72 S E • N G I 
the fame time againd the ifland of Belleifle, fituated op- 
pofite the harbour of Vannes on the coad of Bretagne. 
The ifland was defended by a drong fortrefs, condructed 
by the famous Vauban, near the town of Palais. On the 
fird difembarkment of the troops, they met with a very 
fevere repulfe, being compelled precipitately to retreat, 
with the lofs of near five hundred men. But the Englifii 
commanders, fecure of the zeal and ardour of their troops, 
determined to make another effort, which was attended 
with happier fuccefs; and a body of marines and grena¬ 
diers, making good their landing on the craggy point of 
Lomeria, fuffained their pofition with wonderful intre¬ 
pidity againd a very fuperior force, till joined by the re¬ 
maining troops, amounting to eight or ten thoufand men. 
M. de St. Croix, the French commander, then recalled 
his detachments, and prepared for a vigorous defence of 
the citadel, the avenues to which he had fortified with 
fix additional redoubts, which, with much effufion of 
blood, were fuccedively attacked and carried by the Eng- 
lifh, who now urged, with the molt perfevering ardour, 
the liege of the citadel. On the 7th of June, a practi¬ 
cable breach being made, and a general affault appre¬ 
hended on the part of M. de St. Croix, that officer de¬ 
manded a capitulation, which was granted on the mod 
honourable conditions. Thus, at the expence of two 
thoufand lives, and an enormous fum expended in naval 
and military preparations, the Englifii achieved the con- 
qued of a barren rock, affording no produce excepting 
the laurels of victory. 
At the termination of the fuccefsful campaign of 1759, 
overtures had been made, as mentioned in the fpeech from 
the throne, by the kings of Great Britain and Pruffiato the 
courts of Vienna and Verfailles, for a general accommoda¬ 
tion of differences, which did not appear wholly unaccept¬ 
able ; and it was agreed to open a general congrefs at Augf- 
burg. Various caufes of delay, however, concurred to 
prevent the execution of this project, and the court of Vi¬ 
enna was not yet prepared to relinquifh its claim to Silefia. 
But the enfuing campaign of 1760 proving very dilaflrous 
to France, whole finances were reduced to a date of the 
molt diftreffing derangement, the French ambaffador refi- 
dent at Stockholm delivered a declaration to the Swedifli 
monarch in February 1761, importing his fovereign’s ear¬ 
ned delire to adopt effectual meafures for refioring the 
peace of Europe ; and that in concerting with his allies a 
general plan of pacification, he was difpofed abundantly 
to difplay his moderation whenever Great Britain fhould 
be inclined to acquiefce in reafonable terms. In the 
month of March, a memorial was tranfmitted from the 
due de Choifeul, prime minider of France, to Mr. Secre¬ 
tary Pitt, fignifying the firm determination of his mod 
Chridian majedy fo to aid in concert with his allies at the 
future congrefs, as to demondrate his fincere difpolition 
to promote the intereds of humanity, and redore the 
peace of Europe. His mod Chridian majedy exprefl'ed 
his defire “ that the particular accommodation between 
France and England fhould be united with the general 
pacification of Europe ; but as the objeids of the war be¬ 
tween thefe two powers were totally foreign to the dif- 
putes in Germany, he thought it would be previoufly 
necefiary to agree with his Britannic majedy upon certain 
principal points which fhould form the bafis of their par¬ 
ticular negociation.” Thefe advances were favourably 
received, and Mr. Pitt wrote an immediate anfwer to the 
due de Choifeul, exprefling his Britannic majedy’s fin- 
cere defire to correfpond with the pacific fentiments of 
the mod Chridian king; and propoling that miniders 
duly authorifed (hould be immediately appointed at the 
refpeiSJive courts of Verfailles and London, to enter upon 
this-negociation ; and, in the month of May, Mr. Stanley 
repaired to Paris on the part of the king of England, and 
M. Buffiy was received in the fame manner from the court 
of France, at St. James’s. The indrmSfions of M. BufTy 
were to adhere to the uti poJJidetis, as the bafis of the nego¬ 
ciation ; to demand an explanation of his Britannic ma- 
< A N D. 
jedy’s fentiments touching the dales or eras at which the 
propofal fhould take place : and in the conferences which 
enfued, the French rrfinider continued to prefs the fpeci- 
fication of thofe dates. But the Englifh minider evaded 
the difeufiion of this point until the lurrender of the cita¬ 
del of Belleifle : and then a declaration was made in ex¬ 
plicit terms, that the fird of July, the find of September, 
and the fird of November, fhould be the edablifhed eras 
in Europe, the Wed Indies, and the Ead Indies ; after 
which all the conqfieds made on either fide fltould be 
mutually redored ; that the preliminaries agreed upon 
between the two crowns fhould be conclufive and obliga¬ 
tory, independent of the negotiations of Augfburg for fet¬ 
tling the peace of Germany. After the interchange of 
many memorials chiefly refpefting the compenfations to 
be made for the deviations propofed from the original 
principle or bafis of the uti poJJidetis , France profeffed her 
willirig’nefs to cede and guaranty Canada to the crown of 
England, on condition of her being admitted to a partici¬ 
pation, as formerly, of the cod-fifhery on the banks of 
Newfoundland; and infiditig alfo upon the reditution of 
the ifland of Cape Breton, as an equivalent for which 
France confented to a renewal of tiie article in the trea¬ 
ties of Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle, for the demolition 
of the harbour and works of Dunkirk ; that in lieu of 
the illand of Minorca, England diould redore Guada- 
loupe and Marigalante ; and that in confideration of the 
reditution of Belleifle and Senegal, or Goree, France 
would evacuate her conqueds in Germany. Touching 
the captures made by England at fea previous to the de¬ 
claration of war, his mod Chridian majedy declared that 
“ he would gladly fubmit to the jtidice of the king of 
England, and the determination of the Englifh courts of 
judicature ; that f'ubjebls trading under the faith of trea¬ 
ties, and the protedtion of the law of nations, ought not 
to futfer from the mifunderdandings which may arife in 
the cabinets of princes, before thofe mifunderdandings 
are publicly known; that the practice of declaring war 
was edabliihed by the law of nations as effential to the 
general fafety ; that no feizure made or prize taken ante¬ 
rior to fuch declaratiomcould be deemed legal, without 
violating the mod facred of human inditutions ; that no 
fort of affinity fubfided between hodilities committed on 
the Ohio and fhips taken in the Wed Indies; that fuch 
hodilities might indeed be alleged as jud motives for de¬ 
claring war, but the effefts of that declaration ought not 
to precede the declaration itlelf; and that it would be 
the height of injudice thus to involve innocent indivi¬ 
duals, ignorant of the dilputesof monarchs, or the affairs 
of nations, in the depth of didrefs and ruin, by the indif- 
criminate confiication of their property.” Together 
with this memorial, M. de Buffiy delivered to the Englifh 
minider another of a very extraordinary nature, import¬ 
ing that the difputes fubfiding between England and 
Spain gave his mod Chridian majedy caufe to apprehend 
a new war in Europe and America, unlefs they could be 
now adjuded ; that his Catholic majedy had communi¬ 
cated to the court of Verfailles the chief points of difeuf- 
fion, namely, the reditufion of fome fhips taken in the 
courfeof the war under Spanilh colours, the liberty claim¬ 
ed by the Spanidt nation to fifh on the banks of New¬ 
foundland, and the fettlements made by the Englifh on 
the Spanifh territories in the bay of Honduras. His mod 
Chridian majedy therefore defirqd that thefe differences 
might be amicafeiy terminated, and that the king of Spain 
fhould be invited to guaranty the treaty between the two 
crowns; becaufe, if thefe diderences were the means of 
kindling a new war, the.mod Chridian king would be 
obliged to perform his engagements to his allies. 
Thefe memorials were accompanied with a third decla¬ 
ration, fignifying that the enq ref's queen of Audria had 
confented to a feparate peace between England and 
France, on thefe terms only ; that FVance fhould for her 
benefit keep poffiellion of the countries conquered in her 
name, and as her ally, from the king of Pruflia; and that 
the 
