He ordered General Lee to cross the Hudson, and join him with those of his troops whose time of service was not expiring; but General Lee loitered upon the east side of the river, and discovered an ardent inclination to retain a separate command in the rear of the enemy. He in repeated messages informed Lee, that his joining was of absolute necessity, that the people of Jersey expected security from the American army; and if disappointed, they would yield no support to a force that did not protect them, and cautioned him to take his route so high in the country, as to avoid the danger of being intercepted by the enemy. These orders General Lee executed in a reluctant and tardy manner, and soon after he entered New Jersey, carelessly taking his quarters for a night in a house three miles from his force, he was surprized and taken prisoner by a detachment of British dragoons. General Washington also renewed his letters to Congress, and to the executives of the neighbouring states, urging them to bring the whole strength of the militia into the field, to enable him to check the progress of the invading foe. To back these requests, he directed General Mifflin to repair to Philadelphia, General Armstrong to the interior of Pennsylvania, and Colonel Reed, his adjutant general, to the distant counties of New Jersey. The known influence of these gentlemen in those places, united to the exertions of the constituted authorities, would, the General hoped, bring a powerful reinforcement to his army. All these efforts were for the present time ineffectual,

As General Howe advanced, the American army retreated towards the Delaware. It frequently happened, that the front guard of the British entered one end of a village, as the rear of the Americans quitted the other. Whenever it could be done with safety, General Washington made a stand, to shew the semblance of an army, and to retard the progress of the enemy.

At Brunswick, Lord and General Howe, commissioners, issued a proclamation, commanding all persons in arms against the King, peaceably to return to their homes, and all civil officers to desist from their treasonable practices; and offering a full pardon to all persons, who should in sixty days appear before appointed officers of the crown, and subscribe a declaration of their submission to royal authority.

DEC.] This was the most gloomy period of the revolutionary war. It was the crisis of the struggle of the United States for independence. The American army, reduced in numbers, depressed by defeat and exhausted, by fatigue, naked, barefoot, and destitute of tents, and even of utensils, with which to dress their scanty provisions, was fleeing before a triumphant army, well appointed and abundantly supplied. A general spirit of despondency through New Jersey was the consequence of this disastrous state of public affairs. No city or town indeed, in its incorporate capacity, submitted to the British government. A few characters of distinction maintained their political integrity; and nearly a thousand of the militia of the state bravely kept the field

in defence of their country. But most of the families of fortune and influence, discovered an inclination to return to their allegiance to the King. Many of the yeomanry claimed the benefits of the commissioners' proclamation; and the great body of them were too much taken up with the security of their families and their property, to make any exertion in the public cause.

In this worst of times Congress stood unmoved. Their measures exhibited no symptoms of confusion or dismay, the public danger only roused them to more vigorous exertions, that they might give a firmer tone to the public mind, and animate the citizens of United America to a manly defence of their independence.

Beneath this cloud of adversity, General Washington shone, perhaps, with a brighter lustre than in the day of his highest prosperity. Not dismayed by all the dificulties which encompassed him, he accommodated his measures to his situation, and still made the good of his country the object of his unwearied pursuit. He ever wore the countenance of composure and confidence; by his own example inspiring his little band with firmness to struggle with adverse fortune,

DEC. 8.] As the British advanced upon him he retreated; and having previously broken down the bridges on the Jersey shore, he crossed the Delaware, and secured the boats upon the river for a distance of seventy miles. The van of the enemy appeared upon the left bank of the Delaware, while the rear of the American army was upon its passage.

After an unsuccessful attempt to procure boats to pass the Delaware, General Howe cantoned his army in New Jersey, intending to wait until the frost of winter should furnish him with an easy passage upon the ice to Philadelphia. He stationed four thousand men along the Delaware at Trenton, Bordentown, the White Horse, and Burlington; and the residue of his force he posted between the Delaware and the Hackensack.

General Washington ordered the American. gallies to keep the river, narrowly to watch the enemy, and to give the earliest notice of their movements. He posted his troops upon the south side of the Delaware, in situations the most favourable to guard the fords and ferries; and he gave written instructions to the commanding officer of each detachment, directing what passes he should defend, if driven from his post, on his retreat to the heights of Germantown. While waiting for reinforcements, he kept a steady eye on the enemy, and used every means in his power to gain correct information of their plans. This moment of inaction he also embraced, to lay before Congress his reiterated remonstrancesagainst the fatal system of short inlistments. He hoped that experience, by its severe chastisement, would produce the conviction upon that body, which his arguments and persuasions had not fully effected.

DEC. 20.] He urged Congress to establisin corps of cavalry, artillerists, and engineers, and pressed upon them the necessity of establishing additional regiments of infantry. He knew that objections to these measures would arise on ac

count of the expence, and from the consideration that the old battalions were not yet filled; these he obviated, by observing, that "more men would in this way on the whole be raised, and that our funds were not the only object now to be taken into consideration. We find," he added, "that the enemy are daily gathering strength from the disaffected. This strength, like a snowball, by rolling will increase, unless some means can be devised to check, effectually, the progress of the enemy's arms: militia may possibly do it for a little while; but in a little while also, the militia of these states, which have frequently been called upon, will not turn out at call; or if they do, it will be with so much reluctance and sloth, as to amount to the same thing: instance New Jersey ! Witness Pennsylvania! Could any thing but the river Delaware have saved Philadelphia? Could any thing (the exigency of the case indeed may justify it) be more destructive to the recruiting service, than giving ten dollars bounty for six weeks' service of the militia, who come in, you cannot tell how, go you cannot tell when, and act, you cannot tell where.....consume your provisions, exhaust your stores, and leave you at last at a critical moment. These are the men I am to depend upon ten days hence. This is the basis on which your cause will, and must for ever depend, till you get a large standing army, sufficient of itself to oppose the enemy."

With deference, he suggested to Congress the expediency of enlarging his own powers, that he might execute important measures without con