George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 8

[305] whole mass of her population, to the end of the war

Chap. LIX.} 1776 Mar.

and during all his life, heaved and swelled with sympathy for his fortunes; he could not make a sign to her for aid, but her sons rose up to his support; nor utter advice to his country, but they gave it reverence and heed.

And never was so great a result obtained at so small a cost of human life. The putting the British army to flight was the first decisive victory of the industrious middling class over the most powerful representative of the medieval aristocracy; and the whole number of New England men killed in the siege after Washington took the command was less than twenty; the liberation of New England cost altogether less than two hundred lives in battle; and the triumphant general, as he looked around, enjoyed the serenest delight, for he saw no mourners among those who greeted his entry after his bloodless victory.

Within the borders of four New England states, permanent peace with self-government was from this time substantially confirmed. And who now, even in the mother land of Massachusetts, does not rejoice at this achievement of a people which so thoroughly represented the middling class of the civilized world? How had they shown patience as well as fortitude! How long they waited, and when the right moment came, how promptly they rose! How they responded to the inward voice which bade them claim freedom as a birthright, and dread an acquiescence in its loss as a violation of the peace of the soul! Pious and contented, frugal, laborious, and affluent; their rule for the government of conduct was not the pride of chivalry, but the eternal law of