The king, in order to exhibit a specimen of his desire to diminish the public expense, ordered the third and fourth troops of his life-guards to be disbanded, and reduced three regiments of horse to the quality of dragoons. The house of commons presented an address of thanks for this instance of economy, by which the annual sum of seventy thousand pounds was saved to the nation. Notwithstanding this seeming harmony between the king and the great council of the nation, his majesty resolved, with the advice of his council, to dissolve the present parliament, though the term of seven years was not yet expired since its first meeting. The ministry affected to insinuate, that the states-general were unwilling to concur with his majesty in vigorous measures against France, during the existence of a parliament which had undergone such a vicissitude of complexion. The allies of Great Britain, far from being suspicious of this assembly, which had supplied them so liberally, saw with concern that according to law it would soon be dismissed; and they doubted whether another could be procured equally agreeable to their purposes. In order to remove this doubt, the ministry resolved to surprise the kingdom with a new election, before the malcontents should be prepared to oppose the friends of the government.
1747
Accordingly, when the business of the session was despatched, the king having given the royal assent to the several acts they had prepared, dismissed them in the month of June, with an affectionate speech that breathed nothing but tenderness and gratitude. The parliament was immediately dissolved by proclamation, and new writs were issued for convoking another. Among the laws passed in this session, was an act abolishing the heritable jurisdictions, and taking away the tenure of wardholdings in Scotland, which were reckoned among the principal sources of those rebellions that had been excited since the revolution. In the highlands they certainly kept the common people in subjection to their chiefs, whom they implicitly followed and obeyed in all their undertakings. By this act these mountaineers were legally emancipated from slavery; but as the tenants enjoyed no leases, and were at all times liable to be ejected from their farms, they still depended on the pleasure of their lords, notwithstanding this interposition of the legislature, which granted a valuable consideration in money to every nobleman and petty baron, who was thus deprived of one part of his inheritance. The forfeited estates indeed were divided into small farms, and let by the government on leases at an under value; so that those who had the good fortune to obtain such leases tasted the sweets of independence; but the highlanders in general were left in their original indigence and incapacity, at the mercy of their superiors. Had manufactures and fisheries been established in different parts of their country, they would have seen and felt the happy consequences of industry, and in a little time been effectually detached from all their slavish connexions.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
The operations of the campaign had been concerted in the winter at the Hague, between the duke of Cumberland and the states-general of the United Provinces, who were by this time generally convinced of France’s design to encroach upon their territories. They therefore determined to take effectual measures against that restless and ambitious neighbour. The allied powers agreed to assemble a vast army in the Netherlands; and it was resolved that the Austrians and Piedmonte so should once more penetrate into Provence. The Dutch patriots, however, were not roused into this exertion, until all their remonstrances had failed at the court of Versailles; until they had been urged by repeated memorials of the English ambassador, and stimulated by the immediate danger to which their country was exposed; for France was by this time possessed of all the Austrian Netherlands, and seemed bent upon penetrating into the territories of the United Provinces. In February, the duke of Cumberland began to assemble the allied forces; and in the latter end of March they took the field in three separate bodies. His royal highness, with the English, Hanoverians, and Hessians, fixed his head quarters at the village of Tilberg; the prince of Waldeck was posted with the Dutch troops at Breda; and mareschal Bathiani collected the Austrians and Bavarians in the neighbourhood of Venlo. The whole army amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand men, who lay inactive six weeks, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and almost destitute of forage and provisions. Count Saxe, by this time created mareschal-general of France, continued his troops within their cantonments at Bruges, Antwerp, and Brussels, declaring, that when the allied army should be weakened by sickness and mortality, he would convince the duke of Cumberland that the first duty of a general is to provide for the health and preservation of his troops. In April this fortunate commander took the field, at the head of one hundred and forty thousand men; and the count de Clermont commanded a separate body of nineteen battalions and thirty squadrons. Count Lowendahl was detached on the sixteenth of the month, with seven-and-twenty thousand men, to invade Dutch Flanders; at the same time, the French minister at the Hague presented a memorial to the states, intimating, that his master was obliged to take this step by the necessity of war; but that his troops should observe the strictest discipline, without interfering with the religion, government, or commerce of the republic; he likewise declared, that the countries and places of which he might be obliged to take possession should be detained no otherwise than as a pledge, to be restored as soon as the United Provinces should give convincing proofs that they would no longer furnish the enemies of France with succours.
While the states deliberated upon this declaration, count Lowendahl entered Dutch Brabant, and invested the town and fortress of Sluys, the garrison of which surrendered themselves prisoners of war on the nineteenth day of April. This was likewise the fate of Sas-van-Ghent, while the marquis de Contades, with another detachment, reduced the forts Perle and Leifkenshoek, with the town of Philippine, even within hearing of the confederate army. The fort of Sandberg was vigorously defended by two English battalions; but they were overpowered, and obliged to retire to Welsthoorden; and count Lowendahl undertook the siege of Hulst, which was shamefully surrendered by La Roque the Dutch governor, though he knew that a reinforcement of nine battalions was on the march to his relief. Then the French general took possession of Axel and Terneuse, and began to prepare flat-bottomed boats for a descent on the island of Zealand. The Dutch people were now struck with consternation. They saw the enemy at their doors, and owed their immediate preservation to the British squadron stationed at the Swin, under the command of commodore Mitchel,* who, by means of his sloops, tenders, and small craft, took such measures as defeated the intention of Lowendahl. The common people in Zealand being reduced to despair, began to clamour loudly against their governors, as if they had not taken the proper measures for their security. The friends of the prince of Orange did not neglect this opportunity of promoting his interest. They encouraged their discontent, and exaggerated the danger; they reminded them of the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-two, when the French king was at the gates of Amsterdam, and the republic was saved by the choice of a stadtholder; they exhorted them to turn their eyes on the descendant of those heroes who had established the liberty and independence of the United Provinces; they extolled his virtue and ability; his generosity, his justice, his unshaken love to his country. The people in several towns, inflamed by such representations to tumult and sedition, compelled their magistrates to declare the prince of Orange stadtholder. He himself, in a letter to the states of Zealand, offered his services for the defence of the province. On the twenty-eighth day of April he was nominated captain-general and admiral of Zealand. Their example was followed by Rotterdam and the whole province of Holland; and on the second day of May, the prince of Orange was, in the assembly of the states-general, invested with the power and dignity of stadtholder, captain-general, and admiral of the United Provinces. The vigorous consequences of this resolution immediately appeared. All commerce and contracts with the French were prohibited; the peasants were armed and exercised; a resolution passed for making a considerable augmentation of the army, a council of war was established for inquiring into the conduct of the governors who had given up the frontier places; and orders were issued to commence hostilities against the French, both by sea and land.
Meanwhile the duke of Cumberland took post with his whole army between the two Nethes, to cover Bergen-op-Zoom and Maestricht; and Mareschal Saxe called in his detachments with a view to hazard a general engagement. In the latter end of May the French king arrived at Brussels, and his general resolved to undertake the siege of Maestricht. For this purpose he advanced towards Louvain; and the confederates perceiving his drift, began their march to take post between the town and the enemy. On the twentieth day of June they took possession of their ground, and were drawn up in order of battle, with their right at Bilsen, and their left extending to Wirle within a mile of Maestricht, having in the front of their left wing the village of Laffeldt, in which they posted several battalions of British infantry. The French had taken possession of the heights of Herdeeren, immediately above the allies; and both armies cannonaded each other till the evening. In the morning the enemy’s infantry marched down the hill in a prodigious column, and attacked the village of Laffeldt, which was well fortified, and defended with amazing obstinacy. The assailants suffered terribly in their approach from the cannon of the confederates, which was served with surprising dexterity and success; and they met with such a warm reception from the British musquetry as they could not withstand; but, when they were broken and dispersed, fresh brigades succeeded with astonishing perseverance. The confederates were driven out of the village; yet being sustained by three regiments, they measured back their ground, and repulsed the enemy with great slaughter. Nevertheless, count Saxe continued pouring in other battalions, and the French regained and maintained their footing in the village, after it had been three times lost and carried. The action was chiefly confined to this post, where the field exhibited a horrible scene of carnage. At noon the duke of Cumberland ordered the whole left wing to advance against the enemy, whose infantry gave way; prince Waldeck led up the centre; marshal Bathiani made a motion with the right wing towards Herdeeren, and victory seemed ready to declare for the confederates, when the fortune of the day took a sudden turn to their prejudice. Several squadrons of Dutch horse posted in the centre gave way, and flying at full gallop, overthrew five battalions of infantry that were advancing from the body of reserve. The French cavalry charged them with great impetuosity, increasing the confusion that was already produced, and penetrating through the lines of the allied army, which was thus divided about the centre. The duke of Cumberland, who exerted himself with equal courage and activity in attempting to remedy this disorder, was in danger of being taken; and the defeat would in all probability have been total, had not sir John Ligonier taken the resolution of sacrificing himself and a part of the troops to the safety of the army. At the head of three British regiments of dragoons, and some squadrons of imperial horse, he charged the whole line of the French cavalry with such intrepidity and success, that he overthrew all that opposed him, and made such a diversion as enabled the duke of Cumberland to effect an orderly retreat to Maestricht. He himself was taken by a French carabinier, after his horse had been killed; but the regiments he commanded retired with deliberation. The confederates retreated to Maestricht, without having sustained much damage from the pursuit, and even brought off all their artillery, except sixteen pieces of cannon. Their loss did not exceed six thousand men killed and taken; whereas the French general purchased the victory at a much greater expense. The common cause of the confederate powers is said to have suffered from the pride and ignorance of their generals. On the eve of the battle, when the detachment of the count de Clermont appeared on the hill of Herdeeren, marshal Bathiani asked permission of the commander-in-chief to attack them before they should be reinforced, declaring he would answer for the success of the enterprise. No regard was paid to this proposal; but the superior asked in his turn, where the marshal would be in case he should be wanted? He replied, “I shall always be found at the head of my troops,” and retired in disgust. The subsequent disposition has likewise been blamed, inasmuch as not above one half of the army could act, while the enemy exerted their whole force.
The confederates passed the Maese and encamped in the duchy of Limburgh, so as to cover Maestricht; while the French king remained with his army in the neighbourhood of Tongres. Mareschal Saxe, having amused the allies with marches and counter-marches, at length detached count Lowendahl with six-and-thirty thousand men to besiege Bergen-op-Zoom, the strongest fortification of Dutch Brabant, the favourite work of the famous engineer Coehorn, never conquered, and generally esteemed invincible. It was secured with a garrison of three thousand men, and well provided with artillery, ammunition, and magazines. The enemy appeared before it on the twelfth day of July, and summoned the governor to surrender. The prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen was sent to its relief, with twenty battalions and fourteen squadrons of the troops that could be most conveniently assembled; he entered the lines of Bergen-op-Zooin, where he remained in expectation of a strong reinforcement from the confederate army; and the old baron Cronstrom, whom the stadtholder had appointed governor of Brabant, assumed the command of the garrison The besiegers carried on their operations with great vivacity; and the troops in the town defended it with equal vigour. The eyes of all Europe were turned upon this important siege; count Lowendahl received divers reinforcements; and a considerable body of troops was detached from the allied army, under the command of baron Schwartzenberg, to co-operate with the prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The French general lost a great number of men by the close and continual fire of the besieged; while he, in his turn, opened such a number of batteries, and plied them so warmly, that the defences began to give way. From the sixteenth day of July to the fifteenth of September, the siege produced an unintermitting scene of horror and destruction: desperate sallies were made, and mines sprung with the most dreadful effect; the works began to be shattered; the town was laid in ashes; the trenches were filled with carnage; nothing was seen but fire and smoke; nothing heard but one continued roar of bombs and cannon. But still the damage fell chiefly on the besiegers, who were slain in heaps; while the garrison suffered very little, and could be occasionally relieved or reinforced from the lines. In a word, it was generally believed that count Lowendahl would be baffled in his endeavours; and by this belief the governor of Bergen-op-Zoom seems to have been lulled into a blind security. At length, some inconsiderable breaches were made in one ravelin and two bastions, and these the French general resolved to storm, though Cronstrom believed they were impracticable; ind on that supposition presumed that the enemy would not attempt an assault. For this very reason count Lowendahl resolved to hazard the attack, before the preparations should be made for his reception. He accordingly regulated his dispositions, and at four o’clock in the morning, on the sixteenth day of September, the signal was made for the assault. A prodigious quantity of bombs being thrown into the ravelin, his troops threw themselves into the fosse, mounted the breaches, forced open a sally-port, and entered the place almost without resistance. In a word, they had time to extend themselves along the curtains, and form in order of battle, before the garrison could be assembled. Cronstrom was asleep, and the soldiers upon duty had been surprised by the suddenness and impetuosity of the attack. Though the French had taken possession of the ramparts, they did not gain the town without opposition. Two battalions of the Scottish troops, in the pay of the states-general, were assembled in the market-place, and attacked them with such fury, that they were driven from street to street, until fresh reinforcements arriving, compelled the Scots to retreat in their turn; yet they disputed every inch of ground, and fought until two thirds of them were killed upon the spot. Then they brought off the old governor, abandoning the town to the enemy; the troops that were encamped in the lines retreating with great precipitation, all the forts in the neighbourhood immediately surrendered to the victors, who now became masters of the whole navigation of the Schelde. The French king was no sooner informed of Lowendahl’s success, than he promoted him to the rank of mareschal of France; appointed count Saxe governor of the conquered Netherlands; and returned in triumph to Versailles. In a little time after this transaction, both armies were distributed into winter quarters, and the duke of Cumberland embarked for England.
In Italy, the French arms did not triumph with equal success, though the mareschal de Belleisle saw himself at the head of a powerful army in Provence. In April he passed the Var without opposition, and took possession of Nice. He met with little or no resistance in reducing Montalban, Villafranca, and Ventimiglia; while general Brown, with eight-and-twenty thousand Aus-trians, retired towards Final and Savona. In the meantime, another large body under count Schuylemberg, Who had succeeded the marquis de Botta, co-operated with fifteen thousand Piedmontese in an attempt to recover the city of Genoa. The French king had sent their supplies, succours, and engineers, with the duke de Boufflers, as ambassador to the republic, who likewise acted as commander-in-chief of the forces employed for its defence. The Austrian general assembled his troops in the Milanese, having forced the passage of the Bochetta on the thirteenth of January, he advanced into the territories of Genoa, and the Eiviera was ravaged without mercy. On the last day of March he appeared before the city at the head of forty thousand men, and summoned the revolters to lay down their arms. The answer he received was, that the republic had fifty-four thousand men in arms, two hundred and sixty cannon, thirty-four mortars, with abundance of ammunition and provision; that they would defend their liberty with their last blood, and be buried in the ruins of their capital, rather than submit to the clemency of the court of Vienna, except by an honourable capitulation, guaranteed by the kings of Great Britain and Sardinia, the republic of Venice and the United Provinces. In the beginning of May, Genoa was invested on all sides; a furious sally was made by the duke de Boufflers, who drove the besiegers from their posts; but the Austrians rallying, he was repulsed in his turn, with the loss of seven hundred men. General Schuylemberg carried on his operations with such skill, vigour, and intrepidity, that he made himself master of the suburbs of Bisagno; and in all probability would have reduced the city, had he not been obliged to desist, in consequence of the repeated remonstrances made by the king of Sardinia and count Brown, who represented the necessity of his abandoning his enterprise, and drawing off his army to cover Piedmont and Lombardy from the efforts of mareschal de Belleisle. Accordingly he raised the siege on the tenth day of June, and returned into the Milanese in order to join his Sardinian majesty; while the Genoese made an irruption into the Parmesan and Placentia, where they committed terrible outrages, in revenge for the mischiefs they had undergone.
While the mareschal de Belleisle remained at Ventimiglia, his brother, at the head of four-and-thirty thousand French and Spaniards, attempted to penetrate into Piedmont: on the sixth day of July he arrived at the pass of Exilles, a strong fortress on the frontiers of Dauphiné, situated on the north side of the river Doria. The defence of this important post the king of Sardinia had committed to the care of the count de Brigueras, who formed an encampment behind the lines, with fourteen battalions of Piedmontese and Austrians, while divers detachments were posted along all the passes of the Alps. On the eighth day of the month the Piedmontese intrenchments were attacked by the chevalier de Belleisle, with incredible intrepidity; but the columns were repulsed with great loss in three successive attacks. Impatient of this obstinate opposition, and determined not to survive a miscarriage, this impetuous general seized a pair of colours, and advancing at the head of his troops through a prodigious fire, pitched them with his own hand on the enemy’s entrenchments. At that instant he fell dead, having received two musquet-balls and the thrust of a bayonet in his body. The assailants were so much dispirited by the death of their commander, that they forthwith gave way, and retreated with precipitation towards Sesteries, having lost near five thousand men in the attack. The mareschal was no sooner informed of his brother’s misfortune, than he retreated towards the Var to join the troops from Exilles, while the king of Sardinia, having assembled an army of seventy thousand men, threatened Dauphiné with an invasion; but the excessive rains prevented the execution of his design. General Leutrum was detached with twenty battalions, to drive the French from Ventimiglia; but Belleisle marching back, that scheme was likewise frustrated; and thus ended the campaign.
In this manner was the French king baffled in his projects upon Italy; nor was he more fortunate in his naval operations. He had in the preceding year equipped an expensive armament, under the command of the duke d’Anville, for the recovery of Cape Breton; but it was rendered ineffectual by storms, distempers, and the death of the commander. Not yet discouraged by these disasters, he resolved to renew his efforts against the British colonies in North America, and their settlements in the East Indies. For these purposes two squadrons were prepared at Brest, one to be commanded by the commodore de la Jonquiere; and the other destined for India, by monsieur de St. George. The ministry of Great Britain, being apprized of these measures, resolved to intercept both squadrons, which were to set sail together. For this purpose vice-admiral Anson and rear-admiral Warren took their departure from Plymouth with a formidable fleet, and steered their course to Cape Finisterre on the coast of Gallicia. On the third day of May, they fell in with the French squadrons, commanded by la Jonquiere and St. George, consisting of six large ships of war, as many frigates, and four armed vessels equipped by their East India company, having under their convoy about thirty ships laden with merchandise. Those prepared for war immediately shortened sail, and formed a line of battle; while the rest, under the protection of the six frigates, proceeded on their voyage with all the sail they could carry. The British squadron was likewise drawn up in line of battle; but Mr. Warren, perceiving that the enemy began to sheer off, now their convoy was at a considerable distance, advised admiral Anson to haul in the signal for the line, and hoist another for giving chase and engaging, otherwise the French would, in all probability, escape by favour of the night. The proposal was embraced; and in a little time the engagement began with great fury, about four o’clock in the afternoon. The enemy sustained the battle with equal conduct and valour, until they were overpowered by numbers, and then they struck their colours. The admiral detached three ships in pursuit of the convoy, nine sail of which were taken; but the rest were saved by the intervening darkness. About seven hundred of the French were killed and wounded in this action. The English lost about five hundred; and among these captain Grenville, commander of the ship Defiance. He was nephew to the lord viscount Cobham, a youth of the most amiable character and promising genius, animated with the noblest sentiments of honour and patriotism. Eager in the pursuit of glory, he rushed into the midst of the battle, where both his legs were cut off by a cannon-ball. He submitted to his fate with the most heroic resignation, and died universally lamented and beloved. The success of the British arms in this engagement was chiefly owing to the conduct, activity, and courage of the rear-admiral. A considerable quantity of bullion was found in the prizes, which was brought to Spithead in triumph; and the treasure being landed, was conveyed in twenty waggons to the bank of London. Admiral Anson was ennobled, and Mr. Warren honoured with the order of the Bath.
About the middle of June, commodore Fox, with six ships of war, cruising in the latitude of Cape Ortegal in Gallicia, took above forty French ships, richly laden from St. Domingo, after they had been abandoned by their convoy. But the French king sustained another more important loss at sea, in the month of October. Rear-admiral Hawke sailed from Plymouth in the beginning of August, with fourteen ships of the line, to intercept a fleet of French merchant ships bound for the West Indies. He cruised for some time on the coast of Bretagne; and at length the French fleet sailed from the isle of Aix, under convoy of nine ships of the line, besides frigates, commanded by monsieur de Letendeur. On the fourteenth day of October, the two squadrons were in sight of each other, in the latitude of Belleisle. The French commodore immediately ordered one of his great ships, and the frigates, to proceed with the trading ships, while he formed the line of battle, and waited the attack. At eleven in the forenoon admiral Hawke displayed the signal to chase, and in half an hour both fleets were engaged. The battle lasted till night, when all the French squadron, except the Intrepide and Ton-ant, had struck to the English flag. These two capital ships escaped in the dark, and returned to Brest in a shattered condition. The French captains sustained the unequal fight with uncommon bravery and resolution; and did not yield until their ships were disabled. Their loss in men amounted to eight hundred: the number of English killed in this engagement did not exceed two hundred, including captain Saumarez, a gallant officer who had served under lord Anson in his expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Indeed it must be owned, for the honour of that nobleman, that all these officers formed under his example, and raised by his influence, approved themselves in all respects worthy of the commands to which they were preferred. Immediately after the action, admiral Hawke despatched a sloop to commodore Legge, whose squadron was stationed at the Leeward Islands, with intelligence of the French fleet of merchant ships outward-bound, that he might take the proper measures for intercepting them in their passage to Martinique and the other French islands. In consequence of this advice he redoubled his vigilance, and a good number of them fell into his hands. Admiral Hawke conducted his prizes to Spithead; and in his letter to the board of admiralty, declared that all his captains behaved like men of honour during the engagement, except Mr. Fox, whose conduct he desired might be subjected to an inquiry. That gentleman was accordingly tried by a court-martial, and suspended from his command, for having followed the advice of his officers contrary to his own better judgment; but he was soon restored, and afterwards promoted to the rank of admiral; while Mr. Matthews, whose courage never incurred suspicion, still laboured under suspension for that which had been successfully practised in both these late actions, namely, engaging the enemy without any regard to the line of battle. In the Mediterranean, vice-admiral Medley blocked up the Spanish squadron in Carthagena; assisted the Austrian general on the coast of Villafranca; and intercepted some of the succours sent from France to the assistance of the Genoese. At his death, which happened in the beginning of August, the command of that squadron devolved upon rear-admiral Byng, who proceeded on the same plan of operation. In the summer, two British ships of war, having under their convoy a fleet of merchant ships bound to North America, fell in with the Glorioso, a Spanish ship of eighty guns, in the latitude of the Western Isles. She had sailed from the Havannah with an immense treasure on board, and must have fallen a prize to the English ships had each captain done his duty. Captain Erskine, in the Warwick of sixty guns, attacked her with great intrepidity, and fought until his ship was entirely disabled; but being unsustained by his consort, he was obliged to haul off, and the Glorioso arrived in safety at Ferrol; there the silver was landed, and she proceeded on her voyage to Cadiz, which, however, she did not reach. She was encountered by the Dartmouth, a British frigate of forty guns, commanded by captain Hamilton, a gallant youth, who, notwithstanding the inequality of force, engaged her without hesitation; but in the heat of the action, his ship being set on fire by accident, was blown up, and-he perished with all his crew, except a midshipman and ten or eleven sailors, who were taken up alive by a privateer that happened to be in sight. Favourable as this accident may seem to the Glorioso, she did not escape. An English ship of eighty guns, under the command of captain Buckle, came up and obliged the Spaniards to surrender, after a short but vigorous engagement. Commodore Griffin had been sent, with a reinforcement of ships, to assume the command of the squadron in the East Indies; and although his arrival secured Fort St. David’s and the other British settlements in that country, from the insults of monsieur da la Bourdonnais, his strength was not sufficient to enable him to undertake any enterprise of importance against the enemy; the ministry of England therefore resolved to equip a fresh armament, that, when joined by the ships in India, should be in a condition to besiege Pon-dicherry, the principal settlement belonging to the French on the coast of Coromandel. For this service, a good number of independent companies was raised, and set sail, in the sequel, with a strong squadron under the conduct of rear-admiral Boscawen, an officer of unquestioned valour and capacity. In the course of this year, the British cruisers were so alert and successful, that they took six hundred and forty-four prizes from the French and Spaniards, whereas the loss of Great Britain in the same time did not exceed five hundred and fifty.
All the belligerent powers were by this time heartily tired of a war which had consumed an immensity of treasure, had been productive of so much mischief, and in the events of which, all, in their turns, had found themselves disappointed. Immediately after the battle of Laffeldt, the king of France had, in a personal conversation with sir John Ligonier, expressed his desire of a pacification; and afterwards his minister at the Hague presented a declaration on the same subject to the deputies of the states-general. The signal success of the British arms at sea confirmed him in these sentiments, which were likewise reinforced by a variety of other considerations. His finances were almost exhausted, and his supplies from the Spanish West Indies rendered so precarious by the vigilance of the British cruisers, that he could no longer depend upon their arrival. The trading part of his subjects had sustained such losses, that his kingdom was filled with bankruptcies; and the best part of his navy now contributed to strengthen the fleets of his enemies. The election of a stadtholder had united the whole power of the states-general against him, in taking the most resolute measures for their own safety; his views in Germany were entirely frustrated by the elevation of the grand duke to the Imperial throne, and the re-establishment of peace between the houses of Austria and Bran-denburgh; the success of his arms in Italy had not at all answered his expectation; and Genoa was become an expensive ally. He had the mortification to see the commerce of Britain flourish in the midst of war, while his own people were utterly impoverished. The parliament of England granted, and the nation paid such incredible sums as enabled their sovereign not only to maintain invincible navies and formidable armies, but likewise to give subsidies to all the powers of Europe. He knew that a treaty of this kind was actually upon the anvil between his Britannic majesty and the czarina, and he began to be apprehensive of seeing an army of Russians in the Netherlands. His fears from this quarter were not without foundation. In the month of November, the earl of Hyndford, ambassador from the king of Great Britain at the court of Russia, concluded a treaty of subsidy, by which the czarina engaged to hold in readiness thirty thousand men, and forty galleys, to be employed in the service of the confederates on the first requisition. The states-general acceded to this agreement, and even consented to pay one-fourth of the subsidy. His most christian majesty, moved by these considerations, made further advances towards an accommodation both at the Plague and in London; and the contending powers agreed to another congress, which was actually opened in March at Aix-la-Chapelle, where the earl of Sandwich and sir Thomas Robinson assisted as plenipotentiaries from the king of Great Britain.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
The elections for the new parliament in England had been conducted so as fully to answer the purposes of the duke of Newcastle, and his brother Mr. Pelham, who had for some time wholly engrossed the administration. Both houses were assembled on the tenth day of November, when Mr. Onslow was unanimously reelected speaker of the commons. The session was opened as usual by a speech from the throne, congratulating them on the signal successes of the British navy, and the happy alteration in the government of the United Provinces. His majesty gave them to understand that a congress would speedily be opened at Aix-la-Chapelle, to concert the means for effecting a general pacification; and reminded them that nothing would more conduce to the success of this negotiation than the vigour and unanimity of their proceedings. He received such addresses as the ministers were pleased to dictate. Opposition now languished at their feet. The duke of Bedford was become a courtier, and in a little time appointed secretary of state, in the room of the earl of Chesterfield, who had lately executed that office, which he now resigned; and the earl of Sandwich no longer harangued against the administration. This new house of commons, in imitation of the liberality of their predecessors, readily gratified all the requests of the government. They voted forty thousand seamen, forty-nine thousand land forces, besides eleven thousand five hundred marines; the subsidies for the queen of Hungary, the czarina, the king of Sardinia, the electors of Mentz and Bavaria, the Hessians, and the duke of Wolfenbuttle; the sum of two hundred and thirty-five thousand seven hundred and forty-nine pounds, was granted to the provinces of New England, to reimburse them for the expense of reducing Cape Breton; five hundred thousand pounds were given to his majesty for the vigorous prosecution of the war; and about one hundred and fifty-two thousand pounds to the Scottish claimants, in lieu of their jurisdiction. The supplies for the ensuing year fell very little short of nine millions, of which the greater part was raised on a loan by subscription, chargeable on a new subsidy of poundage exacted from all merchandise imported into Great Britain. Immediately after the rebellion was suppressed, the legislature had established some regulations in Scotland, which were thought necessary to prevent such commotions for the future. The highlanders were disarmed, and an act passed for abolishing their peculiarity of garb, which was supposed to keep up party distinctions, to encourage their martial disposition, and preserve the memory of the exploits achieved by their ancestors. In this session a bill was brought in to enforce the execution of that law, and passed with another act for the more effectual punishment of high treason in the highlands of Scotland. The practice of insuring French and Spanish ships at London being deemed the sole circumstances that prevented a total stagnation of commerce in those countries, it was prohibited by law under severe penalties; and this step of the British parliament accelerated the conclusion of the treaty. Several other prudent measures were taken in the course of this session, for the benefit of the public; and among these we may reckon an act for encouraging the manufacture of indigo in the British plantations of North America; an article for which Great Britain used to pay two hundred thousand pounds yearly to the subjects of France.
1748
The session was closed on the thirteenth day of May, when the king declared to both houses that the preliminaries of a general peace were actually signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, by the ministers of Great Britain, France, and the United Provinces; and that the basis of this accommodation was a general restitution of the conquests which had been made during the war. Immediately after the prorogation of parliament his majesty set out for his German dominions, after having appointed a regency to rule the realm in his absence.
The articles might have been made much less unfavourable to Great Britain and her allies, had the ministry made a proper use of the treaty with the czarina; and if the confederates had acted with more vigour and expedition in the beginning of the campaign. The Russian auxiliaries might have been transported by sea to Lubeck before the end of the preceding summer’, in their own galleys, which had been lying ready for use since the month of July. Had this expedient been used, the Russian troops would have joined the confederate army before the conclusion of the last campaign. But this easy and expeditious method of conveyance was rejected for a march by land, of incredible length and difficulty, which could not be begun before the month of January, nor accomplished till Midsummer. The operations of the campaign had been concerted at the Hague in January, by the respective ministers of the allies, who resolved to bring an army of one hundred and ninety thousand men into the Netherlands, in order to compel the French to abandon the barrier which they had conquered, The towns of Holland became the scenes of tumult and insurrection. The populace plundered the farmers of the revenue, abolished the taxes, and insulted the magistrates; so that the states-general, seeing their country on the brink of anarchy and confusion, authorized the prince of Orange to make such alterations as he should see convenient. They presented him with a diploma, by which he was constituted hereditary stadtholder and captain-general of Dutch Brabant, Flanders, and the upper quarter of Guelderland; and the East India company appointed him director and governor-general of their commerce and settlements in the Indies. Thus invested with authority unknown to his ancestors, he exerted himself with equal industry and discretion in new modelling, augmenting, and assembling the troops of the republic. The confederates knew that the count de Saxe had a design upon Maestricht: the Austrian general Bathiani made repeated remonstrances to the British ministry, entreating them to take speedy measures for the preservation of that fortress. He, in the month of January, proposed that the duke of Cumberland should cross the sea, and confer with the prince of Orange on this subject; he undertook, at the peril of his head, to cover Maastricht with seventy thousand men, from all attacks of the enemy: but his representations seemed to have made very little impression on those to whom they were addressed. The duke of Cumberland did not depart from England till towards the latter end of February; part of March was elapsed before the transports sailed from the Nore with the additional troops and artillery; and the last drafts from the foot-guards were not embarked till the middle of August.
The different bodies of the confederate forces joined each other and encamped in the neighbourhood of Euremond, to the number of one hundred and ten thousand men; and the French army invested Maestricht, without opposition, on the third day of April. The garrison consisted of Imperial and Dutch troops, under the conduct of the governor, baron de Aylva, who defended the place with extraordinary skill and resolution. He annoyed the besiegers in repeated sallies; but they were determined to surmount all opposition, and prosecuted their approaches with incredible ardour. They assaulted the covered way, and there effected a lodgement, after an obstinate dispute, in which they lost two thousand of their best troops; but next day they were entirely dislodged by the gallantry of the garrison. These hostilities were suddenly suspended, in consequence of the preliminaries signed at Aix-la-Chapelle. The plenipotentiaries agreed, that, for the glory of his christian majesty’s arms, the town of Maestricht should be surrendered to his general, on condition that it should be restored with all the magazines and artillery. He accordingly took possession of it on the third day of May, when the garrison marched out with all the honours of war; and a cessation of arms immediately ensued. By this time the Russian auxiliaries, to the number of thirty-seven thousand, commanded by prince Repnin, had arrived in Moravia, where they were reviewed by their imperial majesties; then they proceeded to the confines of Franconia, where they were ordered to halt, after they had marched seven hundred miles since the beginning of the year. The French king declared, that should they advance farther, he would demolish the fortifications of Maestricht and Bergen-op-Zoom. This dispute was referred to the plenipotentiaries, who, in the beginning of August, concluded a convention, importing that the Russian troops should return to their own country; and that the French king should disband an equal number of his forces. The season being far advanced, the Russians were provided with winter-quarters in Bohemia and Moravia, where they continued till the spring, when they marched back to Livonia. In the meantime seven-and-thirty thousand French troops were withdrawn from Flanders into Picardy, and the two armies remained quiet till the conclusion of the definitive treaty. The suspension of arms was proclaimed at London, and in all the capitals of the contracting powers; orders were sent to the respective admirals in different parts of the world, to refrain from hostilities; and a communication of trade and intelligence was again opened between the nations which had been at variance. No material transaction distinguished the campaign in Italy. The French and Spanish troops, who had joined the Genoese in the territories of the republic, amounted to thirty thousand men, under the direction of the duke de Richlieu, who was sent from France to assume that command on the death of the duke de Boufflers; while mareschal de Belleisle, at the head of fifty thousand men, covered the western Eiviera, which was threatened with an invasion by forty thousand Austrians and Piedmontese, under general Leutrum. At the same time general Brown, with a more numerous army, prepared to re-enter the eastern Eiviera, and recommence the siege of Genoa. But these intended operations were prevented by an armistice, which took place as soon as the belligerent powers had acceded to the preliminaries.
In the East Indies, rear-admiral Boscawen undertook the siege of Pondicherry, which in the month of August he blocked up by sea with his squadron, and invested by land with a small army of four thousand Europeans, and about two thousand natives of that country. He prosecuted the enterprise with great spirit, and took the fort of Area Coupan, at the distance of three miles from the town; then he made his approaches to the place, against which he opened batteries, while it was bombarded and cannonaded by the shipping. But the fortifications were so strong, the garrison so numerous, and the engineers of the enemy so expert in their profession, that he made very little progress, and sustained considerable damage. At length, his army being diminished by sickness, and the rainy season approaching, he ordered the artillery and stores to be re-embarked; and raising the siege on the sixth day of October, returned to fort St. David, after having lost about a thousand men in this expedition. In the sequel, several ships of his squadron, and above twelve hundred sailors, perished in a hurricane. The naval force of Great Britain was more successful in the West Indies. Bear-admiral Knowles, with a squadron of eight ships, attacked fort Louis, on the South side of Hispaniola, which after a warm action of three hours was surrendered on capitulation, and dismantled. Then he made an abortive attempt upon St. Jago de Cuba, and returned to Jamaica, extremely chagrined at his disappointment, which he imputed to the misconduct of captain Dent, who was tried in England by a court-martial, and honourably acquitted. On the first of October, the same admiral, cruising in the neighbourhood of the Havannah with eight ships of the line, encountered a Spanish squadron of nearly the same strength, under the command of the admirals Beggio and Spinola. The engagement began between two and three o’clock in the afternoon, and continued with intervals till eight in the evening, when the enemy retired to the Havannah, with the loss of two ships; one of which struck to the British admiral, and the other was two days after set on fire by her own commander, that she might not fall into the hands of the English. Mr. Knowles taxed some of his captains with misbehaviour, and they recriminated on his conduct. On their return to England, a court-martial was the consequence of the mutual accusations. Those who adhered to the commander, and the others whom he impeached, were inflamed against each other with the most rancorous resentment. The admiral himself did not escape uncensured; two of his captains were reprimanded; but captain Holmes, who had displayed uncommon courage, was honourably acquitted. Their animosities did not end with the court-martial. A bloodless encounter happened between the admiral and captain Powlet; but captain Innes and captain Clarke, meeting by appointment in Hyde-Park with pistols, the former was mortally wounded, and died next morning; the latter was tried, and condemned for murder, but indulged with his majesty’s pardon. No naval transaction of any consequence happened in the European seas during the course of this summer. In January, indeed, the Magnanime, a French ship of the line, was taken in the channel by two English cruisers, after an obstinate engagement; and the privateers took a considerable number of merchant ships from the enemy.