partisans, but came boldly forth, in an open, manly manner, and he liked the person that was honest enough to come out in the day-light, and attack him at once unmasked. He declared, however, that should the question be ever put and carried, he would alone contest it, and seek some other place in which he would endeavour and hope to serve his country.

The clause was rejected by a majority of 208 to 201.

November 1. The King opened the New Parliament with the following Speech to both Houses:

"It is with more than ordinary satisfaction that I meet you in Parliament, at a time, when the late elections may afford me an opportunity of receiving the most certain information of the disposition and the wishes of my people, to which I am always inclined to pay the utmost attention and regard.

"The present arduous situation of public affairs is well known; the whole force and faculties of the monarchies of France and Spain are drawn forth, and exerted to the utmost to support the rebellion in my colonies in North America, and, without the least provocation or cause of complaint, to attack my dominions; and the undisguised object of this confederacy manifestly is to gratify boundless ambition, by destroying the commerce, and giving a fatal blow to the power of Great Britain.

"By the force which the last Parliament put into my hands, and, by the blessing of Divine Providence on the bravery of my fleets and armies, I have been enabled to withstand the formidable attempts of my enemies, and to frustrate the great expectations they had formed; and the signal successes which have attended the progress of my arms in the provinces of Georgia and Carolina, gained with so much honour to the conduct and courage of my officers, and to the valour and intrepidity of my troops, which have equalled their highest character in any age, will, I trust, have important consequences in bringing the war to a happy conclusion. It is my most earnest desire to see this great end accomplished; but I am confident you will agree with me in opinion, that we can only secure safe and honourable terms of peace by such powerful and respectable preparations, as shall convince our enemies that we will not submit to receive the law from any powers whatsoever, and that we are united in a firm resolution to decline no difficulty, or hazard, in the defence of our country, and for the preservation of our essential interests.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,-I have ordered the estimates for the ensuing year to be laid before you. I see and feel, with great anxiety and concern, that the various services of the war must, unavoidably, be attended with great and heavy expenses; but I desire you to grant me such supplies only, as your own security and lasting welfare, and the exigency of affairs, shall be found to require.

VOL. II.

F

"My Lords and Gentlemen,-I repose an entire confidence in the zeal and affections of this Parliament, conscious that, during the whole course of my reign, it has been the constant object of my care and the wish of my heart to promote the true interests and happiness of all my subjects, and to preserve inviolate our excellent constitution in church and state."

November 6th. An Address, adding the usual re-assertion of all the propositions contained in the above speech, and such compliments as the events of the day suggested, was moved by Mr. De Grey, and seconded by Sir Richard Sutton. An amendment was moved by Mr. Thomas Grenville, and seconded by Colonel Richard Fitzpatrick, proposing to leave out the whole address, excepting the complimentary part, and to substitute in the place of the subsequent clauses these words, "That in the present arduous situation of public affairs, we think it an indispensable part of our duty, to make those spirited and vigorous exertions which such a conjuncture demands; and that we beg leave to assure his Majesty, that we are united with a firm resolution to decline no difficulty or hazard in defence of our country and for the preservation of our essential interests." The amendment was opposed by Mr. Pulteney, Sir Horace Mann, Mr. Welbore Ellis, and Lord George Germain; and supported by Mr. Thomas Townshend, Mr. Fox, Admiral Keppel, General Smith, and Alderman Newnham. The friends of administration inferred topics of consolation from the heterogeneous combination of France and Spain with America; the impossibility of cordiality in such a union, or of happy results to a cause supposed to be that of liberty and the Protestant religion, when protected only by bigoted Catholics, and powers from whose vocabulary the word freedom was expunged. It was represented as a great advantage that England was without allies; since no league against a power compact within itself, and combining its energies by unanimity of council, had ever yet been crowned with success. The contest with America was represented as more prosperous than at any previous period since the convention of Saratoga. General Smith denied the assertion: the circumstances of the country, he said, were infinitely worse; and, since the affair of Trenton, every military man had clearly discerned that all attempts to subdue America were fruitless prodigalities of blood and treasure.

Mr. Fox rose as the question was about to be put; and, in a speech of considerable length, went over the whole ground of complaint which had been urged by Opposition against the King's servants, as well respecting the conduct of the American war, as with regard to a great variety of other topics.

He began with observing, that "the amendment moved and seconded by his two honourable friends, had been very ably supported by them; and that no answer whatever, at least nothing like an argument, had been advanced against it. The best thing that had been attempted to be urged in support of the address, was what had fallen from the right honourable gentleman

over the way (Mr. W. Ellis), namely, that it was something like the amendment. That, however, certainly was not a sufficient reason to induce the House to prefer the address to the amendment, if they meant to convince the people at large that they were governed by reason and fair argument, and not by private motives, and that undue influence, which the last Parliament, almost in its last moments, had declared had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished.' The address, he said, it was true, did not directly pledge the House to go on with the American war, but, considered altogether, it amounted pretty nearly to that idea. Ministers had thought poper to word it differently from the address agreed to by the other House on the 1st instant. The lords, in their address, had expressly declared their readiness to go on with the war. Ministers had shown so much deference to that House, that they had not in the address which had been then read, pledged the House directly; but then gentlemen would observe, that, in a subsequent paragraph, the matter was brought in; and upon the whole, there was sufficient cause for suspicion and distrust, sufficient cause to fear that Ministers meant to plunge this country deeper in ruin, than they had already sunk it, by a continuance of that mad war.

"With regard to the King's speech, which, for the sake of freedom of debate, was properly termed the speech of the Minister, was there in it one gleam of comfort, one hope, or the least prospect, of better conduct in the King's servants? Did it not begin with assuring Parliament, that his Majesty wished to know the sense of his people, and in the same paragraph, did it not contain the greatest mockery and insult upon the people, by telling them that his Majesty hoped to receive the information he wished for through the medium of the late elections? Were those elections free? Was the dissolution previously announced-the time of it properly chosen? He hoped to God this circumstance would become the subject of an inquiry in that House, and that it might be known which of the King's servants it was, who had dared to advise his Majesty to dissolve his Parliament just when the dissolution took place: a time when most gentlemen were taken by surprise. To him, indeed, it had no such effect: he had long accustomed himself to watch the measures of administration, he knew the Ministers thoroughly, he understood their designs, and he was aware, that if one moment was less propitious to the people, and to the freedom of election, than another, that was the moment most likely to be chosen by them for the dissolution of Parliament. He had, therefore, expected it even before it happened, and he should not have wondered if it had taken place in the midst of the harvest. As it was, it took place when the majority of that House, especially of those who had uniformly opposed and reprobated. the mad and destructive measures of Ministers, were in camp, and at a considerable distance from the places they represented; so that instead of consulting the wishes of the people, instead of rendering it as little injurious to

The proclamation for dissolving Parliament was issued on the 1st of September, 1780.

the internal peace and quiet of the kingdom as possible, Ministers had taken pains to render the dissolution of Parliament as calamitous an event as could have happened.

"As to the beginning of the address, he said, he had no objection to congratulate his Majesty on the increase of his domestic happiness.* Long might his domestic enjoyments continue to increase! They were the only enjoyments his Majesty possessed. Unfortunate in every other respect, unfortunate abroad, and unfortunate in the conduct of civil affairs at home, he was happy in domestic life; and on this happiness in his family he would congratulate his Majesty sincerely. But at the present moment of embarrassment and distress, when the brightest jewel was torn from his diadem, when America was dissevered from the British empire, never to be re-united; when discord and dissension raged among those parts of the empire which yet remained, but which seemed prepared for revolt, to approach the throne with congratulatory addresses, was not loyalty, but cruel mockery and insult. But what said the honourable gentlemen over the way? Will you refuse to acknowledge with gratitude the blessings we enjoy under his Majesty's Government? How long." replied Mr. Fox, "shall the sacred shield of majesty be interposed for the protection of a weak administration? This word majesty was a kind of 'hocus pocus' word, which was turned into all shapes, and made subservient to every legerdemain trick, and every illusion which convenience dictated. If by the blessing of his Majesty's Government' were understood his Majesty's virtues, he was ready to acknowledge his Majesty's personal virtues with respect and with reverence. But if by the blessings of his government he was to understand the acts and projects of his Majesty's Ministers, he detested and reprobated them. The present reign had been one continued series of disgrace, misfortune, and calamity. What blessings were we called upon to recognize in the address? First, the happy effect of this new Parliament, in giving his Majesty an opportunity of knowing the sentiments of his people. As an honourable friend of his had asked, was there no trick, no deceit used in order to garble a new Parliament? In words, Ministers disclaimed the abridgement of the duration of septennial Parliaments; in actions they approved it. He did not expect ever to see a septennial Parliament die a natural death. Six years ago he had the honour to sit in that House, when the subject of debate was precisely the same that it was that night, namely, the justice and expediency of prosecuting the American war; and he made no doubt, but that if he should have the honour to sit in the next Parliament six years hence, at the opening of it, the same subject would be under discussion. It would have been presumption in him to have made such a prediction six years ago, and nobody would have credited him. Past experience now made it no longer so, and therefore he scrupled not to prophesy, that if the war was continued, its propriety and its expediency would be the subject of discussion on the first opening of the next

The event alluded to was the birth of a prince on the 22nd of September preceding.

Parliament. What had we gained by the American war in that period? We had exchanged Boston for New York, and Philadelphia, the capital of Pennsylvania, for Charles Town, the capital of South Carolina. Oh! but we had gained of late a most signal victory at Camden. Generals Gates and Sumpter had been routed by Lord Cornwallis and Colonel Tarleton.* These victories were but omens and forerunners of greater ones. Such was our sanguine expectation, when in the beginning of the war the British troops defeated the Americans on Long Island. The success of Brandywinef was to be followed by the immediate reduction of the provinces, and not a rebel was to be seen in all the continent of North America.

"The taking of Ticonderoga was a splendid affair; and that, too, was to be followed by the most important consequences. The event perpetually belied our sanguine predictions, yet now, with all our experience, we talked of following up with alacrity our late victory in Carolina. That victory was a glorious one, he readily allowed, to the general officer, and all the officers and British troops who gained it; but the glory of that victory was due to the army only, and the disgrace of reducing Lord Cornwallis to that dangerous situation which made his victory a miracle, was the Minister's. The only fruit of the reduction of Charles Town, was the dangerous situation that led necessarily to the engagement. The success of that engagement was owing to the army. That affair seemed farther alarming to him in another point of view. It was a proof that the majority of the Americans were not, as had been said, friendly to this country; but, on the contrary, that they were almost unanimously attached to the cause of Congress. For no sooner did General Gates appear among the Carolinians, than those very men flocked to his standard, who had taken the oaths to our Government, carrying along with them, the arms that had been put into their hands by out general, which reduced Lord Cornwallis to the cruel necessity of putting them to death, and rendered that a necessary measure, which all who knew Lord Cornwallis, knew must have given him infinite pain. Hence he argued

As to the retreat from Boston, the taking possession of New York on its evacuation by the Americans, and the removal of the British troops from Philadelphia.— Vide notes, pp. 18, 19, and 27. For an account of the siege and capture of Charles Town, see Adolphus' History of the reign of Geo. III., vol. iii. p. 158 et seq. The battle of Camden, in which Lord Cornwallis defeated General Gates, took place on August 16, 1780. The victory was rendered complete by the surprise of Sumpter whom Tarleton overtook at Catawba-ford.

+ Washington, suspecting that Sir W. Howe aimed at the acquisition of Philadelphia, marched against that general, and, with an inferior force, hazarded a battle on the banks of the Brandywine. About 1250 of his men were killed, wounded, or made prisoners. Philadelphia shortly afterwards fell into the hands of the English. The celebrated La Fayette, then a young man, had recently entered, as a volunteer, into the American service, and distinguished himself by his gallantry at the battle of Brandywine.

On the evacuation of Ticonderoga by the Americans, in July, 1777, General Burgoyne took possession of it, but it was abandoned by the British in the month of September following.-Holmes' Annals of America, vol. ii., pp. 269, 275.