stified their "warmest approbation." (Writings, Vol. III., p. 457.)]

[Footnote 405: Lord Mahon's History of England from the Peace of
Utrecht, Vol. VI., Chap. liv., pp. 161, 162.

Lord Mahon adds: "It was at this inauspicious juncture, only a few hours
after independence had been proclaimed in the ranks of his opponents,
that the bearer of the pacific commission, Lord Howe, arrived off Sandy
Hook. He had cause to regret most bitterly both the delay of his passage
and the limitation of his powers. He did not neglect, however, whatever
means of peace were still within his reach. He sent on shore a
declaration, announcing to the people the object of his mission. He
despatched a friendly letter, written at sea, to Dr. Franklin, at
Philadelphia. But when Franklin's answer came it showed him wholly
adverse to a reconciliation, expressing in strong terms his resentment
of the 'atrocious injuries' which, as he said, America had suffered from
'your unformed and proud nation.' Lord Howe's next step was to send a
flag of truce, with another letter, to Washington. But here a
preliminary point of form arose. Lord Howe, as holding the King's
commission, could not readily acknowledge any rank or title not derived
from his Majesty. He had therefore directed his letter to 'George
Washington, Esq.' On the other hand, Washington, feeling that, in his
circumstances, to yield a punctilio would be to sacrifice a principle,
declined to receive or open any letter not addressed to him as General.
Thus at the very outset this negotiation was cut short."--_Ib._, pp.
162, 163.]

[Footnote 406: After the battle of Long Island and the evacuation of New
York, "six thousand men, led by Earl Cornwallis, were landed on the
Jersey side. At their approach the Americans withdrew in great haste to
Fort Lee, leaving behind their artillery and stores. Washington himself
had no other alternative than to give way with all speed as his enemy
advanced. He fell back successively upon Brunswick, upon Princeton, upon
Trenton, and at last to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. To all
these places, one after another, did Lord Cornwallis, though slowly, and
with little vigour, pursue him.

"This fair province of the Jerseys, sometimes called the Garden of
America, did not certainly on this occasion prove to be its bulwark. The
scene is described as follows by one of their own historians, Dr.
Ramsay: 'As the retreating Americans marched through the country,
scar