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022 - Chapter 26 - Part 2 · The American Revolution A Historical Overview Vol. 3

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty two of History of the Rise, Progress and
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  Speaker 1: Termination of the American Revolution, Volume three by Mercy Otis Warren.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. History of the Rise, Progress and
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  Speaker 1: Termination of the American Revolution, Volume three by Mercy Otis Warren,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty six, Part two. However he might merit the
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  Speaker 1: severities contained in the several sketches of his character, his
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  Speaker 1: Lordship quitted his station with as much firmness, address, and
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  Speaker 1: dignity as any man of understanding of political abilities possibly
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  Speaker 1: could have done. Oh had stood at the head of
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  Speaker 1: administration during an unfortunate war that continued near seven years.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, what had greatly enhanced his difficulties
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  Speaker 1: and is re responsibility. All the other powers in Europe
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  Speaker 1: were either in alliance with America or stood by his
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  Speaker 1: unconcerned spectators of a combat which ordered a train of
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  Speaker 1: most important events to the political, civil, and religious state
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  Speaker 1: of Christentom, if not to the world. His Lordship declared
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  Speaker 1: that he did not mean to shrink from trial, that
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  Speaker 1: he should always be prepared to meet it that his
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  Speaker 1: successor might be found a better judgment and better qualified
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  Speaker 1: for the high and Arjewish station, but none more zealously
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  Speaker 1: attached to the interest of his country and the preservation
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  Speaker 1: of the British Constitution than himself. It is indeed easy
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  Speaker 1: to believe that his lordship was willing to retire and
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  Speaker 1: happy to quit the helm of state, which he had
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  Speaker 1: held with such an unsuccessful hand. He had sent out
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  Speaker 1: his mandates and proclaimed his recisions until the thirteen United
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  Speaker 1: States of America were irretrievably lost to Great Britain, until
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  Speaker 1: Monorca was captured by the Spaniards, Domenica, Saint Vincent's Tobaco, Granada,
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  Speaker 1: and other islands of the West Indies by the French,
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  Speaker 1: and until two British armies commanded by some of the
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  Speaker 1: most distinguished officers of the nation were prisoners in the
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  Speaker 1: American States. Thus, after the blood of thousands of the
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  Speaker 1: past soldiers in England, are the best officers in the
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  Speaker 1: nation ever sacrificed, And multitudes of Americans, formerly the best
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  Speaker 1: subjects to the Crown of Britain, had been immolated on
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  Speaker 1: the altar of ambition, avarice or revenge. After the nation
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  Speaker 1: was involved in expenses beyond calculation, her trade ruined, and
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  Speaker 1: the national character disgraced by the inequitous principles of the war.
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  Speaker 1: It is not strange that the Parliament was agitated, the
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  Speaker 1: ministry dismayed, and the people thrown into consternation and disgust.
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  Speaker 1: The murmur was universal, the public councils were divided, and
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  Speaker 1: the ministry and their measures would become the ridicule of
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  Speaker 1: foreign nations. Through all the struggle between Great Britain and
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  Speaker 1: her colonies, not one of the powers of Europe and
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  Speaker 1: declared against America. But on the contrary, most of them
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  Speaker 1: had either secret they were open leaders, bounced or cause.
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  Speaker 1: Yet it is not if he supposed that the passive
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  Speaker 1: demeanor of some and the friendly deportment of others was
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  Speaker 1: the result of a general love of liberty among potent
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  Speaker 1: nations or splendid courts, where the sceptor of royalty was swayed,
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  Speaker 1: at least in some of them with a very despotic hand.
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  Speaker 1: Their interest in their ambition were united and led them
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  Speaker 1: to anticipate into boast the pernicious consequences to England of
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  Speaker 1: this unfortunate war. Doubtless, the jealousy of the enormous power
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  Speaker 1: of Britain and the prop glory to which he had
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  Speaker 1: arrived in the preceding reign, operated strongly to cherish the
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  Speaker 1: pacific disposition of some, and to prompt others to lend
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  Speaker 1: a hostile armed to dissever the growing colonies from the
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  Speaker 1: crown an authority of Great Britain. They could not but
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  Speaker 1: rejoice at the dismemberment of an empire that had long
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  Speaker 1: been the dread of some and the envent hatred of
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  Speaker 1: other nations. It was too soon for them to forget that,
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  Speaker 1: under the wise and energetic administration of a Chatham, the
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  Speaker 1: kingdoms of the Earth had trembled at the power of England,
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  Speaker 1: that in conjunction with the American colonies, Britannia, mounted on
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  Speaker 1: a triumphal car, had been proud defiance to all the
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  Speaker 1: potentates in Europe, that the thunder of her cannon was
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  Speaker 1: dreaded from the eastern seas to the western extreme, and
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  Speaker 1: that a flag was revered, that her navy gave laws
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  Speaker 1: from the Ganges to the Mississippi. The insolence of this
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  Speaker 1: proud mistress of the seas only partially checked her glory shrouded,
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  Speaker 1: and the haughty islands, humbled, humbled by their own injudicious
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  Speaker 1: and over varying measures. Was a spectacle viewed with delight
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  Speaker 1: by neighboring nations, and contemplated by friends with peculiar satisfaction.
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  Speaker 1: Yet it was perhaps equally the policy and the interest
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  Speaker 1: of both the French and the British prime ministers at
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  Speaker 1: this period to promote pacific measures. It was the wish
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  Speaker 1: of both nations to be relieved from the distresses of
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  Speaker 1: a long and expensive war, and the officers in the
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  Speaker 1: first departments were convinced, more especially in England, that they
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  Speaker 1: had little other chance to keep their places than by
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  Speaker 1: a compliance with the general will of the people. The
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  Speaker 1: discontents among the inhabitants of Great Britain ran higher than ever,
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  Speaker 1: chagrined by repeated defeating losses both by sea and land,
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  Speaker 1: alarmed at the monstrous accumulation of the national debt, the
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  Speaker 1: weight of taxes, the value of landed properly daily sinking,
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  Speaker 1: and the public burthens increasing, many gentlemen who had been
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  Speaker 1: sayinglin in vapor the American War, seemed to awaken at
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  Speaker 1: once for their lethargy, and to appear sensible that ruins
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  Speaker 1: steered in the face of themselves as what was of
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  Speaker 1: the nation when the present temper that discovered itself within
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  Speaker 1: the House of Commons or from appearances without, the minority
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  Speaker 1: had no reason to be discouraged with regard to their
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  Speaker 1: favorite object, which was the restoration of peace between Great
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  Speaker 1: Britain and the colonies. On the twenty seventh of February
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  Speaker 1: one thousand, seven hundred eighty two, General Conway made a
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  Speaker 1: second motion for addressing the throne and urging that the
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  Speaker 1: ruinous war with America should no longer be pursued. Fortunately,
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  Speaker 1: a petition for the City of London was the same
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  Speaker 1: day presented, praying that a cessation of hostilities between Great
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  Speaker 1: Britain and the former provinces might immediately take place. The
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  Speaker 1: motive of peace was now carried in the House without
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  Speaker 1: much opposition, and address was presented for that purpose to
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  Speaker 1: the King on the first day of March. In this
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  Speaker 1: he was humbly implored to lend his sanction to measures
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  Speaker 1: where restoration of tonal harmony. His answer, though in milder
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  Speaker 1: language then had of late in the fashion of the court,
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  Speaker 1: was not sufficiently explicit, but it was not left open
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  Speaker 1: to attraction the prompt measures. The zeal And figure of
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  Speaker 1: an opposition that had long been in the minority, at
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  Speaker 1: last gained the ascendency and secured a truth so much
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  Speaker 1: desired by a people weary of war, and so necessary
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  Speaker 1: for the relief, the honor and the restoration of character
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  Speaker 1: to a gallant nation. In order to facilitate this happy event,
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  Speaker 1: a proposal for conciliation was made. They could scarcely have
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  Speaker 1: been expected to succeed. A coalescence of parties, where animosities
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  Speaker 1: had run so high, and the minds of men and
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  Speaker 1: pencil ombitted by a series of disappointments and unceasing irritation,
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  Speaker 1: was a circumstance not within the calculation of any one.
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  Speaker 1: But it was found necessary to bury, or at least
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  Speaker 1: to suppress the prejudices of party, to lay aside private resentment,
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  Speaker 1: and to united one system for the general of good.
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  Speaker 1: All were so convinced of this necessity that the proposal
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  Speaker 1: was conceded to, and after the resignation of Lord North,
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  Speaker 1: a complete change of minister took place, composed of active
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  Speaker 1: and conspicuous characters from each party. But according to a
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  Speaker 1: trite saying, it proved indeed no more than a rope
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  Speaker 1: of sand. So well bore Ellis had been appointed Minister
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  Speaker 1: for the American Department immediately on their removaled Lord George Germaine.
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  Speaker 1: But his principles and his reasonings relative to American affairs,
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  Speaker 1: his general observations on the transactions of war, of the
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  Speaker 1: volligerant powers, of the French nation, of the American loyalists,
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  Speaker 1: of the means of harmony and the restoration of peace,
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  Speaker 1: subjected him to the satirical strokes and the severe epithets
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  Speaker 1: appointed ridicule that have always flowed so easy from the
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  Speaker 1: lip of the oratorical Burgh. The chastisement also of his
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  Speaker 1: opinions of mister Falks and others zealous for the termination
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  Speaker 1: of the contest between Great Britain and their colonies, shaved
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  Speaker 1: that the friend and pupil of Lord Sackville did not
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  Speaker 1: stand on very firm ground, though it appeared to the
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  Speaker 1: world to be composed of motley materials. Yet all matters
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  Speaker 1: were adjusted for the establishment of a new administration, and
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  Speaker 1: the nation cherished the most Samplin hopes from the change.
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  Speaker 1: The Marquis of Rockingham stood at the head of the
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  Speaker 1: new arrangement. No character among the nobility of Britain was
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  Speaker 1: at this time held in higher estimation than is No
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  Speaker 1: was any man had a qualify for the appointment of
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  Speaker 1: First Lord of the Treasury as the successor to Lord North,
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  Speaker 1: whose character, principal's abilities, and perseverance have been sketched in
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  Speaker 1: the course of narration. The manners of Rockingham were amiable,
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  Speaker 1: his temper mild and complacent. His rank of fortune and
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  Speaker 1: personal influence commanded his Principal's uniform in favor of the
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  Speaker 1: rights of man, and his capacity and constant opposition to
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  Speaker 1: the American War rendered him a fit person to stand
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  Speaker 1: in the size station of responsibility. He was well qualified
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  Speaker 1: to correct the political mistakes of his predecessor and to
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  Speaker 1: retrieve the honor of the nation of the approach of
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  Speaker 1: negotiations with bees. But as in human life, the most
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  Speaker 1: important events sometimes depend on the character of a single actor.
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  Speaker 1: The sudden exit of such a character often blasted the hopes,
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  Speaker 1: clouds some mind and defeats the expectations of contemporaries. This
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  Speaker 1: observation was fully verified in the premature death of the
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  Speaker 1: noble Marquis, who lived only three months after his appointment
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  Speaker 1: to the own of administration. All eyes had been fixed
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  Speaker 1: on him as the band of Union and the promoter
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  Speaker 1: and the proper both public and private peace. But his death,
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  Speaker 1: which took place on the first of July one thousand,
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  Speaker 1: seven hundred and eighty two, involved his country new difficulties
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  Speaker 1: and created new scenes of dissension and animosity. Many other
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  Speaker 1: departments in the new system of ministerial measures were filled
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  Speaker 1: by gentlemen of the first character and consideration. Lord John
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  Speaker 1: Cavendish was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Duke of Richmond,
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  Speaker 1: Master of the Ordnance Grafton, Lord Privy Seal, Admiral Keppel,
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  Speaker 1: First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Camden, President of the Council,
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  Speaker 1: General Conway, Commander in Chief of all the forces in
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  Speaker 1: Great Britain, Mister Thomas Townsend, Secretary at War, Lord Shelburne
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  Speaker 1: and mister Fox Principal Secretaries of State, Colonel Parry, Treasurer
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  Speaker 1: of the Navy, and mister Burke, pay Master of the Troops.
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  Speaker 1: On the death of the Marquis of Rockingham, Lord Shelburne,
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  Speaker 1: to the surprise of his associates in the Ministry, it
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  Speaker 1: gained such an interest as to obtain the apartment of
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  Speaker 1: First Lord of the Treasury in the room of a
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  Speaker 1: favorite of the nation, and of the new Ministry to
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  Speaker 1: the newly coalesced administration. The unexpected advancement of Lord Shelburne
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  Speaker 1: to this dignified and important station was so disgusting that
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  Speaker 1: it broke the coalition. Mister Fox and Lord Cavendish resigned
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  Speaker 1: their places. This precifitate dereliction of office at such a
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  Speaker 1: critical period, but gentlemen of their high consideration was credited
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  Speaker 1: by some severely censured by others as mortifying, indeed to
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  Speaker 1: their friends, who, though far from being pleased, continued to
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  Speaker 1: act with the new Lord Treasurer. The reasons assigned by
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  Speaker 1: mister Fox with thus cutting his place at such a
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  Speaker 1: crisis were that the system in which he consented to
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  Speaker 1: unite in the coalition was not likely to be pursued.
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  Speaker 1: That the first principle of this system was and expressed
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  Speaker 1: acknowledgment of the independence of the United States of America,
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  Speaker 1: instead of making it an article in the Provisional Treaty
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  Speaker 1: as proposed by some. To this unequivocal independence of America,
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  Speaker 1: he knew Lord Shelburne to be opposed in refining to this,
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  Speaker 1: His lordship rose and defended his own opinions. He declared
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  Speaker 1: that it was not ashamed to avow and to act
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  Speaker 1: upon the ideas of the Great Lord Chatham. He said
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  Speaker 1: it was well known that this distinguished statesman had asserted
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  Speaker 1: that the son of England's blurry would said if independence
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  Speaker 1: was granted to America. He added that he whiched himself
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  Speaker 1: had been deputed to Congress, that he would then have
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  Speaker 1: exerted all his talents to convince them that if their
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  Speaker 1: independence was signed, their liberties were going forever. He expressly
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  Speaker 1: declared that it was his opinion that the independence of
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  Speaker 1: the United Colonies not only threatened the extinction of their
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  Speaker 1: own liberties, but the ruin of England, and that certainly,
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  Speaker 1: by giving them independence, they would finally be deproud of
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  Speaker 1: that freedom they had been struggling to secure and enjoy.
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  Speaker 1: End of Section twenty two.