DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

ae hardships of the force increased, their clothes were ragged, and large numbers were absolutely shoeless. But even when hundreds of them were without blankets, and when their march might be traced by the blood left by their naked feet in the snow, not a murmur was heard against their idolised leader. On the 4th July, 1776, Congress passed the Declaration of American Independence. Hereupon Lord North had to pass his Conciliation Bill, in which were conceded all the demands of the Colonists, short of Independence. But it came too late. It was rejected by the Congress; the war dragged on with varying success on both sides until 1781, when Lord Cornwallis, the English Commander-in-Chief, found himself hemmed in at Yorktown, on the York River. Surrounded by a force of 18,000 men, his own numbering only 7000, Lord Cornwallis had to choose between surrender and an effort to withdraw his troops from their untenable position. He determined to transport his men in boats across the river,—but the elements were against him. The boats had made one journey, when a storm arose which rendered the further prosecution of the plan impossible. The next day Cornwallis had to surrender, and 4000 British soldiers marched out of Yorktown, laying down their arms before the American army. Reluctantly George II]. and