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CROSSING THE DELAWARE.

behind the destiny of America did the genius for compromise of Rocking ham, and even the inspirations of Burke lag.

In the Camp of our Enemies.-The good news of the defeat of the rebels had thrown the king and his coterie into ecstasies, and with a facility which royalty can command in manufacturing titles for its favorites-equalled only by republics in multiplying money for monopolists, by the printing-press-a new patent for a higher grade of nobility had been struck for the bastard uncle of the sovereign of the British Empire, in recognition of his military achievements in 'snuffing out' the flickering light of a new republic. The messenger from the court arrived. New York-now become the court city of the

Western world-blazed with all its ostentatious illuminations. Officers of the king would assist as 'performers of plays at the theatre, for the benefit of the widows and children, and sufferers by the war. The markets were well supplied; balls were given to satiety; and the dulness of evening parties was dispelled by the faro-table, where subalterns competed with their superiors, and ruined themselves by play. Howe fired his sluggish nature by wine and good cheer; his mistress spent his money prodigally, but the continuance of the war promised him a great fortune. As the fighting was over, Cornwallis sent his baggage on board the packet for England,' etc.

On the Ice of the Delaware.-The plan of Washington was admirably conceived, but no part of it was completely executed except by himself in person. With an almost superhuman discernment he chose among his general officers, Greene, Sullivan, Stirling, and Mercer, and of field officers, Stark of New Hampshire, Webb of Connecticut, Hand of Philadelphia, Knox and Glover of Massachusetts, William Washington and James Munroe of Virginia, and Alexander Hamilton of New York. The company numbered twenty-four hundred picked men, 'ready, every devil of them,'-as Hamilton afterwards said to his then friend Aaron Burr,-'ready to storm hell's battlements in the night.' On the afternoon of the twenty-seventh of December, these crusaders of freedom began their march-every man carrying forty rounds of cartridges, and three days' rations. The eighteen fieldpieces by a brisk movement' struck the river before dark. The current was sullen and dark with grinding ice-cakes. Who leads the embarkation ?' spoke out the Commander-in-Chief. Marblehead,' was the low, determined answer from some sailor-soldiers of Massachusetts. Just then up rode a courier from Col. Reed, saying that neither Putnam nor the troops from Bristol could reach them. The next instant the daring Wilkinson came dashing up. He was not expected. 'How did you trace us?'—' Easily, by the blood-tracks of the boys over the snow. Another messenger, who had in some way got across the river, rushed up to Washington and whispered— 'Rall believes no reports of our approach-he is in his usual revels.' The word came from a man who could be trusted-it was believed. 'All hands over no v, gentlemen-orderly, quick, silent, sure.'

THE NIGHT VICTORY AT TRENTON.

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The Weather that Night on the Delaware.-Thomas Rodney knew all about it. He said: 'It was as severe a night as I ever saw.' The ice was gathering thicker-the wind from the northeast was charged with sleet and edged with frost, and for ten hours the great company kept up their steady struggle-unwavering, orderly, vigilant, strong. Before any of the blackness of night had showed signs of a dawning, the last cannon had been dragged to level ground on the Jersey shore, and the column began its march of nine miles down the river to Trenton. It was a bewildering tempest-snow, sleet, hail and howling wind all mingled wildly in a driving winter storm. After a hard march of three or four miles, Sullivan led one division along the bank of the river, and Washington the other by another nearly parallel road. The two columns now pressed on through the night and storm. A messenger from Sullivan said: 'Our ammunition is wet'-'Back to your General and say: We will use only bayonets to-night. We must take the town.' The stirring tale has been told ten thousand times. It is all said in a few words. Washington's party from the Pennington road drove in the pickets from one quarter; Stark, who led Sullivan's van, sent back a loud cheer from a distance as they drove in the pickets near the river; a hastily roused company from the barracks gave way to the unexpected charge, and fled with yagers and dragoons across the bridge over the little Assanpink stream which divides the town. Sullivan flanked them and cut off their retreat, while Washington, holding his division compact, moved steadily but rapidly through King and Queen streets-ever after called Warren and Greene-and at meeting in the concerted spot were forming in line of battle, when the Hessian commander, roused from his last night's debauch, cried out from his horse, which he just managed to mount, Advance-forward march,'-the soul of the soldier struggling to speak through the drunkard. It was quick work. Rall suddenly sobered by the cutting air, and bleaching terror, tried to atone for the surprise. He attempted to rally his forces, and bring them into action. All the time the Americans were pouring in their well-regulated fire with the steadiness of old troops, and the few Hessians who stood their ground were returning it. Washington's horse was shot, but the night victory was won. A musket ball sent Rall reeling from his saddle. His aide at once rode up to Washington with his proffered sword-Sir, the Hessians have surrendered.' The retreat of the terrible Knyphausen regiment' was cut off by Lord Stirling, and they yielded on condition of retaining their side-arms and private' baggage.

After the Battle.-It had lasted thirty-five minutes. Only seventeen Hessians had fallen dead, but nine hundred and forty-six had surrendered as prisoners of war. Six brass field-pieces, twelve hundred small arms, with all the colors of the enemy, were among the trophies of the victory. But the fruits of the battle could be secured only by placing the barricade of the Delaware once more between the patriots and the enemy. The rest of the night was consumed in recrossing the river, and before the daylight lit up the

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WASHINGTON AT RALL'S DEATH-BED.

still stormy heavens, the last transport had landed the last patriot soldier, with the spoils and prisoners of war on the Pennsylvania side. The icecraunching flood of the river rolled on, no matter now, how dark. Even the bodies of the only two patriots who were killed in the battle were brought over, with those of the only two also who had frozen to death.

Washington and Greene at Rall's Deathbed.—After the surrender Washington had inquired for the Hessian commander. He was a brave soldier,' said the general to Greene. 'Let us look in on him, for it seems that his campaigns are over.' They were shown to his dying-bed in a neighboring house. With a heart overflowing with generous emotions, in that hour of triumph, the American chief offered the brave Rall those consolations which a soldier and a Christian can bestow. This kindness and attention from his conqueror soothed the agonies of the expiring hero.1

There will be no space for saying so much about any other battle of the American Revolution, for the simple reason that no one was to follow it which would be attended with such great results. Its importance is not to be measured by the number of prisoners-least of all by the roll of the wounded or dead on either side. But if the reader fixes the following facts in his mind, he will gain some faint idea of the reason why this night battle borrowed from the circumstances which attended it, such wonderful significance. Glance at a few points.

First. It displayed qualities of generalship which made our enemies dread the patriot commander. Ever after, the sneer was left out when they men tioned his name. Second. It reversed the judgment of European statesmen on the prospects of our success, and this made it easier to gain allies to our cause. Third. It nerved the arm of every American in every future battle. Fourth. It showed Washington in his true character as a bold, and yet prudent commander-an original and daring general, and yet a safe leader. Ever after he was the beloved and trusted man of the army. Fifth. The statesmen of the country saw that in his counsels there was victory—that he alone could make good the Declaration of the Fourth of July. The result we know. It is, indeed, hardly necessary to recount subsequent military events with any minuteness of detail. Around Washington the chief reliances of the people began to cluster. His name became a charmed name. From that hour, men, who never saw him, began to love him. And from

1 Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution, vol. ii., p. 22.

This painstaking historian also furnishes the following incidents connected with the last hours of Rall's life :Col. Rall and his troops were, as Washington supposed they would be, yet under the influence of a night's carousal after the Christmas holiday. On the morning of the battle, Rall was at the house of Abraham Hunt, who traded with friend and foe. Hunt was some times suspected of being a Tory, but never of being a true Whig. He had invited Col. Rall and others to a Christmas supper at his house. Cards were introduced, and play continued throughout the night, accompanied with wine-drinking. A negro servant was kept as a sort of porter and warden at the door. Just at dawn a messenger came in haste with a note to Col. Rall, sent by a Tory on the Pennington road, who had dis

covered the approach of the Americans. The negro refused admittance to the messenger, saying, 'The gemman can't be disturbed.' The bearer knew the importance of the note, and handing it to the negro, or dered him to carry it immediately to Col. Rall. Excited by wine, and about to deal, the Colonel thrust the note into his pocket. Like the Theban polemarch, who, in the midst of a convivial party, on receiving de spatches relative to a conspiracy, refused to open them, saying, 'Business to-morrow,' Rall did not look at the message, but continued his amusement. Soon after wards the roll of the American drums fell upon his ear. The rattle of musketry, the rumble of heavy gun-carriages, and the tramp of horses aroused his appre hensions, and by the time he could fly to his quarters and mount his horse, the Americans were driving his soldiers before them like chaff.

HOW ROBERT MORRIS RAISED MONEY.

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that Christmas night, in which he struck the grand blow at Trenton, and in an almost bloodless battle won such fadeless laurels for freedom, he became linked in the minds of discerning men with another, and a far more exalted Being, whose birth was heralded on the plains of Bethlehem as the Prince of Peace. It is not irreverent to mention these two beloved names together. We only catch the refrain of the note we struck in THE OPENING in these words: I hold firmly to the belief, that George Washington and his companions, with the Declaration of Independence in their hands, are destined to accomplish for the political redemption of mankind, what Jesus Christ and his Apostles, with the Gospel, have achieved for man's spiritual elevation.' From the night which in seventeen hundred and seventy-six, followed the anniversary of the natal day of the Man of Nazareth we date the event which introduced a new era in the history of human liberty.

Washington crosses the Delaware again, and fixes his Headquarters at Trenton. The field of a battle won, belongs to the victor. Having secured the immediate fruits of his victory, Washington again passed the Delaware, and established his headquarters at Trenton. His resources were lean, his

army was still small; and yet within five days one-half of it would melt back into the towns and scattered settlements from whence it had been gathered: the terms of enlistment would expire-sad words, but not to be repeated so often hereafter, since a national army was to be organized, on which the commanding general could rely. Encumbered as Washington's victorious men were with a thousand prisoners, and nearly disabled as most of them were by exposure for forty hours to a blinding storm, in the cutting hail and the bitterest cold, with little food, no rest, all frost-bitten, and some of them frozen to death, prudence would seem to have dictated repose. But to Washington's heroic spirit there was now no safety but in daring-no salvation but in a still more desperate movement. He was too feeble to expose

his weakness. It was safer to defy the enemy, than to appear to dread him. In this extreme emergency, one reliance upon which Washington secretly depended, did not fail. In anticipation of the term of the enlistment of the New England regiments coming to an end, he made an appeal of the deepest earnestness to his friend Robert Morris, who had already contributed generous aid, for further and instant assistance. Pennsylvania had promised bounties to her undisciplined volunteers if they would remain six weeks longer, and Washington now pledged his personal honor to the Eastern veterans for the same terms; 'with one voice they instantly gave their word to do so, making no stipulations of their own.' The paymaster's last dollar was gone. No promise of Congress to pay money could any longer inspire confidence, and the printed currency was no longer current. Money must be had. Washington, Stark, and other officers pledged their own fortunes. But this could not work the miracle of hard cash at the instant. If it be possible, sir,' wrote the Commander-in-chief, 'to give us assistance, do it; borrow money while it can be done; we are doing it upon our private credit. Every man of interest,

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WASHINGTON CLOTHED WITH NEW AUTHORITY.

every lover of his country, must strain his credit upon such an occasion. No time, my dear sir, is to be lost.' "Then it was that Robert Morris not only evinced his faith in the success of the patriot cause, and his own love of country, but he tested the strength of his credit and mercantile honor. The sum was large, and the requirement seemed almost impossible to meet. Government credit was low, but confidence in Robert Morris was unbounded. On leaving his office, musing upon how he should obtain the money, he met a wealthy Quaker, and said, 'I want money for the use of the army.' 'Robert, what security can'st thou give,' asked the Quaker. My note and my honor,' promptly replied Morris. Thou shalt have it,' as promptly responded the lender.'" In a few hours the sum of fifty thousand dollars, in hard money, was in Washington's hands, and the man who never broke his word through a life time, had redeemed his pledge.

1

Congress nobly meets the Emergency.—Its decisive action was the more to be praised, for it was in the midst of the gloomiest forebodings that they had adjourned to Baltimore; and on the very day the victory of Trenton was being won, they had appointed Richard Henry Lee, and Samuel Adams a committee to report what action should be had in the solemn crisis. On the following day Congress determined that, 'having maturely considered the present crisis, and having perfect reliance on the wisdom, vigor, and uprightness of General Washington, resolved that, in addition to the eighty-eight battalions to be furnished by the separate States, he shall, as the General of the United States, raise, organize, and officer sixteen battalions of infantry, three thousand light horsemen, three regiments of artillery, and a corps of engineers.' The general, thus made in fact what he had hitherto been only by courtesy-Commander-in-chief,-could enlist men from the whole country; displace all incompetent officers, and commission new ones under the rank of brigadier-generals; filling vacancies, and appropriating necessaries for the use of the army at a just appraisal.

Washington not a Dictator.-This action was misunderstood at the time, and has been misunderstood ever since. Congress was accused by the Tories of America, and by our enemies in Europe, of creating a dictator; and this was so persistently reiterated, that the cause of Republicanism itself was seriously hurt. But Congress meant to confer no such honors, nor did Washington so understand it. Even where he arrested disaffected persons, as any commanding general in actual warfare always may, he was required to account to the civil authorities of the States where they belonged. To this grant of powers, not before conferred, Washington immediately replied: All my

1 Robert Morris was a native of England, where he was born in 1733. He came to America in 1744, and became a merchant's clerk in Philadelphia. By the force of industry, energy, and good character, he rose to the station of one of the first merchants of his time. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was active as a public financier throughout the war. Towards its close-1781-he was instru

mental in establishing a national bank. After the war he was a state legislator, and Washington wished him to be his first Secretary of the Treasury, but he declined it. By land speculations he lost his fortune, and died in comparative poverty, in May, 1806, when a little more than seventy years of age.-Lossing's His. of the U. S., p. 263.