missioners appointed to the courts of Vienna, Spain, Prussia, and Tuscany, were respectively instructed to assure them that the independence of the United States would be maintained at all hazards; and the Commissioners to France and Spain were directed to promise a declaration of war against the Portuguese Monarch, provided such an event would be agreeable to their Catholic and Christian Majesties.

The refusal of the enemy to abide by the terms of the cartel, which had been settled by Generals Washington and Howe for the exchange of prisoners, in the case of General Lee, their cruelties to the prisoners in general, and the enormities which they every where committed against the persons and properties of innocent individuals, in Jersey and New York, have al ready been spoken of. They not only exasperated the Congress to enter into resolutions of retaliation, but they had a result much more beneficial to the cause of the United States. The people were roused to acts of revenge, and the foraging parties of the enemy were made to feel the consequences of their licentious outrages. With regard to General Lee, the enemy affected to consider him as a deserter from his Britannick Majesty's service, and therefore not entitled to the common privilege of being treated as a prisoner of war. Under this pretence, they refused to receive six Hessian field officers which Washington offered in exchange for him, and made it the plea of confining and guarding him with the utmost severity. This however was only the ostensible motive for retaining Lee; the real one was, his eminent character as a soldier; and the idea that his advice and services were essential to the successful prosecution of their cause by the Americans. They hoped, that this early loss of al

gress, after having passed several resolutions, among which were, one declaring that Washington should not be bound by a majority of voices in a council of war contrary to his own judgment, and another referring to the consideration of the several states the plan for regulating the prices of labour and of goods, adjourned on the 27th of February, to meet again at Philadelphia.

In the mean time Washington continued his head quarters at Morristown, awaiting the movements of General Howe. And though the brilliant achievements of his little band at Trenton and Princeton, had in some measure brightened the gloom which overspread our affairs during the months of November and December, still there seemed to be no disposition in the people to join his standard. His whole force for several months seldom exceeded fifteen hundred men, and there were times when he could not have mustered four hundred, of all descriptions, fit for duty. In this situation had General Howe detached the same force against the Commander in Chief which he sent against General M'Dougall at Peekskill, and which ended only in the destruction of a quantity of stores, he would have given a blow to the American cause, from which it could not soon have recovered. But here, as in many other instances, the ignorance of General Howe, or his failure to profit by the means of intelligence within his power, saved the Republican army, and justified their reliance on the interposition of Providence in their favour. So slow was the operation of the recruiting service in adding to the strength of Washington, that on the 15th of March he had not one thousand men; and so little were the officers, upon whom the duty of enlisting men devolved, influenc

ed by principles of patriotism, or even common honesty, that they made no scruple of embezzling the money entrusted to them for that purpose, and of making false returns of desertions. Even for the troops that were raised, it was found impossible to procure arms, until the fortunate arrival of the vessels from France, supplied them with upwards of twenty thousand stand. In the midst of these difficulties, there seemed to be some danger of a serious altercation between Congress and General Schuyler, in consequence of the dismission of Doctor Stringer from the direction of the medical department of the Northern Army. The resolution which Congress passed upon this subject on the 15th of March will be regarded, at the present day, as a singular compound of dignity and condescension. "Resolved," say they, "That as Congress proceeded to the dismission of Doctor Stringer, upon reasons satisfactory to themselves, General Schuyler ought to have known it to be his duty to have acquiesced therein―That the suggestion in General Schuyler's letter to Congress, that it was a compliment due to him to have been advised of the reasons of Dr. Stringor's dismission, is highly derogatory to the honour of Congress; and that the President be desired to acquaint General Schuyler, that it is expected his letters for the future, be written in a style more suitable to the dignity of the representative body of these free and independent States, and to his own character as their officer. Resolved, that it is altogether improper and inconsistent with the dignity of this Congress, to interfere in disputes subsisting among the officers of the army, which ought to be settled, unless they can be otherwise accommodated, in a court martial, agreeably to the rules of the army; and that the expressions

in General Schuyler's letter of the 4th of February, that he confidently expected Congress would have done him that justice, which it was in their power to give, and which he humbly conceives they ought to have done,' were, to say the least, ill advised and highly indecent." It is a fact which cannot be told without disgrace to the medical profession, that more instances of fraud, incompetence, and neglect of duty, occurred among the Surgeons of our Revolutionary army, than in any other department of the service. No less than four Surgeons of high rank had been dismissed from the service, under the most dishonourable circumstances, at the date of this resolution; and several others had been severely censured by commanding officers, for neglecting those duties which humanity alone, independently of the obligations of their profession, should have taught them most strictly to observe. We should endeavour in vain to account for this dereliction of principle in the members of a profession, which has in every age and every country, furnished some of the noblest ornaments of human nature. The Surgeons may have been badly selected, or the temptations inseparable from the peculiar situations in which they were often placed, may have been too strong to be resisted.

A few days after this the Congress appointed Major General Gates to the command of the Northern

army.

While the American army was at this low ebb, without men, without arms, without money, except the bills of credit, which all the resolutions of Congress could not keep from a daily and enormous depreciation, every thing on the part of the enemy evinced a determination to open the Spring campaign with

more vigour than ever. General Howe, who had received the distinction of knighthood for his victory on Long Island, was ready in March to take the field with an army of twenty seven thousand men, while the whole force at the disposal of Washington was no more than four thousand five hundred, and this a mere nominal amount. What a fearful disparity was this, in a contest for life and liberty; and in a country, where the people seemed to have lost all that high sense of independence and patriotism, which first led them to resist the oppressions of the British Cabinet. Not knowing to what point Sir William might first direct his attention, and unable to provide the means of effectual defence at any one, Washington remained at Morristown patiently waiting the result. Lord Cornwallis, who had continued at Brunswick, made the first movement. He conceived the design of attacking General Lincoln, who was posted at Boundbrook with about five hundred men; and with this view he crossed the Rariton with a party of a thousand men, on the morning of the 13th of April, while General Grant, with a second thousand, advanced up the river on the opposite side. Notwithstanding General Lincoln's cautious measures to guard against a surprise, the neglect of his patroles enabled the enemy to advance within two hundred paces of him before they were discovered. The General's quarters were nearly surrounded by sunrise, and it was with some difficulty and considerable risk that he left the house and joined his troops, who were by this time engaged with the enemy's advance. With such immense disproportion of force it can hardly be said that an action ensued : the troops however displayed much bravery, and General Lincoln deserves infinite credit for effecting a re

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