were disheartened by the failure of their efforts to repossess themselves of Gibraltar; and the Dutch were impatient under the suspension of their commerce.

Such being the feelings of the belligerents, the negotiations for a treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, were opened at Paris, by Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Oswald, on the part of the former power, and by John Adams, Doctor Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, on behalf of the latter.

After a tedious and intricate negotiation, in which the firmness, judgment and penetration of the American commissioners were fully exercised, preliminary articles of peace were signed on the 30th of November, 1782; and news of the conclusion of a general peace reached the United States early next April.

By this provisional treaty the independence of the thirteen United States was unreservedly acknowledged by his Britannic majesty, who moreover conceded to them an unlimited right of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland and the river St. Lawrence, and all other places where they had been accustomed to fish. All that the British plenipotentiaries could obtain for the American loyalists was, a provision that congress should earnestly recommend to the legislatures of their respective states the most lenient consideration of their case, and a restitution of their confiscated property.

The independence of the United States was acknowledged, and peace with Great Britain had been concluded; but the dangers of America were not at an end. She had succeeded in repelling foreign aggression; but was threatened with ruin by internal dissension.

In the interval between the cessation of hostilities and the disbanding of the troops, congress found itself in a trying and perilous situation. The army was in a state of high dissatisfaction and irritation. In October, 1780, a season of danger and alarm, congress promised half pay to the officers on the conclusion of peace. The resolution to this effect not having been ratified by the requisite number of states, was in danger of remaining a dead letter. In the month of December, 1782, soon after going into winter quarters, the officers had presented a memorial and petition to congress, and deputed a committee of their number, to call its attention to the subject. Their request was, that all arrears due to them might be paid, and that instead of granting them half pay for life, congress

258

DISCONTENT OF THE ARMY.

would allow them five be disbanded.

years

of full pay when the army should

The unwarrantable delay of congress in granting this very reasonable request of those who had shed their blood and spent their fortunes and the best portion of their lives in defending the country, excited a serious commotion in that part of the army which was stationed at Newburg. In March, 1783, an ably written address, appealing strongly to their indignant feelings, and recommending an appeal to the fears of congress, was privately distributed among the officers; and at the same time a meeting of the officers was proposed, for the purpose of considering the means of obtaining redress. The sensation caused by the injustice of congress, was increased to an alarming degree, by this eloquent address, and it is difficult to say what might have been the result of the proposed meeting, had not the commander-in-chief fortunately been on the spot.

Washington clearly saw the danger, and prohibited the meeting; but deeming it safer to direct and weaken the current, than immediately to oppose it, he appointed a similar meeting on a subsequent day. General Gates, as the senior officer of rank, presided. General Washington, who had been diligent in preparing the minds of the officers for the occasion, addressed the assembly, strongly combated the address, and, by his sound reasoning and high influential character, succeeded in dissipating the storm.

These proceedings of the officers induced congress to pay some regard to its promises, and to grant their request for a commutation of half pay for a sum equal to five years full pay. The disbanding of the army, which was still in a state of irritation, from having large arrears of pay, and many of them not money enough to supply their most pressing wants, was a dangerous experiment. Other armies disbanded under such circumstances had often formed themselves into companies of free-booters, and ravaged the country they had previously defended. But congress understood the true character of their patriot army, and boldly ran the risk of dismissing it unpaid. No convulsion followed. The soldiers quietly returned to their homes, and resumed the arts of peace, content with the humblest lot in the land, which they had just freed from foreign enemies, and placed among the most highly favoured nations of the earth. Previous to this event, however, on the 19th of April, 1783, the day which completed the

RETIREMENT OF WASHINGTON.

259

eighth year of the war, the cessation of hostilities with Great Britain was, by order of General Washington, proclaimed in the American camp.

The American forces still remained at their posts, awaiting the entire removal of the enemy's troops from the country. On the 25th of November, the British troops evacuated New York, and an American detachment, under General Knox, took possession of the town. General Washington and Governor Clinton, accompanied by a number of civil and military officers and respectable citizens, soon afterwards entered the city; and the Americans, after a struggle which had lasted eight years, thus gained full and undisputed possession of the entire territory of the United States.

General Washington's military career was now about to close; and on the 4th of December, 1783, he met the principal officers of the army at Francis' tavern, in New York. The officers assembled at noon, and their revered and beloved commander soon entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed; filling a glass, and addressing the officers, he said, 'With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you, and devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been honourable.' Having drank, he added, 'I cannot come to take each of you by the hand, but shall be obliged to you if each of you will come and take me by the hand.' In the midst of profound silence, and with the liveliest sensibility and tenderness, each of the officers took him by the hand; and at the close of the affecting ceremony, they all accompanied him to Whitehall, where a barge was in readiness to carry him across the river. Having embarked, General Washington turned round to his late companions in arms, took off his hat, respectfully bowed to them, and bade them a silent farewell. They returned the compliment, and went back in mute procession to the place where they had assembled.

Congress was then sitting at Annapolis, in Maryland, and thither General Washington proceeded, for the purpose of resigning that power which he had so successfully exercised. He remained a few days in Philadelphia, in order to settle his accounts with the treasury; and on the 19th of December, arrived at Annapolis.

At noon on the 23rd, in presence of a numerous company of spectators, he resigned his commission into the hands of

260

CHARACTER OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

congress, and afterwards retired to his mansion at Mount Vernon.

'In the course of the revolution,' says a foreign writer, ‘a number of men of no mean abilities arose, both in the military and civil departments; but General Washington appears with pre-eminent lustre among them all; not by the brilliancy of his genius, but by the soundness of his understanding, and the moral dignity of his character. His courage was unquestionable, but it was governed by discretion. He was not remarkable for quickness of perception or apprehension; but, when he had time to deliberate, he was judicious in his decision. His glory, however, lies in the moral excellence of his character, his spotless integrity, disinterested patriotism, general humanity, invincible fortitude, and inflexible perseverance. In trying times, he occupied the most difficult situation in which a man can be placed. At the head of a turbulent soldiery, unaccustomed to military subordination, he was exposed on the one side to the clamours and calumnies of an ignorant and fluctuating populace, who were forward to condemn the wisdom which they had not the capacity to comprehend, and to reprobate plans which did not suit their little interests and feeble judgments. On the other side he was fettered by the presumption of rulers, who were forward to decide on what they did not understand, to enjoin measures the consequences of which they did not foresee, and to dictate on subjects of which they had but a very imperfect knowledge. He was unmoved by the clamours of the former; and he bore, with invincible patience, the aberrations of the latter; he remonstrated and reasoned with them, and often succeeded in setting them right. With a steady hand he steered the vessel amidst the terrors of the storm, and through fearful breakers brought it safe into port. America owes him much, and seems not insensible of the obligation. She has done honour to him and to herself, by calling her capital by his name; but it would be still far more honourable and advantageous to her, were all her people to imitate his virtues, and the character of every American to reflect the moral image of General Washington.'

The American revolutionary war, says a British historian, might have been prevented by the timely concession of freedom from internal taxation, as imposed by the British parliament, and by an abstinence, on the part of the crown, from a violation of this important particular of chartered rights. The

ERRORS OF THE LOYALISTS.

261

confidential letters of Doctor Franklin evince that it was with extreme reluctance the American patriots adopted the measure of severing the colonies from the mother country. But when they had taken this decisive step, by the declaration of independence, they firmly resolved to abide by the consequences of their own act; and with the single exception of Georgia, never, even in the most distressful contingencies of the war, did any public body of the provinces show any disposition to renew their allegiance to the king of Great Britain. Still, it has been doubted, considering the conduct of the inhabitants of the Jerseys, when Washington was retreating before General Howe, whether, had the British commanders restrained their troops, with the strictness of discipline, and exercised toward the American people the conciliatory spirit evinced in Canada by Sir Guy Carleton, the fervour of resistance might not have been considerably abated.

But for their own discomfiture and our good, the British generally conducted the war with cruelty and rancour. Our patriotic citizens were treated by their soldiery not as enemies entitled to the courtesies of war, but as rebels whose lives and property lay at the mercy of the victors. Hence devastation marked the track of the invading forces, while the inhabitants found their truest safety in resistance, and their best shelter in the republican camp. Nor will he who reads the minute details of the eventful contest be surprised, that the British ministry persevered in the war when success might have appeared to be hopeless. It is now well known, as we have already had occasion to remark, that George III. revolted from the idea of concession to his disobedient subjects, and was determined to put all to the hazard, rather than acknowledge their independence. Lord North, at an early period of the war, had misgivings as to its ultimate success, but he had not firmness enough to give his sovereign unwelcome advice; whilst Lord George Germain and the other ministers fully sympathised with the royal feelings, and entered heartily into the views of their master.

They were apprised, from time to time, of the destitute condition of the American army, but living as they were, with the selfishness and venality of courts and political parties, they could not conceive the idea of men sacrificing health, property, and life, for their country's good. When Washington suffered reverses in the field, such men imagined that the affairs of the congress were desperate, and flattered them