CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



and at Kennington Common. For the merciless- 

 ness of his treatment of the conquered, Cumber- 

 land was called ' The Butcher.' Various measures 

 were also passed by parliament for completing the 

 subjugation of the Highlands ; among these being 

 acts prohibiting the use of tartan, and abolishing 

 the tenure of ward-holdings, by which landed pro- 

 prietors commanded, in peace and war, the personal 

 services of those who lived on their estates. 



PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 



During the remainder of the war in which 

 Britain and other powers were now engaged with 

 France, the latter was generally successful by 

 land, and unfortunate at sea ; the contrary being 

 the case with Britain. In 1748, the two countries 

 agreed, by a treaty formed at Aix-la-Chapellc, 

 mutually to restore their respective conquests, and 

 to go back to almost exactly the same condition in 

 which they stood before the war. 



COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES OF BRITAIN 

 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 



For several years after this period, the national 

 resources underwent rapid improvement The 

 ablest minister who immediately followed Walpole, 

 was the Honourable Henry Pelham, First Lord 

 of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 whose commercial and financial schemes were 

 usually very successful. Since the reign of 

 Elizabeth, the British had been active in planting 

 and rearing colonies, of which a considerable 

 number now existed in the West Indies and in 

 North America. The East India Company had 

 also obtained large possessions in Hindustan, 

 which proved the source of great wealth to Britain. 

 The exclusive spirit in which Britain managed 

 the commerce of those territories provoked the 

 cupidity of the French, who commenced a system 

 of aggression both in India and North America. 

 The British government submitted to this for a 

 short time, but at length, in 1756, it was determined 

 to declare war. At first the French, who had 

 drawn a chain of forts along the back settlements 

 of the American colonies, were successful. But, 

 on the accession of the celebrated William Pitt 

 (afterwards Earl of Chatham) to the office of 

 Secretary of State, a more auspicious era com- 

 menced. One after another, the French forts 

 fell into the hands of the British troops, and a 

 diversion was created by an attack upon Canada. 

 In September 1759, General Wolfe, whose powers 

 were first recognised by Pitt, reduced the town 

 and fort of Quebec, though he himself fell in the 

 moment of victory, and the whole colony soon 

 after submitted to the British arms. 



Meanwhile, Colonel Clive, an officer of the 

 East India Company, who, although he had pre- 

 viously had no military training, developed rapidly 

 into a great general and statesman, had been 

 equally successful in the East Indies. He had 

 destroyed the French settlement at Pondicherry, 

 thereby securing to his country the whole coast of 

 Coromandel ; and by a decisive victory at Plassy 

 (June 23, 1757), over a combination of French and 

 native forces, he made the Company the lords of 

 Bengal, and laid the foundation of the great terri- 

 torial power which the British have since acquired 

 in Hindustan. 



160 



While Britain was thus successful in two remote 

 quarters of the world, she experienced a different 

 fortune in Europe. Austria, Russia, and Poland 

 had combined with France against the new and 

 rising power of Prussia, which was at present 

 directed by Frederick II. commonly called Fred- 

 erick the Great. Britain, on this occasion, became 

 the ally of the Prussian monarch, not from any 

 regard to her own interests, but in order that the 

 king might be able to protect his Hanoverian 

 dominions. Immense sums of money were raised 

 for the purpose of paying the troops of those coun- 

 tries which the king was anxious to defend ; and 

 the Duke of Cumberland was appointed their 

 commander. This prince was so unfortunate 

 (September 1757) as to bring an army of 40,00x3 

 men into an angular piece of country, from which 

 there was no escaping, so that the whole were 

 obliged to lay down their arms to the French, who 

 then became masters of Hanover. Notwithstand- 

 ing this failure on the part of his ally, Frederick 

 was able, by his extraordinary military genius, 

 and by British subsidies, to defend his dominions 

 for several years against all the forces that Austria, 

 France, and Russia could bring against him. In 

 the midst of this war (October 25, 1760), George 

 II. died suddenly, in the seventy-seventh year of 

 his age, and was succeeded by his grandson 

 GEORGE III. then only in his twenty-third year. 



MISCELLANEOUS CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED 

 WITH THE REIGN OF GEORGE II. 



One of the leading domestic events of the reign 

 of George II. was the rise of the religious sect 

 called Methodists. The name was first given in 

 ridicule, it is said, to some young members of the 

 university of Oxford, who were noted, in a time 

 in which there was little religious fervour, for their 

 rigidly decorous life, their religious devotions, and 

 their habit of visiting the sick. The chief among 

 them were John and Charles Wesley and George 

 Whitefield. The last, by his earnest eloquence, 

 which was aided by a singularly fine voice, did a 

 great deal for the spread and success of the move- 

 ment by open-air meetings. The Methodists, who 

 were at first much ridiculed, have now become a 

 large body, and although originally within the 

 pale of the Church of England, tuxve separated 

 from it. 



Newspapers first acquired political importance 

 in this reign. They originated in the time of the 

 Commonwealth, but none of a regular periodical 

 nature appeared till after the Restoration, when a 

 busy writer, named Roger L'Estrange, established 

 in London a weekly one called The Public Intelli- 

 gencer. Till the Revolution, such small and un- 

 important newspapers as existed were trammelled 

 by a licensing power and censorship. When these 

 restrictions were removed, newspapers increased 

 in number, till, in 1709, they were again restricted 

 by the imposition of a penny-stamp. The influ- 

 ence which newspapers were calculated to have 

 over the public mind was first recognised by Sir 

 Robert Walpole, who, while he never thought of 

 giving the least encouragement to literature on its 

 own account, liberally pensioned various editors 

 who supported his government. About the begin- 

 ning of this reign, there were in London one daily 

 paper, fifteen three times a week, and one twice a 

 week, besides a few country papers. A monthly 



