Dr. Adam Ferguson, then professor of moral philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, was nominated their secretary. The commissioners sailed without delay for America. But the present measure, like every other concession in the course of this desperate contest, came too late. What was now offered would at one time have been hailed in America with acclamations of joy, and secured the grateful affection of the colonists. But circumstances were now changed. The minds of the people were completely alienated from the parent state, and their spirits exasperated by the events of the war. Independence had been declared; victory had emblazoned the standards of congress; and a treaty of alliance with France had been concluded.

On the 16th of December, the preliminaries of a treaty between France and America were agreed on; and the treaty itself was signed at Paris on the 6th of February, 1778-an event of which the British ministry got information in little more than forty-eight hours after the signatures were affixed. The principal articles of the treaty were, that if Britain, in consequence of the alliance, should commence hostilities against France, the two countries should mutually assist each other; that the independence of America should be effectually maintained; that if any part of North America, still possessing allegiance to the crown of Britain, should be reduced by the colonies, it should belong to the United States; that if France should conquer any of the British West India islands, they should be deemed its property; that the contracting parties should not lay down their arms till the independence of America was formally acknowledged; and that neither of them should conclude a peace without the consent of the other.

Lord North's conciliatory bills reached America before the news of the French treaty, and the American legislature referred the bills to a committee of their number, which, after an acute and severe examination, gave in a report well calculated to counteract the effects which it was apprehended the bills would produce on the minds of the timid and wavering. They reported as their opinion, that it was the aim of those bills to create divisions in the states; and "that they were the sequel of that insidious plan, which, from the days of the stamp act down to the present time, hath involved this country in contention and bloodshed; and that, as in other cases, so in this, although circumstances may at times force them to recede from their unjustifiable claims, there can be no doubt but they will, as heretofore, upon the first favorable occasion, again display that lust of domination which hath rent in twain the mighty empire of Britain." They further reported it as their opinion, that any men, or body of men, who should presume to make any separate or partial convention or agreement with commissioners under the crown of Great Britain, should be considered and treated as open and avowed enemies. of the United States. The committee further gave it as their opinion, that the United States could not hold any conference with the British commissioners, unless Britain first withdrew her fleets and armies, or in positive and express terms acknowledged the independence of the states.

While these things were going on, Mr. Silas Deane arrived from Paris, with the important and gratifying information that treaties of alliance and commerce had been concluded between France and the United States. This intelligence diffused a lively joy throughout America; and was received by the people as the harbinger of their independence. The alliance had been long expected; and the delays thrown in the way of its accomplishment had excited many uneasy apprehensions. But these were now dissipated; and, to the fond imaginations of the people, all the prospects of the United States appeared gilded with the cheering beams of prosperity.

On the 29th day of the preceding October, John Hancock, one of the first

agents in the revolutionary movements, after having filled the presidents chair in congress for nearly two years and a half, requested leave of absence on account of ill health. He had been chosen to succeed Peyton Randolph; and had discharged the duties of president with great ability. Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, was chosen to succeed him in the chair.

The British army in Philadelphia spent the winter in gayety and revelry, in

juring at once their own respectability and the cause which they were employed to support. They disgusted the sober inhabitants by their irregularities, and provoked them by their insolence; so that many who had hailed their arrival with cordial gratulations, felt a lively satisfaction when the hour of their depar

ture came.

General Washington quitted White Marsh, crossed the Schuylkill at Sweed's Ford, and, on the 19th of December, took a strong position at Valley Forge, about twenty-six miles from Philadelphia. Had he retired during the winter to the shelter of a large town, he must have gone to a great distance from the British army, and left an extensive tract of country open to their foraging parties; or had he cantoned his men in the adjacent villages, his army might have been beaten in detail and gradually destroyed. But at Valley Forge he was sufficiently near Philadelphia to check the foraging parties of the enemy, and his army was so much concentrated as to secure it from any sudden and desultory attack.

At Valley Forge the American commander-in-chief lodged his army in huts formed of logs, with the interstices filled with mud, which constituted very ac

But,

ceptable habitations to men long unaccustomed to the conveniences of life. though sheltered from the storm by their rude dwellings, the sufferings of the army from want of provisions and clothing were incredible. The winter was severe, and many of the men were without stockings or shoes, and almost naked. The non-importation associations rendered cloth scarce at the commencement of hostilities; the war rendered importation difficult; and the consumption exceeded the produce of the home manufacture. Hence the army was left in a destitute and deplorable condition; and the line of march, from White Marsh to Valley Forge, over rough and frozen roads, might have been traced by the blood from the bare and mangled feet of the soldiers. Under shelter of the huts their sufferings were at first considerably alleviated; but in a short time the miseries of want, amounting almost to famine, were added to those of nakedness.

Many representations on this subject had been submitted to congress, which

had authorized the commander-in-chief to seize provisions for his army wherever he could find them, within seventy miles of headquarters, paying for them with money, or giving certificates for the redemption of which the faith of the United States was pledged. This odious power General Washington was extremely backward to exercise: but at Valley Forge his necessities were so pressing that he was constrained to have recourse to it; and, notwithstanding all his precautions, the manner in which his orders were executed did not always soften the rigor of this harsh measure.

The American commander-in-chief was ill provided with money, and could make his payments only in paper of very uncertain value; but the supplies carried into Philadelphia were readily paid for by the British troops in gold and silver. It was, however, no easy matter for the country people to carry provisions into Philadelphia without detection and punishment; for the American detachments and patroles, though at a respectful distance, almost encircled the city. General Armstrong, with the Pennsylvania militia, was at the old camp at White Marsh; General Smallwood was detached to Wilmington; Colonel Morgan, whose riflemen had been so active on the Hudson during the preceding campaign, guarded the western bank of the Schuylkill; Count Pulaski, a Polish nobleman in the service of the United States, who had been appointed to command the cavalry, was posted with a part of his force at Trenton; and Major Jamieson and Captain Lee were appointed to watch both sides of the Delaware. From the position which General Washington had taken at Valley Forge, and from the activity and vigilance of his patroles, the British army in Philadelphia was straitened for forage and fresh provisions. A considerable number of the people of Pennsylvania were well affected to the British cause, and desirous of supplying the troops, while many more were willing to carry victuals to Philadelphia, where they found a ready market, and payment in gold or silver, whereas the army at Valley Forge could pay only in paper money of uncertain value. But it was not easy to reach Philadelphia, nor safe to attempt it; for the American parties often intercepted them, took the provisions without payment, and not unfrequently added corporal chastisement. The first operations on the part of the British, therefore, in the campaign of 1778, were undertaken in order to procure supplies for the army. About the middle of March, a strong detachment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Mawhood, made a foraging excursion, for six or seven days, into Jersey, surprised and defeated the American parties at Hancock's and Quinton's bridges, on Always creek, which falls into the Delaware to the south of Reedy island, killed or took fifty or sixty of the militia, and, after a successful expedition, returned to Philadelphia with little loss.

A corps of Pennsylvania militia, daily varying in number, sometimes not exceeding fifty, sometimes amouning 600, under General Lacy, had taken post at a place called Crooked Billet, about seventeen miles from Philadelphia, on the road to New York, for the purpose of intercepting the country people who attempted to carry provisions to the British army. Early on the morning of the 4th of May, Colonel Abercrombie and Major Simcoe, with a strong detachment, attempted to surprise this party; but Lacy escaped with little loss, except his baggage, which fell into the hands of the enemy.

On the 7th of May, the British undertook an expedition against the galleys and other shipping which had escaped up the Delaware after the reduction of Mud Island, and destroyed upward of forty vessels and some stores and provisions. The undisputed superiority of the British naval force, and the consequent command of the Delaware, gave them great facilities in directing a suitable armament against any particular point; and the movements of the militia, on whom congress chiefly depended for repelling sudden predatory incursions and for guarding the roads to Philadelphia, were often tardy and inefficient. The

oads were ill-guarded; and the British commonly accomplished their foraging and returned to camp before an adequate force could be assembled to oppose hem.

To remedy these evils, to annoy the rear of the British troops, in case they evacuated Philadelphia, which it was now suspected they intended to do, and also to form an advanced guard of the main army, the Marquis de la Fayette, with upward of 2,000 chosen men, and six pieces of artillery, was ordered to the east of the Schuylkill, and took post on Baron Hill, seven or eight miles in front of the army at Valley Forge. Sir William Howe immediately got notice of his position, and formed a plan to surprise and cut him off. For that purpose, a detachment of 5,000 of the best troops of the British army, under General Grant, marched from Philadelphia on the night of the 20th of May, and took the road which runs along the Delaware, and consequently does not lead directly to Baron Hill. But after advancing a few miles, the detachment turned to the left, and, proceeding by White Marsh, passed at no great distance from La Fayette's left flank, and about sunrise reached a point in his rear, where two roads diverged, one leading to the camp of the marquis, the other to Matson's ford, each about a mile distant. There General Grant's detachment was first observed by the Americans; and the British perceived by the rapid movements of some hostile horsemen, that they were seen. Both La Fayette's camp and the road leading from it to Matson's ford, were concealed from the British troops by intervening woods and high grounds. General Grant spent some time in making dispositions for the intended attack. That interval was actively improved by the marquis, who, although not apprized of the full extent of his danger, acted with promptitude and decision. He marched rapidly to Matson's ford, from which he was somewhat more distant than the British detachment, and reached it while General Grant was advancing against Baron Hill, in the belief that the Marquis de la Fayette was still there. The Americans hurried through the ford, leaving their artillery behind; but, on discovering that they were not closely pursued, some of them returned and dragged the fieldpieces across the river: a small party was also sent into the woods to retard the progress of the British advanced guard, if it should approach while the artillery was in the ford.

His

On finding the camp at Baron Hill deserted, General Grant immediately pursued in the track of the retreating enemy, toward Matson's ford. advanced guard overtook some of the small American party, which had been sent back to cover the passage of the artillery, before they could recross the river, and took or killed a few of them; but on reaching the ford General Grant found the marquis so advantageously posted on the rising ground on the opposite bank, and his artillery so judiciously placed, that it was deemed unadvisable to attack him. Thus the attempt against the Marquis de la Fayette failed, although the plan was well-concerted, and on the very point of success. In the British army sanguine expectations of the favorable issue of the enterprise were entertained; and in order to insure a happy result, a large detachment under General Grey, in the course of the night, took post at a ford of the Schuylkill, two or three miles in front of La Fayette's right flank, to intercept him if he should attempt to escape in that direction, while the main body of the army advanced to Chestnut Hill to support the attack; but on the failure of the enterprise the whole returned to Philadelphia.

General Grant's detachment was seen from the camp at Valley Forge about the time it was discovered by the troops at Baron Hill: alarm-guns were fired to warn the marquis of his danger; and the whole army was drawn out, to be in readiness to act as circumstances might require. The escape of the detachment was the cause of much joy and congratulation in the American, and of disappointment and chagrin in the British army.