Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/461

 authorized by Congress, to declare to the whole army, that such persons shall be severely punished, and dismissed from the service with disgrace."

The British troops, under General Howe, numbered some twenty-four or twenty-five thousand men. They were provided with every thing they needed, were well disciplined, and were confident of an easy victory over the rebel forces. Aided, too, by a numerous and well-appointed fleet, it was no unreasonable expectation, that a single battle might crush the Americans at once. But the British commander, and they who sent him to America, were compelled, ere long, to learn, that freemen, fighting for liberty, enter into the contest with a patient energy and zeal that are well nigh invincible.

In this connection, we are tempted to quote a page or two from an admirable little volume by Mr. Tuckerman, in which are graphically narrated the life and services of one of our early naval heroes. "The lovely harbor of this now great metropolis, then offered a scene, of rare and exciting interest. Riding at anchor in the vicinity of Staten Island, appeared the British fleet, with the army under Lord Howe. Every spar and line of cordage in those swarming battle-ships, was defined to the eye of the distant spectator, against the lucid azure of the sky; and, on quiet nights, reflected to the gaze of the boatmen that haunted the adjacent shore. Their dark, massive hulls and scowling cannon wore a portentous aspect, and seemed to cast long and prophetic shadows upon the free waters into which they had ruthlessly intruded—significant of the years of bitter trial of which they were ominous harbingers.

"Upon the heights of Brooklyn, at York Island, and Paulus Hook, rose the newly-heaped batteries of the Americans. Never smiled that lovely bay more cheerfully than during those clear days of that eventful spring. More solitary than at present, with its constantly plying steamers and forest of shipping, the position of the belligerents was plainly obvious. The comparative silence that hung over the broad waters, the fast-skimming clouds that, for a moment, darkened their crystal sheen, and the occasional furrows raised by sudden breezes that swept across them, stimulated the imagination of the lonely enthusiast, who, from some isolated point, looked forth, and mused upon the landscape.

"It was evident that neither party had, as yet, determined upon its course. The considerate, on both sides, felt the importance of a successful blow, at the existent juncture; yet the actual state of the colonial defences was but partially known to their opponents, and a premature manœuvre might occasion temporary discomfiture, even in that well-appointed squadron. On the other hand, it was of the highest moment, that the Americans should be assured of the readiness of our troops to cope with their formidable invaders. It was needful that the spell of vague alarm should be, in a measure, broken, which had been inspired by the presence of those destructive engines, whose thunders seemed to gather new potency from their long quiescence; whose shrouds