THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

TO THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

THESE were originally thirteen colonies, composed of emigrants princi pally from Great Britain. After enduring all the hardships incident to the settlement of a new country, having at the same time to contend against hostility from the natives and each other, they triumphed over every obstacle and became permanently settled. For the space of about a century they acknowledged the sway, and continued to contribute like loyal subjects to the support of the British crown; but at the end of that period a plan of taxation was projected and attempted to be carried into effect by the parliament of Great Britain, which was peculiarly obnoxious to the people of the colonies. This attempt was the cause which finally separated the two countries; for the colonies with unexampled vigour and pertinacity opposed all the efforts of the mother country to subject them, to obedience. The national existence of this country, therefore, commenced on the 4th of July, 1776, such being the date of that celebrated document, the Declaration of Independence of the colonies.

So rapid and unprecedented has been the rise of this new nation, that the great European powers have already ranked her immediately after themselves in the scale of national importance; and she is now universally attracting attention as the most celebrated and powerful Republic that exists.

A brief consideration of the causes which superinduced the American revolution, may not be here improper. As early as the year 1651, had been passed in England, a navigation act, for the regulation of the commerce of the colonies, by which it was declared that no merchandize of the English Plantations should be imported into England in any other than English vessels; also, that the transfer of articles of domestic manufacture from one colony to another were prohibited, particularly suck goods as could be obtained from England; also, shortly after, was en acted another law forbidding hatters to have more than two apprentices or to extend their business; forbidding, also, the erection of iron works and the manufacture of steel; and prohibiting the importation of sugar rum, and molasses, without the payment of exorbitant duties; and declaring to be illegal the felling of pitch and white-pine trees not comprehended within the enclosures.

Even so soon as 1739, certain restless scheming English politicians proposed to Sir Robert Walpole, then prime-minister, the subsequently fatal notion of imposing direct excises upon the colonies, for the purpose of raising a revenue for support of the government. That profound and sagacious statesman, however, replied, with an ironical smile, “I will leave that operation to some one of my successors, who shall have more courage than I, and less regard for commerce. During my administration I have always thought it my duty to encourage the commerce of the American colonies; and I have done it. For, it is my opinion that, if by their trade they gain five hundred thousand pounds sterling, at the end of two years full the half that sum will have entered British coffers. This is a mode of taxing them more conformable to their constitution, and to our own. In 1763, however, the government of Great Britain found it necessary ‘o search out every object, and every occupation, which was susceptible

of taxes, or contributions; as her public debt had at that time increased to the prodigious amount of one hundred and forty-eight millions sterling, or about six hundred and fifty-seven millions five hundred thousand dollars. It was therefore thought expedient, and even necessary, to tax the colonies; and George Grenville, then prime-minister, accordingly introduced a resolution in parliament, "That it was proper to charge certain stamp duties, in the colonies and plantations." This passed the house of commons, March 10th, 1764; but no further action was taken until the year following.

Meanwhile the colonies received intelligence of the design, with a general feeling of indignation. They considered it the commencement of a system of revenue which, if unresisted, opened a prospect of oppression boundless in extent, and endless in duration. Meetings were held, and remonstrances addressed to the king, and to both houses of parliament; and agents were sent to London, to prevent, if possible, the intended act from becoming a law But ministers were not to be diverted from their plan; the memorials, remonstrances, petitions, and resolutions of the American provinces were alike rejected: and the obnoxious stamp act passed in the mouth of March, 1765, by a vote of five to one in the Commons, and without opposition in the Lords.

On the occasion of the debate preceding the law, eloquence and patriotism of the most exalted character were exhibited. Charles Townsend, a brilliant orator on the side of the ministry, took occasion to exclaim,

“These Americans, our own children, planted by our care, nourished by our indulgence, protected by our arms, until they are grown to a good degree of strength and opulence; will they now turn their backs upon us, and grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy load which overwhelms us?"

Colonel Barre caught the words, and, with a vehemence becoming a soldier, rose and said:

"Planted by your care! No! your oppression planted them in America: they fled from your tyranny into a then uncultivated land, where they were exposed to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others, to the savage cruelty of the natives of the country, a people the most subtle, and, I take it upon me to say, the most truly terrible of any people that ever inhabited God's earth; and yet actuated by principles of true English liberty, they met all these hardships with pleasure, compared with those they suffered in their own country, from the hands of those that should have been their friends.

They nourished by your indulgence! They grew by your neglect: as soon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised by sending persons to rule over them, in one department and another, who were, perhaps, the deputies of the deputies of some members of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them: men, whose behaviour, on many occasions, had caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them; men, promoted to the highest seats of justice, some of whom, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to foreign countries, to escape the vengeance of the laws of their own.

They protected by your arms! They have nobly taken up arms in your defence: have exerted their valour amid their constant and laborious industry, for the defence of a country whose frontiers were drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded for your enlargement the little savings of their frugality and the fruits of their toils. And believe me, remember, I this day told you so, that the same spirit which actuated that people at first, will continue with them still."

When the news of the passage of this act reached America, a burst of resentment was everywhere manifested. In Boston and in Philadelphia the bells were muffled and rung a funeral peal; in New-York the act was

carried through the streets with a death's head affixed to it, and styled "The folly of England and the ruin of America." In Portsmouth, a coffin, inscribed with the word "Liberty," in large letters, was carried to the grave with much ceremony; minute guns being fired during the movement of the procession, and an oration in favour of the deceased delivered at the place of interment. The stamped paper was in many places seized and destroyed, and the houses of those who sided with the government plundered. The stamp officers were compelled to resign, and the doctrine openly avowed, that England had no right to tax America. It was maintained, as a fundamental principle, that taxation and representation were inseparable; and as the American colonies were not represented in the parliament of Great Britain, the act complained of was every way reprehensible, unjust, and unconstitutional.

On the night the bill was passed, Doctor Franklin, who was then in London, wrote to Charles Thompson, afterwards secretary of the continental Congress, "The sun of liberty is set; the Americans must now light the lamps of industry and economy." To which Mr. Thompson answered, "Be assured we shall light torches of quite another sort:" Thus predicting, as it were, the convulsions about to follow.

The opposition to the stamp act was so spirited and universal, that parliament had only the alternative to compel submission or repeal the law. Accordingly, on the 22d February, 1766, General Conway introduced a motion in the house of commons for its repeal. Great excitement was exhibited on the occasion; but a division of the house being, at length called for, at three o'clock in the morning, the vote stood as follows: one hundred and sixty-seven voices against the motion, and two hundred and seventy-five in favour of it: so the obnoxious bill was repealed.

As a salvo to the wounded honour of the ministerial party, a declaratory act was passed at the same time, more hostile to the American rights than anything which had preceded it. The language of the enactment was, "That parliament have, and of right ought to have, power to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever."

Nevertheless, the satisfaction of the people on the repeal of the act was sincere and general. But they mistook entirely the spirit and determinaof the ministry; for, in 1767, a bill was passed imposing a duty to be collected in the colonies on glass, paper, paints, and tea. Again the fire of opposition and alarm, which had been partially smothered by the previous action of parliament, broke forth anew; again associations were formed to prevent the importation of British goods; and meetings called to resolve, petition, and remonstrate. Parliament presently suspended the action of this law also, except upon the single article of tea, upon which a merely nominal duty of three pence per pound was demanded. The non-importation recommendations of meetings and associations to suspend the purchase of tea, had been so strictly complied with, that but little had been brought into the country. The consequence was, that a vast quantity, seventeen millions of pounds, had accumulated upon the hands of the East India Company. For their relief, the parliament now authorized them to export this tea into any part of the world, free of duty. By this regulation, tea would come cheaper to the colonies than before it had been made a source of revenue-parliament having, in 1767, reduced the duty on it to three pence a pound.

Confident of now finding a market for their tea in America, the East India Company freighted several ships with that article for the different colonies, and appointed agents to dispose of it. On the arrival of this tea, however, the determination of the colonists was formed-they would not pay even three pence by way of duty. The consequence was, that cargoes of tea, sent to New York and Philadelphia, were returned without being entered at the custom house; and those sent to Charleston, South Caro fina, were stored, but not offered for sale

In Massachusetts, a different fate awaited it. Upon its arrival, the inhabitants endeavoured to procure its return, but this being impracticable, the tea having been consigned to the relations and friends of the royal governor, Hutchinson, they resolved to destroy it. Accordingly, a num ber of persons, dressed like Indians, repaired to the ships, and discharged three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the water, without, however, doing any other damage.

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Intelligence of these proceedings was, on the 7th of March, 1774, communicated in a message from the throne to both houses of parliament. The excitement was pecularly strong. In the spirit of revenge against Massachusetts, and particularly against Boston, which was considered as the chief seat of rebellion, a bill was brought forward, called the "Boston port bill," by which the port of Boston was precluded from the privilege of landing and discharging, or of loading and shipping goods, wares, and merchandise.

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A second bill, which passed at this time, essentially altered the charter of the province, making the appointment of the council, justices, &c., dependent upon the crown, or its agent. A third soon followed, authorizing and directing the governor to send any person indicted for murder, or any other capital offence, to another colony, or to Great Britain, for trial.

Early the next year, January 7th, 1775, Lord Chatham, Mr. Pitt, after a long retirement, resumed his seat in the house of lords, and introduced a conciliatury bill, the object of which was, to settle the troubles in America. But the efforts of this venerable and peacemaking man wholly failed, the bill being rejected by a majority of sixty-four to thirty-two, without even the compliment of lying on the table.

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The crisis, therefore, had arrived; and the signal of war being given, the blood shed at Lexington opened the scene. The circumstances of the case were as follows; General Gage, the king's governor of Massachusetts, learning that a quantity of military stores had been deposited by the provincials at Concord, eighteen miles from Boston, detached Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, and Major Pitcairn, with eight hundred grenadiers to seize them. It is said, also, that another and more important object of the same expedition was to obtain possession of the persons of two distinguished leaders of the patriots, John Hancock and Samuel Adams. They receiving timely intimation of the design through the means of Dr. Warren, an ardent lover of freedom who afterwards fell on Bunker's Hill, they made their escape. When the detachment arrived at Lexington, a small town lying in their course, they found a body of militia, numbering about seventy, 'under arms. Major Pitcairn, riding up to them, cried with a loud voice, "Disperse, disperse, you rebels; throw down your arms and disperse." The sturdy yeomanry not immediately obeying his orders, he approached nearer, discharged his pistol, and ordered his soldiers to fire. The result is known. They succeeded in destroying the stores, but were compelled to retire with the loss of 273 men, while the loss on the side of the colonists only amounted to 84.

The provincial congress of Massachusetts, being in session at this time, despatched a minute account of the affair at Lexington, to Great Britain, with depositions to prove that the British troops were the aggressors. In conclusion, they used this emphatic language; "Appealing to heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die, or be free."

While these things were passing within and about Boston, the other provinces were making their preparations for war with extreme activity. The city of New York itself, in which the English had more friends than in any other on the continent, and which hitherto had manifested so much reserve, at the first news of the battle of Lexington, was seized with a violent emotion, and resolved to make common cause with the other col onies. The inhabitants adopted the resolutions of the general Congress

with the determination to persist in them until the entire re-establishment of constitutional laws. They drew up an energetic address to the common council of the city of London, which had shown itself favourable to the cause of the colonies; they declared, that all the calamities in the train of civil war, could not constrain the Americans to bend to the will of Great Britain, and that such was the universal sentiment, from Nova Scotia to Georgia; they conjured the city of London to exert all its endeavours to restore peace between the two parts of the empire; but as to themselves, they protested their determination no longer to endure tyranny.' The second continental Congress met at Philadelphia on the 10th May, 1775, and as war had now actually commenced, it became necessary to fix upon a proper person to conduct it. The one unanimously selected by Congress was GEORGE WASHINGTON, a member of their body, from Virginia. General Washington, in his reply to the president of Congress, who announced to him his appointment, after consenting to enter upon the momentous duty assigned him, added; "As to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress, that as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. These I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all I desire." A special commission was drawn up and presented to him, as commander-in-chief of the American forces; on presenting it, Congress unanimously adopted this resolution: "That they would maintain and assist him, and adhere to him with their lives and fortunes, in the cause of American liberty." Following his appointment, was that of four major-generals, Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam; and eight brigadier generals, Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Nathaniel Greene.

It may not be inappropriate here to give a table of the time and order of the principal battles which led to the freedom of the colonies from their mother country, together with the name of the commanding officer of either force, with their respective losses. The war commenced, as we have said, with the battle of

LEXINGTON, April 19, 1775; British, Major Pitcairn, loss 273; American yeomanry,

loss 84.

BUNKER HILL, June 17, 1775; British, Lord Howe, loss 1054; American, Col. Prescott, loss 453.

FLATBUSH, Aug. 12, 1776; British, Lord Howe, loss 400; American, Putnam and Sullivan, loss 2000.

WHITE PLAINS, Oct. 28, 1766; British, Lord Howe, loss 300 to 400; American,

General Washington, loss 300 to 400.

TRENTON, Dec. 25, 1776; British, General Rahl, loss 1000; American, General Washington, loss 9.

PRINCETON, Jan. 3, 1777; British, General Mawhood, loss 400; American, General Washington, loss 100.

HUBBARDSTON, Aug. 7, 1777; British, General Frazer and Baron Reidesel, loss 180; American, Cols. Francis and Warner, loss 800.

BENNINGTON, Aug. 16, 1777; British, Generals Baum and Breyman, loss 800; American, General Stark, loss 100.

BRANDYWINE, Sept. 11, 1777; British, Lord Howe, loss 500; American, General Washington, loss 1200.

STILLWATER, Sept. 17, 1777; British, General Burgoyne, loss 600; American, Gen eral Gates, loss 350.

GERMANTOWN, Oct. 4, 1777; British, General Grey and Col. Musgrave, loss 600; American, General Washington, loss 1200.

SARATOGA, Oct. 17, 1777; British, General Burgoyne, surrendered 5752 men, his entire army, to General Gates.

RED HOOK, Oct. 22, 1777; British, Count Donop, loss 500; American, Col. Greene.

loss 32