been passed since the year 1763; others only proscribed a part of them; and there were still others whom a total abrogation would not have satisfied, and who wished also for the abolition of some ancient statutes. In the heat of debates, propositions had been advanced to which it was impossible that Great Britain should ever consent. Nor can it be denied that the declaration of independence was conformable to the nature of things. Circumstances would not have endured much longer that a people like that of America, numerous, wealthy, warlike, and accustomed to liberty, should depend upon another, at a great distance, and little superior in power. The English ministry could not shut their eyes upon it; and such was perhaps the secret reason of their obduracy in attempting to load the Americans with heavier chains. It is also certain that foreign princes would not have consented to succour, or to receive into their alliance, a people who acknowledged themselves the subjects of another power; whereas it might be expected, that they would unite their efforts to those of a nation determined, at all hazards, to obtain the recognition of its liberty and independence. In the first case, even victory would not have given allies to the Americans; in the second, they were assured of them only by showing themselves resolved to sustain their cause with arms in hand.

However this may be, it is certain that the declaration was received by the people with transports of joy. Nor were any of those public demonstrations omitted which governments are accustomed to employ, on similar occasions, to conciliate the favor of the people to their determinations. Independence was proclaimed, with great solemnity, at Philadelphia, the eighth of July. The artillery was fired, bonfires were kindled; the people seemed actually delirious with exultation. On the eleventh, the manifesto of Congress was published in New York, and was read to each brigade of the American army, which, at that time, was assembled in the vicinity of the city; it was received with universal acclamations. The same evening the statue of king George III., which had been erected in 1770, was taken down and dragged through the streets by the sons of liberty. It was decided, that the lead of which it was composed, should be converted into musket balls. These excesses, however blameable in themselves, were not without utility if considered politically; they excited the people and hurried them on to the object that was desired. At Baltimore, independence having been proclaimed in the presence of cannoniers and militia, the people could not contain their enthusiasm. The air resounded with salutes of artillery, and the shouts that hailed the freedom and happiness of the United States of America. The effigy of the king became the sport of the populace, and was afterwards burnt in the public square.

The rejoicings at Boston were the greatest of all. Independence was there proclaimed from the balcony of the State house, in the presence of all the authorities, civil and military, and of an immense concourse of people, as well from the city itself as from the country. The garrison was drawn up in order of battle in King street, which from that moment took the name of State street; the troops formed in thirteen detachments, to denote the thirteen United States. At a given signal, a salute of thirteen cannon was fired upon Fort Hill, which was immediately answered by an equal number from the batteries of the Castle, of the Neck, of Nantasket, and of Point Alderton. The garrison, in their turn, fired thirteen salutes of musketry, each detachment firing in succession. The authorities and most considerable inhabitants then convened at a banquet prepared in the council chamber, when they drank toasts to the perpetuity and prosperity of the United States, to the American Congress, to general Washington, to the success of the arms of the confederacy, to the destruction of tyrants, to the propagation of civil and religious liberty, to the friends of the United States in all parts of the world. All the bells rung in token of felicitation; the joy was universal, and its demonstrations were incessantly renewed. In the evening, all the ensigns of royalty, lions, sceptres or crowns, whether sculptured or painted, were torn in pieces and burnt in State street.

But in Virginia, it would be impossible to describe the exultation that was manifested.

The Virginian convention decreed that the name of the king should be suppressed in all the public prayers. They ordained that the great seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia should represent Virtue as the tutelary genius of the province, robed in drapery of an Amazon, resting one hand upon her lance, and holding with the other a sword, trampling upon tyranny, under the figure of a prostrate man, having near him a crown fallen from his head, and bearing in one hand a broken chain, and in the other a scourge. At foot was charactered the word Virginia, and round the effigy of Virtue was inscribed-Sic semper tyrannis. The reverse represented a group of figures; in the middle stood Liberty with her wand and cap; on one side was Ceres, with the horn of plenty in the right hand, and a sheaf of wheat in the left; upon the other appeared Eternity, with the globe and the phoenix. At foot were found these words-Deus nobis hæc otia fecit.

In the midst of these transports, nothing was forgotten that might tend to inspire the people with affection for the new order of things, and a violent hatred, not only towards tyranny, but also against monarchy; the republicans using all their address to confound the one with the other as eternally inseparable by their essence.

Thus, on the one hand, the American patriots, by their secret manœuvres, and then by a daring resolution; and on the other, the

British ministers, at first by oppressive laws, and afterwards by hesitating counsels and the employment of an inadequate- force, gave origin to a crisis which eventually produced the entire dismemberment of a splendid and powerful empire. So constant are men in the pursuits of liberty; and so obstinate in ambition. But also so timid are they in their resolutions, and ever more prompt to warn their enemy of his danger by threats, than to overwhelm him by force.

It is certain that the English ministers wanted either sagacity to foresee the evil, or energy to remedy it. The tumults of America broke out unobserved, and grew without obstacle, till at length, swoln like an overflowing river, they acquired such an impetuosity as to sweep before them the impotent dikes with which it was attempted too late to oppose them.

END OF BOOK SIXTH.

NOTE TO BOOK VI.

NOTE I-PAGE 331.

THE MEMBERS WHO COMPOSED THE CONGRESS, AND WHO ALL SIGNED THE DECLARATION, ARE THE FOLLOWING;

BOOK SEVENTH.

1776. HAVING sketched the two first periods of this obstinate contest, in the first of which we have seen the British ministers provoking the Americans, by oppressive laws, to resistance and revolt; and in the second, conducting the war which ensued with feeble counsels and insufficient means; the order of history requires that we should now proceed to the recital of the events which signalised the third, wherein, at length displaying all their force, they proposed to suppress the rebellion entirely, and to reduce the colonists to subjection.

General Howe having arrived from Halifax, landed the twentyfifth of June at Sandy Hook, a point of land situated at the entrance of the Gulf, comprehended between the main land of New Jersey, the mouth of the Rariton, Staten Island, and the opening of the bay of New York, on the one side, and Long Island on the other. On the second of July he took possession of Staten Island. The resolution of independence may, therefore, be praised for its boldness, or blamed for its temerity; which was taken, as is seen, at the very instant when England was preparing to attack, with formidable forces, the most vulnerable parts of America. The general would have preferred waiting at Halifax till the arrival of the reenforcements expected from Europe, with the fleet of his brother, the admiral, in order to repair, in concert with him, to the waters of New York, and to terminate the war by a sudden and decisive blow. But the English fleet delayed to appear, and the quarters of Halifax were as inconvenient, as provisions were scarce there; a part of the troops had been compelled to remain on board the ships. The season for operations also advancing, general Howe determined to go and wait for his reenforcements in the vicinity of New York; the squadron of convoy was commanded by admiral Shuldam.

He was joined in the passage by some regiments that, having been separated from the fleet by contrary winds, were steering alone for Halifax. Other corps fell into the power of the American cruisers. The inhabitants of Staten Island received the English general with great demonstrations of joy; the soldiers being quartered about in the villages, found, in abundance, the refreshments of which they were in the greatest need. Here general Howe was visited by governor Tryon, who gave him precise information with respect to the state of the province, as also with regard to the forces and preparations of the enemy. Many inhabitants of New Jersey came to offer themselves to be enrolled for the royal service; even those of Staten Island were forward to enlist under the English standard; every thing announced that the army had only to show itself in the