immediately, with, it is said, great numbers of the wounded on board. Of the 375 men whom she carried, 300 were killed or wounded. The Pallas captured the Countess of Scarborough, and Jones, on the 6th of October, succeeded in carrying his shattered vessels into the waters of the Texel.[28] The gloom which overspread the public mind at the close of this year had its origin in many causes, not the least of which was the disappointment arising from the French alliance. Not alone had the French been useless to the republican cause, as far as their own efforts went, but this alliance with a powerful nation, from which such great advantages were expected, had disposed a considerable portion of the American public to sink into an apathetic state, waiting, as it were, for others to do the work; and now that the others had not done it, they were depressed and almost hopeless of the cause itself. This despondency and apathy alarmed the earnest patriots, and Washington and the other leaders called upon the nation in the most earnest and solemn manner to rouse from their lethargy, and trust neither to chance nor to strangers, but to their own exertions for the establishment of their rights. There was but little response to the appeal; the very army itself seemed affected by the lethargic torpor of the public mind.[29] Another cause of anxiety and distress we have already alluded to. This was the depreciation of the paper currency. At the close of this year a dollar in specie could scarcely be obtained for forty in bills. But the very paper was fluctuating in value. Hence a set of men arose, who, speculating on this currency, amassed immense wealth, while honest men and the nation itself were reduced to beggary. One cause of the depreciation of the American paper at this time, was the disgraceful fact that England herself turned forger, and sent over immense quantities of spurious hills, so well imitated as scarcely to be distinguished from the true, and which her emissaries distributed through the country, causing the utmost distress and confusion, and the recall of several issues of American paper. Very different was the state of things in England. Spite of her having to carry on war at this time both with France and Spain, and though several of the European nations joined in an “armed neutrality” against her, renewed exertions were made at the close of this year for prosecuting the war with the colonies. Eighty-five thousand marines, and 35,000 troops, in addition to those already engaged, were voted by parliament for the following year, together with the enormous sum of five millions for carrying out this service. Admiral Arbuthnot had been sent from England in the spring with reinforcements, but did not arrive at New York till August. In December, his fleet conveyed Sir Henry Clinton and his 7,000 troops to the south, and after a tempestuous voyage, landed them at Tybee Island in Savannah harbour, on the last day of January, 1780.