ENG] 
aTfo By a Ifrml'ar majority. And in juftice to the earl of 
Bute, the impartiality of hiffory will acknowledge, that 
this famous peace, fo much and fo long the fufcjeCt of 
declamation and inveftive, was in faff liable to no folid 
or ferious exception. The mod plaufible objection to 
the treaty was the Cc (lion of the ifland of St. Lucie to 
France ; the importance of which, from its fituation and 
excellent harbour, feems indeed to have been better un¬ 
derstood by the French than tire Engliffi negotiators. 
Mr. Pitt had pofitively refuted, in his negociation with 
M. Bully, to cede St. Lucie to France. 
By this treaty the entire province of Canada was ceded 
and guaranteed to the Englilh, with all that part of 
Louifiana which is fituated to the eaft of the great river 
Miflillippi, together with Cape Breton, and the other 
iflands in the gulf and l iver of St. Laurence. In the Weft 
Indies, the ifland of Grenada, and the Grenadines, were 
ceded to England, in full right; alfo, of the neutral 
iflands, Dominique, St. Vincent’s, and Tobago. In 
Africa, Senegal with its dependencies is guaranteed to 
England. In the Eaft Indies, his moft Chriftian majefty 
acknowledges Mahomed Aly Khan, as nabob of the Car¬ 
natic^ and Salabat Zing, as fubah of the Decan; re¬ 
nouncing all acquifitions made on the coaft of Coromandel 
fince the year 1749, and engaging not to ere< 5 t fortifica¬ 
tions in any part of the kingdom of Bengal. See the ar¬ 
ticle Hindoostan. In Europe, he agrees to reftore Mi¬ 
norca in the fame condition as when conquered by the 
arms of the molt Chriftian king. He contents that the 
harbour and fortifications of Dunkirk (hall be demoliftted. 
Finally, he ftipulates that the territories belonging to the 
eleftor of Hanover, the landgrave of Hefte, &c. now oc¬ 
cupied by the armies of France, (hall be evacuated, to¬ 
gether with the fortredes of Cleves, Wefel, Gueldres,. 
&c. belonging to the king of Pruffia ; and the two mo. 
narchs of France and England engage not to furnifh fuc- 
cours of any kind to their refpedtive allies in Germany. 
The difficult qtieftion relative to the validity of the prizes 
captured before the declaration of war, is palled over in 
profound and difcreet (ilence.. 
The king of Spain, on his part, cedes and guarantees 
in full right to England, the Euftern and Weftern Flo- 
ridas, and in general all tjtat Spain poftelfes on the conti¬ 
nent of America, to the eaft or to the fouth-eaft of the 
Miflillippi; in confequence of which important ceffion, 
in conjunction with that of the eaftern part of Louifiana, 
and the entire province of Canada, an immenfe country, 
capable of unlimited improvement, and bounded by a 
line of demarcation the moft clear and definite, was gained 
to the empire of Britain. His Catholic majefty alfo re- 
linquifhes, for himfelf and his fuccelfors, all pretenfions 
which he may have formed to the right of filhing on the 
banks of Newfoundland. He confirms and eftablifties for 
ever the privilege or indulgence enjoyed by the Englilh 
of cutting logwood on the coaft of Honduras, ftipulating 
only, that no fortifications (hall be ereCted upon the ter¬ 
ritorial dominions of Spain. Finally, his Catholic 1 ma¬ 
jefty engages entirely to evacuate, on the exchange of the 
ratifications of the treaty, all the lands, cities, and caftles, 
belonging to his moft Faithful majefty the king of Por¬ 
tugal, in the fame condition they were in when conquered 
by the,arms of Spain. 
In return for thefe great and important ceffions, Great 
Britain engages to reftore to France, in Europe, the ifland 
of Belleille ; in Africa, the ifland of Goree ; in the Weft 
Indies, the iflands of Guadaioupe, Martinique, and St. 
Lucie; in the Eaft Indies, Pondicherry, and Chanderna- 
gore. The right of France to fi(h on the banks of New¬ 
foundland is recognifed ; and the (mail iflands of St. Pierre 
and Miquelon are ceded as a (belter for the fifhermen. 
The fortrefs of the Hnvannah, and the other acquifitions 
of England, without referve, including the recent and 
as yet unafcertained conqueft of the Manillas, are reftored 
to Spain. 
A great obftacle to the conclufion of the treaty had 
.AND. 735 
been removed by the alteration which had taken place in 
the politics of England refpeCting the king of Pruffia, and 
in the beneficial change in the fituation of that monarch, 
who had now concluded a peace with Ruffia and Sweden,, 
and to whom notice had been already given, that the 
annual fubfidy treaty would be no more renewed. The 
territories of Pruffia occupied by the French being eva¬ 
cuated, that monarch had, however, upon the face of the 
treaty of Fontainebleau, no juft ground of complaint, his 
native force being equal to his own defence againft the 
honfe of Auftria; or, if it were not, England was under 
no obligation further to exhauft her treafures in order to 
defend him. Both parties being, however, weary of a war 
which had been fo long continuedwith alternate lofs apd 
advantage, they loon came to terms of accommodation. 
Although the peace of Fontainebleau was almoft uni- 
verfally unpopular in the nation at large, the decided 
approbation of the parliament feemed to enfure the per¬ 
manency of the minifter’s power; and the real intrinfic 
merits of the treaty, with the beneficial confequences 
neceflarily refulting from the reftoration of peace, might 
reafonably be fuppofed gradually to conciliate the minds 
of the public. But other caufes of diffatisfadtion arofe„ 
which heightened almoft; to phrenfy the popular odruna 
againft the minifter, and converted the national ebullitions 
of difcontent into a temped of fadtion. 
In the courfe of the fellion it was found neceflary, the 
increafing expence of the war having left an immenfe 
arrear of debt, to negociate a new loan to a very large 
amount; for difcharging the intereft of which, amongft 
other taxes, a duty was moved by the chancellor of the 
exchequer of four (hillings upon every hogftiead of cider, 
to be paid by the maker, and with certain qualifications 
fubjedied to all the laws of excife. No fooner was this 
unpopular propofitiou brought forward, than the oppofi- 
tion, eager to embrace fo inviting an opportunity of at¬ 
tack, opened all their batteries againft it. The arguments 
by which the nation had been fo much inflamed thirty 
years before, at the period when fir Robert Walpole at¬ 
tempted to carry into eflfedt his famous projedt, were now 
revived. The bill, however, paffed into a law ; and from 
this time may be dated the folid foundation of the revenue 
by excife, which has (ince been made fo produdtive. 
But fcarcely was this unpopular meafure carried into 
execution, when the kingdom was aftonifhed with the 
refignation of lord Bute ; who having, as he boafted, re¬ 
ftored peace to the world, forfeited no engagement, aban¬ 
doned no friend, and formed a minifterial connedfion fo 
powerful as no longer to need his aftiftance, was now de¬ 
termined, by retiring “ to the bleffings of the life he 
loved,” to demonftrate that minifterial greatnefs had for 
him no charms. To the earl of Bute (ucceeded as firft 
lord of the treafury, Mr. George Grenville, brother to 
earl Temple, a man accurately verfed in the routine of 
bufinefs, pradlifed in all the minutiae of office, open and 
affable in his manners, not deficient in probity, although 
ambitious of diftindlion. But though his abilities were 
of a clafs to entitle him in a fubordinate ftation to refpedt,. 
he was utterly deftitute of thofe commanding talents,, 
that intuitive fagacity, and intellectual comprehenfion, 
which mark the man whom nature feents to have deftined 
to the government of empires. 
On the death of lord Egremont, which took place 
nearly at this period, the feals were given to the earl of 
Sandwich ; the earl of Egremont was advanced to the 
head of the admiralty ; and the duke of Bedford, now- 
returned from his embaffy to Paris, was- appointed prefi- 
dent of the council in the room of the famous earl Gran¬ 
ville, who had for many years paft, and to the clofe of 
life, under all the changing viciffitudes of power, occu¬ 
pied with the higheft reputation that honourable and ex¬ 
alted office. In confequence of the retreat of the earl of 
Bute, a general coalition of parties feemed now to be again 
practicable, and overtures to that purpofe were made to 
Mr. Pitt, and the other leaders in oppofition; but after 
repeated 
