AMERICA. : m 7 
'Tetf vVas'much in the'u'fual flyle, dating a long lid of 
grievances, for which red refs had been often applied in 
vain; and, for thefe reaforis, they determined on'a final 
reparation ; to hold the people of Britain, as the rell of 
mankind, “ e'nemies in war, in peace friends.” 
After thus publicly throwing off all allegiance and hope 
of reconciliation, the colonifts foon found that an exertion 
of all their flrength was required in order to fiipport their 
pretenfions. Their arms, indeed, had not, during., this 
feafon, been attended with fuccefs in Canada. Reinforce¬ 
ments had been promifed to general Arnold, who (fill 
continued the blockade of Quebec ; but they did not ar¬ 
rive in time to fecond. his operations. Being fenfible, how¬ 
ever, that he mu ft either defift from the enterprize, or 
finifii itTuccefsfully, he recommenced in form.; attempt¬ 
ing to burn the (hipping, arid even to fto'rm the town it- 
'felf. They.were unf'uc'cefs.fuh" however, by reafon of the 
.fniallnefs of their number, though they fucceeded fo far 
as to burn.a number of lioufes'in the fuburbs ; and the 
gacrifon were obliged, to pull down the'remainder, in.or- 
der to prevent the fire from fpreadibg. . * 
As the provincials, 'though unable.to reduce the town, 
kept the garrifon in cohfirual alarms, and in a very difa- 
greeable fituation, foiiie of' the nobility coliefted them- 
felve.s info a.body, under-the command of one Mr. Beaujeu, 
in .order to.relieve; thgir capital ;' but they were met on 
their march by the provincials, arid fo entirely defeated, 
that they Were.never afterwards able to attempt any thing. 
The Americans, however, had but little reafon to plume 
thcmfelves on tins liiccefs. Their want of artillery at Ia.lt 
convinced them, that if was ' hnprafticable in tlieir fitua¬ 
tion to reduce a place fo flrongly fortified .: the '.(mall-pox 
at the fame time made. its appearance in .their camp, and 
carried off great numbers ; intimidating the reft to fuch a 
degree, tliat they deferted in crowds. To add to their 
misfortunes, the Britiih reinforcements' unexpeftedly ap¬ 
peared, and the (hips nia.de their way through the. ice with 
fuch celerity, tliat the one part of their arm.y was fepafia- 
ted from the other'; and general Carleton, failying out as 
foon as the reinforcement wasianded, obliged them to fly 
with the utrnofi. precipitation, leaving behind them all 
th.eir cannon' and military fibres ; at the fame time that 
tlieir dripping was entirely captured by veffels Cent up the 
river for that purpose. General Carleton now gave a fig. 
rial infiance, of his humanity : being well, apprife'd that 
many of the provincials had not been able to accompany 
thereft in their, retreat, and that they were, concealed in 
woods, &c'. in a very deplorable fituation, he generoully 
ifftied a pVcclamatjpn, ordering proper.perfohs to leek them 
out, and give, them relief at the public expence ; at the 
fame time, left, through''fear of being made; prifo.hers,;they 
Ihould refufe thefe offers of humanity, he promifed, tliat, 
as foon as their fituation enabled them, they fiiould be at 
liberty to depart to tlieir refpeftive hemes. . 
The Britiih.general, now freed from any danger of an 
/attack, .was foon enabled to aft offeiifively againft the pro¬ 
vincials, by the arrival of the forces ceftined for tliat pur- 
pofe from Britain. By thefe, he was put at the head of 
3 2,oco regular,troops, among whom were tliofe of Br.unf- 
wick. With this, force lie inftantly fet out to the Three 
Rivers, where he expected that Arnold would have made 
a (land ; but lie had fled to Sorcl, a place 150 niiles dif- 
tant from Quebec; where he was at laft met by the rein¬ 
forcements ordered by congrefs. Here, though the pre¬ 
ceding events were by no means calculated to irifpire much 
military ardour, a very during enterprife was undertaken; 
and this was, to furprife the Britifh troops polled under 
.generals Frafer and.Kelbit; of whom the former com¬ 
manded thofe cn land, the latter fuch as were on-board the 
tranfports, and were but a little way diftant. The enter- 
prife was very hazardous, both on account of the ftrengrh 
of the parties againft whom they were to aft, and as. the 
main body of the Britiih forces were advanced within fifty 
miles of the place ; belides that, a number of fmall veffels 
and tranfports 'with troops lay 4 between them and the 
Three Rivers. Two thoufaod chafeii liVeri, under general 
Thonifon, engaged in this- ehtcrpi il'e. Their fuccefs was 
by .no means anl'werable to their ipirit and valour. Though 
they palled the (hipping without being obferved, general, 
Frafer had notice of their handing ; and, thus being pre¬ 
pared to receive them, they were foon thrown into difor- 
der, at the fame time that general Nefbit, having landed 
his forces, prepared to attack them in the rear. On this 
occalicn fome field-pieces did prodigious execution, and a 
retreat was found to be unavoidable. General Nelbit bad 
got between them and their boats ; fo that they Were o- 
bliged. to take a circuit through a deep fwfamp, while they 
were vigoroufly purfued by both parties at the fame time, 
who marched for fome miles on each fide of the fwamp, 
till at laft the miferabie provincials were flickered from 
further danger by a wood at the end of the fwarnp. Ge¬ 
neral Thomfon was taken, with :co of l\is. men. 
Bv this difafter the provincials loft all hopes of accom- 
plilhing any thing in Canada'. They demoliflied their 
vvorks, and carried off their artillery with the.utnioft ex¬ 
pedition. Tiiey were purfued by.gen.eral Burgoyne ; a- 
gainft whom it was expefted that tiiey -would have collec¬ 
ted all their force, and made a refolute (kind... But they 
were for the prefent too.nuicii difpirited by misfortunes 
to make any further exertions of valour. Oh the 1 8th of 
June the Britifli general arrived at Fort St. John’s; which 
he found abandoned and burnt. Chambl.ee bad lh.ared the 
fame fate, as well as all the veffels. that were not capable 
of being dragged up againft the current of the river. It 
was thought they would have made fome fiefiftan.ee at Nut 
I (land, the entrance to Lake Champlain ; but..’this alfo 
they had abandoned; and retreated acrols the lake to Crown 
Point, whither tiiey could not be immediately followed. 
Thus was the province of Canada entirely evacuated. by 
the Americans; whole lofs in their retreat from Quebec 
was not calculated at lefs than 1000 men, of whom 400 
fell at once into the hands of the enemy at a place called 
the Cedars, about fifty miles aboye Montreal. General 
Sullivan, however, who conducled this- retreat after the 
affair of general Thonifon, was acknowledged to have had 
great merit in what he did, and received the thanks of the 
congrefs accordingly. 
This bad fuccefs in the north was fomewhat cofinpenfa- 
ted by what happened,in the font hern colonies.' We have 
formerly taken notice that Mr, Martin, governor of North 
Carolina, had been obliged to leave'his province and take 
refuge on-board 6f a man of war. Notwithftanding, this, 
he did not dei’pair of reducing it again to obedience.' For 
this piir.pofe he applied to. the Regulators, a : u ing,let.’of 
banditti, who lived in a kind, of independent ftate ; and, 
though conftdered by government as rebels, yet haiLnever 
been molefted, cn account of their numbers and known 
{kill in tire ufe of fire-arms. To the chiefs of theft; people 
comniiffions were lent, in order to raifeTome regiments.; 
and. colonel Macdonald,, .a brave and enterpri.fing officer, 
was appointed to command them. In the month of Fe¬ 
bruary he erefted the king ? s ftandard,. hiked proclama¬ 
tions, &'c. and coliefted fome forces, expefting to be foon 
joined by a body of regular troops, who were known fib be 
(hipped from Great Britain to aft againft the. foiithern po¬ 
lonies. The Americans, fenfible of their danger, difpafdh- 
ed immediately what forces they had to aft againft the roy- 
aiifts, at the. fame time that they diligently exerted them - 
felves to lu.pport thefe withfuitable reinforcements. Their 
prelent force was commanded by generalJVTooi'e, wlipfe 
numbers', were . inferior, to . Macdonald ; tor which reafon 
the latter fummoned him to join the.king’s ftandard, un¬ 
der pain of being treated as, a rebeU .But Moore,, beiqg 
well provided with.cannon, and.coiffeious that nothing 
could be attempted againft him, returned the compliment, 
by acquainting colonel -Macdonald',, that if he and his party 
would lay down their arms, and fijblcri.be an oath of fide¬ 
lity to congrefs, they ftionld be treate'das friends ; but, if 
tliev perlifted in an undertaking for which it wa evident 
‘ they had' riot ftufiictcnt lirengrh, they could hot but fcxpe. e 
