ENGLAND. 
71(5 
for impeachment; the latter, either foured by difappoint- 
xnenf, or incited by ambition, only wifhed his removal. 
To the whigs, therefore, Walpole applied, and was wal¬ 
ling to grant them that power they aimed at; in return 
for which he only demanded impunity. The offer was 
accepted ; their tory friends were abandoned ; and a 
breach thusenfuing, nearly the fame oppofitibn continued 
again!! the new miniftry that had obtained againft the 
old. The place of chancellor of the exchequer was be¬ 
llowed on Mr. Sandys; lord Harrington was declared 
prefident of the council ; and lord Carteret became fe- 
cretary of fate. Mr. Pulteney was fworn of the privy 
Council, and afterwards created earl of Bath. A recon¬ 
ciliation between the king and the prince of Wales alfo 
took place ; and the change in the adminiftration was ce¬ 
lebrated all over Great Britain. 
The war with Spain had now continued for feveral 
years, but was attended with no great glory nor advantage 
to England. Some unfuccefsful expeditions had been car¬ 
ried on in the 'Vyefl Indies, under admiral Vernon, com¬ 
modore Knowles, and others. Thefe had for fome time 
difgufted the nation by their unfkilful operations at fea, 
and taught them to wifti for better fortune on land. The 
people were ripe for renewing their victories in Flanders, 
and the king delire'd nothing with fo much ardour. It 
was refolved, therefore, to fend a powerful army into the 
Netherlands, to decide the quarrels that were beginning 
on the continent; and immenfe triumphs were expedited 
from fuch an undertaking, which the king refolved to 
conduct in perfon. An army of fixteen thoufand men 
was in confequence tranfported to Flanders ; and the war 
with Spain became but an objeCt of fecondary con(ideration. 
The origin of thofe dilfenfions on the continent had 
arifen from the felfifli views or ambition of the bellige¬ 
rent powers. After the duke of Orleans, who had been 
regent of France, died, cardinal Fleury undertook to fet¬ 
tle the great confufion in which that luxurious prince 
had left the kingdom. His moderation and prudence 
were equally confpictious ; and under him France repair¬ 
ed her Ioffes, and enriched herfelf by commerce. Dur¬ 
ing the long interval of peace which this minifter’s coun- 
lels had procured for Europe, two powers, till now of 
little importance, began to attract the notice and jealoufy 
of the neighbouring nations. Peter the Great had already, 
civilifed Ruflia; and this newly-created extenfive empire 
began to influence the councils of other nations, and to 
give laws to the north. The other power that came in¬ 
to notice was that of the king of Prullia, whofe domi¬ 
nions were populous, and whofe forces were highly dif- 
ciplined and ready for adtion. The other ffates were 
but little prepared for renewing the war. The empire 
remained under the government of Charles VI.-who had 
been placed upon the throne by the treaty of Utrecht. 
Sweden continued to languid), not being recovered from 
the deftrudlive projedts of her hero Charles XII. Den¬ 
mark w'as powerful, but inclined to peace ; and part of 
Italy ftill remained fnbjedt to thofe princes who had been 
impofed upon it by foreign treaties. 
All thefe feveral ffates continued to enjoy a profound ‘ 
peace, until the death of Auguftus, king of Poland, 
which kindled a frefli flame in Europe. The emperor, 
allifted by Ruflia, declared for the eledtor of Saxony, fon 
of the deceafed king. On the other hand, I'rance de¬ 
clared for Staniflaus, who had been nominated king of 
the Poles by Charles of Sweden, and w'hofe daughter the 
the French king had married. In order to forward his 
pretenffons, Staniflaus repaired to Dantzic, where the 
people gladly received him. But his triumph was fhort; 
ten thoufand Ruffians appearing before the place, the 
Polifh nobility difperfed, and Staniflaus was clofelv be- 
fieged. But though the city was taken, the king efcaped 
by night ; and fifteen hundred men which had been lent 
to his afliffance, were made prifoners of war. France, 
'however, refolved to fupporthis caufe; and this, it was 
thought would be moft effectually done by diftrefling 
the Auftrians. The views of France were fecondcd by 
Spain and Sardinia, both having hopes to grow more 
powerful by a divifion of the fpoils of Auftria. A French 
army, therefore, foon over-ran the empire, under the con¬ 
duct of old marfhal Villars ; while the duke of Monte- 
mar, the general of Spain, was equally victorious in the 
kingdom of Naples. Thus the emperor had the mortifi¬ 
cation to fee his own dominions ravaged, and a great part 
of' Italy torn from him, only for having attempted to 
give a king to Poland. Thefe rapid fucceffes of France 
and her allies, foon compelled the emperor to fue for 
peace. It was accordingly granted him; but Staniflaus, 
upon whofe account the war begun, was negleCted in the 
treaty. It was ftipulated that he fhould renounce all 
claim to the crown of Poland ; for which the emperor 
gratified France with the duchy of Lorraine, and fome 
other valuable territories. 
The emperor dying in 1740, the French began to think 
this a favourable opportunity for extending their ambi¬ 
tion. Regardlefs of treaties, particularly that called the 
Pragmatic SanClion, by which the reverfion of all the 
late emperor’s dominions was fettled upon his daughter, 
they procured the eleCtor of Bavaria to be crowned em¬ 
peror. Thus the queen of Hungary, daughter of the 
emperor Charles VI. faw herfelf Itripped of her inherit¬ 
ance, defected by all Europe, and without any hopes of 
fuccour. She had fcarcely clofed her father’s eyes, 
when ffie loft Silefia, by an irruption of the young king 
of Pruffia, who feized the opportunity of her defencelefs 
ftate to renew his ancient pretenfions to that province, 
of which it muff be owned his anceftors had been unjuitly 
deprived. France, Saxony, and Bavaria, attacked the 
reft of her dominions ; while England was the only ally 
that feemed likely to efpoufe her caufe. Sardinia and 
Holland foon after came to her afliffance, and, laft of all, 
Ruflia acceded to the union in her behalf. 
It may be aflced, what reafon Britain had to intermed¬ 
dle in thefe continental fchemes 1 It can only be anfwered, 
that the interefts of Hanover, and the fecurity of that 
electorate, depended upon nicely balancing the different 
powers of the empire; and the Englilh miniftry were 
willing to gratify the king. Lord Carteret, who now 
held that place in the royal confidence which Walpole 
had formerly poffeffed, by thefe meafures foothed the 
wilhes of his mafter, and opened a more extenfive field 
for his own ambition. He expected to receive honour 
from victories which he feemed certain of obtaining; 
and was eager to adopt meafures which would engage 
the martial fpirit of the nation. When the parliament 
met, his majefty began by informing them of his ftridt 
adherence to engagements; and that he had fent a body 
of Englifti forces into the Netherlands, which he had 
augmented by fixteen thoufand Hanoverians, to make a 
diverfion upon the dominions of France, in favour of the 
queen 'of Hungary. When the fupplies came to be con- 
(idered, by which this additional number of Hanoverian 
troops was to be paid, it produced moft violent debates 
in both houfes of parliament. It was confidered as an im- 
pofition upon the nation, as an attempt to pay foreign 
troops for fighting their own battles; and the miniftry 
were preffed by their own arguments againft fuch mea¬ 
fures before they came into power. They were not 
aftlamed, however, boldly to defend the meafure ; and 
at length, by the ftrength of numbers, carried their point. 
But however thefe continental meafures might have been 
fuppofed to injure the real interefts of the nation, they 
ferved effectually to retrieve the queen of Hungary’s 
affairs. She foon began to turn the fcale of vidtory on 
her fide. The French w'ere driven out of Bohemia. 
Her general, prince Charles of Lorraine, at the head of a 
large army, invaded the dominions of Bavaria. Her ri¬ 
val, the nominal emperor, was obliged to fly before her; 
and, abandoned by his allies, and ftripped even of his 
hereditary dominions, retired to Frankfort, where he 
lived in obfuirity. 
The 
