Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-10-28
TIE SURRENDER AT YORKTO OWN

lnere Is not more interesting llluStratlOn
of the retributions which wait on crime or
folly than in this very surrender of Yorktown,
which we are now celebrating. One need
not ask what might have been. What was
was the punishment of George III. for his
own wilful sins-punishment self-wrought
one man will say, God-wrought another will
say, if he believes in ''the power that works
for righteousness.
twenty-five years before, on the thirty
first day of July, the battle of Minden was
fought, far away in Germany. The allied
German and English troops were attacked by
the French Marshal de Contades. He had
been deceived by Prince Ferdinands strategy,
and gave battle on unfavorable ground,
though with superior forces. He was badly
beaten. SismOndi, a French writer, says,
'His army should have been annihilated,- =
men, horses, guns, flags, ali would have fall
en- into the hands of the enemy" 1t was not
annihilated, however. At the decisive mo-
ment the Prince sent his orders to Lord
George Sackville, who held the cavalry in re-
serve. He was to charge and overwhelm the
French. He either did not or would not un-
derstand his orders. Half an hour was vast
ed, and the moment was lost.
In Prince Ferdinands general orders, CON-
complimenting the officers who had done
their duty, he passed Sackville by with this
sneer His Serene Highness further orders
it to be declared to the Marquis of CRANKY
that, if he had had the good fortune to have
him at the head of the cavalry of the right
wing, his presence would have greatly con-
tributed to make the decision of that day
more complete and more brilliant" As Sack.
vile was Granbys commander, this compli-
ment to a second was bitter rebuke of the
first in command.
The victory of Minden aroused immense
IL, e.; 81 c.
vile aroused equal rage. He asked leave to
resign and retire, which was promptly grant
ed. He was received in England with abhor-
renee. He asked for a court-martial, which
was granted. But Pitt removed him from all
his military appointments. The eourt-mar-
tial was held, Sackville browbeat them, gave
the lie to one witness, and spoke with con-
tempt to the Judge Advocate. The verdict
was that he was guilty of disobeying Prince
Ferdinands orders, and was unfit to serve the
king in any military capacity. This verdict
has been confirmed by history. Lord Mahon
thinks that he was swayed by one OF those
panics to which men of quick genius are
sometimes prone. Other writers think he
was jealous of Prince Ferdinand.
Execrated by the English nation, pronounc-
ed unworthy of any confidence as a soldier,
Sackville was dismissed from the army. But
he had the favor of the heir apparent and Of
Lord Butte.
So, when George III. came to be king, and
was heir apparent no longer, he took this dis
graced soldier by the hair of his head, and
dragged him from the mire. As Lord George
Germain, this disgraced soldier-the only
man in the British Empire who might not
carry a musket in the kings service-was
made Secretary of the Colonies, simply be-
cause the king liked him. The people hated
him, but the king liked him. The army de-
spised him, but the king liked him. Because
the king liked him, it was given to him to de-
eide the fortunes of America.
The kings grandfather, George H., had
pronounced Sackvilles censure "a censure
worse than death" He was more of a soldier
than penman. But on this occasion, with
his own pen he struck Sackville's name from
the list of the Privy Council. But George
Ill, to his misfortune, thought he knew
more of kingcraft than his grandfather, and
in 1875, in the very outbreak of the Revolu-
ton, gave him that position in which it came
into his power TO give independence to Amer.
lea. For good comes out of evil and, as is
ordered by the power which works for right
eousness, the incompetency of German and
the obstinacy of George I'LL are made to
bring about the surrender of Yorktown and
the existence of the United States for CEN
tury.
tut LuOIo lhhu u BbuchhtlOut nlblOIlhub
were left to wonder why, when Burgoyne
was advancing from the north, Howe did not
cooperate with him from New York. It is
now known that, when the orders to do so
were drafted German was not pleased with
the handwriting, and ordered them copied
and sent after him to the country for his sig
nature. Copied they were. But, if ever
signed, they were never sent, or sent too late
to be of service. To this one piece of inoom-
potency, Lord Shelburne says the loss of the
Colonies was due. Poor Burgoyne's calamity
is thus traced straight home to German.
When it came TO be Cornwalliss turn he was
ruined by kindness. The king liked him, and
Germain liked him. He was nobleman,
aud he had friends at court. When 1880
came, CORVALLIS had at last what he had long
wanted, a separate command. The Carolinas
and Georgia were his. But CORVALLIS was
not the sort of man to be satisfied with what
he had. He wanted more, And, il people
did not give il TO him, he took it, In person
al interviews with German, he had persuad-
ed him that the thing to do was to strike a
solid blow in Virginia, to erect solid gov
ernment there and so separate North from
South. Sir Henry Clinton, who was in New
York, did not believe in this and German
did not dare order it. But CORVALLIS knew
that, if he took the esponsibility-that is, If
he disobeyed his commander-in- chief and
marched into Virgina-he would not be
much blamed at home in case of failure, and
would win all the glory in case of success.
, He knew what it was to have friends at court,
and poor Sir Henry Clinton had none.
In March, Clinton wrote to CORVALLIS,
''There seems little wanting to give a mortal
stab to the rebellion but proper reinforce
ment and permanent superiority at sea" ="
On the Goth of May, he writes, 81 cannot
conceal from YOUR lordship the apprehensiOns
felt on reading your letter Of the oath of
April" On the goth of October, he writes
home from the 'capes of Virginia" that strag-
glers from Yorktown tell him that Lord Corn
wallis had surrendered all his army. Poor
Clinton owed such horrible modification to