[440] In the original, March 20. On the afternoon of March 20 Lord North announced in the House of Commons ’that his Majesty’s Ministers were no more.’ Parl. Hist. xxii. 1215.
[441] Pr. and Med. p. 209 [207]. BOSWELL.
[442] See ante, ii. 355, iii. 46, iv. 81, 100. Mr. Seward records in his Biographiana, p. 600—without however giving the year—that ’Johnson being asked what the Opposition meant by their flaming speeches and violent pamphlets against Lord North’s administration, answered: “They mean, Sir, rebellion; they mean in spite to destroy that country which they are not permitted to govern."’
[443] In the previous December the City of London in an address, writes Horace Walpole, ’besought the King to remove both his public and private counsellors, and used these stunning and memorable words:—"Your armies are captured; the wonted superiority of your navies is annihilated, your dominions are lost." Words that could be used to no other King; no King had ever lost so much without losing all. If James II. lost his crown, yet the crown lost no dominions.’ Journal of the Reign of George III, ii. 483. The address is given in the Ann. Reg. xxiv. 320. On Aug. 4 of this year Johnson wrote to Dr. Taylor:—’Perhaps no nation not absolutely conquered has declined so much in so short a time. We seem to be sinking. Suppose the Irish, having already gotten a free trade and an independent Parliament, should say we will have a King and ally ourselves with the House of Bourbon, what could be done to hinder or overthrow them?’ Mr. Morrison’s Autographs, vol. ii.
[444] In February and March, 1771, the House of Commons ordered eight printers to attend at the bar on a charge of breach of privilege, in publishing reports of debates. One of the eight, Miller of the Evening Post, when the messenger of the House tried to arrest him, gave the man himself into custody on a charge of assault. The messenger was brought before Lord Mayor Crosby and Aldermen Wilkes and Oliver, and a warrant was made out for his commitment. Bail was thereupon offered and accepted for his appearance at the next sessions. The Lord Mayor and Oliver were sent to the Tower by the House. Wilkes was ordered to appear on April 8; but the Ministry, not daring to face his appearance, adjourned the House till the 9th. A committee was appointed by ballot to inquire into the late obstructions to the execution of the orders of the House. It recommended the consideration of the expediency of the House ordering that Miller should be taken into custody. The report, when read, was received with a roar of laughter. Nothing was done. Such was, to quote the words of Burke in the Annual Register (xiv. 70), ’the miserable result of all the pretended vigour of the Ministry.’ See Parl. Hist. xvii. 58, 186.
[445] Lord Cornwallis’s army surrendered at York Town, five days before Sir Henry Clinton’s fleet and army arrived off the Chesapeak. Ann. Reg. xxiv. 136.