articles un peace between England, France, and Spain. 1783. 2 General articles. on the 5th of December, considerable altercation took place, on ac- 1782. count of the terms of this provisional treaty, but a large majority were found to be in favor of the peace thus obtained. The inde- 1. Prelimina pendence of the United States being now recognized by England, the original purpose of France was accomplished; and all the powers at war being exceedingly desirous of peace, preliminary articles were signed by Great Britain, France, and Spain, on the 20th of January, 1783. 2By this treaty, France restored to Great Britain all her acquisitions in the West Indies during the war, excepting Tobago, while England surrendered to her the important terms of these station of St. Lucia. On the coast of Africa, the settlements in the vicinity of the river Senegal were ceded to France,-those on the Gambia to England. In the East Indies, France recovered all the places she had lost during the war, to which were added others of considerable importance. Spain retained Minorca and West Florida, while East Florida was ceded to her in return for the Bahamas. It was not until September, 1783, that Holland came to a 3. Peace with preliminary settlement with Great Britain, although a suspension of arms had taken place between the two powers in the January preceding. 84. Thus closed the most important war in which England had ever been engaged,- —a war which arose wholly out of her ungenerous treatment of her American colonies. The expense of blood and treasure which this war cost England was enormous; nor, indeed, did her European antagonists suffer much less severely. The United States was the only country that could look to any beneficial results from the war, and these were obtained by a strange union of opposing motives and principles, unequalled in the annals of history. France and Spain, the arbitrary despots of the old world, had stood forth as the protectors of an infant republic, and had combined, contrary to all the principles of their political faith, to establish the rising liberties of America. They seemed but as blind instruments in the hands of Providence, employed to aid in the founding of a nation which should cultivate those republican virtues that were destined yet to regenerate the world upon the principles of universal intelligence, and eventually to overthrow the time-worn system of tyrannical usurpation of the few over the many. Holland. 4. Remarks on the character of the war, and the parts taken in it by France and Spain. 1. The scene that followed. ANALYSIS. ticable; and that it was wiser to secure her friendship by a treaty of alliance, than to throw her into the arms of France. The earl of Chathan, greatly moved during the reply, made an eager effort to rise at its conclusion, but after two or three unsuccessful attempts fell back in his seat in a fainting fit. The house immediately adjourned-the Earl was conveyed into an adjoining apartment, and medical attendance was procured, but after lingering some few weeks, he expired on the 11th of May, in the 70th year of his age. 2 Death of the Earl of Chatham. 3. Letter of Lord Cam den. 4. Views of 57. 3A letter of Lord Camden speaks of this last effort of the Earl of Chatham in the following terms. "The Earl spoke, but was not like himself. His words were shreds of unconnected eloquence, and flashes of the same fire that he, Prometheus-like, had stolen from heaven, and which were then returning to the place whence they were taken." 4What were the ideas of the Earl of Chatham with the Earl of regard to the proper plan for settling the difficulties with America, at this period, when she had firmly resolved to maintain her independence, cannot now be ascertained: but it is wholly improbable, from the uniform tenor of his language and policy, that he would ever have employed coercive means for accomplishing a reconciliation. Chatham in Telation to June 3, 1778. 5. Proroga tion of parliament. the British 58. 5On the third of June parliament was prorogued by the king, without any effectual measures having been taken to terminate the existing war, while a new one was just on the eve of breaking out 6. Unsuccess with France. Although the British commissioners, who had proful efforts of ceeded to America, had made concessions far greater than the colocommission- nies had asked previous to the declaration of independence, yet congress, having already formed an alliance, offensive and defensive, with France, had now neither the will nor the power to recede from the position which it had taken. The day of reconciliation had passed. the British empire had been dismembered of its fairest inheritance, and the king of England had forever lost the brightest jewel in his crown. ers, and situ ation of the American controversy at this time. 7. Warlike preparations of France and Eng land 59. Although war had not yet been declared between France and England, yet both nations were making vigorous preparations for the contest which was now inevitable. The French navy now equalled, if it did not surpass that of England, nor was France dis8 Fleet of posed to keep it idle in her ports. On the thirteenth of April. s Count D'EsFrench fleet of twelve sail of the line and four large frigates. comtaing. manded by Count d'Estaing, left Toulon, a port on the Mediterranean, and passing the straits of Gibraltar on the 15th of May, sailed immediately for the American coast. In the mean time a much larger fleet commanded by the Count d'Orvilliers, had assembled at Brest, destined to scour the seas of Europe, and to distract the British councils by keeping alive upon the coast of Britain the fear of an invasion. 9. Fleet at Brest. June 17. French ves (Bel. Pool.) 60. 10On the 17th of June, the English Admiral Keppel fell in 10. Capture of with and attacked three French frigates on the western coast of sels. France, two of which he captured; but the third, the Belle Ponle, after a desperate fight, escaped by running on shore. The 11. Reprisals French government then ordered reprisals against the vessels of both nations Great Britain, and the English went through the same formalities, 12 Naral en- so that both nations were now in a state of actual war. ordered by gagements betineen the 61. 12On the 23d of July the British and French fleets, the for. fleets of Kep mer consisting of thirty ships of the line and several frigates, compel and D'Or manded by Admiral Keppel; and the latter consisting of thirty a Pronoun- two ships of the line and a greater number of frigates, commanded fär. by Count d'Orvilliers, came in sight of each other near the Isle villiers. ced Dor-veel of Ouessant. After maneuvering four days, a partial engagement 1778. ensued on the 27th, and the loss on both sides was nearly equal. The French fleet retired, however, during the following night, a. Oo es-song. and the next day entered with full sails the harbor of Brest, while the British fleet returned to Plymouth. Naval ope rations in the West Indies. 2 Dominica the French. b. Sept. 7. 3. The Eng 62. In the following autumn and winter, the West Indies were the principal seat of the naval operations of France and England. 2Early in September, the governor of the French island of Martinico attacked, and easily reduced, the English island of Dominica, conquered by where he obtained a large quantity of military stores. In December, the English admiral Barrington made an attack on the French island of St. Lucia lying a short distance south of Martinico. Lish attack Already had the French been driven into the interior of the island, and many of their posts had been taken, when, on the evening of the fourteenth, the French fleet of Count d'Estaing suddenly made its appearance before the harbor, in which the fleet of Barrington was at anchor. 63. 4Twice on the following day the latter was attacked by the superior fleet of D'Estaing, which was repulsed with considerable loss. On the 16th D'Estaing landed a force of five thousand men, with which he proceeded to attack the English General Meadows, who was strongly intrenched on the island. But here also the French were unsuccessful, and after three separate charges they were obliged to retire, with a loss of fifteen hundred men in killed and wounded. 50n the 28th D'Estaing re-embarked his troops, and on the following day sailed to Martinico. On the 30th the island of St. Lucia capitulated to the English. During several months after this event a sort of tacit truce subsisted between the English and the French forces in the West Indies, the former being much the most powerful by sea, and the latter by land. 64. While these naval events were occurring in America, the French and the English settlements in the East Indies had also become involved in hostilities. Soon after the acknowledgment of American independence by the court of France, the British East India Company, convinced that a quarrel would now ensue between the two kingdoms, despatched orders to its officers at Madras, to attack the neighboring post of Pondicherry, the capital of the French East India possessions. That place was accordingly besieged in the latter part of August, by a force of ten thousand men, natives and Englishmen, and after a vigorous resistance, in which one third of its garrison were either killed or wounded, was compelled to surrender on the 16th of October following. Other losses in that quarter of the globe followed, and during one campaign the French power in India was nearly annihilated. St. Lucia. c. Dec. 13. 4. Repulses of the French for ces Dec. 16. Dec. 28. 5 Withdrawtaing, capitu lation of St. al of D'Es Lucia, tacit truce, &-c. 6. Hostilities between the the English in the East French and Indies. 7. Proceedings of parliament. 65. The session of the English parliament, which commenced on the 26th of November, was attended with the usual whig opposition to the designs and plans of the ministerial party, but no apparent progress was made towards a peaceable termination of the American war. 8The most important event of the session was 8. Most ima royal message, somewhat unexpectedly presented to both houses, portant event informing them of a declaration of hostilities on the part of Spain. of the session. On the 16th of June, 1779, the count Almadovar, the Spanish 1779. ambassador at the court of London, presented a manifesto to the 9 Manifesto British ministry, setting forth the reasons that had induced of the SpanSpain to unite with France in supporting the independence of the former British American colonies. 66. 10 This event, which had long been predicted by the whig opposition, called forth very severe reflections on the conduct of the ish ambassa dor. 10 Severe refections m the conduct of ministers. PART IV. THE UNITED STATES. FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT UNDER Period embraced in Part IV. CHAPTER I. WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION, FROM APRIL 30, 1789, TO MARCH 4, 1797. 1. 'On the 30th of April, 1789, Washington appeared before congress, then assembled in the city of New York, and taking the oath of office required by the constitution, was proclaimed President of the United States.* *In an impressive address to both houses of congress, he expressed his distrust in his own qualifications for the important office to which the partiality of his country had called him -offered his "supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, and presides in the councils of nations," that He would "consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves," and that He would enable all "employed in its administration, to execute, with success, the functions alloted to their charge." to 10hich he close of his 2. 'Adhering to the principles upon which he had acted a Principles while commander-in-chief, he now likewise declined all pe- still adhered: cuniary compensation for his presidential duties, and closed address. by requesting congress to accompany him, in humble supplication, to the benign Parent of the human race, for the divine blessing on all those measures upon which the success of the government depended. 'Immediately after the 4. Manner in address, both houses of congress, with the president, at- neto governtended divine service; and with this public acknowledgment was ment of a Supreme Being as the ruler of the universe, and Washington was inaugurated in the gallery of the old C of the present Custom House, in Wall Street. |