396

SPAIN DECLARES WAR AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN.

(1778. ment. The mutual hatred between the two parties of Americans was too often marked by persecution; and political differences became the justification for rapine and revenge. Many of the Tories of Wyoming had abandoned the settlement. Some strangers had come amongst the inhabitants of the townships under suspicious circumstances, and had been arrested and sent to Connecticut. At the beginning of July, a body of armed men, amounting to sixteen hundred, appeared on the Susquehanna. One fourth of these were Indians. The whole force was commanded by a partisan known as colonel Butler; and according to the accounts of the time, by one Brandt, half Indian by blood, ferocious and cruel beyond example-" the Monster Brandt." One of the smaller forts was first taken by storm, and all the men were massacred. The commander of another fort was induced to march out with four hundred men to hold a parley; and after a murderous struggle only seventy escaped. In a third fort the men were slaughtered, or burnt alive. In a fourth the same indiscriminate havoc was pursued, with similar cruelty. Then commenced such a wholesale destruction of houses, cornricks, standing corn, as the terrible devastations of what some have called regular warfare could scarcely parallel. The sufferings of those who fled from the scenes of devastation, to endure all the miseries of inhospitable woods, were almost as great as those of the victims of the Indian tomahawk. Other such scenes of havoc took place in back settlements.

The Annual Register of 1779, opens with a sentence that can scarcely be held as founded merely upon vain apprehensions: "The year of which we treat presented the most awful appearances of public affairs, which this country had perhaps beheld for many ages. . . . . Mankind seemed to wait, with an aspect which at best bespoke indifference, for the event of that ruin which was expected to burst upon us." The writer proceeds to say, that “the expected evil and danger were less dreadful in the encounter than in the distant appearance." In that year Spain joined France in the alliance against Great Britain. On the 16th of June the king sent a message to parliament announcing that the Spanish minister had delivered a state-paper which amounted to a declaration of war. Invasion was expected; and a proclamation was issued, charging all civil and military authorities to remove horses, cattle, and provisions from the coast in case of a descent. An extraordinary measure was carried through parliament, by a suspension of the Standing Orders, to do away with all exemptions from impressment into the royal navy. Ships of the line were rotting in the harbour for want of sailors, it was affirmed "Will you trust the existence of this country to the fate of a battle on shore ? An encampment of large bodies of militia was formed on Cox Heath. The spirit of the country was again roused, as when Spain threatened England in days of yore. Her fleet, combined with that of France, rode in the Channel, with as mighty a display as when Drake went out from Plymouth to encounter the galleons. The united fleet consisted of sixty-six sail of the line, with a large number of frigates, and smaller vessels. Sir Charles Hardy left Portsmouth with thirty-eight ships; and although the combined armament was insulting the coast, he could not

* "Gertrude of Wyoming." Mr. Campbell, in a note to the later editions of his poem, says he was misled by popular accounts, and that Brandt was not present at Wyoming.

1779.]

APPREHENSIONS OF INVASION-THE NATIONAL SPIRIT.

297

venture on an action with a force so superior. But in avoiding an engagement he did good service by leading the enemy to pursue him; and thus diverting their object of landing an invading army. The stormy season was approaching whilst time was thus gained. The ships of both the hostile nations were in bad condition. A malignant disease had broken out amongst their crowded sailors and troops. The Spanish admiral declared to the French admiral, that he must return to his own ports. The French admiral chose the same prudent course. When the king opened the parliament in November, he exulted that the designs and attempts at invasion had, by the blessing of Providence, been frustrated. Lord North in the debate on the Address, spoke with a British spirit that found a response in the national feelings. The combined powers of France and Spain " had fitted out a powerful armament; they appeared upon our coasts, it is true; they talked big, threatened a great deal, did nothing, and retired. It should be remembered that the enemy professed themselves to be acting on the offensive; we were as professedly acting on the defensive. They came with a declared intention to invade, we to resist such an attempt; they were therefore foiled, for they had not dared even to make the attempt. Their immense armaments paraded to no purpose; and their millions were spent in vain. Had they landed, and indeed he almost wished they had, their reception, he was confident, would have been such as would have added to their disgrace; and would have convinced them, that a British militia had spirit enough to defend their country, and repel invaders."

In May, 1779, Benjamin Franklin was accredited by the Congress as the sole representative of the United States at the court of France-their Minister Plenipotentiary. In a letter from Passy he describes his gracious reception by Louis XVI. at Versailles; and his constant weekly attendance at the royal levée. To a friend in America he says, "Perhaps few strangers in France have had the good fortune to be so universally popular." * The society and conversation of the French ladies he describes as extremely agreeable. But the energetic old man was occupied in more serious affairs than the enjoyment of a brilliant society, in which his brown cloth coat was a remarkable contrast to the velvet and embroidery of all around him. His abilities were constantly directed to the difficult task of raising money upon American credit; and of employing it to organize attacks upon the coasts of Britain. Franklin's correspondence shows that he was the active ageut in the employ and direction of John Paul Jones, who, with a little squadron in the American service, did considerable damage to British commerce, and produced no small amount of alarm, in 1779. The first notion was to fit out an expedition, in which the sea forces should be commanded by Jones, and the land forces by La Fayette. Franklin's instructions to his American captain refer to this expedition "as an introduction only to greater trusts and more extensive commands." The French government hesitated about this joint adventure; and finally Paul Jones sailed with three ships and a brigantine, and did surprising feats which justified his selection as a bold captain and a skilful seaman. What he was encouraged to do may be collected from Franklin's letters. "It was intended to send him with some transports and

* "Correspondence," vol. viii. p. 401.

398

ENTERPRISES OF PAUL JONES.

[1779. troops to make descents in England. Had not the scheme been altered by a general one of a grand invasion, I know he would have endeavoured to put some considerable towns to a high ransom, or have burnt them. He sailed without the troops, but he nevertheless would have attempted Leith, and went into the Firth of Edinburgh with that intention, but a sudden hard gale of wind forced him out again." Franklin adds, that the burning of Fairfield and other towns by the British in America had demolished all his moderation. We may consider that Leith and perhaps Edinburgh were providentially saved by the "sudden hard gale of wind" from the fate which this unscrupulous rover had prepared for them. Sir Walter Scott, when a boy, was in Edinburgh when Jones came into the Firth; and "the capital of Scotland was menaced by three trifling sloops or brigs, scarce fit to have sacked a fishing-village." An old Highland chief, Stuart of Invernahyle, was the only man who thought of a feasible plan of resistance. "A steady and powerful west wind settled the matter." But Paul Jones had better work before him

than sack and plunder. "Going north about," writes Franklin, "he fell in with a number of ships from the Baltic, convoyed by a fifty-gun ship and a twenty-four-gun frigate, both of which he took." These vessels were the Serapis and the Scarborough. The engagement was a desperate one; and the largest vessel of the American squadron, the Bonhomme Richard, sank two days after the action. "The three trifling sloops, or brigs," described by Scott, were in truth large vessels, formidably armed and well-manned. His two prizes were carried by Jones into a neutral port in Holland. The English captains, Pearson and Piercy, fought their vessels with the most desperate courage. The colours of the Serapis were not struck till twothirds of her men were killed or wounded. Paul Jones, a native of Scotland, had been bred to the sea; had settled in Virginia; and had received a commission from Congress on the breaking out of the war.

1779.]

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN AMERICA.

399

The military operations in the Northern States of America, during 1779, were not of much importance with reference to the superiority of either army. There were successes on either side which are scarcely necessary to be detailed in our brief general history. Washington was doing every thing that a prudent commander could accomplish in the face of great difficulties. He was more apprehensive of the consequences of corrupt and evil management than of any struggle in the field. He writes in March to general Warren, "Our conflict is not likely to cease so soon as every good man could wish. The measure of iniquity is not yet filled; and, unless we can return a little more to first principles, and act a little more upon patriotic ground, I do not know when it will, or what may be the issue of the contest." He complains of speculation, peculation, engrossing, which afford too glaring instances of its being the interest and desire of some to continue the war. He laments the depreciation of the currency. This depreciation had now gone beyond any example of European history in which the promises to pay of a government were treated as little better than waste-paper. "A waggon-load of money," wrote Washington, "will now scarcely purchase a waggon-load of provisions." He held that this depreciation, with the manifest proofs of speculation, stock-jobbing, and party-dissensions, kept the arms of Britain in America, and led the British government and their friends to believe that the Americans would be their own conquerors.

The inactivity of the British army in the Northern States was compensated by successes in the South. Towards the end of 1778, sir Henry Clinton despatched an expedition by sea to Georgia. Savannah was taken; and the province was reduced to submission. Georgia and South Carolina were occupied through the winter by British troops; the fertility of these countries affording a plentiful supply of stores. This occupation materially facilitated the success of the Southern campaign of 1780.

Associations for redress of grievances--Meetings in Yorkshire and other Counties-Burke's proproposals for Economical Reform-Dunning's motion on the influence of the CrownDecreasing strength of the Opposition-Protestant Associations in Scotland-They extend to England-Lord George Gordon-Procession to Parliament-Roman Catholic chapels burnt-Newgate set on fire-Lord Mansfield's House sacked-The library burnt-Continued riots-A council called-Wedderburn's opinion on the employment of militaryThe riots stopped by military force-Naval affairs-The war in America-Charleston taken by the British-Lord Cornwallis-His severities-French armament under Rochambeau-Treachery of Benedict Arnold-Major André seized-Verdict of a Council of Officers-His execution.

THE internal affairs of the country in the year 1780 are, in many respects, as interesting and instructive as those of any year in our annals. England was, unquestionably, distinctly threatened with some great political convulsion. The obstinate persistence in the war with America had brought upon the country its natural consequences,-excessive taxation, and interruption to the usual course of profitable industry. Twenty years only had elapsed since the nation looked back upon a period of unexampled prosperity, and of signal triumph; of victory abroad and of tranquillity at home. The