the citizens ran together in a convention and actually passed a resolution and preamble declaring Independence.

Meanwhile, on the same day as the capture of Ticonderoga, the Colonial Congress convened at Philadelphia. It was a noted assembly. Washington was there and John Adams and Samuel Adams, Franklin and Patrick Henry; Jefferson came soon afterwards. It was a meeting of heroes and patriots. A last appeal was drawn up and sent to the King, telling that monarch that the American colonists, driven by exaction and injustice, had chosen war in preference to slavery.

Early in the session John Adams made an address in the course of which he referred to the necessity of appointing a commander-in-chief for the American army, and noted the qualities requisite in that high officer. The speaker concluded by putting in nomination George Washington, of Virginia. On the mention of his name Washington arose and withdrew from the hall, saying to a friend outside, “I fear that this day will mark the beginning of the downfall of my military reputation." On the 15th of June, two days before the battle of Bunker Hill, the nomination was confirmed by Congress, and the man who had saved the wreck of Braddock's army was called upon to stand between the colonies as a whole and the wrath of the mother country, and to save, possibly to build, a nation.

Washington was at the time of his election as commanderin-chief a little more than forty-three years of age. His reputation was already that of a hero, patriot and statesman. He was out of Virginia-born in Westmoreland County, on the 11th of February (old style), 1732. At the age of eleven he had been left to the sole care of his mother. His education was limited to the common branches of learning; he was not a collegian. Surveying was his favorite study. At the early age of sixteen he had been sent by his uncle to

survey a tract of land in the valley of the South Potomac. His first public duties performed in the service of the Ohio Company, under direction of Governor Dinwiddie, and in the disastrous campaign of Braddock, have already been narrated. With great dignity and diffidence he accepted the appointment of commander-in-chief, and set out to join the army at Cambridge. Henceforth to the end of the war the destinies of the American cause were in the largest measure intrusted to his keeping.

At the very beginning of the session Congress voted to equip an army of twenty thousand men, but the means of doing so were not furnished. Here, for the first time, we note the essential vice of that confederative plan of government with which the history of the American people as a nation begins. The raising of revenue, the furnishing of supplies, the payment of levies, and all things included in this important branch of administration, were left to the individual States. Congress, under the existing compact, had no right to collect revenues or gather the supplies requisite for the prosecution of the war. Throughout the revolutionary struggle both Congress and the general of the armies were constantly hampered and impeded by this fatal defect in that system of administration which went by the name of government, but was in reality no government at all.

On taking command of the army at Cambridge, Washington found himself at the head of a force of fourteen thousand five hundred volunteers; but they were undisciplined and insubordinate. Worse than this, they did not for the most part desire to be disciplined or to become subordinate. The spirit of individuality and localism was rampant. The supplies of war were almost wholly wanting. But the army was soon organized and arranged in three divisions. The right wing was assigned to General Artemas Ward and stationed at Roxbury. The left was put under command

of General Charles Lee and given position at Prospect Hill. The center under the commander-in-chief lay at Cambridge. After Bunker Hill the British held possession of Boston, including the Charlestown Peninsula; but the patriots yielded no inch of their ground, and soon returned to the siege of the city. The imvestment was made with vigor and determination, and the British generals soon found themselves cooped up with no prospect of free campaigns or success in the open field.

The King's authority was very soon overthrown in all the colonies. In most of them there was little resistance to the popular movement. In Virginia the governor, Lord Dunmore, after being driven from office, proclaimed freedom to the slaves, and raised a force of loyalists and inaugurated civil war; but he was soon defeated by the patriots in an engagement near Norfolk. By the autumn of 1775 the royal officers were all expelled, and popular governments on the republican plan instituted in every one of the thirteen colonies.

It was expected by the Americans that Canada would make common cause with the rest, but this expectation was doomed to disappointment. In the hope of encouraging the people of that province to renounce the mother country and take up arms, Generals Schuyler and Montgomery were ordered to proceed against St. Johns and Montreal. The former fort was reached on the 10th of September, and General Montgomery succeeded at length in capturing it from the British garrison. Montreal was invested shortly afterwards, and on the 13th of November was obliged to capitu. late. General Montgomery in the next place marched with three hundred men against Quebec. In the meantime Colonel Benedict Arnold had set out for the same destination with a thousand men drawn from the army at Cambridge. After a march of untold hardship and suffering that daring

commander reached the St. Lawrence and climbed to the Plains of Abraham above Quebec. At Point aux Trembles he was joined by Montgomery, who as the senior officer took command. The whole force fit for effective duty did not now exceed nine hundred men, so greatly had they suffered. Quebec, in addition to being a place of great natural and artificial strength, was defended by greatly su perior numbers. Yet for three weeks with his mere handful of troops Montgomery besieged the town, and finally staked everything on the issue of an assault.

Before daybreak of the 31st of December, 1775, the first division of the Americans, led by Montgomery in person, attacked the Lower Town. The second column, under Arnold, attempted to storm the Prescott gate. As Montgomery's men were rushing forward a masked battery before them burst forth with a storm of grapeshot, and at the first discharge Montgomery fell dead. The men, heartbroken at the loss of their leader, retreated and made their way to Wolfe's Cove, above the city.

Arnold had meanwhile, by extraordinary daring, fought his way into the Lower Town; but while leading a charge he was severely wounded and borne to the rear. Captain Morgan assumed command, and not knowing the fate of Montgomery, pressed on through the narrow streets until he was ovewhelmed and compelled to surrender. Arnold with the remnant of his forces retired to a point three miles above the city. The small-pox broke out in the camp; Quebec was strengthened; and in the following June the Americans evacuated Canada. The event fixed the destiny of the northern province. The Canadians remained in allegiance to the British crown, and Canada was used as a base of operations by the British in the further prosecution of the war.

CHAPTER XIV.

Now came the King's answer to the appeal of Congress. The petitions of the colonies were rejected with contempt. George III. and his minister planted themselves in a position from which there was no retreat. The issue was made up. Subjugation was the method deliberately adopted by the British government with respect to the American colonies. By this policy and by the tyrannical answer of the King the day of Independence was brought near, even to the door.

After Bunker Hill, General Howe succeeded Gage in the command of the British forces of Boston. All winter long the city was besieged by Washington, and by the opening of spring, 1776, he felt himself strong enough to risk an assault; but the officers of his staff were of a different opinion, and a less hazardous plan was adopted. It was resolved instead of the direct assault to seize Dorchester Heights, gain a position from which the American batteries might command the city, and thus drive Howe out of Boston.

For two days the attention of the British was drawn by a constant fire from the American guns. Then, on the night of the 4th of March, a strong detachment was thrown forward under cover of the darkness and reached the Heights of Dorchester unperceived. The British gained no hint of the movement until morning; but with the coming of light, Howe perceived at a glance that he was suddenly thrown on the defensive and that he must immediately carry the American position or abandon the city. He accordingly