ful to raise the veil, and to dissipate those pleasing illusions, cherished from childhood, towards every eminent actor in the revolutionary struggle, which have ripened into a sentiment little short of personal attachment, more especially when the person inculpated is General Putnam.

Of some of these individuals, political differences have tinged the character with its baneful hues, and the merit of winning national independence has been forgotten, orthrown far into the shade by the more prominent interests which have since agitated the commonwealth; but the claims of Putnam stand alone upon his military achievements, and the story of his wondrous perils, and of his eminent prowess, is intermingled with, and has become a part of our national romance, so that we cannot endure that even the truth should lessen aught of the brightness of his glory. His rustic manners, and his imperfect education, have rather added to his reputation with the people, delighted to approximate him to themselves, and to appropriate a part of his fame; and he is associated in their minds with the rural consuls and dictators of uncorrupted Rome; but higher duties are to be fulfilled than to gratify national pride, and the story of the revolution is but half told when those difficulties are concealed, which were encountered and overcome by the men who achieved the liberty of their country.

The consequences of the delays which had been interposed in reinforcing the army were soon and sadly felt.— The fall of Fort Mifflin was a prelude to the evacuation of Red Bank. A reinforcement from New-York, enabled Cornwallis, with a detachment of two thousand men, to cross the river; from the procrastination in forming a junction with Glover's brigade, then on their march through the Jersies, General Greene found himself too weak to intercept his adversary, and on the night of the twentieth of November, after the waste of so many lives, the water guard was destroyed, and the defences of the Delaware fell into

the hands of the enemy.* Howe, strengthened by the succours which now reached him, was enabled to hold possession of Philadelphia during the ensuing winter, "though just before the reduction of the forts, he balanced upon the point of quitting that city."

A letter from General Washington to congress, of the tenth of December, in which he mentions the movement of the enemy to Chestnut Hill, and their sudden retreat, expresses "a regret that they had not come to an engagement." This retreat was unquestionably owing to a discovery of the increased strength of the Americans. From this may be inferred Howe's condition at that moment, and it justifies the conclusion, that a prompt obedience to the orders conveyed by Hamilton, on the parts of Gates and Putnam, would not only have saved the defences of the river, so long and gallantly maintained, but by enabling the Americans to take a strong position in the vicinity of Red Bank, would have cut off the communication between the British army and fleet, and fulfilling Washington's prophecy, Howe would have been reduced to the situation of Burgoyne, thus probably terminating the war in the second year of our independence.†

* A very elaborate and able letter, August, 1777, discussing at great length the nature of the river defence proper to be adopted, is on file at Washington, in the handwriting of Hamilton.

The conduct of Putnam, on this occasion, entered deeply into the breast of Washington; and we find him, in a letter from Valley Forge, dated March 6, 1778, thus expressing himself, in reference to the command at Rhode Island: << They also know with more certainty than I do, what will be the determination of congress respecting General Putnam; and, of course, whether the appointment of him to such a command as that at Rhode Island would fall within their views. It being incumbent on me to observe, that with such materials as I am furnished, the work must go on,—whether well or ill is another matter.— If, therefore, he and others are not laid aside, they must be placed where they can least injure the service."

CHAPTER VII.

[1777.]

THE history of the Revolution, as it has usually been told, is full of the marvellous. It is the portraiture of a civil conflict without vices or intrigues; the narrative of a league without refractory members.

Three millions of people have been represented as bursting from the bondage of Great Britain, and submitting without a question to the mild control of a government of their own choice; and the curious inquirer, looking for the usual play of the passions which marks the conduct of men under such circumstances, has been asked to believe that, in this instance, all former experience was false; that the sudden assumption of political rights was unattended with abuse, and that in America, resistance to oppression clothed all the leaders of the opposition with more than human virtues.

Yielding to this pleasing illusion, and pointing to the light bonds of the confederacy, it has been inferred that man can dispense with government, and that here at last has been found that which the wildest enthusiast hardly dared to hope, a state of society where "men created free and equal," require nothing more to make them virtuous and happy.

Without examining the premises from which this inference is derived, reason and the experience of this country prove the falsity of the conclusion; and it is believed, that a true narrative of the twelve years which preceded the adoption of the present constitution of the United States, would show, that never did a people placed under circumstances so propitious to their well-being incur more unne

cessary suffering, privation, and wrong than the American; and that this is chiefly attributable to the jealousy of power which was encouraged by demagogues, and to the feebleness of the league whose powers they often arbitrarily administered.

These false appearances have been assumed to amuse the public mind; and in the emulation of flattery, truth in all its just proportions has been excluded from the view.

The glory which the two first congresses shed upon the revolution seems to have dazzled every judgment as to the conduct of their successors; and instead of those salutary lessons which are to be derived from their errors and misconduct, the freedom of history has been restrained, and those lights and shades which form part of every picture in which man is exhibited, are merged in a general blaze of indiscriminate admiration.

He will approach nearer to the truth, who while he represents the American people at first earnestly hoping a reconciliation with Great Britain, then angered by her menaces, and exasperated by her measures of coercion, entering upon the contest, stimulated by a sudden and intense desire of independence, as the only refuge,-in its progress sometimes doubting, often misled, but always true to their principles, and in all the ordinary features of their character raised and exalted, shows that they were sustained throughout this arduous struggle by the eminent qualities and preeminent popularity of one man, aided by the enlightened counsels of a few virtuous friends, who seemed raised up by providence to establish a great nation.

Among the arts of a later period, it has been contended as an evidence of the virtues of the times, but for the purpose of shielding individual misconduct, that Washington's course was unimpeded by opposition; and that a man raised far above his cotemporaries, and resting on the support of a body as variable as the congress of the confederation, was