CHAPTER VI.

_The Rebels are totally defeated at Culloden..... The Duke

of Cumberland takes Possession of Inverness, and afterwards

encamps at Fort-Augustus..... The Prince Pretender escapes

to France..... Convulsion in the Ministry..... Liberality of

the Commons..... Trial of the Rebels..... Kilmarnock,

Balmerino, Lovat, and Mr. Ratcliff, are beheaded on Tower-

hill..... The States-general alarmed at the Progress of the

French in the Netherlands..... Count Saxa subdues all

Flanders, Brabant, and Hainault..... Reduces the strong

Fortress of Namur, and defeats the Allied Army at

Roucoux..... The French and Spaniards are compelled to

abandon Piedmont and the Milanese..... Don Philip is worsted

at Codogno, and afterwards at Porto Freddo..... The

Austrians take Possession of Genoa..... Count Brown

penetrates into Provence..... The Genoese expel the

Austrians from their City..... Madras in the East Indies

taken by the French..... Expedition to the Coast of

Bretagne, and Attempt upon Port L’Orient..... Naval

Transactions in the West-Indies..... Conferences at

Breda..... Vast Supplies granted by the Commons of

England..... Parliament dissolved..... The French and Allies

take the Field in Flanders..... Prince of Orange elected

Stadtholder, Captain-general, and Admiral of the United

Provinces..... The Confederates defeated at Laffeldt.....

Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom--The Austrians undertake the Siege

of Genoa, which however, they abandon..... The Chevalier de

Belleisle slain in the Attack of Exilles..... A French

Squadron defeated and taken by the Admirals Anson and

Warren..... Admiral Hawke obtains another Victory over the

French at Sea..... Other Naval Transactions..... Congress at

Aix-la-Chapelle..... Compliant Temper of the new

Parliament..... Preliminaries signed..... Preparations for

the Campaign in the Netherlands..... Siege of

Maestrieht..... Cessation of Arms..... Transactions in the

East and West Indies..... Conclusion of the Definitive

Treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle_

THE REBELS ARE TOTALLY DEFEATED.

In the beginning of April, the duke of Cumberland began his march from

Aberdeen, and on the twelfth passed the deep and rapid river Spey,

without opposition from the rebels, though a detachment of them appeared

on the opposite side. Why they did not dispute the passage is not easy

to be conceived; But, indeed, from this instance of neglect, and their

subsequent conduct, we may conclude they were under a total infatuation.

His royal highness proceeded to Nairn, where he received intelligence

that the enemy had advanced from Inverness to Culloden, about the

distance of nine miles from the royal army, with intention to give him

battle. The design of Charles was to march in the night from Culloden,

and surprise the duke’s army at day-break; for this purpose the English

camp had been reconnoitred; and on the night of the fifteenth the

highland army began to march in two columns. Their design was to

surround the enemy, and attack them at once on all quarters; but the

length of the columns embarrassed the march, so that the army was

obliged to make many halts: the men had been under arms during the whole

preceding night, were faint with hunger and fatigue, and many of them

overpowered with sleep. Some were unable to proceed; others dropped off

unperceived in the dark; and the march was retarded in such a manner,

that it would have been impossible to reach the duke’s camp before

sun-rise. The design being thus frustrated, the prince-pretender was

with great reluctance prevailed upon by his general officers to measure

back his way to Culloden; at which place he had no sooner arrived, than

great numbers of his followers dispersed in quest of provisions; and

many, overcome with weariness and sleep, threw themselves down on

the heath and along the park walls. Their repose, however, was soon

interrupted in a very disagreeable manner. Their prince receiving

intelligence that his enemies were in full march to attack him, resolved

to hazard an engagement, and ordered his troops to be formed for that

purpose. On the sixteenth day of April, the duke of Cumberland, having

made the proper dispositions, decamped from Nairn early in the morning,

and after a march of nine miles perceived the highlanders drawn up

in order of battle, to the number of four thou-sand men, in thirteen

divisions, supplied with some pieces of artillery. The royal army, which

was much more numerous, the duke immediately formed into three lines,

disposed in excellent order: and about one o’clock in the afternoon the

cannonading began. The artillery of the rebels was ill served, and

did very little execution; but that of the king’s troops made dreadful

havock among the enemy. Impatient of this fire, their front line

advanced to the attack, and about five hundred of the clans charged

the duke’s left wing with their usual impetuosity. One regiment was

disordered by the weight of this column; but two battalions advancing

from the second line, sustained the first, and soon put a stop to their

career, by a severe fire, that killed a great number. At the same time

the dragoons under Hawley, and the Argyleshire militia, pulled down a

park wall that covered their flank, and the cavalry falling in among

the rebels sword in hand, completed their confusion. The French picquets

on their left, covered the retreat of the highlanders by a close and

regular fire; and then retired to Inverness, where they surrendered

themselves prison-ers of war. An entire body of the rebels marched

off the field in order, with their pipes playing, and the pre-tender’s

standard displayed; the rest were routed with great slaughter; and their

prince was with reluctance prevailed upon to retire. In less than thirty

minutes they were totally defeated, and the field covered with the

slain. The road, as far as Inverness, was strewed with dead bodies; and

a great number of people, who from motives of curiosity had come to

see the battle, were sacrificed to the undistinguished vengeance of the

victors. Twelve hundred rebels were slain or wounded on the field, and

in the pursuit. The earl of Kilmarnock was taken; and in a few days

lord Balmerino surrendered to a country gentleman, at whose house he

presented himself for this purpose. The glory of the victory was sullied

by the barbarity of the soldiers. They had been provoked by their former

disgraces to the most savage thirst of revenge. Not contented with the

blood which was so profusely shed in the heat of action, they traversed

the field after the battle, and massacred those miserable wretches who

lay maimed and expiring: nay, some officers acted a part in this cruel

scene of assassination, the triumph of low illiberal minds, uninspired

by sentiment, untinctured by humanity. The vanquished adventurer rode

off the field, accompanied by the duke of Perth, lord Elcho, and a few

horsemen; he crossed the water at Nairn, and retired to the house of a

gentleman in Strutharrick, where he conferred with old lord Lovat; then

he dismissed his followers, and wandered about a wretched and solitary

fugitive among the isles and mountains for the space of five months,

during which he underwent such a series of dangers, hardships, and

misery, as no other person ever outlived. Thus, in one short hour, all

his hope vanished, and the rebellion was entirely extinguished. One

would almost imagine, the conductors of this desperate enterprise had

conspired their own destruction, as they certainly neglected every step

that might have contributed to their safety or success. They might have

opposed the duke of Cumberland at the passage of the Spey; they might,

by proper conduct, have afterwards attacked his camp in the night, with

a good prospect of success. As they were greatly inferior to him in

number, and weakened with hunger and fatigue, they might have retired

to the hills and fastnesses, where they would have found plenty of live

cattle for provision, recruited their regiments, and been joined by

a strong reinforcement, which was actually in full march to their

assistance. But they were distracted by dissensions and jealousies; they

obeyed the dictates of despair, and wilfully devoted themselves to ruin

and death. When the news of the battle arrived in England, the nation

was transported with joy, and extolled the duke of Cumberland as a hero

and deliverer, Both houses of parliament congratulated his majesty on

the auspicious event. They decreed, in the most solemn manner, their

public thanks to his royal highness, which were transmitted to him by

the speakers; and the commons, by bill, added five-and-twenty thousand

pounds per annum to his former revenue.

[Illustration: 298.jpg CULLODEN MOOR]

THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND TAKES POSSESSION OF INVERNESS.

Immediately after the decisive action at Culloden, the duke took

possession of Inverness, where six-and-thirty deserters, convicted by

a court-martial, were ordered to be executed: then he detached several

parties to ravage the country. One of these apprehended the lady

Mackintosh, who was sent prisoner to Inverness. They did not plunder her

house, but drove away her cattle, though her husband was actually in

the service of government. The castle of lord Lovat was destroyed.

The French prisoners were sent to Carlisle and Penrith: Kilmarnock,

Balmerino, Cromartie, and his son the lord Macleod, were conveyed by

sea to London; and those of an inferior rank were confined in different

prisons. The marquis of Tullibardine, together with a brother of the

earl of Dunmore, were seized and transported to the Tower of London, to

which the earl of Traquaire had been committed on suspicion: in a few

months after the battle of Culloden, Murray, the pretender’s secretary,

was apprehended; and the eldest son of lord Lovat, having surrendered

himself, was imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh. In a word, all the

gaols of Great Britain, from the capital northwards, were filled with

those unfortunate captives; and great numbers of them were crowded

together in the holds of ships, where they perished in the most

deplorable manner, for the want of necessaries, air, and exercise. Some

rebel chiefs escaped in two French frigates, which had arrived on the

coast of Lochaber about the end of April, and engaged three vessels

belonging to his Britannic majesty, which they obliged to retire. Others

embarked on board of a ship on the coast of Buchan, and were conveyed to

Norway; from thence they travelled to Sweden. In the month of May, the

duke of Cumberland advanced with the army into the highlands as far as

Fort-Augustus, where he encamped, and sent off detachments on all hands

to hunt down the fugitives, and lay waste the country with fire and

sword. The castles of Glengary and Lochiel were plundered and burned;

every house, hut, or habitation, met with the same fate without

distinction; all the cattle and provision were carried off; the men were

either shot upon the mountains like wild beasts, or put to death in

cold blood, without form of trial; the women, after having seen their

husbands and fathers murdered, were subjected to brutal violation, and

then turned out naked, with their children, to starve on the barren

heaths. One whole family was enclosed in a barn, and consumed to ashes.

Those ministers of vengeance were so alert in the execution of their

office, that in a few days there was neither house, cottage, man, nor

beast, to be seen in the compass of fifty miles: all was ruin, silence,

and desolation.

THE PRETENDER ESCAPES TO FRANCE.

The humane reader cannot reflect upon such a scene without grief and

horror; what then must have been the sensation of the fugitive prince,

when he beheld these spectacles of woe, the dismal fruit of his

ambition? He was now surrounded by armed troops, that chased him from

hill to dale, from rock to cavern, and from shore to shore. Sometimes he

lurked in caves and cottages, without attendants, or any other support

but that which the poorest peasant could supply. Sometimes he was rowed

in fisher-boats from isle to isle among the Hebrides, and often in sight

of his pursuers. For some days he appeared in woman’s attire, and even

passed through the midst of his enemies unknown. But understanding

his disguise was discovered, he assumed the habit of a travelling

mountaineer, and wandered about among the woods and heaths, with

a matted beard, and squalid looks, exposed to hunger, thirst, and

weariness, and in continual danger of being apprehended. He was obliged

to trust his life to the fidelity of above fifty individuals, and many

of these were in the lowest paths of fortune. They knew that a price

of thirty thousand pounds was set upon his head; and that, by betraying

him, they should enjoy wealth and affluence: but they detested the

thought of obtaining riches on such infamous terms, and ministered to

his necessities with the utmost zeal and fidelity, even at the hazard

of their own destruction. In the course of these peregrinations, he was

more than once hemmed in by his pursuers in such a manner as seemed to

preclude all possibility of escaping; yet he was never abandoned by his

hope and recollection; he still found some expedient that saved him

from captivity and death; and through the whole course of his distresses

maintained the most amazing equanimity and good humour. At length a

privateer of Saint Malo, hired by the young Sheridan and some other

Irish adherents, arrived in Lochnannach; and on the twentieth day of

September, this unfortunate prince embarked in the habit which he wore

for disguise. His eye was hollow, his visage wan, and his constitution

greatly impaired by famine and fatigue. He was accompanied by Cameron

of Lochiel and his brother, with a few other exiles. They set sail for

France, and after having passed unseen, by means of a thick fog, through

a British squadron commanded by admiral Lestock, and been chased by

two English ships of war, arrived in safety at Roscau, near Morlaix, in

Bretagne. Perhaps he would have found it still more difficult to escape,

had not the vigilance and eagerness of the government been relaxed, in

consequence of a report that he had already fallen among some persons

that were slain by a volley from one of the duke’s detachments.

CONVULSION IN THE MINISTRY.

Having thus explained the rise, progress, and extinction of the

rebellion, it will be necessary to take a retrospective view of the

proceedings in parliament. The necessary steps being taken for quieting

the intestine commotions of the kingdom, the two houses began to convert

their attention to the affairs of the continent. On the fourteenth day

of January, the king repaired to the house of peers, and, in a

speech from the throne, gave his parliament to understand that the

states-general had made pressing instances for his assistance in the

present conjuncture, when they were in such danger of being oppressed

by the power of France in the Netherlands; that he had promised to

co-operate with them towards opposing the further progress of their

enemies; and even concerted measures for that purpose. He declared

it was with regret that he asked any further aids of his people; he

exhorted them to watch over the public credit; and expressed his entire

dependence on their zeal and unanimity. He was favoured with loyal

addresses, couched in the warmest terms of duty and affection; but the

supplies were retarded by new convulsions in the ministry. The earl of

Granville had made an effort to retrieve his influence in the cabinet,

and his sovereign favoured his pretensions. The two brothers, who knew

his aspiring genius, and dreaded his superior talents, refused to

admit such a colleague into the administration; they even resolved to

strengthen their party, by introducing fresh auxiliaries into the office

of state. Some of these were personally disagreeable to his majesty, who

accordingly rejected the suit by which they were recommended. The duke

of Newcastle and his brother, with all their adherents, immediately

resigned their employments. The earl of Granville was appointed

secretary of state, and resumed the reins of administration; but,

finding himself unequal to the accumulated opposition that preponderated

against him; foreseeing that he should not be able to secure the

supplies in parliament; and dreading the consequence of that confusion

which his restoration had already produced, he, in three days,

voluntarily quitted the helm; and his majesty acquiesced in the measures

proposed by the opposite party. The seals were re-delivered to the duke

of Newcastle and the earl of Harrington; Mr. Pel-ham, and all the rest

who had resigned, were reinstated in their respective employments; and

offices were conferred on several individuals who had never before been

in the service of the government. William Pitt, esq., was appointed

vice-treasurer of Ireland, and soon promoted to the place of

paymaster-general of the forces; at the same time the king declared him

a privy-counsellor. This gentleman had been originally designed for the

army, in which he actually bore a commission; but fate reserved him a

more important station. In point of fortune he was barely qualified to

be elected member of parliament, when he obtained a seat in the house

of commons, where he soon outshone all his compatriots. He displayed a

surprising extent and precision of political knowledge, an irresistible

energy of argument, and such power of elocution as struck his hearers

with astonishment and admiration. It flashed like the lightning of

heaven against the ministers and sons of corruption, blasting where it

smote, and withering the nerves of opposition; but his more substantial

praise was founded upon his disinterested integrity his incorruptible

heart, his unconquerable spirit of independence, and his invariable

attachment to the interest and liberty of his country.

The quiet of the ministry being re-established, the house of commons

provided for forty thousand seamen, nearly the same number of land

forces, besides fifteen regiments raised by the nobility on account of

the rebellion, and about twelve thousand marines. They settled funds for

the maintenance of the Dutch and Hessian troops that were in England,

as well as for the subsidy to the landgrave. They granted three hundred

thousand pounds to the king of Sardinia; four hundred thousand pounds

to the queen of Hungary; three hundred and ten thousand pounds to defray

the expense of eighteen thousand Hanoverians; about three-and-thirty

thousand pounds in subsidies to the electors of Mentz and Cologn; and

five hundred thousand pounds in a vote of credit and confidence to his

majesty. The whole charge of the current year amounted to seven millions

two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, which was raised by the land

and malt taxes, annuities on the additional duties imposed on glass and

spirituous liquors, a lottery, a deduction from the sinking fund, and

exchequer bills, chargeable on the first aids that should be granted in

the next session of parliament.

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE REBELS.

The rebellion being quelled, the legislature resolved to make examples

of those who had been concerned in disturbing the peace of their

country. In June, an act of attainder was passed against the principal

persons who had embarked in that desperate undertaking; and courts were

opened in different parts of England for the trial of the prisoners.

Seventeen persons who had borne arms in the rebel army were executed

at Kennington Common, in the neighbourhood of London, and suffered

with great constancy under the dreadful tortures which their sentence

prescribed; nine were put to death in the same manner at Carlisle; six

at Brampton, seven at Penrith, eleven at York: of these a considerable

number were gentlemen, and had acted as officers; about fifty had

been executed as deserters in different parts of Scotland; eighty-one

suffered the pains of the law as traitors. A few obtained pardons, and

a considerable number were transported to the plantations. Bills of

indictment for high treason were found by the county of Surrey against

the earls of Kilmarnock and Cromartie, and lord Balmerino. These

noblemen were tried by their peers in Westminster-hall, the lord

chancellor presiding as lord high-steward for the occasion. The two

earls confessed their crimes, and in pathetic speeches recommended

themselves to his majesty’s mercy. Lord Balmerino pleaded not guilty;

he denied his having been at Carlisle at the time specified in the

indictment, but this exception was over-ruled; then he moved a point of

law in arrest of judgment, and was allowed to be heard by his counsel.

They might have expatiated on the hardship of being tried by an ex post

facto law; and claimed the privilege of trial in the county where the

act of treason was said to have been committed. The same hardship was

imposed upon all the imprisoned rebels: they were dragged in captivity

to a strange country, far from their friends and connexions, destitute

of means to produce evidence in their favour, even if they had been

innocent of the charge. Balmerino waived this plea, and submitted to

the court, which pronounced sentence of death upon him and his two

associates. Cromartie’s life was spared; but the other two were

beheaded, in the month of August, on Tower-hill. Kilmarnock was a

nobleman of fine personal accomplishments; he had been educated in

revolution principles, and engaged in the rebellion partly from the

desperate situation of his fortune, and partly from resentment to the

government, on his being deprived of a pension which he had for some

time enjoyed. He was convinced of his having acted criminally, and died

with marks of penitence and contrition. Balmerino had been bred up

to arms, and acted upon principle: he was gallant, brave, rough,

and resolute; he eyed the implements of death with the most careless

familiarity, and seemed to triumph in his sufferings. In November, Mr.

Ratcliffe, the titular earl of Derwentwater, who had been taken in

a ship bound for Scotland, was arraigned on a former sentence passed

against him in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixteen: he

refused to acknowledge the authority of the court, and pleaded that he

was a subject of France, honoured with a commission in the service of

his most christian majesty. The identity of his person being proved, a

rule was made for his execution; and on the eighth day of December he

suffered decapitation, with the most perfect composure and serenity.

Lord Lovat, now turned of four-score, was impeached by the commons, and

tried in Westminster-hall before the lord high-steward. John Murray,

secretary to the prince-pretender, and some of his own domestics,

appearing against him, he was convicted of high treason, and condemned.

Notwithstanding his age, infirmities, and the recollection of his

conscience, which was supposed to be not altogether void of offence,

he died like an old Roman, exclaiming, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria

mori.” He surveyed the crowd with attention, examined the axe, jested

with the executioner, and laid his head upon the block with the utmost

indifference. From this last scene of his life, one would have concluded

that he had approved himself a patriot from his youth, and never

deviated from the paths of virtue.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

THE STATES-GENERAL ALARMED AT THE PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH.

The flame of war on the continent did not expire at the election of

an emperor, and the re-establishment of peace among the princes of the

empire. On the contrary, it raged with double violence in consequence of

these events; for the force that was before divided being now united

in one body, exerted itself with great vigour and rapidity. The

states-general were overwhelmed with consternation. Notwithstanding the

pains they had taken to avoid a war, and the condescension with

which they had soothed and supplicated the French monarch in repeated

embassies and memorials, they saw themselves striped of their barrier,

and once mere in danger of being overwhelmed by that ambitious nation.

The city of Brussels had been reduced during the winter; so that the

enemy were in possession of all the Austrian Netherlands, except a few

fortresses. Great part of the forces belonging to the republic were

restricted from action by capitulations, to which they had subscribed.

The states were divided in their councils between the two factions which

had long subsisted. They trembled at the prospect of seeing Zealand

invaded in the spring. The Orange party loudly called for an

augmentation of their forces by sea and land, that they might prosecute

the war with vigour. The common people, fond of novelty, dazzled by the

splendour of greatness, and fully persuaded that nothing but a chief

was wanting to their security, demanded the prince of Orange as a

stadtholder; and even mingled menaces with their demands. The opposite

faction dreaded alike the power of a stadtholder, the neighbourhood of

a French army, and the seditious disposition of the populace. An

ambassador was sent to London with representations of the imminent

dangers which threatened the republic, and he was ordered to solicit in

the most pressing terms the assistance of his Britannic majesty, that

the allies might have a superiority in the Netherlands by the beginning

of the campaign. The king was very well disposed to comply with their

request; but the rebellion in his kingdom, and the dissensions in his

cabinet, had retailed the supplies and embarrassed him so much, that he

found it impossible to make those early preparations that were necessary

to check the career of the enemy.

COUNT SAXE SUBDUES ALL FLANDERS, BRABANT, AND HAINAULT.

The king of France, with his general the count de Saxe, took the field

in the latter end of April, at the head of one hundred and twenty

thousand men, and advanced towards the allies, who, to the number of

four-and-forty thousand, were intrenched behind the Demer under the

conduct of the Austrian general Bathiani, who retired before them, and

took post in the neighbourhood of Breda, the capital of Dutch Brabant.

Mareschal Saxe immediately invested Antwerp, which in a few days

was surrendered. Then he appeared before the strong town of Mons in

Hainault, with an irresistible train of artillery, and an immense

quantity of bombs and warlike implements. He carried on his approaches

with such unabating impetuosity, that, notwithstanding a very vigorous

defence, the garrison was obliged to capitulate on the twenty-seventh

day of June, in about eight-and-twenty days after the place had been

invested. Sieges were not now carried on by the tedious method of

sapping. The French king found it much more expeditious and effectual

to bring into the field a prodigious train of battering cannon, and

enormous mortars, that kept up such a fire as no garrison could sustain,

and discharged such an incessant hail of bombs and bullets, as in a very

little time reduced to ruins the place with all its fortifications. St.

Guislain and Charleroy met with the fate of Mons and Antwerp; so that

by the middle of July the French king was absolute master of Flanders,

Brabant, and Hainault.

Prince Charles of Lorraine had by this time assumed the command of the

confederate army at Terheyde, which being reinforced by the Hessian

troops from Scotland, and a fresh body of Austrians under count Palfi,

amounted to eighty-seven thousand men, including the Dutch forces

commanded by the prince of Waldeck. The generals, supposing the next

storm would fall upon Namur, marched towards that place, and took post

in an advantageous situation on the eighteenth day of July, in sight

of the French army, which was encamped at Gemblours, Here they remained

till the eighth day of August, when a detachment of the enemy, commanded

by count Lowendahl, took possession of Huy, where he found a large

magazine belonging to the confederates; and their communication with

Maestricht was cut off. Mareschal Saxe, on the other side, took his

measures so well, that they were utterly deprived of all subsistence.

Then prince Charles, retiring across the Maese, abandoned Namur to the

efforts of the enemy, by whom it was immediately invested. The trenches

were opened on the second day of September; and the garrison, consisting

of seven thousand Austrian-s, defended themselves with equal skill and

resolution; but the cannonading and bombardment were so terrible, that

in a few days the place was converted into a heap of rubbish; and on the

twenty-third day of the month the French monarch took possession of this

strong fortress, which had formerly sustained such dreadful attacks.

Meanwhile the allied army encamped at Maestricht, were joined by sir

John Ligonier with some British and Bavarian battalions; and prince

Charles resolved to give the enemy battle. With this view he passed the

Maese on the thirteenth day of September, and advanced towards mareschal

Saxe, whom he found so advantageously posted at Tongres, that he thought

proper to march back to Maestricht. On the twenty-sixth day of September

he crossed the Jaar in his retreat; and his rear was attacked by the

enemy, who were repulsed. But count Saxe being reinforced by a body of

troops under the count de Clermont, determined to bring the confederates

to an engagement. On the thirteenth day of the month he passed the Jaar;

while they took possession of the villages of Liers, Warem, and Roucoux,

drew up their forces in order of battle, and made preparations for

giving him a warm reception. On the first day of October the enemy

advanced in three columns; and a terrible cannonading began about noon.

At two o’clock prince Waldeck on the left was charged with great fury;

and, after an obstinate defence, overpowered by numbers. The villages

were attacked in columns, and as one brigade was repulsed another

succeeded; so that the allies were obliged to abandon these posts,

and retreat towards Maestricht, with the loss of five thousand men

and thirty pieces of artillery. The victory, however, cost the French

general a much greater number of lives; and was attended with no solid

advantage. Sir John ligonier, the earls of Crawford [301] _[See note 2

O, at the end of this Vol.]_ and Rothes, brigadier Douglas, and other

officers of the British troops, distinguished themselves by their

gallantry and conduct on this occasion. This action terminated the

campaign. The allies passing the Maese, took up their winter-quarters in

the duchies of Limeburgh and Luxembourg; while the French cantoned their

troops in the places which they had newly conquered.

THE FRENCH AND SPANIARDS ABANDON PIEDMONT AND THE MILANESE.

The campaign in Italy was altogether unfavourable to the French and

Spaniards. The house of Austria being no longer pressed on the side of

Germany, was enabled to make the stronger efforts in this country;

and the British subsidy encouraged the king of Sardinia to act with

redoubled vivacity. Mareschal Maillebois occupied the greater part of

Piedmont with about thirty thousand men. Don Philip and the count de

Gages were at the head of a greater number in the neighbourhood of

Milan; and the duke of Modena, with eight thousand, secured his own

dominions. The king of Sardinia augmented his forces to six-and-thirty

thousand; and the Austrian army, under the prince of Lichtenstein,

amounted to a much greater number; so that the enemy were reduced to the

necessity of acting on the defensive, and retired towards the Mantuan.

In February, baron Leutrum, the Piedmontese general, invested and took

the strong fortress of Aste. He afterwards relieved the citadel of

Alexandria, which the Spaniards had blocked up in the winter, reduced

Casal, recovered Valencia, and obliged Maillebois to retire to the

neighbourhood of Genoa. On the other side, Don Philip and count Gages

abandoned Milan, Pavia, and Parma, retreating before the Austrians with

the utmost precipitation to Placentia, where they were joined on the

third of June by the French forces under Maillebois.

Before this junction was effected, the Spanish general Pignatelli had

passed the river Po in the night with a strong detachment, and beaten up

the quarters of seven thousand Austrians posted at Codogno. Don

Philip, finding himself at the head of two-and-fifty thousand men by his

junction with the French general, resolved to attack the Austrians

in their camp at San Lazaro, before they should be reinforced by his

Sardinian majesty. Accordingly, on the fourth day of June, in the

evening, he marched with equal silence and expedition, and entered the

Austrian trenches about eleven, when a desperate battle ensued. The

Austrians were prepared for the attack, which they sustained with great

vigour till morning. Then they quitted their intrench-ments, and

charged the enemy in their turn with such fury, that after an obstinate

resistance the combined army was broke, and retired with precipitation

to Placentia, leaving on the field fifteen thousand men killed,

wounded, and taken, together with sixty colours and ten pieces of

artillery. In a few weeks the Austrians were joined by the Piedmontese;

the king of Sardinia assumed the chief command; and prince Lichtenstein

being indisposed, his place was supplied by the marquis de Botta. Don

Philip retired to the other side of the Po, and extended his conquests

in the open country of the Milanese. The king of Sardinia called a

council of war, in which it was determined that he should pass the river

with a strong body of troops, in order to straiten the enemy on one

side; while the marquis de Botta should march up the Tydone, to cut off

their communication with Placentia. They forthwith quitted all the posts

they had occupied between the Lambro and Adda, resolving to repass the

Po and retreat to Tortona. With, this view they threw bridges of boats

over that river, and began to pass on the ninth day of August in

the evening. They were attacked at Rotto Freddo by a detachment of

Austrians, under general Serbelloni, who maintained the engagement till

ten in the morning, when Botta arrived; the battle was renewed with

redoubled rage, and lasted till four in the afternoon, when the enemy

retired in great disorder to Tortona, with the loss of eight thousand

men, a good number of colours and standards, and eighteen pieces of

cannon. This victory cost the Austrians four thousand men killed

upon the spot, including the gallant general Bernclau. The victors

immediately summoned Placentia to surrender; and the garrison, consisting

of nine thousand men, were made prisoners of war; Don Philip continued

his retreat, and of all his forces brought six-and-twenty thousand only

into the territories of Genoa.

THE AUSTRIANS TAKE POSSESSION OF GENOA. COUNT BROWN ENTERS PROVENCE.

The Piedmontese and Austrians rejoining in the neighbourhood of Pavia,

advanced to Tortona, of which they took possession without resistance,

while the enemy sheltered themselves under the cannon of Genoa. They

did not long continue in this situation; for on the twenty-second day of

August they were again in motion, and retired into Provence. The court

of Madrid imputing the bad success of this campaign to the misconduct of

count Gages, recalled that general, and sent the marquis de las Minas

to resume the command of the forces. In the meantime, the victorious

confederates appeared before Genoa on the fourth day of December; and

the senate of that city thinking it incapable of defence, submitted to

a very mortifying capitulation, by which the gates were delivered up to

the Austrians, together with all their arms, artillery, and ammunition;

and the city was subjected to the most cruel contributions. The marquis

de Botta being left at Genoa with sixteen thousand men, the king of

Sardinia resolved to pass the Var, and pursue the French and Spaniards

into Provence; but that monarch being seized with the small-pox, the

conduct of this expedition was entrusted to count Brown, an Austrian

general of Irish extract, who had given repeated proofs of uncommon

valour and capacity. He was on this occasion assisted by vice-admiral

Medley, who commanded the British squadron in the Mediterranean. The

French forces had fortified the passes of the Var, under the conduct of

the mareschal de Belleisle, who thought proper to abandon his posts

at the approach of count Brown; and this general, at the head of fifty

thousand men, passed the river without opposition, on the ninth day

of November. While he advanced as far as Draguignan, laying the open

country under contribution, baron Both, with four-and-twenty battalions,

invested Antibes, which was at the same time bombarded on the side

of the sea by the British squadron. The trenches were opened on the

twentieth day of September; but Belleisle having assembled a numerous

army, superior to that of the confederates, and the Genoese having

expelled their Austrian guests, count Brown abandoned the enterprise,

and repassed the Var, not without some damage from the enemy.

THE GENOESE EXPEL THE AUSTRIANS.

The court of Vienna, which has always patronised oppression, exacted

such heavy contribution from the Genoese, and its directions were so

rigorously put in execution, that the people were reduced to despair;

and resolved to make a last effort for the recovery of their liberty

and independence. Accordingly, they took arms in secret, seized several

important posts of the city; surprised some battalions of the Austrians;

surrounded others, and cut them in pieces; and, in a word, drove them

out with great slaughter. The marquis de Botta acted with caution

and spirit; but being overpowered by numbers, and apprehensive of the

peasants in the country, who were in arms, he retreated to the pass of

the Brochetta on the side of Lombardy, where he secured himself in an

advantageous situation, until he could receive reinforcements. The loss

he had sustained at Genoa did not hinder him from reducing Savona, a

sea-port town belonging to that republic; and he afterwards made himself

master of Gavi. The Genoese, on the contrary, exerted themselves with

wonderful industry in fortifying their city, raising troops, and in

taking other measures for a vigorous defence, in case they should again

be insulted.

MADRAS TAKEN BY THE FRENCH.

The naval transactions of this year reflected very little honour on the

British nation. Commodore Peyton, who commanded six ships of war in the

East Indies, shamefully declined a decisive engagement with a French

squadron of inferior force; and abandoned the important settlement of

Madras on the coast of Coromandel, which was taken without opposition in

the month of September by the French commodore, de la Bourdonnais. Fort

St. David, and the other British factories in India, would probably have

shared the same fate, had not the enemy’s naval force in that country

been shattered and partly destroyed by a terrible tempest. No event of

consequence happened in America, though it was a scene that seemed to

promise the greatest success to the arms of England. The reduction

of Cape Breton had encouraged the ministry to project the conquest of

Quebec, the capital of Canada, situated upon the river St. Lawrence.

Commissions were sent to the governors of the British colonies in North

America, empowering them to raise companies to join the armament from

England; and eight thousand troops were actually raised in consequence

of these directions; while a powerful squadron and transports, having

six regiments on board, were prepared at Portsmouth for this expedition.

But their departure was postponed by unaccountable delays, until the

season was judged too far advanced to risk the great ships on the

boisterous coast of North America. That the armament, however, might

not be wholly useless to the nation, it was employed in making a descent

upon the coast of Bretagne, on the supposition that Port L’Orient, the

repository of all the stores and ships belonging to the French East

India company, might be surprised; or, that this invasion would alarm

the enemy, and, by making a diversion, facilitate the operations of the

Austrian general in Provence.

The naval force intended for this service consisted of sixteen great

ships, and eight frigates, besides bomb-ketches and store ships,

commanded by Richard Lestock, appointed admiral of the blue division.

Six battalions of land troops, with a detachment of matrosses and

bombardiers, were embarked in thirty transports, under the conduct of

lieutenant-general Sinclair; and the whole fleet set sail from Plymouth

on the fourteenth day of September. On the twentieth the troops were

landed in Quimperlay-bay, at the distance of ten miles from Port

L’Orient. The militia, reinforced by some detachments from different

regiments, were assembled to the number of two thousand, and seemed

resolved to oppose the disembarkation; but seeing the British troops

determined to land at all events, they thought proper to retire. Next

day general Sinclair advanced into the country, skirmishing with the

enemy in his route; and arriving at the village of Plemure, within half

a league from Port L’Orient, summoned that place to surrender. He

was visited by a deputation from the town, which offered to admit

the British forces, on condition that they should be restrained from

pillaging the inhabitants, and touching the magazines; and that

they should pay a just price for their provisions. These terms being

rejected, the inhabitants prepared for a vigorous defence; and the

English general resolved to besiege the place in form, though he had

neither time, artillery, nor forces sufficient for such an enterprise.

This strange resolution was owing to the declaration of the engineers,

who promised to lay the place in ashes in the space of four-and-twenty

hours. All his cannon amounted to no more than a few field-pieces; and

he was obliged to wait for two iron guns, which the sailors dragged up

from the shipping. Had he given the assault on the first night after

his arrival, when the town was filled with terror and confusion, and

destitute of regular troops, in all probability it would have

been easily taken by scalade; but the reduction of it was rendered

impracticable by his delay. The ramparts were mounted with cannon from

the ships in the harbour; new works were raised with great industry; the

garrison was reinforced by several bodies of regular troops; and great

numbers were assembling from all parts; so that the British forces were

in danger of being surrounded in an enemy’s country. Notwithstanding

these discouragements, they opened a small battery against the town,

which was set on fire in several places by their bombs and red-hot

bullets; they likewise repulsed part of the garrison which had made a

sally to destroy their works; but their cannon producing no effect

upon the fortifications, the fire from the town daily increasing, the

engineers owning they could not perform their promise, and admiral

Lestock declaring, in repeated messages, that he could no longer

expose the ships on an open coast at such a season of the year, general

Sinclair abandoned the siege. Having caused the two iron pieces of

cannon and the mortars to be spiked, he retreated in good order to

the sea-side, where his troops were re-embarked, having sustained

very inconsiderable damage since their first landing. He expected

reinforcements from England, and was resolved to wait a little longer

for their arrival, in hopes of being able to annoy the enemy more

effectually. In the beginning of October, the fleet sailed to

Quiberon-bay, where they destroyed the Ardent, a French ship of war

of sixty-four guns; and a detachment of the forces being landed, took

possession of a fort in the peninsula; while the little islands of Houat

and Hey die were reduced by the sailors. In this situation the admiral

and general continued till the seventeenth day of the month, when the

forts being dismantled, and the troops re-embarked, the fleet sailed

from the French coast; the admiral returned to England, and the

transports with the soldiers proceeded to Ireland, where they arrived in

safety.

NAVAL TRANSACTIONS in the WEST INDIES.

This expedition, weak and frivolous as it may seem, was resented by the

French nation as one of the greatest insults they had ever sustained;

and demonstrated the possibility of hurting France in her tenderest

parts, by means of an armament of this nature, well timed, and

vigorously conducted. Indeed, nothing could be more absurd or

precipitate than an attempt to distress the enemy by landing a handful

of troops, without draught-horses, tents, or artillery, from a fleet of

ships lying on an open beach, exposed to the uncertainty of weather in

the most tempestuous season of the year, so as to render the retreat and

re-embarkation altogether precarious. The British squadrons in the West

Indies performed no exploit of consequence in the course of this year.

The commerce was but indifferently protected. Commodore Lee, stationed

off Martinico, allowed a French fleet of merchant-ships, and their

convoy, to pass by his squadron unmolested; and commodore Mitchel

behaved scandalously in a rencontre with the French squadron, under the

conduct of monsieur de Conflans, who in his return to Europe took

the Severn, an English ship of fifty guns. The cruisers on all sides,

English, French, and Spaniards, were extremely alert; and though the

English lost the greater number of ships, this difference was more than

overbalanced by the superior value of the prizes taken from the enemy.

In the course of this year, two-and-twenty Spanish privateers, and

sixty-six merchant vessels, including ten register ships, fell into the

hands of the British cruisers; from the French they took seven ships of

war, ninety privateers, and about three hundred ships of commerce. The

new king of Spain* being supposed well-affected to the British nation,

an effort was made to detach him from the interests of France, by means

of the marquis de Tabernega, who had formerly been his favourite, and

resided many years as a refugee in England.

* In the month of July, Philip king of Spain dying, in the

sixty-third year of his age, was succeeded by his eldest son

Ferdinand, born of Maria-Louisa Gabriela, sister to the late

king of Sardinia. He espoused Donna Maria Magdalena, infanta

of Portugal, but had no issue. Philip was but two days

survived by his daughter, the dauphiness of France. The same

month was remarkable for the death of Christian VI., king

of Denmark, succeeded by his son Frederick V., who had

married the princess Louisa, youngest daughter of the king

of Great Britain.

This nobleman proceeded to Lisbon, where a negotiation was set on foot

with the court of Madrid. But his efforts miscarried; and the influence

of the queen-mother continued to predominate in the Spanish councils.

The states-general had for some years endeavoured to promote a

pacification by remonstrances, and even entreaties, at the court of

Versailles; the French king at length discovered an inclination to

peace, and in September a congress was opened at Breda, the capital

of Dutch Brabant, where the plenipotentiaries of the emperor, Great

Britain, France, and Holland, were assembled; but the French were so

insolent in their demands, that the conferences were soon interrupted.

The parliament of Great Britain meeting in November, the king exhorted

them to concert with all possible expedition the proper measures

for pursuing the war with vigour, that the confederate army in the

Netherlands might be seasonably augmented; he likewise gave them to

understand, that the funds appropriated for the support of his civil

government had for some years past fallen short of the revenue intended

and granted by parliament; and said he relied on their known affection

to find out some method to make good this deficiency. As all those who

had conducted the opposition were now concerned in the administration,

little or no objection was made to any demand or proposal of the

government and its ministers. The commons having considered the

estimates, voted forty thousand seamen for the service of the ensuing

year, and about sixty thousand land-forces, including eleven thousand

five hundred marines. They granted four hundred and thirty-three

thousand pounds to the empress queen of Hungary; three hundred thousand

pounds to the king of Sardinia; four hundred and ten thousand pounds for

the maintenance of eighteen thousand Hanoverian auxiliaries; one hundred

and sixty one thousand six hundred and seven pounds for six thousand

Hessians; subsidies to the electors of Cologn, Mentz, and Bavaria;

and the sum of five hundred thousand pounds to enable his majesty to

prosecute the war with advantage. In a word, the supplies amounted to

nine millions four hundred and twenty-five thousand two hundred and

fifty-four pounds; a sum almost incredible, if we consider how the

kingdom had been already drained of its treasure. It was raised by the

usual taxes, reinforced with new impositions on windows, carriages, and

spirituous liquors; a lottery, and a loan from the sinking-fund. The new

taxes were mortgaged for four millions by transferable annuities, at

an interest of four, and a premium of ten per centum. By reflecting

on these enormous grants, one would imagine the ministry had been

determined to impoverish the nation; but from the eagerness and

expedition with which the people subscribed for the money, one would

conclude that the riches of the kingdom were inexhaustible. It may not

be amiss to observe, that the supplies of this year exceeded, by two

millions and a half, the greatest annual sum that was raised during the

reign of queen Anne, though she maintained as great a number of troops

as was now in the pay of Great Britain, and her armies and fleets

acquired every year fresh harvests of glory and advantage; whereas

this war had proved an almost uninterrupted series of events big with

disaster and dishonour. During the last two years, the naval expense of

England had exceeded that of France about five millions sterling; though

her fleets had not obtained one signal advantage over the enemy at sea,

nor been able to protect her commerce from their depredations. She was

at once a prey to her declared adversaries and professed friends. Before

the end of summer, she numbered among her mercenaries two empresses,

five German princes, and a powerful monarch, whom she hired to assist

her in trimming the balance of Europe, in which they themselves were

immediately interested, and she had no more than a secondary concern.

Had these fruitless subsidies been saved; had the national revenue

been applied with economy to national purposes; had it been employed in

liquidating gradually the public incumbrances: in augmenting the navy,

improving manufactures, encouraging and securing the colonies, and

extending trade and navigation; corruption would have become altogether

unnecessary, and disaffection would have vanished: the people would have

been eased of their burdens, and ceased to complain; commerce would

have flourished, and produced such affluence as must have raised Great

Britain to the highest pinnacle of maritime power, above all rivalship

of competition. She would have been dreaded by her enemies; revered by

her neighbours; oppressed nations would have crept under her wings for

protection; contending potentates would have appealed to her decision;

and she would have shone the universal arbitress of Europe. How

different is her present situation! her debts are enormous, her taxes

intolerable, her people discontented, and the sinews of her government

relaxed. Without conduct, confidence, or concert, she engages in

blundering negotiations; she involves herself rashly in foreign

quarrels, and lavishes her substance with the most dangerous

precipitation; she is even deserted by her wonted vigour, steadiness,

and intrepidity; she grows vain, fantastical, and pusillanimous; her

arms are despised by her enemies; and her councils ridiculed through all

Christendom.

PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED.

The king, in order to exhibit a specimen of his desire to diminish the

public expense, ordered the third and fourth troops of his life-guards

to be disbanded, and reduced three regiments of horse to the quality of

dragoons. The house of commons presented an address of thanks for this

instance of economy, by which the annual sum of seventy thousand pounds

was saved to the nation. Notwithstanding this seeming harmony between

the king and the great council of the nation, his majesty resolved, with

the advice of his council, to dissolve the present parliament, though

the term of seven years was not yet expired since its first meeting. The

ministry affected to insinuate, that the states-general were unwilling

to concur with his majesty in vigorous measures against France, during

the existence of a parliament which had undergone such a vicissitude of

complexion. The allies of Great Britain, far from being suspicious of

this assembly, which had supplied them so liberally, saw with concern

that according to law it would soon be dismissed; and they doubted

whether another could be procured equally agreeable to their purposes.

In order to remove this doubt, the ministry resolved to surprise the

kingdom with a new election, before the malcontents should be prepared

to oppose the friends of the government.

{1747}

Accordingly, when the business of the session was despatched, the king

having given the royal assent to the several acts they had prepared,

dismissed them in the month of June, with an affectionate speech that

breathed nothing but tenderness and gratitude. The parliament was

immediately dissolved by proclamation, and new writs were issued for

convoking another. Among the laws passed in this session, was an act

abolishing the heritable jurisdictions, and taking away the tenure

of wardholdings in Scotland, which were reckoned among the principal

sources of those rebellions that had been excited since the revolution.

In the highlands they certainly kept the common people in subjection

to their chiefs, whom they implicitly followed and obeyed in all their

undertakings. By this act these mountaineers were legally emancipated

from slavery; but as the tenants enjoyed no leases, and were at all

times liable to be ejected from their farms, they still depended on

the pleasure of their lords, notwithstanding this interposition of the

legislature, which granted a valuable consideration in money to every

nobleman and petty baron, who was thus deprived of one part of his

inheritance. The forfeited estates indeed were divided into small farms,

and let by the government on leases at an under value; so that those

who had the good fortune to obtain such leases tasted the sweets of

independence; but the highlanders in general were left in their

original indigence and incapacity, at the mercy of their superiors. Had

manufactures and fisheries been established in different parts of

their country, they would have seen and felt the happy consequences of

industry, and in a little time been effectually detached from all their

slavish connexions.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

THE FRENCH AND ALLIES TAKE THE FIELD IN FLANDERS.

The operations of the campaign had been concerted in the winter at the

Hague, between the duke of Cumberland and the states-general of the

United Provinces, who were by this time generally convinced of France’s

design to encroach upon their territories. They therefore determined to

take effectual measures against that restless and ambitious neighbour.

The allied powers agreed to assemble a vast army in the Netherlands;

and it was resolved that the Austrians and Piedmonte so should once more

penetrate into Provence. The Dutch patriots, however, were not roused

into this exertion, until all their remonstrances had failed at the

court of Versailles; until they had been urged by repeated memorials of

the English ambassador, and stimulated by the immediate danger to which

their country was exposed; for France was by this time possessed of

all the Austrian Netherlands, and seemed bent upon penetrating into the

territories of the United Provinces. In February, the duke of Cumberland

began to assemble the allied forces; and in the latter end of March they

took the field in three separate bodies. His royal highness, with the

English, Hanoverians, and Hessians, fixed his head quarters at the

village of Tilberg; the prince of Waldeck was posted with the Dutch

troops at Breda; and mareschal Bathiani collected the Austrians and

Bavarians in the neighbourhood of Venlo. The whole army amounted to one

hundred and twenty thousand men, who lay inactive six weeks, exposed

to the inclemency of the weather, and almost destitute of forage and

provisions. Count Saxe, by this time created mareschal-general of

France, continued his troops within their cantonments at Bruges,

Antwerp, and Brussels, declaring, that when the allied army should

be weakened by sickness and mortality, he would convince the duke of

Cumberland that the first duty of a general is to provide for the health

and preservation of his troops. In April this fortunate commander took

the field, at the head of one hundred and forty thousand men; and the

count de Clermont commanded a separate body of nineteen battalions and

thirty squadrons. Count Lowendahl was detached on the sixteenth of the

month, with seven-and-twenty thousand men, to invade Dutch Flanders; at

the same time, the French minister at the Hague presented a memorial to

the states, intimating, that his master was obliged to take this step by

the necessity of war; but that his troops should observe the strictest

discipline, without interfering with the religion, government, or

commerce of the republic; he likewise declared, that the countries

and places of which he might be obliged to take possession should be

detained no otherwise than as a pledge, to be restored as soon as the

United Provinces should give convincing proofs that they would no longer

furnish the enemies of France with succours.

THE PRINCE OF ORANGE ELECTED STADTHOLDER.

While the states deliberated upon this declaration, count Lowendahl

entered Dutch Brabant, and invested the town and fortress of Sluys,

the garrison of which surrendered themselves prisoners of war on the

nineteenth day of April. This was likewise the fate of Sas-van-Ghent,

while the marquis de Contades, with another detachment, reduced the

forts Perle and Leifkenshoek, with the town of Philippine, even within

hearing of the confederate army. The fort of Sandberg was vigorously

defended by two English battalions; but they were overpowered, and

obliged to retire to Welsthoorden; and count Lowendahl undertook the

siege of Hulst, which was shamefully surrendered by La Roque the Dutch

governor, though he knew that a reinforcement of nine battalions was on

the march to his relief. Then the French general took possession of Axel

and Terneuse, and began to prepare flat-bottomed boats for a descent

on the island of Zealand. The Dutch people were now struck with

consternation. They saw the enemy at their doors, and owed their

immediate preservation to the British squadron stationed at the Swin,

under the command of commodore Mitchel,* who, by means of his sloops,

tenders, and small craft, took such measures as defeated the intention

of Lowendahl. The common people in Zealand being reduced to despair,

began to clamour loudly against their governors, as if they had not

taken the proper measures for their security. The friends of the prince

of Orange did not neglect this opportunity of promoting his interest.

They encouraged their discontent, and exaggerated the danger; they

reminded them of the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-two,

when the French king was at the gates of Amsterdam, and the republic was

saved by the choice of a stadtholder; they exhorted them to turn their

eyes on the descendant of those heroes who had established the liberty

and independence of the United Provinces; they extolled his virtue and

ability; his generosity, his justice, his unshaken love to his country.

The people in several towns, inflamed by such representations to tumult

and sedition, compelled their magistrates to declare the prince of

Orange stadtholder. He himself, in a letter to the states of

Zealand, offered his services for the defence of the province. On the

twenty-eighth day of April he was nominated captain-general and admiral

of Zealand. Their example was followed by Rotterdam and the whole

province of Holland; and on the second day of May, the prince of Orange

was, in the assembly of the states-general, invested with the power

and dignity of stadtholder, captain-general, and admiral of the United

Provinces. The vigorous consequences of this resolution immediately

appeared. All commerce and contracts with the French were prohibited;

the peasants were armed and exercised; a resolution passed for making a

considerable augmentation of the army, a council of war was established

for inquiring into the conduct of the governors who had given up the

frontier places; and orders were issued to commence hostilities against

the French, both by sea and land.

Meanwhile the duke of Cumberland took post with his whole army between

the two Nethes, to cover Bergen-op-Zoom and Maestricht; and Mareschal

Saxe called in his detachments with a view to hazard a general

engagement. In the latter end of May the French king arrived at

Brussels, and his general resolved to undertake the siege of Maestricht.

For this purpose he advanced towards Louvain; and the confederates

perceiving his drift, began their march to take post between the town

and the enemy. On the twentieth day of June they took possession of

their ground, and were drawn up in order of battle, with their right at

Bilsen, and their left extending to Wirle within a mile of Maestricht,

having in the front of their left wing the village of Laffeldt, in which

they posted several battalions of British infantry. The French had taken

possession of the heights of Herdeeren, immediately above the allies;

and both armies cannonaded each other till the evening. In the morning

the enemy’s infantry marched down the hill in a prodigious column, and

attacked the village of Laffeldt, which was well fortified, and defended

with amazing obstinacy. The assailants suffered terribly in their

approach from the cannon of the confederates, which was served with

surprising dexterity and success; and they met with such a warm

reception from the British musquetry as they could not withstand; but,

when they were broken and dispersed, fresh brigades succeeded with

astonishing perseverance. The confederates were driven out of the

village; yet being sustained by three regiments, they measured back

their ground, and repulsed the enemy with great slaughter. Nevertheless,

count Saxe continued pouring in other battalions, and the French

regained and maintained their footing in the village, after it had been

three times lost and carried. The action was chiefly confined to this

post, where the field exhibited a horrible scene of carnage. At noon the

duke of Cumberland ordered the whole left wing to advance against

the enemy, whose infantry gave way; prince Waldeck led up the centre;

marshal Bathiani made a motion with the right wing towards Herdeeren,

and victory seemed ready to declare for the confederates, when the

fortune of the day took a sudden turn to their prejudice. Several

squadrons of Dutch horse posted in the centre gave way, and flying at

full gallop, overthrew five battalions of infantry that were advancing

from the body of reserve. The French cavalry charged them with great

impetuosity, increasing the confusion that was already produced, and

penetrating through the lines of the allied army, which was thus divided

about the centre. The duke of Cumberland, who exerted himself with

equal courage and activity in attempting to remedy this disorder, was in

danger of being taken; and the defeat would in all probability have been

total, had not sir John Ligonier taken the resolution of sacrificing

himself and a part of the troops to the safety of the army. At the head

of three British regiments of dragoons, and some squadrons of imperial

horse, he charged the whole line of the French cavalry with such

intrepidity and success, that he overthrew all that opposed him, and

made such a diversion as enabled the duke of Cumberland to effect

an orderly retreat to Maestricht. He himself was taken by a French

carabinier, after his horse had been killed; but the regiments he

commanded retired with deliberation. The confederates retreated to

Maestricht, without having sustained much damage from the pursuit, and

even brought off all their artillery, except sixteen pieces of cannon.

Their loss did not exceed six thousand men killed and taken; whereas

the French general purchased the victory at a much greater expense. The

common cause of the confederate powers is said to have suffered from the

pride and ignorance of their generals. On the eve of the battle,

when the detachment of the count de Clermont appeared on the hill of

Herdeeren, marshal Bathiani asked permission of the commander-in-chief

to attack them before they should be reinforced, declaring he would

answer for the success of the enterprise. No regard was paid to this

proposal; but the superior asked in his turn, where the marshal would

be in case he should be wanted? He replied, “I shall always be found

at the head of my troops,” and retired in disgust. The subsequent

disposition has likewise been blamed, inasmuch as not above one half of

the army could act, while the enemy exerted their whole force.

SIEGE OF BERGEN-OP-ZOOM.

The confederates passed the Maese and encamped in the duchy of Limburgh,

so as to cover Maestricht; while the French king remained with his

army in the neighbourhood of Tongres. Mareschal Saxe, having amused

the allies with marches and counter-marches, at length detached count

Lowendahl with six-and-thirty thousand men to besiege Bergen-op-Zoom,

the strongest fortification of Dutch Brabant, the favourite work of

the famous engineer Coehorn, never conquered, and generally esteemed

invincible. It was secured with a garrison of three thousand men, and

well provided with artillery, ammunition, and magazines. The enemy

appeared before it on the twelfth day of July, and summoned the governor

to surrender. The prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen was sent to its relief,

with twenty battalions and fourteen squadrons of the troops that could

be most conveniently assembled; he entered the lines of Bergen-op-Zooin,

where he remained in expectation of a strong reinforcement from the

confederate army; and the old baron Cronstrom, whom the stadtholder had

appointed governor of Brabant, assumed the command of the garrison

The besiegers carried on their operations with great vivacity; and the

troops in the town defended it with equal vigour. The eyes of all Europe

were turned upon this important siege; count Lowendahl received divers

reinforcements; and a considerable body of troops was detached from the

allied army, under the command of baron Schwartzenberg, to co-operate

with the prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The French general lost a great

number of men by the close and continual fire of the besieged; while

he, in his turn, opened such a number of batteries, and plied them so

warmly, that the defences began to give way. From the sixteenth day of

July to the fifteenth of September, the siege produced an unintermitting

scene of horror and destruction: desperate sallies were made, and mines

sprung with the most dreadful effect; the works began to be shattered;

the town was laid in ashes; the trenches were filled with carnage;

nothing was seen but fire and smoke; nothing heard but one continued

roar of bombs and cannon. But still the damage fell chiefly on the

besiegers, who were slain in heaps; while the garrison suffered very

little, and could be occasionally relieved or reinforced from the lines.

In a word, it was generally believed that count Lowendahl would

be baffled in his endeavours; and by this belief the governor of

Bergen-op-Zoom seems to have been lulled into a blind security. At

length, some inconsiderable breaches were made in one ravelin and

two bastions, and these the French general resolved to storm, though

Cronstrom believed they were impracticable; ind on that supposition

presumed that the enemy would not attempt an assault. For this very

reason count Lowendahl resolved to hazard the attack, before the

preparations should be made for his reception. He accordingly regulated

his dispositions, and at four o’clock in the morning, on the sixteenth

day of September, the signal was made for the assault. A prodigious

quantity of bombs being thrown into the ravelin, his troops threw

themselves into the fosse, mounted the breaches, forced open a

sally-port, and entered the place almost without resistance. In a word,

they had time to extend themselves along the curtains, and form in order

of battle, before the garrison could be assembled. Cronstrom was asleep,

and the soldiers upon duty had been surprised by the suddenness and

impetuosity of the attack. Though the French had taken possession of the

ramparts, they did not gain the town without opposition. Two battalions

of the Scottish troops, in the pay of the states-general, were assembled

in the market-place, and attacked them with such fury, that they were

driven from street to street, until fresh reinforcements arriving,

compelled the Scots to retreat in their turn; yet they disputed every

inch of ground, and fought until two thirds of them were killed upon the

spot. Then they brought off the old governor, abandoning the town to the

enemy; the troops that were encamped in the lines retreating with

great precipitation, all the forts in the neighbourhood immediately

surrendered to the victors, who now became masters of the whole

navigation of the Schelde. The French king was no sooner informed of

Lowendahl’s success, than he promoted him to the rank of mareschal of

France; appointed count Saxe governor of the conquered Netherlands;

and returned in triumph to Versailles. In a little time after this

transaction, both armies were distributed into winter quarters, and the

duke of Cumberland embarked for England.

In Italy, the French arms did not triumph with equal success, though

the mareschal de Belleisle saw himself at the head of a powerful army

in Provence. In April he passed the Var without opposition, and took

possession of Nice. He met with little or no resistance in reducing

Montalban, Villafranca, and Ventimiglia; while general Brown, with

eight-and-twenty thousand Aus-trians, retired towards Final and Savona.

In the meantime, another large body under count Schuylemberg, Who

had succeeded the marquis de Botta, co-operated with fifteen thousand

Piedmontese in an attempt to recover the city of Genoa. The French

king had sent their supplies, succours, and engineers, with the duke

de Boufflers, as ambassador to the republic, who likewise acted as

commander-in-chief of the forces employed for its defence. The Austrian

general assembled his troops in the Milanese, having forced the passage

of the Bochetta on the thirteenth of January, he advanced into the

territories of Genoa, and the Eiviera was ravaged without mercy. On

the last day of March he appeared before the city at the head of forty

thousand men, and summoned the revolters to lay down their arms. The

answer he received was, that the republic had fifty-four thousand men in

arms, two hundred and sixty cannon, thirty-four mortars, with abundance

of ammunition and provision; that they would defend their liberty with

their last blood, and be buried in the ruins of their capital, rather

than submit to the clemency of the court of Vienna, except by an

honourable capitulation, guaranteed by the kings of Great Britain

and Sardinia, the republic of Venice and the United Provinces. In the

beginning of May, Genoa was invested on all sides; a furious sally was

made by the duke de Boufflers, who drove the besiegers from their posts;

but the Austrians rallying, he was repulsed in his turn, with the loss

of seven hundred men. General Schuylemberg carried on his operations

with such skill, vigour, and intrepidity, that he made himself master of

the suburbs of Bisagno; and in all probability would have reduced the

city, had he not been obliged to desist, in consequence of the repeated

remonstrances made by the king of Sardinia and count Brown, who

represented the necessity of his abandoning his enterprise, and

drawing off his army to cover Piedmont and Lombardy from the efforts of

mareschal de Belleisle. Accordingly he raised the siege on the tenth day

of June, and returned into the Milanese in order to join his Sardinian

majesty; while the Genoese made an irruption into the Parmesan and

Placentia, where they committed terrible outrages, in revenge for the

mischiefs they had undergone.

THE CHEVALIER DE BELLEISLE SLAIN.

While the mareschal de Belleisle remained at Ventimiglia, his brother,

at the head of four-and-thirty thousand French and Spaniards, attempted

to penetrate into Piedmont: on the sixth day of July he arrived at

the pass of Exilles, a strong fortress on the frontiers of Dauphiné,

situated on the north side of the river Doria. The defence of this

important post the king of Sardinia had committed to the care of the

count de Brigueras, who formed an encampment behind the lines,

with fourteen battalions of Piedmontese and Austrians, while divers

detachments were posted along all the passes of the Alps. On the eighth

day of the month the Piedmontese intrenchments were attacked by the

chevalier de Belleisle, with incredible intrepidity; but the columns

were repulsed with great loss in three successive attacks. Impatient of

this obstinate opposition, and determined not to survive a miscarriage,

this impetuous general seized a pair of colours, and advancing at the

head of his troops through a prodigious fire, pitched them with his own

hand on the enemy’s entrenchments. At that instant he fell dead, having

received two musquet-balls and the thrust of a bayonet in his body. The

assailants were so much dispirited by the death of their commander,

that they forthwith gave way, and retreated with precipitation towards

Sesteries, having lost near five thousand men in the attack. The

mareschal was no sooner informed of his brother’s misfortune, than he

retreated towards the Var to join the troops from Exilles, while the

king of Sardinia, having assembled an army of seventy thousand men,

threatened Dauphiné with an invasion; but the excessive rains prevented

the execution of his design. General Leutrum was detached with twenty

battalions, to drive the French from Ventimiglia; but Belleisle marching

back, that scheme was likewise frustrated; and thus ended the campaign.

A FRENCH SQUADRON TAKEN.

In this manner was the French king baffled in his projects upon Italy;

nor was he more fortunate in his naval operations. He had in the

preceding year equipped an expensive armament, under the command of the

duke d’Anville, for the recovery of Cape Breton; but it was rendered

ineffectual by storms, distempers, and the death of the commander. Not

yet discouraged by these disasters, he resolved to renew his efforts

against the British colonies in North America, and their settlements

in the East Indies. For these purposes two squadrons were prepared at

Brest, one to be commanded by the commodore de la Jonquiere; and the

other destined for India, by monsieur de St. George. The ministry of

Great Britain, being apprized of these measures, resolved to intercept

both squadrons, which were to set sail together. For this purpose

vice-admiral Anson and rear-admiral Warren took their departure from

Plymouth with a formidable fleet, and steered their course to Cape

Finisterre on the coast of Gallicia. On the third day of May, they fell

in with the French squadrons, commanded by la Jonquiere and St. George,

consisting of six large ships of war, as many frigates, and four armed

vessels equipped by their East India company, having under their convoy

about thirty ships laden with merchandise. Those prepared for war

immediately shortened sail, and formed a line of battle; while the rest,

under the protection of the six frigates, proceeded on their voyage with

all the sail they could carry. The British squadron was likewise drawn

up in line of battle; but Mr. Warren, perceiving that the enemy began

to sheer off, now their convoy was at a considerable distance, advised

admiral Anson to haul in the signal for the line, and hoist another

for giving chase and engaging, otherwise the French would, in all

probability, escape by favour of the night. The proposal was embraced;

and in a little time the engagement began with great fury, about four

o’clock in the afternoon. The enemy sustained the battle with equal

conduct and valour, until they were overpowered by numbers, and then

they struck their colours. The admiral detached three ships in pursuit

of the convoy, nine sail of which were taken; but the rest were saved by

the intervening darkness. About seven hundred of the French were killed

and wounded in this action. The English lost about five hundred; and

among these captain Grenville, commander of the ship Defiance. He

was nephew to the lord viscount Cobham, a youth of the most amiable

character and promising genius, animated with the noblest sentiments of

honour and patriotism. Eager in the pursuit of glory, he rushed into the

midst of the battle, where both his legs were cut off by a cannon-ball.

He submitted to his fate with the most heroic resignation, and died

universally lamented and beloved. The success of the British arms in

this engagement was chiefly owing to the conduct, activity, and courage

of the rear-admiral. A considerable quantity of bullion was found in the

prizes, which was brought to Spithead in triumph; and the treasure being

landed, was conveyed in twenty waggons to the bank of London. Admiral

Anson was ennobled, and Mr. Warren honoured with the order of the Bath.

ADMIRAL HAWKE OBTAINS ANOTHER VICTORY OVER THE FRENCH.

About the middle of June, commodore Fox, with six ships of war, cruising

in the latitude of Cape Ortegal in Gallicia, took above forty French

ships, richly laden from St. Domingo, after they had been abandoned by

their convoy. But the French king sustained another more important loss

at sea, in the month of October. Rear-admiral Hawke sailed from

Plymouth in the beginning of August, with fourteen ships of the line, to

intercept a fleet of French merchant ships bound for the West Indies. He

cruised for some time on the coast of Bretagne; and at length the French

fleet sailed from the isle of Aix, under convoy of nine ships of the

line, besides frigates, commanded by monsieur de Letendeur. On the

fourteenth day of October, the two squadrons were in sight of each

other, in the latitude of Belleisle. The French commodore immediately

ordered one of his great ships, and the frigates, to proceed with

the trading ships, while he formed the line of battle, and waited the

attack. At eleven in the forenoon admiral Hawke displayed the signal to

chase, and in half an hour both fleets were engaged. The battle lasted

till night, when all the French squadron, except the Intrepide and

Ton-ant, had struck to the English flag. These two capital ships escaped

in the dark, and returned to Brest in a shattered condition. The

French captains sustained the unequal fight with uncommon bravery and

resolution; and did not yield until their ships were disabled. Their

loss in men amounted to eight hundred: the number of English killed in

this engagement did not exceed two hundred, including captain Saumarez,

a gallant officer who had served under lord Anson in his expedition

to the Pacific Ocean. Indeed it must be owned, for the honour of that

nobleman, that all these officers formed under his example, and raised

by his influence, approved themselves in all respects worthy of the

commands to which they were preferred. Immediately after the action,

admiral Hawke despatched a sloop to commodore Legge, whose squadron was

stationed at the Leeward Islands, with intelligence of the French fleet

of merchant ships outward-bound, that he might take the proper measures

for intercepting them in their passage to Martinique and the other

French islands. In consequence of this advice he redoubled his

vigilance, and a good number of them fell into his hands. Admiral Hawke

conducted his prizes to Spithead; and in his letter to the board of

admiralty, declared that all his captains behaved like men of honour

during the engagement, except Mr. Fox, whose conduct he desired might

be subjected to an inquiry. That gentleman was accordingly tried by a

court-martial, and suspended from his command, for having followed the

advice of his officers contrary to his own better judgment; but he was

soon restored, and afterwards promoted to the rank of admiral; while Mr.

Matthews, whose courage never incurred suspicion, still laboured under

suspension for that which had been successfully practised in both these

late actions, namely, engaging the enemy without any regard to the line

of battle. In the Mediterranean, vice-admiral Medley blocked up the

Spanish squadron in Carthagena; assisted the Austrian general on the

coast of Villafranca; and intercepted some of the succours sent from

France to the assistance of the Genoese. At his death, which happened

in the beginning of August, the command of that squadron devolved upon

rear-admiral Byng, who proceeded on the same plan of operation. In the

summer, two British ships of war, having under their convoy a fleet

of merchant ships bound to North America, fell in with the Glorioso, a

Spanish ship of eighty guns, in the latitude of the Western Isles. She

had sailed from the Havannah with an immense treasure on board, and must

have fallen a prize to the English ships had each captain done his duty.

Captain Erskine, in the Warwick of sixty guns, attacked her with great

intrepidity, and fought until his ship was entirely disabled; but being

unsustained by his consort, he was obliged to haul off, and the Glorioso

arrived in safety at Ferrol; there the silver was landed, and she

proceeded on her voyage to Cadiz, which, however, she did not reach.

She was encountered by the Dartmouth, a British frigate of forty guns,

commanded by captain Hamilton, a gallant youth, who, notwithstanding the

inequality of force, engaged her without hesitation; but in the heat of

the action, his ship being set on fire by accident, was blown up, and-he

perished with all his crew, except a midshipman and ten or eleven

sailors, who were taken up alive by a privateer that happened to be in

sight. Favourable as this accident may seem to the Glorioso, she did

not escape. An English ship of eighty guns, under the command of captain

Buckle, came up and obliged the Spaniards to surrender, after a short

but vigorous engagement. Commodore Griffin had been sent, with a

reinforcement of ships, to assume the command of the squadron in the

East Indies; and although his arrival secured Fort St. David’s and the

other British settlements in that country, from the insults of monsieur

da la Bourdonnais, his strength was not sufficient to enable him to

undertake any enterprise of importance against the enemy; the ministry

of England therefore resolved to equip a fresh armament, that, when

joined by the ships in India, should be in a condition to besiege

Pon-dicherry, the principal settlement belonging to the French on the

coast of Coromandel. For this service, a good number of independent

companies was raised, and set sail, in the sequel, with a strong

squadron under the conduct of rear-admiral Boscawen, an officer of

unquestioned valour and capacity. In the course of this year, the

British cruisers were so alert and successful, that they took six

hundred and forty-four prizes from the French and Spaniards, whereas the

loss of Great Britain in the same time did not exceed five hundred and

fifty.

CONGRESS AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

All the belligerent powers were by this time heartily tired of a war

which had consumed an immensity of treasure, had been productive of

so much mischief, and in the events of which, all, in their turns, had

found themselves disappointed. Immediately after the battle of Laffeldt,

the king of France had, in a personal conversation with sir John

Ligonier, expressed his desire of a pacification; and afterwards his

minister at the Hague presented a declaration on the same subject to the

deputies of the states-general. The signal success of the British arms

at sea confirmed him in these sentiments, which were likewise reinforced

by a variety of other considerations. His finances were almost

exhausted, and his supplies from the Spanish West Indies rendered so

precarious by the vigilance of the British cruisers, that he could no

longer depend upon their arrival. The trading part of his subjects had

sustained such losses, that his kingdom was filled with bankruptcies;

and the best part of his navy now contributed to strengthen the fleets

of his enemies. The election of a stadtholder had united the whole power

of the states-general against him, in taking the most resolute measures

for their own safety; his views in Germany were entirely frustrated

by the elevation of the grand duke to the Imperial throne, and

the re-establishment of peace between the houses of Austria and

Bran-denburgh; the success of his arms in Italy had not at all answered

his expectation; and Genoa was become an expensive ally. He had the

mortification to see the commerce of Britain flourish in the midst of

war, while his own people were utterly impoverished. The parliament of

England granted, and the nation paid such incredible sums as enabled

their sovereign not only to maintain invincible navies and formidable

armies, but likewise to give subsidies to all the powers of Europe. He

knew that a treaty of this kind was actually upon the anvil between his

Britannic majesty and the czarina, and he began to be apprehensive

of seeing an army of Russians in the Netherlands. His fears from this

quarter were not without foundation. In the month of November, the earl

of Hyndford, ambassador from the king of Great Britain at the court of

Russia, concluded a treaty of subsidy, by which the czarina engaged to

hold in readiness thirty thousand men, and forty galleys, to be employed

in the service of the confederates on the first requisition. The

states-general acceded to this agreement, and even consented to pay

one-fourth of the subsidy. His most christian majesty, moved by these

considerations, made further advances towards an accommodation both at

the Plague and in London; and the contending powers agreed to another

congress, which was actually opened in March at Aix-la-Chapelle,

where the earl of Sandwich and sir Thomas Robinson assisted as

plenipotentiaries from the king of Great Britain.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

COMPLIANT TEMPER OF THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

The elections for the new parliament in England had been conducted so as

fully to answer the purposes of the duke of Newcastle, and his brother

Mr. Pelham, who had for some time wholly engrossed the administration.

Both houses were assembled on the tenth day of November, when Mr. Onslow

was unanimously reelected speaker of the commons. The session was opened

as usual by a speech from the throne, congratulating them on the

signal successes of the British navy, and the happy alteration in the

government of the United Provinces. His majesty gave them to understand

that a congress would speedily be opened at Aix-la-Chapelle, to concert

the means for effecting a general pacification; and reminded them that

nothing would more conduce to the success of this negotiation than the

vigour and unanimity of their proceedings. He received such addresses

as the ministers were pleased to dictate. Opposition now languished at

their feet. The duke of Bedford was become a courtier, and in a

little time appointed secretary of state, in the room of the earl

of Chesterfield, who had lately executed that office, which he now

resigned; and the earl of Sandwich no longer harangued against

the administration. This new house of commons, in imitation of the

liberality of their predecessors, readily gratified all the requests of

the government. They voted forty thousand seamen, forty-nine thousand

land forces, besides eleven thousand five hundred marines; the subsidies

for the queen of Hungary, the czarina, the king of Sardinia,

the electors of Mentz and Bavaria, the Hessians, and the duke of

Wolfenbuttle; the sum of two hundred and thirty-five thousand seven

hundred and forty-nine pounds, was granted to the provinces of New

England, to reimburse them for the expense of reducing Cape Breton;

five hundred thousand pounds were given to his majesty for the vigorous

prosecution of the war; and about one hundred and fifty-two thousand

pounds to the Scottish claimants, in lieu of their jurisdiction. The

supplies for the ensuing year fell very little short of nine millions,

of which the greater part was raised on a loan by subscription,

chargeable on a new subsidy of poundage exacted from all merchandise

imported into Great Britain. Immediately after the rebellion was

suppressed, the legislature had established some regulations in

Scotland, which were thought necessary to prevent such commotions

for the future. The highlanders were disarmed, and an act passed for

abolishing their peculiarity of garb, which was supposed to keep up

party distinctions, to encourage their martial disposition, and preserve

the memory of the exploits achieved by their ancestors. In this session

a bill was brought in to enforce the execution of that law, and passed

with another act for the more effectual punishment of high treason in

the highlands of Scotland. The practice of insuring French and Spanish

ships at London being deemed the sole circumstances that prevented a

total stagnation of commerce in those countries, it was prohibited by

law under severe penalties; and this step of the British parliament

accelerated the conclusion of the treaty. Several other prudent measures

were taken in the course of this session, for the benefit of the public;

and among these we may reckon an act for encouraging the manufacture of

indigo in the British plantations of North America; an article for which

Great Britain used to pay two hundred thousand pounds yearly to the

subjects of France.

{1748}

The session was closed on the thirteenth day of May, when the king

declared to both houses that the preliminaries of a general peace were

actually signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, by the ministers of Great

Britain, France, and the United Provinces; and that the basis of this

accommodation was a general restitution of the conquests which had been

made during the war. Immediately after the prorogation of parliament

his majesty set out for his German dominions, after having appointed a

regency to rule the realm in his absence.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NETHERLANDS.

The articles might have been made much less unfavourable to Great

Britain and her allies, had the ministry made a proper use of the treaty

with the czarina; and if the confederates had acted with more vigour

and expedition in the beginning of the campaign. The Russian auxiliaries

might have been transported by sea to Lubeck before the end of the

preceding summer’, in their own galleys, which had been lying ready for

use since the month of July. Had this expedient been used, the Russian

troops would have joined the confederate army before the conclusion of

the last campaign. But this easy and expeditious method of conveyance

was rejected for a march by land, of incredible length and difficulty,

which could not be begun before the month of January, nor accomplished

till Midsummer. The operations of the campaign had been concerted at

the Hague in January, by the respective ministers of the allies, who

resolved to bring an army of one hundred and ninety thousand men into

the Netherlands, in order to compel the French to abandon the barrier

which they had conquered, The towns of Holland became the scenes of

tumult and insurrection. The populace plundered the farmers of the

revenue, abolished the taxes, and insulted the magistrates; so that

the states-general, seeing their country on the brink of anarchy and

confusion, authorized the prince of Orange to make such alterations as

he should see convenient. They presented him with a diploma, by which

he was constituted hereditary stadtholder and captain-general of Dutch

Brabant, Flanders, and the upper quarter of Guelderland; and the East

India company appointed him director and governor-general of their

commerce and settlements in the Indies. Thus invested with authority

unknown to his ancestors, he exerted himself with equal industry and

discretion in new modelling, augmenting, and assembling the troops of

the republic. The confederates knew that the count de Saxe had a

design upon Maestricht: the Austrian general Bathiani made repeated

remonstrances to the British ministry, entreating them to take speedy

measures for the preservation of that fortress. He, in the month of

January, proposed that the duke of Cumberland should cross the sea, and

confer with the prince of Orange on this subject; he undertook, at the

peril of his head, to cover Maastricht with seventy thousand men, from

all attacks of the enemy: but his representations seemed to have made

very little impression on those to whom they were addressed. The duke

of Cumberland did not depart from England till towards the latter end

of February; part of March was elapsed before the transports sailed from

the Nore with the additional troops and artillery; and the last drafts

from the foot-guards were not embarked till the middle of August.

SIEGE OF MAESTRICHT. FORMS A CESSATION.

The different bodies of the confederate forces joined each other and

encamped in the neighbourhood of Euremond, to the number of one hundred

and ten thousand men; and the French army invested Maestricht, without

opposition, on the third day of April. The garrison consisted of

Imperial and Dutch troops, under the conduct of the governor, baron de

Aylva, who defended the place with extraordinary skill and resolution.

He annoyed the besiegers in repeated sallies; but they were determined

to surmount all opposition, and prosecuted their approaches with

incredible ardour. They assaulted the covered way, and there effected a

lodgement, after an obstinate dispute, in which they lost two thousand

of their best troops; but next day they were entirely dislodged by the

gallantry of the garrison. These hostilities were suddenly suspended,

in consequence of the preliminaries signed at Aix-la-Chapelle. The

plenipotentiaries agreed, that, for the glory of his christian majesty’s

arms, the town of Maestricht should be surrendered to his general,

on condition that it should be restored with all the magazines and

artillery. He accordingly took possession of it on the third day of

May, when the garrison marched out with all the honours of war; and

a cessation of arms immediately ensued. By this time the Russian

auxiliaries, to the number of thirty-seven thousand, commanded by

prince Repnin, had arrived in Moravia, where they were reviewed by their

imperial majesties; then they proceeded to the confines of Franconia,

where they were ordered to halt, after they had marched seven hundred

miles since the beginning of the year. The French king declared, that

should they advance farther, he would demolish the fortifications

of Maestricht and Bergen-op-Zoom. This dispute was referred to the

plenipotentiaries, who, in the beginning of August, concluded a

convention, importing that the Russian troops should return to their own

country; and that the French king should disband an equal number of his

forces. The season being far advanced, the Russians were provided with

winter-quarters in Bohemia and Moravia, where they continued till

the spring, when they marched back to Livonia. In the meantime

seven-and-thirty thousand French troops were withdrawn from Flanders

into Picardy, and the two armies remained quiet till the conclusion of

the definitive treaty. The suspension of arms was proclaimed at London,

and in all the capitals of the contracting powers; orders were sent to

the respective admirals in different parts of the world, to refrain from

hostilities; and a communication of trade and intelligence was again

opened between the nations which had been at variance. No material

transaction distinguished the campaign in Italy. The French and Spanish

troops, who had joined the Genoese in the territories of the republic,

amounted to thirty thousand men, under the direction of the duke de

Richlieu, who was sent from France to assume that command on the death

of the duke de Boufflers; while mareschal de Belleisle, at the head of

fifty thousand men, covered the western Eiviera, which was threatened

with an invasion by forty thousand Austrians and Piedmontese, under

general Leutrum. At the same time general Brown, with a more numerous

army, prepared to re-enter the eastern Eiviera, and recommence the siege

of Genoa. But these intended operations were prevented by an armistice,

which took place as soon as the belligerent powers had acceded to the

preliminaries.

TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST AND WEST INDIES.

In the East Indies, rear-admiral Boscawen undertook the siege of

Pondicherry, which in the month of August he blocked up by sea with

his squadron, and invested by land with a small army of four thousand

Europeans, and about two thousand natives of that country. He prosecuted

the enterprise with great spirit, and took the fort of Area Coupan, at

the distance of three miles from the town; then he made his approaches

to the place, against which he opened batteries, while it was bombarded

and cannonaded by the shipping. But the fortifications were so strong,

the garrison so numerous, and the engineers of the enemy so expert

in their profession, that he made very little progress, and sustained

considerable damage. At length, his army being diminished by sickness,

and the rainy season approaching, he ordered the artillery and stores

to be re-embarked; and raising the siege on the sixth day of October,

returned to fort St. David, after having lost about a thousand men in

this expedition. In the sequel, several ships of his squadron, and above

twelve hundred sailors, perished in a hurricane. The naval force of

Great Britain was more successful in the West Indies. Bear-admiral

Knowles, with a squadron of eight ships, attacked fort Louis, on the

South side of Hispaniola, which after a warm action of three hours was

surrendered on capitulation, and dismantled. Then he made an abortive

attempt upon St. Jago de Cuba, and returned to Jamaica, extremely

chagrined at his disappointment, which he imputed to the misconduct

of captain Dent, who was tried in England by a court-martial, and

honourably acquitted. On the first of October, the same admiral,

cruising in the neighbourhood of the Havannah with eight ships of the

line, encountered a Spanish squadron of nearly the same strength, under

the command of the admirals Beggio and Spinola. The engagement began

between two and three o’clock in the afternoon, and continued with

intervals till eight in the evening, when the enemy retired to the

Havannah, with the loss of two ships; one of which struck to the

British admiral, and the other was two days after set on fire by her own

commander, that she might not fall into the hands of the English.

Mr. Knowles taxed some of his captains with misbehaviour, and they

recriminated on his conduct. On their return to England, a court-martial

was the consequence of the mutual accusations. Those who adhered to the

commander, and the others whom he impeached, were inflamed against each

other with the most rancorous resentment. The admiral himself did not

escape uncensured; two of his captains were reprimanded; but captain

Holmes, who had displayed uncommon courage, was honourably acquitted.

Their animosities did not end with the court-martial. A bloodless

encounter happened between the admiral and captain Powlet; but captain

Innes and captain Clarke, meeting by appointment in Hyde-Park with

pistols, the former was mortally wounded, and died next morning; the

latter was tried, and condemned for murder, but indulged with his

majesty’s pardon. No naval transaction of any consequence happened in

the European seas during the course of this summer. In January, indeed,

the Magnanime, a French ship of the line, was taken in the channel by two

English cruisers, after an obstinate engagement; and the privateers took

a considerable number of merchant ships from the enemy.

CONCLUSION OF THE DEFINITIVE TREATY AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

The plenipotentiaries still continued at Aix-la-Cha-pelle, discussing

all the articles of the definitive treaty, which was at length concluded

and signed on the seventh of October. It was founded on former treaties,

which were now expressly confirmed, from that of Westphalia to the last

concluded at London and Vienna. The contracting parties agreed, that all

prisoners on each side should be mutually released, without ransom,

and all conquests restored; that the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and

Guastalla, should be ceded as a settlement to the infant don Philip, and

the heirs male of his body; but in case of his ascending the throne of

Spain, or of the two Sicilies, or his dying without male issue, that

they should revert to the house of Austria; that the king of Great

Britain should, immediately after the ratification of this treaty, send

two persons of rank and distinction, to reside in France, as hostages,

until restitution should be made of Cape Breton, and all the other

conquests which his Britannic majesty should have achieved in the East

or West Indies, before or after the preliminaries were signed; that

the assiento contract, with the article of the annual ship, should be

confirmed for four years, during which the enjoyment of that privilege

was suspended since the commencement of the present war; that Dunkirk

should remain fortified on the land side, and towards the sea continue

on the footing of former treaties. All the contracting powers became

guarantees to the king of Prussia for the duchy of Silesia and the

county of Glatz, as he at present possessed them; and they likewise

engaged to secure the empress-queen of Hungary and Bohemia in possession

of her hereditary dominions, according to the pragmatic sanction. The

other articles regulated the forms and times fixed for this mutual

restitution, as well as for the termination of hostilities in different

parts of the world. But the right of English subjects to navigate

in the American seas, without being subject to search, was not once

mentioned, though this claim was the original source of the differences

between Great Britain and Spain; nor were the limits of Acadia

ascertained. This and all other disputes were left to the discussion of

commissaries. We have already observed, that after the troubles of the

empire began, the war was no longer maintained on British principles.

It became a continental contest, and was prosecuted on the side of the

allies without conduct, spirit, or unanimity. In the Netherlands they

were outnumbered, and outwitted by the enemy. They never hazarded a

battle without sustaining a defeat. Their vast armies, paid by Great

Britain, lay inactive, and beheld one fortress reduced after another

until the whole country was subdued; and as their generals fought, their

plenipotentiaries negotiated. At a time when their affairs began to wear

the most promising aspect, when the arrival of the Russian auxiliaries

would have secured an undoubted superiority in the field; when the

British fleets had trampled on the naval power of France and Spain,

intercepted their supplies of treasure, and cut off all their resources

of commerce; the British ministers seemed to treat, without the least

regard to the honour and advantage of their country. They left her

most valuable and necessary rights of trade unowned and undecided; they

subscribed to the insolent demand of sending the nobles of the realm

to grace the court and adorn the triumphs of her enemy; and they tamely

gave up her conquests in North America, of more consequence to her

traffic than all the other dominions for which the powers at war

contended; they gave up the important isle of Cape Breton, in exchange

for a petty factory in the East Indies, belonging to a private company,

whose existence had been deemed prejudicial to the commonwealth. What

then were the fruits which Britain reaped from this long and desperate

war? A dreadful expense of blood and treasure, [310] _[See note 2 P,

at the end of this Vol.]_ disgrace upon disgrace, an additional load of

grievous impositions, and the national debt accumulated to the enormous

sum of eighty millions sterling.