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

But the most serious event - serious preeminently to that country, in the end - was the open breach with Holland. The Dutch government, though declining to belong to the armed neutrality, had been long taking every advantage of assisting the Americans by supplies from their West Indian Islands, and by general trade with them. They had, whilst nominally at peace with England - and really under immense obligations to her - gone treacherously much further. Flattering themselves that, with nearly all the world against her, England must succumb, they had long been secretly in negotiation with the insurgent subjects of England, and their treachery was now suddenly, by a singular circumstance, brought to the light.

Captain Keppel, cruising in the Vestal frigate on the banks of Newfoundland, in the month of September, captured one of the American packets. On the approach of the British boats to the packet, it was observed that something was hastily flung overboard. A sailor leaped from one of the boats into the sea, and succeeded in securing this something before it had sunk beyond reach. It turned out to be a box, which had been weighted with lead, but not sufficiently to render it so rapid in its descent as to prevent its seizure by the British tar. On being opened, it revealed a mass of papers belonging to an American emissary to the court of Holland, and opened up a long course of negotiations, and an eventual treaty of peace and commerce between Holland and our American colonies. The bearer of these papers was discovered on board the packet, in the person of Henry Laurens, late president of the United States.

It appeared that so long ago as 1778 William Lee, who had formerly been an alderman of London, but who had now become the accredited agent of the American congress, had entered into negotiations with John de Neufville, a merchant of Amsterdam, and Van Berkel, grand pensionary of that city. These had gradually ripened into a regular treaty with the States General, which was drawn up so that it might be signed at any time, or might, if circumstances appeared to render it necessary, be abandoned and denied. These transactions were kept profoundly secret from the English government, with whom Holland was all this time at peace; but the Americans now were in the most urgent distress for money, and they dispatched Laurens with authority to offer the Dutch still higher commercial advantages than were stipulated for in the drawn-up treaty; on these conditions to effect the signature of the treaty and the desired loan.

These most important papers, together with their bearer, were sent with all speed to England, and on the 6tli of October ex-president Laurens was conducted in a hackney coach to the office of lord George Germaine, where he underwent a keen scrutiny of six hours by the three secretaries of state and the solicitor-general. Laurens refused to answer their interrogatories; but this was of no consequence, his papers explained sufficiently the objects of his mission. He was committed to close custody in the Tower on a charge of high treason, and copies of his papers were forwarded to our ambassador, Sir Joseph Yorke, at the Hague, who was instructed to demand from the States General the disavowal of the proceedings of Van Berkel and Neufville; and that they should be punished as disturbers of the peace betwixt the two countries, and violaters of the rights of nations. The States General, confounded by the discovery of their clandestine negotiations, remained silent for a week, and then only replied by advancing complaints of violences committed by the British navy on their traders, and of its having insulted the Dutch flag by seizing some American privateers in the fort of the island of St. Martin, under the very guns of the fort. Sir Joseph did not allow himself to be diverted from his demand, but again, on the 12th of December, a month after the presentation of his memorial, demanded an answer. No answer was returned. At this time two great parties divided Holland - that of the grand pensionary, Van Berkel, favourable to France and America; and that of the prince of Orange, favourable to England. The party of Van Berkel was in the ascendant. England was compelled to declare war against Holland on the 20th of December, Sir Joseph Yorke being recalled by the king, and count Welderen receiving his passports in London. Welderen, before taking his leave, requested to lay some fresh papers before the secretary of state, but this was declined, the nations now being at war; in fact, the Dutch had no sooner been compelled to take an open course than they began to repent of their proceedings, and, could they have foreseen the loss and degradation which this war had in store for them, their repentance would have been much deeper.

The parliament was dissolved on the 1st of September, with a suddenness which took the opposition by surprise. The new parliament assembled on the 21st of October, when it was found that the ministers had gained a considerable accession of strength. A hundred and thirteen new men had obtained seats, and there had been some remarkable changes. Burke had been thrown out by his Bristol constituents, as they had promised him, for advocating the catholic claims and the trade of Ireland; but he was reinstated as member for the little pocket borough of Malton, in the interest of lord Rockingham. Admiral Keppel was thrown out by the government influence for Windsor, but was returned for Surrey. Two catholics - the earl of Surrey, the eldest son of the duke of Norfolk, and Sir Thomas Gascoigne - had, in the midst of the Gordon riots, abjured their faith, and were now eagerly returned for Carlisle and Thirsk. Still more extraordinary men appeared amongst the new members in the persons of Richard Brinsley Sheridan and William Wilberforce. William Pitt could not find an avenue to the house at first, but in a few months entered for the close borough of Appleby, the nominee of Sir James Lowther. From Buckinghamshire came, as one of its representatives, Thomas Grenville, a son of George Grenville, late prime minister, and brother to the present earl Temple, for earl Temple, brother-in-law of Chatham, was deceased without an immediate heir. Thomas Grenville was remarkable for his magnificent bequest of his library to the British Museum, and for continuing a public man for the greater part of half a century, being, even till 1846, and almost to the last, in active intercourse with our present ministers, and, in particular, Mr. Gladstone.

The first business of the new parliament was to elect its speaker, and lord George Germaine proposed Mr. Charles Wolfran Cornwall in opposition to Sir Fletcher Norton, who had given mortal offence by his opposition to ministers. Lord George lamented that Sir Fletcher's health rendered his retirement necessary; but Sir Fletcher replied that his health was now better, and that lord George Germaine's pretence was a mockery to the house. Ministers, however, prevailed. Mr. Cornwall was elected by a majority of two hundred and three votes against one hundred and thirty- four.

In his opening speech the king congratulated the parliament on the successful manner in which his navy had resisted the combined endeavours of France and Spain, and on the progress of his arms in Georgia and Carolina, which, he hinted, would tend to bring that unhappy contest to a speedy close. The opposition ridiculed the idea that these partial successes could have any real influence on the war. They strongly resisted the addresses; but were left in heavy minorities, much to their discouragement. Lord North - strong in his new parliamentary strength - moved for, and carried, extraordinarily large grants for the coming year: ninety thousand men for the navy, and thirty-five thousand for the army, exclusive of the invalids at home, and the Germans already in America. The whole sum voted for the expenditure of 1781 was upwards of twenty-five millions sterling. Nor did this, as it proved, suffice, for new duties on paper, on almanacs, &c., were imposed during the year, and still the debt grew rapidly. The opposition, defeated in their attempts at economy, attacked ministers on other points. Thomas Townshend declared that it was necessary that the house should institute an inquiry why the country was deprived of the services of such men as admiral Keppel, lord Howe, Sir Robert Harland, Pigot, Campbell, and Barrington, and Fox pledged himself to move for the dismissal of lord Sandwich, and censured severely the promotion of admiral Palliser, who was alleged by the public to have prevented the victory of admiral Keppel off Ushant. Admiral Palliser, who was in the house, defended himself. A fierce debate arose, which ended in the minutes of the court-martial held upon Palliser being ordered to be laid upon the table. The house then adjourned, on the 6th of December, to the 23rd of January.

Parliament meeting, according to adjournment, on the 23rd, lord North delivered to the commons a royal message, including a copy of the manifesto against Holland, letters of marque and reprisal having been issued against the Dutch during the recess. The opposition, led by Burke, condemned the declaration of war, declaring that we had been more in fault than the Dutch; and Burke represented the copy of the treaty with America, found amongst the papers of Laurens, as a mere "speculative essay." But, in both houses, resolutions were carried by large majorities condemning the conduct of the Dutch, and justifying the war.

Early in February, Fox made his promised attack on Sir Hugh Palliser, declaring that, after his conduct off Ushant, and the verdict of the court-martial, which at once acquitted and condemned him, such promotion was an insult to the nation, and ruinous to the service of the navy. Fox's motion was rejected by a ministerial majority of two hundred and fourteen to one hundred and forty-nine.

On the 15th of February Burke again brought on the question of economical reform, and extended it to parliamentary reform; thus embodying in the scheme what came to be ultimately known as " radical reform " - the theme of so many years, and the theme still. Leave was given him to bring in a bill on the subject, but it was attacked by lord North and his supporters on the vote for the second reading. In this debate occurred several remarkable facts. William Pitt, the second son of lord Chatham, first spoke in parliament on this occasion, and spoke as a zealous reformer. He was then but in his twenty-second year, but displayed all the command of manner and self-possession which afterwards characterised him. In this very first essay, he did not hesitate to call to order leading men in the ministry, and to make them quail, too. Lord George Germaine standing during the young orator's speech, and talking in a loud whisper to Welbore Ellis, Pitt stopped, saying, " I will wait till the Agamemnon of the present day has finished his consultation with the Nestor of the treasury bench." The effect was instantaneous, and the two offenders, unused to such rebuke, sate down in confusion. Burke's bill was thrown out.

On the same liberal side, also, spoke Sheridan, who continued on that side, and Wilberforce, who did not. Sheridan had already addressed the house on the subject of his own controverted election, and with such poor effect, that going, after his speech, to Woodfall, the printer of " Junius," who was in the gallery, and asking his opinion, Woodfall, with a discouraging honesty, replied, " I am sorry to say that I do not think this is your line." Sheridan was already celebrated for some of his brilliant dramas. After this answer, he rested his hand on his head for some time as in despair, then raising it, he said, energetically, " It is in me, however, and it shall come out! " and, in truth, it did soon come out. Early in this month of February the trial of lord George Gordon came on for his instigation of the late riots, and a young and hitherto little known barrister was engaged on his behalf - Mr. Erskine, afterwards lord Erskine. It was a time for the outburst of high genius, and no man ever began a more brilliant career as a pleader than Thomas Erskine. He obtained, amidst much applause, a verdict of acquittal for the prisoner. In the house of commons, the opposition was much encouraged by this victory, for though the reformers condemned the principles of lord George Gordon, they sympathised with him as a scapegoat for the negligence of the government itself. Sheridan distinguished himself greatly. He condemned the employment of the soldiery, and still more the wretched condition of the police and constabulary regulations in the metropolis.

On the 7th of March lord North opened his budget, and astonished the house by having, in addition to the levying of twenty-five millions for the year, contracted a loan for twelve millions. So recklessly had the terms of this loan been settled, that Fox declared that a million had been actually thrown away amongst the contractors, and this statement was fully corroborated by the fact of the price of the new stock having risen from nine to eleven per cent, above par. Fox also proceeded to condemn, in strong language, a proposed lottery. One of the greatest and most losing gamblers of his age, he might speak feelingly when he described the vice and the misery of gambling. At this time he had reduced himself by his passion for play to the most ruinous condition. His goods were seized by his creditors, and he was overwhelmed with debt. Speaking from experimental but not curative knowledge, he declared gambling as destructive to the prosperity of nations as of individuals, and that, of all species of gambling, lotteries were the most pernicious, debasing the morals, the habits, and the whole condition of the poorer classes of the people.

The strictures of Fox were followed up by Sir Philip Jennings Clerke, who declared that the loan had been managed so as to favour, as usual, lord North's favourite contractors, and that one of them, a Mr. Atkinson, alone had had three millions of it placed at his disposal. These charges were vehemently urged by Fox, Byng, Sir George Saville, and others, and on the 12th of March Mr. Byng moved that a list of all who had become subscribers to the new loan, with the sums subscribed by each, should be laid before the house; secondly, a list of all those who offered to become subscribers; and, thirdly, for copies of all letters, papers, and proposals sent to ministers by persons wishing to subscribe. These motions were intended to show the favouritism which had been exercised, and how it had been exercised at the public cost. Lord North agreed to the first motion, but not to the two succeeding ones, so that the real object of the motion was defeated, and this was sufficiently demonstrative to the public of the truth of the charge.