Providence. Description of Providence.—Roger Williams, its founder.— Fatigues of a military life.—Remarks on the dress, fashions and food of the Americans.—Ignorance of the people of Connecticut in point of making bread.—Their temper, peculiarities and character. The soil and face of the country. —Hartford—the forests and several kinds of trees.—State of New-York.—Hudson's river.—Devas­tations occasioned by the War.

I FOUND the army at Providence, encamped on a rising ground. This is a considerable town, and pretty well peopled; some of the houses are built of brick and others of wood; it is situated at the mouth of the river Patuxit, at the bottom of a bay betwixt the States of Massachusets, Connecticut, and Rhode-Island: This situation affords it a gainful commerce in corn, maize, lumber, and salt provisions for the Islands; there are also many vessels built here.

This town is the capital of a colony of the same name, Provi­dence Plantation, now incorporated with the State of Rhode-Island. A certain person, named Roger Williams, a minister in Massachu­setts-Bay, who had been banished by the magistrates for preaching up new doctrines, retired to this place with his followers, and founded a colony, giving it the name of Providence, in order to preserve to posterity, the remembrance of the odious treatment he had experienced. He there lived forty years in a rational solitude, wholly taken up with improving this infant settlement, and in­structing the Indians; he also writ some pieces against the princi­ples and practices of the Quakers, and, in the end, his regular [Page 23] manner of life, and benevolent conduct forced his enemies to re­pent of the insults they had offered him. And thus you see, sir, the annals of the new world furnish examples of an intolerant spi­rit amongst a people, who have upon almost every other occasion showed themselves the greatest enemies to it.

How different are the objects that now surround me, from those which have hitherto taken up my time and attention! Bred up in the quiet retreats of the arts and sciences; living constantly with those, who either cultivated or patronized them, and always desi­rous to make them the companions of my labours and my plea­sures —what a change do I experience now, when I am transport­ed into the midst of the hurry of camps; all tumult and commotion around me, and experiencing every moment a thousand wants! Here I am taught to fix the true value upon useful inventions, and distinguish them from those which are only curious and whimsical. A single sheet protects me from the inclemency of the weather; and being without books to divert my mind from the fatigues ^* I feel, I frequently write, for want of ink, with the juice of an herb: hap­py, if I could rest for any length of time in tranquillity—but no such thing—after two in the morning, the drum orders us univer­sally out of our hard beds; in haste we roll up our travelling bed-furniture, mount our horses, and, with the slow pace of an Am­bassador's train, follow the march of the foot-soldiers, bending under the weight of the burden on their backs.

When, at length, arrived at the place destined for our encamp­ment, we have still to wait during the hottest part of the day for the baggage waggons, before we can take any repose. The su [...] has even sometimes almost finished his course, before our weak stomachs have begun to receive and digest the necessary food: stretched at full length upon the ground, and panting with thirst, I have often wished, like the rich man in the gospel, that another Lazarus would dip his finger in the water, to cool my parched tongue. Our young Generals, who have been bred in ease and delicacy, bear up under these fatigues with a degree of resolution that makes me blush for my weakness. Whilst their tables, exhi­biting at the same time abundance and frugality, invite the offi­cers to a stile of living which the want of domestics and other necessary means would render it impossible for them otherwise to enjoy, they encourage the soldiery under the severity of duty by marching before them on foot. ^§ What you will most wonder at, is, [Page 24] that the French never lose their cheerfulness and gaiety in these painful and laborious marches. The Americans, whom curiosity brings by thousands to our camp, are constantly received with good humour and festivity; and our military music, of which they are extravagantly fond, is then played for their diversion. At such times officers, soldiers, Americans, of both sexes, all inter­mingle and dance together;—it is the feast of equality; and these are the first fruits of the alliance which is, we hope, to subsist perpetually between the two nations.

The fathers of the families melt at the sight of these affecting scenes; even those, who when they first heard of our marching, viewing us through the medium of prejudice and misrepresenta­tion, had trembled for their possessions, and for their lives. The ^† soldier, inebriated with joy, forgets the fatigues of the morning, nor makes himself wretched by anticipating those of to-morrow. These Americans being yet in that stage of their national growth, wherein the distinctions of birth and rank are scarcely known, con­sider the soldier and the officer in the same point of view, and often ask the latter, what his trade was in his own country; not being able to conceive, that the occupation of a soldier may be as fixed and permanent as any trade whatever. The familiar appellation of brother, given some of them by the Marquis, ^* excited their cu­riosity and respect to a great degree; and the young American La­dies have always considered it as one of their greatest honours, to have danced with that nobleman.

Whatever may be the future success of this army, it will always retain the glory of having made the most lasting impressions in these countries, and rendered the memory of the French name dear and precious to all; an atchievement m [...]re flattering to true ambition, and perhaps more difficult to accomplish, than gaining battles, or spreading universal conquest.

Before I arrived here, I had no expectations of discovering the traces of the French modes and fashions, in the midst of the wilds and forests of America. The head dresses of all the women, except Quakers, are high, spreading and decked profusely with our gauzes: and here I cannot but reflect upon the oddness of their taste, when I find, through the whole state of Connecticut, so prevailing an inclination for dress, (I may say to a degree of ex­travagance) with manners at the same time so simple and so pure, as to resemble those of the ancient patriarchal age. Pulse, Indian corn, and milk are their most common kinds of food; they also use much tea, and this sober infusion constitutes the chief pleasure of their lives; there is not a single person to be found, who does not [Page 25] drink it out of china cups and saucers, and, upon your entering a house, the greatest mark of civility and welcome they can show you, is to invite you to drink it with them. In countries where the inhabitants live upon foods and drinks of the most substantial kind, it may be useful to the health, but I believe it is prejudicial in those where they subsist mostly on vegetables and milk, especially when the soil, yet too much shaded by the woods, makes them the less nourishing; and perhaps this may be one of the causes, that with a robust and healthy constitution, their lives here are much shorter than those of the inhabitants of other countries. The loss of their teeth is also attributed to the too frequent use of tea; the women, who are commonly very handsome, are often, at eighteen or twenty years of age, entirely deprived of this most precious ornament; though, I am of opinion, this premature decay may be rather the effect of warm bread: for the English, the Flemish, and the Dutch, who are great tea drinkers, preserve their teeth sound a long time.

The inhabitants of Connecticut, who raise such excellent corn, are, however, ignorant of the valuable art of rendering it more digestive, and consequently more nourishing, by thorough fer­mentation and kneading; whenever they want bread, they make a cake, which they set to bake at the fire upon a thin iron plate. The French, whom the war brought into America, never could accustom themselves to this kind of bread, but did their endeavour to instruct the natives how to bring it nearer to perfection: in the in [...]s upon the road we found some tolerably good, but far inferior even to that made in our army. The inhabitants who reside at a distance from the high-ways preserve their ancient customs in this and other particulars with great obstinacy, and believe no bread in the world to be better or more palatable than their own.

Scattered about among the forests, the inhabitants have little intercourse with each other, except when they go to church. Their dwelling-houses are spacious, proper, airy, and built of wood, and are at least one story in height, and herein they keep all their furniture and substance. In all of them that I have seen, I never failed to discover traces of their active and inventive genius. They all know how to read, and the greatest part of them take the Gazette, printed in their village, which they often dignify with the name of town or city. I do not remember ever to have entered a single house, without seeing a huge family bible, out of which they read on evenings and Sundays to their houshold. They are of a cold, slow and indolent disposition, and averse to labour; the soil, with a moderate tillage, supplying them with considerably more than they can consume: they go and return from their fields on horseback, and in all this country you will scarcely see a traveller on foot: the mildness of their character is as much owing to climate as to their customs and manners, for you find the same sof [...]ness of disposition even in the animals of the country. The horses are of an excellent breed, and it is common for them to go [Page 26] long journeys at the rate of fifty or sixty miles a-day: they are very teachable, and it is a rare thing to find any of them stubborn or ski [...]tish: the dog is here of a fawning, timid nature, and the strangest figure of a man need not fear any violenc [...] from him. I have observed, too, by the way, that his voice is rather b [...]oken and hoarse, as well as that of the cock.

The Americans of these parts are very hospitable; they have commonly but one bed in the house, and the cha [...]te s [...]ou [...]e, altho' she were alone, would divide it with her guest, wit [...]out hesitation or fear. What history relates of the virtu [...]s of [...]he young Lacedemo­nian women, is far less extraordinary. There is here such a confidence in the public virtue that, from Boston to Providence, I have often met young women travelling alone or horseback; or in small riding chairs, through the woods, even when the day was far upon the decline▪

In these fortunate retreats, the father of a family sees his happi­ness and importance increasing, with the number of his children: he is not tormen [...]ed with the ambitious desire of placing them in a rank of life, in which they might blush to own him for a father. Bred up under his eye, and formed by his example, they will not cover his old age with shame, nor bring those cares and vexations upon him, that would sink his grey hairs with sorrow to the tomb. He [...]o more fears this, than he would a fancied indigence, that might one day come upon him, wound his paternal feelings, and make the tender partner of his bed repent that she was ever the mother of children. Like him they will bound their cares, their pleasures, and even their ambition, to the sweet toils of a rural life, to the raising and multiplying their herds, and the cultivating and enlarging their fields and their orchards.

These American husbandmen, more simple in their manners than our peasants, have also less of their roughness, and rusticity; more enlightened, they possess neither their low cunning nor dissimulation; farther removed from luxurious arts, and less laborious, they are not so much attached to ancient usages, but are far more dexterous in inventing and perfecting whatever tends to the conveniency and comfort of life.

This country is intersected with an incredible number of rivers and rivulets; but Connecticut river is the most considerable in the whole State; the town of Hartford, situate on its banks, is the capital, and consists at present of not more than four or five hun­dred houses, on a street two miles in length. The river is deep enough to float vessels of about one hundred and fifty tons burthen, up to the town. The soil is light, except on the southern side of the river, and yet it produces maize or Indian corn, and several other kinds of grain, in great abundance, the bread of which is much whiter than that in France, and the taste equally excellent; this was a considerable article of the American commerce with the islands, where they nevertheless preferred our European grain, being of a more mealy substance, and keeping sweet a much l [...]nger [Page 27] time. The several kinds of wood here are much lighter than ours, and far less durable, as the roots are almost at the surface of the ground: The soil b [...]ing new, the vegetative particles are more abundant near the surface, and the roots, of consequence, direct themselves horizontally, and thus they are more exposed to the im­pressions of cold, heat, drought and moisture, and liable to be af­fected by the various changes of the atmosphere; and, indeed, I have remarked, that the trees here almost always begin to decay at the root.

I once imagined that these antique forests, into which the arm of man h [...]d never carried the destructive strokes of the ax, would have no [...]hing to offer to the view, at every step but ancient trees, whose rugg [...]d, knot [...]y, hollow trunks, worn by rain [...] and frosts, supported nothing more than a dry nak [...]d top, stripped of its ex [...]ended boughs. Instead of these venerable [...]okens of age that I lo [...]ked for in the woodland▪ I found every where the freshness and vigour of youth the m [...]t robust. The trunks, close and compact, straight, and towering into the air beyond the reach of the eye, display from the top a multitude of branches, cloathed with a deeper green than ours can boast of. The oak is by far the most frequent to be met with;—for the tree most useful to man, is the tree of all climates; and I have observed no less than six or seven different sorts in this country: the leaves of one sort are broad with almost imperceptible indentings, in others the incisions are still deeper, and in some they are so deep, that the principal fibres only remain extended; a day or two ago I met with some oaks, bearing leaves that are long and narrow and very much resembling those of the peach tree.

But the monarch of these forests is the tulip or yellow tree; its aspiring top rises above the loftiest oaks, and its thick extended branches project their shadow to a very great distance; its leaf compact, smooth and slender, is somewhat in shape like a man's hand, with this difference, that the longest side appears to be cut transversely. Each leaf is originally folded in a particular wrapper, formed simply of two other leaves, of an oval shape touching in every point of their circumference; this principal leaf afterwards separates the two others in order to expand and give room for growth, in the same manner as a young bean shoots out from between the leaves that confined it on each side. The tulip, that brilliant flower, upon which our Florists lavish such a profusion of toil and expence, grows to the number of thousands upon this stately tree, refreshes the eye of the American native, and perfumes the air which he breathes beneath its shade. Out of this the In­dians make their canoes or [...]roughs, formed wholly of one piece; and in this particular the English Americans have followed their example, making some of them large enough to carry more than thirty men. Being of a nature fitted to flourish in every climate, it would, I think, succeed perfectly well in France; more pleasant to the sight than the great chesnut tree, and more clean, it would [Page 28] form woods and avenues full as thick and lofty, and its timber would be infinitely preferable for every kind of joiner's work. The sassafras, an aromatic shrub, is found in open places, exposed to the sun; also, on the sides of the highways and along the skir [...]s of fields; its leaf resembles that of the fig-tree, but not so large nor so thick, and is of a paler green; it produces a small fruit growing in a pod, milky when it is green, and of a purple colour when ripe; its odoriferous quality is resident chiefly in the bark, and particularly in that of the root; its property is sudorific. Some say, the first Europeans that came to America, being afflicted with that dreadful malady, the progress of which has been so fatal in Europe, made use of this shrub with success.

We also found upon the banks of Connecticut river a sort of rose-laurel, covered with flowers, and affording a delightful prospect to the eye. The gum-tree, which we found in low interval lands, is a species of grove-laurel, the smell of which is somewhat like that of our common laurel, but more agreeable; its fruit, much like grains of pepper, is covered with an oily substance, of which they make wax candles; the wax is drawn from the berry, and collected by boiling them in water; and these candles when burning emit a most delightful smell. But the process is too troublesome, and the product too small, for it ever to become an object of commerce.

The maple tree grows here to a very great size and is one of the most valuable productions of all North-America: when the sap runs they make incisions in the body of the tree, from whence a rich liquor flows out, which when boiled down, becomes a perfect sugar, and is used as such. This tree perfectly resembles our maple in France, and yet why is it that it has this distinct property? Can it be because it vegetates in a new soil, where the juices are in greater abu [...]dance for its nourishment, or rather are we yet ignorant of the real properties of our maple? ^‡

Chesnut and walnut-trees are likewise very common here. The last are various in their kinds, and the difference is known by the leaf and the fruit: there is one sort, the wood of which is full of veins, and makes excellent furniture, and the outside of its fruit has considerably the smell of citron. They all produce nu [...]s, the kernel of which is not easy to come at, and they are besides very hard to break; the meat is not got out of the shell but with great trouble, and by small quantities, and after all the taste is strong and disagreeable.

We also found here a kind of bunch-cherry, small and somewhat bitter. The grape-vine, the culture of which they are wholly [Page 29] ignorant of, even in Virginia, is seen every where climbing, and supporting itself upon the trees. ^*

It belongs to man to multiply, to fertilize and bring to perfection the useful productions of the various countries of [...]he world,—by varying the soils, directing the course of the sap by pruning, and blending the several kinds of fruit, by means of ingrafting, We are indebted to the experience of many ages for these happy in­ventions, as well as for the ornaments and opulence of our gardens and orchards. Man, we may say, is the restorer of nature; he enlivens, enriche [...] and beautifies it; the simple turf that bedecks the ground, will only preserve its verdure in such places as he has exposed to the sun and air; the timid bird that flies from his sight, the wild beast that trembles at his appproach, dwell only in those sequestered haunts and solitary places which surround him at a remote distance. If curiosity has sometimes urged me to penetrate far into these gloomy forests, I there no longer heard the voice, no longer traced the vestiges of animated beings, but walked only thro' pathless groves, and upon the faded ruins of the vegetable world. Saddening at this mournful silence, and the view of those lonely objects which discovered no traces of the dominion of my own species over the wild genius of nature, I hastened to revisit places and abodes, better calculated to enliven and gratify the soul of sensibility.

The knowledge of the birds of this country will constitute one of the most interesting parts of its natural history. I have seen in Connecticut a kind of starling, the middle part of whose wings is of a deep red; and have observed another bird of the colour of those brought from the Canary Islands, but somewhat larger. What they call the Virginian nightingale is more commonly met with as you advance to the South, but has no resemblance to ours; [Page 30] it is larger and its head and belly are of a red like that of the Bouvreuil. ^§ If nature has been more bountiful to it in respect of plumage, she has nevertheless been far from granting it so melo­dious a voice as ours. The mocking bird, almost the size of a thrush, spotted with white and grey, has the faculty of mimick­ing all other birds that it hears. The humming bird which they say, lives only on the juice of flowers, is common enough, but, by the rapidity of its motions, there are few persons that have ever had a distinct view of it.

The squirrels are of a pale ash grey, larger than ours, very common in the woods, and easy to be tamed; those called flying squirrels are of a darker grey, and smaller in size than the other; their skin is large and loose quite to the extremities of the paws, which they extend, when they leap from one branch of a tree to another, and thus are enabled to make use of a greater quantity of air, to support themselves upon, as a bird does in flying.

The whole country, from Boston to Providence, is level; and I have in this extent met with brooks, which we would call rivers; their beds, in those places where I passed, looked as if they had been hollowed out of a soil of soft and spungy stone, of a grey and red complexion. I met, too, with some blocks of petrified clay, inclosing pebbles or round flints, which, when struck upon, were easily loosened, and left the mark of their form therein.

The whole State of Connecticut is covered with little hills, but the country is not sufficiently cleared of the wood, nor are they of such a size, that we can easily determine their general directions: for the most part, we can only rank them in that class of hills which naturalists denominate secondary. They are often cut through, in order to render the descent less steep, and appear to me to be nothing but a mass of stones of different kinds and various sizes, with their corners broken and blunted. Many of them are more than a cubic foot in thickness, and some thr [...]e or four; the crevi­ces between them being filled with a vegetable earth, that has little or no adherency to the stone. The surface of the soil is cover­ed with the same kind of pe [...]rifaction [...], the woods and fields abound with them throughout, and to get rid of them the inhabi­tants of the country either throw them in heapsy, or pile them up rareleslly in form of a well, on the lines that bound their possessions. These st [...]nes, from some trials I have made upon them with aqua for [...], [...] find to consist of a gravelly, gritty substance, but not [Page 31] subject to dissolution by fire: Here is also the spat stone, (or isinglass) quite pure, and great plenty of talc; and others of these rocks abound with ferruginous particles, upon which the Load­stone acts with considerable effect.

The State of New-York, still more mountainous, and the territory of Philipsburg, where we are now encamped, presents the same objects to our view. So many millions of these stones, lying in heaps, and scattered through the space of more than two hundred miles, are the most certain and authentic monuments of the long continuance of the waters on these countries. Torrents and rivers could never have thus rounded, intermixed and thrown them in heaps; the sea alone must have separated them by slow degrees, scattered them into different parts, re-united, and impressed on them these general forms by a continual attrition: But however attentively I have considered things, I have not yet been able to find any vestiges of animal petrifactions, or of trees and shells. The North-river has, in and about its bed, very few stones of the granite kind, but plenty of marble, free-stone and slate.

As we approach towards New-York, between the Lines of both Armies, we see more and more of the sorrowful vestiges of war and desolation,—the houses plundered, ruined, abandoned or burnt. These Americans so soft, pacific and benevolent by nature, are here transformed into monsters implacable, bloody and ravenous; party rage has kindled a spirit of hatred between them; they attack and rob each other by turns, destroy dwelling houses, or establish themselves therein by driving out those who had before dispossessed others. ^* War, that terrible scourge to arts and population, is still more so to the morals of a people, because a change in these for the worse is more difficult to repair.

LETTER III. Junction of the French and American armies at Philipsburg.—West-Point.—Expedition of a party of English to Tarry-Town.—Bravery of thirteen French soldiers —A detach­ment of French and Americans, march to reconnoitre the works at New-York.— General Washington.— Remarks upon the American army.—Their military dress, and manner of living —Discipline.— Uncertainty of the object of the Campaign.—Various opinions.— Improbability of succeeding in an attack upon New-York.—Marquis de la Fayette, and his army in Virginia.—A march to the South­ward not unlikely.

THE chief object of our marching, was to form a junction with the army of General Washington: this junction was effe [...]t­ed at Philipsburg. The Americans arrived there about the same time we did, having been before entr [...]nched upon the mountains of West-Point, that command the North-River. The stream be­ing very narrow in this part, the Americans have built forts upon each side, the batteries of which traverse each other. The fort up­on the left side, is situated upon a slip of land that runs out into the river, covered on the east by a marsh, and only open on the north. An army is there in a situation to repel an attack from a far superior force, and the batteries of the forts can prevent any vessel whatever from sailing farther up: This situation is the more important to the Americans, as the English are at present masters of New-York, and consequently command the entrance of the North-River.

As allies, we are encamped to the left of the Americans, and their right is extended upon the North-River, as l [...]w as Dobbs' ferry: our lest is upon a little river called the Brunx. The posi­tion of both armies is upon considerable heights, and a deep valley separates us. We are not more than fifteen miles from New York, but to get there, we should be under the necessity of marching down the whole length of the island, and traversing a coun [...]ry full of armed refugees. The French army, ever since it began i [...]s march, had been parcelled out into distinct regiments, but upon our approach to New-York, it was re-united into a brigade. Being now necessitated to march in a single column, and having our baggage waggons drawn by oxen, our progress was proportionably slow and confused, the whole body, occupying an extent of several miles. We had also to fear, least, in these mountainous and woody regions parties of the enemy might come and fall upon our bag­gage and artillery, burn them, and hamstring the oxen and hors [...]s, before we could have it in our power to relieve them. These losses, [Page 33] in our situation, would have been irreparable; the English, how­ever, although greatly interested in preventing our joining the Americans, never made the least movement to hinder it.

A march of two hundred and fifteen miles through the most excessive heats, in a country very defective in supplies for an army, where the soldier is often in want of bread, and is obliged to carry provisions for several days with him, has nevertheless made fewer invalids among us, than if we had laid still in a garrison. It is true, the strict attention of the superior officers has greatly contri­buted thereto, in never suffering the men to drink water, except with a quantity of rum intermixed, to take away its injurious qua­lities. M. le Comte Saint-Maime, Colonel commandant de Soissonnais, always at each halt, and each place of encamping, sent out, and purchased barrels of cider, which he caused to be distributed among his troops, at a very low rate. His example was afterwards followed by the other corps, and produced the happiest effects.

The English, since our encamping with the Americans, having laid a plan to intercept the supplies we received from the back country by means of the North-River, sent up a twenty gun frigate, and some sloops as far as Tarry-town, a village situated six miles upon the right flank of the rear of the army. Two hun­dred men made an attempt to land, and the first company that disembarked had time to set fire to some great gun carriages, to a batteau, and to take off another loaded with six thousand rations of bread; but a sergeant of the regiment of Soissonnais, and twelve soldiers, forced them to re-embark, and even entered waist deep into the water to pursue them, and hindered the rest from coming on shore. This first feat of the French arms in America gave the English some idea of what they were to expect from the united efforts of a whole corps. The commanding officers strove who should be foremost in bestowing praises upon these brave soldiers: "My general (answered the sergeant to M. le Baron de Viomenil, who was extolling his bravery to the skies) I am indebted to the good advice and bravery of my corporal for what I have done, for he perfectly seconded my endeavours." Courage is not a rare virtue in France, but modesty is somewhat more so, and yet this was a pattern of the most perfect modesty, in a circumstance very delicate for a soldier. I have, I assure you, heard with pain a superior officer find fault with the encomiums that were given these men, and blame M. le Baron de Viomenil for having afterwards invited them to dine with him.—Can virtue ever be too much honoured, or too well rewarded!

Batteries were erected in haste, as low as Dobbs's ferry, and when the English frigate and sloops came down, they had to sustain a very heavy cannonade: a shell from a mortar piece set the frigates sails on fire, and terror and confusion seemed pre­dominant among the crew, twenty-two of whom threw themselves overboard into the river, and were mostly drowned.

[Page 34]General Washington, having signified his intentions of recon­noitring the fortifications of New-York; two thousand French, and as many Americans, set out on their march to escort him, and, at break of day, found themselves within cannon shot of the enemy's intrenchments: they remained there two days, while the English contented themselves with now and then firing a cannon, and observing their motions at a distance.

I have seen General WASHINGTON, that most singular man— the soul and the support of one of the greatest Revolutions that has ever happened, or can happen again. I fixed my eyes upon him with that keen attention, which the sight of a great man always inspires—We naturally entertain a secret hope of discovering in the features of such illustrious men, some traces of that excellent genius which distinguishes them from, and elevates them above their fel­low mortals. Perhaps the exterior of no man was ever better cal­culated to gratify these expectations, than that of General Wash­ington: He is of a tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine, chearful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole mien has something in it, that interests the French, the Americans, and even enemies themselves, in his favour. Placed in a military view, at the head of a nation, where each individual has a share in the supreme legislative authority, and where the co­ercive laws are yet in a great degree destitute of vigour, where the climate and manners can add but little to their energy, where the spirit of party, private interest, slowness, and national indolence slacken, suspend and overthrow the best concerted measures; although so situated, he has found out a method of keeping his troops in the most absolute subordination: making them rivals in praising him; fearing him even when he is silent, and retaining their full confidence in him, after defeats and disgrace —His re­putati [...]n has at length arisen to a most brilliant pitch; and he may now grasp at the most unbounded power, without provoking envy, or exciting suspicions. He has ever shown himself superior to for­tune, and in the most trying adversity has discovered resources till then unknown; and as if his abilities only increased and dilated at the prospect of difficulty, he is never better supplied than when he seems destitute of every thing; nor have his arms ever been so fatal to his enemies, as at the very instan [...] when they thought they had crushed him forever.—It is his to excite a spirit of heroism and enthusiasm in a people, who are by nature very little [...]cep­tible of it; to gain over the respect and homage of those who [...] in­terest it is to refuse it, and to execute his plans and project by means unknown even to those who are the instruments; he is in­trepid in dangers, yet never seeks them but when the good of his country demands it, preferring rather to temporize and act upon the defensive, because he knows such a mode of conduct best suits the genius and circumstances of his nation, and that all he and they have to expect, depends upon time, fortitude, and patience: he is frugal and sober in regard to himself, but profuse in the pub­lic [Page 35] cause;—like Peter the Great, he has by defeats conducted his army to victory; and like Fabius, but with fewer resources and more difficulty, he has conquered without fighting, and saved his country.

Such are the ideas that arise in the mind, at the sight of this great man, in examining the events in which he has had a share, or in listening to those whose duty obliges them to be near his person, and consequently can best display his true character.—In all these extensive states, they consider him in the light of a beneficent God, dispensing peace and happiness around him—Old men, wo­men and children, press about him when he accidentally passes along, and think themselves happy, once in their lives, to have seen him—they follow him through the towns with torches, and celebrate his arrival by public illuminations.—The Americans, that cool and sedate people, who in the midst of their most trying difficulties, have attended only to the directions and impulses of plain method and common reason, are roused, animated and in­flamed at the very mention of his name; and the first songs that sentiment or gratitude has dictated, have been to celebrate Ge­neral Washington.

It is uncertain how many men his army consists of exactly: some say, only four or five thousand, but this General has always found means to conceal the real number, even from those who compose it. Sometimes with a few troops he forms a spacious camp, and increases the number of tents; at other times with a great number, he contracts it to a narrow compass; then again by detaching them insensibly, the whole camp is nothing more than the mere skeleton and shadow of an army, while the main body is transported to a distant part of the country.

Neither do these troops in general wear regular uniforms; but the officers and corps of artillery are obliged, without exception, to such distinction. Several regiments have small white frocks, with fringes, which look well enough; also linen over-alls, large and full, which are very convenient in hot weather, and do not at all hinder the free use of the limbs in marching: with food less substantial, and a constitution of body less vigorous than our p [...]o­ple, they are better able to support fatigue, and perhaps for that very reason. This advantage in dress, I believe, has not been sufficiently considered in France. We are apt to consult the grati­fication of the eye too far, and forget that troops were designed to act, and not merely to show themselves and their finery. The most proper apparel would be that, which being as little burdensome as possible, would cover the soldier best, and in commande him the least. The regim [...]t of Soiss [...]nnais has in all this tedious march, had the fewest stragglers and sick of any other;—one of the princi­pal causes was, without doubt, the precaution of the Colonel, [...]ho, on purpose for the campaign, had linen breeches made for his whole regiment.

[Page 36]The American military habit, altho' easy to be soiled, is never­theless very decent and neat; this neatness is particularly observable among the officers, to see them, you would suppose they were equipped with every necessary in the completest manner, and yet upon entering their tents, where perhaps three or four reside together, I have often been astonished to find, that their whole travelling equipage and furniture would not weigh forty pounds; few or none have matrasses; a single rug or blanket, stretched out upon the rough bark of a tree, serves them for a bed; the soldiers take the same precaution never to sleep on the ground, whilst ours prefer it to any other way.

Their manner of living is very simple, and gives them but little trouble; they content themselves with broiling their meat, and parching their corn, or baking unleavened dough, made of Indian meal, upon the hot embers.

In some regiments they have negro companies, but always commanded by the whites.

Their discipline is exceeding severe, and the power of the officers over the soldiers is almost unlimited, lashing them with whips, and beating them with canes for the slightest faults: I, with some French officers, was accidentally a witness to their rigorous mode of chastisement; the criminal was tied to the wheels of a cannon carriage, his shoulders naked, his arms stretched out, in order to give the muscles their greatest tension, and in this situation every soldier of the company came up and gave him a certain number of strokes, with a large whip, which soon covered him with blood; what astonished us most, and detained us the longer at this disagreeable spectacle, was, that two of these unhappy culprits, who both suffered the same degree of punishment, never uttered the least groan or complaint, or showed any signs of fear. Is this courage, or is the natural sensibility of mankind less acute among a people, where the air of the forests and the constant usage of tea and milk, soften and relax the fibres to a most astonishing degree?

Notwithstanding the actual appearance of our Generals before New-York, the object of the present campaign remains very uncertain: some say the Americans are tired of the war, and discontented with our inactivity, and for that reason the French army has joined them, solely to re-animate their drooping courage. It is also reported, that since the defection of Arnold, General Washington, not altogether satisfied with the fidelity of his army, has come to a resolution of trusting the important p [...]st of West-Point to the French. The views of this general, in my opinion, extend farther than all this. We have just learnt that M. de Barras, commander of our squadron at Rhode-Island, has received some tidings of M. de Grasse, and has sent him a frigate, with a number of pilots on board for these coasts. This looks as if New-York was their object. That Island and city is, at present, the general store house of the English, and the centre of their operations; the [Page 37] possession of this place enables them to hold an easy communication with their territories to the north and south, and at the same time to menace the interior parts of the adjacent country by means of Hudson's river, and prevent the forces of the North-Eastern States from advancing to the Southward: it is also a secure receptacle for their fleets, where they can plan and prepare for their offensive operations, in the West India Islands. The capture of this place would be a decisive stroke; and from the moment such an event takes place, the English must forever renounce the hope of sub­jecting the States; and in their present exhausted situation, I do not see how they would even repair the loss of the stores and the troops.—Charlestown and Savannah, having to oppose the whole impression and strength of the American continental forces, would make but a poor defence, and the Islands, still more difficult to be relieved by timely assistance, would lie entirely at the mercy of an enemy.

On the other hand, New-York is well fortified and defended, both by land and water, and the fortifications very extensive; it is, besides, garrisoned by the best troops of Great Britain, amounting to fifteen thousand men, including the troops raised in the country; so that to lay siege to New-York there would be wanting, besides a superior maritime force, at least thirty thousand men; whereas, our combined army does not amount to much more than ten thousand; it is true the militia of the country may be collected, but these are nothing more than undisciplined troops, the duration of whose service is always limited; and what could such do against regular forces, well intrenched, and inured to all the dangers and hardships of war, for six or seven campaigns? Even the French army, however brave and well disciplined it may be, is composed of troops, very few of whom have ever been actually in a battle. At any rate, a siege of this place would be long and tedious, and as to the squadron of M. de Grasse, we know it cannot leave the West-India Islands till the Hurricane season comes on, and can only remain here during that season, otherwise his projected operations in those seas would fail, and our possessions lie exposed to the enemy.

If, on the other hand, this important expedition should fail, all would be ruined: the Americans exhausted, and discouraged at the revolt of Arnold, panting after repose, and viewing us in the light of a feeble Ally, would lose cou [...]age, turn their views towards peace, and perhaps purchase [...] at any price whatever.

The South is, most probably, the real object of this campaign: Those States have for a long time felt all the miseries of war, and have been wasted alternately by friends and enemies. Virginia has been the scene of the cruelties and devastations of Arnold; and Cornwallis, disquieted at the news of our marching, has quitted Charlestown and traversed, with a large body of troops, the Caro­lina [...] and Virginia; at the same time plundering the settlements, [Page 38] kidnapping the negroes, and spreading death and desolation wher­ever he happened to march. So many repeated distresses and losses have discouraged the inhabitants, and inclined them to do any thing at all to better their situation. The arrival of our army among them, can alone free them from oppression, and revive their courage.

A certain warrior, [Marquis de la Fayette] at the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men, has nevertheless found means to keep his ground all this time in Virginia; the impetuous Arnold, and the active Cornwallis, not daring to attempt any thing against him. You will doubtless suppose, that this warrior is one of those men, whom long experience and brilliant successes, have rendered for­midable to the enemy. This leader, I assure you, is a man of only twenty-four years of age, who has left the arms of an affec­tionate and amiable wife, a residence among pleasures and high life, where his name, and an alliance with an illustrious family, opened a way to the greatest dignities, to come to this country, and, under the American FABIUS, defend the sacred cause of liberty, and learn to serve his king and country. The word Marquis, which has been so long used among us, to characterize foppish fickleness and levity, universally excites admiration and gratitude, at the very mention of of it, throughout the American world.

A southern expedition would be less hazardous in its nature, and less decisive in its effects, than here, but more pressing upon the enemy, and promising a more certain prospect of success. We have intelligence, that Lord Cornwallis is fortifying at York, a small town in Virginia, situated upon a river of the same name. This news begins to elevate the spirits of the French, who, if they could once hear of the arrival of M de Grasse, would conclude, that this campaign would not yet go over without some consider­able events.

Several of our officers employed their leisure time last winter, in making a tour to the southward. One of them, M. de Saint Victor, Captain in the regiment of Soissonnais, and well known to be very skillful in every particular that regards his profession as a soldier, and who did not make this tour without reaping considerable ad­vantage from it, has viewed York, and judges it incapable of be­ing fortified to any great purpose, being destitute of an opening for a retreat; so that having a squadron that could command Ches­apeak-Bay, in his opinion, we could soon bring the enemy to what terms we pleased.

It is difficult, however, to persuade one's self, that Cornwallis, who knows the country so well, and has acquired so much reputa­tion in this war, and who is by no means ignorant of the motions of our armies, would pi [...]ch upon such a situation, without he was convinced it would every way answer his purposes. An enemy is oftentimes never more to be dreaded, than when he appears to give you advantages over him.—The season being pretty well ad­vanced, [Page 39] we cannot remain much longer in a state of uncertainty. In my next letter, I hope I shall be able to give you an account of matters with a greater degree of precision.

LETTER IV. New-York menaced by the Allied Army on the side of King's-bridge and Staten-Island.— The possession of this island absolutely necessary, before any attempt can be made upon Long-Island or New-York.—Ardour of the troops for action.

GENERAL Washington and Count Rochambeau passed the North-River a few days ago, and have ever since been reconnoitring. They who supposed we were to direct our rout to­wards Virginia, begin now to think they were deceived: part of the army, on this side, are preparing to march down by the way of King's-bridge; and on the other side, orders are given to get ready to proceed towards Staten-Island, and even to construct ovens to bake bread for the troops, when arrived in that quarter; others again are ordered towards Philadelphia.—What are we to think? All this seems to me like our theatrical marches, where the con­cern and perplexity of the spectators is continually increasing; I am in doubt, whether the unravelling of the matter will compen­sate for the trouble, anxiety, and uneasiness it occasions.

Staten-Island, they say, is garrisoned by eight or nine hundred regular forces, so that the capture of it would be a most brilliant affair: It is separated from Long-Island only by a streight of two or three miles over, and our being such near neighbours, would per­plex the English greatly, and put us in a situation to attempt some­thing upon the larger island, with a better prospect of success. Our troops are full of ardour and confidence, and the several com­manders seem calculated by nature to inspire them with a spirit of boldness and enterprize. General Washington, in particular, ani­mates them by his presence, by the idea they have of his military talents; by his local knowledge of the country, and by that impe­netrable veil of secrecy, under which he revolves and matures all his great designs. It is said the army will move in a day or two, which will enable us to determine the better to what quarter we are to proceed.

LETTER V. The main body of the army returns to North-Castle.—The author lost in the woods, and in great danger from the Refugees —The combined forces march into the Jerseys.—St [...] ­ten-Island threatened with a descent.—Surprising inactivity of the English, at New-York.—An expedition to Virginia, the real object of the army.—General view of New-Jersey— Character of the people.—The army arrives at Princeton.

AT length, Sir, I can inform you that the army left Philips­burg the 19th. of last month, and having made a retrograde movement, returned to North Castle, twenty-two miles distant. A heavy rain rendered this march very disagreeable, for instead of reaching that place at ten or eleven in the morning, as we ex­pected, we did not arrive till eight o'clock the next day; both officers and soldiers having spent the night in the roads in the most dismal weather, and water half leg deep. Neither was I exempt from the general misfortune; for I had imprudently advanced, un­accompanied, some miles before the army, and got into a road infested with Refugees (who never grant quarter to Frenchmen) where a domestic of mine escaped from them very narrowly, and had he not been armed, would doubtless have lost his life. They have lately hanged a Secretary belonging to one of our Commissa­ries, and assassinated an officer of the legion of Lauzun; so that I will confess to you, when I found myself alone and defenceless in these woods, I was in dread of adding to the number of those who have fallen victims to the resentment of these enemies of republican­ism; yet I had the good fortune to arrive safe at the camp, having passed the night without tent or shelter of any sort, stretched out by a large fire, roasting on one side, and half drowned on the other, — and even found means to sleep several hours. How many of you rich s [...]uggards, under your gilt cielings, and upon your beds of down, have not been able to do as much!

The inhabitants of the country were greatly surprised to see us returning the same road so soon, and the tories, with a malicious sneer, demanded if we were going to rest from our labours: but it was not long before they discovered the feint.

We were now advanced considerably up the North-river, and in three days were as high as King's ferry, but the Americans, having travelled along the river side, had arrived there before us.

Some have alledged, that if the English had sent some armed vessels up the Hudson, they might have retarded us considerably, and done us infinite mischief. The retrograde march that we made by order of General Washington, was doubtless meant to divert [Page 41] them from this attempt; but nevertheless, after the trial they had of the abilities of our artillery men, they must have known they would run a great risque of having their vessels destroyed especially if they had met with calms or contrary winds.

The allied army has crossed a great part of the State of New-Jersey, drawing a large quantity of batteaus with them upon carriages, and always menacing Staten-Island. It proceeds in two columns, the Americans forming that next to the sea, although their number does not exceed five or six thousand. The inactivity of the English, at this critical moment, is really incomprehensible; they might, without risquing a great deal, harrass our army, and do us irreparable mischief, and they have all the reason in the world to make such an attempt, for altho' General Washington has had the dexterity to keep them in uncertainty hitherto, they cannot be ignorant that we are in hourly expectations of the arrival of Count de Grasse upon these coasts; and they know that Admiral de Barras has embarked all his heavy cannon, and made prepara­tions for sailing. It is their interest to prevent the junction of our forces, and what more favourable opportunity could there be, than when the army was marching through a country covered with steep mountains, thick set with woods, and intersected with rivers, and where for want of supplies, the troops must march in a less compact state than they would otherwise do.

There is now scarcely any doubt but that we are going to Virginia, unless we suppose the immediate arrival of Count de Grasse should oblige the army to return northwards.

This part of the country is wholly different from that we have hitherto traversed: it is not, like Connecticut, covered with small hills lying close together, which render travelling difficult, obstruct the view, and prevent one from forming a clear idea of the whole scene. Many ridges of mountains, which seem to be branches of the Apalachian, stretch from north east to south west, and form intervals of vast and beautiful plains, which the hand of the geometrician seems to have smoothed to a level. These plains are adorned with large and handsome edifices; and the country abounds with orchards, fields of wheat, rye, barley, indian corn, and flourishing woods.—The inhabitants, for the most part of Alsacian and Dutch descent, are gay, easy and engaging in their manners, and resemble the happy region they inhabit. Provisions are brought into our camp from all quarters; and those that bring them are commonly wealthy people, and very unlike our traders in fruits and pulse. You will often see the women decked with their head dresses and gauzes, riding in their farm waggons to market, drawn by the most elegant horses.

I have taken the pains to travel over the summits of these high mountains of Jersey, and find them to consist principally of rocks of granite, of different kinds, adhering very close together, but aqua fortis, when applied thereto, produces no ebullition: isin­glass is found here likewise in the greatest abundance. If those [Page 42] mountains, which must necessarily be ranked in the primitive class, owe their origin to a vitrified matter, which had once been in a state of fusion for several thousand years, they would necessarily be homogeneous; but I do not remember that I ever found here a mixture of several substances, re-united in grains, assuming regular forms and different colours. Be that as it will, these mountains must have undergone great revolutions, for they are split asunder in many places, and fragments of a prodigious bulk are removed a considerable distance from their first situation: upon one of the loftiest of these hills, I met with a monstrous block of stone, stand­ing by itself, rounded at its angles, supported upon a very small basis, and apparently upon the point of tumbling down, and rolling away—what was its original position, or who could have raised it to this height?

The village of Princeton is inconsiderable, but remarkable for its charming situation, elegant houses, and above all, a college built of stone, four stories high, having twenty-five windows in the front, in each story. In the college, I saw two grand per­ [...]es of mechanism; one of which represents the motions of the heavenly bodies, according to the system of Newton and Copernicus. ^* The inventor of it is an American, and resides at Philadelphia.—I have been assured, that he is now making another, exactly similar, to present to that august Monarch, whose alliance and Friendship ought forever to excite sentiments of gratitude in the minds of these western people.

LETTER VI. Trenton—The beauty of its situation.—River Delaware.—The capture of the Hessians, in 1776.

WE were yesterday encamped in the vicinity of a very agree­able little town; and although we are to day but twelve miles from it, we are come in view of another not at all inferior to it, in pleasantness and the salubrity of the air, and situated to much better advantage: It is the largest we have seen since our leaving Providence, and stands upon the north eastern bank of the De­laware, twenty-seven miles above Philadelphia. This advan­tageous situation, makes it a place of considerable trade, and inter­course with the capital of Pennsylvania, especially in the article of provisions. The Delaware is navigable thus far up, for vessels of some tolerable burden, but afterwards becomes all at once so shal­low, that a little above the town carriages may pass safely over at the fording places, when the tide is out. The shores of this river have nothing of that gloomy and savage aspect observable on the Hudson; they are, on the contrary, as level and pleasant as those of the Loire. The soil is light here, as well as in most other places we have seen, but at the same time very excellent. The maize, or [Page 43] Indian corn, a plant that infinitely exhausts the ground, grows luxuriant here, even in those lands which have been cultivated for a century past, and is in height from seven to eight feet; the stalks are plump and vigorous, and the ears long and heavy.

General Washington has rendered this place famous to the latest times, by a victory, in which he so happily disclosed the amazing resources of his genius.

The English troops in 1776, being arranged in cantonments, formed a line from Brunswick, on the river Ra [...]it [...]n, to the Delaware; fourteen or fifteen hundred men were at Trenton, as many at Bordentown, and a third corps of equal strength at Burlington, which is only twenty miles from Philadelphia. Gene­ral Washington's army, which had scarcely dared to show itself the whole campaign, and was every day growing weaker and weaker, left the English in enjoyment of the greatest security, and only two nights freezing weather would have enabled them to cross the Delaware on the ice, and take possession of Philadelphia. In this critical situation of affairs the Congress retired to Baltimore in Maryland, and America, with dread and consternation, beheld the fatal moment approaching, when her chains were to be rivetted on her forever.

General Washington, not finding himself in a situation to make head against the united force of the enemy, formed a design of attacking them separately: In haste he collected the militia of Penn­sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and divided the whole into three bodies; two could not pass the Delaware for the ice, but that party under the direction of the General himself was more fortunate; for he crossed the river, and after a smart conflict, took above nine hundred Hessians prisoners. A short time afterwards, having kin­dled fires through his camp, and left one man to take care of each, he marched round about, and came upon the rear of the enemy, sur­prised them once more, near Princeton, and obliged another con­siderable body to surrender their arms. The English were then, in their turn, forced to retire, and put themselves on the defensive.

To-morrow we pass the Delaware, and in two days more shall have a sight of the residence of the American Congress; I shall forget nothing that may appear to me deserving of your attention,

LETTER VII. The French army reach Philadelphia.— Encamp on a plain near the Schuylkill.— Review of the Regiment of Soissonnais.—First intelligence of the arrival of Count de Grasse in the Chesapeke.—Charles Thomson.— Description of Philadelphia.— The several religious sects there.—Continental Congress.— State-House.—Philosophical Society.

THE arrival of the French army at Philadelphia was more like a triumph, than simply a passing through the place: the troops made a halt about a quarter of a league from the city, and in an instant were dressed as elegantly as ever the soldiers of a garrison were upon a day of review: they then marched through the town, with the military music playing before them, which is always particularly pleasing to the Americans; the streets were crowded wiih people, and the ladies appeared at the windows in their most brilliant attire. All Philadelphia was astonished to see people, who had endured the fatigues of a long journey, so ruddy and handsome, and even wondered that there could possibly be Frenchmen of so genteel an appearance.

The troops next marched in a single file before the Congress, and M. le Chevalier de la Luzerne, minister from the court of France, and afterwards encamped in a large plain contiguous to the river Schuylkill. The next day after our arrival, the regiment of Soissonnais went through the exercise of the fire arms: at least twenty thousand persons, a [...]d a vast number of carriages, remarka­ble for their lightness and [...]legance, added to the lustre of this exhibition, which was still heightened by the pleasantness of the situation, and the remarkable serenity of the day. The rapidity of the military evolutions, the soldierly appearance of the troops in general, and the exactness of their motions, surprised and enrap­tured the beholders, but their attention was still more excited, when they beheld in one of our chiefs, the relation and friend of that young Hero to whom they are so much indebted, and for whom they profess an admiration arising almost to enthusiasm: a loss, ^§ (which one must be a father, and of great sensibility too, to have a just idea of) had for some days rendered him a prey to grief and melancholy; not even the charms of Philadelphia could draw him from his tent; and like another Achilles, nothing but the clash of arms could make him forget his sorrow.

We were a good deal amused with a mistake of some of the com­mon people, who took for a great General one of those alert fel­lows, whom our commanding officers commonly have in their reti­nue, [Page 45] to run up and down to carry their written orders. His short tight bodied coat, his rich waistcoat with a silver fringe, his rose-coloured shoes, his cap adorned with a coat of arms, and his cane with an enormous head,—all appeared to them so many token [...] of extraordinary dignity. Altho' he approached his master, the Co­lonel commandant, merely to receive and publish his orders, they imagined that he gave them of his own accord, and directed the movements of the troops, independent of any superior.

The President of Congress, ^* in a suit of black velvet, honoured this review with his presence. These honest Pennsylvanians differ very considerably from us in the ceremonies of dress, as we differ from them again in our modes of legislation.

The manoeuvres of our troops raised the most flattering expecta­tions in the minds of the spectators; and they did not hesitate to declare, that such soldiers were invincible.

This day was destined for favourable omens. M. le Chevalier de la Luzerne, who, upon this occasion, received his countrymen with the dignity and generosity of the representative of a great Monarch, and the frankness and cordiality of an individual, after the review, invited all the officers to dine with him. Hardly were we seated at the table, when an express arrived: a disquieting silence immediately seized every guest—our eyes were fixed upon the Che­valier de la Luzerne, every one endeavouring to guess what the message would turn out to be.— ‘Thirty-six ships of the line, said he, commanded by Monsieur le Comte de Grasse, are arrived in Chesapeak-Bay, and three thousand men have landed and opened a communication with the Marquis de la Fayette.’ —Joy and good humour, immediately resumed their place on every countenance—Our impatient leaders began to count the days, and reckon how long it would be before they would have it in their power to face the enemy; and their heated imaginations made the time much shorter than it afterwards proved to be. Healths were next drank; and that of the Minister of the marine of France was not forgotten, whose activity and great abilities, have paved the way to the most brilliant successes of our fleet: The presence of his son, M. le Comte de Charlu, second Colonel of the regiment of Saintonge, added still more to our pleasure and satisfaction.

Among others, Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress, the soul of that political body, came also to receive and present his compliments. His meagre figure; furrowed countenance; his hollow sparkling eyes; his white, straight hair, that did not hang quite as low as his ears, fixed our thorough attention, and filled us with surprize and admiration.

The important news of the arrival of Count de Grasse, was soon spread throughout the city, and echoes of joy were heard from every quarter: Some merry fellows mounted upon scaf­folds and stages, pronounced funeral orations for Cornwallis, [Page 46] and uttered lamentati [...]s upon the grief and distress of the Tories. The people ran in crowds to the residence of the Minister of France; and long live Louis the Sixteenth, was the general cry.

Thus, you see, the people are universally persuaded of the suc­cess of this expedition.—Could these flattering hopes be realized, they would hasten a peace, which in our situation, and under the wise and benevolent Prince that governs us, would place France in a point of view, that has been wholly unknown since the existence of her monarchy.

Philadelphia, the capital of Pennsylvania, is built upon an ele­vated and extensive plain, a little above the confluence, and be­tween the two rivers, Delaware and Schuylkill. The famous William Penn, founder of this colony, gave the plan, and pointed out the situation. His plan has been followed, but the town is built upon the principal river for the conveniency of trade. Its form is an oblong, extending two miles in length, and having eight streets perfectly parallel to each other, crossed at right an­gles by sixteen others, of near a mile in length, equally wide and as exactly parallel. Care has been taken to leave vacancies for public edifices. The two principal streets, Front-street, and Market-street, are each one hundred feet broad. Vessels of five hundred tons can lie afloat, by the most convenient wharffs; and I saw more than twenty ships at once upon the stocks. The town contains at least six thousand houses, for the most part built of brick, and all extremely handsome; the people are computed to be about forty thousand souls. The Roman Catholics have two chapels here, governed by an English ex-Jesuit, and a G [...]rman Priest, who reckon the number of their communicants at about eleven or twelve hundred. There are also churches for the Presbyterians, Lutherans, Dutch Calvinists, Anabaptists, &c. but the most nu­merous sect is that of the Quakers, and of this persuasion was the founder of the colony.

As this sect pretends to more toleration, strictness of moral [...] and equality of condition than any other, and was established in Penn­sylvania just after they first attracted the notice of the European world, by the peculiarity of their religion, and at a time when the contradictions and contempt into which other persuasions had fallen, served to support it in all its energy and austerity; so their legisla­tion tended still more to make these colonists free, equal and sim­ple in their manners. The mildness of the climate, the goodness of the soil, their rural occupations, and a solitary mode of life, fa­voured the views of their legislature, and Pennsylvania soon be­came the most virtuous and happy colony that history has ever re­corded. But by the increase of inhabitants, by the flocking in of strangers, and its becoming a commercial settlement, the fortunes of individuals were enlarged, luxury was introduced, the manners of the people insensibly changed, and that golden age, which was here realized, was soon considered as nothing more than a brilliant [Page 47] meteor, which blazed out a moment to the astonished world, and disappeared forever.

In this city the representatives of the thirteen States, denomi­nated the Congress, hold their residence. The front of the edifice in which they sit, is of brick, and consequently without any of the orders of architecture; it is, however, as handsome as any structure in this taste can be, and presents to the eye a noble, solid, regular mass. It is placed in the common range of the houses, without any considerable interval of separation, and certainly loses much of its beauty because you have no proper stand to examine it in the requisite point of view: Each individual State sends its deputies hither to consult upon its interests, make its proposals and concert means for the defence of the common cause. This assembly has no concern with any matters further than what respects the general interest of all the States, each having its particular assembly, who make laws and provide for the support of their civil govern­ment, independent of the general Congress. The number of representatives is always in proportion to the extent and importance of the several States that send them—the fewest that can be sent are two, and seven the most, but how many soever there be, the representatives of each state have but one voice. The central position of this town, and its natural security of situation has decided the choice in its favour. The first Congress was held here the fifth of September 1774, and the act of Independence was passed July 4th, 1776; at a period, when the affairs of America looked dark and gloomy, when a very numerous fleet and army surround­ed all the avenues to New-York, and threatened destruction to the very existence of liberty in America.

The market-house, situated in the midst of the city, is large and handsome. The prisons for Debtors and criminals, as well as that designed for prisoners of war, are spacious and airy.

You have heard of their Philosophical Society, of which many learned men in Europe are members. But the establishment that does the most honour to these rising States, is a Hospital intended to receive the defenders of their country, when wounds and infir­mities render them incapable of providing for their own subsistence.

The plan of William Penn is yet far from being accomplished, but is perfected more and more as the town enlarges: it is easy to judge what an amazing growth it has had, when we find an old man yet alive in Philadelphia, who remembers when the very first stone of it was laid. This town, situated on a river where vessels of war may easily come up, and upon a fertile soil which requires little labour to cultivate it, and built after a well considered plan, cannot fail of becoming in time one of the largest and most beauti­ful cities in the world

LETTER VIII. The army arrives at the Head of Elk.—Em­barkation of several regiments at that place.—The main body pro­ceed on.—Baltimore described.—Of the Acadians, or French neutrals, settled there.—Their ministers, religious discipline &c.— The unsettled state of the churches in Maryland and Virginia.

WHEN the army reached the Head of Elk, a place on the north of Chesapeak bay, we had the mortification to find there was not a sufficiency of transports to receive us all on board. It was with difficulty that we could even procure shallops and boats, for the most part open, to take in the grenadiers, chasseurs and some American regiments: in case of bad weather these troops will suffer much and run a considerable risk of being drowned; General Washington and Count Rochambeau, have advanced on by land, to concert their plans of operation with M. de Grasse. M. le Baron de Viomenil, the immediate commander of the French army, has determined likewise to go all the way by land.

Baltimore is, from its situation, one of the most important places of all North-America.—Placed almost at the head of the Bay, it lies convenient to receive the produce of Pennsylvania, the Delaware state, and especially the commodities of Maryland. This last mentioned state has very considerable iron forges, and pro­duces a species of tobacco of a less pleasing smell than that of Vir­ginia, but infinitely more strong, and for that reason preferred by the people of the north of Europe.

Thirty years ago, Baltimore was only an inconsiderable village; at present it is a large wealthy town, built nearly in the shape of a crescent or half-moon, The northern part of it, is situated upon a narrow slip of land, that projects a considerable distance into the Bay, and is so low, that the town in this place, apparently rises out of the bosom of the waters, and already seems to anticipate its future dominion and grandeur.

Lord Baltimore, an Irish Catholic, formerly established two hun­dred of his persuasion in this place, and gave his name to the settlement. About one quarter of it is peopled by those unfortunate Acadians, and their descendents, whom the English cruelly forced away from their own happy country, ^‡ to leave them destitute and [Page 49] poor in a region where they were utter strangers. Their quarter is the meanest in appearance, and worst built of all, and the tyranny of the British government has, till lately, h [...]ndered them from gaining any thing by the happy situation of this town; but being for the most part sea-faring men it is hoped they will not fail, in time, to make up by commerce the loss of their fertile settlements in Acadia.

They still preserve the French language among them, and are prodigiously attached to whatever regards the nation from which they originated, especially in their religious worship, which they keep up with a strictness that would have done honour to the pri­mitive ages of christianity. Their way of life is plain and simple, and their manners similar to those prevalent among them while they were yet in the happy region of Acadia. The priests there exercised that authority over them which virtue and education allow, over men who are not yet corrupt in their morals, they were their judges and their mediators, and to this day these exiled peo­ple never mention their names without tears.

They told me a great deal about a Monsieur le Clere, who, at their departure, gave them vessels and ornaments for the service of the altar. ‘These ornaments (said the good old man) will serve to recall to your minds what you owe to the religion of your fathers: can it flourish—can it even exist in those new regions which you are now going to inhabit! While you reprove all other creeds and modes of worship, can you show by your gen­tleness, good will and beneficence, that you still hold them as brethren, who are of a different faith! Perhaps Providence is making you its instruments to extend the divine truths of the gospel, and render them prevalent in some other region of the world. This reflection alone supports me under the sorrow and pangs of parting, but wherever you may be forced by the will of heaven, rely upon it, my heart will always follow you, and never, never will I raise my trembling hands to the sacred altars of the Divinity, but you shall be the dearest objects of my prayers.’

Their chapel is built without the town upon a height, near four or five churches of different sects. They complain much, that they do not find in their present ministers, the zeal and affection of those in Acadia: taken up with their temporal concerns, they bestow few instructions upon their flock, and their whole pastoral function seems confined to saying low mass once a month.

[Page 50]When they saw a French clergyman, it seemed to revive the idea [...] [...]heir former pastors. They even urged me to officiate in their [...]ch, and while I was performing that sacred duty in compliance with their request, I could not but congratulate them upon their piety, and lay before them a pattern of the virtues of their fathers; I recalled to their minds the long-vanished ideas of those much respected persons, and they immediately dissolved into tears; the music too, which I had introduced upon this occasion, contributed its share to melt and move their hearts.

Maryland has a great propo [...]tion of catholics among its inhabi­tants. A [...] Fredericksburg and other places in Virginia there are several churches, as well as at Charlestown, the capital of South-Carolina. All the North-American churches were under the jurisdiction of the bishop of London, who since the Revolution, however, has relinquished all connexion with them, protestants as well as papists, and they are now left to themselves, without head and without unity. The religion and number of these people ought nevertheless to claim the attention of the patrons of the church.—

LETTER IX. The combined armies embark at Annapolis for York in Virginia.—Difference of the manners and customs, in the Northern and Southern States.

THE army was to prosecute the rest of the march to Virginia by land, and with that view took the road leading to Alexandria, a flourishing commercial town upon the Potomack; but upon the news of the arrival of the Romulus ship of war, with two frigates and a number of transports, we turned off towards Annapolis, but the horses and carriages continued their journey by land.

As we advance towards the south we observe a sensible difference in the manners and customs of the people. We no longer find, as in Connecticut, houses situated along the road at small distances, just large enough to contain a single family, and the houshold furniture nothing more than is barely necessary; here are spacious habitations, consisting of different buildings, at some distance from each other, surrounded with plantations that extend beyond the reach of the eye, cultivated not by the hands of freemen, but by those unhappy blacks, whom European avarice and injustice has taken from their native regions of Africa to cultivate pos­sessions not their own, in a foreign soil. Their furniture here, is constructed out of the most costly kinds of wood, and the most valuable marble, enriched by the elegant devices of the artists hand. Their riding machines are light and handsome, and drawn by the fleetest coursers, managed by slaves richly dressed: this [Page 51] opulence was particularly observable at Annapolis. That very inconsiderable town, standing at the mouth of the river Severn, where it falls into the bay, out of the few buildings it contains, has at least three fourths, such as may be stiled elegant and grand. Female luxury here exceeds what is known in the provinces of France: a French hair dresser is a man of importance among them, and it is said, a certain dame here hires one of that craft at a thousand crowns a year salary. The state house is a very beautiful building, I think the most so of any I have seen in America. The peristyle is set off with pillars, and the edifice is topped with a dome.

We are embarking with the greatest expedition; the weather is the finest you can conceive, and the wind fair: I think the impa­tience of the French will soon be at an end.

LETTER X. Arrival of the troops at James-Town—Wil­liamsburg —Its State House—College, Library and Professors.— Climate of Virginia —Tobacco—Commerce—Population—Condi­tion of the Slaves—Rivers of the Country—Trees and Plants—A curious species of the Catterpillar—Dangerous effects from the sting of a Spider—Petrifactions common in Virginia.

THE army has had a very agreeable passage hither, except the grenadiers, chasseurs, and the first American regiments, ^* who were fourteen days on the water. Judge how inconvenient this must have been to troops crowded into a narrow space, and without any decks over them; while even the officers had nothing but biscuit to live upon. The shores of this Bay, which is formed by the influx of so many great rivers, are far from being lofty, neither are they much cleared of the wo [...]ds, and it is but rarely that you discover any habitations; but the few we saw were very agreeably situated. This country will be, in time, one of the most beautiful in the world.

When our little fleet had sailed up James-River, celebrated for the excellent tobacco which grows upon its shores, we disembark­ed at James-Town, the place where the English first established themselves in Virginia. The troops have already joined the grena­diers, chasseurs, and the three thousand men brought hither by Count de Grasse, consisting of the regiments of Agenois, Gatinois and Touraine, under the command of Mons. de St. Simon, Mare­chal de Camp. This General had a little before, effected a junc­tion with fifteen hundred or two thousand Americans, commanded [Page 52] by M. le Marquis de la Fayette, who, as you have heard, could never be reduced, notwithstanding the forces of Cornwallis were three or four times his number. I should have mentioned, that M. de la Fayette, in quality of Major-General of an American ar­my, at the age of twenty-four years, found himself at this time su­perior in command to a French general officer, and continued so till the other detachments of the army were collected into one bo­dy, under General Washington.

Williamsburg, tho' considerable, as the capital of Virginia, is in other respects a place of little importance: it is situated upon a plain, level piece of land, and the main street, passing through the midst of it, is more than one hundred feet in width: at one of the extremities, and fronting the street is the capitol, or state-house, a small but regular building; and at the other end is the college, capable of containing more than three hundred students: there is a library belonging to it of about three thousand volumes, and an apparatus for experimental philosophy, tolerably complete. With the most lively satisfaction I contemplated these monuments of the real glory of men; and while I contemplated them, they re­called to my mind places and persons most intimately connected with my heart. The tumult of arms has driven from hence, those who had the care of these philosophical instruments, for the muses you know, take no pleasure but in the abodes of peace: We could only meet with one solitary professor, of Italian extraction; and I cannot but say, his conversation and abilities appeared to be such, that after what he had told us in commendation of his brethren, we could not help regretting their absence.

Williamsburg does not contain above a hundred and fifty houses, and is the only town we have yet seen in Virginia worth mentioning: not situated on the banks of any river, it stands at an equal distance from two small ones, one of which falls into York, the other into James River. It is subject to the inconveniency of scarcity of good water. What makes the situation of this place valuable, is the neighbourhood of James and York rivers, between which grows the best tobacco in the whole State, and for this reason it seems to have been built where it is: I do not think, nevertheless, that it will ever be a place of any great importance; the towns of York, James, Norfolk, and Edenton, being more favourably situated for trade, will undoubtedly eclipse it.

Although Virginia extends from the 36th. to the 39th. degree of north latitude, the winters are very severe, and great quantities of snow sometimes fall. The southern and eastern winds are ex­cessive warm, and those from the north and west, coming over mountains and lakes, equally cold. In a days time there will often be a rapid transition from one extreme to the other. The country produces several very excellent kinds of wood, and about Williams­burg and the shores of the bay, the land is covered with trees yielding rozin; the meadows and marshes subsist great numbers of excellent horses, which far exceed those of the other States in point [Page 53] of beauty: Vast quanties of hemp are raised here, as well as flax, Indian corn and cotton: The cotton shrubs produce annually, and at the first view we took them for beans in blossom. Silk worms suc­ceed here very well, and it is not improbable but they may at some future time form one of the most considerable branches of trade in this state. The commodity most in demand is tobacco; you well know the character it has, and for common use it may be considered as the best in the world: What the English imported yearly from this state, and from Maryland, might have amounted to about ninety-six thousand hogsheads; but among themselves they did not consume one sixth part of that quantity, and either disposed of the rest among us, or exported it to the north: judge then how valuable this commerce was to that nation. They purchased it here at the very lowest rate, taking it in exchange for their broad­cloths, linen and hard wares, and selling again for ready money what they did not want for their own home consumption, and thus they increased their capital every year to the amount of eight or nine millions. No other of their poss [...]ssions, not even those in India, ever afforded them so clear a profit. Three hundred and thirty vessels, and about four thousand sailors were constantly em­ployed in this trade: of these the city of Glasgow, in Scotland, owned the greatest part, and by that means supported its flourishing manufactures, which were perhaps more considerable than those of any town in England.

Since the war, the tobacco exportation has been only about forty thousand hogsheads annually; what advantages then would have accrued to the English, could they have sooner made them­selves masters of Chesapeake-bay. There are now fifty or sixty vessels collected at York, under the cannon of Cornwallis, sent on purpose to load with this weed, which three fourths and a half of the human race take such supreme delight in chewing, snuffing or smoking.

The population of Virginia, is computed at one hundred and fifty thousand whites, and five hundred thousand negroes. There is a still greater disproportion between the whites and blacks in Maryland, where there are not more than twenty thousand whites, and at least two hundred thousand negroes. The English imported into these two provinces, between seven and eight thousand yearly. Perhaps the lot of these slaves is not quite so hard as that of the ne­groes in the Islands; their liberty, it is true, is irreparably lost in b [...]th places, but here they are treated with more mildness, and are supported upon the same kind of food with their masters; and if the earth which they cultivate, is moistened with their sweat, it has never been known to blush with their blood. The Ameri­can, not at all industrious by nature, is considerate enough not to expect too much from his slave, who in such circumstances, has fewer motives to be laborious than himself.

The great rivers, which water this province, have their source in the blue mountains, a chain of which runs through the whole coun­try, from north to south. Beyond these rolls the Ohio, through vast forests and meadows, in a serpentine course, till it unites with [Page 54] the Missisippi: according to the reports of travellers, the finest and most fertile countries in the world extend along the shores of this river, which are nevertheless as yet but ill explored. It is said, that General Washington had in contemplation, if he could not break the chains of his country, to go and establish himself there with those, whom the love of liberty and independence should incline to partake of his fate and fortune.

As you advance to the southward, the different degrees of heat are observable by the difference of the vegetable productions The gum-laurel rises here into a tree, and the sassafras becomes tall and stately. We took notice in Maryland, of a fruit very com­mon there, sharp tasted and bitterish before it was ripe, but, like our sorb apples, luscious, insipid and flabby, when come to matu­rity, being about the bigness of a plumb, and of a bright yellow.

Almost all the plants here are odoriferous: the white flower-ever­lasting, of which the fields are full, is remarkably so.—The cat­terpillars differ entirely from those of Europe, being covered with tufts, which hide both their heads and feet: these tufts are long, close and smooth as if they had been trimmed with scissors; some are all over of one colour, such as a very fine vermillion, others are chequered with regular spots.

We found near the North-River, in the state of New-York, ano­ther species of this insect, remarkable for its size and beauty. M. le Chevalier de Chattelux, ^* whom the great affairs of an army do not entirely preclude from allotting some moments to literary amuse­ment, made me a present of one, which I have delineated upon paper: it was about four inches long, and had seven or eight rings passing round the body; its skin was thin and of a light green, through which you might perceive the motion of the blood in the arteries; his eye-balls were about the bigness of a pea, and his tail of a deep yellow; each of his rings had four little branchy horns, hard and of a jet black, about two twelfths of an inch long: his head was armed with eight more, more than an inch in length, strong, branchy, and bent towards each other, yellow, and black towards the extremities, and polished in the most exquisite man­ner. This stately insect lets us know, by the arrogance of its car­riage, that it is not ignorant of the noble dress it wears, and seems conscious of a natural superiority over its fellow worms.

I have had a dangerous trial of the wonderful subtlety of the poi­son of a species of the spider; it stung me in the forehead as I was going to bed in my tent, but I hardly felt any pain in the spot where the sting had penetrated, and the pimple it occasioned was barely perceptible: however, some shootings in the muscles of my throat on the side next to the wound, prevented me from getting any sleep: in half an hour afterwards I found my belly was swol­len, and my body full of dead, heavy pains. I then got up and [Page 55] walked about in the open air, but my pains increasing rapidly, communicated themselves to my back, and at length centered in my stomach; In a short time I could support myself no longer on my legs, and in this condition was carried to Williamsburg, from which we were only a few hundreds of yards distant: here they gave me some volatile alkaline salts, and rubbed the part where I had been stung; but notwithstanding this, the oppression at my stomach increased, and my pains became more and more violent; bleeding was of little or no service, and I was relieved at last by the simple remedy of warm water, which had I delayed to make use of, I should infallibly have died for want of breath. As the nervous system was only attacked by the poison, it is plain the alkaline salts could but have increased the irritation. I am now recovered, except that I have at times some painful shootings in my nerves, ^* a kind of malady I could hardly give credit to, were I not actually the sufferer.

In Maryland, I began to pick up petrified shell-fish, where there is great plenty on the shores of the bay, but in the neighbour­hood of Williamsburg I have seen the ground guttured out to the depth of more than twenty-five feet by the land floods, and disclos­ing vast quantities of these substances, the greater part of which was not more than half petrified.

The army is at present before York. We hear the reports of the cannon very distinctly; and I am now going to join the troops, where I think I shall shortly have something very interesting to impart to you.

LETTER XI. The combined Forces march from Williamsburg. York invested.—Various preparatory operations of the army.— Batteries opened upon the town.—The Charon burnt.—Distressed situation of Cord Cornwallis.—Tarleton's expedition.—repulsed by the Duke de Lauzun.— Reflexions upon sieges and battles.— A party of the besieged surprise a French battery.—Lord Cornwallis endeavours to escape in the night to Glocester.—Prevented by bad weather.—Sends out a flag.— Offers to capitulate.—The articles of surrender.—Mutual hatred betwixt the English and the Americans. Destruction of the town of York from the cannonading.— The troops go into winter quarters.

THE combined army left Williamsburg the 28th of Septem­ber, with a view to invest York; and advanced the same day [Page 56] to within three quarters of a league of the town. Such approaches as these are not commonly made without great circumspection, since the encampments must necessarily be multiplied in proportion as you draw near to the enemy, but the impatience of the troops for action rendered them rather too venturesome on this occasion, not hesitating to march twelve miles in the face of the enemy through dangerous woods, upon a loose, sandy soil, and through the most excessive heats. One of our young Colonels went so far, as to use every argument he could think of to prevail upon General Washington to suffer him to attack two redoubts that lay in our way. The General referred the matter to M. le Comte de Rocham­beau, to whom he had intrusted the immediate direction of the siege, but Count Rochambeau thought it more prudent to give the troops a little time for repose, and reconnoitre the places, before he made any attempt of that kind.

A body of Americans, headed by the Marquis de la Fayette, composed the right column, and the French, preceded by their grenadiers and chasseurs formed the left. The army of M. le Compte de Rochambeau, consisting of the regiments of Bourbon­nais, Royal Deux Ponts, Soissonnais and Saintonge was placed in the center: The troops under the command of M. de Saint Simon extended to the left as far as York river, and the Americans occu­pied the right, flanked by the same river.

On the thirtieth, the enemy evacuated the two redoubts, which the young Colonel was for attacking upon our first arrival: they were distant about four hundred toises [eight hundred yards] from their main works, and upon their leaving them, the French immediately took possession.

On the first of October in the night, the Americans began two redoubts to the right of the others. The enemy discovering this, instantly turned their fire that way, and as we expected, several of the American work men were killed. This, however, did not at all intimidate their companions, who held on at their business with the same ardour as if no such accident had happened. ^§

The army was busy, till the sixth, in constructing long and short fascines, gabions, and landing the Artillery and ammuniti­on. We were soon after in a situation to open the trenches. The regiments of Bourbonnais and Soissonnais, commanded by Baron de Viomenil, and fifteen hundred Americans under the Marquis de la Fayette, posted themselves all night in a deep ravine to protect the fifteen hundred workmen on the right. At the same time the regiment de Touraine opened the intrenchment on the left, and raised a battery over against a redoubt, detached from their main works, and intended to keep off the fire directed from the right of the enemy. The act [...]vity of the workmen and the natural loose­ness [Page 57] of the soil, to our great astonishment, put the parallel into a state to receive the troops on the next day. They entered it about noon, with drums beating.

The opening of the trenches, which is ordinarily the most fatal period of a siege, was in this instance executed without the effusion of blood; a circumstance the more fortunate, as the wounded would have been unprovided with straw to lie on, and linen rags for the dressing of their wounds. This was performed on the 7th: on the 8th and 9th they laboured hard in constructing batteries, which were prosecuted with such expedition that those of the Americans and Monsieur de Saint Simon opened about five in the evening. The latter soon forced a frigate to move from her moorings, that had been very troublesome in firing upon our en­campments; they also levelled a red hot ball at the Charon, a forty-four gun ship, and burnt her, as they did likewise a sloop, The batteries of Count Rochambeau began to play on the tenth, at seven in the morning; and now the difference of the two firings could easily be distinguished; that of the enemy was slow and irregular, while ours was brisk and well supported. Our engineers had pitched upon the most advantageous positions, and the artil­lery men made every discharge take effect by the exactness of their aim, and their alertness in working the guns.

Lord Cornwallis had not prepared his troops for such salutations as these; he had assured them, on the contrary, "that we were unprovided with battering cannon, and had only some field pieces; that our troops were raw and unskilled in war, and that those of M. de Saint Simon in particular, were nothing better than undisci­plined vagabonds, collected in the West Indies, enervated by a hot climate, and would soon be conquered, were it only by the first attacks of the cold weather, prevalent in these countries: and as to the American troops, they knew very well what distressed cir­cumstances they were in; and finally, that powerful succours from New-York would soon put them in a situation to besiege the besiegers."

This harangue did but increase their consternation. As soon as they began to hear the terrible roaring of our batteries, we that were on the heights saw them flying precipitately from their redoubts, while their batteries in an instant were entirely silenced. They had been quiet spectators of our labours, and we now became so in our turn with respect to them. At this time I watched an opportunity to traverse our lines, which consisted of a large ditch, broad enough for carriages to travel in, about four feet in depth, and covered by a rampart of gabions, or cylindrical baskets, fixed upon the ground, by means of projecting stakes, filled and covered over with loose dirt, and forming a height of about seven feet on the side towards the enemy. The batteries were placed upon platforms, on the inside of the ditch, raised and strengthened with palisadoes. The quarter next the enemy was covered by a large parapet, in which were the embrasures for the cannon: all these [Page 58] works, as well as most of those of the English consisted wholly of earth.

I now beheld the cannon, those infernal machines, playing with the utmost fury; I saw the rapid bullet striking or rebounding from the redoubts of the enemy, and driving thro' the air the planks and timber, which formed the embrasures for the great guns. ^* I followed with my eye, in its parabolic path, the slow and destructive bomb, sometimes burying itself in the roofs of houses, sometimes when it burst, raising clouds of dust and rubbish from the ruins of the buildings, at other times blowing the un­fortunate wretches, that happened to be within its reach, more than twenty feet high in the air, and letting them fall at a con­siderable distance most pitiably torn. Such terrible sights as these fix and captivate the attention, and fill the mind at the same instant with trouble, wonder and consternation. "The besieged, (said the deserters) are in the utmost confusion; not knowing where to fly, death seizes them even in the arms of sleep: and the General, uneasy at the discontent of the Hessians, no longer confides his advanced guard to any but the English soldiers."

We had to pass to our entrenchments through a narrow defile, where the enemy principally directed their fire, and the first lodgment for such as should chance to be wounded was but a small distance off. I advanced thither as fast as my health and strength would permit, and perceived that the bullets often fell upon the fascine cabbin in which we were. I here observed, in the dead of night, the different degrees of celerity betwixt the flash, the sound, and the projected body. The light preceded the sound, and the sound the stroke, but at a much less considerable interval of time.

Tarleton, that impetuous leader, who had spread terror through their whole march from Carolina, on the day that the batteries of Count Rochambeau began to play made a sally by way of Glocester, at the head of his legion consisting of four hundred picked men. M. le Choisi, Brigadier General, then marched against him with a part of his troops, who together with M. le Duc de Lauzun, at the head of his Hussars, repulsed him with the loss of about fifty of his men: this event was a thunder stroke to the inhabitants of the country, who had hitherto believed Tarleton invincible, and formed a judgment of his talents from the boldness of his thefts and robberies.

In the night of the eleventh we opened a second parallel, at about three hundred yards from the enemy's main works: a prodigious quantity of royal grenades, or small bombs, from the enemy disturbed the workmen a good deal, which did not however prevent them from going on with alacrity; but we now relaxed the fire of our artillery for fear of doing them damage by our shot, as [Page 59] well as because we began to demolish our old batteries to construct new ones. At this time the fire of the enemy became brisker than usual.

True bravery manifests itself chiefly in sieges. The confusion, the hurry, the example of others, all contribute during a battle, to rouse, move and animate the most timid, who, in an instant be­come superior to themselves: but in the long continued fatigues of a siege, where dangers are incestantly growing out of each other, where, in the silence and solitude of darkness we have to face death with coolness and unconcern, to reflect on its consequences and horrors with calmness, and set the real loss of life in competition with the uncertainty of our hopes and expectations in a state of futurity, then it is that the courage of a warrior proves itself to spring from an unbounded love of honour, and an invincible attachment to his duty.

The French, in this siege, seemed to become rivals to each other; and each officer envied the lot of him who was sent upon attempts of the greatest danger; they hurried away, with a curiosity which I cannot but call rashness and madness, to examine the works of the enemy, and hasten the progress of our own. Even the ob­scure common soldier, whose life and death is equally consigned to oblivion, strove to outdo his renowned officers in these daring en­terprizes, and went up in defiance of the enemy to the very edges of their intrenchments. The miner, with the axe in his hand, advanced with a determined step through a shower of grape shot to cut down the tree at his leisure, which perhaps shielded him from destruction. The corps of artillery, so distinguished by the abilities and intrepidity of their officers, were no less so by the ac­tivity, spirit and courage of their soldiery. ^* General Washing­ton himself beheld the effects of this daring spirit with astonish­ment; a bomb or a bullet, fortunately pointed, excited in them the lively emotions of an eager huntsman, who is upon the point of seizing his prey.

A gunner, at one of the embrasures, had his foot carried away by a bullet. I tried to console the unhappy man in the first mo­ments of his anguish, when he gave me for answer,—"I am less afflicted for the loss of my foot, than for being so unfortunate as not to have had time, before it happened, to discharge the cannon I had pointed with so much care!"—He soon after died of his wound, and never ceased to complain, till the last, of the failure he had made in firing the piece.

[Page 60]As long as we were working at the batteries of the second pa­rallel, the fire of the enemy was incessantly kept up. The works, that were carried on with the greatest vigour, were not, however, extended as far as the assailants wished. They demanded, with vehement exclamations, to be led on to attack the two detached redoubts, which incommoded them much, and the possession of which, would enable them to enfilade a part of the works of the enemy: The eager valour of the Baron de Viomenil, was particu­larly impatient of restraint in this enterprize, when, at length, on the 14th, he was ordered to attack one of them, having under him Count William de Deux Ponts, second Colonel of the regiment of Royal Deux Ponts, and M. le Chevalier de Lameth, Aide-Marechal: The Marquis de la Fayette commanded the attack up­on the other, and M. de Gimat was placed under his direction — both redoubts were taken sword in hand; but unfortuately Count William was wounded, and the Chevalier de Lameth mortally in both his knees.

The following night four hundred of the besieged, pretending to be Americans, surprised one of our batteries, nailed up seven pieces of cannon, killed some soldiers, made a few prisoners, and wounded about thirty: a lad of fifteen years old, servant to an officer, who was sleeping just by, was stabbed with a bayonet in thirteen or fourteen different parts of his body. The regiment of Soissonnais, which was posted a small distance off, knew nothing of this affair till it was over, because the officer who commanded the redoubt had given orders not to fire, or make an alarm at the approach of these pretended Americans; this regiment, however, soon hastened up, and had not the Lieutenant Colonel of Saintonge sounded a retreat, the English would have been completely sur­rounded. Several of the enemies soldiers were wounded and brought to our hospitals, and the men who a moment before had been cutting each others throats, were now collected under the same roof, and received, indiscriminately, the same care and attention. And thus it is, that in the midst of the horrors that distress and disgrace our nature, there are still some traces left of the once noble and exalted disposition of mankind.

On the sixteenth and seventeenth, our new batteries began to play; broke some pallisadoes, and even made a breach in the enemy's works. Lord Cornwallis finding himself upon the point of being torn and crushed from every quarter, now took the desperate resolution of passing over in the night to Glocester, a post still less capable of defence than York. Bad weather, how­ever, hindered him from accomplishing his purpose, and on the seventeenth, at ten in the morning, he sent a flag to ask a cessation of arms for twenty-four hours: the deputies were reminded of the behaviour of their Generals at Charlestown and Savannah in similar circumstances, and had their request refused. Another flag then came out proposing a surrender, when two hours suspension of arms was granted them, which term was afterwards prolonged. [Page 61] Lord Cornwallis desired to know what terms of capitulation were to be allowed him.— "THOSE OF CHARLESTOWN," answered General Washington, with spirit and judgment.

By thus recalling a victory to their remembrance, in which they had manifested the most overbearing insolence, he taught them to treat the Americans in a different manner, for the time to come, when they should happen to fall under their power. M. le Vicomte de Noailles and Mr. Laurens, an American officer of great merit, son of that President of Congres [...], who was so long in the tower of London, acted as commissioners on this occasion. The first request the English deputies made was to know the names of our chief Engineers and officers of artillery; for they declared, that it was not in the power of man to point out persons possessed of greater talents or skill in their profession.

On the eighteenth of October, about noon, the articles of Capitulation were signed, and on the nineteenth, Lord Cornwallis and his army surrendered themselves prisoners of war.—

[Page 64]The nineteenth about four in the afternoon, the English and Hessians filed off, with their colours cased, betwixt the French and American armies, at the head of which were General Washington and Count Rochambeau: the garrison at Glocester marched out before the troops of M. de Choisi. Lord Cornwallis pretended sickness, to avoid appearing on this occasion, and it was said, he gave himself up entirely to vexation and despair: indeed it was no wonder, for he now saw the fruit of many years success vanish in a moment; the painful, laborious march he had made through the desert, half peopled region of North-Carolina, in order to conquer Virginia, was now entirely lost. An army, by whom he was almost adored, consisting of more than seven thou­sand choice troops, were obliged to surrender their arms to an enemy as much depised as hated; twelve thousand musquets, more than two hundred pieces of Iron and Brass cannon, and a prodigious quantity of warlike stores were now transferred into hands that would inevitably turn them to the disadvantage of his country; he moreover saw their marine deprived at once of fifteen hundred sailors and sixty square-rigged vessels, exclusive of a ship of forty-four guns and two frigates, besides the total loss of the commercial productions of Virginia.

The two lines of the combined army were more than a mile in length; the Americans were to the right: but the disproportion observable among them in point of age and size, and the dissimi­larity of their dress, which was also dirty and ragged, set off the French to great advantage, who, notwithstanding so much fatigue, maintained at all times an erect, soldierly and vigorous air. But we were all surprised at the good condition of the English troops, as well as their cleanliness of dress; to account for their good appearance, Cornwallis had opened all the stores to the soldiers before the capitulation took place. Each had on a complete new suit, but all their sinery seemed only [...] humble them the more when contrasted with the miserable appearance of the Americans; these haughty Englishmen did not even dare to look up at their conquerors; silent and ashamed they one after an other deposited their arms in the stipulated place, and that they might not sink and die under their humiliation, we kept the spectators at a considerable distance. Upon their return, the Eng­lish officers had the civility to pay a compliment to the meanest of the French, which they did not deign to do to the Americans of the highest rank. ^§

[Page 65]This hatred betwixt the two nations has manifested itself upon several occasions; and such of the English as remained disarmed at York, had to bear a great deal from the Americans, who seemed resolved to take ample vengeance for the robberies and murders that had been perpetrated in their habitations. Among others I saw the lady of an English Colonel come to our camp, with tears in her eyes, to beg the protection of a French guard to defend her and her infants from the violence of an American soldier. The next day after the surrender, the officers that were prisoners came over to view our entrenchments, but when they went to examine those of the Americans, they were driven away with contempt and indignation. During the whole time they remained at York, I do not remember that they had the least connexion or intercourse with the Americans, while they lived upon familiar terms with the French, and sought upon all occasions to give them proofs of their esteem. ^‡

I have been through the unfortunate little town of York since the siege, and saw many elegant houses shot through and through in a thousand places, and ready to crumble to pieces; rich houshold furniture crushed under their ruins, or broken by the brutal English soldier; carcases of men and horses, half covered with dirt, whose mouldering limbs, while they poisoned the air, struck dread and horror to the soul: Books piled in heaps, and scattered among the ruins of the buildings, served to give me an idea of the taste and morals of the inhabitants; these were either treatises of religion or controversial divinity; the history of the English nation, and their foreign settlements; collections of charters and acts of parliaments; the works of the celebrated Alexander Pope; a translation of Montaigne's Essays; Gil Blas de Santillane, and the excellent Essay upon Women, ^§ by Mr. Thomas.

The plan of the fortifications for the defence of York and Glocester, has been entirely changed; they are drawing them into a narrower compass than before, have destroyed the English works, and are busy at constructing new ones. The travelling artillery is partly at Williamsburg and partly at York; and the heavy cannon is at West point (called Delaware in the maps,) a place situated between the two rivers that form that of York.

On the twenty-fourth, the troops began to go into winter quarters. The regiments of Bourbonnais and Royal Deux Ponts [Page 66] are at Williamsburg, where our head Quarters are fixed. The regiment of Soissonnais, and the grenadier companies, and Chas­seurs of Saintonge are at York. The rest of the regiment of Saintonge is billeted about in the country betwixt York and Hampton; and this latter place, situated on James River, is occupied by the Legion of Lauzun.

LETTER XII. Character of General Burgoyne.—Account of his unfortunate expedition in 1777.—Magnanimity of sir Guy Carleton.— A considerable body of Indians join Burgoyne—He makes a speech to them.—Ticonderoga abandoned by the Americans. The Surrender of General Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga.— A comparison betwixt General Burgoyne and Lord Cornwallis.

THE American war, the success of which has appeared so dubious, offers to our view two events, almost unparalleled in any war that history has recorded in her annals: I mean two entire armies made prisoners, who nevertheless were urder the di­rection of Generals of the first note and ability. It now remains to ask, which of the two has discovered the deepest talents, and the most activity, or experienced the greatest obstacles, and com­mitted the most mistakes.

Being myself a witness to the efforts of one army, and surround­ed by persons who had a share in reducing the other, having also in my hands some exact and faithful accounts of that affair, I will venture a few reflections.

Let us in the first place take a cursory view of Burgoyne's cam­paign, and we shall be the better enabled to compare him with his brother in misfortune, Lord Cornwallis.

Burgoyne, formed by nature with an active, enterprising dispo­sition, animated by a most extravagant love of glory, a favorite also of the court of London, was furnished amply with the means of securing the most brilliant success. His army consisted of seven thousand one hundred and seventy three regular troops, English and Germans, exclusive of a corps of artillery, and seven or eight hundred men, under the orders of Colonel St. Leger: all his offi­cers were men of approved merit, and he was provided with a con­siderable train of artillery and ammunition of every sort. Guy Carleton, Governor of Canada, who had the care of furnishing the particular articles, forgot nothing that might contribute to the suc­cess of the expedition. The services this governor had rendered to the crown,—the preservation of Canada, which was owing to his exertions alone, and the perfect knowledge he had of the whole country, seem to have given him the best pretensions to the [Page 67] chief command, but he had a spirit great enough to forget this piece of injustice; ^* and went so far in favour of his rival, as to consent to make treaties with the savages, tho' contrary to his own private opinion, and from them obtained a considerable body of Indians and warriors. The unsteady, capricious temper of these people, their barbarous and bloody customs, their thirst for plun­der, their infidelity in fulfilling their engagements, did not all hinder the English from making them the companions of their expected conquests: Burgoyne harangued them with an eloquent oration on the shores of Lake Champlaine, calculated to inflame their courage and restrain their barbarity. But what influence can eloquence have over the minds of those men, who in their whole language have not two words to signify equity and humanity. ^†

[Page 68]The first attempts of Burgoyne before Ticonderoga, were crown­ed with the most flattering success. This place, built by the French, in 1756, is situated westward, towards the streight that preserves the communication between the Lakes George, and Cham­plaine, upon a point of land covered with sharp rocks, and hemmed in by water on three sides. The part adjoining the main land is covered by a deep marsh, and defended by the old French lines: to these the Americans had added several other works, and a group of fortifications, called by them a block-house. They also fortified the summit and the foot of a high mountain, on the eastern side, called Mount Independence, and with astonishing ardour and indu­stry united both these posts, by a bridge thown over the streight, supported by twenty-two huge piles, each fifty feet long and twelve thick, fastened together by cramp irons and large chains.

Lake Champlaine was, on the side next the bridge, defended by a boom, composed of beams lashed together, and wound round with chains. By this means a communication was not only kept up between the two posts, but no possibility of access offered on the northern side.

Although Ticonderoga is of itself lofty, it is nevertheless com­manded, in eminence, by another mountain called Sugar Hill, from its being in the form of a sugar loaf. The Americans had entertained thoughts of fortifying it, but concluded that the works were already too extensive for their means of defence, and ex­pected that its difficulty of access, and the rocky inequality of its surface would hinder the enemy from taking advantage of its situation.

The royal army advanced with great caution along the sides of the lake, having in the center their fleet, which, on its coming up, anchored within cannon shot of the enemy. On the approach of the right wing, the Americans, to the great surprise of the royalists, abandoned their works on the side next Lake George, and set fire to them: Major General Philips then took possession of an advantageous post on Mount Hope, which, besides that it commanded their lines, cut off their communication with the lake. It is said the Americans shewed but little courage in defend­ing the other posts on this side as well as on the other.

The British army advanced with an equal celerity on the other side of the lake, and in a short time invested all their works. The advantages that Sugar Hill presented, soon determined the English to build redoubts there, and the paths they were obliged to climb, upon a rugged and almost perpendicular surface, did not hinder the alert Major General Philips from erecting his works in a very short space of time.

The American Generals now thought proper to hold a council of war, in which was represented, "that they had not above half the necessary number of working hands, that the necessity for labour increased as the hands diminished, and that the place would be inevitably and completely invested in less than twenty-four [Page 69] hours." It was then unanimously resolved to evacuate the post, which was immediately put in execution.

It has been since asked, with a degree of reproach, "why, if the forces were not sufficient to defend it, did they not withdraw the troops; remove the artillery and stores and demolish the fortifications before the arrival of the enemy? Why did they wait to be surrounded, at an instant when a retreat was apparently more prejudicial than a surrender upon such terms as might have been granted, and which would have been infinitely preferable to the risque they ran of having their fortifications carried by assault?."

Immediately, upon the determination of the council to evacuate the place, the American army embarked their baggage, their artillery, and their provisions in a decked vessel, and more than two hundred batteaus, escorted by five gallies; directing their course towards Skenesborough, while the garrison marched towards Castletown.

The next morning the royalists having discovered the precipitate flight of the Americans, took possession of the bridge and fortifi­cations, and this enormous mass, which had cost more than twenty months labour, was now cut up in less time than it would take to relate it. By five in the morning, the frigates Royal George, and Inflexible ^* had a free passage through, and Burgoyne lost no time in pursuing the enemy by water, whilst the troops marched after them by land. He overtook them, at length, near Skenes­borough falls, where he seized two of the gallies, and blew up three others. The Americans, being now in a desperate situation, set fire to their batteaus, mills and fortifications, and saved them­selves in the woods, unprovided, and destitute of every thing.

Confusion and dismay predominated in like manner among the forces on the left; the soldiers no longer obeyed the commands of their officers, and in this situation Brigadier General Frazer came up with their rear guard, with a body of troops far inferior, and attacked them, expecting every moment to be joined by General Reidsel. The Americans, at first defended themselves bravely, but at the coming up of the last mentioned commander, they fl [...]d precipitately, after losing a considerable number of their men, together with Colonel Francis, their leader, and one of their bravest officers. General Saint-Clair, who commanded the vanguard, when informed of these disastrous circumstances, took immediately to the woods, in doubt whether to march to the upper parts of Connecticut or towards Fort Edward. Colonel Hill was detached from Skenesborough, with the ninth regiment towards Fort Anne, and on his way, fell in, with a body of American troops, six times as numerous as his own, which he defeated after three hours engaging. The Americans then burnt Fort Anne, and f [...]ed to Fort Edward upon Hudson's river.

[Page 70]General Saint-Clair arrived at Fort Edward, (where General Schuyler commanded,) with the remains of his army, after a march of seven days, in a most deplorable condition, having suffered every distress that imagination can conceive, from the bad quality of the water, and want of cloaths and provisions: He was here joined by the other fugitives, equally weak, fatigued and discouraged.

Burgoyne, without losing time, set out from Skenesborough, on his march to Fort Edward, but encountered great difficulties and embarrassments, although the distance is not very considerable; for the country is naturally so wild, so desert, so incumbered with marshes, intersected with creek [...], and the enemy had so increased these natural obstacles by huge lines of abbatis, that it is not easy to conceive how much he had to suffer in surmounting these difficulties. He had to construct near forty bridges or causeways, and one of them, made of trunks of trees, was more than a mile in length. It is true, he might have avoided all this trouble in taking his rout round by Ticonderoga, but he feared a retrograde movement of his army might give the Americans time to recover their courage, and slacken the ardour of his own troops.

It is worth while to observe, that in all this distress, misfortune, and universal consternation, not a single district in America seemed in the least disposed to come in, or make its submission. The danger did not discourage even those States which were most exposed to the depredations of the enemy; under the direction of the Congress they all united with the greatest vigour to repulse them; and General Arnold was dispatched to the Northern army with a train of artillery, furnished him by General Washington on purpose for this expedition. At his arrival, he ordered the troops from Saratoga to a place called Stillwater, in order to be in a better situation to check the progress of Colonel Saint Leger, who was advancing toward the Mohawk river. His troops, however, (St. Leger's) suffered great losses from the Indians: the efforts of Burgoyne not being sufficient to restrain their cruelty, friends as well as enemies fell alike victims to their thirst of blood. The murder of Miss M'Crea, in particular, struck terror into every heart: She was then in the bloom and innocence of beauty and youth, her father was attached to the royal party, and upon the very day that she f [...]ll a sacrifice to the wanton barbarity of the savages, she was to have been married to an English officer.

Scenes so shocking as these, irritated the people almost to distrac­tion, and kindled a spirit of hatred, even in the disaffected, against a government capable of accepting allies, more disposed to extir­pate than subdue the people, whom they claimed as subjects.

The Americans now began to think it their duty to defend not only the rights of their country, but also those that nature herself had given them. Each citizen became a soldier, and when their regular forces seemed almost annihilated, despair poured forth mul­titudes, still more formidable, from the woods, the mountains, and the borders of the marshes.

[Page 71]It was now that Burgoyne's army began to experience real diffi­culties, in the neighbourhood of Fort Edward;—in proportion as they advanced, obstacles multiplied on every side; for fifteen days, they were employed in bringing down batteaus and provisions from Fort George to Hudson's river, a distance of more than eigh­teen miles: this excessive labour was quite unequal to the waste of time and provisions; they did not receive one third of the horses they expected from Canada, on account of the length of the way, and the great number of water passages; and for the same reason they could not collect more than fifty pair of oxen; heavy rains added still more to their difficulties, and in the end, they found it impossible to establish magazines to continue their operations.

Intelligence was at last received, that Colonel Saint Leger had arrived before, and was directing his views against, Fort Stanwix: Burgoyne upon this, concluded, with some reason, that if he could prosecute his march rapidly forward, and advance down the Mo­hawk river, supposing at the same time Colonel Saint Leger to succeed in his attack on the fort, he should draw the enemy be­tween two fires, or at least have it in his power to force them to change their situation, and retreat to a greater distance, which would consequently open the Mohawk country to him, and afford him the means of executing his intended junction.

However just this plan might be, it could not be carried into execution for want of provisions, to connect so long a chain of posts with Fort George; and because the enemy had a body of troops at White-Creek, sufficient to break it.

He abandoned this project then, and fell upon a scheme of sur­prising Bennington, where the Americans had great stores of corn and cattle. Bennington lies between two branches of the river Hoosick, about twenty miles east of the Hudson, a place of little importance, and incapable by its situation of ever becoming con­siderable, unless some remarkable changes should take place. This expedition Burgoyne intrusted to Colonel Baum, a German, and gave him five hundred men, and two pieces of artillery for the purpose; and to be the better enabled to make the best of such ad­vantages as should be gained, he fixed his main camp before Sara­toga, and made a bridge of boats over the river, upon which the advanced corps might pass. During these transactions, the corps of Colonel Breyman, consisting of light infantry, was posted at Battenkill, with a design, if necessary, to support Colonel Baum. The latter, in his march, fell in with a small provision convoy of the enemy, which he took: But the want of waggons and horses, made his march so long and fatiguing, that the Americans got intelligence of his design, and had time to prepare to receive him. The Colonel, upon his approach to the place, finding that his force was not sufficient to make an attack, with a prospect of success, posted himself in as favourable a situation as possible, and sent off an express to the General. Breyman then had orders to reinforce Colonel Baum, without loss of time: He obeyed, but [Page 72] his march was long and difficult, meeting with nothing but bad water and bad roads; the want of horses and wheel carriages, add­ed still more to his embarrassments, and a long continuance of heavy rains, rendered his condition almost as wretched as can possi­bly be conceived. But the American General, Starke, who com­manded the Bennington militia, effectually prevented their junc­tion. He marched on the 16th of August to attack Colonel Baum, and the latter was so far from expecting such a visit, that he took him at first for the reinforcement he was waiting for: However, he made a very brave defence, but his little works were soon forced on all sides; the Indians and the English provincial troops, had already ran away into the woods, and there remained only the Ger­mans, who, after they had expended all their powder, charged the enemy sword in hand, but were finally forced to surrender prisoners of war, after seeing their Colonel fall.

A little after this action arrives Colonel Breyman, without knowing any thing of what had passed: Instead of friends, he saw himself suddenly surrounded by American forces; but the fatigued and exhausted state of his troops did not prevent him from making a soldierly defence. He even drove the enemy from two or three heights; but was, however, at last overpowered by numbers; and after firing away all his ammunition, made a retreat with great dif­ficulty, leaving two pieces of artillery in the hands of the enemy. Their loss in these two actions, amounted in killed, wounded and missing to five or six hundred men; and in this stroke, Fortune now, for the first time, since the death of General Montgomery, showed herself favourable to the Americans in their expeditions to the north: The militia at length found they could conquer regular forces; an opinion of more consequence at this time than the gain­ing of a great battle upon other occasions.

While Saint Leger was employed, with various success in be­sieging Fort Stanwix, General Harkimer came at the head of nine hundred of the militia of the country to relieve and victual the fort: Upon this Saint Leger, fearing an attack in his entren [...]hments, fixed an ambuscade, composed of regulars and Indians to intercept them. The militia, a thing almost incredible in a country where this kind of warfare is usual, fell blindly into it, lost a considerable number, and could not be rallied but with the greatest difficulty. The Governor of the fort, Colonel Gansevoort, informed, in the mean time, of what had happened, hastened to make a diversion in favour of his friends, penetrated into the English camp, plundered it, carried off a great quantity of such articles as he was in want of, and made some prisoners. ^§

Colonel Saint Leger, after his success, neglected nothing to engage the besieged to surrender. The Governor, however, continued deaf to his menaces, as well as to his promises and intreaties.

[Page 73]In the skirmish with the militia, the Indians did not get the booty they expected; they besides lost several of their warriors, celebrated among them for their bravery, and now learnt with extreme vexation that General Arnold was coming to the relief of the place with a thousand men, and that Burgoyne had met with several checks, if not totally ruined. Their discontent and ill humour was then carried to excess: notwithstanding all that could be said or done to calm, and retain these dastards with the army, they left the camp, after having robbed the officers, pillaged the stores, cut the throats of several of the soldiers and stolen their arms and provisions, which in the end forced Colonel Saint Leger to raise the siege in haste, and even leave behind a part of his baggage. This last piece of news completed the joy and confidence of the Americans, while Gansevoort and Willet, who had defended the place, were ranked, as well as General Starke and Colonel Warner, in the number of the Saviours of their country.

Burgoyne, supplying himself constantly with provisions from Fort George, but with great difficulty, passed Hudson's River about the middle of September, the enemy being at that time in the vicinity of Stillwater. The Ministry and Parliament have examined whether this march was either necessary or seasonable, but it has not appeared that any sufficient arguments have been brought against it: it is evident, that Burgoyne was determined in his measures not only by immediate circumstances, but also by the instructions of his court. He afterwards advanced through bye-roads and routs little frequented, along the river, on the same side with the enemy, and often separated from them only by thin woods. He marched in person at the head of the English line, which formed the right wing. This wing was covered by General Frazer, and Colonel Breyman, with the grenadiers and light infantry, Indian escorts, Provincials and Canadians: the left wing and the artil­lery, commanded by Majors Philips, and Reidsel, followed the shores of the river.

The Americans now presented themselves in force to attack the flank of the English line. The latter were not a little surprised, when they saw with what boldness the enemy began the attack, and with what vigour and obstinacy they supported it from three in the afternoon till sun-set. General Arnold led on his troops, and courted danger with an ardor and intrepidity, which although na­tural to his character, could never have been shown to better ad­vantage: the Americans however were constantly reinforced with fresh troops, whilst, on the side of the English, the weight and burden of the action was almost continually sustained by the same persons.

Major-Gereral Philips, upon hearing the first fire, marched with a part of the artillery across a piece of woods, very difficult of access, and his arrival, in a critical minute, for that time saved the army, who remained masters of the field. This victory was honourably gained, but gave them to know, that the Americans [Page 74] were capable of defending themselves, not only in entrenchments, and behind walls and hedges, but in the open field, uncovered, and for a considerable space of time. The English remained under arms the whole night, and at day-break advanced within cannon shot of the enemy, fortifying their wings and extending their left towards the river; but they found the Americans too much upon their guard to be meddled with.

The fatigues the army had undergone, and the discouraging prospect they had before them, confounded at once all the hopes and expectations with which the Indians, in particular, had flat­tered themselves; it was now impossible to get any further services from them; they became sullen and intractable, and upon the General finding some fault with their conduct, they abandoned the army and went off in a pet, at a time when it stood most in need of their assistance. This Indian desertion brought on others among the English, as well as the Provincial and Canadian troops.

Burgoyne had still however, some hopes of being succoured by an army from New-York; with much difficulty he received a letter from Sir Henry Clinton in cyphers, informing him that he was about to make a diversion in his favour upon the North river, by attacking Fort Montgomery and several other of the neighbour­ing fortresses: Burgoyne by way of answer, pressed him for assist­ance, gave an account of his situation, and informed him that his provisions could not hold out longer than the twelfth of the ensuing month.

The army under the command of General Gates, increasing from day to day, obliged Burgoyue to fortify with the greatest attention, and to add considerably to the number of guards, which necessarily increased the fatigue and weakened the troops: the late successes of the militia had likewise made them more enterprising than before, and those of New-Hampshire and the upper parts of Connecticut, commanded by General Lincoln, recovered Ticon­deroga and Mount Independence, made themselves masters of lake George, and thus cut off Burgoyne from all communication with Canada.

In the beginning of October this unfortunate General was obliged to diminish his rations, and then determined, whatever might be the consequence, to force himself a passage through the country. For this purpose he picked out the choicest of his troops, and the bravest and best experienced of his officers: but the Americans perceiving his design, came down by thousands to attack him. It was then that the English began to sink under the numbers of their enemies; they were forced to retire within their lines, into which General Arnold pursued them with his usual impetuosity, and would infallibly have forced them, had he not received a wound.

Colonel Breyman, who commanded a German corps de reserve, was still more unfortunate; his camp was attacked and carried, [Page 75] his baggage pillaged, his cannon taken, and he himself perished in the action. This day the English lost a part of their bravest men, and nothing could exceed their misery and distress; they la­boured the whole night to change their position, hoping to oblige the enemy to change theirs also. This business was accomplished with incredible silence and activity, and in the morning they offer­ed battle to the Americans, who declined it; considering, with good reason, that it would be better to fatigue and harrass a brave and desperate enemy, than to expose themselves to the chance of a decisive action.

The English General was now informed, that the enemy had dispatched forward a considerable body, to surround him entirely. This, he took every measure in his power to prevent, and upon the night of the ninth of October, began to march, leaving his sick and wounded to provide for themselves; but the care General Gates took of these has been since gratefully acknowledged by the English themselves.

A heavy rain, that lasted the whole night, rendered their pro­gress very slow; and at break of day he perceived the Americans posted and fortified on the heights around him. He then took a resolution to march towards Fort Edward, but his road cutters be­ing repulsed, and the opposite shore of the river lined with enemies, he concluded to call a council of war; upon considering the mat­ter, they saw no other probable way of reaching this Fort than by a night march, and the soldiers carrying their provisions on their backs: But while they were preparing to execute this forlorn pur­pose, they learnt that the enemy had taken sufficient precautions to prevent the execution of their design.

Nothing could have been more wretched—nothing more de­plorable than the condition of this army. Worn down by a long series of severe duty, marches and actions; forsaken by the Indians in the needful moment, weakened by desertion, dejected and dis­couraged by the timidity of the Canadians and provincial troops, their regular corps reduced by repeated losses, to the number of on­ly three thousand five hundred, their bravest officers killed, the rest forced to be continually under arms, harrassed day and night, by an enemy that seemed to grow out of the ground on every side, having lost all hope of relief, and but three days provisions left, their last resource was to make the best terms they could with the enemy. The General, willing however, in an affair that regard­ed the future well-being of every individual in the army, to have their unanimous voice, as far as possible, called a council of war, inviting not only the generals and staff-officers, but all the com­manding captains: these universally gave it as their opinion, that the army could not do otherwise than treat with General Gates; and the English have since done the latter the justice to declare, that, considering the ground on which he stood, he showed not the least mark of insolence or arrogance.—

[Page 76]The substance of the principal articles was, that the army should march out of their camp with the honours of war, and their artil­lery, to an appointed place, where they should pile their arms: that a passage should be granted them from Boston to Europe, up­on condition of their not serving in America during the present war.—They reckoned their loss from the sixth of July, to the capitulation, inclusive, to amount to near ten thousand men.

The great fault of Burgoyne, and what prepared the way to all his misfortunes, was his march to Fort Edward; if he had return­ed to Ticonderoga, and proceeded to Fort George, he would doubtless have avoided these disasters, but, as has been observ­ed, he feared that a retrograde movement would slacken the ar­dour of his troops, and give the Americans time to recover from their surprise. A General is always blameable when he ventures far into unexplored countries; but Burgoyne, who had seen the Americans fly, on all sides, at his approach, notwithstanding their superiority in number, and those vast fortifications which both na­ture and art had rendered impregnable, could he believe that these very men would afterwards dare to show themselves, surround him on every side, and fight him in the open field?

The shame of re-iterated defeats, the immediate calamities they felt, and greater still to be expected, the dread of Indian cruelty and indiscriminate plunder; all these considerations must have wrought wonderfully on the minds of the Americans to have produced so sudden and universal a change; let it be remembered, however, that the very elements assisted in the reduction of Burgoyne; the heavy rains threw continual obstacles in his way, particularly in the affair of Bennington, where, by delaying the march of Colonel Breyman, General Starke had an opportunity of attacking and defeating Colonel Baum, before the other's arrival; the Indians, likewise, forsook him at the very time when they could be of use to him; his expected reinforcements never joined him; and Clinton, who then commanded at New-York, and might with the greatest ease have sailed in force up the North River, was too slow in making the diversion. All that genius, activity and courage could suggest was put into practice by Burgoyne; his marches were judicious, his positions advantageous, and his skirmishes obstinate: But the Americans, reanimated by hope, and emboldened by despair, became every day more numerous active and warlike.

As to Lord Cornwallis, he had to contend with enemies better disciplined and longer inured to war, but he had the advantage or Burgoyne in long experience in America, in a more exact know­ledge of the country, in being better supplyed with provisions and ammunition and not having to struggle with such severe weather and impassable tracts of wilderness: He had also the most perfect confidence of his troops and was become so formidable to the enemy, that General Washington was thought to be the only man that could, as such, be placed in competition with him. Burgoyne had constantly to do with enemies who were either strongly en­trenched [Page 77] or infinitely more numerous than his own troops. Corn­wallis, on the contrary, at the head of an army of at least eight thousand choice troops, and always superior to his dispersed enemies, yet, strange as it may seem, did not think proper to attack the Marquis de la Fayette, who never had more at any time than two thousand, nor to hinder the landing of three thousand men under the orders of M. de Saint Simon, to prevent th [...]m from joining the Marquis. If he had marched down upon them at their first land­ing he would have found a body of men totally ignorant of the country they were in, their arms and ammunition yet on board the vessels, and not a single intrenchment thrown up: superior to them still, after their junction with the Marquis, and threatened with the approach of the armies of General Washington and Count Rochambeau, ought he not to have hastened, by forced marches, to attack and disperse them, that he might afterwards have it in his power to make head against the others? ^*

But if, after the instructions of Clinton, and his promises of speedily relieving him, he nevertheless thought it improper to hazard any attack, how advantageous soever it might promise to be, he ought at least to have done all in his power to retard and prolong the siege; for whatever might have been the relief promised by Clinton, contrary winds might have delayed its arrival, and a few days gained would have been of the greatest importance to him. He likewise knew that Count de Grasse had declared that he could not remain but a short time in the bay; so that, retarding his departure, would have been deranging his plans, and conse­quently hindering him from serving his country elsewhere: The season being, also, pretty well advanced, the autumnal rains must have made the siege very fatiguing to our troops, and perhaps have occasioned contagious distempers among them, in a coun­try where the air and water are less wholesome than more north­ward. ^†

The distance between York and Williamsburg is twelve miles, and this whole interval is covered with very thick woods; it would certainly have been an easy matter then, for Cornwallis to have made lines of abbatis throughout this forest, and have stopped up [Page 78] the roads from post to post; three thousand slaves at least, which he had taken from the planters, would have rendered this mode of defence still more practicable—all our military connois­seurs have given it as their opinion that a few detachmen [...]s and some field pieces, might have retarded the combined army at least a month in its approaches to the works at York, and probably would have destroyed us a great number of men. The lands adjoining the town were covered with Indian corn, and by taking it away or burning it, he would have obliged the assailants to get food for their horses at a greater distance, and by that means delayed the transportation of the artillery, which was landed several miles from the camp.

Cornwallis thus shut up in York, with artillery badly enough served, and his works disadvantageously constructed, had it not in his power to sally out upon us without risquing too much, while the besiegers had time to prepare to receive him, and even to cut off his retreat: being thus incapacitated from acting offen­sively, he could no way extricate himself but by some desperate attempt.

If he had known how to profit by circumstances, the relief pro­mised by Clinton might have saved him, or at least made a great diversion in his favour. The English squadron, consisting of twenty-seven or twenty-eight ships of the line, with four thousand land forces on board, appeared before the capes on the 26th of Octo­ber, that is to say, seven days after the surrender. Count de Grasse's fleet, being thirty-six ships of the line, was then at anchor within the Horse-Shoe, a sand bank, over which vessels of war cannot pass, except through a narrow channel on the east side; the wind blowing at that time right in, compleatly prevented the squadron from getting under way, and consequently could not have hinder­ed Clinton from effecting a landing for his troops. I cannot say whether it was a fear of bad weather that inclined the Count to make choice of this place, but his over great precaution was, I am sure, an obstacle to his pursuit of the English, the wind being fa­vourable enough, had the fleet been in any other place.

May we now ask which of the two English Generals has mani­fested the best conduct? For my part I am of opinion, Burgoyne would have succeeded better in defending York, and that Corn­wallis ^* could not have done more in the wilderness, adjacent to Saratoga.

LETTER XIII. Advantages arising to America, from the capture of Lord Cornwallis.—The future importance of this country—Her various local advantages over Europe—Political happiness arising from the abolishment of the feudal system of laws in America—The free and independent situation of the American peasantry—National character of the people in America, not yet arrived to maturity— Their natural ingenuity and inventive turn—The political conduct of the English Ministry, respecting America, previous to the break­ing out of the war—Proceedings of the first American Congress— General Gage and the Boston port bill—The American alliance with France—Reflexions arising therefrom— A long peace in America, af­ter the war— Religion will probably be the first cause of dissension in the United States— A unity of faith and worship, most likely to ren­der mankind happy in every part of the world.

THIS great and happy event, in which the French have had so considerable a share, will soon give a new turn to Ameri­can affairs. The southern states so long harrassed and distrest, will now assume new spirit and activity. The power of Congress, here­tofore weak and wavering, will be consolidated, and the prejudices against our nation will vanish. To what a pitch of grandeur will not these new states shortly arise!

Extending more than six hundred leagues from north to south, and much more from east to west, situated in temperate and serene climates, where the variety of latitudes, and the natural fertility of the soil, will soon supply them with all those productions, which other nations cannot procure without traversing immense seas and oceans, what advantages will they not enjoy!

This country is intersected and watered in every part, with lakes, rivers, creeks and rivulets. The lakes, and some of the rivers open a communication with very distant regions, a conveniency which cannot be enjoyed in other parts of the world to any great perfection, without the previous assistance of art, and the soil and labour of men in digging canals. These are also rich mines con­cealed in the bowels of the earth, especially that most useful of all metals, iron; and the sea coast, through which so many great ri­vers [Page 80] discharge their waters, is every where indented with bays, ha­vens, roads, and port [...], which abound with fish of the most ex­cellent kinds. The Banks of Newfoundland will always be a nursery for seamen, while the forests and the plains will continue to produce wood, tar and hemp, for the constructing and rigging of ships.

Our European cities and towns, for the most part, afford us to this day striking proofs of the calamities, ignorance, misery and barbarity of our ancestors, in their unpleasant, unhealthy situati­ons, in their walls planted round with battlements, their formida­ble turrets of defence, their close and compact buildings, almost without air or light, and their crooked, muddy streets, equally incommodious and disgusting; but the American towns are upon a different plan; not walled in, as if mankind were to live in eternal distrust of each other, they are built on agreeable salubrious spots of land, washed by pure and navigable waters, surrounded by fertile fields, laid out in spacious streets crossing each other in direct lines, and ornamented with buildings every where beautiful convenient and regular.

If America, in point of soil, bids fair to exceed Europe, what will she not do in her legislation and her manners?

Our medley of customs at once absurd, unjust and contradictory, the barbarous, complicated systems of feudal laws, ancient legislati­on and modern manners, will never be united here under one and the same government, will never take up the whole time and abili­ties of men of genius to unravel their meaning, or require numerous tribunals to discuss them; or become a mere labyrinth wherein the subtil orator may hide himself, or surprise his adversary; and under the sanction of which the all grasping lawyer may rob the widow and the orphan of their rights. ^* Here, the criminal in irons will dare to raise his voice, and call his defenders to his aid; and the laws, averse to sanguinary measures, will patiently attend to all he has to say, before it pronounces sentence against him.

Barbarous prejudices will not arm citizen against citizen, friend against friend, expose the oppressed to be crushed by the opp [...]essor, or banish from their country its most useful defenders; separate fathers from their families, wives from their husbands, c [...]ildren from their parents; and produce those shameful absurditie [...] which [Page 81] lay the soldier under the wretched necessity either of violating the laws of humanity, of religion, of his country—or to lose at once the fruit of his services and dangers, and appear no longer among his countrymen except with disgrace and infamy. ^‡

[Page 82]Legions of birds and quadrupedes will not here be allowed to destroy the husbandman's fields with impunity; and he, as well as the rich and great, may spread his nets for fish, in the rivers that wind thro' his meadows.

The indolent, passive character of these people, would, it is true, lead one to suspect that they will never arrive to the power and importance that so many natural advantages seem to promise. But then it must be considered that this national character arises from custom, climate and a manner of living which will one day be greatly changed: a regular, retired manner of life, ignorant of the impulses of ambition, unacquainted with extravagant pleasure, and not exposed to great and sudden changes of fortune, unaccustomed to variety, and less laboriously than agreeably spent, cannot have that activity and energy which pressing necessities and unruly passions excite and keep up. Food, weak and unsubstantial; drink without a mixture of spirit, rather dissolving than digestive; an air impregnated with humid particles, from the evaporation of the forests, must necessarily flacken and relax the nerves, give a slower, but more regular circulation to the blood, and consequently render the feelings less acute, the imagination less lively, and less animated, the humour more cold and dull, but not so inconstant as with us. Yet, when a more numerous population shall have levelled these immense forests, and laid open the soil to the genial influence of the sun, when the air shall have become more free and thin, and new plantations, and an extensive commerce shall have made the use of spirituous liquors more common, when the people shall settle nearer together and have more intercourse than at present; then the passions will awake and be roused to action, and the Americans will show at once what they are to be.

But what a spectacle do these settlements even now already exhibit to our view, considering that they are but of little more than a century standing, and have been constantly under the con­troul of English policy, always suspicious and tyrannical, which seized the fruits of their industry, and rendered itself the sole possessor of their commerce!

Spacious and level roads already traverse the vastly extended forests of this country; large and costly buildings have been raised, either for the meeting of the representatives of the States, for an asylum to the defenders of their country, in distress, or for the conveni­ence of instructing young citizens in language, arts and science. [Page 83] These last, which are for the most part endowed with considerable possessions and revenues, are also furnished with libraries, and are under the direction of able masters, invited hither from differ­ent parts of Europe: ship yards are established in all their ports, and they already rival the best artists of the old world in point of naval architecture; numerous mines have been opened, and they have now several founderies for casting of cannon, which are in no respect inferior to our own; and if the height of the ar­chitects skill has not yet covered their waters with those prodigi­ous bridges, which are wont to be extended over the waves, and unite the opposite shores of large rivers, as with us, still industry and perseverance has supplied the want thereof; planks laid upon beams, lashed together with stout rings, and which may be taken apart at the pleasure of the builder are by their buoyancy as solid and useful as our firmest works, designed for the same ends. In other places when a river is too deep for fixing the foundation of a bridge on its bottom, a stout mass of timber work is thrown over in a curve line, supported only at the extremities, the inter­nal strength of the structure upholding it in every other part. Ti [...]onderoga, ^§ the taking of which by the English, covered the [Page 84] Americans with confusion, still proved to their astonished enemies, to what a pitch this industrious talent could be carried.

Every house and dwelling contains within itself almost all the original and most necessary arts: the hand that traces out the fur­row, knows also how to give the shapeless block of wood what form it pleases, how to prepare the hides of cattle for use, and ex­tract spirit from the juice of fruits. The young rural maiden, ^† whose charming complexion has not been turned tawny by the burning rays of the sun, or withered by blasting winds, upon whom pale misery has never stamped is hateful impressions, knows how to spin wool, cotton, flax, and afterwards weave them into cloth. Iron conductors are seen every where upon the buildings, which while they preserve the inhabitants from the fatal effects of lightning, immortalize the memory of Franklin, that venerable sage, who is the admiration of the Parisians; and show at the same time how much they are disposed to profit by his inventions.

When the illegal, oppressive acts were framed, and sent over to destroy their privileges, with what prudence, resolution and courage did they not unite to defend them!—and here we ought to pause, and fix our attention, to form a proper judgment of the Americans. Men, scattered through extensive countries, different in climate, and clashing in their interests and modes of worship, to the won­der of the whole world, formed associations, which coincided as exactly in their decisions, as if the whole matter had been precon­certed. Great-Britain vainly flattered herself, that by shutting up the port of Boston, she had effectually intimidated these provinces, and raised ruinous dissentions among them; yet, after this arbitrary act, their complaints were but the more urgent, and the common danger did but strengthen their union the more: the maritime towns in the neighbourhood of Boston, instead of being dazzled with the immense advantages which were promised them, viewed the measure with indignation and horror. The town of Salem, to which the privileges of the Bostonians were now transferred, wrote thus to the Governor of the province:

‘We are deeply affected at the public calamities; and the miseries of our brethren, in the capital of the province give us the greatest concern; we will continue to hope however that your excellency will do your endeavour to lighten the accumulated mischiefs that have fallen upon that unhappy people. Some may imagine that the shutting up the harbour of Boston will turn the whole commerce of that place into our channel, and be greatly to our profit; but Nature, when she formed our port, refused it equal advantages, and has not afforded us those con­veniencies that would enable us to become rivals. Besides, we [Page 85] have not renounced every idea of justice and all the sentiments of humanity, in entertaining the base thought of growing rich and making fortunes out of the ruins of our neighbours: &c.’

Virginia resolved, "That an attack made upon one colony, to oblige it to submit to arbitrary taxation, was equally injurious to all the rest, and threatened them with the total loss of their privi­leges." The decisions of Rhode-Island, where the weight of arbi­trary power was most fel [...], were not less bold; but those of Mary­land, a province in the hands of powerful proprietors, surpassed them still. All the rest of the continent manifested the same firm­ness, and established every where committees of correspondence with the general Congress.

And thus this prohibitory bill, that was published and lavishly disseminated through the country, far from spreading a universal consternation, had only, says the English historian, the effect which the poets attribute to the torches of the Furies, that of burn­ing and consuming in every place where they happened to pass.

New acts, relative to the lodging of the troops in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, completed the general indignation: they now thought of nothing but shutting up the ports, making contri­butions to succour their suffering brethren in Boston, and holding a general Congress. In Boston, the committee of correspondence passed an act, in which they obliged themselves, in the most solemn manner, by taking God to witness, to abstain from all commer­cial intercourse with Great-Britain, until the repeal of the prohi­bitory port act, and whatever else militated against their privileges; not to consume or purchase any articles imported since the last of August,— not to trade with those who did import,—to renounce all connexion with such as should refuse to subscribe to this agreement, and publish their names, to be held in everlasting disgrace.

The several provinces strove who should be foremost in entering into this league. In vain did General Gage, Governor of Massa­chusetts-Bay, declare it, by his proclamation, illegal, destructive, contrary to the fealty they owed the king, tending to destroy the le­gal authority of the parliament of England, and injurious to the public peace and security; in vain did he employ threats, and or­der the judges to seize upon those who should subscribe it, coun­tenance it, or have any share in publishing it.

Virginia, in addition to her more early determinations, now re­solved, that she would import no more slaves from Africa, or the West-Indies; and no British manufactures, after the first of No­vember, if their grievances were not redressed by the 15th of August, 1775; that after this period, she would not export tobacco or any other merchandize to Great Britain, and that to supply her own necessities, she would cultivate those productions most necessary, and raise and multiply herds of cattle. Maryland, and the two Carolinas, took the same measures; and at Newport, this sentence was every where stuck up— Unite or die.

[Page 86]The people of the town of Marblehead, whose harbour was best situated to profit by the shutting up of Boston, generously offered to the Bostonians their town, their port, and supplies of provisions; proposed to be present at the loading and unloading of their effects, and to transact all their business for them, without expecting a farthing of reward.

Their charters gave the Americans a right to choose their own representatives. But General Gage, in violation thereof, received from the court of London, a list of thirty-nine persons appointed to sit in council; thirty-four of whom took their seats. But the peo­ple immediately declared them enemies to their country, threat­ened to treat them as such, and pronounced them incapable of holding their places.

The lawyers and juries of the province, at the opening of the courts, refused to take the usual oath, or to have any connexion with them, while the registers of the courts asked pardon of their country, in the public papers, for having issued warrants for sum­moning the jurors to attend, with promises not to commit the same fault again; declaring, at the same time, that they would never forgive themselves for it, altho' their countrymen should: Entrance into the courts of justice was refused the judges; they were sur­rounded by the populace, wherever they went, were pursued into their very houses, and forced at last to conceal themselves, not only from the public, but from each other.

The old constitution being thus annulled by act of parliament, the people at the same time rejecting the new one, there was no longer law nor government in the province of Massachusetts-Bay: However, even in this state of anarchy, they committed no acts of excess to be reproached with; such an influence had the old laws upon their minds, at the moment they were to be annihilated!

At length, the general Congress opened at Philadelphia, on the fifth of September, 1774, and published in the most open and solemn manner, the sentiments, the views and the resources of the confederated provinces. The instructions given them by their con­stituents, bore a striking likeness to their character, and the differ­ent modes of thinking among them; but were perfectly consonant in the most material points, and tended to the same purpose.

In their address to General Gage they complain of the op­pressive acts of parliament, of his rigorous mode of executing them, of the fortifications raised at Boston, the plundered pro­perty of individuals, the disorderly conduct of his troops, and the cutting off the intercourse between the town and country.

They published at the same time, a declaration of the immutable natural rights of the provinces, the principles of the English constitution, and their different charters. "No one, say they, can dispose of our lives, our liberties and our property without our consent; the colonies have yielded up these unalienable rights to no power whatever; our ancestors, from the time of their emi­gration, have enjoyed the privileges of English born subjects; by [Page 87] their emigrating to America they, by no means, gave up or lost these rights; and, considered as such subjects, they cannot but have a share in the legislative council, and since they are not admitted to, and cannot be represented in, the parliament of Eng­land, their legislative power must exist in their provincial assem­blies; they cannot therefore be taxed arbitrarily, or without their own consent, and if they enjoy equal privileges with the mother country, they have also the same right to be tried by their peers: besides, all these privileges have been confirmed by royal charters, and recognized by acts of parliament."—They then declare, unanimously that "if these grievances are not redressed, they will import no more commodities from Great Britain;" and afterward enter into some discussions relative to the conduct of the merchants, the encouragement of manufactures, and the consumption of commodities.

They likewise addressed a petition to his majesty, a memorial to the people of Great Britain, an address to the colonies in general, and another to Canada.

In the petition to his majesty, they observe, that an army is kept up in the colonies in time of peace, without their consent, that a naval force was employed to countenance unjust impositions upon trade; that the authority of commander in chief, and Brigadier General, was become absolute in every government in America; that the commanding General was in time of peace, nominated Governor of a colony; and that the number of expensive, oppressive officers was unnecessarily and prodigiously increased; that the judges were become wholly dependant upon the crown for their salaries, and the duration of their commissions, that the agents of the peo­ple were discountenanced, and instructions given to prevent the payment of their salaries, &c. In short they omitted nothing that could display their attachment and submission to their sovereign, or their love and veneration for their mother country.—They next tell him, "We have inherited from our ancestors that passionate love of liberty, which placed your illustrious family on the throne." They then go on to beseech him by all that is most sacred, by the interests of his kingdom, by his own, by the security and prosperity of the laws, by the happiness of his subjects, whose father he is, not to suffer such intimate bonds of affection to be broken asunder in expectation of certain events, which, altho' they might possibly turn out at last to his wish, would never compensate for the inevi­table losses that would attend them.

In the memorial addressed to the people of Britain, they bring into view the rights they ought to enjoy as free men, citizens and colonists, the small regard they entertain for the present English ministry, the attachment they had always shown for their mother country, the numerous services they had rendered her the last war, and the taxes with which they were burdened upon her account, and which were foolishly squandered upon court favourites. They prove undeniably that success against them would be as [Page 88] dangerous to the liberties of Great-Britain as to those of America. ‘America once subjected, say they, would herself become the instrument of subjecting you.’

They lastly build their hopes of a re-establishment of peace and harmony, friendship and brotherly affection among all his ma­jesty's subjects, upon the greatness and justice of the British nation, by choosing a wise, independent parliament, animated with a love of the public good, and a desire to defend their violated rights against a wicked and ill designing ministry.

In their address to the Canadians, they discover the greatest caution and discretion, and make use of such arguments as are most conformable to the genius and interests of that people. They demonstrate from reason, fr [...]m facts, from the testimony of the most celebrated writers, that in becoming English subjects, they participate in all their prerogatives; they prove that the Quebec act, deprived them of all these; that they had no longer a political existence; that their property, and even their persons were become subjected to the will and the caprice of a tyrannical minister.

They shew them that, forming a small people in comparison of their numerous and powerful neighbours, it is their interest and happiness to have the united colonies for their steady friends, since nature had joined their respective countries together by an indissolu­ble connexion, and separated them alike from their tyrannical oppressors by extensive tracts of ocean. ‘Difference of religion, observe they, cannot be an obstacle to our union; such differ­ence exists in the Swiss Cantons, and yet they are not the less united.’ —They go on to assure them, that it is the wish of the colonies to consider them as allies; and that such an alliance has been unanimously assented to in their assemblies; that a viola­tion of their rights shall be looked upon as an insult offered to their own, and that they now invited them to accede to a confe­deracy, the object of which was the security of the natural and civil privileges of the members of the community.

This invitation of the general Congress, and the addresses, containing quite a new political system, were revered almost as much as the Bible among the people, who adhered strictly to the opinions therein contained, in every particular: they flattered themselves that such petitions and addresses as these could not [...]ail of bringing about some favourable changes in England; but when they found that they had no other effect, and were answered no other way, than by an act prohibiting the exportation of warlike stores from Great Britain to New-England, then it was that pacific measures were totally given up;—bodies of militia were imme­diately formed, regulations for discipline were made, and means taken to provide arms and ammunition. They encouraged the erecting of powder-mills, manufactures of salt-petre and small arms were also set on foot. Some of the provinces went so far, as to seize upon the ammunition and arms in the public stores; and thus it turned out that the acts of parliament, the severity of which [Page 89] was meant to reduce the colonies to tranquillity, only served to increase the flames of animosity and disc [...]rd.

All hopes of reconciliation being now at an end, several trifling acts of hostility foreboded more considerable ones to be near at hand.

England must have seen with astonishment, the colonies dis­cussing their rights with so much boldness and truth taking measures so wisely, and discovering such undau [...]ted resolution: but what must have been her fears, when after her formidable armaments had arrived to subdue them, she saw them dare to advance, and dispute every inch of ground with these numerous veteran forces?

Men who had never learnt to obe [...], always accustomed to the peace and quiet of a rural life, bred up in abundance, of a slow and peaceable disposition, whose breasts the very idea of human blood chilled with horror; could she have conceived that such as these were capable of abandoning their wonted dwellings, submit­ting to severe subordination, despising hunger, the inclemency of the weather, supporting long and painful marches, giving and r [...]ceiv­ing death with intrepidity, and all against a nation so terrible to them by her ancient fame and late successes? Could she have believed that they would attempt any thing against her, when, destitute of experienced commanders, and unprovided with arms or ammunition, they found themselves obliged to oppose a warlike ene­my, long practiced in battles, and abundantly supplyed wi [...]h every thing that could ensure success?—England, no doubt, actuated by an ambitious policy, was thoroughly persuaded at first that a small number of her troops would suffice to fight and subdue the Americans: and if these troops, with the immense hosts that succeeded them, failed in their endeavours and were conquered, I will be bold to say it is a phenomenon in the political world that no empire or kingdom has seen the like of in past age [...], and perhaps nothing like it will ever happen again. ^*

We in France, were not at all surprized to see the new raised American legions so often flying before the en [...]m [...], disp [...]rsi [...]g themselves in the woods, or vanishing at the approach of the f [...]; bu [...] we were thunderstruck when we beheld them re-uniting, sh [...]w­ing themselves once more in force, and always supporting hu [...]g [...], [Page 90] wounds, and other evils incident to war, with patience and courage. The more the haugh [...]y English had studied and obs [...]rv [...]d the genius, the inclinations and the resources of their colonists, the more they had to encourage themselves to rely upon the success of their arms. Yet never were the plans of a nation more completely frustrated. With regard to America, their wisest men reasoned like children: the object was too great for their compre­hension, and as they had hitherto only view [...]d the Americans in the calms of rural and commerci [...]l life, they forgot, [...]r did not know, or would not rec [...]llect, that native cowardice itself, for with that they fals [...]ly upbraided them, can b [...] ro [...]s [...]d into her [...]ism at the prosp [...]ct of approaching ruin—and thus their fo [...]ly and ambition has tra [...]sferred a glorious sovereig [...]ty to the western w [...]rld, which will we hope contribute larg [...]ly in its effects t [...] the happiness and well being of ma [...]ki [...]d in general, but philosophy lets us see, that it will take several ages to complete the great revolution which has been begun in our day.

You have hi [...]herto seen the Americans acting rather from an impulse of cool reason than sentiment, better pleased with reflect­ing than thinking, and taken up with useful rather than agreea­ble things; and for t [...]is reason, legislation, politics, natural and mechanical philosophy may make considerable progress, among them, while the fine arts remain unknown, and while even poetry, which in all other nations has preceded the sciences, forbears to raise her l [...]fty and anim [...]ted st [...]i [...]s.

Their towns, their villages, their places of abode may afford ease, health and regularity, but will present nothing that interests and refreshes the imagination; here are no trees planted through the country in straight lines, or bent into bowels to refresh the traveller with their shade: here are no gardens contrived with ingenious arrangements, where a pleasant symmetry and a happy mixture of flowers inebriate the senses, and enchant the soul; neither have they any theatrical shows or dances, or those public exhibitions which might give us an idea of their felicity and cheer­ful disposition— and yet how is it that patriotism could unite such men, and make them capable of such surprising efforts? It was undoubtedly owing, among other things, to the imp [...]st upon tea, which by depriving them in an instant of that article, severely distressed every individual; it may also be attributed in part to the intolerant spirit of Presbyterianism, which has for so long a time been sowing the seeds of discord between them and the mother country; and to the too limited state of their commerce, which with the productions of one of the richest soils in the world, has scarcely yet supplied them with what we would call the most common necessaries of life; likewise to their newspapers, which cir­culating through all parts, spread alarms every where, and present­ed the most dismal prospects to their view: but this critical mo­ment, as I have already remarked, was not attended with acts of violence and cruelty; it was, on the contrary, comparatively, a [Page 91] season of calmness and reflexion.—This revolution, the immediate peri [...]d of which is advancing with hasty strides, de­prives our enemies of at least three millions of subjects, and a commerce that was daily adding to their strength and importance; but ours will become more open, lib [...]ral, and extensive than ever, and we may even build ships in America at a much cheaper rate than we have hith [...]rto purchased t [...]em in the north of Europe, where they are also more difficult to be procured. We shall get our tobacco at an easy barter, and not throw annually an immense balance of ready money into the hands of a rival nation, to pur­chase it; and our islands will always have a demand for the American lumber to contain their rum, molasses and other productions.

It has often been said, that we of France ought to be upon our guard, least at the first appearance of peace the national prejudices of the Americans should incline them to renew their old connexi­ons with the mother country, forget our services, and break the alliance.—But we have little reason to apprehend this, when we consider that the English have been too long shedding blood in these countries, and too long plundering the inhabitants, for them to think of regaining their real friendship very easily. The Englishman, who will long consider the American in the light of a slave escaped from the fangs of his nation, will consequently for some time affect an air of superiority, even after a peace; and contempt, which is more difficult to be got over by a generous spirit than open hatred, will not easily be forgiven by the much injured American.

The Congress, whose resolves have always been dictated by wisdom and equity, and whose decisions have never been blamed by any, will not, surely, tarnish their honour and glory by a want of fidelity to their first ally; they will not erect a monument to infamy, upon which the whole world, and all future ages would read— France first acknowledged the Independence of America, and made the first treaty of alliance with her, supplied her with ammuni­tion, assisted her with her treasures, and defended her with her fleets and armies: America ungratefully violated her oaths, and burst asunder the ties of friendship, as soon as she could do it without danger to herself.

Altho' she should be capable, during the present war, of abstracting her quarrel from ours, and making a peace before us, still what would be the result? her power would no longer be incorporated with that of Great Britain, and so our great object would be nevertheless accomplished. Peace in America would likewise save us the keeping on foot an expensive army in this country, the loan of immense sums, and supplying them with large quantities of warlike stores for their own troops.

If we must extend our views into futurity, it is more rational to apprehend that the vast consumption of rum, sugar and coffee among the Americans, will incline them at one time or another to [Page 92] make attempts upon our islands that they may have such articles at a cheaper rate; but can the produce of these, how immense soever you may suppose it, b [...] once put in competition with the lives of those men, which these destructive climates deprive us of every year, and would dep [...]ive them or in like manner; or with that corruption of [...]orals which is constantly ebbing back from thence into Europe?

The prosperity of states and empires depends only upon manners and population, and to these every thing else must be sacrificed— O Am [...]r [...]cans, what calamities will attend you if the allurements of such [...] conquest shall one day seduce you to unite with Britain, and arm against [...]: the vice and wickedness which would flow from thence into the bosom of your country, and which would most fatally suspend the progress of your population, would also avenge us amply for your bold attempts.—But I will not, I ca [...] not indulge the idea.—Occupi [...]d wholly in the rural employ­ments of multiplying your stocks, extending [...]he bounds of your farms, and improving the wild face of your native region, you will not go armed with fire and sword to ravage and conquer regions that rise in the midst of the sea, beneath the sickly servours of a torrid sky.—Those happy plains which you inhabit, and which surround you on every side, extend even beyond your fondest wishes, and ask not a waste of blood, but the hand of industry, to open and disclose their inexhaustible treasures. The nature of the climate may perhaps ref [...]se those productions which European luxury has taught y [...]u to e [...]e [...]m the re [...]l necessaries of life, but your woods, yo [...] grains, your fisheries, and your numerous flocks will always be sufficient to procure you these.

Their man [...]ers and climate will not only for a long time incline the Americans to p [...]ace, but their political situation will probably still increas [...] this [...]ational pr [...]pensity; they are not surrounded by restles [...], ambiti [...]us nations who will oblige them to be incessantly armed to guard against their designs; altho' consisting of distinct bod [...]s, they will never be exposed to those frequent altercations among themselves which vex the republics of Europe; their res­pective rights are too clearly established, too generally received, and too intimately connected not to tend constantly to the destruc­tion of the [...]ppressor.

Necessity, fear, and ignorance have given birth to many warlike nations, and Europe would never have been engaged so constantly in wars, had the n [...] been originally peopled by b [...]b [...]rian, fugi­tives, foreigner, and such as p [...]ssessed different manners, and were violently opposed to each other, both by prejudice and interest; and if she is still in this unhappy si [...]uation, it is only the conseque [...]ce of [...]hose miserable ages of darkness and ignorance. The immense variety of different forms of w [...]rship will probably operate as the [...] cause of future dissentions in America; altho' it is to this very circumsta [...]ce they [...]we their rapid increase of power, and which will still contribute to their aggrandisement: but to [Page 93] suppose that toleration can be prejudicial to the prosperity of states, is, whatever you may think of it, very far from the received opinion of our [...]ime.

As long as men live at a distance from each other, toleration can­not be attended with any ill consequences, because in such a de­tached state, they are less liable to clash in their opinions, and con­sequently less subject to divisions. But when a country becomes better peopled, when families settle nearer t [...]gether, and the com­munication among them is enlarged, the cl [...]sh of opinions becomes more frequent, violent and dangerous; and th [...]n is the time for religious factions to spring up. Two flourishing states, England and Holland, subsist, neverth [...]les [...], to this day, although they to­lerate a mul [...]itude of sects. The first, wholly taken up in commer­cial speculation [...], permits all its members to remain in ignorance and indifference, except in what relates to gain. On the other hand, the nec [...]ssity of an intercourse with all nations, renders the Hollander inattentive to the disputes of his sectaries, especially when he considers, that the power of his country, at best preca­rious, would soon crumble to pieces without their support. The s [...]me causes operate upon the English nation, but not so powerful­ly, because they are not so generally commercial; and because the people, being of a less laborious turn, and less generally specula­tive than the Dutch, possess in a greater degree the powers of rea­soning and reflecting, and are more taken up with their doctrinal opinions: so that all the sects in England are so many rivals and enemies to each other, and their churches perpetually resound with the most illiberal and outrageous dissertations and discourses. This hatred of each other, would often be attended with fatal effects, were it not for the venerable majesty of the Catholic faith, which is a perpetual terror to their imaginations, and against which, as a common enemy, they all unite, as well as against the menacing power of France, which has almost always kept them and their na­tion sufficiently employed.

But America, who will be always more at peace abroad, and will never be indebted for her greatness and power to external and mo­mentary causes, and who will one day include, in her various fer­tile countries, vast numbers of rich, independent, reasoning, cavil­ling citizens, will have more [...]o fear from the difference of religious opinions. Even now, or very lately, the writings and sermons of their ministers, were as much calculated to attack and ridicule their rivals, as to edify their hearers; and Philadelphia, the center of tolerancy, has seen its sectaries supporting their religious privileges by blows and violence, Different times and circumstances may render such feuds of the utmost ill consequence.

The more the various religions of mankind are enlightened, of a more intolerant spirit they commonly are. Paganism, without any coherency or fixed principles, admitted and tolerated every mode of worship; Judaism, more rational and better connected, rejected all; Mahometism would never have been known in the [Page 94] world, or grown to what it is, had not its author expressly forbid toleration; and the christian world has always discountenanced it, except only such sects as were unsettled, and wavering in their doc­trinal opinions. Philosophy, whose business it is to unite men, and moderate their passions, has certainly inclined them in time past to civil toleration, but aspiring to examine into, and judge of every thing, it at first necessarily occasioned speculative, and af­terwards political, intolerancy; because the laws cannot be long indifferent in those matters, in which the passions of men are parti­cularly interested.

The happiest government, and which promises the most lasting prosperity, is that which connects all the members of a society in the same faith, and the same form of worship. True policy ought, then, constantly to endeavour to recall mankind to a unity of faith; but a desire of attracting foreigners, and the speedy peo­pling of a country, has tempted several states to transgress this prin­ciple, by opening an asylum to all religions without exception. Now, if it can be demonstrated, that a well circumstanced nation, where they all profess one faith, doubles its number of inhabitants every twenty years, would it not be more honourable to live in re­ligious harmony, with such a degree of population, than to be for­ever quarrelling about creeds and tenets, and torn by religious di­visions? This would be serving the present age and posterity both at once.

People, whom edicts of toleration invite into a country, thereby undoubtedly acqu [...] those rights and privileges, which the legisla­tive authority cannot infringe without injustice. Louis the four­teenth, by revoking the edict of Nantes, destroyed at once in his kingdom, the principle of intestine divisions, and this perhaps (as some have said) might have been good policy, but not the most just; because contracts made with Heretics, are not at all the less sacred for that.

The ruler of a country ought to consider himself as the father of his subjects also; out of a principle of tenderness, he should con­stantly aim to strengthen the bands which connect his numerous fa­mily; and can there be a more powerful one than a religion which inspires the same sentiments, prescribes the same duties, and pro­mises the same rewards? — How many millions live and die ene­mies to each other, merely on account of diversity of opinion in religious matters! but the man who feels the influence of true vir­tue and catholicism, who keeps eternity constantly in view, and pants for a more intimate union with the pure spirit of the Divinity, perceives his affections expanding, and his heart glowing with rap­ture, when he can entertain rational hopes of enjoying the future friendship of his fellow men on the other side of the grave, in the regions beyond this transitory state of being.

One of the most affecting scenes, and which will do the most ho­nour to the world, will be when all nations shall unite in erecting the same temples for the service of the Deity, and tuning the [Page 95] same anthems to his praise; and philosophy, which pretends to render mankind happier and better, ought to direct all her views and efforts to this great end: But can she flatter herself with paving the way to such a revolution in sentiment, while she employs her­self solely to overturn and destroy all religions whatever?— Before she enterprized so boldly, she should have offered the world a system of faith built upon better foundations, comprizing a great­er number of moral truths; and which would have pointed out more distinctly the extent and limits of human reason, than that already received; that should have more inclined the human race to the love of virtue and the dread of vice; which would have been better suited to all times and all places, to all conditions, and all temper.

By acting in a different manner, she resembles a law giver, who disliking the laws of the nation over which he presides, should ab [...]lish them without offering another, and a better system of legislation in their stead; or a physician, who should forbid his patients the use of food, which perhaps might not be altogether salutary, without once intimating what should be substituted of a less noxious quality.

Philosophy should confine her endeavours to the study and examination of the pretences that every religion makes to be thought the true one, to mark what they have most perfect or most defective in their usages and forms, their discipline and their doctrines; to keep aloof from those rash disputes and controversies, which render men neither better nor wiser, and to shew the world, that mild persuasion and good example, will reclaim mankind much sooner to the side of truth and virtue, than an imperious, insolent mode of conviction, which can only irritate.

Perhaps this destructive and ambitious philosophy of our day will be succeeded some time or another by one of a more moderate and conciliating temper. At this moment new empires are bursting into existence, and mankind will unavoidably begin to perceive the necessity of exercising their reason to a better purpose than heretofore; more connected by commerce, they will receive and communicate knowledge with greater facility than ever; the genius and talents of one individual man, and the spirit of party divisions will no longer have the same influence as formerly; the shameful errors of fanatics, and the contracted notions of bigots and devotees will now vanish, and though they should revive under a thousand different forms, this new and rational philosophy will, notwith­standing, at last recall all the nations of the world to a unity of sentiment and worship: perhaps the hope of such an event may be vain, but the idea is certainly flattering [...]nd comfortable to the human mind.