ers had doubtless
the effect of stimulating the Americans in their factious opposition to
their mother country, and England ought to have been warned by them. But
England itself was like a divided house upon this subject. The Americans
in fact were more encouraged by the people of England in their rebellion
than by the hostile sentiments of foreign powers. Recent pages fully
prove that they had their advocates in parliament,--men who not only
justified their proceedings, but likewise exhibited to them in their
speeches "the nakedness of the land," in strange, unjustifiable, and
hyperbolical language. Like the false spies among the Hebrews, they
spread an evil report of their country's resources, and hence held it
forth to the contempt of the colonists. In this they were also aided by
the political writers of the day. The press teemed with publications in
favour of the colonists, and every breeze wafted them across the mighty
waters to add fuel to the flames. One of the most conspicuous of these
writers was Dr. Price, whose work entitled, "Observations on the Nature
of Civil Liberty, &c.;" sought to depreciate the British government, and
extolled the spirit which gave rise to the American revolution. Powerful
pens, as that of Dr. Johnson, were, it is true, employed on the other
side of the question,--but sentiments in accordance with the feelings
of an individual or a whole people will ever maintain a preponderating
influence. Moreover, it must be confessed that those writers who took
the part of government often wrote in an illiberal and unenlightened
spirit, so that their emanations had an equally powerful effect in
confirming the Americans in their views and designs, as those which
proceeded from the pens of their advocates. From every party, in
truth, and on every hand, the colonists received encouragement in their
hostility to the British crown.

EVACUATION OF BOSTON BY THE BRITISH.

While the British parliament was indulging in oratorical debate, and
political writers were dipping their pens in gall, the Americans had
been actively engaged with the sword. During the winter, both the
British army in Boston, and the blockading army of the Americans, by
which that town was surrounded, had undergone many miseries. Washington,
however, was active in keeping up the flagging spirits of his
troops, and they were further revived by the constant arrival of
provision-waggons, ammunition, artillery, and reinforcements.