terms were in the singular or the plural, and if applied only to the Honorable Mr. McKean, whether to him as a member of Congress or only as a private individual.
Deane began the reading of his narrative on the 22d of December and finished it on the last day of the month, when he was informed " that Congress will notify to him their future orders". In the meanwhile, outside of Congress another important part of this drama was being enacted. The critics of Deane had obtained as the chief advocate of their cause. before the public the exceedingly nimble pen of Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet Common Sense had in the winter of 1776 had so extraordinary an influence in behalf of independence. At this time Paine was secretary to the committee for foreign affairs. Richard Henry Lee, himself involved in Deane's charges, came forth in several articles, although over an assumed name, hurling denunciation as well as argument at Deane's head. Deane, on his part, found other pens than his own ready and eager to join in his defense. "Senex ", " Plain Truth", and other knights of the quill, with visors drawn, plunged into the fray, and there was as furious a newspaper war as ever our Revolutionary forebears, who dearly loved such wars and knew so well how to wage them, had ever beheld. It was in the very midst of this din of recriminations that the year 1778 sadly passed out, leaving as an inheritance to its successor this pestiferous bag of troubles destined to vex and bedevil Congress for many a day to come.
The year 1778 had in fact been notoriously one of factional strife in Congress. It had not been a happy one for the country. A winter of bitter discontent had been followed by other seasons of trial and tribulation. The year had been witness to great abuses in the conduct of public business, and, not the least of evils, of exasperating deficiencies within the halls of Congress. Something had been accomplished toward the cure of these several ills, but much more remained to be done. Confidence in the ultimate success of the cause had never quite vanished, though unquestionably it had at times sunk very low. News from the fighting front had now and then lifted the gloom, but had not wholly banished the cloud. Declining hopes had been quickened into new life by the French alliance, but the joy over that event was not without its tang of regret, a wish that the country might have been able to win by its own unaided might. Messengers from the enemy had come bearing an olive branch of a sort, but the one thing needful they had not brought, the grant of independence. Until that was acknowledged the war must go on. But for those hopeful members of Congress and others who were wont to exclaim" one good campaign more and the thing is done ", a painful and prolonged disillusionment was in store.
