s certain that by the repluse of this armament the southern
states obtained a long respite from the horrors of war, and that it had
the effect of raising the depressed spirits of the colonists: by it the
spell which had long attached itself to the British navy was broken.
After the disaster General Clinton set sail in the Solby frigate with
his troops to join General Howe, but the rest of the ships remained at
Long Island to refit.

AFFAIRS IN VIRGINIA.

During these events Lord Dunmore had been making a last effort to
retrieve the king's affairs in Virginia. With the consent of General
Howe he sent Mr. Connelly, a native of Pennsylvania, to induce the
people in the back and inland parts of the colony, together with several
of the Indian tribes, to take up arms for government. Connelly had
already reached the back-settlements, but soon after his arrival he was
recognized by a tradesman to whom he was known, who denounced him to one
of the nearest revolutionary committees. Connelly was seized with all
his papers, and sent to Philadelphia, where he was put in irons and
treated with the utmost severity. The scheme of Lord Dunmore was
developed by his papers, and the whole was in consequence frustrated.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY CONGRESS.

It required no prophetic eye to foresee that at no very distant period,
notwithstanding the sentiments of loyalty expressed in their papers by
congress, they would, nevertheless, take one vast stride in the march of
revolution and proclaim their independence. As early as the 15th of
May the congress, in their sitting at Philadelphia, resolved:--"That it
should be recommended to all the various assemblies and conventions in
the United States of America, where no form of government adequate to
the exigencies of affairs had yet been adopted, to establish such a
constitution as should be most conducive to the public welfare and
security." This resolution was published in the newspapers, with a
preamble, stating that as the king and parliament of Great Britain had
excluded the inhabitants of the colonies from the protection of their
mother country, it behoved them to abolish the power and constitution
which had been derived from thence. By this measure of congress the
mask was at length thrown off, and many Americans now stepped forward
to claim the honour of having been the originator of the grand idea.
The glory is, however, generally attributed by Americans to Benjamin