our informant, that, in the hottest of the fight, a row-boat came from the shore, manned with four boys, who placed themselves directly under the stern of his ship, and fired incessantly into her. His officer of marines, calling his attention to these juvenile assailants, exclaimed, "Captain, do you see those d-d young rebels?-shall we fire upon them?" "No-no"-cried the brave old Boileau, "don't hurt the boys; let them break the cabin windows."

In the heat of the engagement, the attention of many among the innumerable spectators who lined the shores of the Delaware, was diverted from the novel spectacle of a naval combat, by a militia major, who rode at full speed among them, threw himself from his horse, which he let loose among the crowd, and entreated to be put on board of one of the gallies. With much difficulty, he persuaded two men to put off in a boat with him. He steered directly for the galley nearest the enemy, and, as soon as he reached her deck, stationed himself at a gun. The cartridges failed:-cartridge paper was called for to make a supply, but it was all expended:-the gallant major instantly pulled off his boots, cut off their feet, filled them with powder, and rammed them into his gun. When he returned home,

he boasted that he had not only been in the engagement, but had fired his boots at the enemy.

In July, 1776, Mr. Read signed the Declaration of Independence. Whatever diversity of opinion may have existed in relation to the time of adopting this measure, the strictest union was preserved when its immediate necessity was impressed upon the minds of the minority. The glory of the enterprise in which they had embarked, appeared the same to all, and all regarded independence as the only security of peace and liberty. With them, peace and liberty were indissolubly connected; " et nomen pacis dulce est, et ipsa res salutaris: sed inter pacem et servitutem plurimum interest: pax est tranquilla libertas, servitus malorum omnium postremum; non modo bello, sed morte etiam repellendum."* Such were the sentiments of our forefathers, and, in the fruits of their wisdom, we enjoy the repose of liberty, and they have merited and obtained a high and noble station among the heroes and patriots of the world.

Soon after the Declaration of Independence, Joseph Galloway observed to Mr. Read that he had

*Cicero. Oratio in M. Antonium. 652. The very name of peace is sweet, and is in itself a blessing; yet who would confound peace and slavery? Peace is the repose of liberty; slavery the worst of ills;-worse than war, or death itself.

signed it with a halter about his neck: Mr. Read replied that it was a measure demanded by the crisis, and he was prepared to meet any consequences that might ensue.

In September, 1776, he was president of the convention which formed the first constitution of Delaware. In the autumn of 1777, he was compelled to assume the arduous and responsible du ties of chief magistrate of the state, in consequence of the capture of president M'Kinley by a detachment of British troops, immediately after the battle of Brandywine. The first presidency of the state had been offered for his acceptance, but he declined the honour.

It

At the time of Mr. M'Kinley's capture, Mr. Read was at Philadelphia, assisting in the deliberations of congress. He left that city as the British army entered it, and while returning to Delaware for the purpose of assuming the presidency, thus forced upon him, he narrowly escaped the misfortune which had befallen president M'Kinley. was impracticable to pass from Philadelphia to Delaware on the western side of the river, as the British occupied the whole pass into the peninsula. Necessity, therefore, compelled him to proceed along the Jersey shore of the river, and brave the risk of crossing it, although almost covered with

"

the ships of the enemy. On the thirteenth of October, 1777, Mr. Read arrived at Salem, in New Jersey, and procured a boat to convey himself and family across the Delaware, there about five miles wide. At this time, there were several British men-of-war lying at anchor off Newcastle. When the boat had almost attained the Delaware shore, she was descried by the enemy, who immediately despatched an armed barge in pursuit of her. The tide being, unfortunately, low, the boat grounded so far from the beach that it was impossible for Mr. Read to land with his family before their pursuers arrived. There was only time to efface every mark on the baggage which could excite any suspicion that Mr. Read was not, as he represented himself, a country gentleman, returning to his home. The officer who commanded the boat was of no higher rank than that of boatswain; and the presence of Mr. Read's mother, wife, and infant children, gave sufficient probability to his story to deceive sailors, who, like all thoughtless persons, are little prone to suspect deception. The honest hearted fellows assisted with great good humour in landing the baggage, and carrying the ladies and children on shore.

The nice balance of political power which our constitution has so admirably adjusted between the

general and state governments, was not, in the day of revolution, regarded: hence Mr. Read was, at that time, a delegate in congress, as well as vicepresident of the state of Delaware.

The duty which the subject of our memoir was now called upon to perform, was most arduous. The situation of affairs, in general, was gloomy. These were, indeed, in the classic language of the revolution, the times that tried men's souls: the battle of Brandywine had been lost; the British had entered Philadelphia; the battle of Germantown followed; the fathers of our country were at York; and our brave countrymen in arms, naked and houseless, were exposed to the storms of winter at the Valley Forge. No consolation could be derived by Mr. Read, from a view of the state of things in his more peculiar department:-Sussex county was but slowly recovering from the intestine war which foreign emissaries had kindled among her deluded inhabitants, and obstinate men of opposite opinions as to the expediency of laws, chose to obey such only as they thought proper. Yet, under these discouraging circumstances, the firmness of Mr. Read remained unshaken, and he employed every means which his abilities and influence afforded, to conciliate or destroy the discordant opi