1769-1770 in allusion to the condemned number of the North Briton. Noblemen most hostile to Wilkes were compelled to illuminate their houses in honor of his success at the poll. In June Wilkes, having surrendered to take his trial for the publication of No. 45 and the Essay on Woman," was committed to prison, whence, on May 10, an enormous crowd strove to rescue him, and was only driven off after the soldiers had fired and killed five or six persons. Wilkes was sentenced to fine and imprisonment as a libeler, but the citizens of London, as enthusiastic in his favor as the crowd, chose him as Alderman while he was still in prison. The badness of his character was forgotten, and his pertinacious stand against the Court was alone remembered. When Parliament met, in January, 1770, Chatham, now again. in full possession of his powers, took up the cause of Wilkes, maintaining that the House of Commons had no right to place Luttrell in his seat. The very sound of his voice dissolved the composite ministry. The Lord Chancellor was dismissed. The king, finding that no notable lawyer agreed with him as to the right of the House of Commons to disqualify Wilkes from being elected, persuaded Charles Yorke, an eminent lawyer and a hitherto devoted follower of Rockingham, to accept the Chancellorship, although in so doing he would have to argue against his own settled convictions. Yorke, tempted by the greatness of the prize, accepted the offer, but he was unable to bear the reproaches of his friends, and for very shame committed suicide. Grafton resigned office, and other ministers followed his example. The king then made Lord North First Lord of the Treasury, and gave him the position of a Prime Minister, though the title was still held to be invidious, and North himself objected to have it used in his own case. North was an able man, skillful in the management of public affairs, and honestly a supporter of strong measures against Wilkes and the Americans, and he fully adopted the principle that the king was to choose his ministers and to direct their policy. If North could maintain himself in Parliament, the new Toryism, of which the dependence of ministers on the Crown was the leading feature, would have won the day. Chapter XLIX THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 1770-1783 LEADING DATES REIGN OF GEORGE III., A.D., 1760-1820-LORD NORTH PRIME MINISTER, HE opposition, seemingly strong, was weakened by a conflict of opinion among its leaders. Chatham declared for Parliamentary reform, suggesting that a third member should be given to each county, as the freeholders, who at that time alone voted in county elections, were more independent than the borough electors. Burke and the Rockingham Whigs, on the other hand, objected to any constitutional change as likely in the end to throw power into the hands of the ignorant. The violence of mobs since Wilkes's election no doubt strengthened the conservative feeling of this section of the Whigs, and at the same time made strongly in favor of the Government, because in times of disorder quiet people are apt to support the Government whether they agree with it politically or not. North was well fitted to take advantage of this state of opinion. He was an easy-going man, who never lost his temper and never gave unnecessary offense. At the same time he was an able party manager, and though not a great statesman, was a sensible politician. With the king at his back, he had at his disposal all the engines of corruption by which votes were gained, and though members of Parliament had for some time ceased to sell their votes for ready money as they had done in the days of Walpole and Newcastle, they still continued to sell them for pensions, offices, and especially for sinecures. Moreover, North had the advantage of sharing in the king's strong feeling against the conduct of the Americans. Public opinion in England was 1770-1771 turning more and more against the Americans, and for the first time in his reign George III. found support for his policy in public opinion. Only two courses were open to the British Government:-the one to treat the Americans as a virtually independent people, allowing them to tax themselves and to govern themselves as they pleased, the other to compel them to obedience by military force. It is hardly strange that Englishmen were not wise enough to accept the former alternative. They did not perceive that the colonists, in refusing the payment of taxes imposed by others than themselves, had a proper foundation for constitutional resistance, while they did perceive that the American resistance was not altogether carried on in a constitutional manner. Lord North was, indeed, sensible enough to perceive that Townshend's import duties roused unnecessary irritation, especially as the net income derived from them was less than 300l. He induced Parliament to repeal all the duties except that on tea. In Parliament Lord North gathered strength. George Grenville having died in 1770 and Bedford early in 1771, the followers of these two leaders resolved to support the Ministry. So, too, did Grafton, who had lately resigned office rather than oppose Chatham, and Wedderburn, an unscrupulous lawyer who had professed the strongest opposition principles, but who now sold himself for the office of Solicitor-General. The combined Opposition was reduced to a hopeless minority. Yet even thus, though unable to influence the American policy of the Ministry, it was, on one occasion, able to bring about a valuable reform at home. The House of Commons had long been jealous of the reporting of its debates and of the comments of newspapers on its members. In February, 1771, Colonel Onslow, a member of the House, complained that a newspaper had called him "little cocking George," and "a paltry, insignificant insect." The proposal to summon the printers to the bar was resisted by obstructive motions from both the followers of Rockingham and the followers of Chatham, and when it was at last carried time had slipped by, and it was found difficult to catch all the printers. One of them, named Miller, was arrested in the city by a messenger of the House, but the messenger in turn was arrested and brought before the Lord Mayor and two aldermen-one of whom was Wilkes-who put the messenger in prison for infringing the city charter by making an arrest in the 1770-1775 City without the authority of its magistrates. The House of Commons, prudently leaving Wilkes alone, sent the Lord Mayor and the other alderman to the Tower, where they were royally feasted by the City till the end of the session, after which time no imprisonment, by order of either House, can be enforced. The Opposition had gained its point, as since that time no attempt has been made to stop the reporting of debates. It was the freedom of reporting which ultimately enabled Parliamentary reform to be effected without danger. Only a people which is allowed to have knowledge of the actions and words of its representatives can be trusted to control them. In America resistance to the British Government rose and fell from year to year. In 1770 was the "Boston Massacre," and in 1773 the "Boston Tea Party," which threw overboard the tea consigned to that port. When the news of this violence reached England it was evident to all that either the British Parliament must abandon its claim to enforce the payment of the tea duty or it would have to maintain its authority by force. Burke pleaded for a return to the older system under which Great Britain had been respected for so many years. The king, Lord North, and Parliament thought. otherwise, and passed repressive acts, and sent General Gage to Boston with troops. The answer of the colonies was a Congress at Philadelphia, attended by deputies of all the colonies except Georgia, under the name of the Continental Congress. Though this assembly had no legal powers, it had popular support, and it directed the stoppage of all importation from and exportation to Great Britain till the grievances of the colonies had been redressed. There was no sign of any wish for separation, though the majority were in favor of resistance unless concessions were granted. Both in America and in England illusions prevailed. The Americans thought that the British Parliament would repeal its obnoxious measures, if only the American case were fairly represented to it, while the British Parliament continued to regard the power of resistance in America as altogether contemptible. Hostilities began without any deliberate purpose on either side. On April 18, 1775, occurred the first bloodshed, the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. After this all New England sprang to arms. On May 10 Ticonderoga was seized, and the command of Lake Champlain 1775-1776 gained, while on June 17 an English force was twice repulsed at the battle of Bunker Hill. The affair, taken by itself, was not of great importance, but it showed how well Americans could fight behind entrenchments, and how capable they were of developing military qualities unsuspected by the British generals. After blood had been shed conciliatory efforts were less likely to be successful. An offer to abandon the British claim to tax any American colony which would provide for its own defense and its civil government had been made in March by Lord North, but it was not known in America till after the conflict at Lexington, and was then summarily rejected. On May 10 a second Congress was held, at Philadelphia, and as it was attended by delegates from all the thirteen colonies, it assumed the style of "The Congress of the United Colonies." On July 8 the Congress set forth terms of reconciliation in a petition known as "The Olive Branch Petition," but its offers proved as unacceptable in England as Lord North's had been in America. George Washington was placed in command of the American army-a good soldier of high moral and intellectual qualities, unselfish and of infinite patience, which was needed, to discipline the volunteers, and to keep his subordinates within bounds. The Canadian campaign of 1775-76 by the Americans failed, but in March, 1776, Boston had to be evacuated by the British. Yet it was not altogether the fault of the commanders that they did nothing. So little had the British Parliament expected resistance that it had allowed the numbers of the army to sink to a low ebb. In 1774 the whole of the king's forces did not exceed 17,547 men, and when, in 1775, an attempt was made to raise them to 55,000, it was found impossible to obtain the required number of men in Great Britain. In despair the Government had recourse to a bargain with some German princes for the sale of their subjects. In this way 17,742 unhappy Germans were sent off, like so many slaves, to serve George III. in re-conquering America. The year 1776 was marked by the Declaration of Independence by the colonies (July 4) and the successful campaign of Lord Howe against New York and in New Jersey. The fortunes of the Americans were at the lowest possible ebb, but the surprise at Trenton on Christmas night and the battle of Princeton a week later restored their spirits and won back New Jersey. |