elf, are at all adequate to
excuse these most blamable words. When, however, he was called upon to
vindicate them, Lord Rawdon declared that many of his threats were meant
only 'to act on the fears and prejudices of the vulgar,' and by no means
to be carried into practical effect."[44]

During the latter part of the year there were various skirmishes and
battles between volunteer parties of Independents, under such leaders as
Sumpter and Clarke, and detachments of the British army, with various
success, but nothing which affected the supremacy of the royal cause,
though the moral influence of it was widely weakened by the arbitrary
policy of the British commanders and the conduct of the British troops.
The prospects of the revolution were very gloomy,[45] and its leaders
were much disheartened. In these circumstances of depression and
despondency, an earnest appeal was made to France for men and money,[46]
and the transactions following show that the appeal was not made in
vain, and that French ships and troops were the main instruments in
deciding the battle which was followed by the acknowledgment of American
Independence.[47]

Mr. Hildreth, referring to the close of this year, says: "So far,
indeed, as related to America, Great Britain had good reason to be
satisfied with the late campaign. Georgia was entirely subdued, and the
royal government re-established. The possession of Charleston, Augusta,
Ninety-Six, and Camden, supported by an army in the field, secured
entire control over all the wealthy parts of South Carolina. North
Carolina was full of Tories, anxiously awaiting the approach of
Cornwallis. The three Southern States were incapable of helping
themselves, and those further north, exhausted and penniless, were
little able to send assistance. It seemed as if the promises so often
made by Lord George Germaine's American correspondents were now about to
be fulfilled, and the rebel colonies to sink beneath the accumulated
pressure of this long-protracted struggle."[48]

Thus, at the close of 1780, the military conflicts were almost
invariably successful on the side of the British; the resources of the
revolutionists in both money and men were exhausted, and their hopes of
success utterly extinguished without foreign aid. But though the British
were successful on the fields of battle, they everywhere lost in the
confidence, esteem, and affections of the people, even of the Loyalists.
Yet the prospects of the