fill up all vacancies in every other department in the American army; to take, wherever he may be, whatever he may want for the use of the army, if the inhabitants will not sell it, allowing a reasonable price for the same; to arrest and confine persons who refuse to take the continental currency; and that these powers be vested in General Washington for the period of six months, unless sooner determined by congress. At the same time, congress turned its attention toward the Canadian frontier, and ordered works to be constructed for the security of the lakes George and Champlain.

While active in using all means for internal security and defence, congress were not careless of foreign relations. They resolved, without delay, to send commissioners to the courts of Vienna, Spain, Prussia, and the grand duke of Tuscany, to assure those powers that the United States were determined to maintain their independence; to solicit the friendly aid of those courts, or their good offices in preventing any more foreigners in the pay of Great Britain from being sent against the states, and in procuring the recall of those that had been already sent.

Richard Stockton, a member of congress, had been made prisoner by the British, and thrown into a common jail. Congress was indignant at the treatment he received, and ordered General Washington to open a correspondence on the subject with General Howe, that it might be ascertained in what manner prisoners were to be treated, as the Americans were determined to retaliate on British prisoners any ill-usage which their adherents who fell into the hands of the British might meet with.

Congress also made a solemn and animated appeal to all the provinces of the union. They reminded the people of their grounds of complaint against the British government, and of the treatment which they had received from it. They assured them that nothing less than absolute submission would satisfy their enemies; and emphatically asked them whether they chose resistance or slavery. The appeal produced the desired effect, and the people prepared to continue the struggle with renewed vigor.

The British parliament met on the 26th of October, 1775, and was opened by 4 speech from the throne, in which the king set forth that he had it in contemplation to engage some foreign troops which had been offered him to serve in America; that it was necessary to compel the colonists to submission, but that he would be ready to receive them with tenderness and mercy, on their becoming sensible of their error. Ministry moved an address in full accordance with the speech, which was strenuously resisted by the opponents of the administration in both houses of parliament, and keen debates ensued; but ministry carried their point by large majorities, and the far greater number of the people fully concurred in the war.

The employment of foreign mercenaries against the colonists was strongly opposed in parliament; but the measure was adopted, which awakened a lively sensation in the provinces, where it was considered as an avowal that the mother country had entirely shaken off the remembrance of their propinquity, and indulged a spirit of rancorous hostility against them. Hence, numbers who had hitherto been moderate in their political sentiments, became steady adherents of the republican cause; while they who had formerly been refractory, became more determined in their opposition to the measures of the British gov

ernment.

The second petition of congress, to which no answer had been returned, was brought under the notice of parliament, and Mr. Penn, formerly governor of Pennsylvania, was examined at the bar of the house of lords; but his examination was followed by no conciliatory results. About that time Mr. Edmund Burke, an eloquent member of parliament under the banners of the opposition,

introduced into the house of commons his conciliatory bill, which proposed to renounce the exercise of taxation in the colonies, without entering on the consideration of the question of right; reserving, however, to Great Britain, the power of levying commercial duties, to be applied to those purposes which the general assembly of each province should judge most salutary and beneficial. The bill also proposed the repeal of all the laws complained of by the colonists and the passing an immediate act of amnesty. But this, like every other con ciliatory proposition, was unsuccessful.

The rejection of Mr. Burke's bill was followed by the introduction of one by ministry, prohibiting all intercourse with the colonies, which, after a keen opposition, passed both houses of parliament, and received the royal sanction.

CHAPTER VI.

When General Washington crossed the Delaware, winter was fast setting in; and it was no part of General Howe's plan to carry on military operations during that inclement season of the year. Fearless of a feeble enemy, whom he had easily driven before him, and whom he confidently expected soon to annihilate, he cantoned his troops rather with a view to the convenient resumption of their march, than with any regard to security against a fugitive foe. As he entertained not the slightest apprehension of an attack, he paid little attention to the arrangement of his several posts for the purpose of mutual support. He stationed a detachment of about 1,500 Hessians at Trenton, under Colonel Rhalle, and about 2,000 at Bordentown, farther down the river, under Count Donop; the rest of his army was quartered over the country, between the Hackensack and the Delaware. General Howe certainly had little apparent cause of apprehension; Washing ton had retreated beyond the Delaware at the head of only about 2,000 men, while he had an army of nearly 30,000 fine troops under his command. The congress had withdrawn from Philadelphia; and, by their retreat, had thrown

that city into much confusion. Their presence had overawed the disaffected, and maintained the tranquillity of the place; but, on their removal, the friends of the British claims, to whom belonged the great body of the quakers, a timid sect, began to bestir themselves; and General Putnam, who commanded there, needed

a considerable force to preserve the peace of the city. The country was de-jected; the friends of congress were filled with the most gloomy apprehensions; and many of the inhabitants repaired to the British posts, expressed their allegiance to the British crown, and claimed protection; so that in those circumstances General Howe seemed perfectly secure.

But in that alarming state of affairs the American leaders still maintained an erect posture, and their brave and persevering commander-in-chief did not despair. Congress actively employed all the means in their power for supporting their independence, and General Washington applied in every quarter for reinforcements. He perceived the security of the British commander-in-chief, and the advantages which the scattered cantonment of his troops presented to the American arms. "Now," exclaimed he, on being informed of the widely dispersed state of the British troops, "is the time to clip their wings, when they are so spread ;" and, accordingly, resolved to make a bold effort to check the progress of the enemy. For that purpose he planned an attack on the Hessians. at Trenton. General Putnam, who was stationed in Philadelphia, might have. been useful in creating a diversion on that side; but in that city the friends of Britain were so strong, that it was deemed inexpedient to withdraw, even for a short time, the troops posted there. But a small party of militia, under Colonel Griffin, passed the Delaware near Philadelphia, and advanced to Mount Holly. Count Donop marched against them, but, on their retreat, he returned to Borden-

in the vicinity of Bristol, but failed through inattention to the state of the tide and of the river, as they could not land on account of the heaps of ice accumulated on the Jersey bank. The second division, under General Irving, was to pass at Trenton Ferry, but was unable to make its way through the ice. The third and main division, under the command of General Washington in person, assisted by Generals Sullivan and Greene, and Colonel Knox of the artillery,

accomplished the passage, with great difficulty, at McKenzie's Ferry, about nine miles above Trenton. The general had expected to have his troops on the Jersey side about midnight, and to reach Trenton about five in the morning. But the difficulties arising from the accumulation of ice in the river, were so great, that it was three o'clock in the morning before the troops got across, and nearly four before they began to move forward. They were formed into two divisions, one of which proceeded toward Trenton by the lower or river road and the other by the upper or Pennington road

Colonel Rhalle had received some intimation that an attack on his post was meditated, and probably would be made on the evening of the twenty-fifth. Captain Washington, afterward much distinguished as an officer of cavalry, had for some days been on a scouting party in the Jerseys with about fifty foot soldiers; and, ignorant of the meditated attack on the evening of the twenty-fifth, had approached Trenton, exchanged a few shots with the advanced sentinels, and then retreated. The Hessians concluded that this was the threatened attack, and became quite secure. Captain Washington, in his retreat, met the general advancing against Trenton by the upper road, and joined him. Although some apprehensions were entertained that the alarm excited by Captain Washington's appearance might have put the Hessians on their guard, yet, as there was now no room either for hesitation or delay, the Americans steadily continued their march. The night was severe it sleeted, snowed, and was intensely cold, and the road slippery. But General Washington advanced firmly, and at eight o'clock in the morning reached the Hessian advanced posts, which he instantly drove in; and, so equal had been the progress of the columns, that in three minutes afterward the firing on the river road announced the arrival of the other division.

Colonel Rhalle, who was a courageous officer, soon had his men under arms, and prepared for a brave defence; but, early in the engagement, he received a mortal wound, and his men, being severely galled by the American artillery, about 1,000 of them threw down their arms and surrendered themselves prisoners of war; but a considerable body of them, chiefly light horse, retreated toward Bordentown and made their escape.

In this attack not many Hessians were killed, and the Americans lost only four or five men, some of whom were frozen to death by the intense cold of the night. Some of General Washington's officers wished him to follow up his success, and he was inclined to pursue that course; but a council of war was averse to this measure, and he did not think it advisable to act contrary to the prevailing opinion. On the evening of the twenty-sixth he repassed the Delaware, carrying his prisoners along with him, and their arms, colors, and artillery.

This enterprise was completely successful in so far as it was under the immediate direction of the commander-in-chief, and it had a happy effect on the affairs of America. It was the first wave of the returning tide. It filled the British with astonishment; and the Hessians, whose name had before inspired the people with fear, ceased to be terrible. The prisoners were paraded through the streets of Philadelphia to prove the reality of the victory, which the friends of the British government had denied. The hopes of the Americans were revived, and their spirits elevated: they had a clear proof that their enemies were not invincible; and that union, courage, and perseverance, would ensure success. The British troops in the Jerseys behaved toward the inhabitants with all the insolence of victory, and plundered them with indiscriminate and unmerciful rapacity. Filled with indignation at such insults, injustice, and oppression, the people were everywhere ready to flee to arms; and the success of their countrymen at Trenton encouraged their resentment and patriotic feelings.

Although General Cadwallader had not been able to pass the Delaware at the appointed time, yet, believing that General Washington was still on the Jersey side, on the twenty-seventh he crossed the river with 1,500 men, about two miles above Bristol; and even after he was informed that General Washington had again passed into Pennsylvania, he proceeded to Burlington, and next day marched on Bordentown, the enemy hastily retiring as he advanced.

The spirit of resistance was again fully awakened in Pennsylvania, and considerable numbers of the militia repaired to the standard of the commander-in