Minorca, however unlikely at that time to be attained, was artfully held out by France, not only as a lure to the ambition of the king, but as impofing an opinion on the people that they had a national intereft in view, and that they were not plunged madly into a war, which was not only entirely Bourbon, but highly dangerous and deftructive in its principle and defign to themselves. The ill fortune of England in the war, or, perhaps, it may be faid, the defect of wifdom and ability in the direction and application of the immenfe powers and the exhaustlefs ftock of valour which the poffeffed, enabled Spain to recover Minorca, and to fubdue Weft Florida. As the war afforded no equivalent on the other fide to propofe for these, it was reasonably to be expected that they fhould continue in the hands of Spain, affording in one inftance diftant frontier against the enterprize of that future enemy, which the had herself taken fo much pains in creating, and in the other, a confider. able facrifice to royal and national vanity. But neither the embarraffed state of her finances, the repeated failure of all her defigns upon Jamaica, her late fignal defeat at Gibraltar, nor any other circumstances of her prefent condition, feemed to afford any folid ground to Spain, upon which the could reafonably attempt to eftablifh further claims. We have laid no ftrefs in this statement upon the Bahama islands, (though they were estimated at a high rate in the negotiation) as they could not have been retained by Spain, and they were in fact most honourably and gallantly recovered by a hand ful of private adventurers, before any thing of the peace was known. The republic of Holland, unfortunately fallen and degraded in a degree which the had never before experienced, from the firft general acknowledgment of her independency to the prefent æra, was, of course and of neceffity, reduced to depend entirely upon the favour, generofity and protection of France, as well in the conclufion of a peace, as he had through the progrefs of the war. With refpect to the general circumftances of the contending parties, the mof fuccessful members of the alliance, great and formidable as it was, fcarcely flood much lefs in need of peace than England, notwithstanding all her loffes, and exposed as she had fo long been, as a common but, to withstand fingly all their attacks in every quarter. For it is probable that France had never been engaged, for the time of its continuance, in a more expenfive war than the prefent. Her extraordinary exertions at fea, the oppofite extremes of the globe in which they were made, the great and frequent loffes fuftained in the fupply, the immenfe current charges to which it was fubjected, by the greatnefs of the difiance, along with the conftant two-fold drain, by loan and otherwife, of her treafure by America, may well be fuppofed ali together, in point of expence, abundantly to supply the place of those vaft armies which he had heretofore ufually fupported, and even of the fubfidies which the had been in the habit of paying, in the courfe of her continental wars. It is to be allowed, that her com-. [1] 3 merce merce had flourished to a degree, in the present war, which fhe had never before experienced in any conteft with England; but neither the advantages arifing from this circumftance, nor from the admirable financial regulations and reforms adopted during the prefent reign, were equivalent to the fupply of the continual demands, and of the numberless deficiencies produced by the war. Succeeding events have fhewn, that even a peace was not fufficient to prevent that nation from fuffering no small derangement of her monied and financial concerns, and which was accordingly attended with its ufual effect upon public credit. Under thefe general circumftances of the contending powers, the independence of America being granted, there did not feem to be any mighty impediment remaining in the way to the restoration of the public tranquillity. The new adminiftration in England speedily adopted this bufinefs upon their coming into power; and Mr. Grenville had been for fome time in Paris, in order to fettle the neceffary preliminaries, and to fmooth the way for opening a' negociation in due form. Thefe matters being fettled, Mr. FitzHerbert, the minifter at Bruffels, proceeded to Paris, he being appointed, on the part of England, as plenipotentiary, to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace with the minifters of France, Spain, and Holland. Mr. Ofwald, a merchant, was likewife difpatched to the fame place, as commiffioner from his Britannic majefty, for treating of peace with John Adams, Benjaming Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, four of the com miffioners appointed for the fame purpose on the part of the United States of America. The differences with America were much fooner fettled (fo far at least as their dependence on the main treaty could at prefent admit) than those with the European powers. On the 30th of November, 1782, provifional articles were figned on both fides, which were to be inferted in, and to conflitute a future treaty of peace, to be finally concluded between the parties, when that between Great Bri tain and France took place. By this provifional treaty, the freedom, fovereignty, and independence, of the Thirteen United States was, individually by name, and in the fullest and most exprefs terms, acknowledged, and all claims to their government, propriety and territorial rights, for ever relinquished by the crown of Great Britain. To prevent all future difputes about boundaries, several imaginary lines were drawn, which interfecting immenfe countries, lakes, and rivers, threw vaft tracts of land and water into the hands of the Americans to which they had no prior claim. Befides the fertile and extenfive countries on the Ohio and Miffiffippi, which came within this description, these limits trenched deeply on the boundaries both of Canada and Nova Scotia: and the fur trade was faid to be in a great measure relinquifhed, by the forts, paffes, carrying places, and waters, which were now to be furrendered. was likewife faid, that four or fiveand-twenty Indian nations were by this arrangement given up to It America; America; among whom, befides the Cherokees, were the celebrated Five Nations, who, through fo long a courfe of years, had held fo ftrict an alliance with England. On the fea coafts, as the British forces were to be withdrawn from all the territories of the United States, New York, Long Island, Staten Island, Charlestown, in South Carolina, and Penobscot, in the borders of New England and Nova Scotia, with their dependencies, were of course to be given up. Savannah in Georgia, had already been evacuated by the British troops. An unlimited right of fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland, in the gulph of St. Lawrence, and all other places where both nations had heretofore been accustomed to fifh, was likewife granted or confirmed to the Americans. We omit the articles with respect to the loyalifts, as they will appear in the parliamentary difcuffions on that fubject. The preliminary articles of peace between England and France were figned at Versailles, on the 20th of January, 1798, by Mr. Alleyne Fitz-Herbert on the part of the one, and by the Count de Vergennes, on that of the other; as the preliminary articles between England and Spain were, on the fame day, by the first of these gentlemen, and by the Count D'Aranda, on the part of the Catholic king. The preliminary articles with Holland were not yet fettled. By the preliminary treaty with France, in the place of the narrow limits to which the latter had been reftrained by the last peace, England now extends her rights of fishery at Newfoundland to a long extent of coaft, reaching from Cape St. John, in about 50 degrees of north latitude, on the eastern fide of the island, round by the north, to Cape Raye, on the western coast, in 47 degrees and 50 minutes latitude: - England likewife ceded the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon in full right to France, and confequently without any reftriction in point of fortification. In the Weft Indies, England reftored to France the island of St. Lucia, and ceded and guaranteed to her the island of Tobago.-On the other hand, France reftores to Great Britain the islands of Grenada, and the Grenadines, with thofe of St. Vincent, Dominica, St. Chriftopher's, Nevis, and Montferrat. In Africa, England cedes and guarantees, in full right to France, the river of Senegal, and its dependencies, with the forts of St. Louis Podor, Galam, Arguin, and Portendie; and likewife reftores the ifland of Goree.-And, on the other hand, France guarantees to Great Britain the poffeffion of Fort James, and of the river Gambia. Certain new regulations with refpect to the gum trade were likewife to take place in this part of the world. In the Eaft, England reftored every thing to France with confiderable additions, and without the poflibility of an equivalent in that quarter, which the had loft during the war. All her establishments in Bengal, and on the coast of Orixa, were to be reftored, and liberty given for furrounding Chandenagor with a ditch for draining the waters. Pondicherry and Karical were likewife to be restored and guaranteed to France; and his Britannic majefly was bound to pro cure, cure, from the princes whofe property they were, certain fpecified heighbouring diftricts round thefe places, which were to be annexed to them as dependencies. And to fum up the account under this head, France was to regain poffeffion of Mahé, and of the Comptoir at Surat. For the conditions in favour of her commerce in India, and what relates to the allies on both fides in that quarter, we must refer to the treaty. In Europe, as if it were to complete in its parts this unequalled fcene of ceffion, conceffion, and humiliation on the fide of England, the confented to the abrogation and fuppreffion of all the articles rela tive to Dunkirk, from the treaty of peace concluded at Utrecht in 1713, inclufively to the prefent time. By the preliminary treaty with Spain, befides relinquishing all right and claim to Minorca and Weft Florida, England ceded to his Catholic majefly the province of Eaft Florida; while the Bahama islands were the only reftitution or equivalent on the other fide. affairs of the logwood-cutters, which had been thamefully neglected in former treaties, were now left in a fiate of greater uncertainty and infecurity than ever. CHA P. VI. The Various conjectures concerning the state and views of the different political parties previous to, and at the meeting of parliament-Letters from the fecretary of fate to the lord mayor of London refpecting the peace.-King's fpeech.-Debates in both boufes, on the addrefs. Reafons aligned by Mr. Fox for the refignation of his office.-Second debates, on expreffions in the Speech refpecting the treaty with America.-Question put to the first commillioner of the treafury in the Houfe of Peers on the fame fubject.-Motion for the provifional treaty to be laid before the House of Commons rejected. Bill brought in for preventing doubts that might arife refpecting the legislative and judicial rights of the parliament and courts of justice of Ireland.→ Caufe of the introduction of the bill, and objection made to it. of parliament was therefore confidered as a circumftance highly fayourable to the minifter, and was doubtlefs employed in endeavouring to form fuch alliances amongst the parties out of power as might enfure fome degree of ftrength and permanence to his adminiftration. A reunion of the whigs was the favourite expectation of the public, and anxiously looked for by thofe who equally dreaded the revival of the old fyftem, and the mifchiefs of a weak and unfettled government. It does not, however, appear that any advances were made towards effecting fuch an accommodation; to which there appear, indeed, to have been infuperable difficulties, from the induftry with which the friends of each party laboured to throw the blame both of the fchifm and failure on the other. On the part of thofe who had retired from the fervice of government, it was urged, that as the appointment of the noble earl to the higheft office in administration was one of the principal caufes of the divifion that enfued, fo it continued to be the chief obftacle to a reunion. It was indeed abfurd to expect, that his complaifance to his enemies thould carry him fo far as to enter into a treaty, of which he was himself to be the firft facrifice and it was not more reafonable, they faid, to fuppofe, that those who continued to act with him, how much foever they might difapprove of his principles, or cenfure the meafures he was carrying on, (a conduct which fome of them did not fcruple to purfue) would be willing to defcend from fituations in which, by the remowal of their former friends, they ftood as principals, in order to act fubordinate parts again in conjunction with them. Thefe infinuations were combated, on the other fide, by ftudioufly reprefenting the caufe of diffenfion to have been a mere perfonal contest for power; and by charging their opponents with holding opinions of a dangerous nature, trenching on the moft undoubted prerogative of the crown, that of choofing its own minifters, and confe quently having a direct tendency to fubvert the conftitution. But whatever weight may be allowed to these charges or furmifes, it was generally agreed, that, though the parties themselves had been ever fo well difpofed towards an accommodation, yet, the countenance and approbation of the court would hardly have been lent to a measure fo diametrically oppofite in its principle to that favourite fyftem of politics, which had the difunion of all party connections for its bafis. In oppofition to this fyftem, after a long and arduous ftruggle, by no mean exertion of abilities, and by the con urrence of many important events, the late adminiftration had arrived. at a kind of adverfe poffettion of power, which being fubmitted to from neceffity, it could not be expected would be fuffered to remain, whenever the means of deftroying it could be found. Thefe, by an unfortunate event, foon after offered themfelves. The appointment of the Earl of Shelburne to fucceed the Marquis of Rockingham, it was easily forefeen, would difguft thofe individuals of the party, whofe principles were the most inflexible and obnoxious ; and the probability of gaining over many |