Howe, in my little
opinion, committed a great error in generalship in not throwing a body
of forces off from Staten Island through Amboy, by which means he
might have seized all our stores at Brunswick, and intercepted our
march into Pennsylvania; but if we believe the power of hell to be
limited, we must likewise believe that their agents are under some
providential control.
I shall not now attempt to give all the particulars of our retreat
to the Delaware; suffice it for the present to say, that both officers
and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without
rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long
retreat, bore it with a manly and martial spirit. All their wishes
centred in one, which was, that the country would turn out and help
them to drive the enemy back. Voltaire has remarked that King
William never appeared to full advantage but in difficulties and in
action; the same remark may be made on General Washington, for the
character fits him. There is a natural firmness in some minds which
cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a
cabinet of fortitude; and I reckon it among those kind of public
blessings, which we do not immediately see, that God hath blessed
him with uninterrupted health, and given him a mind that can even
flourish upon care.
I shall conclude this paper with some miscellaneous remarks on the
state of our affairs; and shall begin with asking the following
question, Why is it that the enemy have left the New England
provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of war? The answer is
easy: New England is not infested with Tories, and we are.
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