that it places her in the laughable condition of a famished lion
watching for prey at a spider's web.

From this account of the currency, the Abbe proceeds to state the
condition of America in the winter of 1777, and the spring following;
and closes his observations with mentioning the treaty of alliance,
which was signed in France, and the propositions of the British
ministry, which were rejected in America. But in the manner in which
the Abbe has arranged his facts, there is a very material error, that
not only he, but other European historians, have fallen into: none of
them having assigned the true cause why the British proposals were
rejected, and all of them have assigned a wrong one.

In the winter of 1777, and spring following, Congress were assembled
at York-Town, in Pennsylvania, the British were in possession of
Philadelphia, and General Washington with the army were encamped in
huts at the Valley-Forge, twenty-five miles distant therefrom. To all
who can remember, it was a season of hardship, but not of despair; and
the Abbe, speaking of this period and its inconveniences, says,

"A multitude of privations, added to so many other misfortunes, might
make the Americans regret their former tranquillity, and incline them
to an accommodation with England. In vain had the people been bound to
the new Government by the sacredness of oaths, and the influence of
religion. In vain had endeavors been used to convince them, that it
was impossible to treat safely with a country in which one parliament
might overturn what should have been established by another. In vain
had they been threatened with the eternal resentment of an exasperated
and vindictive enemy. It was possible that these distant troubles
might not be balanced by the weight of present evils.