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MADRAS TAKEN BY THE FRENCH.
The naval transactions of this year reflected very little honour on the British nation. Commodore Peyton, who commanded six ships of war in the East Indies, shamefully declined a decisive engagement with a French squadron of inferior force; and abandoned the important settlement of Madras on the coast of Coromandel, which was taken without opposition in the month of September by the French commodore, de la Bourdonnais. Fort St. David, and the other British factories in India, would probably have shared the same fate, had not the enemy's naval force in that country been shattered and partly destroyed by a terrible tempest. No event of consequence happened in America, though it was a scene that seemed to promise the greatest success to the arms of England. The reduction of Cape Breton had encouraged the ministry to project the conquest of Quebec, the capital of Canada, situated upon the river St. Lawrence. Commissions were sent to the governors of the British colonies in North America, empowering them to raise companies to join the armament from England; and eight thousand troops were actually raised in consequence of these directions; while a powerful squadron and transports, having six regiments on board, were prepared at Portsmouth for this expedition. But their departure was postponed by unaccountable delays, until the season was judged too far advanced to risk the great ships on the boisterous coast of North America. That the armament, however, might not be wholly useless to the nation, it was employed in making a descent upon the coast of Bretagne, on the supposition that Port L'Orient, the repository of all the stores and ships belonging to the French East India company, might be surprised; or, that this invasion would alarm the enemy, and, by making a diversion, facilitate the operations of the Austrian general in Provence.
The naval force intended for this service consisted of sixteen great ships, and eight frigates, besides bomb-ketches and store ships, commanded by Richard Lestock, appointed admiral of the blue division. Six battalions of land troops, with a detachment of matrosses and bombardiers, were embarked in thirty transports, under the conduct of lieutenant-general Sinclair; and the whole fleet set sail from Plymouth on the fourteenth day of September. On the twentieth the troops were landed in Quimperlay-bay, at the distance of ten miles from Port L'Orient. The militia, reinforced by some detachments from different regiments, were assembled to the number of two thousand, and seemed resolved to oppose the disembarkation; but seeing the British troops determined to land at all events, they thought proper to retire. Next day general Sinclair advanced into the country, skirmishing with the enemy in his route; and arriving at the village of Plemure, within half a league from Port L'Orient, summoned that place to surrender. He was visited by a deputation from the town, which offered to admit the British forces, on condition that they should be restrained from pillaging the inhabitants, and touching the magazines; and that they should pay a just price for their provisions. These terms being rejected, the inhabitants prepared for a vigorous defence; and the English general resolved to besiege the place in form, though he had neither time, artillery, nor forces sufficient for such an enterprise. This strange resolution was owing to the declaration of the engineers, who promised to lay the place in ashes in the space of four-and-twenty hours. All his cannon amounted to no more than a few field-pieces; and he was obliged to wait for two iron guns, which the sailors dragged up from the shipping. Had he given the assault on the first night after his arrival, when the town was filled with terror and confusion, and destitute of regular troops, in all probability it would have been easily taken by scalade; but the reduction of it was rendered impracticable by his delay. The ramparts were mounted with cannon from the ships in the harbour; new works were raised with great industry; the garrison was reinforced by several bodies of regular troops; and great numbers were assembling from all parts; so that the British forces were in danger of being surrounded in an enemy's country. Notwithstanding these discouragements, they opened a small battery against the town, which was set on fire in several places by their bombs and red-hot bullets; they likewise repulsed part of the garrison which had made a sally to destroy their works; but their cannon producing no effect upon the fortifications, the fire from the town daily increasing, the engineers owning they could not perform their promise, and admiral Lestock declaring, in repeated messages, that he could no longer expose the ships on an open coast at such a season of the year, general Sinclair abandoned the siege. Having caused the two iron pieces of cannon and the mortars to be spiked, he retreated in good order to the sea-side, where his troops were re-embarked, having sustained very inconsiderable damage since their first landing. He expected reinforcements from England, and was resolved to wait a little longer for their arrival, in hopes of being able to annoy the enemy more effectually. In the beginning of October, the fleet sailed to Quiberon-bay, where they destroyed the Ardent, a French ship of war of sixty-four guns; and a detachment of the forces being landed, took possession of a fort in the peninsula; while the little islands of Houat and Hey die were reduced by the sailors. In this situation the admiral and general continued till the seventeenth day of the month, when the forts being dismantled, and the troops re-embarked, the fleet sailed from the French coast; the admiral returned to England, and the transports with the soldiers proceeded to Ireland, where they arrived in safety.
NAVAL TRANSACTIONS in the WEST INDIES.
This expedition, weak and frivolous as it may seem, was resented by the French nation as one of the greatest insults they had ever sustained; and demonstrated the possibility of hurting France in her tenderest parts, by means of an armament of this nature, well timed, and vigorously conducted. Indeed, nothing could be more absurd or precipitate than an attempt to distress the enemy by landing a handful of troops, without draught-horses, tents, or artillery, from a fleet of ships lying on an open beach, exposed to the uncertainty of weather in the most tempestuous season of the year, so as to render the retreat and re-embarkation altogether precarious. The British squadrons in the West Indies performed no exploit of consequence in the course of this year. The commerce was but indifferently protected. Commodore Lee, stationed off Martinico, allowed a French fleet of merchant-ships, and their convoy, to pass by his squadron unmolested; and commodore Mitchel behaved scandalously in a rencontre with the French squadron, under the conduct of monsieur de Conflans, who in his return to Europe took the Severn, an English ship of fifty guns. The cruisers on all sides, English, French, and Spaniards, were extremely alert; and though the English lost the greater number of ships, this difference was more than overbalanced by the superior value of the prizes taken from the enemy. In the course of this year, two-and-twenty Spanish privateers, and sixty-six merchant vessels, including ten register ships, fell into the hands of the British cruisers; from the French they took seven ships of war, ninety privateers, and about three hundred ships of commerce. The new king of Spain* being supposed well-affected to the British nation, an effort was made to detach him from the interests of France, by means of the marquis de Tabernega, who had formerly been his favourite, and resided many years as a refugee in England.
* In the month of July, Philip king of Spain dying, in the sixty-third year of his age, was succeeded by his eldest son Ferdinand, born of Maria-Louisa Gabriela, sister to the late king of Sardinia. He espoused Donna Maria Magdalena, infanta of Portugal, but had no issue. Philip was but two days survived by his daughter, the dauphiness of France. The same month was remarkable for the death of Christian VI., king of Denmark, succeeded by his son Frederick V., who had married the princess Louisa, youngest daughter of the king of Great Britain.
This nobleman proceeded to Lisbon, where a negotiation was set on foot with the court of Madrid. But his efforts miscarried; and the influence of the queen-mother continued to predominate in the Spanish councils. The states-general had for some years endeavoured to promote a pacification by remonstrances, and even entreaties, at the court of Versailles; the French king at length discovered an inclination to peace, and in September a congress was opened at Breda, the capital of Dutch Brabant, where the plenipotentiaries of the emperor, Great Britain, France, and Holland, were assembled; but the French were so insolent in their demands, that the conferences were soon interrupted.
The parliament of Great Britain meeting in November, the king exhorted them to concert with all possible expedition the proper measures for pursuing the war with vigour, that the confederate army in the Netherlands might be seasonably augmented; he likewise gave them to understand, that the funds appropriated for the support of his civil government had for some years past fallen short of the revenue intended and granted by parliament; and said he relied on their known affection to find out some method to make good this deficiency. As all those who had conducted the opposition were now concerned in the administration, little or no objection was made to any demand or proposal of the government and its ministers. The commons having considered the estimates, voted forty thousand seamen for the service of the ensuing year, and about sixty thousand land-forces, including eleven thousand five hundred marines. They granted four hundred and thirty-three thousand pounds to the empress queen of Hungary; three hundred thousand pounds to the king of Sardinia; four hundred and ten thousand pounds for the maintenance of eighteen thousand Hanoverian auxiliaries; one hundred and sixty one thousand six hundred and seven pounds for six thousand Hessians; subsidies to the electors of Cologn, Mentz, and Bavaria; and the sum of five hundred thousand pounds to enable his majesty to prosecute the war with advantage. In a word, the supplies amounted to nine millions four hundred and twenty-five thousand two hundred and fifty-four pounds; a sum almost incredible, if we consider how the kingdom had been already drained of its treasure. It was raised by the usual taxes, reinforced with new impositions on windows, carriages, and spirituous liquors; a lottery, and a loan from the sinking-fund. The new taxes were mortgaged for four millions by transferable annuities, at an interest of four, and a premium of ten per centum. By reflecting on these enormous grants, one would imagine the ministry had been determined to impoverish the nation; but from the eagerness and expedition with which the people subscribed for the money, one would conclude that the riches of the kingdom were inexhaustible. It may not be amiss to observe, that the supplies of this year exceeded, by two millions and a half, the greatest annual sum that was raised during the reign of queen Anne, though she maintained as great a number of troops as was now in the pay of Great Britain, and her armies and fleets acquired every year fresh harvests of glory and advantage; whereas this war had proved an almost uninterrupted series of events big with disaster and dishonour. During the last two years, the naval expense of England had exceeded that of France about five millions sterling; though her fleets had not obtained one signal advantage over the enemy at sea, nor been able to protect her commerce from their depredations. She was at once a prey to her declared adversaries and professed friends. Before the end of summer, she numbered among her mercenaries two empresses, five German princes, and a powerful monarch, whom she hired to assist her in trimming the balance of Europe, in which they themselves were immediately interested, and she had no more than a secondary concern. Had these fruitless subsidies been saved; had the national revenue been applied with economy to national purposes; had it been employed in liquidating gradually the public incumbrances: in augmenting the navy, improving manufactures, encouraging and securing the colonies, and extending trade and navigation; corruption would have become altogether unnecessary, and disaffection would have vanished: the people would have been eased of their burdens, and ceased to complain; commerce would have flourished, and produced such affluence as must have raised Great Britain to the highest pinnacle of maritime power, above all rivalship of competition. She would have been dreaded by her enemies; revered by her neighbours; oppressed nations would have crept under her wings for protection; contending potentates would have appealed to her decision; and she would have shone the universal arbitress of Europe. How different is her present situation! her debts are enormous, her taxes intolerable, her people discontented, and the sinews of her government relaxed. Without conduct, confidence, or concert, she engages in blundering negotiations; she involves herself rashly in foreign quarrels, and lavishes her substance with the most dangerous precipitation; she is even deserted by her wonted vigour, steadiness, and intrepidity; she grows vain, fantastical, and pusillanimous; her arms are despised by her enemies; and her councils ridiculed through all Christendom.
PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED.
The king, in order to exhibit a specimen of his desire to diminish the public expense, ordered the third and fourth troops of his life-guards to be disbanded, and reduced three regiments of horse to the quality of dragoons. The house of commons presented an address of thanks for this instance of economy, by which the annual sum of seventy thousand pounds was saved to the nation. Notwithstanding this seeming harmony between the king and the great council of the nation, his majesty resolved, with the advice of his council, to dissolve the present parliament, though the term of seven years was not yet expired since its first meeting. The ministry affected to insinuate, that the states-general were unwilling to concur with his majesty in vigorous measures against France, during the existence of a parliament which had undergone such a vicissitude of complexion. The allies of Great Britain, far from being suspicious of this assembly, which had supplied them so liberally, saw with concern that according to law it would soon be dismissed; and they doubted whether another could be procured equally agreeable to their purposes. In order to remove this doubt, the ministry resolved to surprise the kingdom with a new election, before the malcontents should be prepared to oppose the friends of the government.
{1747}
Accordingly, when the business of the session was despatched, the king having given the royal assent to the several acts they had prepared, dismissed them in the month of June, with an affectionate speech that breathed nothing but tenderness and gratitude. The parliament was immediately dissolved by proclamation, and new writs were issued for convoking another. Among the laws passed in this session, was an act abolishing the heritable jurisdictions, and taking away the tenure of wardholdings in Scotland, which were reckoned among the principal sources of those rebellions that had been excited since the revolution. In the highlands they certainly kept the common people in subjection to their chiefs, whom they implicitly followed and obeyed in all their undertakings. By this act these mountaineers were legally emancipated from slavery; but as the tenants enjoyed no leases, and were at all times liable to be ejected from their farms, they still depended on the pleasure of their lords, notwithstanding this interposition of the legislature, which granted a valuable consideration in money to every nobleman and petty baron, who was thus deprived of one part of his inheritance. The forfeited estates indeed were divided into small farms, and let by the government on leases at an under value; so that those who had the good fortune to obtain such leases tasted the sweets of independence; but the highlanders in general were left in their original indigence and incapacity, at the mercy of their superiors. Had manufactures and fisheries been established in different parts of their country, they would have seen and felt the happy consequences of industry, and in a little time been effectually detached from all their slavish connexions.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
THE FRENCH AND ALLIES TAKE THE FIELD IN FLANDERS.
The operations of the campaign had been concerted in the winter at the Hague, between the duke of Cumberland and the states-general of the United Provinces, who were by this time generally convinced of France's design to encroach upon their territories. They therefore determined to take effectual measures against that restless and ambitious neighbour. The allied powers agreed to assemble a vast army in the Netherlands; and it was resolved that the Austrians and Piedmonte so should once more penetrate into Provence. The Dutch patriots, however, were not roused into this exertion, until all their remonstrances had failed at the court of Versailles; until they had been urged by repeated memorials of the English ambassador, and stimulated by the immediate danger to which their country was exposed; for France was by this time possessed of all the Austrian Netherlands, and seemed bent upon penetrating into the territories of the United Provinces. In February, the duke of Cumberland began to assemble the allied forces; and in the latter end of March they took the field in three separate bodies. His royal highness, with the English, Hanoverians, and Hessians, fixed his head quarters at the village of Tilberg; the prince of Waldeck was posted with the Dutch troops at Breda; and mareschal Bathiani collected the Austrians and Bavarians in the neighbourhood of Venlo. The whole army amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand men, who lay inactive six weeks, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and almost destitute of forage and provisions. Count Saxe, by this time created mareschal-general of France, continued his troops within their cantonments at Bruges, Antwerp, and Brussels, declaring, that when the allied army should be weakened by sickness and mortality, he would convince the duke of Cumberland that the first duty of a general is to provide for the health and preservation of his troops. In April this fortunate commander took the field, at the head of one hundred and forty thousand men; and the count de Clermont commanded a separate body of nineteen battalions and thirty squadrons. Count Lowendahl was detached on the sixteenth of the month, with seven-and-twenty thousand men, to invade Dutch Flanders; at the same time, the French minister at the Hague presented a memorial to the states, intimating, that his master was obliged to take this step by the necessity of war; but that his troops should observe the strictest discipline, without interfering with the religion, government, or commerce of the republic; he likewise declared, that the countries and places of which he might be obliged to take possession should be detained no otherwise than as a pledge, to be restored as soon as the United Provinces should give convincing proofs that they would no longer furnish the enemies of France with succours.
THE PRINCE OF ORANGE ELECTED STADTHOLDER.
While the states deliberated upon this declaration, count Lowendahl entered Dutch Brabant, and invested the town and fortress of Sluys, the garrison of which surrendered themselves prisoners of war on the nineteenth day of April. This was likewise the fate of Sas-van-Ghent, while the marquis de Contades, with another detachment, reduced the forts Perle and Leifkenshoek, with the town of Philippine, even within hearing of the confederate army. The fort of Sandberg was vigorously defended by two English battalions; but they were overpowered, and obliged to retire to Welsthoorden; and count Lowendahl undertook the siege of Hulst, which was shamefully surrendered by La Roque the Dutch governor, though he knew that a reinforcement of nine battalions was on the march to his relief. Then the French general took possession of Axel and Terneuse, and began to prepare flat-bottomed boats for a descent on the island of Zealand. The Dutch people were now struck with consternation. They saw the enemy at their doors, and owed their immediate preservation to the British squadron stationed at the Swin, under the command of commodore Mitchel,* who, by means of his sloops, tenders, and small craft, took such measures as defeated the intention of Lowendahl. The common people in Zealand being reduced to despair, began to clamour loudly against their governors, as if they had not taken the proper measures for their security. The friends of the prince of Orange did not neglect this opportunity of promoting his interest. They encouraged their discontent, and exaggerated the danger; they reminded them of the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-two, when the French king was at the gates of Amsterdam, and the republic was saved by the choice of a stadtholder; they exhorted them to turn their eyes on the descendant of those heroes who had established the liberty and independence of the United Provinces; they extolled his virtue and ability; his generosity, his justice, his unshaken love to his country. The people in several towns, inflamed by such representations to tumult and sedition, compelled their magistrates to declare the prince of Orange stadtholder. He himself, in a letter to the states of Zealand, offered his services for the defence of the province. On the twenty-eighth day of April he was nominated captain-general and admiral of Zealand. Their example was followed by Rotterdam and the whole province of Holland; and on the second day of May, the prince of Orange was, in the assembly of the states-general, invested with the power and dignity of stadtholder, captain-general, and admiral of the United Provinces. The vigorous consequences of this resolution immediately appeared. All commerce and contracts with the French were prohibited; the peasants were armed and exercised; a resolution passed for making a considerable augmentation of the army, a council of war was established for inquiring into the conduct of the governors who had given up the frontier places; and orders were issued to commence hostilities against the French, both by sea and land.
Meanwhile the duke of Cumberland took post with his whole army between the two Nethes, to cover Bergen-op-Zoom and Maestricht; and Mareschal Saxe called in his detachments with a view to hazard a general engagement. In the latter end of May the French king arrived at Brussels, and his general resolved to undertake the siege of Maestricht. For this purpose he advanced towards Louvain; and the confederates perceiving his drift, began their march to take post between the town and the enemy. On the twentieth day of June they took possession of their ground, and were drawn up in order of battle, with their right at Bilsen, and their left extending to Wirle within a mile of Maestricht, having in the front of their left wing the village of Laffeldt, in which they posted several battalions of British infantry. The French had taken possession of the heights of Herdeeren, immediately above the allies; and both armies cannonaded each other till the evening. In the morning the enemy's infantry marched down the hill in a prodigious column, and attacked the village of Laffeldt, which was well fortified, and defended with amazing obstinacy. The assailants suffered terribly in their approach from the cannon of the confederates, which was served with surprising dexterity and success; and they met with such a warm reception from the British musquetry as they could not withstand; but, when they were broken and dispersed, fresh brigades succeeded with astonishing perseverance. The confederates were driven out of the village; yet being sustained by three regiments, they measured back their ground, and repulsed the enemy with great slaughter. Nevertheless, count Saxe continued pouring in other battalions, and the French regained and maintained their footing in the village, after it had been three times lost and carried. The action was chiefly confined to this post, where the field exhibited a horrible scene of carnage. At noon the duke of Cumberland ordered the whole left wing to advance against the enemy, whose infantry gave way; prince Waldeck led up the centre; marshal Bathiani made a motion with the right wing towards Herdeeren, and victory seemed ready to declare for the confederates, when the fortune of the day took a sudden turn to their prejudice. Several squadrons of Dutch horse posted in the centre gave way, and flying at full gallop, overthrew five battalions of infantry that were advancing from the body of reserve. The French cavalry charged them with great impetuosity, increasing the confusion that was already produced, and penetrating through the lines of the allied army, which was thus divided about the centre. The duke of Cumberland, who exerted himself with equal courage and activity in attempting to remedy this disorder, was in danger of being taken; and the defeat would in all probability have been total, had not sir John Ligonier taken the resolution of sacrificing himself and a part of the troops to the safety of the army. At the head of three British regiments of dragoons, and some squadrons of imperial horse, he charged the whole line of the French cavalry with such intrepidity and success, that he overthrew all that opposed him, and made such a diversion as enabled the duke of Cumberland to effect an orderly retreat to Maestricht. He himself was taken by a French carabinier, after his horse had been killed; but the regiments he commanded retired with deliberation. The confederates retreated to Maestricht, without having sustained much damage from the pursuit, and even brought off all their artillery, except sixteen pieces of cannon. Their loss did not exceed six thousand men killed and taken; whereas the French general purchased the victory at a much greater expense. The common cause of the confederate powers is said to have suffered from the pride and ignorance of their generals. On the eve of the battle, when the detachment of the count de Clermont appeared on the hill of Herdeeren, marshal Bathiani asked permission of the commander-in-chief to attack them before they should be reinforced, declaring he would answer for the success of the enterprise. No regard was paid to this proposal; but the superior asked in his turn, where the marshal would be in case he should be wanted? He replied, "I shall always be found at the head of my troops," and retired in disgust. The subsequent disposition has likewise been blamed, inasmuch as not above one half of the army could act, while the enemy exerted their whole force.
SIEGE OF BERGEN-OP-ZOOM.
The confederates passed the Maese and encamped in the duchy of Limburgh, so as to cover Maestricht; while the French king remained with his army in the neighbourhood of Tongres. Mareschal Saxe, having amused the allies with marches and counter-marches, at length detached count Lowendahl with six-and-thirty thousand men to besiege Bergen-op-Zoom, the strongest fortification of Dutch Brabant, the favourite work of the famous engineer Coehorn, never conquered, and generally esteemed invincible. It was secured with a garrison of three thousand men, and well provided with artillery, ammunition, and magazines. The enemy appeared before it on the twelfth day of July, and summoned the governor to surrender. The prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen was sent to its relief, with twenty battalions and fourteen squadrons of the troops that could be most conveniently assembled; he entered the lines of Bergen-op-Zooin, where he remained in expectation of a strong reinforcement from the confederate army; and the old baron Cronstrom, whom the stadtholder had appointed governor of Brabant, assumed the command of the garrison The besiegers carried on their operations with great vivacity; and the troops in the town defended it with equal vigour. The eyes of all Europe were turned upon this important siege; count Lowendahl received divers reinforcements; and a considerable body of troops was detached from the allied army, under the command of baron Schwartzenberg, to co-operate with the prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The French general lost a great number of men by the close and continual fire of the besieged; while he, in his turn, opened such a number of batteries, and plied them so warmly, that the defences began to give way. From the sixteenth day of July to the fifteenth of September, the siege produced an unintermitting scene of horror and destruction: desperate sallies were made, and mines sprung with the most dreadful effect; the works began to be shattered; the town was laid in ashes; the trenches were filled with carnage; nothing was seen but fire and smoke; nothing heard but one continued roar of bombs and cannon. But still the damage fell chiefly on the besiegers, who were slain in heaps; while the garrison suffered very little, and could be occasionally relieved or reinforced from the lines. In a word, it was generally believed that count Lowendahl would be baffled in his endeavours; and by this belief the governor of Bergen-op-Zoom seems to have been lulled into a blind security. At length, some inconsiderable breaches were made in one ravelin and two bastions, and these the French general resolved to storm, though Cronstrom believed they were impracticable; ind on that supposition presumed that the enemy would not attempt an assault. For this very reason count Lowendahl resolved to hazard the attack, before the preparations should be made for his reception. He accordingly regulated his dispositions, and at four o'clock in the morning, on the sixteenth day of September, the signal was made for the assault. A prodigious quantity of bombs being thrown into the ravelin, his troops threw themselves into the fosse, mounted the breaches, forced open a sally-port, and entered the place almost without resistance. In a word, they had time to extend themselves along the curtains, and form in order of battle, before the garrison could be assembled. Cronstrom was asleep, and the soldiers upon duty had been surprised by the suddenness and impetuosity of the attack. Though the French had taken possession of the ramparts, they did not gain the town without opposition. Two battalions of the Scottish troops, in the pay of the states-general, were assembled in the market-place, and attacked them with such fury, that they were driven from street to street, until fresh reinforcements arriving, compelled the Scots to retreat in their turn; yet they disputed every inch of ground, and fought until two thirds of them were killed upon the spot. Then they brought off the old governor, abandoning the town to the enemy; the troops that were encamped in the lines retreating with great precipitation, all the forts in the neighbourhood immediately surrendered to the victors, who now became masters of the whole navigation of the Schelde. The French king was no sooner informed of Lowendahl's success, than he promoted him to the rank of mareschal of France; appointed count Saxe governor of the conquered Netherlands; and returned in triumph to Versailles. In a little time after this transaction, both armies were distributed into winter quarters, and the duke of Cumberland embarked for England.
In Italy, the French arms did not triumph with equal success, though the mareschal de Belleisle saw himself at the head of a powerful army in Provence. In April he passed the Var without opposition, and took possession of Nice. He met with little or no resistance in reducing Montalban, Villafranca, and Ventimiglia; while general Brown, with eight-and-twenty thousand Aus-trians, retired towards Final and Savona. In the meantime, another large body under count Schuylemberg, Who had succeeded the marquis de Botta, co-operated with fifteen thousand Piedmontese in an attempt to recover the city of Genoa. The French king had sent their supplies, succours, and engineers, with the duke de Boufflers, as ambassador to the republic, who likewise acted as commander-in-chief of the forces employed for its defence. The Austrian general assembled his troops in the Milanese, having forced the passage of the Bochetta on the thirteenth of January, he advanced into the territories of Genoa, and the Eiviera was ravaged without mercy. On the last day of March he appeared before the city at the head of forty thousand men, and summoned the revolters to lay down their arms. The answer he received was, that the republic had fifty-four thousand men in arms, two hundred and sixty cannon, thirty-four mortars, with abundance of ammunition and provision; that they would defend their liberty with their last blood, and be buried in the ruins of their capital, rather than submit to the clemency of the court of Vienna, except by an honourable capitulation, guaranteed by the kings of Great Britain and Sardinia, the republic of Venice and the United Provinces. In the beginning of May, Genoa was invested on all sides; a furious sally was made by the duke de Boufflers, who drove the besiegers from their posts; but the Austrians rallying, he was repulsed in his turn, with the loss of seven hundred men. General Schuylemberg carried on his operations with such skill, vigour, and intrepidity, that he made himself master of the suburbs of Bisagno; and in all probability would have reduced the city, had he not been obliged to desist, in consequence of the repeated remonstrances made by the king of Sardinia and count Brown, who represented the necessity of his abandoning his enterprise, and drawing off his army to cover Piedmont and Lombardy from the efforts of mareschal de Belleisle. Accordingly he raised the siege on the tenth day of June, and returned into the Milanese in order to join his Sardinian majesty; while the Genoese made an irruption into the Parmesan and Placentia, where they committed terrible outrages, in revenge for the mischiefs they had undergone.
THE CHEVALIER DE BELLEISLE SLAIN.
While the mareschal de Belleisle remained at Ventimiglia, his brother, at the head of four-and-thirty thousand French and Spaniards, attempted to penetrate into Piedmont: on the sixth day of July he arrived at the pass of Exilles, a strong fortress on the frontiers of Dauphine, situated on the north side of the river Doria. The defence of this important post the king of Sardinia had committed to the care of the count de Brigueras, who formed an encampment behind the lines, with fourteen battalions of Piedmontese and Austrians, while divers detachments were posted along all the passes of the Alps. On the eighth day of the month the Piedmontese intrenchments were attacked by the chevalier de Belleisle, with incredible intrepidity; but the columns were repulsed with great loss in three successive attacks. Impatient of this obstinate opposition, and determined not to survive a miscarriage, this impetuous general seized a pair of colours, and advancing at the head of his troops through a prodigious fire, pitched them with his own hand on the enemy's entrenchments. At that instant he fell dead, having received two musquet-balls and the thrust of a bayonet in his body. The assailants were so much dispirited by the death of their commander, that they forthwith gave way, and retreated with precipitation towards Sesteries, having lost near five thousand men in the attack. The mareschal was no sooner informed of his brother's misfortune, than he retreated towards the Var to join the troops from Exilles, while the king of Sardinia, having assembled an army of seventy thousand men, threatened Dauphine with an invasion; but the excessive rains prevented the execution of his design. General Leutrum was detached with twenty battalions, to drive the French from Ventimiglia; but Belleisle marching back, that scheme was likewise frustrated; and thus ended the campaign.
A FRENCH SQUADRON TAKEN.
In this manner was the French king baffled in his projects upon Italy; nor was he more fortunate in his naval operations. He had in the preceding year equipped an expensive armament, under the command of the duke d'Anville, for the recovery of Cape Breton; but it was rendered ineffectual by storms, distempers, and the death of the commander. Not yet discouraged by these disasters, he resolved to renew his efforts against the British colonies in North America, and their settlements in the East Indies. For these purposes two squadrons were prepared at Brest, one to be commanded by the commodore de la Jonquiere; and the other destined for India, by monsieur de St. George. The ministry of Great Britain, being apprized of these measures, resolved to intercept both squadrons, which were to set sail together. For this purpose vice-admiral Anson and rear-admiral Warren took their departure from Plymouth with a formidable fleet, and steered their course to Cape Finisterre on the coast of Gallicia. On the third day of May, they fell in with the French squadrons, commanded by la Jonquiere and St. George, consisting of six large ships of war, as many frigates, and four armed vessels equipped by their East India company, having under their convoy about thirty ships laden with merchandise. Those prepared for war immediately shortened sail, and formed a line of battle; while the rest, under the protection of the six frigates, proceeded on their voyage with all the sail they could carry. The British squadron was likewise drawn up in line of battle; but Mr. Warren, perceiving that the enemy began to sheer off, now their convoy was at a considerable distance, advised admiral Anson to haul in the signal for the line, and hoist another for giving chase and engaging, otherwise the French would, in all probability, escape by favour of the night. The proposal was embraced; and in a little time the engagement began with great fury, about four o'clock in the afternoon. The enemy sustained the battle with equal conduct and valour, until they were overpowered by numbers, and then they struck their colours. The admiral detached three ships in pursuit of the convoy, nine sail of which were taken; but the rest were saved by the intervening darkness. About seven hundred of the French were killed and wounded in this action. The English lost about five hundred; and among these captain Grenville, commander of the ship Defiance. He was nephew to the lord viscount Cobham, a youth of the most amiable character and promising genius, animated with the noblest sentiments of honour and patriotism. Eager in the pursuit of glory, he rushed into the midst of the battle, where both his legs were cut off by a cannon-ball. He submitted to his fate with the most heroic resignation, and died universally lamented and beloved. The success of the British arms in this engagement was chiefly owing to the conduct, activity, and courage of the rear-admiral. A considerable quantity of bullion was found in the prizes, which was brought to Spithead in triumph; and the treasure being landed, was conveyed in twenty waggons to the bank of London. Admiral Anson was ennobled, and Mr. Warren honoured with the order of the Bath.
ADMIRAL HAWKE OBTAINS ANOTHER VICTORY OVER THE FRENCH.
About the middle of June, commodore Fox, with six ships of war, cruising in the latitude of Cape Ortegal in Gallicia, took above forty French ships, richly laden from St. Domingo, after they had been abandoned by their convoy. But the French king sustained another more important loss at sea, in the month of October. Rear-admiral Hawke sailed from Plymouth in the beginning of August, with fourteen ships of the line, to intercept a fleet of French merchant ships bound for the West Indies. He cruised for some time on the coast of Bretagne; and at length the French fleet sailed from the isle of Aix, under convoy of nine ships of the line, besides frigates, commanded by monsieur de Letendeur. On the fourteenth day of October, the two squadrons were in sight of each other, in the latitude of Belleisle. The French commodore immediately ordered one of his great ships, and the frigates, to proceed with the trading ships, while he formed the line of battle, and waited the attack. At eleven in the forenoon admiral Hawke displayed the signal to chase, and in half an hour both fleets were engaged. The battle lasted till night, when all the French squadron, except the Intrepide and Ton-ant, had struck to the English flag. These two capital ships escaped in the dark, and returned to Brest in a shattered condition. The French captains sustained the unequal fight with uncommon bravery and resolution; and did not yield until their ships were disabled. Their loss in men amounted to eight hundred: the number of English killed in this engagement did not exceed two hundred, including captain Saumarez, a gallant officer who had served under lord Anson in his expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Indeed it must be owned, for the honour of that nobleman, that all these officers formed under his example, and raised by his influence, approved themselves in all respects worthy of the commands to which they were preferred. Immediately after the action, admiral Hawke despatched a sloop to commodore Legge, whose squadron was stationed at the Leeward Islands, with intelligence of the French fleet of merchant ships outward-bound, that he might take the proper measures for intercepting them in their passage to Martinique and the other French islands. In consequence of this advice he redoubled his vigilance, and a good number of them fell into his hands. Admiral Hawke conducted his prizes to Spithead; and in his letter to the board of admiralty, declared that all his captains behaved like men of honour during the engagement, except Mr. Fox, whose conduct he desired might be subjected to an inquiry. That gentleman was accordingly tried by a court-martial, and suspended from his command, for having followed the advice of his officers contrary to his own better judgment; but he was soon restored, and afterwards promoted to the rank of admiral; while Mr. Matthews, whose courage never incurred suspicion, still laboured under suspension for that which had been successfully practised in both these late actions, namely, engaging the enemy without any regard to the line of battle. In the Mediterranean, vice-admiral Medley blocked up the Spanish squadron in Carthagena; assisted the Austrian general on the coast of Villafranca; and intercepted some of the succours sent from France to the assistance of the Genoese. At his death, which happened in the beginning of August, the command of that squadron devolved upon rear-admiral Byng, who proceeded on the same plan of operation. In the summer, two British ships of war, having under their convoy a fleet of merchant ships bound to North America, fell in with the Glorioso, a Spanish ship of eighty guns, in the latitude of the Western Isles. She had sailed from the Havannah with an immense treasure on board, and must have fallen a prize to the English ships had each captain done his duty. Captain Erskine, in the Warwick of sixty guns, attacked her with great intrepidity, and fought until his ship was entirely disabled; but being unsustained by his consort, he was obliged to haul off, and the Glorioso arrived in safety at Ferrol; there the silver was landed, and she proceeded on her voyage to Cadiz, which, however, she did not reach. She was encountered by the Dartmouth, a British frigate of forty guns, commanded by captain Hamilton, a gallant youth, who, notwithstanding the inequality of force, engaged her without hesitation; but in the heat of the action, his ship being set on fire by accident, was blown up, and-he perished with all his crew, except a midshipman and ten or eleven sailors, who were taken up alive by a privateer that happened to be in sight. Favourable as this accident may seem to the Glorioso, she did not escape. An English ship of eighty guns, under the command of captain Buckle, came up and obliged the Spaniards to surrender, after a short but vigorous engagement. Commodore Griffin had been sent, with a reinforcement of ships, to assume the command of the squadron in the East Indies; and although his arrival secured Fort St. David's and the other British settlements in that country, from the insults of monsieur da la Bourdonnais, his strength was not sufficient to enable him to undertake any enterprise of importance against the enemy; the ministry of England therefore resolved to equip a fresh armament, that, when joined by the ships in India, should be in a condition to besiege Pon-dicherry, the principal settlement belonging to the French on the coast of Coromandel. For this service, a good number of independent companies was raised, and set sail, in the sequel, with a strong squadron under the conduct of rear-admiral Boscawen, an officer of unquestioned valour and capacity. In the course of this year, the British cruisers were so alert and successful, that they took six hundred and forty-four prizes from the French and Spaniards, whereas the loss of Great Britain in the same time did not exceed five hundred and fifty.
CONGRESS AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.
All the belligerent powers were by this time heartily tired of a war which had consumed an immensity of treasure, had been productive of so much mischief, and in the events of which, all, in their turns, had found themselves disappointed. Immediately after the battle of Laffeldt, the king of France had, in a personal conversation with sir John Ligonier, expressed his desire of a pacification; and afterwards his minister at the Hague presented a declaration on the same subject to the deputies of the states-general. The signal success of the British arms at sea confirmed him in these sentiments, which were likewise reinforced by a variety of other considerations. His finances were almost exhausted, and his supplies from the Spanish West Indies rendered so precarious by the vigilance of the British cruisers, that he could no longer depend upon their arrival. The trading part of his subjects had sustained such losses, that his kingdom was filled with bankruptcies; and the best part of his navy now contributed to strengthen the fleets of his enemies. The election of a stadtholder had united the whole power of the states-general against him, in taking the most resolute measures for their own safety; his views in Germany were entirely frustrated by the elevation of the grand duke to the Imperial throne, and the re-establishment of peace between the houses of Austria and Bran-denburgh; the success of his arms in Italy had not at all answered his expectation; and Genoa was become an expensive ally. He had the mortification to see the commerce of Britain flourish in the midst of war, while his own people were utterly impoverished. The parliament of England granted, and the nation paid such incredible sums as enabled their sovereign not only to maintain invincible navies and formidable armies, but likewise to give subsidies to all the powers of Europe. He knew that a treaty of this kind was actually upon the anvil between his Britannic majesty and the czarina, and he began to be apprehensive of seeing an army of Russians in the Netherlands. His fears from this quarter were not without foundation. In the month of November, the earl of Hyndford, ambassador from the king of Great Britain at the court of Russia, concluded a treaty of subsidy, by which the czarina engaged to hold in readiness thirty thousand men, and forty galleys, to be employed in the service of the confederates on the first requisition. The states-general acceded to this agreement, and even consented to pay one-fourth of the subsidy. His most christian majesty, moved by these considerations, made further advances towards an accommodation both at the Plague and in London; and the contending powers agreed to another congress, which was actually opened in March at Aix-la-Chapelle, where the earl of Sandwich and sir Thomas Robinson assisted as plenipotentiaries from the king of Great Britain.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
COMPLIANT TEMPER OF THE NEW PARLIAMENT.
The elections for the new parliament in England had been conducted so as fully to answer the purposes of the duke of Newcastle, and his brother Mr. Pelham, who had for some time wholly engrossed the administration. Both houses were assembled on the tenth day of November, when Mr. Onslow was unanimously reelected speaker of the commons. The session was opened as usual by a speech from the throne, congratulating them on the signal successes of the British navy, and the happy alteration in the government of the United Provinces. His majesty gave them to understand that a congress would speedily be opened at Aix-la-Chapelle, to concert the means for effecting a general pacification; and reminded them that nothing would more conduce to the success of this negotiation than the vigour and unanimity of their proceedings. He received such addresses as the ministers were pleased to dictate. Opposition now languished at their feet. The duke of Bedford was become a courtier, and in a little time appointed secretary of state, in the room of the earl of Chesterfield, who had lately executed that office, which he now resigned; and the earl of Sandwich no longer harangued against the administration. This new house of commons, in imitation of the liberality of their predecessors, readily gratified all the requests of the government. They voted forty thousand seamen, forty-nine thousand land forces, besides eleven thousand five hundred marines; the subsidies for the queen of Hungary, the czarina, the king of Sardinia, the electors of Mentz and Bavaria, the Hessians, and the duke of Wolfenbuttle; the sum of two hundred and thirty-five thousand seven hundred and forty-nine pounds, was granted to the provinces of New England, to reimburse them for the expense of reducing Cape Breton; five hundred thousand pounds were given to his majesty for the vigorous prosecution of the war; and about one hundred and fifty-two thousand pounds to the Scottish claimants, in lieu of their jurisdiction. The supplies for the ensuing year fell very little short of nine millions, of which the greater part was raised on a loan by subscription, chargeable on a new subsidy of poundage exacted from all merchandise imported into Great Britain. Immediately after the rebellion was suppressed, the legislature had established some regulations in Scotland, which were thought necessary to prevent such commotions for the future. The highlanders were disarmed, and an act passed for abolishing their peculiarity of garb, which was supposed to keep up party distinctions, to encourage their martial disposition, and preserve the memory of the exploits achieved by their ancestors. In this session a bill was brought in to enforce the execution of that law, and passed with another act for the more effectual punishment of high treason in the highlands of Scotland. The practice of insuring French and Spanish ships at London being deemed the sole circumstances that prevented a total stagnation of commerce in those countries, it was prohibited by law under severe penalties; and this step of the British parliament accelerated the conclusion of the treaty. Several other prudent measures were taken in the course of this session, for the benefit of the public; and among these we may reckon an act for encouraging the manufacture of indigo in the British plantations of North America; an article for which Great Britain used to pay two hundred thousand pounds yearly to the subjects of France.
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The session was closed on the thirteenth day of May, when the king declared to both houses that the preliminaries of a general peace were actually signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, by the ministers of Great Britain, France, and the United Provinces; and that the basis of this accommodation was a general restitution of the conquests which had been made during the war. Immediately after the prorogation of parliament his majesty set out for his German dominions, after having appointed a regency to rule the realm in his absence.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NETHERLANDS.
The articles might have been made much less unfavourable to Great Britain and her allies, had the ministry made a proper use of the treaty with the czarina; and if the confederates had acted with more vigour and expedition in the beginning of the campaign. The Russian auxiliaries might have been transported by sea to Lubeck before the end of the preceding summer', in their own galleys, which had been lying ready for use since the month of July. Had this expedient been used, the Russian troops would have joined the confederate army before the conclusion of the last campaign. But this easy and expeditious method of conveyance was rejected for a march by land, of incredible length and difficulty, which could not be begun before the month of January, nor accomplished till Midsummer. The operations of the campaign had been concerted at the Hague in January, by the respective ministers of the allies, who resolved to bring an army of one hundred and ninety thousand men into the Netherlands, in order to compel the French to abandon the barrier which they had conquered, The towns of Holland became the scenes of tumult and insurrection. The populace plundered the farmers of the revenue, abolished the taxes, and insulted the magistrates; so that the states-general, seeing their country on the brink of anarchy and confusion, authorized the prince of Orange to make such alterations as he should see convenient. They presented him with a diploma, by which he was constituted hereditary stadtholder and captain-general of Dutch Brabant, Flanders, and the upper quarter of Guelderland; and the East India company appointed him director and governor-general of their commerce and settlements in the Indies. Thus invested with authority unknown to his ancestors, he exerted himself with equal industry and discretion in new modelling, augmenting, and assembling the troops of the republic. The confederates knew that the count de Saxe had a design upon Maestricht: the Austrian general Bathiani made repeated remonstrances to the British ministry, entreating them to take speedy measures for the preservation of that fortress. He, in the month of January, proposed that the duke of Cumberland should cross the sea, and confer with the prince of Orange on this subject; he undertook, at the peril of his head, to cover Maastricht with seventy thousand men, from all attacks of the enemy: but his representations seemed to have made very little impression on those to whom they were addressed. The duke of Cumberland did not depart from England till towards the latter end of February; part of March was elapsed before the transports sailed from the Nore with the additional troops and artillery; and the last drafts from the foot-guards were not embarked till the middle of August.
SIEGE OF MAESTRICHT. FORMS A CESSATION.
The different bodies of the confederate forces joined each other and encamped in the neighbourhood of Euremond, to the number of one hundred and ten thousand men; and the French army invested Maestricht, without opposition, on the third day of April. The garrison consisted of Imperial and Dutch troops, under the conduct of the governor, baron de Aylva, who defended the place with extraordinary skill and resolution. He annoyed the besiegers in repeated sallies; but they were determined to surmount all opposition, and prosecuted their approaches with incredible ardour. They assaulted the covered way, and there effected a lodgement, after an obstinate dispute, in which they lost two thousand of their best troops; but next day they were entirely dislodged by the gallantry of the garrison. These hostilities were suddenly suspended, in consequence of the preliminaries signed at Aix-la-Chapelle. The plenipotentiaries agreed, that, for the glory of his christian majesty's arms, the town of Maestricht should be surrendered to his general, on condition that it should be restored with all the magazines and artillery. He accordingly took possession of it on the third day of May, when the garrison marched out with all the honours of war; and a cessation of arms immediately ensued. By this time the Russian auxiliaries, to the number of thirty-seven thousand, commanded by prince Repnin, had arrived in Moravia, where they were reviewed by their imperial majesties; then they proceeded to the confines of Franconia, where they were ordered to halt, after they had marched seven hundred miles since the beginning of the year. The French king declared, that should they advance farther, he would demolish the fortifications of Maestricht and Bergen-op-Zoom. This dispute was referred to the plenipotentiaries, who, in the beginning of August, concluded a convention, importing that the Russian troops should return to their own country; and that the French king should disband an equal number of his forces. The season being far advanced, the Russians were provided with winter-quarters in Bohemia and Moravia, where they continued till the spring, when they marched back to Livonia. In the meantime seven-and-thirty thousand French troops were withdrawn from Flanders into Picardy, and the two armies remained quiet till the conclusion of the definitive treaty. The suspension of arms was proclaimed at London, and in all the capitals of the contracting powers; orders were sent to the respective admirals in different parts of the world, to refrain from hostilities; and a communication of trade and intelligence was again opened between the nations which had been at variance. No material transaction distinguished the campaign in Italy. The French and Spanish troops, who had joined the Genoese in the territories of the republic, amounted to thirty thousand men, under the direction of the duke de Richlieu, who was sent from France to assume that command on the death of the duke de Boufflers; while mareschal de Belleisle, at the head of fifty thousand men, covered the western Eiviera, which was threatened with an invasion by forty thousand Austrians and Piedmontese, under general Leutrum. At the same time general Brown, with a more numerous army, prepared to re-enter the eastern Eiviera, and recommence the siege of Genoa. But these intended operations were prevented by an armistice, which took place as soon as the belligerent powers had acceded to the preliminaries.
TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST AND WEST INDIES.
In the East Indies, rear-admiral Boscawen undertook the siege of Pondicherry, which in the month of August he blocked up by sea with his squadron, and invested by land with a small army of four thousand Europeans, and about two thousand natives of that country. He prosecuted the enterprise with great spirit, and took the fort of Area Coupan, at the distance of three miles from the town; then he made his approaches to the place, against which he opened batteries, while it was bombarded and cannonaded by the shipping. But the fortifications were so strong, the garrison so numerous, and the engineers of the enemy so expert in their profession, that he made very little progress, and sustained considerable damage. At length, his army being diminished by sickness, and the rainy season approaching, he ordered the artillery and stores to be re-embarked; and raising the siege on the sixth day of October, returned to fort St. David, after having lost about a thousand men in this expedition. In the sequel, several ships of his squadron, and above twelve hundred sailors, perished in a hurricane. The naval force of Great Britain was more successful in the West Indies. Bear-admiral Knowles, with a squadron of eight ships, attacked fort Louis, on the South side of Hispaniola, which after a warm action of three hours was surrendered on capitulation, and dismantled. Then he made an abortive attempt upon St. Jago de Cuba, and returned to Jamaica, extremely chagrined at his disappointment, which he imputed to the misconduct of captain Dent, who was tried in England by a court-martial, and honourably acquitted. On the first of October, the same admiral, cruising in the neighbourhood of the Havannah with eight ships of the line, encountered a Spanish squadron of nearly the same strength, under the command of the admirals Beggio and Spinola. The engagement began between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, and continued with intervals till eight in the evening, when the enemy retired to the Havannah, with the loss of two ships; one of which struck to the British admiral, and the other was two days after set on fire by her own commander, that she might not fall into the hands of the English. Mr. Knowles taxed some of his captains with misbehaviour, and they recriminated on his conduct. On their return to England, a court-martial was the consequence of the mutual accusations. Those who adhered to the commander, and the others whom he impeached, were inflamed against each other with the most rancorous resentment. The admiral himself did not escape uncensured; two of his captains were reprimanded; but captain Holmes, who had displayed uncommon courage, was honourably acquitted. Their animosities did not end with the court-martial. A bloodless encounter happened between the admiral and captain Powlet; but captain Innes and captain Clarke, meeting by appointment in Hyde-Park with pistols, the former was mortally wounded, and died next morning; the latter was tried, and condemned for murder, but indulged with his majesty's pardon. No naval transaction of any consequence happened in the European seas during the course of this summer. In January, indeed, the Magnanime, a French ship of the line, was taken in the channel by two English cruisers, after an obstinate engagement; and the privateers took a considerable number of merchant ships from the enemy.
CONCLUSION OF THE DEFINITIVE TREATY AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.
The plenipotentiaries still continued at Aix-la-Cha-pelle, discussing all the articles of the definitive treaty, which was at length concluded and signed on the seventh of October. It was founded on former treaties, which were now expressly confirmed, from that of Westphalia to the last concluded at London and Vienna. The contracting parties agreed, that all prisoners on each side should be mutually released, without ransom, and all conquests restored; that the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, should be ceded as a settlement to the infant don Philip, and the heirs male of his body; but in case of his ascending the throne of Spain, or of the two Sicilies, or his dying without male issue, that they should revert to the house of Austria; that the king of Great Britain should, immediately after the ratification of this treaty, send two persons of rank and distinction, to reside in France, as hostages, until restitution should be made of Cape Breton, and all the other conquests which his Britannic majesty should have achieved in the East or West Indies, before or after the preliminaries were signed; that the assiento contract, with the article of the annual ship, should be confirmed for four years, during which the enjoyment of that privilege was suspended since the commencement of the present war; that Dunkirk should remain fortified on the land side, and towards the sea continue on the footing of former treaties. All the contracting powers became guarantees to the king of Prussia for the duchy of Silesia and the county of Glatz, as he at present possessed them; and they likewise engaged to secure the empress-queen of Hungary and Bohemia in possession of her hereditary dominions, according to the pragmatic sanction. The other articles regulated the forms and times fixed for this mutual restitution, as well as for the termination of hostilities in different parts of the world. But the right of English subjects to navigate in the American seas, without being subject to search, was not once mentioned, though this claim was the original source of the differences between Great Britain and Spain; nor were the limits of Acadia ascertained. This and all other disputes were left to the discussion of commissaries. We have already observed, that after the troubles of the empire began, the war was no longer maintained on British principles. It became a continental contest, and was prosecuted on the side of the allies without conduct, spirit, or unanimity. In the Netherlands they were outnumbered, and outwitted by the enemy. They never hazarded a battle without sustaining a defeat. Their vast armies, paid by Great Britain, lay inactive, and beheld one fortress reduced after another until the whole country was subdued; and as their generals fought, their plenipotentiaries negotiated. At a time when their affairs began to wear the most promising aspect, when the arrival of the Russian auxiliaries would have secured an undoubted superiority in the field; when the British fleets had trampled on the naval power of France and Spain, intercepted their supplies of treasure, and cut off all their resources of commerce; the British ministers seemed to treat, without the least regard to the honour and advantage of their country. They left her most valuable and necessary rights of trade unowned and undecided; they subscribed to the insolent demand of sending the nobles of the realm to grace the court and adorn the triumphs of her enemy; and they tamely gave up her conquests in North America, of more consequence to her traffic than all the other dominions for which the powers at war contended; they gave up the important isle of Cape Breton, in exchange for a petty factory in the East Indies, belonging to a private company, whose existence had been deemed prejudicial to the commonwealth. What then were the fruits which Britain reaped from this long and desperate war? A dreadful expense of blood and treasure, [310] [See note 2 P, at the end of this Vol.] disgrace upon disgrace, an additional load of grievous impositions, and the national debt accumulated to the enormous sum of eighty millions sterling.
CHAPTER VII.
Reflections on the Peace..... The Prince of Wales' Adherents join the Opposition..... Character of the Ministry..... Session opened..... Debate on the Address..... Supplies granted..... Exorbitant Demand of the Empress-queen opposed..... Violent Contest concerning the Seamen's Bill..... Objections to the Mutiny Bill..... Bill for limiting the Term of a Soldier's Service..... Measures taken with respect to the African Trade..... Scheme for improving the British Fishery..... Attempt to open the Commerce to Hudson's Bay..... Plan for manning the Navy..... Fruitless Motions made by the Opposition..... Severities exercised upon some Students at Oxford..... Duke of Newcastle chosen Chancellor cf the University of Cambridge..... Tumults in different Parts of the Kingdom..... Scheme for a Settlement in Nova Scotia..... Town of Halifax founded..... French Attempts to settle on the Island of Tobago..... Rejoicings for the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle..... Pretender's eldest Son arrested at Paris..... Appearance of a Rupture between Russia and Sweden..... Interposition of the King of Prussia..... Measures taken by the French Ministry..... Conduct of different European Powers..... Insolence of the Barbary Corsairs..... Disturbances in England..... Session opened—Subjects of Debate..... Scheme for reducing the Interest of the National Debt..... Act passed for that Purpose..... New Mutiny Bill..... Bill for encouraging the Importation of Iron from America..... Erection of the British Herring Fishery..... New African Company..... Westminster Election..... Earthquakes in London..... Pestilential Fever at the Session in the Old Bailey..... Disputes between Russia and Sweden..... Plan for electing the Arch-duke Joseph King of the Romans..... Opposition of the King of Prussia..... Disputes with the French about the Limits of Nova-Scotia..... Treaty with Spain..... Session opened..... Debate on the Address..... Supplies granted..... Death and Character of the Prince of Wales..... Settlement of a Regency, in case of a Minor Sovereign—General Naturalization Bill..... Censure passed upon a Paper entitled Constitutional Queries..... Proceedings of the Commons on the Westminster Election..... Mr. Murray sent Prisoner to Newgate..... Session closed..... Style altered
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REFLECTIONS ON THE PEACE.
The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, however unstable or inglorious it might appear to those few who understood the interests, and felt for the honour of their country, was nevertheless not unwelcome to the nation in general. The British ministry will always find it more difficult to satisfy the people at the end of a successful campaign, than at the conclusion of an unfortunate war. The English are impatient of miscarriage and disappointment, and too apt to be intoxicated with victory. At this period they were tired of the burdens, and sick of the disgraces, to which they had been exposed in the coarse of seven tedious campaigns. They had suffered considerable losses and interruption in the article of commerce, which was the source of their national opulence and power; they knew it would necessarily be clogged with additional duties for the maintenance of a continental war, and the support of foreign subsidiaries; and they drew very faint presages of future success either from the conduct of their allies, or the capacity of their commanders. To a people influenced by these considerations, the restoration of a free trade, the respite from that anxiety and suspense which the prosecution of a war never fails to engender, and the prospect of a speedy deliverance from discouraging restraint and oppressive impositions, were advantages that sweetened the bitter draught of a dishonourable treaty, and induced the majority of the nation to acquiesce in the peace, not barely without murmuring, but even with some degree of satisfaction and applause.
THE PRINCE OF WALES' ADHERENTS JOIN THE OPPOSITION.
Immediately after the exchange of ratifications at Aix-la-Chapelle, the armies were broken up; the allies in the Netherlands withdrew their several proportions of troops; the French began to evacuate Flanders; and the English forces were re-embarked for their own country. His Britannic majesty returned from his German dominions in November, having landed near Margate, in Kent, after a dangerous passage; and on the twenty-ninth of the same month he opened the session of parliament. By this time the misunderstanding between the two first personages of the royal family had been increased by a fresh succession of matter. The prince of Wales had held a court of Stannary, in quality of duke of Cornwall; and revived some claims attached to that dignity, which, had they been admitted, would have greatly augmented his influence among the Cornish boroughs. These efforts roused the jealousy of the administration, which had always considered them as an interest wholly dependent on the crown; and, therefore, the pretensions of his royal highness were opposed by the whole weight of the ministry. His adherents, resenting these hostilities as an injury to their royal master, immediately joined the remnant of the former opposition in parliament, and resolved to counteract all the ministerial measures that should fall under their cognizance; at least, they determined to seize every opportunity of thwarting the servants of the crown, in every scheme or proposal that had not an evident tendency to the advantage of the nation. This band of auxiliaries was headed by the earl of E——t, Dr. Lee, and Mr. N——t. The first possessed a species of eloquence rather plausible than powerful; he spoke with fluency and fire; his spirit was bold and enterprising, his apprehension quick, and his repartee severe. Dr. Lee was a man of extensive erudition and irreproachable morals, particularly versed in the civil law, which he professed, and perfectly well acquainted with the constitution of his country. Mr. N——t was an orator of middling abilities, who harangued upon all subjects indiscriminately, and supplied with confidence what he wanted in capacity; he had been at some pains to study the business of the house, as well as to understand the machine of government; and was tolerably well heard, as he generally spoke with an appearance of good humour, and hazarded every whimsical idea as it arose in his imagination. But lord Bolingbroke is said to have been the chief spring which, in secret, actuated the deliberations of the prince's court. That nobleman, seemingly sequestered from the tumults of a public life, resided at Battersea, where he was visited like a sainted shrine by all the distinguished votaries of wit, eloquence, and political ambition. There he was cultivated and admired for the elegance of his manners, and the charms of his conversation. The prince's curiosity was first captivated by his character, and his esteem was afterwards secured by the irresistible address of that extraordinary personage, who continued in a regular progression to insinuate himself still farther and farther into the good graces of his royal patron.. How far the conduct of his royal highness was influenced by the private advice of this nobleman we shall not pretend to determine; but, certain it is, the friends of the ministry propagated a report, that he was the dictator of those measures which the prince adopted; and that, under the specious pretext of attachment to the heir-apparent of the crown, he concealed his real aim, which was to perpetuate the breach in the royal family. Whatever his sentiments and motives might have been, this was no other than a revival of the old ministerial clamour, that a man cannot be well affected to the king, if he pretends to censure any measure of the administration.
CHARACTER OF THE MINISTRY.
The weight which the opposition derived from these new confederates in the house of commons was still greatly overbalanced by the power, influence, and ability that sustained every ministerial project. Mr. Pelham, who chiefly managed the helm of affairs, was generally esteemed as a man of honesty and candour, actuated by a sincere love for his country, though he had been educated in erroneous principles of government, and in some measure obliged to prosecute a fatal system which descended to him by inheritance. At this time he numbered Mr. Pitt among his fellow-ministers, and was moreover supported by many other individuals of distinguished abilities; among whom the first place in point of genius was due to Mr. M., who executed the office of solicitor-general. This gentleman, the son of a noble family in North Britain, had raised himself to great eminence at the bar, by a most keen intuitive spirit of apprehension, that seemed to seize every object at first glance; an innate sagacity, that saved the trouble of intense application; and an irresistible stream of eloquence, that flowed pure and classical, strong and copious, reflecting, in the most conspicuous point of view, the subjects over which it rolled, and sweeping before it all the slime of formal hesitation, and all the entangling weeds of chicanery. Yet the servants of the crown were not so implicitly attached to the first minister as to acquiesce in all his plans, and dedicate their time and talents to the support of every court measure indiscriminately. This was one material point in which Mr. Pelham deviated from the maxims of his predecessor, who admitted of no contradiction from any of his adherents or fellow-servants, but insisted on sacrificing their whole perception and faculties to his conduct and disposal. That sordid deference to a minister no longer characterized the subordinate instruments of the administration. It was not unusual to see the great officers of the government divided in a parliamentary debate, and to hear the secretary at war opposing with great vehemence a clause suggested by the chancellor of the exchequer. After all, if we coolly consider those arguments which have been bandied about, and retorted with such eagerness and acrimony in the house of commons, and divest them of those passionate tropes and declamatory metaphors which the spirit of opposition alone had produced, we shall find very little left for the subject of dispute, and sometimes be puzzled to discover any material source of disagreement.
SESSION OPENED.
In the month of November his majesty opened the session of parliament with a speech, acquainting them, that the definitive treaty of peace was at length signed by all the parties concerned; that he had made the most effectual provision for securing the rights and interests of his own subjects; and procured for his allies the best conditions, which, in the present situation of affairs, could be obtained. He said, he had found a general good disposition in all parties to bring the negotiation to a happy conclusion; and observed, that we might promise ourselves a long enjoyment of the blessings of peace. Finally, after having remarked that times of tranquillity were the proper seasons for lessening the national debt, and strengthening the kingdom against future events, he recommended to the commons the improvement of the public revenue, the maintenance of a considerable naval force, the advancement of commerce, and the cultivation of the arts of peace. This speech, as usual, was echoed back by an address to the throne from both houses, containing general expressions of the warmest loyalty and gratitude to his majesty, and implying the most perfect satisfaction and acquiescence in the articles of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
The members in the opposition, according to custom, cavilled at the nature of this address. They observed, that the late pacification was the worst and most inglorious of all the bad treaties to which the English nation had ever subscribed; that it was equally disgraceful, indefinite, and absurd; they said, the British navy had gained such an ascendancy over the French at sea, that the sources of their wealth were already choked up; that the siege of Maestricht would have employed then-arms in the Low Countries till the arrival of the Russians; and that the accession of these auxiliaries would have thrown the superiority into the scale of the allies. They did not fail to take notice that the most important and original object of the war was left wholly undecided; and demonstrated the absurdity of their promising in the address to make good such engagements as his majesty had entered into with his allies, before they knew what those engagements were. In answer to these objections, the ministers replied, that the peace was in itself rather better than could be expected; and that the smallest delay might have proved fatal to the liberties of Europe. They affirmed, that the Dutch were upon the point of concluding a neutrality, in consequence of which their troops would have been withdrawn from the allied army; and, in that case, even the addition of the Russian auxiliaries would not have rendered it a match for the enemy. They asserted, that if the Avar had been prolonged another year, the national credit of Great Britain must have been entirely ruined, many of the public funds having sunk below par in the preceding season, so that the ministry had begun to despair of seeing the money paid in on the new subscription. With respect to the restoration of Cape Breton, the limits of Nova Scotia, and the right of navigating without search in the American seas, which right had been left unestablished in the treaty, they declared, that the first was an unnecessary expense, of no consequence to Great Britain; and that the other two were points in despute, to be amicably settled in private conferences by commissaries duly authorized; but by no means articles to be established by a general treaty.
What the opposition wanted in strength, it endeavoured to make up with spirit and perseverance. Every ministerial motion and measure was canvassed, sifted, and decried with uncommon art and vivacity; but all this little availed against the single article of superior numbers; and accordingly this was the source of certain triumph in all debates in which the servants of the crown were united. The nation had reason to expect an immediate mitigation in the article of annual expense, considering the number of troops and ships of war which had been reduced at the ratification of the treaty: but they were disagreeably undeceived in finding themselves again loaded with very extraordinary impositions, for the payment of a vast debt which government had contracted in the course of the war, notwithstanding the incredible aids granted by parliament. The committee of supply established four points of consideration, in their deliberations concerning the sums necessary to be raised; namely, for fulfilling the engagements which the parliament had entered into with his majesty, and the services undertaken for the success of the war; for discharging debts contracted by government; for making good deficiencies; and for defraying the current expense of the year. It appeared, that the nation owed four-and-forty thousand pounds to the elector of Bavaria; above thirty thousand to the duke of Brunswick; the like sum to the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; and near nine thousand pounds to the elector of Mentz. The queen of Hungary claimed an arrear of one hundred thousand pounds. The city of Glasgow, in North Britain, presented a petition, praying to be reimbursed the sum of ten thousand pounds, extorted from that corporation by the son of the pretender during the rebellion. One hundred and twelve thousand pounds were owing to the forces in North America and the East Indies; besides near half a million due on extraordinary expense incurred by the land-forces in America, Flanders, and North Britain, by the office of ordnance, and other services of the last year, to which the parliamentary provision did not extend. The remaining debt of the ordnance amounted to above two hundred and thirty thousand pounds; but the navy-bills could not be discharged for less than four millions. An addition of two millions three hundred and seventy-four thousand three hundred and thirty-three pounds, fifteen shillings and two-pence, was also required for the current service of the year. In a word, the whole annual supply exceeded eight millions sterling-a sum at which the whole nation expressed equal astonishment and disgust. It was charged upon the duties on malt, mum, cyder, and perry, the land-tax at four shillings in the pound, annuities on the sinking-fund, an application of one million from that deposit, and the loan of the like sum to be charged on the first aids of next session. The number of seamen was reduced to seventeen thousand, and that of the land-forces to eighteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, including guards and garrisons.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
EXORBITANT DEMAND OF THE EMPRESS-QUEEN OPPOSED.
Every article of expense, however, was warmly disputed by the anti-courtiers, especially the demand of the queen of Hungary, which was deemed unreasonable, exorbitant, and rapacious, considering the seas of blood which we had shed, and the immensity of treasure we had exhausted for her benefit; and surely the subjects of this nation had some reason to complain of an indulgence of this nature, granted to a power which they had literally snatched from the brink of ruin-a power whose quarrel they had espoused with a degree of enthusiasm that did much more honour to their gallantry than to their discretion-a power that kept aloof, with a stateliness of pride peculiar to herself and family, and beheld her British auxiliaries fighting her battles at their own expense; while she squandered away, in the idle pageantry of barbarous magnificence, those ample subsidies which they had advanced in order to maintain their armies, and furnish out her proportion of the war. The leaders of the opposition neglected no opportunity of embittering the triumphs of their adversaries; they inveighed against the extravagance of granting sixteen thousand pounds for the pay of general and staff officers, during a peace that required no such establishment, especially at a juncture when the national incumbrances rendered it absolutely necessary to practise every expedient of economy. They even combated the request of the city of Glasgow, to be indemnified for the extraordinary exaction it underwent from the rebels, though it appeared from unquestionable evidence, that this extraordinary contribution was exacted on account of that city's peculiar attachment to the reigning family; that it had always invariably adhered to revolution principles; and, with an unequalled spirit of loyalty and zeal for the protestant succession, distinguished itself both in the last and preceding rebellion.
VIOLENT CONTEST CONCERNING THE SEAMEN'S BILL.
But the most violent contest arose on certain regulations which the ministry wanted to establish in two bills, relating to the sea and land service. The first, under the title of a bill for amending, explaining, and reducing into one act of parliament the laws relating to the navy, was calculated solely with a view of subjecting half-pay officers to martial law—a design which not only furnished the opposition with a plausible handle for accusing the ministers as intending to encroach upon the constitution, in order to extend the influence of the crown; but also alarmed the sea-officers to such a degree, that they assembled to a considerable number, with a view to deliberate upon the proper means of defending their privileges and liberties from invasion. The result of their consultations was a petition to the house of commons, subscribed by three admirals and forty-seven captains, not members of parliament, representing that the bill in agitation contained several clauses tending to the injury and dishonour of all naval officers, as well as to the detriment of his majesty's service; and that the laws already in force had been always found effectual for securing the service of officers on half-pay upon the most pressing occasions: they therefore hoped, that they should not be subjected to new hardships and discouragements; and begged to be heard by their counsel, before the committee of the whole house, touching such parts of the bill as they apprehended would be injurious to themselves and the other officers of his majesty's navy. This petition was presented to the house by sir John Norris, and the motion for its being read was seconded by sir Peter Warren, whose character was universally esteemed and beloved in the nation. This measure had like to have produced very serious consequences. Many commanders and subalterns had repaired to the admiralty, and threatened in plain terms to throw up their commissions, in case the bill should pass into a law; and a general ferment was begun among all the subordinate members of the navy. A motion was made, that the petitioners, according to their request, should be heard by their counsel; and this proposal was strongly urged by the first orators of the anti-ministerial association; but the minister, confiding in his own strength, reinforced by the abilities of Mr. Pitt, Mr. Lyttelton, and Mr. Fox the secretary at war, strenuously opposed the motion, which upon a division was thrown out by a great majority. The several articles of the bill were afterwards separately debated with great warmth; and though Mr. Pelham had, with the most disinterested air of candour, repeatedly declared that he required no support even from his own adherents, but that which might arise from reason unrestrained and full conviction, he on this occasion reaped all the fruit from their zeal and attachment, which could be expected from the most implicit complaisance. Some plausible amendments of the most exceptionable clauses were offered, particularly of that which imposed an oath upon the members of every court-martial, that they should not, on any account, disclose the opinions or transactions of any such tribunal. This was considered as a sanction, under which any court-martial might commit the most flagrant acts of injustice and oppression, which even parliament itself could not redress, because it would be impossible to ascertain the truth, eternally sealed up by this absurd obligation. The amendment proposed was, that the member of a court-martial might reveal the transactions and opinions of it in all cases wherein the courts of justice, as the law now stands, have a right to interfere, if required thereto by either house of parliament; a very reasonable mitigation, which however was rejected by the majority. Nevertheless, the suspicion of an intended encroachment had raised such a clamour without doors, and diffused the odium of this measure so generally, that the minister thought proper to drop the projected article of war, subjecting the reformed officers of the navy to the jurisdictions of courts-martial; and the bill being also softened in other particulars, during its passage through the upper house, at length received the royal assent.
The flame which this act had kindled, was rather increased than abated on the appearance of a new mutiny-bill, replete with divers innovations tending to augment the influence of the crown, as well as the authority and power of a military jurisdiction. All the articles of war established since the reign of Charles II., were submitted to the inspection of the commons; and in these appeared a gradual spirit of encroachment, almost imperceptibly deviating from the civil institutes of the English constitution, towards the establishment of a military dominion. By this new bill a power was vested in any commander-in-chief, to revise and correct any legal sentence of a court-martial, by which the members of such a court, corresponding with the nature of a civil jury, were rendered absolutely useless, and the commander in a great measure absolute; for he had not only the power of summoning such officers as he might choose to sit on any trial—a prerogative unknown to any civil court of judicature—but he was also at liberty to review and altar the sentence; so that a man was subject to two trials for the same offence, and the commander-in-chief was judge both of the guilt and the punishment. By the final clause of this bill, martial law was extended to all officers on half-pay; and the same arguments which had been urged against this article in the navy-bill, were now repeated and reinforced with redoubled fervour. Many reasons were offered to prove that the half-pay was allotted as a recompence for past service; and the opponents of the bill affirmed, that such an article, by augmenting the dependents of the crown, might be very dangerous to the constitution. On the other hand, the partisans of the ministry asserted, that the half-pay was granted as a retaining fee; and that originally all those who enjoyed this indulgence were deemed to be in actual service, consequently subject to martial law. Mr. Pitt, who at this time exercised the office of paymaster-general, with a rigour of integrity unknown to the most disinterested of all his predecessors in that department, espoused the clause in dispute as a necessary extension of military discipline, which could never be attended with any bad consequence to the liberty of the nation. The remarks which he made on this occasion, implied an opinion that our liberties wholly existed in dependence upon the direction of the sovereign, and the virtue of the army. "To their virtue," said he, "we trust even at this hour, small as our army is; to that virtue we must have trusted, had this bill been modelled as its warmest opposers could have wished; and without this virtue, should the lords, the commons, and the people of England intrench themselves behind parchment up to the teeth, the sword will find a passage to the vitals of the constitution." All the disputed articles of the bill being sustained on the shoulders of a great majority, it was conveyed to the upper house, where it excited another violent contest. Upon the question whether officers on half-pay had not been subject to martial law, the judges were consulted and divided in their sentiments. The earl of Bath declared his opinion that martial law did not extend to reformed officers; and opened all the sluices of his ancient eloquence. He admitted a case which was urged, of seven officers on half-pay, who, being taken in actual rebellion at Preston in the year 1715, had been executed on the spot by martial law, in consequence of the king's express order. He candidly owned, that he himself was secretary at war at that period; that he had approved of this order, and even transmitted it to general Carpenter, who commanded at Preston; but now his opinion was entirely changed. He observed, that when the forementioned rebellion first broke out, the house presented an address to the king, desiring his majesty would be pleased to employ all half-pay officers, and gratify them with whole pay; and, indeed, all such officers were voted on whole pay by the house of commons. They were afterwards apprised of this vote, by an advertisement in the Gazette, and ordered to hold themselves in readiness to repair to such places as should be appointed; and finally commanded to repair by such a day to those places, on pain of being struck off the half-pay list. These precautions would have been unnecessary, had they been deemed subject to martial law, and the penalty for non-obedience would not have been merely a privation of their pensions, but they would have fallen under the punishment of death, as deserters from the service. His lordship distinguished with great propriety and precision, between a step which had been precipitately taken in a violent crisis, when the public was heated with apprehension and resentment, and a solemn law concerted at leisure, during the most profound tranquility. Notwithstanding the spirited opposition of this nobleman, and some attempts to insert additional clauses, the bill having undergone a few inconsiderable amendments, passed by a very considerable majority. |
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