Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 5.djvu/303

] considerable distance from the transports and traders, Kempenfelt adroitly made himself master of twenty sail of these vessels, and made off with them; and within a few days afterwards he captured five more of these ships. There were also other fights of minor importance.

On the 27th of November, only two days after the receipt of the news of the surrender of lord Cornwallis, parliament met. The king adverted to the unhappy event, but still declared that he should be betraying his trust, as sovereign of a free people, if he did not refuse to give up the contest; that he still trusted in Divine Providence, and he called for fresh, animated, and united exertions. He turned with more satisfaction to the successes in the East Indies, and the safe arrival of our principal mercantile fleets.



In the lords, the earl of Shelburne vehemently attacked the address, supported by the duke of Richmond and the lords Camden and Rockingham; but the most tempestuous burst of indignant eloquence from the opposition took place in the commons. Fox declared that he had listened to the address with horror and amazement. He declared himself confounded at the hardihood of ministers, after such a consummation of their imbecile management, who dared to look the house of commons in the face. He would not say that they were paid by France, for it was not possible for him to prove the fact; but, if they were not, he declared that they deserved to be, for they had served the French monarch more faithfully and successfully than ever ministers served a master. He especially singled out lord Sandwich for reprobation, as the author of the wretched condition of our fleets, which were inferior in number of ships and their appointments to those of the enemy all over the globe. He called on the house to insist on the total and immediate change of ministers, and urged the adoption of measures which should, if possible, repair the incalculable injuries they had inflicted on the nation.

Lord North replied with indignation at the suggestion of ministers being paid by France, and asked whether, because we had lost some troops in Virginia, we were to lie down