conduct of the commander in chief of the British armies in America, from the moment it was known that Washington had turned his steps to Virginia, is wholly inexplicable. He seems never to have dreamed of the possibility, that the French could acquire such an accendancy as to impede the operations of the British fleet, and still less to have entertained an idea, that while he was idly debating upon the safest means of transporting aid to Cornwallis, Washington would press forward to his object with unremitting vigour. He promised Cornwallis that the auxiliary force should leave New-York on the 5th of October, but for reasons which have never been explained, and which indeed it would be impossible for him satisfactorily to explain, the convoy did not sail until the 19th, the very day which decided the fate of his army. He had previously taken from Cornwallis all discretionary power, by assurances that all possible means would be exerted to relieve him, thus making it his duty to remain, until nothing but an act of desperation could have given him a chance of escape.

The army under the Marquis de St. Cimon, reembarked soon after the surrender, and the Count de Grasse, though strongly urged by Washington to extend his cooperation to the army of Greene in the South, was compelled by circumstances uncontrollable, to return to his station in the West Indies. The Count Rochambeau cantoned his army for the winter in Virginia; the Pennsylvania and Maryland brigades were detached to the South, under Major General St. Clair; and the remainder of the American army under Major General Lincoln, returned by way of the Chesapeake to their former position on the Hudson.

The year 1781 which, at its commencement, presented the most gloomy prospects to the United States, closed with bright and glorious hopes. In Georgia and South Carolina, the American government was completely reestablished; and Cornwallis, who had extended the dominion of his master, with waste and havoc, over the whole southern continent, was at length arrested in his career, and now a prisoner in our hands. The ameliorating change in our civil departments, kept pace with that in our military affairs. Robert Morris, Esq. being placed at the head of our financial department, soon introduced a new system, which promised the most beneficial result; and by his exertions a national bank was established, to which Congress granted an act of incorporation, under the title of the Bank of North America. A change was also made in the war department, and Major General Lincoln placed at its head. On the last day of the year, Mr. Laurens, who had been captured on his way to Holland, in the autumn of 1780, and committed, a close prisoner, to the tower of London, was liberated after many fruitless efforts to prevail on him by alternate threats and entreaties to abandon the cause of his country.

The Marquis de la Fayette, soon after the surrender of Cornwallis, in which he had borne so conspicuous a share, obtained permission of Congress to return to his native country. His zealous attachment to the cause of our independence, and his eminent services in the field, received from Congress their merited tribute of applause; and this gallant foreigner retired from our shores, bearing with him the esteem and gratitude of our citizens, and the affectionate respect and love of the army.

On his return from Virginia Washington was required by Congress to remain some days in Philadelphia, for the purpose of conferring with their committee, on the subject of the requisitions necessary to be made on the several states, for the establishment of the army, and the further measures to be adopted, for the vigorous prosecution of the advantages gained by the recent conquest.

CHAPTER XX.

Events of 1782.-Situation of General Greene's army.-Mr. Laurens liberated from the tower.-Marquis de la Fayette returns to France-Mutiny in the Southern army.-Skirmishes between General Wayne and the enemy.-Wayne defeats a party of Indians.-The enemy evacuate Savannah.-Skirmish on the Cambahee.-Lieutenant Colonel Laurens is killed.-His character.Correspondence between General Leslie and Governour Matthews.-Charleston is evacuated.-Count de Grasse defeated in the West Indies.-Siege of Gibraltar.-Mr. Adams forms a treaty with Holland and obtains a loan-Propositions in the British parliament for peace.-Lord North resigns and is succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham.-Death of this nobleman.—Lord Shelburne placed at the head of the Administration.—Sir Guy Carleton appointed to the command of the British forces in America.-Case of Captain Huddy.-Sir Guy Carleton attempts a correspondence with Congress.-A passport is refused to his Secretary--Commissioners appointed to negotiate a general peace-Negotiation at Paris.-Provisional articles signed between England and America.

THE military operations of the year 1782 present little more than a few skirmishes, and predatory excursions, and these were principally confined to the states of South Carolina and Georgia, in which the enemy still maintained a few trifling posts. We have seen that General Greene, after reposing his army for a few weeks on the Santee, had moved down into the lower country, and that the same enemy who had so long spread terrour and dismay wherever they appeared, were now in their turn compelled to fly before the avenging sword of this brave and indefatigable officer, and to secure themselves an asylum, by narrowing the limits of their adventurous excursions.60

VOL. II.

The two brigades under Major General St. Clair, had now joined the little army of Greene, and about the middle of January, they moved to the east side of the Edisto, about fifty miles from Charleston, and near to Jacksonborough. Here the army lay for a considerable time, within a few miles of the ememy without ammunition, many of them without arms, and a still greater number without clothing or subsistence. The letters of General Greene, at this period, to the Secretary of war, present a striking contrast to the recent successes of the grand army in Virginia; and to add to the many embarrassments which had kept him for seven months in the field without taking off his clothes for a single night, a mutiny broke out in the Pennsylvania brigade. A scheme had been formed for betraying the army, which was greatly inferiour to that of the enemy, into their hands, but it was fortunately nipped in the bud by the discovery and prompt execution of the ringleader, who was a sergeant in the Pennsylvania line.

These continued distresses in the Southern army of the United States, notwithstanding the reestablishment of the state governments, opened to the enemy a prospect of retrieving their losses, which if seized at an earlier period, must have led to the annihilation of our power in the South. But happily they delayed to act, until the favourable moment had passed; trusting to the success of the mutineers, with whom they had held a constant correspondence, all their operations were confined to a scheme of cooperation, which the unwearied vigilance and penetration of Greene defeated.

One of the first measures adopted by the new legislature of South Carolina, was the passage of a law