1762
was ushered in by the hoarse clarion of war. England declared against
Spain, while France and Spain became opposed to Portugal, on account of
her alliance with Great Britain. These hostilities, however, were not of
long duration; for preliminaries of peace were signed, before the
conclusion of the year, by the English and French plenipotentiaries at
Fontainbleau.
By this treaty, the original cause of the war was removed by the cession
of Canada to England. This advantage, if _advantage_ it may be called,
cost this country _eighteen millions of money_, besides the loss of
_three hundred thousand men_! Every friend of humanity must shudder at
so wanton a sacrifice of life, and so prodigious an expenditure of the
public money! But this was only the commencement of the reign of
imbecility and Germanism.
On the 12th of August, her majesty was safely delivered of a prince.
Court etiquette requires _numerous witnesses_ of the birth of an
heir-apparent to the British throne. On this occasion, however, her
majesty's _extraordinary delicacy_ dispensed with a strict adherence to
the forms of state; for only the Archbishop of Canterbury was allowed to
be in the room. But there were _more powerful_ reasons than _delicacy_
for this unusual privacy, which will hereafter appear.
On the 18th of September following, the ceremony of christening the
royal infant was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the great
council-chamber of his majesty's palace, and the young prince was named
George, Augustus, Frederick.
In this year, the city of Havannah surrendered to the English, whose
troops were commanded by Lord Albermarle and Admiral Pococke. Nine sail
of the line and four frigates were taken in the harbour; three of the
line had been previously sunk by the enemy, and two were destroyed on
the stocks. The plunder in money and merchandize was supposed to have
amounted to _three millions sterling_, while the sum raised by the
land-tax, at four shillings in the pound, from 1756 to 1760 inclusive,
also produced _ten millions of money_! But to what purpose this amount
was devoted remained a profound secret to those from whom it was
extorted.
In the November of this year, the famous Peter Annet was sentenced by
the Court of King's Bench to be imprisoned one month, to stand twice in
the pillory within that time, and afterwards to be kept to hard labour
in Bridewell for a year. The reader may feel surprised when informed
that all the enormity this man had been guilty of consisted in nothing
more than writing the _truth_ of the government, which was published in
his "Free Inquirer." The unmerited punishment, however, had only this
effect: it made him glory in suffering for the cause of liberty and
truth.
1763
was a continuation of the misrule which characterized the preceding
year.
In May, Lord Bute resigned the office of First Lord of the Treasury, and
the conduct of the earl became a question of much astonishment and
criticism. He was the foundation-stone of _Toryism_, in its most
arbitrary form; and there cannot be a doubt that his lordship's
influence over the state machinery was the key-stone of all the
mischiefs and miseries of the nation. It was Lord Bute's opinion, that
all things should be made subservient to the _queen_, and he framed his
measures accordingly.
The earl was succeeded by Mr. George Grenville. Little alteration for
the better, however, was manifested in the administration, although the
characters and principles of the new ministers were supposed to be of a
liberal description; but this may possibly be accounted for by the Earls
of Halifax and Egremont continuing to be the secretaries of state.
In this memorable year, the celebrated John Wilkes, editor of "The North
Briton," was committed to the Tower, for an excellent, though biting,
criticism on his majesty's speech to the two houses of parliament. The
queen vigorously promoted this unconstitutional and tyrannical act of
the new government, which was severely censured by many members of the
House of Commons. Among the rest, Mr. Pitt considered the act as an
infringement upon the rights of the people; and, although he condemned
the libel, he said he would come at the author fairly,--not by an open
breach of the constitution, and a contempt of all restraint. Wilkes,
however, came off triumphantly, and his victory was hailed with delight
by his gratified countrymen.
In the midst of this public agitation, the queen, on the 16th of August,
burdened the nation with her second son, Frederick, afterwards created
Duke of York, _Bishop of Osnaburgh_, and many other _et ceteras_, which
produced a good round sum, and, we should think, more than sufficient to
support this Right Reverend Father in God, at the age of--_eleven
months_!
Colonel Greme, who had been chiefly instrumental in bringing about the
marriage of the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh with the King of
England, was this year appointed Master of St. Catherine, near the
Tower, an excellent _sinecure_ in the _peculiar gift of the queen_!
The most important public event on the continent was, the death of
Augustus, third King of Poland, and Elector of Saxony, who had lately
returned to his electoral dominions, from which he had been banished for
six years, in consequence of the war. Immediately after his demise, his
eldest son and successor to the electorate declared himself a candidate
for the crown of Poland, in which ambition he was supposed to be
countenanced by the Court of Vienna; but he fell a victim to the
small-pox, a few weeks after his father's death.