Count de Rochambeau, and
the other part under the command of the Marquis de La Fayette. Had it
not been for the French fleet and the French land forces, Washington
would not have attempted an attack upon Yorktown. The success of the
siege was, therefore, more French than American, though Washington had
the nominal command of the allied army.

No one can doubt the undaunted courage and matchless skill of
Washington, and his great superiority over any English general ever sent
against him; nor can the bravery and endurance of his army be justly
questioned; nor the dash and boldness and gallantry of the French army.
But it is idle to speak of the siege of Yorktown as a trial of strength
between Young America and Old England. And it is equally incorrect to
say that the resources of England, in men or money, in ships or land
forces, were exhausted, or that England was compelled to make peace in
consequence of the disaster of Lord Cornwallis. There had been a peace
party, both in and out of Parliament, opposed to the American war from
the beginning. That party included some of the ablest statesmen in
England, and increased in strength and influence from year to year, by
exposing the incompetence, extravagance, and corruption of the
Administration, the failure of all their plans, and the non-fulfilment
of any of their promises in regard to America; that although they could
defeat the Americans in the field of battle, they had not conquered and
they could not conquer the hearts of the people, who became more and
more alienated from England by the very example and depredations of the
British officers and soldiers. The surrender of Lord Cornwallis, the
importance of which was greatly magnified, increased the intensity of
English feeling against the continuance of the American war, until the
peace party actually gained a majority in the House of Commons,
compelled the retirement of the old and corrupt Ministry, which had been
the cause of all the oppressions in the American colonies and all the
miseries of the war. Session after session, the leaders of the
Opposition in both the Lords and Commons moved resolutions condemning
the American war and the manner of conducting it; the Duke of Richmond,
the Marquis of Rockingham, the Earl of Shelburne in the Lords; and
General Conway, Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, Lord John Cavendish, Mr. Hartley,
Mr. Dunning (afterwards Lord Ashburton), and Sir James Lowther in the
Commons. Several resolutions wer