volunteers from Massachusetts on the 7th of May, and elected Ethan Allen as their chief, in spite of a commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, which conferred the command on Benedict Arnold. On the following day, the party began their march. Near Orwell, which was reached late on the 9th, a few boats were discovered, and eighty-three men crossed the narrow waters between Lakes George and Champlain, and, guided by a farmer's son, who was well acquainted with the fort and its vicinity, landed not far from the position. As several of the men were thus

going forward against their will. Not a man. however, hung back, and Allen then led his little band up to the gate of the fortress. Through the wicket, which was open, the Americans rushed into the enclosure with a cry as of wild Indians, and formed on the parade in such a way as to face each of the barracks. After a slight skirmish with cutlasses, one of the sentries, who had been slightly wounded, surrendered himself, and volunteered to show the way to the apartment of the commandant, Delaplace. On being summoned to come forth. that officer presented himself half-dressed, and

asked by what authority he was required to deliver up the fort. "I demand it," answered Allen, "in the name of the Great Jehovah, and of the Continental Congress!" The Continental Congress, however, knew nothing of the matter, and did not assemble for its second session until a few hours later. Delaplace might have objected to the validity of the alleged commission; but there is no arguing with superior force. The commandant had no more than forty-four soldiers under him; Allen had nearly double that number. On being menaced by

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plish whatever they attempted. It has sometimes been supposed that Ethan Allen was a religious fanatic of the Puritanical type; and the style in which he addressed Delaplace seems to favour such an impression. But it appears that he was a freethinker, who, like several of the American revolutionists of that period, rejected Christianity. He was the author of a work entitled " Reason the only Oracle of Man ;" yet he cherished some singular notions. The ancient doctrine of metempsychosis had obtained a hold on his mind, and he

the drawn sword of the American leader, Delaplace gave up the position, which he had allowed to remain in a state of insufficient defence because he had no reason to suppose that it was threatened with any danger. The whole affair was over in a few minutes.

It was no inconsiderable advantage that was thus gained. The seizure of Ticonderoga placed in the hands of the Americans more than a hundred pieces of cannon, one thirteen-inch mortar, a number of swivels and small arms, and other stores; and so marked a success, though not very singular under the circumstances, helped to raise the spirits of the patriots, and to make them think they could accom66-VOL II.

used to assure his friends that he expected to return to this world after death in the form of a large white horse.*

A detachment of the Green Mountain Boys, under Seth Warner, shortly afterwards seized on Crown Point, which had a garrison of only twelve men, who, seeing the futility of resistance, surrendered on the first summons. Another party succeeded in capturing a British agent named Skeene, and getting possession of the harbour of Skeenesborough. The forces investing Boston destroyed or carried off the forage and cattle on the

* Earl Stanhope, quoting from the Life of Ethan Allen by Sparks.

islands adjacent to that city, despite the efforts of the English troops to prevent them, and burnt a schooner which had been sent to interfere with their operations, but which was altimately abandoned, with four small guns and twelve swivels on board. The lighthouse at the entrance to Boston harbour was set on fire by the insurgents, and consumed; and Benedict Arnold, in command of a schooner called the Liberty, captured an English sloop on Lake Champlain-the only vessel belong ing to the Royal Navy on those waters. On the 25th of May, Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne arrived at Boston with their reinforcements; and they found the posture of affairs much more serious than they had reason to suppose when they left England.

In the midst of these events, the second Continental Congress pursued its deliberations at Philadelphia. Its first meeting was on the 10th of May-the day on which Ticonderoga was captured; and America had undergone a new birth since the 19th of April, the day of Lexington. Whatever the cherished designs of the popular leaders up to the middle of April, the country had at any rate refrained from the most extreme forms of defiance. Now, there could no longer be a question that the colonies of New England were in a state of open rebellion. A report on the collision between the Royal troops and the popular forces was read, and entire approval of the conduct of Massachusetts was expressed. The action of that one province thus became, by adoption, the action of the whole confederation of colonies. Nevertheless, Congress hesitated as to voting assistance to the army of Massachusetts, which the representatives of that province requested, but postponed the question for some days for mature deliberation in a committee of the whole body. On the 13th of May, a delegate from Georgia was admitted to the Congress; and on the 15th the people of New York were directed not to oppose the landing of troops, but at the same time to prevent the erection of fortifications. They were to act on the defensive, and to repel force by force, in case of need. These instructions were very much in accordance with those of New York itself. More loyalty was still to be found in that part of English America than in most others. The colonists were, indeed, angry at the encroachments of the English Ministry on colonial freedom, and they expressed to the people of Massachusetts their warm sympathy and hearty good wishes; but they disapproved the action of their own mob in seizing the Royal arms, and, having established a kind of truce in their capital city, they laboured for the

restoration of a good understanding between America and England. John Jay, the representative of the colony in the Continental Congress, made a motion for a second petition to the King, which was debated for several days. The delegates were still undecided whether to adopt this motion or to reject it, when, on the 18th of May, news arrived of the taking of Ticonderoga. It had the effect rather of dismaying than of inspiriting the representatives assembled at Philadelphia. They appear to have dreaded the retribution which so daring an act was likely to provoke, and they accordingly recommended to the provincial committees of New York and Albany to cause the artillery and stores to be removed from Ticonderoga to the south end of Lake George, and to make an exact inventory of them, in order that they might be safely returned when the restoration of the former harmony between. Great Britain and her colonies (an event which the members of the Congress declared, in their resolution, they ardently desired) should render such an act "prudent, and consistent with the over-ruling law of self-preservation." There was even some talk of abandoning Ticonderoga and Crown Point altogether; but the Massachusetts Congress remonstrated, and Connecticut, with the consent of New York, sent a thousand men to the defence of the two fortresses.

Yet the Continental Congress did not neglect those precautions which the necessities of the case seemed to require. During the month of May and several successive weeks, the delegates made many important arrangements. They determined to stop all exportation of provisions to the British fisheries, or to any colony or island subject to the British Government. They established a Post Office under the direction of Franklin. They prohibited the negotiation of bills of exchange on behalf of British officers, and of all orders issued by army and navy agents or contractors. They rejected the conciliatory proposals of Lord North, and renewed their former application to the Canadians. They passed resolutions for organising an American army, and for the emission of a paper currency, to be guaranteed by the whole of the provinces; and they formed those provinces into a perpetual union, to which was given the title of "The Twelve Confederated Colonies." The twelve were New Hamp shire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Georgia, at present, was not included, but it made a thirteenth not many weeks later. In answer to a representation from Massachusetts, setting forth that the province was destitute of all

1775.]

regular government, Congress declared that, by the violation of their charter, the people of that part of America were absolved from allegiance to the Crown, and might lawfully appoint a government of their own until the charter was restored. On the other hand, the second petition to the King, proposed by John Jay, was ultimately adopted, together with an offer to open negotiations with a view to an arrangement.

The most important step was to appoint, on the invitation of Massachusetts, a Generalissimo over the forces of the Confederation, and on the 15th of June this post was conferred, by a unanimous vote, on George Washington, then forty-three years of age. The subject had been discussed some time before, and the incompetency of Artemas Ward for the post he was filling at the head of the New England levies was universally allowed. Besides, the army beleaguering Boston was now to be made subsidiary to a Continental Army, which was thenceforward to be known by that name, and to be distinguished from the Provincial Militia of each colony; and, as Virginia was the oldest and largest of the provinces, it was considered advisable to give the supreme command to a Virginian, and especially to one who had already distinguished himself by valour and capacity in the field. Some of the deputies from New England would have placed the conduct of military affairs in the hands of Putnam; but they readily gave way on finding that the general sense, even including that of Massachusetts, was strongly in favour of Washington. That great man at once felt that duty to his country imperatively required him to accept the proffered position; but his diffidence was such that he whispered to Patrick Henry, with great emotion, "This day will be the commencement of the decline of my reputation." Nevertheless, he appeared in his place in Congress on the 16th of June, and, after refusing all pay beyond his expenses, said :As the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert every power I possess in their service, and for the support of the glorious cause. But I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not feel myself equal to the command I am honoured with." On the following day, the delegates of all the colonies resolved unanimously in Congress to maintain, assist, and adhere to, the General of their choice "with their lives and fortunes." By his commission he was in

vested with the command of all the forces raised or to be raised by the United Colonies, with full power and authority to act as he should think for the good and welfare of the service; and he was to take

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special care that the liberties of America should receive no detriment. It was felt that by none could the sword of the confederated colonies be so fitly wielded as by this Virginian gentleman, whose courage was matter of history, whose abilities were well known, whose integrity was above suspicion, whose patriotism was ardent yet temperate, and whose possession of an independent fortune placed him above the reach of ordinary temptations.

We must here for awhile turn aside from the main stream of American history to observe the progress of events in an outlying portion of the national territory, then beginning to take shape beyond the Alleghanies. A number of adventurers, headed by one. Henderson, had negotiated a treaty with the Cherokees for certain lands situated between the Ohio, the Cumberland mountains, the Cumberland river, and the Kentucky river. They were piesently joined by the famous explorer, Daniel Boone, and by a party of colonists not easily daunted by Indian opposition and Indian ferocity, from which they were made to suffer on more than one occasion. Other leading adventurers were Richard Calloway, Jolin Floyd, and James Harrod; and these men a mere handful in all-assembled on the 23rd of May beneath a great elm-tree which overhung the walls of a stockade erected a few weeks before by Boone, near the mouth of Otter Creek. The meeting was organised as a convention, and prayers were read by a clergyman of the Church of England. That the land was within the territory over which Virginia claimed jurisdiction did not deter these settlers from taking the first steps towards establishing an independent administration, on the strength of the recent purchase of land from the Cherokees. All power, they asserted, is originally in the people, and therefore no doubt should be felt as to the efficacy of any laws they might be pleased to make. A committee, of which Calloway was the head, was then appointed, and, in a report which the members of that committee delivered on the 25th, they pledged themselves to attempt with vigour the organisation of the new province, adding,

"That we have a right, as a political body, without giving umbrage to Great Britain or any of the colonies, to frame rules for the government of our little society, cannot be doubted by any sensible or unbiassed mind." The name first given to this infant settlement was Transylvania, since altered to the barbarous designation of Kentucky. The legislation of the emigrants was avowedly based on what they described as "the happy pattern of the English laws." Courts of justice were speedily instituted in the wilderness, and a militia was formed for defence against the Indians. The main

features of the constitution were, that there should be an annual choice of delegates; that taxes should be raised by the convention only; that all official salaries should be fixed by statute; that landoffices should be always open; and that perfect religious freedom and general toleration should be observed.

Daniel Boone, who must be regarded as the father of Kentucky, was certainly one of the finest characters of that age-a man made by Nature for an explorer, for a discoverer of new lands, for a founder of new States, for one of the noble army of pioneers who cause the desert to recede, and enlarge the horizon of the civilised world. The chief of American historians has said of him :-"The State, now that it has become great and populous, honours the memory of the plain, simple-hearted man, who is best known as its pioneer. He was kindly in his nature, and never wronged a human being, not even an Indian, nor, indeed, animal life of any kind. 'I with others have fought Indians,' he would say, but I do not know that I ever killed one; if I did, it was in battle, and I never knew it. He was no hater of them, and never desired their extermination. In woodcraft he was acknowledged to be the first among men. This led him to love solitude, and habitually to hover on the frontier, with no abiding place; accompanied by the wife of his youth, who was the companion of his long life and travel. When at last death put them both to rest, Kentucky reclaimed their bones from their graves far up the Missouri, and now they lie buried on the hill above the cliffs of the Kentucky river, overlooking the lovely valley of the capital of that commonwealth. Around them are emblems of wilderness life; the turf of the blue grass lies lightly above them; and they are laid with their faces turning upward and westward, and their feet. towards the setting sun.' ""*

At the same period, events of importance were passing in the county of Mecklenburg, in North Carolina-a region peopled chiefly by Presbyterians of Scoto-Irish descent. It was in May that the settlers in this remote spot heard of the proceedings in the British Parliament which had taken place in February, and which had for their object to declare that the American colonies were in a state of rebellion. As a measure of retaliation, it was proposed to abrogate all dependence on the Royal authority. A representative committee, formed by two delegates from each company of militia, was called together at the town of Charlotte, and, during its deliberations, news arrived of the collision at Lex

Bancroft's History of the United States.

ington. This excited so strong a feeling against the English authorities that one of the delegates, named Ephraim Brevard, proposed a series of resolutions, which amounted to a declaration of independence. By these resolutions, all laws and commissions confirmed by or derived from the authority of the King or Parliament were annulled and vacated; all commissions, civil and military, already granted by the Crown to be exercised in the colonies, were declared void; the Provincial Congress of each colony, under the direction of the great Continental Congress, was invested with legislative and executive powers within its own jurisdiction; and it was affirmed that no other legislative or executive power did or could exist at that time in any part of those colonies. What right a small frontier settlement of North Carolina had to legislate for the whole body of the American provinces, it would be difficult to say; but the militia-men of Mecklenburg county seem to have had no doubt at all on the subject, and the resolu tions were carried without hesitation. They then proceeded to form themselves into nine military companies, to elect their own officers, and to constitute a species of judicial administration. former taxes were sequestrated, and it was resolved that persons receiving new commissions from the King, or exercising old ones, should be dealt with as enemies of the country. These arrangements were made binding on all until the Provincial Congress should provide otherwise, or until the British Parliament should abandon its pretensions to legislate for America. As soon as they had been affirmed, the resolutions of the colonists were despatched to Charleston, and to the Provincial Congress sitting at Philadelphia. They appear to have met with a very favourable reception from the western counties of North Carolina generally.

All

These events took place in the closing days of May, 1775. On the 1st of June, the House of Burgesses of Virginia was convened for the last time by a Royal Governor. The Speaker was Peyton Randolph, who had just been officiating as President of the Continental Congress, but who had resigned that post to John Hancock, President of the Massachusetts Congress in the autumn of 1774 When Randolph arrived at Williamsburg, at that time the capital of the province, he was seen to le attended by an escort of independent companies of horse and foot, and it was generally understood that this was in consequence of the office he had just been discharging in what may be called the Federd Assembly-a body of which the legality had never been recognised by the English Government, del which the patriotic party, therefore, felt all the