Chapter XVII: Part 17

In the preceding pages, we have had occasion to trace the causes and events of that struggle which resulted in the independence of the United States; and, in so doing, incidental mention has been made of some of the leading men of England, who figured in the cabinet, in the field, and on the ocean; with the part they acted either in favor of, or in opposition to the grand object of the colonies in their contest with the mother-country. Judging from his own early desires, the author persuades himself that he will be conferring a favor upon his readers by giving some brief sketches, in this place, of those distinguished men, and of others, who contributed to retard or accelerate the final result. Such notices of the most prominent, we proceed to give, beginning with the monarch, the great fountain of power and law, then on the throne of Great Britain.

GEORGE III.

George III. was born in 1738, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his grandfather, George II., October 25, 1760, about the time the troubles with America began. At this period, principally through the lofty spirit and political sagacity of Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, who was, and for some time had been, at the head of the administration, the affairs of the nation were in a most prosperous state. The army and navy were highly efficient, and flushed with recent conquests; the revenue flourished; commerce was increasing; the people were loyal; and, perhaps, no prince had ascended the throne of his ancestors with more flattering prospects than George the Third.

Soon after ascending the throne, the king evinced a determination to procure a general peace. In this measure he differed from his great minister, Pitt, who, on that account, retired from office, October 5, 1761. Peace, however, contrary to the wishes and designs of the king could not be obtained on a just basis, and the war proceeded.

In May, 1762, Lord Bute, a particular favorite of the king, who had contrived to gain a remarkable ascendancy over him, succeeded the Duke of Newcastle, as first lord of the treasury. Preliminaries of peace between England, France, and Spain, were signed on the 3d of November, and the definite treaty followed, February 10th, 1763. The people, however, were by no means pacifically inclined, or contented with the political ascendancy of Lord Bute, whose administration was attacked with unsparing severity by several popular writers, particularly by the celebrated John Wilkes, in his periodical paper, called the North Briton. The arrest of Wilkes, and the seizure of his papers under a general warrant, issued by the secretary of state for the home department, increased the indignation and clamors of the people; Lord Bute was execrated throughout the country, and the king himself became exceedingly unpopular. The removal of the favorite, and the appointment of George Grenville to the head of the treasury, having failed to allay the national irritation, Pitt, it is asserted, was at length summoned to court, and requested to make arrangements for forming a new ministry; but he presumed, it is added, to dictate such arrogant terms, that, rather than submit to them, the king said he would place the crown on Pitt's head, and submit his own neck to the axe.

In 1764, the king suggested to Grenville the taxation of America, as a grand financial measure for relieving the mother-country from the heavy war expenses, which, it was unjustly claimed, had chiefly been incurred for the security of the colonies. The minister was startled, and raised objections to the proposal, which, however, were overruled by the king, who plainly told him that, if he were afraid to adopt such a measure, others might easily be found who possessed more political courage. At length, Grenville reluctantly brought the subject before parliament; and, in spite of a violent opposition, the stamp act, so important in its consequences, was passed in the following year. The most alarming irritation prevailed among the colonists of America.

The Rockingham party, which now came into power, procured the repeal of the stamp act; but, notwithstanding this and some other popular measures of the new cabinet, it was dissolved in the summer of 1766. The Duke of Grafton succeeded Lord Rockingham, as first lord of the treasury, and Pitt (then Earl of Chatham) took office as lord privy seal. In the following year, Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, proposed the taxation of certain articles imported by the American colonists; and, early in 1768, Lord Chatham retired in deep disgust from the administration, which, during the preceding autumn, had been weakened by the succession of Lord North to Charles Townshend, as chancellor of the exchequer. Some other official changes took place; one of the most important of which, perhaps, was the appointment of Lord Hillsborough to the new colonial secretaryship.

The aspect of affairs in America grew more serious every hour: the deputies of Massachusetts declared taxation by the British parliament to be illegal; a scheme for a general congress of the different states was proposed, and an open rupture with the mother-country was evidently approaching. Blind to the consequences of their fatal policy, the king and his ministers, however, persisted in those measures, with regard to the trans-Atlantic colonies, which eventually produced a dismemberment of the empire.

In January, 1770, the Duke of Grafton resigned all his employments; but, unfortunately for America, he was succeeded by Lord North, who increased rather than alleviated the national calamities, and was decidedly with the king in his determination never to yield to the demands of the colonists, but to coerce them to submission, however unjustly, by the arm of power.

In 1782, Lord North was compelled to resign, and the Rockingham party, friendly to the independence of America, came into office; but the new administration soon afterwards broke up, on account of the sudden death of the premier. Lord Shelburne was now placed at the head of the treasury, and Pitt, son of the great Earl of Chatham, became chancellor of the exchequer.

In 1783, a general peace was concluded, and the United States procured a formal acknowledgment of their independence. When Adams, the first American envoy, attended at the levee, the king, to whom he was personally disagreeable, received him with dignified composure, and said, "I was the last man in England to acknowledge the independence of America, but having done so, I shall also be the last to violate it." This was highly honorable to the king. America was a jewel in the British crown which was increasing in lustre, to part with which was truly painful to royal ambition. Nor did George III. consent to any acts which tended to this relinquishment, only as he was compelled to it by the ill success of his armies in America, and the clamorous demands for peace by his subjects at home. But having, at length, parted with this jewel, and having acknowledged the independence of America, he nobly declared his intention to live in peace with this newborn empire.

JOHN BURGOYNE.

General Burgoyne was the natural son of Lord Bingley. At an early age he entered the army; and while quartered with his regiment at Preston, married Lady Charlotte Stanley, whose father, the Earl of Derby, was so incensed at the match, that he threatened utterly to discard her; but a reconciliation at length took place, and the earl allowed her three hundred pounds a-year during his life, and, by his will, bequeathed her a legacy of twenty-five thousand pounds. The influence of the family to which Burgoyne had thus become allied, tended materially to accelerate his professional advance. In 1762, he acted as brigadier-general of the British forces which were sent out for the defence of Portugal against France and Spain.

In 1775, he was appointed to a command in America; whence he returned in the following year, and held a long conference with the king on colonial affairs. Resuming his post in 1777, he addressed a proclamation to the native Indians, in which he invited them to his standard, but deprecated, with due severity, the cruel practice of scalping. The pompous turgidity of style, in which this address was couched, excited the ridicule of the Americans, and procured for General Burgoyne the soubriquet of "_Chrononhotonthologos_." His first operations were successful: he dislodged the enemy from Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, and took a large number of cannon, all their armed vessels and batteries, as well as a considerable part of their baggage, ammunition, provisions, and military stores. But his subsequent career was truly disastrous; his troops suffered much from bad roads, inclement weather, and a scarcity of provisions; the Indians, who had previously assisted him, deserted; and the Americans, under General Gates, surrounded him with a superior force, to which, although victorious in two engagements, he was, at length, compelled to capitulate at Saratoga, with the whole of his army. This event, which rendered him equally odious to ministers and the people, was, for some time, the leading topic of the press; and numberless lampoons appeared, in which the general's conduct was most severely satirized. The punsters of the day, taking advantage of the American general's name, amused themselves unmercifully at Burgoyne's expense; but of all their effusions, which, for the most part, were virulent rather than pointed, the following harmless epigram, poor as it is, appears to have been one of the best:

"Burgoyne, unconscious of impending fates,
Could cut his way through woods, but not through GATES."

In May, 1778, he returned to England, on his parole, but the king refused to see him. Burgoyne solicited a court-martial, but in vain. In 1779, he was dismissed the service for refusing to return to America. Three years after, however, he was restored to his rank in the army, appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland, and sworn in one of the privy-council of that kingdom. He died suddenly of a fit of the gout, at his house in Hertford street, on the 4th of August, 1792; and his remains were interred in the cloisters of Westminster abbey.

It would, perhaps, be rash to pronounce a positive opinion of the merits of Burgoyne, as a commander. He boldly courted a scrutiny into the causes which led to his surrender at Saratoga, which ministers refused, because, as it has been insinuated, such a proceeding might expose the absurd imprudence and inefficiency of their own measures with regard to the American war. Prior to the capitulation, his military career, as well in America as Portugal, had been rather brilliant; his misfortune was precisely that which befel Cornwallis; but, unlike the latter, Burgoyne was not allowed an opportunity of redeeming his reputation.

In parliament, he was a frequent and fluent, but neither a sound nor an impressive speaker. While in employment, he appears to have been a staunch advocate for the American war; which, however, he severely reprobated, from the time that he ceased to hold a command. He was a writer, chiefly dramatic, of considerable merit.

SIR HENRY CLINTON.

This distinguished general was a grandson of the Earl of Clinton, and was born about the year 1738. After having received a liberal education, he entered the army, and served for some time in Hanover. In the early part of the revolutionary struggle he came to America, and was present at the battle of Bunker's hill; from which time to the close of the American war, he continued to aid the British cause. In 1777, he was made a Knight of the Bath, and in January, 1778, commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. On his return to England, a pamphlet war took place between him and Cornwallis, as to the surrender of the latter, the entire blame of which each party attributed to the other. In 1793, he obtained the governorship of Gibraltar, in possession of which he died on the 23d of December, 1795.

The merits of Sir Henry Clinton, as a commander, have been variously estimated; and, as is usually the case, the truth seems to be intermediate between the panegyric of his friends and the censure of his enemies. That he was endowed with bravery, and possessed a considerable share of military skill, cannot, in fairness, be denied; but he was decidedly unequal to the great difficulties of his situation and unfit to contend against so lofty a genius as Washington, supported by a people resolved on obtaining their independence, and fighting on their native soil.

ISAAC BARRE.

Colonel Barre was born in Ireland, about the year 1726. He served at Quebec, under Wolfe, in the picture of whose death, by Benjamin West, his figure is conspicuous. The Earl of Shelburne procured him a seat in parliament, where, acting in opposition to government, he was not only deprived of his offices of adjutant-general and governor of Stirling castle, which he had received as a reward for his services in America, but dismissed from the service. During the Rockingham administration, he was compensated for the loss which he had sustained, by being voted a pension of three thousand two hundred pounds per annum; which he subsequently relinquished, pursuant to an arrangement with Pitt, on obtaining a lucrative, but not distinguished office. He usually took office when his party predominated; and was, in the course of his career, a privy counsellor, vice treasurer of Ireland, paymaster of the forces, and treasurer of the navy. His best speeches were delivered during North's administration, on the American war, to which he appears to have been inflexibly opposed. His oratory was powerful, but coarse; his manner, rugged; his countenance, stern; and his stature, athletic. He was suspected, but apparently without reason, of having assisted in writing the letters of Junius. For the last twenty years of his life, he was afflicted with blindness, which, however, he is said to have borne with cheerful resignation. His death took place on the 20th of July, 1792.

CHARLES TOWNSHEND.

Charles Townshend, son of Viscount Townshend, was born 1725. From his youth, he was distinguished for great quickness of conception and extraordinary curiosity. In 1747, he went into parliament, and continued a member till he died. He held various offices in the government. In 1765, he was paymaster general, and chancellor of the exchequer; and a lord of the treasury in August, 1766, from which period he remained in office until his decease, which took place on the 4th of September, 1767.

In person, Charles Townshend was tall and beautifully proportioned; his countenance was manly, handsome, expressive, and prepossessing. He was much beloved in private life, and enjoyed an unusual share of domestic happiness.

Burke, in his speech on American taxation, thus admirably depicted the general character of Charles Townshend: "Before this splendid orb (alluding to the great Lord Chatham) had entirely set, and while the western horizon was in a blaze with his descending glory, on the opposite quarter of the heavens arose another luminary, and for his hour he became lord of the ascendant. This light, too, is passed, and set for ever! I speak of Charles Townshend, officially the rëproducer of this fatal scheme (American taxation); whom I cannot even now remember, without some degree of sensibility. In truth, he was the delight and ornament of this house, and the charm of every private society which he honored with his presence. Perhaps there never arose in this country, nor in any country, a man of more pointed and finished wit, and (where his passions were not concerned) of a more refined, exquisite, and penetrating judgment. If he had not so great a stock, as some have had who flourished formerly, of knowledge long treasured up, he knew better by far, than any man I ever was acquainted with, how to bring together, within a short time, all that was necessary to establish, to illustrate, and to decorate that side of the question he supported. He stated his matter skillfully and powerfully; he particularly excelled in a most luminous explanation and display of his subject."

CHARLES CORNWALLIS, MARQUIS.

Lord Cornwallis, eldest son of the fifth lord, and first Earl Cornwallis, was born 1738. At the age of twenty, he entered the army, and obtained a captaincy. In 1762, on the death of his brother, he took his seat in the house of lords. In 1770, he and three other young peers, having protested, with Lord Camden, against the taxation of America, Mansfield, the chief justice, is said to have sneeringly observed, "Poor Camden could only get four boys to join him!"

Although he had opposed the measures of the government with regard to the disaffected colonies, yet when hostilities commenced, he did not scruple to accept of active employment against the Americans. His history, during the war, will be found in the preceding pages. He was a proud man, and most humiliating was it when he was obliged to surrender to Washington at Yorktown.

But his failure in America did not impair his reputation. On his return to England, he was made governor of the Tower. In 1786, he was sent to Calcutta, as governor-general and commander-in-chief. Having terminated, successfully, a war in that country, he returned to England. In 1799, he became lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Soon after the expiration of his vice-regency, he was sent to France as plenipotentiary for Great Britain, in which capacity he signed the treaty of Amiens. In 1804, he succeeded the Marquis Wellesley, as governor-general of India. On his arrival at Calcutta, he proceeded, by water, to take the command in the upper provinces. The confinement of the boat, the want of exercise, and the heat of the weather, had a most serious effect on his health. Feeling, soon after he had landed, that his dissolution was at hand, he prepared some valuable instructions for his successor; and the last hours of his life were passed in taking measures to lessen the difficulties which his decease would produce. He expired at Ghazepoore, in Benares, on the 5th of October, 1805.

Lord Cornwallis was not endowed with any brilliancy of talent. He had to contend with no difficulties, on his entrance into life: high birth procured him a military station, which his connexions enabled him to retain, after he had committed an error, or, at least, met with a mischance, that would have utterly ruined a less influential commander. Although ambitious, he appears to have possessed but little ardor. He manifested no extraordinary spirit of enterprise; he hazarded no untried manœuvres; and yet, few of his contemporaries passed through life with more personal credit or public advantage. He had the wisdom never to depute to others what he could perform himself. His perseverance, alacrity, and caution, procured him success as a general, while his strong common sense rendered him eminent as a governor. He always evinced a most anxious desire to promote the welfare of those who were placed under his administration; Ireland and Hindostan still venerate his memory. His honor was unimpeachable; his manners, devoid of ostentation; and his private character, altogether amiable.

Napoleon Buonaparte, in his conversations with Barry O'Meara, declared that Lord Cornwallis, by his integrity, fidelity, frankness, and the nobility of his sentiments, was the first who had impressed upon him a favorable opinion of Englishmen. "I do not believe," said the ex-emperor, "that he was a man of first-rate abilities; but he had talent, great probity, sincerity, and never broke his word. Something having prevented him from attending at the Hôtel de Dieu, to sign the treaty of Amiens, pursuant to appointment, he sent word to the French ministers that they might consider it completed, and that he would certainly execute it the next morning. During the night, he received instructions to object to some of the articles; disregarding which, he signed the treaty as it stood, observing that his government, if dissatisfied, might refuse to ratify it, but that, having once pledged his word, he felt bound to abide by it. There was a man of honor!" added Napoleon; "a true Englishman."

LORD CHATHAM.

William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was born November 15, 1708. His father was Robert Pitt, of Boconnock, in the county of Cornwall. He received his education at Trinity college, Cambridge. He took a seat in parliament as early as 1735, as a member for Old Sarum. His exalted talents, his lofty spirit, and commanding eloquence, soon rendered him singularly conspicuous. Under George II., in 1757, he became premier of that celebrated war administration, which raised England to a proud prëeminence over the other nations of Europe. His energy was unbounded. "It must be done," was the reply he often made, when told that his orders could not be executed. After which, no excuse was admitted. Under his auspices, England triumphed in every quarter of the globe. In America, the French lost Quebec; in Africa, their chief settlements fell; in the East Indies, their power was abridged; in Europe, their armies suffered defeat; while their navy was nearly annihilated, and their commerce almost reduced to ruin.

On the accession of George the Third, Pitt, who felt strongly impressed with the policy of declaring war against Spain, was thwarted in his wishes by the influence of Lord Bute; and, disdaining to be nominally at the head of a cabinet which he could not direct, he resigned his office in October, 1761.

In 1764, he greatly distinguished himself by his opposition to general warrants, which, with all his accustomed energy and eloquence, he stigmatized as being atrociously illegal. A search for papers, or a seizure of the person, without some specific charge, was, he contended, repugnant to every principle of true liberty. "By the British constitution," said he, "every man's house is his castle! not that it is surrounded by walls and battlements; it may be a straw-built shed; every wind of heaven may whistle round it; all the elements of nature may enter it; but _the king cannot; the king dare not_."

He invariably opposed, with the whole force of his eloquence, the measures which led to the American war: and long after his retirement from office, he exerted himself most zealously to bring about a reconciliation between the mother-country and her colonies; But when the Duke of Portland, in 1778, moved an address to the crown, on the necessity of acknowledging the independence of America, Lord Chatham, although he had but just left a sick bed, opposed the motion with all the ardent eloquence of his younger days. "My lords," said he, "I lament that my infirmities have so long prevented my attendance here, at so awful a crisis. I have made an effort almost beyond my strength to come down to the house on this day, (_and perhaps it will be the last time I shall be able to enter its walls_,) to express my indignation at an idea which has gone forth of yielding up America. My lords: I rejoice that the grave has not yet closed upon me; that I am still alive to lift up my voice against the dismemberment of this ancient and most noble monarchy. Pressed down, as I am, by the hand of infirmity, I am little able to assist my country in this most perilous conjuncture; but, my lords, while I have sense and memory, I will never consent to deprive the royal offspring of the house of Brunswick of their fairest inheritance."

The Duke of Richmond having replied to this speech, Lord Chatham attempted to rise again, but fainted, and fell into the arms of those who were near him. The house instantly adjourned, and the earl was conveyed home in a state of exhaustion, from which he never recovered. His death took place at Hayes, early in the following month, namely, on the 11th of May, 1778. The House of Commons voted the departed patriot, who had thus died gloriously at his post, a public funeral, and a monument in Westminster abbey at the national expense. An income of four thousand pounds per annum was annexed to the earldom of Chatham, and the sum of twenty thousand pounds cheerfully granted to liquidate his debts: for, instead of profiting by his public employments, he had wasted his property in sustaining their dignity, and died in embarrassed circumstances.

In figure, Lord Chatham was eminently dignified and commanding. "There was a grandeur in his personal appearance," says a writer, who speaks of him when in his decline, "which produced awe and mute attention; and, though bowed by infirmity and age, his mind shone through the ruins of his body, armed his eye with lightning, and clothed his lips with thunder." Bodily pain never subdued the lofty daring, or the extraordinary activity of his mind. He even used his crutch as a figure of rhetoric. "You talk, my lords," said he, on one occasion, "of conquering America--of your numerous friends there--and your powerful forces to disperse her army. I might as well talk of driving them before me with this crutch."

CHARLES JAMES FOX.

Charles James Fox was the third son of Henry Fox, Lord Holland, and was born January 24th, 1749. His mother was a daughter of the Duke of Richmond, and his sister the wife of Lord Cornwallis. Lord Holland made it a rule, in the tuition of his children, to follow and regulate, but not to restrain nature. This indulgence was a sad error, as it always is on the part of parents. On arriving to maturity, Charles used to boast that he was, when young, never thwarted in any thing. Two instances are related of this indulgence of the father, before the son was six years old. One day, standing by his father, while he was winding up a watch--"I have a great mind to break that watch, papa," said the boy. "No, Charles; that would be foolish." "Indeed, papa," said he, "I _must_ do it." "Nay," answered the father, "if you have such a violent inclination, I won't baulk it." Upon which, he delivered the watch into the hands of the youngster, who instantly dashed it on the floor.

At another time, while Lord Holland was secretary of state, having just finished a long dispatch which he was going to send, Mr. Charles, who stood near him, with his hand on the inkstand, said, "Papa, I have a good mind to throw this ink over the paper." "Do, my dear," said the secretary, "if it will give you any pleasure." The young gentleman immediately threw on the ink, and his father sat down very composedly to write the dispatch over again.

Such a course of education, we should anticipate, would work the moral ruin of a child. Its baleful influence was seen in after years, in gambling, horse-racing, drinking, and kindred vices, carried to a fearful extent on the part of this son, whose training was so inauspiciously begun and persevered in.

But, despite of these most degrading and ruinous practices, Fox proved to be one of the most accomplished and effective orators, and perhaps we may add, statesman of his times. He was the rival of Pitt; and, though not so finished in his elocution, he not unfrequently equalled him in the effect produced.

By what means he attained to such eminence, it scarcely appears; for the younger part of his life seems to have been so exclusively devoted to his pleasures, as scarcely to have time left for the cultivation of his intellect. His genius, however, was brilliant; and from his earliest years he was in the society of men distinguished for their cultivated intellect, and the eminent part they took in the government of the country. It is related of Fox, that he would not unfrequently spend the entire night at his favorite amusement, gambling, and thence proceed to the House of Commons, when he would electrify the whole assembly with some cogent and brilliant speech.

Fox was a firm, steadfast friend to the Americans and their independence. At the time the measures which led to the American war had come to a crisis, a formidable party existed in England, opposed to the unjust and illiberal policy of the government. To this party, Fox united himself; and, from his conspicuous talents, soon acquired the authority of a leader. In 1773, he opposed the Boston port bill, and apologized for the conduct of the colonies. In his speech on that occasion, he arraigned the measures of the ministers in bold and energetic language, and explained the principles of the constitution with masculine eloquence. The session of 1775, opened with a speech from the king, declaring the necessity of _coercion_. On this occasion, Fox poured forth a torrent of his powerful eloquence. In that plain, forcible language, which formed one of the many excellencies of his speeches, he showed what ought to have been done, what ministers had promised to do, and what they had not done. He affirmed that Lord Chatham, the king of Prussia--nay, even Alexander the Great--never gained more in one campaign than Lord North had lost.

When the news of the disastrous defeat of Burgoyne reached England, Fox loudly insisted upon an inquiry into the causes of his failure. And in like manner, when the fate of Cornwallis' army at Yorktown was made known, the oppositionists were loud in their denunciations of the proceedings of ministers in regard to the war. Mr. Fox designed to make a motion for an investigation into the conduct of Lord Sandwich, who was at the head of the admiralty. But he was, for a time, too much indisposed to make the attempt. It was on this occasion, that Burke is reported to have said, "that if Fox died, it would be no bad use of his skin, if, like John Ziska's, it should be converted into a drum, and used for the purpose of sounding an alarm to the people of England."

The death of Mr. Fox occurred 13th of August, 1806.

Walpole thus compares the two great orators of England: "Mr. Fox, as a speaker, might be compared to the rough, but masterly specimen of the sculptor's art; Mr. Pitt, to the exquisitely finished statue. The former would need a polish to render him perfect; the latter possessed, in a transcendent degree, every requisite of an accomplished orator. The force of Mr. Fox's reasoning flashed like lightning upon the mind of the hearer: the thunder of Mr. Pitt's eloquence gave irresistible effect to his powerful and convincing arguments."

The sympathy and support of such men as Fox, during our Revolutionary struggle, served to sustain and animate our patriotic fathers. They felt that while they were in the field, engaged in defeating the armies of England, they had friends in the House of Commons, who were making every possible effort to defeat the impolitic and oppressive measures of the king and his ministers.

JOHN STUART.

John Stuart, Marquis of Bute, was born in 1715. In the ninth year of his age, he succeeded his father as Marquis of Bute. On the accession of George the Third, the highest dignities in the state were supposed to be within the grasp of Lord Bute; but, however he might have swayed the king's mind in private, he took no public part in the direction of public affairs until 1761, when he accepted the secretaryship resigned in that year by Lord Holderness. At length, he became prime minister; and, immediately on coming into power, determined, if possible, to effect a peace, which had for some time been negotiating. He accomplished his object, but his success rendered him exceedingly unpopular. He was accused, by some weak-minded persons, of having been bribed by the enemies of his country; and it was added, that the princess dowager had shared with him in the price at which peace had been purchased by the French government.

He quitted office in April, 1763, but continued to exert a powerful influence over the mind of the king, especially in relation to America. Several measures, the object of which was to humble the colonies, and continue them in subjection to the crown, are said to have been suggested by this nobleman. He died in 1792.

GEORGE GRENVILLE.

George Grenville was born 1712. In 1741, he was returned to parliament for the town of Buckingham, for which place he served during the remainder of his life. He held several important offices. In April, 1763, he became first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. He resigned his office in July, 1765, and died in November, 1770. During his premiership, the project of imposing internal taxes in America was carried into effect. The project was first named to him by the king, and urged upon him. At first, the minister was opposed to the idea, but after having adopted it as a measure of his administration, which he was compelled to do by royal authority, he urged and supported it by all the means in his power.

DUKE OF GRAFTON.

Henry Augustus Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, was born 1735. He was educated at Cambridge, where he was notoriously profligate. In July, 1766, the Rockingham administration was dissolved, and the Duke of Grafton was made first lord commissioner of the treasury, which office he held until January, 1770. He has received an unenviable notoriety from the strictures of Junius. His administration was composed of men of different political principles and parties. Junius, in a letter addressed to the duke, thus narrates, and severely animadverts upon, the circumstances of his grace's appointment to the premiership: "The spirit of the favorite (Lord Bute) had some apparent influence upon every administration; and every set of ministers preserved an appearance of duration as long as they submitted to that influence; but there were certain services to be performed for the favorite's security, or to gratify his resentments, which your predecessors in office had the wisdom, or the virtue, not to undertake. A submissive administration was, at last, gradually collected from the deserters of all parties, interests, and connexions; and nothing remained but to find a leader for these gallant, well-disciplined troops. Stand forth, my lord, for thou art the man! Lord Bute found no resource of dependence or security in the proud, imposing superiority of Lord Chatham's abilities; the shrewd, inflexible judgment of Mr. Grenville; nor in the mild, but determined integrity of Lord Rockingham. His views and situation required a creature void of all these properties; and he was forced to go through all his division, resolution, composition, and refinement of political chemistry, before he happily arrived at the _caput mortuum_ of vitriol in your grace. Flat and insipid in your retired state, but brought into action, you become vitriol again. Such are the extremes of alternate indolence or fury, which have governed your whole administration!"

FREDERICK NORTH, EARL OF GUILFORD.

This nobleman, better known as Lord North, was the minister of George III., under whose administration England lost her American colonies. He succeeded Charles Townshend, as chancellor of the exchequer; and, in 1770, the Duke of Grafton, as first lord of the treasury, and continued in that high, but laborious office, till the conclusion of the war. As a public character, Lord North was a flowing and persuasive orator, well skilled in argumentation, and master of great presence and coolness of mind; and, in private life, he was very amiable, cheerful, and jocose in conversation, the friend of learned men, and correct in conduct. In his policy towards America, he was stern and uncompromising. On first coming into power, he was inclined to be conciliatory; but soon he adopted restrictive and oppressive measures, more so than his predecessors, and, at length, declared that he would omit no means but that he would bring America in humility at his feet. The faithful warnings of Pitt, Burke, Fox, and others, had no restraining influence, and the consequence was, that America was lost to the British crown. Lord North, in the latter years of his life, was afflicted with blindness. He died July, 1792, aged sixty.

BARRASTRE TARLETON.

Colonel Tarleton was born in Liverpool, on the 21st of August, 1754, and at first commenced studying law, but, on the breaking out of war in America, he entered the army, and, having arrived in that country, he was permitted to raise a body of troops called the "British Legion," which he commanded in several successful excursions against the enemy. Such was the daring intrepidity, energy, and skill, with which he conducted his corps, that he may be said to have greatly accelerated, if not secured, some of the most important victories under Lord Cornwallis. On his return to England, he was made a colonel, and became so popular that, in 1790, he was returned, free of expense, as a member for Liverpool, which he represented in three subsequent parliaments.

In 1818, previously to which he had been raised to the rank of general, he was created a baronet, and, on the coronation of George the Fourth, was made a K. C. B. He was one of the bravest officers of his time, and is described as having been to the British, in the American war, what Arnold, in his early career, was to the Americans.

SIR PETER PARKER.

Sir Peter Parker, son of Rear-admiral Christopher Parker, was born in 1723, and entered the navy under the auspices of his father. Having served with great reputation on several occasions, in 1775 he hoisted his broad pendant on board the Bristol, of fifty guns, in which he proceeded, with a squadron under his command, to the American station. On account of bad weather and other impediments, he did not reach Cape Fear until May, 1776. In the following month, he made an unsuccessful attack on Charleston, in South Carolina. Shortly afterwards, he joined Lord Howe, the commander-in-chief, at New York, whence he was dispatched, with the Asia, Renown, and Preston, to distract the attention of the enemy, while the army attacked the lines on Long Island. Towards the close of the same year, he proceeded, in command of a small squadron, to make an attempt on Rhode Island, of which he obtained possession without loss. He was now advanced to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue; and, a few months after, appointed to the chief command on the Jamaica station, where he served with signal success until 1782, in which year he returned with a convoy to England. Before his death, which occurred in 1811, he became admiral of the blue and admiral of the white.

SIR WILLIAM MEADOWS.

Sir William Meadows was born in 1738. In 1775, he repaired with his regiment to America, where he distinguished himself, particularly at the battle of Brandywine, during which he was wounded.

In 1792, he served under Cornwallis in India. On returning to England, he was appointed governor of the Isle of Wight, and, afterwards, governor of Hull. He died at Bath, 1813.

As a military man, he was highly distinguished. He was invariably cheerful, during an engagement; and his troops, by whom he was much beloved, are said, on more than one occasion, to have mounted the breach, laughing at their general's last joke. His hilarity scarcely ever deserted him; one day, while on a reconnoitering party, he observed a twenty-four-pound shot strike the ground, on his right, in such a direction that, had he proceeded, it would, in all probability, have destroyed him; he, therefore, stopped his horse, and, as the ball dashed across the road in front of him, gracefully took off his hat, and said: "I beg, sir, that you will continue your promenade; I never take the precedence of any gentleman of your family."

GENERAL GAGE.

General Thomas Gage, second son of Viscount Gage, was born about the year 1721, and entered the army at an early age. Having served with considerable credit, he was commissioned as lieutenant-general; soon after which, (April, 1774,) he was appointed to succeed Mr. Hutchinson, as governor of Massachusetts Bay. In May, he sailed for Boston with four regiments, where, contrary to his expectations, he was received with great ceremony and outward respect.

About this time, serious troubles of the colonies with England began. General Gage took strong and decided measures, and hastened, rather than retarded, an open contest. By his order it was that the military stores at Concord were destroyed, which led to the skirmish at Lexington, and which opened the war.

On the 10th of October, 1775, he resigned his command to Sir William Howe, and departed for England. At the time of his death, which took place on the 2d of April, 1788, he was a general in the army. His talents for command are said to have been respectable.

SIR GUY CARLTON.

Guy Carlton, Lord Dorchester, was born in Ireland, in 1722. In 1748, he became lieutenant-colonel. In 1758, he served at the siege of Louisburg under Amherst, and the following year under Wolfe, at the siege of Quebec. Ultimately he became governor of Quebec, and, during his administration, defeated the American flotilla under Arnold. In 1790, having been created Baron Dorchester, he was appointed governor of all the British possessions, except Newfoundland, in North America. The close of his life was passed in retirement. He died in 1808. As a soldier, Lord Dorchester appears to have deservedly obtained a high reputation for courage and skill.

MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM.

Charles Watson Wentworth, Marquis of Rockingham, was born 1730. In 1763, disgusted with the proceedings of Lord Bute, then the reigning favorite at court, he resigned the situation of a lord of the bed-chamber, which he had for some time before held, and also his lord-lieutenancy of Yorkshire. Two years had scarcely elapsed, however, when the whole system of government having undergone a change, he was appointed, in July, 1765, first lord of the treasury, in the room of George Grenville. He seems to have brought to his exalted station an anxious desire to advance the prosperity of his country; and had his talents been equal to his good intentions, his administration might have proved fortunate. But the crisis in which he took office was important and even dangerous, and he had to struggle against the intrigues of an opposition, powerful both in numbers and talent. He soon became convinced of the impracticability of remaining at the helm of affairs, and resigned the premiership on the 1st of August, 1766.

During the long administration of Lord North, the marquis was considered, in the House of Lords, as the head of the aristocratic part of the opposition; but his conduct was entirely free from that political rancor which has too often disgraced the parliamentary behavior of the greatest statesmen in England. At length, Lord North felt compelled to succumb beneath the force and continued attacks of his powerful rival, Fox; and George the Third offered the premiership to Lord Shelburne, who, however, declared that, in his judgment, no one was so well fitted to take the lead in administration as the Marquis of Rockingham. Accordingly, in March, 1782, the marquis was again elevated to the chief direction of affairs, having for his principal colleagues, the Earl of Shelburne and Mr. Fox. The ministry thus formed, seemed likely to be permanent; for it united much of the wealth and talent of the country. The hopes of the nation were, however, doomed to be miserably disappointed. On the 1st of July, the marquis was seized with a violent spasmodic affection, and almost instantly expired. He had long anticipated his approaching death, and is said to have expressed but one motive for wishing a continuance of life, which was, that he might see his country extricated from her troubles.

EDMUND BURKE.

The history of this distinguished statesman and eloquent orator is exceedingly interesting, but it belongs to these pages to notice him only as he was a friend to American rights, and often lifted up his voice in parliament in defence of them. He was born in Dublin, 1730. His father was a respectable attorney. Burke received his education at Trinity college; on the completion of which, he studied law, but devoted himself chiefly to literature. He conducted Dodley's celebrated Annual Register for many years. In 1765, he entered into public life, being made private secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham at the time that nobleman was called to the head of the treasury. Soon after, he was elected to parliament. In 1766, he took a prominent part in a debate relative to the affairs of America, and often, afterwards, raised his voice in opposition to the arbitrary measures of the government. For a time, the affairs of America are said to have engrossed almost all his attention.

During one of the debates on American affairs, a member from Hull, by the name of Hartley, after having driven four-fifths of a very full house from the benches, by an unusually dull speech, at length requested that the riot act might be read, for the purpose of elucidating one of his propositions. Burke, who was impatient to address the house himself, immediately started up, and exclaimed: "The riot act! My dearest friend, why, in the name of every thing sacred, have the riot act read? The mob, you see, is already dispersed!" Peals of laughter followed the utterance of this comic appeal, which Lord North frequently declared to be one of the happiest instances of wit he ever heard.[53]

Burke died in 1797. Unlike many of the statesmen of his day, "his character, in private life, was almost unimpeachable." As a public speaker, his manner was bold and forcible; his delivery, vehement and unembarrassed; but, though easy, he was inelegant. His head continually oscillated, and his gesticulations were frequently violent. To the last hour of his life, his pronunciation was Hibernian. Although a great orator, he was not a skillful debater. Few men ever possessed greater strength of imagination, or a more admirable choice of words. His mind was richly stored, and he had the most perfect mastery over its treasures. Johnson said he was not only the first man in the House of Commons, but the first man every where; and, on being asked if he did not think Burke resembled Cicero, replied, "No, sir; Cicero resembled Burke."

THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO.

Thaddeus Kosciusko, a Polish officer in the American revolutionary war, was born in Lithuania, in 1756, of an ancient and noble family, and educated at the military school at Warsaw. He afterwards studied in France. He came to America, recommended, by Franklin, to General Washington, by whom he was appointed his aid. He was also appointed his engineer, with the rank of colonel, in October 1776. At the unsuccessful siege of Ninety-Six, in 1781, he very judiciously directed the operations. It was, in 1774, that he left this country, and, in 1786, he returned to Poland. In 1789, the diet gave him the appointment of major-general. In the campaign of 1792, he distinguished himself against the Russians. In 1794, the Poles again took arms, and were headed by Kosciusko; but, after several splendid battles, he was taken and thrown into prison by Catharine, but was released by Paul I. When the emperor presented him with his own sword, he declined it, saying: "I no longer need a sword, since I have no longer a country." Never afterwards did he wear a sword. In August, 1797, he visited America, and was received with honor. For his revolutionary services, he received a pension. In 1798, he went to France. Having purchased an estate near Fontainebleau, he lived there till 1814. In 1816, he settled at Soleure, in Switzerland. In 1817, he abolished slavery on his estate in Poland. He died at Soleure, in consequence of a fall with his horse from a precipice near Vevay, October 16, 1817, aged sixty-one. He was never married.

COUNT PULASKI.

Count Pulaski was a Polander by birth, who, with a few men, in 1771, carried off King Stanislaus from the middle of his capital, though surrounded with a numerous body of guards and a Russian army. The king soon escaped, and declared Pulaski an outlaw. After his arrival in this country, he offered his services to congress, and was honored with the rank of brigadier-general. He discovered the greatest intrepidity in an engagement with a party of the British near Charleston, in May, 1779. In the assault upon Savannah, October 9th, by General Lincoln and Count D'Estaing, Pulaski was wounded, at the head of two hundred horsemen, as he was galloping into the town, with the intention of charging in the rear. He died on the 11th, and congress resolved that a monument should be erected to his memory.

BARON DE KALB.

Baron de Kalb was a native of Germany, but had been long employed in the service of France, previous to the commencement of the American revolution. He arrived in this country in 1777; and being an officer of great experience, he early received from congress the commission of major-general. In the battle near Camden, August, 1780, he fell, after receiving eleven wounds, in his vigorous exertions to prevent the defeat of the Americans. He died August 19th, aged forty-seven, having served three years with high reputation. His last moments were spent in dictating a letter, which expressed his warm affection for the men and officers of his division, and his admiration of their firmness and courage in withstanding a superior force. An ornamental tree was planted at the head of his grave in the neighborhood of Camden, and congress resolved that a monument should be erected to his memory at Annapolis, with a very honorable inscription.

BARON STEUBEN.

Frederick William, Baron de Steuben, was a Prussian officer, aid-de-camp to Frederick the Great, and lieutenant-general in the army of that distinguished commander. He arrived in America in 1777; soon after which, he was made inspector-general, with the rank of major-general. He established a uniform system of manœuvres; and, by his skill and persevering industry, effected, during the continuance of the troops at Valley Forge, a most decided improvement in all ranks of the army. He was a volunteer in the action at Monmouth, and commanded in the trenches at Yorktown on the day which concluded the struggle with Great Britain. He died at Steubenville, New York, November 28th, 1794, aged sixty-one years.

"When the army was disbanded, and the old soldiers shook hands in farewell, Lieutenant-colonel Cochran, a Green-mountain veteran, said: 'For myself, I could stand it; but my wife and daughters are in the garret of that wretched tavern, and I have no means of removing them,' 'Come,' said the baron, 'I will pay my respects to Mrs. C. and her daughters.' And when he left them, their countenances were brightened; for he gave them all he had to give. This was at Newburg. On the wharf, he saw a poor wounded black man, who wanted a dollar to pay for his passage home. Of whom the baron borrowed the dollar, it is not known; but he soon returned; when the negro hailed the sloop, and cried: 'God bless you, master baron!' The state of New Jersey gave him a small farm. New York gave him sixteen thousand acres in Oneida county; a pension of twenty-five hundred dollars was also given him. He built him a log house at Steubenville, gave a tenth-part of his land to his aids and servants, and parceled out the rest to twenty or thirty tenants. His library was his chief solace. Having but little exercise, he died of apoplexy. Agreeably to his request, he was wrapped in his cloak, and buried in a plain coffin, without a stone. He was a believer in Jesus Christ, and a member of the Reformed Dutch Church, New York."

COUNT ROCHAMBEAU.

Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, marshal of France, was born at Vendome in 1725. At the age of sixteen he entered the army, and served in Germany, under Marshal Broglio. In 1746, he became aid to Louis Philip, Duke of Orleans. In 1780, having been made lieutenant-general, he was sent with an army of six thousand men to the assistance of the United States of America. On reaching the place of his destination, he landed in Rhode Island, and soon after acted in concert with Washington, first against Clinton in New York, and then against Cornwallis, rendering important services at the siege of Yorktown, which were rewarded by a present of two cannon taken from Lord Cornwallis. After the Revolution, Rochambeau was raised to the rank of a marshal by Louis XVI., and received the command of the army of the north. He was soon superseded by more active officers, and being calumniated by the popular journalists, he addressed to the legislative assembly a vindication of his conduct. A decree of approbation was consequently passed in May, 1792, and he retired to his estate near Vendome, with a determination to interfere no more with public affairs. He was subsequently arrested, and narrowly escaped suffering death under the tyranny of Robespiere. In 1803, he was presented to Buonaparte, who in the following year gave him a pension and the cross of grand officer of the legion of honor. His death took place in 1809.--_Encyclopedia Americana_.

COUNT D'ESTAING.

Charles Henry, Count d'Estaing, admiral and lieutenant-general of the armies of France, before the Revolution, was a native of Ravel, in Auvergne, and was descended from an ancient family in that province. Count d'Estaing commenced his career by serving in the East Indies, under Lally, when he was taken prisoner, and sent home on his parole. Having engaged in hostilities again before he was regularly exchanged, he was taken a second time, and imprisoned at Portsmouth. During the American war, he was employed as vice-admiral.