the negotiation. Afterwards, however, Richard Cumberland was allowed to accompany Hussey to Madrid, as a sort of private negotiator on this subject; but Cumberland remained there eight months, holding many secret conferences with Florida Blanca, the minister, which came to nothing. The English government would give no assurance of surrendering the rock, and all other terms of peace were treated with contempt. In the end, Cumberland returned to England four thousand five hundred pounds out of pocket, for he had been figuring in the character of a real ambassador in the Spanish capital, and now solicited reimbursement in vain. Of this sum which he expended, he assures us, in his Memoirs, that he never recovered one farthing. were sent with all speed to England, and on the 6th of October ex-president Laurens was conducted in a hackney coach to the office of lord George Germaine, where he underwent a keen scrutiny of six hours by the three secretaries of state and the solicitor-general. Laurens refused to answer their interrogatories; but this was of no consequence, his papers explained sufficiently the objects of his mission. He was committed to close custody in the Tower on a charge of high treason, and copies of his papers were forwarded to our ambassador, Sir Joseph Yorke, at the Hague, who was instructed to demand from the States General the disavowal of the proceedings of Van Berkel and Neufville; and that they should be punished as disturbers of the peace betwixt the two countries, and violaters of the rights of nations. The States General, confounded by the discovery of their clandestine negotiations, remained silent for a week, and then only replied by advancing complaints of violences committed by the British navy on their traders, and of its having insulted the Dutch flag by seizing some American privateers in the fort of the island of St. Martin, under the very guns of the fort. Sir Joseph did not allow himself to be diverted from his demand, but again, on the 12th of December, a month after the presentation of his memorial, demanded an answer. No answer was returned. But the most serious event-serious preeminently to that country, in the end-was the open breach with Holland. The Dutch government, though declining to belong to the armed neutrality, had been long taking every advantage of assisting the Americans by supplies from their West Indian Islands, and by general trade with them. They had, whilst nominally at peace with England-and really under immense obligations to her-gone treacherously much further. Flattering themselves that, with nearly all the world against her, England must succumb, they had long been secretly in negotiation with the insurgent subjects of England, and their treachery was now suddenly, by a singular circum-At this time two great parties divided Holland—that of the stance, brought to the light. Captain Keppel, cruising in the Vestal frigate on the banks of Newfoundland, in the month of September, captured one of the American packets. On the approach of the British boats to the packet, it was observed that something was hastily flung overboard. A sailor leaped from one of the boats into the sea, and succeeded in securing this something before it had sunk beyond reach. It turned out to be a box, which had been weighted with lead, but not sufficiently to render it so rapid in its descent as to prevent its seizure by the British tar. On being opened, it revealed a mass of papers belonging to an American emissary to the court of Holland, and opened up a long course of negotiations, and an eventual treaty of peace and commerce between Holland and our American colonies. The bearer of these papers was discovered on board the packet, in the person of Henry Laurens, late president of the United States. grand pensionary, Van Berkel, favourable to France and America; and that of the prince of Orange, favourable to England. The party of Van Berkel was in the ascendant. England was compelled to declare war against Holland on the 20th of December, Sir Joseph Yorke being recalled by the king, and count Welderen receiving his passports in London. Welderen, before taking his leave, requested to lay some fresh papers before the secretary of state, but this was declined, the nations now being at war; in fact, the Dutch had no sooner been compelled to take an open course than they began to repent of their proceedings, and, could they have foreseen the loss and degradation which this war had in store for them, their repentance would have been much deeper.. The parliament was dissolved on the 1st of September, with a suddenness which took the opposition by surprise. The new parliament assembled on the 21st of October, when it was found that the ministers had gained a considerable accession of strength. A hundred and thirteen new men had obtained seats, and there had been some remarkable changes. Burke had been thrown out by his Bristol constituents, as they had promised him, for advocating the catholic claims and the trade of Ireland; but he was reinstated as member for the little pocket borough of Malton, in the interest of lord Rockingham. Admiral Keppel was thrown out by the government influence for Windsor, but was returned for Surrey. Two catholics - the earl of Surrey, the eldest son of the duke of Norfolk, and Sir Thomas Gascoigne had, in the midst of the Gordon riots, abjured their faith, and were now eagerly returned for Carlisle and Thirsk. Still more extraordinary men appeared amongst the new members in the persons of Richard Brinsley Sheridan and William Wilberforce. William Pitt could not find an avenue to the house at first, but in a These most important papers, together with their bearer, few months entered for the close borough of Appleby, the It appeared that so long ago as 1778 William Lee, who had formerly been an alderman of London, but who had now become the accredited agent of the American congress, had entered into negotiations with John de Neufville, a merchant of Amsterdam, and Van Berkel, grand pensionary of that city. These had gradually ripened into a regular treaty with the States General, which was drawn up so that it might be signed at any time, or might, if circumstances appeared to render it necessary, be abandoned and denied. These transactions were kept profoundly secret from the English government, with whom Holland was all this time at peace; but the Americans now were in the most urgent distress for money, and they dispatched Laurens with authority to offer the Dutch still higher commercial advantages than were stipulated for in the drawn-up treaty; on these conditions to effect the signature of the treaty and the desired loan. A.D. 1781.] FIRST SPEECHES OF PITT AND SHERIDAN IN THE COMMONS. nominee of Sir James Lowther. From Buckinghamshire came, as one of its representatives, Thomas Grenville, a son of George Grenville, late prime minister, and brother to the present earl Temple, for earl Temple, brother-in-law of Chatham, was deceased without an immediate heir. Thomas Grenville was remarkable for his magnificent bequest of his library to the British Museum, and for continuing a public man for the greater part of half a century, being, even till 1846, and almost to the last, in active intercourse with our present ministers, and, in particular, Mr. Gladstone. The first business of the new parliament was to elect its speaker, and lord George Germaine proposed Mr. Charles Wolfran Cornwall in opposition to Sir Fletcher Norton, who had given mortal offence by his opposition to ministers. Lord George lamented that Sir Fletcher's health rendered his retirement necessary; but Sir Fletcher replied that his health was now better, and that lord George Germaine's pretence was a mockery to the house. Ministers, however, prevailed. Mr. Cornwall was elected by a majority of two hundred and three votes against one hundred and thirtyfour. In his opening speech the king congratulated the parliament on the successful manner in which his navy had resisted the combined endeavours of France and Spain, and on the progress of his arms in Georgia and Carolina, which, he hinted, would tend to bring that unhappy contest to a speedy close. The opposition ridiculed the idea that these partial successes could have any real influence on the war. They strongly resisted the addresses; but were left in heavy minorities, much to their discouragement. Lord Northstrong in his new parliamentary strength-moved for, and carried, extraordinarily large grants for the coming year: ninety thousand men for the navy, and thirty-five thousand for the army, exclusive of the invalids at home, and the Germans already in America. The whole sum voted for the expenditure of 1781 was upwards of twenty-five millions sterling. Nor did this, as it proved, suffice, for new duties on paper, on almanacs, &c., were imposed during the year, and still the debt grew rapidly. The opposition, defeated in their attempts at economy, attacked ministers on other points. Thomas Townshend declared that it was necessary that the house should institute an inquiry why the country was deprived of the services of such men as admiral Keppel, lord Howe, Sir Robert Harland, Pigot, Campbell, and Barrington, and Fox pledged himself to move for the dismissal of lord Sandwich, and censured severely the promotion of admiral Palliser, who was alleged by the public to have prevented the victory of admiral Keppel off Ushant. Admiral Palliser, who was in the house, defended himself. A fierce debate arose, which ended in the minutes of the court-martial held upon Palliser being ordered to be laid upon the table. The house then adjourned, on the 6th of December, to the 23rd of January. Parliament meeting, according to adjournment, on the 23rd, lord North delivered to the commons a royal message, including a copy of the manifesto against Holland, letters of marque and reprisal having been issued against the Dutch during the recess. The opposition, led by Burke, condemned the declaration of war, declaring that we had been more in fault than 273 the Dutch; and Burke represented the copy of the treaty with America, found amongst the papers of Laurens, as a mere "speculative essay." But, in both houses, resolutions were carried by large majorities condemning the conduct of the Dutch, and justifying the war. Early in February, Fox made his promised attack on Sir Hugh Palliser, declaring that, after his conduct off Ushant, and the verdict of the court-martial, which at once acquitted and condemned him, such promotion was an insult to the nation, and ruinous to the service of the navy. Fox's motion was rejected by a ministerial majority of two hundred and fourteen to one hundred and forty-nine. On the 15th of February Burke again brought on the question of economical reform, and extended it to parliamentary reform; thus embodying in the scheme what came to be ultimately known as "radical reform "-the theme of so many years, and the theme still. Leave was given him to bring in a bill on the subject, but it was attacked by lord North and his supporters on the vote for the second reading. In this debate occurred several remarkable facts. William Pitt, the second son of lord Chatham, first spoke in parliament on this occasion, and spoke as a zealous reformer. He was then but in his twenty-second year, but displayed all the command of manner and self-possession which afterwards characterised him. In this very first essay, he did not hesitate to call to order leading men in the ministry, and to make them quail, too. Lord George Germaine standing during the young orator's speech, and talking in a loud whisper to Welbore Ellis, Pitt stopped, saying, "I will wait till the Agamemnon of the present day has finished his consultation with the Nestor of the treasury bench." The effect was instantaneous, and the two offenders, unused to such rebuke, sate down in confusion. Burke's bill was thrown out. On the same liberal side, also, spoke Sheridan, who continued on that side, and Wilberforce, who did not. Sheridan had already addressed the house on the subject of his own controverted election, and with such poor effect, that going, after his speech, to Woodfall, the printer of "Junius," who was in the gallery, and asking his opinion, Woodfall, with a discouraging honesty, replied, "I am sorry to say that I do not think this is your line." Sheridan was already celebrated for some of his brilliant dramas. After this answer, he rested his hand on his head for some time as in despair, then raising it, he said, energetically, “It is in me, however, and it shall come out!" and, in truth, it did soon come out. Early in this month of February the trial of lord George Gordon came on for his instigation of the late riots, and a young and hitherto little known barrister was engaged on his behalf-Mr. Erskine, afterwards lord Erskine. It was a time for the outburst of high genius, and no man ever began a more brilliant career as a pleader than Thomas Erskine. He obtained, amidst much applause, a verdict of acquittal for the prisoner. In the house of commons, the opposition was much encouraged by this victory, for though the reformers condemned the principles of lord George Gordon, they sympathised with him as a scapegoat for the negligence of the government itself. Sheridan distinguished himself greatly. He condemned the employment of the soldiery, and still more the wretched condition of the police and constabulary regulations in the metropolis, On the 7th of March lord North opened his budget, and astonished the house by having, in addition to the levying of twenty-five millions for the year, contracted a loan for twelve millions. So recklessly had the terms of this loan been settled, that Fox declared that a million had been actually thrown away amongst the contractors, and this statement was fully corroborated by the fact of the price of the new stock having risen from nine to eleven per cent. above par. Fox also proceeded to condemn, in strong language, a proposed lottery. One of the greatest and most losing gamblers of his age, he might speak feelingly when he described the vice and the misery of gambling. At this time he had reduced himself by his passion for play to the most ruinous condition. His goods were seized by his creditors, and he was overwhelmed with debt. Speaking from experimental but not curative knowledge, he declared gambling as destructive to the prosperity of nations as of individuals, and that, of all species of gambling, lotteries were the most pernicious, debasing the morals, the habits, and the whole condition of the poorer classes of the people. The strictures of Fox were followed up by Sir Philip Jennings Clerke, who declared that the loan had been managed so as to favour, as usual, lord North's favourite contractors, and that one of them, a Mr. Atkinson, alone had had three millions of it placed at his disposal. These charges were vehemently urged by Fox, Byng, Sir George Saville, and others, and on the 12th of March Mr. Byng moved that a list of all who had become subscribers to the new loan, with the sums subscribed by each, should be laid before the house; secondly, a list of all those who offered to become subscribers; and, thirdly, for copies of all letters, papers, and proposals sent to ministers by persons wishing to subscribe. These motions were intended to show the favouritism which had been exercised, and how it had been exercised at the public cost. Lord North agreed to the first motion, but not to the two succeeding ones, so that the real object of the motion was defeated, and this was sufficiently demonstrative to the public of the truth of the charge. On the 2nd of April, Mr. Duncombe, one of the members for the county of York, presented a general petition embracing almost every subject of reform. This petition, it was well known, had sprung from the associations and corresponding societies which had been established last year in the different counties, that of York taking the lead. The delegates from these county associations had met in London, and had taken means to make their proceedings conspicuous. A considerable number of them were members of parliament themselves. They had got up and signed this petition, but, knowing the jealousy with which they were regarded, they had signed it, not in their character of delegates, but of freeholders. Sir George Saville, the other member for Yorkshire, moved that this petition be referred to a committee; but government had too great a dread of a machinery which had worked so effectually in America, and complaining of the unconstitutional proceeding of delegates meeting in London, publishing their resolutions, and acting as a representative body independent of parliament, they rejected the motion by a large majority. The subjects which occupied principally the notice of parliament during the remainder of the session were two bills for altering the marriage act of 1751, and one regarding America. The first bill affecting the marriage act was introduced by lord Beauchamp on the 28th of May, to alter a clause in the act, which it was discovered by a late decision of the Court of King's Bench went to render all marriages, the banns for which had been published in any church or chapel erected since the passing of the act, invalid. This was of such moment that it passed immediately. The next bill was introduced by Fox, who, like his father, had a decided aversion to the whole act, and would have obliterated nearly every part of it, except the mere registration of the marriages. Burke, for the first time, opposed the motion of his friend Fox; the bill was thrown out without a division. The bill regarding the American colonies was moved for by colonel Hartley on the 30th of May, and the proposal went to empower the king to come to some terms of reconciliation with the insurgent states. It was rejected, and the news of the retrogressing of the royalist cause in North Carolina arriving a few days afterwards, Fox, on the 17th of June, moved that the house should resolve itself into a committee to consider the necessity of making peace with the American states. The old ground was again widely travelled over by the opposition, charging the ministers with being the cause of all the disaster and disgrace: first, by the tyrannous nature of their measures, and secondly by the imbecility of their management; and by the ministerial party charging the opposition with being the real cause by their inciting and encouraging the insurgents. The late lord Chatham's memory having been impugned, his son, William Pitt, warmly and eloquently defended it, declaring the whole war "was a most accursed, wicked, barbarous, cruel, unnatural, unjust, and diabolical war; conceived in injustice, nurtured and brought forth in folly, its footsteps marked with blood, slaughter, persecution, and devastation!" Fox's motion was rejected by one hundred and seventy-two against ninety-nine. Numbers of petitions poured in from the West India Islands praying for peace with America; representing the imminent danger to which they were exposed by the powerful fleets of France and Spain; the loss of some of them already, and the destitution to which the rest were reduced. The corporation of London presented a memorial to the king, stating in very plain terms that he had been deluded by his ministers into this ruinous contest, and that every class and interest in the country was rapidly sinking into ruin from the destruction of trade and the enormous mass of debt and taxes which it was heaping upon the kingdom. But on the 18th of July the king, on proroguing parliament, still avowed his hopes of concluding the contest by success, and his determination to admit of no terms inconsistent with the dignity of the crown and the interest and security of the realm. He turned with evident pleasure from this disagreeable topic to congratulations of the rapid progress of our power and the successes of our arms in India. The enemy, meantime, were on the alert, trying, by their fleets and armies, to assail us in almost every quarter. In the very opening days of the year-at the very commencement of January, 1781-the French made a second attack on the island of Jersey. They had sent across the channel a fleet A.D. 1781.] MUTINY OF THE ARMY OF WASHINGTON. carrying nearly two thousand men; but their ships met the common fortune of those which in all ages have invaded these islands: they were scattered by tempests, many of them dashed on the rocks of those iron-bound shores, and some driven back to port. They managed, however, to land eight hundred men by night, and surprised the town of St. Helier's, taking prisoner its lieutenant-governor, major Corbet, who thereupon thinking all lost, agreed to capitulate. But the next officer in command, major Pierson, a young man of only twenty-five, refused to comply with so pusillanimous an order. He rallied the troops and encouraged the inhabitants, who fired on the French from their windows. The invaders, surrounded in the market place, were compelled to surrender, after their commander, the baron de Rullecourt, and many of his soldiers, were killed. The gallant young Pierson was himself killed by nearly the last shot. Corbet himself escaped, though he was placed by the French commander in the very first line, to prevent the English firing upon them; but he escaped only to be tried and cashiered. The garrison of Gibraltar was all this time hard pressed by the Spaniards. Florida Blanca had made a convention with the Emperor of Morocco to refuse the English any supplies; those thrown in by Rodney the year before were nearly exhausted, and they were reduced to great straits. Admiral Darby was commissioned to convoy one hundred vessels laden with provisions, and to force a way for them into the garrison: Darby not only readily executed his commission to the great joy of the poor soldiers, but he blockaded the great Spanish fleet under admiral Cordova, in the harbour of Cadiz, whilst the stores were landing. In America, all at the opening of the campaign seemed to favour the English cause. The army of Washington, still suffering the utmost extremities of cold and starvation, began in earnest to mutiny. A Pennsylvanian division of one thousand three hundred men marched out of their camp at Morristown, and proceeded to Princeton, carrying with them six field-pieces and their stores. In attempting to stop them, Captain Billing was killed, and several other officers were wounded. General Wayne drew his pistol, and threatened to shoot the first man that moved; but a bayonet clapped to his breast caused him to stand aside, and they went on. At Princeton they declared that they would only return to their duty on condition that congress should grant their discharge to all who had not engaged for the war, and had served their three years; should pay up all arrears, and give real pay, and when due, to those who remained on service. Washington did not move to put down the insurrection, probably, because he knew that the demands of the soldiers were just, and partly also because he was afraid to issue from his lines, lest Clinton should fall on him. Congress was compelled to consent to the terms of the mutineers; and they were in such haste that, before the rolls of enlistment could be brought, they admitted the troops to swear as to the term of their enlistment; and before the rolls arrived nearly all the artillery and five regiments of this division had sworn that they were only enlisted for three years, and were discharged, the rolls, on their arrival, proving that the great majority of these men had perjured themselves, being enlisted for the whole war! 275 With still greater disregard of every generous principle, these men seized three commissioners, whom Sir Henry Clinton had sent to them on hearing of their abandonment of the republican colonies, to offer them enrolment in his lines on honourable terms, and, after they had obtained their demands, gave them up to the American commander, who hanged them for spies! The success of this revolt encouraged others to repeat the manœuvre. On the night of the 20th of January, a part of the Jersey brigade, stationed at Pompton, marched to Chatham, and made precisely the same demands. But now seeing that, if this were suffered, the whole army would quickly go to pieces, Washington sent general Howe after them, with orders to surround them, and shoot them down, if they did not surrender; and if they did surrender, immediately to seize the most active ringleaders, and execute them. Howe readily accomplished his mission; he reduced the mutinous, and shot their leaders. These alarming transactions had far more effect in rousing congress to supply the troops than all the remonstrances of Washington. They got together three months' pay in specie for them, and some clothes; but the difficulty was to continue these supplies. They had neither money nor credit. The seizure of Henry Laurens, and the consequent failure of the hoped-for Dutch loan, left them in despair. They then dispatched lieutenant-colonel Laurens, nephew of the ex-president, now in the Tower of London, to Paris, accompanied by Thomas Paine. Before their departure, it was impressed upon them that both the people and the army were now so weary of the war, and so thoroughly exhausted by it, that, unless they could procure a supply of money, and a fleet to defend the coasts, it was impossible to go on. La Fayette wrote the same things to M. Vergennes, the French minister. He assured him that the resources of America were completely at an end; that the last campaign had been conducted without a dollar; that the army was in want of clothes, arms, ammunition, everything; and that, if the power of the English on that continent was to be destroyed, there must be a strong fleet, a fresh army of ten thousand men, and funds sent, in time. Pressing messages were also sent to Mr. Jay, who was now become minister to the court of Madrid, to induce the Spaniards to advance a loan, by offers of territory and privileges. New England and North Carolina, however, protested against these sacrifices to Spain, and, as the Spanish money was not promptly forthcoming, the temptations to that country to come into the league were abandoned. Under such discouraging circumstances, the American campaign began. Whilst insurrection was in their camp, Sir Henry Clinton dispatched general Arnold to make a descent upon the coast of Virginia. That general had been dispatched into that quarter, at the close of the year, with one thousand six hundred men, in ships so bad, that they were obliged to fling overboard some of their horses. Arnold, however, first sailed up the river James, and landed at Westover, only twenty-five miles from Richmond, the capital of Virginia. Jefferson, who was governor of Virginia, was seized with great alarm; for, though the militia of the state were nominally fifty thousand, he could only muster a few hundreds. He therefore hastily collected again endeavoured to stimulate the French admiral to the enterprise. He met the French commanders at Newport, in Rhode Island, on the 6th of March, and prevailed on them to set sail for the Chesapeake with the whole French fleet. They were soon followed by Arbuthnot, and were glad to put about, after some fighting off Cape Henry, and return to their anchorage at Rhode Island. what property he could, and fled up the country, dreading to fall into the hands of a man so embittered against the Americans as Arnold was, who was himself well aware that they had determined to hang him without mercy if they caught him. Arnold did not allow much time to elapse without action. The next day he was in Richmond, and sent word to Jefferson that, provided British vessels might come up the river to take away the tobacco, he would Soon after this, Arnold was superseded in the chief com spare the town. Jefferson rejected the proposal, and Arnold mand by general Phillips, who had been prisoner ever since burned all the tobacco stores and the public buildings, both the surrender of Saratoga, but was now exchanged for there and at Westham, with the cannon foundries, boring general Lincoln; the Americans, in defiance of all stipulamills, powder magazines, &c. After committing other tions, still retaining the soldiers of Burgoyne. La Fayette ravages, he returned to Portsmouth, on Elizabeth River, was sent to defend Virginia, and collected his forces where he entrenched himself. on the Elk river; but these men, who were chiefly New summer, deserted rapidly, in spite of all his appeals and protestations. The Americans, enraged at the successful raid of Arnold, | Englanders, not liking a campaign in the heat of a Virginian were now all on fire to capture and hang him. Washington was as eager and vindictive, on this head, as any of the rest. He now planned that a number of French ships, under admiral Destouches, which had been enabled to escape from the blockade at Rhode Island by a storm scattering the British fleet, should sail up the Chesapeake and blockade Arnold in Portsmouth, while La Fayette was to descend from the head of the Chesapeake and blockade him on the land side. The French admiral found Arnold, however, too strongly fortified to venture on attacking him. Defeated in this scheme, Jefferson offered five thousand guineas to any select band of men who would make a sudden rush into Arnold's camp and assassinate him. None dared the attempt, and Washington On the 26th of March, general Phillips, having assumed the command, in company with Arnold, ascended James River with two thousand five hundred men, took and destroyed much property in Williamsburg and York Town, ravaged the country around, and then sailed to the mouth of the Appomatox, and driving Steuben thence with his militia, burnt all the shipping and tobacco in Petersburg. After similar depredations at other places, and forcing the Americans to destroy their own flotilla betwixt Warwick and Richmond, Phillips and Arnold descended the James River to Manchester, and proposed to cross over to Richmond. But La Fayette |