“Thus was the civil war begun, and a victory the first fruits of it on the side of the Americans, whom Lord Sandwich had had the folly and rashness to proclaim cowards.”[352] His letters to the Countess of Ossory, written during the war, show his irrepressible sentiments. Thus, under date of 9th November, 1775:-- “I think this country undone almost beyond redemption. Victory in any war but a civil one fascinates mankind with a vision of glory. What should we gain by triumph itself? Would America laid waste, deluged with blood, plundered, enslaved, replace America flourishing, rich, and free? Do we want to reign over it, as the Spaniards over Peru, depopulated? Are desolate regions preferable to commercial cities?”[353] Then under date of 6th July, 1777:-- “My humble opinion is, that we shall never recover America, and that France will take care that we shall never recover ourselves.”[354] “Friday night, late,” 5th December, 1777, he breaks forth:-- “Send for Lord Chatham! They had better send for General Washington, Madam,--or at least for our troops back.… No, Madam, we do not want ministers that would protract our difficulties. I look on them but as beginning now, and am far from thinking that there is any man or set of men able enough to extricate us. _I own there are very able Englishmen left, but they happen to be on t’other side of the Atlantic._ If his Majesty hopes to find them here, I doubt he will be mistaken.”[355] “Thursday night,” 11th December, 1777, his feelings overflow in no common language:-- “Was ever proud, insolent nation sunk so low? Burke and Charles Fox told him [Lord North] the Administration thought of nothing but keeping their places; and so they will, and the members their pensions, and the nation its infamy. Were I Franklin, I would order the Cabinet Council to come to me at Paris with ropes about their necks, and then kick them back to St. James’s. “Well, Madam, as I told Lord Ossory t’other day, I am satisfied: _Old England is safe,--that is, America, whither the true English retired under Charles the First_: this is Nova Scotia, and I care not what becomes of it.… Adieu, Madam! I am at last not sorry you have no son; and your daughters, I hope, will be married to Americans, and not in this dirty, despicable island.”[356] All this is elevated by his letter of 17th February, 1779, where he says:-- “Liberty has still a continent to exist in. I do not care a straw who is Minister in this abandoned country. It is _the good old cause of Freedom_ that I have at heart.”[357] Thus with constancy, where original principle was doubtless quickened by party animosity, did Horace Walpole maintain the American cause and predict a new home for Liberty. JOHN ADAMS, 1755, 1765, 1776, 1780, 1785, 1787, 1813, 1818.