692 



BRITAIN. 



French navy to a degree of extreme insignificancy. 

 Both parties, however, hat! reason !> .I. sire peace. A 

 negotiation to this effect was opened, and in 1718, a 

 pence was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, the IXIM- of 

 which was a general restitution of conquest:,. I'elham, 

 who continued to be the chief person in administration, 

 and \vlio enjoyed an uncommon share of popularity, 

 showed himself worthy of the national support, by 

 adopting and ciuvuraging every scheme which could 

 forward the national prosperity. Under his adminis- 

 tration, trade acquired a vigour which it had never 

 formerly attained ; and, notwithstanding the enormous 

 expense which had been incurred in tile war just ter- 

 minated, and the consequent accumulation of the na- 

 tional debt, the credit of government had not been in- 

 jured. On the contrary, Pelham succeeded in redu- 

 cing the interest of the public debt, from 4 per cent., 

 first to 3.}, and afterwards to 3 per cent. The colo- 

 nization of Nova Scotia, and the alteration of the style 

 according to the Gregorian calendar, by merging the 

 eleven days between the 3d and 14th of September, 

 1752, were among the most remarkable events which 

 took place during the short interval of peace. To di- 

 minish the trade of Britain now became one of the 

 chief aims of her continental adversaries, in order to 

 enable them to renew the war with a greater proba- 

 bility of entire success. But the great object of the 

 French was to straiten the boundaries of the British 

 colonies ; and, if possible, either to wrest them from 

 the mother country, or to involve them in unavoidable 

 ruin. With a view to the execution of this purpose, 

 the French used every art to ingratiate themselves 

 with those Indian tribes by which the British settle- 

 ments in America were surrounded. Animosities 

 which, in some cases were already excited, and for 

 which there existed plausible reasons, in others were 

 inflamed into implacable resentments. To give the 

 greater efficacy to their designs, the French built forts 

 upon different parts of the inland frontiers, and took 

 every opportunity to render the situation of new 

 settlers extremely perilous. An army of experienced 

 troops was also collected, and was about to be em- 

 barked for America, where, as they had little to de- 

 fend, they must undoubtedly have intended to become 

 aggressors. But the British ministry had, for some 

 time, foreseen that war would be unavoidable, and the 

 proposed embarkation of troops seemed to be an evi- 

 dent signal for commencing hostilities. Without 

 waiting therefore till the crafty policy of 'the French 

 would have allowed them to declare war, Boscawen 

 was despatched with a fleet to the American coast, 

 where he took two French men-of-war, and chased 

 the rest of the fleet up the river St Lawrence. At 

 the same time, orders were issued for seizing the ves- 

 sels of France wherever found ; and before the end of 

 1755, about 500 of them, together with about 8,000 

 sailors, were in the possession of Britain, and before 

 the conclusion of 1757, 30,000 French seamen were 

 made prisoners. In 1755, general Braddock was sent 

 to attack the French forts upon the inland-frontiers of 

 the American settlements ; but he suffered himself to 

 be surprised by an ambuscade near Fort du Quesne. 

 General Johnson attacked the French near Crown 

 Point, on the lake Ontario, and was more successful 

 than the unfortunate Braddock. In 1758, after va- 

 rious inferior transactions, the British made themselves 

 masters of Frontenac, and Fort du Quesne, as well as of 

 Louisburg, and of the chief French settlements in 

 North America. Near Ticonderago, indeed, the Bri- 

 tish were again defeated ; but the attack made by 

 Wolfe on Quebec, in 1759, was completely successful. 

 Wolfe purchased his victory and his reputation with 

 his life ; but Monkton and Townshend, who succeeded 

 him, ably supplied his place ; and Amherst soon over- 

 ran tin- whole of Canada, and almost annihilated the 



I-'mich possessions in America. The French had not 

 confined their undermining acts of policy to America. 

 lu the East Indies also they had carefully ingratiattd 

 themselves with the native powers, and incited them 

 to engage in hostilities with the British. Their suc- 

 cess in this undertaking, however, was, if possible, 

 less than in America. The British arms under Cli\e 

 were so completely successful in every quarter, that 

 the power and influence of Britain in the East-wi n 

 more than ever extended, and the foundation laid ot 

 our magnificent empire in that quarter. The French 

 were driven from their few India possessions, and have 

 never been able to re-establish their importance in 

 that part of the world. But the exertions of the Hri- 

 tish were not equally successful in the Mediterranean. 

 Byng, with a fleet at least equal to that of the French, 

 having been encountered and defeated by G;dlis- 

 soniere, was tried for cowardice, and shot on board 

 the fleet at Portsmouth ; and general Blackney, in 

 consequence of Byng's failure, was compelled to aban- 

 don Minorca. About this time Mr Pitt was introduced 

 into the administration. This minister adopted a new 

 system of operations against France, by fitting out an 

 expedition to carry the armies of Britain into her 

 enemy's country. It sailed under Mordaunt, on the 

 8th of September, 1757, but returned without effect- 

 ing any thing ; and the French, having attacked the 

 electorate ofHanover, compelled the duke of Cum- 

 berland to sign a disgraceful capitulation. In the 

 following year his Britannic majesty entered into a 

 treaty of mutual defence with Prussia, and the Hano- 

 verian forces under the Prussian general drove the 

 enemy from their dominions. France now projected 

 another invasion of her great rival's country ; but to- 

 wards the conclusion of 1759, when the invasion was 

 to be attempted, the Toulon fleet was defeated by 

 Boscawen, and the Brest fleet by Hawke. In 1760, 

 George II. died, and was succeeded by George I1L 

 his grandson. 



When George III. succeeded to the throne, he was 

 extremely willing to procure peace to his dominions ; 

 but it was judged prudent to continue hostilities until 

 terms honourable and advantageous to the country 

 could be procured. The French were by no means 

 willing to accede to such conditions as the British 

 thought due to their success in several parts of the 

 world ; and, for the purpose of making a more for- 

 midable impression on Britain, a compact had been 

 formed among the branches of the Bourbon family, to 

 unite in carrying on the war. This rendered it neces- 

 sary to declare war against Spain : hitherto pretend- 

 ing to be neutral, but on every occasion almost openly 

 espousing the cause of France. When Spain took part 

 in the war, an invasion of Portugal from that country 

 was immediately attempted ; but, by the assistance of 

 a party of British troops, the Spanish arms were soon 

 repelled. Hostilities, in the mean time, were carried 

 on in Germany with undiminished fury, and generally 

 to the advantage of France ; but the unsuccessful ex- 

 ertions of the British upon the continent were moru 

 than compensated by their acquisitions in other quar- 

 ters of the world. They had already taken from the 

 French all their possessions on the American conti- 

 nent ; and their colonies in the West Indies now ex- 

 perienced the same fate. The French islands oi 

 Martinico, Grenada, the Grenadillas, and St Vincent, 

 were taken possession of; and the Havannah, the 

 most important West Indian fortress belonging to the 

 Spaniards, was wrested from them. The conquest of 

 Poudicherry completed the degradation of the French 

 arms in the East; and the reduction of Manilla placed 

 the Spanish possessions in a perilous state. These 

 acquisitions were important, and the enemies of Bri- 

 tain, compelled by her numerous conquests, now ac- 

 cetled to terms sufficiently advantageous to the British. 



