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"No, no," said Allen, "they only obeyed orders. I shall let them gothis time, if they will tell me the name of the informer."
The English soldiers were loyal and refused to purchase their releaseon such terms.
After an early breakfast Allen was ready to resume his journey, and heordered the prisoners to march before him.
When the farm had been left behind a distance of a mile, he told theprisoners they were free to go where they liked, but as a precautionagainst being followed, he did not unfasten them, knowing that it mightbe hours before they succeeded in getting loose.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
The old hall in Philadelphia, where the city fathers met, was filled witha notable gathering, representing eleven colonies.
Those men constituted the Second Continental Congress.
The first had been held in October, 1765, and a resolution was adopteddeclaring that the American colonists, as Englishmen, would not and couldnot consent to be taxed but by their own representatives. Thisresolution was called forth through the passage of the "Stamp Act."
The Second Congress assembled in Philadelphia in September, 1774, andpledged the colonies to support Massachusetts in her conflict with theEnglish ministry, and after petitioning the king and the English people,adjourned to meet, as it happened, on the very day that Ethan Allencaptured Ticonderoga.
The members of that Congress were all loyal to England. The time forindependence 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 placeself above country.
John Adams told the Congress that the time had come when the Englishpeople must learn that it would be better to die fighting for libertythan to live in perpetual slavery.
Not a man wanted war.
Washington had been a soldier with Braddock, and had won distinction, buthe was for peace. Jefferson demanded liberty, but he deprecated war.Sam Adams startled the members by saying that if England persisted in apolicy of coercion it would be necessary to fight, yet even Adamsbelieved in peace.
John Adams made a strong speech, in which he asked why a tyrant everexercised tyranny, and he answered the question by saying it was becausethe people were unable to resist.
"Let us be strong enough to enforce our demands," said he, "and the kingor 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 weakpetition and are spurned, the strong ask and they are listened to withattention, and their demands granted.
"These colonies should be Great Britain's strength, they are herweakness. Give us the right to make our own laws, to raise the taxationas we please, to defend our coasts from external assaults and our landfrom internal troubles, and we shall honor the king and prove that theAmerican Confederation of Colonies is the strength of that country. Letus tell the king plainly what we want. Let our petition be backed by agood army, and we shall win."
"What do you propose?" asked Jefferson.
"I propose that we organize an army, not of one colony, but of aconfederation 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 ifit 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 isjust the one to build a nation. I nominate George Washington as thecommander-in-chief of the army of liberation!"
There was an outburst of cheering such as the Quaker City had but seldomheard.
The delegates knew Washington.
He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and had previouslymade a name for himself with Braddock.
