ge of the fort. With this unwelcome news he
was accordingly forced to return; and taking his unwilling guide
along with him, he made his way, without any adventure, to our
advanced posts; where, having thanked the fellow for his
fidelity, he rewarded it more effectually by setting him at
liberty.

Having brought his report to head-quarters, a council of war was
instantly summoned to deliberate upon what was best to be done.
Without the help of the fleet, it was evident that, adopt what
plan of attack we could, our loss must be such as to
counterbalance even success itself; whilst success, under
existing circumstances, was, to say the least of it, doubtful.
And even if we should succeed, what would be gained by it? We
could not remove anything from Baltimore, for want of proper
conveyances. Had the ships been able to reach the town, then,
indeed, the quantity of booty might have repaid the survivors for
their toil, and consoled them for the loss of comrades; but as
the case now stood, we should only fight to give us an
opportunity of reacting /re-enacting?/ the scenes of Washington.
To distress an enemy is, no doubt, desirable, but, in the present
instance, that distress, even if brought upon the Americans,
would cost us dear; whereas, if we failed, it was hardly possible
to avoid destruction.

MARCH.

Such was the reasoning which influenced the council of war to
decide that all idea of storming the enemy's lines should be
given up. To draw them from their works would require
manoeuvring, and manoeuvring requires time; but delays were all
in their favour, and could not possibly advantage us. Every hour
brought in reinforcements to their army, whereas ours had no
source from which even to recruit its losses; and it was,
therefore, deemed prudent, since we could not fight at once,
to lose no time in returning to the shipping.

About three hours after midnight the troops were accordingly
formed upon the road, and began their retreat, leaving the
piquets to deceive the enemy, and to follow, as a rear-guard.
The rain, which had continued with little interruption since the
night before, now ceased, and the moon shone out bright and
clear. We marched along, therefore, not in the same spirits as
if we had been advancing, but feeling no debasement at having
thus relinquished an enterprise so much beyond our strength.

When the day broke, our piquets, which had withdrawn about an
hour before, rejoined us, and we we