ABSTRACT
News had arrived from Canada of important successes by the invading American forces. The fort of St. John’s had been compelled to surrender with 500 men, and General Carleton had been forced to fall back on Montreal with scant hope of saving even that place in view of the unfriendly or neutral attitude of most French-Canadians. Motions from Rockingham in the Lords and his lieutenant, Lord John Cavendish, in the Commons led to debates in which the Speech from the Throne was hotly attacked and the whole Opposition case against Administration’s American policy restated. The Speaker episodes of May 7th and 9th are reminders that Administration was playing a dangerous game and that the Speaker was possibly taking his precautions in case fortune turned in America and Europe. The Paris Embassy’s secret information on the source of the funds promoting arms-running into America must already have been considerable.
