being to communicate with him no more, except at the point of the sword.*

The duke de Crillon gave general Murray to understand, that he could not but honor him for his conduct; that he rejoiced it had placed them both in that position which befitted them alike; and that it had greatly increased the high esteem in which he had always held the governor. Meanwhile, the situation of the besieged was become painful in the extreme. Notwithstanding the success of a vigorous sortie, in which they had dislodged the duke de Crillon from Cape Mola, where he had established his head-quarters, their weakness rendered this transitory triumph more hurtful to them than beneficial. The garrison would by no means have sufficed for the defence of so extensive fortifications, even if they had been free from sickness. But very far from that was their condition. The seeds of the scurvy, with which they were infected, even before the opening of the siege, had developed themselves with a fury which increased from day to day. All who were seized with it either died, or became totally useless for the defence of the place. The causes of this mortal disease were principally the scarcity, or rather absolute want, of vegetables, the amassment of soldiers in the casemates, the horrible fetor which resulted from it, and the excessive fatigues of a service almost without remission. To the scurvy, as if not sufficient of itself to exterminate the unhappy garrison, putrid fevers and the dysentery united their destructive rage. Overwhelmed by so many evils, these intrepid warriors piqued themselves upon braving them. Those who were already attacked with pestilential maladies, dissembled their sufferings, for fear of not being admitted to share the perils of their comrades. Their ardor had survived their bodily strength; some of them were seen to expire under arms.

Nature at length triumphed over the firmness of these generous spirits. In the beginning of February, the garrison found itself so diminished, that there remained only six hundred and sixty men capable of any sort of service; and, even of this number, the most part were tainted with the scurvy. It was to be feared lest the enemy, apprised of this disastrous state of things, might precipitate his attacks, and carry the place by storm. There was the more foundation for such an apprehension, as the artillery had already ruined the greater part of the upper defences. Scarcely did there remain a

Henry III. despairing of being able to reduce the duke of Guise, consulted the Mareschals d' Aumont, de Rambouilet and de Beauvais Nangis, who decided that, considering the impossibility of bringing that illustrious rebel to trial, it was necessary to take him off by surprise. The king proposed to the celebrated Crillon to undertake the execution of this murder; I will not assassinate him, answered the bravest of the brave, but I will fight him. When a man is ready to give his life, he is master of that of another."

The affectation of general Murray in vaunting in his answer the nobility of his origin, grew out of his pretending to have descended from the earl of Murray, natural son of James V. and brother of Mary Stuart.

few pieces of cannon in a serviceable state, and the fire of the enemy was still unremitting.

In a situation so utterly hopeless, to resist any longer would have been rather the delirium of a senseless obstinacy, than the effect of a generous constancy. Murray accepted a capitulation, the tenor of which was honorable for his garrison. He was allowed all the honors of war; the British troops were to be sent to England as prisoners upon parole; all the foreigners had permission to return to their countries with their effects; the Minorcans who had adhered to the British party, were left at liberty to remain in the island in the undisturbed enjoyment of their possessions. When the remains of this valiant garrison evacuated Fort St. Philip, they had more the appearance of spectres than of men.

They marched through the French and Spanish armies, which were drawn up fronting each other, and formed a lane for their passage. They consisted of no more than six hundred old decrepid soldiers, one hundred and twenty of the royal artillery, two hundred seamen, and about fifty Corsicans, Greeks, Turks and Moors. The victors manifested compassion for the fate of their prisoners; they could not refuse them even a tribute of admiration, when, arrived at the place where they laid down their arms, they heard them declare, while lifting up to heaven their eyes bathed in tears, that they had surrendered them to God alone. The humanity of the French and Spaniards was highly conspicuous, and worthy of lasting praise. Yielding to the most generous emotions, the common soldiers of the two nations were forward to administer refreshments and consolations to their unfortunate enemies. The duke and count de Crillon, as well as the baron de Falkenhayn, commander of the French troops, signalised themselves by the most feeling and delicate. attentions. Such actions and conduct cast abroad a pleasing shade, which serves to soften the horrors of war, and to hide and alleviate its calamities; should they not also mitigate the fury of national rivalships and animosities?

Thus did the island of Minorca return to the dominion of Spain, after it had been in the possession of Great Britain for upwards of seventy years.

The news of so many and so grievous disasters, and especially that of Yorktown, produced in England a general consternation, accompanied by an carnest desire of a new order of things. The length of the war was already become wearisome to all; the enormous expenses it had occasioned, and which it still exacted, were viewed with disquietude and alarm. The late reverses still increased this universal discontent; and with the diminution of the hope of victory was strengthened in all the impatience for the return of peace. The possibility of resuming the offensive upon the American contiment, and of reestablishing there, by dint of arms, the sovereignty of

Great Britain was now considered as a chimera. The secret machinations in order to divide the people of America, the terror and barbarity of the Indians, the attempts of treason, the destruction of commerce, the falsification of bills of credit, odious means to which the British ministers had resorted, and even the victories of their generals, all had failed of wresting from the Americans the smallest indication of a disposition to resume their ancient yoke. If such had been their constancy, when their ship, battered by the tempests, seemed hastening to the bottom, how could it be hoped to see them bend, while the most propitious gales were conducting them into the wished for port? It was selfevident that henceforth the war of America could have no other object but that of obtaining the most honorable conditions possible, after having acknowledged independence. On the other hand, the immense losses sustained in the West Indies, gave occasion to fear lest they might be followed by others still more afflicting. The most anxious apprehensions were entertained for Jamaica, against which the House of Bourbon seemed ready to display the entire apparatus of its power. The fall of a place of such importance as Fort St. Philip, and the loss of the whole island of Minorca, inspired doubts for Gibraltar itself.

The people, always the same every where, imputed these disasters, not to the contrariety of fortune, but to the incapacity of ministers. Their adversaries, both within parliament and without, raised the most violent clamors. They exclaimed, that such were the foreseen results of ministerial infatuation and obstinacy. They demanded with vociferation the immediate dismission of these perverse and imbecile servants of the crown; they affirmed, that it was urgent to prevent those who had brought the country to the brink of a precipice, from plunging it headlong down it by the last frantic shock; that there was no chance of safety but in removing instantly those senseless instigators of a fatal war. These cries of hatred coincided with the prevailing spirit; they were echoed with unanimity by the discontented multitude. Besides, it escaped no one that since the course of things had created the necessity of entering into negotiation with the Americans, and of acknowledging their independence, it was not suitable that those who had at first so highly exasperated them by their laws, and afterwards had imbittered them to the utmost by a barbarous war, should undertake to treat with them. The work of a durable pacification appeared little proper to be confided to hands which had fanned the fire of war. Already general Conway, by a very eloquent speech, pronounced the twenty-second of February, in the house of commons, had moved and obtained that bis majesty should be entreated to command his ministers not to persist any longer in the attempt to reduce the colonies to obedience by means of force, and by continuing the war upon the American continent. He did more; in the sitting of the fourth of March, he

6

proposed and carried a resolution, purporting that those who should advise the king to continue the war upon the continent of North America, should be declared enemies of the sovereign and of the country. From this moment, the leading members of the privy council, the centre and source of all great deliberations, perceived that it was full time to resort to the usual remedy of a change of ministry. The general attention was excited to the highest degree. At length, the twentieth of March, the earl of Surrey having moved in the house of commons that the king should be supplicated to change his ministers, lord North rose, and declared with dignity that it was superfluous to spend any more time upon this subject, since it had already occupied the attention of his majesty, who would shortly make known his new choice. Before I take leave of this House,' added lord North, I feel it a duty to return it thanks for the support and favor it has afforded me during so long a course of years, and in so many trying situations. It will be easy to give me a successor, endowed with a greater capacity, of better judgment, and more qualified for his situation; but it will not be equally so to find a man more zealous for the interests of the country, more loyal to the sovereign, and more attached to the constitution. I hope the new servants of the crown, whoever they may be, will take such measures as shall effectually extricate the country from its present difficulties, and retrieve its fortune at home and abroad. I should declare, in retiring, that I am ready to answer to my country for all the acts of my administration. If it is wished to undertake the investigation of my conduct, I offer myself to undergo it.'

The new ministers were selected from among those members of the two houses of parliament, who had shown themselves the most favorable to the pretensions of the Americans. The marquis of Rockingham was appointed first lord of the treasury; the earl of Shelburne and Mr. Fox secretaries of state; lord John Cavendish chancellor of the exchequer. Admiral Keppel was at the same time created viscount and first lord of the admiralty. So great was the exultation caused by this event, particularly in the city of London, that it was feared the people of that capital, would, according to their custom, break out into some blameable excesses. Every body felt assured that the end of the war was at hand, and that of all the calamities it had caused. All that was desired was, that the conditions of peace might be honorable. Accordingly, the partisans of the new ministers were earnest in their prayers that some favorable event might gloriously repair the checks which the British arms had, received towards the close of the past, and in the commencement of the present year.

END OF BOOK THIRTEENTH.

1782. THE belligerent powers, in order to execute the plans they had formed in the beginning of the present year, only waited the completion of their preparations, the return of spring, and the fitness of occasion. Alike weary of a long war, all had the same persuasion that this campaign was to be decisive. Nor were they ignorant that it is at the moment of peace that reverses have the most fatal consequences, as there no longer remains either time or hope for retrieving them. Under these considerations, each of the powers at war redoubled vigilance and efforts, in order to secure the definitive triumph of its arms. The allied courts directed their views especially upon the domination of the European seas, the reduction of Gibraltar, and the conquest of Jamaica. The French were in the highest degree solicitous to transmit succours to their establishments in the East Indies, where, notwithstanding the valor and distinguished ability displayed by M. de Suffren, in several hard fought engagements with admiral Hughes, their affairs were in a state of declension; and already two Dutch places of great importance, Trincomale and Negapatam, were fallen into the power of the English. The attention of the allies had therefore two principal objects; to defend their own possessions, and to seize those of the enemy.

It was agreed, that the Dutch and Spanish fleets should effect their junction with the French in the port of Brest. This mighty armada was afterwards to scour the open sea, and clear it of all hostile force from the straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Norway. It was intended that the ships of the line should blockade the squadrons of the enemy in all the channels and ports, while the frigates and other light vessels should intercept the convoys; and utterly ruin the commerce of the English. The views of the allies extended yet farther; they hoped by incessantly spreading new alarms upon the coasts of Great Britain, that some opportunity might present itself for making descents, ravaging the country, and even for striking still more important blows, according to circumstances. They proceeded with the greatest zeal to the execution of their designs; the junction of their armaments was to present a powerful mass of sixty sail of the line, besides a prodigious number of frigates and sloops of war. The English were very far from possessing means sufficient to withstand so formidable a display of forces. Accordingly, the allied courts entertained not the least doubt but that their arms would be as successful in the West Indies and Europe, in this year's campaign, as they had been in the last upon the American continent. A glorious peace must, they felt assured, inevitably result from these decisive

successes.