[47] Holmes' Annals.
[48] Botta.
[49] General Frazer was wounded about four o'clock in the afternoon, and died the following morning at eight. At six in the evening he was buried—all the generals attending his funeral, and marching to an eminence where his remains were deposited. The Americans, entirely ignorant of the nature of the collection, directed their artillery towards the British. Fortunately, no lives were lost, and no one was wounded. General Gates, on learning the object of the assemblage, expressed his deep regret at the firing.
[50] The term Cow-boys was given to Americans attached to the British cause, who resided within their lines, but who frequently plundered the Americans on the other side of their cattle, which they drove to New York. Skinners were those who lived within the American lines, and professed attachment to their cause; but they were even more unprincipled than the former, often committing their depredations on friends as well as foes.
[51] Jones was an ardent man, and bore disappointment and delay with no good grace. Chance one day threw into his hands an old almanac, containing Poor Richard's Maxims, by Dr. Franklin. In that curious assemblage of useful instructions, a man is advised, "if he wishes to have any business faithfully and expeditiously performed, to go and do it himself—otherwise, to send." Jones was immediately struck, upon reading this maxim, with the impropriety of his past conduct, in only sending letters and messages to court, when he ought to have gone in person. He instantly set out, and, by dint of personal representation, procured the immediate equipment of the squadron, which afterwards spread terror along the Eastern coasts of England, and with which he so gloriously captured the Serapis, and the British ships of war returning from the Baltic. In gratitude to Dr. Franklin's maxim, he named the principal ship of his squadron after the name of the pretended almanac-maker, Le Bon Homme Richard, the Good Man Richard.
[52] Cooper's Naval History.
[53] Hartley was considered a tedious speaker on account of his prolixity. But he was a friend to America, and often told the ministers some very unwelcome truths. The following good story is told of him: One afternoon, Jenkinson, the first Lord Liverpool, left the house when the member from Hull rose to speak; and presuming that the honorable gentleman would, as usual, deliver a very long, dull speech, he walked home, mounted his horse, and rode to his country-house, where he dined; and, after strolling for some time about his grounds, returned at a gentle pace to town. On his arrival at home, he sent a messenger to the house to ascertain what had been done, and how soon the division might be expected to take place. The reply he received was, that Mr. Hartley had not yet done speaking; and when Jenkinson, at length, thought it advisable, in order to be in time for voting, to go down to Westminster, he found the long-winded orator still on his legs!
[54] For a more particular account of this plan of union, the reader is referred to Pitkin's History of the United States, vol. i. p. 142, or Holmes' Annals, vol. ii. p. 55.
[55] Holmes' Annals.
[56] Madison Papers, vol. ii. p. 687-9.