In this utter desertion, the king prevailed on Lord North, who was already Chancellor13 of the Exchequer14, to accept Grafton's post of First Lord of the Treasury15, with the Premiership. Lord North, eldest17 son of the Earl of Guildford, was a man of a remarkably18 mild and pleasant temper, of sound sense, and highly honourable4 character. He was ungainly in his person and plain of countenance19, but he was well versed20 in the business of Parliament, and particularly dexterous21 in tagging to motions of the Opposition22 some paragraph or other which neutralised the whole, or turned it even against them. He was exceedingly near-sighted, so much so, that he once carried off the wig23 of the old Secretary of the Navy, who sat near him in the House. For the rest, he was of so somnolent24 a nature that he was frequently seen nodding in the House when Opposition members were pouring out all the vials of their wrath25 on his head. He thought himself a Whig, but if we are to class him by his principles and his acts of administration, we must pronounce him a Tory.
The Ministry, as reconstructed, consisted of Lord North, First Lord of the Treasury; the Great Seal was in commission; Granby's places, the Ordnance26 and Commander of the Forces, were still unsupplied; so was the Duke of Manchester's old post of Lord of the Bed-Chamber. The Earl of Halifax became Lord Privy27 Seal; the Earl of Pembroke became a Lord of the Bed-Chamber; the Earl of Waldegrave, Master of the Horse to the queen; Sir Gilbert Elliot, Treasurer28 of the Navy; Charles James Fox became a junior Lord of the Admiralty; Admiral Holborne another; Mr. Welbore Ellis became one of the Vice-Treasurers of Ireland; and Thurlow was appointed Solicitor-General, in place of Dunning.
Lord North soon found himself briskly assailed29 in both Lords and Commons. In the former, Chatham was not so happy in amalgamating30 the parties of Rockingham and Grenville as he hoped; but he had staunch friends and oppositionists in Lords Camden, Shelburne, and Stanhope, and in the Commons he was as warmly supported by Barré, Beckford, Calcraft, and Dunning. On the 2nd of March a motion was also made in the Lords for an Address to the king, praying him to increase the number of seamen31 in the navy; and it was made to introduce strong censures32 on the dismissal of able officers for their votes in Parliament. On this occasion Chatham loudly reiterated33 the old charge of the royal councils being influenced by favourites. "A long train of these practices," he said, "has convinced me that there is something behind the throne greater than the throne itself." He referred to Mazarin, of France; and as Bute was just at this period gone to Turin, he added, "Mazarin abroad is Mazarin still!" It is not to be supposed that Bute had any secret influence whatever at this period; but the people still believed that he had, and that two men especially were his agents with the king—Bradshaw, commonly called "the cream-coloured parasite35," and Dyson, both placemen and members of the Commons. Probably, Chatham had a secondary object—to punish these men, who with Rigby, the parasite of the Duke of Bedford, were continually running about endeavouring to depreciate36 the efforts of the more competent, to whom they were pigmies, saying, "Only another mad motion by the mad Earl of Chatham." Grafton, though now out of office, repelled37 the insinuation of secret influence with indignation. This charge of Chatham's was followed up, four days after, by a most outspoken[200] remonstrance39 from the Corporation of London. It was carried up to St. James's on the 14th of March by Beckford, the Lord Mayor, and two hundred and twenty Common Councilmen and other officers. Beckford read the Address, which charged secret counsellors, and a corrupt40 majority of the House of Commons, with depriving the people of their rights. It declared that the House of Commons did not represent the people, and called upon the king to dissolve it. His Majesty41 received the Address with manifest signs of displeasure, and the courtiers, who stood round, with actual murmurs42 and gesticulations of anger.
At this crisis George Grenville brought in and carried through a measure, which showed how useful he might have been, had he never been raised out of his proper element to rule and alienate43 colonies. He was now fast sinking into the grave, though but fifty-eight years of age. This measure was a bill to transfer the trial of controverted44 elections from the whole House of Commons to a select Committee of it. Ever since the famous Aylesbury case, the whole House had taken the charge of examining all petitions against the return of candidates and deciding them. This was a great obstruction45 of business; and Grenville now proposed to leave the inquiry and decision to the select Committee, which was to be composed of fifteen members of the House, thirteen of whom were to be chosen by the contesting claimants for the seat, out of a list of forty-five, elected by ballot46 from the whole House. The other two were to be named, one each, by the contesting candidates. The Committee was empowered to examine papers, call and swear witnesses, and, in fact, to exercise all the authority previously47 wielded48 by the whole House. It was opposed by Welbore Ellis, Rigby, Dyson, and Charles James Fox, not yet broken from his office shell into a full-fledged patriot49. It was, however, carried, and being supported in the Lords by Lord Mansfield, who on this occasion manifested an unusual disregard of his party principles, it was passed there too.
Whilst Chatham was heading the Opposition in a determined50 onslaught on the Government, the latter were also compelled to face the awkward American question. Great hopes had been entertained that the people of Boston would be much calmer after the departure of Governor Bernard. Hutchinson, the Deputy-Governor, was not only an American, but a man of a mild temper. But the temper of the Bostonians was now so much excited, that the leaders of the non-importation Act were more vehement51 than ever. The English merchants presented a petition to Parliament showing that, in consequence of the import duties and the combinations of the colonists52 to resist them, the exports from England to these colonies had fallen off in 1769 by the amount of seven hundred and forty thousand pounds; that the revenue received from duties paid in America had fallen off from one hundred and ten thousand pounds per annum to thirty thousand pounds.
It was in these grave circumstances that Lord North, on the 5th of March, 1770, brought forward his bill, based on the terms of Lord Hillsborough's letter to the American governors, to repeal53 all the import duties except that on tea. This was one of those half-and-half measures which never succeed; it abandoned the bulk of the duties, but retained the really obnoxious54 thing—the principle. Grenville very truly told them that they should retain the whole, or repeal the whole. Lord Barrington and Welbore Ellis, in their dogged Toryism, protested against repealing55 a single item of them; and the Opposition, Barré, Conway, Meredith, Pownall, etc., as earnestly entreated57 them to remove the duties altogether, and with them all cause of irritation58. The motion for leave to bring in the bill was carried by two hundred and four votes to one hundred and forty-two. During the debates it was shown that, during the financial year, the American tea duties had produced—not the calculated ten or twelve thousand, but less than three hundred pounds! For such a sum did our legislators risk a civil war. As a last effort on this question at this time, the Opposition, on the 1st of May, called for the correspondence with America; and, on the 9th, Burke moved nine resolutions on the general topic. They were not only negatived, but a similar motion, introduced into the Peers by the Duke of Richmond, met the same fate.
At the very time that these measures were occupying the British Parliament, the Bostonians were driving affairs to a crisis. In nearly all the seaports59 committees were in active operation for examining all cargoes60 of ships, and reporting the result. These committees also kept a keen observation on each other, and visited publicly any that appeared lukewarm. Boston, as usual, distinguished61 itself most prominently in this business. Regular meetings were held in Faneuil Hall, and votes passed denouncing all who dared to import the prohibited goods. Lieutenant62-Governor Hutchinson exerted himself to form an[201] association amongst the traders in opposition to these anti-importers, but he tried in vain. They insisted that the merchants who had imported goods in their shops and warehouses63 should be compelled to ship them back to those who had sent them. One merchant, more stubborn than the rest, was immediately waited on by a deputation, headed by an axeman and a carpenter, as if prepared to behead and bury him; and he was told that a thousand men awaited his decision, and they could not be answerable for his safety if he refused to comply.
AFFRAY AT BOSTON BETWEEN THE SOLDIERS AND ROPE-MAKERS. (See p. 201.)
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The animosity against the soldiers at Boston was actively65 kept up. The sentinel could not stand at his post without insult. Every day menaced a conflict. A fictitious66 account of an affray between the soldiers and the people of New York was circulated at Boston, in which the soldiers were represented as beaten. This gave impetus67 to the aggressive temper of the Bostonians. On the 2nd of March, a soldier, insulted by the men at Gray's rope-walk, resented it; they came to blows, and the soldier was overpowered. He fetched up some of his comrades, who, in their turn, beat and chased the rope-makers through the town. The passions of the mob were inflamed68, and they began to arm themselves for an attack on the soldiery. In a few days the crowd assembled and assaulted a party of them in Dock Square. The officer prudently70 withdrew them to the barracks. As the evening advanced, the mob increased. They cried, "Turn out, and do for the soldiers!" They attacked and insulted a sentinel at the Custom House. A party of soldiers was sent by Captain Preston to the officers on duty to protect the man. The mob pelted71 them with pieces of wood, lumps of ice, etc., and denounced them as "cowards," "red-lobster rascals," and the like. The soldiers stood to defend the Custom House till they were fiercely attacked, and at length they fired in self-defence, killed three persons, and wounded several others—one mortally.
To prevent further carnage, a committee of the townsmen waited on the governor and council, and prevailed on them to remove the soldiers from the town to Castle William. The successful rioters carried the bodies of the killed in procession, denounced the soldiers as murderers, and spread the[202] most exaggerated accounts of the affray through the newspapers, under the name of "the massacre." Captain Preston and his men were arrested and put upon their trials before a jury of the irate72 townsmen. Nobody, for a time, would act as counsel for the defence; but at length John Adams, a young lawyer, undertook the office, and made the case so plain, that not only Captain Preston, but all the soldiers were acquitted73, except two, who had fired without orders, and these were convicted only of manslaughter.
The arrival of the news of Lord North's repeal of all the duties, except tea, produced little effect on the minds of the people of Boston. They declared that the unconstitutional principle was the real offence, and that it was still retained. The people of New York, however, had long inclined to gentler measures. They agreed to import all other articles except tea. Pennsylvania and other colonies followed their example; and they declared that they who wanted tea must smuggle74 it. The more fiery75 patriots76 declared against this lukewarmness; but the desire for the English goods was so great that, during the years 1770 and 1771, the importations were larger than they had ever been. Nevertheless, though the colonies appeared returning to order and obedience77, the efforts of the Republican party never relaxed, and, especially in Massachusetts, there was a tone of sullen78 discontent. "Liberty poles" were still erected79; exciting harangues80 were delivered on the anniversary of "the massacre," and the Assembly continued to manifest a stubborn resistance to the will of the Lieutenant-Governor.
During the recess81 of Parliament, a dispute occurred with Spain regarding the Falkland Islands, which led to the very verge82 of war. In 1764 the French, under Bougainville, made a settlement on Falkland Sound; but Spain putting in a claim that these isles83 were part of her South American territory, Choiseul, the French Minister, abandoned the settlement, and the Spaniards changed its name from Port Louis to Port Soledad. The very next year, 1765, Commodore Byron was sent to form a settlement on another of the islands, which he named Port Egmont, in honour of Lord Egmont, First Lord of the Admiralty. Such were the distant islets to which, in 1769, Spain began to assert her claim. The Governor of Port Soledad sent repeated messages to Captain Hunt, of the Tamar, stationed at Port Egmont, requiring the abandonment of the place. When the notices were succeeded by threats, Captain Hunt sailed home to lay the matter before his Government. He landed at Portsmouth in June, 1770, and made known the Spanish interference to the Cabinet. Meanwhile, the Spaniards, taking advantage of Hunt's absence, had, about the time that he arrived in England, dispatched to the Falklands Buccarelli, the Governor of Buenos Ayres, with five frigates84 and one thousand six hundred men. Having entered the port on pretence85 of wanting water, and finding the Tamar absent, and only two armed sloops87 there, and a mere56 handful of soldiers, Buccarelli landed his force, and, after the firing of a few shots for form's sake, the English surrendered, and were permitted to depart with all the honours of war.
The excitement, both at Court and in the country, was far beyond the then apparent value of the islands; but there had been an insult to the British flag, and both Government and Opposition demanded expiation88. Lord North displayed a bold and determined tone on the occasion. Orders were sent over to the British ambassador, at Madrid, to demand an immediate64 disavowal of Buccarelli's act, and instant measures were taken for war, in case of refusal. Ships were refitted, their commanders named, stores were put on board, and orders for pressing men, according to the custom of the time, were issued. But in London these preparations met with resistance from the opposition spirit of the Corporation. Things, however, seemed tending strongly towards war. Our Chargé d'affaires at Madrid, in absence of the ambassador, was Mr. Harris, the son of the author of "Hermes." He was but a youth of four-and-twenty, but already displayed much of the talent which raised him to the title of Malmesbury. He wrote home that the King of Spain and some of his Ministers were averse90 from the idea of war, and unprepared for it; but that others were influenced by Choiseul, the French Premier16, and demanded a vigorous attack on England.
But the King of France did not share in the feeling of Choiseul. He wrote to the King of Spain about this time, "My Minister wishes for war, but I do not!" In fact, changes had taken place in the Court of France which were about to precipitate91 Choiseul from his long-enjoyed favour. Madame de Pompadour was dead, and the king had become deeply enamoured of Madame du Barry. Choiseul was impolitic enough to despise her influence, and treated her with undisguised hauteur92. He soon felt the consequence in an order from the king to resign his office and retire[203] to his estate at Chanteloupe, in Touraine. The shock to the insolent93 Minister, who had so long ruled absolutely in the French Court, was the more unlooked for, because he thought himself now all the more safe from having secured the marriage of the king's heir, his eldest grandson, with the Austrian archduchess, Marie Antoinette. Choiseul was succeeded by the triumvirate d'Aiguillon, as Foreign Minister; Terray, as Minister of Finance; and Maupeou, as Minister of Jurisprudence; but all subject to the supreme94 influence of Madame du Barry. Louis XV. thenceforth became a cipher96.
The spirit of Choiseul having departed from the French administration, and the king having so unequivocally expressed his intention not to go to war, the Spanish Court hastened to lower its tone and offer conciliatory terms. In December they had proposed, through Prince de Masserano, to disavow the expedition of Buccarelli, if the English Court would disown the menaces of Captain Hunt. This was promptly97 refused, and orders were sent to Mr. Harris to quit the capital of Spain. He set out in January, 1771, but was speedily recalled; the expedition of Buccarelli was disavowed; the settlement of Port Egmont was conceded, whilst the main question as to the right of either party to the Falklands at large was left to future discussion. So little value, however, did Britain attach to the Falkland Isles, that it abandoned them voluntarily two years afterwards. For many years they were forsaken98 by both nations; but in 1826 the Republic of Buenos Ayres adopted them as a penal99 colony, and in 1833 the British finally took possession of them.
Whilst these events had been progressing, the Ministry had entered into a combat with the great unknown political essayist, Junius. Junius had advanced from Sir William Draper to the Duke of Grafton, and from the Duke of Grafton to the king in his sweeping100 philippics. For these daring censures, Woodfall, the printer of the Public Advertiser, was tried, and also Almon, the publisher of the London Museum, a monthly periodical, for reprinting the libel there. Almon was convicted of publishing, and sentenced to pay a fine of ten marks, and give security for his good behaviour for two years, himself in four hundred pounds, and two sureties in two hundred pounds each. He moved in vain for a new trial. Woodfall was convicted of "printing and publishing only;" but he obtained an order for a new trial, on the ground of the phrase "only" being ambiguous. But the circumstance which excited the attention and turned the resentment101 of both Liberal statesmen and the people was, that Lord Mansfield on these trials had instructed the juries to confine themselves to the facts alone, and to leave the question of legality to the judges. This was properly declared a dangerous infringement102 of the rights of juries, and calculated to make their verdicts merely the servile echoes of the dicta of the judges. Lord Chatham, on the 28th of November, denounced in the Peers this dictation of the judge to the juries. Serjeant Glynn, at the same time, moved in the Commons for an inquiry into the administration of justice in Westminster Hall, where such unconstitutional instructions could be given. This occasioned a warm debate, in which Burke, Dunning, and others, ably defended the public rights. The motion was negatived.
The year 1771 opened in circumstances which greatly diminished the interest in Parliamentary proceedings103. As all reporting was excluded from the House of Lords, the chief speakers there felt that they were no longer addressing the nation, but merely a little knot of persons in a corner, and consequently the stimulus105 of both fame and real usefulness was at an end. In the Commons, the desire of the Ministry to reduce that popular arena106 to the same condition of insignificance107 produced a contest with the City as foolish and mischievous108 in its degree as the contests then going on with Wilkes and America. George Onslow, nephew of the late Speaker, and member for Guildford, moved that several printers, who had dared to report the debates of the House of Commons, should be summoned to the bar to answer for their conduct. Accordingly, these mediums of communication between the people and their representatives were summoned and reprimanded on their knees. One of their number, named Miller109, however, declared that he was a liveryman of London, and that any attempt to arrest him would be a breach110 of the privileges of the City. The Serjeant-at-Arms dispatched a messenger to apprehend111 this sturdy citizen, and bring him before the House; but, instead of succeeding, the Parliamentary messenger was taken by a City constable112, and carried before Brass113 Crosby, the Lord Mayor. With the Lord Mayor sat Alderman Wilkes and Alderman Oliver. It was delightful114 work to Wilkes thus to set at defiance115 the House of Commons, which had made such fierce war on him. The Lord Mayor, accordingly, was fully116 confirmed in his view that the messenger of the Commons had committed a[204] flagrant violation117 of the City charter, in endeavouring to lay hands on one of its liverymen within its own precincts, and they held the messenger accordingly to bail118. The House of Commons was fired with indignation at this contemptuous disregard of their dignity. They passed a resolution, by a large majority, ordering the Lord Mayor and the two aldermen to appear at their bar. Wilkes bluntly refused to attend the House in any shape but as a recognised member of it. Crosby pleaded a severe fit of the gout; and Oliver, though he appeared in his place, refused to make any submission119 whatever, but told them he defied them. The House, in its blind anger, resolved that Oliver should be committed to the Tower, and Crosby to the custody120 of the Serjeant-at-Arms. But Crosby declared that he would not accept this indulgence at the hands of the House, but would share the incarceration121 of his honourable friend; and he was accordingly sent also to the Tower. The people out of doors were in the highest state of fury. They greeted the City members on their way to and from the House, but they hooted122 and pelted the Ministerial supporters. Charles James Fox, still a Government man, as all his family had been, was very roughly handled; Lord North's carriage was dashed in, and himself wounded; and had he not been rescued by a popular member, Sir William Meredith, he would probably have lost his life. The Commons had engaged in a strife123 with the City, in which they were signally beaten, and no further notice being taken of the printers, from this time forward the practice of reporting the debates of Parliament became recognised as an established privilege of the people, though formally at the option of the House; and so far now from members or Ministers fearing any evil from it, the most conservative of them would be deeply mortified125 by the omission126 of their speeches in the reports. The termination of the Session also opened the doors of the Tower, and liberated127 the Lord Mayor and Alderman Oliver. They were attended from the Tower to the Mansion128 House by the Corporation in their robes, where a banquet celebrated129 their restoration to freedom, and the populace displayed their sympathy by bonfires and illuminations.
SPADE GUINEA OF GEORGE III.
FIVE-SHILLING PIECE OF GEORGE III.
TWOPENNY PIECE OF GEORGE III.
During the recess considerable changes took place in the Cabinet. Lord Halifax died on the 8th of June; the Earl of Suffolk succeeded him as Secretary of State, and the remainder of the Grenville party thereupon supported the Ministry. Suffolk introduced his friend, Lord Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, to the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with an augmented130 salary. The administration of Lord North was considerably131 strengthened, too, by the abilities of Thurlow, as Attorney-General, and of Wedderburn, as Solicitor-General. But the addition to the Cabinet of Lord North which occasioned the greatest surprise, was that of the Duke of Grafton. He received the Privy Seal.
During the recess a violent quarrel had been going on in the City, which showed the[205] disorganisation of the Opposition. Wilkes had offered himself as sheriff; but Alderman Oliver, who had lately been in prison for his bold conduct in the affair of Miller, the printer, had refused to support the claim of Wilkes. In fact, not only he, but the Lord Mayor, Alderman Townshend, and Sawbridge, were beginning to see through Wilkes. Oliver went further—he refused to serve as the other sheriff with Wilkes. Government availed itself of these divisions to defeat the election of Wilkes. Alderman Bull became the second candidate with Wilkes, and Government induced their party in the City to nominate Aldermen Plumbe and Kirkman in opposition to them. Wilkes would probably have been defeated, especially as Oliver finally came forward, supported by all the eloquence133 and exertions134 of John Horne. But, fortunately for Wilkes and his fellow-candidate, Bull, a letter sent by the Government agent to a Mr. Smith in the City was misdelivered to another Mr. Smith, a supporter of Wilkes and Bull, announcing the exertions that Government would make in support of their men, Plumbe and Kirkman. This letter was immediately published, and, alarming all the enemies of Government, made them rally round Wilkes and Bull, who were accordingly elected.
PRESS-GANG AT WORK.
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On the 21st of January, 1772, the king opened Parliament, and the two divisions of the Opposition under the leadership of Rockingham and Chatham were found to be divided and dispirited. The chief proceeding104 of this session was one of a very remarkable135 character. The boasted morals of George III. and of his queen had not defended his family from gross crimes and corruptions136. Very notorious was the life of his brother, the Duke of Cumberland. Amongst his licentious137 intrigues138 was one with Henrietta Vernon, Lady Grosvenor, a young and beautiful woman, whom he seduced139, following her into Cheshire, when her husband took her from town, and meeting her in various disguises. In 1770 Lord Grosvenor brought an action against him and obtained a verdict of ten thousand pounds. With a rapidity of fickleness140 almost unexampled, he was immediately afterwards paying suit to Mrs. Horton. Cumberland went over to Calais with Mrs. Horton, and there married her according to the[206] rites34 of the Church of England (October 2, 1771). The Duke of Gloucester also now confessed to a secret marriage (September 6, 1766) with the Countess Dowager Waldegrave. A Bill was brought into Parliament in 1772, since well known as the Royal Marriage Act, by which every prince or princess, descendant of George II., except only the issue of princes married abroad, was prohibited from marrying until the age of twenty-five without the king's consent. After that age they might apply to the Privy Council, and if within a year of such announcement both Houses of Parliament should not express disapprobation of the intended marriage, it might then be lawfully142 solemnised. The Bill did not pass without violent opposition.
But these were by no means the total of the royal troubles at this period. The youngest and most beloved of George III.'s sisters, Caroline Matilda, had been married to Christian143 VII. of Denmark. This young man was little better than an idiot, and the poor princess was married to him at the age of sixteen. The marriage of this young couple, and their ascent144 to the throne, were nearly simultaneous; and, contrary to the usual custom of a monarch145, it was deemed advisable that he should travel. In his tour he fell in with the celebrated Struensee, a young physician of Altona. Christian VII., like all weak monarchs146, must have favourites. Struensee speedily became the perfect master of Christian's mind and actions, and on their return to Copenhagen he was raised to the rank of count, and soon after was made Prime Minister. His enemies were of course numerous, and scandal soon connected his name with that of the queen. All this especially favoured the plans of the base queen dowager, who, in league with the hostile nobles, feigned147 a plot against the king; obtained from him, in his bed at midnight, an order for the arrest of the queen, Struensee, and others. The queen was seized half dressed. Struensee was executed with especial barbarities; but the King of England interfered148 to save his sister, and to procure149 the succession to her son. The unhappy young queen, however, was separated for ever from her two children, and conveyed to Zell, in Hanover—the same castle or prison where the unhappy wife of George I. had pined away her life. There she died after a few years, protesting her innocence150, though Struensee had confessed his guilt151.
From the affairs of the royal family, we turn to a more important subject, the partition of Poland. Poland, lying contiguous to Russia, had for ages been in a condition calculated to attract the cupidity152 of ambitious neighbours. Its nobles usurped153 all authority. They kept the whole mass of the people in hopeless serfdom; they usurped the whole of the land; they elected their own king, and were too fond of power themselves to leave him more than a puppet in their hands. To make the condition of the country worse, it was violently divided on the subject of religion. One part of the nobles consisted of Roman Catholics, another of what were called Dissidents, made up of members of the Greek Church, and Protestants, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Arians. Although by what was called the Pacta Conventa the Dissidents had been admitted to an equality of rights, this was totally disregarded by the overbearing Roman Catholics; and in 1736 the Pacta Conventa was formally abolished. Every Dissident was, by this measure, for ever excluded from government, and from all interest in it.
Thus the whole country was torn by religious animosity; the nobles were insolent to the Crown, and the people were nothing. Such was the divided condition of Poland which led to its dismemberment. All nobility of mind was destroyed; pride and oppression were the inseparable consequences of such a system. There was no middle class, no popular class; it was a country of lords and slaves—of one class domineering over the other. The Greek Catholics were the Dissidents, and the Dissidents sought aid from Russia—which was also Greek in religion—and, to insure this aid, condescended154 to the lowest arts of solicitation155, to the practice of fawning156, stooping, and cringing157 to the great barbarous power of Russia on one side, and to the equally barbarous power of Turkey on the other. The nobles could bring large bodies of cavalry158 into the field, as many, at times, as a hundred thousand; but as they had no free people, and dreaded159 to arm their slaves, they had little or no infantry160, except such as they hired, and even this was in no condition to withstand the heavy masses of Russian infantry, much less such armies as Prussia or Austria might be tempted161 to bring against them.
From the moment that Russia was called in, under the pretext162 of maintaining order, she became, or aimed to become, the dominant163 power there. She pressed on the whole line of the Polish frontier with her armies, inundated164 the kingdom with her troops, and levied165 contributions for their support as if she had been in a conquered country. From that hour, too, the kings were elected rather by foreign armies than by the Poles themselves.[207] Stanislaus Poniatowski, the present king, was the nominee166 of Catherine of Russia, whose lover he had been till superseded167 by Orloff. She had placed him on the throne by force of arms, and he was incapable168 of doing anything except through her power.
Some faint endeavours were made to shake off the yoke169. Encouraged by France, they summoned the Turks to their aid and cut to pieces several detachments of the Russians. They proclaimed Poniatowski deposed170, and called on the people to aid them to drive out the invaders171. But the people, long used to oppression from their own lords, did not answer to the call. In France, Choiseul had been hurled172 from power, and France left the Poles to their fate. It was now that Frederick of Prussia proposed to Austria to combine with Russia and share Poland between them. At this robber proposition, so in character with Frederick, who had all his life been creating a kingdom by plundering173 his neighbours, Maria Theresa at first exclaimed in horror. But she was now old and failing, and she gave way, declaring that, long after she was dead and gone, people would see what would happen from their having broken through everything which had, till then, been deemed just and holy. Frederick of Prussia took the surest way to compel the Austrians to come in for a share of the spoils of Poland. He marched a body of soldiers out of Silesia—the territory which he had rent from Austria—into Posen, and Austria, not to be behind, had marched another army into the Carpathian Mountains.
In vain did Poniatowski remonstrate174; he had no means of resistance. The Turks could no longer defend themselves from Russian invasion, much less assist Poland. They applied175 to Frederick to intercede176 with Catherine for peace for them. Nothing could so entirely177 suit Frederick's plans. He sent Prince Henry of Prussia to negotiate with Catherine, who took the opportunity to represent to her the advantages to the three great powers, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, strengthening themselves by appropriating portions of Poland. The Russians, relieved from contention178 with the Poles, now pushed on their victories against the Turks; drove them over the Danube, and seized some of their most fertile provinces. To complete their ruin, they, aided by England, attacked and destroyed their fleet in the Mediterranean179.
The treaty between Russia, Prussia, and Austria for the first division of Poland was signed at St. Petersburg on the 5th of August, 1772. The three robber powers now promised to rest satisfied with their booty; to respect the rights and remaining territories of Poland—words hollow and worthless as they who used them. The invaders divided at this time about one-third of Poland between them. Prussia appropriated the whole of Pomerania, part of Great Poland, the bishopric of Warmia, and the palatinates of Marienburg and Culm; with complete command of the lower part of the Vistula. The whole of this territory did not exceed eight hundred square miles, but it was a territory of vast importance to Prussia, as it united Pomerania with the rest of that kingdom. Russia and Austria acquired immensely more in extent. Russia took nearly the whole of Lithuania, with the vast country between the rivers Dwina and Dniester. Austria secured the country along the left bank of the Vistula from Wieliczka to the confluence180 of the Vistula and the Viroz. But Russia had Galicia, the palatinate of Belz, and a part of Volhynia. Unsupported by France, England had no course but to acquiesce181 in the arrangement.
The year 1773 opened with an inquiry in Parliament into the abuses of the administration of affairs in India. There were great complaints of the wholesale182 rapacity183 and oppression perpetrated on the natives by the Company's servants. Before the close of the preceding year, a secret committee had been appointed to inquire into these abuses, and to take the matter out of the hands of Government, the Company proposed to appoint a number of supervisors184 to go out to India and settle the causes of complaint. The secret committee proposed a Bill to prevent this, as a scheme for merely evading185 a thorough inquiry and continuing the atrocities186. Burke, who was a holder187 of India stock, defended the Company, and declared that such a Bill would annihilate188 the Company, and make the House of Commons the Company itself and the Speaker its chairman. He reminded them that the Company paid to Government four hundred thousand pounds a year, and that Government had connived189 at the maladministration which had been carried on. This certainly was, so far from a reason against the Bill, a reason why they should connive190 no longer; and the Bill was carried by a large majority.
The Company was then compelled to reduce its dividends191 to six per cent. and apply to Parliament for a loan of a million and a half to meet its pecuniary192 difficulties. This, Ministers and Parliament complied with, and proceeding to relieve the Company of its embarrassments193, Lord North[208] proposed and carried a measure, by which the Company, which had no less than seventeen million pounds of tea in its warehouses, should, without limit of time, be authorised to export its teas to the British colonies of America duty free. This was thought a great and conciliatory boon194 to the Americans, but it proved otherwise. The import duty of threepence in the pound was still stubbornly retained, and the Americans, looking at the principle of taxation195, and not at a mere temptation of a cheapened article, saw through the snare196, and indignantly rejected it. The principal tea merchants declared that this would be the case, and that the whole Government scheme was wild and visionary.
Though there had appeared a lull197 in American affairs for some time, any one who was observant might have seen that all the old enmities were still working in the colonial mind, and that it would require little irritation to call them forth95 in even an aggravated198 form. Lord Hillsborough was no longer Governor, but William Legge, Lord Dartmouth. He was a man of high reputation for uprightness and candour; Richardson said that he would be the perfect ideal of his Sir Charles Grandison, if he were not a Methodist; and the poet Cowper, not objecting to his Methodism, described him as "one who wears a coronet and prays." But Lord Dartmouth, with all his superiority of temper and his piety199, could not prevent the then stone-blind Cabinet and infatuated king from accomplishing the independence of America.
Another favourable200 circumstance would have been found in the fact that in Hutchinson, Massachusetts had a native Governor, a man of courteous201 manners and moderate counsels. But even out of Hutchinson's position arose offence. His brothers-in-law, Andrew and Peter Oliver, were appointed Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice of the province. Lord North thought that the payment of these officers should be in the hands of Government, to render them independent of the colonists; but this the colonists resented as an attempt to destroy the Charter and establish arbitrary power. The Massachusetts House of Assembly declared on this occasion, in their address to the Crown:—"We know of no commissioners202 of his Majesty's Customs, nor of any revenue that his Majesty has a right to establish in North America." They denounced the Declaratory Act passed at the suggestion of Chatham, and the attempt to make the governors and judges independent of the people, and the arbitrary instruments of the Crown. In Virginia the same spirit was conspicuous203.
During the years 1767, 1768, and 1769, Mr. Thomas Whately—at one time private secretary to Grenville, and several years Under-Secretary of State to Lord Suffolk, but during these years out of office, and simply member of Parliament—had maintained a private correspondence with Governor Hutchinson and his brother-in-law, Andrew Oliver, the Lieutenant-Governor. In these letters Hutchinson and Oliver had freely expressed to their old friend their views of the state of affairs in the colony; and, of course, said many things never intended to come to the public eye, or to operate officially. On the death of Whately, in 1772, some villain204 purloined205 these letters and conveyed them to Franklin, who was acting206 as agent for Massachusetts. Who this dishonest firebrand was, was never discovered. Franklin pledged himself to secrecy207, both as to the letters and as to the name of the person who so basely obtained them. The name of this person he faithfully kept; but the contents of the letters were too well calculated to create irreconcilable208 rancour in the minds of the Americans, for him to resist the pleasure of communicating them to the Massachusetts Assembly. He accordingly forwarded them to Mr. Curling, the Speaker of the Assembly.
The whole mode of coming into possession of these papers has something in it revolting to all honourable minds. Franklin, aware of this, insisted that they should not be printed nor made public, but only circulated amongst a select few. But the same motives209 which had induced Franklin to break his pledged secrecy, operated on the Assembly. They determined to make them public, and therefore pretended that other copies of them had reached them from England, and that they were thus absolved210 from all conditions of secrecy. This was totally false. The story was invented for the occasion, and the letters, without the name of Whately, to whom they had been addressed, were published by the Assembly. It was left to be inferred by the public, that they had been sent officially to England by the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, and the Assembly voted the writing of them ample evidence of a fixed211 design on the part of the British Government to destroy the Constitution and establish arbitrary power. A petition was dispatched to be presented by Franklin to the king, calling for the removal of Hutchinson and Oliver from their posts. When these letters were read under these false impressions, sentiments were found in them which assumed a wholly exaggerated character, and the flame produced was, as Franklin and the Assembly intended, of the most furious kind.
[209]
BOSTON "BOYS" DISGUISED AS INDIANS THROWING THE TEA CHESTS INTO THE HARBOUR. (See p. 210.)
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[210]
When these letters were published in America, their real character was concealed212, and every means taken to represent them as official despatches to the officers of Government in England. The public rage was uncontrollable. A committee was formed to wait on Governor Hutchinson, and demand whether he owned the handwriting. Hutchinson freely owned to that, but contended very justly that the letters were of a thoroughly213 private character, and to an unofficial person. Notwithstanding, the House of Assembly drew up a strong remonstrance to the British Government, charging the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor with giving false and malicious214 information respecting the colony, and demanding their dismissal. This remonstrance, accompanied by copies of the letters themselves, was immediately dispatched over the colonies, and everywhere produced, as was intended, the most violent inflammation of the public mind against us. The Bostonians had for some time established what was called a Corresponding Committee, whose business it was to prepare and circulate through the whole of the colonies papers calculated to keep alive the indignation against the British Government. This Committee quickly was responded to by other committees in different places, and soon this plan became an organisation132 extending to every part of the colonies, even the most remote, by which intelligence and arguments were circulated through all America with wonderful celerity.
That the spirit of the Bostonians had ripened215 into actual rebellion was unequivocally shown in the course of the year 1773. The Gaspee Government schooner216, commanded by Lieutenant Dudingston, had been singularly active in putting down smuggling217 about Rhode Island. The Rhode Island packet coming in one evening from Newport to Providence218, instigated219 by the general anger against the Gaspee—for the Rhode Islanders were great smugglers—refused to pay the usual compliment of lowering the flag to the schooner. Dudingston fired a shot across her bows, and, on her paying no regard to that, gave chase. The packet, however, ran close in shore, and the Gaspee following too eagerly, ran aground. It was on a sandy bottom, and the return of the tide would have lifted her off undamaged; but the smuggling population of Providence put off to her in the night, whilst she lay in a position so as to be incapable of using her guns, surprised, boarded, and set fire to her, carrying the lieutenant and the crew triumphantly221 on shore. Government offered a reward of five hundred pounds for the discovery of the perpetrators of this daring outrage222; but though it was well known who the perpetrators were, no one would give any information. On the contrary, the most violent threats were uttered against any one who should do so.
When such acts as the burning of the Gaspee had been done with impunity223, and whilst the American mind was rankling224 with the Franklin poison of the purloined letters, three vessels225 arrived at Boston, laden226 with tea, under the conditions of Lord North's Bill. On the arrival of the ships the commotion227 was intense. The captains themselves would gladly have sailed away with their obnoxious cargoes in safety, but the governor very foolishly gave orders that they should not pass the ports without a permit from himself, and he sent Admiral Montague to guard the passages out of the harbour with two ships of war. As the evening grew dark, those who had quitted the meeting held on the 16th of December to demand that the ships should be sent home again, were met by mobs of men arrayed as wild Indians, who hurried down to Griffin's Wharf228, where the tea ships lay. Rushing tumultuously on board, and hoisting229 out the tea chests, they emptied them into the sea amid much cheering and noise. Having thus destroyed teas to the amount of eighteen thousand pounds, the triumphant220 mob retreated to their houses.
The news from Boston could not have arrived at a moment when the public mind was more ill-disposed towards the Americans. The affair of the abstraction of Mr. Whately's private letters from his house or office, and their publication, contrary to custom and to its own engagement, by the Massachusetts Assembly, had produced a deep conviction in all classes in England of the utter disregard of honour both in the American colonists and their agent, Franklin. This disgraceful violation of the sacred security of private papers roused the indignation of Mr. William Whately, banker, in Lombard Street, and brother to the late Mr. Thomas Whately. He conceived strong suspicions of John Temple, afterwards Sir John Temple, Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire, and, though one of the Commissioners of Customs at Boston, really hostile to the Commission, and a strong partisan230 of Franklin. Whately challenged Temple, and was severely231 wounded in the rencontre. At this, Franklin came forward with an avowal89 that neither the late Mr. Whately nor Mr.[211] Temple had anything to do with the carrying off of the letters; that he alone was responsible for this act.
Owing to these circumstances, occasion was taken, on the presentation to the Privy Council of the petition of the people of Boston for the removal of the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, to animadvert on Franklin's conduct. This took place on the 29th of January, 1774, when Dunning and Lee were retained on the part of the petition, and Wedderburn, the Solicitor-General, appeared for the Crown. There were no less than thirty-five Privy Councillors present, amongst them Lord North, and Lord Gower at their head, as Lord President. Neither Dunning nor Lee spoke38 effectively, but as if they by no means relished232 the cause in which they were engaged; while Wedderburn seemed animated233 by extraordinary life and bitterness. He was the friend of Whately, who was now lying in a dangerous state from his wound. After speaking of the Charter and the insubordinate temper of the people of Massachusetts, he fell with withering234 sarcasm235 on Franklin, who was present. Hitherto, he said, private correspondence had been held sacred, even in times of the most rancorous party fury. But here was a gentleman who had a high rank amongst philosophers, and should be the last to sanction such infamous236 breaches237 of honour, openly avowing238 his concern in them. He asked where, henceforth, Dr. Franklin could show his face; and said that henceforth he must deem it a libel to be termed "a man of letters," he was "a man of three letters, f u r, a thief." Wedderburn could compare him only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's "Revenge:"—
"Know, then, 'twas I;
I forged the letter—I disposed the picture—
I hated—I despised—and I destroy!"
Priestley, in a letter, describes the effect of Wedderburn's address as received with what must seem mad merriment by the Council. "Mr. Wedderburn had a complete triumph. At the sallies of his sarcastic239 wit, all the members of the Council, the President himself, Lord Gower, not excepted, frequently laughed outright240; and no person belonging to the Council behaved himself with decent gravity, except Lord North, who came in late."
The Privy Council decided241 that the petition from Massachusetts was framed on false and exaggerated allegations, and was groundless, vexatious, and scandalous. Two days afterwards, the king dismissed Franklin from the office, which he had till now held, of Deputy-Postmaster of America.
On the 14th of March Lord North moved to bring in a Bill to take away from Boston the customs, the courts of justice, and government offices, and give them to Salem. This Bill was carried through both Houses with little opposition. Bollan, the agent of the Council of Massachusetts, desired to be heard against the Bill, but was refused. It received the royal assent242 on the 31st of March, and the trade of Boston was supposed to be annihilated243.
Whilst this Bill was passing the Lords, on the 28th of March Lord Gower brought a fresh one into the Commons, which had no less object than the repeal of the Charter of Massachusetts. It was entitled, "A Bill for the Better Regulating Government in the Province of Massachusetts Bay." It went to remove the nomination244 of the members of the Council, of the judges and magistrates245, etc., from the popular constituencies to the Crown. Lord North observed that the Charter of William III. had conferred these privileges on Massachusetts as exceptional to all other colonies, and that the consequence was that the Governor had no power whatever. Strong opposition was made to this proposed Bill by Dowdeswell, Sir George Savile, Burke, Barré, Governor Pownall, General Conway, and Charles Fox, who was now in opposition. The Bill passed the Commons by a majority of two hundred and thirty-nine against sixty-four; and it passed the Lords by a majority of ninety-two against twenty. But even now another Bill passed the House of Commons—a Bill for removing to another colony for trial any inhabitant of Massachusetts Bay, who was indicted246 for any murder or other capital offence which the Governor might deem to be perpetrated in the attempt to put down tumults247 and riots. This measure was still more vehemently248 opposed than the rest.
To commence a course of more rigour in Massachusetts, Governor Hutchinson was recalled, and General Gage, a man who had seen service, and had the reputation of firmness and promptitude, was appointed in his stead. But the mischief249 of the new Acts became rapidly apparent. Had the Boston Port Bill alone been passed, perhaps not much harm might have been done. There were numbers of people throughout America who were of opinion that Boston had gone too far in destroying the tea, and might have remained passive if the Bostonians had been compelled to make compensation. But the fatal Act was[212] that which abolished the Massachusetts Charter. That made the cause common; that excited one universal alarm. If the British Government were thus permitted to strike out the colonial Charters at pleasure, all security had perished. All the colonies determined to support their own cause in supporting that of Massachusetts.
The Virginians were the first to move to lead the agitation250. Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson took the initiative in a measure which would have better suited the character of the religious New Englanders. A fast was ordered on account of the Boston Port Act. The next day, however, being the 25th of May, Lord Dunmore, the governor of the province, dissolved the Assembly. The members, nothing daunted251, retired252 to the "Raleigh" Tavern253, and passed a series of resolutions. The chief of these were to purchase nothing of the East India Company, except saltpetre and spices, until their injuries were redressed254; to request the members of all Corresponding Committees to take measures for the appointment of members to a General Congress; to summon the new members of the Assembly (the writs255 for which were already in course of issue) to meet at Williamsburg to elect delegates from that colony to the Congress.
In the meantime, General Gage landed at Boston on the 13th of May. The Port Bill had preceded him a few days, and the tone of the other colonies rendered the Bostonians firmer in their temper than ever. On the 25th of May General Gage announced to the Assembly at Boston the unpleasant fact, that he was bound to remove, on the 1st of June, the Assembly, the courts of justice, and all the public offices, to Salem, in conformity256 with the late Act. As they petitioned him to set apart a day for fasting, he declined that, and, to prevent further trouble, adjourned257 them to the 7th of June, to meet at Salem.
On the 1st of June according to the arrangements of General Gage, as the clock struck twelve, all the public offices were closed, and the whole official business was transferred to Salem. But the wide discontent of the people met him there as much as at Boston. When the Assembly met, which was in the following week, such was its spirit that General Gage felt that he must dissolve it. General Gage, seeing the lowering aspect of affairs, took the precaution to throw more troops into the neighbourhood, so that he had some six regiments258, with a train of artillery259, when he encamped on the common near Boston. Active emissaries were immediately sent amongst these troops, who, by presents of ardent260 spirits and fine promises, seduced a considerable number from their duty. To prevent this, he stationed a strong guard at Boston Neck, a narrow isthmus261 connecting the town with the common and open country. On this a vehement cry was raised, that he was going to cut off all communication with the country, blockade the town, and reduce it to submission by famine. The inhabitants of the county of Worcester sent a deputation to inquire Gage's intentions, and they did not omit to hint that, if necessary, they would drive in the guard with arms; for, in fact, besides the arms which most Americans then had, others had been supplied to such as were too poor to purchase them. Gordon, their historian, tells us that the people were preparing to defend their rights by the sword; that they were supplying themselves from Boston with guns, knapsacks, etc. According to the Militia Law, most men were well furnished with muskets262 and powder, and were now busily employed in exercising themselves; thus all was bustle264, casting of balls, and making ready for a struggle. Gage, seeing all this, removed the gunpowder265 and the military stores from Charlestown, Cambridge, and other localities, to his own quarters. This, again, excited a deep rage in the people, who threatened to attack his troops. To prevent this, he went on briskly with his defences on the Neck; but what he did by day the mob endeavoured to undo266 by night. They set fire to his supplies of straw; they sank the boats that were bringing bricks, and overturned his waggons267 conveying timber. Nothing but the greatest patience and forbearance prevented an instant collision.
The General Congress met at Philadelphia on the 4th of September, when all the delegates, except those of North Carolina, who did not arrive till the 14th, were found to represent twelve States, namely, the four New England States, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey268, Delaware, and the two Carolinas. It was settled, however, that, whatever the number of delegates, each colony should have one vote. The next day they assembled in Carpenters' Hall for business, and elected Peyton Randolph, late Speaker of the Virginian House of Burgesses, president. It was soon found that so much diversity of opinion prevailed, it was deemed prudent69, in order to preserve the air of unanimity269, to deliberate with closed doors. It was clear that Massachusetts and Virginia were ready for war; but it became equally clear that other States yet[213] clung with all the attachment270 of blood and old connection to the fatherland. Strong and long-continued, according to Mr. Joseph Galloway, one of their own members, were the debates; and though they finally, and, from their system of secrecy, with an air of unanimity, drew up strong resolutions, they were more moderately expressed than the instructions of many of the delegates. They agreed to a Declaration of Rights, in which they asserted that they had neither lost the rights of nature, nor the privileges of Englishmen, by emigration; consequently, that the late Acts of Parliament had been gross violations271 of those rights, especially as affecting Massachusetts. They therefore passed resolutions to suspend all imports, or use of imported goods, until harmony was restored between Great Britain and her colonies. An association was formed to carry these resolutions out, to which every member subscribed272. Having adjourned till the 10th of May of the next year, the Congress dissolved itself on the 26th of October, and the delegates then hastened home to keep alive the flame of their revived zeal273 in every quarter of the continent.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
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But, whilst Congress was sitting, the spirit of revolution was every day growing more rife124 in Massachusetts. Governor Gage had issued writs for a new Assembly, which was to meet at Salem on the 5th of October; but so many of the newly appointed members refused to act, that he issued a proclamation to countermand274 the writs. The patriots, however, set the proclamation at defiance; and confident, from the resignation of the timid loyalists, that they were in a majority, met at Salem, and formed themselves into a provincial275 congress, to be joined by such other persons as[214] should be chosen for the consideration of public affairs. They then adjourned to Concord, a town about twenty miles from Boston, and elected John Hancock, the owner of the Liberty sloop86, as president. They then adjourned to Cambridge, and constituted Concord the dep?t of arms and ammunition for twelve thousand militia. They enrolled276 the militia under the name of "Minute Men," or men who were to turn out, at a minute's notice, with musket263 or rifle. They appointed committees and sub-committees for different purposes, and, in fact, put the province into a perfect attitude of war.
News arrived that the king, by proclamation, had prohibited the export of arms and military stores to America. This news was received with a burst of rage. The people of Rhode Island, who had burnt the king's schooner, The Gaspee, seized forty pieces of cannon277 on the batteries defending the harbour, and carried them into the country. The people of New Hampshire surprised a small fort called William and Mary, garrisoned278 only by one officer and five men, and carried off the ordnance, arms, ammunition and military stores. Everywhere orders were issued for the purchase of arms and ammunition; for training the militia; for erecting279 powder mills, and manufactories of arms and shot, as well as for making saltpetre. So far as it depended on the people of Massachusetts, it was already rebellion. Still, however, the other colonies, except, perhaps, Virginia, were far from this bellicose280 temper. The colonies, in general, thought the measures of the late Congress too strong; and the State of New York, in spite of the impetuosity of such men as Jay, carried a vote rejecting the resolutions of the Congress.
The Parliament of England had now nearly run its septennial course, and was accordingly dissolved on the 30th of September. Such was the feeling of resentment in Great Britain against the proceedings of the Americans, that the Parliament that was now elected gave the Ministers an increased majority.
It met on the 29th of November. The king, in his speech, alluded281 to the determined resistance to the imperial authority of the American colonists, and pre-eminently of those of Massachusetts Bay. He called upon Parliament to support him in his endeavours to restore order. There was strong opposition to the addresses in both Houses, demands being made for a full production of all papers and correspondence on this great subject, but the battle did not begin until January, 1775, when Chatham moved the repeal of the legislation of the previous year, and the withdrawal282 of the troops from Boston.
Chatham, on rising, severely blamed Ministers for the course which they had pursued, and which had driven the colonies to the verge of rebellion. "Resistance to your Acts," he said, "was necessary as it was just; and your vain declarations of the omnipotence283 of Parliament, and your imperious doctrines284 of the necessity of submission, will be found equally incompetent285 to convince or to enslave your fellow-subjects in America, who feel that tyranny, whether attempted by an individual part of the Legislature, or the bodies who compose it, is equally intolerable to British subjects." He eulogised the conduct of the Congress, and remarked that it was obvious that all attempts to impose servitude on such men, to establish despotism over such a mighty286 continental287 nation, must be vain, must be fatal. "We shall be forced," he said, "ultimately, to retract288; let us retract while we can—not when we must. I say we must necessarily undo these violently oppressive Acts; they must be repealed289. You will repeal them; I pledge myself for it that you will, in the end, repeal them. I stake my reputation on it. I will consent to be taken for an idiot if they are not finally repealed. Avoid, then, this humiliating, this disgraceful necessity." He declared that the cause of America and England was one; that it was the glorious spirit of Whiggism which animated the colonists. "It is liberty to liberty engaged. In this great cause they are immovably allied290; it is the alliance of God and nature—immutable, eternal—fixed as the firmament291 of heaven. You cannot force them, united as they are, to your unworthy terms of submission. It is impossible." Lords Shelburne, Camden, and Rockingham, and the Duke of Richmond, zealously292 supported the views of Chatham, but the Ministerial party opposed the motion as obstinately293 as ever; and it was rejected by sixty-eight votes against eighteen.
Chatham, undeterred by the fate of his motion, determined to make one more effort, and bring in a Bill for the pacification of the colonies, and he called upon Franklin to assist in framing it. On the following Tuesday, Franklin hurried down to Hayes with the draft of the Bill left with him, and with his full approbation141 of it, having, he says, only added one word, that of "constitutions" after "charters." The next day (Wednesday), the 1st of February, Chatham appeared in the House of Lords with his Bill. He declared that it was a[215] Bill not merely of concession294, but of assertion, and he called on the Lords to entertain it cordially, to correct its crudenesses, and pass it for the peace of the whole empire. The Bill first explicitly295 asserted our supreme power over the colonies; it declared that all that related to the disposing of the army belonged to the prerogative296 of the Crown, but that no armed force could be lawfully employed against the rights and liberties of the inhabitants; that no tax, or tollage, or other charge for the revenue, should be levied without the consent of the provincial Assemblies. The Acts of Parliament relating to America passed since 1764 were wholly repealed; the judges were made permanent during their good behaviour, and the Charters and constitutions of the several provinces were not to be infringed297 or set aside, unless upon some valid298 ground of forfeiture299. All these concessions300 were, of course, made conditional301 on the recognition by the colonies of the supreme authority of Parliament.
Had this Bill been frankly302 accepted by Ministers, it would have gone far to heal the rupture303 between the mother country and her colonies. The Earl of Dartmouth, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, proposed that the Bill should lie on the table for deliberation. The Duke of Grafton complained of the manner in which the Bill had been hurried into the House, and, as Chatham in his reply observed, showed every disposition304 to hurry it as quickly out again. The friends of the Duke of Bedford, who had joined the administration, exhibited the most rancorous disposition towards America. The chief of these, Lord Sandwich, declared that he never could believe this Bill was the work of any British peer, but rather of an American, and he looked full at Dr. Franklin, who was leaning on the bar. He declared the Americans to be in actual rebellion; that they were not troubling themselves about mere words and nice distinctions; that they were aiming at independence, and nothing else. The Bedford party carried the day, and the Bill was rejected by sixty-one votes against thirty-two.
Lord North, however, was still sufficiently305 impressed by the solemn warnings of Chatham and others to attempt a conciliatory measure of his own. Accordingly, on the 20th of February, only ten days after his Bill restrictive of the American trade, and whilst it was progressing, he moved in a committee of the whole House, "That if the Legislature of any of the American provinces should propose to make some provision for the common defence, and also for the civil government of that province, and if such proposal shall be approved of by the king and Parliament, it would be proper to forbear, whilst such provision lasted, from levying306 or proposing any tax, duty, or assessment307 within the said province."
This proposal, which, at an earlier stage of the dispute, might have been listened to, was one at this stage which was sure to be rejected, and was only one of those miserable308 half measures which commonplace minds so frequently put forth only to demonstrate their inability to grasp the amplitude309 of the occasion. It was supposed that the measure had been intended to be larger, but that the Bedford party had fallen on it in Council, and reduced it to these pitiable dimensions. Yet when it was introduced into the Commons by Lord North, the Bedford party looked at each other in consternation310, and soon the tempest broke loose on the Treasury benches.
The storm was appeased311 only by Lord North's condescending312 to explain his measure in such a manner as deprived it of every particle of generous feeling, and reduced it to the lowest Machiavellian313 level. He said the real object of the resolution was to divide the Americans, to satisfy the moderate part of them, and oppose them to the immoderate, to separate the wheat from the chaff314; that he never expected his proposal to be generally acceptable. On this, Colonel Barré and Burke assaulted him fiercely. Barré branded the whole scheme as founded on that low, shameful315, abominable316 maxim317, "Divide et impera." Burke declared that the proposition was at variance318 with every former principle of Parliament, directly so with the restrictive measures now in progress; that it was mean without being conciliatory. But the resolution passed by two hundred and seventy-four votes against eighteen.
Again, on the 22nd of March, Burke made another earnest effort to induce the infatuated Ministers and their adherents319 in Parliament to listen to reason. In one of the finest speeches that he ever made, he introduced a series of thirteen resolutions, which went to abolish the obnoxious Acts of Parliament, and admit the principle of the colonial Assemblies exercising the power of taxation. In the course of his speech he drew a striking picture of the rapid growth and the inevitable320 future importance of these colonies. He reminded the House that the people of New England and other colonies had quitted Great Britain because they would not submit to arbitrary measures; that in America they had cultivated this extreme independence of character, both in their religion and their daily life; that almost[216] every man there studied law, and that nearly as many copies of Blackstone's "Commentaries" had been sold there as in England; that they were the Protestants of Protestants, the Dissenters321 of Dissenters; that the Church of England there was a mere sect322; that the foreigners who had settled there, disgusted with tyranny at home, had adopted the extremest principles of liberty flourishing there; that all men there were accustomed to discuss the principles of law and government, and that almost every man sent to the Congress was a lawyer; that the very existence of slavery in the southern States made white inhabitants hate slavery the more in their own persons. "You cannot," he said, "content such men at such a distance—Nature fights against you. Who are you that you should fret323, rage, and bite the chains of Nature? Nothing worse happens to you than does to all nations who have extensive empires. In all such extended empires authority grows feeble at the extremities324. The Turk and the Spaniard find it so, and are compelled to comply with this condition of Nature, and derive325 vigour326 in the centre from the relaxation327 of authority on the borders." His resolutions were negatived by large majorities.
In the meantime, petitions, memorials, and remonstrances328 were presented from New York and other places, and from the British inhabitants of Canada, but all were rejected. On the 26th of May George III. prorogued329 Parliament, and expressed his perfect satisfaction in its proceedings; so utterly330 unconscious was this king that he was alienating331 a great empire, and which, indeed, was already virtually gone from him; for during the very time that Parliament had been protesting against even the contemptible332 crumbs333 of concession offered by Ministers, war had broken out, blood had flowed, and the Americans had triumphed!
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| v.公开声明，承认( avow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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6
gage
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| n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge] | |
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7
fortifies
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| 筑防御工事于( fortify的第三人称单数 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
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8
concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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9
enrol
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| v.（使）注册入学，（使）入学，（使）入会 | |
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10
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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11
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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12
pacification
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| n. 讲和，绥靖，平定 | |
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13
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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14
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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15
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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16
premier
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| adj.首要的；n.总理，首相 | |
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17
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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18
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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19
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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20
versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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21
dexterous
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| adj.灵敏的；灵巧的 | |
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22
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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23
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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24
somnolent
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| adj.想睡的，催眠的；adv.瞌睡地；昏昏欲睡地；使人瞌睡地 | |
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25
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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26
ordnance
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| n.大炮，军械 | |
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27
privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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28
treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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29
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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30
amalgamating
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| v.（使）（金属）汞齐化( amalgamate的现在分词 )；（使）合并；联合；结合 | |
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31
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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32
censures
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| v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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33
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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35
parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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36
depreciate
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| v.降价，贬值，折旧 | |
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37
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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38
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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39
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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40
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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41
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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42
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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43
alienate
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| vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等) | |
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44
controverted
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| v.争论，反驳，否定( controvert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
obstruction
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| n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物 | |
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46
ballot
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| n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票 | |
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47
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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48
wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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49
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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50
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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51
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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52
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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53
repeal
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| n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消 | |
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54
obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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55
repealing
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| 撤销，废除( repeal的现在分词 ) | |
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56
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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57
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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59
seaports
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| n.海港( seaport的名词复数 ) | |
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60
cargoes
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| n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负 | |
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61
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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62
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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63
warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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64
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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65
actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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66
fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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67
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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68
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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70
prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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71
pelted
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|
| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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72
irate
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| adj.发怒的，生气 | |
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73
acquitted
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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74
smuggle
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| vt.私运；vi.走私 | |
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75
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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76
patriots
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| 爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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77
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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78
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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79
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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80
harangues
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| n.高谈阔论的长篇演讲( harangue的名词复数 )v.高谈阔论( harangue的第三人称单数 ) | |
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81
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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82
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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83
isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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84
frigates
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| n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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85
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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86
sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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87
sloops
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| n.单桅纵帆船( sloop的名词复数 ) | |
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88
expiation
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| n.赎罪，补偿 | |
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89
avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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90
averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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91
precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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92
hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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93
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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94
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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95
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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96
cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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97
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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98
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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99
penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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100
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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101
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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102
infringement
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| n.违反；侵权 | |
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103
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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104
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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105
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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106
arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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107
insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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108
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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109
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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110
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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111
apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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112
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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113
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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114
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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115
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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116
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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117
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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118
bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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119
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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120
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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121
incarceration
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| n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭 | |
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122
hooted
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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124
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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125
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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126
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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127
liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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128
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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129
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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130
Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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131
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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132
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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133
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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134
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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135
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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136
corruptions
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| n.堕落( corruption的名词复数 )；腐化；腐败；贿赂 | |
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137
licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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138
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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139
seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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140
fickleness
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| n.易变；无常；浮躁；变化无常 | |
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141
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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142
lawfully
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| adv.守法地，合法地；合理地 | |
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143
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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144
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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145
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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146
monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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147
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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148
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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149
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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150
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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151
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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152
cupidity
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| n.贪心，贪财 | |
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153
usurped
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| 篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权 | |
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154
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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155
solicitation
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| n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说 | |
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156
fawning
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| adj.乞怜的，奉承的v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的现在分词 )；巴结；讨好 | |
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157
cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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158
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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159
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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160
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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161
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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162
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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163
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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164
inundated
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| v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付 | |
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165
levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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166
nominee
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| n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者 | |
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167
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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168
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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169
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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170
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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171
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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172
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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173
plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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174
remonstrate
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| v.抗议，规劝 | |
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175
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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176
intercede
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| vi.仲裁，说情 | |
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177
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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178
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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179
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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180
confluence
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| n.汇合，聚集 | |
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181
acquiesce
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| vi.默许，顺从，同意 | |
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182
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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183
rapacity
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| n.贪婪，贪心，劫掠的欲望 | |
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184
supervisors
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| n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 ) | |
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185
evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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186
atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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187
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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188
annihilate
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| v.使无效；毁灭；取消 | |
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189
connived
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| v.密谋 ( connive的过去式和过去分词 )；搞阴谋；默许；纵容 | |
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190
connive
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| v.纵容；密谋 | |
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191
dividends
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| 红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金 | |
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192
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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193
embarrassments
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| n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事 | |
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194
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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195
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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196
snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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197
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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198
aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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199
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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200
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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201
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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202
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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203
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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204
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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205
purloined
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| v.偷窃( purloin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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206
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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207
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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208
irreconcilable
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| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
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209
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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210
absolved
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| 宣告…无罪，赦免…的罪行，宽恕…的罪行( absolve的过去式和过去分词 )； 不受责难，免除责任 [义务] ,开脱（罪责） | |
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211
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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212
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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213
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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214
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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215
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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216
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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217
smuggling
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| n.走私 | |
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218
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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219
instigated
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| v.使（某事物）开始或发生，鼓动( instigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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220
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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221
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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222
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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223
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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224
rankling
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的现在分词 ) | |
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225
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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226
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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227
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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228
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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229
hoisting
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| 起重，提升 | |
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230
partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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231
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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232
relished
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| v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望 | |
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233
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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234
withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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235
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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236
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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237
breaches
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| 破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背 | |
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238
avowing
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| v.公开声明，承认( avow的现在分词 ) | |
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239
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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240
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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241
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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242
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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243
annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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244
nomination
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| n.提名，任命，提名权 | |
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245
magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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246
indicted
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| 控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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247
tumults
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| 吵闹( tumult的名词复数 )； 喧哗； 激动的吵闹声； 心烦意乱 | |
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248
vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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249
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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250
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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251
daunted
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| 使（某人）气馁，威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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252
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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253
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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254
redressed
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| v.改正( redress的过去式和过去分词 )；重加权衡；恢复平衡 | |
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255
writs
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| n.书面命令，令状( writ的名词复数 ) | |
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256
conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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257
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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258
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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259
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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260
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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261
isthmus
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| n.地峡 | |
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262
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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263
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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264
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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265
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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266
undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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267
waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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268
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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269
unanimity
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| n.全体一致，一致同意 | |
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270
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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violations
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| 违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸 | |
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272
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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countermand
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| v.撤回(命令)，取消(订货) | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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277
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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garrisoned
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| 卫戍部队守备( garrison的过去式和过去分词 )； 派部队驻防 | |
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279
erecting
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| v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立 | |
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280
bellicose
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| adj.好战的；好争吵的 | |
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281
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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282
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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283
omnipotence
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| n.全能，万能，无限威力 | |
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284
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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287
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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288
retract
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| vt.缩回，撤回收回，取消 | |
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repealed
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| 撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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290
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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291
firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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294
concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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explicitly
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| ad.明确地，显然地 | |
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prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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infringed
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| v.违反（规章等）( infringe的过去式和过去分词 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等） | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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299
forfeiture
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| n.（名誉等）丧失 | |
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300
concessions
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| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
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conditional
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| adj.条件的，带有条件的 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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306
levying
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| 征（兵）( levy的现在分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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assessment
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| n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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amplitude
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| n.广大；充足；振幅 | |
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310
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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311
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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312
condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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313
machiavellian
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| adj.权谋的，狡诈的 | |
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314
chaff
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| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
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315
shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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316
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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317
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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318
variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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319
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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320
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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321
dissenters
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| n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 ) | |
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322
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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323
fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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324
extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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325
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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326
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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327
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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328
remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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329
prorogued
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| v.使（议会）休会( prorogue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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330
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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331
alienating
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| v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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332
contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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333
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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