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The three finallest States are Rhode-Island, Georgia, and Delaware.

The English have plainly had it in view to bring one of these States to a submission, and have accordingly directed very great forces against them.

Let us begin with Rhode-Island. In the latter end of the year 1776, General Howe sent a larger army of near seven thousand men, by sea, under a strong convoy of men of war, detached by Lord Howe, to take possession of Newport, the capital of Rhode-Island. Newport stands upon an island, and was neither fortified nor garrisoned sufficiently to defend itself against so powerful a fleet and army, and therefore the English made themselves masters of the place. But what advantage did they derive from it? Did the colony of Rhode-Island, small as it is, submit? So far from it, that they were rendered the more eager to resist; and an army was assembled at Providence, which confined the English to the prison of Rhode-Island, until the fall of the year 1779, when they were obliged to evacuate it, and our army entered it in triumph.