Then there was
another question: Will the people at home sustain us?
At nine o'clock President Hancock rapped to order. The first business
was the reading of letters addressed to the Congress, which had arrived
since the adjournment on Saturday. One of these, from General Washington
in New York, contained news calculated to alarm all but the most
stalwart spirits: Canada quite lost to the cause; Arnold's army in full,
though orderly, retreat from that province; a powerful British fleet
just arriving in New York harbor, three or four ships drifting in daily,
and now forty-five sail all at once signalled from Sandy Hook.
"Some say more," added General Washington, "and I suppose the whole
fleet will be in within a day or two."
The whole fleet! As if these were not enough; and, in truth, the number
soon reached a hundred and twenty, with thousands of red-coats in them
abundantly supplied with every requisite. Washington's own army numbered
on that day seven thousand seven hundred and fifty-four men, of whom, as
he reported, eight hundred had no guns at all, fourteen hundred had bad
guns, and half the infantry no bayonets. Add to this fifty-three British
ships just arrived at Charleston, with General Clinton's expedition on
board.
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