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XX.

1781.

Obstinate

tween the

English

the Dogger

In the course of the summer an engagement took BOOK place off the Dogger Bank, between an English squadron commanded by admiral Hyde Parker, and á Dutch squadron of equal force under admiral, engageZoutman, who had under convoy the Baltic tradement be bound to the Texel. On perceiving the English and Dutch fleet bearing down, the Dutch admiral, who was to fleets, off leeward, lay-to, and the English were suffered to Bank. approach within half musquet shot without firing a gun, when a dreadful cannonade commenced, which was kept up without interruption for three hours and forty minutes; and the action then ceased only because the ships on both sides, from the damages they had respectively sustained, were no longer found manageable. The Dutch, after some time, bore away with their convoy for the Texel, which they reached with great difficulty, one of their largest ships sinking before they could make the harbour.

Admiral Parker, who had unavailingly applied to the admiralty for a reinforcement, returned in great discontent and in a shattered condition to the Nore, where he received the signal honor of a visit from his majesty on board his own ship, and was offered knighthood as the reward of his valor. But his haughty refusal showed how little he was flattered by these petty and puerile distinctions; and no acts of royal condescension could alter his reso lution of resigning his command.

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BOOK

XX.

1781.

Spirited

proceed

parliament

of Ireland.

The Dutch on their part bestowed rewards more liberal and solid on the officers and sailors of their fleet, and admiral Zoutman was received at Amsterdam with great applause and acclamation: and the event of this remarkable action showed, that the Dutch seamen were still possessed of that determined courage, which had distinguished them in the days of De Ruyter and Van Tromp.

About this time the emperor, now resident in the Netherlands, issued a placart, by which Ostend was declared to be a free port; and in the month of October he acceded in form to the armed neutrality, as the kings of Prussia and Portugal had also previously done.

Notwithstanding the great concessions made by ngs of the the parliament of Great Britain to the people of and people Ireland, that country, finding its own strength, remained in a state far short of satisfaction: for it had still much to ask, or rather to demand. The army on the Irish establishment had been hitherto invariably governed and directed by the sole prerogative of the monarch; but as the spirit of liberty and independence increased, a Mutiny Bill, on the model of the English, had been recently introduced into the Irish parliament, and passed into a perpetual law. But a measure originally highly popular was now the subject of loud complaint; and it was affirmed, not without reason, that liberty could never be secured on just and constitutional grounds.

XX.

1781.

so long as the monarch was irrevocably invested BOOK with the unlimited power of the sword; that in England the Mutiny Bill was passed only from year to year, and in the very preamble of it standing armies without the consent of parliament are declared illegal; the troops themselves, the law that regulated, and the power that commands them, are by this bill limited to one year. Thus was the army of England rendered a parliamentary army, and the constitutional ascendency of the subject over the soldier preserved.

In numerous county and provincial meetings the supremacy of the British parliament was in formal resolves positively denied, and the absolute independence of Ireland on the British legislature boldly asserted. The unconstitutional powers of the Irish privy council, where, agreeably to the famous law of Poyning, all laws must originate, were reprobated, a Habeas-Corpus Act louldly called for, the abolition of all superfluous places and pensions insisted upon. The zeal and activity of the military associations sufficiently evinced their determination to enforce their claims by a mode of application which was in no danger of being disregarded.

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BOOK XXI.

Entire

SESSION of Parliament-Infatuation of Ministers. Motion condemnatory of the American War by Sir James Lowther. Remarkable Debate on the Army Estimates. Lord George Germaine advanced to the Peerage under Circumstances of unprecedented Indignity and Disgrace. Mr. For renews his Motion of Censure upon Lord Sandwich, in which Two Hundred and Seventeen Members of the House of Commons concur. General Conway's Motion against the American War negatived by a Majority of One Voice only. General Conway's Second Motion carried by a Majority of Nineteen Voices. Successive Motions of Censure on the Ministers. Change of Administration-Marquis of Rockingham a Second Time Minister. High and peremptory Claims of the Irish Parliament. Repeal of the Irish Declaratory Act. Mr. Burke's Reform Bill a Third Time introduced and passed. King's Debts a Third Time discharged. Resolution respecting the Middlesex Election rescinded. Mr. Pitt's Motion of Inquiry into the State of the Representation. Death of the Marquis of Rockingham. Advancement of Earl ShelburneFatal Divisions amongst the Whigs. Minorca conquered by the Spaniards. Island of St. Christopher, &c. captured by the French. The Bahamas taken by the Spaniards. Decisive Victory of Sir George Rodney over the French off Dominique. Glorious Defence and final Relief of Gibraltar. Provisional Articles of Peace with America signed at Paris, November 1782. General Washington resigns his Commission. Session of Parliament-Strength of the New Ministry. Preliminaries of Peace with France and Spain signed. Debates on the Peace-Terms of it disapproved by the Commons. Coalition between Mr. Fox and Lord North. Change of Ministry-

Duke of Portland First Minister. Extreme Unpopularity of the Coalition Administration. Act of Renunciation of the Authority of Great Britain over Ireland. Embarrassments of the East-India Company. Mr. Pitt's Plan of Parliamentary Reform. Remarkable Petition of the Quakers. Order of Council for the Regulation of Commerce between the Continent of America and the West Indies. Treaty of Peace signed between England and Holland. State of Europe. Mr. Fox's India Bill moved-Passes the Commons, but is rejected by the Lords. Sudden Dismission of the Coalition Ministers. Mr. Pitt First Minister-His great Popularity. Political Conflict between the Crown and the Commons. Mr. Pitt's India Bill rejected. The Nation declares in favor of the Crown. The Parliament dissolved. Meeting of the New Parliament Triumph of the Minister.

THE
HE second session of the present parliament com- BOOK
menced at Westminster on the 27th of November,

1781.

XXI.

1781.

from the

In the speech from the throne his ma-Session of jesty observed, "That the war was still unhappily parliament. prolonged, and that, to his great concern, the events of it had been very unfortunate to his army in Virginia, having ended in the total loss of his forces in that province. But he could not consent to sacrifice, either to his own desire of peace or to the temporary ease and relief of his subjects, those essential rights and permanent interests upon which the strength and security of this country must ever principally depend." His majesty declared, "that he retained a firm confidence in the protection of Divine Providence, and A PERFECT CONVICTION of the JUSTICE of his CAUSE;"—and he concluded

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