As usual in such cases, a new administration was formed out of the Opposition. The Marquis of Rockingham was made prime minister, and Mr. Fox one of the secretaries of state. The new ministers lost no time in taking measures for the restoration of peace. Unfortunately for their credit with the nation, Sir George Rodney gained an important victory over the French fleet of the island of Dominica, April 12, 1782, after the ministers had despatched another officer to supersede him in the command. On this occasion, thirty-seven British vessels encountered thirty-four French; and chiefly by the dexterous manœuvre of a breach of the enemy’s line, gained one of the most complete victories recorded in modern warfare. The triumph was eminently necessary, to recover in some measure the national honor, and enable the ministers to conclude the war upon tolerable terms. In November, provisional articles for a peace with the United States of America, now acknowledged as an independent power, were signed at Paris, and the treaty was concluded in the ensuing February. When the American ambassador was afterwards, for the first time, introduced at the British levée, the king received him kindly, and said with great frankness, that though he had been the last man in his dominions to desire that the independence of America should be acknowledged, he should also be the last to wish that that acknowledgment should be withdrawn. War was soon after concluded with France, Spain, and Holland, but not without some considerable concessions of colonial territory on the part of Great Britain. The conclusion of this war is memorable as a period of great suffering, arising from the exhaustion of the national resources, the depression of commerce, and the accident of a bad harvest. The principles of prosperity were, after all, found to be so firmly rooted in the country, that immediately after the first distresses had passed away, every department of the state resumed its wonted vigor, and during the ensuing ten years of peace, a great advance was made in national wealth. In 1786, Mr. Pitt established his celebrated but fallacious scheme for redeeming the national debt, by what was called a Sinking Fund. The revenue was at this time above fifteen millions, being about one million more than was required for the public service. This excess he proposed to lay aside annually, to lie at compound interest; by which means he calculated that each million would be quadrupled at the end of twenty-eight years, and thus go a great way towards the object he had in view. To this scheme Mr. Fox added the infinitely more absurd amendment, that, when the government required to borrow more money, one million of every six so obtained should be laid aside for the same purpose. The scheme was so well received as to increase the popularity of the minister, and it was not till 1813 that its fallacy was proved.