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or remotely operated to produce these troubles, that have involved so many parts of the world in one common distraction.

The war into which all parties and interests seem now to be so perfectly blended, arose from causes which originally had not the least connection; the uncertain limits of the English and French territories in America, and the mutual claims of the houses of Austria and Branden. bourg on the duchy of Silesia. It is no wonder that the two former powers, seizing on a country in which they considered the right of the natural inhabitants as nothing, should find it a very difficult matter to settle their own. For a long time neither of these powers were suffi. ciently acquainted with the geography of America, to enable them to ascertain the limits of their several pretensions with any tolerable exactness; nor, indeed, were these matters deemed of sufficient moment to call for a very laborious discussion. At the treaty of Utrecht, whilst so many more important interests, or what then seemed more important, were discussed, the limits of Nova Scotia, then called Acadia, were expressed only in general terms, and left to be put on a more certain footing by subsequent negotiations. These negotiations, pursued with no vigour, and drawn out into an excessive length, seemed only to increase the former confusion. After the accession of the present royal family, a French connection, perhaps necessary, from the circum. stances of the time, and afterwards a certain negligence of all affairs but those of our domestic polity, suf. fered this important point to vanish almost wholly out of our considera. tion. During this interval, our colonies on the continent of North

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America, extended themselves on every side. Whilst agriculture and the maritime commerce flourished on their coasts, the Indian trade drew several of our wandering deal. ers far into the inland country, and beyond the great mountains. Here they found themselves in a delightful climate, in a soil abundantly fruit.. ful, and watered with many fair and navigable rivers. These advan tages, joined to those of the Indian trade, appeared to compensate for its remoteness from the sea. It was judged, that as the first settlers on the coast, we had a good right to the inland country; and if so, to the navigation of the Missisippi, which opened another door to the ocean. With these views, a company of merchants and planters obtained a charter for a considerable tract of land near the river Ohio, on the western side of the Allegeney mountains, but within the province of Virginia: and the adventurers began to settle, pursuant to the terms of their patent.

Now began to shoot forth the seeds of another dispute, which had long lain unobserved, but which proved altogether as thorny and intricate as that concerning the li mits of Acadia. The French, pretending to have first discovered the mouths of the Missisippi, claimed the whole adjacent country, towards New Mexico on the east, quite to the Apalachian or Allegeney mountains on the west: they drove off the new settlers, and built a strong fort, called du Quesne, on the forks of the river Monongahela; a situa tion which commanded an entrance into all the country on the Ohio and Missisippi.

The reader will observe, that I do not pretend to decide concerning the right of either nation

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in this contest. It is evident enough, that the consideration of the right had much less influence on both parties than the consideration of conveniency. Should the French be able to unite Cañada to their colo nies at the mouth of Missisippi, by a possession of all that vast country which lies between them, the Engfish colonies must lose all share in the Indian trade in time of peace; and in time of war be exposed to continual dangers, or to the ruin. ously chargeable defence of a frontier more than 1500 miles in length. If, on the contrary, the French should fail to make good these claims on the Ohio, and those on Nova Scotia, their two colonies, entirely disunit. ed, and the entrance into one shut up for the winter season by frost, and the entrance into the other difficult in all seasons by the banks at the mouth of the Missisippi, must certainly lose all their value to France, and in their fall involve much of the fortune of their great settlements in the West Indies.

Both nations being fully persuad. ed of this, no longer looked on the affair of the Ohio as a matter of in difference: they prepared to cut the gordian knot of the long and intricate negotiation by the sword. Ships were fitted out, and some troops silently sent off from Brest. General Braddock sailed to Virgi.

nia with about 15co regular 1755- troops: 24 men of war, un der the Admirals Boscawen and Mostyn, were ordered to America, to intercept the French supplies. Orders were sent to our colonies to arm, and three operations were actually undertaken; one against Fort du Quesne, under Braddock; the other two against the French forts in Nova Scotia, and the fort of Crown Point, on the frontiers of

New York. The two courts, in the mean time, breathed. nothing but peace, and exchanged reciprocal professions of friendship and good will, which deceived neither party.

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They who are of opinion, that the passions and characters of the ruling" men influence all public concerns" as much as the public interests themselves, thought they saw other causes operating to hasten this breach. On the death of a great minister, which happened some time before, the administration was new moulded. Some persons then taken in, were considered as belonging to a party not perfectly united with the remains of the old administration. It was thought that the leading man of this party proposed to work out the old servants of the crown, in order to make way for a more uni form system. As long as peace subsists, government is supported by it self, and any change is difficult; but the conduct of a war is a thing critical to a ministry. The leader of this party, therefore, conscious of his own talents, which all men acknow ledged to be conspicuous, and of his connections, which were consi derable, warmly pushed on a war, seconded by the fairness of the pub_ lic motives, and the general voice of the people. In this war, his friends relied that things must necessarily be so embarrassed, that the old party would find themselves obliged to retire, and to leave the stage clear for them to serve their country accord ing to their own plans, and on their own terms. This design was be lieved to be pushed forward by another great man of that party, who had played a game nearly of the same kind before, and in whom an advanced age had not abated any thing of his natural fire and love of violent councils.

Things came to a crisis by the Jane ro. taking of two French men of war, by the Admirals Boscawen and Mostyn. The opera. tions by land were carried on with vigour; but whether conducted with equal judgment, we stand too near the time to decide. How.. June 16. ever, the French fort at Beausejour was taken, and soon after, those on St. John's river were abandoned; by which we remained mas. ters of all Nova Scotia. The principal expedition was that against Fort du Quesne, under General Braddock. That general, abound. ing too much in his own sense for the degree of military knowledge he possessed, commanding in a country, where he did not know, and carrying on a species of war in which he had no experience, suffered himself, when he had advanced within ten miles of Fort du Quesne, to be sur prized by an ambuscade of French and Indians. His army was July 9. seized with a panic, from the unusual appearance and horrid cries of the savages: they fled in confu. sion: they were totally defeated with a considerable slaughter, especially of their officers. The general himself, after having had five horses killed under him, was mortally wounded; wiping away all the er. rors of his conduct by an honour. able death for his country.

The nation was something consoled for this loss, in the signal advantage gained by general Johnson, who commanded the ex

Sept. 7. pedition designed against Crown Point. He was attacked in his retrenchments by the French general Dieskau; but the assailants wanting cannon, and firing from too great a distance, were totally defeated; and Dieskau himself was made prisoner. The victory, though very

honourable for Mr. Johnson, and the provincial troops under his command, yet, as it was gained late in the season, and as the army was in no very. good condition, it had no conse. quences. On the whole, we seemed, after allowing for this victory, and for the dislodgment of the French from Nova Scotia, to have had the worst part in the campaign; consi dering the sanguine expectations. which had been formed, and the great superiority of strength which we exerted, or were able to have exerted, in that part of the world.

During this summer, our court took a resolution not to wait the precarious operations of our arms in America, for redress of the griev.. ances complained of, but to strike such a blow as would at once put a security into our hands for the evacuating the places the enemy had fortified in our territories, and disable them in the two most material points; the resources of their trade, and their seamen. Their merchant ships were every where attacked, as if war had been actually declared, and vast numbers brought into our ports. The French made all Europe resound with complaints of what they called a proceeding so unjust, and a violation of the law of na. tions, so flagrant and unprecedented. But whether it was that they were really in no condition to act or that they intended to influence the other courts in their favour, by a shew of extraordinary moderation, they contented themselves with this, and neither declared war nor made any sort of reprisal for several months after. At length 1756. they began to act: several bodies of troops moved to the coasts of Picar dy, Normandy, and Britanny; and all things threatened an invasion on some part of this kingdom. Under

the

the shadow of this stratagem, they got ready in the harbour of Toulon a fleet of twelve men of war of the line with the utmost ex. April 18. pedition, which convoyed an army of about 11,000 men, under command of the Duke de Rich. lieu, to the island of Minorca. In a few days they opened April 25. trenches before St. Philip's fort.

This was done while the nation trembled under a shameful panic, too public to be concealed, too fa tal in its consequences to be ever forgotten. The real invasion did not lessen our fears of the imaginary one it threw us into a confusion that suffered us to be sensible of nothing but our own weakness. We did not look upon ourselves suffi. ciently secured by the arrival of the Hanoverian and Hessian troops, which the same weakness had in. duced us to call to our assistance. The ministry seemed to have been infected with the common terror; for though they had very early notice of the French designs, such was the apprehension of the inva. sion, or such the ill-contrived disposition of our navy, that admiral Byng was not dispatched to the Me. diterranean before the 5th of April, and then with a squadron of no more than ten ships of the line.

The engagement with the French fleet, under M. Galisso. May 12. niere; the retreat of Byng, by which the garrison of fort St. Phi. lip was cut off from all hopes of relief; the surrender of that

June 29. garrison, after nine weeks open trenches; the sentiments of the court and the public on the different merits of the governor and the admiral; the opposition of some, who thought the one too highly hopoused, and the other too severely

censured; and the measures which rather indignation at our losses and disgraces, than a cool sense of things, obliged us to take, are known to all the world. Our affairs were in such a condition, that we were driven to the expedient of a court-martial, to revive the British spirit, and to the unfortunate necessity Feb. 147 of shedding the blood of

an admiral, a person of a 1757. noble family, as a sacrifice to the discipline of our navy.

From this melancholy picture, let as turn our eyes another way, and review the steps by which this war came to involve the rest of the contending powers. The French, amongst the other plans they formed for distressing our affairs, made no secret of their design of attacking His Majesty's German dominions. These countries evidently had no sort of connection with the matters which gave rise to the war; but being under a sovereign so remarkably affectionate to his native coun try, they judged he might be terri fied into a relaxation of his rights in America, to preserve Hanover from the calamities with which it was threatened. Their politics, however, in this instance proved as unsuccessful as they were unjust. No motion was made towards an abatement in our claims with regard to America: His Majesty took other methods for the preservation of the peace of Germany. His British subjects, by their representatives, not more generously than reasonably, resolved to defend the Hanoverians,

if attacked in their quarrel. To an swer this purpose, the ministry entered into a subsidy-treaty with the Empress of Russia, in virtue of which she was to hold 55,000 men in rea. diness to be sent on a requisition wherever the British service required. B 3

The

The alliance with Russia was chosen for reasons which were then sufficiently plausible; though it is to be hoped they can never subsist again. The long ill understanding between the King of Prussia and our court, and his close connection with that of Versailles, raised no ill grounded apprehensions that he might be induced to act a dangerous part on this occasion. Russia was therefore a proper ally, who had both a political and personal enmity to this monarch, and who would be sure to employ a great power with great vigour in such a cause? But this system was in a short time totally reversed: the King of Prussia had been too well apprized of the close conjunction of the courts of Peters. bourg and Vienna, and of the real motive to that conjunction, to have the least design of embroiling him. self with England. Matters were therefore very soon explained; and the treaty between his Prussian Majesty and this court, to keep all foreigners out of the empire, was sign. ed at London in Jan, 1756. These treaties were censured as inconsistent with each other; but in reality they were consistent enough, aiming pre. cisely at the same object to oppose the scheme meditated by France for disturbing the affairs of Germany.

If, reflecting on the sentiments of these courts, there was something 'unexpected in the alliance between Great Britain and Prussia, it was soon followed by another alliance, of a nature infinitely more surpriz. ing, The Empress-Queen of Hun gary, finding England in no disposi tion to co-operate in her designs, had recourse to other measures. The house of Austria, which had for, merly united Europe to preserve her from the power of France, now en. tered herself into the most intimate

union with that power. By this extraordinary revolution, the whole political system of Europe assumed a new face; it was indeed a revolu tion so extraordinary, that we shall be justified if we interrupt the course of this narrative, to look back at the causes which produced it.

The house of Brandenbourg, a little more than two centuries ago, was in a very humble condition; but by the part she took in the Reformation, which put into her hands the estates of the Teutonic order; by a marriage, from which she ac'quired the duchy of Cleves; and by an uncommon succession of able princes, who carefully improved every turn in the affairs of Germany to their advantage, she raised herself by degrees to a considerable state, to an electorate, and at last to a roy alty, not only in name but in power. The late King of Prussia, in order to strengthen this power, though he past almost his whole reign in the most profound peace, gave his whole attention to his army. Fru gal in all other respects, in this alone he was expensive: it was his business, and what was perhaps of greater moment, it was his only diversion. Thus in a reign apparently inactive, there was always kept up Can army of near roo,ooo men, in as much exercise as they could have in peace, and formed with the most per« fect discipline. y

-When his present Majesty came to the throne, he immediately shew. .ed a disposition of employing effectually that military force which his father had spent his life only in forming and training. He managed his dispute with the bishop of Liege by the summary method of force, and seemed disposed to carry all things with so high a hand, as made him indeed much respected, but

much