Arnold, retreating from Canada, reached Crown Point, the British landed on Staten Island, which is on the west side of the lower Bay.  On the 12th came in the Eagle, 64, carrying the flag of Lord Howe.  This officer was much esteemed by the Americans for his own personal qualities, and for his attitude towards them in the present dispute, as well as for the memory of his brother, who had endeared himself greatly to them in the campaign of 1758, when he had fallen near Lake Champlain; but the decisive step of declaring their independence had been taken already, on July 4th, eight days before the Admiral’s arrival.  A month was spent in fruitless attempts to negotiate with the new government, without recognising any official character in its representatives.  During that time, however, while abstaining from decisive operations, cruisers were kept at sea to intercept American traders, and the Admiral, immediately upon arriving, sent four vessels of war twenty-five miles up the Hudson River, as far as Tarrytown.  This squadron was commanded by Hyde Parker, afterwards, in 1801, Nelson’s commander-in-chief at Copenhagen.  The service was performed under a tremendous cannonade from all the batteries on both shores, but the ships could not be stopped.  Towards the middle of August it was evident that the Americans would not accept any terms in the power of the Howes to offer, and it became necessary to attempt coercion by arms.

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In the reduction of New York in 1776, the part played by the British Navy, owing to the nature of the campaign in general and of the enemy’s force in particular, was of that inconspicuous character which obscures the fact that without the Navy the operations could not have been undertaken at all, and that the Navy played to them the part of the base of operations and line of communications.  Like the foundations of a building, these lie outside the range of superficial attention, and therefore are less generally appreciated than the brilliant fighting going on at the front, to the maintenance of which they are all the time indispensable.  Consequently, whatever of interest may attach to any, or to all, of the minor affairs, which in the aggregate constitute the action of the naval force in such circumstances, the historian of the major operations is confined perforce to indicating the broad general effect of naval power upon the issue.  This will be best done by tracing in outline the scene of action, the combined movements, and the Navy’s influence in both.

The harbour of New York divides into two parts—­the upper and lower Bays—­connected by a passage called the Narrows, between Long and Staten Islands, upon the latter of which the British troops were encamped.  Long Island, which forms the eastern shore of the Narrows, extends to the east-north-east a hundred and ten miles, enclosing between itself and the continent a broad sheet of water called Long Island Sound, that reaches