'Books, like chickens, should come home to i-oost." PRIVATE LIBRARY ....OF.... E. I. McCORMAC. LIBRARY ON1V ERS1TY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA If THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IN MEMORY OF PROFESSOR EUGENE I. McCORMAC THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1763-1783 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1763-1783 BEING THE CHAPTERS AND PASSAGES RELATING TO AMERICA FROM THE AUTHOR'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BY WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY, M. P. AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS, DEMOCRACY AND LIBERTY, RATIONALISM IN EUROPE, ETC. ARRANGED AND EDITED WITH HISTORICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES BY JAMES ALBERT WOODBURN PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND POLITICS IN INDIANA UNIVERSITY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK :- BOSTON : CHICAGO COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. E LH5 INTRODUCTION. THIS volume, as its title page indicates, consists of such parts of Mr. Lecky's work The History of England in the Eighteenth Century as relate to the English colonies in America, and the causes and progress of the American Revolution. The chapter on " America, 1763-1776," which is taken entire, con- tains Mr. Lecky's notable account of the colonial controversy with the mother country, which caused the dismemberment of the British Empire and made two nations of the English race. To this chapter have been added Mr. Lecky's discussions of the prog- ress of our Revolutionary War, and of the peace nego- tiations which closed that war the most important chapter in the history of American diplomacy. It is believed that this material, gathered from a volumi- nous work, constitutes a volume of unity and of logi- cal and historical sequence, and one of great value as a contribution to American history. Mr. Lecky is one of the greatest of modern his- torians. The quality of his historical writing is too well known to need description here. He deals with movements and problems of history on large and lib- VI INTRODUCTION. eral lines. When he handles details he does it with a power of historical analysis and combination that shows their significance and relieves confusion. The separate publication of this volume is prompted by the desire to make convenient and easily accessible Mr. Lecky's invaluable work upon American topics. The editor is confident that those who are interested in the beginnings of our national history will find these pases luminous with instruction. The pursuit .TO -L of history by the general reader is greatly promoted by such historical writing. American history, like recent American politics, is to be studied in the light of Europe. European in- terests and movements have frequently been the domi- nant factors in events of our national history, and the American citizen's intelligence of that history is too meagre if he has his knowledge merely in the study of American subjects from American schoolbooks and American authors. ISTo doubt American journals and schoolbooks of a past generation fortunately it is not so true at present have conveyed false and exaggerated conceptions of British despotism and tyranny. The reading of a volume like Mr. Lecky's will do much properly to remove or avoid these harm- ful impressions while at the same time it will confirm what is now the conviction of all intelligent English- men and Americans alike, that the resistance of the Americans to the mistaken policy of the mother country undoubtedly contributed, as Fox said, "to preserve the liberties of mankind." The intelligent reading of our Revolution should lead us to see that, INTRODUCTION. Vll while that unfortunate policy may have disturbed, it has in no sense destroyed the essential unity of the Anglo-Saxon race. Mr. Lecky's volume is also a book to be studied. The best American universities and colleges have for several years offered extensive courses on various peri- ods of American history. "No period is more in- structive than the period of our Revolution. Though there is a tendency in historical study toward the use of the " sources," and a general belief that their larger use would be practicable and helpful, yet the great body of historical teachers, even in universities and colleges where the sources are most accessible, still believe that a text-book should continue to be the chief reliance for the student's class work the back- bone of his course. Educational authorities are urging the wisdom of intensive courses of historical study. In our best high schools, in all grades of study beyond our ele- mentary schools, the courses of historical study are being remodelled. It is urged that instead of cov- ering long stretches of history, merely making the student's knowledge a little less meagre, longer and more exhaustive study should be spent on a briefer period. Special reference is to be had to the " Co- lonial Period," or the " Eevolutionary Period," or the "Federal Period." Thus, it is hoped, the stu- dent may be able to learn some period thoroughly, and to enter into the spirit of the age that he studies. He may be able to come to a truer knowledge of what history is ; he may be able, in a measure, to deal with Vlll INTRODUCTION. the sources of history, and he may be imbued with a better historical sense and be given a better idea of historical method. This volume is intended, then, to supply this need the need of an extensive text-book upon a well-defined and important period of our his- tory. It is believed that teachers in American col- leges, academies, and high schools will welcome an original and illuminating text-book for the study of the " Period of the Eevolution " from such a writer as Mr. Lecky. Under the guidance of American teachers, American students should be greatly bene- fited by the study of the struggles of the Revolution as presented by a fair and judicial English historian, one who has other than American interests and repu- tations to consider, and whose purpose is not prima- rily nor even partially the vindication of the Ameri- can cause. Such a study will give Americans a better conception of the place and importance of our Eevo- lution in the history of the world, and a truer appre- ciation of the permanent merits of that Eevolution and of its promoters and participants. No greater service can be rendered to young students than to put within their reach and to guide them in the use of a volume of history which, being good literature, will at the same time awaken intelligence and excite a true historical taste and a worthy love of learning. A classified bibliography and some historical notes have been included in the volume for the use of stu- dents. These, and the footnotes of Mr. Lecky, give full references to the " sources." "Wherein the author has seemed unduly severe or hostile in his criticism of INTRODUCTION. IX the American cause or actors in the Revolution, it has been the aim of the editor, in the notes, to point more fully to American authorities upon the same topics, and at times to quote from American sources due apologies for the American patriots and their cause. It is, however, believed that Mr. Lecky's pages them- selves will furnish ample defence for the underlying and efficient causes of the American Revolution. J. A. W. INDIANA UNIVERSITY, BLOOMINGTON, July 25, 1898. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. AMONG the many valuable features of Mr. Lecky's volume are the footnotes, which constantly refer to interesting and important authorities and sources. By these, which will be suggestive to the investigator, the author cites very fully the authorities for his state- ments and conclusions. Teachers whose classes have access to considerable libraries may find it profitable to direct students to these authorities for special read- ings and reports. In the following bibliography some of these authorities are mentioned again. It is thought, however, that a classification of these and other sources may be helpful for the student's pur- poses. This bibliography is not intended to be ex- haustive, but rather to suggest a select public library for the student's use and some of the most useful ref- erences upon the period of the American Revolution. Most of these authorities, especially the secondary ones, are easily obtainable ; the others may be found in the larger public libraries. I. CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH AUTHORITIES. 1. Knox's Controversy between the Colonies and the Mother Coun- try. Probably the best presentation of the English side of the contro- versy. 2. Samuel Johnson's Taxation no Tyranny. An Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress, Lon- don, 1775. xi Xll BIBLIOGEAPHICAL NOTE. 3. Tucker's Four Tracts on our Relation to the Colonies. 4. Burke's Speeches: On Conciliation with America, and On American Taxation. Works, Payne's edition, vol. i. See also Burke's Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol. 5. Pitt's Speech on The Repeal of the Stamp Act. See Goodrich's British Eloquence. See also Chatham's (Pitt's) Speeches for Conciliation with America, 1774-1775. Parliamentary History. See Goodrich's British Eloquence for North's Plan of Conciliation. 6. Debate in the Commons on the Boston Port Bill, the Massa- chusetts Bill, and the American Tea Duty. Hansard's Par- liamentary History, vol. xvii. pp. 1163-1326 (1771-1774). See also Hansard's Parliamentary History, vol. xviii. pp. 149-168, for Chatham's speech on the Motion to withdraw the Troops from Boston. In the Parliamentary History for the years 1765-1770 may easily be found speeches by Barre, Lord Camden, and others, on the American controversy on taxation. Lord Mansfield, then Chief Justice of England, in the course of the debates in the House of Lords, gives the best summary of the English view on representation in relation to taxation. See Adams's Brtiuk Orations. 7. Bernard's Letters. Letters sent to the British Ministry by Governor Bernard concerning the situation in Boston, which caused Samuel Adams or James Otis to write A Vindication of the Town of Boston, 1770. See Wells's Life of Samuel Adams; Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Soci- ety, vol. i. p. 485. (Winsor's Handbook, p. 8.) 8. Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. iii., 1750-1774. Hutchinson was a native American and the Colonial Governor ot Massachusetts, but he writes as a partisan, though a fair and judicial one, on the side of the English Government. Professor Moses Coit Tyler speaks ol Hutchinson as " the ablest historical writer produced in America prior to the nineteenth century." His three volumes and his Collection of Original Papers have been described by Dr. William F. Poole as " the four most precious books touching that portion of American history." " Prior to 1765 Hutchinson was incomparably the most popular and the most influential statesman in New England, and from the year of the Stamp Act until that of his own death in London fifteen years afterward, was the most powerful American statesman in the ranks of the Koyalist party." (Tyler's The Literary History of the American Revolution, vol. ii. p. 395.) II. CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN AUTHORITIES. 1. Journals of the American Congress. From 1774 to 1788. 4 vols. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Xlll 2. Force's American Archives. A Documentary History of the Causes and Accomplishment of the American Revolution a Collection of Authentic Records, State Papers, Debates, Letters, and other Notices of Public Affairs. The author de- signed a documentary history of America from 1492 to the adoption of the Constitution in 1789, in six series of several volumes each. " In 1833 Congress provided for the publication of the Fourth and Fifth Series ; out when the third volume of the Fifth Series was printed the appropriation was exhausted. The publication has not been continued. The volumes printed cover only the period from the beginning of colonial discontents (1763) to December, 1776." (Adams's Manual of Historical Literature.) In these volumes of the Fourth and Fifth S'eries may be found documents, speeches, and pro- ceedings on all matters touching the causes of the Revolution. 3. Alinon, J. Prior Documents. "A Collection of Interesting Authentic Papers, relative to the Dispute between Great Britain and America, showing the Causes and Progress of that Misunderstanding," from 1764-1775. 4. Almon, J. The Remembrancer, or Impartial Repository of Public Events. 12 vols. From 1775-1781. 5. Adams, John. Works, with Life, Notes, etc., edited by Charles Francis Adams. 10 vols. Especially, A History of the Dis- pute with America, from its Origin in 1754 to the Present Time (1774), vol. iv. pp. 3-177. This is a series of papers under the name of Novanglus, in which Adams gives with sharpness and force the Whig argument against the Tories, making an uncompromising defence of the Revolution and its principles. An excellent source lor a study of the spirit of the Revolutionary leaders and their times. 6. Franklin, Benjamin. Works, edited by John Bigelow. 10 vols. Also, Sparks's edition of Franklin's Works. Notice especially, The Causes of American Discontents, Examina- tion before the House of Commons, How to reduce an Em- pire, Letter on American G-ratitude. 7. Washington, George. Writings,- edited by Worthington C. Ford. 14 vols. 8. Jefferson, Thomas. Writings, edited by Paul Leicester Ford. 10 vols. 9. Adams, Samuel. Works, edited by Harry Alonzo Gushing. 4 vols. (In preparation.) 10. Madison, James. Works, edited by Gaillard Hunt. 11. Paine, Thomas. Writings, edited by Moncure D. Conway. 4 vols. Especially Paine's Common Sense and The Crisis. There are other editions of Paine's political writings. Con- sult also Conway's Life of Paine. 2 vols. "Common /Sense burst upon the press with an effect which has rarely been produced by types and paper in any age or country." (Dr. Benjamin Rush, quoted by Conway.) XIV BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 12. Dickinson's Farmer's Letters. A series of essays published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle by John Diokinson, a lawyer of Philadelphia, " which soon attained a greater reptltation on both sides of the Atlantic than had been reached by any previous production in American literature" (Tyler, Literary History of the American Revolution, vol. ii. p. 26). The Letters were twelve in number, the last appearing on February 15, 1768. They formed one of the ablest and most influential of the pamphlets for the American cause. Dickinson was the author of the following notable state papers of the Revolution : Resolutions in Relation to the Stamp Act, adopted by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, 1765 ; Declaration of Rights and Petition to the King, adopted by the Stamp Act Con- gress, 1765; Resolves of the Convention of Pennsylvania; Instruc- tions to the Representatives in Assembly; Essay on the Constitutional Power of Great Britain over the Colonies in America, in 1774 ; Ad- dress of Congress to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, 1774 ; Petition of Congress to the King^s Most Excellent Majesty, 1774, and the second Petition to the King, in 1775; The Declaration ly the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America, now met in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their talcing up Arms, 1775 " a powerful and noble paper" ; Instruc- tions of Pennsylvania to its Representatives in Congress, November, 1775, and June, 1776 ; Revision of the Mil of Rights for the State of Pennsylvania, July, 1776 ; the first draft of the Articles of Confed- eration, 1775. The authorship of these papers has justly given D'ick- insoii the title of " the Penman of the Revolution." It is claimed for him by Paul Leicester Ford, the editor of his Writings, that in the literature of the Revolution Dickinson was "as pre-eminent as "Wash- ington in war, Franklin in diplomacy, and Morris in finance." See Tyler's Literary History of the Revolution, vol. ii. chap. xxv. ; Writ- ings of John Dickinson, 'edited by P. L. Ford, an edition included among the issues of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, still in process of publication ; The Life and Times of Dickinson, by Charles J. Stille ; Magazine of American History, vol. viii. pp. 514-516, and vol. x. p. 223, cited by Tyler; Fiske's The American Revolution, vol. i. p. 47. 13. Otis's Rights of the Colonies Asserted and Proved and his Speech on the Writs of Assistance. - (a) Force's American Archives, Fourth Series, vol. i. (&) Tudor's Life of Otis. (c) John Adams's Letter to Tudor, Niles's Register, vol. xiv. p. 139. 14. Stephen Hopkins's Rights of the Colonies Examined, 1765. " One of the ablest as well as one of the most temperate expressions of the stand taken by the colonies " (Winsor). Found only in re- prints, 15. Jay, John. Works. Especially, Address to the British People, adopted by the Congress of 1774, and On the Peace Negotiations of 1782. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. XV 16. The State papers of the Continental Congress : the Declara- tion of Rights, by the Congress of 1765 ; the Virginia Re- solves ; the Declaration of Rights, by the Congress of 1774 ; the Address to the People of Great Britain ; the Articles of Association ; the Declaration of Independence ; the Articles of Confederation, and other papers, are reprinted, in part, in the Old South Studies (Heath & Co.) and in the American History Leaflets (Lovell & Co., New York). They may also be found in full in Force's American Archives, and, in part, in the following. 17. Niles's Principles and Acts of the Revolution. Speeches, Orations, Proceedings of the Revolutionary Period. The Journal of the Stamp Act Congress, 1765, with the instruc- tions to and form of appointment of the Delegates, and their Declaration of Rights, may be found in pp. 155-168, in the Centennial Edition of 1876. The full Table of Contents will indicate much interesting material. 18. Hart's American History told by Contemporaries, vol. ii. Selections from the Sources, being brief extracts from Frank- lin, Adams, Otis, Quincy, Pitt, Walpole, Dickinson, and others. 19. In the study of the contemporary material on the Revolution, the student should use Professor Moses Coit Tyler's Literary History of the American Revolution, 2 vols. This late and important work is devoted largely, in its subject-matter, to the political and historical controversy of the Revolution, embodying a contemporary record of the conflict. The work is of special value in giving very fully the arguments of the Loyalists. It sets forth, also, the work of Otis, the Adamses, Paine, Freneau, Stephen Hopkins, Dulany, Dickin- son, and other American controversialists. The chapters on " The Prelude of Political Debate " and " The Stamp Act as a Stimulant to Political Discussion " (vol. i.) will indicate the importance of this work to the student of our Revolutionary history. These volumes and their subject are reviewed in a valuable article on " The American Revolution," by Pro- fessor H. L. Osgood, of Columbia University, in the Political Science Quarterly for March, 1898. There is a very complete bibliography of the literature of the Revolution in the latter part of Volume II. of Professor Tyler's work. III. SECONDARY ENGLISH AUTHORITIES. 1. Mahon's History of England, vols. v. and vi. For the chap- ter on the colonies and treatment of the Stamp Act, see vol. v. ch. xliii. XVI BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. 2. May's Constitutional History of England, vol. ii. Chapter xvii. on " British Colonies and Dependencies," pp. 510-540 (Edition of 1863). 3. Doyle, John Andrew. The English in America, 3 vols. Lon- don, 1882, 1887. 4. Seeley's The Expansion of England. Chapter on " The Old Colonial System." 5. Green's History of the English People, vol. iv. 6. Grahame's History of America until the Declaration of Inde- pendence, vol. ii. pp. 348-530 (1845). A Scotch author. 7. Ludlow's The War of American. Independence. English Epoch Series. A valuable little volume. 8. Caldecott, English Colonization and Empire. 9. Massey's History of England during the Reign of George III., 3 vols. London, 1855. A Whig view. Especially chs. vi.- viii. vol. i. 10. Adolphus's History of England, from the Accession to the Decease of George III., 7 vols. (1840), chs. vii., ix., xiii. A Tory view. Adolphus maintains that American rebellion was fomented by religious influences and bodies, especially by Presbyterian synods. See p. 184 et seq., vol i. 11. Kingsford's History of Canada, 9 vols. Especially vols. v. vi. vii. IV. AMERICAN AND OTHER SECONDARY AUTHORITIES. 1. Pitkin's Political and Civil History of America, vol. i. p. 155 to vol. ii. p. 179. A valuable collection of material. 2. Ramsay, David. History of the American Revolution, 2 vols., 1816. " One of the most substantial and worthy accounts of our Revolutionary period." (Adams's Manual.) 3. Palfrey's History of New England, vol. v. book vi. chs. i.-xiii. 4. Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. vi. (a) The Revolution Impending, by Mellen Chamberlain, followed by a Critical Essay by Mr. Winsor, giving a copious list of authorities, pp. 1-112. (b) The Conflict Precipitated, by Justin Winsor. (c) The Sentiment of Independence, Its Growth and Con- summation, by George E. Ellis, pp. 231-274. (d) The West from the Treaty of Peace with France, 1763, to the treaty of Peace with England, 1783, by Wil- liam Frederick Poole, pp. 685-747. A ; nd other arti- cles on different phases of the Revolution. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. XVU 5. Fiske, John. The American Revolution, 2 vols. 6. Frothingham's Rise of the Republic of the United States. 7. Bancroft, George. History of the United States, 10 vols. 8. Tucker's History of the United States, 4 vols., 1841. Chiefly political. 9. Hildreth, Richard. History of the United States, 6 vols. 10. Bryant and Gay. Popular History of the United States, 4 vols. 11. Curtis, George Ticknor. Constitutional History of the United States, vol. i. 12. Balch's The French in America. 13. Campbell, Douglas. The Puritans in England, Holland, and America, 2 vols. 14. Sabine's The Loyalists of the American Revolution, 2 vols., 1864. 15. Wells's Life of Samuel Adams, 3 vols. 16. Hosmer, J. K. Life of Samuel Adams. Statesmen Series. 17. Tyler's Life of Patrick Henry ; Wirt's Life of Henry. 18. Bigelow's Life of Franklin, as told in his Writings, 3 vols. 19. Parton's Life of Franklin. 20. Parton's Life of Jefferson; Randall's Life of Jefferson; Tucker's Life ofJefferson; Morse's Jefferson. 21. Hart's Formation of the Union (Longmans' Epochs of Amer- ican History}. 22. Sloane's The French War and the Revolution (Scribner's Epochs of American History). 23. Marshall's Life of Washington. 24. "Woodburn's Causes of the American Revolution (Johns Hop- kins University Studies, Tenth Series, No. 12). A brief sum- mary of the political controversy between the colonies and the mother country. 25. Greene, G. W. Historical View of the American Revolution. 26. Lossing's Field Book of the American Revolution. 27. Channing's United States of America, 1765-1865; Channing's Students' History of the United States; McLaughlin's History of the American Nation ; Montgomery's Students' History of the United States; McMaster's School History of the United States. XV111 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. V. REFERENCE BOOKS. 1. Winsor's Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution. A small volume containing an analysis of the events of the Revolu- tion, with reference to the main sources of information on each. " It is like a continuous footnote to all histories of the American Revolu- tion. It points out sources, but it includes also the second-hand authorities." 2. Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. vi. The student will find here abundant references to all the sources and secondary authorities. 3. Charming and Hart's Guide to American History, pp. 288-008. A very useful student's guide to the principal material. 4. Charles Kendall Adams's Manual of Historical Literature. Contains a brief characterization of the principal authorities. 5. Mace's Manual of American History. 6. Tyler's The Literary History of the American Revolution, 2 vols. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. AMERICA, 1763-1776. PAQB Effects of the Peace of Paris on the American colonies . 1 Predictions of their separation from England . . . 2 Question of the cession of Canada 3 Impossibility of retaining the colonies by force . . . 6 Strong loyalty of the colonies 8 Their independence of each other 10 New England 13 The Middle States 18 Virginia 24 The other Southern colonies 20 Intellectual and material condition of the colonies . . 30 Their moral and political condition 34 Their relations to the mother country . . . .38 And to the Crown 41 Commercial restrictions 42 American smuggling 46 ' Writs of assistance ' 48 Elements of dissension . . . . . . . 49 Policy of Grenville. Eevision of the trade laws .52 Establishment of an army in the colonies . . . , 66 Determination to tax the colonies 59 XX CONTENTS. Earlier proposals to tax America ...... 01 Arguments in favour of it ....... 62 Franklin on a colonial army ....... 67 The Stamp Act ..... . . . . 6b Speech of Barre ......... 74 Taxation and representation ...... 75 Commercial concessions. Quartering Act . . . . 79 General resistance to the Stamp Act ..... 80 Impossibility of enforcing it . . . . . . 84 The Rockingham Ministry. General indifference to American affairs .... 84 Distress in the trading towns ...... 86 Meeting of Parliament (December 1765). The Opposition 86 Pitt justifies the Americans . . . . . .89 Government repeals the Stamp Act, but asserts the right to tax ....... . . . 93 Necessity of the Declaratory Act ..... 94 New revision of the commercial laws . . . . . 97 Opinion in America ........ 99 Governor Bernard ........ 101 New York refuses to obey the Mutiny Act. ' The Farmer's Letters ' ....... . . .104 The Chatham Ministry. Irritation in England against America ..... 105 Charles Townshend proposes to tax America . . . 107 Suspends the New York Assembly ...... 110 Establishes a new Board of Customs ..... 110 Imposes new duties for purposes of revenue . . ..110 Review of Townshend's policy . . . . . . Jll Reception of Townshend's measures in America . . . 113 Death of Townshend (September 1767) ..... 115 Changes in the Ministry. Ascendency of North . . . 117 Hillsborough censures the Massachusetts Circular . .117 Growing spirit of insurrection ...... 118 Samuel Adams ......... 119 Attitude of Massachusetts ....... 123 Attitude of the English Parliament, 1768 and 1769 . . 123 Revival of a law for trying traitors in England . . . 124 Determination to repeal all the duties except that on tea . 125 Recall of Bernard. Submission of New York . . . 126 The Boston massacre ........ 127 Acquittal of the soldiers. American humanity . . .130 The tea duty . . . . ....... 133 Abandonment of the non-importation agreements . . 135 CONTENTS. XXI PAGB The destruction of the Gaspee ' 136 Measure to protect the King's ships. Committees of cor- respondence 138 Benjamin Franklin 138 Sends Hutchinson's letters to America . . . . 145 Wedderburn's invective 150 The Boston tea ships 153 Impeachment of Oliver 154 English opinion on the American Question. Tucker advocates the cession of America . . . . 154 Adam Smith 156 Chatham ... 159 Burke 160 Parliament in favour of coercion 165 Closing of Boston harbour 165 Suspension of the Charter of Massachusetts . . . . 166 Soldiers to be tried in England 167 General Gage made Governor of Massachusetts. Quarter- ing Act 167 The Quebec Act 168 The other colonies support Boston 173 Numerous riots 175 Proclamation of Gage 179 The Congress at Philadelphia (September 1774) . . 180 General arming. How far Americans wished for indepen- dence 185 Illusions in America and in England .... 188 Divided opinion in America 19.1 The loyalists 192 Enrolment of an American army. Capture of Fort William 194 English Parliament meets, November 1774 . . . . 195 New efforts of conciliation by Chatham .... 196 By Burke, Hartley, &c 197 Parliament cuts off the trade of America. Increases the army at Boston 198 Conciliatory measure of North 199 Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775 201 Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775 203 Congress of Philadelphia, 1775 205 "Washington appointed commander. His life and character 206 Capture of Ticonderoga. Invasion of Canada . . . 214 Death of Montgomery. American retreat . . . .216 Lord Dunmore in Virginia 216 Proceedings in the Middle and Southern colonies . . 217 The negroes and Indians 219 XX11 CONTENTS. PAGE The English party in America % 2 2 Misgivings in America . 223 The army of Washington . .. . .. .226 Dilatoriness of Gage . . 230 Replaced by Howe. Situation of the Americans, December 1775 232 Boston evacuated, March 17, 1776 234 Paine's ' Common Sense ' 234 Motives leading to separation . . 235 The French Alliance . 237 Difficulty of England in raising soldiers 240 Enlistment of German mercenaries 243 Produces the Declaration of Independence . . . . 244 CHAPTER II. America, 1776. American forces at New York fc 248 Advance of Howe 249 New York taken Sept. 15 . . *. *'.,'.. . ..250 Americans propose to burn it . 250 Fire at New York 252 Demoralisation of the American army 253 Loyalist movements 255 Causes of their impotence 258 Washington retreats to New Jersey 261 English take Crown Point and recover Lake Champlain . . 262 Their unsuccessful attack on Charleston. They occupy Rhode Island . . 262 Employment of Indians 263 Creation of an American navy 266 Deplorable condition of Washington's army . . .268 Capture of Lee 271 Washington passes the Delaware 272 Brilliant prospects of the English 274 Congress fly to Baltimore. Letter of Robert Morris . . 276 Incapacity of Howe 278 Washington surprises Trenton 280 Revulsion of feeling against the English . . . . 280 Misconduct of English soldiers 281 The English retire 282 Enlistment of the new American army .... 283 Impotence of Congress 285 Paper money 287 Regulation of prices 290 Paper made legal tender 291 CONTENTS. XX111 PAGE Moral effects of these measures 291 General prospects of the war 294 Foreign intervention necessary to American success . . 296 Policy of France. Memorial of Vergennes 296 Memorial of Turgot 299 French subsidise the Americans ...'... 301 American commissioners at Paris . . . . . 302 Continental opinion generally in favour of the Americans . 304 French public opinion 305 Enthusiasm for Franklin 307 Marie Antoinette and the Americans 309 Foreign enlistments for America . . . . ^ . . 310 America, 1777. Difficulties of Washington in New Jersey. State of his army 313 Predatory expeditions. Howe marches on Philadelphia . . 316 Battle of Brandy wine. Occupation of Philadelphia . .317 Fresh English successes. Pennsylvanian loyalty . . . 318 Winter at Valley Forge 319 Burgoyne made Commander of the Northern army . . . 321 His speech to the Indians. Advance on Ticonderoga . .322 Capture of Ticonderoga. Flight of the Americans . . 323 Growing difficulties of Burgoyne . . . . 324 Battle of Stillwater . . . . ' . . . . 325 Capitulation of Saratoga 327 Leads at once to the French alliance 327 England, 1776-1778. Popularity of the war at the close of 1776 .... 329 Attempt to burn dockyards 329 Despondency of the. Whigs 331 Their open advocacy of the American caus3 . . . . 332 Uncompromising attitude of the King . . . . . 336 Conduct of North 338 Speech of Chatham 341 Overtures to Franklin. North's conciliatory measures . . 342 Three English commissioners sent to America . . . 346 England and France at war 347 General desire for Chatham 348 Determination of the King not to accept him . . . . 350 Compared with his attitude towards Fox in 1804 . . 352 Death of Chatham, May 1788 354 XXIV CONTENTS. PAGE How regarded by contemporary statesmen . . . .855 Growth of the military spirit 356 1778-1779. The Mischianza 358 Evacuation of Philadelphia 369 Failure of the Franco-American expedition against Rhode Island 360 Other expeditions in 1788 361 Disputes in the American army 362 Half-pay 362 Yiolation of the Convention of Saratoga .... 364 English conduct the war more fiercely 366 Despair^of the loyalists 368 American humanity . . ^ 369 Jealousy between the Americans and the French. Projected invasion of Canada :/* ... 370 Distress in America. Rise of prices . . . . .374 Vergennes fears that the Revolution will fail . . . . 375 CHAPTER III. Paul Jones 378 Effects of the depreciation of American paper . . . 379 English devastations in Virginia and Connecticut . . 381 Americans attack the Six nations 382 War in the South. State of opinion 383 French and Americans fail before Savannah . , 384 1780. English take Charleston 385 Subjugation of South Carolina 386 Battle of Camden. Surprise of Sumpter .... 388 Severe treatment of insurgents 389 Failure of the English invasion of North Carolina . . 390 The Northern army. Complaints of Washington . . . 391 Discontent and discouragement of the Americans . . 394 The Revolution completely dependent on France . . . 398 Arrival of the French fleet at Newport .... 399 Congress jealous of the army 401 Treason of Lee 402 Treason of Arnold 403 Execution of Major Andre 414 Conduct of Washington 418 CONTENTS. XXV PAGE Conclusion of the American campaign of 1780 . . . 419 New measures for enlisting soldiers , . . .421 Partial bankruptcy of America 421 1781. Tendencies toward peace . . ... . . 425 Mission of John Adams 426 Proposals of Vergennes 427 King resolved not to yield 428 Gradual change of sentiment in the country . . .430 The economical reform question. Public meetings . . 432 Dunning's resolution in 1780 433 Vacillation of Parliament 434 Mutiny of the Pennsylvania line 434 Mutiny of the New Jersey troops 436 Battle of Cowpens 437 Savage character of the Southern war 439 Arnold in Virginia 441 Washington's design on New York 443 Great depression of the Americans 444 Generosity of France 447 Predatory war in Virginia 448 The English at Yorktown 450 Washington and Rochambeau march to Virginia . . .451 De Grasse enters the Chesapeake 452 Destruction of New London 453 Surrender of Yorktown 454 Arrival of the news in England 456 Long succession of disasters . . . . . . . 457 Resignation of North (March 20) 458 Despair of the King . 458 CHAPTER IV. State of affairs in America, 1782 459 Disaffection in the American army 461 Financial difficulties in America 463 General desire for peace 464 Preliminary articles of peace with France and Spain . . 465 Preliminary articles of peace with the United States . . 466 Differences between the Americans and French . . . 469 The fisheries. Canada 470 The Mississippi boundary 471 XXVl CONTENTS. PAGE The American Commissioners sign the preliminaries se- cretly 474 Apologies of Franklin . . . . . . .476 Motives of the French in the negotiation . . . . 478 Effect of the secret signature 479 Summary of the results of the war 479 The loyalists 480 Compensated by England 484 NOTES . . . 486 INDEX , 503 HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY CHAPTER I. 1 AMERICA, 1763-1776. AT the time of the Peace of Paris in 1763, the thirteen American colonies which were afterwards detached from the English Crown contained, according to the best computation, about a million and a half freemen, and their number probably slightly exceeded two millions at the time of the Declaration of Independence. No part of the British Empire had gained so largely by the late war and by the ministry of Pitt. The expulsion of the French from Canada and of the Spaniards from Florida, by removing for ever the danger of foreign interference, had left the colonists almost absolute masters of their destinies, and had dispelled the one dark cloud which hung over their future. No serious danger any longer menaced them. No limits could be assigned to their expansion. Their exultation was un- bounded, and it showed itself in an outburst of genuine loyalty. The name of Pittsburg given to the fortress erected where Fort Duquesne had once stood attested the gratitude of America to the minister to whom she 1 Chapter XL Lecky's History of England in the Eiyhieenth Century. 2 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. owed so much. Massachusetts, the foremost of the New England States, voted a costly monument in West- minster Abbey to Lord Howe, who had fallen in the conquest of Canada. The assembly of the same State in a congratulatory address to the Governor declared that without the assistance of the parent State they must have fallen a prey to the power of France, that without the compensation granted to them by Parliament the burdens of the war would have been insupportable, that without the provisions of the treaty of peace all their successes would have been delusive. In an address to the King they repeated the same acknowledgment, and pledged themselves, in terms to which later events gave a strange significance, to demonstrate their gratitude by every possible testimony of duty and loyalty. 1 Several acute observers had already predicted that the triumph of England would be soon followed by the revolt of her colonies. I have quoted in a former chapter the remarkable passage in which the Swedish traveller, Kalm, contended in 1748 that the presence of the French in Canada, by making the English colonists depend for their security on the support of the mother country, was the main cause of the submission of the colonies. In his ' Notes upon England/ which were probably written about 1730, Montesquieu had dilated upon the restrictive character of the English commercial code, and had expressed his belief that England would be the first nation abandoned by her colonies. A few years later, Argenson, who has left some of the most striking political predictions upon record, foretold in his Memoirs that the English colonies in America would one day rise against the mother 1 Grahame's Hist, of the chinson's Hist, of Massachusetts United States, iv. 94, 95. Hut- Bay from 1749 to 1774, p. 101. CH. xi. PREDICTIONS OF AMERICAN REVOLT. O country, that they would form themselves into a re- public, and that they would astonish the world by their prosperity. In a discourse delivered before the Sorbonne in 1750 Turgot compared colonies to fruits which only remain on the stem till they have reached the period of maturity, and he prophesied that America would some day detach herself from the parent tree. The French ministers consoled themselves for the Peace of Paris by the reflection that the loss of Canada was a sure prelude to the independence of the colonies ; and Vergennes, the sagacious French ambassador at Constantinople, predicted to an English traveller, with striking accuracy, the events that would occur. ' England/ he said, * will soon repent of having removed the only check that could keep her colonies in awe. They stand no longer in need of her protection. She will call on them to con- tribute towards supporting the burdens they have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking off all dependence.' l It is not to be supposed that Englishmen were wholly blind to this danger. One of the ablest advo- cates of the retention of Canada was the old Lord Bath, who published a pamphlet on the subject which had a very wide influence and circulation ; 2 but there were a few politicians who maintained that it would be wiser to restore Canada and to retain Guadaloupe, with perhaps Martinico and St. Lucia. This view was sup- ported with distinguished talent in an anonymous reply to Lord Bath, which is said to have been written b) William Burke, the friend and kinsman of the great orator. Canada, this writer argued, was not one of the original objects of the war, and we had no original right to it. The acquisition of a vast, barren, and almost un- 1 Bancroft's Hist, of the United * Letter to Two Great Men on States, i. 525. tlie Prospect of Peace. 1 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. inhabited country, lying in an inhospitable climate, and with no commerce except that of furs and skins, was economically far less valuable to England than the acquisition of Guadaloupe, which was one of the most important of the sugar islands. Before the war France had a real superiority in the West Indies, and the English Caribbean islands were far more endangered by the French possession of Guadaloupe, than the English American colonies by the French possession of Canada. The latter danger was, indeed, never great, and by a slight modification of territory and the erection of a few forts it might be reduced to insignificance. England in America was both a far greater continental and a far greater naval Power than France, and she had an im- mense superiority both in population and position. But in addition to these considerations, it was urged, an island colony is more advantageous than a continental one, for it is necessarily more dependent upon the mother country. In the New England provinces there are already colleges and academies where the American youth can receive their education. America produces, or can easily produce, almost everything she wants. Her population and her wealth are rapidly increasing ; and as the colonies recede more and more from the sea, the necessity for their connection with England will steadily diminish. * They will have nothing to expect, they must live wholly by their own labour, and in pro- cess of time will know little, inquire little, and care little about the mother country. If the people of our colonies find no check from Canada they will extend themselves almost without bounds into the inland parts. . . . What the consequence will be to have a nume- rous, hardy, independent people possessed of a strong country, communicating little or not at all with England, I leave to your own reflections. ... By eagerly grasping at extensive territory we may run the risk, and that CH. xi. SHOULD CANADA BE RETAINED? 5 perhaps in no very distant period, of losing what we now possess. The possession of Canada, far from being necessary to our safety, may in its consequences be even dangerous. A neighbour that keeps us in some awe is not always the worst of neighbours. So far from sacrificing Guadaloupe to Canada, perhaps if we might have Canada without any sacrifice, we ought not tc desire it. ... There is a balance of power in America as well as in Europe.' l These views are said to have been countenanced by Lord Hardwicke, 2 but the tide of opinion ran strongly in the opposite direction. Mauduit as well as Bath wrote in favour of the retention of Canada, and their arguments were supported by Franklin, who in a re- markable pamphlet sketched the great undeveloped capabilities of the colonies, and ridiculed the * visionary fear ' that they could ever be combined against England. 3 Pitt was strongly on the same side. The nation had learned to look with pride and sympathy upon that greater England which was growing up beyond the 1 Remarks on the Letter Ad- country to establish it for them. dressed to Two Great Men, pp. Nothing but the immediate com- 30, 31. mand of the Crown has been able 2 Hutchinson's History of to produce even the imperfect Massachusetts Bay from 1749 union but lately seen there of to 1774, p. 100. Hardwicke, the forces of some colonies. If however, is said to have been they could not agree to unite for governed exclusively by commer- their defence against the French cial considerations. and Indians . . . can it reason- 8 * Their jealousy of each other ably be supposed there is any is so great, that however neces- danger of their uniting against sary a union of the colonies has their own nation, which protects long been for their common de- and encourages them, with which fenoa and security against their they have so many connections enemies, and how sensible soever and ties of blood, interest, and each colony has been of that affection, and which, it is well necessity, yet they have never known, they all love much more been able to effect such a union than they love one another? * among themselves, nor even to Canada Pamphlet, Franklin's >gree in requesting the mother Works, iv. 41, 42. 6 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. Atlantic, and there was a desire which was not un- generous or ignoble to remove at any risk the one obstacle to its future happiness. It was felt that the colonists who had contributed so largely to the conquest of Cape Breton had been shamefully sacrificed at the Peace of Aix-la-Ohapelle, when that province was re- stored to France ; and that the expulsion of the French from Canada was essential, not only to the political and commercial prosperity of the Northern colonists, but also to the security of their homes. The Indian tribes clustered thickly around the disputed frontier, and the French being numerically very inferior to the English, had taken great pains to conciliate them, and at the same time to incite them against the English. Six times within eighty-five years the horrors of Indian war had devastated the northern and eastern frontier. 1 The Peace of Paris, by depriving the Indians of French support, was one of the most important steps to their subjection. To any statesman who looked upon the question without passion and without illusion, it must have appeared evident that if the English colonies resolved to sever themselves from the British Empire, it would be impossible to prevent them. Their population is said to have doubled in twenty-five years. They were sepa- rated from the mother country by three thousand miles of water. Their seaboard extended for more than one thousand miles. Their territory was almost boundless in its extent and in its resources, and the greater part of it was still untraversed and unexplored. To conquer such a country would be a task of great difficulty, and of ruinous expense. To hold it in opposition to the general wish of the people would be impossible. Eng- land by her command of the sea might easily destroy ita Hildreth's History of the United States, ii. 496. CH. xi. MILITARY CAPABILITIES OF AMERICA. 7 commerce, disturb its fisheries, bombard its seaboard towns, and deprive it of many of the luxuries of life, but she could strike no vital blow. The colonists were chiefly small and independent freeholders, hardy backwoods- men and hunters, universally acquainted with the use of arms, and with all the resources and energies which life in a new country seldom fails to develop. They had representative assemblies to levy taxes and organise re- sistance. They had militias which in some colonies in- cluded all adult freemen between the ages of sixteen or eighteen and fifty or sixty ; 1 and in addition to the Indian raids, they had the military experience of two great wars. The capture of Louisburg in 1 749 had been mainly their work, and although at the beginning of the following war they exhibited but little alacrity, Pitt, by promising that the expenses should be reimbursed by the British Parliament, had speedily called them to arms. In the latter stages of the war more than 2 0,000 colonial troops, 10,000 of them from New England alone, had been continually in the field, and more than 400 priva- teers had been fitted out in the colonial harbours. 2 The colonial troops were, it is true, only enlisted fora single campaign, and they therefore never attained the steadi- ness and discipline of English veterans ; but they had co-operated honourably in the conquest of Canada, and 1 Burnaby's Travels in North ticularly, there is an express law America. Pinkerton'a Voyages, by which every man is obliged xiii. 725, 728, 749. Gerard to have a musket, a pound of Hamilton, in a letter written in powder, and a pound of bullets 1767, said: ' There are in the dif- always by him, so there is no- ferent provinces above a million thing wanting but knapsacks (or of people of which we may sup- old stockings, which will do as pose nd that of Franklin, Works, i. Grahame, iv. 180. CH. xi. RECEPTION OF THE SCHEME. 71 sylvanians alone made some advance in the direction of compromise by resolving that, ' as they always had thought, so they always shall think it their duty to grant aid to the Crown, according to their abilities, whenever required of them in the usual constitutional manner/ but they took no measure to carry their resolution into effect. In New England the doctrine that Parliament had no right whatever to legislate for America was now loudly proclaimed, and Otis was as usual active in fan- ning resistance to the Government. It w T as obvious that a very dangerous spirit was arising in the colonies. A few voices were raised in favour of the admission of American representatives into Parliament ; but this plan, which was advocated by Otis and supported by the great names of Franklin and of Adam Smith, would have encountered enormous practical difficulties, and it found few friends in either country. Grenville himself, however, appears to have for a time seriously contemplated it. As he was accus- tomed to say to his friends, he had never entertained the smallest design against' American liberty, and the sole object of his colonial policy was to induce or oblige America to contribute to the expense of her own de- fence in the same manner as Ireland. He had consulted the ' lonial agents in order that the colonies might themselves suggest the form of the contribution, and establish the precedent of being always in such cases consulted. He had deferred the Stamp Act for a whole year in order that the colonies might, if they chose, make imperial taxation unnecessary ; and if the Ame- ricans thought that their liberties would become more secure by the introduction of American representatives into the British Parliament, he was quite ready to sup- port such a scheme. 1 He would probably, however, 1 See Knox's Extra-official Papers, ii. 24, 25, 31-33. Hutchin- 7 72 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. have found it not easy to carry in England, and it was soon after utterly repudiated in America. At the same time, after the open denial of the competence of Parlia- ment to tax the colonies, it was especially difficult to recede, and Grenville had some reason to think that the colonial addresses exaggerated the sentiments of the people. When the project was first laid before the agents of the colonies, the Agent for Rhode Island was the only one who unequivocally repudiated it. 1 The form of the tax was not one which would naturally at- tract much attention, and it might be hoped that public opinion would soon look upon it as of the same nature as the postal revenue which the Imperial Parliament had long levied in the colonies. In February 1765 the agents of several of the colonies had an interview with Grenville, and made one last effort to dissuade him from introducing the measure. Grenville, in his reply, expressed his sincere regret if he was exciting resentments in America, but, he said, * it is the duty of my office to manage the revenue. I havb really been made to believe that, considering the whole circumstances of the mother country and the colonies, the latter can and ought to pay something to the public cause. I know of no better way than that now pursuing to lay such a tax. If you can tell of a better I will adopt it.' Benjamin Franklin, who had shortly before come over as Agent for Philadelphia, son's Hist, of Massachusetts, p. as well as the Lower House would 112. In his Notes on the United have set at rest the whole ques- States, Sir Augustus Foster, who tion.' Lord Liverpool was accus- was English Secretary of Lega- tomed to say that no serious re- tion at Washington, 1804-1806, sistance to the Stamp Act would mentions that both Jefferson have been made, if Grenville had and his successor in the Presi- carried it at once without leaving dency, Madison, expressed their a year for discussion. See Quar- belief that ' the timely conces- terly Review, No. cxxxv. p. 37. sion of a few seats in the Upper * See Grahame, iv. 188. CH. ix. THE STAMP ACT. 1 1> presented the resolution of the Assembly of his pro- vince, and urged that the demand for money should be made in the old constitutional way to the Assembly of each province in the form of a requisition by the governor. ' Can you agree/ rejoined Grenville, ' on the proportions each colony should raise?' The question touched the heart of the difficulty ; the agents were obliged to answer in the negative, and the interview speedily closed. A few days later the fatal Bill was introduced into a nearly empty House, and it passed through all its stages almost unopposed. It made it necessary for all bills, bonds, leases, policies of insu- rance, newspapers, broadsides, and legal documents of all kinds to be written on stamped paper, to be sold by public officers at varying prices prescribed by the law. The proceeds were to be paid into his Majesty's treasury, and they were to be applied, under the direc- tion of the Parliament, exclusively to the protection and defence of the colonies. 1 Offences against the Stamp Act were to be cognisable in America as in England by the Courts of Admiralty, and without the intervention of juries. In order to soften the opposition, and to con- sult, to the utmost of his power, the wishes of the colo- nists, Grenville informed the colonial agents that the distribution of the stamps should be confided not to Englishmen but to Americans, and he requested them to name such persons in their respective provinces as they thought best qualified for the purpose and most acceptable to the inhabitants. They all complied with the request, and Franklin named one of his intimate friends as stamp distributor for Pennsylvania. The Stamp Act, when its ultimate consequences are considered, must be deemed one of the most momentou8 legislative Acts in the history of mankind ; but in Eng- 1 5 Geo. III. o. 12. 74 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. land it passed almost completely unnoticed. The Wilkes excitement absorbed public attention, and no English politician appears to have realised the importance of the measure. It is scarcely mentioned in the contemporary correspondence of Horace Walpole, of Grenville, or of Pitt. Burke, who was not yet a member of the House of Commons, afterwards declared that he had followed the debate from the gallery, and that he had never heard a more languid one in the House ; that not more than two or three gentlemen spoke against the Bill ; that there was but one division in the whole course of the discussion, and that the minority in that division was not more than thirty-nine or forty. In the House of Lords he could not remember that there had been either a debate or division, and he was certain that there was no protest. 1 Pitt was at this time confined to his bed by illness, and Conway, Beckford, and Barre appear to have been almost the only opponents of the measure. The latter, whose American experience during the Canadian war had given him considerable weight, described the colonists, in a fine piece of declamation, as ' sons of liberty ' planted in America by the oppres- sion and strengthened by the neglect of England, and he predicted that the same love of freedom which had led them into an uncultivated and inhospitable country, and had supported them through so many hardships and so many dangers, would accompany them still, and would inspire them with an indomitable resolution to 1 Burke's speech on American who is the present Pitt and the taxation, April 1774. The follow- dread of all the vociferous Norths ing is Horace Walpole's sole no- and Kigbys, on whose lungs de- tice of the measure : There has pended so much of Mr. Gren- been nothing of note in Parlia- ville's power.' Walpole to Hert- ment but one slight day on the ford, Feb. 12, 1765. Beckford, American taxes, which Charles some years later, mentioned that Townshend supporting, received he had opposed the St imp Act. ft pretty heavy thump from Barr6, Cavendish Debates, i. 41. Cfi. xi. TAXATION AND REPRESENTATION. 75 vindicate their violated liberty. His words appear to have excited no attention in England, and were not even reported in the contemporary parliamentary his- tory ; but they were at once transmitted to America by the Agent for Connecticut, who had been present in the gallery, and they contributed not a little to stimulate the flame. The ' sons of liberty ' became from this time the favourite designation of the American associations against the Stamp Act. In truth, the measure, although it was by no means as unjust or as unreasonable as has been alleged, and although it might perhaps in some periods of colonial history have passed almost unperceived, did unquestion- ably infringe upon a principle which the English race both at home and abroad have always regarded with a peculiar jealousy. The doctrine that taxation and re- presentation are in free nations inseparably connected, that constitutional government is closely connected with the rights of property, and that no people can be legi- timately taxed except by themselves or their represen- tatives, lay at the very root of the English conception of political liberty. The same principle that had led the English people to provide so carefully in the Great Charter, in a well-known statute of Edward L, and in the Bill of Rights, that no taxation should be drawn from them except by the English Parliament ; the same principle which had gradually invested the representa- tive branch of the Legislature with the special and peculiar function of granting supplies, led the colonists to maintain that their liberty would be destroyed if they were taxed by a Legislature in which they had no representatives, and which sat 3,000 miles from their shore. It was a principle which had been respected by Henry VIII. and Elizabeth in the most arbitrary mo- ments of their reigns, and its violation by Charles I. was one of the chief causes of the Rebellion. The prin- 76 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cs. XL ciple which led Hampden to refuse to pay 20s. of ship money was substantially the same as that which inspired the resistance to the Stamp Act. It might be impos- sible to show by the letter of the law that there was any generical distinction between taxing and other legislative Acts ; but in the constitutional traditions of the English people a broad line did undoubtedly exist. As Burke truly said, ' the great contests for freedom in this country were from the earliest times chiefly on the question of taxing.' The English people have always held that as long as their representatives retain the power of the purse they will be able at last to check every extravagance of tyranny, but that whenever this is given up the whole fabric of their liberty is under- mined. The English Parliament had always abstained from imposing taxes on Wales until Welsh members sat among them. When the right of self-taxation was withdrawn from Convocation, the clergy at once assumed and exercised the privilege of voting for Members of Parliament in virtue of their ecclesiastical freeholds. The English Parliament repeatedly asserted its autho- rity over the Parliament of Ireland, and it often exerted it in a manner which was grossly tyrannical; but it never imposed any direct tax upon the Irish people. The weighty language of Henry Cromwell, who governed Ireland in one of the darkest periods of her history, was remembered : ' I am glad, 3 he wrote, * to hear that as well non-legal as contra-legal ways of raising money are not hearkened to. ... Errors in raising money are the compendious ways to cause a general discon- tent; for whereas other things are but the concern- ments of some, this is of all. Wherefore, I hope God will in His mercy not lead us into temptation.' l 1 H. Cromwell to Thnrloe, February 24, 1657. Thurloe State Papers, vi. 820. CH. xi. TAXATION AND REPRESENTATION. 7? It is quite true that this theory, like that of the social contract which has also borne a great part in the history of political liberty, will not bear a severe and philosophical examination. The opponents of the American claims were able to reply, with undoubted truth, that at least nine-tenths of the English people had no votes; that the great manufacturing towns, which contributed so largely to the public burdens, were for the most part wholly unrepresented ; that the minority in Parliament voted only in order to be syste- matically overruled ; and that, in a country where the constituencies were as unequal as in England, that minority often represented the large majority of the voters. It was easy to show that the financial system of the country .consisted chiefly of a number of parti- cular taxes imposed on particular classes and industries, and that in the great majority of cases these taxes were levied not only without the consent but in spite of the strenuous opposition of the representatives of those who paid them. The doctrine that ' whatever a man has honestly acquired is absolutely his own, and cannot without robbery be taken from him, except by his own consent,' if it were applied rigidly to taxation, would reduce every society to anarchy; for there is no tax which on such principles a large proportion of the tax- payers would not be authorised in resisting. It was a first principle of the Constitution that a Member of Parliament was the representative not merely of his own constituency, but also of the whole Empire. Men con- nected with, or at least specially interested in the colo- nies, always found their way into Parliament ; and the very fact that the colonial arguments were maintained ( with transcendent power within its walls was sufficient to show that the colonies were virtually represented. Such arguments gave an easy dialectic victory to the supporters of the Stamp Act ; but in the eyes of a 78 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Ctt. xs. true statesman they are very insufficient. Severe accu- racy of definition, refinement and precision of reasoning, are for the most part wholly out of place in practical politics. It might be true that there was a line where internal and external taxation, taxation for purposes of commerce and taxation for. purposes of revenue, faded imperceptibly into one another; but still there was a broad, rough distinction between the two provinces which was sufficiently palpable to form the basis of a colonial policy. The theory connecting representation with taxation was susceptible of a similar justification. A Parliament elected by a considerable part of the English people, drawn from the English people, sitting in the midst of them, and exposed to their social and intellectual influence, was assumed to. represent the whole nation, and the decision of its majority was assumed to be the decision of the whole. If it be asked how these assumptions could be defended, it can only be answered that they had rendered possible a form of government which had arrested the incursions of the royal prerogative, had given England a longer period and a larger measure of self-government than was enjoyed by any other great European nation, and had created a public spirit sufficiently powerful to defend the liberties that had been won. Such arguments, however worthless they might appear to a lawyer or a theorist, ought to be very sufficient to a statesman. Manchester and Sheffield had no more direct represen- tation in Parliament than Boston or Philadelphia ; but the relations of unrepresented Englishmen and of colo- nists to the English Parliament were very different. Parliament could never long neglect the fierce beatings of the waves of popular discontent around its walls. It might long continue perfectly indifferent to the wishes of a population 3,000 miles from the English shore. When Parliament taxed the English people, the taxing CH. xi. TAXATION AND REPRESENTATION. 79 body itself felt the weight of the burden it imposed ; but Parliament felt no part of the weight of colonial taxation, and had therefore a direct interest in increas- ing it. The English people might justly complain that they were taxed by a body in which they were very imperfectly represented ; but this was a widely different thing from being taxed by the Legislature of another country. To adopt the powerful language of an Irish writer, no free people will ever admit ' that persons dis- tant from them 1,000 leagues are to tax them to what amount they please, without their consent, without knowing them or their concerns, without any sympathy of affection or interest, without even sharing themselves in the taxes they impose on the contrary, diminishing their own burdens exactly in the degree they increase theirs.' l The Stamp Act received the royal assent on March 22, 1765, and it was to come into operation on the 1st of November following. It was accompanied by a mea- sure granting the colonies bounties for the import of their timber into England, permitting them to export it freely to Ireland, Madeira, the Azores, and any part of Europe south of Cape Finisterre ; and in some other ways slightly relaxing the trade restrictions. 2 A mea- sure was also passed which obliged the colonists to provide the British troops stationed among them with quarters, and also with fire, candles, beds, vinegar, and salt. Neither of these measures, however, at the time excited much attention, and public interest in the colo- nies was wholly concentrated upon the Stamp Act. The long delay, which had been granted in the hope that it might lead to some proposal of compromise from America, had been sedulously employed by skilful 1 Considerations on the Depen- 1769, p. 75. dencies of Great Britain (by Sir 2 5 Geo. HI. o. 45. Hercules Langrishe), Dublin, 80 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xr. agitators in stimulating the excitement ; and when the news arrived that the Stamp Act had been carried, the train was fully laid, and the indignation of the colonies rose at once into a flame. Virginia set the example by a series of resolutions which were termed ' the alarum bell to the disaffected,' and which were speedily copied in the other provinces. They declared that the colo- nists were entitled by charter to all the liberties and privileges of natural-born subjects ; * that the taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, ... is the distinguish- ing characteristic of British freedom, without which tha ancient constitution cannot exist,' and that this inesti- mable right had always been recognised by the King and people of Great Britain as undoubtedly belonging to the colonies. A congress of representatives of nine States was held at New York, and in an extremely able State paper they drew up the case of the colonies. They acknowledged that they owed allegiance to the Crown, and * all due subordination to that august body, the Parliament of Great Britain ; ' but they maintained that they were entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of natural-born subjects ; * that it is insepar- ably essential to the freedom of a people, and the un- doubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them but with their own consent, given personally or by their representatives ; ' that the colonists ; are not, and from their local circumstances cannot be, re- presented in the House of Commons of Great Britain ; ' that the only representatives of the colonies, and there- fore the only persons constitutionally competent to tax them, were the members chosen in the colonies by themselves ; and * that all supplies of the Crown being free gifts from the people, it is unreasonable and incon- sistent with the principles and spirit of the British Constitution for the people of Great Britain to grant to CH. xi. RIOTS IN AMERICA. 81 his Majesty the property of the colonies.' A petition to the King and memorials to both Houses of Parlia- ment were drawn up embodying these views. 1 It was not, however, only by such legal measures that the opposition was shown. A furious outburst of popular violence speedily showed that it would be im- possible to enforce the Act. In Boston, Oliver, the secretary of the province, who had accepted the office of stamp distributor, was hung in effigy on a tree in the main street of the town. The building which had been erected as a Stamp Office was levelled with the dust ; the house of Oliver was attacked, plundered, and wrecked, and he was compelled by the mob to resign his office and to swear beneath the tree on which his effigy had been so ignominiously hung, that he never would resume it. A few nights later the riots recommenced with redoubled fury. The houses of two of the leading, officials connected with the Admiralty Court and with the Custom-house were attacked and rifled, and the files and records of the Admiralty Court were burnt. The mob, intoxicated with the liquors which they had found in one of the cellars they had plundered, next turned to the house of Hutchinson, the Lieutenant- Governor and Chief Justice of the province. Hutchin- son was not only the second person in rank in the colony, he was also a man who had personal claims of the highest kind upon his countrymen. He was an American, a Calvinist, a member of one of the oldest colonial families, and in a country where literary enter- prise was very uncommon he had devoted a great part of his life to investigating the history of his native pro- vince. His rare ability, his stainless private character, and his great charm of manner were universally recog- nised ; * he had at one time been one of the most 1 See Story's Constitution of 9 See Tudor 's Life of Otis, pp. the United States, i. 175, 176. 424-433. 82 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xi. popular men in the colony, and he had been selected by the great majority of the Assembly as their agent to oppose in England the restrictive commercial laws of Grenville. Bernard, however, considering this posi- tion incompatible with the office of Lieutenant-Governor, which Hutchinson had held since 1758, induced him to decline it; and although Hutchinson was opposed to the policy of the Stamp Act, the determination with which he acted as Chief Justice in supporting the law soon made him obnoxious to the mob. He had barely time to escape with his family, when his house, which was the finest in Boston, was attacked and destroyed. His plate, his furniture, his pictures, the public docu- ments in his possession, and a noble library which he had spent thirty years in collecting, were plundered and burnt. Resolutions were afterwards carried in the town for suppressing riots, but nothing was done, and it was evident that the prevailing feeling was with the rioters. Mayhew, one of the most popular preachers of Boston, had just before denounced the Stamp Act from the pulpit, preaching from the text, * I would that they were even cut off which trouble you/ A leading trades- man who had been notoriously a ringleader was appre- hended by the sheriffs, but he was released without inquiry in consequence of a large portion of the civic guard having threatened to disband themselves if he were committed to prison. Eight or ten persons of inferior note were actually imprisoned, but the mob compelled the gaoler to surrender the keys and release them, and not a single person was really punished. 1 The flame rapidly spread. In the newly annexed provinces, indeed, and in most of the West India islands, the Act was received without difficulty, but in 1 Holmes' Annals of America, nual Register, 1765. Adams' 1765. Grahame's Hist. iv. An- Diary, Works, ii. 156. CH. xi. RIOTS IN AMERICA. 83 nearly every American colony those who had consented to be stamp distributors were hung and burnt in effigy, and compelled by mob violence to resign their posts.- The houses of many who were known to be supporters of the Act or sympathisers with the Government were attacked and plundered. Some were compelled to fly from the colonies, and the authority of the Home Government was exposed to every kind of insult. In New York the effigy of the Governor was paraded with that of the devil round the town and then publicly burnt, and threatening letters were circulated menacing the lives of those who distributed stamps. 1 The mer- chants of the chief towns entered into agreements to order no more goods from England, to cancel all orders already given, in some cases even to send no remittances to England in payment of their debts, till the Stamp Act was repealed. The lawyers combined to make no use of the stamped papers. In order that the colonies might be able to dispense with assistance from England, great efforts were made to promote manufactures. The richest citizens set the example of dressing in old or homespun clothes rather than wear new clothes im- ported from England; and in order to supply the deficiency of wool, a general agreement was made to abstain from eating lamb. When the 1st of November arrived, the bells were tolled as for the funeral of a nation. The flags were hung half-mast high. The shops were shut, and the Stamp Act was hawked about with the inscription, * The folly of England and the ruin of America.' The newspapers were obliged by the new law to bear the stamp, which probably contributed much to the extreme virulence of their opposition, and many of them now 1 Documents relating to the Colonial Hist, of New York, vii, 770-775. 84 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. appeared with a death's head in the place where the stamp should have been. It was found not only im- possible to distribute stamps, but even impossible to keep them in the colonies, for the mob seized on every box which was brought from England and com- mitted it to the flames. Stamps were required for the validity of every legal document, yet in most of the colonies not a single sheet of stamped paper could be found. The law courts were for a time closed, and almost all business was suspended. At last the governors, considering the impossibilty of carrying on public business or protecting property under these con- ditions, took the law into their own hands, and issued letters authorising non-compliance with the Act on the ground that it was absolutely impossible to procure the requisite stamps in the colony. The determination of the opponents of the Act was all the greater because in the interval between its en- actment and the period in which it was to come into operation a change had taken place in the Administra- tion at home. The Grenville Ministry had fallen in July, and had been succeeded by that of Rockingham ; and Conway, who had been one of the few opponents of the Stamp Act, was now Secretary of State for the Colonies. Up to this time colonial affairs had scarcely excited any attention in the English political world. The Duke of Cumberland, in a long and detailed memorial, 1 has recounted the negotiations he was instructed to carry on with Pitt in April and May 1765, with a view to inducing that statesman to combine with the Rocking- ham party in a new ministry, and it is very remarkable that in this memorial there is not a word relating to the colonies. The general political condition of the 1 Albemarle's Life of Bockingham, i. 185-203. CH. xi. ENGLISH INDIFFERENCE TO THE STAMP ACT. 85 country was carefully reviewed. Much was said about the Regency Bill, the Cyder Bill, the dismissal of officers on account of their votes, the illegality of general warrants, the abuses of military patronage, the growing power of the House of Bourbon, the propriety of attempting a new alliance with Prussia ; but there is not the smallest evidence that either Pitt or Cumberland, or any of the other statesmen who were concerned in the negotiation, were conscious that any serious ques- tion was impending in America. The Stamp Act had contributed nothing to the downfall of Grenville; it attracted so little attention that it was only in the last days of 1765 or the first days of 1766 that the new ministers learnt the views of Pitt upon the subject ; l it was probably a complete surprise to them to learn that it had brought the colonies to the verge of rebel- lion, and in the first months of their power they appear to have been quite uncertain what policy they would pursue. One of the first persons in England who fully realised the magnitude of the question was the King. On December 5, 1765, he wrote to Con way: 'I am more and more grieved at the accounts of America. Where this spirit will end is not to be said. It is un- doubtedly the most serious matter that ever came before Parliament ; it requires more deliberation, candour, and temper than I fear it will meet with.' 2 The ministers would gladly have left the question of American taxation undecided, but this was no longer possible. Parliament had almost unanimously asserted its right, and the colonial Assemblies had defiantly de- nied it. The servants of the Crown had in nearly every colony been insulted or plundered, and the honour of England and of the Parliament was deeply touched. The Ministry was very weak ; Pitt had refused to join it ; 1 Albemarle's Life of Rockingliam, i. 269. * Ibid. i. 256. 86 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. the King disliked and distrusted it, and lie was strongly in favour of the coercion of America. On the other hand, it was clear that the Act could not be enforced without war, and the merchants all over England were suffering seriously from the suspension of the American trade. Petitions were presented from the traders of London, Bristol, Liverpool, and other towns, stating that the colonists were indebted to the merchants of this country to the amount of several millions sterling for English goods which had been exported to America ; that the colonists had hitherto faithfully made good their en- gagements, but that they now declared their inability to do so ; that they would neither give orders for new goods nor pay for those which they had actually received ; and that unless Parliament speedily retraced its steps, mul- titudes of English manufacturers would be reduced to bankruptcy. In Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds, and many other towns, thousands of artisans had been thrown out of employment. Glasgow complained that the Stamp Act was threatening it with absolute ruin, for its trade was principally with America, and not less than half a million of money was due by the colonists of Maryland and Virginia alone to Glasgow merchants. 1 Parliament met on December 17, 1765, and the at- titude of the different parties was speedily disclosed. A powerful Opposition, led by Grenville and Bedford, strenuously urged that no relaxation or indulgence should be granted to the colonists. In two successive sessions the policy of taxing America had been delibe- rately affirmed, and if Parliament now suffered itself to be defied or intimidated its authority would be for ever at an end. The method of reasoning by which the Americans maintained that they could not be taxed by 1 Parl. Hist. xvi. 133-137 ; Walpole's Memoirs, ii. 296 ; Burke's Correspondence, i. 100. CH. xi. ARGUMENTS OF GRENVILLE. 87 a Parliament in which they were not represented, might be applied with equal plausibility to the Navigation Act and to every other branch of imperial legislation for the colonies, and it led directly to the disintegration of the Empire. The supreme authority of Parliament chiefly held the different parts of that Empire together. The right of taxation was an essential part of the sovereign power. The colonial constitutions were created by royal charter, and it could not be admitted that the King, while retaining his own sovereignty over certain por- tions of his dominions, could by a mere exercise of his prerogative withdraw them wholly or in part from the authority of the British Parliament. It was the right and the duty of the Imperial Legislature to determine in what proportions the different parts of the Empire should contribute to the defence of the whole, and to see that no one part evaded its obligations and unjustly transferred its share to the others. The conduct of the colonies, in the eyes of these politicians, admitted of no excuse or palliation. The disputed right of taxation was established by a long series of legal authorities, and there was no real distinction between internal and external taxation. It now suited the Americans to describe themselves as apostles of liberty, and to denounce Eng- land as an oppressor. It was a simple truth that Eng- land governed her colonies more liberally than any other country in the world. They were the only existing colonies which enjoyed real political liberty. Their com- mercial system was more liberal than that of any other colonies. They had attained, under British rule, to a degree of prosperity which was surpassed in no quarter of the globe. England had loaded herself with debt in order to remove the one great danger to their future ; she cheerfully bore the whole burden of their protection by sea. At the Peace of Paris she had made their in- terests the very first object of her policy, and she only 8 88 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ra. xi. asked them in return to bear a portion of the cost of their own defence. Somewhat more than eight millions of Englishmen were burdened with a national debt of 140,000,0002. The united debt of about two millions of Americans was now less than 800,000?. The annual sum the colonists were asked to contribute in the form of stamp duties was less than 100,OOOL, with an express provision that no part of that sum should be devoted to any other purpose than the defence and protection of the colonies. And the country which refused to bear this small tax was so rich that in the space of three years it had paid off 1,755,0002. of its debt. No demand could be more moderate and equitable than that of England ; and amid all the high-sounding declamations that were waited across the Atlantic, it was not difficult to perceive that the true motive of the resistance was of the vulgar- est kind. It was a desire to pay as little as possible ; to throw as much as possible upon the mother country. Nor was the mode of resistance more respectable the plunder of private houses and custom houses ; mob violence connived at by all classes and perfectly un- punished ; agreements of merchants to refuse to pay their private debts in order to attain political ends. If this was the attitude of America within two years of the Peace of Paris, if these were the first fruits of the new sense of security which British triumphs in Canada had given, could it be doubted that concessions would only be the prelude to new demands ? Already the Custom- house officers were attacked by the mobs almost as fiercely as the stamp distributors. Already Otis, the most popular advocate of the American cause, was ridi- culing the distinction between internal and external taxation, and denying that the British Legislature pos- sessed any rightful authority in America. Already a highly seditious press had grown up in the colonies, and fco talk scarcely disguised treason had become the best CH. xi. ARGUMENTS OF GRENVILLE AND PITT. 89 passport to popular favour. It would be impossible for Parliament, if it now receded, to retain permanently any legislative authority over the colonies ; and if this, too, were given up, the unity of the Empire would be but a name, and America would in reality contribute nothing to its strength. If ministers now repealed the Stamp Act they would be guilty of treachery to England. They would abdicate a vital portion of the sovereignty which England rightfully possessed. They would humiliate the British Parliament before the Empire and before the world. They would establish the fatal principle that it must never again ask any of the distant portions of the Empire to contribute to the burden of their own per- manent defence. They would establish the still more fatal precedent that the best way of inducing Parliament to repeal an obnoxious tax was to refuse to pay it, and to hound on mobs against those who were entrusted with its collection. These were the chief arguments on the side of the late ministers. Pitt, on the other hand, rose from his sick-bed, and in speeches of extraordinary eloquence, which produced an amazing effect on both sides of the Atlantic, he justified the resistance of the colonists. He stood apart from all parties, and, while he declared that c every capital measure ' of the late ministry was wrong, he ostentatiously refused to give his confidence to their successors. He maintained in the strongest terms the doctrine that self-taxation is the essential and discriminating circumstance of political freedom. His opinion on the great question at issue cannot be better expressed than in his own terse and luminous sentences. 1 It is my opinion,' he said, ' that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax upon the colonies. At the same time I assert the authority of this kingdom over the colonies to be sovereign and supreme in every circumstance of government and legislation whatsoever. . . . Taxation 90 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ca. xi, is no part of the governing or legislative power. The taxes are a voluntary gift and grant of the Commons alone. In legislation the three estates of the realm are alike concerned ; but the concurrence of the peers and the Crown to a tax is only necessary to close with the form of a law. The gift and grant is of the Commons alone. . . . The distinction between legislation and taxation is essentially necessary to liberty. . . . The Com- mons of America, represented in their several Assem- blies, have ever been in possession of the exercise of this, their constitutional right of giving and granting their own money. They would have been slaves if they had not enjoyed it. At the same time this kingdom, as the supreme governing and legislative power, has always bound the colonies ... in everything, except that of taking their money out of their pockets without their consent.' In his reply to Grenville he reiterated these principles with still stronger emphasis. * I rejoice,' he said, * that America has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of liberty as volun- tarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instru- ments to make slaves of the rest. ... In such a cause your success would be hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man with his arms around the pillars of the Constitution. . . . When two countries are connected together like England and her colonies with- out being incorporated, the one must necessarily govern ; the greater must rule the less, but so rule it as not to contradict the fundamental principles that are common to both. If the gentleman does not understand the dif- ference between external and internal taxes, I cannot help it ; but there is a plain distinction between taxes levied for the purpose of raising a revenue, and duties imposed for the regulation of trade for the accommodation of the subject; although in the consequences some revenue might incidentally arise from the latter. . . . I will be bold CH. xi. ARGUMENTS OF PITT. 91 to affirm that the profit to Great Britain from the trade of the colonies through all its branches is two millions a year. This is the fund that carried you triumphantly through the last war. . . . This is the price America pays for her protection. ... I dare not say how much higher these profits may be augmented. . . . The Americans have not acted in all things with prudence and temper. They have been driven to madness by injustice. Will you punish them for the madness you have occasioned? Rather let prudence and temper come first from this side. I will undertake for America that she will follow the example. . . . Upon the whole I will beg leave to tell the House what is really my opinion. It is that the Stamp Act should be repealed absolutely, totally, and immediately ; that the reason for the repeal should be assigned, because it was founded on an erroneous principle. At the same time let the sovereign authority of this country over the colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can be devised, and be made to extend to every point of legislation whatsoever ; that we may bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and exercise every power whatsoever except that of taking their money out of their pockets without their consent.' l These views were defended in the strongest terms by Lord Camden, who pledged his great legal reputation to the doctrine that taxation is not included under the general right of legislation, and that taxation and repre- sentation are morally inseparable. * This position/ he very rashly affirmed, ' is founded on the laws of nature ; nay, more, it is itself an eternal law of nature. For 1 Chatham Correspondence, ii. power and influence which Mr. 863-372. Eockingham next day Pitt has whenever he takes part wrote to the King : ' The events of in debate.' Albemarle's Life of yesterday in the House of Com- Bockingham, i. 270. mons have shown the amazing 02 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CM. xi. whatever is a man's own is absolutely his own. No man has a right to take it from him without his con- sent, either expressed by himself or representative. Whoever attempts to do it attempts an injury. Who- ever does it commits a robbery.' l The task of the ministers in dealing with this ques- tion was extremely difficult. The great majority of them desired ardently the repeal of the Stamp Act ; but the wishes of the King, the abstention of Pitt, and the divided condition of parties had compelled Rocking- ham to include in his Government Charles Townshend, Barrington, and Northington, who were all strong ad- vocates of the taxation of America, and Northington took an early opportunity of delivering an invective against the colonies which seemed specially intended to prolong the exasperation. * If they withdraw alle- giance/ he concluded, ' you must withdraw protection, and then the little State of Genoa or the kingdom of Sweden may soon overrun them.' The King himself, though he was prepared to see the Stamp Act altered in some of its provisions, was decidedly hostile to the repeal. When the measure was first contemplated, two partisans of Bute came to the King offering to resign their places, as they meant to oppose the repeal, but they were at once told that they might keep their places and vote as they pleased. The hint was taken, and the King's friends were among the most active, though not the most conspicuous, opponents of the ministers. 2 And in addition to all these difficulties the ministers had to deal with the exasperation which was produced in Parliament by the continual outrages and insults to which all who represented the English Govern- ment in America were exposed. 1 Parl. Hist. xvi. 178. 362, 365. Albemarle's Life of * Grenville Papers, iii. 353, Rockingham. CH. xi. REFEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 93 Their policy consisted of two parts. They asserted in the strongest and most unrestricted form the soye- reignty of the British Legislature, first of all by resolu- tions and then by a Declaratory Act affirming the right of Parliament to make laws binding the British colonies ' in all cases whatsoever/ and condemning as unlawful the votes of the colonial Assemblies which had denied to Parliament the right of taxing them. Side by side with this measure they brought in a Bill repealing the Stamp Act. 1 It was advocated both in its preamble and in the speeches of its supporters on the ground of simple expediency. The Stamp Act had already pro- duced evils far outweighing any benefits that could flow from it. To enforce it over a vast and thinly populated country, and in the face of the universal and vehement opposition of the people, had proved hitherto impossible, and would always be difficult, dangerous, and disastrous. It might produce rebellion. It would certainly produce permanent and general disaffection, great derangement of commercial relations, a smothered resistance which could only be overcome by a costly and extensive system of coercion. It could not be wise to convert the Americans into a nation of rebels who were only wait- ing for a European war to throw off their allegiance. Yet this would be the natural and almost inevitable consequence of persisting in the policy of Grenville. The chief interests of England in her colonies were commercial, and these had been profoundly injured by the Stamp Act. As long as it continued, the Ameri- cans were resolved to make it their main effort to abstain as much as possible from English goods, and the English commercial classes were unanimous in favour of the repeal. The right of the country was affirmed and the honour of Parliament vindicated by 1 6 Geo. III. c. 11, 12. 94 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. zi. the Declaratory Act. It now remained only if pos- sible without idle recrimination to pursue the course which was most conducive to the interests of England. And that course was plainly to retire from a position which had become utterly untenable. The debates on this theme were among the fiercest and longest ever known in Parliament. The former ministers opposed the repeal at every stage, and most of those who were under the direct influence of the King plotted busily against it. Nearly a dozen mem- bers of the King's household, nearly all the bishops, nearly all the Scotch, nearly all the Tories voted against the ministry, and in the very agony of the contest Lord Strange spread abroad the report that he had heard from the King's own lips that the King was opposed to the repeal. Kockingham acted with great decision. He insisted on accompanying Lord Strange into the King's presence, and in obtaining from the King a written paper stating that he was in favour of the repeal rather than the enforcement of the Act, though he would have preferred its modification to either course. The great and manifest desire of the commercial classes throughout England had much weight ; the repeal was carried through the House of Commons, brought up by no less than 200 members to the Lords, and finally carried amid the strongest expressions of public joy. Burke described it as ' an event that caused more universal joy throughout the British dominions than perhaps any other that can be remembered.' 1 Of these two measures the repeal of the Stamp Act was that which was most violently denounced at the time; but the Declaratory Act, which passed almost unopposed, is the one which now requires defence. It 1 Albemarle's Life of Rock- 314,321. Annual Register, 176S. foghorn, i. 250, 292, 299-302, Grenville Papers, iii. 353-370. CH. xi. THE DECLARATORY ACT. 95 has been represented as the source of all the calamities that ensued, for as long as the right of Parliament to tax America was asserted, the liberty of the colonies was precarious. I have already stated my opinion that no just blame attaches to the ministry on this matter. It would no doubt have been better if the question of the right of taxation had never been raised, and no one asserted this more constantly than Burke, who largely inspired the policy of the Government. But the minis- ters had no alternative. Parliament had already twice asserted its right to tax. With the exception of Lord Camden, the first legal authorities in the country unani- mously maintained it. The Americans had openly denied it, and they had aggravated their denial by treating an Act of Parliament and those who were appointed to administer it with the grossest outrage. It was quite impossible that Parliament with any regard to its own dignity could acquiesce tamely in these pro- ceedings. It was quite impossible that a weak ministry, divided on this very question and undermined by the Court, could have carried the repeal, if it had been un- accompanied by an assertion of parliamentary authority on the matter that was in dispute. All accounts con- cur in showing that the proceedings of the Americans had produced a violent and very natural irritation, 1 and every mail brought news which was only too well fitted to aggravate it. The judgment on this subject of Sir George Savile, who was one of the most sagacious members of the Buckingham party, is of great weight. In a letter addressed to the Americans he wrote : ' You 1 Thus Shelburne reported to Walpole says : * As the accounts Pitt, December 21, 1765. * The from America grew every day prejudice against the Americans worse, the ministers, who at first on the whole seemed very great, were inclined to repeal the Act, and no very decided opinion in were borne down by the flagrancy favour of the ministry.' Chat- of the provocation.' Memoirs of ham Correspondence, ii. 355. George III. ii. 221. 96 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. should know that the great obstacle in the way of the ministers has been unhappily thrown in by yourselves I mean the intemperate proceedings of various ranks of people on your side the water and that the diffi- culties of the repeal would have been nothing if you had not by your violence in word and action awakened the honour of Parliament, and thereby involved every friend of the repeal in the imputation of betraying the dignity of Parliament. This is so true that the Act would certainly not have been repealed if men's minds had not been in some measure satisfied with the Decla- ration of Right/ l Franklin, in the very remarkable evidence which he at this time gave before a committee of the House of Commons about the political condition and prospects of America, having been asked whether he thought the Americans would be contented with a repeal of the Stamp Act even if it were accompanied by an assertion of the right of Parliament to tax them, answered, ' I think the resolutions of right will give them very little concern, if they are never attempted to be carried into practice.' 2 There can be little doubt that this judg- ment was a just one. All testimony concurs in showing that the repeal of the Stamp Act produced, for a time 1 Albemarle's Life of Rock- 1778, 'that with respect to the ingham, i. 305. Charles Fox, in Declaratory Act, any reason that a speech which he made on De- ever weighed with him in favour cember 10, 1777, fully corrobo- of that Act was to obtain the rated this assertion, and declared repeal of the Stamp Act. Many that ' it was not the inclination people of high principles would of Lord Eockingham, but the never, in his opinion, have been necessity of his situation, which brought to repeal the Stamp Act was the cause of the Declaratory without it ; the number of those Act.' Parl. Hist. xix. 563. The who opposed that repeal, even aa Duke of Eichmond, who on all it was, were very numerous.' American questions was one of Chatham Correspondence, iv. the most prominent members of 501, 502. the Eockingham party, said in - Franklin's Works, iv. 176. CH. xi. COMMERCIAL KELAXATIONS. 97 at least, a complete pacification of America. As Adams, who was watching the current of American feeling with great keenness, wrote, * The repeal of the Stamp Act has hushed into silence almost every popular clamour, and composed every wave of popular disorder into a smooth and peaceful calm.' l In addition to these measures, the colonial Go- vernors were instructed to ask the Assemblies to com- pensate those whose property had been destroyed in the late riots. An Act was carried indemnifying those who had violated the Stamp Act, and some considerable changes were made in that commercial system which was by far the most real of the grievances of America. It was impossible for a Government which had just won a great victory for the Americans, by the assistance of the commercial and manufacturing classes, to touch either the laws prohibiting some of the chief forms of manufacture in the colonies or the general principle of colonial monopoly ; and the favourite argument of the opponents of the Stamp Act was that the trade advan- tages arising from that monopoly were the real contri- bution of America to the defence and prosperity of the Empire. Within these limits, however, much remained 1 Adams' Diary. Works, ii. in 1774 on the American qaes- 203. Adams' biographer says tion, speaking of the repeal of the colonists ' received the repeal the Stamp Act, said : ' I am bold of the Stamp Act with transports to say, so sudden a calm, re- of joy, and disregarded the mere covered after so violent a storm, empty declaration of a right is without parallel in history.' which they flattered themselves The testimony of Hutchinson is was never to be exercised. The equally decisive. ' The Act which spirit of resistance immediately accompanied it [the repeal of the subsided, and a general tran- Stamp Act] with the title of " Se- quillity prevailed until the pro- curing the Dependency of the ject of levying internal taxes Colonies," caused no allay of the upon the people of the colonies joy, and was considered as mere by Act of Parliament was re- naked form.' Hist, of Massa- Burned in England.' Ibid. i. 81, chusetts Bay, p. 147. 82. Burke in his great speech ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. to be done. The restrictions imposed upon the trade with the French West India islands, and especially upon the importation of molasses, had been, as we have seen, the main practical grievance of the commercial system. The prohibition of manufactures, however unreasonable and unjust, was of no serious consequence to a country where agriculture, fisheries, and commerce were natu- rally the most lucrative forms of enterprise; but an abundant supply of molasses was essential to the great distilleries at Boston. The duty when it was Is. a gallon had been a mere dead letter. When Grenville reduced it to 6d. a gallon, the most violent measures had still been unable to suppress a great smuggling trade, and the duty only yielded 2,OOOZ. a year. The Rockingham Government lowered it to Id., and this small duty, being no longer a grievance, produced no less than 17,OOOZ. The duties imposed on coffee and pimento from the British plantations, and on foreign cambrics and lawns, imported into America, were at the same time lowered ; and the British West India islands, in whose favour the colonial trade with the French islands had been restricted, were compensated by the opening in them of some free ports and by some other commercial favours. 1 ' The Americans/ said Chatham a few years later, when describing this period, ' had almost forgot, in their excess of gratitude for the repeal of the Stamp Act, any interest but that of the mother country ; there seemed an emulation among the different provinces who should be most dutiful and forward in their expressions of loyalty/ 2 The Rockingham Ministry had undoubtedly, under circumstances of very great difficulty, restored confidence to America, and concluded for the present a 1 Macpherson's AnnaU of * Thackeray's Life of Chat Commerce, iii. 446, 447. ham, ii. 263. CH. xi. THE FEELING IN AMERICA. 99 contest which would probably have ended in a war. In most of the provincial Assemblies and in many public meetings of citizens, addresses of thanks were carried to the King, to the Ministry, to Pitt, Camden, and Barre ; and in more than one province statues were raised to the King and to Pitt. The shrewd Phila- delphian Quakers passed a characteristic resolution, * that to demonstrate our zeal to Great Britain, and our gratitude for the repeal of the Stamp Act, each of us will on the 4th of June next, being the birthday of our gracious Sovereign, dress ourselves in a new suit of the manufactures of England, and give what homespun clothes we have to the poor.' l A feeling of real and genuine loyalty to the mother-country appears to have at this time existed in the colonies, though it required much skill to maintain it. The Americans had in truth won a great victory, which inspired them with unbounded confidence in their strength. They had gone through all the excitement of a violent and brilliantly successful political campaign ; they had realised for a time the union which appeared formerly so chimerical ; they had found their natural leaders in the struggle, and had discovered the weakness of the mother country. Many writers and speakers had arisen who had learnt the lesson that a defiance of Eng- lish authority was one of the easiest and safest paths to popular favour, and the speeches of Pitt had kindled a fierce enthusiasm of liberty through the colonies. There was no want of men who regretted that the agitation had ceased, who would gladly have pressed on the struggle to new issues, and who were ready to take ad- vantage of the first occasion for quarrel. It was not easy for an ambitious man in these distant colonies to make his name known to the world ; but if events ever 1 Annual Register, 1766, p. 114. 100 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XT. led to a collision, a great field of ambition would be suddenly opened. Besides this, -principles of a far-reaching and revolutionary character had become familiar to the people. It is a dangerous thing when nations begin to scrutinise too closely the foundations of political authority, the possible results to which poli- tical principles may logically lead, the exact limits by which the different powers of a heterogeneous and pre- scriptive government must be confined. The theory of English lawyers that a Parliament in which the Ameri- cans were unrepresented might fetter their commerce in all its parts, and exact in taxation the last shilling of their fortunes, and that their whole representative system existed only by the indulgence of England, would, if fully acted on, have reduced the colonies to absolute slavery. On the other hand, Otis and other agitators were vehemently urging that the principles of Chatham and Camden would authorise the Americans to repudiate all parliamentary restrictions on American trade. No objection seems indeed to have been felt to the bounties which England conferred upon it, or to the protection of their coasts by English vessels ; but in all other respects parliamentary interference was profoundly disliked. Lawyers had assumed during the late troubles a great prominence in colonial politics, and a litigious, captious, and defining spirit was abroad. It was noticed that in the addresses to the King and to the Government thanking them for the repeal of the Stamp Act, as little as possible was said about the supremacy of Parliament, and in the most exuberant moments of colonial gratitude there were no signs of any disposition, in any province, to undertake, under proper guarantees and limitation, the task of supporting English troops stationed in America. Had the colonies after the Peace of Paris been willing to contribute thia small service to the support of the Empire, the constitu- CH. xi. GOVERNOR BERNARD. 101 tional question might never have been raised ; had they now offered to do so, it would probably never have been revived. The requisitions to the colonial Assemblies to compensate the sufferers in the late riots were very un- popular. In one or two provinces the money was, it is true, frankly and promptly voted ; but in most cases there was much delay. Massachusetts, where the most scandalous riots took place, rebelled violently against the too peremptory terms of the requisition ; refused at first to pass any vote of compensation ; yielded at last, after a long delay, and by a small majority, but accom- panied its grant by a clause indemnifying the rioters, which was afterwards annulled by the King. Bernard, who since the beginning of 1760 had been Governor of Massachusetts, had of late become extremely unpopular, and his name has been pursued with untiring virulence to the present day. His letters are those of an honest and rather able, but injudicious and disputatious man, who was trying, under circumstances of extreme difficulty, to do his duty both to the Government and the people, but who was profoundly discontented with the constitution of the province. In 1763 and 1764 he exerted all his influence to procure the lowering or the abolition of the duties in the Sugar Act, and in general a larger amount of free trade for the colonies. In 1765 he opposed the Stamp Act as inexpedient, though he maintained that Parliament had the right of taxing the colonies, provided those taxes were exclu- sively applied for the benefit of those who paid them. Up to this time he appears to have been generally liked and esteemed ; l but he was now called upon to take the most prominent part in maintaining the policy of the English Government, and his letters give a vivid picture of the difficulties he encountered. He describes 1 See Hutchinson, p. 254. 102 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. II. himself as placed ' in the midsfc of those who first stirred up these disturbances, without a force to protect my person, without a .council to advise me, watched by every eye, and misrepresented or condemned for everything I do on the King's behalf.' He laments that the govern- ments of the colonies ' were weak and impotent to an amazing degree,' that ' the governors and officers of the Crown were in several of the chief provinces entirely dependent upon the people for subsistence,' that ' the persons of the governors and Crown officers are quite defenceless and exposed to the violence of the people, without any possible resort for protection,' and he con- tinually urged that as long as the Council, which was the natural support of the Executive, was elected annually by the Assembly, and as long as almost all the civil officers were mainly dependent for their salaries on an annual vote of the Assembly, it would be impos- sible to enforce in Massachusetts any unpopular law or to punish any outrage which was supported by popular favour. It was his leading doctrine that if British rule was to be perpetuated in America, and if a period of complete anarchy was to be averted, it was necessary to put an end to the obscurity which rested upon the rela- tions of the colonies to the Home Government ; to establish finally and decisively the legislative ascendency of the British Parliament, and to remodel the constitu- tions of the colonies on a uniform type. He proposed that the Assemblies should, as at present, remain com- pletely representative ; but that the democratic element in the Constitution should be always balanced by a council consisting of a kind of life peers, appointed directly by the King, and that there should be a fixed civil list from which the King's officers should derive a certain provision. As such changes were wholly in- compatible with the charters of the more democratic colonies, he proposed that American representatives UH. xi. GOVERNOR BERNARD. 103 should be temporarily summoned to the British Parlia- ment, and that Parliament should then authoritatively settle the colonial system. 1 These views were of course at first only communi- cated confidentially to the Government, but in the open acts of Bernard there was much that was offensive to the people. His addresses were often very injudicious; he had a bad habit of entering into elaborate arguments with the Assembly, and he was accused of straining the small amount of prerogative which he possessed. The Assembly, shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act. showed its gratitude by electing Otis, the most violent assailant of the whole legislative authority of England, as its Speaker, and Bernard negatived the choice. The Assembly, contrary to immemorial usage, refused to elect Hutchinson, the Lieutenant-Governor, Oliver, the Secretary of the Province, and the other chief officers of the Crown, members of the Council. Bernard remon- strated strongly against the exclusion ; he himself negatived six ' friends of the people ' who had been elected, and he countenanced a claim of Hutchinson to take his seat in his capacity of Lieutenant-Governor among the councillors. The relations between the Executive and the Assembly were thus extremely tense, while the inhabitants of Boston were very naturally and very pardonably intoxicated with the triumph they had obtained. The little town, which was probably hardly known even by name in Europe outside commercial circles, had bearded the Government of England, and it was deeply sensible of the heroism it had displayed. The rioters were never punished, but were, on the con- trary, the objects of general sympathy, and the ' sons of liberty* resolved to meet annually to commemorate 1 He proposed that thirty re- fifteen from the islands. Letter* presentatives should be sent from of George Bernard, p. 34. the continental colonies, and 9 104 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. n. their resistance to the Stamp Act, and to express their admiration for one another. Attempts to enforce the revenue Acts were continually resisted. It was ob- served that the phrase, 'No representation, no taxa- tion ! ' which had been the popular watch-cry, was be- ginning to be replaced by the phrase, ' No representa- tion, no legislation ! ' and many ' patriots ' whose names are emblazoned in American history, with unbounded applause and with the most perfect security were hurl- ing highly rhetorical defiances at the British Govern- ment. The clause in the Mutiny Act requiring the colonists to supply English troops with some of the first necessa- ries of life, was another grievance. Boston, as usual, disputed it at every point with the Governor ; and New York positively refused to obey. In a very able book called ' The Farmer's Letters,' written by a lawyer named Dickinson, which appeared about this time, it was maintained that if the British Legislature has the right of ordering the colonies to provide a single article for British troops, it has a right to tax : * An Act of Parliament commanding to do a certain thing, if it has any validity, is a tax upon us for the expense that accrues in complying with it.' It is evident that great wisdom, moderation, and tact were needed if healthy relations were to be estab- lished between England and her colonies, and unfortu- nately these qualities were conspicuously absent from English councils. The downfall of the Eockingham Ministry, and the formation of a ministry of which Grafton was the nominal and Pitt the real head, seemed on the whole a favourable event. The influence and popularity of Pitt were even greater in America than in England. His acceptance of the title of Earl of Chatham, which injured him so deeply in English opinion, was a matter of indifference to the colonists ; en. xi. GROWING DIFFICULTIES IN ENGLAND. 105 and he possessed far beyond all other English states- men the power of attracting or conciliating great bodies of men, and firing them with the enthusiasm of loyalty or patriotism. Camden, who next to Chatham was the chief English advocate of the colonial cause, was Chancellor. Conway, who moved the repeal of the Stamp Act, was one of the Secretaries of State ; and Shelburne, who at the age of twenty-nine was placed over American affairs, had on the question of taxing America been on the side of Chatham and Camden. Illness, however, speedily withdrew Chatham from public affairs, and in the scene of anarchy which ensued it was left for the strongest man to seize the helm. Unfortunately, in the absence of Chatham, that man was unquestionably the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend. From this time the English government of America is little more than a series of deplorable blunders. A feeling of great irritation against the colonies had begun to prevail in English political circles. The Court party continually repeated that England had been humiliated by the repeal of the Stamp Act. 1 Grenville maintained that if that Act had been enforced with common firm- ness, the stamp duties in America would soon have been collected with as little difficulty as the land tax in England ; and he pointed to the recent news as a con- clusive proof that the policy of conciliation had failed ; and that through the vacillation or encouragement of English statesmen, the spirit of rebellion and of anarchy was steadily growing beyond the Atlantic. There was a general feeling that it was perfectly equitable that America should support an army for her own defence, 1 The whole body of courtiers humiliated state until something drove him [Charles Townshend] of the kind should be done.' onwards. They always talked as Burke's Speech on American if the King stood in a sort of Taxation (1774). 106 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. n. and for that of the neighbouring islands ; and also, that this had become a matter of vital and pressing import- ance to the British Empire. The political correspond- ence of the time teems with intimations of the in- cessant activity with which France and Spain were intriguing to regain the position they had lost in the late war. The dispute about the Manilla ransom and the annexation of Corsica were the most conspicuous, but they were not the most significant, signs of the attitude of those Powers. Plans for the invasion of England had been carefully elaborated. French spies had surveyed the English coast. In 1764 and 1765 an agent of Choiseul had minutely studied the American colonies, and had reported to his master that the English troops were so few and scattered that they could be of no real service, and that democratic and provincial jealousy had prevented the erection of a single citadel in all New England. 1 The King fully agreed with his wisest ministers that the army was wholly insufficient to protect the Empire, and the scheme of Chatham for averting the rapidly growing dangers from France by a new alliance with Prussia had signally failed. England was beginning to learn the lesson that in the crisis of her fate she could rely on herself alone, and that in political life gratitude is of all ties the frailest and the most precarious. At the same time, the country gentlemen who remembered the days of Walpole, when England was more prosperous though less great, murmured at the heavy land tax in time of peace, and had begun to complain bitterly that the whole expense of the defence of wealthy colonies was thrown on them. The factious vote, in which the partisans of Grenville and most of the partisans of Rockingham, with the notable exception of Burke, con- 1 Bancroft, iii. 28. Fitzmaurice's Life of Shelburne, ii. 3-5. CH xi. TOWNSHEND'S DECLARATION. 107 cm-red, which reduced the land tax proposed by the Government from 4s. to 3s. in the pound, made it necessary to seek some other source of revenue. 1 Shel- burne himself fully adopted the view that America should support her own army, and he imagined that if it were reduced to the smallest proportions the required sum might be gradually raised by enforcing strictly the quit rents of the Crown, which appear to have fallen into very general neglect, and by turning the grants of land to real benefit. 2 Townshend, however, had other schemes, and he lost little time in forcing them upon Parliament. On January 26, 1767, in a debate on the army, George Grenville moved that America, like Ireland, should support an establishment of her own ; and in the course of the discussion which followed, Townshend took occasion to declare himself a firm advocate of the principle of the Stamp Act. He described the distinc- tion between external and internal taxes as ridiculous, in the opinion of every one except the Americans ; and he pledged himself to find a revenue in America nearly sufficient for the purposes that were required. 3 His colleagues listened in blank astonishment to a pledge which was perfectly unauthorised by the Cabinet, and indeed contrary to the known decision of all its mem- 1 See vol. iii. p. 301. burne, ii. 35. 2 ' The forming of an American 3 There are two accounts of fund to support the exigencies this speech : the first in a letter of government in the same man- from Lord Charlemont to Flood ner as is done in Ireland, is what (Jan. 29), Chatham Correspond- is so highly reasonable that it ence, iii. 178, 179 ; the other in must take place sooner or later. a letter from Shelburne to Chat- The most obvious manner of lay- ham (Feb. 1), Ibid. iii. 182-188. ing a foundation for such a fund See, too, Grenville Papers, iv seems to be by taking proper care 211, 222, and the extracts from of the quit lands, and by turning the Duke of Graf ton's Memoirs the grants of land to real benefit.' in Lord Stanhope's History, v Fitzmaurice's Life of Shel- App. xvii. xviii. 108 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xi. bers ; but, as the Duke of Grafton afterwards wrote, no one in the ministry had sufficient authority in the absence of Chatham to advise the dismissal of Towns- hend, and this measure alone could have arrested his policy. Shelburne, who was the official chief of the colonies, wrote to Chatham, who was then an almost helpless invalid, relating the circumstances and express- ing his complete ignorance of the intentions of his col- league. The news had just arrived that New York had openly repudiated an Act of Parliament by refusing to furnish troops with the first necessaries of life ; and it produced an indignation in Parliament which Chatham himself appears fully to have shared. 'America,' he wrote confidentially to Shelburne, 'affords a gloomy prospect. A spirit of infatuation has taken possession of New York. Their disobedience to the Mutiny Act will justly create a great ferment here, open a fair field to the arraigners of America, and leave no room to any to say a word in their defence. I foresee confusion will ensue. The petition of the merchants of New York is highly improper ; . . . . they are doing the work of their worst enemies themselves. The torrent of in- dignation in Parliament will, I apprehend, become irresistible/ * In a letter written a few days later he says, * The advices from America afford unpleasiiig views. New York has drunk the deepest of the baneful cup of infatuation, but none seem to be quite sober and in full possession of reason. It is a literal truth to say that the Stamp Act of most unhappy memory has frightened those irritable and umbrageous people quite out of their senses.' 2 Letters from colonial governors painted the state of feeling in the darkest colours. At every election, in the bestowal of every kind of popular favour, to have opposed parliamentary authority in 1 Chatham Correspondence, iii. 188, 189. 2 Ibid. p. 193. en. xi. REPORTS FROM AMERICA. 109 America was now the first title to success; to Lave supported it, the most fatal of disqualifications. The pulpit, the press, the lawyers, the ' sons of liberty ' all those classes who subsist or flourish by popularity were busy in inflaming the jealousy against England, and in extending the field of conflict. There was a general concurrence of opinion among American officials that, even apart from the necessity of providing for the defence of the colonies, it was indispensable, if any Act of Parliament was henceforth to be obeyed, that a small army should be permanently established in America, and that the Executive should be strengthened by making at least the governor, who represented the English Crown, and the judges, who represented English law, independent of the favour of the Assemblies. It is remarkable that among the officials who advocated these views was the son of Benjamin Franklin, who had been appointed Crown Governor of New Jersey. It was urged, too, that the more democratic constitutions among the colonies must be remodelled ; that, while the Assembly should always be the legitimate and un- fettered representative of the people, the Council must always be chosen by the Governor. Very strong arguments might be urged in favour of these changes ; but there was one still stronger against them that it was absolutely impossible to effect them. On May 13, 1767, however, when Chatham was com- pletely incapacitated, and when all other statesmen had sunk before the ascendency of Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer brought in his measure. With that brilliancy of eloquence which never failed to charm the House, he dilated upon the spirit of insubordination that was growing up in all the colonies, upon the open defiance of an Act of Parliament by New York, and upon the absolute necessity of asserting with dignity and decision the legal ascendency of Parliament. The 110 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xi. measures which he ultimately brought forward and carried were of three kinds : By one Act of Parliament the legislative functions of the New York Assembly were suspended, and the Governor was forbidden to give his sanction to any local law in that province till the terms of the Mutiny Act had been complied with. 1 By another Act a Board of Commissioners of the Customs with large powers was established in America for the purpose of superintending the execution of the laws relating to trade. 2 By a third Act the proposal of taxing America was resumed. Townshend explained that the distinction between internal and external taxation was in his eyes entirely worthless ; but in the discussions on the Stamp Act the Americans had taken their stand upon it. They had represented it as tran- scendently important, and had professed to be quite willing that Parliament should regulate their trade by duties, provided it raised no internal revenue. This distinction Townshend said he would observe. He would raise a revenue, but he would do so only by a port duty imposed upon glass, red and white lead, painters' colours, paper, and tea, imported into the colonies. The charge on the last-named article was to be 3d. in the pound. The whole annual revenue expected from these duties amounted to less than40,OOOL, 3 and it was to be employed in giving a civil list to the Crown. Out of that civil list, salaries were to be paid to the governors and judges in America ; and in the very improbable event of there being any surplus, it was to go towards defraying the expense of protecting the colonies. In order to assist in the enforcement of the law, writs of assistance were formally legalised. Coffee and cocoa exported from England to the colonies were at the same 1 7 Geo. III. c. 59. * Walpole's Memoirs of George 2 Ibid. c. 41. III. iii. 28. CH. xi. REVIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY. Ill time freed from the duty which they had previously paid on importation into England. Tea exported to the colonies obtained a similar indulgence for five years, but the drawback on the export of china earthenware to America ,was withdrawn. 1 It is a strange instance of the fallibility of political foresight if Townshend imagined that America would acquiesce in these measures, that England possessed any adequate means of enforcing them, or that she could a second time recede from her demands and yet maintain her authority over the colonies. It is mournful to notice how the field of controversy had widened and deepened, and how a quarrel which might at one time have been appeased by slight mutual concessions was leading inevitably to the disruption of the Empire. England was originally quite right in her contention that it was the duty of the colonies to contribute some- thing to the support of the army which defended the unity of the Empire. She was quite right in her belief that in some of the colonial constitutions the Executive was far too feeble, that the line which divides liberty from anarchy was often passed, and that the result was profoundly and permanently injurious to the American character. She was also, I think, quite right in ascrib- ing a great part of the resistance of America to the disposition, so common and so natural in dependencies, to shrink as much as possible from any expense that could possibly be thrown on the mother country, and in forming a very low estimate of the character and motives of a large proportion of those ambitious lawyers, news- paper writers, preachers, and pamphleteers who, in New England at least, were labouring with untiring assiduity to win popular applause by sowing dissension between England and her colonies. But the Americans were - 7 Geo. III. c. 46, 56. 112 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. only too well justified in asserting that the suppression of several of their industries and the monopoly by England of some of the chief branches of their trade, if they did not benefit the mother country, at least im- posed sacrifices on her colonies fully equivalent to a considerable tax. 1 They were also quite justified in contending that the power of taxation was essential to the importance of their Assemblies, and that an extreme jealousy of any encroachment on this prerogative was in perfect accordance with the traditions of English liberty. They had before their eyes the hereditary revenue, the scandalous pension list, the monstrous abuses of patronage, in Ireland, and they were quite resolved not to suffer similar abuses in America. 2 The judges only held their seats during the royal pleasure. Ministerial patronage in the colonies, as elsewhere, was often grossly corrupt, 3 and in the eyes of the colonists 1 See the ' Cause of American Discontents before 1768.' Franklin's Works, iv. 250, 251. 2 See a powerful statement of the abuses in Ireland in the Farmer's Letters, No. 10. 3 In a private letter written by General Huske, a prominent American who was residing in England in 1758, there is an extraordinary, though probably somewhat overcharged, account of English appointments in America. ' For many years past .... most of the places in the gift of the Crown have been filled with broken Members of Parlia- ment, of bad if any principles, pimps, valets de chambre, elec- tioneering scoundrels, and even livery servants. In one word, America has been for many years made the hospital of Great Britain for her decayed courtiers, and abandoned, worn-out de- pendents. I can point you out a chief justice of a province ap- pointed from home for no other reason than publicly prostituting his honour and conscience at an election; a livery servant that is secretary of a province, ap- pointed from hence ; a pimp, collector of a whole province, who got this place of the man in power for prostituting his hand- some wife to his embraces and procuring him other means of gratifying his lust. InnumeraWe are instances of this sort in places of great trust.' Philli- more's Life of Lyttelton, ii. 604. In Parliament Captain Phipps, speaking of America, said, ' In- dividuals have been taken from the gaols to preside in the seat of justice ; offices have been given to men who had never seen CH. xi. RECEPTION OF TOWNSHEND'S LAW IN AMERICA. 113 the annual grant was the one efficient control upon maladministration. A period of wild and feverish confusion followed. Counsels of the most violent kind were freely circu- lated, and for a time it seemed as if the appointment of the new Board of Commissioners would be resisted by force ; but Otis and some of the other popular leaders held back from the conflict, and in several colo nies a clear sense of the serious nature of the struggle that was impending exercised a sobering influence. Georgia, which had been inclined to follow the exam- ple of New York, was brought to reason by the pros- pect of being left without the protection of English troops in the midst of the negroes and the Indians. 1 The central and southern colonies hesitated for some time to follow the lead of New England. Hutchinson wrote to the Government at home that Boston would probably find no other town to follow her in her career of violence ; and De Kalb, the secret agent of Choiseul, who was busily employed in fomenting rebellion in the colonies, appears for a time to have thought it would all end in words, and that England, by keeping her taxes within very moderate limits, would maintain her authority. 2 Massachusetts, however, had thrown herself with fierce energy into the conflict, and she soon carried the other provinces in her wake. Non-importation agreements binding all the inhabitants to abstain from English manufactures, and especially from every article on which duties were levied in England, spread from colony to colony, and the Assembly of Massachusetts issued a circular addressed to all the other colonial Assemblies denouncing the new laws as unconstitu- tional, and inviting the different Assemblies to take America*' Cavendish Debates, l Hildreth, ii. 540. i. 91. 2 Bancroft, iii. 116, 140. 114 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xi. united measures for their repeal. The Assembly at the same time drew up a petition to the King and ad- dresses to the leading English supporters of the Ame- rican cause. 1 These addresses, which were intended to act upon English opinion, were composed with great ability and moderation ; and while expressing the firm resolution of the Americans to resist every attempt at par- liamentary taxation, they acknowledged fully the general legislative authority of Parliament, and disclaimed in the strongest language any wish for independence. In America the language commonly used was less decorous. One of the Boston newspapers dilated furi- ously upon the ' obstinate malice, diabolical thirst for mischief, effrontery, guileful treachery, and wickedness ' of the Governor 2 in such terms that the paper was brought before the Assembly, but that body would take no notice of it, and the grand jury refused to find a true bill against its publisher. The Commissioners of the revenue found that it was idle to attempt to en- force the Revenue Acts without the presence of British troops. Riots were absolutely unpunished, for no jury 1 In their petition to the King dependency of Great Britain.' they say, ' With great sincerity ' So sensible are the members of permit us to assure your Majesty this House,' they wrote to Kock- that your subjects of this pro- ingham, ' of their happiness and Yince ever have, and still con- safety in their union with and tinue to acknowledge your Ma- dependence upon the mother- j esty's High Court of Parliament, country, that they would by no the supreme legislative power of means be inclined to accept of an the whole Empire, the superin- independency if offered to them.' tending authority of which is The true Sentiments of Ame- clearly admitted in all cases that rica, as contained in a Collection can consist with the fundamental of Letters sent from the House rights of nature and the Consti- of Representatives of Massa- tution.' * Your Lordship,' they chusetts Bay to several Persons wrote to Shelburne, ' is too can- of High Rank in this Kingdom, did and just in your sentiments London, 1768. to suppose that the House have 2 Bancroft. Hutchinson. the most distant thought of in- CH. xi. DEATH OF TOWNSHEND. 115 would convict the rioters. Bernard wrote that his position was one of utter and humiliating impotence, and that the first condition of the maintenance of Eng- lish authority in Massachusetts was to quarter a power- ful military force at Boston. While these things were happening in America, the composition of the Ministry at home was rapidly chang- ing. On September 4, 1767, after a short fever, Charles Townshend died, leaving to his successors the legacy of his disastrous policy in America, but having achieved absolutely nothing to justify the extraordinary reputa- tion he possessed among his contemporaries. Nothing of the smallest value remains of an eloquence which some of the best judges placed above that of Burke and only second to that of Chatham, 1 and the two or three pamphlets which are ascribed to his pen hardly surpass the average of the political literature of the time. Exu- berant animal spirits, a brilliant and ever ready wit, boundless facility of repartee, a clear, rapid, and spon- taneous eloquence, a gift of mimicry which is said to have been not inferior to that of Garrick and of Foote, great charm of manner, and an unrivalled skill in adapt- ing himself to the moods and tempers of those who were about him, had made him the delight of every circle in 1 Flood, in a letter to Charle- brilliancy and spontaneity of mont, describing a debate in wit, to Chatham in solid sense, which almost all the chief and to every other speaker in speakers in Parliament had ex- histrionic power. Memoirs of erted themselves, says that George III. See especially, ii. 1 Burke acquitted himself very 275 ; iii. 23-27. Sir George honourably,' but there was ' no Colebrooke said that ' Nobody one person near Townshend. excepting Mr. Pitt possessed a He is an orator. The rest are style of oratory so perfectly speakers.' Original Letters to suited to the House ' (Walpole'a Flood, p. 27. Walpole, in his George III. iii. 102). And Thur- numerous allusions to his low described him as ' the most speeches, describes him as delightful speaker he ever knew.' greatly superior to Burke in Nicholls' George III. p. 26. 116 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. which he moved, the spoilt child of the House of Com- mons. He died when only forty-two, but he had al- ready much experience of official life. He had been made a Lord of the Admiralty in 1754, Treasurer of the Chamber and member of the Privy Council in 1756, Secretary of War in 1761, President of the Board of Trade in 1763, Paymaster- General in 1765, Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1766. The extraordinary quick- ness of apprehension which was his most remarkable intellectual gift, soon made him a perfect master of official business, and no man knew so well how to apply his knowledge to the exigencies of debate, and how to pursue every topic to the exact line which pleased and convinced without tiring the House. Had he possessed any earnestness of character, any settled convictions, any power of acting with fidelity to his colleagues, or any self-control, he might have won a great name in English politics. He sought, however, only to sparkle and to please, and was ever ready to sacrifice any prin- ciple or any connection for the excitement and the vanity of a momentary triumph. In the absence of Chatham, whom he disliked and feared, he had been rapidly rising to the foremost place. He had obtained a peerage for his wife, and the post of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for his brother ; he had won the favour of the King, and was the idol of the House of Commons, and he had forced the Government into a line of policy which was wholly opposed to that of Camden, Grafton, and Shelburne. In a few months, or perhaps weeks, he would probably have been the head of a new ministry. Death called him away in the full flush of his triumph and his powers, and he obeyed the summons with the same good-humoured levity which he had shown in so many periods of his brief and agitated career. 1 1 Townshend is now chiefly beautiful character of him in remembered by the singularly Burke 's speech on American en. xi. CHANGES IN THri MINISTRY. 117 He was replaced by Lord North, the favourite minis- ter of the King, and one of the strongest advocates of American taxation, and in the course of the next few months nearly all those who were favourable to America disappeared from the Government. Con way, Shelburne, and Chatham successively resigned, and though Camden remained for a time in office he restricted himself ex- clusively to his judicial duties, and took no part in politics. Lord Hillsborough was entrusted as Secretary of State with the special care of the colonies, and the Bedford party, who now joined and in a great measure controlled the Government, were strenuous supporters of the policy of coercing America. The circular of the Massachusetts Assembly calling the other provincial Assemblies to assist in obtaining the repeal of the recent Act was first adverted to. Hillsborough, in an angry circular addressed to the governors of the different provinces, urged them to exert their influence to prevent the Assemblies of their respective provinces from taking any notice of it, and he characterised it in severe terms as ' a flagitious at- tempt to disturb the public peace ' by ' promoting an unwarrantable combination and exhibiting an open op- position to and denial of the authority of Parliament/ He at the same time called on the Massachusetts Assembly taxation. Horace Walpole says North Briton (No. 20) it is said of him, ' He had almost every of him, ' He joins to an infinite great talent and every little fire of imagination and brilliancy quality. . . . With such a capa- of wit, a cool and solid judg- city he must have been the ment, a wonderful capacity for greatest man of this age, and business of every kind, the most perhaps inferior to no man in intense application to it, and a any age, had his faults been only consummate knowledge of the In a moderate proportion.' great commercial interests of Memoirs of George III. iii. 100. this country, which I never See, too, Sir G. Colebrooke's cha- heard were before united in ths racter of him. Ibid. pp. 100- same person.' 102. In an able paper in the 118 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XI. to rescind its proceedings on the subject. After an animated debate the Assembly, in the summer of 1768, refused by 92 votes to 17. It was at once dissolved, and no new Chamber was summoned till the following year. The Assembly of Virginia was dissolved on ac- count of resolutions condemning the whole recent policy of England, and in the course of a few months a similar step was taken in Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, and New York. It was a useless measure, for the new Assemblies which were summoned in obedience to the charter were very similar to their predecessors. In the meantime, two regiments escorted by seven ships of war were sent to Boston to strengthen the Government. More energetic attempts were made to enforce the revenue laws, and several collisions took place. Thus the sloop ' Liberty,' belonging to Hancock, a leading merchant of the patriot party, arrived at Boston in June 1768, laden with wines from Madeira, and a Custom- house officer went on board to inspect the cargo. He was seized by the crew and detained for several hours while the cargo was landed, and a few pipes of wine were entered on oath at the Custom-house as if they had been the whole. On the liberation of the officer the vessel was seized for a false entry, and in order to prevent the possibility of a rescue it was removed from the wharf under the guns of a man-of-war. A great riot followed, and the Custom-house officers were obliged to fly to a ship of war, and afterwards to the barracks, for protection. 1 On another occasion a cargo of smug- gled Madeira was ostentatiously carried through the streets of Boston with an escort of thirty or forty strong men armed with bludgeons, and the Custom-house offi- cers were so intimidated that they did not dare to interfere. 2 At Newport an inhabitant of the town was 1 Holmes' American Annals, Massachusetts Bay, pp. 189, 190. 1763. Hutchinson's Hist, of 2 Ibid. p. 188. CH. xi. THE BOSTON REGIMENTS. 119 killed in an affray with some midshipmen of a ship of war, 1 and a few months later a revenue cutter which was lying at the wharf was attacked and burnt. 2 At Providence, an active Custom-house officer was tarred and feathered. 3 Effigies of the new Commissioners were hung on the liberty tree at Boston. The Governor and other officials were insulted by the mob, and new non-importation engagements were largely subscribed. The first troops from England arrived in Massachu- setts between the dissolution of the old and the election of the new Assembly, but shortly before their arrival the inhabitants of Boston gathered together in an im- mense meeting and voted that a standing army could not be kept in the province without its consent. Much was said about Brutus, Cassius, Oliver Cromwell, and Paoli; the arms belonging to the town were brought out, and Otis declared that if an attempt was made against the liberties of the people they would be distri- buted. A day of prayer and fasting was appointed ; a very significant resolution was carried by an immense majority, calling upon all the inhabitants to provide themselves with arms and ammunition, and no one was deceived by the transparent pretext that they might be wanted against the French. Open treason was freely talked, and many of the addresses to the Governor were models of grave and studied insolence. These documents were chiefly composed by Samuel Adams, a very remarkable man who had now begun to exercise a dominant influence in Boston politics, and who was one of the chief authors of the American Revo- lution. He had an hereditary antipathy to the British Government, for his father seems to have been ruined by the restrictions the English Parliament imposed on the circulation of paper money, and a bank in which hia 1 Arnold's Hist, of Rhode Is- 2 Ibid. p. 297. land, ii. 288. Ibid. p. 294. 10 120 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. si. father was largely concerned had been dissolved by Act of Parliament, leaving debts which seventeen years later were still unpaid. It appears that Hutchinson was a leading person in dissolving the bank. Samuel Adams had taken part in various occupations. He was at one time a small brewer and at another a tax-gatherer, but in the last capacity he entirely failed, for a large sum of money which ought to have passed into the Exche- quer was not forthcoming. It seems, however, that no more serious charge could be substantiated against him than that of unbusiness-like habits and an insuffi- cient stringency in levying the public dues ; the best judges appear to have been fully convinced of his integrity in money matters, and it is strongly con- firmed by the austere and simple tenor of his whole later life. 1 He early became one of the most active writers in the American Press, and was the soul of every agitation against the Government. It was noticed that he had a special skill in discovering young men of promise and brilliancy, and that, without himself possessing any dazzling qualities, he seldom failed by the force of his character and the intense energy of his convictions in obtaining an ascendency over their minds. It was only in 1765, when Adams was already forty-three, that he obtained a seat in the Assembly, where, with Otis and two or three others, he took a chief part in organising opposition to the Government. In the lax moral atmosphere of the eighteenth century he exhi- bited in perfection the fierce and sombre type of the seventeenth-century Covenanter. Poor, simple, osten- 1 The life of S. Adams has racter. Several facts relating to been written with great elabora- him will be found in Hutchin- tion and unqualified eulogy by eon's Hist, of Massachusetts Bay, W. V. Wells, and Bancroft adopts pp. 294, 295. u very similar view of his eha- CH. xi. SAMUEL ADAMS. 121 tatiously austere and indomitably courageous, the blended influence of Calvinistic theology and of repub- lican principles had permeated and indurated his whole character, and he carried into politics all the fervour of an apostle and all the narrowness of a sectarian. Hating with a fierce hatred, monarchy and the English Church, and all privileged classes and all who were invested with dignity and rank ; utterly incapable of seeing any good thing in an opponent, or of accepting any form of poli- tical compromise, he advocated on all occasions the strongest measures, and appears to have been one of the first both to foresee and to desire an armed struggle. He had some literary talent, and his firm will and clearly defined principles gave him for a time a greater influence than abler men. He now maintained openly that any British troops which landed should be treated as enemies, attacked, and, if possible, destroyed. More moderate counsels prevailed ; yet measures verging on revolution were adopted. As the Governor alone could summon or prorogue the Assembly, a convention was held afc Boston when it was not sitting, to which almost every town and every district of the province sent its dele- gate, and it assumed all the semblance of a legislative body. The Assembly itself, when it met, pronounced the establishment of a standing army in the colony in time of peace to be an invasion of natural rights and a viola- tion of the Constitution, and it positively refused to provide quarters for the troops, on the ground that the barracks in an island three miles from the town, though within the municipal circle of Boston, were not yet full. The plea was ingenious and strictly legal, and the troops were accordingly quartered as well as paid at the ex- pense of the Crown. The simple presence among the colonists of English soldiers was, however, now treated as an intolerable grievance ; the regiments were ab- 122 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. surdly called * an unlawful assembly,' and they were in- variably spoken of as if they were foreign invaders. The old distinction between internal and external taxation, the old acquiescence in commercial restrictions, and the old acknowledgment of the general legislative authority of Parliament, had completely disappeared from Boston politics. The treatise which, half a century earlier, Molyneux had written on the rights of the Irish Parlia- ment now became a text-book in the colonies, and it was the received doctrine that they owed allegiance in- deed to the King, but were wholly independent of the British Parliament. They scornfully repudiated at the same time the notion of maintaining like Ireland a mili- tary establishment for the general defence of the Empire. It is also remarkable that the project of a legislative union with Great Britain, which was at this time advo- cated by Pownall in England, was absolutely repudiated in America. Pownall wished the colonial Assemblies to continue, but to send representatives to the English Parliament, which would thus possess the right of taxing the colonists. But this scheme found no favour in America. It was pronounced impracticable and danger- ous. It was said that the colonial representatives would speedily be corrupted, that the colonists could never hope to obtain a representation adequate to their im- portance, and that inadequate representation was even a greater grievance than taxation without representa- tion. Bernard now strongly advocated the permanent admission of American representatives into the British Parliament as the only possible solution, but he acknow- ledged that the idea was unpopular, and he alleged that the true reason was that if the colonies were represented in Parliament they could have no pretext for disobeying it. 1 It was evident that every path of compromise was 1 Letters of Governor Bernard, pp. 55-60. CH. xi. GROWING DISAFFECTION. 123 closing, and that disaffection was steadily rising to the height of revolution. Foreign observers saw that the catastrophe was fast approaching, and Choiseul noticed that the English had no cavalry and scarcely 10,000 infantry in America, while the colonial militia numbered 400,000 men, including several cavalry regiments. It was not difficult, he concluded, to predict that if America could only find a Cromwell she would speedily cease to form a part of the British Empire. 1 For the present, except a few revenue riots, resist- ance was purely passive. The Massachusetts Assembly petitioned for the removal of the troops and for the removal of the Governor. Acute lawyers contested every legal point that could possibly be raised against the Government. The grand juries being elected by the townships were wholly on the side of the people, and they systematically refused to present persons guilty of libel, riot, or sedition. Non-importation agreements spread rapidly from town to town, and had a serious effect upon English commerce. The troops had little to do as there was no open resistance, but they found themselves treated as pariahs and excluded from every kind of society, and they had even much difficulty in procuring the necessaries of life. The English Parliament in December 1768 and January 1769 greatly aggravated the contest. Both Houses passed resolutions condemning the disloyal spirit of Massachusetts, the non-importation agreements, and the Boston convention ; and addresses were carried thanking the Sovereign for the measures he had taken to maintain the authority of England ; promising a full support to future measures taken with that end, and suggesting that the names of the most active agitators should be transmitted to one of the Secretaries of State, Bancroft 124 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. and that a long disused law of Henry VIII. which em- powered the Governor to bring to England for trial, persons accused of treason outside England, should be put in force. 1 This last measure was due to the Duke of Bedford, and although it was certainly not unpro- voked, it excited a fierce and legitimate indignation in America, and added a new and very serious item to the long list of colonial grievances. Already, the colonial advocates were accustomed to say, a Parliament in which the colonies were wholly unrepresented, claimed an absolute power of restricting their commerce, of taxing them, and even, as in the case of New York, 01 suspending their legislative assemblies. British troops were planted among them to coerce them. Their governors and judges were to be made independent of their Assemblies, and now the protection of a native jury, which alone remained, was to be destroyed. By virtue of an obsolete law, passed in one of the darkest periods of English history and at a time when England possessed not a single colony, any colonist who was designated by the Governor as a traitor might be carried three thousand miles from his home, from his witnesses, from the scene of his alleged crime, from all those who were acquainted with the general tenor of his life, to be tried by strangers of the very nation which he was supposed to have offended. Combine all these measures, it was said, and what trace of political free- dom would be left in the colonies ? This measure was apparently intended only to in- timidate the more violent agitators, and it was never put in action. The Cabinet were much divided about their American policy, and signs of weakness speedily appeared. Townshend's Act had brought America to the verge of revolution, and had entailed great expense 1 Parl Hist. xvi. 477-487. Cavendish Debates, i. 192 -194. en. xi. THE TEA DUTY MAINTAINED. 125 on the country, but it had hitherto produced no appre- ciable revenue, and there was little or no prospect of improvement. It was stated that the total produce of the new taxes for the first year was less than 16,OOOL, that the net proceeds of the Crown revenue in America were only about 295Z., and that extraordinary military expenses amounting to 170,OOOZ. had in the same period been incurred. 1 Pownall, who had preceded Bernard as Governor of Massachusetts, strongly urged in Par- liament the repeal of the new duties, and a considerable section of the Cabinet supported his view. After much discussion it was resolved to adopt a policy of com- promise 2 to repeal the duties on glass, paper, and painters' colours, and to retain that on tea for the pur- pose of keeping up the right. Less than 300Z. had hitherto been obtained by this charge ; but the King, the Bedford section of the Cabinet, and Lord North determined, in opposition to Grafton and Camden, to retain it, and they carried their point in the Cabinet by a majority of one vote. A circular intimating the intention of the Government was despatched in the course of 1769 to the governors of the different colonies, and in this circular Lord Hillsborough officially in- formed them that the Cabinet ' entertained no design to propose to Parliament to lay any further taxes on America for the purpose of raising a revenue.' 3 Gover- nor Bernard, whose relations with the Assembly and Council of Massachusetts had long been as hostile as 1 Hildreth, ii. 553. [for the taxation or coercion of 2 The Massachusetts Agent, America] with Lord North the De Berdt, wrote to the Assembly Chancellor, but the opposition in July 1768, describing an inter- you had made rendered it abso- view with Hillsborough. 'He lutely necessary to support the assured me, before the warm authority of Parliament.' Has- measures taken on your side had sacliusetts State Papers, p. 161. come to their knowledge he had 3 Grahame, iv. 297. settled the repeal of those Acts 126 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. C. x, possible, was rewarded for his services to the Crown by a baronetcy, but in the August of 1769 he was recalled to England amid a storm of insult and rejoicing from the people he had governed; and after about a year, Hutchinson, who, though equally devoted to the Govern- ment, was somewhat less unpopular with the colonists, was promoted to the ungrateful post. Some slight signs of improvement were visible. New York sub- mitted to the Mutiny Act, and its Assembly accordingly regained its normal powers. The non-importation agreements had for some time been very imperfectly observed, and it was soon noticed that a good deal of tea was imported in small quantities, and that the port duty was paid without difficulty. 1 Hitherto, though the townspeople of Boston had done everything in their power to provoke and irritate the soldiers who were quartered among them, there had been no serious collision. The condition of the town, however, was such that it was scarcely possible that any severity of discipline could long avert it. There was a perfect reign of terror directed against all who supported the revenue Acts and who sympathised with authority. Soldiers could scarcely appear in the streets without being the objects of the grossest insult. A Press eminently scurrilous and vindictive was ceaselessly employed in abusing them : they had become, as Samuel Adams boasted, ' the objects of the contempt even of women and children/ Every offence they com- mitted was maliciously exaggerated and vindictively prosecuted, while in the absence of martial law they were obliged to look passively on the most flagrant in- sults to authority. At one time the * sons of liberty ' in a procession a mile and a half long marched round the State House to commemorate their riots against the 1 See Hutchinson's Hist, of Massachusetts Bay, pp. 360, 351, 422, 423. CH. xi. CONDITION OF BOSTON. 127 Stamp Act, and met in the open fields to chant their liberty song and drink * strong halters, firm blocks, and sharp axes to such as deserve them/ At another an informer who was found guilty of giving information to revenue officers was seized by a great multitude, tarred and feathered, and led through the streets of Boston, which were illuminated in honour of the achieve- ment. A printer who had dared to caricature the champions of freedom was obliged to fly from his house, to take refuge among the soldiers, and ultimately to escape from Boston in disguise. Merchants who had ventured to import goods from England were com- pelled by mob violence to give them up to be destroyed or to be re-embarked. A shopkeeper who sold some English goods found a post planted in the ground with a hand pointing to his door, and when a friend tried to remove it he was stoned by a fierce mob through the streets. A popular minister delighted his congrega- tion by publicly praying that the Almighty would remove from Boston the English soldiers. It was said that they corrupted the morals of the town, that their drums and fifes were heard upon the Sabbath-day, that their language was often violent, threatening, or profane, that on several occasions they had struck citizens who insulted them. 1 On March 2, 1770, there was a scuffle at a ropewalk between some soldiers and the rope- makers, and on the night of the 5th there occurred the tragedy which, in the somewhat grandiloquent phrase of John Adams, ' laid the foundation of American inde- 1 Holmes. Bancroft. One of presume we may safely say that the later accusations against the our language has suffered more English soldiers was, that they injurious changes in America impaired the purity of the Ameri- since the British army landed on can pronunciation of English. our shores than it had suffered Noah Webster, in his curious before, in the period of three esay on the * Manners of the centuries.' Webster's Essays, United States ' (1787), siiys : I p. 96. 128 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. . pendence.' A false alarm of fire had called a crowd into the streets, -and a mob of boys and men amused them- selves by surrounding and insulting a solitary sentinel who was on guard before one of the public buildings. He called for rescue, and a party consisting of a cor- poral and six common soldiers, under the command of Captain Preston, appeared with loaded muskets upon the scene. The mob, however, refused to give way. Some forty or fifty men many of them armed with sticks surrounded the little band of soldiers, shouting, * Rascals, lobsters, bloody backs ! ' 1 and defying them to use their arms. They soon proceeded to violence. Snowballs and, according to some testimony, stones were thrown. The crowd pressed violently on the soldiers, and it was afterwards alleged that one of the soldiers was struck by a club. Whether it was panic or resentment, or the mere necessity of self-defence, was never clearly established, but a soldier fired, and in another moment seven muskets, each loaded with two balls, were discharged with deadly effect into the crowd. Five men fell dead or dying, and six others were wounded. There are many dreadful massacres recorded in the page of history the massacre of the Danes by the Saxons, the massacre of the Sicilian Vespers, the massacre of St. Bartholomew but it may be questioned whether any of them had produced such torrents of indignant eloquence as the affray which I have de- scribed. The * Boston massacre/ or, as the Americans, desiring to distinguish it from the minor tragedies of history, loved to call it, * The bloody massacre/ at once kindled the colonies into a flame. The terrible tale of how the bloody and brutal myrmidons of England had shot down the inoffensive citizens in the streets of Boston In allusion to the British custom of flogging soldiers. CK. xi. WITHDRAWAL OF THE BOSTON TROOPS. 129 raised an indignation which was never suffered to flag. In Boston, as soon as the tidings of the tragedy were spread abroad, the church bells rang, the drums beat to call the people to arms, and next day an immense meeting of the citizens resolved that the soldiers must no longer remain in the town. Samuel Adams and the other leading agitators, as the representatives of the people, rushed into the presence of Hutchinson, and rather commanded than asked for their removal. Hut- chinson hesitated much. He was not yet governor. Bernard was in England. Hutchinson had himself asked for the troops to be sent to Boston. He knew that their removal would, under the circumstances, be a great humiliation to the Government and a great en- couragement to the mob, and that if once removed it would be extremely difficult to recall them. On the other hand, if they remained it was only too probable that in a few hours the streets of Boston would run with blood. He consulted the council, and found it as usual an echo of the public voice. He yielded at last, and the troops were removed to Fort William, on an island three miles from Boston, and the wish of the townsmen was thus at last accomplished. An immense crowd accompanied the bodies of the ' martyred ' citizens to their last resting-place. An annual celebration was at once resolved upon, and for several years the citizens were accustomed on every anniversary to meet in the chief towns of America in chapels hung with crape, while the most popular orators described the horrors of the Boston massacre, the tyranny of England, and the ferocious character of standing armies. 1 Few things contributed more to the American Revolution than this unfortunate affray. Skilful agi- 1 The commemoration was of July. Tudor's Life of kept up till 1783, after which it p. 4G2. was replaced by that of the 4th 130 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, oz. . tators perceived the advantage it gave them, and the most fantastic exaggerations were dexterously diffused. The incident had, however, a sequel which is extremely creditable to the American people. It was determined to try the soldiers for their lives, and public feeling ran so fiercely against them that it seemed as if their fate was sealed. The trial, however, was delayed for seven months, till the excitement had in some degree subsided. Captain Preston very judiciously appealed to John Adams, who was rapidly rising to the first place both among the lawyers and the popular patriots of Boston, to undertake his defence. Adams knew well how much he was risking by espousing so unpopular a cause, but he knew also his professional duty, and, though violently opposed to the British Government, he was an eminently honest, brave, and humane man. In conjunction with Josiah Quincy, a young lawyer who was also of the patriotic party, he undertook the invidious task, and he discharged it with consummate ability. It was clearly shown that the popular account which had been printed in Boston and circulated assiduously through the colonies, representing the affair as a deliberate and pre- meditated massacre of unoffending citizens, was grossly untrue. As was natural in the case of a confused scuffle in the dark, there was much conflict of testimony about the exact circumstances of the affair, but there was no sufficient evidence that Captain Preston had given an ordqr to fire; and although no soldier was seriously injured, there was abundant evidence that the soldiers had endured gross provocation and some violence. If the trial had been the prosecution of a smuggler or a seditious writer, the jury would probably have decided against evidence, but they had no dis- position to shed innocent blood. Judges, counsel, and jurymen acted bravely and honourably. All the soldiers were acquitted, except two, who were found guilty of CE xi. AMERICAN HUMANITY. 131 manslaughter, and who escaped with very slight punish- ment. It is very remarkable that after Adams had accepted the task of defending the incriminated soldiers, he was elected by the people of Boston as their representative in the Assembly, and the public opinion of the province appears to have fully acquiesced in the verdict. 1 In truth, although no people have indulged more largely than the Americans in violent, reckless, and unscru- pulous language, no people have at every period of their history been more signally free from the thirst for blood, which in moments of great political excitement has been often shown both in England and France. It is a characteristic fact that one of the first protests against the excessive multiplication of capital offences in the English legislation of the eighteenth century was made by the Assembly of Massachusetts, which in 1762. objected to death as a punishment for forgery on the ground that { the House are very averse to capital punishment in any case where the interest of the Government does not absolutely require it/ and where some other punishment will be sufficiently deterrent. 1 1 See on this episode, Adams' where except in Boston has been Works, i. 97-114, ii. 229-233 ; favourable beyond my hopes. I Hutchinson's Hist, of Massa- expected that the court and jury chusetts Bay ; Hutchinson's let- would be censured, but they are ters to Bernard, and the Histories generally applauded.' American of Hildreth and Bancroft. Mr. Remembrancer, 1776, part i. p. Bancroft in his account of this 159. transaction appears to me to 2 Tudor's Life of Otis, p. 113. exhibit even more strongly than According to Dr. Price (On Civil usual that violent partisanship Liberty, p. 101), not more than which so greatly impairs the one execution had taken place value of his very learned History. in Massachusetts Bay in eighteen Outside Boston the verdict seems years. The annual average of to have given much satisfaction. executions in London alone for Hutchinson wrote (Dec. 1770) : twenty-three years before 1772 ' The reception which has been was from twenty-nine to thirty, given to the late verdicts every- Howard On Prisons, p. 9. 132 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CT. . In the long period of anarchy, riot, and excitement which preceded the American ^Revolution there was scarcely any bloodshed and no political assassination, and the essential humanity of American public opinion which was shown so conspicuously during the trial of the soldiers at Boston, was afterwards displayed on a far wider field and in still more trying circumstances during the fierce passions of the revolutionary war, and still more remarkably in the triumph of the North in the War of Secession. While these things were taking place in America, Lord North carried through Parliament his measure re- pealing all the duties imposed by Townshend's Act, with the exception of that on tea, 1 which he maintained in spite of a very able opposition led by Pownall. His defence of the distinction was by no means destitute of plausibility or even of real force. The other duties, he said, were imposed on articles of English manufacture imported into America, and such duties were both un- precedented and economically inexpedient, as calculated to injure English industry. The duty on tea, however, was of another kind, and it was in perfect accordance with commercial precedents. The Americans had them- selves drawn a broad distinction between external and internal taxation. No less than thirty-two Acts binding their trade had been imposed and submitted to, and the power of Parliament to impose port duties had, till the last two years, ]Deen unquestioned. 2 Whatever might be said of the Stamp Act, the tea duty was certainly not a grievance to America, for Parliament had relieved the colonies of a duty of nearly I2d. in the pound, which had hitherto been levied in England, and the colonists were only asked in compensation to pay a duty of 3d. in the pound on the arrival of the tea in America. The 10 Geo. III. 17, * See Cavendish Debates, i. 198, 222. CH. xi. THE TEA DUTY. 133 measure was, therefore, not an act of oppression but of relief, making the price of tea in the colonies positively cheaper than it had been before. 1 It was coupled with the circular of Lord Hillsborough pledging the English Government to raise no further revenue from America. At the same time the quartering Act, which had been so much objected to, was allowed silently to expire. 2 It will probably strike the reader that every argu- ment which showed that the tea duty was not a grievance to the colonies, was equally powerful to show that it was perfectly useless as a means of obtaining a revenue from them. It would be difficult, indeed, to find a more curious instance of legislative incapacity than the whole transaction displayed. The repeal of the greater part of Townshend's Act had given the agitators in America a signal triumph ; the maintenance of the tea duty for the avowed purpose of obtaining a colonial revenue left them their old pretext for agitation, and at the same time that duty could not possibly attain the end for which it was ostensibly intended, and the Go- vernment by the circular of Lord Hillsborough had pre- cluded themselves from increasing it. Hutchinson, whose judgment of American opinion is entitled to the highest respect, has expressed his firm conviction that the Government might have raised the whole revenue they expected from Townshend's Act without the smallest difficulty, if they had simply adopted the ex- pedient of levying the duty on goods exported to America in England instead of in the colonies. 3 1 Stedman, i. 74. Hutchinson same tea in quality at 3s. the Ib. Bays: 'By taking off I2d., which which the people in England used to be paid in England, and drank at 6s.' Hist, of Mas- substituting 3d. only, payable in sachusetts Bay, p. 351. the colonies, tea was cheaper a Parl. Hist. xvi. 852-874; than it had ever been sold by Cavendish Debates, i. 484-500. the illicit traders, and the poor 8 ' If these duties [those in people in America drank the Townshend's Act] had been paid 134 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. The object of maintaining the tea duty was, of course, to assert the right of Parliament to impose port duties, and this assertion was thought necessary on account of the recent conduct and language of the Americans. 1 At the same time North, like Grenville, continually maintained that the plan of obliging America to pay for her own army might have been easily and peaceably carried out had the condition of English parties rendered possible any steady, systematic, and united policy. It was the changes, vacillation, divisions, and weaknesses of English ministries, the utter disintegration of English parties, the rapid alter- nations of severity and indulgence, the existence in Par- liament of a powerful section who had at every step of the struggle actively supported the Americans and en- couraged them to resist, the existence outside Parlia- ment of a still more democratic party mainly occupied with political agitation it was these things which had chiefly lured the colonies to their present state of an- archy, had rendered all resistance to authority a popular thing, and had introduced the habit of questioning the validity of Acts of Parliament. The evil, however, was accomplished. The plan of making America pay for her defence was virtually abandoned, and the ministers were only trying feebly and ineffectively to uphold the doctrine of the Declaratory Act, that Parliament had upon exportation from England have already quoted the opinion and applied to the purpose pro- of Franklin to much the same posed, there would not have been effect. any opposition made to the Act. l See Lord North's strong It would have been a favour to statement of the reluctance with the colonies. The saving upon which he maintained any part tea would have been more than of the duties. Parl. Hist. xvi. the whole paid on the other 854 ; Cavendish Debates, i. 485, articles. The consumer in Ame- 486. The speech of George rica would have paid the duty Grenville in this debate, as re- just as much as if it had been ported by Cavendish, is particu- paid upon importation.' Hist. larly worthy of attention. of Massachusetts Bay, p. 179. I en. xi. AMERICA, 1769-1771. 135 a right to draw a revenue from America, by maintain- ing a duty which was in full accordance with American precedents and which was a positive boon to the Ameri- can people. The policy was not quite unsuccessful. The non- importation agreements had lately been so formidable that the English exports to America, which amounted to 2,378,OOOJ. in 1768, amounted only to 1,634,000/, in 1769 ; l but the merchants in the colonies, after some hesitation, now resolved to abandon these agreements, and commerce with England resumed its old activity. An exception, however, was still made in the case of tea, and associations were formed binding all classes to abstain from that beverage, or at least to drink only what was smuggled. The next two or three years of colonial history were somewhat less eventful, though it was evident that the spirit of insubordination and an- archy was extending. In North Carolina, in 1 771 , some 1,500 men, complaining of extortions and oppressions of their local courts, rose to arms, and refused to pay taxes, and the colony was rapidly dividing into a civil war. The Governor, however, at the head of rather more than 1,000 militia, completely defeated the in- surgents in a pitched battle. Some hundreds were killed or wounded, and six were afterwards hanged for high treason. In Massachusetts the troops were not again brought into Boston, but Castle William, which commanded the harbour, and to which the Boston pa- triots had once been so anxious to relegate them, was placed under martial law, and the provincial garrison was withdrawn. There were long and acrimonious dis- putes between Hutchinson and the Massachusetts As- sembly about the right of the former to convene the Assembly at Cambridge instead of Boston ; about the 1 Part. Hist. xvi. 855. 11 136 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xj. extent to which the salaries of Crown officers should be exempted from taxation ; about the refusal of the Go- vernor to ratify the grant of certain sums of money to the colonial agents in England. In 1772, Hutchinson, to the great indignation of the colony, informed the Assembly that, as his salary would henceforth be paid by the Crown, no appropriation would be required for that purpose. Otis, who had long been the most fiery of the Boston demagogues, had now nearly lost his in- tellect as well as his influence; and John Adams, who was a far abler man, had for a time retired from agita- tion, and devoted himself to his profession. Samuel Adams, however, still retained his influence in the As- sembly, and he was unwearied in his efforts to excite ill feeling against England, and to push the colony into rebellion. In Khode Island a revenue outrage of more than common daring took place. A ship of war, called the * Gaspee,' commanded by Lieutenant Duddingston, and carrying eight guns, was employed under the royal commission in enforcing the revenue Acts along the coast, and the commander is said to have discharged his duty with a zeal that often outran both discretion and law. He stopped and searched every ship that entered Narraganset Bay ; compelled all ships to salute his flag; sent a captured cargo of smuggled rum, con- trary to law, out of the colony to Boston on the ground that it could not be safely detained in Newport ; seized more than one vessel upon insufficient evidence ; searched for smuggled goods with what was considered unnecessary violence, and made himself extremely ob- noxious to the colony, in which smuggling was one of the most flourishing and most popular of trades. The Chief Justice gave an opinion that the commander of one of his Majesty's ships could exercise no authority in the colony without having previously applied to the ca. xi. THE 'GASPEE.' 137 Governor, and shown him his warrant. Duddingston appealed to the Admiral at Boston, who fully justified his conduct, and an angry altercation ensued between the civil and naval authorities. On June 9, 1772, the 4 Gaspee,' when chasing a suspected vessel, ran aground on a shoal in the river some miles from Providence, and the ship which had escaped brought the news to that town. Soon after a drum was beat through the streets, and all persons who were disposed to assist in the de- struction of the King's ship were summoned to meet at the house of a prominent citizen. There appears to have been no concealment or disguise, and shortly after ten at night eight boats, full of armed men, started with muffled oars on the expedition. They reached the stranded vessel in the deep darkness of the early morn- ing. Twice the sentinel on board vainly hailed them, when Duddingston himself appeared in his shirt upon the gunwale and asked who it was that approached. The leader of the party answered with a profusion of oaths that he was the sheriff of the county come to arrest him, and while he was speaking one of his men deliberately shot the lieutenant, who fell badly wounded on the deck. In another minute the ' Gaspee ' was boarded. The crew were soon overpowered, bound, and placed upon the shore. Duddingston, his wounds having been dressed, was landed at a neighbouring house ; the party then set fire to the ' Gaspee/ and while its flames announced to the whole country the success of their expedition, they returned in the broad daylight to Providence. Large rewards were offered by the British Government for their detection; but, though they were universally known, no evidence could be obtained, and the outrage was entirely unpunished. 1 1 A full account of this trans- of Rhode Island, ii. 309-320. action will be found in Mr. Mr. Arnold has given a curioua Arnold's very interesting History letter describing it, by Ephraim 138 ENGLAND IN TELE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. An American historian complains that this event, though due to a mere ' sudden impulse/ inspired at least one English statesman with a deep hostility to the charter of the colony, according to which Governor, Assembly, and Council were all elected directly by the people. 1 It is a curious coincidence that, just before this out- rage took place, the British Parliament had passed an Act for the protection of his Majesty's ships, dockyards, and naval stores, by which their destruction was made a felony, and the ministry were empowered, if they pleased, to try those who were accused of such acts in England. 2 This law, though it applied to the colonies, was not made with any special reference to them, but it became one of their great grievances. Perhaps the state of feeling disclosed in the town of Providence at the time of the destruction of the ' Gaspee,' may be re- garded as the strongest argument in its defence. A considerable step towards uniting the colonies was taken in this year and in 1773 by the appointment in Massachusetts, Virginia, and some other colonies of committees specially charged with the task of collecting and publishing colonial grievances, maintaining a cor- respondence between the different provinces, and pro- curing authentic intelligence of all the acts of the British Parliament or Ministry relating to them. In England they were already represented by agents of great ability, the most prominent being Benjamin Franklin, who at this time possessed a greater reputa- tion than any other living American. He was born in 1706, and was therefore now in the decline of life. A younger son in a large and poor family, ill treated by his elder brother, and little favoured by casual good fortune, he had risen by his own energies Bowen, one of the party who 1 Bancroft, iii. 461. captured the ' Gaspee.' * 12 Geo. III. c. 24. CH. . BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 139 from a humble journeyman printer at Boston and Phila- delphia to a foremost place among his countrymen ; ard he enjoyed a reputation which the lapse of a cen- tury has scarcely dimmed. Franklin is, indeed, one of the very small class of men who can be said to have added something of real value to the art of living. Very few writers have left so many profound and origi- nal observations on the causes of success in life, and on the best means of cultivating the intellect and the cha- racter. To extract from surrounding circumstances the largest possible amount of comfort and rational enjoy- ment, was the ideal he placed before himself and others, and he brought to its attainment c/ne of the shrewdest and most inventive of human intellects, one of the calmest and best balanced of human characters. * It is hard,' he once wrote, * for an empty sack to stand up- right ; ' and it was his leading principle that a certain amount of material prosperity is the almost indispen- sable condition as well as the chief reward of integrity of character. He had no religious fervour, and no sym- pathy with those who appeal to strong passions or heroic self-abnegation ; but his busy and somewhat pedestrian intellect was ceaselessly employed in devising useful schemes for the benefit of mankind. He founded so- cieties for mutual improvement, established the first circulating library in America, introduced new methods for extinguishing fires, warming rooms, paving and lighting the streets, gave a great impulse to education in Pennsylvania, took part in many schemes for strength- ening the defences and improving the police of the colony, and was the soul of more than one enterprise of public charity. * Poor Richard's Almanac,' which he began in 1732, and which he continued for twenty-five years, attained an annual circulation of near 10,000, and. he made it a vehicle for diffusing through the colonies a vast amount of practical knowledge and homely wisdom. 140 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. TT. His brother printed the fourth newspaper which ever appeared in America, and Franklin wrote in it when still a boy. He had afterwards a newspaper of his own, and there were few questions of local politics in which he did not take an active part. He was very ambitious of literary success, and within certain limits he has rarely been surpassed. How completely blind he was to the sublime and the poetical in literature, he indeed conclusively showed when he tried to improve the majestic language of the Book of Job or the Lord's Prayer by translating them into ordinary eighteenth- century phraseology ; but on his own subjects no one wrote better. His style was always terse, luminous, simple, pregnant with meaning, eminently persuasive. There is scarcely an obscure or involved or superfluous sentence, scarcely an ambiguous term in his works, and not a trace of that false and inflated rhetoric which has spoilt much American writing, and from which the addresses of Washington himself are not quite free. He was a most skilful and plausible reasoner, abound- ing in ingenious illustration, and with a happy gift of carrying into difficult and intricate subjects that trans- parent simplicity of style which is, perhaps, the highest reach of art. At the same time his researches and writings on electricity gave him a wide reputation in the scientific world, and in 1752 his great discovery of the lightning conductor made his name universally known through Europe. It was indeed pre-eminently fitted to strike the imagination ; and it was a strange freak of fortune that one of the most sublime and poetic of scientific discoveries should have fallen to the lot of one of the most prosaic of great men. In every phase of the struggle with England he took a prominent part ; and it may be safely asserted that if he had been able to guide American opinion, it would never have ended in revolution. During a great CH. xi. BENJAMIN FEANKLIN. 141 portion of the struggle he always professed a warm attachment for England and the English Constitution. In conversation with Burke he expressed the greatest concern at the impending separation of the two coun- tries ; predicted that ' America would never again see such happy days as she had passed under the protection of England, and observed that ours was the only in- stance of a great empire in which the most distant parts and members had been as well governed as the metro- polis and its vicinage.' 1 A man so eminently wise and temperate must have clearly seen that colonies situated 3,000 miles from the mother country, doubling their population every twenty-five years, possessing repre- sentative institutions of the freest and most democratic type, and inhabited by a people who, from their circum- stances and their religion, carried the sentiment of independence to the highest point, were never in any real danger of political servitude, and that there was no difference between America and England which reason- able men might not easily have compromised. Per- sonally, no one had less sympathy than Franklin with anarchy, violence, and declamation, and in some respects his natural leaning was towards the Tories. It is remarkable that when he was in England at the time of the Middlesex election, his sympathies ran strongly against Wilkes, he spoke with indignation of the punish- ment that must await a people * who are ungratefully abusing the best Constitution and the best King any na- tion was ever blessed with ; ' 2 and he fully adopted the Tory maxim that the whole political power of a nation belongs of right to the freeholders. 3 He held under 1 Burke's 'Appeal from the 404. New to the Old Whigs.' Works, a All the land in England is vi. 122. See, too, Franklin's in fact represented. ... As to Works, i. 413, 414. those who have no landed pro- 2 Franklin's Works, vii. 399- perty in a county, the allowing 142 ENGLAND 'IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. . the Government the position of Postmaster-General for America. He was once thought of as Under-Secretary of State for the colonies under Lord Hillsborough, and his son was royal Governor of New Jersey. His writings are full of suggestions which, if they had been acted on, might have averted the disruption. As we have already seen, he had advocated an union of the colonies for defensive purposes as early as 1754, and in 1764 had regarded with great equanimity, and even approval, the possible establishment of an English army in America, paid for by duties imposed on the colonies. He opposed the Stamp Act ; but it is quite evident, from his conduct, that he neither expected nor desired that it should be resisted. In one of his writings, he very wisely suggested that England should give up her trade monopoly, and that America should in return agree to pay a fixed annual sum for the military purposes of the Empire. In another, he advocated a legislative union, which would have en- abled the English Parliament, without injustice, to tax America. He strongly maintained the reality of the distinction between internal and external taxation, and asserted with great truth that ' the real grievance is not that Britain puts duties upon her own manufactures exported to us, but that she forbids us to buy like manufactures from any other country. 5 He was Agent for Pennsylvania at the time of the Stamp Act, and, in his examination soon after, before the House of Commons, he defended the colonial cause with an ability, a presence of mind, and a moderation that produced a great impression upon Parliament. His many tracts in defence of their cause, though they are very far from a fair or candid statement even of the facts of the case, were undoubtedly the ablest and most plausible them to vote for legislators is an vations,' Franklin's Works, iv, Impropriety.' 'Political Obser- 221. CH. xi. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 143 arguments advanced on the American side. In 1767 he mentioned the assiduity with which the French ambas- sador was courting him, and he added : ' I fancy that intriguing nation would like very well to meddle on occasion and blow up the coals between Britain and her colonies ; but I hope we shall give them no opportunity.' 1 In his confidential correspondence with American politi- cians, he constantly advocated moderation and patience. * Our great security,' he wrote in 1773, 'lies in our growing strength both in numbers and wealth, that creates an increasing ability of assisting this nation in its wars, which will make us more respectable, our friendship more valued, and our enmity feared. . . . In confidence of this coming change in our favour, I think our prudence is, meanwhile, to be quiet, only holding up our rights and claims on all occasions . . . but bearing patiently the little present notice that is taken of them. They will all have their weight in time, and that time is at no great distance.' 2 ' There seems to be among us some violent spirits who are for an immediate rupture ; but I trust the general prudence of our country will see that by our growing strength we advance fast to a situation in which our claims must be allowed ; that by a premature struggle we may be crippled and kept down another age . . . that between governed and governing every mistake in government, every encroachment on right, is not worth a rebellion . . . remembering withal that this Protestant country (our mother, though lately an unkind one) is worth preserving, and that her weight in the scale of Europe, anl her safety in a great degree, may depend on our u:iion with her/ 3 1 Franklin's Works, vii. 357. then returning to America. ' Go 2 Ibid. viii. 30, 31. After home and tell your countrymen the Stamp Act, Franklin ex- to get children as fast as they pressed his opinion in a pithy can.' sentence to Ingersoll, who was * Ibid. pp. 78, 79. 144 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xi. In addition to his position of Agent for Pennsylvania, he became Agent for New Jersey, for Georgia, and in 1770 for Massachusetts. His relations, however, with the latter colony were not always absolutely cordial. His religious scepticism, his known hatred of war, his personal relations to the British Government, his dislike to violent counsels, and to that exaggerated and de- clamatory rhetoric which was peculiarly popular at Boston, all placed him somewhat out of harmony with his constituents; and although they were justly proud of his European reputation, even this was sometimes a cause of suspicion. They felt that he, and he alone, of living Americans, by his own unassisted merit, had won a great position in England, and they doubted whether he could be as devoted to their cause as men whose reputation was purely provincial. In 1771, Arthur Lee, of Virginia, who was fully identified with the extreme party, was appointed his colleague, and there were several other symptoms that Franklin was looked on with some distrust. The suspicions of his sincerity were, however, wholly groundless. His heart was warmly in the American cause, and although he would have gladly moderated the policy of his countrymen, he was by no means disposed to suffer himself to be stranded and distanced. His views became more ex- tensive, and his language more emphatic ; he now main- tained with great ability the position that the colonies, like Hanover, or like Scotland before the Union, though they were subject to the English king, were wholly in- dependent of the British Legislature; and in 1773 he was concerned in a transaction which placed him at open war with English opinion. It had been for a long time the habit of Hutchinson, the Governor-General of Massachusetts ; of Oliver, who was now Lieutenant-Governor ; and of some other poli- ticians of the province who were attached to the Crown, en. *i. HUTCHINSON'S LETTERS. 145 to carry on a strictly private and confidential correspond- ence about the state of the colonies with Whately, who had formerly been private secretary to George Grenville. In June 1772 Whately died, and in December, by some person and some means that have never been certainly disclosed, the letters of his American correspondents were stolen and carried to Franklin. The letters of Hutchinson had, with one exception, been written be- fore his appointment as Governor, but at a time when he held high office in the colony, and they were written with the perfect freedom of confidential intercourse. Whately, though peculiarly conversant with colonial matters, held at tins time no office under the Crown, and was a simple member of the Opposition. Hutchin- son, in writing to him, dilated upon the turbulent and rebellious disposition of Boston, the factious character of the local agitators, the weakness of the Executive, the necessity of a military force to support the Govern- ment, and the excessive predominance of the democratic element in the constitution of Massachusetts. ' I never think,' he wrote in the letter which was afterwards most violently attacked, * of the measures necessary for the peace and good order of the colonies without pain. There must be an abridgment of what are called English liberties. ... I doubt whether it is possible to project a system of government in which a colony 3,000 miles distant from the parent State shall enjoy all the liberty of the parent State. ... I wish the good of the colony when I wish to see some further restraint of liberty rather than the connection with the parent State should be broken, for I am sure such a breach must prove the ruin of the colony.' Oliver argued with more detail that the Council or Upper Chamber should consist ex- clusively of landed proprietors, that the Crown officers should have salaries independent of popular favour, that the popular election of grand juries should be abolished, 146 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CM. xi. and that there should be a colonial representation in the English Parliament. All this appears to have been most honestly written, but it was written without the reserve and the caution which would have been maintained in letters intended to be published. Both Hutchinson and Oliver impressed on their correspon- dent their desire that these letters should be deemed strictly confidential. 1 They were brought to Franklin as political information for his perusal. He at once perceived the advantage they would give to the popular party, and he asked and obtained permission to send them to Massachusetts on condition that they should not be printed or copied ; that they should be shown only to a few of the leading people, that they should be eventually returned, and that the source from which they were obtained should be concealed. The letters were accordingly sent to Thomas Gush- ing, the Speaker of the Assembly of Massachusetts, and, as might have been expected, they soon created a general ferment. As Franklin acutely wrote, * there was no restraint proposed to talking of them, but only to copy- ing.' They were shown to many of the leading agita- tors. John Adams was suffered to take them with him on his judicial circuit, and they were finally brought before the Assembly in a secret sitting. The Assembly at once carried resolutions censuring them as designed ' to sow discord and encourage the oppressive acts of the British Government, to introduce arbitrary power into the province and subvert its constitution, and with the concurrence of the Council it petitioned the King to remove Hutchinson and Oliver from the Government. The letters were soon generally known. The sole ob- stacle to their diffusion was the promise that they should not be copied or printed, and it was not likely that this 1 See the letters of Oct. 26, 1769, and May 7, 1767. en. xi. PUBLICATION OF THE LETTERS. 147 would be observed. According to one account, 1 copies were produced which were falsely said to have come by the last mail from England, and which were therefore not included under the original promise. According to another account, 2 Hancock, one of the leading patriots, took * advantage of the implied permission of Hutchin- son ' to have copies made. Hutchinson had indeed been challenged with the letters, and been asked for copies of them and of such others as he should think proper to communicate. After some delay, he answered eva- sively, * If you desire copies with a view to make them public, the originals are more proper for the purpose than the copies,' and this sentence appears to have been considered a sufficient authorisation. The letters were accordingly printed and scattered broadcast over the colonies. When the printed copies arrived in England, they excited great astonishment, and William Whately, the brother and executor of the late Secretary, was filled with a very natural consternation at a theft which was likely to have such important consequences, and for which public opinion was inclined to make him respon- sible. He, in his turn, suspected a certain Mr. Temple, who had been allowed to look through the papers of his deceased brother, for the purpose of perusing one re- lating to the colonies, and a duel ensued, in which Whately was wounded. Franklin then, for the first time, in a letter to a newspaper, disclosed the part he had taken. He stated that he, and he alone, had ob- tained and transmitted to Boston the letters in question, that they had never passed into the hands of William Whately, and that it was therefore impossible either that Whately could have communicated them or that Temple could have taken them from his papers. There is some 1 Sparks' Continuation of Franklin's Life. 2 Bancroft. 148 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi, reason to believe that the original owner had left them carelessly in a public office, from whence they had been abstracted, but the mystery was never decisively solved. Franklin always maintained that in this matter he had simply done his duty, and that his conduct was perfectly honourable. The letters, he said, * were written by public officers to persons in public stations, on public affairs, and intended to procure public measures.' They were brought to him as the Agent for Massachusetts, and it was his duty as such to communicate to his con- stituents intelligence that was of such vital importance to their affairs. He even urged, more ingeniously than plausibly, that he was animated by a virtuous desire to lessen the breach between England and the colonies. Like most Americans, he said, he had viewed with in- dignation the coercive measures which emanated, as he supposed, from the British Government, but his feelings were much changed when it was proved that their real origin might be traced to Americans holding high offices in their native country. It was to convince him of this truth that the letters had been originally brought to him. It was to spread a similar conviction among his country- men that he had sent them across the Atlantic. With more force his apologists have urged that the sanctity of private correspondence was not then regarded as it is regarded now, and that the Government itself continu- ally tampered with it for political purposes. 1 In 1766 the Duke of Bedford discovered, to his great indigna- tion, that a letter which he Lad written to the Duke of Grafton had been opened; and among the items of secret-service money during the administration of Gren- ville was a sum to a Post Office official * for engraving the many seals we are obliged to make use of. ' 2 If 1 See vol. iii. p. 249. Burke's * Orenville Papers, iii. 99, 311, Works, ix. 148. 312. CH. xi, FRANKLIN'S CONDUCT. 149 Government was not ashamed to resort to such methods, was it reasonable to expect that an agent who was en- deavouring in a hostile country and against overwhelm- ing obstacles to maintain the interests of his colony would be more scrupulous ? Letters of Franklin him- self, written to the colony, had been opened, and their contents had been employed for political purposes. Hufchinson had been concerned in this proceeding, and could therefore hardly complain that his own weapons were turned against himself. 1 These considerations, no doubt, palliate the conduct of Franklin. Whether they do more than palliate it, must be left to the judgment of the reader. In England that conduct was judged with the utmost severity. For the purpose of ruining honourable officials, it was said, their most confidential letters, written several years before to a private Member of Parliament who had at that time no connection with the Government, had been deliberately stolen ; and although the original thief was undiscovered, the full weight of the guilt and of the dis- honour rested upon Franklin. He was perfectly aware that the letters had been written in the strictest confi- dence, that they had been dishonestly obtained without the knowledge either of the person who received them or of the persons who wrote them, and that their ex- posure would be a deadly injury to the writers. Under these circumstances he procured them. Under these circumstances he sent them to a small group of politi- cians whom he knew to be the bitterest enemies of the Governor, and one of the consequences of his conduct was a duel in which the brother of the man whose private papers had been stolen was nearly killed. Any man of high and sensitive honour, it was said, would sooner 1 See Franklin's own vindica- accompanying notes. Works, iv, tion of his proceedings, with the 404-455. 150 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. have put his hand in the fire than have been concerned in such a transaction. When the petition for the re- moval of Hutchinson and Oliver arrived, the Govern- ment referred it to the Committee of the Privy Council, that the allegations might be publicly examined with counsel on either side, and the case excited an interest which had been rarely paralleled. No less than thirty- five Privy Councillors attended. Among the distin- guished strangers who crowded the Bar were Burke, Priestley, and Jeremy Bentham. Dunning and Lee, who spoke for the petitioners, appear to have made no impression ; while on the other side, Wedderburn, the Solicitor-General, made one of his most brilliant but most virulent speeches. After a brief but eloquent eulogy of the character and services of Hutchinson, he passed to the manner in which the letters were procured, and turning to Franklin, who stood before him, he de- livered an invective which appears to have electrified his audience. ' How the letters came into the possession of anyone but the right owners,' he said, ' is still a mys- tery for Dr. Franklin to explain. He was not the rightful owner, and they could not have come into his hands by fair means. Nothing will acquit Dr. Franklin of the charge of obtaining them by fraudulent or corrupt means for the most malignant of purposes, unless he stole them from the person who stole them. I hope, my Lords, you will brand this man for the honour of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. ... Into what country will the fabricator of this iniquity hereafter go with unembarrassed face ? Men will watch him with a jealous eye. They will hide their papers from him, and lock up their escritoires. Having hitherto aspired after fame by his writings, he will henceforth esteem it a libel to be called a man of letters homo trium literarum. 1 But 1 Fur a thief. en XT. WEDDERB URN'S INVECTIVE. 151 he not only took away those papers from one brother he kept himself concealed till he nearly occasioned the murder of another. It is impossible to read his account, expressive of the coolest and most deliberate malice, without horror. Amid these tragical events, of one per- son nearly murdered, of another answerable for the issue, of a worthy Governor hurt in his dearest interests, the fate of America in suspense here is a man who, with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows himself the author of all. I can compare him only to Zanga in Dr. Young's " Revenge" : Know then, 'twas I I forged the letter. I disposed the picture, I hated, I despised, and I destroy. I ask, my Lords, whether the revengeful temper at- tributed by poetic fiction only to the bloody African, is not surpassed by the coolness and apathy of the wily American ? ' The scene was a very strange one, and it is well suited to the brush of an historical painter. Franklin was now an old man of sixty-seven, the greatest writer, the greatest philosopher America had produced, a member of some of the chief scientific societies in Europe, the accredited representative of the most im- portant of the colonies of America, and for nearly an hour and in the midst of the most distinguished of living Englishmen he was compelled to hear himself denounced as a thief or the accomplice of thieves. He stood there conspicuous and erect, and without moving a muscle, amid the torrent of invective, but his apparent composure was shared by few who were about him. With the single exception of Lord North, the Privy Councillors who were present lost all dignity and all self-respect. They laughed aloud at each sarcastic sally of Wedderburn. * The indecency of their behaviour,' in 12 152 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CK. xi. the words of Shelburne, ' exceeded, as is agreed on all hands, that of any committee of elections; J and Fox, in a speech which he made as late as 1803, reminded the House how on that memorable occasion ' all men tossed up their hats and clapped their hands in boundless delight at Mr. Wedderburn's speech/ The Committee at once voted that the petition of the Massachusetts Assembly was ' false, groundless, and scandalous, and calculated only for the seditious purpose of keeping up a spirit of clamour and discontent in the province.' The King in Council confirmed the report, and Franklin was igiiorniniously dismissed from his office of Post- master. It was an office which had yielded no revenue before he had received it, but which his admirable organisation had made lucrative and important. The colonists accepted the insults directed against their great representative as directed against themselves, 1 and from this time the most sagacious of American leaders had a deep personal grudge against the British Government. 2 In the meantime a serious attempt was made to make the tea duty a reality. About seventeen million pounds of tea lay unsold in the warehouses of the East India Company. The Company was at this time in ex- treme financial embarrassment, almost amounting to bankruptcy, and in order to assist it the whole duty which had formerly been imposed on the exportation to America was remitted. 3 Hitherto the Company had been obliged to send their tea to England, where it was sold by public sale to merchants and dealers, and by 1 On the extraordinary popu- 19. Chatham Correspondence, larity of Franklin at this time, iv. 322, 323. Bee the letter of Dr. Eush, quoted 8 By the previous law (12 in Sparks' Continztation of the Geo. III. c. 60) a drawback of Life of Franklin. three-fifths of the duty had been 2 Life of Franklin. Campbell's allowed. Lives of the Chancellors, viii. 14- CB. xi, THE TEA SENT TO BOSTON. 153 them exported to the colonies. The Company were now permitted to export tea direct from their ware- houses on their own account on obtaining a licence from the Treasury, 1 and they accordingly selected their own agents in the different colonies. As the East India Company had of late been brought to a great extent under the direction of the Government, the consignees were such as favoured the Administration, and in Boston they included the two sons of Hutchinson, Several ships freighted with tea were sent to the colonies, and the Government hoped, and the ' sons of liberty ' feared, that if it were once landed it would probably find purchasers, for owing to the drawback of the duty on exportation it could be sold much cheaper than in England itself, and cheaper than tea imported from any other country. The colonies at once entered into a conspiracy to prevent the tea being landed, and a long series of violent measures were taken for the purpose of intimidating those who were concerned in receiving it. At last, in December 1773, three ships laden with tea arrived at Boston, and on the 16th of that month forty or fifty men disguised as Mohawk Indians, and under the direct superintendence of Samuel Adams, Hancock, 2 and other leading patriots, boarded them, and posting sentinels to keep all agents of authority at a distance, they flung the whole cargo, consisting of 342 chests, into the sea. In the course of the violent proceedings at Boston in this year, the Council, the militia, the corps of cadets had been vainly asked to assist in maintaining the law. The sheriff of the town was grossly insulted. The magistrates would do nothing, and, as usual, the crowning outrage of the destruction of the tea was 1 13 George III. c. 44. tea from St. Eustatia. Hist, of * Hutchinson notices that Massachusetts Bay, p. 297. See, Hancock's uncle had made his too, Sabine's American Loyal large fortune chiefly by smuggling ists, i. 9. 154 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XL accomplished with perfect impunity, and not a single person engaged in it was in any way molested. At Charleston a ship arrived with tea, but the consignees were intimidated into resignation, and the tea was stored in cellars, where it ultimately perished. At New York and Philadelphia the inhabitants obliged the captains of the tea ships at once to sail back with their cargoes to the Thames. While the law was thus openly defied, the popular party were inflexibly opposed to the project of granting the judges fixed salaries from the Crown, and thus making them in some degree independent of the As- semblies. In Massachusetts the Assembly declared all judges who received salaries from the Crown instead of the people unworthy of public confidence, and it threatened to impeach them before the Council and the Governor. In February 1774, proceedings of this kind were actually instituted against Oliver, the Chief Justice of the province, because he had accepted an annual stipend from the Crown. Out of 100 members who voted, no less than 92 supported the impeachment. Hutchinson of course refused to concur in the measure, and on March 30 he prorogued the House, and at the same time accused it of having been guilty of proceed- ings which * strike directly at the honour and authority of the King and Parliament/ The news of these events convinced most intelligent Englishmen that war was imminent, and that the taxa- tion of America could only be enforced by the sword. Several distinct lines of policy were during the next two or three years advocated in England. Tucker, the Dean of Gloucester, a bitter Tory, but one of the best living writers on all questions of trade, maintained a theory which was then esteemed visionary and almost childish, but which will now be very differently regarded. He had no respect for the Americans ; he dissected with en. xi. DEAN TUCKER. 155 unsparing severity the many weaknesses in their argu- ments, and the declamatory and rhetorical character of much of their patriotism ; but he contended that matters had now come to such a point that the only real remedy was separation. Colonies which would do nothing for their own defence, which were in a condition of smothered rebellion, and which were continually waiting for the difficulties of the mother, country in order to assert their power, were a source of political weakness and not of political strength, and the trade advantages which were supposed to spring from the connection were of the most delusive kind. Trade, as he showed, will always ultimately flow in the most lucrative channels. The most stringent laws had been unable to prevent the Americans from trading with foreign countries if they could do so with advantage, and in case of separation the Americans would still resort to England for most of their goods, for the simple reason that England could supply them more cheaply than any other nation. The supremacy of English industry did not rest upon political causes. ' The trade of the world is carried on in a great measure by British capital. British capital is greater than that of any other country in the world, and as long as this superiority lasts it is morally impos- sible that the trade of the British nation can suffer any very great or alarming diminution.' No single fact is more clearly established by history than that the bitterest political animosity is insufficient to prevent nations from ultimately resorting to the markets that are most advantageous to them, and as long as England maintained the conditions of her industrial supremacy unimpaired she was in this respect perfectly secure. But nothing impairs these conditions so much as war, which wastes capital unproductively and burdens in- dustry with a great additional weight of debt, military establishments, and taxation. The war which began 156 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. on. xi. about the Spanish right of search had cost sixty millions, and had scarcely produced any benefit to England. The last war cost ninety millions, and its most im- portant result had been, by securing the Americans from French aggression, to render possible their present rebellion. Let England, then, be wise in time, and before she draws the sword let her calculate what possible advantage she could derive commensurate with the permanent evils which would inevitably follow. The Americans have refused to submit to the authority and legislation of the Supreme Legislature, or to bear their part in supporting the burden of the Empire. Let them, then, cease to be fellow-members of that Empire. Let them go their way to form their own destinies. Let England free herself from the cost, the responsibility, and the danger of defending them, re- taining, like other nations, the right of connecting herself with them by treaties of commerce or of alliance. 1 The views of Adam Smith, though less strongly ex- pressed, are not very different from those of Tucker. The * Wealth of Nations ' was published in 1776, and although it had little political influence for at least a generation after its appearance, its publication has ultimately proved one of the most important events in the economical, and indeed in the intellectual, history of modern Europe. No part of it is more remarkable than the chapters devoted to the colonies. Adam Smith showed by an exhaustive examination that the liberty of commerce which England allowed to her colonies, though greatly and variously restricted, was at least more extensive than that which any other nation conceded to its dependencies, and that it was sufficient to give them a large and increasing measure of pro- sperity. The laws, however, preventing them from 1 Tucker's Political Tracts. en. xi. ADAM SMITH. 157 employing their industry in manufactures for them- selves, he described as ' a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind/ and likely ' in a more ad- vanced state ' to prove * really oppressive and insupport- able/ Hitherto, however, these laws, though they were ' badges of slavery imposed without any sufficient reason,' had been of little practical importance; for, owing to the great cheapness of land and the great dearness of labour in the colonies, it was obviously the most economical course for the Americans to devote themselves to agriculture and fisheries, and to import manufactured goods. His chief contention, however, was that the system of trade monopoly which, with many exceptions and qualifications, was maintained in the colonies for the benefit of England, was essentially vicious ; that the colonies were profoundly injured by the restrictions which confined them to the English market, and that these restrictions were not beneficial, but were indeed positively injurious to England herself. These positions were maintained in a long, complicated, but singularly luminous argument, and it followed that the very keystone of English colonial policy was a delusion. * The maintenance of this monopoly has hitherto been the principal, or, more properly, perhaps, the sole end and purpose of the dominion which Great Britain assumes over the colonies.' The burden of a great peace establishment by land and sea, maintained almost exclusively from English revenue, two great wars which had arisen chiefly from colonial questions, and the risk and probability of many others, were all supposed to be counterbalanced by the great advantage which the mother country derived from the monopoly of the colonial trade. The truth, however, is that * the monopoly of the colony trade depresses the industry of all other countries, but chiefly that of the colonies, without in the least increasing, but, on the contrary, 158 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. diminishing, that of the country in whose favour it is established.' * Under the present system of manage- ment, therefore, Great Britain derives nothing but loss from the dominion which she assumes over the colonies.' Like Tucker, Adam Smith would gladly have seen a peaceful separation. ' Great Britain,' he wrote, ' would not only be immediately freed from the whole annual expense of the peace establishment of the colonies, but might settle with them such a treaty of commerce as would effectually secure to her a free trade more advan- tageous to the great body of the people, though less so to the merchants, than the monopoly which she at pre- sent enjoys/ She would at the same time probably revive that good feeling between the two great branches of the English race which was now rapidly turning to hatred. Such a solution, however, though the best, must be put aside as manifestly impracticable. No serious politician would propose the voluntary and peace- ful cession of the great dominion of England in America with any real hope of being listened to. l Such a measure never was and never will be adopted by any nation in the world.' Dismissing this solution, then, Adam Smith agreed with Grenville that every part of the British Empire should be obliged to support its own civil and military establishments, and to pay its proper proportion of the expense of the general government or defence of the British Empire. He also agreed with Grenville that it naturally devolved upon the British Parliament to de- termine the amount of the colonial contributions, though the colonial Legislatures might decide in what way those contributions should be raised. It was practically im- possible to induce the colonial Legislatures of themselves to levy such taxation, or to agree upon its propor- tionate distribution. Moreover, a colonial Assembly, though, like the vestry of a parish, it is an admirable CH. xi. ADAM SMITH, CHATHAM AND BURKE. 159 judge of the affairs of its own district, can have no proper means of determining what is necessary for the defence and support of the whole Empire. This * can be judged of only by that Assembly which inspects and superin- tends the affairs of the whole nation.' ' The Parliament of England,' he added, ' has not upon any occasion shown the smallest disposition to overburden those parts of the Empire which are not represented in Parliament. The islands of Jersey and Guernsey . . . are more lightly taxed than any parts of Great Britain. Par- liament . . . has never hitherto demanded of the colo- nies anything which even approached to a just propor- tion of what was paid by their fellow-subjects at home/ and the fear of an excessive taxation might be easily met by making the colonial contribution bear a fixed proportion to the English land tax. The colonists, how- ever, almost unanimously refused to submit to taxation by a Parliament in which they were not represented. The only solution, then, was to give them a representa- tion in it, and at the same time to open to them all the prizes of English politics. The colonists should ulti- mately be subjected to the same taxes as Englishmen, and should be admitted, in compensation, to the same freedom of trade and manufacture. If we pass from the political philosophers to active politicians, we find that (Chatham and Burke were sub- stantially agreed upon the line they recommended. Burke, who had long shown a knowledge and a zeal on American questions which no other politician could rival, had in the preceding year accepted, with very doubtful propriety, the position of paid agent of New York ; and in 1774 he made his great speech on American taxation. In the same year Chatham reappeared in the House of Lords, and took a prominent part in the American de- bates. Burke and Chatham continued to differ on the question of the abstract right of Parliament to tax 1GO ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xi. America, but they agreed in maintaining that the union to the British Crown of a vast, civilised and rapidly pro- gressive country, evidently destined to take a foremost place in the history of the world, was a matter of vital importance to the future of the Empire. In the speeches and letters of Chatham especially, this doctrine is main- tained in the most emphatic language. ' I fear the bond between us and America,' he wrote in 1774, 'will be cut off for ever. Devoted England will then have seen her best days, which nothing can restore again.' l * Al- though I love the Americans as men prizing and setting a just value upon that inestimable blessing, liberty, yet if I could once persuade myself that they entertain the most distant intention of throwing off the legislative supremacy and great constitutional superintending power and control of the British Legislature, I should my- self be the very first person ... to enforce that power by every exertion this country is capable of making.' 2 In the speeches of Burke, no passages of equal em- phasis will be found ; but Burke, like Chatham, entirely refused at this time to contemplate the separation of the colonies from the Empire ; and he maintained that the only good policy was a policy of conciliation, reverting to the condition of affairs which existed before the Stamp Act, and repealing all the coercive and aggressive laws which had since then been promulgated. This was what the Americans themselves asked. In presenting a peti- tion from the Assembly of Massachusetts in August 1773, Franklin, their Agent, had written ' that a sincere disposition prevails in the people there to be on good terms with the mother country ; that the Assembly have declared their desire only to be put into the situation they were in before the Stamp Act. They aim at no 1 Thackeray's Life of Chatham, ii. 274. Ibid. ii. 279. en. xi. POLICY OF BURKE. 161 revolution.' l In this spirit Burke urged their claims. ' Revert to your old principles . . . leave America, if she has taxable matter in her, to tax herself. I am not here going into a distinction of rights, nor attempting to mark their boundaries. I do not enter into these metaphysical distinctions. I hate the very sound of them. Leave the Americans as they anciently stood, and these distinctions, born of our unhappy contest, will die along with it. ... Let the memory of all actions in contradiction to that good old mode, on both sides be extinguished for ever. Be content to bind America by laws of trade ; you have always done it. Let this be your reason for binding their trade. Do not burthen them with taxes ; you were not used to do so from the begin- ning. Let this be your reason for not taxing. These are the arguments of states and kingdoms. Leave the rest to the schools ; for there only they may be discussed with safety. If intemperately, unwisely, fatally, you sophisticate and poison the very source of government by urging subtle deductions and consequences odious to those you govern, from the unlimited and illimitable nature of supreme sovereignty, you will teach them by these means to call that sovereignty itself in question/ The duty on tea should especially be at once re- pealed. It was said that it was an external tax such as the Americans had always professed themselves ready to pay ; that port duties had been imposed by Grenville as late as 1764 without exciting any protest, and that it was therefore evident that the claims of the Ameri- cans were extending. But "the American distinction had always been that they would acknowledge external taxes, which were intended only to regulate trade ; but not internal taxes, which were intended to raise revenue. Townshend, with unhappy ingenuity, proved that an 1 Franklin's Works, iv. 432. 162 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. external tax could be made to raise revenue like an in- ternal tax, and this purpose was expressly stated in the preamble of the Act. * It was just and necessary/ the preamble said, ' that a revenue should be raised there ; ' and again, the Commons ' being desirous to make some provision in the present Session of Parlia- ment towards raising the said revenue.' It would also be difficult to conceive a more absurd position than that of the ministry which retained the tea duty. It was an intelligible policy to force the Americans to support an army for the defence of the Empire ; but it was calculated that the duty would at the utmost pro- duce 16,OOOZ. a year, and the ministry had precluded themselves from the possibility of increasing the revenue. Townshend no doubt had meant to do so; but Lord North had authorised Lord Hillsborough to assure the colonial Governors, in his letter of May 1769, * that his Majesty's present Administration have at no time entertained a design to propose to Parliament to lay any further taxes upon America for the purpose of raising a revenue/ 16,000?. a year was therefore the utmost the Ministers expected from a policy which had led England to the brink of an almost inevitable war. But even this was not all. In order to impose this unhappy port duty of 3d. in the pound on the Americans, Parliament had ac- tually withdrawn a duty of Is. in the pound which had hitherto been paid without question and without diffi- culty upon exportation from England, and which neces- sarily fell chiefly, if not wholly, upon those who pur- chased the tea. * Incredible as it may seem, you have deliberately thrown away a large duty which you held secure and quiet in your hands, for the vain hope of getting three-fourths less, through every hazard, through certain litigation, and possibly through war.' l It was 1 The East India Company the transaction, and offered that had clearly seen the absurdity of the Government should retain a CH. xi. POLICY OF BURKE. 163 said that the duty was merely an assertion of right, like the Declaratory Act of 1766. The answer is to be found in the very preamble of the new Act, which asserted not merely the justice, but also the expediency, of taxing the colonies. A simple repeal was the one possible form of conciliation, for a legislative union between countries 3,000 miles apart was wholly impracticable, and the idea was absolutely repudiated by the colonies. On the sub- ject of the restrictive trade laws, Burke wisely said as little as possible. He knew that the question could not be raised without dividing the friends of America, and probably without alienating the commercial classes, who were the ckief English opponents of American taxation. Whether the policy of Burke and Chatham would have succeeded is very doubtful. After so much agita- tion and violence, after the promulgation of so many subversive doctrines in America, and the exhibition of so much weakness and vacillation in England, it could scarcely be expected that the tempest would have been calmed, and th*at the race of active agitators would have retired peaceably into obscurity. Philosophers in their studies might draw out reasonable plans of conciliation, but pure reason plays but a small part in politics, and the difficulty of carrying these plans into execution was enormous. Party animosities, divisions, and subdivi- sions ; the personal interests of statesmen who wanted to climb into office, and of agitators who wanted to retain or increase their power; the obstinacy of the Court, which was opposed to all concession to the colonies, and no less opposed to a consolidation of parties at home ; the spirit of commercial monopoly, duty of sixpence in the pound threepence in the pound paid in on exportation, provided it con- America. Parl. Hist, xviii. 178, eented to repeal the duty of 164 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. . which made one class averse to all trade concessions ; the heavy weight of the land tax, which made another class peculiarly indignant at the refusal of the colonists to bear the burden of their own defence ; the natural pride of Parliament, which had been repeatedly insulted and defied; the anger, the jealousy, and the suspicion which recent events had created on both sides of the Atlantic ; the doubts which existed in England about the extent to which the disloyal spirit of New England had permeated the other colonies; the doubts which existed in America about which of the many sections of English public opinion would ultimately obtain an as- cendency ; and, finally, the weak characters, the divided opinions, the imperfect information, and the extremely ordinary capacities of the English ministers, must all be taken into account. Had Chatham been at the head of affairs and in the full force of his powers, conciliation might have been possible ; but such a policy required a firm hand, an eagle eye, a great personal ascendency. Popular opinion in England, which had supported the repeal of the Stamp Act, and had 'acquiesced in the repeal of the greater part of Townshend's Act, was now opposed to further concession. England, it was said, had sufficiently humiliated herself. The claims and the language of the colonial agitators excited pro- found and not unnatural indignation, and every mail from America brought news that New England at least was in a condition of virtual rebellion; that Acts of Parliament were defied and disobeyed with the most perfect impunity ; that the representatives of the British Government were habitually exposed to the grossest insult, and reduced to the most humiliating impotence. The utility of colonies to the mother country was becoming a doubtful question to some. Ministers, it was said, admitted in Parliament that * it might be a great question whether the colonies should CH. xt THE CASE FOR COERCION. 165 not be given up/ l England, indeed, was plainly stag- gering under the weight of her empire. In 1774, on the very eve of its gigantic struggle, Parliament re- sounded with complaints of the magnitude of the peace establishment, and there were loud cries for reduction. It was noticed that the land tax was Is. higher than in any previous peace establishment ; that the Three per Cents, which some years ago were above 90, had now fallen to about 86 ; that the land and malt taxes were almost entirely absorbed by the increased expenditure required for the navy. 2 All this rendered the attitude of the colonies peculiarly irritating. The publication of the letters of Hutchinson produced great indignation among English politicians; and the burning of the ' Gaspee/ the destruction of tea in Boston harbour, and the manifest connivance of the whole population in the outrage, raised that indignation to the highest point. The time for temporising, it was said, was over. It was necessary to show that England possessed some real power of executing her laws and protecting her officers, and the ministers were probably supported by a large majority of the English people when they re- solved to throw away the scabbard, and to exert all the powers of Parliament to reduce Massachusetts to obedience. The measures that were taken were very stringent. By one Act the harbour of Boston was legally closed. 1 Annual Register, 1774, p. 62. doubts whether there should ever The King himself wrote (Nov. be a strict union between the 1774) : ' We must either master colonies and the mother country ; them [the colonies] or totally I have doubts whether they are leave them to themselves, and a real service or a burthen to us ; treat them as aliens.' Corre- but I never had a doubt as to spondence of George III. i. 216. our right to lay an internal tax As early as Jan. 1769 Hussey, the upon them.' Cavendish .De- Attorney- General to the Queen, bates, i. 197. said in Parliament, ' I have my 2 Annual Register, 1774, p. 53. 166 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. The Custom-house officers were removed to Salem. All landing, lading, and shipping of merchandise in Boston harbour was forbidden, and English men-of-war were appointed to maintain the blockade. The town, which owed its whole prosperity to its commercial activity, was debarred from all commerce by sea, and was to continue under this ban till it had made compensation to the East India Company for the tea which had been destroyed, and had satisfied the Crown that trade would for the future be safely carried on in Boston, property protected, laws obeyed, and duties regularly paid. 1 By another Act, Parliament exercised the power which, as the supreme legislative body of the Empire, Mansfield and other lawyers ascribed to it, of remodel- ling by its own authority the Charter of Massachusetts. The General Assembly, which was esteemed the legiti- mate representative of the democratic element in the Constitution, was left entirely untouched ; but the Council, or Upper Chamber, which had been hitherto elected by the Assembly, was now to be appointed, as in most of the other colonies of America, by the Crown, and the whole executive power was to cease to emanate from the people. The judges and magistrates of all kinds, including the sheriff's, were to be appointed by the royal governor, and were to be revocable at pleasure. Jurymen, instead of being chosen by popular election, were to be summoned by the sheriffs. The right of public meeting, which had lately been much employed in inciting the populace against the Government, was seriously abridged. No meeting except election meet- ings might henceforth be held, and no subject discussed, without the permission of the governor. 2 It was more than probable that such grave changes would be resisted by force, that blood would be shed, 14 George III. o. 19. * Ibid. c. 45. CH. xi. COERCIVE ACTS OF PARLIAMENT. 167 and that English, soldiers would again be tried for their lives before a civil tribunal. The conduct of the Boston judges and of the Boston jury at the trial of Captain Preston and his soldiers had redounded to tKeir im- mortal honour ; but Government was resolved that no such risk should be again incurred, and that soldiers who were brought to trial for enforcing the law against the inhabitants of Boston, should never again be tried by a Boston jury. To remove the trial of prisoners from a district where popular feeling was so violent that a fair trial was not likely to be obtained, was a practice not wholly unknown to English law. Scotch juries were not suffered to try rebels, or Sussex juries smugglers ; and an Act was now passed ' for the im- partial administration of justice,' which provided that if any person in the province of Massachusetts were indicted for murder or any other capital offence, and if it should appear to the governor that the incriminated act was committed in aiding the magistrates to suppress tumult and riot, and also that a fair trial cannot be had in the province, the prisoner should be sent for trial to any other colony, or to Great Britain. 1 These were the three great coercive measures of 1774. It is not necessary to dilate upon them, for their character is transparently evident, and the pro- vocation that produced them has been sufficiently ex- plained. The colonial estimate of them was tersely stated in the remonstrance of the province. ' By the first,' they say, ' the property of unoffending thousands is arbitrarily taken away for the act of a few individuals ; by the second our chartered liberties are annihilated, and by the third our lives may be destroyed with im- punity/ General Gage, who had for some years been commander-in-chief of the whole English army in 1 14 George III. c. 39. 13 168 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ri. America, was appointed Governor of Massachusetts, and entrusted with the task of carrying out the coercive policy of Parliament ; and in order to assist him, an Act was carried, quartering soldiers on the inhabitants. 1 One other measure relating to the colonies was carried during this session, which met with great opposition, and which, though important in American history, is still more important in the history of religious liberty. It was the famous Quebec Act, for the purpose of ascertaining the limits and regulating the condition of the new province of Canada. 2 The great majority of the inhabitants of that province were French, who had been accustomed to live under an arbitrary government, and whose religious and social conditions differed widely from those of the English colonists. The Government resolved, as the event showed very wisely, that they would not subvert the ancient laws of the province, or introduce into them the democratic system which existed in New England. The English law with trial by jury was introduced in all criminal cases ; but as all contracts and settlements had hitherto been made under French law, and as that law was most congenial to their tastes and habits and traditions, it was maintained. 3 In all civil cases, therefore, French law without trial by jury continued in force. A legislative Council, varying from seventeen to twenty-three members, open to men of both religions, and appointed by the Crown, managed all legislative business except taxation, which was expressly reserved. The territory of the province, determined by the proclamation of 1763, was enlarged so as to include 1 14 George III. c. 54. ferred having their trials deter- 2 Ibid. c. 83. mined by judges to having them 1 According to General Carle- determined by juries, and had ton, the Governor, Canada con- not the least desire for any tained 150,000 Catholics, and popular assemblies. Parl. Hist. less than 400 Protestants ; and xvii. 1367, 13G8. the French Catholics greatly pre- CH. xi. THE QUEBEC ACT. 169 some outlying districts, which were chiefly inhabited by Trench ; and by a bold measure, which excited great indignation both among the Puritans of New England and among the Whigs at home, the Catholic religion, which was that of the great majority of the inhabitants, was virtually established. The Catholic clergy obtained a full parliamentary title to their old ecclesiastical estates, and to tithes paid by members of their own religion ; but no Protestant was obliged to pay tithes. The Quebec Act was little less distasteful to the colonists than the coercive measures that have been related. The existence upon their frontiers of an English state governed on a despotic principle was deemed a new danger to their liberties, while the establishment of Catholicism offended their deepest religious sentiment. Its toleration had indeed been provided for by the Peace of Paris, and on the death of the last French bishop the Government had agreed to recognise a resident Catholic bishop on the condition that he and his successors should be designated by itself, but the political position of the Catholics had been for some time undetermined. The Protestant grand jurors at Quebec had insisted that no Catholic should be admitted to grand or petty juries, and the party they represented would have gladly concentrated all civil and political power in the hands of an infinitesimal body of Protestant immigrants, degraded the Catholics into a servile caste, and reproduced in America in a greatly aggravated form the detestable social condition which existed in Ireland. At home the strength of the anti- Catholic feeling was a few years later abundantly shown, but, with the exception of some parts of Scotland, no portion of the British Islands was animated with the religious fervour of New England, and no sketch of the American Revolution is adequate which does not take this influence into account. In this as in many other 170 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. respects these colonies presented a vivid image of an England which had long since passed away. Their de- mocratic church government, according to which each congregation elected its own minister, their historical connection with those austere republicans who had abandoned their native country to worship God after their own fashion in a desert land, and the intensely Protestant type of their belief, had all conspired to strengthen the Puritan spirit, and in the absence of most forms of intellectual life the pulpit had acquired an almost unparalleled ascendency. The chief and almost the only popular celebration in Massachusetts before the struggle of the Revolution was that of the 5th of November. 1 In Boston, which was the chief centre of the political movement, the theological spirit was especially strong, for the population was unusually homogeneous both in race and in religion. The Con- gregationalists were three or four times as numerous as the Episcopalians, and other sects were as yet scarcely represented. 2 The spirit of American puritanism was indeed so fierce and jealous that the American Episcopalians who were connected with the English Church were never suffered in the colonial period to have a bishop among them, but remained under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. Berkeley, Butler, and Seeker had vainly represented how injurious this system was to the spiritual welfare of the American Episcopalians. Sher- lock complained bitterly that he was made responsible for the religious welfare of a vast country which he had 1 See a curious account of thia in 1775, Washington forbade the celebration in Tudor's Life of commemoration, lest it should Otis, pp. 26-29. It degenerated irritate the Canadian Catholics, into a violent contention between Sparks' Washington, iii. 144. different parts of Boston. When 2 Tudor's Life of Otis, pp. the Americans invaded Canada 446, 447. CH. xi. AMERICAN DISLIKE TO BISHOPS. 171 never seen, which he never would see, and over which he could exercise no real influence. Gibson tried to exercise some control over the colonial clergy, but found that he had no means of enforcing his will. Archbishop Tenison had even left a legacy for the endowment of two bishoprics in America. The Episcopalians them- selves petitioned earnestly for a resident bishop, and stated in the clearest terms that they wished him to be only a spiritual functionary destitute of all temporal authority. "The powers exercised in the consistory courts in England,' it was said, c are not desired for bishops residing in America.' They were not to be supported by any tax ; they were not to be placed either in New England or Pennsylvania, where non-episcopal forms of religion prevailed, or to be suffered in any colony to exercise any authority, except over the members of their own persuasion. 1 It was urged that those who were in communion with the Established Church of England were the only Christians in America who were deprived of what they believed to be the necessary means of religious discipline ; that the rite of confirmation, which is so important in the Anglican system, was unknown among them ; that it was an in- tolerable grievance and a fatal discouragement to their 1 See the report of Bishop of them appear to have been Sherlock to the King in Council, educated in Dublin University, on the Church in the Colonies. The Massachusetts Assembly, Documents relating to the writing in 1768 to their Agent in Colonial History of New York, England, against the taxation of vii. 360-309. Much informa- America by England, say : ' The tion about the condition of revenue raised in America, for the Episcopalians in America aught we can tell, may be as will be found in the correspond- constitutionally applied towards ence between Archbishop Seeker the supi ort of prelacy, as of and some American clergymen soldiers and pensioners ; ' and in the same volume. According they add : ' We hope in God such to Sherlock, the Episcopalian an estallishment will never take ministers in America were chiefly place in America.' Wells' Life Scotch and Irish. A great number of S. Adams, i. 200. 172 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. creed, that every candidate for ordination was obliged to travel 6,000 miles before he could become qualitied to conduct public worship in his own village. By a very low computation, it was said, this necessity alone imposed on each candidate an expenditure of 100Z., and out of fifty-two candidates who, in 1767, crossed the sea from the Northern colonies, no less than ten had died on the voyage or from its results. 1 More than once the propriety of sending out one or two bishops to the colonies had -been discussed, but the notion always pro- duced such a storm of indignation in New England that it was speedily abandoned. It was not indeed a question on which the Ministers at all cared to provoke American opinion ; and it is a curiously significant illustration of the theological indifference of the English Government that the first Anglican colonial bishop was the Bishop of Nova Scotia, who was only appointed in 1787 ; and that the first Anglican Indian bishop was the Bishop of Calcutta, who was appointed by the influence of Wilber- force in 18 14. It is easy to conceive how fiercely a Protestantism as jealous and sensitive as that of New England must have resented the establishment of Catholicism in Canada ; and in the New England colonies the poli- tical influence exercised by the clergy was very great. Public meetings were held in the churches. Procla- mations were read from the pulpit. The Episcopalian- ism of a large proportion of the Government officers contributed perceptibly to their unpopularity ; political preaching was almost universal, and the sermons of Mayhew, Chauncey, and Samuel Cooper had much in- fluence in stimulating resistance. The few clergymen who abstained from introducing politics into the pulpit 1 Petition to Lord Hillsborough York and New Jersey, Oct. 12, from the Anglican clergy of New 1771. MSS. Eecord Office. CH. xi. THE COLONIES SUPPORT BOSTON. 173 were looked upon with great suspicion or dislike. 1 The fast days which were held in every important crisis diffused, intensified, and consecrated the spirit of resist- ance, and gave a semi-religious tone to the whole move- ment. There were a few prominent leaders, indeed, who were of a different character. Otis lamented bitterly that the profession of a saintly piety was in New England the best means of obtaining political power. Franklin was intensely secular in the character of his mind, and his theology was confined to an admiration for the pure moral teaching of the Evangelists, while Jefferson sympathised with the freethinkers of France ; but such ways of thinking were not common in America, and the fervid Puritanism of New England had a very important bearing upon the character of the struggle. It was soon evident that the Americans were not in- timidated by the Coercion Acts, and that the hope of the ministry that resistance would be confined to Massa- chusetts, and perhaps to Boston, was wholly deceptive. The closing of the port of Boston took place on the 1st of June, 1774, but before that time the sympathies of the other colonies had been clearly shown. The As- sembly of Virginia, which was in session when the news of the intended measure arrived, of its own authority appointed the 1st of June to be set apart as a day of 1 This was one of the charges mentions how, ' ayant tax6 un brought against Dr. Byles, a ministre anglican de ne parler well-known Tory clergyman in que du ciel,' he was much grati- Boston. He answered his ac- fied on the following Sunday by cusers : 'I do not understand hearing from the pulpit a de- politics, and you all do. . . . You nunciation of the 'execrable have politics all the week : pray house of Hanover.' Mem. de let one day in seve.n be devoted Lafayette, i. 38. See, too, on the to religion. . . . Give me any use made of days of ' fasting and subject to preach on of more prayer ' for the purpose of excit- consequence than the truths I ing the revolutionary feeling, bring to you, and I will preach Tucker's Life of Je/erson, i. on it next Sabbath.' Lafayette 54, 55. 174 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xt. fasting, prayer, and humiliation, ' to implore tlie divine interposition to avert the heavy calamity which threat- ened destruction to their civil rights, with the evils of civil war, and to give one heart and one mind to the people firmly to oppose every injury to the American rights.' The Governor at once dissolved the House, but its members reassembled, drew up a declaration express- ing warm sympathy with Boston, and called upon all the colonies to support it. The example was speedily followed. Subscriptions poured in for the relief of the Boston poor who were thrown out of employment by the closing of the port. Virginia, South Carolina, and Maryland sent great quantities of corn and rice. Salem and Marblehead, which were expected to grow rich by the ruin of Bos- ton, offered the Boston merchants the free use of their harbours, wharfs, and warehouses. Provincial, town, and county meetings were held in every colony en- couraging Boston to resist, and the 1st of June was generally observed throughout America as a day of fasting and prayer. The Assembly of Massachusetts was convoked by the new Governor, and soon after removed from Boston to Salem, and it showed its feel- ings by calling on him to appoint a day of general fasting and prayer, by recommending the assembly of a congress of representatives of all the colonies to take measures for the security of colonial liberty, by accus- ing the British Government of an evident design to de- stroy the free constitutions of America, and to erect in their place systems of tyranny and arbitrary sway, and by appealing to their constituents to give up every kind of intercourse with England till their wrongs were redressed. As was expected in 'Boston, the As- sembly was at once dissolved, but the movement of re- sistance was unchecked. An attempt made by some loyalists to procure a resolution from a public meeting TH. xi. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 175 in favour of paying the East India Company for the tea which had been destroyed was defeated by a great ma- jority. The system of committees charged in every district with organising resistance and keeping up cor- respondence between the colonies, which had been found so efficient in 1765 and 1767, was revived; the press and the pulpit all over America called on the people to unite ; and a ' solemn league and covenant ' was formed, binding the subscribers to abstain from all commercial intercourse with Great Britain till the obnoxious Acts were repealed. It was agreed that all delinquents should be held up in the newspapers to popular venge- ance, and on the 5th of September, 1774, the delegates of the twelve States assembled in Congress at Phila- delphia. ' The die is now cast,' wrote the King at this time ; ' the colonies must either submit or triumph.' The war did not indeed yet break out, but both sides were rapidly preparing. Fresh ships of war and fresh troops were sent to Boston. General Gage fortified the neck of land which connected it with the continent ; he took possession, amid fierce demonstrations of popular indig- nation, of the gunpowder in some of the arsenals of New England ; he issued a proclamation describing the new ' league and covenant ' as ' an illegal and traitorous combination,' but he was unable to obtain any prosecu- tion. He tried to erect new barracks in Boston, but found it almost impossible to obtain builders. Must of the new councillors appointed by the Crown were obliged by mob violence to resign their posts, and the few who accepted the appointment were held up to execration as enemies of their country. Eiots and out- rages were of almost daily occurrence. Conspicuous Tories were tarred and feathered, or placed astride of rails, and carried in triumph through the streets of the chief towns. One man was fastened in the body of a 176 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. >:, dead ox which he had bought from an obnoxious loyalist, and thus carted for several miles between Plymouth and Kingston. Another was nearly suffocated by being confined in a room with a fire, while the chimney and all other apertures were carefully closed. Juries sum- moned under the new regulations refused to be sworn. Judges who accepted salaries from the Crown were pre- vented by armed mobs from going to their courts. Most of the courts of justice in Massachusetts were forcibly closed, and the judges of the Supreme Court in- formed General Gage that it was totally impossible for them to administer justice in the province, that no jurors could be obtained, and that the troops were altogether insufficient for their protection. Conspicuous politicians, even members of the Con- gress, are said to have led the mobs. In Berkshire the mob actually forced the judges from the bench and shut up the court-house. At Worcester, about 5,000 per- sons, a large proportion of them being armed, having formed themselves in two files, compelled the judges, sheriffs, and gentlemen of the bar to pass between them with bare heads, and at least thirty times to read a paper promising to hold no courts under the new Acts of Par- ] lament. At Springfield the judges and sheriffs were treated with the same ignominy. At Westminster, in the province of New York, the court-house and gaol were captured by the mob, and the judges, sheriffs, and many loyalist inhabitants were locked up in prison. A judge in the same province had the courage to commit to prison a man who was employed in disarming the loyal- ists. The prisoner was at once rescued, and the judge carried, tarred and feathered, five or six miles through the country. 1 Great numbers of loyalists were driven 1 Moore's Diary of the Ameri- This very interesting book is a can Revolution, i. 37-52, 138. collection of extracts from the CH. xi. MOB VIOLENCE IN AMERICA. 177 from their estates or their business ; and except under the very guns of British soldiers, they could find no safety in New England. As the Crown possessed scarcely any patronage in the colonies to reward it3 friends, all but the most courageous and devoted were reduced to silence, or hastened to identify themselves with the popular cause. * Are not the bands of society,' wrote a very able loyalist at this time, ' cast asunder, and the sanctions that hold man to man trampled upon? Can any of us recover debts, or obtain compensation for an injury, by law ? Are not many persons whom we once respected and revered driven from their homes and families, and forced to fly to the army for protection, for no other reason but their having accepted commissions under our King ? Is not civil government dissolved ? . . . What kind of offence is it for a number of men to assemble armed, and forcibly to obstruct the course of justice, even to prevent the King's courts from being held at their stated terms ; to seize upon the King's pro- vincial revenue, I mean the moneys collected by virtue of grants made to his Majesty for the support of his government within this province ; to assemble without being called by authority, and to pass Governmental Acts ; to take the militia out of the hands of the King's representative, or to form a new militia ; to raise men and appoint officers for a public purpose without the order or permission of the King or his representative, or to take arms and march with a professed design of op- posing the King's troops ? J < Committees not known in law . . . frequently elect themselves into a tribunal, where the same persons are at once legislators, accusers, witnesses, judges, and jurors, and the mob the execu- contemporary newspapers on too, Force's American Archives both sides of the question, and (4th series), i. 747, 748, 767-769, gives a vivid picture of the social 795, 1260-1263. condition of the colonies. See, 178 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, as. xi, tioners. The accused has no day in court, and the execution of the sentence is the first notice he receives- This is the channel through which liberty matters have been chiefly conducted the summer and fall past. . . . It is chiefly owing to these committees that so many re- spectable persons have been abused and forced to sign recantations and resignations ; that so many persons, to avoid such reiterated insults as are more to be depre- cated by a man of sentiment than death itself, have been obliged to quit their houses, families, and business, and fly to the army for protection ; that husband has been separated from wife, father from son, brother from brother, the sweet intercourse of conjugal and natural affection interrupted, and the unfortunate refugee forced to abandon all the comforts of domestic life.' l Even in cases which had little or no connection with politics, mob violence was almost uncontrolled. Thus a custom- house officer named Malcolm, who in a street riot had struck or threatened to strike with a cutlass a person who insulted him, was dragged out of his house by the mob, stripped, tarred and feathered, then carted for several hours during an intense frost, and finally scourged, with a halter round his neck, through the streets of Boston, and all this was done in the presence of thousands of spectators, and with the most absolute impunity. At Marblehead the mob, believing that an hospital erected for the purpose of inoculation was spreading contagion, burnt it to the ground, and for several days the whole town was in their undisputed possession.* 1 Massachusettensis,orLetters self driven from his house in on the present Troubles of Massa- Taunton, and bullets were fired chusetts Bay, Letters L, IV. into it. Moore's Diary, i. 38. " Ibid. Letter III. These very Among the numerous persons remarkable letters were written who were at this time driven into by Leonard, one of his Majesty's exile was Dr. Cooper, President Council. The author was him- of King's College in New York, CH. xi. GAGE'S PROCLAMATION. NEW ENGLAND ARMS. 179 Among many graver matters, an amusing indigna- tion was about this time excited by a proclamation which General Gage, according to a usual custom, issued 1 for the encouragement of piety and virtue, and the prevention of vice, profaneness, and immorality.' The General knew that the Boston preachers made it a favourite theme that the presence of British soldiers was fatal to the purity of New England morals, and he now for the first time inserted * hypocrisy ' in the list of the vices against which the people were warned. The vehemence with which this was resented as a studied insult to the clergy, convinced many impartial persons that the insinuation was not wholly undeserved. The people were in the meantime rapidly arming. Guns were collected from all sides, the militia was assidu- ously drilled, and its organisation was improved ; bodies of volunteers called * minute men ' were formed, who were bound to rise to arms at the shortest notice, and New England had all the aspect of a country at war. A false alarm was spread abroad possibly in order to ascertain the number who would rise in case of instir- , rection that the British troops and vessels were firing upon Boston, and in a few hours no less than 30,000 men from Massachusetts and Connecticut are said to have been in arms. The collision was happily averted, but this incident gave the popular party new confidence in their strength, and over the greater part of New England their ascendency was undisputed. The new seat of government at Salem was abandoned ; the new councillors, and all or nearly all the officers connected and the most distinguished Epi- half-dressed over the college scopalian in America. He had fence, to take refuge in an Eng- written something on the loyalist lish ship of war, and ultimately side, and accordingly received a in England. Documents relat- letter threatening his life, and ing to the Colonial History of was soon after compelled to fly New York, viii. 297. 180 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. with the revenue, fled for safety to Boston, and although the troops were not openly resisted they experienced on every side the animosity of the people. Farmers refused to sell them provisions. Straw which they had purchased was burnt. Carts with wood were over- turned, boats with bricks were sunk, when it was dis- covered that they were for the King's service, and at the same time colonial agents were industriously tempt- ing individual soldiers to desert. The Congress which met in Philadelphia, though it had no legal authority, was obeyed as the supreme power in America. It consisted of delegates selected by the Provincial Assemblies which then were sitting, and, in cases where the Governors had refused to con- voke these Assemblies, by Provincial Congresses called together for that purpose. Except Georgia, all the colonies which existed before the peace of 1763 were represented. The number of delegates varied according to the magnitude of the States, but after much discus- sion it was determined that no colony should count for more than one in voting. The Congress in the first place expressed its full and unqualified approbation of the conduct of the inhabitants of Boston, exhorted them to continue unflinching in their opposition to the invasion of their Constitution, and invited the other colonies to contribute liberally to their assistance. It next drew up a series of extremely able State papers defining and enforcing the position of the Americans. After long debate and violent difference of opinion, it was resolved not to treat the commercial restrictions as a grievance, or to deny the general legislative authority of Parlia- ment over America. Franklin, as we have seen, had recently contended that the colonies, though subject to the King, were by right wholly independent of the Parliament, and, this doctrine had been formally main- tained by the Assembly of Massachusetts in its addresses en. xi. CONGRESS OF PHILADELPHIA, 1774. 181 of 1773, but it was not the contention of the original opponents of the Stamp Act, 1 and it was not generally accepted in the other colonies. 2 The Congress, there- fore, while asserting in the strongest terms the exclusive right of the provincial legislatures in all cases of taxa- tion and internal policy, at last consented to add these remarkable words in their declaration of rights : * From the necessity of the case and in regard to the mutual interests of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such Acts of the British Parliament as are bond fide restrained to the regulation of our external commerce for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole Empire to the mother country and the commercial benefits of its respective members.' They enumerated, however, a long series of Acts carried 1 Even Otis, who had been the first to denounce the commercial restrictions as unconstitutional, and who repudiated writs of assistance as the creation of the English Parliament, maintained not very consistently that Parliament had a real legislative authority in America, and he de- precated in the strongest lan- guage any measure tending to separation. * The supreme Legis- lative,' he wrote in 1765, ' repre- sents the whole society or com- munity, as well the dominions as the realm; and this is the true reason why the dominions are justly bound by such Acts of Parliament as name them. This is implied in the idea of a supreme sovereign power; and if the Parliament had not such authority the colonies would be independent, which none but rebels, fools, or madmen will contend for.' Answer to the Halifax Libel, p. 16. The same doctrine is laid down with equal emphasis in the Farmer's Let- ters: 'The Parliament unques- tionably possesses a legal autho- rity to regulate the trade of Great Britain and all its colonies. Such an authority is essential to the relation between a mother country and its colonies. . . . We are but parts of a whole, and therefore there must exist a power somewhere to preside and preserve the connection in due order. This power is lodged in the Parliament.' Letter II. 2 Story's Constitution of the United States, i. 178, 179. Jeffer- son says that about the middle of 1774 he maintained that the relations of England to the colonies were similar to those of England with Scotland before the Union, or of England with Hanover at present, but he only found one person to agree with him. Autobiography. 182 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. during the present reign which were violations of their liberty, and which must be repealed if the two countries were to continue in amity. Among them were the Acts closing the harbour of Boston, changing the con- stitution of Massachusetts, establishing despotic govern- ment and the Popish religion in Canada, interfering with the right of public meeting, quartering British troops upon the colonists, and above all imposing taxa- tion by Imperial authority. They pronounced it unnecessary to maintain a stand- ing army in the colonies in time of peace, and illegal to do so without the consent of the local legislatures. They complained also that their assemblies had been arbitrarily dissolved, that their governors had conspired against their liberty, and that in several cases they had been deprived of their constitutional right of trial by jury or at least by a ' jury of the vicinage/ The Court of Admiralty tried revenue cases without a jury, and the Governor had power to send for trial out of the colony those who were accused of treason, of destroying the King's ships or naval stores, or of homicide com- mitted in suppressing riot or rebellion. All this masa of legislation Parliament must speedily and absolutely repeal. For the present, however, the Congress resolved to resort only to peaceful means, and their weapon was a rigid non- importation, non-consumption, and non- exportation agreement, which was to be imposed by their authority upon all the colonies they represented and was to continue until their grievances had been fully redressed. From December 1 following, the members of the Congress bound themselves and their constituents to import no goods from Great Britain, to purchase no slave imported after that date and no tea imported on account of the East India Company, and to extend the same prohibition to the chief products of the British CH. xi. CONGRESS OF 1774. 183 plantations, to the wines of Madeira and the West India islands which were unloaded to pay duty in England, and to foreign indigo. On September 10, 1775, if the grievances were not yet redressed a new series of measures were to come into force, and no commodity whatever was to be exported from America to Great Britain, Ireland, or the West Indies, except rice to Europe; committees were to be appointed in every town and county to observe the conduct of all persons touching this association, and to publish in the ' Gazette ' the name of anyone who had violated it ; and all deal- ings with such persons and with any portion of the colonies which refused to join the association were for- bidden. At the same time the Congress agreed for themselves and their constituents to do the utmost in their power to encourage frugality and promote manu- factures, to suppress or suspend every form of gambling and expensive amusement, to abandon the custom of wearing any other mourning than a black ribbon or necklace for the dead, and to diminish the expenditure at funerals. In addition to these measures, they issued very powerful addresses to the King and to the people of England professing their full loyalty to the Crown, but enumerating their grievances in emphatic terms. In the address to the people of England they skilfully appealed to the strong anti-Catholic feeling of the nation, denying the competence of the Legislature ' to establish a religion fraught with sanguinary and impious tenets/ ' a religion that has deluged your island in blood, and dispersed impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder, and rebellion through every part of the world ; ' and they predicted that if the ministers succeeded in their de- signs, 'the taxes from America, the wealth and, we may add, the men, and particularly the Koman Catholics of this vast continent, will be in their power ' to enslave 14 184 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. the people of Great Britain. Their own attachment to Great Britain they emphatically affirmed. * You have been told, 5 they said, ' that we are seditious, impatient of government, and desirous of independency. Be assured that these are not facts but calumnies. . . . Place us in the same situation that we were at the close of the last war, and our former harmony will be restored.' At the same time, in an ingenious address to the Canadians they endeavoured to alienate them from England, to persuade them that they were both oppressed, deceived, and insulted by the present minis- ters, and to induce them to join with the other colonies in vindicating their common freedom. Difference of religion, they maintained, could be no bar to co-opera- tion. * We are too well acquainted/ they said, ' with the liberality of sentiment distinguishing your nation to imagine that difference of religion will prejudice you against a hearty amity with us,' and they referred to the example of the Swiss cantons, where Protestant and Catholic combined with the utmost concord to vindicate and guard their political liberty. Having issued these addresses, the Congress dissolved itself in less than eight weeks ; but it determined that unless grievances were first redressed, another Congress should meet at Philadelphia on May 10 following, and it recommended all the colonies to choose deputies as soon as possible. 1 Such were the proceedings of this memorable body, which laid the foundation of American independence. Perhaps the most perplexing question raised by its pro- ceedings is the degree of sincerity that can be ascribed to the disclaimer of all wish for separation. That a considerable party in New England anticipated and 1 Journal of the Proceedings account of the debates in Adams of tlie Congress held at Philadel* Diary, vhia, Sept. 1774. See, too, the CH. xi. INDEPENDENCE NOT WISHED FOB. 185 desired an open breach with England appears to me undoubted, but it is equally certain that many of the leading agents in the Revolution expressed up to the last moment a strong desire to remain united to England. It was in August 1774, when the Americans were busily arming themselves for the struggle, that Franklin as- sured Chatham that there was no desire for indepen- dence in the colonies. 1 John Adams, who had not, like Franklin, the excuse of absence from his native country, wrote in March 1775, even of the people of Massachusetts, ' that there are any that pant after independence is the greatest slander on the province. 5 Jefferson declared that before the Declaration of Independence he had never heard a whisper of disposition to separate from Great Britain ; and Washington himself, in the October of 1774, denied in the strongest terms that there was any wish for independence in any province in America. 2 The truth seems to be that the more distinguished Americans were quite resolved to appeal to the sword rather than submit to parliamentary taxation and to the other oppressive laws that were complained of, but if they could restore the relations to the mother country which subsisted before the Stamp Act, they had no desire whatever to sever the connection. In 1774 and during the greater part of 1775 very few Americans wished for independence, and long after this period many of those who took an active part in the Revolution would gladly have restored the connection if they could have done so on terms which they considered compatible 1 He said to Chatham that, person, drunk or sober, the least having more than once travelled expression of a wish for a separa- almost from one end of the con- tion, or hint that such a thing tinent to the other, and kept a would be advantageous to great variety of company eating, America.' Negotiations in Lou- drinking, and conversing with don. Franklin's Works, v. 7. them freely, I have never heard 2 See on this subject Wash- in any conversation, from any ington's Works, ii. 401, 496--502. 186 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xi. with their freedom. The instructions of the chief colonies to their delegates in Congress are on this subject very unequivocal. Thus New Hampshire in- structed its delegates to endeavour ' to restore that peace, harmony, and mutual confidence which once happily subsisted between the parent country and her colonies.' Massachusetts spoke of 'the restoration of union and harmony between Great Britain and the colonies most ardently desired by all good men.' Pennsylvania enjoined its representatives to aim not only at the redress of American grievances and the definition of American rights, but also at the esta- blishment of ' that union and harmony between Great Britain and her colonies which is indispensably necessary to the welfare and the happiness of both.' Virginia aspired after * the return of that harmony and union so beneficial to the whole Empire and so ardently desired by all British America,' and North and South Carolina adopted a similar language. 1 In 1775 the Convention of South Carolina assured their new governor that they adhered to the British Crown, though they had taken arms against British tyranny. The Virginian Convention in the same year declared ' before God and the world ' that they bore their faith to the King, and would disband their forces whenever the liberties of America were restored ; the Assembly of New Jersey, while their State was in open rebellion, rebuked their governor for supposing the Americans to be aiming at national inde- pendence ; 2 and, lastly, the Provincial Congress of New York, when congratulating Washington on his appoint- ment as commander-in-chief of the insurgent force, took care to add their assurance ' that whenever this im- portant contest shall be decided by that fondest wish of 1 Journal of the Proceedings * See other instances in Gra- of the Congress held at Phila- hame, iv. 392, 395. delphia, Sept. 5, 1774. CH. xi. INDEPENDENCE NOT WISHED FOR. 187 each American soul, an accommodation with our mother country, you will cheerfully resign the deposit com- mitted into your hands.' l Many other public documents might be cited showing that the Americans took up arms to redress grievances and not to establish independence, and that it was only very slowly and reluctantly that they became familiar- ised with the idea of a complete separation from England. IS' 01 is there, I think, any reason to believe that this language was substantially untrue. In March 1776 General Reed, in confidential letters to Washington, lamented that the public mind in Virginia was violently opposed to the idea of independence. 2 Galloway, one of the ablest of the Pennsylvanian loyalists, afterwards expressed his belief before a committee of the House of Commons that at the time when the Americans took up arms less than a fifth part of them 4 had independence in view ; ' 3 and John Adams when an old man related how, when he first went to the Congress at Philadelphia, the leading conspirators in that town said to him, * You must not utter the word independence or give the least hint or insinuation of the idea either in congress or any private conversation ; if you do you are undone, for the idea of independence is as unpopular in Pennsylvania and in all the Middle and Southern States as the Stamp Act itself.' 4 Adams tells how, when a letter which he had written in 1775 advocating independence was intercepted and published, he was * avoided like a man infected with the leprosy/ and * walked the streets of Philadelphia in solitude, borne down by the weight of care and unpopularity.' 6 Few men contributed more 1 Eamsay, i. 220. 4 Adams' Works, ii. 512. 1 March 3 and 15, 1776. See * Ibid. p. 513. In a confiden- Washington's Works, iii. 347, tial letter from New York, dated 348. Aug. 7, 1775, Governor Tryon 3 Examination of Joseph Oal- said: 'I should do great in justice loway, p. 4. to America were I to hold up an 188 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xf. to hasten the separation between the two countries, yet he afterwards wrote these remarkable words : ' For my own part there was not a moment during the Eevolution when I would not have given everything I possessed for a restoration to the state of things before the contest began, provided we could have a sufficient security for its continuance. ' * In 1774 also, it is evident that a large proportion of the most ardent patriots imagined that redress could be obtained without actual fighting, and that the Legisla- ture of the greatest country in the world would repeal no less than eleven recent Acts of Parliament in obedience to a mere threat of resistance. They knew that numerous urgent petitions in favour of conciliation had been pre- sented by English merchants, and that many of the most conspicuous English politicians, including Chatham, Camden, Shelburne, Conway, Barre, and Burke, were on their side, and they overrated greatly the strength of their friends, and especially the effect of the non-impor- tation agreements upon English prosperity. * England/ it was argued in the Congress, * is already taxed as much as she can bear. She is compelled to raise ten millions in time of peace. Her whole foreign trade is but four and half millions, while the value of the importations to the colonies is probably little, if at all, less than three millions.' ' A total non-importation and non-exportation to Great Britain and the West Indies must produce a national bankruptcy in a very short space of time.' 2 Kichard Henry Lee, one of the most prominent Virginian politicians, was so confident in the effect of non-impor- idea that the bulk of its inhabit- relating to the Colonial History ants wishes an independency. I of New York, viii. 603. am satisfied (not to answer for ! See Washington's Works, ii. our Eastern neighbours) a very 501. large majority, particularly in 2 Speech of Chase. Adams 1 this province, are utter enemies Works, ii. 383. to such a principle.' Documents CH xi. ILLUSIONS IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND. 189 tation that he declared himself ' absolutely certain that the same ship which carries home the resolution will bring back the redress/ 1 Washington was more doubt- ful, but he expressed his opinion privately that by a non- importation and a non-exportation agreement combined, America would win the day, though one alone would be insufficient. John Adams, Hawley, and Patrick Henry, however, were of opinion that the proceedings of the Congress were very useful in uniting the colonies, but that they were quite insufficient to coerce Great Britain, and that the question must ultimately be decided by the sword. 2 In England, on the other hand, there was to the very last a great disbelief in the reality of a colonial union. Nearly all the rumours of violence and insubordination had come from two or three of the New England States and from Virginia, and it was supposed that in the moment of crisis the other States would hold aloof, and that even in the insurgent colonies a large party of ac- tive loyalists could be fully counted on. Provincial governors being surrounded by such men were naturally inclined to underrate the capacity or the sincerity of their opponents, and they thought that the wild talk of lawyers and demagogues and the demonstrations of mob violence would speedily collapse before firm action. Hutchinson, who lived in the centre of the disaffection, and who ought to have known the New England character as well as any man, predicted that the people of America would not attempt to resist a British army, and that if they did a few troops would be sufficient to quell them. 3 His opinion appears to have had considerable weight with George III., and it greatly strengthened him in his determination to coerce. 4 General Gage for some 1 Adams' Works, ii. 362. Ibid. p. 428. * Tudor'sI/i/eo/O&s, pp. 256, * Correspondence of George 257. III. with Lord North, i. 194, 195. 190 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XI. time took the same view. He assured the King in the beginning of 1774 that the Americans * will be lions while we are lambs, but if we take the resolute part they will undoubtedly prove very meek, 5 and he thought that * four regiments, intended to relieve as many regi- ments in America, if sent to Boston ' would be * suf- ficient to prevent any disturbance.' 1 It is true that Carleton, the Governor of Canada, and Tryon, the Governor of New York, though they had no doubt of the ability of England to crush insurrection, warned the Government that the task would be a very serious one, and would require much time and large armies, 2 but the prevailing English opinion was that any armed move- ment could be easily repressed. Soldiers spoke of the Americans with professional arrogance, as if volunteers and militias organised by skilful and experienced officers, consisting of men who were accustomed from childhood to the use of arms, and fighting with every advantage of numbers and situation, were likely to be as helpless before regular troops as a Middlesex mob. Unfortu- nately, this ignorant boasting was not confined to the mess-room, and Lord Sandwich, in March 1775, ex- pressed the prevailing infatuation with reckless insolence in the House of Lords. He described the Americans as 1 raw, undisciplined, cowardly men.' He said that the more they produced in the field, the easier would be their conquest. He accused them of having shown egregious cowardice at the siege of Louisburg, and he predicted that they would take to flight at the very sound of a cannon. 3 Whether, under the most favourable cir- cumstances, the subjugation would produce any advan- tages commensurate with the cost ; whether, assuming 1 Correspondence of George III. Parl. Hist, xviii. 446, 447. with Lord North, i. 164. See, too, the very similar speech " See their opinions in Tudor's ofltigby. Walpole's Last Jour* Life of Otis, p. 428. naZs, i. 481. CH. xi. HESITATION IN AMERICA. 191 that England had conquered her colonies, she could permanently hold them contrary to their will; and whether other nations were likely to remain passive during the struggle, were questions which appear to have scarcely occurred to the ordinary English mind. It was, however, quite true that in America there was much difference of opinion, and that large bodies were only dragged with extreme reluctance into war. In New York a powerful and wealthy party sympathised strongly with the Government, and they succeeded in June 1775 in inducing their Assembly to refuse its approbation to the proceedings of the Congress. 1 Even in New England a few meetings were held repudiating the proceedings at Philadelphia. 2 Three out of the four delegates of South Carolina in the Congress declined to sign the non-importation agreements until a provision had been made to permit the exportation of rice to Europe. 3 The Pennsylvanian Quakers recoiled with horror from the prospect of war, and the Convention of the province gave instructions to their delegates in the Congress, which were eminently marked by wisdom and moderation. They desired that England should repeal absolutely the obnoxious Acts; but, in order that such a measure should not be inconsistent with her dignity, they recommended an indemnity to the East India Company, promised obedience to the Act of Navigation, disowned with abhorrence all idea of inde- pendence, and declared their willingness of their own accord to settle an annual revenue on the King, subject to the approbation of Parliament. Virginia had been 1 Ram&ay, i. 143. See, on the Documents relating to the Colo- remarkable loyalty shown by the nial History of New York, viii. New York Assembly at this time, 631, 532. a striking letter of Lieutenant- * Adolphus, ii. 211. Governor Golden to Lord Dart- Adams, ii. 385. mouth (Feb. 1, 1775) in th* 192 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. very prominent in hurrying the colonies into war, and its great orator, Patrick Henry, exerted all his powers in stimulating resistance ; but even Virginia insisted, in opposition to John Adams and to other New Eng- landers, on limiting the list of grievances to Acts passed since 1763, in order that there might be some possi- bility of reconciliation. 1 Among the Episcopalians, and among the more wealthy and especially the older planters, the English party always predominated, and a large section of the mercantile class detested the measures which suspended their trade, and believed that America could not subsist without the molasses, sugar, and other products of the British dominions. There was a wide-spread dislike to the levelling principles of New England, to the arrogant, restless, and ambitious policy of its demagogues, to their manifest desire to invent or discover grievances, foment quarrels, and keep the wound open and festering. 2 There were brave and honest men in America who were proud of the great and free Empire to which they belonged, who had no desire to shrink from the burden of maintaining it, who remembered with gratitude all the English blood that had been shed around Quebec and Montreal, and who, with nothing to hope for from the Crown, were prepared to face the most brutal mob violence and the invectives of a scurrilous Press, to risk their fortunes, their reputations, and sometimes even their lives, in order to avert civil war and ultimate separation. Most of them ended their days in poverty and exile, and as the supporters of a beaten cause history has paid but a scanty tribute to their memory, but they comprised some of the best and ablest men America has ever pro- duced, and they were contending for an ideal which 1 Adams' Works, ii. 384. differences in Congress in Adama 1 See a graphic account of the Works, ii. 350, 410. CH. xi. AMERICAN LOYALISTS. 193 was at least as worthy as that for which Washington fought. It was the maintenance of one free, industrial, and pacific empire, comprising the whole English race, holding the richest plains of Asia in subjection, blend- ing all that was most venerable in an ancient civilisa- tion with the redundant energies of a youthful society, and likely in a few generations to outstrip every com- petitor and acquire an indisputable ascendency on the globe. Such an ideal may have been a dream, but it was at least a noble one, and there were Americans who were prepared to make any personal sacrifices rather than assist in destroying it. Conspicuous among these politicians was Galloway, one of the ablest delegates from Pennsylvania, who saw clearly that a change in the American Constitution was necessary if England was to remain united to her colonies. He proposed that a President-General ap- pointed by the Crown should be placed over the whole group of American colonies ; that a Grand Council, competent to tax the colonies and to legislate on all matters relating to more colonies than one, should be elected by the Provincial Assemblies ; that Parliament should have the right of revising the Acts of this Grand Council, and that the Council should have the right of negative upon any parliamentary measure relating to the colonies. 1 The proposal at first met with consider- able support in the Congress, and it was finally defeated by a majority of only one vote. Dickinson, whose * Farmer's Letters' had been one of the ablest state- ments of the American case, shrank with horror from the idea of rebellion. He bitterly accused John Adams and the other New Englanders of opposing all measures of reconciliation, and declared that he and his friends would no longer co-operate with them, but would carry 1 Adams' Works, ii. 387-389. Galloway's Examination, pp. 47-49. 194 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xi. on the opposition in their own way. 1 The remarkable eloquence and the touching and manifest earnestness of the letters which appeared at Boston under the signa- ture of * Massachusettensis,' urging the people to shrink from the great calamity of civil war, had for a time some influence upon opinion. As usual, however, in such a crisis, the more energetic and determined men directed the movement, and the fierce spirit of New England substantially triumphed over all opposition. The Congress agreed, it is true, to profess its loyalty, to petition the King, and to limit its grievances to measures carried since 1763, but it offered no basis of compromise ; it demanded only an unqualified sub- mission, and it enumerated so long a list of laws that must be repealed that it was quite impossible that Par- liament could comply. General Gage deemed the aspect of affairs so threatening that he suspended by proclama- tion the writs which he had issued summoning the Assembly of Massachusetts to meet at Salem in October 1774. But a provincial congress was at once convened. It was obeyed as if it had been a regular branch of the Legislature, and it proceeded to organise the revolution. Measures were taken for enlisting soldiers for the de- fence of the province; general officers were selected. It was resolved to enroll as speedily as possible an army of 12,000 men within the province, and Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut were asked to join to raise the number of men to 20,000. A com- mittee was at the same time formed for correspond- ing with the people of Canada, and a circular was sent round to all the New England clergy asking them to use their influence in the cause. 2 Before the end of the year intelligence arrived that a proclamation had been issued in England forbidding 1 Adams' Works, ii. 410, 419. Kamsay, i. 130. CH. xi. THE WINTER 1774-1775. 195 the exportation of military stores, and it was at once responded to by open violence. In Rhode Island, by order of the Provincial Assembly, forty cannon with a large amount of ammunition were removed from Fort George, which defended the harbour, and placed under a colonial guard at Providence. The captain of a King's ship which was stationed off the province de- manded an explanation. The Governor replied that the cannon had been removed lest the King's officers should seize them, and that they would be used against any enemy of the colony. In New Hampshire a small fort called William and Mary, garrisoned by one officer and five private soldiers, was surprised and captured by a large body of armed colonists, and the military stores which it contained were carried away. Mills for manufacturing gunpowder and arms were set up in several provinces, and immediate orders were given for casting sixty heavy cannon. Though no blood had yet been shed, it is no exagge- ration to say that the war had already begun, and in England the indignation rose fierce and high. Parlia- ment had been unexpectedly dissolved, and the new Parliament met on November 30, 1774, but no serious measure relating to America was taken till January 1775, when the House reassembled after the Christmas vacation. The ministers had a large majority, and even apart from party interest the genuine feeling of both Houses ran strongly against the Americans. Yet at no previous period were they more powerfully de- fended. I have already noticed that Chatham, having returned to active politics after his long illness in 1774, had completely identified himself with the American cause, and had advocated with all his eloquence mea- sures of conciliation. He reiterated on every occasion his old opinion that self-taxation is the essential con- dition of political freedom, described the conduct of 196 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. the British Legislature in establishing Catholicism in Canada as not less outrageous than if it had repealed the Great Charter or the Bill of Eights, 1 and moved an address to the King praying that he would as soon as possible, ' in order to open the way towards a happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America,' with- . draw the British troops stationed in Boston. In the ^3 course of his speech he represented the question of American taxation as the root-cause of the whole division, and maintained that the only real basis of conciliation was to be found in a distinct recognition of the principle that ' taxation is theirs, and commercial regulation ours ; ' that England has a supreme right of regulating the commerce and navigation of America, ^j and that the Americans have an inalienable right to their own property. He fully justified their resistance, predicted that all attempts to coerce them would fail, and eulogised the Congress at Philadelphia as worthy of the greatest periods of antiquity. Only eighteen peers voted for the address, while sixty-eight opposed it. On February 1 he reappeared with an elaborate Bill for settling the troubles in America. It asserted in strong terms the right of Parliament to bind the colonies in all matters of imperial concern, and especially in all matters of commerce and navigation. It pronounced the new colonial doctrine that the Crown had no right to send British soldiers to the colonies without the assent of the Provincial Assemblies, dangerous and unconstitu- tional in the highest degree, but at the same time it re- cognised the sole right of the colonists to tax themselves, guaranteed the inviolability of their charters, and made the tenure of their judges the same as in England. It proposed to make the Congress which had met at Phila- delphia an official and permanent body, and asked it to 1 Chatham Correspondence, iv. 352. CH. xi. CONCILIATORY PROPOSALS REJECTED. 197 make a free grant for imperial purposes. England, in return, was to reduce the Admiralty Courts to their ancient limits, and to suspend for the present the differ- ent Acts complained of by the colonists. The Bill was not even admitted to a second reading. Several other propositions tending towards concilia- tion were made in this session. On March 22, 1775, Burke, in one of his greatest speeches, moved a series of resolutions recommending a repeal of the recent Acts complained of in America, reforming the Admiralty Court and the position of the judges, and leaving American taxation to the American Assemblies, without touching upon any question of abstract right. A few days later, Hartley moved a resolution calling upon the Government to make requisitions to the colonial As- semblies to provide of their own authority for their own defence ; and Lord Camden in the House of Lords and Sir G. Savile in the House of Commons endeavoured to obtain a repeal of the Quebec Act. All these attempts, however, were defeated by enormous majorities. The petition of Congress to the King was referred to Parlia- ment, which refused to receive it, and Franklin, after vain efforts to effect a reconciliation, returned from Eng- land to America. The Legislature of New York> sepa- rating from the other colonies, made a supreme effort to heal the wound by a remonstrance which was presented by Burke on May 15. Though strongly asserting the sole right of the colonies to tax themselves, and com- plaining of the many recent Acts inconsistent with their freedom, it was drawn up in terms that were studiously moderate and respectful. It disclaimed * the most dis- tant desire of independence of the parent kingdom/ It acknowledged fully the general superintending power of the English Parliament, and its right * to regulate the trade of the colonies, so as to make it subservient to the interest of the mother country/ and it expressed the 198 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. n. readiness of New York to bear its * full proportion of aids to the Crown for the public service/ though it made no allusion to the project of supporting an American army. The Government, however, induced the House of Commons to refuse to receive it, on the ground that it denied the complete legislative authority of Parlia- ment in the colonies as it had been defined by the Declaratory Act. Parliament at the same time took stringent mea- sures to enforce obedience. It pronounced Massachu- setts in a state of rebellion, and promised to lend the ministers every aid in subjugating it. It voted about 6,000 additional men for the land and sea service; it answered the non-importation and non-exportation agreements of the colonies by an Act restraining the New England States from all trade with Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, and from all participation in the Newfoundland fisheries, and it soon after, on the arrival of fresh intelligence from America, extended the same disabilities to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Mary- land, Virginia, and South Carolina. It was also resolved that the British force in Boston should be at once raised to 10,000 men, which it was vainly thought would be sufficient to enforce obedience. At the same time North was careful to announce that these coercive measures would at once cease upon the submission of the colonies, and on February 20, 1775, he had, to the great surprise of Parliament, him- self introduced a conciliatory resolution which was very unpalatable to many of his followers and very inconsis- tent with some of his own earlier speeches, but by which he hoped, if not to appease, at least to divide, the Ameri- cans. His proposition was, that if and as long as any colony thought fit of its own accord to make such a contribution to the common defence of the Empire, and such a fixed provision for the support of the civil CH. xi. CONCILIATORY MEASURE OF NORTH. 199 government and administration of justice, as met the approbation of Parliament, it should be exempted from all imperial taxation for the purpose of revenue. The reception of this conciliatory measure was very remarkable. Hitherto Lord North had guided the House with an almost absolute sway, and on American questions the Opposition seldom could count upon 90 votes, while the ministers had usually about 260. The disclosure, however, of the conciliatory resolution pro- duced an immediate revolt in the ministerial ranks. Six times Lord North rose in vain efforts to appease the storm. The King's friends denounced him as be- traying the cause. The Bedford faction was expected every moment to fly into open rebellion, and Chatham states that for about two hours it was the prevailing be- lief in the House of Commons that the minister would be left in a small minority. The storm, however, had a sudden and most significant ending. Sir Gilbert Elliot, who was known to be in the intimate confidence of the King, declared for the Bill, and the old majority speedily rallied around the minister. 1 At an earlier stage of the dispute this resolution might have been accepted as a reasonable compromise, but in the midst of the coercive measures that had been adopted it pleased no one. Burke and the Whig party denounced it as not stating what sum the colonists were expected to pay, leaving them to bid against one another, and to bargain with the mother country, and in the meantime holding them in duress with fleets and armies, like prisoners who had not yet paid their ransom. Barre assailed it with great bitterness, as intended for no other object than to excite divisions in America. The colonists themselves repudiated it as interfering 1 Chatham Correspondence, iv. ter, 1775, pp. 95-98. Walpole'g 403, 404. See, too, Gibbon to Last Journals, i. 463, 464. Holroyd, Feb. 25, Annual 15 200 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ar.i. with, their absolute right of disposing of their own pro- perty as they pleased, and most later historians have treated it as wholly delusive. 1 With this view I am unable to concur. The proposi- tion appears to me to have been a real and considerable step towards conciliation. It was accepted as such by Governor Pownall. who was one of the ablest and most moderate of the defenders of the colonies in Parliament, 2 and it was recommended to the Americans by Lord Dart- mouth in language of much force and of evident sincerity. He argued that the colonies owed much of their great- ness to English protection, that it was but justice that they should in their turn contribute according to their respective abilities to the common defence, and that their own welfare and interests demanded that their civil establishments should be supported with a becoming dignity. Parliament, he says, leaves each colony * to judge of the ways and means of making due provision for these purposes, reserving to itself a discretionary power of approving or disapproving what shall be offered.' It determines nothing about the specific sum to be raised. The King trusts that adequate provision will be made by the colonies, and that it will be ' proposed in such a way as to increase or diminish according as the public burthens of this kingdom are from time to time augmented or reduced, in so far as those burthens consist of taxes and duties which are not a security for the National Debt. By such a mode of contribution,' he adds, ' the colonies will have full security that they can never be required to tax themselves without Parlia- ment taxing the subjects of this kingdom in a far greater proportion.' He assured them that any proposal of this nature from any colony would be received with every 1 See e.g. Lord Russell's Life 2 See his very able speech, of Fox, i. 85, 86. Parl. Hist, xviii. 322-329. CH. xi. BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 201 possible indulgence, provided it was unaccompanied by declarations inconsistent with parliamentary authority. 1 The letter of Lord Dartmouth to the governors of the colonies was written in March. Little more than a month later the first blood was shed at Lexington. On the night of April 18, 1775, General Gage sent about 800 soldiers to capture a magazine of stores which had been collected for the use of the provincial army in the town of Concord, about eighteen miles from Boston. The road lay through the little village of Lexington, where, about five o'clock on the morning of the 19th, the advance guard of the British found a party of sixty or seventy armed volunteers drawn up to oppose them, on a green beside the road. They refused when sum- moned to disperse, and the English at once fired a volley, which killed or wounded sixteen of their number. The detachment then proceeded to Concord, where it succeeded in spiking two cannon, casting into the river five hundred pounds of ball and sixty barrels of powder, and destroying a large quantity of flour, and it then prepared to return. The alarm had, however, now been given ; the whole country was roused. Great bodies of yeomen and militia flocked in to the assistance of the provincials. From farmhouses and hedges and from the shelter of stone walls bullets poured upon the tired retreating troops, and a complete disaster would pro- bably have occurred had they not been reinforced at Lexington by 900 men and two cannon under Lord Percy. As it was the British lost 65 killed, 180 wounded, and 28 made prisoners, while the American loss was less than 90 men. The whole province was now in arms. The Massa- chusetts Congress at once resolved that the New England 1 This letter is printed in the 645-547. Force's American Ar Documents relating to the Colo- chives (4th series), ii. 27, 28. nial History of New York, viii. 202 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en, xi. army should be raised to 30,000 men, and thousands of brave and ardent yeomen were being rapidly drilled into good soldiers. The American camp at Cambridge con- tained many experienced soldiers who had learnt their profession in the great French war, and very many others who in the ranks of the militia had already acquired the rudiments of military knowledge, and even when they had no previous training, the recruits were widely different from the rude peasants who filled the armies of England. As an American military writer truly said, the middle and lower classes in England, owing to the operation of the game laws and to the circumstances of their lives, were in general almost as ignorant of the use of a musket as of the use of a catapult. The New England yeomen were accustomed to firearms from their child- hood ; they were invariably skilful in the use of spade, hatchet, and pickaxe, so important in military opera- tions ; and their great natural quickness and the high level of intelligence which their excellent schools had produced, made it certain that they would not be long in mastering their military duties. The whole country was practically at their disposal. All who were suspected of Toryism were ordered to surrender their weapons. General Gage was blockaded in Boston, and he remained strictly on the defensive, waiting for reinforcements from England, which only arrived at the end of May. Even then, he for some time took no active measures, but contented himself with offering pardon to all in- surgents who laid down their arms, except Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and with proclaiming martial law in Massachusetts. He at length, however, determined to extend his lines, so as to include and fortify a very important post, which by a strange negli- gence had been left hitherto unoccupied. On a narrow peninsula to the north of Boston, but separated from it by rather less than half a mile of CH. xi. BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 203 water, lay the little town of Charleston, behind which rose two small connected hills, which commanded a great part both of the town and harbour of Boston. Breed's Hill, which was nearest to Charleston, was about seventy-five feet, Bunker's Hill was about one hundred and ten feet, in height. The peninsula, which was little more than a mile long, was connected with the mainland by a narrow causeway. Cambridge, the head- quarters of the American forces, was by road about four miles from Bunker's Hill, but much of the intervening space was occupied by American outposts. The posses- sion, under these circumstances, of Bunker's Hill, was a matter of great military importance, and Gage deter- mined to fortify it. The Americans learnt his intention, and determined to defeat it. On the night of June 16, an American force under the command of Colonel Prescott, and accompanied by some skilful engineers and by a few field-guns, silently occupied Breed's Hill and threw up a strong redoubt before daylight revealed their presence to the British. Next day, after much unnecessary delay, a detachment under General Howe was sent from Boston to dislodge them. The Americans had in the meantime received some reinforcements from their camp, but the whole force upon the hill is said not to have exceeded 1,500 men. Most of them were inexperienced volunteers. Many of them were weary with a long night's toil, and they had been exposed for hours to a harassing though ineffectual fire from the ships in the harbour ; but they were now strongly entrenched behind a redoubt and a breastwork. The British engaged on this memorable day consisted in all of between 2,000 and 3,000 regular troops, fresh from the barracks, and supported by ar- tillery. The town of Charleston, having been occupied by some American riflemen, who poured their fire upon the English from the shelter of the houses, was burnt 204 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xi. by order of General Howe, and its flames cast a ghastly splendour upon the scene. The English were foolishly encumbered by heavy knapsacks with three days' provisions. Instead of endeavouring to cut off the Americans by occupying the neck of land to the rear of Breed's Hill, they climbed the steep and difficult ascent in front of the battery, struggling through the long tangled grass beneath a burning sun, and exposed at every step to the fire of a sheltered enemy. The Americans waited till their assailants were within a few rods of the entrenchment, when they greeted them with a fire so deadly and so sustained that the British line twice recoiled, broken, intimidated, and disordered. The third attack was more successful. The position was carried at the point of the bayonet. The Americans were put to flight, and five out of their six cannon were taken. But the victory was dearly purchased. On the British side 1,054 men, including 89 commissioned officers, fell. The Americans only admitted a loss of 449 men ; and they contended that, if they had been properly reinforced, and if their ammunition had not begun to fail, they would have held the position. 1 The battle of Breed's, or, as it is commonly called, of Bunker's Hill, though extremely bloody in proportion to the number of men engaged, can hardly be said to present any very remarkable military character, and in a great European war it would have been almost unnoticed. Few battles, however, have had more important consequences. It roused at once the fierce instinct of combat in America, weakened seriously the only British army in New England, and dispelled for ever the almost superstitious belief in the impossibility of encountering regular troops with hastily levied volun- 1 See General Gage's despatch. part ii., pp. 132,133. Ramsay, American Remembrancer, 1776, Stedman, and Bancroft. CH. xi. CONGRESS OF 1775. 205 teers. The ignoble taunts which had been directed against the Americans were for ever silenced. No one questioned the conspicuous gallantry with which the provincial troops had supported a long fire from the ships and awaited the charge of the enemy, and British soldiers had been twice driven back in disorder before their fire. From this time the best judges predicted the ultimate success of America. On May 10 the new Continental Congress had met at Philadelphia, and it at once occupied itself, with an energy arid an industry that few legislative bodies have ever equalled, in organising the war. 1 Like the former Congress, its debates were secret, and its decisions were ultimately unanimous. New York, which for a time had flinched, was now fully rallied to the cause, and before the close of the Congress, Georgia for the first time openly joined the twelve other colonies. The conciliatory offer of Lord North was emphatically re- jected. The colonies, it was said, had the exclusive right, not only of granting their own money, but also of deliberating whether they will make any gift, for what purpose and to what amount; and 'it is not just that they should be required to oblige themselves to other contributions, while Great Britain possesses a monopoly of their trade.' Still professing to have no desire to separate from Great Britain, the Congress drew up another petition, expressing deep loyalty to the King, and addresses to the people of Great Britain, Ireland, and Canada, and to the Assembly of Jamaica, 1 John Adams, describing his and from six to ten in committees life at Philadelphia to his wife, again. I don't mention this to in December 1775, says : ' The make you think me a man of whole Congress is taken up al- importance, because not I alone, most, in different committees, but the whole Congress, is thus from seven to ten in the morn- employed.' Adams' Familiar ing. From ten to four, or some- Letters, p. 127. times five, we are in Congress, 206 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. asserting that the British had been the aggressors at Lexington, and had destroyed every vestige of consti- tutional liberty in Massachusetts, and that America, in taking up arms, acted strictly in self-defence. It for- bade the colonists to have any commercial intercourse with those ports of America which had not observed the non-importation agreement of the preceding year. It forbade them to furnish any provisions or other ne- cessaries to British fishermen on their coast, or to any- one connected with the British army or navy. It at the same time ordered that ten companies of riflemen from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, should be raised to reinforce the New England army at Cambridge ; made rules for the regulation of the revolutionary army ; determined upon an expedition to Canada ; issued bills of credit to the amount of 3,000,000 Spanish dollars ; established an American post-office with Franklin at its head; appointed a number of general officers, and, above all, selected George Washington as Commander- in-chief of the American army. The unanimity with which these measures were de- creed was due to the great forbearance of many mem- bers of the Congress, for the secret debates of that body were distracted by the bitterest divisions. As John Adams wrote, ' Every important step was opposed and carried by bare majorities/ and a large amount of jea- lousy and suspicion was displayed. 1 Adams, at the head of the New England party, maintained that America should at once declare her independence, form herself into a confederation, seize all the Crown officers as host- ages, and enter into negotiations with France and Spain; and letters which he had written expressing these views 1 Autobiography. Adams' private friendships and enmities, Works, ii. 503. ' It is almost im- and provincial views and pre- possible,' wrote Adams, * to move judices, intermingle in the con- anything but you instantly see sultation.' Ibid. ii. 448. CH. xi. CONGRESS OF 1775. 207 fell into the hands of the British Government. Dickin- son, however, supported by Pennsylvania and by some of the other Middle States, insisted upon drawing up another petition to the King, and making a last effort towards reconciliation ; and after a very angry resist- ance, Adams was obliged to yield. Zubly, a Swiss clergyman, who was prominent among the delegates of Georgia, appears to have gone still further. ' There are persons in America,' he complained, * who wish to break off with Great Britain ; a proposal has been made to apply to France and Spain ; before I agree to it I will inform my constituents. I apprehend the man who should propose it would be torn to pieces, like De Witt.' 1 He objected strongly to the proposed invasion of Canada as an unjustifiable aggression, and to the non-importa- tion and non-exportation agreements as certain to ruin America. He openly expressed his hope that the pre- sent winter would witness a reconciliation with the mother country ; and he declared his opinion that c a republican government is little better than government of devils.' 2 The trade agreements were debated vehe- mently through several days, and a large proportion of the members appear to have held that the non-expor- tation agreement would render it impossible for the colonies to obtain the money which was necessary for carrying on the war. Negotiations with France and Spain were spoken of, but as yet there was great doubt about the disposition of these Powers. It is curious, amid the storm of invective which at this time was directed against English tyranny, to read the opinion of Gadsden, one of the representatives of South Carolina, who was most active in promoting the Eevolution: ' France and Spain/ he said, ' would be glad to see Great Britain despotic in America. Our being in a better state than their colo- > Adams' WorJcs, ii. 459. a Ibid. ii. 466, 469, 472. 208 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. nies, occasions complaints among them, insurrections and rebellions. But these Powers would be glad we were an independent State. 5 1 Perhaps the most difficult question, however, was the appointment of a commander-in-chief ; and on no other subject did the Congress exhibit more conspicuous wisdom. When only twenty-three, Washington had been appointed commander of the Virginian forces against the French ; and in the late war, though he had met with one serious disaster, and had no opportunity of obtaining any very brilliant military reputation, he had always shown himself an eminently brave and skilful soldier. His great modesty and taciturnity kept him in the background, both in the Provincial Legislature and in the Continental Congress ; but though his voice was scarcely ever heard in debate, his superiority was soon felt in the practical work of the committees. * If you speak of solid information or sound judgment/ said Patrick Henry about this time, l Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man in the Congress.' He appeared in the Assembly in uniform, and in military matters his voice had an almost decisive weight. Several circumstances distinguished him from other officers, who in military service might have been his rivals. He was of an old American family. He was a planter of wealth and social position, and being a Virginian, his appoint- ment was a great step towards enlisting that important colony cordially in the cause. The capital question now pending in America was, how far the other colonies would support New England in the struggle. In the preceding March, Patrick Henry had carried a resolu- tion for embodying and reorganising the Virginia militia, and had openly proclaimed that an appeal to arms was inevitable ; but as yet New England had borne almost 1 Adams' Works, ii. 474. CH. xi. GEORGE WASHINGTON. 209 the whole burden. The army at Cambridge was a New England army, and General Ward, who commanded it, had been appointed by Massachusetts. Even if Ward were superseded, there were many New England com- petitors for the post of commander ; the army naturally desired a chief of their own province, and there were divisions and hostilities among the New England depu- ties. 1 The great personal merit of Washington and the great political importance of securing Virginia, deter- mined the issue ; and the New England deputies ulti- mately took a leading part in the appointment. The second place was given to General Ward, and the third to Charles Lee, an English soldier of fortune who had lately purchased land in Virginia and embraced the American cause with great passion. Lee had probably a wider military experience than any other officer in America, but he was a man of no settled principles, and his great talents were marred by a very irritable and capricious temper. To the appointment of Washington, far more than to any other single circumstance, is due the ultimate success of the American Revolution, though in purely intellectual powers, Washington was certainly inferior to Franklin, and perhaps to two or three other of his colleagues. There is a theory which once received the countenance of some considerable physiologists, though it is now, I believe, completely discarded, that one of the great lines of division among men may be traced to the comparative development of the cerebrum and the cerebellum. To the first organ it was supposed belong those special gifts or powers which make men poets, orators, thinkers, artists, conquerors, or wits. To the second belong the superintending, restraining, discern- ing, and directing faculties which enable men to employ 1 See Adams' Diary. Works, ii. 415. 210 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xi. their several talents with sanity and wisdom, which maintain the balance and the proportion of intellect and character, and make sound judgments and well-regulated lives. The theory, however untrue in its physiological aspect, corresponds to a real distinction in human minds and characters, and it was especially in the second order of faculties that Washington excelled. His mind was not quick or remarkably original. His conversation had no brilliancy or wit. He was entirely without the gift of eloquence, and he had very few accomplishments. He knew no language but his own, and except for a rather strong turn for mathematics, he had no taste which can be called purely intellectual. There was nothing in him of the meteor or the cataract, nothing that either dazzled or overpowered. A courteous and hospitable country gentleman, a skilful farmer, a very keen sportsman, he probably differed little in tastes and habits from the better members of the class to which he belonged ; and it was in a great degree in the administra- tion of a large estate and in assiduous attention to county and provincial business that he acquired his rare skill in reading and managing men. As a soldier the circumstances of his career brought him into the blaze, not only of domestic, but of foreign criticism, and it was only very gradually that his supe- riority was fully recognised. Lee, who of all American soldiers had seen most service in the English army, and Conway, who had risen to great repute in the French army, were both accustomed to speak of his military talents with extreme disparagement ; but personal jea- lousy and animosity undoubtedly coloured their judg- ments. Kalb, who had been trained in the best military schools of the Continent, at first pronounced him to be very deficient in the strength, decision, and promptitude of a general ; and, although he soon learnt to form the highest estimate of his military capacity, he continued CH. xi. GEORGE WASHINGTON. ' 211 to lament that an excessive modesty led him too fre- quently to act upon the opinion of inferior men, rather than upon his own most excellent judgment. 1 In the army and the Congress more than one rival was opposed to him. He had his full share of disaster ; the operations which he conducted, if compared with great European wars, were on a very small scale ; and he had the im- mense advantage of encountering in most cases generals of singular incapacity. It may, however, be truly said of him that his military reputation steadily rose through many successive campaigns, and before the end of the struggle he had outlived all rivalry, and almost all envy. He had a thorough knowledge of the technical part of his profession, a good eye for military combinations, an extraordinary gift of military administration. Punctual, methodical, and exact in the highest degree, he excelled in managing those minute details which are so essential to the efficiency of an army, and he possessed to an eminent degree not only the common courage of a soldier, but also that much rarer form of courage which can endure long-continued suspense, bear the weight of great responsibility, and encounter the risks of misre- presentation and unpopularity. For several years, and usually in the neighbourhood of superior forces, he com- manded a perpetually fluctuating army, almost wholly destitute of discipline and respect for authority, torn by the most violent personal and provincial jealousies, wretchedly armed, wretchedly clothed, and sometimes in imminent danger of starvation. Unsupported for the most part by the population among whom he was quar- tered, and incessantly thwarted by the jealousy of Con- gress, he kept his army together by a combination of skill, firmness, patience, and judgment which has rarely 1 See Greene's German Element in the American War, pp, 142-144. 212 ENGLAND 'IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. TO. been surpassed, and he led it at last to a signal triumph. In civil as in military life, he was pre-eminent among his contemporaries for the clearness and sound- ness of his judgment, for his perfect moderation and self-control, for the quiet dignity and the indomitable firmness with which he pursued every path which he had deliberately chosen. Of all the great men in history he was the most invariably judicious, and there is scarcely a rash word or action or judgment recorded of him. Those who knew him well, noticed that he had keen sensibilities and strong passions ; but his power of self- command never failed him, and no act of his public life can be traced to personal caprice, ambition, or resent- ment. In the despondency of long-continued failure, in the elation of sudden success, at times when his soldiers were deserting by hundreds and when malig- nant plots were formed against his reputation, amid the constant quarrels, rivalries, and jealousies of his sub- ordinates, in the dark hour of national ingratitude, and in the midst of the most universal and intoxicating flattery, he was always the same calm, wise, just, and single-minded man, pursuing the course which he be- lieved to be right, without fear or favour or fanaticism ; equally free from the passions that spring from interest, and from the passions that spring from imagination. He never acted on the impulse of an absorbing or un- calculating enthusiasm, and he valued very highly for- tune, position, and reputation ; but at the command of duty he was ready to risk and sacrifice them all. He was in the highest sense of the words a gentleman and a man of honour, and he carried into public life the severest standard of private morals. It was at first the constant dread of large sections of the American people, that if the old Government were overthrown, they would fall into the hands of military adventurers, and undergo CH. xi. GEORGE WASHINGTON. 213 the yoke of military despotism. It was mainly the transparent integrity of the character of Washington that dispelled the fear. It was always known by his friends, and it was soon acknowledged by the whole nation and by the English themselves, that in Washing- ton America had found a leader who could be induced by no earthly motive to tell a falsehood, or to break an engagement, or to commit any dishonourable act. Men of this moral type are happily not rare, and we have all met them in our experience ; but there is scarcely another instance in history of such a man having reached and maintained the highest position in the convulsions of civil war and of a great popular agitation. It is one of the great advantages of the long practice of free institutions, that it diffuses through the com- munity a knowledge of character and a soundness of judgment which save it from the enormous mistakes that are almost always made by enslaved nations when suddenly called upon to choose their rulers. No fact shows so eminently the high intelligence of the men who managed the American Revolution as their selection of a leader whose qualities were so much more solid than brilliant, and who was so entirely free from all the cha- racteristics of a demagogue. It was only slowly and very deliberately that Washington identified himself with the revolutionary cause. No man had a deeper admiration for the British Constitution, or a more sin- cere wish to preserve the connection and to put an end to the disputes between the two countries. In Virginia the revolutionary movement was preceded and prepared by a democratic movement of the yeomanry of the pro- vince, led by Patrick Henry, against the planter aristo- cracy, 1 and Washington was a conspicuous member of the latter. In tastes, manners, instincts, and sym- See Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry. 214 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. pathies lie might have been taken as an admirable specimen of the better type of English country gentle- man, and he had a great deal of the strong conservative feeling which is natural to the class. From the first promulgation of the Stamp Act, however, he adopted the conviction that a recognition of the sole right of the colonies to tax themselves was essential to their free- dom, and as soon as it became evident that Parliament was resolved afc all hazards to assert and exercise its authority of taxing America, he no longer hesitated. An interesting letter to his wife, however, shows clearly that he accepted the proffered command of the Ameri- can forces with extreme diffidence and reluctance, and solely because he believed that it was impossible for him honourably to refuse it. He declined to accept from Congress any emoluments for his service beyond the simple payment of his expenses, of which he was accustomed to draw up most exact and methodical accounts. The other military events of the year must be very briefly related. About three weeks after the skirmish at Lexington a party of colonists under Colonels Allen and Benedict Arnold had succeeded, without the loss of a man, in seizing the two very important forts of Ticon- deroga and Crown Point, which commanded Lakes George and Champlain, and were indeed the key of Canada, but which had been left by the English in the charge of only sixty or seventy soldiers. In September, in obedience to the direction of the Congress, a colonial army invaded Canada. Washington was at this time organising the army in Massachusetts, but the Canadian expedition was entrusted to the joint command of Schuyler who, however, was soon obliged through ill-health to return to Ticonderoga and of Mont- gomery, a brave and skilful Irish soldier from Donegal, who had been for many years settled in the colonies, CH. xi. INVASION OF CANADA, 1775. 215 and had served with great distinction in the late French war. For some time the invasion was successful. Several parties of Indians joined the Provincials. 1 General Carleton, who commanded the English in Canada, with 800 soldiers was driven back when at- tempting to cross the St. Lawrence. The small fort of Charnblee and the much more important fort of St. John were taken. Montreal was occupied in No- vember, and in the beginning of December Montgomery laid siege to Quebec. He had been joined just before by Benedict Arnold, who had been sent by Washington at the head of an expedition to assist him, but their joint efforts were unsuccessful. The Canadians re- mained loyal to England. Their laws and their re^ ligion had been guaranteed. They had enjoyed under English rule much prosperity and happiness. The Catholic priests were strongly on the side of the Eng- lish Government. 2 The contagion of New England republicanism had not penetrated to Canada, and the Canadians had no sympathy with the New England character or the New England creed. They were es- pecially indignant, too, at the invasion, because on June 1, 17 75, about four weeks before Congress secretly decided upon this step, that body had passed a resolu- tion disclaiming any such intention, and had caused it to be widely disseminated through Canada. 3 Unsup- ported by the inhabitants, in the midst of a Canadian winter, without large cannon or sufficient ammunition, Montgomery soon found his position a hopeless one. His troops deserted in such numbers that only 800 remained. 4 They were turbulent, insubordinate, and half-trained ; and they had enlisted for so short a period 1 Stedman, i. 133. Hist. vi. 76, and Bancroft, Hist. 2 See Adolphus, ii. 239. Earn- of the United States, viii. 176, say, i. 238. 177 a Compare Lord Stanhope's 4 Bancroft. 10 216 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. and were so unwilling to renew their contract that it was necessary to press on operations as quickly as pos- sible. 1 He fell on the last day of 1775 in a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to storm Quebec, and in the course of the following year the Americans evacuated Canada. In most parts of the colonies the British govern- ment simply perished through the absence of British soldiers, but in Virginia Lord Dunmore, the Governor of the province, made desperate efforts to retain it. 1 ' TheNewEnglanders,' wrote Montgomery, ' are the worst stuff imaginable for soldiers. They are homesick. Their regiments are melted away, and yet not a man dead of any distemper. There is such an equality among them that the officers have no authority, and there are very few among them in whose spirit I have confidence. The privates are all generals, but not soldiers, and so jealous that it is impossible, though a man risk his person, to escape the imputation of treachery.' Bancroft, Hist, of the United States, viii. 185. The day after the capitulation of Montreal, Montgomery wrote to General Schuyler : I am exceedingly sorry that Congress has not favoured me with a committee ; it would have had great effect with the troops, who are exceed- ingly turbulent, and even mutin- ous. ... I wish some method could be fallen upon of engaging gentlemen to serve. A point of honour and more knowledge of the world to be found in that class of men would greatly re- form discipline, and render the troops much more tractable.' Washington's Works, iii. 180, 181. Washington writes (Jan. 31, 1776): 'The account given of the behaviour of the men under General Montgomery ia exactly consonant to the opinion I have formed of these people, and such as they will exhibit abundant proofs of in similar cases whenever called upon. Place them behind a parapet, a breastwork, stone wall, or any- thing that will afford them shelter, and from their know- ledge of a firelock they will give a good account of the enemy ; but I am as well convinced as if I had seen it, that they will not march boldly up to a work, nor stand exposed in a plain.' Ibid. p. 277. See, too, p. 285. The failure and death of Montgomery, Washington ascribed to the sys- tem of short enlistments, 'for had he not been apprehensive of the troops leaving him at so important a crisis, but continued the blockade of Quebec, a capi- tulation, from the best accounts I have been able to collect, must inevitably have followed.' Ibid. p. 27b. CH. xi. FIGHTING IN VIRGINIA. 217 Having removed a store of gunpowder from Williams- burg, in order to secure it from the Provincials, lie was obliged to % from the palace to a British man-of-war. There were no English soldiers in the province, but with the assistance of some British frigates, of some hundreds of loyalists who followed his fortunes, and of a few runaway negroes, he equipped a marine force which spread terror along the Virginian coast, and kept up a harassing, though almost useless, predatory war. Two incidents in the struggle excited deep resentment throughout America. The first was a proclamation by which freedom was promised to all slaves who took arms against the rebels. The second was the burning of the important town of Norfolk, which had been occupied by the Provincials, had fired on the King's ships, and had refused to supply them with provisions. It was impossible, however, by such means to subdue the province. An attempt to raise a loyalist force in the back settlements of Virginia and the Carolinas was defeated by the arrest of its chief instigators in the summer of 1776, and soon after, Dunmore, being no longer able to obtain provisions for his ships, aban- doned the colony. The unhappy negroes who had taken part with the loyalists are said to have almost universally perished. 1 In the Southern provinces, and especially in the two Carolinas and in Georgia, there was a considerable loyalist party, but it was unsupported by any regular troops, and after a few spasmodic struggles it was easily crushed. Most of the governors took refuge in English men-of-war; a few were arrested and im- prisoned. Provincial Congresses assumed the direction of affairs ; except in the immediate neighbourhood of British soldiers the power o^f England had ceased, and 1 Stedman. Bancroft. Kamsay, i. 252. 218 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xi. there was no force in America competent to restore it. In the chief towns the stir of military preparation was incessant. When Franklin attended the Congress at Philadelphia in the September of 1775, he found com- panies of provincial soldiers drilled twice a day in the square of the Quaker capital, and the fortifications along the Delaware were rapidly advancing. Six powder mills were already designed, and two were just about to open. A manufactory of muskets had been established which was expected to complete twenty-five muskets a day. Suspected persons were constantly arrested, and the letter-bags systematically examined. Tories were either tarred and feathered or compelled to mount a cart and ask pardon of the crowd, and the ladies of the town were busily employed in scraping lint or making bandages for the wounded. 1 Over the inland districts the revolutionary party was as yet supreme, but the whole coast was exposed, almost without defence, to the attacks of English ships of war, and all the chief towns in America were sea- port. The Americans possessed a large population of seafaring men who were eminently fitted for maritime warfare, but they had as yet not a single ship of war. The Government made large offers to gunsmiths to in- duce them to abandon America for England. 2 The manufacture of gunpowder was only slowly organised, and for many months the colonial forces were often in extreme danger in consequence of the scantiness of their supply. It was wisely determined to pay the provincial troops and to pay them well ; but as all foreign commerce was arrested, and as most forms of industry were dislocated, there was very little money 1 Parton's Life of Franklin, Tryon, Documents relating to ii. 100. the Colonial History of New 2 See a letter of Governor York, viii. 647. CH. xi. NEGROES AND INDIANS. 219 in the country, and paper was speedily depreciated. Some of the necessaries of life had hitherto been im- ported from England, and the great want of native woollen goods was especially felt in the rigour of the first winter of the war. Though the negroes, who were so numerous in the Southern States, were a cause of great anxiety to the colonists, 1 they remained at this time, with few excep- tions, perfectly passive ; but one of the first conse- quences of the appeal to arms was to bring Indian tribes into the field. In the great French war they had been constantly employed by the French and fre- quently by the English, and it was not likely that so formidable a weapon would be long unused. Neither side, it is true, desired a general Indian rising. Neither si$e can be justly accused of the great crime of inciting the Indians to indiscriminate massacre or plunder, but both sides were ready to employ them as auxiliaries. Before the battle of Lexington the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts formed a company out of Stockbridge Indians residing in the colony. 2 In the beginning of April 1775 they issued an address to the Mohawk Indians exhorting them ' to whet the hatchet ' for war against the English, 3 and Indians were, as we have seen, employed by the Provincials in their invasion of 1 Thus J. Adams in 1775 gives join it from the two provinces an account of an interview with in a fortnight. . . . Their only some gentlemen from Georgia. security is that all the King's These gentlemen give a melan- friends and tools of Government choly account of the State of have large plantations and pro- Georgia and South Carolina. perty in negroes, so that the They say that if 1,000 regular slaves of the Tories would be troops should land in Georgia, lost as well as those of the and their commander be pro- Whigs.' Adams' Works, ii. 428. vided with arms and clothes 2 Washington's Works, ni. 175. enough, and proclaim freedom * Force's American Archives to all the negroes who would join (4th series), L 1349, 1350. bis camp, 20,000 negroes would 220 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xi, Canada. In March 1775 Mr. Stuart, who managed Indian affairs for the English Government in the Southern colonies, reported that General Gage had in- formed him * that ill-affected people in those parts had been endeavouring to poison the minds of the Indians of the six nations and other tribes with jealousies, in order to alienate their affection from his Majesty,' 1 and New England missionaries appear to have been in this respect especially active. 2 Up to the middle of this year the English professed great reluctance to make use of savages. In July, Stuart wrote very emphatic- ally to the Revolutionary Committee of Intelligence at Charleston, which had expressed suspicions on this sub- ject : * I never have received any orders from my supe- riors which by the most tortured construction could be interpreted to spirit up or employ the Indians to fall upon the frontier inhabitants, or to take any part in the disputes between Great Britain and her colonies,' 3 and both English and colonists exhorted the Indians as a body to remain neutral. 4 It is, however, certain that 1 March 28, 1775. MSS.Kecord concern you, they will decide it Office (Plantations, General). among themselves.' MSS. Ee- 3 Documents relating to the cord Office (Plantations, General). Colonial History of New York, In August 1775 the commis- viii. 656, 657. See, too, a letter sioners sent by the twelve colo- of the Provincial Congress, dated nies had a long interview with April 4, 1775, to a New England the chiefs of the six nations, and missionary, urging him to use gave them an elaborate account his influence to make the Indians of the motives which had united take up arms against the Eng- them against England. They lish. Washington's Works, iii. added, however: * This is a family 495. quarrel between us and Old Eng- 3 July 18, 1775. MSS. Record land. You Indians are not con- Office, cerned in it. We do not wish * In a speech to the Indians, you to take up the hatchet against August 30, 1775, Stuart said: the King's troops. We desire ' There is a difference between you to remain at home and not the white people of England and join either side, but keep the the white people of America ; hatchet buried deep.' Docu- this is a matter which does not nients relating to tlte Colonial ca. xi. INDIANS CALLED TO ARMS. 221 in the beginning of June 1775 Colonel Guy Johnson, who had succeeded Sir William Johnson in the direc- tion of one great department of Indian affairs, had, in obedience to secret instructions from General Gage, in- duced a large body of Indians to undertake * to assist his Majesty's troops in their operations in Canada,' l and in July this policy was openly avowed by Lord Dartmouth. It was defended on the ground that the Americans had themselves adopted it. 2 Few things were more terrible to the Americans History of New York, viii. 619. See, too, the Secret Journals of Congress, July 17, 1775. 1 Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, viii. 636. See Secret Journals of Congress, June 27, 1775. 2 July 24, 1775, Lord Dart- mouth wrote to Colonel Johnson : ' The unnatural rebellion now raging in America calls for every effort to suppress it, and the in- teDigence his Majesty has re- ceived of the rebels having ex- cited the Indians to take a part, and of their having actually en- gaged a body of them in arms to support their rebellion, justifies the resolution his Majesty has taken of requiring the assistance of his faithful adherents the six nations. It is, therefore, his Majesty's pleasure that you lose no time in taking such steps as may induce them to take up the hatchet against his Majesty's re- bellious subjects.' Documents on the Colonial History of New York, viii. 596. General Gage wrote to Stuart (September 12, 1775) telling him to hold a cor- respondence with the Indians, 1 to make them take arms against his Majesty's enemies, and to distress them all in their power, for no terms are now to be kept with them.' ' The rebels,' he continues, 'have themselves opened the door. They have brought down all the savages they could against us here, who with their riflemen are continu- ally firing on our advanced sen- tries.' MSS. Eecord Office. On October 24, 1775, Stuart sent ammunition to the savages ac- cording to instructions, adding : ' You will understand that an indiscriminate attack upon the province is not meant, but to act in the execution of any con- certed plan, and to assist his Majesty's troops or friends in distressing the rebels.' Ibid. On November 20, 1775, Lord North said in Parliament : * As to the means of conducting the war, he declared there was never any idea of employing the negroes or the Indians until the Ameri- cans themselves had first applied to them ; that General Carleton did then apply to them, and that even then it was only for the de- fence of his own province.' Parl. Hist, xviii. 994. 222 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. Xi than the scourge of Indian war. As 'it had generally been the function of the Government to protect the savages against the rapacity and violence of the colonists, England could count largely upon their gratitude, and the horrors which never failed to multiply in their track gave a darker hue of animosity to the struggle. But the greatest danger to the colonial cause was the half-heartedness of its supporters. It is difficult or impossible to form any safe conjecture of the number of real loyalists in America, but it is certain that it was very considerable. John Adams, who would naturally be inclined to overrate the preponderance in favour of independence, declared at the end of the war his belief that a third part of the whole population, more than a third part of the principal persons in America, were throughout opposed to the Revolution. 1 Massachusetts was of all the provinces the most revolutionary, but when General Gage evacuated Boston in 1776 he was accom- panied by more than 1,000 loyalists of that town and of the neighbouring country. Two-thirds of the property of New York was supposed to belong to Tories, and except in the city there appears to have been no serious disaffection. 2 In some of the Southern colonies loyalists probably formed half the population, and there was no colony in which they were not largely represented. There were also great multitudes who, though they would never take up arms for the King, though they perhaps agreed with the constitutional doctrines of the Revolutionists, dissented on grounds of principle, policy, or interest from the course which they were adopting. There were those who wished to wait till 1 Adams' Works, x. 87. Many 2 Parl. Hist, xviii. 123-129. particulars about the strength of Sparks' Life of Washington. the loyalist party will be found Force's American Archives (4th in Mr. Sabine's very interesting series), i. 773, 957. book, The Loyalists of America. en. xi. FOREBODINGS IN AMERICA. 223 the natural increase of the colonies made coercion mani- festly impossible; who feared to stake acknowledged liberties on -the doubtful issue of an armed struggle; who shrank from measures that would destroy their private fortunes; who determined to stand aloof till the event showed which side was likely to win; who still dreamed of the possibility of resisting the Par- liament without casting off allegiance to the Crown. If America succeeded in throwing off the yoke of England, it could hardly be without the assistance of France, and many feared that France would thus acquire a power on the Continent far more dangerous than that of England to the liberties of the colonies. Was it not likely, too, that an independent America would degenerate, as so many of the best judges had predicted, into a multitude of petty, heterogeneous, feeble, and perhaps hostile States ? Was it not certain that the cost of the struggle and the burden of inde- pendence would drain its purse of far more money than England was ever likely to ask for the defence of her Empire ? Was it not possible that the lawless and anarchical spirit which had of late years been steadily growing, and which the patriotic party had actively encouraged, would gain the upper hand, and that the whole fabric of society would be dissolved ? John Adams in his Diary relates the * profound melancholy ' which fell upon him in one of the most critical moments of the struggle, when a man whom he knew to be a horse-jockey and a cheat, and whom, as an advocate, he had often defended in the law courts, came to him and expressed the unbounded gratitude which he felt for the great things which Adams and his colleagues had done. ' We can never/ he said, * be grateful enough to you. There are now no courts of justice in this province, and I hope there will never be another/ * Is this the object/ Adams continued, * for which I have been contending ? ' 224 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. CK. , said I to myself. . . . Are these the sentiments of such people, and how many of them are there in the country ? Half the nation, for what I know ; for half the nation are debtors, if not more, and these have been in all countries the sentiments of debtors. If the power of the country should get into such hands and there is great danger that it will to what purpose have we sacrificed our time, health, and everything else ? ' l Misgivings of this kind must have passed through many minds, and the older colonists were not of the stuff of which ardent soldiers are made. Among the poor, vagrant, adventurous immigrants who had lately poured in by thousands from Ireland and Scotland, there was indeed a keen military spirit, and it was these men who ultimately bore the chief part in the war of indepen- dence ; but the older and more settled colonists were men of a very different type. Shrewd, prosperous, and well-educated farmers, industrious, money-loving, and eminently domestic, they were men who, if they were compelled to fight, would do so with courage and intel- ligence, but who cared little or nothing for military glory, and grudged every hour that separated them from their families and their farms. Such men were dragged very reluctantly into the struggle. The American Kevolution, like most others, was the work of an ener- getic minority, who succeeded in committing an unde- cided and fluctuating majority to courses for which they had little love, and leading them step by step to a posi- tion from which it was impossible to recede. 2 To the 1 Adams' Works, ii. 420. June 16, 1779. As a loyalist, his 2 One of the most remarkable mind was no doubt biassed, but documents relating to the state he was a very able and honest of opinion in America is the ex- man, and he had much more than animation of Galloway (late common means of forming a cor- Speaker of the House of Assem- rect judgment. He says : ' I do bly in Pennsylvania) by a Com- not believe, from the best know- mittee of the House of Commons, ledge I have of that time [the en. xi. GENERAL APATHY. 225 last, however, we find vacillation, uncertainty, half- measures, and in large classes a great apparent apathy. In June 1775, the Provincial Congress of New York received two startling pieces of intelligence, that Wash- ington was about to pass through their city on his way to Cambridge, and that Tryon, the royal governor, had just arrived in the harbour. The Congress, though it was an essentially Whig body, and had assumed an attitude which was virtually rebellion, still dreaded the necessity of declaring itself irrevocably on either side, and it ultimately ordered the colonel of militia to dis- beginning of the rebellion], that one-fifth of the people had inde- pendence in view. . . . Many of those who have appeared in sup- port of the present rebellion have by a variety of means been com- pelled. ... I think I may ven- ture to say that many more than four-fifths of the people would prefer an union with Great Britain upon constitutional prin- ciples to that of independence. 1 Galloway was asked the following question : ' That part of the rebel army that enlisted in the service of the Congress were they chiefly composed of natives of America, or were the greatest part of them English, Scotch, and Irish ? ' Galloway answered : ' The names and places of their nativity being taken down, I can answer the question with pre- cision. There were scarcely one- fourth natives of America about one-half Irish the other fourth were English and Scotch.' This last answer, however, must be qualified by a subsequent answer, that he judged of the country of the troops by the deserters who came over, to the number of be- tween 2,000 and 3,000, at the time when Galloway was with Sir W. Howe at Philadelphia. I have no doubt that in the begin- ning of the war the proportion of pure Americans in the army was much larger, as it was chiefly re- cruited in New England, where the population was most un- mixed. It is stated that more than a fourth part of the conti- nental soldiers employed during the war were from Massachusetts. See Greene's Historical View of the American Revolution, p. 235. Galloway's very remarkable evi- dence was reprinted at Philadel- phia in 1855. In his Letters to a Nobleman on the Conduct of tJie War, Galloway reiterates his assertion that 'three-fourths of the rebel army have been gener- ally composed of English, Scotch, and Irish, while scarcely the small proportion of one-fourth are American, notwithstanding the severe and arbitrary laws to force them into the service. 1 P. 25. 226 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xi, pose of his troops so as to receive ' either the General or Governor Tryon, whichever should first arrive, and wait on both as well as circumstances would admit.' l The dominant Quaker party of Pennsylvania was at least as hostile to rebellion as to imperial taxation, and Chas- tellux justified the very democratic institutions which Franklin established in that province when the Revolu- tion had begun, on the ground that ' it was necessary to employ a sort of seduction in order to conduct a timid and avaricious people to independence, who were besides so divided in their opinions that the Republican party was scarcely stronger than the other.' 2 In every Southern colony a similar division and a similar hesita- tion may be detected. The result of all this was, that there was much less genuine military enthusiasm than might have been ex- pected. When Washington arrived at Cambridge to command the army, he found that it nominally con- sisted of about 17,000 men, but that not more than 14,500 were actually available for service, and they had to guard a line extending for nearly twelve miles, in face of a force of at least 9,000 regular troops, besides seamen and loyalists. Urgent demands were made to the different colonies to send recruits, but they were very imperfectly responded to. Colonel Lee, in a re- markable letter on the military prospects of the Ame- ricans, estimated that in three or four months the colonists could easily have an efficient army of 100,000 infantry. 3 As a matter of fact, a month's recruiting during this most critical period produced only 5,000 men. There was abundant courage and energy among the soldiers, but there was very little subordination, 1 See a cnrious note in Wash- America, Eng. trans, i. 332. ington's Works, iii. 8. 3 American Remembrancer, 8 Chastellux, Travels in North 177G, part i. p. 25. CH. xi. DEFECTS OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. 227 discipline, or self-sacrifice. Each body of troops had been raised by the laws of its own colony, and it was reluctant to obey any other authority. Washington complained bitterly of ' the egregious want of public spirit ' in his army. The Congress had made rules for its regulation. The troops positively refused to accept them, as they had not enlisted on those terms, and Washington was obliged to yield, except in the case of new recruits. The Congress had appointed a number of officers, but the troops rebelled violently against their choice, and it soon became evident that they would only remain at their post as long as they served under such officers as they pleased. 1 The absence of any social difference between officers and soldiers greatly aggravated the difficulty of enforcing discipline. 2 The local feeling was so strong that General Schuyler gave it as his deliberate opinion that ' troops from the colony of Connecticut will not bear with a general from another colony.' 3 The short period for which the troops had consented to enlist made it impossible to give them steadiness or discipline, to count upon the future, or to engage in enterprises of magnitude or continuity. What little subordination had been attained in the beginning of the period was destroyed at the close, for the officers were obliged to connive at every kind of relaxation of discipline in order to persuade their soldiers to re-enlist. 4 Personal recriminations and jealousies, quarrels about rank and pay and ser- vice, were incessant. Great numbers held aloof from enlisting, imagining that the distress of their cause would oblige the Congress to offer large bounties ; 5 no possible inducement could persuade a large proportion of the soldiers to re-enlist when their short time of ser- 1 Washington's Works, iii. Ibid. p. 243 ; see, too, p. 151. 176. Ibid. p. 280.' * Ibid. p. 279. Ibid. pp. 200, 201, 281. 228 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. si. vice had expired, and there were instances of gross selfishness and misconduct among the disbanding soldiers. 1 The term for which the Connecticut troops had enlisted expired in December, and the whole body, amounting to some 5,000 men, positively refused to re-enlist. It was vainly represented to them that their desertion threatened to bring absolute ruin on the American cause. The utmost that the most strenuous exertions could effect was, that they would delay their departure for ten days. There were bitter complaints that Congress granted no bounties, leaving this to the option of the several colonies, and also that the scale of pay, though very liberal, was lower than what they might have obtained in other employments. Great numbers pretended sickness, in order to escape from the service ; 2 great numbers would only continue in the army on the condition of obtaining long furloughs at a time when every man was needed for the security of the lines. 3 There was a constant fear of concentrat- ing too much power in military hands, and of building 1 Washington's Works, iii. ... Such a mercenary spirit 240, 280. pervades the whole that I should 2 Ibid. p. 191. not be at all surprised at any 8 Washington's letters are full disaster that may happen. . . . of complaints on the subject. I Could I have foreseen what I have will quote a few lines from a experienced, and am likely to ex- letter of Nov. 28, 1775. ' Such perience, no consideration upon a dearth of public spirit, and earth should have induced me to such want of virtue, such stock- accept this command.' (Wash- jobbing and fertility in all the ington's Works, iii. 178, 179.) low arts to obtain advantages * No troops,' he writes in another of one kind or another in this letter, ' were ever better provided great change of military arrange- or higher paid, yet their back- ment, I never saw before, and wardness to enlist for another pray God's mercy that I may year is amazing. It grieves me never be witness to again. ... to see so little of that patriotic I have been obliged to allow fur- spirit which I was taught to be- loughs as far as fifty men to a lieve was characteristic of thig regiment, and the officers, I am people.' (Ibid. p. 181.) *The persuaded, indulge as many more. present soldiery are in expecta- en. xi. WANT OF EARNESTNESS. 229 up a system of despotism, and there was a general belief among the soldiers that unquestioning obedience to their officers was derogatory to their dignity and inconsistent with their freedom. The truth is, that although the circumstances of the New Englanders had developed to a high degree many of the qualities that are essential to a soldier, they had been very unfavourable to others. To obey, to act together, to sacrifice private judgment to any authority, to acknowledge any superior, was wholly alien to their temperament, 1 and they had nothing of that passionate and all-absorbing enthusiasm which transforms the character, and raises men to an heroic height of patriotic self-devotion. Such a spirit is never evoked by mere money disputes. The question whether the Supreme Legislature of the Empire had or had not the right of obliging the colonies to contribute something to the support of the imperial army, was well fitted to produce constitutional agitation, eloquence, riots, and even or- ganised armed resistance ; but it was not one of those questions which touch the deeper springs of human feeling or action. Any nation might be proud of the tion of drawing from the landed same time to prevent the opera- interest and farmers a bounty tion of licentious and levelling equal to that given at the com- principles, which many very mencement of this army, and easily imbibe. The pulse of a therefore they keep aloof.' Ibid. New England man beats high for p. 188. liberty ; his engagement in the 1 General Trumbull wrote to service he thinks purely volun- Washington, Dec. 1775 : * The tary, therefore when the time of late extraordinary and reprehen- enlistment is out he thinks him- Bible conduct of some of the self not holden without further troops of this colony impresses engagement. This was the case me and the minds of many of in the last war. I greatly fear its our people with grief, surprise, operation amongst the soldiers and indignation. . . . There is of the other colonies, as I am great difficulty to support liberty, sensible that it is the genius and to exercise government, to main- spirit of our people.' Ibid. p. tain subordination, and at the 183. 230 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CE. xi. shrewd, brave, prosperous, and highly intelligent yeomen who nocked to the American camp ; but they were very different men from those who defended the walls of Leyden, or immortalised the field of Bannockburn. Few of the great pages of history are less marked by the stamp of heroism than the American Revolution ; and perhaps the most formidable of the difficulties which Washington had to encounter were in his own camp. Had there been a general of any enterprise or genius at the head of the British army, the Americans could scarcely have escaped a great disaster; but at this period, and indeed during all the earlier period of the Revolutionary War, the English exhibited an utter absence of all military capacity. That spirit of enter- prise and daring which had characterised every branch of the service during the administration of Chatham, had absolutely disappeared. Every week was of vital importance at a time when undisciplined yeomen were being drilled into regular troops, and the different pro- vincial contingents were being slowly and painfully organised into a compact army. But week after week, month after month, passed away, while the British lay inactively behind their trenches. After the first reinforcements had arrived at the end of May 1775, General Gage had upwards of 11,000 men at his disposal, including seamen and loyalists ; yet even then weeks of inactivity followed. At Bunker's Hill more than 1 ,000 men were lost in capturing a position which during several months might have been occupied any day without resistance. Gage knew that the town which he held was bitterly hostile ; that the Americans greatly outnumbered him ; that they occupied strong and fortified positions ; that he was himself secure through his command of the sea ; that his army was the sole support of the British Empire in New England. CH. xi. INACTIVITY OF GAGE. 231 A very large proportion of his soldiers were incapaci- tated by illness. 1 He considered those who remained too few to be divided with safety ; and he main- tained that, in the absence of sufficient means of trans- port, it would be both rash and useless to attempt to penetrate into the country, and that success would only drive the Americans out of one stronghold into another. He probably feared, also, by energetic measures, to commit the country irrevocably to a war which might still be possibly avoided, and to produce in an undecided and divided people an outburst of military enthusiasm. There was a widespread expectation that the resistance would fall to pieces through the divisions of the Americans, through the stress of the blockade, or in consequence of the conciliatory propositions of North. Gage would risk nothing. His information was miser- ably imperfect, and he was probably very indifferently informed of the extreme weakness of the Americans. The Provincials had as yet no cavalry. They had scarcely any bayonets. Their ammunition was so de- plorably scanty that in the beginning of August it was discovered that there were only nine rounds of ammu- nition for each man, and a fortnight passed before they received additional supplies, and in this condition they succeeded in blockading, almost without resistance, a powerful English army. Nor was Gage more success- ful in conciliating than in fighting. He had made an agreement with the inhabitants of Boston that, on 1 According to Bancroft, Gage duty. (Bancroft, Hist, of the had never more than 6,500 ef- United States, viii. 42-44.) fective troops, though hisnominal Still the British troops were force, including sailors and loyal- regular soldiers, well provided ists, was estimated at 11,500 with all munitions of war, while men. Washington at this time the Americans were almost un- had nominally 17,000 men, but disciplined and singularly des never more than 14,500 fit for titute of all that was required. 17 232 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. CH. xi. delivering up their arms, they might depart with their effects ; but he soon after repented, and though the people had complied, he refused to fulfil his promise. Many, indeed, were allowed to depart, but they were obliged to leave their effects behind as a security for their loyalty. At length, in October, he was recalled, and General Howe assumed the command; but the spirit of indecision and incapacity still presided over the British forces. In November and December, the time for which the American troops enlisted having ended, most of them insisted on disbanding, and a new army had to be formed in the presence of the enemy. On the last day of December 1775, when the old army had been dis- banded, only 9,650 men had been enlisted to supply their place, and more than 1,000 of these were on furlough, which it had been necessary to grant in order to persuade them to enlist. 1 Yet not a single attempt appears to have been made to break the American lines. ' It is not in the page of history, perhaps,' wrote Wash- ington, * to furnish a case like ours : to maintain a post within musket-shot of the enemy for six months together without powder, and at the same time to disband our army and recruit another within that distance of twenty odd British regiments.' 2 * My situation/ he wrote in February 1776, * has been such that I have been obliged to use art to conceal it from my own officers,' and he expressed his emphatic astonishment that Howe had not obliged him, under very disadvantageous circumstances, to defend the lines he had occupied. 3 The negligence and delay of the British probably saved the American cause, and great efforts were made tc recruit the provincial army. Before many weeks the Washington's Works, i. 164. Ibid. iii. 221, 222. * Ibid. iii. 285. CH. xi. AMERICAN ARMY AND NAVY. 233 army around Boston had considerably increased, and before the middle of the year it was pretended, though probably with great exaggeration, that the Americans had altogether 80,000 men in arms. 1 In April the Congress voted about 1,300,000?. for the support of the army, and in June it offered a bounty of ten dollars for every man who would enlist for three years. Large numbers of cannon were cast in New York, and great exertions were made to fit out a fleet. A hardy sea- faring population, scattered over a long seaboard, accus- tomed from childhood both to smuggling and to distant commercial enterprises, formed an admirable material for the new navy. The old privateersmen of the last war resumed their occupation, and the number of British merchant vessels that were captured brought a rich return to the American sailors. The want of ammu- nition was the most serious deficiency, but it was gradually supplied. Manufactories of arms and gun- powder were set up in different provinces. The Americans succeeded in purchasing powder in Africa, in the Bahama Islands, and in Ireland. A few daring men sailed from Charleston to East Florida, which had never joined in opposition to the Government, and sur- prised and captured near St. Augustine a ship containing 15,000 Ibs. of powder. A cargo, which was but little less considerable, was seized by the people of Georgia immediately on its arrival from England ; and several ships, carrying military stores to Boston, were inter- cepted before the British appear to have been aware that American privateers were upon the sea. The news from Canada was extremely discouraging, but it was counterbalanced by a great triumph in Massachusetts. 1 American Remembrancer, that the estimates in the 1776, part ii. p. 281. It is evi- American Remembrancer greatly dent from Washington's letters exceeded the truth. 234 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ea. si. The blockade of Boston became more severe ; sickness disabled many of the British soldiers ; swarms of pri- vateers made it very difficult to obtain provisions ; and at last, on the night of March 4, 1776, the Americans obtained possession of Dorchester heights, which com- manded the harbour. The town was now no longer tenable. On March 17, Howe, with the remainder of his army, consisting of about 7,600 men, sailed for Halifax, and Washington marched in triumph into the capital of Massachusetts. At the same time public opinion in the colonies began to run strongly in the direction of independence. Great stress has been placed on the effect of an anony- mous pamphlet called ' Common Sense, 5 advocating complete separation from England, which appeared at Philadelphia in January 1776. 1 It was the first con- siderable work of the notorious Thomas Paine, who had only a few months before come over from England, and had at once thrown himself, with the true instinct of a revolutionist, into hostility to his country. Like all his works, this pamphlet was written in clear, racy, vivid English, and with much power of popular reason- ing ; and, like most of his works, it was shallow, violent, and scurrilous. Much of it consists of attacks upon monarchy in general, and hereditary monarchy in par- ticular ; of very crude schemes for the establishment of democratic forms of government in America, and of violent denunciations of the English king and people. England is described by this newly arrived English- man as ' that barbarous and hellish power which hath stirred up the Indians and negroes to destroy us.' The lingering attachment to her is ridiculed as mere local prejudice. Not one third part of the inhabitants even of Pennsylvania, it is said, are of English descent ; and the American Remembrancer, 1776, part i. pp. 238-241. CH. xi. * COMMON SENSE.' 235 the Americans are recommended to put to death as traitors all their countrymen who were taken in arms for the King. At the same time the arguments show- ing that America was capable of subsisting as an in- dependent Power, and that, as a part of the British Em- pire, she could only be a secondary object in the system of British politics, were stated with great force. The present moment, it was urged, was eminently oppor- tune for complete separation. Reunion could only be purchased by concessions that would be fatal to Ameri- can liberty. Cordial reconciliation was no longer possi- ble, and America had now the inestimable advantage of the military experience of the last war, which had filled the country with veteran soldiers. If the struggle were adjourned for forty or fifty years, the Americans would no doubt be more numerous, but they would probably be less united, and it was quite possible that there would not be a general or skilful military officer among them. It is said that not less than 100,000 copies of this pamphlet were sold ; and Washington himself, not long after its appearance, described it as ' working a powerful change in the minds of many men/ l As is usually, how- ever, the case with very popular political writings, its success was mainly due to extraneous circumstances. It fell in with the prevailing tendency of the time, and gave an expression to sentiments which were rising in countless minds. The position of men who were profess- ing unbounded devotion to their Sovereign, and were at the same time imprisoning his governors, waging war against his armies, and invading a peaceful province which was subject to his rule, was manifestly untenable. When blood was once shed, amid the deepening excite- ment of the contest the figments of lawyers disappeared, 1 Washington's Works, iii. 276, 347. 236 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. and tlie struggle assumed a new character of earnest- ness and animosity. Several acts of war had already been committed, of which Americans might justly complain, and others were grossly exaggerated or misrepresented. The conduct of the British troops in the beginning of the war in firing upon the Provincials at Lexington, was absurdly described as a wanton massacre. The conduct of Gage to the inhabitants of Boston, and the burning of Charleston during the battle of Bunker's Hill to prevent it from being a shelter for American soldiers, were more justly objected to ; while the pro- ceedings of Lord Dunmore in Virginia raised the in- dignation of the colonists to the highest point. When the news of the burning of Norfolk arrived, Washing- ton expressed his hope that it would c unite the whole country in one indissoluble band against a nation which seems to be lost to every sense of virtue, and those feel- ings which distinguish a civilised people from the most barbarous savages/ l If such language could be employed by such a man, it is easy to conceive how fierce a spirit must have been abroad. In the dissolution of all government, mob in- timidation had a great power over politicians, and mobs are always in favour of the strongest measures ; and the adoption of the policy of armed resistance had naturally given an increased power to those who had been the first to advocate it. Every step which was taken in England added to the exasperation. Already the Americans had been proclaimed rebels ; and all commercial intercourse with them had been forbidden. The petition of Congress to the King, which was the last serious effort of America for pacification, was duly taken over to England ; but, after a short delay, Lord Dartmouth informed the delegates that * no answer 1 Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, i. 148. CH. xi. REASONS FOR SEPARATION. 237 would be given to it.' An Act of Parliament was passed authorising the confiscation of all American ships and cargoes, and of all vessels of other nations trading with the American ports ; and by a clause of especial atrocity, the commanders of the British ships of war were empowered to seize the crews of all Ameri- can vessels, and compel them, under pain of being treated as mutineers, to serve against their countrymen. 1 All these things contributed to sever the colonies from amicable connection with England, and to make the prospect of reconciliation appear strange and re- mote. Separation, it was plausibly said, was the act of the British Parliament itself, which had thrown the thirteen colonies out of the protection of the Crown. But another and more practical consideration concurred with the foregoing in producing the Declaration of In- dependence. One of the gravest of the questions which were agitating the revolutionary party was the expe- diency of asking for foreign, and especially for French, assistance. France had hitherto been regarded in America, even more than in England, as a natural enemy. She was a despotic Power, and could not therefore have much real sympathy with a struggle for constitutional liberty. Her expulsion from America had been for generations one of the first objects of American patriots ; and if she again mixed in American affairs, it was natural that she should seek to regain the province she had so lately lost. If America was destined to be an independent Republic, nothing could be more dangerous than to have a military and aggres- sive colony belonging to the most powerful despot- ism in Europe planted on her frontiers. But, on the other hand, it appeared more than probable that the 16 Geo. III. o. 5. 238 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. n. intervention or non-intervention of France would deter- mine the' result of the present struggle. If America were cordially united in her resistance to England, it would be impossible to subdue her ; but it was quite evident to serious men that America was not united ; that outside New England there was scarcely an approach to unanimity; that powerful minorities in almost every province were ardently attached to Eng- land ; and that, of the remainder of the population, a very large proportion were vacillating, selfish, or indif- ferent, ready, if the occasion could be found, to be reconciled with England, and altogether unprepared to make any long or strenuous sacrifices in the cause. Under these circumstances the revolutionary leaders had much to fear. There was a party in the Congress, among whom Patrick Henry was conspicuous, who desired to pur- chase French assistance by large territorial cessions in America ; l but this view found little favour. Apart from all considerations of territorial aggrandisement, it was the evident interest of France to promote the independence of America. She could thus obtain for herself a share in that vast field of commerce from which she had hitherto been excluded by the Navigation Act. The humiliation of the loss of Canada would be amply avenged if the thirteen old colonies were separated from England. A formidable if not fatal blow would be given to that maritime supremacy against which France had so long and so vainly struggled ; and the French West India islands, which were now in time of war completely at the mercy of England, would become comparatively secure if the harbours of the neighbour- ing continent were held by a neutral or a friendly Power. Ever since the Peace of Paris, a feeling of deep humilia- 1 Adams' Life, Works, i. 201. CH. xi. THE FRENCH ALLIANCE. 239 tion and discontent had brooded over French society ; and even in Europe the influence of France appeared to have diminished. The recent appearance of Russia as an active and formidable agent in the European system, and the recent growth of Prussia into the dimensions of a first-class Power, had profoundly altered the European equilibrium. Both of these Powers lay in a great degree beyond the influence of France ; and although one school of French politicians maintained that the rise of Prussia was beneficial, as establishing a balance of power in Germany, and checking the pre- ponderance of Austria, another school looked upon it as seriously affecting both French ascendency and French security. Great indignation was felt in Paris at the passive attitude of the Government at the time of the first partition of Poland in 1772, and during the war that ended in the treaty of Kainardji in 1774, when Russia succeeded in extending her territory southwards, in separating the Crimea from the Turkish Empire, and in acquiring a right of protectorate over Christians in Constantinople. As long as the old King lived, there seemed little chance of a more active policy ; but in May 1774 Lewis XV. died, and a new and more ad- venturous spirit was ruling at the Tuileries. Under such circumstances it appeared to John Adams, and to the more sagacious of his supporters, that it would be possible to obtain from France such a measure of assistance as would insure the independence of America without involving her future in European complications. But the first condition of this policy was a declaration by the colonies that they were finally and for ever detached from Great Britain. France had no possible interest in their constitutional liberties. She had a vital interest in their independence. It was idle to suppose that she would risk a war with England for rebels who might at any time be converted by con- 240 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xi. stitutional concessions into loyal subjects, and enemies of the enemies of England. The questions of a French alliance and of a declara- tion of independence were thus indissolubly connected. In the autumn of 1775 a motion was made in Congress, and strongly supported by John Adams, to send ambas- sadors to France. But Congress still shrank from so formidable a step, though it agreed, after long debates and hesitation, to form a secret committee 'to corre- spond with friends in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world.' l But the conduct of England her- self soon dispelled the hesitation of America. England found herself at this time confronted with a military problem which she was utterly unable by her own un- assisted efforts to solve. The same pressure of financial distress, the same reluctance to increase the army estimates, which had made the English ministers so anxious to throw upon America the burden of support- ing her own army, had prevented the maintenance of any considerable army at home. Public opinion had never yet fully accepted the fact that the forces which were very adequate under Walpole were wholly insuffi- cient after the Peace of Paris. The King, indeed, had for many years steadily maintained that military eco- nomy in England had been carried to a fatal point, and that the army was much below what the security of the Empire required ; but his warnings had been dis- regarded. 2 The feeling of the country, the feeling of 1 Adams' Life, Works, i. 200- military force in that island ; 203. but the economical, and I may 2 AsearlyasAug.il, 1765, the say injudicious, ideas of this King had written to Conway : country in time of peace, make 'The only method that at pre- it not very practicable, for a corps sent occurs to me by which the ought on purpose to be raised for French can be prevented settling that service, we having more on the coast of Newfoundland places to garrison than we have would be the having a greater troops to supply.' He adds that m. xi. INADEQUACY OF THE ENGLISH ARMY. 241 the House of Commons, against large standing armies was so strong that it was impossible to resist it. As late as December 1774, the seamen had been reduced from 20,000 to 16,000, and the land forces had been fixed at 17,547 effective men. 1 In the following year, when the war became inevitable, Parliament voted 28,000 seamen and 55,000 land forces, but even this was utterly inadequate for the conquest of America, and as yet it only existed upon paper. Most of the troops that could be safely spared had been already sent, and the result had been the formation of two armies, one of which was not more than sufficient for the protection of Canada, while the other had been for months confined within the town of Boston. It was evident that much larger forces were required if America was to be subdued, and Howe strongly urged that he could make no aggressive movement with any prospect of success unless he had at least 20,000 men. To raise the required troops at short notice was very difficult. In January 1776, Lord Barrington warned the King that Scotland had never yet been so bare of troops, and that those in England were too few for the security of the country. 2 The land tax for 1776 was raised to four shillings in the pound. New duties were imposed ; new bounties were offered. Recruiting agents traversed the Highlands of Scotland, and the most remote districts of Ireland, and the poor Catholics of we are ' very unable to draw the ing orders to Ireland ; this was sword.' British Museum. Eg. objected to in the Cabinet ; if it MSS. 982. had then been adopted, the army On August 26, 1775, he wrote would have been at least 2,000 to Lord North : ' The misfortune or 3,000 men stronger at this is, that at the beginning of this hour.' Correspondence of George American businessthere has been III. with Lord North, i. 265, 266. an unwillingness to augment the l Adolphus, ii. 159. army and navy. I proposed early * The Political Life of Lord in the summer the sending beat- Barrington, pp. 162-164. 242 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xi. Munster and Connaught, who had been so long ex- cluded from the English army, were gladly welcomed. Eecruits, however, came in very slowly. There was no enthusiasm for a war with English settlers. The press- gangs met with an unusual resistance. No measure short of a conscription could raise at once the necessary army in England, and to propose a conscription would be fatal to any Government. The difficulties of subduing America by land opera- tions, even under the most Sworn-able circumstances, were enormous. Except on the sea-coast there were no fixed points, no fortified places of such importance that their possession could give a permanent command of any large tract of territory ; the vast distances and the difficulties of transport made it easy for insurgents to avoid decisive combats ; and in a hostile and very thinly populated country, the army must derive its supplies almost exclusively from England. 1 The magnitude, the ruinous expense of such an enterprise, and the almost absolute impossibility of carrying the war into distant inland quarters, ought to have been manifest to all, and no less a person than Lord Barrington, the Secretary for War, held from the beginning that it would be im- possible for England to subdue America by an army, though he thought it might be subdued by a fleet which 1 General Lloyd, who was one that, in the existing condition of of the best English writers on the opinion in America, if NewEng- art of war, maintained that Eng- land were subdued, the rest of land, in consequence of her pos- the colonies would all submit, session of Canada, might have The impossibility, however, of completely crushed the four pro- subduing them by land measures, vinces of New England by ope- if they did not, he clearly showed, rating vigorously on the line of See a remarkable chapter CD the country (about 150 miles) ex- American war in his ' Eeflectiona tending from Boston to Albany, on the Principles of War,' ap- or to some other point on the pended to his History of the Hudson River ; and he thought Seven Years' War. CH. xi. HARRINGTON HANOVERIAN TROOPS. 243 blockaded its seaport towns and destroyed its commerce. But Barrington was one of the most devoted of the King's friends, and he was a conspicuous instance of the demoralising influence of the system of politics which had lately prevailed in England. Already, at the close of 1774, he informed his colleagues in the clearest and most decisive manner of his disapproval of the policy they were pursuing, and he repeatedly begged the King to accept his resignation. ' I am summoned to meetings ' of the ministers, he complained, * when I sometimes think it my duty to declare my opinions openly before perhaps twenty or thirty persons, and the next day I am forced either to vote contrary to them or to vote with an Opposition which I abhor.' He wished to retire both from the ministry and from Parliament, but he had declared that he would remain in both as long as his Majesty thought fit, and he accordingly continued year after year one of the responsible ministers of the Crown though he believed that the policy of the Government was mistaken and disastrous. It was only in December 1778 that his resignation was accepted. 1 The King was the real director of the Administra- tion, and he was determined to relinquish no part of his dominions. He was accordingly reduced to the humilia- ting necessity of asking for foreign assistance to subdue his own subjects. It was sought from many quarters. He himself, as Elector of Hanover, agreed to lend 2,355 men of his Electoral army to garrison Minorca and Gibraltar, and thus to release some British soldiers for the Ameri- can war. The Dutch had for a long time maintained a Scotch brigade in their service, and the Government wished to take it into English pay, but the States- General refused to consent. Russia had just concluded her war with the Turks, and it was hoped that she might 1 Political Life of Lord Barrington, pp. 146-186. 244 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. si, sell some 20,000 of her spare troops to the English service, but Catherine sternly refused. The little sovereigns of Germany were less chary, and were quite ready to sell their subjects to England to fight in a quarrel with which they had no possible concern. The Duke of Brunswick, the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, the Hereditary Prince of Hesse Cassel, and the Prince of Waldeck were the chief persons engaged in this white slave trade, and they agreed for a liberal payment to supply 17,742 men to serve under English officers hi America. 1 $Ktj The German princelets acted after their kind, and the contempt and indignation which they inspired were probably unmixed with any feeling of surprise. The conduct, however, of England in hiring German mer- cenaries to subdue the essentially English population beyond the Atlantic, made reconciliation hopeless and the Declaration of Independence inevitable. It was idle for the Americans to have any further scruples about calling in foreigners to assist them when England had herself set the example. It was necessary that they should do so if they were successfully to resist the powerful reinforcement which was thus brought against them. It belongs rather to the historian of America than to the historian of England to recount in detail the various steps that led immediately to the Declaration of Inde- pendence. It will here be sufficient to indicate very briefly the main forces that were at work. Even after the enlistment of foreign mercenaries by Great Britain, the difficulty of carrying the Declaration was very great. 1 See on the terms of this his opinion of the transaction by bargain, Correspondence of George claiming to levy on the hired JIT. with Lord North, i. 258-260. troops which passed through his 266, 267, 294, 295. Frederick dominions the same duty as on the Great is said to have marked so many head of cattle. CH. xi. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 245 As late as March 1776, John Adams, who was the chief advocate of the measure, described the terror and dis- gust with which it was regarded by a large section of the Congress, and he clearly shows the nature of the opposition. * All our misfortunes,' he added, ' arise from the reluctance of the Southern colonies to republican government/ and he complains bitterly that ' popular principles and axioms ' are ' abhorrent to the inclina- tions of the barons of the South and the proprietary interests in the Middle States, as well as to that avarice of land which has made on this continent so many vo- taries to Mammon.' It was necessary, in the first place, to mould the governments of the Southern and Middle States into a purely popular form, destroying altogether the proprietary system and those institutions which gave the more wealthy planters, if not a preponderance, at least a special weight in the management of affairs. The Congress recommended the colonists * where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath hitherto been established ' to adopt a new form of government, and it pronounced it necessary that the whole proprietary system should be dissolved. 1 The Revolution was speedily accomplished, and the tide of democratic feeling ran strongly towards independence. Virginia, now wholly in the hands of the revolutionary party, concurred fully with Massachusetts, and the in- fluence of these two leading colonies overpowered the rest. In Pennsylvania, in New Jersey, in Maryland, in Delaware, in New York, in South Carolina, there was powerful opposition, but the strongest pressure was ap- plied to overcome it. New Jersey and Maryland first dropped off and accepted the Resolution of Indepen- dence, but South Carolina and Pennsylvania opposed it 1 Adams' Works, i. 207, 208, the United States, bk. ii. ch.i.; 217, 218; Story's Constitution of Jay's Life, by his son, i. 43. 246 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. 31. almost to the last, while Delaware was divided and New York abstained. John Adams was now the most power- ful advocate, while John Dickinson was the chief oppo- nent of independence. At last, however, it was resolved not to show any appearance of dissension to the world. The arrival of a new delegate from Delaware, and the abstention of two delegates of Pennsylvania, gave the party of independence the control of the votes of these provinces. South Carolina, for the sake of preserving unity, changed sides. New York still abstained, and on July 2, 1776, the twelve colonies resolved that * these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States ; that they are absolved from all alle- giance to the British Crown, and that all political con- nection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.' Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, whose literary power had been shown in many able State papers, had already drawn up the Declaration of Independence, which having been revised by Franklin and by John Adams, was now submitted to the exa- mination of Congress, and was voted after some slight changes on the evening of the 4th. It proclaimed that a new nation had arisen in the world, and that the political unity of the English race was for ever at an end. THE PROGRESS OF THE CONFLICT 18 24:8 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xin. CHAPTEE II. 1 WHEN General Howe sailed from Boston for Halifax on March 17, 1776, he was accompanied by rather more than 7,000 soldiers, besides 2,000 sailors and marines and about 1,500 loyalist refugees, while the army of Washington amounted to 21,800 men, of whom 2,700 were sick. The evacuation, though immediately due to the capture of Dorchester Heights, was not altogether involuntary, for the English ministers had some time before authorised and counselled him to leave Boston and repair to a Southern port, though they left the period to his discretion. In April, Washington left Boston, and on the 13th of the month he arrived at New York, which now became the great centre of the forces of the Revolution. Several months passed with but little stirring action on either side. The Americans were busily em- ployed in calling out and organising their forces, in arresting and imprisoning the loyalists, who were very numerous about New York, and in constructing power- ful lines of entrenchment on Long Island for the de- fence of the city. Recruits came in slowly. Desertions, jealousies, and quarrels continued with little abate- ment, and the disastrous news of the result of the expedition against Canada and the appearance of small-pox among the troops had thrown a great damp upon American patriotism. 2 In the beginning of July, Colonel Reed, the adjutant-general of the forces, wrote 1 Chapter XIII. Lecky's History Century. of England in the Eighteenth - "Washington's Works, iii. 466. en. xni. HOWE MOVES TOWARDS NEW YORK. 249 to a member of Congress that the American army was now less than 8,000 men, all of whom, from the general to the private, were exceedingly discouraged. 1 Soon, however, several thousand volunteers or militia- men arrived from the country about New York, from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. On August 3, Washington's army was officially reckoned at 20,537 men, of whom, however, nearly 3,800 were sick or on furlough. By August 26 about 3,150 more men had come in. 2 They were, however, badly clothed, imperfectly armed, and for the most part almost with- out discipline or military experience. General Howe in the meantime was drawing nearer to New York. He passed from Halifax to Sandy Hook, and from Sandy Hook to Staten Island, where he was joined by the fleet from England under his brother, Lord Howe. Troops withdrawn from Virginia and South Carolina, regiments from England and the West Indies, and a large body of newly enrolled Ger- mans, soon filled his attenuated ranks, arid he found himself at the head of little less than 30,000 well- appointed soldiers. On August 22 and 23 between 15,000 and 16,000 men were landed without opposition on Long Island, 3 and on the 27th they totally defeated the portion of the American army which was defending the entrenchments. If Howe had known how to im- prove his victory the whole force, consisting probably of about 10,000 men, must have been at his mercy. By the strange negligence of the English commander, by the great skill of Washington, and by the assistance of 1 Stedman's History of the authorities are hopelessly dis- American War, i. 207. agreed about the exact numbers 2 Washington's Works, i. 187 ; engaged in Long Island, and iv. G6. among the Americans themselves 3 Howe's Narrative, p. 45. I there are very great differences, must, however, warn the reader Compare Eamsay, Bancroft, Sted- that the English and American man, and Stanhope. 250 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, CH. xni. a dense fog, the Americans, who had been hemmed in oil a corner of the island and who were separated from the mainland by an arm of the sea a mile wide, succeeded in effecting their retreat in the early hours of the morn- ing, unimpeded and unobserved. They escaped, how- ever, only by abandoning the lines they had constructed with much labour, and on September 15 Howe com- pleted his campaign by the capture of New York. The blow was a very formidable one to the American cause, and it had for some time been foreseen. On September 2 Washington wrote from New York a letter to the President of the Congress, in which he suggested no less a measure than the deliberate de- struction of this great and wealthy commercial town. * Till of late,' he said, * I had no doubt in my own mind of defending this place ; nor should I have yet, if the men would do their duty, but this I despair of. ... If we should be obliged to abandon the town, ought it to stand as winter quarters for the enemy? They would derive great conveniences from it on the one hand ; and much property would be destroyed on the other. ... At present I dare say the enemy mean to preserve it if they can. If Congress, therefore, should resolve upon the destruction of it, the resolution should be a profound secret, as the knowledge of it will make a capital change in their plans.' 1 Such a suggestion, emanating from such a man, furnishes a remarkable comment upon the indignation so abundantly expressed by the revolutionary party at the burning of Falrnouth and Norfolk at the time when these little towns were actually occupied by troops who were firing upon the English. If preparations for burn- ing New York were not, as has been alleged, actually made before the Americans evacuated the city, it is at Washington's Works, iv. 74. CH. xin. PROPOSED BURNING OF NEW YORK. least certain that such a step was at this time openly and frequently discussed. 1 Jay, who was one of the most conspicuous of the New York patriots, was of opinion that not only the city, but the whole surround- ing country, should be reduced to ruin, 2 and the former measure was strongly advocated by Greene, one of the most popular of the American generals. ' The City and Island of New York,' he wrote, ten days before the surrender, ' are no objects to us. We are not to put them in competition with the general interest of America. Two-thirds of the property of the city and the suburbs belong to Tories. ... I would burn the city and suburbs, and that for the following reasons/ He then proceeds to enumerate the military advantages that would ensue, and adds, * all these advantages would re- sult from the destruction of the city, and not one benefit can arise to us from its preservation, that I can con- ceive.' 3 Joseph Keed, who was Adjutant-General of the American army, was also strongly in favour of burning New York ' a city,' he said, ' the greater part of whose inhabitants are plotting our destruction/ 4 Happily for its own reputation, happily perhaps for its influence in America, Congress rejected the counsel, 1 In a letter dated Aug. 17, Washington wrote to the Con- 1776, a loyalist who had escaped vention of New York that 'a re- from New York wrote : ' Every port now circulating that if the means of defence has been con- American army should be obliged certed to secure the city and to retreat from this city, any in- whole island of New York from dividual may set it on fire,' was an attack of the royal army. wholly unauthorised by him. Should General Howe succeed Washington's Works, iv. 58. in that enterprise, his antagonist, 2 Life and Correspondence of Mr. Washington, has provided a Joseph Reed, i. 235. magazine of pitch, tar, and com- 3 Washington's Works, iv. 85, bustibles, to burn the city before 86. This letter was written on he shall retreat from his present Sept. 5, 1776. station.' Moore's Diary of the * Life of J. Reed, i. 213. Revolution, i. 288. On Aug. 23, 252 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin. and New York fell intact into the hands of the English. 1 But the knowledge of the design had spread abroad, and there were men who were quite ready to carry it into effect. Shortly after midnight, on the morning of September 21, fires burst out simultaneously in several parts of New York. The church bells had all been carried away by Washington to be turned into cannon, so there was great difficulty in spreading the alarm. The fire-engines were in bad repair, and before the fire could be extinguished about a fourth part of the town was reduced to ashes. Several women and children perished in the flames, and many hundreds of families were reduced in an hour from comfort to beggary. But for the admirable efforts of English soldiers under General Eobertson, and of sailors who landed from the fleet, assisted by a sudden change of wind, it is pro- bable that nothing would have remained of the future capital of America. Men with combustibles in their hands were seized and killed either by the soldiers or the populace. Tryon, the English Governor of New York, expressed his firm belief that the conflagration had been deliberately prepared with the full knowledge of Washington before the Americans had left the town, and had been executed by officers of his army, some of whom * were found concealed in the city.' In this con- jecture he was undoubtedly mistaken. The letters of Washington show that he had no knowledge of the conflagration, 'but few impartial judges will question the distinct assertion of General Howe that the fire was, beyond all question, an incendiary one, and it is almost equally certain that it owed its origin to the revolution- ary party. 2 1 The Congress having re- * See, on this fire, the descrip- Bolved that it [New York] should tion sent by Governor Tryon to not be destroyed.' Washing- Lord George Germaine, in the ton's Works, iv. 86. Documents relating to the His- CH. xiii. THE AMERICAN ARMY. . 253 The superiority of the English over the Americana at Long Island, both in numbers, in arms, and in mili- tary experience, was so great that the defeat reflected no shadow of discredit upon the beaten army, who appear to have fought with great courage and resolu- tion ; but the extreme anarchy and insubordination that still reigned within the ranks, and the great want of real patriotism and self-sacrifice that was displayed, boded ill to the revolutionary cause. In the letter to which I have already referred, written by Colonel Reed before the battle, we have a vivid picture of the condi- tion of the American army. * Almost every villainy and rascality/ he wrote, ' is daily practised with im- punity. Unless some speedy and effectual means of reform are adopted by Congress our cause will be lost. As the war must be carried on systematically, you must establish your army upon a permanent footing, and give your officers good pay, that they may be, and support the character of, gentlemen, and not be driven by a scanty allowance to the low and dirty arts which many of them practise to filch the public of more money than all the amount of the difference of pay. It tory of New York, viii. 686, 687, interesting book the History of and some interesting contempo- New York by the loyalist Judge rary accounts in Moore's Diary, Jones, who was present when i. 311-315. See, too, Washing- the event took place, there is an ton's Works, iv. 100, 101. Sted- account of the conflagration in man speaks of the conflagration which it is attributed without as the accomplishment of a any question to the revolution- settled plan of the Americans ists (Jones's History of New formed before the evacuation, York, i. 120, 121) ; and the editor and he states that several cart- has collected a great number of loads of bundles of pine-sticks contemporary documents sup- dipped in brimstone were found porting the same conclusion (pp. next day in cellars to which the 611-619). General Greene had incendiaries had not time to set predicted that, if Washington fire. He adds that about 1,100 was obliged to retire, * two to houses were burnt. -Stedman's one, New York is laid in ashes. 1 Hist. i. 208, 209. In that very Life of J. Reed, i. 213. 254 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. CH. xin. is not strange that there should be a number of bad officers in the continental service when you consider that many of them were chosen by their own men, who elected them, not for a regard to merit, but from the knowledge they had of their being ready to associate with them on the footing of equality. It was some- times the case that when a company was forming, the men would choose those for officers who consented to throw their pay into a joint stock with the privates, from which captains, lieutenants, ensigns, sergeants, corporals, drummers, and privates drew equal shares. Can it be wondered at that a captain should be tried and broken for stealing his soldiers' blankets ? or that another officer should be found shaving his men in the face of characters of distinction. . . . Had I known the true posture of affairs, no consideration would have tempted me to have taken an active part in this scene. And this sentiment is universal.' 1 The letters of Washington at this time are full of com- plaints of the quarrels between the soldiers of the diffe- rent provinces, of the numerous desertions in the most critical periods of the campaign, of the constant acts of in- subordination, of the complete inefficiency of the militia. 2 The defeat at Long Island had totally demoralised them. * The militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to re- turn. Great numbers of them have gone off, in some instances almost by whole regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time/ * Their want of discipline and refusal of almost every kind of restraint/ ' their humours and intolerable caprice,' their ' entire disregard of that order and subordination necessary to the well-being of an army/ their * impatience to get home/ and their 1 Stedman, i. 206, 207. See, * See Washington's Work*, iv. too, the Life of Reed, i. 243. 3, 7, 37, 89, 90, 105. ca. xiii. CONGRESS AND THE STATES. 255 * abominable desertions ' were rapidly infecting the regular continental troops. 1 On one occasion a body of New York militia tinder Colonel Hay simply refused to obey his commands or to do duty, saying that * General Howe had promised them peace, liberty, and safety, and that is all they want/ 2 There was so little unity of action between the Congress and the local legislatures that, while the former offered a bounty of ten dollars to those who would enlist for a year in the continental service, the particular States sometimes offered a bounty of twenty dollars to the militia who were called out for a few months, and it was in conse- quence scarcely possible to obtain recruits for the more serious military service. 3 This competition, indeed, be- tween the Congress and the separate States continued during a great part of the war ; and as late as 1779, when Franklin was endeavouring to borrow money from Holland, he complained bitterly of the difficulties he en- countered through the rivalry of particular States which were applying at the same time for loans for their own purposes, and not unfrequently offering higher interest. 4 To all these difficulties which beset the path of Washington must be added the widespread disaffection to the American cause which was manifest in the State of New York. The legal legislature of the province had indeed been superseded in 1775 by a Provincial Convention elected and governed by the revolutionists, and it passed a resolution that all persons residing in the State of New York who adhered to the King and Great Britain ' should be deemed guilty of treason and should suffer death/ 5 * A fierce mob was active in 1 Washington's Works t iv. 72, of Foreign Affairs, May 26, 1779. T3, 89, 94, 95, 157. American Diplomatic Corre- * Ibid. p. 162. spondence, iii. 88-91. 8 Ibid. i. 207 ; iv. 73. * Earnsay, i. 295. 4 Franklin to the Committee 256 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. c*. xui, hunting down suspected Tories, and they had intro- duced the brutal New England punishment of carrying their victims astride upon rails ; l but the bulk of the property of New York belonged to loyalists, and they were very numerous, both among the middle classes of the town and in the country population. Before the arrival of the English, New York gaol was crowded with suspected loyalists, and among them were many of the first characters in the town. English recruiting agents penetrated even into the camp of Washington, and a plot was discovered for seizing his person. 2 When Howe landed at Staten Island he was warmly welcomed by the inhabitants, who at once furnished him with all that he required, and came forward in numbers to take the oath of allegiance. 3 When Washington was driven from Long Island, almost the whole population came forward gladly to testify their loyalty to the Crown, 4 and a corps of several hundred loyalists recruited in the province was serving in the English army. 8 The Queen's County, which comprehended the north side of Long Island, was especially noted for its loyalty. It refused to send a delegate to the Continental Congress or the Provincial Convention, and at the end of the war nearly a third part of its inhabitants are said to have emigrated to Nova Scotia. 6 The conduct of the American troops, who were 1 Moore's Diary, i. 288. cessions as have been required ; * Washington's Works, i. 181. some through compulsion, I sup- 8 Governor Tryon to Lord pose, but more from inclina- George Germaine, July 8, 1776. tion.' Washington to Trumbull, Documents relating to the His- Washington's Works, iv. 88. tory of New York, viii. 681. Moore's Journal, i. 304. 4 * I am sorry to say that from 5 Documents relating to the the best information we have Hist, of New York, viii. 681, been able to obtain, the people 687. of Long Island have since our 6 Jones's Hist, of New York, evacuation gone generally over i. 107, 108. to the enemy and made such con- CH. xni. MISCONDUCT OF AMERICAN TROOPS. 257 almost wholly unaccustomed to discipline, was, as might have been expected, far from faultless. ' The abandoned and profligate part of our army,' wrote Washington, * lost to every sense of honour and virtue, as well as their country's good, are by rapine and plunder spreading ruin and terror wherever they go, thereby making themselves infinitely more to be dreaded than the common enemy they are come to oppose.' In a confidential letter to the President of the Con- gress he complained that except for one or two of- fences the utmost penalty he was empowered to inflict was thirty-nine lashes ; that these, through the collusion of the officers whose duty it was to see them applied, were sometimes rather * a matter of sport than punish- ment,' and that in consequence of the inadequacy of the penalty ' a practice prevails of the most alarming nature, which will, if it cannot be checked, prove fatal both to the country and to the army.' ' Under the idea of Tory property, or property that may fall into the hands of the enemy, no man is secure in his effects and scarcely in his person.' l American soldiers were constantly driving innocent persons out of their homes by an alarm of fire, or by actually setting their houses on fire, in order more easily to pi under the contents, and all attempts to check this atrocious practice had proved abortive. The burn- ing of New York was generally attributed to New Eng- land incendiaries. The efforts of the British soldiers to save the city were remembered with gratitude, and, although some parts of the province of New York still obeyed the Provincial Congress, there is little doubt that in the city and in the country around it the British were looked upon not as conquerors but as deliverers. 3 1 Washington's Works, iv. 118, Germaine from New York : ' The 119. success that accompanied my 2 On Feb. 11, 1777, Governor endeavour to unite the inhabit- Tryon wrote to Lord George ants of this city by an oath of 258 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin. Washington, in October 1776, expressed his grave fear that in case of any unfavourable turn in American affairs the enemy might recruit soldiers at least as fast as the revolutionists. 1 It was one of the great miscal- culations of the English Government that they enter- tained a similar expectation, and hoped to suppress the rebellion mainly by American troops. Attempts were made to produce a rising among the Scotch emigrants in Yirginia. Officers were authorised to raise provincial corps for the service of the King, and on a single occasion equipments were sent out from England for no less than 8,000 provincial troops. In the course of the struggle it is, no doubt, true that many thousands took allegiance and fidelity to his have assured the General that Majesty and his Government has should he remove all his troops met my warmest wishes ; 2,970 from the city, there would not of the inhabitants having quali- be the least risk of a revolt from fied thereto in my presence the inhabitants, but on the con- I have the satisfaction to assure trary was confident large num- your lordship, as the invitation bers would take a share in the to the people to give this volun- defence of the town against the tary testimony of their loyalty rebels.' Documents relating to to his Majesty and his Govern- the Colonial History of New nient was made even without a York, viii. 697. shadow of compulsion, it gave ' Washington's Works,iv. 132. me peculiar satisfaction to see One unhappy stroke will throw the cheerfulness with which they a powerful weight into the scale attended the summons. I be- against us, enabling General lieve there are not 100 citizens Howe to recruit his army as fast who have not availed themselves as we shall ours ; numbers being of the opportunity of thus testi- so disposed and many actually lying their attachment to Go- doing so already ' (p. 134). In vernment. The mayor, since I another letter he reports that he went through several wards, has has learned from Long Island attested fifty more men (and is that ' the enemy are recruiting a daily adding to the number), great number of men with much which makes the whole sworn success,' and expresses his fear in the city 3,020, or 3,030, which, that in a little time they will added to those attested on Staten levy no inconsiderable army of Island, in the three counties on our own people ' (p. 127). See, Long Island, and in Westchester too, on the American loyalists, county . . . makes the whole pp. 519-523, and Galloway's amount to 5,600 men. ... I Examination. H. xin. PERSECUTION OF LOYALISTS. arms for the King either in isolated risings or in the regular army, 1 but the enlistments were much fewer than was expected, and the hope that America would supply the main materials for the suppression of the re- volt proved wholly chimerical. One of the first acts of the Whig party in every colony was to disarm Tories, and the promptitude and energy with which this measure was accomplished, combined with the un- fortunate issue of several small risings in the Southern colonies, paralysed the loyalists. Nor was it surprising that they showed great re- luctance and hesitation. That strong dislike to mili- tary life which pervaded the colonial population was nowhere more conspicuous than in the class of society in which loyal sentiments chiefly prevailed, and the American loyalists risked much more than the Ameri- can insurgents. In addition to the Acts punishing with death, banishment, forfeiture of goods, or im- prisonment, those who assisted the English, every State passed Acts of Attainder, by which the properties of long lists of citizens who were mentioned by name were confiscated. Pennsylvania and Delaware, following the example of the Irish Jacobite Parliament of 1689, gave the attainted person the option of appearing to take his trial for treason by a specified date, but usually the confiscations were absolute and unconditional. In Connecticut the simple offence of seeking royal pro- tection or absenting himself from his home and country made the loyalist liable to the confiscation of all his property. In New York, in addition to an Act confis- cating all the goods of fifty-nine persons, three of whom were women, and making them liable to the penalty of death if they were found in the State, a heavy tax was 1 Some attempts to estimate in Sabine's American Loyalists, the number of loyalists who 58-61. actually took arms will be found 260 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin. imposed on every parent who had a loyalist son. 1 One of the first acts of the revolutionary party when they occupied Boston was to confiscate and sell all property belonging to loyalists, and in a country of farmers and yeomen most property was immovable. The loyalist exposed himself to the undying animosity of a large proportion of his neighbours ; he exposed his family to those savage mobs who by plunder and torture were everywhere supporting the Revolution, and he was certain to incur absolute ruin not only in case of the defeat of the English cause, but even in case of the temporary evacuation of the district in which his pro- perty was situated. If the rebellion collapsed, it would probably do so speedily through the want of men and money and through the burden of the sufferings it pro- duced, and it was not necessary for him to intervene and to excite against himself the hatred of those who would continue to be his neighbours. If the rebellion was prolonged, an American resident could estimate more truly than Englishmen how difficult it was to subdue an enormous, half-opened country, how abso- lutely impossible it was that the English power could be, for purposes of protection, a living reality over more than a very small section of it. Nor were the moral in- ducements to enter into the struggle very strong. Thou- sands who detested the policy of the New Englanders, and who longed to see the colonies reconciled to England, reprobated the Stamp Act and many other parts of the English policy, and felt in no way bound to draw the sword against their countrymen, or to add new fuel to a civil war which they had done their utmost to avert. The remaining military operations of 1776 may be told in a few words. Washington, after his defeat, 1 See a long list of these Acts Jones's History of New York, ii. of Attainder in Sabine's American 269, 270. Loyalists, pp. 78-81. See, too, CH. xiii. NEW JERSEY AND TICONDEROGA. 261 avoided any general action, though several slight skir- mishes took place. The whole of New York Island was evacuated with the exception of Fort Washington, which, by the advice of General Greene, and contrary to the opinion of Washington, it was determined to de- fend. The British, however, took it by storm in a single day, and they captured in it 2,700 American soldiers and a large quantity of artillery and military stores, which the Americans could ill spare. Im- mediately after this brilliant success, a powerful de- tachment under Lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson, entered New Jersey, to which Washington had fled, and prepared to besiege Fort Lee ; but the garrison hastily evacuated it, leaving their artillery and stores in the hands of the British, and the whole province open to invasion. The Provincial Convention still held its meetings in distant towns of the Province of New York, and a few American soldiers under Lee continued in the province ; but the main operations were now trans- ferred to the Jerseys. But before following the fortunes of the war in that province, it is necessary to enumerate the chief opera- tions in other parts of the colonies/ Schuyler, who commanded the Northern army, which had just eva- cuated Canada, though he appears to have been a cap- able officer, was disliked by the New England troops, and in the summer of 1776 the Congress, without as yet absolutely superseding him, gave a joint command to Gates, who was more popular in New England. The defeated army had fallen back on the strong fort of Ticonderoga s ; but the Americans also held the fort of Crown Point, which was fifteen miles distant, and they had constructed with great energy a small fleet, which for a time gave them the command of Lake Champlain. Gates appointed Benedict Arnold to command it ; and this general, who had already shown himself a soldier of 262 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin great daring and capacity, exhibited the same qualities in the novel functions of naval commander. The English at length constructed a fleet far more powerful than that of the Americans, and in October they compelled the Americans to evacuate Crown Point, and they totally defeated the American fleet. Only one or two vessels were, however, captured, for Arnold succeeded in running the others on shore, in burning them before they could fall into the hands of the English, and in con- ducting the soldiers who manned them safely to Ticon- deroga. The winter was now drawing in, and General Carleton, who commanded the English, made no at- tempt to besiege Ticonderoga, but fell back into winter quarters on the Canadian frontier, In June 1776 General Clinton, at the head of some troops which had lately arrived from Ireland, and sup- ported by a fleet under Sir Peter Parker, attempted to capture Charleston, which was the wealthiest and most important town in the southern colonies. Had he suc- ceeded, he would have stopped one of the chief sources of military preparation in the South, and would have probably called into activity the strong loyalist party which had already shown itself in South Carolina. Charleston had, however, recently been protected by a very strong fortification on Sullivan's Island, and it was skilfully defended by General Lee, the most experienced of all the soldiers in the service of the revolution. In at- tacking the fort, three frigates ran aground, and although two were saved, it was found necessary to burn the third ; and after several attempts the difficulties of the enter- prise were found to be so great that it was abandoned. In July, Parker and Clinton sailed for New York. The successful defence of Charleston was a great en- couragement to the revolution in the Southern colonies, and for two and a half years no new attempt was made to re-establish in those quarters the dominion of England, CH. XTII. RHODE ISLAND INDIAN WAR. 263 In December, however, the sarne commanders who had made the abortive attempt upon Charleston descended upon Rhode Island, and occupied it without resistance. One of the provinces most hostile to British rule was thus effectually curbed, considerable impediments were thrown in the way of the naval preparations of the enemy, and a good harbour was secured for the British ; but military critics have doubted, or more than doubted, whether these advantages justified the British com- mander in detaining at least 6,000 soldiers for nearly three years inactive in the island. The employment of Indians in the war was now on both sides undisguised. I have related in a former chapter what appears to me to be the true history of its first stages, and in the Canadian campaign the Indians gave great assistance to the English. Actuated, accord- ing to the English view, by a strong personal attach- ment to Sir William Johnson and Colonel Guy Johnson, and by an earnest loyalty to the Crown, which had so often protected them against the encroachments of the colonists according to the American view by a mere selfish desire to support the side on which there was most to gain and least to lose, 1 the Indians along the Canadian frontier remained steadily loyal ; and it is but justice to add that their fidelity was never more con- 1 Compare the letters of Col. which put it out of the power of Guy Johnson in the Documents the Americans to supply the relating to the Colonial History Indians with the articles of coru- of New York, vol. viii. (especially merce they chiefly valued. There pp. 656, 657), and a note in is a striking statement of the Washington's Works, iii. 407. unwavering fidelity of the Mo* Ramsay (History of the American hawks to England during the war v Revolution, ii. 138) attributes the of the great sufferings they en. fidelity of the Canadian Indians dured for her, and of the un- chiefly to the impression the ex- grateful way in which they were pulsion of the French had made abandoned at the peace, in Jones'a upon their minds, and to the non- History of New York, i. 75, 76. Importation agreement of 1774, 19 264 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ami, spicuous than in the first period of the campaign, when it appeared as if the forces of Montgomery and Arnold would have carried everything before them. In May 1776 the Congress resolved that * it is highly expedient to engage the Indians in the service of the United Colonies;' in the following month they authorised General Schuyler to raise 2,000 Indians for his service in Canada, and Washington to employ Indians to any extent he thought useful ; and they at the same time promised a reward to all Indians who took English officers or soldiers prisoners. 1 Schuyler found it impos- sible to shake the allegiance of the Canadian Indians ; but in July 1776 Washington wrote an urgent letter to the General Court of Massachusetts, begging them to enlist 500 or 600 Indians for his own army. 2 It is a remarkable fact, however, that in nearly every period of the struggle, and in every part of the States, the great majority of the Indians, if they took part in the war, ranged themselves on the side of the Crown, and Eng- land obtained in consequence much the larger share both of the benefit and of the discredit of their assistance. 3 The English Government had certainly no desire to instigate or encourage acts of atrocity, and they strongly exhorted the Indians to abstain from such acts ; but at the same time they knew that it was often wholly impossible to restrain them ; they de- liberately calculated upon the terrors of Indian war- fare as a method of coercion ; they were not content with employing Indians in their own armies, and under the supervision of their own officers, but urged them to independent attacks against the colonists, and there were men in the English service who would have readily 1 Secret Journals of Congress, 430, 431, 460. See, too, f. 273, May 25, June 17, July 8, 1776. 274. * Washington's Works, iii. 8 Bamsay, ii. 139. CR. XIII. INDIAN WAR. 265 given them uncontrolled licence against the enemy. 1 Shortly before the attack upon Charleston, a very for- midable conspiracy of loyalists and Indians to invade Virginia and the Carolinas was discovered. Mr. Stuart, who had for a long time directed the Indian affairs of the Southern colonies, was the leading agent in organ- ising it ; and it was intended to bring the Creeks and 1 A disgraceful affair occurred in Canada in the summer of 1776, when several American prisoners were killed and others plundered by Indians after capitulation, and the English officer declared his inability to control the savages. (Washington's Works, iv. 1, 2.) Feb. 15, 1777, Col. Guy Johnson wrote to Lord George Ger- maine : ' The terror of their name without any acts of savage cruelty will tend much to the speedy termination of the rebel- lion.' Documents relating to the Colonial History of Ntw York, viii. 699. On April 21, 1777, Governor Tryon wrote to Secre- tary Knox: 'I am exactly of opinion with Colonel La [Corne] St. Luc, who says : " II faut lacher les sauvages contre les miserables rebels, pour imposer de terreur sur les frontiers. II dit de plus (mais un peu trop pour moi), qu'il faut brutalizer les affaires ; assurement il est bien enragee de la mauvais traite- ment qu'il a recu de les aveugles peuples'" (sic). Ibid. p. 707. On March 12, 1778, Col. Johnson wrote to Lord George Germaine : It is well known, my lord, that the colonies solicited the Indians early in 1775; that they pro- posed to make me prisoner, that they carried some Indians then to their camp near Boston, as they did others since, who were taken in the battle on Long Island ; that the tomahawk which is so much talked of is seldom used but to smoak through or to cut wood with, and that they are very rarely guilty of any cruelty more than scalping the dead, in which article even they may be restrained. It is also certain that no objection was made to them formerly ; that the King's instruc- tions of 1754 to General Brad- dock, and many since, direct their being employed, while some of the American colonies went further by fixing a price for scalps. Surely foreign enemies have an equal claim to humanity with others. ... I am persuaded .... that I can restrain the Indians from acts of savage cruelty.' Ibid, pp. 740, 741. See, too, on this subject, the note in Washington's Works, v. 274-276. Governor Pownall, who was intimately ac- quainted with Indian affairs, said ' the idea of an Indian neutrality is nonsense delusive, dangerous nonsense. If both we and the Americans were agreed to observe a strict neutrality in not employ, ing them, they would then plun- der and scalp both parties i criminately.' 206 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. itm, Cherokees, who inhabited lands to the west of the Carolinas and of Georgia, into the field, and to assist them by an expedition of English soldiers and by a great loyalist rising. The project was paralysed by its premature disclosure, and the great body of Indians in these parts remained passive ; but the Cherokees took up arms, and waged a very savage war in the back settlements of Virginia and the Carolinas. The Southern colonists, however, soon collected an army for their defence, and not only cleared their own territory, but crossed the Alleghanies, traversed the Indian settle- ments, burnt the villages, destroyed the crops, and soon compelled the savages to sue for peace, and to cede a great part of their land to South Carolina. It was noticed that the barbarities practised by the Indians in this campaign had a great effect in repressing the loyalist sentiment in the Southern colonies. 1 Another subject which greatly occupied the atten- tion of the Americans was the indispensable necessity of creating a navy for the purpose of protecting their commerce and injuring that of the enemy. The Ameri- cans have at' all times shown a remarkable aptitude for the seafaring life, and they did not wait for the De- claration of Independence to take measures for the con- struction of an independent navy. In the last three months of 1775 Congress ordered seventeen cruisers, varying from ten to thirty-six guns, to be built. In February 1776 the first American squadron, consisting of eight small ships the largest carrying twenty-four guns sailed under Commander Hopkins from Dela- ware Bay, and in October 1776 twenty-six American vessels were either built or building. 2 A few" larger vessels were afterwards constructed in France, but the 1 Annual Register, 1777, p. 122. of the United States, i. 76, 77, 1 Cooper's History of the Navy 89, 90, 101, 102. CH. xiii. PRIVATEERING. 267 American navy appears to have been almost wholly manned by natives, and in this respect it furnished a great contrast to the army, in which the foreign element was very prominent. The popularity, however, of the regular naval force could never compete with that of privateering, which was soon practised from the New England and Pennsylvanian coasts on a scale and with a daring and success very rarely equalled. The zest with which the Americans threw themselves into this lucrative form of enterprise is a curious contrast to their extreme reluctance to take up arms in the field. * Thousands of schemes of privateering,' wrote John Adams in August 1776, ' are afloat in American imagi- nations.' 1 In the beginning of the war this kind of enterprise was especially successful, for a swarm of privateers were afloat before the English appear to have had the smallest suspicion of their danger. The names are preserved of no less than sixteen privateers belong- ing to Rhode Island alone, which were on the sea in 1776 ; 2 and it is probable that these form but a small fraction of the total number. At the end of 1776 250 West Indiamen had been captured, 8 the injury already done to the West India trade was estimated in England at 1,800,OOOZ., and the rate of insurance had risen to 28 per cent., which was higher than at any period in the last war with France and Spain. 4 The leading merchants speculated largely in priva- teers, and it was noticed that ' the great profit of privateering was an irresistible temptation to sea- men,' 5 and a formidable obstacle to enlistment in the 1 Adams's Familiar Letters, p. 4 Ibid. p. 262. See, too, Ame- 208. See, too, pp. 220, 226, 230. rican Remembrancer, 1776, part 2 Arnold's History of Rhode ii. p. 267. Island, ii. 386. 5 American Diplomatic Corre- 8 American Diplomatic Corre- spondence, ii. 93. spondence, i. 248. 2G8 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. X:IT. army. At the end of 1776, Eobert Morris, in describing the gloomy prospects of the revolution, complained that- ' in the Eastern States they are so intent upon priva- teering that they mind little else ; l but when Chastellux visited Philadelphia a few years later, he found this distinguished patriot and merchant himself so occupied with the trade that he regarded a week as a calamitous one in which no prize was brought in by his cruisers, and his fortune had risen in the most disastrous period of the American war to between 300,000/. and _ 400,0001* It was found impossible to man the navy without lay- ing an embargo on the privateers, and in 1776 the Assembly of Ehode Island proposed to the other States a general embargo until the quotas of enlistments re- quired by the Congress for the army had in each State been filled. 3 It may be questioned, however, whether American enterprise could have been on the whole more profitably employed, for successful privateering brought great wealth into the country, impoverished the enemy, and added very largely to the popularity of the war. It needed, indeed, all the popularity that could be derived from this source, for the latter months of 1776 form one of the darkest periods in the whole struggle. The army of Washington had dwindled to 3,000 and even to 2,700 effective men. Except two companies of artillery belonging to the State of New York that were engaged for the war, the whole of the continental 1 American Diplomatic Corre- the manner in which (without spondence, i. 243. actual dishonesty) he employed f Chastellux, Travels in North his position of Financier-General America, i. 199-201. According to the colonies, to subserve his to a note, however, appended to private interests. See, too, Ban the English translation of this croft's Hist, of the United States, book, a large part of the great x. 566, 567. fortune of Morris was due to 3 Arnold's Hist, of Rhode I- other causes, and especially to land, ii. 388, 389. CH. xiii. STATE OF THE ARMY LEE. 269 troops had only been enlisted for a year, and when their time of service expired in November and Decem- ber, it appeared as if none of them would consent to re-enlist or to postpone their departure. In the face of an enemy of overwhelming numbers, in the very agonies of a struggle upon which the whole future of the contest depended, company after company came for- ward claiming instant dismissal. Fourteen days after the capture of Fort Washington had deprived the Ameri- cans of nearly 3,000 soldiers, a large division of the army took this course. Every hope of success seemed fading away. An urgent despatch was sent to Gates, who commanded the remains of the army which had invaded Canada, to send assistance from Ticonderoga. Unfortunately two of the regiments which he sent were from New Jersey, their time of service had expired, and as soon as they found themselves in their native State they disbanded to a man. 1 General Lee had been left with some troops at the east side of Hudson River, and Washington now urg- ently summoned him to his assistance. Lee had served with much distinction in the English army in America during the last war, and his fierce energy had gained for him among the Indians the title of ' the spirit that never sleeps.' ' He returned to England after the capture of Canada, served in 1762 in Portugal with the auxiliary forces against the Spaniards, and performed at least one brilliant exploit in the capture of a Spanish camp near Villa Yelha, on the Tagus. Having, however, quarrelled with his superiors, and being disappointed in his hopea of promotion, he passed into the Polish service, where he became a major-general. He afterwards spent some years in travelling, fought several desperate duels, and was everywhere noted for his violent and turbulent 1 Bamsay, i. 312. Hildreth, iii. 159. 270 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. zm. character ; but he was also an accomplished linguist and a man of some literary talent, and he was one of the many persons to whom the letters of Junius were as- cribed. He travelled in America in an early stage of the colonial dispute, and appears to have conceived a genuine enthusiasm for the American cause ; but he was even more of an adventurer than an enthusiast, and was much disappointed at being placed in the American army not only below Washington, but also below Ward, ' a fat old gentleman,' as he complained, ' who had been a popular churchwarden, but had no acquaintance what- ever with military affairs/ General Ward retired shortly after the recovery of Boston, and the star of Lee seemed for a time rising very high. His military experience was eminently useful in organising the American army. His defence of Charleston against the fleet of Sir Peter Parker in the summer of 1776 had been skilful and successful ; and having afterwards been summoned to the north, his advice is said to have decided the evacuation of New York Island, which probably saved the American army from capture. His self-willed, impracticable, and insubordinate temper, however, soon became apparent ; he was ex- tremely jealous of Washington, whose ability he appears to have greatly underrated, and after the capture of Fort Washington he thought the situation nearly hopeless. * Between ourselves/ he wrote to his friend Gates, ' a certain great man is most damnably deficient. He has thrown me into a situation where I have my choice of difficulties. If I stay in this province I risk myself and army, and if I do not stay, the province is lost for ever. I have neither guides, cavalry, medicines, money, shoes, nor stockings. I must act with the greatest circumspection. Tories are in my front, rear, and on my flanks. The mass of the people is strangely contaminated. In short, unless something which I do CH. xni. MILITARY EVENTS, DECEMBER 1776. 271 not expect turns up, we are lost. Our councils have been weak to the last degree.' For some time lie posi- tively disobeyed the summons of his chief, hoping to strike some independent blow near New York. At length, slowly and reluctantly, he entered New Jersey; but having on December 1 3 gone some way from his army to reconnoitre, he fell into the hands of a British party and was captured. To the officers who took him he expressed his disgust at * the rascality of his troops,' his disappoint- ment at the deep division of opinion in America, and his conviction that ' the game was nearly at an end.' l The incident struck terror into the American army at a time when no additional discouragement was needed. Washington, closely pursued by a greatly superior force under Lord Cornwallis, retreated successively to Newark, to Brunswick, to Princeton, to Trenton, and to the Penn- sylvanian side of the Delaware. Seldom has a com- mander found himself in a more deplorable position, for in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania, as well as in New York, the bulk of the people were either utterly indif- ferent or positively hostile to his cause. ' The want of exertion,' he wrote ou December 5, * in the principal gentlemen of the country, or a fatal supineness and in- sensibility of dacger . . . have been the causes of our late disgraces.' The militia he described as * a destruc- tive, expensive, and disorderly mob.' 2 On the 12th he wrote that, a great part of the continental troops having insisted on abandoning him, he had ' hoped to receive a reinforcement from the militia of the State of New Jersey sufficient to check the further progress of the enemy,' but had been * cruelly disappointed.' ' The inhabitants 1 For the fullest particulars 1860). The life and vrritings of about this remarkable man see Lee were published in one volume an interesting monograph called in 1794. The Treason of Charles Lee. by 2 Washington's Works t iv. 202, George H. Moore (New York, 203. ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm, of this State, either from fear or disaffection, almost to a man refused to turn out.' l In Pennsylvania, things were a little, but only a little, better. About 1,500 men of the militia of Philadelphia marched to Trenton, ' but the remainder of the province continues in a state of supineness, nor do I see any likelihood of their stirring to save their own capital, which is undoubtedly General Howe's great object.' 2 4 With a handful of men,' he wrote a few days later, ' compared to the enemy's force, we have been pushed through the Jerseys without being able to make the smallest opposition and compelled to pass the Dela- ware.' 3 * Instead of giving any assistance in repelling the enemy, the militia have not only refused to obey your general summons and that of their commanding officers, but, I am told, exult at the approach of the enemy and on our late misfortunes.' 4 ' I found ... no disposition in the inhabitants to afford the least aid.' * We are in a very disaffected part of the province, and between you and me I think our affairs are in a very bad condition ; not so much from the apprehension of General Howe's army as from the defection of New York, the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania. In short, the conduct of the Jerseys has been most infamous. Instead of turning out to defend their country and affording aid to our army, they are making their submission as fast as they can. If the Jerseys had given us any support we might have made a stand at Hackinsac, and, after that, at Brunswick ; but the few militia that were in arms dis- banded themselves and left the poor remains of our army to make the best we could of it.' * If every nerve is not strained to recruit the new army with all possible expe- dition I think the game is pretty nearly up.' ' The enemy 1 Washington's TForfcs,iv.212. Ibid. p. 215. 2 Ibid. p. 213. Ibid. p. 223. CH. xin. DECEMBER 1776. 273 are daily gathering strength from the disaffected/ * I have no doubt but General Howe will still make an attempt upon Philadelphia this winter. I see nothing to oppose him a fortnight hence.' l Clothes, shoes, cannon, entrenching tools were imperatively needed. A great part of the military stores of the Revolution had been captured at Fort Washington. Even small arms were beginning to fail. "The consumption and waste of these,' wrote Washington, ' this year have been great. Militia and flying-camp men coming in without them were obliged to be furnished or become useless. Many of these threw their arms away ; some lost them ; whilst others deserted and took them away.' 2 And in the midst of all this distress there was incessant jealousy and recrimination, dishonesty and corruption ; * the different States, without regard to the qualifications of an officer, quarrelling about the appointments and nominating such as are not fit to be shoeblacks, from the local attach- ments of this or that member of the Assembly ; ' 3 ' the regimental surgeons, many of whom are very great rascals, countenancing the men in sham complaints to exempt them from duty, often receiving bribes to certify indispositions with a view to procure discharges or fur- loughs,' quarrelling incessantly around the beds of the sick, and < in numberless instances ' drawing ' for medi- cines and stores in the most profuse and extravagant manner for private purposes ; ' 4 the troops, in fine, so full * of local attachments and distinctions of country,' that after vainly trying to unite them by ' denominating 1 Washington's Works, iv. of his regiment at the American 230, 231, 234. camp at Harlem for selling the Ibid. p. 238. soldiers certificates that they 3 Ibid. p. 184. were unfit for duty, at the rate 4 Ibid. pp. 116, 117. One regi- of 8d. a man. Moore's Journal. mental doctor was drummed out i. 315. 274 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. en. X.H. the whole by the greater name of American,' Washington acknowledged that the task was an impossible one, and that the best way of governing his army was by stirring the emulation of the contingents of the different States. 1 It seemed at this time not only probable but al- most certain that the American Revolution would have collapsed ; and if it had done so, it is strange to think how completely the commonplaces of history would have been changed, and how widely different would now have been the popular estimate of the rival actors both in England and in America. In the course of a few months the English had driven the Americans from Canada and from New York. They had taken posses- sion of Ehode Island without opposition. They had overrun the whole of the Jerseys, and nothing but the Delaware saved Philadelphia from capture. It is almost certain that with the most ordinary vigilance and enter- prise Howe could have compelled the chief American army to surrender in Long Island, and that if he had at once pursued Washington across the Delaware, Philadelphia would have immediately fallen into his hands. In either of these cases the American Revolu- tion would probably have ended in 1776. In all the provinces which had been conquered, except Rhode Island, the feelings of the people had been at least as favourable to the British as to the revolutionists, and the more closely the correspondence of the time is examined the more evident it will appear that, in the middle colonies at least, those who really desired to throw off the English rule were a small and not very respectable minority. The great mass were indifferent, half-hearted, engrossed with their private interests or occupations, prepared to risk nothing till they could clearly foresee the issue of the contest. Washington's Works, iv. 236. CH. xin. AMERICAN APATHY. 275 In almost every part of the States even in New Eng- land itself there were large bodies of devoted loyalists. 1 The different States still regarded themelves as different countries, and one of the sentiments that most strongly pervaded the majority of them was dislike of the New Eiiglanders. 2 Washington, in New Jersey, issued a stringent proclamation ordering the inhabitants along the march of the English to destroy all hay and corn which they could not remove, but the order was nearly universally disobeyed, and Howe never at this time found the smallest difficulty in obtaining all necessary supplies. 3 Had the Americans as a whole ever looked upon the English as the Dutch looked upon the Spaniards, and as the Poles look upon the Eussians, had they mani- fested in the struggle of the revolution but a tenth part of the earnestness, the self-sacrifice, the enthusiasm which they displayed on both sides in the war of Seces- sion, Howe would at least have been enormously out- numbered. But during the whole of the campaign in New Jersey the army of Washington was far inferior in numbers to that which was opposed to him, and it was so ragged, inexperienced, and badly armed that it had rather the appearance of a mob than of an army. Howe issued a proclamation offering full pardon to all rebels who appeared before the proper authorities within sixty days and subscribed a declaration of allegiance, and great multitudes, including most of the chief persons in 1 Thus Governor Tryon writes can give the more credit to from to Lord G. Germaine, Dec. 31, the number of Connecticut men 1776, giving the report of two of that enlist in the provincial corps his Majesty's Council who had now raising.' Documents relat- just returned from Connecticut : ing to the Colonial History of 4 They tell me, from the intelli- New York, viii. 694. gence they had opportunities to 2 Adams's TFbrfcs, iii. 87. Hil- collect, they are positive a ma- dreth, iii. 147. jorityof the inhabitants west of 8 Galloway's Connecticut river are firm friends 17, 18. to Government. This report I 276 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CK. mi, the State, gladly availed themselves of it. At Phila- delphia itself there was so much disaffection that Wash- ington was obliged to detach a portion of his shrunken army for the purpose of intimidating those who were opposing all defensive works against the British, and he was in almost daily expectation that the British would make an attempt to pass the Delaware, and only too certain that if they succeeded in doing so, Phila- delphia would be at their mercy. The Congress regarded the ^antnre of the town as 'so imminent that it fled precipitately to Baltimore. Pro- bably the last member who remained in Philadelphia was Robert Morris, afterwards well known for the great ability he displayed in organising the finances of the Union, and he wrote on December 21, 1776, a report of the condition of affairs to the American Commissioners at Paris, which gives a most vivid and instructive pic- ture of the light in which the struggle now appeared to the ablest of its partisans. He describes the ruinous consequences of the capture of Fort Washington, the interception of the despatches of Washington, the sick- ness that was raging in the army, the want of warm clothing in the coldest period of the winter, the head- long flight through New Jersey before an overwhelming force of the enemy, the disappointment of all hopes of assistance from the people. ' Alas, our internal enemies had by various arts and means frightened many, dis- affected others, and caused a general languor to prevail over the minds of almost all men not before actually engaged in the war. Many are also exceedingly dis- affected with the constitutions formed for their respective States, so that, from one cause or other, no Jersey militia turned out to oppose the march of an enemy through the heart of their country ; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the Associators of this city could be pre- vailed on to march against them.' The capture of Lee CH. xni. REPORT OF MORRIS. 277 had been a new and terrible blow, but the party he commanded, and also 500 men returning from the Lakes under General Gates, had just joined Washington ; and as the army of Howe had been scattered, the one hope of the Americans was that they might be able to cut off the detached parties of the British, and thus compel them, to abandon New Jersey. * Unless that task is performed, Philadelphia nay, I may say Pennsylvania must fall.' But the difficulties were almost insuperable. The dispositions of the people were such that the English had excellent intelligence, while the revolutionists could scarcely obtain any. The proclamation of Howe 'had a wonderful effect, and all Jersey, or far the greater part of it, is supposed to have made their sub- mission. . . . Those who do so of course become our most inveterate enemies ; they have the means of con- veying intelligence, and they avail themselves of it.' Philadelphia was in a state of complete panic, and numbers of its citizens were taking flight. * We are told the British troops are kept from plunder, 1 but the Hessians and other foreigners, looking upon that as the right of war, plunder wherever they go, from both Whigs and Tories without distinction, and horrid de- vastations they have made/ The rapid depreciation of 1 The good conduct ascribed truth, also ascribes the outrages to the British soldiers is not indifferently to both nations, borne out by other authorities. (Examination before the House Washington speaks of the devas- of Commons, pp. 39, 40.) Judge tations and robberies in New Jones, in his loyalist Hist, of New Jersey as equally the work of the York (i. 114), speaking of the British and the Hessians, and he plunderings by the British army notices that at Princeton, where near that city, says : ' The Hes- Bome very scandalous acts were sians bore the blame at first, but perpetrated, there were no Ger- the British were equally alert.' man soldiers. (Washington's Jones notices, however, that the Works, iv. 255, 268, 309, 310.) army under General Carleton Galloway, who had particularly was honourably distinguished for good means of ascertaining the its good conduct (ibid. 90, 91). 278 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm. the continental currency in itself threatened * instant and total ruin to the American cause. 5 ' The enormous pay of our army, the immense expenses at which they are supplied, . . . and, in short, the extravagance that has prevailed in most departments of the public service, have called forth prodigious emissions of paper money/ Unless some brilliant success immediately changed the prospects of the war, nothing, in the opinion of this most competent observer, but the speedy assistance of France could possibly save the American cause. ' Our people,' he continues, * knew not the hardships and cal- amities of war when they so boldly dared Britain to arms ; every man was then a bold patriot, felt himself equal to the contest, and seemed to wish for an oppor- tunity of evincing his prowess ; but now, when we are fairly engaged, when death and ruin stare us in the face, and when nothing but the most intrepid courage can rescue us from contempt and disgrace, sorry I am to say it, many of those who were foremost in noise shrink coward-like from the danger, and are begging pardon without striking a blow.' 1 Nothing, indeed, could now have saved the American cause but the extraordinary skill and determination of its great leader, combined with the amazing incapacity of his opponents. There is no reason to doubt that Sir William Howe possessed in a fair measure the know- ledge of the military profession which books could furnish, but not one gleam of energy or originality at this time broke the monotony of his career, and to the blunders of the Jersey campaign the loyalists mainly ascribed the ultimate success of the revolution. The same want of vigilance and enterprise that had suffered the Americans to seize Dorchester heights, and thus to compel the evacuation of Boston, the same want of American Diplomatic Correspondence, i. 233-246. CH. xin. INCAPACITY OF HOWE. 279 vigilance and enterprise that had allowed them when totally defeated to escape from Long Island, still con- tinued. When Washington was flying rapidly from an overwhelming force under Lord Cornwallis, Howe ordered the troops to stop at Brunswick, where they remained inactive for nearly a week. In the opinion of the best military authorities, but for that delay the destruction of the army of Washington was inevitable. The Americans were enabled to cross the , Delaware safely because, owing to a long delay of the British general, the van of the British array only arrived at its bank just as the very last American boat was launched. 1 Even then, had the British accelerated their passage, Philadelphia, the seat and centre of the Revolutionary Government, would have certainly fallen. The army of Washington was utterly inadequate to defend it. A great portion of its citizens were thoroughly loyal. The Congress itself, when flying from Philadelphia, declared the impossibility of protecting it, and although Washing- ton had burnt or removed all the boats for many miles along the Delaware, there were fords higher up which might easily have been forced, and in Trenton itself, which was occupied by the English, there were ample sup- plies of timber to have constructed rafts for the army. 2 But Howe preferred to wait till the river was frozen, and in the meantime, though his army was in- comparably superior to that of Washington in numbers, arms, discipline, and experience, he allowed himself to undergo a humiliating defeat. His army was scattered over several widely separated posts, and Trenton, which was one of the most important on the Delaware, was lett in the care of a large force of Hessians, whose dis- cipline had been greatly relaxed. Washington per- ceived that unless he struck some brilliant blow before 1 See Stedman, i. 220-223. 2 Jones's History of New York, i. 124-128. 20 280 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ca. x:. the close of the year, his cause was hopeless. The whole province was going over to the English. As soon as the river was frozen he expected them to cross in overwhelming numbers, and in a few days he was likely to be almost without an army. At the end of the year the engagement of the greater part of his troops would expire, and on December 24 he wrote to the President of the Congress, ' I have not the most distant prospect of retaining them a moment longer than the last of this month, notwithstanding the most pressing solicitations and the obvious necessity for it.' l Under these desperate circumstances he planned the surprise of Trenton. ' Necessity,' he wrote, ' dire necessity, will, nay, must justify an attack.' It was designed with admir- able skill and executed with admirable courage. On the night of Christmas 1776, Washington crossed the Dela- ware, surprised the German troops in the midst of their Christmas revelries, and with a loss of only two officers and two privates wounded, he succeeded in capturing 1,000 prisoners .and in recrossing the river in safety. 2 The effect of this brilliant enterprise upon the spirits of the American army and upon the desponding, waver- ing, and hostile sentiments of the population" was im- mediate. Philadelphia for the present was saved, and the Congress speedily returned to it. Immediately after the victory a large force of militia from Pennsyl- vania joined the camp of Washington, 3 and at the end of December the disbandment of the continental troops, which a week before he had thought inevitable, had been in a great measure averted. * After much per- suasion,' he wrote, ' and the exertions of their officers, half, or a greater proportion of those [the troops] from the eastward have consented to stay six weeks on a 1 Washington's Works, iv. 244. * Ibid. pp. 247-252. ' Ibid. 249, 251. en. sin. THE AMERICAN CAUSE REVIVES. 281 bounty of ten dollars. I feel the inconvenience of this advance, and I know the consequences which will result from it, but what could be done? Pennsylvania had allowed the same to her militia ; the troops felt their importance and would have their price. Indeed, as their aid is so essential and not to be dispensed with, it is to be wondered at, that they had not estimated it at a higher rate.' l ' This I know is a most extravagant price when compared with the time of service, but . . . I thought it no time to stand upon trifles when a body of firm troops inured to danger was absolutely necessary to lead on the more raw and undisciplined.' 2 No money was ever better employed. Recrossing the Delaware, Washington again occupied Trenton, and then, evading an overwhelming British force which was sent against him, he fell unexpectedly on Princeton and totally defeated three regiments that were posted there to defend it. The English fell back upon Brunswick, and the greater part of New Jersey was thus recovered by the Americans. A sudden revulsion of sentiments took place in New Jersey. The militia of the province were at last encouraged to take arms for Washington. Ke- cruits began to come in. The manifest superiority of the American generalship and the disgraceful spectacle of a powerful army of European veterans abandoning a large tract of country before a ragged band of raw recruits much less numerous than itself, changed the calcula- tions of the doubters, while a deep and legitimate indig- nation was created by the shameful outrages that were perpetrated by the British and German troops. Unfortunately these outrages were no new thing. An ardent American loyalist of New York complains that one of the first acts of the soldiers of General Howe when they entered that city was to break open and plunder the Washington's TForfcs, iv. 254, 255. * Ibid. 256. 282 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xni. College library, the Subscription library, and the Cor- poration library, and to sell or destroy the books and philosophical apparatus ; and he adds, with much bitter- ness, that during all the months that the rebels were in possession of New York no such outrage was perpe- trated, that during a great part of that time the regular law courts had been open, and that they had frequently convicted American soldiers of petty larcenies, and punished them with the full approbation of their officers. 1 In New Jersey the conduct of the English was at least as bad as at New York. A public library was burnt at Trenton. A college and a library were destroyed at Princeton, together with an orrery made by the illus- trious Rittenhouse, and believed to be the finest in the world. 2 Whigs and Tories were indiscriminately plundered. Written protections attesting the loyalty of the bearer were utterly disregarded, and men who had exposed themselves for the sake of England to complete ruin at the hands of their own countrymen, found them- selves plundered by the troops of the very Power for which they had risked and sacrificed so much. Nor was this all. A British army had fallen back before an army which was manifestly incomparably inferior to it, and had left the loyalists over a vast district at the mercy of their most implacable enemies. Numbers who had actively assisted the British were obliged to fly to New York, leaving their families and property behind them. Already loyalist risings had been suppressed in Maryland, in Delaware, and in Carolina, and had been left unsupported by the British army. The abandon- ment of New Jersey completed the lesson. A fatal 1 Jones's History of New writer, 'every load of forage that York, i. 136, 137. did not come from New York was 2 Annual Register, 1777, p. 13. sought or purchased at the price * After this time,' says the same of blood.' Ibid. p. 21. rn. xiii. FORMATION OF A NEW ARMY. 283 damp was thrown upon the cause of the loyalists in America from which it never wholly recovered. 1 In the meantime the Congress was busily engaged in raising a new continental army to replace the troops that were disbanded. The language of Washington on this subject was very decided. He again and again urged in the strongest terms the absolute impossibility of carrying on the war successfully mainly by militia, and he declared his firm conviction that, on the whole, this branch of the service had done more harm than good to the cause. He was equally positive that no system of short enlistments would be sufficient, and that the continental troops should be raised for the whole duration of the war. To do this it was necessary to offer high pay and a large bounty, but it was a measure of capital importance, and no sacrifice must be grudged. The class of officers appointed must be wholly changed. The pay of the officers must be greatly raised both absolutely and in its proportion to the pay of the privates. The system of allowing soldiers to appoint their own officers must be abandoned, and no persons who were not gentlemen should be chosen. It is curious, in tracing the foundation of the great demo- cracy of the West, to notice the emphasis with which Washington dwelt on the danger to discipline of ' the soldiers and officers being too nearly on a level/ and on the facility with which degrees of rank were transferred from civil to military life. * In your choice of officers,' he wrote to one of his colonels, ' take none but gentle- men. Let no local attachments influence you.' 2 1 See Galloway's Examina- the common soldiers is the best ti&n, pp. 23, 65. contrivance hitherto discovered 2 Washington's Works, iv. for intercepting the spread of a 111, 139 140, 269. Mr. King- panic or any other bewildering lake observes that 'social dif- impulse 'through an army. ference between the officers and Hist, of the Crimean War, i.307. 284 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. vn.. It was only with great hesitation and reluctance that the Congress could be induced to adopt these views. They hated the notion of a standing army. They dreaded the expense of additional bounties, and the unpopularity of a great difference between officers and privates, and a strong jealousy of Washington pre- vailed with many members. John Adams expressed his firm conviction that if the system of enlistments for the war were adopted, few men, except mercenaries of the lowest type, would serve in the American army. 1 At length, however, in September 1776 the Congress agreed to vote that eighty-eight battalions, each con- sisting of 750 men, should be enlisted for the war. It entrusted the enlistment of these battalions to the different States, but assigned to each its quota and gave to the States the right of appointing colonels and all inferior officers, and it at the same time revised the articles of war and made them somewhat more strin- gent. A bounty of twenty dollars was offered to each recruit, and future advantages were very lavishly pro- mised. Every private was to be entitled at the end of his service to 100 acres of land, while larger quantities, proportioned to their rank, were promised to the officers. Congress also offered eight dollars to every person who should obtain a recruit ; and in spite of the strong pro- test of Washington, several of the States offered addi- 1 He says : ' I never opposed could get at home better living, the raising of men during the more comfortable lodgings, more war but I contended that than double wages in safety, not I knew the number to be ob- exposed to the sicknesses of the tained in this manner would be camp, would bind themselves very small in New England, from during the war ? ... In the whence almost the whole army middle States, where they im- was derived. A regiment might ported from Ireland and Ger- possibly be obtained of the mean- many so many transported con- est, idlest, most intemperate, and victs and redemptioners, it was worthless, but no more possible they might obtain some.' Was it credible that men who Adams's Works, Hi. 48. CB. xiii. FORMATION OF A NEW ARMY. 285 tional and separate bounties for enlistment. It was found, however, impossible, even on these terms, to obtain any considerable number of recruits for the whole duration of the war; so it was determined to admit recruits for three years, who were to have no land, but were entitled to all the other advantages. Congress also, after some hesitation, gave Washington an extraordinary power of raising and organising six- teen additional battalions of infantry, three regiments of cavalry, three regiments of artillery, and a corps of engineers; and as the State appointment of officers proved very prejudicial, they gave Washington a dicta- torial power over officers under the rank of Brigadier- General. 1 But in spite of all efforts to encourage enlistment, a large proportion of the continental soldiers were raised by compulsion. The States passed laws drafting the militia, and compelling every person drafted to enter the military service or to find a substitute under pain of imprisonment. In Virginia a law ex- empted every two persons who could find a recruit from all military service, and servants were manumitted who consented to enter the army. 2 The difficulty of obtaining soldiers was by no means the only one that weighed upon the Congress. The powers of this body were so little defined and so im- perfectly acknowledged that it had scarcely any coer- cive authority over the separate States. Prior to the Declaration of Independence, Congress was merely regarded as an organisation for enabling them to co- operate in resisting the encroachments or coercive mea- sures of Great Britain, and the delegates had been severely limited by the instructions of their constituents. Since the Declaration of Independence, Congress had 1 Hildreth, iii. 164, 166. Wash- 2 Galloway's Examination, pp. ington's Works, L 205-207, 225. 18, 19. 286 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xni. become the Government of the country, but its autho- rity rested only upon manifest necessity and general acquiescence, and had no real legal basis. It was not even a representation of the different State Assemblies. The great majority of its members were elected by Provincial Conventions, summoned with every sort of irregularity, and often representing very small sections of the people. 1 It was obvious that such a body could not strain allegiance or impose sacrifices. It was only in November 1777 that the Articles of Confederation were voted by Congress, which settled its constitution and powers, and defined the respective limits of the central and State governments. But these Articles of Confederation were not ratified by any of the States till July 1778, and they were not ratified so as to become obligatory on all the States till March 1781. 2 In the meantime Congress exercised the authority of a sovereign power, but it was obliged to be more than commonly careful not to arouse the jealousy of the States. Several questions of great difficulty had indeed already arisen. It was necessary to determine the proportion of men and money to be contributed by each State, and there were dangerous controversies about the exact boundaries of the different States, and upon the question whether the Crown lands should be regarded as common pro- perty at the disposition of Congress for the public good, or as State 'property subject only to the local legisla- tures. 3 It was only by great skill, management, and forbearance that these questions were solved or evaded, and a unity and consistency of action imparted to the whole machine. 1 Galloway's Examination, p. chosen by one-twentieth part of 11. The editor of this Examina- the people.' tion says : In no colony where 2 Story On the Constitution. these delegates were not ap- book ii. ch. i. pointed by the Assemblies, which 8 Ibid, book ii. ch. ii. were in four only, were they CH. xm. FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. 287 The first necessity of the war was to raise money to carry it on. A great portion of the military stores had to be manufactured or imported, and it was very evident that in no part of the world was it less possible than in America to count upon gratuitous service. But the first step in the quarrel with Great Britain had been due to the attempt of the British Parliament to tax America, and a great impatience of taxation had been one of the chief supports of the revolutionary party. Under these circumstances, Congress did not venture to claim the power of directly imposing any tax, and at the beginning of the contest the separate States, which had an indisputable right of self-taxation, did not venture to exercise it for military purposes, know- ing how large a part of the population were lukewarm or hostile to the revolution. During the first two years of the war no additional taxes of any importance ap- pear to have been imposed, in spite of the earnest entreaties of Congress. 1 But money was imperatively needed, and the plunder of loyal subjects went but a small way in providing it. A foreign loan was ob- viously impossible until the revolutionary government had acquired some aspect of permanence and security. The only course that remained was the issue of paper money, and this Congress authorised with the general implied assent of the States. Five issues, amounting in the whole to fifteen million dollars, had been made by the end of July 1776. Congress apportioned the debt thus incurred to the several States upon the basis of population, and each State was primarily bound to raise taxes for the gradual redemption of its portion of the debt, and if it failed, the other States were liable to the creditor. At first this expedient was very popu- lar, and the struggle was undertaken under the belief 1 Bolles's Financial Hist, of the United States, pp. 195-197. 288 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xni. that it would be only a short one. But already, in July 1776, there were alarming symptoms of that de- preciation of the continental paper which was perhaps the most serious danger to the cause of the Revolution, and it was aggravated by the failure of an attempt which was made to raise a loan of 5 millions of dollars at 4 per cent. The financial question, indeed, was, perhaps, the most formidable which the party of the Revolution had to encounter. America started with the great advan- tage of a prosperous and economical people, and of a government entirely free from the profuse extravagance and corruption of the English political system. In a remarkable memorial drawn up by Franklin, the con- tinental nations were reminded that the colonies of America, having borrowed 10,000,000 dollars in the last French war, had paid off the whole of this debt in 1772, and that the entire amount expended by the civil governments of three millions of people was only 70,000^ But the very payment of the debt, though it greatly raised the credit of the country, had left it with but little money, and it was estimated that the whole amount of specie in the colonies amounted to less, probably to much less, than twelve millions of dollars. 2 The Congress judiciously threw open the ports, as far as the British cruisers would allow it, to commerce, and the American privateers brought in much wealth to the nation, but the revenues derived from these sources could not balance the expense of the war. At the end of 1777, Congress advised the different States to confiscate and sell for public pur- poses the property of all who had abandoned their alle- giance to the State and passed over to the enemy, and 1 American Diplomatic Cor- * Bolles's Financial Hist, of respondence, iii. 16, 18. the United States, pp. 34, 45, 46. OH. xiii. THE DEPRECIATED CURRENCY. 289 tliis measure was energetically pursued. In some States, the estates and rights of married women, of widows and minors, and of persons who had died within the terri- tory possessed by the British, were forfeited, and great masses of property were thus brought into the public treasury. 1 But in spite of all such palliatives, the financial stress was rapidly increasing, and measures of the most violent character were taken to arrest it. Al- ready, at the end of 1776, Robert Morris described the proportionate rate of paper money to specie as from 2 or 2^ to 1, and the depreciation naturally advanced with accelerated speed/ 2 It was not uniform in all the States, but in 1778 the rate was 5 or 6 to 1. In 1779 it was 27 or 28 to 1, and in the beginning of 1780, when new measures were taken on the subject, it was 50 or 60 to I. 3 Its necessary consequence was a cor- responding elevation of all nominal prices, and an utter confusion of all pecuniary arrangements which had been made before the war. Multitudes of quiet and indus- trious men, who had been perfectly indifferent to the Stamp Act and the tea duty, found themselves brought face to face with ruin, and a cry of indignation and distress rose up over the land. * The country people/ wrote a French officer from Philadelphia, * are so ex- asperated at the high price everything bears, that unless some change soon takes place they threaten not only to withhold provisions from the town, but to come down in a body and punish the leaders.' 4 In the beginning of 1777, Congress, with the warm. 1 Bolles's Financial History of p. 159. Many details about the the United States, pp. 56, 57. ' prices of the chief articles of 2 American Diplomatic Cor- consumption will be found in respondence, i. 239. that very charming book, Fa- 8 Eamsay's History of the miliar Letters of John Adams American Revolution, ii. 129. and his Wife during tlie Revolu- 4 Quoted in Bolles's Financial tion. History of the United States, 290 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. Xlrf. approval of the great body of the people, determined to enter upon a course which the more sagacious men in America knew to be little better than insane. It im- agined that it could regulate all prices by law, and maintain them at a level greatly below that which the normal operation of the law of supply and demand had determined. Laws with this object were speedily made in all the States. The prices of labour, of food, of every kind of manufacture, of all domestic articles, were strictly regulated, and committees employed to see that these prices were not exceeded. The measure, of course, aggravated the very evil it was intended to diminish. Goods that were already very rare and greatly needed were carefully concealed and withdrawn from sale lest they should be purchased at prices below their real value. In most cases the law was disregarded, and sellers con- tinued to sell, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly, at prices higher than the law permitted, charging an addi- tional sum to compensate them for the risk they incurred. Mob violence directed against the ' engrossers, mono- polisers, and forestallers,' combinations of the more patriotic merchants binding themselves to sell only at the authorised prices, newspaper denunciations and occasional legal punishments, were all insufficient and impotent ; and in September 1777, John Adams wrote that in his sincere opinion the Act for limiting prices, if not repealed, would * ruin the State, and introduce a civil war.' At last, in October 1778, Congress voted that * all limitations of prices of gold and silver be taken off; ' but the States continued for some time longer to endeavour to regulate prices by legislation. 1 Still more terrible in their consequences than the 1 See a full history of this History of the United States, pp, subject in Bolles's Financial 158-173. CH. xin. PAPER MADE LEGAL TENDER. 291 attempted limitation of prices were the laws which were passed by the different States at the invitation of Congress, making paper money legal tender, com- pelling all persons to receive it in full payment of debts or obligations contracted before the Revolution, and pronouncing those who refused to do so enemies of the liberty of America. Few laws have spread a larger amount of distress, dishonesty, and injustice through a great community. All those who subsisted on life- incomes or fixed rents or interest of money found their incomes rapidly reduced to a small fraction of theii previous value ; while, on the other hand, vast wealth was suddenly created, as the whole debtor class were enabled to free themselves from their obligations. Debts incurred in gold were paid off in depreciated paper which was only worth a twentieth, a thirtieth, a fortieth, a fiftieth part of its real value. They were legally extinguished by a payment which was in reality not Is. or 6d. or even 3d. in the . In a country where debtors were extremely nume- rous, and where the whole social and economical system rested on the relation of debtor and creditor, this law opened the door to the most enormous and far- reaching fraud, but it acted differently on different classes, and this difference had an important influence upon the fortunes of the Revolution. To the labourer who lived upon his daily wages, the depreciation was of little moment, especially if he had been too im- provident to lay by any store for the future. Earning and spending in the same currency, the change was no disadvantage to him, and he was even benefited by the unnatural stimulus which the immense quan- tities of paper money thrown suddenly upon the mar- ket had given to all kinds of labour. On the other hand, the wealthy and the saving and the helpless classes were in general utterly ruined. Debts of mer- 292 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xni. chants which had been contracted when goods were cheapest and had often been for years on the books, were now discharged in paper not a twentieth part of the real value. Widows and orphans in great numbers, who had been left fortunes in money, were paid off by guardians, trustees, or executors in depreciated paper. Old men who had lent out the savings of industrious lives, and had been living comfortably upon the inter- est, were fortunate if they did not receive back their principal shrunk to perhaps a fiftieth part of its origi- nal value. Everyone who had been sufficiently saving to lend was impoverished. Everyone who had been reckless and improvident in borrowing was enriched, and ' truth, honour, and justice,' in the emphatic words of a contemporary American historian, ' were swept away by the overflowing deluge of legal iniquity.' l Among the enterprising men who had thrown them- selves into the first movement of the revolution were many of broken fortunes and doubtful antecedents, many ardent speculators, many clever and unscrupu- lous adventurers. Such men found in the violent depreciation, the local variations, and the sudden fluctuations of the currency a ready path to fortune, and they soon acquired a new and sinister interest in the continuance of the struggle. Among others, the gentleman who called himself Earl of Stirling, and who had attained the position of brigadier-general in the American service, had entered it overwhelmed with debt, but by availing himself of the condition of the currency, he is stated to have paid off debts amount- ing to nearly 80,OOOZ. with 1,0002. of gold and silver. 2 Very seldom in the history of the world had the race for wealth been so keen, or the passion for speculation BO universal, or the standard of public honesty so low. Ramsay. f Jones's History of New York, ii. 324. en. xin. GAMBLING AND DISHONESTY. 293 1 The first visible effect/ wrote a contemporary Ameri- can economist, * of an augmentation of the medium and the consequent fluctuation of value was a host of jockeys, who followed a species of itinerant commerce, and sub- sisted upon the ignorance and honesty of the country people ; or, in other words, upon the difference in the value of the currency in different places. Perhaps we may safely estimate that not less than 20,000 men in America left honest callings and applied themselves to this knavish traffic/ l * The manners of the continent,' wrote the Committee of Foreign Affairs in March 1778, ' are too much affected by the depreciation of our cur- rency. Scarce an officer but feels something of a desire to be concerned in mercantile speculation, from finding that his salary is inadequate to the harpy demands which are made upon him for the necessaries of life, and from observing that but little skill is necessary to constitute one of the merchants of these days. We are almost a continental tribe of Jews.' 2 ' Speculation,' wrote Washington, * peculation, engrossing, forestalling, with all their concomitants, afford too many melan- choly proofs of the decay of public virtue.' 4 The vast gains rapidly acquired by privateering, the enormous rate of insurance, the enormous prices given for such European goods as arrived safely in America, had al- ready produced a spirit of fierce and general gambling which the depreciation and fluctuation of the currency immeasurably increased. Immense fortunes were sud- denly accumulated ; and, in the gloomiest period of the struggle, Philadelphia was a scene of the wildest and maddest luxury. Many years after the peace with England had been signed, the older Americans could 1 Noah Webster's Essays, p. the speculations hy officers, 105. Bolles, p. 118. 2 American Diplomatic Corre- 3 Washington's Works,vi. 210. tpondence, i. 375. See, too, on 294: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin. clearly trace in the prevailing spirit of reckless and dishonest speculation the demoralising effects on the national character of the years of the depreciated cur- rency. 1 It was gradually becoming evident to intelligent observers that the war was not likely to be determined by mere hard fighting. In its first stages a decisive English victory might more than once have concluded it; but it was plain that, if the American 'people, or any very large proportion of them, persevered, no mili- tary expeditions could subdue them. In no country in the world was it more easy to avoid a decisive action, and the whole texture and organisation of colonial life hung so loosely together, that the capture of no single point was likely to be of vital importance. In the course of the war every important town Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Newport, Savannah, Charleston fell into the hands of the British, but the struggle still continued. A Rebel Convention governed a part of the State of New York at the very time when the capital 1 Oct. 4, 1779, Franklin wrote : luxury of equipage, luxury of the 4 The extravagant luxury of our table. We are told of one enter- country in the midst of all its tainment at which 800Z. was distresses is to me amazing.' spent in pastry. As I read the American Diplomatic Corre- private letters of those days I spondence, iii. 116. Chastellux, sometimes feel as a man might in his Travels in North America, feel if permitted to look down gives a vivid picture of the luxury upon a foundering ship whose at Philadelphia. Mr. Bolles (to crew were preparing for death whose excellent work I am in- by breaking open the steward's debted for most of these quota- room, and drinking themselves tions), cites the striking descrip- into madness. . . . The moral tion given by a modern American sense of the people had contracted writer : ' Speculation ran riot. a deadly taint. The spirit of Every form of wastefulness and gambling . . . was undermining extravagance prevailed in town the foundations of society.' and country, nowhere more than Greene's Historical View of the at Philadelphia, under the very American Revolution. eyes of Congress ; luxury of dress, ra. xin. PROSPECTS OF THE WAR. 205 and the surrounding country were in the undisputed possession of the King's army ; and whole districts sub- mitted without a struggle whenever the troops appeared, and cast off their allegiance the moment they had gone. To occupy and maintain in permanent subjection a country so vast, so difficult, and so sparsely populated ; to support a great army in the midst of such a country, and 3,000 miles from England, if the people were really hostile, was absolutely and evidently impossible, and the attempt could not long be made without a ruinous expense. The real hope of success lay in the languor, divisions, and exhaustion of the Americans themselves. A large minority detested the revolution. A large majority were perfectly indifferent to it, or were at least unwilling to make any sacrifice for it. Jealousies and quarrels, insubordination and corruption, inordinate pretensions and ungovernable rapacity divided and weakened its supporters. The extreme difficulty of inducing a suffi- cient number of soldiers to enrol themselves in the army of Washington, the difficulty of procuring cannon and gunpowder and every kind of military stores, the want of woollen clothes, and of other important articles of European commerce, the ruin, the impoverishment, and the contusion that resulted from the enormous deprecia- tion of the currency, and finally the impossibility of paying for the essential services of the war, made it probable that a peace party would soon gain the ascend- ent, and that the colonies would soon be reunited to the mother country. If America had been left unaided by Europe this would probably have happened. A large proportion of the States would almost certainly have dropped off, and although the war might have been continued for some time in New England and Virginia, it was tolerably 'evident that even there no large amount of gratuitous 21 296 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. r:JL service or real self-sacrifice could be expected. Wash- ington himself at one time gravely contemplated the possibility of being reduced to carry on a guerilla war- fare in the back settlements. But at this most critical period foreign assistance came in to help, and it is not too much to say that it was the intervention of France that saved the cause. I have already noticed the circumstances under which Congress in 1775 determined to seek this assist- ance, and the strong motives of resentment, rivalry, and interest that disposed France to accede to the request. It was in November 1775 that a committee was ap- pointed to correspond with * friends of America in other countries ; ' and early next year Silas Deane was sent to Paris as secret agent, with instructions to ascertain the dispositions of the French Court, and to endeavour to obtain arms and supplies. He arrived in Paris in July 1776, but before that date the French ministers had resolved upon their policy. Choiseul, who had watched with especial eagerness the rise of the troubles in the colonies, and who had steadily laboured to reconstruct the shattered navy of France, to maintain a close alliance between the different branches of the House of Bourbon, and to oppose on all occasions the interests of England, had fallen from power in 1770, but he was still said to have some influence, and to have exerted it in favour of the colonies. The existing ministry was presided over by Count Maurepas, and its most powerful mem- bers were Vergermes, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the illustrious Turgot, the Comptroller-General. In the beginning of 1776 Vergennes drew up a memorial on American affairs, which was laid before the King. It was written in a tone of extreme hostility to England, and although it affected to deprecate a war, its whole tendency was to urge the Government to a more directly aggressive policy. The civil war that CH. xiii. MEMORIAL OF VERGENJTOS. 297 had arisen was, in the opinion of Yergennes, infinitely advantageous both to France and to Spain, in so far as it was likely to exhaust both the victors and the van- quished, but there were some grave dangers to be feared. It was possible that the English would acknowledge the impracticability of coercing America, and would enter into a policy of conciliation ; and it was only too pro- bable* that in that case they would employ the great army they had collected in America to seize the posses- sions of France and Spain in the West Indies. Such an enterprise would be extremely popular. It would speedily efface the recollection of the domestic quarrel ; it would be almost certainly successful, for the French and Spanish West Indies were practically indefensible ; and it was especially likely if Chatham again became minister, as it would enable him to overthrow the arrangements of the Treaty of Paris, against which he had so bitterly protested. It was possible again, that the King of England, having conquered the liberties of America, would endeavour to subvert those of England, but he could only do so by flattering the national hatred and jealousy, and by surrounding himself with the popularity that springs from a successful foreign war. If, on the other hand, the American States became in- dependent, it might be feared that England would seek to indemnify herself for her loss and humiliation by seiz- ing the French and Spanish West Indies ; and it was not impossible that America herself, being shut out from the English markets, might be compelled by necessity to seek in new conquests an outlet for her productions. The Kings of France and Spain were animated by a strong love of peace, and peace must in consequence, if possible, be preserved. If, however, they had thought fit 'to follow the impulse of their interests, and per- haps of the justice of their cause ... if their military and financial means were in a state of development 298 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, CK. xrrs. proportionate to their substantial power, it would, 110 doubt, be necessary to say to them that Providence had marked out this moment for the humiliation of England . . . that it is time to avenge upon her the evils which, since the commencement of the century, she has inflicted upon her neighbours and rivals ; that for this purpose all means should be employed to render the next campaign as animated as possible, and to procure advantages to the Americans. The degree of passion and exhaustion should determine the moment to strike the decisive blows which would reduce England to a secondary Power . . . and deliver the universe from a greedy tyrant that was absorbing all power and all wealth.' This bold policy, however, of undisguised assistance the two Kings did not wish to adopt, and so another policy was submitted to the King and to his council. * The continuance of the war for at least one year is desirable to the two Crowns. To that end the British ministry must be maintained in the persuasion that France and Spain are pacific, so that it may not fear to embark in an active and costly campaign ; while on the other hand the courage of the Americans should be kept up by secret favours and vague hopes which will prevent accommodation. . . . The evils the British will make them suffer will embitter their minds ; their passions will be more and more inflamed by the war ; and should the mother country be victorious, she will for a long time need all her strength to keep down their spirit.' To carry out this policy the ministers must ' dexterously tranquillise the English ministry as to the intentions of France and Spain,' while secretly assisting the insurgents with military stores and money, and they must at the same time strengthen their own forces with a view to a war. 1 J See Bancroft's History of the American Revolution. CH. xiii. MEMORIAL OF TURGOT. 299 In order to judge the real character of the advice so frankly given, we must remember that England was at this time at perfect peace with France; that she had given no provocation or reasonable pretext for hostility ; that as the American colonies had not yet declared their independence, their quarrel with the mother country was as yet a purely domestic one, and also that no con- sideration of their welfare or of the principles they were advocating entered in the smallest degree into the motives of action of Yergennes. By the command of the King the memorial of Ver- gennes was submitted to Turgot, who, in April 1776, presented a paper containing his own views of the question. Sooner or later, in the opinion of Turgot, the independence of America was a certainty, and it would totally change, not only the relations of Europe with America, but also all the prevailing maxims of com- merce and politics. America must necessarily be a nation of freetraders. She need not seek new con- quests in order to find a market for her produce. By throwing open her own ports she would soon oblige other nations to do the same ; and they would not be long in discovering that the whole system of monopoly, restriction, and dependence on which the colonial system of all European nations during the last two centuries was founded was an absolute delu- sion. It is a remarkable illustration of the manner in which economical ideas were growing in Europe, that this opinion, which a few years before would have been regarded as the most extravagant of paradoxes, was in 1776 independently promulgated by the greatest French statesman of his age, and by the founder of political economy in England. Turning, however, to the imme- diate interests of France, Turgot considered her most pressing and immediate necessity to be peace. Her 300 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, cn. xm. finances were so deranged that nothing but extreme and long-continued frugality could avert a catastrophe, and the foreign dangers that threatened her were much exaggerated. There was no sufficient reason to believe that the English ministers contemplated attacking her, and it was extremely unlikely that in the very probable event of England losing her colonies she would launch into a new and costly war, especially as in that case she would have lost the basis of her operations against the French West Indies. The severance of the colonies from England would not injure England, and it would be a great benefit to the world, on account of its in- evitable influence on colonial and commercial policy. ' Wise and happy will be that nation which shall first know how to bend to the new circumstances, and con- sent to see in its colonies allies and not subjects. . . . When the total separation of America shall have ex- tinguished among the European nations the jealousy of commerce, there will exist among men one great cause of war the less, and it is very difficult not to desire an event which is to accomplish this good for the human race.' The immediate interests, however, of France and Spain must be judged upon narrower grounds. Eng- land was their great rival, and the policy of the English ministers was so infatuated that their success in America would be the result most favourable to French and Spanish interests. If England subdued her colonies by ruining them, she would lose all the benefits she had hitherto derived from them. If she conquered them without materially diminishing their strength, she would find them a source of perpetual weakness, for they would always be awaiting their opportunity to rebel. The true interest of France was to remain perfectly passive. She must avoid any course that would lead to war. She must give no money and no special assistance to the revolted colonists, but the ministers might shut their CH. xiii. FRANCE ASSISTS AMERICA. 301 eyes if either of the contending parties made purchases in French harbours. 1 Maurepas and Malesherbes supported the pacific views of Turgot, but Vergennes found the other minis- ters on his side, and his policy speedily prevailed. Males- herbes, discouraged at the resistance to his internal reforms, retired from the ministry in the beginning of 1776, and Turgot, who was detested by the aristocracy and disliked by the Queen, was dismissed a few months later. The French Government, while duping the Eng- lish ministry by repeated and categorical assertions of their strict neutrality, subsidised the revolt ; and in May 1776, nearly two months before the arrival of Silas Deane in Europe, Vergennes wrote a letter to the King, of which it is no exaggeration to say that it is more like the letter of a conspirator than of the minister of a great nation. He was about to authorise Beaumarchais to furnish the Americans with a million of livres for the service of the English colonies. He was so anxious to preserve the secrecy of the transaction that he had taken care that his letter to Beaumarchais should not be in his own handwriting or in the handwriting of any of his secretaries or clerks, and he had accordingly employed his son, a boy of fifteen, on whose discretion he could rely. He would now write to Grimaldi, the minister of Spain, proposing to him to contribute a similar amount. 2 The reputation which literary achievement gives, so far eclipses after a few years minor political services that it is probable that only a small fraction of those who delight in the ' Marriage of Figaro ' or in the ' Barber of Seville ' are aware that Beaumarcbais was for a time one of the most active of the confidential agents of Ver- gennes, and that he bore a very considerable part in the 1 See this memoir in Target's 2 Flassan, Hist, de la Diplo- Works, viii. (ed. 1809). matie Fran$aise, vi. 143, 144. 302 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ca. xiii. transactions that led to the independence of America. Under an assumed name, he brought a first loan of a million livres from Vergennes to the Americans. A similar sum was sent by Spain, and the money was employed in purchasing from the royal arsenals of France such munitions of war as were necessary for the army. In the course of 1776, Deane was able in this way to procure for his countrymen 30,000 stand of arms, 30,000 suits of clothes, more than 250 pieces of cannon, and great quantities of other military stores. 1 The assistance at this critical moment was of vital im- portance, and from this time France continued steadily, by successive loans and supplies of military munitions, to maintain the army of Washington. In September 1776, Franklin and Arthur Lee, together with Deane, were appointed commissioners at Paris for the purpose of negotiating treaties with foreign Powers, and espe- cially with France, and rather more than a year later a furious quarrel broke out between Lee and Deane, which ended in the recall of the latter, with serious imputations upon his integrity. He was replaced by John Adams, but before that time the alliance with America had been signed. The assistance of France, however, was never more valuable than in the first period of the war, while she was still at peace with England. American vessels were admitted, by the connivance of the ministers, into French ports with articles of commerce of which by law French merchants had a strict monopoly, and the Ameri- can agents were soon able to inform the Congress that France gave the commerce of the insurgent colonies greater indulgences in her ports than the commerce of any other nation whatever. 2 Privateers were sheltered and equipped ; prizes were secretly sold in the French 1 American Diplomatic Correspondence, i. 131* Ibid. pp. 37, 69, 92, 93. CH. xni. PERFIDY OF VE11GENNES. 303 harbours. Experienced officers, trained in the French army, were sent to America with the permission, or even at the instigation, of the French ministers, to organise or command the American forces. In the be- ginning of 1777 one of the ablest sea officers in France was engaged, by the permission of the minister, in superintending the construction in French harbours of ships of war for America, 1 and finally a new grant of two millions of livres from the Crown was made, the King exacting no conditions or promise of repayment, and only requiring absolute secrecy. 2 It was not possible that these things could be wholly concealed from the English Ambassador, but the comedy was boldly if not skilfully played. Yergennes professed his absolute ignorance of the despatch of military stores to America, at the very time when by his authorisation they were freely exported from the King's own arsenal. He gave orders that vessels which were pointed out as laden with such stores should be stopped, and then allowed them secretly to escape. He formally recalled the leave of absence of officers who were said to be going to America, but did not oblige them to return to their regiments. He gave orders that no prizes should be sold in the French ports, and then instructed persons about the Court to inform the American agents that this measure was necessary, as France was not yet fully pre- pared for war, but that they must not for a moment doubt the good-will of the Court. He even imprisoned for a time some who were too openly breaking the law, and restored some prizes which were brought too osten- tatiously into French harbours, but he secretly granted 400,000 livres as a compensation to their captors, and the prisoners found no difficulty in escaping from the prison at Dunkirk. He again and again, in every term 1 American Diplomatic Correspondence, i. 273, 341, * Ibid. p. 273. 304: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm. that could be binding upon men of honour, assured the English Ambassador of the perfect neutrality and pacific intentions of France, and of the determination of the French King to observe religiously the treaties he had signed; and he at the same time steadily pressed on his naval preparations for the war. 1 If the French were somewhat slower in throwing away the mask and the scabbard than the Americans could have wished, they at least gave the colonies the assistance most needed, and, as the commissioners acutely said, the very delay was not without its compensation. l Enjoying the whole harvest of plunder upon the British commerce, which otherwise France and Spain would divide with us, our infant naval power finds such plentiful nourish- ment as has increased and must increase its growth and strength most marvellously.' 2 ' All Europe/ they wrote, about this time, * is for us.' ' Every nation in Europe wishes to see Britain humbled, having all in their turn been offended by her insolence, which in prosperity she is apt to discover on all occasions.' 3 England under the great ministry of Pitt had acquired an empire and a preponderance on the sea not less overwhelming and not less menacing than that which Charles Y. and Lewis XIV. had ac- quired on land, and it had become a main object of the governing classes on the Continent to reduce it, while the merchants in every nation were looking forward with eagerness to the opening of the great field of 1 See the full details of these French, both in Paris and proceedings in the very curious through their ambassador in letters of Franklin and Deane, London, of their pacific inten- American Diplomatic Correspon- tions, see Adolphus's Hist, of dence, i. 272, 273, 311, 313, 319, England, ii. 309, 429, 439. 320, 322, 341, 371. Correspon- a American Diplomatic Corr* dence of George III. with Lord spondence, i. 321. North, ii. 68, 69. On the re- Ibid. pp. 278, 281. peated assurances given by the en. xni. EUROPEAN ASSISTANCE TO AMERICA. 305 American commerce, which had hitherto been a mono- poly of England. Spain, which was greatly under the influence of France, and very hostile to England, sup- plied the colonies with money and with gunpowder, and gave their vessels greater trade privileges than those of any other country, 1 though without any real wish for American independence. The Grand Duke of Tuscany secretly removed all duties from American commerce, and expressed himself so favourable to the American cause that Deane assured his employers that they might safely purchase or construct frigates at Leghorn. 2 Frederick of Prussia, who had never forgiven his de- sertion by England, without committing himself openly to the Americans, or even consenting to receive their envoy, watched with undisguised delight the growing embarrassments of his old ally, threw every obstacle in his power in the way of German enlistments, and took great pains to assure France that he would remain perfectly passive if she entered into war with England. The Emperor, hostile on all other points to Frederick, agreed with him in discouraging the German enlist- ments for England. Holland was delighted to find in America a new market for her goods, and the little Dutch island of St. Eustatius became a great mart for supplying the wants of the insurgents. In France public opinion began to flow with irre- sistible force in favour of war. The old enmity towards England, the martial spirit which had been repressed and profoundly humiliated, the recollection of the long series of defeats and disasters which had terminated in the shameful peace of 1763, and also the prevailing fear that, unless the power of England were diminished, all 1 American Diplomatic Correspondence, i. 92, 93, 275. 1 Ibid. pp. 65, 92, 93. 306 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CK. xm. the French dominions in the West Indies and South Africa must speedily be captured, had deeply stirred the French people ; while all that was best in French thought and most generous in French character wel- comed the rise of the great republic of the West. The small but growing school of economists saw in it the future champion of free trade. The followers of Voltaire, who aspired beyond all things to religious liberty, pointed with enthusiasm to the complete separation of Church and State and the total absence of religious re- strictions in the American constitutions, and they began to extol America even more than they had hitherto ex- tolled China, as the ideal land of philosophers and free- thinkers. The followers of Rousseau, who valued beyond all things political equality and liberty, and who were at this time in the zenith of their influence, saw in the New World the realisation of their principles and of their dreams, the final refuge of liberties that were almost driven from Europe. The influence of French speculation on the American contest had in truth been extremely slight. The struggle in New England was of an essentially English kind, directed to very practical ends, and turning mainly on the right of taxation and on disputed principles or interpretations of the British Constitution; but there were a few men in America who had been in some degree touched by French thought, and among them was Jefferson, the chief author of the Declaration of Independence. The passage in that document curiously unlike the cautious spirit of New England lawyers and of Pennsylvanian Quakers, and curiously audacious in a document that emanated from an assembly consisting largely of slave-owners in which the American legislators asserted as a self- evident truth that all men were created equal, and were endowed by the Creator with an inalienable right to liberty, might have been written by Rousseau himself; en. xni. FRENCH ENTHUSIASM FRANKLIN IN PARIS. 307 and the much nobler passage in which they main- tained that all governments exist only for the benefit, and derive their just powers from the consent, of the governed; and that whenever any form of go- vernment becomes destructive to the ends for which government was instituted, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, awoke a mighty echo on the Continent. It was a strange thing to see the public opinion of a purely despotic country thrilling with indignation be- cause England had violated the constitutional liberties of her colonies ; especially strange when it is remembered that one of the great American grievances was that England had perpetuated in Canada something of the French system of colonial government. Of the sincerity of the enthusiasm, however, there can be little question. The very judicious selection of Franklin as the chief representative of the colonies greatly added to it. His works were well known in France through several translations ; his great discovery of the lightning con- ductor had been made when the Parisian enthusiasm for physical science was at its height, and it was soon found that the man was at least as remarkable as his works. Dressed with an almost Quaker simplicity, his thin grey hair not powdered according to the general fashion, but covered with a fur cap, he formed a singular and strik- ing figure in the brilliant and artificial society of the French capital. His eminently venerable appearance, the quaint quiet dignity of his manner, the mingled wit and wisdom of his conversation, the unfailing tact, shrewdness, and self-possession which he showed, whether he was negotiating with French statesmen or moving in a social sphere so unlike that from which he had arisen, impressed all who came in contact with him. Vergennes declared him to be the only American in whom he put full confidence. Turgot, in an immortal 308 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin. line, described him as having torn the lightning from heaven and the sceptre from the tyrant's hand. l Voltaire complimented him in his most graceful phrases, and ex- pressed his pride that he was himself able to address him ' in the language of Franklin/ Poets, philosophers, men and women of fashion, were alike at his feet, and all the enthusiasms and Utopias of France seemed to gather round that calm American, who, under the ap- pearance of extreme simplicity, concealed the astuteness of the most accomplished diplomatist, and who never for a moment lost sight of the object at which he aimed. His correspondence and his journal show clearly the half-amused, half-contemptuous satisfaction with which he received the homage that was bestowed on him. It became the fashion to represent him as the ideal philo- sopher of Rousseau. He was compared by his admirers to Phocion, to Socrates, to William Tell, and even to Jesus Christ. His head, accompanied by the line of Turgot, appeared everywhere on snuffboxes and medal- lions and rings. He was the idol alike of the populace and of society, and he used all his influence to hurry France into war. 2 A few warning voices were heard, but they were little heeded. Necker, who now managed the finances, saw as clearly as Turgot had seen before him that con- tinued peace was a vital interest to France and to her dynasty, for it alone could avert the impending bank- 1 The famous line, 'Eripuit According to Condorcet (Vie ccelofulmen, sceptrumque tyran- de Turgot}, Turgot wrote : 'Eri- nis,' was perhaps suggested by a puit coelo fulmen, mox sceptra passage in Mamlius : tyrannis.' Solvitque animis miracula * Some curious particulars rerum, ahout Franklin's French life will Eripuitque Jovi fulmen, vir- be found in a very able article on esque tonandi, Franklin in M.PhilareteChasles' E4 sonitum ventis concessit Le Dix-huitieme Siecleen Angle- nubibus ignem.' i. 103-106. terre. en. xni. WARNING VOICES MAIIIE ANTOINETTE. 309 ruptcy. Even Vergennes hesitated to strike the fatal blow till it had been somewhat more clearly demon- strated that a reconciliation of England with her colo- nies was no longer to be feared. When at the request of Franklin the Declaration of Independence was translated, and scattered, with the permission of the ministers, broadcast over France, Mirabeau, who was then a prisoner at Yincennes, asked whether those who were so anxious to ally themselves with the revolted colonies had really read or understood this Declaration, and had considered whether on its principles any Euro- pean governments, except those of England, Holland, and Switzerland, could be deemed legitimate. When a few months later the French ministers informed England that the Americans had become independent by virtue of their Declaration, Lafayette remarked with a smile that they had announced a principle of national sovereignty which they would soon hear of at home. 1 The King hesitated much, but Marie Antoinette, who caught up every fashion and enthusiasm with the care- less levity of youth, assisted the American cause with all her influence, little dreaming that she was giving the last great impulse to that revolutionary spirit which was so soon to lead her to misery and to death. ' Give me good news/ she said to Lafayette, when he visited her in 1779, ' of our good Americans, of our dear re- publicans.' 2 Paine's * Common Sense/ with all its denunciations of monarchy, was translated into French, 1 Rocquain, L'Esprit Rdvolu- commune de la France et de tionnaire avant la Rdvohition, l'Amrique,i.ni. Paine, many pp. 370, 371 ; M6moires de La- years later, wrote : ' It is both fayette, i. 50. justice and gratitude to say that * ' Dites-moi de bonnes nou- it was the Queen of France who velles de nos bons Americains, gave the cause of America a de nos chers r6publicains.' This fashion at the French Court.' was told by Lafayette to Augus- Rights of Man. tin Thierry. See Circourt, Action 310 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xnr. and was, if possible, even more popular in France than in America. 1 Few things in history are more tragical than the mingled gaiety and enthusiasm with which the brilliant society of Versailles plunged into the stream that was to sweep them so speedily to the abyss. As yet, however, there were few misgivings, and Ameri- can observers believed and hoped that if a revolution broke out it would not be in Paris but in London. ' The King and Queen/ wrote John Adams from Paris in 1778, ' are greatly beloved here. Every day shows fresh proof of it. On the other side of the Channel there is a king who is in a fair way to be the object of opposite sentiments to a nation if he is not at present.' 2 One of the chief signs of the prevailing enthusiasm was the multitude of soldiers who went to America to enlist in the army of the insurgents. ' I am well-nigh harassed to death,' wrote Deane in 1776, ' with appli- cations of officers to go out to America.' c Had I ten ships here I could fill them all with passengers for America.' ' The desire that military officers here of all ranks have,' wrote the commissioners a few months later, * of going into the service of the United States is so general and so strong as to be quite amazing. We are hourly fatigued with their applications and offers which we are obliged to refuse.' 3 Most of them, no doubt, were mere soldiers of fortune, animated only by love of adventure, hatred of England, or hope of higher rank or pay than they could gain at home ; but a few were of the purest type of enthusiasts for liberty. Among these the most conspicuous was Lafayette, who abandoned a great fortune and position and a young wife to serve gratuitously in the army of Washington, 1 American Diplomatic Cor- and his Wife, p. 350. respondence, i. 29, 30. 3 American Diplomatic Cor> 2 Familiar Letters of J. Adams respondence, i. 71, 93, 276. cii. xiii. THE FOREIGN OFFICERS. 311 and who was appointed a major-general at the age of nineteen. The great majority of these foreigners were French, but there were a few of other nationalities. Among the latter were Pulaski, who had distinguished himself beyond all other men in resisting the first partition of Poland, and Kosciusko, the hero of her later struggle. Steuben, a veteran German soldier, who had served under Frederick through the Seven Years' War, did more than perhaps any other single person to discipline and organise the army of Washington. Baron Kalb, who, like many other Germans, had fought with much distinction under the banner of Marshal Saxe, had visited America in 1768 as the secret agent of Choiseul, and when the war broke out he hastened to place his sword at the disposal of the Americans. Another officer of whom great hopes were entertained was Conway, an Irishman in the French service, who was esteemed ' one of the most skilful disciplinarians in France,' but whose intriguing and ambitious character produced one of the most serious of the many divisions in the American army. 1 This incursion of foreign soldiers into America was by no means without embarrassments. It was not at all in the character of the American troops to place themselves under the command of strangers, or to give up to strangers the most lucrative posts in their army, and the swarms of French soldiers who came over with promises of high rank given them by Deane excited endless jealousy and difficulty. Great numbers of American officers at once resigned. General Du Cou- 1 American Diplomatic Cor- lish by Greene (G. W.), in his rcspondence, i. 71-73, 76, 97, 98, interesting little book on The 295, 296. The lives of Steuben German Element in the War of and of Kalb have been written Independence, in German by Kapp, and in Eng- 22 312 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xsn. dray, who came out with a large party of French officers, was drowned in the Schuylkill, and his followers, after much angry contention about the rate of pay, declared that the terms of their engagement were broken, and returned to France. An attempt was made to enlist a brigade of French Canadians, and to employ the French officers in organising it, but it utterly failed, and no class of Canadians showed the smallest disposition to throw off the English rule. 1 In the eighteenth century the type of mercenary soldier who sought pay and adventure in foreign armies was a very common one, and men of this stamp were often more than commonly rapacious and unprincipled. Numbers of officers, through their ignorance of English, were wholly unable to communicate with the troops they aspired to com- mand, while the leading authorities in America who were obliged to organise the public service were often, if not usually, absolutely ignorant of French. Wash- ington himself was completely so, though he found time, in the midst of the occupations of the campaign, to learn enough to understand, though not to speak it, 2 and in the busiest and most anxious period of the struggle John Adams wrote to his wife lamenting bitterly that he had not her knowledge of that lan- guage, and imploring her to send him the name of the author of her ' thin French grammar which gives the pronunciation of the French words in English letters.' 3 It needed all the tact and skill of management which Washington eminently possessed to surmount these difficulties, but in spite of every drawback the 1 See, on these difficulties, Count Fersen, however, who had American Diplomatic Correspon- interviews with Washington in dence, i. 336, 337, 346-349. Oct. 1780, says he neither spoke Washington's Works, iv. 327- nor understood French. Lettres 829, 419-425, 450-452 ; v. 32-35. du C&mte Fersen, i. 40, 41. * Sparks'sl/i/eo/ Washington. 3 Familiar Letters, p. 136, n. xin. THE WINTER OF 1776-7. 313 presence of this large foreign element was of great as- sistance to the Americans. In addition to several excel- lent officers who had fought in the British army during the conquest of Canada, they had now among them many veteran soldiers trained in the very best armies of the Continent, and it is a significant fact that out of 29 major-generals in the American army, no less than 11 were Europeans. 1 The remainder of the winter of 1776-7, after the combat of Trenton, passed without any memorable in- cident in America. The English remained for several months absolutely inactive in their entrenchments, and, to the unfeigned astonishment of Washington, 2 they made no attempt to regain the territory they had lost, or to force the passage of the Delaware and capture Philadelphia. Washington, on the other hand, was endeavouring to form an army, and his letters are full of bitter complaints of the want of patriotism he on all sides discovered. In New Jersey, it is true, the tide of feeling had been turned by the outrages of the British and Hessian troops. The New Jersey militia were in arms against the British, who now found the difficulties of obtaining provisions, forage, and intelligence greatly enhanced ; but the laws of Congress directing the States to provide specified contingents for the American army were almost inoperative. The reluctance to enlist was extreme, and the delays of the State authorities threatened the utter ruin of the cause. The attempt to enlist troops for the whole duration of the war almost entirely failed. For some time Washington had not more than 1,500 men in his camp, while the English army was nearly ten times as numerous. 3 The theft of 1 Greene's Historical View of 8 Eamsay, Li. 1, 2. See, too, the American Revolution, p. 283. the Cornwallis Correspondence,!. * Washington's Works, iv. 301, 29. 340, 352. 314: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm. arms by the soldiers who deserted or disbanded them- selves had been carried to such an extent that it had become difficult even to provide the soldiers with com- mon guns, when fortunately in March the first great supplies of guns and military stores arrived from France, and in this respect restored the condition of the army. 1 In the beginning of this month Washing- ton reckoned the army of Howe in the Jerseys at not less than 10,000 men, while his own army was 4,000, nearly all ' raw militia, badly officered, and under no government.' 2 In the beginning of April he com- plained that the extravagant bounties given by different States for raising bodies of men upon colonial esta- blishments had made it almost impossible to procure them for the continental service, as ' the men are taught to set a price upon themselves, and refuse to turn out except that price be paid/ ' How I am to oppose them ' [the British], he adds, * God knows ; for excepting a few hundreds from Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, I have not yet received a man of the new continental levies/ 3 Ten days later, in a confidential letter to his brother, he once more expressed his utter astonishment at the continued inactivity of General Howe, and de- clared that if the English general abstained much longer from taking advantage of the extreme weakness of his opponents it would show that he was totally unfit for the trust that was reposed in him. 4 In the begin- ning of June he again acknowledged that it was still 1 Washington's TForfcs,iv.337- 2 Ibid. pp. 339, 340. About a 339. The stealing of guns con- fortnight later, he wrote that tinued to be a great evil in the the numbers fit for duty ' were American army. In July 1777 under 3,000, of whom all but Washington again complains of 981 were militia, whose term of their rarity, though the importa- service would expire in about a fcion of arms far exceeded the fortnight. Ibid. p. 364. number of troops raised to make 3 Ibid. pp. 375, 376. use of them. Ibid. p. 477. * Ibid. p. 387. CH. xin. AMERICAN ARMY, 1777. 315 ' impossible, at least very unlikely, that any effectual opposition can be given to the British army with the troops we have, whose numbers diminish more by de- sertion than they increase by enlistments.' l If, indeed, as most historians are accustomed to assume, the bulk of the American people were really on the side of Washington, their apathy at this time is almost inex- plicable, and it could only be surpassed by the stupen- dous imbecility of the English, who appear to have been almost wholly ignorant of the state of the American army, who remained waiting for reinforcements from England long after the season for -active operations had begun and at a time when there was scarcely any enemy to oppose them, and who, by burning and plun- dering houses, destroying crops, insulting and outraging peaceful inhabitants, were rapidly turning their friends into foes. One great cause of the slow organisation of the Americans was the difficulty of appointing the principal officers. In addition to the numerous foreigners who were to be provided for, great perplexity arose from the claim of every State to have a proportion of general officers corresponding to the number of troops it fur- nished. 2 In the absence of any universally recognised superior, conflicting claims and pretensions had free course ; and several admirable letters remain in which Washington endeavoured to soothe the resentment or the vanity of neglected officers. John Adams, who visited the army in the summer of 1777, was much shocked at the disunion he found prevailing, and in a letter to his wife he expressed himself on the subject wifch great bitterness. 4 I am wearied to death,' he wrote, ' with the wrangles between military officers high and low. They quarrel like cats and dogs. They 1 Washington's Works, iv. 447. 2 Ibid. pp. 378. 316 ENGLAND EN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm. wony one another like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and pay like apes for nuts. 5 1 In the spring and early summer a few inconsiderable expeditions took place in different quarters. The Eng- lish destroyed large quantities of American stores at a place called Peeks-Kill, about fifty miles from New York, and at Danbury in Connecticut. The Americans destroyed a quantity of English stores in Long Island, and a small party of volunteers passing into Rhode Island succeeded in surprising and taking prisoner General Prescott, who was ultimately exchanged for General Lee. In June, Howe, having received some reinforcements from England, abandoned his quarters at Brunswick, but he made no effort to march upon the Delaware. After much complex manoeuvring and several skirmishes which it is not here necessary to recount, he returned to his old quarters at Staten Island, despatched a portion of his troops to New York, and then sailed by a circuitous route to Chesapeake Bay, where he landed with about 16,000 men at a point some sixty miles from Philadelphia. If the States had done what was expected from them, he would have been at least greatly outnumbered, but it was estimated by Galloway, and probably not untruly, that, of the 66,000 men voted by Congress for the con- tinental service of 1777, they did not bring into the field 16,000, and that not half of these had enlisted volun- tarily. 2 Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hamp- shirethe States where the anti-English spirit might have been expected to be strongest were obliged to pass laws drafting militiamen to serve by compulsion as substitutes in the continental army for twelve months. 3 There were also great numbers of ' redemptioners,' or men who had bound themselves to serve their masters 1 Familiar Letters, p. 276. 2 Galloway's Examination, pp. 18, 19. Hildreth, iii. 189. CH. XIH. PHILADELPHIA. WASHINGTON'S DEFEATS. 317 for a specified number of years, and who were freed from their obligations if they would enlist in the American army. 1 Even Boston had lost much of her old enthu- siasm, 2 and every State fell far short of its quota. Washington endeavoured to arrest the march of Howe, but on September 11, 1777, he was totally defeated in the battle of Brandy wine. His army fled in utter con- fusion to Chester, and Du Portail, a French officer who was then in the American service, in reporting the cir- cumstances to the French War Office, expressed his firm conviction that ' if the English had followed their ad- vantage that day, Washington's army would have been spoken of no more.' 3 As usual, however, Howe did nothing to com- plete his victory, and the American army was able to re-form itself. The revolutionists took great pains to intimidate the loyal inhabitants of Pennsylvania, and they sent several of the principal inhabitants of Philadelphia prisoners to Virginia. 4 On September 26, Howe entered Philadelphia, and appears to have been warmly received both in the town and in its neighbouring country. He left four regiments to occupy the city, but posted the bulk of his army at German- town, about ten miles distant. On October 4, Washing- ton, having received large reinforcements of militia from Maryland and New Jersey, surprised this post, but after an obstinate battle he was again utterly defeated. The British, with the assistance of some men-of-war, then 1 Hildreth, iii. 190. swered : If it is not Toryism, it 2 Adams writes (March 31, is a spirit of avarice and con 1777): 'We have reports here tempt of authority, an inordinate not very favourable to the town love of gain, that prevails not of Boston. It is said that dissi- only in town but everywhere I pation prevails, and that Toryism look or hear from.' Ibid. p. 261. abounds and is openly avowed at 3 Jones 's His tory of New York, the coffee-houses.' Familiar i. 197. Letters, p. 252. His wife an- 4 Ramsay, ii. 8. 9. 318 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. en. xm, proceeded to open the navigation of the Delaware, at- tacking the powerful forts which the Americans had constructed to command it, and though they were once very gallantly repulsed, they were in the end completely successful. Washington still continued, at the head of a regular army, to maintain himself in Pennsylvania, but the capital was in the undisputed possession of the English, the Congress was obliged to fly to Lancaster and Yorktown, the army of the Americans was de- moralised by two great defeats, and the communica- tions between the English fleet and army were fully established. The position of Washington at this time was in all respects deplorable. As early as March he had written to General Schuyler : * The disaffection of Penosylvania, I fear, is beyond anything you have conceived,' 1 and the experience of the campaign fully justified his apprehen- sions. General Howe, during the many months his army was stationed at Philadelphia, never found the smallest difficulty in obtaining from the people abundance of fresh provisions. Profiting by his experience in New Jersey, he had given stringent orders, which appear to have been on the whole complied with, that no peaceful inhabitants should be molested ; he even despatched a severe remon- strance to Washington, who had destroyed some mills in the neighbourhood ; and he succeeded without diffi- culty in establishing perfectly amicable relations with the inhabitants. It would, perhaps, be an exaggeration to say that the active loyalists were the true representa- tives of Pennsylvanian feeling ; but it is, in my opinion, not doubtful that the sympathies of this great and wealthy province were much more on the side of the Crown than on the side of the Kevolution. Had the Pennsylvanians really regarded the English as invade rs > Washington's Works, iv. 300. en. xin. PENNSYLVANIA SYMPATHY FOR ENGLAND. 319 or oppressors, the presence of an English army in their capital would most certainly have roused them to pas- sionate resistance. But, in truth, it was never found possible to bring into the field more than a tenth part of the nominal number of the Pennsylvanian militia, and the Pennsylvanian quota in the continental regiments was never above one-third full, and soon sank to a much lower point. 1 Washington complained bitterly that he could obtain no military intelligence, the population of whole districts being * to a man disaffected ' disaffected * past all belief.' 2 Millers refused to grind corn for his army. Provisions of every kind were systematically withheld, and often only obtained by forced requisitions or from other provinces. Carriages could rarely be obtained except by force, and Washington candidly described himself as in an enemy's country. 3 No Ameri- can of any military or political eminence could separate himself from the army in Pennsylvania without great danger of being seized by the inhabitants and delivered up to the English. 4 As Lafayette bitterly complained, there were whole regiments of Americans in the British army, and in every colony there was a far greater num- ber who, without actually taking up arms, made it their main object ; to injure the friends of liberty and to give useful intelligence to those of despotism.' 6 The American army had sunk into a condition of appalling destitution. In September, Washington wrote that ' at least 1,000 men were barefooted and have per- formed the marches in that condition ; ' 6 and in the depth of winter the misconduct or inefficiency of the commissaries appointed by the Congress, and the general 1 Washington's Works, v. 96, loway'a Examination, pp. 25- 146. Hildreth, iii. 217. 27. * Washington's Works, v. 69, 4 Life of Joseph Reed, i. 359. 198. * Mem- de Lafayette, i. 16. Ibid, pp 187, 197-199. Gal- Washington's Works, v. 71. 320 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm disaffection of the people, had reduced the revolutionary forces to a degree of misery that almost led to their de- struction. On one occasion they were three successive days without bread. On another, they were two days entirely without meat. On a third, it was announced that there was not in the camp * a single hoof of any kind to slaughter, and not more than twenty-five barrels of flour.' There was no soap or vinegar. ' Few men ' had ' more than one shirt, many only the moiety of one, and some none at all ; ' and, besides a number of men confined in hospitals or farmers' houses for want of shoes, there were on a single day 2,898 men in the camp unfit for duty because they were ' barefoot and otherwise naked.' In the piercing days of December, numbers of the troops were compelled to sit up all night around the fire, having no blankets to cover them, and it became evident that unless a change quickly took place the army must either ' starve, dissolve, or disperse, in order to ob- tain subsistence in the best manner they can/ In three weeks of this month the army, without any fighting, had lost by hardship and exposure near 2,000 men. 1 So large a proportion of the troops were barefoot that ( their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet.' 2 Yet week after week rolled on, and still, amid unabated sufferings, a large proportion of those brave men held together and took up their winter quarters, diminished indeed in numbers, and more than once defeated in the field, but still unbroken and undismayed, within a day's march of a greatly superior army of British soldiers. The time was, indeed, well fitted to winnow the chaff from the grain ; and few braver and truer men were ever collected around a great commander than those who re- 1 Washington's Works, v. 193, 2 Ibid. p. 329. See, too, the 197, 199. Mem. de Lafayette, i. 22. CH. XIIT. VALLEY FORGE. THE NORTHERN ARMY. 321 mained with Washington during that dreary winter in Valley Forge, some twenty miles from Philadelphia. * For some days past,' wrote their commander on Feb- ruary 16, 1778, 'there has been little less than a famine in the camp ; a part of the army has been a week with- out any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been ere this excited by their sufferings to a general mutiny and dispersion. Strong symptoms, however, of discontent have appeared in particular instances, and nothing but the most active efforts everywhere, can long avert so shocking a cata- strophe.' l Many, indeed, fell away. ' No day, nor scarce an hour passes,' wrote Washington in December, * without the offer of a resigned commission.' 2 Many fled to the country and to their friends, and not less than 3,000 deserters came from the American camp to the British army at Philadelphia. 3 But while the American army in Pennsylvania seemed thus on the eve of dissolution, and owed its safety chiefly to the amazing apathy of the English, an event had happened in the North which changed the whole fortune of the war, and made the triumph of the Revo- lution a certainty. We left the greater part of the northern American army posted in the strong fort of Ticonderoga and in a series of neighbouring entrench- ments, which, it was believed, might be long maintained against the enemy. General Carleton had been lately Buperseded by General Burgoyne in the command of the English army in those quarters. Burgoyne was already well known to fame. He had served with distinction in 1 Washington's Works, v. 239. * Galloway '^Examination, pp. 8 Ibid. p. 201. 19, 20. 322 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. OB. xni. the war in Portugal. He had been a member of Parlia- ment and a frequent speaker, and he had attained much reputation in another and very different field, as the author of an exceedingly popular comedy, called the ' Heiress/ He was esteemed a good soldier and a man of much general ability and ambition, though not equally distinguished for the rectitude of his judgment. In June 1777 he marched from St. John's at the head of a well-appointed army of nearly 8,000 men, about half of them foreigners ; and he soon after summoned the Indians who had taken arms, to a war feast, and in an emphatic speech impressed upon them the duty of hu- manity in war, offered a reward for every prisoner brought in alive by the savages, and threatened severe punish- ments against all who were guilty of outrages against old men, women, children, or prisoners. He afterwards issued a proclamation to the insurgents, which was greatly and justly blamed. He enumerated in highly coloured terms the crimes which had been committed against the loyalists, promised impunity and protection to all who would lay down their arms, but threatened those who resisted with the most terrible war, and re- minded them that a word from him would abandon them to the ferocity of the Indians. The advance upon Ticonderoga was made by land and water, and the army and fleet arrived before it on July 1. Works were speedily thrown up. Batteries were planted ; a hill which commanded the chief forti- fications of the Americans, and which had been left unguarded, was seized ; and General St. Clair, who commanded the American forces, having hastily sum- moned a council, it was agreed that the whole army could only be saved from capture by an instant eva- cuation of the fortress and of all the adjoining woiks. Congress had been already informed that between 13,000 and 14,000 men were required for their de- CH. xin. EVACUATION OF TICONDEROGA. 323 fence, and less than 3,500 were left to guard them against an English force which was much larger than the Americans had anticipated. On the night of July 5 the Americans precipitately abandoned the fortification. Their flight was disastrous in the extreme. Ninety- three cannon were left in Ticonderoga. The chief part of the provisions and stores were embarked on 200 boats and despatched up the South River to Skenes- borough, but on the morning of the 6th the English fleet hastened in their pursuit, burst through a ponder- ous boom which had been constructed to impede its progress, overtook the American flotilla, burnt three galleys, captured two others, and took or destroyed the greater portion of the stores and provisions. The Ameri- can array which retreated by land was rapidly pursued, and the rearguard, consisting of 1,200 men under Colonel Warren, was overtaken and almost anni- hilated. It is said that not more than ninety men re- joined the ranks. St. Clair succeeded, however, after a rapid march of seven days, in gaining Fort Edward, where Schuyler was stationed with the remainder of the Northern army. The combined forces of the Ameri- cans now numbered 4,400 men, including militia, and they hastily fled before the approaching army of Bur- goyne in the direction of Albany. 1 The evacuation of Ticonderoga, and the crushing disasters that immediately followed it, struck a panir* through New England which had hardly been equalled when New York or Philadelphia was taken. The strongest post in the American possession had fallen almost without a blow, and it appeared for a time as if the design which the English generals were seeking to accomplish would be speedily attained. It was the object of Burgoyne, in co-operation with Clinton, who 1 Ramsay, Stedman, Hildreth. 324: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xixi. was stationed at New York, and with Howe, who was stationed at Philadelphia, by occupying the whole line of the Hudson, to sever New England from the Central and Southern States, and, by thus isolating the part of America which was seriously disaffected, to reduce the whole contest to narrow limits. Washington wrote in great alarm describing the evacuation as unjustifiable and almost inexplicable, and John Adams declared that the Americans would never learn to defend a post till they had shot one of their generals. Charges not only of incapacity but of treachery were freely made. Schuyler was deprived of his command and replaced by Gates, who, as a New Englander, was more acceptable to the soldiers. Such small reinforcements as could be raised were hastily despatched, and with them was Lincoln, who was very popular with the Massachusetts militia, and Benedict Arnold, whose high military qualities were now generally recognised. The country into which the English had plunged was an extremely difficult one, full of swamps, morasses, and forests, but at length on July 30 the Hudson was reached. But by this time the first panic had subsided, and a spirit of resistance had arisen wholly unlike anything the British had yet encountered during the war. The militia of New England and of the disaffected portions of New York were called to arms, and they responded with alacrity to the summons. It was partly a genuine enthusiasm for the cause, for the New Englanders had thrown themselves into the Revolution with an earnest- ness which was almost wholly wanting in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and their keen intelligence fully realised the importance of the crisis. It was partly also the dread of Indian incursions, and the many in- stances of Indian atrocities perpetrated under the shelter of the English flag, which roused, as they always roused, the dormant energies of the people. The American army en. xin. > BURGOYNE'S ARMY. 325 soon rose to more than 13,000 men. 1 Burgoyne found himself enormously outnumbered in the heart of a coun- try where the natural difficulties of obtaining provisions^ preserving communications, procuring intelligence, and moving troops were immense. Two isolated detach- ments of German troops, under Colonel Baum and Colonel Breyman, accompanied by some Indians and by some loyalists, were totally defeated near Benning- ton, with a loss of 600 or 800 men, and of four cannon. An attempt made by another separate expedition to capture a small fort called Fort Stanwix failed, after some severe fighting, in the course of which many wounded and prisoners were brutally murdered by In- dians in the English service. False intelligence of a defeat of Burgoyne, and exaggerated accounts of the force that was sent to relieve the fort, induced St. Leger, who commanded the expedition, hastily to abandon the siege, and his artillery and stores fell into the hands of the garrison. But still Burgoyne pressed on, and, hav- ing with great difficulty collected provisions for thirty days, he crossed the Hudson, marched for four days along its banks, and on September 19 he encountered the American forces at Stillwater. The American wing which was first attacked was commanded by General Arnold, who appears to have fought, as he always did, with eminent courage and skill. 2 The battle was fierce and obstinate, and was only terminated, after about four 1 Eamsay, pp. 11, 38. all other occasions, Benedict f An attempt has been made Arnold showed himself an ex- in America, supported by the cellent soldier. See the Life of authority of Mr. Bancroft, to Benedict Arnold and a consider - prove that Arnold was not ac- able amount of additional evi- tively engaged on this day. Mr. dence in a pamphlet called Bene- Isaac Arnold, however, the re- diet Arnold at Saratoga (re- cent biographer of Benedict Ar- printed from the United Service, nold, appears to have established Sept. 1880), by Isaac N. Arnolrl. beyond dispute that this is a See, too, Stedman's very full mistake, and that on this, as on account of the campaign. 32G ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. am. hours' fighting, by the approach of night. The English retained the field of battle, but all the real advantages were on the side of the Americans. The dwindling army of the English was reduced by between 500 and 600 men, while the loss of the Americans was probably somewhat smaller. The hunting season of the Indians had now begun, and as they had obtained little plunder and were much dispirited by the combats of Bennington and Still water, they began rapidly to desert. A large proportion of the Canadian volunteers followed their example. Pro- visions were beginning to run short. By crossing the Hudson the English had greatly added to the difficulty of maintaining their communications with the store- houses on Lake George. An expedition was planned by Gates and Arnold to recover Ticonderoga, and al- though it failed in its main object, it succeeded in in- tercepting large supplies intended for the English. The army of Burgoyne was now reduced to little more than 5,000 men, many of them incapacitated by wounds or sickness, and they were limited to half the usual allow- ance of provisions. The forage was soon exhausted, and the horses perished in numbers through hunger. The only hope remaining was that relief might arrive from New York, and Burgoyne had already succeeded in sending a message to Clinton describing his situation, and he had arranged all his later movements with a view to such relief. An attempt was made from New York to effect it, but the relieving army never reached the unhappy commander. The almost certain prospect of capturing a British army elated the Americans to the highest degree, and new volunteers rapidly poured in. On October 7 another desperate fight took place ; Arnold had all but succeeded in capturing the British lines, when he was laid low by a severe wound ; and the British lost, besides many killed and wounded, 200 CH. XT ii. CAPITULATION OF SARATOGA. 327 prisoners and nine pieces of cannon. Next day, Bur- goyne retired to Saratoga, where he was speedily sur- rounded by an army nearly four times as large as his own, and so advantageously posted that it was scarcely possible to attack it. Burgoyne estimated the number of his own men who were still capable of fighting as not more than 3,500.* All communications were cut off; the hope of relief from New York was almost gone, and the small amount of provisions in the camp was nearly exhausted. Burgoyne refused, even in this extremity, to yield without conditions, but on October 17, 1777, the memorable convention was signed, by which the whole British army, with all its arms and artillery, were surrendered to the enemy. The number of men who surrendered, including Canadians, irregular and militia troops, camp followers and labourers, was about 5,800, and it was stipulated, among other things, that they should march out with the honours of war, and that they should be permitted at once to return to England on condition of not serving again in North America during the war. The over- whelming nature of the disaster was at once felt on both sides of the Atlantic. Clinton, who had captured some forts and advanced some distance along the Hudson to the relief of Burgoyne, retired to New York. The small garrison which had been left at Ticonderoga, knowing that it was impossible to defend that post against the army which was now free to act against it, hastily abandoned it and retreated to Canada. In Europe, one of the first effects of the calamity was to fix the determination of the French ministers. Their desire of injuring and humiliating Great Britain had hitherto been restrained by their dread of war, by the 1 See the Minutes of the Coun- State of the Expedition Jr&m cil of War, Oct. 13, in Burgoyne's Canada. 2? 328 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. CH. Mil. miserable condition of their finances, by their fear that the long succession of American disasters would lead, either to a speedy compromise or to a total subjugation of the insurgents. It is a common error of politicians to overrate the wisdom of their opponents and to under- rate the influence of resentment, ambition, and tempo- rary excitement upon their judgments or their acts; and many of the best English observers appear to have believed in 1777 that France would not enter openly into the war, but would content herself with the line of sagacious policy which had been indicated by Turgot. This appears to have been, on the whole, the opinion of Burke. 1 It was the decided opinion of Gibbon, who visited Paris in August ; 2 and the King, though quite aware of the secret assistance which the French were giving to the Americans, expressed his belief, in Sep- tember, that the chances of war with France had greatly diminished. 3 It is probable, indeed, that the French ministers themselves were undecided until the tidings arrived, in the first week of December, of the surrender of Saratoga. In those tidings > they heard the knell of English dominion in America, of English greatness in the world. Their decision was speedily taken. On the 17th of that same month they informed the American commissioners that they were resolved to enter into a treaty of commerce with America, to acknowledge and support her independence, and to seek no advantage for themselves except a participation in American commerce and the great political end of severing the colonies from the British Empire. The sole condition exacted was that the Americans should make no peace with England 1 Burke's Correspondence, ii. III. and Lord North, ii. 83, 84. 145, 146. See, too, pp. 98, 106, and Wai- '* Miscellaneous Works, ii. 210. pole's Last Journals, ii. 178. Correspondence of George CH. xm. ENGLISH OPINION, 1776-7. 329 which did not involve a recognition of their independ- ence. 1 On February 6, 1778, treaties to this effect were formally signed in Paris. It will now be necessary to revert to the course of opinion in England. The undoubted popularity of the war in its first stage had for some time continued to increase, and in the latter part of 1776 and the first half of 1777 it had probably attained its maximum. At the close of 1776 the greater part of the Bucking- ham connection, finding themselves beaten by over- whelming majorities, abstained from attending Parlia- ment except in the mornings, when private business was being transacted. A great part of the majorities against them consisted, no doubt, of courtiers and place- men, of representatives of Cornish boroughs, or other nominees of the Government ; but the Whigs at this time very fully admitted that the genuine opinion of the country was with the Government and with the King. The victory of Long Island, the capture of New York, Fort Washington, and Fort Lee, the successful invasion of the Jerseys, and at a later period the battle of Brandy wine and the occupation of Philadelphia and of Ticonderoga, convinced a great section of the Eng- lish people that the insurrection was likely to be speedily suppressed, and that the area of real disaffection had been extremely exaggerated. The Declaration of Inde- pendence, and the known overtures of the Americans to France, were deemed the climax of insolence and ingratitude. The damage done to English commerce, not only in the West Indies, but even around the Eng- lish and Irish coast, excited a widespread bitterness, and it was greatly intensified by a series of attempts which were made at the close of 1776 and in the begin- ning of 1777 to burn the arsenals at Portsmouth and 1 American Diplomatic Correspondence, i, 355-357. 330 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xnr, Plymouth, and the shipping at Bristol. Several houses at Bristol were actually destroyed, but at last the cul- prit was detected and convicted, and he proved to be an artisan who had recently returned from America, and who by his own confession had acted at the direct instigation of Silas Deane, the American commissioner at Paris. 1 Besides all this, war in itself is seldom un- popular in England. English privateers were soon afloat, rivalling in their gains those of the colonies, and the spirits of patriotism, combat, domination, and ad- venture were all aroused. Sir George Savile, writing confidentially to Rock- ingham in January 1777, described the condition of opinion in the most emphatic terms : * We are not only patriots out of place, but patriots out of the opinion of the public. The reputed successes, hollow as I think them, and the more ruinous if they are real, have fixed or converted ninety-nine in one hundred. The cause itself wears away by degrees from a question of right and wrong between subjects, to a war between us and a foreign nation, in which justice is never heard, because love of one's country, which is a more favourite virtue, is on the other side. I see marks of this everywhere and in all ranks.' 2 In his admirable letter on the American question addressed to the Sheriffs of Bristol, which was published in the beginning of 1777, Burke made no secret of his belief that English opinion had deserted the Americans. A few months later he wrote to Fox that ' the popular humour J was far worse than he had ever known it; that his own constituency, Bristol, had just voted the freedom of the citj to Lord Sandwich and Lord Suffolk ; that * in Liverpool they are literally almost ruined by this American war, but 1 See his confession in Howell's 2 Albemarle's Life of Rocking State Trials, xx. 1365. ham, ii. b05. CH. xiii. ENGLISH OPINION, 1777. 331 they love it as they suffer from it/ * The Tories/ he added, 'do universally think their power and conse- quence involved in the success of this American business. The clergy are astonishingly warm in it ; and what the Tories are when embodied and united with their natural head, the Crown, and animated by their clergy, no man knows better than yourself. The Whigs . . . are what they always were (except by the able use of op- portunities), by far the weakest party in this country. . . . The Dissenters, their main effective part, are . . . not all in force. They will do very little.' l Measures were carried without difficulty suspending the Habeas Corpus Act in the case of persons suspected of high treason committed in North America or on the high seas, or of piracy, and granting letters of marque and reprisal against American vessels. Supplies amount- ing to a little less than 13 millions were voted for the expenses of the year, and an address, which was moved by Lord Chatham in May, for repealing the many op- pressive Acts relating to America since 1763, was easily rejected. The language of the Opposition in their private correspondence, and sometimes in public, was that of extreme despondency. Burke was never weary of impressing upon the people that the American question should not be decided by philosophical or historical disquisitions upon the rights of Parliament or of provincial assemblies, but by considerations of prac- tical policy, and that no possible good could result from the course which was being pursued. The English, he argued, never could get a revenue from America. They 1 Burke 'R Works, ix. 152, 153. disgrace and total surrender of So the Duke of Grafton writes : General Burgoyne's army at The majority, both in and out Saratoga was not sufficient to of Parliament, continued in a awaken them from their follies.' blind support of the measures of MS. Autobiography. Administration. Even the great 332 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm. were masters only of the ground on which they en- camped. They were rapidly, by the employment of savage allies and of German mercenaries, depriving themselves of every friend in America. They were adding enormously to their own national debt, and were exposing themselves to the danger of a foreign war under most disadvantageous circumstances. Nor were these the only evils resulting from the contest. The party most hostile to British liberty was raised to power. The principles of liberty were discredited. Precedents were admitted and a bias was created ex- tremely hostile to the British Constitution, and some of its most essential maxims, being violated in America and asserted by insurrection, would soon cease to be re- spected at home. The Duke of Kichmond even ex- pressed his firm belief that Parliament in its present mood would be perfectly ready to establish despotism in England. 1 The Whig secession was a very short one, and it was imperfectly observed. Fox, who was now rapidly rising to a foremost place among the opponents of the Ministry, never joined it. His speeches at this time, by the confession of the best judges, were among the most powerful ever heard in Parliament ; and a signifi- cant letter is preserved in which the King recommended North to push on as much business as possible during a few days when the young orator was at Paris. 2 Whether, however, these speeches were as advantageous to the Whig party as they were to the reputation of the speaker, may, I think, be much doubted. It was one of the peculiarities of Fox, which he showed both during the American War and during the war of the French Revolution, that whenever he differed from the Burke's Correspondence, ii. 118. Correspondence of George III. with Lord North, ii. 40. CH. xin. CONDUCT OF THE OPPOSITION. 333 policy of the Government, he never appeared to have the smallest leaning or bias in favour of his country. Believing at this time that his friends were as com- pletely proscribed as the Jacobites in the two preceding reigns, and that he had nothing to look forward to ex- cept the reputation of a great orator, 1 he placed no check upon his natural impulses. More than any other man he gave the Whig party that cosmopolitan and un- national character which was one of the chief sources of its weakness, and which it only lost at the Reform Bill of 1832. Chatham, in his most vehement denunciations of the policy of the Government, never forgot that he was beyond all things an English statesman, and the greatness of England was at all times the first object of his ambition. Burke, although he was guilty of innu- merable faults of temper and taste, and although he was quite prepared to recognise the Independence of Ame- rica, if it became necessary, seldom failed to put forward reconciliation as the ultimate end of his policy ; and in his letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol in 1777 he offended some of the more violent members of his party by ex- pressing his earnest wish that the whole body of authority of the English Crown and Parliament over America which existed before the Stamp Act, might be preserved perfect and entire. 2 But the language of Fox was that of a passionate partisan of the insurgents. I have already mentioned his eulogy of Montgomery, who fell at the head of the American army. In one of his letters he described the first considerable success of the English in America as ' the terrible news from Long Island , ' and spoke of what would happen ' if America should be at our feet which God forbid.' 3 In Parlia- 1 Fox's Correspondence, i. 169-171. See Burke's Works, iii. 176, 178. Fox's Correspondence, ii. 145, 147. 334 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm. ment he exerted all his eloquence to show that it was the true interest of France and Spain to draw the sword in favour of American Independence. 1 When the news of the crushing disaster of Saratoga arrived, the Oppo- sition did not suspend for a single day their party war- fare ; they expressed no real desire to support the Gov- ernment in its difficulties, and Fox at once signalised himself by a furious invective against Lord George Germaine, accusing him of disgracing his country in every capacity, and expressing his hope that he would be brought to a second trial. 2 In every stage of the contest the influence of the Opposition was employed to trammel the Government. In 1776 they denounced the garrisoning of Minorca and Gibraltar with Hanoverian soldiers as a breach of the Act of Settlement. 3 After the surrender of Saratoga, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Glasgow each raised a regiment. Several independent companies were raised in Wales, and the patriotic enthusiasm was so strong that no less than 15,000 soldiers were pre- sented by private bounty to the State. 4 But the Oppo- sition did everything in their power to discourage the movement. They denounced the raising of troops by private subscription as unconstitutional and dangerous to liberty, while they dilated upon the indefensible con- dition of the country in a strain that must have greatly encouraged the French, 5 and Fox at the same time moved that no more troops should be sent out of Eng- land. 6 The statement of Wraxall that the Whig colours 1 Parl. Hist, xviii. 1430. e See Parl. Hist. xix. 620, Walpole's Last Journals, 622. He said ' that Scotland and ii. 170, 171. Correspondence of Manchester were so accustomed George III. with Lord North, ii. to disgrace that it was no wonder 95. if they pocketed instances of dis- * Adolphus, ii. 265-267. honour and sat down contented 4 Ibid. pp. 504, 505, with infamy.' Ibid. pp. 509-515. CH. xiu. CONDUCT OF THE OPPOSITION. 335 of buff and blue were first adopted by Fox in imitation of the uniform of Washington's troops, 1 is, I believe, corroborated by no other writer ; but there is no reason to question his assertion that the members of the Whig party in society and in both Houses of Parliament during the whole course of the war wished success to the American cause and rejoiced in the American triumphs. 2 Benedict Arnold was attacked, Franklin and Laurens were eulogised in the British House of Commons in a strain which would have been perfectly becoming in the American Congress, and the American cause was spoken of as the cause of liberty. 3 Dr. Price, who was one of the great lights of the democratic party, and whose knowledge of finance was widely celebrated, was invited by the Congress at the end of 1778 to go over to America and to manage the American finances. He declined the invitation on the ground of his feeble health and spirits, but with a profusion of compliments to the Assembly, which he * considered the most respect- able and important in the world,' with the warmest wishes for the success of the Americans, and without the smallest intimation that the fact that they were at war with his country made it difficult for him to place his talents at their disposal. 4 In 1781 a young poet of the party, who afterwards became the great Sir William Jones, told how Truth, Justice, Reason, and Valour had 1 Wraxall's Memoirs, ii. 2. dressed in buff and blue, after- There is a long discussion on the wards joined Montgomery in origin of the Whig colours in the Canada, was wounded and taken Stanhope Miscellanies, pp. 116- prisoner at Quebec.' Hist, of 122, but it leaves the question New York, ii. 343. in great uncertainty. Sparks 2 Wraxall's Memoirs, i. 470, thought that the Americans 471. adopted the uniform from the * Parl. Hist. xxii. 1176. Burko Whigs, but it appears to have was the warmest eulogist of been worn in America from the Franklin and Laurens. very beginning of the contest. 4 American Diplomatic Cor- Jones speaks of a soldier who, respondence, ii. 222, 224. 336 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xtu. all fled beyond the Atlantic to seek a purer soil and a more congenial sky. 1 'The parricide joy of some/ wrote Sir Gilbert Elliot about this time, ' in the losses of their country makes me mad. They don't disguise it. A patriotic Duke told me some weeks ago that some ships had been lost off the coast of North America in a storm. He said 1,000 British sailors were drowned not one escaped with joy sparkling in his eyes. ... In the House of Commons it is not unusual to speak of the Provincials as our army.' The same acute observer ex- pressed his conviction that the North Ministry had re- peatedly made mistakes which would have destroyed it had it not been for the course which was adopted by the Opposition. ' It was the wish of Great Britain to re- cover America. Government aimed at least at this object, which the Opposition rejected. . . . The prin- ciples [of Government] respecting America were agree- able to the people, and those of Opposition offensive to them.' 2 And while the Opposition by their grossly unpatriotic language and conduct exasperated the national feeling, the King, on his side, did the utmost in his power to embitter the contest. It is only by examining his cor- respondence with Lord North that we fully realise how completely at this time he assumed the position not only of a prime minister but of a Cabinet, superintend- ing, directing, and prescribing, in all its parts, the policy of the Government. It was not merely that he claimed a commanding voice in every kind of appoint- ment. The details of military management, the whole 1 See a poem called The Muse B w > tyrants, bow beneath th' avenging Recalled', Jones continued: CtaSh* with fleets shall mock the There or 9 lofty thront shall Virtue waves, stand, And arts that flourish not with slaves. To her the youth of Delaware shall OH. xiii. CONDUCT OF THE KIXG. 337 course and character of the war, and sometimes even the manner in which Government questions were to be argued in Parliament, were prescribed by him; and ministers, according to the theory which had now be- come dominant in Court circles, were prepared to act simply as his agents, even in direct opposition to their own judgments. We have already seen that Lord Bar- rington, who, as minister of war, was most directly re- sponsible for the manner in which the war was con- ducted, had distinctly informed his brother ministers as early as 1774 that he disapproved of the whole policy of coercing the colonies, that be believed the military enterprises which he organised could lead to nothing but disaster, and that he was convinced that, though the Americans might be reduced by the fleet, they could never be reduced by the army. We have seen also that, although Barrington never failed to express his opinions frankly and fully to the Cabinet, he consented, at the request of the King, to remain the responsible minister till the end of 1778. Lord Howe and Lord Amherst agreed with Barrington in thinking that an exclusively naval war was the sole chance of success, and it is extremely probable that this opinion was a just one. In the divided condition of American opinion, the stress of a severe blockade might easily have ren- dered the Revolutionary party so unpopular that it would have succumbed before the Loyalists, had it not been strengthened by the great military triumph of Saratoga, and by the indignation which the outrages of British and German troops and the far more horrible outrages of Indian savages had very naturally produced. But the King had a different plan for the war, and Bar- rington obediently carried it out. * Every means of distressing America,' wrote the King, * must meet with my concurrence.' He strongly supported the employ- ment of Indians, and in October 1777 he expressed hia 338 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, cii. xiu. hope that Howe would * turn his thoughts to the mode of war best calculated to end this contest, as most dis- tressing to the Americans,' which, the King reproach- fully added, 'he seems as yet carefully to have avoided.' 1 It was the King's friends who were most active in pro- moting all measures of violence. Clergymen who in the fast-day sermons distinguished themselves by violent attacks on the Americans or by maintaining despotic theories of government, were conspicuously selected for promotion. The war was commonly called the ' King's war,' and its opponents were looked upon as opponents of the King. 2 The person, however, who in the eye of history ap- pears most culpable in this matter, was Lord North. He disclaimed indeed the title of Prime Minister, as a term unknown to the Constitution ; but as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer he was more than any other person responsible to the country for the policy that was pursued, and but for his continuance in office that policy could hardly have been maintained. Nearly all the great politicians of Europe Frederick in Prussia, Turgot in France, Chatham and Burke in England pronounced the course which the English Government were adopting to be ruinous ; and the bitterness with which the Opposition attacked Lord North was always considerably aggravated by the very prevalent belief that he was not seriously convinced of the wisdom of the war he was conducting, and that the tenacity with which he pursued it long after success appeared impossible, was due to his resolution, at all 1 Correspondence of George III. from the handwriting of the with Lord North, i. 274, ii. 84. King, in Albemarle's Life of See, too, Bancroft's History of Bockingham, ii. 330-332. the United States, ix. 321, and 2 See Nichols's Recollection* also a paper, ' On the Conduct of of George III. i. 35. the War from Canada,' copied CH. xiii. CONDUCT OF NORTH. 339 hazards to his country, to retain his office. The publi- cation of the correspondence of George III. has thrown a light upon this question which was not possessed by contemporaries, and, while it completely exculpates North from the charge of excessive attachment to office, it supplies one of the most striking and melancholy examples of the relation of the King to his Tory mini- sters. It appears from this correspondence that for the space of about five years North, at the entreaty of the King, carried on a bloody, costly, and disastrous war in direct opposition to his own judgment and to his own wishes. In the November of 1779 Lord Gower, who had hitherto been one of the staunchest supporters of the Government, resigned his post on the ground that the system which was being pursued ' must end in ruin to his Majesty and the country; ' and North, in a pri- vate letter to the King, after describing the efforts he had made to dissuade his colleague from resigning, added these memorable words : ' In the argument Lord North had certainly one disadvantage, which is that he holds in his heart, and has held for three years past, the same opinion with Lord Gower.' J And yet in spite of this declaration he continued in office for two years longer. Again and again he entreated that his resig- nation might be accepted, but again and again he yielded to the request of the King, who threatened, if his minister resigned, to abdicate the throne, who im- plored him, by his honour as a gentleman, and his loyalty as a subject, to continue at his post, who reiter- ated his supplications in letter after letter of passionate entreaty, and who, though perfectly aware that Lord North regarded the war as hopeless and inevitably dis- astrous, uniformly urged that resignation would be an act of culpable, cowardly, and dishonourable desertion. 1 See Fox's Correspondence, i. 212. 340 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xui. Unhappily for his country, most unhappily for his own reputation, North suffered himself to be swayed and became the instrument of a policy of which he utterly disapproved. He was an amiable but weak man, keenly susceptible to personal influence, and easily moved by the unhappiness of those with whom he came in con- tact, but without sufficient force of principle to restrain his feelings, or sufficient power of imagination to realise adequately the sufferings of great bodies of men in a distant land. His loyalty and personal attachment to the King were stronger than his patriotism. He was cut to the heart by the distress of his Sovereign, and he was too good-natured to arrest the war. The King was determined, under no circumstances, to treat with the Americans on the basis of the recog- nition of their independence ; but he acknowledged, after the surrender of Burgoyne, and as soon as the French war had become inevitable, that unconditional submission could no longer be hoped for, and that it might be advisable to concentrate the British forces in Canada, Nova Scotia, and the Floridas, and to employ them exclusively against the French and Spanish pos- sessions in the West Indies. 1 He consented, too, though apparently with extreme reluctance, and in consequence of the unanimous vote of the Cabinet, that new propo- sitions should be made to the Americans. The stocks had greatly fallen. No recruits could any longer be obtained from Germany ; the ministerial majorities, though still large, had perceptibly diminished, and out- side the Parliament, Gibbon noticed, even before the news of Saratoga arrived, that the tide of opinion was beginning to flow in the direction of peace. 2 On De- 1 Correspondence of George III. Gibbon (Dec. 2, 1777). A month with Lord North, ii. 118, 125, previously the Duke of Bichmond 126. had written: 'I will say, too, 2 See a remarkable letter of that the people begin to feel the CH. xiii. SPEECH OF CHATHAM. 341 cember 10, 1777, a few days after the surrender of Burgoyne had been announced, when the attitude of the French was yet unknown, and when Parliament was about to adjourn for Christmas, Lord North announced that at the close of the holidays he would bring in a project of conciliation. The next day Chatham made one of his greatest speeches on the subject. Though now a complete in- valid, he had several times during the last few months spoken in the House of Lords on the American ques- tion, with little less than his old eloquence, and with a wisdom and moderation which in his greater days he had not always exhibited. America, he em- phatically and repeatedly maintained, never could be subdued by force ; the continued attempt could only lead to utter ruin, and France would sooner or later inevitably throw herself into the contest. He repro- bated, in language that has become immortal in Eng- lish eloquence, the policy which let loose the tomahawks of the Indians upon the old subjects of England. In a passage which is less quoted, but which was eminently indicative of his military prescience, he had in Novem- ber spoken of the total loss of the army of Burgoyne as a probable contingency, 1 and he dilated on the in- sufficiency of the naval establishments in a language which was emphatically repudiated by the ministers, but which subsequent events fully justified. He strongly maintained, however, that England and America must remain united for the benefit of both, and that though every week which passed made it more difficult, and continuance of the war, the losses, Savile, however, thought that in the taxes, the load of debt, the November the people were still want of money, and the impossi- on the side of the war. Ibid. p. bility of such success as to re- 322. establish a permanent tranquil- * Chatham Correspondence, iv. lity.' Albemarle's Life of Bock- 452. itigham, ii. 318. Sir George 3-12 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xui. though the language of the ministers, and especially the employment of Indians, had enormously aggravated the situation, it was still possible, by a frank and speedy surrender of all the constitutional questions in dispute, and by an immediate withdrawal of the invading army, to conciliate the colonies. * America is in ill-humour with France on some points that have not entirely an- swered her expectations ; let us wisely take advantage of every possible moment of reconciliation. Her natu- ral disposition still leans towards England, and to the old habits of connection and mutual interest that united both countries. This was the established sentiment of all the continent. . . . All the middle and southern provinces are still sound . . . still sensible of their real interests.' ' The security and permanent prosperity of both countries ' can only be attained by union, and by this alone the power of France can be repressed. * America and France cannot be congenial ; there is something decisive and confirmed in the honest Ameri- can that will not assimilate to the futility and levity of Frenchmen.' Prompt, conciliatory action was, however, necessary, and he accordingly strenuously opposed the adjournment, which left the country without a Parlia- ment in the six critical weeks that followed the arrival of the news of the capitulation of Saratoga. 1 His counsel was rejected, but in the course of the recess some private overtures were vainly made to Frank- lin by persons who are said to have been in the confidence of the English Government. The feeling of uneasiness in the country was now very acute, and it was noticed that in January 1778 the Three per Cents, stood at 71J, whereas in January 1760, which was the fifth year of a war with the united House of Bourbon, they were 79. f 1 Chatham Correspondence, iv. 454, 455, 457. Parl. Hist. xix. 617. en. xiii. NORTH'S MEASURE OF CONCILIATION. 343 On February 17, North rose to move Bills of concilia- tion which virtually conceded all that America had long been asking. The Act remodelling the constitution of Massachusetts and the tea duty, which were the main grievances of the colonies, were both absolutely and unconditionally repealed. Parliament formally promised to impose no taxes upon the colonies for the sake of revenue, and although it retained its ancient right of imposing such duties as were necessary for the regu- lation of commerce, it bound itself that those duties should always be applied to public purposes in the colony in which they were levied, in such manner as the colonial assemblies should determine. It was enacted also that commissioners should be sent out to America to negotiate a peace, with full powers to treat with Congress, to proclaim a cessation of hostilities by land and sea, to grant pardons to all descriptions of persons, and to suspend the operation of all Acts of Parliament relating to the American colonies which had passed since February 1763. 1 The propositions were listened to with blank amaze- ment by the most devoted followers of the ministers. They were in effect much the same as those which Burke had vainly advocated nearly three years before. They completely surrendered all for which England had been contending at such a ruinous cost, and the speech with which Lord North introduced them was one of the most extraordinary ever made by an English minister. He contended that his present measures were not only perfectly consistent with his present opinions, but con- sistent also with the opinions he had always held and with the policy he had always pursued. He never, he said, had any real belief in the possibility of obtaining a considerable revenue from Ajnerica. The policy of 1 18 Geo. in. c. xi. xii. xiii. 24 34:4: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin. taxing America was not his, but that of his predecessors. He found the tea duty established and was not able to abandon it. The measure enabling the East India Company to send its tea to America, paying a small duty there, but with a drawback of the much larger duty previously paid in England, was in reality an act not of oppression but of relief, and it had only been turned into a new grievance by the combined artifices of demagogues who wished to produce a separation, and of smugglers who feared that the contraband trade in tea would be extinguished. The coercion Acts had been introduced on account of great acts of violence which had occurred in the colonies. They had not pro- duced the results that were hoped for, and he was quite prepared to abandon them. They had, however, been so far from representing what, in the opinion of North, ought to be the permanent relations of England to the colonies, that he had accompanied them by a concilia- tory measure which he still thought would have formed the happiest, most equitable, most lasting bond of union between the mother country and her colonies. He had proposed that any colony might secure itself against all taxation by Parliament if it would, of its own accord, raise such a sum towards the payment of its civil government and towards the common defence of the Empire as Parliament thought sufficient. The proposal was most honestly meant, but the Americans had been persuaded, partly by their own leaders, and partly by the English Opposition, that it was a deceptive one. He had afterwards authorised Lord Howe and his brother to negotiate with members of the Congress in 1776, but it was then objected that the commissioners had in- sufficient powers. This objection was obviated by the present Bill. The -new commissioners would be in- structed to endeavour to induce the colonies to make some reasonable, moderate, and voluntary contribution NORTH'S MEASURE OF CONCILIATION. 345 towards tlie cost of the common empire when reunited, but no such contribution was to be demanded as essen- tial; the right of Parliament to tax the colonies was formally and finally renounced, and the States were not to be asked to resign their independence till the treaty with the mother country had been agreed on and ratified in Parliament. It was added in the course of the debate on the part of the Government, that a security of the debts of Congress, and a re-establish- ment of the credit of the paper money which had now been so enormously depreciated, would be one of the objects of the Commission and, it was hoped, one of the chief inducements to the Americans to receive it with favour. The speech, wrote a keen observer, 1 was listened to ' with profound attention, but without a single mark of approbation to any part, from any description of men or any particular man in the House. Astonishment, dejection, and fear overclouded the whole assembly/ Everything, as devoted followers of the Ministry ex- plained, except independence, was conceded, and offers were made which a little before would certainly have been welcomed with alacrity. Now, however, they clashed against two fatal obstacles the treaties with France, which, though not yet formally declared or ratified, were already signed, and the antecedents of the ministry, which made it impossible that any pro- posals that emanated from it could be received without hostility and distrust. That Lord North in his speech truly represented his own later opinions on American questions is very probable, but they were at least opinions which were utterly opposed to those which the world ascribed to him and to the general policy of his party. He was the special leader of men who in every 1 Annual Register 1778. 34:6 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. sni. stage of the long controversy had uniformly shown themselves the most implacable enemies of the preten- sions of the colonies, and who had spared no insult and no injury that could exasperate and envenom the con- flict. Sandwich and Rigby, Weymouth and Hills- borough, Wedderburn and Germaine, the King's friends and the Bedford faction, were very naturally regarded by the Americans as their most rancorous enemies. The language of the ministerial newspapers, the disposal of ministerial patronage, the gradual dis- placement of every politician who leaned towards a milder policy, had all abundantly indicated their spirit. In such hands it was scarcely possible that concilia- tion could succeed. The commissioners appointed were Lord Carlisle, William Eden, and George Johnstone, a former governor of Florida. The first two were as yet very little known in politics, but after the Declaration of Independence, Lord Carlisle had moved the address in answer to the royal Speech which denounced the Americans as rebels and traitors, while Eden had been Under-Secret ary to Lord Suffolk, the most vehement advocate of the employment of Indians in the war. Johnstone had, it is true, opposed the ministerial mea- sures relating to the colonies, and he was well known in America ; but he greatly injured the cause by private overtures to members of Congress, endeavouring by personal offers to obtain their assistance, and after much angry altercation he withdrew from the Commission. Congress unanimously declined any reconciliation which was not based on a recognition of American indepen- dence. The commissioners appear to have done every- thing in their power to execute their mission. They even went beyond their legal powers, for besides pro- mising the Americans complete liberty of internal legislation, they offered an engagement that no Euro- pean troops should be again sent to America without ca. xi. THE FRENCH WAR. 34:7 the consent of the local assemblies, and they also offered an American representation in the English Parliament. Gates was in favour of negotiation, and Lee, who had now lost almost all sympathy with the American cause, was on the same side ; but, though a great section of the American people would have gladly closed the quarrel by a reconciliation, the Congress was in the hands of the insurgent party. In October the com- missioners published a manifesto appealing from the Congress to the people, offering the terms which had been rejected to each separate State, and threatening a desolating war if those terms were not accepted. Offers, however, emanating from the North ministry were almost universally distrusted, and the new alliance with France was welcomed with enthusiasm. On May 4, 1778, the treaties of alliance and commerce were unanimously ratified by Congress. On the 13th of the preceding March the latter treaty had been formally communicated by the French ambassador at London, and immediately after, the ambassadors on each side were recalled, and England and France were at war. The moment was one of the most terrible in English history. England had not an ally in the world. One army was a prisoner in America ; and the Congress, on very futile pretexts, had resolved not to execute the Convention of Saratoga, which obliged them to send it back to England. The great bulk of the English troops were confined in Philadelphia and New York. The growing hostility of the German Powers had made it impossible to raise or subsidise additional German eoldiers ; and in these circumstances, England, already exhausted by a war which its distance made peculiarly terrible, had to confront the whole force of France, and was certain in a few months to have to encounter the whole force of Spain. Her navy was but half prepared : her troops were barely sufficient to protect her shores 348 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CE. xm. from invasion; her ministers and her generals were utterly discredited ; her Prime Minister had just ad- mitted that the taxation of America, which was the original object of the war, was an impossibility. At the same time, the country believed, as most men be- lieved both on the Continent and in America, that the severance of the colonies would be the beginning of the complete decadence of England ; and the Imperial feeling, which was resolved to make any sacrifice rather than submit to the dismemberment of the Empire, was fully aroused. It is a feeling which is rarely absent from any large section of the English race, and how- ever much the Americans, during the War of Indepen- dence, may have reprobated it, it was never displayed more conspicuously or more passionately than by their own descendants when the great question of secession arose within their border. There was one man to whom, in this hour of panic and consternation, the eyes of all patriotic Englishmen were turned. In Chatham England possessed a states- man whose genius in conducting a war was hardly inferior to that of Marlborough in conducting an army. In France his name produced an almost superstitious terror. In America it was pronounced with the deepest affection and reverence. He had, in the great French war, secured the Anglo-Saxon* preponderance in the colonies ; he had defended the colonies in every stage of their controversy about the Stamp Act, and had fascinated them by the splendour of his genius. If any statesman could, at the last moment, conciliate them, dissolve the new alliance, and kindle into a flame the loyalist feeling which undoubtedly existed largely in America, it was Chatham. If, on the other hand, con- ciliation proved impossible, no statesman could for a moment be compared to him in the management of a war. Lord North implored the King to accept his CH. xin. DESIRE FOR A CHATHAM MINISTRY. 349 resignation, and to send for Chatham. Bute, the old Tory favourite, breaking his long silence, spoke of Chatham as now indispensable. Lord Mansfield, the bitterest and ablest rival of Chatham, said, with tears in his eyes, that unless the King sent for Chatham, the ship would assuredly go down. George Grenville, the son of the author of the Stamp Act, and Lord Rochford, one of the ablest of the late Secretaries of State, em- ployed the same language, and public opinion loudly and unanimously declared itself in the same sense. Lord Barrington represented to the King ' the general dismay which prevails among all ranks and conditions, arising from an opinion that the administration was not equal to the times, an opinion so universal that it prevailed among those who were most dependent and attached to his ministers, and even among the ministers themselves.' * Every rank,' wrote one of the foremost bankers in London, ' looks up to Chatham with the only gleam of hope that remains ; nor do I meet with anyone who does not lament and wonder that his Majesty has not yet publicly desired the only help that can have a chance to extricate the country from the difficulties which every day grow greater, and must otherwise, I fear, become insurmountable.' The Rock- in gham party believed, what Chatham still refused to admit, that the only possible course was to acknowledge at once the independence of America ; and the old jealousies that divided them from Chatham were far from extinct. But the Rockingham party also agreed in thinking that it was now in the easy power of France and Spain to give ' a deadly blow ' to this country, and as Chatham had clearly said that America could never be overcome by force, the difference be- tween them was in reality chiefly in the more or less sanguine hope they entertained of the possibility of conciliation. The Duke of Richmond, who of all pro- 350 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. an. minent politicians was the most vehement supporter of the necessity of admitting the independence of America, sent to say that ' there never was a time when so great a man as Lord Chatham was more wanted than at present,' and that if Chatham thought it right to make another attempt to prevent the separation of the colonies he would ' be the first to give him every sup- port in his power.' Lord Camden, who now usually acted with the Buckingham party, and was somewhat alienated from Chatham, wrote of him to Buckingham : * I see plainly the public does principally look up to him, and such is the opinion of the world as to his ability to advise as well as execute in this perilous crisis, that they will never be satisfied with any change or arrangement where he is not among the first.' l Everything seemed thus to point to a Ministry under the guidance of Chatham as the last hope of English greatness. Alone amid the accumulating dis- asters of his country and the concurrence of the most hostile parties the King was unmoved. He consented indeed and he actually authorised Lord North to make the astounding proposition to receive Chatham as a subordinate minister to North, in order to strengthen the existing administration ; but this was the utmost extent to which he would go. His own words, which are too clear for cavil or for dispute, should determine for ever his claims to be regarded as a patriot king. ' 1 declare in the strongest and most solemn manner/ he wrote to North, ' that though I do not object to your addressing yourself to Lord Chatham, yet that you must acquaint him that I shall never address myself to him but through you, and on a clear explanation that he is to step forth to support an administration wherein 1 Compare Chatham Corre- Albemarle's Life of Rockinp tpondence, iv. 493-506, 511, 512 ; ham, i. 348-351. en. xi ii. OBSTINACY OF THE KING. 351 you are First Lord of the Treasury. ... I will only add, to put before your eye my most inward thoughts, that no advantage to this country, no present danger to myself, can ever make me address myself to Lord Chatham or any other branch of the Opposition. . . . Should Lord Chatham wish to see me before he gives his answer, I shall most certainly refuse it. ... You have now full powers to act ; but I do not expect Lord Chatham and his crew will come to your assistance.' * I solemnly declare,' he wrote on the following day, * that nothing shall bring me to treat personally with Lord Chatham ; ' and again, a little later, * No considera- tion in life shall make me stoop to opposition.' * It is worthy of notice that the determination of the King at any cost to his country, and in defiance of the most earnest representations of his own minister and of the most eminent politicians of every party, to refuse to send for the greatest of living statesmen at the moment when the Empire appeared to be in the very agonies of dissolution, was not solely or mainly due to his own opinions on the American question. Chatham had de- clared, as strongly as the King himself, his determination not to concede American independence ; and the King, by permitting Lord North to introduce his conciliatory Bills, had sanctioned the surrender of every other con- stitutional question in dispute. The main motives that influenced the King were personal. The many provoca- tions he had undoubtedly received from Chatham had produced in his eminently sullen and rancorous nature an intensity of hatred which no consideration of patriotism could overcome, and he also clearly saw that the triumph of the Opposition would lead to the destruction of that system of personal government which he had so laboii- 1 Fox's Correspondence, i. 188, 189 ; Correspondence of George HI. with Lord North, ii. 149, 153. 352 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm. ously built up. Either Chatham or Eockingham would 'have insisted that the policy of the country should be directed by its responsible ministers, and not dictated by an irresponsible sovereign. It is not difficult to detect in the passionate expressions of the King that the great question in whose hands the real and efficient determination of the policy of government was to rest, was that which most deeply affected his mind. The Opposition, he said, * would make me a slave for the remainder of my days.' ' Whilst any ten men in the kingdom will stand by me I will not give myself up into bondage/ ' I will never put my hand to what would make me miserable to the last hour of my life.' ' Rather than be shackled by those desperate men (if the nation will not stand by me, which I can never suppose), I will rather see any form of government introduced into this island, and lose my crown than wear it as a disgrace.' No change, he emphatically Baid, should be made in the Government which did not leave North at its head, and Thurlow, Suffolk, Sandwich, Gower, Weymouth, and Wedderburn in high office. On such conditions he well knew that he could always either govern or overthrow the administration. 1 This episode appears to me the most criminal in the whole reign of George III., and in my own judgment it is as criminal as any of those acts which led Charles I. to the scaffold. It is remarkable how nearly, many years later, it was reproduced. Terrible as was the condition of England in 1778, the dangers that menaced it in 1804 were probably still greater. The short peace of Amiens had ended ; Napoleon, in the zenith of his power and glory, was preparing the invasion of England, and the very existence of the country as a free and in- 1 Correspondence of George III. with Lord North, ii. 151, 154, 156. CH. xm. OBSTINACY OF THE KING. 353 dependent State was menaced by the most extraordinary military genius of modern times, disposing of the resources of the greatest and most warlike of conti- nental nations. Under these circumstances, Pitt strenu- ously urged upon the King the necessity of a coalition of parties, and especially of the introduction of Fox into the ministry. Fox had not, like Chatham, shown the genius of a great war minister ; but he was at the head of a powerful party in the State, and, as he had been one of the strongest opponents of the war when it first broke out, his acceptance of office would not only have given Government the strength it greatly needed, but would also have been the most emphatic demonstra- tion of the union of all parties against the invaders. But the obstinacy of the King proved indomitable. He ' expressed his astonishment that Mr. Pitt should one moment harbour the thought of bringing such a man [as Fox] before his royal notice/ He announced that the great Whig statesman was excluded by his ' express command ; ' and when, in the succeeding year, Pitt resumed his efforts, the King said ' that he had taken a positive determination not to admit Mr. Fox into his councils, even at the hazard of a civil war.' l It is an idle, though a curious question, whether it would have been possible for Chatham at the last moment to have induced the Americans to acquiesce in anything short of complete independence. If the foregoing narrative be truly written, it will appear manifest to the reader that a great part of the American people had never really favoured the Eevolution, and that there were many of the remainder who would have been gladly reunited with England on terms which Chatham was both ready and eager to concede. The French alliance had, however, made it a matter of honour and Bussell's Life of Fox, iii. 330-332, 349. 354: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. MSI. of treaty obligation for the Americans to continue the struggle, and passions had risen to a point that made reconciliation almost hopeless. The Rockingham party, in strongly asserting that an immediate recognition of American independence was the true policy of England, probably took a more just view of the situation than Chatham, while, on the other hand, their declaration would have greatly aggravated the difficulty of carrying out his polLy. Nor was it possible that the task of reconciliation, even if it were practicable, could have been reserved for Chatham. The sands of that noble life were now almost run. On April 7, 1778, he appeared for the last time in the House of Lords. Wrapped in flannel, supported on crutches, led in by his son-in-law Lord Mahon, and by that younger son who was destined in a few years to rival his fame, he had come to protest against an address moved by the Duke of Richmond calling upon the King to withdraw his forces by land and sea from the revolted colonies. His sunk and hueless face, rendered the more ghastly by the still penetrating brilliancy of his eyes, bore plainly on it the impress of approaching death, and his voice was barely audible in the almost breathless silence of the House; but something of his old fire may be traced in the noble sentences of indomitable and defiant patriotism with which he protested ' against the dis- memberment of this ancient and most noble monarchy/ and laughed to scorn the fears of invasion. After the reply of the Duke of Richmond, he tried to rise again, but fell back senseless in an apoplectic fit. He lingered till May 11. It was afterwards remembered that, as he lay on his death-bed looking forward to his own immediate end, he caused his son to read to him the passage in Homer describing the stately obsequies of Hector and the sorrow and despair of Troy. The death of Chatham would under any circumstances CTI. XTII. DEATH OF CHATHAM. 355 have made a profound and general impression, and the closing scene in the House of Lords was eminently fitted to enhance it. It was an exit, indeed, combining every element of sublimity and pathos. So awful a close of so glorious a career, the eclipse of a light that had filled the world with its splendour, the remembrance of the imperishable glory with which the dying statesman had irradiated, not only his country, but the dynasty that ruled it, the prescience with which he had pro- tested at every stage against the measures that had ruined it, the lofty patriotism which, amid many failings and some follies, had never ceased to animate his career appealed in the strongest manner to every sensitive and noble nature. Lord North showed on the occasion the good-feeling and generosity which never failed to distinguish him when he was able to act upon his own impulses ; and Burke, though he had long and deeply disliked Chatham, combined with Fox in paying an elo- quent tribute to his memory. The vote of a public funeral and monument, and a Bill paying the debts of the deceased statesman and annexing, for all future time, an annuity of 4,OOOZ. a year to the title of Chatham, were carried almost unanimously through Parliament. Beneath this decorous appearance, however, we may trace some very different feelings, and there were those who looked with indiiference, if not with pleasure, on the death of Chatham. When he was struck down by the fatal fit the King wrote curtly and coldly to North, ' May not the political exit of Lord Chatham incline you to continue at the head of affairs ? ' When Parlia- ment a little later voted a public funeral for the most illustrious of English statesmen, the King wrote, ' I was rather surprised the House of Commons have unani- mously voted an address for a public funeral and a monument in Westminster Abbey for Lord Chatham, "but I trust it is voted as a testimony of gratitude for 356 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. HII. his rousing the nation at the beginning of the last war ... or this compliment, if paid to his general conduct, is rather an offensive measure to me personally.' When the funeral took place it was observed that all persons connected with the Court were conspicuously absent. 1 Among the politicians of the Opposition also there were some who looked upon the removal of Chatham in a very similar spirit. The Duke of Portland, who at a later period became the head of the Whig connection, wrote to Buckingham declining, on the plea of private business, and in terms that are singularly disgraceful both to his head and heart, to be present at the funeral of Chatham. * I feel no inducement,' he wrote, * to attend the ceremony this morning, but the pleasure of meeting you.' He approved of the conduct of Lord Rockingham in attending the funeral, but added a sen- tence, which is peculiarly painful as showing the opinion of the man to whom, beyond all others, Chatham was attached by the warmest personal and political friendship. ' Lord Camden might possibly not be much mistaken in considering Lord Chatham's death as a fortunate event.' 2 Chatham, indeed, though in his own family he was one of the most amiable of men, and though in the country at large he was the object of an almost adoring affection, never had the power of attach- ing to himself real private friends. Camden and Shel- burne were the two statesmen to whom he appears to have given his fullest confidence, but Camden considered his death a fortunate event, and Shelburne, in his posthu- mous memoir, did the utmost in his power to blacken his memory. 1 Correspondence of George of Chatham, which Lord Stan- III. with Lord North, ii. 171, hope prints from the Grafton 184-186. papers, Camden speaks some- 2 Albemarle's Life of Bock- what more feelingly on the sub- ingham, ii. 356, 357. In a letter ject. See, too, the Chatham written immediately after the fit Correspondence, iv. 519-528. en. xni. ENGLISH OPINION ON THE WAR. 357 His death, though it gave substantial unity to the Opposition, no doubt on the whole strengthened the Government. By far the greatest name opposed to it was removed, and nearly the whole Opposition now advocated the concession of complete American independence, for which the country was most cer- tainly as yet not prepared. The declaration of France aroused the indignation of the nation and changed the sentiments ol many. Perhaps the class among whom the Americans had hitherto found the warmest and most uncompromising friends were the Presby- terians of Ulster, and a letter from Buckingham, the Lord Lieutenant, written immediately after the new war had become inevitable, asserts that ' by accounts received from very good authority, the idea of a French war has not only altered the language but the disposition of the Presbyterians.' 1 In England, too, many who had refused to regard the Americans as enemies, determined, as a matter of patriotism, to rally round the Government, now that a foreign en- emy was in the field. 2 The militia were called out ; some great noblemen undertook to raise regiments. The old spirit of international rivalry, the old self- confidence, and the old pugnacity were fully stirred, and the nation prepared with a thrill of not unjoyful enthusiasm to encounter its old enemy. 3 In America the intervention of France speedily changed the conditions of the war. Philadelphia, though it had so lately been the seat of the Revolu- tionary Congress, never appears to have shown any restlessness under the English occupation. There were, no doubt, many Whigs among the young men, and a 1 Buckingham to Weymouth ii. 232, 233. (Private), March 29, 1778. 3 See Lady Minto's Life of MSS., Record Office. Hugh Elliot, pp. 142-145. 2 See Walpole's Last Journals, 358 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. en. xm. portion of the population had emigrated, but there appears to have been no popular movement against the English, no difficulty in supplying them with all that they required, no necessity for any military measures of exceptional stringency, no signs of that genuine dislike which had been so abundantly displayed at Boston. The English officers were received in the best society with much more than toleration, and they soon became extremely popular. The winter during which the forces of W ashington remained half -starved at Yalley Forge, and in which their commander com- plained so bitterly of the sullen or hostile attitude of the population, was long remembered in Phila- delphia for its gaiety and its charm. In May, 1778, a more than commonly splendid festival was given by the English officers in honour of Sir William Howe, who was just leaving America, and of his brother. It was called the Mischianza, and comprised a mag- nificent tournament, a regatta, a ball, and a great dis- play of fireworks, with innumerable emblems and exhibitions of loyalty to England. It brought to- gether one of the most brilliant assemblages ever known of the youth, beauty, and fashion of Phila- delphia, and it was afterwards remembered that the unfortunate Major Andre was one of the most prom- inent in organising the entertainment, and that the most admired of the Philadelphian beauties who adorned it was Miss Shippen, soon after to become the wife of Benedict Arnold. 1 1 Many curious particulars Jones's History has preserved a about the Mischianza will be remarkably pretty poem by a found in Arnold's Life of Bene- Philadelphian lady describing diet Arnold, pp. 224-227, and the charm of the English occu- Jones's Hist, of New York, i. pation of that town. Some in- 241-251, 716-720. A pen-and- teresting letters describing Phila- ink sketch of Miss Shippen in delphia in the summer of 1778, the Mischianza, drawn by Andre, written by Eden the Commis- is still preserved. The editor of sioner and by his wife, will be CH. xin. PHILADELPHIA EVACUATED. 359 Very soon, however, the aspect of affairs was changed, and in June, 1778, Clinton, in consequence of express orders from England, evacuated Philadelphia, and prepared to fall back on ISTew York. The blow was a terrible one, and no less than 3,000 of the in- habitants went into banishment with the British army. 1 The Delaware was crowded with ships bearing broken- hearted fugitives who had left nearly all they possessed, and of those who remained many were banished or imprisoned by the Americans. The retreat was ef- fected without much difficulty, though the Americans tried to impede it, and fought a battle with that object at Monmouth. In July, Count D'Estaing arrived on; the coast with a French fleet of twelve ships of the line, four frigates, and about 4,000 French soldiers. He had hoped to find Lord Howe's fleet still in the Delaware, where it had gone to co-operate with the army in Philadelphia, and as that fleet was less than half the size of his own, it would in this case scarcely have escaped. The English, however, were already at New York, and D'Estaing followed them there ; but though he for a time blockaded, he did not at- tempt to force the harbour. The French had for a few weeks a complete command of the sea, and by the advice of Washington an attempt was made to cap- ture, or annihilate, the British force which had occu- pied Rhode Island since December, 1776, and which now amounted to about 6,000 men. An American force of 10,000 men, consisting partly of a section found in Lady Minto's Life of quietness of the town, that you Hugh Elliot, pp. 173-178. Mrs. are not in a city perfectly at Eden writes : ' I found the ac- peace and at ease. As to se- count we had heard of so much curity, I feel quite as safe here apparent distress in the town as if I was in my own dressing- perfectly false ; indeed it is quite room in Downing Street,' p. 17G. impossible to believe by the l Ibid. p. 177. people's faces and the extreme 3 GO ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. en. xnr. of the army of Washington and partly of militia and volunteers raised in New England, was placed under the command of General Sullivan, and it succeeded on August 9 in landing on the island. The French fleet had a few days before forced its way into Newport harbour and obliged the English to burn several transports and warships in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. The operations of the French and Americans ap- pear, however, to have been badly combined, and they ended in complete and somewhat ignominious failure. Four ships of the line the first ships of a fleet sent from England under Admiral Byron had just joined Lord Howe, who hastened, though still inferior to the French, to encounter them, when a great storm separated and dispersed the rival fleets, and greatly injured some of the French ships. To the extreme indignation of the Americans, and in spite of an angry written protest by Sullivan, the French admiral refused to pursue the enterprise, and withdrew his ships under the shelter of the batteries of Boston. Between two and three thousand of the troops of Sullivan at once deserted, and it was with much difficulty, and after some hard fighting, that the remainder succeeded in effecting their retreat. 1 Clinton, with 4,000 men, had 1 The deep disappointment of tainty of success rendered it a Washington appears clearly in matter of rejoicing, to get our his letter to his brother. ' An own troops safe off the island, unfortunate storm (so it ap- If the garrison of that place, con- p eared, and yet ultimately it sisting of nearly 6,000 men, had may have happened for the been captured, as there was in best), and some measures taken appearance at least a hundred in consequence of it by the to one in favour of it, it would French admiral, perhaps un- have given the finishing blow to avoidably blasted in one moment British pretensions of sovereignty the fairest hopes that ever were over this country.' Washing- conceived, and from a moral cer- ton's Works, vi. 68, 69. CH. xm. CAPTURE OF SAVANNAH. 361 hastened to the relief of Rhode Island, but owing to adverse winds he arrived just too late, and returned to New York. Several small expeditions, however, were made, and the war on the part of the English was in 1YY8 carried on with energy and success, but sometimes with great harshness and barbarity. They destroyed two or three little naval towns which had been conspicuous resorts of American privateers, burnt numerous houses and great quantities of shipping, and carried away much cattle and large stores of arms. They surprised by a night attack a regiment of light cavalry in New Jersey, and also a email brigade under Count Pulaski, and they almost cut them to pieces, little or no quarter being given. A more considerable expedition was sent to Georgia, where the loyalist feeling had always been very strong, and it speedily captured Savannah, the capital of the province, and drove the American troops into South Carolina. The inhabitants of Georgia for the most part gladly took the oath of allegiance ; many of them bore arms in the service of the Crown, and a State legislature acknowledging the royal authority was once more established in the province. Some predatory guerilla war was carried on with various success along the borders of Florida, and a very hor- rible Indian war raged near the Susquehanna. The desolation of the new and nourishing settlement of Wyoming by 900 Indians, accompanied by about 200 loyalists under Colonel John Butler, has furnished the subject of a well-known poem by Campbell. It was accompanied by all those circumstances of murder, torture, and outrage that usually followed Indian war- fare, and about three months later it was terribly avenged by some Pennsylvanian troops under another Colonel Butler. In November D'Estaing sailed from Boston, quickly followed by an English fleet, to carry the war into the West Indies. 362 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin. The rapid growth of the navy of France was the most alarming feature of the year, but on the whole the English appeared still to hold their accustomed pre-eminence in seamanship. It was feared that the sudden outbreak of the war with France would lead to the destruction of a great part of the British commerce which was now afloat, but these fears were not realised. By sound seamanship, by good fortune, and by the neglect of the enemy, an important fleet of merchant- men from the East Indies, another from Lisbon, and a third from Jamaica, all arrived in safety, 1 while English privateers swept every sea with their usual enterprise and success. It was computed that by the end of 1778 the Americans alone had lost not less than 900 vessels. 2 The internal dissensions, and the great want of any efficient organisation which had hitherto impaired the American enterprises, continued unabated. At the end of 1777 there was a long and bitter cabal against Washington by Generals Gates, Mifiin, and Conway, supported by some members of Congress, and forged letters attributed to Washington were printed and widely disseminated. Lee, who had now been ex- changed and again put at the head of an American army, was removed from his command by court-martial on account of his disobedience to Washington at the battle of Monmouth, followed by disrespectful language to his chief. An extreme jealousy of the army was one of the strongest feelings of Congress, and a long and painful dispute took place with the cornmander-in-chief about the wisdom of providing half-pay for the Ameri- can officers when the war was over. In some very re- markable and well-reasoned letters, Washington urged its absolute necessity. ' Men may speculate,' he wrote, ' as they will ; they may talk of patriotism ; they may Walpole's Last Journals, ii. 289-292. 2 Hildreth, iii.241. CH. xin. AMERICAN HALF-PAY. 363 draw a few examples from ancient stories of great achievements performed by its influence ; but whoever builds upon them as a sufficient basis for conducting a long and bloody war, will find himself deceived in the end. ... I know patriotism exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest ; but I will venture to assert that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest or some reward/ In the Eng- lish army commissions were so valuable that companies had lately been sold for from 1,500Z. to 2,200Z., and 4,000 guineas had been given for a troop of dragoons. In America all prices had risen to such a point through the depreciated currency, that it was scarcely possible for an American officer to live upon his pay, and he had nothing to look forward to when his service had ex- pired. The result of this state of things was abund- antly seen in * the frequent defection of officers seduced by views of private interest and emolument to abandon the cause of their country,' * Scarce a day passes with- out the offer of two or three commissions,' and ' num- bers who had gone home on furlough mean not to return, but are establishing themselves in more lucra- tive employments/ ' The salvation of the cause,' Washington solemnly avowed, depends on the estab- lishment of some system of half-pay, and without it the * officers will moulder to nothing, or be composed of low and illiterate men void of capacity for this or any other business/ ' The large fortunes acquired by num- bers out of the army afford a contrast that gives poign- ancy to every inconvenience from remaining in it/ But for the sudden prospect of a speedy termination of the war given by the French alliance, Washington doubted whether in the beginning of 1779 America would have ' more than the shadow of an army/ and in spite of that alliance he believed that few officers 364 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ca. si ii. could or would remain on the present establishment. 1 A compromise was at last effected in 1778 by which the officers who served to the end of the war were to receive half-pay for seven years, and the common soldiers who served to the end of the war a gratuity of 80 dollars. 2 The enlistments, as usual, continued very slow. Scarcely a third part of the men voted by the different states actually came in, and it was found necessary to take extraordinary measures to obtain recruits. In the beginning -of the war a few free negroes had been ad- mitted into the army of Washington, and in 1778 a regiment of slaves was raised in Rhode Island. They were promised their freedom at the close of the war, and the owners were compensated for their loss. The negroes proved excellent soldiers ; in a hard-fought battle that secured the retreat of Sullivan they three times drove back a large body of Hessians, and during the latter years of the war large numbers of slaves were enlisted in several states. 3 Some recruits were also drawn from another and a much more shameful source. The convention of Saratoga had explicitly provided that the captive army of Burgoyne should without delay be sent to Boston, and should there be met by English transports and embarked for England, on the condition that it should not serve in North America during the existing war. This article was naturally disliked by the Congress, as it allowed the English troops to be employed either in home garrisons or in foreign service, except in America, and it was deliberately and most dis- honourably violated. The keen legal gentlemen who 1 Washington's Works, v. 305, See Historical Notes on the 812, 313, 322, 323, 328, 351 ; vi. Employment of Negroes in the 168. American Army, by George H, 8 Hildreth, iii. 245. Moore. CH. xin. THE VIOLATED CONVENTION. 365 directed the proceedings of Congress had no difficulty in discovering pretexts, though they were so flimsy that it is difficult to understand how any upright man could for a moment have admitted them. Something was said about a deficiency in the number of cartouche boxes surrendered, but the ground ultimately taken was an expression in a letter of General Burgoyne. Shortly after the surrender six or seven English officers had been crowded together in one room without any distinction of rank, contrary to the 7th article of the convention, and Burgoyne, in remonstrating against the proceeding, had incautiously used the expression, ' the public faith is broken.' This, the Congress main- tained, was equivalent to a repudiation of the conven- tion by one of its signers. Burgoyne at once wrote disclaiming any such intention, and he formally pledged himself that his officers would join with him in signing any instrument that was thought necessary for confirm- ing the convention, and removing all possible doubt of its being binding upon the English Government. The Congress, however, pretended to be unsatisfied, and re- solved to detain the English troops ' till a distinct and explicit ratification of the convention of Saratoga be pro- perly notified by the Court of Great Britain to Congress.' No such ratification could be obtained for several months, and it was doubtful whether the English would consent to it, as it involved a recognition of the Congress, and was at the same time absolutely without necessity, according to the terms of the con- vention. The commissioners, however, who came to America in 1778 with the fullest powers to negotiate on the part of the King and Parliament, offered to re- new the convention ; and Sir H. Clinton subsequently sent to the Congress instructions from the English Secretary of State authorising him expressly to demand a fulfilment of its terms, and, if required, to ratify in 366 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xin. the King's name all the conditions stipulated in it ; but the Congress still refused to release the prisoners, who were thus by an act of barefaced treachery detained in America for several years. 1 After a time, many of them were persuaded to enlist in the American army, and Massachusetts appears to have especially employed them as substitutes for her own citizens, who refused to serve. Washington strongly censured this practice, which was as impolitic as it was dishonourable, for many of the captive soldiers only joined the American army in order to escape, and soon found themselves again under their own flag, where, under the very peculiar circumstances of the case, they were gladly welcomed. 2 On the part of the English there were manifest signs of a fiercer spirit and a harsher policy than had hitherto been pursued, and a very bad impression was made by some sentences in the address issued by the English Commissioners before they left the continent after their unsuccessful mission. While making wide offers of pardon and reconciliation to the separate states and to all individuals who renewed their allegiance to the Crown, they added that hitherto the English had as much as possible ' checked the extremes of war, when they tended to distress a people still considered as our fellow-subjects and to desolate a country shortly to become again a source of mutual advantage.' By throw- ing themselves into the arms of the natural enemy of England, the Americans had changed the nature of the contest, 'and the question is, how far Great Britain may by every means in her power destroy or render 1 Eamsay, ii. 56, 57 ; Stedman, United States, iii. 237, 255,256), ii. 56, 57. That excellent and which is much more honourable most impartial American his- to his countrymen than the torian, Mr. Hildreth, has related laboured apologies of Mr. Ban- the circumstances of this trans- croft. action with a severe and simple 2 Washington's Works, v. 287 truthfulness (History of the 346, 317. en. mi. CHARGES AGAINST THE ENGLISH. 367 useless a connection contrived for her ruin and for the aggrandisement of France. Under such circumstances the laws of self-preservation must direct the conduct of Great Britain ; and if the British colonies are to become an accession to France, will direct her to render that accession of as little avail as possible to her enemy/ 1 It is extremely difficult amidst the enormous exagge- rations propagated by the American press to ascertain how far the English in this contest really exceeded the ordinary rights of war. It was the manifest interest of the revolutionary party to aggravate their misdeeds to the utmost, both for the purpose of inflaming the very languid passions of their own people and of arousing the indignation of Europe, and much was said in the excitement of the contest which seems singularly absurd when judged in the dispassionate light of history. George III. was habitually represented as a second Nero. The Howes who, whatever may have been their other faults, were certainly free from the smallest tendency towards inhumanity were ranked * in the annals of infamy' with Pizarro, Alva, and Borgia. There were proposals for striking medals representing on one side the atrocities committed by the English, and on the other the admirable actions of the Americans for depicting British barbarities upon the common coins, for introducing them as illustrations into school- books in order to educate the American youth into un- dying hatred of England. 2 If we put aside the Indian wars, it does not appear to me that anything was done in America that was not very common in European wars, but there were undoubtedly many acts committed for which the English had deep reason to be ashamed. 1 Stedman, ii. 60, 61. i. 500-507 ; iii. 107, 127, 128. 2 See Moore's Diary of the Adam's Familiar Letters, pp. American War, passim. Ameri- 258, 259, 266. can Diplomatic Correspondence, 868 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. *m. Owing apparently to a want of management or proper organisation, the American prisoners who had been con- fined in New York and Fort Washington after the battle at Long Island were so emaciated and broken down by scandalous neglect or ill-usage that Washing- ton refused to receive them in exchange for an equal number of healthy British and Hessian troops. 1 There were numerous instances of plunder and burning of private houses brought home to the British soldiers or to their German allies ; and several small towns were deliberately burnt because they had fired on the British soldiers, because they had become active centres of privateering, or because they contained stores and maga- zines that might be useful to the American army. In the horrible tragedy at Wyoming the English do not appear to have been directly concerned, but some American loyalists took part in, or prompted its worst atrocities, and the hatred between the loyalists and the Whigs became continually stronger. The former were being rapidly driven to despair. The wholesale con- fiscation of their properties; their shameful abandon- ment on many occasions by the British troops; the innumerable insults and injuries inflicted on them by their own countrymen ; and the almost certain prospect that England must sooner or later relinquish America, had rendered their position intolerable. The Congress, by a resolution passed in December 1777, ordered that all loyalists taken in arms in the British service should be sent to the States to which they belonged to suffer the penalties inflicted by the laws of such States against traitors. 2 When Philadelphia was reoccupied by the Americans, Washington vainly desired that pardon should be granted to such loyalists as consented to remain 1 See Washington's Works, i. 240, 241 ; iv. 380-386, 557-559. Ibid. v. 308, 309. CH. xin. AMERICAN ACTS OF HUMANITY. 369 in the town, but no such proposition was listened to. Two Quaker gentlemen of considerable position in Phila- delphia, who were convicted of having actively assisted the English during the period of the occupation, were hanged ; and twenty-three others were brought to trial but acquitted. It is, however, but justice to the Americans to add that, except in their dealings with their loyal fellow- countrymen, their conduct during the war appears to have been almost uniformly humane. No charges of neglect of prisoners, like those which were brought, apparently with too good reason, against the English were substantiated against them. The conduct of Washington was marked by a steady and careful humanity, and Franklin also appears to have done much to mitigate the war. It was noticed by Burke, that when a great storm desolated the West Indian Islands in 1780, Franklin issued orders that provision-ships should pass unmolested to the British as well as to the other isles, while the English thought this a proper time to send an expedition against St. Vincent's, to recover it from the French. 1 In the instructions which Franklin gave to Paul Jones in 1779, he ordered him not to follow the English example of burning defenceless towns, except in cases where ' a reasonable ransom is refused,' and even then to give such timely notice as would enable the inhabitants to remove the women and children, the sick and the aged. 2 In the same year he issued directions to all American captains who might encounter the great nagivator, Captain Cook, not only not to molest him, but to give him every assistance in their power as a benefactor to the whole human race. 3 1 Parl. Hist. xxii. 220. 3 Ibid. pp. 67, 68. It must be 2 American Diplomatic Corre- admitted, however, that as early spondence, iii. 78. as 1777 both Franklin and Deane 370 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CM. xiii. The relations of the Americans with their new allies were by no means untroubled. In the army the jealousy between the American and the foreign officers was extreme. Even Washington was once tempted to express a wish that there was not a single foreigner in the army except Lafayette, 1 and some of the strongest feelings of the American population were shocked by the alliance with the French. The New Englanders had always been taught to regard France as a natural enemy, and they were Protestants of Protestants. Con- gress, having very lately expressed its unbounded horror at the encouragement by England of Popery in Canada, had now allied itself with the leading Catholic power against the leading Protestant power of Europe. Very bitter indignation was felt and expressed at the conduct of Count D'Estaing in retiring from Khode Island, and it needed all the tact and unvarying mode- ration of Washington to prevent at this time an open outbreak. At Boston and at Charleston there were violent riots between the French sailors and the popu- lace, and several lives were lost. had given their full approbation in Connecticut and Virginia. In to projects that were entertained 1779 Congress ordered the marine of burning and plundering Liver- committee to take measures for pool and Glasgow (ibid. i. 92, 298). burning and destroying towns be- I have already noticed the Ameri- longing to the enemy in Great can proposals for burning New Britain and the West Indies as a York and desolating the surround- measure of retaliation, but thia ing country (supra, pp. 356, 357), order was never carried into effect and Lee strongly recommended (Adolphus, iii. 59). Lord Corn- the burning of Philadelphia in wallis asserts that the Ameri- 1776. (Moore's Treason of Charles cans treated their prisoners in Lee, p. 69.) Washington contem- S. Carolina with an ' inhumanity plated burning Newport, the scarcely credible,' and that seve- capital of Khode Island (Wash- ral were barbarously murdered ington's Works, vi. 373), but this (Cornwallis, Correspondence, i. was in order to dislodge an 67, 71), but these appear to have English army, and he was never been loyalists, guilty of such depredations as * Washington's Works, vi. 16, those perpetrated by the English 47. CH. xii j. THE FRENCH ALLIANCE. 371 The subsequent departure of the French squadron for the West Indies was deemed a proof that France was only regarding her own interests in the contest. A plan of again invading Canada with a combined force of French and Americans was propounded by Lafayette in 1778, and was warmly espoused by many members of Congress, but Washington, in a most re- markable secret letter, warned them of its extreme political danger. The French, he said, had no doubt bound themselves by the treaty of alliance not to re- gain any of the territory in America which they had abandoned at the Peace of Paris, but if a large body of French troops found themselves in possession of the capital of the province which had so lately belonged to France, and which was bound to France by the ties of religion and race and old associations, was it likely that they would relinquish it? By keeping Canada France would gain a vast commerce, absolute command of the Newfoundland fishery, the finest nursery of sea- men in the world, complete security for her own islands, and what, perhaps, she would value not less, a perma- nent control over the United States. If, as seemed probable, France and Spain would soon combine to destroy the naval power of England, they would be without a rival on the sea, and France could always pour troops into Canada, which would make all resist- ance by the Americans hopeless. In such case, America might again seek to be united with England, but she would find that England, if she had the disposition, would not have the power to help her. Nor was it difficult for the French to find a pretext for holding Canada, for they might treat it as a pledge or surety for the large sums for which America was already in- debted to France. 1 Washington's Works, pp. 106-110. 372 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xm. These arguments had probably a considerable weight with Congress, and the projected invasion was aban- doned. The secret instructions, however, furnished by the French Government to Gerard, their minister in America, have of late years been laid before the public, and they show that France not only had no intention of taking possession of Canada, but also that she was determined as far as possible to discourage all attempts of the Americans to invade it. The possession of Canada and Nova Scotia by the English, and, if it could be attained, the possession of the whole or part of Florida by the Spaniards, would, in the opinion of the French ministers, be eminently favourable to French interests, for it would keep the American States in a condition of permanent debility and anxiety, and would, therefore, .make them value more highly the friendship and al- liance of France. So important did this consideration appear to Vergennes, that he assured the French am- bassador at Madrid of his perfect readiness to guarantee to England her dominion over Canada and Nova Scotia. 1 The folly of continuing the war after the French alliance had been declared, was keenly felt not only by the English Opposition and by continental Europe, but even by Lord North himself; but the determination of the King, and the pride that would relinquish no part of the British Empire, still prevailed, and sanguine hopes 1 * Les deputes du Congres cipe utile d'inquietude et de vigi- avaient propos6 au roi de preiidre lance pour les Americains, qui 1'engagement de favoriserla con- leur fera sentir davantage tout ie quete que les Americains entre- besoin qu'ils ont de 1'alliance et prendraient du Canada, de la de Pamitie du roi ; il n'est pas Nouvelle-Ecosse et des Morides, de son interei de le detruire.' et il y a lieu de croire que le See the instructions to Gerard projet tient fort a coeur au Con- in Circourt's translation of Ban- gres. Mais le roi a consider^ croft, De faction commune de la que la possession de ces trois France et de VAmerigue, iii. 259. contrees, ou au moins du Canada, See, too, pp. 307, 311, 312. par 1'Angleterre, serait un prin- en. xiii. DEKANGEMENT OF THE CURRENCY. 373 were entertained that American resistance might even now speedily collapse. 1 Nor were those hopes without some real foundation. In May 1778 Washington him- self expressed his fear that ' a blow at our main army, if successful, would have a wonderful effect upon the minds of a number of people still wishing to embrace the present terms, or indeed any terms, offered by Great Britain.' 2 Recruits, which were always obtained with great difficulty and in insufficient numbers, became still more rare as soon as there was a prospect of foreign assistance, and the depreciation of the continental cur- rency continued with an accelerated speed/ Nothing in the American Revolution is more curious than the obsti- nacy with which the several States, to the end of 1778, refused the urgent and repeated entreaties of Congress to impose some serious taxation in order to meet the enormou s expenses of the war. 3 Whether it was timidity, or indifference, or parsimony may be difficult to say, but Congress everywhere met with a refusal, and the conse- quent derangement of the currency steadily grew, and in reality imposed far more serious loss than the heaviest 1 A certain Captain Blankett, of it for the support of America from the Victory (May 31, 1778), in one coffee-house in Paris than forwarded to Shelburne an ab- is to be found in the whole con- stract of an intercepted letter of tinent. The Americans are averse a French engineer giving his im- to war from a habit of indolence pressions of the state of things at and equality. Their antipathy this time prevailing in America. to the French is very great.' He thought that the Americans Lansdowne Papers, British Mu~ owed their success much more to seum, Add. MSS. 24131, p. 29. English blunders than to them- There is an admirably impartial selves, and that if Howe had fol- and powerful summary of the lowed up his victory at Brandy- arguments of the ministers to wine, the whole American army show that America must soon would have been dispersed. 'Each collapse, in the Annual Register, State,' he writes, ' is jealous of the 1779, p. 106. other. The spirit of enthusiasm 2 Washington's Works, v. 350. in defence of liberty does not ex- 8 See Bolles's Financial His* ist among them ; there is more tory, pp. 193-198, 374 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xm. taxation. But for the large sums of money which France annually sent, the struggle could hardly have continued, and already to those brave men who still continued to serve their country in the field without entering into questionable speculations, life was fast becoming almost impossible. Washington wrote in October 1778 that the most puny horses for military purposes cost at least 200Z., a saddle 30Z. or 40Z. ; boots 201 ; flour sold at different places from 5L to 15L per hundredweight ; hay from 101. to 30Z. per ton, and other essentials in the same proportion. 1 Six months later Mrs. Adams wrote to her husband that all butchers' meat was from a dollar to eight shillings per Ib. ; corn 25 dollars a bushel; butter and sugar both 12s. a Ib. ; a common cow from 601. to 701.; labour six or eight dollars a day. 2 * Unless extortion, forestalling, and other practices which have crept in and become exceedingly prevalent and injurious to the common cause, can meet with proper checks,' wrote Washington, * we must inevitably sink under such a load of accumulated oppression.' 3 The evil was a growing one, and in the last month of 1778, when the French alliance and the immediate prospect of a Spanish alliance appeared to make the triumph of America a certainty, Washington was writing in a tone of extreme despondency : * Our affairs are in a more distressed, ruinous, and deplorable condition than they have been since the commencement of the war ; ' ' the common interests of America are mouldering and sinking into irretrievable ruin if a remedy is not soon applied.' 4 1 Washington's Works, vi. 80. Americans here is the most ex- 2 Adams's Familiar Letters, travagant. All the infernal arts p. 361. of stockjobbing, all the vora- Washington's Works, vi. 91. cious avarice of merchants have 4 Ibid. p. 151. The evil was mingled themselves with Ameri- not confined to the Americans can politics here.' Familiaf at home. Adams writing from Letters, p. 356. Pa sey says : ' The delirium among CH. x:ii. ESTIMATE OF THE REVOLUTION. 375 A feeling very much of the same kind was begin- ning to press upon the mind of the French Minister, who was now the main support of the American cause. Two confidential letters written by Vergennes to the French ambassador at Madrid, in November 1778, are very curious, as showing that the closer view which the al- liance had given him of the character, dispositions, and circumstances of the American people had profoundly disappointed him. With a little more energy England, he was convinced, might have totally suppressed the revolt, and even now, and in spite of the active inter- vention of France, he had great fears lest the whole edifice of American Independence should crumble into dust. 1 In truth the American people, though in general un- bounded believers in progress, are accustomed, through a kind of curious modesty, to do themselves a great in- justice by the extravagant manner in which they idealise their past. It has almost become a commonplace that the great nation which in our own day has shown such an admirable combination of courage, devotion, and humanity in its gigantic civil war, and which since that time has so signally falsified the predictions of its ene- mies, and put to shame all the nations of Europe by its 1 'C'estgratuitementqu'onvoit republique, s'ils n'en corrigent dans le peuple nouveau une race pas les vices, ce qui me parait de conquerants. . . . Malgre le tres difficile . . . ne sera jamaia grand attachement qne le peuple qu'un corps faible et susceptible et. meme les chefs temoignent de bien peu d'activite. Si les pour leur independance, je sou- Anglais en avaient mis davan- haite que leur Constance ne les tage, ce colosse apparent serait abandonne pas avant qu'ils en actuellement plus sournis qu'il aient obtenu la reconnaissance. ne 1'avait jamais ete. Dieu f asse Je commence a n'avoir plus une que cela n'arrive pas encore. Je si grande opinion de leur fermete, vous avoue que je n'ai qu'une parce que celle que j'avais de faible confiance dans 1'energie leurs talents, de leurs vues et de des Etats-Unis.' Circourt, iii. leur amour patriotique s'affaiblit 312-314. & mesure que je m'eclaire.' ' Leur 26 376 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiti. unparalleled efforts in paying off its national debt, is of a far lower moral type than its ancestors at the time of the War of Independence. This belief appears to me essentially false. The nobility and beauty of the cha- racter of Washington can indeed hardly be surpassed ; several of the other leaders of the Revolution were men of ability and public spirit, and few armies have ever shown a nobler self-devotion than that which remained with Washington through the dreary winter at Valley Forge. But the army that bore those sufferings was a very small one, and the general aspect of the American people during the contest was far from heroic or sub- lime. 1 The future destinies and greatness of the Eng- lish race must necessarily rest mainly with the mighty nation which has arisen beyond the Atlantic, and that nation may well afford to admit that its attitude during the brief period of its enmity to England has been very 1 The following very emphatic is the want of everything, are passage is from a letter of "Wash- but secondary considerations and ington from Philadelphia, Dec. postponed from day to day, from 30, 1778 : ' If I were called upon week to week, as if our affairs to draw a picture of the times wore the most promising aspect. and of men from what I have . . . Our money is now sinking seen, heard, and in part know, I 50 per cent, a day in this city, should in one word say that idle- and I shall not be surprised if in ness, dissipation, and extrava- the course of a few months a gance seem to have laid fast hold total stop is put to the currency of most of them ; that specula- of it ; and yet an assembly, a tion, peculation, and an insatiable concert, a dinner, or supper, will thirst for riches seem to have got not only take men off from acting the better of every other con- in this business, but even from sideration and almost of every thinking of it ; while a great part order of men ; that party dis- of the officers of our army from putes and personal quarrels are absolute necessity are quitting the great business of the day; the service, and the more vir- whilst the momentous concerns tuous few, rather than do this, of an empire, a great and accu- are sinking by sure degrees into mulating debt, ruined finances, beggary and want.' Washing, depreciated money and want of ton's Works, vi. 151, 152. credit, which in its consequencer en. xin. ESTIMATE OF THE REVOLUTION. 377 unduly extolled. At the same time, the historian of that period would do the Americans a great injustice if he judged them only by the revolutionary party, and failed to recognise how large a proportion of their best men had no sympathy with the movement. 378 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. CH. xiv. CHAPTEE III. 1 THE PEOGEESS OF THE CONFLICT WITH thirteen colonies in revolt, with France and Spain leagued against her, with Holland already show- ing signs of hostility, and without a single ally in the world, the position of England seemed nearly desper- ate. But, although she had for a time lost the empire of the sea, and was outnumbered and overpowered even in her own Channel, yet the admirable seaman- ship of her sailors was still cons pic nous. Great num- bers of valuable French and Spanish merchantmen were in different parts of the globe captured by Eng- lish cruisers, while the English traders, for the most part, escaped. Just before the combined fleets en- tered the Channel, a fleet of merchantmen from the West Indies, consisting of one hundred and twenty- five sail, and valued at no less than four millions, ar- rived in safety ; and almost immediately after the hostile fleet had left the English coast, another fleet from the East Indies was equally successful. 2 A far more enterprising seaman than those who guided the French and Spanish fleets was, however, at this time hovering around the British coasts. Paul Jones, the most daring and successful of the American corsairs, was by birth a Scotchman. He had been on sea since his twelfth year, had been for some time engaged in the slave trade, and had settled down in Virginia in 1773. He was the first man to raise the flag of independence on the Delaware, and in 1777 he had a roving commission in a ship called the ' Ranger.' 1 Chapter XIV. Lecky's His- 2 Stedman, ii. 163. Corre- tory of England in the Eighteenth spondcnce of George III. with Century. l^ord North, ii. 275. CH. xiv. PAUL JONES. 379 In 1778 he made a descent upon the town of White- haven, set fire to the shipping, took two forts, spiked thirty pieces of cannon, and plundered the house of Lord Selkirk, near Kirkcudbright. In 1779 he was placed at the head of a small squadron which had been fitted up at Port L' Orient, and which consisted of three ships carrying respectively 40, 36, and 32 guns, with two smaller vessels. In the beginning of August he was hanging around the coast of Kerry, and making frequent descents, 1 and in the following month he appeared near the mouth of the Humber. Soon after, he succeeded in intercepting a large fleet of merchant- men from the Baltic, which was convoyed by the 4 Serapis,' a ship of 44 guns, under Captain Pierson, and the i Countess of Scarborough,' commanded by Captain Piercy, a ship of 20 guns. A desperate fight ensued, which lasted for between two and three hours. For some time the hostile ships lay so close together that the muzzles of their guns touched. The ships 011 both sides were almost torn to pieces, and much more than half of their crews killed or wounded. At length, the English ships of war, being almost sinking, were obliged to surrender, but the merchant fleet they had convoyed escaped safely to shore. 2 * In America, and especially in the Northern prov- inces, the war was very languid. On the side of the Americans financial ruin was rapidly advancing. In this single year more than 140 millions of paper dol- lars were thrown into circulation. 3 The depreciation was soon at least 20 to 1, and voices were already heard proposing to correct the evil with the sponge. 4 1 This is mentioned in a letter 4 Washington's Works, vi. 331, from Lord Buckingham. J//S y . 332. Washington himself ex- Record Office. perienced in this year the* dis- 2 See the Life of Paul Jones, honesty of debtors paying off old by J. II. Sherburiie. Stedrnau, debts in paper. Washington's ii. 163-165. Works, vi. 321, 322. 3 Bolles, 88. 380 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. CE. xiv. The old difficulty of procuring recruits was now greatly aggravated, and late in the spring of 1779 the whole continental army, exclusive of a few troops in the Southern provinces, amounted to only 16,000 men. 1 Officers found it impossible to live on their pay. An additional bounty of 200 dollars was offered by Con- gress to all who would serve in the continental army for the whole duration of the war ; but it was paid in depreciated paper, and it was far exceeded by the bounties offered by the separate States, often for short periods of service. The interest of the war had in a great measure gone down since the European alliances, and in this, as in former periods, the letters of Wash- ington are full of those complaints of popular indiffer- ence and selfishness which make the history of the Amer- ican Revolution so monotonous and so depressing. 2 1 Hildreth, iii. 274. Wash- ington's Works, vi. 196, 198. Virginia offered a bounty of no less than 750 dollars, besides some land, to any soldier who would enlist for the war. In a letter on July 29, Washington says: 'Excepting about 400 re- cruits from the State *^>f Massa- chusetts Bay (a portion of whom, I am told, are children hired at about 1,500 dollars each for nine months' service), I have had no reinforcement to this army since last campaign.' Ibid. p. 312. In November 1779, he says: 'Our whole force, including all sorts of troops . . . supposing every man to have existed and to have been in service at that time [in Octo- ber] a point, however, totally inadmissible amounted to 27,- 098.' Ibid. p. 402. 3 Thus on May 8, 1779, he writes : ' The rapid decay of our currency, the extinction of public spirit, the increasing rapacity of the times, the want of harmony in our councils, the declining zeal of the people, the discontents and distresses of the officers of the army, and I may add the prevail- ing security and insensibility to danger, are symptoms in my eye of a most alarming nature. If the enemy have it in their power to press us hard this campaign, I know not what may be the consequence. Our army, as it now stands, is but little more than the skeleton of an army. I hear of no steps that are taking to give it strength and substance.' Ibid. p. 251. In a letter writ- ten ten days later to a friend he says: 'I have no scruple in de- claring to you that I have never yet seen the time in which our affairs in my opinion were at so low an ebb as at the present.' Ibid. p. 252. CH. xiv. DESTRUCTION OF AMERICAN TOWNS. 381 The English were for the most part concentrated at New York, and they had begun to fortify its approaches. The population of that town appear to have been in general thoroughly loyal, and, letters of marque having been issued, more than 150 prizes were in less than six months brought by loyalist privateers into New York harbour. 1 The garrison in Rhode Island was in the course of this year withdrawn, and the few inconsider- able isolated expeditions which were made with various success in the Northern provinces need not be related in detail. Two expeditions, however, must be specially noticed, for they proved that the threats of the Commis- sioners that the war would be carried on by the English in a harsher spirit were by no means idle. Governor Try on strongly represented to the English Government that ' vigorous and hostile depredations ' by small de- tachments sent from the army at New York would soon make America 4 call aloud for the settlement offered by the King's Commissioners,' 2 and in May 1779 an expe- dition, commanded by Sir George Collier and General Matthew, made a descent upon Virginia, burned or captured more than 130 vessels, destroyed nearly all the magazines, storehouses, and dockyards, over a large area, burnt every house in the little town of Suffolk ex- cept a church and one private dwelling-house, reduced many country-houses to ruin, and carried off or de- stroyed great quantities of tobacco and of provisions. About six weeks later a second expedition, in which 2,600 land troops were employed, under the personal command of Governor Try on, descended upon Connec- ticut. The little town of New Haven was given up to almost indiscriminate plunder. Fan-field, East Haven, and the nourishing town of Norwalk, were set fire to and wholly or partially destroyed, and an immense 1 Documents relating to the viii. 754, 757, 759. Colonial History of New York, 8 Ibid. 750. 382 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv. amount of property of many kinds was plundered or burned. The conduct of the British was only slightly palliated by the allegation that the dockyards which were ruined had been largely employed in fitting out privateers against the English navy, and that the little towns which were burnt had fired upon English troops. Yast numbers of peaceable and inoffensive persons who did not make the shadow of resista-nce were ruined and outraged, and the expeditions of the English were pro- bably much more efficacious in arousing indignation and in alienating loyalists than in intimidating the enemy. 1 It is worthy of notice that Baron Kalb, who had served through the whole of the Seven Years' War, and who was therefore not likely to feel any exaggerated sen- sitiveness about abuses of the rights of war, condemned in the most emphatic manner these proceedings of the English. 2 An American expedition under General Sullivan was, in the summer of 1779, directed with terrible effect against the Six nations the Indian tribes who inhabited the vast and fertile country between New England, the Middle States, and Canada. They had, with few exceptions, been steadily on the side of England, and they had committed some ravages and some very horrible murders. The Americans now, with scarcely any loss, reduced their whole country to a desert. The Indians had of late years made consid- erable steps in the path of prosperity and civilisation, and the invaders were surprised to find little towns of large and commodious houses, well -cultivated corn- fields and gardens, extensive orchards, and all the signs of a happy and flourishing people. In a few days 1 Ramsay. Stedman, ii. 136- a Sec the passages quoted in 139,142-144. Washington's Let- Greene's German Element in the ters, vi. 292, 293. See, too, p. American War of Independence, 208. pp. 151, 152. 1779. 383 little remained but charred and blackened ruins. Orchards which had been planted many years before, were deliberately cut down. The crops now rapidly approaching harvest were burnt to the stalk. Every human habitation was destroyed, and the whole people were driven in headlong flight to Niagara, more than one hundred miles from their former homes. A simi- lar war, carried on with similar ferocity by Colonel Brodhead, devastated the Indian country on the Alleghany, French Creek, and other waters of the Ohio above Fort Pitt, and famine, fire, and the sword almost extirpated, over great districts, the last descend- ants of the ancient rulers of the land. 1 The most important English expeditions of this year were in the Southern provinces. The brilliant successes of last year in Georgia, and the revelation of the loyalist feelings of its people, encouraged the Eng- lish to make the conquest of the Southern colonies, and especially of the Carolinas, a main object of their pol- icy, and the extreme alarm of Washington 2 is a strong indication that the policy was a wise one. In the Caro- linas there were large numbers of Germans, Dutch, and Quakers who took but little interest in the war, and the remaining population was very heterogeneous and divided. The reins of power in this, as in other provinces, had fallen into the hands of the revolution- ary classes ; but England had many friends among the rich and in the trading classes, and there was a large Scotch settlement which was enthusiastically loyal. The Irish Presbyterians, on the other hand, appear to have been everywhere bitterly anti-English, and outside New England it is probable that they did more of the real fighting of the Revolution than any other 1 Ramsay, li. 145, 148. Wash- 384. ington's Works, vi. 349, 350, 350, 2 Ibid. p. 248. 384: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. class. The backwoodsmen also, who looked upon the English as protectors or allies of the Indians, were vehement Whigs. The war in the Southern colonies had always the aspect of a civil war, and it was pecu- liarly ferocious. In the spring of 1779, a party of loyalists having been defeated by the Americans in South Carolina, the prisoners were tried according to the "New State law, which made their offence treason ; seventy were condemned to death and five were actually executed. A loyalist captain who had been himself tarred and feathered and otherwise insulted retaliated by hanging Whig prisoners. 1 In April the English forces at Savannah, having obtained considerable rein- forcements, took the field. They soon overran a great part of South Carolina, gained several successes over the militia that were opposed to them, arrived before the lines of Charleston, and appeared so formidable that the Americans proposed the neutrality of the State till the conclusion of the peace determined to whom it should belong. The British rejected the offer ; but they were as yet too weak to attack Charleston, and they retired with much booty into Georgia. In September Count d'Estaing, with a French fleet of twenty sail of the line and eleven frigates, appeared unexpectedly off the coast of Georgia, and Savannah was besieged by a very powerful force, comprising more than 3,500 French soldiers, with many cannon, as well as a large number of Americans. The defence was brave, skilful, and completely successful. After a siege of rather more than three weeks, and after a general assault in which the French were driven back with a loss of more than 1,000 men, and in which the gallant Pulaski fell mor- tally wounded, the siege was abandoned, and the French, having re-embarked their troops and artillery, sailed for the West Indies. In the garrison which so 1 Ramsay, ii. 114. Hildrcth, iii. 277, 278. en. xiv. SIEGE OF CHARLESTON, 1780. 385 nobly defended Savannah there were at least 1,000 American loyalists. Clinton resolved to make the re- duction of the southern colonies the main task of the forthcoming year, and a few days before the close of 1779 he embarked himself for the Southern expedition with 7,000 men, 2,000 of whom were American loyal- ists. General Kniphausen, with a strong garrison of English, German, and American loyalist troops, was left at New York. 1 In the year 1780, the Southern campaign in America was vigorously pushed on. General Clinton only landed with his forces from New York in the neighbourhood of Charleston on March 29, after a stormy^and disastrous voyage, which must have brought vividly before many minds the enormous natural difficulties of subduing a country that it took so much time even to traverse. The Americans had ample notice of the intention of the English to attack Charleston ; they had carefully forti- fied the great Southern capital, and they summoned, under penalty of confiscation, all the militia of the province and all the male inhabitants to the defence. It is, however, a remarkable sign of the languor or disaffection of the Southern provinces that, although Washington had detached from his own army North Carolina and Virginian troops for the defence of Charleston, 2 it was only possible to collect somewhat less than 3,000 men, exclusive of the town population, but including the militia of the province. 3 The defence was 1 Hildreth, iii. 295. Stedman, the English historian, who was ii. 124-132. present in the war in South 2 Washington's Works, vi. Carolina (ii. 229), says that 487. ' General Lincoln at Charleston 3 Ramsay, ii. 155. There were had 7,000 men of all denomi- probably about 3,000 other adult nations under arms ' (ii. 179). males in the town, and they Hildreth says the forces of Lin- helped in the defence (p. 156). coin were 'upwards of 7,000 See, too, Bancroft. Stedman, men, including 2,300 continen- 386 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, CM. xiv. entrusted to General Lincoln, and it did great honour to the skill, courage, and tenacity of the garrison. Charleston was the first town the Americans had attempted to defend, and it was besieged by a force, drawn from various quarters, which amounted to not less than 9,000 men. At last, on May 12, it was obliged to capitulate. More than 5,000 men, including the garrison and all adult males, surrendered as prisoners of war. Eight small ships of war, which lay in the harbour, were taken or sunk, and 400 cannon as well as large magazines were captured. The English during the whole siege lost little more than 250 men. 1 In the beginning of June, Clinton returned with a large part of his troops to New York> leaving a detachment of 4,000 men under Lord Cornwallis to prosecute the war in the South. ' The inhabitants from every quarter/ wrote Clinton just before leaving South Carolina, * de- clare their allegiance to the King and offer their ser- vices in arms. There are few men in South Carolina who are not either our prisoners or in arms with us.' 2 ' We look on America as at our feet,' wrote Horace Walpole to Mann, when the news of the reduction of Charleston arrived. 3 With Savannah and Charleston in the hands of the English, the old dominion might indeed be regarded as re-established in a great portion of the Southern colonies. A few American troops, who had appeared in the northern extremity of South Carolina, hastily retreated, and one detachment of about tals, 1,000 North Carolina mi- rendered with about 6,000 men, litia, and the militia of the city, 400 pieces of artillery, and large amounting to near 4,000. All magazines.' the, aid sent in from the sur- l Cornwallis Correspondence, rounding country did not amount i. 44. to 200 men.' History of the 2 Bancroft, x. 308. United States, iii. 306. Accord- 8 Walpole to Mann, July 24, ing to the Cornwallis Corre- 1780. tpondence (i. 44), ' Lincoln sur- CH. xiv. SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN, 1780. 387 300 men, being overtaken, was almost cut to pieces, very little quarter being given. Except in the line where the State bordered on North Carolina, all resist- ance had ceased, and the country was scarcely less peaceful than before the war had begun, while loyalist insurrections in North Carolina, prematurely and im- prudently undertaken and savagely suppressed, showed how insecure was the hold of the Kevolution in that province. In North Carolina, however, and especially along the border between that province and South Carolina, there were many determined Whigs, and some real efforts were made by the surrounding provinces to check the English. Clinton, before leaving South Carolina, invited the inhabitants to enroll themselves in the loyal militia, offered free pardon to all insurgents who had not been concerned in the execution of loyalists, promised various immunities to all who would actively support the Crown, and guaranteed the State a speedy restoration of its Constitution, and an exemption from all taxation except by its own Legislature. He at the same time threatened to confiscate the goods of all who again took arms against the King, and, by a later and a very injudicious proclamation, he discharged the paroles of all suspected persons who had not been actually taken in arms, restored them to the rights and duties of citizens, but at the same time commanded them to return to their allegiance on pain of being treated as rebels. This proclamation, by making neutrality impossible, excited a great and reasonable discontent, which began to assume a graver form when the intelligence arrived that Baron de Kalb, at the head of about 2,000 men detached from the army of Washington, was marching rapidly through North Carolina. Kalb was soon joined by large bodies of militia, and the whole force waa placed under the command of Gates, the victor of Sara- 388 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XIT, toga. It appears to have consisted altogether of about 6,000 men, and on August 16 a very severe battle was fought near Camden. Cornwallis, who commanded the English, had some superiority in position, and a great superiority in cavalry, but the Americans were alto- gether nearly three times as numerous as the English. 1 A large portion of their militia, however, gave way at the first shock, and the English gained one of the most decisive victories of the whole war. The Americana lost all their cannon, and the greater part of their baggage ; Kalb fell mortally wounded ; and the defeated army, with a loss of many hundreds of men, was pursued in wild confusion for more than twenty miles from the field of battle. Another American corps, numbering about 700 men, under General Sumpter, was in South Carolina, and it at once determined to retreat ; but Colonel Tarleton succeeded, with a much smaller force, and by a march of extraordinary rapidity, in intercepting and surprising it. The American commander escaped with difficulty; more than 450 of the provincials were either killed or taken. They lost all their cannon, baggage, and ammunition; 1,000 stand of arms were taken, and the whole force was completely scattered. By these two victories the American army in the Southern provinces was annihilated or dispersed. 2 It was hoped that the immediate reduction of North Carolina would follow, but the expectation was not realised. Cornwallis found it necessary to wait some time for the arrival of fresh stores from Charleston, and in the meantime the Americans, whose daring and fertility of resource were never more conspicuously displayed than at times when all appeared lost, soon recovered their panic. In a few weeks several parties 1 Cornwallis Correspondence, in Stedman, Eamsay, and Baa- L 492-495. croft. Ibid. i. Compare the accounts CH. XTV. SEVERITIES OF THE ENGLISH. 389 capable, however, only of waging a guerrilla warfare were in arms in North Carolina, while in South Carolina disaffection was spreading. Opinion in the provinces was, in reality, much divided, and although it is pro- bable that in South Carolina at least, tbere were many more who sympathised with England than with the Revolution, the prevailing desire of the inhabitants was to remain neutral and to do nothing that could provoke the resentment of either of the contending parties. This neutrality had become difficult or impossible. Cornwallis endeavoured to form his militia exclusively out of loyal inhabitants, but there were many deserters, and one whole corps, which had been entrusted with the protection of some sick soldiers, went over to the enemy, giving up their officers and the sick soldiers as prisoners. Cornwallis issued orders that all who, having taken protections from the English, had subsequently joined in the revolt, should be punished with the greatest rigour, and their whole property taken or destroyed, and that every militiaman who had voluntarily borne arms for the English, and had afterwards deserted to the enemy, should be hanged. 1 Several such men were executed after the defeal s of Gates and Sumpter. Imi- tating the policy which the revolutionary party had steadily pursued, he confiscated for the public service the estates of all who had left the province to join the enemies of Great Britain, who held commissions under the authority of Congress, or who were opposing the re- establishment of the royal Government, reserving, how- ever, an allowance for their wives and children. A large section of Charleston society was strongly in favour of the Revolution, and, having discovered that several of its members when on parole had been in correspondence with the enemy, Cornwallis sent about forty of them as 1 Cornwallis Correspondence, i. 56-58. 390 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv. prisoners to St. Augustine, in East Florida. After a short imprisonment they were released upon parole, but their banishment excited great resentment, and Charles- ton society showed itself extremely hostile to the British. Ladies refused to attend public assemblies lest they should encounter English officers, and female influence was busily employed in fomenting revolt. These things might not have been very serious if the projected invasion of North Carolina had succeeded. In September the English entered that province in three bodies, but, though there were some Scotch settlements favourable to them, the general spirit of the people proved exceedingly hostile. English messengers were waylaid, English foraging parties were cut off, and straggling soldiers were shot down by men concealed in the forests. Wild backwoodsmen from Kentucky and other settlements westward of the Alleghany Mountains, had been collected, and, being joined by companies of militia and by the relics of the shattered armies of Gates and Sumpter, they gradually became a formidable force. They did not venture to attack the main body of the English ; but on October 9 they fell upon the most advanced detachment, which was commanded by Major Ferguson, and consisted almost exclusively of loyal militia, and after a hard fight they totally defeated it. The commander was killed. Nearly all who did not share his fate were compelled to surrender, and ten of the most obnoxious loyalist prisoners were hanged upon the field. The blow was so formidable that on Octo- ber 14 Cornwallis ordered a retreat. On November 20 the third detachment of the English, which was com- manded by Colonel Tarleton, was attacked at'Blackstock Hill by General Sumpter at the head of a very superior force, and was defeated, though without serious loss. Before the close of the year North Carolina had been wholly evacuated, and the only fruits as yet attained by en. xiv. THE WINTER OF 1780. 391 the Southern campaign were the complete conquest of Georgia and of South Carolina. In the Northern provinces during many months little of any importance had happened. Both the British army at New York and the army of Washing- ton at West Point had been much weakened by the detachments which they sent to the South, and neither was strong enough for a serious enterprise. The winter was one of the coldest ever known in America. The troops of Washington suffered much more from it than the English, who had the shelter of a great town ; but, on the other hand, the water around New York was during several weeks so hard frozen that artillery could have passed over it. 1 The ships of war were rendered useless by the ice, and New York, in losing its insular position, lost its chief advantages for defence. Had there been a French army in North America, the town would probably have been captured, and the war might have been speedily terminated. The condition of the Americans, however, was at this time as wretched as during any part of the contest. All provisions brought to New York were paid for in hard money ; those which were brought to West Point in enormously depreciated currency. The devastations of the previous year had destroyed some of the chief sources of supply, and, although forced requisitions of food were systematically made over a wide area, the extreme severity of the weather and the passive resis- tance of the farmers made it very difficult to bring the supplies to camp. 2 The letters of Washington greatly resemble those of the winter at Valley Forge. c The present situation of the army,' he wrote on January 8, 1780, ' with respect to provisions is the most distressing 1 Documents relating to the 2 Washington's Works, vi. Colonial History of New York, 432, 433, 440, 482. viii. 781, 782. 27 392 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ca. *!7 of any we have experienced since the beginning of the war. For a fortnight past the troops, both officers and men, have been almost perishing for want. They have been alternately without bread or meat the whole time, with a very scanty allowance of either, and frequently destitute of both.' l He described his troops as ' men half starved, imperfectly clothed, riotous, and robbing the country people of their subsistence from sheer necessity.' 2 * There never,' he wrote about two months later, * has been a stage of the war in which the dis- satisfaction has been so general and alarming. It has lately in particular instances worn features of a very dangerous complexion/ As the springtime advanced there was no im- provement. ' We are constantly on the point of starving, 3 he wrote at the end of April, ' for want of provisions and forage.' A month later he wrote to Reed, the President of Pennsylvania : ' There is such a combination of circumstances to exhaust the patience of the soldiery that it begins at length to be worn out, and wo see in every line of the army the most serious features of mutiny and sedition. All our de- partments, all our operations are at a stand, and unless a system very different from that which has for a long time prevailed be immediately adopted throughout the States, our affairs must soon become desperate beyond the possibility of recovery. If you were on the spot, my dear sir ... you would be convinced that these expressions are not too strong, and that we have every- thing to dread. Indeed, I have almost ceased to hope. The country in general is in such a state of insensibility and indifference to its interests that I dare not flatter myself with any change for the better.' 3 It is true that the whole English garrison of New York and ita Washington's Works, vi. * Ibid. pp. 439, 441. 439. f Ibid. pp. 13, 25, 58. en. xiv. DESPONDENCY OF WASHINGTON. 393 dependencies, which was the one stronghold of the English power in the Northern colonies, consisted, ac- cording to Washington's own estimate, during a long period of only 8,000 regular soldiers, about 4,000 loyalist refugees, and the militia raised from New York and its vicinity. 1 It is true that England was without an ally in the world, and that America had two of the greatest Powers in Europe assisting her in the struggle, yet still in the fourth year of the war Washington gravely doubted whether there was sufficient power, sufficient patriotism, sufficient earnestness in the States to carry it to a successful issue. ' The combined fleets of France and Spain,' he wrote, ' last year were greatly superior to those of the enemy. Nevertheless, the enemy sustained no material damage, and at the close of the campaign gave a very important blow to our allies. This campaign the difference be- tween the fleets will be inconsiderable. What are we to expect if there should be another campaign ? In all pro- bability the advantage will be on the side of the English, and then what would become of America ? We ought not to deceive ourselves. The maritime resources ot Great Britain are more substantial and real than those of France and Spain united. . . . In modern wars the longest purse must chiefly determine the event. I fear that of the enemy will be found to be so/ What little unity there had ever been between the States seemed rapidly breaking up. 'I see one head gradually changing into thirteen. I see one army branching into thirteen, which, instead of looking up to Congress as the supreme controlling power of the United States, are considering themselves as dependent on their re- spective States. In a word, I see the power of Congress declining too fast for consideration and respect.' 2 1 Washington's Works, vi. 39. Ibid. vii. 59, 60, 68. 394 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xi7. It was necessary, in the opinion of Washington, that there should be at least 20,000 efficient continental troops, but this very modest requirement was more than could be complied with. 1 Bounties which were nomi- nally enormous, and which, even allowing for the depre- ciation of money, were very great, were offered by some States, and the different conditions under which the troops of the same army were enlisted were the occasion of endless bitterness and recrimination. 2 It was, how- ever, quite impossible to recruit the American army by voluntary means, and it was only by compulsory drafting from the local militias that the small force could be kept together. 3 For several months 100 deserters on an average appeared monthly at the British camp at New York, and the number doubled when the press for soldiers for the continental army began. 4 From every side signs of discontent were gathering. The officers of the Jersey line addressed a memorial to their State Legislature stating * that four months' pay of a private would not procure for his family a single bushel of wheat; that the pay of a colonel would not purchase oats for his horse; that a common labourer received four times as much as an American officer/ 8 Two regiments of Connecticut troops broke into open mutiny. Attempts were made to combine both officers and men in a refusal to accept the depreciated paper money, and even in this currency the soldiers were for long periods 1 Washington's Works, vii. 51, for a few months, they began to 52. compare situations, to murmur, 2 'The Pennsylvania soldiers and to dispute their engage- from the commencement were ments.' Ibid. vi. 471. See vii. almost universally engaged for 166. the war. When they saw the a See Galloway's Examination. Eastern levies in the beginning * Documents relating to the of last campaign who had re- Colonial History of New York, ceived enormous bounties, many, viii. 800. B thousand pounds and upwards * Bamsay, ii. 184, en. xiv. WEAKNESS OF THE AMERICANS, 1780. 395 unpaid. A committee appointed by Congress to exa- mine the state of the army of Washington in May 1780, reported that it had been unpaid for five months ; that it seldom had more than six days' provision in advance ; that it had frequently for several successive days been without meat ; that the forage was exhausted ; that the medical department had neither sugar, coffee, tea, choco- late, wine, nor spirituous liquors of any kind; 'that every department of the army was without money, and had not even the shadow of credit left ; that the patience of the soldiers, borne down by the pressure of compli- cated sufferings, was on the point of being exhausted/ * These representations must be borne in mind if we would judge with equity the party in England which still hoped to subdue America. The expectation was represented by the Opposition at the time, and it has been commonly represented by later historians, as little short of insane. That it was erroneous will now hardly be disputed, but it was certainly not altogether unrea- sonable. Reports of the most sanguine kind were con- stantly laid before the Ministers. In February 1780, before the capture of Charleston and subjugation of South Carolina, Governor Tryon wrote that c the friendly part of America keep up their spirits and are sanguine . . . that the reunion of the Empire will be yet happily established, and those who have been with cir- cumstances of cruelty drove from their estates and families restored/ 2 Loyalists declared that 'the ma- jority on the west side of the Connecticut are desirous of the restoration of the King's authority, and that in many towns and districts both in New York, Con- necticut, and Massachusetts Bay they are nearly all so.' 1 Ramsay, ii. 188, 189. See, * Documents relating to the too, Washington's Works, vii. 56, Colonial History of New York, 105. viii. 781. 396 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv. They assured the Government that the number of the King's friends had been steadily increasing since the proposals of the Royal Commissioners; that the pressing calamities of the time were almost daily adding to them ; that the forced requisitions of food and drafts of men were exciting bitter resistance ; that farmers refused to raise more than was sufficient for their own consump- tion, conceiving that the improvement of their farms would only tend to feed and prolong the rebellion ; that at least half the rebel army were on the brink of deser- tion or revolt. 1 Lord George Germaine stated that all the private letters from America were filled with repre- sentations of the general distress and sufferings of the people, the discontent of the rebel troops, and the universal wish for peace. From the middle colonies, he was assured, no recruits could be drawn, the militia would not submit to be drafted, and the only hope the Americans possessed of continuing the war depended on foreign aid. 2 The French Admiral, De Ternay, wrote, in the summer of 1780, to Vergennes: * The fate of North America is yet very uncertain, and the Revolution is not so far advanced as it has been believed in Europe.' 3 Count Fersen, who, in after years, was known as one of the most devoted friends of Marie An- toinette, was quartered in Rhode Island in the autumn of 1780, as the aide-de-camp to Count Rochambeau, and he described all the classes in that New England pro- vince who possessed any property as, anxious to be 1 Documents relating to the Washington, speaking of the new Colonial History of New York, levies, says : * Pennsylvania has viii. 783, 787. given us not quite 400, and seema 2 See this letter in a note to to think that she has done ad- Washington's Works, vii. 30. inirably well. Jersey has given Lord G. Germaine's intelligence us fifty or sixty. But I do not about the middle colonies seems despair of Jersey.' Ibid. p. 125. to have been substantially correct. 8 Ibid. p. 200. In a letter written in July 1780, CH. xiv. LOYALTY OF NEW YORK. 897 reconciled to England, and the whole province, as sink- ing into ruin through the civil war of its inhabitants. 1 In the province of New York there was a large district, called West Chester County, extending nearly thirty miles from north to south, which was once thickly popu- lated and admirably cultivated, and was now almost wholly at the mercy of the revolutionary banditti called the Cowboys, and the loyalist banditti called the Skin- ners, who were alternately plundering the few inhabitants who remained. 2 The ardent loyalty of the town of New York was exceedingly encouraging to the English. During the long course of its occupation, no trouble appears to have been experienced from its inhabitants ; the neigh- bouring seas swarmed with New York privateers prey- ing on the commerce of the revolted States, and when the freezing of the waters exposed the town to inva- sion, it was to the loyalty of the inhabitants them- selves that the English chiefly appealed. The appeal was at once and enthusiastically responded to, and Governor Robertson, who had succeeded Tryon in com- mand, wrote that all the English troops might be safely led away from New York to encounter the enemy, for the town would be perfectly secure under the protection 1 He says of Ehode Island : de la campagne en sont. Les 4 C'est un pays qui sera fort Torys sont pour les Anglais, ou heureux s'il jouit d'une paix pour mieux dire, pour la paix, longue, et si les deux partis qui sans trop se soucier d'etre libres le divisent a present ne lui font ou dependants ; ce sont les gens subir le sort de la Pologne et de d'une classe plus distinguee, les tant d'autres republiques. Ces seuls qui eussent des biens dans deux partis sont appeles les le pays. . . . Lorsque les Whigs Whigs et les Torys. Le premier sont les plus forts, ils pillent les est entierement pour la liberte et autres tant qu'ils peuvent.' 1'independance ; il est compose Lettres du Comte Fersen, i. de gens de la plus basse extrac- 40, 41. tion qui ne possedent point de ' J Sparks's Life of Benedict biens; la plupart des habitants Arnold, p. 219. 398 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. XIT. of 6,000 of its own armed citizens. 1 The historian of the American loyalists observes that in April 1775, out of the thirty-seven newspapers then published in the colonies, seven or eight were in the interest of the Crown, and the remainder Whig, but that in the course of the war no less than five of the latter went over to the loyalists. 2 It was indeed evident that the revolutionary move- ment depended almost entirely upon the assistance of France. Washington himself frankly admitted that it was impossible, at least under existing circumstances, to accomplish without it either of the two capital objects of the war, the capture of New York, or the expulsion of the English from the Southern States. 3 Count Rochambeau, who was in constant communication with Washington, speaking of this period, states that the American General ' feared, and not without foundation, considering the absolute discredit of the finances of Congress, that the struggles of this campaign would be the last efforts of expiring patriotism/ 4 and Washington himself, in a letter written, in August 1780, to the President of the Congress, expressed a very similar opinion. The period of service of half of the army, he said, would expire at the end of the year. ' The shadow of an army that will remain will have every motive except mere patriotism to abandon the service, without the hope, which has hitherto supported them, of a change 1 Documents relating to the papers. He says : ' Sa Majest6 Colonial History of New York, vous autorise en outre a con- viii, 789, 792. tinuer les donatifs que M. Gerard 2 Sabine's American Loyalists, a donnes ou promis a differonts i. 49. A curious passage in a auteurs americains, et dont ce letter of instructions from Ver- dernier vous aura surement remis gennes to M. de la Luzerne la note.' Circourt, iii. 283. (Sept. 25, 1779) makes it prob- 8 Washington's Works, vii. able that the French subsidised 38-42, 106, 176, 187, 206. some of the anti-English news- * Ibid. p. 171. en. XIT. FRENCH ARRIVE AT NEWPORT. 399 for the better. This is almost extinguished now, and certainly will not outlive the campaign unless it finds something more substantial to rest upon. ... To me it will appear miraculous if our affairs can maintain themselves much longer in their present train. If either the temper or the resources of the country will not admit of an alteration, we may expect soon to be reduced to the humiliating condition of seeing the cause of America in America upheld by foreign arms.' 1 Looking, indeed, over the whole struggle, it seemed to Washington little less than a miracle that the American Kevolution had not long since terminated, and one of the chief reasons of its continuance was the strange in- activity and folly which the English had shown during its earlier stages. 2 No measures of any great military importance were taken in the Northern States before the arrival of a French fleet and army at Newport on July 10, 1780. The fleet consisted of seven ships of the line besides frigates and transports, commanded by the Chevalier de Ternay, and the army of about 6,000 men under the command of Count Rochambeau. The French Govern- ment at the same time sent out instructions, very gene- rously placing their own troops under the command of Washington, and ordering that, when the French and American armies were united, American officers were to command French officers of equal rank. 3 The expedition was to be followed later in the year by a second division, but it was hoped that, with the assistance of the force already arrived, the Americans could accomplish their great object of recapturing New York. This expectation, 1 Washington's Wor fcs,vii. 159, quotation), reviewing the whole 160. war." Ibid. pp. 162, 163. * See a very remarkable pas- * Ibid. i. 336. Stedman, ii. 245. sage (unfortunately too long for 400 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv. however, was not verified, and the English, having received the assistance of six British ships of the line which had followed the French across the Atlantic, speedily took the offensive. Clinton embarked 6,000 men at New York and resolved to attack the French in Newport ; but a delay in the arrival of transports, which gave the French time to fortify themselves, a difference of opinion between Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot, who commanded the fleet, and a threatening movement of Washington in the direction of New York, led to the abandonment of the enterprise. The English fleet, how- ever, blockaded the French fleet, and the French army, together with some American militia, was kept inactive for its protection. Even for gunpowder the Americana were now dependent on French assistance, and Washing- ton said that an additional supply of 100 tons was neces- sary if he was to make a serious attempt on New York. 1 It was determined to take no step till the second French expedition arrived, or at least till the French had obtained a naval ascendency on the coast. On August 16 a French frigate reached Boston bringing large supplies of guns, cannon, and powder for the Americans, but it also brought the disastrous news that the second division of Count Rochambeau's army, upon which such great hopes were based, was blockaded in the harbour of Brest by an English fleet of thirty- two sail. 2 It was evident that the old Queen of the Sea was fast regaining her ascendency, and that in spite of all the odds that were against her she could still be terrible to her enemies. After a careful consultation it was de- cided that the attempt to dislodge the English from New York must be indefinitely postponed. It was remem- bered, however, that the French had in old days been on very good terms with the Indians, and an earnest though 1 Washington's Works, vii. 135. Ibid. p. 176. CH. xiv. CONGRESS AND THE ARMY. 401 unsuccessful effort was made to excite by French influ- ence an Indian rising against the English. 1 The extreme jealousy of the army which had always prevailed in Congress, and the meddling, domineering spirit in which the lawyers at Philadelphia constantly acted towards the officers, might have produced the worst consequences but for the courtesy and self-control with which Washington was so eminently endowed. In the highest ranks of the army there were constant and sudden changes. Schuyler, though one of the most es- timable of the American generals, had been superseded. St. Clair experienced the same fate. Sullivan threw up his commission in disgust. Gates was superseded and brought before a court-martial after his defeat at Camden; and Greene, one of the favourite officers of Washington, resigned in indignation his office of Quar- termaster-General on account of some measures of Con- gress altering the office, as he conceived, to his prejudice. Congress, in its irritation, gravely meditated depriving him of his commission, but relinquished the intention in consequence of an admirable letter of Washington, who urged the extremely bad effect that such a measure would have upon the army, and especially upon the officers, who were in truth sacrificing more than any other class of the American people for the national cause. 2 1 Washington's Works, vii. their labours crowned with suc- 183, 184. cess could possibly induce them 2 He says it needs ' no argu- to continue one moment in ser- ments to prove that there is no vice ; that no officer can live set of men in the United States, upon his pay ; that hundreds, considered as a body, that have having spent their little all in made the same sacrifices of their addition to their scanty public interests in support of the com- allowance, have resigned because jnon cause as the officers of the they could no longer support American army ; that nothing themselves as officers ; that but a love of their country, of numbers are at this moment honour, and a' desire of seeing rendered unfit for duty for want 402 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XIV, I have already briefly noticed the dismissal of General Lee after the battle of Monmouth, for disobe- dience to the orders of Washington. It was a fortunate event for the Americans, for it is probable that Lee would have taken an early opportunity to betray them. He had shown, from the beginning of the contest, a laudable desire to appease the quarrel by personal ne- gotiations with English generals ; and he declared his conviction that in the first stages of the war the Ameri- cans would have been perfectly ready to submit in every respect to Great Britain, provided they might them- selves raise, in any way they thought proper, the sum Parliament required of them. He afterwards, as we have seen, expressed himself disgusted with the conduct of his soldiers, and wholly disappointed in the dispo- sitions of the American people, and in March 1777, being then a prisoner in the English camp, he drew up for the English a plan for effecting the conquest of America. In this remarkable document, he expressed his firm belief that America must inevitably be sub- dued, and that it was therefore desirable both for her and the mother country that the war should be termi- nated with as little delay and bloodshed as possible. He urgently dwelt on the necessity of a wide amnesty, and moderate and liberal terms, and he then proceeded to designate certain points which ought to be taken possession of by the English in order to sever New England from the other colonies, and secure the imme- diate subjugation of the Southern provinces. If this plan were adopted, and a proclamation of amnesty issued, and if no untoward accident, such as a rupture of clothing, while the rest are too, a striking statement of the wasting their property, and some case of the officers in a letter of of them verging fast to the gulf General Greene to Washington, of poverty and distress.' Wash- Ibid. p. 53. ington'sJForfcs,vii.l50,151. See, CB. xiv. BENEDICT ARNOLD. 403 with a European Power, occurred, lie was convinced that in two months every spark of civil war would be extinguished in the colonies. 1 The Americans, though they were well aware of the insubordinate and capricious character of Lee, appear to have had no suspicion whatever of his treason, but in September 1780 a terrible shock was given to the con- fidence of their army by the discovery of the treachery of Benedict Arnold. To anyone who attentively follows the letters of Washington, it will appear evident that there was no officer in the American army of whom for a long period he wrote in terms of higher, warmer, and more frequent eulogy. Arnold was in truth an eminently brave and skilful soldier, and in the early stages of the struggle his services had been of the most distinguished kind. In conjunction with Colonel Allen, he had obtained the first great success of the war by capturing Ticonderoga and Crown Point in the summer of 1775. He had fallen wounded leading the forlorn hope against Quebec on the memorable day on which Montgomery was killed. In the gallant stand that was made at Ticonderoga in October 1776, he had been placed at the head of the American fleet, and his defence of Lake Champlain against overwhelming odds had been one of the most brilliant episodes of the whole American war. He took a leading part in the campaign which ended with the capitulation of Saratoga, led in person that fierce attack on the British lines on October 7, 1777, which made the position of Burgoyne a hopeless one, was himself one of the first men to enter the British lines, and fell severely wounded at the head of his troops. No American soldier had shown a more reckless courage. 1 See The Treason of General brarian of the New York Histori- Lee, by George H. Moore (Li- cal Society). 404: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv. Hardly any had displayed greater military skill or pos- sessed to a higher degree the confidence of the army ; and if the wound which he received near Saratoga had proved fatal, the name of Benedict Arnold would have now ranked among the very foremost in the hagiology of American patriotism. His early letters seem to show beyond question that he began his career as a genuine Whig, but he had probably always been of a type which is common and prominent in all revolutions. Conscious of unbounded energy and courage, of a strong will, and of very con- siderable military capacities, he saw in the troubles which had arisen an opportunity of carving his way from the position of bookseller, druggist, and smuggler in a small town in Connecticut, to great wealth and world-wide honour. He was a man of coarse fibre and violent ambition, delighting in adventure and combat, very extravagant in his tastes, and at the same time very arrogant, irritable, and insubordinate in his temper. A number of serious charges, some of them affecting his personal integrity, were brought against him relating to incidents in his Canadian career ; but the only charges which were submitted to an official investigation were fully disproved, and the Board of War, in a report which was confirmed by Congress, pronounced Arnold to have been ' cruelly and groundlessly aspersed.' This appears to have been the opinion of Washington, who continued to give him his full confidence ; it was the opinion of Schuyler, who commanded the army in Canada, 1 and John Adams afterwards expressed his belief that Arnold had been 'basely slandered and libelled.' 2 There were men, however, in Congress who greatly disliked him, and seemed to feel a peculiar pleasure in humiliating him.; and in February 1777, 1 See Arnold's Life of Arnold, p. 104. 2 Familiar Letters, p. 27ft- CH. xiv. BENEDICT ARNOLD. 405 when Congress appointed five major-generals, Arnold was not on the list, though every one of the officers appointed was his junior in standing. Washington was extremely displeased at this marked slight shown to one who, as he truly said, had < always distinguished himself as a judicious, brave officer, of great activity, enterprise, and perseverance/ The letters of Arnold show how keenly he felt the wrong, and he spoke seriously of throwing up his commission, but was dissuaded by Washington. A few months later he displayed the most splendid daring in a skirmish with the English near Danbury, arid his horse fell pierced by no less than nine bullets. Congress then granted him the promo- tion that had been hitherto withheld, and presented him with a horse as a token of his conspicuous gallantry, but he never regained his seniority. The wound which he had received near Saratoga was painful and disabling, and he for a long time could only move about with assistance. Being incapable of taking an active part in the war, Washington placed him in command at Philadelphia after that city had been evacuated by the English, and he there fell under new and powerful influences. His first wife had died in the summer of 1775, when he was in the midst of his Northern campaign, and, in April 1779, after a long courtship, he married Miss Shippen, a young lady of great beauty and attraction, who belonged to one of the leading families in Philadelphia, and to a family of Tory sympathies. He loved her deeply and faithfully, and there is something inexpressibly touching in the tender affection and the undeviating admiration for her husband, which she retained through all the vicissitudes of his dark and troubled life. 1 He mixed much in the best 1 See her sad and touching interesting Life of Benedict letters, written chiefly from Eng- Arnold. land, in Mr. Isaac Arnold's very 406 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. xrv. society at Philadelphia, and although the more decided loyalists had been driven into exile, the social atmo- sphere was still very Tory, and many of the best and most respected citizens were secretly sighing for the overthrow of what they regarded as the revolutionary tyranny, and for a return to the settled condition of the past. He kept open house, plunged into expenses fai greater than he could meet, and, like many other American officers, entered into several enterprises which were not military. He speculated largely. He took part in various commercial undertakings. He had shares in privateering expeditions, but his speculations do not appear to have been successful, and he was sinking rapidly into debt. Party spirit ran furiously at Philadelphia, and Arnold, who had nothing of the tact and self-control of Washington, soon made many enemies. A long series of charges against him were laid before Congress, some of them deeply affecting his honour, and amounting to little short of an imputation of swindling, while others were of the most trivial de- scription. Congress referred the matter to a committee, which reported in favour of Arnold ; but, in spite of this report, Congress insisted on sending Arnold, on some of the charges, before a court-martial. The proceedings were greatly delayed, and nearly a year passed between the promulgation of the charges and the final decision, and during all this time the commander of the chief town in the States, and one of the most distinguished generals in the American service, was kept in a condi- tion of the most painful and humiliating suspense. He resented it fiercely, and was little mollified by theresulb of the court-martial. On all the graver charges he was acquitted, and he was condemned only on two counts of the most petty character. He had exceeded his powers in giving a passport to a vessel containing American property which was in Philadelphia while that town was CM. xiv. BENEDICT ARNOLD. 407 occupied by the English, and he had, on one occasion, employed public waggons to convey some of his private property. This, the court-martial said, ought not to have been done, though Arnold ' had no design of em- ploying the waggons otherwise than at his own private expense, nor of defrauding the public, nor of injuring or impeding the public service/ For these two offences he was condemned to the great humiliation of a formal and a public reprimand. Washington, who was obliged to execute the sen- tence of the court-martial, did the utmost in his power to mitigate the blow, and nothing could be more skilful than the language l with which he made his reprimand the vehicle of a high eulogy on the services and the character of Arnold. While the sentence of the court- martial was in suspense, another stroke had fallen which affected both his fortune and his reputation. During his command in Canada, he had often acted as commis- sary and quartermaster. Much public money had passed through his hands, and he had large claims upon Con- gress. His accounts were examined at great length, and after great delay, by the Board of Treasury and by a committee of Congress ; they were found to be in much confusion, which was possibly due to the hurry and turmoil of an active campaign, and a large part of the claims of Arnold were disallowed. How far the sentence was just, it is now impossible to say. The 1 Our profession is the chas- towards our citizens. Exhibit test of all. The shadow of a fault again those splendid qualities tarnishes our most brilliant ac- which have placed you in the tions. The least inadvertence rank of our most distinguished may cause us to lose that public generals. As far as it shall be in favour which is so hard to be my power I will myself furnish gained. I reprimand you for you with opportunities for regain- having forgotten that in proper- ing the esteeem which you have tion as you had rendered yourself formerly enjoyed.' Sparks'sl/i/fl formidable to our enemies, you of Arnold, p. 145. should have shown moderation 28 408 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv. character of Arnold gives no presumption that he would have shown scrupulous integrity in money dealings; but, on the other hand, the Congress was full of his per- sonal enemies, who were determined by any means to hunt him down, and he loudly and vehemently declared that his judges had been actuated by private resentment or undue influence, and that they were wholly unfit to give any impartial judgment on his case. 1 Ruin seemed now staring him in the face, and he even made an appli- cation, without success, for money to the representative of the French Government. It is easy to conceive the influence of these things upon a proud, violent, ambitious, and unprincipled man, conscious of having rendered great services to his country, and at this very time suffering under the irri- tation and the impotence arising from a severe wound. Early in 1779 he had sent some letters to Clinton under the name of Gustavus, in which, without revealing his name or his rank, and without making any positive overtures, he had expressed his dislike to the French alliance, and had from time to time given the British commander pieces of authentic intelligence. On the English side the correspondence was chiefly conducted under a false name by Major Andre, the Adjutant- General of the British army, a young officer of singular promise and popularity. After the sentence of the court-martial, Arnold appears at last to have fully deter- mined to go over to the English, and he was equally determined not to go over as a mere insignificant and isolated individual. Ambition, cupidity, and revenge must all be gratified. At Saratoga he had done much to ruin the British cause. He would now undo, and more than undo, his work, annihilate by an act of skilful treachery the only considerable army in the 1 See his petition in Washington's Works, vi. 529, 530. en. xiv. TREASON OF ARNOLD. 409 North, restore America at once to peace and to the British, rule, and make himself the Monk of the Ameri- can Revolution. Few great plots have more nearly succeeded. Though there had been murmurs about the leniency of Arnold to Tories and about the admission of Tories into his society, his fidelity to the American cause seems to have been quite unsuspected, and Washington especially looked upon him with the most perfect confidence. On the plea that his wound was not yet sufficiently cured, Arnold excused himself from serving actively with Washington in the field, but he asked for and easily obtained the command -of Westpoint, which included all the American forts in the highlands, and was the essential key of the whole American position. 1 He arrived at Westpoint in the first week of August, and lost very little time in concerting with Clinton for a surrender of the post to the British. Clinton has been absurdly blamed for listening to these overtures, but he only acted as any general of any nation would have acted, and he would have deserved the gravest censure if he had neglected such an oppor- tunity of bringing to an end the desolation and the bloodshed of the war. It was necessary to send a confi- dential agent to arrange the details of the surrender and the terms of the bargain, and this ta.sk was com- mitted to Andre. Arnold invited him to come within the American lines, but both Clinton and Andre" him- self positively declined the proposal, and Clinton was determined that nothing should be done that could bring Andre under the category of a spy. A British sloop called the ' Vulture/ with Andre on board, sailed 1 It may be noticed that a Polish hero, whose services in great part of the works at West- America were warmly eulogised point had been constructed under by Washington. Washington's the direction of Kosciusko, the Works, vii. 148. 410 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XJT. up the Hudson Eiver to within a few miles of the American camp ; and Washington having just left the oamp on a visit to the French commander at Hartford, a boat, with muffled oars, was sent by Arnold a little before midnight to the ' Vulture ' to bring Andre to shore. The boatmen were wholly ignorant of the nature of their mission. They were furnished with a passport authorising them to pass freely with a flag of truce, but they were told that it was of public interest that the expedition should be secret. Arnold and Andre met at a lonely spot on the bank of the river. The meeting was on the night of September 21. Andre wore his uniform, covered by a blue great-coat, and the spot where the interview took place was outside the American lines, so that if they had been arrested there, Andre could not have been treated otherwise than as a prisoner of war. The nights, however, were still short, and the daylight having dawned before the affair was fully arranged, it became necessary either to leave it unfinished and risk the dangers of a second interview, or else to seek some place of concealment. Arnold then induced Andre to enter the American lines and take shelter in the house of a man named Smith, who was devoted to the American General, and who had already been employed to bring Andre to shore. He remained there during the day, and in the evening, all being arranged, Andre prepared to return. In the meantime, however, the ' Vulture ' had been noticed with suspicion by the American soldiers, and had been compelled to change her position in conse- quence of a cannon which was brought to bear on her. The risk of carrying Andre back by water was so great that Smith refused to incur it, and the only chance of safety was to return by land to New York, a distance of about thirty miles. To accomplish this object Andre exchanged his British uniform for a civilian's dress ; he CH. XIT. CAPTURE OF ANDR& 411 obtained from Arnold a pass enabling him under the name of John Anderson to traverse the American lines, and he concealed in his boots unsigned papers written by Arnold containing such full and detailed information as would enable Clinton without difficulty to seize the fortifications of Westpoint. On the evening of the 22nd he passed the American lines in safety under the guidance of Smith, and slept in a house beyond them, and the next day he set out alone to complete his journey. It is strange to think how largely the course of modern history depended upon that solitary traveller, for had Andre reached New York, the plot would almost certainly have succeeded, and the American Revolution been crushed. He had not, however, proceeded far, when he was stopped by three young men, who were playing cards near the road. They have been called militiamen, but appear, according to better accounts, to have been members of a party who were engaged in cattle-stealing for their own benefit. Had Andre produced at once his pass, he would probably have been allowed to proceed in safety, but in the confusion of the moment he believed that the men were British, and he proclaimed himself a British officer. Finding his mistake, he then produced his pass, but his captors at once proceeded to search him, and though they found little or no money, they discovered the papers in his boots, and although Andre promised that they would obtain a large reward if they released him, or took him to New York, they determined to carry him to the nearest American outpost. 1 Colonel Jamieson, who commanded there, recognised the hand- writing of Arnold, but he did not realise the treachery of his chief, and he sent a letter to Arnold, informing 1 There is some controversy examination of the subject in an about the character of the captors interesting note to Jones's His* of Andre and the incidents of his tory of New York, i. 730-736. seizure. The reader will find an 412 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. sr, him that papers of a very compromising character had been found on a person just arrested, who carried a pass signed by the General. The papers were sent on to Washington, who was now returning from Hartford. Arnold was expecting the arrival of Washington, and his house was filled with company when the letter, announcing the arrest of Andre, arrived. For a moment he is said to have changed countenance, but he quickly recovered himself, rose from the table, and telling his guests that he had an immediate call to visit one of the forts at the opposite side of the river, he ordered a horse to be at once brought to the door. He called his wife upstairs, and, after a short interview, left her in a faint- ing condition, mounted his horse, galloped at full speed down the steep descent to the river, and, springing into a barge, ordered the boatmen to row him to the middle of the stream. They obeyed his command, and he then told them to row swiftly to the * Vulture.' He was going there, he said, with a flag of truce, and as he must be back in time to receive Washington, there was not a moment to be lost. As he passed the American batteries he waved a white handkerchief as a sign of truce, and in a short time, and before any rumours of his treason were abroad, he stood on the deck under the British flag. He wrote, shortly after, more than one letter and address, declaring that the motive of his conduct was a detestation of the French alliance, and that he only desired to restore America to peace and true liberty, and to fulfil what he knew to be the secret wish of a great majority of his countrymen. It is not surprising, however, that neither contemporaries nor posterity have attached the smallest weight to these declarations. That the position of an American loyalist was in itself a perfectly upright one, will hardly indeed be questioned in England, and will, I should hope, be now admitted CH. XIY. APOLOGIES FOR ARNOLD. 413 by all reasonable men beyond the Atlantic, and it is probably below the truth to say that a full half of the more honourable and respected Americans were either openly or secretly hostile to the revolution. There was also nothing strange or dishonourable in men who had zealously espoused the revolution in its earlier stages, passing, after the legislation of 1778 and after the French alliance, into the opposite camp. Every griev- ance the Americans had put forward as a reason for taking up arms had been redressed ; every claim they had resented had been abandoned, and from the time when the English Parliament surrendered all right of taxation and internal legislation in the colonies, and when the English Commissioners laid their propositions before the Americans, the character of the war had wholly changed. It was no longer a war for self-taxa- tion and constitutional liberty. It was now an attempt, with the assistance of France and Spain, to establish independence by breaking up and ruining the British empire. It may also be readily admitted that it is probable that the early Whig convictions of Arnold had evaporated under the influence of the society in which he had lately been living. Expressions dropped by him were afterwards repeated which seemed to imply that he regretted sincerely the continuance of the war and the connection with France, and an unsigned letter addressed to him, urging, in very powerful language, the importance on purely public grounds of putting a speedy end to the war, was found among his papers. But, when all this is said, the conduct of a ruined and desperate soldier, who, having been placed, by the full confidence of his superior, in command of military posts of the first importance, bargains with the enemy to sur- render them for money, will admit of no justification and very little palliation. Arnold escaped from his many creditors in America. He received from the 414: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XIT. British Government a sum of about 6,300Z., and he was appointed colonel of a British regiment with the brevet of brigadier-general ; but he carried with him into his new service the brand not only of failure, but of indelible disgrace, and his feelings must have been doubly poignant when he learned that the gallant soldier whom he had led within the American lines had expiated his conduct on the gibbet. The execution of Major Andre is, indeed, one of the saddest episodes of the American war, and in the judg- ment of many it left a deep stain on the reputation of Washington. The victim was well fitted to attract to himself a halo of romantic interest. Though only twenty-nine, he had already shown the promise of a brilliant military career. He was a skilful artist ; and the singular charm of his conversation, and the singular beauty of his frank, generous, and amiable character, endeared him to all with whom he came in contact, and was acknowledged by no one more fully than by those American officers with whom he spent the last sad days of his life. Nothing could be more dignified, more courageous, more candid, and at the same time more free from everything like boasting or ostentation, than his conduct under the terrible trial that had fallen upon him, and it is even now impossible to read without emotion those last letters in which he commended to his country and his old commander the care of his widowed mother, and asked Washington to grant him a single favour that he might die the death of a soldier and not of a spy. At the same time it is but justice to remember that he suffered under the unanimous sentence of a board consisting of fourteen general officers, and that two of these Steuben and Lafayette were not Americans. Nor can the justice of the sentence in my opinion be reasonably impugned. An enemy who was in the camp for the purpose of plotting with the com- CH. xiv. EXECUTION OF ANDRE. 415 mander for a corrupt surrender, and who passed through the lines in a civilian dress, under a false name, and with papers conveying military intelligence to the enemy, did unquestionably, according to the laws of war, fall under the denomination of a spy, and the punishment awarded to spies was universally recognised and had been inflicted by both sides in the present war. The argument by which the English commander en- deavoured to evade the conclusion seems to me destitute of all real force. Arnold, he said, whatever might be his faults, was undoubtedly the duly constituted commander at Westpoint. Everything Andre did was done at his invitation or under his direction. As general he had a full right to give passes; and a British officer who landed under a flag of truce which he had given, 1 who came to the camp at his request, who left it with his pass, and who, even in assuming a false name, was only acting by his direction, could not, according to the general custom and usage of nations, be treated as a spy. The obvious answer was that Arnold was at this time deliberately plotting the destruction of the Govern- ment which employed him, and that no acts which he performed with that object and for the purpose of shel- tering an active colleague, could have any binding force 1 There was much dispute * Vulture ' carried a passport de- about the flag of truce. Colonel scribing it as sailing under a flag Robinson wrote from the ' Vul- of truce, no such flag appears to ture ' to Washington that Andr6 have been actually displayed, 'went up with a flag at the re- The landing was effected with quest of General Arnold.' Arnold profound secrecy and in the dead himself wrote that Andr6 was of night, and Andr6 very impru- ' assuredly under the protection dently admitted on his trial that of a flag of truce sent by me to he did not suppose that he had him for the purpose of a conver- landed under the sanction of a sation which I requested,' and flag. See The Proceedings of the Clinton laid much stress on the Board of General Officers respect* same defence. On the other ing Major Andr6. band, although the boat to the 416 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. siv. as against the Government which he betrayed. As a matter of strict right, the American sentence against Andre appears to me unassailable, and it is only on grounds of mercy and magnanimity that it can be ques- tioned. One extremely strong palliating circumstance might be adduced. Andre had consented to an inter- view with Arnold only upon a distinct understanding and stipulation that he was not to enter the American lines. General Clinton had given him precise orders that he was not to do so, and was not to change his uniform ; and Andre asserted, and the statement seems never to have been questioned or doubted, that when Arnold undertook to conduct him to Smith's house he was not aware that it was within the American lines, and learned it for the first time when they were chal- lenged by the American sentinel and when it was too late to recede. This fact does, as it seems to me, materi- ally affect the question, and it is much to be regretted that it did not induce Washington, at least to grant the request of Andre that he might die the death of a soldier. The English could also allege with truth that on their side they had not carried military law to its full severity. It was only by a very indulgent interpretation that General Lee could escape being treated as a deserter. The forty citizens of Charleston who, after they had given their parole to the English, had corresponded with the enemy, had in strict justice incurred a much more terrible penalty than a short banishment to Florida, and Sir Henry Clinton afterwards stated that he had in several cases ' shown the most humane attention to the intercession of Washington even in favour of avowed spies.' 1 1 See the narrative drawn History. Lord Stanhope has up by Sir Henry Clinton, in stated with great force ,nd per- the appendix to the seventh spicuity the case of those who volume of Lord Stanhope's consider the execution of Andr4 en. xiv. EXECUTION OF ANDRfi. 417 There is, however, much to be said on this ground also for the Americans. As I have already observed, they have always been more free than the English from explosions of sanguinary fury, but the moment when the army was thrilling with indignation at an act of treason which had almost led to its complete destruc- tion, was scarcely one in which the American general could, with any regard to the public sentiment, abate anything of the full legal punishment of the chief con- spirator with the traitor. Nor should it be forgotten that Washington was as yet entirely ignorant of the extent of the plot. His first exclamation to Lafayette, on hearing of the treason, was, * Whom then can we trust ? ' and there was great reason to fear that it might have spread among other leading officers. Was this a time when the risks of treason could be safely dimi- nished, when any deterring circumstance in the just and legal punishment of traitors, or of spies, could be safely omitted? Washington, during his whole life, proved himself an eminently humane, as well as an eminently wise man ; and his letters appear to show that he acted with an unclouded mind, and on a deliberate conviction of the necessity of the case. 1 It has been said that the American generals were usually uneducated men, that their opinion on a difficult question of military law was criminal. Mr. Sparks has given as he was more unfortunate than an admirably full and fair ac- criminal, and as there was much count of the whole transaction in his character to interest, while in his Life of Arnold. we yielded to the necessity of 1 These are the words in which rigour, we could not but lament Washington himself announced it.' Washington's Works, vii. the transaction to Count Bo- 241. 'Andre,' he wrote to Colonel chambeau : * Your Excellency Laurens, ' has met his fate, and will have heard of the execution with that fortitude which was to of the British Adjutant-General. be expected from an accom- The circumstances under which plished man and gallant officer.* he was taken justified it, and Ibid. p. 256. policy required a sacrifice ; but 418 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. X;T. of little value, and that tlie English proposal to submit the matter to the joint decision of Kochambeau and Knyphausen ought to have been accepted. But the sentence of the board of generals which condemned Andre remains, and no document could be more tem- perate or better reasoned. The Americans, in truth, in this very trying moment showed themselves singularly free from sanguinary passion ; and the deep compassion for Andre expressed by high officers in the American camp, and the unvarying humanity and respect shown to Mrs. Arnold and her child, are a most honourable proof that they had not lost the power of judging with equity and calm. 1 On the whole, I must acknowledge myself unable to subscribe to the condemnation which many English writers have passed upon the conduct of Washington and the other American generals in this matter. The action of Washington, indeed, in another transaction connected with the treason of Arnold, which has re- ceived a far smaller share of public notice, appears to me to press much more closely upon that obscure and wavering line which separates in time of war the lawful from the treacherous. A plan was formed in the Ameri- can camp for abducting Arnold, so as to bring him into the power of the Americans. It was proposed that an American, pretending to be a deserter, should endeavour to win his confidence and obtain some menial position in his service, and that some night, when the oppor- 1 The testimony of Alexander died universally esteemed and Hamilton, who saw Andr6 during universally regretted.' Hamilton his last days, is very remark- confesses, however, in another able. He says : ' Never perhaps letter, that 'the refusing him the did any man suffer death with privilege of choosing the manner more justice or deserve it less.' of his death will be branded with 'Among the extraordinary cir- too much obstinacy.' Hamil- cumstances that attended him, ton's Works, i. 172-182, 187. in the midst of his enemies he CH. xiv. DECEPTIONS OP 1780. 419 tunity served, he should, with the assistance of a con- federate in the English camp, seize and gag the general, and drag him within the American lines. I think that most admirers of Washington will regret that he fully approved of this plot, and gave money for its accomplish- ment, though with the reservation that Arnold must not be assassinated, but brought in alive. 1 The Americans were so anxious to obtain possession of Arnold that they had actually made the strange and shocking proposal that the English should surrender him as a price for the release of Andre. It was a proposal to which, of course, there could be but one answer among honourable men. 2 There had been great hopes in America that the campaign of 1780 would prove the last, and that, with the powerful assistance of France, it would be possible, and even easy, in that year to annihilate the English army on the Continent. In fact, however, with the ex- ception of the campaign in the Southern provinces, in which the balance of success was greatly in favour of the English, the year in America was, in a military point of view, almost uneventful. The combined enterprises, indeed, of the French and Americans had hitherto been singularly unsuccessful. The attack on Rhode Island had failed. The attack on Savannah had failed, and the expedition against New York had been abandoned. The legion of the Duke of Lauzun was stationed in Connecti- cut, but all the other French troops remained in Hhode Island, where their chief service to the cause was the pur- chase of their supplies with hard coin, which helped in some considerable degree to restore the exhausted cur- rency of specie.* The English went into winter quarters 1 Washington's Works, vii. 269-273. 645-547. 8 Hildreth, iii. 330. 2 Sparks's Life of Arnold, pp. ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. siv. at New York and its dependencies, and the Americana on some high grounds bordering on the North river. In spite of the forced requisitions of food which the Americans now systematically made, the contrast be- tween the situation of the troops who were supposed to be the liberators and of the troops who were supposed to be the oppressors of America continued to be very mortifying. ' While our army is experiencing almost daily want/ wrote Washington, * that of the enemy in New York is deriving ample supplies from a trade with the adjacent States of New York, New Jersey, and Con- necticut, which has by degrees become so common that it is hardly thought a crime.' The readiness, indeed, of the farmers to supply the English with everything they could want, in defiance of the prohibitions of the revo- lutionary conventions, was so great that the army of Clinton had become almost independent of the supplies that were sent by sea. 1 A few miscellaneous American matters of some im- portance were accomplished during this year. Congress, recognising that the war was not yet over, again re- 1 Washington's Works, vii. ne pensent qu'a leur interet per- 286, 287. When the Americans sonnel. . . . Les habitants des had gone into winter quarters cotes, me'me les meilleurs Whigs, Washington wrote to General apportent a la flotte Anglaise Greene : ' I have been driven by mouillee dans Gardiner's Bay necessity to discharge the levies ; des provisions de toute espece, et want of clothing rendered them cela parcequ'on les paie bien ; ils unfit for duty, and want of flour nous ecorchent impitoyablement. would have disbanded the whole . . . Dans tous les marches que army if I had not adopted this nous avons conclus avec eux ils expedient for the relief of the nous ont traites plutot comme soldiers for the war.' Ibid. p. 321. ennemis que comme amis. Ils ' L'esprit de patriotisme,' wrote sont d'une cupidite sans egale. Count Fersen at this time, 'ne . . . Je parle de la nation en reside que chez les chefs et les g6nral. Je crois qu'elle tient principaux du pays, qui font de plus des Hollandais que des tres-grands sacrifices. Les autres Anglais.' Lettres de Comte Fer- qui f orment le plus grand nombre sen, i. 51. cs. X:Y. MISCELLANEOUS TRANSACTIONS, 1780. 421 organised the army on a plan which was calculated to produce 36,000 men, though in truth there were never half that number in the field ; and, in two important respects, the urgent representations which Washington had for several years been making were at length at- tended to. The soldiers were to be enlisted to the end of the war, and the officers, who served to that period, were promised half-pay not merely for seven years, as had been decided in 1778, but for life. 1 The first measure had become less difficult, as it was evident that the war was near its close. The second measure, which was an act of the barest justice and gratitude to men who had sacrificed very much in the American cause, was carried with some difficulty in the face of the oppo- sition of Samuel Adams. A considerable exchange of prisoners was made, and the English were anxious to release in this way the old troops of General Burgoyne, who, in spite of the Convention of Saratoga, had been so long and so dishonourably detained. The Americans, however, though they were ready to exchange the officers, considered the detention of the privates favourable to their interests, and they were accordingly kept in captivity till the end of the war. 2 The financial difficulty was, as always, the most pressing, and, when it became certain that another campaign must be undergone, Washington ventured to say little more than that the cause was not absolutely desperate. 3 The immense issue of paper money in 1779 had made it almost worthless, and intelligent men clearly saw that bankruptcy could not long be averted. The plan of calling on the different States to supply the army in kind, by sending fixed quantities of provisions and clothing, was largely employed; but, as we have 1 Hildreth, iii. 324. See a striking passage in 8 Stedman, iv. 254. Washing- Washington's Works, vii. 229. ton's Works, vii. 288. 422 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CK. xiv. seen, it was far from successful, and it gave rise to an immense amount of embezzlement. Strenuous efforts were made to obtain loans in Spain and in Holland, but very little could in this year be obtained from Spain and nothing from Holland. France, however, though her own finances could ill afford it, continued steadily to support America, and her assistance was as indispensable in finance as in arms. But for a loan of four millions of livres granted by France in this year, and for the large sums expended by her army in America, it is diffi- cult to see how the contest could have been continued. At the end of 1779, Congress issued a powerful address- to the States, in which, while calling for new exertions, it endeavoured to dispel all fears that America would not ultimately redeem the promises of its paper money. * A bankrupt, faithless republic would be a novelty in the political world, and appear among respect- able nations like a common prostitute amongst chaste and respectable matrons. The pride of America revolts from the idea ; her citizens know for what purposes these emissions were made, and have repeatedly pledged their faith for the redemption of them.' l Unfortunately, in little more than three months after these brave words were written, the apprehended bankruptcy came. It took the form of a Bill calling in the existing continental paper by monthly payments, and replacing it by a new issue based on the credit of the States, at a discount of forty dollars of the old emissions for one of the new. This new paper was to be redeemed in specie within six years, and it bore interest at the rate of five per cent. By this measure, forty dollars of the continental currency was made an equivalent for one dollar in specie, and the old paper currency ceased to circulate. 3 1 Bolles, pp. 86, 87 ; Kamsay, * Bolles, pp. 94, 135, 217-22tt ii. 129. en. xiv. FINANCIAL TROUBLES, 1780. 423 It is not surprising that after this shock to public faith the new issue had little security, though more serious efforts than in former years were now made to face the financial difficulties. Heavy taxation was imposed by the different States. A movement began among the ladies of Philadelphia, and spread through other States, of collecting or making clothes for the half-naked soldiers, and a bank was erected, chiefly by private subscriptions, for the purpose of helping the Government. 1 But for the assistance of France, how- ever, the financial condition of America would have been desperate, and, in spite of that assistance, it was little less. The expenses were cut down as much as possible. A. new wave of ruin swept over large classes as 39-40ths of the old currency were simply sponged out. The French themselves were extremely irritated by a measure which affected the many French creditors who had supplied the Americans in the time of their deepest need with articles of the first necessity, and Vergennes expressed a strong opinion that foreigners ought to have been excepted from its operation. 2 The new paper soon became almost worthless, and the con- dition of the army at the end of the year was worse than ever. Hamilton, whose great financial genius was now becoming apparent in American politics, wrote, in December 1780, from Morristown, where the army was in winter quarters : ' I find our prospects are infinitely worse than they have been at any period of the war, and unless some expedient can be instantly adopted, a dissolution of the army for want of subsistence is un- avoidable. A part of it has been again several days without bread ; and for the rest we have not, either on 1 See on these different mea- 2 See Adams' Works, vii. 190- Biires Bolles's Financial History 192. of the United States. 29 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. xiv. the spot or within reach, a supply sufficient for four days. Nor does this deficiency proceed from acci- dental circumstances, as has been the case on former occasions, but from the absolute emptiness of our magazines everywhere, and the total want of money or credit to replenish them.' l ' A foreign loan,' wrote Washington in the preceding month, c is indispensably necessary to the continuance of the war. Congress will deceive themselves if they imagine that the army, or a State that is the theatre of war, can rub through a second campaign as the last. . . Ten months' pay is now due to the army. Every depart- ment of it is so much indebted, that we have not credit for a single express, and some of the States are harassed and oppressed to a degree beyond bear- ing. To depend, under these circumstances, upon the resources of the country, unassisted by foreign loans, will, I am confident, be to lean upon a broken reed.' 2 If England and America had been alone engaged in the contest, I scarcely think that any impartial judge can doubt that the Revolution would have been subdued; though, if the American people had ever been animated by the serious and general desire to detach themselves from England, it would have been utterly impossible to have kept them perma- nently in subjection. England, however, was now 1 Quoted by Bolles, pp. 99, without it we must make terms 100. with Great Britain. This must 2 Washington's Works, vii. 300. be done with plainness and firm- In the same spirit Hamilton ness, but with respect and with- wrote in 1780: 'As to a foreign out petulance ; not as a menace, loan, I dare say Congress are but as a candid declaration of doing everything in their power our circumstances.' Hamilton's to obtain it. The most effectual Works, i. 101. way will be to tell France that en. xiv. TENDENCIES TOWARDS PEACE. 425 struggling with a confederation which might well have beaten the strongest Power in Europe to the dust. The exhaustion of the war was now felt very severely by all the belligerents in Europe, and several ineffectual attempts were made to terminate it, or at least to restrict its area, and to modify its conditions. The short war which broke out in Germany in 1778, about the Bavarian succession, had been terminated by .the Peace of Teschen, which was signed on May 10, 1779, and immediately after, both Austria and Russia mad a serious effort to mediate between the belligerent Powers. They proposed that, in order to save the pride of England, the negotiations with America should be conducted independently of those with the European Powers, but on the understanding that the two peaces should only be signed conjointly, and they also proposed that an immediate truce should be established ; but no party was prepared to accept the terms. An abortive effort was made by England to secure the alliance of Russia by promising to her Minorca as the price of a peace based upon that of 1763, 1 and there was a long separate negotiation with Spain which failed through the determination of the English not to surrender Gibraltar. 2 The acquisition of this fortress was the main object for which Spain had entered into the war, and the Spanish ministers now regretted deeply the step they had taken. Mi- norca, Gibraltar, and Jamaica were still in the hands of the English, though the first was not far from its fall. The capture of Florida was a matter of com- 1 Malmesbury Papers, i. 399- Memoirs of Richard Cumber- 404. land, who was sent to Spain to 2 Adolphus, iii. 187-195. See, negotiate this matter; and Flas- too, the second volume of the san, Hist, de la Diplomatic, vi. 426 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. en. riv. paratively small moment, and the independence of America, which seemed likely to be the chief result of the war, was regarded at Madrid, not only without enthusiasm, but with positive aversion, as a grave danger to the colonial and commercial power of Spain. In France, public opinion had greatly cooled towards America. The war had lasted longer than had been anticipated, and the most clear-sighted of the ministers saw plainly that it was sweeping France rapidly to inevitable bankruptcy. Maurepas openly expressed his anxiety for peace, decker, who had at all times opposed the war, wrote a secret letter to Lord North on December 1, 1780, proposing a nego- tiation, and an immediate truce, leaving the belliger- ent Powers in America in possession of the territory they actually held. Yergennes entirely disavowed this step, but he also was sincerely anxious for peace, if it could be honourably obtained. As we have seen, he was greatly disenchanted with the Americans. He complained bitterly that the whole financial bur- den of supporting them was thrown upon France, and that the law reducing the value of American paper money was a gross fraud upon French credi- tors ; he had no sympathy with American aspirations for the conquest of Canada, and he was much alarmed at the growing power of Russia, and anxious that England should not be so reduced, or so alienated, as to be unable or unwilling to co-operate with France in her Eastern policy. In February 1780, John Adams arrived in Paris with instructions to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Great Britain in the event of a peace, but his relations with Yergennes were very stormy. Adams was an able and an honest man, and as he had been commissioner at Paris on the recall of Silas Deane, he was not quite unaccustomed to European ways, CH. xiv. PROPOSALS FOR PEACE. 427 but he appears to have been singularly wanting in the peculiar tact and delicacy required in a diploma- tist. The terms in which he complained of the in- sufficiency of the French expeditions to America, the anxiety which he showed, at a time when America was depending almost wholly upon French assistance, to represent his country as completely the equal of France, and to disclaim all idea of obligation, and the sturdy, but somewhat pedantic, republicanism with which he thought it necessary to assure the minister of one of the most despotic sovereigns in Europe that 4 the principle that the people have a right to a form of government according to their own judgments and inclinations is in this intelligent age so well agreed on in the world, that it would be thought dishonourable by mankind in general ' to violate it, 1 made the worst possible impression. Vergennes positively refused to hold any further communications with any American envoy except Franklin, while Franklin himself was only able to smooth the troubled waters by disavowing the sentiments of his colleague. Yergennes was per- fectly determined not to make any peace apart from America, and he was extremely anxious not to sever the interests of America from those of France, but he feared greatly that if Adams were suffered to offer a commercial treaty, a separate peace might be made between America and England, and that the latter Power might then turn her undivided strength against her European enemies. On the other hand, he clearly recognised that a speedy peace had become a capital interest to France. He was fully resolved not to continue the war for the purpose of extending Ameri- can republicanism to Canada, and, provided the inde- pendence of America were actually established, he 1 American Diplomatic Correspondence, v. 299. 428 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. CH. xiv. had no wish to oblige England to make any recog- nition which might appear to her a humiliation. The independence of Switzerland and Genoa, he said, had never been formally recognised by their former mas- ters, and Spain had delayed her acknowledgment of the independence of Holland till long after it had been established indisputably as a fact. These pre- cedents he thought might be followed in America, and he favoured the idea of terminating the war in that quarter by a truce for twenty years, or for a longer term, at the end of which time it was tolerably certain that the war would not be resumed. In order to carry out this scheme it would be necessary for the English to surrender New York, but Yergennes was prepared to leave them Georgia and South Carolina. Such proposals, however, found no favour in Amer- ica, while in England they were encountered by the absolute resistance of the King. 1 Nothing, indeed, could be more emphatic than the language of George III. during these negotiations, and his confidential correspondence with Lord North shows clearly how, to the very last scene of the very last act of the tragedy, he insisted in opposing every concession, even some of those which the American Commissioners had considered themselves authorised to offer in 1778. He was determined never to recog- nise the independence of America, never to admit a compromise under which that independence could be- come a real, though an unrecognised fact, never to enter into negotiation with France and Spain about the affairs of his revolted colonies. He was supported by his unwavering conviction that the independence of 1 Bancroft, x. 441-445. Cir- Trescot's Diplomacy of the Revo- court, iii. 303-334. American lucion. Diplomatic Correspondence, iv. v. CH. xiv. DETERMINATION OF THE KING. 429 America would be the death-warrant of English great- ness, and by a persuasion, which he would not abandon even in the very last moments of the contest, that England, by steady perseverance, had it yet in her power to bring the colonies to subjection. 'I can never suppose, 7 he wrote in the March of 1780, ' this country so far lost to all ideas of self-importance as to be willing to grant America independence.' 1 ' Every invitation to reconciliation,' he wrote two months later, ' only strengthens the demagogues in America in their arts to convince the deluded people that a lit- tle farther resistance must make the mother country yield ; whilst at this hour every account of the dis- tresses of that country shows that they must sue for peace this summer if no great disaster befalls us.' 2 ' Whilst America is only to be treated with through the medium of France,' he wrote in September, ' or the strange unauthorised propositions of the Commission- ers are to be the basis of any arrangement with the rebellious colonies, I cannot give my sanction to any negotiation.' 3 'The giving up the game would be total ruin ; a small state may certainly subsist, but a great one mouldering cannot get into an inferior sta- tion, but must be annihilated. . . . The French never could stand the cold of Germany ; that of America must be more fatal to them. America is distressed to the greatest degree. The finances of France as well as of Spain are in no good condition.' 4 ' Whilst the House if Bourbon,' he added in October, ' make American independency an article of their propositions, no event can ever make me be a sharer in such a nego- tiation.' 5 1 Correspondence of George III. with Lord North, ii. 310. 2 Ibid. p. 319. 3 Ibid. p. 332. 4 Ibid. p. 336. 6 Ibid. p. 338. 430 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv. The letter of decker in December only encour- aged the King in these sentiments, for he inferred from it that France was in even greater difficulties than he had imagined, and his only answer to the proposition was that France might easily obtain peace by desisting from encouraging rebellion and aiming at American independence, ' whether under its apparent name, or a truce, which is the same in reality.' l But for the assistance of France, he urged, the contest must still end in the return of the colonies to the mother country ; 2 and as late as the beginning of No- vember 1781, three weeks before the account arrived of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, the language of the King was as determined as ever. ' I feel the justness of our cause. I put the greatest confidence in the valour of both navy and army, and above all, in the assistance of Divine Providence. ... I trust the nation is equally determined with myself to meet the conclusion with firmness. If this country will persist, I think an honourable termination cannot fail.' 3 But if the King was unchanged, the nation at last was beginning to recognise the facts of the situation. The combination of France and Spain against Eng- land, and the humiliating spectacle of a foreign fleet commanding the English Channel, had for the first time caused the country gentry to waver, and had convinced many of them of the necessity of abandon- ing America. The Cabinet was well known to be divided. The Bedford party were peculiarly restless ; negotiation after negotiation was made to strengthen the Government by a coalition, and the abandonment 1 Correspondence of George III. with Lord North) ii. 345. 2 Ibid. p. 380. 3 Ibid. p. 387. CH. siv. GROWING STRENGTH OF THE PEACE PARTY. 431 of the ministry by Lord Gower, in the autumn of 1779, gave a considerable shock to Tory opinion. The language of the Opposition grew more confident, and for the first time they began to enjoy some real popu- larity. 1 The ground which they very judiciously se- lected for their attack was the enormous and corrupt expenditure of the Government. Before the Christ- mas recess of 1779 the subject had been brought for- ward in the Lords, both by Richmond and Shelburne, while Burke in the Commons had identified himself with it, and promised a comprehensive scheme of reform to be introduced after the recess. Parliament was reminded that the sea and land forces now amounted to little less than 300,000 men ; that the national debt would, by the end of the ensuing year, have increased since the beginning of the war by 63 millions, and risen to 198 millions ; that in spite of the unprecedented magnitude of the Civil List it had been largely exceeded ; and that the tap-root of a great portion of this expenditure was a desire to obtain by corrupt means a parliamentary ascendency. Queen Anne had a Civil List 300,OOOZ. less than that of George III., yet during the great French war she had allotted 100,OOOZ. of it to the support of the war. -N"ow, however, though the country seemed on the 1 As late, however, as Septera- owing to a consciousness among bcr 16, 1779, Camden wrote to the people that they are as much the Duke of Graf ton: 'For my to blame as the ministers . . . own part I confess fairly my own or whether in truth they hold the opinion that the opposition to the opposition so cheap as to think Court is contracted to a handful the kingdom would suffer instead of men within the walls of Parlia- of mending by the exchange, or ment, and that the people with- from a combination of all these out doors are either indifferent or motives . . . the fact is they do hostile to any opposition at all. not desire a change.' Duke of Whether this singular and unex- Grafton's Autobiography. arnpled state of the country is 432 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. CH. xiv. verge of economical ruin, the tendency to useless ex- penditure was even on the increase, and its manifest object was the corruption of Parliament. The enor- mous multiplication of Court places, of sinecures, of pensions bestowed on members of Parliament, the ab- surd augmentation of the salaries of minor offices, the contracts which had been issued on terms exceedingly unfavourable to the public, and had been distributed among members of Parliament all these things were symptoms of a deliberate intention to falsify the voice of the nation, to govern the country, under the forms of law, through the influence of the Crown, to create in Parliament a body of men who could be counted upon to support any administration and any measure the King might approve. If the question depended solely on the wishes of members of Parliament it would soon have been stifled, but the country was now becoming fully aroused. Never, perhaps, since the convulsions of the Commonwealth had political agitation spread so widely through England as in the recess of Parlia- ment of 1TY9 and 1780. In nearly every county great meetings were held for the purpose of drawing up petitions. Much was said about the necessity of obtaining a thorough reform of Parliament, and much about the necessity of arresting the war in America, but the main subject of complaint was the corrupt in- fluence in Parliament. The agitation, unlike that of the Middlesex election, was conducted chiefly by the most weighty and most respectable classes of the com- munity. The leading country gentry, and even great numbers of the clergy, took part in it, and in most counties it was supported by the great preponderance of property. The counties of York and Middlesex, which were two of the most important, and at the same time most representative constituencies in England, led CH. xiv. PARLIAMENTARY SESSION, 1780. 433 the way by earnest petitions calling for a reduction of expenditure and especially of sinecures and pensions; and no less than twenty-four counties and several con- siderable cities passed petitions and resolutions on the corrupt influence of the Crown. A few counter- meetings were held, and strenuous efforts were made by the partisans of the Government to obtain signa- tures to protests, but on the whole the preponderance both of numbers, property, and influence was decid- edly with the Opposition. Committees and associa- tions for agitating the question were in many places formed, and it became customary at these meetings to return public thanks to those politicians who had attempted to prevent or arrest the American War. 1 The session which ensued showed that the feeling of the country had made a great impression on the members. The disciplined majority which had hith- erto steadily supported Lord Korth was broken ; the country gentry could no longer be counted on, and it was noticed that in some of the most important de- bates the whole stress of defending the Government was thrown upon North and upon the Crown lawyers. In April Dunning succeeded in giving the most seri- ous blow which had yet been administered to the ministry of North, and to the system of Court policy, by carrying by a majority of eighteen his famous resolution ' that the influence of the Crown has in- creased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished.' Two other resolutions asserting the competency of the House ' to examine into and correct abuses in the ex- penditure of the Civil List revenues,' and ' the duty of the House to provide immediate and effectual re- 1 Annual Register, 1780, pp. 85-1 434 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. CH. xiv. dress of the abuses complained of in the petitions ' of the counties, passed without divisions, and many meas- ures were proposed for the purpose of carrying these resolutions into effect. The vast and complex scheme of economical reform introduced by Burke in a speech which astonished and delighted all sides of the House, from its eloquence, its knowledge, and its wisdom, was calculated to reduce the expenditure by 200,OOOZ. a year, and to strike off no less than thirty- nine offices held by members of the House of Com- mons, as well as eleven held by members of the House of Lords. North did not venture to oppose it directly, and it passed both its first and second reading, but was ultimately stifled in Committee. The divisions, however, were very close and very fluctuating. Thus a motion of Sir G. Savile for requiring a list of all pensions was only defeated by a majority of two. The clause of Burke's Bill abolishing 'the third Sec- retary of State was only rejected by a majority of seven. The clause abolishing the Board of Trade was carried against the Government by a majority of eight. A Bill excluding contractors from the House of Commons passed the Commons, but was rejected in the Lords. The fatal blow came from America. The year 1781, which at last gave a decisive turn to the "American "War, began under circumstances very unfavourable to the American cause, for it opened with by far the most formidable mutiny that had yet appeared in the Ameri- can army. ~No troops in that army had shown them- selves more courageous, more patient, and more devoted than the Pennsylvanian line. Its privates and non- commissioned officers consisted chiefly of immigrants from the north of Ireland, and it is remarkable that they had done good service in suppressing the mutiny of Connecticut troops in the previous year. Their pay, CH. xiv. REVOLT OF THE PENNSYLVANIAN LINE. 435 however, was a whole year in arrears. ^ They were left nearly naked and exceedingly destitute of provisions, and an ambiguity in the terms of their enlistments gave rise to a fierce dispute with their officers. The soldiers had been enlisted for three years or for the war, and the former period having elapsed they contended that the choice now remained with them of staying or going; while their officers maintained that they were bound for the longer period. Some officers were killed or wounded in attempting to suppress the mutiny, and the non-com- missioned officers and privates, numbering about 1,300 men, left the camp at Morristown with their firearms and with six field-pieces, and marched to Princetown, apparently with the intention of proceeding to Phila- delphia. General Wayne, who commanded at Morris- town, fearing lest they should plunder the inhabitants for subsistence, sent provisions after them. The muti- neers kept together in a disciplined body, elected their own temporary officers, committed no depredations, and proclaimed their full loyalty to the American cause, and their readiness, if their grievances were redressed, to return to their old officers. In the weak condition of the American forces such a body, if it had gone over to the English, might have turned the fortunes of the war, and Washington was for some time in extreme alarm lest the contagion should spread through the other regiments. Sir Henry Clinton, the English general, sent confidential messen- gers to the revolted troops, and endeavoured by large offers to win them to his side. He offered a complete amnesty and British protection, and he promised to pay all the arrears due to them from Congress, without exacting any military service, though he would gladly accept it if it were offered. But the Pennsylvanian line were as steadfast as ever in their hostility to Eng- land, and they not only rejected the offers that were 436 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv, made to them, but actually arrested the English emis- saries and sent them prisoners to the American camp, where they were tried and hanged as spies. Congress at once opened a negotiation with the revolted troops, and at length induced them to lay down their arms. A general amnesty, a certain proportion of the pay which was due to them, and, above all, the discharge of those who were prepared to swear that they had only been enlisted for three years, quelled the discontent, and when a purse of 100 guineas was offered to those who had delivered up the British emissaries they refused to accept it, alleging that they had only done their duty. The mutiny was quelled with much less difficulty than had been feared, but a great part of the Pennsyl- vanian troops now disappeared from the American army, and a dangerous precedent was established of wronga redressed by revolt. A few weeks after the Pennsyl- vanian outbreak, some of the New Jersey troops, alleging very similar grievances, broke into mutiny and com- mitted several outrages. They were, however, much less numerous, and Washington, having ascertained that his troops could be counted on, acted with great decision. The mutineers were speedily surrounded, and compelled to surrender at discretion, and two of their leaders were executed. The anxiety, however, caused by these mutinies was soon in a great measure forgotten, as the news arrived of a very brilliant success in the South. It had become more and more the 'policy of the English to carry the war into the Southern colonies, where a great proportion of the inhabitants were still loyal to the Crown. They had, as we have seen, completely reduced Georgia in 1779, and South Carolina in 1780, but they had hitherto altogether failed in their attempts upon North Carolina, and a simultaneous invasion of that province and of Virginia was their chief plan for the present year. In CH. xiv. WAR IN THE SOUTH COWPENS. 437 December 1780 reinforcements under General Leslie, amounting to about 2,000 men, arrived at Charleston from New York, and Cornwallis, without waiting for them to join him, moved towards the frontier. The American forces in North Carolina were commanded by Greene, who had superseded Gates, and who, as I have already mentioned, was one of Washington's most favourite soldiers. They are said to have amounted to little more than 2,000 men, a great part of them militia and exceedingly undisciplined. Greene hung about the frontier between the two provinces, and when the invasion became imminent, he marched with the main body of his troops in the direction of Camden, but sent a detach- ment under Colonel Morgan to make a diversion in South Carolina in a country called the district of Ninety-six. Morgan started with only 540 continental soldiers, but he was soon after joined by 400 or 500 militia, and about 200 came to him in South Carolina itself. It was necessary that this force should be anni- hilated or expelled before the projected invasion of North Carolina could take place, and Cornwallis ac- cordingly despatched his light troops, amounting to 1,000 or 1,100 men, a large proportion of them being cavalry, accompanied by two field-guns, to accomplish this object. The force was under the command of Colonel Tarleton, and it seemed amply sufficient for the purpose. Morgan fled precipitately so precipitately that on one occasion the half-cooked dinners of his troops fell into the hands of the English ; but finding the English gaining on him, he at length resolved to meet them at a place called Cowpens, about three miles from the frontier of the province. The battle was fought on January 17, 1781. The English most imprudently attacked when they were fatigued by a five hours' march through a difficult and swampy country, and the Ameri- cans had, of course, the choice of ground, though it doea 438 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xrv. not appear to have given them any great advantage. 1 On the other hand, the English seem to have been numerically at least equal to their enemies. They were all regular troops encountering an army of which more than half was militia, and they were supported by two cannon. Yet in spite of all these advantages they suf- fered an utter and ignominious defeat. A more than commonly deadly volley from the American line, a desperate bayonet charge, a sudden panic, and a failure on the part of Tarleton to bring up the reserves at the proper moment, seem to have been the chief incidents of the affair. The two English cannon were taken. More than 600 men were either captured, wounded, or killed, and the English army was thus deprived of the greater part of its light troops at a time when, from the nature of the campaign, such troops were especially needed. The disaster was completely unexpected by Corn- wallis, but he did everything in his power to repair it. Burning a great part of bis baggage in order that he might move more quickly, he pursued Morgan and Greene into North Carolina, in hopes of regaining the prisoners that had been taken. Twice the Americans were only saved by the sudden rising of rivers, and on one occasion they marched no less than forty miles in a single day. It is said that the bloody marks of their bare and torn feet might be traced along the frozen ground. They succeeded, however, in escaping into Virginia, and North Carolina being for a short time in the possession of the English, several hundreds of loyalists nocked to the British standard. Greene, how- ever, with large reinforcements from Virginia, again entered the province, and although he could not expel 1 See Stedman, ii. 321-325. accounts in Bancroft and in the This writer is especially valuable Cornwallis Correspondence, i for the Carolina campaigns, as he 81-83. was himself present. See, too, the CK. XIT. WAR IN NORTH CAROLINA. 439 the English, he gave a terrible blow to the loyalist movement. A party of between 200 and 300 loyalists encountered some of the American troops, and having mistaken them for English, they suffered themselves to be surrounded. They speedily demanded quarter, but none was given, and the whole body were cut to pieces. A similarly savage spirit seems to have been generally displayed in this province whenever the loyalists fell into the hands of the Americans, and it added greatly to the ferocity of the struggle. Cornwallis, who was a very truthful man, speaks of * the shocking tortures and in- human murders which are every day committed by the enemy, not only on those who have taken part with us, but on many who refuse to join them.' 1 The predomi- nant sentiment of the province appears to have been originally on the side of the Government, and it probably still was so ; but the loyalist party had been broken, scattered, or discouraged by premature insurrections, ruthlessly suppressed. Many were forced by the most savage persecutions to take arms for the Americans ; and the consciousness that in the very probable event of the English being unable to hold the province, no quarter could be expected by loyalists, greatly checked enlist- ments. On March 15, Cornwallis encountered and completely defeated Greene, near Guilford, although the Americans had a great advantage both in numbers and position, but the victory was purchased by heavy losses, and it led to no important result. The extreme diffi- culty of obtaining provisions, the impossibility of occu- pying a vast country with no point in it that could command the rest, the want of boats for navigating the innumerable rivers and creeks that intersected the pro- vince, and the prevailing terror which prevented the loyalists from taking arms, obliged Cornwallis to retire, 1 Cornwallis Correspondence, i. 73. 440 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. x:v. and in April he passed into Virginia, leaving a small force under Lord Rawdon to protect English interests in South Carolina. Much confused and desultory fighting went on in that province, and there was a Ravage civil war be- tween the Whigs and Tories; but, on the whole, the result was unfavourable to the English, for at the end of the campaign they held nothing in the Caro- linas except the country immediately round Charles- ton. At the same time, it is tolerably certain that in all the States south of Virginia the active sympathisers with the Kevolution were but a small minority, though they had succeeded in imposing on the peaceful inhabit- ants what Cornwallis termed l the most oppressive and cruel tyranny that ever was exercised over any country/ It is probably no exaggeration to say that the news of the capture of Washington and Greene and of the total subjugation of the rebellion would have been received with genuine pleasure by the bulk of the population of the Caroliiias, of Georgia, and of Maryland. 1 1 In a letter to Eeed from the fond of pleasure that they have camp near Camden, May 4, 1781, but little relish for the rugged General Greene gives a very con- business of war. . . . The Whigs fidential account of the state will do nothing unless the Tories of the Southern provinces. He are made to do equal duty, and says : * The majority is greatly this cannot be effected, as the in favour of the enemy's interest Tories are the stronger party ; so now, as great numbers of the neither aid the army. . . . Mary- Whigs have left the country. land has given no assistance to . . . The enemy have got a much this army ; not a man has joined firmer hold in South Carolina us from that State. ... If our and Georgia than is generally good ally the French cannot believed. . . . North Carolina did afford assistance to these South- nothing at all until she saw that ern States, in my opinion there we would not let the enemy will be no opposition on this side possess the State quietly. There Virginia, before fall.' Life of are a good many Whigs in the Joseph Reed, ii. 351-353. On State, but I verily believe the the atrocities perpetrated on the Tories are much the most loyalists, see the Cornwallia numerous, and the Whigs are so Correspondence, i. 54, 70, 84. CE. xiv. ARNOLD IN VIRGINIA. 441 Almost immediately after the despatch of Leslie from New York, another force of about 1,600 men was sent from the same quarter into Virginia under the command of Arnold, who was now a brigadier-general in the British army, and who was burning to distinguish himself against his former friends. The objects of the English were to destroy the American stores in Virginia, and at the same time to create a diversion in favour of the forces that were operating in the Carolinas. Some, small armed vessels sailed up the Chesapeake to co- operate with the invaders, who entered Kichmond on January 7, 1781, destroyed great quantities of tobacco and other stores, and spread their devastations over a wide area. They met with scarcely any opposition, for the bulk of the Virginia militia had been sent to the army of Greene, and although Steuben was in Virginia at the head of a few troops they were much too few for serious resistance. An earnest attempt, however, was made to cut off the communications of Arnold. A con- siderable French fleet lay at Newport in Rhode Island, but it was blockaded, or at least watched, by a stronger English fleet. On January 22, however, a furious storm greatly injured the British fleet, and although the French admiral did not venture to attack it, he suc- ceeded in sending three ships of war from his own fleet to the Chesapeake, for the purpose of blocking up Arnold's little squadron, and cutting off the English communication by water. 1 The enterprise was so far successful that Arnold found it necessary to retire to Portsmouth, where he entrenched himself beyond the reach of the French ships, which made a few prizes and returned safely to Newport. Washington viewed with much alarm the presence of this daring soldier in Virginia, and he determined, 1 Washington's Works, vii. 403, 404. 442 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. c> XTT. with the assistance of the French, to make a serious effort to capture or annihilate his whole force. Lafayette was placed at the head of 1,200 men, drawn from, the New England and New Jersey lines, and was directed to attempt the capture, while the French fleet, carrying some 1,100 French soldiers, succeeded in sailing from Newport to the Chesapeake, in order to co-operate with him. The enterprise appeared very promising ; and success, in addition to its great military and political importance, would have been extremely gratifying to the vindictive feelings of the Americans. Jefferson, the Governor of Virginia, offered a reward of 5,000 guineas for the capture of Arnold. Washington instructed La- fayette to execute the traitor ignominiously if he was taken, and he greatly applauded Lafayette's refusal to accept a letter from him when Arnold for a short time was commanding the British. 1 But the fatality which had as yet invariably hung over the combined operations of the French and Americans still continued. The French were not sufficiently prompt in availing them- selves of the moments when several of the English ships were disabled by the storm. The English fleet followed them to the Chesapeake, defeated them, compelled them to return to Newport, and, by establishing communica- tions with Arnold, secured his position ; and, under the protection of the British fleet, 2,000 English soldiers, commanded by General Phillips, arrived in the Chesa- peake on March 26, 1781, to make Virginia the chief theatre of the war. It is somewhat remarkable how very little at this time was done by Washington himself. His eminent wisdom in counsel and administration was never more apparent than in the latter period of the war ; but his great military reputation appears to me to rest almost 1 Washington's Works, vii. 419 ; viii. 6, 7. Memoires de Lafayette. CH. xiv. AMERICAN DESIGNS AGAINST NEW YORK. 443 entirely on his earlier campaigns. He refused to take command of the forces in Virginia, being extremely anxious to effect another enterprise which would, as he believed, terminate the war. This enterprise was the capture of New York, which was left very weak by the large detachments that had been successively sent to the Southern States. For this, however, as for almost everything else, the Americans were absolutely de- pendent on the co-operation of the French, who do not appear to have looked with much favour on the proposal. 1 In February, 1781, Washington agreed with Count Kochambeau that it might be successfully carried out if the French could attain a naval superiority in America, and if the joint French and American army numbered 30,000 men, or double the force of the enemy in new York and its dependencies. 2 In April the English forces at New York had been lowered by successive detachments to about 7,000 regular troops^ 3 In the middle of May a new detachment of from 1,500 to 2,000 men left New York for Virginia, 4 and at the end of that month Washington expressed himself ready to make the attempt, if the battalions from New Hampshire to New Jersey inclusive, which were ( still considerably deficient/ were completed, and if he could obtain the assistance of 4,000 French soldiers. 5 The condition of the war, however, was at this time very singular, for while it was quite evident that it had come to its last stage, it was still curiously uncertain in what way it would terminate. The whole English army in America was so small, so scattered, so imperfectly supported by the inhabitants, and situated in districts where supplies were so difficult to obtain, that a great 1 Washington's Works ,viii.24. * Ibid. p. 63. * Ibid. viii. 25. Ibid. p. 65. Ibid. vii. 407. 4:4:4: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ca. irr. part of it would be inevitably compelled to surrender if the Americans could obtain a very small reinforcement of regular French troops, and, above all, if the French could attain a naval supremacy sufficiently decisive to cut off communications. Already the French navy on the coasts equalled the English in numbers, and it was only by better seamanship that the victory off the Chesapeake had been won. With France, Spain, and Holland in arms against her, with India in a blaze of war, and with the northern Powers formed into a menacing, if not hostile league, it seemed scarcely possible that England should be able to reinforce either her army or her navy to such an extent as to turn the fortunes of the war, and although there were many loyalists in America, it had become quite evident that these could not be relied on to suppress the rebellion. On the other hand, America was in the very last stage of exhaustion and decrepitude, and she depended for everything on her ally. The first condition of success was a naval supremacy, but this rested entirely with France. Nearly every ship of war the Americans possessed had by this time been captured or sunk. 1 On land it was abundantly proved that the English could neither be driven from South Carolina nor from Virginia, nor from New York, without the assistance of French soldiers, and the American army itself was only held together by the constant support and assistance of France. The Americans were compelled to appeal to her for gunpowder, for cannon, for small arms and most military munitions, for clothes, for pay, 2 and every delay in French supplies left them in a state of the most miserable destitution. General Greene described his army in the Carolinas in the midst of winter as * lite- 1 Hildreth, iii. 404. * Washington's Works, vii. 407 ; viii. 44. CH. KIT. 1781. 44:5 rally naked.' l Lafayette was only able to provide his troops in Virginia with shirts, and shoes, and hats, by pledging his private fortune, and in the course of the war he spent in the American cause not only his large annual income but also 700,000 francs of his capital. 2 * There is not,' wrote the American General Clinton from Albany in April, * (independent of Fort Schuyler,) three days' provision in the whole department.' 3 Some of the troops had been unpaid for nearly sixteen months. Some of the most considerable battalions were dwindling by desertion into mere skeletons, and Washington com- plained that he could scarcely 'provide a garrison for Westpoint or feed the men that are there.' 4 'From the post of Saratoga to that of Dobbs' Ferry,' he wrote in May, * I believe there is not at this moment one day's supply of meat for the army on hand. . . . Unless a capital change takes place soon, it will be impossible for me to maintain our posts, and keep the army from dispersing.' 5 ' All the business of transportation, or a great part of it, being done by military impress, we are daily and hourly oppressing the people, souring their tempers, and alienating their affections. . . . Scarce any State in the Union has at this hour an eighth part of its quota in the field. . . . Instead of having the prospect of a glorious offensive campaign before us, we have a bewildered and gloomy defensive one, unless we should receive a powerful aid of ships, land troops, and money from our generous allies.' 6 The bankruptcy of last year had almost completed 1 Washington's TFbr/<;s,vii.355. 1781, Count Fersen wrote : Ce 2 Memoires de Lafayette, i. pays-ci n'est pas en etat de 183, 297. Boutenir une guerre plus longue. 3 Katnsay, ii. 222. II est ruine, plus d'argent, plus 4 Washington's Works, vii. d'hommes; si la France ne les 463 ; viii. 3, 22, 23. secourtvigoureusement,ilsseront 5 Ibid. viii. 36, 38, 39. obliges de faire la paiiL'Lettre* Ibid. 31, 32. So in April du Comte de Fersen, i. 52, 53. 446 ENGLAND IN" THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. XIT. the ruin, and Laurens was sent to France with the most urgent entreaties for a new loan. * Be assured, my dear Laurens/ wrote Washington, ' day does not follow night more certainly than it brings with it some additional proof of the impracticability of carrying on the war without the aids you are directed to solicit. As an honest and candid man, as a man whose all depends on the final and happy termination of the present contest, I assert this, while I give it decisively as my opinion that without a foreign loan our present force, which is but the remnant of an army, cannot be kept together this campaign ; much less will it be increased and in readiness for another. ... If France delays a timely and powerful aid in the critical posture of our affairs, it will avail us nothing should she attempt it hereafter. . . . We can- not transport the provisions from the States in which they are assessed, to the army, because we cannot pay the teamsters, who will no longer work for certificates. .... Our troops are approaching fast to nakedness, and we have nothing to clothe them with ; our hospitals are without medicines, and our sick without nutriment ex- cept such as well men eat. ... In a word, we are at the end of our tether, and now or never our deliverance must come. ... If it could be made to comport with the general plan of the war to keep a superior fleet always in these seas, and France would put us in a con- dition to be active by advancing us money, the ruin of the enemy's schemes would then be certain.' l * Our present situation/ lie wrote emphatically to Franklin, 4 makes one of two things essential to us ; a peace, or the most vigorous aid of our allies, particularly in the article of money.' 2 If this language be true, it is evident that even at 1 Washington's Works, viii. 7, 2 American Diplomatic Cor* 8. See, too, vii. 370, 371. respondent, iii. 188. CH. xiv. NEW FRENCH LOAN. 447 the last stage of the war it was possible that the inde- pendence of America might have collapsed. Nor were the counsels of France by any means unanimous. Even Vergennes was dismayed at the constant demands of America, 1 sceptical about her necessities, irritated at the tone which had recently been adopted by Adams, still more irritated by the manifest approval of that tone by the popular politicians in America. With the excep- tion of Franklin and Washington, he appears to have had very little confidence in American public men ; and he believed, not wholly without reason, that much of the distress which was described was due to the want of unity and patriotism of the Americans themselves, and especially to the fact that the Congress had no co- ercive powers over the several States. Lafayette, how- ever, strongly supported the representations of Franklin, and the French minister at length resolved upon an act of generosity which was sufficient to enable the Americans to continue the war. Besides a loan of four millions of livres to take up bills already drawn upon Franklin, the French King granted six millions of livres as a free gift, and also agreed to guarantee in Holland an American loan to the amount of ten millions more. This timely assistance was of vital importance. Vergennes, indeed, declared that it must be the last, and he complained bitterly that Laurens rather exacted than demanded help ; that he was so displeased at not obtaining all he wanted that he treated the French ministers in a manner bordering upon insolence, and that they had wholly failed in awakening in him any sentiment of gratitude. 2 We must now return to the fortunes of the war in 1 See Washington's Works, vii. 2 See the letters of Vergennea 175, 176, 379, 380. American in Washington's Works, viii. 525, Diplomatic Correspondence, ix. 528. 199 scg. 4AS ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xiv. Virginia. When General Phillips arrived in that pro- vince towards the close of March 1781 with 2,000 men from New York, he assumed the command of all British forces in Virginia by virtue of his seniority to Arnold. Lafayette was hastily recalled to the province from Maryland, and he was joined by some Virginian militia under Steuben, but their joint force was entirely un- able to oppose, or even very seriously to molest, the English, who made it their policy to destroy all stores, and break up all centres of resistance over a large area. Virginia had furnished the chief materials for resist- ance to the English in the Carolinas. It was one of the provinces where the popular sentiment was most hostile to them, and it was so important from its size, wealth, and geographical position that its com- plete reduction might almost terminate the struggle, or at least make British influence supreme in the Southern colonies. It was plain that, if the contest ended in favour of the English, it would be by the complete exhaustion of the Americans, and by carry- ing a war of devastation into Virginia this end was most likely to be attained. The easy navigation of the river James and its dependencies greatly facilitated the efforts of the British, and they also seized all the best horses of the province, and sent parties to scour the country in many directions. Thousands of hogsheads of tobacco a great part of them destined for France ; many ships ; long lines of docks and warehouses ; bar- racks, and many other public buildings ; vast accumu- lations of food and of naval and military stores, were captured or burnt without difficulty and almost without resistance. Clinton expressed his belief that with a proper reinforcement and a naval superiority during the next campaign a mortal stab could speedily be given to the rebellion, and General Phillips agreed with him, that the year 1781 would probably witness its complete en. XIT. WAR IN VIRGINIA, 1781. 449 subjugation. 1 On May 13 Phillips died^f a malignant fever, and he was succeeded in command by Arnold; but Arnold only held the position for a few days. Cornwallis, abandoning his enterprise in the Carolinas, marched in less than a month from Wilmington in North Carolina to Petersburg in Virginia, and arrived at the latter place on May 20. He at once took the command, and Arnold was soon after recalled to New York. Virginia had now become the chief centre of English operations in America, for Cornwallis found himself at the head of not less than 7,000 troops. He continued for some time to pursue the policy of his predeces- sors, and by dividing his forces he carried ruin over a great part of the province. There was as yet no serious resistance. All the more important towns of Virginia Petersburg, Richmond, Charlottesville, Portsmouth, Williamsburg were entered by the Eng- lish. The Virginian Assembly was put to flight, and some of its members were taken. Some English sol- diers the remains of the army detained in violation of the Convention of Saratoga were hastily carried over the mountains to Winchester, 2 and it was com- puted that in a short time the damage done by the English might be valued at not less than ten millions of dollars. 3 . Lafayette, who commanded the American forces in the province, appears to have shown skill and prudence in baffling the attempts of Cornwallis to bring on a general action ; but his forces were far too weak to enable him seriously to obstruct the English. Gradually, however, they increased by new levies of Virginian militia, and especially by the arrival in June of about 1 Clinton's Narrative, pp. 6, 7. Ibid. 358. * Hildreth, iii. 356. 450 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUHY. OH. xi*. 1,000 men frtfm Pennsylvania under General Wayne. The American force then consisted of 2,000 regular troops, and 3,200 militia. On July 6 Lafayette at- tacked the English army as it was crossing the James river, but after a severe engagement he was beaten off with heavy loss. 1 The American forces, however, had now become so powerful that it was no longer possible for the English to detach marauding parties, and Corn- wall is resolved to concentrate his army at some strong point by the water-side where it might be in communi- cation with the English fleet, and from whence it might, if necessary, be sent either to New York or to the South. This step appeared the more essential as it was known that a French fleet under De Grasse was on its way to America, and it was believed that a combined French and American attack upon New York was impending. An intercepted letter of Washington showed that such a design was in contemplation, 2 and Sir Henry Clinton, who commanded at New York, called upon Corn wall is to send some of his forces for its defence ; but this order was afterwards countermanded. Between 2,000 and 3,000 German troops had arrived at New York and strengthened the garrison. There was at this time some dissension between Cornwallis and Clinton, and some ambiguity and vacillation about the orders which Clinton sent to Cornwallis, which afterwards gave rise to controversy ; but their final purport was that Corn- wallis was to fortify some post on the neck of land near the mouth of the Chesapeake, so as to be able to afford protection to the English fleet which was destined to co- operate with him, and Yorktown was indicated as pecu- liarly fitted for that purpose. Yorktown and Gloucester, two opposite peninsulas running out into the river, wore accordingly selected. They were occupied on 1 Mtmoires de Lafayette, 1. 506. * Washington's Works, viii. 6 tpondence, iv. 62, 63. 157, CH. xv. PRELIMINARY ARTICLES OF PEACE. 465 would almost certainly drop away, and France, and perhaps Spain, become bankrupt. After many disputes about forms, and some unnecessary delay, the terms of peace between England on the one hand, and America, France and Spain on the other, were settled, in the latter part of 1782. England was represented in the negotiation by Oswald and Fitzherbert ; France by Yergennes ; Spain by D'Aranda ; America by Franklin, John Adams, and Jay. The provisional articles of peace between England and the United States were signed on November 30, 1782, and the preliminary articles with France and Spain on January 20, 1783. Peace with Holland was not yet concluded, but a truce was signed which put an end to the war. Compared with the Peace of Paris, the new peace was necessarily a humiliating one, for the balance of losses in the war had been greatly against England. At the same time almost all that she relinquished to her European enemies had been taken from them in the late wars, and a considerable part of what had been gained by the Peace of Paris was still retained. By the treaty with France, that Power was guaranteed, with some slight modifications, the right to fish off New- foundland, which had been acknowledged by the treaties of Utrecht and of Paris, and the little neighbouring islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon passed into her com- plete possession. In the West Indies, England restored St. Lucia and ceded Tobago, but she received back the important island of Dominica and the small islands of Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Christopher, Nevis, and Mont- eerrat. In Africa, Senegal and Goree became French ; while Fort James and the river Gambia remained English. In India the French regained their establish- ments in Orissa and Bengal, Pondicherry and Carical, the Fort of Mahe, and the commercial establishment of Surat, and they also acquired some considerable trade 466 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ZT, privileges ; and finally, the humiliating article of the treaty of Utrecht which enjoined the demolition of the harbour and fortress of Dunkirk was abrogated. All the efforts of Spain, by negotiation as well as by arms, to obtain Gibraltar were in vain, but Minorca was once more united to the Spanish crown. Spain retained West Florida, and England ceded to her East Florida. Spain, on the other hand, guaranteed the right of the English to cut logwood in Honduras Bay, and she restored Providence and the Bahama isles. It was easy to exaggerate the importance of every concession made by England, and to contend that after the victory of Rodney and the virtual cessation of the American war it was unnecessary. Candid men will, however, remember how enormously England was out- numbered by her enemies, how doubtful even yet was her naval ascendency, how fatally it might have been affected by a single naval defeat, how crushing was the weight of the national debt, how numerous were the English possessions which were actually in the hands of the enemy. The points on which the Opposition especi- ally dilated were the dangers to the Newfoundland fishery resulting from the right the French obtained of fortifying the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, the danger to England from the apprehended fortification of Dunkirk, the injury done to the English cotton manu- facture by the cession of Tobago, and the absence of any provision guaranteeing liberty of worship and an undisturbed residence to the many loyal subjects of England in East Florida. On the whole, however, the treaties were probably as good as could be expected, and it is not likely that a continuance of the war would have ameliorated the position of England. The treaty with the United States gave greater scope for adverse criticism. Parliament had indeed already simplified the question by its resolution in en. xv. TREATY WITH THE UNITED STATES. 467 favour of the complete recognition of the independence of the thirteen States, and the Americans soon aban- doned their demands for the cession of Canada and Nova Scotia, and for compensation for private property destroyed in the course of the war. The question of boundaries, however, presented greater difficulty, and Shelburne determined, probably wisely, that he would if possible lay the foundation of future friendship by acting as liberally as possible in his concessions. The vast unsettled western country, inhabited chiefly by the Indians, which lay between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi was acknowledged to be part of the United States, England only retaining the right of free naviga- tion of the Mississippi, which was made the western boundary of the United States, and divided its territory from that of Spain. This concession gave an immense field for the future development of the United States, while from its geographical position it was impossible that England could exercise any control in those quar- ters. The Canadian frontier had always been a matter of great doubt, but it was at last determined to abandon the boundary which had been settled by the Quebec Act in 1774, as well as that which England had endeavoured to assign to it in 1754, when it belonged to the French, and to take a new and intermediate boundary extending through the great lakes, and granting to the United States a large part of what the Quebec Act had reckoned as belonging to Canada and Nova Scotia. This territory contained only a very few scattered white men, but the Opposition complained bitterly that in the north as well as in the west several important forts, raised and main- tained at English expense, were ceded without compen- sation ; that a boundary line which approached within twenty-four miles of Montreal was inconsistent with the security of what remained of Canada ; that the fur trade, which had hitherto been a monopoly of the Canadian \ 468 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en, xv. merchants, was at least divided with American mer- chants ; and that no less than twenty-four tribes of Indians, who had been thoroughly loyal to the British Crown, were handed over, without the smallest stipula- tion in their favour, to the American rule. The Ameri- cans had liberty to fish on all the banks of Newfound- land and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but they were not permitted to dry or cure fish on the island of Newfound- land. It was noticed that there was no corresponding authorisation for British subjects to fish on American coasts. There were two other points which excited great difficulty. England demanded that the private debts incurred by American citizens to English citizens before 1775 should be recognised as binding. This was indeed a question of the simplest honesty, and there were con- siderable old debts outstanding, chiefly to Glasgow mer- chants, which, when the troubles began, the Americans had been unwilling or unable to pay. Franklin strenuously opposed the demand, ingeniously alleging that much of the merchandise from the sale of which these debts ought to have been paid had been destroyed by English soldiers during the war. John Adams, however, whose sense of honour was much higher than that of his col- league, fully admitted the justice of the English claim, and declared ' that he had no notion of cheating any- body/ that * the question of paying debts and compen- sating Tories were two.' 1 The dispute was ultimately settled by a general clause stating ' that creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bond fide debts heretofore contracted/ The other question at issue was one in which the honour of England was deeply concerned. It was that Fitzmaurice's Life of Slielburne, iii. 293. en. 7v7. THE LOYALISTS FRANCE AND AMERICA. 469 those who had taken arms for the Crown should be restored to their country and their rights, and should regain the estates that had been confiscated, or at least obtain an equivalent for their loss. On these points, however, the American plenipotentiaries were obdurate. All that could be obtained was an engagement that there should be no future confiscations or prosecutions on account of the part taken in the war ; that Congress would * earnestly recommend it to the legislatures of the respective States ' to restore the confiscated estates of real British subjects, and of Americans who had not actually taken arms for the British; that Congress would also earnestly recommend that loyalists who had taken arms should receive back their estates on refund- ing the money which had been paid for them, and that such persons should have liberty to remain for twelve months in the United States ' unmolested in their en- deavours ' to obtain the restitution of their confiscated estates and rights. Perhaps the most remarkable fact in the negotiation which led to the American peace was that in its latter stages the parties most seriously opposed to one another were not the English and Americans, but the Americans and the French. Franklin, it is true, always leaned to the French side, and showed much gratitude to France and some animosity to England ; but John Adams had long disliked and distrusted Vergennes, 1 and Jay, who had at one time been an ardent advocate of the French alliance, changed into the most violent hostility. ' He thinks/ wrote Franklin, the French minister one of the greatest enemies of our country ; that he would have straitened our boundaries to prevent the growth of our people, contracted our fishery to obstruct the increase of our seamen, and retained the royalists among us to 1 See Adams' Life. Works, i. 320, 321. 470 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ZT. keep us divided ; that he privately opposes all our ne- gotiations with foreign Courts, and afforded us during the war the assistance we received, only to keep it alive that we might be so much the more weakened by it ; that to think of gratitude to France is the greatest of follies, and that to be influenced by it would ruin us. He makes no secret of his having these opinions, and expresses them publicly, sometimes in presence of the English ministers/ l Considering all that France had done for America, such language sounds very strange, but it is not difficult to explain it. While the French minister had never wavered in his determination to secure the independence of the old English colonies in America, he had, as we have seen, uniformly discouraged all attempts to annex Canada to them, and he aimed at the establishment of a balance of power in America in which neither England nor the United States should have a complete ascen- dency. In accordance with the same policy he con- tended that the country of the great lakes was incon- testably either a dependency of Canada or the property of Indians, and that the United States had no title to it. In October 1782 Yergennes expressed these views in a secret despatch to the French envoy in America ; he added, with some bitterness, that once the French ceased to subsidise the American army it would be ' as useless as it has been habitually inactive,' and he ex- pressed his astonishment at the new demand for money, while the Americans obstinately refused the payment of taxes. * It seems to be much more natural,' he wrote, * for them to raise upon themselves, rather than upon the subjects of the King, the funds which the defence of their cause exacts.' 2 A month later he intimated to 1 American Diplomatic Corre- 2 Bancroft's History of thi ipondence, iv. 138. United States, x. 582. CH. XT. FRANCE AND AMERICA. 471 the French ambassador at Madrid his determination not to continue the war on account of the ambitious pre- tensions of the Americans, either with reference to the fisheries or to their boundaries. 1 France had herself an interest in the Newfoundland fishery, and the French agents strongly denied the right of the Americans to an unrestricted participation in it. The fishery of the broad sea, they said, is by natural law open to all ; coast fisheries, apart from express treaty provisions, belong exclusively to the sovereigns of the coast ; and the Americans, in ceasing to be British subjects, had lost all right to fish upon an English coast. 2 The Americans soon discovered that on these two important questions the influence of France was hostile to them, and on the question of the Mississippi boundary the same opposition appeared. The country bounded on the north by Canada, on the south by part of Florida, on the west by the Mississippi, and on the east by the Alleghany Mountains, fringed the whole length of the United States ; and although it had not yet been ap- propriated or divided into States, it was the great field in which the ultimate expansion of the English race might be anticipated. According to the Spaniards the boundaries of Florida extended far into this country, but England had never acknowledged the claim. In the proclamation of 1763 the country was recognised as Indian territory external to the English establishments. 3 Vergennes agreed with Spain that the United States were nowhere in contact with the Mississippi. The northern portion of the disputed territory, as far down as the Ohio, he thought should be considered part of 1 Bancroft's History of the neval on the subject. American United, States, x. 588. Diplomatic Correspondence, viii. 2 Circourt, ii. 243. 156-160. See the memorial of Ray- 32 4:72 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ca. XT, Canada, in accordance with the boundary defined by the Quebec Act. The southern portion, in accordance with the proclamation of 1763, he wished to be con- sidered Indian territory, under the joint protectorate of Spain and the United States. The question was one which had been for some time pending. In 1779, Congress had put forward an ulti- matum for peace, in which they claimed the Mississippi for their western boundary. In 1780, however, when the question of a Spanish alliance was raised, the French envoy had strongly represented that the States had no right whatever to this western territory or to the navi- gation of the river; that the Spanish conquests would probably spread over this country, and that an abandon- ment of the claim to the Mississippi boundary was indispensable if Spain was to be induced to co-operate in the war. Congress listened to the advice, and silently dropped the claim, making a simple acknowledgment of the independence of the States the sole condition of peace. 1 The claim, however, to the Mississippi boundary was now revived, and as it was a matter of little or no importance to England, it produced the curious spectacle of a kind of alliance between the English and American diplomatists in opposition to those of France and Spain. The motives of the French ministers appear to have been twofold. They were consistently jealous of the too great expansion of the new State, and they were anxious to assist their allies the Spaniards. France had found herself unable to fulfil her pledge of recovering Gibraltar by arms; she had failed in her attempts to induce England to cede it in exchange for Oran, or West Florida and the Bahama islands, or Guadeloupe, and she had equally failed in her intention of restoring Jamaica to Spain. Under these circumstances, Ver- Fitzmaurice' s Life of Shelburne, iii. 169-173. en. sv. FRANCE, SPAIN, AND AMERICA. 473 gennes would gladly have compensated Spain by giving her the power of extending her dominion through the unoccupied territory to the west of the inhabited part of the United States, and by securing to her the sole navi- gation of the Mississippi. The antagonism on these points was very keen. Oswald placed in the hands of Jay a despatch from, Marbois, the secretary of the French legation at Phil- adelphia, which had been intercepted by the English, and which showed an extreme hostility to the claims which Samuel Adams and a large party in New England were putting forward to participate in the fisheries. 1 Vergennes sent his favourite secretary Kayneval with profound secrecy to London to communicate with Shel- burne. Jay heard of it, and at once despatched a secret messenger of his own to counteract the negotiation. Oswald appears to have told Jay very strange stories of intimations that French ministers were said to have given in 1780 and 1782, to influential Englishmen, of their willingness to terminate the contest by dividing the American colonies between France and England, 2 and the Americans were quite aware that the French were opposing their claims to the fisheries and to the extended boundaries. On the Mississippi question the parts were so curiously inverted that Jay strongly maintained in opposition to Spain the right of the English to a free navigation on that river, and he even urged that Eng- land should retain West Florida for herself, instead of ceding it to Spain. 3 England, on the other hand, with some restrictions which were easily compromised, was ready to meet the American demands. The United States obtained a much greater extension to the north 1 See this letter in Jay's Life, 8 Fitzmaurice's Life of Shel- by his son, i. 490-494. burne, iii. 272. * Ibid. pp. 156-159. 4:74: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. zv. and to the west, and a mucli greater share in the New- foundland fishery than the French considered they had a right to, and the alliance between France and America was seriously impaired. In June 1781, Congress had, perhaps imprudently, consented, at the wish of the French ministers, to bind their commissioners by instructions which placed the whole control of the negotiations for peace in the hands of the French. The recognition of independence was alone made indispensable. For the rest the language of the instructions was as explicit as possible : ' You are to make the most candid and confidential communica- tions upon all subjects to the ministers of our generous ally the King of France ; to undertake nothing in the negotiations for peace or truce without their knowledge and concurrence, and ultimately to govern yourself by their advice and opinion.' 1 No words could more dis- tinctly pledge the American commissioners to France. But in spite of them, Vergennes complained that on the very eve of the peace he could obtain only the vaguest and most unsatisfactory answers about the pro- ceedings of the American negotiators, and those negotia- tors at last signed the preliminary articles without his knowledge. * As we had reason,' they wrote to Living- ston when announcing this step, ' to imagine that the articles respecting the boundaries, the refugees, and fisheries did not correspond with the policy of this court, we did not communicate the preliminaries to the minister until they were signed.' * They were communicated immediately after, with the exception of one article, which was kept separate and secret, defining the northern boundary of West Florida if that province were retained by Spain. Yer- 1 Trescot's Diplomacy of the 2 American Diplomatic Revolution, p. 110. See Frank- spondence, x. 120. lin's Works, ix. 453. ST. REMONSTRANCE OF VERGENNES. 475 gennes complained bitterly that the commissioners, in signing the articles without the knowledge of the French ministers, without even informing themselves of the state of the negotiations between France and England, had been guilty of a gross breach of faith and of. gross ingratitude. John Adams, he added, on his return from Holland to take part in the negotiations, had passed nearly three weeks in Paris without the ordinary attention and courtesy of calling on him. In a con- fidential and very remarkable despatch he directed Luzerne, who was French minister in America, to in- form the chief members of the Congress of the con- duct of the American commissioners, and he complained of the difficulties which it threw upon France, which had to attend not only to her own interests, but also to those of Spain and Holland. The French negotiation with England, he said, was still by no means terminated, ' not that the King, if he had shown as little delicacy in his proceedings as the American commissioners, might not have signed articles with England long before them.' ' I accuse no person,' he concluded ; * I blame no one, not even Dr. Franklin. He has yielded too easily to the bias of his colleagues, who do not pretend to recognise the rules of courtesy in regard to us. All their atten- tions have been taken up by the English whom they have met in Paris. If we may judge of the future from what has passed here under our eyes, we shall be but poorly paid for all that we have done for the United States and for securing to them a national existence. I will add nothing in respect to the demand for money which has been made upon us ; you may well judge if conduct like this encourages us to make demonstrations of our liberality.' l 1 The letters of Vergennes to matic Correspondence, and also Franklin and to Luzerne are in Franklin's Works, ix. 449, printed in the American Diplo- 450, 452-456. 476 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xv. Franklin, who was most anxious to retain both for his country and for himself the good opinion of France, answered the remonstrance of Vergennes in a very apologetical strain. He admitted that the commis- sioners had * been guilty of neglecting a point of Uenseance ; ' but he urged that * nothing had been agreed to in the preliminaries contrary to the interests of France,' that the articles were merely provisional, and that no peace could take place between America and England till peace had also been made between France and England. He expressed the most lively gratitude to the French king, and his hope i that the great work, which has hitherto been so happily con- ducted, is so nearly brought to perfection, and is so glorious to his reign, will not be ruined by a single in- discretion of ours. And certainly,' he added, * the whole edifice sinks to the ground immediately, if you refuse on that account to give us any further assistance.' l This hope was fulfilled. France had already resolved to grant America a new loan, though her own finances were strained almost to the uttermost. She did not allow the conduct of the Americans to alter her deter- mination, and a few days after the correspondence I have quoted, six millions of livres were granted. At the same time Vergennes wrote very earnestly to Lu- zerne urging him to impress upon Congress that it was by no means certain that peace had as yet been finally attained. 2 It was plain that Shelburne's Ministry would not last, and there was much reason to fear that Fox if he came to power would be disposed to continue the war with France provided he could make peace with America. The fear that had long haunted Ver- gennes, that America might be detached from the alliance, and that the whole power of England might > Franklin's Works, ix. 451. 2 Ibid. pp. 456, 457. en. xv. MOTIVES OF THE AMERICAN COMMISSIONERS. 477 be employed in a prolonged war against her European adversaries, was not even yet entirely dispelled. 1 It suited the purpose of Franklin to represent the conduct of the commissioners in signing the prelimi- nary articles without the knowledge of the French ministers as a simple failure of courtesy, the omission of a diplomatic formality which ought to have been observed, but which was of no practical importance. It is obvious that this view was not the true one, and it is equally obvious from the letters of the commissioners to their own Government that they were perfectly aware of the real importance of what they had done. Two of the commissioners had conceived a profound distrust of the French Minister. 2 They believed that Rayneval had been sent to England to retard or prevent the recog- nition of American independence, that the French Ministers desired to keep America in permanent and humiliating dependence, and that they were acting falsely and treacherously towards her. For the charge of treachery there was no foundation. The indepen- dence of the Americans had been the steady aim of France ; she was not in the least disposed to abandon it, and although Vergennes desired to increase the in- 1 See a remarkable letter of by his son, and the Life of Montmorin to Vergennes de- Adams, by his grandson. With tailing his argument with the these should be compared the Spanish Minister (March 30, commentary of Mr. Sparks, 1782). Circourt, iii. 326-328. American Diplomatic Corre- 2 Jay's views on the subject spondence, viii. 208, 212. See, are very fully put. forward in a too, among more recent works, long letter to Livingston (Ameri- the Appendix to the third volume can Diplomatic Correspondence, of the Digest of International vixi. 129-208), and the similar Law, by F. Wharton (Washing- views of Adams are expressed in ton, 1887), and an Address on several letters in the same col- the Peace Negotiations of 1782- lection. Both Jay and Adams 1783 before the New York His- have found powerful defenders torical Society by John Jay, in their descendants and bio- printed with copious illustrations graphers. See the Life of Jay, in 1884. 478 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xv. fluence of his own country by a balance of power in America, he does not appear to have opposed American interests on any point on which he had ever promised to support them. France was, however, endeavouring, as the principal member of a great coalition, to make peace, and she was seeking to reconcile many conflict- ing interests and to satisfy many conflicting claims. It is undoubtedly true that she desired that America should make a serious sacrifice of her prospects for the benefit of the other belligerents, and especially of Spain. The publication of the diplomatic correspondence of Vergennes shows that his relations with the Spanish Government were at this time very 'embarrassing. Flo- rida Blanca, who directed Spanish politics, looked upon American independence with scarcely concealed detes- tation. He clearly saw the danger of the precedent to all colonial Powers, and there were already serious dis- turbances in several parts of Spanish America. 1 The failure of nearly all the special objects of Spanish am- bition had greatly irritated him, and after the defeat of the attack upon Gibraltar he was betrayed into some very ungenerous and unwarrantable insinuations di- rected against the French soldiers who had taken part in the siege. 2 Vergennes showed some natural resent- ment, but he had no wish to throw away the Spanish alliance, and every wish to gratify his ally. If his policy had been carried out it seems clear that he would have established a claim for concessions from England by supporting her against America on the questions of Canada and the Canadian border and the Newfoundland fishery, and that he would have partially compensated Spain for her failure before Gibraltar by obtaining for her a complete ascendency upon the Mississippi. The 1 See the letters of Vergennes 319, 320, 323-328. lo Montmorin. Circourt, iii. 2 Ibid. pp. 329, 330. CH. XV. SUCCESS OF THE AMERICANS. 479 success of such, a policy would have been extremely dis- pleasing to the Congress, and Jay and Adams defeated it. Franklin very reluctantly acquiesced in the secret signature. Livingston, writing from America, strongly blamed it, and expressed his conviction that the sus- picions of the commissioners were unfounded. But the act was done, and if it can be justified by success, that justification at least is not wanting. The separate signature appears to have had one im- portant effect upon European affairs. The cession of Gibraltar to the Spaniards had for some time been seriously considered in the Cabinet, and Shelburne him- self was disposed to agree to it. After a long delibera- tion the Cabinet had actually resolved to exchange Gibraltar for Guadaloupe, when the news of the accom- plished peace with America induced them to reconsider their determination. 1 It is impossible not to be struck with the skill, hardihood, and good fortune that marked the American negotiation. Everything the United States could with any shadow of plausibility demand from England they obtained, and much of what they obtained was granted them in opposition to the two great Powers by whose assistance they had triumphed. The conquests of France were much more than counterbalanced by the financial ruin which impelled her with giant steps to revolution. The acquisition of Minorca and Florida by Spain was dearly purchased by the establishment of an example which before long deprived her of her own colonies. Holland received an almost fatal blow by the losses she incurred during the war. England emerged from the struggle with a diminished empire and a vastly augmented 1 Fitzmaurice's Life of Slid- est extant account of the nego- burne, iii. 305, 306, 314. Lord tiations that led to the peace o( Edmond Fitzmaurice's book con- 17b3. tains, I think, the best and full- 480 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. xv. debt, and her ablest statesmen believed and said that the days of her greatness were over. But America, though she had been reduced by the war to almost the lowest stage of impoverishment and impotence, gained at the peace almost everything that she desired, and started with every promise of future greatness upon the mighty career that was before her. The part of the treaty with England which excited most severe criticism was the abandonment of the loyalists. These unfortunate men had, indeed, a claim of the very strongest kind to the protection of England, for they had lost everything in her cause. Some had simply fled from the country before mob violence, and had been attainted in their absence. Others had actu- ally taken up arms, and they had done so at the express invitation of the English Government and of English generals. Their abandonment was described by nearly all the members of the Opposition as an act of un- qualified baseness which would leave an enduring stain on the English name. * What,' said Lord North, ' are not the claims of those who, in conformity to their allegiance, their cheerful obedience to the voice of Parliament, their confidence in the proclamation of our generals, invited under every assurance of military, parliamentary, political, and affectionate protection, espoused with the hazard of their lives, and the forfeiture of their properties, the cause of Great Britain ? ' 1 It had hitherto nearly always been the custom to close a struggle, which partook largely of the nature of civil war, by a generous act of amnesty and restitution. At the Peace of Miinster a general act of indemnity had been passed, and the partisans of the Spanish sovereign had either regained their confiscated properties, or had been indemnified for their loss. A similar measure had Parl. Hist, xxiii. 452. ca. xv. THE AMERICAN LOYALISTS. 481 been exacted in favour of the revolted Catalans by- France at the Peace of the Pyrenees, and by England at the Peace of Utrecht, and Spain had frankly conceded it. The case of the American loyalists was a still stronger one, and the Opposition emphatically main- tained that the omission of any effectual provision for them in the Treaty of Versailles, ' unless marked by the just indignation of Parliament, would blast for ever the honour of this country.' 1 This charge does not appear to me to be a just one. It is evident from the correspondence which has now been published that Shelburne from the very beginning of the negotiation did all that was in his power to obtain the restoration of the loyalists to their civil rights and to their properties. He directed Oswald to make their claims an article of the first importance. He re- peatedly threatened to break off the whole negotiation if it were not conceded, and he suggested more than one way in which it might be accomplished. Savannah and Charleston had, indeed, been evacuated ; but New York was in the hands of the English till the peace, and they might reasonably ask for a compensation to the loyalists as the price of its surrender. A vast amount of territory to the south of Canada, and to the east of the Mississippi, had been conceded to the United States to which they had very little claim, and it was proposed by the English that lands in the uninhabited country should be sold, and that a fund should be formed to compensate the loyalists. Yergennes strenuously sup- ported Shelburne, and urged, as a matter of justice and humanity, that the Americans should grant an amnesty and a restoration. As far as can now be judged, his motives appear to have been those of a humane and honourable man. He knew that the loyalists represented 1 Annual Register, 1783, p. 164. 482 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, cs. u.v. tlie real opinions of a very large section of the American people, and that he was himself mainly responsible for their ruin. If France had not drawn the sword, there is little doubt that they would still have been the leading class in America. The intervention, however, of Vergennes was attributed by Jay and Adams to the most malevolent and Machiavellian motives, 1 and the time had passed when a French minister could greatly influence American councils. The commissioners took their stand upon the constitutional ground that Con- gress had no power to grant what was demanded, for the loyalists had been attainted by particular Acts of particular State legislatures, and it was only these legis- latures that could restore them. That there was no disposition in America to do so they honestly admitted. Franklin, whose own son was a distinguished and very honourable loyalist, was conspicuous for his vindictive- ness against the class, and he even tried to persuade the English negotiators that the loyalists had no claim upon England, for their misrepresentations had led her to prolong the war. 2 The loyalist question was one of those on which the three commissioners were cordially united, and there is no doubt that they represented the domi- nant party in America. Under these circumstances it was necessary to yield. It would, no doubt, have been possible to have continued the war solely upon this ground ; but a year of hostili- ties would cost much more than would have been re- quired as compensation, and it would have inflamed the American hatred of the loyalists to madness. Once the independence of America was recognised, it was not in the power of England to provide that they should live 1 See American Diplomatic Loyalists, 94-97. Correspondence, vi. 453-457 ; 2 Franklin's Works, ix. 315. viii. 207. Sabine's American CH. xv. THE AMERICAN LOYALISTS. 483 securely among a hostile population and under a hostile Government. The Americans clearly saw that England could not enforce the claims of the loyalists, and they therefore persisted in resisting them. Congress directed the commissioners to enter into no engagement respect- ing loyalists unless Great Britain promised compensation for losses caused to private persons by persons in her service during the war. The recommendation it ulti- mately made, in accordance with the terms of the treaty, to the State legislatures in favour of the loyalists was probably always intended to be a dead letter. The Legislature of South Carolina took some honourable and generous steps to heal the breach ; l but in general popular feeling showed itself after the peace in the highest degree rancorous towards all who were suspected of Tory opinions. The loyalists whose properties had been confiscated, or who had been banished by acts of attainder, formed but a small proportion of the known sympathisers with the old Government. Mob violence, however, and many forms of injustice, made life almost intolerable for them in their homes, and emigration to British territory took place on a scale which had been hardly paralleled since the Huguenots. It has been estimated, apparently on good authority, that in the two provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick alone, the loyalist emigrants and their families amounted to not less than 35,000 persons, and that the total number of refugees cannot have been much less than 100,000. 2 Many reasons conspired to strengthen the determina- tion of the Americans to resist all demands in favour of 1 Sabine's American Loyalists, and New Brunswick is made by pp. 86, 87. Mr. de Lancey, the editor of 2 Jones'sHistoryofNew York, Judge Jones's Life, from a care- ii. 259-268, 500-509. The esti- ful examination of the records at mate of the number of emigrants Halifax. who took refuge in Nova Scotia 484: ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ca. xv. the loyalists. The civil war between Whigs and Tories had, as we have seen, been much more savage than the war between the English and the Americans ; and the revolutionary party attributed with some reason the long continuance of the struggle to the existence and to the representations of the great loyalist party in America. The power of Congress was still extremely uncertain ; there was much difficulty in inducing the States to obey its mandates, and the restoration of the most active and enterprising leaders of the party disaffected to the new state of things might be very dangerous. The country was exhausted and impoverished and in no mood to pay anything, and strong personal and class interests were hostile to a restoration. The loyalists to a great extent sprang from and represented the old gentry of the country. The prospect of seizing their property had been one great motive which induced many to enter into the war. The owners of the confiscated property now grasped the helm. New men exercised the social influence of the old families, and they naturally dreaded the restoration of those whom they had displaced. It remained for England to discharge her obligations to her exiled partisans. In 1782 and for some years later, regular annuities amounting to a little more than 40,OOOZ. a year were granted as compensation to loyalists, but this sum was distributed among only 315 persons. Additional sums, amounting to between 17,OOOZ. and 18,OOOZ. a year, were granted occasionally, and for par- ticular or occasional losses, 1 and it was agreed that officers who had served as volunteers in provincial regi- ments in America should receive half-pay. 2 When it had become clear that the States would not listen to the 1 Wilmot's Historical View of bine's American Loyalists, pp. the Commission for Enquiring 70, 71. into the Losses and Claims of a Parl. Hist, xxiii. 1050-1058. the Loyalists, pp. 15, 16. Sa- CH. xv. WEAKNESS OF SHELBUENE's MINISTRY. 485 recommendation of Congress to restore the loyalists to their estates, an Act was carried authorizing the appoint- ment of commissioners to inquire into the circumstances and former fortunes of persons who were reduced to dis- tress by the American troubles. The inquiry dragged on slowly for several years. Miserable stories were told of hearts and minds that broke under the prolonged suspense of once affluent loyalists who were driven to suicide and insanity, or were languishing in a debtor's gaol. In 1788 the subject was again discussed in Parliament, and in 1790 it was brought to a conclusion. The claimants in England, Nova Scotia, New Bruns- wick, and Canada were 5,072, of whom 954 either with- drew or failed to establish their claims. Among the remainder about 3,110,000. was distributed. When it is added that many had received annuities, half -pay as military officers, grants of land from the Crown and special favours in the distribution of ordinary patron- age, it will not, I think, appear that England showed herself ungrateful to her friends. 1 1 Sabine, pp. 107-112. NOTES. Page 8. For a discussion of the different forms of government in the colonies, for " a sketch of their charters, constitutional his- tory, and ante-revolutionary jurisprudence," see Story's Com- mentaries on the Constitution, pp. 3-83, especially pp. 67 et seq. For a recent and very useful treatment of this subject, con- sult Hinsdale's The American Government, ch. ii., " How the Colo- nies were Governed," pp. 36-51. Page 25. On the system of entails in Virginia, consult Jeffer- son's Autobiography, Writings, vol. i. See also liandall's Life of Jefferson and Rives's Life of Madison. Page 27, line 9. For Burke's famous passage on this subject see his Speech on Conciliation with America. Works, vol. i. pp. 181, 182, Payne's edition. Page 28. For Patrick Henry's agency in the " Parson V> Cause," see Fiske's American Revolution, vol. i. p. 18 ; Tyler's Life of Henry, ch. iv. ; Writings of Henry \ edited by William Wirt Henry. Mahon's History of England (vol. v. pp. 89-91) has an interesting passage on the character of Henry, apparently based on Wirt's Life of Henry. Page 40. For farther discussion of the relation of the colonies to the Crown and to Parliament, the allegiance and rights of the colonies, and the prerogatives of the Crown and the authority of Parliament, see Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, ch. xvii., on " General Review" of the Colonies " ; Chamberlain, The Revolu- tion Impending, in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, vol. vi. ; Knox's Controversy between the Colonies and the Mother Country. Page 42. Summarise the " chief restrictions of the commer- cial code." See the very valuable passage in Lecky's England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. ii. ch. v. pp. 8-12 ; also Miss Eleanor L. Lord's Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North America, Johns Hopkins University Studies, extra vol. xvii. Consider the Navigation Acts in this connection. 486 NOTES. 487 The mercantile theory and the commercial policy of the eigh- teenth century suggest a subject very worthy of extended study. Lecky, in the passage referred to, says : "The real evil of the colonies lay in the commercial policy of the mother country, in the system of restrictions intended to secure for Eng- land a monopoly of the colonial trade, and to crush every manufacture that could compete with English industry. It was a policy which sprang, in a great degree, from that mercantile theory which denied the possibility of a commerce mutually beneficial to the parties engaged in it. It was strengthened by the ^Revolution [of 1688], which gave com- mercial classes a new pre-eminence in English legislation, and it had political consequences of the gravest character." Vol. ii. p. 8, edition of 1878. The following is a notable passage of Adam Smith on the in- fluence of the mercantile system on colonial attachments : " The policy of Europe, therefore, has very little to boast of, either in the original establishment, or, as far as concerns their internal govern- ment, in the subsequent prosperity of the colonies of America. . . . Upon all these clitferent occasions [of settlements] it was not the wisdom and policy, but the disorder and injustice, of the European governments which peopled and cultivated America. ' When those establishments were effectuated and had become so considerable as to attract the atten- tion of the mother country, the first regulations which she made with regard to them had always in view to secure to herself the monopoly of their commerce, to confine their market, and to enlarge her own at their expense ; and, consequently, rather to damp and discourage than to quicken and forward the course of their prosperity. In the different ways in which this monopoly has been exercised consists one of the most essential differences in the policy of the different European nations with regard to their colonies. The test of them all, that of England, is only somewhat less illiberal and oppressive than that of any of the rest." Smith's Wealth of Nations, bookiv. ch. vii. Cited by Massey, History of England, vol. i.'p. 195. On this subject see also Pitkin's Civil and Political History of the United States, vol. i. pp. 93-106, the latter half of ch. iii. Probably the best single study on this subject is The Com- mercial Policy of England toward the American Colonies, by George Louis Beers, in the Columbia University Studies in His- tory, Economics, and Public Law, vol. iii. No. 2, 1893; notice especially pp. 43-45 and 66-70; consult, also, Prof. H. L. Os- good's articles on The Colonial Corporation, in the ' Political Science Quarterly " for 1896. Pages 60, 61. The Revolution was preceded by a hot party controversy, and the partisans and disputants used heated terms in describing one another. The colonists were " rioters," " incen- diaries," " rebels," and " traitors " ; the British and Tories were " despots " and " tyrants." A dispassionate examination into the merits of the controversy, while dispelling these false and harm- ful impressions, will, we believe, vindicate the party of American independence. John Adams sets forth with boldness and with some heat the American patriot feeling of that day : 488 NOTES. "Every man of every character who, by voting, writing, speaking, or otherwise, had favoured the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, and every other measure of a minister or governor who they knew was aiming at the de- struction of their form of government and introducing parliamentary taxation, was uniformly, in some department or other, promoted to some place of honour or profit for ten years together; arid, on the other hand, every man who favoured the people in their opposition to those innova- tions was depressed, degraded, and persecuted, so far as it was in the power of the Government to do it. " This they considered as a systematical means of encouraging every man of abilities to espouse the cause of parliamentary taxation and the plan of destroying their charter privileges, and to discourage all from exerting themselves in opposition to them. This they thought a plan to enslave them, for they uniformly think that the destruction of their charter, making the council and judges wholly dependent on the Crown, and the people subject to the unlimited power of Parliament as their supreme legislative, is slavery. Novanglus, written in 1774. Adams's Works, vol. iv. pp. 53, 54. Read further in this work for colonial vindi- cation. Page 62. The " constitutional competence of Parliament to tax the colonies " suggests a most interesting topic to the student. Was the taxing policy " a departure from the old system of gov- ernment in the colonies " f Were the Americans standing for old rights which were being violated ? Were our fathers seeking to preserve an old constitution or to impose a new one ? Were they conservators or innovators f Upon the answer to such questions depends, in a measure, the justice of their course, and whether or not their movement was of the essence of revolution and rebellion. Speaking for the Americans, John Adams insisted that they were not rebels. " Opposition, nay, open, avowed resistance by arms against usurpa- tion and lawless violence is not rebellion by the law of God or the land. Resistance to lawful authority makes rebellion. Hampden, Russell, Sid- ney, Somers, Holt, Tillotson, Burnet, Hoadley, etc., were no tyrants nor rebels, although some of them were in arms and the others undoubtedly excited resistance." Works, iv. 57, 58. " Shame on the American who calls the Stamp Act law." Wendell Phillips, Speech on the Murder of Lovejoy*. " The fact of the case is that the American leaders, as soon as they awoke to a realising sense of the power which lay at the centre of the old Constitution of the British Empire, demanded a new constitution one in which Parliament, by solemn agreement and enactment, should set a limit to the exercise of its powers. But in their arguments and in their acts they ignored the fact that Parliament had never set any such limit, and they conducted themselves as if they were already living under the new constitution which they desired. Hence arose the revolutionary character of their argument. It was meant for a constitution other than the one which actually existed. The loyalists were the party who dis- cussed the issues on the basis of the existing Constitution, and were there- fore the constitutionalists of the time." Prof. H. L. Osgood, in Political, Science Quarterly, March, 1898. It will be seen from Mr. Lecky's pages that he rejects this view, and is more in accord with the usual view of American NOTES. 489 writers on the subject. See, also, Burke, Chatham, and Franklin for a vindication of the constitutionalism of the American posi- tion. Also Professor Tyler, whose book Professor Osgood is re- viewing, in the chapter on Dickinson, says : " Dickinson relies oil English principles with which to oppose Eng- lish aggressions ; conservative, with a natural opposition to all change that violated the sequences of established law, he would show the Eng- lish people that it was their own rulers and not the Americans who were violating the Constitution ; that the demands of the Americans, so far from being the spawn of a factious or revolutionary temper, were derived immediately from the records, statutes, law books, and most approved writers of our mother country those ' dead but most faithful counsellors who cannot be daunted by fear, nor muzzled by affection, reward, or hope of preferment, and therefore may be safely believed.' . . . Never- theless, in 1775, events occurred which gave a different aspect to the whole dispute, and swept an apparent majority of the American people quite beyond the sphere of such ideas and methods. John Dickinson's concession to Parliament of a legislative authority over us, even to a limited extent, was roughly discarded ; instead of which was enthroned among us the unhistoric and makeshift doctrine that American alle- giance was due not at all to Parliament, but to the Crown only." Liter- ary History of the American Revolution, vol. ii. pp. 29, 33. It will appear to the judicial student of these times that in this constitutional controversy (as in most others), at least in all its stages, neither party was wholly right nor wholly wrong. As the Americans changed their ground, as they advanced from the position of 1765-1766 to that of 1775-1776, they assumed the atti- tude which Professor Osgood describes, and their movement ceased to be constitutional and became revolutionary. But this revolu- tionary advance was the inevitable outcome of a just constitutional struggle. The issues of that struggle were momentous. To these issues American students should never permit themselves to be indifferent, though they should always seek to be impartial. Page 65. The seventeen colo'nies included Canada and the West Indian Plantations. " The other North American colonies, more possibly from a consciousness of weakness than a principle of duty, though they could by no means form the same preten- sions to independence as being either conquered countries or countries settled at the expense of the British Government, thought proper to submit, but not all with equal grace." There was resistance and opposition in St. Christopher's and Nevis, in the West Indies, stirred by tire crews of New England vessels. The Annual Register for 1765, p. 56. Page 67. Deferring the stamp tax for a year was afterwards seen by the Tory politicians to have been a mistake, as merely offering time to the colonists to arouse and organise opposition. Page 70. For the long series of resolutions and addresses to Parliament and comments thereon, consult Force's American Archives, Almon's Prior Documents, the Colonial Records, The Annual Register, 1764 and 1765. 490 NOTES. Page 73. For a copy of the Stamp Act nse the American History Leaflet, No. 21 (Lovell & Co., New York). For the Dec- laration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress, see Hart's Amer- ican History by Contemporaries, vol. ii. pp. 402-404. Page 76. This passage from Lecky deserves distinction as a generous recognition of the soundness of the principle underly- ing the American cause. Page 77. For the English view and argument on representa- tion, see Channing's Student's History of the United States, pp. 162-166 ; and Tyler's Literary History of the American Revolu- tion, vol. i. pp. 104-106, for Dulany's statement of and answer to the view of " virtual representation." Page 121. On the character and work of Samuel Adams con- sult, in addition to Lecky, Wells's Life of Samuel Adams, Hos- mer's Life of Samuel Adams, Hutchinson's History of Massa- chusetts, Tyler's Literary History of the American Revolution, vol. ii. ch. xxiv. pp. 1-16. Page 133. On the tea duty, see an article in the American Historical Review for January, 1898. Page 137. Compare this with Bancroft's account of the " Affair of the Gaspee." " Dudingston seconded the insolence of his superior officer, insulted the inhabitants, plundered the islands of sheep and hogs, cut down trees, fired at market boats, de- tained vessels without a colourable pretext, and made illegal seizures of goods of which the recovery cost more than they were worth. . . . The whole affair was conducted on a sudden impulse." Bancroft, vol. iii. pp. 414, 415. Page 138. For the work of the colonial committees of cor- respondence a work of first importance consult Wells's Life of Samuel Adams. See Index and Table of Contents. Page 151. Of this scene before the Privy Council and Wed- derburn's speech, Franklin says : " The Solicitor-General then went into what he called a history of the province for the last ten years, and bestowed plenty of abuse upon it, mingled with encomium on the governors. But the favourite part of his discourse was levelled at your agent, who stood there the butt of his in- vective ribaldry for near an hour, not a single lord adverting to the im- propriety and indecency of treating a public messenger in so ignomini- ous a manner who was present only as the person delivering your petition, with the consideration of which no part of Ms conduct had any concern. If he had done a wrong in obtaining and transmitting the letters, that was not the tribunal where he was to be accused and tried. The cause was already before the Chancellor. Not one of their lordships checked and recalled the orator to the business before them, but, on the contrary, a very few excepted, they seemed to enjoy highly the enter- tainment, and frequently burst out in loud applause. ... It may be sup- posed that I was very angry on this occasion, and therefore I did pur- pose to add no reflections of mine on the treatment the Assembly and their agent have received, lest they should he thought the effects of re- sentment and a desire of exasperating. But, indeed, what I feel on my NOTES. 491 own account is half lost in what I feel for the public. When I see that all petitions and complaints of grievances are so odious to Government that even the mere pipe which conveys them becomes obnoxious, I am at a loss to know how peace and union are to be maintained or restored between the different parts of the Empire. Grievances cannot be re- dressed unless they are known, and they cannot be known but through complaints and petitions. If these are deemed affronts and the messen- gers punished as offenders, who will henceforth send petitions ? It has been thought a dangerous thing in any State to stop up the vents of griefs. Wise governments have therefore generally received petitions with some indulgence, even when but slightly founded. Those who think themselves injured by their rulers are sometimes, by a mild and prudent answer, convinced of their error. But where complaining is a crime, hope becomes despair." Bigelow's Life of Franklin from Ms Own Writings, vol. ii. pp. 196-198. pp. See the report of Franklin's examination at the Council Cham- ber "The Hearing at the Cockpit" January 11, 1774, and Franklin's own account of the transactions relating to the Hutch- inson Letters in Bigelow's Franklin, vol. ii. pp. 200-238. See, also, Considerations on the Measures Relating to the Colonies, American Archives, 4th series, vol. i. pp. 1399-1402. " It was then the usage for the Council to meet in one of the rooms of a building which passed by the name of the ' Cockpit.' . Around the fire and down the sides of the long table had often been gathered many famous men. But it may well be doubted whether the room had ever held a company quite so distinguished as that assemblage to hear the agent of the colony of the Massachusetts Bay insulted, browbeaten, ma- ligned, and defamed. In that room had been done many acts shameful alike to the English Government and to Englishmen. But none went down to such a depth of infamy as that perpetrated on that day on our illustrious countryman." John Bach McMaster's Life of Franklin, Series of American Men of Letters. Page 165. Summarise the arguments for and against the policy of coercion now adopted by the ministry. The " four intolerable measures" the Boston Port Bill, the Massachusetts Bill, the Transportation Act, and the Quebec Act should be made the subject of special study. These were measures of the greatest in- fluence in leading to the American Declaration of Independence, and they should be considered under the light of their treatment by American historians. See Bibliographical Note, p. xi. On the bill for remodelling the Massachusetts charter Grahame, the Scotch historian, says : " The town meetings (as they were called) were not less valued by the Americans than dreaded by the British Government, which regarded them as the nurseries of sedition and rebellion. Their institution was coeval with the first foundation of civilised society in New England, and their endurance had sustained only a short interruption during the reign of James II. and the tyrannical administration of his minister, Sir Ecjtmund Andros; and while they presented the image they partly sup- plied the place of that pure democratical constitution which was origi- nally planted in Massachusetts, and the modification of which by the second provincial charter that followed the British Revolution had 492 NOTES. always been to a numerous party among the colonists the subject of re- gretful or indignant remembrance. In losing this privilege the people of New England beheld themselves stripped of the last remaining vestige of those peculiar advantages which were gained by the courage and virtue of their forefathers; and in invading it, the British Government palpably assimilated its own policy to that of a reign which had pro- voked successful revolt and which was now universally reproached as tyrannical." Colonial History of the United States, vol. ii. p. 484. See, also, Pitkin's History of the United States, vol. i. pp. 265-267. For a study of the Quebec Act consult Coffin's The Province of Quebec and the Early American Revolution. Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, 1896. Page 193. For the work of Galloway, one of the leading loy- alists, consult Tyler's Literary History of the American Revolu- tion, vol. i. ch. xvii. Page 207. It is a remarkable fact that after the battles of Con- cord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill there were still strong hope and expectation in America, even among the Patriot party, of rec- onciliation. In the Declaration of the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America, in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their taking up Arms, July 6, 1775, the colonists say : " We most solemnly before God and the world declare that we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ our arms for the preservation of our liberties ; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves." They then continue : " Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow-subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. Necessity has not yet driven us to that desperate measure." Writings of Dickinson. Dick- inson was a conservative advocate of conciliation, with the ma- jority of Congress still in agreement with him. John Adams himself wrote in 1774, replying to " Massachusettensis " : " What does he mean by independence? Does he mean independent of the Crown of Great Britain, and an independent republic in America, or a confederation of independent republics? No doubt he intended the undistinguishing should understand him so. If he did, nothing can be more wicked, or a greater slander on the Whigs ; because he knows there is not a man in the province among the Whigs, nor ever was, who harbours a wish of that sort." Novanglus, Adams's Works, vol. iv. p. 52. Consider this in connection with pp. 224, 225 of Lecky. Page 230. Mr. Lecky's disparagement of the heroism of the American Revolution may well be questioned. That struggle was one of courage, of sacrifice, of heroic devotion. As in all great struggles, there was a dark as well as a bright side, and mean spirits were mingled with the noble. Read page 426 in this con- nection. NOTES. 493 Page 234. See the Bibliography on Paine, p. xiii. Page 260. For contemporary American opinion of the Tories or Loyalists, see Sabine's American Loyalists, pp. 13 et seq., and John Adams's Works, Index, vol. x. Washington spoke with great severity of the Tories, describing them as " conscious of their black ingratitude," and as " taught to believe that the power of Great Britain was superior to all opposition, and, if not, that foreign aid was at hand," and as " even higher and more insult- ing in their opposition than the regulars." He considered the property which they abandoned in their flight as justly subject to confiscation. The loyalists were regarded by the Patriot party as traitorously betraying the interests of their country for the sake'of ease and gain, and they were regarded as especially odious. To the patriots they were the " copperheads " of the Revolution. Page 273. The* latter part of 1776 may be called the darkest hour of the Revolution. It was in December of that year that Thomas Paine sought to revive the spirit of his countrymen by publishing the first number of his " Crisis." It began with the famous words : " These are the times that try men's souls. Tho summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the service of his country ; but he that stands it now de- serves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny is not easily conquered ; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Works of Paine, vol. i. p. 75. " But in the midst of the general despondency there were a few brave hearts that had not yet begun to despair, and the brav- est of these was Washington." Fiske's The American Revolution, vol. i. p. 229. See the accompanying pages of Fiske for a por- trayal of this period. Page 286. For the character of the Continental Congress and its constitutional relation to the States, see Small's Beginnings of American Nationality (Johns Hopkins University Studies). Page 289. For full references on the finances of the Revolu- tion, see Winsor's Handbook of the American Revolution, pp. 242, 243. Some of the more important are : Hildreth, iii. chs. xl., xliii. : Pitkin, ii. ch. xvi. ; Rives's Life of Madison, i. 217, 229, and ch. xiv. ; Schucker, J. W., Brief Account of the Finances of the Revolution ; Sparks's Life of (Jourerneur Morris, i. chs. xiii. and xiv. ; Gouge's Short History of Paper Money ; Hamilton's Works, i. 116, 150. 223. Page 308. For an interesting study of Franklin in France, see Bigelow's Life of franklin, vol. ii., containing extracts from his letters while there, and Hale's Franklin in France, vol. i. pp. 84-173. Page 315. As to the numbers and importance of the American Tories, John Adams expressed the opinion in 1780 that " the Tories throughout the whole Continent do not amount to the twentieth part of the people." He offered as " witnesses who can 494 NOTES. not be suspected, General Burgoyne and General Howe." These generals had published narratives in which they had expressed their disappointment in the performances of aid given by the loyalists in America. Adams's Works, vol. vii. pp. 270, 281. In another passage, speaking of an earlier date in the struggle (1765), Adams says : " New York and Pennsylvania were so nearly divided, if their propensity was not against us, that if New Eng'- land on the one side and Virginia on the other had not kept them in awe, they would have joined the British. Marshall, in his life of Washington, tells us that the Southern States were nearly equally divided. Look into the Journals of Congress, and you will see how seditious, how near rebellion were several counties of New York, and how much trouble we had to compose them. . . . Upon the whole, if we allow two thirds of the people to have been with us in the Revolution, is not the allowance ample?" Adams's Letter to Thomas McKean, written in 1813. Works, vol. x. p. 63. In 1815 Adams wrote: "I should say that full one third were averse to the Revolution." Works, x. 110. McKean endorses Adams's estimate. " On mature deliberation," says Mc- Kean, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, " I conclude you are right, and that more than a third of influential characters were against it." Adams's Works, x. 87. Of course, there is more or less uncertainty upon this point. For a recent and very valuable discussion of the subject see Prof. Moses Coit Tyler's " The Loyalists in the American Revo- lution," in The American Historical Review, vol. i. No. 1 (Octo- ber, 1895). Page 324. In the Burgoyne campaign Schuyler was removed from the American command for political reasons. Winsor says : " Schuyler has long since been acquitted of blame for his conduct of the campaign, but a certain imperious manner and incau- tiousness of tongue had created a prejudice against him among the New England troops, and the change was perhaps a necessary one. The movement in behalf of Gates was assuming a political significance." Handbook of the American Revolution, p. 144. See Wells's Samuel Adams, vol. ii. ch. xlv. Consult Winsor's Hand- book for references on Burgoyne's campaign, which is one of the most important military events of the Revolution. Page 343. On North's plan of conciliation, see Bancroft, vol. v. p. 247 et seq. ; Fiske, vol. ii. pp. 4-12. Page 358. In the few pages omitted here the author treats of changes in the British ministry and of the characters and influ- ence of Thurlow and Wedderburn. Page 366. On the detention of Burgoyne's troops Bancroft says : " The troops of Burgoyne remained in the environs of Bos- ton. As if preparing an excuse for a total disengagement from his obligations, Burgoyne, complaining without reason of the quarters provided for his officers, wrote and insisted that the United States had violated the public faith, and refused to Con- NOTES. 405 gvess descriptive lists of the non-commissioned officers and sol- diers who were not to serve in America during the war. On these grounds Congress suspended the embarkation of the troops under his command till it should receive notice of a ratification of the ' convention by the court of Great Britain. Burgoyne sailed for ' England on his parole." Vol. v. pp. 221, 222. See also Magazine of American History, April, 1879. Consult Winsor's Handbook . for other references. Page 362. The Conway cabal may be studied in Winsor's references (Handbook, p. 168); Marshall's Washington, iii. ch. vi. ; Irving's Washington, iii. chs. xxv, xxviii, xxix, xxx ; Bancroft, ix. ch. xxvii ; Sparks's Gouverneur Morris, i. ch. x. ; Greene's Life of Greene, i. 22 ; ii. 26, 27 ; Hamilton's Life of Hamilton, i. 128- 163; Wirt's Patrick Henry, p. 208; Austin's Gerry, ch. xvi. ; Reed's Joseph Reed, i. 342 ; Lossing's Field Book, ii. 336. Page 383. On the influence and agency of the Irish Presby- terians in the Revolution, see the Publications of the Scotch-Irish Society in America, Proceedings of the Ninth- Congress, 1895. The volume contains addresses on the Mecklenburg Declaration and the Battle of King's Mountain. Page 384. The paragraph omitted refers to the activity of Spain during 1779 in the international war, her siege of Gibraltar, and her possession of Florida. Page 424. In the thirty pages following, which do not relate to the subject of our text, the author treats of foreign aspects of Britain's wars, the career of Rodney, the battle of Cape St. Vincent, the attitude of Russia, the armed neutrality, the breach with Hol- land, and the deplorable condition of England. See Lecky's England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. v. pp. 58-88. (Cabinet edition.) Page 427. " Adams thinks, as he tells me himself, that Amer- ica has been too free in expressions of gratitude to France, for that she is more obliged to us than we to her, and that we should show spirit in our applications. I apprehend that he mistakes his ground, and that this court is to be treated with decency and delicacy. The King, a young and virtuous prince, has, I am per- suaded, a pleasure in reflecting on the generous benevolence of the action in assisting an oppressed people, and proposes it as a part of the glory of his reign. I think it right to increase this pleasure by our thankful acknowledgment, and that such an ex- pression of gratitude is not only our duty, but our interest. A different conduct seems to me what is not only improper and un- becoming, but what may be hurtful to us. Mr. Adams, on the other hand, who, at the same time, means our welfare and inter- est as much as I or any man can do, seems to think a little appar- ent stoutness and a greater air of independence and boldness in our demands will procure us more ample assistance. It is for Congress to judge and regulate their affairs accordingly." Frank- lin to the President of Congress, August 9, 1780. Bigelow's Life 496 NOTES. of Franklin, vol. ii. p. 538. Read pages 533-539 of Bigelow's Franklin. On Adams's general conduct in France, 1780-1782, and his relations with Vergennes, the student should read C. F. Adams's Life of John Adams, vol i. pp. 335-340, Works of John Adams. As early as 1778 Spain made offers of mediation between France and Great Britain. Vergennes drew up a paper embrac- ing propositions which, in his judgment, might be accepted as the basis of pacification. In this paper Vergennes acquiesced in the Spanish suggestion of a truce for a term of ten years between the mother country and the colonies, which had been assented to by Franklin, our sole minister at Paris. England would not listen to this, as she would then tolerate no interposition of France be- tween her and hei* colonies. England demanded the dissolution of the alliance between France and the United States as a first step. Proposals as the basis for negotiation were now renewed in 1780, and submitted to the courts of Paris, Madrid, and London, and these had to be replied to, though Mr. Adams was kept in the dark as to the proceedings. But it " became necessary to commu- nicate the facts to the American commissioner, so far as to settle the relation which the United States were to hold to the entire proceeding. Was their commissioner to be regarded as a person clothed with diplomatic powers authorising him to claim a place as representative of a sovereign nation to treat with Great Britain in the congress which might be assembled under this mediation f Or was he to be considered merely as an agent, to watch over the interests of those he might represent, according as it might suit the other Powers to construe them as sovereign or not ? It was obvious that upon the determination of this question one way or the other would depend the chance of making out of this opening a road to negotiations." Vergennes had proposed that "Congress should strip Adams of all discretion in the negotiation and should direct him to take his orders implicitly from himself, even though those orders might go the length of a concession of geographical limits, of the substitution of a truce for recognised independence, of a surrender of the navigation of the Mississippi, of the fisheries, and, even in the last resort, of a consent to the basis of uti possi- detis itself. . . . The question of what should have been the re- sponse on the part of an American minister was one of little diffi- culty to determine. But Mr. Adams was permitted to see but a very small corner of the picture, nor had he much time to study even that. Yet he decided at once, and, with the instinctive saga- city which marks his whole career, his decision was right. . . . He began by expressing a strong repugnance to any idea of a truce which involved the continuance of the British forces in America. But, waiving this, his decisive objection was aimed against the anomalous position which his country was to be made to occupy in the course of the negotiation. It was to play the part of an insurgent, endeavouring to make terms with a superior NOTES. 497 power, instead of one sovereignty contracting on equal footing with others. This would place the question of their independ- ence at the mercy of a congress of ministers of Europe, to which the United States could never give their consent, ' because,' as Mr. Adams said, ' let that congress determine as it might, their sov- ereignty, with submission only to Divine Providence, never can and never will be given up.'." Adams's Works, vol. i. pp. 35-89. Page 436. In the few omitted pages the author continues a consideration of the new Parliament in Great Britain. Page 469. The peace negotiations of 1782 form one of the most important and interesting studies in American diplomatic history. The student of that subject should consult, in addition to the works of Adams, Jay, and Franklin, the following authori- ties : Sparks's Diplomatic Correspondence, vol. x. ; Wharton's Diplomatic Correspondence, vol. iv. ; Journals of Congress ; Par- liamentary History ; Jay's Peace Negotiations of 1782-1783, in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, vol. Vii. p. 89 ; Jay's the standard American and European histories. Page 470. Franklin's recital of " facts " upon which he based his " ingenious " plea was as follows : " There existed a free commerce, upon mutual faith, between Great Britain and America. The merchants of the former cred- ited the merchants and planters of the latter with great quanti- ties of goods. . . . England, before the goods were sold in Amer- ica, sends an armed force, seizes those goods in the stores some even in the ships that brought them and carries them off ; seizes also and carries off the tobacco, rice, and indigo provided by the planters to make returns, and even the negroes from whose labour they might hope to raise other produce for that purpose. " Britain now demands that the debts shall, nevertheless, be paid. "Will she, can she, justly refuse making compensation for such seizures \ " If a draper who had sold a piece of linen to a neighbour on credit should follow him, and take the linen from him by force, and then send a bailiff to arrest him for the debt, would any court of law or equity award the payment of the debt without ordering a restitution of the cloth ? " Bigelow's Life of Frank- lin, vol. iii. p. 200. Page 471. Adams writes to Jay, August 13, 1782 : " For my own part I am not the minister of any ' American colonies,' and therefore I should think it out of character for us to have anything to say in the Congress at Vienna, until more decently and consistently called to it. It is my duty to be ex- plicit with you and to tell you sincerely my sentiments. I think we ought not to treat at all until we see a minister authorised 4:98 NOTES. to treat with ' the United States of America,' or with their min- isters. Our country will feel the miserable consequence of a dif- ferent conduct if we are betrayed into negotiations, in or out of a congress, before this point is settled ; if gold and diamonds and every insidious intrigue and wicked falsehood can induce any- body to embarrass us and betray us into truces and bad condi- tions, we may depend upon having them played off against us. We are and have been no match for them at this game. We shall have nothing to negotiate with but integrity, perspicuity, and firmness. There is but one way to negotiate with Englishmen that is, clearly and decidedly ; their fears only govern them. If we entertain an idea of their generosity or benevolence towards us, we are undone. . . . The moment you depart one iota from your character and the distinct line of sovereignty, they interpret it to spring from fear or love of them, and from a desire to go back. " Fox saw we were aware of this, and calculated his system accordingly. We must finally come to that idea, and so must Britain. The latter will soon come to it if we do not flinch. If we discover the least weakness or wavering, the blood and treas- ures of our countrymen will suffer for it in a great degree. Firmness ! firmness and patience for a few months will carry us triumphantly to that point where it is the interest of our allies, of neutral nations, nay, even of our enemies, that we should ar- rive. I mean a sovereignty universally acknowledged by all the world ; whereas, the least oscillation will, in my opinion, leave us to dispute with the world and with one another these fifty years." Correspondence and Papers of Jay, vol. ii. pp. 328, 329. Jay answered, endorsing Adams's position. Papers of Jay, vol. ii. p. 335. Adams felt that Vergennes " means to keep us down if he can, to keep his hand under our chin to prevent us from drown- ing, but not to lift our heads out of water." Works of John Adams, vol. viii. p. 4. Page 478. Jay, writing to Livingston, our Secretary for Foreign Affairs, gives at some length the reasons of the American com- missioners for signing the preliminary articles without consulting France. Our commissioners regarded as essential : 1. That Britain should treat with the United States as an in- dependent people. The French minister thought this demand premature, and that it ought to arise from, and not precede, the treaty. If the concession of independence were to be a part of the treaty, we would be expected to make a corresponding con- cession as an offset. 2. That Britain should agree to the extent of boundary we claimed. The French minister thought our demands on that head extravagant in themselves, and as militating against certain views of Spain which he was disposed to favour. 3. That Britain should admit our right in common to the NOTES. 499 fisheries. The French minister thought this demand too ex- tensive. 4. That Britain should not insist upon our reinstating the Tories. The French minister argued that they ought to be rein- stated. Is it unnatural that those who opposed all our claims should not be admitted to full confidence respecting the very matters in competition $ But why did we not communicate the articles to the French minister before we proceeded to sign ? Jay urges that public ex- pectation in England required that Shelburne should put a speedy period to the war or quit his place. Parliament being about to meet before the negotiations were concluded, Shelburne adjourned it for a short period in hopes of their meeting it with all the ad- vantages of the completed peace negotiations. Hence these negotia- tions must be brought to a close before the period of parliamentary adjournment should expire. The King, in Cabinet, had agreed to confirm and ratify not what Oswald might verbally agree to, but what he should formally sign his name and affix his seal to. There is reason to believe that Shelburne and his commissioner Oswald, in their eagerness to have the peace negotiations ready for Parliament, in the exercise of their discretion went beyond the latitude allowed by the Cabinet. To communicate the articles to the French Court would have caused delay, and the English Cabi- net might have repudiated the verbal agreements of Oswald. "Our withholding from France knowledge of these articles until after they were signed was no violation of our treaty with France, and she has no room of complaint on that score. " But Congress had indeed made and published a resolution not to make peace but in confidence and in concurrence with France. So far as this resolution declares against a separate peace, it has been incontestably observed ; and, admitting that the words 'in confidence and in concurrence with France' mean that we should mention to the French minister and consult with him about every step of our proceedings, yet it is most certain that it was founded on a mutual understanding that France would patronise our demands and assist us in obtaining the objects of them. France, therefore, by discouraging our claims, ceased to be entitled to the degree of confidence respecting them which was specified in the resolution. " But Congress positively instructed us to do nothing without the advice and consent of the French minister, and we have de- parted from that line of conduct. This is also true ; but then I apprehend that Congress marked out that line of conduct for their own sake, and not for the sake of France. The object of that instruction was the supposed interest of America, and not of France ; and we were directed to ask the advice of the French minister because it was thought advantageous to our country that we should receive and be governed by it. Congress only, there- 500 NOTES. fore, have a right to complain of our departure from the line of that instruction. " If it be urged that confidence ought to subsist between allies, I have only to remark that, as the French minister did not con- sult us about his articles, nor make us any communication about them, our giving him as little trouble about ours did not violate any principle of reciprocity." Correspondence and Papers of Jay, vol. iii. pp. 56-61. On these points see, also, Adams to Liv- ingston, Adams's Works, vol. viii. pp. 11, 12. In his extended report to Congress on the preliminary negotia- tions for peace, Jay says : " So far and in such matters as this Court [of France] may think it their interest to support us, they certainly will, but no further, in my opinion. They are interested in separating us from Great Britain, and on that point we may, I believe, depend upon them ; but it is not their interest that we should become a great and formidable people, and therefore they will not help us to become so. It is not their interest that such a treaty should be formed between us and Britain as would produce cordiality and mutual confidence. They will, therefore, endeavour to plant such seeds of jealousy, discontent, and discord in it as may naturally and perpetually keep our eyes fixed on France for security. This consideration must induce them to wish to render Britain formidable in our neighbourhood, and to leave us as few resources of wealth and power as possible. It is their interest to keep some point or other in contest between us and Britain to the end of the war, to prevent the possibility of our sooner agreeing, and thereby keep us employed in the war, and dependent on them for supplies. Hence they have favoured, and will continue to favour, the British demands as to matters of boundaries and the Tories." Correspondence of Jay, vol. ii. pp. 450, 451. Jay's full account of these negotiations may be found in pages 366-452 of this volume of his Papers. Of this account the student should read especially pp. 402-408, giving Jay's reasons for send- ing a secret envoy to the British Court to counteract the repre- sentations of Rayneval, who had gone to England on a mission for Vergennes. Jay sets forth his suspicions and conjectures con- cerning the policy of the French Court, and the arguments which his secret envoy was to make to Shelburne. Jay says : " It would have relieved me from much anxiety and uneasiness to have con- certed all these steps with Dr. Franklin, but on conversing with him about M. RaynevaFs journey, he did not concur with me in sentiment respecting the object of it, but appeared to me to have a great degree of confidence in this Court, and to be much em- barrassed and constrained by our instructions." Papers of Jay, vol. ii. pp. 407, 408. See, also, William Jay's Life of Jay, vol. i. pp. 141-155; John Adams's Diary, Works, vol. iii. p. 299-353. Adams says : " I spent the evening with Dr. Franklin. I told him, without reserve, my opinion of the policy of this Court, and of the principles, wisdom, and firmness with which Mr. Jay had NOTES. 501 conducted the negotiation in his sickness and my absence, and that I was determined to support Mr. Jay to the utmost of my power in the pursuit of the same system. The doctor heard me patiently but said nothing. " The first conference we had afterwards with Mr. Oswald, in considering one point and another, Dr. Franklin turned to Mr. Jay and said, ' I am of your opinion, and will go on with these gentlemen in the business without consulting this Court.' He has, accordingly, met us in most of our conferences, and has gone on with us in entire harmony and unanimity throughout." Adams's Works, vol. iii, p. 336. "Franklin was never anything if not politic. Shelburne's opinion of him was that ' he wanted to do everything by cunning, which was the bottom of his character,' and most Englishmen have taken that view of him ever since. He was certainly never more astute which may be a more pleasing word than in now yielding to Adams and Jay ; and he was never more successfully judicious than in disarming the resentment of Vergennes when that minister discovered how he had been foiled." Winsor's Westward Movement, p. 208. On the English motives in these negotiations, see Winsor's Westward Movement, p. 210. On the French and Spanish pur- pose of hemming the Americans in on the west, and on their pro- posed boundary line " on the back of Georgia to the mouth of the Kanawha, to Lake Erie," see Winsor, p. 223. Read also Kingsl'ord's History of Canada, vol. vii. ch. ii. INDEX. Adams, John : defends soldiers tried for Boston massacre, 130 ; opinions on American desire for independence, 185, 187, 222, 223, 492 : propositions at Congress of Philadelphia, 206 ; on opposition to independence, 245; share in the Declaration, 246; on regula- tion of prices, 290 ; commissioner to Paris, 302, 426 ; want of tact, 427 ; negotiates Dutch loan, 462 ; represents America in peace ne- gotiations (1782), 465; on mer- cantile debts to British citizens, 468; Franklin's comment on his conduct in France, 495; refer- ences on his French mission, 496 ; attitude in the French mission and relation to Vergennes, 496 ; to Jay on the negotiations of 1782, 500 ; on Franklin's attitude in these negotiations, 501. Fa- miliar Letters to Ms Wife, cited in footnotes, 205, 267, 310, 312, 316, 317, 367, 374, 404. Works, cited in footnotes, 15 et passim. See BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Adams, Samuel : dominant influ- ence in Boston, 119 ; character and career, 120, 490 ; action dur- ing Boston massacre, 129 ; leader in destruction of tea ships, 153. Wells's Life of Samuel Adams, cited in footnote, 171. Adolphus, cited in footnotes, 191, 215, 241, 304, 334, 370, 425, 460. See BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Africa, distribution of possessions in peace of 1782, 465. 34 Aix-la-Chapelle, Peace of, unjust to American colonies, 6. Albemarle, Life of EocHngTiam, cited in footnotes, 84, 85, 91, 92, 94, 96, 330, 338, 341, 350. Allen, Colonel: captures Ticon- deroga, 214. Almon, Biographical Anecdotes, cited in footnotes, 51, 68, 69. See BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. America, Annals of. See HOLMES. American Archives, Force, cited in footnotes, 177, 201, 219, 222. See BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. American Remembrancer, Tlie (1776), cited in footnotes, 14, 131, 204, 226, 233, 234, 267. See BIB- LIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Amherst, General, 47, 58, 337. Andre, Major, 358; negotiations with Arnold, 409 ; his execution, 414. Andros, Sir Edmund, 491. Annual Register (1765), cited in footnotes, 70, 82, 94, 99, 165; (1775), 199, 266; (1777), 282; (1778), 345; (1779), 373; (1780), 433 : (1783), 464, 483. Arbuthnot, General : blockade of French in Newport, 400. Argenson: prediction concerning colonies, 2. Army : American objection to Eng- lish standing army, 100, 119, 121 ; composition of American army, 202 ; increase in, 206 ; defects, 216; footnote, 226; bounties to recruits, 233; numerical state of English army in 1774, 241 ; for- 503 504 INDEX. eign element in American, 267; wholesale desertions, 268 ; acces- sion of distinguished European soldiers, 310; resulting embar- rassments, 311 ; difficulties about appointing officers, 315 ; suffer- ings in 1779, 319 ; colours of uni- forms, 335 ; state in 1779, 380 ; in 1780, 391 ; bounties and pay, 394 ; reorganisation in 1780, 421 ; muti- nies, 434 sgq. Arnold, Benedict: with Allen at Ticonderoga, 214; in Canada, 215; commands fleet on Lake Champlain, 261, 324, 325, foot- note, 335, 358; military career, 403; charges against, 404; mar- riage, 405 ; court-martial on, 406 ; details of his treason, 409 sqq. ; flight, 412; motives of treason, 412; in British army, 414; Amer- ican project for his abduction, 418; in Virginia, 441; reward offered for his capture, 442; in New York, 449; destroys New London, 453 ; Isaac Arnold's Life of Benedict Arnold, cited in foot- notes, 404, 405. See SPARKS. Arnold, History of Rhode Island, cited in footnotes, 47, 53, 119, 137, 267, 268. Articles of Confederation, 286, 461. Attainder, Acts of, 259. Bancroft, History of the United States, cited in footnotes, 3, 4, 9, et passim. Barre, Colonel, 74, 99. Barrington, Lord, 337 ; The Politi- cal Life of, cited in footnotes, 241, 243. Bath, Lord: pamphlet advocating retention of Canada, 3 ; reply to, by William Burke, 3. Bedford Correspondence, cited in footnote, 51. Bedford, Duke of, revived old law on trial of traitors, 124. Beers, George L. : The Commercial Policy of England toward the American Colonies, 487. Bernard, Governor of Massachu- setts: opposes the Sugar Act in 1763, 54; ground of his unpop- ularity, 101 sqq. ; recall to Eng- land, 126. Letters on the Trade and Government of America, cited in footnotes, 45, 103, 122. Blackstock Hill, battle of, 390. Bolles, Financial History of the United States, cited in footnotes, 16, 287-290, 293, 373, 379, 422-424. Boston : account of, 17 ; printing presses, 33, footnote ; waning prosperity, 55 ; riots against the fetamp Act, 81 ; dispute with Gov- ernor Bernard, 103 sqq. ; oppo- sition to standing army, 119 ; treatment of English troops, 1 26 ; Boston massacre, 127 ; destruc- tion of tea cargoes, 153 ; parlia- mentary coercive measures, 165 sqq. ; blockade, 231 ; capture, 234. Bourne", Marquis de, 457. Bounties : on hemp and flax, 55 ; on timber, 79 ; on recruits in Ameri- can army, 233, 394; in English army, 241. Brainerd, 37. Brandywine, battle of, 317. Bunker's Hill, battle of, 203. Burgoyne, General : expedition against Ticonderoga, 322 : reaches the Hudson, 325; defeat of his German troops, 325 ; surrendered with his army at Saratoga, 327, 421 ; detention of troops surren- dered by, 494, 495. State of the Expedition from Canada, cited in footnote, 327. Burke, Edmund : on the passage of the Stamp Act, 74 ; on American taxation, 76, 159 ; on repeal of the Stamp Act, 97, footnote; efforts for conciliation, 197 ; opinion on the American question, 333 ; plan of economical reform in 1780, 434. European Settlements in Ameri- ca, cited in footnotes, 15, 17. Speech on Conciliation with America, 486 ; cited, 15, footnote. Observations on the State of the Nation, cited in footnotes, 17, 69. Correspondence, cited in footnotes, 86, 328, 332 ; Speech on American Taxation, cited, 105, footnote. Works, cited in footnotes, 141, 148, 328, 331, 333. INDEX. 505 Burke, William : argument for res- toration of Canada to France, 3. Burnaby, Travels in North America, cited iu footnotes, 7, 15, 17, 27, 29. Bute. Earl of, 51. Butler, Colonel John: tragedy of Wyoming, 361. Byles, Dr., 173, footnote. Camden, battle of, 388. Carnden, Lord: position on taxa- tion, 91 ; advocate of colonial cause, 105 ; on a Chatham minis- try in 1778, 350. Campbell, Lives of the Chancellors, cited, 152, footnote. Canada: retention of, discussed, 3 sqq.\ Quebec Act, 168; position of Catholics, 169; invasion of, 214 ; loyal to England, 215 ; abor- tive attempt to enlist Frenchmen for American revolutionary army, 312; proposed combined French and American invasion, 371 ; frontiers defined (1782), 467, 470. Carew, Bamvfylde Moore, Life of, cited in footnotes, 23, 33. Carleton, General, Governor of Canada, 190, 215,457. Carlisle, Lord, 346. Carolinas, the: political privileges in, 9, footnote ; social conditions, 31 ; insurection in North Caro- lina (1771), 135; in the war, 383, 386 sqq. Catholics: position in Canada, 169; Irish recruits in English army, 242. Cavendish Debates, cited in foot- notes, 74, 118, 124, 132-134, 165. Chalkley, Life, Travels, and Chris- tian Experiences, cited, 22, foot- note. Charleston, 30, 262, 386. Charlestown, 2034 Chastellux, Travels in North Amer- ica, cited in footnotes, 18, 23, 26, 27, 34, 226, 268. Chesapeake, the, battles of, 442, 452. Church, English: established in Virginia, 24 ; status of clergy, 28 ; colonies under jurisdiction of Bishop of London, 170. Circourt, cited in footnotes, 372, 375, 398, 428, 471, 477, 478. Clergy, New England, 172. Clinton, General (American), 445. Clinton, General (English) : at- tempt to capture Charleston, 262 ; aim of his operations, 323 ; in New York, 327 ; retires from Philadelphia to New York, 359 ; captures Charleston, 386 ; instruc- tions to Major Andre, 416 ; offers to revolted troops, 435 ; dissension with Cornwallis, 450 ; persistent hopes after surrender of Corn- wallis, 460. Narrative, cited, 449, footnote. ' Cockpit,' the : Franklin's exami- nation, 490, 491. Coffin, The Province of Quebec and the Early American Revolution, cited, 492. Collier, Sir George : descent upon Virginia, 381. Colonies, American : population in 1763 and 1776, 1 ; loyalty, 1, 2 ; revolt of, predicted, 2, 3 ; Eng- land's consideration for, 5 ; mili- tary capabilities of, 7, footnote ; impossibility of England's retain- ing colonies by force, 7 ; New England, 13; Middle States, 18; Virginia, 24; other Southern col- onies, 29 ; condition of labourers, 30 ; education, 31 ; moral and po- litical condition, 34, 112, footnote ; treatment of Indians, 36; posi- tion of governors, 38 ; relation to mother country, 38 ; relation to the Crown and to Parliament, 39, 41, 486 ; commercial restrictions on productions, 42 ; on exports and imports, 43 ; writs of assist- ance, 48 ; commercial code, 486, 487. Commerce, colonial : regulated by Parliament, 41 ; code restricted, 42 sqq., 486, 487 ; with West Indies, 53,54; profits to England of colo- nial trade, 91 ; relaxation of par- liamentary restriction, 98. Committees of Correspondence, 490. Conciliation Bill, 344. Confiscation : of ships, 237 ; from loyalists in America, 259. 500 INDEX. Congress, American : at Philadel- phia laid foundation of independ- ence, 180 sqq., 493 ; in 1775, 205 sqq. ; resolves to enlist Indians, 264 ; to form navy, 266 ; flight to Baltimore, 276 ; return, 280 ; en- listment (1776), 283; bounties offered, 284 : powers and authori- ty, 285 ; financial difficulties, 287 ; issues paper money, 287 ; advises confiscation of enemy's property, 288 ; attempts to regulate prices by law, 290 ; makes paper legal tender, 291 : negotiates for assist- ance from France, 296 ; flight to Lancaster and Yorktown, 318; declined commissioners' proposal of reconciliation, 347 ; jealous of the army, 362 ; treatment of Sara- toga Convention, 364 ; punish- ment of loyalists, 368; relations with army, 394 ; reorganisation of army, 421 ; paper money, 422 ; half-pay for life to officers, 461 ; peace negotiations, 464 sqq. ; pow- er over the States uncertain, 484. Journal of Proceedings (1774), cited in footnotes, 184, 186. Se- cret Journals (1775), cited in footnotes, 221, 264. Congress of Commissioners at Al- bany (1754), 11. Connecticut: troops refuse to en- list, 228; English devastation, 381. Controversy between Great Britain and her Colonies Reviewed, cited in footnotes, 62, 65. Conway cabal, references on, 495. Conway, General (American), 311, 362. Conway, General (English) : op- poses Stamp Act, 74; Secretary of State for Colonies, 84, 105, 117, 458. Cooper, Dr., President of King's College, 178, footnote. Cooper, History of the Navy of the United States, cited, 266, foot- note. Copley, 33. Cornwallis, Lord : captures Fort Lee, 261 ; battle of Camden, 388 : severities against insurgents, 389 ; failure in North Carolina, 390 ; battle of Co\vpens,437 ; on Amer- ican atrocities, 439 ; in Virginia, 449 ; occupies Yorktown, 451 ; surrenders to Americans, 454. Correspondence, cited in footnotes, 313, 370, 386, 388, 389, 438-440. Coudray, General du, 311. ' Cowboys,' 397. Cowpens, battle of, 437. Curtis, History of the Constitution of the United States, 462, footnote. Cushing, Thomas, Speaker of Mas- sachusetts Assembly, 146. Dallas, Count, 457. D'Aranda, 465. Dartmouth, Lord, 200, 221, 236. Deane, Silas, agent to Paris, 296, 302, 330, 369. Declaration of Independence, 245 ; political doctrine of, 306, 307, 309. Declaratory Act, 93 sqq., 134. Delaware, colonial government of, 8. Demarara, 457. D'Estaing, Count, French admiral : operations in aid of Americans, 359, 361, 370, 384. Dickinson, John : The Farmer's Letters, 104 ; deprecates war, 193 ; efforts for reconciliation, 207, 492 ; opposes independence, 246 ; on English principles of taxation, 489. The Farmer's Letters, cited in footnotes, 52, 112, 178, 181. See BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Diplomatic Correspondence, Amer- ican, cited in footnotes, 255, 267, et passim. Dissenters subject to no religious test in America, 9, footnote. Duddingston, Lieutenant, 136. Dunmore, Lord, Governor of Vir- ginia, 216. Eden, William, 346. Education, in the colonies, 31. Edwards, Jonathan, 16, 33. Eliot, John, 37. Elliot, Sir Gilbert, 336. Life, see MlNTO. Ellis, Welbore, 458. England : loss of colonies predict- ed, 2; colonists' attachment to, INDEX. 507 9 ; commercial policy, 43-45 ; ir- ritation against America, 105 ; in- vasion planned by France and St>ain, 106 ; enlistment of German mercenaries, 244; popularity of the war in 1776 and 1777, 329 ; change of sentiment in the coun- try, 430 ; peace negotiations of 1782, 464 sqq. ; abandonment of loyalists, 480; annuities granted to a few of them, 484 ; motives in peace negotiations, 499. Entails, system of, in Virginia, 25, 486. Essequibo, 457. Farmer's Letters, The. See DICK- INSON. Fersen, Count, 396. Letters, cited in footnotes, 312, 397, 420, 445. Finances of the Revolution, refer- ences on, 493. Fisheries, Newfoundland, 465, 471, 474. Fitzherbert, 465. Fitzmaurice, Life of Shelburne, cited in footnotes, 106, 107, 408, 472, 473, 479. Flassan, Histoire de la Diplomatic Fran$aise, cited in footnotes, 301, 425. Florida, 30, 466. Force. See American Archives. Foster, Sir Augustus, Rotes on the United States, cited, 72, footnote. ' Four intolerable measures,' the, 491. Fox, Charles James, 96, footnote ; influence of his speeches in 1777, 332. Life, see KUSSELL. Corre- spondence, cited in footnote, 333, 339, 351. France : design to invade England, 106 ; humiliation after Peace of Paris, 238; Americans seek alii ance, 240 ; appeal for aid from American Congress, 296 ; Ver- gennes's suggested policy, 296 ; Turgot's opposite proposals, 299 ; King appro ves Vergennes's plans, 301 ; France assists America, 302; deceitful professions to England, 303; popular enthusiasm for America, 305 sqq. ; enlistments for American army, 311 ; effect on French opinion of English sur- render at Saratoga, 327 sqq. ; trea- ties with America signed, 328 ; rapid growth of navy (1778), 362 ; Revolution dependent on France, 398 ; expedition against New- port, 399 ; irritation at American finance, 423 ; desires an end of American Revolution, 426 ; navy aiding Americans, 442 ; defeat on the Chesapeake, 442 ; American dependence on French money and support, 443 ; a loan granted and a gift from the King, 447; loans to America, 463; conduct of peace negotiations, 464 sqq. ; excluded from American confi- dences (1782), 499, 500 ; motives and purposes in negotiations, 500 ; motives in desiring to limit Amer- ican boundaries, 501. Franklin, Benjamin : on American attachment to England, 9; plan for uniting the colonies, 11 ; his literary power, 33 ; on Gr-enville's policy, 72 ; sketch of his life, 138 sqq. ; literary work, 140 ; labours to prevent disruption, 142; State's agent in England, 144; sends Hutchinson's letters to America, 145; his defence of his use of them, 148; return to America, 197; head of colonial post-office, 206 ; revises Declaration of Inde- pendence, 246 ; commissioner to Paris (1776), 302, 307; life in France, 308, footnote; approved project of burning Liverpool and Glasgow, 369, footnote ; objects to begging for America in France, 463 ; negotiates for peace (1782), 465 ; on mercantile debts to Brit- ish citizens, 468, 497 ; apology for secretly signed articles of peace, 476 ; treatment of loyalists, 482 ; 'Hearing at the Cockpit,' 490, 491 ; on Adams's mission in France, 495; Adams on Frank- lin's attitude in the negotiations of 1782, 500 ; English opinion of, 501. Life of Franklin : Sparks, cited in footnotes, 21, 33, 152 ; Parton, 218 ; Bigelow, 493, 495 ; 508 IKDEX. Hale, Franklin in France, 493. Works, cited in footnotes, 5, 11, 45, 62, 67, 70, 96, 141-143, 149, 161, 185, 474-476, 482. Canada Pam- phlet, cited, 5, footnote. Cool Thoughts on the Present Situa- tion (1764), cited in footnotes, 89. Causes of American Discontents before 1768, cited in footnotes, 45, Gadsden, 207. Gage, General, Governor of Massa- chusetts, 168 ; prepares for war, 175 ; misjudges American feel- ing, 189 ; suspends writs summon- ing Assembly, 1 94 ; sends troops to capture provincial stores at Concord, 201 ; orders negotiations with the Indians, 221 ; inactivity, 231, 232. Galloway, Joseph : proposes modifi- cation of American Constitution, 193; on the American army, 224, footnote; M. C. Tyler on the work of, 492. Examination be- fore the House of Commons, cited in footnotes, 187, 193, 258, 275, 277, 283, 285, 286, 316, 319, 321, 394. Letters to a Nobleman on the Conduct of the War, cited, 225, footnote. ' Gaspee,' the : outrage on, by Americans, 136 ; Bancroft's ac- count, 490. Gates, General : in joint command with Schuyler, 261 ; succeeds Schuyler, 324 ; joins cabal against Washington, 362 ; commands forces in North Carolina, 387 ; court-martialed, 401. Gentz, On the State of Europe be- fore and after the French Revo- lution, cited, 45, footnote. George III. : first to realise the ef- fect of the Stamp Act in America, 85 ; consents to its repeal, 94 ; de- termines to coerce America, 189 ; protests against military econ- omy, 240; prescribes details of English policy, 336 ; supports em- ployment of Indians, 337 ; refuses to treat with America on basis of recognition of independence, 340 ; determination not to accept Chat- ham as minister, 351; compared with attitude towards Fox in 1804, 352 ; persistent refusal of conces- sion to America, 428 ; receipt of news of surrender of Yorktown, 456 ; hostility to Rockingham ministry, 459. Memoirs, see WAL- POLE. Recollections of, see NICH- OLLS. Correspondence with Lord North, cited in footnotes, 189, 190, et passim. Georgia, 30, 205, 361. Germaine, Lord George, 334, 396, 458. Governments, royal and proprie- tary, 8, 67, 245. Grahame, History of the United States, cited in footnotes, 2, 7, et passim. Grasse, de, Admiral, in naval war of 1781, 450, 457. Graves, Admiral, 452. Greene, General : favours burning New York, 351 ; resigns, 401 ; commands in North Carolina, 437. Greene, G. W.: German Element in the American War, cited in footnotes, 211, 311, 382. Histori- cal View of the American Revo- lution, cited in footnotes, 225, 294, 313. Grenville, George: his policy to- wards America the real cause ot Revolution, 50 sqq. ; arguments for his scheme, 67 sqq. ; contem- plates American representation in Parliament, 71 ; arguments for taxing colonies, 86 sqq. Papers, cited in footnotes, 52, 92, 94, 107, 148. Guadaloupe, 3, 4, 5. Habeas Corpus Act: enforced in the colonies, 39 ; suspended t 331. Hamilton, Alexander, 423. Works, cited, 418, footnote. Hamilton, Gerard, on military ca- pacity of the colonies, 7, footnote. Hancock, General, 153. Hardwicke, Lord, 5. Henry, Patrick : eloquent lawyer in popular cause, 28; believes INDEX. 509 war inevitable, 189; stimulates resistance to England, 192 ; leader of yeomanry , 213 ; advocates pur- chase of French assistance, 238. . Life, see WIRT. Heroism, lack of, in American Kevo- lution, 230, 492. Hildreth, History of the United States, cited in footnotes, 6, 7, et passim. Hillsborough, Lord, Secretary of State for the Colonies, 117. Hinsdale, The American Govern- ment, 486. Holland, recognises American In- dependence after Yorktown, 462. Holmes, Annals of America (1765), cited in footnotes, 82, 118. Hood, Admiral, 452, 457. Hopkins, Commander, 266. Howard, On Prisons, cited, 131, footnote. Howe, Sir William, General: at Bunker's Hill, 203 ; assumes com- mand, 232 ; retreats from Boston, 234; captures New York, 250; lack of enterprise, 274 ; incapaci- ty, 278; retreats from New Jer- sey, 282; continued inactivity, 314; expedition against Phila- delphia, 317 ; opens the naviga- tion of the Delaware, 318; re- called, 358. Howe, Lord (Admiral) : command- er of fleet against America, 249, 337, 359. Narrative, cited, 249, footnote. Howells, State Trials, cited, 330, footnote. Huske, 112, footnote. Hutch inson, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts : condemns Sug- ar Act, 54; victim of the riots, 81; becomes governor, 126'; or- ders removal of British troops from Boston, 129 ; opinion on col- lection of tea duty, 133 ; disputes with the Massachusetts Assem- bly, 135 ; letters to Whately, 145 ; petition for his remos'al, 150 ; er- ror as to strength of colonial re- sistance, 189. History of Massa- chusetts Bay, 1749-1774, cited in footnotes, 5, 10,72, 97, 101, 118, 120, 126, 131, 133, 134, 153. See BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Immigrants, Scotch and Irish, in the Revolution, 224. Indians: American difficulties with, 6 ; affairs managed by the Crown, 11 ; treatment of, 36 ; missionary efforts among, 37 ; war of 1763, 57 ; appeals to, from both sides in the Re volution, 219 sqg. ; em- ployed by both sides, 263 ; bar- barities, 264 ; desolation of Wyo- ming, 361 ; Six Nations reduced by Americans, 382. Ireland, the army in, 60. Iron manufacture, forbidden in the colonies, 43. Jamieson, Colonel, 411. Jay, John, 251 ; negotiates for peace, 1782, 465, 473; report to Livingston, 498 sqq. Life of Jay, cited in footnotes, 245, 473. Jefferson, Thomas : drew up Decla- ration of Independence, 246. Au- tobiography, cited, 181, footnote. Life, see TUCKER. Johnson, Colonel Guy, 221, 263. Johnson, Sir William, reports on American Indians, 36, 37, foot- note, 263. Johnstone, George, 346. Jones, History of New Yorlc, cited in footnotes, 253, 256, 260, 264, 277, 282, 317, 335, 358, 411, 483. Jones, Paul : career of, 378 ; roving commission on behalf of Ameri- ca, 378. Life, see SHERBURNE. Jones, Sir William, poem in praise of American Revolution, 335. Judges, position in the colonies, 19. Kalb, Baron de, in American serv- ice, 311, 382, 387. Kalm : on colonial submission to England, 2 ; on lack of co-opera- tion in colonies, 10, footnote. Travels in North America, cited in footnotes, 21, 22, 24, 46. Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania, 61. Kempenfeldt, Admiral, 457. 510 INDEX. Kinglake, History of the Crimean War, cited, 283, footnote. Knox, Extra-official Papers, cited, 51, footnote. Kosciusko, hero of Poland, in service of America, 311, 409, foot- note. Lafayette, 319, 320; Washington's attachment to him, ,370 ; on the court-martial of Major Andre, 414 ; at the head of forces in New England, 442; spends private money for his troops, 445; in Virginia, 449 sqq. ; takes part in investiture of Yorktown, 452. Memoires de Lafayette, cited in footnotes, 34, 173. Langrishe, Sir Hercules, Consid- erations on the Dependencies of Great Britain, cited, 79, foot- note. Lansdowne, Papers, cited, 373, foot- note. Laurens, Henry, sent to negotiate loan in France, 446. Lawyers, in colonies, 15. Lee, Arthur, commissioner at Paris, 302. Lee, Charles (General) : supports American cause, 209 ; defends Charleston, 262 ; military career, 269; treason, 402. Treason of Charles Lee, see MOORE. Lee, Richard Henry, on non-im- portation agreement, 189. Legislation : freedom of. in the colonies, 39 ; royal veto em- ployed, 41 ; influence of com- mercial classes in, 46 ; Pitt dis- tinguishes from taxation, 87. Leslie, General. 437, 441. Lexington, battle of, 201. Libraries: in JSew England, 33; in New York, destroyed by Howe's troops, 282. Lincoln, General, defender of Charleston, 386. Liverpool, Lord, 72, footnote. Livingston, 463, 498. Lloyd, General, chapter on the American war, cited, 242, foot- note. Long Island : fortified by Ameri- cans, 248; attacked successfully by Howe's troops, 249 ; its loyal- ty to the Crown, 256. Loyalists : number of, 222 ; called Tories, 256 ; causes of their im- potence, 259 ; hanged as traitors, 384 ; treatment by their country- men, 439 ; abandoned by the English, 480; view of Washing- ton and Patriot party, 493 ; number and importance in the Kevolution, 493, 494. See SA- BINE, WlLMOT. Luzerne, French minister to Amer- ica, 475. Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, cited in footnotes, 47, 54, 56, 98. Malmesbury Papers, cited, 425, footnote. Mansfield, Lord (Murray) : on taxation of non-represented colo- nies, 64; on desire for a Chat- ham ministry, 349. Marie Antoinette, enthusiasm for American cause, 309. Marque, letters of, 381. Maryland : colonial government of, 8 ; material and social condi- tion, 29. ' Massachusettensis,' 194, 492. Massachusetts : prominent in Kevo- lution, 113 ; addresses sent to English supporters, cited, 114, footnote ; attitude concerning the army, 121 ; passive resist- ance, 123; further defiance, 154; charter remodelled, 166 ; Gra- hanie on the Bill for remodel- ling, 491, 492 ; the Act repealed, 343. State Papers, cited, 125, footnote. Matthew, General, descent on Vir- girria, 381. Mauduit : favours retention of Can- ada, 5 ; agent of Massachusetts, 68. View of the New England Colonies, cited, 69, footnote. Mayhew : sermon against the Stamp Act, 82 ; political influ- ence, 172. Medical school in Philadelphia, 33. Middle States, account of social state in 1765, 18. INDEX. 511 Miifin, General, 362. Militia, 7, 56 : drilled and improved in New England, 179 reorgan- ised in Virginia, 208 ; Washing- ton's description of, 271; his opinion of, 283 ; drafted by the States, 285. Miller, Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century, cited in footnotes, 31, 33. Minorca, 457, 406. Minto, Lady, Life of Sir Gilbert Elliot, cited in footnotes, 336, 357, 359. ' Minute men,' 179. Mischianza, the, 358. Mississippi boundary (1782), 467, 471. Monmouth, battle of, 359. Montesquieu, 'Notes upon Eng- land,' 2. Montgomery, General, 214. Moore, Frank, Diary of the Ameri- can Revolution, cited in foot- notes, 176, 178, 251, 253, 256. Moore, George H., Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in the American Army, cited, 364, footnote. The Treason of Charles Lee, cited in footnotes, 271, 370, 403. Morality, American, 34. Morgan, Colonel, at the battle of Cowpens, 437. Mooris, Eobert, 268, 276, 460. Murray, Lindley, 33. Mutiny Act, 104. Navigation Act, 9, 42, 44, 60. Navy, American: first squadron, 266 ; privateering:, 267 ; roving commission of Paul Jones, 369, 378. Nscker: opposed to Vergennes's American policy, 308 ; proposes negotiations, 426. Negroes: treatment in Virginia, 26; in the war, 217, 219, 364. See MOORE. Newcastle, 8, 50. New England: description, 13: government, 14; lawyers and litigation, 15; character of peo- ple, 16; education, 31; trade with West Indies, 53 sqq. ; reli- gious fervour, 169 ; character of the soldiers, 202, 216, footnote, 227. New Jersey : miscellaneous popu- lation, 18 ; revulsion of feeling towards Washington, 281. New London, destruction by Bene- dict Arnold, 453. Newport, 399. Newspapers, 31, 398, 398 footnote. New York : mixed nationalities of early population, 18; law and the judiciary in 1765-'7, 1 9 ; man- ners, 20, footnote ; refusal to obey the Mutiny Act, 104; Assembly suspended, 110 ; submission, 126 ; after hesitation joins other colo nies in revolt, 205 ; central point of the Revolution, 248 ; captured by Howe, 251 ; proposals to burn the town, 251 ; incendiary fires, 252 ; Provincial Convention, 255 ; continued loyalty (1780), 397 ; Washington's expedition against, 451. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of JVew York, cited in footnotes, 20, 37, et pas- sim. History of JVew York, see JONES. Nicholls, Recollections of George III., cited in footnotes. 115, 338. Non-importation agreements, 113, 135. Norfolk, burning of, by Dunmore, 217, 236. North, Lord: Chancellor of Ex- chequer, 117; retains Towns- hend's tea duty, 132; tries to appease America, 198 sqg^. ; car- ries on American war against his own judgment and wishes, 338 ; frequently tendered resignation, 339 ; personal attachment to the King, 340 ; Bills of Conciliation for America, 343 sqq., 494 ; sends commission to America, 346. See GEOKGE III. Novanglus, John Adams's, 488 ; denies desire for independence, 492. Oliver, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, 144. Osgood, Professor H. L., The Colo- 512 INDEX. nial Corporation, 487 ; on revolu- tionary character of the move- ment for American independ- ence, 488, 489. Oswald, 465. Otis, James : advocates resistance to England, 48, 50; advocates American representation in Par- liament, 71; leads in agitation, 100; elected Speaker of Massa- chusetts Assembly, 103 ; attitude towards appointment of commis- sioners of customs, 113 ; on arm- ing the inhabitants of Boston, 119 ; loss of influence, 136. An- swer to the Halifax Libel, cited, 181, footnote. Life of Otis (Tu- dor), cited in footnotes, 33, 48, 50, 56, 81, 129, 131, 170, 189, 190. Paine, Thomas: Common Sense, 234, 309 ; The Crisis, 493 ; Eights of Man, cited, 309, footnote. Paper money, 16, 54, 278, 379, 394, 422. Paris, Peace of: French view of, 3; very advantageous to colo- nies, 10, 50 ; toleration of Catholi- cism, 169. Parker, Admiral, abortive attempt to capture Charleston, 262. Parliament : relation of colonies to, 39 sqq. ; first attempt to tax colo- nies 51 sqq. ; competence to do so, 62 ; proposed admission of American repi'esentatives, 71,102, 122 ; discussion of repeal of Stamp Act, 94; Townshend's taxation of America, 108 ; attitude of Parliament in 1768-'9, 123; re- vival of law for trying traitors in England, 124; coercive meas- ures, 165, 198 ; authorises confis- cation of all American ships, 237 ; resolves to recognise inde- pendence of America, 466. Parliamentary History, cited in footnotes, 86, 92, et passim. 'Parson's Cause,' the, 28, 486. Parties in American Revolution, 487, 488. Parton. See FRANKLIN. Peace negotiations of 1782, 464 sqq. ; references on, 496 ; Adams on, 497, 498 ; Jay on, 498 sqq. ; reasons for excluding French from councils, 499 sqq. ; instruc- tions of Congress, why disregard- ed, ibid ; motives and purposes of France, 500. Pennsylvania: colonial govern- ment of, 8, 22 ; description, 20 ; great admixture of nationalities, 21. Percy, Lord, 201. Philadelphia : Burnaby's descrip- tion of, in 1759, 22 ; social habits and manners, 23, 294, footnote ; first Continental Congress at, in 1774, 180; second Continental Congress (1775), 205 ; vicissi- tudes of war, 277, 280; under English occupation, 358. Phillimore, Life of Lyttleton, cited, 112, footnote. Phillips, General : in command in Virginia (1781), 448. Pinkerton, Voyages, cited in foot- notes, 7, 10, et passim. Pitt (Lord Chatham): favours reten- tion of Canada, 5 ; raises colonial army, 7 ; appreciated in America, 10; on smuggling, 47 ; his policy reversed by G-renville, 50 ; justi- fies Americans, 89 ; popularity with them, 99,104; position on American question, 159 ; efforts for conciliation in 1774 and 1775, 195 sqq. ; great speech on concil- iation in 1777, 341 ; general de- sire to place him at the head of a Ministry, 349 sqq. ; refusal of the King to receive him, 351 ; last appearance in the House of Lords, 354; how regarded by contemporary statesmen, 355 ; by the King, 355 ; effects of his death on the Ministry, 357. Corre- spondence, cited in footnotes, 91, 95, 96, 107, 108, 152, 196, 199, 341, 342, 350, 356. Life of Chat- ham (Thackeray), cited in foot- notes, 62, 98, 160. Population : increase of, in the colonies, 1,6; of Boston, 17, foot- note ; of Virginia, 24. Post-office, 21, 64. Pownall : advocates legislative INDEX. 513 union between Great Britain and America, 122; urges repeal ot certain duties, 125; leads opposi- tion to Lord North, 132; favours North's proposition of concilia- tion, 200 ; on Indian neutrality, 265, footnote. Presbyterians, Irish, 21, 25, 357, 383, 495. Prescott, Colonel, 203. Price, Dr., 335 ; On, Civil Liberty, cited, 131, footnote. Privateers : American, 233, 267 ; English, 330, 362; New York loyalists, 397. Pulaski, Count (a Pole), in army of Washington, 311, 361, 384. Puritans, 37, 169 ; Puritanism, 173. Quakers : modified views on war in Pennsylvania, 21; righteous dealing with Indians, 37 ; grate- ful for repeal of Stamp Act, 99 ; horror of war, 191 ; hostile to re- bellion, 226. Quartering Acts, 78, 168. Quebec Act, 168, 197, 467, 472, 492. Quincy, Josiah, 130. Kamsay : History of the American Revolution, cited in footnotes, 7, 187, et passim. See BIBLIO- GRAPHICAL NOTE. Rawdon, Lord, 440. Reconciliation : Pitt's efforts for, 195, 196 ; Burke's, 197 ; North's, 343 sqq. ; desire in the colonies, 492. Eecord Office MSS., cited in foot- notes, 220, 221, 357. Eeed, Joseph, 251, 253. Life and Correspondence, cited in foot- notes, 236, 251, 253, 254, 419, 440. Representation and taxation, 75 sqq. ; English view of, 490 ; Du- lany on, 490. Review, Quarterly, cited, 72, foot- note. Revolution, events leading to : de- struction of French power in Canada, 2; influence of commer- cial classes in British legisla- tion, 46; military spirit evokod by French war, 48 ; Otis's agita- tion, 49; Grenville's policy, 52 sqq. ; revision of trade laws, 54; establishment of army in the colonies, 56 sqq. ; determination to tax them, 60 sqq. ; taxation in- tended for colonial defence, 61 ; earlier proposals to tax Ameri- cans, 61; arguments in favour, 62 ; Franklin's views, 67 ; Grenville's scheme, 67; Stamp Act, 68: American opinion, 69 ; -influence of Barre's speech, 74 ; arguments for and against the Act, 75 sqq. American revolts against it (the ' Stamp Act Congress '), 80 ; Boston riots, 81 ; spread of flame, 82 ; impossibility of enforcing Act, 84 ; trade with England dis- organised, 86 ; repeal of Stamp Act, 93; commercial relaxation, 97 ; confidence restored, 98 ; com- pensation of sufferers from riots, 101 ; Boston's disputes with Gov- ernor Bernard, 103 ; question of provisioning English troops, 104 ; Townshend's taxes, 110; de- nounced, 113; smuggling riots, 118 ; growing spirit of insurrec- tion, 119; Samuel Adams, 119 sqq. ; attitude of Massachusetts, 121; of the English Parliament in 1768-'9, 123; repeal of all taxes except on tea, 125 ; Boston massacre, 127 sqq. ; trial and ac- quittal of the soldiers, 130 ; American humanity, 131 ; tea duty, 132 sqq. ; abandonment of non-importation agreements, 135 ; destruction of the ' Gaspee,' 1 37 ; committees of correspond- ence, 138 ; Hutchinson's letters, 145; Boston tea ships, 153; closing of Boston harbour and suspension of Massachusetts charter, 165 ; soldiers to be tried in England, 167; Quartering and Quebec Acts, 168; other colonies support Boston, 174; Game's difficulties, numerous riots, 175 ; position of loyalists, 176 ; Gage's proclamation against hypocrisy, 179 ; first Continental Congress, 180; grievances de- tailed by it, 181 ; its resolutions, 514: INDEX. 182; addresses to King and peo- ple of England and to Canadians, 183; general arming, 185; how few Americans wished for inde- pendence, 185 ; illusions in Amer- ica, 188; in England, 189; di- vided opinion in America, 191 ; loyalists, 192; enrollment of an American army, 194. Revolution organised : capture of Fort William, 195; Chatham's efforts of conciliation, 195 ; Burke's, Hartley's, etc., 197; North's plan, 198 ; more coercive measures, 198 ; battle of Lexing- ton, 201 ; New England army in- creased, 202 ; Bunker's Hill, 203 ; second Continental Congress, 205 ; Washington, Commander- in-chief, 206 ; jealousy and sus- picion, 206 ; invasion of Canada, 214 ; fighting in Virginia, 21V ; negroes and Indians, 219 ; num- ber of loyalists, 222 ; misgivings, 223 ; general apathy, 224 ; defects of army, 226 ; difficulties in en- listment, 227 ; want of earnest- ness, 228 ; incapacity and indeci- sion of the British, 230; use of privateers, 233 ; influence of Paine's ' Common Sense,' 234 ; British confiscation of ships, 237 ; desire for French alliance and aid, 237; England's home diffi- culties, 241 ; foreign troops hired, 243 ; Declaration of Independ- ence voted, 246. Revolution, 1776-'7: New York becomes chief centre, 248 ; cap- tured by Howe, 250 ; destruction proposed, 250 ; demoralisation of army, 253 ; causes of loyalist incompetence, 259 ; Washington retreats to New Jersey, 261 ; Ti- conderoga, Lake Champlain, 261; Charleston, 262; Rhode Island, 263 ; employment of In- dians on both sides, 263 ; creation of American navy, 266 ; popular- ity of privateering, 267 ; deplor- able condition of Washington's army, 268 ; capture of Lee and retreat of Washington, 271 ; Brit- ish successes, 274; disaffection among States, 275 ; Congress fled to Baltimore, 276 ; incapacity of Howe, 278 ; Washington sur- prises Trenton, 280; Congress returns to Philadelphia, 280 ; re- vulsion of feeling against Eng- lish, 281 ; outrages by British soldiers, 282 ; enlistment of new army, 283; difficulties of Con- gress, 285 ; financial stress, 287 ; confiscation, 288 ; paper money, 288 ; attempted regulation of prices, 290 ; paper made legal ten- der, 291 ; general prospects of the war, 294; Silas Deane sent to Paris, 296; French subsidise Americans, 301 ; American com- mission at Paris, 802; friendly action of Prussia and Holland, 304, 305 ; French enthusiasm for America, 305 sqq. ; Marie Antoi- nette, 309; foreign enlistments, 310 ; embarrassments resulting, 311 ; difficulties of Washington in New Jersey, 313 ; predatory expeditions, 316 ; Washington defeated at Brandywine, 317 ; Howe occupies Philadelphia, 317 ; sufferings of the American army, 319 ; winter at Valley Forge, 321 ; Burgoyue captures Ticonderoga, 323 ; renewed vigour of New Eng- landers, 324; battle of Stillwater, 325 ; Burgoyne in difficulties, 326 ; surrenders at Saratoga, 327. Revolution, 1778-'9 : treaty be- tween France and America, 328 ; North's Bills of Conciliation, 343 ; English commissioners sent to America, 346; England at war with France, 347 ; French naval co-operation with America, 359 ; abortive, attack on Rhode Island, 360 ; other expeditions in 1778, 361 ; disputes in American army, 362 ; half- pay, 362 ; violation of Saratoga Convention, 364 ; Eng- lish conduct the war more fierce- ly, 36"6 ; despair of loyalists, 368 ; American humanity, 369; jeal- ousy between Americans and French, 370; projected invasion of Canada, 371 ; opposition to a war taxation, 373 ; rise of prices, INDEX. 515 374 ; French disappointment with American character and conduct, 375; attitude of the people, 375 ; exploits of Paul Jones, 378 ; ef- fects of depreciation of American paper, 379 ; English devastations in Virginia and Connecticut, 381 ; Americans attack the Six Nations, 353 ; war in the South, 383 ; French and Americans fail before Savannah, 384. Ee volution, 1780 : English take Charleston, 386 ; subjugate South Carolina, 386 j battle of Camden, 388 ; severities of Eng- lish, 389 ; failure of English in- vasion of North Carolina, 390; wretched condition of American army, 391 ; discontent and dis- couragement, 394 ; Revolution completely dependent on France, 398; French fleet and army at N ewport, 399 ; fleet blockaded by English, 400 ; Congress jealous of army, 401 ; treason of Lee and of Arnold, 403 sqq. ; execution of Major Andre, 414; general re- sults of campaign, 419 ; new measures for enlisting soldiers, 421 ; partial bankruptcy, 421 ; John Adams's mission to Paris, 426 ; Vergennes's proposal of a truce, 427. Revolution, 1781 : mutiny of Penn- sylvania line, 434; English de- feat at Cowpens, 437 ; savage character of Southern war, 439 ; Arnold in Virginia, 441 ; Wash- ington's designs against New York, 443 ; depression of Ameri- cans, 445 ; generosity of France, 447 ; English predatory war in Virginia, 448 ; Lafayette defeated at James River, 450 ; Cornwallis occupies Yorktown, 451 ; Wash- ington and Rochambeau march to V irginia, 451 ; French fleet in the Chesapeake, 452 ; Arnold captures and destroys New Lon- don, 453 ; surrender of Cornwal- lis, 454. Revolution, 1782 : state of affairs at Yorktown, 459; financial diffi- culties, 460 ; disaffection in the army, 462; half-pay question, 4(31; Dutch and French loans, 463; necessity of peace, 464; pre- liminary articles of peace, 465 eqq. ; boundaries, 467, 470 ; mer- cantile debts to British citizens, 468, 497 ; difference with France in negotiations, 469 ; fisheries, 471 ; Mississippi boundary, 471 ; preliminaries secretly signed, 474 ; new loan from France, 476 ; skilful conduct of negotiations, 479 ; treatment of loyalists, 480 ; reasons for it, 482. Rhode Island, History of. See AR- NOLD. Richmond, English devastations in, 441. Rittenhouse, 33, 282. Robertson, Governor of New York, 397. Rochambeau, Count : commander of French forces in American war, 396, 398, 451 ; advanced money to Americans, 453. Rockingham, 84, 94, 104. Life of, see ALBEMAKLE. Rodney, Admiral, 452, 454 Russell, Lord, Life of Fox, cited in footnotes, 200, 253. Sabine, American Loyalists, cited in footnotes, 31, 52. 153, 222, 259, 260, 398, 482-485, 493. Sandwich, Lord, 190. Saratoga Convention, 327; violation of, 364, 494, 495. Savannah : captured by British, 361 ; besieged by French, 384. Savile, Sir George, 95, 330. Schuyler, General : commands Northern army, 214, 227, 261 ; re- placed by Gates, 324, 401 ; reasons For removal, 494. Segur, Comte de, Memoires, cited, 35, footnote. Shelburne, Earl of: presides over American affairs, 105, 117 ; policy in peace negotiations of 1782,499. Life of, see FITZMAUKICE. Sherbur'ne, Life of Paul Jones, cited, 379, footnote. Shippen, Miss, wife of Benedict Arnold, 358. 516 INDEX. Shirley, Governor of Massachu- setts, 62, 64. 4 Skinners,' 397. Slavery : in Virginia, 25 ; volun- tary, 30, footnote; influence of, 35; slave-trade in 1701, 4