64. The Response in Britain

Yorktown was surely “the surrender heard round the world.” Rejoicing abounded throughout the United States and France, while in stunned Great Britain Lord North exclaimed: “Oh, God! it’s all over.” To aggravate the intense dismay in England, the surrender came at a time when Britain was suffering other great losses in the worldwide war against France and Spain: the losses of West Florida, Minorca, Tobago and St. Eustatius in the West Indies, defeats in India, and naval threats in the British channel. It became shatteringly clear to the British that the war against America could not be won; an agonizing reappraisal was evidently in order.

The British opposition to the war had begun to intensify during 1780, and opponents made effective use among the country gentry of the swelling taxes and national debt incurred by the war. By late 1780, the opposition was able to use Cornwallis’ reversals, especially the one at King’s Mountain, as an effective argument; the government replied again with sentimental appeals concerning the supposed mass of American Tories who would be left in the lurch by a British withdrawal. It also played upon the common fear of gains by France. But now the country gentry and other independent members of Parliament recognized the collapse of both the southern strategy and the Tory myth, and the enormous government expense that would be needed to carry on the war was apparent to all. Furthermore, the argument about France now cut the other way, for unless peace were made with America, more imperial territory might yet be lost to France—and to Spain.

The impact of Yorktown upon Great Britain was all the more shocking for the vaunting optimism that Lord George Germain, the war leader and ultrahardliner, had displayed throughout 1781. Throughout that year, he had insisted that the Americans were about to collapse at any moment. Even many of his opponents believed him; was he not the most knowledgeable person in Britain about the American war? But with Yorktown this myth was shattered.

King George, of course, was indomitable; still he babbled the hard line: “The prosecution of the war can alone preserve us from a most ignominious peace.” At his side was Benedict Arnold, whose career would be shattered by Britain’s making peace with the United States. Arnold repeated the discredited opinion about imminent victory and the Tory masses in America, but this time nobody listened. One by one the Tories soon began to resign from the cabinet—and the prosecution of the war. The lord advocate, Henry Dundas, who had earned the nickname “Starvation” by his zeal to starve out Boston in 1774, now despaired of the war and resigned from the cabinet, as did Richard Rigby. In contrast, the Whigs exulted in the defeat at Yorktown; Horace Walpole declared, “Whatever puts an end to the American war will save the lives of thousands—millions of money too.” Lord Derby even began to talk exuberantly of “scaffolds” for the king and his ministers.

By Christmas of 1781, most of the country gentry opposed continuing the war. The end of the British war effort now seemed inevitable; within the cabinet, the great stumbling block to peace remained Lord Germain, who evolved his own domino theory: the loss of America would lead inexorably to the loss of the West Indies, the American trade and the West Indies trade; ultimately, peace would mean “that we can never continue to exist as a great or powerful nation after we have lost or renounced the sovereignty of America.” It was clear, however, that if the king wished to save the North ministry from collapse, Germain would have to go, and many weeks were spent at the king’s insistence on continuing Germain’s policy through his successors, if not with the man himself. In private, North was pessimistic about the war. In December, he asked Parliament to do nothing that would hinder peace negotiations, and jettisoning Germain was to be part of this phased retreat. Germain was finally ousted in early February 1782, to be replaced by the veteran technician Welbore Ellis.

With King George stubbornly refusing either to abandon the war or to allow the North ministry to fall, the administration fought a delaying action against the opposition. But as soon as Germain was ousted, Charles James Fox launched a campaign in Parliament for removal of the Earl of Sandwich from the Admiralty. The prolonged and futile defense of Sandwich mobilized the opposition, until Fox was able to push through Parliament the crucial resolution of February 27, which declared against further prosecution of the war. On this vote, many of the king’s friends deserted him. Finally, on May 4, the House declared sternly that all who wished to prosecute or even advise the prosecution of any further offensive operations in America were to be considered enemies of their country. The war policy was finished.

From this victory the opposition proceeded to the ultimate step in ending the war effort: smashing the remains of the North ministry. With the government’s shaky Parliamentary majority dwindling daily and the country gentry rapidly deserting, Lord Rockingham insisted that he would not enter any coalition. He would take the prime mipistry only if granted full power to name his own ministers, to enact economic reform in cutting the budget, and to grant independence to America. He had wisely absorbed the lesson of his party theoretician, Edmund Burke, that it was necessary to have a clear-cut and firm program for the party as well as sole responsibility of the ministry for carrying it out. The king wildly muttered about abdication, but North in despair finally prevailed upon the king to accept his resignation on March 20. In abject surrender, King George was forced to replace him with his worst enemy, Lord Rockingham, one week later. The military phase of the American conflict was over; the conclusion of the war was now in the hands of the diplomats.

The triumph of Rockingham was the triumph of the Burke principle of party: the importance of remaining true to party principles and not accepting coalitions with groups of Tories. By remaining true to a program of “economical reform” and peace with an independent United States, Rockingham forced the king to turn to him to provide an alternative regime when the policy of war and high spending broke down. The only exception was Earl Shelburne and his followers. Under Rockingham, Whigs poured into government; the leader of the old Chathamite forces, Shelburne was the Whigs’ only—and fatal—concession to the concept of coalition. The accession of Rockingham marked the definitive turn in Britain from the rule of the king and his friends to the rule of Parliament, as well as the corollary turn from the mere factional rule of personal cliques to a government of definite and demarcated political parties.

The Rockingham ministry swiftly abolished the post of secretary of state for the American department and two critically important figures took their places under Prime Minister Rockingham: Fox as foreign secretary, and Shelburne in charge of home, Irish, and colonial affairs as secretary of state for the southern department. As commander-in-chief for America, the new ministry confirmed North’s decision to replace the discredited Clinton with Sir Guy Carleton, the old hero of the Canadian campaign.

The entire new cabinet was united in deciding on military strategy. While peace was being negotiated, the British army was to be completely evacuated from the United States and transferred to Halifax or the West Indies. Shortages and inefficiencies in handling supplies and transports, however, delayed the evacuation. Savannah was evacuated on July 11, 1782, and its force moved to Charleston; the latter was evacuated on December 14, 300 British ships carrying out of the harbor a multitude consisting of the British army, about 4,000 Tories, and about 5,000 of their Negro slaves. By the time peace was declared, only New York City was left in British hands.