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Show "'Rarcnan TRAIN quosrnUcr'. CONJECTURES 071 LE5 hIoTIVES. invincible fortitude of Britilh troops prevented the lir‘ii', the latter " I am commanded h the " 'r t had its full ettect; the defection From Great Britain was greatly increafed, and the rebels excited to exertions that otherwitc they would never have attempted " the better lhould hiive hiilptieiiiai‘al;cfii izttlti'nolilmminim! " you, or any unexpected advantacrcs if ' ' I'S' CttCI‘ "Miles c" on the fide of New-W That by not bloehading the Harbour, as the General himfelt'had recommended, in cafe Bolton thould be evacuated, and leaving that as well as the other {ca ports on the. coatl in every refpett open and accommodatedto their naval etrorts, the rebels not only fupplicd theml‘clves with military flores from our oun itorelhips, and captured great numbers of our own troops, but were enabled to colleft {uch a marine as to make depredatrons on our trade in every part of the world, which forfome time was the {ole tupport of the rebellion: And that by going northward 600 miles further from the intended fcene of action, inliead of going fouthward as he had been directed, the fpring and tummer were waited awav, \Vavfhington had four or five months lcuure to fortify New 'York and its dependencies, and to draw the whole force of the continent to the {pot where he knew our main army was del‘tined. So that finally, with an army to decidedly fuperior to the enemy, "the General did little more in that campaign than provide winter quarters for the troops. G. Howe's tr‘aiu But thefe wretched manmnvres, unequalled but by the wretchof "'mCht'd ma- ed excufcs made for them, {hall now be the fubjeél: of confideranmuvres and tion. 35::th "' Having now fully obviated the charges .which the General thought proper to inflitute agamft the mmiller, I Will conhder Sir William Howe's vindication of his own conduct. ~ " The order (fays he) for evacuating Bolton came too late " for me to execute it when I received it. I did execute it on " the 17th of March, and ina manner, Itruft, that was free " from difgrace." It is onlv necefl'ary to confider what thofe orders were, and the time arid manner in which they were executed, to decide on this part of the General's conduct. . Orders for "b In the beginning ofVNovember r775, Gen. Howe received a cumng 30mm letter from the Earl of Dartmouth, wherein, after referring to early ir. winter. a former letter which had fuggellcd the advantages of the army's beingr removed to New York, and the hazard of continuing at Bothin through the winter, his Lordfhip writes, " The intelli- " gencc and informatiori of every day fince, have {he-Wu more " clearly both the one and the other, and the fituation of the " troops cooped up in a town, expofed to inl‘ult and annoyance, if not furprize, from more places than one, deprived of the ccwnthrts and neceflaries of life, waiting away by d11eat'e and defertion fafier than we can recruit, and no longer the objects of terror or caufe of diltrefs to the rebels, is truly alarming, and demands the mutt ferious contideration i1 and am . . " I .. - - ‘3' have uni,trl,an d , fl tould U .Cdlrymg 0n the 'thS, War, it feems not only advrfeable but nccchary opened IhCIHlC to abandon Bolion ‘4 u befayc th; winter, {Ste-and to remove with the troops either " to t cw 01k, or tome other place to the Southward, where a fquadron of the king's llups may not only lie, u but carry on operations with fecurity during the winter. " Here is an explicit, practicable order, framed on the real ti« tuation of allairs in America, by conforming to which, rrreatevils were to be avoided, and advantages of tonal mavnifiule to he obtained. Had the General, immediately on receivi ng it, rrone to . New York, he might have effected in 1"" nearly, iténot . . . quite as much, as he did in 1776 With 30,00/ 0 3troops. There was nothing to oppofe his army, which then conlil ted of 9000 efeéhvcnnen. Staten-Illand and Long-Itland would have re- If done, the ceived him with open arms, and New York, by his own con- 3W4 "m"feliion, was then in his power. The army would not only have been relieved from the preflhre of an ignominious and molt dilirefling blockade, have abounded withfreth provificns, and been able to carry on operations during the winter, but what was offlill greater moment, the early potl'etlion of New York would have left the immenfe armament that was fent to Ame- rica in 1776, at liberty to act on the evtcntive fcale for which it was calculated, and to which it was adequate, and a total {uppreflion of the rebellion have been the neccllaw confequcnce. ‘ But whether it is to be imputed to incapacity, to an utter in- (‘v-nieflum ability to combine circumflances, to balance probable events, (ism Hwy, O" and to improve lituations and conjundtures, to the fox-did views conduit. of thofe who principally cotnpoti‘d his cabinet council ; to his own love of cafe, and the reluctance he felt at abandoning the Rotine of pleat'urc that had been efiahlithcd at Boflon for the winter ; or to his being wedded to a {yftcm of politics that favoured the rebellion, I do not pretend to fly, but certain it is General Howe {o conducted as to fuller all the evil pointed out in his Lordlhip's letter, which accumulated ignominy and difgrace, as well as to lofe every advantage that had been fug- gelled. The general did not think proper to obey the {ecretary ong, "mm ex- ftatc's order, and alligned for the rcafon of his ditbhcdience,cufc refuted. that he had not fuihcient {hipping to efi‘eét the removal at one embarkation, and going at two would be hazardous. True it is that the tonnage of the iii ping then at Bolton fell {hurt of the quantity ul-ually allowed. for long;- rm" r ' wts, hotvever, a fulhciency for a inort one ; lowing, when the evacuation molt plate, tcr'. ‘ |