CHAPTER XV.

_Expedition against Senegal..... Fort Louis and Senegal

taken..... Unsuccessful attempt upon Goree..... Expedition

to Cape Breton..... Louisbourg taken..... and St.

John’s..... Unsuccessful attempt upon Ticonderoga.....

Fort Frontenac taken and destroyed by the English.....

Brigadier Forbes takes Fort du Quesne..... Goree taken.....

Shipwreck of Captain Barton..... Gallant Exploit of Captain

Tyrrell..... Transactions in the East Indies..... Admiral

Pococke engages the French Fleet..... Fort St. David’s taken

by the French..... Second Engagement between Admiral Pococke

and M. d’Apehé..... Progress of M. Lally..... Transactions

on the Continent of Europe..... King of Prussia raises

Contributions in Saxony and the Dominions of the Duke of

Wirtemberg..... State of the Armies on the Continent.....

The French King changes the Administration of Hanover.....

Plan of a Treaty between the French King and the Landgrave

of Hesse-Cassel..... Treaty between the French King and the

Duke of Brunswick..... Decree of the Aulic Council against

the Elector of Hanover and others..... Bremen taken by the

Duke de Broglio, and retaken by Prince Ferdinand..... Duke

de Richelieu recalled..... Generous Conduct of the Duke de

Randan..... The French abandon Hanover..... Prince of

Brunswick reduces Hoya and Minden..... Prince Ferdinand

defeats the French at Creveldt, and takes Dusseldorp.....

Prince of Ysembourg defeated by the Duke de Broglio.....

General Imhoff defeats M. de Chevert..... General Oberg

defeated by the French at Landwernhagen..... Death of the

Duke of Marlborough..... Operations of the King of Prussia at

the beginning of the Campaign..... He enters Moravia, and

invests Olmutz..... He is obliged to raise the Siege, and

retires into Bohemia, where he takes Koningsgratz.....

Progress of the Russians..... King of Prussia defeats the

Russians at Zorndorf..... and is defeated by the Austrians at

Hoch-kirchin..... He retires to Silesia..... Suburbs of

Dresden burned by the Prussian Governor..... The King of

Prussia raises the Siege of Neiss, and relieves Dresden.....

Inhabitants of Saxony grievously oppressed..... Progress of

the Swedes in Pomerania..... Prince Charles of Saxony

elected Duke of Courland..... The King of England’s Memorial

to the Diet of the Empire..... Death of Pope Benedict.....

The King of Portugal assassinated..... Proceedings of the

French Ministry..... Conduct of the King of Denmark.....

Answers to the Charges brought by the Dutch against the

English Cruisers..... Conferences between the British

Ambassador and the States-general..... Further Proceedings_

EXPEDITION AGAINST SENEGAL.

The whole strength of Great Britain, during this campaign, was not

exhausted in petty descents upon the coast of France. The continent of

America was the great theatre on which her chief vigour was displayed;

nor did she fail to exert herself in successful efforts against the

French settlements on the coast of Africa. The whole gum trade, from

Cape Blanco to the river Gambia, an extent of five hundred miles, had

been engrossed by the French, who built Fort Louis within the mouth of

the Senegal, extending their factories near three hundred leagues up

that river, and on the same coast had fortified the island of Goree, in

which they maintained a considerable garrison. The gum senega, of which

a great quantity is used by the manufacturers of England, being wholly

in the hands of the enemy, the English dealers were obliged to buy it at

second-hand from the Dutch, who purchased it of the French, and exacted

an exorbitant price for that commodity. This consideration forwarded the

plan for annexing the country to the possession of Great Britain. The

project was first conceived by Mr. Thomas Gumming, a sensible quaker,

who, as a private merchant, had made a voyage to Portenderrick, an

adjoining part of the coast, and contracted a personal acquaintance with

Amir, the moorish king of Legibelli.*

* The name the natives give to that part of South Barbary,

known to merchants and navigators by that of the Gum Coast,

and called in maps, the Sandy Desert of Sara, and sometimes

Zaia.

He found this African prince extremely well disposed towards the

subjects of Great Britain, whom he publicly preferred to all other

Europeans, and so exasperated against the French, that he declared he

should never be easy till they were exterminated from the river Senegal.

At that very time he had commenced hostilities against them, and

earnestly desired that the king of England would send out an armament

to reduce Fort Louis and Goree, with some ships of force to protect

the traders. In that case, he promised to join his Britannic majesty’s

forces, and grant an exclusive trade to his subjects. Mr. Gumming not

only perceived the advantages that would result from such an exclusive

privilege with regard to the gum, but foresaw many other important

consequences of an extensive trade in a country, which, over and above

the gum senega, contains many valuable articles, such as gold dust,

elephants’ teeth, hides, cotton, bees’ wax, slaves, ostrich feathers,

indigo, ambergris, and civet. Elevated with a prospect of an acquisition

so valuable to his country, this honest quaker was equally minute and

indefatigable in his inquiries touching the commerce of the coast, as

well as the strength and situation of the French settlements on the

river Senegal; and, at his return to England, actually formed the plan

of an expedition for the conquest of Fort Louis. This was presented to

the board of trade, by whom it was approved, after a severe examination;

but it required the patriotic zeal, and invincible perseverance of

Cumming, to surmount a variety of obstacles before it was adopted by the

ministry; and even then it was not executed in its full extent. He was

abridged of one large ship, and in lieu of six hundred land-forces, to

be drafted from different regiments, which he in vain demanded, first

from the duke of Cumberland, and afterwards from lord Ligonier, the

lords of the admiralty allotted two hundred marines only for this

service. After repeated solicitation, he, in the year one thousand seven

hundred and fifty-seven, obtained an order, that the two annual ships

bound to the coast of Guinea should be joined by a sloop and two busses,

and make an attempt upon the French settlement in the river Senegal.

These ships, however, were detained by contrary winds until the season

was too far advanced to admit a probability of success, and therefore

the design was postponed. In the beginning of the present year, Mr.

Cumming being reinforced with the interest of a considerable merchant in

the city, to whom he had communicated the plan, renewed his application

to the ministry, and they resolved to hazard the enterprise. A small

squadron was equipped for this expedition, under the command of captain

Marsh, having on board a body of marines, commanded by major Mason, with

a detachment of artillery, ten pieces of cannon, eight mortars, and a

considerable quantity of warlike stores and ammunition. Captain Walker

was appointed engineer; and Mr. Cumming was concerned as a principal

director and promoter of the expedition.*

* On this occasion Mr. Cumming may seem to have acted

directly-contrary to the tenets of his religious profession;

hut he ever declared to the ministry, that he was fully

persuaded his schemes might be accomplished without the

effusion of human blood; and that if he thought otherwise,

he would by no means have concerned himself about them. He

also desired, let the consequence be what it might, his

brethren should not be chargeable with what was his own

single act. If it was the first military scheme of any

quaker, let it be remembered it was also the first

successful expedition of this war, and one of the first that

ever was carried on according to the pacific system of the

quakers, without the loss of a drop of blood on either side.

This little armament sailed in the beginning of March; and in their

passage touched at the island of Teneriffe, where, while the ships

supplied themselves with wine and water, Mr. Cumming proceeded in the

Swan sloop to Portenderrick, being charged with a letter of credence

to his old friend the king of that country, who had favoured him in his

last visit with an exclusive trade on that coast, by a former charter,

written in the Arabic language. This prince was now up the country,

engaged in a war with his neighbours, called the Diable Moors;* and

the queen-dowager, who remained at Portenderrick, gave Mr. Cumming to

understand, that she could not at present spare any troops to join the

English in their expedition against Senegal; but she assured him, that,

should the French be exterminated, she and their subjects would go

thither and settle.

* This is the name by which the subjects of Legibelli

distinguish those of Brackna, who inhabit the country

farther up the river Senegal, and are in constant alliance

with tha French.

In the meantime, one of the chiefs, called prince Amir, despatched

a messenger to the king, with advice of their arrival and design. He

declared that he would, with all possible diligence, assemble three

hundred warriors to join the English troops, and that, in his opinion,

the king would reinforce them with a detachment from his army. By this

time, captain Marsh, with the rest of the armament, had arrived at

Portenderrick, and fearing that the enemy might receive intimation of

his design, resolved to proceed on the expedition without waiting for

the promised auxiliaries. On the twenty-second day of April he weighed

anchor, and next day, at four o’clock, discovered the French flag flying

upon Fort Louis, situated in the midst of a pretty considerable town,

which exhibited a very agreeable appearance. The commodore having

made prize of a Dutch ship, richly laden with gum, which lay at anchor

without the bar, came to anchor in Senegal-road at the mouth of the

river; and here he perceived several armed sloops which the enemy had

detached to defend the passage of the bar, which is extremely dangerous.

All the boats were employed in conveying the stores into the small

craft, while three of the sloops continued exchanging fire over a narrow

tongue of land with the vessels of the enemy, consisting of one brig

and six armed sloops, mounted with great guns and swivels. At length the

channel being discovered, and the wind, which generally blows down the

river, chopping about, captain Millar, of the London buss, seized that

opportunity; and, passing the bar with a flowing sheet, dropped anchor

on the inside, where he lay till night exposed to the whole fire of the

enemy. Next day he was joined by the other small vessels, and a regular

engagement ensued. This was warmly maintained on both sides, until the

busses and one dogger running aground, immediately bulged, and were

filled with water. Then the troops they contained took to their boats,

and with some difficulty reached the shore; when they formed in a body,

and were soon joined by their companions from the other vessels; so that

now the whole amounted to three hundred and ninety marines, besides the

detachment of artillery. As they laid their account with being

attacked by the natives who lined the shore at some distance,

seemingly determined to oppose the descent, they forthwith threw up an

intrench-ment, and began to disembark the stores, great part of which

lay under water. While they were employed in raising this occasional

defence, the negroes came in great numbers and submitted; and on the

succeeding day they were reinforced by three hundred and fifty seamen,

who passed the bar in sloops, with their ensigns and colours flying.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

FORT LOUIS AND SENEGAL TAKEN.

They had made no further progress in their operations, when two French

deputies arrived at the intrench-ment, with proposals for a capitulation

from the governor of Fort Louis. After some hesitation, captain Marsh

and major Mason agreed, that all the white people belonging to the

French company at Senegal should be safely conducted to France in

an English vessel, without being deprived of their private effects,

provided all the merchandise and uncoined treasure should be delivered

up to the victors; and that all the forts, store-houses, vessels, arms,

provisions, and every article belonging to the company in that river,

should be put into the hands of the English immediately after the

capitulation could be signed. They promised that the free natives living

at Fort Louis should remain in quiet possession of their effects, and

in the free exercise of their religion; and that all negroes, mulattoes,

and others, who could prove themselves free, should have it in their

option either to remain in the place, or remove to any other part of the

country.*

* The victors, however, committed a very great mistake in

allowing them to carry off their books and accounts, the

perusal of which would have been of infinite service to the

English merchants, by informing them of the commodities,

their value, the proper seasons, and methods of prosecuting

the trade.

The captains Campbell and Walker were immediately sent up the river with

a flag of truce, to see the articles signed and executed; but they were

so retarded by the rapidity of the stream, that they did not approach

the fort till three in the morning. As soon as the day broke they

hoisted their flag, and rowed up towards a battery on a point of the

island, where they lay upon their oars very near a full hour, beating

the chamade; but no notice was taken of their approach. This

reserve appearing mysterious, they retired down the river to their

in-trenchment, where they understood that the negroes on the island

were in arms, and had blocked up the French in Fort Louis, resolving to

defend the place to the last extremity, unless they should be included

in the capitulation. This intelligence was communicated in a second

letter from the governor, who likewise informed the English commander,

that unless the French director-general should be permitted to remain

with the natives, as a surety for that article of the capitulation in

which they were concerned, they would allow themselves to be cut in

pieces rather than submit. This request being granted, the English

forces began their march to Fort Louis, accompanied by a number of long

boats, in which the artillery and stores had been embarked. The French

seeing them advance, immediately struck their flag; and major Mason took

possession of the castle, where he found ninety-two pieces of cannon,

with treasure and merchandise to a considerable value. The corporation

and burghers of the town of Senegal submitted, and swore allegiance to

his Britannic majesty: the neighbouring princes, attended by numerous

retinues, visited the commander, and concluded treaties with the English

nation; and the king of Portenderrick, or Legibelli, sent an

ambassador from his camp to major Mason, with presents, compliments

of congratulation, and assurances of friendship. The number of free

independent negroes and mulattoes, settled at Senegal, amounted to three

thousand; and many of these enjoyed slaves and possessions of their own.

The two French factories of Podore and Galam, the latter situated nine

hundred miles farther up the river, were included in the capitulation;

so that Great Britain, almost without striking a blow, found herself

possessed of a conquest, from which, with proper management, she may

derive inconceivable riches. This important acquisition was in a great

measure, if not entirely, owing to the sagacity, zeal, and indefatigable

efforts of Mr. Cumming, who not only formed the plan, and solicited the

armament, but also attended the execution of it in person, at the hazard

of his life, and to the interruption of his private concerns.

Fort Louis being secured with an English garrison, and some armed

vessels left to guard the passage of the bar, at the mouth of the river,

the great ships proceeded to make an attempt upon the island of Goree,

which lies at the distance of thirty leagues from Senegal. There the

French company had considerable magazines and warehouses, and lodged

the negro slaves until they could be shipped for the West Indies. If

the additional force which Mr. Cumming proposed for the conquest of this

island had been added to the armament, in all probability the island

would have been reduced, and in that case the nation would have saved

the considerable expense of a subsequent expedition against it, under

the conduct of commodore Keppel. At present, the ships by which Goree

was attacked were found unequal to the attempt, and the expedition

miscarried accordingly, though the miscarriage was attended with little

or no damage to the assailants.

EXPEDITION TO CAPE-BRETON.

Scenes of still greater importance were acted in North America, where,

exclusive of the fleet and marines, the government had assembled about

fifty thousand men, including two-and-twenty thousand regular troops.

The earl of Loudoun having returned to England, the chief command in

America devolved on major-general Abercrombie; but as the objects of

operation were various, the forces were divided into three detached

bodies, under as many different commanders. About twelve thousand

were destined to undertake the siege of Louisbourg, on the island of

Cape-Breton. The general himself reserved near sixteen thousand for

the reduction of Crown-Point, a fort situated on lake Champlain; eight

thousand under the conduct of brigadier-general Forbes, were allotted

for the conquest of Fort du Quesne, which stood a great way to the

southward, near the river Ohio; and a considerable garrison was left at

Annapolis, in Nova-Scotia. The reduction of Louisbourg and the island of

Cape-Breton being an object of immediate consideration, was undertaken

with all possible despatch. Major-general Amherst being joined by

admiral Boscawen with the fleet and forces from England, the whole

armament, consisting of one hundred and fifty-seven sail, took

their departure from the harbour of Halifax, in Nova-Scotia, on the

twenty-eighth of May; and on the second of June part of the transports

anchored in the bay of Gabarus, about seven miles to the westward of

Louisbourg. The garrison of this place, commanded by the chevalier

Dru-cour, consisted of two thousand five hundred regular troops, three

hundred militia, formed of the burghers, and towards the end of the

siege they were reinforced by three hundred and fifty Canadians,

including threescore Indians. The harbour was secured by six ships of

the line, and five frigates,* three of which the enemy sunk across

the harbour’s mouth, in order to render it inaccessible to the English

shipping.

* The Prudent, of seventy-four guns; the Entreprenant, of

seventy-four guns; the Capricieux, Célèbre, and Bienfaisant,

of sixty-four guns each; the Apollo, of fifty guns; the

Cheyre, Riche, Fidelle, Diana, and Echo, frigates.

The fortifications were in bad repair, many parts of them crumbling down

the covered way, and several bastions exposed in such a manner as to

be enfiladed by the besiegers, and no part of the town secure from the

effects of cannonading and bombardment. The governor had taken all the

precautions in his power to prevent a landing, by establishing a

chain of posts, that extended two leagues and a half along the most

inaccessible part of the beach; intrench-ments were thrown up, and

batteries erected; but there were some intermediate places, which could

not be properly secured, and in one of these the English troops were

disembarked. The disposition being made for landing, a detachment, in

several sloops under convoy, passed by the mouth of the harbour towards

Lorembec, in order to draw the enemy’s attention that way, while the

landing should really be effected on the other side of the town. On

the eighth day of June, the troops being assembled in the boats before

day-break, in three divisions, several sloops and frigates, that were

stationed along shore in the bay of Gabarus, began to scour the beach

with their shot; and after the fire had continued about a quarter of an

hour, the boats, containing the division on the left, were rowed toward

the shore, under the command of brigadier-general Wolfe, an accomplished

officer, who, in the sequel, displayed very extraordinary proofs of

military genius. At the same time the two other divisions, on the right

and in the centre, commanded by the brigadiers Whitmore and Laurence,

made a show of landing, in order to divide and distract the enemy.

Notwithstanding an impetuous surf, by which many boats were overset, and

a very severe fire of cannon and musketry from the enemy’s batteries,

which did considerable execution, brigadier Wolfe pursued his point with

admirable courage and deliberation. The soldiers leaped into the water

with the most eager alacrity, and, gaining the shore, attacked the enemy

in such a manner, that in a few minutes they abandoned their works and

artillery, and fled in the utmost confusion. The other divisions landed

also, but not without an obstinate opposition; and the stores, with the

artillery, being brought on shore, the town of Louisbourg was formally

invested. The difficulty of landing stores and implements in boisterous

weather, and the nature of the ground, which being marshy, was unfit for

the conveyance of heavy cannon, retarded the operations of the siege.

Mr. Amherst made his approaches with great circumspection, securing his

camp with redoubts and epaulements from any attacks of Canadians,

of which he imagined there was a considerable body behind him on the

island, as well as from the fire of the French shipping in the harbour

which would otherwise have annoyed him extremely in his advances.

LOUISBOURG TAKEN.

The governor of Louisbourg having destroyed the grand battery, which

was detached from the body of the place, and recalled his out-posts,

prepared for making a vigorous defence. A very severe fire, well

directed, was maintained against the besiegers and their works, from

the town, the island battery, and the ships in the harbour; and divers

sallies were made, though without much effect. In the meantime brigadier

Wolfe, with a strong detachment, had marched round the north-east part

of the harbour, and taken possession of the Lighthouse-point, where

he erected several batteries against the ships and the island

fortification, which last was soon silenced. On the nineteenth day of

June, the Echo, a French frigate, was taken by the English cruisers,

after having escaped from the harbour. From the officers on board of

this ship the admiral learned that the Bizarre, another frigate, had

sailed from thence on the day of the disembarkation, and the Comète had

successfully followed her example. Besides the regular approaches to

the town, conducted by the engineers under the immediate command and

inspection of general Amherst, divers batteries were raised by the

detached corps under brigadier Wolfe, who exerted himself with amazing

activity, and grievously incommoded the enemy, both of the town and

shipping. On the twenty-first day of July the three great ships, the

Entreprenant, Capricieux, and Célèbre, were set on fire by a bomb-shell,

and burned to ashes, so that none remained but the Prudent and

Bienfaisant, which the admiral undertook to destroy. For this purpose,

in the night between the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth days of the

month, the boats of the squadron were in two divisions detached into the

harbour, under the command of two young captains, Laforey and Balfour.

They accordingly penetrated in the dark through a terrible fire of

cannon and musketry, and boarded the enemy sword in hand. The Prudent,

being aground, was set on fire and destroyed, but the Bienfaisant was

towed out of the harbour in triumph. In the prosecution of the siege,

the admiral and general co-operated with remarkable harmony; the former

cheerfully assisting the latter with cannon and other implements; with

detachments of marines to maintain posts on shore, with parties of

seamen to act as pioneers, and concur in working the guns and mortars.

The fire of the town was managed with equal skill and activity, and kept

up with great perseverance; until, at length, their shipping being all

taken and destroyed, the caserns ruined in two principal bastions,*

forty out of fifty-two pieces of cannon dismounted, broke, or rendered

unserviceable, and divers practicable breaches effected, the governor,

in a letter to Mr. Amherst, proposed a capitulation on the same articles

that were granted to the English at Port-Mahon.

* It may not be amiss to observe, that a cavalier, which

admiral Knowles had built at an enormous expense to the

nation, while Louisbourg remained in the hands of the

English in the last war, was, in the course of this siege,

entirely demolished by two or three shots from one of the

British batteries; so admirably had this piece of

fortification been contrived and executed, under the eye of

that profound engineer.

In answer to this proposal he was given to understand, that he and his

garrison must surrender themselves prisoners of war, otherwise he might

next morning expect a general assault by the shipping under admiral

Boscawen. The chevalier Dru-cour, piqued at the severity of these terms,

replied, that he would, rather than comply with them, stand an assault;

but the commissary-general, and intendant of the colony, presented a

petition from the traders and inhabitants of the place, in consequence

of which he submitted. On the twenty-seventh day of July, three

companies of grenadiers, commanded by major Farquhar, took possession

of the western gate; and brigadier Whitmore was detached into the town,

to see the garrison lay down their arms, and deliver up their colours

on the esplanade, and to post the necessary guards on the stores,

magazines, and ramparts. Thus, at the expense of about four hundred men

killed and wounded, the English obtained possession of the important

island of Cape-Breton, and the strong town of Louisbourg, in which the

victors found two hundred and twenty-one pieces of cannon, with eighteen

mortars, and a considerable quantity of stores and ammunition. The

merchants and inhabitants were sent to France in English bottoms; but

the garrison, together with the sea-officers, marines, and mariners,

amounting in all to five thousand six hundred and thirty-seven

prisoners, were transported to England. The loss of Louisbourg was the

more severely felt by the French king, as it had been attended by the

destruction of so many considerable ships and frigates. The particulars

of this transaction were immediately brought to England in a vessel

despatched for that purpose, with captain Amherst, brother to the

commander, who was also intrusted with eleven pair of colours taken

at Louisbourg; these were, by his majesty’s order, carried in pompous

parade, escorted by detachments of horse and foot-guards, with

kettle-drums and trumpets, from the palace of Kensington to St. Paul’s

cathedral, where they were deposited as trophies, under a discharge of

cannon, and other noisy expressions of triumph and exultation. Indeed,

the public rejoicings for the conquest of Louisbourg were diffused

through every part of the British dominions, and addresses of

congratulation were presented to the king, by a great number of

flourishing towns and corporations.

After the reduction of Cape-Breton, some ships were detached, with a

body of troops under the command of lieutenant-colonel lord Rollo, to

take possession of the island of St. John, which also lies in the gulf

of St. Laurence, and by its fertility in corn and cattle, had, since the

beginning of the war, supplied Quebec with considerable quantities of

provisions. It was likewise the asylum to which the French neutrals of

Annapolis fled for shelter from the English government; and the retreat

from whence they and the Indians used to make their sudden irruptions

into Nova-Scotia, where they perpetrated the most inhuman barbarities

on the defenceless subjects of Great Britain. The number of inhabitants

amounted to four thousand one hundred, who submitted and brought in

their arms; then lord Rollo took possession of the governor’s quarters,

where he found several scalps of Englishmen, whom the savages had

assassinated, in consequence of the encouragement they received from

their French patrons and allies, who gratified them with a certain

premium for every scalp they produced. The island was stocked with above

ten thousand head of black cattle, and some of the farmers raised each

twelve hundred bushels of corn annually for the market of Quebec.

ATTEMPT UPON TICONDEROGA.

The joy and satisfaction arising from the conquest of Louisbourg and St.

John, was not a little checked by the disaster which befel the main body

of the British forces in America, under the immediate conduct of

general Abercrombie, who, as we have already observed, had proposed the

reduction of the French forts on the lakes George and Champlain, as the

chief objects of his enterprise, with a view to secure the frontier

of the British colonies, and open a passage for the future conquest of

Canada. In the beginning of July his forces, amounting to near seven

thousand regular troops, and ten thousand provincials, embarked on the

lake George, in the neighbourhood of lake Champlain, on board of nine

hundred batteaux, and one hundred and thirty-five whale-boats, with

provisions, artillery, and ammunition; several pieces of cannon being

mounted on rafts to cover the purposed landing, which was next day

effected without opposition. The general’s design was to invest:

Ticonderoga, a fort situated on a tongue of land, extending between

lake George and a narrow gut that communicates with lake Champlain. This

fortification was on three sides surrounded with water, and in

front nature had secured it with a morass. The English troops being

disembarked, were immediately formed into three columns, and began

their march to the enemy’s advanced post, consisting of one battalion,

encamped behind a breast-work of logs, which they now abandoned with

precipitation, after having set them on fire, and burned their tents and

implements. The British forces continued their march in the same order;

but the route lying through a thick wood that did not admit of any

regular progression or passage, and the guides proving extremely

ignorant, the troops were bewildered, and the columns broken by falling

in one upon another. Lord Howe being advanced at the head of the right

centre column, encountered a French detachment who had likewise lost

their way in the retreat from the advanced post, and a warm skirmish

ensuing, the enemy were routed with considerable loss, a good number

were killed, and one hundred and forty-eight were taken prisoners,

including five officers. This petty advantage was dearly bought

with the loss of lord Howe, who fell in the beginning of the action,

unspeakably regretted as a young nobleman of the most promising talents,

who had distinguished himself in a peculiar manner by his courage,

activity, and rigid observation of military discipline, and had acquired

the esteem and affection of the soldiery by his generosity, sweetness

of manners, and engaging address. The general perceiving the troops

were greatly fatigued and disordered, from want of rest and refreshment,

thought it advisable to march back to the landing-place, which they

reached about eight in the morning. Then he detached lieutenant-colonel

Bradstreet, with one regular regiment, six companies of the Royal

Americans, with the batteaux-men, and a body of rangers, to take

possession of a saw-mill in the neighbourhood of Ticonderoga, which the

enemy had abandoned. This post being secured, the general advanced again

towards Ticonderoga, where, he understood from the prisoners, the enemy

had assembled eight battalions, with a body of Canadians and Indians,

amounting in all to six thousand. These, they said, being encamped

before the fort, were employed in making a formidable intrenchment,

where they intended to wait for a reinforcement of three thousand

men, who had been detached under the command of M. de Levi, to make a

diversion on the side of the Mohawk river;* but, upon intelligence

of Mr. Abercrombie’s approach, were now recalled for the defence of

Ticonderoga.

* This officer intended to have made an irruption through

the pass of Oneida on the Mohawk river, but was recalled

before he could execute his design. General Abercrombie

afterwards sent thither brigadier Stanwix, with a

considerable body of provincials, and this important pass

was secured by a fort built at that juncture.

This information determined the English general to strike, if possible,

some decisive stroke before the junction could be effected. He therefore,

early next morning, sent his engineer across the river on the opposite

side of the fort, to reconnoitre the enemy’s intrenchments; and he

reported that the works being still unfinished, might be attempted with

a good prospect of success. A disposition was made accordingly for the

attack, and, after proper guards had been left at the saw-mill and the

landing-place, the whole army was put in motion. They advanced with

great alacrity towards the intrenchment, which, however, they found

altogether impracticable. The breastwork was raised eight feet high,

and the ground before it covered with an abbatis, of felled trees, with

their boughs pointing outwards, and projecting in such a manner as

to render the intrenchment almost inaccessible. Notwithstanding these

discouraging difficulties, the British troops marched up to the assault

with an undaunted resolution, and sustained a terrible fire

without flinching. They endeavoured to cut their way through these

embarrassments with their swords, and some of them even mounted

the parapet; but the enemy were so well covered, that they could

deliberately direct their fire without the least danger to themselves:

the carnage was therefore considerable, and the troops began to fall

into confusion, after several repeated attacks, which lasted above four

hours, under the most disadvantageous circumstances. The general, by

this time, saw plainly that no hope of success remained; and, in order

to prevent a total defeat, took measures for the retreat of the army,

which retired unmolested to their former camp, with the loss of about

eighteen hundred men killed or wounded, including a great number of

officers. Every corps of regular troops behaved, on this unfortunate

occasion, with remarkable intrepidity; but the greatest loss was

sustained by lord John Murray’s Highland regiment, of which above one

half of the private men, and twenty-five officers, were either slain

upon the spot, or desperately wounded. Mr. Abercrombie, unwilling to

stay in the neighbourhood of the enemy with forces which had received

such a dispiriting check, retired to his batteaux, and re-embarking the

troops, returned to the camp at lake George, from whence he had taken

his departure. Censure, which always attends miscarriage, did not spare

the character of this commander; his attack was condemned as rash, and

his retreat as pusillanimous. In such a case allowances must be made for

the peevishness of disappointment, and the clamour of connexion. How far

Mr. Abercrombie acquitted himself in the duty of a general we shall

not pretend to determine; but if he could depend upon the courage and

discipline of his forces, he surely had nothing to fear, after the

action, from the attempts of the enemy, to whom he would have been

superior in number, even though they had been joined by the expected

reinforcement; he might therefore have remained on the spot, in order to

execute some other enterprise when he should be reinforced in his turn;

for general Amherst no sooner heard of his disaster, than he returned

with the troops from Cape-Breton to New England, after having left a

strong garrison in Louis-bourg. At the head of six regiments he began

his march to Albany about the middle of September, in order to join the

forces on the lake, that they might undertake some other service before

the season should be exhausted.

FORT FRONTENAC TAKEN AND DESTROYED BY THE ENGLISH.

In the meantime, general Abercrombie had detached lieutenant-colonel

Bradstreet, with a body of three thousand men, chiefly provincials, to

execute a plan which this officer had formed against Cadaraqui, or fort

Frontenac, situated on the north side of the river St. Laurence, just

where it takes its origin from the lake Ontario. To the side of this

lake he penetrated with his detachment, and embarking in some sloops

and batteaux, provided for the purpose, landed within a mile of fort

Frontenac, the garrison of which, consisting of one hun dred and

ten men, with a few Indians, immediately surrendered at discretion.

Considering the importance of this post, which in a great measure

commanded the mouth of the river St. Laurence, and served as a magazine

to the more southern castles, the French general was inexcusable for

leaving it in such a defenceless condition. The fortification itself

was inconsiderable and ill-contrived; nevertheless, it contained sixty

pieces of cannon, sixteen small mortars, with an immense quantity of

merchandise and provisions, deposited for the use of the French forces

detached against brigadier Forbes, their western garrisons, and Indian

allies, as well as for the subsistence of the corps commanded by M. de

Levi, on his enterprise against the Mohawk river. Mr. Bradstreet not

only reduced the fort without bloodshed, but also made himself master of

all the enemy’s shipping on the lake, amounting to nine armed vessels,

some of which carried eighteen guns. Two of these Mr. Bradstreet

conveyed to Oswego, whither he returned with his troops, after he had

destroyed fort Frontenac, with all the artillery, stores, provisions,

and merchandise, which it contained. In consequence of this exploit, the

French troops to the southward were exposed to the hazard of starving;

but it is not easy to conceive the general’s reason for giving orders

to abandon and destroy a fort, which, if properly strengthened and

sustained, might have rendered the English masters of the lake Ontario,

and grievously harassed the enemy both in their commerce and expeditions

to the westward. Indeed, great part of the Indian trade centered at

Frontenac, to which place the Indians annually repaired from all parts

of America, some of them at the distance of a thousand miles, and here

exchanged their furs for European commodities. So much did the French

traders excel the English in the art of conciliating the affection of

those savage tribes, that great part of them, in their yearly progress

to this remote market, actually passed by the British settlement of

Albany, in New York, where they might have been supplied with what

articles they wanted, much cheaper than they could purchase them

at Frontenac or Montreal; nay, the French traders used to furnish

themselves with those very commodities from the merchants of New York,

and found this traffic much more profitable than that of procuring the

same articles from France, loaded with the expense of a tedious and

dangerous navigation, from the sea to the source of the river St.

Laurence.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

BRIGADIER FORBES TAKES FORT DU QUESNE.

In all probability, the destruction of Frontenac facilitated the

expedition against Fort du Quesne, intrusted to the conduct of brigadier

Forbes, who, with his little army, began his march in the beginning

of July from Philadelphia for the river Ohio, a prodigious tract of

country very little known, destitute of military roads, incumbered with

mountains, morasses, and woods, that were almost impenetrable. It was

not without incredible exertion of industry, that he procured provisions

and carriages for this expedition, formed new roads, extended scouting

parties, secured camps, and surmounted many other difficulties in the

course of his tedious march, during which he was also harassed by small

detachments of the enemy’s Indians. Having penetrated with the main

body as far as Ray’s-Town, at the distance of ninety miles from Fort du

Quesne, and advanced colonel Bouquet with two thousand men, about fifty

miles farther, to a place called Lyal-Henning, this officer detached

major Grant at the head of eight hundred men, to reconnoitre the fort

and its out-works. The enemy perceiving him approach, sent a body of

troops against him, sufficient to surround his whole detachment; a

very severe action began, which the English maintained with their

usual courage for three hours, against cruel odds; but at length, being

overpowered by numbers, they were obliged to give way, and retired

in disorder to Lyal-Henning, with the loss of about three hundred men

killed or taken, including major Grant, who was carried prisoner to Fort

du Quesne, and nineteen officers. Notwithstanding this mortifying check,

brigadier Forbes advanced with the army, resolved to prosecute his

operations with vigour; but the enemy, dreading the prospect of a siege,

dismantled and abandoned the fort, and retired down the river Ohio,

to their settlements on the Mississippi. They quitted the fort on the

twenty-fourth day of November, and next day it was possessed by the

British forces. As for the Indians of this country, they seemed heartily

to renounce their connexions with France, and be perfectly reconciled

to the government of his Britannic majesty. Brigadier Forbes having

repaired the fort, changed its name from du Quesne to Pittsburgh,

secured it with a garrison of provincials, and concluded treaties of

friendship and alliance with the Indian tribes. Then he marched back to

Philadelphia, and in his retreat built a block-house, near Lyal-Henning,

for the defence of Pennsylvania; but he himself did not long survive

these transactions, his Constitution having been exhausted by the

incredible fatigues of the service.--Thus have we given a particular

detail of all the remarkable operations by which this campaign was

distinguished on the continent of America; the reader will be convinced,

that, notwithstanding the defeat of Ticonderoga, and the disaster of the

advanced party in the neighbourhood of Fort du Quesne, the arms of Great

Britain acquired many important advantages; and indeed paved the way

for the reduction of Quebec, and the conquest of all Canada. In the

meantime, the admirals Boscawen and Hardy, having left a considerable

squadron at Halifax in Nova-Scotia, returned with four ships of the

line to England, where they arrived in the beginning of November, after

having given chase to six large French ships, which they descried to the

westward of Scilly, but could not overtake or bring to an engagement.

The conquest of the French settlement in the river Senegal being deemed

imperfect and incomplete, whilst France still kept possession of the

island of Goree, the ministry of Great Britain resolved to crown the

campaign in Africa with the reduction of that fortress. For this purpose

commodore Keppel, brother to the earl of Albemarle, was vested with the

command of a squadron, consisting of four ships of the line, several

frigates, two bomb-ketches, and some transports, having on board seven

hundred men of the regular troops, commanded by colonel Worge, and

embarked in the harbour of Cork in Ireland, from whence this whole

armament took its departure on the eleventh day of November. After a

tempestuous passage, in which they touched at the isle of Teneriffe,

they arrived at Goree in the latter end of December, and the commodore

made a disposition for attacking this island, which was remarkably

strong by nature, but very indifferently fortified. Goree is a small

barren island, extending about three quarters of a mile in length, of a

triangular form; and on the south-west side rising into a rocky hill, on

which the paltry fort of St. Michael is situated. There is another still

more inconsiderable, called St. Francis, towards the other extremity of

the island; and several batteries were raised around its sweep, mounted

with about one hundred pieces of cannon, and four mortars. The French

governor, M. de St. Jean, had great plenty of ammunition, and his

garrison amounted to about three hundred men, exclusive of as many negro

inhabitants. The flat-bottomed boats, for disembarking the troops, being

hoisted out, and disposed alongside of the different transports, the

commodore stationed his ships on the west side of the island, and the

engagement began with a shell from one of the ketches. This was a

signal for the great ships, which poured in their broadsides without

intermission, and the fire was returned with equal vivacity from all

the batteries of the island. In the course of the action the cannonading

from the ships became so severe and terrible, that the French garrison

deserted their quarters, in spite of all the efforts of the governor,

who acquitted himself like a man of honour; but he was obliged to

strike his colours, and surrender at discretion, after a short but warm

dispute, in which the loss of the British commodore did not exceed one

hundred men killed and wounded. The success of the day was the more

extraordinary, as the French garrison had not lost a man, except one

negro killed by the bursting of a bomb-shell, and the number of their

wounded was very inconsiderable. While the attack lasted, the opposite

shore of the continent was lined with a concourse of negroes, assembled

to view the combat, who expressed their sentiments and surprise in loud

clamour and tin-couth gesticulations, and seemed to be impressed with

awe and astonishment at the power and execution of the British squadron.

The French colours being struck, as a signal of submission, the

commodore sent a detachment of marines on shore, who disarmed the

garrison, and hoisted the British flag upon the castle of St. Michael.

In the meantime, the governor and the rest of the prisoners were secured

among the shipping. Thus the important island of Goree fell into the

hands of the English, together with two trading vessels that chanced

to be at anchor in the road; and stores, money, and merchandise, to

the value of twenty thousand pounds. Part of the troops being left in

garrison at Goree, under the command of major Newton, together with

three sloops for his service, the squadron, being watered and refreshed

from the continent, that part of which is governed by one of the Jalof

kings, and the prisoners, with their baggage, being dismissed in

three cartel ships to France, the commodore set sail for Senegal, and

reinforced fort Louis with the rest of the troops, under colonel Worge,

who was at this juncture favoured with a visit by the king of Legibelli;

but very little pains were taken to dismiss this potentate in good

humour, or maintain the disposition he professed to favour the commerce

of Great Britain. True it is, he was desirous of engaging the English in

his quarrels with some neighbouring nations; and such engagements were

cautiously and politically avoided, because it was the interest of

Great Britain to be upon good terms with every African prince who could

promote and extend the commerce of her subjects.

SHIPWRECK OF CAPTAIN BARTON.

Commodore Keppel having reduced Goree, and reinforced the garrison of

Senegal, returned to England, where all his ships arrived, after a

very tempestuous voyage, in which the squadron had been dispersed.

This expedition, however successful in the main, was attended with one

misfortune, the loss of the Lichfield ship of war, commanded by captain

Barton, which, together with one transport and a bomb-tender, was

wrecked on the coast of Barbary, about nine leagues to the northward

of Saffy, in the dominions of Morocco. One hundred and thirty men,

including several officers, perished on this occasion; but the captain

and the rest of the company, to the number of two hundred and twenty,

made shift to reach the shore, where they ran the risk of starving, and

were cruelly used by the natives, although a treaty of peace at that

time subsisted between Great Britain and Morocco; nay, they were even

enslaved by the emperor, who detained them in captivity until they were

ransomed by the British government: so little dependence can be placed

on the faith of such barbarian princes, with whom it is even a disgrace

for any civilized nation to be in alliance, whatever commercial

advantages may arise from the connexion.

GALLANT EXPLOIT OF CAPTAIN TYRREL.

The incidents of the war that happened in the West Indies, during these

occurrences, may be reduced to a small compass. Nothing extraordinary

was achieved in the neighbourhood of Jamaica, where admiral Coats

commanded a small squadron, from which he detached cruisers occasionally

for the protection of the British commerce; and at Antigua the trade was

effectually secured by the vigilance of captain Tyrrel, whose courage

and activity were equal to his conduct and circumspection. In the month

of March, this gentleman, with his own ship the Buckingham, and the

Cambridge, another of the line, demolished a fort on the island of

Martinique, and destroyed four privateers riding under its protection;

but his valour appeared much more conspicuous in a subsequent

engagement, which happened in the month of November. Being detached on

a cruise in his own ship, the Buckingham, by commodore Moore, who

commanded at the Leeward Islands, he fell in with the Weazle sloop,

commanded by captain Boles, between the islands of Montserrat and

Gaudaloupe, and immediately discovered a fleet of nineteen sail, under

convoy of a French ship of war carrying seventy-four cannon, and two

large frigates. Captain Tyrrel immediately gave chase with all the sail

he could carry, and the Weazle running close to the enemy, received

a whole broadside from the large ship, which, however, she sustained

without much damage; nevertheless, Mr. Tyrrel ordered her commander to

keep aloof, as he could not be supposed able to bear the shock of large

metal, and he himself prepared for the engagement. The enemy’s large

ship, the Florissant, though of much greater force than the Buckingham,

instead of lying-to for his coming up, made a running fight with her

stern-chase, while the two frigates annoyed him in his course, sometimes

raking him fore and aft, and sometimes lying on his quarter. At length

he came alongside of the Florissant, within pistol shot, and poured in

a whole broadside, which did considerable execution. The salutation was

returned with equal vivacity, and a furious engagement ensued. Captain

Tyrrel was wounded in the face, and lost three fingers of his right

hand; so that, being entirely disabled, he was obliged to delegate the

command of the ship to his first lieutenant, Mr. Marshal, who continued

the battle with great gallantry until he lost his life; then the charge

devolved to the second lieutenant, who acquitted himself with equal

honour, and sustained a desperate fight against three ships of the

enemy. The officers and crew of the Buckingham exerted themselves

with equal vigour and deliberation, and captain Troy, who commanded a

detachment of marines on the poop, plied his small arms so effectually,

as to drive the French from their quarters. At length, confusion,

terror, and uproar, prevailing on board the Florissant, her firing

ceased, and her colours were hauled down about twilight; but her

commander perceiving that the Buckingham was too much damaged in her

rigging to pursue in any hope of success, ordered all his sails to

be set, and fled in the dark with his two consorts. Nothing but this

circumstance could have prevented a British ship of sixty-five guns,

indifferently manned in respect to numbers, from taking a French ship

of the line, mounted with seventy-four pieces of cannon, provided

with seven hundred men, and assisted by two large frigates, one of

thirty-eight guns, and the other wanting two of this number. The loss

of the Buckingham, in this action, did not exceed twenty men killed and

wounded; whereas the number of the slain on board the Florissant did not

fall short of one hundred and eighty, and that of her wounded is said to

have exceeded three hundred. She was so disabled in her hull, that she

could hardly be kept afloat until she reached Martinique, where she was

repaired; and the largest frigate, together with the loss of forty men,

received such damage as to be for some time quite unserviceable.

TRANSACTIONS IN THE EAST INDIES.

In the East Indies the transactions of the war were chequered with a

variety of success; but, on the whole, the designs of the enemy were

entirely defeated. The French commander, M. de Bussy, had, in the year

one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, quarrelled with Salabatzing,

viceroy of Decan, because this last would not put him in possession

of the fortress of Golconda. In the course of the next year, while the

English forces were employed in Bengal, M. de Bussy made himself master

of the British factories of Ingeram, Bandermalanka, and Vizagapatam,

and the reduction of this last left the enemy in possession of the whole

coast of Coro-mandel, from Ganjam to Massulapatam. While a body of the

English company’s forces, under captain Caillaud, endeavoured to

reduce the important fortress and town of Madura, the French, under

M. d’Anteuil, invested Trichinopoly. Caillaud no sooner received

intelligence of the danger to which this place was exposed, than he

hastened to its relief, and obliged the enemy to abandon the siege. Then

he returned to Madura, and, after an unsuccessful assault, made himself

master of it by capitulation. During these transactions, colonel

Forde made an attempt upon the fort of Nelloure, a strong place at the

distance of twenty-four miles from Madras, but miscarried; and this was

also the fate of an expedition against Wandewash, undertaken by colonel

Aldercron. The first was repulsed in storming the place, the other was

anticipated by the French army, which marched from Pondicherry to

the relief of the garrison. The French king had sent a considerable

reinforcement to the East Indies, under the command of general Lally,

an officer of Irish extraction, together with such a number of ships as

rendered the squadron of M. d’Apché superior to that of admiral Pococke,

who had succeeded admiral Watson, lately deceased, in the command of

the English squadron stationed on the coast of Coromandel, which, in the

beginning of this year, was reinforced from England with several

ships, under the direction of commodore Stevens. Immediately after this

junction, which was effected in the road of Madras on the twenty-fourth

day of March, admiral Pococke, who had already signalized himself by

his courage, vigilance, and conduct, sailed to windward, with a view to

intercept the French squadron, of which he had received intelligence.

In two days he descried in the road of fort St. David the enemy’s fleet,

consisting of nine ships, which immediately stood out to sea, and formed

the line of battle a-head. The admiral took the same precaution, and

bearing down upon M. d’Apché, the engagement began about three in the

afternoon. The French commodore, having sustained a warm action for

about two hours, bore away with his whole fleet, and being joined by two

ships, formed a line of battle again to leeward. Admiral Pococke’s own

ship, and some others, being greatly damaged in their masts and rigging,

two of his captains having misbehaved in the action, and night coming

on, he did not think it advisable to pursue them with all the sail he

could carry; but, nevertheless, he followed them at a proper distance,

standing to the south-west, in order to maintain the weather-gage,

in case he should be able to renew the action in the morning. In this

expectation, however, he was disappointed; the enemy showed no lights,

nor made any signals that could be observed; and in the morning not the

least vestige of them appeared. Mr. Pococke, on the supposition that

they had weathered him in the night, endeavoured to work up after them

to windward; but finding he lost ground considerably, he dropped

anchor about three leagues to the northward of Madras, and received

intelligence from the chief of that settlement, that one of the largest

French ships, having been disabled in the engagement, was run ashore to

the southward of Alem-parve, where their whole squadron lay at anchor.

Such was the issue of the first action between the English and French

squadrons in the East Indies, which, over and above the loss of a

capital ship, is said to have cost the enemy about five hundred men,

whereas the British admiral did not lose one-fifth part of that number.

Being dissatisfied with the behaviour of three captains, he, on his

return to Madras, appointed a court-martial to inquire into their

conduct; two were dismissed from the service, and the third was

sentenced to lose one year’s rank as a post-captain.

In the meantime, Mr. Lally had disembarked his troops at Pondicherry,

and, taking the field, immediately invested the fort of St. David, while

the squadron blocked it up by sea, Two English ships being at anchor in

the road when the enemy arrived, their captains seeing no possibility

of escaping, ran them on shore, set them on fire, and retired with their

men into the fortress, which, however, was in a few days surrendered. A

much more resolute defence was expected from the courage and conduct of

major Polier, who commanded the garrison. When he arrived at Madras he

was subjected to a court of inquiry, which acquitted him of cowardice,

but were of opinion that the place might have held out much longer, and

that the terms on which it surrendered were shameful, as the enemy were

not even masters of the outward covered way, as they had made no breach,

and had a wet ditch to fill up and pass, before the town could have been

properly assaulted. Polier, in order to wipe off this disgrace, desired

to serve as a volunteer with colonel Draper, and was mortally wounded

in a sally at the siege of Madras. Admiral Pococke having, to the best

of his power, repaired his shattered ships, set sail again on the

tenth of May, in order to attempt the relief of fort St. David’s; but,

notwithstanding his utmost endeavours, he could not reach it in time to

be of any service. On the thirtieth day of the month, he came in sight

of Pondicherry, from whence the French squadron stood away early next

morning, nor was it in his power to come up with them, though he made

all possible efforts for that purpose. Then receiving intelligence that

fort St. David’s was surrendered to the enemy, he returned again to

Madras, in order to refresh his squadron. On the twenty-fifth day of

July, he sailed a third time in quest of M. d’Apché, and in two days

perceived his squadron, consisting of eight ships of the line and a

frigate, at anchor in the road of Pondicherry. They no sooner descried

him advancing than they stood out to sea as before, and he continued

to chase, in hopes of bringing them to an engagement; but all his

endeavours proved fruitless till the third day of August, when, having

obtained the weather-gage, he bore down upon them in order of battle.

The engagement began with great impetuosity on both sides; but in little

more than ten minutes, M. d’Apché set his foresail, and bore away, his

whole squadron following his example, and maintaining a running fight in

a very irregular line. The British admiral then hoisted the signal for

a general chase, which the enemy perceiving, thought proper to cut away

their boats, and crowd with all the sail they could carry. They escaped,

by favour of the night, into the road of Pondicherry, and Mr. Pococke

anchored with his squadron off Cari-cal, a French settlement, having

thus obtained an undisputed victory, with the loss of thirty men killed,

and one hundred and sixteen wounded, including commodore Stevens and

captain Martin, though their wounds were not dangerous. The number of

killed and wounded on board the French squadron amounted, according to

report, to five hundred and forty; and their fleet was so much damaged,

that in the beginning of September their commodore sailed for the island

of Bourbon, in the same latitude with Madagascar, in order to refit;

thus leaving the command and sovereignty of the Indian seas to the

English admiral, whose fleet, from the beginning of this campaign, had

been much inferior to the French squadron in number of ships and men, as

well as in weight of metal.

Mr. Lally having reduced Cuddalore and fort St. David’s,* resolved to

extort a sum of money from the king of Tanjour, on pretence that, in

the last war, he had granted an obligation to the French governor for a

certain sum, which had never been paid.

* Cuddalore was in such a defenceless condition, that it

could make no resistance; and there being no place in fort

St. David’s bomb-proof, nor any provisions or fresh water,

the garrison surrendered in twelve days, on capitulation,

after having sustained a severe bombardment.

Lally accordingly marched with a body of three thousand men into the

dominions of Tanjour, and demanded seventy-two lacs of rupees. This

extravagant demand being rejected, he plundered Negare, a trading town

on the sea-coast, and afterwards invested the capital; but after he

had prosecuted the siege until a breach was made, his provisions and

ammunition beginning to fail, several vigorous sallies being made by the

forces of the king of Tanjour, and the place well defended by European

gunners, sent from the English garrison at Trichinopoly, he found

himself obliged to raise the siege, and retreat with precipitation,

leaving his cannon behind. He arrived at Carical about the middle

of August, and from thence retired to Pondicherry towards the end of

September. He afterwards cantoned his troops in the province of Arcot,

entered the city without opposition, and began to make preparations for

the siege of Madras, which shall be recorded among the incidents of the

succeeding year. In the meantime, the land-forces belonging to the East

India company were so much out-numbered by the reinforcements which

arrived with Mr. Lally, that they could not pretend to keep the field,

out were obliged to remain on the defensive, and provide as well as they

could for the security of fort St. George, and the other settlements in

that part of India.

TRANSACTIONS on the CONTINENT of EUROPE.

Having particularized the events of the war which distinguished this

year in America, Africa, and Asia--those remote scenes in which the

interest of Great Britain was immediately and intimately concerned--it

now remains to record the incidents of the military operations in

Germany, supported by British subsidies, and enforced by British

troops, to favour the abominable designs of an ally, from whose solitary

friendship the British nation can never reap any solid benefit; and to

defend a foreign elector, in whose behalf she had already lavished an

immensity of treasure. Notwithstanding the bloodshed and lavages which

had signalized the former campaign, the mutual losses of the belligerent

powers, the incredible expense of money, the difficulty of recruiting

armies thinned by sword and distemper, the scarcity of forage and

provisions, the distresses of Saxony in particular, and the calamities

of war, which desolated the greatest part of the empire--no proposition

of peace was hinted by either of the parties concerned; but the powers

at variance seemed to be exasperated against each other with the most

implacable resentment. Jarring interests were harmonized, old prejudices

rooted up, inveterate jealousies assuaged, and even inconsistencies

reconciled, in connecting the confederacy which was now formed and

established against the king of Prussia; and, on the other hand, the

king of Great Britain seemed determined to employ the whole power and

influence of his crown in supporting this monarch. Yet the members of

the grand confederacy were differently actuated by disagreeing motives,

which, in the sequel, operated for the preservation of his Prussian

majesty, by preventing the full exertion of their united strength. The

empress-queen, over and above her desire of retrieving Silesia, which

was her primary aim, gave way to the suggestions of personal hatred

and revenge, to the gratification of which she may be said to have

sacrificed, in some measure, the interests of her family, as well as the

repose of the empire, by admitting the natural enemies of her house into

the Austrian Netherlands, and inviting them to invade the dominions of

her co-states with a formidable army. France, true to her old political

maxims, wished to see the house of Austria weakened by the divisions in

the empire, which she accordingly fomented: for this reason it could

not be her interest to effect the ruin of the house of Brandenburgh;

and therefore she had, no doubt, set bounds to the prosecution of her

schemes in concert with the court of Vienna. But her designs against

Hanover amounted to absolute conquest. In pursuance of these, she sent

an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men across the Rhine, instead

of four and twenty thousand, which she had engaged to furnish by the

original treaty with the empress-queen of Hungary, who is said to have

shared in the spoils of the electorate. The czarina, by co-operating

with the houses of Bourbon and Austria, gratified her personal disgust

towards the Prussian monarch, augmented her finances by considerable

subsidies from both, and perhaps amused herself with the hope of

obtaining an establishment in the German empire; but whether she

waivered in her own sentiments, or her ministry fluctuated between the

promises of France and the presents of Great Britain, certain it is, her

forces had not acted with vigour in Pomerania; and her general Apraxin,

instead of prosecuting his advantage, had retreated immediately after

the Prussians miscarried in their attack. He was indeed disgraced, and

tried for having thus retired without orders; but in all probability,

this trial was no other than a farce, acted to amuse the other

confederates while the empress of Russia gained time to deliberate upon

the offers that were made, and determine with regard to the advantages

or disadvantages that might accrue to her from persevering in the

engagements which she had contracted. As for the Swedes, although they

had been instigated to hostilities against Prussia by the intrigues

of France, and flattered with hopes of retrieving Pomerania, they

prosecuted the war in such a dispirited and ineffectual manner, as

plainly proved that either the ancient valour of that people was

extinct, or that the nation was not heartily engaged in the quarrel.

When the Russian general Apraxin retreated from Pomerania, mareschal

Lehwald, who commanded the Prussians in that country, was left at

liberty to turn his arms against the Swedes, and accordingly drove them

before him almost without opposition. By the beginning of January

they had evacuated all Prussian Pomerania, and Lehwald invaded their

dominions in his turn. He, in a little time, made himself master of all

Swedish Pomerania, except Stralsund and the isle of Rugen, and possessed

himself of several magazines which the enemy had erected. The Austrian

army, after their defeat at Breslau, had retired into Bohemia, where

they were cantoned, the head-quarters being fixed at Koningsgratz. The

king of Prussia having cleared all his part of Silesia, except the town

of Schweidnitz, which he circumscribed with a blockade, sent detachments

from his army cantoned in the neighbourhood of Breslau, to penetrate

into the Austrian or southern part of Silesia, where they surprised

Troppau and Jaggernsdorf, while he himself remained at Breslau,

entertaining his officers with concerts of music. Not that he suffered

these amusements to divert his attention from subjects of greater

importance. He laid Swedish Pomerania under contribution, and made a

fresh demand of five hundred thousand crowns from the electorate of

Saxony. Having received intimation that the duke of Mecklenburgh was

employed in providing magazines for the French army, he detached a body

of troops into that country, who not only secured the magazines, but

levied considerable contributions; and the duke retired to Lubeck,

attended by the French minister. The states of Saxony having proved a

little dilatory in obeying his Prussian majesty’s injunction, received a

second intimation, importing that they should levy and deliver, within

a certain time, eighteen thousand recruits for his army, pay into the

hands of his commissary one year’s revenue of the electorate in advance;

and Leipsic was taxed with an extraordinary subsidy of eight hundred

thousand crowns, on pain of military execution. The states were

immediately convoked at Leipsic in order to deliberate on these demands;

and the city being unable to pay such a considerable sum, the Prussian

troops began to put their monarch’s threats in execution. He justified

these proceedings, by declaring that the enemy had practised the same

violence and oppression on the territories of his allies; but how

the practice of his declared enemies, in the countries which they had

invaded and subdued in common course of war, should justify him in

pillaging and oppressing a people with whom neither he nor his allies

were at war, it is not easy to conceive. As little can we reconcile this

conduct to the character of a prince, assuming the title of protector of

the protestant religion, which is the established faith among those very

Saxons who were subjected to such grievous impositions; impositions the

more grievous and unmerited, as they had never taken any share in the

present war, but cautiously avoided every step that might be construed

into provocation, since the king of Prussia declared they might depend

upon his protection.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

STATE of the ARMIES on the CONTINENT.

Before we proceed to enumerate the events of the campaign, it may be

necessary to inform the reader, that the forces brought into the field

by the empress-queen of Hungary, and the states of the empire, the

czarina, the kings of France and Sweden, fell very little short of three

hundred thousand men; and all these were destined to act against the

king of Prussia and the elector of Hanover. In opposition to this

formidable confederacy, his Prussian majesty was, by tha subsidy from

England, the spoils of Saxony, and the revenues of Brandenbourg, enabled

to maintain an army of one hundred and forty thousand men: while the

elector of Hanover assembled a body of sixty thousand men, composed

of his own electoral troops, with the auxiliary mercenaries of

Hesse-Cassel, Buckebourg, Saxe-Gotha, and Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, all of

them maintained by the pay of Great Britain. At this juncture, indeed,

there was no other fund for their subsistence, as the countries of

Hanover and Hesse were possessed by the enemy, and in the former the

government was entirely changed.

THE FRENCH KING CHANGES THE ADMINISTRATION OF HANOVER.

In the month of December in the preceding year, a fanner of the revenues

from Paris arrived at Hanover, where he established his office, in order

to act by virtue of powers from one John Faidy, to whom the French king

granted the direction, receipt, and administration of all the duties

and revenues of the electorate. This director was, by a decree of

the council of state, empowered to receive the reveiraes, not only of

Hanover, but also of all other countries that should be subjected to

his most christian majesty in the course of the campaign; to remove the

receivers who had been employed in any part of the direction, receipt,

and administration of the duties and revenues of Hanover, and appoint

others in their room. The French king, by the same decree, ordained,

that all persons who had been intrusted under the preceding government,

with titles, papers, accounts, registers, or estimates, relating to the

administration of the revenues, should communicate them to John Faidy,

or his attorneys; that the magistrates of the towns, districts, and

commonalties, as well as those who directed the administration of

particular states and provinces, should deliver to the said John Faidy,

or his attorneys, the produce of six years of the duties and revenues

belonging to the said towns, districts, and provinces, reckoning

from the first of January in the year one thousand seven hundred and

fifty-one, together with an authentic account of the sums they had

paid during that term to the preceding sovereign, and of the charges

necessarily incurred. It appears from the nature of this decree, which

was dated on the eighteenth day of October, that immediately after the

conventions of Closter-Seven and Bremenworden,* the court of Versailles

had determined to change the government and system of the electorate,

contrary to an express article of the capitulation granted to the city

of Hanover, when it surrendered on the ninth day of August; and that the

crown of France intended to take advantage of the cessation of arms,

in seizing places and provinces which were not yet subdued; for, by the

decree above-mentioned, the administration of John Faidy extended to the

countries which might hereafter be conquered.

* Six days after the convention was signed at Closter-Seven,

another act of accommodation was concluded at Bremenworden,

between the generals Sporcken and Villemur, relating to the

release of prisoners, and some other points omitted in the

convention.

With what regard to justice, then, could the French government charge

the elector of Hanover with the infraction of articles? or what respect

to good faith and humanity did the duke de Richelieu observe, in the

order issued from Zell, towards the end of the year, importing, that as

the treaty made with the country of Hanover had been rendered void by

the violation of the articles signed at Closter-Seven, all the effects

belonging to the officers, or others, employed in the Hanoverian army,

should be confiscated for the use of his most christian majesty?

The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, being desirous of averting a like storm

from his dominions, not only promised to renounce all connexion with

the kings of Great Britain and Prussia, but even solicited the court of

France to receive him among the number of its dependents; for, on

the eighteenth day of October, the minister of the duke de Deuxponts,

delivered at Versailles, in the name of the landgrave, the plan of a

treaty founded on the following conditions: The landgrave, after having

expressed an ardent desire of attaching himself wholly to France,

proposed these articles--That he should enter into no engagement against

the king and his allies; and give no assistance, directly or indirectly,

to the enemies of his majesty and his allies: that he should never give

his vote, in the general or particular assemblies of the empire, against

his majesty’s interest; but, on the contrary, employ his interest,

jointly with France, to quiet the troubles of the empire: that, for this

end, his troops, which had served in the Hanoverian army, should engage

in the service of France, on condition that they should not act in the

present war against his Britannic majesty: that, immediately after the

ratification of the treaty, his most christian majesty should restore

the dominions of the landgrave in the same condition they were in when

subdued by the French forces: that these dominions should be exempted

from all further contributions, either in money, corn, forage, wood, or

cattle, though already imposed on the subjects of Hesse; and the French

troops pay for all the provisions with which they might be supplied;

in which case the landgrave should exact no toll for warlike stores,

provisions, or other articles of that nature, which might pass through

his dominions: that the king of France should guarantee all his estates,

all the rights of the house of Hesse-Cassel, particularly the act of

assurance signed by his son, the hereditary prince, with regard to

religion; use his interest with the emperor and the empress-queen,

that, in consideration of the immense losses and damages his most serene

highness had suffered since the French invaded his country, and of the

great sums he should lose with England in arrears and subsidies by this

accommodation, he might be excused from furnishing his contingent to the

army of the empire, as well as from paying the Roman months granted by

the diet of the empire; and if, in resentment of this convention, the

states of his serene highness should be attacked, his most christian

majesty should afford the most speedy and effectual succours.--These

proposals will speak for themselves to the reader’s apprehension; and if

he is not blinded by the darkest mists of prejudice, exhibit a clear and

distinct idea of a genuine German ally. The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel

had been fed with the good things of England, even in time of peace,

when his friendship could not avail, nor his aversion prejudice, the

interests of Great Britain; but he was retained in that season of

tranquillity as a friend, on whose services the most implicit dependence

might be placed in any future storm or commotion. How far he merited

this confidence and favour might have been determined by reflecting on

his conduct during the former war: in the course of which his troops

were hired to the king of Great Britain and his enemies alternately,

as the scale of convenience happened to preponderate. Since the

commencement of the present troubles, he had acted as a mercenary to

Great Britain, although he was a principal in the dispute, and stood

connected with her designs by solemn treaty, as well as by all the ties

of gratitude and honour; but now that the cause of Hanover seemed to be

on the decline, and his own dominions had suffered by the fate of the

war, he not only appeared willing to abandon his benefactor and ally,

but even sued to be enlisted in the service of his adversary. This

intended defection was, however, prevented by a sudden turn of fortune,

which he could not possibly foresee; and his troops continued to act in

conjunction with the Hanoverians.

TREATY BETWEEN THE FRENCH KING AND THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK.

The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel was not singular in making such advances

to the French monarch. The duke of Brunswick, still more nearly

connected with the king of Great Britain, used such uncommon expedition

in detaching himself from the tottering fortune of Hanover, that in ten

days after the convention of Closter-Seven, he had concluded a treaty

with the courts of Vienna and Versailles; so that the negotiation must

have been begun before that convention took place. On the twentieth day

of September, his minister at Vienna, by virtue of full powers from the

duke of Brunswick, accepted and signed the conditions which the French

king and his Austrian ally thought proper to impose. These imported,

that his most christian majesty should keep possession of the cities

of Brunswick and Wolfenbuttel during the war, and make use of the

artillery, arms, and military stores deposited in their arsenals:

that the duke’s forces, on their return from the camp of the duke of

Cumberland, should be disbanded and disarmed; and take an oath that

they should not, during the present war, serve against the king or his

allies: that the duke should be permitted to maintain a battalion

of foot, and two squadrons of horse, for the guard of his person

and castles; but the regulations made by mareschal Richelieu and the

intendant of his army, should subsist on their present footing: that the

duke should furnish his contingent in money and troops, agreeably to the

laws of the empire: that his forces should immediately join those which

the Germanic body had assembled; and that he should order his minister

at Ratisbon to vote conformably to the resolutions of the diet, approved

and confirmed by the emperor. In consideration of all these concessions,

the duke was restored to the favour of the French king, who graciously

promised that neither his revenues nor his treasure should be touched,

nor the administration of justice invaded; and that nothing further

should be demanded, but winter-quarters for the regiments which should

pass that season in the country of Brunswick. How scrupulously soever

the duke might have intended to observe the articles of this treaty,

his intentions were frustrated by the conduct of his brother prince

Ferdinand, who, being invested with the command of the Hanoverian army,

and ordered to resume the operations of war against the enemy, detained

the troops of Brunswick, as well as his nephew the hereditary prince,

notwithstanding the treaty which his brother had signed, and the

injunctions which he had laid upon his son to quit the army, and make

a tour to Holland, The duke wrote an expostulatory letter to prince

Ferdinand, pathetically complaining that he had seduced his troops,

decoyed his son, and disgraced his family; insisting upon the prince’s

pursuing his journey, as well as upon the return of the troops; and

threatening, in case of non-compliance, to use other means that should

be more effectual. [461] _[See note 3 O, at the end of this Vol.]_

Notwithstanding this warm remonstrance, prince Ferdinand adhered to his

plan. He detained the troops and the hereditary prince, who, being

fond of the service, in a little time signalized himself by very

extraordinary acts of bravery and conduct; and means were found to

reconcile his father to measures that expressly contradicted his

engagements with the courts of Vienna and Versailles.

DECREE OF THE AULIC COUNCIL.

The defeat of the French army at Rosbach, and the retreat of the

Russians from Pomerania, had entirely changed the face of affairs in

the empire. The French king was soon obliged to abandon his conquests

on that sida of the Rhine, and his threats sounded no longer terrible

in the ears of the Hanoverian and Prussian allies. As little formidable

were the denunciations of the emperor, who had, by a decree of the Aulic

council, communicated to the diet certain mandates, issued in the month

of August in the preceding year, on pain of the ban of the empire, with

avocatory letters annexed against the king of Great Britain, elector

of Hanover, and the other princes acting in concert with the king of

Prussia. The French court likewise published a virulent memorial, after

the convention of Closter-Seven had been violated and set aside, drawing

an invidious parallel between the conduct of the French king and the

proceedings of his Britannic majesty; in which the latter is taxed

with breach of faith, and almost every meanness that could stain the

character of a monarch. In answer to the emperor’s decree and

this virulent charge, baron Gimmengen, the electoral minister of

Brunswick-Lunenbourg, presented to the diet, in November, a long

memorial, recapitulating the important services his sovereign had done

the house of Austria, and the ungrateful returns he had reaped, in the

queen’s refusing to assist him, when his dominions were threatened with

an invasion. He enumerated many instances in which she had assisted,

encouraged, and even joined the enemies of the electorate, in contempt

of her former engagements, and directly contrary to the constitution

of the empire. He refuted every article of the charge which the French

court had brought against him in their virulent libel, retorted the

imputations of perfidy and ambition, and, with respect to France,

justified every particular of his own conduct.

BREMEN TAKEN AND RETAKEN.

While the French and Hanoverian armies remained in their

winter-quarters, the former at Zell, and the latter at Lemenbourg,

divers petty enterprises were executed by detachments with various

success. The Hanoverian general Juncheim, having taken post at

Halberstadt and Quedlimbourg, from whence he made excursions even to

the gates of Brunswick, and kept the French army in continual alarm,

was visited by a large body of the enemy, who compelled him to retire to

Achersleben, committed great excesses in the town of Halberstadt and

its neighbourhood, and carried off hostages for the payment of

contributions. General Hardenberg, another Hanoverian officer, having

dislodged the French detachments that occupied Burgh, Vogelsack, and

Ritterhude, and cleared the whole territory of Bremen, in the month of

January the duke de Broglio assembled a considerable corps of troops

that were cantoned at Ottersburg, Rothenburg, and the adjacent country,

and advancing to Bremen, demanded admittance, threatening that, in case

of a refusal, he would have recourse to extremities, and punish the

inhabitants severely, should they make the least opposition. When their

deputies waited upon him, to desire a short time for deliberation, he

answered, “Not a moment--the duke de Richelieu’s orders are peremptory,

and admit of no delay.” He accordingly ordered the cannon to advance;

the wall was scaled, and the gates would have been forced open, had not

the magistrates, at the earnest importunity of the people, resolved to

comply with his demand. A second deputation was immediately despatched

to the duke de Broglio, signifying their compliance; and the gates being

opened, he marched into the city at midnight, after having promised upon

his honour that no attempt should be made to the prejudice of its

rights and prerogatives, and no outrage offered to the privileges of the

regency, to the liberty, religion, and commerce of the inhabitants.

This conquest, however, was of short duration. Prince Ferdinand of

Brunswick being joined by a body of Prussian horse, under the command of

prince George of Holstein-Gottorp, the whole army was put in motion,

and advanced to the country of Bremen about the middle of February. The

enemy were dislodged from Rothenburg, Ottersburg, and Verden, and they

abandoned the city of Bremen at the approach of the Hanoverian general,

who took possession of it without opposition.

By this time the court of Versailles, being dissatisfied with the

conduct of the duke de Richelieu, had recalled that general from

Germany, where his place was supplied by the count de Clermont, to the

general satisfaction of the army, as well as the joy of the Hanoverian

subjects, among whom Richelieu had committed many flagrant and inhuman

acts of rapine and oppression. The new commander found his master’s

forces reduced to a deplorable condition, by the accidents of war,

and distempers arising from hard duty, severe weather, and the want of

necessaries. As he could not pretend, with such a wretched remnant, to

oppose the designs of prince Ferdinand in the field, or even maintain

the footing which his predecessor had gained, he found himself under the

necessity of retiring with all possible expedition towards the Rhine.

As the allies advanced, his troops retreated from their distant quarters

with such precipitation, as to leave behind all their sick, together

with a great part of their baggage and artillery, besides a great number

of officers and soldiers, that fell into the hands of those parties

by whom they were pursued. The inhabitants of Hanover, perceiving the

French intended to abandon that city, were overwhelmed with the fear

of being subjected to every species of violence and abuse; but their

apprehensions were happily disappointed by the honour and integrity of

the duke de Randan, the French governor, who not only took effectual

measures for restraining the soldiers within the bounds of the most

rigid discipline and moderation, but likewise exhibited a noble proof of

generosity, almost without example. Instead of destroying his magazine

of provisions, according to the usual practice of war, he ordered the

whole to be either sold at a low price, or distributed among the poor of

the city, who had been long exposed to the horrors of famine: an act of

godlike humanity, which ought to dignify the character of that worthy

nobleman above all the titles that military fame can deserve, or

arbitrary monarchs bestow. The regency of Hanover were so deeply

impressed with a sense of his heroic behaviour on this occasion, that

they gratefully acknowledged it, in a letter of thanks to him and the

count de Clermont; and on the day of solemn thanksgiving to heaven for

their being delivered from their enemies, the clergy, in their sermons,

did not fail to celebrate and extol the charity and benevolence of the

duke de Randan. Such glorious testimonies, even from enemies, must have

afforded the most exquisite pleasure to a mind endued with sensibility;

and this, no doubt, may be termed one of the fairest triumphs of

humanity.

THE FRENCH ABANDON HANOVER.

The two grand divisions of the French army, quartered at Zell and

Hanover, retired in good order to Hamelen, where they collected all

their troops, except those that were left in Hoya, and about four

thousand men placed in garrison at Minden, to retard the operations of

the combined army. Towards the latter end of February, prince Ferdinand

of Brunswick, having received intelligence that the count de Chabot

was posted with a considerable body of troops at Hoya, upon the Weser,

detached the hereditary prince of Brunswick, with four battalions,

and some light troops and dragoons, to dislodge them from that

neighbourhood. This enterprise was executed with the utmost intrepidity.

The hereditary prince passed the Weser at Bremen with part of his

detachment, while the rest advanced on this side of the river: and the

enemy, being attacked in front and rear, were in a little time forced,

and thrown into confusion. The bridge being abandoned, and near seven

hundred men taken prisoners, the count de Chabot threw himself, with two

battalions, into the castle, where he resolved to support himself, in

hope of being relieved. The regiment of Bretagne, and some detachments

of dragoons, were actually on the march to his assistance. The

hereditary prince being made acquainted with this circumstance, being

also destitute of heavy artillery to besiege the place in form, and

taking it for granted he should not be able to maintain the post after

it might be taken, he listened to the terms of capitulation proposed by

the French general, whose garrison was suffered to march out with

the honours of war; but their cannon, stores, and ammunition were

surrendered to the victor. This was the first exploit of the hereditary

prince, whose valour and activity on many subsequent occasions shone

with distinguished lustre. He had no sooner reduced Hoya, than he

marched to the attack of Minden, which he invested on the fifth day of

March, and on the fourteenth the garrison surrendered at discretion.

After the reduction of this city, the combined army advanced towards

Hamelen, where the French general had established his head-quarters; but

he abandoned them at the approach of the allies, and leaving behind

all his sick and wounded, with part of his magazines, retired without

halting to Paderborn, and from thence to the Rhine, recalling in his

march the troops that were in Embden, Cassel, and the land-graviate of

Hesse, all which places were now evacuated. They were terribly harassed

in their retreat by the Prussian hussars, and a body of light horse,

distinguished by the name of Hanoverian hunters, who took a great number

of prisoners, together with many baggage-waggons, and some artillery.

Such was the precipitation of the enemy’s retreat, that they could not

find time to destroy all their magazines of provision and forage; and

even forgot to call in the garrison of Vecht, a small fortress in the

neighbourhood of Diepholt, who were made prisoners of war, and here was

found a complete train of battering cannon and mortars. The count de

Clermont, having reached the banks of the Rhine, distributed his forces

into quarters of cantonment in Wesel and the adjoining country, while

prince Ferdinand cantoned the allied army in the bishopric of Munster;

here, however, he did not long remain inactive. In the latter end of

May he ordered a detachment to pass the Rhine at Duysbourg, under the

command of colonel Scheither, who executed his order without loss,

defeated three battalions of the enemy, and took five pieces of cannon.

In the beginning of June the whole army passed the Rhine on a bridge

constructed for the occasion, defeated a body of French cavalry,

and obtained divers other advantages in their march towards Wesel.

Keiserwaert was surprised, the greater part of the garrison either

killed or taken; and prince Ferdinand began to make preparations for

the siege of Dusseldorp. In the meantime, the count de Clermont, being

unable to stop the rapidity of his progress, was obliged to secure

his troops with strong intrenchments, until he should be properly

reinforced.

PRINCE FERDINAND DEFEATS THE FRENCH, &c.

The court of Versailles, though equally mortified and confounded at the

turn of their affairs in Germany, did not sit tamely and behold this

reverse; but exerted their usual spirit and expedition in retrieving

the losses they had sustained. They assembled a body of troops at Hanau,

under the direction of the prince de Soubise, who, it was said, had

received orders to penetrate, by the way of Donawert, Ingoldstadt, and

Arnberg, into Bohemia. In the meantime, reinforcements daily arrived in

the camp of the count de Clermont; and, as repeated complaints had been

made of the want of discipline and subordination in that army, measures

were taken for reforming the troops by severity and example. The

mareschal duke de Belleisle, who now acted as secretary at war with

uncommon ability, wrote a letter, directed to all the colonels of

infantry, threatening them, in the king’s name, with the loss of their

regiments, should they connive any longer at the scandalous practice

of buying commissions; an abuse which had crept into the service under

various pretexts, to the discouragement of merit, the relaxation of

discipline, and the total extinction of laudable emulation. The prince

of Clermont having quitted his strong camp at Rhinefeldt, retired to

Nuys, a little higher up the river, and detached a considerable corps,

under the command of the count de St. Germain, to take post at Creveldt,

situated in a plain between his army and the camp of the allies, which

fronted the town of Meurs. After several motions on both sides, prince

Ferdinand resolved to attack the enemy, and forthwith made a disposition

for this purpose. He assigned the command of the whole left wing,

consisting of eighteen battalions and twenty-eight squadrons, to

lieutenant-general Sporcken; the conduct of the right wing, composed

of sixteen battalions and fourteen squadrons, was intrusted to the

hereditary prince and major-general Wangenheim; the squadrons, with the

addition of two regiments of Prussian dragoons, were under the immediate

direction of the prince of Holstein, while the hereditary prince

commanded the infantry. The light troops, consisting of five

squadrons of hussars, were divided between the prince of Holstein and

lieutenant-general Sporcken. Major Luckner’s squadron, together with

Scheither’s corps, were ordered to observe the flank of the enemy’s

right, and with this view were posted in the village of Papendeick;

and a battalion of the troops of Wolfenbuttel were left in the town of

Hulste, to cover the rear of the army. Prince Ferdinand’s design was

to attack the enemy on their left flank; but the execution was rendered

extremely difficult by the woods and ditches that embarrassed the route,

and the numerous ditches that intersected this part of the country. On

the twenty-third day of June, at four in the morning, the army began to

move; the right advancing in two columns as far as St. Anthony, and

the left marching up within half a league of Crevelt. The prince having

viewed the position of the enemy from the steeple of St. Anthony,

procured guides, and having received all the necessary hints of

information, proceeded to the right, in order to charge the enemy’s left

flank by the villages of Worst and Anrath; but, in order to divide their

attention, and keep them in suspense with respect to the nature of his

principal attack, he directed the generals Sporcken and Oberg to advance

against them by the way of Crevelt and St. Anthony, and, in particular,

to make the most of their artillery, that, being employed in three

different places at once, they might be prevented from sending any

reinforcement to the left, where the chief attack was intended. These

precautions being taken, prince Ferdinand, putting himself at the head

of the grenadiers of the right wing, continued his march in two columns

to the village of Anrath, where he fell in with an advanced party of the

French, which, after a few discharges of musketry, retired to their camp

and gave the alarm. In the meantime, both armies were drawn up in order

of battle; the troops of the allies in the plain between the villages

of Anrath and Willich, opposite to the French forces, whose left was

covered with a wood. The action began about one in the afternoon, with

a severe cannonading on the part of prince Ferdinand, which, though well

supported, proved ineffectual in drawing the enemy from their cover;

he therefore determined to dislodge them from the wood by dint of small

arms. The hereditary prince immediately advanced with the whole front,

and a very obstinate action ensued. Meanwhile, the cavalry on the right

in vain attempted to penetrate the wood on the other side, where the

enemy had raised two batteries, which were sustained by forty squadrons

of horse. After a terrible fire had been maintained on both sides till

five in the afternoon, the grenadiers forced the intrenchments in

the wood, which were lined by the French infantry. These giving way,

abandoned the wood in the utmost disorder; but the pursuit was

checked by the conduct and resolution of the enemy’s cavalry, which,

notwithstanding a dreadful fire from the artillery of the allies,

maintained their ground, and covered the foot in their retreat to Nuys.

The success of the day was in a good measure owing to the artillery on

the left and in the centre, with which the generals Sporcken and Oberg

had done great execution, and employed the attention of the enemy on

that side, while prince Ferdinand prosecuted his attack on the other

quarter. It must be owned, however, that their right wing and centre

retired in great order to Nuys, though the left was defeated, with the

loss of some standards, colours, and pieces of cannon, and six thousand

men killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.*

* Among the French officers who lost their lives in this

engagement, was the count de Gisors, only son of the

mareschal duke de Belleisle, and last hope of that

illustrious family, a young nobleman of extraordinary

accomplishments, who finished a short life of honour in the

embrace of military glory, and fell gallantly fighting at

the head of his own regiment, to the inexpressible grief of

his aged father, and the universal regret of his country.

This victory, however, which cost the allies about fifteen hundred

men, was not at all decisive in its consequences; and, indeed, the

plan seemed only calculated to display the enterprising genius of the

Hanoverian general. True it is, the French army took refuge under the

cannon of Cologn, where they remained without hazarding any step for the

relief of Dusseldorp, which prince Ferdinand immediately invested, and

in a few days reduced, the garrison being allowed to march out with the

honours of war, on condition that they should not, for the space of one

year, carry arms against the allies.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

PRINCE OF YSEMBOURG DEFEATED.

It was at this period that count de Clermont resigned his command, which

was conferred upon M. de Contades, and the French army was considerably

reinforced. He even threatened to attack prince Ferdinand in his turn,

and made some motions with that design, but was prevented by the little

river Erff, behind which the prince resolved to lie quiet, until he

should be joined by the body of the British troops under the command of

the duke of Marlborough, the first division of which had just landed at

Embden. He flattered himself that the prince of Ysembourg, at the head

of the Hessian troops, would find employment for the prince de Soubise,

who had marched from Hanau, with a design to penetrate into the

landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel: his vanguard had been already surprised

and defeated by the militia of the country; and the prince Ysembourg

was at the head of a considerable body of regular forces, assembled to

oppose his further progress. Prince Ferdinand therefore hoped that the

operations of the French general would be effectually impeded, until he

himself, being joined by the British troops, should be in a condition to

pass the Maese, transfer the seat of war into the enemy’s country,

thus make a diversion from the Rhine, and perhaps oblige the prince de

Soubise to come to the assistance of the principal French army commanded

by M. de Contades. He had formed a plan which would have answered these

purposes effectually, and, in execution of it, marched to Ruremond on

the Maese, when his measures were totally disconcerted by a variety of

incidents which he could not foresee. The prince of Ysembourg was, on

the twenty-third day of July, defeated at San-garshausen by the duke

de Broglio, whom the prince de Soubise had detached against him with

a number of troops greatly superior to that which the Hessian general

commanded. The duke de Broglio, who commanded the corps that formed the

vanguard of Soubise’s army, having learned at Cassel that the Hessian

troops, under the prince of Ysembourg, were retiring towards Munden,

he advanced, on the twenty-third of July, with a body of eight thousand

men, to the village of Sangarshausen, where he found them drawn up in

order of battle, and forthwith made a disposition for the attack. At

first his cavalry were repulsed by the Hessian horse, which charged

the French infantry, and were broke in their turn. The Hessians,

though greatly inferior in number to the enemy, made a very obstinate

resistance, by favour of a rock in the Fulde that covered their

right, and a wood by which their left was secured. The dispute was so

obstinate, that the enemy’s left was obliged to give ground; but the

duke de Broglio, ordering a fresh corps to advance, changed the fortune

of the day. The Hessians, overpowered by numbers, gave way; part plunged

into the river, where many perished, and part threw themselves into the

wood, through which they escaped from the pursuit of the hussars, who

took above two hundred soldiers and fifty officers, including the count

de Canitz, who was second in command. They likewise found on the field

of battle seven pieces of cannon, and eight at Munden; but the carnage

was pretty considerable, and nearly equal on both sides. The number

of the killed and wounded, on the side of the French, exceeded two

thousand; the loss of the Hessians was not so great. The prince of

Ysembourg, having collected the remains of his little army, took post at

Eimbeck, where he soon was reinforced, and found himself at the head of

twelve thousand men; but, in consequence of this advantage, the enemy

became masters of the Weser, and opened to themselves a free passage

into Westphalia.

GENERAL IMHOFF DEFEATS M. DE CHEVERT.