=160. The Tories.=—All those who were opposed to the action of Congress naturally came to be regarded as enemies, and were known as Tories. From the first they made a vast amount of trouble. During the siege of Boston they were numerous, outspoken, and influential. They desired that the Revolutionary cause should fail. They acted as spies and carried information to the British; and whenever the patriot cause suffered any check or disaster, they did whatever they could to show that successful resistance was impossible. In the State of New York the Tories from the first were not only numerous, but very active. Soon after Washington took possession of the city he discovered that Tryon, the Tory governor, was at the bottom of a plot to capture or kill the commander in chief, and turn over the city to the enemy. Tryon escaped, but some of the other leaders were arrested and tried, and one of Washington’s own guards, who had been bribed, was publicly hanged. Though this summary procedure discouraged the Tories, they continued to be of great service to the British and of great annoyance to the Americans. In New York and in the South the struggle was attended with many of the horrors of civil war. FAILURE OF BRITISH EXPEDITIONS. [Illustration: GENERAL WILLIAM MOULTRIE.] =161. Carleton’s Expedition.=—While Washington had been unsuccessfully attempting to resist the advances of the British in New York, the Americans had been more fortunate in other parts of the country. An expedition under Sir Guy Carleton, the governor of Canada, was planned to advance up the river St. John, into Lake Champlain, and down the Hudson, but it met so vigorous a resistance from Arnold near Valcour’s Island, that, although Arnold’s fleet was almost destroyed, the British were obliged to return to Montreal for winter quarters.