fleet of thirty-three ships of the
line until February 14, when, as he was unable to prevent the fall of
the island, he sailed away. The capture of St. Kitts and Nevis reduced
the British possessions in the West Indies to Jamaica, Antigua, and
Barbadoes. A joint attack on Jamaica was planned by France and Spain.
Rodney, however, again arrived at the Antilles with twelve ships, was
joined by Hood, and, as we shall see in the next chapter, restored the
British flag to its proper place at sea. Nearer home, Kempenfeldt, the
admiral whose tragic end is famous in Cowper's verse, dealt the enemy a
severe blow. He was sent, in December, 1781, with only twelve ships to
intercept a French fleet consisting, as the admiralty knew, or ought to
have known, of seventeen ships with a convoy bound for the West Indies.
Kempenfeldt took at least twenty of the convoy with troops and stores,
but, overmatched as he was, he was forced to let the fleet sail on. It
was dispersed by a storm shortly afterwards, and many of the ships
returned home. The loss of this convoy seriously crippled the French in
the West Indies.[161] In the Mediterranean, the garrison of St. Philips,
in Minorca, which had been besieged since August by a French and Spanish
army, was forced to surrender on February 5, after being reduced by
sickness and war from 2,692 to 600 men fit for duty, and eighty years
after its conquest the island was lost to England.

During the recess the ministers, convinced of the folly of prolonging
the war, arranged to go on without Germain. Carleton succeeded Clinton
at New York, and Germain was succeeded as third secretary of state by
the insignificant Welbore Ellis, and was created Viscount Sackville,
much to the wrath of the whig peers, who tried in vain to obtain a vote
that the presence of a cashiered officer was derogatory to the dignity
of their house. The opposition gathered strength. A powerful attack by
Fox on the administration of the navy failed by twenty-two votes, a
motion by Conway for putting an end to the American war only by one, and
a like motion was carried a few days later by a majority of nineteen.
The government then introduced a bill to enable the king to make peace,
and North sent envoys to Paris to sound Franklin as to terms. It was
evident that the end was near, and the new government was eagerly
discussed. Pitt, though acting with the opposition, took a somewhat
independent line, and announced in the house that he