keeping between
Cornwallis and Philadelphia.

[5] Lord George Harris, of the Fifth Foot.

[6] It will be noticed that this account differs essentially from that
of Wilkinson, who, though present at Lee's capture, hid himself until
the light-horse had left with their prisoner.

VIII

THE OUTLOOK

To all intents the campaign of 1776 had now drawn its lengthened
disasters to a close. It had indeed been protracted nearly to the point
of ruin, with the one result, that Philadelphia was apparently safe for
the present. But with Washington thrown back across the Delaware, Lee a
prisoner, Congress fled to Baltimore, Canada lost, New York lost, the
Jerseys overrun, the royal army stretched out from the Hudson to the
Delaware and practically intact, while the patriot army, dwindled to a
few thousands, was expected to disappear in a few short weeks, the
situation had grown desperate indeed.

So hopeless indeed was the outlook everywhere that the ominous cry of
"Every one for himself"--that last despairing cry of the
vanquished--began to be echoed throughout the colonies. We have seen
that even Washington himself seriously thought of retreating behind the
Alleghanies, which was virtual surrender. Even he, if report be true,
began to think of the halter, and Franklin's little witticism, on
signing the Declaration, of, "Come, gentlemen, we must all hang together
or we shall hang separately," was getting uncomfortably like inspired
prophecy.

If we turn now to the people, we shall find the same apparent consenting
to the inevitable, the same tendency of all intelligent discussion
toward the one result. One instance only of this feeling may be cited
here, as showing how the young men--always the least despondent portion
of any community--received the news of the retreat through the Jerseys.

Elkanah Watson sets down the following at Plymouth, Mass.: "We looked
upon the contest as near its close, and considered ourselves a
vanquished people. The young men present determined to emigrate, and
seek some spot where liberty dwelt, and where the arm of British tyranny
could not reach us. Major Thomas (who had brought them the dispiriting
news from the army) animated our desponding spirits with the assurance
that Washington was not dismayed, but evinced the same serenity and
confidence as ever. Upon him rested all our hopes."

[Sidenote: British plans.]

At the British headquarters the contest, with good reason, was felt t