zed that his shore
batteries could not keep the British fleet from sailing up both the
East and the Hudson Rivers and from landing a force on Manhattan Island
almost where it liked. Then the city of New York would be surrounded by
a hostile fleet and a hostile army. The Howes could have performed this
maneuver as soon as they had a favorable wind. There was, we know, great
confusion in New York, and Washington tells us how his heart was torn by
the distress of the inhabitants. The British gave him plenty of time to
make plans, and for a reason. We have seen that Lord Howe was not only
an admiral to make war but also an envoy to make peace. The British
victory on Long Island might, he thought, make Congress more willing to
negotiate. So now he sent to Philadelphia the captured American General
Sullivan, with the request that some members of Congress might confer
privately on the prospects for peace.

Howe probably did not realize that the Americans had the British quality
of becoming more resolute by temporary reverses. By this time, too,
suspicion of every movement on the part of Great Britain had become
a mania. Every one in Congress seems to have thought that Howe was
planning treachery. John Adams, excepted by name from British offers of
pardon, called Sullivan a "decoy duck" and, as he confessed, laughed,
scolded, and grieved at any negotiation. The wish to talk privately with
members of Congress was called an insulting way of avoiding recognition
of that body. In spite of this, even the stalwart Adams and the suave
Franklin were willing to be members of a committee which went to meet
Lord Howe. With great sorrow Howe now realized that he had no power to
grant what Congress insisted upon, the recognition of independence, as a
preliminary to negotiation. There was nothing for it but war.

On the 15th of September the British struck the blow too long delayed
had war been their only interest. New York had to sit nearly helpless
while great men-of-war passed up both the Hudson and the East River with
guns sweeping the shores of Manhattan Island. At the same time General
Howe sent over in boats from Long Island to the landing at Kip's Bay,
near the line of the present Thirty-fourth Street, an army to cut off
the city from the northern part of the island. Washington marched in
person with two New England regiments to dispute the landing and give
him time for evacuation. To his rage panic seized his men and they
turned an