thousands of lives and millions of money would have been saved, and the national honour greatly advanced.

Far from feeling the inclination ascribed to them
by Dr. Franklin*, no government that could be esta-
blished in England would have been inclined to specu-
late on any discord among the American people as the
means of regaining the sovereignty. It had been
authentically and formally surrendered, and no minis-
ter could have been found sufficiently daring to attempt
a resumption. Had it been possible that the British
government should have entertained such a desire,
there was no want of encouragement and solicitation
from the Americans. The discontents of the army,
the tyranny of the local governments, the general re-
sistance of taxation, the insecurity of property, want of
many necessaries which commerce alone could supply,
regrets of the past and insecurity of the future, com-
bined to render many who had been, even from the
first, most solicitous for independence and separation,
wavering in their opinions, and anxious to discover
means of re-union with the parent state, provided that
security could be afforded against all attempts at taxa-
tion. Proposals to this effect were made to Sir Guy
Carleton, and, even after the signature of preliminaries,
forwarded to ministers; but they never met with the
least countenance or encouragement. To shew that
these were not the inventions or exaggerations of dis-
appointed loyalists or delusive speculators, many con-
temporary documents might be cited; but the state and
feelings of the time were forcibly and accurately de-
tailed by a republican author, not publishing in the
heat of present impressions, but with the deliberation
produced by the lapse of nearly forty years.
"Never

"did
peace," he says, "come more opportunely for the
"relief of a country, its army, and its commander. The
"army had become very unpopular; the people re-
garded them as little else than the last, enemy to get

• Ante, p. 6.

CHAP.

LIV.

1783.

CHAP.

LIV.

1783.

66

"rid of: mutual discontents were exacerbated by mu"tual reproaches. Every article of the produce of agri"culture now commanded a price, and the people were "resolved no longer to suffer it to be taken from them "without compensation. Opposition to the minions of Congress became popular; it was countenanced by "men in power. It is not easy to conceive how it "would have been possible for the southern comman"der, perhaps for the United States, to have main"tained another campaign. The people were utterly "worn out, and disgusted with the system of impress"ments and specific contributions; and the refusal, in "some states, to contribute their quotas in cash, or per"mit the collection of a duty, must have produced (and "finally did produce) a general resolution of the states "to the same effect. The soldiers in the southern "army, who were enlisted for the war, were now re"duced to a handful; and such was the terror which "the late ravages of the climate at Ashley-Hill had inspired, that no consideration on earth would have "induced men to enlist again to serve in the low country of South Carolina. That state had been "trying, in vain, for a year, to procure men at an enor"mous bounty, with very little success. North Caro"lina had relinquished the attempt altogether; and "Virginia had literally been lying on her oars, until a "flood of cash should flow in upon her from some

66

66

66

quarter, God knows where. When money was fur"nished to her officers to recruit upon, it was found "that the dreadful accounts propagated of the last "campaigns, particularly the nakedness and privations "of the soldiers, and the sickliness of the climate, had "almost banished every hope of obtaining men. Happily for the people of the United States, Great Bri"tain desisted from the contest exactly at that point of "time when she ought most to have pressed it. She "had gained the mastery of the ocean; Charleston lay "exposed, without a piece of cannon to defend it; a "few frigates could, at any time, have repossessed it; "and three thousand men had only to move forwards

"to regain also the mastery in the three southern "states*."

In whatever form, or under whatever sanction, advantages might be tendered, the national honour, and the personal character of the sovereign, whose love of peace could be suspended only by the pursuit of honour and of justice, afforded a full security against their reception. When the King had reluctantly adopted the resolution which proved the means of ending the war, it became a part of his system; and the same upright firmness of mind which made him unwilling to receive terms of peace, attended with a dismemberment of his dominions, rendered him strenuous in adhering to them, when imposed by necessity and the voice of his people. His Majesty's views on this subject were clearly and nobly explained, when Mr. Adams, as envoy from the United States of America, obtained his first audience. The King declared, he anticipated the interview as the most critical moment of his life, but he received the new minister with gracious affability. "I was the last man in the king"dom, Sir," he said, " to consent to the independence "of America; but now it is granted, I shall be the "last man in the world to sanction a violation of it." This noble and dignified sentiment, joined with the general deportment of the King, formed such a refutation of the calumnies against him, by which revolt had been rendered popular, that Mr. Adams retired agitated and affected in the highest degree; he expressed, before he quitted the palace, his sense of the King's gracious demeanour, and always retained a strong attachment to his person and character†.

p. 391.

Johnson's Life of General Greene, published at Charleston, 1822, vol. ii.
From private information.

CHAPTER THE FIFTY-FIFTH.

1783.

State of the Ministry.-Retrospect.-Public opinion.-Rodney.-Messrs. Powell and Bembridge.--Opposition.—Mr. Pitt.-Notice in Parliament of transactions in India.-On Lord Pigot.-Petition on the India Judicature.-Secret Committee-and Select Committee.-Their reports.-Mr. Francis much consulted.-Proceedings against Sir Thomas Rumbold, Mr. Perring, and Sir Elijah Impey.-Mr. Dundas obtains leave to bring in an India Bill.-Debate. - Observations on it.—Meeting of Parliament.—The Prince of Wales takes his seat.-The King's speech.-Address in the Lords-in the Commons. Observations of Sir Joseph Mawbey-Mr. Pitt-Mr. Fox.-Address carried unanimously. Mr. Fox moves to bring in Bills for the government of India.—Mr. Pitt.--Motion for the second reading. Substance of the first Bill.-Petitions.-Second Bill.-Petition from the City-Counsel heard.-Debate on the motion to commit the Bill.-Debate on the Speaker leaving the chair. Celebrated Speech of Mr. Burke-Division-Committee.— Third Reading-Bill passes the lower House-Read in the Lords. Earl Temple-Earl of Abingdon.-Petition-Counsel heard-Motion to commit the Bill-Bill rejected.—Observations.--Interference of the King-mentioned in the House of Lords-Motion in the House of Commons-Mr. Erskine's motion-the Ministers do not resign-they are dismissed.-New Ministry, headed by Earl Temple-his resignation. Final formation of Ministry.-Conduct of opposition.-Motion to sit on Saturday-opposed by Mr. Fox.-Apprehension of a dissolution-Committee on the state of the nation. Mr. Erskine's motion-Mr. BankesLord North-Address voted.-The King's answer.-Mr. Fox's observations. Lord Beauchamp's motion. - Lord Surrey's motion. -Adjournment.

CHAP.

LV.

1783. State of the

Ar this period, the state of the ministry was unusual, and beset with more than ordinary embarrassments. However combined in party views, they could not, to judge by their past political conduct, be sup- ministry. posed united in any common general principle of public action. The Rockingham administration had been Retrospect. formed on a cautious and jealous plan of mutual counterpoise: an equal number of the adherents of the Marquis and of Lord Shelburne was admitted into the cabinet, with Lord Thurlow as a neutral or middle party, agreeing rather in the views of Lord Shelburne than those of the apparent head of the administration, but not likely to be the close adherent of either. Lord Shelburne's assumption of pre-eminence was deeply and bitterly resented by all, but particularly by Mr. Burke, who had hoped to retain over the Duke of Portland the influence, amounting, it is said, to an absolute and unlimited ascendancy, which had been allowed by the Marquis. His vehemence on the occasion is said to have rendered the breach between Lord Shelburne and Mr. Fox irreparable; and although Mr. Fox's uncle, the Duke of Richmond, was proposed to the Rockingham party, as a substitute for their departed leader, even that was rejected, through the repugnance of Mr. Burke*.

To the public, the latent causes of the coalition Public were unknown; they saw men, who, in unmeasured opinion. terms, had been reprobated and held up to public detestation, united with those who had most vehemently reviled them; they saw their accession to office, influence, and power, the immediate result of this combination; and it was not easy to make them believe that the hope of these advantages was not the sole cause of it. These sentiments, which were very widely diffused and assiduously propagated, were not confined the uninformed and distant observers of public events; they were shared by men of superior information, whose attachment to the parties was not to be impaired, although their judgment was seriously

* Recollections, &c. by John Nicholls, vol. i. p. 296.