Prime
Minister..... Efforts of the Opposition against the New
Ministry.

{A.D. 1782}

RECENT EVENTS ON THE THEATRE OF WAR.

It having been ascertained that the French government had sent out a
naval armament with large supplies for the East and West Indies, Admiral
Kempenfelt was despatched for the purpose of intercepting them. The
squadron with which Kempenfelt was intrusted was not sufficiently
powerful for the object of his expedition; but having met the enemy's
ships dispersed by a gale of wind off Ushant, he succeeded in capturing
twenty transports laden with ordnance, stores, and troops, with which he
returned to port. This success, however, was quickly followed by news of
sad reverses, and increased dangers and difficulties. St. Eustatius was
taken by the French; Gibraltar was hard pressed by the Spaniards; the
British possessions in the West Indies were in imminent peril from the
French arms; and finally Minorca was lost. This latter event took place
on the 5th of February, when General Murray, from want of sufficient
force to withstand the besiegers, and from the sickness which
prevailed among the few troops he had under his command, was obliged
to capitulate. His real position may be gathered from a letter which
he wrote a few days after. "Perhaps," said he, "a more noble, or a
more tragical scene was never exhibited, than that of the march of
the garrison of St. Philip's through the Spanish and French armies. It
consisted of no more than six hundred old decrepit soldiers, two hundred
seamen, one hundred and twenty-five of the royal artillery, twenty
Corsicans, and twenty-five Greeks, Turks, Moors, Jews, &c. The two
armies were drawn up in two lines, the battalions fronting each other,
forming a way for us to march through: they consisted of 14,000 men, and
reached from the glacis to George Town, where our battalions laid down
their arms, declaring they had surrendered them to God alone, having the
consolation to know the victors could not plume themselves in taking an
hospital. Such were the distressing features of our men, that many of
the Spanish and French troops shed tears as they passed them." Crillon
himself was touched with pity and admiration; and he atoned for his
previous fault in endeavouring to bribe General Murray, by treating
the vanquished with great humanity; causing them to be attended by his
surgeons, and providing for their comfort. These reverses had a great
effect upon