and humanity of my country, to vindicate the national character-I invoke the genius of the constitution. From the tapestry that adorns these walls, the immortal ancestor of this noble lord3 frowns with indignation at the disgrace of his country. In vain he led your victorious fleets against the boasted armada of Spain: in vain he defended and established the religion, the protestant religion, of this country against the arbitrary cruelties of popery and the inquisition, if these more than popish cruelties and inquisitorial practices are let loose among us, to turn forth into our settlements, among our ancient connexions, friends, and relations, the merciless cannibal, thirsting for the blood of man, woman, and child: to send forth the infidel savage, against whom? Against your protestant brethren, to lay waste their country, to desolate their dwellings, and extirpate their race and name, with these horrible hell-hounds of savage war-hell-hounds, I say, of savage war! Spain armed herself with blood-hounds to extirpate the wretched natives of America: and we improve on the inhuman example even of Spanish cruelty; we turn them lose against our brethren and countrymen in America, of the same language, laws, liberty, and religion, endeared to us by every tie that should sanctify humanity. My lords, this awful subject, so important to our honour, our constitution, and our religion, demands the most solemn and effectual inquiry: and again, I call upon your lordships, and the united powers of the state, to examine it thoroughly and decisively, and to stamp upon it an indelible stigma of the public abhorrence: I again implore those holy prelates of our religion to do away these iniquities from among

3 Lord Effingham Howard commanded the English fleet against the Spanish armada, the destruction of which is represented on the tapestry of the house of lords.

us. Let them perform a lustration: let them purify this country, and this house, from this sin. My lords, I am old and weak, and at present unable to say more; but my feelings and indignation were too strong to have said less. I could not have slept this night in my bed, nor reposed my head on my pillow, without giving this vent to my eternal abhorrence of such preposterous and enormous principles."

His lordship's speech was listened to with the most reverential silence; but it produced no effect in the decision of the house: nor was the evil of which his lordship complained immediately discontinued *.

4 Stedman's History of the American War. Parliamentary History of England. Annals of Great Britain. London Gazette. Thackery's Life of Lord Chatham, vol. ii. Dodsley's Annual Register.

CHAP. VI.

Meeting of Parliament before the Recess.... Discomfiture of the Ministry....Tender of Volunteers....Lord North's two conciliatory Bills....Indignation of his Friends and Supporters at these Bills....Debates on these Bills....Intimation of a Treaty between France and America....Inquiry into the State of public Affairs....Earl of Chatham's last Speech....His Illness, Death, and Character....Arrival of Burgoyne from America.... The King reviews the Militia....Posture of the Armies in America. ...Return of Sir W. Howe, who is succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton.... Arrival of three Commissioners at Philadelphia with Lord North's Bills....The President's Answer to the Minister's Proposal....General Clinton moves the Army from Philadelphia to New York....Maritime Proceedings on the Part of France and Great Britain....Engagement of the two Fleets....French Squadron sails from Toulon for the Delaware. ...But declines an Engagement with Lord Howe....The Island of Dominica surrenders to the French....Destruction of the Settlements at Wyoming by the Indians....The Commissioners for Peace again sue in vain....The British Troops subdue the Province of Georgia.... Meeting of Parliament, November, 1778....Lord Keppel and Sir Hugh Palliser undergo a Court Martial....Parliamentary Proceedings....Accumulation of the public Burdens....Campaign of 1779....Successes of the Count D'Estaign in the West Indies....His Failure on Savannah.... Expedition to Charlestown under General Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot....The Province of South Carolina subdued.... Proceedings for the Protection of New York.... War declared against Spain....Junction of the French and Spanish Fleets.... Which ride triumphant in the Channel....Disturbances in Edinburgh and Glasgow....Loud Complaints in Ireland.... Meeting of Parliament at the close of 1779....Propositions of Lord North for the Relief of Ireland....The Counties of York and Middlesex petition against a Continuance of the War.... Mr. Burke's Bill for Reform and Retrenchment....Mr. Dunning's Motion for diminishing the Influence of the Crown.... Progress of these celebrated Bills.... Disgraceful Riots in London....Petitions against the Catholic Claims....Proceedings in and out of Parliament relative to their Claims....Conduct of the Mob....Destruction of the Catholic Chapels...and of those belonging to Foreign Ambassadors....The Fleet and King's Bench Prisons destroyed....Shocking loss of Lives....Lord George Gordon sent to the Tower....Consequences, to the

Ministry, of these Riots....Naval Operations of 1780....American Campaign of this Year....General Arnold and Major André....Dreadful Hurricane in the West Indies....Conduct of the States of Holland towards Great Britain....War declared against the Dutch....Parliament dissolved.

1778.

WHEN the British parliament met, towards the close of the year 1777, the public had begun to be apprehensive that general Burgoyne's expedition would not prove so successful as had at first been expected; and intelligence soon arrived of the fatal catastrophe. An event so untoward, seemed for a time to give a turn to the sentiments of the nation; and many were induced to regret the policy which, as they now thought, had precipitated the American war with too much violence. In parliament, the state of things sharpened the language of opposition, and gave rise to a variety of motions and debates. The lofty style of the British manifesto, issued by general Burgoyne on his taking the command of the army, became a fit subject of ridicule. It warned the colonists of the dangers impending over them should they resist his majesty's arms, and rhetorically amplified the terrors of a savage foe let loose upon them. Lord North was styled, by the leaders of opposition, the political Sangrado, who prescribed bleeding for ills of every description; and who, if mortal symptoms appeared to attend his practice, would still persist in drawing more blood, because his reputation was staked on this effectual remedy. The ministry deprecated the pelting of this merciless storm, and endeavoured to allay it by apparent dejection, and an acknowledgment that they had been unfortunate. This, however, afforded no reparation for the disgrace which the British arms had sustained; and, as the means of investigating whether it ought to be attributed to the ignorance or incapa

city of the ministry, lord Chatham moved, that there be laid before the house copies of all orders and instructions given to general Burgoyne relating to the expedition: the motion, however, was negatived. During the recess of parliament, the spirits of the ministry, which had evidently been at a low ebb, began to recover their buoyancy, in consequence of the numerous voluntary tenders that were made by private individuals and public bodies, for raising new regiments to supply the loss of general Bur goyne's army.

The resources of Germany, "that great market of men," if we may be allowed to adopt an epithet of lord Chatham's, were nearly exhausted. Troops were not only procured there with difficulty, but one of the great German powers actually refused a passage, through a portion of his dominions, to those who were already engaged in the service of Great Britain. The facilities of procuring soldiers were not greater at home. In this situation, the principal business of the recess was to make new levies by private subscription. The towns of Manchester and Liverpool, in England, and the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, in Scotland, distinguished themselves by their zeal in the cause of administration, each raising a regiment of a thousand men. But their chief resource was the Highlands of Scotland. The gallantry which those hardy mountaineers had evinced in America, induced the ministry to endeavour to obtain their services on the present emergency. The experiment proved successful, and ten thousand men were thus obtained in Scotland. The support received by the ministry in England was far less efficacious; five thousand troops being the utmost that they were enabled to raise on this side the Tweed. However, with this seasonable supply, it was now determined to prosecute the war with redoubled vigour.