by
the combined fleets of France and Spain, under Don Luis de Cordova;
fifty-five were taken and brought into Cadiz harbour, at a loss to Great
Britain of about L2,000,000, besides 1,800 soldiers who were on their
way to India.

Near home the enemies of England accomplished little. In January about
800 French soldiers landed in Jersey and surprised St. Heliers. The
island was saved by Major Pierson of the 95th, gallantly supported by
such troops and militia as he could gather at once. All the invaders
were either killed or taken prisoners, but Pierson fell at the moment of
victory. In July the combined fleets of France and Spain convoyed 14,000
troops on their way to Minorca, where they besieged Fort St. Philip,
which held out until the next year. They then sailed, forty-nine ships
of the line, into the mouth of the Channel and cruised about on the
look-out for convoys. Darby lay in Torbay with thirty ships of the
line, and they did not dare to attack him; many of their ships were
unseaworthy, and in September the fleets for a second time retreated
from the Channel without accomplishing anything. Meanwhile the Dutch
were rendered incapable of acting with them. As Admiral Hyde Parker, in
command of a squadron, was convoying the Baltic trade homeward on August
5, he met with a Dutch squadron on the Dogger Bank convoying their trade
to the north. The two squadrons were nominally nearly equal, but several
of the English ships were in bad condition. There was no manoeuvring;
both sides went at it in the old fashion, fighting ship with ship all
along the line. Both squadrons were desperately hammered, and at last
parted without definite result. The Dutch loss in men was heavy; one of
their best ships was sunk and two others totally ruined. They became
little more than spectators of the war, and their possessions in the
East, Sumatra, Negapatam, and Trincomali, fell into the hands of the
English. Parker was furious with Sandwich for sending him out with an
insufficient and badly found force. George went down to the Nore and
visited his ship in the hope of appeasing him, but the old admiral
insisted on resigning his command, and when pressed to remain, bluntly
told the king that he wished him "younger men and newer ships".

[Sidenote: _THE NEW PARLIAMENT._]

The temporary success of the opposition in the spring of 1780 showed the
king that he could no longer reckon with certainty on the support of the
house of commons. On S