Chapter 21

THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

The old hall in Philadelphia, where the city fathers met, was filled with a notable gathering, representing eleven colonies.

Those men constituted the Second Continental Congress.

The first had been held in October, 1765, and a resolution was adopted declaring that the American colonists, as Englishmen, would not and could not consent to be taxed but by their own representatives. This resolution was called forth through the passage of the "Stamp Act."

The Second Congress assembled in Philadelphia in September, 1774, and pledged the colonies to support Massachusetts in her conflict with the English ministry, and after petitioning the king and the English people, adjourned to meet, as it happened, on the very day that Ethan Allen captured Ticonderoga.

The members of that Congress were all loyal to England. The time for independence had not come.

But what a galaxy of men!

There were such giants among men as Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Samuel and John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

But among all those men there was not one whose ambition led him to place self above country.

John Adams told the Congress that the time had come when the English people must learn that it would be better to die fighting for liberty than to live in perpetual slavery.

Not a man wanted war.

Washington had been a soldier with Braddock, and had won distinction, but he was for peace. Jefferson demanded liberty, but he deprecated war. Sam Adams startled the members by saying that if England persisted in a policy of coercion it would be necessary to fight, yet even Adams believed in peace.

John Adams made a strong speech, in which he asked why a tyrant ever exercised tyranny, and he answered the question by saying it was because the people were unable to resist.

"Let us be strong enough to enforce our demands," said he, "and the king or his ministers will fall back and concede all we ask."

He waited to see the effect of his words.

There was silence.

"Yes, brothers, it is only the strong that obtain justice. The weak petition and are spurned, the strong ask and they are listened to with attention, and their demands granted.

"These colonies should be Great Britain's strength, they are her weakness. Give us the right to make our own laws, to raise the taxation as we please, to defend our coasts from external assaults and our land from internal troubles, and we shall honor the king and prove that the American Confederation of Colonies is the strength of that country. Let us tell the king plainly what we want. Let our petition be backed by a good army, and we shall win."

"What do you propose?" asked Jefferson.

"I propose that we organize an army, not of one colony, but of a confederation of all colonies, and that we appoint a commander-in-chief, a man who shall be able to organize the army and to lead it, ay, even if it be necessary until we have entire independence."

"Where could we find such a man?" asked one of the Northern delegates.

"We have one here. The man who saved the wreck of Braddock's army is just the one to build a nation. I nominate George Washington as the commander-in-chief of the army of liberation!"

There was an outburst of cheering such as the Quaker City had but seldom heard.

The delegates knew Washington.

He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and had previously made a name for himself with Braddock.

When his name was mentioned by Adams he left the hall.

He was afraid to remain for fear he should be called upon to accept.

He wanted time for deliberation.

The congress adjourned until the following Thursday.

The delegates talked the matter over, and when the Congress reassembled George Washington was the unanimous choice of the delegates.

But before he was asked to give his answer, articles of confederation were drawn up and signed, and the colonies became one for the purposes of mutual defense.

"I fear that this day will mark the downfall of my reputation," said Washington to Patrick Henry when he heard he was unanimously selected to organize an army of twenty thousand men, who were undisciplined, without weapons, without arms of any kind worth speaking of, and having no money to pay for the food they would require, not mentioning arms.

The question of salary was next discussed, but Washington stopped it by emphatically declaring that he would not touch one penny of salary, and only asked that out-of-pocket expenses should be paid.

In the midst of the cheering which these words evoked, Ethan Allen entered the hall.

"Who is that man?" asked John Hancock.

"Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga," answered Sam Adams.

The cheering broke out again, but this time it was for the Green Mountain leader.

Again and again did the walls re-echo with the plaudits.

Then Sam Adams called Ethan Allen to the chairman's desk, and John Hancock warmly congratulated the hero.

A resolution of thanks was passed, and Allen was asked to introduce his friends.

Seth Warner and Remember Baker were welcomed as able coadjutors, and Allen took care to say that they were typical of all the Mountain Boys, and that what they had done was only a foretaste of what they would do if necessary.

Eben Pike was called up, and the boy bashfully wriggled--no one could call it walking--up to John Hancock's desk.

When Allen told of the bravery of the young scout and of the way in which he had so recently saved his friends from falling into the hands of the English, Hancock rose from his seat and called for three hearty cheers for the young hero.

Then the Congress settled down to work and appointed officers to assist Washington.

What a brave lot of men! Their names cannot be too often repeated.

The major-generals were Artemus Ward, Charles Lee, Phillip Schuyler and Israel Putnam--the famous wolf-den Putnam. Then the brigadier-generals comprised Richard Montgomery, Seth Pomeroy, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas and Nathaniel Greene. The adjutant-general was Horatio Gates.

Allen overheard Gen. Schuyler speak of Canada and of its importance.

Allen made his acquaintance and asked him to allow him to tell of the plan New York had rejected.

Schuyler was delighted, and thanked the Vermonter warmly.

"If ever you are in command of such an army of invasion," said Allen, "I shall ask to be allowed to join as a volunteer."

"My dear Allen, there is not a man in all Philadelphia at the present moment I would rather have," answered the general.

Alas! what suffering was to follow that conversation!