France and Germany had replied to the outrage upon their plenipotentiaries at Washington by almost simultaneous declarations of war. But their action came later than that of England, and it was felt by each Government to be impossible for it to do anything of importance before the coming spring. Moreover, it was a grave question how they should act so as to avoid the possibility of complications with each other and with England, whose fleet and army were already actively engaged. Each Government detached a small fleet with instructions to harass the coast, seize as much American shipping as possible, capture privateers, and destroy supplies. But they were not to attempt any serious warfare until further details should be arranged. The diplomatic correspondence which followed showed that all three Governments were impressed with the danger, not only to themselves, but also to civilization, of allowing the American excesses to go unpunished.

The maniacs who had secured control of affairs in the western hemisphere had practically declared war against the whole world and against civilization itself. It was found that the other European Powers sympathized with England, Germany, and France in their feeling that the revolution must be crushed out at any cost, and so completely that there should be no danger of its reviving. Hardly a Government in Europe but had had experience with the men now in power in America. Not a Government in Europe but knew that in its own dominions thousands of other socialists and anarchists were waiting the triumph of their brethren across the water to rise themselves in fierce revolt.

Early in January a conference representing all the European Governments was held at Berlin. Representatives from Russia, Austria, Spain, and Italy were there, as well as from England, France, and Germany. For once the instinct of self-preservation overcame the hereditary distrust of these generally antagonistic Powers. The debates of the conference were characterized by a plainness of speech, a directness and unanimity of agreement, and a promptness of action which were new to the history of diplomacy. It sat but five days. During that time it perfected a European alliance in which all the nations represented united for the object of crushing the anarchistic revolution in America. It was decided that the actual conduct of the war should be left to the three Powers already involved; but the other Governments agreed to close their ports to American vessels, to refuse supplies for use in America, and to sustain in every way short of actual war the Powers which should act in behalf of Europe in the field and on the ocean.

Of the three nations already at war with the revolutionists, England was unquestionably the greatest Naval Power. It was determined that the united fleet of the allies should be put under the command of Admiral Seymour, already in American waters. Germany and France forgot their traditional hatred for the time, and vied with each other as to which should succeed in relinquishing to the other the supreme authority over the army. It was finally agreed that General Count von BlÜcken, the strategist who had succeeded to the command of the German army, should have control in the field, with a staff comprising an equal number of French, German, and English officers.

Before the middle of January, 1888, the arrangements perfected by the conference had been ratified by the various Governments interested, and preparations were being pushed rapidly forward for the spring campaign. General Sir Evelyn Wood had been put in command of the British forces in and around Boston. Admiral Seymour returned to London early in January, and held a long consultation there with General Wood, General von BlÜcken, and General de l’Isle, who was to command the French contingent. Long Island Sound, itself an immense land-locked harbor, was selected as the rendezvous of the fleets. On the northern shore of the Sound was marked out the point for the collection of the army. Before the end of February Seymour returned to America. He was accompanied by considerable reinforcements for the British garrison in Boston. Within a week after his departure the first convoy of the allies sailed from Havre. It consisted of seven powerful ships of war and a fleet of transports under their protection, bearing nearly fifty thousand men. Only a day later the first German contingent sailed from Bremen.

Day by day and week by week others followed. The allies knew that they had undertaken a Herculean task in the subjugation of the United States, torn and divided though its once impregnable power had become. They determined to make no mistake in underestimating the resistance which they were likely to meet. Before the end of April they had in the Sound, occupying various harbors along its shores, a fleet of one hundred and twenty men-of-war. On shore, including the British troops garrisoning Boston, they had an army of half a million men, all trained soldiers, all armed with the most perfect weapons which modern science had discovered and modern skill invented, and in receipt, even after that enormous number had been reached, of constant reinforcements.

Practically no opposition had been offered to their landing along the Connecticut shore. The revolutionists had no information of the point which the fleet intended to strike, and naturally assumed that Boston, which was already in foreign hands, would be selected as the base of the contemplated invasion. When they discovered their error it was too late to make a hopeful defence. They contented themselves, therefore, with strengthening their fortifications around New York, and calling to that city as many of their men as could be spared from watching the British at Boston and the patriots in the interior parts of the country.

The loyalists, it need not be said, viewed this invasion of foreign troops with almost as much alarm as they had felt at the uprising of the native revolutionists. There had been division in their councils before this. The news of the European alliance still more completely split them into factions. One party frankly owned that they regarded a foreign conquest as vastly preferable to a continuance of revolutionary rule. The other party, though hating the revolutionists with equal hatred, asked what was likely to be the result upon the fortunes of the Republic of a victory by the foreign allies. Long and anxious discussions were held during the latter portion of the winter and the early weeks of spring. Attempts were made to ascertain the intentions of the allies in case they should defeat the revolutionists; but no one among the invaders was found who could undertake to answer that question. Many left the little band of patriots and returned to their homes, refusing to share longer in a movement which could not be regarded as anything else than an alliance with a foreign invasion. The others determined to remain inactive for the time, and wait the events of the summer.

As the spring opened and it became certain to the revolutionists that New York was the object at which the allied attack was to be first aimed, they summoned more of their forces from the interior, and left the patriots greater opportunity to move with freedom. The two little armies of northern New England and of western New York united near Lake George and slowly moved down the western bank of the Hudson to Newburg, where they could watch events and take such part as might seem best at the time. They numbered altogether about fifty thousand men.

As soon as the spring weather allowed, the revolutionists renewed their efforts to put the metropolis in a condition of defence. The approaches to the harbor were entirely closed by the sinking of additional barges and scows laden with stones. Torpedoes were thickly planted outside these obstructions, so as to make any attempt to remove them as dangerous as possible. Relying upon the inability of the attacking squadron to pass these obstacles and enter the harbor, the revolutionists imitated the tactics of Admiral Seymour at Boston, and removed most of the guns from the forts below the city to the earthworks and intrenchments they had thrown up to the northward and eastward of it.

The allies lay encamped along the Connecticut shore of the Sound, mostly between Bridgeport and Greenwich. From New Rochelle to Yonkers the revolutionists erected a chain of strong works, stretching entirely across the peninsula whose point is occupied by New York city. Three separate lines of intrenchments were constructed, each one of which was capable of being defended after everything in front of it was in the possession of the enemy. Detached forts and redoubts were thrown up on every elevation or commanding point.

On the Brooklyn side the defences were less elaborate, but still strong. It was evident that the possession of Brooklyn by the allies would render New York untenable; but the revolutionists felt confident that they could transport troops faster from the forts above New York to the Brooklyn side than the allies could be moved across the Sound to attack from Long Island. They had the inner and shorter circle on which to move. Besides, a defeat of the allies, if they should be defeated, on the island would be vastly more disastrous to them than a repulse from the works on the mainland. It was not likely that General von BlÜcken would take such an unnecessary risk. In fact, the revolutionists were right. He intended from the outset to make his attack on New York from the northward.

During the winter the British troops in Boston pushed their way out into the interior, especially developing their strength towards the southwest, in the direction of the camp of the allies. Early in March they took possession of Providence,—still a fair and beautiful city, despite the havoc and ruin which the rule of the lawless hordes of the revolution had wrought in it. The revolutionists who were driven out of the city joined those at Worcester and Springfield, and by the middle of March regained the main force in New York by way of Albany and the eastern shore of the Hudson. This left the whole of lower New England practically in the undisputed possession of the allies. They speedily repaired the railway lines leading from Boston towards New York, and thus secured ready communication between the main army and several other important ports and depots of supplies besides New London, at which most of the army’s material had hitherto been landed.