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and licensed robbers. . . .

People begin heartily to wish

a declaration of independence." *

General Sullivan was sent to Portsmouth, where there was a fortification of some strength, to give the inhabitants his advice and assistance in warding off the menaced blow. Newport, also, was put on the alert, and recommended to fortify herself. "I expect every hour," writes Washington, "to hear that Newport has shared the same fate of unhappy Falmouth."

Under the feeling roused by these reports, the General Court of Massachusetts, exercising a sovereign power, passed an act for encouraging the fitting out of armed vessels to defend the seacoast of America, and for erecting a court to try and condemn all vessels that should be found infesting the same. This act, granting letters of marque and reprisal, anticipated any measure of the kind on the part of the general government, and was pronounced by John Adams, "one of the most important documents in history."

The British ministry have, in later days, been exculpated from the charge of issuing such a desolating order as that said to have been reported by Lieutenant Mowat. The orders under which that officer acted, we are told, emanated from General Gage and Admiral Graves. The former intended merely the annoyance and destruction of rebel shipping, whether on the coast or in the harbors to the eastward of Boston; the burning of the town is surmised to have been an additional thought of Admiral Graves. Naval officers have a passion for bombardments.

*Letter to the President of Congress.

† Am. Archives, iii. 1145. See Life of Gerry, 109.

Whatever part General Gage may have had in this most ill-advised and discreditable measure, it was the last of his military government, and he did not remain long enough in the country to see it carried into effect. He sailed for England on the 10th of October. The tidings of the battle of Bunker's Hill had withered his laurels as a commander. Still he was not absolutely superseded, but called home, "in order," as it was considerately said, "to give his Majesty exact information of everything, and suggest such matters as his knowledge and experience of the service might enable him to furnish." During his absence, Major-general Howe would act as commander-in-chief of the colonies on the Atlantic Ocean, and Major-general Carleton of the British forces in Canada, and on the frontiers. Gage fully expected to return and resume the command. In a letter written to the minister, Lord Dartmouth, the day before sailing, he urged the arrival, early in the spring, of re-enforcements which had been ordered, anticipating great hazard at the opening of the campaign. In the meantime he trusted that two thousand troops, shortly expected from Ireland, would enable him "to distress the rebels by incursions along the coast"; and "he hoped Portsmouth in New Hampshire would feel the weight of his Majesty's arms." "Poor Gage," writes Horace Walpole, "is to be the scapegoat for what was a reason against employing him—incapacity." never returned to America.

He

On the 15th of October a committee from Congress arrived in camp, sent to hold a conference with Washington, and with delegates from the governments of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, on the subject of a new organization of the army. The committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Lynch of Carolina,

and Colonel Harrison of Virginia. It was just twenty years since Washington had met Franklin in Braddock's camp, aiding that unwary general by his sagacious counsels and prompt expedients. Franklin was regarded with especial deference in the camp at Cambridge. Greene, who had never met with him before, listened to him as to an oracle.

Washington was president of the board of conference, and Mr. Joseph Reed secretary. The committee brought an intimation from Congress that an attack upon Boston was much desired, if practicable.

Washington called a council of war of his generals on the subject; they were unanimously of the opinion that an attack would not be prudent at present.

Another question now arose. An attack upon the British forces in Boston, whenever it should take place, might require a bombardment; Washington inquired of the delegates how far it might be pushed to the destruction of houses and property. They considered it a question of too much importance to be decided by them, and said it must be referred to Congress. But though they declined taking upon themselves the responsibility, the majority of them were strongly in favor of it; and expressed themselves so when the matter was discussed informally in camp. Two of the committee, Lynch and Harrison, as well as Judge Wales, delegate from Connecticut, when the possible effects of a bombardment were suggested at a dinner table, declared that they would be willing to see Boston in flames. Lee, who was present, observed that it was impossible to burn it unless they sent in men with bundles of straw to do it. "It could not be done with carcasses and red-hot shot. Isle Royal," he added, "in the river St. Lawrence, had been fired at for a long time in

1760, with a fine train of artillery, hot-shot, and carcasses, without effect.”*

The board of conference was repeatedly in session for three or four days. The report of its deliberations rendered by the committee, produced a resolution of Congress that a new army of twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventytwo men and officers should be formed, to be recruited as much as possible from the troops actually in service. Unfortunately, the term for which they were to be enlisted was to be but for one year. It formed a precedent which became a recurring cause of embarrassment throughout the

war.

Washington's secretary, Mr. Reed, had, after the close of the conference, signified to him his intention to return to Philadelphia, where his private concerns required his presence. His departure was deeply regretted. His fluent pen had been of great assistance to Washington in the dispatch of his multifarious correspondence, and his judicious counsels and cordial sympathies had been still more appreciated by the commander-in-chief, amid the multiplied difficulties of his situation. On the departure of Mr. Reed, his place as secretary was temporarily supplied by Mr. Robert Harrison of Maryland, and subsequently by Colonel Mifflin; neither, however, attained to the affectionate confidence reposed in their predecessor.

We shall have occasion to quote the correspondence kept up between Washington and Reed, during the absence of the latter. The letters of the former are peculiarly interesting, as giving views of what was passing, not merely around

* Life of Dr. Belknap, p. 96. The doctor was present at the above-cited conversation.

him, but in the recesses of his own heart. No greater proof need be given of the rectitude of that heart than the clearness and fullness with which, in these truthful documents, every thought and feeling is laid open.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Measures of General Howe-Desecration of Churches-Three Proc lamations-Seizure of Tories-Want of Artillery-Henry Knox, the Artillerist-His Mission to Ticonderoga-Re-enlistment of Troops-Lack of Public Spirit-Comments of General Greene

THE measures which General Howe had adopted, after taking command in Boston, rejoiced the royalists, seeming to justify their anticipations. He proceeded to strengthen the works on Bunker's Hill and Boston Neck, and to clear away houses and throw up redoubts on eminences within the town. The patriot inhabitants were shocked by the desecration of the Old South Church, which for more than a hundred years had been a favorite place of worship, where some of the most eminent divines had officiated. The pulpit and pews were now removed, the floor was covered with earth, and the sacred edifice was converted into a riding-school for Burgoyne's light dragoons. To excuse its desecration, it was spoken of scoffingly as a "meeting-house, where sedition had often been preached."

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The North Church, another "meeting-house, was entirely demolished, and used for fuel. "Thus," says a chronicler of the day, "thus are our houses devoted to religious worship profaned and destroyed by the subjects of his royal Majesty."

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*Thacher's Military Journal, p. 50.

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