n Randolph, president of congress,) carrying thirty-six guns and
three hundred and five men, sailed on a cruise from Charleston. The
Yarmouth, British man-of-war, of sixty-four guns, discovered her and
five other vessels, and came up with her in the evening. Captain Vincent
hailed the Randolph to hoist colors, or he would fire into her; on which
she hoisted the American flag, and immediately gave the Yarmouth her
broadside, which was returned, and in about a quarter of an hour the
Randolph blew up. Four men escaped upon a fragment of the wreck, and
subsisted for five days on rain water alone, which they sucked from a
piece of blanket which they had picked up. They were rescued by the
Yarmouth.[688:A]

Early in this month congress received despatches containing a treaty
between the king of France and the United States of America. In
consequence of Burgoyne's surrender and of the treaty with France, the
British army (under command of Sir Henry Clinton, who had relieved Sir
William Howe,) evacuated Philadelphia in June, 1778. Crossing the
Delaware, they marched for New York. Washington pursued them across the
Jerseys, and on the twenty-eighth of June occurred the battle of
Monmouth. The result was not decisive; many died from heat and fatigue;
the Americans remained on the field of battle, where Washington passed
the night in his cloak in the midst of his soldiers. It was during this
action that General Charles Lee retreated before the British, who had
turned upon him. He was met by Washington, who reprimanded him, ordered
the division to be formed, and, with the aid of artillery under
Lieutenant-Colonel Carrington, checked the enemy's advance. General Lee
was arrested, tried, and convicted of disobedience of orders, of making
an unnecessary and disorderly retreat, and of writing disrespectfully to
the commander-in-chief, and suspended from the army for one year. Recent
developments strengthen the suspicion long entertained that he acted
traitorously. It is strange that, conscious of this, he should have
remained among those whom he had endeavored to betray. He had previously
been signally serviceable in the American cause; and at the time of his
suspension there were not wanting divers leading men who thought him
hardly dealt with. But a man is never better than his principles, and
General Lee's were bad from the beginning. La Fayette said that
Washington never appeared to better advantage than in this action, when
roused