Chap. England, yet sooner than break her saith with xv* the Empress Queen, (lie would have done it. She S-py~~' therefore suggested an expedient, which was an imitation of the conduct of the British court, who had first made a subsidiary treaty with her for troops, and afterwards rendered it ineffectual, by a convention with Prussia, to keep all foreign troops out of the empire—She therefore proposed to Sweden and Denmark a maritime treaty of alliance, la Union of keep all foreign jhips out of the Baltic. Sweden, Russia, being under the influence of French counsels, Md'DeL entered into it immediately; and Denmark, not mark. chusing to incur the enmity of two such powerful neighbours, and being perhaps more under the influence of Russia than Great Britain, became a party to the treaty likewise.

Thus the British fleet was excluded the Baltic, whatever the Prussian treaties may pretend (which will be seen in the Appendix. J The minister could not send a fleet into that sea, unless he made war upon those three powers; and he had too much penetration not to see, that a war upon the Baltic, was synonimous to a war upon the British navy; which was supplied with naval stores from thence. Unless he sent a very powerful fleet, consisting of the largest and best ships, no effectual service could be expected; and if he did, the force against France must have been so essentially weakened by it as to give the French a considerable superiority at sea. One fact only need be mentioned, that as soon as the season permitted, the ports in the Baltic to be

open,

- A

1

open, a fleet of twenty Russian and ten Swedish £v' ships of the line, appeared in the Baltic, to pre- *—.<->*.-/ serve the neutrality of that sea. "'757

The French minister was equally sensible of the sources of the Baltic, for the supply of his navy; and he bribed the Dutch to become the carriers of his Baltic naval flores. But Mr. Pitt ordered the Dutch vessel*, whenever laden with naval and military stores, to be constantly taken ; Taking of which judicious and spirited resolution cc.ntri- t,ieDutc'1

J r lhips.

buted greatly to the successes ct his administration. *

Mr. _

* When Mr. Pitt found the Dutch heartily inclined to assist the French with naval stores, he resolved to make them as heartily tired of doing it; for, without any ceremony, he gave orders that all Dutch fhips with cargoes on hoard, for . the use of France, should be considered as the fhips of ene-." mies, not of neutrals. His orders were not without effect; and in consequence of the captures that ensued, the loudest clamours were raised in Holland against the English. The general cry there was for war. A memorial was presented to the States General in 1758, in the names of 269 of the principal Dutch merchants, who subscribed it; they complained that trade and navigation, the very sinews of the republic, were in danger; that the Dutch flag was disregarded by the English, who had already taken 240 ships. '1 hey called upon the States General for the protection of their property'. Nay, they offered to contribute each his contingent, and to arm at their own charge for the support and protection of their navigation. The memorial concluded with this remarkable paragraph: " the petitioners flatter themselves, that the toils and the rifles to which their effects are exposed on the seas, will have their proper influence on the general body of the state; since the traders of this country, sinding themselves lest to the discretion of a part of that nation with whom the state is most intimately connected, will be forced to abandon it, to their great regret, aadseei Jhclter and protection elsewhere; which will give a mortal b]ow to the principal members of rfie state."

The

Mr, Pitt laboured under many disadvantages at tiie time of his restoration to the office of se1756. cretary of state; his former plans had either been deseated, or rendered useless; and he was obliged to make great sacrisices, to correct the errors of others, before he could carry his suture plans into execution. Nothing but the magnanimity of his spirit prevented the fame interfc tence, which had chilled the execution of his former measures, from extending its blighting influence over his suture designs. When the fleet returned fiom Rochefort, a puerile scheme was proposed, by those whose impolitic measures had opposes given birth to l^e Baltic alliance against us, to fending send the fleet to the assistance of the Duke of tothe as. Cumberland; who was flying before the French Manceof in Hanover. Mr. Pitt alone resisted the propo

the Duke.

The Dutch, no doubt, must have been very severely handled, when they so sar trespassed upon their love of money, as to pffer to disburse and arm at their own charge, for the security of navigation; but what must we think of the provocation given to them by the British minister, when we find the Dutch merchants ready to abandon their Country, and become voluntary exiles in a foreign land! •

The neutrality of the Dutch did not procure respect for their ports in America, as appears by a letter from St. Eustatia, published in the Amsterdam Gazette, April 9, 1758, wherein the writer declares, " that the depredations of the English are carried to the utmost height, and that the trade of St. Eustatia is at an end, the harhourbeing more closely blocked up than that of any enemy—that every vessel is stopped, carvied off, and confiscated—that jealousy is the motive of the English, conveniency their right, and greediness their law; that the English had gone so sar as to confiscate Dutch ships, pierely for having entered French harbours, alledging, that as they paid the usual charges and customs in those harbours, they thereby became French property, &c."

fal:

,s«l: upon which, the Duke, of Newcastle, and Cha*. Lord Hardixkke, who had pressed it, gave it up. ^" Mr. -Fitt had not a thorough confidence in his 1757. coadjutors; and therefore he did not always assign his reasons for his opinion. On this occa* (ion, he only faid, that the assistance of a naval armament in the North had been frustrated ; and therefore the scene, as well as the instrument of war, must be changed, before any hopes of success could be entertained; but if a contrary opinion prevailed, he would lay the seals at his Majesty's seet, and retire from his situation. The cabinet ministers, irom this time, resigned their judgment; in which they were instuenced by two motives—One was, a dread of his superior abilities, which threw their minor talents into the fhade; the other was, an expectation that, by permitting him freely to indulge in the exercise of his own opinions, he would precipitate his own exclusion from power, by drawing upon himself some capital disgrace; which they were consident would, at the same tim^, restore to them the administration ot gQ/eniient.-f

f A< this period, and for several month* paflotliere had been issued from the press, a torrent of papers and pamphlets against Mr. Pitt, condemning his plans, his measures, his principles, his politics, and even reviling his person ; in which the King himself was not spared, for having taken him into his service, and for not dismissing him.—all which were permitted to die unnoticed; he selt not the least smart from any of them. One day, when Mr. Gretmille mentioned some of them to him, he smiled, and only said, the press is Hie " tie air, a ciartered libertine"

.f Shakespeare—Henry V.

The