_Preparations for War..... Earl Paulet’s Motion against the
King’s going to Hanover..... Regency appointed during his
Majesty’s Absence..... Boscawen’s Expedition..... Alcide and
Lys taken..... French Ambassador recalled..... Their Trade
greatly distressed..... Affairs of the English in
America..... Col. Monckton takes Beau-Sejour..... General
Braddock’s unfortunate Expedition..... He falls into an
Ambuscade; is defeated, and killed..... Disagreement between
the Governor and Assembly of Pennsylvania..... Expedition
against Crown Point and Niagara resolved on..... Gen.
Johnson encamps at lake George..... where he is attacked by
the French, who are entirely defeated..... Bravery of
Captain M’Ginnes..... Gen. Johnson created a Baronet.....
Description of Fort Oswego and Lake Ontario..... Neglect of
the English in not fortifying it..... Expedition against
Niagara..... Gen. Shirley returns to Albany..... End of the
Campaign in America......Fruitless Intrigues of the French
in Spain and Germany..... Treaty of the King of Great
Britain with the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel..... News of the
Capture of the Alcide and Lys reaches England..... The King
returns from Hanover, and concludes a Treaty with
Russia..... Declaration of the French Ministry at the Court
of Vienna..... Spirited Declaration of the King of
Prussia..... The French make another unsuccessful Attempt
upon the Court of Spain..... The Imperial Court refuses
Auxiliaries to England..... The French take the Blandford
Man of War, but return it..... State of the English and
French Navies..... Session opened..... Remarkable Addresses
of the Lords and Commons..... His Majesty’s Answer.....
Alterations in the Ministry..... Mr. Fox made Secretary of
State..... Supplies voted..... Earthquake at Lisbon.....
Relief voted by Parliament to the Portuguese..... Troops,
&c, voted..... Mutiny Bill, Marine, and Mariners’ Acts
continued..... Act for raising a Regiment of Foot in North
America..... Maritime Laws of England extended to
America..... Quiet of Ireland restored..... Treaty concluded
with Prussia..... New Militia Bill passed by the
Commons, but rejected by the Lords..... Session closed_
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.
Whilst all Europe was in suspense about the fate of the English and
French squadrons, preparations for a vigorous sea war were going forward
in England with an unparalleled spirit and success. Still the French
court flattered itself that Great Britain, out of tenderness to his
majesty’s German dominions, would abstain from hostilities. Mirepoix
continued to have frequent conferences with the British ministry, who
made no secret that their admirals, particularly Boscawen, had orders
to attack the French ships wherever they should meet them; on the other
hand, Mons. de Mirepoix declared, that his master would consider the
first gun fired at sea in an hostile manner as a declaration of war.
This menace, far from intimidating the English, animated them to
redouble their preparations for war. The press for seamen was carried
on with extraordinary vigour in all parts of this kingdom, as well as in
Ireland; and great premiums were given not only by the government,
but also, over and above his majesty’s bounty, by almost all the
considerable cities and towns in England, to such as should enlist
voluntarily for sailors or soldiers. Other branches of the public
service went on with equal alacrity; and such was the eagerness of
the people to lend their money to the government, that instead of one
million, which was to be raised by way of lottery, three millions eight
hundred and eighty thousand pounds were subscribed immediately.
EARL PAULET’S MOTION.
The situation of affairs requiring his majesty to go to Germany this
summer, great apprehensions arose in the minds of many, lest the French
should either intercept him in his journey, or prevent his return. Earl
Paulet had made a motion in the house of lords, humbly to represent to
his majesty, “That it was an article in the original act of settlement
by which the succession of these kingdoms devolved to his electoral
house, that the king should not go to his foreign dominions without
the consent of parliament; and that this was a principal article in the
compact between the crown and the people; that though this article was
repealed in the late reign, yet, till of late, it had always been the
custom for his majesty to acquaint the parliament with his intended
departure to his German dominions, both in regard to the true sense
and spirit of the act that placed him on the throne, as well as for the
paternal kindness of his royal heart, and the condescension he had
been so good to show to his parliament on all occasions; but that his
majesty’s declaration of his design to visit his electoral estates had
always come on the last day of a session, when it was too late for the
great constitutional council of the crown to offer such advice as might
otherwise have been expedient and necessary; that his majesty’s leaving
his kingdoms in a conjuncture so pregnant with distress, so denunciative
of danger, would not only give the greatest advantage to such as
might be disposed to stir up disaffection and discontent, and to the
constitutional and national enemies of England; but would also fill his
loyal subjects with the most affecting concern, and most gloomy fears,
as well for their own safety, as for that of their sovereign, whose
invaluable life, at all times of the utmost consequence to his people,
was then infinitely so, by reason of his great experience, the
affection of every one to his royal person, and the minority of the heir
apparent.” Such was the purport of this motion; but it was not seconded
by any of the other lords.
REGENCY APPOINTED.
The general uneasiness, on account of his majesty’s departure, was
greatly increased by an apprehension that there would, during his
absence, be no good agreement amongst the regency, which consisted of
the following persons: his royal highness William duke of Cumberland;
Thomas lord archbishop of Canterbury; Philip earl of Hardwicke, lord
high chancellor; John earl of Granville, president of the council;
Charles duke of Marlborough, lord privy-seal; John duke of Rutland,
steward of the household; Charles duke of Grafton, lord-chamberlain;
Archibald duke of Argyle; the duke of Newcastle, first commissioner
to the treasury; the duke of Dorset, master of the horse; the earl of
Holdernesse, one of the secretaries of state; the earl of Rochford,
groom of the stole; the marquis of Hartington, lord lieutenant of
Ireland; lord Anson, first commissioner of the admiralty; sir Thomas
Eobinson, secretary of state; and Henry Fox, esq., secretary at war. His
majesty set out from St. James’ on the twenty-eighth of April early in
the morning, and embarked at Harwich in the afternoon, landed the next
day at Helvoetsluys, and arrived in Hanover on the second of May.
BOSCAWEN’S EXPEDITION.
Admiral Boscawen, with eleven ships of the line and a frigate, having
taken on board two regiments at Plymouth, sailed from thence on the
twenty-seventh of April for the banks of Newfoundland, and in a few days
after his arrival there, the French fleet from Brest came to the same
station, under the command of M. Bois de la Mothe. But the thick fogs
which prevail upon these coasts, especially at that time of the year,
kept the two armaments from seeing each other; and part of the French
squadron escaped up the river St. Lawrence, whilst another part of
them went round, and got into the same river through the straits of
Belleisle, by a way which was never known to be attempted before by
ships of the line. However, whilst the English fleet lay off Cape Race,
which is the southernmost point of Newfoundland, and was thought to be
the most proper situation for intercepting the enemy, two French ships,
the Alcide, of sixty-four guns and four hundred and eighty men, and the
Lys, pierced for fifty-four guns, but mounting only twenty-two, having
eight companies of land-forces on board, being separated from the rest
of their fleet in the fog, fell in with the Dunkirk, captain Howe,
and the Defiance, captain Andrews, two sixty gun ships of the English
squadron; and after a smart engagement, which lasted some hours, and in
which captain (afterwards lord) Howe behaved with the greatest skill
and intrepidity, were both taken, with several considerable officers and
engineers, and about eight thousand pounds in money. Though the capture
of these ships, from which the commencement of the war may in fact be
dated, fell greatly short of what was hoped for from this expedition;
yet, when the news of it reached England, it was of infinite service to
the public credit of every kind, and animated the whole nation, who
now saw plainly that the government was determined to keep no further
measures with the French, but justly to repel force by force, and put
a stop to their sending more men and arms to invade the property of the
English in America, as they had hitherto done with impunity. The French,
who, for some time, did not even attempt to make reprisals on our
shipping, would gladly have chosen to avoid a war at that time, and to
have continued extending their encroachments on our settlements, till
they had executed their grand plan of securing a communication from
the Mississippi to Canada, by a line of forts, many of which they had
already erected.
FRENCH AMBASSADOR RECALLED.
Upon the arrival of the news of this action at Paris, the French
ambassador, M. de Mirepoix, was recalled from London, and M. de Bussy
from Hanover, where he had just arrived, to attend the king of England
in a public character. They complained loudly of Boscawen’s attacking
the ships, as a breach of national faith; but it was justly retorted on
the part of England, that their encroachments in America had rendered
reprisals both justifiable and necessary. The resolution of making them
was the effect of mature deliberation in the English council. The vast
increase of the French marine of late years, which in all probability
would soon be employed against Great Britain, occasioned an order for
making reprisals general in Europe as well as in America; and that all
French ships, whether outward or homeward bound, should be stopped, and
brought into British ports. To give the greater weight to these orders,
it was resolved to send out those admirals who had distinguished
themselves most towards the end of the last war. Accordingly, on
the twenty-first of July, sir Edward Hawke sailed on a cruise to the
westward, with eighteen ships of the line, a frigate, and a sloop; but,
not meeting with the French fleet, these ships returned to England
about the latter end of September and the beginning of October; on the
fourteenth of which last month another fleet, consisting of twenty-two
ships of the line, two frigates, and two sloops, sailed again on a
cruise to the westward, under admiral Byng, in hopes of intercepting the
French squadron under Duguay, and likewise that commanded by La Mothe,
in case of its return from America. But this fleet likewise returned to
Spithead on the twenty-second of November, without having been able
to effect any thing, though it was allowed by all that the admiral had
acted judiciously in the choice of his stations.
While these measures were pursued, for the general security of the
British coasts and trade in Europe, several new ships of war were begun,
and finished with the utmost expedition, in his majesty’s docks: twelve
frigates and sloops, contracted for in private yards, were completed by
the month of August; and twenty-four ships and twelve colliers were then
taken into the service of the government, to be fitted out as vessels
of war, to carry twenty guns and one hundred and twenty men each. In the
meantime the French trade was so annoyed by the English cruisers, that
before the end of this year three hundred of their merchant ships, many
of which, from St. Domingo and Martinique, were extremely rich, and
eight thousand of their sailors were brought into English ports.
By these captures the British ministry answered many purposes: they
deprived the French of a great body of seamen, and withheld from them a
very large property, the want of which greatly distressed their people,
and ruined many of their traders. Their outward-bound merchant ships
were insured at the rate of thirty per cent., whilst the English paid no
more than the common insurance. This intolerable burden was felt by all
degrees of people amongst them: their ministry was publicly reviled,
even by their parliaments; and the French name, from being the terror,
began to be the contempt of Europe. Their uneasiness was also not a
little heightened by new broils between their king and the parliament
of Paris, occasioned by the obstinacy of the clergy of that kingdom,
who seemed determined to support the church, in all events, against the
secular tribunals, and as much as possible to enforce the observance
of the bull Unigenitus, which had long been the occasion of so many
disputes among them. However, the parliament continuing firm, and the
French king approving of its conduct, the ecclesiastics thought proper
to submit for the present, and in their general assembly this year,
granted him a free gift of sixteen millions of livres, which he demanded
of them--a greater sum than they had ever given before, even in time of
war.
AFFAIRS OF THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA.
In the beginning of this year the assembly of Massachusetts Bay in New
England, passed an act prohibiting all correspondence with the French at
Louisbourg; and early in the spring they raised a body of troops, which
was transported to Nova Scotia, to assist lieutenant-governor Laurence
in driving the French from the encroachments they had made upon that
province. Accordingly, towards the end of May, the governor sent a large
detachment of troops, under the command of lieutenant-colonel Monckton,
upon this service; and three frigates and a sloop were despatched up
the bay of Fundy, under the command of captain Rous, to give their
assistance by sea. The troops, upon their arrival at the river
Massaguash, found the passage stopped by a large number of regular
forces, rebel neutrals, or Acadians, and Indians, four hundred and
fifty of whom occupied a block-house, with cannon mounted on their side
of the river; and the rest were posted within a strong breast-work of
timber, thrown up by way of outwork to the block-house. The English
provincials attacked this place with such spirit, that the enemy were
obliged to fly, and leave them in possession of the breast-work; then
the garrison in the block-house deserted it, and left the passage of the
river free. From thence colonel Monckton advanced to the French fort of
Beau-Sejour, which he invested, as far at least as the small number of
his troops would permit, on the twelfth of June; and after four days
bombardment, obliged it to surrender, though the French had twenty-six
pieces of cannon mounted, and plenty of ammunition, and the English had
not yet placed a single cannon upon their batteries. The garrison was
sent to Louisbourg, on condition of not bearing arms in America for the
space of six months; and the Acadians, who had joined the French,
were pardoned, in consideration of their having been forced into that
service. Colonel Monckton, after putting a garrison into this place,
and changing its name to that of Cumberland, the next day attacked and
reduced the other French fort upon the river Gaspereau, which runs into
Bay Verte; where he likewise found a large quantity of provisions and
stores of all kinds, that being the chief magazine for supplying
the French Indians and Acadians with arms, ammunition, and other
necessaries. He then disarmed these last, to the number of fifteen
thousand; and in the meantime, captain Rous with his ships sailed to
the mouth of the river St. John, to attack the new fort the French had
erected there; but they saved him that trouble, by abandoning it
upon his appearance, after having burst their cannon, blown up their
magazine, and destroyed, as far as they had time, all the works they had
lately raised. The English had but twenty men killed, and about the same
number wounded, in the whole of this expedition, the success of which
secured the tranquillity of Nova Scotia.
BRADDOCK’S UNFORTUNATE EXPEDITION.
While the new Englanders were thus employed in reducing the French in
Nova Scotia, preparations were made in Virginia for attacking them upon
the Ohio. A fort was built, which was likewise called Fort Cumberland,
and a camp formed at Will’s-Creek. On the fourteenth of January of
this year, major-general Brad-dock, with colonel Dunbar’s and colonel
Halket’s regiments of foot, sailed from Cork, in Ireland, for Virginia,
where they all landed safe before the end of February. This general
might consequently have entered upon action early in the spring, had
he not been unfortunately delayed by the Virginian contractors for the
army, who, when he was ready to march, had neither provided a sufficient
quantity of provisions for his troops, nor a competent number of
carriages for his army. This accident was foreseen by almost every
person who knew any thing of our plantations upon the continent of
America; for the people of Virginia, who think of no produce but their
tobacco, and do not raise corn enough even for their own subsistence,
being, by the nature of their country, well provided with the
conveniency of water conveyance, have but few wheel carriages, or beasts
of burden; whereas Pennsylvania, which abounds in corn, and most other
sorts of provisions, has but little water-carriage, especially in its
western settlements, where its inhabitants have great numbers of carts,
waggons, and horses. Mr. Braddock should therefore certainly, in point
of prudence, have landed in Pennsylvania: the contract for supplying his
troops should have been made with some of the chief planters there, who
could easily have performed their engagements; and if his camp had been
formed near Frank’s Town, or somewhere upon the south-west borders of
that province, he would have had but eighty miles to march from thence
to Fort Du Quesne, instead of an hundred and thirty miles that he had
to advance from Will’s-Creek, where he did encamp, through roads neither
better nor more practicable than the other would have been. This error,
in the very beginning of the expedition, whether owing to an injudicious
preference fondly given to the Virginians in the lucrative job of
supplying these troops, or to any other cause, delayed the march of
the army for some weeks, during which it was in the utmost distress
for necessaries of all kinds; and would probably have defeated the
expedition entirely for that summer, had not the contractors found means
to procure some assistance from the back settlements of Pennsylvania.
But even when these supplies did arrive, they consisted of only fifteen
waggons, and an hundred draft horses, instead of an hundred and fifty
waggons and three hundred horses, which the Virginian contractors had
engaged to furnish, and the provisions were so bad that they could not
be used. However, some gentlemen in Pennsylvania, being applied to in
this exigency, amply made up for these deficiencies, and the troops were
by this means supplied with every thing they wanted. Another, and still
more fatal error was committed in the choice of the commander for
this expedition. Major-general Braddock, who was appointed to it, was
undoubtedly a man of courage, and expert in all the punctilios of
a review, having been brought up in the English guards; but he was
naturally very haughty, positive, and difficult of access; qualities ill
suited to the temper of the people amongst whom he was to command. His
extreme severity in matters of discipline had rendered him unpopular
among the soldiers; and the strict military education in which he had
been trained from his youth, and which he prided himself on scrupulously
following, made him hold the American militia in great contempt, because
they could not go through their exercise with the same dexterity and
regularity as a regiment of guards in Hyde Park, little knowing,
or indeed being able to form any idea of the difference between the
European manner of fighting, and an American expedition through woods,
deserts, and morasses. Before he left England, he received, in the
hand-writing of colonel Napier, a set of instructions from the duke of
Cumberland. By these, the attempt upon Niagara was in a great measure
referred to him, and the reduction of Crown Point was to be left chiefly
to the provincial forces. But above all, his royal highness, both
verbally and in this writing, frequently cautioned him carefully to
beware of an ambush or surprise. Instead of regarding this salutary
caution, his conceit of his own abilities made him disdain to ask the
opinion of any under his command; and the Indians, who would have been
his safest guards against this danger in particular, were so disgusted
by the haughtiness of his behaviour, that most of them forsook his
banners. Under these disadvantages he began his march from Fort
Cumberland on the tenth of June, at the head of about two thousand two
hundred men, for the meadows, where colonel Washington was defeated the
year before. Upon his arrival there, he was informed that the French at
Fort du Quesne, which had lately been built on the same river, near
its confluence with the Monangahela, expected a reinforcement of five
hundred regular troops: therefore, that he might march with a greater
despatch, he left colonel Dunbar with eight hundred men, to bring up
the provisions, stores, and heavy baggage, as fast as the nature of the
service would permit; and with the other twelve hundred, together with
ten pieces of cannon, and the necessary ammunition, and provisions,
he marched on with so much expedition, that he seldom took any time
to reconnoitre the woods or thickets he was to pass through; as if the
nearer he approached the enemy, the farther he was removed from danger.
On the eighth of July, he encamped within ten miles of Fort du Quesne.
Though colonel Dunbar was then near forty miles behind him, and his
officers, particularly sir Peter Halket, earnestly entreated him to
proceed with caution, and to employ the friendly Indians who were with
him, by way of advanced guard, in case of ambuscades; yet he resumed
his march the next day, without so much as endeavouring to obtain any
intelligence of the situation or disposition of the enemy, or even
sending out any scouts to visit the woods and thickets on both sides of
him, as well as in front. With this carelessness he was advancing,
when, about noon, he was saluted with a general fire upon his front,
and all along his left flank, from an enemy so artfully concealed
behind the trees and bushes, that not a man of them could be seen. The
vanguard immediately fell back upon the main body, and in an instant
the panic and confusion became general; so that most of the troops fled
with great precipitation, notwithstanding all that their officers, some
of whom behaved very gallantly, could do to stop their career. As to
Braddock himself, instead of scouring the thickets and bushes from
whence the fire came, with grape shot from the ten pieces of cannon he
had with him, or ordering flanking parties of his Indians to advance
against the enemy, he obstinately remained upon the spot where he was,
and gave orders for the few brave officers and men who staid with him,
to form regularly, and advance. Meanwhile his men fell thick about him,
and almost all his officers were singled out, one after another, and
killed or wounded; for the Indians, who always take aim when they fire,
and aim chiefly at the officers, distinguished them by their dress. At
last, the general, whose obstinacy seemed to increase with the danger,
after having had some horses shot under him, received a musket shot
through the right arm and lungs, of which he died in a few hours,
having been carried off the field by the bravery of lieutenant-colonel
Gage, another of his officers. When he dropped, the confusion of the
few that remained turned it into a downright and very disorderly flight
across a river which they had just passed, though no enemy appeared, or
attempted to attack them. All the artillery, ammunition, and baggage of
the army were left to the enemy, and, among the rest, the general’s
cabinet, with all his letters and instructions, which the French court
afterwards made great use of in their printed memorials or manifestoes.
The loss of the English in this unhappy affair amounted to seven
hundred men. Their officers, in particular, suffered much more than in
the ordinary proportion of batteries in Europe. Sir Peter Halket fell
by the very first fire, at the head of his regiment; and the general’s
secretary, son to governor Shirley, was killed soon after. Neither the
number of men which the enemy had in this engagement, nor the loss
which they sustained, could be so much as guessed at; but the French
afterwards gave out, that their number did not, in the whole, exceed
four hundred men, mostly Indians; and that their loss was quite
inconsiderable, as it probably was, because they lay concealed in such
a manner that the English knew not whither to point their muskets. The
panic of these last continued so long, that they never stopped till
they met the rear division; and even then they infected those troops
with their terrors; so that the army retreated without stopping, till
they reached Fort Cumberland, though the enemy did not so much as
attempt to pursue, nor ever appeared in sight, either in the battle, or
after the defeat. On the whole, this was perhaps the most extraordinary
victory that ever was obtained, and the farthest flight that ever was
made.
Had the shattered remains of this army continued at Fort Cumberland, and
fortified themselves there, as they might easily have done, during the
rest of the summer, they would have been such a check upon the French
and their scalping Indians, as would have prevented many of those
ravages that were committed in the ensuing winter upon the western
borders of Virginia and Pennsylvania; but, instead of taking that
prudent step, their commander left only the sick and wounded at that
fort, under the protection of two companies of the provincial militia,
posted there by way of garrison, and began his march on the second of
August, with about sixteen hundred men, for Philadelphia; where those
troops could be of no immediate service. From thence they were ordered
away to Albany, in New York, by general Shirley, on whom the chief
command of the troops in America had devolved by the death of
major-general Braddock. Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, were by
these means left entirely to the care of themselves, which they might
have done effectually, had they been united in their councils; but the
usual disputes between their governors and assemblies, defeated every
salutary plan that was proposed. Pennsylvania, the most powerful of the
three, was rendered quite impotent, either for its own defence or that
of its neighbours, by these unhappy contests; though, at last, the
assembly of that province, sensible of the danger to which they were
exposed, and seeing the absolute necessity of providing a standing
military force, and of erecting some forts to defend their western
frontier, passed a bill for raising fifty thousand pounds. But even
this sum, small as it was, even to a degree of ridicule, considering the
richness of the province and the extent of its frontier, could not be
obtained; the governor positively refusing to give his assent to the
act of the assembly, because they had taxed the proprietaries estates
equally with those of the inhabitants, which, he said, he was ordered
by his instructions, not to consent to, nor indeed any new tax upon the
proprietaries: and the assembly, consisting chiefly of members whose
estates lay in the eastern or interior parts of the province, as
positively refusing to alter their bill. One would be apt to think,
that, in a case of such urgent necessity, the governor might have
ventured to give his assent to the bill under a protest, that it should
not prejudice the rights of the proprietaries upon any future occasion;
but as he did not, the bill was dropped, and the province left
defenceless; by which means it afterwards suffered severely, to the
destruction of many of the poor inhabitants upon the western frontier,
and to the impressing the Indians with a contemptible opinion of the
English, and the highest esteem of the French.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
EXPEDITION AGAINST CROWN POINT AND NIAGARA RESOLVED ON.
Our colonies to the north of Pennsylvania were more active, and more
successful in their preparations for war. New York, following the
example of New England, passed an act to prohibit the sending of
provisions to any French port or settlement on the continent of North
America, or any of the adjacent islands; and also for raising forty-five
thousand pounds, on estates real and personal, for the better defence of
their colony, which lay more exposed than any other to a French invasion
from Crown Point. However, this sum, great as it might seem to them,
was far from being sufficient; nor, indeed, could they have provided
properly for their security, without the assistance of our other
colonies to the east of them; but with their help, and the additional
succour of the small body of regular troops expected under Colonel
Dunbar, they boldly resolved upon offensive measures, which when
practicable are always the safest; and two expeditions, one against the
French fort at Crown Point, and the other against their fort at Niagara,
between the lakes Ontario and Erie, were set on foot at the same time.
The former of these expeditions was appointed to be executed under the
command of general Johnson, a native of Ireland, who had long resided
upon the Mohawk river, in the western parts of New York, where he had
acquired a considerable estate, and was universally beloved, not only by
the inhabitants, but also by the neighbouring Indians, whose language he
had learnt, and whose affections he had gained by his humanity towards
them. The expedition against Niagara was commanded by general Shirley
himself.
The rendezvous of the troops for both these expeditions was appointed to
be at Albany, where most of them arrived before the end of June; but the
artillery, batteaux, provisions, and other necessaries for the attempt
upon Crown Point, could not be prepared till the eighth of August, when
general Johnson set out with them from Albany for the Carrying-place
from Hudson’s river to Lake George. There the troops had already
arrived, under the command of major-general Lyman, and consisted of
between five and six thousand men, besides Indians, raised by the
governments of Boston, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New
York. Every thing was then prepared as fast as possible for a march; and
towards the end of the month, general Johnson advanced about fourteen
miles forward with his troops, and encamped in a very strong situation,
covered on each side by a thick wooded swamp, by Lake George in his
rear, and by a breast-work of trees, cut down for that purpose, in
his front. Here he resolved to wait the arrival of his batteaux, and
afterwards to proceed to Ticonderoga, at the other end of the lake, from
whence it was but about fifteen miles to the fort at the south end of
Lake Colaer, or Champlain, called Fort Frederick by the French, and by
us Crown Point. Whilst he was thus encamped, some of his Indian scouts,
of which he took care to send out numbers along both sides, and to
the farther end of Lake George, brought him intelligence that
a considerable number of the enemy were then on their march from
Ticonderoga, by the way of the south bay, towards the fortified
encampment, since called Fort Edward, which general Lyman had built
at the Carrying-place; and in which four or five hundred of the New
Hampshire and New York men had been left as a garrison. Upon this
information general Johnson sent two expresses, one after the other,
to colonel Blanchard their commander, with orders to call in all his
out-parties, and to keep his whole force within the intrenchments. About
twelve o’clock at night, those who had been sent upon the second express
returned with an account of their having seen the enemy within four
miles of the camp at the Carrying-place, which they scarcely doubted
their having by that time attacked. Important as the defence of this
place was for the safety of the whole army, and imminent as the danger
seemed to be, it does not appear that the general then called any
council of war, or resolved upon any thing for its relief; but early the
next morning he called a council, wherein it was unadvisedly resolved
to detach a thousand men, with a number of Indians, to intercept, or, as
the general’s expression was in his letter, to catch the enemy in
their retreat, either as victors, or as defeated in their design. This
expedient was resolved on, though no one knew the number of the enemy,
nor could obtain any information in that respect from the Indian scouts,
because the Indians have no words or signs for expressing any large
number, which, when it exceeds their reckoning, they signify by pointing
to the stars in the firmament, or to the hair of their head; and this
they often do to denote a number less than a thousand, as well as to
signify ten thousand, or any greater number.
Between eight and nine o’clock in the morning a thousand men, with two
hundred Indians, were detached under the command of colonel Williams;
but they had not been gone two hours when those in the camp began to
hear a close firing, at about three or four miles’ distance, as they
judged; as it approached nearer and nearer, they rightly supposed that
the detachment was overpowered, and retreating towards the camp; which
was soon confirmed by some fugitives, and presently after by whole
companies, who fled back in great confusion. In a very short time after,
the enemy appeared marching in regular order up to the centre of the
camp, where the consternation was so great, that, if they had attacked
the breastwork directly, they might probably have thrown all into
confusion, and obtained an easy victory; but fortunately for the
English, they halted for some time at about an hundred and fifty yards’
distance, and from thence began their attack with platoon firing, too
far off to do much hurt, especially against troops who were defended by
a strong breastwork. On the contrary, this ineffectual fire served only
to raise the spirits of these last, who, having prepared their artillery
during the time that the French halted, began to play it so briskly
upon the enemy, that the Canadians and Indians in their service fled
immediately into the woods on each side of the camp, and there squatted
under bushes, or skulked behind trees, from whence they continued firing
with very little execution, most of their shot being intercepted by the
brakes and thickets; for they never had the courage to advance to the
verge of the wood. Baron Dieskau, who commanded the French, being thus
left alone with his regular troops at the front of the camp, finding he
could not make a close attack upon the centre with his small number
of men, moved first to the left, and then to the right, at both which
places he endeavoured to force a passage, but was repulsed, being
unsupported by the irregulars. Instead of retreating, as he ought in
prudence to have done, he still continued his platoon and bush firing
till four o’clock in the afternoon, during which time his regular troops
suffered greatly by the fire from the camp, and were at last thrown into
confusion; which was no sooner perceived by general Johnson’s men, than
they, without waiting for orders, leaped over their breastwork, attacked
the enemy on all sides, and after killing and taking a considerable
number of them, entirely dispersed the rest. The French, whose numbers
at the beginning of this engagement amounted to about two thousand men,
including two hundred grenadiers, eight hundred Canadians, and the rest
Indians of different nations, had between seven and eight hundred men
killed, and thirty taken prisoners; among the latter was baron Dieskau
himself, whom they found at a little distance from the field of battle,
dangerously wounded, and leaning on the stump of a tree for his support.
The English lost about two hundred men, and those chiefly of the
detachment under Colonel Williams; for they had very few either killed
or wounded in the attack upon their camp, and not any of distinction,
except colonel Tit-comb killed, and the general himself and major
Nichols wounded. Among the slain of the detachment, which would probably
have been entirely cut off had not lieutenant-colonel Cole been sent out
from the camp with three hundred men, with which he stopped the enemy’s
pursuit, and covered the retreat of his friends, were colonel Williams,
major Ashly, six captains, and several subalterns, besides private men;
and the Indians reckoned that they had lost forty men, besides the brave
old Hendrick, the Mohawk sachem, or chief captain.
BRAVERY OF CAPTAIN M’GINNES.
When baron Dieskau set out from Ticonderoga, his design was only to
surprise and cut off the intrenched camp, now called Fort Edward, at the
Carrying-place, where there were but four or five hundred men. If he
had executed this scheme, our army would have been thrown into great
difficulties; for it could neither have proceeded farther, nor have
subsisted where it was, and he might have found an opportunity to attack
it with great advantage in its retreat. But when he was within four
or five miles of that fort, his people were informed that there were
several cannon there, and none at the camp; upon which they all desired
to be led on to this last, which he the more readily consented to, as he
himself had been told by an English prisoner, who had left this camp
but a few days before, that it was quite defenceless, being without any
lines, and destitute of cannon; which, in effect, was true at that time;
for the cannon did not arrive, nor was the breast-work erected, till
about two days before the engagement. To this misinformation, therefore,
must be imputed this step, which would otherwise be inconsistent with
the general character and abilities of baron Dieskau. A less justifiable
error seems to have been committed by general Johnson, in not detaching
a party to pursue the enemy when they were defeated and fled. Perhaps
he was prevented from so doing by the ill fate of the detachment he had
sent out in the morning under colonel Williams. However that may be, his
neglect in this respect had like to have been fatal the next day to a
detachment sent from Fort Edward, consisting of an hundred and twenty
men of the New Hampshire regiment, under captain M’Ginnes, as a
reinforcement to the army at the camp. This party fell in with between
three and four hundred men of Dieskau’s troops, near the spot where
colonel Williams had been defeated the day before; but M’Ginnes, having
timely notice by his scouts of the approach of an enemy, made such a
disposition, that he not only repulsed the assailants, but defeated and
entirely dispersed them, with the loss only of two men killed, eleven
wounded, and five missing. He himself unfortunately died of the wounds
he received in this engagement, a few days after he arrived at the camp
with his party. It was now judged too late in the year to proceed to the
attack of Crown Point, as it would have been necessary, in that case,
to build a strong fort in the place where the camp then was, in order
to secure a communication with Albany, from whence only the troops could
expect to be reinforced, or supplied with fresh stores of ammunition
or provisions. They therefore set out upon their return soon after this
engagement, having first erected a little stockaded fort, at the hither
end of Lake George, in which they left a small garrison, as a future
prey for the enemy; a misfortune which might easily have been foreseen,
because this whole army being country militia, was to be disbanded, and
return to their respective homes, as they actually did soon after their
retreat to Albany. This was all the glory, this all the advantage, that
the English nation acquired by such an expensive expedition. But so
little had the English been accustomed of late to hear of victory, that
they rejoiced at this advantage, as if it had been an action of the
greatest consequence. The general was highly applauded for his conduct,
and liberally rewarded; for he was created a baronet by his majesty, and
presented with five thousand pounds by the parliament.
DESCRIPTION OF FORT OSWEGO, &c
The preparations for general Shirley’s expedition against Niagara, were
not only deficient, but shamefully slow; though it was well known that
even the possibility of his success must, in a great measure, depend
upon his setting out early in the year, as will appear to any person who
considers the situation of our fort at Oswego, this being the only way
by which he could proceed to Niagara. Oswego lies on the south-east
side of the lake Ontario, near three hundred miles almost due west from
Albany in New York. The way to it from thence, though long and tedious,
is the more convenient, as the far greatest part of it admits of water
carriage, by what the inhabitants called batteaux, which are a kind of
light flat-bottomed boats, widest in the middle, and pointed at each
end, of about fifteen hundred weight burden, and managed by two men
called batteau-men, with paddles and setting poles, the rivers being in
many places too narrow to admit of oars. From Albany to the village of
Schenactady, about sixteen miles, is a good waggon road. From thence
to the little falls in the Mohawk-river, being sixty-five miles, the
passage is by water-carriage up that river, and consequently against
the stream, which in many places is somewhat rapid, and in others so
shallow, that, when the river is low, the watermen are obliged to get
out and draw their batteaux over the rifts. At the little falls is a
postage or land-carriage for about a mile, over a ground so marshy that
it will not bear any wheel carriage; but a colony of Germans settled
there, attend with sledges, on which they draw the loaded batteaux to
the next place of embarkation upon the same river. From thence they
proceed by water up that river for fifty miles, to the Carrying-place,
near the head of it, where there is another postage, the length of which
depends upon the dryness or wetness of the season, but is generally
above six or eight miles over in the summer months. Here the batteaux
are again carried upon sledges, till they come to a narrow river, called
Wood’s Creek, down which they are wafted on a gentle stream for about
forty miles into the lake Oneyada, which stretches from east to west
about thirty miles, and is passed with great ease and safety in calm
weather. At the western end of the lake is the river Onondaga, which,
after a course of between twenty and thirty miles, unites with the river
Cayuga, or Seneca, and their united streams run into the lake Ontario,
at the place where Oswego fort is situated. But this river is so rapid
as to be sometimes dangerous, besides its being full of rifts and rocks;
and about twelve miles on this side of Oswego there is a fall of
eleven feet perpendicular, where there is consequently a postage, which
however, does not exceed forty yards. From thence the passage is easy
quite to Oswego. The lake Ontario, on which this fort stands, is near
two hundred and eighty leagues in circumference; its figure is oval, and
its depth runs from twenty to twenty-five fathoms. On the north side of
it are several little gulfs. There is a communication between this
lake and that of the Hurons by the river Tanasuate, from whence it is a
land-carriage of six or eight leagues to the river Toronto, which
falls into it. The French have two forts of consequence on this lake;
Frontenac, which commands the river St. Lawrence, where the lake
communicates with it; and Niagara, which commands the communication
between the lake Ontario and the lake Erie. But of these forts, and
this last lake, which is one of the finest in the world, we shall have
occasion to speak hereafter.
Though we had long been in possession of fort Oswego, and though it lay
greatly exposed to the French, particularly to those of Canada, upon any
rupture between the two nations, we had never taken care to render
it tolerably defensible, or even to build a single vessel fit for
navigating the lake: nor was this strange neglect ever taken effectual
notice of, till the beginning of this year, when, at a meeting which
general Braddock had in April with the governors and chief gentlemen of
several of our colonies at Alexandria, in Virginia, it was resolved to
strengthen both the fort and garrison at Oswego, and to build some large
vessels at that place. Accordingly a number of shipwrights and workmen
were sent thither in May and June. At the same time captain Bradstreet
marched thither with two companies of an hundred men each, to reinforce
the hundred that were there before under captain King, to which number
the garrison had been increased since our contests with France began
to grow serious. For a long time before, not above twenty-five men
were left to defend this post, which from its great importance, and the
situation of affairs at this juncture, most certainly required a much
stronger garrison than was put into it even at this juncture; but
economy was the chief thing consulted in the beginning of this war, and
to that in a great measure was owing its long duration.
EXPEDITION AGAINST NIAGARA.
From the above description of the passage from Albany to Oswego, it is
plain how necessary it was that the troops intended for this expedition
should have set out early in the spring. But instead of that, the very
first of them, colonel Schuyler’s New Jersey regiment, did not begin
their march till after the beginning of July, and just as Shirley’s and
Pepperell’s regiments were preparing to follow, the melancholy account
of Braddock’s disaster arrived at Albany, where it so damped the
spirits of the people, and spread such a terror, that many of the troops
deserted, and most of the batteau-men dispersed and ran home, by which
means even all the necessary stores could not be carried along with the
troops. Notwithstanding this disappointment, Mr. Shirley set out from
Albany before the end of July, with as many of the troops and stores as
he could procure a conveyance for, hoping to be joined in his route
by great numbers of the Indians of the Six Nations, to whom he sent
invitations to that effect as he passed by their settlements; but they,
instead of complying with his desire, absolutely declared against all
hostilities on that side of the country; and insisted that Oswego, being
a place of traffic and peace, ought not to be disturbed either by the
English or the French, as if they could have persuaded both parties to
agree to such a local truce. Upon this refusal, Mr. Shirley proceeded
forward, being joined by a very few Indians, and arrived at Oswego on
the seventeenth or eighteenth of August; but the rest of the troops and
artillery did not arrive till the last day of that month; and even
then, their store of provisions was not sufficient to enable them to
go against Niagara, though some tolerably good vessels had by this time
been built and got ready for that purpose. The general now resolved to
take but six hundred men with him for the attack of Niagara, and to
leave the rest of his army, consisting of about fourteen hundred more,
at Oswego, to defend that place, in case the French should attack it
in his absence, which there was reason to apprehend they might, as they
then had a considerable force at fort Frontenac, from whence they could
easily cross over the lake Ontario to Oswego. However, he was still
obliged to wait at Oswego for provisions, of which at length a small
supply arrived on the twenty-sixth of September, barely sufficient to
support his men during their intended expedition, and to allow twelve
days’ short subsistence for those he left behind. But by this time the
rainy boisterous season had begun, on which account most of his Indians
had already left him and were returned home; and the few that remained
with him declared that there was no crossing the lake Ontario in
batteaux at that season, or any time before the next summer. In this
perplexity he called a council of war, which, after weighing all
circumstances, unanimously resolved to defer the attempt upon Niagara
till the next year, and to employ the troops, whilst they remained at
Oswego, in building barracks, and erecting, or at least beginning to
erect, two new forts, one on the east side of the river Onondaga, four
hundred and fifty yards distant from the old fort, which it was to
command, as well as the entrance of the harbour, and to be called
Ontario-fort; and the other four hundred and fifty yards west of the old
fort, to be called Oswego new fort.
GENERAL SHIRLEY RETURNS TO ALBANY.
These things being agreed on, general Shirley, with the greatest part
of the troops under his command, set out on his return to Albany on the
twenty-fourth of October, leaving colonel Mercer, with a garrison of
about seven hundred men, at Oswego; though repeated advice had been
received, that the French had then at least a thousand men at their fort
at Frontenac, upon the same lake; and, what was still worse, the new
forts were not yet near completed; but left to be finished by the hard
labour of colonel Mercer and his little garrison, with the addition
of this melancholy circumstance, that, if besieged by the enemy in
the winter, it would not be possible for his friends to come to his
assistance. Thus ended this year’s unfortunate campaign, during which
the French, with the assistance of their Indian allies, continued their
murders, scalping, captivating, and laying waste the western frontiers
of Virginia and Pennsylvania, during the whole winter.
The ministers of the two warring powers were very busily employed this
year at most of the courts of Europe; but their transactions were kept
extremely secret. The French endeavoured to inspire the Spaniards with
a jealousy of the strength of the English by sea, especially in America;
and the Spanish court seemed inclined to accept of the office of
mediator; but Mr. Wall, who was perfectly well acquainted with the state
of affairs between England and France, seconded the representations of
the British ministry, which demonstrated, that, however willing Great
Britain might be to accept of the mediation of Spain, she could not
agree to any suspension of arms in America, which France insisted on
as a preliminary condition, without hazarding the whole of her interest
there; and that the captures which had been made by the English were the
necessary consequences of the encroachments and injustice of the French,
particularly in that country. Upon this remonstrance, all further talk
of the mediation of Spain was dropped, and the ministry of Versailles
had recourse to the princes of Germany; amongst whom the elector of
Cologn was soon brought over to their party, so as to consent to their
forming magazines in his territories in Westphalia. This was a plain
indication of their design against Hanover, which they soon after made
his Britannic majesty, who was then at Hanover, an offer of sparing, if
he would agree to certain conditions of neutrality for that
electorate, which he rejected with disdain. Then the count d’Aubeterre,
envoy-extraordinary from France at the court of Vienna, proposed a
secret negotiation with the ministers of the empress-queen. The secret
articles of the treaty of Petersburgh, between the two empresses, had
stipulated a kind of partition of the Prussian territories, in case that
prince should infringe the treaty of Dresden; but his Britannic
majesty, though often invited, had always refused to agree to any such
stipulation; and the king of Poland, howsoever he might be inclined to
favour the scheme, did not dare to avow it formally, till matters should
be more ripe for carrying it into execution. The court of Vienna,
whose favourite measure this was, began to listen to d’Aubeterre’s
insinuations, and by degrees entered into negotiations with him, which,
in the end, were productive of that unnatural confederacy between the
empress-queen and the king of France, of which further notice will be
taken in the occurrences of the next year, when the treaty between them,
into which they afterwards found means secretly to bring the empress of
Russia, was concluded at Versailles.
TREATY WITH THE LANDGRAVE OF HESSE-CASSEL.
The king of England taking it for granted that the French would invade
Hanover, in consequence of their rupture with Great Britain, which
seemed to be near at hand, began to take measures for the defence of
that electorate. To this end, during his stay at Hanover, he concluded,
on the eighteenth day of June, a treaty with the landgrave of
Hesse-Cassel, by which his serene highness engaged to hold in readiness,
during four years, for his majesty’s service, a body of eight thousand
men, to be employed, if required, upon the continent, or in Britain, or
Ireland; but not on board the fleet or beyond the seas; and also, if
his Britannic majesty should judge it necessary or advantageous for his
service, to furnish and join to this body of eight thousand men, within
six months after they should be demanded, four thousand more, of
which seven hundred were to be horse or dragoons, and each regiment of
infantry to have two field pieces of cannon. [364] _[See note 2 Y, at
the end of this Vol.]_ Another treaty was begun with Russia about the
same time; but this did not take effect during his majesty’s residence
at Hanover: that others were not concluded was the more surprising, as
our subsidy-treaty with Saxony had then expired, and that with Bavaria
was near expiring, and as the securing of these two princes in our
interest was at least as necessary towards forming a sufficient
confederacy upon the continent for the defence of Hanover, as it was to
secure the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. If the reason of their not being
engaged, and no other seems so probable, was, that they refused to renew
their treaties with England upon any terms, all that can be said is,
that they were guilty of flagrant ingratitude, as they had both received
a subsidy from this kingdom for many years in time of peace, when
they neither were nor could be of any service to the interest of Great
Britain.
NEWS OF THE CAPTURE OF THE ALCIDE AND LYS REACHES ENGLAND.
On the fifteenth of July, an express arrived from admiral Boscawen, with
an account of his having taken the two French ships of war, the Alcide
and the Lys. This was certainly contrary to the expectation of the court
of France; for had they apprehended any such attack, they would not have
ordered Mr. Macnamara to return to Brest with the chief part of their
squadron; nor was it perhaps less contrary to the expectation of some
of our own ministry; but as matters had been carried so far, it was then
too late to retreat; and, therefore, orders were soon after given to
all our ships of war to make reprisals upon the French, by taking their
ships wherever they should meet them. Sir Edward Hawke sailed from
Portsmouth on the twenty-first of July, with eighteen ships of war,
to watch the return of the French fleet from America; which, however,
escaped him, and arrived at Brest on the third day of September.
Commodore Frankland sailed from Spithead for the West Indies on the
thirteenth of August, with four ships of war, furnished with orders to
commit hostilities, as well as to protect our trade and sugar-islands
from any insult that the French might offer; and the duke de Mirepoix,
their ambassador at the court of London, set out for Paris on the
twenty-second of July, without taking leave.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
THE KING RETURNS FROM HANOVER, AND CONCLUDES A TREATY WITH RUSSIA.
A war being thus in some measure begun, his majesty thought proper,
perhaps for that reason, to return to his British dominions sooner than
usual; for he left Hanover on the eighth of September, and arrived on
the fifteenth at Kensington, where the treaty of alliance between him
and the empress of Russia, which he had begun during his absence, was
concluded on the thirtieth of the same month. By this treaty her Russian
majesty engaged to hold in readiness in Livonia, upon the frontiers of
Lithuania, a body of troops consisting of forty thousand infantry, with
the necessary artillery, and fifteen thousand cavalry; and also on the
coast of the same province, forty or fifty galleys, with the necessary
crews; to be ready to act, upon the first order, in his majesty’s
service, in case, said the fifth article, which was the most remarkable,
that the dominions of his Britannic majesty in Germany should be invaded
on account of the interests or disputes which regard his kingdoms; her
imperial majesty declaring that she would look upon such an invasion
as a case of the alliance of the year one thousand seven hundred and
forty-two; and that the said dominions should be therein comprised in
this respect; but neither these troops nor galleys were to be put in
motion, unless his Britannic majesty, or his allies, should be somewhere
attacked; in which case the Russian general should march as soon as
possible after requisition, to make a diversion with thirty thousand
infantry, and fifteen thousand cavalry; and should embark on board the
galleys the other ten thousand infantry to make a descent according to
the exigency of the affair. On the other side, his Britannic majesty
engaged to pay to her Russian majesty an annual subsidy of an hundred
thousand pounds sterling a year, each year to be paid in advance, and
to be reckoned from the day of the exchange of the ratifications, to the
day that these troops should upon requisition march out of Russia; from
which day the annual subsidy to her imperial majesty was to be five
hundred thousand pounds sterling, to be paid always four months in
advance, until the troops should return into the Russian dominions, and
for three months after their return. His Britannic majesty, who was to
be at liberty to send once every year into the said province of Livonia
a commissary, to see and examine the number and condition of the said
troops, further engaged, that, in case her Russian majesty should
be disturbed in this diversion, or attacked herself, he would famish
immediately the succour stipulated in the treaty of one thousand seven
hundred and forty-two, and that in case a war should break out, he
should send, into the Baltic a squadron of his ships, of a force
suitable to the circumstances. This was the chief substance of the
treaty, which, by agreement of both parties, was to subsist for four
years from the exchange of the ratifications; but in the seventh article
these words were unluckily inserted: “Considering also the proximity of
the countries wherein the diversion in question will probably be made,
and the facility her troops will probably have of subsisting immediately
in an enemy’s country, she takes upon herself alone, during such a
diversion, the subsistence and treatment of the said troops by sea
and land.” And in the eleventh article it was stipulated, that all the
plunder the Russian army should take from the enemy should belong to
them. That his Britannic majesty, who now knew enough of the court of
Vienna to be sensible that he could expect no assistance from thence,
in case his German dominions were invaded, should enter into this
convention with the empress of Russia, in order to strengthen his
defence upon the continent, was extremely natural; especially as he had
lately lived in great friendship with her, and her transactions with
the court of France had been so secret, by passing through only that
of Vienna, that he had not yet been informed of them; neither had the
project of the treaty of Versailles then come to his knowledge, or to
that of the king of Prussia, nor had either of these princes yet made
any formal advances to the other.
DECLARATION OF THE FRENCH MINISTRY AT THE COURT OF VIENNA.
The first intimation that appeared publicly of the negotiations of
France with the empress of Germany, was when the French minister, count
d’Aubeterre, declared at Vienna, “That the warlike designs with which
the king his master was charged, were sufficiently confuted by his great
moderation, of which all Europe had manifold proofs; that his majesty
was persuaded this groundless charge had given as much indignation to
their imperial majesties as to himself; that he was firmly resolved to
preserve to Christendom that tranquillity which it enjoyed through his
good faith, in religiously observing the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; but
that if his Britannic majesty’s allies should take part in the war
which was kindled in America, by furnishing succours to the English, his
majesty would be authorized to consider and treat them as principals in
it.” France likewise made the same declaration to other courts.
SPIRITED DECLARATION OF PRUSSIA.
The words and stipulation in the above-recited clause, in the seventh
article of the treaty of Great Britain with Russia, were looked on as
a menace levelled at the king of Prussia, who, having some time found
means to procure a copy of this treaty, and seeing it in that light,
boldly declared, by his ministers at all the courts of Europe, that he
would oppose, with his utmost force, the entrance of any foreign troops
into the empire, under any pretence whatever. This declaration was
particularly displeasing to the French, who had already marched large
bodies of troops towards the frontiers of the empire, and erected
several great magazines in Westphalia, with the permission of the
elector of Cologn, for which the English minister at his court was, in
August, ordered to withdraw from thence without taking leave. However,
as soon as this declaration of the king of Prussia was notified to the
court of Versailles, they sent an ambassador-extraordinary, the duke
de Nivernois, to Berlin, to try to persuade his majesty to retract
his declaration, and enter into a new alliance with them. His Prussian
majesty received this ambassador in such a manner as seemed to denote a
disposition to agree to every thing he had to propose. This awakened in
England a jealousy that his declaration alone was not to be relied on,
but that it was necessary to bring him under some solemn engagement;
especially as the French had by this time a numerous army near the Lower
Rhine, with magazines provided for their march all the way to Hanover;
and if the king of Prussia suffered them to pass through his dominions,
that electorate must be swallowed up before the Russian auxiliaries
could possibly be brought thither, or any army be formed for protecting
it.* For this reason a negotiation was set on foot by Great Britain at
Berlin, but as it was not concluded before the beginning of the next
year, we shall defer entering into the particulars of it till we come to
that period.
* Perhaps the elector of Hanover was more afraid of the
Prussian monarch than of the most christian king, knowing
with what ease and rapidity this enterprising neighbour
could, in a few days, subdue the whole electorate.
THE FRENCH MAKE ANOTHER UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT UPON THE COURT OF SPAIN.
Meanwhile the French made another attempt upon the court of Madrid,
loudly complaining of the taking their two men of war by Boscawen’s
squadron, before any declaration of war was made, representing it as
a most unjustifiable proceeding, which threatened a dissolution of all
faith amongst nations. This produced a strong memorial from sir Benjamin
Keene, our minister at that court, importing, “That it was well known
that the French fleet carried troops, ammunition, and every thing
necessary for defending the countries which the French had unjustly
usurped in America, and of which the English claimed the property; that
the rules of self-defence authorize every nation to render fruitless any
attempt that may tend to its prejudice; that this right had been
made use of only in taking the two French ships of war; and that the
distinction of place might be interpreted in favour of the English,
seeing the two ships were taken on the coasts of the countries where
the contest arose.” In answer to this observation, the French minister
represented the vast number of ships which had been taken in the
European seas; for in fact the English ports soon began to be filled
with them, in consequence of the general orders for making reprisals.
But the court of Madrid was so far from being persuaded by any thing he
could say, that it gave his Britannic majesty the strongest assurances
of its friendship, and of its intention to take no part in the
differences between him and France, but such as should be conciliatory,
and tending to restore the public tranquillity.
THE IMPERIAL COURT REFUSES AUXILIARIES TO ENGLAND.
On the other hand, his Britannic majesty required, as king of
Great Britain, the auxiliaries stipulated to him by treaty from the
empress-queen. But these were refused, under pretence, that as the
contest between him and France related to America only, it was not a
case of the alliance; though at the same time the French made no scruple
of owning, that they intended to make a powerful descent on Great
Britain early in the spring. When, a little while after, France being
employed in making great preparation for a land war in Europe, the king
of England required her to defend her own possessions, the barrier in
the Low Countries, with the number of men stipulated by the treaty,
which countries, acquired by English blood and English treasure, had
been given to her on that express condition, she declared that she could
not spare troops for that purpose, on account of her dangerous enemy the
king of Prussia; and afterwards, when he was secured by his treaty with
England, she urged that as a reason for her alliance with France. It
must be owned, however, for the sake of historical truth, that this was
no bad reason, considering the power, the genius, and the character of
that prince, who hovered over her dominions with an army of one hundred
and fifty thousand veterans. It must likewise be owned, that she
undertook to procure the French king’s consent to a neutrality for
Hanover, which would have effectually secured that electorate from the
invasion of every other power but Prussia itself; and it is no strained
conjecture to suppose, that the dread of this very power was the true
source of those connexions in Germany, which entailed such a ruinous
continental war upon Great Britain.
THE FRENCH TAKE THE BLANDFORD.
Though the English continued to make reprisals upon the French, not only
in the seas of America, but also in those of Europe, by taking every
ship they could meet with, and detaining them, their cargoes, and crews;
yet the French, whether from a consciousness of their want of power by
sea, or that they might have a more plausible plea to represent England
as the aggressor, were so far from returning these hostilities, that
their fleet, which escaped sir Edward Hawke, having, on the thirteenth
of August, taken the Blandford ship of war, with governor Lyttelton on
board, going to Carolina, they set the governor at liberty, as soon
as the court was informed of the ship’s being brought into Nantes, and
shortly after released both the ship and the crew. However, at the
same time, their preparations for a land war still went on with great
diligence, and their utmost arts and efforts were fruitlessly exerted
to persuade the Spaniards and Dutch to join with them against Great
Britain.
STATE OF THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH NAVIES.
In England the preparations by sea became greater than ever, several
new ships of war were put in commission, and many others taken into the
service of the government; the exportation of gunpowder was forbid; the
bounties to seamen were continued, and the number of those that either
entered voluntarily, or were pressed, increased daily, as did also the
captures from the French, among which was the Espérance, of seventy
guns, taken as she was going from Rochefort to Brest to be manned. The
land-forces of Great Britain were likewise ordered to be augmented;
several new regiments were raised, and all half-pay officers, and the
out-pensioners belonging to Chelsea-hospital, were directed to send in
their names, ages, and time of service, in order that such of them as
were yet able to serve might be employed again if wanted. The English
navy, so early as in the month of September of this year, consisted
of one ship of an hundred and ten guns, five of an hundred guns each,
thirteen of ninety, eight of eighty, five of seventy-four, twenty-nine
of seventy, four of sixty-six, one of sixty-four, thirty-three of
sixty, three of fifty-four, twenty-eight of fifty, four of forty-four,
thirty-five of forty, and forty-two of twenty, four sloops of war of
eighteen guns each, two of sixteen, eleven of fourteen, thirteen
of twelve, and one of ten, besides a great number of bomb-ketches,
fire-ships, and tenders; a force sufficient to oppose the united
maritime strength of all the powers in Europe; whilst that of the
French, even at the end of this year, and including the ships then
upon the stocks, amounted to no more than six ships of eighty guns,
twenty-one of seventy-four, one of seventy-two, four of seventy,
thirty-one of sixty-four, two of sixty, six of fifty, and thirty-two
frigates.
SESSION OPENED.
Such was the situation of the two kingdoms, when, on the thirteenth of
November, the parliament met, and his majesty opened the session with
a speech from the throne, in which he acquainted them--“That the most
proper measures had been taken to protect our possessions in America,
and to regain such parts thereof as had been encroached upon, or
invaded; that to preserve his people from the calamities of war, as well
as to prevent a general war from being lighted up in Europe, he had been
always ready to accept reasonable and honourable terms of accommodation,
but that none such had been proposed by France; that he had also
confined his views and operations to hinder France from making new
encroachments, or supporting those already made; to exert his people’s
right to a satisfaction for hostilities committed in time of profound
peace, and to disappoint such designs, as, from various appearances
and preparations, there was reason to think had been formed against
his kingdoms and dominions; that the king of Spain earnestly wished the
preservation of the public tranquillity, and had given assurances of his
intention to continue in the same pacific sentiments; that he himself
had greatly increased his naval armaments, and augmented his land-forces
in such a manner as might be least burdensome; and, finally, that he
had concluded a treaty with the empress of Russia, and another with the
landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, which should be laid before them.”
REMARKABLE ADDRESSES OF BOTH HOUSES.
In answer to this speech, both houses voted most loyal addresses,
but not without a warm opposition, in each, to some of the particular
expressions; for it having been proposed in the house of lords to insert
in their address the words following, viz.: “That they looked upon
themselves as obliged, by the strongest ties of duty, gratitude,
and honour, to stand by and support his majesty in all such wise and
necessary measures and engagements as his majesty might have taken in
vindication of the rights of his crown, or to defeat any attempts which
might be made by France in resentment for such measures, and to assist
his majesty in disappointing or repelling all such enterprises as might
be formed, not only against his kingdoms, but also against any other of
his dominions (though not belonging to the crown of Great Britain), in
case they should be attacked on account of the part which his majesty
had taken for maintaining the essential interests of his kingdoms;” the
inserting of these words in their address was opposed by earl Temple,
and several other lords; because, by the first part of them, they
engaged to approve of the treaties with Russia and Hesse-Cassel, neither
of which they had ever seen; nor could it be supposed that either of
them could be of any advantage to this nation; and by the second part
of these words it seemed to be resolved, to engage this nation in
a continental connexion for the defence of Hanover, which it was
impossible for England to support, and which would be so far from being
of any advantage to it at sea, or in America, that it might at last
disable the nation from defending itself in either of those parts of the
world. But upon putting the question, the inserting of these words was
agreed to by a great majority, and accordingly they stand as part of the
address of the house upon that occasion.
HIS MAJESTY’S ANSWER.
To this remarkable address his majesty returned the following as
remarkable answer: “My lords, I give you my hearty thanks for this
dutiful and affectionate address. I see, with the greatest satisfaction,
the zeal you express for my person and government, and for the true
interest of your country, which I am determined to adhere to. The
assurances which you give me for the defence of my territories abroad,
are a strong proof of your affection for me, and regard for my honour.
Nothing shall divert me from pursuing those measures which will
effectually maintain the possessions and rights of my kingdoms, and
procure reasonable and honourable terms of accommodation.”--The address
of the house of commons breathed the same spirit of zeal and gratitude,
and was full of the warmest assurances of a ready support of his
majesty, and of his foreign dominions, if attacked in resentment of
his maintaining the rights of his crown and kingdom; and his majesty’s
answer to it was to the same effect as that to the house of lords. The
same, or nearly the same words, relating to the treaties concluded by
his majesty, and to the defence of his foreign dominions, were proposed
to be inserted in this address, which was opposed by William Pitt, esq.,
then paymaster of his majesty’s forces; the right hon. Henry Legge,
esq., then chancellor and un-der-treasurer of his majesty’s exchequer,
and one of the commissioners of the treasury; and by several other
gentlemen in high posts under the government, as well as by many others;
but, upon putting the question, it was by a considerable majority agreed
to insert the words objected to; and very soon after, Mr. Pitt, Mr.
Legge, and most, if not all, of the gentlemen who had appeared in the
opposition, were dismissed from their employments. In the meantime, a
draft came over from Russia for part of the new subsidy stipulated to
that crown; but some of the ministry, who were then at the head of
the finances, refused to pay it, at least before the treaty should be
approved of by parliament.
ALTERATIONS IN THE MINISTRY.
Sir Thomas Robinson had not been long in possession of the office of
secretary of state, before it was generally perceived, that, though an
honest well meaning man, and a favourite with the king, his abilities
were not equal to the functions of that post. Much less were they so at
this juncture, when the nation was on the point of being engaged in
a difficult and expensive war, and plunged into foreign measures and
connexions, which would require the utmost skill of an able politician
to render them palatable to the people. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, though
they scarce ever agreed in any other particular, had generally united
in opposing his measures, and their superior influence in the house
of commons, and universally acknowledged abilities, though of very
different kinds, had always prevailed; uncommon as it was, to see two
persons who held considerable places under the government, one of them
being paymaster-general, and the other secretary at war, oppose, upon
almost every occasion, a secretary of state who was supposed to know
and speak the sentiments of his master. Sir Thomas himself soon grew
sensible of his want of sufficient weight in the senate of the nation;
and therefore, of his own accord, on the tenth of November, wisely and
dutifully resigned the seals of his office to his majesty, who delivered
them to Mr. Fox, and appointed sir Thomas master of the wardrobe, with
a pension to him during his life, and after his death to his sons. Lord
Barrington succeeded Mr. Fox as secretary at war; and soon after sir
George Lyttelton was made chancellor of the exchequer, and a lord of the
treasury, in the room of Mr. Legge, who had declared himself against the
new continental system. However, notwithstanding these changes in the
ministry, very warm debates arose in both houses, when the treaties
of Russia and Hesse-Cassel came to be considered by them; some of the
members were for referring them to a committee; but this motion was
over-ruled, in consideration of his majesty’s having engaged in them
to guard against a storm that seemed ready to break upon his electoral
dominions, merely on account of our quarrel with the French. They
were at length approved of by a majority of three hundred and eighteen
against one hundred and twenty-six, in the house of commons; and by
eighty-four against eleven, in the house of lords.
The house of commons then proceeded to provide for the service of the
ensuing year, and for the deficiencies of the provisions for the
former. Fifty thousand seamen, including nine thousand one hundred and
thirty-eight marines, were voted, on the twenty-fourth of November,
for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six,
together with two millions six hundred thousand pounds for their
maintenance; and thirty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-three land
soldiers, with nine hundred and thirty thousand six hundred and three
pounds, six shillings and ninepence, for their support. An hundred
thousand pounds were voted as a subsidy to the empress of Russia;
fifty-four thousand one hundred and forty pounds, twelve shillings and
sixpence, to the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; and ten thousand pounds to
the elector of Bavaria.
EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON.
During these transactions, the public was overwhelmed with consternation
by the tidings of a dreadful earthquake, which, on the first November,
shook all Spain and Portugal, and many other places in Europe, and laid
the city of Lisbon in ruins. When the news of this great calamity first
reached England, it was feared the consequences of it might affect our
public credit, considering the vast interest which the English merchants
had in the Portuguese trade; but fortunately, it afterwards proved
inconsiderable, in comparison of what had been apprehended; the quarter
in which the English chiefly lived, and where they had their warehouses,
having suffered the least of any part of the city; and most of the
English merchants then residing there, together with their families,
being at their country houses, to avoid the insults to which they might
have been exposed from the Portuguese populace, during the celebration
of their _auto-da-fe_, which was kept that very day. The two first
shocks of this dreadful visitation continued near a quarter of an hour,
after which the water of the river Tagus rose perpendicularly above
twenty feet, and subsided to its natural bed in less than a minute.
Great numbers of houses, of which this city then contained about
thirty-six thousand, extending in length near six miles, in form of a
crescent, on the ascent of a hill upon the north shore of the mouth of
the river Tagus, within nine miles from the ocean, were thrown down by
the repeated commotions of the earth, together with several magnificent
churches, monasteries, and public buildings. But what entirely completed
the ruin of this then most opulent capital of the Portuguese dominions,
was a devouring conflagration, partly fortuitous or natural, but chiefly
occasioned by a set of impious villains, who, unawed by the tremendous
scene at that very instant passing before their eyes, with a wickedness
scarcely to be credited, set fire even to the falling edifices in
different parts of the city, to increase the general confusion, that
they might have the better opportunity to rob and plunder their already
desolated fellow-citizens. Out of three hundred and fifty thousand
inhabitants, which Lisbon was then supposed to contain, about ten
thousand perished by this calamity; and the survivors, deprived of their
habitations, and destitute even of the necessaries of life, were forced
to seek for shelter in the open fields.
RELIEF VOTED TO THE PORTUGUESE.
As soon as his majesty received an account of this deplorable event,
from his ambassador at the court of Madrid, he sent a message to both
houses of parliament, on the twenty-eighth of November, acquainting
them therewith, and desiring their concurrence and assistance towards
speedily relieving the unhappy sufferers; and the parliament thereupon,
to the honour of British humanity, unanimously voted, on the eighth of
December, a gift of an hundred thousand pounds for the distressed people
of Portugal. A circumstance which enhances the merit of this action is,
that though the English themselves were, at that very time, in great
want of grain, a considerable part of the sum was sent in corn, flour,
rice, and a large quantity of beef from Ireland; supplies which came
very seasonably for the poor Portuguese, who were in actual want of
the necessaries of life. Their king was so affected by this instance of
British generosity, that, to show his gratitude for the timely relief,
he ordered Mr. Castres, the British resident at his court, to give
the preference, in the distribution of these supplies, to the British
subjects who had suffered by the earthquake; accordingly, about a
thirtieth part of the provisions, and two thousand pounds in money,
were set apart for that purpose; and his Portuguese majesty returned his
thanks, in very warm terms, to the British crown and nation.
The report of an intended invasion of these kingdoms by the French
increasing daily, on the twenty-second day of January lord Barrington,
as secretary at war, laid before the house an estimate for defraying
the charge of ten new regiments of foot, over and above the thirty-four
thousand two hundred and sixty-three land soldiers before ordered to
be raised; and a sum of ninety-one thousand nine hundred and nineteen
pounds, ten shillings, was voted for these additional forces; upon
another estimate presented a little after by the same lord, and founded
upon the same reasons, for raising, for the further defence of the
kingdom, eleven troops of light dragoons, forty-nine thousand six
hundred and twenty-eight pounds, eleven shillings and threepence,
were voted for the ensuing year; together with eighty-one thousand one
hundred and seventy-eight pounds, sixteen shillings, for a regiment
of foot to be raised in North America; two hundred and ninety-eight
thousand five hundred and thirty-four pounds, seventeen shillings
and tenpence halfpenny, for the maintenance of our forces already
established in our American colonies; and seventy-nine thousand nine
hundred and fifteen pounds, six shillings, for six regiments of foot
from Ireland, to serve in North America and the East Indies. Besides all
these supplies, Mr. Fox, on the twenty-eighth of January, presented
to the house a message from the king, desiring them to take into
consideration the faithful services of the people of New England, and
of some other parts of North America; upon which one hundred and fifteen
thousand pounds more were voted, and five thousand pounds as a reward
to sir William Johnson in particular. In short, including several other
sums, as well as for defraying the expense of the army and navy, as
for a subsidy of twenty thousand pounds to the king of Prussia, and one
hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred and forty-seven pounds,
two shillings and sixpence, for Hanoverian troops, of which two last
articles further notice will be taken hereafter, the whole of the
supplies granted by parliament in this session, amounted to seven
millions two hundred and twenty-nine thousand one hundred and seventeen
pounds, four shillings and sixpence three farthings. For raising this
sum, besides the malt tax, and the land tax of four shillings in the
pound, the whole produce of the sinking fund, from the fifth of January
one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, till it should amount to one
million five hundred and fifty-five thousand nine hundred and fifty-five
pounds, eleven shillings and elevenpence halfpenny, was ordered to be
applied thereunto; together with a million to be raised by loans or
exchequer bills, at three per cent, interest; one million five hundred
thousand pounds, to be raised by the sale of redeemable annuities at
three and a half per cent., and five hundred thousand pounds to
be raised by a lottery, at three per cent. All which sums, with
eighty-three thousand four hundred and twelve pounds, two shillings, and
five-pence halfpenny, then remaining in the exchequer, amounted to
seven millions four hundred and twenty-seven thousand two hundred and
sixty-one pounds, five shillings and sevenpence.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
MUTINY BILL, MARINE, AND MARINERS’ ACTS CONTINUED.
The clause inserted in the mutiny bill last year, subjecting all
officers and soldiers raised in America, by authority of the respective
governors or governments there, to the same rules and articles of war,
and the same penalties and punishments, as the British forces were
liable to; the act passed at the same time for regulating the marine
forces, while on shore, and that for the more speedy and effectual
manning of his majesty’s navy, were not only confirmed now, but it was
further enacted, with respect to this last, as well as for the more
speedy and effectual recruiting of his majesty’s land-forces, that the
commissioners appointed by the present act should be empowered to raise
and levy, within then-respective jurisdictions, such able-bodied men as
did not follow any lawful calling or employment; or had not some other
lawful and sufficient support; and might order, wherever and whenever
they pleased, a general search to be made for such persons, in order to
their being brought before them to be examined; nay, that the parish or
town officers might, without any such order, search for and secure such
persons, in order to convey them before the said commissioners to be
examined; that if any three commissioners should find any person, so
brought before them, to be within the above description, and if the
recruiting officer attending should judge him to be a man fit for
his majesty’s service, they should cause him to be delivered to such
officer, who might secure him in any place of safety provided by the
justices of peace for that purpose, or even in any public prison; and
that every such man was from that time to be deemed a listed soldier,
and not to be taken out of his majesty’s service by any process, other
than for some criminal matter. Nothing could more plainly show either
the zeal of the parliament for a vigorous prosecution of the war, or
their confidence in the justice and moderation of our ministry, than
their agreeing to this act, which was to continue in force till the
end of the next session; and which, in the hands of a wicked and
enterprising administration, might have been made such an use of, as
would have been inconsistent with that security which is provided by our
happy constitution for the liberty of the subject.
ACT FOR RAISING A REGIMENT OF FOOT IN NORTH AMERICA.
The next object of the immediate attention of parliament in this
session, was the raising of a new regiment of foot in North America;
for which purpose the sum of eighty-one thousand one hundred and
seventy-eight pounds, sixteen shillings, to which the estimate thereof
amounted, was voted. This regiment, which was to consist of four
battalions of a thousand men each, was intended to be raised chiefly
out of the Germans and Swiss, who, for many years past, had annually
transported themselves in great numbers to the British plantations in
America, where waste lands had been assigned them upon the frontiers
of the provinces; but, very injudiciously, no care had been taken
to intermix them with the English inhabitants of the place. To this
circumstance it is owing, that they have continued to correspond and
converse only with one another; so that very few of them, even of those
who have been born there, have yet learned to speak or understand the
English tongue. However, as they were all zealous protestants, and in
general strong hardy men, and accustomed to the climate, it was judged
that a regiment of good and faithful soldiers might be raised out of
them, particularly proper to oppose the French; but to this end it
was necessary to appoint some officers, especially subalterns, who
understood military discipline, and could speak the German language;
and as a sufficient number of such could not be found among the English
officers, it was necessary to bring over and grant commissions to
several German and Swiss officers and engineers; but this step, by
the act of settlement, could not be taken without the authority of
parliament; an act was now passed for enabling his majesty to grant
commissions to a certain number of foreign protestants, who had
served abroad as officers or engineers, to act and rank as officers or
engineers in America only. An act was likewise passed in this session,
strictly forbidding, under pain of death, any of his majesty’s subjects
to serve as officers under the French king, or to enlist as soldiers
in his service, without his majesty’s previous license; and also for
obliging such of his majesty’s subjects as should, in time to come,
accept of commissions in the Scotch brigade in the Dutch service, to
take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration, on pain of forfeiting five
hundred pounds.
MARITIME LAWS OF ENGLAND EXTENDED TO AMERICA.
As it had been resolved, in the beginning of the preceding summer, to
build vessels of force upon the lake Ontario, an act was now passed for
extending the maritime laws of England, relating to the government of
his majesty’s ships and forces by sea, to such officers, seamen, and
others, as should serve on board his majesty’s ships or vessels employed
upon the lakes, great waters, or rivers in North America; and also, but
not without opposition to this last, for the better recruiting of his
majesty’s forces upon the continent of America; to which end, by a new
clause now added to a former act, a recruiting officer was empowered
to enlist and detain an indented servant, even though his master should
reclaim him, upon paying to the master such a sum as two justices of
peace within the precinct should adjudge to be a reasonable equivalent
for the original purchase money, and the remaining time such servant
might have to serve.
QUIET OF IRELAND RESTORED.
The intestine broils of Ireland were happily composed this year, by the
prudent management of the marquis of Hartington, lord lieutenant of
that kingdom. By his steady and disinterested conduct, his candour and
humanity, the Irish were not only brought to a much better temper, even
among themselves, than they were before their late outrageous riots and
dangerous dissensions happened; but also prevailed upon to acquiesce in
the measures of England, without this last being obliged to give up
any one point of her superiority. The leading men in the parliament of
Ireland were the first that conformed; and though the ferment continued
very high for some time after, among the middling and lower ranks of
people, it was at length entirely allayed by the wisdom of the lord
lieutenant, and the excellent law which he encouraged and passed for the
benefit of that nation.* The primate of Ireland, who had been very
busy in fomenting many of the late disturbances, was, by his majesty’s
command, struck off the list of privy-counsellors; and the greatest
part of those patriots, whom faction had turned out of their employments
there, were reinstated with honour.
* Among other objects of the attention of the legislature of
that country, ten thousand pounds were granted for making
the river Nore navigable from the city of Kilkenny to the
town of Innestalge; twenty thousand pounds towards carrying
on an inland navigation from the city of Dublin to the river
Shannon; four thousand pounds for making the river Newry
navigable; a thousand pounds a year for two years, for the
encouragement of English protestant schools; several sums,
to be distributed in premiums, for the encouragement of the
cambric, hempen, and flaxen manufactures; and three hundred
thousand pounds to his majesty, towards supporting the
several branches of the establishment, and for defraying the
expenses of the government for two years.
{1756}
TREATY CONCLUDED WITH PRUSSIA.
The parliament of England, which had adjourned on the twenty-third
day of December, met again: the house of commons on the thirteenth of
January, and the lords on the nineteenth. On the sixteenth of the same
month, the treaty between his Britannic majesty and the king of Prussia
was signed, importing, that, for the defence of their common country,
Germany, and in order to preserve her peace and tranquillity, which it
was feared was in danger of being disturbed, on account of the disputes
in America, the two kings, for that end only, entered into a convention
of neutrality, by which they reciprocally bound themselves not to suffer
foreign troops of any nation whatsoever to enter into Germany, or pass
through it during the troubles aforesaid, and the consequences that
might result from them; but to oppose the same with their utmost might,
in order to secure Germany from the calamities of war, maintain
her fundamental laws and constitutions, and preserve her peace
uninterrupted. Thus, the late treaty with Russia was virtually
renounced. Their majesties, moreover, seized this favourable opportunity
to adjust the differences that had subsisted between them, in relation
to the remainder of the Silesia loan due to the subjects of his
Britannic majesty, and the indemnification claimed by the subjects of
his Prussian majesty for their losses by sea during the late war; so
that the attachment laid on the said debt was agreed to be taken off, as
soon as the ratification of this treaty should be exchanged.
NEW MILITIA-BILL.
On the twenty-first of January the house took into consideration the
laws then in being relating to the militia of this kingdom; and, finding
them insufficient, ordered a new bill to be prepared, and brought in,
for the better regulating of the militia forces in the several counties
of England. A bill was accordingly prepared to that effect, and
presented to the house on the twelfth of March, by the hon. Charles
Townshend, esq., who, to his honour, was one of the chief promoters of
it. After receiving many amendments in the house of commons, it was on
the tenth of May passed, and sent to the lords; but several objections
being made to it by some of the peers, and it seemed to them that some
further amendments were still necessary, which they thought they could
not in that session spare time to consider so maturely as the importance
of the subject required, a negative of fifty-nine against twenty-three
was put upon the motion for passing the bill; though every one must
have been sensible, not only of the propriety, but even of the absolute
necessity of such a law, which was ardently desired by the whole nation.
SESSION CLOSED.
On the twenty-seventh of May, his majesty went to the house of peers,
and, after having given the royal assent to the bills then depending,
thanked his parliament, in a speech from the throne, for their vigorous
and effectual support. He acquainted them, that the injuries and
hostilities which had been for some time committed by the French against
his dominions and subjects, were then followed by the actual invasion of
the island of Minorca, though guaranteed to him by all the great powers
in Europe, and particularly by the French king; that he had, therefore,
found himself obliged, in vindication of the honour of his crown, and
of the rights of his people, to declare war in form against France; and
that he relied on the Divine Protection, and the vigorous assistance
of his faithful subjects, in so just a cause. The parliament was then
adjourned to the eighteenth of June; and from thence afterwards to the
eighteenth of July, and then it was prorogued.