The American Revolution

The American Revolution includes an account of how the news of the passage of the Stamp Act was greeted in America with a burst of indignation. The text says that tobacco had not yet ceased to be a legal currency in Virginia, and that by virtue of an old statute each clergyman of the Established Church was entitled to sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco as his yearly salary. A passage says that Arnold, who had been watching from the heights, saw that a well-directed blow might not only ruin a retreating column, but also shatter the whole British army.

The text names Count de Grasse as one of the ablest of the French admirals, and says that Grasse was ordered to communicate with Washington and Rochambeau, and to seize the earliest opportunity of acting in concert with them. The text says that the arrival of the fleet would introduce a feature into the war such as had not existed at any time since hostilities had begun, and would interrupt the British control over the water.