CHAP. Sylvania, the commissioners, recommended an expeXLVII. dition to take Detroit: the proposal, after a full dis1775. cussion, was rejected; but the invasion of Canada, by Sept. way of the Chaudière and of Isle aux Noix, was approved; and delegates from a convention of the several parishes of Canada would have been a welcome accession. Much time was spent in wrangling about small expenditures. The prohibition by parliament of the fisheries of New England and the restriction on the trade of the southern colonies, went into effect on the twentieth of July: as a measure of counteraction, the ports of America should have been thrown open; but though secret directions were given for importing powder and arms from "the foreign West Indies," the committee on trade was not appointed till the twenty second of September; and then they continued day after day, hesitating to act. The prospect of financial ruin led De Hart, of New Jersey, to propose to do away with issuing paper money by the provincial conventions and assemblies; but no one seconded him. The boundary line between Virginia and Pennsylvania was debated; as well as the right of Connecticut to hold possession of Wyoming. The roll of the army at Cambridge had, from its first formation, borne the names of men of color; but as yet without the distinct sanction of legislative approval. On the twenty sixth, Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, moved the discharge of all the negroes in the army, and he was strongly supported by many of the southern delegates; but the opposition was so powerful and so determined that "he lost his point." At length, came a letter from Washington, imply XLVII. 1775. Sept. ing his sense that the neglect of congress had brought CHAP. matters in his army to a crisis. Not powder and artillery only were wanting, but fuel, shelter, clothing, provisions, and the soldiers' pay; and, while a great part of the troops were not free from mutiny, by the terms of their enlistment all of them, except the riflemen, were to be disbanded in December. For this state of things, congress could provide no adequate remedy. On the thirtieth of September, they therefore appointed Franklin, Lynch, and Harrison, a committee to repair to the camp, and, with the New England colonies and Washington, to devise a method for renovating the army. While the committee were on the way, Gage, Oct. on the tenth of October, embarked for England, bearing with him the large requirements of Howe, his successor, which he warmly seconded. The king, the ministers, public opinion in England had made very free with his reputation; but, on his arrival, he was allowed to wear a bolder front than he had shown in Massachusetts, and was dismissed into retirement with the rank and emoluments of his profession. To Howe, the new commander-in-chief, the ministers had sent instructions, which permitted and advised the transfer of the war to New York; but, from the advanced state of the season, and the want of sufficient transports, he decided to winter at Boston, which place he did not doubt his ability to hold. On the fifteenth of October, the committee from congress arrived at the camp. Franklin, who was its soul, brought with him the conviction that the American people, though they might be made to suffer, could XLVII. Oct. CHAP. never be beaten into submission; that a separation from Britain was inevitable. His presence in the camp, 1775. within sight of his native town, was welcomed with affectionate veneration. "During the whole evening," wrote Greene, "I viewed that very great man with silent admiration." With Washington for the military chief, with Franklin for the leading adviser from congress, the conference with the New England commissioners, notwithstanding all difficulties, harmoniously devised a scheme for forming, governing, and supplying a new army of about twenty three thousand men, whom the general was authorized to enlist without delay. The proposed arrangements, in all their details, had the aspect of an agreement between the army, the continental congress, and the New England colonies; their successful execution depended on those four colonies alone. After the conference broke up, the committee remained two days, to advise with the general on every remaining question, and thus to establish a perfect understanding between him and the civil power. On this occasion Franklin confirmed that affection, confidence, and veneration, which Washington bore him to the last moment of his life. The committee were uncertain how to deal with Church, formerly an active member of the Boston committee, lately the director general of the hospital, a man of unsteady judgment, who had been discovered in a secret correspondence with the enemy in Boston: the extent of his indiscretion or complicity was uncertain; after an imprisonment for some months, he was allowed to pass to the West Indies; but the ship in which he sailed was never again heard of. XLVII. 1775. Oct. Franklin was still at the camp, when news from CHAP. Maine confirmed his interpretation of the purposes of the British. In the previous May, Mowat, a naval officer, had been held prisoner for a few hours, at Falmouth, now Portland; and we have seen Linzee, in a sloop-of-war, driven with loss from Gloucester; it was one of the last acts of Gage to plan with the admiral how to wreak vengeance on the inhabitants of both those ports. The design against Gloucester was never carried out; but Mowat, in a ship of sixteen guns, attended by three other vessels, went up the harbor of Portland, and after a short parley, at half-past nine, on the morning of the sixteenth of October, he began to fire upon the town. In five minutes, several houses were in a blaze; parties of marines landed to spread the conflagration by hand. All sea-going vessels were burned except two, which were carried away. The cannonade was kept up till after dark; St. Paul's church, the public buildings, and about one hundred and thirty dwelling houses, three-fourths of the whole, were burned down; those that remained standing were shattered by balls and shells. By the English account, the destruction was still greater. At the opening of a severe winter, the inhabitants were turned adrift in poverty and misery. The wrath of Washington was justly kindled, as he heard of these "savage cruelties," this new exertion of despotic barbarity." "Death and destruction mark the footsteps of the enemy," said Greene; "fight or be slaves is the American motto; and the first is by far the most eligible." Sullivan was sent to fortify Portsmouth; Trumbull, of Connecticut, took thought for the defence of New London. 10* 66 CHAP. Meantime, the congress at Philadelphia was still XLVII. halting in the sluggishness of irresolution; and, so 1775. long as there remained the dimmest hope of favor to Oct. its petition, the lukewarm patriots had the advan tage. No court as yet had power to sanction “the condemnation of vessels taken from the enemy." On the third of October, one of the delegates of Rhode Island laid before Congress their instructions to use their whole influence for building, equipping, and employing an American fleet. It was the origin of our navy. The proposal met great opposition; but John Adams engaged in it heartily, and pursued it unremittingly, though "for a long time against wind and tide.” On the fifth, Washington was authorized to employ two armed vessels to intercept British storeships, bound for Quebec; on the thirteenth, congress voted two armed vessels, of ten and of fourteen guns, and seventeen days later, two others of thirty six guns. But much time would pass before their equipment; as yet, war was not waged on the high sea, nor reprisals authorized, nor the ports opened to foreign nations. On the sixteenth of October, the day on which Mowat anchored below Falmouth, the new legislature of Pennsylvania was organized. Chosen under a dread of independence, all of its members who were present subscribed the usual engagements of allegiance to the king. In a few days the Quakers presented an address, in favor of "the most conciliatory measures, and deprecating every thing "likely to widen or perpetuate the breach with their parent state." To counteract this movement, the committee for the city and liberties of Philadelphia, sixty six in number, headed ,, |