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CHAP. ed implicit obedience. In the laying waste which was proposed, New England was to be spared the least. 1776. The second night after this last effort in the BritMar. ish parliament to restrain the impetuous arrogance

of the ministry had been defeated with contemptuous scorn, Washington gained possession of Nook Hill, and with it the power of opening the highway from Roxbury to Boston. At the appearance of this work, the British retreated precipitately; the army, about eight thousand in number, and more than eleven hundred refugees, began their embarkation at four in the morning; in less than six hours they were all put on board one hundred and twenty transports; Howe himself, among the last to leave the town, took passage with the admiral in the Chatham; before ten they were under way; and the citizens of Boston, from every height and every wharf, could see the fleet sail out of the harbor in a long line, extending from the castle to Nantasket Roads.

But where were Thacher, and Mayhew, and Dana, and Molineux, and Quincy, and Gardner, and Warren? Would that they, and all the martyrs of Lexington and Bunker Hill, had lived to gaze on the receding sails!

Troops from Roxbury at once moved into Boston, and others from Cambridge crossed over in boats. Everywhere appeared marks of hurry in the flight of the British; among other stores, they left behind them two hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, of which one half were serviceable; twenty five hundred chaldrons of sea coal; twenty five thousand bushels of wheat; three thousand bushels of barley and oats; one hundred and fifty horses; bedding and clothing for sol

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diers. Nor was this all; several British storeships CHAP. consigned to Boston, and ignorant of the retreat, successively entered the harbor without suspicion, and 1776. fell into the hands of the Americans; among them the ship Hope, which, in addition to carbines, bayonets, gun-carriages, and all sorts of tools necessary for artillery, had on board more than seven times as much powder as Washington's whole stock when his last movement was begun.

On the next day, Washington ordered five of his best regiments to march under Heath to New York. On the twentieth, the main body of the army made its entry into Boston; alive with curiosity to behold the town which had been the first object of the war, the immediate cause of hostilities, the place of arms defended by Britain at the cost of more than a million pounds sterling, and which the continent had contended for so long. Except one meeting-house and a few wooden buildings which had been used for fuel, the houses had been left in a good condition. When, two days later, all restrictions on intercourse with the town were removed, and the exiles and their friends streamed in, all hearts were touched at "witnessing the tender interviews and fond embraces of those who had been long separated." For Washington, crowded welcomes and words of gratitude hung on the faltering tongues of the liberated inhabitants; the selectmen of Boston addressed him in their name: "Next to the divine power we ascribe to your wisdom, that this acquisition has been made with so little effusion of human blood;" and the chief in reply paid a just tribute to their unparalleled fortitude.

When the quiet of a week had revived ancient

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CHAP. usages, Washington attended the Thursday lecture, LIX. which had been kept up from the days of Winthrop and 1776. Wilson, and all rejoiced with exceeding joy at seeing this New England Zion once more a quiet habitation; they called it "a tabernacle that should never be taken down, of which not one of the stakes should ever be removed, nor one of the cords be broken;" and as the words were spoken, it seemed as if the old century was holding out its hand to the new, and the puritan ancestry of Massachusetts returning to bless the deliverer of their children.

On the twenty ninth, the two branches of the legislature addressed him jointly, dwelling on the respect he had ever shown to their civil constitution, as well as on his regard for the lives and health of all under his command. "Go on," said they, "still go on, approved by heaven, revered by all good men, and dreaded by tyrants; may future generations, in the peaceful enjoyment of that freedom, which your sword shall have established, raise the most lasting monuments to the name of Washington." And the chief, in his answer, renewed his pledges of "a regard to every provincial institution." When the continental congress, on the motion of John Adams, voted him thanks, and a commemorative medal of gold, he modestly transferred their praises to the men of his command, saying: "They were, indeed, at first a band of undisciplined husbandmen; but it is, under God, to their bravery and attention to duty, that I am indebted for that success which has procured me the only reward I wish to receive-the affection and esteem of my countrymen."

New England was always true to Washington; the

LIX.

whole mass of her population, to the end of the war CHAP. and during all his life, heaved and swelled with sympathy for his fortunes; he could not make a sign to 1776 her for aid, but her sons rose up to his support; nor utter advice to his country, but they gave it reverence

and heed.

And never was so great a result obtained at so small a cost of human life. The putting the British army to flight was the first decisive victory of the industrious middling class over the most powerful representative of the medieval aristocracy; and the whole number of New England men killed in the siege after Washington took the command was less than twenty; the liberation of New England cost altogether less than two hundred lives in battle; and the triumphant general, as he looked around, enjoyed the serenest delight, for he saw no mourners among those who greeted his entry after his bloodless victory.

Within the borders of four New England states, permanent peace with self-government was from this time substantially confirmed. And who now, even in the mother land of Massachusetts, does not rejoice at this achievement of a people which so thoroughly represented the middling class of the civilized world? How had they shown patience as well as fortitude! How long they waited, and when the right moment came, how promptly they rose! How they responded to the inward voice which bade them claim freedom as a birthright, and dread an acquiescence in its loss as a violation of the peace of the soul! Pious and contented, frugal, laborious, and affluent; their rule for the government of conduct was not the pride of chivalry, but the eternal law of

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LIX.

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CHAP. duty. Lovers of speculative truth, struggling earnestly to solve the problem of the universe, in an age 1776. of materialists, they cherished habitually a firm faith in the subjection of all created things to the rule of divine justice, and their distinguishing career was one of action; the vigor of their will was never paralyzed by doubt; they were cheered by confidence in the amelioration of the race, and embraced in their affections the world of mankind. This wonderful people set the example of public schools for all their children, with a degree of perfection which the ancient mother country yet vainly strives to rival; and in their town governments they revealed the secret of republics. None knew better than they how to combine the minute discharge of the every day offices of life with large, and ready, and generous sympathies; sometimes soaring high and far in the daring of their enterprise, and sometimes following with painful assiduity even the humblest calling that promised lawful and honest gain; but always the advocates of disinterested benevolence as the true creed of a nation. The men of this century have crowned Bunker Hill, from which divine, triumphant hope attended their fathers in their retreat, with a monument whose summit greets the ray of morning, and catches the eye of the mariner, homeward bound. Around that spot how all is changed! A wealthy town rises over the pastures which the British columns wet with their blood; the city of Boston covers compactly its old soil and fills the bay, and encroaches on the sea with its magazines, and workshops, and dwellings; the genius of commerce, rapidly effacing every landmark of the siege, has already levelled the site of Wash