CHAPTER XIX.

_Remarkable Detection of a Murder by William Andrew

Horne..... Popular Clamor against Lord George Sackville.....

His Address to the Public..... He demands a Court-

martial..... Substance of the charge against him..... His

Defence..... Remarks on it..... Sentence of the Court-

martial..... Earl Ferrers apprehended for Murder..... Tried

by the House of Peers..... Convicted, and executed at

Tyburn..... Assassination of Mr. Matthews, by one Stirn, a

Hessian..... New Bridge begun at Blackfriars.....

Conflagration in Portsmouth Yard..... Number of Ships taken

by the Enemy..... Progress of Monsieur Thurot..... He makes

a Descent at Carrickfergus..... Is slain, and his Ships

taken..... Exploit of Captain Kennedy..... Remarkable

Adventure of five Irish Seamen..... The Ramillies Man of War

wrecked upon the Bolthead..... Treaty with the

Cherokees..... Hostilities recommenced..... Their Towns

destroyed by Colonel Montgomery..... His Expedition to the

Middle Settlements..... Pate of the Garrison at Port

Loudoun..... The British Interest established on the

Ohio..... The French undertake the Siege of Quebec.....

Defeat Brigadier Murray, and oblige him to retire into the

Town..... Quebec besieged..... The Enemy’s Shipping

destroyed..... They abandon the Siege..... General Amherst

reduces the French Port at the Isle Royale..... and takes

Montreal..... French Ships destroyed in the Bay of

Chaleurs..... Total Reduction of Canada..... Demolition of

Louisbourg..... Insurrection of the Negroes in Jamaica.....

Action at Sea off Hispaniola..... Gallant Behaviour of

Captains O’Brien and Taylor in the Leeward Islands.....

Transactions in the East Indies..... Achievements in the Bay

of Quiberon..... Admiral Rodney destroys some Vessels on the

Coast of France..... Preparations for a secret

Expedition..... Astronomers sent to the East Indies.....

Earthquakes in Syria..... Wise Conduct of the Catholic

King..... Affairs of Portugal..... Turkish Ship of the Line

carried into Malta..... Patriotic Schemes of the King of

Denmark..... Memorial presented by the British Ambassador to

the States-General..... State of the Powers at War.....

Death of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel..... Offers made by

the Neutral Powers of a Place for holding a Congress.....

Skirmishes in Westphalia during the Winter..... Exactions by

the French in Westphalia..... Skirmish to the Advantage of

the Allies at Vacha..... Situation of the French Armies.....

Exploit of Colonel Luckner at Butzback..... The French

advance to Neustadt..... The Hereditary Prince of Brunswick

defeated at Corback..... but retrieves his honour at

Exdorf..... Victory obtained by the Allies at Warbourg.....

The Hereditary Prince beats up the Quarters of the French at

Zeirenberg..... Petty Advantages on both sides..... The

Hereditary Prince marches to the Lower Rhine..... Is worsted

at Canipen..... and repasses the Rhine..... Attempt of the

Enemy against him..... Advantages gained by M. de

Stainville..... The Allies and French go into Winter-

quarters_

DETECTION OF A MURDER.

The successes of the last campaign had flushed the whole nation with the

most elevated hope of future conquest, and the government was enabled

to take every step which appeared necessary to realize that sanguine

expectation; but the war became every day more and more Germanised.

Notwithstanding the immense sums that were raised for the expenses

of the current year; notwithstanding the great number of land-forces

maintained in the service, and the numerous fleets that filled the

harbours of Great Britain; we do not find that one fresh effort was made

to improve the advantages she had gained upon her own clement, or for

pushing the war on national principles: for the reduction of Canada was

no more than the consequence of the measures which had been taken in the

preceding campaign. But, before we record the progress of the war, it

may be necessary to specify some domestic occurrences that for a little

while engrossed the public attention. In the month of December, in the

preceding year, William Andrew Home, a gentleman of some fortune in

Derbyshire, was executed at Nottingham, in the seventy-fourth year of

his age, for the murder of an infant born of his own sister, in the year

one thousand seven hundred and twenty-four. On the third day after

the birth, this brutal ruffian thrust the child into a linen bag, and

accompanied by his own brother on horseback, conveyed it to Annesley,

in Nottinghamshire, where it was next day found dead under a hay-stack.

Though this cruel rustic knew how much he lay at the mercy of his

brother, whom he had made privy to this affair, far from endeavouring

to engage his secrecy by offices of kindness and marks of affection, he

treated him as an alien to his blood; not barely with indifference, but

even with the most barbarous rigour. He not only defrauded him of

his right, but exacted of him the lowest menial services; beheld him

starving in a cottage, while he lived himself in affluence; and refused

to relieve with a morsel of charity the children of his own brother

begging at his gate. It was the resentment of this pride and barbarity

which, in all likelihood, first impelled the other to revenge. He

pretended qualms of conscience, and disclosed the transaction of the

child to several individuals. As the brother was universally hated for

the insolence and brutality of his disposition, information was given

against him, and a resolution formed to bring him to condign punishment.

Being informed of this design, he tampered with his brother, and desired

that he would retract upon the trial the evidence he had given before

the justices. Though the brother rejected this scheme of subornation,

he offered to withdraw himself from the kingdom, if he might have five

pounds to defray the expense of his removal. So sordidly avaricious was

the other, that he refused to advance this miserable pittance, though

he knew his own life depended upon his compliance. He was accordingly

apprehended, tried, and convicted on his brother’s evidence; and then he

confessed the particulars of his exposing the infant. He denied, indeed,

that he had any thought the child would perish, and declared he intended

it as a present to a gentleman at whose gate it was laid; butas he

appeared to be a hardened miscreant, devoid of humanity, stained with

the complicated crimes of tyranny, fraud, rapine, incest, and murder,

very little credit is due to his declaration.--In the course of the

same month, part of Westminster was grievously alarmed by a dreadful

conflagration, which broke out in the house of a cabinet-maker near

Covent-garden, raged with great fury, and reduced near twenty houses to

ashes. Many others were damaged, and several persons either burned in

their apartments, or buried under the ruins. The bad consequences of

this calamity were in a great measure alleviated by the humanity of

the public, and the generous compassion of the prince of Wales, who

contributed liberally to the relief of the sufferers.

CLAMOUR AGAINST LORD SACKVILLE.

But no subject so much engrossed the conversations and passions of the

public as did the case of lord George Sackville, who had by this time

resigned his command in Germany, and returned to England, the country

which, of all others, it would have been his interest to avoid at this

juncture, if he was really conscious of the guilt the imputation of

which his character now sustained. With the first tidings of the battle

fought at Minden the defamation of this officer arrived. He was accused

of having disobeyed orders, and his conduct represented as infamous in

every particular. These were the suggestions of a vague report, which no

person could trace to its origin; yet this report immediately gave birth

to one of the most inflammatory pamphlets that ever was exhibited to the

public. The first charge had alarmed the people of England, jealous in

honour, sudden and rash in their sentiments, and obstinately adhering to

the prejudices they have espoused. The implied accusation in the orders

of prince Ferdinand, and the combustible matter superadded by the

pamphlet-writer, kindled up such a blaze of indignation in the minds of

the people, as admitted of no temperament or control. An abhorrence and

detestation of lord George Sackville, as a coward and a traitor, became

the universal passion, which acted by contagion, infecting all degrees

of people from the cottage to the throne; and no individual, who had the

least regard for his own character and quiet, would venture to preach

up moderation, or even advise a suspension of belief until more certain

information could be received. Fresh fuel was continually thrown in

by obscure authors of pamphlets and newspapers, who stigmatized and

insulted with such virulent perseverance, that no one would have

imagined they were actuated by personal motives, not retained by

mercenary booksellers, against that unfortunate nobleman. Not satisfied

with inventing circumstances to his dishonour, in his conduct on the

last occasion, they pretended to take a retrospective view of his

character, and produced a number of anecdotes to his prejudice, which

had never before seen the light, and but for this occasion had probably

never been known. Not that all the writings which appeared on this

subject contained fresh matters of aggravation against lord George

Sackville. Some writers, either animated by the hope of advantage, or

hired to betray the cause which they undertook to defend, entered the

lists as professed champions of the accused, assumed the pen in his

behalf, devoid of sense, unfurnished with materials, and produced

performances which could not fail to injure his character among all

those who believed that he countenanced their endeavours, and supplied

them with the facts and arguments of his defence. Such precisely was the

state of the dispute when lord George arrived in London. While prince

Ferdinand was crowned with laurel; while the king of Great Britain

approved his conduct, and, as the most glorious mark of that

approbation, invested him with the order of the garter, while his

name was celebrated through all England, and extolled, in the warmest

expressions of hyperbole, above all the heroes of antiquity; every mouth

was opened in execration of the late commander of the British troops in

Germany. He was now made acquainted with the particulars of his imputed

guilt, which he had before indistinctly learned. He was accused of

having disobeyed three successive orders he had received from the

general, during the action at Minden, to advance with the cavalry of

the right wing, which he commanded, and sustain the infantry that were

engaged; and, after the cavalry were put in motion, of having halted

them unnecessarily, and marched so slow, that they could not reach

the place of action in time to be of any service, by which conduct the

opportunity was lost of attacking the enemy when they gave way, and

rendering the victory more glorious and decisive. The first step which

lord George took towards his own vindication with the public, was in

printing a short address, entreating them to suspend their belief with

respect to his character, until the charge brought against him should

be legally discussed by a court-martial, a trial which he had already

solicited, and was in hopes of obtaining.

HE DEMANDS A COURT-MARTIAL.

Finding himself unable to stem the tide of popular prejudice, which

flowed against him with irresistible impetuosity, he might have retired

in quiet and safety, and left it to ebb at leisure. This would have

been generally deemed a prudential step, by all those who consider the

unfavourable medium through which every particular of his conduct must

have been viewed at that juncture, even by men who cherished the most

candid intentions; when they reflected upon the power, influence, and

popularity of his accuser, the clanger of aggravating the resentment of

the sovereign, already too conspicuous, and the risk of hazarding his

life on the honour and integrity of witnesses, who might think their

fortunes depended upon the nature of the evidence they should give.

Notwithstanding those suggestions, lord George, seemingly impatient of

the imputation under which his character laboured, insisted upon the

privilege of a legal trial, which was granted accordingly, after

the judges had given it as their opinion that he might be tried by

a court-martial, though he no longer retained any commission in the

service. A court of general officers being appointed and assembled to

inquire into his conduct, the judge-advocate gave him to understand that

he was charged with having disobeyed the orders of prince Ferdinand,

relative to the battle of Minden. That the reader may have the more

distinct idea of the charge, it is necessary to remind him, that lord

George Sackville commanded the cavalry of the right wing, consisting of

Hanoverian and British horse, disposed in two lines, the British being

at the extremity of the right, extending to the village of Hartum; the

Hanoverian cavalry forming the left, that reached almost to an open

wood or grove, which divided the horse from the line of infantry,

particularly from that part of the line of infantry consisting of

two brigades of British foot, the Hanoverian guards, and Hardenberg’s

regiment. This was the body of troops which sustained the brunt of the

battle with the most incredible courage and perseverance. They of their

own accord advanced to attack the left of the enemy’s cavalry, through

a most dreadful fire of artillery and small arms, to which they were

exposed in front and flank; they withstood the repeated attacks of the

whole French gendarmerie, whom at length they totally routed, together

with a body of Saxon troops on their left, and to their valour the

victory was chiefly owing. The ground from which these troops advanced

was a kind of heath or plain, which opened a considerable way to the

left, where the rest of the army was formed in order of battle; but on

the right it was bounded by the wood, on the other side of which the

cavalry of the right wing was posted, having in front the village of

Halen, from whence the French had been driven by the piquets in the army

there posted, and in front of them a windmill, situated in the middle

space between them and a battery placed on the left of the enemy.

Early in the morning captain Malhorti had, by order of prince Ferdinand,

posted the cavalry of the right wing in the situation we have just

described; the village of Hartum with enclosures on the right, a narrow

wood on the left, the village of Halen in their front, and a windmill

in the middle of an open plain, which led directly to the enemy. In this

position lord George Sackville was directed to remain, until he should

receive further orders; and here it was those orders were given which he

was said to have disobeyed. Indeed he was previously charged with having

neglected the orders of the preceding evening, which imported that the

horses should be saddled at one in the morning, though the tents were

not to be struck, nor the troops under arms, until they should receive

further orders. He was accused of having disobeyed these orders, and of

having come late into the field, after the cavalry was formed. Captain

Winchingrode, aidecamp to prince Ferdinand, declared upon oath, that

while the infantry of the right wing were advancing towards the enemy

for the second time, he was sent with orders to lord George Sackville

to advance with the cavalry of the right wing, and sustain the infantry,

which was going to engage, by forming the horse under his command, upon

the heath, in a third line behind the regiments; that he delivered

these orders to lord George Sackville, giving him to understand, that he

should march the cavalry through the woods or trees on his left to the

heath, where they were to be formed; that on his return to the heath, he

met colonel Fitzroy riding at full gallop towards lord George; and that

he (Winchingrode) followed him back, in order to hasten the march of the

cavalry. Colonel Ligonier, another of the prince’s aidsdecamp, deposed,

that he carried orders from the general to lord George to advance with

the cavalry, in order to profit from the disorder which appeared in the

enemy’s cavalry; that lord George made no answer to these orders, but

turning to the troops, commanded them to draw their swords, and march;

that the colonel seeing them advance a few paces on the right forwards,

told his lordship he must march to the left; that in the meantime

colonel Fitzroy arriving with orders for the British cavalry only to

advance, lord George said the orders were contradictory; and colonel

Ligonier replied, they differed only in numbers, but the destination of

his march was the same, to the left. Colonel Fitzroy, the third aidecamp

to prince Ferdinand, gave evidence that when he told lord George it was

the prince’s order for the British cavalry to advance towards the left,

his lordship observed that it was different from the order brought by

colonel Ligonier, and he could not think the prince intended to break

the line; that he asked which way the cavalry was to march, and who

was to be their guide; that when he (the aidecamp) offered to lead

the column through the wood on the left, his lordship seemed still

dissatisfied with the order, saying, it did not agree with the order

brought by colonel Ligonier, and desired to be conducted in person to

the prince, that he might have an explanation from his own mouth; a

resolution which was immediately executed. The next evidence, an officer

of rank in the army, made oath that, in his opinion, when the orders

were delivered to lord George, his lordship was alarmed to a very great

degree, and seemed to be in the utmost confusion. A certain nobleman,

of high rank and unblemished reputation, declared, that captain

Winchingrode having told him it was absolutely necessary that the

cavalry should march, and form a line to support the foot, he had given

orders to the second line to march, and form a line to support the foot;

that as soon as they arrived at the place where the action began, he was

met by colonel Fitzroy, with an order for the cavalry to advance as

fast as possible; that in marching to this place, an order came to

halt, until they could be joined by the first line of cavalry; that

afterwards, in advancing, they were again halted by lord George

Sackville; that, in his opinion, they might have marched with more

expedition, and even come up in time enough to act against the enemy:

some other officers who were examined on this subject, agreed with the

marquis in these sentiments.

Lord George, in his defence, proved, by undeniable evidence, that he

never received the orders issued on the eve of the battle, nor any sort

of intimation or plan of action, although he was certainly entitled to

some such communication, as commander-in-chief of the British forces;

that, nevertheless, the orders concerning the horses were obeyed by

those who received them; that lord George, instead of loitering or

losing time while the troops were forming, prepared to put himself at

the head of the cavalry on the first notice that they were in motion;

that he was so eager to perform his duty, as to set out from his

quarters without even waiting for an aidecamp to attend him, and was in

the field before any general officer of his division. He declared that,

when captain Winchingrode delivered the order to form the cavalry in one

line, making a third, to advance and sustain the infantry, he neither

heard him say he was to march by the left, nor saw him point with

his sword to the wood through which he was to pass. Neither of these

directions were observed by any of the aids-de-camp or officers then

present, except one gentleman, the person who bore witness to the

confusion in the looks and deportment of his lordship. It was proved

that the nearest and most practicable way of advancing against the enemy

was by the way of the windmill, to the left of the village of Halen.

It appeared that lord George imagined this was the only way by which he

should be ordered to advance; that, in this persuasion, he had sent an

officer to reconnoitre the village of Halen, as an object of importance,

as it would have been upon the flank of the cavalry in advancing

forwards; that when he received the order from Winchingrode to form the

line, and advance, he still imagined this was his route, and on this

supposition immediately detached an aidecamp to remove a regiment of

Saxe-Gotha which was in the front; that he sent a second to observe the

place where the infantry were, and a third to reconnoitre the enemy;

that in a few minutes colonel Ligonier coming up with an order from

prince Ferdinand to advance the cavalry, his lordship immediately

drew his sword, and ordered them to march forward by the windmill. The

colonel declared that when he delivered the order, he added, “by the

left;” but lord George affirmed that he heard no such direction, nor

did it reach the ears of any other person then present, except of that

officer who witnessed to the same direction given by Winchingrode. It

was proved that immediately after the troops were put in motion, colonel

Fitzroy arrived with an order from prince Ferdinand, importing that

the British cavalry only should advance by the left; that lord George

declared their orders were contradictory, and seemed the more puzzled,

as he understood that both these gentlemen came off nearly at the same

time from the prince, and were probably directed to communicate the same

order. It was therefore natural to suppose there was a mistake, as there

might be danger in breaking the line, as the route by the wood appeared

more difficult and tedious than that by the windmill, which led directly

through open ground to the enemy: and as he could not think that if a

body of horse was immediately wanted, the general would send for the

British, that were at the farthest extremity of the wing, rather

than for the Hanoverian cavalry who formed the left of the line, and

consequently were much nearer the scene of action. It was proved that

lord George, in this uncertainty, resolved to apply for an explanation

to the prince in person, who he understood was at a small distance;

that with this view he set out with all possible expedition; that having

entered the wood, and perceived that the country beyond it opened

sooner to the left than he had imagined, and captain Smith, his aidecamp

advising, that the British cavalry should be put in motion he sent back

that gentleman, with orders for them to advance by the left with all

possible despatch; that he rode up to the general, who received him

without any marks of displeasure, and ordered him to bring up the whole

cavalry of the right wing in a line upon the heath; an order, as the

reader will perceive, quite different from that which was so warmly

espoused by the aidecamp; that as the marquis of Granby had already put

the second line in motion, according to a separate order which he had

received, and the head of his column was already in view, coming out

of the wood, lord George thought it necessary to halt the troops on the

left until the right should come into the line; and afterwards sent them

orders to march slower, that two regiments, which had been thrown out

of the line, might have an opportunity to replace themselves in their

proper stations.

With respect to the confusion which one officer affirmed was perceivable

in the countenance and deportment of this commander, a considerable

number of other officers then present being interrogated by his

lordship, unanimously declared that they saw no such marks of confusion,

but that he delivered his orders with all the marks of coolness and

deliberation. The candid reader will of himself determine, whether a

man’s heart is to be judged by any change of his complexion, granting

such a change to have happened; whether the evidence of one witness,

in such a case, will weigh against the concurrent testimony of all

the officers whose immediate business it was to attend and observe the

commander: whether it was likely that an officer, who had been more than

once in actual service, and behaved without reproach so as to attain

such an eminent rank in the army, should exhibit symptons of fear and

confusion, when there was in reality no appearance of danger; for none

of the orders imported that he should attack the enemy, but only advance

to sustain the infantry. The time which elapsed from the first order he

received by captain Winchingrode, to the arrival of colonel Ligonier,

did not exceed eight minutes, during which his aide-camp, captain Hugo,

was employed in removing the Saxe-Gotha regiment from the front, by

which he proposed to advance. From that period till the cavalry actually

marched in consequence of an order from lord George, the length of time

was differently estimated in the opinion of different witnesses, but at

a medium computed by the judge-advocate at fifteen minutes, during

which the following circumstances were transacted: The troops were

first ordered to advance forwards, then halted; the contradictory orders

arrived and were disputed; the commander desired the two aidsdecamp

to agree about which was the precise order, and he would obey it

immediately: each insisting upon that which he had delivered, lord

George hastened to the general for an explanation; and, as he passed the

wood, sent back captain Smith to the right of the cavalry, which was at

a considerable distance, to put the British horse in motion. We shall

not pretend to determine whether the commander of such an important body

may be excusable for hesitating, when he received contradictory orders

at the same time, especially when both orders run counter to his own

judgment, whether in that case it is allowable for him to suspend

the operation for a few minutes, in order to consult in person the

commander-in-chief about a step of such consequence to the preservation

of the whole army. Neither will we venture to decide dogmatically on the

merits of the march, after the cavalry were put in motion; whether

they marched too slow, or were unnecessarily halted in their way to the

heath. It was proved, indeed, that lord George was always remarkably

slow in his movements of cavalry, on the supposition that if horses are

blown they must be unfit for service, and that the least hurry is apt to

disorder the line of horse to such a degree, as would rob them of their

proper effect, and render all their efforts abortive. This being the

system of lord George Sackville, it may deserve consideration, whether

he could deviate from it on this delicate occasion, without renouncing

the dictates of his own judgment and discretion; and whether he was

at liberty to use his own judgment, after having received the order to

advance. After all, whether he was intentionally guilty; and what were

the motives by which he was really actuated, are questions which his

own conscience alone can solve. Even granting him to have hesitated from

perplexity, to have lingered from vexation, to have failed through error

of judgment, he will probably find favour with the candid and humane

part of his fellow-subjects, when they reflect upon the nature of his

situation, placed at the head of such a body of cavalry, uninstructed

and uninformed of plan or circumstance, divided from the rest of the

army, unacquainted with the operations of the day, chagrined with doubt

and disappointment, and perplexed by contradictory orders, neither of

which he could execute without offering violence to his own judgment;

when they consider the endeavours he used to manifest his obedience;

the last distinct order which he in person received and executed; that

mankind are liable to mistakes; that the cavalry were not originally

intended to act, as appears in the account of the battle published at

the Hague, by the authority of prince Ferdinand, expressly declaring

that the cavalry on the right did not act, because it was destined

to sustain the infantry in a third line; that if it had really been

designed for action, it ought either to have been posted in another

place, or permitted to advance straight forwards by the windmill,

according to the idea of its commander; finally, when they recall to

view the general confusion that seems to have prevailed through the

manouvres of that morning, and remember some particulars of the action;

that the brigades of British artillery had no orders until they applied

to lord George Sackville, who directed them to the spot where they

acquitted themselves with so much honour and effect, in contributing to

the success of the day; that the glory and advantage acquired by the few

brigades of infantry, who may be said to have defeated the whole French

army, was in no respect owing to any general or particular orders or

instructions, but entirely flowing from the native valour of the troops,

and the spirited conduct of their immediate commanders; and that a great

number of officers in the allied army, even of those who remained on

the open heath, never saw the face of the enemy, or saw them at such a

distance that they could not distinguish more than the hats and the arms

of the British regiments with which they were engaged. With respect to

the imputation of cowardice levelled at lord George by the unthinking

multitude, and circulated with such industry and clamour, we ought to

consider it as a mob accusation which the bravest of men, even the

great duke of Marlborough, could not escape; we ought to receive it as

a dangerous suspicion, which strikes at the root of character, and may

blast that honour in a moment which the soldier has acquired in a long

course of painful service, at the continual hazard of his life; we ought

to distrust it as a malignant charge, altogether inconsistent with the

former conduct of the person accused, as well as with his subsequent

impatience and perseverance in demanding a trial, to which he never

would have been called; a trial which, though his life was at stake, and

his cause out of countenance, he sustained with such courage, fortitude,

and presence of mind, as even his enemies themselves could not help

admiring. Thus have we given a succinct detail of this remarkable

affair, with that spirit of impartiality, that sacred regard to

truth, which the importance of history demands. To the best of our

recollection, we have forgot no essential article of the accusation,

nor suppressed any material circumstance urged in defence of lord George

Sackville. Unknown to his person, unconnected with his friends, unmoved

by fear, unbiassed by interest, we have candidly obeyed the dictates of

justice, and the calls of humanity, in our endeavours to dissipate the

clouds of prejudice and misapprehension; warmed, perhaps, with an honest

disdain at the ungenerous, and in our opinion, unjust persecution, which

previous to his trial, an officer of rank, service, and character, the

descendant of an illustrious family, the son of a nobleman universally

respected, a Briton, a fellow-subject, had undergone.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

SENTENCE OF THE COURT-MARTIAL.

The court-martial having examined the evidence and heard the defence,

gave judgment in these words: “The court, upon due consideration of the

whole matter before them, is of opinion that lord George Sackville is

guilty of having disobeyed the orders of prince Ferdinand of Brunswick,

whom he was, by his commission and instructions, directed to obey as

commander-in-chief, according to the rules of war; and it is the further

opinion of this court, that the said lord George Sackville is, and he

is hereby adjudged, unfit to serve his majesty in any military capacity

whatsoever.” His sentence was confirmed by the king, who moreover

signified his pleasure that it should be given out in public orders, not

only in Britain, but in America, and every quarter of the globe where

any English troops happened to be, that officers being convinced that

neither high birth nor great employments can shelter offences of such

a nature, and that seeing they are subject to censures much worse than

death to a man who has any sense of honour, they may avoid the fatal

consequences arising from disobedience of orders. To complete the

disgrace of this unfortunate general, his majesty in council called for

the council-book, and ordered the name of lord George Sackville to be

struck out of the list of privy-counsellors.

EARL FERRERS APPREHENDED.

This summer was distinguished by another trial still more remarkable.

Laurence earl Ferrers, a nobleman of a violent spirit, who had committed

many outrages, and, in the opinion of all who knew him, given manifold

proofs of insanity, at length perpetrated a murder, which subjected him

to the cognizance of justice. His deportment to his lady was so brutal,

that application had been made to the house of peers, and a separation

effected by act of parliament. Trustees were nominated; and one Mr.

Johnson, who had, during the best part of his life, been employed in

the family, was now appointed receiver of the estates, at the earl’s own

request. The conduct of this man, in the course of his stewardship,

gave umbrage to lord Ferrers, whose disposition was equally jealous and

vindictive. He imagined all his own family had conspired against his

interest, and that Johnson was one of their accomplices; that he had

been instrumental in obtaining the act of parliament, which his lordship

considered as a grievous hardship; that he had disappointed him in

regard to a certain contract about coal-mines; in a word, that there was

a collusion between Johnson and the earl’s adversaries. Fired with

these suppositions, he first expressed his resentment, by giving Johnson

notice to quit the farm which he possessed on the estate; but finding

the trustees had confirmed the lease, he determined to gratify his

revenge by assassination, and laid his plan accordingly. On Sunday, the

thirteenth day of January, he appointed this unhappy man to come to

his house on the Friday following, in order to peruse papers, or settle

accounts; and Johnson went thither without the least suspicion of what

was prepared for his reception; for although he was no stranger to

his lordship’s dangerous disposition, and knew he had some time before

incurred his displeasure, yet he imagined his resentment had entirely

subsided, as the earl had of late behaved to him with remarkable

complacency. He therefore, at the time appointed, repaired to his

lordship’s house at Stanton, in Leicestershire, at the distance of a

short mile from his own habitation, and was admitted by a maid-servant.

The earl had dismissed every person in the house, upon various

pretences, except three women who were left in the kitchen. Johnson,

advancing to the door of his apartment, was received by his lordship,

who desired him to walk into another room, where he joined him in a few

minutes, and then the door was locked on the inside. After a great deal

of warm expostulation, the earl insisted upon his subscribing a paper,

acknowledging himself a villain; and on his refusing to comply with this

demand, declared he would put him to death. In vain the unfortunate

man remonstrated against this cruel injustice, and deprecated the

indignation of this furious nobleman. He remained deaf to all his

entreaties, drew forth a pistol, which he had loaded for the purpose,

and commanding him to implore heaven’s mercy on his knees, shot him

through the body while he remained in that supplicating attitude. The

consequence of this violence was not immediate death; but his lordship,

seeing the wretched victim still alive and sensible, though agonized

with pain, felt a momentary motion of pity. He ordered his servants to

convey Mr. Johnson up stairs to a bed, to send for a surgeon, and give

immediate notice of the accident to the wounded man’s family. When Mr.

Johnson’s daughter came to the house, she was met by the earl, who told

her he had shot her father on purpose, and with deliberation. The same

declaration he made to the surgeon on his arrival. He stood by him

while he examined the wound, described the manner in which the ball had

penetrated, and seemed surprised that it should be lodged within the

body. When he demanded the surgeon’s opinion of the wound, the operator

thought proper to temporize for his own safety, as well as for the sake

of the public, lest the earl should take some other desperate step, or

endeavour to escape. He therefore amused him with hopes of Johnson’s

recovery, about which he now seemed extremely anxious. He supported

his spirits by immoderate drinking, after having retired to another

apartment with the surgeon, whom he desired to take all possible care of

his patient. He declared, however, that he did not repent of what he had

done; that Johnson was a villain who deserved to die; that, in case of

his death, he (the earl) would surrender himself to the house of peers

and take his trial. He said he could justify the action to his own

conscience, and owned his intention was to have killed Johnson outright;

but as he still survived, and was in pain, he desired that all possible

means might be used for his recovery. Nor did he seem altogether

neglectful of his own safety: he endeavoured to tamper with the surgeon,

and suggest what evidence he should give when called before a court of

justice. He continued to drink himself into a state of intoxication,

and all the cruelty of his hate seemed to return. He would not allow

the wounded man to be removed to his own house; saying he would keep him

under his own roof that he might plague the villain. He returned to

the chamber where Johnson lay, insulted him with the most opprobrious

language, threatened to shoot him through the head, and could hardly be

restrained from committing further acts of violence on the poor man, who

was already in extremity. After he retired to bed, the surgeon procured

a sufficient number of assistants, who conveyed Mr. Johnson in an easy

chair to his own house, where he expired that same morning in great

agonies. The same surgeon assembled a number of armed men to seize the

murderer, who at first threatened resistance, but was soon apprehended,

endeavouring to make his escape, and committed to the county prison.

From thence he was conveyed to London by the gaoler of Leicester, and

conducted by the usher of the black rod and his deputy into the house

of lords, where the coroner’s inquest, and the affidavits touching the

murder, being read, the gaoler delivered up his prisoner to the care

of the black rod, and he was immediately committed to the Tower. He

appeared very calm, composed, and unconcerned, from the time of his

being apprehended; conversed coolly on the subject of his imprisonment;

made very pertinent remarks upon the nature of the _habeas-corpus_

act of parliament, of which he hoped to avail himself; and when they

withdrew from the house of peers, desired he might not be visited by

any of his relations or acquaintances. His understanding, which was

naturally good, had been well cultivated; his arguments were rational,

but his conduct was frantic.

TRIED BY THE HOUSE OF PEERS.

The circumstances of the assassination appeared so cruel and deliberate,

that the people cried aloud for vengeance; and the government gave up

the offender to the justice of his country. The lord-keeper Henley was

appointed lord high-steward for the trial of earl Ferrers, and sat in

state with all the peers and judges in Westminster-hall, which was for

this purpose converted into a very august tribunal. On the sixteenth day

of April the delinquent was brought from the Tower in a coach, attended

by the major of the Tower, the gentleman-gaoler, the warders, and a

detachment of the foot-guards. He was brought into court about ten; and

the lord-steward with the peers taking their places, he was arraigned

aloud in the midst of an infinite concourse of people, including many

foreigners, who seemed wonderfully struck with the magnificence and

solemnity of the tribunal. The murder was fully proved by unquestionable

evidence; but the earl pleaded insanity of mind; and, in order to

establish this plea, called many witnesses to attest his lunacy in a

variety of instances, which seemed too plainly to indicate a disordered

imagination: unfounded jealousy of plots and conspiracies, unconnected

ravings, fits of musing, incoherent ejaculations, sudden starts of

fury, denunciations of unprovoked revenge, frantic gesticulations, and a

strange caprice of temper, were proved to have distinguished his conduct

and deportment. It appeared that lunacy had been a family taint,

and affected divers of his lordship’s relations; that a solicitor of

reputation had renounced his business on the full persuasion of his

being disordered in his brain; that long before this unhappy event, his

nearest relations had deliberated upon the expediency of taking out a

commission of lunacy against him, and were prevented by no other reason

than the apprehension of being convicted of _scandalum magnatum_, should

the jury find his lordship _compos mentis_: a circumstance which, in all

probability, would have happened, inasmuch as the earl’s madness did not

appear in his conversation, but in his conduct. A physician of eminence,

whose practice was confined to persons labouring under this infirmity,

declared that the particulars of the earl’s deportment and personal

behaviour seemed to indicate lunacy. Indeed all his neighbours and

acquaintances had long considered him as a madman; and a certain noble

lord declared in the house of peers, when the bill of separation was on

the carpet, that he looked upon him in the light of a maniac, and that

if some effectual step was not taken to divest him of the power of doing

mischief, he did not doubt but that one day they should have occasion to

try him for murder. The lawyers, who managed the prosecution in behalf

of the crown, endeavoured to invalidate the proofs of his lunacy, by

observing that his lordship was never so much deprived of his reason but

that he could distinguish between good and evil; that the murder he

had committed was the effect of revenge for a conceived injury of

some standing; that the malice was deliberate, and the plan artfully

conducted; that immediately after the deed was perpetrated, the earl’s

conversation and reasoning were cool and consistent, until he drank

himself into a state of intoxication; that in the opinion of the

greatest lawyers, no criminal can avail himself of the plea of lunacy,

provided the crime was committed during a lucid interval; but his

lordship, far from exhibiting any marks of insanity, had in the course

of this trial displayed uncommon understanding and sagacity in examining

the witnesses, and making many shrewd and pertinent observations on

the evidence which was given. These sentiments were conformable to the

opinion of the peers, who unanimously declared him guilty.--After all,

in examining the vicious actions of a man who has betrayed manifest and

manifold symptoms of insanity, it is not easy to distinguish those which

are committed during the lucid interval. The suggestions of madness are

often momentary and transient: the determinations of a lunatic, though

generally rash and instantaneous, are sometimes the result of artful

contrivance; but there is always an absurdity which is the criterion of

the disease, either in the premises or conclusion. The earl, it is true,

had formed a deliberate plan for the perpetration of the murder; but he

had taken no precautions for his own safety or escape; and this neglect

will the more plainly appear to have been the criterion of insanity, if

we reflect that he justified what he had done as a meritorious action;

and declared he would, upon Mr. Johnson’s death, surrender himself to

the house of lords. Had he been impelled to this violence by a sudden

gust of passion, it could not be expected that he should have taken

any measure for his own preservation; but as it was the execution of a

deliberate scheme, and his lordship was by no means defective in point

of ingenuity, he might easily have contrived means for concealing

the murder until he should have accomplished his escape; and, in our

opinion, any other than a madman would either have taken some such

measures, or formed some plan for the concealment of his own guilt. The

design itself seems to have been rather an intended sacrifice to justice

than a gratification of revenge. Neither do we think that the sanity of

his mind was ascertained by the accuracy and deliberation with which he

made his remarks, and examined the evidence at his trial. The influence

of his frenzy might be past; though it was no sign of sound reason to

supply the prosecutor with such an argument to his prejudice. Had his

judgment been really unimpaired, he might have assumed the mask of

lunacy for his own preservation. The trial was continued for two days;

and on the third the lord-steward, after having made a short speech

touching the heinous nature of the offence, pronounced the same sentence

of death upon the earl which malefactors of the lowest class undergo:

that from the Tower, in which he was imprisoned, he should, on the

Monday following, be led to the common place of execution, there to be

hanged by the neck, and his body be afterwards dissected and anatomized.

This last part of the sentence seemed to shock the criminal extremely;

he changed colour, his jaw quivered, and he appeared to be in great

agitation; but during the remaining part of his life he behaved

with surprising composure, and even unconcern. After he had received

sentence, the lords, his judges, by virtue of a power vested in them,

respited his execution for one month, that he might have time to settle

his temporal and spiritual concerns. Before sentence was passed, the

earl read a paper, in which he begged pardon of their lordships for

the trouble he had given, as well as for having, against his own

inclination, pleaded lunacy at the request of his friends. He thanked

them for the candid trial with which he had been indulged, and entreated

their lordships to recommend him to the king for mercy. He afterwards

sent a letter to his majesty, remonstrating, that he was the

representative of a very ancient and honourable family, which had been

allied to the crown; and requesting that, if he could not be favoured

with the species of death which in cases of treason distinguishes the

nobleman from the plebeian, he might at least, out of consideration for

his family, be allowed to suffer in the Tower, rather than at the common

place of execution; but this indulgence was refused. From his return

to the Tower to the day of his execution, he betrayed no mark of

apprehension or impatience, but regulated his affairs with precision,

and conversed without concern or restraint.

EARL FERRERS EXECUTED.

On the fifth day of May, his body being demanded by the sheriffs at the

Tower-gate, in consequence of a writ under the great seal of England,

directed to the lieutenant of the Tower, his lordship desired permission

to go in his own landau; and appeared gaily dressed in a light coloured

suit of clothes, embroidered with silver. He was attended in the landau

by one of the sheriffs, and the chaplain of the Tower, followed by the

chariots of the sheriffs, a mourning coach and six, filled with his

friends, and a hearse for the conveyance of his body. He was guarded by

a posse of constables, and a party of horse grenadiers, and a detachment

of infantry; and in this manner the procession moved from the Tower,

through an infinite concourse of people, to Tyburn, where the gallows,

and the scaffold erected under it, appeared covered with black baize.

The earl behaved with great composure to Mr. sheriff Vaillant, who

attended him in the landau: he observed that the gaiety of his apparel

might seem odd on such an occasion, but that he had particular reasons

for wearing that suit of clothes; he took notice of the vast multitude

which crowded round him, brought thither, he supposed, by curiosity to

see a nobleman hanged: he told the sheriff he had applied to the king by

letter, that he might be permitted to die in the Tower, where the earl

of Essex, one of his ancestors, had been beheaded in the reign of queen

Elizabeth; an application which, he said, he had made with the more

confidence, as he had the honour to quarter part of his majesty’s arms.

He expressed some displeasure at being executed as a common felon,

exposed to the eyes of such a multitude. The chaplain who had never

been admitted to him before, hinting that some account of his lordship’s

sentiments on religion would be expected by the public, he made answer

that he did not think himself accountable to the public for his private

sentiments; that he had always adored one God, the creator of the

universe; and with respect to any particular opinions of his own, he

had never propagated them, or endeavoured to make proselytes, because

he thought it was criminal to disturb the established religion of

his country, as lord Bolingbroke had done by the publication of

his writings. He added, that the great number of sects, and the

multiplication of religious disputes, had almost banished morality. With

regard to the crime for which he suffered, he declared that he had

no malice against Mr. Johnson; and that the murder was owing to a

perturbation of mind, occasioned by a variety of crosses and vexations.

When he approached the place of execution, he expressed an earnest

desire to see and take leave of a certain person who waited in the

coach, a person for whom he entertained the most sincere regard and

affection; but the sheriff prudently observing that such an interview

might shock him, at a time when he had occasion for all his fortitude

and recollection, he acquiesced in the justness of the remark, and

delivered to him a pocket-book, a ring, and a purse, desiring they might

be given to that person, whom he now declined seeing. On his arrival at

Tyburn he came out of the landau, and ascended the scaffold with a firm

step and undaunted countenance. He refused to join the chaplain in his

devotions; but kneeling with him on black cushions, he repeated the

Lord’s Prayer, which he said he had always admired; and added, with

great energy, “O Lord, forgive me all my errors, pardon all my sins.”

After this exercise, he presented his watch to Mr. sheriff Vaillant;

thanked him and the other gentlemen for all their civilities;

and signified his desire of being buried at Breden or Stanton, in

Leicestershire. Finally, he gratified the executioner with a purse of

money; then, the halter being adjusted to his neck, he stepped upon a

little stage, erected upon springs, on the middle of the scaffold; and

the cap being pulled over his eyes, the sheriff made a signal, at which

the stage fell from under his feet, and he was left suspended. His

body having hung an hour and five minutes, was cut down, placed in the

hearse, and conveyed to the public theatre for dissection; where being

opened, and lying for some days as the subject of a public lecture, at

length it was carried off and privately interred. Without all doubt,

this unhappy nobleman’s disposition was so dangerously mischievous, that

it became necessary, for the good of society, either to confine him for

life as au incorrigible lunatic, or give him up at once as a sacrifice

to justice. Perhaps it might be no absurd or unreasonable regulation in

the legislature, to divest all lunatics of the privilege of insanity,

and, in cases of enormity, subject them to the common penalties of the

law; for though, in the eye of casuistry, consciousness must enter into

the constitution of guilt, the consequences of murder committed by a

maniac may be as pernicious to society as those of the most criminal

and deliberate assassination, and the punishment of death can be hardly

deemed unjust or rigorous, when inflicted upon a mischievous being,

divested of all the perceptions of reason and humanity. At any rate,

as the nobility of England are raised by many illustrious distinctions

above the level of plebeians, and as they are eminently distinguished

from them in suffering punishment for high treason, which the law

considers as the most atrocious crime that can be committed, it might

not be unworthy of the notice of the legislature to deliberate whether

some such pre-eminence ought not to be extended to noblemen convicted of

other crimes, in order to alleviate as much as possible the disgrace of

noble families which have deserved well of their country; to avoid

any circumstance that may tend to diminish the lustre of the English

nobility in the eyes of foreign nations; or to bring it into contempt

with the common people of our own, already too licentious, and prone to

abolish those distinctions which serve as the basis of decorum, order,

and subordination.

ASSASSINATION OF MR. MATTHEWS.

Homicide is the reproach of England: one would imagine there is

something in the climate of this country that not only disposes the

natives to this inhuman outrage, but even infects foreigners who reside

among them. Certain it is, high passions will break out into the most

enormous violence in that country where they are least controlled by the

restraint of regulation and discipline; and it is equally certain, that

in no civilized country under the sun there is such a relaxation of

discipline, either religious or civil, as in England. The month of

August produced a remarkable instance of desperate revenge, perpetrated

by one Stirn, a native of Hesse-Cassel, inflamed and exasperated by a

false punctilio of honour. This unhappy young man was descended of a

good family, and possessed many accomplishments both of mind and person;

but his character was distinguished by such a jealous sensibility, as

rendered him unhappy in himself, and disagreeable to his acquaintance.

After having for some years performed the office of usher in a

boarding-school, he was admitted to the house of one Mr. Matthews, a

surgeon, in order to teach him the classics, and instruct his children

in music, which he perfectly understood. He had not long resided in his

family, when the surgeon took umbrage at some part of his conduct, taxed

him roughly with fraud and ingratitude, and insisted upon his removing

to another lodging. Whether he rejected this intimation, or found

difficulty in procuring another apartment, the surgeon resolved to expel

him by violence, called in the assistance of a peace-officer, and turned

him out into the street in the night, after having loaded him with the

most provoking reproaches. These injuries and disgraces operating upon

a mind jealous by nature and galled by adversity, produced a kind

of frenzy of resentment, and he took the desperate resolution of

sacrificing Mr. Matthews to his revenge. Next day, having provided a

case of pistols, and charged them for the occasion, he reinforced

his rage by drinking an unusual quantity of wine, and repaired in

the evening to a public house, which Mr. Matthews frequented, in the

neighbourhood of Hatton-Garden. There he accordingly found the unhappy

victim sitting with some of his friends; and the surgeon, instead of

palliating his former conduct, began to insult him afresh with the most

opprobrious invectives. Stirn, exasperated by this additional indignity,

pulled his pistols from his bosom; shot the surgeon, who immediately

expired; and discharged the other at his own breast, though his

confusion was such that it did not take effect. He was apprehended on

the spot, and conveyed to prison; where, for some days, he refused all

kind of sustenance, but afterwards became more composed. At his trial

he pleaded insanity of mind; but, being found guilty, he resolved to

anticipate the execution of the sentence. That same evening he

drank poison; and, notwithstanding all the remedies that could be

administered, died in strong convulsions. His body was publicly

dissected, according to the sentence of the law; and afterwards interred

with those marks of indignity which are reserved for the perpetrators of

suicide.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

NEW BRIDGE BEGUN AT BLACKFRIARS.

We shall close the domestic occurrences of this year with an account of

two incidents, which, though of a very different nature in respect of

each other, nevertheless concurred in demonstrating that the internal

wealth and vigour of the nation were neither drained nor diminished

by the enormous expense and inconveniencies of the war. The committee

appointed to manage the undertaking for a new bridge over the river

Thames, at Blackfriars, having received and examined a variety of plans

presented by different artists, at length gave the preference to the

design of one Mr. Mylne, a young architect, a native of North Britain,

just returned from the prosecution of his studies at Rome, where he had

gained the prize in the capital, which the academy of that city bestows

on him who produces the most beautiful and useful plan on a given

subject of architecture. This young man being in London, on his return

to his own country, was advised to declare himself a candidate for the

superintendency of the new bridge; and the plan which he presented

was approved and adopted. The place being already ascertained, the

lord-mayor of London, attended by the committee, and a great concourse

of people, repaired to Blackfriars, and laid the first stone of the

bridge; placing upon it a plate, with an inscription, which does more

honour to the public spirit of the undertakers than to the classical

taste of the author. [547] _[See note 4 K, at the end of this Vol.]_ The

other instance that denoted the wealth and spirit of the nation, was

the indifference and unconcern with which they bore the loss of a vast

magazine of naval stores belonging to the dock-yard at Portsmouth,

which, in the month of July, was set on fire by lightning; and,

consisting of combustibles, burned with such fury, notwithstanding all

the endeavours of the workmen in the yard, the sailors in the

harbour, and the troops in the town, that before a stop was put to the

conflagration it had consumed a variety of stores to an immense value.

The damage, however, was so immediately repaired, that it had no sort

of effect in disconcerting any plan, or even in retarding any naval

preparation.

How important these preparations must have been, may be judged from the

prodigious increase of the navy, which, at this juncture, amounted to

one hundred and twenty ships of the line, besides frigates, fire-ships,

sloops, bombs, and tenders. Of these capital ships, seventeen were

stationed in the East Indies, twenty for the defence of the West

India islands, twelve in North America, ten in the Mediterranean, and

sixty-one either on the coast of France, in the harbours of England, or

cruising in the English seas for the protection of the British commerce.

Notwithstanding these numerous and powerful armaments, the enemy,

who had not a ship of the line at sea, were so alert with their small

privateers and armed vessels, that in the beginning of this year, from

the first of March to the tenth of June, they had made prize of two

hundred vessels belonging to Great Britain and Ireland. The whole number

of British ships taken by them, from the first day of June, in the year

one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, to the first of June in the

present year, amounted to two thousand five hundred and thirty-nine; of

these, seventy-eight were privateers, three hundred and twenty-one were

retaken, and about the same number ransomed. In the same space of time,

the British cruisers had made captures of nine hundred and forty-four

vessels, including two hundred and forty-two privateers, many fishing

boats and small coasters, the value of which hardly defrayed the expense

of condemnation. That such a small proportion of ships should be taken

from the enemy is not at all surprising, when we consider the terrible

shocks their commerce had previously received, and the great number

of their mariners imprisoned in England; but the prodigious number of

British vessels taken by their petty coasting privateers, in the face

of such mighty armaments, numerous cruisers, and convoys, seem to

argue that either the English ships of war were inactive or improperly

disposed, or that the merchants hazarded their ships without convoy.

Certain it is, in the course of this year we find fewer prizes taken

from the enemy, and fewer exploits achieved at sea, than we had occasion

to record in the annals of the past. Not that the present year is

altogether barren of events which redound to the honour of our marine

commanders. We have, in recounting the transactions of the preceding

year, mentioned a small armament equipped at Dunkirk, under the command

of M. de Thurot, who, in spite of all the vigilance of the British

commander stationed in the Downs, found means to escape from the harbour

in the month of October last, and arrived at Gottenburgh in Sweden, from

whence he proceeded to Bergen in Norway. His instructions were to make

occasional descents upon the coast of Ireland: and, by dividing the

troops, and distracting the attention of the government in that kingdom,

to facilitate the enterprise of M. de Confians, the fate of which we

have already narrated. The original armament of Thurot consisted of five

ships, one of which, called the mareschal de Belleisle, was mounted with

forty-four guns; the Begon, the Blond, the Terpsichore, had thirty guns

each; and the Marante carried twenty-four. The number of soldiers put

on board this little fleet did not exceed one thousand two hundred and

seventy, exclusive of mariners, to the number of seven hundred; but two

hundred of the troops were sent sick on shore before the armament sailed

from Dunkirk; and in their voyage between Gottenburgh and Bergen they

lost company of the Begon, during a violent storm. The severity of the

weather detained them nineteen days at Bergen, at the expiration of

which they set sail for the western islands of Scotland, and discovered

the northern part of Ireland in the latter end of January. The intention

of Thurot was to make a descent about Derry; but before this design

could be executed, the weather growing tempestuous, and the wind blowing

off shore, they were driven out to sea, and in the night lost sight of

the Marante, which never joined them in the sequel. After having been

tempest-beaten for some time, and exposed to a very scanty allowance

of provisions, the officers requested of Thurot that he would return to

France, lest they should all perish by famine; but he lent a deaf ear

to this proposal, and frankly told them he could not return to France,

without having struck some stroke for the service of his country.

Nevertheless, in hopes of meeting with some refreshment, he steered to

the island of Islay, where the troops were landed; and here they found

black cattle, and a small supply of oatmeal, for which they paid a

reasonable price; and it must be owned, Thurot himself behaved with

great moderation and generosity.

While this spirited adventurer struggled with these wants and

difficulties, his arrival in those seas filled the whole kingdom with

alarm. Bodies of regular troops and militia were posted along the coast

of Ireland and Scotland; and besides the squadron of commodore Boys, who

sailed to the northward on purpose to pursue the enemy, other ships

of war were ordered to scour the British channel, and cruise between

Scotland and Ireland. The weather no sooner permitted Thurot to pursue

his destination, than he sailed from Islay to the bay of Carrickfergus,

in Ireland, and made all the necessary preparations for a descent; which

was accordingly effected with six hundred men, on the twenty-first day

of February. Lieutenant-colonel Jennings, who commanded four companies

of raw undisciplined men at Carrickfergus, having received information

that three ships had anchored about two miles and a half from the

castle, which was ruinous and defenceless, immediately detached a party

to make observations, and ordered the French prisoners there confined to

be removed to Belfast. Meanwhile, the enemy landing without opposition,

advanced towards the town, which they found as well guarded as the

nature of the place, which was entirely open, and the circumstances of

the English commander, would allow. A regular attack was carried on, and

a spirited defence made,* until the ammunition of the English failed;

then colonel Jennings retired in order to the castle, which, however,

was in all respects untenable; for, besides a breach in the wall, near

fifty feet wide, they found themselves destitute of provisions and

ammunition.

* One circumstance that attended this dispute deserves to be

transmitted to posterity, as an instance of that courage,

mingled with humanity, which constitutes true heroism. While

the French and English were hotly engaged in one of the

streets, a little child ran playfully between them, having

no idea of the danger to which it was exposed: a common

soldier of the enemy, perceiving the life of this poor

innocent at stake, grounded his piece, advanced deliberately

between the lines of fire, took up the child in his arms,

conveyed it to a place of safety; then returning to his

place, resumed his musket, and renewed his hostility.

Nevertheless, they repulsed the assailants in the first attack, even

after the gate was burst open, and supplied the want of shot with

stones and rubbish. At length the colonel and his troops were obliged

to surrender, on condition that they should not be sent prisoners to

France, but be ransomed, by sending thither an equal number of French

prisoners from Great Britain or Ireland: that the castle should not

be demolished, nor the town of Carrickfergus plundered or burned, on

condition that the mayor and corporation should furnish the French

troops with necessary provisions. The enemy, after this exploit, did not

presume to advance farther into the country; a step which indeed they

could not have taken with any regard to their own safety; for by this

time a considerable body of regular troops was assembled; and the people

of the country manifested a laudable spirit of loyalty and resolution,

crowding in great numbers to Belfast, to offer their service against the

invaders. These circumstances, to which the enemy were no strangers,

and the defeat of Conflans, which they had also learned, obliged them to

quit their conquest, and re-embark with some precipitation, after having

laid Carrickfergus under moderate contributions.

The fate they escaped on shore they soon met with at sea. Captain John

Elliot, who commanded three frigates at Kinsale, and had in the course

of this war more than once already distinguished himself even in his

early youth, by extraordinary acts of valour, was informed by a despatch

from the duke of Bedford, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, that three of the

enemy’s ships lay at anchor in the bay of Carrickfergus; and thither

he immediately shaped his course in the ship Æolus, accompanied by the

Pallas and Brilliant, under the command of the captains Clements and

Logic. On the twenty-eighth day of February they descried the enemy, and

gave chase in sight of the Isle of Man; and about nine in the morning,

captain Elliot, in his own ship, engaged the Belleisle, commanded by

Thurot, although considerably his superior in strength of men, number

of guns, and weight of metal. In a few minutes his consorts were also

engaged with the other two ships of the enemy. After a warm action,

maintained with great spirit on all sides for an hour and a half,

captain Elliot’s lieutenant boarded the Belleisle; and, striking her

colours with his own hand, the commander submitted: his example was

immediately followed by the other French captains; and the English

commodore, taking possession of his prizes, conveyed them into the bay

of Ramsay, in the Isle of Man, that their damage might be repaired.

Though the Belleisle was very leaky, and had lost her boltsprit,

mizen-mast, and main-yard, in all probability the victory would not have

been so easily obtained, had not the gallant Thurot fallen during the

action. The victor had not even the consolation to perform the last

offices to his brave enemy; for his body was thrown into the sea by his

own people in the hurry of the engagement. The loss on the side of the

English did not exceed forty men killed and wounded, whereas above three

hundred of the enemy were slain and disabled. The service performed

on this occasion was deemed so essential to the peace and commerce of

Ireland, that the thanks of the house of commons in that kingdom were

voted to the conquerors of Thurot, as well as to lieutenant-colonel

Jennings, for his spirited behaviour at Carrickfergus; and the freedom

of the city of Cork was presented in silver boxes to the captains

Elliot, Clements, and Logie. The name of Thurot was become terrible to

all the trading seaports of Great Britain and Ireland; and therefore

the defeat and capture of his squadron were celebrated with as hearty

rejoicings as the most important victory could have produced.

In the beginning of April another engagement between four frigates,

still more equally matched, had a different issue, though not less

honourable for the British commanders. Captain Skinner of the Biddeford,

and captain Kennedy of the Flamborough, both frigates, sailed on a

cruise from Lisbon; and on the fourth day of April, fell in with two

large French frigates, convoy to a fleet of merchant-ships, which the

English captains immediately resolved to engage. The enemy did not

decline the battle, which began about half an hour after six in the

evening, and raged with great fury till eleven. By this time the

Flamborough had lost sight of the Biddeford; and the frigate with which

captain Kennedy was engaged bore away with all the sail she could carry.

He pursued her till noon the next day, when she had left him so far

astern, that he lost sight of her, and returned to Lisbon with the loss

of fifteen men killed and wounded, including the lieutenant of marines,

and considerable damage both in her hull and rigging. In three days he

was joined by the Biddeford, which had also compelled her antagonist to

give way, and pursued her till she was out of sight. In about an hour

after the action began, captain Skinner was killed by a cannon-ball; and

the command devolved to lieutenant Knollis, son to the earl of Banbury,*

who maintained the battle with great spirit, even after he way wounded,

until he received a second shot in his body, which proved mortal.

* Five sons of this nobleman were remarkably distinguished

in this war. The fourth and fifth were dangerously wounded

at the battle of Minden; the second was hurt in the

reduction of Guadaloupe; lord Wallingford, the eldest,

received a shot at Carrickfergus; and the third was slain in

this engagement.

Then the master, assuming the direction, continued the engagement with

equal resolution till the enemy made his escape; which he the more

easily accomplished, as the Biddeford was disabled in her masts and

rigging.

REMARKABLE ADVENTURE OF FIVE IRISHMEN.

The bravery of five Irishmen and a boy, belonging to the crew of a ship

from Waterford, deserves commemoration. The vessel, in her return from

Bilboa, laden with brandy and iron, being taken by a French privateer

off Ushant, about the middle of April, the captors removed the master,

and all the hands but these five men and the boy, who were left to

assist nine Frenchmen in navigating the vessel to France. These stout

Hibernians immediately formed a plan of insurrection, and executed it

with success. Four of the French mariners being below deck, three aloft

among the rigging, one at the helm, and another walking the deck, Brian,

who headed the enterprise, tripped up the heels of the French steersman,

seized his pistol, and discharged it at him who walked the deck; but

missing the mark, he knocked him down with the but-end of the piece.

At the same time hallooing to his confederates below, they assailed the

enemy with their own broadswords; and, soon compelling them to submit,

came upon deck, and shut the hatches. Brian being now in possession

of the quarter-deck, those who were aloft called for quarter, and

surrendered without opposition. The Irish having thus obtained a

complete victory, almost without bloodshed, and secured the prisoners,

another difficulty occurred: neither Brian nor any of his associates

could read or write, or knew the least principle of navigation; but

supposing his course to be north, he steered at a venture, and the first

land he made was the neighbourhood of Youghall, where he happily arrived

with his prisoners.

THE RAMILLIES MAN OF WAR WRECKED.

The only considerable damage sustained by the navy of Great Britain,

since the commencement of this year, was the loss of the Ramillies, a

magnificent ship of the second rate, belonging to the squadron which

admiral Boscawen commanded on the coast of France, in order to watch the

motions and distress the commerce of that restless enterprising enemy.

In the beginning of February, a series of stormy weather obliged the

admiral to return from the bay of Quiberon to Plymouth, where he arrived

with much difficulty: but the Ramillies overshot the entrance to the

sound; and, being embayed near a point called the Bolthead, about four

leagues higher up the channel, was dashed in pieces among the rocks,

after all her anchors and cables had given way. All her officers and

men, amounting to seven hundred, perished on this occasion, except one

midshipman and twenty-five mariners, who had the good fortune to save

themselves by leaping on the rocks as the hull was thrown forwards,

and raised up by the succeeding billows. Such were the most material

transactions of the year, relating to the British empire in the seas of

Europe.

TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEES. HOSTILITIES RECOMMENCED.

We shall now transport the reader to the continent of North America,

which, as the theatre of war, still maintained its former importance.

The French emissaries from the province of Louisiana had exercised their

arts of insinuation with such success among the Cherokees--a numerous

and powerful nation of Indians settled on the confines of Virginia and

Carolina--that they had infringed the peace with the English towards

the latter end of the last year, and begun hostilities by plundering,

massacring, and scalping several British subjects of the more southern

provinces. Mr. Lyttleton, governor of South Carolina, having received

information of these outrages, obtained the necessary aids from the

assembly of the province, for maintaining a considerable body of forces,

which was raised with great expedition. He marched in the beginning of

October, at the head of eight hundred provincials, reinforced with three

hundred regular troops, and penetrated into the heart of the country

possessed by the Cherokees, who were so much intimidated by his vigour

and despatch, that they sent a deputation of their chiefs to sue for

peace, which was re-established by a new treaty, dictated by the English

governor. They obliged themselves to renounce the French interest, to

deliver up all the spies and emissaries of that nation then resident

among them; to surrender to justice those of their own people who had

been concerned in murdering and scalping the British subjects; and for

the performance of these articles two-and-twenty of their head men

were put as hostages into the hands of the governor. So little regard,

however, was paid by these savages to this solemn accommodation, that

Mr. Lyttleton had been returned but a few days from their country, when

they attempted to surprise the English fort Prince George, near the

frontiers of Carolina, by going thither in a body, on pretence of

delivering up some murderers; but the commanding officer, perceiving

some suspicious circumstances in their behaviour, acted with such

vigilance and circumspection as entirely frustrated their design.

[549] _[See note 4 L, at the end of this Vol.]_ Thus disappointed,

they wreaked their vengeance upon the English subjects trading in their

country, all of whom they butchered without mercy. Not contented

with this barbarous sacrifice, they made incursions on the British

settlements at the Long Lanes, and the forks of the Broad River, and

massacred about forty defenceless colonists, who reposed themselves

in full security on the peace so lately ratified. As views of interest

could not have induced them to act in this manner, and their revenge

had not been inflamed by any fresh provocation, these violences must

be imputed to the instigation of French incendiaries; and too plainly

evinced the necessity of crowning our American conquests with the

reduction of Louisiana, from whence these emissaries were undoubtedly

despatched.

The cruelty and mischief with which the Cherokees prosecuted their

renewed hostilities alarmed all the southern colonies of the

English, and application was made for assistance to Mr. Amherst,

the commander-in-chief of the king’s forces in America. He forthwith

detached twelve hundred chosen men to South Carolina, under the command

of colonel Montgomery, brother to the earl of Eglinton, an officer of

approved conduct and distinguished gallantry. Immediately after his

arrival at Charles-Town, he advanced to Ninety-Six, and proceeded to

Twelve-mile river, which he passed in the beginning of June, without

opposition. He continued his route by forced marches until he arrived

in the neighbourhood of the Indian town called Little Keowee, where

he encamped in an advantageous situation. Having reason to believe the

enemy were not yet apprized of his coming, he resolved to rush upon them

in the night by surprise. With this view, leaving his tents standing

with a sufficient guard for the camp and waggons, he marched through

the woods towards the Cherokee town of Estatoe, at the distance of

five-and-twenty miles: and in his route detached a company of light

infantry to destroy the village of Little Keowee, where they were

received with a smart fire; but they rushed in with their bayonets, and

all the men were put to the sword. The main body proceeded straight to

Estatoe, which they reached in the morning; but it had been abandoned

about half an hour before their arrival. Some few of the Indians, who

had not time to escape, were slain; and the town, consisting of two

hundred houses, well stored with provisions, ammunition, and all the

necessaries of life, was first plundered, and then reduced to ashes:

some of the wretched inhabitants who concealed themselves perished in

the flames. It was necessary to strike a terror into those savages

by some examples of severity; and the soldiers became deaf to all the

suggestions of mercy when they found in one of the Indian towns the body

of an Englishman, whom they had put to the torture that very morning.

Colonel Montgomery followed his blow with surprising rapidity. In the

space of a few hours he destroyed Sugar-Town, which was as large as

Estateo, and every village and house in the Lower Nation. The Indian

villages in this part of the world were agreeably situated, generally

consisting of about one hundred houses, neatly and commodiously

built, and well supplied with provisions. They had in particular large

magazines of corn, which were consumed in the flames. All the men that

were taken suffered immediate death; but the greater part of the nation

had escaped with the utmost precipitation. In many houses the beds were

yet warm, and the table spread with victuals. Many loaded guns went off

while the houses were burning. The savages had not time to save their

most valuable effects. The soldiers found some money, three or four

watches, a good quantity of wampum, clothes, and peltry. Colonel

Montgomery having thus taken vengeance on the perfidious Cherokees,

at the expense of five or six men killed or wounded, returned to Fort

Prince George, with about forty Indian women and children whom he had

made prisoners. Two of their warriors were set at liberty, and desired

to inform their nation, that, though they were now in the power of the

English, they might still, on their submission, enjoy the blessings of

peace. As the chief called Attakullakulla, alias the Little Carpenter,

who had signed the last treaty, disapproved of the proceedings of his

countrymen, and had done many good offices to the English since the

renovation of the war, he was now given to understand that he might come

down with some other chiefs to treat of an accommodation, which would be

granted to the Cherokees on his account; but that the negotiation must

be begun in a few days, otherwise all the towns in the Upper Nation

would be ravaged and reduced to ashes.

These intimations having produced little or no effect, colonel

Montgomery resolved to make a second irruption into the middle

settlements of the Cherokees, and began his march on the twenty-fourth

day of June. On the twenty-seventh, captain Morrison, of the advanced

party, was killed by a shot from a thicket, and the firing became so

troublesome that his men gave way. The grenadiers and light infantry

being detached to sustain them, continued to advance, notwithstanding

the fire from the woods; until, from a rising ground, they discovered

a body of the enemy. These they immediately attacked, and obliged to

retire into a Swamp; which, when the rest of the troops came up, they

were after a short resistance compelled to abandon: but, as the country

was difficult, and the path extremely narrow, the forces suffered on

their march from the fire of scattered parties who concealed themselves

behind trees and bushes. At length they arrived at the town of Etchowee,

which the inhabitants had forsaken after having removed every thing of

value. Here, while the army encamped on a small plain, surrounded by

hills, it was incommoded by volleys from the enemy, which wounded some

men, and killed several horses. They were even so daring as to attack

the piquet guard, which repulsed them with difficulty; but, generally

speaking, their parties declined an open engagement. Colonel Montgomery,

sensible that, as many horses were killed or disabled, he could not

proceed farther without leaving his provisions behind, or abandoning the

wounded men to the brutal revenge of a savage enemy, resolved to return;

and began his retreat in the night, that he might be the less disturbed

by the Indians. Accordingly, he pursued his route for two days without

interruption; but afterwards sustained some straggling fires from the

woods, though the parties of the enemy were put to flight as often

as they appeared. In the beginning of July he arrived at Fort Prince

George; this expedition having cost him about seventy men killed and

wounded, including five officers.

FATE OF THE GARRISON AT FORT LOUDOUN.

In revenge for these calamities, the Cherokees assembled to a

considerable number, and formed the blockade of Fort Loudoun, a

small fortification near the confines of Virginia, defended by an

inconsiderable garrison, ill supplied with provisions and necessaries.

After having sustained a long siege, and being reduced to the utmost

distress, captain Demere, the commander, held a council of war with

the other officers, to deliberate upon their present situation; when it

appeared that their provisions were entirely exhausted; that they had

subsisted a considerable time without bread upon horse-flesh, and

such supplies of pork and beans as the Indian women could introduce by

stealth: that the men were so weakened with famine and fatigue, that in

a little time they would not be able to do duty; that, for two nights

past, considerable parties had deserted, and some thrown themselves

upon the mercy of the enemy; but the garrison in general threatened to

abandon their officers, and betake themselves to the woods; and that

there was no prospect of relief, their communication having been long

cut off from all the British settlements: for these reasons they were

unanimously of opinion that it was impracticable to prolong their

defence; and they should accept of an honourable capitulation; and

captain Stuart should be sent to treat with the warriors and the head

men of the Cherokees, about the conditions of their surrender. This

officer, being accordingly despatched with full powers, obtained a

capitulation of the Indians, by which the garrison was permitted to

retire. The Indians desired that, when they arrived at Keowee, the

Cherokee prisoners confined at that place should be released, all

hostilities cease, a lasting accommodation be re-established, and a

regulated trade revived. In consequence of this treaty the garrison

evacuated the fort, and had marched about fifteen miles on their return

to Carolina, when they were surrounded and surprised by a large body of

Indians, who massacred all the officers except captain Stuart, and

slew five and twenty of the soldiers: the rest were made prisoners,

and distributed among the different towns and villages of the nation.

Captain Stuart owed his life to the generous intercession of the Little

Carpenter, who ransomed him at the price of all he could command, and

conducted him safe to Holston River, where he found major Lewis advanced

so far with a body of Virginians. The savages, encouraged by their

success at Fort Loudoun, undertook the siege of Ninety-Six, and other

small fortifications; but retired precipitately on the approach of a

body of provincials.

BRITISH INTEREST ESTABLISHED ON THE OHIO.

In the meantime, the British interest and empire were firmly established

on the banks of the Ohio, by the prudence and conduct of major-general

Stanwix, who had passed the winter at Pittsburgh, formerly Du Quesne, and

employed that time in the most effectual manner for the service of his

country. He repaired the old works, established posts of communication

from the Ohio to Monongahela, mounted the bastions that cover the

isthmus with artillery, erected casemates, store-houses, and barracks,

for a numerous garrison, and cultivated with equal diligence and success

the friendship and alliance of the Indians. The happy consequences of

these measures were soon apparent in the production of a considerable

trade between the natives and the merchants of Pittsburgh, and in the

perfect security of about four thousand settlers, who now returned to

the quiet possession of the lands from whence they had been driven by

the enemy on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

THE FRENCH UNDERTAKE THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC.

The incidents of the war were much more important and decisive in the

more northern parts of this great continent. The reader will remember

that brigadier-general Murray was left to command the garrison of

Quebec, amounting to about six thousand men; that a strong squadron of

ships was stationed at Halifax, in Nova-Scotia, under the direction of

lord Colville, an able and experienced officer, who had instructions

to revisit Quebec in the beginning of summer, as soon as the river

St. Laurence should be navigable; and that general Amherst, the

commander-in-chief of the forces in America, wintered in New-York,

that he might be at hand to assemble his troops in the spring, and

re-commence his operations for the entire reduction of Canada. General

Murray neglected no step that could be taken by the most vigilant

officer for maintaining the important conquest of Quebec, and subduing

all the Lower Canada; the inhabitants of which actually submitted, and

took the oath of allegiance to the king of Great Britain. [550] _[See

note 4 M, at the end of this Vol.]_ The garrison., however, within the

walls of Quebec, suffered greatly from the excessive cold in the winter,

and the want of vegetables and fresh provisions; insomuch that, before

the end of April, one thousand soldiers were dead of the scurvy, and

twice that number rendered unfit for service. Such was the situation of

the garrison, when Mr. Murray received undoubted intelligence that the

French commander, the chevalier de Levis, was employed in assembling

his army, which had been cantoned in the neighbourhood of Montreal;

that from the inhabitants of the country he had completed his eight

battalions, regimented forty companies of the troops de Colonie, and

determined to undertake the siege of Quebec, whenever the river St.

Laurence should be so clear of ice that he could use his four frigates,

and other vessels, by means of which he was entirely master of the

river.

The brigadier, considering the city of Quebec as no other than a strong

cantonment, had projected a plan of defence, by extending lines, and

intrenching his troops on the heights of Abraham, which at the distance

of eight hundred paces, entirely commanded the ramparts of the city,

and might have been defended by a small force against a formidable army.

Fascines, and every other necessary for this work, had been provided;

and in the month of April the men were set at work upon the projected

lines: but the earth was so hardened by the frost, that it was

found impracticable to proceed. Being informed on the night of the

twenty-sixth, that the enemy had landed at Point-au-Tremble, to the

number of ten thousand men, with five hundred savages, he ordered all

the bridges over the river Cape Rouge to be broken down, secured the

landing places at Sylleri and the Foulon; and next day, marching in

person with a strong detachment, and two field-pieces, took possession

of an advantageous situation, and thus defeated the scheme which the

French commander had laid for cutting off the posts which the English

had established. These being all withdrawn, the brigadier that same

afternoon marched back to Quebec, with little or no loss, although his

rear was harassed by the enemy. Here he formed a resolution which hath

been censured by some critics in war, as a measure that savoured more

of youthful impatience and overboiling courage than of that military

discretion which ought to distinguish a commander in such a delicate

situation; but it is more easy to censure with an appearance of reason,

than to act in such circumstances with any certainty of success.

Mr. Murray, in his letter to the secretary of state, declared, that,

although the enemy were greatly superior to him in number, yet, when he

considered that the English forces were habituated to victory, that they

were provided with a fine train of field-artillery; that, in shutting

them at once within the walls, he should have risked his whole stake on

the single chance of defending a wretched fortification; a chance which

could not be much lessened by an action in the field, though such

an action would double the chance of success: for these reasons he

determined to hazard a battle; should the event prove unprosperous, he

resolved to hold out the place to the last extremity; then to retreat to

the Isle of Orleans, or Coudres, with the remainder of the garrison,

and there wait for a reinforcement. In pursuance of these resolutions

he gave the necessary orders over night; and on the twenty-eighth day

of April, at half an hour after six in the morning, marched out with

his little army of three thousand men, which he formed on the heights

in order of battle. The right brigade, commanded by colonel Burton,

consisted of the regiments of Amherst, Anstruther, Webb, and the second

battalion of Royal Americans; the left, under colonel Fraser, was formed

of the regiments of Kennedy, Lascelles, Town-shend, and the Highlanders.

Otway’s regiment, and the third battalion of Royal Americans,

constituted the corps de reserve. Major Dalling’s corps of light

infantry covered the right flank; the left was secured by captain

Huzzen’s company of rangers, and one hundred volunteers, under the

command of captain Donald Mac-donald; and each battalion was supplied

with two field-pieces. Brigadier Murray, having reconnoitred the enemy,

perceived their van had taken possession of the rising grounds about

three quarters of a mile in his front; but that their army was on the

march in one column. Thinking this was the critical moment to attack

them before they were formed, he advanced towards them with equal order

and expedition. They were soon driven from the heights, though not

without a warm dispute; during which the body of their army advanced

at a round pace, and formed in columns. Their van consisted of ten

companies of grenadiers, two of volunteers, and four hundred savages;

eight battalions, formed in four columns, with some bodies of Canadians

in the intervals, constituted their main body; their rear was composed

of two battalions, and some Canadians in the flanks; and two thousand

Canadians formed the reserve. Their whole army amounted to upwards of

twelve thousand men. Major Balling, with great gallantry, dispossessed

their grenadiers of a house and windmill which they occupied, in order

to cover their left flank; and in this attack the major and some of

his officers were wounded: nevertheless, the light infantry pursued the

fugitives to a corps which was formed to sustain them; then the pursuers

halted, and dispersed along the front of the right; a circumstance which

prevented that wing from taking advantage of the first impression they

had made on the left of the enemy. The light infantry, being ordered to

regain the flank, were, in attempting this motion, furiously charged,

and thrown into disorder: then they retired to the rear in such a

shattered condition, that they could never again be brought up during

the whole action. Otway’s regiment was instantly ordered to advance from

the body of the reserve, and sustain the right wing, which the enemy

twice in vain attempted to penetrate. Meanwhile the left brigade of the

British forces did not remain inactive: they had dispossessed the French

of two redoubts, and sustained with undaunted resolution the whole

efforts of the enemy’s right, until they were fairly fought down,

overpowered by numbers, and reduced to a handful, notwithstanding the

assistance they received from the third battalion of Royal Americans,

which had been stationed with the body of the reserve, as well as from

Kennedy’s regiment, posted in the centre. The French attacked with great

impetuosity; and at length a fresh column of the regiment de Rousillon

penetrating the left wing of the British army, it gave way; the disorder

was soon communicated to the right; so that after a very obstinate

dispute, which lasted an hour and three quarters, brigadier Murray was

obliged to quit the field, with the loss of one thousand men killed or

wounded, and the greater part of his artillery. The enemy lost twice the

number of men and reaped no essential advantage from their victory.

QUEBEC BESIEGED.

Mr. Murray, far from being dispirited by his defeat, no sooner

retired within the walls of Quebec, than he resolved to prosecute the

fortifications of the place, which had been interrupted by the severity

of the winter; and the soldiers exerted themselves with incredible

alacrity, not only in labouring at the works, but also in the defence of

the town, before which the enemy had opened trenches on the very evening

of the battle. Three ships anchored at the Foulon below their camp; and

for several days they were employed in landing their cannon, mortars,

and ammunition. Meanwhile they worked incessantly at their trenches

before the town; and on the eleventh day of May, opened one

bomb-battery, and three batteries of cannon. Brigadier Murray made the

necessary dispositions to defend the place to the last extremity: he

raised two cavaliers, contrived some out-works, and planted the ramparts

with one hundred and thirty-two pieces of artillery, dragged thither

mostly by the soldiery. Though the enemy cannonaded the place with great

vivacity the first day, their fire soon slackened; and their batteries

were in a manner silenced by the superior fire of the garrison:

nevertheless, Quebec would in all probability have reverted to its

former owners, had a French fleet from Europe got the start of an

English squadron in sailing up the river.