CHAPTER VIII
.
_Death of the Queen of Denmark and the Prince of Orange..... Misunderstanding between the Czarina and King of Prussia..... Measures for electing a King of the Romans..... Death of the King of Sweden..... Session opened..... Animosity of the Commons towards Mr. Murray..... Proceedings upon a Pamphlet, entitled the Case of Mr. Murray..... Supplies granted..... Civil Regulations..... Law relating to the forfeited Estates in Scotland..... New Consolidation of Funds..... Two Ports opened for the Importation of Irish Wool..... The King sets out for Hanover..... Affairs of the Continent..... Dispute between Hanover and Prussia, Concerning East Friezeland..... Misunderstanding between the Courts of London and Berlin..... Improvement of Pomerania..... Treaty with the Elector Palatine..... Session opened..... Supplies granted..... Game Act..... Act for performing Quarantine..... and for preventing the Plundering of shipwrecked Vessels..... Bill relating to the Bounty on Corn exported..... Turkey Trade laid open..... Naturalization of the Jews..... Marriage Act..... Deliberations concerning the Sugar Colonies...... Fate of the Register Bill..... Sir Hans Sloane’s Museum purchased by Parliament..... Story of Elizabeth Canning..... Execution of Dr. Cameron..... Tumults in different Parts of the Kingdom..... Disturbances in France..... Proceedings in the Diet relative to East Friezeland..... Treaty between the Court of Vienna and the Duke of Marlborough--Conferences with respect to Nova Scotia broke up..... Description of Nova Scotia..... Disputes concerning its Limits_
DEATH OF THE QUEEN OF DENMARK AND PRINCE OF ORANGE.
The royal family of England had sustained three severe shocks in the compass of a few months. Besides the loss of the prince of Wales, which the nation lamented as irreparable, his majesty was deeply afflicted by the untimely death of his youngest daughter, the queen of Denmark, who died at Copenhagen on the nineteenth day of December, in the prime of youth. She was one of the most amiable princesses of the age in which she lived, whether we consider the virtues of her heart, or the accomplishments of her person; generous, mild, and tender hearted; beloved even almost to adoration by her royal consort, to whom she had borne a prince and two princesses; and universally admired and revered by the subjects of his Danish majesty. Her death had been preceded about two months by that of her brother-in-law, the prince of Orange, no less regretted by the natives of the United Provinces for his candour, integrity, and hereditary love to his country. Though he had not distinguished himself by the lustre of a superior genius, he had been at great pains to cultivate his understanding, and study the true interest of that community of which he was a member. He had always approved himself a good and zealous citizen, and, since his elevation to the stadtholdership, taken many salutary steps for the advantage of his country. Among other excellent schemes which he suggested, he left a noble plan with the states-general for restoring their commerce to its former lustre, and lived long enough to receive their warmest acknowledgments fox this last proof of his prudence and patriotism. His son and daughter being both infants, the administration of the government devolved upon the princess, as governanté during her son’s minority; and as such she succeeded to all the power which her husband had enjoyed.
MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE CZARINA AND KING OF PRUSSIA.
With respect to the affairs of the continent, the peace of the north seemed still as precarious as ever; for though the difference between Russia and Sweden had been compromised, the mutual disgust between the czarina and the king of Prussia had gained such accession from reciprocal insults, ill offices, and inflammatory declarations, that these two powers seemed to be on the eve of a rupture, and each was employed in making extraordinary preparations for war. The courts of Vienna and Great Britain, foreseeing that such a rupture would embroil the empire, and raise insurmountable obstructions to their favourite scheme of electing the archduke Joseph king of the Romans, resolved to employ all their influence in order to effect a reconciliation between the courts of Petersburgh and Berlin. His Prussian majesty had signified to the king of Great Britain and the states-general, the situation in which he stood with the czarina, and solicited their interposition, that the difference might be amicably accommodated. At the same time, he sent an envoy-extraordinary to Versailles, to negotiate with the French king for a very considerable body of auxiliaries, in case he should fee attacked. These circumstances induced the maritime powers, and the court of Vienna, to use their utmost endeavours for the prevention of a rupture; and accordingly they made remonstrances on this subject by their ministers at Petersburgh, proposing that the quarrel should be terminated without bloodshed, and all cause of animosity be buried in oblivion.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
MEASURES FOR ELECTING A KING OF THE ROMANS.
In the meantime they eagerly prosecuted the design of the election; and the Imperial minister at Berlin not only communicated to his Prussian majesty the sentiments of the king of England on this expedient, but even solicited his vote for the archduke Joseph, when the election of a king of the Romans should be proposed in the electoral college. To this proposal he replied, that he was extremely well disposed to manifest his regard for their imperial majesties, and to give the most genuine proofs of it, even in the proposed election of a king of the Romans, considering the great merit of the present candidate the archduke Joseph; but he left it to the consideration of their imperial majesties, whether the election would not be a little premature, if transacted at a time when his imperial majesty was in the flower of his age; enjoying perfect health; and when all Europe, particularly the empire, was hushed in the bosom of tranquillity, so that no circumstance seemed to prognosticate the necessity of such an election; or of putting in execution the motives mentioned in the capitulation of the reigning emperor’s election; especially as the examination of these motives belonged to the whole empire, and ought to precede the election, by virtue of the eighth article of the treaty of Westphalia. He observed, that in case of the emperor’s death, Germany would find herself in a very disagreeable situation under the government of a minor. For these reasons, he said, he could not help advising their imperial majesties to wait until the archduke should be of age, when his election might be carried on more conformably to the laws and constitutions of the empire, and more suitable to the majesty of the whole Germanic body. This reply he circulated among the electors, and in particular transmitted it to the king of Great Britain, desiring they would deliberate maturely on this subject, and confer together in a body, as well as in private, that they might proceed according to the ancient custom of the electoral college, and take such ‘measures as should be judged expedient for the honour and advantage of the community. This circular letter was answered both by the king of England and the elector of Bavaria, who demonstrated, that it was the privilege of the electoral college only, without any participation of the other princes of the empire, to elect a king of the Romans during the life of the emperor, in order to maintain the peace and preserve the liberties of Germany; and that the neglect of this wise precaution hath produced bloody wars, and many fatal consequences to the empire. They observed, that nothing could more contribute to the establishment of the public tranquillity than this measure, so ardently desired by the majority of the German princes; and that, although the archduke Joseph wanted a few years of being of age, and it might possibly happen that the reigning emperor should die during that prince’s minority, yet it would be much less prejudicial to the empire to have a minor chief, than to see the succession altogether unsettled. His Prussian majesty received a declaration to the same purpose from the elector of Mentz; and understanding that this prince, as archchancellor of the empire, intended to convoke an electoral diet in order to propose the election of a king of the Romans, he wrote an elaborate letter to his electoral highness, explaining at more length his reasons for postponing the election. He quoted that sentence of the treaty of Westphalia which expressly declares, that the election of a king of the Romans shall be discussed and ordained by the common consent of the states of the empire; and, therefore, he could not conceive what right the electoral college had to arrogate this privilege to themselves, excluding the other states of the empire. He observed, that the imperial capitulations, which were the only laws of the empire that treated of this subject, mentioned only three cases in which it was lawful to proceed to such an election; namely, the emperor’s leaving, and long absence from, Germany; his advanced age, or an indisposition, rendering him incapable of managing the reins of government; and any case of emergency in which the preservation of the empire’s prosperity is interested. He affirmed that none of these motives at present existed; that, in case the imperial crown should devolve to a minor, many mischiefs and disorders must ensue, as the constitutions of the empire have established no regulations nor regency in that event; that an election of this nature, carried on under the power, influence, and authority of the head of the empire, would strike at the fundamental privileges of the princes and states; consequently, in time overturn the constitution of the empire, which, from being an elective dignity, conferred by the free and independent suffrages of the electoral college and states of Germany, under certain capitulations, obliging the prince thus chosen to govern according to law, would become an hereditary succession, perpetuated in one family, which of course must be aggrandized to the prejudice of its co-estates, and the ruin of the Germanic liberties. In a word, all Germany in general, and Ratisbon in
## particular, was filled with writings published on both sides: by the
emperor and his adherents, to demonstrate that the election of a king of the Romans, during the life of the emperor, had often happened, and at this present time was necessary, and would be advantageous to the empire; while the king of Prussia and his friends laboured to prove that such an election, at the present juncture, would be ill-timed, irregular, and of dangerous consequence. Perhaps, if the truth was known, this enterprising prince had projected some great scheme, with the execution of which this proposed establishment would have interfered. Certain it is, he exerted himself with that spirit and perseverance which were peculiar to his character, to frustrate the intention of the courts of Vienna and London in this particular, and was assisted with all the intrigue of the French ministry. Their joint endeavours were so effectual, that the elector of Cologn renounced his subsidiary treaty with the maritime powers, and once more threw himself into the arms of France. The elector palatine being solicited by the empress-queen and his Britannic majesty to co-operate with their views, insisted, as a preliminary article, upon being indemnified by the court of Vienna for the ravages committed in his territories by the Austrian troops, during the course of the last war: the king of Poland, elector of Saxony, made the same demand of the like indemnification, which was granted by the mediation of king George; and then he subscribed to a subsidiary treaty, obliging himself to furnish a body of six thousand auxiliaries, in case they should be required by the maritime powers; and to act as an elector, in concert with the house of Austria, in every thing relating to the welfare of his country that should square with the fundamental laws of the empire. The courts of London and Vienna had this election so much at heart, that they sounded almost all the powers of Europe, to know how they stood affected towards the measure proposed. The king of Spain declined intermeddling in a domestic affair of the empire. The French king returned an ambiguous answer; from whence it was concluded that nothing but opposition could be expected from that quarter. The Swedish monarch was rendered propitious to the project by assurances that the house of Hesse-Cassel, of which he was the head, should be elevated into an electorate. They even endeavoured to soften his Prussian majesty, by consenting, at last, that the treaty of Dresden, confirming to him the possession of Silesia, should be guaranteed by the diet of the empire; a sanction which he now actually obtained, together with the ratification of his imperial majesty. Notwithstanding this indulgence, he still persisted in raising fresh objections to the favourite project, on pretence of concerting measures for preventing the inconveniencies that might result from a minority; for regulating the capitulations to be agreed on with the king of the Romans; securing the freedom of future elections, and preserving the prerogatives and privileges of the Germanic body in all its members. In consequence of these obstacles, joined to the apostacy of the elector of Cologn, the obstinacy of the elector palatine, and the approaching diet of Hungary, at which their imperial majesties were obliged personally to preside, the measures for the election were suspended till next summer, when his Britannic majesty was expected at Hanover to put the finishing stroke to this great event in favour of the house of Austria.
DEATH OF THE KING OF SWEDEN.
Another disappointment, with respect to this election, the promoters of it sustained in the death of his Swedish majesty, who expired in a good old age, and was succeeded by Adolphus Frederick, duke of Holstein Eutin, bishop of Lubeck, upon whom the succession had been settled for some years, by the unanimous concurrence of the states of the kingdom. This prince ascended the throne of Sweden without the least disturbance; and, of his own accord, took an oath in full senate, that he would never attempt to introduce a despotic authority; but maintain their liberties with his blood, and govern his subjects in all respects according to the laws and the form of government established in Sweden. This public act, which was communicated to all the foreign ministers, and particularly to the envoy from Petersburgh, met with such a favourable reception from the czarina, that she expressed her satisfaction in a public declaration; and the good understanding between the two courts was perfectly restored.
SESSION OPENED.
When the parliament of England was opened in the month of November, the king, in his speech from the throne, gave them to understand, that for the same purposes which suggested the treaty with the elector of Bavaria, he had now, in conjunction with the states-general, concluded another with the king of Poland, elector of Saxony. He told them that the unfortunate death of the prince of Orange had made no alteration in the state of affairs in Holland; and that he had received the strongest assurances from the states, of their firm resolution to maintain the intimate union and friendship happily subsisting between his majesty and those ancient and natural allies of his crown. He exhorted both houses to consider seriously of some effectual provisions to suppress those audacious crimes of robbery and violence, grown so frequent about the capital, proceeding in a great measure from that profligate spirit of irreligion, idleness, gaming, and extravagance, which had of late extended itself in an uncommon degree, to the dishonour of the nation, and the great offence and prejudice of the sober and industrious part of the people. The paragraphs of this speech were, as usual, echoed back to the throne in addresses replete with expressions of loyalty, affection, and approbation. Opposition was by this time almost extinguished; and the proceedings of both houses took place with such unanimity as was hardly ever known before this period in a British parliament. The commons, however, seem to have assembled with such sentiments as did no great honour to their temper and magnanimity. In a few days after the session opened, lord viscount C----e, a young nobleman, whose character entitled him to very little regard or influence among men of sense and probity, made a motion, that Mr. Murray, who had been so severely executed in the last session for refusing to humble himself on his knees before them, should be again committed close prisoner to Newgate for the same offence. This proposal, which supposed a power that the commons had never before exercised, was sharply disputed by the earl of Egmont, and others, who had not resigned all sense of moderation; but the majority adopted the measure with great eagerness, and the speaker was ordered to issue his warrant accordingly. Then the house resolved, that the said Alexander Murray should receive the sentence, for his now being committed close prisoner to his majesty’s gaol of Newgate, at the bar of the house, upon his knees; and the sergeant-at-arms was commanded to take him into custody for this purpose. Their indignation, however, was eluded by the caution of the delinquent, who, having foreseen the effects of their resentment, had prudently retired to another country. They determined, nevertheless, to proceed against him as a person of some consequence in the commonwealth; for, being informed of his retreat, they condescended so far as to present an address to his majesty, desiring that his royal proclamation might be issued for apprehending the said Mr. Murray, promising a reward to him who should have the good fortune to apprehend this fugitive-a request with which his majesty most graciously complied.
PROCEEDINGS UPON A PAMPHLET, ENTITLED “THE CASE OF MR. MURRAY.”
Nor was this the only address presented to the king: upon such an important subject. A pamphlet, entitled “The Case of the Hon. Alexander Murray, esquire, in an Appeal to the People of Great Britain,” was first stigmatized in a complaint to the house, and was afterwards produced and read at the table. The piece was written with great acrimony, and abounded with severe animadversions, not only upon the conduct of the returning officer, but also on the proceedings of the commons. The violent members immediately took fire, and the flame extended itself to the majority. Nay, the house unanimously resolved, that the pamphlet was an impudent, malicious, scandalous, and seditious libel, falsely and most injuriously reflecting upon, and aspersing the proceedings of the house, tending to create misapprehensions in the minds of the people, to the great dishonour of the said house, and in violation of the privileges thereof. They furthermore presented an address to the king, desiring his majesty would be graciously pleased to give directions to his attorney-general to prosecute the authors or author, the printers or printer, and the publishers or publisher of the said scandalous libel, that they might be brought to condign punishment. Directions were accordingly given for this purpose, and a prosecution commenced against the publisher, who had some reason to be dismayed, considering the great weight of influence he was doomed to encounter--influence arising from a prosecution of the crown, instituted at the request, and founded on a vote, of the house of commons. Nevertheless, when the cause was heard before the lord-chief justice of England, a jury of free-born Englishmen, citizens of London, asserted their privilege of judging the law as well as the fact, and acquitted the defendant with a truly admirable spirit of independency. They considered the pamphlet as an appeal against oppression; and, convinced that the contents were true, they could not in conscience adjudge it a false libel, even though it had been so declared by one of the branches of the legislature.
{1752}
The commons, in regulating the supplies of the ensuing year, voted the continuation of eighteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven men for the land-service, though not without some opposition from certain patriots, who, rather from a sense of duty than from any hope of influencing the majority, affirmed that sixteen thousand men in time of peace would answer all the ends proposed by a standing army. The number of seamen was fixed at ten thousand; large sums were granted to make up deficiencies, and fulfil the engagements of the crown with the electors of Bavaria and Saxony, as well as for the maintenance of Nova Scotia and Georgia, and the castles on the coast of Guinea; and one hundred and twelve thousand one hundred and fifty-two pounds, three shillings and threepence, were voted, as a full compensation to the old royal African company for their exclusive charter and property, to be applied for the relief of their creditors. *
* These expenses were defrayed by a continuation of the duties on malt, &c; a land-tax at three shillings in the pound; a duty on licences, to be yearly paid by pawnbrokers and dealers in secondhand goods, within the bills of mortality; the sum of one million four hundred thousand pounds advanced by the bank, according to a proposal made for that purpose; five hundred thousand pounds to be issued from the sinking-fund; a duty laid on gum Senegal; and the continuation of divers other occasional impositions. The grants for the year amounted to something less than four millions, and the provisions made for this expense exceeded it in the sum of two hundred and seventy-one thousand and twenty-four pounds, ten shillings and sixpence halfpenny.
The laws enacted for the encouragement of traffic, and the regulations of civil polity, consisted in an act for licensing pawnbrokers, and for the more effectual preventing the receiving of stolen goods; another for preventing thefts and robberies, by which places of entertainment, dancing, and music, in London, Westminster, and within twenty miles of the capital, were suppressed and prohibited, unless the proprietors of them could obtain licenses from the justices of the peace, empowered for that purpose; a third for annexing the forfeited estates in Scotland unalienably to the crown, after having made satisfaction to the lawful creditors; establishing a method of leasing these estates, and applying the rents and profits of them for the better civilizing and improving the highlands, and preventing future disorders in that part of the united kingdom. Nothing could be more salutary than the purposes of these regulations. The suburbs of the metropolis abounded with an incredible number of public houses, which continually resounded with the noise of riot and intemperance; they were the haunts of idleness, fraud, and rapine; and the seminaries of drunkenness, debauchery, extravagance, and every vice incident to human nature; yet the suppression of these receptacles of infamy was attended with an inconvenience, which, in some cases, arose even to a degree of oppression. The justices being vested by the legislature with the power of granting or refusing licenses, were constituted, in effect, the arbiters on whose decision the fortunes and livelihood of many individuals absolutely depended. Many of those who exercised this species of magistracy within the bills of mortality, were, to the reproach of government, men of profligate lives, needy, mean, ignorant, and rapacious, and often acted from the most scandalous principles of selfish avarice.
LAW RELATING TO THE FORFEITED ESTATES IN SCOTLAND.
The law relating to the highlands of Scotland was well calculated for promoting, among the inhabitants of that country, such a spirit of industry as might detach them from their dangerous connexions, and gradually supersede that military genius which had been so productive of danger and alarm to the southern part of Great Britain. The king, by this act, was empowered to appoint commissioners for managing the forfeited estates, who were enabled to grant leases of small farms, not above twenty pounds a-year, to individuals, who should take an oath to government to reside upon and cultivate the lands thus let. It was also provided, that no lease should be granted for a longer term than twenty-one years; and that the leases should not pay above three-fourths of the annual value. Although these forfeited estates were generally encumbered with claims beyond their real value, and the act directed that they should be disposed of by public sale; yet, as they lay in the most disaffected parts of the highlands, it was thought necessary that they should remain in the possession of the crown, because, in case of their being publicly sold, they might be purchased in trust for the families of the persons by whom they were forfeited, and thus the spirit of disaffection would still survive. A valuation, therefore, was made by the court of session in Scotland, at the joint suit of the crown and the creditors; and the value being ascertained, the just claimants were paid out of the next aids granted by parliament. The bill met with considerable opposition in the house of peers from the duke of Bedford and the earl of Bath, who probably foresaw that the good effects of this scheme, so laudable in itself, would be frustrated in the execution; and that the act, instead of answering the purposes for which it was intended, would serve only as a job to gratify the rapacious retainers to the government, and their emissaries in that country. After a warm debate, however, it was adopted by a great majority, and obtained the royal assent.
NEW CONSOLIDATION OF FUNDS.
A third law related to certain articles of the national debt, which was now converted into several joint-stocks of annuities, transferable at the bank of England, to be charged on the sinking fund. A great number of different funds for annuities, established at different times and by different acts, subsisted at this period, SO that it I was necessary to keep many different accounts, which could not be regulated without considerable trouble and expense, for the removal of which the bill was calculated.
TWO PORTS OPENED FOR THE IMPORTATION OF IRISH WOOL.
In consequence of petitions from the woollen manufacturers of Westmoreland and Yorkshire, two bills were brought in, and passed through both houses, by which the ports of Lancaster and Great Yarmouth were opened for the importation of wool and woollen yarn from Ireland; but why this privilege was not extended to all the frequented ports of the kingdom it is not easy to conceive, without supposing a little national jealousy on one hand, and a great deal of grievous restraint on the other. Over and above these new laws, some unsuccessful endeavours were used in behalf of commerce and police. A bill was offered for laying further restrictions on pawnbrokers and brokers, that they might no longer suck the blood of the poor, and act as the accessaries of theft and robbery, which was canvassed, debated, and made its way through the lower house; but the lords rejected it as a crude scheme, which they could not amend, because it was a money-bill, not cognizable by their house, without engaging in a dispute with the commons. Another bill was prepared, for giving power to change the punishment of felony, in certain cases, to confinement and hard labour in dockyards or garrisons. It was the opinion of many who wished well to their country, and were properly qualified to prosecute such inquiries, that the practice of consigning such a number of wretches to the hands of the executioner, served only, by its frequency, to defeat the purpose of the law, in robbing death of all its terror, and the public of many subjects, who might, notwithstanding their delinquency, be in some measure rendered useful to society. Such was the motive that influenced the promoters of this bill; by which it was proposed, in imitation of that economy practised in other countries, to confine felons convicted under certain circumstances to hard labour upon the public works of the kingdom. The scheme was adopted by the lower house, but rejected by the lords, who seemed apprehensive of its bringing such discredit upon his majesty’s dock-yards, as would discourage persons who valued their reputation from engaging in such employment. Of still greater importance to the nation was the next measure proposed, in a bill for making the militia of England more useful, presented by Mr. Thornton, a gentleman of Yorkshire, who had distinguished himself by his loyalty and patriotism. It was canvassed in a committee of the whole house, and underwent divers amendments; but miscarried, through the aversion of the ministry to any project tending to remove or lessen the necessity of maintaining a standing army. A considerable number of petitions for different regulations, in respect to commerce and convenience of traffic, were presented, considered, and left upon the table. A remonstrance from the prisoners confined in the gaol of the king’s-bench, complaining of their miserable situation, arising from want of room and other conveniences, being taken into consideration by a committee, among other evidences, they examined that remarkable personage who had signalized himself in different parts of Christendom, under the name of Theodore, king of Corsica. Though formerly countenanced and even treated as a sovereign prince by the British ministry, he was now reduced to the forlorn condition of a confined debtor; and, to the reproach of this kingdom, died in prison, surrounded with all the misery of indigence, and overwhelmed with the infirmities of old age. But the most remarkable circumstance of the parliamentary transactions that distinguished this session, was a motion made in both houses for an address to the king, beseeching his majesty, that in time of public tranquillity, he would be graciously pleased to avoid entering into subsidiary treaties with foreign princes, which are so burdensome to this nation. This extraordinary proposal was made and strenuously urged by the duke of B----, and a vehement debate ensued, in which the earls of G----, S----, and H----, opposed it with an execution of superior abilities; and the question being put, was carried in the negative without a division. The same fate attended it in the house of commons, where it was introduced by lord H----y, and supported by some distinguished orators. The session ended in the latter end of March, when his majesty, having given his assent to ninety-five public and private bills, harangued both houses, and prorogued the parliament.*
* Among the proceedings of this session, it may not be improper to mention a new act for the prevention of murders, which had been shockingly frequent of late, importing, that every criminal convicted of this horrid crime should be executed in one day after his sentence, and his body delivered to the surgeons for dissection--an expedient which had been found productive of very salutary consequences.
THE KING SETS OUT FOR HANOVER.
Immediately after the prorogation, the king appointed a regency and set out for Hanover, in order to complete the great scheme he had projected for electing a king of the Romans. Great Britain, in the meantime, produced no event of importance, or any transaction that deserves historical mention, except the ratification of two treaties of peace and commerce with the states of Tripoli and Tunis on the coast of Barbary, concluded by the British consuls in those cities, under the influence and auspices of an English squadron, commanded by commodore Keppel, son to the earl of Albemarle. The tide of luxury still flowed with an impetuous current, bearing down all the mounds of temperance and decorum; while fraud and profligacy struck out new channels, through which they eluded the restrictions of the law, and all the vigilance of civil policy. New arts of deception were invented, in order to ensnare and ruin the unwary; and some infamous practices in the way of commerce, were countenanced by persons of rank and importance in the commonwealth. A certain member of parliament was obliged to withdraw himself from his country, in consequence of a discovery, by which it appeared that he had contrived and executed schemes for destroying his own ships at sea, with a view to defraud the insurers.
In the course of this year the affairs of the continent did not undergo any material alteration. In France, the religious dispute concerning the doctrine of Jansen-ius still subsisted between the clergy and the parliament; and seemed to acquire additional fuel from the violence of the archbishop of Paris, a haughty turbulent prelate, whose pride and bigotry were sufficient to embroil one half of Christendom. The northern powers enjoyed a perfect tranquillity; the states-general of the United Provinces were engrossed by plans of national economy. Spain was intent upon extending her commerce, bringing her manufactures to perfection, and repressing the insolence of the Barbary corsairs. His Portuguese majesty endeavoured, by certain peremptory precautions, to check the exportation of gold coin from his dominions, and insisted upon inspecting the books of the British merchants settled at Lisbon; but they refused to comply with this demand, which was contrary to a treaty subsisting between the two crowns; and he thought proper to acquiesce in their refusal. He was much better employed in obtaining from the pope an abolition of the annual procession called the _Auto-da-fe_, one of the most horrid triumphs of spiritual tyranny. The peace of Italy was secured by a defensive treaty concluded at Madrid between the emperor, his catholic majesty, the king of the two Sicilies, and the duke of Parma; to which treaty the king of Sardinia afterwards acceded.
DISPUTE BETWEEN HANOVER AND PRUSSIA.
With respect to the great scheme of electing the archduke Joseph king of the Romans, fresh objections seemed to rise from different quarters. The good understanding between the courts of Berlin and Hanover re-received an additional shock, from a dispute concerning the property of East Friezeland, which his Prussian majesty had secured, as heir to the last possessor. His Britannic majesty, as elector of Hanover, having pretensions to the same inheritance, his minister delivered a memorial to the diet of the empire assembled at Ratisbon, demanding that the king of Prussia, as elector of Brandenburgh, should be referred to the decision of the Aulic council, in regard to his claim to the estates of East Friezeland; but the king being already in possession, refused to submit his right to the determination of that or any other tribunal; and when the diet presumed to deliberate on this affair, his envoy entered a strong protest against their proceedings. At the same time, he presented the other ministers with a memorial, tending to refute the elector of Hanover’s pretensions to the principality in question.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE COURTS OF LONDON AND BERLIN.
At this juncture his Prussian majesty made no scruple of expressing his resentment against the court of London, which he seemed to consider as an officious cabal, that had no right to intermeddle in the affairs of Germany. His resident at London complained to the British ministry, that divers ships, sailing under the Prussian flag, had been stopped at sea, and even seized by English cruisers, and that his subjects had been ill treated and oppressed; he therefore demanded reparation in a peremptory tone; and in the meantime discontinued the payment of the Silesia loan, which he had charged himself with by an article in the treaty of Breslau. This was a sum of money amounting to two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, which the emperor Charles VI., father of the reigning empress, had borrowed of the subjects of Great Britain, on condition of paying an interest of six per cent., and mortgaging the silver mines of Silesia for the repayment of the principal. These devolved to the king of Prussia with this incumbrance, and he continued to pay the interest punctually till this juncture, when the payment was stopped; and he published a paper, entitled, “An Exposition of the Motives which influenced his Conduct on this occasion.” In his memorial to the ministry of Great Britain, he alleged, that eighteen Prussian ships, and thirty-three neutral vessels, in which the subjects of Prussia were concerned, had been unjustly seized by English privateers; his account of damages amounted to a very considerable sum; and he demanded, in the most dogmatic terms, that the affair should be finally discussed in the term of three months from the date of his remonstrance. The exposition and memorial were subjected to the examination of the ablest civilians in England, who refuted every article of the charge with equal precision and perspicuity. They proved, that captures by sea fell properly under the cognizance of those powers under whose jurisdiction the seizures were made; and therefore his Prussian majesty could not, consistent with the law of nations, determine these disputes in his own tribunals. They demonstrated, by undoubted evidence, the falsity of ma-ny facts alleged in the memorial, as well as the fairness of the proceedings by which some few of the Prussian vessels had been condemned; and made it appear, that no insult or injury had been offered to the subjects of Prussia. Finally, they observed, that the Silesia loan was a private transaction of such a nature, that, even if a war had happened between the emperor Charles VI. and his Britannic majesty, this must have been held sacred and inviolable; that when the empress-queen ceded Silesia to the king of Prussia, this monarch charged himself with the repayment of the loan, which, being a private debt, and transferable, was now diffused into different countries, and become the property of many others besides the subjects of Great Britain. They wound up their chain of reasoning by observing, that, according to agreement with the emperor, the whole of this loan should have been repaid in the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-five; whereas the complaints specified in the Prussian memorial were founded on facts posterior to that period. Whether his Prussian majesty was convinced by these reasons, and desisted from principle, or thought proper to give up his claim upon other political considerations; certain it is, he no longer insisted upon satisfaction, but ordered the payment of the Silesia loan to be continued without further interruption. A report, indeed, was circulated, that advantage had been taken of the demur by a certain prince, who employed his agents to buy up a great part of the loan at a considerable discount.
IMPROVEMENT OF POMERANIA.
How much soever the king of Prussia may be the subject of censure on this occasion, it must be allowed that, with regard to his own subjects, he acted as a wise legislator, and the father of his country. He peopled the deserts of Pomerania, by encouraging, with royal bounties, a great number of industrious emigrants to settle in that province; the face of which in a very few years underwent the most agreeable alteration. Above sixty new villages arose amidst a barren waste, and every part of the country exhibited marks of successful cultivation. Those solitary and desolate plains, where no human footsteps had for many ages been seen, were now converted into fields of corn. The farms were regularly parcelled out; the houses multiplied, and teemed with population; the happy peasants, sheltered in a peculiar manner under their king’s protection, sowed their grounds in peace, and reaped their harvests in security. The same care and indulgence were extended to the unpeopled parts of other provinces within the Prussian dominions, and extraordinary encouragement was granted to all French protestants who should come and settle under the government of this political sage.
TREATY WITH THE ELECTOR PALATINE.
The courts of Vienna and Hanover still employed their chief attention upon the scheme of electing a king of the Romans; and the elector of Mentz, influenced by the majority of the college, had convoked an electoral diet for that purpose; but strong protests against this convocation were entered by the electors of Cologn and Palatine, insomuch that it was thought expedient to conciliate this last, by taking some steps in his favour, with respect to the satisfaction he demanded from the empress-queen and his Britannic majesty. His claim upon the court of Vienna amounted to three millions of florins, by way of indemnification for the losses he had sustained during the war. He demanded of the king of England twenty thousand pounds sterling, for provisions and forage furnished to the British troops while they acted on the Maine; and the like sum for the like purposes from the states-general of the United Provinces. The empress-queen could not help remonstrating against this demand as exorbitant in itself, and the more unreasonable, as the elector palatine, at the death of her father, had openly declared against the pragmatic sanction, which he had guaranteed in the most solemn manner; she therefore observed, that the damage he had sustained in consequence of that declaration, ought to be considered as the common fate of war. These reasons, though conclusive and irrefragable in the usual way of arguing, made no impression upon the palatine, who perfectly well understood his own importance, and was determined to seize this opportunity of turning it to the best advantage. The court of Vienna, and the maritime powers, finding him thus obstinately attached to his own interest, resolved to bring him over to their views at any rate, and commenced a negotiation with him, which produced a formal treaty. By this convention his demands in money were fixed at twelve hundred thousand Dutch florins, to be paid at three instalments: five hundred thousand by the empress-queen, and the remaining seven hundred thousand by the king of Great Britain and the states-general, according to the proportion established in former treaties. The privilege of _Non appellendo_ for the duchy of Deux-ponts was confirmed to his electoral highness, together with some other rights and pretensions, in consideration of his concurring with the other electors in the choice of a king of the Romans, to be elected according to the customs prescribed by the laws and constitutions of the empire. He likewise engaged to join them in settling the articles of the capitulation with the king of the Romans, emperor _in futuro_. Yet, even after the concurrence of this prince was secured, the purposed election proved abortive, from the strong objections that were started, and the strenuous opposition which was made by his Prussian majesty, who perhaps aspired in secret at the imperial dignity, which the empress-queen took all this pains to perpetuate in her own family.
{1753}
SESSION OPENED.
The king of Great Britain returning from the continent, opened the session of parliament on the eleventh day of January, with a speech, implying that all his views and negotiations had been calculated and directed to preserve and secure the duration of the general peace, so agreeable and necessary to the welfare of all Europe; that he had the satisfaction to be assured of a good disposition in all the powers that were his allies, to adhere to the same salutary object. He exhorted them to continue their attention to the reduction of the national debt, the augmentation of the sinking fund, and the improvement of the public revenue. He recommended to their serious consideration what further laws and regulations might be necessary for suppressing those crimes and disorders, of which the public had so justly complained; and concluded with an assurance, that his hearty concurrence and endeavours should never be wanting in any measure that might promote their welfare and prosperity. The addresses in answer to this speech were couched in the usual form of implicit approbation; but that of the commons did not pass without question. The earl of Egmont took exceptions to one paragraph, in which they acknowledged his majesty’s wisdom, as well as goodness, in pursuing such measures as must contribute to maintain and render permanent the general tranquillity of Europe; and declared their satisfaction at the assurances his majesty had received from his allies, that they were all attached to the same salutary object. His lordship expatiated on the absurdity of these compliments at such a juncture, when the peace of Europe was so precarious, and the English nation had so much cause of complaint and dissatisfaction. He was seconded by some other individuals, who declaimed with great vivacity against continental connexions; and endeavoured to expose the weakness and folly of the whole system of foreign measures which our ministry had lately pursued. It must be owned, indeed, that they might have chosen a better opportunity to compliment their sovereign on the permanency of the peace than at this juncture, when they must have seen themselves on the very brink of a new rupture with the most formidable power in Europe. But the truth is, these addresses to the throne had been long considered as compliments of course, implying no more than a respectful attachment to their sovereign; accordingly, both houses agreed to their respective addresses without division. The two grand committees of supply and of ways and means, being established, the business of the house was transacted without much altercation; and the people had great reason to be satisfied with their moderate proceedings. Ten thousand seamen, and the usual number of land forces, were retained for the service of the ensuing year. They provided for the maintenance of the new colony of Nova Scotia, the civil establishment of Georgia, the support of the castles on the coast of Guinea, and the erection of a new fort at Anarnabo, where the French had attempted to make a settlement; and they enabled his majesty to fulfil his engagements with the king of Poland and the elector of Bavaria.
The supplies, including grants for former deficiencies and services for which no provision had been made in the course of the last year, did not exceed two millions one hundred and thirty-two thousand seven hundred and seven pounds, seventeen shillings and twopence halfpenny. In order to defray which expense, they assigned the duty on malt, &c, the land-tax at two shillings in the pound, the surplus of certain funds in the exchequer, and the sum of four hundred and twenty thousand pounds out of the sinking fund; so that the exceedings amounted to near three hundred thousand pounds.*
* Several duties on salt, as well as on red and white herrings delivered out for home consumption, were rendered perpetual, though subject to be redeemed by parliament; and it was provided that the debt contracted upon these duties being discharged, all the after-produce of them should become part of the sinking fund.
As for the national debt, it now stood at the enormous sum of seventy-four millions three hundred and sixty-eight thousand four hundred and fifty-one pounds, fifteen shillings and one penny; and the sinking fund produced one million seven hundred and thirty-five thousand five hundred and twenty-nine pounds, six shillings and tenpence one farthing.
GAME ACT.
One of the first measures brought upon the carpet in the course of this session, was an act containing regulations for the better preservation of the game, of which so great havoc had been made by poachers, and other persons unqualified to enjoy that diversion, that the total extirpation of it was apprehended.
ACT FOR PERFORMING QUARANTINE.
The next step taken by the commons was an affair of much greater consequence to the community, being a bill for obliging ships the more effectually to perform quarantine, in order to prevent the plague from being imported from foreign countries into Great Britain. For this purpose it was ordained, that if this dreadful visitation should appear in any ship to the northward of cape Finisterre, the master or commander should immediately proceed to the harbour of New Grimsby, in one of the islands of Scilly, and there communicate the discovery to some officer of the customs; who should, with the first opportunity, transmit this intelligence to another custom-house officer in the nearest port of England, to be by him forwarded to one of his majesty’s principal secretaries of state. In the meantime the ship should remain at the said island, and not an individual presume to go ashore until his majesty’s pleasure should be known. It was also provided, that in case the master of a ship thus infected should not be able to make the islands of Scilly, or be forced up either channel by violent winds, he should not enter any frequented harbour; but remain in some open road, until he could receive orders from his majesty, or the privy council; that, during this interval, he should avoid all intercourse with the shore, or any person or vessel whatsoever, on pain of being deemed guilty of felony, and suffering death without benefit of clergy.
ACT FOR PREVENTING THE PLUNDERING OF SHIPWRECKED VESSELS.
In order the more effectually to repress the barbarous practice of plundering ships which have the misfortune to suffer shipwreck--a practice which prevailed upon many different parts of the British coast--to the disgrace of the nation, and the scandal of human nature; a bill was prepared, containing clauses to enforce the laws against such savage delinquents, who prowl along the shore like hungry wolves, in hope of preying upon their fellow-creatures; and certain provisions for the relief of the unhappy sufferers.*
* By the new law, the clerk of the peace in the county where the crime shall be committed, is obliged, upon receiving proper information, to prosecute the offenders at the expense of the county. It was likewise proposed, that in case no prosecution of this nature should be commenced within a certain limited time after the information should have been legally given, in that case the county might be sued by the person who had sustained the damage, and obliged to indemnify him for his loss; but this clause was rejected by the majority; and the bill having made its way through both houses, received the royal assent.
When the mutiny bill fell under deliberation, the earl of Egmont proposed a new clause for empowering and requiring regimental courts-martial to examine witnesses upon oath in all their trials. The proposal occasioned a debate, in which the ministry were pretty equally divided; but the clause was disapproved by the majority, and this annual bill was enacted into a law without any alteration.
BILL RELATING TO THE BOUNTY OF CORN EXPORTED.
The next bill was framed in consequence of dirers petitions presented by the exporters of corn, who complained that the bounties were not paid, and prayed that the house would make proper provision for that purpose. A bill was accordingly brought in, importing, that interest after the rate of three per cent, should be allowed upon every debenture, for the bounty on the exportation of com, payable by the receiver-general or cashier of the customs, until the principal could be discharged out of such customs or duties as are appropriated for the payment of this bounty. This premium on the exportation of corn ought not to be granted, except when the lowness of the market price in Great Britain proves that there is a superabundance in the kingdom; otherwise the exporter will find his account in depriving our own labourers of their bread, in order to supply our rivals at an easier rate; for example, suppose wheat in England should sell for twenty shillings a quarter, the merchant might export into France, and afford it to the people of that kingdom for eighteen shillings, because the bounty on exportation would, even at that rate, afford him a considerable advantage.
TURKEY TRADE LAID OPEN.
A great number of merchants having presented petitions from different parts of the kingdom, representing that the trade of Turkey was greatly decreased, ascribing this diminution to the exclusive charter enjoyed by a monopoly, and praying that the trade might be laid open to all his majesty’s subjects, one of the members for Liverpool moved for leave to bring in a bill for this purpose. Such a measure had been twice before proposed without success; but now it was adopted without opposition. A bill was immediately introduced; and, notwithstanding all the interest and efforts of the Turkey company, who petitioned the house against it, and were heard by their counsel, it passed through both houses, and received the royal sanction. By this regulation any British subject may obtain the freedom of the Turkey company, by paying or rendering a fine of twenty pounds; and all the members are secured from the tyranny of oppressive bye-laws, contrived by any monopolizing cabal.*
* Several other bills were passed; one for regulating the number of public houses, and the more easy conviction of persons selling ale and strong liquors without license--an act which empowered the justices of peace to tyrannize over their fellow-subjects: a second, enabling the magistrates of Edinburgh to improve, enlarge, and adorn the avenues and streets of that city, according to a concerted plan, to be executed by voluntary subscription: a third, allowing the exportation of wool and woollen yarn from Ireland into any port in Great Britain: and a fourth, prescribing the breadth of the wheels belonging to heavy carriages, that the high roads of the kingdom might be the better preserved.
NATURALIZATION OF THE JEWS.
But this session was chiefly distinguished by an act for naturalizing Jews, and a bill for the better preventing clandestine marriages. The first of these, which passed without much opposition in the house of lords, from whence it descended to the commons, was entitled, “An act to permit persons professing the Jewish religion to be naturalized by parliament, and for other purposes therein mentioned.” It was supported by some petitions of merchants and manufacturers, who, upon examination, appeared to be Jews, or their dependents; and countenanced by the ministry, who thought they foresaw, in the consequences of such a naturalization, a great accession to the monied interest, and a considerable increase of their own influence among the individuals of that community. They boldly affirmed, that such a law would greatly conduce to the advantage of the nation; that it would encourage persons of wealth to remove with their effects from foreign parts into Great Britain, increase the commerce and the credit of the kingdom, and set a laudable example of industry, temperance, and frugality. Such, however, were not the sentiments of the lord-mayor, aldermen, and commons of the city of London in common-council assembled, who, in a petition to parliament, expressed their apprehension that the bill, if passed into a law, would tend greatly to the dishonour of the christian religion, endanger the excellent constitution, and be highly prejudicial to the interest and trade of the kingdom in general, and of the city of London in particular. Another petition to the same purpose was next day presented to the house, subscribed by merchants and traders of the city of London; who, among other allegations, observed, that the consequences of such a naturalization would greatly affect their trade and commerce with foreign nations, particularly with Spain and Portugal. Counsel was heard, evidence examined, and the bill produced violent debates, in which there seemed to be more passion than patriotism, more declamation than argument. The adversaries of the bill affirmed, that such a naturalization would deluge the kingdom with brokers, usurers, and beggars; that the rich Jews, under the shadow of this indulgence, would purchase lands, and even advowsons; so as not only to acquire an interest in the legislature, but also to influence the constitution of the church of Christ, to which they were the inveterate and professed enemies; that the lower class of that nation, when thus admitted to the right of denizens, would interfere with the industrious natives who earn their livelihood by their labour; and by dint of the most parsimonious frugality, to which the English are strangers, work at an under price; so as not only to share, but even in a manner to exclude them from all employment; that such an adoption of vagrant Jews into the community, from all parts of the world, would rob the real subjects of their birthright, disgrace the character of the nation, expose themselves to the most dishonourable participation and intrusion, endanger the constitution both in church and state, and be an indelible reproach upon the established religion of the country. Some of these orators seemed transported even to a degree of enthusiasm. They prognosticated that the Jews would multiply so much in number, engross such wealth, and acquire so great power and influence in Great Britain, that their persons would be revered, their customs imitated, and Judaism become the fashionable religion of the English. Finally, they affirmed that such an act was directly flying in the face of the prophecy, which declares, that the Jews shall be a scattered people, without country or fixed habitation, until they shall be converted from their infidelity, and gathered together in the land of their forefathers. These arguments and apprehensions, which were in reality frivolous and chimerical, being industriously circulated among the vulgar, naturally prejudiced against the Jewish people, excited such a ferment throughout the nation, as ought to have deterred the ministry from the prosecution of such an unpopular measure; which, however, they had courage enough to maintain against all opposition. The bill passed the ordeal of both houses, and his majesty vouchsafed the royal sanction to this law in favour of the Hebrew nation. The truth is, it might have increased the wealth, and extended the commerce of Great Britain, had it been agreeable to the people; and as the naturalized Jews would still have been excluded from all civil and military offices, as well as from other privileges enjoyed by their christian brethren, in all probability they would have gradually forsaken their own unprofitable and obstinate infidelity, opened their eyes to the shining truths of the gospel, and joined their fellow-subjects in embracing the doctrines of Christianity. But no ministry ought to risk an experiment, how plausible soever it might be, if they found it, as this was, an object of the people’s unconquerable aversion. What rendered this unpopular measure the more impolitic, was the unseasonable juncture at which it was carried into execution; that is, at the eve of a general election for a new parliament, when a minister ought carefully to avoid every step which may give umbrage to the body of the people. The earl of Egmont, who argued against the bill with equal power and vivacity, in describing the effect it might have upon that occasion, “I am amazed,” said he, “that this consideration makes no impression.--When that day, which is not far off, shall arrive, I shall not fear to set my foot upon any ground of election in the kingdom, in opposition to any one man among you, or any new christian, who has voted or appeared in favour of this naturalization.”
MARRIAGE ACT.
Another bill, transmitted from the upper house, met with a reception equally unfavourable among the commons, though it was sustained on the shoulders of the majority, and thus forced its way to the throne, where it obtained the royal approbation. The practice of solemnizing clandestine marriages, so prejudicial to the peace of families, and so often productive of misery to the parties themselves thus united, was an evil that prevailed to such a degree as claimed the attention of the legislature. The sons and daughters of great and opulent families, before they had acquired knowledge and experience, or attained to the years of discretion, were every day seduced in their affections, and inveigled into matches big with infamy and ruin; and these were greatly facilitated by the opportunities that occurred of being united instantaneously by the ceremony of marriage, in the first transport of passion, before the destined victim had time to cool or deliberate on the subject. For this pernicious purpose, there was a band of profligate miscreants, the refuse of the clergy, dead to every sentiment of virtue, abandoned to all sense of decency and decorum, for the most part prisoners for debt or delinquency, and indeed the very outcasts of human society, who hovered about the verge of the Fleet-prison to intercept customers, plying like porters for employment, and performed the ceremony of marriage without license or question, in cellars, garrets, or ale-houses, to the scandal of religion, and the disgrace of that order which they professed. The ease with which this ecclesiastical sanction was obtained, and the vicious disposition of those wretches, open to the practices of fraud and corruption, were productive of polygamy, indigence, conjugal infidelity, prostitution, and every curse that could embitter the married state. A remarkable case of this nature having fallen under the cognizance of the peers, in an appeal from an inferior tribunal, that house ordered the judges to prepare a new bill for preventing such abuses; and one was accordingly framed, under the auspices of lord Hardwicke, at that time lord high chancellor of England. In order to anticipate the bad effects of clandestine marriages, this new statute enacted, that the banns should be regularly published three successive Sundays, in the church of the parish where the parties dwell; that no license should be granted to marry in any place, where one of the parties has not dwelt at least a month, except a special license by the archbishop; that if any marriage should be solemnized in any other place than a church or a chapel without a special license, or in a public chapel without having published the banns, or obtained a license of some person properly qualified, the marriage should he void, and the person who solemnized it transported for seven years; that marriages by license, of parties under age, without consent of parent or guardian, should be null and void, unless the party under age be a widow, and the parent refusing consent a widow married again: that when the consent of a mother or guardian is refused from caprice, or such parent or guardian be _non compos mentis_, or beyond sea, the minor should have recourse for relief to the court of chancery; that no suit should be commenced to compel a celebration of marriage, upon pretence of any contract; that all marriages should be solemnized before two witnesses, and an entry be made in a book kept for that purpose, whether it was by banns or license, whether either of the
## parties was under age, or the marriage celebrated with the consent of
parent or guardian, and this entry to be signed by the minister, the
## parties, and the witnesses; that a false license or certificate, or
destroying register books, should be deemed felony, either in principal or accessary, and punished with death. The bill, when first considered in the lower house, gave rise to a variety of debates; in which the members appeared to be divided rather according to their real sentiments, than by the rules of any political distinction; for some principal servants of the government freely differed in opinion from the minister, who countenanced the bill; while on the other hand, he was on this occasion supported by certain chiefs of the opposition, and the disputes were maintained with extraordinary eagerness and warmth. The principal objections imported, that such restrictions on marriage would damp the spirit of love and propagation; promote mercenary matches, to the ruin of domestic happiness, as well as to the prejudice of posterity and population; impede the circulation of property, by preserving the wealth of the kingdom among a kind of aristocracy of opulent families, who would always intermarry within their own pale; subject the poor to many inconveniencies and extraordinary expense, from the nature of the forms to be observed; and throw an additional power into the hands of the chancellor. They affirmed, that no human power had a right to dissolve a vow solemnly made in the sight of heaven; and that, in proportion as the bill prevented clandestine marriages, it would encourage fornication and debauchery, insomuch as the parties restrained from indulging their mutual passions in an honourable manner, would be tempted to gratify them by stealth, at the hazard of their reputation. In a word, they foresaw a great number of evils in the train of this bill, which have not yet been realized. On the other side, its advocates endeavoured to refute these arguments, and some of them spoke with great strength and precision. The bill underwent a great number of alterations and amendments; which were not effected without violent contest and altercation. At length, however, it was floated through both houses on the tide of a great majority, and steered into the safe harbour of royal approbation. Certain it is, the abuse of clandestine marriage might have been removed upon much easier terms than those imposed upon the subject by this bill; which, after all, hath been found ineffectual, as it may be easily eluded by a short voyage to the continent, or a moderate journey to North Britain, where the indissoluble knot may be tied without scruple or interruption.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
DELIBERATIONS CONCERNING THE SUGAR COLONIES.
Over and above these new statutes, there were some other subjects which occasionally employed the attention of the commons; such as the state of the British sugar colonies, which was considered, in consequence of petitions presented by the sugar refiners and grocers of London, Westminster, and Bristol, complaining of the exorbitant price demanded and given for sugars imported from Jamaica; desiring that the proprietors of lands in Jamaica might be obliged to cultivate greater quantities of ground for raising sugar-canes, or that they (the petitioners) might have leave to import muscovado sugars from other countries, when the price of those imported from Jamaica should exceed a certain rate. This remonstrance was taken into consideration by a committee of the whole house; and a great number of evidences and papers being examined, they resolved, that the peopling of Jamaica with white inhabitants, and cultivating the lands thereof, would be the most proper measure for securing that island, and increasing the trade and navigation between it and Great Britain, and other parts of his majesty’s dominions; that the endeavours hitherto used by the legislature of Jamaica to increase the number of white inhabitants, and enforce the cultivation of lands, in the manner that might best conduce to the security and defence of that island, had not been effectual for these purposes. The house ordered a bill to be founded on these resolutions; but this was postponed until the ministry should receive more full information touching the true state of that island. The planters of Jamaica laboured under many grievances and hardships, from divers heavy impositions and restrictions; and a detail of these was transmitted in a representation to his majesty, which was referred to the consideration of the commissioners of trade and plantations. The cause of the planters was defended vigorously, and managed in the house of commons by alderman Beckford, a gentleman of vast possessions in the island of Jamaica, who perfectly well understood, and strenuously supported, the interest of that his native country.
FATE OF THE REGISTER BILL.
Abortive also proved the attempt to establish a law for keeping an annual register of marriages, births, deaths, the individuals who received alms, and the total number of people in Great Britain. A bill for this purpose was presented by Mr. Potter, a gentleman of pregnant parts and spirited elocution; who, enumerating the advantages of such a law, observed, that it would ascertain the number of the people, and the collective strength of the nation; consequently, point out those places where there is a defect or excess of population, and certainly determine whether a general naturalization would be advantageous or prejudicial to the community; that it would decide what number of men might, on any sudden emergency, be levied for the defence of the kingdom; and whether the nation is gainer or loser, by sending its natives to settle, and our troops to defend distant colonies; that it would be the means of establishing a local administration of civil government, or a police upon certain fixed principles, the want of which hath been long a reproach to the nation, a security to vice, and an encouragement to idleness; that in many cases where all other evidence is wanting, it would enable suitors to recover their right in courts of justice, facilitate an equal and equitable assessment in raising the present taxes, and laying future impositions; specify the lineal descents, relations, and alliances of families; lighten the intolerable burdens incurred by the public, from innumerable and absurd regulations relating to the poor; provide for them by a more equal exertion of humanity, and effectually screen them from all risk of perishing by hunger, cold, cruelty, and oppression. Whether such a law would have answered the sanguine expectations of its patron, we shall not pretend to determine; though, in our opinion, it must have been attended with very salutary consequences, particularly in restraining the hand of robbery and violence, in detecting fraud, bridling the ferocity of a licentious people, and establishing a happy system of order and subordination. At first the bill met with little opposition, except from Mr. Thornton, member for the city of York, who inveighed against it with great fervour, as a measure that savoured of French policy, to which the English nation ever had the utmost aversion. He affirmed, that the method in which it was proposed this register should be kept, would furnish the enemies of Great Britain with continual opportunities of knowing the strength or weakness of the nation; that it would empower an ill-designing minister to execute any scheme subversive of public liberty, invest parish and petty officers of the peace with exorbitant powers, and cost the nation about fifty thousand pounds a-year to carry the scheme into execution. These arguments, which, we apprehend, are extremely frivolous and inconclusive, had great weight with a considerable number who joined in the opposition, while the ministry stood neutral. Nevertheless, after having undergone some amendments, it was conveyed to the lords, by whom it was, at the second reading, thrown out as a scheme of very dangerous tendency. The legislature of Great Britain have, on some occasions, been more startled at the distant shadow of a bare possibility, than at the real approach of the most dangerous innovation.
SIR HANS SLOANE’S MUSEUM PURCHASED BY PARLIAMENT.
From the usual deliberations on civil and commercial concerns, the attention of the parliament, which had seldom or never turned upon literary avocations, was called off by an extraordinary subject of this nature. Sir Hans Sloane, the celebrated physician and naturalist, well known through all the civilized countries of Europe for his ample collection of rarities, culled from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, as well as of antiquities and curiosities of art, had directed, in his last will, that this valuable museum, together with his numerous library, should be offered to the parliament, for the use of the public, in consideration of their paying a certain sum in compensation to his heirs. His terms were embraced by the commons, who agreed to pay twenty thousand pounds for the whole, supposed to be worth four times that sum; and a bill was prepared for purchasing this museum, together with the Harleian collection of manuscripts, so denominated from its founder, Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, lord-high-treasurer of England, and now offered to the public by his daughter, the duchess of Portland. It was proposed, that these purchases should be joined to the famous Cottonian library, and a suitable repository provided for them and the king’s library, which had long lain neglected and exposed to the injuries of the weather in the old dormitory at Westminster. Accordingly, trustees and governors, consisting of the most eminent persons of the kingdom, were appointed, and regulations established for the management of this noble museum, which was deposited in Montagu-house, one of the most magnificent edifices in England, where it is subjected, without reserve, to the view of the public, under certain necessary restrictions, and exhibits a glorious monument of national taste and liberality. *
* The library of sir Hans Sloane consisted of above fifty thousand volumes, including about three hundred and fifty books of drawings, and three thousand five hundred and sixteen manuscripts, besides a multitude of prints. The museum comprehended an infinite number of medals, coins, urns, utensils, seals, cameos, intaglios, precious stones, vessels of agate and jasper, crystals, spars, fossils, metals, minerals, ore, earths, sands, salts, bitumens, sulphurs, ambergrise, talcs, mirre, testacea, corals, sponges, echini, echenites, asteri, trochi, crustatia, stellae marine, fishes, birds, eggs and nests, vipers, serpents, quadrupeds, insects, human calculi, anatomical preparations, seeds, gums, roots, dried plants, pictures, drawings, and mathematical instruments. All these articles, with a short account of each, are specified in thirty-eight volumes in folio, and eight in quarto.
In the beginning of June the session of parliament was closed by his majesty, who mentioned nothing particular in his speech, but that the state of foreign affairs had suffered no alteration since their meeting.
The genius of the English people is perhaps incompatible with a state of perfect tranquillity; if it was not ruffled by foreign provocations, or agitated by unpopular measures of domestic administration, it will undergo temporary fermentations from the turbulent ingredients inherent in its own constitution Tumults are excited, and faction kindled into rage and inveteracy, by incidents of the most frivolous nature. At this juncture the metropolis of England was divided and discomposed in a surprising manner, by a dispute in itself of so little consequence to the community, that it could not deserve a place in a general history, if it did not serve to convey a characteristic idea of the English nation. In the beginning of the year an obscure damsel, of low degree, whose name was Elizabeth Canning, promulgated a report, which in a little time attracted the attention of the public. She affirmed, that on the first day of the new year, at night, she was seized under Bedlam-wall by two ruffians, who having stripped her of her upper apparel, secured her mouth with a gag, and threatened to murder her should she make the least noise; that they conveyed her on foot about ten miles, to a place called Enfieldwash, and brought her to the house of one Mrs. Wells, where she was pillaged of her stays; and because she refused to turn prostitute, confined in a cold, damp, separate, and unfurnished apartment; where she remained a whole month, without any other sustenance than a few stale crusts of bread, and about a gallon of water; till at length she forced her way through a window, and ran home to her mother’s house almost naked, in the night of the twenty-ninth of January. This story, improbable and unsupported, operated so strongly on the passions of the people in the neighbourhood of Aldermanbury, where Canning’s mother lived, and particularly among fanatics of all denominations, that they raised voluntary contributions, with surprising eagerness, in order to bring the supposed delinquents to justice. Warrants were granted for apprehending Wells, who kept the house at Enfieldwash, and her accomplices, the servant maid, whose name was Virtue Hall, and one Squires, an old gipsey-woman, which last was charged by Canning of having robbed her of her stays. Wells, though acquitted of the felony, was punished as a bawd. Hall turned evidence for Canning, but afterwards recanted. Squires, the gipsey, was convicted of the robbery, though she produced undoubted evidence to prove that she was at Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire that very night in which the felony was said to be committed, and Canning and her friends fell into divers contradictions during the course of the trial. By this time the prepossession of the common people in her favour had risen to such a pitch of enthusiasm, that the most palpable truths which appeared on the other side, had no other effect than that of exasperating them to the most dangerous degree of rage and revenge. Some of the witnesses for Squires, though persons of unblemished character, were so intimidated, that they durst not enter the court; and those who had resolution enough to give evidence in her behalf, ran the risk of assassination from the vulgar that surrounded the place. On this occasion, sir Crisp Gascoyne, lord-mayor of London, behaved with that laudable courage and humanity which ought ever to distinguish the chief magistrate of such a metropolis. Considering the improbability of the charge, the heat,
## partiality, and blind enthusiasm with which it was prosecuted, and being
convinced of the old woman’s innocence by a great number of affidavits, voluntarily sent up from the country by persons of unquestionable credit, he, in conjunction with some other worthy citizens, resolved to oppose the torrent of vulgar prejudice. Application was made to the throne for mercy; the case was referred to the attorney and solicitor-general, who, having examined the evidences on both sides, made their report in favour of Squires to the king and council; and this poor old creature was indulged with his majesty’s pardon. This affair was now swelled up into such a faction as divided the greater part of the kingdom, including the rich as well as the poor, the high as well as the humble. Pamphlets and pasquinades were published on both sides of the dispute, which became the general topic of conversation in all assemblies, and people of all ranks espoused one or other party with as much warmth and animosity as had ever inflamed the whigs and tories, even at the most rancorous period of their opposition. Subscriptions were opened, and large sums levied, on one side, to prosecute for perjury the persons on whose evidence the pardon had been granted. On the other hand, those who had interested themselves for the gipsey resolved to support her witnesses, and, if possible, detect the imposture of Canning. Bills of perjury were preferred on both sides. The evidences for Squires were tried and acquitted; at first Canning absconded; but afterwards surrendered to take her trial, and being, after a long hearing, found guilty, was transported to the British colonies. The zeal of her friends, however, seemed to be inflamed by her conviction; and those who carried on the prosecution against her were insulted, even to the danger of their lives. They supplied her with necessaries of all sorts, paid for her transportation in a private ship, where she enjoyed all the comforts and conveniences that could be afforded in that situation, and furnished her with such recommendations as secured to her a very agreeable reception in New England.
EXECUTION OF DR. CAMERON.
Next to this very remarkable transaction, the incident that principally distinguished this year in England, was the execution of Doctor Archibald Cameron, a native of North Britain, and brother to Cameron of Lochiel, chief of that numerous and warlike tribe who had taken the field with the prince-pretender. After the battle of Culloden, where he was dangerously wounded, he found means to escape to the continent. His brother, the doctor, had accompanied him in all his expeditions, though not in a military capacity, and was included with him in the act of attainder passed against those who had been concerned in the rebellion. Notwithstanding the imminent danger attending such an attempt, the doctor returned privately to Scotland, in order, as it was reported, to recover a sum of money belonging to the pretender, which had been embezzled by his adherents in that country. Whatever may have been his inducement to revisit his native country under such a predicament, certain it is, he was discovered, apprehended, and conducted to London, confined in the Tower, examined by the privy-council, and produced in the court of king’s-bench, where his identity being proved by several witnesses, he received sentence of death, and was executed at Tyburn. The terror and resentment of the people, occasioned by the rebellion, having by this time subsided, their humane passions did not fail to operate in favour of this unfortunate gentleman; their pity was mingled with esteem, arising from his personal character, which was altogether unblemished, and his deportment on this occasion, which they could not help admiring as the standard of manly fortitude and decorum. The populace, though not very subject to tender emotions, were moved to compassion and even to tears, by his behaviour at the place of execution; and many sincere well-wishers to the present establishment thought that the sacrifice of this victim, at such a juncture, could not redound either to its honour or security.
TUMULTS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE KINGDOM.
The turbulent spirit, which is never totally extinguished in this island, manifested itself in sundry tumults that broke out in different parts of South Britain. The price of provisions, and bread in particular, being raised to an exorbitant rate in consequence of an absurd exportation of corn, for the sake of the bounty, a formidable body of colliers, and other labouring people, raised an insurrection at Bristol, began to plunder the corn vessels in the harbour, and commit such outrages in the city, that the magistrates were obliged to have recourse to military power. A troop of dragoons were sent to their assistance, and the insurgents were quelled, though not without some bloodshed. Commotions of the same kind were excited in Yorkshire, Manchester, and several other places in the northern counties At Leeds, a detachment of the king’s troops were obliged in their own defence to fire upon the rioters, eight or nine of whom were killed on the spot; and, indeed, so little care had been taken to restrain the licentious insolence of the vulgar by proper laws and regulations, duly executed under the eye of civil magistracy, that a military power was found absolutely necessary to maintain the peace of the kingdom.
DISTURBANCES IN FRANCE.
The tranquillity of the continent was not endangered by any new contest or disturbance; yet the breach between the clergy and the parliament of Paris was every day more and more widened, and the people were pretty equally divided between superstition and a regard for civil liberty. The parliament having caused divers ecclesiastics to be apprehended, for having refused to administer the sacraments to persons in extremity, who refused to subscribe to the bull Unigenitus, all of them declared they acted according to the direction of the archbishop of Paris. Application being made to this haughty prelate, he treated the deputies of the parliament with the most supercilious contempt, and even seemed to brave the power and authority of that body. They, on the other hand, proceeded to take cognizance of the recusant clergy, until their sovereign ordered them to desist. Then they presented remonstrances to his majesty, reminding him of their privileges, and the duty of their station, which obliged them to do justice on all their delinquents. In the meantime they continued to perform their functions, and even commenced a prosecution against the bishop of Orleans, whom they summoned to attend their tribunal. Next day they received from Versailles a _lettre de cachet_, accompanied by letters patent, commanding them to suspend all prosecutions relating to the refusal of the sacraments; and ordering the letters patent to be registered. Instead of obeying these commands, they presented new remonstrances, for answers to which they were referred to the king’s former declarations. In consequence of this intimation, they had spirit enough to resolve, “That, whereas certain evil-minded persons had prevented truth from reaching the throne, the chambers remained assembled, and all other business should be suspended.” The affair was now become very serious. His majesty, by fresh letters patent, renewed his orders, and commanded them to proceed with their ordinary business, on pain of incurring his displeasure. They forthwith came to another resolution, importing, that they could not obey this injunction without a breach of their duty and their oath. Next day _lettres de cachet_ were issued, banishing to different parts of the kingdom all the members, except those of the great chamber, which the court did not find more tractable than their brethren. They forthwith resolved to abide by the two resolutions mentioned above; and, as an instance of their unshaken fortitude, ordered an ecclesiastic to be taken into custody for refusing the sacraments. This spirited measure involved them in the fate of the rest; for they were also exiled from Paris, the citizens of which did not fail to extol their conduct with the loudest encomiums, and at the same time to express their resentment against the clergy, who could not stir abroad without being exposed to violence or insult. The example of the parliament of Paris was followed by that of Rouen, which had courage enough to issue orders for apprehending the bishop of Evreux, because he had refused to appear when summoned to their tribunal. Their decrees on this occasion being annulled by the king’s council of state, they presented a bold remonstrance, which, however, had no other effect than that of exasperating the ministry. A grand deputation being ordered to attend the king, they were commanded to desist from intermeddling in disputes relating to the refusal of the sacraments, and to register this injunction. At their return they had recourse to a new remonstrance; and one of their principal counsellors, who had spoken freely in the debates on this subject, was arrested by a party of dragoons, who carried him prisoner to the castle of Dourlens. In a word, the body of the people declared for the parliament, in opposition to ecclesiastical tyranny; and had they not been overawed by a formidable standing army, would certainly have taken up arms in defence of their liberties; while the monarch weakly suffered himself to be governed by priestly delusions; and, secure in his military appointment, seemed to set the rest of his subjects at defiance. Apprehensive, however, that these disputes would put an entire stop to the administration of justice, he, by letters patent, established a royal chamber for the prosecution of suits civil and criminal, which was opened with a solemn mass performed in the queen’s chapel at the Louvre, where all the members assisted. On this occasion another difficulty occurred. The letters patent, constituting this new court, ought to have been registered by the parliament which was now no more. To remedy this defect, application was made to the inferior court of the Chatelet, which refusing to register them, one of its members was committed to the Bastile, and another absconded. Intimidated by this exertion of despotic power, they allowed the king’s officers to enter the letters in their register; but afterwards adopted more vigorous resolutions. The lieutenant,-civil appearing in their court, all the counsellors rose up and retired, leaving him alone, and on the table an _arret_, importing, that whereas the confinement of one of their members, the prosecution of another, who durst not appear, and the present calamities of the nation, gave them just apprehensions for their own persons; they had, after mature deliberation, thought proper to retire. Thus a dangerous ferment was excited by the king’s espousing the cause of spiritual insolence and oppression against the general voice of his people, and the plainest dictates of reason and common sense.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE DIET RELATIVE TO EAST FRIEZELAND.
The property of East Friezeland continued still to be the source of contention between the electors of Bran-denburgh and Hanover. The interest of his Britannic majesty being powerfully supported by the house of Austria, the minister of that power at the diet proposed that the affair should be taken into immediate consideration. He was seconded by the minister of Brunswick; but the envoy from Brandenburgh, having protested in form against this procedure, withdrew from the assembly, and the Brunswick minister made a counter-protestation, after which he also retired. Then a motion being made, that this dispute should be referred to the decision of the Aulic council at Vienna, it was carried in the affirmative by a majority of fourteen voices. His Prussian majesty’s final declaration with regard to this affair was afterwards presented to the diet, and answered in the sequel by a memorial from his Britannic majesty as elector of Hanover. Some other petty disputes likewise happened between the regency of Hanover and the city of Munster; and the former claiming some bailiwicks in the territories of Bremen, sequestered certain revenues belonging to this city, in Stade and Ferden, till these claims should be satisfied.
EXTRAORDINARY TREATY.
The court of Vienna having dropped for the present the scheme for electing a king of the Romans, concluded a very extraordinary treaty with the duke of Modena, stipulating that his serene highness should be appointed perpetual governor of the duchy of Milan, with a salary of ninety thousand florins, on condition that he should maintain a body of four thousand men, to be at the disposal of the empress-queen; that her imperial majesty should have a right to place garrisons in the citadels of Mirandola and Reggio, as well as in the castle of Massa-Carrara: that the archduke Peter Leopold, third son of their imperial majesties, should espouse the daughter of the hereditary prince of Modena, by the heiress of Massa-Carrara; and in case of her dying without heirs male, the estates of that house and the duchy of Mirandola should devolve to the archduke; but in case of her having male issue, that she should enjoy the principality of Fermia, and other possessions in Hungary, claimed by the duke of Modena, for her fortune; finally, that on the extinction of the male branch of the house of Este, all the dominions of the duke of Modena should devolve to the house of Austria.
CONFERENCES WITH RESPECT TO NOVA SCOTIA BROKE UP.
While the powers on the continent of Europe were thus employed in strengthening their respective interests, and concerting measures for preventing any interruption of the general tranquillity, matters were fast ripening to a fresh rupture between the subjects of Great Britain and France, in different parts of North America. We have already observed that commissaries had been appointed, and conferences opened at Paris, to determine the disputes between the two crowns, relating to the boundaries of Nova Scotia; and we took notice in general of the little arts of evasion practised by the French commissaries, to darken and perplex the dispute, and elude the pretensions of his Britannic majesty. They persisted in employing these arts of chicanery and cavil with such perseverance, that the negotiation proved abortive, the conferences broke up, and every thing seemed to portend approaching hostilities. But, before we proceed to a detail of the incidents which were the immediate forerunners of the war, we will endeavour to convey a just idea of the dispute concerning Nova Scotia; which, we apprehend, is but imperfectly understood, though of the utmost importance to the interest of Great Britain.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
DESCRIPTION OF NOVA SCOTIA.
Nova Scotia, called by the French Acadia, lies between the forty-fourth and fiftieth degrees of north latitude, having New England and the Atlantic ocean to the south and south-west, and the river and gulph of St. Lawrence to the north and north-east. The winter, which continues near seven months in this country, is intensely cold; and without the intervention of any thing that can be called spring, it is immediately succeeded by a summer, the heat of which is almost insupportable, but of no long continuance. The soil in general is thin and barren, though some parts of it are said to be equal to the best land in England. The whole country is covered with a perpetual fog, even after the summer has commenced. It was first possessed by the French, before they made any establishment in Canada; who, by dint of industry and indefatigable perseverance, in struggling with the many difficulties they necessarily laboured under in the infancy of this settlement, subsisted tolerably well, and increased considerably, with very little assistance from Europe; whilst we, even now, should lose the immense expense we have already been at to settle a colony there, and should see all our endeavours to that end defeated, if the support of the royal hand was withdrawn but for a moment. This country, by the possession of which an enemy would be enabled greatly to annoy all our other colonies, and, if in the hands of the French, would be of singular service both to their fishery and their sugar islands, has frequently changed hands from the French to the English, and from the English back again to the French, till our right to it was finally settled by the twelfth article of the treaty of Utrecht, by which all the country included within the ancient limits of what was called Nova Scotia or Acadia, was ceded to the English. This article was confirmed by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, but, for want of ascertaining distinctly what were the bounds intended to be fixed by the two nations with respect to this province, disputes arose, and commissaries, as we have observed, were appointed by both sides to adjust the litigation.
The commissaries of the king of Great Britain conformed themselves to the rule laid down by the treaty itself, and assigned those as the ancient limits of this country, which had always passed as such, from the very earliest time of any certainty, down to the conclusion of the treaty; which the two crowns had frequently declared to be such, and which the French had often admitted and allowed. These limits are, the southern bank of the river St. Lawrence to the north, and Pentagoet to the west: the country situated between these boundaries is that which the French received by the treaty of St. Germain’s, in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-two, under the general name of Acadia. Of this country, thus limited, they continued in possession from that period to the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-four, when a descent was made upon it, under the command of colonel Sedgwick. That these were then the undisputed limits of Acadia, his Britannic majesty’s commissaries plainly proved, by a letter of Louis XIII. to the sieurs Charnisay and La Tour, regulating their jurisdictions in Acadia; by the subsequent commissions of the French king to the same persons, as governors of Acadia, in the sequel; and by that which was afterwards granted to the sieur Denys, in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-four; all of which extend the bounds of this country from the river St. Lawrence to Pentagoet and New England. That these were the notions of the French with respect to the ancient limits of this province, was further confirmed by the demands made by their ambassador in the course of that same year, for the restitution of the forts Pentagoet, St. John’s, and Port Eoyal, as forts situated in Acadia. In the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-two, upon the revival of the claim of France to the country of Acadia, which had been left undecided by the treaty of Westminster, the French ambassador, then at the court of London, assigned Pentagoet as the western, and the river St. Lawrence as the northern, boundary of that country; and alleged the restitution of Acadia in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-two, and the possession taken by France in consequence thereof, as well as the continuation of that possession, with the same limits, to the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-four, as proofs of the equity and validity of the claim he then made; in which claim and in the manner of supporting it, he was particularly approved of by the court of France. The same court afterwards thought it so clear, upon former determinations, and her own former possessions, that the true ancient boundaries of Acadia were Pentagoet to the west, and the river St. Lawrence to the north, that she desired no specification of limits in the treaty of Breda, but was contented with the restitution of Acadia, generally named; and, upon a dispute which arose in the execution of this treaty, France re-asserted, and Great Britain, after some discussion, agreed to the above-mentioned limits of Acadia; and France obtained possession of that country, so bounded, under the treaty of Breda. The sense of France upon this subject, in the years one thousand six hundred and eighty-five, and one thousand six hundred and eighty-seven, was also clearly manifested in the memorials delivered at that time by the French ambassador at the court of London, complaining of some encroachments made by the English upon the coast of Acadia: he described the country as extending from isle Percée, which lies at the entrance of the river St. Lawrence, to St. George’s island; and again, in a subsequent complaint, made by Mons. Barillon and Mons. Bonrepaus to the court of Great Britain, against the judge of Pemaquid, for having seized the effects of a French merchant at Pentagoet, which, said they, was situated in Acadia, as restored to France by the treaty of Breda. To explain the sense of France, touching the bounds of Acadia in the year one thousand seven hundred, the British commissaries produced a proposal of the French ambassador, then residing in Great Britain, to restrain the limits of that country to the river St-George. They also instanced the surrender of Port Royal in the year one thousand seven hundred and ten, in which Acadia is described with the same limits with which France had received it in the years one thousand six hundred and thirty-two, and one thousand six hundred and sixty-seven. And further to ascertain the sense of both crowns, even at the treaty of Utrecht itself, they produced the queen of Great Britain’s instructions to her ambassadors, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eleven, in which they were directed to insist, “That his most christain majesty should quit all claim or title, by virtue of any former treaty, or otherwise, to the country called Nova Scotia, and expressly to Port Royal, otherwise Annapolis Royal.” To these they added a manifest demonstration, founded on indisputable facts, proving that the recital of the several sorts of right which France had ever pretended to this country, and the specification of both terms, Acadia or Nova Scotia, were intended by Great Britain to obviate all doubts which had ever been made concerning the limits of Acadia, and to comprehend with more certainty all that country which France had ever received as such; finally, to specify what France considered as Acadia. During the treaty, they referred to the offers of that crown in the year one thousand seven hundred and twelve, in which she proposed to restrain the boundary of Acadia to the river St. George, as a departure from its real boundary, in case Great Britain would restore to her the possession of that country. From all these facts it plainly appears that Great Britain demanded nothing but what the fair construction of the words of the treaty of Utrecht necessarily implies; and that it is impossible for any thing to have more evident marks of candour and fairness in it, than the demand of the English on this occasion. From the variety of evidence brought in support of this claim, it evidently results that the English commissaries assigned no limits as the ancient limits of Acadia, but those which France herself determined to be such in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-two; and which she possessed, in consequence of that determination, till the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-four; that in one thousand six hundred and sixty-two, France claimed, and received in one thousand six hundred and sixty-nine, the country which Great Britain now claims as Acadia, restored to France by the treaty of Breda under that general denomination; that France never considered Acadia as having any other limits than those which were assigned to it from the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-two, to the year one thousand seven hundred and ten; and that, by the treaty of Utrecht, she engaged to transfer that very same country as Acadia, which France has always asserted and possessed, and Great Britain now claims, as such. Should the crown of France, therefore, be ever willing to decide what are the ancient limits of Acadia, by her own declarations so frequently made in like discussions upon the same point, by her possessions of this country for almost a century, and by her description of Acadia, during the negotiation of that very treaty upon which this doubt is raised, she cannot but admit the claim of Great Britain to be conformable to the treaty of Utrecht, and to the description of the country transferred to Great Britain by the twelfth article of that treaty. There is a consistency in the claim of the English, and a completeness in the evidence brought in support of it, which is seldom seen in discussions of this sort; for it rarely happens, in disputes of such a nature between two crowns, that either of them can safely offer to have its pretensions decided by the known and repeated declarations, or the possessions of the other. To answer the force of this detail of conclusive historical facts, and to give a new turn to the real question in dispute, the French commissaries, in their memorial, laid it down as a distinction made by the treaty of Utrecht, that the ancient limits of Acadia, referred to by that treaty, are different from any with which that country may have passed under the treaties of St. Germain’s and Breda; and then endeavoured to show, upon the testimonies of maps and historians, that Acadia and its limits were anciently confined to the south-eastern part of the peninsula. In support of this system, the French commissaries had recourse to ancient maps and historians, who, as they asserted, had ever confined Acadia to the limits they assigned. They alleged, that those commissions of the French government over Acadia, which the English cited as evidence of the limits they claimed, were given as commissions over Acadia and the country around it, and not over Acadia only; that the whole of the country claimed by the English as Acadia, could not possibly be supposed ever to be considered as such, because many parts of that territory always did, and still do, preserve
## particular and distinct names. They affirmed New France to be a province
in itself; and argued that many parts of what we claim as Acadia can never have been in Acadia, because historians and the French commissions of government expressly place them in New France. They asserted, that no evidence can be drawn of the opinion of any crown, with respect to the limits of any country, from its declaration during the negotiation of a treaty: and, in the ends relying upon maps and historians for the ancient limits of Acadia, they pretended that the express restitution of St. Germain’s, and the possession taken by France in consequence of the treaty of Breda, after a long discussion of the limits and the declaration of France during the negotiation of the treaty of Utrecht, were foreign to the point in question. In refutation of these maxims, the English commissaries proved, from an examination of the maps and historians cited by the French in support of their system, that if this question was to be decided upon the authorities which they themselves allowed to belong, and to be applicable to, this discussion, the limits which they assigned were utterly inconsistent with the best maps of all countries, which are authorities in point for almost every part of the claim of Great Britain. They showed that the French historians, Champlain and Denys, and particularly this last, with his commission in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty-five, assigned the same northern and western limits to Acadia which they did; and that Escarbot, another of their historians, as far as any evidence can be drawn from his writings, agrees entirely with the former two. They observed, that all these evidences fall in with and confirmed the better authorities of treaties, and the several transactions between the two crowns for near a century past; and that the French commissaries, by deviating from treaties, and the late proceedings of the two crowns, to ancient historians and maps, only made a transition from an authentic to an insufficient sort of evidence, and led the English commissaries into an inquiry which proved that both the proper and the improper, the regular and the foreign evidence, upon which this matter had been rested, equally confuted the limits alleged by the French commissaries as the ancient limits of Acadia.
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