You will

On the 30th of May, 1777, Lord Chatham was carried from his sick-bed to the House of Lords, where "in a strain of admirable eloquence" he delivered an address in favor of repealing the laws which had occasioned the dissatisfaction in America. In the course of his remarks, he said: "It is difficult for government, after all that has passed, to shake hands with the defiers of the king, defiers of Parliament, defiers of the people. I am a defier of nobody; but if an end is not put to this war, there is an end to this country. . But you would conquer, you say! Why what would you conquer, the map of America?. If you conquer them, what then? You cannot make them respect you; you cannot make them wear your cloth. plant an invincible hatred in their breasts against you. We have tried for unconditional submission; try what can be gained by unconditional redress. We shall thus evince a conciliatory spirit, and open the way to concord. . . Mercy cannot do harm; it will seat the king where he ought to be, throned in the hearts of his people; and millions at home and abroad, now employed in obloquy and revolt, would pray for him. The revocation I propose, and amnesty, may produce a respectable division in America, and unanimity at home. It will give America an option; she has as yet had no option. You have said, 'Lay down your arms,' and she has given you the Spartan answer, " Come--take.'

But all was in vain. The ministry would hear of nothing but unconditional submission. Botta continues : "Neither the authority of such a man, nor the force of his speech, nor present evils, nor yet fear of the future, were sufficient to procure the adoption of his proposition. Those who opposed it contended that it would by no means satisfy the Americans, since from the outset they had aimed at independency. They talked of the dignity of the nation, . . of the number of loyalists ready to declare themselves, the moment an occasion should offer itself; they harangued upon the tyranny of Congress, already

become insupportable to the Americans, upon the emptiness of its treasury, and the rapid depreciation of bills of credit; finally they enlarged upon that impatience, which was universally manifested for the return of order, and the blessings enjoyed by the rest of the subjects of the British government."-Otis's Translation, vol. ii., pp. 73-75.

So another grand effort was made to "break the backbone of the rebellion" by the force of arms alone, the ministry having perfect confidence that it could be accomplished in one more campaign. That campaign ended in the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, and the fruitless British victory of the Brandywine, which, as Botta says, only resulted in procuring good winter quarters for Howe's army. The dreadful winter of 1777-1778 followed, made memorable by the encampment at Valley Forge, in which Washington's army endured hardships which the Confederate soldiers have not yet even dreamed of. The success at Saratoga fixed the wavering resolution of the French court to declare in favor of the colonists, and in February, 1778, the treaty between France and the United States was signed. Then the British ministry began to perceive the consequences of their infatuation, and made an effort to be reconciled with the colonists. Having procured unofficial knowledge of the execution of the treaty, they introduced into Parliament a bill to appoint commissioners to settle the differences between the colonists and the mother country, on the very basis proposed by Lord Chatham in the preceding year, to wit, the repeal of the obnoxious laws, the surrender of the right of taxation, and a universal amnesty. The bill passed, but on the thirteenth of March, before anything was done under it, official news of the treaty was communicated to the British court. A resolution to test the sense of the House of Commons on the subject of declaring war against France was introduced by the ministry on the seventeenth of March. It was at once alleged by the opposition that the propositions for reconciliation with the colonies were now too late, and

it was proposed that before fighting France, England should rid herself of her American enemy by acknowledging the independence of the United States. The answer of the ministry showed that their erroneous opinions respecting American affairs had become too inveterate to be overcome even by the experience which they had undergone. The speech of Mr. Jenkinson, the minister of war, bears a striking resemblance in many features to those which we now hear every day in Congress. He calls the exposé which had been made by the opposition of the blunders of the government, and the disasters to which they hau led, "indulging their favorite whim of reviling their country, expatiating with apparent delight upon its weakness, and magnifying the power of its ambitious enemy" he assures the House in the most confident manner that if the colonists decline the proposals of accommodation, one more campaign MUST crush the rebellion, an opinion which he supports in the following language :

"I shall begin with asking these bosom friends of rebels, if they are certain that it is all America, or only a seditious handful, whose craft and audacity have raised them to the head of affairs, who claim independency? For my own part, I confess that this independence appears to me rather a vision that floats in certain brains, inflamed by the rage of innovation, on that side of the Atlantic as well as on this, than any general wish of the people. This is what all men of sense declare, who have resided in the midst of that misguided multitude; this is attested by the thousands of royalists who have flocked to the royal standard in New York, and who have fought for the king in the plains of Saratoga, and on the banks of the Brandywine. This, finally, is proclaimed by the very prisons, crowded with inhabitants, who have chosen rather to part with their liberty, than to renounce their allegiance. There is

every reason to think that to such subjects as remained faithful until England set up the pretension of taxation, many others will join themselves, now that she

nas

renounced it; for already all are convinced how much better it is to live under the mild sway of an equitable prince, than under the tyranny of new and ambitious men. Nor should I omit to mention a well known fact; the finances of Congress are exhausted; their soldiers are naked and famishing; they can satisfy none of the wants of the State; creditors are without remedy against their debtors; hence arise scandals without end, private hatreds, and unanimous maledictions against the Government.

"There is not an individual among the Americans, but sees that, in accepting the terms offered by Great Britain, the public credit will be reestablished, private property secured, and abundance in all parts of the social body restored. .. Yes, methinks I already see, or I am strangely mistaken, the people of America flocking to the royal standard; everything invites them to it; fidelity towards the sovereign, the love of the English name, the hope of a happier future, their aversion to their new and unaccustomed allies, and, finally, the hatred they bear to the tyranny of Congress."—Id., pp. 90–99.

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It is well known how conclusively the result proved that Mr. Jenkinson and his associate ministers were strangely mistaken." May God grant that the people of my unhappy country may not need a similar catastrophe to open their eyes to the consequences of a similar folly!

CHAPTER VIII.

The impossibility of Governing the People of the South by means of State Governments, depending upon the Popular Vote, without allaying their Discontent-Results which attended the Attempt in Utah to maintain the Federal Government over a Dissatisfied People-Collisions which a similar Attempt in the South would provoke-The impracticability of introducing a new Element of Political Power, by means of the Blacks, or of Foreign Immigrants, or of Immigrants from the North-The practical Result of the Power of Government, popular in Form, to coerce its Subjects to obedience, compared with the TheoryAction of President Jackson in the Nullification ControversyHis Opinion respecting the possibility of maintaining the Union by Force alone-Madison, Benton, Everett, Douglas and Webster's Opinions upon the same subject.

LET us now examine what prospect a persistence in the policy which I have discussed in the preceding chapters, holds out of securing the ultimate pacification of the southern country, after the people shall have been subdued by the complete victory of our arms, and State governments controlled by the free and unbiassed votes of the whole people, shall have been established over them. Such, as has been fully stated in chapters iii. and iv., is the conclusion of the war which the Constitution requires, to which the Government has pledged itself to foreign powers, and which the Crittenden resolution contemplates.