ed with every argument in his power the magnitude of the meditated blow. The whole army appeared to look forward to the attack with anxious expectation; Washington's letters were filled with minute and explicit details of his intended operations, and, these letters being intercepted, Sir Henry Clinton did not suffer himself for a moment to doubt that any thing else was intended. The allied armies moved from their respective positions, and formed a junction at the White Plains, on the 6th of July, and every movement which could indicate an attack on New-York, and divert Sir Henry from the ultimate destination of the army, was successfully practised.

In this situation, the intelligence for which Washington had been waiting at length arrived. Letters from the Count de Grasse stated that he would shortly arrive in the Chesapeake with a powerful armament; and on the 19th of August, the combined armies moved to the south. They halted a few days at Philadelphia, and then continuing their march, embarked in transports at the head of Elk, and arrived at Williamsburg, then the head quarters of the Marquis de la Fayette, on the 25th of September. The fwo Generals preceded the troops about ten days, and found to their great joy that the Count de Grasse had entered the capes with twenty-eight sail, on the 30th of the preceding month.

The Count de Grasse had brought out with him upwards of 3000 troops, under the command of the Marquis de St. Cimon, who were immediately disembarked, and were now with the troops of la Fayette, at Williamsburg. The Count had blockaded York river with a part of his fleet, and moored the remainder in Lynnhaven bay. In addition to which, the

Count de Barras, who who had left Rhode Island with eight ships of the line, when the combined armies began to move, had safely entered the Chesapeake, and now formed a part of the fleet. On the 5th of September, Admiral Greaves appeared off the capes with 20 sail of the line, intended for the relief of Cornwallis; and the Count de Grasse then lying at anchor hastened to meet and offer him battle. About 4 o'clock, an action commenced which was kept up with some warmth until night made it necessary for the British ships to draw off, with the intention of renewing the action in the morning; but Admiral Greaves finding his line of battle broken, and several of his ships considerably injured, declined a second attempt, while his adversary having gained the sole object of his quitting his anchorage, namely the protection of the Count de Barras, returned to the bay, satisfied now that no future interruption could be given to the important designs against Cornwallis.

When Washington and the Count de Rochambeau arrived at Williamsburg, they found a vessel ready to convey them on board the Ville de Paris, the Count de Grasse's flag ship, where it was necessary a council should be held to determine upon their future operations. This being settled, the combined armies moved upon York and Gloucester, on the last of September, and the Count at the same time moved up with his fleet to the mouth of York river.

When we consider the extraordinary combination of circumstances, which led to the complete success of every part of the complicated plan by which Lord Cornwallis was now surrounded and brought into inextricable toils, a combination which bids defiance to all military calculations, and which it seems almost

impossible for human foresight to have embraced; we are irresistibly impelled, in spite of the suggestions of reason and philosophy, to refer it to the invisible and inscrutable operations of divine agency. We are not among those who believe, that religion teaches us to regard ourselves as the peculiar favourites of heaven, because we so often escaped the toils of our enemies, and triumphed most where we had least cause of hope. We have no right to arrogate to ourselves a stronger claim to omnipotent aid, than our enemies; and we regard it as little less than a blasphemous irreverence of the deity, to admit the idea for a moment, that his protecting providence does not extend alike over all. But, that two commanders, at the distance of more than a thousand miles from each other, should be able to move in such complete concert ; that the Count de Barras should leave Newport, and by a circuitous voyage arrive at the only moment when he could have escaped the British fleet; that Sir Henry Clinton should be so long and so thoroughly deceived as to the ultimate objects of the American commander; that Lord Cornwallis, contrary to his character, to the spirit of decision, of eagerness for battle, which seemed heretofore to influence all his actions, should forbear, when it was so easily in his power, to annihilate the force of the Marquis de la Fayette; all these are considerations which involve a mystery not to be explained upon the common principles of human ratiocination. If Washington never had the serious intention of attacking New-York; if all these apparently fortuitous occurrences were the result of previous arrangement and premeditations; they display a generalship to which military annals have furnished no parallel. Before we proceed to relate the ope

rations of this siege, which has been regarded as the closing scene of the war in the United States, it will be proper to carry the reader once more to the army of General Greene.

The high hills of Santee, which had been chosen by General Greene for the encampment of his troops, during the hot and sickly season of the south, were well calculated to afford that tranquillity and repose to his harassed army, without which they would have derived but little benefit from the pure and salubrious mountain air. With the quiet which they here enjoyed, the sick and the wounded were soon restored to health; and General Greene once more finding himself enabled to face the foe, determined to repossess himself of the country still held by the enemy, and then again to seek Cornwallis in Virginia. Wilmington was his first object, and with the view of carrying the garrison of that place, Lieutenant Colonel Lee was ordered to hold himself in readiness with his legion, and two companies of the Delaware and Maryland regulars; but the intelligence communicated by General Washington at this time, made it necessary to change his plan of operations, and it was determined to turn his whole force upon the British possessions in South Carolina and Georgia.

Lord Rawdon had retired to Charleston after the evacuation of Ninety-Six, leaving Lieutenant Colonel Stuart in command of the army, which were encamped between Motte's and the Santee, near its confluence with the Congaree. At Charleston, his lordship, in conjunction with General Patterson, who commanded at that post, stained his own honour and the British name, by the execution of an American officer, under circumstances that offered no justifica

tion even for harshness of treatment. Colonel Isaac Hayne was among the number of militia officers, whose families were placed at the mercy of the enemy, at the surrender of Charleston to the British arms, by capitulation. Like many others who preferred to surrender themselves voluntary prisoners, rather than abandon their families and property, Colonel Hayne soon after repaired to Charleston, and made the voluntary offer of his parole to the British commander. Contrary to the custom which had been daily practised towards others, the British officer refused to accept the parole of Colonel Hayne,and presented to him the alternative of becoming a British subject, or submitng to close confinement. His family were in a situation to demand all his attention, his wife and several children being ill with the small pox, and though the idea of becoming a British subject was revolting to his gallant and patriotick spirit, he preferred this sacrifice of feeling to the distressing alternative of being immured in a dungeon, where he could render no assistance to his afflicted family. He made the requisite acknowledgement of allegiance, with the express exception that he should not be required to bear arms in support of the government. His mind was relieved on this head by an assurance from Brigadier General Patterson, that military service would never be required from him; and for some time Colonel Hayne had the melancholy consolation of attending to his family in their dreadful malady, and of witnessing the death of his wife, and one child. During this season of grief, he was several times called upon to bear arms in the service of the king, in violation of the exception to which the General had so readily acceded, but constantly refus