gle; and the English dissenters were firm and really formidable in their opposition to the tyrannical measures of the king and his ministers. Some portions of the old Whig party, led by the Marquis of Rockingham, the Earl of Chatham, Pownal and Johnstone, and urged forward by the eloquence of Burke, Barre, Dunning, and Fox, revealed the nucleus of a power which gave voice and effect to the English sense of justice, and would finally bring up the convictions and moral force of the British nation to the acknowledgment of American independence.

Jamaica petitioned Parliament most earnestly against the "plan, almost carried into execution, for reducing the colonies into the most abject state of slavery." At that time, however, remonstrance was in vain. Resolutions against the oppressive measures of the ministry, offered by Burke and Hartley, and sustained by the most powerful eloquence, were promptly voted down; but they were a voice for justice which the civilized world must hear. Wilkes, Lord Mayor of London, led the power of that great city in official and public expression of "abhorrence" of all meas ures for "the oppression of their fellow-subjects in the colonies."

Good men were on opposite sides in this struggle. The great John Wesley, whose loyalty was a part of his religion, wrote and published his earnest advice to the colonies to submit to the crown; while Oglethorpe had earlier the broad views which Wesley subsequently reached, and, as we have seen, refused to act as commander-in-chief of the British army of forty thousand men ordered to subjugate the colonies, for which he felt an interest truly paternal. At the opening of Parliament, Oct. 6, 1775, Gen. Conway and the Duke of Grafton abandoned their official positions rather than be longer identified with this unrighteous tyranny, and joined the opposition.

The Declaration of Independence discouraged many of the English advocates of conciliation, and gave strength to

the idea that rebellion must first be crushed before overtures of peace could be made. But the victorious march of the Howes through Long Island, New York, and New Jersey, encouraged even Lord North to bring forward new measures of conciliation. He declared his real sentiments, which had been from the first opposed to forced taxation; and his humane feelings, really revolting from the murderous acts which he had felt obliged to promote, gave powerful influence to the public sentiment, which brought the people of Great Britain to the acknowledgment of American independence.

France, roused by the sympathies of her people, came forward to help the struggling colonies at the expense of a perilous war with England; and this gave great additional strength to the opposition, and led to a new commission for conciliation. By the spring of 1778, the demand for peace had become importunate in England; and as the honorable commissioners under Lord North's Conciliatory Act

the Earl of Carlisle, William Edwin, afterward Lord Aukland, and Gov. Johnstone-could gain no audience with Congress (still officially regarded and treated as a rebel assembly), it was coming to be thoroughly understood that there could be no peace but by the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States. This, so far from operating against the public desire for peace, deepened and extended it. When a noble earl said in his place, "My lords, you cannot conquer America," he gave expression to the profoundest convictions of the British people; and this was the predetermined acknowledgment of our independence.

Spain now came forward as a party to the war, aiming chiefly at the recovery of her territorial rights in America, but incidentally contributing to the general dissatisfaction. in England with the war against America.

The capture of Burgoyne and his army, the consummate skill of Washington in the recovery of New Jersey, and the

indomitable persistence of the armies with their allies resulting in the surrender of Cornwallis, brought this feeling to a crisis; and no ministry could stand before it. The king's speech in November, 1781, breathed nothing but slaughter; but on the first division, the House of Commons showed that the war party was losing its power. The motion, that "any further attempt to reduce the Americans by force would be ineffectual and injurious," was lost by a majority of only forty-one. A little more than a month later, a motion for "an address to the king to put a stop to the war" was lost by only a single vote. Five days later," a similar motion was carried," and the British people had acknowledged the independence of America.

EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS ACKNOWLEDGE THE NEW NATION.

The sword had been wielded with sufficient effect to usher in the period of diplomacy. In 1780, brave John Adams appears in Paris with power from the American Congress to form treaties of peace and commerce. He was, however, too impetuous for the cautious Vergennes, and was soon transferred to Holland. Finding the way gradually opened, and obstructions thrown in his way overcome, he matured and effected a treaty with the States-General at the Hague; and the heroic government of Holland was the first in the world to acknowledge the independence of the United States of America; a distinction of which she may well be proud, and for which the Great Republic will never cease to be profoundly grateful.

In the mean time, our struggling country encountered a new peril from the offer of the Empress of Russia to mediate between the contending parties. The desire of England for peace may be seen in the proposition, that the German emperor should be associated with the empress in this mediation. Such had been the discouragements of Southern members from the success of the British army at the battle

of Camden, and the conquest of South Carolina and Georgia, that Congress was induced to waive the demand for a formal acknowledgment of independence, insisting only upon virtual independence; but, by the blessings of Providence, complications arose, which destroyed all the combinations formed under the auspices of the Empress of Russia, and once more our rising nation escaped a ruinous temptation. The honest, firm, and fearless spirit of Franklin, who was our representative at Paris, was doubtless the most formidable obstacle in the way of a treaty urged by the South against the determined resistance of New England, which would have sacrificed the national life for which the American people had shed their blood like water. When the Marquis of Rockingham, who openly advocated the independence of these colonies, had succeeded Lord North, Adams and Franklin were approached with some official overtures of peace, with every advantage excepting formal independence. Sir Guy Carlton and Admiral Digby were empowered to approach Washington and the Congress with the same propositions; and Oswald, a British merchant, was sent to Paris to ascertain of Franklin the American ultimatum, and returned with the information that " independence, a satisfactory boundary, and a participation in the fisheries, would be indispensable requisites in a treaty."

Rockingham, the friend of America, died, and Shelburn, from the school of Chatham, succeeded him. His private opinions, however, were of no avail. The British people. demanded peace, and neither ministry nor king could silence their demand.

Just at this time, the news reached Europe that the British Admiral Rodney had almost literally destroyed the French fleet under Count de Grasse in the West Indies. This had, of course, a strong tendency to strength the diplomacy of England, while it increased the desire of France to reach the end of the war. But America was firm. At length, an act

Hildreth, iii. 416.

of Parliament authorized negotiations on the basis of Franklin's previous announcement. Oswald met Franklin and Jay in Paris with full powers to conclude a peace with certain "colonies" in America. Jay, however, firmly refused to treat in behalf of British "colonies;" and Oswald soon procured amended prerogatives to make peace with "the United States of America."

Not exactly in accordance with instructions, but prompted by what seemed to be sufficient reasons, Franklin and Jay negotiated a separate peace with Oswald in behalf of England; not, however, to take effect until approved by France. Vergennes was too noble to take offence at so critical a moment, and resumed negotiations, to which Spain also was a party.

At length, on the 19th of April, 1783,-just eight years from the opening of this fearful war, the proclamation of peace issued by Congress reached the army at Newburg. The Revolutionary War was ended, and the independence of America was acknowledged by Holland, England, France, and Spain. What exultant joy rang through the camp of those scarred veterans! What ecstasies of delight thrilled the American people.

The great task of constructing and consolidating a free government was not yet completed. Formidable difficulties threatened the new nation on every side; but the same calm endurance, lofty patriotism, and trust in God, which had borne us through the struggles of war, would sustain us through the conflicts of opinion which must inevitably follow. Men rose to sight, and disappeared; armies combined, and melted away; local selfishness warred with the general good but the nation lived.

WOULD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ACKNOWLEDGE THE INDEPENDENCE OF

THE NATIONAL LIFE?

This would seem a strange question; and yet history reveals the astonishing fact, that the acknowledgment to come