leaft were his ideas; and the eyes, he believed, of all men were naturally turned to the Duke of Portland. Inftead of this noble perfon, the Earl of Shelburne was felected, of whom he could not truly fay that he bore any resemblance to his predeceffor; perhaps the exact reverse might come near the picture. He did not mean to difpute the right of the King to nominate his own minifter; but he contended that those who went into office on public principles, not only had a right, but that it was their duty to be fatisfied that none were introduced into the cabinet who were hoftile to. thofe principles. If the court chofe to revert to other principles, it was certainly competent fo to do; but it could not be expected that thofe perfons fhould fuffer themselves to be made acceffaries in reviving a fyftem which it had been the labour of their whole lives to destroy. It would naturally be afked, why then, thinking as he did of the Earl of Shelburne, he had ever come with him into office at all? To this he should answer, that he had ftrongly objected to it; that he had made the fame objection to another noble perfon (the Lord Chancellor); that he had been induced to fubmit by the general cry that prevailed, of forming the adminiftration on as broad a bafis as poffible; but at the fame time, he had a fatisfactory pledge for the integrity of that adminiftration in the noble marquis at the head of it. The right honourable gentleman might, but he could not regard with indifference who took the lead in his Majefty's councils: he deemed it a great and national object, of infinite moment to every individual, but much more to those who were in the fervice of the crown, and still more fo to one of his Majesty's cabinet minifters. The perfon now prefiding at the treasury-board was not of a defcription to demand that confidence from his colleagues which in fuch a fituation was indifpenfable. guments of a fimilar kind, were Thefe, and a variety of other artrongly urged by Mr. Fox in justification of the part he had acted. He concluded with obferving, that in the particular situation in which he ftood, feveral circumftances oppofed them felves to a full vindication of his conduct. It was none of the leaft, that he did not think himself at liberty to speak to freely and fully as he had accustomed himself to do on other occafions. Details would in this case be im proper; and yet, without a very circumftantial detail of facts, fuch as he did not think it became him at that time to give, he was fenfible his defence would not be so ftrong and complete as otherwise it was eafy to have made it. vendifh got up, and contented After Mr. Fox, Lord John Cahimfelf with declaring in general terms, that finding a different fyftem was meant to be purfued from that on which the late adminiftration had been formed, and finding it impoflible by his prefence to prevent it, he had determined to withdraw, that he might not divide the cabinet, and render it the fcene of confufion it had been in the time of their predecessors. conduct of the late fecretary of state Mr. William Pitt arraigned the in the feverest terms. It was evi dent, dent, he faid, from the whole tenor of the right honourable gentleman's speeches, that he was more at variance with men than their measures. He denied that he had adduced any public ground on which his refignation was juftifiable. He deprecated the fatal confequences of diffention. He conjured the people to give the minifters their confidence till they had fhewn they did not deferve it; and he pledged himself in the moft folemn manner, that whenever he faw things going wrong he fhould first endeavour to fet them right; but failing in that effort, he fhould be the first to relinquish his prefent political con pections. This converfation, which continued to a late hour in the night, was clofed by Mr. Lee. He faid he held it to be the duty of every honest man to refign his office the moment he found public meafures were carrying on of which he could not approve. The appointment of a minifter unqualified for his fituation, was undoubtedly a meafure of that kind. He had heard much of diffention, but he had not feen one perton ftep forward to fay the Earl of Shelburne was a fit and proper perfon for the high office he held. If there was any fuch perfon, he wished to hear him. The noble earl to be fure poffeffed fplendid talents, had fome friends, and was now in a way to make more. But the minifter of this country fhould have other endowments. He fhould join to a found head a purity of mind, a fteadiness of principle, and an unfufpected integrity. Were thefe, he demanded, the reputed charac teriftics of the nobleman just exalted to the principal department of the ftate? To put him at the head of affairs in this plain and open-hearted country, was to put him out of his element. The people of England were incapable of fineffe, and not fond of fubmitting to the government of those who practifed it. The treafury too required a sober, honeft, in duftrious, fteady commiffioner at its head. It was not an oftentatious affectation of uniting the man of fcience and the fine gentleman; the technical jargon of arts and the gibberish of courts; the pedantry of fcholaftic noftrums, and the abftrufe theorems of mechanifm, that would create refpect and confequence in that high office. Who knows not, fays he, how eafily a head filled with fuch materials may be turned upfide down? He concluded with fome obfervations on the youth and inexperience of the new chancellor of the exchequer, to whofe extraordinary abilities he nevertheless paid the higheft compliments. He faid there was an obvious intention of trifling with the people, by bringing forward one of their favourites as a compenfation for infulting another; but though the honourable gentleman would adorn any fcene in which his part was properly caft, yet he did not think the confidence of the people would be much increafed, by putting the complicated bufinefs of our fi nances into the hands of a boy. Next day, the fame interefting fubject was July 10. difcuffed in the Houfe of Lords. The Duke of Richmond followed General Conway in declaring, that fo long as the great principles on which the late administration had been formed was adhered to (and he had no reason to imagine they would be abandoned) he should continue to act with and support the noble earl. The Earl of Shelburne rose next, and made a copious defence of himfelf and the late proceedings. He declared, that his being placed in the high office he then held, had not been the confequence of perfonal ambition or the love of power; on the contrary, he affirmed that three months ago the fame fituation was moft certainly within his reach, but that he had exerted his utmost efforts to place the noble marquis there. To the principles on which that adminiftration was formed, he folemnly profeffed the most inviolable attachment. It was true, he faid, that he differed in opinion on other points with fome of his then colleagues; but it would not be expected that he should lightly give up all thofe conftitutional ideas which for feventeen years he had imbibed from his mafter in politics, the late Earl of Chatham. That earl had always declared that this country ought not to be governed by a party or faction. If the power which others wifhed to affume, of vefting in the cabinet the right of appointing to all places, and filling up all vacancies, thould once be established, the King muft then refemble the king of the Marrattas, who had nothing of fovereignty but the name. He lamented the lofs of the two refpectable characters that had withdrawn themfelves from the cabinet, but imputed their conduct to very different motives. One of them, he faid, a noble lord diftinguifhed for the purity and chastity of his mind, and for his unimpeached integrity, had at first been brought with difficulty into the public fervice. His love of retirement rendered him extremely averfe from office; and on the death of his lamented friend, he could no longer endure to remain in an active fcene. With refpect to the other right honourable gentleman, he declared, that in his opinion there was no other reafon for his feceffion, than his Majesty's having been pleafed to appoint him (the Earl of Shelburne) first lord of the treasury. On the fubject of the independence of America, his opinions were ftill the fame; but circumftances had changed, and he now faw it was become a neceffary evil, to which this country must submit, to avoid a greater. With respect to the pension granted to Mr. Barré, he could only fay that it originated with the noble marquis, now no more, and that it had been bestowed on his right honourable friend as a compenfation for giving up his pretenfions to the pay-office. As a proof of this, he had a letter in his poffeffion from that noble perfon, in which the propofal was containet. The day following, before his Majefty July 11th. came to the Houfe of Lords, the Earl of Derby got up and faid, that in confequence of what had fallen from a noble earl the day before refpecting the refignation of one of the fecretaries of state, he had been authorized by the right honourable gentleman to declare, that the affertion then made was not founded in fact; but, on the contrary, contrary, was a direct deviation from the truth. Having called on the other members of the cabinet to confirm or contradict thefe affertions, the Duke of Richmond and Lord Keppel declared, that the right honourable gentleman alluded to had undoubtedly differed in opinion from other members of his Majefty's council on fubjects of the utmost importance; and that, finding himself in a minority, he had openly avowed his intention to refign on that account, at a time when the health of the Marquis of Rockingham was in fo flattering a ftate as to make the event which was fuppofed to have given rife to the conteft for power, not at all to be apprehended. The fame day, in the House of Commons, Mr. Burke and Lord John Cavendish denied, in the most direct terms, the truth of the circumftances relative to the grant of Mr. Barre's penfion, as well as their belief of the existence of the letter alluded to. The limits within which it is neceflary to confine this volume, have not permitted us to enter into a detail of the proceedings of the Houte of Commons relative to the affairs of the Eaft India Company, The two committees continued to fit during the whole feflion with unremitted diligence and application. Their reports were voluminous beyond example, and univerfally allowed to be drawn up with great ability and judgment. On the ground of the reports brought up from the fecret committee, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, their chairman, moved I refolutions. Thefe were divided into claffes, each of which confifted of three diftinct heads; the two firft of a public and gene. ral nature; the third, of perfonal culpability. The first clafs regarded the general fyftem of our government in the east, and concluded with a fevere cenfure on the conduct of Mr. Haftings and Mr. Hornby, and a declaration that it was the duty of the directors to take the neceffary legal fteps for recalling them. The fecond and third claffes related to the affairs of the Carnatic; and on thefe a bill of pains and penalties on Sir T. Rumbold, J. Whitehill, and P. Perring, Efqrs. was brought in. The reports of the felect committee had not advanced to the fame ftate of forwardnefs. The refolutions moved by their chairman, General Smith, were only ten in number. The three first were to cenfure the conduct of Mr. Sullivan the chairman of the court of directors, by whofe neglect of duty in delaying to tranfmit the act for the regulation of the Com pany, to their fervants in India, the good purposes of the faid act for regulating the judicature, and relieving the three unhappy native judges confined in prifon at Calcutta, might be fruftrated. The two following were cenfures on the fame Mr. Sullivan, for adminiftering an oath of fecrecy to one of the fecretaries of the Company, reftraining him from giving information to the committee. The next three related to the appointment of Sir Elijah Impey by Mr. Haftings, to an office held at the will of the governor-general, contrary to the intent of the act of the 13th of his prefent Majefty for the regulation of the East India Company. Company. On these refolutions an addrefs to his Majefty was agreed to by the Houfe to recall the faid Sir Elijah Impey. The two laft were for the purpose of bringing in a new act to afcertain the power of the governor-general and council of Bengal; and to reduce into one act the feveral acts made for the regulation of the Company, and to amend and explain the fame. The King's fpeech at the prorogation, which took place on the 11th of July, turned on the ufual topics, and kept entirely free from any allufion to the politics of the time. CHA P. IX. Retrofpective view of affairs in North America and the West Indies in the year 1781. South Carolina. Battle at the Eutaw Springs. Col. Stuart, with the British forces, retires to Charles-town. Ifland of St. Euftatius Jurprised and taken by the Marquis de Bouille. Dutch fettlements of Demerary and Effequibo recovered by France. Marquis de Bouille invades the island of St. Chriftopher, with 8000 men, in the beginning of the year 1782, and is fupported by the Count de Graffe, with a great fleet. Gen. Frafer and the governor, with the few troops on the island, retire to Brimstone-hill. Gallant attempt made by Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, with a very inferior force, to fave the island: draws the enemy out to fea, and then feizes the anchorage-ground in Baffeterre road, which they had juft quitted. French fleet repeatedly attack the English fquadron, and are repulfed with lofs. Works on Brimftone-hill in no degree anfwerable ta the ftrength of the fituation. Gallant defence made by the garrifon. All the attempts made by the Admiral, and by Gen. Prefcot, for the relief of the place, prove ineffectual. The works and buildings on the top of the hill being almost entirely deftroyed, Gen. Frafer and Gov. Shirley are obliged to capitulate, and obtain conditions highly honourable to the garrifon, and advantageous to the island. English fquadron flip their cables, and return to Barbadoes. Nevis and Montferrat follow the fortune of St. Chriftopher. Formidable preparations by France and Spain for the invafion of Jamaica. Admiral Sir George Rodney arrives with a strong reinforcement fram England, and takes the command of the fleet. Fails in his defign of intercepting the French convoy from Breft. Puts into St. Lucia to refit, and to watch the motions of the enemy. Objects, and respective force of the commanders on both fides. Perilous ftate of the English affairs in the Weft Indies. M. de Graffe proceeds with his fleet and a great convoy from Fort Royal, in order to form a jurétien with the French and Spanish forces at Hifpaniala. Is immediately purfued by Sir George Rodney. Partial engagement between the French feet and the van of the English, on the 9th of April. Great fea-fight on the 12th, which lafis from funerife to fun-fet. Gallantry difplayed on both fides. French fleet entirely routed. The Count de Graffe taken in the Ville de Paris. Four other ships of the |