ations that had been ill-combined;
the squadrons entered port again. The Duke of Crillon, who commanded the
besieging force, weary of investing the fortress, made a proposal to the
commandant to give the place up to him: the offers were magnificent, but
Colonel Murray answered indignantly: "Sir, when the king his master
ordered your brave ancestor to assassinate the Duke of Guise, he replied
to Henry III., Honor forbids! You ought to have made the same answer to
the king of Spain when he ordered you to assassinate the honor of a man
as well born as the Duke of Guise or yourself. I desire to have no
communication with you but by way of arms." And he kept up the defence
of his fortress, continually battered by the besiegers' cannonballs.
Assault succeeded assault: the Duke of Crillon himself escaladed the
ramparts to capture the English flag which floated on the top of a tower:
he was slightly wounded. "How long have generals done grenadiers' work?"
said the officers to one another. The general heard them. "I wanted to
make my Spaniards thorough French," he said, "that nobody might any
longer perceive that there are two nationalities here." Murray at last
capitulated on the 4th of February, 1782: the fortress contained but a
handful of soldiers exhausted with fatigue and privation.

Great was the joy at Madrid as well as in France, and deep the dismay in
London: the ministry of Lord North could not stand against this last
blow. So many efforts and so many sacrifices ending in so many disasters
were irritating and wearing out the nation. "Great God!" exclaimed
Burke, "is it still a time to talk to us of the rights we are upholding
in this war! Oh! excellent rights! Precious they should be, for they
have cost us dear. Oh! precious rights, which have cost Great Britain
thirteen provinces, four islands, a hundred thousand men, and more than
ten millions sterling! Oh! wonderful rights, which have cost Great
Britain her empire upon the ocean and that boasted superiority which made
all nations bend before her! Oh! inestimable rights, which have taken
from us our rank amongst the nations, our importance abroad and our
happiness at home, which have destroyed our commerce and our
manufactures, which have reduced us from the most flourishing empire in
the world to a kingdom circumscribed and grandeur-less! Precious rights,
which will, no doubt, cost us all that we have left!" The debate was
growing more and more bitt