blood of their subjects that the disgrace of these transactions
must rest. Frederick of Prussia expressed his disgust at their
greediness in bitter terms, and is said to have jeeringly declared that
when any of the unfortunate men whose lives they were selling passed
through his dominions he would levy toll on them at so much a head as
though they were cattle.

[Sidenote: _EVACUATION OF BOSTON._]

Nothing was gained by the recall of Gage, for Howe was equally
incompetent. Privateers were fitted out in great number in the New
England ports, which did mischief to English commerce and intercepted
the supplies sent out to the army. In order to check this privateering
business two ships-of-war sailed from Boston in October, under a
lieutenant named Mowat, with orders to burn the shipping along the
coast. Mowat exceeded his orders and destroyed the town of Falmouth.
This useless act of barbarity, which excited violent indignation among
the Americans, was reprehended by the British government. In Boston
sickness continued rife among the troops, and in November there was an
outbreak of small-pox. Washington, however, was not in a position to
attack; he had great difficulty in obtaining ammunition and not less in
raising men. The revolutionary spirit was spreading, but there was
little military ardour. In December the period of enlistment ended; his
army was disbanded, and he could not obtain quite 10,000 men to take
its place. Though Howe's army was weakened by sickness, such effective
troops as he had were well-trained soldiers. Yet he made no attempt to
force the American lines. By the beginning of March Washington was able
to take the offensive, and on the night of the 4th occupied Dorchester
heights and began to plant cannon there. It is amazing that Howe should
have neglected this important position. A storm prevented him from
sending a force across the bay to attack the Americans' works before
they were completed; their batteries rendered Boston untenable and
endangered the ships in the harbour. Howe was forced to abandon the
town, and on the 17th the British troops, about 7,600 in number,
together with nearly 1,000 loyalists, embarked for Halifax, where Howe
waited for reinforcements which would enable him to strike at New York.

If the English had abandoned Boston after the battle of Bunker hill, the
evacuation would have merely been a military movement, adopted for the
purpose of obtaining a more convenient base for