The American disasters had now to be criticised in Parliament. On the 20th of November the two Houses met, and Lord Chatham rose instantly to reply, and to move an amendment on the Address. He attacked the Ministry with a still more personal and sweeping20 censure21 than he had done once before. "Can Ministers," he asked, "presume to expect a continuance of support in their career of ruinous infatuation? Can Parliament be so dead to its dignity and its duty as to be deluded22 into the loss of the one and the violation of the other? Will they continue to give an unlimited24 credit and support to Government in measures which are reducing this flourishing empire to ruin and contempt? But yesterday, and England might have stood against the world; now, none so poor to do her reverence25! I use the words of a poet; but, though it be poetry, it is no fiction. It is a shameful26 truth, that not only the power and strength of this country are wasting away and expiring, but her well-earned glories, her true honour and substantial dignity, are sacrificed. France, my lords, has insulted you; she has encouraged and sustained America; and, whether America be wrong or right, the dignity of this country ought to spurn27 at the officious insult of French interference!" It is certain that Chatham would not have tolerated the presence of Franklin and Deane in Paris for a single day; they must have quitted France, or France would have been instantly compelled to throw off the mask. At this time, when the news neither of Howe's success in the south nor of Burgoyne's fall in the north had arrived, Chatham seemed to see in prophetic vision the disasters of the latter general. "The desperate state of our army," he said, "is, in part, known. No man thinks more highly of our troops than I do. I love and honour the English troops. I know that they can achieve anything but impossibilities; and I know that the conquest of English America is an impossibility. You cannot—I venture to say it—you cannot conquer America! You may swell29 every expense and every effort still more extravagantly31; pile and accumulate every assistance that you can buy or borrow; traffic and barter32 with every little, pitiful German prince that sells and sends his subjects to the shambles33 of a foreign prince; your efforts are for ever vain and impotent—doubly so from this mercenary aid on which you rely; for it irritates to an incurable35 resentment36 the minds of your enemies, to overrun them with the mercenary sons of rapine and plunder37, devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity38 of hireling cruelty! If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I would never lay down my arms—never—never—never!" On the subject of employing Indians in the war against the Americans, willing to forget that he had done the same thing in Canada, he burst forth39 most indignantly: "But, my lords, who is the man that, in addition to these disgraces[247] and mischiefs40 of our army, has dared to authorise and associate to our arms the scalping-knife and tomahawk of the savage41? to call into civilised alliance the wild and inhuman42 savage of the woods? to delegate to the merciless Indian the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the horrors of this barbarous war against our brethren? My lord, these enormities cry aloud for redress43 and punishment. Unless done away, it will be a stain on the national character—it is a violation of the Constitution; I believe it is against the law. It is not the least of our national misfortunes, that the strength and character of our army are thus impaired44; infected with the mercenary spirit of robbery and rapine—familiarised to the horrid45 scenes of savage cruelty, it can no longer boast of the noble and generous principles which dignify46 a soldier!" He then proceeded to give the Americans credit still for a natural leaning towards England; believed that they might be drawn48 from their alliance with France; and recommended, by his amendment, an immediate49 cessation of arms, and a treaty between the countries, by which he hoped that America would yet be retained in affectionate dependence50.
Affairs had now assumed such an aspect that the different sections of the Opposition51 saw the necessity of coalescing52 more, and attending zealously53; but still they were divided as to the means to be pursued. A great meeting was held on the 27th of November at the Marquis of Rockingham's, to decide on a plan of action. It was concluded to move for a committee on the state of the nation, and Chatham being applied55 to, advised that the very next day notice should be given that such a motion should be made on Tuesday next, the 2nd of December. The motion was made, the committee granted, and in it the Duke of Richmond moved for the production of the returns of the army and navy in America and Ireland. Whilst Lord North—who, if he had been his own master, would have resigned—was refusing to produce the necessary papers, the Lords consented to this measure; and at this very moment came news of the surrender at Saratoga, which was speedily confirmed.
The news had the most instant effect across the Channel. All hesitation56 on the part of the French Court to enter into the treaty with the United States disappeared. The American Commissioners, Franklin, Deane, and Lee, were informed that the King of France was ready to make a treaty, claiming no advantage whatever, except that of trade with the States. It was intimated that this proceeding11 would, in all probability, involve France in a war with Great Britain, but that she would claim no indemnity57 on that score. The only condition for which she positively58 stipulated59 was, that America should, under no temptations, give up its independence, or return under the dominion60 of England. The two kingdoms were to make common cause, and assist each other against the common enemy. The Americans were to endeavour to make themselves masters of all the British territories that they could, and retain them as their rightful acquisition; the French to obtain whatever islands they could in the West Indies, and retain them. France did not venture to seek back the Canadas or Nova Scotia, well knowing that the Americans would not consent to have them there as neighbours. Neither country was to make peace with England without the other. Lee was to continue at Paris as the first American Ambassador there, and the treaty was to continue some weeks a secret, in order to obtain, if possible, the accession of Spain to it, which, however, they could not do then.
In America, such was the state of things, that a British commander there, of the slightest pretence61 to activity and observation, would have concluded the war by suddenly issuing from his winter quarters, and dispersing62 the shoeless, shirtless, blanketless, and often almost foodless, army of Washington. His soldiers, amounting to about eleven thousand, were living in huts at Valley Forge, arranged in streets like a town, each hut containing fourteen men. Such was the destitution63 of shoes, that all the late marches had been tracked in blood—an evil which Washington had endeavoured to mitigate64 by offering a premium65 for the best pattern of shoes made of untanned hides. For want of blankets, many of the men were obliged to sit up all night before the camp fires. More than a quarter of the troops were reported unfit for duty, because they were barefoot and otherwise naked. Provisions failed, and on more than one occasion there was an absolute famine in the camp. It was in vain that Washington sent repeated and earnest remonstrances67 to Congress; its credit was at the lowest ebb68. The system of establishing fixed69 prices for everything had totally failed, as it was certain to do; and Washington, to prevent the total dispersion of his army, was obliged to send out foraging70 parties, and seize provisions wherever they could be found. He gave certificates for these seizures72, but their payment was long delayed, and, when it came,[248] it was only in the Continental73 bills, which were fearfully depreciated74, and contrasted most disadvantageously with the gold in which the British paid for their supplies.
Nor was this the whole extent of that wretched condition of the United States which would have attracted the vigilant76 attention of an able English commander, and have roused him into successful action. The greatest discontent prevailed in Congress against Washington. Gates and the northern army had triumphed over the entire British army there; but what had been the fate of Washington hitherto? Want of success had evoked77 a party in Congress against Schuyler, Sullivan, and himself: In this party Henry Lee and Samuel Adams were violent against him. They accused him of want of vigour78 and promptitude, and of a system of favouritism. Congress was wearied of his constant importunities and remonstrances. Gates, since the capture of Burgoyne, had assumed a particular hauteur79 and distance, and, there could be little doubt, was aspiring80 to the office of Commander-in-Chief. A new Board of War was formed, in which the opponents of Washington became the leading members. Gates and Mifflin were at its head, and Conway was made Major-General over the heads of all the brigadiers, and Inspector-General of the army. A system of anonymous81 letters was in action depreciating82 the character and services of Washington. But, whilst these elements of disunion and weakness were in full play, Howe slumbered83 on in Philadelphia, unobservant and, probably, ignorant of it all. The opportunity passed away. The intrigues against Washington were defeated as soon as they became known to his own army and the people at large, through the influence of the real esteem84 that he enjoyed in the public heart, especially as news had just arrived that friends and forces were on the way from France.
At this juncture85, when the eyes of all Europe were turned on the new Republic of America, Congress gave a proof of its utter contempt of those principles of honour which are regarded as the distinguishing characteristics of civilised nations. The convention on which General Burgoyne's army had surrendered was deliberately86 violated. It had been stipulated that his troops should be conveyed to Boston, and there suffered to embark88 for England in British transports to be admitted to the port for that purpose. But no sooner did Congress learn this stipulation89 than it showed the utmost reluctance90 to comply with it. It was contended that these five thousand men would liberate87 other five thousand in England to proceed to America. It was therefore determined91 to find some plea for evading92 the convention. An article of the convention provided that the English officers should be quartered according to their rank; but they complained that six or seven of them were crowded into one small room, without regard either to rank or comfort. But Burgoyne, finding remonstrance66 useless at Boston, wrote to Gates reminding him of his engagements in the convention, and declaring such treatment a breach of public faith. This was just one of those expressions that Congress was watching for, and they seized upon it with avidity. "Here," they said, "is a deep and crafty93 scheme—a previous notice put in by the British General to justify94 his future conduct; for, beyond all doubt, he will think himself absolved95 from his obligation whenever released from his captivity96, and go with all his troops to reinforce the army of Howe." Burgoyne offered at once to give Congress any security against such imagined perfidy97. But this did not suit Congress—its only object was to fasten some imputation98 on the English as an excuse for detaining them contrary to the convention, and they went on to raise fresh obstacles.
The shameful length to which Congress carried this dishonourable shuffling101 astonished Europe. They insisted that Great Britain should give a formal ratification102 of the convention before they gave up the troops, though they allowed Burgoyne and a few of his officers to go home. The British Commissioners, who had arrived with full powers to settle any affair, offered immediately such ratification; but this did not arrest the slippery chicane of Congress. It declared that it would not be satisfied without ratification directly from the highest authority at home. In short, Congress, in open violation of the convention, detained the British troops for several years prisoners of war.
When Parliament opened on the 20th of January, 1778, the Opposition fell, as it were, in a mass upon the Ministry on this question. There was much dissatisfaction expressed at the Government allowing Liverpool, Manchester, and other places, to raise troops without consulting Parliament. It was declared to be a practice contrary to the Constitution and to the Coronation Oath. Sir Philip Jennings Clerke, on the 22nd of January, moved for an account of the numbers of troops so raised, with the names of the commanding officers. Lord North, whilst observing that this mode of raising troops showed the[249] popularity of the war, and that the country was by no means in that helpless condition which a jealous and impatient faction103 represented it to be, readily granted the return. In the House of Lords the Earl of Abingdon moved to consult the judges on the legality of raising troops without authority of Parliament; but this motion was not pressed to a division. But, on the 4th of February, Sir Philip Jennings Clerke returned to his charge in the Commons. Lord North replied that this now hotly-decried practice was one which had been not only adopted, but highly approved of, in 1745, and again in 1759, when Lord Chatham was Minister, and that he had then thanked publicly those who had raised the troops for the honour and glory of their country. A motion was negatived by the Lords on the same day, to declare this practice unconstitutional, and a similar one later in the Session, introduced by Wilkes and supported by Burke.
WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE, BY THE CAMP FIRE. (See p. 247.)
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The spirit of the country appeared to be running in a strong current for the return of Lord Chatham to the helm, as the only man who could save the sinking state, and bring the American difficulty to a happy issue. But the great obstacle to this was the still continued assertion of Lord Chatham—that the full independence of America could not be for a moment listened to, whilst to almost every other man of the Opposition that independence was already an accomplished104 fact. Lord Rockingham, who was looked up to as a necessary part of any Cabinet at the head of which Chatham should be placed, had, in the previous Session, asserted his opinion that the time had now passed for hoping to preserve the dependence of these colonies; and, now he saw France coming into the field against us, he was the more confirmed in this view. This was a fatal circumstance in the way of the establishment of a strong co-operative Cabinet, formed out of the present Opposition. But a still greater obstacle was the iron determination of the king. In vain did Lord North express his desire to resign and declare the necessity of conciliatory measures. George reproached him with intending to desert him. On further pressure he gave him leave to apply to Chatham and the Whigs, but only on the absurd condition that[250] they should join the present Ministry, serve under Lord North, and carry on the policy of the existing Government. As usual, Lord North gave way, and consented to stay in office, and to bring in a plan of conciliation opposed to his former declarations.
On the 17th of February he introduced this plan in two Bills. He declared that his policy had always been pacific; that he had never proposed any tax on the Americans—when he came into office he had found them taxed already; that he had tried conciliatory means before the sword was drawn, and would still gladly try them. He had thought the former propositions to the Americans very reasonable, and he thought so still. Forgetful of the hopes that he had held out, of assisting the revenues of Great Britain by the taxation105 of Americans, he now surprised his auditors106 by asserting that he had never expected to derive107 much revenue from America, and that, in reality, the taxes imposed had not paid the expenses of the attempt to collect them. The first of his Bills, therefore, he entitled one "For removing all doubts and apprehensions108 concerning taxation by the Parliament of Great Britain in any of the colonies." It repealed109 entirely110 the tea duty in America, and declared "that from and after the passing of this Act, the king and Parliament of Great Britain will not impose any duty, tax, or assessment111 whatever, in any of his Majesty112's colonies, except only such duties as it may be expedient113 to impose for the regulation of commerce, the nett produce of such duty to be always paid and applied to and for the use of the colony in which the same shall be levied114." The second Bill removed some otherwise insuperable obstacles to a treaty. The Commissioners—five in number—were to raise no difficulties as to the legal ranks or titles of those with whom they would have to negotiate. They were empowered to proclaim a cessation of hostilities115 on the part of the king's forces by sea or land for any necessary term and on any necessary conditions. They might suspend all the Acts of Parliament respecting America passed since 1763, yet the Bill excepted the repeal of the Massachusetts Charter, and introduced that into a separate Act—another weak measure, for on such an occasion the only wisdom was to wipe away all Acts, or repeal of Acts, which had arisen out of these unhappy differences. The effect of this statement has been well described in the Annual Register of that year, in an article supposed to be from the hand of Burke:—"A dull, melancholy116 silence for some time succeeded this speech. It had been heard with profound attention, but without a single mark of approbation117 of any part, from any description of men, or any particular man in the House. Astonishment118, dejection, and fear overclouded the whole assembly. Although the Minister had declared that the sentiments he had expressed that day had been those which he always entertained, it is certain that few or none had understood him in that manner, and he had been represented to the nation at large as the person in it the most tenacious119 of those Parliamentary rights which he now proposed to resign, and the most adverse120 to the submissions121 which he now proposed to make."
These unfortunate affairs precipitated122 the resignation of Lord George Germaine. His proud and impetuous temper had occasioned the resignation already of Sir Guy Carleton and of the two Howes. All complained that they could not obtain the necessary reinforcements and supplies from him as the Colonial Minister; and his tart124 and insolent125 replies to their complaints produced the retirement126 of these three commanders. He was already charged with having been the luckless projector127 of Burgoyne's disastrous128 expedition. Sir Henry Clinton was named the successor to the command of the forces in America, in the place of Sir William Howe. The punishment of North for the policy which had thus virtually lost America, was every day falling more crushingly upon him. On the 13th of March the Marquis de Noailles, the French Ambassador in London, and the uncle of Lafayette's wife, handed to Lord Weymouth a note formally announcing the treaty of friendship and commerce between France and America. On the 17th it was the bitter duty of Lord North to read this remarkable129 document to the House of Commons. The affected130 right to make such a treaty with the colonies of another nation, and the professions of goodwill131, notwithstanding such an interference, amounted to the keenest irony133, if not downright insult.
The reading of this French note aroused at once the old feeling of enmity between France and England. If there was a strong resentment against the Americans before, it now grew tenfold. The war became popular with all, except the extreme Opposition. Lord North moved an appropriate address to the king; the Opposition moved as an amendment to it that his Majesty should dismiss the Ministers. Loyal addresses from both Houses were, however, carried by large majorities. In consequence of the French note,[251] the king ordered Lord Stormont to quit Paris, and the Marquis de Noailles took his departure from London, where, in spite of his official character, he was no longer safe from popular insult. Orders were also sent to the Lord-Lieutenants of the several counties to call out the militia134.
Through all these arrangements Lord North continued to persist in his resignation. If the king had had any glimmering135 of what was necessary to save the colonies, he would himself have removed North long ago. But the only man who could take the place with any probability of success, or with any of the confidence of the public, was Lord Chatham, whom the king regarded with increasing aversion. Chatham's pride, which would not stoop an inch to mere136 outside royalty137, feeling the higher royalty of his own mind, so far from seeking office, must himself be sought, and this deeply offended the monarch138. Lord North could point to no other efficient successor, and George angrily replied that, as regarded "Lord Chatham and his crew," he would not condescend139 to send for "that perfidious141 man" as Prime Minister; he would only do it to offer him and his friends places in the Ministry of Lord North.
The days of Chatham were far nearer their close than was suspected. One more sudden blaze of his high intellect, and he was gone. Whilst the subject of America continued to be discussed in both Houses with much acrimony and little result, the Duke of Richmond, seeing that Chatham did not come forward, took a decided142 step. He gave notice, on the 7th of April, of an address to the king, entreating143 him to withdraw both his fleets and armies from the United States, and make peace with them on such terms as should secure their goodwill. Chatham was roused effectually by this notice. Wrapped in flannel144, pale and emaciated145, he was supported into the House by his son William, and his son-in-law, Lord Mahon. His large wig146 seemed to bury his worn, shrunken face, except the still piercing eye and the aquiline147 nose. When the Duke of Richmond had made his motion, and Lord Weymouth, one of the Secretaries of State, had replied to it, Chatham arose. Lord Camden says that in speaking "he was not like himself: his speech faltered148, his sentences were broken, and his mind not master of itself. His words were shreds149 of unconnected eloquence151; and flashes of the same fire, which he, Prometheus-like, had stolen from heaven, were then returning to the place whence they were taken." All was deep attention, and even in bosoms152 antagonistic153 in principle were profound interest and respect. His words, weak and halting at first, grew, as he warmed with his subject, into much of the power and harmony of former days, and battling with his feebleness of frame he put forth, in one last great effort, the power of his spirit.
"My lords," he said, "I rejoice that the grave has not closed upon me; that I am still alive to lift up my voice against the dismemberment of this ancient and most noble monarchy154. Pressed down as I am by the hand of infirmity, I am little able to assist my country in this most perilous156 conjuncture; but, my lords, whilst I have sense and memory, I will never consent to deprive the royal offspring of the House of Brunswick, the heirs of——" here he faltered for some moments, whilst striving to recall the name—"of the Princess Sophia, of their fairest inheritance. My lords, his Majesty succeeded to an empire as great in extent as its reputation was unsullied. Shall we tarnish157 the lustre158 of that empire by an ignominious159 surrender of its rights and fairest possessions? Shall this great kingdom, which has survived whole and entire the Danish depredations160 the Scotch161 inroads, and the Norman conquest—that has stood the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada, now fall prostrate162 before the House of Bourbon? Surely, my lords, this nation is no longer what it was! Shall a people that fifteen years ago were the terror of the world now stoop so low as to tell this ancient, inveterate163 enemy—'Take all we have, only give us peace'? It is impossible! I wage war with no man or set of men; I wish for none of their employments; nor would I co-operate with men who persist in unretracted error—who, instead of acting164 on a firm, decisive line of conduct, halt between two opinions where there is no middle path. In God's name, if it is absolutely necessary to declare either for peace or war, and the former cannot be preserved with honour, why is not the latter commenced without hesitation? I am not, I confess, well informed of the resources of this kingdom; but I trust it has still sufficient to maintain its just rights, though I know them not. But, my lords, any state is better than despair. Let us, at least, make one effort, and if we must fall, let us fall like men!"
The Duke of Richmond made a feeble reply, and then Chatham rose, in the deepest indignation, to answer the Duke, but the violence of his feelings overcame him; he staggered and fell in a swoon, and would have been prostrated165 on the[252] floor but for the assistance of some friendly hands. He lay apparently166 in the agonies of death. The whole House was agitated167; the Peers crowded round him in the greatest commotion168; all except the Earl of Mansfield, who beheld169 the fall of his ancient rival almost as unmoved, says Lord Camden, "as the senseless body itself." His youngest son, John Charles Pitt, was there, and exerted himself to render all possible assistance. The insensible orator170 was carried in the arms of his friends to the house of Mr. Sargent, in Downing Street. By the prompt aid of a physician, he was in some degree recalled to consciousness, and within a few days was conveyed to his own dwelling171 at Hayes. There he lingered till the morning of May 11th, when he died in the seventieth year of his age.
On the day of Chatham's death, his friend and disciple172, Colonel Barré, announced the melancholy event in the House of Commons, and moved that his funeral should be conducted at the public charge, and his remains173 be deposited in Westminster Abbey. This was seconded by Thomas Townshend, afterwards Secretary of State, and Lord Sydney. All parties consented, with many praises, to this suggestion; and two days afterwards, Lord John Cavendish introduced the subject of a further testimony174 of public regard for the departed. It was well known that Chatham, notwithstanding the ten thousand pounds left him by the Duchess of Marlborough, notwithstanding the emoluments175 of his places and pensions, and the noble estate bequeathed to him by Sir William Pynsent, was still in debt. Lord John Cavendish put to the score of disinterestedness176 what ought probably to have been placed to the account of free living and little care of money, and called on Parliament to reward the descendants of the Earl for the great addition which he had made to the empire as well as to its glory. Lord North cordially assented177.
An address, founded on this resolution, was carried to the king, who faithfully kept the word he had given nearly three years before. Chatham had then, through Lord North, sought to get his own pension continued to his second son, William Pitt, afterwards the celebrated179 Minister. On that occasion, George III. had declared that the conduct of Chatham of late had totally obliterated180 any sense of gratitude181 for his former merits; but that, when decrepitude182 or death should put an end to him as a trumpet183 of sedition184, he would not punish the children for the father's sins, but would place the second son's name where Chatham's had been. He now consented to that; an annuity185 bill settled four thousand pounds a-year on the heirs of Chatham to whom the title should descend140, which received the sanction of Parliament; and the Commons, moreover, voted twenty thousand pounds to pay the deceased Earl's debts. Both these motions passed the House of Commons unanimously; but, in the Upper House, the Duke of Chandos attacked the grants, and condemned187 severely188 the custom of loading the country with annuities189 in perpetuity. The bill was, however, carried by forty-two votes to eleven, though four noble Lords entered a protest against it, namely, Lord Chancellor190 Bathurst, the Duke of Chandos, Lord Paget, and Markham, Archbishop of York.
The funeral was but poorly attended. Few members of either House were there, except those of the Opposition. Gibbon says that "the Government ingeniously contrived192 to secure the double odium of suffering the thing to be done, and of doing it with an ill grace." Burke and Savile, Thomas Townshend, and Dunning, were pall14-bearers; Colonel Barré carried the banner of the barony of Chatham, supported by the Marquis of Rockingham and the Dukes of Richmond, Northumberland, and Manchester; William Pitt, in the place of his elder brother, who was gone to Gibraltar, was the chief mourner, followed by eight Peers, as assistant mourners, amongst whom were Lord Shelburne and Lord Camden. The tomb of Chatham is in the north transept of the Abbey, distinguished195 by the monument soon afterwards erected196 to his honour.
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DEATH OF THE EARL OF CHATHAM. (From the Painting by J. S. Copley, R.A., in the National Gallery, London.)
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On the 6th of May Burke had brought forward a measure for the benefit of his long-oppressed country, to the effect that Ireland should enjoy the privilege of exporting its manufactures, woollen cloths and woollens excepted, and of importing from the coast of Africa and other foreign settlements all goods that it required, except indigo197 and tobacco. The Irish were to have the additional privilege of sending to England duty-free, cotton-yarns, sail-cloth, and cordage. Parliament, for once, looked on these demands with favour. They recollected198 that the Americans had endeavoured to excite disaffection amongst the Irish by reference to the unjust restrictions199 on their commerce by the selfishness of England, and they felt the loss of the American trade, and were willing to encourage commerce in some other direction. Lord Nugent co-operated with Burke in this endeavour. But the lynx-eyed avarice200 of the English merchants was instantly up in arms. During the Easter recess201, a host of petitions was[254] got up against this just concession202. The city of Bristol, which was represented by Burke, threatened to dismiss him at the next election, if he persisted in this attempt to extend commercial justice to Ireland; but Burke told them that he must leave that to them; for himself, he must advocate free trade, which, if they once tried it, they would find far more advantageous75 than monopoly. They kept their word, and threw him out for his independence. At the same time, the English merchants, as they had always done before by Ireland, triumphed to a great extent. They demanded to be heard in Committee by counsel, and the Bills were shorn down to the least possible degree of benefit.
During the discussion of this question, Sir George Savile brought forward another. This was a Bill for relieving Catholics, by repealing203 the penalties and disabilities imposed by the 10th and 11th of King William III. The hardships sought to be removed were these:—The prohibition205 of Catholic priests or Jesuits teaching their own doctrines206 in their own churches, such an act being high treason in natives and felony in foreigners; the forfeitures207 by Popish heirs of their property who received their education abroad, in such cases the estates going to the nearest Protestant heir; the power given to a Protestant to take the estate of his father, or next kinsman208, who was a Catholic, during his lifetime; and the debarring all Catholics from acquiring legal property by any other means than descent. Dunning declared the restrictions a disgrace to humanity, and perfectly209 useless, as they were never enforced; but Sir George Savile said that was not really the fact, for that he himself knew Catholics who lived in daily terror of informers and of the infliction210 of the law. Thurlow, still Attorney-General, but about to ascend211 the woolsack, promptly212 supported the Bill; and Henry Dundas, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, lamented213 that it would afford no relief to his own country. These Acts did not affect Scotland, as they had been passed before the union; but Scotland had a similar Act passed by its own Parliament, and he promised to move for the repeal of this Scottish Act in the next Session. In the Commons there was an almost total unanimity215 on the subject; and in the Lords, the Bishop191 of Peterborough was nearly the only person who strongly opposed it. He asked that if, as it was argued, these Acts were a dead letter, why disturb the dead?
But smoothly216 as this transaction had passed, there was a hurricane behind. The threatened extension of the measure to Scotland roused all the Presbyterian bigotry of the North. The synod of Glasgow and other synods passed resolutions vowing217 to oppose any interference with the Scottish Act for the suppression of Popery. Press and pulpit were speedily inflamed218; associations were formed in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and most of the towns, for the defence of the Protestant interest. All the old persecutions and insults of Catholics were renewed; they could not safely appear in the streets, or remain safely in their houses. Not even those liberal enough to advocate the just rights of Catholics were secure, at least from rude treatment. Dr. Robertson, the historian, was hooted219, when he went abroad, as a favourer of the Papists. There was as yet no more toleration in Scotland than if a William III. had never appeared in England. From Scotland the intolerant leaven220 spread southwards. It grew fiercer and fiercer, and in a while found a proper champion in the hot-headed Lord George Gordon, whose exploits as the ringleader of riot, and fire, and confusion, culminated221 two years later in the scenes of destruction and terror for ever memorable222 as the Gordon riots.
In Europe war was about to break forth, in consequence of war in America. Yet the Court of France did not lack solemn warnings of the fatal path on which they were entering. The honest and far-sighted financier, Turgot, who had been employed by Louis XVI., as Comptroller-General, to endeavour to bring the terribly disordered revenue of France into order, said, "I must remind you, sire, of these three words—'No bankruptcy224, no augmentation of imposts, no loans.' To fulfil these three conditions there is but one means—to reduce the expenditure225 below the receipt, and sufficiently226 below it to be able to economise, every year, twenty millions, in order to clear off the old debts. Without that, the first cannon227 fired will force the State to bankruptcy." He assured the king that all colonies, on arriving at a condition of maturity228, would as naturally abandon the control of the mother country as children, arriving at majority, do the control of their parents; that the independence of America would, therefore, come of itself, without France ruining herself to accelerate the event; that, as to France wishing Spain to join in this attempt, Spain must remember her own colonies, for, by assisting to free the British colonies, she would assuredly assist to liberate her own.
Before there was any declaration of war, the King of France, on the 18th of March, issued an[255] order to seize all British ships in the ports of that kingdom; and, nine days afterwards, a similar order was issued by the British Government as to all French ships in their harbours. The first act of hostility229 was perpetrated by Admiral Keppel. He had been appointed first Admiral on the earliest news of the treaty of France with America; and, being now in the Channel with twenty ships of the line, he discovered two French frigates230, La Licorne and La Belle232 Poule, reconnoitring his fleet. Not troubling himself that there had been no declaration of war, Keppel ordered some of his vessels234 to give chase; and, on coming up with the Licorne, a gun was fired over her, to call her to surrender; and the Frenchman struck his colours, but not before he had poured a broadside into the America, commanded by Lord Longford, and wounded four of his men. The "saucy235" Arethusa, famed in song and story, in the meantime, had come up with the Belle Poule, and, after a desperate action, drove her in amongst the rocks, whilst the Arethusa herself was so disabled as to require towing back to the fleet. A schooner236 and a French frigate231 were soon afterwards taken; and, finding on board these vessels papers stating that the fleet in Brest harbour consisted of thirty-two sail of the line and ten or twelve frigates, Keppel returned to Portsmouth for reinforcements.
For this Keppel was much blamed, as it was considered that the papers might have been made out in order to deceive him. The number of the French fleet, however, soon proved to be correct, for, during Keppel's absence, it sailed out of Brest, under the command of Admiral D'Orvilliers. Keppel, returning with his squadron augmented237 to thirty vessels of the line, found D'Orvilliers out at sea, and the Lively, twenty-gun brig, which he had left to watch the motions of the French, surprised by them in a fog, and captured. On the 27th of July Keppel came up with D'Orvilliers off Ushant, and instantly gave battle. The two fleets passed each other on different tacks18, keeping up a furious cannonade for two hours. Keppel then signalled his second in command, Sir Hugh Palliser, to wear round and renew the attack; but Palliser had received so much injury, that he could not or did not obey the signal. Keppel, therefore, bore down to join Palliser's division, and formed afresh for the fight. But by this time D'Orvilliers was making for Brest as fast as he could, claiming a victory. Night came down, and the next morning the French fleet was nearly out of sight. On this, Keppel returned to England to refit, much out of humour with Palliser.
Meanwhile, in America military intrigues were on foot against Washington. Amongst these endeavours was one for alienating238 from him Lafayette. For this purpose an expedition was planned against Canada, and Lafayette, as a Frenchman, was appointed to the command, hoping thus to draw to him the Frenchmen of Canada. Not a word was to be breathed of it to Washington; and Conway and Starke, two of the most malicious239 members of the cabal240, were to take command under Lafayette. On the 24th of January, 1778, Washington received a letter from Gates, the President of the Board of War, commanding him to send one of his best regiments241 to Albany, on the Hudson, for a particular service, and enclosing another to Lafayette, requiring his immediate attendance on Gates. Gates found, however, that Lafayette was not to be seduced243 from his attachment244 to Washington. He would not accept the command, otherwise than as acting in subordination to his Commander-in-Chief; and he should send all his despatches and bulletins to him, at the same time that he furnished copies to Congress. The vain Frenchman verily believed that he was going to restore Canada, not to America, but to the French Crown—a fear which began to haunt Congress after he had set out; but the fear was needless. When Lafayette reached his invading army, instead of two thousand five hundred men, it amounted to about one thousand two hundred, and the militia were nowhere to be heard of. Clothes, provisions, sledges246, were all wanting, and, instead of leading his troops, as he was directed, to Lake Champlain, whence he was to proceed to ?le-aux-Noix to blow up the English flotilla, and thence, crossing the Sorel, to descend the St. Lawrence to Montreal, he gave up the expedition with a sigh, and returned to the camp of Washington.
In the month of April arrived the permission for Sir William Howe to retire, and, although he was one of the five Commissioners named for carrying into effect the proposals in Lord North's Bill, he determined to leave at the earliest day for England. Lord Howe, the Admiral, was equally impatient to return, but Lord Sandwich had informed him that it would be considered a great misfortune for him to quit his command in the present circumstances. This was, in fact, an order for his remaining, which the breaking out of the war with France, and the expected arrival of a French fleet, rendered doubly imperative247.[256] Sir Henry Clinton was appointed to succeed Sir William Howe, and, the former having arrived in Philadelphia, Howe departed. Scarcely had Clinton assumed the command, when an order arrived from the Government at home to abandon Philadelphia, and concentrate his forces at New York. The French fleet under D'Estaing was on its way, and it was considered that we had not a fleet of sufficient strength to beat them back from the mouth of the Delaware.
On the 6th of June—only a fortnight after Howe's departure—the three Commissioners, Lord Carlisle, Mr. Eden, and Governor Johnstone, arrived. They learned with consternation248 and unspeakable chagrin249 this order for the evacuation of Philadelphia, and, still more, that so important a dispatch had been kept concealed250 from them. There was not a single circumstance in favour of the Commissioners. At the same moment that we were making this disastrous retreat from the hardly-won Philadelphia, publishing our weakness to the world, Congress had just received the mighty251 news of French alliance, French aid, and French ships and troops steering252 towards their coasts. The Commissioners came furnished with propositions the most honourable100 and favours the most absolute. They were authorised to offer to the Americans that no military forces should be maintained in the Colonies without the consent of the General Congress or of the Assembly of a particular State; that England would take measures to discharge the debts of America, and to give full value to its paper money; would admit an agent or agents from the States into the British Parliament, and send, if they wished it, agents to sit with them in their Assemblies; that each State should have the sole power of settling its revenue, and perfect freedom of internal legislation and government—in fact, everything except total severance253 from the parent country. Such terms, conceded at the proper time, would have made war impossible; but the proper time was long past, and they were now useless. The Commissioners applied to Washington for a passport to Congress, in order to lay the proposals brought by the Commissioners before them. But Washington bluntly refused the passport; and only consented to forward the letter through the common post. Congress took time to deliberate on the contents of the letter, and then returned an answer through their President, that the Act of Parliament and the forms of the Commission all supposed the American States to be still subject to Great Britain, which had long ceased to be fact; and that Congress could listen to no overtures254 from the King of England until he had withdrawn255 his fleet and armies, and was prepared to treat with them as independent States. The Commissioners could only retire, leaving behind them a manifesto256 threatening the utmost severities of war.
Clinton, having now united his forces at New York, directed his attention to the approach of the fleet of D'Estaing. This had sailed for the Delaware, expecting to find Lord Howe there; but, finding that he had sailed for New York, it followed him, and arrived there six days after him. The fleet of D'Estaing consisted of twelve sail-of-the-line and six frigates. Howe had only ten sail-of-the-line, and some of them of only forty or fifty guns, and a few frigates. Besides, D'Estaing had heavier metal, and ships in much better condition, for those of Howe were old and out of repair, and their crews were considerably257 deficient258. Altogether, D'Estaing had eight hundred and fifty-four guns; Howe, only six hundred and fourteen. From D'Estaing's superiority of force it was quite expected that he would attack Howe; but he was dissuaded259 by the pilots from entering the harbour, and lay outside eleven days, during which time he landed the Ambassador. Lord Howe showed much spirit in preparing for an encounter, though he was daily in expectation of Admiral Byron with some additional ships, the Admiral coming to supersede260 him. He put his ships in the best order he could, and the English seamen261 hurried in from all quarters to man his vessels. A thousand volunteers came from the transports, and masters and mates of merchantmen offered their services. Just, however, when it was expected that D'Estaing would avail himself of the tide, on the 22nd of July, to enter the harbour, he sailed away for Rhode Island, and up the Newport river. In a few days Howe sailed in quest of D'Estaing. They found D'Estaing joined by Lafayette with two thousand American troops, and by General Sullivan with ten thousand more, and D'Estaing proposed to land four thousand from his fleet. The English garrison262 in Newport amounted to only five thousand men. But here a contest arose between D'Estaing and Sullivan for the supreme263 command, and this was not abated264 till Howe with his fleet hove in sight. Then D'Estaing stood out to sea, in spite of the remonstrances of Sullivan, Greene, and the other American officers. Lord Howe endeavoured to bring him to action, at the same time man?uvring to obtain the weather-gauge of him. In these mutual265 endeavours to obtain the advantage of the wind, the two fleets stood away quite out of sight of Rhode Island, and Sullivan commenced in their absence the siege of Newport. Howe, at length, seeing that he could not obtain the weather-gauge, determined to attack the French to leeward266, but at this moment a terrible storm arose, and completely parted the hostile fleets, doing both of them great damage. D'Estaing returned into the harbour of Newport, but only to inform the Americans that he was too much damaged to remain, but must make for Boston to refit. Sullivan and the other officers remonstrated267 vehemently268 against his departure; but in vain. Scarcely had D'Estaing disappeared, when Sir Henry Clinton himself, leading four thousand men, arrived in Rhode Island, and Sullivan crossed to the mainland in haste. He blamed the French for the failure of the enterprise.
GIBRALTAR.
From a Drawing by BIRKET FOSTER, R.W.S.
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[257]
THE SAUCY "ARETHUSA" AND THE "BELLE POULE." (See p. 255.)
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Lord Howe, when he had collected his ships after the storm which separated him from D'Estaing, again made for Boston, in the hope of being able to attack the French Admiral in the harbour; but he found him too well protected by the batteries to be able to reach him. He therefore returned to New York, and, as his leave of absence had arrived, he surrendered the command to Admiral Byron, and took his leave of America on the 26th of September, and reached Portsmouth on the 25th of October. Byron now had a very good fleet, consisting of ships of one size or other to the number of ninety-one sail. Such a fleet assembled on the American coast at a proper time would have intercepted270 and destroyed the fleet of D'Estaing, and have cleared all those waters of French and American privateers. Byron no sooner came into command than he also made a voyage to Boston, to see whether he could not come at D'Estaing's fleet; but his usual weather attended him, his ships were scattered271 by a tempest, and D'Estaing took the opportunity of sailing to the West Indies, according to his orders. Notwithstanding the agreement of the French to assist America, they were thinking much more of recovering Canada or seizing on the British West India islands for themselves.
The British, apprised272 of the views of France, determined to send a fleet and troops to protect[258] the West Indies; but, instead of sending the requisite273 force from home, the Ministers ordered Clinton to send five thousand men from New York. This was another example of the feeble and penurious274 manner in which they carried on this war. Clinton had recently sent three thousand five hundred men to Georgia, and now this detachment of five thousand diminished his already insufficient275 army by eight thousand five hundred men. It was, therefore, utterly276 impossible that he could take another decisive step in America during this year, and thus Congress was left to strengthen its army and to await fresh reinforcements from France.
Commodore Hotham, with only five ships of the line, a bomb-vessel233, and some frigates, conveyed Major-General Grant and this force to the West Indies, being nearly the whole way within a short sail of D'Estaing and his much superior fleet, without knowing it. Grant's destination was to protect Dominica; but, before his arrival, Marshal de Bouillé, Governor-General of Martinique, had landed with two thousand men, and had compelled Lieutenant-Governor Stewart, who had only about one hundred regular troops and some indifferent militia for its defence, to surrender. Grant being too late to save Dominica, turned his attention to St. Lucia, being conveyed thither277 by the joint278 fleet of Hotham and Barrington. They had scarcely made a good footing on the island when D'Estaing's fleet hove in sight. He had twelve sail-of-the-line, numerous frigates and transports, and ten thousand men on board, and the English would have had little chance could he have landed. But the British fleet resolutely279 attacked him, and, after several days' struggle, prevented his landing more than half his troops. These were so gallantly281 repulsed283 by Brigadier Medows, who was at the head of only one thousand five hundred men, that, on the 28th December, D'Estaing again embarked284 his troops, and quitted the island. The original French force under Chevalier de Michaud then surrendered, and St. Lucia was won, though Dominica was lost.
The first thing which occupied the Government on the opening of the year 1779 were the trials of Keppel and Palliser. That of Keppel commenced on the 7th of January, and lasted till the 11th of February. The Court consisted of five admirals and eight captains; Sir Thomas Pye, Admiral of the White, being president. Keppel was acquitted285, and pronounced to have behaved like a brave and experienced officer, and to have rendered essential service to the State. This sentence occasioned a wonderful rejoicing in the City, where Keppel's political principles prevailed. The portico286 of the Mansion287 House was illuminated289 two successive nights, and there were general illuminations throughout London and Westminster. It had been well had the demonstration290 ended there; but the mob took the opportunity of the guard which had been stationed before the house of Palliser in Pall Mall being withdrawn at midnight to smash in his windows, burst in the doors, and destroy his furniture. The work of destruction once begun was soon extended. The mob demolished291 the windows of Lord North and Lord George Germaine, as well as of the Admiralty, Government being looked upon as the real enemies of Keppel and accessories of Palliser. The next day, the 12th of February, Parliament and the City Corporation gave the most unmistakable sanction to these proceedings. Both Houses of Parliament voted thanks to Keppel: the Lords unanimously, the Commons with only one dissenting292 voice. The Court of Common Council not only voted thanks to Keppel, but presented him with the freedom of the City in a box of heart of oak, richly ornamented293, and the City was more brilliantly illuminated than before, the Monument being decked out with coloured lamps.
Palliser, incensed294 at these marked censures295 on himself, vacated his seat in Parliament, and resigned his Governorship of Scarborough Castle, his seat at the Board of Admiralty, his colonelcy of marines, retaining only his post of Vice-Admiral, and demanding a court-martial. This was held on board the Sandwich, in Portsmouth harbour, and lasted twenty-one days, resulting finally in a verdict of acquittal, though with some censure for his not having acquainted his Commander-in-Chief instantly that the disabled state of his ship had prevented him from obeying the signal to join for the renewal296 of the fight. This sentence pleased neither party. Keppel thought Palliser too easily let off—Palliser that he was sacrificed to party feeling against Government.
In Ireland the effervescence assumed the shape of resistance to commercial injustice297. It was, indeed, impossible to condemn186 too strongly the injustice which that country had endured for ages, and in nothing more than in the flagrant restrictions heaped upon its commerce and manufactures in favour of English interests. The Irish now seized on the opportunity while America was waging war against the very same treatment to imitate the American policy. They formed associations in Dublin, Cork298, Kilkenny, and other[259] places, for the non-importation of British goods which could be manufactured in Ireland, till England and Ireland were placed on an equal footing in all that related to manufactures and commerce. Ministers, who had turned a deaf ear for years, and almost for ages, to such complaints, were now alarmed, especially as there was a rumour299 of French invasion, which might be so materially aided by disaffection in Ireland. They therefore made a pecuniary300 grant to relieve the commercial distress301 in Ireland, and passed two Acts for the encouragement of the growth of tobacco and hemp302, and the manufacture of linen303 in that island. These concessions304, however, were not deemed sufficient, and the people formed themselves into Volunteer Associations, appointing their own officers, and defraying the cost of their own equipments. This was done under the plea of the danger of invasion; but Government knew very well that American agents had been very busy sowing discontent in Ireland, and they saw too much resemblance in these things to the proceedings on the other side of the Atlantic not to view them with alarm. The Marquis of Rockingham, who had been well instructed in the real grievances305 of Ireland by Burke, moved in the House of Lords, on the 11th of May, for the production of all papers necessary to enable the House to come to a full understanding of the trade of Ireland and of mercantile restrictions on it with a view to doing impartial306 justice to that kingdom. Lord Gower promised that these should be ready for production next Session.
On the 16th of June, just as the House was growing impatient for prorogation307, Lord North, who earlier in the Session had made some unsuccessful negotiations309 with the Whigs, announced intelligence which put such prorogation out of the question. He informed the House that the Spanish Ambassador had delivered a hostile manifesto and had thereupon quitted London. On the 17th a Royal Message was delivered, asserting his Majesty's surprise at this act of Spain, and declaring that nothing on his part had provoked it. But it by no means took anybody else by surprise, and the Opposition strongly reproached Government for not giving credit to their warnings on this head. In the Commons, Lord John Cavendish, and, in the Lords, the Earl of Abingdon and the Duke of Richmond, moved that the fleet and army should be immediately withdrawn from America, that peace be made with those States, and all our forces be concentrated in chastising310 France and Spain, as they deserved, for their treachery and unprovoked interference. They called for a total change of Ministers and measures.
These motions were defeated, and Lord North, on the 21st of June, moved for the introduction of a Bill to double the militia and raise volunteer corps311. The proposal to double the militia was rejected, that to raise volunteer corps accepted. To man the Navy a Bill was brought in to suspend for six months all exemptions312 from impressment into the Royal Navy. The measure was passed through two stages before rising, and carried the next morning, and sent up to the Lords. There it met with strong opposition, and did not receive the Royal Assent178 till the last day of the Session. This was the 3rd of July, and was followed, on the 9th, by a Royal Proclamation ordering all horses and provisions, in case of invasion, to be driven into the interior. The batteries of Plymouth were manned, and a boom was drawn across the harbour at Portsmouth. A large camp of militia was established at Cox Heath, in front of Maidstone, and, in truth, this demonstration of a patriotic313 spirit was very popular.
Spain having now, most fatally for herself, been persuaded to join France in the war with England, turned her first attention to Gibraltar which she hoped France would enable her to conquer. But France showed no disposition314 to assist her to regain315 Gibraltar. At the same time, the great object was to accomplish the union of the French and Spanish fleets, which they deemed must then be invincible316, and not only drive the English from the seas, but enable them to land in England itself. The French managed to muster317 fifty thousand men, whom they marched to the different ports on the Channel, from Havre to St. Malo. By this means, keeping England in fear of an invasion, their fleet slipped out of Brest on the 3rd of June, under the command of D'Orvilliers, and effected the desired junction with the Spaniards at Cadiz. The French fleet consisted of thirty sail of the line; the Spanish, of thirty-eight; making the united fleet sixty-eight sail, besides numerous frigates and smaller vessels. Never, since the days of the Armada, had such a mighty squadron threatened the shores of Great Britain.
To oppose this tremendous force, our Admiral, Sir Charles Hardy318, had only thirty-eight sail. In the confidence of their overwhelming strength, the Franco-Spanish fleet sailed directly for the English coast. Hardy, who was a brave seaman319, but somewhat past his prime, endeavoured to[260] prevent their insulting our shores, and pursued them first near the Scilly Isles320, and then towards the straits of the Channel. On shore the panic was intense, the French and Spaniards being expected every hour to land. But on the 31st of August, the wind veering321 enabled Hardy to get the weather-gauge of them; and being now in the Channel, he was prepared to engage their fleet, though so much superior in numbers; and on shore great quantities of military and volunteers had collected. Hardy anchored off Spithead. At the sight of this combination of circumstances, the courage of the Spaniards and French evaporated. They began to quarrel amongst themselves. The Spaniards were for landing on some part of the British coast; the French admiral contended that they would have the equinoctial gales322 immediately upon them, and that many of their vessels were in bad condition. The Spanish commander declared that, this being the case, he would relinquish323 the enterprise, and return to his own seaports324. D'Orvilliers was necessarily compelled to return too, and retired325 to Brest, where a pestilential disease attacked the French, from having been so long cooped up in foul326 ships. Well might Lord North, on the meeting of Parliament, say, "Our enemies fitted out a formidable fleet; they appeared upon our coasts; they talked big; threatened a great deal; did nothing, and retired."
In America, the belligerents327 were early afoot this year; but the attention and the forces of the English were drawn from the States to the West Indies by the determined attempts of the French to make themselves masters of our islands there. D'Estaing, who was joined by another French squadron under the Marquis de Vaudreuil, was early opposed by Admiral Byron, who arrived at St. Lucia from the American coast on the 6th of January. This Admiral Vaudreuil, on his way, had visited our settlements on the coast of Africa, and taken from us Senegal; but Sir Edward Hughes soon arrived there, and took their settlement of Goree, so that it was a mere exchange of territory. In June Admiral Byron was obliged to escort our merchant fleet to a certain distance, and D'Estaing seized that opportunity to make himself master of St. Vincent and Grenada, where the garrisons329 were weak. On the return of Byron, on the 5th of July, he came to an engagement with D'Estaing off Grenada; but the French admiral, after an indecisive action, took advantage of the night to sail away, boasting of a great victory. He now made for Georgia and Carolina, to assist the Americans in endeavouring to wrest330 from us our recent conquest of Savannah, in Georgia.
In fact, the chief scene of the war during this year continued to be south. In September, D'Estaing arrived off Savannah, to co-operate with the American forces in recovering that important place. He brought with him twenty-four ships of the line and fourteen frigates, and was moreover attended by a numerous squadron of French and American privateers, besides carrying a considerable body of troops. On learning D'Estaing's approach, General Lincoln and Governor Rutledge began to march their troops towards Savannah, and sent a number of small vessels to enable the French to carry their troops up the river, and land them near the town. General Prevost, commander of the English garrison, made the most active preparations to receive them. D'Estaing had agreed to wait for the arrival of General Lincoln, with the South Carolina force, but, with the want of faith characteristic of the man, on the 12th of September he landed three thousand men, and summoned General Prevost to surrender in the name of the French king. Prevost claimed twenty-four hours to decide, and this time he employed in strengthening his defences. Before the expiration331 of this time Colonel Maitland, who was on the march for Beaufort with eight hundred veterans, came in, and Prevost returned for answer that he would defend the place to the utmost. On the 16th, General Lincoln arrived, and was greatly incensed to find that D'Estaing had broken the agreement to wait for him, and still worse, had summoned the place in the name of France instead of the Congress.
D'Estaing, who expected to have taken the place with little trouble, greatly alarmed lest the English should seize most of the French West Indian islands in his absence, urged an assault contrary to the wishes of Lincoln, and this was made on the 9th of October. The forces, five thousand eight hundred in number, were led on in two columns, but they were received by such a raking fire from walls and redoubts, and from the brig flanking the right of the British lines, that they were thrown back in confusion; and before D'Estaing and Lincoln could restore order, Colonel Maitland made a general sortie with fixed bayonets, and the whole attacking force fled in utter rout332. D'Estaing would now remain no longer, but re-embarked his forces, and sailed away, to the unspeakable chagrin of the Americans, who retreated in all haste, the greater part of the militia breaking up and returning home.
[261]
LORD NORTH.
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The effect of the American war, so extremely unsatisfactory to the nation, had now perceptibly reduced the influence of Lord North and his Ministry. Their majorities, which had formerly333 been four to one, had now fallen to less than two to one; and this process was going rapidly on. The changes in the Cabinet had been considerable, but they had not contributed to reinvigorate it. The removal of Thurlow to the House of Lords had left nobody equal to him in the Commons to contend with such men as Fox, Burke, Barré, and the several others. Wedderburn had taken Thurlow's place as Attorney-General, and Wallace had stepped into Wedderburn's as Solicitor-General. Lord Weymouth, who had held the posts of Secretary of State for the North and South Departments since the death of the Earl of Suffolk, now resigned, and Lord Hillsborough was appointed to the Southern Department, and Lord Stormont to the Northern Department. Neither of these changes was popular. The Duke of Bedford's party had become more and more cool towards Lord North, and in every respect there was a declining power in the Cabinet. It was at variance334 with itself, and was fast losing the confidence of the public. Lord George Germaine was still retained by the king as Secretary of the Colonies, notwithstanding the disgust he had excited by the unfortunate planning of the expedition of Burgoyne.
On the 25th of November Parliament was opened, and the king, in his speech, made a strong appeal to the country for support against the unprovoked war on the part of France and Spain. The Marquis of Rockingham, in proposing an amendment on the Address in the Lords, was extremely severe. He concluded by moving that every part of the Address, except the title, should be expunged335, and that, instead of what then stood, a prayer should be inserted that his Majesty would reflect on the extent of territory which marked the opening of his reign34, the opulence336 and power, the reputation abroad, the concord337 at home, to which he had succeeded, and now on the endangered, impoverished338, enfeebled, distracted, and even dismembered, state of the whole, after the enormous grants of his successive Parliaments, and calling on him, as the only[262] remedy of impending339 ruin, to dismiss his present evil councillors, and summon new and more auspicious340 ones. The language was crushing, but it derived341 its force from its undeniable truth. Lord John Cavendish moved a similar amendment in the Commons; and the Opposition declared that it was well that his Majesty's speech expressed trust in Divine Providence342, for Providence was the only friend that his Government had now left; and that our arms, both on sea and land, were paralysed by the scandalous practice of putting at the head of the army and navy mere Court favourites, and by the want of all vigour and sagacity of planning and following up our campaigns. Fox went further, and asserted that weakness and stupidity could not effect the wholesale343 shame and ruin that surrounded us; that there must be treachery somewhere; and that, if this were driven a little further, the people would seize on arms, and chase the miserable344 Cabinet from its abused seat. Lord North made the best reply that the circumstances admitted; but there were no symptoms of the Ministers resigning, or being removed by the infatuated monarch, and the amendments345 were rejected in both Houses, as a matter of course.
During this debate, the state of Ireland had been repeatedly alluded346 to, and, on the 13th of December, Lord North brought forward his promised scheme of Irish relief, which consisted in extending the exportation of woollen cloths to wool, and wool-flocks, to all kinds of glass manufactures, and in free trade to the British colonies—privileges that it seems wonderfully strange to us, at the present day, could ever have been withheld347 from any portion of the same empire. The critical state of America, no doubt, had much to do with the grant of these privileges, for all of them were conceded.
The ruinous expenditure of the war, and the continual difficulties into which the Civil List had fallen, now roused throughout the country a strong demand for economical reform. The Duke of Richmond introduced the subject into the Upper House by moving, on the 7th of December, that an Address be conveyed to his Majesty representing the distress of the country, the heavy demands upon it for the complicated war, and recommending a reduction of all useless expenses; it also set out that profusion348, so far from being strength, was weakness; that it behoved all classes of officials to consent to a curtailment350 of the lavish351 salaries; and that it would be a noble example in the Crown to take the lead, which could not fail of enhancing the love of the people, and diffusing352 an excellent influence throughout every department of the State. His grace represented that the vast military establishment by sea and land could not include less than three hundred thousand men; that, since the beginning of the American war the expenditure had added sixty-three millions of pounds to the Debt, and its interest, eight millions, to our annual payments. The interest of the Debt had now become of itself equal to the whole of our expenditure in years of peace before. He laid much stress on the belief that the example of the king would induce all orders of men to make equal sacrifices to the needs of their country. Richmond declared that he had no wish to curtail349 the pensions of those who had wasted their fortunes in the service of their country, as the Pelhams, for the Duke of Newcastle was said to have sunk five hundred thousand pounds during the years that he so fondly adhered to office. He gave the Ministers and the aristocracy credit for a disinterestedness which they did not possess. They admitted the vastness of the expenditure, and that there was wastefulness353, and that they were desirous of economy; but they could not believe that any reduction of the Civil List would be sensibly felt, whilst it would reflect dishonour99 on the country, as if it were incapable354 of maintaining the Crown in due credit. Lord Chancellor Thurlow affected not to believe in the distress, or that any case of public extravagance had been made out. The Duke of Richmond's motion was negatived by seventy-seven votes against thirty-six.
But on the 15th of December, only eight days later, Lord Shelburne followed up the question by moving that the alarming additions annually355 made to the Debt, under the name of extraordinaries incurred356 in different services, demanded an immediate check; that the distresses357 of landed and mercantile interests made the strictest economy requisite, and that the expenditure of such large sums without grants from Parliament was an alarming violation of the Constitution. He showed that these expenses bore no proportion to those of any former wars as to the services performed for them, and stated plainly that the cause was notorious—that the greater part of the money went into the pockets of the Ministers' contracting friends. Lord Shelburne's motion was also rejected. He then gave notice for a further motion of a like nature on the 8th of February.
The matter was not to be lightly or easily dismissed. On the very same day that Lord Shelburne made his motion in the Lords, Edmund[263] Burke gave notice of a series of resolutions which he should introduce after the Christmas recess. He stated the outline of his intended measures for economical reform. Whilst he was delivering a very fine speech on this occasion, Fox came in from the House of Lords, where he had been listening to the debate on Lord Shelburne's motion, and warmly supported him, lamenting358 that there was not virtue359 enough in the House to carry through so necessary—so patriotic a measure. "I am just come," he said, "from another place where the first men in this kingdom—the first in abilities, the first in estimation—are now libelling this House." The announcement excited, as Fox intended, much surprise, and he continued—"Yes, I repeat it. Every instance they give—and they give many and strong instances—of uncorrected abuses, with regard to the public money, is a libel on this House. Everything they state on the growth of corrupt360 influence—and it never was half so flourishing—is a libel on this House."
The corruptionists in Parliament were deaf to eloquence or remonstrance; the base contractors362 sitting there, and the other vile193 absorbers of the money voted by the country for the most sacred purposes, for the preservation363 of the integrity and existence of the empire, sat still in impudent364 hardihood; but the sound of these stirring words was already out of doors. The City of London voted thanks to the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Shelburne for their motions, and for their promised resumption of the subject on the 8th of February. A great meeting was called at York to induce that county to prepare a petition for reform in Parliament. Many efforts were made by persuasion366 and by menace to prevent these freeholders from meeting. But the Marquis of Rockingham and Sir George Savile stood forward, attended the meeting, and encouraged the freeholders. The meeting was held on the 30th of December, and, besides these distinguished men, was attended by peers, gentlemen, clergymen—the richest and noblest in the county. A petition was adopted to the House of Commons in the strongest terms. Before separating, this most important meeting appointed a committee of correspondence, consisting of sixty-one gentlemen, to carry out the objects of the petition, and still further to prepare the plan of a national association for the promotion367 of the great business of reform. The contagion368 spread rapidly; in numbers of other counties, and in many of the leading cities, similar petitions were got up, and committees of correspondence formed. The result was that very soon, in the counties of Middlesex, Chester, Hants, Hertford, Sussex, Huntingdon, Surrey, Cumberland, Bedford, Essex, Gloucester, Somerset, Wilts369, Dorset, Devon, Norfolk, Berks, Bucks370, Nottingham, Kent, Northumberland, Suffolk, Hereford, Cambridge, Derby, Northampton, and the towns of York and Bristol, Cambridge, Nottingham, Newcastle, Reading, and Bridgewater, petitions were prepared, and in most of them corresponding committees organised.
When Parliament reassembled, after the Christmas recess, the great question of economical reform took the first place in its deliberations. The great Yorkshire petition was introduced on the 8th of February by Sir George Savile, who, as the forms of the House then allowed, made a speech on its presentation. He was a small, weakly man, but of the most upright character, and was listened to with the highest respect. On the 11th Burke rose to bring forward his extensive scheme of retrenchment372 and reform. It was a scheme of reforms so vast and multiform as to require five Bills to include them. It dealt with the sale of the Crown lands; the abolition373 of the separate jurisdictions374 of the Principality of Wales, the Duchies of Cornwall, Chester, and Lancaster; of the Court offices of Treasurer375, Comptroller, Cofferer, Keeper of the Stag, Buck371, and Fox Hounds, of the Wardrobe, Robes, Jewels, etc.; of the recently-instituted office of Third Secretary of State; the reduction and simplification of offices in the Ordnance376 and Mint departments; the Patent Office of the Exchequer377; the regulation of the pay offices of the army, navy, and of pensioners378; and, finally, the Civil List. Such a host of corrupt interests was assailed379 by this wholesale scheme, that it was certain to receive a very determined opposition; and it might have been supposed that it would be encountered by the most rabid rage. But not so. The great tribe whose interests were affected were too adroit381 strategists for that; they were too well assured that, being legion, and all knit up together from the Crown downwards382, embracing every branch of the aristocracy, they were safe, and might, therefore, listen to the fervid383 eloquence of the poetic384 Irishman, as they would to a tragedy that did not affect them further than their amusement was concerned. Lord North very soon managed to put the Principality and the Duchies out of the range of his inquiries385. He declared that nobody was more zealous54 for a permanent system of economy than he was; but then, unfortunately, the king's[264] patrimonial386 revenue was concerned in these Duchies, and therefore he must be first consulted; and, what was still more embarrassing was, that these proposals affected the rights of the Prince of Wales, and therefore could not be mooted387 till he was of age; so that branch of the inquiry388 was lopped off, under the gentle phrase of postponement389. When the discussion reached the reform of the king's household, Burke was compelled to admit that a former attempt to reform this lavish yet penurious household by Lord Talbot, had been suddenly stopped, because, forsooth, it would endanger the situation of an honourable member who was turnspit in the kitchen! The end of it was, that though all expressed themselves as delighted and as acquiescent390, almost every detail was thrown out in committee. The only point carried was that which abolished the Board of Trade, by a majority, however, of only eight. The Board of Trade was ere long restored again. The other portions of Burke's great scheme occupied the House through March, April, and May, and then was got rid of by a man?uvre in the committee, Burke declaring that he would bring the measure forward again next session.
But the subject was not so easily disposed of. Colonel Barré, in the House of Commons, only three days after Burke introduced his great motion, declared that Burke's measure did not go far enough; that Burke did not mean to interfere28 with the enormous pensions and overpaid places already in possession; and that he would himself introduce a motion for a Committee of Accounts, to probe all these depths of corruption361, and to examine into the army extravagances, which were excessive, and to him unaccountable. Lord North, so far from opposing this motion, declared his surprise that no one had thought of introducing it before, and that he was extremely anxious himself for the reduction of all needless expenditure. The Opposition expressed their particular satisfaction; but they were rather too precipitate123, for North made haste to get the business into his own hands; and, on the 2nd of March, was ready with a Bill of his own framing. The Opposition were lost in astonishment; and Barré denounced this perfidious conduct in the Minister in terms of just indignation. The whole Opposition, who found themselves outwitted, declared that the scheme, so far from being intended to relieve the country, was meant to shield existing abuses, and they accordingly resisted it to the utmost. North, however, by his standing132 majority of myrmidons, carried the Bill through the House; and Sir Guy Carleton, late Governor of Canada, and five others, were appointed Commissioners. Thus the whole motion was in reality shelved.
Two more attempts were made. Mr. Crewe reproduced the Bill to disable revenue officers from voting at elections, which was at once rejected. Sir Philip Jennings Clerke then reintroduced his Bill to exclude contractors from the House of Commons, unless their contracts were obtained at a public bidding. This was suffered, for appearance' sake, to pass the House with little opposition; but it was arrested in the Peers by the law lords, at the head of whom were Mansfield and Thurlow, and thrown out.
On April 6th a great meeting was held in Westminster, avowedly391 to add weight to the county petitions for economical reform, which were now pouring into the House of Commons. Fox presided, and was supported by the Dukes of Devonshire and Portland. Government, to throw discredit393 on the meeting, affected alarm, and, at the request of the Middlesex magistrates394, who were believed to have been moved by Ministers to make it, a body of troops was drawn up in the neighbourhood of Westminster Hall. The indignation of the Opposition was so much excited that Burke, in the House of Commons, commenting on this attempt to insinuate396 evil designs against the friends of reform, denounced the Middlesex magistrates as creeping vermin—the very "scum of the earth;" and Fox declared that if soldiers were to be let loose on the constitutional meetings of the people, then all who went to such meetings must go armed!
Whilst these indignant sentiments were uttering, the petitions for economical reform were pouring in from all parts of the country in such numbers that the table of the House appeared buried under them. The House went into committee upon the subject, and then Dunning rose and introduced his famous motion for a resolution in these words:—"That it is the opinion of this committee that the influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished." Dunning declaimed in language bold and unsparing, and expatiated397 at great length on the alarming influence of the Crown, purchased by the lavish expenditure of the people's money, the people thus being made the instruments of their own slavery. He censured398 in stinging terms the treatment of the economical plans of Burke, the treacherous399 terms of approbation with which Ministers had received them, and then had trodden on them piecemeal400 till they[265] had left of them the merest shred150. He trusted the nation would still resent this audacious mockery of reform—this insult to the most distinguished patriots401. This was the way, he contended, that this Administration had again and again acted—adding ridicule402 to oppression. Dunning's motion was carried, at a late hour of the night, by two hundred and thirty-three votes against two hundred and fifteen.
"NO POPERY" RIOTERS ASSAULTING LORD MANSFIELD. (See p. 266.)
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Encouraged by this unwonted success (for the words of the speaker, reminding them of the coming elections, had sunk deep into many hearts). Dunning immediately moved a second proposition, namely, that it was competent to that House to examine into and correct any abuses of the Civil List, as well as of any other branch of the public revenue. The resolution was carried without a division. Immediately on the heels of this, Thomas Pitt moved that it was the duty of the House to redress without delay the grievances enumerated403 in the petitions of the people. Lord North implored404 that they would not proceed any further that night; but this resolution was also put and carried, likewise without division. Immediately, though it was past one o'clock in the morning, Fox moved that all these motions should be reported. Lord North, in the utmost consternation, declared this procedure was "violent, arbitrary, and unusual;" but Fox pressed his motion, and it was carried, like the rest, without a division, and the Report was brought up.
When the committee on the petitions next met, on the 10th of April, Dunning, elated with his success, was ready with fresh resolutions. His first was that it was necessary for the purity and independence of Parliament that the proper officer should, within ten days of the meeting of Parliament in each Session, lay before the House an account of moneys paid out of the Civil List, or out of any part of the public revenue, to any member of Parliament. This, too, was triumphantly406 carried, only to be followed by another from Dunning, that the persons holding the offices of Treasurer of the Chamber407, Treasurer of the Household, or clerkships of the Green Cloth, with all their deputies, should be incapable of sitting in the House of Commons. Here the[266] confounded Ministerial members began to recover their spirit under the sweeping sentences passed against them, and Dunning only carried this resolution by a majority of two. Either they thought they had done enough by their late votes to satisfy their constituents408, or Ministers had found means to render them obedient by menacing losses from their side, for when Dunning proposed a resolution that his Majesty should be requested not to dissolve or prorogue409 Parliament until proper measures had been taken to secure to the people the benefits prayed for in their petitions, the motion was rejected by a majority of fifty-one in a very full House. Fox and Dunning vented280 their indignation at this result on the Ministerial phalanx, whom they declared to be the worst of slaves—slaves sold by themselves into the most contemptible410 thraldom411. But their castigation412 was in vain; the troop was brought back to its primitive413 compliance414, and defeated every future motion from the Opposition.
Whilst the Opposition was in the dejection of disappointed hopes, suddenly there arose an explosion of popular opinion against the Catholics, stimulated415 and led on by an insane fanatic417, which threatened the most direful consequences, and produced sufficiently frightful418 ones—the so-called Gordon Riots.
We have already noted419 the excitement in Scotland at the Act which was passed in 1778 for the repeal of some of the severest disabilities of the Catholics; and this had been greatly increased by the proposal to extend its operation by a second Act to Scotland. The fanatics420 of Scotland were promptly on the alert, and there were dangerous riots in Edinburgh and Glasgow. But the same unchristian spirit had now spread to England, and Protestant Associations, as they were called, linked together by corresponding committees, were established in various towns, and had elected as their president and Parliamentary head Lord George Gordon, a brother of the Duke of Gordon. During the spring of 1780 he presented several petitions from the people of Kent, and he then conceived his grand idea of a petition long enough to reach from the Speaker's chair to the centre window at Whitehall, out of which Charles walked to the scaffold. At a meeting of the Protestant Association, held towards the end of May in Coachmakers' Hall, in London, he announced that he would present this petition on the 2nd of June. Resolutions were passed that the Association and all their friends must go in procession on that day to present the petition. They were to assemble in St. George's Fields; every one must have a blue cockade in his hat, to distinguish him from the enemies of the cause; and Lord George, to stimulate416 them, told them that unless the gathering421 amounted to twenty thousand he would not present the petition. On the 26th of May he stated in the House of Commons that he should appear there with the petition at the head of all those who had signed it. Accordingly, on 2nd of June vast crowds assembled on the appointed spot, amounting to sixty thousand, or, as many asserted, one hundred thousand men. This formidable throng422 was arranged in four battalions423, one consisting entirely of Scotsmen, who received Lord George with enthusiastic acclamations, and, after a vapouring speech from him, marched by different ways to Westminster.
The Lords had been summoned to discuss a motion by the Duke of Richmond on universal suffrage424 and annual Parliaments, and Lord Mansfield was to preside in the absence of Lord Chancellor Thurlow. Mansfield had excited the particular resentment of these zealots by having acquitted a Catholic priest charged with the crime of celebrating Mass, and no sooner did he make his appearance than he was assailed with the fiercest yells and execrations. His carriage windows were dashed in, his robe was torn, and he escaped finally into the House with his wig in great disorder223, and himself pale and trembling. The Archbishop of York was an object of the particular fury of these Protestants. They tore off his lawn sleeves and flung them in his face. The Bishop of Lincoln, a brother of Lord Thurlow, had his carriage demolished, and was compelled to seek refuge in a neighbouring house, where he is said to have made his way in women's clothes over the roof into another dwelling. The Secretaries of State, Lords Stormont, Townshend, and Hillsborough, were rudely handled. It was found impossible to proceed with the Orders of the Day. The peers retired as best they might, one by one, making their way home on foot, or in hackney coaches, in the dark, and no one was left in the House except Lord Mansfield and a few servants.
THE GORDON RIOTS.
From the Painting by Seymour Lucas, R.A.
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The members of the House of Commons had to run the gauntlet of these furies much like the Lords. They pulled many of them out of their carriages, tore their clothes from their backs, and maltreated them, crying continually, "Repeal the Bill! No Popery! Lord George Gordon!" The frantic426 multitude forced their way into the lobby of the House, and attempted to break into the House itself. They thundered at the doors, and there was imminent427 danger of their forcing their way in. Meanwhile, Lord George Gordon and Alderman Ball were presenting the petition, and moved that the House should consider it at once in committee. An amendment was moved, that it should be considered on Tuesday, the 6th; but there were not means of putting either motion or amendment, for the mob had possession of the lobby, and the Serjeant-at-Arms declared it was impossible to clear it. Whilst this confusion lasted, Lord George Gordon exerted himself to excite the mob to the highest possible pitch. So long as members were speaking, he continued to go to the top of the gallery stairs, ever and anon, to drop a word to the crowd below likely to exasperate428 them against the particular member speaking. "Burke, the member for Bristol, is up now," he cried; and then coming again, "Do you know that Lord North calls you a mob?" This he repeated till the crowd was worked up to a maddening frenzy429, and made so desperate a battering430 at the door, that it was momentarily expected they would burst it open. Several of the members vowed392 to Lord George, that, if his rabid friends did violate the sanctity of the House, they would run him through as the first man stepped over the lintel. These determined proceedings daunted431 Lord George. He retired to the eating-room, and sank quietly into a chair. Meanwhile, Lord North had privately432 despatched a messenger for a party of the Guards. Till these could arrive, some of the more popular members went out, and used their endeavours to appease433 the rage of the multitude. Lord Mahon harangued434 them from the balcony of a coffee-house, and produced considerable effect. About nine o'clock, Mr. Addington, a Middlesex magistrate395, came up with a party of Horse Guards. He spoke435 kindly436 to the people, and advised them to disperse437 quietly, which, the exasperator being absent, many of them did. Soon after came a party of foot soldiers, who were drawn up in the Court of Requests, and they soon cleared the lobby. The members then boldly proceeded with the debate, and, undeterred by the cries still heard from without, carried the amendment for deferring438 the consideration of the petition by a hundred and ninety-four votes, including the tellers439, against only eight. The House then adjourned440 until the 6th of June.
Imagining that the crowd would now disperse, the soldiers were dismissed, and the magistrates returned home. But this was premature441. There were shoals of hot-headed fanatics, who were not willing to depart without some damage inflicted442 on the Catholics. One division of these attacked the Bavarian chapel443 in Warwick Lane, Golden Square, and another attacked the Sardinian chapel in Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, destroyed their interiors, and set them on fire. The engines arrived only in time to see a huge bonfire before the Sardinian chapel made of its seats, and both chapels444 too far in flames to be stopped; indeed, the mob would not allow the engines to play. The soldiers, too, arrived when it was too late to do anything, but seized thirteen of the rioters.
The next day all seemed quiet; but at evening, the men having got their Saturday's wages and their usual beer, there were some disturbances446 in Moorfields, and the mob abused some of the Catholics there. The next day, Sunday, the 4th, fresh crowds assembled in the same quarter, and attacked the houses and chapels of the Catholics, and this continued for the next three days. Troops were sent to quell448 them; but, having orders not to fire, the mob cared nothing for them. Some of the rioters took their way to Wapping and East Smithfield to destroy the Catholic chapels in that neighbourhood; and others burst into and plundered449 the shops and houses of Messrs. Rainsforth and Maberly, tradesmen, who had been bold enough to give evidence against the rioters taken on Friday. Another detachment took their way to Leicester Fields to ransack450 the house of Sir George Savile, the author of the Bill for the relaxation451 of the penal204 code against the Catholics. This they stripped and set fire to, and some of the pictures and furniture, as well as some of the effects taken from the Catholic chapels and houses in Moor447 fields, were paraded before the house of Lord George Gordon, in Welbeck Street, in triumph. The mob had now acquired a more desperate character. The fanatic members of the Protestant Association had retired in consternation from the work of destruction, seeing fresh elements introduced into it—elements not of simple religious frenzy, but of plunder and revolutionary fury. They had begun the disturbance445, and the thieves, pickpockets452, burglars, and all the vilest453 and most demoniacal tribes of the metropolis454 had most heartily455 taken it up.
The Government was paralysed by the greatness of the evil. While the House of Commons had[268] been sitting, the mob had attacked Lord North's house, in Downing Street, close by; but a party of soldiers had succeeded in interposing themselves between the mansion and its assailants. The house of the Minister was saved; but the gigantic mass of rioters then rolled towards the City, vowing that they would sack Newgate, and release their comrades, who had been sent there on Friday. On the 6th they appeared in vast numbers before that prison, and demanded of Mr. Akerman, the keeper, the delivery of their associates. Their cry was still "No Popery!" though their object was havoc456: they were armed with heavy sledge-hammers, crowbars, and pick-axes; and on the keeper refusing to liberate the prisoners, they commenced a desperate attack on his doors and windows, and, collecting combustibles, flung them into the dwelling. It was speedily in flames, and, whilst it burned, the mob thundered on the iron-studded doors of the prison with their tools. But, as they made no impression, they formed heaps of the keeper's furniture, and made a fire against the doors. The fires spread from the keeper's house to the prison chapel, and thence to some of the doors and passages leading into the wards47. The mob raised terrible yells of rage and triumph, which were as wildly echoed by the prisoners within, some of whom were exulting457 in the expectation of rescue, and others shrieking458, afraid of perishing in the conflagration459. The crowd, now more furious than ever, from greedily drinking the wine and spirits in the keepers cellar, rushed through the gaps made by the flames, and were masters of the prison. They were led on by ferocious460 fellows, who were but too familiar with the interior of the place. The different cells were forced open, and the now half-maddened prisoners were either rudely dragged out, or they rushed forth in maniacal461 delight. Three hundred of these criminals, some of them stained with the foulest462 offences, and four of them under sentence of execution on the following Thursday, were let out, to add to the horrors of the lawless tumult463. They came out into the surging, roaring multitude to raise their shouts at the sight of the great prison, which had lately been rebuilt at a cost of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, in one vast conflagration. Nothing was left of it the next morning but a huge skeleton of blackened and frowning walls.
The same evening the new prison of Clerkenwell was broken open, and all the prisoners were let loose. These joined the drinking, rabid mass, and, in their turn, attacked and gutted464 the houses of two of the most active magistrates—Sir John Fielding and Mr. Cox. As they went along, they compelled the inhabitants to illuminate288 their houses, under menace of burning them down. Everywhere they seized on gin, brandy, and beer, and thus, in the highest paroxysm of drunken fury, at midnight they appeared before Lord Mansfield's house, in Bloomsbury Square. He was quickly obliged to escape with Lady Mansfield by the back door, and to take refuge in the house of a friend in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The mob broke in, and, having demolished the doors and windows, proceeded to destroy and fling out into the square the furniture, pictures, and books, of which their fellows outside made several bonfires. Then perished one of the finest libraries in England, not only of works of law but of literature, which his lordship, through a long course of years, had been collecting.
The next morning, Wednesday, the 7th of June, the consternation was universal. The shops continued closed, and people barricaded465 their houses as well as they could, many of them chalking "No Popery!" on their doors, or hanging blue silk, the Protestant Association colour, from their windows. Dr. Johnson, in a walk from Fleet Street to see the ruins of the Old Bailey, describes the coolness and composure with which "the Protestants," men and boys, were employed in plundering466 and stripping houses, unmolested by soldiers, constables467, or any one. Great numbers of the mob were going about, armed with iron bars torn from the railings in front of Lord Mansfield's, to levy468 contributions on the householders. Some went singly; three mere boys were observed thus engaged in company; and one man, mounted on horseback, refused to receive anything less than gold.
A strong party, not satisfied with having destroyed Lord Mansfield's town house, set off to burn that at Caen Wood, near Highgate. They were met and turned back by a detachment of cavalry469. They were equally disappointed in their intended sack of the Bank of England. They found this mine of wealth guarded by infantry470, who had here orders to fire, and did it without scruple471, killing472 and wounding a great many. They were more successful against the prisons. They broke open the King's Bench, the Fleet, the Marshalsea, and all the other prisons except the Poultry473 Compter, and set at liberty all the prisoners. Before the day had dawned, the whole sky was glaring with the light of conflagrations474. The number of separate fires burning at the same time was counted up to thirty-six. Had the weather been stormy, the whole of London must have been laid in ashes; but, providentially, the weather was perfectly calm. The scene of the greatest catastrophe475 was at the distillery of a Mr. Langdale, on Holborn Bridge. This gentleman was a Catholic, and his stores of spirits were a violent temptation. They broke open his premises476 in the evening, and destroyed everything. They staved in his hogsheads of spirits, and others collected them in pails and in their hats, and drank voraciously478. The kennel479 ran a mingled480 river of gin, brandy, and pure alcohol, and men, women, and children were seen on their knees sucking up the stream as it flowed! Fire was set to the premises, and catching481 the spirits which flooded the floors, the flames shot up to the sky like a volcano. The unhappy wretches482, who had stupefied themselves with the fiery483 fluid, perished like flies in the raging element. No such scene of horror had been seen in all these spectacles of violence and crime. The loss of Mr. Langdale alone was estimated at one hundred thousand pounds.
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DR. JOHNSON VIEWING THE SCENE OF SOME OF THE "NO POPERY" RIOTS. (See p. 268.)
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Up to this point, the whole Government and magistracy seemed as much stupefied as the poor wretches who had perished in the flames of the distillery. The king was the first to awake from this fatal lethargy. He summoned a Council on the morning of the 7th of June, at which he presided, and demanded what they had to propose for the suppression of these disorders484. At the king's question the Cabinet appeared dumb-foundered485. It was the general opinion that no officer could proceed to extremities486 against a mob, however it might be breaking the law, until an hour after the Riot Act had been read by a magistrate. This was a monstrous487 perversion488 of the meaning of that Act; but, had even this been zealously followed out, the riots must have been promptly suppressed. Luckily, at this moment Wedderburn, the Attorney-General, answered the king's interrogation boldly, that the Riot Act bore no such construction as was put upon it. In his opinion, no single hour was required for the dispersion of a mob after the reading of the Riot Act; and not even the reading of the Act at all was necessary for the authorisation of military force where a mob was found actually committing a felony by firing a dwelling-house, and could not be restrained by other means. Encouraged by Wedderburn's contention489, the king declared that that had always been his own opinion, and that now he would act upon it. There should be, at least, one magistrate in the kingdom who would do his duty. The Council, gathering courage, then concurred490, and a proclamation was issued, warning all householders to keep within doors with their families, the king's officers being now ordered to put down the riots by military execution, without waiting for any further reading of the Riot Act.
This proclamation was speedily followed by the steady march of soldiers to various quarters. At one moment was heard the loud roar of innumerable voices in the full commission of outrage491, and at the next the rattle492 of musketry and the shrieks493 of the wounded and dying, followed by a strange silence. The first troops who commenced the bloody494 duty of repression495 were the Northumberland militia, who had come that day by a forced march of twenty-five miles, and who were led by Colonel Holroyd against the rioters at Langdale's distillery in Holborn. A detachment of the Guards at the same time drove the mob from the possession of Blackfriars Bridge. Numbers were there killed, or were forced by the soldiers or their own fears over the parapet of the bridge, and perished in the Thames. Where the mob would not disperse, the officers now firmly gave the word of command, and the soldiers fired in platoons. Little resistance was offered; in many quarters the inhabitants, recovering their presence of mind, armed themselves, and came forth in bodies to assist the soldiers. The number of troops now assembled in and around London amounted to twenty-five thousand, and before night the whole city was as quiet—far quieter, indeed—than on ordinary occasions, for a sorrowful silence seemed to pervade496 it; and besides two hundred men shot in the streets, two hundred and fifty were carried to the hospitals wounded, of whom nearly one hundred soon expired. But these bore no proportion to the numbers who had fallen victims to their own excesses, or who had been buried under the ruins of falling buildings, or consumed in the flames in the stupor497 of intoxication498. The king's decision had saved London.
On Tuesday, the 20th of June, the Commons entered on the consideration of the great Protestant petition, praying for the repeal of Sir George Savile's Act for the relief of Catholics. On this occasion Burke and Lord North went hand in hand. Burke drew up five resolutions, which North corrected. These resolutions declared that all attempts to seduce242 the youth of this kingdom from the Established Church to[271] Popery were criminal in the highest degree, but that all attempts to wrest the Act of 1778 beyond its due meaning, and to the unnecessary injury of Catholics, were equally reprehensible499. In the course of July the rioters were brought to trial. Those prisoners confined in the City were tried at the regular Old Bailey Sessions; those on the Surrey side of the river by a Special Commission. The Lord Chief Justice De Grey, being in failing health, resigned, and Wedderburn took his place as Lord Chief Justice, under the title of Lord Loughborough. His appointment gave great satisfaction; but this was considerably abated by his speech at the opening of the Commission, in which he indulged in very severe strictures on the rioters, who had to appear before him as judge. Of the one hundred and thirty-five tried, about one half were convicted, of whom twenty-one were executed, and the rest transported for life. Amongst the convicted was Edward Dennis, the common hangman; but he received a reprieve500. The trial of Lord George Gordon, who was foolishly accused of high treason, was postponed501 through a technical cause till the following January, when he was ably defended by Mr. Kenyon and Mr. Erskine; and the public mind having cooled, he was acquitted. Probably the conviction of his insanity502 tended largely to this result, which became more and more apparent, his last strange freak being that of turning Jew.
From this episode of fire and fanaticism503 we recur504 to the general theme of the war with Spain, France, and America, in which England was every day becoming more deeply engaged. From the moment that Spain had joined France in the war against us, other Powers, trusting to our embarrassments505 with our colonies and those great European Powers, had found it a lucrative506 trade to supply, under neutral flags, warlike materials and other articles to the hostile nations; thus, whilst under a nominal507 alliance, they actually furnished the sinews of war against us. In this particular, Holland, the next great commercial country to Britain, took the lead. She furnished ammunition508 and stores to the Spaniards, who all this while were engaged in besieging509 Gibraltar. Spain had also made a treaty with the Barbary States, by which she cut off our supplies from those countries. To relieve Gibraltar, Admiral Sir George Rodney, who was now appointed to the command of our navy in the West Indies, was ordered to touch there on his way out. On the 8th of January 1780, when he had been a few days out at sea, he came in sight of a Spanish fleet, consisting of five armed vessels, convoying fifteen merchantmen, all of which he captured. These vessels were chiefly laden511 with wheat, flour, and other provisions, badly needed at Gibraltar, and which he carried in with him, sending the men-of-war to England. On the 16th he fell in with another fleet off Cape425 St. Vincent, of eleven ships of the line, under Don Juan de Langara, who had come out to intercept269 the provisions which England sent to Gibraltar. Rodney had a much superior fleet, and the Spanish admiral immediately attempted to regain his port. The weather was very tempestuous512, and the coast near the shoal of St. Lucar very dangerous; he therefore stood in as close as possible to the shore, but Rodney boldly thrust his vessels between him and the perilous strand513, and commenced a running fight. The engagement began about four o'clock in the evening, and it was, therefore, soon dark; but Rodney, despite the imminent danger of darkness, tempest, and a treacherous shore, continued the fight, and the Spaniards for a time defended themselves bravely. The battle continued till two o'clock in the morning; one ship, the San Domingo, of seventy guns, blew up with six hundred men early in the action; four ships of the line, including the admiral's, of eighty guns, struck, and were carried by Rodney safe into port; two seventy-gun ships ran on the shoal and were lost; and of all the Spanish fleet only four ships escaped to Cadiz.
Bearing his prizes with him, Rodney proceeded to Gibraltar, carrying great exultation514 to the besieged515 rock by the news of such victory and the timely supplies. He sent on some ships to carry similar relief to our garrison at Port Mahon, and, after lying some weeks at Gibraltar, he dispatched Admiral Digby home with a portion of the fleet, and then with the rest made sail for the West Indies. Digby, on his homeward route, also captured a French ship of the line, and two merchant vessels laden with military stores. This blow to the Spanish maritime516 power was never altogether recovered during the war.
Rodney, on reaching the West Indies, found, as we shall see, a combined fleet of French under the Count de Guichen, and of Spanish under Admiral Solano; but he could not bring them to an engagement, and, after a brief brush, they eventually eluded23 him, Solano taking refuge in Havana, and De Guichen convoying the home-bound merchant ships of France. Disappointed in his hopes[272] of a conflict with these foes518, Rodney sailed for the North American coasts. Scarcely had he quitted the European waters, however, when the Spaniards took a severe revenge for his victory over them at St. Vincent. Florida Blanca, the Minister of Spain, learnt, through his spies in England, that the English East and West Indian traders were going out under a very foolishly feeble escort—in fact, of only two ships of the line. Elated at the news, Florida Blanca collected every vessel that he could, and dispatched them, under Admirals Cordova and Gaston, to intercept this precious prize. The enterprise was most successful. The Spanish fleet lay in wait at the point where the East and West India vessels separate, off the Azores, captured sixty sail of merchantmen, and carried them safe into Cadiz. The two vessels of war escaped, but in the East Indiamen were eighteen hundred soldiers going out to reinforce the troops in the East.
This, though it was a severe blow to our trade, was but a small part of the damage which the active spirit of Florida Blanca did us. He promoted with all his energies the system of armed neutrality which had long been projected on the Continent to cripple our power. England knew that if she permitted this process, there was little chance of her bringing any of her antagonists519 to terms; she therefore insisted rigidly520 on the right of search, and on the seizure71 of all such contraband521 articles under whatever flag they were conveyed. Not only did Holland supply France and Spain in Europe, but she allowed the American privateers to carry their English prizes into their West Indian ports for sale. All this time Holland was not only bound by the most immense obligations to Great Britain for the millions of money and the tens of thousands of men whom we had sacrificed for the security of her independence against France, but she was also bound by treaty to furnish us certain aids when we were attacked by France. From the year 1778 Sir Joseph Yorke, our Ambassador at the Hague, had made continual remonstrances against this clandestine522 trade with our enemies; and France, on the other hand, had, by alternate menaces and persuasions523, exerted herself to induce the Dutch to set England at defiance524. In this she succeeded to a great extent. Much correspondence ensued, the Dutch maintaining a specious525 neutrality, but still continuing to carry timber and naval stores to France. Sir Joseph Yorke was therefore instructed to demand from the States the succours stipulated by treaties, and which might have been demanded the moment that France declared war against England. On the 26th of November, 1779, he received not only a positive refusal, but a fresh complaint of the interruption of their trade by English men-of-war.
Whilst affairs with Holland were in this position, Count Florida Blanca, the Spanish Minister, had adopted the system of seizing all neutral vessels, of whatever nation, that were found carrying British goods, and conveying them into Spanish ports as lawful526 prizes. This, as he calculated, raised the resentment of all the neutral Powers—Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Holland, and the trading States of Italy—who denounced these outrages527 on their flag. But Florida Blanca replied, that so long as England was suffered to pursue this system, Spain must continue to make reprisals528; that it was, however, in the power of the neutral nations to combine and defend their flags, by compelling England to desist. The result was as he had hoped. Catherine of Russia, who had hitherto considered herself an ally of England—who had, at one time, contemplated529 furnishing soldiers to assist in reducing the American rebels, and who protested against the monstrosity of France encouraging the colonies of England to throw off their allegiance—was suddenly induced to change her tone. On the 26th of February she issued her famous proclamation, "that free ships should make free goods." This meant that all neutral nations should continue to carry all kinds of articles to Powers at war with one another, without search or question, except such goods as were expressly specified530 in treaties. Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, France, and Spain, all readily entered into this league, which assumed the name of the "Armed Neutrality," the object of which, though ostensibly to control all belligerent328 Powers, was really to suppress the naval power of England. Holland eulogised this league, but did not yet venture to join it; but prohibited the exportation of stores to our garrison in Gibraltar, whilst her ships were busy carrying supplies to the Spanish besiegers. Sir Joseph Yorke, therefore, on the 21st of March, 1780, informed the States that, unless the stipulated help was furnished within three weeks, England would suspend, pro12 tempore, the regulations in favour of the Dutch commerce. The States still refused to furnish the succours, and at the specified time the privileges in question were suspended, though Count Welderen still continued in London, and Sir Joseph Yorke at the Hague. It was evident that Holland could not[273] long continue in this position, and Frederick of Prussia was soliciting531 Catherine of Russia to enter into an engagement to protect the Dutch commerce in every quarter of the globe. If Frederick could have prevailed, he would have stirred up a universal crusade against England; but Catherine was not rash enough for this quixotism.
OLD NEWGATE.
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We return now to the American campaign. Sir Henry Clinton, at the close of the year 1779, proceeded to carry into effect his plan of removing the war to the Southern States. The climate there favoured the project of a winter campaign, and, on the day after Christmas Day, Sir Henry embarked five thousand men on board the fleet of Admiral Arbuthnot. But the weather at sea at this season proved very tempestuous, and his ships were driven about for seven weeks. Many of his transports were lost, some of them were taken by the enemy; he lost nearly all the horses of the cavalry and artillery532, and one vessel carrying the heavy ordnance foundered at sea. It was the 11th of February, 1780, when he landed on St. John's Island, about thirty miles from Charleston. He then planned the investment of Charleston with Admiral Arbuthnot; but he was not on good terms with that officer, and this threw great impediments in the way of prompt action. It was the 1st of April before they could break ground before the city. Once begun, however, the siege was prosecuted533 with vigour. Lord Cornwallis was sent to scour534 the country, and so completely did he effect this, that Lincoln was compelled to offer terms of surrender. These were considered too favourable535 to the Americans, and the siege continued till the 11th of May, when the English were doing such damage to the town, and the inhabitants suffering so much, that they threatened to throw open the gates if Lincoln did not surrender. In this dilemma536, Lincoln offered to accept the terms proposed by Clinton before, and the British general assented to his proposal. On the 12th of May the Americans grounded their arms. The news of this blow, which laid the whole south open to the English, carried consternation throughout the States; and, arriving in England at the close of the Gordon riots, seemed to restore the spirits of the British.
The town of Charleston being now in his[274] possession, Sir Henry Clinton proceeded to reduce the whole province to obedience537. He issued proclamations, calling on the well-affected young men to form themselves into military bodies, and to act in support of the king's troops, pledging himself that they should never be called upon to march beyond the frontiers of North Carolina on the one side, or those of Georgia on the other; and he assured the inhabitants at large of the utmost protection of person and property, so long as they continued peaceable and loyal subjects of the Crown. In the meantime, Lord Cornwallis continued to enforce these proposals by the movements of his troops. Could Sir Henry Clinton have remained in this quarter, he would without doubt have steadily538 carried his victorious539 arms northward540 till he had everywhere restored the rule of England. But he was completely crippled by the wretched management of the miserable Government at home, who seemed to expect to reconquer America without an army. At this crisis he received news that the Americans were mustering541 in strong force on the Hudson, and that a French fleet was daily expected on the coast of New England to co-operate with them. He was now compelled to embark for New York, leaving Lord Cornwallis to maintain the ground obtained in South Carolina as well as he could with a body of four thousand men. His second in command was Lord Rawdon, a young officer who had distinguished himself greatly at the battle of Bunker's Hill, and who, like Cornwallis, his chief, was destined542, in after years, to occupy the distinguished post of Governor-General of India, with the successive titles of Earl Moira and Marquis of Hastings. The chief business of Cornwallis was to maintain the status gained in South Carolina, but he was at liberty to make a move into North Carolina if he thought it promising543.
Congress, alarmed at the progress of the English in South Carolina, had made extraordinary efforts to reinforce the Republican party in North Carolina. On the fall of Charleston, General Gates, who had acquired a high but spurious reputation upon the surrender of Burgoyne, was sent to take the chief command. In marching towards South Carolina, the American army suffered severely from the tropical heat of the climate and the scarcity544 of food. Gates led them through a country of alternating swamps and sandy deserts, called by the Americans pine-barrens. The troops lived chiefly on the lean cattle which they found scattered through the woods, on green Indian corn, and peaches, which were plentiful545, being indigenous546 to the State of Louisiana. Lord Rawdon, who was lying at Camden, where he had halted his men to protect them from the heat, was joined there by Lord Cornwallis early in August. The entire force when united did not, however, exceed two thousand men, whilst the troops of Gates amounted to six thousand. The British general, notwithstanding, advanced briskly to meet the Americans, and on the evening of the 16th of August the two armies met rather unexpectedly, and some skirmishing took place, after which they halted in position till near daybreak.
When day dawned, Cornwallis saw that the ground he occupied was so favourable that it rendered his inferiority of numbers of little consequence. He therefore drew out his forces for immediate action. Swamps to the right and left narrowed the ground by which the Americans could approach him, and forming his troops into two lines, commanded by Lord Rawdon and General Webster, he attacked the Americans under Gates and quickly put them to the rout. The Virginian militia ran most nimbly, and sought refuge in the woods. Gates himself galloped547 away believing all was lost, and never halted till he reached Charlotte, about eighty miles off. The only men who fought well were two brigades of regulars under the command of the German, Von Kalb, who kept his ground against the troops of Lord Rawdon for three-quarters of an hour, sustaining repeated charges of the bayonet unmoved; but Von Kalb fell mortally wounded, and the last of the Americans then gave way and fled for their lives in all directions.
The American Congress, which had imagined Gates a greater officer even than Washington, because he had captured Burgoyne through the ability of Arnold, though Washington—from envy, as they supposed—had always held a more correct opinion, now saw their error. No sooner was this victory at Camden achieved, than Cornwallis dispatched Tarleton after General Sumter, who was marching on the other side of the Wateree on his way into South Carolina. Tarleton started after him with a couple of hundred of cavalry, and rode so sharply that he had left half his little force behind him, when he came up with him near Catawba Ford214, and fell upon his far superior force without a moment's hesitation, killing and wounding one hundred, and taking captive upwards548 of two hundred, with all Sumter's baggage, artillery, and one thousand stand of arms.
Cornwallis now announced to the Royalists of[275] North Carolina that he would soon send a force for their defence, and advanced to Charlotte. He next took measures for punishing those who had pretended to re-accept the allegiance of England only to relapse into a double treachery. He declared that all such being captured should be treated as traitors550, and hanged. These severe measures were carried into execution on some of the prisoners taken at Camden and Augusta, and others were shipped off to St. Augustine. This system was as impolitic as it was cruel, for the Americans were certain to adopt it in retaliation551, as they did, with a frightful ferocity, when the Royalists were overthrown552 in South Carolina, and avowedly on this ground. Lord Rawdon, adopting the example, wrote to his officers that he would give ten guineas for the head of any deserter from the volunteers of Ireland, and five only if brought in alive.
Scarcely had Lord Cornwallis commenced his march into the interior of North Carolina, and scarcely had he dispatched Major Ferguson with a corps of American Royalists, to advance through the country towards the frontiers of Virginia, when this corps received another proof of the wisdom of keeping out of the woods and hills. Major Ferguson was attacked near the pass of King's Mountain by swarms553 of riflemen, many of them mounted, from Virginia, Kentucky, and the Alleghanies who shot down and exterminated554 his followers555 almost to a man, the major falling amongst the rest. The victors gave a prompt proof of their apt adoption556 of Lord Cornwallis's teaching, by hanging ten of the prisoners. Lord Cornwallis was harassed557 by similar hordes558 of flying and creeping skirmishers. Hearing the news of the slaughter559 of Ferguson's force, he returned to Charlotte, retracing560 his march through most rainy weather, terrible roads, and almost totally destitute561 of provisions. Cornwallis fell ill on the road, and Lord Rawdon had to assume the command. It was not till the 29th of October that the army resumed its original position near Camden; and General Leslie, who had been also dispatched to co-operate with Cornwallis in Virginia, was recalled, but was obliged to return by sea.
The news of the approach of the French succours was brought by Lafayette, who, much to the joy of Washington, and of America generally, again reached the States, landing at Boston in April. He announced that the fleet, commanded by the Chevalier de Ternay, consisted of seven sail of the line, with numerous smaller vessels, and brought over six thousand troops, under the Comte de Rochambeau. The French squadron reached Rhode Island on the 13th of July. Washington thereupon declared himself ready for an attack on New York; but Rochambeau replied that it would be better to wait for the expected and much larger fleet of De Guichen. Before De Guichen appeared, the English admiral, Graves, arrived, with six ships of war, thus increasing the English superiority at sea, and De Ternay found himself blockaded in the harbour of Newport, and Rochambeau was glad to entrench562 himself on Rhode Island, and abandon all idea of attacking New York. Sir Henry Clinton, on his part, planned an attack on Rochambeau with the army, while the French fleet blockaded in Newport harbour should be attacked by Admiral Arbuthnot. But Clinton and Arbuthnot were at variance, and the admiral did not promptly and cordially second the views of Clinton. He went slowly round Long Island, to place himself in conjunction with the general; whilst Clinton embarked eight thousand troops, and approached the position of Rochambeau. But Arbuthnot strongly contended against the attempt, declaring Rochambeau too formidably fortified563, and Washington, at the same time, advancing from his position with a large force, suddenly passed the North River and approached King's Bridge, as if meditating564 an attack on New York. These circumstances induced Clinton reluctantly to return to New York. Washington retreated to his old ground at Morristown, and Arbuthnot remained blockading De Ternay before Newport. Neither party, therefore, could do more than be still for the remainder of the season. Clinton was completely crippled for any decisive action by the miserable modicum565 of troops which the English Government had furnished him, and the enemy now knew that the fleet of De Guichen was not likely to arrive this season.
This fleet had enough to do to cope with Rodney in the West Indian waters. Rodney, as we have hinted, with twenty sail of the line, came up with De Guichen's fleet of twenty-three sail of the line, besides smaller vessels, on the evening of the 16th of April, off St. Lucia. He came into action with it on the 17th, and succeeded in breaking its line, and might have obtained a most complete victory, but that several of his captains behaved very badly, paying no attention to his signals. The Sandwich, the Admiral's ship, was much damaged in the action, and the French sailed away. Rodney wrote most indignantly home[276] concerning the conduct of the captains, and one of them was tried and broken, and some of the others were censured; but they were protected by the spirit of faction, and escaped their due punishment. Rodney, finding he could not bring the French again to engage, put into St. Lucia to refit, and land his wounded men, of whom he had three hundred and fifty; besides one hundred and twenty killed. De Guichen had suffered far more severely. Rodney again got sight of the French fleet on the 10th of May, between St. Lucia and Martinique; but they avoided him, and made their escape into the harbour of Fort Royal. Hearing of the approach of a Spanish fleet of twelve sail of the line, and a great number of lesser566 vessels and transports, bringing from ten thousand to twelve thousand men, Rodney went in quest of it, to prevent its junction with the French; but Solano, the Spanish admiral, took care not to go near Rodney, but, reaching Guadeloupe, sent word of his arrival there to De Guichen, who managed to sail thither and join him. This now most overwhelming united fleet of France and Spain left Rodney no alternative but to avoid an engagement on his part. He felt that not only our West India Islands, but the coasts of North America, were at its mercy; but it turned out otherwise.
The Spaniards had so crowded their ships with soldiers, and made such wretched provision for their accommodation, that the most destructive and contagious567 fever was raging amongst them. This was quickly communicated to the French vessels; the mortality was more than that of a great battle, and the combined fleet hastened to Martinique, where they landed their soldiers and part of their seamen to recruit. They remained at Fort Royal till the 5th of July, only to disagree and quarrel more and more. Proceeding thence to St. Domingo, they parted, De Guichen returning to Europe, as convoy510 of the French homebound merchantmen; and Solano sailing to Havana, to co-operate with his countrymen in their designs on Florida.
Thus this mighty armada—of which such high things were expected—was dispersed568; Rodney, sending part of his fleet to Jamaica, proceeded to join Arbuthnot at New York, with eleven ships of the line and four frigates. The news of his approach reached the French and Americans there, at the same time as that of the return of De Guichen to Europe, and spread the greatest consternation. To consider what was best to do in the circumstances, a meeting was proposed at Hartford, in Connecticut, between Washington and Rochambeau, which took place on the 21st of September. At this moment a discovery took place which had a startling effect on the Americans, and was calculated to inspire the most gloomy views of their condition. General Arnold, who had fought his way up from the humble569 station of a horse-dealer to that which he now held, had, on all occasions, shown himself an officer of the most daring and enterprising character. Having been appointed military governor of Philadelphia, after its evacuation by General Clinton in 1778, as a post where he might recover from the severe wounds which he had received in the recent campaign, he began a style of living much too magnificent for his finances, for, with all his abilities, Arnold was a vain and extravagant30 man. He married a beautiful young lady of that city of Royalist origin. Rumours570 to his disadvantage were soon afloat, originating in this cause, for whatever he did was regarded by the staunch Whigs with an unfavourable eye. Congress was the more ready to listen to charges against him, because, involved himself in debts incurred by his extravagance, he pressed them for large claims upon them, which they had no means to satisfy. Commissioners were selected by them to examine his claims, and these men, appointed for their hard, mean natures, reduced his demands extremely. Arnold uttered his indignation at such treatment in no measured terms, and the consequence was that he was arrested, tried by a court-martial, on various charges of peculation571 in his different commands, and for extortion on the citizens of Philadelphia. Some of these were declared groundless, but others were pronounced to be proved, and Arnold was condemned to be reprimanded by the Commander-in-Chief. This put the climax572 to his wrath573. Washington, who had, in Arnold's opinion, been as unjustly exalted574 and favoured for his defeats and delays, as he himself had been envied and repressed for his brilliant exploits, was of all men the one from whom he could not receive with patience a formal condemnation575. This sentence was carried into effect in January, 1779, and Arnold, stung to the quick, was prepared to perpetrate some desperate design. The opportunity came when he was placed in command of West Point, on the Hudson, which was the key to all intercourse576 between the Northern and Southern States.
[277]
ARREST OF MAJOR ANDRé. (See p. 278.)
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At the very time he received this appointment he was actually in correspondence with Colonel Robinson, an officer of General Clinton's staff, declaring that he was become convinced of the more righteous cause of the mother country, and that he was prepared to testify this by some signal service to his king. It was at the beginning of August of the present year when Arnold assumed his command at West Point; and Clinton lost no time in opening a direct correspondence with him, through which such singular advantages were offered. Sir Henry Clinton employed as his agent in this correspondence a young officer of high promise in his profession and of considerable literary talents, Major John André, Adjutant-General and aide-de-camp to Sir Henry. As Clinton was naturally anxious to bring this hazardous577 correspondence to a close, he pressed Arnold to come to a speedy decision, offering him rank in the army and a high reward in return for the promised services—namely, the surrender of West Point, with all its dependent forts and stores, including, as a matter of course, the command of the Hudson, and the terror and distrust which this act would spread through the American army. The absence of Washington at the meeting with Rochambeau at Hartford was seized on as a proper opportunity for a personal and final conference on the subject. Major André was selected by General Clinton to meet Arnold on neutral ground. The place selected was on the western bank of the Hudson, and Clinton strongly enjoined578 him to enter on no account within the American lines, to assume no disguise, nor to be the bearer of any written documents. Day dawned before the whole preliminaries were settled, though the chief point was determined—namely, that West Point should be surrendered to the English on the following Monday. André was prevailed on to remain with Arnold the greater part of the day; and then, on going down to the shore, he found that the boatman who had brought him out refused to carry him back. When André returned to Arnold at Smith's house, he gave him a pass, and advised him to travel by land to King's Ferry, and there to cross. He insisted that for this purpose he must assume a disguise, and travel under his assumed name of John Anderson. So little was André apprehensive579 of danger, that he not only disobeyed the injunction of his[278] commander-in-chief in this particular, but in the far more important one of carrying written papers, which he concealed in his boot.
He was proceeding in all apparent safety when, approaching the village of Tarrytown, three militiamen suddenly sprang forward, and, seizing his bridle580, demanded who he was. André, being on neutral ground, exceeded his former incaution, and instead of ascertaining581 whether the men were Americans, in which case Arnold's pass was his security, he asked the men who they were, and being answered "From below," which was the pass for New York, replied, "And so am I." By this, discovering that he was a British officer, the men began to search him, and soon made prize of his fatal papers. Warned in time, Arnold escaped on board a British man-of-war. But very different was the fate of Major André. General Clinton, the moment he was aware of his arrest, sent a letter to Washington, stating that André had gone on shore under a flag of truce582, and, at the time of his arrest, was travelling under a pass from Arnold, the commander of the district. Clinton therefore requested Washington to liberate André immediately. To this letter Washington did not reply till after a lapse549 of four days, and after the board of officers appointed for the purpose had declared André a spy. He even rejected the last prayer of the gallant282 soldier that he might be spared the gibbet, and had him hanged.
During this year the Americans continued to hope for relief to themselves from the progress of the Armed Neutrality, but derived little good from it, though, through their exertions584, they beheld Holland added to the open enemies of England. The Dutch Government, flattering themselves that, with nearly all the world against her, England must succumb585, had long been secretly in negotiation308 with the insurgent586 subjects of England, and their treachery was now suddenly, by a singular circumstance, brought to light. Captain Keppel, cruising in the Vestal frigate off the banks of Newfoundland, in the month of September, captured one of the American packets. On the approach of the British boats to the packet, it was observed that something was hastily flung overboard. A sailor leaped from one of the boats into the sea, and succeeded in securing this something before it had sunk beyond reach. It turned out to be a box, which had been weighted with lead, but not sufficiently to render it so rapid in its descent as to prevent its seizure by the British tar15. On being opened, it revealed a mass of papers belonging to an American emissary to the Court of Holland, and opened up a long course of negotiations, and an eventual517 treaty of peace and commerce between Holland and our American colonies. The bearer of these papers was discovered on board the packet, in the person of Henry Laurens, late president of the American Congress. These most important papers, together with their bearer, were sent with all speed to England. Copies were forwarded to Sir Joseph Yorke, our Ambassador at the Hague, who was instructed to demand from the States General the disavowal of the negotiations. The States General, confounded by the discovery of their clandestine negotiations, remained silent for a week, and then only replied by advancing complaints of violence committed by the British navy on their traders, and of its having insulted the Dutch flag by seizing some American privateers in the port of the island of St. Martin, under the very guns of the fort. Sir Joseph did not allow himself to be diverted from his demand, but again, on the 12th of December, a month after the presentation of his memorial, demanded an answer. No answer was returned. England was thus compelled to declare war against Holland on the 20th of December, Sir Joseph Yorke being recalled by the king, and Count Welderen receiving his passports in London.
The enemy, meanwhile, were on the alert, trying, by their fleets and armies, to assail380 us in almost every quarter. In the very opening days of the year—at the very commencement of January, 1781—the French made an attack on the island of Jersey. They had sent across the Channel a fleet carrying nearly two thousand men; but their ships met the common fortune that has ever attended invaders587 of Britain: they were scattered by tempests, many of them dashed on the rocks of those iron-bound shores, and some driven back to port. They managed, however, to land eight hundred men by night, and surprised the town of St. Helier's, taking prisoner its Lieutenant-Governor, Major Corbet, who thereupon thinking all lost, agreed to capitulate. But the next officer in command, Major Pierson, a young man of only twenty-five, refused to comply with so pusillanimous588 an order. He rallied the troops and encouraged the inhabitants, who fired on the French from their windows. The invaders, surrounded in the market-place, were compelled to surrender, after their commander, the Baron194 de Rullecourt, and many of his soldiers, were killed.[279] The gallant young Pierson was himself killed by nearly the last shot.
The garrison of Gibraltar was all this time hard pressed by the Spaniards. Florida Blanca had made a convention with the Emperor of Morocco to refuse the English any supplies; those thrown in by Rodney the year before were nearly exhausted590, and they were reduced to grave straits. Admiral Darby was commissioned to convoy one hundred vessels laden with provisions, and to force a way for them into the garrison. Darby not only readily executed his commission, to the great joy of the poor soldiers, but he blockaded the huge Spanish fleet under Admiral Cordova, in the harbour of Cadiz, whilst the stores were landing.
In America, all at the opening of the campaign seemed to favour the English cause. The army of Washington, still suffering the utmost extremities of cold and starvation, began in earnest to mutiny. A Pennsylvanian division of one thousand three hundred men marched out of their camp at Morristown, and proceeded to Princeton, carrying with them six field-pieces and their stores, and their demands were granted by Congress. The success of this revolt encouraged others to repeat the man?uvre. On the night of the 20th of January a part of the Jersey brigade, stationed at Pompton, marched to Chatham, and made precisely591 the same demands. But now seeing that, if this were suffered, the whole army would quickly go to pieces, Washington sent General Howe after them, with orders to surround them, and shoot them down, if they did not surrender; and if they did surrender, immediately to seize the most active ringleaders, and execute them. Howe readily accomplished his mission; he reduced the mutinous592, and shot their leaders.
In such very discouraging circumstances the American campaign began. Whilst insurrection was in their camp, Sir Henry Clinton dispatched General Arnold to make a descent upon the coast of Virginia. That general had been dispatched into that quarter, at the close of the year, with one thousand six hundred men, in ships so bad, that they were obliged to fling overboard some of their horses. Arnold, however, first sailed up the river James, and landed at Westover, only twenty-five miles from Richmond, the capital of Virginia. Jefferson, who was Governor of Virginia, was seized with great alarm; for, though the militia of the State were nominally593 fifty thousand, he could muster only a few hundreds. He therefore hastily collected what property he could, and fled up the country, dreading594 to fall into the hands of a man so embittered595 against the Americans as Arnold was, who was himself well aware that they had determined to hang him without mercy if they caught him. Arnold did not allow much time to elapse without action. The next day he was in Richmond, and sent word to Jefferson that, provided British vessels might come up the river to take away the tobacco, he would spare the town. Jefferson rejected the proposal, and Arnold burnt all the tobacco stores and the public buildings, both there and at Westham. After committing other ravages596, he returned to Portsmouth, on Elizabeth River, where he entrenched597 himself. On the 26th of March, General Phillips, having assumed the command, in company with Arnold ascended598 James River with two thousand five hundred men, took and destroyed much property in Williamsburg and York Town, ravaged599 the country around, and then sailed to the mouth of the Appomattox, and burnt all the shipping600 and tobacco in Petersburg. After other depredations, and forcing the Americans to destroy their own flotilla between Warwick and Richmond, Phillips and Arnold descended601 the James River to Manchester, and proposed to cross over to Richmond. But Lafayette having just reached that place before them with upwards of two thousand men, they re-embarked, and, after destroying much other property, especially shipping and stores, at Warwick and other places, they fell down to Hog477 Island, where they awaited further orders.
An active warfare602 had been going on at the same time in North Carolina. Lord Cornwallis had, however, no longer to compete with the inefficient603 Gates, but with General Greene, a much more vigorous man. On the 17th of January, Colonel Tarleton, who had been dispatched with a thousand men, horse and foot, to attack a body of Americans under General Morgan, came up with them at a place called Cowpens. Tarleton's troops were worn out by their long march, but that impetuous officer gave them no time to rest themselves, but fell on the enemy with loud shouts. The militia fled at once, and the advance of the English endangered the flanks of the Continentals604, and it became necessary to make a retrograde movement. This Tarleton mistook for a retreat, so accustomed was he to carry all before him, and his men were rushing on without regard to order, when the Americans suddenly faced about, poured a deadly fire into the British at thirty yards' distance, and then,[280] briskly charging, broke their already disorderly line. Being closely pursued, they lost, in killed and wounded, upwards of five hundred men.
On hearing of the defeat of Tarleton, Cornwallis advanced rapidly, in order, if possible, to intercept Morgan and his English prisoners at the fords of Catawba. A rise of the water from the rains prevented his crossing that river so soon as he expected, and Morgan joined Greene, both generals, however, retreating behind the Yadkin. The swollen605 state of the river and the want of boats also detained Lord Cornwallis at the Yadkin, but he finally succeeded in crossing and throwing himself between Greene and the frontiers of Virginia, from which Greene looked for his supplies and reinforcements. Greene continued to retreat till he had also placed the Dan between himself and Cornwallis; but his militia had deserted606 so rapidly on his flight, that, on reaching the Dan, he had not more than eighty of that body with him. Greene now had the way open to him for retreat into Virginia, and, Cornwallis giving up the chase, marched leisurely607 to Hillsborough, in North Carolina, where he invited the Royalists to join his standard. Such was his success—numbers of Royalists flocking in to serve with Tarleton's legion—that Greene, alarmed at the consequences of this movement, turned back for the purpose of cutting off all possible reinforcements of this kind, yet avoiding a general engagement. Once more Cornwallis advanced to chastise608 Greene, and once more Greene beat a retreat. This man?uvring continued till the 15th of March, when Greene having been joined by fresh troops, thought himself strong enough to encounter the English general. He drew up his army on very strong ground near Guildford Court House, where Cornwallis boldly attacked him, and, after a stout609 battle, completely routed him.
But the British were in no condition to take advantage of American exhaustion610. At a time when the Ministry at home had obtained the most magnificent grants from Parliament—grants for ninety thousand seamen, thirty thousand soldiers, and twenty-five millions of pounds to pay for them—there was scarcely a fleet on the American coasts, and nothing which could be called an army. Had Cornwallis been in possession of an adequate force, he would speedily have cleared all the Southern States. Wherever he came, even with his handful of men, he drove the Americans before him. He now took up his headquarters at Cross Creek611, where he sought to rest his troops and recover his sick and wounded. He hoped there to establish a communication with Major Craig, who had been successfully dispatched to take possession of Wilmington, at the mouth of Cape Fear River, but this was not very practicable, and as the country about Cross Creek was destitute of the necessary supplies, Cornwallis himself descended to Wilmington, which he reached on the 7th of April. Colonel Webster and others of his wounded officers died on the march. Greene, with his fragment of an army, as badly provisioned as that of Cornwallis, followed them at a safe distance.
At Wilmington Lord Cornwallis remained about three weeks, uncertain as to his plan of operations. His forces amounted to only about one thousand five hundred men; he therefore determined, at length, to march into Virginia, and join the expedition there. He made his march without encountering any opposition, reaching Presburg on the 20th of May. Thereupon Lord Cornwallis found himself at the head of a united force of seven thousand men. Sir Henry Clinton's effective troops at New York amounted only to ten thousand nine hundred and thirty-one men, and the little detachment under Lord Rawdon only to nine hundred.
The very day that Lord Cornwallis had marched from Wilmington, Lord Rawdon was bravely fighting with Greene at Hobkirk's Hill, in South Carolina. Greene had not ventured to attack Lord Cornwallis; but he thought he might, by diverting his course into South Carolina, induce him to follow, and thus leave exposed all North Carolina to Wayne and Lafayette, as well as all his important posts in the upper part of North Carolina. Greene failed to draw after him Cornwallis, but he sat down at Hobkirk's Hill, about two miles from the outposts of Lord Rawdon's camp at Camden. Lord Rawdon, hearing that Greene was waiting to be reinforced by troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, did not give him time for that. He marched out of Camden, at nine o'clock in the morning, on the 25th of April, and quietly making a circuit through some woods, he came upon Greene's flank, and drove in his pickets612 before he was perceived. Startled from his repose613, Greene sought to return the surprise by sending Colonel Washington, a nephew of the American commander-in-chief, with a body of cavalry, to fall on Rawdon's rear, as he was passing up the hill. But Rawdon was aware of this man?uvre, and prevented it, still pressing up Hobkirk's Hill, in the face of the artillery, charged with grape-shot. Greene's militia fled[281] with all speed, and Rawdon stood triumphant405 on the summit of the hill, in the centre of Greene's camp. But the success was not followed up, owing to the insufficiency of the English troops, and Greene was able, without risking another engagement, to compel Rawdon to retire to Charleston. The American general encamped on the Santee Hills until September, when he descended on Colonel Stewart, who had succeeded Rawdon. After a severe struggle at Eutaw Springs on the 8th of September, Stewart retired to Charleston Neck, and all Georgia and South Carolina were lost to the English, with the exception of Charleston and Savannah. Meanwhile, Lord Cornwallis only allowed himself three days' rest at Presburg; he marched thence, on the 24th of May, in quest of Lafayette, who was encamped on the James River. Cornwallis crossed that river at Westover, about thirty miles below Lafayette's camp, and that nimble officer retreated in all haste to join General Wayne, who was marching through Maryland with a small force of eight hundred Pennsylvanians. Lafayette and Wayne retreated up the James River, and Cornwallis pursued his march to Portsmouth. There he received an order from Sir Henry Clinton, desiring him to look out for a position where he could fortify614 himself, and at the same time protect such shipping as might be sent to the Chesapeake to prevent the entrance of the French. Cornwallis fixed on York Town, on York River, and there, and at Gloucester, in its vicinity, he was settled with his troops by the 22nd of August. Sir Henry Clinton wrote, intimating that he should probably send more troops to the Chesapeake, as there was a probability that Washington and Rochambeau, giving up the attack of New York, would make a united descent on York Town. Wayne and Lafayette were already continually increasing their forces above York Town; but any such reinforcements by Sir Henry were prevented by the entrance of the Comte de Grasse, with twenty-eight sail of the line and several frigates, into the Chesapeake, having on board three thousand two hundred troops, which he had brought from the West Indies. These troops he landed, and sent, under the Marquis de St Simon, to join Lafayette, much to his delight.
SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS, YORK TOWN. (See p. 283.)
[See larger version]
[282]
Rodney, who was still commanding in the West Indies, had been on the look-out for De Grasse, but, missing him, he had dispatched Sir Samuel Hood365 after him, supposing that he had made for New York. Hood had with him fourteen ships of the line, and, arriving at Sandy Hook on the 28th of August, he found that De Grasse had then sailed for the Chesapeake. Admiral Arbuthnot had been replaced by Admiral Graves, but Graves had only seven ships of the line, and of these only five fit for action. Taking the chief command, with these twenty-one ships Graves set sail for the Chesapeake, with Hood as second in command. There, on the 5th of September, he discerned the fleet of De Grasse at anchor, just within the Capes615 of Virginia, and blocking up York River with his frigates. Graves had his nineteen ships, De Grasse twenty-eight, and Nelson could have desired nothing better than such a sight in the narrow waters of the Chesapeake: not a ship would have escaped him; but Graves was no Nelson, and allowed De Grasse to cut his cables and run out to sea. There, indeed, Graves attacked him, but under infinitely616 greater disadvantages, at four o'clock in the afternoon. The night parted them, and De Grasse returned to his old anchorage in the Chesapeake, and Graves sailed away again for New York.
Meanwhile, Washington and Rochambeau were mustering for the march to the Chesapeake. On the 14th of September Washington reached the headquarters of Lafayette, and took the supreme command, Rochambeau being second, and the especial head of the French. The next day Washington and Rochambeau held a conference with the Comte de Grasse. De Grasse told them that what they did they must do quickly, for that he could not remain on that station longer than the 1st of November; and it was resolved to act accordingly.
Sir Henry Clinton had for some time been aware of the real destination of the united forces of Washington and Rochambeau. He must have seen that there was a determined resolve to crush, by the most powerful combination of American and French forces, the army in the south, and every exertion583 should have been made by him, with fleet and army, to release Cornwallis from his peril155. But, instead of sending direct reinforcements to Cornwallis, and ordering the fleet to engage the enemy's attention, and, if possible, defeat De Grasse in the Chesapeake, he concocted617 a diversion in Connecticut with Arnold, which he fondly hoped would recall Washington. Sir Henry Clinton contemplated further expeditions—first against the Rhode Island fleet, and next against Philadelphia; but these never came off, and matters were now every day assuming such an aspect as should have stimulated him to some direct assistance to Cornwallis.
On the 28th of September the combined army of French and Americans came in sight of York Town, and encamped about two miles from the outworks. The next morning they extended themselves towards the left of Cornwallis, but cautiously; and the English pickets slowly retired within the outer lines at their approach. That evening Cornwallis received a despatch245 from Sir Henry Clinton, dated September 24th, which gave the cheering expectation that he was duly sensible of the imminence618 of the danger, and of his responsibility. He said:—"At a meeting of the general and flag officers held this day, it is determined that above five thousand men, rank and file, shall be embarked on board the king's ships, and the joint exertions of the navy and army made in a few days to relieve you, and afterwards to co-operate with you. The fleet consists of twenty-three sail of the line, three of which are three-deckers. There is every reason to hope that we start on the 5th of October." On this promising intimation of speedy aid, Cornwallis immediately drew in his small force from the extended outworks, and concentrated them within the entrenchments round the town. Undoubtedly619 it was a measure calculated to save much life, which must have been lost in defending outworks too widely extended for the enclosed force; but it encouraged the Americans, who did not expect to gain them thus easily. Two thousand men took up their ground before Gloucester. Round York Town itself Washington, Rochambeau, Lafayette, and St. Simon concentrated their forces. On the night of the 1st of October, the French on the right and the Americans on the left drew nearer, and commenced breaking ground. Six days were then spent in bringing from the ships fifty pieces of cannon, some of them very heavy, ammunition, and other military stores; in fact, as much preparation was made for carrying this single post as if it had been a regular and first-rate fortress620. On the night of the 6th of October the French and Americans began casting up their first parallel within six hundred yards of Cornwallis's lines. By the 9th of October their trenches621 and batteries were completed, and that afternoon they opened a tremendous fire on the town. Cornwallis replied to them with vigour,[283] but he found many of his guns on the left silenced, and his works greatly damaged. On the night of the 11th the enemy began their second parallel within three hundred yards of the lines. In its progress, for three days, Cornwallis committed much havoc amongst them by opening fresh embrasures for guns, and pouring an incessant622 shower upon them of balls and shells. Two redoubts on the left flank of the British more particularly annoyed them, and Washington determined to carry these by storm. Of course they were carried, and their guns then turned on York Town.
The situation of Lord Cornwallis was now growing desperate. An attempt to destroy the enemy's batteries failed on the 16th. "At this time," he says, "we knew that there was no part of the whole front attacked in which we could show a single gun, and our shells were nearly exhausted. I had therefore only to choose between preparing to surrender the next day, or endeavouring to get off with the greater part of the troops; and I determined to attempt the latter." Having conceived this desperate scheme of endeavouring to escape, Cornwallis that night wrote to Sir Henry Clinton, in cypher, telling him not to risk fleet or army in the attempt to rescue them. He was sure that something had prevented the fleet from sailing at the time proposed, and he sought to steal away with the bulk of his army, leaving a small number to capitulate for the town. The idea, with such troops of well-mounted cavalry at his heels, was a wild one, and there were other obstacles in the way. He must first ferry his troops across the river to Gloucester, and, as he had not vessels enough to carry all at once, he had sent over part of them, when a violent storm arose, and prevented the return of the boats. This was decisive. With his forces thus divided, Cornwallis had scarcely soldiers enough left to man the guns in York Town, and there was nothing for it but to surrender.
Accordingly, on the morning of the 17th, he sent a flag of truce to Washington, proposing a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours, in order that commissioners might meet and settle the terms of surrender. They were soon arranged, and articles of surrender were signed by the respective generals on the morning of the 19th of October.
At two o'clock the York Town troops marched out with their drums beating, their muskets623 shouldered, and their colours cased, and piled their arms. The number of those who remained effective now amounted only to four thousand; the rest, making up the total number to about six thousand, were lying sick or wounded. General Lincoln, who had been so lately a prisoner of the English, was appointed to receive them, and the British prisoners had to march through two lines of the allied589 army, upwards of a mile in length, the Americans on the right, and the French on the left. The different feelings with which the English regarded the French and Americans was remarked. The English officers, as they passed along the enemy's lines, courteously624 saluted625 every French officer—a compliment which they withheld from every American one, even the highest. The surrender of Cornwallis's army was the determining point of the war. The news of this decisive event reached London on the 25th of November. Lord North walked about the room, exclaiming, "Oh, God! it is all over!" The king received the communication with more firmness. In Paris great was the exultation. Franklin, who was there, and who, only three days before, had written to Governor Pownall that he never expected to see "this accursed war" finished in his time, now wrote to John Adams, at the Hague:—"I congratulate you on this glorious news. The infant Hercules, in his cradle, has now strangled his second serpent;" and so delighted was he with his conceit626 of the serpent, that he afterwards had a medal cast embodying627 it.
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1 amendment | |
n.改正,修正,改善,修正案 | |
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2 intrigues | |
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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3 violation | |
n.违反(行为),违背(行为),侵犯 | |
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4 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
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5 conciliation | |
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6 repeal | |
n.废止,撤消;v.废止,撤消 | |
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7 bigotry | |
n.偏见,偏执,持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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8 naval | |
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的 | |
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9 evacuate | |
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10 commissioners | |
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15 tar | |
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16 junction | |
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21 censure | |
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22 deluded | |
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24 unlimited | |
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25 reverence | |
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26 shameful | |
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27 spurn | |
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28 interfere | |
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30 extravagant | |
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31 extravagantly | |
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32 barter | |
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33 shambles | |
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35 incurable | |
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36 resentment | |
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37 plunder | |
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38 rapacity | |
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54 zealous | |
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55 applied | |
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56 hesitation | |
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57 indemnity | |
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58 positively | |
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实 | |
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59 stipulated | |
vt.& vi.规定;约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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60 dominion | |
n.统治,管辖,支配权;领土,版图 | |
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61 pretence | |
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰 | |
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62 dispersing | |
adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
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63 destitution | |
n.穷困,缺乏,贫穷 | |
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64 mitigate | |
vt.(使)减轻,(使)缓和 | |
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65 premium | |
n.加付款;赠品;adj.高级的;售价高的 | |
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66 remonstrance | |
n抗议,抱怨 | |
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67 remonstrances | |
n.抱怨,抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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68 ebb | |
vi.衰退,减退;n.处于低潮,处于衰退状态 | |
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69 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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70 foraging | |
v.搜寻(食物),尤指动物觅(食)( forage的现在分词 );(尤指用手)搜寻(东西) | |
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71 seizure | |
n.没收;占有;抵押 | |
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72 seizures | |
n.起获( seizure的名词复数 );没收;充公;起获的赃物 | |
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73 continental | |
adj.大陆的,大陆性的,欧洲大陆的 | |
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74 depreciated | |
v.贬值,跌价,减价( depreciate的过去式和过去分词 );贬低,蔑视,轻视 | |
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75 advantageous | |
adj.有利的;有帮助的 | |
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76 vigilant | |
adj.警觉的,警戒的,警惕的 | |
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77 evoked | |
[医]诱发的 | |
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78 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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79 hauteur | |
n.傲慢 | |
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80 aspiring | |
adj.有志气的;有抱负的;高耸的v.渴望;追求 | |
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81 anonymous | |
adj.无名的;匿名的;无特色的 | |
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82 depreciating | |
v.贬值,跌价,减价( depreciate的现在分词 );贬低,蔑视,轻视 | |
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83 slumbered | |
微睡,睡眠(slumber的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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84 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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85 juncture | |
n.时刻,关键时刻,紧要关头 | |
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86 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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87 liberate | |
v.解放,使获得自由,释出,放出;vt.解放,使获自由 | |
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88 embark | |
vi.乘船,着手,从事,上飞机 | |
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89 stipulation | |
n.契约,规定,条文;条款说明 | |
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90 reluctance | |
n.厌恶,讨厌,勉强,不情愿 | |
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91 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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92 evading | |
逃避( evade的现在分词 ); 避开; 回避; 想不出 | |
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93 crafty | |
adj.狡猾的,诡诈的 | |
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94 justify | |
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
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95 absolved | |
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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96 captivity | |
n.囚禁;被俘;束缚 | |
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97 perfidy | |
n.背信弃义,不忠贞 | |
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98 imputation | |
n.归罪,责难 | |
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99 dishonour | |
n./vt.拒付(支票、汇票、票据等);vt.凌辱,使丢脸;n.不名誉,耻辱,不光彩 | |
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100 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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101 shuffling | |
adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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102 ratification | |
n.批准,认可 | |
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103 faction | |
n.宗派,小集团;派别;派系斗争 | |
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104 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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105 taxation | |
n.征税,税收,税金 | |
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106 auditors | |
n.审计员,稽核员( auditor的名词复数 );(大学课程的)旁听生 | |
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107 derive | |
v.取得;导出;引申;来自;源自;出自 | |
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108 apprehensions | |
疑惧 | |
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109 repealed | |
撤销,废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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111 assessment | |
n.评价;评估;对财产的估价,被估定的金额 | |
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112 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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113 expedient | |
adj.有用的,有利的;n.紧急的办法,权宜之计 | |
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114 levied | |
征(兵)( levy的过去式和过去分词 ); 索取; 发动(战争); 征税 | |
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115 hostilities | |
n.战争;敌意(hostility的复数);敌对状态;战事 | |
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116 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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117 approbation | |
n.称赞;认可 | |
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118 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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119 tenacious | |
adj.顽强的,固执的,记忆力强的,粘的 | |
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120 adverse | |
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的 | |
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121 submissions | |
n.提交( submission的名词复数 );屈从;归顺;向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据 | |
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122 precipitated | |
v.(突如其来地)使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 );促成;猛然摔下;使沉淀 | |
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123 precipitate | |
adj.突如其来的;vt.使突然发生;n.沉淀物 | |
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124 tart | |
adj.酸的;尖酸的,刻薄的;n.果馅饼;淫妇 | |
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125 insolent | |
adj.傲慢的,无理的 | |
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126 retirement | |
n.退休,退职 | |
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127 projector | |
n.投影机,放映机,幻灯机 | |
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128 disastrous | |
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
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129 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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130 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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131 goodwill | |
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉 | |
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132 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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133 irony | |
n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄 | |
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134 militia | |
n.民兵,民兵组织 | |
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135 glimmering | |
n.微光,隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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136 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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137 royalty | |
n.皇家,皇族 | |
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138 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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139 condescend | |
v.俯就,屈尊;堕落,丢丑 | |
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140 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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141 perfidious | |
adj.不忠的,背信弃义的 | |
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142 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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143 entreating | |
恳求,乞求( entreat的现在分词 ) | |
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144 flannel | |
n.法兰绒;法兰绒衣服 | |
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145 emaciated | |
adj.衰弱的,消瘦的 | |
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146 wig | |
n.假发 | |
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147 aquiline | |
adj.钩状的,鹰的 | |
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148 faltered | |
(嗓音)颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 ); 支吾其词; 蹒跚; 摇晃 | |
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149 shreds | |
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件) | |
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150 shred | |
v.撕成碎片,变成碎片;n.碎布条,细片,些少 | |
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151 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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152 bosoms | |
胸部( bosom的名词复数 ); 胸怀; 女衣胸部(或胸襟); 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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153 antagonistic | |
adj.敌对的 | |
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154 monarchy | |
n.君主,最高统治者;君主政体,君主国 | |
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155 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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156 perilous | |
adj.危险的,冒险的 | |
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157 tarnish | |
n.晦暗,污点;vt.使失去光泽;玷污 | |
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158 lustre | |
n.光亮,光泽;荣誉 | |
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159 ignominious | |
adj.可鄙的,不光彩的,耻辱的 | |
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160 depredations | |
n.劫掠,毁坏( depredation的名词复数 ) | |
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161 scotch | |
n.伤口,刻痕;苏格兰威士忌酒;v.粉碎,消灭,阻止;adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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162 prostrate | |
v.拜倒,平卧,衰竭;adj.拜倒的,平卧的,衰竭的 | |
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163 inveterate | |
adj.积习已深的,根深蒂固的 | |
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164 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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165 prostrated | |
v.使俯伏,使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 );(指疾病、天气等)使某人无能为力 | |
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166 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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167 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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168 commotion | |
n.骚动,动乱 | |
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169 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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170 orator | |
n.演说者,演讲者,雄辩家 | |
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171 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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172 disciple | |
n.信徒,门徒,追随者 | |
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173 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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174 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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175 emoluments | |
n.报酬,薪水( emolument的名词复数 ) | |
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176 disinterestedness | |
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177 assented | |
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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178 assent | |
v.批准,认可;n.批准,认可 | |
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179 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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180 obliterated | |
v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 );涂去;擦掉;彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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181 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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182 decrepitude | |
n.衰老;破旧 | |
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183 trumpet | |
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘 | |
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184 sedition | |
n.煽动叛乱 | |
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185 annuity | |
n.年金;养老金 | |
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186 condemn | |
vt.谴责,指责;宣判(罪犯),判刑 | |
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187 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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188 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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189 annuities | |
n.养老金;年金( annuity的名词复数 );(每年的)养老金;年金保险;年金保险投资 | |
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190 chancellor | |
n.(英)大臣;法官;(德、奥)总理;大学校长 | |
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191 bishop | |
n.主教,(国际象棋)象 | |
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192 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
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193 vile | |
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
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194 baron | |
n.男爵;(商业界等)巨头,大王 | |
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195 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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196 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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197 indigo | |
n.靛青,靛蓝 | |
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198 recollected | |
adj.冷静的;镇定的;被回忆起的;沉思默想的v.记起,想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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199 restrictions | |
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
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200 avarice | |
n.贪婪;贪心 | |
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201 recess | |
n.短期休息,壁凹(墙上装架子,柜子等凹处) | |
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202 concession | |
n.让步,妥协;特许(权) | |
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203 repealing | |
撤销,废除( repeal的现在分词 ) | |
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204 penal | |
adj.刑罚的;刑法上的 | |
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205 prohibition | |
n.禁止;禁令,禁律 | |
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206 doctrines | |
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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207 forfeitures | |
n.(财产等的)没收,(权利、名誉等的)丧失( forfeiture的名词复数 ) | |
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208 kinsman | |
n.男亲属 | |
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209 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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210 infliction | |
n.(强加于人身的)痛苦,刑罚 | |
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211 ascend | |
vi.渐渐上升,升高;vt.攀登,登上 | |
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212 promptly | |
adv.及时地,敏捷地 | |
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213 lamented | |
adj.被哀悼的,令人遗憾的v.(为…)哀悼,痛哭,悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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214 Ford | |
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过 | |
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215 unanimity | |
n.全体一致,一致同意 | |
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216 smoothly | |
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地 | |
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217 vowing | |
起誓,发誓(vow的现在分词形式) | |
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218 inflamed | |
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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219 hooted | |
(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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220 leaven | |
v.使发酵;n.酵母;影响 | |
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221 culminated | |
v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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222 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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223 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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224 bankruptcy | |
n.破产;无偿付能力 | |
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225 expenditure | |
n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出;使用,消耗 | |
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226 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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227 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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228 maturity | |
n.成熟;完成;(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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229 hostility | |
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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230 frigates | |
n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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231 frigate | |
n.护航舰,大型驱逐舰 | |
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232 belle | |
n.靓女 | |
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233 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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234 vessels | |
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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235 saucy | |
adj.无礼的;俊俏的;活泼的 | |
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236 schooner | |
n.纵帆船 | |
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237 Augmented | |
adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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238 alienating | |
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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239 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
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240 cabal | |
n.政治阴谋小集团 | |
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241 regiments | |
(军队的)团( regiment的名词复数 ); 大量的人或物 | |
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242 seduce | |
vt.勾引,诱奸,诱惑,引诱 | |
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243 seduced | |
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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244 attachment | |
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附 | |
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245 despatch | |
n./v.(dispatch)派遣;发送;n.急件;新闻报道 | |
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246 sledges | |
n.雪橇,雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 );用雪橇运载 | |
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247 imperative | |
n.命令,需要;规则;祈使语气;adj.强制的;紧急的 | |
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248 consternation | |
n.大为吃惊,惊骇 | |
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249 chagrin | |
n.懊恼;气愤;委屈 | |
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250 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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251 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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252 steering | |
n.操舵装置 | |
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253 severance | |
n.离职金;切断 | |
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254 overtures | |
n.主动的表示,提议;(向某人做出的)友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 );(歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的)序曲,前奏曲 | |
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255 withdrawn | |
vt.收回;使退出;vi.撤退,退出 | |
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256 manifesto | |
n.宣言,声明 | |
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257 considerably | |
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上 | |
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258 deficient | |
adj.不足的,不充份的,有缺陷的 | |
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259 dissuaded | |
劝(某人)勿做某事,劝阻( dissuade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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260 supersede | |
v.替代;充任 | |
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261 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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262 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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263 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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264 abated | |
减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼) | |
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265 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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266 leeward | |
adj.背风的;下风的 | |
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267 remonstrated | |
v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 );告诫 | |
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268 vehemently | |
adv. 热烈地 | |
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269 intercept | |
vt.拦截,截住,截击 | |
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270 intercepted | |
拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 ); 截住; 截击; 拦阻 | |
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271 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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272 apprised | |
v.告知,通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 );评价 | |
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273 requisite | |
adj.需要的,必不可少的;n.必需品 | |
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274 penurious | |
adj.贫困的 | |
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275 insufficient | |
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的 | |
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276 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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277 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
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278 joint | |
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合 | |
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279 resolutely | |
adj.坚决地,果断地 | |
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280 vented | |
表达,发泄(感情,尤指愤怒)( vent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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281 gallantly | |
adv. 漂亮地,勇敢地,献殷勤地 | |
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282 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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283 repulsed | |
v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 );驳斥;拒绝 | |
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284 embarked | |
乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 ); 装载; 从事 | |
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285 acquitted | |
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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286 portico | |
n.柱廊,门廊 | |
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287 mansion | |
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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288 illuminate | |
vt.照亮,照明;用灯光装饰;说明,阐释 | |
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289 illuminated | |
adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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290 demonstration | |
n.表明,示范,论证,示威 | |
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291 demolished | |
v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 );推翻;拆毁(尤指大建筑物);吃光 | |
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292 dissenting | |
adj.不同意的 | |
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293 ornamented | |
adj.花式字体的v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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294 incensed | |
盛怒的 | |
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295 censures | |
v.指责,非难,谴责( censure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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296 renewal | |
adj.(契约)延期,续订,更新,复活,重来 | |
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297 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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298 cork | |
n.软木,软木塞 | |
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299 rumour | |
n.谣言,谣传,传闻 | |
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300 pecuniary | |
adj.金钱的;金钱上的 | |
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301 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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302 hemp | |
n.大麻;纤维 | |
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303 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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304 concessions | |
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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305 grievances | |
n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 );苦衷;不满;牢骚 | |
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306 impartial | |
adj.(in,to)公正的,无偏见的 | |
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307 prorogation | |
n.休会,闭会 | |
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308 negotiation | |
n.谈判,协商 | |
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309 negotiations | |
协商( negotiation的名词复数 ); 谈判; 完成(难事); 通过 | |
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310 chastising | |
v.严惩(某人)(尤指责打)( chastise的现在分词 ) | |
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311 corps | |
n.(通信等兵种的)部队;(同类作的)一组 | |
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312 exemptions | |
n.(义务等的)免除( exemption的名词复数 );免(税);(收入中的)免税额 | |
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313 patriotic | |
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的 | |
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314 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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315 regain | |
vt.重新获得,收复,恢复 | |
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316 invincible | |
adj.不可征服的,难以制服的 | |
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317 muster | |
v.集合,收集,鼓起,激起;n.集合,检阅,集合人员,点名册 | |
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318 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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319 seaman | |
n.海员,水手,水兵 | |
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320 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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321 veering | |
n.改变的;犹豫的;顺时针方向转向;特指使船尾转向上风来改变航向v.(尤指交通工具)改变方向或路线( veer的现在分词 );(指谈话内容、人的行为或观点)突然改变;(指风) (在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向)逐渐转向;风向顺时针转 | |
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322 gales | |
龙猫 | |
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323 relinquish | |
v.放弃,撤回,让与,放手 | |
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324 seaports | |
n.海港( seaport的名词复数 ) | |
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325 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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326 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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327 belligerents | |
n.交战的一方(指国家、集团或个人)( belligerent的名词复数 ) | |
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328 belligerent | |
adj.好战的,挑起战争的;n.交战国,交战者 | |
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329 garrisons | |
守备部队,卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 ) | |
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330 wrest | |
n.扭,拧,猛夺;v.夺取,猛扭,歪曲 | |
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331 expiration | |
n.终结,期满,呼气,呼出物 | |
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332 rout | |
n.溃退,溃败;v.击溃,打垮 | |
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333 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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334 variance | |
n.矛盾,不同 | |
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335 expunged | |
v.擦掉( expunge的过去式和过去分词 );除去;删去;消除 | |
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336 opulence | |
n.财富,富裕 | |
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337 concord | |
n.和谐;协调 | |
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338 impoverished | |
adj.穷困的,无力的,用尽了的v.使(某人)贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 );使(某物)贫瘠或恶化 | |
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339 impending | |
a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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340 auspicious | |
adj.吉利的;幸运的,吉兆的 | |
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341 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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342 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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343 wholesale | |
n.批发;adv.以批发方式;vt.批发,成批出售 | |
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344 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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345 amendments | |
(法律、文件的)改动( amendment的名词复数 ); 修正案; 修改; (美国宪法的)修正案 | |
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346 alluded | |
提及,暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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347 withheld | |
withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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348 profusion | |
n.挥霍;丰富 | |
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349 curtail | |
vt.截短,缩短;削减 | |
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350 curtailment | |
n.缩减,缩短 | |
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351 lavish | |
adj.无节制的;浪费的;vt.慷慨地给予,挥霍 | |
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352 diffusing | |
(使光)模糊,漫射,漫散( diffuse的现在分词 ); (使)扩散; (使)弥漫; (使)传播 | |
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353 wastefulness | |
浪费,挥霍,耗费 | |
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354 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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355 annually | |
adv.一年一次,每年 | |
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356 incurred | |
[医]招致的,遭受的; incur的过去式 | |
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357 distresses | |
n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 );痛苦;贫困;危险 | |
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358 lamenting | |
adj.悲伤的,悲哀的v.(为…)哀悼,痛哭,悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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359 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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360 corrupt | |
v.贿赂,收买;adj.腐败的,贪污的 | |
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361 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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362 contractors | |
n.(建筑、监造中的)承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
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363 preservation | |
n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持 | |
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364 impudent | |
adj.鲁莽的,卑鄙的,厚颜无耻的 | |
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365 hood | |
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖 | |
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366 persuasion | |
n.劝说;说服;持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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367 promotion | |
n.提升,晋级;促销,宣传 | |
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368 contagion | |
n.(通过接触的疾病)传染;蔓延 | |
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369 wilts | |
(使)凋谢,枯萎( wilt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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370 bucks | |
n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 );钱;(英国十九世纪初的)花花公子;(用于某些表达方式)责任v.(马等)猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 );抵制;猛然震荡;马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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371 buck | |
n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃 | |
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372 retrenchment | |
n.节省,删除 | |
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373 abolition | |
n.废除,取消 | |
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374 jurisdictions | |
司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 ); 裁判权; 管辖区域; 管辖范围 | |
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375 treasurer | |
n.司库,财务主管 | |
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376 ordnance | |
n.大炮,军械 | |
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377 exchequer | |
n.财政部;国库 | |
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378 pensioners | |
n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 ) | |
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379 assailed | |
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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380 assail | |
v.猛烈攻击,抨击,痛斥 | |
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381 adroit | |
adj.熟练的,灵巧的 | |
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382 downwards | |
adj./adv.向下的(地),下行的(地) | |
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383 fervid | |
adj.热情的;炽热的 | |
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384 poetic | |
adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
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385 inquiries | |
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听 | |
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386 patrimonial | |
adj.祖传的 | |
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387 mooted | |
adj.未决定的,有争议的,有疑问的v.提出…供讨论( moot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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388 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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389 postponement | |
n.推迟 | |
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390 acquiescent | |
adj.默许的,默认的 | |
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391 avowedly | |
adv.公然地 | |
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392 vowed | |
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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393 discredit | |
vt.使不可置信;n.丧失信义;不信,怀疑 | |
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394 magistrates | |
地方法官,治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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395 magistrate | |
n.地方行政官,地方法官,治安官 | |
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396 insinuate | |
vt.含沙射影地说,暗示 | |
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397 expatiated | |
v.详述,细说( expatiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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398 censured | |
v.指责,非难,谴责( censure的过去式 ) | |
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399 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
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400 piecemeal | |
adj.零碎的;n.片,块;adv.逐渐地;v.弄成碎块 | |
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401 patriots | |
爱国者,爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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402 ridicule | |
v.讥讽,挖苦;n.嘲弄 | |
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403 enumerated | |
v.列举,枚举,数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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404 implored | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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405 triumphant | |
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的 | |
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406 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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407 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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408 constituents | |
n.选民( constituent的名词复数 );成分;构成部分;要素 | |
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409 prorogue | |
v.使(会议)休会 | |
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410 contemptible | |
adj.可鄙的,可轻视的,卑劣的 | |
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411 thraldom | |
n.奴隶的身份,奴役,束缚 | |
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412 castigation | |
n.申斥,强烈反对 | |
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413 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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414 compliance | |
n.顺从;服从;附和;屈从 | |
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415 stimulated | |
a.刺激的 | |
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416 stimulate | |
vt.刺激,使兴奋;激励,使…振奋 | |
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417 fanatic | |
n.狂热者,入迷者;adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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418 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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419 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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420 fanatics | |
狂热者,入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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421 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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422 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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423 battalions | |
n.(陆军的)一营(大约有一千兵士)( battalion的名词复数 );协同作战的部队;军队;(组织在一起工作的)队伍 | |
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424 suffrage | |
n.投票,选举权,参政权 | |
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425 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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426 frantic | |
adj.狂乱的,错乱的,激昂的 | |
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427 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
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428 exasperate | |
v.激怒,使(疾病)加剧,使恶化 | |
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429 frenzy | |
n.疯狂,狂热,极度的激动 | |
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430 battering | |
n.用坏,损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 ) | |
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431 daunted | |
使(某人)气馁,威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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432 privately | |
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地 | |
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433 appease | |
v.安抚,缓和,平息,满足 | |
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434 harangued | |
v.高谈阔论( harangue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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435 spoke | |
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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436 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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437 disperse | |
vi.使分散;使消失;vt.分散;驱散 | |
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438 deferring | |
v.拖延,延缓,推迟( defer的现在分词 );服从某人的意愿,遵从 | |
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439 tellers | |
n.(银行)出纳员( teller的名词复数 );(投票时的)计票员;讲故事等的人;讲述者 | |
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440 adjourned | |
(使)休会, (使)休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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441 premature | |
adj.比预期时间早的;不成熟的,仓促的 | |
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442 inflicted | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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443 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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444 chapels | |
n.小教堂, (医院、监狱等的)附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 );(在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的)礼拜仪式 | |
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445 disturbance | |
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调 | |
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446 disturbances | |
n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 );打扰;困扰;障碍 | |
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447 moor | |
n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊 | |
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448 quell | |
v.压制,平息,减轻 | |
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449 plundered | |
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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450 ransack | |
v.彻底搜索,洗劫 | |
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451 relaxation | |
n.松弛,放松;休息;消遣;娱乐 | |
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452 pickpockets | |
n.扒手( pickpocket的名词复数 ) | |
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453 vilest | |
adj.卑鄙的( vile的最高级 );可耻的;极坏的;非常讨厌的 | |
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454 metropolis | |
n.首府;大城市 | |
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455 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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456 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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457 exulting | |
vi. 欢欣鼓舞,狂喜 | |
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458 shrieking | |
v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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459 conflagration | |
n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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460 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
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461 maniacal | |
adj.发疯的 | |
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462 foulest | |
adj.恶劣的( foul的最高级 );邪恶的;难闻的;下流的 | |
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463 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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464 gutted | |
adj.容易消化的v.毁坏(建筑物等)的内部( gut的过去式和过去分词 );取出…的内脏 | |
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465 barricaded | |
设路障于,以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 ); 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守 | |
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466 plundering | |
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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467 constables | |
n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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468 levy | |
n.征收税或其他款项,征收额 | |
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469 cavalry | |
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队 | |
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470 infantry | |
n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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471 scruple | |
n./v.顾忌,迟疑 | |
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472 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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473 poultry | |
n.家禽,禽肉 | |
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474 conflagrations | |
n.大火(灾)( conflagration的名词复数 ) | |
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475 catastrophe | |
n.大灾难,大祸 | |
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476 premises | |
n.建筑物,房屋 | |
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477 hog | |
n.猪;馋嘴贪吃的人;vt.把…占为己有,独占 | |
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478 voraciously | |
adv.贪婪地 | |
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479 kennel | |
n.狗舍,狗窝 | |
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480 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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481 catching | |
adj.易传染的,有魅力的,迷人的,接住 | |
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482 wretches | |
n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 );可怜的人;恶棍;坏蛋 | |
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483 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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484 disorders | |
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调 | |
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485 foundered | |
v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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486 extremities | |
n.端点( extremity的名词复数 );尽头;手和足;极窘迫的境地 | |
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487 monstrous | |
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 | |
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488 perversion | |
n.曲解;堕落;反常 | |
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489 contention | |
n.争论,争辩,论战;论点,主张 | |
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490 concurred | |
同意(concur的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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491 outrage | |
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
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492 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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493 shrieks | |
n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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494 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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495 repression | |
n.镇压,抑制,抑压 | |
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496 pervade | |
v.弥漫,遍及,充满,渗透,漫延 | |
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497 stupor | |
v.昏迷;不省人事 | |
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498 intoxication | |
n.wild excitement;drunkenness;poisoning | |
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499 reprehensible | |
adj.该受责备的 | |
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500 reprieve | |
n.暂缓执行(死刑);v.缓期执行;给…带来缓解 | |
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501 postponed | |
vt.& vi.延期,缓办,(使)延迟vt.把…放在次要地位;[语]把…放在后面(或句尾)vi.(疟疾等)延缓发作(或复发) | |
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502 insanity | |
n.疯狂,精神错乱;极端的愚蠢,荒唐 | |
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503 fanaticism | |
n.狂热,盲信 | |
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504 recur | |
vi.复发,重现,再发生 | |
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505 embarrassments | |
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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506 lucrative | |
adj.赚钱的,可获利的 | |
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507 nominal | |
adj.名义上的;(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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508 ammunition | |
n.军火,弹药 | |
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509 besieging | |
包围,围困,围攻( besiege的现在分词 ) | |
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510 convoy | |
vt.护送,护卫,护航;n.护送;护送队 | |
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511 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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512 tempestuous | |
adj.狂暴的 | |
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513 strand | |
vt.使(船)搁浅,使(某人)困于(某地) | |
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514 exultation | |
n.狂喜,得意 | |
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515 besieged | |
包围,围困,围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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516 maritime | |
adj.海的,海事的,航海的,近海的,沿海的 | |
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517 eventual | |
adj.最后的,结局的,最终的 | |
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518 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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519 antagonists | |
对立[对抗] 者,对手,敌手( antagonist的名词复数 ); 对抗肌; 对抗药 | |
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520 rigidly | |
adv.刻板地,僵化地 | |
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521 contraband | |
n.违禁品,走私品 | |
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522 clandestine | |
adj.秘密的,暗中从事的 | |
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523 persuasions | |
n.劝说,说服(力)( persuasion的名词复数 );信仰 | |
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524 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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525 specious | |
adj.似是而非的;adv.似是而非地 | |
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526 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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527 outrages | |
引起…的义愤,激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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528 reprisals | |
n.报复(行为)( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
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529 contemplated | |
adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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530 specified | |
adj.特定的 | |
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531 soliciting | |
v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 );(指娼妇)拉客;索求;征求 | |
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532 artillery | |
n.(军)火炮,大炮;炮兵(部队) | |
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533 prosecuted | |
a.被起诉的 | |
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534 scour | |
v.搜索;擦,洗,腹泻,冲刷 | |
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535 favourable | |
adj.赞成的,称赞的,有利的,良好的,顺利的 | |
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536 dilemma | |
n.困境,进退两难的局面 | |
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537 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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538 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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539 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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540 northward | |
adv.向北;n.北方的地区 | |
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541 mustering | |
v.集合,召集,集结(尤指部队)( muster的现在分词 );(自他人处)搜集某事物;聚集;激发 | |
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542 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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543 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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544 scarcity | |
n.缺乏,不足,萧条 | |
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545 plentiful | |
adj.富裕的,丰富的 | |
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546 indigenous | |
adj.土产的,土生土长的,本地的 | |
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547 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
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548 upwards | |
adv.向上,在更高处...以上 | |
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549 lapse | |
n.过失,流逝,失效,抛弃信仰,间隔;vi.堕落,停止,失效,流逝;vt.使失效 | |
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550 traitors | |
卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 ); 叛徒; 背叛者; 背信弃义的人 | |
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551 retaliation | |
n.报复,反击 | |
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552 overthrown | |
adj. 打翻的,推倒的,倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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553 swarms | |
蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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554 exterminated | |
v.消灭,根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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555 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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556 adoption | |
n.采用,采纳,通过;收养 | |
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557 harassed | |
adj. 疲倦的,厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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558 hordes | |
n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落 | |
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559 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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560 retracing | |
v.折回( retrace的现在分词 );回忆;回顾;追溯 | |
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561 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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562 entrench | |
v.使根深蒂固;n.壕沟;防御设施 | |
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563 fortified | |
adj. 加强的 | |
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564 meditating | |
a.沉思的,冥想的 | |
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565 modicum | |
n.少量,一小份 | |
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566 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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567 contagious | |
adj.传染性的,有感染力的 | |
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568 dispersed | |
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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569 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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570 rumours | |
n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 );风闻;谣言;谣传 | |
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571 peculation | |
n.侵吞公款[公物] | |
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572 climax | |
n.顶点;高潮;v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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573 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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574 exalted | |
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的 | |
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575 condemnation | |
n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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576 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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577 hazardous | |
adj.(有)危险的,冒险的;碰运气的 | |
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578 enjoined | |
v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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579 apprehensive | |
adj.担心的,恐惧的,善于领会的 | |
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580 bridle | |
n.笼头,束缚;vt.抑制,约束;动怒 | |
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581 ascertaining | |
v.弄清,确定,查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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582 truce | |
n.休战,(争执,烦恼等的)缓和;v.以停战结束 | |
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583 exertion | |
n.尽力,努力 | |
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584 exertions | |
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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585 succumb | |
v.屈服,屈从;死 | |
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586 insurgent | |
adj.叛乱的,起事的;n.叛乱分子 | |
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587 invaders | |
入侵者,侵略者,侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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588 pusillanimous | |
adj.懦弱的,胆怯的 | |
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589 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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590 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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591 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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592 mutinous | |
adj.叛变的,反抗的;adv.反抗地,叛变地;n.反抗,叛变 | |
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593 nominally | |
在名义上,表面地; 应名儿 | |
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594 dreading | |
v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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595 embittered | |
v.使怨恨,激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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596 ravages | |
劫掠后的残迹,破坏的结果,毁坏后的残迹 | |
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597 entrenched | |
adj.确立的,不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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598 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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599 ravaged | |
毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 ); 蹂躏; 劫掠; 抢劫 | |
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600 shipping | |
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船) | |
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601 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
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602 warfare | |
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
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603 inefficient | |
adj.效率低的,无效的 | |
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604 continentals | |
n.(欧洲)大陆人( continental的名词复数 ) | |
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605 swollen | |
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀 | |
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606 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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607 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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608 chastise | |
vt.责骂,严惩 | |
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610 exhaustion | |
n.耗尽枯竭,疲惫,筋疲力尽,竭尽,详尽无遗的论述 | |
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611 creek | |
n.小溪,小河,小湾 | |
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612 pickets | |
罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 ) | |
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613 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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614 fortify | |
v.强化防御,为…设防;加强,强化 | |
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615 capes | |
碎谷; 斗篷( cape的名词复数 ); 披肩; 海角; 岬 | |
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616 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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617 concocted | |
v.将(尤指通常不相配合的)成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 );调制;编造;捏造 | |
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618 imminence | |
n.急迫,危急 | |
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619 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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620 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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621 trenches | |
深沟,地沟( trench的名词复数 ); 战壕 | |
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622 incessant | |
adj.不停的,连续的 | |
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623 muskets | |
n.火枪,(尤指)滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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624 courteously | |
adv.有礼貌地,亲切地 | |
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625 saluted | |
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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626 conceit | |
n.自负,自高自大 | |
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627 embodying | |
v.表现( embody的现在分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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