CHAPTER XX.

_Exploit of the Swedes in Pomerania..... Skirmishes between

the Prussians and Austrians in Saxony..... Position of the

Armies in Saxony and Silesia..... General Laudohn defeats

General Fouquet, and reduces Glatz..... and then undertakes

the Siege of Breslau, which is relieved by Prince Henry of

Prussia..... The King of Prussia makes an unsuccessful

Attempt upon Dresden..... He marches into Silesia.....

Defeats General Laudohn, and raises the Blockade of

Schweidnitz..... Action between General Hulsen and the

Imperial Army in Saxony..... Dangerous Situation of the

Prussian Monarch..... The Russians and Austrians make an

Irruption into Brandenburgh, and possess themselves of

Berlin..... The Ring of Prussia defeats the Austrians at

Torgau..... Both Armies go into Quarters of Cantonment.....

The Diets of Poland and Sweden assembled..... Intimation

given by the King of Prussia to the States of

Westphalia..... King of Poland’s Remonstrance..... Reduction

of Pondicherry..... Part of the British Squadron wrecked in

a Storm..... Death of King George II..... His Character.....

Recapitulation of the principal Events of his Reign..... His

Death universally lamented..... Account of the Commerce of

Great Britain..... State of Religion and Philosophy.....

Fanaticism..... Metaphysics and Medicine..... Mechanics.....

Genius..... Music..... Painting, and Sculpture_

EXPLOIT OF THE SWEDES IN POMERANIA.

The king of Prussia, after all his labours, notwithstanding the great

talents he had displayed, and the incredible efforts he had made, still

found himself surrounded by his enemies, and in danger of being-crushed

by their closing and contracting their circle. Even the Swedes, who had

languished so long, seemed to be roused to exertion in Pomerania, during

the severity of the winter season. The Prussian general Manteuffel had,

on the twentieth day of January, passed the river Peene, overthrown the

advanced posts of the enemy at Ziethen, and penetrated as far as the

neighbourhood of Griessewalde; but finding the Swedes on their guard,

he returned to Anclam, where his head-quarters were established. This

insult was soon retaliated with interest. On the twenty-eighth day

of the month, at five in the morning, a body of Swedes attacked the

Prussian troops posted in the suburbs of Anclam, on the other side of

the Peene, and drove them into the city, which they entered pell-mell.

General Manteuffel, being alarmed, endeavoured to rally the troops; but

was wounded and taken, with about two hundred men, and three pieces of

cannon. The victors, having achieved this exploit, returned to their own

quarters. As for the Russian army, which had wintered on the other side

of the Vistula, the season was pretty far advanced before it could take

the field; though general Tottleben was detached from it, about the

beginning of June, at the head of ten thousand cossacks, and other light

troops, with which he made an irruption into Pomerania, and established

his head-quarters at Belgarden.

SKIRMISHES BETWEEN THE PRUSSIANS AND

AUSTRIANS IN SAXONY.

At the beginning of the campaign, the king of Prussia’s chief aim was

to take measures for the preservation of Silesia, the conquest of which

seemed to be the principal object with the court of Vienna. While the

Austrian army, under mareschal count Daun, lay strongly intrenched in

the neighbourhood of Dresden, the king of Prussia had endeavoured, in

the month of December, to make him quit that advantageous situation, by

cutting off his provisions, and making an irruption into Bohemia.

For these purposes he had taken possession of Dippeswalde, Maxen,

and Pretchendorff, as if he intended to enter Bohemia by the way of

Passberg: but this scheme being found impracticable, he returned to his

camp at Fribourg, and in January the Prussian and Austrian armies were

cantoned so near each other, that daily skirmishes were fought with

various success. The head of the Prussian camp was formed by a body of

four thousand men under general Zettwitz, who, on the twenty-ninth day

of January, was attacked with such impetuosity by the Austrian general

Beck, that he retreated in great confusion to Torgau, with the loss of

five hundred men, eight pieces of artillery, and a considerable quantity

of new clothing and other baggage. Another advantage of the same nature

was gained by the Austrians at Neustadt, over a small body of Prussians

who occupied that city. In the month of Maroh, general Laudohn advanced

with a strong detachment of horse and foot, in order to surprise the

Prussians, who, in attempting to effect a retreat to Steinau, were

surrounded accordingly, and very roughly handled. General Laudohn

summoned them twice by sound of trumpet to lay down their arms; but

their commanders, the captains Blumenthal and Zettwitz, rejecting the

proposal with disdain, the enemy attacked them on all hands with a great

superiority of number. In this emergency the Prussian captains formed

their troops into a square, and by a close continued fire kept the enemy

at bay; until, perceiving that the Croats had taken possession of a

wood between Siebenhausen and Steinau, they, in apprehension of being

intercepted, abandoned their baggage, and forced their way to Steinau,

which they reached with great difficulty, having been continually

harassed by the Austrians, who paid dear for this advantage. Several

other petty exploits of this kind were achieved by detachments on both

sides, before the campaign was begun by the grand armies.

POSITION OF THE ARMIES IN SAXONY AND SILESIA.

Towards the end of April the king of Prussia altered his position,

and withdrew that part of his chain of cantonments, extending from the

forest of Thurundt to the right of the Elbe. He now took possession of a

very strong camp between the Elbe and the Mulda, which he intrenched in

every part that was accessible, and fortified with two hundred and fifty

pieces of cannon. By these precautions he was enabled to keep his ground

against the army of count Daun, and at the same time detach a body of

troops, as a reinforcement to his brother prince Henry, who assembled

a separate army near Franckfort upon the Oder, that he might be at hand

either to oppose the Russians, or march to the relief of Silesia, which

the enemy was bent upon invading. It was for this purpose that the

Austrian general Laudohn advanced, with a considerable army, into

Lusatia about the beginning of May; and general Beck, with another body

of troops, took possession of Corbus: meanwhile count Daun continued

in his old situation on the Elbe; general Lascy formed a small detached

army upon the frontiers of Saxony, to the southward of Dresden; and the

prince de Deuxponts marched into the same neighbourhood with the army

of the empire. Prince Henry of Prussia having encamped with his army

for some time at Sagan, in Silesia, moved from thence to Gorlitz,

in Lusatia, to observe the motions of general Laudohn, encamped at

Koningsgratz; from whence, in the beginning of June, he marched into

the country of Glatz, and advanced to the neighbourhood of Schweidnitz,

which he seemed determined to besiege, having a train of eight pieces of

cannon. With a view to thwart his designs, prince Henry reinforced the

body of troops under general Fouquet; and at the same time he sent a

detachment into Pomerania, under colonel Lessow, who defeated the rear

guard of general Tottleben, and compelled that officer to evacuate

Pomerania. By this time, however, mareschal Soltikoff had arrived from

Petersburg, and taken the command of the grand Russian army, which

passed the Vistula in June, and began its march towards the frontiers of

Silesia.

GEN. LAUDOHN DEFEATS GEN. FOUQUET, AND REDUCES GLATZ.

In the month of June, general Laudohn made an unsuccessful attempt to

carry Glatz by assault; but he succeeded better in his next enterprise.

Understanding that general Fouquet, who occupied the posts at Landshut,

had weakened himself by sending off detachments under the majors-general

Zeithen and Grant, he resolved to attack him with such a superiority

of number that he should not be able to resist. Accordingly, on the

twenty-third day of June, at two in the morning, he began the

assault with his whole army upon some redoubts which Fouquet occupied;

and these were carried one after another, though not without a very

desperate opposition. General Fouquet being summoned to surrender,

refused to submit; and having received two wounds, was at length taken

prisoner: about three thousand of his men escaped to Breslan; the

rest were killed or taken: but the loss of the victors is said to have

exceeded that of the vanquished. In July, general Laudohn undertook the

siege of Glatz, which was taken after a very faint resistance; for, on

the very day the batteries were opened against the place, the garrison

abandoned part of the fortifications, which the besiegers immediately

occupied. The Prussians made repeated efforts to regain the ground they

had lost; but they were repulsed in all their attempts. At length the

garrison laid down their arms, and surrendered at discretion. From this

tame behaviour of the Prussians, one would imagine the garrison must

have been very weak; a circumstance which we cannot reconcile with

the known sagacity of the Prussian monarch, as the place was of great

importance, on account of the immense magazine it contained, including

above one hundred brass cannon, a great number of mortars, and a vast

quantity of ammunition.

Laudohn, encouraged by this success at Glatz, advanced immediately to

Breslau, which he began to bombard with great fury [564] _[See Note 4 P,

at the end of this Vol.]_; but, before he could make a regular attack,

he found himself obliged to retire. Prince Henry of Prussia, one of

the most accomplished generals which this age produced, having received

repeated intelligence that the Russian army intended to join Laudohn at

Breslau, resolved to advance and give them battle before the purposed

junction. In the latter end of July he began his march from Gleissen,

and on the last day of that month had reached Linden, near Slauve, where

he understood that Tottleben’s detachment only had passed through the

plains of Polnich-Lissa, and that the grand Russian army had marched

through Kosten and Gustin. The prince finding it impossible to pursue

them by that route, directed his march to Glogau, where he learned that

Breslau was besieged by general Laudohn, and immediately advanced by

forced marches to its relief. Such was his expedition, that in five

days he marched above one hundred and twenty English miles; and at his

approach the Austrian general abandoned his enterprise. Thus, by his

prudence and activity, he not only prevented the junction of the Russian

and Austrian armies, but also saved the capital of Silesia; and hampered

Laudohn in such a manner as subjected him to a defeat by the Prussian

monarch, to whose motions we shall now turn our attention.

THE KING OF PRUSSIA MAKES AN UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT UPON DRESDEN.

Whether his design was originally upon Dresden, or he purposed

to co-operate with his brother prince Henry in Silesia, which

his adversaries seemed to have pitched upon as the scene of their

operations, we cannot presume to determine; but certain it is, he, in

the beginning of July, began his march in two columns through Lusatia;

and count Daun being informed of his march, ordered his army to be put

in motion. Leaving the army of the empire, and the body of troops under

Lascy, to guard Saxony in his absence, he marched with great expedition

towards Silesia, in full persuasion that the Prussian monarch had

thither directed his route. On the seventh day of July, the king knowing

that Daun was now removed at a distance, repassed the Polsnitz, which

he had passed but two days before, and advanced with the van of his army

towards Lichtenberg, in order to attack the forces of general Lascy, who

was posted there; but the Austrians retired at his approach. Then the

army marched to Marienstern, where the king received intelligence that

count Daun was in full march for Lauban, having already gained two

marches upon the Prussians. Perhaps it was this intimation that

determined the king to change his plan, and return to the Elbe. On the

eighth day of the month he repassed the Sprehe, in the neighbourhood of

Bautzen, and marched towards Dresden with extraordinary diligence. On

the thirteenth, his army having passed the Elbe at Kadetz, on a bridge

of boats, encamped between Pirna and Dresden, which last he resolved to

besiege, in hopes of reducing it before count Daun could return to its

relief. How far this expectation was well grounded, we must leave the

reader to judge, after having observed that the place was now much more

defensible than it had been when the last attempt of the Austrians upon

it miscarried; that it was secured with a numerous garrison, commanded

by general Macguire, an officer of courage and experience. This governor

being summoned to surrender, answered that, having the honour to be

intrusted with the defence of the capital, he would maintain it to the

last extremity. Batteries were immediately raised against the town on

both sides of the Elbe; and the poor inhabitants subjected to a dreadful

visitation, that their calamities might either drive them to despair, or

move the heart of the governor to embrace articles of capitulation;

but these expedients proved ineffectual. Though the suburbs towards the

Pirna gate were attacked and carried, this advantage made no impression

on general Macguire, who made several vigorous sallies, and took every

necessary precaution for the defence of the city; encouraged moreover by

the vicinity of Lascy’s body, and the army of the empire, encamped in an

advantageous position near Gross Seydlitz; and confident that count Daun

would hasten to his relief. In this hope he was not disappointed. The

Austrian general, finding himself duped by the stratagem of the Prussian

monarch, and being made acquainted with his enterprise against Dresden,

instantly wheeled about, and marched back with such rapidity, that on

the nineteenth day of the month he reached the neighbourhood of the

capital of Saxony. In consequence of his approach, the king of Prussia,

whose heavy artillery was now arrived, redoubled his efforts against

the city, so as to reduce to ashes the cathedral church, the new

square, several noble streets, some palaces, together with the curious

manufactory of porcelain. His vengeance must have been levelled against

the citizens; for it affected neither the fortifications, nor the

Austrian garrison, which count Daun found means to reinforce with

sixteen battalions. This supply, and the neighbourhood of three hostile

armies, rendered it altogether impossible to prosecute the siege with

any prospect of success; the king therefore abandoned the undertaking,

withdrew his troops and artillery, and endeavoured to bring Daun to a

battle, which that general cautiously avoided.

The fate of this prince seemed now at its crisis. Notwithstanding

all the efforts of his brother prince Henry, the Russians were fast

advancing to join Laudohn, who had already blocked up Schweidnitz and

Neifs, and their junction seemed to threaten the loss of all Silesia.

The king had nothing to oppose to superior numbers but superior

activity, of which he determined to avail himself without delay. Instead

of making a feint towards Silesia, he resolved to march thither in

earnest; and for that purpose, crossing the Elbe, encamped at Dallwitz,

on the further bank of the river; leaving general Hulsen, with fifteen

thousand men, in the intrenched camp of Schlettow, to maintain his

footing in Saxony. On the third day of August he began his march for

Silesia, followed by count Daun with the grand Austrian army; while the

detached body under Lascy took post at Reichenberg, and the imperial

army encamped at Kesseldorf. Both the Prussians and Austrians marched at

the rate of one hundred miles in five days; on the tenth the king took

possession of the camp at Lidnitz; and here he seemed in danger of being

quite surrounded by the enemy, who occupied the whole ground between

Parchwitz and Cossendau, an extent of thirty miles. Count Daun’s army

formed the centre of this chain, possessing the heights of Wahlstadt and

Liochkirk; general Laudohn covered the ground between Jeschkendorf

and Coschitz; the rising grounds of Parchwitz were secured by general

Nauendorff; and M. de Beck, who formed the left, extended his troops

beyond Cossendau. The king marched in the night of the eleventh, with

a view to turn the enemy and reach Jauer; but at break of day he

discovered a new camp at Prausnitz, which consisted of Lascy’s

detachment, just arrived from Lauban. The Prussians immediately passed

the Katzbach, to attack this general; but he made such a skilful

disposition for a retreat towards the army of count Daun, that he not

only baffled the endeavours of the king to bring him to action, but, by

posting himself on the heights of Hennersdorff, anticipated his march to

Jauer. In vain the Prussian monarch attempted next day to turn the enemy

on the side of the mountains by Pomsen and Jagersdorff, the roads were

found impassable to the ammunition waggons, and the king returned to the

camp at Lignitz.

While he remained in this situation, he received advice that

four-and-twenty thousand Russians, under count Czernichew, had thrown

bridges over the Oder at Auras, where they intended to cross that river;

and he concluded the enemy had formed a design to close him in, and

attack him with their joint forces. Daun had indeed projected a plan for

surprising him in the night, and had actually put his army in motion for

that purpose; but he was anticipated by the vigilance and good fortune

of the Prussian monarch. That prince reflecting, that if he should wait

for his adversaries in his camp, he ran the risk of being attacked

at the same time by Lascy on his right, by Daun in his front, and by

Laudohn on his left, he altered his disposition, in order to disconcert

their operations; and, on the fourteenth day of the month, marched

to the heights of Psaffendorff, where he formed his army in order of

battle. Receiving intimation about two in the morning, that Laudohn was

in full march advancing in columns by Benowitz, he divided his army into

two separate bodies. One of these remained on the ground, in order to

maintain the post against any attempts that might be made by count Daun

to succour Laudohn; and that this service might be the more effectually

performed, the heights were fortified with batteries, so judiciously

disposed, as to impede and overawe the whole Austrian army. The king

having taken this precaution, wheeled about with sixteen battalions and

thirty squadrons, to fall upon Laudohn as he should advance; but that

general knew nothing of his design, until he himself arrived at the

village of Psaffendorff, about three in the morning, when the day

dawning, and a thick fog gradually dispersing, the whole detachment

of the Prussian army appeared in order of battle, in a well-chosen

situation, strengthened with a numerous train of artillery, placed to

the best advantage. Laudohn was not a little mortified to find himself

caught in his own snare, but he had advanced too far to recede;

and therefore, making a virtue of necessity, resolved to stand an

engagement. With this view he formed his troops, as well as the time,

place, and circumstances would permit; and the Prussians advancing to

the attack, a severe action ensued. The king rode along the line

to animate the troops, and superintended every part of the charge;

hazarding his life in the most dangerous scenes of the battle to such a

degree, that his horse was killed under him, and his clothes were shot

through in several places. The Austrians maintained the conflict with

great obstinacy, until six in the morning, when they gave ground, and

were pursued to the Katzbach; beyond which the king would not allow his

troops to prosecute the advantage they had gained, that they might be

able to succour the right in case mareschal count Daun should succeed

in his attempt to advance against them from Lignitz. That general had

actually begun his march to fall upon the Prussians on one side,

while Laudohn should attack them on the other; but he was not a little

surprised to find they were decamped; and when he perceived a thick

cloud of smoke at a distance, he immediately comprehended the nature of

the king’s management. He then attempted to advance by Lignitz; but the

troops and artillery, which had been left on the height of Psaffendorff,

to dispute his march, were so advantageously disposed, as to render all

his efforts abortive. Laudohn is said to have lost in the action

above eight thousand men, killed, wounded, and taken, including eighty

officers, with twenty-three pair of colours, and eighty-two pieces of

cannon; over and above this loss, the Austrian general suffered greatly

by desertion. The Prussians obtained the victory at the expense of

one general, with five hundred men killed, and twelve hundred wounded.

Immediately after the action the victor inarched to Parchwitz; while

Daun detached prince Lowenstein and general Beck with the reserve of his

army, to join prince Czernichew, who had crossed the Oder at Auras;

but he was so intimidated by the defeat at Lignitz, that he forthwith

repassed that river, and prince Lowenstein retired on the side of Jauer.

By this bold and well-conducted adventure, the Prussian monarch not

only escaped the most imminent hazard of a total defeat from the joint

efforts of two strong armies, but also prevented the dreaded junction

of the Eussian and Austrian forces. His business was now to open the

communication with Breslau and his brother prince Henry, whom he joined

at Neumarcke. The prince, after Laudohn was obliged to relinquish

the siege of Breslau, had kept a watchful eye over the motions of the

Eussian army, which had advanced into the neighbourhood of that city;

and, without all doubt, would have bombarded it from some commanding

heights, had they not been prevented by prince Henry, who took

possession of these posts, and fortified them with redoubts. The king

having freed Breslau from the neighbourhood of his enemies, and being

strengthened by the junction with his brother, left a considerable

detachment under the command of general Boltze, to protect the country

against the Eussian irregulars; and advanced with his whole force to the

relief of Schweidnitz, which was blocked up by the Austrian forces under

the command of the mareschal count Daun. In his march he fell upon

a separate body under general Beck, made two battalions of Croats

prisoners, and dispersed several squadrons. This achievement had such an

effect upon the enemy, that they raised the blockade, and retreated with

some precipitation to the mountains of Landshut.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

ACTION BETWEEN GENERAL HULSEN AND THE IMPERIAL ARMY IN SAXONY.

While the king thus exerted himself, with a spirit altogether

unexampled, in defending Silesia, general Hulsen, who commanded his

troops in Saxony, was exposed to the most imminent danger. Understanding

that the army of the empire had formed a design to cut off his

communication with Torgau, he quitted his camp at Meissen, and marched

to Strehla. The enemy having divided their forces into two bodies, one

of them, on the twentieth day of August, attacked an advanced post

of the Prussians; while the other was disposed in such a manner, as

to overawe Hulsen’s camp, and prevent him from taking any step for the

relief of his battalions, who maintained their ground with difficulty

against a superior number of assailants. In this emergency the Prussian

general ordered his cavalry to make a circuit round a rising ground,

and, if possible, charge the enemy in flank. This order was executed

with equal vigour and success. They fell upon the imperial army with

such impetuosity, as drove their battalions and horse upon each other in

the utmost confusion. A considerable number of the enemy were slain,

and forty-one officers, with twelve hundred men, made prisoners. By this

advantage, which was obtained at a very small expense, general Hulsen

opened for himself a way to Torgau, whither he instantly retreated,

perceiving that the whole army of the imperialists was advancing to cut

off his communication with the Elbe. This retreat furnished the enemy

with a pretext for claiming the victory.

SITUATION OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

After all these heroic endeavours of the Prussian monarch and his

officers, his affairs remained in such a desperate situation as seemed

to presage approaching ruin; for, though in person he commanded a

numerous and well-appointed army, he found it absolutely impossible to

guard against the different detachments from the three separate armies

of his adversaries. Bodies of Austrian troops scoured the country of

Lusatia; the Russians traversed part of Silesia, and made irruptions

even into Brandenburgh; the imperial army domineered in Saxony; the

Swedish army, meeting with no opposition, advanced into the heart of

Pomerania; so that the king was not only threatened on every side, but

all correspondence between him and his hereditary dominions was at this

juncture intercepted.

THE RUSSIANS AND AUSTRIANS POSSESS THEMSELVES OF BERLIN.

His adversaries, having been hitherto baffled by his activity and

resolution in their designs upon Silesia, now meditated a scheme, the

execution of which he could not but feel in the most sensible manner.

The Russian army being on its retreat from Silesia, count Czernichew was

sent with a strong detachment into the marche of Brandenburgh; while a

numerous body of Austrians, under Lascy and Brentano, penetrated into

the same country from Saxony, with instructions to join the Russians at

the gates of Berlin. The Prussian general Hulsen, finding himself too

weak to cope with the army of the empire in Misnia, had fallen back to

this capital, where he was joined by the troops under general Werner,

lately returned from Pomerania; but as their forces, after this

junction, did not exceed sixteen thousand men, and the allies advancing

against them amounted to forty thousand, they would not pretend to

oppose the enemy in the open field, nor to defend a city of such extent,

and so imperfectly fortified. Such an attempt would have only exposed

their troops to ruin, without being able to save the capital, which, on

the contrary, would have been the more severely handled, in consequence

of their opposition. They therefore resolved to retire, after having

repulsed the advanced guard of the Russians under Tottleben, which

attacked the gates, and even bombarded the town, before the great armies

appeared. At their approach the Prussian generals retreated, leaving

three weak battalions in the place, in hopes they might be the means

of obtaining some sort of terms for the city. They made no resistance,

however; but on the first summons proposed articles of capitulation,

which being refused, they surrendered themselves prisoners of war. In

favour of the city, the foreign ministers there residing interposed

their mediation with such zeal and success, that tolerable conditions

were obtained. The inhabitants were indulged with the free exercise

of their religion, and an immunity from violence to their persons and

effects. The enemy promised that the Russian irregulars should not

enter the town; and that the king’s palace should not be violated. These

articles being ratified, the Austrian and Russian troops entered

the place, where they totally destroyed the magazines, arsenals, and

foundries, with an immense quantity of military stores, and a great

number of cannon and small arms: then they demanded the immediate

payment of eight hundred thousand guilders; and afterwards exacted a

contribution of one million nine hundred thousand German crowns. Many

outrages were committed by the licentious soldiery, in spite of all the

precautions which the officers could take to preserve the most exact

discipline. The houses of the private inhabitants were tolerably

protected, but the king’s palaces were subjected to the most rigorous

treatment. In the royal palace of Charlottenburg they pillaged and

spoiled the rich furniture: they defaced and mutilated the valuable

pictures and antique statues collected by cardinal de Polignac, and

purchased by the house of Brandenburgh. The castle of Schonhausen,

belonging to the queen, and that of Fredericksfeldt, the property of the

margrave Charles, were pillaged of effects to a very considerable value.

The palace of Potsdam was effectually protected by prince Esterhasi,

who would not suffer one article of furniture to be touched; but desired

leave to take one picture of the king, and two of his German flutes,

that he might preserve them as memorials of an illustrious prince, whose

heroic character he admired. The Austrian and Russian troops entered

Berlin on the ninth day of October, and quitted it on the thirteenth, on

hearing that the king was in full march to the relief of his capital. In

their retreat, by different routes, from Brandenburgh, they drove away

all the cattle and horses they could find, ravaged the country, and

committed brutal outrages on the inhabitants, which the pretence of

retaliation could never excuse. The body of Russians which entered

Berlin marched from thence into Poland, by the way of Furstenwalde;

while the Austrians took the route of Saxony, from whence they had

advanced into Brandenburgh. Meanwhile the town of Wirtem-berg, in that

electorate, was reduced by the duke de Deux-Ponts, commander of the

imperial army, which, in conjunction with the Austrians, made themselves

masters also of Torgau and Leipsic.

KING OF PRUSSIA DEFEATS THE AUSTRIANS AT TORGAU.

The king of Prussia, in his march through Lusatia, was still attended

by count Daun, at the head of his grand army, and both passed the Elbe

about the latter end of October. The Prussian crossed the river at

Coswick, where he was joined by the troops under prince Eugene of

Wirtemberg and general Ilulsen, so that his army now amounted to eighty

thousand fighting men, with whom he resolved to strike some stroke

of importance. Indeed, at this time his situation was truly critical.

General Laudohn, with a considerable body of Austrians, remained in

Silesia; the Russian army still threatened Breslau, the capital of that

country. The Imperialists and Austrians had taken possession of all the

great towns in Saxony, and were masters on both sides of the Elbe. In

the eastern part of Pomerania, the Russians had invested Colberg by sea

and land, seemingly determined to reduce the place, that they might have

a seaport by which they could be supplied with provisions, ammunition,

necessaries, and reinforcements, without the trouble and inconvenience

of a long and laborious march from the banks of the Vistula. On the

western side of Pomerania, the war, which had hitherto languished, was

renewed by the Swedes with uncommon vivacity. They passed the river

Pene without opposition; and obliging general Stutterheim to retreat,

advanced as far as Stransberg. That officer, however, being reinforced,

attacked a Swedish post at Passelvalik, slew about five hundred of the

enemy, and took an equal number, with six pieces of cannon; but he was

not numerous enough to keep the field against their whole army. Thus the

Prussian monarch saw himself obliged to abandon Silesia, deprived of all

the places he held in Saxony, which had been his best resource; and

in danger of being driven into his hereditary country of Brandenburgh,

which was unable either to maintain, or even to recruit, his army. On

this emergency he resolved to make one desperate effort against the

grand Austrian army under count Daun, who had passed the Elbe at Torgau,

and advanced to Eulenbourg, from whence, however, he retreated to his

former camp at Torgau; and the king chose his situation between this

last place and Schilda, at Lang-Reichenbach, where the hussars attacked

a body of horse under general Brentano, and made four hundred prisoners.

The right wing of the Austrians being at Groswich, and their left at

Torgau, the Prussian king determined to attack them next day, which

was the third of November. His design was to march through the wood

of Torgau by three different routes, with thirty battalions and fifty

squadrons of his left wing: the first line was ordered to advance by the

way of Mackrene to Neiden; the second by Peckhutte to Elsnick; and the

third, consisting of cavalry, to penetrate by the wood of Wildenhayn to

Vogelsand. On the other hand, general Ziethen was directed to take the

great Leipsic road, with thirty battalions and seventy squadrons of the

right; and quitting it at the ponds of Torgau, to attack the village

of Suptitz and Groswich. The king’s line, in its march, fell in with

a corps of Austrians under general Reid, who retired into the wood

of Torgau; and another more considerable body, posted in the wood of

Wildenhayn, likewise retreated to Groswich, after having fired some

pieces of artillery; but the dragoons of Saint Ignon, being enclosed

between two columns of Prussian infantry, were either killed or taken.

By two in the afternoon the king had penetrated through the wood to

the plain of Neiden, from whence another body of the enemy retired to

Torgau, where a continued noise of cannon and small arms declared that

general Ziethen was already engaged. The Prussians immediately advanced

at a quicker pace, and passing the morasses near Neiden, inclined to the

right in three lines, and soon came to action. Daun had chosen a very

advantageous position: his right extended to Groswich, and his left

to Zinne: while his infantry occupied some eminences along the road of

Leipsic, and his front was strength-ened with no less than two hundred

pieces of cannon. His second line was disposed on an extent of ground,

which terminated in hillocks towards the Elbe; and against this the king

directed his attack. He had already given his troops to understand that

his affairs were in such a situation, that they must either conquer or

perish: and they began the battle with the most desperate impetuosity;

but they met with such a warm reception from the artillery, small arms,

and in particular from the Austrian carabineers, that their grenadiers

were shattered and repulsed. The second charge, though enforced with

incredible vigour, was equally unsuccessful: then the king ordered his

cavalry to advance, and they fell upon some regiments of infantry with

such fury as obliged them to give way. These, however, were compelled to

retire, in their turn, before about seventy battalions of the enemy, who

advanced towards Torgau, stretching with their right to the Elbe, and

their left to Zinne. While the prince of Holstein rallied his cavalry,

and returned to the charge, the third line of Prussian infantry attacked

the vineyard of Suptitz, and general Ziethen with the right wing took

the enemy in rear. This disposition threw the Austrians into disorder;

which was greatly augmented by the disaster of count Daun, who was

dangerously wounded in the thigh, and carried off the field of battle.

But the Prussians could not pursue their victory, because the action had

lasted until nine; and the night being unusually dark, facilitated the

retreat of the enemy, who crossed the Elbe on three bridges of boats

thrown over the river at Torgau. The victor possessed the field of

battle, with seven thousand prisoners, including two hundred officers,

twenty-nine pair of colours, one standard, and about forty pieces of

cannon. The carnage was very great on both sides; about three thousand

Prussians were killed, and five thousand wounded; and, in the first

attacks, two general officers, with fifteen hundred soldiers, were made

prisoners by the enemy. The king, as usual, exposed his person in every

part of the battle, and a musket-ball grazed upon his breast. In the

morning, the king of Prussia entered Torgau; then he secured Meissen,

and took possession of Fribourg: so that, in consequence of this

well-timed victory, his position was nearly the same as at the opening

of the campaign.

The Austrians, however, notwithstanding this check, maintained their

ground in the neighbourhood of Dresden; while the Prussians were

distributed in quarters of cantonment in and about Leipsic and Meissen.

As the Austrian general had, after the battle, recalled his detachments,

general Laudohn abandoned Landshut, wrhich again fell into the hands

of the Prussians, and the Imperial army was obliged to retire into

Franconia. The Swedes having penetrated a great way into Pom-crania,

returned again to their winter-quarters at Stralsund; and the

Russian generals measured back their way to the Vistula: so that the

confederates gained little else in the course of this campaign but

the contributions which they raised in Berlin, and the open country

of Brandenburgh. Had the allies been heartily bent upon crushing the

Prussian monarch, one would imagine the Russians and Swedes might have

joined their forces in Pomerania, and made good their winter-quarters in

Brandenburgh, where they could have been supplied with magazines from

the Baltic, and been at hand to commence their operations in the spring;

but, in all probability, such an establishment in the empire would have

given umbrage to the Germanic body.

DIETS of POLAND AND SWEDEN ASSEMBLED.

The diet of Poland being assembled in the beginning of October, the king

entertained the most sanguine hope they would take some resolution in

his favour, but the partisans of Prussia frustrated all his endeavours:

one of the deputies protesting against holding a diet while there were

foreign troops in the kingdom, the assembly broke up in a tumultuous

manner, even before they had chosen a mareschal. The diet of Sweden,

which was convoked about the same period, seemed determined to proceed

upon business. They elected count Axel Person their grand mareschal,

in opposition to count Horn, by a great majority; which was an unlucky

circumstance for the Prussian interest at Stockholm, inasmuch as the

same majority obstinately persisted in opinion, that the war should be

prosecuted in the spring with redoubled vigour, and the army in Germany

reinforced to the number of at least thirty thousand fighting men. This

unfavourable circumstance made but little impression upon the Prussian

monarch, who had maintained his ground with surprising resolution and

success since the beginning of the campaign; and now enjoyed in

prospect the benefit of winter, which he is said to have termed his best

auxiliary.

INTIMATION GIVEN TO THE STATES OF WESTPHALIA BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

The animosity which inflamed the contending parties was not confined to

the operations in war, but broke out, as usual, in printed declarations,

which the belligerent powers diffused all over Europe. In the beginning

of the season, the states of the circle of Westphalia had been required,

by the Imperial court, to finish their contingent of troops against the

king of Prussia, or to commute for this contingent with a sum of money.

In consequence of this demand, some of the Westphalian estates had sent

deputies to confer with the assembly of the circle of Cologn; and to

these the king signified, by a declaration dated at Munster, that as

this demand of money, instead of troops, was no less extraordinary than

contrary to the constitutions of the empire, should they comply with it,

or even continue to assist his enemies either with troops or money, he

would consider them as having actually taken part in the war against

him and his allies, and treat them accordingly on all occasions.

This intimation produced little effect in his favour. The duke of

Mecklenburgh adhered to the opposite cause; and the elector of Cologn

co-operated with the French in their designs against Hanover. By way of

retaliation for this partiality, the Prussians ravaged the country

of Mecklenburgh, and the Hanoverians levied contributions in the

territories of Cologn. The parties thus aggrieved had recourse to

complaints and remonstrances. The duke’s envoy at Ratisbon communicated

a rescript to the Imperial ministers, representing that the Prussian

troops under general Werner and colonel de Belling had distressed his

country in the autumn by grievous extortions; that afterwards prince

Eugene of Wirtemberg, in the service of Prussia, had demanded an

exorbitant quantity of provisions, with some millions of money, and a

great number of recruits; or, in lieu of these, that the duke’s forces

should act under the Prussian banner. He therefore declared that, as

the country of Mecklenburgh was impoverished, and almost depopulated, by

these oppressions, the duke would find himself obliged to take measures

for the future security of his subjects, if not immediately favoured

with such assistance from the court of Vienna as would put a stop to

these violent proceedings. This declaration was by some considered as

the prelude of his renouncing his engagements with the house of Austria.

As the Imperial court had threatened to put the elector of Hanover

under the ban of the empire, in consequence of the hostilities which

his troops had committed in the electorate of Cologn, his resident at

Ratisbon delivered to the ministers who assisted at the diet a memorial,

remonstrating that the emperor hath no power, singly, to subject any

prince to the ban, or declare him a rebel; and that, by arrogating such

a power, he exposed his authority to the same contempt into which the

pope’s bulls of excommunication were so justly fallen. With respect to

the elector of Cologn, he observed that this prince was the first who

commenced hostilities, by allowing his troops to co-operate with the

French in their invasion of Hanover, and by celebrating with rejoicings

the advantages which they had gained in that electorate; he therefore

gave the estates of the empire to understand, that the best way of

screening their subjects from hostile treatment would be a strict

observance of neutrality in the present disputes of the empire.

THE KING OF POLAND’S REMONSTRANCE.

This was a strain much more effectual among princes and powers who are

generally actuated by interested motives, than was the repetition of

complaints, equally pathetic and unavailing, uttered by the unfortunate

king of Poland, elector of Saxony. The damage done to his capital by the

last attempt of the Prussian monarch on that city, affected the old

king in such a manner, that he published at Vienna an appeal to all

the powers of Europe, from the cruelty and unprecedented outrages which

distinguished the conduct of his adversaries in Saxony. All Europe

pitied the hard fate of this exiled prince, and sympathized with the

disasters of his country: but in the breasts of his enemies, reasons

of state and convenience overruled the suggestions of humanity; and his

friends had hitherto exerted themselves in vain for the deliverance of

his people.

REDUCTION OF PONDICHERRY.

From this detail of continental affairs, our attention is recalled to

Great Britain, by an incident of a very interesting nature; an account

of which, however, we shall postpone until we have recorded the success

that, in the course of this year, attended the British arms in the

East Indies. We have already observed that colonel Coote, after having

defeated the French general Lally in the field, and reduced divers of

the enemy’s settlements on the coast of Coromandel, at length cooped

them up within the walls of Pondicherry, the principal seat of the

French East India company, large, populous, well-fortified, and secured

with a numerous garrison, under the immediate command of their general.

In the month of October, admiral Stevens sailed from Trincomalê with all

his squadron, in order to its being refitted, except five sail of the

line, which he left under the command of captain Ilaldane, to block up

Pondicherry by sea, while Mr. Coote carried on his operations by land.

By this disposition, and the vigilance of the British officers,

the place was so hampered as to be greatly distressed for want of

provisions, even before the siege could be undertaken in form; for the

rainy season rendered all regular approaches impracticable. These rains

being abated by the twenty-sixth day of November, colonel Coote directed

the engineers to pitch upon proper places for erecting batteries that

should enfilade or flank the works of the garrison, without exposing

their own men to any severe fire from the enemy. Accordingly, four

batteries were constructed in different places, so as to answer these

purposes, and opened altogether on the eighth day of December at

midnight. Though raised at a considerable distance, they were plied with

good effect, and the besieged returned the fire with great vivacity.

This mutual cannonading continued until the twenty-ninth day of the

month, when the engineers were employed in raising another battery, near

enough to effect a breach in the north-west counter-guard and curtain.

Though the approaches were retarded some days by a violent storm, which

almost ruined the works, the damage was soon repaired: a considerable

post was taken from the enemy by assault, and afterwards regained by the

French grenadiers, through the timidity of the sepoys, by whom it was

occupied. By the fifteenth day of January, a second battery being

raised within point-blank, a breach was made in the curtain: the west

face and flank of the north-west bastion were ruined, and the guns of

the enemy entirely silenced. The garrison and inhabitants of Pondicherry

were now reduced to an extremity of famine which would admit of no

hesitation. General Lally sent a colonel, attended by the chief of the

Jesuits, and two civilians, to Mr. Coote, with proposals of surrendering

the garrison prisoners of war, and demanding a capitulation in behalf

of the French East India company. On this last subject he made no reply;

but next morning took possession of the town and citadel, where he found

a great quantity of artillery, ammunition, small arms, and military

stores; then he secured the garrison, amounting to above two thousand

Europeans. Lally made a gallant defence; and had he been properly

supplied with provisions, the conquest of the place would not have been

so easily achieved. He certainly flattered himself with the hope of

being supplied; otherwise an officer of his experience would have

demanded a capitulation, before he was reduced to the necessity of

acquiescing in any terms the besieger might have thought proper to

impose. That he spared no pains to procure supplies, appears from an

intercepted letter,* written by this commander to monsieur Raymond,

French resident at Pullicat...... The billet is no bad sketch of the

writer’s character, which seems to have a strong tincture of oddity and

extravagance.

* “Monsieur Raymond--The English squadron is no more, sir--

of the twelve ships they had in our road seven are lost,

crews and all; the other four dismasted; and no more than

one frigate hath escaped--therefore lose not an instant in

sending chelingoes upon chelingoes, laden with rice. The

Dutch have nothing to fear now. Besides, according to the

law of nations, they are only restricted from sending us

provisions in their own bottoms; and we are no longer

blockaded by sea. The salvation of Pondicherry hath been

once in your power already: if you neglect this opportunity

it will be entirely your own fault--don’t forget some small

chelingoes also--offer great rewards--in four days I expect

seventeen thousand Mahrattas. In short, risk all--attempt

all--force all, and send us some rice, should it be but half

a garse at a time.”

PART OF THE BRITISH SQUADRON WRECKED IN A STORM.

By the reduction of Pondicherry, the French interest was annihilated on

the coast of Coromandel, and therefore of the utmost importance to the

British nation. It may be doubted, however, whether colonel Coote, with

all his spirit, vigilance, and military talents, could have succeeded

in this enterprise without the assistance of the squadrons, which

co-operated with him by sea, and effectually excluded all succour from

the besieged. It must be owned, for the honour of the service, that no

incident interrupted the good understanding which was maintained between

the land and sea officers, who vied with each other in contributing

their utmost efforts towards the success of the expedition. On the

twenty-fifth day of December, rear-admiral Stevens arrived with four

ships of the line, having parted with rear-admiral Cornish and his

division in stormy weather: but he joined them at Pondicherry before

the place was surrendered. On the first day of January a violent tempest

obliged admiral Stevens to slip his cables and to put to sea, where he

parted with the rest of the squadron; and when in three days he returned

to the road of Pondicherry, he had the mortification to find that his

division had suffered severely from the storm. The ships of war called

the duke of Aquitaine and the Sunderland foundered in the storm, and

their crews perished. The Newcastle, the Queenborough, and the Protector

fireship, were driven ashore and destroyed; but the men were saved,

together with the cannon, stores, and provisions. Many other ships

sustained considerable damage, which however was soon repaired. Admiral

Stevens having intercepted the letter from Lally to Raymond, (See-note

*), immediately despatched letters to the Dutch and Danish settlements

on this coast, intimating that, notwithstanding the insinuations of

general Lally, he had eleven sail of the line, with two frigates, under

his command, all fit for service, in the road of Pondicherry, which

was closely invested and blockaded both by sea and land: he therefore

declared, that, as in that case it was contrary to the law of nations

for any neutral power to relieve or succour the besieged, he was

determined to seize any vessel that should attempt to throw provisions

into the place.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

DEATH and CHARACTER of KING GEORGE II.

While the arms of Great Britain still prospered in every effort tending

to the real interest of the nation, an event happened which for a

moment obscured the splendour of her triumphs, and could not but be

very alarming to those German allies, whom her liberality had enabled to

maintain an expensive and sanguinary war of humour and ambition. On the

twenty-fifth day of October, George II. king of Great Britain, without

any previous disorder, was in the morning suddenly seized with the agony

of death, at the palace at Kensington. He had risen at the usual hour,

drank his chocolate, and inquired, about the wind, as anxious for the

arrival of the foreign mails; then he opened a window of his apartment,

and perceiving the weather was serene, declared he would walk in the

garden. In a few minutes after this declaration, while he remained

alone in his chamber, he fell down upon the floor; the noise of his fall

brought his attendants into the room, who lifted him on the bed, where

he desired, in a faint voice, that the princess Amelia might be called;

but before she could reach the apartments he had expired. An attempt

was made to bleed him, but without effect: and indeed his malady was far

beyond the reach of art; for when the cavity of the thorax or chest was

opened, and inspected by the sergeant-surgeons, they found the right

ventricle of the heart actually ruptured, and a great quantity of blood

discharged through the aperture into the surrounding pericardium; so

that he must have died instantaneously, in consequence of the effusion.

The case, however, was so extraordinary, that we question whether there

is such another instance upon record. A rupture of this nature

appears the more remarkable, as it happened to a prince of a healthy

constitution, unaccustomed to excess, and far advanced beyond that

period of life, when the blood might be supposed to flow with a

dangerous impetuosity.

Thus died George II. at the age of seventy-seven, after a long reign of

thirty-four years, distinguished by a variety of important events, and

chequered with a vicissittide of character and fortune. He was in his

person rather lower than the middle size, well shaped, erect, with

eyes remarkably prominent, a high nose, and fair complexion. In his

disposition he is said to have been hasty, prone to anger, especially in

his youth, yet soon appeased; otherwise mild, moderate, and humane; in

his way of living temperate, regular, and so methodical in every branch

of private economy, that his attention descended to objects which a

great king, perhaps, had better overlook. He was fond of military pomp

and parade; and personally brave. He loved war as a soldier--he studied

it as a science; and corresponded on this subject with some of

the greatest officers whom Germany has produced. The extent of his

understanding, and the splendour of his virtue, we shall not presume to

ascertain, or attempt to display; we rather wish for opportunities to

expatiate on his munificence and liberality--his generous regard to

genius and learning--his royal encouragement and protection of those

arts by which a nation is at once benefited and adorned. With respect to

his government, it very seldom deviated from the institutions of law,

or encroached upon private property, or interfered with the common

administration of justice. The circumstances that chiefly marked his

public character, were a predilection for his native country, and a

close attention to the political interests of the Germanic body; points

and principles to which he adhered with the most invincible fortitude:

and if ever the blood and treasure of Great Britain were sacrificed

to these considerations, we ought not so much to blame the prince, who

acted from the dictates of natural affection, as we should detest a

succession of venal ministers, all of whom in their turns devoted

themselves, soul and body, to the gratification of his passion, or

partiality, so prejudicial to the true interest of their country.

{GEORGE II., 1727-1760}

RECAPITULATION OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF HIS REIGN.

The reign of George II. produced many revolutions, as well in the

internal schemes of economy and administration, as in the external

projects of political connexions; revolutions that exposed the frailties

of human nature, and demonstrated the instability of systems founded

upon convenience. In the course of this reign, a standing army was, by

dint of ministerial influence, engrafted on the constitution of Great

Britain. A fatal stroke was given to the liberty of the press, by the

act subjecting all dramatic writings to the inspection of a licenser.

The great machine of corruption, contrived to secure a constant majority

in parliament, was overturned, and the inventor of it obliged to quit

the reins of government. Professed patriots resigned the principles they

had long endeavoured to establish, and listed themselves for the defence

of that fortress against which their zeal and talents had been levelled.

The management of a mighty kingdom was consigned into the hands of a

motley administration--ministers without knowledge, and men without

integrity, whose councils were timid, weak, and wavering; whose folly

and extravagance exposed the nation to ridicule and contempt; by whose

ignorance and presumption it was reduced to the verge of ruin. The

kingdom was engaged in a quarrel truly national, and commenced a

necessary war on national principles: but that war was starved; and the

chief strength of the nation transferred to the continent of Europe, in

order to maintain an unnecessary war, in favour of a family whose

pride and ambition can be equalled by nothing but its insolence and

ingratitude. While the strength of the nation was thus exerted abroad

for the support of worthless allies, and a dangerous rebellion raged in

the bowels of the kingdom, the sovereign was insulted by his ministers,

who deserted his service at this critical juncture, and refused to

resume their functions, until he had truckled to their petulant humour,

and dismissed a favourite servant, of whose superior talents they were

meanly jealous. Such an unprecedented secession at any time would

have merited the imputation of insolence; but at that period, when the

sovereign was perplexed and embarrassed by a variety of dangers and

difficulties; when his crown, and even his life, were at stake; to

throw up their places, abandon his councils, and, as far as in them lay,

detach themselves from his fortune, was a step so likely to aggravate

the disorder of the nation, so big with cruelty, ingratitude, and

sedition, that it seems to deserve an appellation which, however, we

do not think proper to bestow. An inglorious war was succeeded by an

ignominious peace, which proved of short duration; yet in this interval

the English nation exhibited such a proof of commercial opulence as

astonished all Europe. At the close of a war which had drained it of so

much treasure, and increased the public debt to an enormous burden, it

acquiesced under such a reduction of interest as one would hardly think

the ministry durst have proposed, even before one-half of the national

debt was contracted. A much more unpopular step was a law that passed

for natural-izing the Jews--a law so odious to the people in general,

that it was soon repealed, at the request of that minister by whom it

had been chiefly patronized. An ill-concerted peace was in a little

time productive of fresh hostilities, and another war with France, which

Britain began to prosecute under favourable auspices. Then the whole

political system of Germany was inverted. The king of England abandoned

the interest of that house which he had in the former war so warmly

espoused, and took into his bosom a prince whom he had formerly

considered as his inveterate enemy. The unpropitious beginning of

this war against France being imputed to the misconduct of the

administration, excited such a ferment among the people, as seemed to

threaten a dangerous insurrection. Every part of the kingdom resounded

with the voice of dissatisfaction, which did not even respect the

throne. The king found himself obliged to accept of a minister presented

by the people; and this measure was attended with consequences as

favourable as his wish could form. From that instant all clamour was

hushed--all opposition ceased. The enterprising spirit of the new

minister seemed to diffuse itself through all the operations of the war,

and conquest everywhere attended the efforts of the British arms.

Now appeared the fallacy of those maxims, and the falsehood of those

assertions, by which former ministers had established, and endeavoured

to excuse, the practices of corruption. The supposed disaffection, which

had been insisted on as the source of parliamentary opposition, now

entirely vanished; nor was it found necessary to use any sinister

means for securing a majority, in order to answer the purposes of the

administration. England for the first time saw a minister of state in

full possession of popularity. Under the auspices of this minister,

it saw a national militia formed, and trained to discipline by the

invincible spirit of a few patriots, who pursued this salutary measure

in the face of unwearied opposition, discouraged by the jealousy of

a court, and ridiculed by all the venal retainers to a standing army.

Under his ministry it saw the military genius of Great Britain revive,

and shine with redoubled lustre; it saw her interest and glory coincide,

and an immense extent of country added by conquest to her dominions. The

people, confiding in the integrity and abilities of their own minister,

and elevated by the repeated sounds of triumph, became enamoured of the

war, and granted such liberal subsidies for its support, as no other

minister would have presumed to ask, as no other nation believed they

could afford. Nor did they murmur at seeing great part of their treasure

diverted into foreign channels; nor did they seem to bestow a serious

thought on the accumulating load of the national debt, which already

exceeded the immense sum of one hundred millions.

In a word, they were intoxicated with victory; and as the king happened

to die in the midst of their transports, occasioned by the final

conquest of Canada, their good humour garnished his character with

a prodigality of encomiums. A thousand pens were drawn to paint the

beauties and sublimity of his character, in poetry as well as prose.

They extolled him above Alexander in courage and heroism, above Augustus

in liberality, Titus in clemency, Antoninus in piety and benevolence,

Solomon in wisdom, and Saint Edward in devotion. Such hyperbolical

eulogiums served only to throw a ridicule upon a character which was

otherwise respectable. The two universities vied with each other in

lamenting his death; and each published a huge collection of elegies

on the subject: nor did they fail to exalt his praise, with the warmest

expressions of affection and regret, in the compliments of condolence

and congratulation which they presented to his successor. The same

panegyric and pathos appeared in all the addresses with which every

other community in the kingdom approached the throne of our present

sovereign: insomuch that we may venture to say, no prince was ever more

popular at the time of his decease. The English are naturally warm and

impetuous; and in generous natures, affection is as apt as any other

passion to run riot. The sudden death of the king was lamented as a

national misfortune by many, who felt a truly filial affection for their

country; not that they implicitly subscribed to all the exaggerated

praise which had been so liberally poured forth on his character, but

because the nation was deprived of him at a critical juncture, while

involved in a dangerous and expensive war, of which he had been

personally the chief mover and support. They knew the burden of royalty

devolved upon a young prince, who, though heir-apparent to the crown,

and already arrived at years of maturity, had never been admitted to

any share of the administration, nor made acquainted with any schemes

or secrets of state. The real character of the new king was very little

known to the generality of the nation. They dreaded an abrupt change of

measures, which might have rendered useless all the advantages obtained

in the course of the war. As they were ignorant of his connexions, they

dreaded a revolution in the ministry, which might fill the kingdom with

clamour and confusion. But the greatest shock occasioned by his decease

was undoubtedly among our allies and fellow-subjects in Germany, who saw

themselves suddenly deprived of their sole prop and patron, at a time

when they could not pretend of themselves to make head against the

numerous enemies by whom they were surrounded. But all these doubts and

apprehensions vanished like mists before the rising sun; and the people

of Great Britain enjoyed the inexpressible pleasure of seeing their

loss repaired in such a manner, as must have amply fulfilled the most

sanguine wish of every friend to his country.

ACCOUNT OF THE COMMERCE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The commerce of Great Britain continued to increase during the

whole course of this reign; but this increase was not the effect

of extraordinary encouragement. On the contrary, the necessities of

government, the growing expenses of the nation, and the continual

augmentation of the public debt, obliged the legislature to hamper trade

with manifold and grievous impositions; its increase, therefore, must

have been owing to the natural progress of industry and adventure

extending themselves to that farthest line or limit beyond which they

will not be able to advance: when the tide of traffic has flowed to its

highest mark, it will then begin to recede in a gradual ebb, until it

is shrunk within the narrow limits of its original channel. War, which

naturally impedes the traffic of other nations, had opened new sources

to the merchants of Great Britain. The superiority of her naval power

had crushed the navigation of France, her great rival in commerce; so

that she now supplied, on her own terms, all those foreign markets, at

which, in time of peace, she was undersold by that dangerous competitor.

Thus her trade was augmented to a surprising pitch; and this great

augmentation alone enabled her to maintain the war at such an enormous

expense. As this advantage will cease when the French are at liberty to

re-establish their commerce, and prosecute it without molestation, it

would be for the interest of Great Britain to be at continual variance

with that restless neighbour, provided the contest could be limited

to the operations of a sea-war, in which England would be always

invincible and victorious.

STATE OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY.

The powers of the human mind were freely and fully exercised in this

reign. Considerable progress was made in mathematics and astronomy by

divers individuals; among whom we number Sanderson, Bradley, Maclaurin,

Smith, and the two Simpsons. Natural philosophy became a general study;

and the new doctrine of electricity grew into fashion. Different methods

were discovered for rendering sea-water potable and sweet; and divers

useful hints were communicated to the public by the learned doctor

Stephen Hales, who directed all his researches and experiments to the

benefit of society. The study of alchemy no longer prevailed; but the

art of chemistry was perfectly understood, and assiduously applied

to the purposes of sophistication. The clergy of Great Britain were

generally learned, pious, and exemplary. Sherlock, Hoad-ley, Seeker,

and Conybeare, were promoted to the first dignities of the church.

Warburton, who had long signalized himself by the strength and boldness

of his genius, his extensive capacity and profound erudition, at length

obtained the mitre. But these promotions were granted to reasons ef

state convenience and personal interest, rather than as rewards of

extraordinary merit. Many other ecclesiastics of worth and learning

were totally overlooked. Nor was ecclesiastical merit confined to the

established church. Many instances of extraordinary genius, unaffected

piety, and universal moderation, appeared among the dissenting ministers

of Great Britain and Ireland; among these we particularize the elegant,

the primitive Foster; the learned, ingenious, and penetrating Leland.

FANATICISM.

The progress of reason, and free cultivation of the human mind, had not,

however, entirely banished those ridiculous sects and schisms of which

the kingdom had been formerly so productive. Imposture and fanaticism

still hung upon the skirts of religion. Weak minds were seduced by the

delusion of a superstition styled Methodism, raised upon the affectation

of superior sanctity, and maintained by pretensions to divine

illumination. Many thousands in the lower ranks of life were infected

with this species of enthusiasm, by the unwearied endeavours of a few

obscure preachers, such as Whitfield and the two Wesleys, who propagated

their doctrine to the most remote corners of the British dominions, and

found means to lay the whole kingdom under contribution. Fanaticism

also formed a league with false philosophy. One Hutchinson, a visionary,

intoxicated with the fumes of rabbinical learning, pretended to deduce

all demonstration from Hebrew roots, and to confine all human knowledge

to the five books of Moses. His disciples became numerous after his

death. With the methodists, they denied the merit of good-works, and

bitterly inveighed against Newton as an ignorant pretender, who had

presumed to set up his own ridiculous chimeras in opposition to the

sacred philosophy of the Pentateuch. But the most extraordinary

sect which distinguished this reign was that of the Moravians, or

Hernhutters, imported from Germany by count Zinzendorf, who might have

been termed the Melchisedec of his followers, inasmuch as he assumed

among them the threefold character of prophet, priest, and king. They

could not be so properly styled a sect, as the disciples of an original,

who had invented a new system of religion. Their chief adoration was

paid to the second person in the Trinity; the first they treated with

the most shocking neglect. Some of their tenets were blasphemous, some

indecent, and others ridiculously absurd. Their discipline was a strange

mixture of devotion and impurity. Their exterior worship consisted of

hymns, prayers, and sermons; the hymns extremely ludicrous, and often

indecent, alluding to the side-hole or wound which Christ received from

a spear in his side while he remained upon the cross. Their sermons

frequently contained very gross incentives to the work of propagation.

Their private exercises are said to have abounded with such rites

and mysteries, as we cannot explain with any regard to decorum. They

professed a community of goods, and were governed as one family, in

temporals as well as spirituals, by a council or kind of presbytery,

in which the count, as their ordinary, presided. In cases of doubt, or

great consequence, these pretended to consult the Saviour, and to decide

from immediate inspiration; so that they boasted of being under the

immediate direction of a theocracy, though in fact they were slaves to

the most dangerous kind of despotism; for as often as any individual of

the community pretended to think for himself, or differ in opinion from

the ordinary and his band of associates, the oracle decreed that he

should be instantly sent upon the mission which they had fixed in

Greenland, or to the colony they had established in Pennsylvania. As

these religionists consisted chiefly of manufacturers who appeared very

sober, orderly, and industrious; and their chief declared his intention

of prosecuting works of public emolument; they obtained a settlement

under a parliamentary sanction in England, where they soon made a

considerable number of proselytes, before their principles were fully

discovered and explained.

METAPHYSICS AND MEDICINE.

Many ingenious treatises on metaphysics and morality appeared in the

course of this reign, and a philosophical spirit of inquiry diffused

itself to the farthest extremities of the united kingdom. Though few

discoveries of importance were made in medicine, yet that art was well

understood in all its different branches, and many of its professors

distinguished themselves in other provinces of literature. Besides the

medical essays of London and Edinburgh, the physician’s library was

enriched with many useful modern productions; with the works of the

classical Freind, the elegant Mead, the accurate Huxham, and the

philosophical Pringle. The art of midwifery was elucidated by science,

reduced to fixed principles, and almost wholly consigned into the hands

of men practitioners. The researches of anatomy were prosecuted to some

curious discoveries, by the ingenuity and dexterity of a Hunter and a

Monro. The numerous hospitals in London contributed to the improvement

of surgery, which was brought to perfection under the auspices of a

Cheselden and a Sharpe. The advantages of agriculture, which had long

flourished in England, extended themselves gradually to the most remote

and barren provinces of the island.

MECHANICS.

The mechanic powers were well understood, and judiciously applied to

many useful machines of necessity and convenience. The mechanical

arts had attained to all that perfection which they were capable of

acquiring; but the avarice and oppressions of contractors obliged the

handicraftsman to exert his ingenuity, not in finishing his work well,

but in affording it cheap; in purchasing bad materials, and performing

his task in a hurry; in concealing flaws, substituting show for

solidity, and sacrificing reputation to the thirst of lucre. Thus, many

of the English manufactures, being found slight and unserviceable, grew

into discredit abroad; thus the art of producing them more perfect may

in time be totally lost at home. The cloths now made in England are

inferior in texture and fabric to those which were manufactured in the

beginning of the century; and the same judgment may be pronounced

upon almost every article of hardware. The razors, knives, scissors,

hatchets, swords, and other edge-utensils, prepared for exportation,

are generally ill-tempered, half finished, flawed, or brittle; and the

muskets, which are sold for seven or eight shillings a-piece to the

exporter, so carelessly and unconscientiously prepared, that they cannot

be used without imminent danger of mutilation: accordingly, one hardly

meets with a negro man upon the coast of Guinea, in the neighbourhood

of the British settlements, who has not been wounded or maimed in some

member by the bursting of the English fire-arms. The advantages of

this traffic, carried on at the expense of character and humanity, will

naturally cease, whenever those Africans can be supplied more honestly

by the traders of any other nation.

GENIUS.

Genius in writing spontaneously arose; and, though neglected by the

great, flourished under the culture of a public which had pretensions to

taste, and piqued itself on encouraging literary merit. Swift and Pope

we have mentioned on another occasion. Young still survived, a venerable

monument of poetical talents. Thomson, the poet of the Seasons,

displayed a luxuriancy of genius in describing the beauties of nature.

Akenside and Armstrong excelled in didactic poetry. Even the Epopoea did

not disdain an English dress; but appeared to advantage in the Leonidas

of Glover, and the Epigoniad of Wilkie. The public acknowledged a

considerable share of dramatic merit in the tragedies of Young, Mallet,

Home, and some other less distinguished authors. Very few regular

comedies, during this period, were exhibited on the English theatre;

which, however, produced many less laboured pieces, abounding with

satire, wit, and humour. The Careless Husband of Gibber, and Suspicious

Husband of Hoadley, are the only comedies of this age that bid fair for

reaching posterity. The exhibitions of the stage were improved to the

most exquisite entertainment by the talents and management of Garrick,

who greatly surpassed all his predecessors of this and perhaps every

other nation, in his genius for acting; in the sweetness and variety of

his tones, the irresistible magic of his eye, the fire and vivacity

of his action, the elegance of attitude, and the whole pathos of

expression. Quin excelled in dignity and declamation, as well as

exhibiting some characters of humour, equally exquisite and peculiar.

Mrs. Cibber breathed the whole soul of female tenderness and passion;

and Mrs. Pritchard displayed all the dignity of distress. That Great

Britain was not barren of poets at this period, appears from the

detached performances of Johnson, Mason, Gray, the two Whiteheads,

and the two Whartons; besides a great number of other bards, who

have sported in lyric poetry, and acquired the applause of their

fellow-citizens. Candidates for literary fame appeared even in the

higher sphere of life, embellished by the nervous style, superior sense,

and extensive erudition of a Corke; by the delicate taste, the polished

muse, and tender feelings of a Lyttleton. King shone unrivalled in Roman

eloquence. Even the female sex distinguished themselves by their taste

and ingenuity. Miss Carter rivalled the celebrated Dacier in learning

and critical knowledge; Mrs. Lennox signalized herself by many

successful efforts of genius, both in poetry and prose; and Miss Reid

excelled the celebrated Rosalba in portrait painting, both in miniature

and at large, in oil as well as in crayons. The genius of Cervantes was

transfused into the novels of Fielding, who painted the characters,

and ridiculed the follies of life, with equal strength, humour, and

propriety. The field of history and biography was cultivated by many

writers of ability: among whom we distinguish the copious Guthrie,

the circumstantial Ralph, the laborious Carte, the learned and elegant

Robertson, and above all, the ingenious, penetrating, and comprehensive

Hume, whom we rank among the first writers of the age, both as an

historian and philosopher. Nor let us forget the merit conspicuous

in the works of Campbell, remarkable for candour, intelligence, and

precision. Johnson, inferior to none in philosophy, philology, poetry,

and classical learning, stands foremost as an essayist, justly admired

for the dignity, strength, and variety of his style, as well as for the

agreeable manner in which he investigates the human heart, tracing

every interesting emotion, and opening all the sources of morality.

The laudable aim of enlisting the passions on the side of virtue,

was successfully pursued by Richardson, in his Pamella, Clarissa, and

Grandison; a species of writing equally new and extraordinary, where,

mingled with much superfluity, we find a sublime system of ethics, an

amazing knowledge and command of human nature. Many of the Greek and

Roman classics made their appearance in English translations, which

were favourably received as works of merit; among these we place, after

Pope’s Homer, Virgil by Pitt and Wharton, Horace by Francis, Polybius

by Hampton, and Sophocles by Franklin. The war introduced a variety of

military treatises, chiefly translated from the French language; and

a free country, like Great Britain, will always abound with political

tracts and lucubrations. Every literary production of merit, calculated

for amusement or instruction, that appeared in any country or language

of Christendom, was immediately imported and naturalized among the

English people. Never was the pursuit after knowledge so universal, or

literary merit more regarded, than at this juncture, by the body of the

British nation; but it was honoured by no attention from the throne, and

little indulgence from particular patrons. The reign of Queen Anne was

propitious to the fortunes of Swift and Pope, who lived in all the happy

pride of independence. Young, sequestered from courts and preferment,

possessed a moderate benefice in the country, and employed his time in

a conscientious discharge of his ecclesiastical functions. Thomson, with

the most benevolent heart that ever warmed the human breast, maintained

a perpetual war with the difficulties of a narrow fortune. He enjoyed a

place in chancery by the bounty of lord Talbot, of which he was divested

by the succeeding chancellor. He afterwards enjoyed a small pension from

Frederick prince of Wales, which was withdrawn in the sequel. About two

years before his death, he obtained, by the interest of his friend

lord Lyttleton, a comfortable place; but he did not live to taste the

blessing of easy circumstances, and died in debt.*

* However he was neglected when living, his memory has been

honoured with peculiar marks of regard, in an ample

subscription for a new edition of his works. The profits

were employed in erecting a monument to his fame in

Westminster Abbey, a subscription to which his present

majesty king George III. has liberally subscribed. The

remaining surplus was distributed among his poor relations.

None of the rest whom we have named enjoyed any share of the royal

bounty, except W. Whitehead, who succeeded to the place of laureate

at the death of Cibber; and some of them whose merit was the most

universally acknowledged, remained exposed to all the storms of

indigence, and all the stings of mortification. While the queen lived,

some countenance was given to learning. She conversed with Newton, and

corresponded with Leibnitz. She took pains to acquire popularity; the

royal family on certain days dined in public, for the satisfaction

of the people: the court was animated with a freedom of spirit and

vivacity, which rendered it at once brilliant and agreeable. At her

death that spirit began to languish, and a total stagnation of gaiety

and good humour ensued. It was succeeded by a sudden calm, an ungracious

reserve, and a still rotation of insipid forms. *

* George II. by his queen Caroline, had two sons and five

daughters, who attained the age of maturity. Frederick,

prince of Wales, father to his present majesty George III.;

William duke of Cumberland; Anne, the princess royal,

married to the late prince of Orange, and mother to the

present stadtholder; Mary, landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel;

Louisa, late queen of Denmark; Amelia and Carolina, who were

never married.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

MUSIC.

England was not defective in other arts that embellish and amuse. Music

became a fashionable study, and its professors were generally caressed

by the public. An Italian opera was maintained at a great expense, and

well supplied with foreign performers. Private concerts were instituted

in every corner of the metropolis. The compositions of Handel were

universally admired, and he himself lived in affluence. It must be

owned at the same time, that Geminiani was neglected, though his genius

commanded esteem and veneration. Among the few natives of England who

distinguished themselves by their talents in this art, Green, Howard,

Arne, and Boyce, were the most remarkable.

PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.

The British soil, which had hitherto been barren in the article of

painting, now produced some artists of extraordinary merit. Hogarth

excelled all the world in exhibiting the scenes of ordinary life; in

humour, character, and expression. Hayman became eminent for historical

designs and conversation pieces. Reynolds and Ramsay distinguished

themselves by their superior merit in portraits; a branch that was

successfully cultivated by many other English painters. Wootton

was famous for representing live animals in general; Seymour for

race-horses; Lambert and the Smiths for landscapes; and Scot for

sea-pieces. Several spirited attempts were made on historical subjects,

but little progress was made in the sublime parts of painting. Essays of

this kind were discouraged by a false taste, founded upon a reprobation

of British genius. The art of engraving was brought to perfection by

Strange, and laudably practised by Grignon, Baron, Ravenet, and several

other masters; great improvements were made in mezzotinto, miniature,

and enamel. Many fair monuments of sculpture or statuary were raised by

Rysbrach, Roubilliac, and Wilton. Architecture, which had been cherished

by the elegant taste of Burlington, soon became a favourite study; and

many magnificent edifices were reared in different parts of the kingdom.

Ornaments were carved in wood, and moulded in stucco, with all the

delicacy of execution; but a passion for novelty had introduced into

gardening, building, and furniture, an absurd Chinese taste, equally

void of beauty and convenience. Improvements in the liberal and useful

arts will doubtless be the consequence of that encouragement given

to merit by the society instituted for these purposes, which we have

described on another occasion. As for the Royal Society, it seems to

have degenerated in its researches, and to have had very little

share, for half a century at least, in extending the influence of true

philosophy.

We shall conclude this reign with a detail of the forces and fleets of

Great Britain, from whence the reader will conceive a just idea of her

opulence and power.

[Illustration: 574.jpg FORCES AND FLEETS OF GREAT BRITAIN]

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

NOTES TO VOLUME II.

[Footnote 237: Note 2 K, p.237 Nothing was heard within doors in

parliament, but sarcastic repartee and violent declamation between the

two parties, who did not confine their altercation to these debates, but

took the field against each other in periodical papers and occasional

pamphlets. The paper called The Craftsman, had already risen into high

reputation all over England, for the wit, humour, and solid reasoning

it contained. Some of the best writers in the opposition, including

lord Bolingbroke and Mr. P. made use of this vehicle to convey their

animadversions upon the minister, who, on his side, employed the most

wretched scribblers to defend his conduct. It was in consequence of

two political pamphlets, written in opposition to each other, by “lord

Hervey and Mr. P., and some recrimination they produced in the house of

commons, that his lordship challenged the other to single combat, and

had well nigh lost his life in the duel, which was fought in Hyde Park.]

[Footnote 260: Note 2. L, p. 260. Captain Jenkins was master of a

Scottish merchant-ship. He was boarded by the captain of a Spanish

guardacosta, who treated him in the most barbarous manner. The

Spaniards, after having rummaged his vessel for what they called

contraband commodities, without finding anything to justify their

search, insulted him with the most opprobrious invectives. They tore

off one of his ears, bidding him carry it to his king, and tell him they

would serve him in the same manner should an opportunity offer: they

tortured him with the most shocking cruelty, and threatened him with

immediate death. This man was examined at the bar of the house of

commons, and being asked by a member, what he thought when he found

himself in the hands of such barbarians? “I recommended my soul to God,”

said he, “and my cause to my country.” The behaviour of this brave

seaman, the sight of his ear, which was produced, with his account of

the indignities which had been offered to the nation and sovereign of

Great Britain, filled the whole house with indignation. Jenkins was

afterwards employed in the service of the East India company; he

approved himself worthy of his good fortune, in a long engagement with

the pirate Angria, during which he behaved with extraordinary courage

and conduct; and saved his own ship, with three others that were under

his convoy.]

[Footnote 262: Note 2 M, p. 262. Among the laws enacted in the course

of this session was an act against gaming, which had become universal

through all ranks of people, and likely to prove destructive to all

morals, industry, and sentiment. Another bill passed, for granting a

reward to Joanna Stevens, on her discovering, for the benefit of the

public, a nostrum for the cure of persons afflicted with the stone--a

medicine which has by no means answered the expectations of the

legislature.

In the house of lords, complaint was made by lord Delaware of a satire,

entitled Manners, written by Mr. Whitehead, in which some characters of

distinction were severely lashed in the true spirit of poetry. It was

voted a libel: a motion was made to take the author into custody; but

he having withdrawn himself, the resentment of the house fell upon E.

Dodsley, the publisher of the work, who was committed to the usher of

the black rod, though lord Carteret, the earl of Abingdon, and lord

Talbot, spoke in his behalf.]

[Footnote 283: Note 2 N, p.283. In May, a dreadful plague broke out

at Messina in Sicily. It was imported in cotton and other commodities

brought from the Morea; and swept off such a multitude of people, that

the city was almost depopulated: all the galley slaves who were employed

in burying the dead, perished by the contagion; and this was the fate of

many priests and monks who administered to those who were infected. The

dead bodies lay in heaps in the streets, corrupting the air, and adding

fresh fuel to the rage of the pestilence. Numbers died miserably,

for want of proper attendance and necessaries; and all was horror and

desolation. At the beginning of winter it ceased, after having destroyed

near fifty thousand inhabitants of Messina, and of the garrisons in

the citadel and castle. It was prevented from spreading in Sicily by a

strong barricado drawn from Melazzo to Taormina; but it was conveyed to

Reggio in Calabria by the avarice of a broker of that place, who bought

some goods at Messina. The king of Naples immediately ordered lines

to be formed, together with a chain of troops, which cut off all

communication between that place and the rest of the continent.]

[Footnote 301: Note 2 O, p. 301. This nobleman, so remarkable for his

courage and thirst of glory, exhibited a very extraordinary instance of

presence of mind on the morning that preceded this battle. He and some

volunteers, accompanied by his aidecamp, and attended by two orderly

dragoons, the rode out before day to reconnoitre the situation of the

enemy; and fell in with one of their advanced guards. The sergeant

who commanded it immediately turned out his men, and their pieces were

presented when the earl first perceived them. Without betraying the

least mark of disorder, he rode up to the sergeant, and assuming the

character of a French general, told him, in that language, that there

was no occasion for such ceremony. Then he asked, if they had perceived

any of the enemy’s parties; and being answered in the negative, “Very

well,” said he, “be upon your guard; and if you should be attacked,

I will take care that you shall be sustained.” So saying, he and his

company retired, before the sergeant could recollect himself from the

surprise occasioned by this unexpected address. In all probability he

was sensible of his mistake; for the incident was that very day publicly

mentioned in the French army. The prince of Tingray, an officer in the

Austrian service, having been taken prisoner in the battle that ensued,

dined with mares-chal count Saxe, who dismissed him on his parole, and

desired he would charge himself with a facetious compliment to his old

friend, the earl of Crawford. He wished his lordship joy of being a

French general, and said he could not help being displeased with the

sergeant, as he had not procured him the honour of his lordship’s

company at dinner.]

[Footnote 310: Note 2 P, p. 310. Such an expensive war could not be

maintained without a very extraordinary exertion of a commercial spirit:

accordingly we find that Great Britain, since the death of king William,

has risen under our pressures with increased vigour and perseverance.

Whether it be owing to the natural progression of trade extending

itself from its origin to its _acme_, or _ne plus ultra_, or to

the encouragement given by the administration to monied men of all

denominations; or to necessity, impelling those who can no longer live

on small incomes to risk their capitals in traffic, that they may have a

chance for bettering their fortunes; or lastly, to a concurrence of all

these causes; certain it is, the national exports and imports have been

sensibly increasing for these forty years: the yearly medium of woollen

exports, from the year 1738 to 1743 inclusive, amounted to about three

millions and a half, which was a yearly increase, on the medium, of five

hundred thousand pounds above the medium from 1718 to 1724. From this

article, the reader will conceive the prodigious extent, and importance

of the British commerce.]

[Footnote 321: Note 2 Q, p. 321. The resolutions of the commons on this

head were printed by authority in the London Gazette, signifying, that

those who were, or should be, proprietors of any part of the public

debt, redeemable by law, incurred before Michaelmas, in the year one

thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, carrying an interest of four

per centum per annum, who should, on or before the twenty-eighth day of

February in that year, subscribe their names, signifying their consent

to accept of an interest of three pounds per centum, to commence from

the twenty-fifth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred

and fifty-seven, subject to the same provisions, notices, and classes of

redemption, to which their respective sums at four per centum were then

liable, should, in lieu of their present interest, be entitled to

four per centum till the twenty-fifth day of December, in the year one

thousand seven hundred and fifty; and after that day, to three pounds

ten shillings per centum per annum, till the twenty-fifth day of

December, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven; and no part of

that debt, except what was due to the East India company, should be

redeemable to this period. That if any part of the national debt,

incurred before last Michaelmas, redeemable by law, and carrying an

interest of four per centum, should remain unsubscribed on or before the

thirtieth day of May, the government should pay off the principal. For

this purpose Ins majesty was enabled to borrow of any person or persons,

bodies politic or corporate, any sum or sums of money not exceeding that

part of the national debt which might remain unsubscribed, to be charged

on the sinking fund, upon any terms not exceeding the rate of interest

in the foregoing proposal.

All the duties appropriated to the payment of the interest were still

continued, and the surplus of these incorporated with the sinking

fund for the discharge of the principal. Books were opened for the

subscription at the Exchequer, the Bank of England, and the South Sea

house; and copies of these resolutions transmitted to the directors of

all the monied corporations.]

[Footnote 322: Note 2 R, p. 322. The most remarkable circumstance

attending the progress of this bill, which made its way through both

houses, and obtained the royal assent, was the number of contradictory

petitions in favour and in prejudice of it, while it remained under

consideration. The tanners of leather in and about the town of Sheffield

in Yorkshire, represented, That if the bill should pass, the English

iron would be undersold; consequently, a great number of furnaces and

forges would be discontinued; in that case the woods used for fuel would

stand uncut, and the tanners be deprived of oak bark sufficient for the

continuance and support of their occupation. They nevertheless owned,

that should the duty be removed from pig iron only, no such consequence

could be apprehended; because, should the number of furnaces be

lessened, that of forges would be increased. This was likewise the plea

urged in divers remonstrances by masters of iron-works, gentlemen,

and freeholders, who had tracts of wood-land in their possession. The

owners, proprietors, and farmers of furnaces and iron forges, belonging

to Sheffield and its neighbourhood, enlarged upon the great expense they

had incurred in erecting and supporting iron-works, by means of which

great numbers of his majesty’s subjects were comfortably supported. They

expressed their apprehension, that should the bill pass into a law, it

could not in any degree lessen the consumption of Swedish iron, which

was used for purposes which neither the American nor British iron would

answer; but that the proposed encouragement, considering the plenty and

cheapness of wood in America, would enable the colonies to undersell the

British iron, a branch of traffic which would be totally destroyed,

to the ruin of many thousand labourers, who would be compelled to seek

their livelihood in foreign countries. They likewise suggested, that if

all the iron manufacturers of Great Britain should be obliged to depend

upon a supply of iron from the plantations, which must ever be rendered

precarious by the hazard of the seas and the enemy, the manufactures

would probably decay for want of materials, and many thousand families

be reduced to want and misery. On the other hand, the ironmongers and

smiths belonging to the flourishing town of Birmingham in Warwickshire,

presented a petition, declaring, That the bill would be of great benefit

to the trade of the nation, as it would enable the colonists to make

larger returns of their own produce, and encourage them to take a

greater quantity of the British manufactures. They affirmed, that all

the iron-works in the island of Great Britain did not supply half the

quantity of that metal sufficient to carry on the manufacture; that

if this deficiency could be supplied from the colonies in America, the

importation would cease, and considerable sums of money be saved to the

nation. They observed, that the importation of iron from America could

no more affect the iron-works and freeholders of the kingdom, than the

like quantity imported from any other country; but they prayed that

the people of America might be restrained from erecting slitting or

rolling-mills, or forges for plating iron, as they would interfere with

the manufacturers of Great Britain.

Many remonstrances to the same effect were presented from different

parts of the kingdom, and it appeared, upon the most exact inquiry, that

the encouragement of American iron would prove extremely beneficial to

the kingdom, as it had been found, upon trial, applicable to all the

uses of Swedish iron, and as good in every respect as the produce of

that country.]

[Footnote 330: Note 2 S, p. 330. One of the most remarkable acts which

passed in the course of this session, was that for regulating the

commencement of the year, and correcting the calendar, according to the

Gregorian computation, which had been adopted by all other nations in

Europe. By this new law it was decreed that the new year should begin

on the 1st day of January, and that eleven intermediate nominal days,

between the second and fourteenth days of September, 1752, should for

that time be omitted; so that the day succeeding the second should be

denominated the fourteenth of that month. By this establishment of the

new style, the equinoxes and solstices will happen nearly on the same

nominal days on which they fell in the year 325, at the council of

Nice; and the correspondence between the English merchants and those of

foreign countries will be greatly facilitated, with respect to the dates

of letters and accounts.]

[Footnote 331: Note 2 T, p. 330. An indulgent parent was poisoned by his

only daughter, on whom, besides other marks of tenderness and paternal

affection, he had bestowed a liberal education, which greatly aggravated

her guilt and ingratitude. Another young woman was concerned in the

assassination of her own uncle, who had been her constant benefactor

and sole guardian. A poor old woman, having, from the ignorance and

superstition of her neighbours, incurred the suspicion of sorcery and

witchcraft, was murdered in Hertfordshire by the populace, with all

the wantonness of barbarity. Rape and murder were perpetrated upon an

unfortunate woman in the neighbourhood of London, and an innocent man

suffered death for this complicated outrage, while the real criminals

assisted at his execution, heard him appeal to heaven for his innocence,

and, in the character of friends, embraced him, while he stood on the

brink of eternity.]

[Footnote 348: Note 2 U, p. 348. Several European nations had

settlements at Surat, which was one of the most frequented cities of the

East, from the great concourse of Mahometan pilgrims, who make it their

road from India, in their visits to the tomb of their prophet at Mecca.

In order to keep the seas clear of pirates between Surat and the gulf of

Arabia and Persia, the mogul had been at the annual expense of a large

ship, fitted out on purpose to carry the pilgrims to Judda, which is

within a small distance of Mecca. For the security of this ship, as

well as to protect the trade of Surat, he granted to his admiral, _the

fiddee_, chief of a colony of caffrees, or blacks, a revenue called

the tanka, to the value of three lacks of rupees, amounting to above

thirty-seven thousand pounds, arising partly from the adjacent lands,

and partly from the revenues of Surat, which were paid him yearly by the

governor of the castle, who is appointed by the mogul to keep the

city under proper subjection, without, however, interfering with the

government of it.]

[Footnote 357: Note 2 X, p. 357. The ministry having resolved to send

a body of forces to America, to act in conjunction with the provincial

troops raised on that continent, it became necessary that the mutiny act

should be rendered more clear and extensive. When this bill, therefore,

fell under consideration, it was improved with a new clause, providing,

“That all officers and soldiers of any troops being mustered and in pay,

which are or shall be raised in any of the British provinces in America,

by authority of the respective governors or governments thereof, shall

at all times, and in all places, when they happen to join or act in

conjunction with his majesty’s British forces, be liable to martial

law and discipline, in like manner, to all intents and purposes, as the

British forces are; and shall be subject to the same trial, penalties,

and punishment.”]

[Footnote 364: Note 2 Y, p. 364. The king, on his side, promised to pay

to the landgrave, for these succours, eighty crowns banco, by way of

levy-money, for every trooper or dragoon duly armed and mounted, and

thirty crowns banco for every foot soldier; the crown to be reckoned at

fifty-three sols of Holland, or at four shillings and ninepence three

farthings English money; and also to pay to his serene highness, for the

eight thousand men, an annual subsidy of an hundred and fifty thousand

crowns banco, during the four years, to commence from the day of signing

the treaty; which subsidy was to be increased to three hundred thousand

crowns yearly, from the time of requiring the troops, to the time of

their entering into British pay; and in case of their being dismissed,

the said subsidy of three hundred thousand crowns was then to revive and

be continued during the residue of the term: but, if twelve thousand

men were demanded and furnished, the subsidy was then to be increased

in proportion; and in case the king of Great Britain should at any time

think fit to send back these troops before the expiration of the treaty,

notice thereof was to be given to his serene highness three months

beforehand: one month’s pay was to be allowed them for their return, and

they were to be furnished gratis with the necessary transport vessels.]

[Footnote 372: Note 2 Z, p. 372. It is with pleasure we seize this

opportunity of recording an instance of gallantry and patriotism in

a British officer, which would have done honour to the character of a

Roman tribune. Captain Cunningham, an accomplished young gentleman, who

acted as engineer in second at Minorca, being preferred to a majority

at home, and recalled to his regiment by an express order, had repaired

with his family to Nice in Italy, where he waited for the opportunity of

a ship bound for England, when he received certain intelligence that

the French armament was destined for the place he had quitted. His lady,

whom he tenderly loved, was just delivered, and two of his children were

dangerously ill of the small-pox. He recollected that the chief engineer

at Minorca was infirm, and indeed disabled by the gout, and that many

things were wanting for the defence of the fortress. His zeal for the

honour and service of his country immediately triumphed over the calls

of tenderness and of nature. He expended a considerable sum of money

in purchasing timber for the platforms, and other necessaries for

the garrison; hired a ship for transporting them thither; and tearing

himself from his wife and children, thus left among strangers in a

foreign country, embarked again for Minorca, where he knew he should be

in a peculiar manner exposed to all the dangers of a furious siege.

In the course of this desperate service he acquitted himself with that

vigilance, skill, and active courage, which he had on divers former

occasions displayed, until the assault was given to the queen’s bastion;

when, mixing with the enemy, sword in hand, he was disabled in his right

arm by the shot of a musket and the thrust of a bayonet. His behaviour

was so acceptable to his sovereign, that when he returned to England he

was preferred to the rank of colonel in the Guards. He afterwards acted

as chief engineer in the attempts and descents which were made on the

French coast. Though grievously maimed, he accepted the same office in

the expedition to Guadaloupe, where he died universally regretted.]

[Footnote 378: Note 3 A, p. 378. When the French ambassador returned to

London, he proposed that orders should be immediately despatched to the

English governors in America, with express orders to desist from any new

undertaking, and all acts of hostility; but with regard to the lands on

the Ohio, to put, without delay, matters on the same footing in which

they stood before the late war, that the respective claims of both

nations might be amicably referred to the commissaries at Paris. The

British court agreed to the cessation of hostilities, and the discussion

of the disputes by the ministers of the two crowns, on condition that

all the possessions in America should be previously put in the

situation prescribed by the treaty of Utrecht, confirmed by that of

Aix-la-Chapelle. The French ministry, instead of complying with this

condition, produced an evasive draft of a preliminary convention, and

this was answered by a counter-proposal. At length the ambassador of

France demanded, as preliminary conditions, that Great Britain would

renounce all claim to the south coast of the river St. Laurence, and

the lakes that discharge themselves into that river; cede to the

French twenty leagues of country lying along the river of Fundy, which

discovers Acadia, or Nova Scotia; and all the land between the rivers

Ohio and Ouabache. A memorial was afterwards presented on the same

subject, including the affairs of the neutral islands in the West

Indies; but this was amply refuted in another piece, in which the

British ministry observed, that even at this very opening of the

commission established in Paris, for terminating amicably the disputes

in North America, the French invaded Nova Scotia, erected three forts

in the heart of that province, and would have destroyed the English

settlement at Halifax, had they not been prevented: that the like

hostilities were committed upon his Britannic majesty’s subjects on the

Ohio and Indian lakes, where the governors appointed by the French king,

without any shadow of right, prohibited the English from trading; seized

their traders by force, and sent them prisoners to France; invaded the

territories of Virginia, attacked a fort that covered its frontier, and,

to secure their usurpations, erected, with an armed force, a chain of

forts on the lands which they had invaded; that his Britannic majesty

had complained of these hostilities to the court of Versailles, but

without effect; so that he found himself obliged to provide for the

security of his subjects; and as the encroachments made by France

were hostile, it could never be unlawful, or irreconcile-able with the

assurance of his majesty’s peaceable disposition, to repel an aggressor;

and that the same motive of self-defence had forced him to seize the

French ships and sailors, in order to deprive that court of the means

of making an invasion, with which their ministers in all the courts of

Europe had menaced England.]

[Footnote 379: Note 3B, p. 379. _To Lieut. Gen. Fowke, or, in his

absence, to the Commander-in-Chief in his Majesty’s garrison of

Gibraltar._ War-office, March 21, 1756. “Sir,--I am commanded to

acquaint you, that it is his majesty’s pleasure that you receive into

your garrison lord Robert Bertie’s regiment to do duty there; and in

case you should apprehend that the French intend to make any attempt

upon his majesty’s island of Minorca, it is his majesty’s pleasure that

you make a detachment out of the troops of your garrison equal to a

battalion, to be commanded by a lieutenant-colonel and major; such

lieutenant-colonel and major to be the eldest in your garrison, to be

put on board the fleet for the relief of Minorca, as the admiral shall

think expedient, who is to carry them to the said island. I am, your

humble servant, B.”

_To Lieut. Gen. Fowke, or, in his absence, to the Commander-in-Chief

at Gibraltar._ War-office, March 26, 1756. “Sir,--I am commanded to

acquaint you, that it is his majesty’s pleasure, in case the island of

Minorca should be in any likelihood of being attacked, that you make

a detachment from the troops in your garrison equal to a battalion,

commanded by a lieutenant-colonel and major, for the relief of that

place, to be put on board the fleet, at the disposition of the admiral:

such lieutenant-colonel and major to be the eldest in your garrison.”

To Lieut. Gen. Fowke, or, in his absence, to the Commander-in-chief

in his Majesty’s garrison of Gibraltar. War-office, April 1, 1756.

“Sir,--It is his majesty’s pleasure, that you receive into your

garrrison the women and children belonging to lord Robert Bertie’s

regiment.”

_To Lieut. Gen. Fowke, or the Commander-in-Chief at Gibraltar._

War-office, May 12, 1756. “Sir,--I wrote to you by general Steward: if

that order is not complied with, then you are now to make a detachment

of seven hundred men out of your own regiment and Guise’s; and also

another detachment out of Pulteney’s and Panmure’s regiments, and send

them on board the fleet for the relief of Mahon. But if that order has

been complied with, then you are to make only one detachment of seven

hundred men, to be commanded by another lieutenant-colonel and major,

and to send it to Mahon; and you are also to detain all such empty

vessels as shall come into your harbour, and keep them in readiness for

any further transportation of troops. I have also his royal highness

the duke of Cumberland’s commands, to desire that you will keep your

garrison as alert as possible during this critical time, and give such

other assistance as may be in your power for the relief of Minorca;

taking care, however, not to fatigue or endanger your own garrison.”]

[Footnote 387: Note 3 C, p. 387. His majesty seems to have abated of

this respect in the sequel, if we may believe the assertions of his

Polish majesty’s queen and the court of Vienna, who affirmed, that

sentinels were posted within the palace where the queen and royal family

resided; as also at the door of the secret cabinet, where the papers

relating to foreign transactions were deposited. The keys of this

cabinet were seized, and all the writings demanded. The whole Saxon

ministry were discharged from their respective employments, and a new

commission was established by the king of Prussia for the administration

of affairs in general. When the queen entreated this prince to remove

the sentinels posted within the palace and contiguous passages,

agreeably to his assurances that all due respect should be observed

towards the royal family, the king ordered the guards to be doubled, and

sent an officer to demand of her majesty the keys of the secret cabinet.

The queen obtained this officer’s consent that the doors should be

sealed up, but afterwards he returned with orders to break them open:

then her majesty, placing herself before the door, said, she trusted so

much to the promise of the king of Prussia, that she could not believe

he had given such orders. The officer declaring that his orders were

positive, and that he durst not disobey them, she continued in the same

place, declaring, that if violence was to be used, he must begin with

her. The officer returning to acquaint the king with what had passed,

her majesty conjured the ministers of Prussia and England to remind

his majesty of his promise; but her representations had no effect:

the officer returned with fresh orders to use force, in spite of the

opposition she might make against it in person. The queen, finding

herself in danger of her life, at length withdrew: the doors were

forced, the chests broke open, and all the papers seized.]

[Footnote 388: Note 3 D, p. 388. The letter was to the following

effect:--“Veldt-Mareschal Count Rutowski, It is not without extreme

sorrow I understand the deplorable situation, which a chain of

misfortunes has reserved for you, the rest of my generals, and my whole

army; but we must acquiesce in the dispensations of Providence, and

console ourselves with the rectitude of our sentiments and intentions.

They would force me, it seems, as you gave me to understand by

major-general the baron de Dyherrn, to submit to conditions the more

severe, in proportion as the circumstances become more necessitous. I

cannot hear them mentioned. I am a free monarch: such I will live; such

I will die; and I will both live and die with honour. The fate of

my army I leave wholly to your discretion. Let your council of war

determine whether you must surrender prisoners of war, fall by the

sword, or die by famine. May your resolutions, if possible, be conducted

by humanity: whatever they may be, I have no longer any share in them;

and I declare you shall not be answerable for aught but one thing,

namely, not to carry arms against me or my allies. I pray God may have

you, Mr. Mareschal, in his holy keeping.--Given at Koningstein, the 14th

of October, 1756.

“AUGUSTUS, Kex.”

“To the Veldt-Mareschal the Count Rutowski.”

[Footnote 392: Note 3 E, p. 392. Rear-admiral Knowles being, in the

month of December, one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine, tried at

Deptford, before a court-martial, for his behaviour in and relating to

an action which happened on the first day of October in the preceding

year, between a British squadron under his command, and a squadron of

Spain, the court was unanimously of opinion, that the said Knowles,

while he was standing for the enemy, might, by a different disposition

of his squadron, have begun the attack with six ships as early in the

day as four of them were engaged; and that, therefore, by his neglecting

so to do, he gave the enemy a manifest advantage; that the said Knowles

remained on board the ship Cornwall with his flag, after she was

disabled from continuing the action, though he might, upon her being

disabled, have shifted his flag on board another ship; and the court

were unanimously of opinion he ought to have done so, in order to have

conducted and directed, during the whole action, the motions of the

squadron intrusted to his care and conduct. Upon consideration of the

whole conduct of the said Knowles, relating to that action, the court

did unanimously agree that he fell under part of the fourteenth article

of the articles of war, namely, the word negligence, and no other; and

also under the twenty-third article.--The court, therefore, unanimously

adjudged, that he should be reprimanded for not bringing up the squadron

in closer order than he did, and not beginning the attack with as great

force as he might have done; and also for not shifting his flag, upon

the Cornwall’s being disabled.]

[Footnote 395: Note 3 F, p. 395. It was enacted, that persons pawning,

exchanging, or disposing of goods, without leave of the owner, should

suffer in the penalty of twenty shillings; and, on non-payment, be

committed for fourteen days to hard labour; afterwards, if the

money could not be then paid, to be whipped publicly in the house of

correction, or such other place as the justice of the peace should

appoint, on publication of the prosecutor; that every pawnbroker should

make entry of the person’s name and place of abode who pledges any goods

with him; and the pledger, if he require it, should have a duplicate of

that entry; that a pawnbroker receiving linen or apparel intrusted to

others to be washed or mended, should forfeit double the sum lent upon

it, and restore the goods; that upon oath of any person whose goods are

unlawfully pawned or exchanged, the justice should issue a warrant to

search the suspected person’s house; and upon refusal of admittance the

officer might break open the door; that goods pawned for any sum not

exceeding ten pounds might be recovered within two years, the owner

making oath of the pawning, and tendering the principal, interest,

and charges; that goods remaining unredeemed for two years should be

forfeited and sold, the overplus to be accounted for to the owner on

demand.]

[Footnote 396: Note 3 G, p. 395. It likewise imported, that all

contracts or agreements made between clothiers and weavers in respect to

wages, should, from and after the first of May, in the year one thousand

seven hundred and fifty-seven, be valid, notwithstanding any rate

established, or to be established; but that these contracts or

agreements should extend only to the actual prices or rates of

workmanship or wages, and not to the payment thereof in any other manner

than in money; and that if any clothier should refuse or neglect to pay

the weaver the wages or price agreed on, in money, within two days after

the work should be performed and delivered, the same being demanded, he

should forfeit forty shillings for every such offence.]

[Footnote 401: Note 3 H, p. 401. Admiral F..... s’s _reasons for not

signing the warrant for admiral Byng’s execution._

“It may be thought great presumption in me to differ from so great

authority as that of the twelve judges; but when a man is called upon

to sign his name to an act which is to give authority to the shedding

of blood, he ought to be guided by his own conscience, and not by the

opinions of other men.