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Up to this time, the British officers and neutral citizens had not been interfered with in the prosecution of their business or social engagements; and the operations of the siege had been mainly those of silencing British action and wearing out the garrison by constant surveillance and provocations to a fight.

Supplies became more and more scarce within the British lines. Acting under the peremptory orders of General Howe, Admiral Graves resolved to make his small fleet more effective, and under rigid instructions to “burn all towns and cities that fitted out or sheltered privateers,” Lieutenant Mowatt began his work of desolation by the destruction of Falmouth, now Portland, Me.

In contrast with this proceeding was the action of Washington. When an American privateer, which had been sent by him to the St. Lawrence river, to cut off two brigantines which had left England with supplies for Quebec, exceeded instructions, and plundered St. John’s Island, he promptly sent back the citizen-prisoners, restored their private effects, and denounced the action of the officer in command and his crew, as “a violation of the principles of civilized warfare.”