northern bank of the St. Lawrence, just above the junction of the St.
Charles river, which thus covers its eastern side. On the other side of
the St. Charles the ground again rises and continues in a rugged and
difficult mass, till it sinks where the river Montmorency falls into the
St. Lawrence in a lofty waterfall. The ridge between the Montmorency and
the St. Charles is called Beauport. On this Montcalm's army was in
position, precluding the possibility of investing Quebec, to which he
had access by a bridge across the St. Charles. On the other or Quebec
side of the St. Charles, the heights on the edge of which the town is
built extend up the St. Lawrence, and are called the Heights of Abraham.
They were believed to be inaccessible to an army. The Isle of Orleans
lies in the St. Lawrence from the mouth of the Montmorency till almost
opposite Quebec harbour. As long as Montcalm's army occupied the line of
Beauport Quebec could not be invested. In that position the army was
unassailable. To draw him from it therefore was Wolfe's great object.
For this purpose frequent feints were made, but were all unavailing. One
assault indeed near the mouth of the Montmorency was attempted, but the
English were beaten off. Nor were the defenders of the town idle; again
and again were fire-ships sent down, but the skilful vigilance of
Saunders rendered all such efforts unavailing. A battery or two were
erected and the town was bombarded, but this did little or no good. It
seemed plain that from the Isle of Orleans nothing could be done. The
army was moved in succession to two points higher up the river and above
Quebec. But Montcalm would not move; he was content to send an army of
observation up the river, and the besiegers lost all hope of the
succours they had expected from Amherst and Johnson. On the 9th of
September, Wolfe wrote a despatch in which he seemed quite to despair of
success. Within a week Quebec was taken. The bold design occurred to him
of surprising the Heights of Abraham, and thus compelling Montcalm to
fight. He ordered feints to be made both up and down the river while he
quietly collected boats. As it was, they were so few in number that his
army had to cross in two divisions. Very early in the morning of the
13th of September he began his attempt. With immense toil, up a passage
so narrow that at times only one could pass, his soldiers forced their
way, and even dragged up one piece of artillery, and when the morning
came Montcalm found between three and four thousand men in position
opposite to him upon the heights. To cover Quebec it was necessary for
him to withdraw his troops from Beauport and to cross the St. Charles.
This he at once proceeded to do, and the battle began. Early in the day
Wolfe, who was on the right wing, was wounded and carried to the rear,
but before he died he had the gratification of knowing that the victory
was secured. Both armies lost their first and second in command. Five
days afterwards Quebec was surrendered. Wolfe was but thirty-three when
he died; he entered the army at fourteen, and had seen much service; a
shy, retiring, domestic man, of unprepossessing exterior and weak frame,
he owed his promotion entirely to the feeling of confidence which his
sound sense and chivalrous energy inspired. It is much to the credit of
Pitt that he should have found out his merits, and having found them out
have ventured to place so great a responsibility upon so young and
unprepossessing a person.
[Sidenote: Victory of Minden.]
While all the efforts in which the English were engaged singlehanded had
thus been successfully carried out, they had also, in conjunction with
their German allies, won on the 1st of August the great battle of
Minden. The French had early in the year taken possession of Frankfort.
Their army, strongly reinforced--for the new ministry of the Duc de
Choiseul began by being very energetic,--was divided into two; the
northern corps under Marshal Contades, the southern army about Frankfort
under De Broglie. An attempt of Ferdinand to regain Frankfort was
frustrated by De Broglie, who beat him at the battle of Bergen. The two
French armies then joined, and pressed upon the Prince till they drove
him behind Minden, a town on the left or French side of the river Weser.
It became clear to Ferdinand that a battle must be fought to save
Hanover. He therefore advanced southwards up the Weser, carefully
keeping his communications with that river open, while the object of the
French seems to have been chiefly to separate him from it. By spreading
his army so as to give it the appearance of weakness, though it was in
reality capable of rapid concentration, he induced the French to leave
an extremely strong position they had taken up upon Minden Heath, with
their right covered by the town, which was in their possession. A body
of troops, apparently detached, upon the extreme left of the allies, and
close to the Weser, was the bait by which the French were attracted.
They hoped by destroying this ill-supported detachment to cut the Prince
off from the river. But as De Broglie approached what he believed to be
the weak point, he was surprised to find the whole allied army in array
before him. Ferdinand by this clever trap brought his enemy to an
engagement upon his own ground. The battle consisted in great part of a
series of charges of French cavalry on compact bodies of the English and
Hanoverian infantry. Weary with their futile exertions, the cavalry, who
formed the centre of the French line, gave way. The line was broken, and
a charge of cavalry alone was wanted to complete the destruction of the
army. Three aide-de-camps were sent in succession to Lord George
Sackville, bidding him charge. He pretended not to understand the order,
and said he must consult the Prince in person. The same order was given
to the Marquis of Granby, who commanded in the second line, and a
vigorous charge made, but time had been wasted, and it was too late. The
victory was however rendered tolerably complete by a body of 10,000 men,
whom Prince Ferdinand had had the courage and foresight to detach from
his army, although he was already numerically weaker than his enemy, for
the purpose of cutting the enemy's communications. Lord George Sackville
was tried by court martial and dismissed from all his military
appointments.
The story of the British victories of the year is completed by the
success of their arms in India, where the siege of Madras was raised,
much of the Carnatic secured, and Wandewash taken by Colonel Coote.
[Sidenote: Frederick's fourth campaign.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Torgau. 1760.]
It is necessary to say a few words about the war carried on under
Frederick's own eye. The plan of the campaign was much the same as the
last. The Russians advanced to gain the Oder, and fought and won the
battle of Zullichau over General Wedel, after which they were joined by
an Austrian army under Loudon. Against this united force the King
advanced, leaving Daun's army already threatening Berlin. He met
Saltikow and Loudon at Kunersdorf. The Russian position was forced,
seventy cannon taken, and the victory appeared complete, when suddenly
Loudon advanced with his troops and altered the fate of the day. In
these two last battles the Prussian forces had been weakened by 30,000
men, and the King, feeling certain that he was at the end of his
resources, made every arrangement for committing suicide. Unaccountably
the enemy did not advance, and he had time to collect a few troops. But
fortune was still against him; his general, Fink, with 12,000 men, was
surrounded, and had to surrender at Maxen; Dresden had fallen into the
hands of Daun. After this reinforcements from the army of Prince
Ferdinand enabled the King to continue the campaign, till the extreme
cold of winter made it necessary to go into winter quarters. The
following year Frederick still made head against his gathering enemies.
He was unable indeed to save Berlin from the hands of the Russians, but
he rescued Silesia by the victory which he gained over Loudon at
Liegnitz, and at his approach the Russians fled from his capital. He
then turned his arms against Daun, who was still master of Saxony. The
fearful battle of Torgau was fought, where the victory was secured to
the Prussians, but at the cost of 14,000 men; the Austrians are said to
have lost 20,000. This was the last pitched battle of the war.
[Sidenote: Pre-eminence of Pitt.]
[Sidenote: The King dies. Oct. 25, 1760.]
The constant success of his schemes raised Pitt to the highest eminence
of power. His ministry was unopposed. Year by year he was enabled,
without difficulty, to carry through the House a subsidy of £670,000 to
the Prussian King, and to set his estimates at from twelve to twenty
millions, a sum before this unheard of. His power over the House was
absolute; members were actually afraid of replying to him, and the only
difficulty which met him was the temper of his relative Temple, who
insisted upon receiving the Garter, and almost shipwrecked the ministry
by his selfish claims. It was at this moment of prosperity that the King
suddenly died, and, as had long been expected, a change took place in
the counsels of the Sovereign.
GEORGE III.
1760-1820.
Born 1738=Sophia-Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
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George Frederick, William Edward = Victoria Ernest Augustus, Adolphus,|
IV. Duke of IV. Duke of |of Saxe- King of Duke of Duke of |
York. (Duke of Kent. |Coburg. Hanover. Sussex. Cambridge.|
d. 1827. Clarence.) d. 1820.| d. 1851. d. 1843. d. 1850. |
Victoria. |
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| | | | | |
Charlotte=King Augusta. Elizabeth=Frederick Mary=Duke Sophia. Amelia.
of Wurtemberg. of of
Hesse-Homburg. Gloucester.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
_France._ | _Germany._ | _Spain._
Louis XV., 1715. | Francis I., }1745. | Charles III., 1759.
Louis XVI., 1774. | Maria Theresa, } | Charles IV., 1788.
Republic, 1793. | Joseph II., 1765. | Ferdinand VII., 1808.
Napoleon, 1804. | Leopold II., 1790. |
Louis XVIII., 1814. | Francis II., 1792. |
| _Prussia._
| Frederick II., 1740.
| Frederick William II., 1786.
| Frederick William III., 1797.
_Russia._ | _Denmark._ | _Sweden._
Elizabeth, 1741. | Frederick V., 1746. | Adolphus, 1751.
Peter III., 1762. | Christian VII., 1765. | Gustavus III., 1771.
Catherine II., 1762. | Frederick VI., 1808. | Gustavus IV., 1792.
Paul I., 1796. | | Charles XIII., 1809.
Alexander, 1801. | | Charles XIV., 1818.
POPES.--Clement XIII., 1758. Clement XIV., 1769. Pius VI., 1775.
Pius VII., 1800.
_Archbishops._ | _Lord Chancellors._
Thomas Secker, 1758. | Lord Northington, 1757.
Frederick Cornwallis, 1768. | Lord Camden, 1766.
John Moore, 1788. | Charles Yorke, 1770.
Charles Manners Sutton, 1805. | In Commission, 1770.
| Lord Bathurst, 1771.
| Lord Thurlow, 1778.
| Lord Loughborough, 1783.
| Lord Thurlow, 1783.
| Lord Loughborough, 1793.
| Lord Eldon, 1801.
| Lord Erskine, 1806.
| Lord Eldon, 1807.
_First Lords of the Treasury._ _Chancellors of the Exchequer._
Oct. 1760. Newcastle. Oct. 1760. Legge.
May 1762. Bute. March 1761. Barrington.
April 1763. Grenville. May 1762. Dashwood.
July 1765. Rockingham. April 1763. Grenville.
July 1766. Grafton. July 1765. Dowdeswell.
Sept. 1767. Mansfield. July 1766. C. Townshend.
Dec. 1767. Grafton. Sept. 1767. Mansfield.
Jan. 1770. North. Dec. 1767. North.
March 1782. Rockingham. March 1782. Cavendish.
July 1782. Shelburne. July 1782. Pitt.
April 1783. Portland. April 1783. Cavendish.
Dec. 1783. Pitt. Dec. 1783. Pitt.
_Secretaries of State._
Oct. 1760 { Pitt.
{ Holderness
March 1761 { Pitt.
{ Bute.
Oct. 1761 { Egremont.
{ Bute.
May 1762 { Egremont.
{ G. Grenville.
Oct. 1762 { Egremont.
{ Halifax.
Sept. 1763 { Sandwich.
{ Halifax.
July 1765 { Conway.
{ Grafton.
May 1766 { Conway.
{ Richmond.
Aug. 1766 { Conway.
{ Shelburne.
Dec. 1767 { Weymouth.
{ Shelburne.
Oct. 1768 { Weymouth.
{ Rochford.
Dec. 1770 { Sandwich.
{ Rochford.
1771 { Suffolk.
{ Rochford.
Oct. 1775 { Suffolk.
{ Weymouth.
Nov. 1779 { Hillsborough.
{ Stormont.
March 1782 { Fox.
{ Shelburne.
July 1782 { T. Townshend.
{ Grantham.
April 1783 { Fox.
{ North.
Dec. 1783 { Carmarthen.
{ Sydney.
[Sidenote: Bute's influence over the young King. 1760.]
[Sidenote: George's view of royalty.]
On the 25th of October news was brought to the Prince of Wales that his
grandfather was dead. It was an event which must have been for some time
expected, and George III. and his friends were prepared for it. His
training had been somewhat peculiar. The Princess of Wales, his mother,
had kept him much secluded, and his education had been chiefly withdrawn
from the hands of the distinguished men whom the King had given him as
governors, and intrusted to sub-preceptors of the Princess's own
choosing. Her constant friend and adviser in this and other family
matters had been Lord Bute, who had thereby acquired the greatest
influence over the young King. It was understood that henceforth his
advice would chiefly regulate the policy of the Crown. His influence and
that of the teachers he had selected, some of them it is believed
nominated by Bolingbroke, had all tended politically in one direction,
so much so that complaints had been made, though uselessly, to the late
King of the unconstitutional precepts which his heir was being taught.
The views with which the young Prince's mind was filled were those which
Bolingbroke had developed in "The Patriot King." The beneficent rule of
a powerful monarch governing his people by his own will, but for their
good, was the ideal he had been taught to set before him. It was pointed
out to him that since 1688 the will of the sovereign had been held
captive by that great Whig party which had produced the Revolution and
secured the Hanoverian succession. And it had been impressed upon him
that it was his duty to free the prerogative from this state of
servitude, and to annihilate party government by restoring to the Crown
its freedom of choice and action. It was with the deliberate intention
of carrying out this plan that the King began his reign. Nor was the
plan, had it been properly executed, either impossible or unjust. It was
felt that the old party divisions were in fact obsolete, that Whig and
Tory, in the sense of Hanoverian and Jacobite, were things of the past;
and that it was highly detrimental to the public service that able and
loyal men should be excluded from all share of the Government because,
very frequently on only hereditary grounds, they belonged to a party
opposed to the great Whig connection. Yet such had been the case.
Parliamentary contests had, till Pitt's accession to power, been nothing
but greedy struggles for place and power between two sections of the
Whig party which had separated in 1716. Had the King made use of his
present popularity, and of that advantage which he possessed over his
predecessors in his English birth, to exercise his prerogative of choice
in selecting eminent men from all parties for his ministry, and had he
taken for his chief minister a man who stood well with the nation, the
feeling of the country would almost certainly have gone with him.
Unfortunately his somewhat narrow intellect and his restricted education
made him unable to take a wide view of his position, filled him with a
vehement prejudice against the whole Whig party, and made him rest for
support on the personal friendship of a second-rate man, who laboured
under the unpopularity attending his Scotch birth and his supposed
favour with the Princess of Wales.
The behaviour of the young King was at first all that could be desired.
In his family relations indeed he was nearly always respectable. He
still further added to his popularity by directing a change in the law
with regard to the judges, so that their commissions no longer
terminated with the death of the King. They henceforward held their
commissions for life, unless deprived of them at the joint petition of
the two Houses of Parliament. They were thus rendered absolutely
independent of Court favour.
[Sidenote: First signs of change. 1761.]
The six months which elapsed before the dissolution of Parliament passed
without any great changes, although there was no lack of indication of
what was coming. The King's name was constantly put forward. Newcastle,
who had kept all patronage in his hands, found places filled without his
knowledge, and complained that he was met with the uniform answer that
it was the King's desire; and Bute openly rebuked Lord Anson for filling
the Admiralty boroughs without consulting the King. With the dissolution
of Parliament the changes in the ministry began. Legge gave place at the
Exchequer to Lord Barrington; Charles Townshend became Secretary at War,
and Dashwood, another follower of Bute's, took the place that Townshend
vacated, while four days afterwards (March 25th) Bute was appointed one
of the Secretaries of State in the place of Lord Holderness, who had
been removed and handsomely compensated. The admission of Bute to the
ministry could hardly fail to produce the dismissal of Pitt, for on
the great question of the day they were in direct antagonism. Bute, in
pursuance of his policy of opposition to all that the Whigs had done,
was determined if possible to break off the English connection with the
Continent; and, unable to see the difference between buying troops from a
Prince of Hesse and assisting the greatest monarch of the time in a war
from which England was reaping nothing but benefit, he intended to refuse
the payment of the King of Prussia's subsidy, and was strongly bent upon
peace.
[Sidenote: The campaign of 1761 produces a desire for peace.]
Frederick's own campaign of 1760 had closed, as has been already said,
with the dreadful battle of Torgau, and the same year Prince Ferdinand
had held the French in check, worsting them at Warburg, but had been
unable to keep them out of Göttingen and Cassel; and the hereditary
Prince of Brunswick, detached to the siege of Wesel, had been defeated
at Kloster-Campen. In 1761 the campaign was continued, and the Duke of
Broglie was driven back to the Maine and beaten at Langen-Saltza. But
Prince Ferdinand was not strong enough to keep what he had regained. The
French again advanced, and in June the Prince of Soubise joined the Duke
de Broglie, and they together moved forward to the Lippe. They were
defeated at Kirch-Denkern, but the effect of the victory was small, and
both armies closed the year in much the same position as they began it.
These campaigns, resulting in little but loss of life, and the exertions
which they entailed, and which had brought France to the verge of
bankruptcy, had become intolerable; and early in the year De Choiseul
had induced both Austria and Russia to consent to negotiations at
Augsburg. But as the connection of England with the continental question
was accidental, and her quarrel with France quite separate from it, it
was thought expedient that a separate arrangement should be made between
the two countries. For this purpose M. de Bussy was in June sent to
England and Mr. Hans Stanley to Paris.
[Sidenote: Separate negotiations between France and England. June 1761.]
[Sidenote: Pitt opposes peace.]
[Sidenote: Suspecting the existence of the Family Compact.]
[Sidenote: Pitt resigns. Oct. 5, 1761.]
The terms offered by the French were not unreasonable. The difficulties
lay in Pitt's views as to the rights of England, which were undoubtedly
very high. He had, as he said that he was able to do, raised England
from her degradation. He had done this by means of a successful war, and
had no mind to lose his work or to consent to what would be but a mere
cessation of hostilities. He would have, he said, no new Peace of
Utrecht. Choiseul's first offer (on the 26th of March) was, that each of
the belligerents should keep what they held in Europe on the 1st of May,
in West India and Africa on the 1st of July, and in India on the 1st of
September. Pitt refused this, insisting that the date fixed in all cases
should be that of the signature of the treaty. He was hoping in fact
that fresh victories would improve his position; nor was he
disappointed. Before the end of July Belleisle, an island which must be
considered an integral part of France, Dominique in the West Indies, and
Pondicherry in the East, were added to our conquests. The territorial
arrangements were for the most part easily settled; but three demands of
the French Pitt obstinately refused to grant. These were the restoration
of one of her African settlements and Belleisle in exchange for portions
of Germany then in her possession--these Pitt demanded without exchange;
secondly, compensation for prizes taken before the declaration of war,
and lastly, the withdrawal of all English troops from Germany. As the
first of these demands was not unreasonable, as the second was obviously
just, and the third belonged, and could probably have been transferred,
to the general Congress, Pitt would scarcely have refused them had he
not seen reason for believing that the propositions of the French were
hollow. The fact is, he was already beginning to suspect, and more than
suspect, the existence of a treaty inimical to English interests between
France and Spain. Ever since the accession of Charles III. to the
Spanish throne, in the year 1759, the two Courts had been gradually
approaching one another; and the policy which Marlborough's wars had
been designed to check was gradually winning its object. In July De
Bussy, on presenting the draft of the proposed treaty, appended to it
certain claims on the part of Spain, desiring that these might be
settled at the same time as the French claims. Pitt was naturally
indignant at this, and haughtily replied, that France was "not at any
time to presume a right of intermeddling in such disputes between Great
Britain and Spain." The Spanish minister, General Wall, owned that he
was cognizant of the measure, but expressed peaceful wishes with regard
to England. However, though Bristol, the English minister at Madrid, had
been so completely deceived that he continued to assert the friendly
disposition of the Spanish Court, the correctness of Pitt's surmises
became evident, when in August the arrangement known as the Family
Compact was signed. By this treaty the Bourbon houses of Spain and
France contracted a close and perpetual alliance. Besides France and
Spain the Bourbon Princes of Naples and Parma were to be admitted to it.
There was a secret clause binding Spain to declare war on England if
peace was not made before May 1762. The knowledge of this treaty induced
Pitt not only to break off negotiations, but to determine upon war with
Spain, for which he immediately made preparations, planning a great
expedition against Havannah in the West and Manilla in the East Indies.
With his usual haughtiness, he urged these measures upon the Council,
but Temple alone supported him. He indignantly declared that he would
not be responsible for measures he did not manage, and on the 5th of
October resigned. Thus terminated that splendid administration which had
raised England from the depths of degradation to a position of
first-rate importance in Europe.
[Sidenote: Bute virtual minister.]
[Sidenote: War with Spain. 1762.]
Bute was at once practically supreme in the Council, although he had yet
to rid himself of Newcastle. He was afraid of Pitt's popularity, and did
his best to injure him by persuading him to accept a pension, and the
title of Lady Chatham for his wife, hoping by that means to make it
appear that Pitt was not hostile to his Government, or at all events to
wreck his popularity, which rested largely on the public belief in his
disinterestedness. Lord Egremont became Secretary in his place. Before
the year was over Pitt's wisdom was vindicated. The change of ministry
in England and the safe arrival of the treasure-ships, which Pitt would
have forestalled, changed the tone of the Spanish Government, and even
the pacific Bute found it necessary to declare war in January 1762.
Already the impossibility of Bute's peaceful view was demonstrated, but
he none the less prevented the payment of the Prussian subsidy; although
this looked very like a breach of faith, it could be urged in
extenuation that Frederick's need was much lessened by the death of the
Czarina and the accession of Peter III., a devoted friend and admirer of
the Prussian King. Bute's policy was indeed so completely opposed to
that of his predecessors, that there is reason to believe that he even
used his influence to induce Russia to withdraw from its new alliance.
This change of policy afforded Newcastle, who was conscious that he was
sooner or later to be got rid of, an opportunity of leaving the ministry
with dignity. On his resignation Bute at once named himself Prime
Minister, and proceeded to carry out, in some points at least, his
favourite principles. These were peace at almost any price, and the
abandonment of continental connections, the increase and restoration of
the power of the Crown, and Government without bribery. But these
aspirations degenerated in practice into a war, which was successful
owing to his predecessor's arrangements, a vindictive assault upon the
Whig party, and the most shameless corruption ever practised in England.
The expeditions which Pitt had planned were carried out. Martinique,
held to be impregnable, and with it Granada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent,
were captured by a squadron under Rodney, and this was but a
stepping-stone to the capture of the still greater prize--Havannah. The
expedition against the Philippine Islands was equally successful.
[Sidenote: Terms of the peace. Nov. 3, 1762.]
[Sidenote: Close of the Seven Years' War.]