648 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



' 



rha es ; n 



n ew enemy, it appeared, that her mediation had been 

 asked by Britain, and obtained. When the terms of 

 peace, however, came to be discussed, it was obvious 

 fhat Spain, as well as France, were determined to 

 make the recognition of American independence the 

 basis of peace. Spain, however, declared her unwil- 

 lingness to have commenced hestilities, even after the 

 rejection of this basis, and taxed the British govern- 

 ment with injuries and hostilities, exactly amounting 

 to an hundred acts. Their assiduity in collecting 

 such a number of pretexts, bespoke no great confi- 

 dence in the strength of any one of them. 



During the recess of parliament, the Earl of Stor- 



Proceed- 

 ings in 

 .America. 



administra- mont succeeded the deceased Lord Suffolk as secre- 

 tion. tary of state. The Earl of Weymouth, a second 



time, resigned the seals of the southern department, 

 to the Earl of Hillsborough ; the Earl Bathurst suc- 

 ceeded the Earl Gower, as president of the council ; 

 and the Attorney General Thurlow, was created 

 lord chancellor. 



The commander in chief, in America, continued 

 to conduct the war, by indecisive and predatory ex- 

 peditions, either unable or afraid to bring the main 

 force of the enemy to a general action. Sir George 

 Collier and General Matthew made a descent upon 

 Virginia, and laid the town of Suffolk in ashes. Go- 

 vernor Tryon, accompanied by the former officer, 

 plundered and burnt Newhaven, in Connecticut, and 

 some other places ; and Collier succeeded in destroy- 

 ing a small squadron of the Americans, at the mouth 

 of the river Penobscot, in New England. The Ame- 

 ricans, on the other hand, were not without their 

 successes. Two important posts on the north river, 

 Stoney Point and Verplanks, had been carried by Sir 

 Harry Clinton, in person, and had been diligently and 

 strongly fortified. These places were recovered, by 

 the troops of General Wagne, with circumstances of 

 remarkable gallantry. The provincials carried the 

 July 15. fortified lines of the British, with fixed bayonets, in 

 the face of a tremendous fire ; and disdaining to re- 

 taliate, for former cruelties, they signalized their vic- 

 tory no less by clemency than courage. A.. Paulus 

 Hook, they surprised the British in a similar manner; 

 but a better defence being made, they retired, thougli 

 uot without bringing off 200 prisoners. 



In the West Indies, the island of St Vincent's was 

 vv.ptured by D'Estaign ; and Grenada, though brave- 

 ly defended !>y the efforts of Lord Macartney, yield- 

 ed to the arms of the same invader. A warm but 

 indecisive action took place, between the fleet of 

 D'Estaignand the British, under the Admirals Byron 

 and Harrington ; after which, the French Admiral 

 anchored off the town of Savannah, and attempted, 

 in conjunction with the American General Lincoln, 

 to take that town ; but was repulsed, by the British 

 lines, with great gallantry. 



.Chailes- On the 26th of December 1779, Sir Harry Clin- 

 towu taken j ol) sa jl e( ] ; with the greater part of the army, from 



f-s New York ; and, in the spring of the succeeding 



British. . r ~, i r - i 



year, arrived before dun lustown, the capital or ijoutn 



Carolina. The city was defended by General Lin- 

 e<clDj in j>-?rs<. PJ at the head of a numerous garrison, 



njp. 



but yielded, on the prospect of a general assault, to 

 the summons of the besiegers, and 6,000 of the con- 

 tinental troops, militra and sailors, became prisoners 

 of war. Leaving Lord Cornwallis to prosecute the 

 war in that quarter, Sir Henry Clinton returned, 

 after the capture of Charlestown, to his former head- 

 quarters. Cornwallis immediately crossed the San- 

 tee, and carried the terrors of the British arms to 

 the borders of North Carolina, cutting off several 

 corps of the Americans ; in which expeditions his 

 lieutenant-general, then Colonel Tarleton, distinguish- 

 ed himself by peculiar bravery. 



During these transactions; considerable alarm was 

 excited in England by the junction of the French 

 and Spanish fleets in the Channel, which took place 

 soon after the Spanish declaration of war. Sixty, five 

 ships of the combined line, with a prodigious cloud 

 of frigates and fire-ships, swept the Channel from 

 shore to shore ; obliged the British Channel fleet, 

 under Sir C. Hardy, to retire into harbour ; and, me- 

 nacing the British coast with impunity, while Ply- 

 mouth, by the negligence of ministers, was left so 

 defenceless, that it escaped destruction only by the 

 ignorance of the enemy respecting its true situation. 

 On the approach of the equinox, the hostile fleet re- 

 tired. The most remarkable result of the appear- 

 ance of their vast armament on our coast was, the vi- 

 gour and resolution with which it inspired the people 

 of Ireland, who, seeing themselves neglected by Eng- 

 land, their commerce unprotected, and their grievan- 

 ces unredressed, determined, by one effort, both to 

 defend their country, and to assert their political 

 rights. In a short time 50,000 volunteers were dis- 

 ciplined and equipped. By resolutions against the 

 use of British manufactures, they taught England 

 the immediate expediency of coming to an agreement 

 with their demands; and these were extended, not 

 to a partial, but a complete emancipation of their 

 trade. 



The subject of economical reform was pursued 

 with great spirit during the session of 1779-80, in 

 both houses ; by the Duke of Richmond in the 

 peers, and by Mr Burke in the commons.* Their 

 motions were rejected ; but the 6th of April was sig- 

 nalized by a victory of the opposition, whose num- 

 bers had of late increased, as the aversion of the na- 

 tion to the principles of the war, and to the system 

 of corruption which had so long given sanction to it, 

 daily grew more apparent. Mr Dunning moved, 

 " that the influence of the crown had increased, was 

 increasing, and ought to be diminished." This was 

 passed by a majority of eighteen ; and in several sub- 

 sequent motions the minister found himself in a mi- 

 nority. An unusual recess of parliament, however, 

 gave the court time to recover from this blow. Du- 

 ring that intervnl they rallied their broken ranks, 

 and brought so many deserters back to their stand- 

 ard, that at the next debate, on addressing his ma- 

 jesty that parliament might continue to sit till the 

 petitions of the people for reform were answered, 

 they recovered a majority of 51. Mr Fox, on this 

 decision, rose with indignation, and exposed the 



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* lit his celc'j-atcJ bill for regulating his majesty'* ci,i! establishment.- 



