destroyed by thirty-three thousand Englishmen or Germans. Three
thousand Americans alone remained in arms, and these were closely
pursued by General Howe. From that moment all the credit of the
insurgents vanished; to obtain a vessel for them was impossible: the
envoys themselves thought it right to express to me their own
discouragement, and persuade me to abandon my project. I called upon
Mr. Deane, and I thanked him for his frankness.

"Until now, sir," said I, "you have only seen my ardour in your cause,
and that may not prove at present wholly useless. I shall purchase a
ship to carry out your officers; we must feel confidence in the
future, and it is especially in the hour of danger that I wish to
share your fortune."~[9] My project was received with approbation; but
it was necessary afterwards to find money, and to purchase and arm a
vessel secretly: all this was accomplished with the greatest despatch.

The period was, however, approaching, which had been long fixed for my
taking a journey to England;~[10] I could not refuse to go without
risking the discovery of my secret, and by consenting to take this
journey I knew I could better conceal my preparations for a greater
one. This last measure was also thought most expedient by MM. Franklin
and Deane; for the doctor himself was then in France; and although I
did not venture to go to his house, for fear of being seen, I
corresponded with him through M. Carmichael, an American less
generally known. I arrived in London with M. de Poix; and I first paid
my respects to Bancroft, the American, and afterwards to his British
Majesty. A youth of nineteen may be, perhaps, too fond of playing a
trick upon the king he is going to fight with,--of dancing at the
house of Lord Germaine minister for the English colonies, and at the
house of Lord Rawdon, who had just returned from New York,--and of