The New York herald., 1876-12-27
The Battle OF Trenton-Its Position
In History.


The skill of an artist is not measured by
the square yards of canvas he covers nor the
military talents of n general by the number
of men employed to execute his plans. An
inferior artist may fill the parlors of city
with enormous daubs, but he is not there
fore q great painter. A man of genius
who finishes one sp2aU picture which
| judges of art hold in esteem out
ranks the fertile producers who can
fill orders for their works with the facility
of a mechanic who engages to fresco q cell
ing. In like manner battles are to be esti-
mated, not by the numbers engaged and the
amount of blood shed, but by the vigor Of
mind they attest in the commander and the
Importance of their consequences. In one
view the battle of Trenton may seem a small
affair as compared with many of the engage
ments Of our civil war, but we doubt if any
of them evinced higher military qualities or
were SO fruitful in great results.
The night before Christmas in 1776 was
/ the darkest hour Of the American Revolu-
| ton. CORVALLIS was about to re-embark
| for England on the idea that the rebellion
in the colonies had been effectually crushed.
A royal order had been issued for creating
| General Howe Knight of the Bath, and the
festivities had been arranged for investing
him with the insignia Of the Order in this
| city, as testimonial of his success in dis
abling the rebels. The Continental army
was not expected that another could be
raised. On. the 30th of November a joint
proclamation had been issued at New York
by the brothers Admiral Howe and General
Howe, Offering, in the Kings name, pardon
to ali who would take the oath Of allegiance
and come under his protection within sixty
days. Thousands in New York and New
Jersey had taken the oath. and there was
strong likelihood that they would be fol-
lowed by others before the expiration of the
time. 1t was in that depressing crisis, when
the liberties Of the country seemed
on the point of extinction, that
Washington, by bold and bril-
liant stroke, changed the whole face
Of the situation in one night and morning
CORVALLIS suddenly gave up his intention
of returning to England. tho ceremonies for
investing General Howe with knighthood
became brilliant mockery, the British
army found that it must begin its task anew
and the dying embers Of hope were rekindled
throughout the country,
After that great act of political cour-
nge the Declaration Of Independence, a
strong tide Of adverse fortune set
in and continued to run with re-
sistless force until Washington and his
disintegrating army had been driven through
the Jerseys to take refuge in Pennsylvania
on the west bank of the Delaware. Phila-
delphia was in such peril that Congress had
fed to Baltimore "These were the times
that tried mems souls, as Paine said in the
opening sentence Of the pamphlet he then
published as rallying cry to the patriots.
1t was by an uninterrupted succession of
disasters that the cause Of independence had
been brought into this desperate condition.
The British army, which had been besieged
and cooped up in Boston for nearly
year after the battle of Bunker HILL evacu-
ated that town in the spring of 1776, and
was conveyed in transports by sea to the
neighborhood of New York as more prom
ising scene of operations. 1t relied partly
for success upon the large number of tories
in the Middle States. By the capture of
New York and the possession of the Hudson
River it expected to cut the rebellion in two
in the middle and prevent mutual assistance
between the dismembered parts. Beginning
his operations at midsummer, General Howe,
in the course Of few months, seemed
to have accomplished every part of his pro.
gramme with the bare exception of getting
control Of the Hudson ut the Highlands. SO
confident was the British commander that
he had utterly disabled Washington that he
permitted his forces in West Jersey to be di-
vided and distributed, in detached canton
ments, some at Trenton, some at Borden
town, some at Pennington, some at Bur-
lington, and stronger body at New Bruins
wick. to guard the stores After Washing
ton had been driven across the Delaware it
was thought impossible that he should re-
cross it at that season of the year, and Howe
supposed he put nothing at hazard by this
separation of the British troops.
But Washington, with his quick military
perception, saw great opportunity and
was prompt to seize it. He had possession
of all the boats on the Delaware, and if he
could silently recross the river and surprise
the British before they could concentrate he
might, even with his small army, cut them
in pieces in detail Had the weather
been favorable his success would have
been even more brilliant than il was.
He had planned for portions of his
troops to cross Mt three different places,
but the ice made the river impracticable at
the two lower stations. and the portion
under Washington's immediate command
found so much obstruction that instead of