withdraw to Brunswick and Amboy, where they went into
quarters. The king's troops, British and German, committed many
excesses, plundering friends and foes alike; and the inhabitants,
indignant at their conduct, took advantage of Washington's success and
turned against them. Many joined Washington's army. The British were in
the midst of a hostile population, and though they had communication
with New York by water, were almost besieged by land, for their supplies
were constantly intercepted. The Jersey loyalists were left to the
vengeance of their neighbours and were mercilessly plundered. Many of
them fled to New York where several thousand provincial troops were
embodied. Howe remained inactive at New York until the spring, and
Washington also stayed quietly at his headquarters at Morristown.

[Sidenote: _A PARTIAL SECESSION FROM PARLIAMENT._]

Parliament was opened on October 31, 1776. An amendment to the address
referring to American affairs was defeated in the lords by 91 to 26 and
in the commons by 242 to 87. The news of the victory at Brooklyn--"the
terrible news," as Fox indecently called it--and of the occupation of
New York strengthened the ministers; and on a motion to revise the acts
by which the Americans considered themselves aggrieved, the minority in
the commons sank to 47. Depressed by the exhibition of their weakness,
the Rockingham section ceased to attend parliament except on the
occasion of private bills in which they were interested. Petulance and a
false notion of dignity led them to neglect their duty to their country
and their party. Their conduct was blamed by other whigs, and their
secession, though it occasioned discord in the opposition, did not
paralyse its efforts. Fox, by that time its most effective orator, went
off to Paris, and the king advised North to proceed with as much
business as possible in his absence.

The split in the opposition was specially manifested on the introduction
of a government bill in February, 1777, for a partial suspension of the
_habeas corpus_ act, in order to secure the detention of persons charged
with high treason in America or on the high seas; Rockingham, Burke, and
others adhered to their secession, while Dunning and Fox headed the
minority in the commons. Fox warned the house not to be deceived by the
amicable professions of the French ministers, who, he said, were holding
conferences with delegates from congress while he was in Paris, and were
only