a letter to all the governors who had been expelled from their provinces, enjoining them to use all possible means to spread it among the inhabitants.

He therein announced that the king had authorized two commissioners to grant general or particular pardons to all those who, during the troubles, had departed from the obedience due to the crown, but who now desired to return to their duty, and participate in the benefits of the royal clemency. He also declared that the commissioners were empowered to proclaim any province or city whatsoever to be in the king's peace, which immediately sheltered them from the effect of the penal laws against rebellion. Finally, he promised large recompense to such as, by their services, should contribute re-establish the royal authority. These writings, commonly brought by flags, circulated in the country; and general Washington sent by express to congress a proclamation which had been addressed to the city of Amboy. That assembly took the noble resolution of causing it to be printed in all the public papers, in order that the good people of the United States-such were the words of the resolution might be informed of the powers of the commissioners, and of the means by which Great Britain hoped to lull them into security and to disarm them; and also that the most obstinate might be convinced that they could no longer expect the preservation of their privileges, but from their arms alone.

In the meantime, a letter was brought from lord Howe, directed simply to George Washington, Esq. The general refused to receive it, alledging, that whoever had written it had not expressed his public station, and that as a private individual he could not, and would not, hold any communication, whether written or verbal, with the commanders of the king. His conduct in this instance was much applauded by the congress; and they decreed that in future none of their officers should receive letters or messages, on the part of the enemy, that were not addressed to them according to their respective rank.

The English commissioners were unwilling that a mere point of ceremonial should interrupt negotiations from which they expected some advantage. They could not, on the other hand, consent to acknowledge in the generalissimo of congress a rank which had been conferred, as they believed, by an unlawful authority.

They had recourse, therefore, to an expedient by which they hoped to obviate all difficulty; they changed the address of their letter for the superscription following; to George Washington, &c. &c. Adjutant-general Patterson was sent with this dispatch. Being introduced to Washington, he gave him in conversation the title of

Excellency. The general received him with great politeness, but at the same time with much dignity. The adjutant expressed great concern in the behalf of his principals, on account of the difficulties that had arisen about the superscription of the letter; assured him of their high regard for his personal character, and that they had no intention to undervalue his rank. It was hoped, therefore, that the et ceteras, being in use between ambassadors when they were not perfectly agreed upon points of etiquette, would remove all obstructions to their mutual intercourse.

Washington answered, that a letter written to a person invested with a public character should specify it, otherwise it could not be distinguished from a private letter; that it was true the et ceteras implied every thing; but it was no less true that they implied any thing; and that, as to himself, he would never consent to receive any letter, relating to public affairs, that should be directed to him, without a designation of his rank and office. Patterson requested that this question might be waved; and turned the conversation upon prisoners of war. He expatiated in magnificent terms upon the goodness and clemency of the king, who had chosen for negotiators lord and genera! Howe. He affirmed that their desire to terminate the differences which had arisen between the two people was as earnest as their powers were ample; and that he hoped the general would consider this visit as the first step towards it. Washington replied, that he was not authorized to negotiate; but that it did not appear that the powers of the commissioners consisted in any more than in granting pardons; that America, not having committed any offense, asked for no forgiveness, and was only defending her unquestionable rights. Patterson exclaimed that this subject would open too vast a field of discussion; and repeating his regrets that a strict observation of formalities should interrupt the course of so important an affair, he took leave of the general, and withdrew. This conference thus remained without result, and all thoughts were again concentrated in war. The congress were perfectly aware, on the one hand, of the shame they must incur by departing from the resolution so recently taken of asserting independence, and they feared on the other that the propositions of England might contain some secret poison. They caused an exact relation to be printed of the interview between the commander-in-chief and the English adjutantgeneral.

The British generale, seeing that the obstinacy of the Americans left them no longer any hope of an accommodation, directed their entire attention to the prosecution of the war, and resolved to strike the first blows without longer delay. Wishing, in the first place, to

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ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

secure a post which might serve in case of need as a place of retreat, and to furnish the means of subsistence for so powerful an army, they decided to attack Long Island, in which they depended for success upon the superiority of military talents which they believed themselves to have, and which they really had, over the Americans. Accordingly, having made all their dispositions, the twenty-second of August, the fleet approached the west coast of the island near the strait, called the Narrows, which separates it from Staten Island; all the troops found an easy and secure landing place between the villages of Gravesend and New Utrecht, where they debarked without meeting any resistance on the part of the Americans.

A great part of their army, under the command of general Putnam, encamped at Brookland or Brooklyn, on a part of the island itself which forms a sort of peninsula. He had strongly fortified the entrance of it with moats and intrenchments; his left wing rested upon the Wallabout bay, and his right was covered by a marsh contiguous to another bay, called Gowan's Cove. Behind him he had Governor's Island, and the arm of the sea which separates Long Island from the island of New York, and which gave him a direct communication with the city, where the other part of the army was stationed under Washington himself. The commander-in-chief, perceiving that battle was approaching, continually exhorted his men to keep their ranks, and summon all their courage; he reminded them that in their valor rested the only hope that remained to American liberty; that upon their resistance depended the preservation or the pillage of their property by barbarians; that they were about to combat in defense of their parents, their wives, their children, from the outrages of a licentious soldiery; that the eyes of America were fixed upon her champions, and expected from their success on this day either safety or total destruction.

The English, having effected their landing, marched rapidly forward. The two armies were separated by a chain of hills, covered with woods, called the heights of Guan, and which, running from west to east, divide the island into two parts. They are only practicable upon three points; one of which is near the Narrows, the road leading to that of the center passes by a village named Flatbush, and the third is approached, far to the right, by the route of another village called Flatland. Upon the summit of the hills is found a road which follows the length of the range, and leads from Bedford to Jamaica, which is intersected by the two roads last described; these ways are all interrupted by precipices, and by exces sively difficult and narrow defiles.