of the Articles, the legislature of New York presented a formal memorial to Congress, saying, “We shall not presume to give our opinion on the question whether Congress has adequate powers or not. But we will without hesitation declare that, if they have not, they ought to have them, and that we stand ready on our part to confer them." If all these things could be said before the ratification of the Confederation, they could of course be repeated with even greater truth afterwards. A specimen of the inefficiency of the government occurs in relation to a proposal of import duties to be laid by Congress. Rhode Island refused to grant the necessary power to the government, and Virginia, after granting it, retracted it, (December, 1782.)

Defence

In the mean time events were hastening to a crisis of the in the field. General Greene, taking command of Carolinas. the southern army, with several American officers and the Pole Kosciuszko in his train, determined to save the Carolinas. He was confirmed in his purpose by his brigadier, General Morgan, who, distinguished in various actions, won a decisive victory over Tarleton at the Cowpens, in South Carolina, (January 17.) Two months later, Greene and Morgan having retreated in the interval, the main bodies of the armies, British and American, met at Guilford, in North Carolina, (March 15.) Both retired from the field; the Americans first, but the British with the greater loss. Cornwallis withdrew towards Wilmington, pursued by Greene, who presently dashed into South Carolina. There he was opposed by Lord Rawdon, who at once defeated him in an engagement at Hobkirk's Hill, near Camden, (April 25.) This was a cruel blow to Greene's hopes of surprising South Carolina. "This distressed country," he wrote, "cannot struggle much longer without more effectual support." But it was not in Greene's nature to despair. While he advanced against the stronghold of

Ninety-Six, in South Carolina, he detached a body of troops under Lieutenant Colonel Lee to join a band of Carolinians and Georgians who were besieging Augusta. The result was the surrender of that town, (June 5.) But the fort at Ninety-Six held out against repeated assaults, and Greene was obliged to retire before the superior force which Rawdon was leading to raise the siege, (June 19.) For a time, the war subsided; then Greene reappeared, and fought the action of Eutaw Springs. He lost the field of battle, (September 8;) but the British, under Colonel Stuart, were so much weakened as to give way, and retreat precipitately towards Charleston. Thus from defeat to defeat, without the intermission of a single victory, in the common sense, Greene had now marched, now retreated, in such a brave and brilliant way, as to force the enemy back upon the seaboard. The successes of the militia and of the partisan corps had been equally effective. All the upper country, not only of the Carolinas, but of Georgia, was once more in the American possession.

The cen

At the time when things were darkest at the tral states south, greater perils arose at the centre of the in danger. country. Virginia was invaded in the first days of 1781 by a formidable force, chiefly of loyalists under the traitor Arnold. He took Richmond, but only to leave it and retire to Portsmouth, where he bade defiance both to the American militia and the French vessels from Newport, (January.) Soon after, two thousand British troops were sent from New York, under General Phillips, with directions to march up the Chesapeake against Maryland and Pennsylvania, (March.) This plan embraced the twofold idea of cutting off the Carolinas from all assistance, and of laying the central states equally prostrate. At about the same time, Cornwallis, baffled by Greene in North Carolina, set out to join the forces assembled in Virginia.

They, meanwhile, had penetrated the interior, swept the plantations and the towns, and taken Petersburg, (April.) The arrival of Cornwallis completed the array of the enemy, (May.) The very heart of the country was in danger.

Crisis.

"Our affairs,” wrote Washington before the concentration of the enemy in Virginia, " are brought to an awful crisis." Why need I run into details," he wrote again," when it may be declared in a word, that we are at the end of our tether, and that now or never our deliverance must come?" "But we must not despair," he urged, as dangers accumulated; "the game is yet in our own hands; to play it well is all we have to do, and I trust the experience of error will enable us to act better in future. A cloud may yet pass over us, individuals may be ruined, and the country at large, or particular states, undergo temporary distress; but certain I am that it is in our power to bring the war to a happy conclusion."

American

tions.

The nation was far from being up to the emerprepara- gency. A spirit of weariness and selfishness was prevailing among the people. The army, ill disciplined and ill paid, was exceedingly restless. Troops of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey lines had broken out into actual revolt at the beginning of the year. The government was still ineffective, the Confederation feeble, Congress inert, not to say broken down. When one reads that this body stood ready to give up the Mississippi to Spain, nay, to waive the express acknowledgment of American independence as an indispensable preliminary to negotiations with Great Britain, when one reads these things, he may well wonder that there were any preparations to meet the exigencies of the times. The German Baron de Steuben, collecting troops in Virginia at the time of the invasion, was afterwards joined by Lafayette, whose troops had

been clad on their march at his expense. By sea, the French fleet was engaged in defending the coasts against the invader. It seemed as if the stranger were the only defender of Virginia and of America. But on the southern border was Greene, with his troops and his partisan allies. At the north was Washington, planning, acting, summoning troops from the states, and the French from Newport, to aid him in an attack upon New York, as the stronghold of the foe, until, convinced of the impossibility of securing the force required for such an enterprise, he resolved upon taking the command in Virginia, (August 14.) Thither he at once directed the greater part of his scanty troops, as well as of the French. The allied army was to be strengthened by the French fleet, and not merely by that of Newport, but by another and a larger fleet from the West Indies.

Defeat

wallis.

The British under Cornwallis were now within of Corn- fortified lines at Yorktown and Gloucester, (August 1-22.) There they had retired under orders from the commander-in-chief at New York, who thought both that post and the Virginian conquests in danger from the increasing activity of the Americans, and especially the French. Little had been done in the field by Cornwallis. He had been most gallantly watched, and even pursued by Lafayette, whose praises for skill, as well as heroism, rang far and wide. Washington and the French General Rochambeau joined Lafayette at Williamsburg, (September 14.) A great fleet under Count de Grasse was already in the Chesapeake. As soon as the land forces arrived, the siege of Yorktown was begun, (September 28.) The result was certain. Washington had contrived to leave Sir Henry Clinton impressed with the idea that New York was still the main object. Sir Henry, therefore, thought of no reënforcements for Cornwallis, until they were too late,

until, indeed, they were out of the question in consequence of the naval superiority of the French. In fact, an expedition to lay waste the eastern part of Connecticut was occupying Clinton's mind. He placed the loyalists and the Hessians despatched for the purpose under the traitor Arnold, who succeeded in destroying New London, (September.) Thus there were but seven thousand five hundred British at Yorktown to resist nine thousand Americans and seven thousand French, besides the numerous fleet. In less than three weeks, Cornwallis asked for terms, (October 17,) and two days afterwards surrendered.

Effect.

The blow was decisive. The United States were transported. Government, army, people were for once united, for once elevated to the altitude of those noble spirits, who, like Washington, had sustained the nation until the moment of victory. "The play is over," wrote Lafayette," and the fifth act is just finished." "O God!" exclaimed the English prime minister, on hearing of the event. "It is all over all over!"

Prospects.

It was Washington's earnest desire to avail of the French fleet in an attack on Charleston. De Grasse refused. Then Washington urged him to transport troops to Wilmington. But De Grasse alleged his engagements in the West Indies, and sailed thither. The French under Rochambeau went into winter quarters at Williamsburg, while the Americans marched, a part to reënforce the southern army, and a part to the various posts in the north. Prospects were uncertain. It was evident that the war was approaching its close, but none could tell how nearly. Washington implored his countrymen to be on the alert. Again and again he rebuked the inaction into which they were falling, as if their work was done. The British still held their post by the Penobscot. They were still strong at New York. Wilmington was evacuated by them; but