_Letter from M. Rouillé to the Secretary of State..... The
two Nations recriminate on each other..... The French
threaten Great Britain with an Invasion..... Requisition of
six thousand Dutch Troops according to Treaty..... Message
from the King to the Parliament..... A Body of Hessians and
Hanoverians transported into England..... French
Preparations at Toulon..... Admiral Byng sails for the
Mediterranean..... He arrives at Gibraltar..... engages M.
de la Galissonniere off Minorca..... and returns to
Gibraltar..... Ferment of the People at Home..... Admiral
Byng superseded and sent home Prisoner..... Account of the
Siege of St. Philip’s Fort in Minorca..... Precautions taken
by General Blakeney..... Siege commenced..... English
Squadron appears..... General Attack of the Works..... The
Garrison capitulates..... Sir Edward Hawke sails to
Minorca..... Rejoicings in France, and Clamours in
England..... Gallantry of Fortunatus Wright..... General
Blakeney created a Baron..... Measures taken for the Defence
of Great Britain..... Proclamation..... Earl of Loudon
appointed Commander-in-Chief in America..... His Britannic
Majesty’s Declaration of War..... Substance of the French
King’s Declaration..... Address of the City of London.....
Trial of General Fowke..... Affairs of America..... Colonel
Bradstreet defeats a Body of French on the River
Onondaga..... Earl of Loudon arrives at New York..... Oswego
reduced by the Enemy..... Further Proceedings in
America..... Naval Operations in that Country.....
Transactions in the East Indies..... Calcutta besieged by
the Viceroy of Bengal..... Deplorable Fate of those who
perished in the Dungeon there..... Additional Cruelties
exercised on Mr. Holwell..... Resolution against Angria.....
Port of Geriah taken by Admiral Watson and Mr. Clive.....
Their subsequent Proceedings in the River Ganges_
LETTER FROM M. ROUILLE.
In the month of January, Mr. Fox, lately appointed secretary of state,
received a letter from M. Rouillé, minister and secretary of state for
foreign affairs to the king of France, expostulating, in the name of his
sovereign, upon the orders and instructions for committing hostilities,
which his Britannic majesty had given to general Braddock, and admiral
Boscawen, in diametrical opposition to the most solemn assurances so
often repeated by word of mouth, as well as in writing. He complained of
the insult which had been offered to his master’s flag in attacking
and taking two of his ships in the open sea, without any previous
declaration of war; as also by committing depredations on the commerce
of his most christian majesty’s subjects, in contempt of the law
of nations, the faith of treaties, and the usages established among
civilised nations. He said, the sentiments and character of his
Britannic majesty gave the king his master room to expect, that, at his
return to London, he would disavow the conduct of his admiralty; but
seeing that, instead of punishing, he rather encouraged those who had
been guilty of such depredations, his most christian majesty would be
deemed deficient in what he owed to his own glory, the dignity of
his crown, and the defence of his people, if he deferred any longer
demanding a signal reparation for the outrage done to the French
flag, and the damage sustained by his subjects. He therefore demanded
immediate and full restitution of all the French ships, which, contrary
to law and decorum, had been taken by the English navy, together with
all the officers, soldiers, mariners, guns, stores, and merchandise. He
declared, that should this restitution be made, he should be willing to
engage in a negotiation for what further satisfaction he might claim,
and continue desirous to see the differences relating to America
determined by a solid and equitable accommodation; but if, contrary to
all hopes, these demands should be rejected, he would consider such a
denial of justice as the most authentic declaration of war, and as a
formed design in the court of London to disturb the peace of Europe.
To this peremptory remonstrance the British secretary was directed to
answer, that though the king of England would readily consent to an
equitable and solid accommodation, he would not comply with the demand
of immediate and full restitution as a preliminary condition; for
his majesty had taken no steps but such as were rendered just and
indispensable by the hostilities which the French began in time of
profound peace, and a proper regard for his own honour, the rights and
possessions of his crown, and the security of his kingdoms.
Without all doubt the late transactions had afforded specious arguments
for both nations to impeach the conduct of each other. The French court,
conscious of their encroachments in Nova Scotia, affected to draw a
shade over these, as particulars belonging to a disputed territory, and
to divert the attention to the banks of the Ohio, where Jamonville and
his detachment had been attacked and massacred by the English, without
the least provocation. They likewise inveighed against the capture of
their ships, before any declaration of war, as flagrant acts of piracy;
and some neutral powers of Europe seemed to consider them in the same
point of view. It was certainly high time to check the insolence of the
French by force of arms, and surely this might have been as effectually
and expeditiously exerted under the usual sanction of a formal
declaration; the omission of which exposed the administration to
the censure of our neighbours, and fixed the imputation of fraud and
free-booting on the beginning of the war. The ministry was said to have
delayed the ceremony of denouncing war from political considerations,
supposing that, should the French be provoked into the first declaration
of this kind, the powers of Europe would consider his most christian
majesty as the aggressor, and Great Britain would reap all the fruits of
the defensive alliances in which she had engaged. But nothing could be
more weak and frivolous than such a conjecture. The aggressor is he who
first violates the peace; and every ally will interpret the aggression
according to his own interest and convenience. The administration
maintained the appearance of candour in the midst of their hostilities.
The merchant ships, of which a great number had been taken from the
French, were not sold and divided among the captors, according to the
practice of war; but carefully sequestered, with all their cargoes
and effects, in order to be restored to the right owners, in case the
disputes between the two nations should not be productive of an open
rupture. In this particular, however, it was a pity that a little common
sense had not been blended with their honourable intention. Great part
of the cargoes consisted of fish, and other perishable commodities,
which were left to rot and putrefy, and afterwards thrown overboard,
to prevent contagion; so that the owners and captors were equally
disappointed, and the value of them lost to both nations.
THE FRENCH THREATEN GREAT BRITAIN WITH AN INVASION.
The court of Versailles, while they presented remonstrances which they
knew would prove ineffectual, and exclaimed against the conduct of Great
Britain with all the arts of calumny and exaggeration at every court in
Christendom, continued nevertheless to make such preparations as denoted
a design to prosecute the war with uncommon vigour. They began to repair
and fortify Dunkirk; orders were published that all British subjects
should quit the dominions of France; many English vessels were seized in
the different ports of that kingdom, and their crews sent to prison. At
the same time an edict was issued, inviting the French subjects to equip
privateers, offering a premium of forty livres for every gun, and as
much for every man they should take from the enemy; and promising that,
in case a peace should be speedily concluded, the king would purchase
the privateers at prime cost. They employed great numbers of artificers
and seamen in equipping a formidable squadron of ships at Brest; and
assembling a strong body of land-forces, as well as a considerable
number of transports, threatened the island of Great Britain with a
dangerous invasion.
REQUISITION OF SIX THOUSAND DUTCH TROOPS.
The English people were seized with consternation; the ministry were
alarmed and perplexed. Colonel Yorke, the British resident at the Hague,
was ordered by his majesty to make a requisition of the six thousand
men whom the states-general are obliged by treaty to furnish, when
Great Britain shall be threatened with an invasion; and in February
he presented a memorial for this purpose. Monsieur d’Affry, the French
king’s minister at the Hague, having received intimation of this demand,
produced a counter-memorial from his master, charging the English as the
aggressors, and giving the states-general plainly to understand, that,
should they grant the succours demanded by Great Britain, he would
consider their compliance as an act of hostility against himself. The
Dutch, though divided among themselves by faction, were unanimously
averse to any measure that might involve them in the approaching war.
Their commerce was in a great measure decayed, and their finances
were too much exhausted to admit of an immediate augmentation of their
forces, which for many other reasons they strove to avoid. They foresaw
a great increase of trade in their adhering to a punctual neutrality;
they were afraid of the French by land, and jealous of the English by
sea; and perhaps enjoyed the prospect of seeing these two proud and
powerful nations humble and impoverish each other. Certain it is, the
states-general protracted their answer to Mr. Yorke’s memorial by such
affected delays, that the court of London perceived their intention,
and, in order to avoid the mortification of a flat denial, the king
ordered his resident to acquaint the princess regent, that he would not
insist upon his demand. The states, thus freed from their perplexity, at
length delivered an answer to Mr. Yorke, in which they expatiated on the
difficulties they were laid under, and thanked his Britannic majesty for
having freed them by his declaration from that embarrassment into which
they were thrown by his first demand and the counter-memorial of the
French minister. The real sentiments of those people, however, more
plainly appeared in the previous resolution delivered to the states of
Holland by the towns of Amsterdam, Dort, Haerlem, Gouda, Rotterdam,
and Enckhuysen, declaring flatly that England was uncontrovertibly the
aggressor in Europe, by seizing a considerable number of French vessels;
that the threatened invasion of Great Britain did not affect the
republic’s guarantee of the protestant succession, inasmuch as it was
only intended to obtain reparation for the injury sustained by the
subjects of his most christian majesty; finally, that the succours
demanded could be of no advantage to the king of England, as it appeared
by the declaration of his most christian majesty; that their granting
these succours would immediately lay them under the necessity of
demanding, in their turn, assistance from Great Britain. From this way
of arguing, the English may perceive what they have to expect in cases
of emergency from the friendship of their nearest allies, who must
always be furnished with the same excuse, whenever they find it
convenient or necessary to their own interest. Such a consideration,
joined to other concurring motives, ought to induce the British
legislature to withdraw its dependence from all foreign connexions,
and provide such a constitutional force within itself, as will be
fully sufficient to baffle all the efforts of an external enemy. The
apprehensions and distraction of the people at this juncture plainly
evinced the expediency of such a national force; but different parties
were divided in their opinions about the nature of such a provision.
Some of the warmest friends of their country proposed a well regulated
militia, as an institution that would effectually answer the purpose of
defending a wide extended sea-coast from invasion; while, on the other
hand, this proposal was ridiculed and refuted as impracticable or
useless by all the retainers to the court, and all the officers of
the standing army. In the meantime, as the experiment could not be
immediately tried, and the present juncture demanded some instant
determination, recourse was had to a foreign remedy.
Towards the latter end of March, the king sent a written message to
parliament, intimating, that he had received repeated advices from
different persons and places, that a design had been formed by
the French court to invade Great Britain or Ireland; and the great
preparations of forces, ships, artillery, and warlike stores, then
notoriously making in the ports of France opposite to the British
coasts, together with the language of the French ministers in some
foreign courts, left little room to doubt the reality of such a design;
that his majesty had augmented his forces both by sea and land, and
taken proper measures and precautions for putting his kingdom in a
posture of defence; that, in order further to strengthen himself, he
had made a requisition of a body of Hessian troops, pursuant to the
late treaty, to be forthwith brought over, and for that purpose ordered
transports to be prepared; that he doubted not of being enabled
and supported by his parliament in taking such measures as might
be conducive to an end so essential to the honour of his crown, the
preservation of the protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of
these kingdoms. This message was no sooner received, than both houses
voted, composed, and presented very warm and affectionate addresses,
in which his majesty was thanked for the requisition he had made of
the Hessian troops; a measure which at any other time would have been
stigmatized with all the satire and rhetoric of the opposition.
HESSIANS AND HANOVERIANS TRANSPORTED INTO ENGLAND.
Even this precaution was not thought sufficient to secure the island,
and quiet the terrors of the people. In a few days Mr. Fox, the new
minister, encouraged by the unanimity which had appeared so conspicuous
in the motions for the late addresses, ventured to move again in the
house of commons, that another address should be presented to the king,
beseeching his majesty, that for the more effectual defence of this
island, and for the better security of the religion and liberties of his
subjects, against the threatened attack by a foreign enemy, he would be
graciously pleased to order twelve battalions of his electoral troops,
together with the usual detachment of artillery, to be forthwith brought
into this kingdom. There was a considerable party in the house, to whom
such a motion was odious and detestable; but considering the critical
situation of affairs, they were afraid that a direct opposition might
expose them to a more odious suspicion; they therefore moved for the
order of the day, and insisted on the question’s being put upon that
motion; but it was carried in the negative by a considerable majority,
which also agreed to the other proposal. The resolution of the house was
communicated to the lords, who unanimously concurred; and their joint
address being presented, his majesty assured them he would immediately
comply with their request. Accordingly, such expedition was used, that
in the course of the next month both Hanoverians and Hessians arrived in
England, and encamped in different parts of the kingdom.--As the fears
of an invasion subsided in the minds of the people, their antipathy to
these foreign auxiliaries emerged. They were beheld with the eyes of
jealousy, suspicion, and disdain. They were treated with contempt,
reserve, and rigour. The ministry was execrated for having reduced the
nation to such a low circumstance of disgrace, as that they should
owe their security to German mercenaries. There were not wanting some
incendiaries, who circulated hints and insinuations, that the kingdom
had been purposely left unprovided; and that the natives of South
Britain had been formerly subdued and expelled by a body of Saxon
auxiliaries, whom they had hired for their preservation. In a word,
the doubts and suspicions of a people naturally blunt and jealous,
were inflamed to such a degree of animosity, that nothing would have
restrained them from violent acts of outrage, but the most orderly,
modest, and inoffensive behaviour by which both the Hanoverians and
Hessians were distinguished.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
FRENCH PREPARATIONS AT TOULON.
Under the cloak of an invading armament, which engrossed the attention
of the British nation, the French were actually employed in preparations
for an expedition, which succeeded according to their wish. In the
beginning of the year, advice was received that a French squadron
would soon be in a condition to sail from Toulon; this was afterwards
confirmed by repeated intelligence, not only from foreign gazettes, but
also from English ministers and consuls residing in Spain and Italy.
They affirmed that the Toulon squadron consisted of twelve or fifteen
ships of the line, with a great number of transports; that they were
supplied with provisions for two months only, consequently could not
be intended for America; and that strong bodies of troops were on their
march from different parts of the French dominions to Dauphiné and
Provence in order to be embarked. Notwithstanding these particulars of
information, which plainly pointed out Minorca as the object of their
expedition; notwithstanding the extensive and important commerce carried
on by the subjects of Great Britain in the Mediterranean; no care was
taken to send thither a squadron of ships capable to protect the trade,
and frustrate the designs of the enemy. That great province was left
to a few inconsiderable ships and frigates, which could serve no
other purpose than that of carrying intelligence from port to port, and
enriching their commanders by making prize of merchant vessels. Nay,
the ministry seemed to pay little or no regard to the remonstrances of
general Blakeney, deputy governor of Minorca, who, in repeated advices,
represented the weakness of the garrison which he commanded in
St. Philip’s castle, the chief fortress on the island. Far from
strengthening the garrison with a proper reinforcement, they did not
even send thither the officers belonging to it, who were in England upon
leave of absence, nor give directions for any vessel to transport them,
until the French armament was ready to make a descent upon that island.
[372] _[See note 2 Z, at the end of this Vol]_
ADMIRAL BYNG SAILS FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN.
At length, the destination of the enemy’s fleet being universally known,
the ministry seemed to rouse from their lethargy, and, like persons
suddenly waking, acted with hurry and precipitation. Instead of
detaching a squadron that in all respects should be superior to the
French fleet in the Mediterranean, and bestowing the command of it upon
an officer of approved courage and activity, they allotted no more than
ten ships of the line for this service, vesting the command of them
in admiral Byng, who had never met with any occasion to signalize his
courage, and whose character was not very popular in the navy; but Mr.
West, the second in command, was a gentleman universally respected for
his probity, ability, and resolution. The ten ships destined for this
expedition were but in very indifferent order, poorly manned, and
unprovided with either hospital or fire-ship. They sailed from
Spithead on the seventh day of April, having on board, as part of their
complement, a regiment of soldiers to be landed at Gibraltar, with
major-general Stuart, lord Effingham, and colonel Cornwallis, whose
regiments were in garrison at Minorca, about forty inferior officers,
and near one hundred recruits, as a reinforcement to St. Philip’s
fortress.
ADMIRAL BYNG ARRIVES AT GIBRALTAR.
After all the intelligence which had been received, one would imagine
the government of England was still ignorant of the enemy’s force and
destination; for the instructions delivered to admiral Byng, imported,
that on his arrival at Gibraltar, he should inquire whether any French
squadron had passed through the straits; and that, being certified
in the affirmative, as it was probably designed for North America, he
should immediately detach rear-admiral West to Louisbourg, on the island
of cape Breton, with such a number of ships, as, when joined with those
at Halifax, would constitute a force superior to the armament of the
enemy. On the second day of May, admiral Byng arrived at Gibraltar,
where he found captain Edgecumbe, with the Princess Louisa ship of war,
and a sloop, who informed him that the French armament, commanded by M.
de la Galissonniere, consisting of thirteen ships of the line, with a
great number of transports, having on board a body of fifteen thousand
land-forces, had sailed from Toulon on the tenth day of April, and made
a descent on the island of Minorca, from whence he, captain Edgecumbe,
had been obliged to retire on their approach. General Fowke, who
commanded at Gibraltar, had received two successive orders from the
secretary at war, with respect to his sparing a battalion of troops, to
be transported by Mr. Byng, as a reinforcement to Minorca; but as the
two orders appeared inconsistent or equivocal, a council of war was
consulted, and a majority were of opinion that no troops should be sent
from thence to Minorca, except a detachment to supply the deficiency in
the little squadron of captain Edgecumbe, who had left a good number of
his seamen and mariners, under the command of captain Scroop, to assist
in the defence of fort St. Philip’s. These articles of intelligence the
admiral despatched by an express to the lords of the admiralty, and
in his letter made use of some impolitic expressions, which, in all
probability, it would have been well for him had he omitted. He said, if
he had been so happy as to have arrived at Mahon before the French had
landed, he flattered himself he should have been able to prevent their
getting a footing on that island. He complained, that there were no
magazines in Gibraltar for supplying the squadron with necessaries; that
the careening wharfs, pits, and store-houses were entirely decayed, so
that he should find the greatest difficulty in cleaning the ships that
were foul; and this was the case with some of those he carried out from
England, as well as with those which had been for some time cruising in
the Mediterranean. He signified his opinion, that, even if it should be
found practicable, it would be very impolitic to throw any men into
St. Philip’s castle, which could not be saved without a land-force
sufficient to raise the seige; therefore, a small reinforcement would
only add so many men to the number which must fall into the hands of the
enemy. He observed, that such engineers and artillery-men in Gibraltar
as had been at Minorca, were of opinion that it would be impossible to
throw any number of men into St. Philip’s, if the French had erected
batteries on the two shores near the entrance of the harbour, so as
to bar all passage up to the sally-port of the fortress; and with this
opinion he signified the concurrence of his own sentiments. The first
part of this letter was a downright impeachment of the ministry, for
having delayed the expedition, for having sent out ships unfit for
service, and for having neglected the magazines and wharfs at Gibraltar.
In the latter part he seemed to prepare them for the subsequent account
of his misconduct and miscarriage. It cannot be supposed that they
underwent this accusation without apprehension and resentment; and
as they foresaw the loss of Minorca, which would not fail to excite a
national clamour, perhaps they now began to take measures for gratifying
their resentment, and transferring the blame from themselves to the
person who had presumed to hint a disapprobation of their conduct: for
this purpose they could not have found a fairer opportunity than Mr.
Byng’s subsequent behaviour afforded.
HE ENGAGES M. DE LA GALISSONNIERE OFF MINORCA.
The admiral being strengthened by Mr. Edgecumbe, and reinforced by a
detachment from the garrison, set sail from Gibraltar on the eighth day
of May, and was joined off Majorca by his majesty’s ship the Phoenix,
under the command of captain Hervey, who confirmed the intelligence
he had already received, touching the strength and destination of the
French squadron. When he approached Minorca, he descried the British
colours still flying at the castle of St. Philip’s, and several
bomb-batteries playing upon it from different quarters where the French
banners were displayed. Thus informed, he detached three ships a-head,
with captain Hervey, to reconnoitre the harbour’s mouth, and land, if
possible, a letter for general Blakeney, giving him to understand the
fleet was come to his assistance. Before this attempt could be made, the
French fleet appearing to the south-cast, and the wind blowing strong
off shore, he recalled his ships, and formed the line of battle. About
six o’clock in the evening, the enemy, to the number of seventeen ships,
thirteen of which appeared to be very large, advanced in order; but
about seven tacked, with a view to gain the weather-gage. Mr. Byng,
in order to preserve that advantage, as well as to make sure of the
land-wind in the morning, followed their example, being then about five
leagues from Cape Mola. At daylight the enemy could not be descried; but
two tartanes appearing close to the rear of the English squadron, they
were immediately chased by signal. One escaped, and the other being
taken, was found to have on board two French captains, two lieutenants,
and about one hundred private soldiers, part of six hundred who had
been sent out in tartanes the preceding day, to reinforce the enemy’s
squadron. This soon re-appearing, the line of battle was formed on each
side, and about two o’clock admiral Byng threw out a signal to bear away
two points from the wind and engage. At this time his distance from the
enemy was so great, that rear-admiral West, perceiving it impossible to
comply with both orders, bore away with his division seven points from
the wind, and closing down upon the enemy, attacked them with such
impetuosity, that the ships which opposed him were in a little time
driven out of the line. Had he been properly sustained by the van,
in all probability the British fleet would have obtained a complete
victory; but the other division did not bear down, and the enemy’s
centre keeping that station, rear-admiral West could not pursue his
advantage without running the risk of seeing his communication with the
rest of the line entirely cut off. In the beginning of the action, the
Intrepid, in Mr. Byng’s division, was so disabled in her rigging
that she could not be managed, and drove on the ship that was next in
position; a circumstance which obliged several others to throw all aback
in order to avoid confusion, and for some time retarded the action.
Certain it is, that Mr. Byng, though accommodated with a noble ship of
ninety guns, made little or no use of his artillery, but kept aloof,
either from an overstrained observance of discipline, or timidity. When
his captain exhorted him to bear down upon the enemy, he very coolly
replied, that he would avoid the error of admiral Matthews, who, in his
engagement with the French and Spanish squadrons off Toulon, during the
preceding war, had broke the line by his own precipitation, and exposed
himself singly to a fire which he could not sustain. Mr. Byng, on the
contrary, was determined against acting, except with the line entire;
and, on pretence of rectifying the disorder which had happened among
some of the ships, hesitated so long, and kept at such a wary distance,
that he never was properly engaged, though he received some few shots
in his hull. M. de la Galissionniere seemed equally averse to the
continuance of the battle; part of his squadron had been fairly obliged
to quit the line; and though he was rather superior to the English
in number of men and weight of metal, he did not choose to abide
the consequence of a closer fight with an enemy so expert in naval
operations: he therefore took advantage of Mr. Byng’s hesitation,
and edged away with an easy sail to join his van, which had been
discomfited. The English admiral gave chase; but the French ships being
clean, he could not come up and close them again, so they retired at
their leisure. Then he put his squadron on the other tack, in order to
keep the wind of the enemy; and next morning they were altogether out of
sight.
While he lay-to with the rest of the fleet, at the distance of ten
leagues from Mahon, he detached cruisers to look for some missing ships,
which joined him accordingly, and made an inquiry into the condition
of the squadron. The number of killed amounted to forty-two, including
captain Andrews of the Defiance, and about one hundred and sixty-eight
were wounded. Three of the capital ships were so damaged in their masts,
that they could not keep the sea with any regard to their safety; a
great number of the seamen were ill, and there was no vessel which
could be converted into an hospital for the sick and wounded. In this
situation he called a council of war, at which the land-officers were
present. He represented to them that he was much inferior to the enemy
in weight of metal and number of men; that they had the advantage of
sending their wounded to Minorca, from whence at the same time they
were refreshed and reinforced occasionally; that in his opinion it was
impracticable to relieve St. Philip’s fort, and, therefore, they ought
to make the best of their way back to Gibraltar, which might require
immediate protection. They unanimously concurred with his sentiments,
and thither he directed his course accordingly. How he came to be so
well acquainted with the impracticability of relieving general Blakeney,
it is not easy to determine, as no experiment was made for that purpose.
Indeed, the neglect of such a trial seems to have been the least
excusable part of his conduct; for it afterwards appeared that the
officers and soldiers belonging to the garrison might have been landed
at the sally-port, without running any great risk; and a gentleman, then
in the fort, actually passed and repassed in a boat, unhurt by any of
the enemy’s batteries.
Mr. Byng’s letter to the admiralty, containing a detail of this action,
is said to have arrived some days before it was made public; and when
it appeared, was curtailed of divers expressions, and whole paragraphs,
which either tended to his own justification, or implied a censure on
the conduct of his superiors. Whatever use might have been made of this
letter while it remained a secret to the public, we shall not pretend to
explain; but sure it is, that, on the sixteenth day of June, sir Edward
Hawke and admiral Saunders sailed from Spit-head to Gibraltar,
to supersede the admirals Byng and West in their commands of the
Mediterranean squadron; and Mr. Byng’s letter was not published till
the twenty-sixth day of the same month, when it produced all the
effect which that gentleman’s bitterest enemies could have desired.
The populace took fire like a train of the most hasty combustibles,
and broke out into such a clamour of rage and indignation against the
devoted admiral, as could not have been exceeded if he had lost the
whole navy of England, and left the coasts of the kingdom naked to
invasion. This animosity was carefully fomented and maintained by
artful emissaries, who mingled with all public assemblies, from the
drawing-room in St. James’ to the mob at Charing-cross. They expatiated
upon the insolence, the folly, the cowardice, and misconduct of the
unhappy admiral. They even presumed to make their sovereign in some
measure an instrument of their calumny, by suggesting, that his majesty
had prognosticated Byng’s misbehaviour from the contents of his first
letter, dated at Gibraltar. They ridiculed and refuted the reasons
he had given for returning to that fortress, after his scandalous
re-encounter with the French squadron; and, in order to exasperate them
to the most implacable resentment, they exaggerated the terrible
consequences of losing Minorca, which must now be subdued through
his treachery or want of resolution. In a word, he was devoted as the
scape-goat of the ministry, to whose supine negligence, ignorance, and
misconduct, the loss of that important fortress was undoubtedly owing.
Byng’s miscarriage was thrown out like a barrel to the whale, in order
to engage the attention of the people, that it might not be attracted by
the real cause of the national misfortune. In order to keep up the flame
which had been kindled against the admiral, recourse was had to the
lowest artifices. Agents were employed to vilify his person in all
public places of vulgar resort, and mobs were hired at different parts
of the capital to hang and burn him in effigy.
ADMIRAL BYNG SUPERSEDED AND SENT HOME PRISONER.
The two officers who succeeded to the command in the Mediterranean,
were accompanied by lord Tyrawley, whom his majesty had appointed to
supersede general Fowke in the government of Gibraltar, that gentleman
having incurred the displeasure of the ministry, for not having
understood an order which was unintelligible. By the same conveyance, a
letter from the secretary to the admiralty was transmitted to Mr. Byng,
giving him notice that he was recalled. To this intimation he replied in
such a manner as denoted a consciousness of having done his duty, and
a laudable desire to vindicate his own conduct. His answer contained
a further account of the engagement in which he was supposed to have
misbehaved, intermixed with some puerile calculations of the enemy’s
superiority in weight of metal, which served no other purpose than that
of exposing his character still more to ridicule and abuse; and he was
again so impolitic as to hazard certain expressions, which added fresh
fuel to the resentment of his enemies. Directions were immediately
despatched to sir Edward Hawke, that Byng should be sent home in
arrest; and an order to the same purpose was lodged at every port in the
kingdom; precautions which, however unnecessary to secure the person of
a man who longed ardently to justify his character by a public trial,
were yet productive of considerable effect in augmenting the popular
odium. Admiral Byng immediately embarked in the ship which had carried
out his successor, and was accompanied by Mr. West, general Fowke, and
several other officers of that garrison, who were also recalled, in
consequence of having subscribed to the result of the council of war,
which we have mentioned above. When they arrived in England, Mr. West
met with such a gracious reception from his majesty as was thought due
to his extraordinary merit; but Mr. Byng was committed close prisoner in
an apartment of Greenwich hospital.
ACCOUNT OF THE SIEGE OF ST. PHILIP’S FORT IN MINORCA.
In the meantime, the siege of St. Philip’s fort in Minorca was
prosecuted with unremitting vigour. The armament of Toulon, consisting
of the fleet commanded by M. de la Galissonniere, and the troops under
the duke de Richelieu, arrived on the eighteenth day of April at the
port of Ciudadella, on that part of the island opposite to Mahon, or
St. Philip’s, and immediately began to disembark their forces. Two days
before they reached the island, general Blakeney had, by a packet boat,
received certain intelligence of their approach, and began to make
preparations for the defence of the castle. The fort which he commanded
was very extensive, surrounded with numerous redoubts, ravelins, and
other outworks; and provided with subterranean galleries, mines, and
traverses, Cut out of the solid rock with incredible labour. Upon
the whole, this was one of the best fortified places in Europe, well
supplied with artillery, ammunition, and provisions; and, without
all doubt, might have sustained the most desperate siege, had it been
defended by a numerous garrison, conducted by able engineers, under
the eye and auspices of an active and skilful commander. All these
advantages, however, did not concur on this occasion. The number of
troops in Minorca did not exceed four regiments, whereas the nature of
the works required at least double the number; and even of these, above
forty officers were absent. The chief engineer was rendered lame by the
gout, and the general himself oppressed with the infirmities of old age.
The natives of the island might have been serviceable as pioneers, or
day-labourers, but from their hatred to the protestant religion, they
were generally averse to the English government, although they had lived
happily and grown wealthy under its influence.
PRECAUTIONS taken by GENERAL BLAKENEY.
The governor ordered his officers to beat up for volunteers in the
adjacent town of St. Philip’s; but few or none would enlist under his
banners, and it seems he would not venture to compel them into the
service. He recalled all his advanced parties; and, in particular, a
company posted at Fornelles, where a small redoubt had been raised,
and five companies at Ciudadella, a post fortified with two pieces of
cannon, which were now withdrawn as soon as the enemy began to disembark
their forces. At the same time major Cunningham was detached with a
party to break down the bridges, and break up the roads between that
place and St. Philip’s; but the task of destroying the roads could not
be performed in such a hurry, on account of the hard rock which runs
along the surface of the ground through this whole island; nor was there
time to demolish the town of St. Philip’s, which stood so near the fort,
that the enemy could not fail to take advantage of its neighbourhood.
The streets served them for trenches, which otherwise could not have
been dug through the solid rock. Here they made a lodgement close to the
works; here they found convenient barracks and quarters of refreshment,
masks for their batteries, and an effectual cover for their mortars and
bombardiers. The general has been blamed for leaving the town standing;
but if we consider his uncertainty concerning the destination of the
French armament, the odious nature of such a precaution, which could not
fail to exasperate the inhabitants, and the impossibility of executing
such a scheme after the first appearance of the enemy, he will be found
excusable, if not altogether blameless. Some houses and windmills were
actually demolished, so as to clear the esplanade and the approaches.
All the wine in the cellars of St. Philip’s town was destroyed, and the
butts were carried into the castle, where they might serve for gabions
and traverses. Five-and-twenty Minorquin bakers were hired, and a large
number of cattle brought into the fort, for the benefit of the garrison.
The ports were walled up, the posts assigned, the sentinels placed,
and all the different guards appointed. Commodore Edgecumbe, who then
anchored in the harbour of Mahon close under the walls of the castle,
sailed away with his little squadron, consisting of the Chesterfield,
Princess Louisa, Portland, and Dolphin, after having left all his
marines, a detachment from Gibraltar, the whole crew of the Porcupine
sloop, and the greater part of the Dolphin’s, as a reinforcement to the
fort, under the immediate direction and command of captain Scroop of
the Dolphin, who, with great gallantry, offered himself for this severe
duty, and bravely signalized himself during the whole siege. The French
admiral might certainly have blocked up this harbour in such a manner,
as would have prevented the escape of these ships, and divers other
rich merchant vessels, which happened then to be at Mahon; but in all
probability, they purposely allowed them to abandon the place, which,
on any emergency or assault, their crews and officers would have
considerably reinforced. The enemy were perfectly acquainted with the
great extent of the works, and the weakness of the garrison, from which
circumstance they derived the most sanguine hopes that the place might
be suddenly taken, without the trouble of a regular siege. After Mr.
Edgecumbe had sailed from Gibraltar, and general Blakeney had ordered
a sloop to be sunk in the channel that leads to the harbour, the French
squadron made its appearance at this part of the island; but without
having attempted anything against the fort, fell to leeward of Cape
Mola. Next day they came in sight again, but soon bore away, and never
afterwards, during the whole course of the siege, approached so near as
to give the garrison the least disturbance.
On the twenty-second day of April, the governor sent a drummer to the
French general with a letter, desiring to know his reasons for invading
the island. To this an answer was returned by the duke de Richelieu,
declaring he was come with intention to reduce the island under the
dominion of his most christian majesty, by way of retaliation for the
conduct of his master, who had seized and detained the ships belonging
to the king of France and his subjects. If we may judge from the first
operations of this nobleman, he was but indifferently provided with
engineers; for instead of beginning his approaches on the side of St.
Philip’s town, close by the outworks, where he might have been screened
from the fire of the garrison, his batteries were erected at Cape Mola,
on the other side of the harbour, where they were more exposed, their
fire much less effectual, and indeed at too great a distance to be of
any service. The fire of St. Philip’s was so severe, and the cannon so
well served on this quarter, that in a little time the enemy thought
proper to change their plan of attack, and advance on the side of
St. Philip’s town, which ought to have been the first object of their
consideration, especially as they could find little or no earth to fill
their gabions, and open their trenches in the usual form. On the twelfth
of May, about nine at night, they opened two bomb-batteries, near the
place where the windmills had been destroyed; and from that period an
incessant fire was kept up on both sides, from mortars and cannon, the
French continuing to raise new batteries in every situation from whence
they could annoy the besieged.
On the seventeenth day of the month, the garrison were transported with
joy at sight of the British squadron, commanded by admiral Byng; and Mr.
Boyd, commissary of the stores, ventured to embark in a small boat, with
six oars, which passed from St. Stephen’s cove, a creek on the west side
of the fortification, through a shower of cannon and musketry from the
enemy’s post on the other side, and actually reached the open sea, his
design being to join the squadron; but this being at a great distance,
stretching away to the southward, and Mr. Boyd perceiving himself chased
by two of the enemy’s light vessels, he returned oy the same route to
the garrison, without having sustained the least damage; a circumstance
which plainly confutes the notion of Mr. Byng, that it was impracticable
to open a communication with the garrison of St. Philip’s. Next day the
hopes of the besieged, which had prognosticated a naval victory to
the British squadron, a speedy relief to themselves, and no less than
captivity to the assailants, were considerably damped by the appearance
of the French fleet, which quietly returned to their station off the
harbour of Mahon. That same evening they were told by a deserter,
that the English fleet had been worsted in an engagement by M. de la
Galissonniere; and this information was soon confirmed by a general
discharge, or _feu-de-joie_, through the whole French camp, to celebrate
the victory they pretended to have obtained. How little soever they
had reason to boast of any advantage in the action, the retreat of the
English squadron was undoubtedly equivalent to a victory; for had Mr.
Byng acquired and maintained the superiority at sea, the French forces
which had been disembarked in Minorca, would, in all probability, have
been obliged to surrender prisoners of war to his Britannic majesty. The
case was now much altered in their favour: their squadron cruised about
the island without molestation, and they daily received, by means of
their transports, reinforcements of men and ammunition, as well as
constant supplies of provisions.
The English garrison, however mortified at finding themselves thus
abandoned, resolved to acquit themselves with gallantry in the defence
of the place, not without some remaining hope that the English squadron
would be reinforced and return to their relief. In the meantime, they
sustained and retorted the enemy’s fire with undaunted resolution. They
remounted cannon, the carriages of which had been disabled; they removed
them occasionally to places from whence it was judged they could do
the greatest execution; they repaired breaches, restored merlins, and
laboured with surprising alacrity, even when they were surrounded by
the numerous batteries of the foe; when their embrasures and even the
parapets were demolished, and they stood exposed not only to the cannon
and mortars, but also to the musketry which fired upon them without
ceasing, from the windows of the houses in the town of St. Philip. By
this time they were invested with an army of twenty thousand men, and
plied incessantly from sixty-two battering cannon, twenty-one mortars,
and four howitzers, besides the small arms; nevertheless, the loss of
men within the fortress was very inconsiderable, the garrison being
mostly secured in the subterranean works which were impenetrable to
shells or shot. By the twenty-seventh day of June they had made a
practicable breach in one of the ravelins, and damaged the other
outworks to such a degree, that they determined this night to give a
general assault. Accordingly, between the hours of ten and eleven, they
advanced to the attack from all quarters on the land side. At the
same time a strong detachment, in armed boats, attempted to force the
harbour, and penetrate into the creek called St. Stephen’s Cove, to
storm fort Charles, and second the attack upon fort Marlborough, on the
farther side of the creek, the most detached of all the outworks. The
enemy advanced with great intrepedity, and their commander, the duke
de Richelieu, is said to have led them up the works in person. Such an
assault could not but be attended with great slaughter; they were mowed
down as they approached, with grape shot and musketry; and several mines
were sprung with great effect, so that the glacis was almost covered
with the dying and the dead. Nevertheless, they persevered with uncommon
resolution; and though repulsed on every other side, at length made
a lodgement in the queen’s redoubt, which had been greatly damaged by
their cannon. Whether their success in this quarter was owing to the
weakness of the place, or to the timidity of the defender, certain it
is, the enemy were in possession before it was known to the officers of
the garrison; for lieutenant-colonel Jeffries the second in command,
who had acquitted himself since the beginning of the siege with equal
courage, skill, and activity, in his visitation of this post, was
suddenly surrounded and taken by a file of French grenadiers, at a time
when he never dreamed they had made a lodgement. Major Cunningham, who
accompanied him, met with a severer fate, though he escaped captivity;
he was run through the arm with a bayonet, and the piece being
discharged at the same time, shattered the bones of his hand in such
a manner, that he was maimed for life. In this shocking condition he
retired behind a traverse, and was carried home to his quarters. Thus
the governor was deprived of his two principal assistants, one being
taken, and the other disabled.
The enemy having made themselves masters of Anstruther’s and the
queen’s redoubts, from which perhaps they might have been dislodged, had
a vigorous effort been made for that purpose before they had leisure to
secure themselves; the duke de Richelieu ordered a parley to be beat,
in order to obtain permission to bury the dead, and remove the wounded.
This request was granted with more humanity than discretion, inasmuch
as the enemy took this opportunity to throw a reinforcement of men
privately into the places where the lodgements had been made, and these
penetrated into the gallery of the mines, which communicated with
all the other outworks. During this short cessation, general Blakeney
summoned a council of war to deliberate upon the state of the fort and
garrison; and the majority declared for a capitulation. The works were
in many places rained; the body of the castle was shattered; many guns
were dismounted, the embrasures and parapets demolished, the palisadoes
broken in pieces, the garrison exhausted with hard duty and
incessant watching, and the enemy in possession of the subterranean
communications. Besides, the governor had received information from
prisoners, that the duke de Richelieu was alarmed by a report that
the marshal duke de Belleisle would be sent to supersede him in the
command, and for that reason would hazard another desperate assault,
which it was the opinion of the majority the garrison could not sustain.
These considerations, added to the despair of being relieved, induced
him to demand a capitulation. But this measure was not taken with the
unanimous consent of the council. Some officers observed, that the
garrison was very little diminished, and still in good spirits; that no
breach was made in the body of the castle, nor a single cannon erected
to batter in breach; that the loss of an outwork was never deemed
a sufficient reason for surrendering such a fortress; that the
counterscarp was not yet taken, nor, on account of the rocky soil, could
be taken, except by assault, which would cost the enemy a greater number
than they had lost in their late attempt; that they could not attack the
ditch, or batter in breach, before the counterscarp should be taken, and
even then they must have recourse to galleries before they could pass
the fosse, which was furnished with mines and countermines; finally,
they suggested, that in all probability the British squadron would be
reinforced, and sail back to their relief; or if it should not return,
it was the duty of the governor to defend the place to extremity,
without having any regard to the consequences. These remarks being
overruled, the chamade was beat, a conference ensued, and very
honourable conditions were granted to the garrison, in consideration of
the gallant defence they had made. This it must be owned was vigorous
while it lasted, as the French general was said to have lost five
thousand men in the siege; whereas the loss of the garrison, which at
first fell short of three thousand men, did not exceed one hundred. The
capitulation imported, that the garrison should march out with all the
honours of war, and be conveyed by sea to Gibraltar. The French were
put in possession of one gate, as well as fort Charles and Marlborough
redoubt; but the English troops remained in the other works till the
seventh day of July, when they embarked. In the meantime reciprocal
civilities passed between the commanders and officers of both nations.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
SIR E. HAWKE SAILS TO MINORCA.
The articles of capitulation were no sooner executed, than monsieur de
la Galissonniere sailed back to Toulon, with all the prizes which had
lain at anchor in the harbour of Matron, since the fort of St. Philip
was first invested. In all probability, the safety of himself and his
whole squadron was owing to this expeditious retreat; for in a few days
after the surrender of the fort, sir Edward Hawke’s fleet, augmented by
five ships of the line, which had been sent from England when the first
tidings arrived of Minorca’s being invaded, now made its appearance off
the island; but by this time Galissonniere was retired, and the English
admiral had the mortification to see the French colours flying upon St.
Philip’s castle. What, perhaps, chagrined this gallant officer still
more, he was not provided with frigates, sloops, and small craft, to
cruise round the island and intercept the supplies which were daily sent
to the enemy. Had he reached Minorca sooner, he might have discomfited
the French squadron; but he could not have raised the siege of St.
Philip’s, because the duke de Richelieu had received his reinforcements,
and such a train of artillery as no fortification could long withstand.
Indeed, if the garrison had been considerably reinforced, and the
communication with it opened by sea, the defence would have been
protracted, and so many vigorous sallies might have been made, that the
assailants would have had cause to repent of their enterprise.
When the news of this conquest was brought to Versailles, by the count
of Egmont, whom the duke de Richelieu had dispatched for that purpose,
the people of France were transported with the most extravagant joy.
Nothing was seen but triumphs and processions, nothing heard but
anthems, congratulations, and hyperbolical encomiums upon the conqueror
of Minorca, who was celebrated in a thousand poems and studied orations;
while the conduct of the English was vilified and ridiculed in ballads,
farces, and pasquinades. Nothing more argues the degeneracy of a warlike
nation than the pride of such mean triumph, for an advantage, which,
in more vigorous times, would scarce have been distinguished by the
ceremony of a _Te Deum Laudamus_. Nor is this childish exultation, that
disgraces the laurels of victory, confined to the kingdom of France.
Truth obliges us to own, that even the subjects of Great Britain are apt
to be elevated by success into an illiberal insolence of self-applause,
and contemptuous comparison. This must be condemned as a proof of
unmanly arrogance, and absurd self-conceit, by all those who coolly
reflect that the events of war generally, if not always, depend upon the
genius or misconduct of one individual. The loss of Minorca was severely
felt in England, as a national disgrace; but, instead of producing
dejection and despondence, it excited an universal clamour of rage and
resentment, not only against Mr. Byng, who had retreated from the French
squadron; but also in reproach of the administration, which was taxed
with having neglected the security of Minorca. Nay, some politicians
were inflamed into a suspicion, that this important place had been
negatively betrayed into the hands of the enemy, that in case the arms
of Great Britain should prosper in other parts of the world, the French
king might have some sort of equivalent to restore for the conquests
which should be abandoned at the peace. This notion, however, seems to
have been conceived from prejudice and party, which now began to
appear with the most acrimonious aspect, not only throughout the united
kingdoms in general, but even in the sovereign’s councils.
GALLANTRY OF FORTUNATUS WRIGHT.
Sir Edward Hawke, being disappointed in his hope of encountering La
Galissonniere, and relieving the English garrison of St. Philip’s, at
least asserted the empire of Great Britain in the Mediterranean, by
annoying the commerce of the enemy, and blocking up the squadron in the
harbour of Toulon. Understanding that the Austrian government at Leghorn
had detained an English privateer, and imprisoned the captain, on
pretence that he had violated the neutrality of the port, he detached
two ships of war, to insist, in a peremptory manner, on the release of
the ship, effects, crew, and captain; and they thought proper to comply
with this demand, even without waiting for orders from the court of
Vienna. The person in whose behalf the admiral thus interposed, was one
Fortunatus Wright, a native of Liverpool; who, though a stranger to a
sea life, had in the last war equipped a privateer, and distinguished
himself in such a manner by his uncommon vigilance and valour, that,
if he had been indulged with a command suitable to his genius, he would
have deserved as honourable a place in the annals of the navy, as that
which the French have bostowed upon their boasted Guai Trouin, Du Bart,
and Thurot. An uncommon exertion of spirit was the occasion of his being
detained at this juncture. While he lay at anchor in the harbour of
Leghorn, commander of the St. George privateer of Liverpool, a small
ship of twelve guns and eighty men, a large French xebeque, mounted with
sixteen cannon, and nearly three times the number of his complement,
chose her station in view of the harbour, in order to interrupt the
British commerce. The gallant Wright could not endure this insult:
notwithstanding the enemy’s superiority in metal and number of men,
he weighed anchor, hoisted his sails, engaged him within sight of
the shore, and after a very obstinate dispute, in which the captain,
lieutenant, and above threescore of the men belonging to the xebeque
were killed on the spot, he obliged them to sheer off, and returned
to the harbour in triumph. This brave corsair would, no doubt, have
signalized himself by many other exploits, had he not, in the sequel,
been overtaken in the midst of his career by a dreadful storm, in which
the ship foundering, he and all his crew perished.
GENERAL BLAKENEY CREATED A BARON.
Sir Edward Hawke, having scoured the Mediterranean, and insulted the
enemy’s ports, returned with the home-ward bound trade to Gibraltar;
from whence about the latter end of the year he set sail for England
with part of his squadron, leaving the rest in that bay for the
protection of our commerce, which, in those parts, soon began to suffer
extremely from French privateers that now swarmed in the Mediterranean.
General Blakeney had arrived, with the garrison of Minorca, at
Portsmouth, in the month of November, and been received with expressions
of tumultuous joy: every place through which he passed celebrated his
return with bonfires, illuminations, bell-ringing, and acclamations:
every mouth was opened in his praise, extolling him for the gallant
defence he had made in the castle of St. Philip. In a word, the people’s
veneration for Blakeney increased in proportion to their abhorrence of
Byng: the first was lifted into an idol of admiration, while the other
sunk into an object of reproach; and they were viewed at different ends
of a false perspective, through the medium of prejudice and passion; of
a perspective artfully contrived, and applied by certain ministers for
the purposes of self-interest and deceit. The sovereign is said to have
been influenced by the prepossession of the secret. Mr. Blakeney met
with a gracious reception from his majesty, who raised him to the rank
of an Irish baron in consideration of his faithful services, while
some malcontents murmured at this mark of favour, as an unreasonable
sacrifice to popular misapprehension.
MEASURES TAKEN FOR THE DEFENCE OF GREAT BRITAIN.
In the beginning of the year, the measures taken by the government in
England seem to have been chiefly dictated by the dread of an invasion,
from which the ministers did not think themselves secured by the
guard-ships and cruisers on different parts of the coast, or the
standing army of the kingdom, though reinforced by the two bodies of
German auxiliaries. A considerable number of new troops was levied;
the success of recruiting was not only promoted by the land-holders
throughout the kingdom, who thought their estates were at stake, and for
that reason encouraged their dependents to engage in the service; but
also in a great measure owing to a dearth of corn, which reduced the
lower class of labourers to such distress, that some insurrections were
raised, and many enlisted with a view to obtain a livelihood, which
otherwise they could not earn. New ships of war were built, and daily
put in commission; but it was found impracticable to man them, without
having recourse to the odious and illegal practice of impressing
sailors, which must always be a reproach to every free people.
Notwithstanding large bounties, granted by the government to volunteers,
it was found necessary to lay an embargo upon all shipping, and impress
all the seamen that could be found, without any regard to former
protections; so that all the merchant ships were stripped of their
hands, and foreign commerce for some time wholly suspended. Nay, the
expedient of compelling men into the service was carried to an unusual
degree of oppression; for rewards were publicly offered to those who
should discover where any seamen lay concealed; so that those unhappy
people were in some respects treated like felons, dragged from their
families and connexions to confinement, mutilation, and death, and
totally cut off from the enjoyment of that liberty which, perhaps at the
expense of their lives, their own arms had helped to preserve, in favour
of their ungrateful country.*
* At this juncture, a number of public spirited merchants of
the city of London, and others, formed themselves into a
very laudable association, under the name of the Marine
Society, and contributed considerable sums of money for
equipping such orphans, friendless, and forlorn boys, as
were willing to engage in the service of the navy. In
consequence of this excellent plan, which was executed with
equal zeal and discretion, many thousands were rescued from
misery, and rendered useful members of that society, of
which they must have been the bane and reproach, without
this humane interposition.
About eighty ships of the line and three-score frigates were already
equipped, and considerable bodies of land-forces assembled, when, on
the third day of February, a proclamation was issued, requiring all
officers, civil and military, upon the first appearance of any hostile
attempt to land upon the coasts of the kingdom, immediately to cause all
horses, oxen, or cattle, which might be fit for draught or burden, and
not actually employed in the king’s service, or in the defence of the
country, and also (so far as might be practicable) all other cattle
and provisions, to be driven and removed twenty miles at least from the
place where such hostile attempt should be made, and to secure the same,
so as that they might not fall into the hands or power of those who
should make such attempt: regard being had, however, that the respective
owners should suffer as little damage as might be consistent with the
public safety.
EARL OF LOUDON APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN AMERICA.
As the ministry were determined to make their chief efforts against the
enemy in North America, where the first hostilities had been committed,
and where the strongest impression could be made, a detachment of two
regiments was sent thither under the conduct of general Abercrombie,
appointed as successor to general Shirley, whom they recalled, as a
person nowise qualified to conduct military operations; nor, indeed,
could any success in war be expected from a man who had not been trained
to arms, nor ever acted but in a civil capacity. But the command in
chief of all the forces in America was conferred upon the earl
of Loudon, a nobleman of an amiable character, who had already
distinguished himself in the service of his country. Over and above this
command, he was now appointed governor of Virginia, and colonel of a
royal American regiment, consisting of four battalions, to be raised
in that country, and disciplined by officers of experience invited from
foreign service. Mr. Abercrombie set sail for America in March; but the
earl of Loudon, who directed in chief the plan of operations, and was
vested with power and authority-little inferior to those of a viceroy,
did not embark till the latter end of May.
HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S DECLARATION OF WAR.
All these previous measures being taken, his majesty, in the course of
the same month, thought proper to publish a declaration of war [378]
_[See note 3 A, at the end of this Vol.]_ against the French king,
importing, that since the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the usurpations and
encroachments made upon the British territories, in America, had
been notorious; that his Britannic majesty had, in divers serious
representations to the court of Versailles, complained of these repeated
acts of violence, and demanded satisfaction; but notwithstanding the
repeated assurances given by the French king, that every thing should be
settled agreeably to the treaties subsisting between the two crowns, and
particularly that the evacuation of the four neutral islands in the West
Indies should be effected, the execution of these assurances, and of
the treaties on which they were founded, had been evaded under the most
frivolous pretences; that the unjustifiable practices of the French
governors, and officers acting under their authority, were still
continued, until they broke out in open acts of hostility, in the year
one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four; when, in time of profound
peace, without any declaration of war, without any previous notice
given, or application made, a body of French troops, commanded by an
officer bearing the French king’s commission, attacked in an hostile
manner, and took possession of an English fort on the river Ohio, in
North America; that great naval armaments were prepared in the ports
of France, and a considerable body of French troops embarked for that
country; that although the French ambassador was sent back to England
with specious professions of a desire to accommodate these differences,
it appeared their real design was only to amuse and gain time for the
passage of these supplies and reinforcements, which they hoped would
secure the superiority of the French forces in America, and enable them
to carry their ambitious and oppressive projects into execution; that
inconsequence of the just and necessary measures taken by the king of
Great Britain for preventing the success of such a dangerous design,
the French ambassador was immediately recalled from England, the
fortifications of Dunkirk were enlarged, great bodies of troops marched
down to the sea-coasts of France, and the British dominions threatened
with an invasion; that though the king of England, in order to frustrate
these intentions, had given orders for seizing at sea the ships of the
French king and his subjects, yet he had hitherto contented himself with
detaining those ships which had been taken, and preserving their cargoes
entire, without proceeding to confiscation; but it being at last evident
from the hostile invasion of Minorca, that the court of Versailles was
determined to reject all proposals of accommodation, and carry on the
war with the utmost violence, his Britannic majesty could no longer,
consistently with the honour of his crown, and the welfare of his
subjects, remain within those bounds, which from a desire of peace he
had hitherto observed. A denunciation of war followed in the usual
form, and was concluded with an assurance, that all the French subjects
residing in Great Britain and Ireland, who should demean themselves
dutifully to the government, might depend upon its protection, and be
safe in their persons and effects.
SUBSTANCE OF THE FRENCH KING’S DECLARATION.
In the beginning of June the French king declared war in his turn
against his Britannic majesty, and his declaration was couched in terms
of uncommon asperity.
He artfully threw a shade over the beginning of hostilities in North
America, referring to a memorial which had been delivered to the several
courts of Europe, containing a summary of those facts which related to
the present war, and the negotiations by which it had been preceded.
He insisted on the attack made by the king of England, in the year one
thousand seven hundred and fifty-four, on the French possessions in
North America; and afterwards by the English navy on the navigation and
commerce of the French subjects, in contempt of the law of nations, and
direct violation of treaties. He complained that the French soldiers and
sailors underwent the harshest treatment in the British isles, exceeding
those bounds which are prescribed to the most rigorous rights of war,
by the law of nature, and common humanity. He affirmed, that while the
English ministry, under the appearance of sincerity, imposed upon
the French ambassador with false protestations, others diametrically
opposite to these deceitful assurances of a speedy accommodation were
actually carrying into execution in North America; that while the
court of London employed every caballing art, and squandered away the
subsidies of England, to instigate other powers against France, his most
christain majesty did not even ask of these powers the succours
which guarantees and defensive treaties authorised him to demand; but
recommended to them such measures only as tended to their own peace and
security; that while the English navy, by the most odious violences,
and sometimes by the vilest artifices, made captures of French vessels
navigating in full security under the safeguard of public faith, his
most christian majesty released an English frigate taken by a French
squadron; and British vessels traded to the ports of France without
molestation. That the striking contrast formed by these different
methods of proceeding would convince all Europe, that one court was
guided by motives of jealousy, ambition, and avarice, and that the
conduct of the other was founded on principles of honour, justice,
and moderation; that the vague imputations contained in the king of
England’s declaration, had in reality no foundation; and the very manner
in which they were set forth would prove their futility and falsehood;
that the mention made of the works at Dunkirk, and the troop assembled
on the coasts of the ocean, implied the most gross attempt to deceive
mankind into a belief that these were the points which determined the
king of England to issue orders for seizing the French vessels; whereas
the works at Dunkirk were not begun till after two French ships of
war had been taken by an English squadron; and depredations had been
committed six months upon the subjects of France before the first
battalions began their march for the sea-side. In a word, the most
christian king, laying aside that politeness and decorum on which his
people value themselves above all the nations upon the face of the
earth, very roundly taxes his brother monarch’s administration with
piracy, perfidy, inhumanity, and deceit. A charge conveyed in such
reproachful terms, against one of the most respectable crowned heads in
Europe, will appear the more extraordinary and injurious, if we consider
that the accusers were well acquainted with the falsity of their own
imputations, and at the same time conscious of having practised those
very arts which they affected so much to decry. For after all, it must
be allowed, that nothing could be justly urged against the English
government, with respect to France, except the omission of a mere form,
which other nations might interpret into an irregularity, but could not
construe into perfidious dealing, as the French had previously violated
the peace by their insolence and encroachments.
ADDRESS OF THE CITY OF LONDON.
Whatever might have been the opinion of other nations, certain it is,
the subjects of Great Britain heartily approved of the hostilities
committed and intended against a people whom they have always considered
as their natural enemies, and the incendiaries of Europe. They
cheerfully contributed to the expense of armaments,* and seemed to
approve of their destination, in hopes of being able to wipe off the
disgraces they had sustained in the defeat of Braddock, and the loss of
Minorca.
* Immediately after the declaration of war, the French ships
and cargoes which had been taken were tried, and condemned
as legal Prizes, exposed to public sale, and their produce
lodged in the bank: but in what manner this money, amounting
to a large sum, was distributed or employed, we have not
been able to discover.
The last event made a deep impression upon the minds of the community.
An address was presented to the king by the lord-mayor, aldermen, and
common-council of London, containing strong hints to the disadvantage
of the ministry. They expressed their apprehension, that the loss of the
important fortress of St. Philip and island of Minorca, possessions
of the utmost consequence to the commerce and naval strength of Great
Britain, without any attempt by timely and effectual succours to prevent
or defeat an attack, after such early notice of the enemy’s intentions,
and when his majesty’s navy was so evidently superior to theirs, would
be an indelible reproach on the honour of the British nation. They
expatiated upon the imminent danger to which the British possessions in
America were exposed, by the mismanagement and delays which had attended
the defence of those invaluable colonies, the object of the present war,
the principal source of the wealth and strength of these kingdoms. They
lamented the want of a constitutional and well-regulated militia, the
most natural and certain defence against all invaders whatsoever.
They signified their hope, that the authors of the late losses and
disappointments would be detected, and brought to condign punishment;
that his majesty’s known intentions of protecting and defending his
subjects in their rights and possessions, might be faithfully
and vigorously carried into execution; and the large supplies, so
necessarily demanded, and so cheerfully granted, might be religiously
applied to the defence of these kingdoms, their colonies, and their
commerce, as well as to the annoyance of their inveterate and perfidious
enemies, the only sure means of obtaining a lasting and honourable
peace. In answer to this address, the king assured them that he would
not fail to do justice upon any persons who should have been wanting in
their duty to him and their country; to enforce obedience and discipline
in his fleets and armies; and to support the authority and respect due
to his government. Remonstrances of the same kind were presented by
different counties and corporations; and the populace clamoured aloud
for inquiry and justice.
TRIAL OF GENERAL FOWKE.
The first victim offered to the enraged multitude was the unfortunate
general Fowke, who had been deputy-governor of Gibraltar, and behaved
with remarkable conduct and integrity in the exercise of that important
office, till that period when he fell under the displeasure of the
government. He was now brought to trial before a board of general
officers, and accused of having disobeyed the orders he had received
from the secretary at war in three successive letters [379] _[See note 3
B, at the end of this Vol.]_, touching the relief of Minorca. Mr.
Fowke alleged in his own defence, that the orders were confused and
contradictory, and implied a discretionary power; that the whole number
of his garrison did not exceed two thousand six hundred men, after he
had spared two hundred and seventy-five to the ships commanded by
Mr. Edgecumbe; that the ordinary duty of the garrison requiring eight
hundred men, the whole number was not sufficient for three reliefs;
that, if he had detached a battalion on board the fleet, he should not
have had above two reliefs, at a time when he believed the place was
in danger of being attacked, for good reasons, which he did not think
himself at liberty to mention; that his orders being doubtful, he held a
council of war, which was of opinion, that as undoubted intelligence was
received of the French army’s being landed at Minorca, to the number of
between thirteen and sixteen thousand men, and that a French squadron
of sixteen ships was stationed off the harbour, the sending a detachment
equal to a battalion from Gibraltar would be an ineffectual supply for
the relief of the place, and a weakening of the garrison from which
they must be sent. He observed, that supposing the orders to have
been positive, and seven hundred men detached to Minorca, the number
remaining at Gibraltar would not have exceeded one thousand five hundred
and fifty-six: a deduction of seven hundred more, according to the order
of May the twelfth, would have left a remainder of eight hundred
and fifty-six; that the men daily on duty in the garrison, including
artificers and labourers in the king’s works, amounted to eight hundred
and thirty-nine; so that if he had complied with the orders as they
arrived, he would not have had more than seventeen men over and above
the number necessary for the daily work of the garrison; thus the
important fortress of Gibraltar must, at this critical conjuncture, have
been left almost naked and defenceless to the attempts of the enemy; and
had those detachments been actually sent abroad, it afterwards appeared
that they could not have been landed on the island of Minorca. The order
transmitted to general Fowke to detain all empty vessels, for a further
transportation of troops, seems to have been superfluous; for it can
hardly be supposed he could have occasion for them, unless to embark the
whole garrison, and abandon the place. It seems likewise to have been
unnecessary to exhort the general to keep his garrison as alert as
possible, during that critical time; inasmuch as it would have been
impossible for the men to have enjoyed the least repose or intromission
of duty, had the orders been punctually and literally obeyed. What other
assistance it might have been in the governor’s power to give for
the relief of Minorca, or in what manner he could avoid fatiguing his
garrison, while there was an impossibility of relieving the guards,
it is not easy to comprehend. Be that as it may, when the trial was
finished, and the question put to acquit or suspend for one year, the
court was equally divided; and in such cases the casting vote being
vested in the president, he threw it into the scale against the
prisoner, whom his majesty thought fit to dismiss from his service.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
AFFAIRS OF AMERICA.
The expectation of the public was now eagerly turned towards America,
the chief, if not the sole scene of our military operations. On the
twenty-fifth day of June, Mr. Abercrombie arrived at Albany, the
frontier of New York, and assumed the command of the forces there
assembled, consisting of two regiments which had served under Braddock,
two battalions raised in America, two regiments now transported from.
England, four independent companies which had been many years maintained
in New York, the New Jersey regiment, four companies levied in North
Carolina, and a body of provincial forces raised by the government of
New England. Those to the southward, including Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and Virginia, had not yet determined on any regular plan of operation,
and were moreover hard pressed in defending their western frontier
from the French and Indians, who, in skulking parties, made sudden
irruptions upon their unguarded settlements, burning, plundering, and
massacring with the most savage inhumanity. As for South Carolina, the
proportion of negro slaves to the number of white inhabitants was so
great in that colony, that the government could not, with any regard
to the safety of the province, spare any reinforcement for the general
enterprise. The plan of this undertaking had been settled in the
preceding year in a council of war, held at New York. There it was
resolved to attack the fort of Niagara, situated between the lakes
Ontario and Erie, in order to cut off the communication between
Canada and Louisiana, and prevent the French from supporting their new
fortresses on the Ohio; to reduce Ticonderago and Crown Point, so
that the frontier of New York might be delivered from the danger of an
invasion, and Great Britain become master of the lake Champlain, over
which the forces might be transported in any future attempt; to besiege
fort Du Quesne upon the Ohio; and to detach a body of troops by the
river Kennebec, to alarm the capital of Canada. This plan was too
extensive for the number of troops which had been prepared; the season
was too far advanced before the regiments arrived from England, the
different colonies were divided in their opinions, and Mr. Abercrombie
postponed the execution of any important scheme till the arrival of
lord Loudon, who was daily expected. The reasons that delayed the
reinforcement, and detained his lordship so long, we do not pretend
to explain; though we may be allowed to observe, that many fair
opportunities have been lost, by the neglect and procrastination of
an English ministry. Certain it is, the unaccountable delay of this
armament rendered it useless for a whole year, afforded time and leisure
to the enemy to take their precautions against any subsequent attack,
and, in the meantime, to proceed unmolested in distressing the British
settlements. Even before this period, they had attacked and reduced a
small post in the country of the Five Nations, occupied by twenty-five
Englishmen, who were cruelly butchered to a man, in the midst of those
Indians whom Great Britain had long numbered among her allies.
Soon after this expedition, having received intelligence that a
considerable convoy of provisions and stores, for the garrison of
Oswego, would in a little time set out from Schenectady, and be conveyed
in batteaux up the river Onondaga, they formed an ambuscade among the
woods and thickets on the north side of that river; but understanding
the convoy had passed before they reached the place, they resolved to
wait the return of the detachment. Their design, however, was frustrated
by the vigilance and valour of colonel Bradstreet, who expected such
an attempt, and had taken his measures accordingly. On the third day of
July, while he stemmed the stream of the river, with his batteaux formed
into three divisions, they were saluted with the Indian war-hoop, and
a general discharge of musketry from the north shore. Bradstreet
immediately ordered his men to land on the opposite bank, and with a
few of the foremost took possession of a small island, where he was
forthwith attacked by a party of the enemy, who had forded the river for
that purpose; but these were soon repulsed. Another body having passed
a mile higher, he advanced to them at the head of two hundred men, and
fell upon them, sword in hand, with such vigour, that many were killed
on the spot, and the rest driven into the water with such precipitation
that a considerable number of them were drowned. Having received
information that a third body of them had passed at a ford still higher,
he marched thither without hesitation, and pursued them to the other
side, where they were entirely routed and dispersed. In this action,
which lasted near three hours, about seventy of the batteau-men were
killed or wounded, but the enemy lost double the number killed, and
above seventy taken prisoners. In all probability the whole detachment
of the French, amounting to seven hundred men, would have been cut off
had not a heavy rain interposed, and disabled colonel Bradstreet from
following his blow; for that same night he was joined by captain Patten
with his grenadiers, in his march from Oneida to Oswego, and next
morning reinforced with two hundred men, detached to his assistance from
the garrison of Oswego; but by this time the rivulets were so swelled
by the rain, that it was found impracticable to pursue the enemy through
the woods and thickets. Patten and his grenadiers accompanied
the detachment to Oswego, while Bradstreet pursued his voyage to
Schenectady, from whence he repaired to Albany, and communicated to
general Abercrombie the intelligence he had received from the prisoners,
that a large body of the enemy were encamped on the eastern side of
the lake Ontario, provided with artillery, and all other implements, to
besiege the fort of Oswego.
EARL OF LOUDON ARRIVES AT NEW YORK.
In consequence of this information, major-general Webb was ordered to
hold himself in readiness to march with one regiment to the relief of
that garrison; but, before they could be provided with necessaries,
the earl of Loudon arrived at the head-quarters at Albany, on the
twenty-ninth day of July. The army at this time is said to have
consisted of regular troops to the number of two thousand six hundred,
about seven thousand provincials, supposed to be in readiness to march
from fort William-Henry, under the command of general Winslow, over and
above a considerable number of batteau-men at Albany and Schenectady.
The garrison at Oswego amounted to fourteen hundred soldiers, besides
three hundred workmen and sailors, either in the fort, or posted in
small parties between the fort and place called Burnet’s Field, to
secure a safe passage through the country of the Six Nations, upon
whose friendship there was no longer any reliance. By the best accounts
received of the enemy’s forces, they had about three thousand men at
Crown Point and Ticonderago upon the lake Champlain; but their chief
strength was collected upon the banks of the lake Ontario, where their
purpose undoubtedly was to reduce the English fort at Oswego. The
immediate object, therefore, of lord Loudon’s attention was the relief
of this place; but his design was strenuously opposed by the province of
New York, and other northern governments, who were much more intent upon
the reduction of Crown Point, and the security of their own frontiers,
which they apprehended was connected with this conquest. They insisted
upon Winslow’s being joined by some regiments of regular troops before
he should march against this fortress; and stipulated that a body of
reserve should be detained at Albany, for the defence of that frontier,
in case Winslow should fail in his enterprise, and be defeated. At
length they agreed, that the regiment which Mr. Abercrombie had destined
for that purpose should be detached for the relief of Oswego; and on the
twelfth day of August major-general Webb began his march with it from
Albany; but on his arrival at the Carrying-place, between the Mohawk’s
river and Wood’s creek, he received the disagreeable news that
Oswego was taken, and the garrison made prisoners of war. Mr. Webb,
apprehending himself in danger of being attacked by the besieging army,
began immediately to render the creek impassable, even to canoes, by
felling trees, and throwing them into the stream; while the enemy,
ignorant of his numbers, and apprehensive of a like visitation from him,
took the very same method of preventing his approach; in consequence of
this apprehension, he was permitted to retire unmolested.
OSWEGO REDUCED BY THE ENEMY.
The loss of the two small forts called Ontario and Oswego, was a
considerable national misfortune. They were erected on the south side of
the great lake Ontario, standing on the opposite sides of the mouth
of the Onondago river, that discharges itself into the lake, and
constituted a post of great importance, where vessels had been built to
cruise upon the lake, which is a kind of inland sea, and interrupt the
commerce as well as the motions and designs of the enemy. The garrison,
as we have already observed, consisted of fourteen hundred men, chiefly
militia and new-raised recruits, under the command of lieutenant-colonel
Mercer, an officer of courage and experience; but the situation of the
forts was very ill chosen; the materials mostly timber or logs of wood;
the defences wretchedly contrived and unfinished; and, in a word, the
place altogether untenable against any regular approach. Such were
the forts which the enemy wisely resolved to reduce. Being under
no apprehension for Crown Point, they assembled a body of troops,
consisting of thirteen hundred regulars, seventeen hundred Canadians,
and a considerable number of Indian auxiliaries, under the command of
the marquis de Montcalm, a vigilant and enterprising officer, to whom
the conduct of the siege was entrusted by the marquis de Vaudreuil,
governor and lieutenant-general of New France. The first step taken by
Montcalm was to block up Oswego by water with two large armed vessels,
and post a strong body of Canadians on the road between Albany and the
forts, to cut off all communication of succour and intelligence. In the
meantime he embarked his artillery and stores upon the lake, and landed
them in the bay of Nixouri, the place of general rendezvous. At another
creek, within half a league of Oswego, he erected a battery for
the protection of his vessels, and on the twelfth day of August, at
midnight, after his dispositions had been made, he opened the trenches
before fort Ontario. The garrison having fired away all their shells and
ammunition, spiked up the cannon, and deserting the fort, retired next
day across the river into Oswego, which was even more exposed than the
other, especially when the enemy had taken possession of Ontario, from
whence they immediately began to fire without intermission. Colonel
Mercer being on the thirteenth killed by a cannon ball, the fort
destitute of all cover, the officers divided in opinion, and the
garrison in confusion, they next day demanded a capitulation, and
surrendered prisoners of war, on condition that they should be exempted
from plunder, conducted to Montreal, and treated with humanity. These
conditions, however, the marquis did not punctually observe. The British
officers and soldiers were insulted by the savage Indians, who robbed
them of their clothes and baggage, massacred several men as they stood
defenceless on the parade, assassinated lieutenant de la Court as he
lay wounded in his tent, under the protection of a French officer,
and barbarously scalped all the sick people in the hospital: finally,
Montcalm, in direct violation of the articles, as well as in contempt
of common humanity, delivered up above twenty men of the garrison to the
Indians, in lieu of the same number they had lost during the siege; and
in all probability these miserable captives were put to death by those
barbarians, with the most excruciating tortures, according to the
execrable custom of the country. Those who countenance the perpetration
of cruelties, at which human nature shudders with horror, ought to be
branded as infamous to all posterity. Such, however, were the trophies
that, in the course of the American war, distinguished the operations
of a people who pique themselves upon politeness, and the virtues
of humanity. The prisoners taken at Oswego, after having been thus
barbarously treated, were conveyed in batteaux to Montreal, where they
had no reason to complain of their reception; and before the end of the
year they were exchanged. The victors immediately demolished the two
forts (if they deserve that denomination,) in which they found one
hundred and twenty-one pieces of artillery, fourteen mortars, with a
great quantity of ammunition, warlike stores, and provisions, besides
two sloops, and two hundred batteaux, which likewise fell into their
hands. Such an important magazine, deposited in a place altogether
indefensible, and without the reach of immediate succour, was a flagrant
proof of egregious folly, temerity, and misconduct.
FURTHER PROCEEDINGS IN AMERICA.
The earl of Loudon finding the season too far advanced to admit of
any enterprise against the enemy, exerted all his endeavours in making
preparations for an early campaign in the spring, securing the frontiers
of the English colonies, in forming an uniform plan of action, and
promoting a spirit of harmony among the different governments, which had
been long divided by jarring interests, and other sources of dissension.
Meanwhile, the forts Edward and William-Henry were put in a proper
posture of defence, and secured with numerous garrisons; and the forces
put into winter quarters at Albany where comfortable barracks were built
for that purpose. Fort Granville, on the confines of Pennsylvania,
an inconsiderable block-house, was surprised by a party of French and
Indians, who made the garrison prisoners, consisting of two-and-twenty
soldiers, with a few women and children. These they loaded with flour
and provisions, and drove them into captivity; but the fort they reduced
to ashes. Many shocking murders were perpetrated upon defenceless
people, without distinction of age or sex, in different parts of the
frontiers; but these outrages were in some measure balanced by the
advantages resulting from a treaty of peace, which the governor of
Pennsylvania concluded with the Delaware Indians, a powerful tribe that
dwell upon the river Sasquehanna, forming, as it were, a line along
the southern skirts of the province. At the same time the governor
of Virginia secured the friendship and alliance of the Cherokees and
Catawbas, two powerful nations adjoining to that colony, who were
able to bring three thousand fighting men into the field. All these
circumstances considered, Great Britain had reason to expect that the
ensuing campaign would be vigorously prosecuted in America, especially
as a fresh reinforcement of troops, with a great supply of warlike
stores, were sent to that country in fourteen transports, under convoy
of two ships of war, which sailed from Cork in Ireland about the
beginning of November.
NAVAL OPERATIONS IN AMERICA.
No action of great importance distinguished the naval transactions of
this year on the side of America. In the beginning of June, captain
Spry, who commanded a small squadron cruising off Louisbourg, in the
island of Cape Breton, took the _Arc en Ciel_, a French ship of fifty
guns, having on board near six hundred men, with a large quantity
of stores and provisions for the garrison. He likewise made prize of
another French ship, with seventy soldiers, two hundred barrels
of powder, two large brass mortars, and other stores of the like
destination. On the twenty-seventh day of July, commodore Holmes, being
in the same latitude, with two large ships and a couple of sloops,
engaged two French ships of the line and four frigates, and obliged them
to sheer off after an obstinate dispute. A great number of privateers
were equipped in this country, as well as in the West India islands
belonging to the crown of Great Britain; and as those seas swarmed
with French vessels, their cruises proved very advantageous to the
adventurers.
TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST INDIES.
Scenes of higher import were this year acted by the British arms in the
East Indies. The cessation of hostilities between the English and French
companies on the peninsula of Indus, though it encouraged Mr. Clive to
visit his native country, was not of long duration; for in a few months
both sides recommenced their operations, no longer as auxiliaries to the
princes of the country, but as principals and rivals both in arms and
commerce. Major Laurence, who now enjoyed the chief command of the
English force, obtained divers advantages over the enemy; and prosecuted
his success with such vigour, as, in all probability, would in a
little time have terminated the war according to his own wish, when the
progress of his arms was interrupted and suspended by an unfortunate
event at Calcutta, the cause of which is not easily explained;
for extraordinary pains have been taken to throw a vail over some
transactions from whence this calamity was immediately or remotely
derived.
CALCUTTA BESIEGED.
The old suba or viceroy of Bengal, Bahar, and Orixa, dying in the month
of April, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, was
succeeded by his adopted son, Sur Raja al Dowlat, a young man of violent
passions, without principle, fortitude, or good faith, who began his
administration with acts of perfidy and violence. In all probability,
his design against the English settlements was suggested by his
rapacious disposition, on a belief that they abounded with treasure; as
the pretences which he used for commencing hostilities, were altogether
inconsistent, false, and frivolous. In the month of May, he caused the
English factory at Cassimbuzzar to be invested, and inviting Mr. Watts,
the chief of the factory, to a conference, under the sanction of a safe
conduct, detained him as prisoner; then, by means of fraud and force
intermingled, made himself master of the factory. This exploit being
achieved, he made no secret of his design to deprive the English of all
their settlements. With this view he marched to Calcutta at the head of
a numerous army, and invested the place, which was then in no posture of
defence.
[Illustration: 382.jpg CALCUTTA: THE ESPLANADE]
FATE OF THOSE WHO PERISHED IN THE DUNGEON AT CALCUTTA.
The governor, intimidated by the number and power of the enemy,
abandoned the fort, and with some principal persons residing in the
settlement, took refuge on board a ship in the river, carrying along
with them their most valuable effects, and the books of the company.
Thus the defence of the place devolved to Mr. Holwell, the second in
command, who, with the assistance of a few gallant officers, and a very
feeble garrison, maintained it with uncommon courage and resolution
against several attacks, until he was overpowered by numbers, and the
enemy had forced their way into the castle. Then he was obliged to
submit; and the suba, or viceroy, promised on the word of a soldier,
that no injury should be done to him or his garrison. Nevertheless, they
were all driven, to the number of one hundred and forty-six persons of
both sexes, into a place called the Black Hole Prison, a cube of
about eighteen feet, walled up to the eastward and southward, the only
quarters from which they could expect the least refreshing air, and open
to the westward by two windows strongly barred with iron, through which
there was no perceptible circulation. The humane reader will conceive
with horror the miserable situation to which they must have been
reduced, when thus stewed up in a close sultry night under such a
climate as that of Bengal, especially when he reflects that many of them
were wounded, and all of them fatigued with hard duty. Transported with
rage to find themselves thus barbarously cooped up in a place where they
must be exposed to suffocation, those hapless victims endeavoured
to force open the door that they might rush upon the swords of the
barbarians by whom they were surrounded; but all their efforts were
ineffectual; the door was made to open inwards, and being once shut
upon them, the crowd pressed upon it so strongly as to render all their
endeavours abortive; then they were overwhelmed with distraction and
despair. Mr. Holwell, who had placed himself at one of the windows,
accosted a jemmautdaar, or Serjeant of the Indian guard, and having
endeavoured to excite his compassion, by drawing a pathetic picture of
their sufferings, promised to gratify him with a thousand rupees in
the morning, if he could find means to remove one half of them into
a separate apartment. The soldier, allured by the promise of such a
reward, assured him he would do his endeavour for their relief, and
retired for that purpose, but in a few minutes returned and told them
that the suba, by whose order alone such a step could be taken, was
asleep, and no person durst disturb his repose. By this time a profuse
sweat had broke out on every individual, and this was attended with an
insatiable thirst, which became the more intolerable as the body was
drained of its moisture. In vain those miserable objects stripped
themselves of their clothes, squatted down on their hams, and fanned
the air with their hats, to produce a refreshing undulation. Many were
unable to rise again from this posture, but falling down, were trod to
death or suffocated. The dreadful symptom of thirst was now accompanied
with a difficulty of respiration, and every individual gasped for
breath. Their despair became outrageous: again they attempted to force
the door, and provoke the guard to fire upon them by execration and
abuse. The cry of “Water! water!” issued from every mouth. Even the
jemmautdaar was moved to compassion at their distress. He ordered his
soldiers to bring some skins of water, which served only to enrage the
appetite, and increase the general agitation. There was no other way
of conveying it through the windows but by hats, and this was rendered
ineffectual by the eagerness and transports of the wretched prisoners,
who at sight of it struggled and raved even into fits of delirium.
In consequence of these contests, very little reached those who stood
nearest the windows, while the rest, at the farther end of the prison,
were totally excluded from all relief, and continued calling upon their
friends for assistance, and conjuring them by all the tender ties of
pity and affection. To those who were indulged it proved pernicious, for
instead of allaying their thirst, it enraged their impatience for more.
The confusion became general and horrid; all was clamour and contest;
those who were at a distance endeavoured to force their passage to
the window, and the weak were pressed down to the ground never to rise
again. The inhuman ruffians without derived entertainment from their
misery; they supplied the prisoners with more water, and held up lights
close to the bars that they might enjoy the inhuman pleasure of seeing
them fight for the baneful indulgence. Mr. Holwell seeing all his
particular friends lying dead around him, and trampled upon by the
living, finding himself wedged up so close as to be deprived of all
motion, begged, as the last instance of their regard, that they would
remove the pressure, and allow him to retire from the window, that he
might die in quiet. Even in those dreadful circumstances, which might be
supposed to have levelled all distinction, the poor delirious wretches
manifested a respect for his rank and character: they forthwith gave
way, and he forced his passage into the centre of the place, which was
not crowded so much, because by this time about one-third of the number
had perished, and lay on small compass on the floor, while the rest
still crowded to both windows. He retired to a platform at the
farther end of the room, and lying down upon some of his dead friends,
recommended his soul to heaven. Here his thirst grew insupportable;
his difficulty in breathing increased, and he was seized with a strong
palpitation. These violent symptoms, which he could not bear, urged him
to make another effort: he forced his way back to the window, and cried
aloud, “Water! for God’s sake!” He had been supposed already dead by his
wretched companions, but finding him still alive, they exhibited another
extraordinary proof of tenderness and regard to his person: “Give him
water,” they cried; nor would any of them attempt to touch it until he
had drank. He now breathed more freely, and the palpitation ceased; but
finding himself still more thirsty after drinking, he abstained
from water, and moistened his mouth from time to time by sucking the
perspiration from his shirt sleeves.*
* In his despair of obtaining water, this unhappy gentleman
had attempted to drink his own urine, but found it
intolerably bitter; whereas the moisture that flowed from
the pores of his body, was soft, pleasant, and refreshing.
The miserable prisoners, perceiving that water rather aggravated than
relieved their distress, grew clamorous for air, and repeated their
insults to the guard, loading the suba and his governor with the most
virulent reproach. From railing they had recourse to prayer, beseeching
heaven to put an end to their misery. They now began to drop on all
hands; but then a steam arose from the living and the dead, as pungent
and volatile as spirit of hartshorn; so that all who could not approach
the windows were suffocated. Mr. Holwell, being weary of life, retired
once more to the platform, and stretched himself by the Rev. Mr. Jer-vis
Bellamy, who, together with his son, a lieutenant, lay dead in each
other’s embrace. In this situation he was soon deprived of sense, and
lay to all appearance dead till day broke, when his body was discovered
and removed by his surviving friends to one of the windows, where the
fresh air revived him, and he was restored to his sight and senses. The
suba, at last, being informed that the greater part of the prisoners
were suffocated, inquired if the chief was alive; and being answered in
the affirmative, sent an order for their immediate release, when no more
than twenty-three survived of an hundred and forty-six who had entered
alive.
ADDITIONAL CRUELTIES EXERCISED ON MR. HOLWELL.
Nor was the late deliverance, even of these few, owing to any sentiment
of compassion in the viceroy. He had received intimation that there was
a considerable treasure secreted in the fort, and that Mr. Holwell
knew the place where it was deposited. That gentleman, who, with his
surviving companions, had been seized with a putrid fever immediately
upon their release, was dragged in that condition before the inhuman
suba, who questioned him about the treasure, which existed nowhere but
in his own imagination; and would give no credit to his protestations,
when he solemnly declared he knew of no such deposit. Mr. Holwell and
three of his friends were loaded with fetters, and conveyed three miles
to the Indian camp, where they lay all night exposed to a severe rain;
next morning they were brought back to town still manacled, under
the scorching beams of a sun intensely hot, and must infallibly have
expired, had not nature expelled the fever in large painful boils,
that covered almost the whole body. In this piteous condition they were
embarked in an open boat for Muxadavad, the capital of Bengal, and
underwent such cruel treatment and misery in their passage, as would
shock the humane reader should he peruse the particulars. At Maxadavad
they were led through the city in chains, as a spectacle to the
inhabitants, lodged in an open stable, and treated for some days as
the worst of criminals. At length the suba’s grandmother interposed her
mediation in their behalf, and as that prince was by this time convinced
that there was no treasure concealed at Calcutta, he ordered them to
be set at liberty. When some of his sycophants opposed this indulgence,
representing that Mr. Holwell had still enough left to pay a
considerable ransom, he replied, with some marks of compunction and
generosity, “If he has anything left, let him keep it: his sufferings
have been great: he shall have his liberty.” Mr. Holwell and his friends
were no sooner unfettered, than they took water from the Dutch Tank-sail
or mint, in the neighbourhood of that city, where they were received
with great tenderness and humanity. The reader, we hope, will excuse
us for having thus particularized a transaction so interesting and
extraordinary in all its circumstances. The suba having destroyed
Calcutta and dispersed the inhabitants, extorted large sums from
the French and Dutch factories, that he might display a spirit of
impartiality against all the Europeans, even in his oppression, returned
to his city of Muxadavad in triumph. By the reduction of Calcutta, the
English East India company’s affairs were so much embroiled in that part
of the world, that perhaps nothing could have retrieved them but the
interposition of a national force, and the good fortune of a Clive,
whose enterprises were always crowned with success.
As the English East India Company had, for a whole century, been at a
considerable expense in maintaining a marine force at Bombay, to
protect their ships from the piracies of the Angrias, who had
rendered themselves independent princes, and fortified Geriah in that
neighbourhood; many unsuccessful attempts had been made to destroy
their naval power, and reduce the fortress, under which they always
took shelter. In the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four, the
fleet of Tullagree Angria, the reigning prince, attacked three Dutch
ships of force, which they either took or destroyed. Elated with this
success, he boasted that he should in a little time sweep the seas of
the Europeans, and began to build some large ships, to reinforce his
grabs and gallivats, which were the vessels on which he had for merely
depended. Next year his neighbours, the Malirattas, having signified
to the presidency of Bombay, that they were disposed to join in the
necessary service of humbling this common enemy, so formidable to the
whole Malabar coast, commodore James was detached with some ships
of force to attack Angria, in conjunction with those allies. They
accordingly joined him with seven grabs and sixty gallivats. They
proceeded to the harbour of Severndroog, where Angria’s fleet lay at
anchor; but they no sooner received intelligence of his approach, than
they slipped their cables and stood out to sea. He chased them with all
the canvass he could carry, but their vessels being lighter than his
they escaped; and he returned to Severndroog, which is a fortress
situated on an island within musket shot of the main land, strongly but
irregularly fortified, and mounted with fifty-four pieces of cannon.
There were three other small forts on the continent, the largest of
which was called Goa. On the second day of April the commodore began
to batter and bombard the island, fort, and fort Goa, at the same time.
That of Severndroog was set on fire; one of the magazines blew up; a
general conflagration ensued; the garrison was overwhelmed with fire and
confusion; the English seamen landed un der cover of the fire from the
ships, and took the place by storm, with very little loss. The other
forts were immediately surrendered, and all of these, by treaty,
delivered to the Mahrattas. On the eighth of April the commodore
anchored off Bancote, now called fort Victoria, one of the most northern
parts of Angria’s dominions, which surrendered without opposition, and
still remains in the hands of the English East India company, by the
consent of the Mahrattas. The harbour is good, and here is great trade
for salt and other commodities sent hither from Bombay.
{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}
FORT GERIAH TAKEN BY ADMIRAL WATSON AND MR. CLIVE.
It was in November following that the squadron under admiral Watson
arrived at Bombay, where it was resolved to give Angria the finishing
stroke, still in conjunction with the Mahrattas. Meanwhile commodore
James was sent to reconnoitre Geriah, the capital of his dominions,
and to sound the depth of the harbour, a service which he successfully
performed. The admiral being joined by a division of ships, fitted out
at the company’s expense, having on board a body of troops commanded by
colonel Clive, sailed on the seventeenth day of January, and found
in the neighbourhood of Geriah the Mahratta fleet, consisting of
four grabs, and forty smaller vessels called gallivats, lying to the
northward of the place, in a creek called Rajipore; and a land-army
of horse and foot, amounting to seven or eight thousand men, the whole
commanded by Rhamagee Punt, who had already taken one small fort, and
was actually treating about the surrender of Geriah. Angria himself had
quitted the place, but his wife and family remained under the protection
of his brother-in-law; who, being summoned to surrender by a message
from the admiral, replied, that he would defend the place to the last
extremity. In consequence of this refusal, the whole English fleet, in
two divisions, sailed on the twelfth day of February into the harbour,
and sustained a warm fire from the enemy’s batteries as they passed,
as well as from the grabs posted in the harbour for that purpose;
this, however, was soon silenced after the ships were brought to their
stations, so as to return the salutation. Between the hours of four and
five in the afternoon, a shell being thrown into one of Angria’s armed
vessels, set her on fire; and the flames communicating to the rest, they
were all destroyed: between six and seven the fort was set on fire
by another shell; and soon after the firing ceased on both sides. The
admiral, suspecting that the governor of the place would surrender it
to the Mahrattas, rather than to the English, disembarked all the troops
under Mr. Clive, that he might be at hand, in case of emergency, to take
possession. In the meantime, the fort was bombarded; the line of battle
ships were warped near enough to batter in breach, and then the admiral
sent an officer with a flag of truce to the governor, requiring him to
surrender. His proposal being again rejected, the English ships renewed
their fire next day with redoubled vigour. About one o’clock the
magazine of the fort blew up, and at four the garrison hung out a white
flag for capitulation. The parley that ensued proving ineffectual, the
engagement began again, and continued till fifteen minutes after five;
when the white flag was again displayed, and now the governor submitted
to the conditions which were imposed. Angria’s flag was immediately
hauled down; and two English captains taking possession of the fort with
a detachment, forthwith hoisted the British ensign. To these captains,
whose names were Buchanan and Forbes, the Mahrattas offered a bribe of
fifty thousand rupees, if they would allow them to pass their guards,
that they might take possession of the fort for themselves; but this
offer was rejected with disdain, and immediately disclosed to colonel
Clive, who took effectual measures to frustrate their design. In this
place, which was reduced with very inconsiderable loss, the conquerors
found above two hundred cannon, six brass mortars, a large quantity
of ammunition, with money and effects to the value of one hundred and
thirty thousand pounds. The fleet which was destroyed consisted of eight
grabs, one ship finished, two upon the stocks, and a good number
of gallivats. Among the prisoners, the admiral found Angria’s wife,
children, and mother, toward whom he demeaned himself with great
humanity.*
* When the admiral entered their apartment, the whole
family, shedding floods of tears, fell with their faces to
the ground; from which being raised, the mother of Angria
told him, in a piteous tone, “the people had no king, she no
son, her daughter no husband, their children no father.” The
admiral replying, “they must look upon him as their father
and their friend,” the youngest boy, about six years of age,
seized him by the hand, and sobbing exclaimed, “Then you
shall be my father.” Mr. Watson was so affected with this
pathetic address, that the tears trickled down his cheeks,
while he assured them they might depend upon his protection
and friendship.
Three hundred European soldiers, and as-many sepoys, were left to
guard the fort; and four of the company’s armed vessels remained in the
harbour for the defence of the place, which was extremely well situated
for commerce.
The admiral and Mr. Clive sailed back to Madras in triumph, and there
another plan was formed for restoring the company’s affairs upon the
Ganges, recovering Calcutta, and taking vengeance on the cruel viceroy
of Bengal. In October they set sail again for the bottom of the bay; and
about the beginning of December arrived at Balasore, in the kingdom of
Bengal. Having crossed the Braces, they proceeded up the river Ganges as
far as Falta, where they found governor Drake, and the other persons who
had escaped on board of the ships when Calcutta was invested. Colonel
Clive was disembarked with his forces to attack the fort of Busbudgia
by land, while the admiral battered it by sea; but the place being ill
provided with cannon, did not hold out above an hour after the firing
began. This conquest being achieved at a very easy purchase, two of the
great ships anchored between Tanny fort and a battery on the other
side of the river, which were abandoned before one shot was discharged
against either; thus the passage was laid open to Calcutta, the
reduction of which we shall record among the transactions of the ensuing
year.