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CHAP. tion became known by the capture of a correspondence on the subject. The vessel on board of which Henry Laurens, 1780. the American Minister to Holland, had sailed, was captured by an English frigate. Laurens threw the papers overboard, but an English sailor leaped into the water and recovered them.

Laurens was descended from one of the many Huguenot families that sought an asylum in South Carolina; nor did he belie the nobleness of his ancestry. He was taken to England and confined a close prisoner in the Tower of London, on a charge of high treason, plied with inducements to desert his country's cause, but without avail. He stood firm, and was finally liberated, to proceed to Paris, there to aid in negotiating a treaty with England herself, on behalf of his country, which had fought its way to independence.

The British ministry demanded that this correspondence should be disavowed, but. the States-General, with their usual coolness, gave an evasive answer. England declared war immediately, and her fleet exhibited their thirst for plunder by entering at once on a foray against the commerce of Holland throughout the world.

England now had reason to be alarmed at surrounding dangers. Spain joined France, and their combined fleets far outnumbered hers in the West Indies. Holland declared war against her, while nearer home there was danger. Eighty thousand Irishmen had volunteered to repel a threatened invasion from France; but now these volunteers, with arms in their hands, were clamoring against the oppression that England exercised over their industry and commerce, and threatened to follow the example of the American colonies in not using British manufactures ; and, what was still more ominous, demanded that the Irish Parliament should be independent of English control. The whole world was affected by these struggles. Spain sent her ships to prey upon English commerce, and

THE ENERGY OF ENGLAND,

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an army to besiege the English garrison at Gibraltar. CHAP. France had armies against her in America and in India-both aiding rebellious subjects. To meet these over- 1780. whelming powers, England put forth gigantic efforts. We must admire the indomitable spirit, that steady energy, with which she repelled her enemies, and held the world at bay.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

WAR OF THE REVOLUTION-CONTINUED.

The Spirit of Revolt among the Soldiers.-Arnold ravages the Shores of the Chesapeake.--Battle of the Cowpens.-Morgan retreats; Cornwallis pursues.-Greene marches South.-Lee scatters the Tories.-Battle of Guildford Court House.--Conflict at Hobkirk's Hill.--The Execution of Hayne.-Battle of Eutaw Springs.-Plans to Capture New York.— Wayne's Daring at the James River.-National Finances.-Robert Morris.-French and American Armies on the Hudson.-Clinton deceived.-Combined Armies beyond the Delaware.-French Fleet in the Chesapeake.--Cornwallis in the Toils.-The Attack; Surrender of the Brit ish Army and Navy.-Thanksgivings.

CHAP. THE last year of the struggle for Independence opened, XXXVII. as had all the others, with exhibitions of distress among 1781. the soldiers. The regiments of the Pennsylvania line, encamped for the winter near Morristown, grew impatient at the indifference of Congress to their necessities. In truth, that body was more or less distracted by factions, and made no special efforts to relieve the wants of the soldiers. Thirteen hundred of these men, indignant at Jan. such neglect, broke out in open revolt, and under the command of their sergeants, marched off toward Philadel phia, to lay their complaints before Congress.

1.

General Wayne, to prevent their pillaging, sent after them provisions; he himself soon followed, and urged them to return to their duty. The sergeants, at his instance, proposed to send a deputation to Congress, and to the Pennsylvania Assembly, but the soldiers refused to

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entertain the proposition, and persisted in going them- CHAP. selves. Though thus mutinous, they scorned the thought

of turning "Arnolds," as they expressed it, but promptly 1781. arrested as spies two Tory emissaries sent by Sir Henry Clinton to tamper with their fidelity. These emissaries were soon after hanged. Wayne in his zeal placed himself before the mutineers and cocked his pistols. In an instant their bayonets were at his breast. They besought him not to fire, saying: "We love, we respect you, but you are a dead man if you fire. Do not mistake us; we are not going to the enemy; were they now to come out you would see us fight under your orders, with as much resolution and alacrity as ever." "

Intelligence of this revolt excited great alarm in Philadelphia. Congress sent a committee, which was accompanied by Reed, the President of Pennsylvania, to meet the insurgents and induce them to return to their duty. The committee proposed to relieve their present wants, to give them certificates for the remainder of their pay, and to indemnify them for the loss they had sustained by the depreciation of the continental money. Permission was also given to those who had served three years to withdraw from the army. On these conditions the soldiers returned to the ranks. When offered a reward for delivering up the British emissaries sent to corrupt them, they refused it, saying: "We ask no reward for doing our duty to our country."

The discontent spread. Three weeks after this affair, the New Jersey line also revolted; but that was suppressed by a strong hand in a few days. So much discontent in the army spread consternation throughout the country; not, however, without a salutary effect. The patriots were awakened to make greater exertions to provide for the necessities of the soldiers. Their self-denials, labors, and sufferings had been too long overlooked.

Urgent demands were now sent to all the States,

XXXVII.

CHAP, especially those of New England, to furnish the army with the proper necessaries. To encourage enlistments, 1781 some of the States promised to provide for the families of the soldiers, and Congress endeavored to obtain a foreign loan.

Arnold, as the reward of his treachery, received fifty thousand dollars, and the commission of brigadier-general in the British army. Lost to shame, he put forth a

66 Proclamation to the officers and soldiers of the Continental Army." He contrasted their privations and want of pay with the comforts and full pay of the British soldiers, and offered every man who should desert to the royal cause, fifteen dollars as a bounty, and full pay thereafter. The "proclamation" had no other effect than to increase the detestation in which the soldiers held the traitor.

Clinton sent Arnold with sixteen hundred men, British and Tories, to ravage the coasts of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson, who was then governor, called out the militia Jan, to defend Richmond; but only about two hundred men

could be raised, and with great difficulty most of the public stores were removed. After Arnold had taken possession of the town, he proposed to spare it, if permitted to bring up the ships and load them with the tobacco found in the place. Jefferson promptly rejected the proposition. Arnold destroyed a great amount of private property, burned the public buildings, and some private dwellings. He then dropped down the river, landing occasionally to burn and destroy.

Baron Steuben, who was at this time in Virginia enlisting soldiers for Greene's army, had not an adequate force to repel the invaders. Washington sent to his aid Lafayette, with twelve hundred men, principally from New England and Jersey. They hoped to capture Arnold. On the same errand, two French ships of war contrived to enter the Chesapeake. Soon after, the whole