438
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. x. NOV. 2s, 191*.
Latter (R. B.), Discovery of Fragments of Ancient
British and Roman Pottery in a Chalk Cavern
in Camden Park, Chislehurst (Archcsologia
Cantiana, vol. i., 1858, pp. 137-42).
Leach (A. L. ), Some Remarks on Deneholes. Pamphlet, 6 pp.
Meeson (R.), Dene-Holes at Grays Thurrock (Archaeological Journal, vol. xxvi., 1869, pp. 191- 193).
Morant (C.), History of Essex, 1768, vol. i. p. 228 ; vol. ii. p. 229.
Murray (J. A. H.), Dene-Hole: its Etymology ('N. & Q.,' 8 S. v. 427).
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Plumstead.
W. GEO. CHAMBERS.
(To be continued.)
on
George the Third and Charles Fox : the Concluding Part of the American Revolution. By Sir George Otto Trevelyan. Vol. II. (Longmans & Co., 7s. Qd. net.)
WE reviewed the first volume of this interesting work on 9 March, 1912, and here take up the story at the arrival home of Burgoyne in May, 1778, after the surrender at Saratoga. The treatment of Burgoyne may be taken as an illus- tration of the want of firmness in the councils of the nation of the slackness on the one hand and the arbitrary spirit on the other. " The King was disposed to treat his unfortunate servant with equity and consideration, and Lord George Germain had not a little difficulty in prevailing upon His Majesty to deny him ad- mission into the royal presence." A court- martial was denied to him, and it was not until the April of the following year that his friends succeeded in obtaining a Committee of the House to take into consideration the conduct of the American War. Fox stated that " during the previous summer, when the fate of the nation was at stake, and England threatened with invasion, there was not a single Cabinet Minister so near town as fifty miles," the business of the nation being left to a few clerks in London. The sittings came to an abrupt conclusion on the 29th of June, when, Sir William Howe being a few minutes late, Lord North took advantage of this " trivial incident," and, without any previous notice, and with no debate, carried a resolution to dissolve the Committee. This was a final blow to Burgoyne, who was ordered to repair to Boston, and deliver himself up to the Republican authorities as a prisoner of war.
England at this period was confronted with a situation replete with present calamity, and fraught with infinite possibilities of future danger. She had not a single avowed friend among the Governments of Europe when, with strength seriously impaired by the long contest with America, she found herself compelled to enter upon a mortal struggle with France. It is in- teresting to trace how considerable then, as now, was the part played by spies. Vergennes, when he succeeded the Due de Choiseul, had the benefit of the secret reports Choiseul had obtained,
and thus knew accurately the weak points in the
British armour, the conditions of our arsenals,
the strength of our naval armaments, the disposi-
tion, of our troops, together with the material!
resources of our North American Colonies, and tin-
political disposition of their inhabitants.
There is only a short reference to the treaty of alliance between France and the United States, as Sir George has told the story at length in th& fourth volume of ' The American Revolution,' chap, xxxviii. The credit for the treaty is awarded to Franklin, and Franklin alone; but the mission of John Adams, who, with his "outfit of the Spartan kind," "took with him the universal goodwill of Massachusetts," ii given its due weight.
The domestic affairs of the period do not fur- nish much more cheerful reading than inter- national politics, bub the details are of high interest, and Sir George Trevelyan has shown, both a happy judgment in selection and skill in. narration.
We have only space for a passing reference to the account given of the Gordon riots and the general election that followed, during which the King privately offered 3,000?. for the second seat at Arundel, and in other ways caused to bo dis- tributed bank-notes to the amount of 14,OOOL As regards the royal borough of Windsor, the King determined to have Admiral Keppel out of it, and the royal bakers, drovers, and butchers polled to a man against him. There is a tradition in the Albemarle family that the King visited the shop of a silk mercer, who was a sworn Keppelite, and said in his usual quick manner : " The Queen wants a gown, wants a gown. No Keppel ! No Keppel ! " Keppel, one of the most modest, generous, and forgiving of men, in a speech from the hustings, alluding to a rumour of the King's interference in the election, said : " This cannot be believed. It ought not to be- believed. It must not be believed." On its becoming known that he had been defeated by sixteen votes, he was at once put up for the county of Surrey, and, amid the ringing of bells- and the firing of cannon, it was announced that he had been elected by a majority of over five hundred votes.
The Government succeeded in retaining its Parliamentary majority during the twelvemonth which followed the general election, but on the 7th of March, 1781, the Prime Minister, in discharge of his function as Chancellor of the Exchequer, unfolded a Budget which proved fatal to it. The sum to be raised seems insignificant ( o us nowadays, amounting only to 12,000,0007. by loan, and 480,OOOZ. by way of lottery. Every sub- scriber of a hundred pounds was to receive a hundred and fifty pounds in Three percent Consols as well as twenty-five pounds in the Four per cents : and every subscriber of one thousand pounds was entitled to four tickets in a lottery, nominally worth twenty shillings apiece. The circum- stances attending the loan finally extinguished such popularity as the Ministry still returned among the trading classes of London. Two days after the presentation of the Budget the Govern- ment was beaten by nineteen votes, and five days afterwards Conway clinched the matter by carry- ing a declaration " that the House of Commons would consider as enemies to His Majesty, and to the country, all who advised, or attempted,.
