Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-05-17


beginning of May that Charleston had
surrendered and on the 9th of May
George III. wrote to Lord North: 81
understand the Sandman Minister has
had letters from correspondent at
Paris whose intelligence he says has al
ways proved true, that letters are arriv-
ed with the news of the surrender of
Charleston the 10Th of May, (March p
occasioned by bombardment which de-
stroyed part of the town; that this
comes from Passy. Should this be SO,
the Congress will soon be set aside by
the distresses of that deluded people"
H. B. M. was, as usual, all wrong.
Charleston surrendered, but 'that delud
ed people" did not set aside the Conti-
mental Congress. They had set aside His
Madjesty, and they kept him outside of
their country. When Sir Henry Clin-
ton quilted Charleston for New York,
on the 5th of June, he was convinced
that the conquest of the South had been
ensured; and yet if he and his coun-
try, and the government of that country
had reflected little, they would have
seen that no more had been done than
often had been done before, without
any good for them following therefrom.
They had held Boston; but when they
sought to send force thence into the
country, they had to see it driven back,
beaten by American farmers, who had
fine days shooting on the occasion;
they had to fight one of the bloodiest
battles of the age, and only succeeded
in getting the ground fought on, after
losing almost half of their number en-
gagged and, finally, they had to leave
Boston. driven out by the success of
Washington's skilful operations. They
gained possession of New York City,
and though they held 1t for seven years
they never could get much beyond it,
and their evening guns and morning
drum-beats were generally to be heard
by American out-posts. They took
Philadelphia, and they had to leave it
in less than ten months. Then they
got Charleston, which was destined to
be as fruitless a gain as Philadelphia
had been, and of less value than New
York. Still, had the English kept
faith with the Southrons, and governed
the South mildly, making no distinction
between parties there, they might have
made much from their Charleston sue
cess. But they did more than break
pledged faith; they oppressed the peo-
pie, and sought to bring about a grand
coniscation, for their own benefit.
These things brought on a vehement
and an instant renewal of fighting, which
proved to be the fercest and most vim
dictive fighting of the whole war. 1t
was, too, marked by signal defeats of
the invaders, who won but one marked
success in the Southern field, the battle
of Camden, in August, $780, and their
success there and then was due more
to the folly and the rasbness of Gates
than to their own merits. At Kink' s
Mountain, and at the Cowpens, they
were as thoroughly beaten as it was
possibly to beat men. At Guilford, and
also at Hobkirk's Hill, they kept the
field, but the fruits of fighting were
with the Americans and an American
victory really was gained at Eutaw.
Finally, it was their success at Char
lesion that threw the English upon that
course of warfare which led Lord Corn
wallis to Yorktown, where he was forced
to surrender, victory of Allied Amer
ican and French Armies that caused
the British Parliament to revolt against
George III, and compel him to acknowl-
edge American Independence. In the
annals of war there is nothing more re.
markable than this, that the apparent
great success of the English at Char
lesion was defeat in fact, that defeat
being so gilded as to resemble victory
and thus deluding the nominal victor:
to action that brought upon their cause
complete ruin. A singular story il
connection with the siege of Charleston
has been current for century, namely
that Major Andre was within the Amer
ican lines, as spy, more than once
Had he fallen into the hands of tn
| Americans he would have been execute,
: for General Lincoln did hang British
! ColoIel who had been caught as spy
In less than five months after the fal
of Charleston Major Andre was hange'
, for doing near West Point what he hat
done at Charleston. His death at tn
South might have entirely changed Al
, nold's place in our history Bosto
Traveller.
A sad looking man went into a Bul
lington drug store. "Can you give me,
he asked, something that will driv
from my mind the thoughts of sorrov
and bitter recollections ?'' And th