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XX.

1781.

Obstinate

tween the

and Dutch

fleets, off 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 bebound to the Texel. On perceiving the English English fleet bearing down, the Dutch admiral, who was to 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.

VOL. VII.

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** med, we willord rason, fo Wery cold wry bow and on just and consitional grounds

year

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
to year, and in the very preamble of it standing
armies without the consent of parliament are de-
clared 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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*Lorem a Beroun bi qn and peremptory Crane of the kus Repeat of the Irish Lerumraturz het, M.. Murhaa Krform kid a Thard Time introduced and passed. Kings Lhis a Third Time discharge. Poslusam resperiing the Middlezas kinetium fazesnated Mr. Pats Men of Inquiry into the Sinta of the Reprezentat.com Death of the Marquis of Makingham, Advancement of Earl Sartburnakotol İnusuma aman get the Whigs. Minorca com quered by the Spaniards. Bland of St. Christopher, Ec, captured by the French. The Bahamas taken by the Spaniards. Dense Victory of Bir George Bodney over the French off Dominique. Glorious Defence and final belief of Gibraltar. Provisional Articles of Peas with America signed at Paris, November 172. General Washington resigns his Commission. Sessun of Parliament-Strength of the New Ministry. Preliminaries of Peace with France and Spain signed. Delates on the Peace-Terms of it disapproved by the Commons. Coalition between Mr. box 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.

1781.

XXI.

1781.

Speech

throne.

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