GEORGE II.—1727 to 1760.
How George the Second went to war with Spain, and with the French and
Bavarians; how the French were beaten by Lord Clive in India, and by
General Wolfe in America; how the young Pretender landed in Scotland,
and proclaimed his father King; how he was beaten, and after many
dangers escaped to France.
The reign of George the Second was disturbed both by foreign and
civil war, and by some disputes in his family at home. His eldest
son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, married a German princess, and they
both lived in London, but they were discontented with the money
the king gave them to spend, so they quarrelled with him, and he
ordered them to go and live at Kew, and would not do anything kind or
good-natured for them. Two children were born to them, one of whom
was afterwards King George the Third, but the Prince of Wales died
before his father.
I will now tell you about King George’s foreign wars, and keep the
story of the civil war to the last for you, because you will like it
best, I think.
The Spaniards had built a great many towns in South America; and
after they had got possession of the country, and killed many of the
people, they took all the gold and silver that was found in the earth
there for themselves. They were therefore obliged to have a great
many ships to fetch it, and brave soldiers and sailors to guard it as
it crossed the seas, and so Spain got more gold and silver than any
other country.
But other countries wished for some of the useful things from South
America too; and some English merchants wished very much to have
several kinds of wood which are useful for dyeing cloth and wool and
other things of different colours; but the Spaniards attacked them
and ill-used them for trying to cut the wood, and behaved in other
respects very ill, so England went to war with Spain.
The war was mostly by sea, and in the course of it the Spaniards were
beaten, first by Admiral Vernon, and then by Admirals Hawke, Rowley,
Warren, and particularly Anson, though they none of them did all they
hoped to do.
Another admiral was very unfortunate. He had to fight a great many
ships in the Mediterranean Sea, and because he did not do all that
the people of England desired him to do, he was shot when he came to
England. His name was Byng. I do not admire this admiral, but I think
he was not justly treated.
Besides the Spaniards, George the Second was at war with the French
and Bavarians. The Prince of Bavaria had been made Emperor, and tried
to make himself King of Bohemia, in the room of the lawful queen,
Maria Theresa, and her son, who was an infant. The English and Dutch
took Maria Theresa’s part, the French took that of the Prince of
Bavaria, and there was a very fierce war on that account, in which
the English gained some battles, and lost some others, an account of
which would be very tiresome to you, I am sure.
Though upon the whole the French had rather the best of the war in
Europe, Lord Clive, who had an army of English in the East Indies,
to take care of our merchants and our towns there, beat the French
generals, and almost drove the French from India altogether. Some
time afterwards the French sent an army under Count Lally to win back
their power in India; but Lally was so beaten that the French have
never had more than one or two small towns in that part of the world
since.
If you look at the map of the world in this place, my dear little
Arthur, you will wonder that two countries in Europe, so close
together as England and France, should think or sending their
soldiers and sailors so far off as India to fight their battles; but
you will wonder still more when you learn that, not content with
this, they sent other fleets and armies to North America, where
they fought till the English conquered the greatest part of all the
country that the French ever had in that part of the world. But the
greatest victory we gained there was the battle of Quebec, where our
brave and good General Wolfe was killed. Some day you will read his
life, and then you will wish that all English soldiers could be like
him.
We will now think about the civil war in King George the Second’s
reign. You remember that in his father’s time the Pretender, whom
the Scotch call James the Eighth, came from France to Scotland and
thought he could get the kingdom for himself, but he was soon obliged
to go back again.
After that he went and lived in Italy, and married a Princess of
Poland, and had two sons. The eldest of these was a fine brave
young man: the youngest became a clergyman, and the Pope made him a
Cardinal; his name was Henry. The eldest, Charles Edward, who was
called the Young Chevalier in Scotland and in England the Young
Pretender, thought he would try once more to get the kingdom of Great
Britain from the Protestant king; so, in spite of the good advice of
his true friends, he would go from Italy first to France, and then to
Scotland, to make war against King George.
The King of France lent him a ship and a few men and officers, and
gave him a little money, for this purpose; and the young prince
landed in Scotland, among the highlands, where the people were still
fond of his family. In a very short time the highland chiefs, who
had a great power over the poor people, gathered a great army, and
marched to Edinburgh, which you know is the capital of Scotland.
There he had his father proclaimed King of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, and gave titles of dukes and lords to the gentlemen who
came to fight for him, and pretended to be the real Prince of Wales.
And he lived in the old palace of the Scotch kings, called Holyrood
House, and there he gave balls and concerts to the Scotch ladies, and
they all fancied themselves sure that Charles Edward would be their
king instead of George.
At first he gained two or three victories, the chief of which was
at Preston Pans, near Edinburgh; and then he marched into England,
where but few English gentlemen joined him; and when he got as far
as Derby he found that he had better go back to Scotland, for the
English would have nothing to do with him. On his way, the English
army, commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, who was King George’s son,
caught and beat part of his army, and took many prisoners.
From this time the French and Scotch officers of the Pretender
quarrelled constantly, and the highland chiefs became jealous of
the other generals, and everything began to be unfortunate for that
unhappy prince, till at the battle of Culloden his whole army was
destroyed, many officers were taken prisoners, and he was obliged to
make his escape and hide himself till he could get back to France.
[Illustration: The Pretender at Holyrood House.]
Sometimes the young prince was obliged to go many days without any
food but wild berries in the woods, and to sleep in caves, or on
the open ground. Sometimes he lay in bed, pretending to be a sick
man, while the Duke of Cumberland’s soldiers were hunting for him,
and he could hear them talking of him. Once he escaped from a great
danger by being dressed in woman’s clothes, and seeming to be the
maid-servant of a very kind and handsome young lady, called Flora
MacDonald, who saved his life. At last he got safe away; and though
he and his friends often threatened to make war in England again,
they never could do any real mischief; and as he and his brother
Henry both died without children, we have had no more Pretenders.
I am sorry to say that the Duke of Cumberland was very cruel to
Prince Charles’s friends when the war was over. Three Scotch lords,
a good many gentlemen, and a number of soldiers, were executed for
having joined the Pretender.
There is nothing else to tell you about the reign of George the
Second; he was a very old man when he died at Kensington. He had
fought many battles in Germany, and was a brave soldier, and not a
bad king; but having been brought up in Germany, like his father, he
never either looked or talked like an English king.