considerable armies in Moravia and Bohemia. Prince Charles of Lorraine,
at the head of fifty thousand men, advanced against the Saxons and
Prussians, who thought proper to retire with precipitation from Moravia,
which they had invaded. Then the prince took the route to Bohemia; and
marshal Broglio, who commanded the French forces in that country, must
have fallen a sacrifice, had not the king of Prussia received a strong
reinforcement, and entered that kingdom before his allies could be
attacked. The two armies advanced towards each other; and on the
seventeenth of May joined battle at Czaslaw, where the Austrians at
first gained a manifest advantage, and penetrated as far as the Prussian
baggage; then the irregulars began to plunder so eagerly, that they
neglected every other consideration. The Prussian infantry took this
opportunity to rally; the battle was renewed, and after a very obstinate
contest, the victory was snatched out of the hands of the Austrians, who
were obliged to retire with the loss of five thousand men killed, and
twelve hundred taken by the enemy. The Prussians paid dear for the
honour of remaining on the field of battle; and from the circumstances
of this action, the king is said to have conceived a disgust to the
war. When the Austrians made such progress in the beginning of the
engagement, he rode off with great expedition, until he was recalled by
a message from his general, the count de Schwerin, assuring his majesty
that there was no danger of a defeat. Immediately after this battle, he
discovered an inclination to accommodate all differences with the queen
of Hungary. The earl of Hyndford, ambassador from the court of Great
Britain, who accompanied him in this campaign, and was vested with
full powers by her Hungarian majesty, did not fail to cultivate this
favourable disposition; and on the first day of June, a treaty of peace
between the two powers was concluded at Breslau. The queen ceded to his
Prussian majesty the Upper and Lower Selesia, with the county of Glatz
in Bohemia; and he charged himself with the payment of the sum lent by
the merchants of London to the late emperor, on the Silesian revenues.
He likewise engaged to observe a strict neutrality during the war,
and to withdraw his forces from Bohemia in fifteen, days after the
ratification of the treaty, in which were comprehended the king of
Great Britain elector of Hanover, the czarina, the king of Denmark,
the states-general, the house of Wolfenbuttle, and the king of Poland
elector of Saxony, on certain conditions, which were accepted.
The king of Prussia recalled his troops; while mare-schal Broglio,
who commanded the French auxiliaries in that kingdom, and the count
de Belleisle, abandoned their magazines and baggage, and retired
with precipitation under the cannon of Prague. There they intrenched
themselves in an advantageous situation; and prince Charles being joined
by the other body of Austrians, under prince Lobkowitz, encamped in
sight of them on the hills of Girinsnitz. The grand duke of Tuscany
arrived in the Austrian army, of which he took the command; and the
French generals offered to surrender Prague, Egra, and all the other
places they possessed in Bohemia, provided they might be allowed to
march off with their arms, artillery, and baggage. The proposal was
rejected, and Prague invested on all sides about the end of July. Though
the operations of the siege were carried on in an awkward and slovenly
manner, the place was so effectually blocked up, that famine must
have compelled the French to surrender at discretion, had not very
extraordinary efforts been made for their relief. The emperor had made
advances to the queen of Hungary. He promised that the French forces
should quit Bohemia, and evacuate the empire; and he offered to renounce
all pretensions to the kingdom of Bohemia, on condition that the
Austrians would restore Bavaria; but these conditions were declined by
the court of Vienna. The king of France was no sooner apprized of the
condition to which the generals Broglio and Belleisle were reduced, than
he sent orders to mareshal Maillebois, who commanded his army on the
Bhine, to march to their relief. His troops were immediately put in
motion; and when they reached Amberg in the Upper Palatinate, were
joined by the French and Imperialists from Bavaria. Prince Charles of
Lorraine having received intelligence of their junction and design,
left eighteen thousand men to maintain the blockade of Prague, under
the command of general Festititz, while he himself, with the rest of
his army, advanced to Hay-don on the frontiers of Bohemia. There he was
joined by count Khevenhuller, who from Bavaria had followed the enemy,
now commanded by count Seckendorf, and the count de Saxe. Seckendorf
however was sent back to Bavaria, while mareschal Maillebois entered
Bohemia on the twenty-fifth day of September. But he marched with such
precaution, that prince Charles could not bring him to an engagement.
Meanwhile Festititz, for want of sufficient force, was obliged to
abandon the blockade of Prague; and the French generals being now at
liberty, took post at Leutmaritz. Maillebois advanced as far as Kadan;
but seeing the Austrians possessed of all the passes of the mountains,
he marched back to the palatinate, and was miserably harassed in his
retreat by prince Charles, who had left a strong body with prince
Lobkowitz to watch the motions of Belleisle and Broglio.
EXTRAORDINARY RETREAT OF M. DE BELLEISLE.
These generals seeing themselves surrounded on all hands, returned to
Prague, from whence Broglio made his escape in the habit of a courier,
and was sent to command the army of Maillebois, who was by this time
disgraced. Prince Lobkowitz, who now directed the blockade of Prague,
had so effectually cut off all communication between that place and the
adjacent country, that in a little time the French troops were reduced
to great extremity, both from the severity of the season, and the want
of provisions. They were already reduced to the necessity of eating
horse flesh, and unclean animals; and they had no other prospect but
that of perishing by famine or war, when their commander formed the
scheme of a retreat, which was actually put in execution. Having taken
some artful precautions to deceive the enemy, he, in the middle of
December, departed from Prague at midnight, with about fourteen thousand
men, thirty pieces of artillery, and some of the principal citizens as
hostages for the safety of nine hundred soldiers whom he had left in
garrison. Notwithstanding the difficulties he must have encountered at
that season of the year, in a broken and unfrequented road, which he
purposely chose, he marched with such expedition, that he had gained the
passes of the mountains before he was overtaken by the horse and hussars
of prince Lobkowitz. The fatigue and hardships which the miserable
soldiers underwent are inexpressible. A great number perished in the
snow, and many hundreds, fainting with weariness, cold, and hunger, were
left to the mercy of the Austrian irregulars, consisting of the most
barbarous people on the face of the earth. The count de Belleisle,
though tortured with the hip-gout, behaved with surprising resolution
and activity. He caused himself to be carried on a litter to every
place where he thought his presence was necessary, and made such
dispositions, that the pursuers never could make an impression upon the
body of his troops; but all his artillery, baggage, and even his own
equipage, fell into the hands of the enemy. On the twenty-ninth day of
December, he arrived at Egra, from whence he proceeded to Alsace without
further molestation; but when he returned to Versailles, he met with a
very cold reception, notwithstanding the gallant exploit which he had
performed. After his escape, prince Lobkowitz returned to Prague, and
the small garrison which Belleisle had left in that place surrendered
upon honourable terms; so that this capital reverted to the house of
Austria.
THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN FORMS AN ARMY IN FLANDERS.
The king of Great Britain resolved to make a powerful diversion in
the Netherlands, and in the month of April, ordered sixteen thousand
effective men to be embarked for that country; but as this step was
taken without any previous concert with the states-general, the earl
of Stair, destined to the command of the forces in Flanders, was in the
meantime appointed ambassador-extraordinary and plenipotentiary to their
high mightinesses, in order to persuade them to co-operate vigorously in
the plan which his Britannic majesty had formed; a plan by which Great
Britain was engaged as a principal in a foreign dispute, and entailed
upon herself the whole burden of an expensive war, big with ruin and
disgrace. England, from being the umpire, was now become a party in all
continental quarrels; and, instead of trimming the balance of Europe,
lavished away her blood and treasure in supporting the interest and
allies of a puny electorate in the north of Germany. The king of
Prussia had been at variance with the elector of Hanover. The duchy of
Mecklenburgh was the avowed subject of dispute; but his Prussian majesty
is said to have had other more provoking causes of complaint, which
however he did not think proper to divulge. The king of Great Britain
found it convenient to accommodate these differences. In the course of
this summer the two powers concluded a convention, in consequence of
which the troops of Hanover evacuated Mecklenburgh, and three regiments
of Brandenburgh took possession of those bailiwicks that were mortgaged
to the king of Prussia. The elector of Hanover being now secured from
danger, sixteen thousand troops of that country, together with the six
thousand auxiliary Hessians, began their march for the Netherlands; and
about the middle of October arrived in the neighbourhood of Brussels,
where they encamped. The earl of Stair repaired to Ghent, where the
British forces were quartered: a body of Austrians was assembled; and
though the season was far advanced, he seemed determined upon
some expedition; but all of a sudden the troops were sent into
winter-quarters. The Austrians retired to Luxembourg; the English and
Hessians remained in Flanders; and the Hanoverians marched into the
county of Liege, without paying any regard to the bishop’s protestation.
PROGRESS OF THE WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND SWEDEN.
The states-general had made a considerable augmentation of their forces
by sea and land; but, notwithstanding the repeated instances of the earl
of Stair, they resolved to adhere to their neutrality; they dreaded the
neighbourhood of the French; and they were far from being pleased to see
the English get footing in the Netherlands. The friends of the house
of Orange began to exert themselves; the states of Groningen and West
Friesland protested, in favour of the prince, against the promotion
of foreign generals which had lately been made; but his interest was
powerfully opposed by the provinces of Zealand and Holland, which had
the greatest weight in the republic. The revolution in Russia did not
put an end to the war with Sweden. These two powers had agreed to an
armistice of three months, during which the czarina augmented her forces
in Finland.
She likewise ordered the counts Osterman and Munich, with their
adherents, to be tried; they were condemned to death, but pardoned on
the scaffold, and sent in exile to Siberia. The Swedes, still
encouraged by the intrigues of France, refused to listen to any terms
of accommodation, unless Carelia, and the other conquests of the czar
Peter, should be restored. The French court had expected to bring over
the new empress to their measures; but they found her as well disposed
as her predecessor to assist the house of Austria. She remitted a
considerable sum of money to the queen of Hungary; and at the same time
congratulated the elector of Bavaria on his elevation to the Imperial
throne. The ceremony of her coronation was performed in May, with great
solemnity, at Moscow; and in November she declared her nephew, the duke
of Holstein-Gottorp, her successor, by the title of grand prince of all
the Russias. The cessation of arms being expired, general Lasci reduced
Fredericksheim, and obliged the Swedish army, commanded by count
Lewenhaupt, to retire before him, from one place to another, until at
length they were quite surrounded near Helsingsors. In this emergency
the Swedish general submitted to a capitulation, by which his infantry
were transported by sea to Sweden; his cavalry marched by land to Abo;
and his artillery and magazines remained in the hands of the Russians.
The king of Sweden being of an advanced age, the diet assembled in order
to settle the succession; and the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, as grandson
to the eldest sister of Charles XII., was declared next heir to the
crown. A courier was immediately despatched to Moscow, to notify to the
duke this determination of the diet; and this message was followed by a
deputation; but when they understood that he had embraced the religion
of the Greek church, and been acknowledged successor to the throne of
Russia, they annulled his election for Sweden, and resolved that
the succession should not be re-established until a peace should be
concluded with the czarina. Conferences were opened at Abo for this
purpose. In the meantime, the events of war had been so long unfortunate
for Sweden, that it was absolutely necessary to appease the indignation
of the people with some sacrifice. The generals Lewenhaupt and
Bodenbrock were tried by a court-martial for misconduct; being found
guilty and condemned to death, they applied to the diet, by which the
sentence was confirmed. The term of the subsidy-treaty between Great
Britain and Denmark expiring, his Danish majesty refused to renew it;
nor would he accede to the peace of Breslau. On the other hand, he
became subsidiary to France, with which also he concluded a new treaty
of commerce.
THE KING OF SARDINIA DECLARES FOR THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA.
The court of Versailles were now heartily tired of maintaining the war
in Germany, and had actually made equitable proposals of peace to
the queen of Hungary, by whom they were rejected. Thus repulsed, they
redoubled their preparations; and endeavoured, by advantageous offers,
to detach the king of Sardinia from the interest of the house of
Austria. This prince had espoused a sister to the grand duke, who
pressed him to declare for her brother, and the queen of Hungary
promised to gratify him with some territories in the Milanese; besides,
he thought the Spaniards had already gained too much ground in Italy;
but, at the same time, he was afraid of being crushed between France and
Spain, before he could be properly supported. He therefore temporized,
and protracted the negotiation, until he was alarmed at the progress
of the Spanish arms in Italy, and fixed in his determination by the
subsidies of Great Britain. The Spanish army assembled at Rimini
under the duke de Montemar; and being joined by the Neapolitan forces,
amounted to sixty thousand men, furnished with a large train of
artillery. About the beginning of May, they entered the Bolognese; then
the king of Sardinia declaring against them, joined the Austrian
army commanded by count Traun; marched into the duchy of Parma; and
understanding that the duke of Modena had engaged in a treaty with
the Spaniards, dispossessed that prince of his dominions. The duke
de Montemar, seeing his army diminished by sickness and desertion,
retreated to the kingdom of Naples, and was followed by the king of
Sardinia as far-as Rimini.
Here he received intelligence that Don Philip, third son of his
catholic majesty, had made an irruption into Savoy with another army of
Spaniards, and already taken possession of Chamberri, the capital. He
forthwith began his march for Piedmont. Don Philip abandoned Savoy at
his approach, and retreating into Dauphiné, took post under the cannon
of fort Barreaux. The king pursued him thither, and both armies remained
in sight of each other till the month of December, when the marquis de
Minas, an active and enterprising general, arrived from Madrid, and
took upon him the command of the forces under Don Philip. This general’s
first exploit was against the castle of Aspremont, in the neighbourhood
of the Sardinian camp. He attacked it so vigorously, that the garrison
was obliged to capitulate in four-and-forty hours. The loss of this
important post compelled the king to retire into Piedmont, and the
Spaniards marched back into Savoy, where they established their winter
quarters. In the meantime the duke de Montemar, who directed the other
Spanish army, though the duke of Modena was nominal generalissimo,
resigned his command to count Gages, who attempted to penetrate into
Tuscany; but was prevented by the vigilance of count Traun, the Austrian
general. In December he quartered his troops in the Bolognese and
Romagna; while the Austrian s and Piedmontese were distributed in the
Modenese and Parmesan. The pope was passive during the whole campaign;
the Venetians maintained their neutrality, and the king of the two
Sicilies was overawed by the British fleet in the Mediterranean.
The new ministry in England had sent out admiral Matthews to assume
the command of this squadron, which had been for some time conducted by
Lestock, an inferior officer, as Haddock had been obliged to resign his
commission on account of his ill state of health. Matthews was likewise
invested with the character of minister-plenipotentiary to the king
of Sardinia and the states of Italy. Immediately after he had taken
possession of his command, he ordered captain Norris to destroy five
Spanish galleys which had put into the bay of St. Tropez; and this
service was effectually performed. In May he detached commodore Rowley,
with eight sail, to cruise off the harbour of Toulon; and a great number
of merchant ships belonging to the enemy fell into his hands. In August
he sent commodore Martin with another squadron into the bay of Naples,
to bombard that city, unless his Sicilian majesty would immediately
recall his troops, which had joined the Spanish army, and promise to
remain neutral during the continuance of the war. Naples was immediately
filled with consternation; the king subscribed to these conditions; and
the English squadron rejoined the admiral on the road of Hieres, which
he had chosen for his winter station. Before this period he had landed
some men at St. Remo, in the territories of Genoa, and destroyed the
magazines that were erected for the use of the Spanish army. He had
likewise ordered two of his cruisers to attack a Spanish ship of the
line which lay at anchor in the port of Ajaccio, in the island of
Corsica; but the Spanish captain set his men on shore, and blew up his
ship, rather than she should fall into the hands of the English.
OPERATIONS IN THE WEST INDIES.
In the course of this year admiral Vernon and general Wentworth made
another effort in the West Indies. They had in January received a
reinforcement from England, and planned a new expedition, in concert
with the governor of Jamaica, who accompanied them in their voyage.
Their design was to disembark the troops at Porto-Bello, and march
across the isthmus of Darien to attack the rich town of Panama. They
sailed from Jamaica on the ninth day of March, and on the twenty-eighth
arrived at Porto-Bello. There they held a council of war, in which it
was resolved, that as the troops were sickly, the rainy season begun,
and several transports not yet arrived, the intended expedition was
become impracticable. In pursuance of this determination, the armament
immediately returned to Jamaica, exhibiting a ridiculous spectacle of
folly and irresolution.*
* In May, two English frigates, commanded by captain Smith
and captain Stuart, fell in with three Spanish ships of war,
near the island of St. Christopher’s. They forthwith
engaged, and the action continued till night, by the favour
of which the enemy retired to Porto Rico in a scattered
condition.--In the month of September, the Tilbury ship of
war, of sixty guns, was accidentally set on fire, and
destroyed, off the island of Hispaniola, on which occasion
one hundred and twenty-seven men perished; the rest were
saved by captain Hoare of the Defiance, who happened to be
on the same cruise.
In August, a ship of war was sent from thence, with about three hundred
soldiers, to the small island of Rattan in the bay of Honduras, of which
they took possession. In September, Vernon and Wentworth received orders
to return to England with such troops as remained alive; these did not
amount to a tenth part of the number which had been sent abroad in that
inglorious service. The inferior officers fell ignobly by sickness and
despair, without an opportunity of signalizing their courage, and the
commanders lived to feel the scorn and reproach of their country. In the
month of June the new colony of Georgia was invaded by an armament from
St. Augustine, commanded by Don Marinel de Monteano, governor of that
fortress. It consisted of six-and-thirty ships, from which four thousand
men were landed at St. Simon’s; and began their march for Frederica.
General Oglethorpe, with a handful of men, took such wise precautions
for opposing their progress, and harassed them in their march with such
activity and resolution, that after two of their detachments had
been defeated, they retired to their ships and totally abandoned the
enterprise.
In England the merchants still complained that their commerce was not
properly protected, and the people clamoured against the conduct of the
war. They said, their burdens were increased to maintain quarrels with
which they had no concern; to defray the enormous expense of inactive
fleets and pacific armies. Lord Carteret had by this time insinuated
himself into the confidence of his sovereign, and engrossed the whole
direction of public affairs. The war with Spain was now become a
secondary consideration, and neglected accordingly; while the chief
attention of the new minister was turned upon the affairs of the
continent. The dispute with Spain concerned Britain only. The interests
of Hanover were connected with the troubles of the empire. By pursuing
this object he soothed the wishes of his master, and opened a more ample
field for his own ambition. He had studied the policy of the continent
with peculiar eagerness. This was the favourite subject of his
reflection, upon which he thought and spoke with a degree of enthusiasm.
The intolerable taxes, the poverty, the ruined commerce of his
country, the iniquity of standing armies, votes of credit, and foreign
connexions, upon which he had so often expatiated, were now forgotten or
overlooked. He saw nothing but glory, conquest, or acquired dominion. He
set the power of France at defiance; and as if Great Britain had felt no
distress, but teemed with treasure which she could not otherwise
employ, he poured forth her millions with a rash and desperate hand, in
purchasing beggarly allies, and maintaining mercenary armies. The earl
of Stair had arrived in England towards the end of August, and conferred
with his majesty. A privy-council was summoned; and in a few days that
nobleman returned to Holland. Lord Carteret was sent with a commission
to the Hague in September; and when he returned, the baggage of the king
and the duke of Cumberland, which had been shipped for Flanders, was
ordered to be brought on shore. The parliament met on the sixteenth
day of November, when his majesty told them, that he had augmented the
British forces in the low countries with sixteen thousand Hanoverians
and the Hessian auxiliaries, in order to form such a force, in
conjunction with the Austrian troops, as might be of service to the
common cause at all events. He extolled the magnanimity and fortitude
of the queen of Hungary, as well as the resolute conduct of the king of
Sardinia, and that prince’s strict adherence to his engagements, though
attacked in his own dominions. He mentioned the requisition made by
Sweden, of his good offices for procuring a peace between that nation
and Eussia; the defensive alliances which he had concluded with the
czarina, and with the king of Prussia; as events which could not have
been expected, if Great Britain had not manifested a seasonable spirit
and vigour in defence and assistance of her ancient allies, and in
maintaining the liberties of Europe. He said the honour and interest
of his crown and kingdoms, the success of the war with Spain, the
re-establishment of the balance and tranquillity of Europe, would
greatly depend on the prudence and vigour of their resolution. The
marquis of Tweedale moved for an address of thanks, which was opposed
by the earl of Chesterfield, for the reasons so often urged on the same
occasion; but supported by lord Carteret on his new-adopted maxims, with
those specious arguments which he could at all times produce, delivered
with amazing serenity and assurance. The motion was agreed to, and the
address presented to his majesty. About this period a treaty of mutual
defence and guarantee between his majesty and the king of Prussia, was
signed at Westminster. In the house of commons Mr. Lyttelton made a
motion for reviving the place-bill; but it was opposed by a great number
of members who had formerly been strenuous advocates for this measure,
and rejected upon a division. This was also the fate of a motion made
to renew the inquiry into the conduct of Robert earl of Orford. As many
strong presumptions of guilt had appeared against him in the reports of
the secret committee, the nation had reason to expect that this proposal
would have been embraced by a great majority; but several members, who
in the preceding session had been loud in their demands of justice,
now shamefully contributed their talents and interest in stifling the
inquiry.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
EXTRAORDINARY MOTION IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.
When the house of lords took into consideration the several estimates of
the expense occasioned by the forces in the pay of Great Britain, earl
Stanhope, at the close of an elegant speech, moved for an address, to
beseech and advise his majesty, that in compassion to his people, loaded
already with such numerous and heavy taxes, such large and growing
debts, and greater annual expenses than the nation at any time before
had ever sustained, he would exonerate his subjects of the charge and
burden of those mercenaries who were taken into the service last year,
without the advice or consent of parliament. The motion was supported by
the earl of Sandwich, who took occasion to speak with great contempt
of Hanover; and, in mentioning the royal family, seemed to forget that
decorum which the subject required. He had, indeed, reason to talk with
asperity on the contract by which the Hanoverians had been taken into
the pay of Great Britain. Levy-money was charged to the account, though
they were engaged for one year only, and though not a single regiment
had been raised on this occasion; they had been levied for the security
of the electorate; and would have been maintained if England had never
engaged in the affairs of the continent. The duke of Bedford enlarged
upon the same subject. He said it had been suspected, nor was the
suspicion without foundation, that the measures of the English ministry
had long been regulated by the interest of his majesty’s electoral
territories; that these had been long considered as a gulf into which
the treasures of Great Britain had been thrown; that the state of
Hanover had been changed, without any visible cause, since the accession
of its princes to the throne of England; affluence had begun to wanton
in their towns, and gold to glitter in their cottages, without the
discovery of mines, or the increase of their commerce; and new dominions
had been purchased, of which the value was never paid from the revenues
of Hanover. The motion was hunted down by the new ministry, the patriot
lord Bathurst, and the earl of Bath, which last nobleman declared, that
he considered it as an act of cowardice and meanness, to fall passively
down the stream of popularity, to suffer his reason and integrity to be
overborne by the noise of vulgar clamours, which had been raised against
the measures of government by the low arts of exaggeration, fallacious
reasonings, and partial representations. This is the very language
which sir Robert Walpole had often used against Mr. Pulteney and
his confederates in the house of commons. The associates of the new
secretary pleaded the cause of Hanover, and insisted upon the necessity
of a land-war against France, with all the vehemence of declamation.
Their suggestions were answered; their conduct was severely stigmatized
by the earl of Chesterfield, who observed, that the assembling an army
in Flanders, without the concurrence of the states-general, or any other
power engaged by treaty, or bound by interest, to support the queen of
Hungary, was a rash and ridiculous measure; the taking sixteen thousand
Hanoverians into British pay, without consulting the parliament, seemed
highly derogatory to the rights and dignity of the great council of
the nation, and a very dangerous precedent to future times; that these
troops could not be employed against the emperor, whom they had already
recognised; that the arms and wealth of Britain alone were altogether
insufficient to raise the house of Austria to its former strength,
dominion, and influence; that the assembling an army in Flanders would
engage the nation as principals in an expensive and ruinous war, with a
power which it ought not to provoke, and could not pretend to withstand
in that manner; that while Great Britain exhausted herself almost to
ruin, in pursuance of schemes founded on engagements to the queen of
Hungary, the electorate of Hanover, though under the same engagements,
and governed by the same prince, did not appear to contribute any thing
as an ally to her assistance, but was paid by Great Britain for all
the forces it had sent into the field, at a very exorbitant price;
that nothing could be more absurd and iniquitous than to hire these
mercenaries, while a numerous army lay inactive at home, and the nation
groaned under such intolerable burdens. “It may be proper,” added he,
“to repeat what may be forgotten in the multitude of other objects, that
this nation, after having exalted the elector of Hanover from a state
of obscurity to the crown, is condemned to hire the troops of that
electorate to fight their own cause; to hire them at a rate which was
never demanded before; and to pay levy-money for them, though it is
known to all Europe that they were not raised for this occasion.” All
the partisans of the old ministry joined in the opposition to earl
Stanhope’s motion, which was rejected by the majority. Then the earl of
Scarborough moved for an address, to approve of the measures which had
been taken on the continent; and this was likewise carried by dint of
numbers. It was not, however, a very eligible victory; what they gained
in parliament they lost with the people. The new ministers became more
odious than their predecessors; and people began to think that public
virtue was an empty name.
But the most severe opposition they underwent was in their endeavours
to support a bill which they had concerted, and which had passed through
the house of commons with great precipitation; it repealed certain
duties on spirituous liquors, and licenses for retailing these liquors;
and imposed others at an easier rate. When those severe duties,
amounting almost to a prohibition, were imposed, the populace of London
were sunk into the most brutal degeneracy, by drinking to excess the
pernicious spirit called gin, which was sold so cheap that the lowest
class of the people could afford to indulge themselves in one continued
state of intoxication, to the destruction of all morals, industry,
and order. Such a shameful degree of profligacy prevailed, that the
retailers of this poisonous compound set up painted boards in public,
inviting people to be drunk at the small expense of one penny; assuring
them they might be dead drunk for two-pence, and have straw for nothing.
They accordingly provided cellars and places strewed with straw,
to which they conveyed those wretches who were overwhelmed with
intoxication. In these dismal caverns they lay until they recovered
some use of their faculties, and then they had recourse to the same
mischievous potion; thus consuming their health, and ruining their
families, in hideous receptacles of the most filthy vice, resounding
with riot, execration, and blasphemy. Such beastly practices too plainly
denoted a total want of all policy and civil regulations, and would
have reflected disgrace upon the most barbarous community. In order
to restrain this evil, which was become intolerable, the legislature
enacted that law which we have already mentioned. But the populace soon
broke through all restraint. Though no license was obtained, and no duty
paid, the liquor continued to be sold in all corners of the streets,
informers were intimidated by the threats of the people, and the
justices of the peace, either from indolence or corruption, neglected to
put the law in execution. The new ministers foresaw that a great revenue
would accrue to the crown from a repeal of this act; and this measure
they thought they might the more decently take, as the law had
proved ineffectual; for it appeared that the consumption of gin had
considerably increased every year since those heavy duties were imposed.
They therefore pretended, that should the price of the liquor be
moderately raised, and licenses granted at twenty shillings each to the
retailers, the lowest class of people would be debarred the use of it to
excess; their morals would of consequence be mended; and a considerable
sum of money might be raised for the support of the war, by mortgaging
the revenue arising from the duty and the licenses. Upon these maxims
the new bill was founded, and passed through the lower house without
opposition; but among the peers it produced the most obstinate dispute
which had happened since the beginning of this parliament. The first
assault it sustained was from lord Hervey, who had been divested of
his post of privy-seal, which was bestowed on lord Gower, and these two
noblemen exchanged principles from that instant. The first was hardened
into a sturdy patriot, the other suppled into an obsequious courtier.
Lord Hervey, on this occasion, made a florid harangue upon the
pernicious effects of that destructive spirit they were about to let
loose upon their fellow-creatures. Several prelates expatiated on the
same topics; but the earl of Chesterfield attacked the bill with
the united powers of reason, wit, and ridicule. Lord Carteret, lord
Bathurst, and the earl of Bath, were numbered among its advocates; and
shrewd arguments were advanced on both sides of the question. After very
long, warm, and repeated debates, the bill passed without amendments,
though the whole bench of bishops voted against it; and we cannot help
owning, that it has not been attended with those dismal consequences
which the lords in the opposition foretold. When the question was put
for committing this bill, and the earl of Chesterfield saw the bishops
join in his division, “I am in doubt,” said he, “whether I have not
got on the other side of the question; for I have not had the honour to
divide with so many lawn sleeves for several years.”
BILL FOR QUIETING CORPORATIONS.
By the report of the secret committee, it appeared that the then minster
had commenced prosecutions against the mayors of boroughs who
opposed his influence in the election of members of parliament. These
prosecutions were founded on ambiguities in charters, or trivial
informalities in the choice of magistrates. An appeal on such a process
was brought into the house of lords; and this evil falling under
consideration, a bill was prepared for securing the independency
of corporations; but as it tended to diminish the influence of the
ministry, they argued against it with their usual eagerness and success;
and it was rejected on a division. The mutiny bill and several others
passed through both houses. The commons granted supplies to the amount
of six millions, raised by the land-tax, the malt-tax, duties on
spirituous liquors and licenses, and a loan from the sinking fund. In
two years the national debt had suffered an increase of two millions
four hundred thousand pounds.
{1743}
On the twenty-first day of April the session was closed in the usual
manner. The king, in his speech to both houses, told them, that, at
the requisition of the queen of Hungary, he had ordered his army, in
conjunction with the Austrians, to pass the Rhine for her support
and assistance; that he continued one squadron of ships in the
Mediterranean, and another in the West Indies. He thanked the commons
for the ample supplies they had granted; and declared it was the fixed
purpose of his heart to promote the true interest and happiness of his
kingdoms. Immediately after the prorogation of parliament he embarked
for Germany, accompanied by the duke of Cumberland, lord Carteret, and
other persons of distinction.
CONVENTION BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY.
At this period the queen of Hungary seemed to triumph over all her
enemies. The French were driven out of Bohemia and part of the Upper
Palatinate; and their forces under mareschal Broglio were posted on the
Danube. Prince Charles of Lorraine, at the head of the Austrian
army, entered Bavaria; and in April obtained a victory over a body
of Bavarians at Braunau; at the same time, three bodies of Croatians
penetrating through the passes of the Tyrolese, ravaged the whole
country to the very gates of Munich. The emperor pressed the French
general to hazard a battle; but he refused to run the risk, though he
had received a strong reinforcement from France. His Imperial majesty
thinking himself unsafe in Munich, retired to Augsburgh; mareschal
Seckendorf retreated with the Bavarian troops to Ingoldstadt, where he
was afterwards joined by mareschal Broglio, whose troops had in this
retreat been pursued and terribly harassed by the Austrian cavalry and
hussars. Prince Charles had opened a free communication with Munich,
which now for the third time fell into the hands of the queen of
Hungary. Her arms likewise reduced Friedberg and Landsperg, while prince
Charles continued to pursue the French to Dona-wert, where they were
joined by twelve thousand men from the Bhine. Broglio still avoided
an engagement, and retreated before the enemy to Hailbron. The emperor
being thus abandoned by his allies, and stripped of all his dominions,
repaired to Franckfort, where he lived in indigence and obscurity. He
now made advances towards an accommodation with the queen of Hungary.
His general, Seckendorf, had an interview with count Khevenhuller at the
convent of Lowerscon-field, where a convention was signed. This treaty
imported, that the emperor should remain neuter during the continuance
of the present war, and that his troops should be quartered in
Franconia; that the queen of Hungary should keep possession of Bavaria
till the peace; that Braunau and Scarding should be delivered up to the
Austrians; that the French garrison of Ingoldstadt should be permitted
to withdraw, and be replaced by Bavarians; but that the Austrian
generals should be put in possession of all the artillery, magazines,
and warlike stores belonging to the French, which should be found in the
place. The governors of Egra and Ingoldstadt refusing to acquiesce in
the capitulation, the Austrians had recourse to the operations of
war; and both places were reduced. In Ingoldstadt they found all the
emperor’s domestic treasure, jewels, plate, pictures, cabinets, and
curiosities, with the archives of the house of Bavaria, the most
valuable effects belonging to the nobility of that electorate, a
prodigious train of artillery, and a vast quantity of provisions, arms,
and ammunition.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND THE ELECTOR OF HANOVER.
The French king, baffled in all the efforts he had hitherto made for the
support of the emperor, ordered his minister at Franckfort to deliver
a declaration to the diet, professing himself extremely well pleased to
hear they intended to interpose their mediation for terminating the war.
He said, he was no less satisfied with the treaty of neutrality which
the emperor had concluded with the queen of Hungary; an event of which
he was no sooner informed, than he had ordered his troops to return
to the frontiers of his dominions, that the Germanic body might be
convinced of his equity and moderation. To this declaration the queen
of Hungary answered in a rescript, that the design of France was to
embarrass her affairs, and deprive her of the assistance of her allies;
that the elector of Bavaria could not be considered as a neutral party
in his own cause; that the mediation of the empire could only produce
a peace either with or without the concurrence of France; that in the
former case no solid peace could be expected; in the latter, it was
easy to foresee, that France would pay no regard to a peace in which she
should have no concern. She affirmed, that the aim of the French king
was solely to gain time to repair his losses, that he might afterwards
revive the troubles of the empire. The elector of Mentz, who had
favoured the emperor, was now dead, and his successor inclined to the
Austrian interest. He allowed this rescript to be entered in the journal
of the diet, together with the protests which had been made when
the vote of Bohemia was suppressed in the late election. The emperor
complained in a circular letter of this transaction, as a stroke
levelled at his imperial dignity; and it gave rise to a warm dispute
among the members of the Germanic body. Several princes resented the
haughty conduct, and began to be alarmed at the success of the house of
Austria; while others pitied the deplorable situation of the emperor.
The kings of Great Britain and Prussia, as electors of Hanover and
Brandenburgh, espoused opposite sides in this contest. His Prussian
majesty protested against the investiture of the duchy of Saxe
Lawenburgh, claimed by the king of Great Britain; he had an interview
with general Seckendorf at Anspach; and was said to have privately
visited the emperor at Franckfort.
THE ENGLISH OBTAIN A VICTORY OVER THE FRENCH.
The troops which the king of Great Britain had assembled in the
Netherlands, began their march for the Rhine in the latter end of
February, and in May they encamped near Hoech on the river Maine, under
the command of the earl of Stair. This nobleman sent major-general Bland
to Franckfort, with a compliment to the emperor, assuring him, in the
name of his Britannic majesty, that the respect owing to his dignity
should not be violated, nor the place of his residence disturbed.
Notwithstanding this assurance, the emperor retired to Munich, though he
was afterwards compelled to return, by the success of the Austrians
in Bavaria. The French king, in order to prevent the junction of the
British forces with prince Charles of Lorraine, ordered the mareschal de
Noailles to assemble sixty thousand men upon the Maine; while Coigny
was sent into Alsace with a numerous army to defend that province, and
oppose prince Charles should he attempt to pass the Rhine. The mareschal
de Noailles, having secured the towns of Spire, Worms, and Oppenheim,
passed the Rhine in the beginning of June, and posted himself on the
east side of that river, above Franckfort. The earl of Stair advanced
towards him, and encamped at Killen-bach, between the river Maine and
the forest of d’Armstadt; from this situation he made a motion to
Aschaffenburgh, with a view to secure the navigation of the Upper
Maine; but he was anticipated by the enemy, who lay on the other side
of the river, and had taken possession of the posts above so as to
intercept all supplies. They were posted on the other side of the river,
opposite to the allies, whose camp they overlooked; and they found
means, by their parties and other precautions, to cut off the
communication by water between Franckfort and the confederates. The
duke of Cumberland had already come to make his first campaign, and his
majesty arrived in the camp on the ninth day of June. He found his
army, amounting to about forty thousand men, in danger of starving;
he received intelligence that a reinforcement of twelve thousand
Hanoverians and Hessians had reached Hanau; and he resolved to march
thither, both with a view to effect the junction, and to procure
provisions for his forces. With this view he decamped on the
twenty-sixth day of June. He had no sooner quitted Aschaffenburgh, than
it was seized by the French general; he had not marched above three
leagues when he perceived the enemy, to the number of thirty thousand,
had passed the river farther down, at Selingenstadt, and were drawn up
in order of battle at the village of Dettingen, to dispute his passage.
Thus he found himself cooped up in a very dangerous situation. The enemy
had possessed themselves of Aschaffenburgh behind, so as to prevent his
retreat; his troops were confined in a narrow plain, bounded by hills
and woods on the right, flanked on the left by the river Maine, on the
opposite side of which the French had erected batteries that annoyed the
allies on their march; in the front a considerable part of the French
army was drawn up, with a narrow pass before them, the village of
Dettingen on their right, a wood on their left, and a morass in the
centre. Thus environed, the confederates must either have fought at a
very great disadvantage, or surrendered themselves prisoners of war, had
not the duke de Gramont, who commanded the enemy, been instigated by the
spirit of madness to forego these advantages. He passed the defile, and
advancing towards the allies, a battle ensued. The French horse charged
with great impetuosity, and some regiments of British cavalry were
put in disorder; but the infantry of the allies behaved with such
intrepidity and deliberation, tinder the eye of their sovereign, as soon
determined the fate of the day; the French were obliged to give way,
and repass the Maine with great precipitation, having lost about five
thousand men, killed, wounded, or taken. Had they been properly pursued,
before they recollected themselves from their first confusion, in all
probability they would have sustained a total overthrow. The earl
of Stair proposed that a body of cavalry should be detached on this
service; but his advice was overruled. The loss of the allies in this
action amounted to two thousand men. The generals Clayton and Monroy
were killed; the duke of Cumberland, who exhibited uncommon proofs of
courage, was shot through the calf of the leg; the earl of Albemarle,
general Huske, and several other officers of distinction, were wounded.
The king exposed his person to a severe fire of cannon as well as
musquetry; he rode between the first and second lines with his sword
drawn, and encouraged the troops to fight for the honour of England.
Immediately after the action he continued his inarch to Hanau, where
he was joined by the reinforcement. The earl of Stair sent a trumpet
to mareschal de Noailles, recommending to his protection the sick and
wounded that were left on the field of battle; and these the French
general treated with great care and tenderness. Such generosity softens
the rigours of war, and does honour to humanity.
TREATY OF WORMS.
The two armies continued on different sides of the river till the
twelfth day of July, when the French general receiving intelligence
that prince Charles of Lorraine had approached the Neckar, he suddenly
retired, and repassed the Rhine between Worms and Oppenheim. The king
of Great Britain was visited by prince Charles and count Khevenhuller
at Hanau, where the future operations of the campaign were regulated.
On the twenty-seventh day of August, the allied army passed the Rhine at
Mentz, and the king fixed his head-quarters in the episcopal palace of
Worms. Here the forces lay encamped till the latter end of September,
when they advanced to Spire, where they were joined by twenty thousand
Dutch auxiliaries from the Netherlands. Mareschal Noailles having
retreated into Upper Alsace, the allies took possession of Germersheim,
and demolished the intrenchments which the enemy had raised on the
Queich; then they returned to Mentz, and in October were distributed
into winter-quarters, after an inactive campaign that redounded very
little to the honour of those by whom the motions of the army were
conducted. In September a treaty had been concluded at Worms between his
Britannic majesty, the king of Sardinia, and the queen of Hungary. She
engaged to maintain thirty thousand men in Italy; the king of Sardinia
obliged himself to employ forty thousand infantry and five thousand
horse, in consideration of his commanding the combined army, and
receiving an annual subsidy of two hundred thousand pounds from Great
Britain. As a further gratification, the queen yielded to him the city
of Placentia, with several districts in the duchy of Pavia, and in
the Nwarese; and all her right and pretensions to Final, at present
possessed by the re public of Genoa, which, they hoped, would give
it up, on being repaid the purchase money, amounting to three hundred
thousand pounds. This sum the king of England promised to disburse;
and moreover to maintain a strong squadron in the Mediterranean, the
commander of which should act in concert with his Sardinian majesty.
Finally, the contracting powers agreed, that Final should be constituted
a free port, like that of Leghorn. Nothing could be more unjust than
this treaty, by which the Genoese were negotiated out of their property.
They had purchased the marquisate of Final of the late emperor for a
valuable consideration, and the purchase had been guaranteed by Great
Britain. It could not, therefore, be expected that they would part
with this acquisition to a prince whose power they thought already too
formidable; especially on condition of its being made a free port,
to the prejudice of their own commerce. They presented remonstrances
against this article, by their ministers at the courts of London,
Vienna, and Turin; and, as very little regard was paid to their
representations, they threw themselves into the arms of France and Spain
for protection.
After the battle of Dettingen, colonel Mentzel, at the head of a large
body of irregulars belonging to the queen of Hungary, made an irruption
into Lorraine, part of which they ravaged without mercy. In September
prince Charles, with the Austrian army, entered the Brisgaw, and
attempted to pass the Rhine; but mareschal Coigny had taken such
precautions for guarding it on the other side, that he was obliged
to abandon his design, and marching back into the Upper Palatinate,
quartered his troops in that country, and in Bavaria. By this time the
earl of Stair had solicited and obtained leave to resign his command.
He had for some time thought himself neglected; and was unwilling that
his reputation should suffer on account of measures in which he had no
concern. In October the king of Great Britain returned to Hanover,
and the army separated. The troops in British pay marched back to
the Netherlands, and the rest took their route to their respective
countries. The states-general still wavered between their own immediate
interest and their desire to support the house of Austria. At length,
however, they supplied her with a subsidy, and ordered twenty thousand
men to march to her assistance, notwithstanding the intrigues of
the marquis de Fenelon, the French ambassador at the Hague, and the
declaration of the king of Prussia, who disapproved of this measure, and
refused them a passage through his territories to the Rhine.
AFFAIRS IN THE NORTH.
Sweden was filled with discontents, and divided into factions. The
generals Bodenbrock and Lewenhaupt were beheaded, having been sacrificed
as scape-goats for the ministry. Some unsuccessful efforts by sea
and land were made against the Russians. At last the peace of Abo was
concluded; and the duke of Holstein-Utin, uncle to the successor of the
Russian throne, was chosen as next heir to the crown of Sweden. A party
had been formed in favour of the prince of Denmark; and the order of the
peasants actually elected him as successor. The debates in the college
of nobles rose to a very dangerous degree of animosity, and were
appeased by an harangue in Swedish verse, which one of the senators
pronounced. The peasants yielded the point, and the succession was
settled on the duke of Holstein. Denmark, instigated by French councils,
began to make preparations of war against Sweden; but a body of Russian
auxiliaries arriving in that kingdom, under the command of general
Keith, and the czarina declaring she would assist the Swedes with her
whole force, the king of Denmark thought proper to disarm. It had been
an old maxim of French policy to embroil the courts of the North, that
they might be too much employed at home to intermeddle in the affairs
of Germany, while France was at war with the house of Austria. The good
understanding between the czarina and the queen of Hungary was at this
period destroyed, in consequence of a conspiracy which had been formed
by some persons of distinction at the court of Petersburgh, for
removing the empress Elizabeth, and recalling the princess Anne to the
administration. This design being discovered, the principal conspirators
were corporally punished, and sent in exile to Siberia. The marquis
de Botta, the Austrian minister who had resided at the court of the
czarina, was suspected of having been concerned in the plot; though the
grounds of this suspicion did not appear until after he was recalled,
and sent as ambassador to the court of Berlin. The empress demanded
satisfaction of the queen of Hungary, who appointed commissioners to
inquire into his conduct, and he was acquitted; but the czarina was not
at all satisfied of his innocence. In February a defensive treaty
of alliance was concluded between the princess and the king of Great
Britain.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
BATTLE OF CAMPO-SANTO.
By this time France was deprived of her ablest minister, in the death
of the cardinal de Fleury, who had for many years managed the affairs
of that kingdom. He is said to have possessed a lively genius, and
an insinuating address; to have been regular in his deportment, and
moderate in his disposition; but at the same time he has been branded
as deceitful, dissembling, and vindictive. His scheme of politics was
altogether pacific; he endeavoured to accomplish his purposes by raising
and fomenting intrigues at foreign courts; he did not seem to pay much
regard to the military glory of France; and he too much neglected the
naval power of that kingdom. Since Broglio was driven out of Germany,
the French court affected uncommon moderation. They pretended that their
troops had only acted as auxiliaries while they remained in the empire;
being, however, apprehensive of an irruption into their own dominions,
they declared that those troops were no longer to be considered in that
light, but as subjects acting in the service of France. The campaign in
Italy proved unfavourable to the Spaniards. In the beginning of February
count Gages, who commanded the Spanish army in the Bolognese, amounting
to four-and-twenty thousand men, passed the Penaro, and advanced to
Cam-po-Santo, where he encountered the Imperial and Pied-montese forces,
commanded by the counts Traun and Aspremont. The strength of the two
armies was nearly equal. The action was obstinate and bloody, though
indecisive. The Spaniards lost about four thousand men, killed, wounded,
or taken. The damage sustained by the confederates was not quite so
great. Some cannon and colours were taken on both sides; and each
claimed the victory. Count Gages repassed the Penaro; retreated suddenly
from Bologna; and marched to Rimini in the ecclesiastical state,
where he fortified his camp in an advantageous situation, after having
suffered severely by desertion. Count Traun remained inactive in
the Modenese till September, when he resigned his command to prince
Lobkowitz. This general entered the Bolognese in October, and then
advanced towards count Gages, who, with his forces, now induced to seven
thousand, retreated to Fano; but afterwards took possession of Pesaro,
and fortified all the passes of the river Froglia. The season was far
advanced before the Spanish troops, commanded by don Philip in Savoy,
entered upon action. In all probability, the courts of Versailles and
Madrid carried on some private negotiation with the king of Sardinia.
This expedient failing, don Philip decamped from Chamberri in the latter
end of August, and defiling through Dauphiné towards Briancon, was
joined by the prince of Conti, at the head of twenty thousand French
auxiliaries. Thus reinforced, he attacked the Piedmontese lines at
Chateau Dauphine; but was repulsed in several attempts, and obliged
to retreat with considerable loss. The French established their winter
quarters in Dauphiné and Provence; and the Spaniards maintained their
footing in Savoy.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRITISH FLEET.
The British fleet, commanded by admiral Matthews, overawed all the
states that bordered on the Mediterranean. This officer, about the end
of June, tinder-standing that fourteen xebecks, laden with artillery and
ammunition for the Spanish army, had arrived at Genoa, sailed thither
from the road of Hieres, and demanded of the republic that they would
either oblige these vessels with the stores to quit their harbour, or
sequester their lading until a general peace should be established.
After some dispute, it was agreed that the cannon and stores should be
deposited in the castle of Bonifacio, situated on a rock at the south
end of Corsica; and that the xebecks should have leave to retire without
molestation. The Corsicans had some years before revolted, and shaken
off the dominion of the Genoese, under which their island had remained
for many centuries. They found themselves oppressed, and resolved to
assert their freedom. They conferred the sovereign authority on a German
adventurer, who was solemnly proclaimed by the name of king Theodore.
He had supplied them with some arms and ammunition, which he had brought
from Tunis; and amused them with promises of being assisted by foreign
powers in retrieving their independency; but as these promises were not
performed, they treated him so roughly, that he had thought proper to
quit the island, and they submitted again to their old masters. The
troubles of Corsica were now revived. Theodore revisited his kingdom,
and was recognised by the principal chiefs of the island. He published
a manifesto; he granted a general pardon to all his subjects who should
return to their obedience; he pretended to be countenanced and supported
by the king of Great Britain and the queen of Hungary. He was certainly
thought a proper instrument to perplex and harass the Genoese, and
supplied at this juncture with a sum of money to purchase arms for the
Corsicans; but a change soon happened in the British ministry, and
then he was suffered to relapse into his original obscurity. Admiral
Matthews, though he did not undertake any expedition of importance
against the maritime towns of Spain, continued to assert the British
empire at sea through the whole extent of the Mediterranean. The Spanish
army under don Philip was no sooner in motion, than the English admiral
ordered some troops and cannon to be disembarked for the security of
Villa-Franca. Some stores having been landed at Civita-Vecchia, for the
use of the Spanish forces under count Gages, Matthews interpreted
this transaction into a violation of the neutrality which the pope had
professed, and sent thither a squadron to bombard the place. The city
of Eome was filled with consternation; and the pope had recourse to
the good offices of his Sardinian majesty, in consequence of which
the English squadron was ordered to withdraw. The captains of single
cruising ships, by their activity and vigilance, wholly interrupted the
commerce of Spain; cannonaded and burned some towns on the seaside, and
kept the whole coast in continual alarm. [283] _[See note 2 N, at the
end of this Vol.]_
FRUITLESS ATTEMPTS UPON THE SPANISH SETTLEMENTS.
In the West Indies some unsuccessful efforts were made by an English
squadron, commanded by commodore Knowles. He attacked La Gueir on the
coast of Carraccas, in the month of February; but met with such a warm
reception, that he was obliged to desist, and make the best of his
way for the Dutch island Curacoa, where he repaired the damage he had
sustained. His ships being refitted, he made another attempt upon Porte
Cavallo in April, which like the former miscarried. Twelve hundred
marines being landed in the neighbourhood of the place, were seized
with such a panic, that it was found necessary to re-embark them without
delay. Then the commodore abandoned the enterprise and sailed back to
his station at the Leeward Islands, without having added much to his
reputation, either as to conduct or resolution. On the continent of
America the operations of the war were very inconsiderable. General
Oglethorpe having received intelligence that the Spaniards prepared for
another invasion from St. Augustine, assembled a body of Indians, as
a reinforcement to part of his own regiment, with the highlanders and
rangers, and in the spring began his march, in order to anticipate the
enemy. He encamped for some time in the neighbourhood of St. Augustine,
by way of a defiance; but they did not think proper to hazard an
engagement; and as he was in no condition to undertake a siege, he
returned to Georgia. In October the princess Louisa, youngest daughter
of his Britannic majesty, was married by proxy, at Hanover, to the
prince-royal of Denmark, who met her at Altona, and conducted her to
Copenhagen.