of his army, seem at all times to have been favourable to the cause of the enemy; for though he was generally partially successful when he did act, yet he always gave Washington sufficient time to rectify his many blunders and to repair his losses. But though Howe thought of repose, Washington had no intention of letting him enjoy himself. Having received a reinforcement of 4000 men from the army of the North—which, as will be seen, had rendered important service to the American cause—he quitted Skippack Creek, and took post at White Marsh, only fourteen miles from Philadelphia. Howe felt called upon to make fresh exertions, for the proximity of the American forces shut him out from a fertile source of supplies. Accordingly he quitted Philadelphia, and took post on Chesnut Hill, in front of Washington's right wing. Here he remained for two days, with his troops drawn out in line of battle, hoping to tempt Washington to come to a general engagement. Nothing occurred, however, but a slight skirmish, in which the American militia ran like a rabble before some light-infantry; and Howe then removed to Edge Hill, about a mile from Washington's left wing. Here a decided advantage was gained by Lord Cornwallis, who drove a strong body of the American troops from the crest of that hill, and a favourable opportunity was afforded, from the dismay which their retreat occasioned, for attacking the main body with success. But Howe was still cautious, and seeing that Washington was not disposed to quit his camp, he returned to Philadelphia, there to spend the winter. But Washington was determined to keep the field, despite the winter's cold, which had now set in, and he selected a strong piece of ground, thickly covered with wood, at Valley Forge, on the west side of the Schuykill, and about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia. This position was chosen in order to keep Howe in check, and Philadelphia in great discomfort, and he was allowed to take possession of it without any molestation. The way in which Washington executed his plan does honour to his perseverance. He had but few tents, and, even if there had been an abundance, mere canvass would not have protected his men from the rigour of an American winter. Under these circumstances he imitated the backwoodsman's practice of hutting. Trees were felled, and log-huts wore erected, the interstices of which were filled up with earth, moss, and a rude kind of mortar, in order to render them warm and comfortable. Around them, for defence, two redoubts were erected and an intrenchment, drawn with a ditch six feet wide and three or four feet deep. His left was covered by the Schuylkill, and his rear, for the most part, by an abrupt precipice; but his right was somewhat accessible, and the centre of his front was weak, notwithstanding his intrenchments. There was, however, no cause for fear: Howe was in snug winter-quarters, and had no disposition to move till the flowers of the earth reappeared, and his men might be animated by the cheerfulness of the spring. He seemed to forget that there was such a place as Valley Forge, and such a resolute commander on that spot. For resolute indeed must have been the man who could thus defy the winter's cold, and resolute also must have been his troops to submit to the hardships which they had to encounter on Valley Forge. Hundreds of them, it is said, had not a blanket to cover them in the night season, while the winds blew, and the storm beat, and the snows drifted over and around their huts. There they lay, naked and shivering on the bare ground, none murmuring at their lot. Those that lived endured their miseries patiently; those that died expired with silent resignation. And hunger was added to their lingering tortures; for congress failed to procure them needful supplies. Of this Washington bitterly complained; but as the evil could not be obviated without creating distress in other quarters, no effectual assistance could be rendered. The chief thing which congress did to afford the troops relief was to authorise Washington to seize all provisions which he could within seventy miles of Valley Forge; and such was his extremity, that he was compelled, at least on one occasion, to avail himself of this authority, though repugnant to his feelings. But this only afforded a temporary relief, and the army was, towards the close of the winter, on the very verge of total starvation. Washington stated to congress at this period, that there was not a single head of cattle in the camp; that he had only twenty-five barrels of flour; and that there were 3000 men unfit for duty, being bare-footed and naked, besides numbers who were confined by sickness in the hospitals and farmhouses. But even then congress was slow in affording relief, and enabling the army to make preparations for the ensuing campaign. Yet, sustained by hope, Washington and his army preserved their fortitude, and resolved to try once more their fortune on the field of battle.



EXPEDITION AND CAPTURE OF BURGOYNE.

Perhaps one cause which sustained the spirits of Washington and his troops in Valley Forge may be found in the success which had attended the American arms in the North. A plan had been formed by the British government to send an army by the Canadian Lakes to Hudson's River, for the purpose of cutting off all communication between the northern and the southern colonies. For parliamentary reasons ministers thought proper to take the command from General Carleton, who had re-established our supremacy on these lakes, and to confer it on General Burgoyne. The plans which Burgoyne had to follow in his expedition were minutely and absolutely laid down by the ministry, they having concocted them from inaccurate maps and uncertain and contradictory reports. Nothing, however, was wanting to promote the success of the undertaking. Burgoyne's force amounted to 7,200 men, rank and file, exclusive of the corps of artillery, and vast quantities of warlike stores were furnished for the use of those Canadians who might enter the British service. French Canadians, to the number of two or three thousand, joined Burgoyne; and as that general had been authorised to accept the services of the fierce Indians, several of those tribes willingly took up the hatchet against the Americans. The first thing Burgoyne was to do, was to take Ticonderago; and his preparations being made, he set out from Fort St, John, on the Sorel, on the 16th of June, for that purpose. Having detached Colonel St. Leger, with about eight hundred men, to make a diversion on the side of the Mohawk River. Burgoyne, preceded by the shipping, began his course, having columns of Indians on his right and left flank. At Crown Point there were a considerable number of Americans, but they retired at the approach of the flotilla, and the troops were safely landed. Here Burgoyne treated the Indians with a war-feast, in order to whet their appetites for slaughter; though, at the same time, he exhorted them to relinquish their old habits, and to fight like civilized men. But he might as well have attempted to change their natural colour by washing them with soap and water; and, moreover, the effects of his precepts must have been set aside by the tenor of a proclamation, which he issued immediately after, and which threatened such of the insurgents as should continue in their obstinacy with destruction. This proclamation was unheeded, and in a few days, after erecting some magazines and slight defences at Crown Point, Burgoyne proceeded to Ticonderago. The Americans had greatly strengthened their works at this fort; but as they had not troops sufficient to man them, General St. Clair, who held the command there, evacuated it, and putting their baggage and provisions on board of batteaux, the Americans fled to Skenesborough. The batteaux sailed along the South River, and being pursued by a brigade of gun-boats, it was overtaken and captured, or destroyed near the falls of Skenesborough. General Burgoyne followed with one part of his army, in other gun-boats and two small frigates, while Generals Frazer and Reidesel marched after St. Clair by land. Skenesborough was captured with as much ease as Ticonderago; the Americans who had occupied the place retiring hastily to Fort Anne, and St. Clair marching with headlong haste to Castletown. The rear of the retreating army was overtaken by General Frazer, and Colonel Francis, with many officers, and two hundred men were slain, while a similar number were taken prisoners, and about five hundred wounded crawled away to perish in the woods, vainly hoping to escape to the inhabited country. St. Clair continued his route from Castletown, and after a fatiguing march arrived at Fort Edward, on the Hudson, where General Schuyler, the American commander-in-chief, was stationed with about 4,400 men under his command. And here the reverses of the British arms commenced. Being joined by St. Clair, and by Colonel Long, who was compelled to evacuate Fort Anne, General Schuyler commenced a series of active operations to baffle the advancing enemy. He broke up the roads and the bridges; blocked up creeks and rivers; swept the country bare of live-stock and all kinds of provisions; called up the militia and backwoodsmen of New England and New York; and having succeeded in collecting a numerous though motley force, he issued a proclamation in the name of the congress of the United States, threatening death and destruction to all who should send any deputation or afford any aid to the enemy. It would have been prudent in Burgoyne had he taken a different course to that which was laid down in his instructions, but he resolved to persevere in that course. Having sent General Philips with a strong detachment to proceed by Lake George with the artillery, provisions, and baggage, he struck across the country, with the mass of his force, towards Fort Edward. His progress was but slow, for his troops had to remove the impediments which Schuyler had caused to be thrown in his way; and, added to this, their inarch was rendered fatiguing by the sultry heat of the weather. Nevertheless, by the 30th of July, they reached the river Hudson, near Fort Edward, and Schuyler retired across the river at their approach. Burgoyne waited in the neighbourhood of Fort Edward for the arrival of General Philips with the artillery, provisions, and stores, and for the junction of Colonel St. Leger, who had from the first proceeded on a different line of march, and who was now descending from Oswego, the Onedia Lake, and Wood Creek, by the Mohawk River, which falls into the Hudson. St. Leger stopped at the upper end of Mohawk to lay siege to Stanwix Fort, and upon receiving this information General Burgoyne thought it his duty to support him. As a preparatory measure he detached Colonel Baum to surprise Bennington, a place between the forks of the Ilosick River, about twenty-four miles eastward of the Hudson, and where the American stores were deposited. The troops employed by Burgoyne for this enterprise were Germans, always slow in their motions, and before they reached Bennington their design had become known, and the Americans were ready to receive them. Baum had only six hundred men with him, and he applied to Burgoyne for reinforcements; and another detachment of German soldiers, consisting of five hundred men, under Lieutenant-colonel Breyman, were sent to his assistance. Breyman, however, was as slow in his movements as Baum had been, and, before he could arrive, the first detachment of Germans were completely surrounded by a body of more than 1,500 Americans. Colonel Baum sustained the attack with great bravery; but he was at length slain by a rifle-shot, and then the Germans retreated into some woods in the direction of Fort Edward. It was at this critical moment that Breyman came up, and having succeeded in putting the fugitives of Baum's detachment into some order, he fought his way back to Burgoyne's encampment. Instead of taking Bennington and the military stores, Burgoyne lost five hundred men in killed and wounded in this expedition. in the meantime St. Leger was prosecuting the siege of Stanwix Fort. As he lay before this fort, he discovered that General Harkimer was advancing to its relief with 1000 men under his command. He had with him several tribes of savages, and St. Leger detached these, with a party of regulars under Sir John Johnson, into the woods to lie in ambush. Harkimer fell into the snare, and nearly four hundred of his men were either killed or wounded, while the rest fled back to the Hudson. Still Fort Stanwix held out, and the savages, growing weary of the siege, and being falsely informed by some Americans that Burgoyne's army had been cut to pieces, insisted upon retiring. Many deserted, and St. Leger, hearing that Arnold was approaching with 2000 men, and ten pieces of artillery, he was compelled to raise the siege and to retreat. These defeats, and the failure of St. Leger, contributed greatly to the ruin of Burgoyne's expedition. It has been seen, that on the arrival of that general near Fort Edward, the Americans under Schuyler had retreated across the Hudson. They had taken up their position at Saratoga, lower down the river, and soon after, General Gates, an Englishman by birth and education, took the chief command, and he was subsequently joined by General Arnold. On his arrival, Gates removed the troops to an island near the confluence of the Mohawk with the Hudson, about eight miles below Albany, and called "Still Water." Here he had a strong star-redoubt and other defences; and against him, as he lay in this position, Burgoyne having passed the Hudson by a bridge of boats, led his forces. About the middle of September Burgoyne encamped on the heights of Saratoga, in the face of the enemy. The mass of the British army formed, on the 19th, close in front of the American left; the right wing being commanded by Burgoyne, the left by Generals Philip and Reidesel, and the front and flanks being covered by Indians and Canadians. Without waiting to be attacked, General Gates threw out 5000 men to attempt turning the right of the British forces, and to attack General Burgoyne in his rear. In making this attempt, however, he lost between five hundred and six hundred men in killed and wounded, besides several officers; and at night he deemed it prudent to collect all his forces into and round the star-redoubt. The attack on the British right had been made by General Arnold, and Burgoyne's loss was scarcely inferior to that of his enemy. That night the British army lay on their arms in the field of battle; but as the day dawned, they began to erect works within cannon-shot of the enemy, with strong redoubts on their right. The two armies lay in sight of each other, from the 20th of September till the 7th of October, during which time Burgoyne's troops had nearly consumed all their provisions. Burgoyne's situation was a critical one, and no time was lost in giving General Howe information of it, in the hope that he would either co-operate or cause a diversion to be made in his favour. Howe had just taken Philadelphia, and being wholly occupied with Washington, and in destroying the forts and strong works on the Delaware, could not spare a thought on the matter. Sir Henry Clinton, however, who had the command of the troops left at New York, informed Burgoyne that he would, on his own responsibility, attempt a diversion, by attacking Forts Montgomery and Clinton, on the lower part of the Hudson. Burgoyne agreed to remain in his position, therefore, till the 12th of October: but his Indian followers, in the meantime, disappointed in their hopes of plunder, annoyed at his endeavours to check their ferocity, and wishing to return, as their hunting-season had commenced, began to desert from him in great numbers. Still Burgoyne, hoping that Clinton's diversion would effect his deliverance from clanger, would not think of retreating. On the other hand, the Americans were greatly favoured by this delay. Every day reinforcements arrived from the southern and northern provinces, while stores and provisions poured into their camp in great abundance. General Gates, indeed, having been joined by General Lincoln with 2000 men, at the suggestion of Arnold, now adopted a scheme likely to reduce Burgoyne to the stern necessity of an unconditional surrender. A considerable body of New England militia, who had assembled in the rear of Burgoyne's forces, were sent to surprise Ticonderago, Mount Independence, and Fort George, and to cut Burgoyne off from all supplies, and even from a retreat to Canada. Colonel Brown, to whom this enterprise was entrusted, failed in his main designs; but he destroyed some vessels which were bringing provisions to Burgoyne, and then returned to his former station in the rear of the enemy. Other American forces also collected between the British army and the Lakes. Burgoyne's difficulties increased daily. The red-men, who had hitherto remained with him, now deserted, while the Canadians and loyal Americans in his army lost all courage. But what was worse than all, his provisions began to fail, while his horses were perishing for want of forage. No tidings were yet heard of Clinton's diversion; and rendered desperate by his situation, Burgoyne resolved to attempt dislodging Gates from his position. Accordingly, he advanced forward with 1,500 men and a considerable body of artillery; but this detachment had scarcely formed within half a mile of the American intrenchments when they were attacked by a superior force, under Arnold, and driven back to their camp, with the loss of six pieces of cannon. From being assailed, the Americans now became the assailants. A furious assault was made on the British lines; and though it was repulsed on the English side of the camp, and Arnold was wounded, yet the intrenchments on the German side of the camp were carried, and two hundred prisoners, with a large supply of ammunition, were captured. Night closed on the scene of carnage, and Lieutenant-colonel Brooks, who had defeated the Germans, kept the ground he had won within the line of the British intrenchments. In the engagement, General Frazer and Colonel Breyman were mortally wounded; and on the following morning Burgoyne, disheartened by this loss, removed his whole army, with their artillery and baggage, to some heights above the bank of the Hudson, extending his right up that river. In doing so, he left his wounded to the humanity of General Gates and his army—a confidence which was not misplaced.

In his new position Burgoyne repeatedly offered battle to the enemy, but without effect. The design of Gates was to obtain an easier victory by turning the right of the British army and enclosing them on all sides; and seeing this, Burgoyne quitted his position and fell back to Saratoga, where he found the passes towards the Canadian frontiers all pre-occupied by the Americans, while the further banks of the river were lined with troops, which, together with numerous batteaux, commanded the navigation. No means of escape seemed left but by a rapid night-march to Fort Edward; but before preparations were made for this it was discovered that the fords at that place were occupied, and that the high grounds between that fort and Fort George were everywhere secured. Bur-goyne's situation was now desperate. The 13th of October had arrived, and no tidings were heard of Clinton's diversion. Thus unsupported, deserted by his Indian allies, worn down by a series of incessant exertions, greatly reduced through repeated battles, and invested by an army three times their number, and which was hourly increasing, the British officers at length thought of capitulation. There was no alternative, for their provisions were nearly spent; and though the enemy declined battle, yet rifle and grape-shot were continually pouring into the British camp. All hope of relief or of extrication from danger fled; and a council-of-war being called, which comprehended field-officers and captains, it was unanimously resolved to capitulate, if it could be done on honourable terms. This was a bitter step to take, but no other could be taken, and this message was therefore sent by Major Kingston to General Gates:—"After having fought you twice, Lieutenant-general Burgoyne has waited some days in his present position, determined to try a third conflict against any force you could bring against him. He is apprised of the superiority of your numbers, and the disposition of your troops to impede his supplies, and render his retreat a scene of carnage on both sides. In this situation, he is impelled by humanity, and thinks himself justified, by established principles and precedents of state and war, to spare the lives of brave men upon honourable terms. Should Major-general Gates be inclined to treat upon that idea, General Burgoyne would propose a cessation of arms during the time necessary to communicate the preliminary terms, by which, in any extremity, he and his army mean to abide." In reply, Gates demanded that the British troops should ground their arms, and surrender themselves prisoners-of-war. To this Burgoyne answered:—"This article is inadmissible in every extremity: sooner than the army will consent to ground their aims in their encampment, they will rush on the enemy, with a determination to take no quarter." In the end, after much negotiation, a convention was settled, which imported, that Burgoyne's troops were to march out of the camp, with all the honours of war, to the verge of the Hudson River, where their arms and artillery were to be left; that a free passage should be granted the troops to Great Britain, on condition of their not serving again in America; that if any cartel should take place by which Burgoyne's army, or any part of it, should be exchanged, the foregoing article should be void, so far as that exchange extended; that care should be taken for the subsistence of the British troops till they should be embarked; that all officers should deliver up their carriages, bat-horses, &c, but that their baggage should be free from molestation; that the officers should not be separated from the men, and should be quartered according to their rank; that all the troops, of whatever country they might be, should be included in the above articles; that all Canadians, and persons belonging to the Canadian establishment, should be permitted to return to Canada, should be conducted to the first British post on Lake George, should be treated in all respects like the rest of the army, and should be bound by the same condition of not serving during the present contest; that passports should be granted for three officers to carry despatches to Sir Guy Carleton, in Canada, and to the government of Great Britain by way of New York; that all officers, during their stay at Boston, should be admitted to parole, and to wear their side-arms; that the army might send to Canada for their clothing and other baggage; and that these articles should be signed and exchanged on the following morning, and the troops should march out of their intrenchments in the afternoon. These were more favourable terms than Burgoyne and his troops had a right to expect; and they appear to have been granted for a twofold reason—first, because Gates was fearful of provoking the despair of well-disciplined troops; and secondly, because he almost heard the roar of Clinton's artillery lower down the Hudson. The convention was signed at the appointed time, and on the afternoon of the 17th of October the troops marched out of their encampment down to the edge of the river, where they deposited their arms. The delicacy with which this business was conducted reflected great credit on Gates. It is said, that he not only kept away from the spot himself, but that he would not suffer his own people to be present, that they might not exhibit the feelings of exultation over a fallen enemy. Nor did his urbanity end here. Burgoyne was received by him with great kindness, and every circumstance which could appear like a triumph in the lines of the Americans was withheld. As for the half-famished British troops, they now partook liberally of the plenty that reigned within the American camp, while the principal officers were often entertained at General Gates's own quarters, Among the fruits of his victory were about forty pieces of artillery, 4,600 muskets, and a quantity of powder and ball. After the convention was signed, General Gates moved forward to stop the devastations committed by the British on the North River, but they had already retreated. About the same time, also, the troops which had been left at Ticonderago destroyed their cannon, and retreated to Canada. After being several months agitated by the tumults of war, the whole country was restored to complete tranquillity. The British army, shorn of their honours, went to Boston, while several thousands of the victorious Americans, as before recorded, joined the ranks of Washington.



CLINTON'S EXPEDITION UP THE HUDSON.

General Clinton was prevented from making his promised diversion in favour of Burgoyne by the non-arrival of some troops which he expected from Europe, and by the vicinity of General Putnam, who hovered in the neighbourhood of New York, until the 6th of October, ten days before the capitulation was signed. At that time, having received the expected reinforcements, he began a series of attacks, which, if they had been made only a few days earlier, would have rescued Burgoyne's army from its perilous situation. He embarked about 3000 men on board of craft of all kinds, convoyed by Commander Hotham, and proceeded up the Hudson to Verplank's Point, about forty miles above New York. Clinton effected a landing without opposition, and General Putnam, conceiving that it was his intention to push through the islands on that side of the river, in order to join Burgoyne, collected about 2000 men, and hastened with them towards Verplank's Point to obstruct his march. Leaving a third portion of his troops, however, on that spot, Clinton passed over with the rest to Stony Point, on the western shore, where, in two simultaneous attacks, he carried Forts Montgomery and Clinton. This success obliged the Americans to burn their navy, consisting of five ships, which were lying in that part of the river, and which were defended by a chevaux-de-frise, and by an immense boom, stretching from Fort Montgomery, to an opposite point, called St. Anthony's Nose. A few miles higher up the river was another strong place, called Fort Constitution, and this was destroyed by the garrison, who fled as soon as they learned the fate of Forts Montgomery and Clinton. About the same time, a detachment of American loyalists, under Governor Tryon, destroyed a new settlement, called Continental Village, and in which were barracks and military stores. Having removed the boom, Sir James Wallace also, with a squadron of small frigates, ascended up the river, and burned many American vessels. Clinton was everywhere victorious; and on the 13th of October, the very day on which Burgoyne made his first overture for capitulation, General Vaughan landed a detachment at Esopus Creek, which was not more than thirty miles from Burgoyne's encampment at Saratoga. Vaughan carried fire and destruction before him: he reduced two batteries, and a row-galley, stationed at the mouth of Esopus Creek; and then ascending the creek about five miles, he destroyed the town of Esopus, together with a vast quantity of stores and provisions, collected for the use of General Gates's forces. Clinton, however, was still upwards of one hundred miles from Esopus Creek, and he was beset by General Putnam's forces, which had increased from 2000 to 6000 men. He was in this situation when Burgoyne capitulated, and then Gates was enabled to detach more troops to the aid of Putnam. The English general therefore recalled Vaughan; destroyed all the forts he had taken; re-embarked his men, and returned to New York. The main design of his diversion had failed, and it chiefly served to prove, that had Howe co-operated with Burgoyne, and have sailed up the Hudson during the summer months, the campaign in this quarter, instead of being disastrous, would have enhanced the glory of the British arms.



MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

The British parliament assembled on the 18th of November. The all-engrossing topic of the king's speech was the war with America. In it he declared the necessity of continuing the war; and hinted, that there was a probability that the land-forces must not only be kept up to their full establishment, but even augmented by new contracts. Of the disposition of foreign powers, his majesty now spoke in a doubtful manner. They had given friendly assurances, he said, but as the armaments of France and Spain continued, he thought it necessary that his own naval force should be augmented. He had neither lost any of his firmness, nor abated any of his hope, as to the issue of this contest. He would always guard, he said, the honour of the British crown faithfully; and he hoped that the Americans would yet return to their allegiance; that the remembrance of their former happiness, and the sense of their present misery, under the tyranny of their leaders, would rekindle their loyalty and attachment to their mother country; and that they would enable him, with the concurrence of parliament, to accomplish peace, order, and confidence in the colonies.

{GEORGE III. 1777-1778}



DEBATES ON AMERICA.

The usual addresses were moved on the king's speech—addresses which were replete with panegyric on its wisdom, and likewise the wisdom of ministers. They were doomed, however, to meet with stern opposition. In the lower house, the Marquess of Granby, after lamenting the disastrous effects of the war, and expressing a desire of having the happiness to lay the ground-work of a reconciliation, moved an amendment, to the effect, that his majesty should be requested to adopt some measures for accommodating all differences with America; that he should be recommended to cease hostilities, as a preparatory step to that end; and that he should be assured that the commons were determined to co-operate with him in every measure tending to the re-establishment of peace. This motion was seconded by Lord John Cavendish, and it was supported by the opposition generally, on the grounds, that after three years' war, with a heavy expenditure and a great loss of men, there was no prospect of success; that, notwithstanding the hopes held out in the king's speeches, our progress exhibited a series of disappointments and losses; that trade was greatly affected by the contest; and that while the defenceless state of our coasts and commercial fleets demonstrated we were unable at this stage of the war to protect our national trade, we should be still less able when, involved in a war, as it was evident we should be, with the Bourbons. The opposition now attended the house in full force, but the amendment was nevertheless negatived by two hundred and forty-three to eighty-six.

In the lords the debate on the address was still more animated than in the commons. It was opposed by the Earl of Coventry, who, in the outset, gravely recommended that our armies and fleets should be recalled, and that the independence of America should be forthwith acknowledged. His lordship took extreme views of our position; even predicting, that should his advice be adopted, it, nevertheless, would not prevent the downfall of England; that it was a matter of certainty, as fixed and as immutable as any law of nature, that sooner or later the seat of empire would be removed beyond the Atlantic. One grand argument used by his lordship to establish his views, was the insignificant figure which Britain made in the map of the world compared with the more imposing figure of the American continent. The people, also, he argued, were more frugal, industrious, and wise on the other side of the Atlantic than they were in England; and that, while population increased and would increase in America, it would inevitably decline in the mother country! But such crotchets as these were only calculated to confirm ministers and the country at large in their determination of pursuing the contest. Lord Chatham, who next rose, still supported by his crutch, to move an amendment, spoke more wisely; though he also predicted ruin to England if the contest was not given up; or, in other words, if peace between the two countries was not concluded. The noble lord commenced his speech by joining in the congratulation of the address on the birth of another princess, and the happy recovery of her majesty. Here, however, he said, his courtly complaisance must end; for he could not join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace. He could not concur in a blind and servile address, which approved, and endeavoured to sanctify, the monstrous measures that had heaped disgrace upon us, and had brought ruin to our very doors. The present moment, he said, was a perilous and tremendous period, and therefore not a time for adulation. His lordship then pointed out the degrading situation to which this country was reduced, in being obliged to acknowledge as enemies those whom we had denominated rebels; and in seeing them encouraged and assisted by France, while ministers dared not interpose. He remarked:—"It is a shameful truth, that not only the power and strength of this country are wasting away and expiring, but her well-earned glories, her true honour and substantial dignity, are sacrificed. France, my lords, has insulted you; she has encouraged and sustained America; and whether America be wrong or right, the dignity of this country ought to spurn at the officious insult of French interference. The ministers and ambassadors of those who are called rebels and enemies are in Paris—in Paris they transact the reciprocal interests of America and France. Can there be a more mortifying insult? Can even our ministers sustain a more humiliating disgrace? Do they dare to resent it? Do they presume even to hint a vindication of their honour, and the dignity of the state, by requiring the dismissal of the plenipotentiaries of America? Such is the degradation to which they have reduced the glories of England! The people, whom they affect to call contemptible rebels, but whose growing power has at least obtained the name of enemies—the people with whom they have engaged this country in war, and against whom they now command our implicit support in every measure of desperate hostility—this people, despised as rebels or acknowledged as enemies, are abetted against you, supplied with military stores, their interests consulted, and their ambassadors entertained, by your inveterate enemy!—and our ministers dare not interpose with dignity or effect. Is this the honour of a great kingdom? Is this the indignant spirit of England, who, but yesterday gave law to the House of Bourbon?" Chatham next dwelt on the position of our armies in America, supposing that Burgoyne's—for it was not yet known—was totally lost; and asserting that General Howe had been compelled to retire from the American lines. Judging, from the past, he then predicted a final and total failure, notwithstanding the exertions made to sustain the contest and gain the victory might prove gigantic. In this part of his speech he denounced the employment of German troops, and the tribes of wild Indians, in strong and unmeasured language; although, nineteen years before, he had himself employed Indians in the same manner against the French and Canadians. Chatham next touched on the great question of disseverance and independence. But this, unlike the Earl of Coventry who had preceded him, he utterly repudiated; avowing, as he had ever done, that our supremacy must be maintained, in order to avert our ruin. But this part of Chatham's speech was replete with inconsistencies. While he maintained that our supremacy must be maintained at all hazards, he applauded both the spirit and intention of the Americans; and while he acknowledged that they had arms in their hands, he boldly asserted that they were still full of affection for their mother country—that they only declared independence in moments of anguish and despair; and that they were still in heart inclined to return to their old political constitution. Again, while Chatham attributed every blame to the British government, he nevertheless would not admit that our power of regulating their trade ought either to be abolished or abridged; which were the very sentiments of the government on whom he cast odium. Chatham, also, denounced the war as unjust in its principle; and yet it had for its indisputable object, from beginning to end, that very independence and separate sovereignty which he had sworn he would never recognise. The great orator then attacked the ministers more personally than before, and recommended them to make haste and quit office, lest the punishment due to their crimes should speedily overtake them! He concluded thus:—"Since they have neither sagacity to foresee, nor justice and humanity to shun, these calamities—since not even severe experience can make them feel, nor the imminent ruin of their country awaken them from their stupefaction—the guardian care of parliament must interpose. I shall, therefore, propose an amendment to the address, to recommend an immediate cessation of hostilities, and the commencement of a treaty to restore peace and liberty to America, strength and happiness to England, security and permanent prosperity to both countries." He added, that "this was still in our power;" but few or none who heard him believed that peace could be obtained but by a recognition of that independence which Chatham had so warmly denounced. The amendment which he proposed, however, was ably supported by the other peers in opposition. Lord Camden declared, that if the war were prosecuted to the issue of the alternative, whether America was subdued or rendered independent, he would still wish for independence; because the subjugation of that country by force of arms, would lead to the enslavement of England! Some of the opposition members, notwithstanding, were not for an instant cessation of arms, though they wished for a reconciliation. Thus Earl Temple said, that the war ought not to be abandoned until we had obtained decisive victories in America. The opposition, also, differed as to the propriety of offering terms of concession; and they were not all agreed as to what these terms should be. But on the odiousness of employing the wild Indians against a Christian people, the views of the whole of the opposition orators coincided. The Duke of Richmond said, that our employment of them would call down the vengeance of Heaven; and he argued, that our soldiers, acting with them, would become as ferocious as the Indians, and ready to commit any atrocity, or to make any attack on the liberties of the country that ministers might command! The unpleasant task of defending the employment of wild Indians fell upon Lord Suffolk, one of the secretaries of state, and he contended that the measure was allowable on principle; inasmuch as it was justifiable to use all the means that God and nature had put into our hands. This was an unfortunate argument; and the Earl of Chatham did not fail to take advantage of it. Forgetting that he had once employed the Indian tomahawk, he rose, and exclaimed, with an indignant burst of eloquence:—"I am astonished—shocked to hear such principles confessed—to hear them avowed in this house, or in this country—principles equally unconstitutional, inhuman, and unchristian. My lords, I did not intend to have trespassed again on your attention, but I cannot repress my indignation. I feel myself impelled by every duty. My lords, we are called upon, as members of this house, as men, as Christian men, to protest against such notions, standing near the throne, polluting the ear of majesty! 'That God and nature put into our hands!' I know not what idea that lord may entertain of God and nature; but I know that such abominable principles are equally abhorrent to religion and humanity. What! attribute the sacred sanction of God and nature to the massacres of the Indian scalping-knife—to the cannibal savage, torturing, murdering, roasting, and eating—literally, my lords, eating—the mangled victims of his barbarous battles—To send forth the merciless cannibal, thirsting for blood! Against whom?—Against your Protestant brethren; to lay waste their country, to desolate their dwellings, and extirpate their race and name with these horrible hell-hounds of savage war—hell-hounds, I say, of savage war! Spain armed herself with blood-hounds to extirpate the wretched natives of America, and we improve on the inhuman example of even Spanish cruelty—we turn loose these savage hell-hounds against our brethren and countrymen in America—of the same language, laws, liberties, and religion..... endeared to us by every tie that should sanctify humanity. My lords, this awful subject, so important to our honour, our constitution, and our religion, demands the most solemn and effectual inquiry; and I again call upon your lordships, and the united powers of the state, to examine it thoroughly and decisively, and to stamp upon it an indelible stigma of the public abhorrence. More particularly I implore those holy prelates of religion to do away these iniquities from among us:—let them perform a lustration; let them purify this house and this country from this sin!" These were noble sentiments, but the effect of them was in a great measure lost by the remembrance that Chatham had done the very same thing in the war with Canada; and that under his own immediate superintendence. But even if there had not been this drawback upon this fervent burst of indignation, uttered by the great orator, it was not in the power of eloquence to alter the determination of ministers. They daily expected to hear of victories which would stop the mouths of their antagonists, and therefore resolved to brave the loud storms of opposition. Public sentiment was also still on their side; for Chatham's amendment was rejected by a majority of eighty-four to twenty-eight, and only two peers signed a protest. Thus, in both houses, the original address was carried by an overwhelming majority.



DUKE OF RICHMOND'S MOTION FOR INQUIRING INTO THE STATE OF THE NATION.

On the 28th of November the Duke of Richmond moved for a committee of the house to inquire into the state of the nation. The debate on this question was postponed till the 2nd of December, and the Earl of Chatham was there to support it. In his speech, the Duke of Richmond once more asserted, that the nation was in a rapid process of decay, and that it could not support the burden of war. The inquiry, he said, should be as extensive as possible, and he proposed the 2nd of February for the discussion; and expressed a hope that all papers called for might be laid before parliament. Ministers assented to the committee; and the Duke of Richmond then moved for returns of the army and navy, both in America and Ireland. Chatham now made another speech, in which he expressed great alarm as to the actual state of those two important fortresses, Gibraltar and Minorca; contending that they were not secure from the grasp of France and Spain. He also took occasion again to extol the Americans, and to plead their cause, still justifying their opposition to the mother country. The motion was granted without opposition.



FOX'S MOTION FOR INQUIRING INTO THE STATE OF THE NATION.

On the same day Mr. Fox made a motion, similar to that of the Duke of Richmond, in the house of commons. The committee was at once agreed to by ministers; but when Fox made a call for papers, Lord North opposed it, as liable to make discoveries prejudicial to the interests of the country. This drew down upon him a series of odious comparisons. Burke compared him to the "pigmy physician," who watched over the health of Sancho Panza, in the government of Barataria, and who snatched away every dish from his patient's well-supplied table, on various pretences, before he could get one mouthful. The house was convulsed with laughter, but Lord North remained immoveable; nor could the intelligence that the lords had granted the papers, alter his determination to oppose their production. Fox again spoke when he discovered that the premier was resolute; and this time he fell upon the chief manager of American affairs,—Lord George Germaine. He remarked:—"For two years that a noble lord has presided over American affairs, the most violent, scalping, tomahawk measures have been pursued: bleeding has been his only prescription. If a people, deprived of their ancient rights, are grown tumultuous, bleed them!—if they are attacked with a spirit of insurrection, bleed them!—if their fever should rise into rebellion, bleed them!—cries this state-physician. More blood! more blood! still more blood! When Dr. Sangrado had persevered in a similar practice of bleeding his patients, killing by the very means he used for a cure, his man took the liberty to remonstrate on the necessity of relaxing in a practice to which thousands of their patients had fallen sacrifices, and which was beginning to bring their names into disrepute. The doctor answered, I believe, indeed, that we have carried the matter a little too far; but you must know I have written a book on the efficacy of this practice: therefore, though every patient should die by it, we must continue bleeding, for the credit of my book." The debate assumed a new feature from a speech made by Governor Pownall, who argued, that the production of the papers called for could answer no end. Pownall declared that he was as uninfluenced by party spirit as he had been nine years ago, when he predicted the precise progress of American resistance. He added:—"I now tell the house and government, that the Americans will never return to their subjection. Sovereignty is abolished, and gone for ever: the Navigation Act is annihilated. Of what use, then, are these papers?—of what import our debates? Disputation and abuse may afford amusement; but neither America nor England can be benefited by such discussions in the present crisis. Until the house shall be disposed to treat with the United States as an independent, sovereign people, schemes or plans of conciliation, whoever may suggest them, will be found unimportant." This was speaking like a man of business, and the arguments adduced were unanswerable. The papers were refused, by a majority of one hundred and seventy-eight to eighty-nine.



ARMY AND NAVY ESTIMATES.

On the 26th of November the army and navy estimates were considered. The number of seamen was fixed at 60,000, and the troops to be employed in America at 55,000. But these votes were not passed without severe strictures on the manner in which every branch of the service was conducted.



INTELLIGENCE OF BURGOYNES DEFEAT

The hope that ministers had entertained of soon hearing of some glorious victory in America, whereby the mouth of opposition might be stopped, was at length swept away. On the 3rd of December Colonel Barre rose in the house of commons, with a grave countenance, and asked Lord George Germaine what had become of Burgoyne's army? and whether he had not received intelligence from Quebec of their having surrendered to the enemy? Lord George, in reply, confessed that he had received the unhappy intelligence, by express, from Quebec; but as it was unauthenticated, he could not declare it officially. He expressed a hope, therefore, that the house would suspend their judgment; at the same time declaring, that if he had committed a fault in drawing out the plan of the expedition, he was ready to answer for it. He made this declaration in such a cold, self-satisfied tone, that it drew down upon his head the most bitter inventive from members of the opposition. Barre, Luttrell, Burke, Townshend, and Fox, all, in their turns, assailed the haughty secretary, and revelled in descriptions of the loss and disgrace which we had sustained—necessarily, from chagrin, heightening the effect of the picture by exaggeration. The solicitor-general, Wedderburne, endeavoured to reconcile the house to this loss, by appealing to British magnanimity under distress, which, he conceived, was the harbinger of victory. During the war of the succession, he said, General Stanhope was compelled to surrender himself, and his whole army, prisoners of war in Spain; but the disgrace only served to call forth an ardour which soon effaced the stigma, and achieved glorious successes. Lord North, having declared that he had from the beginning been desirous of peace; that if the surrender of his place and honours could obtain it he would resign them; and that while he remained in office he would support it to the best of his power, the conversation dropped.

In the house of lords, however, the subject was taken up more seriously. On the 5th of December, having previously arranged matters with the opposition peers, the Earl of Chatham moved, "that an address be presented to his majesty for copies of all orders and instructions issued to General Burgoyne, relative to the late expedition from Canada." Chatham commenced an able, though rambling speech, which he delivered on this occasion, by criticising the king's speech at the opening of the session; representing it as containing an unfaithful and delusive picture of the state of public affairs. He then lamented Burgoyne's fate, in pathetic terms. His character, he said, with the glory of the British arms, and the dearest interests of the country, had all been sacrificed to the ignorance, temerity, and impotence of ministers. Yet almost in the same breath, Chatham said that he would not condemn ministers without evidence! Burgoyne, he remarked, might or might not be an able officer; he might have received orders it was not in his power to execute; and those instructions might have been wisely given, and faithfully and judiciously executed, although the general had miscarried. Many events, he said, happened which no human foresight could prevent; but, as it was evident, a fault had been committed either by Burgoyne or the ministers, he was desirous of having the papers laid before the house, in order to ascertain to whom the blame was in reality attached. At the same time, he asserted that he already knew sufficient to justify him in affirming that the measures for that campaign were founded in weakness, barbarity, and inhumanity. Here again he launched forth in bitter invective against the practice of employing the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the Indians in the war. Then, turning from the field of battle, he attacked the court. He remarked:—"Within the last fifteen years the system has been introduced at St. James's of breaking all connexion,—of extinguishing all principle. A few men have got an ascendency, where no man should have a personal ascendency; by the executive powers of state being at their command, they have been furnished with the means of creating divisions. This has brought pliable men, not capable men, into the highest situations; and to such men is the government of this once-glorious empire now entrusted. The spirit of delusion has gone forth; the ministers have imposed on the people; parliament has been induced to sanctify the imposition; false lights have been held out to the country gentlemen, and they have been seduced into the support of a most destructive war, under the impression that the land-tax would be diminished by means of an American revenue. The visionary phantom, thus conjured up for the basest of purposes—that of deception—is now about to vanish." Chatham had said that Burgoyne might or might not be an able officer; but he now eulogised his zeal, his bravery, and his abilities, and then, in defiance of his assertion that he would not condemn ministers without evidence, he laid the whole blame upon them, and said that they ought to submit to all the obloquy till the general had an opportunity of justifying himself. Chatham now again denounced the practice of employing the Indians; coupling the German bayonet with the scalping-knife and tomahawk. The only thing which could be done, he said, to preserve America in our dependence was to disband the Indians, recall the Germans, and withdraw our troops in toto. As for American independence, he could not endure the thought of such a consummation. While he abhorred the system of government attempted to be established in America, he as earnestly and zealously contended for a Whig government and a Whig connexion between the two countries, founded on a constitutional dependence and subordination of America upon England. Against Tory principles he entertained the most bitter hatred; and in the course of his speech he exhibited that feeling, by animadverting, in severe terms, on the high Tory doctrines maintained by Dr. Markham, Archbishop of York. The pernicious doctrines advanced by that prelate, he said, were the doctrines of Atterbury and Sacheverel; and as a Whig, he abjured and detested them, and hoped to see the day, not only when they should be deemed libels, but when the authors of such doctrines should be liable to punishment. Chatham concluded, by moving for the papers relative to the instructions given to Burgoyne, which was lost by a majority of forty to nineteen. But though the motion was negatived, the noble lord returned to the charge, by moving for copies of all instructions relative to the employment of Indians in conjunction with the British troops. In this, however, he made a whip for his own back. In opposing the motion, Lord Gower asserted, that the noble lord had himself employed, and acknowledged that he had employed, savages in the operation of the last war. This charge Chatham denied. Indians, he said, had crept into the service during that war; but he challenged ministers to produce any document of his sanctioning their employment. He appealed to Lord Amherst, who had commanded the troops in Canada, for a declaration of the truth, and that noble lord had the honesty to declare the truth. The Indians, he said, had been employed on both sides: the French engaged their services first, and we had followed their example: but most certainly he should not have ventured to have done so if he had not received orders to that effect. Lord Shelburne suggested, that the orders might have proceeded from the Board of Trade: but Lord Denbigh, who called Chatham "the great oracle with a short memory," said, that this was impossible, as Chatham, when in office under George II., had monopolised functions which did not belong to him, and had guided and directed everything relative to the war. In reply, Chatham said, that he was sure the order had not passed through his office, and that the humanity of his late majesty would not have permitted him to sanction so satanic a measure. But Chatham was now floundering in the mire, and the more he endeavoured to extricate himself, the deeper he got into it. The fallacy of this pretence was exposed by Lord Suffolk, who said, that all instructions to governors and commanders-in-chief necessarily passed through the office of the secretary-of-state, which office Chatham then held, and were countersigned by the king. Finding that Chatham's veracity could not be established, the lords, in opposition, now turned the subject, and endeavoured to justify his employment of the Indians. There was a difference, they maintained, between the two wars—the one having been against our old enemies, the French, the other being against our fellow-subjects. They also argued, that the French having set the example, we were justified in following it. But this argument applied equally to the present war. Arnold took with him into Canada the very savages whose services we had refused; and one of the first cares of congress was to secure the alliance of the Six Nations. It was, moreover, understood by all, that the treaty was not to stop at neutrality, but to engage those Indians as auxiliaries in the war. Want of means, coupled with the animosities which existed between the Indian tribes and their American neighbours of the back settlements, and with a species of reverence which the red men entertained for the name of King George, had prevented the success of congress; but the Americans had, to all intents and purposes, set the deplorable example of using the tomahawk against their Protestant brethren of England. The Earl of Dun-more, indeed, declared that he had himself, while governor of Virginia, been attacked by a party of Indians who had been instigated by the Virginians. Evil examples should not be followed; but the present ministry had, at least, the same plea to offer for employing the Indians as Chatham and the opposition lords had for employing them in the war in Canada. The man who endeavours to blacken the characters of others should himself possess an untarnished reputation. Chatham's motion was lost by a majority of forty to eighteen.



ROYAL ASSENT TO SEVERAL BILLS.

On the 10th of December the royal assent was given to a bill for continuing the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Acts in certain cases of piracy, and also to the Land and Malt-tax Bills—those standing resources of government revenue. About the same time, likewise, the royal assent was given to a duty laid on goods sold by auction, as well as on inhabited houses.



PARLIAMENT ADJOURNED.

On the same clay, after the discussion of some unimportant motions, made with a design of embarrassing ministers, Lord Beauchamp proposed an adjournment to the 20th of January. Burke proposed an adjournment for one week only; but ministers represented that they had already transacted all business of importance, and that nothing was likely to occur during the recess which would demand instant attention, and their motion was carried by one hundred and fifty-five to sixty-eight. The next day a similar motion was made in the house of lords, on which occasion the Earl of Chatham, in opposing it, again endeavoured to fix blame and censure on ministers for their conduct relative to the American war. But the motion was carried by forty-seven to seventeen.



CHAPTER IX.

{GEORGE III. 1778-1779}

Demonstration of Public Spirit in England..... Meeting of Parliament..... Committee for taking the State of the Nation into Consideration..... Burke's Motion relative to the Employment of Indians..... Committee of Evidence in the House of Lords..... Lord North's Conciliatory Bills..... Intimation of the French Treaty with America..... Investigation of the State of the Navy..... Motion for excluding Contractors from Parliament..... Revision of the Trade of Ireland..... Bill for the Relief of the Roman Catholics..... Lord Chatham's last Appearance in the House of Lords..... Death of Lord Chatham, and posthumous Honours to his Memory..... The Duke of Richmond's Motion resumed..... The Session closed..... Proceedings in France..... Naval Operations in the British Channel..... Disgraceful Infraction of the Convention of Saratoga..... Lafayette's Expedition to Canada..... Unfortunate Action under Lafayette..... Sir Henry Clinton takes the Command of the British Troops..... Arrival of the Commissioners in America with the Conciliatory Bills..... Evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, &c...... Disgrace of General Lee..... Unsuccessful Attack, by the Americans and French, on Rhode Island..... Operations of the British Army..... Attack of the Savages on the Settlement of Wyoming, &c...... Arrival of the French Envoy at Philadelphia..... Movements of the British and French Fleets..... Capture of Dominica by the French..... Capture of St. Lucie by the British..... Re-capture of the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon..... French Plans regarding Canada counteracted by Washington..... Capture of Savannah by the British..... Meeting of Parliament..... Affair respecting Admiral Keppel and Sir Hugh Falliser.



DEMONSTRATION OF PUBLIC SPIRIT IN ENGLAND.

During the recess, the government party and the opposition were equally zealous in securing the public opinion, and, consequently, the success of its future schemes. The intelligence of Burgoyne's defeat seems to have had a momentary effect on the minds of the people, which favoured the views of opposition, but while a few politicians declaimed on the necessity of ending a ruinous war by recognising the independence of the United States, and others advised a cessation of arms and conciliation, the vast majority of the nation soon burned with ardour to blot out the recollection of Burgoyne's disgrace, by deeds of arms, and by reducing the colonies to their original subjection to the mother country. Not only did public meetings of corporate bodies, towns, and counties, display their attachment to the cause of the crown by addresses, but some cities and towns as Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, raised each a regiment of 1000 men at their own expense. Private subscriptions were opened, large sums were given, and 15,000 soldiers were raised in England, Scotland, and Wales, without any cost or charge to government. Many of the maritime towns, also, armed ships to cruise in the Channel, where American privateers and Frenchmen with American colours were now becoming numerous. On the other hand, the opposition party represented that the American prisoners of war were treated with great cruelty in British prisons, and subscriptions were set on foot for their relief. Complaints had been made in the house of lords concerning the sufferings of the American prisoners, and the subject was investigated; but though it was found that their allowance in some instances had been slender, and that in others their keepers had treated them with severity, it could not be shown that this arose from any want of care on the part of government. Everything, however, was tried which could be tried by the opposition, in order to fix an indelible stigma of infamy on the members of Lord North's administration.



MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

The animus of opposition was exhibited in an unequivocal manner on the reassembling of parliament. On the 22nd of January, Sir Phillip Jennings Clarke moved for an account of the number of troops raised by private subscription, with the names of the commanding-officers. In the debate which followed this motion, ministers were accused of having incorporated 15,000 troops without consent of parliament, and represented their conduct in accepting their aid as most unconstitutional and inimical to the liberties of the country. Lord North, who agreed to the motion, in reply, argued that these spontaneous exertions proved that the people felt the insults and injuries offered to their king and country; and, also, that the country was not in that impoverished state which a jealous and impatient faction had asserted it was. Still the opposition hoped to obtain a vote of censure. In the house of lords the Earl of Abingdon moved that the twelve judges should be consulted as to the legality of raising troops without the authority of parliament. This motion was not pressed to a division; but, on the 4th of February, the same noble lord made another motion more specific, in order to cast blame upon government. He moved for a resolution that the grant of money in private aids or benevolences, without the sanction of parliament, for the purpose of raising armies, was against the spirit of the constitution and the letter of the law; and that, to obtain money by subscription was not only unconstitutional and illegal, but a direct infringement of the rights, and a breach of the privileges of parliament. This motion, after a warm debate, was negatived by ninety to thirty. On the same day in the commons, some money being demanded for the uniforms of these new troops, a still warmer discussion arose upon the subject. The new levies were treated with much discourtesy by the opposition; the two Scotch regiments, especially, being designated vile mercenaries, and willing tools of despotism. The opposition also maintained that such a practice of raising troops was contrary to the oath of coronation, and that all who subscribed were abettors of perjury. Lord North justified himself by precedents: he showed that independent regiments had been raised in 1745, and again in 1759, when Chatham was minister. On the latter occasion, he said, that Chatham had publicly and solemnly thanked those who raised such troops for the honour and service of their country. Yet, "that great oracle with a short memory," on the very night on which Lord North reminded the lower house of this notable fact, declaimed in the upper house in support of the Earl of Abingdon's motion against the practice Later in the session Wilkes renewed this subject, but the motion which he made relative to it was negatived by seventy-two against forty.



COMMITTEE FOR TAKING THE STATE OF THE NATION INTO CONSIDERATION.

On the 2nd of February, on the order of the day being read, for the house to resolve itself into a committee to take the state of the nation into consideration, Fox moved that no more troops should be sent out of the kingdom. On the same day, the Duke of Richmond, also, made a similar motion in the house of lords. In both houses the opposition represented that war with France and Spain was inevitable; and that our means of defence were not sufficient in the whole to meet the contingency; and, therefore, it was not prudent to protract an impracticable contest. No answer was made in the commons, but in the lords the motion and the arguments adduced in support of it were denounced as amounting to a public acknowledgment of our inability to prosecute war; as inviting the house of Bourbon to attempt an invasion; and as attacking the prerogative of the crown to raise, direct, and employ the military force of the kingdom. The motions were rejected in the lords by ninety-one against thirty-four; and in the commons by two hundred and ninety-five against one hundred and sixty-five.



BURKE'S MOTION RELATIVE TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF INDIANS.

On the 6th of February, Burke introdued a motion for papers relative to the employment of Indians in America, from 1774 to 1778. On this occasion he made a speech three hours in length, during the whole of which time the attention of the house was fixed on the orator. This speech, however, which is represented as being one of the most splendid efforts of his oratory, is very inadequately reported. From it, notwithstanding, it may be gathered that he drew a striking and ghastly picture of Indian warfare, and of the horrors committed by these savage auxiliaries. It had a greater effect upon the house than Chatham's denunciations of the practice of employing the Indian tribes in our army, arising from the fact that the orator handled the subject with clean hands. Colonel Barre, excited by it, declared that if it were printed and published he would nail it on every church-door by the side of the king's proclamation for a general fast; and Governor Johnson said it was fortunate for Lord North and Germaine that the galleries had been cleared before the speech was uttered, as the indignation and enthusiasm of strangers might have excited the people to lay violent hands upon them on their return home. The secret of the excitement occasioned by the speech seems chiefly to have consisted in the fact that it abounded in touching stories and pathetic episodes. Burke especially elaborated the affecting fate of Miss Mac Crea, who was strongly attached to the royal cause, and who, being on her way to marry an officer in Burgoyne's army, was barbarously murdered by two Indian chiefs sent for her protection. The two chiefs having disputed which of them should be her principal guard and obtain a larger reward, he, from whose hands she was snatched, raised his tomahawk, and in a fit of rage cleft her head asunder. Such stories as these, founded in fact, were well calculated to produce excitement, especially as the murderer was left unscathed. Burke argued that these savage allies were too powerful, or their services too highly valued to run the risk of offending them; but it would rather appear that pardon was extended to the offender through an agreement with his tribe and the British general to abstain in future from indulging in such wanton cruelties, which Burgoyne considered of more importance than to take revenge on a wretch who scarcely knew that what he did was a sin either in the sight of God or man. Such stories as these, however, told upon the feelings of the house, and insured Burke strong-support. Governor Pownall, in taking the same side of the question, declared that there was not so unfair, so hellish an engine of war as savages mingled with civilized troops; and he recommended that terms should be proposed to congress whereby the two countries should mutually agree to break off all alliance with the Indians, and treat them as enemies whenever they should commit any act of hostility against a white person, American or European. He would answer for it, he said, that congress would embrace and execute such terms with good faith; and he suggested that the overture might occasion the happiest effects in producing mutual kind offices, and leading ultimately to a perfect reconciliation. He finally offered to go in person, without any pay or reward, and make the proposal to congress; asserting that he would answer with his life for the success of the negociation. But this noble proposal of Governor Pownall and Mr. Burke's motion were alike rejected by a ministerial majority.



COMMITTEE OF EVIDENCE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, ETC.

On the same day that Burke made this motion in the commons, the lords in committee on the state of the nation were employed in examining witnesses to prove the ruinous consequences of the maritime war. Merchants were called as witnesses by the opposition peers, who proved that they had sustained heavy losses from the war; while, on the other hand, government were provided with other merchants, who showed that new sources of commerce had been opened since the commencement of hostilities; and, that considerable captures had been made. The Duke of Richmond opposed the arguments derived from the testimony of government witnesses. The prizes taken and distributed to British seamen, he said, so far from being a balance in our favour, added to our loss; for if we had not been at war with America, the value of all these cargoes in the circuitous course of trade, must have centred in Great Britain. The propositions were disposed of by the previous question, and other motions made by the Duke of Richmond for ascertaining the number of troops sent to America, as well as the expenses incurred by the war, though they occasioned long and warm debates, were equally unsuccessful. A similar motion was made in the commons by Fox, on the 11th of February, but it was evaded by a motion for leave to report progress. It was, perhaps, judicious in ministers to resist the production of papers called for by the opposition, for in almost every instance it would have let the enemy into dangerous secrets: secrets which they would have turned to their own advantage.



LORD NORTHS CONCILIATORY BILLS.

It is a singular fact that while Lord North sternly advocated war, he was at this time so adverse to a continuation of the contest that he had expressed a wish to the king to resign office. This appears from a letter addressed to him by his majesty on the 31st of January, in which, after appealing to Lord North's personal affection for him, he writes: —"You must remember that before the recess I strongly advised you not to bind yourself to bring forward any plan for restoring tranquillity to America; not from any absurd ideas of unconditional submission, which my mind never harboured; but from foreseeing that whatever can be proposed will be liable, not to bring America back to her attachment, but to dissatisfy this country, which so cheerfully and handsomely carries on the contest, and has a right to have the struggle continued, till convinced that it is vain. Perhaps this is the minute when you ought to be least in a hurry to produce a plan, from the probability of a declaration of war from France." It is evident from this letter that Lord North had proposed some plan of conciliation which did not meet with the monarch's views; and it seems clear, also, that his lordship, in expressing a wish to retire, had urged the impossibility of obtaining unconditional submission, which he erroneously thought was the only ground on which his majesty would listen to terms of peace. But though it was the king's opinion on the last day of January that no conciliatory measures should be adopted or proposed out of deference to the views of the people, yet his opinion soon changed. On the 9th of February, when a war with France had become inevitable, he wrote to his minister again, urging him not to "delay to bring in his proposition," before "the veil was drawn off by the court of France." Lord North lost no time in complying with this his majesty's command. On the 17th of February, he brought in two bills tending to reconciliation with the colonists: one was expressly designed to remove all apprehension from their minds concerning taxation by the British parliament, whilst it repealed the act imposing a duty on tea; and the other enabled his majesty to appoint commissioners to consult and agree on means of quieting the disorders subsisting in certain colonies, plantations, and provinces of North America. In introducing these bills, Lord North asserted that he had been uniformly disposed to pacific arrangements; that he had tried conciliatory measures before the sword was unsheathed, and would gladly try them again; that he had conceived his former propositions were equitable, and still thought so, though they had been misrepresented both at home and in America; that he never expected to derive any considerable revenue from the colonies; that he had originated none of the American taxes; that he found such as existed when, unfortunately for his own peace of mind, he came into office; and that, as for the act enabling the East India Company to send out teas with the drawback of the entire duty, which led to the Boston riots, it was a relief rather than oppression, since it actually gave the colonists their teas at a cheaper rate than before. Lord North then explained the principles of his two bills. The first, he said, was intended to quiet the minds of the Americans on the subject of taxation—to dispel all fears that parliament would ever tax them again, by a distinct renunciation of the right itself. The second bill, he remarked, would give the royal commissioners far more ample powers than those formerly entrusted to Lord Howe and his brother. They would be authorized to treat with congress as if it were a legal body, and competent by its acts and negociations to bind all the colonies; they would be empowered to treat with the conventions or provincial assemblies, or colonial congresses, and with individuals in their actual civil capacities or military commands, without any cavil as to allowing them and addressing them by the rank they held under congress: and they would have the power of suspending hostilities, intermitting the operation of laws, granting pardons, rewards, and immunities, restoring charters and constitutions, and nominating governors, judges, magistrates, &c, till the king's pleasure should be known. The stumbling-block of independence was removed very skilfully by Lord North. This act declared that should the Americans make this claim at the outset of the treaty, they would not be required to renounce it until it was ratified by the British legislature. The commissioners were to be instructed to negociate for a reasonable and moderate contribution toward the common defence of the empire when reunited, but they were not to insist even on this slight contribution as indispensable. In conclusion, Lord North contended that these concessions ought not to be deemed the results of defeat or weakness, since they were substantially the same as he should offer in the hour of victory. The events of the war, he frankly acknowledged, had not corresponded to his expectation, but he denied that there was any truth in the representations of a factious opposition. But for faction, England was as fertile in resources as ever: she was in circumstances to prosecute war, raise new armies, and to increase her navy, so as to be enabled to meet her accumulated foes.

Burke says that on hearing these proposals the whole house was overclouded with astonishment, dejection, and fear. This may be exaggeration, but it is certain that the ample concessions proposed by the minister—concessions far outstripping those which had been brought forward by Mr. Burke and Lord Chatham, and which were opposed by government—were highly distasteful to the country gentlemen, and to the whole Tory party. Expressions of loud disapprobation were heard on their side of the house, and some bitterly complained that deception had been practised against them relative to American taxation. On the other hand, while the opposition contended that the season was gone by when such a plan would have succeeded, it was generally approved by them. They yet hoped, they said, that there might be a chance of conciliation, and therefore they would give the minister their support. At the same time, Lord North was severely reprehended by some of the opposition members. Fox said his arguments "might be collected into one point, and his excuses comprised in one apology, or rather in one word, ignorance; a palpable and total ignorance of America: he had expected much, and had been disappointed in every thing; necessity alone had compelled him now to speak out." In the course of his speech, Fox informed the house that there was a report abroad that within the last ten days France had signed a treaty with America, acknowledging their independence, and entering into a close alliance with the colonists. He called on Lord North to afford the house satisfaction on so important a point, and that minister reluctantly acknowledged that such a treaty was in agitation, though as it was not authenticated by our ambassador he could not say that it was concluded. The motion for bringing in the bill was carried by a majority of about two to one, and on the first reading some of the Tory members expressed their disapprobation of our wholly renouncing the right of taxing the colonists. In reply, Lord North declared that the not exacting the renunciation of independence by the Americans did not imply that we intended to yield that point; that the commissioners would not be empowered to concede thus much; and that the Americans would be expected to treat as subjects, and not as a sovereign state. The bills were passed, and when brought up to the lords, the opposition was renewed. The Duke of Richmond read the American declaration of independence, and asked ministers whether they meant to subscribe to assertions such as these:—"That the king is a tyrant,"..... "that his majesty has lost the affection of his American subjects by the insolent, daring, perfidious and unconstitutional language of ministers, etc." His grace said these bills, instead of regaining the affections of the Americans, would sound the trumpet of war to all nations; that they were at once ignominious and ineffectual; that they meant nothing or worse than nothing; that they were better calculated to divide than conciliate; and that they empowered commissioners to treat with America, and then called them back again to consult parliament. His grace also stated as a notorious fact that ministers had sent persons over to Paris to tamper with Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane, and that these American agents had rejected their offers, together with the terms of the new bills, in scorn. Lord Temple opposed the bills on different grounds. He denounced them as mean and truckling, and as tending to prostrate the king, the parliament, and the people of Great Britain at the feet of Franklin and Silas Deane, to whom ministers had paid homage in sackcloth and ashes. The people, he said, had recovered from the shock occasioned by Burgoyne's reverses, and ministers were now going to depress their newly-awakened animation by succumbing to an arrogant enemy. Lord Shelborne also opposed the bills as tending to separate the two countries. He never would consent, he said, that America should be independent of England, and he represented that his idea of the connexion between the two countries was, that they should have one friend, one enemy, one purse, and one sword; that Britain, as the great controlling power, should superintend the whole; and that both the countries should have but one will, though the means of expressing it might be different. This, he said, might have been obtained long ago without bloodshed or animosity. The bills passed without a division: a protest was entered against them, but it was only signed by one solitary peer, Lord Abingdon.



INTIMATION OF THE FRENCH TREATY WITH AMERICA.

The conciliatory bills were scarcely passed when Lord North delivered a message from the throne to the commons, stating the receipt of information from the French king, that he had concluded a treaty of amity and commerce with his majesty's revolted subjects in America, and that in consequence of this offensive communication, the British ambassador at Paris had been ordered home. His majesty, the minister said, fully relied on the zeal and affection of his people to repel the insult and maintain the honour of the country. The note of the French ambassador was laid before parliament, and it was to this effect:—"The United States of North America, who are in full possession of independence, as pronounced by them on the 4th of July, 1766, having proposed to the King of France to consolidate, by a formal convention, the connexion begun to be established between the two nations, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed a treaty of friendship and commerce, designed to serve as a foundation for their mutual good correspondence. His majesty, the French king, being resolved to cultivate the present good understanding subsisting between France and Great Britain by every means compatible with his dignity and the good of his subjects, thinks it necessary to make his proceeding known to the court of London, and to declare at the same time that the contracting parties have paid great attention not to stipulate any exclusive advantages in favour of the French nation, and that the United States have reserved the liberty of treating with every nation whatever upon the same footing of equality and reciprocity. In making this communication to the court of London, the king is firmly persuaded it will find new proofs of his majesty's constant and sincere disposition for peace; and that his Britannic majesty, animated by the same friendly sentiments, will equally avoid every thing that may alter their good harmony, and that he will particularly take effectual pleasures to prevent his French majesty's subjects and the United States from being interrupted, and to cause all the usages received between commercial nations to be, in this respect, observed, and all those rules which can be said to subsist between the two courts of France and Great Britain. In this just confidence, the undersigned ambassador thinks it superfluous to acquaint the British minister that the king, his master, being determined to protect effectually the lawful commerce of his subjects, and to maintain the dignity of his flag, has, in consequence, taken effectual measures in concert with the Thirteen United and Independent States of America." In making this communication to the house, Lord North moved an appropriate address to the king, which again called forth the spirit of opposition. In discussing the motion, an amendment was proposed requesting his majesty to dismiss the ministers. Lord North was reproached with having suffered himself to be surprised by the notification of a treaty which appeared to have been two years under discussion, and with leaving the country on the eve of war destitute of adequate means for its internal security. Without designing to vindicate ministers, Governor Pownall detailed the circumstances and progress of the treaty. The account, however, which he gave was widely different from matter of fact. He said that the idea had not existed six months, and had not been in actual negociation more than half that time. But it is well known that the idea had been uppermost in the minds of the American leaders for full two years, and that Silas Deane had been attempting to negociate for nearly that period, and Benjamin Franklin had been at Paris with the same object in view for near twelve months. It appears indeed that the only reason the treaty was not signed long before, was that the French at first attempted to drive a hard bargain, conceiving that the Americans were in such a weak condition that they would agree to any terms rather than not obtain the cooperation of France. The news of ther surender of Burgoyne's army, as Governor Pownall observed, lowered the demands of the French, and this it was that made them hurry on such a treaty as congress desired. But even. now Pownall remarked, peace was yet practicable, if Great Britain would pursue the proper course. He said:—"The Americans are and must be independent. We acknowledge it in our acts, and have already, though we may try to cover our shame with words, resigned all dominion over them. They will never rescind their declaration; but if parliament will extend the powers of the commissioners so far as to acknowledge their independence, on conditions, they will, in return, form with us a federal treaty, offensive, defensive, and commercial. The compact, signed at Paris, is not yet ratified by congress: by a speedy and candid exertion this country may still be enabled to take advantage of the natural predilection of the Americans for the parent state. If a federal treaty Were not adopted, and the Americans should ever be induced to treat on other terms, one of their first demands must be a reimbursement of expenses, and an indemnification for losses. A pecuniary remuneration was out of the question; but in lieu of it government must sacrifice Canada, Nova Scotia, and the Newfoundland fishery. This would be insisted on; but if independence were conceded America could only treat with England on the same ground as any other independent nation." General Conway and Mr. Dun das argued that it would be better policy to form a federal union with America, than to let her fall into the hands of France; but the vast majority of the house seemed to think that the entrance of France into the quarrel rendered all present thought of negociation an absurdity and a meanness; and that no future friendship could be hoped from a people who, though descended from us and bound to us by the strong ties of community of descent, language, and religion, had united themselves with the most ancient, inveterate, and most powerful of all our enemies. At the same time war was advocated, it was suggested that Chatham, the scourge of the house of Bourbon, was the proper man to occupy the post held by Lord North at such a crisis. But Lord North did not coincide in this opinion. He expressed a total disregard to office, but contended that the interest of the empire, as well as his own reputation, demanded that he should still sit at the helm of the state. The original address was carried by a large majority, and in the house of lords an amendment to the address was negatived by a majority of sixty-eight against twenty-five. Addresses were also returned from both houses to a royal message intimating his majesty's intention of calling out the militia.



INVESTIGATION OF THE STATE OF THE NAVY.

Previous pages show that there had already been debates on the state of the navy. Now that a war with France was inevitable the subject was brought prominently forward; especially in the house of lords. On the 13th of March, Lord Howard of Effingham moved a series of resolutions explaining the condition of the navy during the last eight years; the number of ships broken up, built, or repaired; and the precise condition and expense of the ordnance. In moving these resolutions, Lord Howard spoke of the necessity of economy, and accused the first lord of the admiralty with gross mismanagement. Lord Sandwich, who had been assailed on previous occasions when the same subject was introduced, now made a long and able defence. The British naval force, he said, at that moment consisted of three hundred and seventy-three ships of all rates, which was a force double to that which England had in her possession half a century before. In drawing the comparison or the present state of the navy with its condition in 1727, he adduced arguments highly favourable to his own administration; but notwithstanding this, the opposition were very violent in their language towards him. He was even threatened with the vengeance of the people, who, it was said, would rise and tear him to pieces, as the Dutch had treated De Witt. The debate was tumultous, but the motions were all negatived.



MOTION FOR EXCLUDING CONTRACTORS FROM PARLIAMENT.

After various debates on the iniquities practised by contractors, and the badness of the provisions which they supplied, Sir Philip Jennings Clarke introduced a bill for excluding contractors from parliament, unless their contracts were publicly obtained by competition. In this debate ministers were coupled with the offenders, and Lord George Gordon, who afterwards rendered himself so notorious, declared that Lord North was the worst of all contractors—he was, he said, a contractor for men, a contractor for parliament, and a contractor for the representatives of the people! Lord George advised the minister to save his country and rescue his own life from popular vengeance by calling away his butchers from America, by retiring with all the rest of his majesty's evil advisers, and by turning away from his own wickedness. The first and second reading of the bill was carried, but the motion for committing the bill was negatived on the 5th of May, by a majority of two, and it was consequently lost.



REVISION OF THE TRADE OF IRELAND.

During the month of April a committee of the house of commons was formed for the revision of the trade laws which affected Ireland. In consequence of the American war, a stop had been put to exportations of manufactures, and a large body of the people deprived of employment. Lord Nugent therefore proposed that Ireland should be permitted to export all articles of Irish manufacture—woollen cloths and wool excepted—on board British vessels to the coast of Africa and other foreign settlements, and to import from the same all goods, except indigo and tobacco. He also proposed that they should be allowed to export Irish sailcloth, cotton-yarn, and cordage to England, free of duty. Two bills founded upon these propositions were introduced, and both sides of the house admitting the justice of the measures seemed to agree in the propriety of adopting them. The great commercial body of England, however, took the alarm, and during the Easter recess, a formidable opposition was entered into by the merchants in all quarters. Petitions flowed into parliament from every part of the country, and the different members of parliament were instructed by their constituents to oppose the measures. Many who had previously been disposed to give them their support, in compliance with these instructions now opposed them; but Mr. Burke, who was member for the great trading city of Bristol, manfully refused, and continued to co-operate with Lord Nugent in his task. In presenting a petition from Bristol against the measures, he ably advocated them, and declared that if from his conduct he should forfeit the suffrages of his constituents at the next election, it should stand on record, as an example to future representatives of the commons of England, that one man at least had dared to resist the desires of his constituents when his judgment assured him that they were wrong. Notwithstanding the petitions and the altered opinion of many members, the second reading of the two bills was carried by a large majority. The petitioners, however, were resolute in their opposition to the measures. They prayed to be heard by counsel, and this being granted, such was the weight of the pleadings of the close-trade interest, that the supporters of the bills were compelled to effect a sort of compromise by which the amount of the benefit conferred on Ireland was greatly diminished.