as the navigation from the light-house up to the city is not more than thirty miles, with any thing of a free breeze of wind, his majesty's largest ships of war might sail from the sea to the city of New York in a few hours, so that the sea coast of all the earth scarcely presents to the keen vision of the mariner a more commodious harbour for shipping. After these reflections had wisely passed through the forecasting mind of Washington, he left Boston for the neighbourhood of New York, with a small army mostly of raw recruits, enlisted only for one year, and of course but poorly disciplined. This parsimonious policy of the first continental Congress was very near ruining both Washington and the cause of the freedom of his country. But the Lord was on his side; and as he said to Ananias, in the case of Saul of Tarsus, he is a chosen vessel, in order to lay the corner stone of the civil and religious liberty of all mankind. But to return to the American commander-in-chief: he left Boston with about sixteen or seventeen thousand new-enlisted troops, and entered New York, and there learned that Sir William Howe had arrived from Halifax, and was in New York bay, and had been just joined by his brother, Admiral Lord Howe. Their combined forces amounted to about thirty thousand British troops, when Sir William Howe landed his army under the cover of the heavy artillery from his brother, Admiral Lord Howe's fleet of British men-of-war. On the 2d of August the royal army were landed on Long Island, near the Narrows, about nine miles from New York. By this time General Washington had crossed the East River with his army of raw recruits, and a poor train of artillery, in order to give battle to this puissant British army, well supported by a powerful train of brass artillery. The royal army was led on to the attack, under the command of Sir William Howe, with several of the British generals to assist him; when the British commander thought to crush, by one decisive blow, the rebellion of the colonies in the bud. About the 27th of August, 1776, the two armies met each other on Long Island, about five or six miles from New York. The royal army was led to the charge by Sir William Howe, assisted by his generals, Sir Henry Clinton, Percy, and Lord Cornwallis, with several other British officers. The result of the day's warfare was very inauspicious to the infant cause of the colonies. The conclusion of this first general battle between the two armies was nearly as follows: upwards of a thousand Americans, with Generals Sterling, Sullivan and others, were either killed or taken prisoners: and Washington, with the remains of his army, was pursued by the British to within about two miles of New York; but night coming on, Sir William Howe halted, thinking the next morning to surround the rebel general and his flying army. Washington halted in Brooklyn, on the bank of the East River, opposite New York, and not more than two miles from the main body of the British army. But, as we have already observed, in the case of Saul of Tarsus, Washington was a chosen vessel; and, as the Lord saved Moses and Israel from the rage of Pharaoh and his puissant army of mighty chariots and horsemen by a cloudy pillar, so was Washington and his flying band saved the next morning by a cloudy

pillar, or a heavy fog that came down on the army of Washington. This dense fog, like the pillar and cloud that hid Moses and Israel from the vision of Pharaoh and his host, saved Washington and his men from the rage of Sir William Howe and his generals: when an overruling Providence changed the wind into such a direction, that it drove the fog on the British, and at the same time cleared it from off the American army, and greatly favoured Washington in crossing with his men over the East River into New York: and when the fog was raised from off Brooklyn, the British army, Sir William Howe, and his generals opened their eyes and saw their overpowered and flying enemy in the city of New York. But Washington was soon convinced that his location in that city was not tenable, and that if he tarried there any time he would be the cause of the destruction of the whole city; for Sir William Howe with his heavy train of artillery and other ordnance of destruction, was landed on the heights of Brooklyn. The East River in some parts opposite New York is not more than half a mile wide: and Washington being fully aware of the pride and choler of Sir William Howe and his generals, in consequence of the fog that favoured the escape of Washington and his army, at the time they thought they had got the rebel general and his rebellious band so fast enclosed in their martial net, that it was next to impossible for him to escape: when Washington concluded that the British commander's martial stomach would not be so over squeamish as to save the city on principles of humanity: therefore, in order to save New York from destruction, with the lives of many of its citizens, Washington, bearing in mind the language of the Divine teacher, that the God of nations did not raise him up to unnecessarily destroy the lives of men, but as much as possible, while defending the liberty of his country, to spare the effusion of human blood, drew the remains of his army from the city of New York. Howe soon crossed the East River, and took possession of the same in September, 1776. After Washington left New York he captured some works that had been thrown up about three miles from the city. On the approach of the British troops, the Americans fled with the utmost precipitation. Washington rode towards the British lines, and made every exertion in his power to prevent the disgraceful flight of his men, but all was in vain: their defeat on Long Island had so terrified his raw troops, that it had become impossible either to rally or inspire them with any soldier-like fortitude. Such was the almost distracted state of the American commander at this inauspicious moment, that he turned his horse towards the advancing enemy, apparently with the intention of rushing upon death and hiding his name and his country's cause for ever from the jeers and animadversions of the autocrats and princes of an enslaved world. But his God in that dark hour said to the angel of death, Stay thy hand, and sheath thy sword, and do my servant no harm; for he is a chosen vessel unto me in order to lay the foundation of my justice, mercy, truth, and love in the sight of all the nations of the earth. Some kind ministering angel, who, no doubt being one of the multitude of the heavenly host that caused heaven and earth to resound for joy at the

birth of the Messiah, when they tuned their celestial lyres with this delightful song: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men." One of those ministering spirits who still experiences the same heaven-born philanthropy that he did eighteen hundred years ago, when flying over the plains of Bethlehem, as one of the bearers of the good-will of all the hierarchy of glory, in viewing the sublime scheme of man's salvation, without its being in the least degree displeasing to the angelic hosts of heaven, we say, that this kind ministering angel imbued the mind of one of Washington's aids, who seized the bridle of his horse, and thus rescued him from the destruction of himself and the greatest system of free government that the light of heaven ever shone upon. This was one of the dark and cloudy days of the early struggle of the young colonies for their national independence. Suffer the poor cabin boy, (although not a grammatical idea among the ancient Greeks or Romans,) to say, with Paul, that he is less than the least of all saints, and not worthy of the appellation of a child of God. Yet the writer, with all due deference to the knowledge and wisdom of his fellow citizens of this wonderful age of boasted wisdom, is still simple enough to think, while viewing Washington's case in this dark and cloudy hour of the rise of this Republican government, to say that a striking likeness and full portrait, drawn, and that too, by the Spirit of wisdom, and let one add, by the special providence of the Supreme Being, who is the Father of both men and angels, existed between the cases of Moses and Washington: the former was exposed to death in an ark of bulrushes, on the shores of the Nile, yet notwithstanding the almost hopeless case of the weeping babe, the God of his fathers by his overruling providence raised Moses up to be the deliverer and national saviour of the children of Israel, because he saw with his omniscient vision that Moses was a proper child. So also in the case of our beloved Washington, our God saw that he was a proper person to lead this young nation out of the house of despotic and arbitrary bondage. So that in consequence of this angelic sentinel not all the swords, bayonets, bullets, shells, and cannon balls of the British army and navy could touch a single hair of Washington's head until the salvation of this young republic of North America was made secure. But to proceed with the history of our national father and the British army. After this disgraceful occurrence, Washington left the vicinity of New York, about the 12th of September, 1776, in order to defend forts Lee and Washington, where the American army was again overpowered by the British, and lost several thousand men in killed and prisoners. So that in all the encounters of the Americans with the British since they left Boston with about sixteen thousand men in July, 1776, the American army under Washington were reduced by death, prisoners, and sickness, about the month of November, 1776, to less than three thousand men, and they daily diminishing in number, in consequence of the time of their short enlistments expiring. As the British were spreading dismay and victory before them, especially through the State of New Jersey, the continental troops whose time was up could not be induced to re-enlist, and many

of those whose times were unexpired at the commencement of the winter were barefooted and almost naked, and at the same time destitute of tents, and even proper utensils to dress their scanty provisions; so that almost every circumstance of the war, in the first onset, was only calculated to fill the minds of the friends of liberty with despondency and despair. But the remnant of the army was animated by the cheerful spirit and unembarrassed countenance of Washington. About the 8th of December, 1776, he was closely pursued by a powerful army of the British, under Lord Cornwallis, who commanded about ten thousand of the British who were in pursuit of him. In order to save himself and his little army, and the almost expiring cause of his country, he was obliged to leave the state of New Jersey, and cross the river Delaware into the state of Pennsylvania, with about seventeen hundred of the continental army; being all that remained in this dark hour of his country's cause; but notwithstanding all this, Washington still possessed a serene mind in the midst of a surrounding storm, that at this inauspicious commencement of the war appeared to be fast gathering round himself and his beloved country. In that dark day, the lowering clouds, caused by the puissant arms of the British army under Lord Cornwallis, seemed to be gathering in thick darkness, and spreading themselves over the whole of the thirteen colonies of the United States; so that it appeared very problematical whether the Americans would ever attain their final independence. During all this dark dispensation of Providence that seemed to be passing over the liberties of the colonies, Washington never lost his presence of mind; so that when the British army under Lord Cornwallis pursued him so close that he had to cross the Delaware river into the State of Pennsylvania, he had the wise precaution to secure all the boats, and other means of conveyance over the Delaware, for many miles above and below his little army; which, for the time being, prevented the British army from crossing the river after him. In a few days after the American commander with his little band had passed into Pennsylvania, the continental congress sent General Washington about three or four thousand new-enlisted troops. When he had received this small re-enforcement, he held a council of war with a few of his general officers. In order to fall by surprise on some of Lord Cornwallis' cantonments in the state of New Jersey, and having the plan of his enterprise all in readiness, he had the fires of his encampment kindled up as bright as possible on Christmas eve, in order to impress the mind of the British commander and his officers, that his troops were about preparing their Christmas supper, and as the American army were encamped nearly opposite Princeton, where Cornwallis lay with the main body of his army, his lordship never once dreamed that the poor rebel general was about to play him a yankee trick. On the night of the 25th of December, 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware a few miles above Trenton, in the midst of a storm of snow, mingled with hail and rain, with about two thousand four hundred men; and on the morning of the 26th of December, 1776, came by surprise on the city of Trenton, the capital of the state of New Jersey, made a

thousand of the British army prisoners of war, and then immediately passed over into the state of Pennsylvania, out of his lordship's reach. All this was executed within nine or ten miles from where Cornwallis lay encamped with the main body of his army; so that it prevented his lordship from getting the possession of Philadelphia that winter. Washington, after he had deposited the fruits of his enterprise in the state of Pennsylvania, in about three days repassed the Delaware into the state of New Jersey; being again re-enforced with a few more new-enlisted troops. After concentrating his forces in New Jersey, he found that they amounted to nearly five thousand men. On the approach of a superior army under the British general, about the 2d of January, 1777, Washington drew up his men in the rear of a small water course, called Assumpink creek; as he expected Lord Cornwallis would attack him with his whole force the next morning, which in all probability would result in a defeat: and at the same time, it was exceedingly, if not entirely impracticable for him to return back into Pennsylvania. He silently made the decampment of his army in the night, by taking a circuitous route by the way of Allentown and Princeton, when Providence suddenly changed the weather to severe cold, which rendered the roads more favourable for the march of his retreating troops. About sun-rise the next morning, the van of Washington's flying army met the van of a small detachment of the British army, which caused the van of the continental army to fall back; but Washington coming up with the main body of his retreating troops, while he greatly exposed his person to the most imminent danger, gained a victory over the enemy, by killing about sixty, and making three hundred prisoners. But during this circuitous route from Trenton through Allentown and Princeton, his men being many of them without shoes, left with their feet the marks of blood on the frozen ground; which, together with the sufferings and hardships of his troops, and want of repose for himself and army, prudently induced Washington to seek for, and retire into winter quarters at some distance from the main body of the British army. The next morning, Lord Cornwallis perceiving that the American army had given him the slip in the night, broke up his camp in the neighbourhood of Trenton; and his lordship being at the same time somewhat alarmed, lest Washington should, by a hasty and circuitous march, get a few miles in advance of the British army, pass through Brunswick, and either take or destroy his military stores of provisions and clothing for his army through the winter, urged the pursuit of his army to Brunswick, in order to secure his military stores, and take up his winter quarters for himself and army. It is our duty here to remark, that in the opening of the campaign in the spring of 1777, Washington had not more than from five to six thousand effective troops, whilst Howe and Cornwallis had from twenty to thirty thousand; which was a fearful odds in this early struggle for the liberties of the colonies; which has led the writer in his reflections to believe that a special Providence did most certainly follow and preside daily over the person of the father of our country, as well as over the cause of the civil and religious freedom of the