of November, and the depth of winter was at hand, co¬ 
lonel Arnold formed adelignof penetrating through woods, 
morafles, and the mod: frightful folitudes, front New Eng¬ 
land to Canada by a nearer way than that which Montgo¬ 
mery had chofen; and this he accomplilhed in fpite of 
every difficulty, to the aftoniflnnent of all who faw or heard 
of the attempt. This defperate march, however, cannot 
be looked upon as conducive to any good purpofe. A 
third part of his men under another colonel had abandoned 
him by the way, under pretence of want of provifions; 
the total want of artillery rendered his prefence inlignificant 
before a place (Irongly fortified; and the fmallnefs of his 
army rendered it even doubtful whether he could have 
taken the town by furprife. The Canadians indeed were 
amazed at the exploit, and their inclination to revolt from 
Britain was fomewhat augmented; but none of them as 
vet took up arms in behalf of America. The conderna- 
tion into which the town of Quebec was thrown, proved 
detrimental rather than otherwife to the expedition ; as 
it doubled' the vigilance and activity of the inhabitants 
to prevent any furprife; and the appearance of common 
danger united all parties, who, before the arrival of Ar¬ 
nold, were contending mod violently with one another. 
He was therefore obliged to content himfelf w ith blocking 
up the avenues to the town, in order to diilrefs the gar- 
rifon for want of provifions ; and even this he was unable 
to do effe6lually, by reafon of the fmall number of his 
rnen. The matter was not much mended by the arrival of 
general Montgomery. The force he had with him, even 
when united to that of Arnold, was too inlignificant to 
attempt the reduction of a place fo drongly fortified, ef- 
pecially with the a ill ft a nee only of a few mortars and field- 
pieces. After the fiege had continued through the month 
of December, general Montgomery, confcious that he 
could accomplilh his end no other way than by furprife, 
refolved to make an attempt on the Iaft day of the year 
1775. The method lie took at this time was perhaps the 
belt that human w ifdom could devife. He advanced by 
break of day, in the midd of an heavy fall of fnow, which 
covered his men from the fight of the enemy. Two real 
■ attacks were made by himfelf and colonel Arnold, at the 
fame time that two feigned attacks were made on two other 
places, thus to diffract the garrifon, and make them di¬ 
vide their forces. One of the real attacks was made by 
the people of New York, and the other by thofe of New 
England under Arnold. Their hopes of furprifing the 
place, however, were defeated by the fignal for the attack 
being through feme mi (take given too foon. General 
Montgomery himfelf had the moft dangerous place, being 
obliged to pafs between the river and fome high rocks on 
which the Upper Town (lands ; fo that he was forced to 
make what hade he could to clofe with the enemy. His 
fate, however, was now decided. Having forced the fil'd 
barrier, a violent difeharge of mufquetry and grape-(hot 
from the,jecond killed him, his principal officers, and the 
mod of the party lie commanded ; on which thofe who 
remained immediately retreated. Colonel Arnold in the 
mean time made a "defperate attack on the Lower Town, 
and carried one of the barriers after an obftinate relidance 
for an hour; but in the action lie himfelf received a 
wound, which obliged him to withdraw. The attack, 
however, was continued by the officers whom he had left, 
and another barrier forced : but the garrifon, now per¬ 
ceiving that nothing was to be feared except from that 
quarter, coileited their whole force againd it; and, af¬ 
ter a defperate engagement of three hours, overpowered 
the provincials, and obliged them to furrender. 
In this action the valour of the provincial troops could 
not be exceeded. Yet fuch a terrible difader left r..o hope 
1 Vmaining' of the accgmplifhment of their purpofe, as Ar¬ 
nold could now fcarcely number 800 effedtive men under 
his command: He did not, however, abandon the province, 
or even remove to a greater diftance than three miles from 
(Quebec; and here he dill found means to annoy the gar¬ 
rifon very cofifiderably by intercepting their provifions. 
V-ol. I. No. 28. 
The Canadians, notwitrtdanding the bad fiicCefs of the' 
American arms, dill continued friendly; and thus he was 
enabled to fudain tiie hardfhips of a winter encampment in 
that mod lev ere climate. The congrefs, far from palling; 
any cenfure on him for his misfortune, created him a bri¬ 
gadier-general. 
While hodilities were thus carried on with vigour in the 
north, the flame of contention was gradually extending 
itfelf in the fouth. Lord Dunmore, the governor of Vir¬ 
ginia, was involved in difputes limilar to thofe which had 
taken place in other colonies. Thefe had proceeded fo far,, 
that tiie aflembly was -diflolved; which in this province 
was attended with a confequence unknown to the red. As 
Virginia contained a great number of (laves, it was neeef- 
fary that a militia (liould be conflantly embodied to keep 
them in awe. During the diffolution of the aflembly the 
militia-laws expired; and the people, after complaining of 
the danger they were in from the negroes, formed a con¬ 
vention, which enacted that each county ffiould raife a 
quota for the defence of the province. Dunmore, on this, 
removed the powder from Williamfburg; which created 
fuch difeontents, that an immediate quarrel would proba¬ 
bly have enfued, had not the merchants of the town un¬ 
dertaken to obtain fatisfaction for the injury fuppofed to 
be done to the community. This tranquillity, however, 
was foon interrupted ; the people, alarmed by a report 
that an armed party were on “their way from the man of 
war where the powder had been depoiited, aflembled in 
arms, and determined to oppofe by force any farther re¬ 
movals. In fome of the conferences which palled at this 
time, the governor let fall fome unguarded exprefiionsy. 
fuch as threatening them with fetting up the royal ftand- 
ard, proclaiming liberty to the negroes, deftroying the town 
of Wllliamfburg, &c. which were afterwards made public,, 
and exaggerated in fuch a manner as greatly to increafe 
the public ferment. 
In this date of confufion- the governor thought it ne- 
ceflary to fortify his palace with artillery, and.procure a 
party of marines to guard it. Lord North’s conciliatory 
propofal arriving alfo about the fame time, he afed his ut- 
moll endeavours, to caufe the people to comply with it. 
The arguments he ufed were fuch as mud do him honour; 
and, had not matters already gone to fuch a pitch of detrac¬ 
tion, ;c is highly probable that fome attention would have 
been paid to them. “ The view (he (aid) in-which the 
colonies ought to behold this conciliatory propofal, was no - 
more than an earned admonition from.Great Britain to re¬ 
lieve her wants : that the utmod condefcendence had been 
ufed in the mode of application ; no determinate furn ha¬ 
ving been fixed, as it was thought mod worthy of Britifh 
generofity to take what they thought could be convenient¬ 
ly fpared, and likewife to leave the mode of railing it to- 
themfelves, &c.” But the clamour and diflatisfaefion 
were now fo univerful, that nothing e'fe could be attended 
to. The governor-had called an aflembly for the purpofe 
of laying this conciliatory propofal before them; but it had 
been little attended to. The aflembly began their feflion 
by enquiries into the date of the magazine. It had been 
broken into by fome of the townfmen; for which reafon 
fpring-guns had been placed there, by the governor, which' 
difeharged themfelvcsatpqn-tUe offenders at then-entrance 
thefe circumftances, with others of a fimilar kind, railed 
fuch a violent uproar, that, as (oon as the preliminary bu-- 
finefs'of the feflion was over, the governor retired on-board 
a man of war, informing tire aflembly that he .durd no 
longer trad himfelf on (bore. This .produced a long courfe 
of deputation, which ended in a- pofitive. refufal of the go¬ 
vernor to trull himfelf again-in Williamfburg, even to give 
his afl’ent to the bills, which could not be palled without 
it, and though the aflembly offered to bind themfelves for 
his perfonal fafety. In his turn he requeded them to meet 
him on-board the man of war where he then was; but 
this propofal was rejebied, and all further correfponcience 
containing the lead appearance of friendlhip was difccn- 
tinued. 
5..X 
Lord 
