AMERICAN AFFAIRS. expect every man to do his duty. But their standard of duty was high even before Nelson had illustrated its meaning. Had it not been for the intermixture of party-spirit, Keppel, so far from obtaining applause to which he was certainly not entitled, might have experienced a recurrence of the jealous fury which was wreaked on the incapacity of Byng. 411 Ch. 23. 1778 America. The affairs of America, complicated as they had Debates on become by a war with France, were discussed at great length, and in various modes, by both Houses of Parliament. The British Commissioners having wholly failed in their message of peace, necessarily incurred a great deal of censorious criticism. One unfortunate passage in the proclamation which they had addressed to the people of America, after their attempt to open a communication with Congress had been repelled, became the subject of severe animadversion. In that unfortunate document, the Commissioners intimated, that in consequence of the alliance of America with the enemy of Great Britain, the character of the contest was changed, and the question was, how far Great Britain might by every means in her power, destroy or render useless a connexion, contrived for her ruin, and the aggrandisement of France. This significant passage was eagerly interpreted by Congress as menacing a war of devastation; and they issued a manifesto, declaring that if the enemy presumed to execute his threats, or persisted in his present 412 Ch. 23. 1778 GENERAL JOHNSTONE'S career of barbarity, they would take such exemplary vengeance as would deter others from a like conduct. The impolicy as well as the inhumanity of such language, uttered by men who had been sent out as messengers of peace and conciliation, were loudly denounced in Parliament. The Ministers did not attempt to defend the intemperate proceedings of the Commissioners; on the contrary, they affected the greatest astonishment that such an illiberal construction should be placed on language so moderate and humane; but while the conflict as to the meaning of terms, which were sufficiently plain, was still warmly maintained, Governor Johnstone, actuated only by hatred towards the Congress, from which he had recently endured the humiliating rebuke referred to in a former page, rose up and accepted the interpretation put upon the manifesto of the Commissioners in all its latitude. The Proclamation, he said, did mean a war of devastation; it meant nothing else; it could mean nothing else; the measure was right and necessary; and he only regretted that he had not been on the spot, when the Proclamation of his late colleagues was issued, that he might have sanctioned it with his concurrence. This avowal, however unexpected and unwelcome, could not have taken the Government by surprise, as it was notorious that Johnstone, on his return from America, had obtained great favour at Court by expressing the utmost contempt for INTEMPERATE CONDUCT. the Americans, and confident assurances that a little firmness and vigour only were required to reduce them to submission. The Opposition took advantage of the public manifestations in favour of Admiral Keppel to make a violent attack on the naval department. Fox moved a vote of censure on the Admiralty, for sending out an inadequate fleet to encounter the powerful armament ready for sea in the habour of Brest. The answer was a denial of the assumption on which the motion was founded, and certainly the papers of the French frigates, when produced, were sufficiently ambiguous to admit of either construction. It did not appear, however, in the course of the debate, that the Admiralty had taken much pains to inform themselves as to the preparations in the French harbours; and so strong was the impression that the naval service had been neglected, that the vote of censure would have been carried, had not Lord North, near the close of the debate, caused it to be intimated to his supporters, that he should consider a condemnation of Lord Sandwich as involving that of the whole Administration. The division, nevertheless, shewed an ominous decrease of the Ministerial majority, the motion being defeated only by thirty-four. 413 Ch. 23. 1778 military Both the military and naval administrations Naval and were the topics of repeated discussions in Par- affairs. liament throughout the session. The Admirals and Generals who had not been fortunate in 414 Ch. 23. 1778 BURGOYNE'S INSUFFICIENT DEFENCE. acquiring any great honour to themselves, or advantage to their country by their professional achievements, shewed considerable ingenuity in charging their respective failures to other causes than negligence and incapacity on their parts. General Burgoyne was very eloquent in deploring the fate of the country brought to the brink of ruin by the corruption and ignorance of the Government. He failed, however, to convince either the House or the country that the disaster of Saratoga was entirely attributable to the misconduct and improvidence of the Government. Sir William Howe, likewise, challenged a full inquiry into his military conduct during the period which he had held command. The Minister in vain pointed out what ought to have been sufficiently obvious, that the House of Commons was wholly unfitted to enter upon such an inquiry. Discontented at the ill success of the war, and impatient of its continuance, the House shewed an eager disposition to cast upon the Government the odium and responsibility of military miscarriages, as well as of political blunders. Lord North, finding the House in this temper, yielded to their wishes, and it was resolved that the whole history of the American war should be the subject of inquiry at the bar. Such a proceeding could not possibly be attended with a satisfactory result. A great number of officers of every rank were examined on both sides, and after this desultory inquiry had lasted SPANISH ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE. 415 several weeks, the House adjourned without having Ch. 23. arrived at any resolution upon the matter. 1778 against Lord The crimination and recrimination of Admiral Charge Keppel and Sir Hugh Palliser afforded an oppor- Sandwich. tunity for the party attack upon the Admiralty, to which I have already referred. The Opposition having met with so much encouragement on that occasion, followed up the attack, and charged Lord Sandwich not only with misconduct in having made inadequate provision for the Channel fleet, but with malversation in the affairs of Greenwich Hospital. These charges wholly failed in the proof. In fact, Sandwich though profligate, and careless of decency in his private habits, was a remarkably industrious and honest minister. Spain. While these party contentions were at their Rupture with height, the Spanish ambassador announced his immediate departure from London, and, at the same time presented a manifesto, which was, in effect, a declaration of war. This event had been long expected as the necessary consequence of the rupture with France. The Court of Madrid had, for some months past, been invested with the character of mediator between France and England; a character, the assumption of which could hardly have blinded the English Government to the real designs and sympathies of that power. The insincerity and bad faith of the Court of St. James's throughout this negotiation, were, indeed, prominently referred to in the paper pre |