44 $ 
AMERICA. 
Lord Dunmore, thus deprived of his government, at¬ 
tempted to reduce by force thofe whom die could no longer 
govern. Some -of the mod ftrenuous adherents to the Bri- 
ti(h caufe, whom their zeal had rendered obnoxious at 
home, now repaired to him. fie was alio joined by num¬ 
bers of black (laves. With thefe, and the affiftance of the 
Britifh fiiipping, he was for fome time enabled to carry on 
a kind of predatory war, fufficierit to hurt and exafperate, 
but not to fubdtie. After fome inconfiderable attempts on 
land, - proclaiming liberty to the (laves, and fritting up the 
royal (landard, he took up his refidence at Norfolk, a ma¬ 
ritime, town'of fome confequence, where the' people were 
better affected to Britain- than in moft other places. A con- 
fiderable force, however v/as collected againft him; and 
the natural impetuofity of his temper prompting him to 
act againft them with more courage than caution, he was 
entirely defeated, and obliged to- retire to his fliipping, 
w hich was now crowded by the number of thofe who had 
incurred the refentment of the provincials. 
Ifi the mean time a fcheme of the utmoft magnitude and 
importance was formed by one Mr. Conolly, a Pehnfyl- 
vunian, of an intrepid and al'piring difpofition, and attached 
to the caufe of Britain. The firft flep of this plan v/as to 
enter into a league with the Ohio Indians. This he com¬ 
municated to lord Dunmore, and it received his approba¬ 
tion : upon which Conolly fet out, and actually fheceeded 
in his defign. On Iris return, he was difpatched to gene¬ 
ral Gage, from whom he received a colonel’s comrniliion, 
and fet out in order to accomplifh the remainder of his 
fcheme. The plan in general was, that he fhould return 
to the Ohio, where, by the altifta'nce of the Britifh and 
Indians in thefe parts', lie was to penetrate through the 
the back fettlements into Virginia, and'join lord Dunmore 
at Alexandria : but, by an acfcidentvery naturally to be , 
expected, he was difeovered, taken prifoner, and tlirown 
into a dungeon. 
After the retreat of lord Dunmore from Norfolk, that 
place was taken-polleffion of by the provincials, who treat¬ 
ed the loyalifts that had renjdincd tliere With great cruel¬ 
ty ; at the fame 'time that they greatly diftreffed thofe on¬ 
board lord Dunmore’-s, fleet, by refuting- to fuppiy them 
witl.r-any neceflaries. Nor -was this all : the vicinity of the 
{hipping was fo great, as to afford the riflemen an oppor¬ 
tunity of aiming, at the people on-boaid, arid exercifiog 
t lie cruel occupation of killing-them, in which they did. 
'not fail every day to employ themfelves. Thefe proceed¬ 
ings at laft drew a' re in on (trance from his lordfliip ; in 
Vvhiclv-he infilled, that the fleet fhotdd be ftirmih'ed with 
neceifaries, and that the foldiers-fhould delift from the 
cruel diverfion above-mentioned ; but; both thefe requefts 
being denied, a refolution was-taken to- fet fire to the town. 
After'.giving the inhabitants a proper warning, a party 
landed, under cover of a man.of war, and fet fire to that 
part which-lay riea reft the Chore; feutrithe flames were obfer- 
Vrid; at the fame time, to break forth in every other quar¬ 
ter, a'nd' -the-whole town -was reduced to allies. Tins uni- 
-verfal dellriiction, by which, a lofs .of more than 300,000k 
-was’incurred, is faid to hrive-b'een occafipned by order' of 
not able to cope, and by whom they'muft of courfe expe'cSl 
in a very (liort time to be expelled.. The deviation of the 
inhabitants of Bofton, indeed, was peculiarly unhappy. 
After having failed in their attempts to leave the town, 
general Gage had confenled to allow them to retire with 
their effects ; but afterwards, for what reafon does not 
well appear, he refuted to fulfil his promife. Whfen lie 
reffgtied his place-to general Howe, in October 1775, the 
latter, apprehenfive that they might give intelligence of 
the fituation of the Britilri troops, ftriftiy prohibited every 
perfon from leaving the place, under pain of military'exe- 
cution. Thus matters continued till the month of March, 
1776, when the town was evacuated. 
On the fecond of that month, general Wafriingfon open¬ 
ed a battery on the weft fide of the town, from whence it 
was bombarded with a heavy fire -of cannon;-at the fame 
time; and three days after, it was attacked by another 
battery from the euftern Chore. This terrible attack con¬ 
tinued for fourteen days without intermiftioil; when gene¬ 
ral Horve, finding the place no longer tenable, determined 
'if poflible to drive'rhe enemy from their works. Prepa¬ 
rations were therefore made for a moft vigorous attack oh 
a hill called Dorchefter Neck, which the Americans had 
fortified in fucli a. manner as would in all probability have 
rendered the enterprize next to defpe'rate. No difficulties, 
however, were Sufficient to daunt the fpirit of the genera!'; 
amj every thing was in readi fiefs, when a fudden ft o nil 
prevented this intended exertion of Britifh valour. Next 
day, upon a more clofe infpedl ion of the works they were 
to attack, it was thought advifable to 1 defift from the'en¬ 
terprize altogether. The fortifications were very ftrong, 
and extremely well provided with artillery ; and, befides 
other implements of deftruftion, upwards of 100 hoglheads 
of (tones were provided to roll down upon, the enemy as 
they came up ; which, as the afeent was extremely deep, 
muff have done prodigious execution.' 
Nothing, therefore, now remained, but to think of a re¬ 
treat ; and even this was attended with th.e utmoft difficul¬ 
ty and danger. The' Americans, knowing that it was iij 
the power of the Britifh general to reduce the town to 
allies, which could not have been'repaired in many years, 
did not think proper to give the lead moleftation; and, for 
tire (pace of a fortnight, the troops were employed in the 
evacuation of tire place, from Whence they carried along 
with them 2000 of the inhabitants, iv,-Ho durft not ftay on 
account of their'attacliment to the Britifh caufe. ' From 
Bofton they failed to Halifax ; but all their vigilance coujd 
not prevent a number of valuable (hips from falling into 
the hands of the enemy. A confiderable quantity of can¬ 
non and ammunition had alio been left at Bunker’s Hill 
and Bofton Neck; and, in the town, an immente variety 
of goods, principally woollen and linen, of .which the 
provincials flood very much in need. The eftates of thofe 
who fled to Halifax were confifriated ; as alfo thofe who 
were attached to. government, arid had remained in the 
town. As an attack was'ex'pefted as-.foop as tire Britifh 
forces fhould arrive, every method was emplbyed to ren¬ 
der the fortifications, already very.lirong, impregnable. 
the eongrefs’ itfelf, that-the loyalifts might find no refuge For tliis pdrpofe fome forej'gh.'ehgineers were employed. 
the re for - t'l fe r fu t it re. 
In the femthern colonics of'Carolina, th.egovernors were 
expelled, and-obliged to (alee refuge on-board the men of 
war, as lord Dunmore had been: among others, Mr. 
Martin, governor of North.‘Carolina, was expelled, on a 
charge of attempting t'o' raife the back-fettlers, confifting 
chiefly of Scdts'-Highlanders, againft the colony. Having 
fecured themfelves-againft any- attempts from thefe ene¬ 
mies, they proceeded to regulate'their internal concerns in 
the fame manner as- tlief'e/l of tile ‘colonies.; and, by the 
end of the year 1775, Britain b'elield the whole of Ame¬ 
rica united-agairift her in the moft determined! oppbfitibn. 
Her vaft polfe'dions of that ffa 61 of land, firice known by 
•the name of the Thirteen United. States, were now reduced 
to the (ingle tow-n of Bofton p ihT'hiCh Her forces were 
jbefieged by an enemy with, whom they were apparently 
who had before arrived at Bofton; and fo eager were peo¬ 
ple of all ranks to accomplifti this bufinefs, that every 
able-bodied mail in the place, without diftintfion of rank, 
fet apart two'days in the weekgto’c'omplete it thefooner. 
The Americans, ex'afperated to the utmoft by the pro¬ 
ceedings of parliament, now formally renounced all cbn- 
neflibn v/ith Britain, arid declared themfelves independent. 
This celebrated declaration was p.ub!i(hed on the. fourth 
of July, 177 6. Previous to this, a circular letter had been 
Cent through'each colony, fra tin a; the. reafons for if; arid 
fuc'h wits' the anim’qfity now everywhere prevailing againft 
Great Britain, that it'met with wniverfa'l approbation, ex¬ 
cept in the province of Maryland alone. It was',not long, 
however, before the people of that colony, finding therif- 
felVes left in a very dangerous minority, thought pj-biter 
to accCde to the mriafttres of the reft. The.manifefto'n- 
' feli’ 
