<P> Lord Germain was dismissed and a vote of no confidence was passed against North . The Rockingham Whigs came to power and opened negotiations for peace . Rockingham died and was succeeded by the Earl of Shelburne . Despite their defeat, the British still had 30,000 troops garrisoned in New York, Charleston, and Savannah . Henry Clinton was recalled and was replaced by Guy Carleton who was under orders to suspend offensive operations . </P> <P> After hostilities with the Dutch began in late 1780, Britain had moved quickly, enforcing a blockade across the North Sea . Within weeks, the British had captured 200 Dutch merchantmen, and 300 more were holed up in foreign ports, though political turmoil within the Republic and peace negotiations by both sides helped keep conflict to a minimum . The majority of the Dutch public favored a military alliance with France against Britain; however, the Dutch Stadtholder impeded these efforts, hoping to secure an early peace . To restore diminishing trade a Dutch squadron under Johan Zoutman escorted a fleet of some 70 merchantmen from the Texel . Zoutman's ships were intercepted by Sir Hyde Parker, who engaged Zoutman at Dogger Bank on 5 August 1781 . Though the contest was tactically inconclusive, the Dutch fleet did not leave harbor again during the war, and their merchant fleet remained crippled . </P> <P> On 6 January 1781, a French attempt to capture Jersey to neutralize British privateering failed . Frustrated in their attempts to capture Gibraltar, a Franco - Spanish force of 14,000 men under the Duc de Mahon invaded Minorca on 19 August . After a long siege of St. Philip's, the British garrison under James Murray surrendered on 5 February 1782, securing a primary war goal for the Spanish . At Gibraltar, a major Franco - Spanish assault on 13 September 1782 was repulsed with heavy casualties . On 20 October 1782, following a successful resupply of Gibraltar, British ships under Richard Howe successfully refused battle to the Franco - Spanish fleet under Luis de Córdova, denying Córdova dominance at sea . On 7 February 1783, after 1,322 days of siege, the Franco - Spanish army withdrew, decisively defeated . </P> <P> In the West Indies, on 29--30 April 1781, a Royal Navy squadron under Samuel Hood was narrowly defeated by the French, led by the Comte de Grasse, who continued seizing British territories: Tobago fell on 2 June; Demerara and Essequibo on 22 January 1782; St. Kitts and Nevis on 12 February, despite a British naval victory on 25 January; and Montserrat on 22 February . In 1782, the primary strategic goal of the French and Spanish was the capture of Jamaica, whose sugar exports were more valuable to the British than the Thirteen Colonies combined . On 7 April 1782, de Grasse departed Martinique to rendezvous with Franco - Spanish troops at Saint Domingue and invade Jamaica from the north . The British under Hood and George Rodney pursued and decisively defeated the French off Dominica between 9--12 April . The Franco - Spanish plan to conquer Jamaica was in ruins, and the balance of naval power in the Caribbean shifted to the Royal Navy . </P>

Who fought for the british in the revolutionary war