reminded him of all these circumstances, and to have dissuaded him from hazarding an attempt attended with such danger and difficulty, as even an army of fresh troops could hardly hope to surmount. He rejected this salutary advice, and ordered his infantry to begin a new attack, which being an enterprise beyond their strength, they were repulsed with great slaughter. Being afterwards rallied, they returned to the charge; they miscarried again, and their loss was redoubled. Being thus rendered unfit for further service, the cavalry succeeded to the attack, and repeated their unsuccessful efforts, until they were almost broke, and entirely exhausted. At this critical juncture, the whole body of the Austrian and Russian cavalry, which had hitherto remained inactive, and were therefore fresh and in spirits, fell in among the Prussian horse with great fury, broke their line at the first charge, and forcing them back upon the infantry, threw them into such disorder as could not be repaired. The Prussian army being thus involved in confusion, was seized with a panic, and in a few minutes totally defeated and dispersed, notwithstanding the personal efforts of the king, who hazarded his life in the hottest parts of the battle, led on his troops three times to the charge, had two horses killed under him, and his clothes in several parts penetrated with musket-balls. His army being routed, and the greater part of his generals either killed or disabled by wounds, nothing but the approach of night could have saved him from total ruin. When he abandoned the field of battle, he despatched another billet to the queen, couched in these terms: "Remove from Berlin with the royal family. Let the archives be carried to Potsdam. The town may make conditions with the enemy." The horror and confusion which this intimation produced at Berlin may be easily conceived: horror the more aggravated, as it seized them in the midst of their rejoicings occasioned by the first despatch; and this was still more dreadfully augmented, by a subsequent indistinct relation, importing that the army was totally routed, the king missing, and the enemy in full march to Berlin. The battle of Cunersdorf was by far the most bloody action which happened since the commencement of hostilities. The carnage was truly horrible: above twenty thousand Prussians lay dead on the field; and among these general Putkammer. The generals Seydlitz, Itzenplitz, Hulsen, Finck, and Wedel, the prince of Wirtemberg, and five major-generals, were wounded. The loss of the enemy amounted to ten thousand. It must be owned, that if the king was prodigal of his own person, he was likewise very free with the lives of his subjects. At no time, since the days of ignorance and barbarity, were the lives of men squandered away with such profusion as in the course of this German war. They were not only unnecessarily sacrificed in various exploits of no consequence, but lavishly exposed to all the rigour and distemper of winter campaigns, which were introduced on the continent, in despite of nature, and in contempt of humanity. Such are the improvements of warriors without feeling! such the refinements of German discipline! On the day that succeeded the defeat at Cunersdorf, the king of Prussia, having lost the best part of his army, together with his whole train of artillery, repassed the Oder, and encamped at Retwin, from whence he advanced to Fustenwalde, and saw with astonishment the forbearance of the enemy. Instead of taking possession of Berlin, and overwhelming the wreck of the king's troops, destitute of cannon, and cut off from all communication with prince Henry, they took no step to improve the victory they had gained. Laudohn retired with his horse immediately after the battle; and count Soltikoff marched with part of the Russians into Lusatia, where he joined Daun, and held consultations with that general. Perhaps the safety of the Prussian monarch was owing to the jealousy subsisting among his enemies. In all probability, the court of Vienna would have been chagrined to see the Russians in possession of Brandenburgh, and therefore thwarted their designs upon that electorate. The king of Prussia had now reason to be convinced, that his situation could not justify such a desperate attack as that in which he had miscarried at Cunersdorf; for if the Russians did not attempt the reduction of his capital, now that he was totally defeated, and the flower of his army cut off, they certainly would not have aspired at that conquest while he lay encamped in the neighbourhood with fifty thousand veterans, inured to war, accustomed to conquer, confident of success, and well supplied with provisions, ammunition, and artillery. As the victors allowed him time to breathe, he improved this interval with equal spirit and sagacity. He re-assembled and refreshed his broken troops: he furnished his camp with cannon from the arsenal at Berlin, which likewise supplied him with a considerable number of recruits; he recalled general Kleist, with five thousand men, from Pome-rania, and in a little time retrieved his former importance.



ADVANTAGES GAINED BY THE PRUSSIANS IN SAXONY.

The army of the empire having entered Saxony, where it reduced Leipsic, Torgau, and even took possession of Dresden itself, the king detached six thousand men under general Wunch, to check the progress of the imperialists in that electorate; and perceiving the Russians intended to besiege Great Glogau, he, with the rest of the army, took post between them and that city, so as to frustrate their design. While the four great armies, commanded by the king of Prussia, general Soltikoff, prince Henry, and count Daun, lay encamped in Lusatia, and on the borders of Silesia, watching the motions of each other, the war was carried on by detachments with great vivacity. General Wunch having retaken Leipsic, and joined Finck at Rulinbourg, the united body began their march towards Dresden; and a detachment from the army of the empire, which had encamped near Dobelia, retired at their approach. As they advanced to Nossin, general Haddick abandoned the advantageous posts he occupied near Roth-Seemberg; and, being joined by the whole army of the empire, resolved to attack the Prussian generals, who now encamped at Corbitz near Meissen. Accordingly, on the twenty-first day of September, he advanced against them, and endeavoured to dislodge them by a furious cannonade, which was mutually maintained from morning to night, when he found himself obliged to retire with considerable loss; leaving the field of battle, with about five hundred prisoners, in the hands of the Prussians.



GENERAL FINCK SURROUNDED AND TAKEN.

This advantage was succeeded by another exploit of prince Henry, who, on the twenty-third day of the month, quitted his camp at Hornsdorf, near Gorlitz; and, after an incredible march of eleven German miles, by the way of Rothenberg, arrived about five in the afternoon at Hoyerswerda, where he surprised a body of four thousand men, commanded by general Vehla, killed six hundred, and made twice that number prisoners; including the commander himself. After this achievement he joined the corps of Finck and Wunch; while mareschal Daun likewise abandoned his camp in Lusatia, and made a forced march to Dresden, in order to frustrate the prince's supposed design on that capital. The Russians, disappointed in their scheme upon Glogau, had repassed the Oder at Neusalze, and were en? camped at Fraustadt; general Laudohn, with a body of Austrians, lay at Sclichtingsheim; and the king of Prussia at Koben; all three on or near the banks of that river. Prince Henry, perceiving his army almost surrounded by Austrian detachments, ordered general Finck to drive them from Vogelsang, which they abandoned accordingly; and sent Wunch, with six battalions and some cavalry, across the Elbe, to join the corps of general Rebentish at Wittenberg, whither he retired from Duben at the approach of the Austrians. On the twenty-ninth day of October, the duke d'Aremberg, with sixteen thousand Austrians, decamped from Dammitch, in order to occupy the heights near Pretsch, and was encountered by general Wunch; who, being posted on two rising grounds, cannonaded the Austrians on their march with considerable effect; and the prince took twelve hundred prisoners, including lieutenant-general Gemmington, and twenty inferior officers, with some cannon, great part of their tents, and a large quantity of baggage. The duke was obliged to change his route, while Wunch marched from Duben to Rulenburgh; and general Wassersleben occupied Strehla, where next day the whole army encamped. In this situation the prince remained till the sixteenth day of November; when, being in danger of having his communication with Torgau cut off by the enemy, he removed to a strong camp, where his left flank was covered with that city and the river Elbe; his right being secured by a wood, and great part of his front by an impassable morass. Here he was reinforced with about twenty thousand men from Silesia, and joined by the king himself, who forthwith detached general Finck, with nineteen battalions and thirty-five squadrons, to take possession of the defiles of Maxen and Ottendorf, with a view to hinder the retreat of the Austrians to Bohemia. This motion obliged Daun to retire to Plauen; and the king advanced to Wilsdurf, imagining that he had effectually succeeded in his design. Letters were sent to Berlin and Magdebourg, importing, that count Daun would be forced to hazard a battle, as he had now no resource but in victory. Finck had no sooner taken post on the hill near the village of Maxen, than the Austrian general sent officers to reconnoitre his situation, and immediately resolved to attack him with the corps de reserve, under the baron de Sincere, which was encamped in the neighbourhood of Dippodeswalda. It was forthwith divided into four columns, which filed off through the neighbouring woods; and the Prussians never dreamed of their approach until they saw themselves entirely surrounded. In this emergency they defended themselves with their cannon and musketry until they were overpowered by numbers, and their battery was taken; then they retired to another rising ground, where they rallied, but were driven from eminence to eminence, until, by favour of the night, they made their last retreat to Falkenhayn. In the meantime, count Daun had made such dispositions, that at day-break general Finck found himself entirely enclosed, without the least possibility of escaping, and sent a trumpet to count Daun to demand a capitulation. This was granted in one single article, importing, that he and eight other Prussian generals, with the whole body of troops they commanded, should be received as prisoners of war. He was obliged to submit; and his whole corps, amounting to nineteen battalions and thirty-five squadrons, with sixty-four pieces of cannon, fifty pair of colours, and twenty-five standards, fell into the hands of the Austrian generals. This misfortune was the more mortifying to the king of Prussia, as it implied a censure on his conduct, for having detached such a numerous body of troops to a situation where they could not be sustained by the rest of the army. On the other hand, the court of Vienna exulted in this victory, as an infallible proof of Daun's superior talents; and, in point of glory and advantage, much more than an equivalent for the loss of the Saxon army, which, though less numerous, capitulated in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, after having held out six weeks against the whole power of the Prussian monarch. General Hulsen had been detached, with about nine battalions and thirty squadrons, to the assistance of Finck; but he arrived at Klingenberg too late to be of any service; and, being recalled, was next day sent to occupy the important post of Fribourg.



DISASTER OF THE PRUSSIAN GENERAL DIERCKE.

The defeat of general Finck was not the only disaster which befel the Prussians at the close of this campaign. General Diercke, who was posted with seven battalions of infantry and a thousand horse, on the right bank of the Elbe, opposite to Meissen, finding it impracticable to lay a bridge of pontoons across the river, on account of the floating ice, was obliged to transport his troops in boats; and when all were passed except himself, with the rear-guard, consisting of three battalions, he was, on the third day of December, in the morning, attacked by a strong body of Austrians, and taken, with all his men, after an obstinate dispute. The king of Prussia, weakened by these two successive defeats that happened in the rear of an unfortunate campaign, would hardly have been able to maintain his ground at Fribourg, had he not been at this juncture reinforced by the body of troops under the command of the hereditary prince of Brunswick. As for Daun, the advantages he had gained did not elevate his mind above the usual maxims of his cautious discretion. Instead of attacking the king of Prussia, respectable and formidable even in adversity, he quietly occupied the strong camp at Pirna, where he might be at hand to succour Dresden in case it should be attacked, and maintain his communication with Bohemia.



CONCLUSION OF THE CAMPAIGN.

By this time the Russians had retired to winter-quarters in Poland; and the Swedes, after a fruitless excursion in the absence of Manteuffel, retreated to Stralsund and the isle of Rugen. This campaign, therefore, did not prove more decisive than the last. Abundance of lives were lost, and great part of Germany was exposed to rapine, murder, famine, desolation, and every species of misery that war could engender. In vain the confederating powers of Austria, Russia, and Sweden, united their efforts to crush the Prussian monarch. Though his army had been defeated, and he himself totally overthrown with great slaughter in the heart of his own dominions; though he appeared in a desperate situation, environed by hostile armies, and two considerable detached bodies of his troops were taken or destroyed; yet he kept all his adversaries at bay till the approach of winter, which proved his best auxiliary, and even maintained his footing in the electorate of Saxony, which seemed to be the prize contested between him and the Austrian general. Yet, long before the approach of winter, one would imagine he must have been crushed between the shock of so many adverse hosts, had they been intent upon closing him in, and heartily concurred for his destruction; but, instead of urging the war with accumulated force, they acted in separate bodies, and with jealous eye seemed to regard the progress of each other. It was not, therefore, to any compunction, or kind forbearance, in the court of Vienna, that the inactivity of Daun was owing. The resentment of the house of Austria seemed, on the contrary, to glow with redoubled indignation; and the majority of the Germanic body seemed to enter with warmth into her quarrel. [526] [See note 4 E, at the end of this Vol.]



ARRET OF THE EVANGELICAL BODY AT RATISBON.

When the protestant states in arms against the court of Vienna were put under the ban of the empire, the evangelical body, though without the concurrence of the Swedish and Danish ministers, issued an arret at Ratisbon, in the month of November of the last year, and to this annexed the twentieth article of the capitulation signed by the emperor at his election, in order to demonstrate that the protestant states claimed nothing but what was agreeable to the constitution. They declared, that their association was no more than a mutual engagement, by which they obliged themselves to adhere to the laws without suffering, under any pretext, that the power of putting under the ban of the empire should reside wholly in the emperor. They affirmed that this power was renounced, in express terms, by the capitulation: they therefore refused to admit, as legal, any sentence of the ban deficient in the requisite conditions: and inferred that, according to law, neither the elector of Brandenburgh, nor the elector of Hanover, nor the duke of Wolfenbuttel, nor the landgrave of Hesse, nor the count of Lippe-Buckebourg, ought to be proscribed. The imperial protestant cities having acceded to this arret or declaration, the emperor, in a rescript, required them to retract their accession to the resolution of the evangelic body; which, it must be owned, was altogether inconsistent with their former accession to the resolutions of the diet against the king of Prussia. This rescript having produced no effect, the arret was answered in February by an imperial decree of commission carried to the dictature, importing, that the imperial court could no longer hesitate about the execution of the ban, without infringing that very article of the capitulation which they had specified: that the invalidity of the arret was manifest, inasmuch as the electors of Brandenburgh and Brunswick, the dukes of Saxe-Gotha and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, and the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, were the very persons who disturbed the empire, this, therefore, being an affair in which they themselves were parties, they could not possibly be qualified to concur in a resolution of this nature; besides, the number of the other states which had acceded was very inconsiderable: for these reasons, the emperor could not but consider the resolution in question as an act whereby the general peace of the empire was disturbed, both by the parties that had incurred the ban, and by the states which had joined them, in order to support and favour their frivolous pretensions. His imperial majesty expressed his hope and confidence, that the other electors, princes, and states of the empire, would vote the said resolution to be null and of no force; and never suffer so small a number of states, who were adherents of, and abettors to, the disturbers of the empire, to prejudice the rights and prerogatives of the whole Germanic body; to abuse the name of the associated states of the Augsburgh confession, in order forcibly to impose a factum entirely repugnant to the constitution of the empire; to deprive their co-estates of the right of voting freely, and thereby endeavouring totally to subvert the system of the Germanic body. These remarks will speak for themselves to the reflection of the unprejudiced reader.



FRENCH MINISTRY STOP PAYMENT.

The implacability of the court of Vienna was equalled by nothing but the perseverance of the French ministry. Though their numerous army had not gained one inch of ground in Westphalia, the campaign on that side having ended exactly where it had begun; though the chief source of their commerce in the West Indies had fallen into the hands of Great Britain, and they had already laid their account with the loss of Quebec; though their coffers hung with emptiness, and their confederates were clamorous for subsidies,—they still resolved to maintain the war in Germany. This was doubtless the most politic resolution to which they could adhere; because their enemies, instead of exerting all their efforts where there was almost a certainty of success, kindly condescended to seek them where alone their whole strength could be advantageously employed, without any great augmentation of their ordinary expense. Some of the springs of their national wealth were indeed exhausted, or diverted into other channels; but the subjects declared for a continuation of the war, and the necessities of the state were supplied by the loyalty and attachment of the people. They not only acquiesced in the bankruptcy of public credit, when the court stopped payment of the interest on twelve different branches of the national debt, but they likewise sent in large quantities of plate to be melted down, and coined into specie, for the maintenance of the war. All the bills drawn on the government by the colonies were protested to an immense amount, and a stop was put to all the annuities granted at Marseilles on sums borrowed for the use of the marine. Besides the considerable savings occasioned by these acts of state-bankruptcy, they had resources of credit among the merchants of Holland, who beheld the success of Great Britain with an eye of jealousy; and were, moreover, inflamed against her with the most rancorous resentment, on account of the captures which had been made of their West India ships by the English cruisers.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}



THE STATES-GENERAL SEND OVER DEPUTIES TO ENGLAND.

In the month of February, the merchants of Amsterdam having received advice that the cargoes of their West India ships detained by the English, would, by the British courts of judicature, be declared lawful prizes, as being French property, sent a deputation, with a petition to the states-general, entreating them to use their intercession with the court of London, representing the impossibility of furnishing the proofs required, in so short a time as that prescribed by the British admiralty; and that, as the island of St. Eustatia had but one road, and there was no other way of taking in cargoes but that of overschippen,* to which the English had objected, a condemnation of these ships, as legal prizes, would give the finishing stroke to the trade of the colony.

* The method called overschippen is that of using French boats to load Dutch vessels with the produce of France.

Whatever remonstrances the states-general might have made on this subject to the ministry of Great Britain, they had no effect upon the proceedings of the court of admiralty, which continued to condemn the cargoes of the Dutch ships as often as they were proved to be French property; and this resolute uniformity, in a little time intimidated the subjects of Holland from persevering in this illicit branch of commerce. The enemies of England in that republic, however, had so far prevailed, that in the beginning of the year the states of Holland had passed a formal resolution to equip five-and-twenty ships of war; and orders were immediately despatched to the officers of the admiralty to complete the armament with all possible expedition. In the month of April, the states-general sent over to London three ministers-extraordinary, to make representations, and remove if possible the causes of misunderstanding that had arisen between Great Britain and the United Provinces. They delivered their credentials to the king with a formal harangue: they said his majesty would see, by the contents of the letter they had the honour to present, how ardently their high mightinesses desired to cultivate the sincere friendship which had so long subsisted between the two nations, so necessary for their common welfare and preservation; they expressed an earnest wish that they might be happy enough to remove those difficulties which had for some time struck at this friendship, and caused so much prejudice to the principal subjects of the republic; who, by the commerce they carried on, constituted its greatest strength and chief support. They declared their whole confidence was placed in his majesty's equity, for which the republic had the highest regard; and in the good-will he had always expressed towards a state which on all occasions had interested itself in promoting his glory—a state which was the guardian of the precious trust bequeathed by a prince so dear to his affection. "Full of this confidence (said they), we presume to flatter ourselves that your majesty will be graciously pleased to listen to our just demands, and we shall endeavour, during the course of our ministry, to merit your approbation, in strengthening the bonds by which the two nations ought to be for ever united." In answer to this oration, the king assured them that he had always regarded their high mightinesses as his best friends. He said, if difficulties had arisen concerning trade, they ought to be considered as the consequences of a burdensome war which he was obliged to wage with France. He desired they would assure their high mightinesses, that he should endeavour, on his part, to remove the obstacles in question; and expressed his satisfaction that they the deputies were come over with the same disposition.—What representations these deputies made, further than complaints of some irregularities in the conduct of the British sea-officers, we cannot pretend to specify; but as the subject in dispute related entirely to the practice of the courts of judicature, it did not fall properly under the cognizance of the government, which hath no right to interfere with the administration of justice. In all probability, the subjects of Holland were by no means pleased with the success of this negotiation, for they murmured against the English nation without ceasing. They threatened and complained by turns; and eagerly seized every opportunity of displaying their partiality in favour of the enemies of Great Britain.



MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO THE STATES BY MAJOR-GENERAL YORKE.

In the month of September, major-general Yorke, the British minister at the Hague, presented a memorial to the states-general, remonstrating, that the merchants of Holland carried on a contraband trade in favour of France, by transporting cannon and warlike stores from the Baltic to Holland, in Dutch bottoms, under the borrowed names of private persons; and then conveying them by the inland rivers and canals, or through the Dutch fortresses, to Dunkirk and other places of France. He desired that the king his master might be made easy on that head, by their putting an immediate stop to such practices, so repugnant to the connexions subsisting by treaty between Great Britain and the United Provinces, as well as to every idea of neutrality. He observed, that the attention which his majesty had lately given to their representations against the excesses of the English privateers, by procuring an act of parliament, which laid them under proper restrictions, gave him a good title to the same regard on the part of their high mightinesses. He reminded them that their trading towns felt the good effects of these restrictions; and that the freedom of navigation which their subjects enjoyed amidst the troubles and distractions of Europe, had considerably augmented their commerce. He observed, that some return ought to be made to such solid proofs of the king's friendship and moderation; at least, the merchants, who were so ready to complain of England, ought not to be countenanced in excesses which would have justified the most rigorous examination of their conduct. He recalled to their memories that, during the course of the present war, the king had several times appealed to their high mightinesses, and to their ministers, on the liberty they had given to carry stores through the fortresses of the republic for the use of France, to invade the British dominions; and though his majesty had passed over in silence many of these instances of complaisance to his enemy, he was no less sensible of the injury; but he chose rather to be a sufferer himself, than to increase the embarrassment of his neighbours or extend the flames of war. He took notice that even the court of Vienna had, upon more than one occasion, employed its interest with their high mightinesses, and lent its name to obtain passes for warlike stores and provisions for the French troops, under colour of the barrier-treaty, which it no longer observed; nay, after having put France in possession of Ostend and Nieuport, in manifest violation of that treaty, and without any regard to the rights which they and the king his master had acquired in that treaty, at the expense of so much blood and treasure.



A COUNTER-MEMORIAL PRESENTED BY THE FRENCH MINISTER.

This memorial seems to have made some impression on the states-general, as they scrupled to allow the artillery and stores belonging to the French king to be removed from Amsterdam; but these scruples vanished entirely on the receipt of a counter-memorial presented by the count d'Affrey, the French ambassador, who mingled some effectual threats with his expostulation. He desired them to remember, that, during the whole course of the war, the French king had required nothing from their friendship that was inconsistent with the strictest impartiality; and, if he had deviated from the engagements subsisting between him and the republic, it was only by granting the most essential and lucrative favours to the subjects of their high mightinesses. He observed, that the English, notwithstanding the insolence of their behaviour to the republic, had derived, on many occasions, assistance from the protection their effects had found in the territories of the United Provinces; that the artillery, stores, and ammunition belonging to Wessel were deposited in their territories, which the Hanoverian army in passing the Rhine had very little respected; that when they repassed that river, they had no other way of saving their sick and wounded from the hands of the French, than by embarking them in boats, and conveying them to places where the French left them unmolested, actuated by their respect for the neutrality of the republic; that part of their magazines was still deposited in the towns of the United Provinces, where also the enemies of France had purchased and contracted for very considerable quantities of gunpowder. He told them that, though these and several other circumstances might have been made the subject of the justest complaints, the king of France did not think it proper to require that the freedom and independency of the subjects of the republic should be restrained in branches of commerce that were not inconsistent with its neutrality, persuaded that the faith of an engagement ought to be inviolably preserved, though attended with some accidental and transient disadvantages. He gave them to understand, that the king his master had ordered the generals of his army carefully to avoid encroaching on the territory of the republic, and transferring thither the theatre of the war, when h in enemies retreated that way before they were forced to pass the Ehine. After such unquestionable marks of regard, he said, his king would have the justest ground of complaint, if, contrary to expectation, he should hear that the artillery and stores belonging to him were detained at Amsterdam. Thirdly, he declared that such detention would be construed as a violation of the neutrality; and demanded, in the name of the king his master, that the artillery and stores should, without delay, be forwarded to Flanders by the canals of Amsterdam and the inland navigation. This last argument was so conclusive, that they immediately granted the necessary passports; in consequence of which the cannon were conveyed to the Austrian Netherlands.



DEATH OF THE KING OF SPAIN.

The powers in the southern parts of Europe were too much engrossed with their own concerns, to interest themselves deeply in the quarrels that distracted the German empire. The king of Spain, naturally of a melancholy complexion and delicate constitution, was so deeply affected with the loss of his queen, who died in the course of the preceding year, that he renounced all company, neglected all business, and immured himself in a chamber at Villa-Viciosa, where he gave a loose to the most extravagant sorrow. He abstained from food and rest until his strength was quite exhausted. He would neither shift himself, nor allow his beard to be shaved; he rejected all attempts of consolation; and remained deaf to the most earnest and respectful remonstrances of those who had a right to render their advice. In this case, the affliction of the mind must have been reinforced by some peculiarity in the constitution. He inherited a melancholy taint from his father, and this seems to have been dreaded as a family disease; for the infant don Louis, who likewise resided in the palace of Villa-Viciosa, was fain to amuse himself with hunting and other diversions, to prevent his being infected with the king's disorder, which continued to gain ground notwithstanding all the efforts of medicine. The Spanish nation, naturally superstitious, had recourse to saints and relics; but they seemed insensible to all their devotion. The king, however, in the midst of all his distress, was prevailed upon to make his will, which was written by the count de Valparaiso, and signed by the duke de Bejar, high-chancellor of the kingdom. The exorbitancy of his grief, and the mortifications he underwent, soon produced an incurable malady, under which he languished from the month of September in the preceding year till the tenth of August in the present, when he expired. In his will he had appointed his brother don Carlos, king of Naples, successor to the crown of Spain; and nominated the queen-dowager as regent of the kingdom until that prince should arrive. Accordingly, she assumed the reins of government, and gave directions for the funeral of the deceased king, who was interred with great pomp in the church belonging to the convent of the Visitation at Madrid.



DON CARLOS SUCCEEDS TO THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN.

As the death of this prince had been long expected, so the politicians of Europe had universally prognosticated that his demise would be attended with great commotions in Italy. It had been agreed among the subscribing powers to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, that in case don Carlos should be advanced in the course of succession to the throne of Spain, his brother don Philip should succeed him on the throne of Naples; and the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, which now constituted his establishment, should revert to the house of Austria. The king of Naples had never acceded to this article; therefore he paid no regard to it on the death of his elder brother, but retained both kingdoms, without minding the claims of the empress-queen, who he knew was at that time in no condition to support her pretensions. Thus the German war proved a circumstance very favourable to his interest and ambition. Before he embarked for Spain, however, he took some extraordinary steps, which evinced him a sound politician and sagacious legislator. His eldest son don Philip, who had now attained the thirteenth year of his age, being found in a state of incurable idiotism [529] [See note 4 F, at the end of this Vol.], he wisely and resolutely removed him from the succession, without any regard to the pretended right of primogeniture, by a solemn act of abdication, and the settlement of the crown of the two Sicilies in favour of his third son don Ferdinand. In this extraordinary act he observes, that according to the spirit of the treaties of this age, Europe required that the sovereignty of Spain should be separated from that of Italy, when such a separation could be effected, without transgressing the rules of justice: that the unfortunate prince-royal having been destitute of reason and reflection ever since his infancy, and no hope remaining that he could ever acquire the use of these faculties, he could not think of appointing him to the succession, how agreeable soever such a disposition might be to nature and his paternal affection: he was therefore constrained, by the Divine will, to set him aside in favour of his third son don Ferdinand, whose minority obliged him to vest the management of these realms in a regency, which he accordingly appointed, after having previously declared his son Ferdinand from that time emancipated and freed, not only from all obedience to his paternal power, but even from all submission to his supreme and sovereign authority. He then declared that the minority of the prince succeeding to the kingdom of the Two Sicilies should expire with the fifteenth year of his age, when he should act as sovereign, and have the entire power of the administration. He next established and explained the order of succession in the male and female line; on condition that the monarchy of Spain should never be united with the kingdoms of the Two Sicilies. Finally, he transferred and made over to the said don Ferdinand these kingdoms, with all that he possessed in Italy; and this ordinance, signed and sealed by himself and the infant don Ferdinand, and countersigned by the counsellors and secretaries of state, in quality of members of the regency, received all the usual forms of authenticity. Don Carlos having taken these precautions for the benefit of his third son, whom he left king of Naples, embarked with the rest of his family on board a squadron of Spanish ships, which conveyed him to Barcelona. There he landed in the month of October, and proceeded to Madrid; where, as king of Spain, he was received amid the acclamations of his people. He began his reign, like a wise prince, by regulating the interior economy of his kingdom; by pursuing the plan adopted by his predecessor; by retaining the ministry under whose auspices the happiness and commerce of his people had been extended; and with respect to the belligerent powers, by scrupulously adhering to that neutrality from whence these advantages were in a great measure derived.



DETECTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CONSPIRATORS AT LISBON.

While he serenely enjoyed the blessings of prosperity, his neighbour the king of Portugal was engrossed by a species of employment, which, of all others, must be the most disagreeable to a prince of sentiment, who loves his people; namely, the trial and punishment of those conspirators, by whose atrocious attempt his life had been so much endangered. Among these were numbered some of the first noblemen of the kingdom, irritated by disappointed ambition, inflamed by bigotry, and exasperated by revenge. The principal conspirator, don Joseph Mascarenhas and Lencastre, duke de Aveiro, marquis of Torres Novas, and conde of Santa Cruz, was hereditary lord-steward of the king's household, and president of the palace-court, or last tribunal of appeal in the kingdom, so that he possessed the first office at the palace, and the second of the realm. Francisco de Assiz, marquis of Tavora, conde of St. John and Alvor, was general of the horse, and head of the third noble house of the Tavoras, the most illustrious family in the kingdom, deriving their original from the ancient kings of Leon: he married his kinswoman, who was marchioness of Tavora in her own right, and by this marriage acquired the marquisate. Louis Bernardo de Tavora was their eldest son, who, by virtue of a dispensation from the pope, had espoused his own aunt, donna Theresa de Tavora. Joseph Maria de Tavora, his youngest brother, was also involved in the guilt of his parents. The third principal concerned was don Jeronymo de Attaide, conde of Attouguia, himself a relation, and married to the eldest daughter of the marquis of Tavora. The characters of all these personages were unblemished and respectable, until this machination was detected. In the course of investigating this dark affair, it appeared that the duke de Aveiro had conceived a personal hatred to the king, who had disappointed him in a projected match between his son and a sister of the duke de Cadaval, a minor, and prevented his obtaining some commanderies which the late duke de Aveiro had possessed; that this nobleman, being determined to gratify his revenge against the person of his sovereign, had exerted all his art and address in securing the participation of the malecontents; that with this view he reconciled himself to the Jesuits, with whom he had been formerly at variance, knowing they were at this time implacably incensed against the king, who had dismissed them from their office of penitentiaries at court, and branded them with other marks of disgrace, on account of their illegal and rebellious practices in South America: the duke, moreover, insinuated himself into the confidence of the marchioness of Tavora, notwithstanding an inveterate rivalship of pride and ambition, which had long subsisted between the two families. Her resentment against the king was inflamed by the mortification of her pride in repeated repulses, when she solicited the title of duke for her husband. Her passions were artfully fomented and managed by the Jesuits, to whom she had resigned the government of her conscience; and they are said to have persuaded her, that it would be a meritorious action to take away the life of a prince who was an enemy to the church, and a tyrant to his people. She, being reconciled to the scheme of assassination, exerted her influence in such a manner as to inveigle her husband, her sons and son-in law, into the same infamous design: and yet this lady had been always remarkable for her piety, affability, and sweetness of disposition. Many consultations were held by the conspirators at the colleges of the Jesuits, St. Autoa and St. Roque, as well as at the houses of the duke and the marquis; at last they resolved that the king should be assassinated, and employed two ruffians, called Antonio Alvarez and Joseph Policarpio, for the execution of this design, the miscarriage of which we have related among the transactions of the preceding year. In the beginning of January, before the circumstances of the conspiracy were known, the counts de Oberas and de Ribeira Grande were imprisoned in the castle of St. Julian, on a suspicion arising from their freedom of speech. The duchess de Aveiro, the countess of Attouguia, and the marchioness of Alorna, with their children, were sent to different nunneries; and eight Jesuits were taken into custody. A council being appointed for the trial of the prisoners, the particulars we have related were brought to light by the torture; and sentence of death was pronounced and executed upon the convicted criminals. Eight wheels were fixed upon a scaffold raised in the square opposite to the house where the prisoners had been confined; and the thirteenth of January was fixed for the day of execution. Antonio Alvarez Ferreira, one of the assassins who had fired into the king's equipage, was fixed to a stake at one corner of the scaffold; and at the other was placed the effigy of his accomplice, Joseph Policarpio de Azevedo, who had made his escape. The marchioness of Tavora, being brought upon the scaffold between eight and nine in the morning, was beheaded at one stroke, and then covered with a linen cloth. Her two sons, and her son-in-law, the count of Attouguia, with three servants of the duke de Aveiro, were first strangled at one stake, and afterwards broke upon wheels, where their bodies remained covered; but the duke and the marquis, as chiefs of the conspiracy, were broken alive, and underwent the most excruciating torments. The last that suffered was the assassin Alvarez, who being condemned to be burned alive, the combustibles which had been placed on the scaffold were set on fire, the whole machine with their bodies consumed to ashes, and these ashes thrown into the sea. The estates of the three unfortunate noblemen were confiscated, and their dwelling-houses razed to the ground. The name of Tavora was suppressed for ever by a public decree; but that of Mascarenhas spared, because the duke de Aveiro was a younger branch of the family. A reward of ten thousand crowns was offered to any person who should apprehend the assassin who had escaped: then the embargo was taken off the shipping. The king and royal family assisted at a public Te Deum, sung in the chapel of Nossa Senhoro de Livramento; on which occasion the king, for the satisfaction of his people, waved his handkerchief with both hands, to show he was not maimed by the wounds he had received. If such an attempt upon the life of a king was infamously cruel and perfidious, it must be owned that the punishment inflicted upon the criminals was horrible to human nature. The attempt itself was attended with some circumstances that might have staggered belief, had it not appeared but too plain that the king was actually wounded. One would imagine that the duke de Aveiro, who was charged with designs on the crown, would have made some preparation for taking advantage of the confusion and disorder which must have been produced by the king's assassination; but we do not find that any thing of this nature was premeditated. It was no more than a desperate scheme of personal revenge, conceived without caution, and executed without conduct; a circumstance the more extraordinary, if we suppose the conspirators were actuated by the councils of the Jesuits, who have been ever famous for finesse and dexterity. Besides, the discovery of all the particulars was founded upon confession extorted by the rack, which at best is a suspicious evidence. Be that as it will, the Portuguese government, without waiting for a bull from the pope, sequestered all the estates and effects of the Jesuits in that kingdom, which amounted to considerable sums, and reduced the individuals of the society to a very scanty allowance. Complaint of their conduct having been made to the pope, he appointed a congregation to examine into the affairs of the Jesuits in Portugal. In the meantime the court of Lisbon ordered a considerable number of them to be embarked for Italy, and resolved that no Jesuits should hereafter reside within its realms. When these transports arrived at Civita-Vecchia, they were, by the pope's order, lodged in the Dominican and Capuchin convents of that city, until proper houses could be prepared for their reception at Tivoli and Frescati. The most guilty of them, however, were detained in close prison in Portugal; reserved, in all probability, for a punishment more adequate to their enormities.



SESSION OPENED IN ENGLAND.

England still continued to enjoy the blessings of peace, even amidst the triumphs of war. In the month of November the session of parliament was opened by commission; and, the commons attending in the house of peers, the lord-keeper harangued the parliament to this effect:—He gave them to understand that his majesty had directed him to assure them, that he thought himself peculiarly happy in being able to convoke them in a situation of affairs so glorious to his crown, and advantageous to his kingdoms: that the king saw and devoutly adored the hand of Providence, in the many signal successes, both by sea and land, with which his arms had been blessed in the course of the last campaign: that he reflected with great satisfaction on the confidence which the parliament had placed in him, by making such ample provisions, and intrusting him with such extensive powers for carrying on a war, which the defence of their valuable rights and possessions, together with the preservation of the commerce of his people, had rendered both just and necessary. He enumerated the late successes of the British arms—the reduction of Goree on the coast of Africa; the conquest of so many important places in America; the defeat of the French army in Canada; the reduction of their capital city of Quebec, effected with so much honour to the courage and conduct of his majesty's officers and forces; the important advantage obtained by the British squadron off Cape Lagos, and the effectual blocking up for so many months the principal part of the French navy in their own harbours: events which must have filled the hearts of all his majesty's faithful subjects with the sincerest joy; and convinced his parliament that there had been no want of vigilance or vigour on his part, in exerting those means which they, with so much prudence and public-spirited zeal, had put into his majesty's hands. He observed, that the national advantages had extended even as far as the East-Indies, where, by the Divine blessing, the dangerous designs of his majesty's enemies had miscarried, and that valuable branch of commerce had received great benefit and protection; that the memorable victory gained over the French at Minden had long made a deep impression on the minds of his majesty's people: that if the crisis in which the battle was fought, the superior number of the enemy, the great and able conduct of his majesty's general, prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, were considered, that action must be the subject of lasting admiration and thankfulness: that if any thing could fill the breasts of his majesty's good subjects with still further degrees of exultation, it would be the distinguished and unbroken valour of the British troops, owned and applauded by those whom they overcame. He said the glory they had gained was not merely their own; but, in a national view, was one of the most important circumstances of our success, as it must be a striking admonition to our enemies with whom they have to contend. He told them that his majesty's good brother and ally, the king of Prussia, attacked and surrounded by so many considerable powers, had, by his magnanimity and abilities, and the bravery of his troops, been able, in a surprising manner, to prevent the mischiefs concerted with such united force against him. He declared, by the command of his sovereign, that as his majesty entered into this war not from views of ambition, so he did not wish to continue it from motives of resentment: that the desire of his majesty's heart was to see a stop put to the effusion of Christian blood: that whenever such terms of peace could be established as should be just and honourable for his majesty and his allies; and by procuring such advantages as, from the successes of his majesty's arms, might in reason and equity be expected should bring along with them full security for the future; his majesty would rejoice to see the repose of Europe restored on such solid and durable foundations; and his faithful subjects, to whose liberal support and unshaken firmness his majesty owed so much, happy in the enjoyment of the blessings of peace and tranquillity: but, in order to this great and desirable end, he said his majesty was confident the parliament would agree with him, that it was necessary to make ample provision for carrying on the war, in all parts, with the utmost vigour. He assured the commons, that the great supplies they had granted in the last session of parliament, had been faithfully employed for the purposes for which they were granted; but the uncommon extent of the war, and the various services necessary to be provided for, in order to secure success to his majesty's measures, had unavoidably occasioned extraordinary expenses. Finally, he repeated the assurances from the throne, of the high satisfaction his majesty took in that union and good harmony which was so conspicuous among his good subjects; he said, his sovereign was happy in seeing it continued and confirmed; he observed that experience had shown how much the nation owed to this union, which alone could secure the true happiness of his people.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}



SUBSTANCE OF THE ADDRESSES.

We shall not anticipate the reader's own reflection, by pretending to comment upon either the matter or form of this harangue, which however produced all the effect which the sovereign could desire. The houses, in their respective addresses, seemed to vie with each other in expressions of attachment and complacency. The peers professed their utmost readiness to concur in the effectual support of such further measures as his majesty, in his great wisdom, should judge necessary or expedient for carrying on the war with vigour in all parts, and for disappointing and repelling any desperate attempts which might be made upon these kingdoms. The commons expressed their admiration of that true greatness of mind which disposed his majesty's heart, in the midst of prosperities, to wish a stop put to the effusion of Christian blood, and to see tranquillity restored. They declared their entire reliance on his majesty's known wisdom and firmness, that this desirable object, whenever it should be obtained, would be upon teems just and honourable for his majesty and his allies; and, in order to effect that great end, they assured him they would cheerfully grant such supplies as should be found necessary to sustain, and press with effect, all his extensive operations against the enemy. They did not fail to re-echo the speech, as usual; enumerating the trophies of the year, and extolling the king of Prussia for his consummate genius, magnanimity, unwearied activity, and unshaken constancy of mind. Very great reason, indeed, had his majesty to be satisfied with an address of such a nature, from a house of commons in which opposition lay strangled at the foot of the minister; in which those demagogues, who had raised themselves to reputation and renown by declaiming against continental measures, were become so perfectly reconciled to the object of their former reprobation, as to cultivate it even with a degree of enthsiasm unknown to any former administration, and lay the nation under such contributions in its behalf, as no other ministry durst ever meditate. Thus disposed, it was no wonder they admired the moderation of their sovereign in offering to treat of peace, after above a million of men had perished by the war, and twice that number been reduced to misery; after whole provinces had been depopulated, whole-countries subdued, and the victors themselves almost crushed by the trophies they had gained.

Immediately after the addresses were presented, the commons resolved themselves into a committee of the whole house; and having unanimously voted a supply to his majesty, began to take the particulars into consideration. This committee was continued till the twelfth of May, when that whole business was accomplished. For the service of the ensuing year they voted seventy thousand seamen, including eighteen thousand three hundred and fifty-five marines, and for their maintenance allotted three millions six hundred and forty thousand pounds. The number of land-forces, including the British troops in Germany, and the invalids, they fixed at fifty-seven thousand two hundred and ninety-four men, and granted for their subsistence one million three hundred and eighty-three thousand seven hundred and forty-eight pounds and tenpence. For maintaining other forces in the plantations, Gibraltar, Guadaloupe, Africa, and the East Indies, they allowed eight hundred forty-six thousand one hundred and sixty-eight pounds, nineteen shillings: for the expense of four regiments on the Irish establishment, serving in North America, they voted thirty-five thousand seven hundred and forty-four pounds, eight shillings and fourpence. For pay to the general and general staff officers, and officers of the hospital for the land-forces, they assigned fifty-four thousand four hundred and fifty-four pounds, eleven shillings and ninepence. They voted for the expense of the militia in South and North Britain, the sum of one hundred two thousand and six pounds, four shillings and eightpence. They granted for the maintenance of thirty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifty men, being the troops of Hanover, Wolfenbuttle, Saxe-Gotha, and Buckebourg, retained in the service of Great Britain, the sum of four hundred forty-seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-two pounds, ten shillings and fivepence halfpenny; and for nineteen thousand Hessian troops, in the same pay, they gave three hundred sixty-six thousand seven hundred and twenty-five pounds, one shilling and sixpence. They afterwards bestowed the sum of one hundred eight thousand and twelve pounds, twelve shillings and sevenpence, for defraying the additional expense of augmentations in the troops of Hanover and Hesse, and the British army serving in the empire. For the ordinary of the navy, including half-pay to sea-officers; for carrying on the building of two hospitals, one near Gosport, and the other in the neighbourhood of Plymouth; for the support of the hospital at Greenwich; for purchasing ground, erecting wharfs and other accommodations necessary for refitting the fleets at Halifax in Nova-Scotia; for the charge of the office of ordnance, and defraying the extraordinary expense incurred by that office in the course of the last year, they allowed seven hundred eighty-one thousand four hundred and eighty-nine pounds, six shillings and sixpence. Towards paying off the navy debt, buildings, re-buildings, and repairs of the king's ships, together with the charges of transport service, they granted one million seven hundred and one thousand seventy-eight pounds, sixteen shillings and sixpence. For defraying the extraordinary expenses of the land-forces and other services not provided for by parliament, comprehending the pensions for the widows of reduced officers, they allotted the sum of nine hundred fifty-five thousand three hundred and forty-four pounds, fifteen shillings and fivepence halfpenny. They voted one million to empower his majesty to discharge the like sum, raised in pursuance of an act made in the last session of parliament, and charged upon the first aids or supplies to be granted in this session of parliament. They gave six hundred and seventy thousand pounds, for enabling his majesty to make good his engagements with the king of Prussia, pursuant to a new convention between him and that monarch, concluded on the ninth day of November in the present year. Fifteen thousand pounds they allowed upon account, towards enabling the principal officers of his majesty's ordnance to defray the necessary charges and expenses of taking down and removing the present magazine for gunpowder, situated in the neighbourhood of Greenwich, and of erecting it in some less dangerous situation. Sixty thousand pounds they gave to enable his majesty to fulfil his engagements With the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, pursuant to the separate article of a treaty between the two powers, renewed in the month of November, the sum to be paid as his most serene highness should think it most convenient, in order to facilitate the means by which the landgrave might again fix his residence in his own dominions, and by his presence give fresh courage to his faithful subjects. Five hundred thousand pounds they voted upon account, as a present supply towards defraying the charges of forage, bread, bread-waggons, train of artillery, wood, straw, provisions, and contingencies of his majesty's combined army, under the command of prince Ferdinand. To the Foundling hospital they granted five thousand pounds; and fifteen thousand for improving, widening, and enlarging the passage over and through London bridge. To replace divers sums taken from the sinking fund, they granted two hundred twenty-five thousand two hundred and eighty-one pounds, nineteen shillings and fourpence. For the subsistence of reduced officers, including the allowances to the several officers and private men of the two troops of horse-guards, and regiment of horse reduced, and to the superannuated gentlemen of the four troops of horse-guards, they voted thirty-eight thousand five hundred and ninety-seven pounds, nine shillings. Upon account, for the support of the colonies of Nova-Scotia and Georgia, they granted twenty-one thousand six hundred ninety-four pounds, two shillings and twopence. For enabling the king to give a proper compensation to the provinces in North America, for the expenses they might incur in levying and maintaining troops, according as the vigour and activity of those respective provinces should be thought by his majesty to merit, they advanced the sum of two hundred thousand pounds. The East India company they gratified with twenty thousand pounds, towards enabling them to defray the expense of a military force in their settlements, in lieu of a battalion of the king's troops now returned to Ireland. Twenty-five thousand pounds were provided for the payment of the out-pensioners of Chelsea hospital. For subsequent augmentation of the British forces, since the first estimate of guards and garrisons for the ensuing year was presented, they allowed one hundred thirty-four thousand one hundred and thirty-nine pounds, seventeen shillings and fourpence. They further voted, upon account, towards enabling the governors and guardians of the Foundling hospital to maintain, educate, and bind apprentice the children admitted into the said charity, the sum of forty-seven thousand two hundred and eighty-five pounds. For defraying the expense of maintaining the militia in South and North Britain, to the twenty-fourth day of December of the ensuing year, they voted an additional grant of two hundred ninety thousand eight hundred and twenty-six pounds, sixteen shillings and eightpence: and, moreover, they granted four-score thousand pounds, upon account, towards defraying the charge of pay and clothing of the unembodied militia for the year ending on the twenty-fifth day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one. For reimbursing the colony of New-York, their expenses in furnishing provisions and stores to the troops raised by them for his majesty's service, in the-campaign of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, they allowed two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven pounds, seven shillings and eightpence; and for maintaining the British forts and settlements on the coast of Africa, they renewed the grant of ten thousand pounds. For the maintenance and augmentation of the troops of Brunswick in the pay of Great Britain for the ensuing year, pursuant to an ulterior convention concluded and signed at Paderborn on the fifth day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, they granted the sum of ninety thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine pounds, eight shillings and elevenpence farthing; and for the troops of Hesse-Cassel in the same pay, during the same period, they allotted one hundred and one thousand and ninety-six pounds, three shillings and twopence. For the extraordinary expenses of the land-forces, and other services, incurred from the twenty-fourth day of November in the present year, to the twenty-fourth of December following, and not-provided for, they granted the sum of four hundred twenty thousand one hundred and twenty pounds, one shilling. To make good the deficiency of the grants for the service of this present year, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, they assigned the sum of seventy-five thousand one hundred and seventy pounds, and threepence farthing. For printing the journals of the house of commons they gave five thousand pounds; and six hundred and thirty-four pounds, thirteen shillings and seven-pence, as interest at the rate of four per centum per annum, from the twenty-fifth day of August in the present year, to the same day of April next, for the sum of twenty-three thousand eight hundred pounds, eleven shillings and elevenpence, remaining in the office of ordnance, and not paid into the hands of the deputy of the king's remembrancer of the court of exchequer, as directed by an act made in the last session of parliament, to make compensation for lands and hereditaments purchased for his majesty's service at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, by reason of doubts and difficulties which had arisen touching the execution of the said act. For defraying the extraordinary charge of the mint during the present year, they allowed eleven thousand nine hundred and forty pounds, thirteen shillings and ten-pence; and two thousand five hundred pounds upon account, for paying the debts claimed and sustained upon a forfeited estate in North Britain. They likewise allowed twelve thousand eight hundred and seventy-four pounds, fifteen shillings and tenpence, for defraying the charge of a regiment of light-dragoons, and of an additional company to the corps commanded by lieutenant-colonel Vaughan. Finally, they voted one million upon account, to enable the king to defray any extraordinary expenses of the war, incurred, or to be incurred, for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty; and to take all such measures as might be necessary to defeat any enterprise or design of his enemies, as the exigency of affairs might require. On the whole, the sum total granted in this session of parliament amounted to fifteen millions five hundred and three thousand five hundred and sixty-three pounds, fifteen shillings and ninepence halfpenny: a sum so enormous, whether we consider the nation that raised it, or the purposes for which it was raised, that every Briton of a sedate mind, attached to the interest and welfare of his country, must reflect upon it with equal astonishment and concern: a sum considerably more than double the largest subsidy that was granted in the reign of queen Anne, when the nation was in the zenith of her glory, and retained half the powers of Europe in her pay: a sum almost double of what any former administration durst have asked: and near double of what the most sanguine calculators, who lived in the beginning of this century, thought the nation could give without the most imminent hazard of immediate bankruptcy. Of the immense supply which we have particularized, the reader will perceive that two millions three hundred forty-four thousand four hundred and eighty-six pounds, sixteen shillings and sevenpence three farthings, were paid to foreigners for supporting the war in Germany, exclusive of the money expended by the British troops in that country, the number of which amounted, in the course of the ensuing year, to twenty thousand men: a number the more extraordinary, if we consider they were all transported to that continent during the administration of those who declared in parliament (the words still sounding in our ears) that not a man, nor even half a man, should be sent from Great Britain to Germany, to fight the battles of any foreign elector. Into the expense of the German war sustained by Great Britain, we must also throw the charge of transporting the English troops; the article of forage, which alone amounted, in the course of the last campaign, to one million two hundred thousand pounds, besides pontage, waggons, horses, and many other contingencies. To the German war we may also impute the extraordinary expense incurred by the actual service of the militia, which the absence of the regular troops rendered in a great measure necessary; and the loss of so many hands withdrawn from industry, from husbandry, and manufacture. The loss sustained by this connexion was equally grievous and apparent; the advantage accruing from it, either to Britain or Hanover, we have not discernment sufficient to perceive, consequently cannot be supposed able to explain.

The committee of ways and means, having duly deliberated on the articles of supply, continued sitting from the twenty-second day of November to the fourteenth of May, during which period they established the necessary funds to produce the sums which had been granted. The land-tax at four shillings in the pound, and the malt-tax, were continued, as the standing revenue of Great Britain. The whole provision made by the committee of ways and means amounted to sixteen millions one hundred thirty thousand five hundred and sixty-one pounds, nine shillings and eightpence, exceeding the grants for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, in the sum of six hundred twenty-six thousand nine hundred ninety-seven pounds, thirteen shillings and tenpence halfpenny. This excess, however, will not appear extraordinary, when we consider that it was destined to make good the premium of two hundred and forty thousand pounds to the subscribers upon the eight million loan, as well as the deficiencies in the other grants, which never fail to make a considerable article in the supply of every session. That these gigantic strides towards the ruin of public credit were such as might alarm every well-wisher to his country, will perhaps more plainly appear in the sum total of the national debt, which, including the incumbrance of one million charged upon the civil-list revenue, and provided for by a tax upon salaries and pensions payable out of that revenue, amounted, at this period, to the tremendous sum of one hundred eight millions four hundred ninety-three thousand one hundred and fifty-four pounds, fourteen shillings and elevenpence one farthing.—A comfortable reflection this to a people involved in the most expensive war that ever was waged, and already burdened with such taxes as no other nation ever bore!

It is not at all necessary to particularize the acts that were founded upon the resolutions touching the supply. We shall only observe that, in the act for the land-tax, and in the act for the malt-tax, there was a clause of credit, empowering the commissioners of the treasury to raise the money which they produced by loans on exchequer bills, bearing an interest of four per cent, per annum, that is, one per cent, higher than the interest usually granted in time of peace. While the house of commons deliberated on the bill for granting to his majesty several duties upon malt, and for raising a certain sum of money to be charged on the said duties, a petition was presented by the maltsters of Ipswich and parts adjacent against an additional duty on the stock of malt in hand: but no regard was paid to this remonstrance; and the bill, with several new amendments, passed through both houses, under the title of "An act for granting to his majesty several duties upon malt, and for raising the sum of eight millions by way of annuities and a lottery, to be charged on the said duties: and to prevent the fraudulent obtaining of allowances in the gauging of corn making into malt; and for making forth duplicates of exchequer-bills, tickets, certificates, receipts, annuity orders, and other orders lost, burned, or otherwise destroyed." The other three bills that turned wholly on the supply were passed in common course, without the least opposition in either house, and received the royal assent by commission at the end of the session. The first of these, entituled, "A bill for enabling his majesty to raise a certain sum of money for the uses and purposes therein mentioned," contained a clause of approbation, added to it by instruction; and the Bank was enabled to lend the million which the commissioners of the treasury were empowered by the act to borrow, at the interest of four pounds per cent. The second, granting to his majesty a certain sum of money out of the sinking-fund, for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, comprehended a clause of credit for borrowing the money thereby granted; and another clause, empowering the Bank to lend it without any limitation or interest; and the third, enabling his majesty to raise a certain sum of money towards discharging the debt of the navy, and for naval services during the ensuing year, enacted, that the exchequer bills thereby to be issued should not be received, or pass to any receiver or collector of the public revenue, or at the receipt of the exchequer, before the twenty-sixth day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one.



PETITIONS RESPECTING THE PROHIBITION OF THE MALT DISTILLERY.

As the act of the preceding session, prohibiting the malt distillery, was to expire at Christmas, the commons thinking it necessary to consider of proper methods for laying the malt distillery under such regulations as might prevent, if possible, its being prejudicial to the health and morals of the people, began as early as the month of November to deliberate on this affair; which being under agitation, petitions were presented to the house by several of the principal inhabitants of Spital-fields; the mayor and commonalty of New Sarum; the gentlemen, clergy, merchants, manufacturers, tradesmen, and other inhabitants of Colchester; the mayor, aldermen, and common council of King's Lynn in Norfolk; the mayor and bailiffs of Berwick-upon-Tweed; representing the advantages accruing from the prohibition of the malt distillery, and praying the continuance of the act by which it was prohibited. On the other hand, counter-petitions were offered by the mayor, magistrates, merchants, manufacturers, and other gentlemen of the city of Norwich; by the land-owners and holders of the south-west part of Essex; and by the freeholders of the shires of Ross and Cromartic, in North Britain; alleging, that the scarcity of corn, which had made it necessary to prohibit the malt distillery, had ceased; and that the continuing the prohibition beyond the necessity which had required it would be a great loss and discouragement to the landed interest: they therefore prayed that the said distillery might be again opened, under such regulations and restrictions as the house should think proper. These remonstrances being taken into consideration, and divers accounts perused, the house unanimously agreed that the prohibition should be continued for a limited time; and a bill being brought in, pursuant to this resolution, passed through both houses, and received the royal assent; by which means the prohibition of the malt distillery was continued till the twenty-fourth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, unless such continuation should be abridged by any other act to be passed in the present session.



OPPOSITION TO THE BILL FOR PREVENTING THE EXCESSIVE USE OF SPIRITS.

The committee, having examined a great number of accounts and papers relating to spirituous liquors, agreed to four resolutions, importing, that the present high price of spirituous liquors is a principal cause of the diminution in the home consumption thereof, and hath greatly contributed to the health, sobriety, and industry of the common people: that, in order to continue for the future the present high price of all spirits used for home consumption, a large additional duty should be laid upon all spirituous liquors whatsoever, distilled within or imported into Great Britain: that there should be a drawback of the said additional duties upon all spirituous liquors distilled in Great Britain, which should be exported; and that an additional bounty should be granted under proper regulations, upon the exportation of all spirituous liquors drawn from corn in Great Britain. A great many accounts being perused, and witnesses examined, relating to the distillery, a bill was brought in to prevent the excessive use of spirituous liquors, by laying an additional duty thereupon; and to encourage the exportation of British-made spirits. Considerable opposition was made to the bill, on the opinion that the additional duty proposed was too small; and that, among the resolutions, there was not so much as one that looked like a provision or restriction for preventing the pernicious abuse of such liquors. Nay, many persons affirmed, that what was proposed looked more like a scheme for increasing the public revenues, than a salutary measure to prevent excess. The merchants and manufacturers of the town of Birmingham petitioned for such instructions. The lord-mayor, aldermen, and common-council of London presented a petition by the hands of the two sheriffs, setting forth, that the petitioners had, with great pleasure, observed the happy consequences produced upon the morals, behaviour, industry, and health of the lower class of people, since the prohibition of the malt distillery; that the petitioners, having observed a bill was brought in to allow the distilling of spirits from corn, were apprehensive that the encouragement given to the distillers thereof would prove detrimental to the commercial interests of the nation; and they conceived the advantages proposed to be allowed upon the exportation of such spirits, being so much above the value of their commodity, would lay such a temptation for smuggling and perjury as no law could prevent. They expressed their fears, that, should such a bill pass into a law, the excessive use of spirituous liquors would not only debilitate and enervate the labourers, manufacturers, sailors, soldiers, and all the lower class of people, and thereby extinguish industry, and that remarkable intrepidity which had lately so eminently appeared in the British nation, which must always depend on the vigour and industry of its people; but also its liberty and happiness, which cannot be supported without temperance and morality, would run the utmost risk of being destroyed. They declared themselves also apprehensive, that the extraordinary consumption of bread corn by the still would not only raise the price, so as to oppress the lower class of people, but would raise such a bar to the exportation thereof, as to deprive the nation of a great influx of money, at that time essential towards the maintaining of an expensive war, and therefore highly injure the landed and commercial interests: they therefore prayed that the present prohibition of distilling spirits from corn might be continued, or that the use of wheat might not be allowed in distillation. This remonstrance was corroborated by another to the same purpose, from several merchants, manufacturers, and traders, residing in and near the city of London; and seemed to have some weight with the commons, who made several amendments in the bill, which they now intituled, "A bill for preventing the excessive use of spirituous liquors, by laying additional duties thereon; for shortening the prohibition for making low wines and spirits from wheat; for encouraging the exportation of British-made spirits, and preventing the fraudulent relanding or importation thereof." Thus altered and amended, it passed on a division; and, making its way through the house of lords, acquired the royal sanction. Whether the law be adequate to the purposes for which it was enacted, time will determine. The best way of preventing the excess of spirituous liquors would be to lower the excise on beer and ale, so as to enable the poorer class of labourers to refresh themselves with a comfortable liquor for nearly the same expense that will procure a quantity of Geneva sufficient for intoxication; for it cannot be supposed that a poor wretch will expend his last penny upon a draught of small beer, without strength or the least satisfactory operation, when for the half of that sum he can purchase a cordial, that will almost instantaneously allay the sense of hunger and cold, and regale his imagination with the most agreeable illusions. Malt was at this time sold cheaper than it was in the first year of king James I. when the parliament enacted, that no innkeeper, victualler, or alehouse-keeper, should sell less than a full quart of the best ale or beer, or two quarts of the small, for one penny, under the penalty of twenty shillings. It appears, then, that in the reign of king James the subject paid but fourpence for a gallon of strong beer, which now costs one shilling; and as the malt is not increased in value, the difference in the price must be entirely owing to the taxes on beer, malt, and hops, which are indeed very grievous, though perhaps necessary. The duty on small beer is certainly one of the heaviest taxes imposed upon any sort of consumption that cannot be considered as an article of luxury. Two bushels of malt, and two pounds of hops, are required to make a barrel of good small beer, which was formerly sold for six shillings; and the taxes payable on such a barrel amounted to three shillings and sixpence; so that the sum total of the imposition on this commodity was equal to a land-tax of eleven shillings and eightpence in the pound.

Immediately after the resolution relating to the prohibition of spirits from wheat, a motion was made and leave given to bring in a bill to continue, for a time limited, the act of the last session, permitting the importation of salted beef from Ireland. This permission was accordingly extended to the twenty-fourth day of December in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one. In all probability this short and temporary continuance was proposed by the favourers of the bill, in order to avoid the clamour and opposition of prejudice and ignorance, which would have been dangerously alarmed, had it been rendered perpetual. Yet as undoubted evidence had proved before the committee, while the bill was depending, that the importation had been of great service to England, particularly in reducing the price of salted beef for the use of the navy, perhaps no consideration ought to have prevented the legislature from perpetuating the law; a measure that would encourage the graziers of Ireland to breed and fatten horned cattle, and certainly put a stop to the practice of exporting salted beef from that kingdom to France, which undoubtedly furnishes the traders of that kingdom with opportunities of exporting wool to the same country.



ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH A MILITIA IN SCOTLAND.

As several lieutenants of counties had, for various reasons, suspended all proceedings in the execution of the laws relating to the militia for limited times, which suspensions were deemed inconsistent with the intent of the legislature, a bill was now brought in, to enable his majesty's lieutenants of the several counties of England and Wales to proceed in the execution of the militia laws, notwithstanding any adjournments. It was enacted, that, as the speedy execution of the laws for regulating the militia was most essentially necessary at this juncture to the peace and security of the kingdom., every lieutenant of the place where such suspension had happened should, within one month after the passing of this act, proceed as if there had been no such suspension; and summon a meeting for the same purpose once in every succeeding month until a sufficient number of officers, qualified and willing to serve, should be found, or until the expiration of the act for the better ordering the militia forces. The establishment of a regular militia in South Britain could not fail to make an impression upon the patriots of Scotland. They were convinced, from reason and experience, that nothing could more tend to the peace and security of their country than such an establishment in North Britain, the inhabitants of which had been peculiarly exposed to insurrections, which a well-regulated militia might have prevented or stifled in the birth; and their coast had been lately alarmed by a threatened invasion, which nothing but the want of such an establishment had rendered formidable to the natives. They thought themselves entitled to the same security which the legislature had provided for their fellow-subjects in South Britain, and could not help being uneasy at the prospect of seeing themselves left unarmed, and exposed to injuries both foreign and domestic, while the sword was put in the hands of their southern neighbours. Some of the members who represented North Britain in parliament, moved by these considerations, as well as by the earnest injunctions of their constituents, resolved to make a vigorous effort, in order to obtain the establishment of a regular militia in Scotland. In the beginning of March it was moved, and resolved, that the house would, on the twelfth day of the month, resolve itself into a committee, to consider the laws in being which relate to the militia in that part of Great Britain, called Scotland. The result of that inquiry was, that these laws were ineffectual. Then a motion was made for leave to bring-in a bill for the better ordering of the militia forces in North Britain, and, though it met with great opposition, was carried by a large majority. The principal Scottish members of the house were appointed, in conjunction with others, to prepare the bill, which was soon printed, and reinforced by petitions presented by the gentlemen, justices of the peace, and commissioners of the supply for the shire of Ayr; and by the freeholders of the shires of Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, and Forfar. They expressed their approbation of the established militia in England, and their ardent wish to see the benefit of that wise and salutary measure extended to North Britain. This was an indulgence they had the greater reason to hope for, as by the articles of the union they were undoubtedly entitled to be on the same footing with their brethren of England; and as the legislature must now be convinced of the necessity of some such measures, by the consternation lately produced in their defenceless country, from the threatened invasion of a handful of French freebooters. These remonstrances had no weight with the majority in the house of commons, who, either unable or unwilling to make proper distinctions between the ill and well affected subjects of North Britain, rejected the bill, as a very dangerous experiment in favour of a people among whom so many rebellions had been generated and produced. When the motion was made for the bill's being committed, a warm debate ensued, in the course of which many Scottish members spoke in behalf of their country with great force of argument, and a very laudable spirit of freedom. Mr. Elliot, in particular, one of the commissioners of the board of admiralty, distinguished himself by a noble flow of eloquence, adorned with all the graces of oratory, and warmed with the true spirit of patriotism. Mr. Oswald, of the treasury, acquitted himself with great honour on the occasion; ever nervous, steady, and sagacious, independent though in office, and invariable in pursuing the interest of his country. It must be owned, for the honour of North Britain, that all her representatives, except two, warmly contended for this national measure, which was carried in the negative by a majority of one hundred and six, though the bill was exactly modelled by the late act of parliament for the establishment of the militia in England.

Even this institution, though certainly laudable and necessary, was attended with so many unforeseen difficulties, that every session of parliament since it was first established has produced new acts for its better regulation. In April, leave was given to prepare a bill for limiting, confining, and better regulating the payment of the weekly allowances made by act of parliament, for the maintenance of families unable to support themselves during the absence of militia-men embodied, and ordered out into actual service; as well as for amending and improving the establishment of the militia, and lessening the number of officers entitled to pay within that part of Great Britain, called England. While this bill was under consideration, the house received a petition from the mayor, aldermen, town-clerk, sheriffs, gentlemen, merchants, clergy, tradesmen, and others, inhabitants of the ancient city of Lincoln, representing, That by an act passed relating to the militia it was provided, that when any militia-men should be ordered out into actual service, leaving families unable to support themselves during their absence, the overseers of the parish where such families reside, should allow them such weekly support as should be prescribed by any one justice of the peace, which allowance should be reimbursed out of the county stock. They alleged, that a considerable number of men, inhabitants of the said city, had entered themselves to serve in the militia of the county of Lincoln, as volunteers, for several parishes and persons; yet their families were, nevertheless, supported by the county stock of the city and county of the city of Lincoln. They took notice of the bill under deliberation, and prayed that if it should pass into a law, they might have such relief in the premises, as to the house should seem meet. Regard was had to this petition in the amendments to the bill, [535] [See note 4 G, at the end of this Vol.] which passed through both houses, and received the royal assent by commission. During the dependence of this bill another was brought in, to explain so much of the militia act passed in the thirty-first year of his majesty's reign, as related to the money to be given to private militia-men, upon their being ordered out into actual service. By this law it was enacted, that the guinea, which by the former act was due to every private man of every regiment or company of militia, when ordered out into actual service, should be paid to every man that shall afterwards be enrolled into such regiment or company whilst in actual service; that no man should be entitled to his clothes for his own use, until he should have served three years, if unembodied, or one year, if embodied, after the delivery of the clothes; and that the full pay of the militia should commence from the date of his majesty's warrant for drawing them out. The difficulties which these successive regulations were made to obviate, will be amply recompenced by the good effects of a national militia, provided it be employed in a national way, and for national purposes: but if the militia are embodied, and the different regiments that compose it are marched from the respective counties to which they belong; if the men are detained for any length of time in actual service, at a distance from their families, when they might be employed at home in works of industry, for the support of their natural dependents; the militia becomes no other than an addition to, or augmentation of, a standing army, enlisted for the term of three years; the labour of the men is lost to the community; they contract the idle habits and dissolute manner of the other troops; their families are left as incumbrances on the community; and the charge of their subsistence is, at least, as heavy as that of maintaining an equal number of regular forces. It would not, we apprehend, be very easy to account for the government's ordering the regiments of militia to march from their respective counties, and to do duty for a considerable length of time at a great distance from their own homes, unless we suppose this measure was taken to create in the people a disgust to the institution of the militia, which was an establishment extorted from the secretary by the voice of the nation. We may add, that some of the inconveniencies attending a militia will never be totally removed, while the persons drawn by lot for that service are at liberty to hire substitutes; for it cannot be supposed that men of substance will incur the danger, fatigue, and damage of service in person, while they can hire among the lowest class of people mercenaries of desperate fortune and abandoned morals, who will greedily seize the opportunity of being paid for renouncing that labour by which they were before obliged to maintain themselves and their family connexion: it would, therefore, deserve the consideration of the legislature, whether the privilege of hiring substitutes should not be limited to certain classes of men, who are either raised by their rank in life above the necessity of serving in person, or engaged in such occupations as cannot be intermitted without prejudice to the commonwealth. It must be allowed, that the regulation in this new act, by which the families of substitutes are deprived of any relief from the parish, will not only diminish the burden of the poor's rates; but also, by raising the price of mercenaries, oblige a greater number of the better sort to serve in person. Without all doubt, the fewer substitutes that are employed, the more dependence may be placed upon the militia in the preservation of our rights and privileges, and the more will the number of the disciplined men be increased; because at the expiration of every three years the lot-men must be changed, and new militia-men chosen; but the substitutes will, in all probability, continue for life in the service, provided they can find lot-men to hire them at every rotation. The reader will forgive our being so circumstantial upon the regulations of an institution, which we cannot help regarding with a kind of enthusiastic affection.