to return. The present overture being rejected, the King continued to govern through Lord North, the war in America was prolonged, and Mr. Fox, rising with the occasion, became the leader of the Whig party in the House of Commons.

:

Let us now turn to the progress of the war in America. The great event of Saratoga, although it had been prepared by the skill and foresight of Washington, yet being decided at a distance from his head-quarters, went near to overthrow his authority. The envy of General Gates, the vanity and presumption of General Conway, and the cabals of a number of inferior persons whose machinations Washington too scornfully despised, were all set in motion to misrepresent his character, and to depreciate his wise and successful caution. The difficult circumstances of his position furnished his adversaries with abundant means of attack if he supplied his army by forced requisitions, the names of liberty and property resounded in the ears of a jealous people; if he desisted from these measures, the wants of his soldiers excited discontent in his camp. Yet, being at last roused to defend himself, his honest, straightforward explanations, the support of his friends, and a sense of returning justice, restored him to the good opinion of his deluded countrymen. His popularity was rather increased than diminished by the base attacks which had been made upon him. The conclusion of the Treaty of Alliance with France appeared to open brilliant prospects. Washington was eager to take advantage of this propitious circumstance to strike a final blow. Lord George Germaine, after indulging in a visionary plan of campaign, took fright at the dangers of a French war, and ordered General Howe to evacuate Philadelphia. On the 17th of June that city

was evacuated by 10,000 British troops; on the 28th they were attacked at Monmouth by Washington, and suffered considerably, but repulsed the American troops, and inflicted upon them an equal loss. The British army then retired to New York, and Washington took up his position on White Plains. He remarked with some exultation that, after two years of marches and counter-marches, he had returned to his old position, and that his enemy was busy on works of defence with the spade and the pickaxe. On the 11th of July the Count d'Estaing appeared in the neighbourhood of New York with a French fleet of twelve sail of the line. On their arrival Washington was eager to make a combined attack on the British position, and thus, if possible, end the war. This plan, however, was rendered impracticable by the size of the French ships, which could not pass the bar of New York. It was then proposed to attack Rhode Island, where 6000 English were posted. The approach of a British fleet, however, made d'Estaing fearful of being blockaded or attacked in a confined space, and he preferred going out to sea, with a view to bring the British to a general action. But a hurricane separated the two fleets; d'Estaing went to Boston to refit, and afterwards sailed for the West Indies. Thus the only immediate effect of the French alliance in America was the evacuation of Philadelphia. The alliance itself was not a natural nor a cordial one; and the conduct of d'Estaing in retiring from the scene of action produced an explosion of invective and rage among American patriots. Washington appeased this storm; but when the French proposed to redeem their fame by the conquest of Canada, Washington himself was the first to advise the Congress not to trust too much to the good faith of France. The words of a

treaty would not, he thought, be proof against the temptation of regaining for France that valuable colony. It is curious to observe traces of the old partiality for Great Britain and the old jealousy of France still bearing their impression on the mind of so true a patriot as Washington.

Some curiosity may be felt as to the fate of Lord North's last conciliatory propositions. The Commissioners, on arriving at New York, sent Dr. Adam Ferguson to ask from Washington a safe conduct to the seat of Congress; but this Washington refused. The Commissioners then sent their proposals to treat and their full powers to the President of the Congress. But the Congress at once resolved that they would only treat on the basis of the withdrawal of the British troops from America, or on the basis of the acknowledgment of the independence of the thirteen States. The Commissioners endeavoured in vain to persuade the Congress to depart from this ground; and, finding their mission fruitless, returned in the month of November to England. This result justified the sagacious advice which George III. had given to Lord North. He had pointed out that the moment when the Americans had gained the alliance of France was not a favourable period for treating; that if the troops and ships were withdrawn from the American coast, and a heavy blow inflicted on the power of France, Great Britain might be in a better position to make concessions, and America in a better disposition to receive them. But, unhappily, the only wise suggestion made by the King during this contest was set aside by the folly of his Minister. Lord North humbled Great Britain by surrendering all the original grounds of quarrel; held out his imploring hand to the Congress, whose existence he had two years before refused to acknowledge; and, as a

reward for his submission, was spurned by the body which he had tried to subdue by threats, and to win by cajolery. If, however, the British Commissioners had no right to expect a satisfactory answer to their overtures unless the basis of the independence of America were explicitly admitted, their representations on another subject were founded in justice. They claimed the performance of the convention of Saratoga, by which General Burgoyne's army was to be transported to Great Britain, on condition of not serving against America during the war.

Unhappily, every kind of flimsy excuse and paltry evasion was resorted to by the Congress in order to elude the performance of this engagement; and at last, taking advantage of an incautious expression in a letter of Sir Henry Clinton, they closed the correspondence, shamefully violated their promises, and retained the British troops prisoners during the remainder of the war. At the end of December a small force, under Colonel Campbell, was despatched to Georgia, and, owing to the skill and bravery of the commander and his troops, totally defeated an American body of regulars and militia, penetrated into Savannah, the capital of Georgia, and made themselves masters of the town with a great amount of military stores and provisions. The whole of the province soon submitted to the British commander.

CHAPTER XII.

SESSION OF PARLIAMENT MR. FOX ATTACKS THE ADMIRALTY-HIS SEVERE REMARKS ON THE MINISTRY-WAR IN AMERICA LANGUISHES FRENCH AND SPANISH FLEET SCOUR THE ENGLISH CHANNEL- RESIGNATION OF LORD GOWER.

1778-1779.

THE session of Parliament commenced on the 26th of November, 1778. Mr. Thomas Townshend moved an amendment to the address in reply to the King's speech, distinctly separating the war with France from the contest in America. "We are ready," the amendment stated, "to give the most ample support to such measures as may be thought necessary for the defence of these kingdoms, or for frustrating the design of that restless power which has so often disturbed the peace of Europe; but we think it one of our most important duties, in the present melancholy posture of affairs, to inquire by what fatal counsels, or unhappy systems of policy, this country has been reduced from that splendid situation which, in the early part of his Majesty's reign, made her the envy of all Europe, to such a dangerous state as that which has of late called forth our utmost exertions without any adequate benefit.”

Mr. Fox seconded this amendment. In speaking of the offers of the Commissioners, he said there seemed to be a censure passed on them for not executing "the conciliatory measures planned by the wisdom and temper of Parlia