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Chapter 8 - Conclusion · History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution

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  Section twenty nine of History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American
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  Revolution, Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are
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  in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox
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  dot org. History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution,
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  Volume one by Mercy Otis Warren, Chapter eight conclusion. Without religion or
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  country, principle or attachment, gold was his deity, the liberty, the
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  idol of his fancy. He hoarded the former without taste for its enjoyment,
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  and worshiped the latter as the patroness of licentiousness, rather than the protectors of
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  virtue. He affected to despise the opinion of the world. It was fond
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  of applause, ambitious of fame without the dignity to support it. He emulated
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  the heroes of antiquity in the field, while in private life he sunk into
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  the vulgarity of the clown. Congress did wisely to avail themselves of his military
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  experience in the infancy of a Confederated army, and still more wisely in placing
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  him in a degree as of wordination. He was on the first list of
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  continental officers, and only the Generals Washington and Ward were named before him,
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  but though nominally the third and rank as a soldier, he was second to
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  no man. The abilities of General Ward were better adapted to the more quiet
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  disquisitions of the cabinet than on the hostile and dangerous scenes of the field or
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  the camp, both which he soon loved and retired to private life when nothing
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  remained to prevent the singular stranger from taking the command of the armies of the
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  United States. But the life of Washington generally. With his detachment from Cambridge,
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  reached New York and put it in a state of defense before Sir Henry
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  Clinton arrived there, though he had sailed from Boston several days previous to its
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  being known at Cambridge. While at New York, Lee drew up a list
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  of suspected persons and disarmed them. He carried his military authority so high that
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  the Congress of that state thought proper to check his career. They informed him
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  that the trial and punishment of their citizens belonged to themselves and not to any
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  military character. He apologized by observing that when the enemy were at the door,
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  forms must be dispensed with that his duty to them, to the continent,
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  and to his conscience, dictated the measure that if he had done wrong,
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  he would submit himself to the shame of being imputed rash, but that
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  he should still have the consolation in his own breast. Motives of serving the
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  community, uncontaminated by individual resentment, had urged him to those steps. The
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  movements of General Lee were so rapid that, to the surprise of Sir Henry
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  Clinton, he was in Virginia before him, but as the object of the
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  British armament was still farther south, leave with uncommon celerity traverse the Continent met
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  General Clinton in North Carolina, and was again ready for the defense of Sullivan's
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  Island near Charleston in South Carolina. Before the arrival of the British troops under
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  the command of General Clinton, Sir Peter Parker had appeared off Cape Fear in
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  the month of May one thousand, seven hundred and seventy six with a considerable
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  squadron of line of battleships and a number of transports containing several regiments of land
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  forces and a heavy train of artillery. A body of troops command by Lord
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  Cornwallas and General Vaughan were soon after landed on Long Island. The design was
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  to unite with General Clinton and reduced Charleston the rich capitals of South Carolina.
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  This state had thrown off their allegiance, assumed a government of their own,
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  and chosen John Rutlidge Esquire their chief magistrate under the style and title of President.
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  Notwithstanding the parade of immediate attack, near a month elapsed in total in
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  action before the assault on Sullivan's Island was begun by the British Naval commander.
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  In the meantime, the Americans were strongly posted there. The engagement took place
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  on the twenty ninth of June, and was conducted with great spirit and bravery
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  on both sides. The highest ecomians are justly due to the valor interrepidity of
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  the British officers and seamen. And notwithstanding the courage and ability of General Gadston,
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  the vigor activity and bravery of General Mouldry, and the experience of military
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  knowledge of General Lee, it is possible the action would have terminated more to
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  the honor of the British Navy had been properly supported by the land forces.
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  It remains yet to be investigated why no attempt was made by the troops of
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  Long Island to cause a diversion on the other side, which would doubtless have
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  altered the whole face of the action. But whether from a series of unexpected
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  resistance their imaginations had become habituated to view everything through the medium of danger,
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  or whether from a degree of caution that sometimes betrays the brave into the appearance
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  of timidity, or from any jealousies subsisting between the commanders, is uncertain.
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  However, this neglect occasion allowed complaints among the offices of the Navy. Nor
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  was it easy for Lord Cornwallers and General Clinton, the so high on the
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  rolls of military fame, to wipe off the aspersions thrown on their conduct,
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  even their apologies for their own inactivity, instead of exculpating themselves, or rather
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  testimony the skill ability and vigor of their antagonists, who in so short a
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  time were prepared to bid defiance to the combined force of Britain. Though commanded
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  by Sea m Land by officers of acknowledged merit in the line of their profession,
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  many brave officers of the Navy fought with valiant spirit. They would have
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  been truly glorious in a more honorable clause. One instance of this, among
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  many others of the unfortunate who fell on the occasion, was the valiant and
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  spirited Captain Warris of the Bristol. He lost an arm by a ball in
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  the beginning of the engagement, and while retired to dress his wounds, two
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  of his surgeons were killed by his side before they had finished the opera.
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  On this the captain, with his usual intrepidity, resumed his command when he
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  immediately received a shot through the body, and had time only to observe before
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  he expired, that he consigned his family to his God and his country.
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  After an obstinate engagement of ten or twelve hours, the saale is disheartened and
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  their office is wounded. The shattered fleet, with difficulty, retired to the
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  distance of three or four miles from the fort, and in a few days
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  put themselves in a condition to withdraw to the general rendezvous before New York.
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  Footnote. Lord William Campbell, Governor of South Carolina, who had taken refuge
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  on board one of the King's ships, was mortally wounded in the attack on
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  Fort Moultrie, and the footnote the triumph of the Americans in this success,
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  who had always justly dreaded the naval power of Britain, was in equal proportion
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  to the chagrin of their enemies. Thus repulsed in a quarter ware from the
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  locality of circumstances they least expected it. The multitude of manumitted slaves and the
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  aristocratic spirit of many of the principal planters had flattered them with the idea that
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  in the southern colonies they should meet but a feeble resistance. Lord Dunmore,
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  who had joined in the expedition, continued several weeks after the repulse to cruise
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  about the borders of Virginia and the Carolinias with his little fleet of fugitives and
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  slaves. But as the midsummer heats increased, a pestilential fever were aged on
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  board, which carried off many of the refugees and swept away most of the
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  miserable negroes he had decoyed from their masters forbidden admittance where ever he attempted to
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  land, and suffering for provisions, he burnt several of his vessels, the
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  remainder except one in which he sheltered himself and family, and two other ships
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  of war for his protection, he sent, laden with the wretched victims of
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  his folly and cruelty, to seek some kind of subsistence in the Floridas,
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  Bermudes and the West Indies. Lord Howe had been long expected with his modern
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  mercenaries from s Hannover and Brunswick. His brother, Sir William, after a
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  disagreeable residence of two or three months at Halifax, did not think proper to
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  wait longer there the arrival of his lordship. Miserably accommodated and painfully agitated by
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  the recollection of his disgraceful flight from Boston, anxious for intelligence from Europe,
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  and distressed by the delay of recruits and supplies, without which little could be
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  done to retrieve his suffering fame, he quitted that station, accompanied by Admiral
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  Schulton, and arrived at Sandy Hook the twenty ninth of June. On a
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  passage to New York, he accidentally fell in with a few scattering transports from
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  England, which who took under his protection, while many less fortunate were captured
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  by the American cruisers. General Howe was soon after his arrival at New York,
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  joined by the repulsed troops from the southward, and the broken squadron under
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  the command of Sir Peter Parker, by a regiment from Saint Augustine, another
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  from Pensacola, also by a huge troops from Saint Vincent's, some small additions
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  from other posts, and a considerable party of loyalists from New Jersey and from
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  the environments of Philadelphia and New York, which by great industry had been collected
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  and embodied by Governor Tryon. Notwithstanding this acquisition of strength, he found the
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  Continental Army so strongly posted on Long Island and New York, that he did
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  not immediately attempt anything of consequence. After the evacuation of Boston, General Washington
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  had sent on the army in detachments, and when he had made some necessary
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  arrangements for the future defense of the Eastern States, he hastened on himself to
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  New York. We had made all possible preparation for the reception of General Howe.
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  It has just been observed that the British commander had collected all his strength
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  and called in the forces from every quarter of America except Canada, where under
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  the direction of the General's Carlton and Brookorne, measures were ripening for a junction
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  at Albany with the expected conquerors of the more southern colonies. But in the
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  present circumstance of affairs, General Howe thought proper to land his troops at Staten
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  Island and wait more favorable appearances, which he had reason to expect on the
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  arrival of his brother, an event hourly and anxiously looked for. His lordship
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  was considered by men in America as the harbor d of peace, though advancing
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  in all the pride and pomp of war, accompanied by the ready executioners of
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  every hostile design. It was reported that the commander of formidable equipment, both
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  for sea and land service, came out in a double capacity, that,
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  though prepared for offensive operations, thought Howe had yet a commission from his Royal
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  Master to accommodate the disputes and to restore tranquility to the colonies on generous and
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  equitable terms. The authors of each party predicted the consequences of this ministerial maneuver
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  and interpreted the designs of his Lordship's commission according to their own hopes, fears,
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  or expectations. In the infancy of her emancipation, America was not such
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  an adept in the science of political intrigue, but that many yet platted themselves.
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  Then an accommodation might take place, and the halcyon days might be restored
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  by the interposition of the two brothers. Lord and General Howell joined in the
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  Commission of peace under the sanction of royal indulgence. But more judicious men sought
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  through and despised the bubble of policy, which held a pardon in one hand
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  and u pondered in the other with the detestable offer of assassination or slavery.
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  They considered the mode of pacification proposed as at once an insult to the feelings,
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  an affront to the understandings of a people too serious for trifling when all
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  was at stake, and too wise to be cajoled by superficial appearances. Yet
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  those best acquainted with the situation and character, the genius and connections of the
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  inhabitants of the Metal colonies were not surprised to find many among them or seemed
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  ready to embrace such humiliating conditions as the safety, the interest, the honor,
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  and justice of America were bound to reject. It was well known that
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  from the beginning of the great contest. The lamp of liberty had not burnt
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  so bright in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania as in some other
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  parts of America. Though there was a party in New York strongly attached to
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  the clause of the colonies, there had been early reason to suppose that some
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  men of high consideration in that state would not entirely prove against the influence of
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  ministerial gold. New Jersey was the retreat of the timid, the disaffected,
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  and the lovers of implorious ease from each corner of America. Yet they had
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  thought they might rest secure from the ravages of war, as the torch which
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  was lighted at both ends, might be extinguished before the penetrated to the center.
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  The Quakers and the proprietary interest long hung as a dead weight on the
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  spirited measure of the general friends of freedom and of their country, both in
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  Pennsylvania and Maryland. But the incidents of a few months connected every interest and
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  brought almost every dissension voice into union, and hastened on an event that everyone
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  considered as decisive of the fate of America. The necessity of a declaration of
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  independence was acknowledged by all, even Maryland, the last state in the Union
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  that came into the measure and whose delegates seceded on the question of independence,
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  was among the first who erected their own government and established their own modes of
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  legislation, independent of proprietors or kings. The dread of slavery and free nations
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  has at all times produced more virtues than the principles of their political institutions.
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  Footnote Travels of Anacharsis and the footnote. This stread hung heavily on the most
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  sober, judicious, the most wise and virtuous part of the inhabitants of America.
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  They were sensible that both public and private virtue sink with the loss of
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  liberty, and that the nobler emulations that are drawn out and adoin the soul
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  of man, when not vetted by civility, frequently high themselves in the shade,
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  or shrink into littleness at the frown of a despot. They felt too
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  much for themselves and fear too much of a posterity longer to balance between either
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  complete or partial submission or an unreserved and entire claim to absolute independence. These
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  ideas precipitated the important era when a connection was dissolved the continuance of which both
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  nature and affection seemed to require. Great Britain, the revered parent and America
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  the dutiful child had long been bound together by interest, by a seameness of
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  habits, manners, religion, laws, and government. The recollection of their
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  original consequinity had always been cherished with an amiable sensibility, or a kind of
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  mechanic enthusiasm that promoted mutual publicity when they met on each other's shores or in
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  distant lands saluted each other in the same language. A dereliction of old habits
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  of friendship and attachment was far from the wish of many who had yet strongly
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  opposed the ministerial system. But the period was now arrived when America felt her
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  wrongs without hope of redress, and supported her own rights by assuming her rank
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  as a distinct nation on the political theater. We shall see her relanguage at
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  once. All hopes of protection or fears of control from the sovereignty of Britain.
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  The reverential awe with which she had formerly viewed her potent parent was laid
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  aside, and every effort made to forget her farm detachment for a people that
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  from her earliest infancy she had looked up to as fathers, brothers and friends.
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  The sevilities of the British government towards the American colonies had not yet taught
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  them to express themselves in any other modes of language. But what indicated their
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  firm attachment to the mother country. Nor had they erased the habitual ideas,
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  even of tenderness, conveyed in their usual modes of expression. When they formed
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  a design to visit England, it had always been thus announced, I am
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  going home, home, the seat of happiness. The retreat to all the
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  felicities of the human mind is too intimately associated with the best feelings of the
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  heart to announce without pain, whether applied to the natural or the political parent
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  and of Section twenty nine