It would engage us in a long digressive discussion were we to inquire

how the spirit of the laws in England, so famed for lenity, has been

exasperated into such severity against insolvent debtors; and why,

among a people so distinguished for generosity and compassion, the gaols

should be more filled with prisoners than they are in any other part of

Christendom. Perhaps both these deviations from a general character are

violent efforts of a wary legislature made in behalf of trade, which

cannot be too much cherished in a nation that principally depends upon

commerce. The question is, whether this laudable aim may not be more

effectually accomplished, without subjecting individuals to oppression,

arising from the cruelty and revenge of one another. As the laws are

modelled at present, it cannot be denied that the debtor, in some cases,

lies in a peculiar manner at the mercy of his creditor. By the original

and common law of England, no man could be imprisoned for debt. The

plaintiff in any civil action could have no execution upon his judgment,

against either the body or the lands of the defendant: even with respect

to his goods and chattels, which were subject to execution, he was

obliged to leave him such articles as were necessary for agriculture.

But, in process of time, this indulgence being found prejudicial

to commerce, a law was enacted, in the reign of Edward I. allowing

execution on the person of the debtor, provided his goods and chattels

were not sufficient to pay the debt which he had contracted. This law

was still attended with a very obvious inconvenience: the debtor,

who possessed an estate in lands, was tempted to secrete his moveable

effects, and live in concealment on the produce of his lands, while

the sheriff connived at his retirement. To remove this evil, a second

statute was enacted in the same reign, granting immediate execution

against the body, lands, and goods of the debtor; yet his effects could

not be sold for the benefit of his creditors till the expiration of

three months, during which he himself could dispose of them for ready

money, in order to discharge his incumbrances. If the creditor was not

satisfied in this manner, he continued in possession of the debtor’s

lands, and detained the debtor himself in prison, where he was obliged

to supply him with bread and water for his support, until the debt

was discharged. Other severe regulations were made in the sequel,

particularly in the reign of Edward III. which gave rise to the writ

of _capias ad satisfaciendum_. This indeed rendered the preceding laws,

called statute-merchant, and statute-staple, altogether unnecessary.

Though the liberty of the subject, and the security of the landholder,

were thus in some measure sacrificed to the advantage of commerce, an

imprisoned debtor was not left entirely at the mercy of an inexorable

creditor. If he made all the satisfaction in his power, and could show

that his insolvency was owing to real misfortunes, the court of chancery

interposed on his petition, and actually ordered him to be discharged

from prison, when no good reason for detaining him could be assigned.

This interposition, which seems naturally to belong to a court of

equity, constituted with a view to mitigate the rigour of the common

law, ceased, in all probability after the restoration of Charles the

Second, and of consequence the prisons were filled with debtors. Then

the legislature charged themselves with the extension of a power, which

perhaps a chancellor no longer thought himself safe in exercising; and

in the year one thousand six hundred and seventy, passed the first act

for the relief of insolvent debtors, granting a release to all prisoners

for debt, without distinction or inquiry. By this general indulgence,

which has even in a great measure continued in all subsequent acts of

the same kind, the lenity of the parliament may be sometimes misapplied,

inasmuch as insolvency is often criminal, arising from profligacy and

extravagance, which deserve to be severely punished. Yet, even for

this species of insolvency, perpetual imprisonment, aggravated by the

miseries of extreme indigence, and the danger of perishing through

famine, may be deemed a punishment too severe. How cruel then must it be

to leave the most innocent bankrupt exposed to this punishment, from the

revenge or sinister design of a merciless creditor; a creditor, by whose

fraud the prisoner became a bankrupt, and by whoso craft he is detained

in gaol, lest by his discharge from prison, he should be enabled to seek

that redress in chancery to which he is entitled on a fair account! The

severity of the law was certainly intended against fraudulent bankrupts

only; and the statute of bankruptcy is, doubtless, favourable to

insolvents, as it discharges from all former debts those who obtained

their certificates. As British subjects, they are surely entitled to the

same indulgence which is granted to other insolvents. They were always

included in every act passed for the relief of insolvent debtors, till

the sixth year of George I. when they were first excepted from this

benefit. By a law enacted in the reign of queen Anne, relating to

bankruptcy, any creditor was at liberty to object to the confirmation

of the bankrupt’s certificate; but the chancellor had power to judge

whether the objection was frivolous or well-founded: yet, by a latter

act, the chancellor is obliged to confirm the certificate, if it is

agreeable to four-fifths in number and value of the creditors; whereas

he cannot confirm it, should he be opposed, even without any reason

assigned, by one creditor to whom the greatest part of the debt is

owing. It might, therefore, deserve the consideration of parliament,

whether, in extending their clemency to the poor, it should not be

equally diffused to bankrupts and other insolvents; whether proper

distinction ought not to be made between the innocent bankrupt who fails

through misfortune in trade, and him who becomes insolvent from fraud or

profligacy: and finally, whether the inquiry and trial of all such cases

would not properly fall within the province of chancery, a tribunal

instituted for the mitigation of common law.

INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE POOR.

The house of commons seems to have been determined on another measure,

which, however, does not admit of explanation. An order was made in

the month of February, that leave should be given to bring in a bill to

explain, amend, and render effectual, so much of an act passed in

the thirteenth year of George II. against the excessive increase of

horse-races, and deceitful gaming, as related to that increase. The bill

was accordingly presented, read, printed, and ordered to be committed to

a committee of the whole house; but the order was delayed from time to

time till the end of the session. Some progress was likewise made in

another affair of greater consequence to the community. A committee was

appointed in the month of March, to take into consideration the state of

the poor in England, as well as the laws enacted for their maintenance.

The clerks of the peace belonging to all the counties, cities, and towns

in England and Wales, were ordered to transmit, for the perusal of the

house, an account of the annual expense of passing vagrants through

their respective divisions and districts for four years: and the

committee began to deliberate on this important subject. In the latter

end of May the house was made acquainted with their resolutions,

importing, that the present methods of relieving the poor in the

respective parishes, where no workhouses have been provided for their

reception and employment, are, in general, very burdensome to the

inhabitants, and tend to render the poor miserable to themselves, and

useless to the community: that the present method of giving money out

of the parochial rates to persons capable of labour, in order to prevent

them from claiming an entire subsistence for themselves and their

families, is contrary to the spirit and intention of the laws for the

relief of the poor, is a dangerous power in the hands of parochial

officers, a misapplication of the public money, and a great

encouragement to idleness and intemperance; that the employment of

the poor, under proper direction and management, in such works and

manufactures as are suited to their respective capacities, would be of

great utility to the public: that settling the poor in Workhouses, to be

provided in the several counties and ridings in England and Wales, under

the direction and management of governors and trustees to be appointed

for that purpose, would be the most effectual method of relieving

such poor persons, as, by age, infirmities, or diseases, are rendered

incapable of supporting themselves by their labour: of employing

the able and industrious, reforming the idle and profligate, and of

educating poor children in religion and industry: and that the poor in

such workhouses would be better regulated and maintained, and managed

with more advantage to the public, by guardians, governors, or trustees,

to be especially appointed, or chosen for that purpose, and incorporated

with such powers, and under such restrictions, as the legislature

should deem proper, than by the annual parochial officers: that erecting

workhouses upon the waste lands, and appropriating a certain quantity of

such lands to be cultivated, in order to produce provisions for the

poor in the said houses, would not only be the means of instructing and

employing many of the said poor in agriculture, but lessen the

expense of the public: that controversies and law-suits concerning the

settlements of poor persons, occasioned a very great, and in general

an useless expense to the public, amounting to many thousand pounds

per annum; and that often more money is expended in ascertaining such

settlements by each of the contending parishes than would be sufficient

to maintain the paupers: that should workhouses be established for the

general reception of the poor, in the respective counties and ridings

of England, the laws relating to the settlements of the poor, and the

passing of vagrants, might be repealed: that while the present laws

relating to the poor subsist, the compelling parish-officers to grant

certificates to the poor, would in all probability prevent the hardships

they now suffer, in being debarred gaining their livelihood, where

they can do it most usefully to themselves and the public. From

these sensible resolutions, the reader may conceive some idea of the

misconduct that attends the management of the poor in England, as well

as of the grievous burdens entailed upon the people by the present

laws which constitute this branch of the legislature. The committee’s

resolves being read at the table, an order was made that they should be

taken into consideration on a certain day, when the order was again

put off, and in the interim the parliament was prorogued. While the

committee deliberated upon this affair, leave was given to prepare a

bill for preventing tenants, under a certain yearly rent, from gaining

settlements in any particular parish, by being there rated in any

land-tax assessment, and paying for the landlord the money so charged.

This order was afterwards discharged; and another bill brought in to

prevent any person from gaining a settlement, by being rated by

virtue of an act of parliament for granting an aid to his majesty by a

land-tax, and paying the same. The bill was accordingly presented,

read, committed, and passed the lower house; but among the lords it

miscarried. It can never be expected that the poor will be managed with

economy and integrity, while the execution of the laws relating to their

maintenance is left in the hands of low tradesmen, who derive private

advantage from supplying them with necessaries, and often favour the

imposition of one another with the most scandalous collusion. This is an

evil which will never be remedied, until persons of independent fortune,

and unblemished integrity, actuated by a spirit of true patriotism,

shall rescue their fellow-citizens from the power of such interested

miscreants, by taking the poor into their own management and protection.

Instead of multiplying laws with respect to the settlement and

management of the poor, which serve only to puzzle and perplex the

parish and peace officers, it would become the sagacity of the

legislature to take some effectual precautions to prevent the increase

of paupers and vagrants, which is become an intolerable nuisance to

the commonwealth. Towards this salutary end, surely nothing would more

contribute than a reformation of the police, that would abolish those

infamous places of entertainment, which swarm in every corner of the

metropolis, seducing people of all ranks to extravagance, profligacy,

and ruin; and would restrict within due bounds the number of

public-houses, which are augmented to an enormous degree, affording so

many asylums for riot and debauchery, and corrupting the morals of the

common people to such a pitch of licentious indecency, as must be a

reproach to every civilized nation. Let it not be affirmed, to the

disgrace of Great Britain, that such receptacles of vice and impurity

subsist under the connivance of the government, according to the narrow

views and confined speculation of those shallow politicians, who imagine

that the revenue is increased in proportion to the quantity of strong

liquors consumed in such infamous recesses of intemperance. Were this in

reality the case, that administration would deserve to be branded with

eternal infamy, which could sacrifice to such abase consideration the

health, the lives, and the morals of their fellow-creatures: but nothing

can be more fallacious than the supposition, that the revenue of any

government can be increased by the augmented intemperance of the people;

for intemperance is the bane of industry, as well as of population; and

what the government gains in the articles of the duty on malt, and the

excise upon liquors, will always be greatly overbalanced by the loss in

other articles, arising from the diminution of hands, and the neglect of

labour.

REGULATION OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Exclusive of the bills that were actually prepared, though they did

not pass in the course of the session, the commons deliberated on other

important subjects, which, however, were not finally discussed. In the

beginning of the session, a committee being appointed to resume the

inquiry touching the regulation of weights and measures, a subject we

have mentioned in the history of the preceding session, the box which

contained a troy pound weight, locked up by order of the house, was

again produced by the clerk in whose custody it had been deposited. This

affair being carefully investigated, the committee agreed to fourteen

resolutions. [490] _[See note 3 T, at the end of this Vol.]_ In the

meantime, it was ordered that all the weights referred to in the report,

should be delivered to the clerk of the house, to be locked up and

brought forth occasionally.

THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL.

The house of commons, among other articles of domestic economy, bestowed

some attention on the hospital for foundlings, which was now, more than

ever, become a matter of national consideration. The accounts relating

to this charity having been demanded, and subjected to the inspection of

the members, were, together with the king’s recommendation, referred to

the committee of supply, where they produced the resolutions which we

have already specified among the other grants of the year. The house

afterwards resolved itself into a committee to deliberate on the state

of the hospital, and examine its accounts. On the third day of May,

their resolutions were reported to the following effect: that the

appointing, by the governors and guardians of the said hospital, places

in the several counties, ridings, or divisions in this kingdom, for

the first reception of exposed and deserted young children, would be

attended with many evil consequences; and that the conveying of children

from the country to the said hospital is attended with many evil

consequences, and ought to be prevented. A bill was ordered to be

brought in, founded upon this last resolution, but never presented;

therefore the inquiry produced no effect. Notwithstanding the

institution of this charity, for the support of which great sums are

yearly levied on the public, it does not appear that the bills of

mortality, respecting new-born children, are decreased, nor the shocking

crime of infant-murder rendered less frequent than heretofore. It may,

therefore, not be improperly styled a heavy additional tax for the

propagation of bastardy, and the encouragement of idleness among the

common people; besides the tendency it has to extinguish the feelings

of the heart, and dissolve those family ties of blood by which the

charities are connected. In the month of March, leave was given to bring

in a bill for the more effectual preventing of the melting down and

exporting the gold and silver coin of the kingdom, and the persons were

nominated to prepare it; but the bill never appeared, and no further

inquiry was made about the matter. Perhaps it was supposed that such

a measure might be thought an encroachment on the prerogative of the

crown, which hath always exercised the power of fixing the standard, and

regulating the currency of the coin. Perhaps such a step was deferred on

account of the war, during which a great quantity of gold and silver was

necessarily exported to the continent, for the support of the allies and

armies in the pay of Great Britain. The legislature, however, would do

well to consider this eternal maxim in computation, that when a greater

quantity of bullion is exported, in waste, than can be replaced by

commerce, the nation must be hastening to a state of insolvency. Over

and above these proceedings in this session of parliament, it may not be

unnecessary to mention several messages which were sent by the king

to the house of commons. That relating to the vote of credit we have

already specified in our account of the supply. On the twenty-sixth day

of April, the chancellor of the exchequer presented to the house two

messages signed by his majesty, one in favour of his subjects in North

America, and the other in behalf of the East India company: the former

recommending to their consideration the zeal and vigour with which his

faithful subjects in North America had exerted themselves in defence of

his just rights and possessions; desiring he might be enabled to give

them a proper compensation for the expenses incurred by the respective

provinces in levying, clothing, and paying the troops raised in that

country, according as the active vigour and strenuous efforts of the

several colonies should appear to merit: in the latter, he desired the

house would empower him to assist the East India company in defraying

the expense of a military force in the East Indies, to be maintained by

them, in lieu of a battalion of regular troops withdrawn from thence,

and returned to Ireland. Both these messages were referred to the

committee of supply, and produced the resolutions upon each subject

which we have already explained. The message relating to a projected

invasion by the enemies of Great Britain, we shall particularize in its

proper place, when we come to record the circumstances and miscarriage

of that design. In the meantime, it may not be improper to observe,

that the thanks of the house of commons were voted and given to admiral

Boscawen and major-general Amherst, for the services they had done their

king and country in North America; and the same compliment was paid to

admiral Osborne, for the success of his cruise in the Mediterranean.

The session was closed on the second day of June, with a speech to both

houses from the commissioners appointed by his majesty for that purpose.

In this harangue the parliament was given to understand, that the

king approved of their conduct, and returned them his thanks for their

condescension; that the hopes he had conceived of their surmounting the

difficulties which lay in the way, were founded on the wisdom, zeal, and

affection of so good a parliament, and that his expectations were

fully answered; that they had considered the war in all its parts,

and notwithstanding its long continuance, through the obstinacy of the

enemy, had made such provision for the many different operations as

ought to convince the adversaries of Great Britain, that it would be

for their interest, as well as for the ease and relief of all Europe, to

embrace equitable and honourable terms of accommodation. They were

told that, by their assistance, the combined army in Germany had

been completed; powerful squadrons, as well as numerous bodies of

land-forces, were employed in America, in order to maintain the British

rights and possessions, and annoy the enemy in the most sensible maimer

in that country: that, as France was making considerable preparations in

her different ports, he had taken care to put his fleet at home in the

best condition, both of strength and situation, to guard against and

repel any attempts that might be meditated against his kingdoms: that

all his measures had been directed to assert the honour of his crown;

to preserve the essential interests of his faithful subjects; to support

the cause of the protestant religion, and public liberty: he therefore

trusted that the uprightness of his intentions would draw down the

blessing of heaven upon his endeavours. He expressed his hope, that the

precautions they had taken to prevent and correct the excesses of the

privateers would produce the desired effect: a consideration which the

king had much at heart; for, though sensible of the utility of that

service, when under proper regulations, he was determined to do his

utmost to prevent any injuries or hardships which might be sustained

by the subjects of neutral powers, as far as might be practicable and

consistent with his majesty’s just right to hinder the trade of his

enemies from being collusively and fraudulently covered. He not only

thanked the commons, but applauded the firmness and vigour with

which they had acted, as well as their prudence in judging, that

notwithstanding the present burdens, the making ample provision for

carrying on the war was the most probable means to bring it to an

honourable and happy conclusion. He assured them that no attention

should be wanting, on his part, for the faithful application of what had

been granted. They were informed he had nothing further to desire, but

that they would carry down the same good dispositions, and propagate

them in their several counties, which they had shown in their

proceedings during the session. These declarations being pronounced, the

parliament was prorogued.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.

The people of England, provoked on one hand by the intrigues, the

hostilities and menaces of France, and animated on the other by the

pride and triumph of success, which never fails to reconcile them to

difficulties, howsoever great, and expense, however enormous, at this

period breathed nothing but war, and discoursed about nothing but new

plans of conquest. We have seen how liberally the parliament bestowed

the nation’s money; and the acquiescence of the subjects in general

under the additional burdens which had been imposed, appeared in the

remarkable eagerness with which they embarked in the subscription

planned by the legislature; in the vigorous assistance they contributed

towards manning the navy, recruiting the army, and levying additional

forces; and the warlike spirit which began to diffuse itself through

all ranks of the people, This was a spirit which the ministry carefully

cherished and cultivated, for the support of the war, which, it must

be owned, was prosecuted with an ardour and efficacy peculiar to the

present administration. True it is, the German war had been for some

time adopted as an object of importance by the British councils, and a

resolution was taken to maintain it without flinching: at the same time,

it must be allowed, that this consideration had not hitherto weakened

the attention of the ministry to the operations in America, where alone

the war may be said to have been carried on and prosecuted on British

principles, so as to distress the enemy in their most tender part,

and at the same time, acquire the most substantial advantages to the

subjects of Britain. For these two purposes, every preparation was made

that sagacity could suggest, or vigour execute. The navy was repaired

and augmented; and, in order to man the different squadrons, the

expedient of pressing, that disgrace to a British administration,

was practised both by land and water with extraordinary rigour and

vivacity. A proclamation was issued, offering a considerable bounty

for every seaman and every landman that should by a certain day enter

voluntarily into the service. As an additional encouragement to this

class of people, the king promised his pardon to all seamen who had

deserted from their respective ships to which they belonged, provided

they should return to their duty by the third day of July; but at the

same time he declared, that those who should neglect this opportunity,

at a time when their country so much required their service, would,

upon being apprehended, incur the penalty of a court-martial, and if

convicted, be deemed unfit objects of the royal mercy. All justices

of the peace, mayors, and magistrates of corporations throughout Great

Britain, were commanded to make particular search for straggling seamen

fit for the service, and to send all that should be found to the nearest

sea-port, that they might be sent on board by the sea-officer there

commanding. Other methods, more gentle and effectual, were taken to levy

and recruit the land-forces. New regiments were raised, on his majesty’s

promise that every man should be entitled to his discharge at the end

of three years, and the premiums for enlisting were increased. Over and

above these indulgences, considerable bounties were offered and given

by cities, towns, corporations, and even by individuals, so universally

were the people possessed with a spirit of chivalry and adventure. The

example was set by the metropolis, where the common-council resolved,

that voluntary subscriptions should be received in the chamber of

London, to be appropriated as bounty-money to such persons as should

engage in his majesty’s service. The city subscribed a considerable

sum for that purpose; and a committee of aldermen and commoners

was appointed to attend at Guildhall, to receive and apply the

subscriptions. Asa further encouragement to volunteers, they moreover

resolved, that every person so entering should be entitled to the

freedom of the city, at the expiration of three years, or sooner if

the war should be brought to a conclusion. These resolutions being

communicated to the king, he was pleased to signify his approbation, and

return his thanks to the city, in a letter from the secretary of state

to the lord-mayor. Large sums were immediately subscribed by different

companies, and some private persons; and, in imitation of the capital,

bounties were offered by many different communities in every quarter of

the United Kingdom. At the same time, such care and diligence were used

in disciplining the militia, that, before the close of the year, the

greater part of those truly constitutional battalions rivalled the

regular troops in the perfection of their exercise, and seemed to be, in

all respects, as fit for actual service.

DEATH OF THE PRINCESS OF ORANGE, &c.

Before we proceed to record the transactions of the campaign that

succeeded these preparations, we shall take notice of some domestic

events, which, though not very important in themselves, may nevertheless

claim a place in the History of England. In the beginning of the year,

the court of London was overwhelmed with affliction at the death of

the princess dowager of Orange and Nassau, governante of the United

Provinces in the minority of her son, the present stadtholder. She was

the eldest daughter of his Britannic majesty, possessed of many personal

accomplishments and exemplary virtues; pious, moderate, sensible, and

circumspect. She had exercised her authority with equal sagacity and

resolution, respected even by those who were no friends to the house of

Orange, and died with great fortitude and resignation.*

* Feeling her end approaching, she delivered a key to one of

her attendants, directing him to fetch two papers, which she

signed with her own hand. One was a contract of marriage

between her daughter and the prince of Nassau Weilburgh; the

other was a letter to the states-general, beseeching them to

consent to this marriage, and preserve inviolate the

regulations she had made touching the education and tutelage

of the young stadtholder. These two papers being signed and

sealed, she sent for her children, exhorted them to make

proper improvements on the education they had received, and

to live in harmony with each other. Then she implored Heaven

to shower its blessings on them both, and embraced them with

the most affecting marks of maternal tenderness. She

afterwards continued to converse calmly and deliberately

with her friends, and in a few hours expired.

In her will she appointed the king her father, and the princess dowager

of Orange her mother-in-law, honorary tutors, and prince Louis of

Brunswick acting tutor to her children. In the morning after

her decease, the states-general and the states of Holland were

extraordinarily assembled, and having received notice of this event,

proceeded to confirm the regulations which had been made for the

minority of the stadtholder. Prince Louis of Brunswick was invited

to assist in the assembly of Holland, where he took the oaths, as

representing the captain-general of the union. Then he communicated to

the assembly the act by which the princess had appointed him guardian

of her children. He was afterwards invited to the assembly of the

states-general, who agreed to the resolution of Holland, with respect

to his guardianship; and in the evening the different colleges of the

government sent formal deputations to the young stadtholder, and the

princess Caroline, his sister, in whose names and presence they were

received, and answered by their guardian and representative. A formal

intimation of the death of the princess was communicated to the king her

father, in a pathetic letter, by the states-general; who condoled with

him on the irreparable loss which he as well as they had sustained by

this melancholy event, and assured him they would employ all their care

and attention in securing and defending the rights and interest of the

young stadtholder and the princess his sister, whom they considered

as the children of the republic. The royal family of England suffered

another disaster in the course of this year, by the decease of the

princess Elizabeth-Caroline, second daughter of his late royal highness

Frederick prince of Wales, a lady of the most amiable character, who

died at Kew in the month of September, before she had attained the

eighteenth year of her age.

EXAMPLES MADE OF PIRATES.

Certain privateers continuing their excesses at sea, and rifling neutral

ships without distinction or authority, the government resolved to

vindicate the honour of the nation, by making examples of those pirates,

who, as fast as they could be detected and secured, were brought to

trial, and upon conviction sacrificed to justice. While these steps were

taken to rescue the nation from the reproach of violence and rapacity,

which her neighbours had urged with such eagerness, equal spirit was

exerted in convincing neutral powers that they should not with impunity

contravene the law of nations, in favouring the enemies of Great

Britain. A great number of causes were tried relating to disputed

captures, and many Dutch vessels, with their cargoes, were condemned,

after a fair hearing, notwithstanding the loud clamours of that people,

and the repeated remonstrances of the states-general.

The reputation of the English was not so much affected by the

irregularities of her privateers, armed for rapine, as by the neglect

of internal police, and an ingredient of savage ferocity mingled in the

national character; an ingredient that appeared but too conspicuous in

the particulars of several shocking murders brought to light about this

period.--One Halsey, who commanded a merchant ship in the voyage from

Jamaica to England, having conceived some personal dislike to a poor

sailor, insulted him with such abuse, exposed him to such hardships,

and punished him with such wantonness of barbarity, that the poor wretch

leaped overboard in despair. His inhuman tyrant envying him that death,

which would have rescued a miserable object from his brutality, plunged

into the sea after him, and brought him on board, declaring, he

should not escape so while there were any torments left to inflict.

Accordingly, he exercised his tyranny upon him with redoubled rigour,

until the poor creature expired, in consequence of the inhuman treatment

he had sustained. This savage ruffian was likewise indicted for the

murder of another mariner, but being convicted on the first trial, the

second was found unnecessary, and the criminal suffered death according

to the law, which is perhaps too mild to malefactors convicted of such

aggravated cruelty.--Another barbarous murder was perpetrated in the

country, near Birmingham, upon a sheriff’s officer, by the sons of one

Darby, whose effects the bailiff had seized, on a distress for rent.

The two young assassins, encouraged by the father, attacked the unhappy

wretch with clubs, and mangled him in a terrible manner, so that

he hardly retained any signs of life. Not contented with this cruel

execution, they stripped him naked, and dragging him out of the house,

scourged him with a waggoner’s whip, until the flesh was cut from the

bones. In this miserable condition he was found weltering in his blood,

and conveyed to a neighbouring house, where he immediately expired.

The three barbarians were apprehended, after having made a desperate

resistance. They were tried, convicted, and executed; the sons were

hung in chains, and the body of the father dissected.--The widow of a

timber-merchant in Rotherhithe being cruelly murdered in her own house,

Mary Edmonson, a young woman, her niece, ran out into the street with

her arms cut across, and gave the alarm, declaring her aunt had been

assassinated by four men, who forced their way into the house, and that

she (the niece) had received those wounds in attempting to defend her

relation. According to the circumstances that appeared, this unnatural

wretch had cut the throat of her aunt and benefactress with a

case-knife, then dragged the body from the wash-house to the parlour;

that she had stolen a watch and some silver spoons, and concealed them,

together with the knife and her own apron, which was soaked with the

blood of her parent. After having acted this horrid tragedy, the bare

recital of which the humane reader will not peruse without horror, she

put on another apron, and wounded her own flesh, the better to conceal

her guilt. Notwithstanding these precautions she was suspected, and

committed to prison. Being brought to trial, she was convicted and

condemned upon circumstantial evidence, and finally executed on

Kennington-common, though she denied the fact to the last moment of her

life. At the place of execution she behaved with great composure, and,

after having spent some minutes in devotion, protested she was innocent

of the crime laid to her charge. What seemed to corroborate this

protestation, was the condition and character of the young woman,

who had been educated in a sphere above the vulgar, and maintained

a reputation without reproach in the country, where she was actually

betrothed to a clergyman. On the other hand, the circumstances that

appeared against her almost amounted to a certainty; though nothing

weaker than proof positive ought to determine a jury in capital cases

to give a verdict against the person accused. After all, this is one

of those problematic events which elude the force of all evidence, and

serve to confound the pride of Iranian reason.--A miscreant, whose

name was Haines, having espoused the daughter of a farmer in the

neighbourhood of Gloucester, who possessed a small estate, which he

intended to divide among seven children, was so abandoned as to form

the design of poisoning the whole family, that by virtue of his wife he

might enjoy the whole inheritance. For the execution of this infernal

scheme, he employed his own father to purchase a quantity of arsenic;

part of which he administered to three of the children, who were

immediately seized with the dreadful symptoms produced by this mineral,

and the eldest expired. He afterwards mixed it with three apple-cakes,

which he bought for the purpose, and presented to the three other

children, who underwent the same violence of operation which had proved

fatal to the eldest brother. The instantaneous effects of the poison

created a suspicion of Haines, who, being examined, the whole scene

of villany stood disclosed. Nevertheless, the villain found means

to escape.--The uncommon spirit of assassination which raged at this

period, seemed to communicate itself even to foreigners who breathed

English air. Five French prisoners confined on board the king’s ship the

Royal Oak, were convicted of having murdered one Jean de Manaux, their

countryman and fellow-prisoner, in revenge for his having discovered

that they had forged passes to facilitate their escape. Exasperated at

this detection, they seized this unfortunate informer in the place of

their confinement, gagged his mouth, stripped him naked, tied him with

a strong cord to a ring-bolt, and scourged his body with the most brutal

perseverance. By dint of struggling, the poor wretch disengaged himself

from the cord with which he had been tied: then they finished the

tragedy, by leaping and stamping on his breast, till the chest was

broke, and he expired. They afterwards severed the body into small

pieces, and these they conveyed at different times into the sea, through

the funnel of a convenience to which they had access: but one of the

other prisoners gave information of the murder; in consequence of

which they were secured, brought to trial, condemned, and punished with

death.--Nor were the instances of cruel assassination which prevailed

at this juncture confined to Great Britain. At the latter end of the

foregoing year, an atrocious massacre was perpetrated by two Genoese

mariners upon the master and crew of an English vessel, among whom they

were enrolled. These monsters of cruelty were in different watches, a

circumstance that favoured the execution of the horrid plan they had

concerted. When one of them retired to rest with his fellows of the

watch, consisting of the mate and two seamen, he waited till they were

fast asleep, and then butchered them all with a knife. Having so far

succeeded without discovery, he returned to the deck, and communicated

the exploit to his associate: then they suddenly attacked the master of

the vessel, and cleft his head with a hatchet, which they likewise

used in murdering the man that stood at the helm; a third was likewise

despatched, and no Englishman remained alive but the master’s son, a

boy, who lamented his father’s death with incessant tears and cries

for three days, at the expiration of which he was likewise sacrificed,

because the assassins were disturbed by his clamour. This barbarous

scene was acted within sixty leagues of the rock of Lisbon; but the

vessel was taken within the capes Ortugal and Finisterre, by the captain

of the French privateer called La Favourite, who seeing the deck stained

with blood, and finding all the papers of the ship destroyed, began to

suspect that the master and crew had been murdered. He accordingly taxed

them with the murder, and they confessed the particulars. The privateer

touched at Vigo, where the captain imparted this detail to the English

consul; but the prize, with the two villains on board, was sent to

Bayonne in France, where they were brought to condign punishment.

MURDER OF DANIEL CLARKE.

We shall close this register of blood with the account of a murder

remarkable in all its circumstances, for which a person, called Eugene

Aram, suffered at York, in the course of this year. This man, who

exercised the profession of a schoolmaster at Knaresborough, had, as

far back as the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-five, been

concerned with one Houseman, in robbing and murdering Daniel Clarke,

whom they had previously persuaded to borrow a considerable quantity of

valuable effects from different persons in the neighbourhood, on false

pretences, that he might retire with the booty. He had accordingly

filled a sack with these particulars, and began his retreat with his two

perfidious associates, who suddenly fell upon him, deprived him of life,

and, having buried the body in a cave, took possession of the plunder.

Though Clarke disappeared at once in such a mysterious manner, no

suspicion fell on the assassins; and Aram, who was the chief contriver

and agent in the murder, moved his habitation to another part of the

country. In the summer of the present year, Houseman being employed,

among other labourers, in repairing the public highway, they, in

digging for gravel by the road side, discovered the skeleton of a human

creature, which the majority supposed to be the bones of Daniel Clarke.

This opinion was no sooner broached, than Houseman, as it were by some

supernatural impulse which he could not resist, declared that it was

not the skeleton of Clarke, inasmuch as his body had been interred at a

place called St. Robert’s Cave, where they would find it, with the head

turned to a certain corner. He was immediately apprehended, examined,

admitted as evidence for the crown, and discovered the particulars of

the murder. The skeleton of Clarke being found exactly in the place

and manner he had described, Eugene Aram, who now acted as usher to a

grammar-school in the county of Norfolk, was secured, and brought

to trial at the York assizes. There, his own wife corroborating the

testimony of Houseman, he was found guilty, and received sentence of

death; notwithstanding a very artful and learned defence, in which he

proved, from argument and example, the danger of convicting a man upon

circumstantial evidence. Finding all his remonstrances ineffectual, he

recommended himself in pathetic terms to the king’s mercy; and if ever

murder was entitled to indulgence, perhaps it might have been extended

not improperly to this man, whose genius, in itself prodigious, might

have exerted itself in works of general utility. He had, in spite of all

the disadvantages attending low birth and straitened circumstances, by

the dint of his own capacity and inclination, made considerable progress

in mathematics and philosophy, acquired all the languages ancient and

modern, and executed part of a Celtic dictionary, which, had he lived

to finish it, might have thrown some essential light upon the origin

and obscurities of the European history. Convinced, at last, that he had

nothing to hope from the clemency of the government, he wrote a short

poem in defence of suicide; and, on the day fixed for his execution,

opened the veins of his left arm with a razor, which he had concealed

for that purpose. Though he was much weakened by the effusion of blood,

before this attempt was discovered, yet, as the instrument had missed

the artery, he did not expire until he was carried to the gibbet,

and underwent the sentence of the law. His body was conveyed to

Knaresborough-forest, and hung in chains, near the place where the

murder was perpetrated.--These are some of the most remarkable that

appeared amongst many other instances of homicide: a crime that prevails

to a degree alike deplorable and surprising, even in a nation renowned

for compassion and placability. But this will generally be the case

among people whose passions, naturally impetuous, are ill restrained by

laws, and the regulations of civil society; which the licentious do not

fear, and the wicked hope to evade.

MAJORITY OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

The prince of Wales having, in the beginning of June, entered the

two-and-twentieth year of his age, the anniversary of his birth was

celebrated with great rejoicings at court, and the king received

compliments of congratulation on the majority of a prince, who seemed

born to fulfil the hopes, and complete the happiness, of Great Britain.

The city of London presented an address to the king on this occasion,

replete with expressions of loyalty and affection, assuring his majesty,

that no hostile threats could intimidate a people animated by the

love of liberty, who, confiding in the Divine Providence, and in his

majesty’s experienced wisdom and vigorous councils, were resolved to

exert their utmost efforts towards enabling their sovereign to repel the

insults and defeat the attempts made by the ancient enemies of his crown

and kingdom. Congratulations of the same kind were offered by other

cities, towns, corporations, and communities, who vied with each other

in professions of attachment; and, indeed, there was not the least trace

of disaffection perceivable at this juncture in any part of the island.

A NEW BRIDGE AT BLACKFRIARS.

So little were the citizens of London distressed by the expense, or

incommoded by the operations of the war, that they found leisure to

plan, and funds to execute, magnificent works of art, for the ornament

of the metropolis, and the convenience of commerce. They had obtained

an act of parliament, empowering them to build a new bridge over the

Thames, from Blackfriars to the opposite shore, about midway between

those of London and Westminster. Commissioners were appointed to

put this act in execution; and, at a court of common-council, it was

resolved that a sum not exceeding one hundred and forty-four thousand

pounds should be forthwith raised, within the space of eight years, by

instalments, not exceeding thirty thousand pounds in one year, to be

paid into the chamber of London; that the persons advancing the money

should have an interest at the rate of four pounds per cent, per

annum, to be paid half-yearly by the chamberlain, yet redeemable at the

expiration of the first ten years; and that the chamberlain should affix

the city’s seal to such instruments as the committee might think fit to

give for securing the payment of the said annuities. Such were the first

effectual steps taken towards the execution of a laudable measure, which

met with the most obstinate opposition in the sequel, from the narrow

views of particular people, as well as from the prejudice of party.

FIRE IN CORNHILL.

The spirit that now animated the citizens of London was such as small

difficulties did not retard, and even considerable losses could not

discourage. In the month of November the city was exposed to a dangerous

conflagration, kindled in the night by accident in the neighbourhood of

the Royal Exchange, which burned with great fury, and, notwithstanding

the assistance of the firemen and engines, employed under the personal

direction of the magistracy, consumed a great number of houses, and

damaged many more. That whole quarter of the town was filled with

consternation: some individuals were beggared; one or two perished in

the flames, and some were buried in the ruins of the houses that sunk

under the disaster.

METHOD CONTRIVED TO FIND OUT THE LONGITUDE.

The ferment of mind so peculiar to the natives of Great Britain, excited

by a strange mixture of genius and caprice, passion and philosophy,

study and conjecture, produced at this period some flowers of

improvement, in different arts and sciences, that seemed to promise

fruit of public utility. Several persons invented methods for

discovering the longitude at sea, that great _desideratum_ in

navigation, for the ascertainment of which so many nations have

offered a public recompense, and in the investigation of which so many

mathematical heads have been disordered. Some of those who now appeared

candidates for the prize deserved encouragement for the ingenuity of

their several systems; but he who seemed to enjoy’ the pre-eminence in

the opinion and favour of the public was Mr. Irwin, a native of Ireland,

who contrived a chair so artfully poised, that a person sitting in it on

board a ship, even in a rough sea, can, through a telescope, observe

the immersion and emersion of Jupiter’s satellites, without being

interrupted or incommoded by the motion of the vessel. This gentleman

was favoured with the assistance and protection of commodore lord Howe,

in whose presence the experiment was tried in several ships at sea with

such success, that he granted a certificate, signifying his approbation;

and in consequence of this, Mr. Irwin is said to have obtained a

considerable reward from the board of admiralty.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

INSTALLATION AT OXFORD.

The people of England, happy in their situation, felt none of the storms

of war and desolation which ravaged the neighbouring countries; but,

enriched by a surprising augmentation of commerce, enjoyed all the

security of peace, and all the pleasures of taste and affluence. The

university of Oxford having conferred the office of their chancellor,

vacant by the death of the earl of Arran, upon another nobleman of equal

honour and integrity, namely, the earl of Westmoreland, he made a public

entrance into that celebrated seat of learning with great magnificence,

and was installed amidst the Encaenia, which were celebrated with such

classical elegance of pomp, as might have rivalled the chief Roman

festival of the Augustan age. The chancellor elect was attended by a

splendid train of the nobility and persons of distinction. The city of

Oxford was filled with a vast concourse of strangers. The processions

were contrived with taste, and conducted with decorum. The installation

was performed with the most striking solemnity. The congratulatory

verses and public speeches breathed the spirit of old Rome; and the

ceremony was closed by Dr. King, that venerable sage of St. Mary Hall,

who pronounced an oration in praise of the new chancellor with all the

flow of Tully, animated by the fire of Demosthenes.

We shall conclude the remarkable incidents of this year:*

* In the spring of the year the liberal arts sustained a

lamentable loss in the death of George Frederick Handel, the

most celebrated master in music which this age had produced.

He was by birth a German; but had studied in Italy, and

afterwards settled in England, where he met with the most

favourable reception, and resided above half a century,

universally admired for his stupendous genius in the sublime

parts of musical composition.

One would be apt to imagine, that there was something in the

constitution of the air at this period, which was

particularly unfavourable to old age; inasmuch as, in the

compass of a few months, the following persons, remarkable

for their longevity, died in the kingdom of Scotland.

William Barnes, who had been above seventy years a servant

in the family of Brodie, died there, at the age of one

hundred and nine. Catherine Mackenzie died in Ross-shire, at

the age of one hundred and eighteen. Janet Blair, deceased

at Monemusk, in the shire of Aberdeen, turned of one

hundred and twelve. Alexander Stephens, in Banffshire, at

the age of one hundred and eight. Janet Harper, of

Bainsholes, at the age of one hundred and seven. Daniel

Cameron, in Rannaeh, married when he was turned of one

hundred, and survived his marriage thirty years.

These are detached from the prosecution of the war, with the detail of

an event equally surprising and deplorable:--A sloop called the Dolphin,

bound from the Canaries to New York, met with such unfavourable weather,

that she was detained one hundred and sixty-five days in the passage,

and the provision of the ship was altogether expended before the first

fifty days were elapsed. The wretched crew had devoured their dog, cat,

and all their shoes on board: at length, being reduced to the utmost

extremity, they agreed to cast lots for their lives, that the body of

him upon whom the lot should fall might serve for some time to support

the survivors. The wretched victim was one Antoni Ga-latia, a Spanish

gentleman and passenger. Him they shot with a musket; and having cut

off his head, threw it overboard; but the entrails and the rest of the

carcase they greedily devoured. This horrid banquet having, as it were,

fleshed the famished crew, they began to talk of another sacrifice, from

which, however, they were diverted by the influence and remonstrances of

their captain, who prevailed upon them to be satisfied with a miserable

allowance to each per diem, cut from a pair of leather breeches found

in the cabin. Upon this calamitous pittance, reinforced with the grass

which grew plentifully upon the deck, these poor objects made shift to

subsist for twenty days, at the expiration of which they were relieved,

and taken on board by one captain Bradshaw, who chanced to fall in with

them at sea. By this time the whole crew, consisting of seven men, were

so squalid and emaciated, as to exhibit an appearance at once piteous

and terrible; and so reduced in point of strength, that it was found

necessary to use ropes and tackle for hoisting them from one ship to the

other. The circumstance of the lot falling upon the Spaniard, who was

the only foreigner on board, encourages a suspicion that foul play was

offered to this unfortunate stranger; but the most remarkable part of

this whole incident is, that the master and crew could not contrive some

sort of tackle to catch fish, with which the sea every where abounds,

and which, no doubt, might be caught with the help of a little

ingenuity. If implements of this kind were provided in every ship,

they would probably prevent all those tragical events at sea that are

occasioned by famine.

CAPTURES MADE BY CRUISERS.

Previous to the more capital operations in war, we shall particularize

the most remarkable captures that were made upon the enemy by single

ships of war, during the course of this summer and autumn. In the month

of February, a French privateer belonging to Granville, called the

Marquis de Marigny, having on board near two hundred men, and mounted

with twenty cannon, was taken by captain Parker, commander of his

majesty’s ship the Montague; who likewise made prize of a smaller armed

vessel, from Dunkirk, of eight cannon and sixty men. About the same

period, captain Graves, of the Unicorn, brought in the Moras privateer,

of St. Maloes, carrying two hundred men, and two-and-twenty cannon. Two

large merchant-ships, laden on the French king’s account for Martinique,

with provisions, clothing, and arms, for the troops on that island, were

taken by captain Lendrick, commander of the Brilliant; and an English

transport from St. John’s, having four hundred French prisoners on

board, perished near the Western islands. Within the circle of the same

month, a large French ship from St. Domingo, richly laden, fell in with

the Favourite ship of war, and was carried into Gibraltar.

In the month of February, captain Hood, of his majesty’s frigate the

Vestal, belonging to a small squadron commanded by admiral Holmes, who

had sailed for the West Indies in January, being advanced a considerable

way ahead of the fleet, descried and gave chase to a sail, which proved

to be a French frigate called the Bellona, of two hundred and

twenty men, and two-and-thirty great guns, commanded by the count

de Beauhonoire. Captain Hood, having made a signal to the admiral,

continued the chase until he advanced within half musket-shot of the

enemy, and then poured in a broadside, which was immediately retorted.

The engagement thus begun was maintained with great vigour on both sides

for the space of four hours; at the expiration of which the Bellona

struck, after having lost all her masts and rigging, together with about

forty men killed in the action. Nor was the victor in a much better

condition. Thirty men were killed and wounded on board the Vestal.

Immediately after the enemy submitted, all her rigging being destroyed

by the shot, the topmasts fell overboard; and she was otherwise so

much damaged, that she could not proceed on her voyage. Captain Hood,

therefore, returned with his prize to Spithead; and afterwards met with

a gracious reception from his majesty, on account of the valour and

conduct he had displayed on this occasion. The Bellona had sailed in

January from the island of Martinique, along with the Florissant,

and another French frigate, from which she had been separated in the

passage. Immediately after this exploit, captain Elliot, of the AEolus

frigate, accompanied by the Isis, made prize of a French ship, the

Mignonne, of twenty guns, and one hundred and forty men, one of four

frigates employed as convoy to a large fleet of merchant-ships, near the

island of Rhé.

In the month of March, the English frigates the Southampton and Melampe,

commanded by the captains Gilchrist and Hotham, being at sea to the

northward on a cruise, fell in with the Danaë, a French ship of forty

cannon, and three hundred and thirty men, which was engaged by captain

Hotham in a ship of half the force, who maintained the battle a

considerable time with admirable gallantry, before his consort could

come to his assistance. As they fought in the dark, captain Gilchrist

was obliged to lie by for some time, because he could not distinguish

the one from the other; but no sooner did the day appear, than he bore

down upon the Danaë with his usual impetuosity, and soon compelled her

to surrender: she did not strike, however, until thirty or forty of her

men were slain; and the gallant captain Gilchrist received a grape-shot

in his shoulder, which, though it did not deprive him of life, yet

rendered him incapable of future service: a misfortune the more to be

lamented, as it happened to a brave officer in the vigour of his age,

and in the midst of a sanguinary war, which might have afforded him

many other opportunities of signalizing his courage for the honour and

advantage of his country. Another remarkable exploit was achieved

about the same juncture by captain Barrington, commander of the ship

Achilles, mounted with sixty cannon; who, to the westward of Cape

Finisterre, encountered a French ship of equal force, called the

Count de Saint Florintin, bound from Cape François, on the island of

Hispaniola, to Rochefort, under the command of the sieur de Montay, who

was obliged to strike, after a close and obstinate engagement, in which

he himself was mortally wounded, a great number of his men slain, and

his ship so damaged, that she was with difficulty brought into Falmouth.

Captain Barrington obtained the victory at the expense of about

five-and-twenty men killed and wounded, and all his rigging, which the

enemy’s shot rendered useless. Two small privateers from Dunkirk were

also taken: one called the Marquis de Bareil, by the Brilliant, which

carried her into Kin-sale in Ireland; the other called the Carrilloneur,

which struck to the Grace cutter, assisted by the boats of the ship

Rochester, commanded by captain Duff, who sent her into the Downs.

About the latter end of March, captain Samuel Falkner, in the ship

Windsor, of sixty guns, cruising to the westward, discovered four large

ships to leeward, which, when he approached them, formed the line of

battle ahead, in order to give him a warm reception. He accordingly

closed with the sternmost ship, which sustained his fire about an hour:

then the other three bearing away with all the sail they could carry,

she struck her colours, and was conducted to Lisbon. She proved to

be the Duc de Chartres, pierced for sixty cannon, though at that time

carrying no more than four-and-twenty, with a complement of three

hundred men, about thirty of whom were killed in the action. She

belonged, with the other three that escaped, to the French East India

company, was laden with gunpowder and naval stores, and bound for

Pondicherry. Two privateers, called Le Chasseur and Le Conquérant, the

one from Dunkirk, and the other from Cherbourg, were taken and carried

into Plymouth by captain Hughes, of his majesty’s frigate the Tamer. A

third, called the Despatch, from Morlaix, was brought into Penzance by

the Diligence sloop, under the command of captain Eastwood. A fourth,

called the Basque, from Bayonne, furnished with two-and-twenty guns,

and above two hundred men, fell into the hands of captain Parker of

the Brilliant, who conveyed her into Plymouth. Captain Antrobus of the

Surprise, took the Vieux, a privateer of Bourdeaux; and a fifth, from

Dunkirk, struck to captain Knight of the Liverpool, off Yarmouth. In

the month of May, a French frigate called the Arethusa, mounted with

two-and-thirty cannon, manned with a large complement of hands under the

command of the marquis de Vaudreuil, submitted to two British frigates,

the Venus and the Thames, commanded by the captains Harrison and Colby,

after a warm engagement, in which sixty men were killed and wounded on

the side of the enemy. In the beginning of June, an armed ship belonging

to Dunkirk was brought into the Downs by captain Angel, of the Stag; and

a privateer of force, called the Countess de la Serre, was subdued and

taken, after an obstinate action, by captain Moore, of his majesty’s

ship the Adventure.

PRIZES TAKEN IN THE WEST INDIES.

Several armed ships of the enemy, and rich prizes, were taken in the

West Indies, particularly two French frigates, and two Dutch ships

with French commodities, all richly laden, by some of the ships of the

squadron which vice-admiral Coats commanded on the Jamaica station. A

fifth, called the Velour, from St. Domingo, with a valuable cargo on

board, being fortified with twenty cannon, and above one hundred men,

fell in with the Favourite sloop of war, under the command of captain

Edwards, who, after’ art obstinate dispute, carried her in triumph

to Gibraltar. At St. Christopher’s, in the West Indies, captain

Collingwood, commander of the king’s ship the Crescent, attacked

two French frigates, the Améthyste and Berkeley; the former of which

escaped, after a warm engagement, in which the Crescent’s rigging was

so much damaged that she could not pursue; but the other was taken, and

conveyed into the harbour of Basseterre. Notwithstanding the vigilance

and courage of the English cruisers in those seas, the French privateers

swarmed to such a degree, that in the course of this year they took

above two hundred sail of British ships, valued at six hundred thousand

pounds sterling. This their success is the more remarkable, as by this

time the island of Guadaloupe was in possession of the English, and

commodore Moore commanded a numerous squadron in those very latitudes.

ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE HERCULES AND THE FLORISSANT.

In the beginning of October, the Hercules ship of war, mounted with

seventy-four guns, under the command of captain Porter, cruising in the

chops of the channel, descried to windward a large ship, which proved to

be the Florissant, of the same force with the Hercules. Her commander,

perceiving the English ship giving chase, did not seem to decline

the action, but bore down upon her in a slanting direction, and the

engagement began with great fury. In a little time, the Hercules having

lost her top-mast, and all her rigging being shot away, the enemy took

advantage of this disaster, made the best of his way, and was pursued

till eight o’clock next morning, when he escaped behind the isle of

Oleron. Captain Porter was wounded in the head with a grape-shot, and

lost the use of one leg in the engagement.

HAVRE-DE-GRACE BOMBARDED.

Having taken notice of all the remarkable captures and exploits that

were made and achieved by single ships since the commencement of the

present year, we shall now proceed to describe the actions that were

performed in this period by the different squadrons that constituted the

naval power of Great Britain. Intelligence having been received that the

enemy meditated an invasion upon some of the British territories, and

that a number of flat-bottomed boats were prepared at Havre-de-Grace,

for the purpose of disembarking troops, rear-admiral Rodney was, in the

beginning of July, detached with a small squadron of ships and bombs

to annoy and overawe that part of the coast of France. He accordingly

anchored in the road of Havre, and made a disposition to execute the

instructions he had received. The bomb vessels, being placed in the

narrow channel of the river leading to Ronfleur, began to throw their

shells, and continued the bombardment for two-and-fifty hours, without

intermission, during which a numerous body of French troops were

employed in throwing up intrenchments, erecting new batteries, and

firing both with shot and shells upon the assailants. The town was set

on fire in several places, and burned with great fury; some of the

boats were overturned, and a few of them reduced to ashes, while the

inhabitants forsook the place in the utmost consternation: nevertheless,

the damage done to the enemy was too inconsiderable to make amends for

the expense of the armament, and the loss of nineteen hundred shells

and eleven hundred carcasses, which were expended in this expedition.

Bombardments of this kind are at best but expensive and unprofitable

operations, and may be deemed a barbarous method of prosecuting war,

inasmuch as the damage falls upon the wretched inhabitants, who have

given no cause of offence, and who are generally spared by a humane

enemy, unless they have committed some particular act of provocation.

BOSCAWEN DEFEATS M. DE LA CLUE.

The honour of the British flag was much more effectually asserted by

the gallant admiral Boscawen, who, as we have already observed, was

intrusted with the conduct of a squadron in the Mediterranean. It must

be owned, however, that his first attempt savoured of temerity. Having

in vain displayed the British flag in sight of Toulon, by way of

defiance to the French fleet that lay there at anchor, he ordered three

ships of the line, commanded by the captains Smith, Harland, and

Barker, to advance and burn two ships that lay close to the mouth of the

harbour. They accordingly approached with great intrepidity, and met

with a very warm reception from divers batteries, which they had

not before perceived. Two small forts they attempted to destroy, and

cannonaded for some time with great fury; but being overmatched by

superior force, and the wind subsiding into a calm, they sustained

considerable damage, and were towed off with great difficulty in a

very shattered condition. The admiral seeing three of his best ships so

roughly handled in this enterprise, returned to Gibraltar in order

to refit; and M. de la Clue, the French commander of the squadron at

Toulon, seized this opportunity of sailing, in hopes of passing the

Straits’ mouth unobserved, his fleet consisting of twelve large ships

and three frigates. Admiral Boscawen, who commanded fourteen sail of

the line with two frigates, and as many fire-ships, having refitted

his squadron, detached one frigate to cruise off Malaga, and another

to hover between Estepona and Ceuta-point, with a view to keep a good

look-out, and give timely notice in case the enemy should approach. On

the seventeenth day of August, at eight in the evening, the Gibraltar

frigate made a signal that fourteen sail appeared on the Barbary shore,

to the eastward of Ceuta; upon which the English admiral immediately

heaved up his anchors and went to sea. At day-light he descried seven

large ships lying-to; but when the English squadron forbore to answer

their signal, they discovered their mistake, set all their sails, and

made the best of their way. This was the greater part of the French

squadron, commanded by M. de la Clue, from whom five of his large ships

and three frigates had separated in the night. Even now, perhaps, he

might have escaped, had he not been obliged to wait for the Souveraine,

which was a heavy sailer. At noon the wind, which had blown a heavy

gale, died away, and although admiral Boscawen had made signal to chase,

and engage in a line of battle ahead, it was not till half an hour after

two that some of his headmost ships could close with the rear of the

enemy, which, though greatly out-numbered, fought with uncommon bravery.

The English admiral, without waiting to return the fire of the

sternmost, which he received as he passed, used all his endeavours to

come up with the Ocean, which M. de la Clue commanded in person; and

about four o’clock in the afternoon, running athwart her hawse, poured

into her a furious broadside: thus the engagement began with equal

vigour on both sides. This dispute, however, was of short duration. In

about half an hour admiral Boscawen’s mizen-mast and topsail-yards were

shot away, and the enemy hoisted all the sail they could carry. Mr.

Boscawen having shifted his flag from the Namur to the Newark, joined

some other ships in attacking the Centaur, of seventy-four guns, which,

being thus overpowered, was obliged to surrender. The British admiral

pursued them all night, during which the Souveraine and the Guerrier

altered their course, and deserted their commander. At day-break, M. de

la Clue, whose left leg had been broke in the engagement, perceiving the

English squadron crowding all their sails to come up with him, and

finding himself on the coast of Portugal, determined to burn his ships

rather than they should fall into the hands of the victors. The Ocean

was run ashore two leagues from Lagos, near the fort of Almadana, the

commander of which fired three shots at the English; another captain of

the French squadron followed the example of his commander, and both

endeavoured to disembark their men; but the sea being rough, this proved

a very tedious and difficult attempt. The captains of the Téméraire and

Modeste, instead of destroying their ships, anchored as near as they

could to the forts Xavier and Lagres, in hopes of enjoying their

protection; but in this hope they were disappointed. M. de la Clue had

been landed, and the command of the Ocean was left to the count de

Carne, who, having received one broadside from the America, struck his

colours, and the English took possession of this noble prize, the best

ship in the French navy, mounted with eighty cannon. Captain Bentley of

the Warspite, who had remarkably signalized himself by his courage

during the action of the preceding day, attacked the Téméraire, of

seventy-four guns, and brought her off with little damage. Vice-admiral

Broderick, the second in command, advancing with his division, burned

the Redoubtable, of seventy-four guns, which was bulged, and abandoned

by her men and officers; but they made prize of the Modeste, carrying

sixty-four guns, which had not been much injured in the engagement. This

victory was obtained by the English admiral at a very small expense of

men; the whole number of the killed and wounded not exceeding two

hundred and fifty on board of the British squadron, though the carnage

among the enemy must have been much more considerable, as M. de la Clue,

in his letter to the French ambassador at Lisbon, owned, that on board

of his own ship, the Ocean, one hundred men were killed on the spot, and

seventy dangerously wounded. But the most severe circumstance of this

disaster was the loss of four capital ships, two of which were

destroyed, and the other two brought in triumph to England, to be

numbered among the best bottoms of the British navy. What augmented the

good fortune of the victors was, that not one officer lost his Life in

the engagement. Captain Bentley, whom the admiral despatched to England

with the tidings of his success, met with a gracious reception from the

king, who knighted him for his gallantry.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

PREPARATIONS MADE BY THE FRENCH FOR INVADING ENGLAND.

As we propose to throw together all the naval transactions of the year,

especially those that happened in the European seas, that they may be

comprehended, as it were, in one view, we must now, without regarding

the order of time, postpone many previous events of importance,

and record the last action by sea, that in the course of this year

distinguished the flag of Great Britain. The court of Versailles, in

order to embarrass the British ministry, and divert their attention

from all external expeditions, had in the winter projected a plan for

invading some part of the British dominions; and in the beginning of the

year had actually begun to make preparations on different parts of their

coast for carrying this design into execution. Even as far back as the

latter end of May, messages from the king to both houses of parliament

were delivered by the earl of Holdernesse and Mr. Pitt, the two

secretaries of state, signifying that his majesty had received advices

of preparations making by the French court, with a design to invade

Great Britain: that though persuaded, by the universal zeal and

affection of his people, any such attempt must, under the blessing

of God, end in the destruction of those who engaged in it; yet he

apprehended he should not act consistent with that paternal care and

concern which he had always shown for the safety and preservation of his

subjects, if he omitted any means in his power which might be necessary

for their defence: he, therefore, acquainted the parliament with his

having received repeated intelligence of the enemy’s preparations, to

the end that his majesty might, if he should think proper, in pursuance

of the late act of parliament, cause the militia, or such parts thereof

as should be necessary, to be drawn out and embodied, in order to march

as occasion should require. These messages were no sooner read, than

each house separately resolved to present an address, thanking his

majesty for having communicated this intelligence; assuring him, that

they would, with their lives and fortunes, support him against all

attempts whatever; that, warmed with affection and zeal for his person

and government, and animated by indignation at the daring designs of an

enemy whose fleet had hitherto shunned the terror of the British navy,

they would cheerfully exert their utmost efforts to repel all insults,

and effectually enable their sovereign not only to disappoint the

attempts of France, but, by the blessing of God, turn them to their own

confusion. The commons at the same time resolved upon another address,

desiring his majesty would give directions to his lieutenants of the

several counties, ridings, and places within South Britain, to use

their utmost diligence and attention in executing the several acts of

parliament made for the better ordering the militia.

ACCOUNT OF THUROT.

These and other precautionary steps were accordingly taken; but the

administration wisely placed their chief dependence upon the strength of

the navy, part of which was so divided and stationed as to block up

all the harbours of France in which the enemy were known to prepare any

naval armament of consequence. We have seen in what manner rear-admiral

Rodney visited the town and harbour of Havre-de-Grace, and scoured

that part of the coast in successive cruises: we have also recorded the

expedition and victory of admiral Boscawen over the squadron of La Clue,

which was equipped at Toulon, with a design to assist in the projected

invasion. Not withstanding this disaster, the French ministry persisted

in their design; towards the execution of which they had prepared

another considerable fleet, in the harbours of Rochefort, Brest, and

Port-Louis, to be commanded by M. de Conflans, and reinforced by a

considerable body of troops, which were actually assembled under the

duc d’Aiguillon, at Vannes, in Lower Bretagne. Flat-bottomed boats and

transports to be used in this expedition, were prepared in different

ports on the coast of France: and a small squadron was equipped at

Dunkirk, under the command of an enterprising adventurer called Thurot,

who had, in the course of the preceding year, signalized his courage and

conduct in a large privateer called the Belleisle, which had scoured

the North Seas, taken a number of ships, and at one time maintained an

obstinate battle against two English frigates, which were obliged to

desist, after having received considerable damage. This man’s name

became a terror to the merchants of Great Britain; for his valour was

not more remarkable in battle than his conduct in eluding the pursuit

of the British cruisers, who were successively detached in quest of

him, through every part of the German Ocean and North Sea, as far as the

islands of Orkney. It must be likewise owned, for the honour of human

nature, that this bold mariner, though destitute of the advantages of

birth and education, was remarkably distinguished by his generosity and

compassion to those who had the misfortune to fall into his power;

and that his deportment in every respect entitled him to a much more

honourable rank in the service of his country. The court of Versailles

was not insensible to his merit. He obtained a commission from the

French king, and was vested with the command of the small armament now

fitting out in the harbour of Dunkirk. The British government, being

apprized of all these particulars, took such measures to defeat the

purposed invasion, as must have conveyed a very high idea of the power

of Great Britain, to those who considered, that, exclusive of the

force opposed to this design, they at the same time carried on the most

vigorous and important operations of war in Germany, America, the East

and West Indies. Thurot’s armament at Dunkirk was watched by an English

squadron in the Downs, commanded by commodore Boys; the port of Havre

was guarded by rear-admiral Rodney; Mr. Boscawen had been stationed off

Toulon, and the coast of Vannes was scoured by a small squadron detached

from sir Edward Hawke, who had, during the summer, blocked up the

harbour of Brest, where Conflans lay with his fleet, in order to be

joined by the other divisions of the armament. These different squadrons

of the British navy were connected by a chain of separate cruisers;

so that the whole coast of France, from Dunkirk to the extremity of

Bretagne, was distressed by an actual blockade.

FRENCH FLEET SAILS FROM BREST.

The French fleet being thus hampered, forbore their attempt upon

Britain; and the projected invasion seemed to hang in suspense till the

month of August, in the beginning of which their army in Germany was

defeated at Minden. Their designs in that country being baffled by this

disaster, they seemed to convert their chief attention to their sea

armament; the preparations were resumed with redoubled vigour; and, even

after the defeat of La Clue, they resolved to try their fortune in a

descent. They now proposed to disembark a body of troops in Ireland.

Thurot received orders to sail from Dunkirk with the first opportunity,

and shape his course round the northern parts of Scotland, that he might

alarm the coast of Ireland, and make a diversion from that part where

Conflans intended to effectuate the disembarkation of his forces. The

transports and ships of war were assembled at Brest and Rochefort,

having on board a train of artillery, with saddles, and other

accoutrements for cavalry, to be mounted in Ireland; and a body

of French troops, including part of the Irish brigade, was kept

in readiness to embark. The execution of this scheme was, however,

prevented by the vigilance of sir Edward Hawke, who blocked up the

harbour of Brest with a fleet of twenty-three capital ships; while

another squadron of smaller ships and frigates, under the command of

captain Duff, continued to cruise along the French coast, from Port

L’Orient in Bretagne, to the point of St. Gilles in Poitou. At length,

however, in the beginning of November, the British squadron, commanded

by sir Edward Hawke, sir Charles Hardy, and rear-admiral Geary, were

driven from the coast of France by stress of weather, and on the ninth

day of the month anchored in Torbay. The French admiral, Conflans,

snatched this opportunity of sailing from Brest, with one-and-twenty

sail of the line and four frigates, in hopes of being able to destroy

the English squadron commanded by captain Duff, before the large

fleet could return from the coast of England. Sir Edward Hawke, having

received intelligence that the French fleet had sailed from Brest,

immediately stood to sea in order to pursue them; and, in the meantime,

the government issued orders for guarding all those parts of the coast

that were thought the most exposed to a descent. The land-forces were

put in motion, and quartered along the shore of Kent and Sussex: all the

ships of war in the different harbours, even those that had just arrived

from America, were ordered to put to sea, and every step was taken to

disconcert the designs of the enemy.

ADMIRAL HAWKE DEFEATS M. DE CONFLANS.

While these measures were taken with equal vigour and deliberation, sir

Edward Hawke steered his course directly for Quiberon, on the coast

of Bretagne, which he supposed would be the rendezvous of the French

squadron: but, notwithstanding his utmost efforts, he was driven by

a hard gale considerably to the westward, where he was joined by two

frigates, the Maidstone and the Coventry. These he directed to keep

ahead of the squadron. The weather growing more moderate, the former

made the signal for seeing a fleet on the twentieth day of November,

at half an hour past eight o’clock in the morning, and in an hour

afterwards discovered them to be the enemy’s squadron. They were at that

time in chase of captain Duff’s squadron, which now joined the large

fleet, after having run some risk of being taken. Sir Edward Hawke, who,

when the Maidstone gave the first notice, had formed the line abreast,

now perceiving that the French admiral endeavoured to escape with all

the sail he could carry, threw out a signal for seven of his ships that

were nearest the enemy to chase, and endeavour to detain them, until

they could be reinforced by the rest of the squadron, which were ordered

to form into a line-of-battle ahead, as they chased, that no time might

be lost in the pursuit. Considering the roughness of the weather, which

was extremely tempestuous; the nature of the coast, which is in this

place rendered very hazardous by a great number of sand-banks, shoals,

rocks, and islands, as entirely unknown to the British sailors as they

were familiar to the French navigators; the dangers of a short day,

dark night, and lee-shore--it required extraordinary resolution in the

English admiral to attempt hostilities on this occasion: but sir Edward

Hawke, steeled with the integrity and fortitude of his own heart,

animated by a warm love for his country, and well acquainted with the

importance of the stake on which the safety of that country in a

great measure depended, was resolved to run extraordinary risks in his

endeavours to frustrate, at once, a boasted scheme projected for the

annoyance of his fellow-subjects. With respect to his ships of the line,

he had but the advantage of one in point of number, and no superiority

in men or metal; consequently, M. de Conflans might have hazarded a

fair battle on the open sea, without any imputation of temerity; but

he thought proper to play a more artful game, though it did not succeed

according to his expectation. He kept his fleet in a body, and retired

close in shore, with a view to draw the English squadron among the

shoals and islands, on which he hoped they would pay dear for their

rashness and impetuosity, while he and his officers, who were perfectly

acquainted with the navigation, could either stay and take advantage of

the disaster, or, if hard pressed, retire through channels unknown to

the British pilots. At half an hour after two, the van of the

English fleet began the engagement with the rear of the enemy, in the

neighbourhood of Belleisle. Every ship, as she advanced, poured in a

broadside on the sternmost of the French, and bore down upon their van,

leaving the rear to those that came after. Sir Edward Hawke, in the

Royal George, of one hundred and ten guns, reserved his fire in passing

through the rear of the enemy, and ordered his master to bring him

alongside of the French admiral, who commanded in person on board the

Soliel Royal, a ship mounted with eighty cannon, and provided with a

complement of twelve hundred men. When the pilot remonstrated that he

could not obey his command without the most imminent risk of running

upon a shoal, the veteran replied, “You have done your duty in showing

the danger; now you are to comply with my order, and lay me alongside

the Soleil Royal.” His wish was gratified: the Royal George ranged up

with the French admiral. The Thesée, another large ship of the enemy,

running up between the two commanders, sustained the fire that was

reserved for the Soliel Royal; but in returning the first broadside

foundered, in consequence of the high sea that entered her lower

deck-ports, and filled her with water. Notwithstanding the boisterous

weather, a great number of ships on both sides fought with equal

fury and dubious success, till about four in the afternoon, when the

Formidable struck her colours. The Superb shared the fate of the Thésée

in going to the bottom. The Hero hauled down her colours in token of

submission, and dropped anchor; but the wind was so high that no boat

could be sent to take possession, By this time day-light began to fail,

and the greater part of the French fleet escaped under cover of the

darkness. Night approaching, the wind blowing with augmented violence

on a lee-shore, and the British squadron being entangled among unknown

shoals and islands, sir Edward Hawke made the signal for anchoring to

the westward of the small island Dumet; and here the fleet remained all

night in a very dangerous riding, alarmed by the fury of the storm, and

the incessant firing of guns of distress, without their knowing whether

it proceeded from friend or enemy. The Soliel Royal had, under favour

of the night, anchored also in the midst of the British squadron; but

at day-break M. de Conflans ordered her cable to be cut, and she drove

ashore to the westward of Crozie. The English admiral immediately made

signal to the Essex to slip cable and pursue her; and, in obeying this

order, she ran unfortunately on a sand-bank called Lefour, where the

Resolution, another ship of the British squadron, was already grounded.

Here they were both irrecoverably lost, in spite of all the assistance

that could be given; but all their men, and part of their stores, were

saved, and the wrecks were set on fire by order of the admiral. He

likewise detached the Portland, Chatham, and Vengeance, to destroy the

Soleil Royal, which was burned by her own people before the English

ships could approach; but they arrived in time enough to reduce the Hero

to ashes on the Lefour, where she had been also stranded; and the Juste,

another of their great ships, perished in the mouth of the Loire. The

admiral, perceiving seven large ships of the enemy riding at anchor

between Point Penvas and the mouth of the river Vilaine, made the signal

to weigh, in order to attack them; but the fury of the storm increased

to such a degree, that he was obliged to remain at anchor, and even

ordered the top-gallant masts to be struck. In the meantime, the French

ships being lightened of their cannon, their officers took advantage

of the flood, and a more moderate gale under the land, to enter the

Vilaine, where they lay within half a mile of the entrance, protected

by some occasional batteries erected on the shore, and by two large

frigates moored across the mouth of the harbour. Thus they were

effectually secured from any attempts of small vessels; and as for large

ships, there was not water sufficient to float them within fighting

distance of the enemy. On the whole, this battle, in which a very

considerable number of lives was lost, may be considered as one of

the most perilous and important actions that ever happened in any

war between the two nations; for it not only defeated the projected

invasion, which had hung menacing so long over the apprehensions of

Great Britain; but it gave the finishing blow to the naval power

of France, which was totally disabled from undertaking anything of

consequence in the sequel.*

* During this war, the English had already taken and

destroyed twenty-seven French ships of the line, and thirty-

one frigates: two of their great ships and four frigates

perished; so that their whole loss, in this particular,

amounted to sixty-four: whereas, the loss of Great Britain

did not exceed seven sail of the line and five frigates. It

may be easily conceived how the French marine, at first

greatly inferior to the naval power of Britain, must have

been affected by this dreadful balance to its prejudice.

By this time, indeed, Thurot had escaped from Dunkirk, and directed his

course to the North Sea, whither he was followed by commodore Boys,

who nevertheless was disappointed in his pursuit; but the fate of that

enterprising adventurer falls under the annals of the ensuing year,

among the transactions of which it shall be recorded. As for sir

Edward Hawke, he continued cruising off the coast of Bretagne for a

considerable time after the victory he had obtained, taking particular

care to block up the mouth of the river Vilaine, that the seven French

ships might not escape and join M. Conflans, who made shift to reach

Rochefort with the shattered remains of his squadron. Indeed, this

service became such a considerable object in the eyes of the British

ministry, that a large fleet was maintained upon this coast, apparently

for no other purpose, during a whole year; and, after all, the enemy

eluded their vigilance. Sir Edward Hawke, having undergone a long and

dangerous conflict with tempestuous weather, was at length recalled,

and presented to his sovereign, who gratified him with a considerable

pension, for the courage and conduct he had so often and so long

displayed in the service of his country; and his extraordinary merit was

afterwards honoured with the approbation of the parliament. The people

of France were so dispirited by the defeat of their army at Minden, and

the disaster of their squadron at Lagos, that the ministry of Versailles

thought proper to conceal the extent of their last misfortunes under a

palliating detail published in the gazette of Paris, as a letter from M.

Conflans to the count de St. Florentin, secretary of the marine. In this

partial misrepresentation, their admiral was made to affirm, that the

British fleet consisted of forty ships of the line of battle, besides

frigates; that the Soleil Royal had obliged the Royal George to sheer

off; that the seven ships which retreated into the river Vilaine had

received very little damage, and would be soon repaired; and that, by

the junction of Bompart’s squadron, he should be soon able to give a

good account of the English admiral. These tumid assertions, so void of

truth, are not to be imputed to an illiberal spirit of vain glory, so

much as to a political design of extenuating the national calamity, and

supporting the spirit of the people.

THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

The alarm of the French invasion, which was thus so happily frustrated,

not only disturbed the quiet of Great Britain, but also diffused itself

to the kingdom of Ireland, where it was productive of some public

disorder. In the latter end of October, the two houses of parliament,

assembled at Dublin, received a formal message from the duke of Bedford,

lord-lieutenant of that kingdom, to the following effect: That, by a

letter from the secretary of state, written by his majesty’s express

command, it appeared that France, far from resigning her plan of

invasion, on account of the disaster that befel her Toulon squadron, was

more and more confirmed in her purpose, and even instigated by despair

itself to attempt, at all hazards, the only resource she seemed to have

left for thwarting, by a diversion at home, the measures of England

abroad in prosecuting a war which hitherto opened, in all parts of the

world, so unfavourable a prospect to the views of French ambition: that,

in case the body of French troops, amounting to eighteen thousand men,

under the command of the duc d’Aiguillon, assembled at Vannes, where

also a sufficient number of transports was prepared, should be able to

elude the British squadron, Ireland would, in all probability, be one of

their chief objects; his grace thought it therefore incumbent upon him,

in a matter of such high importance to the welfare of that kingdom, to

communicate this intelligence to the Irish parliament. He told them, his

majesty would make no doubt but that the zeal of his faithful protestant

subjects in that kingdom had been already sufficiently quickened by the

repeated accounts received of the enemy’s dangerous designs and actual

preparations, made at a vast expense, in order to invade the several

parts of the British dominions. He gave them to understand he had

received his sovereign’s commands, to use his utmost endeavours to

animate and excite his loyal people of Ireland to exert their well-known

zeal and spirit in support of his majesty’s government, and in defence

of all that was dear to them, by timely preparation to resist and

frustrate any attempts of the enemy to disturb the quiet and shake

the security of this kingdom; he therefore, in the strongest manner,

recommended it to them to manifest, upon this occasion, that zeal for

the present happy establishment, and that affection for his majesty’s

person and government, by which the parliament of that nation had been

so often distinguished. Immediately after this message was communicated,

the house of commons unanimously resolved to present an address to the

lord-lieutenant, thanking his grace for the care and concern he had

shown for the safety of Ireland, in having imparted intelligence of

so great importance; desiring him to make use of such means as should

appear to him the most effectual for the security and defence of the

kingdom; and assuring him, that the house would make good whatever

expense should be necessarily incurred for that purpose. This

intimation, and the steps that were taken in consequence of it for the

defence of Ireland, produced such apprehensions and distraction among

the people of that kingdom, as had well nigh proved fatal to the public

credit. In the first transports of popular fear, there was such an

extraordinary run upon the banks of Dublin, that several considerable

bankers were obliged to stop payment; and the circulation was in danger

of being suddenly stagnated, when the lord-lieutenant, the members of

both houses of parliament, the lord-mayor, aldermen, merchants, and

principal traders of Dublin, engaged in an association to support public

credit, by taking the notes of bankers in payment: a resolution which

effectually answered the purpose intended.

LOYALTY OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS.

Howsoever the court of Versailles might have flattered itself that

their invading army would in Ireland be joined by a great number of

the natives, in all probability it would have been disappointed in this

hope, had their purposed descent even been carried into execution,

for no signs of disaffection to the reigning family appeared at this

juncture. On the contrary, the wealthy individuals of the Romish

persuasion offered to accommodate the government with large sums of

money, in case of necessity, to support the present establishment

against all its enemies; and the Roman catholics of the city of Cork,

in a body, presented an address to the lord-lieutenant, expressing their

loyalty, in the warmest terms of assurance. After having congratulated

his grace on the unparalleled success which had attended his majesty’s

arms, and expressed their sense of the king’s paternal tenderness for

his kingdom of Ireland, they acknowledged, with the deepest sense of

gratitude, that protection and indulgence they had enjoyed under

his majesty’s mild and auspicious reign. They professed the warmest

indignation at the threatened invasion of the kingdom by an enemy, who,

grown desperate from repeated defeats, might possibly make that attempt

as a last effort, vainly flattered with the imaginary hope of assistance

in Ireland, from the former attachment of their deluded predecessors.

They assured his grace, in the most solemn manner, that such schemes

were altogether inconsistent with their principles and intentions: that

they would, to the utmost exertion of their abilities, with their lives

and fortunes, join in the defence and support of his majesty’s royal

person and government against all invaders whatsoever: that they should

be always ready to concur in such measures, and to act such parts

in defence of the kingdom, in common with the rest of his majesty’s

subjects, as his grace in his great wisdom should be pleased to appoint;

and think themselves particularly happy to be under the direction

and command of so known an assertor of liberty, such an important and

distinguished governor. Finally, they expressed the most earnest wish,

that his majesty’s arms might be crowned with such a continuance of

success as should enable him to defeat the devices of all his enemies,

and obtain a speedy and honourable peace. This cordial address, which

was transmitted to the earl of Shannon, and by him presented to the duke

of Bedford, must have been very agreeable to the government at such a

critical conjuncture.

INSURRECTION IN DUBLIN.

Although no traces of disaffection to his majesty’s family appeared

on this trying occasion, it must nevertheless be acknowledged, that a

spirit of dissatisfaction broke out with extraordinary violence among

the populace of Dublin. The present lord-lieutenant was not remarkably

popular in his administration. He had bestowed one place of considerable

importance upon a gentleman whose person was obnoxious to many people

in that kingdom, and perhaps failed in that affability and condescension

which a free and ferocious nation expects to find in the character of

him to whose rule they are subjected. Whether the offence taken at his

deportment had created enemies to his person, or the nation in general

began to entertain doubts and jealousies of the government’s designs,

certain it is, great pains were taken to propagate a belief among the

lower sort of people, that an union would soon be effected between Great

Britain and Ireland; in which case this last kingdom would be deprived

of its parliament and independency, and be subjected to the same taxes

that are levied upon the people of England. This notion inflamed

the populace to such a degree, that they assembled in a prodigious

multitude, broke into the house of lords, insulted the peers, seated an

old woman on the throne, and searched for the journals, which, had they

been found, they would have committed to the flames. Not content with

this outrage, they compelled the members of both houses, whom they met

in the streets, to take an oath that they never would consent to such an

union, or give any vote contrary to the true interest of Ireland. Divers

coaches belonging to obnoxious persons were destroyed, and their horses

killed; and a gibbet was erected for one gentleman in particular, who

narrowly escaped the ungovernable rage of those riotous insurgents. A

body of horse and infantry were drawn out on this occasion, in order

to overawe the multitude, which at night dispersed of itself. Next

day addresses to the lord-lieutenant were agreed to by both houses of

parliament, and a committee of inquiry appointed, that the ringleaders

of the tumult might be discovered and brought to condign punishment.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

ALARM OF A DESCENT IN SCOTLAND.

When the ministry of England received the first advice, that M. Thurot

had escaped from Dunkirk with a small squadron of armed ships, having

on board a body of land-troops, designed for a private expedition on the

coast of Scotland or Ireland, expresses were immediately despatched to

the commanding officers of the forces in North Britain, with orders to

put the forts along the coast of that kingdom in the best posture of

defence; and to hold every thing in readiness to repel the enemy,

in case they should attempt a descent. In consequence of these

instructions, beacons were erected for the immediate communication of

intelligence; places of rendezvous appointed for the regular troops and

militia; and strict orders issued that no officer should absent himself

from his duty, on any pretence whatever. The greatest encomium that can

be given to the character of this partisan, is an account of the alarm

which the sailing of his puny armament spread through the whole extent

of such a powerful kingdom, whose fleets covered the ocean. Perhaps

Thurot’s career would have been sooner stopped, had commodore Boys been

victualled for a longer cruise; but this commander was obliged to put

into Leith for a supply of provisions, at the very time when Thurot

was seen hovering on the coast near Aberdeen; and, before the English

squadron was provided for the prosecution of the cruise, the other had

taken shelter at Gottenburgh, in Sweden.