ed on board
their transports off this place, General Thompson advanced with eighteen
hundred men to surprise the town, and would have effected his object had
not one of his Canadian guides escaped and warned the British of his
approach. General Fraser immediately landed his troops, with several
field-pieces, and posted them so advantageously that the Americans were
speedily defeated, their general, his second in command, and five
hundred men made prisoners, while, the retreat of their main body being
cut off, they were compelled to take shelter in a wood full of swamps.
Here they remained in great distress till the following day, when
General Carleton, who had meanwhile come up, humanely drew the guard
from the bridge over the Riviere du Loup, and allowed them to escape
toward Sorel. Finding themselves unable to oppose the force advancing
against them, the American army, under Sullivan, retreated to Crown
Point, whither Arnold also retired from Montreal on June 15th. Thus
terminated the invasion of Canada, which produced no advantage to the
American cause, but on the contrary aroused the hostility of the
inhabitants and drew them closer to Great Britain.

SIGNING OF AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

A.D. 1776

THOMAS JEFFERSON JOHN A. DOYLE

Among historic acts and political deliverances there is none
more weighty in significance and results, none more famous
in the annals of the world, than the American Declaration of
Independence. The document which preserves it to all ages is
"a witness to the world that freedom, resting not on
institutions, but on the necessities of human nature, is no
mere abstract idea, but a vital principle of national life."

At the beginning of 1776 the tide of public opinion in the
colonies was setting strongly toward national independence.
Lexington and Bunker Hill had spoken their message to
America and to the British Government. All the other
colonies had come into line with New England. The earliest
declaration of independence, that of the people of
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (May, 1775), had preluded
the general proclamation. The second Continental Congress
was at work with growing legislative powers; the New England
forces had been adopted as the Continental Army, with
Washington as commander-in-chief; that army was besieging
the British in Boston; and a movement