calmly to the point in question. Yet every expedient seemed fraught with insurmountable difficulties, and evening approaching without any decided resolutions, the meeting was adjourned without day. Within an hour after this was known abroad, there appeared a great number of persons, clad like the aborigines of the wilderness, with tomahawks in their hands, and clubs on their shoulders, who without the least molestation marched through the streets with silent solemnity, and amidst innumerable spectators, proceeded to the wharves, boarded the ships, demanded the keys, and with much deliberation knocked open the chests, and emptied several thousand weight of the finest teas into the ocean. No opposition was made, though surrounded by the king's ships; all was silence and dismay. This done, the procession returned through the town in the same order and solemnity as observed in the outset of their attempt. No other disorder took place, and it was observed, the stillest night ensued that Boston had enjoyed for many months. This unexpected event struck the ministerial party with rage and astonishment; while, as it seemed to be an attack upon private property, many who wished well to the public cause could not fully approve of the measure. Yet perhaps the laws of self-preservation might justify the deed, as the exigencies of the times required extraordinary exertions, and every other method had been tried in vain, to avoid this disagreeable alternative. Besides it was alleged, and doubtless it was true, the people were ready to make ample compensation for all damages sustained, whenever the unconstitutional duty should be taken off, and other grievances radically redressed. But there appeared little prospect that any conciliatory advances would soon be made. The officers of government discovered themselves more vindictive than ever: animosities daily increased, and the spirits of the people were irritated to a degree of alienation, even from their tenderest connexions, when they happened to differ in political opinion. THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON [From the "History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution"] Mr. Washington was a gentleman of family and fortune, of a polite, but not a learned education; he appeared to possess a coolness of temper, and a degree of moderation and judgment, that qualified him for the elevated station in which he was now placed; with some considerable knowledge of mankind, he supported the reserve of the statesman, with the occasional affability of the courtier. In his character was blended a certain dignity, united with the appearance of good humour; he possessed courage without rashness, patriotism and zeal without acrimony, and retained with universal applause the first military command, until the establishment of independence. Through the various changes of fortune in the subsequent conflict, though the slowness of his movements was censured by some, his character suffered little diminution to the conclusion of a war, that from the extraordinary exigencies of an infant republic, required at times, the caution of Fabius, the energy of Cæsar, and the happy facility of expedient in distress, so remarkable in the military operations of the illustrious Frederick.' With the first of these qualities, he was endowed by nature; the second was awakened by necessity; and the third he acquired by experience in the field of glory and danger, which extended his fame through half the globe. In the late war between England and France, Mr. Washington had been in several military rencounters, and had particularly signalized himself in the unfortunate expedition under general Braddock, in the wilderness on the borders of the Ohio, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five. His conduct on that occasion raised an eclat of his valor and prudence; in consequence of which many young gentlemen from all parts of the continent, allured by the name of major Washington, voluntarily entered the service, proud of being enrolled in the list of officers under one esteemed so gallant a commander. 1 The late king of Prussia, well known for this trait in his character, by all who are acquainted with the history of his reign. THE CHARACTER OF GENERAL LEE [From the "History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution"] No man was better qualified at this early stage of the war, to penetrate the designs, or to face in the field an experienced British veteran, than general Lee. He had been an officer of character and rank in the late war between England and France.1 Fearless of danger, and fond of glory, he was calculated for the field, without any of the graces that recommend the soldier to the circles of the polite. He was plain in his person even to ugliness, and careless in his manners to a degree of rudeness. He possessed a bold genius and an unconquerable spirit: his voice was rough, his garb ordinary, his deportment morose. A considerable traveller, and well acquainted with most of the European nations, he was frequently agreeable in narration, and judicious and entertaining in observation. Disgusted with the ministerial system, and more so with his sovereign who authorized it, he cherished the American cause from motives of resentment, and a predilection in favor of freedom, more than from a just sense of the rights of mankind. Without religion or country, principle, or attachment, gold was his deity, and liberty the idol of his fancy: he hoarded the former without taste for its enjoyment, and worshipped the latter as the patroness of licentiousness, rather than the protectress of virtue. He affected to despise the opinion of the world, yet was fond of applause. Ambitious of fame without the dignity to support it, he emulated the heroes of antiquity in the field, while in private life he sunk into the vulgarity of the clown. Congress did wisely to avail themselves of his military experience in the infancy of a confederated army, and still more wisely in placing him in a degree of subordination. He was on the first list of continental officers, and only the generals Washington and Ward were named before him; but though nominally the third in rank, as a soldier he was second to no man. The abilities of general Ward were better 1 He had served with reputation in Portugal, under the command of the count de la Lippe. adapted to the more quiet disquisitions of the cabinet, that on [than to?] the hostile and dangerous scenes of the field or the camp, both which he soon left and retired to private life, when nothing remained to prevent this singular stranger from taking the command of the armies of the United States, but the life of Washington. JOHN TRUMBULL [John Trumbull was perhaps the most representative of the so-called "Hartford Wits," a group of Connecticut men who were associated in literary work during and just after the Revolution. Before the outbreak of serious political trouble the colonists had reached a point where many young men, in college and just out of college, were interesting themselves in what they called belles lettres, and attempting writings in prose and verse after the models of the most approved English authors. A little later these men, almost without exception, wrote on political subjects. John Trumbull may be taken as a type of this class. He was born in 1750, of a distinguished Connecticut family. He was remarkably precocious, and, according to a well-known story, passed with credit the examinations for admission to Yale College when but seven years old. Before he actually entered Yale, at the age of thirteen, he had read most of the classic authors studied in that institution, and accordingly had much time for subjects not in the regular curriculum. He was especially interested in English literature, and when later he became a tutor, he worked for the introduction of this study and English composition into the college course. In 1769, while still a student for the Master's degree, he was the chief author of "The Medler," a series of essays modelled on "The Spectator." This was followed by a similar series, "The Correspondent." About the same time he wrote verses plainly reminiscent of Milton, Pope, Goldsmith, and other English poets. In 1772, while a tutor at Yale, he published the first part of "The Progress of Dulness," a Hudibrastic satire in three cantos, in which he ridiculed the existing methods of education, and argued for a college course devoted less exclusively to Latin and Greek. In 1773 he became a student in the law office of John Adams at Boston, and naturally acquired an intense interest in political affairs. In 1774 he published an "Elegy on the Times," and in January, 1776, the first part of "McFingal." "McFingal," Trumbull's most important work, and the most famous political satire of the Revolution, is a mock-heroic poem in the Hudibrastic metre. Most readers see chiefly the influence of Butler, though Professor Moses Coit Tyler considered that the author's model was the eighteenthcentury satirist Churchill. The part of the poem which was published in 1776, and which was an effective political document during the years of conflict, was later divided into two cantos, and supplemented by two more cantos, written in 1782. After the war Trumbull was associated with other Hartford wits in the 1 The imprint of the first edition is Philadelphia, 1775. |