their country, along with their refpective regiments of militia; and were generally, and, as it was afterwards faid, defignedly, ftationed at a great distance from their conftituents and local interefts. Many perfons, however, deeply lamented, and obferved with great apprehenfion, the means derived from the late riots, of throwing the civil authority of the nation into difrepute, and of fpreading an opinion, that the military power was neceflary to the support of the laws and government, and to the domeftic fecurity of the people. To obviate this effect, affociations were formed in the metropolis, and elsewhere; the inhabitants purchafing arms, and acquiring fuch a degree of knowledge in their exercise and use, as would be neceffary for the future prefervation of the public peace, and for rendering all intervention of the army unneceffary. This fpirit fpread confiderably; and the meafure of providing arms, and being at all times ready to fupport the civil authority, was held out as an act of constitutional duty and neceffity. Nor did the petitioning counties entirely fink under the preient torrent of public opinion, nor refign themselves to the impreffions of apprehenfion and terror which now prevailed. A numerous meeting Aug. 2. of the Yorkshire com1780. mittee of affociation, compofed of fome of the principal gentlemen of that great county, came to feveral very fpirited refolutions on this fubject:-To exculpate themfelves and their defgns from any the least intention or tendency to produce diforder and confufion; and to treat all infinuations to the contrary, from whatever quarter they might have been derived, as defamatory tuggeftions, contrived to deter the affociated bodies from the profecution of their juft and neceffary plan of public reformation :-To aflert, that the ufe of arms for the prefervation of order and public peace, was not only a right in every citizen, but a duty impofed upon them by the exprefs letter of the law-To condemn the orders rafhly iffued in London for difarming the inhabitants, as unconftitutional and illegal:-To enter a kind of proteftation against the interference of the military in the fuppreffion of riots, not under the direction of the civil magiftrate, but at the difcretion of the commanding officer:-And, that however the order for the difcretionary interference of the military in the fuppreflion of the late riots in the metropolis, might have been unavoidable, through the greatnefs of the danger, and the intimidation of the magistracy; yet the extenfion of fimilar orders to the army in other parts of the kingdom, where no fuch danger exifted, and where no reluctance in the magiftracy to the perform ance of their duty appeared or was fufpected, could not be defended. The county of Middlesex, some time after, adopted, verbatim, the refolutious of the county of York; and they were likewife adopted by the city of London, excepting only that, which conveyed a reflection, on her own magiftracy. They were in time more or lefs adopted, or fimilar ones propofed, by other other public bodies. But the county of Huntingdon went farther than any other. In the firft place they inftructed their reprefentatives to make an enquiry in parliament, by whofe advice the orders iffued to the military in the metropolis, had been extended to various parts of the kingdom, and fo long continued, contrary to the common course of law? and that they fhould take fuch fteps, as were beft fuited to prevent fuch unconftitutional and dangerous or ders from being iffued in future. The next refolution was expreffed in the following words That "it be recommended to every "house-keeper to have proper arms, fuch as musket and bay"onet, and to be ready and expert in the use of them; to be prepared against all emergencies that may arife from any "attack of our many furrounding "enemies, or any invafion of our rights and liberties." " As the late impreffions produced by the riots, were by degrees weakened, and gave place to a jealoufy of the difcretionary power in the army, of acting independently of the civil authority, it became a fubject of murmur and complaint; and in that state of temper, feveral of the affociations which had been armed and formed for the purpofe of affifting the civil magiftrate in the prefervation of peace and order, received applaufe and thanks from different public bodies. The attention to other national concerns revived along with this jealousy. Yorkshire appointed three delegates to attend in London during the enfuing feffion, in order to communicate with those of other counties and corpo rations, and by mutual aid and advice, to give fupport and efficacy to their petitions. Much complaint and cenfure was thrown out by feveral of these bodies upon the conduct of the House of Commons in the laft feffion. The Devonfhire committee, expreffing themfelves in rather stronger terms than fome others, fay, that they find themfelves under a neceflity of declaring, that nothing had hitherto been done by parliament towards effecting the ends required by the petitions, notwithstanding that the refolutions of the commons themfelves acknowledged the juftness of the prayers of thofe petitions. Yet, fay they, instead of proceeding to that reform, the very influence complained of was exerted, either to reject in the first instance, or to baffle in its progrefs, every propofition that was offered to the confideration of parliament, for effecting the ends propofed. Similar obfervations were made by other committees. Several of the affociated or petitioning bodies, after great applaufe to Mr. Burke and other gentlemen, for their attempts in the late feffion, and a declaration that they could not hope for any effectual redrefs, with refpect to the grofs abuses in the raising and expenditure of the public money, from the endeavours of the commiffioners of accounts, requested him to bring forward his bill of reform in the enfuing fetfion of parliament. The proclamation for diffolving the parliament Sept. 1ft. operated like a thunder 1780. clap, with refpect to fuddenness and furprife, on thofe who were not in the fecret. A new proro 142] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1781. gation had taken place within a 113 new men obtained feats in parliament. The poverty of the times, operating along with the general hoplefinefs which now prevailed, that any oppofition in parliament would be capable of producing a beneficial alteration in the conduct of public affairs, had both together to powerful an effect, that candidates were not to be found, who would fupport the ufual expentive contefts of the counties. No general election, perhaps for a century produced fo little e ce in that refpec. Se veral n ...of the late pula ment, who, although they did not take the trouble of declaring their fentiments to the public, were tired of a conftant fruitless attendance and oppofition, either determined to retire entirely from public bufinefs, or grew very indifferent as to the event of their elections. The general venality which now appeared among the electors, and that contempt of their own declarations and refolutions, as well as of all paft faithful fervice, which it produced, could not fail highly to disguft many, and to render them ftill more hopclefs of public affairs. They peevithly faid, that whatever fmall degree of public fpirit and virtue ftill remained among the people was entirely evaporated in words; and whenever the touchftone was applied, their venality would not only appear predominant, but would prove to be their only principle. It does not frequently happen, that the accidents which befal individuals, fhould produce any great effect upon the political conduct or fituation of states, and fill lefs upon the general state of The capture of public affairs. Mr. Laurens, late Prefident of the Congrefs, on his palage from America, was however one of those fingular inftances, in which the political fituation of no fmall part of Europe feemed confiderably affected by the fortune of a fingle man. It was the occafion, if not the caufe, of the precipitate rupture between Great Britain and Holland, and of that friendship and alliance which had for fo many years bound together thofe neighbouring maritime and Proteftant powers. That which had been been confidered as the fecond maritime power, and more than once boldly fupported her claim to the empire of the fea, which had fo long participated in the interefts and glory of England, was now added to a combination, avowedly formed to reduce, if not entirely to annihilate, her naval power. Mr. Laurens being bound from Philadelphia, in a Congrefs packet, on an embaffy to Holland, was taken in the beginning of September on the banks of Newfoundland, by the Vefal frigate, commanded by Captain Keppel. The package which contained his papers had been thrown overboard, but its bulk preventing it from fuddenly finking, it was faved by the boldness and dexterity of a British feaman, and most of the papers recovered from the effects of the water. Upon his arrival in England, he was committed as a ftate priOct. 6th. foner, and upon a charge of high treafon, to the Tower of London, under a warrant or order figned by the three fecretaries of flate. Ife is faid, upon his examination before the minifters, to have claimed the privilege of his fituation, in cautioutly declining to answer any queftions whofe tendency he could not immediately perceive, fo that little other information was obtained from him than an acknow ledgement of his name, and of his late condition as President of the Congrefs. But this defect was abundantly fupplied by his papers. The mott important, however, of thefe, and which produced the fubfequent effect, were the papers relating to an eventual treaty of amity and commerce between America and Holland, which had been in agitation for more than two years paft, and to which Mr. Laurens was furnished with power, to put the finishing hand. Among these was a draught of the treaty, which was, however, only to take effect when the independence of Ame rica fhould be acknowledged by Great Britain, or confirmed at a peace. The negociators on the fide of Holland, were M. Van Berkel, penfionary and counsellor to the city of Amsterdam (an office of great weight and power), with other members of the regency, affifted by fome great commercial houfes of that city. It does not appear that the ftates general were at all confulted upon, or concerned in, the tranfaction; fo that it was more properly a provifinal treaty with the ftates of that city, or at moft with the province of Holland, than with the united provinces at large. But Amfterdam depended upon her own weight and influence, including that of the province in which the bears fo fupreme a fway, together with the public advantages to be derived from the treaty, as fully competent to the purpofe of obtaining its ratification, when the proper feafon arrived; and it feems that the Americans confidered this fecurity as fully fufficient. We have formerly fhewn, that the Dutch in general, even at the very commencement of the troubles, much difapproved of the harth meatures, which were then in contemplation or purfuit with respect to America. Many, if not most of thefe, were at that time well affected to Great Britain, and and lamented upon her own account, as well as that of the Proteftant and maritime interests in general, the dangerous tendency, as they held it, of that conduct which the had now adopted; but they likewife, at the fame time, feit greatly for the calamities which were falling, or likely to fall, upon the British Americans; and could not but deeply fympathize with a people, whofe fituation bore fo near a resemblance to what once had been their own. It was much more upon these principles, than upon any that were inimical to Great Britain, that the Scotch regiments were refufed in the beginning of the contest. But thefe feelings being continually irritated by the aggravations of the war, what at firft feemed to be only a friendly concern or blame for wrong-doing, by degrees degenerated into a fettled diflike; and thofe under its influence, continually fell in with and strengthened the French party, who were acting upon principles directly oppofite to thofe which had originally operated with themselves. Other caufes concurred in the fame effect. A harth remonstrance from the court of London, which was reprefented as holding a domineering and arbitrary language, unfitting to be offered to fovereign and independent ftates, inftead of intimidation, excited nothing but refentment. Some jealoufy of the views of the ftadtholder, fomented by the French faction, had for fome time been gaining great ground; and it being fuppofed that he would be fupported in thefe by the court of London, that circumftance ferved not a little to loofen the bonds of union between both nations. The recent circumftances of ex amining and bringing in the Dutch convoy under Count Byland, in the beginning of the year, and the royal proclamation iffued in London on the 17th of April, in confequence of the failure of the states general, in not furnishing the fuccours ftipulated by treaty to Great Britain, are fresh in every memory, and were stated in our last volume. Thus circumftances of irritation and jealoufy, were continually acumulating on both fides, until the prefent event brought things to their ultimate point of decifion. Sir Jofeph Yorke immediately preffed the business in ftrong memorials to the ftates general, and after ftating the clandeftine correfpondence which, it now appeared from Mr. Laurens's papers, the ftates of Amfterdam had long carried on with the American rebels, and the inftructions and powers which they had given, for entering into a treaty with thofe rebels, although they were the natural fubjects of a fovereign to whom the republic was joined by the ftricteft ties of friendship, he then demanded, in the name of the king, his master, not only a formal difavowal of fo irregular conduct, but alfo infifted on speedy fatisfaction, adequate to the offences, and the punishment of the Penfionary Van Berkel and his accomplices, as difturbers of the public peace, and violators of the rights of nations. An immediate antwer not being given, the British ambatfador continued to prefs the matter closely |