the war, extremely dilatory in complying with the requisitions of
Congress. This defect was strongly felt by Washington, who was often
compelled to exert his personal influence, which, in all the States,
was immense, to obtain the supplies which Congress had no power to
exact. We shall see hereafter, that in forming the new constitution, a
work in which Washington took a leading part, this defect was remedied.

While Congress was beginning to form these articles of confederation,
and Washington was giving a new aspect to the war in New Jersey, the
people of Great Britain, long accustomed to colonial complaints and
quarrels, and attentive merely to their own immediate interests, paid
no due regard to the progress of the contest or to the importance of
the principles in which it originated. Large majorities in both houses
of parliament supported the ministry in all their violent proceedings,
and although a small minority, including several men of distinguished
talents, who trembled for the fate of British liberty if the court
should succeed in establishing its claims against the colonists,
vigorously opposed the measures of administration, yet the great body
of the people manifested a loyal zeal in favor of the war, and the ill
success of the Colonists in the campaign of 1776, gave that zeal
additional energy.

But amidst all the popularity of their warlike operations, the
difficulties of the ministry soon began to multiply. In consequence of
hostilities with the American provinces, the British West India islands
experienced a scarcity of the necessaries of life. About the time when
the West India fleet was about to set sail, under convoy, on its
homeward voyage, it was discovered that the negroes of Jamaica
meditated an insurrection. By means of the draughts to complete the
army in America, the military force in that island had been weakened,