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were other things to make England eager for peace. The country was now engaged in war with France, Spain, and Holland, an allied fleet had been in the English Channel, and had threatened the Irish coast. The news of the surrender at Yorktown reached England on the 25th of November, and two days later, at the opening of Parliament, the King announced the evil tidings and called on the nation for vigorous, animated, and united exertions." This was the signal for an attack on the Government, led in the Upper House by Shelburne, in the Lower by Burke. The latter scoffed at the folly of attempting to assert our rights in America, and likened it to the conduct of a man who should insist on shearing a wolf. Evil tidings from other quarters kept pouring in. Minorca, a British station and the best harbour in the Mediterranean, was in February surrendered to the French. In the same month Conway, who had been among the first to take up the cause of America in Parliament, brought forward a motion for giving over the war. Soon after Lord North, seeing that he could no longer reckon on the support of the House, resigned. His successor, Rockingham, died in the course of the year. Shelburne then became Prime Minister. He, like Chatham, whose follower and disciple he professed himself, had spoken strongly against separation, but now he felt that the struggle was hopeless, and negotiations for peace went forward. There was little to hinder the settlement of terms. America only wanted independence; England sincerely wished for peace; and each side was ready to grant what the other asked for. There were only two points on which there seemed likely to be any difficulty. The British Government was unwilling to give the Americans the right of using the Newfoundland fisheries, and also required that the American Government should compensate the loyalists for their losses during the war. On both these points the British Government finally gave way. A demand made by the Americans for

Crushed

the cession of Canada was quietly abandoned. though England was, there was no likelihood of her making such a concession. All the British territory however between Georgia and the Mississippi was ceded, while, by a treaty made with Spain at the same time, England gave up the Mississippi and the land south of it. The treaty was arranged, though not formally signed, without consulting the French Government. The treaty between France and America provided that neither should make a separate peace with England. The Americans got over this by making the treaty conditional only, and agreeing that it should not be formally signed till England and France had come to terms. The French not unnaturally thought this an evasion of the spirit, if not of the letter of their treaty. The Americans however justified themselves on the ground that the French, in their proposals for peace, had shown themselves indifferent to the advantage of America. No open breach however followed between the allies. On the 3rd of September peace was signed, and the United States of America became an independent power.

CHAPTER XX.

THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.

The articles of confederation finally settled (1)—shortcomings of the confederation (2)-disturbances in the army (3)-insurrection in Massachusetts (4)—the Annapolis convention (5)—the Philadelphia convention (6)-the Federal constitution (7)—the constitution put in force (8)-Washington elected president (9)-growth of two parties (10)--retirement and death of Washington (11)—John Adams elected president (12)-defeat of the Federals (13)-new States (14).

1. The Articles of Confederation finally settled.-As we have seen, the Articles of Confederation, although settled by

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Congress in 1777, were not accepted by all the states till 1781. The main hindrance to their acceptance was the claim of some of the larger states to unoccupied lands. Some of the old grants from the English crown reached to the South Sea, that is to say, they were practically unlimited towards the west. The state most likely to profit by this was Virginia. In May 1779, the delegates from Maryland, instructed by the government of that state, opposed the claim of Virginia to this vacant soil, on the ground that it had been defended at the common cost of all the states, and that Virginia would be so strengthened by keeping it as to be dangerous to the other states. Till this claim was given up and the land in question made common to all the thirteen states, they refused to accept the Articles of Confederation. Some other

of the smaller states followed the example of Maryland. In the next year New York led the way to a settlement of this difficulty by resigning its claims. Thereupon Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey, which had all stood out hitherto, accepted the Articles, protesting at the same time that they did not allow the claim of Virginia to be just, but that, in such an emergency, they would not hinder national union. Virginia, influenced by the example of New York, gave up her claims, and in 1781 the terms of confederation were finally accepted.

2. Shortcomings of the Confederation.-The history of the war has served in a great measure to show the shortcomings of the Confederation. These mainly came from one great defect; its inability to force the citizens to comply with its wishes. After the war this was even more felt. Congress had no power of maintaining an army or navy, no control over trade, no means of raising public funds, and no mode of enforcing its will but by an appeal to arms. In the words of Washington, it was "little more than a shadow without the substance." Moreover, from its want of power, it was

despised and neglected by those who should have been its chief supports. The ablest men were occupied with the politics of their own states. Congress consisted of little more than twenty members. The evils of this were soon seen. In 1780, after some difficulty, twelve states assented to a general system of import duties. The thirteenth however, New York, resisted, and thus one state was able to hinder a measure which was needful for the credit and security of the whole nation. So too articles in the treaty with England were set at nought by the different State Governments. The treaty provided that all debts incurred up to that time between citizens of either country should still hold good; that no person should suffer any loss or damage for any part which he might have taken in the war. Laws however were passed by the various State Legislatures in direct defiance of these articles, and all that Congress could do was to exhort them to annul these laws and to comply with the treaty. Congress too showed itself unable to deal with great questions such as were sure to come before a National Government. The inhabitants of the Southern States, and of the newly opened western territory, held that it was of the greatest importance to keep the right of navigating the Mississippi. Spain, which possessed the lower waters of the river, refused to grant this right, and, in the negotiations which followed, Congress was thought to show a want of spirit and an indifference to the welfare of the nation.

3. Disturbances in the Army.—Moreover, there were signs of disaffection which showed that the hands of Government needed to be strengthened. In 1781, as we have seen, the inattention of Congress to the wants of the army had led to a mutiny. In the next year a proposal was made by a colonel in the army, representing, as he himself professed, a arge number of his brother officers, to make Washington king. The defence for this proposal was the alleged weakness of

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the Government. Though Washington met the proposal with a prompt and utter refusal, he accompanied this with a promise to do all that he could to secure the just claims of the army. In spite of the mutiny and of repeated warnings given by Washington, Congress showed an utter want of liberality, and even of honesty and justice, in its dealings with the army. In 1780, after many difficulties and great discussion, Congress promised the officers at the end of the war half-pay for life. But after the acceptance of the Articles of Confederation, this promise was withdrawn, on the ground that the Congress of the Confederation was not the same body as the Revolutionary Congress, and was not bound by the engagements of that body. A meeting of the officers was held, and an address was issued, setting forth the gross injustice of this breach of contract, and, but for the courage and wisdom of Washington, it is likely that a mutiny would have broken out, fatal perhaps to the newlygained freedom of America. In the end the officers forwarded a temperate remonstrance, and Congress passed a resolution granting them five years' full pay after the disbanding of the army. An event which followed soon after showed the unreasonable distrust with which the nation regarded that very army whose toil and sacrifices had saved it. A society was formed, called the Cincinnati, to consist of the officers who had served in the war and their descendants. This was to be a friendly association to keep alive among the members the memory of their joint service, and to establish a fund for the relief of its poorer members, their widows and orphans. Washington consented to be the first president of the society, and this fact, it might have been thought, was a safeguard against any danger. Yet so strong was the popular dread of a military despotism that the establishment of the society met with wide-spread disapproval. So violent was the attack that Washington thought it necessary to persuade