The condition of Great Britain, at that time, was indeed one of supreme trial; and it is well for the people of America to honor the inherent forces of British liberty which vindicated, under such adverse ruling conditions, the very principles for which their brethren fought in America. It was the one solemn hour in British history when America, if fostered as a trusted and honored child, would have spared England long years of waste in blood and treasure. Not only were Spain and France combined to plunder or acquire her West India possessions; but Spain was pressing the siege of Gibraltar. Both Denmark and Sweden united with Catharine of Russia to adopt the famous system of “Armed Neutrality,” which declared that “free ships make free goods,” and that “neutrals might carry any goods or supplies wherever they pleased, with complete immunity from search or capture.” That was a deadly blow at British commerce. Even in the East Indies, her crown was one of thorns. Hyder Ali swept through the Province of Madras, and Warren Hastings was contending for very life, to save British rule in India from overthrow. France sent aid to Hyder Ali, as well as to America; and was thus, at this very period, unexpectedly limited in her anticipated contributions to the army of Washington. Domestic excitements increased Britain’s burdens. Eighty thousand volunteers had been enrolled in Ireland in view of apprehended French invasion. A large number of her statesmen favored “peace at any price.” The wonderful capacity of Great Britain to withstand external force and to uncover the equally wonderful resources at her command, ought to have convinced her rulers that on the same basis, and by a legitimate inheritance, the American Colonies were unconquerable. On the eleventh of November, General Sullivan, having resigned, took his seat in Congress. On the twentieth, Washington thus addressed him: “Congress will deceive themselves, if they imagine that the army, or a State, that is the theatre of war, can rub through another campaign as the last. It would be as unreasonable to suppose that because a man had rolled a snow-ball till it had acquired the size of a horse, he might do it until it was the size of a house. Matters may be pushed to a certain point, beyond which we cannot move them. Ten months’ pay is now due the army. Every department of it is so much indebted that we have not credit for a single expense, and some of the States are harassed and oppressed to a degree beyond bearing.... To depend, under these circumstances, upon the resources of the country, unassisted by foreign bravery, will, I am confident, be to lean upon a broken reed.”