1759. These two pamphlets are ascribed to Dr Shebbeare, on the authority of the writer whom they answer, supposed to be Owen Ruffhead, Esq., who says in the Postscript to Further Animadversions on the Conduct of a late Noble Commander, &c.' 8vo. 1759. "I have had the mortification to be informed, that I have stooped to reply to that very ready and abusive writer, who now lies under confinement for the most daring and scandalous of all libels; and who was an apologist for the late unhappy admiral (Byng), to whose ruin perhaps he contributed not a little, by irritating the public against the unfortunate delinquent by his lame vindications and scurrilous invectives." 'A Seventh Letter to the People of England. A Defence of the Prerogative Royal, as it was exerted in his Majesty's Proclamation for the prohibiting the Exportation of Corn; in which it is proved that this Authority ever has been, is, and must be, essential to the Constitution, and inseparable from the Rights and Liberties of the Subject.' 8vo. 1767. 'An Answer to the printed Speech of Edmund Burke, Esq. spoken in the House of Commons, April 19, 1774. In which his knowledge in polity, legislature, human-kind, history, commerce, and finance, is caudidly examined; his arguments are fairly refuted; the conduct of Administration is fully defended; and his oratoric talents are clearly exposed to view.' 8vo. 1775. 'An Essay on the Origin, Progress, and Establishment of National Society; in which the principles of Government, the definitions of physical, moral, civil, and religious Liberty contained in Dr Price's Observations, &c. are fairly examined, and fully refuted; together with a justification of the Legislature in reducing America to obedience by force. To which is added, an Appendix on the Excellent and Admirable, in Mr Burke's second printed Speech of the 22d of March, 1775.' 8vo. 1776.-He wrote frequently in the 'Public Advertiser,' and was the author of several numbers of the Monitor,' one or two papers of the Contest,' several essays in a daily paper called The Citizen,' besides many other fugitive pieces.

Fletcher Norton, Lord Grantley.

BORN A. D. 1716.-DIED A. d. 1789.

FLETCHER, the son of Thomas Norton of Grantley, in Yorkshire. was born on the 23d of January, 1716. He studied law, and acquired considerable reputation at the bar. In 1761 he was appointed solicitor-general, and also received the honour of knighthood. In 1763 he became attorney-general, but was removed from office in 1765. In 1769 he was constituted chief-justice in Eyre, south of the Trent.

On the death of Sir John Cust, speaker of the house of commons, in January, 1770, soon after the appointment of Lord North, the premier proposed Sir Fletcher Norton as the new speaker. Lord Cavendish proposed the honourable Thomas Townshend. Burke and other members of the opposition supported Townshend; but, on a division, Sir Fletcher carried his election by a majority of 237 to 121. He retained possession of the chair ten years.

On the 7th of May, 1777, when the sum of £618,000 was voted for the discharge of his majesty's debts a second time, Sir Fletcher Nor

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ton, on presenting the bill for the royal assent, addressed himself to the throne in the following memorable language:-"Your majesty's faithful commons have granted a great sum to discharge the debt of the civil list; and considering whatever enables your majesty to support with grandeur, honour, and dignity, the crown of Great Britain, in its true lustre, will reflect honour on the nation, they have given most liberally, even in these times of great danger and difficulty, taxed almost beyond our ability to bear: and they have now granted to your majesty an income far exceeding your majesty's highest wants, hoping that what they have given cheerfully, your majesty will spend wisely." The king, it has been said, did not feel offended at the bold truths and strong language in which he was addressed. A gentleman who was present says, I narrowly watched the royal eye when this speech was delivered; and declare with pleasure, I did not perceive one symptom of displeasure deranging the mild serenity and dignified softness of the Brunswick countenance." This is twaddle. The king was mortified, and deeply mortified at the well-merited rebuke he had received at the hands of the speaker, and the ministry endeavoured to gratify their royal master by moving a vote of censure against Sir Fletcher. They signally failed, however; for a motion was carried in opposition to the ministry to the effect that the speaker, in his address to the king, "did express with just and proper energy the zeal of this house for the support of the honour and dignity of the crown, in circumstances of great public charge." The thanks of the house were also given to him.

On the assembling of the next parliament, Lord George Germaine proposed that Charles Wolfran Cornwall, Esq. should take the chair. He supported his motion by alleging that the fatigues of the preceding sessions must have impaired the constitution of the late speaker, and that the house was bound, in consideration of his long, faithful services, to relieve him from the toils of office. Mr Dunning opposed the motion. He said that the late speaker was in the house, and to all appearance as fit for his duties as ever. He had expected, when the failing health of Sir Fletcher was mentioned as a reason for the motion before the house, that it would have been stated that Sir Fletcher had himself applied for leave to resign on this ground. It appeared a singular thing to him, he said, to confess, as the proposer and seconder had done, that the late speaker was the properest of all persons to fill the chair, and to move, in the same breath, that another be placed in it. An animated debate followed. Mr Thomas Townshend followed in the same strain with Dunning, and observed that the true though unavowed reason of the opposition to Sir Fletcher was his having made a speech on a mem orable occasion which did him the highest honour,-a speech which proved his impartiality as speaker, his zeal for his country, and his feeling for the national distresses. Sir Fletcher himself in his speech declared that his mind was made up not to go into the chair on any consideration; but that he saw through the shallow pretence of concern for his health, and should be an idiot indeed if he imagined that his state of health was the real cause of their moving for a new speaker, without saying a word to him upon the subject previously. He called upon ministers to tell him why he was to be thus disgracefully dismissed. If he had done what was wrong, let his crime be told and exposed

Mr Fox also spoke with great asperity against ministers; but Mr Cornwall carried his election by a majority of 203 to 134.

On the accession of the marquess of Rockingham to power, his private friend, Sir Fletcher Norton, was gratified with a peerage, by the title of Baron Grantley. He died on the 1st of January, 1789.

As a lawyer, Lord Grantley was universally admitted to be eminent; and it was remarked by Johnson, "Much may be done, if a man puts his whole mind to a particular subject. By doing so, Norton has made himself the great lawyer which he is allowed to be." The following gossiping story is related of him by Lord Orford :- "His mother lived in a mighty shabby house at Preston, which Sir Fletcher began to think not quite suitable to the dignity of one who has the honour of being his parent; he cheapened a better, in which were two pictures valued at £60; the attorney insisted on having them as fixtures for nothing; the landlord refused, the bargain was broken off, and the dowager madam remains in her original hut."

General Gage.

BORN A. D. 1721.—died A. D. 1788

THIS officer was the second son of Viscount Gage. He entered the army in early life, and in April, 1774, was appointed governor of Massachusetts in the room of Mr Hutchinson, who, finding himself unable to curb the disaffected spirits in that province, applied for leave to return home.

The day after that on which Gage entered on the duties of his governorship, a meeting was called in Boston, and a general congress determined on. The first measures of the governor were mild and conciliatory; but the delegates to the congress, which met at Philadelphia, set his authority at defiance. They met on the day appointed; deliberated with closed doors; and drew up and published a declaration of rights. General Gage now recalled the writs which he had issued for convening the general court of representatives in October, but they met in direct contempt of his authority; voted themselves into a provincial congress, with Hancock at their head; appointed a committee to present a remonstrance to the governor couched in a very daring strain; and, on his refusing to recognise them as a lawful assembly, proceeded to exercise all the functions not only of the legislative but also of the executive power. At one of their subsequent meetings, a plan was drawn up for the immediate defence of the province; magazines of ammunition and stores were provided for 12,000 militia; and an enrolment was made of minute-men,-so called from their engaging to turn out with their arms at a minute's warning. General Gage foresaw the inevitable issue of such proceedings; but still confined himself to the mildest measures that were consistent with prudence and caution. He admonished the people not to be deceived by the provincial congress, nor led by their influence to incur the penalties of sedition and rebellion; he also proceeded to fortify the narrow isthmus called Boston Neck, which connects that town with the continent, by means of which the inhabitants became in some sort hostages for the behaviour

of the rest of their countrymen; he secured such magazines as were within his reach, and spiked the cannon of some batteries so as to prevent their being serviceable to an enemy.1

The colonists, nothing daunted by the governor's remonstrances, proceeded to put themselves in the best possible posture of defence. Provisions were collected and stored in different places, particularly at Concord, about twenty miles from Boston. General Gage determined to destroy the stores which he knew were collected for the support of a provincial army. Wishing to accomplish this without bloodshed, he took every precaution to effect it by surprise, and without alarming the country. At eleven o'clock at night on the 18th of April, 800 grenadiers and light infantry, marched for Concord, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Smith. About two in the morning, 130 of the Lexington militia had assembled to oppose them; between four and five o'clock in the morning the British troops made their appearance. Major Pitcairn, who led the advanced corps, rode up to them, and called out, "Disperse, you rebels! throw down your arms and disperse !" But they still continued in a body, on which he advanced nearer, discharged his pistol, and ordered his soldiers to fire. This was done, and with this act commenced the American war. Three or four of the militia were killed on the green; a few more were shot after they had begun to disperse. The royal detachment then proceeded on to Concord, and executed their commission. In their return to Lexington they were exceedingly annoyed by the provincials who pressed on their rear, and pouring in on all sides, fired from behind stone-walls, and similar coverts, which supplied the place of lines and redoubts. At Lexington the regulars were joined by a detachment of 900 men, under Lord Piercy, which had been sent by Gage to support Colonel Smith. This reinforcement, having two pieces of cannon, kept the provincials at a greater distance, but they continued a constant though irregular and scattered fire, which did great execution. A little after sunset the regulars reached Bunker's hill, having marched that day between thirty and forty miles. On the next day they crossed Charleston ferry, and returned to Boston. The provincial congress of Massachusetts, which was in session at the time of the Lexington skirmish, despatched an account of it to Great Britain, accompanied with many depositions, to prove that the British troops were the aggressors. They also drew up an address to the inhabitants of Great Britain, in which, after complaining of their sufferings, they say, "These have not yet detached us from our royal sovereign; we profess to be his loyal and dutiful subjects; and though hardly dealt with, as we have been, are still ready, with our lives and fortunes, to defend his person, crown, and dignity. nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his evil ministry, we will not tamely submit. Appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free."

Intelligence that the British troops had marched out of Boston into the country on some hostile purpose, having been forwarded by expresses from one committee to another, great bodies of the militia, not only from Massachusetts but the adjacent colonies, marched to oppose them. Hitherto the Americans had had no regular army. From prin

Miller's History

ciples of policy they cautiously avoided that measure, lest they might subject themselves to the charge of being the aggressors. All their military transactions were carried on under the old established militialaws. For the defence of the colonies, the inhabitants had been enrolled in companies, and taught the use of arms. The laws for this purpose had never been more closely observed than for some months previous to the Lexington affair. Immediately after this encounter the forts and magazines throughout the country were for the most part taken possession of by parties of the provincial militia. Public money was also seized for common services. The provincial congress of Massachusetts voted that "an army of 30,000 men be immediately raised; that 13,600 be of their own province; and that a letter and delegate be sent to the several colonies of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode island." In consequence of this vote, the business of recruiting was begun, and in a short time a provincial army was paraded in the vicinity of Boston, which, though far below what had been voted by the provincial congress, was much superior in numbers to the royal army. The command of this force was given to General Ward.

About the latter end of May reinforcements from Great Britain arrived at Boston. Three British generals, Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton, whose behaviour in the preceding war had gained them great reputation, also arrived on the 25th of May. General Gage, thus reinforced, prepared for acting with more decision; but before he proceeded to extremities he issued a proclamation offering pardon in the king's name to all who should forthwith lay down their arms and return to their peaceable duties, excepting only Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose offences were said to be of too flagitious a nature to admit of any thing short of condign punishment. By this proclamation it was also declared, "that as the courts of judicature were shut, martial law should take place, till a due course of justice should be re-established." A considerable height at the entrance of the peninsula of Charleston, was so situated as to make the possession of it a matter of great consequence to either of the contending parties. Orders were therefore issued on the 16th of June, by the provincial commanders, that a detachment of 1000 men should intrench upon this height. By some mistake, Breed's hill, high and large like the other, but situated near Boston, was marked out for the intrenchments instead of Bunker's hill. The provincials proceeded to Breed's hill, and worked with so much diligence, that between midnight and the dawn of the morning they had thrown up a small redoubt about eight rods square. As this eminence overlooked Boston, General Gage thought it necessary to drive the provincials from it. About noon, therefore, of the 7th of June, he detached Major-general Howe, and Brigadier-general Pigot, with a large force, which carried the redoubt after sustaining great loss.

On the 15th of June, George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of all the forces raised, or to be raised, for the defence or the colonies. When General Washington joined the American army, he found the British intrenched on Bunker's hill, having also three floating batteries in Mystic river, and a twenty gun ship below the ferry, between Boston and Charleston. They had also a battery on Copse's hill, and were strongly fortified on the Neck. The Americans were intrenched at Winter hill, Prospect hill, and Roxbury, communicating