conditions. Within the lines of Philadelphia, the men of Howe's army plunged into the wildest excesses, enervating their strength and utterly losing their discipline. Twenty miles off, in huts at Valley Forge, lay the army of Washington -the men shoeless and almost coatless; their legs often frozen black, so that amputation was necessary; their food of the scantiest and poorest kind. Washington, too, had his own trials to bear. Goaded by murmurs that he ought to have beaten Howe ere this, stung by the knowledge that Gates and others were plotting to cut him off from his high command, harassed by yet a hundred other worries incidental to his position, he held resolutely and calmly to the path of duty. Having remodelled his army, and obtained some promise of future pay from Congress, he prepared for the opening of a campaign. There was proof that the Americans had made some progress, in the ratification of a treaty with France acknowledging the independence of the colonies (May 6). The campaign opened ignobly on the British side (June 18th), when Sir Henry Clinton, the successor of Howe, abandoned Philadelphia and moved toward New York. Washington followed with caution. At Monmouth there was a fight, resulting in favour of Clinton, who managed to reach New York safely on the 5th of July. Washington having resolved to stand on the defensive, fortified the heights of the Hudson, and drew a line of cantonments around New York. So he spent the winter.

1778

This year saw the last of the great Chatham. Though from the first he had declared that it was impossible to subdue the Americans, he protested vehemently against the dismemberment of the empire. The alliance of France with the Americans also changed his view of affairs. He spent his last strength in a speech opposing the Duke of Richmond's motion, that the king should be asked to break off the war. The old man came down to the House, carefully dressed in velvet.

Aided by his

floated slowly up to the British batteries, attended by shoals of gunboats, frigates, and other craft.

At nine on the eventful morning (September 13), the " con. structions" received a warm British welcome of red-hot iron as they moved to the attack. All day the cannons roared.

Towards evening ominous smoke-jets issuing from the 1782 sides of the monsters, whose bellowing had ceased, excited alarm, and when flames burst out from them the hopes of the besiegers withered away. Two of the sandand-hide engines blew up; the rest were burned either by the British fire or by their own crews.

This repulse, however, did not relieve Gibraltar; for it was known that food and powder were running low within the walls the blockade therefore continued, fifty sail of the line, with other vessels, occupying the bay. The final relief of the garrison was accomplished by Admiral Lord Howe on the 14th of October. Having stretched a chain of ships across the mouth of the bay, Howe spent the four following days in directing the unlading of the store-ships. The raising of the siege soon followed this third and greatest relief.

Sept. 3, 1783

Preliminaries of peace were signed at Paris on the 20th of January 1783. Lord North had resigned the year before, on the occasion of an address to stop the war being carried, and Lord Rockingham had taken office a second time. Great Britain acknowledged the complete independence of the thirteen revolted states, and granted them leave to fish at Newfoundland and other privileges. Both nations were equally to enjoy the right of navigating the Mississippi. The separation was a clear gain to both sides, although Britain paid dearly for the privilege of acknowledging American freedom. The war cost £100,000,000 sterling.

CHAPTER XIV.

INDIA.

Return of Clive-Warren Hastings first Governor-General-Death of Clive -Captain Cook-Gordon riots-Economical Reform-Second Rockingham Cabinet-Grattan's Parliament-Shelburne Cabinet-William Pitt the younger-Coalition Ministry-Pitt Prime Minister-The Board of Control-Trial of Hastings-Death of Tippoo.

W

HEN ill-health compelled Clive to leave India for England in 1760, that which he had found as a group of commercial settlements had become virtually an empire. Not long after Clive's departure, Sir Eyre Coote gained several victories which secured the Carnatic for Britain. By-and-by the absence of Clive's vigorous hand and watchful eye at headquarters was felt. The East India Company's servants practised shameful extortion, and the service became disorganized. The native princes began to assume an independent tone, and to throw off their allegiance. The Company was threatened with ruin. In these circumstances Clive, now Lord Clive of Plassey, was induced to return to India in 1765, as Governor of Bengal. He set himself vigorously to reform the service, and he concluded a favourable treaty with the Mogul emperor. But his health again gave way, and he finally left India in 1767.

Clive's departure was followed by a long succession of disasters. Hyder Ali, King of Mysore,* in Southern India, formed

* Mysore, a district in the south of the Deccan, of which Seringapatam was capital. It is in the angle formed by the east and west Ghauts.

an alliance with the Mahratta chiefs. The Company's trade fell off to an alarming extent. A terrible famine ravaged the land. Lord North, who had come into power in 1770, passed in 1773 the Regulating Act, by which the Governor of Bengal was made superior to the Governors of Madras and Bombay. Warren Hastings, who had already filled the office of member of council both at Calcutta and at Madras, was appointed first Governor-general of India. In the same year General Burgoyne -afterwards the ignoble hero of Saratoga-led an attack on Clive's character in the House of Commons. It was prompted by those whom his reforms had made his enemies. The House admitted that he had been guilty of certain irregularities, but added to its resolution "That Robert, Lord Clive, did, at the same time, render great and meritorious services to his country." Though thus actually acquitted, the stain cast on his good name preyed on his mind and drove him to lay violent hands on himself, November 1774. He was only forty-eight years of

age.

Hastings was not over-scrupulous in the means he adopted for filling his treasury, both to satisfy the shareholders of the Company and to carry on his wars. From the first, however, his administration was marked by the greatest vigour. When France joined the Americans in 1778, Hastings lost no time ere he had captured Chandernagore and Pondicherry, and had all but ruined French influence in India. In 1780 Hyder Ali overran the Carnatic and threatened Madras. Hastings made peace with the Mahrattas,* and hurled against Hyder the whole of his available forces under Sir Eyre Coote. Coote gained two brilliant victories over him in 1781, and finally crushed him at Arnee † in 1782. Hyder died before the end of that year, and in 1783 his son Tippoo Saib made peace with the British.

* Mahrattas. They originally belonged to the north-west of the Deccan (India, south of the Vindhya Mountains). They were finally subdued by Britain in 1818.

† Arnee, eighty miles west-south-west of Madras.

While Hastings had thus been building up the British power in India, the discoveries of Captain James Cook had been adding largely to the empire in another quarter of the globe. This celebrated sailor, who may well be called the founder of the great Australian colonies, was born in Yorkshire in 1728. Between the years 1767 and 1779 he made three voyages round the world, exploring especially the South Seas and the coast of Australia. He was killed in 1779 at Hawaii* by the spear of a treacherous native.

1780

Great changes, meanwhile, had taken place at home. In 1780 London was convulsed by the Gordon riots. Two years earlier some heavy penal laws against Roman Catholics had been repealed. In June, Lord George Gordon, escorted by an immense mob, went to the House of Commons to present a petition against the reversal of these laws. The petition was rejected, and the riots began. For a week the mob held London streets, nor did they yield to the soldiery until more than four hundred had been killed. Lord George was sent to the Tower, and tried, but he was acquitted. It is said that he afterwards embraced Judaism.

In the spring of the following year Edmund Burke, the great orator, laid before the House of Commons his celebrated scheme for the reform of the public econ- 1781 omy. Every department of the public service fell under his searching scrutiny, and in all-Ordnance, Mint, Exchequer, Army, Navy, Pensions, Household, and so forth-he found something that might be pruned away without injuring the system of government. Fox lent his friendly aid and great forensic talent to the support of this measure, which, however, broke down in the higher stages. Before long, many of Burke's ideas on this important subject worked their way into accomplished facts.

* Hawaii (or Owhyhee), the largest and southernmost of the Sandwich Islands, in the Pacific Ocean.