Calcutta thought proper to impose, disclaiming all knowledge of hostile intentions. Similar protestations were made by the states-general in Europe; and the British ministry, though by no means convinced of their good faith, seemed to admit their apology. The chastisement inflicted, though necessary for self-defence, was thought sufficiently severe to operate as a correction.

Every where victorious by land, and crowned with, conquest at both extremities of the earth, the success of the British arms in Europe was no less splendid by sea. Elated with their advantage at St. Cas, the French talked loudly of retaliating the insults on their coasts, by invading, at the same time, Great-Britain and Ireland in three different places. Their ministry, embarrassed by the failure of public credit, were happy to indulge the national vanity. Large bodies of troops were accordingly assembled on the coasts of the channel; men of war and transports were collected, and flatbottomed boats prepared at the principal sea-ports. A small armament, said to be destined for the invasion of Scotland, was to sail from Dunkirk, under the conduct of M. de Thurot, who had greatly distinguished himself as the commander of a privateer; that, supposed to be designed against Ireland, was to sail from Vannes, in Lower-Britanny; the land forces to be commanded by the duke d'Aguillon, and the fleet, which was preparing at Brest, by M. de Conflans; while the troops intended for the invasion of England, if any such intention ever existed, were to sail from Havre de Grace, and other ports on the coast of Normandy, in flat-bottomed boats, and land in the night, under able commanders, on the opposite shore.

In order to defeat the purpose of these boasted armaments, an English squadron, under commodore Boys, was stationed off Dunkirk; the port of Havre de Grace was guarded, and the town successfully bombarded, by rear-admiral Rodney; sir Edward Hawke, with a formidable force, blocked up the harbour of Brest, where

the French fleet, under Conflans, lay in readiness to conduct, as was supposed, the transports and flat-bottomed boats belonging to the grand armament; and a small squadron, detached from that under Hawke, hovered on the coast of Britanny. These precautions were continued during the whole summer. All the ports of France in the channel, were under an actual blockade; and the projected invasions, in consequence of this restraint, seemed to be laid aside by the French ministry till the month of August, when, the battle of Minden having baffled all their designs upon Hanover, they turned their attention seriously toward their naval armaments.

In the mean time admiral Boscawen, who commanded the British fleet in the Mediterranean, was employed in blocking up, in the harbour of Toulon, a French squadron, under M. de la Clue, designed to assist, as was believed, in the descents upon the coasts of GreatBritain and Ireland. But Boscawen, finding it necessary to return to Gibraltar to careen, M. de la Clue took that opportunity to attempt to pass the straits, and had nearly accomplished his purpose, when he was discovered by the English admiral, pursued, and overtaken, on August 18, off Cape Lagos, on the coast of Portugal. The squadrons were nearly equal in force; the French consisted of twelve, and the English of fourteen ships of the line. The French, however, made but a feeble resistance. The admiral's ship, named the Ocean, of eighty guns, and the Redoubtable, of seventy-four guns, were destroyed; and the Temeraire, of twenty-four, and the Modeste of sixty-four guns, were taken20.

This disaster did not discourage the French ministry from their projected invasions. The greatest preparations were made at Brest and Rochfort; and the longneglected pretender, again flattered and carressed, is said to have remained in the neighbourhood of Vannes, in disguise, in order once more to hazard his person,

20. Poscawen's Letter, in Lond. Gazette, Sept. 7, 1759.

and

and countenance a revolt in the dominions of his ancestors, to serve the ambitious purposes of France. Happily the execution of that scheme, which might have produced much confusion, was prevented, by the vigilance of sir Edward Hawke, till the season of action was past. But the French, in their ardour, seemed to disregard the course of the seasons and the rage of the elements. The English fleet being driven off the coast of France by a violent storm, Conflans put to sea with twenty-one sail of the line and four frigates, and threw the inhabitants of Great-Britain and Ireland into the utmost terror and consternation. But their alarm was only for a moment.

Sir Edward Hawke, who had taken shelter in Torbay, also put to sea with twenty-two ships of the line, and came up with the enemy between Belleisle and cape Quiberon. The French admiral, being on his own coast, with which he was perfectly well acquainted, and not chusing openly to hazard a battle or expose himself to the disgrace of a retreat, attempted to take advantage of a lee-shore, sown thick with rocks and shoals. Among these he hoped to remain secure, or to profit by the temerity of his antagonist. He accordingly collected his fleet under the land. Hawke saw the danger, and determined to brave it; though, in so doing, he perhaps obeyed the dictates of his own impetuous courage rather than those of a prudent foresight. While his fleet remained entire, he was at all times equal to the important charge with which he was entrusted by his sovereign, the protection of the British kingdoms; but, should it be destroyed by fortuitous means, the consequences might prove very distressing to his country. Happily, on this occasion, the English admiral, whose honest mind was not the most enlightened, and whose lion-heart had never listened to the cautious suggestions of fear, being little acquainted with consequential reasoning, paid less regard to the possible disaster, than to the probability of acquiring a complete victory, and essentially serving his country, by the destruction of the French

flect.

NOV. 20.

fleet. Regardless of every peril, he bore down with full sail upon the enemy, about two o'clock in the afternoon, and ordered the pilot to lay his own ship, the Royal George, along side of that of the French admiral, named the Royal Sun.

The pilot represented the danger of the coast. "By "this remonstrance," said Hawke, "you have done "your duty: now execute my orders, and I will endeavour "to do mine." He reluctantly obeyed. Conflans did not decline the combat; but a French captain, with the gallantry peculiar to his nation, threw himself between the two admirals. One broadside from the Royal George, and a high sea, sent his noble ship, called the Thesée, with him and all his crew, to the bottom. The Superbe shared the same fate. The Formidable struck her colours. The Royal Sun drove ashore, and was burnt by her own people, as the Hero was by the British seamen. The Juste sunk at the mouth of the Loire. Unfortunately, however, a tempestuous night, which saved the French fleet from utter ruin, proved fatal to two English ships of the line. They ran upon a sand-bank, and were irretrievably lost. But all the men, and part of the stores were saved11.

This justly celebrated victory, which broke the boasted effort of the naval power of France, freed the inhabitants of South-Britain from all the apprehensions of an invasion. But the people of North-Britain were still kept under alarm. The famous adventurer Thurot had got out of Dunkirk a little before Conflans left Brest. His squadron consisted of one ship of forty-four guns, named the Belleisle, in honour of the French minister; three frigates of thirty guns each, and one of twenty-four; the whole carrying about twelve hundred land-forces.

21. Sir Edward Hawke's letter, in London Gazette, Nov. 30, 1759, and information afterward received relative to the action.

With this force Thurot sailed for the North-Sea, and shewed a disposition to land on the coast of Scotland, in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen: but being pursued by commodore Boys, he was obliged to take shelter in Gottenburg in Sweden, and afterward in Bergen in Norway. During these voyages, in an inclement season, his men became sickly, his ships were greatly shattered, and he lost company with one of them. He determined, however, to attempt something worthy of his former exploits, before he returned to France. Nor was he void of hopes of yet co-operating with Conflans, with whose defeat he was unacquainted. He accordingly sailed for the coast of Ireland, and made himself master of Carrickfergus. Having their victualled his ships, pillaged the town, and got certain intelligence of the ruin of the French fleet, he again put to sea, and steered his course homeward. But he was swiftly pursued by captain Elliot, in the Eolus frigate of thirty-six guns, accompanied by the Pallas and Brilliant, of thirty-two guns each, and overtaken near the Isle of Man. The force on both FEB. 28. sides was nearly equal: the commanders were a. D. 1760. rivals in valour and naval skill; the crews were tried; and the engagement that took place was obstinate and bloody. The death of the gallant Thurot determined the contest. The Belleisle struck her colours, and the whole French squadron instantly followed her example22.

These naval victories, with the conquests acquired by the British arms in North-America, and in the East and West Indies, in a word, wherever shipping could give a superiority, sufficiently pointed out to the intelligent part of the nation the true line of future hostilities, and the madness of persisting in the prosecution of a ruinous German war. Yet was it resolved, by the popular administration, not only to prosecute that war, but to make it the supreme object during the ensuing campaign. Three millions sterling were accordingly granted, by Parliament, in subsidies, to German princes,

22. London Gazette, March 3, 1760.