the militia were permitted to return home as prisoners on parole,
which, as long as they observed it, should secure them from being molested
in their property.

On the morning, when the Americans had paraded to surrender,
tears were seen coursing down the cheeks of Gen. Moultrie.

The loss of the Americans, in the siege, was not great;
only five officers of distinction: Col. Parker, and Capts. Bowman,
Moultrie, Templeton and Neyle, were killed. During the siege,
Gen. Lincoln called two councils of war, to devise the means of retreating
from the town, but all attempts of that kind were opposed,
first by the civil authority, next by the South Carolina officers,
and finally by the inhabitants. He ought not to have entered the town;
he had the example of the illustrious Washington before him,
who had declined to act in that manner, and had thus preserved
the independence of his country. The American army acting in the country,
would have kept up the spirits of the militia, and kept the British
from mounting their cavalry, and gaining supplies of provisions,
with such ease as they did. Although Lincoln's force was small,
it was at least equal to that of Gen. Washington, when he retreated
over the Delaware, in 1776. The country was not so open,
and more fit for a partisan warfare, than New Jersey, and in a few months
the climate would have fought his battles. It was not intended by the author
to narrate the particulars of the siege of Charleston;
these have been detailed by the enlightened historian of South Carolina,
Dr. Ramsay. But the effects of it upon the minds of the people
in the country, come more particularly within his province;
since they would hereafter be disposed to act according as they were affected,
by passing incidents. There being now no force in the field,