of your nephew, Thomas Stanley, Esquire, because you were out of the direction of the American shot, pretty near of a piece.

Liberty, peace, and glory to both Countries, is the voice of America.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM GENERAL GAGE TO LORD DARTMOUTH.

Boston, June 25, 1775.

The success, of which I send your Lordship an account by the present opportunity, was very necessary in our present situation, and I wish most sincerely that it had not cost us so dear. The number of killed and wounded is greater than our forces can afford to lose. The officers, who were obliged to exert themselves, have suffered very much, and we have lost some extremely good officers. The trials we have had show the rebels are not the despicable rabble too many have supposed them to be, and I find it owing to a military spirit, encouraged among them for a few years past, joined with an uncommon degree of zeal and enthusiasm, that they are otherwise. When they find cover, they make a good stand, and the country naturally strong, affords it to them, and they are taught to assist its natural strength by art, for they intrench and raise batteries. They have fortified all the heights and passes around this Town from Dorchester to Medford or Mistick, and it is not impossible for them to annoy the Town.

Your Lordship will perceive that the conquest of this Country is not easy, and can be effected only by time and perseverance, and strong armies attacking it in various quarters and dividing their forces. Confining your operations on this side only is attacking in the strongest part, and you have to cope with vast numbers. It might naturally be supposed, that troops of the nature of the rebel Army would return home after such a check as they had got, and I hear many wanted to go off, but care has been taken to prevent it; for any man that returns home without a pass, is immediately seized and sent back to his Regiment. In all their wars against the French they never showed so much conduct, attention, and perseverance as they do now. I think it my duty to let your Lordship know the true situation of affairs, that Administration may take measures accordingly.

The people’s minds are kept so much heated and inflamed, that they are always ripe for every thing that is extravagant. Truth is kept from them, and they are too full of prejudices to believe it, if laid before them; and so blind and bigoted, that they cannot see they have exchanged liberty for tyranny. No people were ever governed more absolutely than those of the American Provinces now are, and no reason can be given for their submission, but that it is a tyranny they have erected themselves, as they believe, to avoid greater evils.

GENERAL GAGE TO THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

Whitehall, July 25, 1775.

This morning arrived Captain Chadds, of His Majesty’s ship Cerberus, with the following letter from the Honourable Lieutenant-General Gage to the Earl of Dartmouth, one of His Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State:

Copy of a Letter from the Honourable Lieutenant-General GAGE to the Earl of DARTMOUTH, dated BOSTON, JUNE 25, 1775.

MY LORD: I am to acquaint your Lordship of an action that happened on the 17th instant, between His Majesty’s Troops and a body of the rebel forces.

An alarm was given at break of day on the 17th instant, by a firing from the Lively, ship of war; and advice was soon afterwards received, that the rebels had broke ground, and were raising a battery on the heights of the peninsula of Charlestown, against the Town of Boston. They were plainly seen at work, and in a few hours a battery of six guns played upon their works. Preparations were instantly made for landing a body of men to drive them off, and ten companies of Grenadiers, ten of Light-Infantry, with the Fifth, Thirty-Eighth, Forty-Third, and Fifty-Second battalions made a third line. The rebels upon the heights were perceived to be in great force, and strongly posted—a redoubt thrown up on the 16th at night, with other works, full of men, defended with cannon, and a large body posted in the houses in Charlestown, covered their right flank, and their centre and left were covered by a breastwork, part of it cannon proof, which reached from the left of the redoubt to the Mistick or Medford river.

This appearance of the rebels’ strength, and the large columns seen pouring in to their assistance, occasioned an application for the Troops to be re-enforced with some companies of Light-Infantry and Grenadiers, the Forty-Seventh Battalion, and the First battalion of Marines, the whole, when in conjunction, making a body of something above two thousand men. These Troops advanced, formed in two lines, and the attack began by a sharp cannonade from our field-pieces and howitzers; the lines advancing slowly, and frequently halting to give time for the artillery to fire. The Light-Infantry was directed to force the left point of the breastwork, to take the rebel line in flank, and the Grenadiers to attack in front, supported by the Fifth and Fifty-Second Battalions. These orders were executed with perseverance, under a heavy fire from the vast numbers of the rebels; and notwithstanding various impediments before the Troops could reach the works, (and though the left, under Brigadier-General Pigot, who engaged also with the rebels at Charlestown, which, at a critical moment was set on fire,) the Brigadier pursued his point, and carried the redoubt. The rebels were then forced from other strong holds, and pursued till they were drove clear off the peninsula, leaving five pieces of cannon behind them

The loss the rebels sustained must have been considerable, from the great numbers they carried off during the time of action, and buried in holes, since discovered, exclusive of what they suffered by the shipping and boats. Near one hundred were buried the next day after, and thirty found wounded in the field, three of whom are since dead.

I enclose your Lordship a return of the killed and wounded of His Majesty’s Troops.

This action has shown the superiority of the King’s Troops, who, under every disadvantage, attacked and defeated above three times their number, strongly posted and covered by breastworks.

The conduct of Major-General Howe was conspicuous on this occasion, and his example spirited the Troops, in which Major-General Clinton assisted, who followed the re-enforcement. And in justice to Brigadier-General Pigot, I am to add, that the success of the day must, in a great measure, be attributed to his firmness and gallantry.

Lieutenant-Colonels Nesbit, Abercrombie, Clarke; Majors Butler, Williams, Bruce, Spendlove, Smelt, Mitchell, Pitcairn, and Short, exerted themselves remarkably; and the valour of the British officers and soldiers in general was at no time more conspicuous than in this action.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

THOMAS GAGE.

Return of the Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Privates, killed and wounded of His Majesty’s Troops, at the attack of the Redoubts and Intrenchments, on the Heights of CHARLESTOWN, JUNE 17, 1775.

Royal Regiment Artillery—Captain Huddleston, Captain Lemoin, Lieutenant Shuttleworth, one Sergeant, eight rank and file, wounded.

Fourth Foot—Captain Balfour, Captain West, Lieutenant Barron, Lieutenant Brown, wounded; one Sergeant, thirteen rank and file, killed; one Sergeant, one drummer and fifer, twenty-nine rank and file, wounded.

Fifth—Captain Harris, Capt. Jackson, Capt. Downes, Capt. Marsden, Lieut. McClintock, Lieut. Croker, Ensign Charleton, Ensign Ballaquire, wounded; twenty-two rank and file, killed; ten Sergeants, two drummers and fifers, one hundred and ten rank and file, wounded.

Tenth—Captain Parsons, Captain Fitzgerald, Lieutenant Pettigrew, Lieutenant Verner, Lieutenant Hamilton, Lieutenant Kelly, wounded; two Sergeants, five rank and file, killed; one drummer and fifer, thirty-nine rank and file, wounded.

Eighteenth—Lieutenant Richardson, wounded; three rank and file, killed; seven rank and file, wounded.

Twenty-Second—Lieut. Colonel Abercrombie, wounded, and since dead.

Twenty-Third—Captain Blakeney, Lieutenant Beckwith, Lieutenant Cochrane, Lieutenant Lenthall, wounded;