ENGLAND. , 231 



came the general opinion in England, that peace was necessary to 

 save the duke and his army from total destruction. 



The preliminaries for peace were signed in April 1748, and a 

 definitive treaty was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in October ; the 

 basis of which was the restitution, on both sides, of all places taken 

 during the war. 



A new treaty of commerce was also signed at Madrid, between 

 Great Britain and Spain. 



In consequence ot the encroachments of the French, who had built 

 forts on our back settlements in America, and the dispositions they 

 made for sending over vast bodies of veteran troops to support those 

 encroachments, admiral Boscawen was ordered, in April 1755, to sail 

 with eleven ships of the line, besides a frigate and two regiments, to 

 the Banks of Newfoundland, where he came up with, and took two 

 French men of war ; the rest of their fleet escaping up the river St. 

 Laurence, by the Straits of Belleisle. Orders were also issued for 

 making general reprisals in Europe as well as in America ; and that 

 all the French ships, whether outward or homeward bound, should be 

 stopped, and brought into British ports. These orders were so effec- 

 tual, that, before the end of the year 1755, above 500 of the richest 

 French merchant ships, and above 8000 of their best sailors, were 

 brought into the kingdom. 



In July 1755 general Braddock, who had been injudiciously sent 

 from England to attack the French, and reduce the forts on the Ohio, 

 was defeated and killed, by falling into an ambuscade of the French 

 and Indians near Fort du Quene (now called Fort Pitt, or Pittsburg) 

 but major-general Johnson defeated a body of French near Crown 

 Point, of whom he killed about 1000. 



In proportion as the spirits of the public were elevated by the for- 

 midable armaments which were prepared for carrying on the war, 

 they were depressed by the intelligence that the French had landed 

 1 1,000 men in Minorca, to attack Fort St. Philip ; that admiral Byng, 

 who had been sent out with a squadron at least equal to that of the 

 French, had been baffled, if not defeated, by their admiral Gallis- 

 soniere ; and that at last Minorca was surrendered by general Blake- 

 ney. The public outcry was such, that the king gave up Byng to 

 public justice, and he was shot at Portsmouth for not doing all that 

 was in his power against the enemy. 



About this time Mr. Pitt was placed, as secretary of state, at the 

 head of administration. The miscarriages in the Mediterranean had 

 no consequence but the loss of Fort St. Philip, which was more than 

 repaired by the vast success of the English privateers, both in Eu- 

 rope and America. The successes of the English in the East Indies, 

 under colonel Clivc, are almost incredible. He defeated Suraja 

 Dowla, nabob of Bengal, Bahar, and Orixa, and placed Jaffier Ally 

 Cawn in the ancient seat of the nabobs of those provinces. Suraja 

 Dowla, who was in the French interest, a few days after his being 

 defeated, was taken by the new nabob, Jaffier Ally Cawn , s son, and 

 put to death. This event laid the foundation of the great extent of 

 territory which the English now possess in the East Indies. 



Mr. Pitt introduced into the cabinet a new system of operations 

 against France, than which nothing could be better calculated to re- 

 store the spirits of his countrymen, and to alarm their enemies. Far 

 from dreading an invasion, he planned an expedition for carrying the 

 arms of England into France itself; and the descent was to be made 



