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Chapter 27:
Rockingham's ministry Assents to American independence.
1782.
the hatred of
America as a self-existent state
became every day more intense in
Spain from the desperate weakness of her authority in her transatlantic possessions.
Her rule was dreaded in them all; and, as even her allies confessed, with good reason.
The seeds of rebellion were already sown in the vice-royalties of
Buenos Ayres and
Peru; and a union of Creoles and Indians might prove at any moment fatal to metropolitan dominion.
French statesmen were of opinion that
England, by emancipating Spanish America, might indemnify itself for all loss from the independence of a part of its own colonial empire; and they foresaw in such a revolution the greatest benefit to the commerce of their own country.
Immense naval preparations had been made by the Bourbons for the conquest of
Jamaica, but now from the fear of spreading the love of change
Florida Blanca suppressed every wish to
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acquire that hated nest of contraband trade.
When
Chap. XXVII.} 1782.
April. |
the
French ambassador reported to him the proposal of
Vergennes to constitute its inhabitants an independent republic, he seemed to hear the tocsin of insurrection sounding from the
La Plata to
San Francisco, and from that time had nothing to propose for the employment of the allied fleets in the
West Indies.
He was perplexed beyond the power of extrication.
One hope only remained.
Minorca having been wrested from the
English, he concentrated all the force of
Spain in
Europe on the one great object of recovering
Gibraltar, and held
France to her promise not to make peace until that fortress should be given up.
With
America, therefore, measures for a
general peace must begin.
As the pacification of the late British dependencies belonged exclusively to the department of Lord Shelburne, the other members of the cabinet should have respected his right.
As a body, they did so; but
Fox, leagued with young men as uncontrollable as himself, resolved to fasten a quarrel upon him, and to get into his own hands every part of the negotiations for peace.
At a cabinet meeting on the twelfth of April, he told
Shel-
burne and those who sided with him, that he was determined to bring the matter to a crisis; and on the same day he wrote to one of his young friends: ‘They must yield entirely.
If they do not, we must go to war again; that is all: I am sure I am ready.’
Oswald at the time was on his way to
Paris, where on the sixteenth he went straightway to
Franklin.
The latter, speaking not his own opinion only, but that of congress and of every one of his associate
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commissioners, explained that the
United States
Chap. XXVII.} 1782.
April. |
could not treat for peace with
Great Britain unless it was also intended to treat with
France; and, though
Oswald desired to keep aloof from
European affairs, he allowed himself to be introduced by
Franklin to
Vergennes, who received with pleasure assurances of the good disposition of the
British king, reciprocated them on the part of his own sovereign, and invited an offer of its conditions.
He wished America and
France to treat directly with British plenipotentiaries, each for itself, the two negotiations to move on with equal step, and the two treaties to be simultaneously signed.
From
Amsterdam,
John Adams questioned whether, with
Canada and
Nova Scotia in the hands of the
English, the
Americans could ever have a real peace.
In a like spirit,
Franklin intrusted to
Oswald ‘Notes for Conversation,’ in which the voluntary cession of
Canada was suggested as the surety ‘of a durable peace and a sweet reconciliation.’
At the same time he replied to his old friend Lord Shelburne: ‘I desire no other channel of communication between us than that of
Mr. Oswald, which I think your lordship has chosen with much judgment.
He will be witness of my acting with all the sincerity and good faith which you do me the honor to expect from me; and if he is enabled when he returns hither to communicate more fully your lordship's mind on the principal points to be settled, I think it may contribute much to the blessed work our hearts are engaged in.’
Another great step was taken by
Franklin.
He excluded
Spain altogether from the
American negotiation.
Entreating
Jay to come to
Paris, he wrote:
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‘
Spain has taken four years to consider whether she
Chap. XXVII.} 1782. April 23. |
should treat with us or not. Give her forty, and let us in the mean time mind our own business.’
On the twenty-third, shortly after the return of
Oswald to
London, the cabinet on his report agreed to send him again to
Franklin to acquaint him of their readiness to treat for a
general peace, and at
Paris, conceding American independence, but otherwise maintaining the treaties of 1763.
On the twenty-eighth,
Shelburne, who was in earnest, gave
to his agent the verbal instruction: ‘If
America is independent, she must be so of the whole world, with no ostensible, tacit, or secret connection with
France.’
Canada could not be ceded.
It was ‘reasonable to expect a free trade, unencumbered with duties, to every part of
America.’
‘All debts due to British subjects were to be secure, and the loyalists to be restored to a full enjoyment of their rights and privileges.’
As a compensation for the restoration of New York,
Charleston, and
Savannah, the river
Penobscot might be proposed for the eastern boundary of
New England. ‘Finally,’ he said, ‘tell
Dr. Franklin candidly and confidentially Lord Shelburne's situation with the king; that his lordship will make no use of it but to keep his word with mankind.’
With these instructions,
Oswald returned immediately to
Paris, bearing from
Shelburne to
Franklin a most friendly letter, to which the king had given his thorough approval.
With the
European belligerents the communication was necessarily to proceed from the department of which
Fox was the chief.
He entered upon the business in a spirit that foreboded no success, for, at
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the very moment of his selection of an emissary, he
Chap. XXVII.} 1782.
April. |
declared that he did not think it much signified how soon he should break up the cabinet.
The person of whom he made choice to treat on the weightiest interests with the most skilful diplomatist of
Europe was
Thomas Grenville, one of his own partisans, who was totally ignorant of the relations of
America to
France, and very young, with no experience in public business, having a very scant knowledge of the foreign relations of his own country.
Arriving in
Paris on the eighth of May,
Grenville delivered to
Franklin a most cordial letter of introduction from
Fox, and met with the heartiest welcome.
After receiving him at breakfast,
Franklin took him in his own carriage to
Versailles; and there the dismissed postmaster-general for
America, at the request of the
British secretary of state, introduced the son of the author of the
American stamp act as the
British plenipotentiary to the minister for foreign affairs of the Bourbon king.
Statesmen at
Paris and
Vienna were amused on hearing that the envoy of the ‘rebel’ colonies was become ‘the introductor’ of the representatives of
Great Britain at the court of Versailles.
Vergennes received
Grenville most cordially as the nephew of an old friend, but smiled at his offer to grant to
France the independence of the
United States, and
Franklin refused to accept at second hand that independence which his country had already won.
Grenville remarked that the war had been provoked by encouragement from
France to the
Americans to revolt; to which
Vergennes answered with warmth that
France had found and not
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made
America independent, and that American inde-
Chap. XXVII.} 1782. May 10. |
pendence was not the only cause of the war. On the next day,
Grenville, unaccompanied by
Franklin, met
Vergennes and
de Aranda, and offered peace on the basis of the independence of the
United States and the treaty of 1763. ‘That treaty,’ said
Vergennes, ‘I can never read without a shudder.
The king, my master, cannot in any treaty consider the independence of
America as ceded to him. To do so would be injurious to the dignity of his Britannic Majesty.’
The Spanish ambassador urged with vehemence, that the griefs of the king of
Spain were totally distinct from the independence of
America.
With regard to
America, the frequent conversations of the young envoy with
Franklin, who received him with constant hospitality, cleared up his views.
It was explained to him with precision that the
United States were free from every sort of engagement with
France except those contained in the public treaties of commerce and alliance.
Grenville asked if these obligations extended to the recovery of
Gibraltar for
Spain; and
Franklin answered: ‘It is nothing to
America who has
Gibraltar.’
But
Franklin saw in
Grenville a young statesman ambitious of recommending himself as an able negotiator; in
Oswald, a man who free from interested motives earnestly sought a final settlement of all differences between
Great Britain and
America.
To the former he had no objection, but he would have been loath to lose the latter; and, before beginning to treat of the conditions of peace, he wrote to
Shelburne his belief that the ‘moderation, prudent counsels, and sound judgment of
Oswald might contribute much not only to the speedy conelusion
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of a peace, but to the framing of such a peace
as may be firm and lasting.’
The king, as he read the wishes of
Franklin, which were seconded by
Vergennes, ‘thought it best to let
Oswald remain at
Paris,’ saying that ‘his correspondence carried marks of coming from a man of sense.’
While
Oswald came to
London to make his second report, news that better reconciled the
English to treat for peace arrived from the
Caribbean islands.
The fleet of
de Grasse in 1781, after leaving the coast of the
United States, gave to
France the naval ascendency in the
West Indies.
St. Eustatius was recaptured, and generously restored to the United Provinces.
St. Christopher,
Nevis, and Montserrat
were successively taken.
On the nineteenth of February, 1782,
Rodney reappeared at
Barbadoes with a re-enforcement of twelve sail, and in the next week he effected a junction with the squadron of
Hood to the leeward of
Antigua.
To cope with his great adversary,
de Grasse, who was closely watched by
Rodney from
St. Lucia, must unite with the Span-
ish squadron.
For that purpose, on the eighth of April he turned his fleet out of
Fort Royal in
Martinique; and with only the advantage of a few hours over the
British he ran for
Hispaniola.
On the ninth,
a partial engagement took place near the island of
Dominique.
At daylight on the twelfth,
Rodney by
skilful manoeuvres drew near the
French in the expanse of waters that lies between the islands of Guadeloupe, the Saintes, and
Marie Galante.
The sky was clear, the sea quiet; the trade-wind blew lightly, and, having the advantage of its unvarying breeze,
Rodney made the signal for attack.
The
British had
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thirty-six ships; the
French, with a less number,
Chap. XXVII.} 1782.
April. |
excelled in the weight of metal.
The French ships were better built; the
British in superior repair.
The complement of the
French crews was the more full, but the
British mariners were better disciplined.
The fight began at seven in the morning, and without a respite of seven minutes it continued for eleven hours. The
French handled their guns well at a distance, but in close fight there was a want of personal exertion and presence of mind.
About the time when the sun was at the highest, Rodney cut the line of his enemy; and the battle was continued in ‘detail, all the ships on each side being nearly equally engaged.
The
Ville de Paris,’ the flag-ship of
de Grasse, did not strike its colors till it was near foundering, and only three men were left unhurt on the upper deck.
Four other ships of his fleet were captured; one sunk in the action.
On the side of the victors about one thousand were killed or wounded: of the
French, thrice as many; for their ships were crowded with over five thousand land troops, and the fire of the
British was rapid and well aimed.
The going down of the sun put an end to the battle, and
Rodney neglected pursuit.
Just at nightfall, one of the ships of which the
English had taken possession blew up. Of the poor wretches who were cast into the sea some clung to bits of the wreck; the sharks, of which the fight had called together shoals from the waters round about, tore them all off, and even after the carnage of the day could hardly be glutted.
The feeling of having recovered the dominion of the sea reconciled
England to the idea of peace.
On
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the eighteenth of May, the day on which tidings
Chap. XXVII.} 1782. May 18. |
of the victory were received, the cabinet agreed to invite proposals from
Vergennes.
Soon after this came a letter from
Grenville, in which he argued that, as
America had been the road to war with
France, so it offered the most practicable way of getting out of it; and the cabinet agreed to a minute almost in his words ‘to propose the independency of
America in the first instance, instead of making it a condition of a general treaty.’
The proposition in the words of
Fox was accepted by
Shelburne, was embodied by him in his instructions to
Sir Guy Carleton at New York, and formed the rule of action for
Oswald on his return, with renewed authority, to
Paris.
Independence was, as the king expressed it, ‘the dreadful price now offered to
America’ for peace.
A commission was forwarded to
Grenville by
Fox to treat with
France, but with no other country; yet he devoted nearly all his letter of instructions to the relations with
America, showing that in a negotiation for peace the
United States ought not to be encumbered by a power like
Spain, ‘which had never assisted them during the war, and had even refused to acknowledge their independence.’
When
Grenville laid before
Vergennes his credentials, he received the answer that they were very insufficient, as they did not enable him to treat with
Spain and
America, the allies of
France; or with the Netherlands, her partner in the war. Repulsed at
Versailles,
Grenville took upon himself to play the plenipotentiary with
America; on the fourth of June
he confided to
Franklin the minute of the cabinet,
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and hoped to draw from him in return the Ameri-
can conditions for a separate peace.
But
Franklin would not unfold the
American conditions to a person not authorized to receive them.
Irritated by this ‘unlucky check,’ by which, as he thought, his hopes of a great diplomatic success were ‘completely annihilated,’ he made bitter and passionate and altogether groundless complaints of
Oswald.
He would have
Fox not lose one moment to fight the battle with advantage against
Shelburne, and to take to himself the
American business by comprehending all in one.
Though
Fox had given up all present hope of making peace, he enlarged the powers of
Grenville so as to include any potentate or state then at war with
Great Britain; and he beat about for proofs of
Shelburne's ‘duplicity of conduct,’ resolved, if he could but get them, to ‘drive to an open rupture.’
Under his extended powers,
Grenville made haste to claim the right to treat with
America; but, when questioned by
Franklin, he was obliged to own that he was acting without the sanction of parliament.
Within twenty-four hours of the passing of the enabling act, the powers for
Oswald as a negotiator of peace with the
United States were begun upon and were ‘completely finished in the four days following;’ but, on the assertion of
Fox that they would prejudice everything then depending in
Paris, they were delayed.
Fox then proposed that
America, even without a treaty, should be recognised as an independent power.
Had he prevailed, the business of America must have passed from the home department to that for foreign affairs; but, after full reflection,
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the cabinet decided ‘that independence should
in the first instance be allowed as the basis to treat on.’
Professing discontent, ‘
Fox declared that his part was taken to quit his office.’
1
The next day Lord Rockingham expired.
His ministry left great memorials of its short career.
Through the mediation of
Shelburne, it forced the king to treat for peace with the
United States on the basis of their independence.
The success of America brought emancipation to
Ireland, which had suffered even more than the
United States from colonial monopoly.
Its volunteer army, commanded by officers of its own choice, having increased to nearly fifty thousand well-armed men, united under one generalin-chief, the viceroy reported that, ‘unless it was determined that the knot which bound the two countries should be severed for ever,’ the points required by the Irish parliament must be conceded.
2 Fox would rather have seen
Ireland totally separated than kept in obedience by force.
Eden, one of Lord North's commissioners in
America in 1778, and lately his secretary for
Ireland, was the first in a moment of ill-humor to propose the repeal of the act of George the First, which asserted the right of the parliament of Great Britain to make laws to bind the people and the kingdom of
Ireland; and after reflection the ministry of
Rockingham adopted and carried the measure.
Appeals from the courts of law in
Ireland to the
British house of peers were abolished; the restraint on independent legislation was done away with; and
Ireland, owning allegiance to the same king as
Great Britain, obtained the indepb n=549> pendence of its own parliament.
These were the
first-fruits of the
American revolution.
The
Irish owed the vindication of their rights to the
United States; but at the time the gratitude of the nation took the direction of loyalty to their king, and their legislature voted one hundred thousand pounds sterling for the levy of twenty thousand seamen.
During the ministry of
Rockingham, the
British house of commons for the first time since the days of
Cromwell seriously considered the question of a reform in the representation of
Great Britain.
The author of the proposition was
William Pitt, then without office, but the acknowledged heir of the principles of
Chatham.
The resolution of inquiry was received with ill-concealed repugnance by
Rockingham.
Its support by
Fox was lukewarm, and bore the mark of his aristocratic connections.
Edmund Burke, in his fixed opposition to reform, was almost beside himself with passion, and was with difficulty persuaded to remain away from the debate.
The friends of
Shelburne, on the contrary, gave to the motion their cordial support; yet by the absence and opposition of many of the
Rockingham connection the question on this first division in the house of commons upon the state of the representation in the British parliament was lost, though only by a majority of twenty.
The freedom of
Ireland and the hopes of reform in the British parliament itself went hand in hand with the triumph of liberty in
America.
The accession of a liberal ministry revived in Frederic of
Prussia his old inclination to friendly relations with
England.
The empress of
Russia now
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included the government in her admiration of the
British people; and
Fox on his side, with the consent of the ministry but to the great vexation of the king, accepted her declaration of the maritime rights of neutrals.
But for the moment no practical result followed; for the cabinet, as the price of their formal adhesion to her code, demanded her alliance.
