Admiral Shuldam had left in the waters of Boston, a squadron, under the command of commodore Bankes, to protect the navigation of the vessels of the king, which, in ignorance of the evacuation of the city, might continue their voyage towards it. This precaution had not all the effect that was desired; the bay being extensive, the cruisers lay in concealment behind the numerous little islands with which it is interspersed, and sprung suddenly upon the ships that presented themselves without mistrust. Among others, captain Manly took a prize laden with an immense cargo of provisions.

Washington, ignorant what were the plans of general Howe, and what direction the British fleet had taken, was not without disquietude for the city of New York. He wrote, in consequence, to brigadiergeneral lord Sterling, who commanded there, advising him to stand prepared, and that he had sent him a reenforcement of five battalions and several companies of riflemen. But the royal troops were very far from being in a condition to undertake any thing against that city; they esteemed themselves very fortunate in arriving sound and safe at Halifax. Before proceeding to further operations, general Howe chose to refresh his troops, and wait for the reenforcements that were expected from England.

The affairs of Congress assumed an aspect no less prosperous in North Carolina than in Massachusetts; in which, however, very serious commotions had begun to manifest themselves.

Governor Martin, although he had taken refuge on board the vessels of the king, did not, however, remain idle; and he busied himself incessantly in devising new machinations to retrieve the royal cause in his province. He flattered himself with the greater hopes of success, as he knew that admiral Peter Parker, and lord Cornwallis were departed from the ports of England for an expedition against the Carolinas. He was also informed that general Clinton, with some companies, was on his way to join him at Cape Fear, situated upon the river of the same name, and not far from Wilmington. At the head of these united forces, increased by the Scotch highlanders and the regulators, both formidable to the disaffected from their experience in the use of arms, and their ardent zeal for England, he had no doubt, whatever, but that he could create a revolt in the province, and reduce it anew under the authority of the king. After having concerted with all his partisans, he erected the royal standard, suminoning all the inhabitants to rally round it in defence of country and lawful authority against rebels. To render more efficacious the succours of the highlanders and of the regulators, as well as of all the other loyalists, he named colonel Macdonald, an officer warmly devoted to the royal cause, captain-general of all the levies, that he might organise them into regular corps.

This plan succeeded according to his hopes. The concourse at Cross Creek swelled every day; the patriots were threatened with

an attack in this part unless a prompt remedy was applied. The provincial assembly opened their eyes upon the danger, and despatched, with all speed, against this head of loyalists, all the militia that were in preparation; and, at the same time, directed that others should be assembled from all parts of the province.

The two parties that divided Carolina thus found themselves, marshalled the one against the other, animated with an equal fury.

The patriots were commanded by general Moore; he went to take post, with a few pieces of cannon, in front of the loyalists, at a place called Rock-Fish Bridge, where, having broken the bridge, he intrenched himself. Macdonald summoned him to come and put himself under the royal standard, or to expect to be treated as an enemy. Moore answered him that he had himself to take an oath of fidelity to Congress, and to lay down arms, and that, in so doing, he should be received as a friend. During these negotiations, which Moore had the address to draw into length, his forces so increased that he soon acquired a decided superiority over his adversary. Macdonald, at length, perceived the danger of his situation; and though he was already surrounded on every side by the provincials, he disengaged himself with equal ability and courage. Marching rapidly, and without interruption, interposing continually between himself and his pursuers, rivers, forests, and difficult defiles, he measured a space of eighty miles, in defiance of the vigilance of the enemy, eager to cut off his retreat, and arrived at Moore's Creek, sixteen miles from Wilmington.

There he hoped to be joined by governor Martin and general Clinton, who were already arrived at Cape Fear. But the provincials, who had never ceased to follow him, not only prevented this junction, but reduced him to the necessity of giving battle. He displayed in it an extreme bravery; but captain Macleod, and many other of his officers having been killed, his troops were seized with a panic and fled, leaving their general in the midst of his enemies. Macdonald was made prisoner, with many other loyalists. Their enemies derived an immense advantage from this victory; for if Macdonald had been victor, or if he could only have effected his junction with governor Martin and general Clinton, they might then have waited at Cape Fear for the reenforcements that were coming from Ireland; and the affairs of the Congress would have been very near desperate in the southern provinces. The Carolinians learned, besides, to know their own strength, and refuted the opinion which had generally prevailed of the weakness of North Carolina. They had combated, with success, the regulators and the Scotch, who had appeared to them at first so formidable; and in the space of ten days they had assembled ten thousand men, full of courage and resolution.

The precipitation of the loyalists was the cause of their ruin; if they had temporised until the arrival of succours from Europe, and

then only raised the standard of the king, they might, without doubt, have struck a decisive blow, and thus have caused the balance to incline in their favor in the southern provinces.

We have left lord Dunmore cruising with his vessels upon the coast of Virginia; he continued still for a long time upon this station. But all the places of landing being diligently guarded by the militia, far from being able to make any impression, he could not even procure the sustenance necessary for the multitude accumulated on board his squadron. Consequently the excessive heats, the corruption of the water and of the provisions, and the crowd of men in the ships, generated offensive and deleterious miasmata. A pestilential malady carried off, in mass, the whites and the blacks; but it was especially mortal among the latter. In this deplorable state the squadron of lord Dunmore wandered from island to island, from shore to shore. He found, upon all points, the inhabitants armed to repulse him, and he wanted forces to open himself a passage through them. To crown the measure of misfortune, the winds drove a part of the ships upon the coasts of Virginia, where the wretched fugitives, become the prisoners of their own fellow-citizens, did but exchange this pestiferous abode for dark and horrible dungeons. At length, to escape a certain death upon these shores, lord Dunmore resolved to burn the ships of least value. The miserable wrecks of soldiers and of Virginians, buffeted by tempests, devoured by famine, by thirst, and by diseases, went to seek refuge in the Floridas, the Bermudas, and the West Indies. Thus delivered of its enemy, the province recovered tranquillity. Such was the catastrophe that terminated the expedition of lord Dunmore against Virginia, and the result of his plan of revolt of negroes against their masters.

Meanwhile, the Congress had not remitted their preparations of maritime war; they felt the necessity of protecting their own coasts from the insults of the enemy's cruisers, as also the extreme utility of intercepting the storeships of the English armies. There was no deficiency either of materials suitable for the construction of vessels, or of excellent mariners; the interruption of commerce and of the fisheries having left a very great number of them without employment. Accordingly the work was pushed with such ardor in the navy yards of Maryland, of Philadelphia, and of Rhode Island, that upon the commencement of the year were seen floating in the waters of the Delaware five frigates, or corvettes, and thirteen gun sloops,* completely equipped and armed.

*The frigates were the Alfred and the Columbus, of thirty-two guns; the corvettes, the Andreas Doria of sixteen, the Sebastian Cabot of fourteen, and the Providence of twelve. The thirteen gun-boats bore the names following; the Washington, the Dickinson, the Chatham, the Camden, the Burke, the Effingham, the Bull-dog, the Franklin, the Congress, the Experiment, the Hancock, the Adams, and the Warren.

The Congress had ordained, besides, that thirteen frigates, of thirty-six guns each, should be constructed with all possible expedition. Then in order to form the seamen to the evolutions of maritime war, and, at the same time to procure themselves arms and munitions, and especially powder, they ordered Ezechiel Hopkins, captain-general of the fleet, to make sail for the Bahama Islands. He put to sea about the middle of February, and after a prosperous voyage arrived, in the beginning of March, at Abaco, one of these islands. Being informed that the English had amassed a considerable quantity of munitions in that of Providence, he made a sudden descent there, and seized them. The Americans found many pieces of cannon, with bombs, balls, and one hundred and fifty casks of powder, the capital object of the expedition. In their return they combated honorably a British frigate, and captured a brig. The squadron of Congress, with its prizes, entered the port of New London. Frequent engagements also took place in the bay of Boston, between the ships of commodore Bankes, and those of Massachusetts. One of the most remarkable was that in which captain Mugford captured a transport, laden with a great quantity of arms and military stores.

The navy of Congress not only distinguished itself upon the coasts, but also, what was scarcely to have been hoped, in the open sea. Its success perceptibly increased the confidence and hope of the Americans; they accustomed themselves, by little and little, to act as a nation enjoying its entire independence.

The desire to see it universally acknowledged was excited in some, and fortified with others, in proportion to the prosperous result of their efforts. They were not crowned with the same happy success in Canada. Arnold, who had continued with his feeble corps the siege of Quebec, found himself oppressed by a multitude of obstacles. The reenforcements the Congress had promised him, arrived but slowly and by parties, either because the severity of the season rendered the roads nearly impracticable, or, because the ill success of the assault of Quebec had considerably damped the ardor with which the novelty and brilliant commencement of this expedition had inspired the Americans.

It appeared that Congress itself, either distracted by too many cares, or wanting the necessary means, had neglected to take proper measures for conducting the Canadian war to the object desired. In vain had the greater part of the garrison of Montreal been marched to Quebec, the soldiers under Arnold still scarcely amounted to a thousand effective men.

The Canadians, who at first had welcomed the Americans with cordiality, and had supplied them with all that was in their power, finding themselves afterwards exposed to various excesses on the part of this undisciplined troop, had passed from benevolence to aversion.

It must be admitted, they had too much reason for it. The Americans had not only omitted to conciliate the countenance of the Catholic priests, which irritated their self-love, but they had even overwhelmed them with contempt, which excited among them detestation and a thirst of vengeance. The insinuations of governor Carleton and of all his partisans succeeded, therefore, without difficulty, in persuading them to refuse the sacraments to all those who had declared for the Americans. This refusal produced an impression so serious upon the minds of the Canadians, that the provincials, perceiving how prejudicial it might prove to their interests, despatched a Catholic priest from Maryland, in order to dispense to the Canadians all the spiritual succours of which they were deprived. But this remedy was employed too late. Affairs already assumed the most discouraging aspect.

A French gentleman of intrepidity, named Beaujeu, had assembled a corps of nobles and other inhabitants with whom he had influence, at the head of whom he had taken the field. The Americans had engaged him with advantage; but they had no means to repair the injury their cause had suffered, as well from its known weakness, as from the outrages committed against the inhabitants of the country. To increase their distress, the season approached in which the reenforcements, already known to be departed from England, were about to arrive. The river St. Lawrence, no longer obstructed with ice, opened them a free passage up to the city of Quebec. It would have been too hazardous to await them with forces so disproportionate.

In this critical position, Arnold, who had recently been promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, prepared with a courage as great as his resources were feeble to reduce the besieged city. Its possession would have rendered the enmity of the Canadians in a great measure impotent, and the English troops would thus have lost their communication with the upper parts of the province.

Governor

Arnold was not entirely without hope of success. Carleton experienced a dearth, rendered more and more afflicting by the vigilance and success with which the provincials intercepted all his convoys of provisions; nor did they cease, besides, to harass and fatigue the garrison by false attacks and multiplied stratagems, hoping from its weakness to find sooner or later some way to surprise the place.

They had approached the walls to open the trench, and had erected batteries upon the banks of the river, in order to cannonade the English vessels. They fired with red hot balls, and launched different sorts of fireworks into the city; but general Carleton watched attentively and disconcerted all their manoeuvres. The obstacles that Arnold encountered, were carried to the utmost by the smallpox, a malady so formidable in these climates. The reenforce