Life and Times of Washington, vol 2 (Revised, Enlarged, and Enriched) | Page 4

credible. Hundreds submitted to death rather than enlist in

the British service, which they were most generally pressed to do. It
was the opinion of the American officers that Howe perfectly
understood the condition of the private soldiers, and they from thence
argued that it was exactly such as he and his council intended. After
Washington's success in the Jerseys, the obduracy, and malevolence of
the Royalists subsided in some measure. The surviving prisoners were
ordered to be sent out as an exchange, but several of them fell down
dead in the streets while attempting to walk to the vessels.
Washington wrote to General Howe in the beginning of April: "It is a
fact not to be questioned that the usage of our prisoners while in your
possession, the privates at least, was such as could not be justified. This
was proclaimed by the concurrent testimony of all who came out. Their
appearance justified the assertion, and melancholy experience in the
speedy death of a large part of them, stamped it with infallible
certainty."
The cruel treatment of the prisoners being the subject of conversation
among some officers captured by Sir Guy Carleton, General Parsons,
who was of the company, said, "I am very glad of it." They expressed
their astonishment and desired him to explain himself. He thus
addressed them: "You have been taken by General Carleton, and he has
used you with great humanity, would you be inclined to fight against
him?" The answer was, "No." "So," added Parsons, "would it have been,
had the troops taken by Howe been treated in like manner, but now
through this cruelty we shall get another army."
The Hon. William Smith, learning how the British used the prisoners,
and concluding it would operate to that end by enraging the Americans,
applied to the committee of New York State for leave to go into the city
and remonstrate with the British upon such cruel treatment, which he
doubted not but that he should put a stop to. The committee, however,
either from knowing what effect the cruelties would have in
strengthening the opposition to Britain, or from jealousies of his being
in some other way of disservice to the American cause or from these
united, would not grant his request.
Washington, at the beginning of 1777, determined to have the army
inoculated for the smallpox, which had made fearful ravages in the
ranks. It was carried forward as secretly and carefully as possible, and
the hospital physicians in Philadelphia were ordered at the same time to

inoculate all the soldiers who passed through that city on their way to
join the army. The same precautions were taken in the other military
stations, and thus the army was relieved from an evil which would have
materially interfered with the success of the ensuing campaign. The
example of the soldiery proved a signal benefit to the entire population,
the practice of inoculation became general, and, by little and little, this
fatal malady disappeared almost entirely.
In the hope that something might be effected at New York, Washington
ordered General Heath, who was in command in the Highlands, to
move down towards the city with a considerable force. Heath did so,
and in a rather grandiloquent summons called upon Fort Independence
to surrender. The enemy, however, stood their ground, and Heath, after
a few days, retreated, having done nothing, and exposed himself to
ridicule for not having followed up his words with suitable deeds.
While Washington was actively employed in the Jerseys in asserting
the independence of America, Congress could not afford him much
assistance, but that body was active in promoting the same cause by its
enactments and recommendations. Hitherto the Colonies had been
united by no bond but that of their common danger and common love
of liberty. Congress resolved to render the terms of their union more
definite, to ascertain the rights and duties of the several Colonies, and
their mutual obligations toward each other. A committee was appointed
to sketch the principles of the union or confederation.
This committee presented a report in thirteen Articles of Confederation
and perpetual Union between the States, and proposed that, instead of
calling themselves the United Colonies, as they had hitherto done, they
should assume the name of the United States of America; that each
State should retain its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and
every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by the confederation
expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled; that
they enter into a firm league for mutual defense; that the free
inhabitants of any of the States shall be entitled to the privileges and
immunities of free citizens in any other State; that any traitor or great
delinquent fleeing from one State and found in another shall be
delivered up to