On October 18th, 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered, with the British
Army, at Yorktown, Virginia, and so virtually ter- minated the war between Great Britain and the United States. The Americans, who recollect their own history, have this week celebrated a grand national festival, or centenary, in honour of this event, which terminated in the following General Order by Presi- dent Arthur :—" In recognition of the friendly relations so long and so happily subsisting between Great Britain and the United States, in trust and confidence of peace and good-will between the two countries for all centuries to come, and especially as a mark of the profound respect entertained by the American people for the illustrious Sovereign and gracious lady who sits upon the British Throne, it is hereby ordered that at the close of these ceremonies, commemorative of the valour and success of our forefathers in their patriotic struggle for independence,
the British Flag shall be saluted by the forces of the Army and Navy of the United States now at Yorktown." That order is most graceful, and will be felt so by every man in England. There is something almost beyond imagination in the victors of Yorktown, on the anniversary of the very darkest day in British annals, saluting with all military honours the British, flag. Issue], too, as it is, in the midst of this Irish turmoil, the order may teach Irishmen how little they have to expect from America, and Englishmen how little difficulties signify, when they do:not debase the national character. What is all that has happened or that can happen in Ireland, to the American War of Independence, in which we lost a continent by our own fault ?
