he repeated thofe fignals properly, and that the calling his and vice- admiral Sir Robert "Harland's divifion into my wake " in the evening, was not for the purpose of renewing the battle "at that time, but to be in readi"nefs for it in the morning; that, "in obedience to the faid fignals, fuch of the fhips of Sir Hugh *Pallifer's divifion as were in "condition for it, did immediately bear down, as did the reft fo "foon as they were able; fo that "Sir Hugh Pallifer and his whole "divifion were all in my wake accordingly the next morning "before day-light, ready for engaging." Votes of Thanks of the two Houses of Parliament, and of the City of London, to the Hon. Admiral Auguftus Keppel. (COPY) SIR, have the fatisfaction to have I received the commands of the Houfe of Lords, nemine Diffentiente, to tranfmit to you the thanks of their lordships for your conduct in defending this kingdom, protecting Die Martis, 16 Februarii, 1779. Ordered, nemine Diffentiente, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament affembled, That the thanks of this House be given to the Hon. Admiral Aguftus Keppel, for his diftinguifhed courage, conduct and ability in defending this kingdom in the courfe of the laft fummer, effectually protecting its trade, as far as his command extended, and more particularly for his having glorioufly upheld the honour of the British flag on the 27th and 28th of July laft; and that the Lord Chancellor do caufe the fame to be tranfmitted to the faid admiral. ASHLEY COWPER, My Lord, The very diftinguished notice which the Houfe of Lords has been pleafed to take of my fervices in the courfe of the last fummer, confers on me the highest honour; the the advantages which their lordThips have thought worthy of their thanks, are due to God's bleffing, to the gallant behaviour of many great and able officers who have ferved in the fleet, and to the bravery of the feamen. I can only fay, that the warmest gratitude for this great honour and favour will make me ever defirous of meriting it by the moft ftrenuous endeavours to ferve my country. I beg leave to return your lordfhip my best thanks for the flattering and polite manner in which you have been pleased to communicate to me the refolution of the House. I have the honour to be, with much respect, Your lordship's moft obedient, and very humble fervant, A. KEPPEL. Audley-Square, (COPY) Jovis 18° Die Februarii, 1779Admiral Keppel being come to the Houfe; Mr. Speaker acquainted him, that the Houfe had, on the 12th inftant, ordered that the thanks of this Houfe be given to him, for his diftinguifhed courage, conduct, and ability, in defending this kingdom in the course of the laft fummer, effectually protecting its trade, and more particularly for his having gloriously upheld the honour of the British flag on the 27th and 28th of July laft; and Mr. Speaker gave him the thanks of the Houfe accordingly, as followeth, viz. Admiral Keppel, This House have done you the diftinguished honour of ordering their thanks to be given to you; an honour never conferred but upon extraordinary merit; which thanks it is my duty to communi- . cate to you in your place. After having fat fo long in this chair, I hope it is unneceffary to declare that I have been always happy to obey the orders of the Houfe; and I have now a particular fatisfaction in that obedience. -Indeed, every generous mind muft feel fatisfaction, when the day of honourable acquittal fuc ceeds to the day of fevere trial; and this pleasure was, I believe, never more general, nor more fincere, than upon the prefent occafion. You, Sir, was called by your Sovereign, with the approbation of all defcriptions of men, particularly thofe of your own profeffion, to a station of the utmoft difficulty, and of the highest importance. The fafety of this country, and the honour of the British flag, were trufted in your hands, when the enemy was expected upon our coaft; and, notwithstanding the and momentous truft, you was acmoft able difcharge of this great cufed of misconduct and neglect of duty. But, after a very long and refpect the best qualified to judge, full investigation, by men in every that charge appeared to be illgrounded and malicious; and your judges have unanimously and honourably acquitted you, and have further added, that your conduct laft, was that of a judicious, brave, on the 27th and 28th days of July and experienced officer. Surely then it cannot be matter of furprize that extraordinary marks of respect and esteem are fhewn to fuch a character. We now know with certainty that our confidence in you you was not mifplaced; and we entertain a well-grounded hope that there ftill remain amongst the naval officers talents and abilities fully equal to this dangerous crifis. Amidst this general joy, I cannot help repeating the fingular pleafure which I feel in giving you the thanks of this Houfe, which I now do, for your diftinguished courage, conduct, and ability, in defending this kingdom in the course of the last summer, effectually protecting its trade, and more particularly for your having glofiously upheld the honour of the British flag on the 27th and 28th of July laft. Upon which Admiral Keppel faid, Mr. Speaker, It is impoffible, by any expreffions I can ufe, to do juftice to my feel ings of gratitude to the Houfe, for the honour they have done me by their approbation of my conduct. The good opinion of my fellow citizens, expreffed by the reprefentatives of the nation, cannot but be received by me as a moft acceptable addition to the fatisfaction I felt in the recent fentence, to which you have been pleased to allude, of a court martial; the refult of a full and deliberate inquiry, expreffive of their fentiments of the fubject referred to their examination, in terms equally honourable to themfelves and to me, The pleasure I feel at this moment is not a little heightened by the unavoidable recollection of the very different emotions I felt when I was laft in this Houfe, and in this place. I fhould be guilty of great injuftice, if, on an occafion like the. prefent, I neglected to inform this Houfe, that my efforts for the public fervice, in the inftances in which the House has been pleased to diftinguish them, were moft zealously feconded by many as gallant and able officers as the navy of England ever produced; to whofe attention and fpirit, next to the divine providence, the fuccefs of thefe efforts ought to be in a great meafure afcribed. I cannot fit down without returning to you, Sir, perfonally, my particular thanks, for the very obliging terms in which you have executed the commands of the House. On Saturday the 20th of Feb. the committee appointed to prefent of the city, having waited on him Admiral Keppel with the freedom at his houfe; Mr. Crosby, the fenior alderman, addreffed him in at his houfe; Mr. Crosby, the fethe following manner : "Admiral Keppel, "The citizens of London, amidft the acclamations of a grateful people, beg leave to express their joy on your honourable ac quittal from a very heavy and fevere charge of neglect and mifconduct on the 27th and 28th of July laft; a charge which appeared on your trial to be ill-founded and malicious. "The committee, Sir, who now have the honour to wait on you by order of the lord mayor, aldermen, and commons of the city of London, in common council affembled, are happy in this opportunity to teftify their approbation of your conduct in the many fignal fervices done to your country. "I think, Sir, I cannot exprefs their fentiments better, than by reading to you the unanimous refolutions of the court of common council." Plumbe, Mayor. Refolved unanimously, That the thanks of this court be given to the Honourable Auguftus Keppel, admiral of the blue, for his long and faithful fervices to this, country; for his ready acceptance, at the call of his Sovereign, of the important charge of commander of the British fleet in time of immi. nent danger; for the anxious at tention that appears in every inftance of his conduct, to the fafety of this country; for his judicious, able, and fpirited behaviour on the 27th of July laft, in his attack on the French fleet; for his glorious and gallant efforts to renew the engagement in the afternoon of that day; efforts rendered unfuccefsful through the want of obedience to his orders by the viceadmiral of the blue; for the great protection given by him to our trade, to which entirely we are indebted for the fafe arrival of the Eaft and Weft India fleets; for his animating conduct and example, happily followed by fuch fignal exertion of fpirit and intrepidity in the officers and feamen of the British fteet, as conveyed terror to our enemies, and obliged them to feek fhelter in their own ports by an ignominious flight. Refolved unanimoufly, That the freedom of this city be prefented in a box, made of heart of oak, with a proper device, ornamented and embellished with gold, to the Hon. Auguftus Keppel, admiral of the blue, as a teflimony of the very high refpect and gratitude which the members of this court entertain of his long and faithful fervices to his country. RIX. Admiral Keppel's answer. "I receive, with the greatest fenfe of gratitude, the approbation which the city of London has been. pleafed to fhew of my endeavours to ferve my King and country. The conftitutional zeal which this great city has ever teftified for the liberties of this kingdom, and for the fucceffion in his Majefty's Royal Houfe, renders every mark of their regard a very high honour. I am happy, that the care of many excellent officers and brave feamen, under my command laft fummer, has contributed to the prefervation of their trade, which makes fo large a part of the national interest." Extract of a Letter from LieutenantGeneral Burgoyne to his Conftituents, upon his late "Refignation; with the Correfpondence between him and the Secretaries of War, relative to his return to America. Lieut. Gen. Burgoyne reN the 9th of October, 1779, figned the command of the Queen's regiment of light dragoons, the government of fort William, and his appointment on the American staff. As this refignation appears to have been occafioned by circumftances of a very extraordinary and fingular nature, we have thought it proper, in a work of this kind, to lay before the public the correfpondence at large which paffed between him and the Secretaries of War, together with fuch fuch parts of his letter to his conftituents, as tend to explain more fully the motives of his conduct on that occafion.-After briefly ftating his political fituation previous to his being firft fent to America, and the steps by which the command of the troops deftined to make a junction with Sir William Howe naturally devolved to him, the General proceeds in the following manner: "With thofe claims, Gentlemen, to the countenance and goodwill at least of government, I proceed to relate the treatment I received. I had expreffed, in my private letter from Albany to the Secretary of State, my "confi"dence in the juftice of the King and his councils to fupport the general they had thought proper to appoint to as arduous an "undertaking and under as pof fitive a direction as a cabinet 66 ever framed.” I had in the fame letter given an opinion of the enemy's troops, upon near infpection of their numbers, appointment and difcipline. Furnished with thefe materials, and fupported by the fidelity with which I had acted, it was not thought expedient I fhould have access to the King. What other facts might have been cleared up by my interview, and were wifhed not to be cleared up, the Secretary of State* only can inform the world. Direct means of effecting my exclufion from the King's prefence were not practicable; for the cafe was unprecedented. The pretext adopted was as follows: It was fuggefted that an enquiry fhould be made by a board of genenal officers into the causes of the mifcarriage of the northern expedition; and a court etiquette was invented, the foundation of which in reafon or precedent I am not acquainted with, viz. that the perfons whofe conduct was so put in question, fhould not appear at Court pending the enquiry. No difficulty of the competency of fuch a court was then spoke of, or perhaps thought of, by any but the dark defigners of my ruin; the measure therefore could neither affect his Majefty nor his Court with any idea of farther hardship than the delay of a few days to my appearing in his prefence. This arrangement had been prepared by the Secretary of State, in the interval between the notice of my arrival at Portfmouth, which he received in the evening, and my vifit to him in Pall-mall, which was before noon the next day. ; It will naturally be fuppofed that the ftate in which I ftood was the firft fubject of conversation on the contrary, I was received with much apparent kindness explanations paffed, but they were friendly; I was heard attentively, through a report of all the tranfactions fubfequent to the Convention of Saratoga; and I was led by degrees, and without fufpicion of infidioufnefs, to the moft confi * Whenever the Secretary of State is mentioned in thefe papers, the perfon to be understood is the Secretary for the American department, Lord George Germain. dential |