e ship as soon
as possible. I had therefore time only to exchange a few words with the
officers, who were inclined to be very civil, and when the masters of
the vessels told them how they had been treated on board the Orpheus
they were still more disposed to be friendly. At that time the bitter
feeling against Great Britain, which it must be owned she brought on
herself by her injustice and dictatorial conduct, had not then been so
universally stirred up.
"Now, my lads," shouted the commander of the party as I was stepping
into my boat, "that young officer is a good fellow so let us give him
three cheers."
"Hip, hip, hip, hurrah!" broke from the throats of all the regiment in
good hearty style.
I turned round as I was shoving off and bowed and waved my hat, and I
parted on the most amiable terms from those heroes, so like the ragged
regiment headed by the redoubtable Sir John Falstaff.
We had great fun on board as I described them--Frank Mercer alone looked
grave.
"Does it not strike you," said he, "that the very fact of the want of
uniformity in their outward man shows the unanimity of sentiment which
pervades them and makes them flock round the standard of liberty to
defend their rights as freemen, regardless of outward appearance? Those
poor fellows, though doubtless very inferior to regular troops, would
not shed their blood less willingly or behave less bravely in the face
of an enemy."
"Oh, you are a rebel, Mercer, you are a rebel!" we all shouted; "don't
talk treason here."
"I only talk truth," answered Mercer gravely.
Since then I have been much inclined to agree with him.
We had a speedy voyage back, without taking a prize, and reached New
York harbour on the 27th of August. A considerable number of
ships-of-war and transports had arrived during our absence, having on
board large reinforcements. Among them were a large body of Hessian
troops, who had been hired from the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and the
Duke of Brunswick, especially to put down the American rebellion. They
were well disciplined, but fierce, ruthless troops, who murdered and
plundered without hesitation whenever they had the opportunity, and were
naturally dreaded and hated by the enemy. Besides the troops which had
come from Europe, a large body of men had arrived from the South, under
the command of Sir Henry Clinton, who, in conjunction with Sir Peter
Parker, had retired from an unsuccessful attempt to capture Char
|