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such just views, that his report to the French minis- CHAP. ter, though confusedly written, is in substance exact. He explained that "the Americans hesitated about a declaration of independence, and an appeal to France; that the British king had not as yet done them evil enough; that they still waited to have more of their towns destroyed and more of their houses burned, before they would completely abhor the emblems of British power; that a brig was despatched to Nantes for munitions of war, and an arrangement made for purchasing the same articles of France by way of St. Domingo; that skilful engineers were much wanted; that everybody in the colonies appeared to have turned soldier; that they had given up the English flag, and had taken for their devices, a rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, and a mailed arm holding thirteen arrows."

The communications of the French agent to the secret committee were not without influence on the proceedings of congress; in France his letters were to form the subject of the most momentous deliberation which had engaged the attention of a French king for two centuries.

Some foreign commerce was required for the continuance of the war: the Americans had no magazine to replenish their little store of powder, no arsenal to furnish arms; their best dependence was on prizes, made under the pine-tree flag by the brave Manly and others, who cruised in armed ships with commissions from Washington; even flints were obtained only from captured storeships, and it was necessary to fetch cannon from Ticonderoga. The men who enlisted for the coming year, were desired to bring

CHAP. their own arms; those whose time expired, were comLV. pelled to part with theirs at a valuation; for blankets 1775. the general appealed to the families of New England,

Dec.

asking one or more of every household; the villages, in their town meetings, encouraged the supply of wood to the camp by voting a bounty from the town treasuries.

The enlistments for the new army went on slowly, for the New England men, willing to drive the enemy from Boston, were disinclined to engagements which would take them far from home, on wages to be paid in a constantly depreciating currency; besides, the continental bills were remitted so tardily and in such inadequate amounts, that even those wages were not paid with regularity; and the negligence threatened "the destruction of the army." For want of funds to answer the accounts of the commissary and quartermaster, the troops were forced to submit to a reduced allowance. Washington himself felt keenly the habitual inattention of congress and its agents; and the sense of suffering wrongfully and needlessly, engendered discontent in his camp. He would have had the whole army like himself rise superior to every hardship; and when there were complaints of unfulfilled engagements, angry bickerings about unadjusted dues, or demands for the computation of pay by lunar months, he grieved that the New England men should mar the beauty of their self-sacrificing pa triotism by persistent eagerness for petty gains.

The Connecticut soldiers, whose enlistment expired early in December, were determined to leave the service. They were entreated to remain till the end of the year, and were ordered to remain at least

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for ten days, when they should be relieved; Leon- CHAP. ard, one of their chaplains, preached to them on the duty of courage and subordination; nevertheless 1775. many of "the Connecticut gentry" made the best of their way to their own firesides, some with their arms and ammunition. Washington would have had Trumbull make an example of the deserters. Trumbull answered: "The pulse of a New England man beats high for liberty; his engagement in the service he thinks purely voluntary; when the time of enlistment is out, he thinks himself not further holden: this is the genius and spirit of our people." But the inhabitants along their homeward road expressed abhorrence at their quitting the army, and would scarcely furnish them with provisions; and the rebuke they met with in their towns, drove many of them back to the camp. Others in Connecticut volunteered to take the places of those who withdrew; but Washington had, through the colonial governments, already called out three thousand men from the militia of Massachusetts, and two thousand from New Hampshire, who repaired to the camp with celerity, and cheerfully braved "the want of wood, barracks, and blankets." In this manner, with little aid from the general congress, Washington continued the siege of Boston, and enlisted a new army for the following year, as well as could be done without money in the treasury, or powder or arms in store. His ceaseless vigilance guarded against every danger; the fortifications were extended to Lechmere's Point, and every possible landing place for a sallying party from Boston was secured by intrenchments.

The press of New England avowed more and

Dec.

CHAP. more distinctly the general expectation that America LV. would soon form itself into a republic of united colo1775. nies. Such was become the prevailing desire of the army, although Lee still hoped to act a part in bring ing about a reconcilement through a change of the British ministry. This is the real purport of an elaborate letter addressed by him to Burgoyne, who was about to sail for England; for which he excused himself to an American friend by saying: "I am convinced that you have not virtue enough for independence, nor do I think it calculated for your happiness; besides, I have some remaining prejudices as an Englishman."

In December, Lee left the camp for ten days, to inspect the harbor of Newport, and plan works for its defence. His visit, which had no permanent effect, was chiefly remarkable for his arbitrary conduct in "administering a very strong oath to some of the leading tories." After his departure the British vessels of war plundered the islands in Narragansett bay as before.

Meantime Dunmore, driven from the land of Virginia, maintained the command of the water by means of a flotilla, composed of the Mercury of twenty four guns, the Kingfisher of sixteen, the Otter of fourteen, with other ships, and light vessels, and tenders, which he had engaged in the king's service. At Norfolk, a town of about six thousand inhabitants, a newspaper was published by John Holt. About noon on the last day of September, Dunmore, finding fault with its favoring "sedition and rebellion," sent on shore a small party, who, meeting no resistance, seized and brought off two printers and all the

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materials of a printing office, so that he could publish CHAP. from his ship a gazette on the side of the king. The outrage, as we shall see, produced retaliation.

In October, Dunmore repeatedly landed detachments to seize arms wherever he could find them. Thus far Virginia had not resisted the British by force; the war began in that colony with the defence of Hampton, a small village at the end of the isthmus between York and James rivers. An armed sloop had been driven on its shore in a very violent gale; its people took out of her six swivels and other stores, made some of her men prisoners, and then set her on fire. Dunmore blockaded the port; they called to their assistance a company of "shirt men," as the British called the Virginia regulars from the hunting shirt which was their uniform, and another company of minute men, besides a body of militia.

On the twenty sixth Dunmore sent some of the tenders close into Hampton Roads to destroy the town. The guard marched out to repel them, and the moment they came within gunshot, George Nicholas, who commanded the Virginians, fired his musket at one of the tenders. It was the first It was the first gun fired in Virginia against the British: his example was followed by his party. Retarded by boats which had been sunk across the channel, the British on that day vainly attempted to land. In the following night the Culpepper riflemen were despatched to the aid of Hampton, and William Woodford, colonel of the second regiment of Virginia, second in rank to Patrick Henry, was sent by the committee of safety from Williamsburg to take the direction. The next day

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