not easily convince, had the effect of making a determined
and deadly, out of a doubtful foe. This was terribly proved by the after
history. To this cause we may ascribe, in some degree, the terrors of
that sanguinary strife, in which, to use the language of a distinguished
officer, they "pursued each other rather like wild beasts than men."* We
shall see something of this history as we proceed in ours.

* Letter of General Greene. See Johnson's Greene.--

There was yet another circumstance which tended, in some degree, to give
courage to the Tories. It was the somewhat temporizing policy of the
patriots. There was still a feeling of doubt, a hesitancy, on the part
of the latter, as the prospects grew stronger of a final breach with
Great Britain. There were many who still clung to the hope that the
differences of the two nations might yet be reconciled; and though the
means of such reconciliation did not make themselves obvious, they yet
fondly cherished the conviction that something might turn up, at the
last moment, to prevent the absolute necessity of bloodshed. This
portion of the patriots necessarily influenced the rest; those who,
looking beyond the moment, saw the true issue, and properly regarded the
declared objects of difference as pretexts which must suffice when the
better reasons might not be expressed. They dared not openly broach the
idea of national independence, which, there is very little question
that the noblest of the American patriots everywhere, though secretly,
entertained from the beginning. The people were not prepared for such
a revelation--such a condition; and appearances were still to be
maintained. Their proceedings, accordingly, still wore, however loosely,
a pacific aspect. Though actively preparing for war, the professions of
the patriots declared their measures to be precautionary only--a refuge,
an alternative, in the event of greater oppression. They still spoke the
language of loyalty, still dealt in vague assurances of devotion to
the crown. But such professions deceived nobody, and least of all the
loyalists. They derived courage from the reluctance of the patriots
to embark in a struggle, for the fruits of which, if successful, they
evidently longed. They were not less active--nay, in the interior, they
were even more active--than their opponents; had already taken arms, and
gained advantages, which nothing but decisive movements on the part of
the people along the seaboar