422 (return)[ Note 3 K, p. 422. This remarkable capitulation, which we shall give here at full length, on account of the disputes that rose shortly after, concerning what the French called an infraction of it, was to the following effect:—His majesty, the king of Denmark—touched with the distresses of the countries of Bremen and Verden, to which he has always granted his special protection; and being desirous, by preventing those countries from being any longer the theatre of war, to spare also the effusion of blood in the armies which are ready to dispute the possession thereof—hath employed his mediation by the ministry of the count de Lynar. His royal highness the duke of Cumberland, general of the army of the allies, on the one part, and his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu, general of the king of France’s forces in Germany, on the other, have, in consideration of the intervention of his Danish majesty, respectively engaged their word of honour to the count de Lynar, to abide by the convention hereafter stipulated; and he, the count de Lynar, correspondently to the magnanimity of the king his master’s intention, obliges himself to procure the guarantee mentioned in the present convention; so that it shall be sent to him, with his full powers, which there was no time to make out in the circumstances which hurried his departure.Article I. Hostilities shall cease on both sides within twenty-four hours, or sooner, if possible. Orders for this purpose shall be immediately sent to the detached corps.II. The auxiliary troops of the army of the duke of Cumberland, namely, those of Hesse, Brunswick, Saxe-Gotha, and even those of the count de la Lippe Bucke-bourg, shall be sent home; and as it is necessary to settle particularly their march to their respective countries, a general officer of each nation shall be sent from the army of the allies, with whom shall be settled the route of those troops, the divisions they shall march in, their subsistence on their march, and their passports to be granted them by his excellency the duke de Richelieu to go to their own countries, where they shall be placed and distributed as shall be agreed upon between the court of France and their respective sovereigns.III. His royal highness the duke of Cumberland obliges himself to pass the Elbe, with such part of his army as he shall not be able to place in the city of Stade; that the part of his forces which shall enter into garrison in the said city, and which it is supposed may amount to between four and six thousand men, shall remain there under the guarantee of his majesty the king of Denmark, without committing any act of hostility; nor, on the other hand, shall they be exposed to any of the French troops. In consequence thereof, commissaries, named on each side, shall agree upon the limits to be fixed round that place, for the convenieucy of the garrison; which limits shall not extend beyond half a league or a league from the place, according to the nature of the ground or circumstances, which shall be fairly settled by the commissaries. The rest of the Hanoverian army shall go and take quarters in the country beyond the Elbe; and, to facilitate the march of those troops, his excellency the duke de Richelieu shall concert with a general officer, sent from the Hanoverian army, the route they shall take; obliging himself to give the necessary passports and security for the free passage of them and their baggage, to the places of their destination; his royal highness the duke of Cumberland reserving to himself the liberty of negotiating between the two courts for an extension of those quarters. As to the French troops, they shall remain in the rest of the duchies of Bremen and Verden, till the definitive reconciliation of the two sovereigns.IV.. As the aforesaid articles are to be executed as soon as possible, the Hanoverian army, and the corps which are detached from it, particularly that which is at Buck Schantz and the neighbourhood, shall retire under Stade in the space of eight-and-forty hours. The French army shall not pass the river Oste, in the duchy of Bremen, till the limits be regulated. It shall, besides, keep all the posts and countries of which it is in possession; and, not to retard the regulation of the limits between the armies, commissaries shall be nominated and sent on the 10th instant to Bremen-worden by his royal highness the duke of Cumberland, and his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu, to regulate, as well the limits to be assigned to the French army, as those that are to be observed by the garrison at Stade, according to Art. III.V. All the aforesaid articles shall be faithfully executed, according to their form and tenor, and under the faith of his majesty the king of Denmark’s guarantee, which the count de Lynar, his minister, engages to procure.Done at the camp at Closter-Seven, 8th Sept. 1757. (Signed) WILLIAM.SEPARATE ARTICLES. Upon the representation made by the count de Lynar, with a view to explain some dispositions made by the present convention, the following articles have been added:—I. It is the intention of his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu, that the allied troops of his royal highness the duke of Cumberland shall be sent back to their respective countries, according to the form mentioned in the second article; and that, as to their separation and distribution in the country, it shall be regulated between the courts, those troops not being considered as prisoners of war.II. It having been represented that the country of Lunenberg cannot accommodate more than fifteen battalions and six squadrons, and that the city of Stade cannot absolutely contain the garrison of six thousand men allotted to it, his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu, being pressed by M. de Lynar, who supported this representation by the guarantee of his Danish majesty, gives his consent; and his royal highness the duke of Cumberland engages to cause fifteen battalions and six squadrons to pass the Elbe, and the whole body of hunters, and the remaining ten battalions and twenty-eight squadrons shall be placed in the town of Stade, and the places nearest to it that are within the line, which shall be marked by posts from the mouth of the Liche in the Elbe, to the mouth of the Elmerbeck in the river Oste; provided always, that the said ten battalions and twenty-eight squadrons shall be quartered there as they are at the time of signing this convention, and shall not be recruited under any pretext, or augmented in any case; and this clause is particularly guaranteed by the count de Lynar in the name of his Danish majesty.III. Upon the representation of his royal highness the duke of Cumberland, that the army and the detached corps cannot both retire under Stade in eight-and-forty hours, agreeable to the convention, his excellency the mareschal duke de Richelieu hath signified, that he will grant them proper time, provided the corps encamped at Buck Schantz, as well as the army encamped at Bremen-worden, begin their inarch to retire in four-and-twenty hours after signing the convention. The time necessary for other arrangements, and the execution of the articles concerning the respective limits, shall be settled between lieutenant-general Sporcken, and the marquis de Villemar, first lieutenant-general of the king’s army. Done, &c]
433 (return)[ Note 3 L, p. 433. The letter, which was written in French, we have translated for the reader’s satisfaction:—“I am informed that the design of a treaty of neutrality for the electorate of Hanover is not yet laid aside. Is it possible that your majesty can have so little fortitude and constancy, as to be dispirited by a small reverse of fortune? Are affairs so ruinous that they cannot be repaired? I hope your majesty will consider the step you have made me hazard, and remember that you are the sole cause of these misfortunes that now impend over my head. I should never have abandoned the alliance of France, but for your flattering assurances. I do not now repent of the treaty I have concluded with your majesty: but I expect you will not ingloriously leave me at the mercy of my enemies, after having brought upon me all the force of Europe. I depend upon your adhering to your repeated engagements of the twenty-sixth of last month, and that you will listen to no treaty in which I am not comprehended.”]
438 (return)[ Note 3 M, p. 438. It was enacted, That every person subscribing for five hundred pounds, should be entitled to four hundred and fifty in annuities, and fifty pounds in lottery tickets, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser sum; that the lottery should consist of tickets of the value of ten pounds each, in a proportion not exceeding eight blanks to a prize; the blanks to be of the value of six pounds each; the blanks and prizes to bear an interest after the rate of three pounds per cent., to commence from the first day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine; and that the sum of four millions five hundred thousand pounds, to be raised by annuities, should bear an interest after the rate of three pounds ten shillings percent, from the fifth day of July in the present year; which annuities should stand reduced to three pounds per cent, after the expiration of twenty-four years, and afterwards he redeemable in the whole, or in part, by sums not less than five hundred thousand pounds, at one time: six months’ notice having been first given of such payments respectively; that any subscriber might, on or before the twenty-ninth day of April, make a deposit of ten pounds per cent, on such sums as he should choose to subscribe towards raising these five millions, with the cashiers of the bank, as a security for his future payments on the days appointed for that purpose; that the several sums so received by the cashiers should be paid into the receipt of the exchequer, to be applied from time to time to such services as should then have been voted by the house of commons in this session of parliament, and not otherwise; that any subscriber, paying the whole or any part of his subscription previous to the clays appointed for the respective payments, should be allowed a discount at the rate of three per cent, from the days of such respective payments to the respective times on which such payments were directed to be made, and that all persons who should make their full payments on the said lottery, should receive their tickets as soon as they could be conveniently made out.]
440 (return)[ Note 3 N, p. 440. Among those rendered perpetual, we find an act of the 13th and 14th of Charles II. for preventing theft and rapine. An act of the 9th of George I. for punishing persons going armed in disguise. A clause in the act of the 6th of George II. to prevent the breaking down the bank of any river; and another clause in the said act, to prevent the treacherous cutting of hop-binds. Several clauses in an act of the 10th of George II. for punishing persons setting on fire any mine, &c. The temporary part of the act of the 20th of George II. for taking away the hereditary jurisdictions of Scotland, relating to the power of appealing to circuit courts. Those continued were,—1. An act of the 12th of George II. for granting liberty to carry sugar, &c, until the twenty-ninth of September, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, and to the end of next session of parliament. 2. An act of the 5th of George II. to prevent frauds by bankrupts, &c., for the same period. 3. An act of the 8th of George II. for encouraging the importation of naval stores, &c, for the same period. 4. An act of the 19th of George II. for preventing frauds in the admeasurement of coals, &c. until June 24, 1759; and to this was added a perpetual clause for preventing the stealing or destroying of madder roots. 5. An act of the 9th George II. for encouraging the manufacture of British sail-cloth until the twenty-ninth of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four. 6. An act of the 4th of George II. for granting an allowance upon British-made gunpowder, for the same period. 7, An act of the 4th of George II. for encouraging the trade of the sugar colonies, until the twenty-ninth of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one. And 8, so much of the act of the 15th and 16th of George II. to empower the importers of rum, &c, as relates to landing it before the payment of duties, until the 29th of September, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four.]
461 (return)[ Note 3 O, p. 461.Translation of the Letter written by the Duke of Brunswick to his brother Prince Ferdinand.“Sir,—I know you too well to doubt that the situation in which we stand at present, with respect to each other, gives you abundance of uneasiness; nor will you doubt that it gives me equal concern. Indeed, it afflicts me greatly. Meanwhile I could never, my dearest brother, have believed that you would be the person who should carry away from me my eldest son. I am exceedingly mortified to find myself under the hard necessity of telling you that this step is contrary to the law of nations, and the constitution of the empire; and that, if you persist in it, you will disgrace your family, and bring a stain upon your country, which you pretend to serve. The hereditary prince, my son, was at Hamburgh by my order, and you have carried him to Stade. Could he distrust his uncle,—an uncle who hath done so much honour to his family? Could he believe that this uncle would deprive him of liberty, a liberty never refused to the lowest officer? I ordered him to make a tour to Holland: could not the lowest officer have done as much? Let us suppose for a moment that my troops, among whom he served, were to have staid with the Hanoverians, would it not have been still in my power to give an officer leave of absence, or even leave to resign his commission? And would you hinder your brother, the head of your family, and of such a family as ours, to exercise this right with regard to a son, who is the hereditary prince, of whose rights and prerogatives you cannot be ignorant? It is impossible you could have conceived such designs, without the suggestion of others. Those who did suggest them have trampled on the rights of nature, of nations, and of the princes of Germany; they have induced you to add to all these the most cruel insult on a brother whom you love, and who always loved you with the warmest affection. Would you have your brother lay his just complaints against you before the whole empire, and all Europe? Are not your proceedings without example? What is Germany become? What are its princes become, and our house in particular? Is it the interest of the two kings, the cause of your country, and my cause that you pretend to support?—I repeat it, brother, that this design could not have been framed by you. I again command my son to pursue his journey and I cannot conceive you will give the least obstruction; if you should (which I pray God avert), I solemnly declare that I will not be constrained by such measures, nor shall I ever forget what I owe to myself. As to my troops, you may see what I have written on that head to the Hanoverian ministry. The duke of Cumberland, by the convention of Closter-Seven, dismissed them, and sent them home; the said ministry gave me notice of this convention, as a treaty by which I was bound. The march of the troops was settled; and an incident happening, they halted: that obstacle being removed, they were to have continued their march. The court of Hanover will be no longer bound by the convention, while I not only accepted it upon their word, but have also, in conformity with their instructions, negotiated at Versailles, and at Vienna. After all these steps, they would have me contradict myself, break my word, and entirely ruin my estate, as well as my honour. Did you ever know your brother guilty of such things? True it is, I have, as you say, sacrificed my all; or rather, I have been sacrificed. The only thing left me is my honour; and in the unhappy contrast of our situations, I lament both you and myself, that it should be from you, my dear brother, I should receive the cruel advice to give up my honour. I cannot listen to it: I cannot recede from my promise. My troops, therefore, must return home, agreeably to what the duke of Cumberland and the Hanoverian ministry stipulated with regard to me in the strongest manner. I am afraid that the true circumstances of things are concealed from you. Not to detain your express too long, I shall send you, by the post, copies of all I have written to the Hanoverian ministry. It will grieve your honest heart to read it. I am, with a heart almost broken, yet full of tenderness for you, your, &c. “Blanckenbourg, Nov. 27,1757.”]
467 (return)[ Note 3 P, p. 467. A detail of the cruelties committed by those barbarians cannot be read without horror. They not only burned a great number of villages, but they ravished, rifled, murdered, and mutilated the inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex, without any other provocation or incitement than brutal lust and wantonness of barbarity. They even violated the sepulchres of the dead, which have been held sacred among the most savage nations. At Camin and Breckholtz they forced open the graves and sepulchral vaults, and stripped the bodies of generals Schlaberndorf and Ruitz, which had been deposited there. But the collected force of their vengeance was discharged against Custrin, the capital of the New Marche of Brandenburgh, situated at the conflux of the Warta and the Oder, about fifteen English miles from Franckfort. The particulars of the disaster that befel this city, are particularly related in the following extracts from a letter written by an inhabitant and eye-witness.“On the thirteenth of August, about three o’clock in the afternoon, a sudden report was spread that a body of Russian hussars and cossacks appeared in sight of the little suburb. All the people were immediately in motion, and the whole city was filled with terror, especially as we were certainly informed that the whole Russian army was advancing from Meseric and Konigswalda, by the way of Landsberg. A reinforcement was immediately sent to our piquet-guard, in the suburb, amounting, by this junction, to three hundred men, who were soon attacked by the enemy, and the skirmish lasted from four till seven o’clock in the evening. During this dispute, we could plainly perceive, from our ramparts and church-steeple, several persons of distinction mounted on English horses, reconnoitring our fortification through perspective glasses. They retired, however, when our cannon began to fire: then our piquet took possession of their former post in the suburb; and the reinforcement we had sent from the city returned, after having broken down the bridge over the Oder. Next day count Dohna, who commanded the army near Franckfort, sent in a reinforcement of four battalions, ten squadrons, and a small body of hussars, under the command of lieutenant-general Scherlemmer. The hussars and a body of dragoons were added to the piquet of the little suburb; the four battalions pitched their tents on the Anger, between the suburbs and the fortification; and the rest of the dragoons remained in the field to cover the long suburb. General Scherlemmer, attended by our governor, colonel Schuck, went with a small party to observe the enemy; but were obliged to retire, and were pursued by the cossacks to the walls of the city. Between four and five o’clock next morning the poor inhabitants were roused from their sleep by the noise of the cannon, intermingled with the dismal shrieks and hideous yellings of the cossacks belonging to the Russian army. Alarmed at this horrid noise, I ascended the church-steeple, from whence I beheld the whole plain, extending from the little suburb to the forest, covered with the enemy’s troops, and our light horse, supported by the infantry, engaged in different places with their irregulars. At eight I descried a body of the enemy’s infantry, whose van consisted of four or five thousand men, advancing towards the vineyard, in the neighbourhood of which they had raised occasional batteries in the preceding-evening; from these they now played on our piquet-guard and hussars, who were obliged to retire. They then fired,en ricochet, on the tents and baggage of the four battalions encamped on the Anger, who were also compelled to retreat. Having thus cleared the environs, they threw into the city such a number of bombs and red-hot bullets, that by nine in the morning it was set on fire in three different places; and, the streets being-narrow, it burned with such fury that all our endeavours to extinguish it proved ineffectual. At this time the whole atmosphere appeared like a shower of fiery rain and hail; and the miserable inhabitants thought of nothing but saving their lives by running into the open fields. The whole place was filled with terror and consternation, and resounded with the shrieks of women and children, who ran about in the utmost distraction, exposed to the shot and bomb-shells, which, bursting, tore in pieces every thing that stood in their way. As I led my wife, with a young child in her arms, and drove the rest of my children and servants half naked before me, those instruments of death and devastation fell about us like hail; but, by the mercy of God, we all escaped unhurt. Nothing could be more melancholy and affecting than a sight of the wretched people flying in crowds, and leaving their all behind, while they rent the sky with their lamentations. Many women of distinction I saw without shoes and stockings, and almost without clothes, who had been roused from their beds, and ran out naked into the streets. When my family had reached the open plain, I endeavoured to return, and save some of my effects; but I could not force my way through a multitude of people, thronging out at the gate, some sick and bed-ridden persons being carried on horseback and in carriages, and others conveyed on the backs of their friends, through a most dreadful scene of horror and desolation. A great number of families from the open country, and the defenceless towns in Prussia and Pomerania, had come hither for shelter with their most valuable effects, when the Russians first entered the king’s territories. These, as well as the inhabitants, are all ruined; and many, who a few days ago possessed considerable wealth, are now reduced to the utmost indigence. The neighbouring-towns and villages were soon crowded with the people of Custrin; the roads were filled with objects of misery; and nothing was seen but nakedness and despair; nothing heard but the cries of hunger, fear, and distraction. For my own part, I stayed all night at Goitz, and then proceeded for Berlin. Custrin is now a heap of ruins. The great magazine, the governor’s house, the church, the palace, the store and artillery-houses; in a word, the old and new towns, the suburbs, and all the bridges, were reduced to ashes; nay, after the ashes were destroyed, the piles and sterlings were burned to the water’s edge. The writings of all the colleges, together with the archives of the country, were totally consumed, together with a prodigious magazine of corn and flour, valued at four millions of crowns. The cannon in the arsenal were all melted; and the loaded bombs and cartridges, with a large quantity of gunpowder, went off at once with a most horrid explosion. A great number of the inhabitants are missing, supposed to have perished in the flames, or under the ruins of the houses, or to have been suffocated in the subterraneous vaults and caverns, to which they had fled for safety.Nothing could be more inhuman, or contrary to the practice of a generous enemy, than such vengeance wreaked upon the innocent inhabitants; for the Russians did not begin to batter the fortifications until all the rest of the place was destroyed. In the course of this campaign, the Russian cossacks are said to have plundered and burned fourteen large towns and two hundred villages, and wantonly butchered above two thousand defenceless women and children. Such monsters of barbarity ought to be excluded from all the privileges of human nature, and hunted down as wild beasts without pity or cessation. What infamy ought these powers to incur, who employ and encourage such ruthless barbarians?]
468 (return)[ Note 3 Q, p. 468. As very little notice was taken, in the detail published by authority, of any part which this great man acted in the battle of Hochkirchen, and a report was industriously circulated in this kingdom, that he was surprised in his tent, naked, and half asleep,—we think it the duty of a candid historian to vindicate his memory and reputation from the foul aspersion thrown by the perfidious and illiberal hand of envious malice, or else contrived to screen some other character from the imputation of misconduct. The task we are enabled to perform by a gentleman of candour and undoubted credit, who learned the following particulars at Berlin from a person that was eye-witness of the whole transaction. Field-mareschal Keith, who arrived in the camp the very day that preceded the battle, disapproved of the situation of the Prussian army, and remonstrated to the king on that subject. In consequence of his advice, a certain general was sent with a detachment to take possession of the heights that commanded the village of Hochkirchcn; but by some fatality he miscarried. Mareschal Keith was not in any tent, but lodged with prince Francis of Brunswick, in a house belonging to a Saxon major. When the first alarm was given in the night, he instantly mounted his horse, assembled a body of the nearest troops, and marched directly to the place that was attacked. The Austrians had taken possession of the hill which the Prussian officer was sent to occupy, and this they fortified with cannon; then they made themselves masters of the village in which the free companies of Auginelli had been posted. Mareschal Keith immediately conceived the design of the Austrian general, and knowing the importance of this place, thither directed all his efforts. He in person led on the troops to the attack of the village, from whence he drove the enemy; but being overpowered by numbers continually pouring down from the hills, he was obliged to retire in his turn. He rallied his men, returned to the charge, and regained possession of the place; being again repulsed by fresh reinforcements of the enemy, he made another effort, entered the village a third time, and finding it untenable, ordered it to be set on fire. Thus he kept the Austrians at bay, and maintained a desperate conflict against the flower of the Austrian army, from four in the morning till nine, when the Prussians were formed, and began to file off in their retreat. During the whole dispute he rallied the troops in person, charged at their head, and exposed his life in the hottest of a dreadful fire, like a private captain of grenadiers. He found it necessary to exert himself in this manner, the better to remove the bad effects of the confusion that prevailed, and in order to inspirit the troops to their utmost exertion by his voice, presence, and example. Even when dangerously wounded, at eight in the morning, he refused to quit the field; but continued to signalize himself in the midst of the carnage until nine, when he received a second shot in his breast, and fell speechless into the arms of Mr. Tibay, an English volunteer, who had attended him during the whole campaign. This gentleman, who was likewise wounded, applied to a Prussian officer for a file of men to remove the mareschal, being uncertain whether he was entirely deprived of life. His request was granted; but the soldiers, in advancing to the spot, were countermanded by another officer. He afterwards spoke on the same subject to one of the Prussian generals, a German prince, as he chanced to pass on horseback: when Mr. Tibay told him the field-mareschal was lying wounded on the field, he asked if his wounds were mortal; and the other answering he was afraid they were, the prince shrugged up his shoulders, and rode off without further question. The body of this great officer, being thus shamefully abandoned, was soon stripped by the Austrian stragglers, and lay exposed and undistinguished on the field of battle. In this situation it was perceived by count Lasci, son of the general of that name, with whom mareschal Keith had served in Russia. This young count had been the mareschal’s pupil, and revered him as his military father, though employed in the Austrian service. He recognised the body by the large scar of a dangerous wound, which general Keith had received in his thigh at the siege of Oczakow, and could not help bursting into tears to see his honoured master thus extended at his feet, a naked, lifeless, and deserted corpse. He forthwith caused his body to be covered and interred. It was afterwards taken up, and decently buried by the curate of Hochkirchen; and finally removed to Berlin, by order of the king of Prussia, who bestowed upon it those funeral honours that were due to the dignified rank and transcendent merit of the deceased; merit so universally acknowledged, that even the Saxons lamented him as their best friend and patron, who protected them from violence and outrage, even while he acted a principal part in subjecting them to the dominion of his sovereign.
479 (return)[ Note 3 R, p. 479. Among other transactions that distinguish the history of Great Britain, scarce a year glides away without producing some incident that strongly marks the singular character of the English nation. A very extraordinary instance of this nature, relating to the late duke of Marlborough, we shall record among the events of this year, although it derived its origin from the latter end of the last, and cannot be properly enumerated among those occurrences that appertain to general history. Towards the end of November, in the preceding year, the above-mentioned nobleman received, by the post, a letter directed “To his Grace the duke of Marlborough, with care and speed,” and containing this address:“My Lord,—As ceremony is an idle thing upon most occasions, more especially to persons in my state of mind, I shall proceed immediately to acquaint you with the motive and end of addressing this epistle to you, which is equally interesting to us both. You are to know, then, that my present situation in life is such, that I should prefer annihilation to a continuance in it. Desperate diseases require desperate remedies; and you are the man I have pitched upon, either to make me or unmake yourself. As I never had the honour to live among the great, the tenor of my proposals will not be very courtly; but let that be an argument to enforce a belief of what I am now going to write. It has employed my invention for some time, to find out a method of destroying another without exposing my own life: that I have accomplished, and defy the law. Now, for the application of it. I am desperate, and must be provided for. You have it in your power: it is my business to make it your inclination to serve me, which you must determine to comply with, by procuring me a genteel support for my life, or your own will be at a period before this session of parliament is over. I have more motives than one for singling you out upon this occasion; and I give you this fair warning, because the means I shall make use of are too fatal to be eluded by the power of physic. If you think this of any consequence, you will not fail to meet the author on Sunday next, at ten in the morning, or on Monday (if the weather should be rainy on Sunday), near the first tree beyond the stile in Hyde-Park, in the foot-walk to Kensington. Secrecy and compliance may preserve you from a double danger of this sort, as there is a certain part of the world where your death has more than been wished for upon other motives. I know the world too well to trust this secret in any breast but my own. A few days determine me your friend or enemy. “FELTON.“You will apprehend that I mean you should be alone; and depend upon it, that a discovery of any artifice in this affair will be fatal to you. My safety is insured by my silence, for confession only can condemn me.”The duke, in compliance with this strange remonstrance, appeared at the time and place appointed, on horseback and alone, with pistols before him, and the star of his order displayed, that he might be the more easily known. He had likewise taken the precaution of engaging a friend to attend in the Park, at such a distance, however, as scarce to be observable. He continued some time on the spot without seeing any person he could suspect of having wrote the letter, and then rode away: but chancing to turn his head when he reached Hyde-Park-Corner, he perceived a man standing at the bridge, and looking at the water, within twenty yards of the tree which was described in the letter. He forthwith rode back at a gentle pace, and, passing by the person, expected to be addressed: but as no advance of this kind was made, he, in repassing, bowed to the stranger, and asked if he had not something to communicate? The man replying, “No, I don’t know you;” the duke told him his name, adding, “Now you know me, I imagine you have something to say to me.” But he still answered in the negative, and the duke rode home. In a day or two after this transaction, another letter was brought to him, couched in the following terms:“My Lord,—You receive this as an acknowledgment of your punctuality as to the time and place of meeting on Sunday last, though it was owing to you it answered no purpose. The pageantry of being armed, and the ensign of your order, were useless and too conspicuous. You needed no attendant, the place was not calculated for mischief, nor was any intended. If you walk in the west aisle of Westminster Abbey, towards eleven o’clock on Sunday next, your sagacity will point the person whom you will address, by asking his company to take a turn or two with you. You will not fail, on inquiry, to be acquainted with the name and place of abode. According to which direction you will please to send two or three hundred pound bank-notes the next day by the penny post. Exert not your curiosity too early; it is in your power to make me grateful on certain terms. I have friends who are faithful, but they do not bark before they bite.—“I am, &c, F.”The duke, determining if possible to unveil this mystery, repaired to the Abbey at the time prescribed; and, after having walked up and down for five or six minutes, saw the very same person to whom he had spoken in Hyde-Park, enter the Abbey with another man of a creditable appearance. This last, after they had viewed some of the monuments, went into the choir, and the other turning back advanced towards the duke, who, accosting him, asked him if he had anything to say to him,” or any commands for him? He replied, “No, my lord. I have not.”—“Sure you have,” said the duke; but he persisted in his denial. Then the duke, leaving him, took several turns in the aisle, while the stranger walked on the other side. But nothing further passed between them; and although the duke had provided several persons in disguise to apprehend the delinquent, he forebore giving the signal, that, notwithstanding appearances, he might run no risk of injuring an innocent person. Not long after this second disappointment he received a third letter, to the following effect:“My Lord,—I am fully convinced you had a companion on Sunday: I interpret it as owing to the weakness of human nature; but such proceeding is far from being ingenuous, and may produce bad effects, whilst it is impossible to answer the end proposed. You will see me again soon, as it were by accident, and may easily find where I go to; in consequence of which, by being sent to, I shall wait on your grace, but expect to be quite alone, and to converse in whispers; you will likewise give your honour, upon meeting, that no part of the conversation shall transpire. These and the former terms complied with ensure your safety; my revenge, in case of non-compliance (or any scheme to expose me), will be slower, but not less sure; and strong suspicion the utmost that can possibly ensue upon it, while the chances would be tenfold against you. You will possibly be in doubt after the meeting, but it is quite necessary the outside should be a mask to the in. The family of the Bloods is not extinct, though they are not in my scheme.”The expression, “You will see me again soon, as it were by accident,” plainly pointed at the person to whom he had spoke in the park and in the Abbey; nevertheless, he saw him not again, nor did he hear anything further of the affair for two months, at the expiration of which the post brought him the following letter:“May it please your Grace,—I have reason to believe, that the son of one Barnard, a surveyor, in Abingdon-buildings, Westminster, is acquainted with some secrets that nearly concern your safety: his father is now out of town, which will give you an opportunity of questioning him more privately; it would be useless to your grace, as well as dangerous to me, to appear more publicly in this affair. “Your sincere friend, “ANONYMOUS. “He frequently goes to Storey’s-gate coffee-house.”In about a week after this intimation was received, the duke sent a person to the coffee-house, to inquire for Mr. Barnard, and tell him he would be glad to speak to him. The message was delivered, and Barnard declared he would wait upon his grace next Thursday, at half an hour after ten in the morning. He was punctual to his appointment, and no sooner appeared than the duke recognised him to be the person to whom he had spoke in the Park and the Abbey. Having conducted him into an apartment, and shut the door, he asked, as before, if he had anything to communicate: and was answered, as formerly, in the negative. Then the duke repeated every circumstance of this strange transaction; to which Barnard listened with attention and surprise, yet without exhibiting any marks of conscious guilt or confusion. The duke observing that it was matter of astonishment to see letters of such import written with the correctness of a scholar; the other replied, that a man might be very poor and very learned at the same time. When he saw the fourth letter, in which his name was mentioned, with the circumstance of his father’s absence, he said, “If is very odd, my father was then out of town.” An expression the more remarkable, as the letter was without date, and he could not, as an innocent man, be supposed to know at what time it was written. The duke having made him acquainted with the particulars, told him, that if he was innocent he ought to use his endeavours-to detect the writer of the letters, especially of the last, in which he was expressely named. To this admonition he returned no other answer but a smile, and then withdrew.—He was afterwards taken into custody, and tried at the Old Bailey,for sending a threatening letter, contrary to the statute; but no evidence could be found to prove the letters were of his handwriting: nor did any presumption appear against him, except his being in Hyde-Park, and in Westminster Abbey, at the time and place appointed in the first two letters. On the other hand, Mr. Barnard proved, that, on the Sunday when he saw the duke in Hyde-Park, he was on his way to Kensington on particular business, by his father’s order, signified to him that very morning: that he accordingly went thither, and dined with his uncle, in company with several other persons, to whom he related what had passed between the duke of Marlborough and him in the Park: that his being afterwards in Westminster Abbey was the effect of mere accident: that Mr. James Greenwood, his kinsman, who had lain that preceding night at his father’s house, desired him to dress himself, that they might walk together in the Park; and he did not comply with his request till after much solicitation: that he proposed to enter the Park without passing through the Abbey, but was prevailed upon by Mr. Greenwood, who expressed a desire of seeing the newly-erected monument of general Hardgrave: that as he had formerly communicated to his friend the strange circumstance of the duke’s speaking to him in Hyde-park, Mr. Greenwood no sooner saw that nobleman in the Abbey, than he gave notice to Mr. Barnard, who was very short-sighted; and that from his passing them several times, concluding he wanted to speak with Mr. Barnard alone, he quitted him and retired into the choir, that they might commune together without interruption. It likewise appeared, from undoubted evidence, that Barnard had often mentioned openly to his friends and acquaintance, the circumstance of what passed between him and the duke in the Park and in the Abbey; that his father was a man of unblemished reputation, and in affluent circumstances; that he himself was never reduced to any want, or such exigence as might impel him to any desperate methods of obtaining money; that his fidelity had been often tried, and his life always irreproachable. For these reasons he was acquitted of the crime laid to his charge, and the mystery remains to this day undiscovered.After all, the author of the letters does not seem to have had any real design to extort money, because the scheme was very ill calculated for that purpose; and indeed could not possibly take effect without the most imminent risk of detection. Perhaps his aim was nothing more than to gratify a petulance and peculiarity of humour, by alarming the duke, exciting the curiosity of the public, puzzling the multitude, and giving rise to a thousand ridiculous conjectures. If anything more was intended, and the duke earnestly desired to know the extent of the scheme, he might, when he closeted the person suspected, have encouraged him to a declaration, by promising inviolable secrecy on his word and honour, in which any man would have confided as a sacred obligation. On the whole, it is surprising that the death of the duke, which happened in the course of this year, was never attributed to the secret practices of this incendiary correspondent, who had given him to understand that his vengeance, though slow, would not be the less certain.]
485 (return)[Note 3 S, p. 485. The next bill that fell under the cognizance of the house, related to a law transaction, and was suggested by a petition presented in the name of the sheriffs, and grantees of post-fines under the crown of England. They enumerated and explained the difficulties under which they laboured, in raising and collecting these fines within the respective counties; particularly when the estate conveyed by fine was no more than a right of reversion, in which case they could not possibly levy the post-fine, unless the purchaser should obtain possession within the term of the sheriffalty, or pay it of his own free will, as they could not distrain while the lands were in possession of the donee. They therefore proposed a method for raising these post-fines, by a proper officer to be appointed for that purpose; and prayed that leave might be given to bring in a bill accordingly. This petition was seconded by a message from the king, importing, that his majesty, as far as his interest was concerned, gave his consent that the house might act in this affair as they should think propel.The commons, in a committee of the whole house, having taken into consideration the merits of the petition, formed several resolutions; upon which a bill was founded for the more regular and easy collecting, accounting for, and paying of post-fines, which should be due to the crown, or to the grantees thereof under the crown, and for the ease of sheriffs in respect to the same. Before it passed into a law, however, it was opposed by a petition in favour of one William Daw, a lunatic, clerk of the king’s silver office, alleging, that should the bill pass, it would deprive the said Daw and his successors of an ancient fee belonging to his office, on searches made for post-fines by the under sheriffs of the several counties; therefore, praying that such provision might be made for the said lunatic as to the house should seem just and reasonable. This, and divers other petitions respecting the bill being discussed in the committee, it underwent several amendments, and was enacted into a law; the particulars of which cannot be properly understood without a previous explanation of this method of conveying estates; a subject obscure in itself, founded upon a seeming subterfuge of law, scarce reconcileable with the dictates of common sense, and consequently improper for the pen of an historian.]
490 (return)[ Note 3 T, p. 490. As the curiosity of the reader may be interested in these resolutions, we shall here insert them for his satisfaction. The committee resolved, that the ell ought to contain one yard and one quarter, according to the yard mentioned in the third resolution of the former committee upon the subject of weights and measures; that the pole, or perch, should contain in length five such yards and a half; the furlong two hundred and twenty; and the mile one thousand seven hundred and sixty: that the superficial perch should contain thirty square yards and a quarter; the rood one thousand two hundred and ten; and the acre four thousand eight hundred and forty: that according to the fourth, fifth, and sixth resolutions of the former committee, upon the subject of weights and measures, agreed to by the house on the second day of June in the preceding year, the quart ought to contain seventy cubical inches and one half; the pint thirty-five and one quarter; the peck five hundred and sixty-four; and the bushel two thousand two hundred and fifty-six. That the several parts of the pound, mentioned in the eighth resolution of the former committee, examined and adjusted in presence of this committee,—viz. the half pound or six ounces, quarter of a pound or three ounces, two ounces, one ounce, two half ounces, the five-penny weight, three-penny weight, two-penny weight, and one-penny weight, the twelve grains, six grains, three grains, two grains, and two of one grain each,—ought to be the models of the several parts of the said pound, and to be used for sizing or adjusting weights for the future. That all weights exceeding a pound should be of brass, copper, bell-metal, or cast-iron; and all those of cast-iron should be made in the form, and with a handle of hammered iron, such as the pattern herewith produced, having the mark of the weight cast in the iron; and all the weights of a pound, or under, should be of gold, silver, brass, copper, or bell-metal. That all weights of cast-iron should have the initial letters of the name of the maker upon the upper bar of the handle; and all other weights should have the same, together with the mark of the weight, according to this standard, upon some convenient part thereof. That the yard, mentioned in the second resolution of the former committee upon the subject of weights and measures, agreed to by the house in the last session, being the standard of length, and the pound mentioned in the eighth resolution, being the standard of weight, ought to be deposited in the court of the receipt of the exchequer, and the chief baron, and the seal of office of the chamberlain of the exchequer, and not to be opened but by the order and in the presence of the chancellor of the exchequer and chief baron for the time being. That the most effectual means to ascertain uniformity in measures of length and weight, to be used throughout the realm, would he to appoint certain persons, at one particular office, with clerks and workmen under them, for the purpose only of fixing and adjusting, for the use of the subjects, all measures of length, and all weights, being parts, multiples, or certain proportions of the standards to be used for the future. That a model or pattern of the said standard yard, mentioned in the second resolution of the former committee, and now in the custody of the clerk of the house, and a model or pattern of the standard pound, mentioned in the eighth resolution of that committee, together with models or patterns of the parts of the said pound now presented to the house, and also of the multiples of the said pound, mentioned in this report (when the same are adjusted), should be kept in the said office, in custody of the said persons to be appointed for sizing weights and measures, under the seal of the chief baron of the exchequer for the time being; to be opened only by order of the said chief baron, in his presence, or the presence of one of the barons of the exchequer, on the application of the said persons, for the purpose of correcting and adjusting, as occasion should require, the patterns or models used at the said office, for sizing measures of length and weight delivered out to the subjects. That models or patterns of the said standard yard and standard pound aforesaid, and also models or patterns of the parts and multiples aforesaid of the said pound, should be lodged in the said office for the sizing of such measures of length or weight, as, being parts, multiples, or proportions of the said standards, should hereafter he required by any of his majesty’s subjects. That all measures of length and weight, sized at the said office, should be marked in some convenient part thereof, with such marks as should be thought expedient, to show the identity of the measures and weights sized at the said office, and to discover any frauds that may be committed therein. That the said office should he kept within a convenient distance of the court of exchequer at Westminster; and all the measures of length and weight, within a certain distance of London, should be corrected and re-assized, as occasion should require, at the said office. That, in order to enforce the uniformity in weights and measures to be used for the future, all persons appointed by the crown to act as justices of the peace in any county, city, or town corporate, being respectively counties within themselves, throughout the realm, should be empowered to hear and determine, and put the law in execution, in respect to weights and measures only, without any of them being obliged to sue out adedimus, or to act in any other matter; and the said commissioners should be empowered to sue, imprison, inflict, or mitigate such penalties as should be thought proper; and have such other authorities as should be necessary for compelling the use of weights and measures, agreeably to the aforesaid standards. The models or patterns of the said standard yard and pound, and of the parts and multiples thereof, before-mentioned, should be distributed in each county, in such a manner as to be readily used for evidence in all eases where measures and weights should be questioned before the said commissioners, and for adjusting the same in a proper manner.]
504 (return)[ Note 3 U, p. 504. The letter was to this effect:To their excellencies Messrs. Hopson and Moore, general officers of his Britannic Majesty at Basseterre.“Gentlemen—I have received the letter which your excellencies have done me the honour to write, of the twenty-fifth. You make me proposals which could arise from nothing but the facility with which you have got possession of the little town and citadel of Basseterre; for otherwise you ought to do me the justice to believe they could not be received. You have strength sufficient to subdue the exteriors of the island; but with respect to the interiors, the match between us is equal. As to the consequences that may attend my refusal, I am persuaded they will be no other than such as are prescribed by the laws of war. Should we be disappointed in this particular, we have a master powerful enough to revenge any injury we may sustain. “I am, with respect, “Gentlemen, “Your most obedient servant, “Nadau D’Etreil.” It is pretty remarkable, that the apprehension of cruel usage from the English, who are undoubtedly the most generous and humane enemies under the sun, not only prevailed among the common French soldiery throughout this whole war, but even infected officers of distinction, who ought to have been exempted from these prejudices, by a better acquaintance with life, and more liberal turn of thinking.]
505 (return)[ Note 3 X, p. 505. The reasons assigned by the commodore for his conduct in this particular are these:—The bay of Dominique was the only place in which he could rendezvous and unite his squadron. Here he refreshed his men, who were grown sickly in consequence of subsisting on salt provisions. Here he supplied his ships with plenty of fresh water. Here he had intercourse once or twice every day with general Barrington, by means of small vessels which passed and repassed from one island to the other. By remaining in this situation, he likewise maintained a communication with the English Leeward Islands, which being in a defenceless condition, their inhabitants were constantly soliciting the commodore’s protection; and here he supported the army, the commander of which was unwilling that he should remove to a greater distance. Had he sailed to Port-Royal, he would have found the enemy’s squadron so disposed, that he could not have attacked them, unless M. de Bompart had been inclined to hazard an action. Had he anchored in the bay, all his cruisers must have been employed in conveying provisions and stores to the squadron. There he could not have procured either fresh provisions or water; nor could he have had any communication with, or intelligence from, the army in the Leeward Islands, in less than eight or ten days.]
511 (return)[ Note 3 Y, p. 511. The following anecdote is so remarkable, and tends so much to the honour of the British soldiery, that we insert it without fear of the reader’s disapprobation:—Captain Ochterlony and ensign Peyton belonged to the regiment of brigadier-general Mouckton. They were nearly of an age, which did not exceed thirty: the first was a North Briton, the other a native of Ireland. Both were agreeable in person, and unblemished in character, and connected together by the ties of mutual friendship and esteem. On the day that preceded the battle, captain Ochterlony had been obliged to fight a duel with a German officer, in which, though he wounded and disarmed his antagonist, yet he himself received a dangerous hurt under the right arm, in consequence of which his friends insisted on his remaining in camp during the action of the next day, but his spirit was too great to comply with this remonstrance. He declared it should never be said that a scratch, received in a private rencounter, had prevented him from doing his duty, when his country required his service; and he took the field with a fusil in his hand, though he was hardly able to carry his arms. In leading up his men to the enemy’s intrenchment, he was shot through the lungs with a musquet ball, an accident which obliged him to part with his fusil: but he still continued advancing; until, by the loss of blood, he became too weak to proceed farther. About the same time Mr. Peyton was lamed by a shot, which shattered the small hone of his left leg. The soldiers, in their retreat, earnestly begged, with tears in their eyes, that captain Ochterlony would allow them to carry him and the ensign off the field. But he was so bigoted to a severe point of honour, that he would not quit the ground, though he desired they would take care of his ensign. Mr. Peyton, with a generous disdain, rejected their good offices, declaring, that he would not leave his captain in such a situation; and in a little time they remained the sole survivors of that part of the field.Captain Ochterlony sat down by his friend; and, as they expected nothing but immediate death, they took leave of each other. Yet they were not altogether abandoned by the hope of being protected as prisoners: for the captain, seeing a French soldier with two Indians approach, started up, and accosting them in the French language, which he spoke perfectly well, expressed his expectation that they would treat him and his companion as officers, prisoners, and gentlemen. The two Indians seemed to be entirely under the conduct of the Frenchman, who coming up to Mr. Peyton, as he sat on the ground, snatched his laced hat from his head, and robbed the captain of his watch and money. This outrage was a signal to the Indians for murder and pillage. One of them, clubbing his firelock, struck at him behind, with a view to knock him down; but the blow missing his head, took place upon his shoulder. At the same instant the other Indian poured his shot into the breast of this unfortunate young gentleman; who cried out, “Oh, Peyton, the villain has shot me.” Not yet satisfied with cruelty, the barbarian sprung upon him, and stabbed him in the belly with his scalping-knife. The captain having parted with his fusil, had no weapon for his defence, as none of the officers wore swords in the action. The three ruffians, finding him still alive, endeavoured to strangle him with his own sash; and he was now upon his knees, struggling against them with surprising exertion. Mr. Peyton, at this juncture, having a double-barrelled musket in his hand, and seeing the distress of his friend, fired at one of the Indians, who dropped dead upon the spot. The other thinking the ensign would now be an easy prey, advanced towards him; and Mr. Peyton, having taken good aim at the distance of four yards, discharged his piece the second time, but it seemed to take no effect. The savage fired in his turn, and wounded the ensign in his shoulder; then, rushing upon him, thrust his bayonet through his body. He repeated the blow, which Mr. Peyton attempting to parry, received another wound in his left hand: nevertheless, he seized the Indian’s musket with the same hand, pulled him forwards, and with his right drawing a dagger which hung by his side, plunged it in the barbarian’s side. A violent struggle ensued: but at length Mr. Peyton was uppermost; and, with repeated strokes of his dagger, killed his antagonist outright. Here he was seized with an unaccountable emotion of curiosity, to know whether his shot had taken place on the body of the Indian: he accordingly turned him up; and, stripping off his blanket, perceived that the ball had penetrated quite through the cavity of the breast. Having thus obtained a dear-bought victory, he started up on one leg; and saw captain Ochterlony standing at the distance of sixty yards, close by the enemy’s breastwork, with the French soldier attending him. Mr. Peyton then called aloud,—“Captain Ochterlony, I am glad to see you have at last got under protection. Beware of that villain, who is more barbarous than the savages. God bless you, my dear captain! I see a party of Indians coming this way, and expect to be murdered immediately.” A number of those barbarians had for some time been employed on the left, in scalping and pillaging the dying and the dead that were left upon the field of battle; and above thirty of them were in full march to destroy Mr. Peyton. This gentleman knew he had no mercy to expect; for, should his life be spared for the present, they would have afterwards insisted upon sacrificing him to the manes of their brethren whom he had slain; and in that case he would have been put to death by the most excruciating tortures. Full of this idea, he snatched up his musket, and, notwithstanding his broken leg, ran about forty yards without halting: feeling himself now totally disabled, and incapable of proceeding one step farther, he loaded his piece, and presented it to the two foremost Indians, who stood aloof, waiting to be joined by their fellows; while the French, from their breastworks, kept up a continual fire of cannon and small arms upon this poor solitary and maimed gentleman. In this uncomfortable situation he stood, when he discerned at a distance a Highland officer, with a party of his men, skirting the plain towards the field of battle. He forthwith waved his hand in signal of distress, and being perceived by the officer, he detached three of his men to his assistance. These brave fellows hastened to him through the midst of a terrible fire, and one of them bore him off on his shoulders. The Highland officer was captain Macdonald of colonel Frasor’s battalion; who, understanding that a young gentleman, his kinsman, had dropped on the field of battle, had put himself at the head of this party, with which he penetrated to the middle of the field, drove a considerable number of the French and Indians before him, and finding his relation still unscalped, carried him off in triumph. Poor captain Ochterlony was conveyed to Quebec, where in a few days he died of his wounds. After the reduction of that place, the French surgeons who attended him declared, that in all probability he would have recovered of the two shots he had received in his breast, had he not been mortally wounded in the belly by the Indian’s scalping-knife.As this very remarkable scene was acted in sight of both armies, general Townshend, in the sequel, expostulated with the French officers upon the inhumanity of keeping up such a severe fire against two wounded gentlemen who were disabled, and destitute of all hope of escaping. They answered that the fire was not made by the regulars, but by the Canadians and savages, whom it was not in the power of discipline to restrain.]
513 (return)[ Note 3 Z, p. 513. How far the success of this attempt depended upon accident, may be conceived from the following particulars:—In the twilight, two French deserters were carried on board a ship of war, commanded by captain Smith, and lying at anchor near the north shore. They told him that the garrison of Quebec expected that night to receive a convoy of provisions, sent down the river in boats from the detachment above, commanded by M. de Bouganville. These deserters, standing upon deck, and perceiving the English boats with the troops gliding down the river in the dark, began to shout and make a noise, declaring they were part of the expected convoy, captain Smith, who was ignorant of general Wolfe’s design, believing their affirmation, had actually given orders to point the guns at the British troops; when the general, perceiving a commotion on board, rowed alongside in person and prevented the discharge, which would have alarmed the town, and entirely frustrated the attempt.The French had posted sentries along shore, to challenge boats and vessels, and give the alarm occasionally. The first boat that contained the English troops being questioned accordingly, a captain of Eraser’s regiment, who had served in Holland, and who was perfectly well acquainted with the French language and customs, answered without hesitation toQui vit?which is their challenging word,La France: nor was he at a loss to answer the second question, which was much more particular and difficult. When the sentinel demandeda quell regiment?to what regiment? the captain replied,De la Reine; which he knew, by accident, to be one of those that composed the body commanded by Bougainville. The soldier took it for granted this was the expected convoy; and sayingPasse, allowed all the boats to proceed without further question. In the same manner the other sentries were deceived; though one, more wary than the rest, came running down to the water’s edge, and called, “Pourquoi est ce que vous ne parlez plus haut?Why don’t you speak with an audible voice?” To this interrogation, which implied doubt, the captain answered, with admirable presence of mind, in a soft tone of voice, “Tai toi! nous serons entendues!Hush! we shall be overheard and discovered!” Thus cautioned, the sentry retired without further altercation. The midshipman who piloted the first boat, passing by the landing place in the dark, the same captain, who knew it from his having been posted formerly with his company on the other side of the river, insisted on the pilot’s being mistaken; and commanded the rowers to put ashore in the proper place, or at least very near it.When general Wolfe landed, and saw the difficulty of ascending the precipice, he said to the same officer in a familiar strain, “I don’t believe there is any possibility of getting up; but you must do your endeavour.” The narrow path that slanted up the hill from the landing place the enemy had broken up, and rendered impassible by cross ditches, besides the intrenchment at the top: in every other part the hill was so steep and dangerous, that the soldiers were obliged to pull themselves up by the roots and boughs of trees growing on both sides of the path.]
515 (return)[ Note 4 A, p. 515 The chagrin and mortification of Lally are strongly marked in the following intercepted letter to M. de Legret, dated from the camp before Madras:—“A good blow might be struck here: there is a ship in the road, of twenty guns, laden with all the riches of Madras, which it is said will remain there till the 20th. The expedition is just arrived, but M. Gerlin is not a man to attack her; for she has made him run away once before. The Bristol, on the other hand, did but just make her appearance before St. Thomas; and, on the vague report of thirteen ships coming from Porto-Novo, she took fright; and, after landing the provisions with which she was laden, she would not stay long enough even to take on board twelve of her own guns, which she had lent us for the siege.“If I was the judge of the point of honour of the company’s officers, I would break him like glass, as well as some others of them.“The Fidelle, or the Harlem, or even the aforesaid Bristol, with her twelve guns restored to her, would be sufficient to make themselves masters of the English ship, if they could manage so as to get to windward of her in the night. Maugendre and Tremillier are said to be good men; and were they employed only to transport two hundred wounded men that we have here, their service would be of importance.“We remain still in the same position: the breach made these fifteen clays, all the time within fifty toises of the wall of the place, and never holding up our heads to look at it.“I reckon we shall, on our arrival at Pondieherry, endeavour to learn some other trade, for this of war requires too much patience.“Of one thousand five hundred sepoys which attended our army, I reckon near eight hundred are employed upon the road to Pondieherry, laden with sugar, pepper, and other goods; and as for the coulis, they are all employed for the same purpose, from the first day we came here.“I am taking my measures from this day to set fire to the Black-town, and to blow up the powder-mills.“You will never imagine that fifty French deserters, and one hundred Swiss, are actually stopping the progress of two thousand men of the king and company’s troops, which are still here existing, notwithstanding the exaggerated accounts that every one makes here according to his own fancy, of the slaughter that has been made of them; and you will be still more surprised if I tell you, that, were it not lor the combats and four battles we sustained, and for the batteries which failed, or, to speak more properly, which were unskilfully made, we should not have lost fifty men, from the commencement of the siege to this day. I have written to M. de Larche, that if he persists in not coming here, let who will raise money upon the Poleagers for me, I will not do it; and I renounce (as I informed you a month ago I would do) meddling directly or indirectly with any thing whatever that may have relation to your administration, whether civil or military. For I had rather go and command the Caffrees of Madagascar than remain in this Sodom, which it is impossible but the fire of the English must destroy sooner or later, even though that from heaven should not. “I have the honour to be, &c. &c. (Signed) “LALLY.”“P. S.—I think it necessary to apprize you, that as M. de Soupire has refused to take upon him the command of this army, which I have offered to him, and which he is empowered to accept, by having received from the court a duplicate of my commission, you must of necessity, together with the council, take it upon you. For my part, I undertake only to bring it back either to Arcot or Sadraste. Send, therefore, your orders, or come yourselves to command it; for I shall quit it upon my arrival there.”]
521 (return)[ Note 4 B, p. 521. That the general was not pleased with the behaviour of lord George Sackville, may be gathered from the following compliment to the marquis of Granby, implying a severe reflection upon his superior in command.Orders of his serene highness prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, relative to the behaviour of the troops under him, at the famous battle near Minden, on the first of August, 1759.“His serene highness ordered his greatest thanks to be given to the whole army, for their bravery and good behaviour yesterday, particularly to the English infantry, and the two battalions of Hanoverian guards; to all the cavalry of the left wing; and to general Wan-genheim’s corps, particularly the regiment of Holstein, the Hessian cavalry, the Hanoverian regiment du corps, and Hammerstin’s; the same to all the brigades of heavy artillery. His serene highness declares publicly, that, next to God, he attributes the glory of the day to the intrepidity and extraordinary good behaviour of these troops, which he assures them he shall retain the strongest sense of as long as he lives; and if ever, upon any occasion, he shall be able to serve these brave troops, or any of them in particular, it will give him the utmost pleasure. His serene highness orders his particular thanks to be likewise given to general Sporeken, the duke of Holstein, lieutenant-generals Imhoff and Urf. His serene highness is extremely obliged to the count de Buckebourg, for his extraordinary care and trouble in the management of the artillery, which was served with great effect: likewise to the commanding officers of the several brigades of artillery, viz. colonel Browne, lieutenant-colonel Hutte, Major Hasse, and the three English captains, Philips, Drummond, and Foy. His serene highness thinks himself infinitely obliged to major-generals Waldegrave and Kingsley, for their great courage, and the good order in which they conducted their brigades. His serene highness further orders it to be declared to lieutenant-general the marquis of Grandby, that he is persuaded that, if he had had the good fortune to have had him at the head of the cavalry of the right wing, his presence would have greatly contributed to make the decision of that day more complete and more brilliant. In short, his serene highness orders that those of his suite whose behaviour he most admired be named, as the duke of Richmond, colonel Fitzroy, captain Ligonier, colonel Watson, captain Wilson, aidecamp to major-general Waldegrave, adjutant, generals Erstorff, Bulow, Durendolle, the counts Tobe and Malerti; his serene highness having much reason tobe satisfied with their conduct. And his serene highness desires and orders the generals of the army, that upon all occasions when orders are brought to them by his aids-de-camp, that they may be obeyed punctually, and without delay.”]
522 (return)[ Note 4 C, p. 522. The following extracts of letters from the duke de Belleisle to the mareschal de Contades, will convey some idea of the virtue, policy, and necessities of the French ministry:—“I am still afraid that Fischer sets out too late: it is, however, very important, and very essential, that we should raise large contributions. I see no other resource for our most urgent expenses, and for refitting the troops, but in the money we may draw from the enemy’s country, from whence we must likewise procure subsistence of all kinds (independently of the money), that is to say, hay, straw, oats for the winter, bread, corn, cattle, horses, even men to recruit our foreign troops. The war must not be prolonged; and perhaps it may be necessary, according to the events which may happen between this time and the end of September, to make a downright desert before the line of the quarters which it may be thought proper to keep during the winter, in order that the enemy may be under a real impossibility of approaching us: at the same time reserving for ourselves a bare subsistence on the route which may be the most convenient for us to take, in the middle of winter, to beat up or seize upon the enemy’s quarters. That this object may be fulfilled, I cause the greatest assiduity to be used in preparing what is necessary for having all your troops, without exception, well clothed, well armed, well equipped, and well refitted, in every respect, before the end of November, with new tents; in order that, if it should be advisable for the king’s political and military affairs, you may be able to assemble the whole or part of your army, to act offensively and with vigour, from the beginning of January; and that you may have the satisfaction to show your enemies and all Europe, that the French know how to act and carry on war in all seasons, when they have such a general as you are, and a minister of the department of war that can foresee and concert matters with the general.“You must be sensible, sir, that what I say to you may become not only useful and honourable, but perhaps even necessary, with respect to what you know, and of which I shall say no more in a private letter.“M. duc de BELLEISLE.”“After observing all the formalities due to the magistrates of Cologne, you must seize on their great artillery by force, telling them that you do so for their own defence against the common enemy of the empire; that you will restore them when their city has nothing further to fear, &c. After all, you must take everything you have occasion for, and give them receipts for it.—“You must, at any rate, consume all sorts of subsistence on the higher Lippe, Paderborn, and Warsburg; you must destroy everything which you cannot consume, so as to make a desert of all Westphalia, from Lipstadt and Munster, as far as the Rhine, on one hand: and on the other, from the higher Lippe and Paderborn, as far as Cassel; that the enemy may find it quite impracticable to direct their march to the Rhine, or the lower Roer; and this with regard to your army, and with regard to the army under M. de Soubise, that they may not have it in their power to take possession of Cassel, and much less to march to Marburg, or to the quarters which he will have along the Lahn, or to those which you will occupy, from the lower part of the left side of the Roer, and on the right side of the Rhine, as far as Dusseldorp, and at Cologne.”—“You know the necessity of consuming or destroying, as far as is possible, all the subsistence, especially the forage betwixt the Weser and the Rhine on the one hand, and on the other betwixt the Lippe, the bishopric of Paderborn, the Dymel, the Fulda, and the Nerra; and so to make a desert of Westphalia and Hesse.”—“Although the prince of Waldeck appears outwardly neutral, he is very ill-disposed, and deserves very little favour. You ought, therefore, to make no scruple of taking all you find in that territory: but this must be done in an orderly manner, giving receipts, and observing the most exact discipline. All the subsistence you leave in this country will fall to the enemy’s share, who will, by that means, be enabled to advance to the Lahn, and towards the quarters which you are to occupy on the left side of the Roer. It is therefore a precaution become in a manner indispensably necessary, to carry it all away from thence.”—“The question now is, what plan you shall think most proper for accomplishing, in the quickest and surest manner, our great purpose: which must be to consume, carry off, or destroy, all the forage and subsistence of the country which we cannot keep possession of.”—“The upper part of the Lippe, and the country of Paderborn, are the most plentiful; they must therefore be eat to the very roots.”.....“You did mighty well to talk in the most absolute tone with regard to the necessaries Racroth and Duysbourg must furnish our troops: it is necessary to speak in that tone to Germans; and you will find your account in using the same to the regencies of the elector of Cologne, and still more to that of the palatine.“After using all becoming ceremony, as we have the power in our hands, we must make use of it, and draw from the country of Bergue what shall be necessary for the subsistence of the garrison of Dusseldorp, and of the light troops, and reserve what may be brought thither from Alsace and the bishoprics for a case of necessity.”]