642 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. O n the blood of a Bostonian. In contemplating the 

 ^"""^TTT inhumanity of having recourse to such aid, it is but 



IvCOBQElIi. 



1T75. 



Meeting of 



a small consolation to think, that it was wholly in. 

 efficient to promote the arbitrary measures of a mis- 

 guided government. However contemptible as a 

 general instrument of war, it produced abundance of 

 misery in detail. 



w ; Parliament met, after a short recess, on the 26th 

 parliament, of October 1775. From the speech from the throne, 

 Oct. 26th. it was evident, that peace would not yet be offered 

 to America, but at the price of her unconditional 

 submission. During the summer recess, the Duke 

 of Grafton, who had for some time viewed the hope- 

 less state of the American quarrel, and the violence 

 of his associates in the cabinet with extreme regret, 

 had made an effort to procure a change of system ; 

 and, on the receipt of a second petition from con- 

 gress, renewed his solicitations, but without effect. 

 On this his grace made a second resignation ; and 

 some other changes took place in the cabinet, which 

 left the management of affairs more unembarrassed 

 than ever, by the suggestions of those who hesitated 

 in the system of overawing America. In both 

 houses, however, a strenuous opposition was raised 

 to the present measures. " We have beheld (said 

 the Marquis of Rockingham, and the minority lords, 

 in a spirited protest which they entered on the jour- 

 nals of the peers), we have beheld with sorrow and 

 indignation, freemen driven to resistance by acts of 

 oppression and violence ; and we cannot consent to 

 deceive his majesty and the public into a belief of the 

 confidence of this house in the present ministry, who 

 have lost the colonies, and involved us in a civil war 

 against our clearest interests, and upon the most un- 

 justifiable grounds." 



Attempts On the 10th of November, the Duke of Rich- 

 to effect a moid obtained a reluctant vote of the peers, to exa- 

 reconcilia- mine Mr Penn, who had brought the petition from 

 lion with congress, emphatically styled by the framers of it, 

 the olive branch. The colonies, Mr Penn affirmed, 

 would still allow the imperial authority of Britain, 

 though not its right of taxation : that the rejection 

 of the present offer would certainly prove an insu- 

 perable bar to reconcilement ; but the prevailing 

 wish in America still was, restoration of friendship 

 with Britain. 



In the commons, Mr Burke'sbill for quieting the 

 troubles in America, and Mr Fox's motion of en- 

 quiry into the ill success of our arms in the same 

 quarter, produced the strongest admiration of the 

 speakers, but no change of resolution in the house. 

 Large supplies were voted, and the land-tax was 

 raised to four shillings in the pound. On this occa- 

 sion, the country gentlemen, while they smarted un- 

 der the taunts and sarcasms of the opposition at the 

 jirst fruits of their American war, were alarmed by a 

 declaration of the minister, that the contest with 

 the colonies, was not now for taxes, but for sove- 

 reignty. With difficulty did the minister soften them 

 by the assurance, that the project of taxing America 

 would not be given up. Supplies were also voted 

 for the payment of 18,000 mercenaries, the troops 

 of the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Duke of Bruns- 

 wick, who were to be brought, at the expence of 

 many millions, to effect the reduction of the new 



1 



America. 



1T76. 



world. By a bill, introduced soon after the meet- Britain 

 ing of parliament, all trade and intercourse was pro- 

 hibited with the revolted colonies ; and their proper- 

 ty, whether ships or goods, were declared to be for- 

 feited, to the ships or crews who might be their cap- 

 tors. 



To return to the state of the war in America, we Blorkado 

 find the blockade of Quebec continued by Arnold, of Quebt 

 and afterwards by Sullivan, with surprising perse- 

 verance, in spite of the disastrous issue of Montgo- 

 mery's attempt. Early in the spring of 1776, a na- 

 val armament from Britain forced their passage 

 through the river St Lawrence ; and General Carle- 

 ton, animated by the reinforcement, pursued the A- 

 mericans, who, before his arrival, broke up their camp, 

 weakened by disease and hardship. The Americans 

 were driven, post after post, from all that they had 

 gained in their northern irruption except from Lake 

 Champlain, and exertions were made by the- General* 

 Carleton and Burgoyne, to obtain a superiority there 

 also, by constructing a greater number of vessels. 



The garrison of Boston, which was maintained at 



an incredible expence by supplies from England, con- r-, . 



. , i i i i i i i , i fo .The Brit: 



tinned to be closely blockaded during the winter of abando 



1775-6. In the month of March 1776, General Boston 

 Washington, by a njasterly stroke, compelled the 

 Britisli to abandon it. Passing in profound silence, 

 with 2000 men, the neck of land which separates 

 Dorchester heights from the town, he constructed, 

 in a single night, a redoubt, which gave him com- 

 mand of the heights, and menaced the British ship- 

 ping with destruction. A storm of wind and rain 

 prevented General Howe from attempting to dislodge 

 him, but did not impede the industry of the Ameri- 

 cans in strengthening their works, till they were too 

 secure to be carried by a conp-de-main. Another 

 work being thrown up by the enemy, which, from its 

 proximity, had the entire command of Boston Neck, 

 the British commanders had no choice but to eva- 

 cuate the town. The whole troops, and such of the 

 loyalists as chose to follow their fortunes, were ac- 

 cordingly embarked, and sailed for Halifax. Wash- 

 ington, on the succeeding day, entered Boston in 

 triumph. 



The defence of Sullivan's island, near Charlestown, Defene 

 the capital of South Carolina, also gave spirit and Sullivan 

 reputation to the American cause. In the month o f '*'*'"* 

 June, the fleet under Sir Peter Parker, having on 

 board a considerable land force, commanded by Ge- 

 neral Clinton, anchored off Charlestovvn-bar. Two 

 ships, the Bristol and Experiment, each of 50 guns, 

 having with difficulty passed the bar, proceeded to 

 cannonade the fort of Sullivan's island, which de- 

 fended the approach to the town ; but, after sus- 

 taining a dreadful fire from the American batteries, 

 they slipt their cables at night, and retired, almost 

 torn to the water's edge ; and the Actaeon, of 28 

 guns, having run ashore, was obliged to be set on 

 fire and abandoned. The attempt on Charlestown 

 was necessarily abandoned, and Sir Peter Parker set 

 sail for New York. Indeed, the number of the na- 

 tive troops, which had assembled from all parts of the 

 province for the defence of their capital, under the 

 command of an experienced and spirited officer, Ge- 

 neral Lee, together with the specimen of their re- 



