HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



spirit broke out at Edinburgh and Glasgow in 

 several alarming riots, during which one or two 

 Catholic chapels, and some houses belonging to 

 Catholics, were pillaged and burnt. In England, 

 the anti- Catholic party was headed by Lord 

 George Gordon, a half-witted member of parlia- 

 ment, and son of the Duke of Gordon. Along 

 with a mob of about 60,000 persons, he went to 

 Westminster and demanded the repeal of the act 

 in favour of the Roman Catholics. When this was 

 refused, the mob attacked and destroyed the 

 Catholic chapels, burned the prisons, including 

 Newgate, and released the prisoners. The streets 

 ere in their possession for about a week, and it 

 va.s not until about 500 persons had been killed 

 ar wounded, that the military succeeded in re- 

 storing order. Many of the ringleaders were 

 icecuted, but Lord George Gordon, who was tried 

 for high treason, was acquitted, on the ground of 

 " isanity. 



In 1781, after some successes, Lord Cornwallis, 

 chief commander of the British forces in 

 America, was besieged in Yorktown, Virginia, by 

 the American and French troops, and, after a few 

 weeks, was compelled to surrender. 



When parliament next met, many of those 

 who had formerly supported the war, began 

 to adopt opposite views ; and early in 1782, a 

 motion, made by General Conway, for the con- 

 clusion of the war, was carried by a majority of 

 nineteen. The necessary consequence was, that, 

 on the 2oth of March, Lord North and his col- 

 leagues resigned office. As usual in such cases, 

 a new administration was formed out of the 

 Opposition. The Marquis of Rockingham was 

 made Prime-minister, and Mr Fox one of the 

 Secretaries of State. The new ministers lost no 

 in taking measures for the restoration of 

 peace. Before this was accomplished, how- 

 ever, Admiral Sir George Rodney had gained an 

 important victory over the French fleet off the 

 sland of Dominica, April 12, 1782. On this 

 occasion, thirty-seven British vessels encountered 

 thirty-four French ; and chiefly by the dexterous 

 lanoeuvre of a breach of the enemy's line, gained 

 one of the most complete victories recorded in 

 lodern warfare, the admiral, Count de Grasse, 

 sing compelled to strike. The triumph was 

 lecessary to recover in some measure the national 

 lonour, and enable the ministers to conclude the 

 var upon tolerable terms. In November of the 

 ime year, provisional articles for a peace with 

 ic United States of America, now acknowledged 

 an independent power, were signed at Paris, 

 id the treaty was concluded in the ensuing 

 February. Peace was soon after concluded with 

 rance, Spain, and Holland. The two Floridas 

 and Minorca were given back to Spain, although 

 Gibraltar, which for three years and a half General 

 Eliott had gallantly defended against the com- 

 bined fleets of France and Spain, was retained. 

 France obtained Chandernagore, Pondicherry, the 

 island of St Pierre, and other possessions ; and the 

 Dutch had restored to them what they had lost. 



On the unexpected death of the Marquis of Rock- 

 ingham, in July 1782, the king chose as his suc- 

 cessor the Earl of Shelburne, who, though nomin- 

 ally a Whig, was not sufficiently inclined to the 

 general measures of that party to be agreeable to 

 Mr Fox and other leading members of the cabinet. 

 Qn their consequent resignation, the vacancies 



were filled up by the friends of Shelburne, among 

 whom was Mr William Pitt, a younger son of the 

 Earl of Chatham, who had already distinguished 

 himself as an advocate of parliamentary reform. 



COALITION MINISTRY. 



This ministry was opposed by two parties 

 of very different principles namely, the ad- 

 herents of the North administration, and the 

 friends of those Whigs who had lately retired 

 from the cabinet. These two parties, notwithstand- 

 ing that they had been opposed to each other 

 throughout all the late war, coalesced ; and being 

 triumphant over the ministry, forced themselves 

 upon the king's counsels. Then was formed 

 (April 2, 1783) what was called the Coalition 

 Ministry, in which Lord North and Mr Fox acted 

 together as Secretaries of State. The coalition, 

 however, pleased neither the king nor the nation. 

 Mr Fox had prepared and carried through the 

 Lower House a bill for the regulation of the East 

 India Company, by which all authority was to 

 devolve on seven directors, chosen by the House 

 of Commons ; in other words, by which the im- 

 mense patronage of this offshoot of the empire 

 was to fall into the hands of the ministry. The 

 India Bill, as it was called, being generally sup- 

 posed to aim at fixing the ministry in power 

 beyond the control of both king and people, roused 

 much indignation ; and His Majesty, therefore, fully 

 confident of support from the people, used his 

 personal influence, in no covert way, to induce the 

 House of Lords to reject the bill, and (December 

 1 8) sent a messenger to demand the seals of office 

 from his over-ambitious ministers, appointing Mr 

 Pitt to be the Prime-minister and Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer of a new cabinet, consisting chiefly of 

 His Majesty's friends. The king and his new min- 

 isters, backed by a decided majority of the public, 

 were opposed by two powerful aristocratic fac- 

 tions in the House of Commons, who defeated every 

 measure that was introduced, refused the usual 

 supplies, and voted again and again resolutions 

 against the continuance of the present men in 

 office, which they denounced as unconstitutional. 

 But in the course of a few weeks, the influence of 

 the Opposition was sensibly reduced ; and when 

 at length the majority had been worn down by the 

 influence of the public and the court to one, which 

 happened on a motion by Mr Fox, the king dis- 

 solved the parliament The new House of Com- 

 mons was so favourable towards the king and 

 ministry, as to enable the public service to go on 

 without further interruption. 



LEGISLATIVE MEASURES IN IRELAND. 



From the end of the reign of George I. a patri- 

 otic party in Ireland, composed of a mixture of 

 Catholics and Protestants, had been exerting itself 

 to reduce the influence of the English ministry in 

 their country. Under the pretext of arming for 

 the defence of the country, volunteer corps of 

 ' patriots ' were formed, which held meetings and 

 passed resolutions in which they openly avowed 

 their determination, at the hazard of life and for- 

 tune, to achieve the independence of the native 

 legislature, and a complete participation in the 

 commercial rights of the British. The government, 

 being then too feeble to resist, repealed various 



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