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 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow C H A P T E R XV: A Retrospect of some Naval Transactions in the West Indies, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and seventy-nine • Affairs in Georgia concisely reviewed • General Lincoln sent to take the Command at the Southward • The Count de - History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution vol. 1

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C H A P T E R XV: A Retrospect of some Naval Transactions in the West Indies, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and seventy-nine • Affairs in Georgia concisely reviewed • General Lincoln sent to take the Command at the Southward • The Count de - Mercy Otis Warren, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution vol. 1 [1805]

Edition used:

History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution interspersed with Biographical, Political and Moral Observations, in Two Volumes, Foreword by Lester H. Cohen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1994). Vol. 1.

Part of: History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution 2 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


C H A P T E R XV

A Retrospect of some Naval Transactions in the West Indies, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and seventy-nine • Affairs in Georgia concisely reviewed • General Lincoln sent to take the Command at the Southward • The Count de Estaing’s Arrival in Georgia • Savannah closely besieged by the Combined Forces of France and America • Repulsed by General Prevost • The Count de Estaing leaves the Southern Clime • The Count Pulaski slain in Georgia • Some Anecdotes of Count Kosciusko

chap. xv[161] From the concise mode of narration hitherto observed in these annals, a particular detail of naval operations will not be expected.1779 Yet it is necessary to look a little back, and observe that an insular war had raged between the British and French in the West Indies, during the winter of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, though they had not yet received any intelligence, that a formal declaration of hostilities between those two potent nations had taken place.

The island of Dominica was seized by the marquis de Bouille, governor of Martinico, as early as September, one thousand seven hundred [162] and seventy-eight; but the terms imposed on the inhabitants by the conqueror, were so mild, that they scarcely felt the change of sovereignty. No licentious rudeness, or avaricious pillage, was permitted by the humane and honorable commander, who, through all his conduct in the West Indies, exhibited a specimen of that generous compassion always honorary to the conqueror and to human nature.

The loss of the island of Dominica was peculiarly mortifying to the court of St. James, as it had been ceded to Great Britain on the last peace, as a kind of balance of accounts, after a very expensive war with the house of Bourbon.

Admiral Barrington with a considerable force, lay at this time at Barbadoes, in a very anxious and inactive state. He had yet no orders for hostile operations; but he was soon after relieved by the arrival of five thousand men commanded by general Grant, convoyed by six ships of the line and a number of frigates, under the direction of commodore Hotham. The want of instructions, and even of intelligence that might be depended on, had exceedingly embarrassed the British admiral: but on Hotham’s arrival, an expedition to the island of St. Lucia was prosecuted with celerity and success.

[163] The chevalier de Micaud, the commandant, took all the precaution of a brave and judicious officer. The main point was to prevent the completion of the British success, until he should be relieved by the arrival of the French squadron from Boston, which he had the highest reason every moment to expect. The count de Estaing had formed the design, and was in force sufficient, to have swept all the leeward islands, before the junction of admiral Barrington and commodore Hotham. But interrupted in his military progress by a second violent gale in the American seas, and seldom a favorite of fortune, he did not appear in sight of St. Lucia until the last French flag was struck. He however made some spirited, but successless efforts for the recovery of the islands. The vigilance and valor of the British commander defeated this design: to which was added the mortification of repeated disappointment, in several valiant rencounters with the bold and resolute English.

Though the count de Estaing’s ships were equal in force, and experience had shewn that neither his officers nor seamen were deficient in courage, yet after he quitted St. Lucia, he apparently declined a general engagement, and within ten days withdrew to Port Royal. He was frequently insulted while there by the appearance of challenge from the British flag; but he still adhered to his own system of inaction, [164] determined to undertake no capital stroke before the arrival of fresh reinforcements from Europe. It was not until the month of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine, that this event took place, when the arrival of monsieur de La Motte, with every thing necessary for the most vigorous naval operations, excited the count de Estaing to immediate enterprise.

The first object of attack was the valuable island of St. Vincents, which had formerly cost much British blood to arrest and secure, by the cruel attempt to exterminate the unfortunate and innocent Caraibs. After the easy acquisition of this island, the count proceeded to the Grenades. He there landed two or three thousand men under the command of count Dillon, a brave Irish officer in the French service. He also headed a strong column himself, and attempted to carry the most defensible fortress by storm. His superiority of strength insured his success; and lord Macartney was obliged to offer a surrender, on the proposals of capitulation he had at first rejected; but the count received and treated the governor’s flag with an unbecoming hauteur. He made new and severe proposals in such a tone of defiance and contempt, that both the governor and the inhabitants chose rather to surrender at discretion, than to bind themselves to such hard conditions, as neither the customs of nations nor the justice of courts had usually required.

[165] There is much reason to believe, that the count de Estaing did not exercise all the lenity that ought to be expected from a brave and generous conqueror. On the contrary, after this new acquisition, the inhabitants were plundered and distressed; an unbounded license raged among the soldiery, till their excesses were checked by the humanity of count Dillon, who paid every attention to the miseries of the people; and supported by his own regiment, he rendered the condition of the conquered island less deplorable.

The capture of St. Lucia was in a degree fatal to the conquerors. The noxious air of an unhealthy island, in a burning climate, did more than the sword of France to waste the veterans of Britain. Sickness and mortality raged and cut down the troops; and the squadron weakened by the departure of admiral Byron, to convoy the homeward bound fleet of merchantmen, nothing of consequence was attempted in his absence.

When he returned, both St. Vincents and the Grenades were in the hands of the French; but so uncertain were the accounts at first received, of the wretched situation of the Grenades, that the British commander determined to hazard an attempt for their relief. This brought on a general, though not a decisive action. It was supported on both sides with laudable [166] spirit and bravery; but they finally separated without victory on either. Yet the proud and gallant Britons, whose island has long assumed the haughty style of mistress of the seas, who have justly boasted their superiority in naval engagements, could not forbear to claim the advantage in this doubtful conflict. But it is certain the wounded fleets under the admirals Barrington and Byron, found some difficulty in reaching St. Christophers, without some of their ships falling into the hands of their enemy.

The count de Estaing returned to Grenada; and the lillies of France waved for a short time in the West Indies; and the English admirals were insulted in their turn, by the parade of the French fleet before St. Christophers, in the same manner lord Barrington had before manoeuvred in vain at Martinico, without provoking the Frenchmen to engage. After these partial successes, the count de Estaing soon left the tropical seas, and repaired again to the American continent, where the assistance of a naval force was by this time exceedingly wanted, to aid the operations of the Americans.

The southern campaign had been opened the preceding year, by the seizure of the capital of Georgia. Sir Henry Clinton, late in the autumn of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, had ordered a large detachment of [167] Hessian, British and provincial troops, under the command of lieutenant colonel Campbell, to Savannah, to assist major general Prevost in further prosecuting some expected advantages he had already gained. They were escorted by a small squadron under the command of commodore Parker, and arrived in the Savannah the twenty-seventh of December.

The state of Georgia was at this time in a very weak and defenceless situation. Their frontiers were exposed to the depredations of the savages; and the rude incursions of the wild borderers who mixed with them, had often been so troublesome, as to require the call of the southern militia to check their outrages. Colonel Campbell landed his troops immediately on his arrival in the river, and by several spirited and judicious movements, possessed himself of the town of Savannah, the capital of the state, with little or no loss, and obliged general Robert Howe, a gentleman of North Carolina, who commanded a party of about eight hundred militia, to retreat with precipitation.

Orders had been previously given by sir Henry Clinton to major general Prevost, the commander in chief in East Florida, to repair with all possible expedition, to aid the invasion and reduction of Georgia. This active officer immediately collected his remote cantonments, and with dispatch and perseverance, pushed [168] his march through a hot and barren country of great extent. Surmounting innumerable difficulties and fatigue, he reached Sunbury, and took possession of the town and garrison, before Campbell had possessed himself of Savannah.

Both military skill and a great degree of humanity, marked this first important enterprise in the south. The British commander forbid that the inhabitants not in arms should be either molested or plundered; and by promises and proclamations, encouraged them to submit quietly to the authority of the parent state. Some acquiesced by inclination, and many impelled by necessity, appeared ready to enlist under the British standard; others, of more bold and independent sentiments, made their escape across the river, with the hope of an asylum in South Carolina.

These successes again encouraged the disaffected and disorderly people, who had long infested the back parts of North Carolina, to renew their incursions. Those insurgents had been apparently subdued, their leaders cut off, and their spirits broken, in the beginning of the American convulsions; but their aversion to the reigning powers in that state, still rankled in their breasts: they had impatiently waited an opportunity of displaying it, in all the fierce and cruel modes of savage war, in conjunction [169] with the neighbouring Indians, to whom they had attached themselves.

They considered this a favorable crisis, and again left their rural occupations. They united with some scattering parties of the same description, on the borders of South Carolina and Georgia, embodied themselves, and in their progress committed every outrage, that might be expected from an armed banditti. But on an attempt to join general Prevost, their main body was attacked by the provincial militia, many of them cut off, and others taken prisoners; the remainder fled to the frontiers of Georgia, where, with their old associates of the wilderness, and all others who could be collected in the back settlements, they united to aid general Prevost in his future operations.

The hazardous situation of Georgia, and the imminent danger of the wealthy state of South Carolina, had spread an alarm that awakened to immediate exertion for the recovery of the one, and the security of the other. General Lincoln had seasonably been sent forward to take the command in the southern department. He reached Savannah a short time after colonel Campbell’s arrival there; but he found himself not in so eligible a situation as might have been wished. The number of troops under his command fell far short of expectation: the artillery and stores were insufficient; and every [170] difficulty was enhanced by the want of order and discipline in the militia, who refused to submit to the necessary subordination of armies: they left their posts and retired at pleasure.

General Lincoln however, consistent with his usual disposition on all occasions, endeavoured to make the best of his situation. He continued himself at Purisburgh, with the main body of his army, and ordered general Ashe with a detachment of two thousand men, to take a strong post at a place called Briar Creek. His design was to secure the upper part of the country against the loyalists, who were every where collecting their strength.

Soon after general Ashe had taken possession of the advantageous post, that in the opinion of the principal officers, promised perfect security, general Prevost formed and executed the design of surprising him there. To facilitate this judicious measure, he made such arrangements on the banks of the Savannah, as took off the attention of general Lincoln: at the same time, he ordered his brother, colonel Prevost, by a circuitous march of fifty miles, to fall unexpectedly on Ashe’s party at the creek. The success of the enterprise justified the design; the whole detachment was routed, many of them killed or captured; and thus the way was opened for the loyalists, and their copper-colored allies in the back country, to join Prevost [171] without molestation. After this action which took place the third of March, the two parties separated by the river, continued quietly in their own posts, till the latter end of the month of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine. Savannah, Sunbury, and some other towns, were in the hands of the British, and the state by proclamation, laid under military government: yet the people in general considered themselves as belonging to the union.

General Lincoln, zealous to procure an election of delegates to congress from Georgia, which he expected would be impeded by violence, left his advantageous situation on the lower part of the river, and moved towards Augusta. This was rather an unfortunate movement, as, had he continued his first station, he might have secured Charleston for a time. Indeed, there was then little reason to apprehend any immediate danger in that quarter; yet he had the precaution to leave general Moultrie, with fifteen hundred men to guard the passes of the river.

The campaign in Georgia however, did not redound much to the advantage of the American arms, or to the honor of general Lincoln. It was thought by some, he did not discover himself a judicious and experienced commander, who had penetration to calculate on fortuitous events, or resources at hand to extricate himself when they unexpectedly took place. [172] Yet he supported a character, cool and brave, under a variety of disappointments. He was however, led a circuitous dance from place to place, by the rapid movements of general Prevost through the state of Georgia, until he was obliged to move with more serious prospects towards Charleston.

The loss of his party at Briar Creek, was no more than might have been expected from the activity and vigor of such an officer as Prevost, attending more to his military renown, than to the political manoeuvres of the state. While general Lincoln was canvassing for the election of a delegate to congress, * the commander of the forces of his antagonist was intent only on winning success in the field.

The active Prevost seized the moment of advantage; suddenly crossed the river in different parts, and penetrated into South Carolina, with little or no opposition. The party under Moultrie, consisting chiefly of militia, on seeing themselves surrounded on all sides by British troops, retreated hastily, and secured themselves within the city of Charleston.

General Prevost having thus succeeded, even beyond his most sanguine expectations, in several [173] enterprises of considerable moment, inspired by his own wishes, and prompted by the importunities of the loyalists, he formed the bolder resolution of pushing directly for Charleston. He arrived at the river Ashley on the eleventh of May, crossed it, and within a few days summoned the city to surrender. Nor had he any reason for some time, to regret the determination. He had every assurance from the disaffected Americans, that Charleston would surrender without resistance, and that they had the best authority for this decided opinion; nor did they in this instance so totally disappoint the expectations of their British friends, as they frequently had done, and continued to do in their subsequent informations. It is true general Prevost did not immediately succeed to the full completion of his hopes; but on the first summons to surrender, the citizens assured him, that no opposition should be made, provided they might be permitted to continue in a state of neutrality to the conclusion of the war.

This was the only instance in America of an offer made so derogatory to the honor of the union. No single state, whatever might be their distresses, ever expressed a wish during the war, to be bound to a neutral repose, while their sister states were bleeding at every pore, in support of the general cause. The conduct of the citizens of Charleston cannot be accounted [174] for, but from the momentary panic to which the human mind is liable, when sudden danger presses, before it has time to collect its own fortitude, and to act with decision and dignity, consistent with previous principles.

South Carolina had been distinguished for the bold and active part, taken by that state against the measures of Britain. This was the first southern colony, after Virginia, who adopted the proposal of a general congress; nor was there now any reason to suspect any defection in the bulk of the inhabitants, though there were numbers in the city of Charleston, attached to the royal cause. Her patriots were unshaken, her officers brave; and the subsequent conduct of the people at large, and the sufferings of individuals, effaced the unfavorable impressions this proposal might have left, had it not have been wiped off by the vigorous opposition afterwards made to a successful foe, both in their councils and in the field, amidst the extremes of peril, personal danger, and public misery.

General Prevost, encouraged by success, and animated by his own personal bravery, united with the hope of subduing Charleston, rejected the offer of neutrality, and all further negociation ceased. The city immediately recovered its former spirit, and preparation was made on both sides for the most vigorous attack and defence.

[175] General Lincoln had been rather slow in his movements, having been deceived into an opinion, that Prevost had no farther design in crossing the river Savannah, than to procure forage and provisions. But soon finding more serious consequences were to be expected, he hastened on with his whole force, and made his arrangements with so much judgment and alacrity, that general Prevost thought it prudent to withdraw from before the city, lest his retreat should be cut off. He encamped his troops on the islands before the harbor, where he continued for some time, in anxious expectation of reinforcements from New York. This being delayed until the advance of the intense heats, and the sickly season of that country came on, which rendered it in some measure necessary to suspend all vigorous operations in that quarter, little else was done there this year, except the indiscriminate plunder of the wealthy inhabitants of the state, who were out of the reach of the protection of their friends.

Affairs in Georgia requiring his presence, general Prevost repaired there soon after the siege of Charleston was raised. He left a force sufficient in Port Royal to encourage his friends, by keeping up the appearance of some permanent establishment in that province, where he meant soon to return. But early in the autumn, the unexpected arrival of the squadron [176] commanded by the count de Estaing, on the southern coast, gave the flattering promise of a new face to the affairs of Georgia and the Carolinas.

The admiral on his arrival in the Savannah, landed his troops with all possible expedition, and in conjunction with the Americans, laid siege to the capital of Georgia. On the sixteenth of September, he demanded a surrender of the town to the arms of the king of France. The summons was in language that rather excited terror than allurement, and would have determined an officer of less courage and resolution than general Prevost, to defend the town to the last. The situation of Savannah was indeed scarcely defensible; but resolved not to yield but in the last extremity, Prevost returned a polite, but evasive answer to the French commander; and had the address to obtain a truce of twenty-four hours to deliberate.

In this fortunate interval, the arrival of colonel Maitland, with a body of troops from Port Royal, put an end to deliberation. All thoughts of surrender were laid aside, and a most gallant defence made. The town was bombarded for five days, to the great terror and distress of the inhabitants. In this predicament, general Prevost wrote and requested the count de Estaing, that the women and children, with his [177] own wife and family, might be sent down the river, and placed under the protection of one of the French ships. After some delay, he had the mortification to receive an unpolite and cruel refusal.

As this answer was signed by both the French and American commanders, censure for want of humanity fell equally on each. It is not improbable the severe language it contained, might be designed to intimidate, and hasten a surrender, and thereby prevent the further effusion of blood. Yet there appeared a want of generosity unbecoming the politeness of the Frenchman, and inconsistent with the well known humanity of the American commander. Of this they seemed to be sensible within a few days, when fortune began to change her face. Apologies were made both by general Lincoln and the count, for this indelicate refusal: great tenderness was therein expressed for the inhabitants, and every civility offered, particularly to the general’s lady and family, and a ship assigned as an asylum for herself and friends. General Prevost replied to this offer of kindness, extorted by apprehension if not by fear, that “what had been once refused in terms of insult, could in no circumstances be deemed worth the acceptance.”

[178] The little time gained by this short parley for the purposes of civility, was improved by general Prevost to great advantage in every view. With indefatigable industry he strengthened his old works; and, assisted by the spirit and capacity of Mr. Moncrief, the chief engineer, he erected new ones with celerity and judgment, very honorable to his military talents, and consistent with his zeal and alacrity on all occasions.

The arrival of an officer of colonel Maitland’s abilities, accompanied by a considerable reinforcement, was indeed a very fortunate circumstance at this period for the commander at Savannah. Stimulated by a recent affront, and urged on by a constitutional activity, and a thirst of military applause, general Prevost seemed to bid defiance to the combined forces of France and America, and repulsed them in every quarter.

On the eleventh of October, the besiegers attempted to storm the town, but were defeated with great slaughter. They however kept up the appearance of a blockade until the sixteenth, when they requested a truce to bury their dead, and take care of their wounded. This was readily granted by Prevost. The conflict had been bloody indeed, and both sides equally wished for time to perform this charitable and necessary [179] business. Soon after the melancholy work of interring many of their comrades, the French and the Americans took the advantage of a dark and foggy night, and retreated with all possible precipitation, breaking down the bridges as they passed, to impede the pursuit of their enemies, if they should be disposed to follow them.

The count de Estaing had now an opportunity to survey the condition of his fleet; when he found the sailors sickly and dispirited; nor was the army less so, from the unhealthiness of the climate, and the failure of their late enterprise. The count himself had been wounded in the course of the siege, and several of his best officers were either killed or wounded. The loss of very many of his men in this decided repulse, with the disgrace that every commander thinks he incurs, when the expectation of success from great designs is defeated, deeply affected the mind of the French commander. Thus unfortunately disappointed in the spirited attack on the town of Savannah, he found it necessary, from a combination of untoward circumstances, to abandon the design of recovering Georgia. In a short time after this, the French commander bade adieu to the American seas.

He had never been disgraced by any deficiency in military ability, knowledge, or spirit, [180] while acting in behalf of the United States: yet a series of disappointments had prevented his reaping the laurels, the just reward of bravery, or rendering much service to his allies, who had received him with the highest marks of cordiality and expectation. *

The summons of the count de Estaing to the British commander, to surrender the capital of one of the states to the arms of his most christian majesty, was neither pleasing, prudent, or productive of harmony and confidence, between the French under his command and the Americans. It occasioned some discontent at the time; and perhaps some jealous Americans did not regret, that the recovery of Georgia was left to an officer of merit in their own corps, sent forward afterwards by general Greene, who had been the favorite of fortune, of the people, and of the commander in chief.

This was done at a period of complicated difficulties, when general Greene could not leave the state of South Carolina himself, but in the abilities of general Wayne he had the utmost confidence. The event shewed that this confidence was not misplaced. We shall [181] see hereafter general Wayne was sent on, and had the honor of finishing the war in Georgia, and the pleasure of witnessing the evacuation of the troops from their strong holds in that state, annihilating the last remains of British authority there, and recovering again the youngest of the sister states, to their former union.

In the repulse before Savannah, many valorous and gallant officers fell. Among this number was the count Pulaski, a Polish nobleman of great consideration. His bravery and enterprising spirit was celebrated, not only in America, but in his own country. He had once, amidst the fierce contests of the miserable Polanders, in the height of his zeal for the recovery and support of the liberties of that nation, seized on the person of the king of Poland, and for a time held him his prisoner; and though he had with him only two or three, whom he deemed trusty associates, one of them relented, and betrayed him: the king was saved, and the count obliged to fly.† A few years after, he repaired to America, where he found a field ample enough for the exercise of his soldierly talents, to cherish his love of freedom, and to support the military character of his ancestors and his family, many of whom survived this heroic officer.

[182] The count Pulaski was not the only officer of his nation who distinguished himself in the American war; but the count Kosciusko, for his firmness, his valor, and his sufferings, merits particular notice. He was amiable and virtuous, as well as brave, and supported a character that will seldom be passed over in silence, in a history of either Poland or America.

The kingdom of Poland had for years exhibited a most striking monument of human misery. Their struggles for liberty, the pride of the nobles, the ignorance and barbarism of the peasantry, their unstable confederacies, the usurpation of princes, and the interference of neighbouring monarchs, rendered it a scene of carnage, for several ages previous to the expulsion of Stanislaus Augustus, their ruin as a nation, and the partition of their country among the crowned despots that surrounded them. The sovereign of Poland was dethroned; the kingdom partitioned among the trio combined for that purpose, Frederick, Catherine, and Maria Theresa. Many of the inhabitants were sent to plant colonies in the cold and distant regions of Siberia, and other parts of the Russian domains. Some of the nobility survived under the heavy yoke of their victorious neighbours; others had fled, and lent their valorous arms to England, France, and America.

This melancholy termination of efforts grounded in nature and reason, might for a time [183] smother the spark of freedom implanted in every human breast, which yet almost every man, when ascending the pedestal of power, endeavours to extinguish in the bosom of all but himself. But the misfortunes of their country, or their own personal sufferings, could not deaden the flame of liberty and independence, that burnt in the bosoms of many noble-minded Polanders: though the distractions of their native country obliged them to abandon it, their enthusiasm was cherished amidst strangers, and they lent their veteran abilities to aid the emancipation of others from the degrading yoke of servitude.

The character of no one of this distinguished band became more conspicuous, than that of the count Kosciusko, who survived the fierce conflicts to which his bravery exposed him through the revolutionary war in America.* His subsequent transactions in his native country, his valor, his misfortunes, and his renown, are too well known, and too replete with extraordinary events, to record in this place.

While we admire the patriotism, bravery, and other virtues, that adorned the characters of some individuals among the heroes of that ill-fated country, the deplorable situation of Poland [184] should forever stand as a memento to all other nations, who claim or maintain any degree of freedom. By their private animosities, jealousies, and dissensions, all confidence was destroyed, and all patriotism annihilated, except in the bosoms of a few, until their king was dethroned, the nobility laid prostrate, the country drenched in blood, and the people driven into banishment by thousands, and obliged to wear out a miserable existence, under the authority of the arbitrary sovereigns who had completed the ruin of their liberty, their government, and their country.

The history of Poland is indeed an awful lesson to every republic, where the seeds of dissension begin to spring up among the people. Those symptoms, when nurtured by faction, and strengthened by jealousies among themselves, render the people an easy prey to foreign Invaders, and too generally terminate in a tragic catastrophe, similar to that of the Poles; who no longer continued a distinct nation, after the æra which has stained the annals of Europe by the shameful partition treaty, preconcerted in the cabinets of Russia, Prussia, and Germany, and announced by the joint declaration of their sovereigns, in one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three.

The inhabitants of Poland were now the subjects and slaves of those usurping princes, who [185] had seized and divided the kingdom; transplanted the inhabitants of the territory to distant regions, and repeopled the depopulated country with the soldiers of Prussia, Germany, and the northern potentates, who had long trained their own subjects to bend in silence, under the yoke of servility.

The partition of Poland was a singular event in the history of Europe, where the great powers, inattentive to the balance about which they had for many years expressed so much solicitude, viewed this extraordinary circumstance with little or no emotion. Whatever may be the effect on the general state of Europe, it is yet uncertain, whether the Poles lost so much by the change as has been apprehended.

It is difficult to say in what period of the history of Poland, they had any proper claim to the honor of a free, republican form of government. The people had long groaned under the unbridled oppresssion and power of a proud domestic aristocracy. The absurd veto, designed as a check, only increased their discontents, jealousies, rancor, and confusion. They had indeed a nominal king, more the subject of a foreign power, than the sovereign of his own country. They are now under the iron hand of foreign despotism. Whether that, or the scourge of [186] aristocracy, is the most productive of vassalage and misery, is a problem yet undecided. We leave deeper politicians to determine if they can, which is the most abhorrent to the feelings of humanity. But the discussion of the constitution of the Poles, is not a part of the business of the present work. Yet the ruin of Poland may be viewed as an example and a warning to other nations, particularly to those who enjoy a free, elective, representative government.

[*]There was an effort to defeat this measure, which general Lincoln judged it necessary to counteract, bearing in mind the interests of his country in civil as well as military matters.

[*]The count de Estaing was some years afterwards, one of the proscribed victims who fell by the guillotine, amidst the distractions and misery of his own country, in the infuriated reign of Robespierre.

[†]A full narrative of this transaction may be seen in Coxe’s Travels through Russia, &c. &c. [William Coxe, Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark (5 vols.; 4th. ed.; London, 1792).]

[*]See more of the count Kosciusko in Appendix, Note No. VII.