The Reign of George III. - (Continued.) page 14

And had there been but the most moderate amount of energy in the British ministry, this was inevitable. Lord Cornwallis only allowed himself three days' rest at Presburg; he marched thence, on the 24th of May, in quest of La Fayette, who was encamped on James's River. Cornwallis crossed that river at Westover, about thirty miles below La Fayette's camp, and that nimble officer retreated in all haste, hoping to join general Wayne, who was marching through Maryland, with a small force of eight hundred Pennsylvanians. Lord Cornwallis was, however, so near upon La Fayette, that he wrote, in one of his letters, "He cannot long escape me!" But La Fayette, though, through the whole American war, he never fought one good fight, or gained one victory, had a most marvellous genius for flying, and Cornwallis calculated too hastily on catching him.

On the banks of the James River lord Cornwallis was joined by the 43rd regiment; mounting his little body of cavalry, Tarleton, though with a flying troop amounting to two hundred and fifty horse, was enabled to pursue his favourite raids. He now made a dash for Charlotteville, where Jefferson and the assembly were voting taxes, and making paper-money. On his way, he destroyed twelve wagons, loaded with arms and provisions, and, spurring into Charlotteville, very nearly captured Jefferson and his legislators. The governor had not escaped ten minutes from his house before Tarleton's troopers entered it, and, as it was the 4th of June, drank the king's health in his wine. Sever» of the members of the assembly were captured, besides one thousand new firelocks, four hundred barrels of gunpowder, with a quantity of tobacco and clothing.

After some similar adventures by Tarleton, and by lieutenant-colonel Simcoe, who routed baron Steuben, and destroyed his stores at the Point of Fork, about fifty miles above Richmond, Cornwallis, who had received orders from Sir Henry Clinton to send part of his forces to New York, a combined attack by Washington and Rochambeau being expected there, retired to Richmond, and afterwards to Williamsburg. La Fayette, who was now joined by Wayne, followed, and on lord Cornwallis marching from Williamsburg to Portsmouth to embark the required detachment of troops, these generals, believing they were only in presence of his rear-guard, fell upon it, but soon found themselves engaged with the main army, and were completely routed, with the loss of several cannon, of ten officers, and nearly three hundred men. The English had seventy men killed or wounded, and five officers wounded. La Fayette and Wayne retreated up the James River, and Cornwallis pursued his march to Portsmouth.

There he received an order from Sir Henry Clinton, countermanding the embarkation of the troops, and desiring him to look out for a position where he could fortify himself, and at the same time protect such shipping as might be sent to the Chesapeake to prevent the entrance of the French. Cornwallis fixed on York Town, on York River, and there, and at Gloucester, in its vicinity, he was settled with his troops by the 22nd of August. Sir Henry Clinton wrote, intimating that he should probably send more troops to the Chesapeake, as there was a probability that Washington and Rochambeau, giving up the attack of New York, would make a united descent on York Town. Wayne and La Fayette were already continually increasing their forces above York Town; but any such reinforcements by Sir Henry were prevented by the entrance of the comte de Grasse, with twenty-eight sail of the line and several frigates, into the Chesapeake, having on board three thousand two hundred troops, which he had brought from the West Indies. These troops he landed, and sent, under the marquis de St. Simon, to join La Fayette, much to his delight.

Rodney, who was still commanding in the West Indies, had been on the look-out for De Grasse, but, missing him, he had dispatched Sir Samuel Hood after him, supposing that he had made for New York. Hood had with him fourteen ships of the line, and, arriving at Sandy Hook on the 28th of August, he found that De Grasse had then sailed for the Chesapeake. Admiral Arbuthnot had been replaced by admiral Graves, but Graves had only seven ships of the line, and of these only five fit for action. Taking the chief command, with these twenty-one ships, Graves set sail for the Chesapeake, with Hood as second in command. A new French admiral, the comte de Barras, now commanded the Rhode Island squadron, and this squadron had ventured out to sea. Graves went first in quest of De Barras, and, not finding him, proceeded to the Chesapeake, where, on the 5th of September, he discerned the fleet of De Grasse at anchor, just within the Capes of Virginia, and blocking up York River with his frigates. Graves had his nineteen ships, De Grasse twenty-eight, and Nelson could have desired nothing better than such a sight in the narrow waters of the Chesapeake: not a ship would have escaped him; but Graves was no Nelson, and allowed De Grasse to cut his cables and run out to sea. There, indeed, Graves attacked him, but under infinitely greater disadvantages, at four o'clock in the afternoon. The night parted them, and De Grasse returned to his old anchorage in the Chesapeake, and Graves sailed away again for New York! Never was there a more disgraceful exhibition made by a British admiral.

Meantime, Washington and Rochambeau were mustering for the march to the Chesapeake. The command of the forces left to defend the Hudson was intrusted to general Heath. The whole of the French army under Rochambeau, and two thousand men from the American army, took the route for Philadelphia, and from thence for the head of the Elk. Washington in this march paid a passing visit to his home at Mount Vernon, the first which he had been able to make during the six years and a half since he took the command. On the 14th of September he reached the headquarters of La Fayette, and took the supreme command, Rochambeau being second, and the especial head of the French. The next day Washington and Rochambeau held a conference with the counte de Grasse, on board his ship, the Ville de Paris, the finest ship in the French navy, and larger than any in the English navy, carrying its one hundred and six guns. De Grasse told them that what they did they must do quickly, for that he could not remain on that station longer than the 1st of November; and it was resolved to act accordingly.

Sir Henry Clinton had for some time been aware of the real destination of the united forces of Washington and Rochambeau. He must have seen that there was a determined resolve to crush, by the most powerful combination of American and French forces, the army in the south, and every exertion should have been made by him, with fleet and army, to release Cornwallis from his impending peril. But, unhappily, as he and Arbuthnot had been on bad terms, so he and Cornwallis were so now; and he may have, therefore, been too little concerned for the evident danger that threatened the earl. But, instead of sending direct reinforcements to Cornwallis, and ordering the fleet to engage the attention, and, if possible, defeat, De Grasse in the Chesapeake, he concocted a diversion with Arnold, which he fondly hoped would recall Washington.

On the 6th of September, Arnold, with two British regiments, a battalion of New Jersey volunteers, and two thousand four hundred German Jägers, landed near New

London, in Connecticut, Arnold's native district. Arnold showed his wonted bravery: the forts Trumbull and Griswold were carried at the point of the bayonet; the town of New London was occupied; colonel Ledyard, the commander of Fort Griswold, was killed, and, on the part of the British, colonel Eyre and major Montgomery. A vast number of cannon, muskets, pikes, and ammunition, were taken or destroyed, and a great many warehouses, full of European and West Indian goods, together with ten or a dozen ships, were burnt, and the flames spreading, reduced the town to ashes. All this devastation the people of Connecticut naturally charged to the vindictive rancour of their countryman, Arnold; but he attributed it to the explosion of gunpowder concealed in some of the warehouses unknown to the English, and that the change of wind carried the flames to the town.

Whatever was the cause, the danger of New London had not for a moment influenced the movements of Washington, and its terrible destruction only now more embittered the spirit of vengeance. Sir Henry Clinton contemplated further expeditions - first against the Rhode Island fleet, and next against Philadelphia; but these never came off, and matters were now every day assuming such an aspect as should have stimulated him to some direct assistance to Cornwallis. There can be no question but that, had Clinton ordered the fleet to hasten to the Chesapeake and confront De Grasse, whilst he himself marched by land, or had sent the fiery Arnold with a strong force, the whole danger to Cornwallis and his little army would have been dissipated. As it was, De Grasse was so apprehensive of the arrival of Graves with the fleet recruited by the addition of six ships under admiral Digby, and determined to fight him, that he assured Washington that he would not run the risk of being shut up in the Chesapeake, but would leave a few frigates to block up York River, and himself sail out and seek Graves at sea or at New York. It was only by the most earnest entreaties that Washington could prevail on him to remain, and by promises of a speedy reduction of York Town. Had the English fleet appeared, De Grasse would instantly have sailed out, and Cornwallis would have been saved.

Lord Cornwallis left Sir Henry in no uncertainty as to his critical situation. He had sent him word as early as the 16th of September, that the place could not be defended, and that, if he did not send relief very soon, he must expect to hear the worst.

This should have roused every energy in the commander- in-chief. He was aware that the Americans - Washington himself at their head - the French, from New York and the West Indies, with fleet and arm were gathering round Cornwallis for a determined effort to entirely trample out the British power in the south. The last and mightiest effort should have been made to prevent the catastrophe which Cornwallis himself plainly announced must take place, without such prompt and strenuous aid. On the 28th of September, the combined army of French and Americans came in sight of York Town, and encamped about two miles from the outworks. The next morning they extended themselves towards the left of Cornwallis, but cautiously; and the English pickets slowly retired within the outer lines at their approach.

That evening Cornwallis received a despatch from Sir Henry Clinton, dated September 24th, which gave the cheering expectation that he was duly sensible of the imminence of the occasion, and of his responsibility. He said: - " At a meeting of the general and flag officers held this day, it is determined that above five thousand men, rank and file, shall be embarked on board the king's ships, and the joint exertions of the navy and army made in a few days to relieve you, and afterwards to co-operate with you. The fleet consists of twenty-three sail of the line, three of which are three-deckers. There is every reason to hope that we start on the 5th of October."

On this promising intimation of speedy aid, Cornwallis immediately drew in his small force from the extended outworks, and concentrated them within the entrenchments round the town. Undoubtedly it was a measure calculated to save much life, which must have been lost in defending outworks too widely extended for the enclosed force; but it encouraged the Americans, who did not expect to gain them thus easily, and Washington wrote to congress, on the 1st of October, that this receding of the British had put them in possession of very advantageous ground, and that the investment of the place was fully completed. Two thousand men - French and Americans, the latter under general Weedon, the French under the duke de Lauzun - took up their ground before Gloucester. Colonel Dundas, commanding the troops, made a brilliant sally, which cost the duke a number of men, and Dundas being supported by the noted colonel Tarleton, the enemy, instead of any attempt at carrying the post by storm, proceeded by a cautious blockade. Round York Town itself Washington, Rochambeau, La Fayette, and St. Simon concentrated their forces. On the night of the 1st of October, the French on the right and the Americans on the left drew nearer, and commenced breaking ground. Six days were then spent in bringing from the ships fifty pieces of cannon, some of them very heavy, ammunition, and other military stores; in fact, as much preparation was made for carrying this single post as if it had been a regular and first-rate fortress. No want of material was now felt, for Laurens and Paine in Paris had induced the French to grant a subsidy, and to guarantee a loan from the Dutch of ten millions.

On the night of the 6th of October the French and Americans began casting up their first parallel within six hundred yards of Cornwallis's lines, and they worked with so much silence and expedition, that the besieged were said not to have known what they were about till they saw in the morning the trenches so far advanced as to cover the enemy. By the 9 th of October their trenches and batteries were completed, and that afternoon they opened a tremendous fire on the town. For two days they kept up an incessant roar of heavy cannon, and with howitzers and mortars threw showers of shells into the place. Cornwallis replied to them with vigour, but he found many of his guns on the left silenced, and his works greatly damaged. These shells set fire to the Charon, a forty-four gun ship, posted, with some others, to defend the passage between York Town and Gloucester, and consumed it, with three large transports.

On the night of the 11th the enemy began their second parallel within three hundred yards of the lines. This work went on rapidly, for the whole army (nearly eighteen thousand in number), besides a swarm of seamen from the ships, and a vast crowd of slaves and country people, laboured at it. In its progress, for three days, Cornwallis committed much havoc amongst them by opening fresh embrasures for guns, and pouring an incessant shower upon them of balls and shells. Two redoubts on the left flank of the British more particularly annoyed them, and Washington determined to carry these by storm. To excite the more emulation, he committed execution of this escalade in one case to Americans, in the other to the French, but French officers headed both - La Fayette leading up one, the baron de Viominil the other. These redoubts had been hastily thrown up, and had but a mere handful of men in each, but they were so stoutly defended that more men were killed in gaining them than there were within them. Of course they were carried, and their guns then turned on York Town.