NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.

No. CXXV.

OCTOBER, 1844.

ART. I. — A History of the Operations of a Partisan Corps, called the Queen's Rangers, commanded by LIEUT. COL. J. G. SIMCOE, during the War of the American Revolu tion; illustrated by ten engraved Plans of Actions. Now first published, with a Memoir of the Author, and other Additions. New York: Bartlett and Welford. 1844. 8vo. pp. 328.

WHATEVER knowledge individuals may have obtained of the reasons which influenced, the hopes and fears which agitated, and the miseries which befell, the Loyalists of the American Revolution, the public generally have known but little of them until within a very recent period. And even at the present moment, many things which are necessary to form a correct judgment of all the circumstances of their case are wanting. The third volume of Hutchinson's "History of Massachusetts," the "Life of Peter Van Schaack," the "Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen," and the journal named at the head of this article, comprise, we believe, all the published works on the subject. Like every thing connected with the great event to which they relate, they contain much to interest and instruct the reader. We have met with individuals, however, who, imagining that they know quite all that can be said of the causes which severed the British empire, and enough of those who were prominent actors in the struggle that preceded it, seek to know no more of either. To such persons, and to others who, equally conceited, are ready to do battle for every VOL. LIX.No. 125.

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"Whig," and to denounce every "Tory," these books are of no possible value. But of a spirit wholly different are the searchers after truth, and the close students of history. These have ascertained, from the various sources open to them, that all who called themselves "Whigs" were not necessarily disinterested and virtuous, and the proper objects of unlimited praise; and that the "Tories" were not, to a man, selfish and vicious, and deserving of unmeasured and indiscriminate reproach. And be the popular sentiment now what it may, we cannot doubt, that Harrison Gray, Peter Van Schaack, Richard Saltonstall, and hundreds of others, were animated by a purer and stronger love of country, than were many who will go down to posterity as true and sound-hearted patriots. Men who give up home, who separate themselves from kindred, who surrender all the happiness and expectations of life, in order to become exiles,if of distinguished private worth, are never to be stigmatized, but always to be respected, and sometimes venerated. "I will go to Worms," said Luther, "though I were certain to meet as many devils as there are tiles on the houses." Impelled by a sense of duty as high and as holy as this, some of the Loyalists abandoned their firesides to brave perils as alarming to them, as any which beset the path or floated in the imagination of the great Reformer. "Why did you come here, when you and your associates were almost certain to endure the sufferings and absolute want of shelter and food, which you have now narrated ?” asked an American gentleman of one of the first settlers of St. John, New Brunswick, a man whose life, which has just ended, was without a stain. "Why did we come here?" replied he, with emotion that brought tears ;-" for our loyalty; think you that our principles were not as dear to us, as were yours to you?" Will not even the prejudiced own, that faithfulness to conscience and to duty is always a great virtue, never a sin?

Every effort which has been, or which remains to be made, to relieve the class to which this good man belonged from obloquy and shame, has had our most hearty concurrence. And while we hope that full justice will be done to such, we would also hope that no asperity of judgment may be shown towards those who were aged, who were griefstricken, or who adhered to the crown from natural timidity

of character, the dread of bloodshed, or the conviction that the most united and energetic resistance would prove unavailing; since, if blamable, they were, as a mass, severely punished. Those who clung to the cause of the king upon a calculation of personal advantage, or from the love and expectation of place and power, deserve to be held up to public scorn; and assuredly we will say nothing to avert from them the full measure of reprobation which they deserve.

There is still another class, on whom public indignation has fallen, and yet rests, none too heavily. The occasions are few, if, indeed, they are found at all, which justify men in bearing arms against their native land. This has been the sentiment in all ages, and we would endeavour to confirm and strengthen it. To this end, we would not have the conduct of the Loyalists who entered the British service and fought against their brethren held excusable, either now or at any coming time. Until every distinction between right and wrong shall be beaten down, their deep sin will stand accursed. Not that there was no difference in the criminality of these men's acts, while they were in service; for in this respect, some were far less reprehensible than others. Thus, the Queen's Rangers, when under the command of Simcoe, committed as few, and the corps of Tryon as many, barbarous deeds, we suppose, as any Americans who wore the royal uniform; but for consenting to wear that uniform at all, both incurred guilt, which is deserving of equal and perpetual detestation.

Dropping here this course of general remark, we propose to notice somewhat in detail, and with only incidental allusions to the work before us, the principal occurrences between the Whigs and the Tories throughout the war; and we enter upon the task, fully conscious, that, though we shall perform it with a single eye to truth, impartiality, and justice, we cannot fail to utter thoughts which will grate harshly upon the ears of a portion of our readers, and disturb some of their long cherished opinions.

Those who have not been at the pains to investigate the matter may be surprised to learn, that the opponents of the Revolution were powerful in all the thirteen Colonies; and that, in some of them, they were nearly, if not quite, equal in number to its friends, the Whigs. Such, however,

is the undoubted fact. The Loyalists composed a large body, even in Massachusetts. On the departure of Hutchinson, he was addressed by upwards of two hundred merchants, lawyers, and other citizens, of Boston, Salem, and Marblehead. On the arrival of Gage, his successor, fortyeight persons "of the ancient town of Salem " presented to him their dutiful respects, as the representative of their honored sovereign; and on his retirement, he received the "Loyal Address from gentlemen and principal inhabitants of Boston," as they styled themselves, to the number of ninety-seven, and of eighteen country gentlemen and official personages, who had been driven from their homes to a shelter in the capital. Such of these "Addressers "* as were not subsequently "Recanters" became exceedingly obnoxious; and most of them were driven by the force of subsequent events into temporary or permanent banishment; and whoever visits British America can now stand by the graves, and hold converse with the descendants, of many of them.

Besides these, the crown had more or less friends in nearly every old and populous town in the Colony. At Marshfield, for example, the associated Loyalists consisted of three hundred members, and Gage's citizens' patrol numbered as many more. In Charlestown, there was but a single inhabitant who claimed the royal protection. In Maine,

It may be well here to notice some of the names and terms which ob tained currency during the struggle. The two great parties, as all are aware, were known as "Whigs" and "Tories"; but the latter were also called "Refugees" and "Loyalists," and the former, "Sons of Liberty." Besides these general designations, there were several others, which had reference to particular circumstances. Thus, the term "Rescinders" was applied to the members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives who voted to rescind a resolution that gave great offence to the Ministry, and caused Lord Hillsborough to direct Bernard to dissolve that body, on refusal to "rescind." The "Protesters" were those who published protests against the doings of Congress, and against the resolves of the Whigs in public meetings. The "Addressers were those who addressed the royal gov ernors, as in the case of Hutchinson and Gage; and the " Recanters," such of them as confessed their regret for doing so. A "Mandamus Councillor" was a member of the Council who, after the charter of Massachusetts was declared void, was appointed by the king's writ of "Mandamus." To say of a party of men, that they "were Burgoyned," meant not only their capture or the entire overthrow of the plans of the discomfited, but also that a proud and boastful spirit had preceded their humiliation. The "Cow-boys and "Skinners" were native Americans and others, who came from within the British lines, on excursions of plunder and murder.

Falmouth, the principal town, had quite its share of Tories, and the same is true of Pownalborough and Castine; while Saco and Biddeford possessed but two that were objects of Whig displeasure. Of Massachusetts generally it may be remarked, that a large proportion of her people who opposed the Revolution were persons of consideration; that many of them were eminent for virtue, were blessed with fine talents, had been well educated, and were in the enjoyment of competency, and even of wealth; and, as will be seen in another connection, they afterwards obtained distinguished places in the annals of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The division of parties in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire was much the same as in Massachusetts; and each of them furnished not only strong and influential supporters of the ministry, but recipients of their bounty and preferment. Of New York it is scarcely possible to speak in terms of exaggeration; since it is undeniable, that it was the Loyalists' stronghold, and contained more of them than any Colony in all America. While proof to sustain this assertion can be adduced to almost any extent, we shall cite but a single, though conclusive, fact; namely, that, soon after the close of the war, the Assembly of that State passed a bill which prohibited adherents of the crown from holding office, but which was objected to and returned by the Council of Revision, who, among other reasons for their course, stated, that, if it were suffered to become a law, there would be difficulty, and in some places an impossibility, of finding men of different political sympathies, even to conduct the elections.

In some of the Southern Colonies the Loyalists were almost as numerous as in New York; while in all of them they composed a most formidable body. In the Carolinas it may be hard to determine which party had the majority; and it will be found, as we proceed, that there were occasions when the royal generals obtained twelve or fifteen hundred recruits among the inhabitants, merely by issuing a proclamation or call upon them to stand to their allegiance "to the best of sovereigns." General Lincoln was compelled to surrender Charleston; and all who calmly examine the events which led to the capitulation must be satisfied, we think, that the inhabitants of the city and its vicinity, as a body, preferred that both the American army and the city