difficulties under which the English laboured. The war had become a
world-wide one. Not only had the two maritime powers France and Spain
engaged in it, but it was plain that our old rivals the Dutch were soon
going to do so also. Before the end of the year an unusually strong
instance of our determination to insist on the right of searching
neutral ships, when a convoy was searched and captured under the guns of
the convoying ships of war, had raised the anger of the Dutch to a high
pitch. The capture of a vessel containing Mr. Laurens, late President of
the American Congress, and proofs that he was engaged in making an
alliance with the States of Holland, rendered it impossible to avoid a
declaration of war, and Holland was added to our armed opponents. Nor
was this all. The same odious rigour of search nearly brought all the
nations of the North upon us. The Empress of Russia had suffered from it
at the hands of the Spaniards. She therefore, acting probably at the
instigation of the King of Prussia, constituted herself the champion of
neutral rights, and succeeded in uniting the nations of the North in an
armed neutrality in support of the doctrine that neutral ships made
neutral cargoes, and that nothing was contraband of war except what had
been definitely made so by treaty. In other words, she claimed for
neutrals the right of carrying the property of belligerents unmolested,
a right which virtually told against the English only, whose main hope
lay in keeping dominion of the sea and stopping the trade and supplies
of its enemies. The Armed Neutrality also upheld the now generally
received principle that a blockade to be respected must be efficient,
that is, that there must be sufficient force before a blockaded port to
prevent the entrance of trading vessels. The whole maritime power of
Europe was thus arrayed against England, and yet it was only by keeping
the upper hand at sea that she could hope to carry out successfully her
attempts on land. It was impossible to pour large armies into America
and to subdue a continent without some easily accessible base of
operations. This base the sea afforded. It will be seen in the sequel
that the loss of naval supremacy was the immediate cause of the disaster
of Yorktown.
[Sidenote: Arnold's treachery.]
[Sidenote: Trial and death of Major André.]
But as yet the arms of England continued to be successful. Clinton,
leaving Cornwallis to command in the South, had hastened back from
Carolina to New York, that he might be ready to oppose the French fleet,
whose arrival had been threatened. In June the expected armament
arrived, consisting of seven line of battle-ships and 6000 men under the
Count de Rochambeau. The rapidity with which Rhode Island was at once
occupied and placed in a state of defence thwarted the efforts of the
English to regain it, but the British fleet was so much stronger than
that of the enemy that a blockade was maintained around the seaboard of
the province, which paralyzed all action on the part of the French for
the rest of the year. This forced inactivity of Rochambeau gave rise to
one of the best known episodes of the war. Washington left his
headquarters to meet the French general and concert measures for action
if possible. His absence was used for the purpose of carrying out a
piece of treachery which had long been hatching. General Arnold was in
command at West Point on the Hudson, a position of great importance, as
it prevented the occupation of the valley which affords direct
communication between New York and Canada. Married to a royalist wife,
with a feeling that his undoubted genius was not sufficiently valued,
and smarting under a public reprimand for some dishonest practices into
which he had been led by his poverty and love of ostentation, Arnold had
for some time been in secret correspondence with Clinton, making
arrangements for changing sides, and handing over to the English the
important post of which he had charge. The correspondence had been
carried on through Major André, a young and very promising officer, now
Adjutant-General of Clinton's army. Washington's departure seemed to
offer an opportunity for carrying out the plan. To complete the
negotiation a personal interview was required, and Major André, with
instructions from Clinton not to enter the lines of the enemy and to
wear uniform, repaired to the neighbourhood of West Point. When day
dawned the interview was not over, and André was induced to continue it
in a house within the American lines. On leaving he was also imprudent
enough to dress as a civilian. He had already passed the lines on his
homeward journey, when he was accidentally met and stopped by some
militiamen; he avowed himself an English officer, but presented a pass
from Arnold; the pass was disregarded, he was searched, and papers found
in his boot. Under these circumstances there were about him all the
outward marks of a spy, and as such he was treated. Much to the anger of
the English, Washington, refusing to hear any representations in his
favour, brought him to trial before a court of American officers, by
whom he was condemned. He even rejected the last prayer of the
enthusiastic soldier, that he might be saved from a felon's death, and
had him hanged, with all the usual attendant circumstances of
disgrace--a piece of stern but perhaps necessary justice, and, in spite
of the outcry raised at the time, apparently in strict accordance with
the laws of war. Timely information of André's capture enabled Arnold to
escape from his house, where Washington was momentarily expected, and to
obtain shelter on board the English man-of-war which had conveyed André
to the ill-fated meeting. Washington was surprised on reaching Arnold's
house to find no host, but it was not till he had paid a visit to West
Point, and found the commander absent there also, that he discovered the
real state of the case.
[Sidenote: Campaign in Carolina.]
While things were thus at a standstill round New York, the war had been
actively prosecuted in Carolina. Alarmed by the fall of Charleston, the
Americans had sent General Gates to take the command there; they
regarded him as their ablest general, and he figured in some degree as a
rival to Washington. He found the English in possession of a line of
country extending from Pedee river to Fort 96. The main body of the
English, under the command of Lord Rawdon, lay in the neighbourhood of
Camden, towards the centre of this line. Against this position Gates
advanced; his march was a very difficult one; he had to make his way
through a rough uncultivated country, where provisions were not to be
obtained; for several days his troops had to subsist on the peaches
which are there almost indigenous. He was able, in spite of these
difficulties, to bring into the field a force numerically double that of
the English, who were no more than 2000 strong. His troops, however,
were unable to withstand the attack of a well-disciplined force. On the
left and centre they at once threw down their arms and took to flight.
The troops from Maryland and Delaware upon the right showed, it is true,
more firmness, but the victory of the English was complete, and Lord
Cornwallis, who had hurried up to assume the command, improved it to the
utmost. Colonel Tarleton, an officer of indefatigable energy, pushed
rapidly forward, and succeeded in surprising Colonel Sumter, a partisan
officer, on the Catawba, and the whole army moved steadily forward to
Charlotte, with the intention of invading North Carolina. A slight check
sustained by a body of loyal militia, however, alarmed Cornwallis, and,
together with the smallness of the number of troops at his command,
induced him to postpone his forward movement till the following year. In
the interval he and Lord Rawdon, his second in command, were guilty of
acts of most impolitic severity. Such prisoners as could be proved to be
deserters from the royal army, or to have once accepted the royal
Government and to have subsequently joined Gates, were hanged. Some of
the disaffected residents of Charleston were deported to Saint Augustin,
while the property of others was sequestrated. Rawdon in fact went even
further, and ventured to set a price on the head of every rebel. Such
acts went far to alienate the people, and by weakening the security of
the communications increased the difficulties of the following year, and
tended to neutralize the effects of a very promising campaign.
[Sidenote: St. Eustatia captured. 1781.]
The same success which had attended the English arms in Carolina
followed the efforts of the fleet in the early part of the next year;
Rodney captured from the Dutch, who had joined the coalition against
England, the enormously wealthy island of St. Eustatia. Much of the
property collected there belonged however to English owners, and a vast
clamour arose when the admiral declared it all prize of war. He
asserted, and it subsequently became plain, that the island was used as
an entrepôt for the collection of goods which were afterwards to be
supplied to the enemy. Other charges brought against him, accusing him
of hasty and over rigorous action, afterwards proved to be equally ill
founded, for fortunately both military and naval commanders were members
of Parliament, and had full opportunity of vindicating themselves before
the House, and of stripping the charges against them of the
exaggerations which surrounded them. Thus General Vaughan was charged
with forcible removal of all Jews from the island, but was able to
produce a written document from the Jews themselves thanking him for his
considerate treatment of them.
[Sidenote: Delusive character of these early successes.]
These successes soon proved to be delusive. The coalition against
England was becoming too powerful to be withstood. Already a great drawn
battle with the Dutch had been fought off the Doggerbank, and Sir Hyde
Parker had been compelled to withdraw his shattered fleet into English
quarters; and it soon became evident that we had for the present lost
our supremacy of the sea, or at least were unable to keep a commanding
superiority in all parts of the world at once, for to such dimensions
had the war grown. Thus the French made an attack upon Jersey, which was
only saved, when it had already fallen into their hands, by the
intrepidity of Major Pierson, a young soldier of twenty-five, who
himself lost his life by almost the last shot fired; another and more
successful expedition under the Duke of Crillon assaulted Minorca; while
a great armament setting out from France parted midway across the
Atlantic, thus becoming two fleets, one of which, under Bailli de
Suffren, was able to give us full employment in the Indian waters, while
the other, under De Grasse, raised the naval power in the West Indies
above our own. Rodney found himself unable to save the Island of Tobago,
and, broken by the climate, was compelled to return to England. Nor was
his successor Sir Samuel Hood more fortunate; a detached squadron was
found sufficient to counterbalance the English fleet in the West Indies,
while De Grasse sailed with the bulk of his fleet to the American coast,
where his arrival at once turned the balance against us, and deprived us
of that command of the sea which was absolutely necessary for our
success. The fatal effects of this loss were soon to be apparent.
[Sidenote: Battle of Guildford Courthouse. March 15.]
[Sidenote: Hobkirk's Hill. April 25, 1781.]
The first warlike event of the year was an expedition under General
Arnold (who had obtained a command from his new masters) directed
against Virginia, in the hope that such a diversion might assist
Cornwallis in what was intended to be the main effort of the year. It
produced however no great effects beyond the destruction of a
considerable amount of property, and when Cornwallis set himself in
motion, he found himself faced by a more formidable opponent than
General Gates. At the instigation of Washington, Nathaniel Greene, a
self-made general, who had risen from a blacksmith's forge, had been
given command in the South. He proved himself a man of great vigour and
tenacity, and though invariably beaten when opposed to any large body of
English troops, he contrived to recover so quickly, that the barren name
of victory was usually all that was left to the English. The campaign
opened by the defeat of Colonel Tarleton, who had rashly attacked the
Americans under Morgan at Cow-pens; nor could Cornwallis succeed in
getting between the victorious general and Greene's army; their united
forces were compelled however to fall back before Cornwallis' advance
till they had evacuated the whole of North Carolina. Political
necessities checked the English advance, and Cornwallis attempted,
without much success, to consolidate the royal influence in the
province; but, by the middle of March, Greene found himself again in a
position to re-enter Carolina and to give battle to Cornwallis in the
neighbourhood of Guildford. He occupied a position at Guildford
Courthouse; as usual the English were victorious, as usual they reaped
nothing from their victory, for Cornwallis, finding his troops much
diminished in numbers and not meeting with the assistance he expected
from the inhabitants, was compelled to fall back upon Wilmington. Greene
did not long pursue him, for by thus withdrawing to the coast he had
laid open the road into South Carolina, where Rawdon had been left with
a small detachment. Greene saw his opportunity, and pushing boldly
southward, again approached the English post at Camden. Afraid to attack
Rawdon without reinforcements, he occupied a strong position upon
Hobkirk's Hill, about two miles from Camden. There Rawdon thought it
prudent to attack him, and he was driven from his position. The
ludicrous insufficiency of the English troops (there were but 900
engaged in the battle) again prevented them from using their victory,
and Greene was enabled, without risking another engagement, to compel
Rawdon to withdraw his troops to the immediate defence of Charleston.
[Sidenote: Position of the English armies.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Eutaw. Sept. 8.]
Meanwhile two courses had been open to Cornwallis at Wilmington; he
might either hurry in pursuit of Greene and assist the hard pressed
army of Rawdon, or push northward and effect a junction with the
Virginian expedition, which has already been mentioned, under Arnold and
Phillips. To pursue the first course was to give up all his previous
successes, to relinquish all hope of striking a decisive blow; for
independent action his own army, numbering only 1500, was too small: he
decided therefore to march northward, and in May formed a junction with
the expedition, by which the number of his troops was raised to 7000. He
left Wilmington on the day on which the battle of Hobkirk's Hill was
fought. Till the heat of summer compelled a cessation of active
fighting, Cornwallis was always superior to his enemy; but as the autumn
advanced, the Americans, who had been constantly reinforced, were again
a match for him. The three English armies were then acting--the main
body, 10,000 strong, under Clinton at New York--Cornwallis' army, about
7000 strong, on the coast of Virginia--Rawdon's handful of men, now
under the command of Colonel Stewart, a little in advance of Charleston.
Before the close of the year the whole of South Carolina and Georgia
were lost, with the exception of Charleston and Savannah; for Greene,
coming down from his summer position on the Santee Hills, had succeeded,
after a very severe struggle at the Eutaw Springs, in obliging Colonel
Stewart to retire to Charleston Neck, leaving the whole open country to
be overrun by the Americans.
[Sidenote: Cornwallis in Virginia.]
[Sidenote: American armies close round Yorktown.]
[Sidenote: Cornwallis compelled to surrender. Oct. 18, 1781.]
The position of Cornwallis was also becoming critical. Cut off from
support on the south, his only hope was to fight his way northwards to
join Clinton, or to receive large reinforcements from this general by
sea; but it was not likely that Washington would allow his army to be
neutralized by the English troops in New York. It was almost certain
that he would turn his attention southward, join General Wayne in
Virginia, and render a northward movement of the English impossible. The
only real hope was from the sea, but the sea was no longer a secure
basis of operations. The English fleet, now under the command of Admiral
Graves, who had succeeded Arbuthnot, tried its strength against De
Grasse in September. The action was indecisive, but it became evident
that, when all the fleets were joined, the French could muster
thirty-six sail of the line in the Bay of Chesapeake, while the English
force was no more than twenty-five. But as yet the English did not
acknowledge the naval superiority of their enemies, and Cornwallis,
acting as he believed, though apparently erroneously, on instructions
from Clinton, took possession of Yorktown, a village on the high
southern bank of York river, and there awaited assistance. The
defensive position thus taken up by the English army and the want of
energy shown is explained by the news which had reached Clinton, that
the French were thinking of withdrawing if the war should last beyond
the current year. He believed that, could he contrive to weather the
difficulties which surrounded him, the opposition of the Americans,
unable to stand alone, would on the loss of their allies disappear
without further effort on his part. His hope was not unfounded; it was
in truth a critical moment for the Americans. At a meeting between the
American generals and De Grasse, the Admiral had declared that he had
orders not to remain longer than November; the nation was on the verge
of bankruptcy; the New England States, with the selfishness which had
marked them throughout, were ready to give in. It was thus absolutely
necessary for Washington to act quickly and to win some striking
success. What Clinton therefore ought to have foreseen happened;
Washington turned his attention towards Virginia, and undeterred by an
assault on the New England States which Clinton attempted as a
diversion, the mass of the American army began steadily to gather round
Cornwallis. The position which he occupied was not a happy one, it was
in fact untenable without command of the sea, which, as has been
mentioned, had already been lost. He occupied the southern bank of the
York river, there about a mile wide, and on the northern side the little
village of Gloucester. The fortifications were of no great value, and
the advanced posts were at once withdrawn upon the receipt of a despatch
from Clinton, stating that there was every hope that the fleet, with
5000 men, would attempt to relieve the army, and would leave New York
for that purpose in about ten days' time. This was a fatal error, as it
gave the enemy positions commanding the works. The besiegers numbered
18,000, their large and powerful artillery being in part supplied by the
French ships. The first parallel was completed on the 9th of October;
the fire from it was overwhelming: on the 11th the second parallel was
opened, nor could the bravery of the besieged prevent the capture of two
advanced redoubts on the 14th, which were at once included in it. It now
became evident to the besieged that the expected reinforcements had
failed them, and after a brilliant sally, during which many of the
enemy's guns were spiked, Cornwallis, finding all his guns silenced and
his ammunition drawing to a close, felt that he had to choose between
surrender and an effort to withdraw his troops from their untenable
position. He determined to attempt the latter plan; his scheme was a
desperate one; his troops were to be transported in open boats to
Gloucester, they were there to break through the enemy's lines, which
were not strong in that direction, to seize the horses of the besiegers
and of the neighbouring country people, and make their way to New York.
The boats with their loads had already crossed once when a storm arose
which rendered the further prosecution of the plan impossible, and when
morning dawned Cornwallis had no alternative but to make terms. He
agreed to surrender all his troops as prisoners of war, and on the 19th
of October, 4000 British soldiers who remained fit for work marched out
with the honours of war between the long lines of the French and
American army and laid down their arms. It is worth mentioning, as a
strange little piece of professional arrogance, that when marching
between the lines of French on the one side and Americans on the other,
the English officers saluted punctiliously all the French officers as
belonging to a regular army, but refused any acknowledgment to the
Americans. This was virtually the close of the war. The infant Hercules
had strangled its second serpent, as was afterwards portrayed on
Franklin's medal.
[Sidenote: New session of Parliament. Nov. 27.]
[Sidenote: Tottering condition of the Government.]
[Sidenote: Defeat of the ministry on Conway's motion.]
[Sidenote: Lord North's resignation.]
The close of the war under such circumstances of failure could not but
bring with it the fall of the ministry. The news arrived at a striking
time, but two days before the opening of the session. With such a weapon
in their hand, and with the stored-up rancour of ten years of
opposition, the leaders of the Whigs pressed motion after motion against
the Government. Fox and Burke vied with each other in their bitter
assaults, and the young Pitt, who had come into Parliament as member for
Appleby, on the nomination of Sir James Lowther, rapidly assumed a high
position on the same side. The Budget was in itself a proof that Lord
North was yielding; the estimates were so small, that he had to explain
that he intended to give up all notion of a war on a "continental plan
by sending armies to march through the provinces from South to North;"
he would henceforth content himself with holding some important harbours
on the American coast. Outside Parliament, in the metropolitan counties,
vigorous opposition meetings were held, and the public anger was raised
to its climax by a succession of misfortunes which befell our arms.
Admiral Kempenfeldt found himself completely outnumbered in the West
Indies, and the whole of the Leeward Islands, except Barbadoes and
Antigua, were lost. Minorca, which was regarded as of even more
importance than Gibraltar, and the key to the Mediterranean,
surrendered after a gallant defence. The Bailli de Suffren thwarted an
expedition against the Cape of Good Hope, at the same time at home the
Irish difficulties, which will be treated of more at length afterwards,
were becoming most threatening. Under these circumstances, a motion by
General Conway, that the war on the continent of America should be
discontinued was lost by one vote only, and a repetition of the same
motion a week later was carried by a majority of 234 against 215. Lord
George Germaine, who was pledged to the continuance of the war, withdrew
from the Government, and finally a direct vote of no confidence on the
15th of March was only lost by a scanty majority of nine. North saw that
further struggle was hopeless, and on the 20th compelled the King to
allow him to declare the administration at an end. He went out of office
with his usual tact and good humour. A great attack had been arranged
for that evening, which was to be led by Lord Surrey; he and North rose
at the same moment, and the cries from the rival parties could not be
quelled till Fox rose and proposed a formal motion that Lord Surrey be
first heard. With admirable presence of mind, North rose and said that
he would speak to that motion, and prove its inutility by declaring his
government at an end. There is a well-known anecdote of his persistent
good humour; expecting a long debate, the Opposition members had sent
away their carriages, and as they stood awaiting them shivering in the
drizzling rain, Lord North passed through them to get into his.
"Gentlemen," he said, "you see the advantage of being in the secret,"
and drove off.
[Sidenote: Shelburne refuses the Premiership.]
[Sidenote: New Whig Government.]