Up to this time Lord Cornwallis had been cheered by the expectation of speedy aid. Often and anxiously must he have looked out for a white sail gleaming in the distance on the blue waters of the bay. But, on the 15th, the morning after the redoubts were stormed, it was clear to him that the expedition from New York had been either, by some accident, delayed, or, by the superiority of the French fleet, turned aside. Writing, on that day, a few lines in cypher to Sir Henry, Cornwallis described his prospects as follows: "My situation now becomes very critical. We dare not show "a gun to their (the enemy's) old batteries, and I expect that "their new ones will open to-morrow morning. Experience "has shown that our fresh earthen works do not resist their "powerful artillery; so that we shall soon be exposed to an assault in ruined works, in a bad position, and with "weakened numbers. The safety of the place is, therefore, 66 so precarious, that I cannot recommend that the fleet and "army should run great risk in endeavouring to save us."

66

Lord Cornwallis, however, with a true soldier's spirit, while discounselling "great risk" to others, was ready to run any risk, however great, of his own. A little before day-break of the 16th he ordered a sally of about 350 men, under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie, to attack two of the enemy's batteries, which appeared to be in the greatest forwardness, and to spike their guns. The gallant little band, well led under Abercrombie by Armstrong and by Lake, carried all before them, forcing the redoubt, spiking eleven of the guns, and killing or wounding about one hundred of the French. But this action, though extremely honourable to the officers and soldiers who performed it, proved of little public good; for the cannon having, of necessity, been spiked in haste, were soon rendered fit for service once more. "And before dark," says Cornwallis, "the enemy's whole parallel and batteries appeared to be "nearly complete. At this time we knew that there was no "part of the whole front attacked on which we could show a "single gun, and our shells were nearly expended. I had,

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"therefore, only to choose between preparing to surrender "next day, or endeavouring to get off with the greatest part "of the troops; and I determined to attempt the latter."

For that enterprise Lord Cornwallis had provided sixteen large boats, which, upon other pretexts, were ordered to be in readiness to receive troops that same evening at ten o'clock. With these it was hoped to pass the infantry during the night to Gloucester, relinquishing the baggage, and leaving a small detachment to capitulate for the town's people, and for the sick and wounded. The plan of Cornwallis was next to force the enemy's lines. in front of Gloucester, and cut to pieces or disperse their troops; then to mount his men on horses taken from the French or the country people; to gain, by a rapid march, the fords of the great rivers, and make his way through Maryland and the Jerseys to New York. Considering the vast extent of country to be passed, and the superiority of the force in his rear, the enterprise appears not merely daring, but desperate; still, slight as were its chances, Cornwallis far preferred them to surrender. The first embarkation of troops had already gone to the northern bank, when the whole project was marred and arrested by the weather, which, from calm and fair, suddenly changed to a most violent storm of wind and rain. The crossing of the other troops that night became impossible; all that could be done was to bring back next forenoon the detachments that had already passed.

Meanwhile, as Cornwallis had expected, the enemy's batteries before York-town had opened at day-break. Nothing now remained for him but to obtain the best terms he could. On that morning, then, the 17th of October, he sent a flag of truce to Washington, proposing a cessation of arms, and a treaty for the capitulation of his post. Washington, in reply, required him to state within two hours the terms which he demanded. In a second letter hereupon Cornwallis asked that the garrisons of York and Gloucester, though laying down their arms as prisoners of war, should be sent home,

the Britons to Britain, and the Germans to Germany, under engagement not to serve against France, America, or their allies, until in due form exchanged. The American General declared these terms to be inadmissible, and the Earl then agreed to waive them. It appears probable, indeed, that they were proposed only for the sake of form or show. Their fulfilment would have depended on the Congress, and not on the personal high honour and probity of Washington. And with the event of Saratoga full in his mind, it must have seemed to Lord Cornwallis a question of utter and complete indifference whether the Americans did or did not stipulate to set their captives free.

On this basis then

as yielded by Cornwallis, on the morning of the 18th of October a cessation of arms was continued, and a negotiation begun. The Commissioners, two field-officers being named on each side, conferred together, and discussed the terms that same day. All the artillery and public stores in the two forts, together with the shipping and boats in the two harbours, were to be surrendered by the English. On the other hand, private property of every kind was to be respected by the Americans and French. The garrisons of York and Gloucester were to march out with the same honours of war as had been granted by Sir Henry Clinton at Charleston; the land forces to remain prisoners of the United States, and the naval forces prisoners of France. The soldiers were to be kept in Virginia, Maryland, or Pennsylvania, and as much by regiments as possible. The General, Staff, and other officers not left with the troops, to be permitted to go to New York or to Europe on parole.

"It is remarkable," says an American historian, "that "while Colonel Laurens, the officer employed by General "Washington (in conjunction with the Vicomte de Noailles), "was drawing up these articles, his father was closely con"fined in the Tower of London, of which Lord Cornwallis "was Constable. By this singular combination of circum

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"stances, his Lordship became a prisoner to the son of his "own prisoner!"*

An addition which Washington made as follows, to the article on private effects, appears, at first sight, obscure: "It is understood that any property, obviously belonging "to the inhabitants of these States, in the possession of the "garrison, shall be subject to be reclaimed." But here the obscurity has been cleared away by another historian of America. The American chiefs, he says, felt the inconsistency, while struggling for their own independence, of stipulating for the subjection of any of their fellow-men; and they therefore adopted this covert phrase, for the purpose of restoring to their rightful owners the Virginian slaves.**

Cornwallis, on his part, was honourably anxious to protect from harm the native loyalists within his lines; and he proposed as the tenth article, that no such men were "to be "punished on account of having joined the British army.” Washington wrote in reply: "This article cannot be as"sented to, being altogether of civil resort." Means were found, however, with Washington's connivance, to obtain the same object in another form. It was stipulated, that, immediately after the capitulation, the Bonetta sloop of war was to sail for New York unsearched, with despatches from Lord Cornwallis to Sir Henry Clinton, and with as many soldiers on board as he should think fit to send; provided only that the vessel were returned, and that the soldiers were accounted for as prisoners in a future exchange. By this expedient was the British chief enabled to secure a safe conduct to his American adherents. It did not prevent, however, the other loyalists at New York and elsewhere, from complaining loudly that any capitulation had been signed after the tenth article had been refused. Still much more did they resent the use of the word "punished" in that article, as Cornwallis first proposed it; for "punishment,"

Ramsay's History of the American Revolution, vol. ii. p. 271.

** Gordon, vol. iv. p. 196.

they said, must imply some previous crime; and their only crime had been allegiance to their King.

The articles of the capitulation, having been finally fixed by Washington and accepted by Cornwallis, were signed by the respective Generals on the morning of the 19th of October. On the British side, about 500 men had been killed or wounded during the progress of the siege. At its close, the British and German troops, exclusive of the seamen, amounted to 6,000; but so great was the number of the sick and the disabled, that there remained less than 4,000 fit for duty. At two o'clock that afternoon, as agreed in the capitulation, the York-town troops marched out with their drums beating, their arms shouldered, and their colours cased, to lay down their arms before the enemy, Americans and French, drawn out in line. The officer specially appointed to receive them was General Lincoln, the chief of their captives at Charleston in the preceding year. Yet Washington, with his usual lofty spirit, had no desire to aggravate the anguish and humiliation of honourable foes. On the contrary, he bade all mere spectators keep aloof from the ceremony, and suppressed all public signs of exultation.

The scene which ensued is described by an eyewitness, a French chaplain of the Count de Rochambeau. The two lines of the Allied army, says Abbé Robin, were drawn out for upwards of a mile; the Americans having the right. The disproportion of heights and of ages in their men, and their soiled and ragged clothing, might be unfavourably contrasted with the neater and more soldierly appearance of the French. Yet, under such circumstances, the personal disadvantages of a raw Militia should rather be looked upon as an enhancement of the triumph they had gained. The Abbé was struck at seeing, from several indications, how much keener was at that time the animosity between the English and Americans than between the English and French. Thus, the English officers, when they laid down their arms, and were passing along the enemy's lines, courteously saluted