of war which he could not take away but he left intact the powerful
defenses of Boston, defenses reared at the cost of Britain. Many of the
better class of the inhabitants, British in their sympathies, were now
face to face with bitter sorrow and sacrifice. Passions were so aroused
that a hard fate awaited them should they remain in Boston and they
decided to leave with the British army. Travel by land was blocked; they
could go only by sea. When the time came to depart, laden carriages,
trucks, and wheelbarrows crowded to the quays through the narrow streets
and a sad procession of exiles went out from their homes. A profane
critic said that they moved "as if the very devil was after them." No
doubt many of them would have been arrogant and merciless to "rebels"
had theirs been the triumph. But the day was above all a day of sorrow.
Edward Winslow, a strong leader among them, tells of his tears "at
leaving our once happy town of Boston." The ships, a forest of masts,
set sail and, crowded with soldiers and refugees, headed straight out
to sea for Halifax. Abigail, wife of John Adams, a clever woman, watched
the departure of the fleet with gladness in her heart. She thought that
never before had been seen in America so many ships bearing so many
people. Washington's army marched joyously into Boston. Joyous it might
well be since, for the moment, powerful Britain was not secure in a
single foot of territory in the former colonies. If Quebec should fall
the continent would be almost conquered.

Quebec did not fall. All through the winter the Americans held on before
the place. They shivered from cold. They suffered from the dread disease
smallpox. They had difficulty in getting food. The Canadians were
insistent on having good money for what they offered and since good
money was not always in the treasury the invading army sometimes used
violence. Then the Canadians became more reserved and chilling than
ever. In hope of mending matters Congress sent a commission to Montreal
in the spring of 1776. Its chairman was Benjamin Franklin and, with him,
were two leading Roman Catholics, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a
great landowner of Maryland, and his brother John, a priest, afterwards
Archbishop of Baltimore. It was not easy to represent as the liberator
of the Catholic Canadians the Congress which had denounced in scathing
terms the concessions in the Quebec Act to the Catholic Church. Franklin
was a master of conciliati