A.D. 1761.] VICTORY OF THE ALLIES AT KIRCH-DENKERN. lay near in augmented strength of position, and his resources had ominously decreased. Voltaire, who, from a friend, was become a bitter enemy, exulted over him in writing to the duke de Choiseul, the minister of France, calculating on his fall. 9 which he menaced. The prince managed to save Munster by harassing Soubise, and destroying his magazines; and prince Ferdinand, seeing no other means of checking Broglie's advance into Hanover, directed his march into Hesse, where he destroyed the French magazines, and cut The campaign against the French was opened in February off Broglie's communication with the French forces in that by prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, by attacking the duke quarter; a manoeuvre by which he compelled Broglie to de Broglie, and driving him out of Cassel. In their retreat halt on his march, and eventually return to Cassel, whilst towards the Maine, the French were attacked by the united Soubise retreated to the Lower Rhine. In one of the forces of the Hanoverian general, Sporken, and the Prussian skirmishes, during these movements, Ferdinand's nephew, general Syburg, near Langensalze, who took from them prince Henry Albert of Brunswick, was killed. The comthree thousand prisoners, and captured or destroyed all plaints of the French commanders were mutually carried their magazines. Prince Ferdinand followed up this advan-home in their dispatches. Broglie, who had not the same tage by attacking them in Marburg, Göttingen, and Ziegen- court interest as Soubise, though far more popular with hain, and applied himself particularly to the siege of Cassel both army and people, was recalled, and banished to his But Broglie, now recovered from his surprise, first defeated estates. the hereditary prince of Brunswick, Ferdinand's nephew, at Stangerode, and then repulsed Ferdinand himself from Cassel. The destruction of the French magazines delayed their operations till midsummer, when Broglie advanced from Cassel, and the prince Soubise from the Rhine, to give Ferdinand battle. On the march they again fell in with Sporken, and this time defeated one of his posts, and took nineteen pieces of cannon and eight hundred prisoners. The allies awaited them in front of the river Lippe, and betwixt that river and the Aest, near the village of Kirch-Denkern. The French united in the forest of Teutoburg-sacred ground to the Germans, where their great hero, Hermann, annihilated the Roman legions of Varus, and where, if anywhere, Germans must fight well. Ferdinand was strongly encamped with the river in front, and the English, under the marquis of Granby and general Conway, forming the centre and right of his position. On the evening of the 15th of July, De Broglie, aiming at engrossing the honours of the victory-for the allied troops were inferior to him in numbers-fell suddenly on Granby's wing, where he, however, met a brave reception, and though the English for some time had to bear the whole brunt of the assault, he was driven back by them with heavy slaughter. The next morning prince Soubise, highly indignant at Broglie's conduct, renewed the attack on Granby's division, and the battle became general, the whole force of Soubise and Broglie being engaged. The conflict continued five hours, when the French were routed on all points, having lost, according to the allies, five thousand men, whilst they themselves had only lost one thousand five hundred. Both prince Ferdinand and Granby distinguished themselves highly by their gallantry and management. On the other hand, the French commanders fell into violent quarrel, Soubise accusing Broglie of intentionally beginning the action without concert with him, and Broglie charging Soubise with backwardness. Notwithstanding the repulse at Kirch-Denkern, the French soon outnumbered the allies; but, as the commanders could not agree, they separated their forces, and Ferdinand was compelled to do the same to watch them. Broglie crossed the Weser and marched for Hanover, and Ferdinand followed him; whilst the hereditary prince of Brunswick threw himself betwixt Soubise and Munster, If the French had been by no means successful in Germany, they had been much less in other quarters of the globe. In the East Indies we had taken Pondicherry, their chief settlement, from them, and thus remained masters of the whole coast of Coromandel, and of the entire trade with India. In the West Indies, the French had been fortifying Dominica, contrary to treaty, and lord Rollo and Sir James Douglas were sent thither, and speedily reduced it. France, indeed, was now fast sinking in exhaustion; her fleet was destroyed, her trade ruined, her people impoverished and discontented. All her colonies were gone, and at home there were serious differences betwixt the court and parliament, the church and the courts of law. Louis XV. was a man of no mark or ability, inclined to peace, and leaving all affairs to his ministers, and still more to his mistress, Madame de Pompadour. Choiseul was a man of talent, but of immense vanity, and little persistent firmness. He had undertaken the administration with an idea that he could check England and humble Prussia. In these objects he had signally failed. The people complained that he had ruined France in the vain endeavour to assist its ancient enemy, Austria. Choiseul was now anxious for peace, but, too proud to make the proposal directly, he induced the courts of Russia and Austria to do it. It was suggested that a congress should be held at Augsburg for settling the peace of Europe. England and Prussia readily consented, and the English government immediately named as its plenipotentiaries the earl of Egremont, lord Stormont, ambassador at Warsaw, and Sir Joseph Yorke, ambassador at the Hague. But the duke of Choiseul, anxious to have a clear understanding of the terins on which England and France were likely to treat, proposed a previous exchange of views, and dispatched for this purpose M. Bussy to London, whilst Mr. Pitt sent to Paris Mr. Hans Stanley, the grandson of Sir Hans Sloane. By the commencement of June these negotiators were each at his post. Bussy proved a captious, irritable person, and not well adapted for such a mission; but Stanley displayed a capacity for business, and put the cabinet at home into the most exact possession of the state of the French court, and the sentiments prevailing there. He informed Pitt that the king, alarmed at the attempt which had been made on his life by Damiens, was extremely timid and afraid of strange faces; that business was left to Choiseul, who was by no means a man of i business, though frauk and even jocose in his manner; that He demanded Guadaloupe and Belleisle too, simply in lieu he had great influence with the king, even against Madame of the French conquests in Germany. He now demurred to Pompadour, and that there was disunion in the court, the the surrender of Cape Breton, or in any case to forego the Dauphin being regarded as favouring the Jesuits, and the right of fishing along its coasts. He was not content with Jesuits being charged with being the instigators of Amaboo or Acra; he demanded Senegal or Goree. He deDamiens, since so famous as Robert-le-Diable, who stabbed murred also to destroy the fortifications of Dunkirk, raised the king in the midst of his guards in 1757. in contempt of the treaty of Utrecht. All captures made at sea previous to the declaration of war must be restored; and in Germany, though he was willing to withdraw the French troops, it was only on condition that the troops commanded by prince Ferdinand should not reinforce the Prussian army. Choiseul made, certainly, large offers for a peace. It was that each power should retain all such of its conquests as should be in its hands, subject to exchanges and equivalents, in Europe, on the 1st of May next; in America, the West Indies, and Africa, on the 1st of July; and in the East Indies on the 1st of September. This would include Canada, Cape Breton, Guadaloupe, Marigalante, Goree, Pondicherry, &c. Minorca and Göttingen he proposed to retain, as well as Amaboo and Acra, on the African coast, some other places being considered as equivalents. But Pitt had declared that he would never make another peace of Utrecht. He considered that we had France down, and he determined to retain everything of value. He therefore replied that the proper period for the uti possidetis principle of treaty to take place was that on which the treaty was really signed, that it might so happen that it would not be signed at the dates named, and he did this in order to complete a scheme, which he had already nearly accomplished, that of seizing on Belleisle, an island on the coast of France, in the Bay of Biscay, eleven miles long and four wide, high and rocky, containing, however, fertile plains, salt-works, and about five thousand inhabitants, mostly fishermen. The possession of this island, Pitt knew very well, could be of no further use to England than as a humiliation to France, and as a set-off for Minorca. He had sent an armament against it, in April, consisting of nine thousand inen, under general Hodgson, and several men-of-war under commodore Keppel. A landing was attempted on the 8th of that month, but was unsuccessful, five hundred men being killed in the endeavour. Pitt, by no means discouraged, sent out fresh reinforcements, and orders to persevere. On the 25th a fresh attempt was made in Locmaria Bay, and, notwithstanding the almost inaccessible nature of the rocks, our men forced their way, and besieged the governor, chevalier de St. Croix, in the strong fortress of Palais. St. Croix made a most gallant defence, seized general Crawford and two of his aides-de-camp, in a sally, killed some hundreds of men, and held out till the town was taken by storm, and then retired into the citadel. As the French had no fleet, and therefore no means of sending him succour, he was eventually compelled to capitulate on the 7th of June, on condition that he and his troops should march out with all the honours of war, and be set safely on the French coast. The news of this loss was speedily followed in Paris by that of the loss of Dominica in the West, and of Pondicherry in the East Indies, as well as by the defeat at KirchDenkern. These reverses were calculated to make France more compliant; yet Pitt was astonished to find, instead of compliance, a great spirit of resistance. Choiseul would by no eans admit that Belleisle was an equivalent for Minorca. The secret of this wonderfully augmented boldness of tone on the part of France soon transpired. Choiseul had been endeavouring to secure the alliance of Spain, and saw himself about to succeed. Spain was smarting under many losses and humiliations from the English during the late war. The old question of England interfering with the traffic of the Spanish South American colonies remained, and had excited renewed bitterness by the daring with which the English merchants continued it. English cruisers had frequently, in pursuit of French ships, made free to mistake Spanish ones for French. Whilst England traded in defiance of Spain with her colonies, the English fishing vessels on the coasts of Newfoundland drove away the fishing vessels from the Basque provinces, which claimed a right to fish there by an article of the treaty of Utrecht. Whilst general Wall, the Spanish minister at Madrid, urged these complaints on the earl of Bristol, our ambassador there, and the conde de Fuentes, the Spanish ambassador in London, urged them on Pitt, and found little regard paid to these statements, Choiseul was dextrously inflaming the minds of the Spanish court against England on these grounds. He represented England as the universal tyrant of the seas, and the sworn enemy of every other maritime state. He offered to assist in the recovery of Gibraltar, and to make over Minorca to Spain. By these means he induced Spain to go into what became the celebratel FAMILY COMPACT-that is, a compact by which France and Spain bound themselves to mutually succour and support each other; to consider the enemy of either power the enemy of both in all quarters of the world; to give to the subjects of each residing in the dominions of the other all the privileges of native subjects; and to admit the king of Naples, the son of the Spanish king, to this compact, but no prince or potentate whatever, except he were of the house of Bourbon. This was the sort of result of the succession of a Bourbon to the crown of Spain which had been foreseen from the first, which had inspired Louis XIV. with the scheme, and which had equally armed England, Holland, and Austria against it. Besides the general compact, there was a particular one, which engaged that, should England and France remain at war on the 1st of May, 1762, Spain should on that day declare war against England, and should at the same time receive possession of Minorca. The existence of these compacts was kept with all possible secrecy; but Mr. Stanley penetrated to a knowledge of them in Paris, and his information was fully confirmed from other sources. The lord marischal, who had received a pardon at the entreaty of the king of Prussia, was paying a visit to his native country, and, being well acquainted with the language and diplomacy of Spain from his long residence and connections there, in an interview with Pitt gave him positive information of the compacts. This was still further corroborated by the British consul at Cadiz, who wrote that great preparations were making in the south of Spain, and the surprise of Gibraltar was not very secretly talked of. If these, however, had left any doubt, it would have been expelled by the receipt of a French memorial through M. Bussy, to which a second memorial on Spanish affairs was appended. These together demanded that all captures of Spanish vessels made during the war should be restored; the Spanish claim of fishing on the coasts of Newfoundland should be conceded, and that the English settlements in the bay of Honduras should be destroyed. These matters, the French memorial implied, were introduced in order that the negotiations betwixt England and France might not be liable to be frustrated by a third power, and it therefore proposed that Spain should be invited to take part in the treaty. 11 prizes, or of the neutrality of Germany. He broke off the negotiation, recalled Stanley from Paris, dismissed Bussy from London, and advised an immediate declaration of war against Spain, whilst it was yet in our power to seize the treasure ships. But there was but one Pitt-one great mind capable of grasping the affairs of a nation, and of seizing on the deciding circumstances with the promptness essential to effect. The rest were feeble and purblind creatures, dazzled by the light which enabled Pitt to see distant objects, and hesitating where they should have acted. To their narrow and earth-bound vision his clear sight appeared wild presumption. The usually timid Newcastle became suddenly courageous with alarm. Bute pronounced Pitt's proposal as "rash and unadvisable;" the king, obstinate as was his tendency, declared that, if his ministers had yielded to such a policy, he would not; and Pitt, having laboured in vain to move this stolid mass of ministerial imbecility through three cabinet councils, at last, in the beginning of October, declared that, as he was called to the ministry by the people, and held himself responsible to them, he would no longer occupy a position, the duties of which he was not able to discharge. He warned them that now was the time to humble the whole house of Bourbon; that if it were neglected, such an opportunity might never again Pitt received the proposition with a tone of indignation that made it manifest that he would suffer no such interference of a third party—would not yield a step to any such alliance. He declared, in broad and plain terms, that his majesty would not permit the affairs of Spain to be intro-occur; and he resigned. duced by France; that he would never suffer France to presume to meddle in any affairs betwixt himself and Spain, and that he should consider any further mention of such matters as a direct affront. A similar message was dispatched to the earl of Bristol in Spain, declaring that England was open to any proposals of negotiation from Spain, but not through the medium of France. This was, in fact, tantamount to a defiance to both France and Spain, and would undoubtedly have put an end to all further negotiation had there not been a purpose to serve. The Spanish treasure ships were yet out at sea on their way home. Any symptoms of hostility would insure their capture by the English, and cut off the very means of maintaining a war. General Wall, therefore, concealed all appearance of chagrin; admitted that the memorial had been presented by France with the full consent of his catholic majesty, but professed the most sincere desire for the continuance of peaceful relations. Pitt was not for a moment deceived. He saw that the war with France and Spain was inevitable, and he recommended that we should be ready to act on the instant, and to seize the treasure ships, which would render Spain utterly impotent. So far from seeing any hazard from this combined war, he foresaw the prospect of the easiest and most valuable conquest of the Spanish colonies. France had no fleet to help her, and his mind, in its wide and daring range, contemplated the seizure of the isthmus of Panama, thus opening up to us free access to the Pacific, and cutting off the communication betwixt Spain, Mexico, and Peru. Cuba and the Philippine Islands he proposed to take, and add them permanently to our dominions, and, considering the state of insecurity of these splendid possessions at that time, and the atter inability of Spain or France to prevent us, they must have been secured with comparative ease. He had now received the ultimatum of France, which yielded several points, but not that of the restitution of Lord Granville, the president of the council, once very loud in his boasts of a determined policy, now taunted the great minister, by saying that he was by no means sorry to see him retire; that though he might think himself infallible, they also had their opinions, and were not convinced of the superior wisdom of his. It would have been well had they been so. On the 5th of October, when Pitt waited on the king to surrender the seals, George received him in a very different manner. He made a full and frank avowal of his sense of his great services, and offered him any reward in the power of the crown. Pitt was melted to tears, expressed his sense of the royal goodness, and withdrew. Thus closed the most glorious tenure of office by any minister, perhaps, in the annals of England. When Pitt assumed the reins, the character of England was sinking daily; her wealth was wasted in useless endeavours to prop up German nations; her fleets and armies were disgraced; Minorca was lost; her enemies were making steady inroads on her American colonies. Within the short space of five years, all that had been reversed. The French islands of Guadaloupe, Desiada, Marigalante, and Dominica, had been taken in the West Indies; in Africa we had taken their settlements of Goree, Senegal, and others. In the East Indies, Clive, Coote, and others, had made themselves masters of Calcutta, Pondicherry, and Arcot, and laid the foundations of our present great Indian empire. The French had not only been driven out of our North American colonies, but their colonies of Canada and Cape Breton had been reft from them, and added permanently to the British crown. The prestige of the fleet had been restored by admirals Boscawen, Hawke, Watson, and other brave officers, inspired by the spirit at the helm; and though Pitt, following his one great ambition, instead of the spirit of opposition, had continued the war in Germany, it was no longer, as well observed by lady Harvey in her Letters, “to spend vast sums in purchasing infamy and disgrace; we had but men of aristocratic connection. For this reason he success and honour for our money." CHAPTER II. conferred the privy seal on the duke of Bedford, and the seal of secretary on the earl of Egremont, who had nothing remarkable about him but his earldom, and being the son of Sir William Wyndham, who had great talents, but had not transmitted them to his son. To break the force of popular his Wife-Dowry for the Queen-War with Spain declared-Prussian indignation for the loss of Pitt from the helm-for the Subsidy discontinued-Death of the Czarina-Policy of the Czar Peter- people knew who was the great man and successful minister Newcastle resigns-John Wilkes commences his Career-Fights with well enough-the king was advised to confer some distinLord Talbot-Birth of the Prince of Wales-Assassination of the Czarguished mark of favour on Pitt. He was offered the Usurpation of the Throne by his Wife and Murderess, Catherine-War in Silesia-in Westphalia and Portugal-Cuba and the Philippine Islands government of Canada as a sinecure, with five thousand taken by England-Preliminaries of Peace signed at Fontainebleau- pounds a year. Pitt was not the man to undertake a highly Ministerial Changes-Pitt opposes the Peace-Its Conclusion-Peace of Hubertsburg betwixt Prussia and Austria-The Cider Tax-Great Un-responsible office without discharging the duties, and popularity of Bute-He resigns-George Grenville Prime Minister-Fox he was next offered the chancellorship of the duchy of created Baron Holland-Wilkes starts "The North Briton"-Committed Lancaster; but he preferred a simple pension of three to the Tower-Discharged-Retires to Paris-Popular Rejoicings at his thousand pounds a-year, and that a title should be conferred Return-Overtures to Pitt-His Terms refused-Former Ministry restored on his wife. By this arrangement he was left in the house of commons, and in a position to continue his exertions for the country. Both these suggestions were complied with. Much abuse was heaped on Pitt for the acceptance of a REIGN OF GEORGE III. (Continued.) Bute Prime Minister-A Pension bestowed on Pitt, with a Peerage to -Accession of Duke of Bedford-Wilkes "Essay on Woman"-Fights a Second Duel-Retires again to Paris-The Question of General Warrants -Grenville resolves to Tax our American Colonies. THE Bute ministry was now in power, and determined on reversing the policy of Pitt-policy which had added so | pension. "What!" cried Walpole, "to blast one's character magnificently to the territory and glory of the country. Bubb Dodington congratulated Bute on being delivered from a most impracticable colleague, his majesty from a most imperious servant, and the country from a most dangerous minister. He intimated that Pitt had gone out because he saw that he could not carry on the war on its present footing, and had left his successors to bear the discredit of its failure. These were the talk of little men, incapable either of comprehending or following out the measures of a great one. Pitt was only impracticable, and imperious, and dangerous, because he was too vigorous and far-seeing to work in harness with pigmies, and must drag their dead weight along with him or retire. They were soon to be taught their own folly. Bute had now to seek powerful connections to enable him to carry on. The commonplace man seeks to make up for his feebleness by associating with him, not men of merit, for the sake of a paltry annuity and a long-necked, peeress!" "Oh, that foolishest of great men!" exclaimed Gray, the poet. And Sir Francis Delaval said that Pitt was a fool; if he had gone into the City and asked for subscription he might have had three hundred thousand pounds instead of three thousand pounds a year. But all these clever men talked beside the mark. Pitt was not rich man; and, if any man ever deserved a reward from his country for his services, it was he. The conquest of Canada alone was surely worth more than a pension of three thousand pounds a year for three lives-his own, his wife's and that of his eldest son. It was not the City, but the country, which owed Pitt a mark of recognition of his services. It was not for him to go a-begging; but he had a great right, when his country offered him a small reward to suggest what it should be. Pitt understood, if his accusers did not, that the mischief of conferring pensions A.7. 1761.] RECEPTION OF PITT IN THE CITY. 13 not in conferring them for real services, but for no services, diverted from the king and the new queen to the simple or for real disservices, and another thing to give them chariot and pair in which Pitt and his brother-in-law, lord where due. He accepted his pension as his due-a reward Temple, were following. The crowd left the royal coach for the past, not a tongue-tier for the future; and he soon to throng round the carriage of Pitt, with the most showed the government that he regarded his pension as thundering acclamations, and numbers of the mob hung given by the country, and not by the crown, which was upon the wheels, hugged his coachman, and kissed his only the medium. horses. The sight was wormwood to the court and his Much also was made of the unpopularity which his enemies, and he now was blamed for making this parade of |