The Reign of George III. (Continued.) page 11

During the early part of the session ministers had felt themselves so weak that lord North made another attempt to retire, and proposed that the government should invite the duke of Grafton to take his place, with the assistance of lords Shelburne and Camden. These noblemen would not, however, consent without bringing in the marquis of Rockingham and the duke of Richmond; but this was refused, and the scheme fell through. They, however, were greatly benefited by the rapid ascendancy which the new lord chancellor acquired. The duke of Richmond, by endeavouring to cast a slur on his humble birth, drew forth his thunder in such tones as deterred any one from following that track, and made Thurlow's power sensibly felt. "I am amazed," he said, "at the attack the noble duke has made on me. Yes, my lords " - and here he raised his voice to its loudest tones - "I am amazed at his grace's speech. The noble duke cannot look before him, behind him, or on either side of him, without seeing some noble peer who owes his seat in this house to successful exertions in the profession to which I belong. Does he not feel that it is as honourable to owe it to these as to being the accident of an accident? To all these noble lords the language of the noble duke is as applicable and insulting as it is to myself. But I do not fear to meet it single and alone. No one venerates the peerage more than I do; but, my lords, I must say, that the peerage solicited me, not I the peerage. Nay, more, I can say, and will say, as a peer of parliament, as speaker of this right honourable house, as keeper of the great seal, as guardian of his majesty's conscience, as lord high chancellor of England - nay, even in that character alone, in which the noble duke would think it an affront to be considered, as a man - I am at this moment as respectable - I beg leave to add, I am at this moment as much respected - as the proudest peer I now look down upon!" And, in so saying, Thurlow looked full at the duke of Richmond. The effect was stupendous, and never to be forgotten.

Spain having now, most fatally for herself, been persuaded to join France in the war with England, turned her first attention to Gibraltar, which she hoped France would enable her to conquer. Charles III. bat very reluctantly acceded to the proposals of France. He could not forget that he, too, had colonies, and that the way to retain them in subjection was certainly not to encourage their neighbours to rebel against the mother country; nor that in the former war England had annihilated the fleet of Spain, ravaged her colonies, seized her treasure ships, and reduced her to a most humiliating condition. But France now endeavoured to persuade her that the period of England's greatness was over; that there needed only the hearty combination of France and Spain in Europe, and America beyond the Atlantic, to completely humble her; and France held out magnificent prospects of the Spanish share in the plunder and possession of the British colonies.

But, so far from putting Spain in possession of our colonies, France showed no disposition to enable her to regain Gibraltar. Count Florida Bianca, the Spanish minister, commenced his operations for the conquest of Gibraltar, by making a treaty with Morocco, to cut off thus the large supplies which the English garrison drew from that country, and to secure themselves from an attack by the Moors on Ceuta, whilst they themselves were besieging Gibraltar. The Spaniards then collected large forces at St. Roque, Algeziras, and the Campo, and began to cast up works as a preparation for reducing the place. At the same time, the great object was to accomplish the union of the French and Spanish fleets, which they deemed must then be invincible, and not only drive the English from the seas, but enable them to land in England itself. The French, though now on the verge of bankruptcy, by the measures of M. Necker, a banker of Geneva, who had undertaken to put their finances into some degree of order, managed to muster fifty thousand men, whom they marched to the different ports on the channel, from Havre to St. Malo. By this means, keeping England in fear of an invasion, their fleet slipped out of Brest on the 3rd of June, under the command of D'Orvilliers, and effected the desired junction with the Spaniards at Cadiz. The French fleet consisted of thirty sail of the line; the Spanish, of thirty-eight; making the united fleet sixty-eight sail, besides numerous frigates and smaller vessels. Never, since the days of the Armada, had such a mighty squadron threatened the shores of Great Britain.

To oppose this tremendous force, our admiral, Sir Charles Hardy, had only thirty-eight sail. In the confidence of their overwhelming strength, the Franco-Spanish fleet sailed directly for the English coast. Hardy, who was a brave seaman, but somewhat past his prime, endeavoured to prevent their insulting our shores, and pursued them first near the Scilly Isles, and then towards the straits of the Channel. Some French frigates anchored in Cawsand Bay. and captured some merchant vessels. The Ardent, of sixty- four guns, also mistaking the foreign fleet for the English one, was surrounded and taken. On shore the panic was intense, the French and Spaniards being expected every hour to land. But on the 31st of August, the wind veering, enabled Hardy to get the weather-gage of them; and being now in the Channel, he was prepared to engage their fleet* though so much superior in numbers; and on shore great quantities of military and volunteers had collected. Hardy anchored off Spithead.

At 'the sight of this combination of circumstances, the courage of the Spaniards and French evaporated. They began to quarrel amongst themselves. The Spaniards were for landing on some part of the British coast; the French admiral contended that they should have the equinoctial gales immediately upon them, and that many of their vessels were in bad condition. The Spanish commander declared, that, this being the case, he would relinquish the enterprise, and return to his own seaports. D'Orvilliers was necessarily compelled to return too, and retired to Brest, where a pestilential disease attacked the French, from having been so long cooped up in foul ships. Great numbers of them perished; and this was the case with the Spaniards also, who are said to have lost three thousand men. D'Orvilliers was so mortified with the wretched result of this magnificent armament, that he resigned his command, and afterwards, it is said, retired to a convent, where he spent the remainder of his days. The Spaniards fared still worse. Three or four of their men-of-war were taken; two of their treasure ships - the richest prize since the time of Anson - and a vast number of their merchant craft. Their hopes, as in all cases of invasion of England, were lamentably blighted. Their success against Gibraltar and Minorca amounted to nothing but the loss of much labour, money, and ammunition. They were grievously disappointed in the French showing no disposition to assist them to recover Jamaica and the Floridas; and the French themselves were as unfortunate in an attempt to seize on the island of Guernsey. The prince of Nassau Siegen, who commanded the expedition against it, was only rewarded by laughter and ridicule. Well might lord North, on the meeting of parliament, say, " Our enemies fitted out a formidable fleet; they appeared upon our coasts; they talked big; threatened a great deal; did nothing, and retired."

In America, the belligerents were early a-foot this year; but the attention and the forces of the English were drawn from the States to the West Indies by the determined attempts of the French to make themselves masters of our islands there. D'Estaing, who was joined by another French squadron under the marquis de Vaudreuil, was early opposed by admiral Byron, who arrived at St. Lucia from the American coast on the 6th of January. This admiral Vaudreuil, on his way, had visited our settlements on the coast of Africa, and taken from us Senegal; but Sir Edward Hughes soon arrived there, and took their settlement of Goree, so that it was a mere exchange of territory In June admiral Byron was obliged to escort our merchant fleet to a certain distance, and D'Estaing seized that opportunity to make himself master of St. Vincent and Grenada, where the garrisons were weak. On the return of Byron, on the 5th of July, he came to an engagement with D'Estaing off Grenada; but the French admiral, after an indecisive action, took advantage of the night to sail away, boasting of a great victory. The character of D'Estaing for veracity, however, was very low. He had broken his parole to the English at Madras, and lived to cajole his queen, Marie Antoinette, with the hope - but a vain one - of saving his head from the guillotine. He now made for Georgia and Carolina, to assist the Americans in endeavouring to wrest from us our recent conquest of Savannah.

In the different operations in this quarter, the English, under colonel Campbell and lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, took Augusta, the capital of Upper Georgia, but soon after evacuated it. It was then re-entered by the American general Ashe, and again seized by general Provost, who entirely routed Ashe, and captured all his baggage and ammunition. This spreading terror throughout the neighbouring state of South Carolina, John Rutledge was made governor, with very arbitrary powers for summoning militia and managing them. General Lincoln was sent by congress to co-operate with Rutledge, and he marched with five thousand men to surprise Savannah whilst Prevost was on an expedition to surprise Charlestown, leaving general Moultrie with one thousand men, principally Carolina militia, to defend the lower part of the Savannah. Moultrie fled before Prevost in utter disaster. Prevost marched on to Charlestown after him; but Moultrie contrived to throw himself into that place, and was soon supported by count Pulaski, whilst Lincoln, abandoning the design on Savannah, was hastening on in the rear of Prevost. On this, Prevost left Charlestown, and hastened to meet Lincoln, whom he met and defeated at Stono River. General Prevost then, leaving a strong garrison at Beaufort under colonel Maitland, retired to Savannah during the heat of the season.

During this period an expedition was made by Sir George Collier, as commander of the squadron, and general Matthews, as leader of the forces, against Virginia. The tobacco of that state was the great dependence of congress for maintaining its credit with foreign countries, and for provisioning Washington's army. Had the English had the army in America which they ought to have had in such a contest, and which they would have had with such a minister as Chatham, they would have established a settlement on the Chesapeake, and have thus cut off all these supplies, and inflicted an insurmountable blow on the Americans. Sir Henry Clinton was completely disabled from accomplishing any such effectual measures; but he might still make flying visits to Virginia, and do incredible temporary mischief. Accordingly, on the 8th of May, a small armament entered the Chesapeake, consisting of one ship of the line, three frigates, a sloop, and some smaller craft. These carried out colonel Maitland with about eighteen hundred men. They cast anchor in Hampton Roads, in ominous vicinity to the flourishing towns of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Gosport. At Gosport the American congress had collected great quantities of timber for ship-building, and valuable naval stores. They raised batteries along the shores for the defence of these places, and also along the banks of Elizabeth River. There was a Fort Nelson, defended by a major Matthews; for English and American officers of the same name- - Howes, Clintons, Lees, Matthews - were continually pitched against each other.

The garrison of Fort Nelson fled on the first attack, and took refuge in the celebrated Dismal Swamp. All the stores and vessels at these principal towns were quickly seized or destroyed. They then ascended the Nansemond River to Suffolk, and again seized or destroyed immense quantities of stores and provisions as well as vessels. Seven or eight men-of-war on the stocks were burnt; two French merchantmen loaded with tobacco shared the same fate, besides great numbers of other vessels and a man-of-war which the Americans set fire to before retreating. Having swept the whole of the lower Chesapeake with the besom of destruction, including the forts and dockyards, the expedition returned to New York.

This expedition was speedily followed by another, having the same commanders, under Clinton himself. The Americans were erecting forts at Verplank's Neck and Stoney Point, on the Hudson. The fort at Stoney Point was not complete, but that at Verplank's Neck was finished and strong. The Americans were immediately driven from their works; and Clinton, leaving garrisons, ordered the fort at Stoney Point to be finished, and returned to New York. This was a heavy blow to the Americans, because it cut off the communication betwixt the northern and southern provinces.

Clinton followed up these raids by an expedition to the coast of Connecticut, to chastise that fierce and vindictive people; and at the same time to tempt Washington to come down from his high lands, and defend the sea-coast. Governor Tryon was placed at the head of two thousand six hundred troops, which were conveyed in these ships. Tryon landed at Newhaven, the chief port of Connecticut, which had sent out, during the war, its horde of privateers to molest our merchantmen. Tryon easily took the place, but found himself perseveringly fired at from the windows. It was in vain that he issued a proclamation menacing destruction to those who continued this practice; he therefore seized all the artillery, ammunition, stores, and vessels in and around the town and harbour, and, destroying such as he could not carry off, sailed away. He next landed at Fairfield, nearer to New York; and, having received a most murderous reception, he carried the town, and burned it to the ground. Thence he sailed for Norwalk and Greenfield, which received the same fate. But by this time the alarm was general; the militia were all out, reinforced by a detachment from Washington's army; and Tryon returned to New York, loaded with spoil.

Great was the indignation of the people of Connecticut, that Washington had not marched down his main body on the marauders; but the commander-in-chief was effecting a diversion in their favour in another quarter, and thus obstructing the march of a much more powerful and desolating force, headed by Clinton himself, as was intended. Washington dispatched a strong detachment, under general Wayne, to drive the British again from Stoney Point and Verplank's Neck, and thereby open his communications with the provinces east and west of the Hudson. Wayne succeeded in surprising the garrison at Stoney Point in the night; and as the works there were not yet completed, the garrison, consisting of five or six hundred men, after losing a fourth of their number, was compelled to surrender. The Americans suffered considerable loss, and Wayne himself was wounded in the head. He commenced firing across the Hudson on Verplank's Neck, as Clinton had done, while another detachment invested its fort of La Fayette from the land-side. Fort La Fayette, however, was a strong place, quite complete, and the garrison defended itself with damaging effect on the assailants. Clinton dispatched a number of transports up the river to relieve the garrison, and followed them himself in force, hoping to draw Washington down to defend this important position. But the Americans no sooner saw the transports than they retreated; and Clinton, finding he could not inveigle Washington from his camp, placed more efficient garrisons in the forts, and retraced his course to New York.