Nor is it the less interesting, that the first display of his brilliant genius in war, should have been made in concert with the troops of that nation, whose banners he was hereafter to braveand whose legions he was destined to encounter in the defence of his country, and in the maintenance of her freedom and independence.

EQUALLY interesting is the singular fact, that a parent's fond solicitude had been the happy instrument of preserving him to that country, and to the high destination of his future honorsfor, impelled by the martial disposition of his mind, he was about to engage in the naval service of Great-Britain at the infant age Lof fifteen years. But, restrained by filial affection, he yielded to the anxious entreaties of his mother, and relinquished the object of his choice,

WHO does not bless the memory of this tender mother! who does not reverence the piety of her exalted son!

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THUS was the stupendous fabric of his fame placed on the everlasting basis of virtue and thus were the immense advantages, which flowed to his country, derived from the purest source of a private duty.

SUMMONED to the lists of glory at an age, when talents are unaided by experience, and when the ardor of youth is but little tempered by the rules of prudence, he formed, in his first essay in arms, a rare example of the most heroic valor, combined with the most consummate skill.

THE one was exerted to stem the torrent of victory obtained by a vindictive foe; the other was employed to rescue from ruin the devoted remnant of an unfortunate army.

ADMIRING veterans resigned to the youthful warrior the protection of their discomfited troops, and committed to his supe rior judgment the conduct of a retreat, which covered him with glory, and wreathed his brow with the laurel of success.

THE brave, but unhappy Braddock, expired in the anguish of defeat the gallant and sympathizing Washington was consoled by the safety, and honored with the applause of his surviving friends.

THE high promise, which was here given of a vast capacity for war, was nobly realized in the command and guidance of those armies, by whose active valor and inflexible fortitude, the liberties and sovereignty of the United States were maintained and established.

In that eventful moment, when representation and remonstrance had been exhausted-when the alternative of resistance alone remained to an injured people-when every hazard was preferred to abject submission-and when that people had resolved to meet their parent-state in arms.

To whose care was the palladium of their liberties entrusted? On whom did the unanimous choice of their enlightened representatives, devolve the daegerous honor of conducting this last, this dread appeal?

To the virtue, the wisdom, the valor, and the fortitude, of your immortal Washington-to the hero, who was at once the sword and buckler of his country, was the momentous trust confided.

To him was assigned the defence of our hearths and our altars-the protection of our women and children—and the preservation of all that was dear to freemen, our national honor.

How well, how faithfully, the sacred trust was discharged, let the splendid and important scenes of seven years conflict proclaim to an admiring world!

IMPRESSED by a perfect sense of the high responsibility attached to his exalted station-and conscious of the pre-eminence in toil and danger, to which he was called, he yielded implicit obedience to the summons-and, resigning the utmost enjoy

ment of domestic felicity, he was solely devoted to those duties, which involved the safety and happiness of his country.

REPAIRING to the immediate theatre of military operation, in the vicinity of Boston, he instantly communicated, to the patriotic bands of New-England, that spirit of confidence, which was the result of his presence, and that observance of order, which was essential to effective force.

THE extraordinary spectacle was exhibited of a veteran army invested by the hasty levies of a people, whom it had been sent to coerce, and of that army indignantly expelled the land, which it had been commissioned to subdue.

THIS great event, which was to some the termination of their toil, and the period of their danger, was to him but the renewal of equal labors, the commencement of more anxious

cares.

THE invading army, strengthened by a vast accession of force, and supported by a powerful marine, resumed its operations; and, under leaders of distinguished bravery and talents, extended its menace to the entire subjugation of our country.

SUCCESS, correspondent to these immense preparations, was for a season obtained.

THE firm, but unavailing, efforts of our intrepid chief were restrained to defensive measures. Yet the hopes of America were reposed on that skilful policy, which he adopted to protract the war-and on that consummate prudence, by which he gave to defence the highest advantages, of which it was susceptible.

THE retreat from Long-Island, which excited the astonishment, and extorted the praise of his enemy, will pass to posterity as a consummation in the art of war.

WHILE the victorious enterprize of Trenton, and the suc cessful attack at Princeton, will be commemorated as the resto

ration of public confidence, and the rescue of our declining

cause.

WHERE is the war-worn soldier, whose ebbing pulse does not beat high at these remembrances!

WHERE is the emulous and gallant youth, who does not thence anticipate his own atchievements in his country's cause!

ADVANCING to meet the incursion of a powerful army, he encountered their force at the Brandywine-where his gallant troops, though confident in the conduct, and animated by the example of their heroic leader, were compelled to resign, to discipline and numbers, the hard-won honors of the field.

REPULSED, but not dismayed, he was soon in a capacity to resume the offensive and deeply impressing the energies of his character, and displaying the vast resources of his mind, in the battle of Germantown, he unnerved the plans of subjugation, and invigorated the hopes of his country.

arrested

THE movements of the main army of the enemy were by the formidable position, which was occupied by our skilful chief and their farther attempts were limited to the partial operation of detachments.

IN assaulting the entrenched post at Red Bank, the German troops, led by the gallant Donop, were repulsed with dreadful slaughter, and their wounded leader was left a prisoner on the feld.

THE god-like Washington dispatched, from his camp, an of ficer to assure him of his personal concern, and to offer every attention which his situation might require. He was even charged with the care of his removal, if it should be desired, within the British lines.

THE profound sensibility of the hostile chief was expressed in the following message

F

CONVEY, Sir, to general Washington, the deep impression of my gratitude-my situation admits not, at this time, of a personal acknowledgement--but the first moments of my recovery, should such be the will of heaven, shall be devoted to place before him the homage of niy heart."

WHERE is the testimonial of equal impression with the praise of a dying enemy!...

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WHAT powers of eulogy can hope to reach the pathos of such praise!

THE British army, alarmed for its safety in an untenable position, prepared to concentrate its force, and to re-occupy the post of New-York.

THE strenuous efforts of the American chief to engage a battle, and to intercept their retreat, were rendered abortive by an error in the conduct of a subordinate attack, at the plains of Monmouth, which enabled the British general to accomplish his purpose.

PASSING to the last scene of our military drama, we are called to contemplate, on this great occasion, the vast and various powers, by which the hero of our country was distinguished.

WISDOM to conceive-prudence to conceal-judgment to direct and valor to execute a plan of operations, the most important in its consequences, which the annals of war can furnish, were eminently exemplified in the whole train of measures, by which the investment and capture of the British army, at Yorktown, were formed and atchieved.

THE limits of this discourse do not admit a recital, which would include the varied incidents of the revolutionary war.

COMPELLED to abridge the enumeration of events, I have endeavored to give to the most prominent points of action, distinguished by the presence of our gallant chief, such illustra