[Illustration: THE PRESIDENT’S CHAIR IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION] The first attempt of the British was made against Charleston in the south. A fleet under Sir Peter Parker came out of England with fresh troops commanded by the Earl of Cornwallis, was joined by transports and men-of-war from Halifax, bearing a force under Sir Henry Clinton, and, as June drew towards its close, delivered a combined attack, by land and sea, upon the fort on Sullivan’s Island, seeking to win its way past to the capture of Charleston itself. But they could not force a passage. Two of the ships,—one of them Sir Peter’s own flag-ship,—never came away again. Colonel Moultrie and Colonel Thompson beat off both the fleet and the troops landed from it; and the British went northward again to concentrate upon New York. [Illustration: MAP OF SULLIVAN’S ISLAND] On the 28th of June,—the very day of the attack at Charleston,—Howe’s transports began to gather in the lower bay. A few days more, and there were thirty thousand troops waiting to be landed. It was impossible, with the force Washington had, to prevent their being put ashore at their commander’s convenience. It was impossible to close the Narrows, to keep their ships from the inner bay, or even to prevent their passing up the river as they pleased. Washington could only wait within the exposed town or within his trenches on Brooklyn heights, which commanded the town almost as Dorchester and Charlestown heights commanded Boston. [Illustration: WILLIAM MOULTRIE]