-he shall meet with the most cordial support from me; but the times require vigour, or the State will be ruined."

The King, notwithstanding the obstinacy of his mistaken patriotism, was compelled to yield to the inevitable. At one time, through the criminal negligence of the Administration, the naval ports were in danger of bombardment. Charles James Fox wrote, "London, April 17 (1799)" :—

"DEAR OSSORY,-The French and Spanish fleets are certainly off the Lizard Point, and between Sir Charles Hardy and Plymouth. You may depend on this being true. English Ports Sixty-three were seen; but whether there were more in danger. or not, or how many of them were frigates, is not certain. There must be a battle, and Sir Charles has but thirty-six.”+

Favoured by hazy weather, the British squadron passed the enemy, and anchored at Spithead on September 2. Count d'Orvilliers declined to follow Hardy, fearing the intricate navigation; and as the equinox was near, and sickness prevailing, the combined fleets retired to Brest, without a single exploit except the capture of the Ardent man-of-war. The long-threatened invasion of England was not effected. But the miseries of the war changed public opinion, and led to the defeat of the Ministry of Lord North. On January 27, 1782, General Conway moved the following resolution in the House of Commons :—

Discontinue

"That it is the opinion of this House, that the farther prosecution of offensive war on the continent of North America, for the purpose of reducing the revolted colonies to Resolution in Parliament to obedience by force, will be the means of weakening the efforts of this country against her European enemies, dangerously to increase the mutual enmity so fatal to the interests both of Great Britain and America, and, by * Donne's Correspondence of King George III., etc. Letter 523, pp. 215, 216. + Lord Russell's Life of Fox, vol. i., p. 239.

the War.

preventing a happy reconciliation with that country, to frustrate the earnest desire graciously expressed by his Majesty to restore the blessings of public tranquillity."

The motion was seconded by Lord Althorp, and adopted by a majority of nineteen, the numbers being-Ayes, 234; Noes, 215.

Five days after, another resolution was passed by the House, declaring that the House "would consider as enemies to his Majesty and the country all those who should by any means attempt the further prosecution of offensive war on the continent of North America, for the purpose of reducing the revolted colonies to obedience by force.'

After various ministerial changes, the signal victories of Rodney, and the exhaustion of America, the way was prepared for the negotiation Negotiation of Treaties of Peace with the four enemies for Peace. against which England had so long contended without a single ally.

No Social
Change

Practically, the Independence of the United States of America involved little more than a change of Administration, in which native talent and influence might have its proper scope. No levelling process was needed in America, for there was no deeply-rooted aristocracy, related by ancient ties to the Court and to the people. Society, therefore, needed no reconstruction.

Required.

Nor was it necessary to effect a social change in England. Corruption existed, inequality of taxation, and many political abuses, but there was moral stamina in a large section of the people. Many a battle had been fought and won by moral forceespecially by the Nonconformists-within the lines

of the Constitution; and they had not lost confidence either in the goodness of their cause, or in the might of their weapons. There was not a whisper in the Congregational Churches of disloyalty. Priestley, indeed, had written anonymously against the institution of monarchy; and in an appeal to Dissenters, he said :

"The hope of mankind (who have been so long debased and trampled upon by forms of unequal government) is that, in time, Priestley this horrible evil may find its own antidote and cure. against Kings being always worse educated than other men, Kings. the race of them may be expected to degenerate, till they be little better than idiots, as is the case already with several of them, needless to be named, and it is said will be the case with others, when the present reigning princes shall be no more; while those that are not the objects of contempt will be the objects of hatred and execration.

"In this situation, the temptation to men to assert their natural rights, and seize the invaluable blessings of freedom, will be very great, and it may be hoped that, enlightened as the world now is with respect to the theory of government, and taught by the experience of so many past ages, they will no more suffer themselves to be transferred, like the live stock of a farm, from one worn-out royal line to another, but establish everywhere forms of free and equal government, by which, at infinitely less expense than they are now to be oppressed and abused, every man may be secured in the enjoyment of as much of his natural rights as is consistent with the good of the whole community."*

No such sentiments were expressed by Congregational Churches holding evangelical principles, Loyalty of though they deplored the contest with America, and exerted their influence to Churches. secure the return of peace, and it was a source of satisfaction to them that the arbitrary

Congregational

Priestley's Works, vol. xxii., pp. 490, 491.

measures of the government both at home and in the colonies were frustrated.

The tone of the ministers when called to speak on public occasions, though decided, was moderate. Lambert, of Hull, in his diary, writes:

Views of

Lambert.

Tuesday, Nov. 5, 1782.—I retired to compose a sermon upon the occasion of the day from Psalm ii. 11, Rejoice with trembling. Spoke both of the subject and the joy, and the manner in which we should express it. It related to the establishment of the kingdom of Christ in the world, or particular nations. We as a nation have occasion to rejoice that this Sovereign Saviour was ever published among us; that we have such free access to the laws of His kingdom and worship; that His providence has so frequently and remarkably displayed in the defence and protection of our privileges; that so many burning and shining lights have been raised up in our land, and such a great number of souls ripened for glory; and, finally, that the nature of civil and religious liberty is better understood, and the spirit of it disseminated in the present than in any former age. Yet in the midst of our triumph we have reason to tremble when we consider how little these privileges have been improved. The inseparable connection there is between the abuse of them, and finally, the evident marks of God's displeasure that appear against us. What a privilege it is that the government of God in the world and in the Church are so inseparably connected! May I consider all these civil and religious privileges I enjoy as connected with and resulting from the deliverance which God has wrought for this country."

In the settlement of the terms of the treaty of peace with America there was no reference to speculative theories of government. Franklin, Laurens, and Jay, who met Oswald, the English Commissioner, in Paris, contended mainly for more territory, and the payment of a large pecuniary indemnity.

It is interesting to notice their movements at

this serious juncture. Oswald, in a letter to the Earl of Sherburne, writes:

"PARIS, Wednesday, July 10, 1782. "I went to Dr. Franklin's house this morning, and stayed near two hours with him, with a view of obtaining the information and advice I wished for, as to the terms upon which he thought a treaty between Great Britain and the Commissioners of the Colonies which might be carried on and proceed to a conclusion.

(After an enumeration of "necessary articles"), "as a friend he would recommend" advisable articles: :

Oswald and the American Commissioners.

"1. To indemnify many people who had been ruined by towns burnt and destroyed. The whole might not exceed five or six hundred thousand pounds. I was struck at this. However, the Doctor said, though it was a large sum it would not be ill bestowed, as it would conciliate the resentment of a multitude of sufferers poor who could have no other remedy, and would keep up a spirit of secret revenge and animosity for a long time to come against Great Britain; whereas a voluntary offer of such reparation would diffuse an universal calm and conciliation over the whole country.

"2. Some sort of acknowledgment in some public Act of Parliament or otherwise of our error in distressing those countries so much as we have done. A few words of that kind, the Doctor said, would do more good than we could imagine.

"3. Colony ships and trade to be received and have the same privileges in Great Britain and Ireland as British ships and trade. I did not ask explanation on that head for the present. British and Irish ships in the Colonies to be in like manner on the same footing as their own ships.

"4. Giving up every part of Canada. Upon the whole, the Doctor expressed himself in a friendly way towards England, and was not without hope that, if we could settle on this occasion in the way we wished, England would not only have a beneficial intercourse with the Colonies, but at last it might end in a federal union between them. In the meantime, we ought to take care not to force them into the hands of other people.

"From the conversation I have some hopes, my Lord, that it is possible to put an end to the American quarrel in a short