the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is, an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

"In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

"Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time, of attempts, by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us; we have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here; we have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must therefore acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our seperation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankindenemies in war, in peace friends.

"We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour."

Copies of this declaration were immediately transmitted to all the states, and received with enthusiasm, and proclaimed with every demonstration of joy. Five days after its adoption, the legislature of New York, that had not previously acted, unanimously resolved, that the reasons of Congress for declaring Independence, were "cogent and unanswerable." At Philadelphia, when it was solemnly promulgated on the eighth, the artillery fired salutes, the bells rang a peal of triumph, and bonfires blazed all over the city. At New York it was on the eleventh, by order of General Washington, read to the head of every brigade in the army, amidst universal acclamations. The leaden statue of king George the Third, that had stood before the government house, was torn down, dragged through the streets, and converted into musket-balls. In Baltimore the like enthusiasm prevailed, and the populace marched an effigy of the king through the streets, and then burnt it. In Boston the most extravagant demonstrations were made, of almost delirious exultation. Salutes of thirteen guns were fired from every place, and by every company that possessed the means. All the authorities, civil and military, with a vast concourse of people, were collected together in King-street, and the Declaration read from the balcony of the State House, amidst deafening shouts and the roar of artillery. The name of King-street was changed to State-street, on the spot, and in the evening, the royal emblems throughout the town, crowns, sceptres, lions, &c. were torn down and burnt in triumph. In Virginia the like ardor prevailed; and the whole country hailed the Declaration as an act of liberation from slavery, and a victory over the institutions of despotism.

We cannot better illustrate these feelings than by an extract from a private letter, written on the morning of the vote in favour of Independence, by John Adams, to his wife, published many years afterwards. It shows the warmth of temperament which pervaded the patriot bosoms of that day; the sagacity with which coming evils were foreseen, and courageous confidence with which they were defied.

"The day is past. The second day of July, 1776, will be a memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great Anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp,

shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward for ever.

"You will think me transported with enthusiasm ; but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory; I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I hope we

shall not."

It was not, however, possible, in the nature of human affairs, that so complete a revolution could be made with perfect unanimity. Many individuals, from various reasons, refused to acquiesce in the decision of the mass of the people, and continued to acknowledge and adhere to British authority. Persons of this description were called Tories and enemies to their country; and were so unpopular, that in many instances they were illegally siezed and violently abused by the people. Before the declaration of independence, Congress had been compelled to interfere in their behalf, and pass resolutions to protect them from disturbances, except when taken in an overt-act of hostility to American liberty, or under circumstances of strong presumption. The resolution, already alluded to, declaring the Americans absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, passed in June, recognised the obligation of allegiance to the separate colonies, from all persons residing within the same; and therefore liable only to the colonial tribunals for violations of this duty. On the 24th, these principles were followed up more specifically by a declaration that "all persons abiding within any of the United Colonies, and deriving protection from the laws of the same, owed allegiance to the said laws, and were members of said colony." And further, that all persons, members of any colony, who should levy war against any of the said colonies, or adhere to its enemies, "within the same," were "guilty of treason against such colony." It was further recommended to the legislatures of the several colonies, to provide laws for the punishment of such "treasons." No more explicit avowal of the separate sovereignty of the individual colonies, in fact, before the joint declaration, could be advanced. After the declaration, the states, or most of them, on the same or

similar suggestions, confiscated the estates of Tories, and adherents to Great Britain, and passed special laws inflicting severe punishments on all acts of hostility, and the punishment of death for treason.

The disasters to the arms of America, which followed the declaration of independence, increased the number of malcontents, and weakened the force of the country. The mass of the inhabitants, however, stood firm in the cause; and the consistency and courage of Congress, with the unequalled virtues of the Commander-in-chief, who held the destinies of the country in his hand for a long and critical period, sustained and invigorated the popular determination to a final triumph over foreign and domestic enemies.

In its proper place, hereafter, we shall trace the history of the Confederation among the colonies, which took its rise out of the new state of separate sovereignty, in which the declaration of independence placed them. So obvious was the necessity of some such compact, that on the 12th of June, the next day after that in which the resolution in favour of independence passed the committee of the whole, Congress determined to appoint a committee to prepare and digest a form of Confederation; and on the 13th the committee was selected, consisting of Mr. Bartlett, of New Hampshire, Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, Stephen Hopkins, of Rhode Island, Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, R. R. Livingston, of New York, John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, Thomas M'Kean, of Delaware, Mercer, of Maryland, Nelson, of Virginia, Hewes, of North Carolina, Rutledge, of South Carolina, and Gwinnett, of Georgia. This committee reported a plan of Confederacy on the 12th of July. After discussions and amendments, an amended draft was reported late in August, and the whole subject then laid over until April of the next year, and was not finally adopted until November, 1777, under which date, a review of its progress and details more properly belongs.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE position of American affairs, at the date of the declaration of independence, was not encouraging. The repulse of Clinton from Charleston was a gallant action, but did not counterbalance the reverses in Canada. A very powerful force by sea and land was concentrating on the city of New York, where the means for defence were very inadequate. Admiral Howe joined his brother at Staten Island on the 12th July. About the same time, General Clinton arrived with the troops which had attacked Charleston, and Admiral Hotham with a strong reinforcement under his escort. The army, in a short time, amounted to 24,000 of the best troops in Europe, to whom several regiments of Hessian infantry were expected to be added; making the aggregate not less than 35,000 men.

To oppose these, the American General had a force, consisting chiefly of undisciplined and badly provided militia, amounting in number to about seventeen thousand men. Deducting for invalids and those without means for going into active service, the effective force, at no time previous to the battle of Long Island, was greater than fourteen thousand. These were necessarily divided into detachments and parties on New York, Long and Governor's Islands, and Paulus Hook, upon the Jersey shore of the Hudson, opposite the city, a space extending over fifteen miles.

While waiting for reinforcements, Admiral and General Howe, who were commissioners under the late act of the British parliament, undertook, in their civil capacity, to open negotiations for a re-union between the countries. The declaration of independence probably hastened their anxiety to improve what they thought would be the alarms of the timid, on the first promulgation of so bold a measure.

In the month of June, while on the coast of Massachusetts, Lord Howe had issued circulars to the royal governors of the provinces for distribution, explaining the commission with which he and his colleagues were charged. These were to grant "general or particular pardons to all those who, though they had deviated from their allegiance, were