CHAPTER XVIII

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_Siege of Madras..... Colonel Forde defeats the Marquis de Conflans near Gola-pool..... Captain Knox takes Rajamundry and Narsipore..... Colonel Forde takes Masulipatam..... Surat taken by the English..... Unsuccessful Attack upon Wandewash..... Admiral Pococke defeats Monsieur d’Apehé..... Hostilities of the Dutch on the River of Bengal..... Colonel Coote takes Wandewash..... Defeats General Lally..... and conquers the Province of Arcot..... State of the Belligerent Powers in Europe..... Frankfort seized by the French..... Progress of the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick..... Prince Ferdinand attacks the French at Bergen..... The British Ministry appoint an Inspector General of the Forage..... Prince Ferdinand retreats before the French Army..... Animosity between the General of the Allied Army and the Commander of the British Forces..... The French encamp at Min-den..... and are defeated by the Allies..... Duke de Brissac routed by the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick..... General Imhoff takes Munster from the French..... who retreat before Prince Ferdinand..... The Hereditary Prince beats up the Duke of Wirtemberg’s Quarters at Fulda..... A Body of Prussians make an incursion into Poland..... Prince Henry penetrates into Bohemia..... He enters Franconia, and obliges the Imperial Army to retire..... King of Prussia vindicates his Conduct with respect to his Prisoners..... The Prussian General Wedel defeated by the Russians at Zullichau..... The King of Prussia takes the Command of General Wedel’s Corps..... Battle of Cunersdorf..... Advantages gained by the Prussians in Saxony..... Prince Henry surprises General Vehla..... General Finck, with his whole Corps of Prussians, surrounded and taken by the Austrian General..... Disaster of the Prussian General Diercke..... Conclusion of the Campaign..... Arret of the Evangelical Body at Ratisbon..... The French Ministry stop Payment..... The States-General send over Deputies to England..... Memorial presented to the States by Major-General Yorke..... A counter Memorial presented by the French Minister..... Death of the King of Spain..... He is succeeded by his brother Don Carlos, who makes a remarkable Settlement..... Detection and Punishment of the Conspirators at Lisbon..... Session opened in England..... Substance of the Addresses..... Supplies granted..... Ways and Means, Annuities, &c....... Bills for granting several Duties on Malt, &c...... Petitions for and against the Prohibition of the Malt Distillery..... Opposition to the Bill for preventing the excessive Use of Spirituous Liquors..... Bill for continuing the Importation of Irish Beef..... Attempt to establish a Militia in Scotland..... Further Regulations relative to the Militia of England..... Bill for removing the Powder Magazine from Greenwich..... Act for improving the Streets of London..... Bill relative to the Sale of Fish in London and Westminster..... New Act for ascertaining the Qualifications of Members of Parliament..... Act for consolidating the Annuities granted in 1759..... Bill for securing the Payment of Prize and Bounty Money appropriated for the Use of Greenwich Hospital..... Act in Favour of George Keith, late Earl Marshal of Scotland..... Session closed_

SIEGE OF MADRAS.

While the arms of Great Britain triumphed in Europe and America, her interest was not suffered to languish in other parts of the world. This was the season of ambition and activity, in which every separate armament, every distinct corps, and individual officer, seemed to exert themselves with the most eager appetite of glory. The East Indies, which in the course of the preceding year had been the theatre of operations carried on with various success, exhibited nothing now but a succession of trophies to the English commanders. The Indian transactions of the last year were interrupted at that period when the French general, Lally, was employed in making preparations for the siege of Madras. In the month of October he had marched into Arcot without opposition; and in the beginning of December, he advanced towards Madras. On the twelfth he marched over Choultry plain, in three divisions, cannonaded by the English artillery with considerable effect, and took post at Egmore and St. Thome. Colonel Laurence, who commanded the garrison of Madras, retired to the island, in order to prevent the enemy from taking possession of the island bridge; and at the same time ordered the posts to be occupied in the Blacktown, or suburbs of Madras. In the morning of the fourteenth, the enemy marched with their whole force to attack this place; the English detachments retreated into the garrison; and within the hour a grand sally was made, under the command of colonel Draper, a gallant officer, who signalized himself remarkably on this occasion. He attacked the regiment of Lorrain with great impetuosity; and in all probability would have beat them off, had they not been sustained by the arrival of a fresh brigade. After a very warm dispute, in which many officers and a great number of men were killed on each side, colonel Draper was obliged to retreat, not altogether satisfied with the conduct of his grenadiers. As the garrison of Madras was not very numerous, nothing further was attempted on their side without the works. In the meantime, the enemy used all their diligence in erecting batteries against the fort and town; which being opened on the sixth day of January, they maintained a continual discharge of shot and shells for twenty days, advancing their trenches all the time under cover of this fire, until they reached the breast of the glacis. There they erected a battery of four pieces of cannon, and opened it on the last day of the month; but for five days successively they were obliged to close their embrasures by the superior fire of the fort, and at length to abandon it entirely: nevertheless, they still maintained a severe fire from the first grand battery, which was placed at the distance of four hundred and fifty yards from the defences. This artillery was so well served, as to disable twenty-six pieces of cannon, three mortars, and effect an inconsiderable breach. Perhaps they might have had more success, had they battered in breach from the beginning; but M. Lally, in order to intimidate the inhabitants, had cruelly bombarded the town, and demolished the houses: he was, however, happily disappointed in his expectation by the wise and resolute precautions of governor Pigot; by the vigilance, conduct, and bravery of the colonels Laurence and Draper, seconded by the valour and activity of major Brereton, and the spirit of the inferior officers. The artillery of the garrison was so well managed, that from the fifth day of February, the fire of the enemy gradually decreased from twenty-three to six pieces of cannon: nevertheless, they advanced their sap along the sea-side, so as to embrace entirely the north-east angle of the covered way, from whence their musketry drove the besieged. They likewise endeavoured to open a passage into the ditch by a mine; but sprung it so injudiciously, that they could make no advantage of it, as it lay exposed to the fire of several cannon. While these preparations were carried on before the town, major Caillaud and captain Preston, with a body of sepoys, some of the country horse, and a few Europeans drawn from the English garrisons of Trichinopoly and Chingalaput, hovered at the distance of a few miles, blocking up the roads in such a manner that the enemy were obliged, four several times, to send large detachments against them, in order to open the communication: thus the progress of the siege was in a great measure retarded. On the sixteenth day of February, in the evening, the Queenborough ship of war, commanded by captain Kempenfeldt, and the company’s ship the Revenge, arrived in the road of Madras, with a reinforcement of six hundred men belonging to colonel Draper’s regiment, and part of them was immediately disembarked. From the beginning of the siege the enemy had discovered a backwardness in the service, very unsuitable to their national character. They were ill supplied by their commissaries and contractors: they were discouraged by the obstinate defence of the garrison, and all their hope of success vanished at the arrival of this reinforcement. After a brisk fire, they raised the siege that very night, abandoning forty pieces of cannon; and having destroyed the powder-mills at Egmore, retreated to the territory of Arcot. [515] _[See note 4 A, at the end of this Vol.]_

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

SUCCESS OF COLONEL FORDE.

M. Lally having weakened his forces that were at Masalipatam, under the conduct of the marquis de Conflans, in order to strengthen the army with which he undertook the siege of Madras, the rajah of Vizanapore drove the French garrison from Vizagapatam, and hoisted English colours in the place. The marquis having put his troops in motion to revenge this insult, the rajah solicited succour from colonel Clive at Calcutta; and, with the consent of the council, a body of troops was sent under the command of colonel Forde to his assistance. They consisted of five hundred Europeans, including a company of artillery, and sixteen hundred sepoys; with about fifteen pieces of cannon, one howitzer, and three mortars. The forces of Conflans were much more considerable. On the twentieth day of October colonel Forde arrived at Vizagapatam, and made an agreement with the rajah, who promised to pay the expense of the expedition, as soon as he should be put in possession of Rajamundry, a large town and fort possessed by the French. It was stipulated that he should have all the inland country belonging to the Indian powers in the French interest, and at present in arms; and that the English company should retain all the conquered sea-coast from Vizagapatam to Masulipatam. On the first of November colonel Forde proceeded on his march; and on the third joined the rajah’s army, consisting of between three and four thousand men. On the third of December, they came in sight of the enemy, near the village of Golapool; but the French declining battle, the colonel determined to draw them from their advantageous situation, or march round and get between them and Rajamundry. On the seventh, before day-break, he began his march, leaving the rajah’s forces on their ground; but the enemy beginning to cannonade the Indian forces, he, at the request of the rajah, returned and took them under his protection. Then they marched together to the village of Colapool, and halted on a small plain about three miles from their encampment. About nine he formed the line of battle. About ten the enemy were drawn up, and began the cannonade. The firing on both sides having continued about forty minutes, the enemy’s line advanced to the charge with great resolution; and were so warmly received, that, after several spirited efforts, at eleven they gave way, and retreated in disorder towards Rajamundry. During this conflict the rajah’s forces stood as idle spectators, nor could their horse be prevailed upon to pursue the fugitives. The victory cost the English forty-four Europeans killed and wounded, including two captains and three lieutenants. The French lost above three times the number, together with their whole camp-baggage, thirty-two pieces of cannon, and all their ammunition. A great number of black forces fell on both sides. The marquis de Conflans did not remain at Rajamundry, but proceeded to Masulipatam; while captain Knox, with a detachment from the English army, took possession of the fort of Rajamundry, which is the barrier and key to the country of Vizagapatam. This was delivered to the rajah on his paying the expense of the expedition; and captain Knox being detached with a battalion of sepoys, took possession of the French factory at Narsipore. This was also the fate of a small fort at Coucate, which surrendered to captain Maclean, after having made an obstinate defence. In the meantime, however, the French army of observation made shift to retake Rajamundry, where they found a considerable quantity of money, baggage and effects, belonging to English officers.

Colonel Forde advancing to the neighbourhood of Masulipatam, the marquis de Conflans with his forces retired within the place, which on the seventh day of March was invested. By the seventh day of April the ammunition of the besiegers being almost expended, colonel Forde determined to give the assault, as two breaches were already made, and made his disposition accordingly. The attack was begun in the night, and the assailants arrived at the ditch before they were discovered. But here they underwent a terrible discharge of grape-shot and musquetry; notwithstanding which they entered the breaches and drove the enemy from bastion to bastion. At length, the marquis de Conflans sent an officer to demand quarter for the garrison, which was granted as soon as he ordered his men to cease firing. Thus, with about three hundred and forty European soldiers, a handful of seamen, and seven hundred sepoys, colonel Forde took by assault the strong town of Masulipatam, garrisoned by five hundred and twenty-one Europeans, two thousand and thirty-nine Caffres, Topasses, and sepoys; and here he found above one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, with a great quantity of ammunition. Salabatzing, the suba of De-can, perceiving the success of the English here as well as at Madras, being sick of his French alliance, and in dread of his brother Nizam Allée, who had set up a separate interest, and taken the field against him, made advances to the company, with which he forthwith concluded a treaty to the following effect:--“The whole of the circar of Masulipatam shall be given to the English company. Salabatzing will not suffer the French to have a settlement in this country, nor keep them in his service, nor give them any assistance. The English, on their part, will not assist nor give protection to the suba’s enemies.”--In a few clays after Masulipatam was reduced, two ships arrived in the road with a reinforcement of four hundred men to the marquis de Conflans; but, understanding the fate of the place, made the best of their way to Ganjam.

SURAT TAKEN BY THE ENGLISH.

The merchants residing at Surat, finding themselves exposed to numberless dangers, and every species of oppression, by the sidee who commanded the castle on one hand, by the governor of the city on the other, and by the Mahrattas, who had a claim to a certain share of the revenue, made application to the English presidency at Bombay, desiring they would equip an expedition for taking possession of the castle and tanka, and settle the government of the city upon Pharass Cawn, who had been naib or deputy-governor under Meah Atchund, and regulated the police to the satisfaction of the inhabitants. The presidency embraced the proposal: admiral Pococke spared two of his ships for this service. Eight hundred and fifty men, artillery and infantry, with fifteen hundred sepoys, under the command of captain Richard Maitland, of the royal regiment of artillery, were embarked on board the company’s armed vessels commanded by captain Watson, who sailed on the ninth of February. On the fifteenth they were landed at a place called Dentiloury, about nine miles from Surat; and here they were encamped for refreshment: in two days he advanced against the French garden, in which a considerable number of the sidee’s men were posted, and drove them from thence after a very obstinate dispute. Then he erected a battery, from which he battered the wall in breach: but this method appearing tedious, he called a council of war, composed of the land and sea-officers, and laid before them the plan of a general attack, which was accordingly executed next morning. The company’s grab, and the bomb-ketches, being warped up the river in the night, were ranged in a line of battle opposite to the Bundar, which was the strongest fortification that the enemy possessed; and under the fire of these the troops being landed, took the Bundar by assault. The outward town being thus gained, he forthwith began to bombard the inner town and castle with such fury, that next morning they both surrendered, on condition of being allowed to inarch out with their effects; and captain Maitland took possession without further dispute. Meah Atchund was continued governor of Surat, and Pharass Cawn was appointed naib. The artillery and ammunition found in the castle were secured for the company, until the mogul’s pleasure was known; and in a little time a phirmaund, or grant, arrived from Delhi, appointing the English company admiral to the mogul; so that the ships and stores belonged to them of course, as part of the tanka; and they were now declared legal possessors of the castle. This conquest, which cost about two hundred men, including a few officers, was achieved with such expedition, that captain Watson returned to Bombay by the ninth day of April.

The main body of the English forces, which had been centered at Madras, for the preservation of that important settlement, took the field after the siege was raised, and possessed themselves of Conjeveram, a place of great consequence; which, with the fort of Schengelpel, commanded all the adjacent country, and secured the British possessions to the northward. M. Lally, sensible of the importance of the post, took the same route in order to dislodge them; but finding all his attempts ineffectual, he retired towards Wandewash, where his troops were put into quarters of cantonment. No other operations ensued till the month of September; when major Brere-ton, who commanded the English forces, being joined by major Gordon with three hundred men of colonel Coote’s battalion, resolved to attack the enemy in his turn. On the fourteenth day of the month he began his march from Conjeveram for Wandewash, at the head of four hundred Europeans, seven thousand sepoys, seventy European and three hundred black horse, with fourteen pieces of artillery. In his march he invested and took the fort of Trivitar; from whence he proceeded to the village of Wandewash, where the French, to the number of one thousand, were strongly encamped under the guns of a fort, commanded by a rajah, mounting twenty cannon, under the direction of a French gunner. On the thirteenth day of September, at two in the morning, the English attacked the village in three different places, and drove them from it after a very obstinate dispute; but this advantage they were not able to maintain. The black pioneers ran away during the attack, so that proper traverses could not be made in the streets; and at day-break the fort poured in upon them a prodigious discharge of grape-shot with considerable effect. The enemy had retired to a dry ditch, which served as an intrenchment, from whence they made furious sallies; and a body of three hundred European horse were already in motion, to fall upon and complete their confusion. In this emergency, they retired in disorder; and might have been entirely ruined, had not the body of reserve effectually covered their retreat: yet this could not be effected without the loss of several officers, and above three hundred men killed and wounded. After this mortifying check, they encamped a few days in sight of the fort, and, the rainy season setting in, returned to Conjeveram. The fort of Wandewash was afterwards garrisoned by French and sepoys; and the other forces of the enemy were assembled by brigadier-general de Bussy, at Arcot.

ADMIRAL POCOCKE DEFEATS MONSIEUR D’APCHE.

During these transactions by land, the superiority at sea was still disputed between the English and French admirals. On the first day of September, vice-admiral Pococke sailed from Madras to the southward, in quest of the enemy, and next day descried the French fleet, consisting of fifteen sail, standing to the northward. He forthwith threw out the signal for a general chase, and stood towards them with all the sail he could carry; but the wind abating, he could not approach near enough to engage. During the three succeeding days, he used his utmost endeavours to bring them to a battle, which they still declined, and at last they disappeared. He then directed his course to Pondicherry, on the supposition that they were bound to that harbour; and on the eighth day of the month perceived them standing to the southward: but he could not bring them to an engagement till the tenth, when M. d’Apché, about two in the afternoon, made the signal for battle, and the cannonading began without further delay. The British squadron did not exceed nine ships of the line; the enemy’s fleet consisted of eleven; but they had still a greater advantage in number of men and artillery. Both squadrons fought with great impetuosity till about ten minutes after four, when the enemy’s rear began to give way: this example was soon followed by their centre; and finally the van, with the whole squadron, bore to the south-south-east, with all the canvass they could spread. The British squadron was so much damaged in their masts and rigging, that they could not pursue; so that M. d’Apché retreated at his leisure unmolested. On the fifteenth, admiral Pococke returned to Madras, where his squadron being repaired by the twenty-sixth, he sailed again to Pondicherry, and in the road saw the enemy lying at anchor in line of battle. The wind being off shore, he made the line of battle a-head, and for some time continued in this situation. At length the French admiral weighed anchor, and came forth; but instead of bearing down upon the English squadron, which had fallen to leeward, he kept close to the wind, and stretched away to the southward. Admiral Pococke finding him averse to another engagement, and his own squadron being in no condition to pursue, he, with the advice of his captains, desisted, and measured back his course to Madras. On the side of the English, above three hundred men were killed in the engagement, including captain Miche, who commanded the Newcastle, captain Gore of the marines, two lieutenants, a master gunner, and boatswain: the captains Somerset and Brereton, with about two hundred and fifty men, were wounded; and many of the ships considerably damaged. The loss of the enemy must have been much more considerable, because the English in battle always fire at the body of the ship; because the French squadron was crowded with men; because they gave way, and declined a second engagement; and, finally, because they now made the best of their way to the island of Mauritius, in order to be refitted, having on board general Lally and some other officers. Thus they left the English masters of the Indian coast; superiority still more confirmed by the arrival of rear-admiral Cornish, with four ships of the line, who had set sail from England in the beginning of the year, and joined admiral Pococke at Madras on the eighteenth day of October.

HOSTILITIES OF THE DUTCH.

The French were not the only enemies with whom the English had to cope in the East Indies. The great extension of their trade in the kingdom of Bengal, had excited the envy and avarice of the Dutch factory, who possessed a strong fort at Chinchura, on the river of Bengal; and resolved, if possible, to engross the whole saltpetre branch of commerce. They had, without doubt, tampered with the new suba, who lay under such obligations to the English, and probably secured his connivance. Their scheme was approved by the governor of Batavia, who charged himself with the execution of it; and, for that purpose, chose the opportunity when the British squadron had retired to the coast of Malabar. On pretence of reinforcing the Dutch garrisons in Bengal, he equipped an armament of seven ships, having on board five hundred European troops, and six hundred Malayese, under the command of colonel Russel. This armament having touched at Negapatam, proceeded up the bay, and arrived in the river of Bengal about the beginning of October. Colonel Clive, who then resided at Calcutta, had received information of their design, which he was resolved, at all events, to defeat. He complained to the suba; who, upon such application, could not decently refuse an order to the director and council of Hughley, implying that this armament should not proceed up the river. The colonel, at the same time, sent a letter to the Dutch commodore, intimating that, as he had received intimation of their design, he could not allow them to land forces, and march to Chinchura. In answer to this declaration, the Dutch commodore, whose whole fleet had not yet arrived, assured the English commander that he had no intention to send any forces to Chinchura; and begged liberty to land some of his troops for refreshment--a favour that was granted, on condition that they should not advance. Notwithstanding the suba’s order, and his own engagement to this effect, the rest of the ships were no sooner arrived, than he proceeded up the river to the neighbourhood of Tannah-fort, where his forces being disembarked, began their march to Chinchura. In the meantime, by way of retaliating the affront he pretended to have sustained in being denied a passage to their own factory, he took several small vessels on the river belonging to the English company; and the Calcutta Indiaman, commanded by captain Wilson, homeward-bound, sailing down the river, the Dutchman gave him to understand, that if he presumed to pass he would sink him without further ceremony. The English captain seeing them run out their guns as if really resolved to put their threats in execution, returned to Calcutta, where two other India ships lay at anchor, and reported his adventure to colonel Clive, who forthwith ordered the three ships to prepare for battle, and attack the Dutch armament. The ships being properly manned, and their sides lined with saltpetre, they fell down the river, and found the Dutch squadron drawn up in a line of battle, in order to give them a warm reception, for which indeed they seemed well prepared; for three of them were mounted with thirty-six guns each, three of them with twenty-six, and the seventh carried sixteen. The duke of Dorset, commanded by captain Forrester, being the first that approached them, dropped anchor close to their line, and began the engagement with a broadside, which was immediately returned. A dead calm unfortunately intervening, this single ship was for a considerable time exposed to the whole fire of the enemy; but a small breeze springing up, the Calcutta and the Hard wick advanced to her assistance, and a severe fire was maintained on both sides, till two of the Dutch ships, slipping their cables, bore away, and a third was driven ashore. Their commodore, thus weakened, after a few broadsides struck his flag to captain Wilson, and the other three followed his example. The victory being thus obtained, without the loss of one man on the side of the English, captain Wilson took possession of the prizes, the decks of which were strewed with carnage, and sent the prisoners to colonel Clive at Calcutta. The detachment of troops which they had landed, to the number of eleven hundred men, was not more fortunate in their progress. Colonel Clive no sooner received intelligence that they were in full march to Chinchura, than he detached colonel Forde with five hundred men from Calcutta, in order to oppose and put a stop to their march at the French gardens. He accordingly advanced to the northward, and entered the town of Chandernagore, where he sustained the fire of a Dutch party sent out from Chinchura to join and conduct the expected reinforcement. These being routed and dispersed, after a short action, colonel Forde in the morning proceeded to a plain in the neighbourhood of Chinchura, where he found the enemy prepared to give him battle on the twenty-fifth day of November. They even advanced to the charge with great resolution and

## activity; but found the fire of the English artillery and battalion so

intolerably hot, that they soon gave way, and were totally defeated. A considerable number were killed, and the greater part of those who survived the action were taken prisoners. During this contest, the nabob, at the head of a considerable army, observed a suspicious neutrality; and in all likelihood would have declared for the Dutch had they proved victorious, as he had reason to believe they would, from their great superiority in number. But fortune no sooner determined in favour of the English, than he made a tender of his service to the victor, and even offered to reduce Chinchura with his own army. In the meantime, proposals of accommodation being sent to him by the directors and council of the Dutch factory at Chinchura, a negotiation ensued, and a treaty was concluded to the satisfaction of all parties. Above three hundred of the prisoners entered into the service of Great Britain; the rest embarked on board their ships, which were restored as soon as the peace was ratified, and set out on their return for Batavia. After all, perhaps, the Dutch company meant nothing more than to put their factory of Chinchura on a more respectable footing; and, by acquiring greater weight and consequence among the people of the country than they formerly possessed, the more easily extend their commerce in that part of the world. At any rate, it will admit of a dispute among those who profess the law of nature and nations, whether the Dutch company could be justly debarred the privilege of sending a reinforcement to their own garrisons. Be that as it will, the ships were not restored until the factory at Chinchura had given security to indemnify the English for the damage they had sustained on this occasion.

COLONEL COOTE TAKES WANDEWASH.

The success of the English army was still more conspicuous on the coast of Coromandel. The governor and council of Madras having received information that the French general, Lally, had sent a detachment of his army to the southward, taking Syringham, and threatened Trichinopoly with a siege, it was determined that colonel Coote, who had lately arrived from England, should take the field, and endeavour to make a diversion to the southward. He accordingly began his march at the head of seventeen hundred Europeans, including cavalry, and three thousand blacks, with fourteen pieces of cannon and one howitzer. On the twenty-seventh day of November, he invested the fort of Wandewash: having made a practicable breach, the garrison, consisting of near nine hundred men, surrendered prisoners of war; and he found in the place forty-nine pieces of cannon, with a great quantity of ammunition. Then he undertook the siege of Carangoly, a fortress commanded by colonel O’Kennely, at the head of one hundred Europeans, and five hundred sepoys. In a few days he dismounted the greater part of their guns; and they submitted, on condition that the Europeans should be allowed to march out with the honours of war, but the sepoys were disarmed and dismissed.

General Lally, alarmed at the progress of this brave, vigilant, and enterprising officer, assembled all his forces at Arcot, to the number of two thousand two hundred Europeans, including horse; three hundred Caffres, and ten thousand black troops, or sepoys; with five-and-twenty pieces of cannon. Of these he assumed the command in person; and on the tenth day of January began his march in order to recover Wandewash. Colonel Coote, having received intelligence on the twelfth that he had taken possession of Conjeveram, endeavoured by a forced march to save the place, which they accordingly abandoned at his approach, and pursuing their march to Wandewash, invested the fort without delay. The English commander passed the river Palla, in order to follow the same route; and, on the twenty-first day of the month, understanding that a breach was already made, resolved to give them battle without further delay. The cavalry being formed, and supported by five companies of sepoys, he advanced against the enemy’s horse, which being at the same time galled by two pieces of cannon, retired with precipitation. Then colonel Coote, having taken possession of a tank which they had occupied, returned to the line, which was by this time formed in order of battle. Seeing the men in high spirits, and eager to engage, he ordered the whole army to advance; and by nine in the morning they were within two miles of the enemy’s camp, where they halted about half an hour. During this interval, the colonel reconnoitred the situation of the French forces, who were very advantageously posted; and made a movement to the right, which obliged them to alter their disposition. They now advanced, in their turn, within three quarters of a mile of the English line, and the cannonading began with great fury on both sides. About noon their European cavalry coming up with a resolute air to charge the left of the English, colonel Coote brought up some companies of sepoys, and two pieces of cannon, to sustain the horse, which were ordered to oppose them; and these advancing on their flank, disturbed them so much that they broke, and were driven by the English cavalry above a mile from the left, upon the rear of their own army. Meanwhile, both lines continued advancing to each other; and about one o’clock the firing with small-arms began with great vivacity. One of the French tumbrils being blown up by an accidental shot, the English commander took immediate advantage of their confusion. He ordered major Brere-ton to wheel Draper’s regiment to the left, and fall upon the enemy’s flank. This service was performed with such resolution and success, that the left wing of the French was completely routed and fell upon their centre, now closely engaged with the left of the English. About two in the afternoon their whole line gave way, and fled towards their own camp; which, perceiving themselves closely pursued, they precipitately abandoned, together with twenty-two pieces of cannon. In this engagement they lost about eight hundred men killed and wounded, besides about fifty prisoners, including brigadier-general de Bussy, the chevalier Godeville, quarter-master-general, lieutenant-colonel Murphy, three captains, five lieutenants, and some other officers. On the side of the English two hundred and sixty-two were killed or wounded, and among the former the gallant and accomplished major Brereton, whose death was a real loss to his country.

COLONEL COOTE CONQUERS ARCOT.

General Lally having retreated with his broken troops to Pondicherry, the baron de Vasserot was detached towards the same place, with a thousand horse and three hundred sepoys, to ravage and lay waste the French territory. In the meantime, the indefatigable colonel Coote undertook the siege of Chilliput, which in two days was surrendered by the chevalier de Tilly; himself and his garrison remaining prisoners of war. Such also was the fate of fort Timmery; which being reduced, the colonel prosecuted his march to Arcot, the capital of the province, against the fort of which he opened his batteries on the fifth day of February. When he had carried on his approaches within sixty yards of the crest of the glacis, the garrison, consisting of two hundred and fifty Europeans, and near three hundred sepoys, surrendered as prisoners of war; and here the English commander found two-and-twenty pieces of cannon, four mortars, and a great quantity of all kinds of military stores. Thus the campaign was gloriously finished with the conquest of Arcot; after the French army had been routed and ruined by the diligence of colonel Coote, whose courage, conduct, and activity, cannot be sufficiently admired. The reader will perceive, that, rather than interrupt the thread of such an interesting narration, we have ventured to encroach upon the annals of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty.

STATE OF THE BELLIGERENT POWERS IN EUROPE.

Having thus followed the British banners through the glorious tracks they pursued in different parts of Asia and America, we must now convert our attention to the continent of Europe, where the English arms, in the course of this year, triumphed with equal lustre and advantage. But first it may be necessary to sketch out the situation in which the belligerent powers were found at the close of winter. The vicissitudes of fortune with which the preceding campaign had been chequered, were sufficient to convince every potentate concerned in the war, that neither side possessed such a superiority in strength or conduct as was requisite to impose terms upon the other. Battles had been fought with various success; and surprising efforts of military skill had been exhibited, without producing one event which tended to promote a general peace, or even engender the least desire of, accommodation. On the contrary, the first and most violent transports of animosity had by this time subsided into a confirmed habit of deliberate hatred; and every contending power seemed more than ever determined to protract the dispute; while the neutral states kept aloof, without expressing the least desire of interposing their mediation. Some of them were restrained by considerations of conveniency; and others waited in suspense for the death of the Spanish monarch, as an event which, they imagined, would be attended with very important consequences in the southern parts of Europe. With respect to the maintenance of the war, whatever difficulties might have arisen in settling funds to support the expense, and finding men to recruit the different armies, certain it is all these difficulties were surmounted before the opening of the campaign. The court of Vienna, though hampered by the narrowness of its finances, still found resources in the fertility of its provinces, in the number and attachment of its subjects, who more than any other people in Europe acquiesce in the dispositions of their sovereign; and, when pay cannot be afforded, willingly contribute free quarters for the subsistence of the army. The czarina, though she complained that the stipulated subsidies were ill paid, nevertheless persisted in pursuing those favourite aims which had for some time influenced her conduct; namely, her personal animosity to the king of Prussia, and her desire of obtaining a permanent interest in the German empire. Sweden still made a show of hostility against the Prussian monarch, but continued to slumber over the engagements she had contracted. France, exhausted in her finances, and abridged of her marine commerce, maintained a resolute countenance; supplied fresh armies for her operations in Westphalia; projected new schemes of conquest; and cajoled her allies with fair promises, when she had nothing more solid to bestow. The king of Prussia’s dominions were generally drained, or in the hands of the enemy; but to balance these disadvantages he kept possession of Saxony; and enjoyed his annual subsidy from Great Britain, which effectually enabled him to maintain his armies on a respectable footing, and open the campaign with equal eagerness and confidence.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

FRANCKFORT SEIZED BY THE FRENCH.

The Hanoverian army, commanded by prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, was strengthened by fresh reinforcements from England, augmented with German recruits, regularly paid, and well supplied with every comfort and convenience which foresight could suggest, or money procure; yet, in spite of all the precautions that could be taken, they were cut off from some resources which the French, in the beginning of the year, opened to themselves by a flagrant stroke of perfidy, which even the extreme necessities of a campaign can hardly excuse. On the second day of January, the French regiment of Nassau presented itself before the gates of Franckfort-on-the-Maine, a neutral imperial city; and, demanding a passage, it was introduced, and conducted by a detachment of the garrison through the city as far as the gate of Saxenhausen, where it unexpectedly halted, and immediately disarmed the guards. Before the inhabitants could recover from the consternation into which they were thrown by this outrageous insult, five other French regiments entered the place; and here their general, the prince de Soubise, established his head-quarters. How deeply soever this violation of the laws of the empire might be resented by all honest Germans, who retained affection for the constitution of their country, it was a step from which the French army derived a very manifest and important advantage; for it secured to them the course of the Maine and the Upper Rhine; by which they received, without difficulty or danger, every species of supply from Mentz, Spire, Worms, and even the country of Alsace, while it maintained their communication with the chain formed by the Austrian forces and the army of the empire.

PROGRESS OF THE HEREDITARY PRINCE OF BRUNSWICK.

The scheme of operation for the ensuing campaign was already formed between the king of Prussia and prince Ferdinand of Brunswick; and before the armies took the field, several skirmishes were fought and quarters surprised. In the latter end of February, the prince of Ysembourg detached major-general Urst with four battalions and a body of horse; who, assembling in Rhotenbourg, surprised the enemy’s quarters in the night between the first and second day of March, and drove them from Hirchfield, Vacha, and all the Hessian bailiwicks of which they had taken possession; but the Austrians soon returning in greater numbers, and being supported by a detachment of French troops from Franckfort, the allies fell back in their turn. In a few days, however, they themselves retreated again with great precipitation, though they did not all escape. The hereditary prince of Brunswick, with a body of Prussian hussars, fell upon them suddenly at Molrichstadt, where he routed and dispersed a regiment of Hohenzollern cuirassiers, and a battalion of the troops of Wurtzburg. He next day, which was the first of April, advanced with a body of horse and foot to Meinungen, where he found a considerable magazine, took two battalions prisoners, and surprised a third posted at Wafungen, after having defeated some Austrian troops that were on the march to its relief. While the hereditary prince was thus employed, the duke of Holstein, with another body of the confederates, dislodged the French from the post of Freyingstenau.

PRINCE FERDINAND ATTACKS THE FRENCH.

But the great object was to drive the enemy from Franckfort, before they should receive the expected reinforcements. Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick being determined upon this enterprise, assembled all his forces near Fulda, to the amount of forty thousand choice troops, and began his march on the tenth day of April. On the thirteenth he came in sight of the enemy, whom he found strongly encamped about the village of Bergen, between Franckfort and Hanau. Their general, the duke de Broglio, counted one of the best officers in France with respect to conduct and intrepidity, having received intelligence of the prince’s design, occupied this post on the twelfth; the right of his army being at Bergen, and his centre and flanks secured in such a manner, that the allies could not make their attack any other way but by the village. Notwithstanding the advantage of their situation, prince Ferdinand resolved to give them battle, and made his dispositions accordingly. About ten in the morning, the grenadiers of the advanced guard began the attack on the village of Bergen with great vivacity, and sustained a most terrible fire from eight German battalions, supported by several brigades of French infantry. The grenadiers of the allied army, though reinforced by several battalions under the command of the prince of Ysembourg, far from dislodging the enemy from the village, were, after a very obstinate dispute, obliged to retreat in some disorder, but rallied again behind a body of Hessian cavalry. The allies being repulsed in three different attacks, their general made a new disposition, and brought up his artillery, with which the village, and different parts of the French line, were severely cannonaded. They were not slow in retorting an equal fire, which continued till night, when the allies retreated to Windekin, with the loss of five pieces of cannon, and about two thousand men, including the prince of Ysembourg, who fell in the

## action. The French, by the nature of their situation, could not suffer

much; but they were so effectually amused by the artful disposition of prince Ferdinand, that instead of taking measures to harass him in his retreat, they carefully maintained their situation, apprehensive of another general attack. Indeed, they had great reason to be satisfied with the issue of this battle, without risking in any measure the advantage which they had gained. It was their business to remain quiet until their reinforcements should arrive, and this plan they invariably pursued. On the other hand, the allies, in consequence of their miscarriage, were reduced to the necessity of acting upon the defensive, and encountering a great number of difficulties and inconveniences during great part of the campaign, until the misconduct of the enemy turned the scale in their favour. In the meantime, the prince thought proper to begin his retreat in the night towards Fulda, in which his rear suffered considerably from a body of the enemy’s light troops under the command of M. de Blaisel, who surprised two squadrons of dragoons and a battalion of grenadiers. The first were taken or dispersed, the last escaped with the loss of their baggage. The allied army returned to their cantonments about Munster, and the prince began to make preparations for taking the field in earnest.

While the French enjoyed plenty in the neighbourhood of Dusseldorp and Creveldt, by means of the Rhine, the allies laboured under a dearth and scarcity of every species of provisions, because the country which they occupied was already exhausted, and all the supplies were brought from an immense distance. The single article of forage occasioned such an enormous expense, as alarmed the administration of Great Britain, who, in order to prevent mismanagement and fraud for the future, nominated a member of parliament inspector-general of the forage, and sent him over to Germany in the beginning of the year, with the rank and appointments of a general officer, that the importance of his character, and the nature of his office, might be a check upon those who were suspected of iniquitous appropriations. This gentleman is said to have met with such a cold reception, and so many mortifications in the execution of his office, that he was in a very little time sick of his employment. An inquiry into the causes of his reception, and of the practices which rendered it necessary to appoint such a superintendent, may be the province of some future historian, when truth may be investigated freely, without any apprehension of pains and penalties.

RETREAT OF PRINCE FERDINAND.

While great part of the allied army remained in cantonments about Munster, the French armies on the Upper and Lower Rhine, being put in motion, joined on the third day of June near Marburgh, under the command of the mareschal de Contades, who advanced to the northward, and fixed his head-quarters at Corbach, from whence he detached a body of light troops to take possession of Cassel, which, at his approach, was abandoned by general Imhoff. The French army being encamped at Stadtberg, the duke de Broglio, who commanded the right wing, advanced from Cassel into the territories of Hanover, where he occupied Gottin-gen without opposition; while the allied army assembled in the neighbourhood of Lipstadt, and encamped about Soest and Werle. Prince Ferdinand, finding himself inferior to the united forces of the enemy, was obliged to retire as they advanced, after having left strong garrisons in Lipstadt, Retberg, Munster, and Minden. These precautions, however, seemed to produce little effect in his favour. Retberg was surprised by the duke de Broglio, who likewise took Minden by assault, and made general Zastrow, with his garrison of fifteen hundred men, prisoners of war, a misfortune considerably aggravated by the loss of an immense magazine of hay and corn, which fell into the hands of the enemy. They likewise made themselves masters of Munster, invested Lipstadt, and all their operations were hitherto crowned with success. The regency of Hanover, alarmed at their progress, resolved to provide for the worst, by sending their chancery and most valuable effects to Stade, from whence, in case of necessity, they might be conveyed by sea to England.

In the meantime they exerted all their industry in pressing men for recruiting and reinforcing the army under prince Ferdinand, who still continued to retire; and on the eleventh day of July removed his headquarters from Osnabruck to Bompte, near the Weser. Here having received advice that Minden was taken by the French, he sent forward a detachment to secure the post of Soltznau on that river, where on the fifteenth he encamped.

ANIMOSITY BETWEEN PRINCE FERDINAND AND THE BRITISH COMMANDER.

The general of the allied army had for some time exhibited marks of animosity towards lord George Sackville, the second in command, whose extensive understanding, penetrating eye, and inquisitive spirit, could neither be deceived, dazzled, nor soothed into tame acquiescence. He had opposed, with all his influence, a design of retiring towards the frontiers of Brunswick in order to cover that country. He supported his opposition by alleging, that it was the enemy’s favourite object to cut off their communication with the Weser and the Elbe, in which, should they succeed, it would be found impossible to transport the British troops to their own country, which was at that time threatened with an invasion. He, therefore, insisted on the army’s retreating, so as to keep the communication open with Stade, where, in case of emergency, the English troops might be embarked. By adhering tenaciously to this opinion, and exhibiting other instances of a prying disposition, he had rendered himself so disagreeable to the commander-in-chief, that, in all appearance, nothing was so eagerly desired as an opportunity of removing him from the station he filled.

THE FRENCH ENCAMP AT MINDEN.

Meanwhile the French general advancing to Minden, encamped in a strong situation; having that town on his right, a steep hill on his left, a morass in front, and a rivulet in rear. The duke de Broglio commanded a separate body between Hansbergen and Minden, on the other side of the Weser; and a third, under the duke de Brissac, consisting of eight thousand men, occupied a strong post by the village of Coveldt, to facilitate the route of the convoy’s from Paderborn. Prince Ferdinand having moved his camp from Soltznau to Petershagen, detached the hereditary prince on the twenty-eighth day of July to Lubeck, from whence he drove the enemy, and proceeding to Rimsel, was joined by major-general Dreves, who had retaken Osnabruck, and cleared all that neighbourhood of the enemy’s parties: then he advanced towards Hervorden, and fixed his quarters at Kirchlinneger, to hamper the enemy’s convoys from Paderborn. During these transactions, prince Ferdinand marched with the allied army in three columns from Petershagen to Hille, where it encamped, having a morass on the right, the village of Fredewalde on the left, and in front those of Northemmern and Holtzenhausen. Fifteen battalions and nineteen squadrons, with a brigade of heavy artillery, were left under the command of general Wangenheim, on the left, behind the village of Dodenhausen, which was fortified with some redoubts, defended by two battalions. Colonel Luckner, with the Hanoverian hussars and a brigade of hunters, sustained by two battalions of grenadiers, was posted between Buckebourg and the Weser, to observe the body of troops commanded by the duke de Broglio on the other side of the river.

On the last day of July, the mareschal de Contades, resolving to attack the allied army, ordered the corps of Broglio to repass the river; and, advancing in eight columns, about midnight, passed the rivulet of Barta, that runs along the morass and falls into the Weser at Minden. At day-break he formed his army in order of battle: part of it fronting the corps of general Wangenheim at Dodenhausen, and part of it facing Hille; the two wings consisting of infantry, and the cavalry being stationed in the centre. At three in the morning the enemy began to cannonade the prince’s quarters at Hille, from a battery of six cannon, which they had raised in the preceding evening on the dike of Rickhorst. This was probably the first intimation he received of their intention. He forthwith caused two pieces of artillery to be conveyed to Hille; and ordered the officer of the piquet-guard posted there to defend himself to the last extremity; at the same time he sent orders to general Giesen, who occupied Lubeck, to attack the enemy’s post at Eickhorst; and this service was successfully performed. The prince of Anhalt, lieutenant-general for the day, took possession with the rest of the piquets of the village of Halen, where prince Ferdinand resolved to support his right. It was already in the hands of the enemy, but they soon abandoned it with precipitation. The allied army being put in motion, advanced in eight columns, and occupied the ground between Halen and Hemmern, while general Wangenheim’s corps filled up the space between this last village and Dodenhausen. The enemy made their principal effort on the left, intending to force the infantry of Wangenheim’s corps, and penetrate between it and the body of the allied army. For this purpose the duke de Broglio attacked them with great fury; but was severely checked by a battery of thirty cannon, prepared for his reception by the count de Buckebourg, grand master of the artillery, and served with admirable effect, under his own eye and direction. About five in the morning both armies cannonaded each other: at six the fire of musketry began with great vivacity; and the action became very hot towards the right, where six regiments of English infantry, and two battalions of Hanoverian guards, not only bore the whole brunt of the French carabineers and gendarmerie, but absolutely broke every body of horse and foot that advanced to attack them on the left and in the centre. The Hessian cavalry, with some regiments of Holstein, Prussian, and Hanoverian dragoons, posted on the left, performed good service. The cavalry on the right had no opportunity of engaging. They were destined to support the infantry of the third line: they consisted of the British and Hanoverian horse, commanded by lord George Sackville, whose second was the marquis of Granby. They were posted at a considerable distance from the first line of infantry, and divided from it by a scanty wood that bordered on a heath. Orders were sent, during the action, to bring them up; but whether these orders were contradictory, unintelligible, or imperfectly excited, they did not arrive in time to have any share in the action [521] _[See note 4 B, at the end of this Vol.]_; nor, indeed, were they originally intended for that purpose; nor was there the least occasion for their service; nor could they have come up in time and condition to perform effectual service, had the orders been explicit and consistent, and the commander acted with all possible expedition. Be that as it will, the enemy were repulsed in all their attacks with considerable loss; at length they gave way in every part, and, about noon, abandoning the field of battle, were pursued to the ramparts of Minden. In this action they lost a great number of men, with forty-three large cannon, and many colours and standards; whereas the loss of the allies was very inconsiderable, as it chiefly fell upon a few regiments of British infantry, commanded by the major-generals Waldegrave and Kingsley. To the extraordinary prowess of these gallant brigades, and the fire of the British artillery, which was admirably served by the captains Philips, Macbean, Drummond, and Foy, the victory was in a great measure ascribed. The same night the enemy passed the Weser and burnt the bridges over that river. Next day the garrison of Minden surrendered at discretion; and here the victors found a great number of French officers wounded.

DUKE DE BRISSAC ROUTED.

At last the mareschal de Contades seemed inclined to retreat through the defiles of Wittekendstein to Paderborn; but he was fain to change his resolution, in consequence of his having received advice, that on the very day of his own defeat the duke de Brissac was vanquished by the hereditary prince in the neighbourhood of Coveldt, so that the passage of the mountains was rendered impracticable. The duke de Brissac had been advantageously encamped, with his left to the village of Coveldt, having the Werra in his front, and his right extending to the salt-pits. In this advantageous situation he was attacked by the hereditary prince and general de Kilmanseg, with such vivacity and address that his troops were totally routed, with the loss of six cannon, and a considerable number of men killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. After the battle of Minden, colonel Freytag, at the head of the light troops, took, in the neighbourhood of Detmold, all the equipage of the mareschal de Contades, the prince of Condé, and the duke de Brissac, with part of their military chest and chancery, containing papers of the utmost consequence. [522] _[See note 4 C, at the end of this Vol.]_

GENEEAL IMHOFF TAKES MUNSTER.

Prince Ferdinand having garrisoned Minden, marched to Hervorden; and the hereditary prince passed the Weser at Hamelen, in order to pursue the enemy, who retreated to Cassel, and from thence by the way of Marburg as far as Giessen. In a word, they were continually harassed by that enterprising prince, who seized every opportunity of making an impression upon their army, took the greatest part of their baggage, and compelled them to abandon every place they possessed in Westphalia. The number of his prisoners amounted to fifteen hundred men, besides the garrison left at Cassel, which surrendered at discretion. He likewise surprised a whole battalion, and defeated a considerable detachment under the command of M. d’Armentieres. In the meantime, the allied army advanced in regular marches; and prince Ferdinand, having taken possession of Cassel, detached general Imhoff with a body of troops to reduce the city of Munster, which he accordingly began to bombard and cannonade; but d’Armentieres being joined by a fresh body of troops from the Lower Rhine, advanced to its relief, and compelled Imhoff to raise the siege. It was not long, however, before this general was also reinforced; then he measured back his march to Munster, and the French commander withdrew in his turn. The place was immediately shut up by a close blockade, which, however, did not prevent the introduction of supplies. The city of Munster being an object of importance, was disputed with great obstinacy. Armentieres received reinforcements, and the body commanded by Imhoff was occasionally augmented; But the siege was not formally undertaken till November, when some heavy artillery being brought from England, the place was regularly invested, and the operations carried on with such vigour, that in a few days the city surrendered on capitulation.

Prince Ferdinand having possessed himself of the town and castle of Marburg, proceeded with the army to Neidar-Weimar, and there encamped; while Contades remained at Giessen, on the south side of the river Lahn, where he was joined by a colleague in the person of the mareschal d’Etrées. By this time he was become very unpopular among the troops, on account of the defeat at Minden, which he is said to have charged on the misconduct of Broglio, who recriminated on him in his turn, and seemed to gain credit at the court of Versailles. While the two armies lay encamped in the neighbourhood of each other, nothing passed but skirmishes among the light troops, and little excursive expeditions. The French army was employed in removing their magazines, and fortifying Giessen, as if their intention was to retreat to Franckfort-on-the-Maine, after having consumed all the forage, and made a military desert between the Lahn and that river. In the beginning of November, the duke de Broglio returned from Paris, and assumed the command of the army, from whence Contades and d’Etrêes immediately retired, with several other general officers that were senior to the new commander.

The duke of Wirtemberg having taken possession of Fulda, the hereditary prince of Brunswick resolved to beat up his quarters. For this purpose he selected a body of troops, and began his march from Marburg early in the morning on the twenty-eighth day of November. Next night they lay at Augerbauch, where they defeated the volunteers of Nassau; and at one o’clock in the morning of the thirtieth they marched directly to Fulda: where the duke of Wirtemberg, far from expecting such a visit, had invited all the fashionable people in Fulda to a sumptuous entertainment. The hereditary prince having reconnoitred the avenues in person, took such measures, that the troops of Wirtemberg, who were scattered in small bodies, would have been cut off if they had not hastily retired into the town, where however they found no shelter. The prince forced open the gates, and they retreated to the other side of the town, where four battalions of them were defeated and taken; while the duke himself, with the rest of his forces, filed off on the other side of the Fulda. Two pieces of cannon, two pair of colours, and all their baggage, fell into the hands of the victors; and the hereditary prince advanced as far as Rupertenrade, a place situated on the right flank of the French army. Perhaps this motion hastened the resolution of the duke de Broglio to abandon Giessen, and fall back to Friedberg, where he established his head-quarters. The allied army immediately took possession of his camp at Kleinlinnes and Heuchelam, and seemed to make preparations for the siege of Giessen.

A BODY OF PRUSSIANS MAKE AN INCURSION INTO POLAND.

While both armies remained in this position, the duke de Broglio received the staff as mareschal of France, and made an attempt to beat up the quarters of the allies. Having called in all his detachments, he marched up to them on the twenty-fifth day of December; but found them so well disposed to give him a warm reception, that he thought proper to lay aside his design, and nothing but a mutual cannonade ensued; then he returned to his former quarters. From. Kleinlinnes the allied army removed to Corsdoff, where they were cantoned till the beginning of January, when they fell back as far as Marburg, where prince Ferdinand established his head-quarters. The enemy had by this time retrieved their superiority, in consequence of the hereditary prince being detached with fifteen thousand men to join the king of Prussia at Fribourge, in Saxony. Thus, by the victory at Minden, the dominions of Hanover and Brunswick were preserved, and the enemy obliged to evacuate that part of Westphalia. Perhaps they might have been driven to the other side of the Ehine, had not the general of the allies been obliged to weaken his army for the support of the Prussian monarch, who had met with divers disasters in the course of this campaign. It was not to any relaxation or abatement of his usual vigilance and activity, that this warlike prince owed the several checks he received. Even in the middle of winter, his troops under general Manteuffel acted with great spirit against the Swedes in Pomerania. They made themselves masters of Damgarten, and several other places which the Swedes had garrisoned; and the frost setting in, those who were quartered in the isle of Useclom passed over the ice to Wolgast, which they reduced without much difficulty. They undertook the sieges of Demmen and Anclam at the same time; and the garrisons of both surrendered themselves prisoners of war, to the number of two thousand seven hundred men, including officers. In Demmen they found four-and-twenty pieces of cannon, with a large quantity of ammunition. In Anclam there was a considerable magazine, with six-and-thirty cannon, mortars, and howitzers. A large detachment under general Knobloch surprised Erfurth, and raised considerable contributions at Gotha, Isenach, and Fulda; from whence also they conveyed all the forage and provisions to Saxe-Naumberg. In the latter end of February, the Prussian major-general Wobersnow marched with a strong body of troops from Glogau in Silesia, to Poland; and, advancing by way of Lissa, attacked the castle of the prince Sulkowski, a Polish grandee, who had been very active against the interest of the Prussian monarch. After some resistance he was obliged to surrender at discretion, and was sent prisoner with his whole garrison to Silesia. From hence Wobersnow proceeded to Posna, where he made himself master of a considerable magazine, guarded by two thousand cossacks, who retired at his approach; and having destroyed several others, returned to Silesia. In April, the fort of Penamunde, in Pomerania, was surrendered to Manteuffel; and about the same time a detachment of Prussian troops bombarded Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburgh. Meanwhile reinforcements were sent to the Russian army in Poland, which in April began to assemble upon the Vistula. The court of Petersburgh had likewise begun to equip a large fleet, by means of which the army might be supplied with military stores and provisions; but this armament was retarded by an accidental fire at Revel, which destroyed all the magazines and materials for ship-building to an immense value.

PRINCE HENRY PENETRATES into BOHEMIA.

About the latter end of March, the king of Prussia assembled his army at Rhonstock, near Strigau; and advancing to the neighbourhood of Landshut, encamped at Bolchenhayne. On the other hand, the Austrian army, under the command of mareschal Daun, was assembled at Munchengratz, in Bohemia; and the campaign was opened by an exploit of general Beck, who surprised and made prisoners a battalion of Prussian grenadiers, posted under colonel Duringsheven, at Griefenberg, on the frontiers of Silesia. This advantage, however, was more than counterbalanced by the

## activity and success of prince Henry, brother to the Prussian king, who

commanded the army which wintered in Saxony. About the middle of April, he marched in two columns towards Bohemia, forced the pass of Peterswalde, destroyed the Austrian magazine at Assig, burned their boats upon the Elbe, seized the forage and provisions which the enemy had left at Lowositz and Leutmeritz, and demolished a new bridge which they had built for their convenience. At the same time general Hulsen attacked the pass of Passberg, guarded by general Reynard, who was taken, with two thousand men, including fifty officers: then he advanced to Sate, in hopes of securing the Austrian magazines; but these the enemy consumed, that they might not fall into his hands, and retired towards Prague with the utmost precipitation.

Prince Henry having happily achieved these adventures, and filled all Bohemia with alarm and consternation, returned to Saxony, and distributed his troops in quarters of refreshment in the neighbourhood of Dresden. In a few days, however, they were again put in motion, and marched to Obelgeburgen; from whence he continued his route through Voightland, in order to attack the army of the empire in Franconia. He accordingly entered this country by the way of Hoff, on the seventh of May, and next day sent a detachment to attack general Macguire, who commanded a body of imperialists at Asch, and sustained the charge with great gallantry: but finding himself in danger of being overpowered by numbers, he retired in the night towards Egra. The army of the empire, commanded by the prince de Deux-Ponts, being unable to cope with the Prussian general in the field, retired from Cullembach to Bamberg, and from thence to Nuremberg, where, in all probability, they would not have been suffered to remain unmolested, had not prince Homy been recalled to Saxony. He had already taken Cronach and the castle of Rottenberg, and even advanced as far as Bamberg, when he received advice that a body of Austrians, under general Gemmingen, had penetrated into Saxony. This diversion effectually saved the army of the empire, as prince Henry immediately returned to the electorate, after having laid the bishopric of Bamberg and the marquisate of Cullembach under contribution, destroyed all the magazines provided for the imperial army, and sent fifteen hundred prisoners to Leipsic. A party of imperialists, under count Palfy, endeavoured to harass him in his retreat; but they were defeated near Hoff, with considerable slaughter: nevertheless, the imperial army, though now reduced to ten thousand men, returned to Bamberg; and as the Prussians approached the frontiers of Saxony, the Austrian general, Gemmingen, retired into Bohemia. During all these transactions, the mareschal count Daun remained with the grand Austrian army at Schurtz, in the circle of Koningsgratz; while the Prussians commanded by the king in person, continued quietly encamped between Landshut and Schweidnitz. General Fouquet commanded a large body of troops in the southern part of Silesia; but these being mostly withdrawn, in order to oppose the Russians, the Austrian general de Fille, who hovered on the frontiers of Moravia with a considerable detachment, took advantage of this circumstance; and advancing into Silesia, encamped within sight of Neiss. As mutual calumny and recriminations of all kinds were not spared on either side, during the progress of this war, the enemies of the Prussian monarch did not fail to charge him with cruelties committed at Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburgh, which his troops had bombarded, plundered of its archives, cannon, and all its youth fit to carry arms, who were pressed into his service: he besides taxed the duchy at seven thousand men and a million of crowns, by way of contribution. He was also accused of barbarity, in issuing an order for removing all the prisoners from Berlin to Spandau; but this step he justified in a letter to his ministers at foreign courts, declaring that he had provided for all the officers that were his prisoners the best accommodation, and permitted them to reside in his capital; that some of them had grossly abused the liberty they enjoyed, by maintaining illicit correspondence, and other practices equally offensive, which had obliged him to remove them to the town of Spandau: he desired, however, that the town might not be confounded with the fortress of that name, from which it was entirely separated, and in which they would enjoy the same ease they had found at Berlin, though under more vigilant inspection. His conduct on this occasion, he said, was sufficiently authorized, not only by the law of nations, but also by the example of his enemies; inasmuch as the empress-queen had never suffered any of his officers who had fallen into her hands to reside at Vienna; and the court of Russia had sent some of them as far as Casan. He concluded with saying, that, as his enemies had let slip no opportunities of blackening his most innocent proceedings, he had thought proper to acquaint his ministers with his reasons for making this alteration with regard to his prisoners, whether French, Austrians, or Russians.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

GENERAL WEDEL DEFEATED BY THE RUSSIANS.

In the beginning of June, the king of Prussia, understanding that the Russian army had begun their march from the Vistula, ordered the several bodies of his troops, under Hulsen and Wobersnow, reinforced by detachments from his other armies, to join the forces under count Dohna, as general in chief, and march into Poland. Accordingly, they advanced to Meritz, where the count having published a declaration [523] _[See note 4 D, at the end of this Vol.]_, he continued his march towards Posna, where he found the Russian army, under count Soltikoff, strongly encamped, having in their rear that city and the river Warta, and in their front a formidable intrenchment mounted with a great number of cannon.

Count Dohna, judging it impracticable to attack them in this situation with any prospect of success, endeavoured to intercept their convoys to the eastward; but for want of provisions, was in a little time obliged to return towards the Oder: then the Russians advanced to Zullichaw, in Silesia. The king of Prussia thinking count Dohna had been rather too cautious, considering the emergency of his affairs, gave him leave to retire for the benefit of his health, and conferred his command upon general Wedel, who resolved to give the Russians battle without delay. Thus determined, he marched against them in two columns, and on the twenty-third day of July attacked them at Kay, near Zullichaw, where, after a very obstinate engagement, he was repulsed with great loss, Wobersnow being killed and Manteuffel wounded in the action; and in a few days the Russians made themselves masters of Franckfort upon the Oder.

By this time the armies of count Daun and the king of Prussia had made several motions. The Austrians having quitted their camp at Schurtz, advanced towards Zittau in Lusatia, where having halted a few days, they resumed their march, and encamped at Gorlithayn, between Sudenberg and Mark-Dissau. His Prussian majesty, in order to observe their motions, marched by the way of Hertzberg to Lahn, and his vanguard skirmished with that of the Austrians, commanded by Laudohn, who entered Silesia by the way of Griffenberg. The Austrian general was obliged to retreat with loss; while the king penetrated into Silesia, that he might be at hand to act against the Russians, whose progress was now become the chief object of his apprehension. He no sooner received intimation that Wedel had been worsted, than he marched with a select body of ten thousand men from his camp in Silesia, in order to take upon him the command of Wedel’s army, leaving the rest of his forces strongly encamped, under the direction of his brother prince Henry, who had joined him before this event. Count Daun being apprized of the king’s intention, and knowing the Russians were very defective in cavalry, immediately detached a body of twelve thousand horse to join them, under the command of Laudohn, and these, penetrating in two columns through Silesia and Lusatia, with some loss, arrived in the Russian camp at a very critical juncture. Meanwhile the king of Prussia joined general Wedel on the fourth day of August, at Muhlrose, where he assumed the command of the army; but finding it greatly inferior to the enemy, he recalled general Finck, whom he had detached some time before, with a body of nine thousand men, to oppose the progress of the imperialists in Saxony; for when prince Henry joined his brother in Silesia, the army of the empire had entered that electorate. Thus reinforced, the number of the king’s army at Muhlrose did not exceed fifty thousand, whereas the Russians were more numerous by thirty thousand. They had chosen a strong camp at the village of Cunersdorf, almost opposite to Franckfort upon the Oder, and increased the natural strength of their situation, by intrenchments mounted with a numerous artillery. In other circumstances it might have been deemed a rash and ridiculous enterprise, to attack such an army under such complicated disadvantages; but here was no room for hesitation. The king’s affairs seemed to require a desperate effort, and perhaps he was partly impelled by self-confidence and animosity.

BATTLE OF CUNERSDORF.

Having determined to hazard an attack, he made his disposition, and on the twelfth day of August, at two in the morning, his troops were in motion. The army feeing formed in a wood, advanced towards the enemy, and about eleven the action was begun with a severe cannonade. This having produced the desired effect, he charged the left wing of the Russian army with his best troops formed in columns. After a very obstinate dispute, the enemy’s intrenchments were forced with great slaughter, and seventy pieces of cannon fell into the hands of the Prussians. A narrow defile was afterwards passed, and several redoubts that covered the village of Cunersdorf were taken by assault, one after another: one-half of the task was not yet performed; the Russians made a firm stand at the village, but they were overborne by the impetuosity of the Prussians, who drove them from post to post up to the last redoubts they had to defend. As the Russians kept their ground until they were hewn down in their ranks, this success was not acquired without infinite labour, and a considerable expense of blood. After a furious contest of six hours, fortune seemed to declare so much in favour of the Prussians, that the king despatched the following billet to the queen at Berlin:--“Madam, we have driven the Russians from their intrenchments. In two hours expect to hear of a glorious victory.” This intimation was premature, and subjected the writer to the ridicule of his enemies. The Russians were staggered, not routed. General Soltikoff rallied his troops, and reinforced his left wing under cover of a redoubt, which was erected on an eminence called the Jews’ Burying-ground, and here they stood in order of battle, with the most resolute countenance, favoured by the situation, which was naturally difficult of access, and now rendered almost impregnable by the fortification, and a numerous artillery, still greatly superior to that of the Prussians. Had the king contented himself with the advantage already gained, all the world would have acknowledged he had fought against terrible odds with astonishing prowess, and that he judiciously desisted when he could no longer persevere, without incurring the imputation of being actuated by frenzy or despair. His troops had not only suffered severely from the enemy’s fire, which was close, deliberate, and well directed; but they were fatigued by the hard service, and fainting with the heat of the day, which was excessive. His general officers are said to have reminded him of all these circumstances, and to have dissuaded him from hazarding an attempt attended with such danger and difficulty, as even an army of fresh troops could hardly hope to surmount. He rejected this salutary advice, and ordered his infantry to begin a new attack, which being an enterprise beyond their strength, they were repulsed with great slaughter. Being afterwards rallied, they returned to the charge; they miscarried again, and their loss was redoubled. Being thus rendered unfit for further service, the cavalry succeeded to the attack, and repeated their unsuccessful efforts, until they were almost broke, and entirely exhausted. At this critical juncture, the whole body of the Austrian and Russian cavalry, which had hitherto remained inactive, and were therefore fresh and in spirits, fell in among the Prussian horse with great fury, broke their line at the first charge, and forcing them back upon the infantry, threw them into such disorder as could not be repaired. The Prussian army being thus involved in confusion, was seized with a panic, and in a few minutes totally defeated and dispersed, notwithstanding the personal efforts of the king, who hazarded his life in the hottest parts of the battle, led on his troops three times to the charge, had two horses killed under him, and his clothes in several parts penetrated with musket-balls. His army being routed, and the greater part of his generals either killed or disabled by wounds, nothing but the approach of night could have saved him from total ruin. When he abandoned the field of battle, he despatched another billet to the queen, couched in these terms: “Remove from Berlin with the royal family. Let the archives be carried to Potsdam. The town may make conditions with the enemy.” The horror and confusion which this intimation produced at Berlin may be easily conceived: horror the more aggravated, as it seized them in the midst of their rejoicings occasioned by the first despatch; and this was still more dreadfully augmented, by a subsequent indistinct relation, importing that the army was totally routed, the king missing, and the enemy in full march to Berlin. The battle of Cunersdorf was by far the most bloody action which happened since the commencement of hostilities. The carnage was truly horrible: above twenty thousand Prussians lay dead on the field; and among these general Putkammer. The generals Seydlitz, Itzenplitz, Hulsen, Finck, and Wedel, the prince of Wirtemberg, and five major-generals, were wounded. The loss of the enemy amounted to ten thousand. It must be owned, that if the king was prodigal of his own person, he was likewise very free with the lives of his subjects. At no time, since the days of ignorance and barbarity, were the lives of men squandered away with such profusion as in the course of this German war. They were not only unnecessarily sacrificed in various exploits of no consequence, but lavishly exposed to all the rigour and distemper of winter campaigns, which were introduced on the continent, in despite of nature, and in contempt of humanity. Such are the improvements of warriors without feeling! such the refinements of German discipline! On the day that succeeded the defeat at Cunersdorf, the king of Prussia, having lost the best part of his army, together with his whole train of artillery, repassed the Oder, and encamped at Retwin, from whence he advanced to Fustenwalde, and saw with astonishment the forbearance of the enemy. Instead of taking possession of Berlin, and overwhelming the wreck of the king’s troops, destitute of cannon, and cut off from all communication with prince Henry, they took no step to improve the victory they had gained. Laudohn retired with his horse immediately after the battle; and count Soltikoff marched with part of the Russians into Lusatia, where he joined Daun, and held consultations with that general. Perhaps the safety of the Prussian monarch was owing to the jealousy subsisting among his enemies. In all probability, the court of Vienna would have been chagrined to see the Russians in possession of Brandenburgh, and therefore thwarted their designs upon that electorate. The king of Prussia had now reason to be convinced, that his situation could not justify such a desperate attack as that in which he had miscarried at Cunersdorf; for if the Russians did not attempt the reduction of his capital, now that he was totally defeated, and the flower of his army cut off, they certainly would not have aspired at that conquest while he lay encamped in the neighbourhood with fifty thousand veterans, inured to war, accustomed to conquer, confident of success, and well supplied with provisions, ammunition, and artillery. As the victors allowed him time to breathe, he improved this interval with equal spirit and sagacity. He re-assembled and refreshed his broken troops: he furnished his camp with cannon from the arsenal at Berlin, which likewise supplied him with a considerable number of recruits; he recalled general Kleist, with five thousand men, from Pome-rania, and in a little time retrieved his former importance.

ADVANTAGES GAINED BY THE PRUSSIANS IN SAXONY.

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

GENERAL FINCK SURROUNDED AND TAKEN.

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

DISASTER OF THE PRUSSIAN GENERAL DIERCKE.

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

CONCLUSION OF THE CAMPAIGN.

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

ARRET OF THE EVANGELICAL BODY AT RATISBON.

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

FRENCH MINISTRY STOP PAYMENT.

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

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

THE STATES-GENERAL SEND OVER DEPUTIES TO ENGLAND.

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

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

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

## partiality in favour of the enemies of Great Britain.

MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO THE STATES BY MAJOR-GENERAL YORKE.

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

A COUNTER-MEMORIAL PRESENTED BY THE FRENCH MINISTER.

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

DEATH OF THE KING OF SPAIN.

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

DON CARLOS SUCCEEDS TO THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN.

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

DETECTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CONSPIRATORS AT LISBON.

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

SESSION OPENED IN ENGLAND.

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

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

SUBSTANCE OF THE ADDRESSES.

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

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

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

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

PETITIONS RESPECTING THE PROHIBITION OF THE MALT DISTILLERY.

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

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

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

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

ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH A MILITIA IN SCOTLAND.

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

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

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

BILL FOR REMOVING THE POWDER MAGAZINE AT GREENWICH.

In the latter end of November, the house of commons received a petition from several noblemen, gentlemen, and others, inhabitants of East Greenwich, and places adjacent, in Kent, representing, that in the said parish, within a quarter of a mile of the town distinguished by a royal palace, and royal hospital for seamen, there was a magazine, containing great quantities of gunpowder, frequently to the amount of six thousand barrels: that besides the great danger which must attend all places of that kind, the said magazine stood in an open field uninclosed by any fortification or defence whatsoever, consequently exposed to treachery and every other accident. They alleged, that if through treachery, lightning, or any other accident, this magazine should take fire, not only their lives and properties, but the palace and hospital, the king’s yards and stores at Deptford and Woolwich, the banks and navigation of the Thames, with the ships sailing and at anchor in that river, would be inevitably destroyed, and inconceivable damage would accrue to the cities of London and Westminster. They, moreover, observed, that the magazine was then in a dangerous condition, supported on all sides by props that were decayed at the foundation; that in case it should fall, the powder would, in all probability, take fire, and produce the dreadful calamities above recited: they therefore prayed that the magazine might be removed to some more convenient place, where any accident would not be attended with such dismal consequences. The subject of this remonstrance was so pressing and important, that a committee was immediately appointed to take the affair into consideration, and procure an estimate for purchasing lands, and erecting a powder magazine at Purfleet, in Essex, near the banks of the river, together with a guard-house, barracks, and all other necessary conveniences. While the report of the committee lay upon the table for the perusal of the members, Mr. chancellor of the exchequer, by his majesty’s command, acquainted the house, that the king, having been informed of the subject matter of the petition, recommended it to the consideration of the commons. Leave was immediately given to prepare a bill, founded on the resolutions of the committee; which having been duly considered, altered, and amended, passed through both houses to the foot of the throne, where it obtained the royal sanction. The magazine was accordingly removed to Purfleet, an inconsiderable and solitary village, where there will be little danger of accident, and where no great damage would attend an explosion; but in order to render this possible explosion still less dangerous, it would be necessary to form the magazine of small distinct apartments, totally independent of each other, that in case one should be accidentally blown up, the rest might stand unaffected. The same plan ought to be adopted in the construction of all combustible stores subject to conflagration. The marine bill and mutiny bill, as annual regulations, were prepared in the usual form, passed both houses without opposition, and received the royal assent.

ACT FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE STREETS OF LONDON.

The next affair that engrossed the deliberation of the commons, was a measure relating to the internal economy of the metropolis. The sheriffs of London delivered a petition from the lord mayor, aldermen, and commons, in common council assembled, representing that several streets, lanes, and passages within the city of London, and liberties thereof, were too narrow and incommodious for the passing and repassing as well of foot passengers as of coaches, carts, and other carriages, to the prejudice and inconvenience of the owners and inhabitants of houses, and to the great hinderance of business, trade, and commerce. They alleged that these defects might be remedied, and several new streets opened within the said city and liberties, to the great ease, safety, and convenience of passengers, as well as to the advantage of the public in general, if they, the petitioners, were enabled to widen and enlarge the narrow streets, lanes, and passages, to open and lay out such new streets and ways, and to purchase the several houses, buildings, and grounds which might be necessary for these purposes. They took notice that there were several houses within the city and liberties, partly erected over the ground of other proprietors; and others, of which the several floors or apartments belonged to different persons, so that difficulties and disputes frequently arose amongst the said several owners and proprietors, about pulling down or rebuilding the party walls and premises; that such rebuilding was often prevented or delayed, to the great injury and inconvenience of those owners who were desirous to rebuild; that it would therefore be of public benefit, and frequently prevent the spreading of the fatal effects of fire, if some provision were made by law, as well for determining such disputes in a summary way, as for explaining and amending the laws then in being relating to the building of party-walls. They therefore prayed that leave might be given to bring in a bill for enabling the petitioners to widen and enlarge the several streets, lanes, and passages, and to open new streets and ways to be therein limited and prescribed, as well as for determining, in a summary way, all disputes arising about the rebuilding of houses or tenements within the said city and liberties, wherein several persons have an intermixed property; and for explaining and amending the laws in being, relating to these particulars. A committee being appointed to examine the matter of this petition, agreed to a report, upon which leave was given to prepare a bill, and this was brought in accordingly. Next day a great number of citizens represented, in another petition, that the pavement of the city and liberties was often damaged, by being broken up for the purposes of amending or new-laying water-pipes belonging to the proprietors of water-works, and praying that provision might be made in the bill then depending, to compel those proprietors to make good any damage that should be done to the pavement by the leaking or bursting of the water-pipes, or opening the pavement for alterations. In consequence of this representation, some amendments were made in the bill, which passed through both houses, and was enacted into a law, under the title of “An act for widening certain streets, lanes, and passages, within the city of London and liberties thereof, and for opening certain new streets and ways within the same, and for other purposes therein mentioned.” [536] _[See note 4 H, at the end of this Vol.]_

BILL RELATIVE TO THE SALE OF FISH, &c.

The inhabitants of Westminster had long laboured under the want of a fish-market, and complained that the price of this species of provision was kept up at an exorbitant rate by the fraudulent combination of a few dealers, who engrossed the whole market at Billingsgate, and destroyed great quantities of fish, in order to enhance the value of those that remained. An act of parliament had passed, in the twenty-second year of his present majesty’s reign, for establishing a free market for the sale of fish in Westminster; and, seven years after that period, it was found necessary to procure a second, for explaining and amending the first. but neither effectually answered the purposes of the legislature. In the month of January, of the present session, the house took into consideration a petition of the several fishermen trading to Billingsgate market, representing the hardships to which they were exposed by the said acts; particularly forfeitures of vessels and cargoes, incurred by the negligence of servants who had omitted to make the particular entries which the two acts prescribed. This petition being examined by a committee, and the report being made, leave was given to bring in a new bill, which should contain effectual provision for the better supplying the cities of London and Westminster with fish, and for preventing the abuses of the fishmongers. It was intituled, “A bill to repeal so much of an act passed in the twenty-ninth of George II. concerning a free market for fish at Westminster, as requires fishermen to enter their fishing vessels at the office of the searcher of the customs at Gravesend, and to regulate the sale of fish at the first hand in the fish-markets of London and Westminster; and to prevent salesmen of fish buying fish to sell again on their own account; and to allow bret and turbot, brill and pearl, although under the respective dimensions mentioned in a former act, to be imported and sold; and to punish persons who shall take or sell any spawn, brood, or fry of fish, unsizeable fish, or fish out of season, or smelts under the size of five inches, and for other purposes.” Though this, and the former bill relating to the streets and houses of London, are instances that evince the care and attention of the legislature, even to minute particulars of the internal economy of the kingdom, we can hardly consider them as objects of such dignity and importance as to demand the deliberations of the parliament, but think they naturally fall within the cognizance of the municipal magistracy. After all, perhaps, the most effectual method for supplying Westminster with plenty of fish at reasonable rates, would be to execute with rigour the laws already enacted against forestalling and regrating, an expedient that would soon dissolve all monopolies and combinations among the traders; to increase the number of markets in London and Westminster, and to establish two general markets at the Nore, one on each side of the river, where the fishing vessels might unload their cargoes, and return to sea without delay. A number of light boats might be employed to convey fresh fish from these marts to London and Westminster, where all the different fish-markets might be plentifully supplied at a reasonable expense; for it cannot be supposed that, while the fresh fish are brought up the river in the fishing smacks themselves, which can hardly save the tides, to Billingsgate, they will ever dream of carrying their cargoes above bridge, or that the price of fish can be considerably lowered, while the fishing vessels lose so much time in running up to Gravesend or Billingsgate.

ACT FOR ASCERTAINING the QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

The annual committee being appointed to inquire what laws were expired or near expiring, agreed to certain resolutions; upon which a bill was prepared, and obtained the royal assent, importing a continuation of several laws, namely, the several clauses mentioned of the acts in the fifth and eighth of George I. against the clandestine running of uncustomed goods, except the clauses relating to quarantine; the act passed in the third of George II. relating to the carrying rice from Carolina; the act of the seventh of the same reign, re-fating to cochineal and indigo; and that of the twelfth of George II. so far as it related to the importation of printed books. There was also a law enacted, to continue to the twenty-ninth day of September in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, an act passed in the twelfth year of queen Anne, for encouraging the making of sail-cloth, by a duty of one penny per ell laid upon all foreign-made sails and sail-cloth imported; and a bounty in the same proportion granted upon all home-made sail-cloth and canvass fit for or made into sails, and exported; another act was passed, for continuing certain laws relating to the additional number of one hundred hackney coaches and chairs, which law was rendered perpetual. The next law we shall mention was intended to be one of the most important that ever fell under the cognizance of the legislature: it was a law that affected the freedom, dignity, and independency of parliaments. By an act, passed in the ninth year of the reign of queen Anne, it was provided that no person should be chosen a member of parliament who did not possess in England or Wales an estate, freehold or copyhold, for life, according to the following qualifications: for every knight of a shire six hundred pounds per annum, over and above what will satisfy all incumbrances; and three hundred pounds per annum, for every citizen, burgess, and baron of the cinque ports. It was also decreed, that the return of any person not thus qualified should be void; and that every candidate should, at the reasonable request of any other candidate at the time of election, or of two or more persons who had a right to vote, take an oath prescribed to establish his qualifications. This restraint was by no means effectual. So many oaths of different kinds had been prescribed since the revolution, that they began to lose the effect they were intended to have on the minds of men; and, in particular, political perjury grew so common, that it was no longer considered as a crime. Subterfuges were discovered, by means of which this law relating to the qualification of candidates was effectually eluded. Those who were not actually possessed of such estates, procured temporary conveyances from their friends and patrons, on condition of their being restored and cancelled after the election. By this scandalous fraud the intention of the legislature was frustrated, the dignity of parliament prostituted, the example of perjury and corruption extended, and the vengeance of heaven set at defiance. Through this infamous channel the ministry had it in their power to thrust into parliament a set of venal beggars, who, as they depended upon their bounty, would always be obsequious to their will, and vote according to direction, without the least regard to the dictates of conscience, or to the advantage of their country. The mischiefs attending such a vile collusion, and in particular the undue influence which the crown must have acquired from the practice, were either felt or apprehended by some honest patriots, who after divers unsuccessful efforts, at length presented to the house a bill, importing that every person who shall be elected a member of the house of commons, should, before he presumed to take his seat, deliver to the clerk of the house, at the table, while the commons were sitting, and the speaker in the chair, a paper, or schedule, signed by himself, containing a rental or particular of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, whereby he makes out his qualification, specifying the nature of his estate, whether messuage, land, rent, tithe, or what else; and if such estate consists of messuages, lands, or tithes, then specifying in whose occupation they are; and if in rent, then specifying the names of the owners or possessors of the lands and tenements out of which such rent is issuing, and also specifying the parish, township, or precinct and county, in which the said estate lies, and the value thereof; and every such person shall, at the same time, also take and subscribe the following oath, to be fairly written at the bottom of the paper or schedule: “I, A. B. do swear that the above is a true rental; and that I truly, and _bona fide_, have such an estate in law or equity, to and for my own use and benefit, of and in the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, above described, over and above what will satisfy and clear all incumbrances that may affect the same; and that such estate hath not been granted or made over to me fraudulently, on purpose to qualify me to be a member of this house. So help me God!” It was provided that the said paper or schedule, with the oath aforesaid, should be carefully kept by the clerk, to be inspected by the members of the house of commons, without fee or reward: that if any person elected to serve in any future parliament, should presume to sit or vote as a member of the house of commons before he had delivered in such a paper or schedule, and taken the oath aforesaid, or should not be qualified according to the true intent or meaning of this act, his election should be void; and every person so sitting and voting should forfeit a certain sum to be recovered, by such persons as should sue for the same by

## action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, whereon no essoign,

privilege, protection, or wager of law should be allowed, and only one imparlance: that if any person should have delivered in, and sworn to his qualification as aforesaid, and taken his seat in the house of commons, yet at any time after should, during the continuance of such parliament, sell, dispose of, alien, or any otherwise incumber the estate, or any part thereof comprised in the schedule, so as to lessen or reduce the same under the value of the qualification by law directed, every such person, under a certain penalty, must deliver in a new or further qualification, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, and swear to the same, in manner before directed, before he shall again presume to sit or vote as a member of the house of commons; that in case any action, suit, or information should be brought, in pursuance of this act, against any member of the house of commons, the clerk of the house, shall, upon demand, forthwith deliver a true and attested copy of the paper or schedule so delivered in to him as aforesaid by such member to the plaintiff or prosecutor, or his attorney or agent, on paying a certain sum for the same; which, being proved a true copy, shall be admitted to be given in evidence upon the trial of any issue in any such action. Provided always, that nothing contained in this act shall extend to the eldest son or heir apparent of any peer or lord of parliament, or of any person qualified to serve as knight of the shire, or to the members for either of the universities in that part of Great Britain called England, or to the members of that part of Great Britain called Scotland. Such was the substance of the bill, as originally presented to the house of commons; but it was altered in such a manner as we are afraid will fail in answering the salutary purposes for which it was intended by those who brought it into the house. Notwithstanding the provisions made in the act as it now stands, any minister or patron may still introduce his pensioners, clerks, and creatures into the house, by means of the old method of temporary conveyance, though the farce must now be kept up till the member shall have delivered in his schedule, taken his oath, and his seat in parliament; then he may deliver up the conveyance, or execute a re-conveyance, without running any risk of losing his seat, or of being punished for his fraud and perjury. The extensive influence of the crown, the general corruptibility of individuals, and the obstacles so industriously thrown in the way of every scheme contrived to vindicate the independency of parliaments, must have produced very mortifying reflections in the breast of every Briton warmed with the genuine love of his country. He must have perceived that all the bulwarks of the constitution were little better than buttresses of ice, which would infallibly thaw before the heat of ministerial influence, when artfully concentrated; that either a minister’s professions of patriotism were insincere; or his credit insufficient to effect any essential alteration in the unpopular measures of government; and that, after all, the liberties of the nation could never be so firmly established, as by the power, generosity, and virtue of a patriot king. This inference could not fail to awake the remembrance of that amiable prince, whom fate untimely snatched from the eager hopes and warm affection of a whole nation, before, he had it in his power to manifest and establish his favourite maxim, “That a monarch’s glory was inseparably connected with the happiness of his people.” [538] _[See note 4 I, at the end of this Vol.]_

{1760}

ACT FOR CONSOLIDATING ANNUITIES GRANTED IN 1759.

On the first day of February, a motion was made, and leave given, to bring in a bill for enabling his majesty to make leases and copies of offices, lands, and hereditaments, parcel of his duchy of Cornwall, or annexed to the same; accordingly it passed through both houses without opposition; and enacted that all leases and grants made, or to be made, by his majesty, within seven years next ensuing, in or annexed to the said duchy, under the limitations therein mentioned, should be good and effectual in law against his majesty, his heirs, and successors, and against all other persons that should hereafter inherit the said duchy, either by an act of parliament, or any limitation whatsoever. This act appears the more extraordinary as the prince of Wales, who has a sort of right by prescription to the duchy of Cornwall, was then of age, and might have been put in possession of it by the passing of a patent. The house having perused an account of the produce of the fund established for paying annuities granted in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, with the charge on that fund on the fifth day of January in the succeeding year, it appeared that there had been a considerable deficiency in the said fund on the fifth day of July preceding, and this had been made good out of the sinking fund, by a resolution of the seventh of February, already particularized. They therefore instructed the committee of ways and means to consider so much of the annuity and lottery act passed in the preceding session as related to the three per centum annuities, amounting to the sum of seven millions five hundred and ninety thousand pounds, granted in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine; and also to consider so much of the said act as related to the subsidy of poundage upon certain goods and merchandise to be imported into this kingdom, and the additional inland duty on coffee and chocolate. The committee having taken these points into deliberation, agreed to the two resolutions we have already mentioned with respect to the consolidation; and a bill was brought in for adding those annuities granted in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, to the joint stock of throe per centum annuities consolidated by the acts of the twenty-fifth, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirty-second years of his majesty’s reign, and for several duties therein mentioned, to the sinking fund. The committee was afterwards empowered to receive a clause for cancelling such lottery tickets as were made forth in pursuance of an act passed in the thirtieth year of his majesty’s reign, and were not then disposed of: a clause for this purpose was accordingly added to the bill, which passed through both houses without opposition, and received the royal assent at the end of the session.

BILL FOR SECURING MONIES FOR THE USE OF GREENWICH HOSPITAL.

On the twenty-ninth day of April, lord North presented to the house a bill for encouraging the exportation of rum and spirits of the growth, produce, and manufacture of the British sugar-plantations, from Great Britain, and of British spirits made from molasses; a bill which in a little time acquired the sanction of the royal assent. Towards the end of April, admiral Town-shend presented a bill for the more effectual securing the payment of such prize and bounty-monies as were appropriated to the use of Greenwich hospital, by an act passed in the twenty-ninth year of his majesty’s reign. As by that law no time was limited, or particular method prescribed, for giving notifications of the day appointed for the payment of the shares of the prizes and bounty-money; and many agents had neglected to specify, in the notification given in the London Gazette for payment of shares of prizes condemned in the courts of admiralty in Groat Britain, the particular day or time when such payments were to commence, whereby it was rendered difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the time when the hospital at Greenwich became entitled to the unclaimed shares, of consequence could not enjoy the full benefit of the act; the bill now prepared imported, that, from and after the first day of September in the present year, all notifications of the payment of the shares of prizes taken by any of his majesty’s ships of war, and condemned in Great Britain, and from and after the first day of February, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one, all notifications of the payment of the shares and prizes taken and condemned in any other of his majesty’s dominions in Europe, or in any of the British plantations in America; and from and after the twenty-fifth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one, all notifications of the payment of the shares of prizes taken and condemned in any other of his majesty’s dominions, shall be respectively given and published in the following manner:--If the prize be condemned in any court of admiralty in Great Britain, such notification, under the agent’s hand, shall be published in the London Gazette; and if condemned in any court of admiralty in any other of his majesty’s dominions, such notification shall be published in like manner in the Gazette, or other newspaper of public authority, of the island or place where the prize is condemned; and if there shall be no Gazette, or such newspaper, published there, then in some or one of the public newspapers of the place; and such agents shall deliver to the collector, customer, or searcher, or his lawful deputy; and if there shall be no such officer, then to the principal officer or officers of the place where the prize is condemned, or to the lawful deputy of such principal officers, two of the Gazettes or other newspapers in which such notifications are inserted; and if there shall not be any public newspapers in any such island or place, the agent shall give two such notifications in writing, under his hand; and every such collector, or other officer as aforesaid, shall subscribe his name on both the said Gazettes, newspapers, or written notifications; and, by the first ship which shall sail from thence to any port of Great Britain, shall transmit to the treasurer or deputy-treasurers of the said royal hospital one of the said notifications, with his name so subscribed, to be there registered; and shall faithfully preserve and keep the other, with his name thereon subscribed, in his own custody; and in every notification as aforesaid the agent shall specify his place of abode, and the precise day of the month and year appointed for the payment of the respective shares to the captors; and all notifications with respect to prizes condemned in Great Britain, shall be published in the London Gazette three days at least before any share of such prize shall be paid; and with respect to prizes condemned in any other part of his majesty’s dominions, such notifications shall be delivered to the said collector, or other officers as aforesaid, three days at least before any share of such prizes shall be paid. It was likewise enacted, that the agents for the distribution of bounty-bills should insert, and publish under their hands, in the London Gazette, three days at least before payment, public notifications of the day and year appointed for such payment, and also insert therein their respective places of abode. The bill, even as it now stands, is liable to several objections. It may be dangerous to leave the money of the unclaimed shares so long as three years in the hands of the agent, who, together with his securities, may prove insolvent before the expiration of that term: then the time prescribed to the sailors, within which their claim is limited, appears to be too short, when we consider that they may be so circumstanced, turned over to another ship, and conveyed to a distant part of the globe, that they shall have no opportunity to claim payment; and should three years elapse before they could make application to the agent, they would find their bounty or prize money appropriated to the use of Greenwich hospital; nay, should they die in the course of the voyage, it would be lost to their heirs and executors, who, being ignorant of their title, could not possibly claim within the time limited.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

## ACT IN FAVOUR OF GEOEGE KEITH, &c.

A committee having been appointed to inquire into the original standards of weights and measures in the kingdom of England, to consider the laws relating thereto, and to report their observations thereupon, together with their opinion of the most effectual means for ascertaining and enforcing uniform and certain standards of weights and measures, they prepared copies, models, patterns, and multiples, and presented them to the house; then they were locked up by the clerk of the house; and lord Garysfort presented a bill, according to order, for enforcing uniformity of weights and measures to the standards by law to be established; but this measure, which had been so long in dependence, was not yet fully discussed, and the standards and weights were reserved to another occasion. A law was made for reviving and continuing so much of the act passed in the twenty-first year of his majesty’s reign as relates to the more effectual trial and punishment of high-treason in the highlands of Scotland; and also for continuing two other acts passed in the nineteenth and twenty-first years of his majesty’s reign, so far as they relate to the more effectual disarming the highlands of Scotland, and securing the peace thereof; and to allow further time for making affidavits of the execution of articles or contracts of clerks to attorneys or solicitors, and filing thereof. The king having been pleased to pardon George Keith, earl-marshal of Scotland, who had been attainted for rebellion in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixteen, the parliament confirmed this indulgence, by passing an act to enable the said George Keith, late earl-marshal, to sue or entertain any action or suit, notwithstanding his attainder, and to remove any disability in him, by reason of the said attainder, to take or inherit any real or personal estate that might or should hereafter descend or come to him, or which he was entitled to in reversion or remainder before his attainder. This nobleman, universally respected for his probity and understanding, had been employed as ambassador to the court of France by the king of Prussia, and was actually at this juncture in the service of that monarch, who in all probability interceded with the king of England in his behalf. When his pardon had passed the seals, he repaired to London, and was presented to his majesty, by whom he was very graciously received.

SESSION CLOSED.

These, and a good number of other bills of less importance, both private and public, were passed into laws by commission, on the twenty-second day of May, when the lord-keeper of the great seal closed the session with a speech to both houses. He began with an assurance that his majesty looked back on their proceedings with entire satisfaction. He said, the duty and affection which they had expressed for the king’s person and government, the zeal and unanimity they had showed in maintaining the true interest of their country, could only be equalled by what his majesty had formerly experienced from his parliament. He told them it would have given his majesty the most sensible pleasure, had he been able to assure them that his endeavours to promote a general peace had met with more suitable returns. He observed that his majesty, in conjunction with his good brother and ally the king of Prussia, had chosen to give their enemies proofs of this equitable disposition, in the midst of a series of glorious victories; an opportunity the most proper to take such a step with dignity, and to manifest to all Europe the purity and moderation of his views. After such a conduct, he said, the king had the comfort to reflect that the further continuance of the calamities of war could not be imputed to him or his allies; that he trusted in the blessing of heaven upon the justice of his arms, and upon those ample means which the zeal of the parliament in so good a cause had wisely put into his hands; that his future successes in carrying on the war would not fall short of the past; and that, in the event, the public tranquillity would be restored on solid and durable foundations. He acquainted them that his majesty had taken the most effectual care to augment the combined army in Germany; and at the same time to keep up such a force at home as might frustrate any attempts of the enemy to invade these kingdoms; such attempts as had hitherto ended only in their own confusion. He took notice that the royal navy was never in a more flourishing and respectable condition; and the signal victory obtained last winter over the French fleet on their own coast, had given lustre to his majesty’s arms, fresh spirit to his maritime forces, and reduced the naval strength of France to a very low ebb. He gave them to understand that his majesty had disposed his squadrons in such a manner as might best conduce to the annoyance of his enemies; to the defence of his own dominions, both in Europe and America; to the preserving and pursuing his conquests, as well as to the protection of the trade of his subjects, which he had extremely at heart. He told the commons, that nothing could relieve his majesty’s royal mind, under the anxiety he felt for the burdens of his faithful subjects, but the public-spirited cheerfulness with which their house had granted him such large supplies, and his conviction that they were necessary for the security and essential interest of his kingdoms; he therefore returned them his hearty thanks for these supplies, and assured them they should be duly applied to the purposes for which they had been given. Finally, he recommended to both houses the continuance of that union and good harmony which he had observed with so much pleasure, and from which he had derived such important effects. He desired they would study to promote these desirable objects, to support the king’s government, and the good order of their respective counties, and consult their own real happiness and prosperity.

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