108 COUNT RCJMFORD. 



pleton's store. Judge Curwen complained of Thomp- 

 son's fair appearance and uncandid behaviour. He must 

 have keenly felt the singular reversal in their relations. 

 " This young man/' says the judge, " when a shop-lad to 

 my next neighbour, ever appeared active, good-natured, 

 and sensible; by a strange concurrence of events, he is 

 now Under- Secretary to the American Secretary of 

 State, Lord George Germain, a Secretary to Georgia, In- 

 spector of all the clothing sent to America, and Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel Commandant of Horse Dragoons at New 

 York; his income from these sources is, I have been 

 told, near 7,0001* a year a sum infinitely beyond his 

 most sanguine expectations." 



As the prospects of the war darkened, Thompson's 

 patron in England became more and more the object of 

 attack. The people had been taxed in vain. England 

 was entangled in Continental war, and it became 

 gradually recognised that the subjugation of the colony 

 was impossible. Burgoyne had surrendered, and the 

 issue of the war hung upon the fate of Cornwallis. On 

 October 19 he also was obliged to capitulate. The 

 effect of the disaster upon Lord North, who was then 

 Prime Minister, is thus described by Sir M. W. Wrax- 

 all : " The First Minister's firmness, and even his pres- 

 ence of mind, gave way for a short time under this 

 awful disaster. I asked Lord George afterwards how 

 he took the communication. * As he would have 

 taken a ball in his breast,' replied Lord George; 'he 

 opened his arms, exclaiming wildly, as he paced up and 

 down the apartment during a few minutes, " God ! it 

 is all over ! " '" 



To Thompson's credit be it recorded, that he showed 

 no tendency to desert the cause he had espoused when 

 he found it to be a failing one. In 1782 his chief was 

 * This Dr. Ellis considers to be a delusion. 



