Although the season was now far advanced, motions were made in both houses to put off the prorogation. These motions were, however lost, and on the 3rd of June, the king terminated the session. In his speech, his majesty thanked his faithful commons for their zeal and attention to the interests of their country, and the honourable support they had made for the royal family; several annuities having been granted to his numerous family. Alluding to the one great question, he said, that his desire was to preserve the tranquillity of Europe; that the faith of treaties and the law of nations had been respected by him, and that he had anxiously avoided giving offence to any foreign power. He added:—“Let that power by whom this tranquillity shall be broken, answer to their subjects and to the world for all the fatal consequences of war!”
PROCEEDINGS IN FRANCE.
Having entered into a treaty with America, in which treaty it was stipulated that the Americans should never return to their allegiance to the British crown, and having thereby hurled a bold defiance to the power of England, the French made preparations for war. At this time France was by no means in a flourishing condition, but by oppressing the poverty-stricken people with imposts, duties, and corvées, and by taking the bread from half-famished mouths, means were found to raise armies and equip fleets. The coasts of Normandy and Britainy swarmed with soldiers, who threatened to invade England; arms, money, and men were sent to America; and the navy of France set out to contend with the navy of Great Britain, for the mastery of the seas between the two countries. On the 18th of March, the French king issued an edict to seize all British ships in the ports of France, and shortly after our government laid an embargo on all French ships in British ports. This, with the mutual withdrawal of ambassadors, and the interruption of all diplomatic intercourse, left the two countries in a state of open hostility, although no heralds or manifestoes were employed on either side to make a formal declaration of war. On their part, the French had in reality no materials for manifestoes, whence their silence; while on our part, ministers were too much employed to think of such a ridiculous solemnity. It was, moreover, too well understood on both sides that the only arguments likely to avail must proceed from the mouth of the cannon.
NAVAL OPERATIONS IN THE BRITISH CHANNEL.
The maritime defence of England was entrusted to Admiral Keppel, and he put to sea with twenty sail ot the line for that purpose. On the 17th of June, Keppel discovered two French frigates, the “La Licorne” and “La Belle Poule,” reconnoitring his fleet. The con duct of France seemed to call for and to justify extreme measures, and Keppel’s instructions being ample, he resolved to effect the capture of these two frigates. Accordingly they were chased, and the first, fired both with cannon and musketry, struck her colours and was captured; but the other having fiercely encountered and dismasted a pursuing vessel, escaped among the rocks on the French shore. Shortly after a French schooner and another frigate were captured, and from papers found in these several vessels Keppel discovered that the enemy had thirty-two sail of the line and twelve frigates ready for sea in Brest harbour. This determined him to return to Portsmouth for reinforcements. These reinforcements, however, were either not ready or were not there, and while he was waiting for them the Brest fleet had put out to sea under the command of the Count d’Orvilliers, and had captured a frigate which Keppel had left to watch the movements of the enemy. This was on the 9th of July, and on the very same day, Keppel, whose fleet had been augmented to thirty sail of the line, departed in quest of d’Orvilliers. He fell in with the French admiral on the 23rd, but as the French, who had the advantage of the wind, showed no inclination for battle, the English continued chasing and manoeuvring to windward for four days. On the 27th, however, a dark squall brought the two fleets close together off Ushant. The signal was instantly made to engage. The fleets were then sailing in different directions, and on contrary tacks, and a furious cannonade was maintained for nearly three hours, at the end of which time they had passed each other, and the firing ceased. The loss in killed and wounded was greatest on the side of the French, but some of the British ships under Sir Hugh Palliser were so crippled that when Keppel wore round to renew the engagement they could not obey the signal, and he formed his line of battle ahead. On their part the French formed their line to leeward of their antagonists, and Keppel expected that they would try their force “handsomely with him in the morning;” but in the course of the night d’Orvilliers edged away for Brest, and claimed the victory, because he had not been thoroughly beaten. Keppel returned to England to get new masts and rigging, and on the 18th of August, d’Orvilliers again set sail to cruise off Cape Finisterre. A few days after, Keppel also again put to sea, but he stretched further to the westward, to protect the merchant-ships returning from the two Indies, and to prevent any portion of the French fleet from reaching America. Every ship sailing from the Indies arrived safely in England, and our privateers and cruisers captured many French trading-vessels; but the two fleets did not again come into collision, and popular indignation, excited by disappointment, attributed the blame to Keppel and Sir Hugh Palliser, who served under him. The journals of the day teemed with invectives against them for not pursuing the French admiral after the battle off’ Ushant; and the opinion was very general that they had not acted with the required decision when the fleet of the enemy was in their power. By the court and the admiralty, however, their conduct was viewed with approbation; and Keppel, at least, would not deign to answer his anonymous accusers. Sir Hugh Palliser replied to an attack made upon him in a morning paper, and because Keppel refused to authenticate his answer or to contradict statements made by an anonymous accuser, Palliser published his own case, in which he charged his superior officer with inconsistency, for having approved his conduct in a public despatch, and now refusing to vindicate his character. Keppel, however, acted the more nobly: anonymous accusations are beneath the notice of a high-minded and honourable man, and he who replies to such, dignifies a character which is little superior to a midnight assassin, and should be treated with mortifying contempt. That accuser who will not face the accused, places himself out of the pale of the laws and usages of society.
DISGRACEFUL INFRACTION OF THE CONVENTION OF SARATOGA.
Although the Americans had given Burgoyne leave to return home upon parole, yet, in bold defiance of the convention signed by Gates, they still kept his troops as prisoners of war. As there was a difficulty in reaching the port of Boston early in the winter, Burgoyne had applied to Washington to change the place of embarkation, and to substitute for it some place on the Sound. Washington referred the matter to congress, and he was directed to inform Burgoyne, that no proposition for indulgence or for altering the terms of the convention would be listened to, unless directed to their own body. The truth is, congress had scarcely ceased rejoicings for the success of Gates, when they determined to break the compact. Measuring the faith and honour of the English officers by their own, they pretended a concern that the army which had surrendered, instead of sailing for England, would join the forces of General Howe; or, that if they did not do this, and if they sailed for England, their arrival there would enable the government to send out an equal number of troops employed in the home service to take their places in America. Hence, they set their wits to work in order to delay the return of the troops to England. The first thing they did was to pass a resolution directing General Heath to transmit to the board of war, a descriptive list of every person comprehended in the convention. Burgoyne and his officers bitterly resented the insinuations of congress, and raised objections to such a humiliating measure; but his army was, nevertheless, described man by man, with all the minuteness of a French commissary of police. After this was done, a number of British transports came round to take Burgoyne and his troops on board, but congress now attempted to find several flaws in the clauses of the convention of Saratoga. They pretended that the ships were not sufficient, or sufficiently furnished with provisions for a voyage to Europe, and that, therefore, General Howe contemplated the shorter voyage to Sandy Hook or Delaware; and they further pretended that some of the British soldiers had secreted their cartouch-boxes, which were, they said, comprehended in the technical term “arms,” and upon such futile and unfounded pretensions they gravely concluded that the convention was broken. The British officers denied these allegations, and the whole subject was referred to a committee of congress, who, in their report, substantiated them by fallacy, and thereupon it was resolved that “the embarkation of Lieutenant-General Burgoyne and the troops under his command, should be suspended until a distinct and explicit ratification of the convention of Saratoga should be properly notified by the court of Great Britain to congress.” The men were then thrown into prison, and the British transports were ordered to quit the neighbourhood of Boston without delay. Burgoyne addressed a letter of remonstrance to congress, and insisted on the embarkation of his army as stipulated in the convention; but a committee to whom this letter was referred, reported that it contained no arguments sufficient to induce congress to alter their resolutions, and the men were still kept in prison. Burgoyne then demanded that he, at least, should be permitted to return to England upon his parole, which request was readily granted, and it was in this manner that he had been allowed to come home, leaving his army behind him. The whole affair reflects the greatest disgrace upon the members of congress, and Washington and Gates share in that disgrace; the former for having joined hand-in-hand with congress in the affair, and the latter for not preventing the act of perfidy, or throwing up his commission if he had not sufficient influence to prevent it. All the American leaders, however, seem to have parted company with faith and honour, and they rejoiced in the prospect of keeping Burgoyne’s troops prisoners of war till the war should be ended, being well convinced that the court of Great Britain would not make the required notification.