The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-06-01
MISCELL A N E O U S .
TIE BATTLE OF LONG-IsLAND.
From Discourse delivered before the Ne,c- York His
torical Society.
I Co1stinated.l
by SAMUEL WARD, JR,

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| Monuments commemorate the peaceful tradi-
tons, and ruins the wars, of the old world. Sur
rounded by the ves,iges OF the past, its memories
dwell in the Europeans thoughts A tuored fam
CIV cyokes at will, from the tower and the col
umn, the shades of the departed, and history may
be realized, not in its events only, but in all It's
pomp and studied detail, lis costume and its court.
An unbroken chain, now Of golden, now of iron
links here bright, there rusted; here jeweed,
and there bloods'ainel; connects to-day with dis
tant centuries. In Cologne, the mind is trans
ported back n thousand years in Rome, two
thousand The edifices which time haows, in
lieu of destroying, are the only monuments Of
this newborn land.
The British General Clinton entered New Y orli
simultaneously with General Lee. Unaccom-
panied by any force, he declared to the latter that
he had only come to pay his friend Tryon Wis
it; of which Lee remarks, in letter to the COM
mandcr-in-chef, that if really the case it was
the most whimsical piece OF civility he ever heard
Of 1t was the subsequent fortune of these gen.
erals to meet in Virginia and in North Carolina
The American officers turn for the humorous
was displayed by his giving our old friend King
Sears, when sent into Connecticut to beat up re-
cruits, the title of acknowledgement a promo
ton with which, he jocosey wrote WASHINGTON,
/ IL
spurs to his hat For all nominal distinctions,
General Lee entertained unequivocal contempt, and
declared that raSbane were far pleasanter to his
mouth, than the appelaton Of ExcelIency' he
was daily compelled to swallow On the seventh
of March, he departed for the South wher,eaurels
awaited him among the orange flowers OF spring
Lord Stirling was in command, and the contem-
plated works were aferward but slowly and par
TALLY completed.
| The town of Boston was evacuated on the sew
eneenth of March, by the British, who put to sea
for Halifax. Crowned with this signal triumph,
General WASHINGTON arrived at Newly ork on the
fourteenth Of April, with the American army,
which, TO use his own expression, had maintain
led their ground against the enemy, under want
of powder had disbanded one army, and recruit
ed another, within musket-shot of two.and-twenty
regiments, the flower Of the British force and at
last beaten them into a shameful and preciptae
retreat, out of the strongest place on the continent
fortified at an enormous expense
On the twenty-hrd of May the commander.
n-chief found himself at Philadelphia, in confer
ence with congress who had summoned him thith-
er, to devise remedies for the disastrous state of
affairs in Canada. 1t was there determined to
defend New York, and the requisite men and sup
plies were placed at his disposal. Returning to
great disahecton among certain of the inhabit-
ants. This was nourshed by Governor Tryon,
who from his vessel at the Hook, despatched
enissaries in every direction. A deep plot, of
his contriving, was only defeated by a timely dis
covery. His agents had so far pushed their temer-
ity, as to corrupt not only many in the American
camp, but even some of the generals guard, SOL
der in which, was found guilty, and shot. The
object of this conspiracy was to make WASH
INGToN prisoner.
TO secure Quebec, and redeem Canada on the
one hand-to make powerful impression in the
south on the other, and finally, to possess them
selves of New York, proved to be the designs of the
British, during this campaign. A part of their
fleet from Halifax arrived off Sandy-Hook on the
twenty-eighth of june The remainder followed
within week, and General Howe established his
headquarters at Staten Island. In presence of
powerful enemy, gathering forces at the very door
OF the city, the troops were summon ed to parade
at six o'clock, one bright afternoon in early July.
The British fleet lay in sight, and the assembled
regiments knew not whether they were called to
attack or to rcpel. 1t was fitting time and place
for the proclamation of that glorious document each
word Of which, we'll BETTING great nation speak
ing for ITSELF found echo in every heart that beat
therc-the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. can
conceive the beams of that setting sun to have met
a rival glow in the ruddy cheeks to which the /
warm4 blood mantled, under the inspiring words
of liberty, drank in by willing ears. AS the adj
dress ended, shout of appreciation rent the air. +
1t was not the Wild cry OF senseless mob on a
holiday, but the voice of determination, which, to
the close Of that war, was the keynote of free.
dom.
This event, which TRANSMITTED into free states /
the dependent colony and province, rolls up the
curtain from before the dramatic portion of my
story. The arrival of Lord Howe from England,
on the twelfth of July, and the daily reinforce
nents of the British fleet, from that period, JUS
titled expectations of sudden assault. Prepa-
rations were continued under General Putnam, for
the defence Of the city, and General Greene was
on Long Island, sup ,rintendng the erection Of
cham Of works, to iortify against the encmys APP
Proach' About this time, several of the British
vessels under favorable breeze, ran by the New
FORK batteries uniniured by their fire, and much
to the surprfze of the Americans.
On the eighth of August, Geu'l WASrtvcrox
wrote, that for the several posts on New-Yorl
Long-Island, Go ernor's Island and Paulus Hool.
he had but thirteen thousand five hundred and 6f.
ty-seven effective men, and that, to repel an inn
mediate attack, he could count upon no other adj
dton to his numbers, than battalion from Mary
land, under Colonel Smallwood. Opposed to him,