ly the greatness of the man who
quietly and silently took them up and disposed of them. Some he
scotched and some he killed, but he dealt with them all after a
fashion sufficient to enable him to move steadily forward. In his
presence the provincial committee suddenly stiffened and grew strong.
All correspondence with Tryon was cut off, the Tories were repressed,
and on Long Island steps were taken to root out "these abominable
pests of society," as the commander-in-chief called them in his
plain-spoken way. Then forts were built, soldiers energetically
recruited and drilled, arrangements made for prisoners, and despite
all the present cares anxious thought was given to the Canada
campaign, and ideas and expeditions, orders, suggestions, and
encouragement were freely furnished to the dispirited generals and
broken forces of the north.

One matter, however, overshadowed all others. Nearly a year before,
Washington had seen that there was no prospect or possibility of
accommodation with Great Britain. It was plain to his mind that the
struggle was final in its character and would be decisive. Separation
from the mother country, therefore, ought to come at once, so that
public opinion might be concentrated, and above all, permanency ought
to be given to the army. These ideas he had been striving to impress
upon Congress, for the most part less clearsighted than he was as to
facts, and as the months slipped by his letters had grown constantly
more earnest and more vehement. Still Congress hesitated, and at last
Washington went himself to Philadelphia and held conferences with
the principal men. What he said is lost, but the tone of Congress
certainly rose after his visit. The aggressive leaders found their
hands so much strengthened that little more than a month later they
carried through a declaration of independence, which was solemnly and
gratefully proclaimed to the army by the general, much relieved to
have got through the necessary boat-burning, and to have brought
affairs, military and political, on to the hard ground of actual fact.

Soon after his return from Philadelphia, he received convincing
proof that his views in regard to the Tories were extremely sound.
A conspiracy devised by Tryon, which aimed apparently at the
assassination of the commander-in-chief, and which had corrupted his
life-guards for that purpose, was discovered and scattered before it
had fairly hardened into definite form. The mayor of the