declaration of independence, and they were not disappointed. But after
this, they looked for victory, and obtained a defeat.

If this be taken as the generating cause of the contest, then is every
part of the conduct of the British ministry consistent, from the
commencement of the dispute, until the signing the treaty of Paris,
after which, conquest becoming doubtful, they retreated to
negociation, and were again defeated.

Though the Abbe possesses and displays great powers of genius, and is
a master of style and language, he seems not to pay equal attention to
the office of an historian. His facts are coldly and carelessly
stated. They neither inform the reader, nor interest him. Many of them
are erroneous, and most of them defective and obscure. It is
undoubtedly both an ornament, and a useful addition to history, to
accompany it with maxims and reflections. They afford likewise an
agreeable change to the style, and a more diversified manner of
expression; but it is absolutely necessary that the root from whence
they spring, or the foundations on which they are raised, should be
well attended to, which in this work they are not. The Abbe hastens
through his narrations, as if he was glad to get from them, that he
may enter the more copious field of eloquence and imagination.

The actions of Trenton and Princeton, in New Jersey, in December 1776,
and January following, on which the fate of America stood for a while
trembling on the point of suspence, and from which the most important
consequences followed, are comprised within a single paragraph,
faintly conceived, and barren of character, circumstance and
description.