{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}



A BODY OF FRENCH FORCES JOIN THE ELECTOR OF BAVARIA.

While the French minister at Vienna endeavoured to amuse the queen with the strongest assurances of his master's friendship, a body of five-and-thirty thousand men began their march for Germany, in order to join the elector of Bavaria; another French army was assembled upon the Rhine; and the count de Belleisle being provided with large sums of money, was sent to negotiate with different electors. Having thus secured a majority of voices, he proceeded to Munich, where he presented the elector of Bavaria with a commission, appointing him generalissimo of the French troops marching to his assistance; and now the treaty of Nymphen-burgh was concluded. The French king engaged to assist the elector with his whole power, towards raising him to the Imperial throne: the elector promised, that after his elevation he would never attempt to recover any of the towns or provinces of the empire which France had conquered; that he would, in his Imperial capacity, renounce the barrier-treaty; and agree that France should irrevocably retain whatever places she should subdue in the Austrian Netherlands. The next step of Belleisle was to negotiate another treaty between France and Prussia, importing, that the elector of Bavaria should possess Bohemia, Upper Austria, and the Tyrolese; that the king of Poland should be gratified with Moravia and Upper Silesia; and that his Prussian majesty should retain Lower Silesia, with the town of Neiss and the county of Glatz. These precautions being taken, the count do Belleisle repaired to Franck-fort, in quality of ambassador and plenipotentiary from France, at the Imperial diet of election. It was in this city that the French king published a declaration, signifying, that as the king of Great Britain had assembled an army to influence the approaching election of an emperor, his most christain majesty, as guarantee of the treaty of Westphalia, had ordered some troops to advance towards the Rhine, with a view to maintain the tranquillity of the Germanie body, and secure the freedom of the Imperial election.

In July, the elector of Bavaria being joined by the French forces tinder mareschal Broglio, surprised the Imperial city of Passau, upon the Danube; and entering Upper Austria at the head of seventy thousand men, took possession of Lintz, where he received the homage of the states of that country. Understanding that the garrison of Vienna was very numerous, and that count Palfi had assembled thirty thousand Hungarians in the neighbourhood of this capital, he made no farther progress in Austria, but marched into Bohemia, where he was reinforced by a considerable body of Saxons, under the command of count Rutowski, natural son to the late king of Poland. By this time his Polish majesty had acceded to the treaty of Nymphenburgh, and declared war against the queen of Hungary, on the most frivolous pretences. The elector of Bavaria advanced to Prague, which was taken in the night by scalade; an achievement in which Maurice count of Saxe, another natural son of the king of Poland, distinguished himself at the head of the French forces. In December the elector of Bavaria made his public entry into his capital, where he was proclaimed king of Bohemia, and inaugurated with the usual solemnities; then he set out for Franckfort, to be present at the diet of election.

At this period the queen of Hungary saw herself abandoned by all her allies, and seemingly voted to destruction. She was not, however, forsaken by her courage; nor destitute of good officers, and an able ministry. She retired to Presburgh, and in a pathetic Latin speech to the states, expressed her confidence in the loyalty and valour of her Hungarian subjects. The nobility of that kingdom, touched with her presence and distress, assured her unanimously that they would sacrifice their lives and fortunes in her defence. The ban being raised, that brave people crowded to her standard; and the diet expressed their sentiments against her enemy by a public edict, excluding for ever the electoral house of Bavaria from the succession to the crown of Hungary; yet, without the subsidy she received from Great Britain, their courage and attachment would have proved ineffectual. By this supply she was enabled to pay her army, erect magazines, complete her warlike preparations, and put her strong places in a posture of defence. In December, her generals Berenclau and Mentzel, defeated count Thoring, who commanded eight thousand men, at the pass of Scardingen, and opening their way to Bavaria, laid the whole country under contribution; while count Khevenhuller retook the city of Lintz, and drove the French troops out of Austria. The grand seignor assured the queen of Hungary, that far from taking advantage of her troubles, he should seize all opportunities to convince her of his friendship; the pope permitted her to levy a tenth on the revenues of the clergy within her dominions; and even to use all the church plate for the support of the war.



WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND SWEDEN.

As the czarina expressed an inclination to assist this unfortunate princess, the French court resolved to find her employment in another quarter. They had already gained over to their interest count Gyllenburgh, prime minister and president of the chancery in Sweden. A dispute happening between him and Mr. Burnaby, the British resident at Stockholm, some warm altercation passed: Mr. Burnaby was forbid the court, and published a memorial in his own vindication; on the other hand, the king of Sweden justified his conduct in a rescript sent to all the foreign ministers. The king of Great Britain had proposed a subsidy-treaty to Sweden, which, from the influence of French councils, was rejected. The Swedes having assembled a numerous army in Finland, and equipped a large squadron of ships, declared war against Eussia upon the most trifling pretences; and the fleet putting to sea, commenced hostilities by blocking up the Russian ports in Livonia. A body of eleven thousand Swedes, commanded by general Wrangle, having advanced to Willmenstrand, were in August attacked and defeated by general Lasci, at the head of thirty thousand Russians. Count Lewenhaup, who commanded the main army of the Swedes, resolved to take vengeance for this disgrace, after the Russian troops had retired into winter quarters. In December he marched towards Wybourg; but receiving letters from the prince of Hesse-Hombourg, and the marquis de la Chetardie, the French ambassador at Petersburgh, informing him of the surprising revolution which had just happened in Russia, and proposing a suspension of hostilities, he retreated with his army in order to wait for further instructions; and the two courts agreed to a cessation of arms for three months.



REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA.

The Russians had been for some time discontented with their government. The late czarina was influenced chiefly by German councils, and employed a great number of foreigners in her service. These causes of discontent produced factions and conspiracies; and when they were discovered, the empress treated the authors of them with such severity as increased the general disaffection. Besides, they were displeased at the manner in which she had settled the succession. The prince of Brunswick Lunenberg Bovern, father to the young czar, was not at all agreeable to the Russian nobility; and his consort, the princess Anne of Mecklenburgh, having assumed the reins of government during her son's minority, seemed to follow the maxims of her aunt the late czarina. The Russian grandees and generals, therefore, turned their eyes upon the princess Elizabeth, who was daughter of Peter the Great, and the darling of the empire. The French ambassador gladly concurred in a project for deposing a princess who was well affected to the house of Austria. General Lasci approved of the design, which was chiefly conducted by the prince of Hesse-Hombourg, who, in the reigns of the empress Catharine and Peter II., had been generalissimo of the Russian army. The good will and concurrence of the troops being secured, two regiments of guards took possession of all the avenues of the imperial palace at Petersburgh. The princess Elizabeth, putting herself at the head of one thousand men, on the fifth day of December entered the winter palace, where the princess of Mecklenburgh and the infant czar resided. She advanced into the chamber where the princess and her consort lay, and desired them to rise and quit the palace, adding that their persons were safe; and that they could not justly blame her for asserting her right. At the same time, the counts Osterman, Golofhairkin, Mingden, and Munich, were arrested; their papers and effects were seized, and their persons conveyed to Schlisselbourgh, a fortress on the Neva. Early in the morning the senate assembling, declared all that had passed since the reign of Peter II. to be usurpation; and that the imperial dignity belonged of right to the princess Elizabeth: she was immediately proclaimed empress of all the Russias, and recognized by the army of Finland. She forthwith published a general act of indemnity; she created the prince of Hesse-Hombourg generalissimo of her armies; she restored the Dolgorucky family to their honours and estates; she recalled and rewarded all those who had been banished for favouring her pretensions; she mitigated the exile of the duke of Courland, by indulging him with a maintenance more suitable to his rank; she released general Wrangle, count Wasaburgh, and the other Swedish officers who had been taken at the battle of Willmenstrand; and the princess Anne of Mecklenburgh, with her consort and children, were sent under a strong guard to Riga, the capital of Livonia.

Amidst these tempests of war and revolution, the states-general wisely determined to preserve their own tranquillity. It was doubtless their interest to avoid the dangers and expense of a war, and to profit by that stagnation of commerce which would necessarily happen among their neighbours that were at open enmity with each other; besides, they were over-awed by the declarations of the French monarch on one side; by the power, activity, and pretensions of his Prussian majesty on the other; and they dreaded the prospect of a stadtholder at the head of their army. These at least were the sentiments of many Dutch patriots, reinforced by others that acted under French influence. But the prince of Orange numbered among his partisans and adherents many persons of dignity and credit in the commonwealth; he was adored by the populace, who loudly exclaimed against their governors, and clamoured for a war without ceasing. This national spirit, joined to the remonstrances and requisitions made by the courts of Vienna and London, obliged the states to issue orders for an augmentation of their forces; but these were executed so slowly, that neither France nor Prussia had much cause to take umbrage at their preparations. In Italy, the king of Sardinia declared for the house of Austria; the republic of Genoa was deeply engaged in the French interest; the pope, the Venetians, and the dukedom of Tuscany were neutral; the king of Naples resolved to support the claim of his family to the Austrian dominions in Italy, and began to make preparations accordingly. His mother, the queen of Spain, had formed a plan for erecting these dominions into a monarchy for her second son Don Philip; and a body of fifteen thousand men being embarked at Barcelona, were transported to Orbitello, under the convoy of the united squadrons of France and Spain. While admiral Haddock, with twelve ships of the line, lay at anchor in the bay of Gibraltar, the Spanish fleet passed the straits in the night, and was joined by the French squadron from Toulon. The British admiral sailing from Gibraltar, fell in with them in a few days, and found both squadrons drawn up in line of battle. As he bore down upon the Spanish fleet, the French admiral sent a flag of truce, to inform him that as the French and Spaniards were engaged in a joint expedition, he should be obliged to act in concert with his master's allies. This interposition prevented an engagement. The combined fleets amounting to double the number of the English squadron, admiral Haddock was obliged to desist; and proceeded to Port-Mahon, leaving the enemy to prosecute their voyage without molestation. The people of England were incensed at this transaction, and did not scruple to affirm that the hands of the British admiral were tied up by the neutrality of Hanover.*

* In the month of July, two ships of Haddock's squadron falling In with three French ships of war, captain Barnet, the English commodore, supposing them to be Spanish register ships, fired a shot in order to bring them to; and they refusing to comply with this signal, a sharp engagement ensued; after they had fought several hours, the French commander ceased firing, and thought proper to come to an explanation, when he and Barnet parted with mutual apologies.

In the course of this year a dangerous conspiracy was discovered at New York, in North America. One Hewson, a low publican, had engaged several negroes in a design to destroy the town, and massacre the people. Fire was set to several parts of the city; nine or ten negroes were apprehended, convicted, and burned alive. Hewson, with his wife, and a servant maid privy to the plot, were found guilty and hanged, though they died protesting their innocence.



INACTIVITY OF THE NAVAL POWER OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The court of Madrid seemed to have shaken off that indolence and phlegm which had formerly disgraced the councils of Spain. They no sooner learned the destination of commodore Anson, who had sailed from Spithead in the course of the preceding year, than they sent Don Pizzaro with a more powerful squadron upon the same voyage, to defeat his design. He accordingly steered the same course, and actually fell in with one or two ships of the British armament, near the straits of Magellan; but he could not weather a long and furious tempest, through which Mr. Anson proceeded into the South-Sea. One of the Spanish ships perished at sea; another was wrecked on the coast of Brazil; and Pizzaro bore away for the Rio de la Plata, where he arrived with the three remaining ships, in a shattered condition, after having lost twelve hundred men by sickness and famine. The Spaniards exerted the same vigilance and activity in Europe. Their privateers were so industrious and successful, that in the beginning of this year they had taken, since the commencement of the war, four hundred and seven ships belonging to the subjects of Great Britain, valued at near four millions of piastres. The traders had therefore too much cause to complain, considering the formidable fleets which were maintained for the protection of commerce. In the course of the summer, sir John Norris had twice sailed towards the coast of Spain, at the head of a powerful squadron, without taking any effectual step for annoying the enemy, as if the sole intention of the ministry had been to expose the nation to the ridicule and contempt of its enemies. The inactivity of the British arms appears the more inexcusable, when we consider the great armaments which had been prepared. The land forces of Great Britain, exclusive of the Danish and Hessian auxiliaries, amounted to sixty thousand men; and the fleet consisted of above one hundred ships of war, manned by fifty-four thousand sailors.

The general discontent of the people had a manifest influence upon the election of members for the new parliament, which produced one of the most violent contests between the two parties which had happened since the revolution. All the adherents of the prince of Wales concurred with the country party, in opposition to the minister; and the duke of Argyle exerted himself so successfully among the shires and boroughs of Scotland, that the partisans of the ministry could not secure six members out of the whole number returned from North Britain. They were, however, much more fortunate in the election of the sixteen peers, who were chosen literally according to the list transmitted from court. Instructions were delivered by the constituents to a great number of members returned for cities and counties, exhorting and requiring them to oppose a standing army in time of peace; to vote for the mitigation of excise laws; for the repeal of septennial parliaments; and for the limitation of placemen in the house of commons. They likewise insisted upon their examining into the particulars of the public expense, and endeavouring to redress the grievances of the nation. Obstinate struggles were maintained in all parts of the united kingdoms with uncommon ardour and perseverance; and such a national spirit of opposition prevailed, that, notwithstanding the whole weight of ministerial influence, the contrary interest seemed to preponderate in the new parliament.



REMARKABLE MOTION IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS BY LORD SOMERSET.

The king returned to England in the month of October; and on the first day of December the session was opened. Mr. Onslow being re-chosen speaker, was approved of by his majesty, who spoke in the usual style to both houses. He observed, that the former parliament had formed the strongest resolutions in favour of the queen of Hungary, for the maintenance of the pragmatic sanction; for the preservation of the balance of power, and the peace and liberties of Europe; and that if the other powers which were under the like engagements with him had answered the just expectations so solemnly given, the support of the common cause would have been attended with less difficulty. He said, he had endeavoured, by the most proper and early applications, to induce other powers that were united with him by the ties of common interest, to concert such measures as so important and critical a conjuncture required; that where an accommodation seemed necessary, he had laboured to reconcile princes whose union would have been the most effectual means to prevent the mischiefs which had happened, and the best security for the in terest and safety of the whole. He owned his endeavours had not hitherto produced the desired effect; though he was not without hope that a just sense of approaching danger would give a more favourable turn to the councils of other nations. He represented the necessity of putting the kingdom in such a posture of defence as would enable him to improve all opportunities of maintaining the liberties of Europe, and defeat any attempts that should be made against him and his dominions; and he recommended unanimity, vigour, and despatch. The house of commons having appointed their several committees, the speaker reported the king's speech; and Mr. Herbert moved for an address of thanks, including an approbation of the means by which the war had been prosecuted. The motion being seconded by Mr. Trevor, lord Noel Somerset stood up and moved, that the house would in their address desire his majesty not to engage these kingdoms in a war for the preservation of his foreign dominions. He was supported by that incorruptible patriot Mr. Shippen, who declared he was neither ashamed nor afraid to affirm that thirty years had made no change in any of his political opinions. He said he was grown old in the house of commons; that time had verified the predictions he had formerly uttered; and that he had seen his conjectures ripened into knowledge. "If my country," added he, "has been so unfortunate as once more to commit her interest to men who propose to themselves no advantage from their trust but that of selling it, I may, perhaps, fall once more under censure for declaring my opinion, and be once more treated as a criminal for asserting what they who punish me cannot deny; for maintaining that Hanoverian maxims are inconsistent with the happiness of this nation; and for preserving the caution so strongly inculcated by those patriots who framed the Act of Settlement, and conferred upon the present royal family their title to the throne." He particularized the instances in which the ministry had acted in diametrical opposition to that necessary constitution; and he insisted on the necessity of taking some step to remove the apprehensions of the people, who began to think themselves in danger of being sacrificed to the security of foreign dominions. Mr. Gibbon, who spoke on the same side of the question, expatiated upon the absurdity of returning thanks for the prosecution of a war which had been egregiously mismanaged. "What!" said he, "are our thanks to be solemnly returned for defeats, disgrace, and losses, the ruin of our merchants, the imprisonment of our sailors, idle shows of armaments, and useless expenses?" Sir Robert Walpole having made a short speech in defence of the first motion for an address, was answered by Mr. Pulteney, who seemed to be animated with a double proportion of patriot indignation. He asserted, that from a review of that minister's conduct since the beginning of the dispute with Spain, it would appear that he had been guilty not only of single errors, but of deliberate treachery; that he had always co-operated with the enemies of his country, and sacrificed to his private interest the happiness and honour of the British nation. He then entered into a detail of that conduct against which he had so often declaimed; and being transported by an overheated imagination, accused him of personal attachment and affection to the enemies of the kingdom. A charge that was doubtless the result of exaggerated animosity, and served only to invalidate the other articles of imputation that were much better founded. His objections were overruled; and the address, as at first proposed, was presented to his majesty.



THE COUNTRY PARTY OBTAIN A MAJORITY IN THE COMMONS.

This small advantage, however, the minister did not consider as a proof of his having ascertained an undoubted majority in the house of commons. There was a great number of disputed elections; and the discussion of these was the point on which the people had turned their eyes, as the criterion of the minister's power and credit. In the first which was heard at the bar of the house, he cai-ried his point by a majority of six only; and this he looked upon as a defeat rather than a victory. His enemies exulted in their strength; as they knew they should be joined, in matters of importance, by several members who voted against them on this occasion. The inconsiderable majority that appeared on the side of the administration, plainly proved that the influence of the minister was greatly diminished, and seemed to prognosticate his further decline. This consideration induced some individuals to declare against him as a setting sun, from whose beams they could expect no further warmth. His adherents began to tremble; and he himself had occasion for all his art and equanimity. The court interest was not sufficient to support the election of their own members for Westminster. The high-bailiff had been guilty of some illegal practices at the poll; and three justices of the peace had, on pretence of preventing riots, sent for a military force to overawe the election. A petition presented by the electors of Westminster was taken into consideration by the house; and the election was declared void by a majority of four voices. The high-bailiff was taken into custody; the officer who ordered the soldiers to march, and the three justices who signed the letter, in consequence of which he acted, were reprimanded on their knees at the bar of the house.



SIR ROBERT WALPOLE CREATED EARL OF ORFORD.

The country party maintained the advantage they had gained in deciding upon several other controverted elections; and sir Robert Walpole tottered on the brink of ruin. He knew that the majority of a single vote would at any time commit him prisoner to the Tower, should ever the motion be made; and he saw that his safety could be effected by no other expedient but that of dividing the opposition. Towards the accomplishment of this purpose he employed all his credit and dexterity. His emissaries did not fail to tamper with those members of the opposite party who were the most likely to be converted by their arguments. A message was sent by the bishop of Oxford to the prince of Wales, importing, That if his royal highness would write a letter of condescension to the king, he and all his counsellors should be taken into favour; that fifty thousand pounds should be added to his revenue; four times that sum be disbursed immediately for the payment of his debts; and suitable provision be made in due time for all his followers. The prince declined this proposal. He declared that he would accept no such conditions while sir Robert Walpole continued to direct the public affairs; that he looked upon him as a bar between his majesty and the affections of his people; as the author of the national grievances both at home and abroad; and as the sole cause of that contempt which Great Britain had incurred in all the courts of Europe. His royal highness was now chief of this formidable party, revered by the whole nation—a party which had gained the ascendancy in the house of commons; which professed to act upon the principles of public virtue; which demanded the fall of an odious minister, as a sacrifice due to an injured people; and declared that no temptation could shake their virtue; that no art could dissolve the cement by which they were united. Sir Robert Walpole, though repulsed in his attempt upon the prince of Wales, was more successful in his other endeavours. He resolved to try his strength once more in the house of commons, in another disputed election; and had the mortification to see the majority augmented to sixteen voices. He declared he would never more sit in that house; and next day, which was the third of February, the king adjourned both houses of parliament to the eighteenth day of the same month. In this interim sir Robert Walpole was created earl of Orford, and resigned all his employments.



CHANGE IN THE MINISTRY.

At no time of his life did he acquit himself with such prudential policy as he now displayed. He found means to separate the parts that composed the opposition, and to transfer the popular odium from himself to those who had professed themselves his keenest adversaries. The country-party consisted of the tories, reinforced by discontented whigs, who had either been disappointed in their own ambitious views, or felt for the distresses of their country, occasioned by a weak and worthless administration. The old patriots, and the whigs whom they had joined, acted upon very different, and, indeed, upon opposite principles of government; and there-fore they were united only by the ties of convenience. A coalition was projected between the discontented whigs, and those of the same denomination who acted in the ministry. Some were gratified with titles and offices; and all were assured, that in the management of affairs a new system would be adopted, according to the plan they themselves should propose. The court required nothing of them, but that the earl of Orford should escape with impunity. His place of chancellor of the exchequer was bestowed upon Mr. Sandys, who was likewise appointed a lord of the treasury; and the earl of Wilmington succeeded him as first commissioner of that board. Lord Harrington, being dignified with the title of carl, was declared president of the council; and in his room lord Carteret became secretary of state. The duke of Argyle was made master-general of the ordnance, colonel of his majesty's royal regiment of horse guards, field-marshal and commander-in-chief of all the forces in South-Britain; but, finding himself disappointed in his expectations of the coalition, he, in less than a month, renounced all these employments. The marquis of Tweedale was appointed secretary of state for Scotland, a post which had been long suppressed; Mr. Pulteney was sworn of the privy-council, and afterwards created earl of Bath. The earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham was preferred to the head of the admiralty, in the room of sir Charles Wager; and, after the resignation of the duke of Argyle, the earl of Stair was appointed field-marshal of all his majesty's forces, as well as ambassador-extraordinary to the states-general. On the seventeenth day of February the prince of Wales, attended by a numerous retinue of his adherents, waited on his majesty, who received him graciously, and ordered his guards to be restored. Lord Carteret and Mr. Sandys were the first who embraced the offers of the court, without the consent or privity of any other leaders in the opposition, except that of Mr. Pulteney; but they declared to their friends, they would still proceed upon patriot principles; that they would concur in promoting an inquiry into past measures; and in enacting necessary laws to secure the constitution from the practices of corruption. These professions were believed, not only by their old coadjutors in the house of commons, but also by the nation in general. The reconciliation between the king and the prince of Wales, together with the change in the ministry, were celebrated with public rejoicings all over the kingdom; and immediately after the adjournment nothing but concord appeared in the house of commons.



INQUIRY INTO THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

But this harmony was of short duration. It soon appeared, that those who had declaimed the loudest for the liberties of their country, had been actuated solely by the most sordid and even the most ridiculous motives of self-interest. Jealousy and mutual distrust ensued between them and their former confederates. The nation complained, that, instead of a total change of men and measures, they saw the old ministry strengthened by this coalition; and the same interest in parliament predominating with redoubled influence. They branded the new converts as apostates and betrayers of their country; and in the transports of their indignation, they entirely overlooked the old object of their resentment. That a nobleman of pliant principles, narrow fortune, and unbounded ambition, should forsake his party for the blandishments of affluence, power, and authority, will not appear strange to any person acquainted with the human heart; but the sensible part of mankind will always reflect with amazement upon the conduct of a man, who seeing himself idolized by his fellow-citizens, as the first and firmest patriot in the kingdom, as one of the most shining ornaments of his country, could give up all his popularity, and incur the contempt or detestation of mankind, for the wretched consideration of an empty title, without office, influence, or the least substantial appendage. One cannot, without an emotion of grief, contemplate such an instance of infatuation—one cannot but lament that such glory should have been so weakly forfeited; that such talents should have been lost to the cause of liberty and virtue. Doubtless he flattered himself with the hope of one day directing the councils of his sovereign; but this was never accomplished, and he remained a solitary monument of blasted ambition. Before the change in the ministry, Mr. Pulteney moved, that the several papers relating to the conduct of the war, which had been laid before the house, should be referred to a select committee, who should examine strictly into the particulars, and make a report to the house of their remarks and objections. The motion introduced a debate; but, upon a division, was rejected by a majority of three voices. Petitions having been presented by the merchants of London, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, and almost all the trading towns in the kingdom, complaining of the losses they had sustained by the bad conduct of the war, the house resolved itself into a committee to deliberate on these remonstrances. The articles of the London petition were explained by Mr. Glover, an eminent merchant of that city. Six days were spent in perusing papers and examining witnesses; then the same gentleman summed up the evidence, and in a pathetic speech endeavoured to demonstrate, that the commerce of Great Britain had been exposed to the insults and rapine of the Spaniards, not by inattention or accident, but by one uniform and continued design. This inquiry being resumed after the adjournment, copies of instructions to admirals and captains of cruising ships were laid before the house: the commons passed several resolutions, upon which a bill was prepared for the better protecting and securing the trade and navigation of the kingdom. It made its way through the lower house; but was thrown out by the lords. The pension-bill was revived and sent up to the peers, where it was again rejected, lord Carteret voting against that very measure which he had so lately endeavoured to promote. On the ninth day of March, lord Limerick made a motion for appointing a committee to inquire into the conduct of affairs for the last twenty years; he was seconded by sir John St. Aubyn, and supported by Mr. Velters Cornwall, Mr. Phillips, Mr. W. Pitt, and lord Percival, the new member for Westminster, who had already signalized himself by his eloquence and capacity. The motion was opposed by sir Charles Wager, Mr. Pelham, and Mr. Henry Pox, surveyor-general to his majesty's works, and brother to lord Ilchester. Though the opposition was faint and frivolous, the proposal was rejected by a majority of two voices.

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Lord Limerick, not yet discouraged, made a motion on the twenty-third day of March, for an inquiry into the conduct of Robert earl of Orford, for the last ten years of his administration; and, after a sharp debate, it was carried in the affirmative. The house resolved to choose a secret committee by ballot; and in the meantime presented an address to the king, assuring him of their fidelity, zeal, and affection.

Sir Robert Godschall having moved for leave to bring in a bill to repeal the act for septennial parliaments, he was seconded by sir John Barnard; but warmly opposed by Mr. Pulteney and Mr. Sandys; and the question passed in the negative. The committee of secrecy being chosen, began to examine evidence, and Mr. Paxton, solicitor to the treasury, refusing to answer such questions as were put to him, lord Limerick, chairman of the committee, complained to the house of his obstinacy. He was first taken into custody; and still persisting in his refusal, committed to Newgate. Then his lordship moved, that leave should be given to bring in a bill for indemnifying evidence against the earl of Orford; and it was actually prepared by a decision of the majority. In the house of lords it was vigorously opposed by lord Carteret, and as strenuously supported by the duke of Argyle; but fell upon a division, by the weight of superior numbers. Those members in the house of commons who heartily wished the inquiry might be prosecuted, were extremely incensed at the fate of this bill. A committee was appointed to search the journals of the lords for precedents; their report being read, lord Strange, son to the earl of Derby, moved for a resolution, "That the lords refusing to concur with the commons of Great Britain, in an indemnification necessary to the effectual carrying on the inquiry now depending in parliament, is an obstruction to justice, and may prove fatal to the liberties of this nation."—This motion, which was seconded by lord Quarendon, son of the earl of Lichfield, gave rise to a warm debate; and Mr. Sandys declaimed against it, as a step that would bring on an immediate dissolution of the present form of government. It is really amazing to see with what effrontery some men can shift their maxims, and openly contradict the whole tenor of their former conduct. Mr. Sandys did not pass uncensured: he sustained some severe sarcasms on his apostacy from sir John Hinde Cotton, who refuted all his objections; nevertheless, the motion passed in the negative. Notwithstanding this great obstruction, purposely thrown in the way of the inquiry, the secret committee discovered many flagrant instances of fraud and corruption in which the earl of Orford had been concerned. It appeared, that he had granted fraudulent contracts for paying the troops in the West Indies; that he had employed iniquitous arts to influence elections; that for secret service, during the last ten years, he had touched one million four hundred fifty-three thousand four hundred pounds of public money; that above fifty thousand pounds of this sum had been paid to authors and printers of newspapers and political tracts, written in defence of the ministry; that on the very day which preceded his resignation, he had signed orders on the civil list revenues for above thirty thousand pounds; but as the cash remaining in the exchequer did not much exceed fourteen thousand pounds, he had raised the remaining part of the thirty thousand, by pawning the orders to a banker. The committee proceeded to make further progress in their scrutiny, and had almost prepared a third report, when they were interrupted by the prorogation of parliament.

The ministry finding it was necessary to take some step for conciliating the affection of the people, gave way to a bill for excluding certain officers from scats in the house of commons. They passed another for encouraging the linen manufacture; a third for regulating the trade of the plantations; and a fourth to prevent the marriage of lunatics. They voted forty thousand seamen, and sixty-two thousand five hundred landmen, for the service of the current year. They provided for the subsidies to Denmark and Hesse-Cassel, and voted five hundred thousand pounds to the queen of Hungary. The expense of the year amounted to near six millions, raised by the land-tax at four shillings in the pound, by the malt-tax, by one million from the sinking-fund, by annuities granted upon it for eight hundred thousand pounds, and a loan of one million six hundred thousand pounds from the bank. In the month of July, John lord Gower was appointed keeper of his majesty's privy-seal; Allen lord Bathurst was made captain of the band of pensioners; and on the fifteenth day of the month, Mr. Pulteney took his seat in the house of peers as earl of Bath. The king closed the session in the usual way, after having given them to understand, that a treaty of peace was concluded between the queen of Hungary and the king of Prussia, under his mediation; and that the late successes of the Austrian arms were in a great measure owing to the generous assistance afforded by the British nation.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}



THE ELECTOR OF BAVARIA CHOSEN EMPEROR.

By this time great changes had happened in the affairs of the continent. The elector of Bavaria was chosen emperor of Germany at Franckfort on the Maine, and crowned by the name of Charles VII. on the twelfth day of February. Thither the imperial diet was removed from Batisbon; they confirmed his election, and indulged him with a subsidy of fifty Roman months, amounting to about two hundred thousand pounds sterling. In the meantime the Austrian general, Khevenhuller, ravaged his electorate, and made himself master of Munich the capital of Bavaria; he likewise laid part of the palatinate under contribution, in resentment for that elector's having sent a body of his troops to reinforce the Imperial army. In March, count Saxe, with a detachment of French and Bavarians, reduced Egra; and the Austrians were obliged to evacuate Bavaria, though they afterwards returned. Khevenhuller took post in the neighbourhood of Passau, and detached general Beraclau to Dinglesing on the Iser, to observe the motions of the enemy, who were now become extremely formidable. In May, a detachment of French and Bavarians advanced to the castle of Hilk-Ersberg on the Danube, with a view to take possession of a bridge over the river; the Austrian garrison immediately marched out to give them battle, and a severe action ensued, in which the Imperialists were defeated.



THE KING OF PRUSSIA GAINS THE BATTLE AT CZASLAW.

In the beginning of the year the queen of Hungary had assembled two considerable armies in Moravia and Bohemia. Prince Charles of Lorraine, at the head of fifty thousand men, advanced against the Saxons and Prussians, who thought proper to retire with precipitation from Moravia, which they had invaded. Then the prince took the route to Bohemia; and marshal Broglio, who commanded the French forces in that country, must have fallen a sacrifice, had not the king of Prussia received a strong reinforcement, and entered that kingdom before his allies could be attacked. The two armies advanced towards each other; and on the seventeenth of May joined battle at Czaslaw, where the Austrians at first gained a manifest advantage, and penetrated as far as the Prussian baggage; then the irregulars began to plunder so eagerly, that they neglected every other consideration. The Prussian infantry took this opportunity to rally; the battle was renewed, and after a very obstinate contest, the victory was snatched out of the hands of the Austrians, who were obliged to retire with the loss of five thousand men killed, and twelve hundred taken by the enemy. The Prussians paid dear for the honour of remaining on the field of battle; and from the circumstances of this action, the king is said to have conceived a disgust to the war. When the Austrians made such progress in the beginning of the engagement, he rode off with great expedition, until he was recalled by a message from his general, the count de Schwerin, assuring his majesty that there was no danger of a defeat. Immediately after this battle, he discovered an inclination to accommodate all differences with the queen of Hungary. The earl of Hyndford, ambassador from the court of Great Britain, who accompanied him in this campaign, and was vested with full powers by her Hungarian majesty, did not fail to cultivate this favourable disposition; and on the first day of June, a treaty of peace between the two powers was concluded at Breslau. The queen ceded to his Prussian majesty the Upper and Lower Selesia, with the county of Glatz in Bohemia; and he charged himself with the payment of the sum lent by the merchants of London to the late emperor, on the Silesian revenues. He likewise engaged to observe a strict neutrality during the war, and to withdraw his forces from Bohemia in fifteen, days after the ratification of the treaty, in which were comprehended the king of Great Britain elector of Hanover, the czarina, the king of Denmark, the states-general, the house of Wolfenbuttle, and the king of Poland elector of Saxony, on certain conditions, which were accepted.

The king of Prussia recalled his troops; while mare-schal Broglio, who commanded the French auxiliaries in that kingdom, and the count de Belleisle, abandoned their magazines and baggage, and retired with precipitation under the cannon of Prague. There they intrenched themselves in an advantageous situation; and prince Charles being joined by the other body of Austrians, under prince Lobkowitz, encamped in sight of them on the hills of Girinsnitz. The grand duke of Tuscany arrived in the Austrian army, of which he took the command; and the French generals offered to surrender Prague, Egra, and all the other places they possessed in Bohemia, provided they might be allowed to march off with their arms, artillery, and baggage. The proposal was rejected, and Prague invested on all sides about the end of July. Though the operations of the siege were carried on in an awkward and slovenly manner, the place was so effectually blocked up, that famine must have compelled the French to surrender at discretion, had not very extraordinary efforts been made for their relief. The emperor had made advances to the queen of Hungary. He promised that the French forces should quit Bohemia, and evacuate the empire; and he offered to renounce all pretensions to the kingdom of Bohemia, on condition that the Austrians would restore Bavaria; but these conditions were declined by the court of Vienna. The king of France was no sooner apprized of the condition to which the generals Broglio and Belleisle were reduced, than he sent orders to mareshal Maillebois, who commanded his army on the Bhine, to march to their relief. His troops were immediately put in motion; and when they reached Amberg in the Upper Palatinate, were joined by the French and Imperialists from Bavaria. Prince Charles of Lorraine having received intelligence of their junction and design, left eighteen thousand men to maintain the blockade of Prague, under the command of general Festititz, while he himself, with the rest of his army, advanced to Hay-don on the frontiers of Bohemia. There he was joined by count Khevenhuller, who from Bavaria had followed the enemy, now commanded by count Seckendorf, and the count de Saxe. Seckendorf however was sent back to Bavaria, while mareschal Maillebois entered Bohemia on the twenty-fifth day of September. But he marched with such precaution, that prince Charles could not bring him to an engagement. Meanwhile Festititz, for want of sufficient force, was obliged to abandon the blockade of Prague; and the French generals being now at liberty, took post at Leutmaritz. Maillebois advanced as far as Kadan; but seeing the Austrians possessed of all the passes of the mountains, he marched back to the palatinate, and was miserably harassed in his retreat by prince Charles, who had left a strong body with prince Lobkowitz to watch the motions of Belleisle and Broglio.



EXTRAORDINARY RETREAT OF M. DE BELLEISLE.

These generals seeing themselves surrounded on all hands, returned to Prague, from whence Broglio made his escape in the habit of a courier, and was sent to command the army of Maillebois, who was by this time disgraced. Prince Lobkowitz, who now directed the blockade of Prague, had so effectually cut off all communication between that place and the adjacent country, that in a little time the French troops were reduced to great extremity, both from the severity of the season, and the want of provisions. They were already reduced to the necessity of eating horse flesh, and unclean animals; and they had no other prospect but that of perishing by famine or war, when their commander formed the scheme of a retreat, which was actually put in execution. Having taken some artful precautions to deceive the enemy, he, in the middle of December, departed from Prague at midnight, with about fourteen thousand men, thirty pieces of artillery, and some of the principal citizens as hostages for the safety of nine hundred soldiers whom he had left in garrison. Notwithstanding the difficulties he must have encountered at that season of the year, in a broken and unfrequented road, which he purposely chose, he marched with such expedition, that he had gained the passes of the mountains before he was overtaken by the horse and hussars of prince Lobkowitz. The fatigue and hardships which the miserable soldiers underwent are inexpressible. A great number perished in the snow, and many hundreds, fainting with weariness, cold, and hunger, were left to the mercy of the Austrian irregulars, consisting of the most barbarous people on the face of the earth. The count de Belleisle, though tortured with the hip-gout, behaved with surprising resolution and activity. He caused himself to be carried on a litter to every place where he thought his presence was necessary, and made such dispositions, that the pursuers never could make an impression upon the body of his troops; but all his artillery, baggage, and even his own equipage, fell into the hands of the enemy. On the twenty-ninth day of December, he arrived at Egra, from whence he proceeded to Alsace without further molestation; but when he returned to Versailles, he met with a very cold reception, notwithstanding the gallant exploit which he had performed. After his escape, prince Lobkowitz returned to Prague, and the small garrison which Belleisle had left in that place surrendered upon honourable terms; so that this capital reverted to the house of Austria.



THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN FORMS AN ARMY IN FLANDERS.

The king of Great Britain resolved to make a powerful diversion in the Netherlands, and in the month of April, ordered sixteen thousand effective men to be embarked for that country; but as this step was taken without any previous concert with the states-general, the earl of Stair, destined to the command of the forces in Flanders, was in the meantime appointed ambassador-extraordinary and plenipotentiary to their high mightinesses, in order to persuade them to co-operate vigorously in the plan which his Britannic majesty had formed; a plan by which Great Britain was engaged as a principal in a foreign dispute, and entailed upon herself the whole burden of an expensive war, big with ruin and disgrace. England, from being the umpire, was now become a party in all continental quarrels; and, instead of trimming the balance of Europe, lavished away her blood and treasure in supporting the interest and allies of a puny electorate in the north of Germany. The king of Prussia had been at variance with the elector of Hanover. The duchy of Mecklenburgh was the avowed subject of dispute; but his Prussian majesty is said to have had other more provoking causes of complaint, which however he did not think proper to divulge. The king of Great Britain found it convenient to accommodate these differences. In the course of this summer the two powers concluded a convention, in consequence of which the troops of Hanover evacuated Mecklenburgh, and three regiments of Brandenburgh took possession of those bailiwicks that were mortgaged to the king of Prussia. The elector of Hanover being now secured from danger, sixteen thousand troops of that country, together with the six thousand auxiliary Hessians, began their march for the Netherlands; and about the middle of October arrived in the neighbourhood of Brussels, where they encamped. The earl of Stair repaired to Ghent, where the British forces were quartered: a body of Austrians was assembled; and though the season was far advanced, he seemed determined upon some expedition; but all of a sudden the troops were sent into winter-quarters. The Austrians retired to Luxembourg; the English and Hessians remained in Flanders; and the Hanoverians marched into the county of Liege, without paying any regard to the bishop's protestation.



PROGRESS OF THE WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND SWEDEN.

The states-general had made a considerable augmentation of their forces by sea and land; but, notwithstanding the repeated instances of the earl of Stair, they resolved to adhere to their neutrality; they dreaded the neighbourhood of the French; and they were far from being pleased to see the English get footing in the Netherlands. The friends of the house of Orange began to exert themselves; the states of Groningen and West Friesland protested, in favour of the prince, against the promotion of foreign generals which had lately been made; but his interest was powerfully opposed by the provinces of Zealand and Holland, which had the greatest weight in the republic. The revolution in Russia did not put an end to the war with Sweden. These two powers had agreed to an armistice of three months, during which the czarina augmented her forces in Finland.

She likewise ordered the counts Osterman and Munich, with their adherents, to be tried; they were condemned to death, but pardoned on the scaffold, and sent in exile to Siberia. The Swedes, still encouraged by the intrigues of France, refused to listen to any terms of accommodation, unless Carelia, and the other conquests of the czar Peter, should be restored. The French court had expected to bring over the new empress to their measures; but they found her as well disposed as her predecessor to assist the house of Austria. She remitted a considerable sum of money to the queen of Hungary; and at the same time congratulated the elector of Bavaria on his elevation to the Imperial throne. The ceremony of her coronation was performed in May, with great solemnity, at Moscow; and in November she declared her nephew, the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, her successor, by the title of grand prince of all the Russias. The cessation of arms being expired, general Lasci reduced Fredericksheim, and obliged the Swedish army, commanded by count Lewenhaupt, to retire before him, from one place to another, until at length they were quite surrounded near Helsingsors. In this emergency the Swedish general submitted to a capitulation, by which his infantry were transported by sea to Sweden; his cavalry marched by land to Abo; and his artillery and magazines remained in the hands of the Russians. The king of Sweden being of an advanced age, the diet assembled in order to settle the succession; and the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, as grandson to the eldest sister of Charles XII., was declared next heir to the crown. A courier was immediately despatched to Moscow, to notify to the duke this determination of the diet; and this message was followed by a deputation; but when they understood that he had embraced the religion of the Greek church, and been acknowledged successor to the throne of Russia, they annulled his election for Sweden, and resolved that the succession should not be re-established until a peace should be concluded with the czarina. Conferences were opened at Abo for this purpose. In the meantime, the events of war had been so long unfortunate for Sweden, that it was absolutely necessary to appease the indignation of the people with some sacrifice. The generals Lewenhaupt and Bodenbrock were tried by a court-martial for misconduct; being found guilty and condemned to death, they applied to the diet, by which the sentence was confirmed. The term of the subsidy-treaty between Great Britain and Denmark expiring, his Danish majesty refused to renew it; nor would he accede to the peace of Breslau. On the other hand, he became subsidiary to France, with which also he concluded a new treaty of commerce.



THE KING OF SARDINIA DECLARES FOR THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA.

The court of Versailles were now heartily tired of maintaining the war in Germany, and had actually made equitable proposals of peace to the queen of Hungary, by whom they were rejected. Thus repulsed, they redoubled their preparations; and endeavoured, by advantageous offers, to detach the king of Sardinia from the interest of the house of Austria. This prince had espoused a sister to the grand duke, who pressed him to declare for her brother, and the queen of Hungary promised to gratify him with some territories in the Milanese; besides, he thought the Spaniards had already gained too much ground in Italy; but, at the same time, he was afraid of being crushed between France and Spain, before he could be properly supported. He therefore temporized, and protracted the negotiation, until he was alarmed at the progress of the Spanish arms in Italy, and fixed in his determination by the subsidies of Great Britain. The Spanish army assembled at Rimini under the duke de Montemar; and being joined by the Neapolitan forces, amounted to sixty thousand men, furnished with a large train of artillery. About the beginning of May, they entered the Bolognese; then the king of Sardinia declaring against them, joined the Austrian army commanded by count Traun; marched into the duchy of Parma; and understanding that the duke of Modena had engaged in a treaty with the Spaniards, dispossessed that prince of his dominions. The duke de Montemar, seeing his army diminished by sickness and desertion, retreated to the kingdom of Naples, and was followed by the king of Sardinia as far-as Rimini.

Here he received intelligence that Don Philip, third son of his catholic majesty, had made an irruption into Savoy with another army of Spaniards, and already taken possession of Chamberri, the capital. He forthwith began his march for Piedmont. Don Philip abandoned Savoy at his approach, and retreating into Dauphine, took post under the cannon of fort Barreaux. The king pursued him thither, and both armies remained in sight of each other till the month of December, when the marquis de Minas, an active and enterprising general, arrived from Madrid, and took upon him the command of the forces under Don Philip. This general's first exploit was against the castle of Aspremont, in the neighbourhood of the Sardinian camp. He attacked it so vigorously, that the garrison was obliged to capitulate in four-and-forty hours. The loss of this important post compelled the king to retire into Piedmont, and the Spaniards marched back into Savoy, where they established their winter quarters. In the meantime the duke de Montemar, who directed the other Spanish army, though the duke of Modena was nominal generalissimo, resigned his command to count Gages, who attempted to penetrate into Tuscany; but was prevented by the vigilance of count Traun, the Austrian general. In December he quartered his troops in the Bolognese and Romagna; while the Austrian s and Piedmontese were distributed in the Modenese and Parmesan. The pope was passive during the whole campaign; the Venetians maintained their neutrality, and the king of the two Sicilies was overawed by the British fleet in the Mediterranean.

The new ministry in England had sent out admiral Matthews to assume the command of this squadron, which had been for some time conducted by Lestock, an inferior officer, as Haddock had been obliged to resign his commission on account of his ill state of health. Matthews was likewise invested with the character of minister-plenipotentiary to the king of Sardinia and the states of Italy. Immediately after he had taken possession of his command, he ordered captain Norris to destroy five Spanish galleys which had put into the bay of St. Tropez; and this service was effectually performed. In May he detached commodore Rowley, with eight sail, to cruise off the harbour of Toulon; and a great number of merchant ships belonging to the enemy fell into his hands. In August he sent commodore Martin with another squadron into the bay of Naples, to bombard that city, unless his Sicilian majesty would immediately recall his troops, which had joined the Spanish army, and promise to remain neutral during the continuance of the war. Naples was immediately filled with consternation; the king subscribed to these conditions; and the English squadron rejoined the admiral on the road of Hieres, which he had chosen for his winter station. Before this period he had landed some men at St. Remo, in the territories of Genoa, and destroyed the magazines that were erected for the use of the Spanish army. He had likewise ordered two of his cruisers to attack a Spanish ship of the line which lay at anchor in the port of Ajaccio, in the island of Corsica; but the Spanish captain set his men on shore, and blew up his ship, rather than she should fall into the hands of the English.



OPERATIONS IN THE WEST INDIES.

In the course of this year admiral Vernon and general Wentworth made another effort in the West Indies. They had in January received a reinforcement from England, and planned a new expedition, in concert with the governor of Jamaica, who accompanied them in their voyage. Their design was to disembark the troops at Porto-Bello, and march across the isthmus of Darien to attack the rich town of Panama. They sailed from Jamaica on the ninth day of March, and on the twenty-eighth arrived at Porto-Bello. There they held a council of war, in which it was resolved, that as the troops were sickly, the rainy season begun, and several transports not yet arrived, the intended expedition was become impracticable. In pursuance of this determination, the armament immediately returned to Jamaica, exhibiting a ridiculous spectacle of folly and irresolution.*

* In May, two English frigates, commanded by captain Smith and captain Stuart, fell in with three Spanish ships of war, near the island of St. Christopher's. They forthwith engaged, and the action continued till night, by the favour of which the enemy retired to Porto Rico in a scattered condition.—In the month of September, the Tilbury ship of war, of sixty guns, was accidentally set on fire, and destroyed, off the island of Hispaniola, on which occasion one hundred and twenty-seven men perished; the rest were saved by captain Hoare of the Defiance, who happened to be on the same cruise.

In August, a ship of war was sent from thence, with about three hundred soldiers, to the small island of Rattan in the bay of Honduras, of which they took possession. In September, Vernon and Wentworth received orders to return to England with such troops as remained alive; these did not amount to a tenth part of the number which had been sent abroad in that inglorious service. The inferior officers fell ignobly by sickness and despair, without an opportunity of signalizing their courage, and the commanders lived to feel the scorn and reproach of their country. In the month of June the new colony of Georgia was invaded by an armament from St. Augustine, commanded by Don Marinel de Monteano, governor of that fortress. It consisted of six-and-thirty ships, from which four thousand men were landed at St. Simon's; and began their march for Frederica. General Oglethorpe, with a handful of men, took such wise precautions for opposing their progress, and harassed them in their march with such activity and resolution, that after two of their detachments had been defeated, they retired to their ships and totally abandoned the enterprise.

In England the merchants still complained that their commerce was not properly protected, and the people clamoured against the conduct of the war. They said, their burdens were increased to maintain quarrels with which they had no concern; to defray the enormous expense of inactive fleets and pacific armies. Lord Carteret had by this time insinuated himself into the confidence of his sovereign, and engrossed the whole direction of public affairs. The war with Spain was now become a secondary consideration, and neglected accordingly; while the chief attention of the new minister was turned upon the affairs of the continent. The dispute with Spain concerned Britain only. The interests of Hanover were connected with the troubles of the empire. By pursuing this object he soothed the wishes of his master, and opened a more ample field for his own ambition. He had studied the policy of the continent with peculiar eagerness. This was the favourite subject of his reflection, upon which he thought and spoke with a degree of enthusiasm. The intolerable taxes, the poverty, the ruined commerce of his country, the iniquity of standing armies, votes of credit, and foreign connexions, upon which he had so often expatiated, were now forgotten or overlooked. He saw nothing but glory, conquest, or acquired dominion. He set the power of France at defiance; and as if Great Britain had felt no distress, but teemed with treasure which she could not otherwise employ, he poured forth her millions with a rash and desperate hand, in purchasing beggarly allies, and maintaining mercenary armies. The earl of Stair had arrived in England towards the end of August, and conferred with his majesty. A privy-council was summoned; and in a few days that nobleman returned to Holland. Lord Carteret was sent with a commission to the Hague in September; and when he returned, the baggage of the king and the duke of Cumberland, which had been shipped for Flanders, was ordered to be brought on shore. The parliament met on the sixteenth day of November, when his majesty told them, that he had augmented the British forces in the low countries with sixteen thousand Hanoverians and the Hessian auxiliaries, in order to form such a force, in conjunction with the Austrian troops, as might be of service to the common cause at all events. He extolled the magnanimity and fortitude of the queen of Hungary, as well as the resolute conduct of the king of Sardinia, and that prince's strict adherence to his engagements, though attacked in his own dominions. He mentioned the requisition made by Sweden, of his good offices for procuring a peace between that nation and Eussia; the defensive alliances which he had concluded with the czarina, and with the king of Prussia; as events which could not have been expected, if Great Britain had not manifested a seasonable spirit and vigour in defence and assistance of her ancient allies, and in maintaining the liberties of Europe. He said the honour and interest of his crown and kingdoms, the success of the war with Spain, the re-establishment of the balance and tranquillity of Europe, would greatly depend on the prudence and vigour of their resolution. The marquis of Tweedale moved for an address of thanks, which was opposed by the earl of Chesterfield, for the reasons so often urged on the same occasion; but supported by lord Carteret on his new-adopted maxims, with those specious arguments which he could at all times produce, delivered with amazing serenity and assurance. The motion was agreed to, and the address presented to his majesty. About this period a treaty of mutual defence and guarantee between his majesty and the king of Prussia, was signed at Westminster. In the house of commons Mr. Lyttelton made a motion for reviving the place-bill; but it was opposed by a great number of members who had formerly been strenuous advocates for this measure, and rejected upon a division. This was also the fate of a motion made to renew the inquiry into the conduct of Robert earl of Orford. As many strong presumptions of guilt had appeared against him in the reports of the secret committee, the nation had reason to expect that this proposal would have been embraced by a great majority; but several members, who in the preceding session had been loud in their demands of justice, now shamefully contributed their talents and interest in stifling the inquiry.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}



EXTRAORDINARY MOTION IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

When the house of lords took into consideration the several estimates of the expense occasioned by the forces in the pay of Great Britain, earl Stanhope, at the close of an elegant speech, moved for an address, to beseech and advise his majesty, that in compassion to his people, loaded already with such numerous and heavy taxes, such large and growing debts, and greater annual expenses than the nation at any time before had ever sustained, he would exonerate his subjects of the charge and burden of those mercenaries who were taken into the service last year, without the advice or consent of parliament. The motion was supported by the earl of Sandwich, who took occasion to speak with great contempt of Hanover; and, in mentioning the royal family, seemed to forget that decorum which the subject required. He had, indeed, reason to talk with asperity on the contract by which the Hanoverians had been taken into the pay of Great Britain. Levy-money was charged to the account, though they were engaged for one year only, and though not a single regiment had been raised on this occasion; they had been levied for the security of the electorate; and would have been maintained if England had never engaged in the affairs of the continent. The duke of Bedford enlarged upon the same subject. He said it had been suspected, nor was the suspicion without foundation, that the measures of the English ministry had long been regulated by the interest of his majesty's electoral territories; that these had been long considered as a gulf into which the treasures of Great Britain had been thrown; that the state of Hanover had been changed, without any visible cause, since the accession of its princes to the throne of England; affluence had begun to wanton in their towns, and gold to glitter in their cottages, without the discovery of mines, or the increase of their commerce; and new dominions had been purchased, of which the value was never paid from the revenues of Hanover. The motion was hunted down by the new ministry, the patriot lord Bathurst, and the earl of Bath, which last nobleman declared, that he considered it as an act of cowardice and meanness, to fall passively down the stream of popularity, to suffer his reason and integrity to be overborne by the noise of vulgar clamours, which had been raised against the measures of government by the low arts of exaggeration, fallacious reasonings, and partial representations. This is the very language which sir Robert Walpole had often used against Mr. Pulteney and his confederates in the house of commons. The associates of the new secretary pleaded the cause of Hanover, and insisted upon the necessity of a land-war against France, with all the vehemence of declamation. Their suggestions were answered; their conduct was severely stigmatized by the earl of Chesterfield, who observed, that the assembling an army in Flanders, without the concurrence of the states-general, or any other power engaged by treaty, or bound by interest, to support the queen of Hungary, was a rash and ridiculous measure; the taking sixteen thousand Hanoverians into British pay, without consulting the parliament, seemed highly derogatory to the rights and dignity of the great council of the nation, and a very dangerous precedent to future times; that these troops could not be employed against the emperor, whom they had already recognised; that the arms and wealth of Britain alone were altogether insufficient to raise the house of Austria to its former strength, dominion, and influence; that the assembling an army in Flanders would engage the nation as principals in an expensive and ruinous war, with a power which it ought not to provoke, and could not pretend to withstand in that manner; that while Great Britain exhausted herself almost to ruin, in pursuance of schemes founded on engagements to the queen of Hungary, the electorate of Hanover, though under the same engagements, and governed by the same prince, did not appear to contribute any thing as an ally to her assistance, but was paid by Great Britain for all the forces it had sent into the field, at a very exorbitant price; that nothing could be more absurd and iniquitous than to hire these mercenaries, while a numerous army lay inactive at home, and the nation groaned under such intolerable burdens. "It may be proper," added he, "to repeat what may be forgotten in the multitude of other objects, that this nation, after having exalted the elector of Hanover from a state of obscurity to the crown, is condemned to hire the troops of that electorate to fight their own cause; to hire them at a rate which was never demanded before; and to pay levy-money for them, though it is known to all Europe that they were not raised for this occasion." All the partisans of the old ministry joined in the opposition to earl Stanhope's motion, which was rejected by the majority. Then the earl of Scarborough moved for an address, to approve of the measures which had been taken on the continent; and this was likewise carried by dint of numbers. It was not, however, a very eligible victory; what they gained in parliament they lost with the people. The new ministers became more odious than their predecessors; and people began to think that public virtue was an empty name.

But the most severe opposition they underwent was in their endeavours to support a bill which they had concerted, and which had passed through the house of commons with great precipitation; it repealed certain duties on spirituous liquors, and licenses for retailing these liquors; and imposed others at an easier rate. When those severe duties, amounting almost to a prohibition, were imposed, the populace of London were sunk into the most brutal degeneracy, by drinking to excess the pernicious spirit called gin, which was sold so cheap that the lowest class of the people could afford to indulge themselves in one continued state of intoxication, to the destruction of all morals, industry, and order. Such a shameful degree of profligacy prevailed, that the retailers of this poisonous compound set up painted boards in public, inviting people to be drunk at the small expense of one penny; assuring them they might be dead drunk for two-pence, and have straw for nothing. They accordingly provided cellars and places strewed with straw, to which they conveyed those wretches who were overwhelmed with intoxication. In these dismal caverns they lay until they recovered some use of their faculties, and then they had recourse to the same mischievous potion; thus consuming their health, and ruining their families, in hideous receptacles of the most filthy vice, resounding with riot, execration, and blasphemy. Such beastly practices too plainly denoted a total want of all policy and civil regulations, and would have reflected disgrace upon the most barbarous community. In order to restrain this evil, which was become intolerable, the legislature enacted that law which we have already mentioned. But the populace soon broke through all restraint. Though no license was obtained, and no duty paid, the liquor continued to be sold in all corners of the streets, informers were intimidated by the threats of the people, and the justices of the peace, either from indolence or corruption, neglected to put the law in execution. The new ministers foresaw that a great revenue would accrue to the crown from a repeal of this act; and this measure they thought they might the more decently take, as the law had proved ineffectual; for it appeared that the consumption of gin had considerably increased every year since those heavy duties were imposed. They therefore pretended, that should the price of the liquor be moderately raised, and licenses granted at twenty shillings each to the retailers, the lowest class of people would be debarred the use of it to excess; their morals would of consequence be mended; and a considerable sum of money might be raised for the support of the war, by mortgaging the revenue arising from the duty and the licenses. Upon these maxims the new bill was founded, and passed through the lower house without opposition; but among the peers it produced the most obstinate dispute which had happened since the beginning of this parliament. The first assault it sustained was from lord Hervey, who had been divested of his post of privy-seal, which was bestowed on lord Gower, and these two noblemen exchanged principles from that instant. The first was hardened into a sturdy patriot, the other suppled into an obsequious courtier. Lord Hervey, on this occasion, made a florid harangue upon the pernicious effects of that destructive spirit they were about to let loose upon their fellow-creatures. Several prelates expatiated on the same topics; but the earl of Chesterfield attacked the bill with the united powers of reason, wit, and ridicule. Lord Carteret, lord Bathurst, and the earl of Bath, were numbered among its advocates; and shrewd arguments were advanced on both sides of the question. After very long, warm, and repeated debates, the bill passed without amendments, though the whole bench of bishops voted against it; and we cannot help owning, that it has not been attended with those dismal consequences which the lords in the opposition foretold. When the question was put for committing this bill, and the earl of Chesterfield saw the bishops join in his division, "I am in doubt," said he, "whether I have not got on the other side of the question; for I have not had the honour to divide with so many lawn sleeves for several years."



BILL FOR QUIETING CORPORATIONS.

By the report of the secret committee, it appeared that the then minster had commenced prosecutions against the mayors of boroughs who opposed his influence in the election of members of parliament. These prosecutions were founded on ambiguities in charters, or trivial informalities in the choice of magistrates. An appeal on such a process was brought into the house of lords; and this evil falling under consideration, a bill was prepared for securing the independency of corporations; but as it tended to diminish the influence of the ministry, they argued against it with their usual eagerness and success; and it was rejected on a division. The mutiny bill and several others passed through both houses. The commons granted supplies to the amount of six millions, raised by the land-tax, the malt-tax, duties on spirituous liquors and licenses, and a loan from the sinking fund. In two years the national debt had suffered an increase of two millions four hundred thousand pounds.

{1743}

On the twenty-first day of April the session was closed in the usual manner. The king, in his speech to both houses, told them, that, at the requisition of the queen of Hungary, he had ordered his army, in conjunction with the Austrians, to pass the Rhine for her support and assistance; that he continued one squadron of ships in the Mediterranean, and another in the West Indies. He thanked the commons for the ample supplies they had granted; and declared it was the fixed purpose of his heart to promote the true interest and happiness of his kingdoms. Immediately after the prorogation of parliament he embarked for Germany, accompanied by the duke of Cumberland, lord Carteret, and other persons of distinction.



CONVENTION BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY.

At this period the queen of Hungary seemed to triumph over all her enemies. The French were driven out of Bohemia and part of the Upper Palatinate; and their forces under mareschal Broglio were posted on the Danube. Prince Charles of Lorraine, at the head of the Austrian army, entered Bavaria; and in April obtained a victory over a body of Bavarians at Braunau; at the same time, three bodies of Croatians penetrating through the passes of the Tyrolese, ravaged the whole country to the very gates of Munich. The emperor pressed the French general to hazard a battle; but he refused to run the risk, though he had received a strong reinforcement from France. His Imperial majesty thinking himself unsafe in Munich, retired to Augsburgh; mareschal Seckendorf retreated with the Bavarian troops to Ingoldstadt, where he was afterwards joined by mareschal Broglio, whose troops had in this retreat been pursued and terribly harassed by the Austrian cavalry and hussars. Prince Charles had opened a free communication with Munich, which now for the third time fell into the hands of the queen of Hungary. Her arms likewise reduced Friedberg and Landsperg, while prince Charles continued to pursue the French to Dona-wert, where they were joined by twelve thousand men from the Bhine. Broglio still avoided an engagement, and retreated before the enemy to Hailbron. The emperor being thus abandoned by his allies, and stripped of all his dominions, repaired to Franckfort, where he lived in indigence and obscurity. He now made advances towards an accommodation with the queen of Hungary. His general, Seckendorf, had an interview with count Khevenhuller at the convent of Lowerscon-field, where a convention was signed. This treaty imported, that the emperor should remain neuter during the continuance of the present war, and that his troops should be quartered in Franconia; that the queen of Hungary should keep possession of Bavaria till the peace; that Braunau and Scarding should be delivered up to the Austrians; that the French garrison of Ingoldstadt should be permitted to withdraw, and be replaced by Bavarians; but that the Austrian generals should be put in possession of all the artillery, magazines, and warlike stores belonging to the French, which should be found in the place. The governors of Egra and Ingoldstadt refusing to acquiesce in the capitulation, the Austrians had recourse to the operations of war; and both places were reduced. In Ingoldstadt they found all the emperor's domestic treasure, jewels, plate, pictures, cabinets, and curiosities, with the archives of the house of Bavaria, the most valuable effects belonging to the nobility of that electorate, a prodigious train of artillery, and a vast quantity of provisions, arms, and ammunition.



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND THE ELECTOR OF HANOVER.

The French king, baffled in all the efforts he had hitherto made for the support of the emperor, ordered his minister at Franckfort to deliver a declaration to the diet, professing himself extremely well pleased to hear they intended to interpose their mediation for terminating the war. He said, he was no less satisfied with the treaty of neutrality which the emperor had concluded with the queen of Hungary; an event of which he was no sooner informed, than he had ordered his troops to return to the frontiers of his dominions, that the Germanic body might be convinced of his equity and moderation. To this declaration the queen of Hungary answered in a rescript, that the design of France was to embarrass her affairs, and deprive her of the assistance of her allies; that the elector of Bavaria could not be considered as a neutral party in his own cause; that the mediation of the empire could only produce a peace either with or without the concurrence of France; that in the former case no solid peace could be expected; in the latter, it was easy to foresee, that France would pay no regard to a peace in which she should have no concern. She affirmed, that the aim of the French king was solely to gain time to repair his losses, that he might afterwards revive the troubles of the empire. The elector of Mentz, who had favoured the emperor, was now dead, and his successor inclined to the Austrian interest. He allowed this rescript to be entered in the journal of the diet, together with the protests which had been made when the vote of Bohemia was suppressed in the late election. The emperor complained in a circular letter of this transaction, as a stroke levelled at his imperial dignity; and it gave rise to a warm dispute among the members of the Germanic body. Several princes resented the haughty conduct, and began to be alarmed at the success of the house of Austria; while others pitied the deplorable situation of the emperor. The kings of Great Britain and Prussia, as electors of Hanover and Brandenburgh, espoused opposite sides in this contest. His Prussian majesty protested against the investiture of the duchy of Saxe Lawenburgh, claimed by the king of Great Britain; he had an interview with general Seckendorf at Anspach; and was said to have privately visited the emperor at Franckfort.