About four in the afternoon the besiegers opened several batteries in their second parallel; and it was apparent that, in the course of the ensuing day, the whole line of batteries in that parallel would be ready to play on the town.  The works of the besieged were not in a condition to sustain so tremendous a fire.  In this extremity, Lord Cornwallis formed the bold design of forcing his way to New York.

He determined to leave his sick and baggage behind, and, crossing over in the night with his effectives to the Gloucester shore, to attack De Choise.  After cutting to pieces or dispersing the troops under that officer, he intended to mount his infantry on the horses taken from that detachment, and on others to be seized on the road, and, by a rapid march to gain the fords of the great rivers, and, forcing his way through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Jersey, to form a junction with the army in New York.[87]

[Footnote 87:  Stedman, Annual Register, letter of Lord Cornwallis.]

This desperate attempt would be extremely hazardous; but the situation of the British general had become so hopeless, that it could scarcely be changed for the worse.

Boats prepared under other pretexts were held in readiness to receive the troops at ten in the evening, and convey them over the river.  The arrangements were made with such secrecy that the first embarkation arrived at the point unperceived, and part of the troops were landed, when a sudden and violent storm interrupted the execution of this hazardous plan, and drove the boats down the river.  The storm continued till near daylight, when the boats returned.  But the plan was necessarily abandoned, and the boats were sent to bring back the soldiers, who were relanded on the southern shore in the course of the forenoon without much loss.

[Sidenote:  October 17.]

[Sidenote:  October 18.]

[Sidenote:  Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.]

In the morning of the seventeenth, several new batteries were opened in the second parallel, which poured in a weight of fire not to be resisted.  The place being no longer tenable, Lord Cornwallis, about ten in the forenoon, beat a parley, and proposed a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours, that commissioners might meet at Moore’s house, which was just in the rear of the first parallel, to settle terms for the surrender of the posts of York and Gloucester.  To this letter General Washington returned an immediate answer declaring his “ardent desire to spare the further effusion of blood, and his readiness to listen to such terms as were admissible;” but as in the present crisis he could not consent to lose a moment in fruitless negotiations, he desired that “previous to the meeting of the commissioners, the proposals of his lordship might be transmitted in writing, for which purpose a suspension of hostilities for two hours should be granted.”  The general propositions[88] stated by Lord Cornwallis as forming