Fretion with Bargoyne. Should Washington, lowever, on such a presumption, hasten with his type to Peekskill, leaving General Howe on Staten Island, what would prevent the latter from pasting to Philadelphia by South Amboy or any ucher route?

Saen were the perplexities and difficulties presenting themselves under every aspect of the case, and discussed by Washington in his correspondence with his accustomed clearness. In this dilemma he sent generals Parsons and Varnum with a couple of brigades in all haste to Peekskill, and wrote to generals George Clinton and Putnam; the former to call out the New York militia from Orange and Ulster counties; the latter to summon the militia from Connecticut; and as soon as such reinforcements should be at hand, to dispatch four of the strongest Massachusetts regiments to the aid of Ticonderoga; at the same time the expediency was suggested to General Schuyler, of having all the cattle and vehicles removed from such parts of the country which he might think the enemy intended to penetrate.

General Sullivan, moreover, was ordered to advance with his division towards the Highlands as far as Pompton, while Washington moved his own camp back to Morristown, to be ready either to push on to the Highlands, or fall back upon his recent position at Middlebrook, according to the movements of the enemy. "If I can keep General Howe below the Highlands,” said he, “I think their schemes will be entirely baffled.”

Deserters from Staten Island and New York

GRAYDON'S RUEFUL DESCRIPTION.

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soon brought word to the camp that transports were being fitted up with berths for horses, and taking in three weeks' supply of water and provender. All this indicated some other destination than that of the Hudson. Lest an attempt on the Eastern States should be intended, Washing. tou sent a circular to their governors to put them on their guard.

In the midst of his various cares, his yeoman soldiery, the Jersey militia, were not forgotten. It was their harvest time; and the State being evacuated, there was no immediate call for their services; he dismissed, therefore, almost the whole of them to their homes.

Captain Graydon, whose memoirs we have heretofore had occasion to quote, paid a visit to the camp at this juncture, in company with Colonel Miles and Major West, all American prisoners on Long Island, but who had been liberated on parole. Graydon remarks that, to their great surprise, they saw no military parade upon their journey, nor any indication of martial vigor on the part of the country. Here and there a militia man with his contrasted colored cape and facings; doubtless some one who had received his furlough, and was bound home to his farm. Captains, majors, and colonels abounded in the land, but were not to be found at the head of their men.

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When he arrived at the camp, he could see nothing which deserved the name of army. was told, indeed," remarks he, "that it was much weakened by detachments, and I was glad to find there was some cause for the present paucity of

soldiers. I could not doubt, however, that things were going on well. The commander-in-chief and all about him were in excellent spirits." The three officers waited on Washington at his mar quee in the evening. In the course of conversa tion, he asked them what they conceived to be the objects of General Howe. Colonel Miles replied, a coöperation with the Northern army by means of the Hudson. Washington acknowledged that indications and probabilities tended to that evnclusion; nevertheless, he had little doubt the oject of Howe was Philadelphia.

Graydon and his companions dined the next day at head quarters; there was a large party, in wch were several ladies. Colonel Alexander Hamilton, who, in the preceding month of April, had een received into Washington's family as able-de-camp, presided at the head of the table, and acquitted himself," writes Graydon, “with $1 es, propriety, and vivacity which gave me the mat favorable impression of his talents and

sers ments.”

We may bere observe that the energy, skill, and fetaligence displayed by Hamilton throughout the last year's campaign, whenever his limited ecarmori gave him opportunity of evincing them, løt wou 25 extrance to head-quarters; where his quid Sscrement and precocious judgment were ser 5 verreited. Strangers were surprised Pst In scarce twenty years of age, revel não De äct counidence, and admitted Je pares esses of a man like Wash

We is uncommon talents thus com.

GENENAL WAYNE.

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manded respect, rarely inspired by one of his years, his juvenile appearance and buoyant spirit made him a universal favorite. Harrison, the "old secretary," much his senior, looked upon him with an almost paternal eye, and regarding his diminutive size and towering spirit, used to call him "the little lion;" while Washington would now and then speak of him by the cherishing appellation of "my boy." 1

The following is Graydon's amusing account of Wayne, whom he visited at his quarters. "He entertained the most sovereign contempt for the enemy. In his confident way, he affirmed that the two armies had interchanged their original modes of warfare. That for our parts, we had thrown away the shovel, and the British had taken it up; as they dared not face us without the cover of an intrenchment. I made some allowance for the fervid manner of the general, who, though unquestionably as brave a man as any in the army, was nevertheless somewhat addicted to the vaunting style of Marshal Villers, a man who, like himself, could fight as well as brag."

1 Communicated to the author by the late Mrs. Hamilton.

NOTE.A veteran officer of the Revolution used to speak his old days of the occasion on which he first saw Hamilton. It was during the memorable retreat through the Jerseys. "I noticed," said he, "a youth, a mere stripling, small, slender, almost delicate in frame, marching beside a piece of artillery, with a cocked hat pulled down over his eyes, apparently lost in thought, with his hand resting on the cannon, and every now and then patting it as he mused, as if it were a favorite horse, or a pet plaything."

Graydon speaks of the motley, shabby clothing of the troops. Even in General Wayne himself, there was in this particular a considerable falling off. His quondam regimentals as colonel of the 4th battalion were, I think, blue and white, in which he had been accustomed to appear with exemplary neatness; whereas he was now dressed in character for Macheath or Captain Gibbet, in a dingy red coat, with a black rusty cravat and tarnished hat." Wayne was doubtless still rusty from his campaign in the north.

Graydon, during his recent captivity, had been accustomed to the sight of British troops in the completeness of martial array, and looked with a rueful eye on patriotism in rags. From all that be saw at the camp, he suspected affairs were not in a prosperous train, notwithstanding the cheerful countenances at head-quarters. There appeared to be a want of animated coöperstra both on the part of the government and the people. General Washington, with the Ele remnant of his army at Morristown, seemed left to scuttle for liberty, like another Cato at Utica"!

We will now turn to the North, and lift the curtain for a moment, to give the reader a glance at affairs in that quarter, about which there was such dubious rumors.

1 Graydon's Memoirs, 282.