THE

LOYALISTS OF AMERICA

AND

THEIR TIMES:

From 1620 to 1816.

BY EGERTON RYERSON, D.D., LL.D.,

Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada from 1844 to 1876.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

TORONTO:
WILLIAM BRIGGS, 80 KING STREET EAST;
JAMES CAMPBELL & SON, AND WILLING & WILLIAMSON.
MONTREAL: DAWSON BROTHERS.
1880.

Entered, according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year One thousand eight hundred and eighty, by the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D., LL.D, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVII.

• Alliance between Congress and France not productive of the effect anticipated; efforts
  of the British Government for reconciliation with the Colonies 1-16
• Alliance deferred twelve months by France after it was applied for by Congress, until the King of France
  was assured that no reconciliation would take place between England and the Colonies 1
• Lord Admiral Howe and his brother, General Howe, Commissioners to confer with Congress with a view
  to reconciliation; their power limited; Congress refuses all conference with them, but the vast majority of
  the Colonists in favour of reconciliation 2
• Reasons of the failure of the two Commissioners 4
• New penal laws against the Loyalists 5
• Three Acts of Parliament passed to remove all grounds of complaint on the part of the Colonists, and the appointment of five Commissioners; Lord North's conciliatory speech; excitement and opposition in the
  Commons, but the bills were passed and received the royal assent 6
• Lord North's proposed resignation, and preparations for it 8
• Opinions of Lords Macaulay and Mahon as to the success of a commission; proposed terms of reconciliation
  if appointed and proposed by the Earl of Chatham 8
• The large powers and most liberal propositions of the five Royal Commissioners for reconciliation between
  the Colonies and the Mother Country 11
• The refusal of all negotiation on the part of Congress; bound by treaty to the King of France to make no
  peace with England without the consent of the French Court 12
• The three Acts of Parliament, and proposals of the five Commissioners of all that the Colonists had desired
  before the Declaration of Independence; but Congress had transferred allegiance from England to France,
  without even consulting their constituents 12
• Appeal of the representative of France to the Canadians to detach Canada from England (in a note) 12
• Sycophancy of the leaders of Congress to France against England 13
• The feeling of the people in both England and America different from that of the leaders of Congress 14
• The war more acrimonious after the alliance between Congress and the Kingof France and the failure
  of the British Commissioners to promote reconciliation between Great Britain and the Colonies 16

CHAPTER XXVIII.

• Complete Failure of the French Fleet and Army, under Count D'Estaing, to assist
  the Congress 17-32
• Count D'Estaing arrives in America with a powerful fleet and several thousand soldiers 17
• Anchors off Sandy Hook for eleven days; goes to Long Island by Washington's advice, and sails up
  Newport River, whither he is pursued by the Lord Admiral Howe with a less powerful fleet; the ships,
  with 4,000 French soldiers and 10,000 Americans, to land and attack the British on Long Island, who