The Reign of George III. - (Continued.) page 7

It appeared, however, as if all the nations of Europe were bent on uniting to pull down our long-envied ascendancy; and as if, while maintaining a most exhausting conflict with our own colonies in a distant part of the globe, we should be called on to do battle single-handed against the rest of the civilised world. So far, however, from the courage of England sinking under the prospect, it rose only the more, as it always has done under such circumstances. A more energetic spirit manifested itself, both in government and in people; and, had the same vigour been exhibited at the commencement of the American insurrection, not only would that have been promptly suppressed, but all those European complications prevented.

We return now to the American campaign. Sir Henry Clinton, at the close of the year 1779, proceeded to carry into effect his plan of removing the war to the Southern States. The climate there favoured the project of a winter campaign, and, on the day after Christmas-day, Sir Henry embarked five thousand men on board the fleet of admiral Arbuthnot. But the weather at sea at this season proved very tempestuous, and his ships were driven about for seven weeks. Many of his transports were lost, some of them were taken by the enemy; he lost nearly all the horses of the cavalry and artillery, and one vessel carrying the heavy ordnance foundered at sea. It was the 11th of February when he landed on St. John's Island, about thirty miles from Charlestown. He then proceeded to plan the investment of Charlestown with admiral Arbuthnot; but he was not on good terms with that officer, and this threw great impediments in the way of prompt action. It was the 29th of March before he could cross the Ashby River and land on Charlestown Neck, whilst Arbuthnot proceeded with his ships up the Ashby River.

It was the 1st of April before they could break ground before the city. All the forces which Clinton could muster, after collecting reinforcements by land, were seven thousand; whilst the Americans in the city were almost as many, though including a considerable body of militia. General Lincoln was in command of the American forces; and plenty of time having been allowed, he had, by the assistance of French engineers, greatly strengthened the defences. They had erected a chain of redoubts across the peninsula, from Cooper's River to Ashby River, and had built a strong citadel in the centre. All these, and other works, ditches, and abattis, were made formidable with cannon, and by numerous batteries, wherever the place could be approached by water. Besides these, there was a bar at the entrance of the harbour, over which large ships could not pass; and admiral Arbuthnot had to lighten others, to get them over into what is called Five Fathom Hole. Inside this bar lay the American admiral, Whipple, with nine ships, with guns ranging from sixteen up to forty- four. Close behind Whipple's squadron was Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, made much more formidable than in 1776, when it did so much execution on admiral Parker's squadron. Whipple retired as the English ships advanced, and eventually posted himself under the walls of Charles- town, sinking some ships across Cooper's River, without which precaution the English, on entering that river, would have raked the American lines. No sooner had Clinton completed his first parallel, and begun to plant his batteries, than Arbuthnot sailed boldly past Fort Moultrie, losing only twenty-seven men from its fire, and took his station as near to the town as the sunken ships would admit.

Sir Henry Clinton then summoned Lincoln to surrender; but he declared that he would defend the place to the last, and just at this moment he was further reinforced by seven hundred regular troops, under general Woodford. Clinton opened his batteries with destructive effect, and hearing that Lincoln had posted his cavalry outside his lines, to keep open his communication with the country, he sent that dashing officer, colonel Tarleton, with his horse, to dislodge them. On the night of April 14th Tarleton came suddenly upon the American cavalry, at a place called Biggin's Bridge, and put them to the route, capturing all their baggage, stores, and several hundred horses, of which the English had great need. This success opened the passage of Cooper's River, and enabled Clinton completely to invest the town, and cut off Lincoln's supplies. Lord Cornwallis was sent to scour the country, and so completely did he effect this, that Lincoln was compelled to offer terms of surrender. These were considered too favourable to the Americans, and the siege continued till 11th of May, when the English were doing such damage to the town, and the inhabitants suffering so much, that they threatened to throw open the gates, if Lincoln did not surrender. In this dilemma, Lincoln offered to accept the terms proposed by Clinton before, and the English general assented to his proposal. On the 12th of May the Americans grounded their arms, and marched out according to the terms settled, namely, that the regulars were to remain prisoners of war, the militia to return home as prisoners on parole.

The number of prisoners amounted to upwards of six thousand, including one thousand American and French seamen. The governor, Rutledge, and a number of members of the council, had made their escape from the town whilst they could; but the deputy-governor, and the rest of the council, Lincoln, and six other generals, commodore Whipple, and his officers, with four hundred pieces of ordnance, &c., remained. The whole American squadron was taken or destroyed. Congress was dreadfully disappointed in expected reinforcements from the French fleet in the West Indies and the Spaniards in Florida; but both these nations were too busy endeavouring to make conquests for themselves, to think about their allies. The Spaniards, during this time, made themselves masters of nearly the whole of Florida. The news of this blow, which laid the whole south open to the English, carried consternation throughout the states; and, arriving in England at the close of the Gordon riots, seemed to restore the spirits of the English.

The town of Charlestown being now in his possession, Sir Henry Clinton proceeded to reduce the whole province to obedience. He issued proclamations, calling on the well- affected young men to form themselves into military bodies, and to act in support of the king's troops, pledging himself that they should never be called upon to march beyond the frontiers of North Carolina on the one side, or those of Georgia on the other; and he assured th£ inhabitants at large of the utmost protection of person and property, so long as they continued peaceable and loyal subjects of the crown. In the meantime, lord Cornwallis continued to enforce these proposals by the movements of his troops. Hearing of a considerable body of Virginians, horse and foot, under colonel Buford, which had been on their way to relieve Charlestown, but were too late, and were encamped on the banks of the Santee, he dispatched the impetuous Tarleton, with a body of horse, to attack them. Tarleton accomplished a march of one hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours, and coming up with Buford's force on the borders of the province, summoned him to surrender on the same terms accepted by Lincoln at Charlestown. Buford refused; whereupon Tarleton fell upon him, and speedily put his whole detachment to the route. Buford fled headlong, with nearly all his cavalry; but the greater part of his infantry were cut to pieces, while Tarleton only lost five men, and had fifteen wounded. Buford, who had shown neither skill nor courage, complained loudly of Tarleton's unnecessary cruelty; but the fact was, that his whole species of warfare was of that guerilla and dare-devil kind, which is generally as bloody as it is decisive.

This affair of Waxhaws prostrated the power of congress in South Carolina. Numbers of the people flocked in and took the oath of allegiance, whilst others enrolled themselves under the banner of the crown. A number of the chief inhabitants of Charlestown issued an address, declaring their abhorrence of the severities practised by governor Rutledge and his officers, and their never having wished to quit their allegiance to the crown of England, and their consequent joy in returning to it.

Could Sir Henry Clinton have remained in this quarter, he would without doubt have steadily carried his victorious arms northward till he had everywhere restored the rule of England. But he was completely crippled by the wretched management of the miserable government at home, who seemed to expect to reconquer America without an army. At this crisis he received news that the Americans were mustering in strong force on the Hudson, and that a French fleet was daily expected on the coast of New England to co-operate with them. Had the government maintained a sufficient fleet on these coasts, no French fleet would have dared to have approached; had there been a sufficient army for the defence of New York, Sir Henry need not have proceeded thither, except by a steady victorious route by land. But with his miserable fragment of an army, and the absence of any proper naval force, he was now compelled to embark for New York, leaving lord Cornwallis to maintain the ground obtained in South Carolina as well as he could with a body of four thousand men. His second in command was lord Rawdon, a young officer who had distinguished himself greatly at the battle of Bunker's Hill, and who, like Cornwallis, his chief, was destined, in after years, to occupy the distinguished post of governor-general of India, with the successive titles of earl Moira and marquis of Hastings. The chief business of Cornwallis was to maintain the status gained in South Carolina, but he was at liberty to make a move into North Carolina if he thought it promising. Before Clinton left he issued a fresh proclamation, declaring all prisoners on parole in South Carolina free, except those taken at Charlestown or Fort Moultrie, or such as were in actual confinement.

General Clinton embarked on the 5th of June for New York, and scarcely had he left when the royalists of North Carolina, in spite of his advice to them to remain quiet till lord Cornwallis could march to their support, which could not well be till autumn, in consequence of the heat of the climate, made confident by the success of Clinton in South Carolina, rose in considerable numbers in the month of June, and were speedily attacked and dispersed by the militia of the province. This imprudence of the royalists brought down the vengeance of the republicans upon them. They were everywhere attacked - in every part of North Carolina - insulted, plundered, and imprisoned. Their sufferings were frightful. To escape from their furious and vindictive countrymen, eight hundred of them united under a colonel Bryan and managed to reach Camden, in South Carolina, but in a most pitiable condition. They were most of them men of property, but their property was confiscated; they had not seen their families for many months, and had been living in the woods in the most terrible destitution. They were kindly received, and united themselves to a detachment of British soldiers with the object of retaliating their injuries on their oppressors.

Congress, alarmed at the progress of the English in South Carolina, had made extraordinary efforts to reinforce the republican party in North Carolina. They directed Washington to send thither a considerable part of his army, consisting chiefly of Maryland and Delaware troops, under the command of the German general, Von Kalb. On the fall of Charlestown, general Gates, who had acquired a high but spurious reputation upon the surrender of Burgoyne, chiefly through the able agency of Arnold, was sent to take the chief command over Von Kalb. In marching towards South Carolina, the American army suffered severely from the tropical heat of the climate and the scarcity of food. Gates led them through a country of alternating swamps and sandy deserts, called by the Americans pine-barrens. The troops lived chiefly on the lean cattle which they found scattered through the woods, on green Indian corn, and peaches, which were plentiful, being indigenous to the state of Louisiana. But great as the sufferings of the army were, the rumour of its approach produced a decided effect on the republicans of South Carolina. They showed themselves again boldly, and numbers of those who had taken service in the English army deserted, and were ready to throw themselves into the American ranks. Some of them went over with all the pettifogging cunning comprised under the appellation of Yankee. One Lisle was prominent in this line. He had sworn allegiance, and had shown such zeal in favour of the royal cause, that he had been made an officer, and placed in command of a battalion of militia. This man took care to receive the clothes, arms, and ammunition for his force from the royal stores, and then marched off with it, and put himself under the command of the American colonel Sumpter, who was soon after twice defeated - once at Rocky Mount and once at Hanging Rock.

Amongst other circumstances of this disgraceful kind, one of the most atrocious was the conduct of a colonel of militia, who was sent to escort some sick and wounded English soldiers to Charlestown, but who carried them into North Carolina, and gave them up to Yon Kalb.

Lord Rawdon, who was lying at Camden, where he had halted his men to protect them from the heat, was joined there by lord Cornwallis early in August. The entire force when united did not, however, exceed two thousand men, whilst the troops of Gates amounted to six thousand. The British general, notwithstanding, advanced briskly to meet the Americans, and on the evening of the 16th of August the two armies met rather unexpectedly, and some skirmishing took place, after which they halted in position till near daybreak in the morning.

When the day appeared, Cornwallis saw that the ground he occupied was so favourable that it rendered his inferiority of numbers of little consequence. He therefore drew out his forces for immediate action. Swamps to the right and left narrowed the ground by which the Americans could approach him, and forming his troops into two lines, commanded by lord Rawdon and general Webster, he attacked the Americans under Gates and quickly put them to the rout. The Virginian militia ran most nimbly, and sought refuge in the woods. Gates himself galloped away, believing all was lost, and never halted till he reached Charlotte, about eighty miles off. The only men who fought well were two brigades of regulars under the command of the German, Yon Kalb, who kept his ground against the troops of lord Rawdon for three-quarters of an hour, sustaining repeated charges of the bayonet unmoved; but Yon Kalb fell mortally wounded, and the last of the Americans then gave way and fled for their lives in all directions. Tarleton with his cavalry was at their heels, and pursued them to Hanging Rock, upwards of twenty miles from the scene of action. The whole way was strewn with arms thrown away, with the dead and the wounded; not an officer was left with any of his company about him, except such as were taken prisoners and these, with the killed and wounded, amounted to more than the whole British army engaged. The whole of the baggage and artillery were taken as prizes.