BRITAIN. 



64y 



irso. 



shameless inconsistency, the breach of a solemn cn- 

 1 gagement, of those who hud thus basely deserted the 

 cause of reform. 



While these extraordinary turns of fortune attend- 

 ed the contest of parties, an event took place, which, 

 for a time, overwhelmed party spirit itself in t!i 

 ger of the state. After the passing of a humane bill 

 in favour of the Catholics, associations, original 

 Scotland, had taken place over tin- whole kingdom, 

 to petition the legislature for its repeal. Lord 

 George Gordon, an insane branch of a noble family 

 of Scotland, and a member of the lower house, heid- 

 ed these associations. On the day appointed for the 

 grand association in London to deliver their petition 

 to parliament, the rabble assembled, by his invitation, 

 to an immense number, in St George's Fields, and 

 proceeded to Westminster, where they MMTOVnded, 

 insulted, and besieged the two houses. The ai rival 

 of the guards with difficulty protected parlia 

 and the mob, on that day, contented themselves with 

 demolishing some chapels of the Roman Catholics. 

 During several succeeding days, the riots and burn- 

 ing of houses continued unchecked. The members 

 of parliament who continued to meet, were exposed 

 to insult and outrage on their way to Westminster, 

 till at lust they determined to adjourn, till the arm of 

 executive authority should rescue them from danger. 

 Encouraged by impunity, the mob proceeded in the 

 work of devastation, emptied the prisons, destroyed 

 and pillaged an immense number of houses, and at 

 last threatened the Bank itself. London was seen, 

 from one spot, blazing in thirty places. Houses and 

 property to the amount of millions were sacrificed to 

 their fury. The shops were shut, and all business 

 was at a stand. The arm of the civil power had 

 hitherto been shamefully idle ; but his majesty de- 

 claring with spirit, that the executive power should 

 interfere, orders were given to fire upon the rioters; 

 and detachments were brought from many miles 

 round London. Several hundreds of the insurgents 

 were killed by the platoons of the military, and in a 

 few days tranquillity was restored. 



Lord George Gordon was arrested on a charge of 

 high treason, and conducted under a strong escort to 

 the Tower. He was acquitted, on proofs ui insani- 

 ty, while many of his meaner associates atoned for 

 their crimes on the gallows. To complete the satis- 

 faction of public justice, the lord mayor, wlwse ne- 

 glect of timely interference was regarded as a prin- 

 cipal cause of the latter excesses, was prosecuted 

 and convicted. The session was closed by a speech 

 from the throne, on the 8th of July ; and, in Sep- 

 tember, a new parliament was called. 



To resume the thread of the narrative of transac- 

 tions in America. The full of Charlestown having 

 apparently secured to us the whole province of 

 South Carolina, and Colonel Tarleton's detachment 

 having defeated the fugitive American army, Gene- 

 ral Clinton returned to New York, leaving Lord 

 Cornwallis behind him to prosecute the conquest of 

 the northern province*. The American corps were, 

 however, recruited by strong reinforcements, and, 

 uniting under General Gates, gave battle to Lord 

 Corirwallis at Camden, near Lynchis-creek. Here 

 they were severely defeated, and for a time dispersed ; 

 and a way was opened for the victors to North Ca- 



TOL. IV. PART II. 



; while numbers of American parti/ana, by 

 nd persuasion, were compelled or indi- 

 join the royal standard. While tin- victory wa, hail- 

 ed by ; me parti/ans of Britain as decisive, 

 the itt u-r:d detached corps of the British 

 ainiy quickly tinned the tide of fortune. Major Fer- 

 was cut oil at ' 'imtain, and his army 

 obliged to su; render, by a body of American 

 men. Colonel Tarleton with difliculty, and by incre- 

 dible bravery, cut his way through the cner. 



.! from Active hostilities. Lord Cornwallis wj 

 obliged to retreat to the south. The war in the north- 

 ern provinces of America seemed, through the who! . 

 of the summer of i ,~SO, to be nearly at a stand. On 

 the 10th of .luly, a large body of French troops, un- 

 der Genera! Rochambcau, arrived at Rhode Island. 

 While the assistance of this new ally waa rendered in. 

 effectual by the blockade of a British fleet under 

 Admirals Graves and Arbuthnot, the American ge- 

 neral Arnold, proving faithless to the cause of the 

 United States, engaged to deliver into the hands ot 

 the British the important post of West Point, which 

 was called the Gibraltar of America, and was the 

 repository of their most valuable stores. Major An- 

 dre, a young officer of high character and bravery, 

 who was selected by General Clinton to conduct the. 

 negotiation with the apostate American, by an un- 

 fortunate mistake fell into the hands of the enemy',; 

 scouts while he was within their lines, was brought 

 to trial, and executed as a spy. Arnold escaped to 

 the British lines, and was made a brigadier-general. 

 When the winter set in, the army of Clinton was 

 confined to New York, and its dependencies. The 

 French troops remained at Rhode Island ; and the 

 army of Washington, distressed by many privations, 

 continued on the mountainous grounds adjacent to 

 the North River. 



The year was memorable for the declaration, by 

 the powers of Europe, of that armed neutrality, by 

 which they engaged to resist the British in the exer- 

 cise of the right of searching neutral vessels. The 

 intentions of Holland, which before had been suspi- 

 cious, were brought to a proof by the discovery of 

 a treaty with America, which was thrown overboard 

 one of her captured vessels,' but was rescued by the 

 intrepidity of an English seaman before it sunk. 

 Letters of reprisal were issued against her on the 

 20th of December. 



The war between Britain and Spain had scarcely 

 commenced, when the blockade of Gibraltar was 

 formed by sea and land. Sir George Rodney was 

 sent out with the command of a fleet to the relief of 

 that place. After capturing a squadron of seven 

 ships of war on the north of Spain, he next engaged 

 a fleet of fourteen sail of the line off Cape St Vin- 

 cent, where he captured and destroyed several of the 

 enemy's largest ships ; and, after effecting the relief 

 of Gibraltar, proceeded to the West Indies. In this 

 quarter he had an indecisive engagement with the 

 French admiral De Guichen, (on the 17th of April,) 

 in which the enemy retired, and, from unfortunate 

 circumstances, could not be pursued. The Spanish 

 governor of Louisiana reduced the British settlements 

 on the Mississippi, and made considerable progress in 

 West Florida. Our East and West India merchant 

 fleets were captured in the autumn of the year : a 



Britiu. 



Armed 

 ueutrali')-. 



Blockade 

 of Gibral- 

 tar. 



Naval cit- 

 gagment. 



Brili-h 

 East and 

 West In- 

 dia fleet* 

 taken. 



