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regular attendance in Parliament. But it is equally difficult to understand why he was allowed to retain office, when all his votes on American questions were adverse to the well-known wishes of the King. Not only did he hold a civil office of considerable emolument, but in Dec. 1770 he was made Constable of the Tower, a military appointment to which at that time neither his rank in the army, nor his services in the field, gave him any strong claim.

When the war with America broke out, Lord Cornwallis was ordered to take the command of one division of the British army, and, notwithstanding his opinions of the injustice of that war, he considered that as a military man, he could not decline any employment offered to him. One great man took a different line. When Lord Pitt1 returned in 1776 from Canada, where he had been Aide-de-Camp to Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Chatham compelled him to resign his commission (an example which was followed by a few others3), and he did not permit him to re-enter the army till 1778, when France had declared war against England.

The same sense of duty which made Lord Cornwallis disregard his own political views, overcame his reluctance to quit his family, and he embarked Feb. 10, 1776, for America, with the local rank of Lieut.-General. It was rumoured at the time, that Lady Cornwallis, who was strongly averse to his going on active service, prevailed upon his uncle, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to request the King to allow Lord Cornwallis to relinquish his appointment; but that the latter, though the leave was given, peremptorily declined to avail himself of the permission. He returned to England in Jan. 1778, but sailed again from St. Helens in the Trident' on the 21st of April following. Lady Cornwallis and her children accompanied him to Portsmouth, and after his departure she

1 John Lord Pitt, afterwards, May 11, 1778, 2nd Earl of Chatham, K.G., a General, Colonel 4th Regiment, and Governor of Gibraltar; b. Sept. 10, 1756, d. Sept. 24, 1835; m. July 9, 1783, Mary Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas, 1st Viscount Sydney, First Lord of the Admiralty July, 1788, to Dec. 1794; then Privy Seal, or President of the Council, to July, 1801; then Master-General of the Ordnance to Feb. 1806, and again from April, 1807, to May, 1810. On reentering the army, March 1, 1778, he went to Gibraltar as aide-de-camp to Sir Robert Boyd, and was thus absent from his father's funeral.

2 General Sir Guy Carleton, K.B., Colonel 4th Dragoons; created Lord Dorchester Aug. 21, 1786; b. Sept. 3, 1724, d. Nov. 10, 1808; m. May 22, 1772, Maria, dau. of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Effingham. For his

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returned to Culford, where she resumed the solitary life she had led since his first departure; but grief so preyed upon her health as to bring on a kind of jaundice, of which she eventually died, Feb. 14, 1779. When Lord Cornwallis heard of her dangerous state, he threw up his command and again came to England, where he arrived a few weeks before her death.

Lady Cornwallis always declared to her confidential attendant that she was dying of a broken heart, and she requested that a thorn-tree should be planted above the vault where she was buried, as nearly as possible over her heart-significant of the sorrow which destroyed her life. She also directed that no stone should be engraved to her memory. Both wishes were complied with.'

The death of his wife changed Lord Cornwallis's intention of remaining at home, and he shortly afterwards again offered his services, which being accepted, he returned to America, and there remained until he was taken prisoner at York Town.

His civil as well as his military talents obtained for him so high a reputation that, early in 1782, Lord Shelburne was desirous of appointing him Governor-General of India. This offer he hesitated to accept, both because he was not yet released from his parole, and because he considered the powers of the GovernorGeneral too limited. Ultimately he was induced to waive his objections; but the political changes in 1783 put an end to the proposed nomination.

With the exception of a short mission to Frederick the Great3 in 1785, Lord Cornwallis was for some years unemployed, and lived principally at Culford. But when Mr. Pitt, having in the new East India Bill largely increased the powers of the Governor

The niche in the vault in which her remains were placed was closed by a plain slab of marble, not even bearing the name; which was, however, added in 1851, shortly after the funeral of the late Marchioness Cornwallis, who was also buried at Culford, though the estate had passed out of the possession of the family on the death of the last marquis in 1823. The thorn-tree was necessarily removed in March, 1855, in consequence of alterations to the church: it was carefully replanted in the churchyard, but did not live more than three years afterwards.

2 Mr. Fox, who certainly was neither personally nor politically a friend of Lord Cornwallis, thus spoke of him, on bringing in the India Bill, Nov. 18, 1783:-"A learned gentleman (Mr. Dundas) last year proposed to give the most extraordinary power to the Governor-General of Bengal; he at the same time named the person who was to fill the

office. The person was Earl Cornwallis, a person whom he (Mr. Fox) named now only for the purpose of paying homage to his great character. The name of such a man might make Parliament consent to the vesting of such powers in a Governor-General; but certain he was that nothing but the great character of that noble lord could ever induce the Legislature to commit such powers to an individual at the distance of half the globe."

3 Frederick 2nd, King of Prussia, commonly called Frederick the Great, b. Jan. 24, 1712, d. Aug. 17, 1786; m. June 12, 1732, Elizabeth, dau. of Frederick Albert 2nd, Duke of Brunswick.

4 Right Hon. William Pitt, 2nd son of William, 1st Earl of Chatham; b. May 28, 1759, d. Jan. 23, 1806, having, with two short intervals, held the offices of Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the Treasury from July, 1782, till his death.

General, again tendered that office, united to that of Commanderin-Chief, he accepted the offer and embarked for India, May 5, 1786, having very shortly before received the Order of the Garter. He had hardly returned home in 1794, with a reputation so highly and so justly increased, when he was called upon to take the command of all the allied armies on the Continent. The jealousy of Austria and Prussia-the weakness of Holland both in the cabinet and in the field-the little military talent displayed by the Duke of York, or indeed by any of the allied generals-all combined to render it advisable to give the supreme command to some man, whose position and character would inspire general confidence. The proposition to nominate Lord Cornwallis emanated from Austria. Why this scheme failed will appear in the proper place. In Feb. 1795, Lord Cornwallis was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance. Mr. Pitt had long been desirous of having his assistance in the Cabinet; and, when he was about to return from India, kept the office of Secretary of State open for him. This, however, Lord Cornwallis declined, assigning as his reason, that having no habit of public speaking, he did not feel equal to the defence of the measures of Government; but that objection did not apply to a military office.

The mutiny of the officers of the Bengal army in 1796 was considered so serious, that Lord Cornwallis, yielding to the earnest solicitations of Mr. Pitt, agreed to go again to India to quell the spirit of insubordination. After being sworn in as Governor-General, Feb. 1797, circumstances occurred which rendered it unnecessary for him to proceed on his voyage.

In 1798, the state of Ireland became most alarming; and as the Lord-Lieutenant and the Commander-in-Chief did not cordially agree, it was determined to unite the two offices in one person. Lord Cornwallis was selected for this important post, which he held till May, 1801.

Towards the close of that year, he was sent as Ambassador to France, where he negotiated the Peace of Amiens. A few subsequent years were passed in domestic life; his only son, Lord Brome, who had married, April 17, 1797, Lady Louisa Gordon, generally residing with him at Culford.

The displeasure which Lord Wellesley's3 proceedings in India

1 Frederick, Duke of York, 2nd son of George III., b. Aug. 16, 1763, d. Jan. 5, 1827, m. Sept. 29, 1791, Frederica, d. of Frederick William II., King of Prussia.

2 Fourth dau. of Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon, by Jane, dau. of Sir William Max

well, Bart., of Monreith; b. Dec. 27, 1775, d. Dec. 5, 1850.

3 Richard, 3rd Earl of Mornington, created Baron Wellesley Oct. 20, 1797, and raised to the Marquisate Dec. 2, 1799; K.G.; b. June 20, 1760, d. Sept. 26, 1842; m. 1st, Nov.

excited, both in the Government and in the Court of Directors, induced them to urge Lord Cornwallis to accept for the third time the post of Governor-General. Though advancing age and impaired health might well have excused him, he would not refuse the appointment, but embarked early in 1805. His physical powers were however overtasked; the confinement and privations of a long voyage produced their effect; his body, though not his intellect, failed. Very shortly after his arrival in India, he set out for the Upper Provinces, where his presence was greatly needed. But he was unable to proceed further than Ghazepoor, where he died, Oct. 5, 1805, in the 67th year of his age.

During many years of active service in the field, Lord Cornwallis was struck but once, and he would not then allow his name to appear in the list of wounded. Though himself devoted to his profession, he was unwilling that his only son should follow the same line. He had no grandson; but in the next generation six of his descendants embraced the military profession. Two of them had retired from the army before the war with Russia broke out. The remaining four all fell in the Crimea within the space of ten months. Two were killed at Inkerman; one3 died of wounds received in the battle of Balaclava; and the fourth was killed in the trenches, about a week previous to the fall of Sebastopol.

29, 1794, Hyacinthe, dau. of M. Pierre Roland; 2nd, Feb. 29, 1825, Marianne, dau. of Richard Caton, Esq., and widow of Robert Patterson, Esq. Lord of the Treasury from Sept. 19, 1786, to Aug. 1797; GovernorGeneral of India from Oct. 1797 to July 30, 1805; Ambassador to Spain from July to Dec. 1809; then Secretary of State to March, 1812; Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland Dec. 1821 to March, 1828, and from Sept. 1833 to Dec. 1835; Lord Steward from Nov. 1830 to Sept. 1833; and Lord Chamberlain from April to May, 1835; M.P. for Berealston, Saltash, and Windsor, from March, 1784, to May, 1796.

1 Hon. Richard Cornwallis Neville, Lieutenant and Captain Grenadier Guards, eldest son of Lord and Lady Braybrooke, b. March 17, 1820, m. Jan. 27, 1852, Charlotte, d. of Hector, 3rd Earl of Norbury. Edward, Lord Eliot, Captain 1st Life Guards, eldest son of the Earl and Countess of St. Germans, b. April 2, 1827.

Hon. Henry Aldworth Neville, Lieutenant and Captain Grenadier Guards, 3rd son of Lord and Lady Braybrooke ; b. Oct. 26,

1824; mortally wounded Nov. 5, 1854, while cheering on his men, and died that night. Hon. Granville Charles Cornwallis Eliot, 2nd son of the Earl and Countess of St. Germans, Lieutenant and Captain Coldstream Guards; b. Sept. 9, 1828; killed Nov. 5, 1854.

3 Hon. Grey Neville, Cornet 5th Dragoon Guards, 5th son of Lord and Lady Braybrooke; b. Oct. 5, 1830, d. at Scutari Nov. 11, 1854, of wounds received at Balaclava Oct. 25.

4 Charles Cornwallis Ross, Captain 3rd Regiment (the Buffs), eldest son of Charles Ross, Esq., and Lady Mary Ross, b. April 5, 1827. On the night of Aug. 31, 1855, he was engaged in posting sentries in advance of the trenches when the Russians fired upon the party. Captain Ross never returned to the camp, and all efforts at that time to learn his fate were unavailing. About a year later it was ascertained that he was carried mortally wounded into Sebastopol, and lived only long enough to give his name. His brother officers erected a monument to his memory on Cathcart's Hill.

CHAPTER II.

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Causes of the revolt of the American colonies - Congress at Philadelphia Skirmish between Royal troops and militia Evacuation of Boston - Lord Cornwallis sails in command of an expedition to America Defeat of the Americans at Brooklyn and at White Plains · Lord Cornwallis overruns Jersey Attack on Trenton by the Americans Discontent of the loyalists of Jersey Force of the two armies Battle of the Brandywine

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Lord

Cornwallis returns to England - Negotiations between France and America —— Resumes his command Returns to England on account of the illness of Lady Cornwallis - Rejoins Sir Henry Clinton at New York-State of affairs at the close of 1779.

THE events which led to the revolt of the American Colonies have been so often described, that more than a very brief outline would be superfluous. The Seven Years' War had involved England in financial difficulties, and, as many expeditions had been undertaken mainly for the benefit of the Colonies, it was not thought unreasonable that they should contribute to defray some portion of the expenditure. The Colonial agents, among whom was Franklin,' expressed no serious objection to this principle, nor did they strongly oppose the Stamp Act, which passed in 1765. In the following year the Declaratory Act was passed, and the Stamp Act repealed.

In 1767 the Duke of Grafton, or rather his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend, reproduced a scheme of taxation, which two years later, when the disaffection in America had so greatly increased, he was anxious to modify, if not to abandon altogether. But even this feeble attempt at conciliation was overruled by the Cabinet, and the Duke, with several of his colleagues, resigned. The new Administration proposed the repeal of all the taxes except that on tea;3 but such was the temper of the House,

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