1775] RESIGNATION OF THE DUKE OF GRAFTON. 351 that day; one paragraph declares,* "That they regard the hostile blockade of the Port of Boston, the attack upon the venerable Charter Rights of Massachusetts, the extension of the Bounds of Quebec, the establishment of Popery, and an arbitrary form of Government in that Province, and the exclusive Priviledges virtually given to it in the Indian Trade; as so many Steps of an ill-judging administration that most eminently endanger the liberty and prosperity of the whole Empire." The appointment of a military governor of Massachusetts was followed up by the despatch of several regiments to America. Three generals in command accompanied them; they were all members of parliament. It is easy to conceive why a general of character and intelligence, a man of family and property, should be selected to represent his county in parliament. It does not so readily suggest itself, why members of parliament should be considered the most eligible. for service in the field, or afloat. It was a part of the dreary system of that day. The three generals selected had all seats. in the house, so had Cornwallis and Grant, the latter, a forgotten name of which, at the proper time, I shall have more to say. Chatham's retirement did not immediately lead to the resignation of the duke of Grafton. Lord North, however, continued to be head of the government, possessing the full favour and confidence of the king. In August, 1775, Grafton wrote to North, urging conciliation with America. The letter remained unanswered for seven weeks, until the 20th of October, 1775; when North replied, by enclosing him a copy of the royal speech. Its purport was the recommendation to use every force to reduce the colonies, North himself adding that he feared "that declaring a cessation of arms at this time would establish that independence, which the leaders of the faction in America have always advocated." Grafton immediately resigned; in his audience with the king he declared that the ministers were deluding him and themselves. It was * N.Y. Doc., VIII., p. 584. on this occasion that the king told Grafton that the forces would be joined by a large body of German troops. The retirement of the duke of Grafton was followed by other changes in the ministry: lord Dartmouth was replaced by lord George Germaine, and lord Rochford by lord Weymouth. Germaine was sixty years old when he assumed office; he came into power by the express favour of the king. No firmer supporter of the royal opinions, whatever they might be, was to be found among the most servile of the king's friends. In the cabinet he was the advocate of extreme measures against the provinces, as if to retrieve the want of courage he had shewn in the field. His treatment of every American question was marked by the most uncompromising insolence; insolence he carried into every branch of duty he controlled. His haughty interference in the events of the war, which exercised control over operations three thousand miles away, invariably led to disaster; and in his place in the house of commons, his offensive manner was but a poor protection against the justice of the reproaches with which he was assailed. He may be held to a great extent responsible for the failure of Burgoyne's campaign in 1777, as I will clearly establish in the narrative of the event, by the control he exercised on the acceptance of Burgoyne's plan; the diversion of the force of St. Leger to the Mowhawk; his cumbersome orders as to its conduct; the gross injustice to Carleton in displacing him from the command; above all, by his failure to give the necessary orders to Howe or to Clinton, to advance from New York, so that Burgoyne received neither aid nor co-operation: that unfortunate general indeed had his own bad generalship to answer for. All this, joined to the pertinacity with which Germaine, for a long period, by his personal influence, impeded parliamentary enquiry into the campaign, furnishes a volume of condemnation on his memory, which it is impossible to nullify, and for which scarcely a parallel in history can be found. One of the most cutting things ever said to Germaine was by Burgoyne in 1781, a few months previous to his resignation: "These observations might be 1775] VISCOUNT SACKVILLE. 353 called military remarks," said Burgoyne, "but let the house remember that they are addressed to a military secretary of state. The country has not forgotten he vas a soldier, the country feels that he is a councillor." Germaine resigned office in February, 1782, when he was raised to the peerage as viscount Sackville. There is an account of the interview between George III. and Germaine on this occasion, which establishes the astonishing insolence of the man's character. Wraxall writes: “The particulars attending the elevation . . I received on the same day when they took place from Lord George's ow mouth. . . . After regretting the unfortunate events that had dictated the measure and thanking Lord George for his services, His Majesty added: "Is there anything that I can do to express my sense of them which can be agreeable to you?" Sir," answered he, if your majesty is pleased to raise me to the dignity of the peerage it will form at once the best reward to which I can aspire, and the best proof of your approbation of my past exertions in your affairs." "By all means," said the king, “I think it very proper and shall do it with pleasure." "Then sir," rejoined Lord George, "If you agree to my first request, I hope you will not think it unbecoming or unreasonable in me to ask another favour. It is to create me a Viscount, as should I be only raised to the dignity of a Baron, my own secretary, my lawyer and my father's page will all three take rank of me." The king expressing a wish to know the names of the persons to whom he alluded. “The* first,” replied Lord George, "is Lord Walsingham, who as your majesty knows was for some time under secretary of state in my office when Mr. de Grey. The second is Lord Lougborough, who has been always my legal adviser. Lord Amherst is the third, who, when page to my father, the late Duke of Dorsett, has often sat on the brakes of the state coach that conveyed him as lord-lieutenant of Ireland to the parliament house at Dublin." The king smiled, adding: “What you say is very reasonable, it shall be so; and now let me know the title that you choose."-Vol. II., pp. 493-5. CHAPTER V. The narrative of the war of the revolution establishes the fact that the crisis on which the future was to turn, whether or not armed resistance would be appealed to by the colonies, occurred in the winter of 1774-1775. It depended upon the ministerial policy followed in London during these months if the agitation would subside, or assume a wider and more dangerous character. There was, undoubtedly, an active party in America prepared to push matters to extremity, whatever sacrifice might be involved in the attempt; but those constituting it did not possess the influence, if energetically opposed, to induce the whole country to sustain them in this hazardous enterprise. The class which hesitated to accept the chances of having recourse to arms was numerous, and had those composing it been supported by wise legislation and the presence of a commanding force, they would have stood aloof. Had the determination of stamping out every form of rebellion, been unmistakably made apparent, the agitation, if prolonged, would have assumed a more pacific character, on the lines which the constitution permitted. The first requirement in such a case, was to appoint able governors who would support law and order, possessing the military strength to act summarily when the emergency called for its exercise; above all, men who felt that they would not be abandoned by the authorities when carrying out their instructions. By the mass of the population the power of Great Britain was still dreaded, and the feeling was strong that great injury must result to the provinces if they were occupied in a hostile spirit by troops having the enterprise and courage which distinguished them in the days of Pitt. There were few only who believed that, with able generals, any resistance would be successful and it was only insensibly and by degrees, that 1774] WANT OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE COLONIES. 355 the great body of the people was led to regard an appeal to arms as possible. Opinion in the colonies had taken the form that it was only necessary to persevere in the expressed determination of paying no parliamentary tax, for the mother country in a short period to abandon the policy she had entered upon, and for the old relationship to be re-established. One of the great arguments which had weight in London, was the constant pretension of devotion, on the part of the provinces towards the mother country. With many, who afterwards rose to prominence in the revolution, the feeling was up to a certain period sincere; but the sentiment passed away as the weakness and irresolution of the British. ministry gave courage to the leading malcontents. Thus many were drawn forward towards the advocacy of an active resistance, from which they had previously recoiled; and as often happens, the country drifted into a contest, the bitterness of which was increased by the perseverance of the men who sought independence. There never was any attempt on the part of the home ministry to counterbalance this organized violence. They allowed tumult to follow tumult with no effort at repression, as if all this strength of feeling, like a fire ill-supplied with fuel, would burn itself out: as if they were incapable of foreseeing the evil consequences their fatuity was calling forth. There is no chapter in history which can be more profitably read by the modern statesman than that which records the absence of all political foresight, traceable in the winter of 1774-1775. Among all ranks in England, there was a general ignorance concerning the condition, strength and sentiments of the colonies. From the commencement of the dispute in 1765, the discontent had been regarded more in the view. that it would affect the politics of the house of commons, than according to the true circumstances which characterized it. The ministers of every administration had acted without any fixed policy, beyond the desire of keeping the king on their side. Few men had studied the American question with more earnestness than the king himself. He astonished |