The king of England taking it for granted that the French would invade Hanover, in consequence of their rupture with Great Britain, which seemed to be near at hand, began to take measures for the defence of that electorate. To this end, during his stay at Hanover, he concluded, on the eighteenth day of June, a treaty with the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, by which his serene highness engaged to hold in readiness, during four years, for his majesty’s service, a body of eight thousand men, to be employed, if required, upon the continent, or in Britain, or Ireland; but not on board the fleet or beyond the seas; and also, if his Britannic majesty should judge it necessary or advantageous for his service, to furnish and join to this body of eight thousand men, within six months after they should be demanded, four thousand more, of which seven hundred were to be horse or dragoons, and each regiment of infantry to have two field pieces of cannon. 364 [See note 2 Y, at the end of this Vol.] Another treaty was begun with Russia about the same time; but this did not take effect during his majesty’s residence at Hanover: that others were not concluded was the more surprising, as our subsidy-treaty with Saxony had then expired, and that with Bavaria was near expiring, and as the securing of these two princes in our interest was at least as necessary towards forming a sufficient confederacy upon the continent for the defence of Hanover, as it was to secure the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. If the reason of their not being engaged, and no other seems so probable, was, that they refused to renew their treaties with England upon any terms, all that can be said is, that they were guilty of flagrant ingratitude, as they had both received a subsidy from this kingdom for many years in time of peace, when they neither were nor could be of any service to the interest of Great Britain.
On the fifteenth of July, an express arrived from admiral Boscawen, with an account of his having taken the two French ships of war, the Alcide and the Lys. This was certainly contrary to the expectation of the court of France; for had they apprehended any such attack, they would not have ordered Mr. Macnamara to return to Brest with the chief part of their squadron; nor was it perhaps less contrary to the expectation of some of our own ministry; but as matters had been carried so far, it was then too late to retreat; and, therefore, orders were soon after given to all our ships of war to make reprisals upon the French, by taking their ships wherever they should meet them. Sir Edward Hawke sailed from Portsmouth on the twenty-first of July, with eighteen ships of war, to watch the return of the French fleet from America; which, however, escaped him, and arrived at Brest on the third day of September. Commodore Frankland sailed from Spithead for the West Indies on the thirteenth of August, with four ships of war, furnished with orders to commit hostilities, as well as to protect our trade and sugar-islands from any insult that the French might offer; and the duke de Mirepoix, their ambassador at the court of London, set out for Paris on the twenty-second of July, without taking leave.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
A war being thus in some measure begun, his majesty thought proper, perhaps for that reason, to return to his British dominions sooner than usual; for he left Hanover on the eighth of September, and arrived on the fifteenth at Kensington, where the treaty of alliance between him and the empress of Russia, which he had begun during his absence, was concluded on the thirtieth of the same month. By this treaty her Russian majesty engaged to hold in readiness in Livonia, upon the frontiers of Lithuania, a body of troops consisting of forty thousand infantry, with the necessary artillery, and fifteen thousand cavalry; and also on the coast of the same province, forty or fifty galleys, with the necessary crews; to be ready to act, upon the first order, in his majesty’s service, in case, said the fifth article, which was the most remarkable, that the dominions of his Britannic majesty in Germany should be invaded on account of the interests or disputes which regard his kingdoms; her imperial majesty declaring that she would look upon such an invasion as a case of the alliance of the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-two; and that the said dominions should be therein comprised in this respect; but neither these troops nor galleys were to be put in motion, unless his Britannic majesty, or his allies, should be somewhere attacked; in which case the Russian general should march as soon as possible after requisition, to make a diversion with thirty thousand infantry, and fifteen thousand cavalry; and should embark on board the galleys the other ten thousand infantry to make a descent according to the exigency of the affair. On the other side, his Britannic majesty engaged to pay to her Russian majesty an annual subsidy of an hundred thousand pounds sterling a year, each year to be paid in advance, and to be reckoned from the day of the exchange of the ratifications, to the day that these troops should upon requisition march out of Russia; from which day the annual subsidy to her imperial majesty was to be five hundred thousand pounds sterling, to be paid always four months in advance, until the troops should return into the Russian dominions, and for three months after their return. His Britannic majesty, who was to be at liberty to send once every year into the said province of Livonia a commissary, to see and examine the number and condition of the said troops, further engaged, that, in case her Russian majesty should be disturbed in this diversion, or attacked herself, he would famish immediately the succour stipulated in the treaty of one thousand seven hundred and forty-two, and that in case a war should break out, he should send, into the Baltic a squadron of his ships, of a force suitable to the circumstances. This was the chief substance of the treaty, which, by agreement of both parties, was to subsist for four years from the exchange of the ratifications; but in the seventh article these words were unluckily inserted: “Considering also the proximity of the countries wherein the diversion in question will probably be made, and the facility her troops will probably have of subsisting immediately in an enemy’s country, she takes upon herself alone, during such a diversion, the subsistence and treatment of the said troops by sea and land.” And in the eleventh article it was stipulated, that all the plunder the Russian army should take from the enemy should belong to them. That his Britannic majesty, who now knew enough of the court of Vienna to be sensible that he could expect no assistance from thence, in case his German dominions were invaded, should enter into this convention with the empress of Russia, in order to strengthen his defence upon the continent, was extremely natural; especially as he had lately lived in great friendship with her, and her transactions with the court of France had been so secret, by passing through only that of Vienna, that he had not yet been informed of them; neither had the project of the treaty of Versailles then come to his knowledge, or to that of the king of Prussia, nor had either of these princes yet made any formal advances to the other.
The first intimation that appeared publicly of the negotiations of France with the empress of Germany, was when the French minister, count d’Aubeterre, declared at Vienna, “That the warlike designs with which the king his master was charged, were sufficiently confuted by his great moderation, of which all Europe had manifold proofs; that his majesty was persuaded this groundless charge had given as much indignation to their imperial majesties as to himself; that he was firmly resolved to preserve to Christendom that tranquillity which it enjoyed through his good faith, in religiously observing the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; but that if his Britannic majesty’s allies should take part in the war which was kindled in America, by furnishing succours to the English, his majesty would be authorized to consider and treat them as principals in it.” France likewise made the same declaration to other courts.
The words and stipulation in the above-recited clause, in the seventh article of the treaty of Great Britain with Russia, were looked on as a menace levelled at the king of Prussia, who, having some time found means to procure a copy of this treaty, and seeing it in that light, boldly declared, by his ministers at all the courts of Europe, that he would oppose, with his utmost force, the entrance of any foreign troops into the empire, under any pretence whatever. This declaration was particularly displeasing to the French, who had already marched large bodies of troops towards the frontiers of the empire, and erected several great magazines in Westphalia, with the permission of the elector of Cologn, for which the English minister at his court was, in August, ordered to withdraw from thence without taking leave. However, as soon as this declaration of the king of Prussia was notified to the court of Versailles, they sent an ambassador-extraordinary, the duke de Nivernois, to Berlin, to try to persuade his majesty to retract his declaration, and enter into a new alliance with them. His Prussian majesty received this ambassador in such a manner as seemed to denote a disposition to agree to every thing he had to propose. This awakened in England a jealousy that his declaration alone was not to be relied on, but that it was necessary to bring him under some solemn engagement; especially as the French had by this time a numerous army near the Lower Rhine, with magazines provided for their march all the way to Hanover; and if the king of Prussia suffered them to pass through his dominions, that electorate must be swallowed up before the Russian auxiliaries could possibly be brought thither, or any army be formed for protecting it.* For this reason a negotiation was set on foot by Great Britain at Berlin, but as it was not concluded before the beginning of the next year, we shall defer entering into the particulars of it till we come to that period.
* Perhaps the elector of Hanover was more afraid of the Prussian monarch than of the most christian king, knowing with what ease and rapidity this enterprising neighbour could, in a few days, subdue the whole electorate.
Meanwhile the French made another attempt upon the court of Madrid, loudly complaining of the taking their two men of war by Boscawen’s squadron, before any declaration of war was made, representing it as a most unjustifiable proceeding, which threatened a dissolution of all faith amongst nations. This produced a strong memorial from sir Benjamin Keene, our minister at that court, importing, “That it was well known that the French fleet carried troops, ammunition, and every thing necessary for defending the countries which the French had unjustly usurped in America, and of which the English claimed the property; that the rules of self-defence authorize every nation to render fruitless any attempt that may tend to its prejudice; that this right had been made use of only in taking the two French ships of war; and that the distinction of place might be interpreted in favour of the English, seeing the two ships were taken on the coasts of the countries where the contest arose.” In answer to this observation, the French minister represented the vast number of ships which had been taken in the European seas; for in fact the English ports soon began to be filled with them, in consequence of the general orders for making reprisals. But the court of Madrid was so far from being persuaded by any thing he could say, that it gave his Britannic majesty the strongest assurances of its friendship, and of its intention to take no part in the differences between him and France, but such as should be conciliatory, and tending to restore the public tranquillity.
On the other hand, his Britannic majesty required, as king of Great Britain, the auxiliaries stipulated to him by treaty from the empress-queen. But these were refused, under pretence, that as the contest between him and France related to America only, it was not a case of the alliance; though at the same time the French made no scruple of owning, that they intended to make a powerful descent on Great Britain early in the spring. When, a little while after, France being employed in making great preparation for a land war in Europe, the king of England required her to defend her own possessions, the barrier in the Low Countries, with the number of men stipulated by the treaty, which countries, acquired by English blood and English treasure, had been given to her on that express condition, she declared that she could not spare troops for that purpose, on account of her dangerous enemy the king of Prussia; and afterwards, when he was secured by his treaty with England, she urged that as a reason for her alliance with France. It must be owned, however, for the sake of historical truth, that this was no bad reason, considering the power, the genius, and the character of that prince, who hovered over her dominions with an army of one hundred and fifty thousand veterans. It must likewise be owned, that she undertook to procure the French king’s consent to a neutrality for Hanover, which would have effectually secured that electorate from the invasion of every other power but Prussia itself; and it is no strained conjecture to suppose, that the dread of this very power was the true source of those connexions in Germany, which entailed such a ruinous continental war upon Great Britain.
Though the English continued to make reprisals upon the French, not only in the seas of America, but also in those of Europe, by taking every ship they could meet with, and detaining them, their cargoes, and crews; yet the French, whether from a consciousness of their want of power by sea, or that they might have a more plausible plea to represent England as the aggressor, were so far from returning these hostilities, that their fleet, which escaped sir Edward Hawke, having, on the thirteenth of August, taken the Blandford ship of war, with governor Lyttelton on board, going to Carolina, they set the governor at liberty, as soon as the court was informed of the ship’s being brought into Nantes, and shortly after released both the ship and the crew. However, at the same time, their preparations for a land war still went on with great diligence, and their utmost arts and efforts were fruitlessly exerted to persuade the Spaniards and Dutch to join with them against Great Britain.
In England the preparations by sea became greater than ever, several new ships of war were put in commission, and many others taken into the service of the government; the exportation of gunpowder was forbid; the bounties to seamen were continued, and the number of those that either entered voluntarily, or were pressed, increased daily, as did also the captures from the French, among which was the Espérance, of seventy guns, taken as she was going from Rochefort to Brest to be manned. The land-forces of Great Britain were likewise ordered to be augmented; several new regiments were raised, and all half-pay officers, and the out-pensioners belonging to Chelsea-hospital, were directed to send in their names, ages, and time of service, in order that such of them as were yet able to serve might be employed again if wanted. The English navy, so early as in the month of September of this year, consisted of one ship of an hundred and ten guns, five of an hundred guns each, thirteen of ninety, eight of eighty, five of seventy-four, twenty-nine of seventy, four of sixty-six, one of sixty-four, thirty-three of sixty, three of fifty-four, twenty-eight of fifty, four of forty-four, thirty-five of forty, and forty-two of twenty, four sloops of war of eighteen guns each, two of sixteen, eleven of fourteen, thirteen of twelve, and one of ten, besides a great number of bomb-ketches, fire-ships, and tenders; a force sufficient to oppose the united maritime strength of all the powers in Europe; whilst that of the French, even at the end of this year, and including the ships then upon the stocks, amounted to no more than six ships of eighty guns, twenty-one of seventy-four, one of seventy-two, four of seventy, thirty-one of sixty-four, two of sixty, six of fifty, and thirty-two frigates.
Such was the situation of the two kingdoms, when, on the thirteenth of November, the parliament met, and his majesty opened the session with a speech from the throne, in which he acquainted them—“That the most proper measures had been taken to protect our possessions in America, and to regain such parts thereof as had been encroached upon, or invaded; that to preserve his people from the calamities of war, as well as to prevent a general war from being lighted up in Europe, he had been always ready to accept reasonable and honourable terms of accommodation, but that none such had been proposed by France; that he had also confined his views and operations to hinder France from making new encroachments, or supporting those already made; to exert his people’s right to a satisfaction for hostilities committed in time of profound peace, and to disappoint such designs, as, from various appearances and preparations, there was reason to think had been formed against his kingdoms and dominions; that the king of Spain earnestly wished the preservation of the public tranquillity, and had given assurances of his intention to continue in the same pacific sentiments; that he himself had greatly increased his naval armaments, and augmented his land-forces in such a manner as might be least burdensome; and, finally, that he had concluded a treaty with the empress of Russia, and another with the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, which should be laid before them.”
In answer to this speech, both houses voted most loyal addresses, but not without a warm opposition, in each, to some of the particular expressions; for it having been proposed in the house of lords to insert in their address the words following, viz.: “That they looked upon themselves as obliged, by the strongest ties of duty, gratitude, and honour, to stand by and support his majesty in all such wise and necessary measures and engagements as his majesty might have taken in vindication of the rights of his crown, or to defeat any attempts which might be made by France in resentment for such measures, and to assist his majesty in disappointing or repelling all such enterprises as might be formed, not only against his kingdoms, but also against any other of his dominions (though not belonging to the crown of Great Britain), in case they should be attacked on account of the part which his majesty had taken for maintaining the essential interests of his kingdoms;” the inserting of these words in their address was opposed by earl Temple, and several other lords; because, by the first part of them, they engaged to approve of the treaties with Russia and Hesse-Cassel, neither of which they had ever seen; nor could it be supposed that either of them could be of any advantage to this nation; and by the second part of these words it seemed to be resolved, to engage this nation in a continental connexion for the defence of Hanover, which it was impossible for England to support, and which would be so far from being of any advantage to it at sea, or in America, that it might at last disable the nation from defending itself in either of those parts of the world. But upon putting the question, the inserting of these words was agreed to by a great majority, and accordingly they stand as part of the address of the house upon that occasion.
To this remarkable address his majesty returned the following as remarkable answer: “My lords, I give you my hearty thanks for this dutiful and affectionate address. I see, with the greatest satisfaction, the zeal you express for my person and government, and for the true interest of your country, which I am determined to adhere to. The assurances which you give me for the defence of my territories abroad, are a strong proof of your affection for me, and regard for my honour. Nothing shall divert me from pursuing those measures which will effectually maintain the possessions and rights of my kingdoms, and procure reasonable and honourable terms of accommodation.”—The address of the house of commons breathed the same spirit of zeal and gratitude, and was full of the warmest assurances of a ready support of his majesty, and of his foreign dominions, if attacked in resentment of his maintaining the rights of his crown and kingdom; and his majesty’s answer to it was to the same effect as that to the house of lords. The same, or nearly the same words, relating to the treaties concluded by his majesty, and to the defence of his foreign dominions, were proposed to be inserted in this address, which was opposed by William Pitt, esq., then paymaster of his majesty’s forces; the right hon. Henry Legge, esq., then chancellor and un-der-treasurer of his majesty’s exchequer, and one of the commissioners of the treasury; and by several other gentlemen in high posts under the government, as well as by many others; but, upon putting the question, it was by a considerable majority agreed to insert the words objected to; and very soon after, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Legge, and most, if not all, of the gentlemen who had appeared in the opposition, were dismissed from their employments. In the meantime, a draft came over from Russia for part of the new subsidy stipulated to that crown; but some of the ministry, who were then at the head of the finances, refused to pay it, at least before the treaty should be approved of by parliament.
Sir Thomas Robinson had not been long in possession of the office of secretary of state, before it was generally perceived, that, though an honest well meaning man, and a favourite with the king, his abilities were not equal to the functions of that post. Much less were they so at this juncture, when the nation was on the point of being engaged in a difficult and expensive war, and plunged into foreign measures and connexions, which would require the utmost skill of an able politician to render them palatable to the people. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, though they scarce ever agreed in any other particular, had generally united in opposing his measures, and their superior influence in the house of commons, and universally acknowledged abilities, though of very different kinds, had always prevailed; uncommon as it was, to see two persons who held considerable places under the government, one of them being paymaster-general, and the other secretary at war, oppose, upon almost every occasion, a secretary of state who was supposed to know and speak the sentiments of his master. Sir Thomas himself soon grew sensible of his want of sufficient weight in the senate of the nation; and therefore, of his own accord, on the tenth of November, wisely and dutifully resigned the seals of his office to his majesty, who delivered them to Mr. Fox, and appointed sir Thomas master of the wardrobe, with a pension to him during his life, and after his death to his sons. Lord Barrington succeeded Mr. Fox as secretary at war; and soon after sir George Lyttelton was made chancellor of the exchequer, and a lord of the treasury, in the room of Mr. Legge, who had declared himself against the new continental system. However, notwithstanding these changes in the ministry, very warm debates arose in both houses, when the treaties of Russia and Hesse-Cassel came to be considered by them; some of the members were for referring them to a committee; but this motion was over-ruled, in consideration of his majesty’s having engaged in them to guard against a storm that seemed ready to break upon his electoral dominions, merely on account of our quarrel with the French. They were at length approved of by a majority of three hundred and eighteen against one hundred and twenty-six, in the house of commons; and by eighty-four against eleven, in the house of lords.
The house of commons then proceeded to provide for the service of the ensuing year, and for the deficiencies of the provisions for the former. Fifty thousand seamen, including nine thousand one hundred and thirty-eight marines, were voted, on the twenty-fourth of November, for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, together with two millions six hundred thousand pounds for their maintenance; and thirty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-three land soldiers, with nine hundred and thirty thousand six hundred and three pounds, six shillings and ninepence, for their support. An hundred thousand pounds were voted as a subsidy to the empress of Russia; fifty-four thousand one hundred and forty pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence, to the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; and ten thousand pounds to the elector of Bavaria.
During these transactions, the public was overwhelmed with consternation by the tidings of a dreadful earthquake, which, on the first November, shook all Spain and Portugal, and many other places in Europe, and laid the city of Lisbon in ruins. When the news of this great calamity first reached England, it was feared the consequences of it might affect our public credit, considering the vast interest which the English merchants had in the Portuguese trade; but fortunately, it afterwards proved inconsiderable, in comparison of what had been apprehended; the quarter in which the English chiefly lived, and where they had their warehouses, having suffered the least of any part of the city; and most of the English merchants then residing there, together with their families, being at their country houses, to avoid the insults to which they might have been exposed from the Portuguese populace, during the celebration of their auto-da-fe, which was kept that very day. The two first shocks of this dreadful visitation continued near a quarter of an hour, after which the water of the river Tagus rose perpendicularly above twenty feet, and subsided to its natural bed in less than a minute. Great numbers of houses, of which this city then contained about thirty-six thousand, extending in length near six miles, in form of a crescent, on the ascent of a hill upon the north shore of the mouth of the river Tagus, within nine miles from the ocean, were thrown down by the repeated commotions of the earth, together with several magnificent churches, monasteries, and public buildings. But what entirely completed the ruin of this then most opulent capital of the Portuguese dominions, was a devouring conflagration, partly fortuitous or natural, but chiefly occasioned by a set of impious villains, who, unawed by the tremendous scene at that very instant passing before their eyes, with a wickedness scarcely to be credited, set fire even to the falling edifices in different parts of the city, to increase the general confusion, that they might have the better opportunity to rob and plunder their already desolated fellow-citizens. Out of three hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, which Lisbon was then supposed to contain, about ten thousand perished by this calamity; and the survivors, deprived of their habitations, and destitute even of the necessaries of life, were forced to seek for shelter in the open fields.
As soon as his majesty received an account of this deplorable event, from his ambassador at the court of Madrid, he sent a message to both houses of parliament, on the twenty-eighth of November, acquainting them therewith, and desiring their concurrence and assistance towards speedily relieving the unhappy sufferers; and the parliament thereupon, to the honour of British humanity, unanimously voted, on the eighth of December, a gift of an hundred thousand pounds for the distressed people of Portugal. A circumstance which enhances the merit of this action is, that though the English themselves were, at that very time, in great want of grain, a considerable part of the sum was sent in corn, flour, rice, and a large quantity of beef from Ireland; supplies which came very seasonably for the poor Portuguese, who were in actual want of the necessaries of life. Their king was so affected by this instance of British generosity, that, to show his gratitude for the timely relief, he ordered Mr. Castres, the British resident at his court, to give the preference, in the distribution of these supplies, to the British subjects who had suffered by the earthquake; accordingly, about a thirtieth part of the provisions, and two thousand pounds in money, were set apart for that purpose; and his Portuguese majesty returned his thanks, in very warm terms, to the British crown and nation.
The report of an intended invasion of these kingdoms by the French increasing daily, on the twenty-second day of January lord Barrington, as secretary at war, laid before the house an estimate for defraying the charge of ten new regiments of foot, over and above the thirty-four thousand two hundred and sixty-three land soldiers before ordered to be raised; and a sum of ninety-one thousand nine hundred and nineteen pounds, ten shillings, was voted for these additional forces; upon another estimate presented a little after by the same lord, and founded upon the same reasons, for raising, for the further defence of the kingdom, eleven troops of light dragoons, forty-nine thousand six hundred and twenty-eight pounds, eleven shillings and threepence, were voted for the ensuing year; together with eighty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-eight pounds, sixteen shillings, for a regiment of foot to be raised in North America; two hundred and ninety-eight thousand five hundred and thirty-four pounds, seventeen shillings and tenpence halfpenny, for the maintenance of our forces already established in our American colonies; and seventy-nine thousand nine hundred and fifteen pounds, six shillings, for six regiments of foot from Ireland, to serve in North America and the East Indies. Besides all these supplies, Mr. Fox, on the twenty-eighth of January, presented to the house a message from the king, desiring them to take into consideration the faithful services of the people of New England, and of some other parts of North America; upon which one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds more were voted, and five thousand pounds as a reward to sir William Johnson in particular. In short, including several other sums, as well as for defraying the expense of the army and navy, as for a subsidy of twenty thousand pounds to the king of Prussia, and one hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred and forty-seven pounds, two shillings and sixpence, for Hanoverian troops, of which two last articles further notice will be taken hereafter, the whole of the supplies granted by parliament in this session, amounted to seven millions two hundred and twenty-nine thousand one hundred and seventeen pounds, four shillings and sixpence three farthings. For raising this sum, besides the malt tax, and the land tax of four shillings in the pound, the whole produce of the sinking fund, from the fifth of January one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, till it should amount to one million five hundred and fifty-five thousand nine hundred and fifty-five pounds, eleven shillings and elevenpence halfpenny, was ordered to be applied thereunto; together with a million to be raised by loans or exchequer bills, at three per cent, interest; one million five hundred thousand pounds, to be raised by the sale of redeemable annuities at three and a half per cent., and five hundred thousand pounds to be raised by a lottery, at three per cent. All which sums, with eighty-three thousand four hundred and twelve pounds, two shillings, and five-pence halfpenny, then remaining in the exchequer, amounted to seven millions four hundred and twenty-seven thousand two hundred and sixty-one pounds, five shillings and sevenpence.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
The clause inserted in the mutiny bill last year, subjecting all officers and soldiers raised in America, by authority of the respective governors or governments there, to the same rules and articles of war, and the same penalties and punishments, as the British forces were liable to; the act passed at the same time for regulating the marine forces, while on shore, and that for the more speedy and effectual manning of his majesty’s navy, were not only confirmed now, but it was further enacted, with respect to this last, as well as for the more speedy and effectual recruiting of his majesty’s land-forces, that the commissioners appointed by the present act should be empowered to raise and levy, within then-respective jurisdictions, such able-bodied men as did not follow any lawful calling or employment; or had not some other lawful and sufficient support; and might order, wherever and whenever they pleased, a general search to be made for such persons, in order to their being brought before them to be examined; nay, that the parish or town officers might, without any such order, search for and secure such persons, in order to convey them before the said commissioners to be examined; that if any three commissioners should find any person, so brought before them, to be within the above description, and if the recruiting officer attending should judge him to be a man fit for his majesty’s service, they should cause him to be delivered to such officer, who might secure him in any place of safety provided by the justices of peace for that purpose, or even in any public prison; and that every such man was from that time to be deemed a listed soldier, and not to be taken out of his majesty’s service by any process, other than for some criminal matter. Nothing could more plainly show either the zeal of the parliament for a vigorous prosecution of the war, or their confidence in the justice and moderation of our ministry, than their agreeing to this act, which was to continue in force till the end of the next session; and which, in the hands of a wicked and enterprising administration, might have been made such an use of, as would have been inconsistent with that security which is provided by our happy constitution for the liberty of the subject.
The next object of the immediate attention of parliament in this session, was the raising of a new regiment of foot in North America; for which purpose the sum of eighty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-eight pounds, sixteen shillings, to which the estimate thereof amounted, was voted. This regiment, which was to consist of four battalions of a thousand men each, was intended to be raised chiefly out of the Germans and Swiss, who, for many years past, had annually transported themselves in great numbers to the British plantations in America, where waste lands had been assigned them upon the frontiers of the provinces; but, very injudiciously, no care had been taken to intermix them with the English inhabitants of the place. To this circumstance it is owing, that they have continued to correspond and converse only with one another; so that very few of them, even of those who have been born there, have yet learned to speak or understand the English tongue. However, as they were all zealous protestants, and in general strong hardy men, and accustomed to the climate, it was judged that a regiment of good and faithful soldiers might be raised out of them, particularly proper to oppose the French; but to this end it was necessary to appoint some officers, especially subalterns, who understood military discipline, and could speak the German language; and as a sufficient number of such could not be found among the English officers, it was necessary to bring over and grant commissions to several German and Swiss officers and engineers; but this step, by the act of settlement, could not be taken without the authority of parliament; an act was now passed for enabling his majesty to grant commissions to a certain number of foreign protestants, who had served abroad as officers or engineers, to act and rank as officers or engineers in America only. An act was likewise passed in this session, strictly forbidding, under pain of death, any of his majesty’s subjects to serve as officers under the French king, or to enlist as soldiers in his service, without his majesty’s previous license; and also for obliging such of his majesty’s subjects as should, in time to come, accept of commissions in the Scotch brigade in the Dutch service, to take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration, on pain of forfeiting five hundred pounds.
As it had been resolved, in the beginning of the preceding summer, to build vessels of force upon the lake Ontario, an act was now passed for extending the maritime laws of England, relating to the government of his majesty’s ships and forces by sea, to such officers, seamen, and others, as should serve on board his majesty’s ships or vessels employed upon the lakes, great waters, or rivers in North America; and also, but not without opposition to this last, for the better recruiting of his majesty’s forces upon the continent of America; to which end, by a new clause now added to a former act, a recruiting officer was empowered to enlist and detain an indented servant, even though his master should reclaim him, upon paying to the master such a sum as two justices of peace within the precinct should adjudge to be a reasonable equivalent for the original purchase money, and the remaining time such servant might have to serve.
The intestine broils of Ireland were happily composed this year, by the prudent management of the marquis of Hartington, lord lieutenant of that kingdom. By his steady and disinterested conduct, his candour and humanity, the Irish were not only brought to a much better temper, even among themselves, than they were before their late outrageous riots and dangerous dissensions happened; but also prevailed upon to acquiesce in the measures of England, without this last being obliged to give up any one point of her superiority. The leading men in the parliament of Ireland were the first that conformed; and though the ferment continued very high for some time after, among the middling and lower ranks of people, it was at length entirely allayed by the wisdom of the lord lieutenant, and the excellent law which he encouraged and passed for the benefit of that nation.* The primate of Ireland, who had been very busy in fomenting many of the late disturbances, was, by his majesty’s command, struck off the list of privy-counsellors; and the greatest part of those patriots, whom faction had turned out of their employments there, were reinstated with honour.
* Among other objects of the attention of the legislature of that country, ten thousand pounds were granted for making the river Nore navigable from the city of Kilkenny to the town of Innestalge; twenty thousand pounds towards carrying on an inland navigation from the city of Dublin to the river Shannon; four thousand pounds for making the river Newry navigable; a thousand pounds a year for two years, for the encouragement of English protestant schools; several sums, to be distributed in premiums, for the encouragement of the cambric, hempen, and flaxen manufactures; and three hundred thousand pounds to his majesty, towards supporting the several branches of the establishment, and for defraying the expenses of the government for two years.
1756
The parliament of England, which had adjourned on the twenty-third day of December, met again: the house of commons on the thirteenth of January, and the lords on the nineteenth. On the sixteenth of the same month, the treaty between his Britannic majesty and the king of Prussia was signed, importing, that, for the defence of their common country, Germany, and in order to preserve her peace and tranquillity, which it was feared was in danger of being disturbed, on account of the disputes in America, the two kings, for that end only, entered into a convention of neutrality, by which they reciprocally bound themselves not to suffer foreign troops of any nation whatsoever to enter into Germany, or pass through it during the troubles aforesaid, and the consequences that might result from them; but to oppose the same with their utmost might, in order to secure Germany from the calamities of war, maintain her fundamental laws and constitutions, and preserve her peace uninterrupted. Thus, the late treaty with Russia was virtually renounced. Their majesties, moreover, seized this favourable opportunity to adjust the differences that had subsisted between them, in relation to the remainder of the Silesia loan due to the subjects of his Britannic majesty, and the indemnification claimed by the subjects of his Prussian majesty for their losses by sea during the late war; so that the attachment laid on the said debt was agreed to be taken off, as soon as the ratification of this treaty should be exchanged.
On the twenty-first of January the house took into consideration the laws then in being relating to the militia of this kingdom; and, finding them insufficient, ordered a new bill to be prepared, and brought in, for the better regulating of the militia forces in the several counties of England. A bill was accordingly prepared to that effect, and presented to the house on the twelfth of March, by the hon. Charles Townshend, esq., who, to his honour, was one of the chief promoters of it. After receiving many amendments in the house of commons, it was on the tenth of May passed, and sent to the lords; but several objections being made to it by some of the peers, and it seemed to them that some further amendments were still necessary, which they thought they could not in that session spare time to consider so maturely as the importance of the subject required, a negative of fifty-nine against twenty-three was put upon the motion for passing the bill; though every one must have been sensible, not only of the propriety, but even of the absolute necessity of such a law, which was ardently desired by the whole nation.
On the twenty-seventh of May, his majesty went to the house of peers, and, after having given the royal assent to the bills then depending, thanked his parliament, in a speech from the throne, for their vigorous and effectual support. He acquainted them, that the injuries and hostilities which had been for some time committed by the French against his dominions and subjects, were then followed by the actual invasion of the island of Minorca, though guaranteed to him by all the great powers in Europe, and particularly by the French king; that he had, therefore, found himself obliged, in vindication of the honour of his crown, and of the rights of his people, to declare war in form against France; and that he relied on the Divine Protection, and the vigorous assistance of his faithful subjects, in so just a cause. The parliament was then adjourned to the eighteenth of June; and from thence afterwards to the eighteenth of July, and then it was prorogued.