Another two months of frays and
skirmishes followed. Then the British settled down to comfortable
winter quarters in Philadelphia, and Washington marched his war-worn
patriots to Valley Forge, about twenty miles away.
Wile the Americans had been busy losing and winning battles, Pitt
in England was still struggling for peace and kindly understanding
between Britain and her colonies. "You can never conquer the
Americans," he cried. "If I were an American, as I am an Englishman,
while a foreign troop was landed in my country I would never lay
down my arms, --never, never, never!"
But Pitt talked in vain. For the King was deaf to all the great
minister's pleadings. In his eyes the Americans were rebels who
must be crushed, and Pitt was but the "trumpet of sedition."
But meanwhile all Europe had been watching the struggle of these
same rebels, watching it, too, with keep interest and admiration.
And now soldiers from many countries came to offer help to the
Americans. Among them the best known perhaps are Kosciuszko, who
later fought so bravely for his own land, Poland; and Lafayette,
who took a large share in the French Revolution.
Lafayette was at this time only nineteen. He had an immense admiration
for Washington, and after they met, in spite of the difference in
the their ages, they became lifelong friends, and Lafayette named
his eldest son after Washington.
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