XVIL BOOK ceeded not three thousand in number, and reach ed Trenton by day-break. Here about one thou1776. sand six hundred men were stationed, chiefly Hessians, under the command of colonel Rahl, who, being unsuspicious of danger, were thrown into confusion at the first attack. Colonel Rahl himself being mortally wounded, the disorder increased, and, abandoning their artillery, they attempted to make their retreat to Prince-town: but finding this impracticable, and being now overpowered, and nearly surrounded, the three regiments of Rahl, Lossberg, and Knyphausen, laid down their arms, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war-the remainder of the troops escaping with difficulty by way of Bordenton. In the evening general Washington repassed the Delawar, carrying with him the prisoners, their artillery, and colors, and entered the city of Philadelphia in triumph. The charm was now dissolved; and it being found by experience that the Europeans were not invincible, great numbers of the Americans, who had deserted their colors, again repaired to the standard of their commander, who soon found himself at the head of a considerable army, in a condition once more to cross the Delawar; and lord Cornwallis, who was actually at New York in his way to England, found himself under a necessity of returning to the defence of BOOK the Jerseys. XVII. The English general, approaching the Ame 1776. rican army strongly posted near the town of Trenton, made immediate dispositions for an attack; but in the dead of night (January 2, 1777) general Washington silently withdrew his troops, leaving fires burning in his camp, and the usual patroles, in order to deceive the ene my; and by a circuitous march arrived by sunrise at Prince-town. Here the fourth brigade of British troops, consisting of the seventeenth, fortieth, and fifty-fifth regiments, were posted under the command of colonel Mawhood, who had just begun his march in order to join lord Cornwallis, when he fell in with the van-guard of the American army. Though engaged with a far superior force, the colonel, at the head On the 1st of January, 1777, general Washington, then at Trenton, writes to congress as follows:-"I have sent into different parts of Jersey men of influence to spirit up the militia, and flatter myself, that the many injuries they have received will induce some to give their aid. If what they have suffered does not rouze their resentment, they must not possess the common feelings of humanity. To oppression, ravage, and a deprivation of property, they have had the more mortifying circumstance of insult added-after being stripped of all they had without the least compensation, protections have been granted them for the free enjoyment of their effects. XVII. BOOK of his own corps, with extraordinary gallantry fought his way through the thickest ranks of the 1776. enemy-the other regiments making separate retreats by different roads: they suffered however vere severely in this unequal conflict, and were in a great measure disabled for future scrvice. General Washington distinguished himself on this occasion by singular exertions of personal valor. On this disaster, lord Cornwallis, finding himself out-manoeuvred by his antagonist, abandoned his camp at Trenton, and retired with precipitation to Brunswic. The licentious ravages of the soldiery, particularly of the German mercenaries, during the time they were in possession of the Jerseys, had excited the utmost resentment and detestation of the inhabitants; and the fortune of war now seeming to turn against them, the whole country rose in arms; the militia collected in large bodies, and the British troops were every where attacked with success-at Woodbridge, at Elizabeth-town, at Newark; and the royal troops retained only the two posts of Brunswic and Amboy, both holding an open communication with New York by sea. The dispositions made by general Howe, and indeed his whole conduct from the commencement to the conclusion of this campaign, were to persons unskilled in the military art totally XVII. 1776. inexplicable, and apparently exhibited a conti- BOOK nued series of the most egregious errors. It was remarked, that the frontier posts of Trenton, Bordenton, and Burlington, were the weakest in point of numbers in the whole line of cantonments; while the remoter posts were strengthened in proportion to the decrease of the danger. Nor were these frontier cantonments secured from the attacks of the enemy by any works of art, but left without a single redoubt or intrenchment, to which, in case of a surprise, the troops, until they could be relieved from the other posts, might retreat. The military reputation of general Washington, which was somewhat impaired by the unsuccessful and proble matic operations of the former part of the campaign, was fully recovered and established by the bold and masterly movements which characterized the close of it. In the detail of military events, the civil transactions which took place during the same interval of time must not be suffered to escape attention. On the 19th of September (1776), the commissioners of the crown, lord Howe and the general, caused a proclamation to be published, promising in his majesty's name a revision. of all such instructions as might be construed to lay an improper restraint on the freedom of legislation in the colomes, and also to concur in XVII. 1776. BOOK the revisal of such acts by the operation of which they might think themselves aggrieved. Though it was impossible to conjecture what was really meant by a promise so vague, had a declaration of this nature been made with good faith at an earlier period of the dispute, it might doubtless have been attended with happy effects; but when a civil war had actually commenced, to indulge the most distant idea that the Americans would lay down their arms on a mere promise of a revision of the acts of that government whose authority they had renounced, was a grossly idle and puerile expectation... In the month of October the inhabitants of the city and island of New York, then in the possession of the English, presented a petition to the commissioners, signed by nine hundred and forty-six names, declaring their allegiance to the king, and their acknowledgment of the constitutional supremacy of Great Britain, and praying to be restored to his majesty's peace and protec tion. This petition was followed by another of a similar kind from Queen's County, in Long Island; but the example afforded little encou ragement to others, when it was observed that these petitions were wholly unavailing; nor were they ever restored to the rights which they had been flattered by the proclamation with the expectation of regaining. On the 30th of Nor |