When the protestant states in arms against the court of Vienna were put under the ban of the empire, the evangelical body, though without the concurrence of the Swedish and Danish ministers, issued an arrêt at Ratisbon, in the month of November of the last year, and to this annexed the twentieth article of the capitulation signed by the emperor at his election, in order to demonstrate that the protestant states claimed nothing but what was agreeable to the constitution. They declared, that their association was no more than a mutual engagement, by which they obliged themselves to adhere to the laws without suffering, under any pretext, that the power of putting under the ban of the empire should reside wholly in the emperor. They affirmed that this power was renounced, in express terms, by the capitulation: they therefore refused to admit, as legal, any sentence of the ban deficient in the requisite conditions: and inferred that, according to law, neither the elector of Brandenburgh, nor the elector of Hanover, nor the duke of Wolfenbuttel, nor the landgrave of Hesse, nor the count of Lippe-Buckebourg, ought to be proscribed. The imperial protestant cities having acceded to this arrêt or declaration, the emperor, in a rescript, required them to retract their accession to the resolution of the evangelic body; which, it must be owned, was altogether inconsistent with their former accession to the resolutions of the diet against the king of Prussia. This rescript having produced no effect, the arrêt was answered in February by an imperial decree of commission carried to the dictature, importing, that the imperial court could no longer hesitate about the execution of the ban, without infringing that very article of the capitulation which they had specified: that the invalidity of the arrêt was manifest, inasmuch as the electors of Brandenburgh and Brunswick, the dukes of Saxe-Gotha and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, and the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, were the very persons who disturbed the empire, this, therefore, being an affair in which they themselves were parties, they could not possibly be qualified to concur in a resolution of this nature; besides, the number of the other states which had acceded was very inconsiderable: for these reasons, the emperor could not but consider the resolution in question as an act whereby the general peace of the empire was disturbed, both by the parties that had incurred the ban, and by the states which had joined them, in order to support and favour their frivolous pretensions. His imperial majesty expressed his hope and confidence, that the other electors, princes, and states of the empire, would vote the said resolution to be null and of no force; and never suffer so small a number of states, who were adherents of, and abettors to, the disturbers of the empire, to prejudice the rights and prerogatives of the whole Germanic body; to abuse the name of the associated states of the Augsburgh confession, in order forcibly to impose a factum entirely repugnant to the constitution of the empire; to deprive their co-estates of the right of voting freely, and thereby endeavouring totally to subvert the system of the Germanic body. These remarks will speak for themselves to the reflection of the unprejudiced reader.
The implacability of the court of Vienna was equalled by nothing but the perseverance of the French ministry. Though their numerous army had not gained one inch of ground in Westphalia, the campaign on that side having ended exactly where it had begun; though the chief source of their commerce in the West Indies had fallen into the hands of Great Britain, and they had already laid their account with the loss of Quebec; though their coffers hung with emptiness, and their confederates were clamorous for subsidies,—they still resolved to maintain the war in Germany. This was doubtless the most politic resolution to which they could adhere; because their enemies, instead of exerting all their efforts where there was almost a certainty of success, kindly condescended to seek them where alone their whole strength could be advantageously employed, without any great augmentation of their ordinary expense. Some of the springs of their national wealth were indeed exhausted, or diverted into other channels; but the subjects declared for a continuation of the war, and the necessities of the state were supplied by the loyalty and attachment of the people. They not only acquiesced in the bankruptcy of public credit, when the court stopped payment of the interest on twelve different branches of the national debt, but they likewise sent in large quantities of plate to be melted down, and coined into specie, for the maintenance of the war. All the bills drawn on the government by the colonies were protested to an immense amount, and a stop was put to all the annuities granted at Marseilles on sums borrowed for the use of the marine. Besides the considerable savings occasioned by these acts of state-bankruptcy, they had resources of credit among the merchants of Holland, who beheld the success of Great Britain with an eye of jealousy; and were, moreover, inflamed against her with the most rancorous resentment, on account of the captures which had been made of their West India ships by the English cruisers.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
In the month of February, the merchants of Amsterdam having received advice that the cargoes of their West India ships detained by the English, would, by the British courts of judicature, be declared lawful prizes, as being French property, sent a deputation, with a petition to the states-general, entreating them to use their intercession with the court of London, representing the impossibility of furnishing the proofs required, in so short a time as that prescribed by the British admiralty; and that, as the island of St. Eustatia had but one road, and there was no other way of taking in cargoes but that of overschippen,* to which the English had objected, a condemnation of these ships, as legal prizes, would give the finishing stroke to the trade of the colony.
* The method called overschippen is that of using French boats to load Dutch vessels with the produce of France.
Whatever remonstrances the states-general might have made on this subject to the ministry of Great Britain, they had no effect upon the proceedings of the court of admiralty, which continued to condemn the cargoes of the Dutch ships as often as they were proved to be French property; and this resolute uniformity, in a little time intimidated the subjects of Holland from persevering in this illicit branch of commerce. The enemies of England in that republic, however, had so far prevailed, that in the beginning of the year the states of Holland had passed a formal resolution to equip five-and-twenty ships of war; and orders were immediately despatched to the officers of the admiralty to complete the armament with all possible expedition. In the month of April, the states-general sent over to London three ministers-extraordinary, to make representations, and remove if possible the causes of misunderstanding that had arisen between Great Britain and the United Provinces. They delivered their credentials to the king with a formal harangue: they said his majesty would see, by the contents of the letter they had the honour to present, how ardently their high mightinesses desired to cultivate the sincere friendship which had so long subsisted between the two nations, so necessary for their common welfare and preservation; they expressed an earnest wish that they might be happy enough to remove those difficulties which had for some time struck at this friendship, and caused so much prejudice to the principal subjects of the republic; who, by the commerce they carried on, constituted its greatest strength and chief support. They declared their whole confidence was placed in his majesty’s equity, for which the republic had the highest regard; and in the good-will he had always expressed towards a state which on all occasions had interested itself in promoting his glory—a state which was the guardian of the precious trust bequeathed by a prince so dear to his affection. “Full of this confidence (said they), we presume to flatter ourselves that your majesty will be graciously pleased to listen to our just demands, and we shall endeavour, during the course of our ministry, to merit your approbation, in strengthening the bonds by which the two nations ought to be for ever united.” In answer to this oration, the king assured them that he had always regarded their high mightinesses as his best friends. He said, if difficulties had arisen concerning trade, they ought to be considered as the consequences of a burdensome war which he was obliged to wage with France. He desired they would assure their high mightinesses, that he should endeavour, on his part, to remove the obstacles in question; and expressed his satisfaction that they the deputies were come over with the same disposition.—What representations these deputies made, further than complaints of some irregularities in the conduct of the British sea-officers, we cannot pretend to specify; but as the subject in dispute related entirely to the practice of the courts of judicature, it did not fall properly under the cognizance of the government, which hath no right to interfere with the administration of justice. In all probability, the subjects of Holland were by no means pleased with the success of this negotiation, for they murmured against the English nation without ceasing. They threatened and complained by turns; and eagerly seized every opportunity of displaying their partiality in favour of the enemies of Great Britain.
In the month of September, major-general Yorke, the British minister at the Hague, presented a memorial to the states-general, remonstrating, that the merchants of Holland carried on a contraband trade in favour of France, by transporting cannon and warlike stores from the Baltic to Holland, in Dutch bottoms, under the borrowed names of private persons; and then conveying them by the inland rivers and canals, or through the Dutch fortresses, to Dunkirk and other places of France. He desired that the king his master might be made easy on that head, by their putting an immediate stop to such practices, so repugnant to the connexions subsisting by treaty between Great Britain and the United Provinces, as well as to every idea of neutrality. He observed, that the attention which his majesty had lately given to their representations against the excesses of the English privateers, by procuring an act of parliament, which laid them under proper restrictions, gave him a good title to the same regard on the part of their high mightinesses. He reminded them that their trading towns felt the good effects of these restrictions; and that the freedom of navigation which their subjects enjoyed amidst the troubles and distractions of Europe, had considerably augmented their commerce. He observed, that some return ought to be made to such solid proofs of the king’s friendship and moderation; at least, the merchants, who were so ready to complain of England, ought not to be countenanced in excesses which would have justified the most rigorous examination of their conduct. He recalled to their memories that, during the course of the present war, the king had several times appealed to their high mightinesses, and to their ministers, on the liberty they had given to carry stores through the fortresses of the republic for the use of France, to invade the British dominions; and though his majesty had passed over in silence many of these instances of complaisance to his enemy, he was no less sensible of the injury; but he chose rather to be a sufferer himself, than to increase the embarrassment of his neighbours or extend the flames of war. He took notice that even the court of Vienna had, upon more than one occasion, employed its interest with their high mightinesses, and lent its name to obtain passes for warlike stores and provisions for the French troops, under colour of the barrier-treaty, which it no longer observed; nay, after having put France in possession of Ostend and Nieuport, in manifest violation of that treaty, and without any regard to the rights which they and the king his master had acquired in that treaty, at the expense of so much blood and treasure.
This memorial seems to have made some impression on the states-general, as they scrupled to allow the artillery and stores belonging to the French king to be removed from Amsterdam; but these scruples vanished entirely on the receipt of a counter-memorial presented by the count d’Affrey, the French ambassador, who mingled some effectual threats with his expostulation. He desired them to remember, that, during the whole course of the war, the French king had required nothing from their friendship that was inconsistent with the strictest impartiality; and, if he had deviated from the engagements subsisting between him and the republic, it was only by granting the most essential and lucrative favours to the subjects of their high mightinesses. He observed, that the English, notwithstanding the insolence of their behaviour to the republic, had derived, on many occasions, assistance from the protection their effects had found in the territories of the United Provinces; that the artillery, stores, and ammunition belonging to Wessel were deposited in their territories, which the Hanoverian army in passing the Rhine had very little respected; that when they repassed that river, they had no other way of saving their sick and wounded from the hands of the French, than by embarking them in boats, and conveying them to places where the French left them unmolested, actuated by their respect for the neutrality of the republic; that part of their magazines was still deposited in the towns of the United Provinces, where also the enemies of France had purchased and contracted for very considerable quantities of gunpowder. He told them that, though these and several other circumstances might have been made the subject of the justest complaints, the king of France did not think it proper to require that the freedom and independency of the subjects of the republic should be restrained in branches of commerce that were not inconsistent with its neutrality, persuaded that the faith of an engagement ought to be inviolably preserved, though attended with some accidental and transient disadvantages. He gave them to understand, that the king his master had ordered the generals of his army carefully to avoid encroaching on the territory of the republic, and transferring thither the theatre of the war, when his enemies retreated that way before they were forced to pass the Ehine. After such unquestionable marks of regard, he said, his king would have the justest ground of complaint, if, contrary to expectation, he should hear that the artillery and stores belonging to him were detained at Amsterdam. Thirdly, he declared that such detention would be construed as a violation of the neutrality; and demanded, in the name of the king his master, that the artillery and stores should, without delay, be forwarded to Flanders by the canals of Amsterdam and the inland navigation. This last argument was so conclusive, that they immediately granted the necessary passports; in consequence of which the cannon were conveyed to the Austrian Netherlands.
The powers in the southern parts of Europe were too much engrossed with their own concerns, to interest themselves deeply in the quarrels that distracted the German empire. The king of Spain, naturally of a melancholy complexion and delicate constitution, was so deeply affected with the loss of his queen, who died in the course of the preceding year, that he renounced all company, neglected all business, and immured himself in a chamber at Villa-Viciosa, where he gave a loose to the most extravagant sorrow. He abstained from food and rest until his strength was quite exhausted. He would neither shift himself, nor allow his beard to be shaved; he rejected all attempts of consolation; and remained deaf to the most earnest and respectful remonstrances of those who had a right to render their advice. In this case, the affliction of the mind must have been reinforced by some peculiarity in the constitution. He inherited a melancholy taint from his father, and this seems to have been dreaded as a family disease; for the infant don Louis, who likewise resided in the palace of Villa-Viciosa, was fain to amuse himself with hunting and other diversions, to prevent his being infected with the king’s disorder, which continued to gain ground notwithstanding all the efforts of medicine. The Spanish nation, naturally superstitious, had recourse to saints and relics; but they seemed insensible to all their devotion. The king, however, in the midst of all his distress, was prevailed upon to make his will, which was written by the count de Valparaiso, and signed by the duke de Bejar, high-chancellor of the kingdom. The exorbitancy of his grief, and the mortifications he underwent, soon produced an incurable malady, under which he languished from the month of September in the preceding year till the tenth of August in the present, when he expired. In his will he had appointed his brother don Carlos, king of Naples, successor to the crown of Spain; and nominated the queen-dowager as regent of the kingdom until that prince should arrive. Accordingly, she assumed the reins of government, and gave directions for the funeral of the deceased king, who was interred with great pomp in the church belonging to the convent of the Visitation at Madrid.
As the death of this prince had been long expected, so the politicians of Europe had universally prognosticated that his demise would be attended with great commotions in Italy. It had been agreed among the subscribing powers to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, that in case don Carlos should be advanced in the course of succession to the throne of Spain, his brother don Philip should succeed him on the throne of Naples; and the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, which now constituted his establishment, should revert to the house of Austria. The king of Naples had never acceded to this article; therefore he paid no regard to it on the death of his elder brother, but retained both kingdoms, without minding the claims of the empress-queen, who he knew was at that time in no condition to support her pretensions. Thus the German war proved a circumstance very favourable to his interest and ambition. Before he embarked for Spain, however, he took some extraordinary steps, which evinced him a sound politician and sagacious legislator. His eldest son don Philip, who had now attained the thirteenth year of his age, being found in a state of incurable idiotism 529 [See note 4 F, at the end of this Vol.], he wisely and resolutely removed him from the succession, without any regard to the pretended right of primogeniture, by a solemn act of abdication, and the settlement of the crown of the two Sicilies in favour of his third son don Ferdinand. In this extraordinary act he observes, that according to the spirit of the treaties of this age, Europe required that the sovereignty of Spain should be separated from that of Italy, when such a separation could be effected, without transgressing the rules of justice: that the unfortunate prince-royal having been destitute of reason and reflection ever since his infancy, and no hope remaining that he could ever acquire the use of these faculties, he could not think of appointing him to the succession, how agreeable soever such a disposition might be to nature and his paternal affection: he was therefore constrained, by the Divine will, to set him aside in favour of his third son don Ferdinand, whose minority obliged him to vest the management of these realms in a regency, which he accordingly appointed, after having previously declared his son Ferdinand from that time emancipated and freed, not only from all obedience to his paternal power, but even from all submission to his supreme and sovereign authority. He then declared that the minority of the prince succeeding to the kingdom of the Two Sicilies should expire with the fifteenth year of his age, when he should act as sovereign, and have the entire power of the administration. He next established and explained the order of succession in the male and female line; on condition that the monarchy of Spain should never be united with the kingdoms of the Two Sicilies. Finally, he transferred and made over to the said don Ferdinand these kingdoms, with all that he possessed in Italy; and this ordinance, signed and sealed by himself and the infant don Ferdinand, and countersigned by the counsellors and secretaries of state, in quality of members of the regency, received all the usual forms of authenticity. Don Carlos having taken these precautions for the benefit of his third son, whom he left king of Naples, embarked with the rest of his family on board a squadron of Spanish ships, which conveyed him to Barcelona. There he landed in the month of October, and proceeded to Madrid; where, as king of Spain, he was received amid the acclamations of his people. He began his reign, like a wise prince, by regulating the interior economy of his kingdom; by pursuing the plan adopted by his predecessor; by retaining the ministry under whose auspices the happiness and commerce of his people had been extended; and with respect to the belligerent powers, by scrupulously adhering to that neutrality from whence these advantages were in a great measure derived.
While he serenely enjoyed the blessings of prosperity, his neighbour the king of Portugal was engrossed by a species of employment, which, of all others, must be the most disagreeable to a prince of sentiment, who loves his people; namely, the trial and punishment of those conspirators, by whose atrocious attempt his life had been so much endangered. Among these were numbered some of the first noblemen of the kingdom, irritated by disappointed ambition, inflamed by bigotry, and exasperated by revenge. The principal conspirator, don Joseph Mascarenhas and Lencastre, duke de Aveiro, marquis of Torres Novas, and conde of Santa Cruz, was hereditary lord-steward of the king’s household, and president of the palace-court, or last tribunal of appeal in the kingdom, so that he possessed the first office at the palace, and the second of the realm. Francisco de Assiz, marquis of Tavora, conde of St. John and Alvor, was general of the horse, and head of the third noble house of the Tavoras, the most illustrious family in the kingdom, deriving their original from the ancient kings of Leon: he married his kinswoman, who was marchioness of Tavora in her own right, and by this marriage acquired the marquisate. Louis Bernardo de Tavora was their eldest son, who, by virtue of a dispensation from the pope, had espoused his own aunt, donna Theresa de Tavora. Joseph Maria de Tavora, his youngest brother, was also involved in the guilt of his parents. The third principal concerned was don Jeronymo de Attaide, conde of Attouguia, himself a relation, and married to the eldest daughter of the marquis of Tavora. The characters of all these personages were unblemished and respectable, until this machination was detected. In the course of investigating this dark affair, it appeared that the duke de Aveiro had conceived a personal hatred to the king, who had disappointed him in a projected match between his son and a sister of the duke de Cadaval, a minor, and prevented his obtaining some commanderies which the late duke de Aveiro had possessed; that this nobleman, being determined to gratify his revenge against the person of his sovereign, had exerted all his art and address in securing the participation of the malecontents; that with this view he reconciled himself to the Jesuits, with whom he had been formerly at variance, knowing they were at this time implacably incensed against the king, who had dismissed them from their office of penitentiaries at court, and branded them with other marks of disgrace, on account of their illegal and rebellious practices in South America: the duke, moreover, insinuated himself into the confidence of the marchioness of Tavora, notwithstanding an inveterate rivalship of pride and ambition, which had long subsisted between the two families. Her resentment against the king was inflamed by the mortification of her pride in repeated repulses, when she solicited the title of duke for her husband. Her passions were artfully fomented and managed by the Jesuits, to whom she had resigned the government of her conscience; and they are said to have persuaded her, that it would be a meritorious action to take away the life of a prince who was an enemy to the church, and a tyrant to his people. She, being reconciled to the scheme of assassination, exerted her influence in such a manner as to inveigle her husband, her sons and son-in law, into the same infamous design: and yet this lady had been always remarkable for her piety, affability, and sweetness of disposition. Many consultations were held by the conspirators at the colleges of the Jesuits, St. Autoa and St. Roque, as well as at the houses of the duke and the marquis; at last they resolved that the king should be assassinated, and employed two ruffians, called Antonio Alvarez and Joseph Policarpio, for the execution of this design, the miscarriage of which we have related among the transactions of the preceding year. In the beginning of January, before the circumstances of the conspiracy were known, the counts de Oberas and de Ribeira Grande were imprisoned in the castle of St. Julian, on a suspicion arising from their freedom of speech. The duchess de Aveiro, the countess of Attouguia, and the marchioness of Alorna, with their children, were sent to different nunneries; and eight Jesuits were taken into custody. A council being appointed for the trial of the prisoners, the particulars we have related were brought to light by the torture; and sentence of death was pronounced and executed upon the convicted criminals. Eight wheels were fixed upon a scaffold raised in the square opposite to the house where the prisoners had been confined; and the thirteenth of January was fixed for the day of execution. Antonio Alvarez Ferreira, one of the assassins who had fired into the king’s equipage, was fixed to a stake at one corner of the scaffold; and at the other was placed the effigy of his accomplice, Joseph Policarpio de Azevedo, who had made his escape. The marchioness of Tavora, being brought upon the scaffold between eight and nine in the morning, was beheaded at one stroke, and then covered with a linen cloth. Her two sons, and her son-in-law, the count of Attouguia, with three servants of the duke de Aveiro, were first strangled at one stake, and afterwards broke upon wheels, where their bodies remained covered; but the duke and the marquis, as chiefs of the conspiracy, were broken alive, and underwent the most excruciating torments. The last that suffered was the assassin Alvarez, who being condemned to be burned alive, the combustibles which had been placed on the scaffold were set on fire, the whole machine with their bodies consumed to ashes, and these ashes thrown into the sea. The estates of the three unfortunate noblemen were confiscated, and their dwelling-houses razed to the ground. The name of Tavora was suppressed for ever by a public decree; but that of Mascarenhas spared, because the duke de Aveiro was a younger branch of the family. A reward of ten thousand crowns was offered to any person who should apprehend the assassin who had escaped: then the embargo was taken off the shipping. The king and royal family assisted at a public Te Deum, sung in the chapel of Nossa Senhoro de Livramento; on which occasion the king, for the satisfaction of his people, waved his handkerchief with both hands, to show he was not maimed by the wounds he had received. If such an attempt upon the life of a king was infamously cruel and perfidious, it must be owned that the punishment inflicted upon the criminals was horrible to human nature. The attempt itself was attended with some circumstances that might have staggered belief, had it not appeared but too plain that the king was actually wounded. One would imagine that the duke de Aveiro, who was charged with designs on the crown, would have made some preparation for taking advantage of the confusion and disorder which must have been produced by the king’s assassination; but we do not find that any thing of this nature was premeditated. It was no more than a desperate scheme of personal revenge, conceived without caution, and executed without conduct; a circumstance the more extraordinary, if we suppose the conspirators were actuated by the councils of the Jesuits, who have been ever famous for finesse and dexterity. Besides, the discovery of all the particulars was founded upon confession extorted by the rack, which at best is a suspicious evidence. Be that as it will, the Portuguese government, without waiting for a bull from the pope, sequestered all the estates and effects of the Jesuits in that kingdom, which amounted to considerable sums, and reduced the individuals of the society to a very scanty allowance. Complaint of their conduct having been made to the pope, he appointed a congregation to examine into the affairs of the Jesuits in Portugal. In the meantime the court of Lisbon ordered a considerable number of them to be embarked for Italy, and resolved that no Jesuits should hereafter reside within its realms. When these transports arrived at Civita-Vecchia, they were, by the pope’s order, lodged in the Dominican and Capuchin convents of that city, until proper houses could be prepared for their reception at Tivoli and Frescati. The most guilty of them, however, were detained in close prison in Portugal; reserved, in all probability, for a punishment more adequate to their enormities.
England still continued to enjoy the blessings of peace, even amidst the triumphs of war. In the month of November the session of parliament was opened by commission; and, the commons attending in the house of peers, the lord-keeper harangued the parliament to this effect:—He gave them to understand that his majesty had directed him to assure them, that he thought himself peculiarly happy in being able to convoke them in a situation of affairs so glorious to his crown, and advantageous to his kingdoms: that the king saw and devoutly adored the hand of Providence, in the many signal successes, both by sea and land, with which his arms had been blessed in the course of the last campaign: that he reflected with great satisfaction on the confidence which the parliament had placed in him, by making such ample provisions, and intrusting him with such extensive powers for carrying on a war, which the defence of their valuable rights and possessions, together with the preservation of the commerce of his people, had rendered both just and necessary. He enumerated the late successes of the British arms—the reduction of Goree on the coast of Africa; the conquest of so many important places in America; the defeat of the French army in Canada; the reduction of their capital city of Quebec, effected with so much honour to the courage and conduct of his majesty’s officers and forces; the important advantage obtained by the British squadron off Cape Lagos, and the effectual blocking up for so many months the principal part of the French navy in their own harbours: events which must have filled the hearts of all his majesty’s faithful subjects with the sincerest joy; and convinced his parliament that there had been no want of vigilance or vigour on his part, in exerting those means which they, with so much prudence and public-spirited zeal, had put into his majesty’s hands. He observed, that the national advantages had extended even as far as the East-Indies, where, by the Divine blessing, the dangerous designs of his majesty’s enemies had miscarried, and that valuable branch of commerce had received great benefit and protection; that the memorable victory gained over the French at Minden had long made a deep impression on the minds of his majesty’s people: that if the crisis in which the battle was fought, the superior number of the enemy, the great and able conduct of his majesty’s general, prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, were considered, that action must be the subject of lasting admiration and thankfulness: that if any thing could fill the breasts of his majesty’s good subjects with still further degrees of exultation, it would be the distinguished and unbroken valour of the British troops, owned and applauded by those whom they overcame. He said the glory they had gained was not merely their own; but, in a national view, was one of the most important circumstances of our success, as it must be a striking admonition to our enemies with whom they have to contend. He told them that his majesty’s good brother and ally, the king of Prussia, attacked and surrounded by so many considerable powers, had, by his magnanimity and abilities, and the bravery of his troops, been able, in a surprising manner, to prevent the mischiefs concerted with such united force against him. He declared, by the command of his sovereign, that as his majesty entered into this war not from views of ambition, so he did not wish to continue it from motives of resentment: that the desire of his majesty’s heart was to see a stop put to the effusion of Christian blood: that whenever such terms of peace could be established as should be just and honourable for his majesty and his allies; and by procuring such advantages as, from the successes of his majesty’s arms, might in reason and equity be expected should bring along with them full security for the future; his majesty would rejoice to see the repose of Europe restored on such solid and durable foundations; and his faithful subjects, to whose liberal support and unshaken firmness his majesty owed so much, happy in the enjoyment of the blessings of peace and tranquillity: but, in order to this great and desirable end, he said his majesty was confident the parliament would agree with him, that it was necessary to make ample provision for carrying on the war, in all parts, with the utmost vigour. He assured the commons, that the great supplies they had granted in the last session of parliament, had been faithfully employed for the purposes for which they were granted; but the uncommon extent of the war, and the various services necessary to be provided for, in order to secure success to his majesty’s measures, had unavoidably occasioned extraordinary expenses. Finally, he repeated the assurances from the throne, of the high satisfaction his majesty took in that union and good harmony which was so conspicuous among his good subjects; he said, his sovereign was happy in seeing it continued and confirmed; he observed that experience had shown how much the nation owed to this union, which alone could secure the true happiness of his people.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
We shall not anticipate the reader’s own reflection, by pretending to comment upon either the matter or form of this harangue, which however produced all the effect which the sovereign could desire. The houses, in their respective addresses, seemed to vie with each other in expressions of attachment and complacency. The peers professed their utmost readiness to concur in the effectual support of such further measures as his majesty, in his great wisdom, should judge necessary or expedient for carrying on the war with vigour in all parts, and for disappointing and repelling any desperate attempts which might be made upon these kingdoms. The commons expressed their admiration of that true greatness of mind which disposed his majesty’s heart, in the midst of prosperities, to wish a stop put to the effusion of Christian blood, and to see tranquillity restored. They declared their entire reliance on his majesty’s known wisdom and firmness, that this desirable object, whenever it should be obtained, would be upon teems just and honourable for his majesty and his allies; and, in order to effect that great end, they assured him they would cheerfully grant such supplies as should be found necessary to sustain, and press with effect, all his extensive operations against the enemy. They did not fail to re-echo the speech, as usual; enumerating the trophies of the year, and extolling the king of Prussia for his consummate genius, magnanimity, unwearied activity, and unshaken constancy of mind. Very great reason, indeed, had his majesty to be satisfied with an address of such a nature, from a house of commons in which opposition lay strangled at the foot of the minister; in which those demagogues, who had raised themselves to reputation and renown by declaiming against continental measures, were become so perfectly reconciled to the object of their former reprobation, as to cultivate it even with a degree of enthsiasm unknown to any former administration, and lay the nation under such contributions in its behalf, as no other ministry durst ever meditate. Thus disposed, it was no wonder they admired the moderation of their sovereign in offering to treat of peace, after above a million of men had perished by the war, and twice that number been reduced to misery; after whole provinces had been depopulated, whole-countries subdued, and the victors themselves almost crushed by the trophies they had gained.
Immediately after the addresses were presented, the commons resolved themselves into a committee of the whole house; and having unanimously voted a supply to his majesty, began to take the particulars into consideration. This committee was continued till the twelfth of May, when that whole business was accomplished. For the service of the ensuing year they voted seventy thousand seamen, including eighteen thousand three hundred and fifty-five marines, and for their maintenance allotted three millions six hundred and forty thousand pounds. The number of land-forces, including the British troops in Germany, and the invalids, they fixed at fifty-seven thousand two hundred and ninety-four men, and granted for their subsistence one million three hundred and eighty-three thousand seven hundred and forty-eight pounds and tenpence. For maintaining other forces in the plantations, Gibraltar, Guadaloupe, Africa, and the East Indies, they allowed eight hundred forty-six thousand one hundred and sixty-eight pounds, nineteen shillings: for the expense of four regiments on the Irish establishment, serving in North America, they voted thirty-five thousand seven hundred and forty-four pounds, eight shillings and fourpence. For pay to the general and general staff officers, and officers of the hospital for the land-forces, they assigned fifty-four thousand four hundred and fifty-four pounds, eleven shillings and ninepence. They voted for the expense of the militia in South and North Britain, the sum of one hundred two thousand and six pounds, four shillings and eightpence. They granted for the maintenance of thirty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifty men, being the troops of Hanover, Wolfenbuttle, Saxe-Gotha, and Buckebourg, retained in the service of Great Britain, the sum of four hundred forty-seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-two pounds, ten shillings and fivepence halfpenny; and for nineteen thousand Hessian troops, in the same pay, they gave three hundred sixty-six thousand seven hundred and twenty-five pounds, one shilling and sixpence. They afterwards bestowed the sum of one hundred eight thousand and twelve pounds, twelve shillings and sevenpence, for defraying the additional expense of augmentations in the troops of Hanover and Hesse, and the British army serving in the empire. For the ordinary of the navy, including half-pay to sea-officers; for carrying on the building of two hospitals, one near Gosport, and the other in the neighbourhood of Plymouth; for the support of the hospital at Greenwich; for purchasing ground, erecting wharfs and other accommodations necessary for refitting the fleets at Halifax in Nova-Scotia; for the charge of the office of ordnance, and defraying the extraordinary expense incurred by that office in the course of the last year, they allowed seven hundred eighty-one thousand four hundred and eighty-nine pounds, six shillings and sixpence. Towards paying off the navy debt, buildings, re-buildings, and repairs of the king’s ships, together with the charges of transport service, they granted one million seven hundred and one thousand seventy-eight pounds, sixteen shillings and sixpence. For defraying the extraordinary expenses of the land-forces and other services not provided for by parliament, comprehending the pensions for the widows of reduced officers, they allotted the sum of nine hundred fifty-five thousand three hundred and forty-four pounds, fifteen shillings and fivepence halfpenny. They voted one million to empower his majesty to discharge the like sum, raised in pursuance of an act made in the last session of parliament, and charged upon the first aids or supplies to be granted in this session of parliament. They gave six hundred and seventy thousand pounds, for enabling his majesty to make good his engagements with the king of Prussia, pursuant to a new convention between him and that monarch, concluded on the ninth day of November in the present year. Fifteen thousand pounds they allowed upon account, towards enabling the principal officers of his majesty’s ordnance to defray the necessary charges and expenses of taking down and removing the present magazine for gunpowder, situated in the neighbourhood of Greenwich, and of erecting it in some less dangerous situation. Sixty thousand pounds they gave to enable his majesty to fulfil his engagements With the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, pursuant to the separate article of a treaty between the two powers, renewed in the month of November, the sum to be paid as his most serene highness should think it most convenient, in order to facilitate the means by which the landgrave might again fix his residence in his own dominions, and by his presence give fresh courage to his faithful subjects. Five hundred thousand pounds they voted upon account, as a present supply towards defraying the charges of forage, bread, bread-waggons, train of artillery, wood, straw, provisions, and contingencies of his majesty’s combined army, under the command of prince Ferdinand. To the Foundling hospital they granted five thousand pounds; and fifteen thousand for improving, widening, and enlarging the passage over and through London bridge. To replace divers sums taken from the sinking fund, they granted two hundred twenty-five thousand two hundred and eighty-one pounds, nineteen shillings and fourpence. For the subsistence of reduced officers, including the allowances to the several officers and private men of the two troops of horse-guards, and regiment of horse reduced, and to the superannuated gentlemen of the four troops of horse-guards, they voted thirty-eight thousand five hundred and ninety-seven pounds, nine shillings. Upon account, for the support of the colonies of Nova-Scotia and Georgia, they granted twenty-one thousand six hundred ninety-four pounds, two shillings and twopence. For enabling the king to give a proper compensation to the provinces in North America, for the expenses they might incur in levying and maintaining troops, according as the vigour and activity of those respective provinces should be thought by his majesty to merit, they advanced the sum of two hundred thousand pounds. The East India company they gratified with twenty thousand pounds, towards enabling them to defray the expense of a military force in their settlements, in lieu of a battalion of the king’s troops now returned to Ireland. Twenty-five thousand pounds were provided for the payment of the out-pensioners of Chelsea hospital. For subsequent augmentation of the British forces, since the first estimate of guards and garrisons for the ensuing year was presented, they allowed one hundred thirty-four thousand one hundred and thirty-nine pounds, seventeen shillings and fourpence. They further voted, upon account, towards enabling the governors and guardians of the Foundling hospital to maintain, educate, and bind apprentice the children admitted into the said charity, the sum of forty-seven thousand two hundred and eighty-five pounds. For defraying the expense of maintaining the militia in South and North Britain, to the twenty-fourth day of December of the ensuing year, they voted an additional grant of two hundred ninety thousand eight hundred and twenty-six pounds, sixteen shillings and eightpence: and, moreover, they granted four-score thousand pounds, upon account, towards defraying the charge of pay and clothing of the unembodied militia for the year ending on the twenty-fifth day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one. For reimbursing the colony of New-York, their expenses in furnishing provisions and stores to the troops raised by them for his majesty’s service, in the-campaign of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, they allowed two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven pounds, seven shillings and eightpence; and for maintaining the British forts and settlements on the coast of Africa, they renewed the grant of ten thousand pounds. For the maintenance and augmentation of the troops of Brunswick in the pay of Great Britain for the ensuing year, pursuant to an ulterior convention concluded and signed at Paderborn on the fifth day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, they granted the sum of ninety thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine pounds, eight shillings and elevenpence farthing; and for the troops of Hesse-Cassel in the same pay, during the same period, they allotted one hundred and one thousand and ninety-six pounds, three shillings and twopence. For the extraordinary expenses of the land-forces, and other services, incurred from the twenty-fourth day of November in the present year, to the twenty-fourth of December following, and not-provided for, they granted the sum of four hundred twenty thousand one hundred and twenty pounds, one shilling. To make good the deficiency of the grants for the service of this present year, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, they assigned the sum of seventy-five thousand one hundred and seventy pounds, and threepence farthing. For printing the journals of the house of commons they gave five thousand pounds; and six hundred and thirty-four pounds, thirteen shillings and seven-pence, as interest at the rate of four per centum per annum, from the twenty-fifth day of August in the present year, to the same day of April next, for the sum of twenty-three thousand eight hundred pounds, eleven shillings and elevenpence, remaining in the office of ordnance, and not paid into the hands of the deputy of the king’s remembrancer of the court of exchequer, as directed by an act made in the last session of parliament, to make compensation for lands and hereditaments purchased for his majesty’s service at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, by reason of doubts and difficulties which had arisen touching the execution of the said act. For defraying the extraordinary charge of the mint during the present year, they allowed eleven thousand nine hundred and forty pounds, thirteen shillings and ten-pence; and two thousand five hundred pounds upon account, for paying the debts claimed and sustained upon a forfeited estate in North Britain. They likewise allowed twelve thousand eight hundred and seventy-four pounds, fifteen shillings and tenpence, for defraying the charge of a regiment of light-dragoons, and of an additional company to the corps commanded by lieutenant-colonel Vaughan. Finally, they voted one million upon account, to enable the king to defray any extraordinary expenses of the war, incurred, or to be incurred, for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty; and to take all such measures as might be necessary to defeat any enterprise or design of his enemies, as the exigency of affairs might require. On the whole, the sum total granted in this session of parliament amounted to fifteen millions five hundred and three thousand five hundred and sixty-three pounds, fifteen shillings and ninepence halfpenny: a sum so enormous, whether we consider the nation that raised it, or the purposes for which it was raised, that every Briton of a sedate mind, attached to the interest and welfare of his country, must reflect upon it with equal astonishment and concern: a sum considerably more than double the largest subsidy that was granted in the reign of queen Anne, when the nation was in the zenith of her glory, and retained half the powers of Europe in her pay: a sum almost double of what any former administration durst have asked: and near double of what the most sanguine calculators, who lived in the beginning of this century, thought the nation could give without the most imminent hazard of immediate bankruptcy. Of the immense supply which we have particularized, the reader will perceive that two millions three hundred forty-four thousand four hundred and eighty-six pounds, sixteen shillings and sevenpence three farthings, were paid to foreigners for supporting the war in Germany, exclusive of the money expended by the British troops in that country, the number of which amounted, in the course of the ensuing year, to twenty thousand men: a number the more extraordinary, if we consider they were all transported to that continent during the administration of those who declared in parliament (the words still sounding in our ears) that not a man, nor even half a man, should be sent from Great Britain to Germany, to fight the battles of any foreign elector. Into the expense of the German war sustained by Great Britain, we must also throw the charge of transporting the English troops; the article of forage, which alone amounted, in the course of the last campaign, to one million two hundred thousand pounds, besides pontage, waggons, horses, and many other contingencies. To the German war we may also impute the extraordinary expense incurred by the actual service of the militia, which the absence of the regular troops rendered in a great measure necessary; and the loss of so many hands withdrawn from industry, from husbandry, and manufacture. The loss sustained by this connexion was equally grievous and apparent; the advantage accruing from it, either to Britain or Hanover, we have not discernment sufficient to perceive, consequently cannot be supposed able to explain.
The committee of ways and means, having duly deliberated on the articles of supply, continued sitting from the twenty-second day of November to the fourteenth of May, during which period they established the necessary funds to produce the sums which had been granted. The land-tax at four shillings in the pound, and the malt-tax, were continued, as the standing revenue of Great Britain. The whole provision made by the committee of ways and means amounted to sixteen millions one hundred thirty thousand five hundred and sixty-one pounds, nine shillings and eightpence, exceeding the grants for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, in the sum of six hundred twenty-six thousand nine hundred ninety-seven pounds, thirteen shillings and tenpence halfpenny. This excess, however, will not appear extraordinary, when we consider that it was destined to make good the premium of two hundred and forty thousand pounds to the subscribers upon the eight million loan, as well as the deficiencies in the other grants, which never fail to make a considerable article in the supply of every session. That these gigantic strides towards the ruin of public credit were such as might alarm every well-wisher to his country, will perhaps more plainly appear in the sum total of the national debt, which, including the incumbrance of one million charged upon the civil-list revenue, and provided for by a tax upon salaries and pensions payable out of that revenue, amounted, at this period, to the tremendous sum of one hundred eight millions four hundred ninety-three thousand one hundred and fifty-four pounds, fourteen shillings and elevenpence one farthing.—A comfortable reflection this to a people involved in the most expensive war that ever was waged, and already burdened with such taxes as no other nation ever bore!
It is not at all necessary to particularize the acts that were founded upon the resolutions touching the supply. We shall only observe that, in the act for the land-tax, and in the act for the malt-tax, there was a clause of credit, empowering the commissioners of the treasury to raise the money which they produced by loans on exchequer bills, bearing an interest of four per cent, per annum, that is, one per cent, higher than the interest usually granted in time of peace. While the house of commons deliberated on the bill for granting to his majesty several duties upon malt, and for raising a certain sum of money to be charged on the said duties, a petition was presented by the maltsters of Ipswich and parts adjacent against an additional duty on the stock of malt in hand: but no regard was paid to this remonstrance; and the bill, with several new amendments, passed through both houses, under the title of “An act for granting to his majesty several duties upon malt, and for raising the sum of eight millions by way of annuities and a lottery, to be charged on the said duties: and to prevent the fraudulent obtaining of allowances in the gauging of corn making into malt; and for making forth duplicates of exchequer-bills, tickets, certificates, receipts, annuity orders, and other orders lost, burned, or otherwise destroyed.” The other three bills that turned wholly on the supply were passed in common course, without the least opposition in either house, and received the royal assent by commission at the end of the session. The first of these, entitled, “A bill for enabling his majesty to raise a certain sum of money for the uses and purposes therein mentioned,” contained a clause of approbation, added to it by instruction; and the Bank was enabled to lend the million which the commissioners of the treasury were empowered by the act to borrow, at the interest of four pounds per cent. The second, granting to his majesty a certain sum of money out of the sinking-fund, for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty, comprehended a clause of credit for borrowing the money thereby granted; and another clause, empowering the Bank to lend it without any limitation or interest; and the third, enabling his majesty to raise a certain sum of money towards discharging the debt of the navy, and for naval services during the ensuing year, enacted, that the exchequer bills thereby to be issued should not be received, or pass to any receiver or collector of the public revenue, or at the receipt of the exchequer, before the twenty-sixth day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one.