INDEPENDENCE ACKNOWLEDGED, AND TREATY OF PEACE. 659

This motion was lost only by a single vote. But the object was not relinquished; the address was again brought forward, and finally carried. After various expedients, Lord Cavendish moved that the house should resolve that the enormous expenses of the nation, the loss of the colonies, a war with France, Spain, Holland and America, without a single ally, was occasioned by a want of foresight and ability in his majesty's ministers, and that they were unworthy of further confidence. In consequence of which, on the 20th of March, 1782, Lord North resigned his place, and declared to the house of commons, that the present administration from that day ceased to exist.

Thus, after the blood of thousands of the best soldiers in England had been shed, after the nation had been involved in expenses almost beyond calculation, her, trade ruined, and the national character disgraced, Great Britain abandoned the contest as utterly hopeless. A new administration was formed, under the direction of the Marquis of Rockingham, the members of which were opponents of the American war. All active prosecution of hostilities ceased from this time. Negotiations were opened with the American ministers, and at length, on the 30th of November, 1782, provisional articles of peace between Great Britain and America were signed by Messrs. Franklin, Adams, Jay and Laurens, on the part of the United States, and Messrs. Fitzherburt and Oswald, on the part of Great Britain. By these articles, the independence of the states was fully acknowledged. The definitive treaty between Great Britain and the United States was signed at Paris, on the 3d of September, 1783, by Messrs. Franklin, Adams and Jay, on the part of America, and David Hartley, on the part of Great Britain. A treaty of peace between Great Britain, Spain and Holland, was also concluded on the same day. Peace had been signed with France on the 20th of January, 1783; and thus a general pacification was accomplished. The war of the American Revolution cost Great Britain not only the total loss of the colonies, but fifty thousand men, and one hundred millions sterling.

Meantime, the deranged state of the American finances, in consequence of a depreciating currency, the difficulty of obtaining loans of moneys and various other causes, had sufficiently impressed the people with a deep sense of their danger. These circumstances had led the army to submit to a delay in the payment of their wages during the war, notwithstanding their personal sufferings. But, on certain intelligence that peace was at hand, that it had been proposed to disband the army by furloughs, and that there was no appearance of a speedy liquidation

of the public debts, many of the officers and soldiers grew loud in their complaints and bold in their demands. They called for an immediate payment of all arrearages, and insisted on the fulfilment of the commutation proposed by congress some time before, on the recommendation of Washington. He had requested that the officers of the army might be secured seven years' whole pay, instead of half pay for life, which had been previously stipulated. This proposal, after reducing the term to five years, congress had accepted. The soldiers also demanded a settlement for rations, clothing, and proper consideration for the delay of the payments which had long been due. They chose a committee from the army to wait on congress, to represent the general uneasiness, and to lay the complaints of the army before them, and to enforce the requests of the officers, most of whom were supposed to have been concerned in the business. Anonymous addresses were scattered among the troops, and the most inflammatory resolutions drawn up and disseminated through the army; these were written with ingenuity and spirit, but the authors were not discovered. Reports were everywhere circulated that the military department would do itself justice; that the army would not disband until congress had acceded to all their demands; and that they would keep their arms in their hands until they had compelled the states to a settlement, and congress to a compliance with all the claims of the public creditors.

In answer to the address of the officers of the army, congress endeavored to quiet the complaints by expressions of kindness, encouragement and hope. Several months passed in this uneasy situation; the people were anxious, the officers restless, the army instigated by ambitious and interested men. Washington, both as commander-in-chief, and as a man who had the welfare of his country at heart, did everything in his power to quiet the complaints, and to dissipate the mutinous spirit of the army. By his assiduity, prudence and judgment, the sedition was stilled for a short time. But the fire was not extinguished; the secret dissatisfaction, that had rankled for several months, at last broke out into open insurrection.

On the 20th of June, 1783, a part of the Pennsylvania line, with some other troops, marched from Lancaster to Philadelphia. There they were joined by some discontented soldiers in the barracks within the city, who had recently returned poor, emaciated and miserable, from the southern service. This seditious host surrounded the state-house where congress was sitting, placed guards at the doors, and threatened immediate outrage unless their demands were complied with in the short space of twenty

FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES.

661

four minutes. Congress, thus rudely assaulted, resented the affront, and judged it improper to continue longer in a city where they could not be sure of protection. They agreed to leave Philadelphia immediately, and to meet on the 26th at Princeton.

Washington, very far from countenancing any of the measures of the mutineers, lost not a moment after he was informed of these riotous proceedings; he ordered General Robert Howe to march with a body of fifteen hundred men to quell the mutineers. Aided by the prudent conduct of the magistrates of Philadelphia, matters were not carried to the extremities apprehended; the refractory soldiers were soon reduced to obedience; tranquillity was restored without bloodshed. Some of the ringleaders were taken into custody, but soon after received a pardon from congress. The most decided steps were immediately taken, not only to quell the clamors of the rioters, but to do justice to the claims of the soldiers. The commutation was finally agreed on; five years' full pay was granted, instead of half-pay, during the lives of the officers of the army. To this was added a promise of a large quantity of land in the western territory, to be distributed among them according to their rank in the army. Yet they were not satisfied; their complaints were loud; the grievances and the merits of the army were strongly urged.

The distressed state of the American finances was highly alarming; congress was without revenue, or fiscal arrangements that promised to be sufficiently productive; without power or energy to enforce any orders until the consent of each individual state was obtained. There had been a violent opposition to a proposal for raising a revenue, by an impost of five per cent. on all goods imported from foreign countries. As this was an experiment, it was limited to twenty-five years. Had the expedient been adopted, it might have prevented many subsequent difficulties and embarrassments. Meantime, Sir Guy Carleton had taken command of the royal forces in North America. On the 25th of November, 1783, all the British troops evacuated the city of New York. General Carleton embarked the same day; and Admiral Digby sailed for England, with the remainder of the fleet, that had for many years infested the sea-coasts of America. Thus the shores of the Atlantic states, that had so long been distressed by the ravages of the British navy, were left in repose. No sufficient apology was, however, yet made for the detention of the western posts; they were long retained; and this breach of faith was afterwards attended with very important consequences. Under the frivolous pretences of non-compliance, on the part of

the United States, with some articles stipulated in the definitive treaty, a long line of posts in the western territory was still held by the British.

Washington, in full possession of the confidence of the people, the applause of his country, the love of the army, the esteem of all the friends of liberty throughout the world, disbanded his troops without inconvenience or murmur on their part. By order of the commander-in-chief, the peace was celebrated at New York on the 1st day of December, 1783; and on the twenty-third of the same month Washington resigned his commission to congress and retired to private life.

Before the separation of the army, the general took an affectionate leave of his faithful soldiers, and of each of his officers singly, at New York. His farewell to his brave associates through the perilous scenes of the war, was attended with singular circumstances of affection and attachment. His address to the army was energetic and impressive. While the sensibility of the commanderin-chief appeared in his countenance, it was reciprocated in the faces of both officers and soldiers; and in the course of this solemn farewell, tears stole down the cheeks of men of courage and har dihood, long inured to scenes of slaughter and distress, which too generally deaden the best feelings of the human heart.