BRITAIN. 



631 



inlain. 



!.;,:. II 



fearless securky, to less than ten miles of Fort du 

 Quesne, without reconnoitring, he was saluted, in 

 the midst of a pathless swamp, by a fire in his front 

 and flank, from a concealed enemy. Too high spi- 

 rited to think of retreating, he gave directions to the 

 few brave men \vlio kept beside him to form and ral- 

 ly, and advance according to the regular rules of 

 war. hi this condition he remained, giving orders 

 with great composure, while his officers fell thick 

 around him, till he fell dead by the shot of a musket. 

 The main body of his troops had fiedL, and their 

 retreat was covered by the provincials, under Major 

 Washington, whom he had so much despised. All 

 the artillery, ammunition, and baggage of the army, 

 were left to the enemy, and seven hundred men were 

 lost ; the; rest retreated to Philadelphia. 



On the death of Braddock, the chief command de- 

 volved upon General Shirley, who formed a plan for 

 the reduction of the important fortresses of Crown 

 Point and Niagara, erected by the French on the 

 banks of the lakes Charaplain and Ontario. The 

 troops, destined for this service, arrived at the place 

 of rendezvous late in the summer, and were, soon af- 

 ter the commencement of their march, attacked in 

 their camp by Baron Dieskau, the French comman- 

 der, who was repulsed with great loss. General 

 Johnson, however, found himself, after this bloody 

 encounter, too much weakened to proceed in his ex- 

 pedition, and retreated to Albany. Thither, also, 

 General Shirley returned ; the purposed enterprise 

 against Niagara being deferred till the next cam- 

 paign. 



While the operations of the English were thus 

 languid and unsuccessful, the French, under General 

 Montcalm, captured Oswego, though strongly gar- 

 risoned and plentifully provided. In the succeeding 

 year, 1 757, they laid siege to the important post of 

 Fort William Henry, and captured it in six days. 

 By this conquest the French obtained the command 

 of the extensive and magnificent chain of lakes, which 

 connects the rivers St Lawrence and Mississippi. 

 A^d thus disgracefully terminated the third cam- 

 paign of the American war, in which the French, 

 with a very inferior force, had maintained an uniform 

 sup'.-riority ; and, in the course of which, no advan- 

 tage had been gained by the English, except the 

 expulsion of the French from Nova Scotia, by the 

 vigorous exertions of Colonel Moncton, assisted by a 

 body of the provincials, raised by the Massachusset as- 

 sembly. 



Some atonement for these disasters in America, 

 was found iii the captures which the English made 

 :it >ta. Letters of reprisal had been issued by the 

 English court, as early as 1755, before a regular de- 

 claration of war, and i>00 merchantmen, for the most 

 part unsuspicious of danger, had fallen into their hands. 

 The French complained of this breach of public 

 honour, with some reason ; not that their own hostile 

 intentions were to be doubted, but because the cere- 

 mony of declaring war was easy, and should have 

 been observed. The truth was, that British minis- 

 ters fluctuated between peace and war. An oppo- 

 sition had arisen, which weakened and distracted 

 them the opposition of Mr Pitt and Mr Legge to 

 the measures of the court. Mr Pitt declared that 



the whole system and scheme of politics was absurd. 

 Already alliances had been made, by which one half 

 of the continent was subsidised, for the sole purpose 

 of defending Hanover. The Prince of Hcisc Cassel 

 was to hold in readiness 12,000 men for that purpose; 

 and Russia was paid to maintain 55,000 horse and 

 foot for the same object. But, by adopting Prussia 

 as an ally, the aid of Russia was virtually lost to 

 Britain. The Empress Elizabeth sided with France, 

 when she saw his Britannic majesty sign a treaty 

 with Frederick. Mr Pitt and Mr Legge deprecated 

 this whole system of continental connections ; a sy- 

 tem which, the former statesman declared, would, ift 

 a short time, cost us more than the fee simple of the 

 electorate was worth ; and he ardently wished to 

 break those fetters which chained us, like Prome- 

 theus, to that barren rock. 



These declarations were immediately followed by 

 the dismission of Mr Pitt and Mr Legge from their 

 respective employments. Mr Henry Fox, after these 

 changes, accepted of the seals. The administration 

 was new modelled in other respects ; but, though led 

 by the talents of Fox, it was still divided and unpo- 

 pular. The first efforts of the cabinet were directed 

 to ward off a blow which France threatened when 

 the war commenced, namely, the invasion of the 

 island ; and in these their conduct neither gave con- 

 fidence, nor gained popularity. Instead of adopting 

 a broad and patriotic plan of defence, that of arming 

 the people to defend themselves, they grasped on all 

 hands for mercenary aid, and 10,OOD Hanoverians 

 were brought over to defend ten million of English- 

 men. While the nation and ministry were thus fear- 

 fully watching the preparations at Dunkirk and 

 Brest, a formidable fleet was equipped at Toulon, 

 which at last sailed to attack Minorca. When its 

 destination was notorious, a squadron of ten ships of 

 the line was dispatched under Admiral Byng, with 

 orders to relieve Minorca, or, at any rate, to throw 

 a body of troops into the garrison. Byng, with a 

 fleet which, though inferior to the French, would 

 yet have been led to battle, and probably to victory, 

 by a spirited commander, had a partial engagement 

 with, and suffered them to escape. He returned 

 home without accomplishing the relief of Minorca, 

 was brought to trial, and perished by the sentence 

 of a court-martial. By one half of the nation his 

 fate was regarded as a terrible, but necessary ex- 

 ample ; by the other half he was considered, as 

 he styles himself, not without appearance of rea- 

 son, a victim, destined to divert t&B indignation and 

 resentment of an injured and deluded people. Not- 

 withstanding the sacrifice of this victim, the 1 natioa 

 exhibited symptoms of the highest dissatisfaction 

 at the conduct of the administration, under whose 

 guidance nothing but disaster had occurred. The 

 Duke of Newcastle and Mr F>x, finding the tide 

 of popularity set strongly against them, determined, 

 by a timely resignation, to avoid a compulsive dis- 

 mission. In November 1756, Mr Pitt was appoint- 

 ed principal secretary of state, and Mr Legge re- 

 instated in his post of chancellor of the exchequer. 

 Yet, with all the popularity of the principal charac- 

 ters of this ministry, it soon became impossible to 

 conceal, that the higher parts of it were in a convnl- 



Gcnm-.r. II. 



Change in 

 administra- 

 tion. 



Threati of 

 an inva- 

 sion. 



Admiral 

 Byng shot. 



Change of 

 administra- 

 tion. 

 November. 



