Part 14 (1/2)

At noon on Sunday, November 25, the news reached London. Somebody asked a member of the cabinet how Lord North, the prime minister, received the ”communication.”

”As he would have taken a cannon ball in his chest,” was the reply; ”for he opened his arms, exclaimed {137} wildly, as he walked up and down the room during a few minutes, 'O G.o.d! it is all over! it is all over!'”

The news was sent to King George, who replied the same evening. It was noted that His Majesty being a trifle stupid, wrote very calmly, but forgot to mark the exact hour and minute of his writing. This circ.u.mstance, the like of which had never happened before, seemed to indicate to his cabinet some unusual disturbance. Shortly afterwards, however, the old king took some comfort in declaring that the Yankees were a wretched set of knaves, whom he was glad to get rid of at any price.

On a gentle slope at Yorktown stands a monument, erected a century later by Congress, in commemoration of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. There it stands, a tall, white shaft, solitary, glorious, and impressive, a landmark for many miles along that sleepy sh.o.r.e.

{138}

CHAPTER X

THE CRISIS

Exactly eight years from the day when

”the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world,”

the Continental Congress informed General Was.h.i.+ngton that the war was over. In September, 1783, the formal treaty of peace was signed; a month later, the Continental army was disbanded; and three weeks later, the British army sailed from New York.

What a pathetic and impressive scene took place at a little tavern, in lower New York, when Was.h.i.+ngton said good-by to his generals! With hearts too full for words, and with eyes dimmed with tears, these veterans embraced their chief and bade him farewell.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Was.h.i.+ngton's Farewell to his Generals]

A few days before Christmas, Was.h.i.+ngton gave up the command of the army, and hurried away to spend the holidays at Mount Vernon.

”The times that tried men's souls are over,” wrote the author of ”Common Sense,” a man whose writings voiced the opinions of the people.

Freedom was indeed won, but the country was in a sad plight.

{139} ”It is not too much to say,” says John Fiske, ”that the period of five years following the peace of 1783 was the most critical moment in all the history of the American people.”

Thirteen little republics, fringing the Atlantic, were hemmed in on the north, the south, and the west, by two hostile European nations that were capable of much mischief.

In 1774, under the pressure of a common peril and the need of quick action, the colonies had banded together for the common good. By a kind of general consent their representatives in the Continental Congress had a.s.sumed the task of carrying on the war. But for nine years Congress had steadily declined in power, and now that peace had come and the need of united action was removed, there was danger that this shadowy union would dissolve. Believing strongly in their own state governments, the people had almost no feeling in favor of federation.

{140} Just before the disbanding of the army and his retirement to private life, Was.h.i.+ngton wrote a letter to the governor of each colony. This letter, he said, was his ”legacy” to the American people.

He urged the necessity of forming a more perfect union, under a single government. He declared that the war debt must be paid to the last penny; that the people must be willing to sacrifice some of their local interests for the common good; and that they must regard one another as fellow citizens of a common country.

We must not make the mistake of thinking that the Continental Congress was like our present national Congress.

When the struggle between the colonies and the mother country threatened war, the colonies through their a.s.semblies, or special conventions, chose delegates to represent them in Philadelphia. These delegates composed the first Continental Congress. It met on September 5, 1774, and broke up during the last week of the following October.

Three weeks after Lexington, a second Congress met in the same city.

This was the Congress that appointed Was.h.i.+ngton commander in chief, and issued the immortal Declaration of Independence.

In the strict sense of the word, this body had no legal authority. It was really a meeting of delegates from the several colonies, to advise and consult with each other concerning the public welfare.