B II IT A I N. 





ecd- 

 of the 

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liam Howe having resigned,) began their march 

 through the Jerseys, from Philadelphia to New York. 

 As they proceeded with an enormous baggage, ex- 

 tending twelve miles in length, they wore assaulted 

 on the 28th of June, in the vicinity of Monmouth 

 Court house, by the van of Washington's army. In 

 two attacks, the Americans were repulsed : the Bri- 

 tish rangers and light infantry, on the other hand, 

 were obliged, from fatigue, to desist from an at- 

 tempt on the main body of the enemy. The ap- 

 proach of night left both armies with nearly equal 

 Toss; but in the morning, the British army had re- 

 treated, and reached New York without farther mo- 

 lestation. 



D'Estaign, missing Lord Howe'o fleet in the De- 

 laware, followed him to Sandy Hook ; but the judi- 

 cious position of the British admiral, and the diffi- 

 culty which the French dreaded of passing the bar 

 of the harbour of New York, saved our inferior force 

 till Howe was joined by the squadron of Byron ; and 

 sailing after his antagonist, obliged the French and 

 Americans to desist from an attempt which they had 

 made upon Rhode Island. Owing to tempestuous 

 weather, the hostile admirals, though mutually wil- 

 ling to engage, could not come to a general action. 

 Disconcerted in his views upon the continent, the 

 French admiral turned his efforts to the West Indies, 

 and assisted the Marquis de Bouille in taking the 

 Island of Dominique, whilst the British enjoyed an 

 equivalent triumph in the conquest of St Lucia. 



On the continent of America, the war still raged 

 with unremitted malignity ; the destruction of the 

 beautiful settlement of Wyoming in Pennsylvania, by 

 which a terrestrial paradise was converted into a 

 frightful waste, and men, women, and children butch- 

 ered indiscriminately by the Indians, is an event of 

 horrible memory in this year's campaign. In a more 

 civilized mode of warfare, Major-General Grey was 

 so successful, as to d, stroy 70 sail of shipping and 

 immense stores at Fair Haven, in New England, and 

 to bring off an immense booty of sheep and oxen 

 from Martha's vineyard, in the vicinity, for the use 

 of the army at New York. On the banks of the 

 North River, the same officer surprised, naked and 

 asleep, a whole regiment of American light-horse. 

 Quarter was refused ; and if we may credit the so- 

 lemn as everation of the American congress, in re- 

 monstrating on this cruel transaction, the regiment 

 were massacred in cold filorid. 



A squadron, under Sir Hyde Parker, having on 

 board a body of troops, commanded by Colonel 

 Campbell, sailed for East Florida, from the head 

 quarters of Sir H. Clinton, and on the 23d of De- 

 cember arrived in the Savannah. The force of the 

 colony was unable to oppose them, and the town of 

 Savannah fll into their hands. General Prevost 

 soon arriving, with a large reinforcement, took the 

 first command, and prepared to push his conquest 

 over the province. When the design of France to 

 assist America had become unquestionable, Admiral 

 Keppel was appointed commander of the channel 

 fleet, and sailed from Portsmouth, in June, with 20 

 ships of the line.. War had not been proclaimed, nox 

 had reprisals been ordered ; but coming up with two 

 French frigates, the admiral thought himself justified 



in taking them, and learning, from paper's on board Britain, 

 one? of the captured vessels, that the French had, in '-" v"" 1 J 

 Brest, thirty-two ships of the line, he returned to Ctof.IIl. 

 port, and strengthened his fleet to thirty sail of the 

 line. On the '.27th uf July, the fleets met, and fought 

 for three hours. The Fivtich lost above 1000 men, Naval en. 

 the British about 500. This would have been a gagcmcm. 

 proud day for Great Britain, if Admiral Sir Hugh 

 Palliser had obeyed the signals of the commander in 

 chief, and come up with his squadron to make the 

 victory decisive. His neglect of thit duty, which 

 the delicacy of Keppel forbore to mention directly, 

 in his dispatches, came to light when the particu- 

 lars of the battle were discubsed in England. Palli- 

 ser, whose misbehaviour had tarnished the glory of 

 the day, was tried, and only slightly censured by a 

 court martial. The venerable Keppel was also 



brought to trial, but he was honourably acquitted. ,. 



TU r i* it m* i * <iniament 



1 he session or parliament commenced on the 26th ,, lcet , <>c t [, 



of November 1778. In the addresses, the most vi- November, 

 gorous support was, as usual, promised, by great ma- 

 jorities, towards the prosecution of the war. The 

 ministers continued successful, throughout the session, 

 in baffling the successive motions that were made by 

 the Rockingham party, to pass a cenbure on the 

 principles, as well as the practical and particular con- 

 duct of the war ; but the numbers of the minority 

 were, on several great occasions, formidably increa- 

 sed. When Mr Fox moved for a vote of censure on 

 the conduct of Lord Sandwich, the first lord of the 

 admiralty, for having ordered Admiral Keppel to 

 sea, with a fleet inferior to that of France, by 

 . twelve ships of the line, besides a great inferiority 

 in frigates; his motion was supported by 174 

 votes to 246. It required, indeed, the whole force 

 of the crown influence to protect that minister from 

 the odium which his encouragement of the venerable 

 Keppel's prosecution, and his general incapacity as a 

 war minister, had excited. In the present question 

 on his conduct, the testimony of Lord Howe was 

 forcibly delivered against that minister; and that of- 

 ficer, already distinguished for a naval campaign of 

 unexampled skill in the West Indies, declared, that 

 under such council as the present ministry, he should 

 deem it forever impossible to serve his country. In 

 a motion, which Lord Bristol made in the house of 

 peers, similar to Mr Fox's in the lower house, for 

 Lord Sandwich's removal ; his Lordship established, 

 that seven millions of money had been given to the 

 support of our navy, during the last seven years, be- 

 yond any former period, and that, during that time, 

 the decrease and decline of the navy h*d been in the 

 inverse ratio of its expenditure. The Howes, having 

 obtained a reluctant consent of the minister, that a 

 parliamentary enquiry should be instituted, respect- 

 ing their conduct in America, the result was, a de- 

 claration by the committee, that at no period had 

 the force sent out to America been sufficient to sub- 

 due the provincials, and that there was no further 

 prospect of success in attempting the conquest of 

 America. The house, however, continued voting 

 supplies, for this declaredly impracticable object. 



Before the close of the session, his majesty announ- 

 ced to parliament, that Spain had been added to the 

 number of our enemies. By the manifesto of the 



