FRA 
attempt of M. Dupleix to impofe a nabob or governor 
cii Arcot, a province in which Pondicherry is fituated, 
excited the Engiifh to arms, Mr. Clive, with a fniall 
force, occupied A'rcot, the capital of the dil'puted pro¬ 
vince ; repelled a numerous army of the French and In¬ 
dians ; and triumphed, in adecifive battle, over the hod 
that had lately threatened to overwhelm him. In the 
neighbourhood of Trinchinopoli the French and their al¬ 
lies were finally defeated ; the pretenfions of CluinGa-laib, 
whofe caufe they had efpoufed, were extinguiflied in his 
blood ; and liis-rival, Mohammed Ali, was eftablifhed by 
the Engiifh on the tluone of Arcot. 
M. Dupleix was now recalled ; and the next objefl of 
the French was, in 1754, to extend their acquifitions in 
North America. Their plan was to unite, by a chain of 
forts, their two extenfive colonies of Canada and Loui- 
ftana ; and to confine the Engiifh to that trail of country 
that lies between the fea and the Apalachian mountains. 
The king of England, alarmed at thefe encroachments, 
detached a formidable fquadron to the banks of New¬ 
foundland, to attack the fleet of France ; and though a 
thick fog enabled the greated part to ef'cape, yet two 
fhipsof the line were taken ; the Britifli cruizers, in 1755, 
fwept the feas with fuch fuccefs, that above three hun¬ 
dred trading veffels belonging to France were carried into 
the ports of Great Britain ; and above eight thoufand 
feamen were made prifoners to that crown. 
Louis, with his ufual policy, determined to feek ample 
reprifals in a different way. He entered into fecret con¬ 
nections with the courts of Vienna, Peterfburg, and 
Drefden ; and the invafion of Hanover were the objedts 
of this formidable confederacy. But their defigns could 
not elude the vigilance of Frederic ; confcious of his 
own danger, he-formed an alliance with the king of Eng¬ 
land, whofe intereffs were fimilar to his own. The 
PrufTian monarch, fearful of delay, fuddenly but'ft into 
Saxony, defeated the Andrians at Lowofitz, compelled 
Auguftus with his whole army to furrender, occupied 
Drefden, and poffeffed himfelf of the date papers relative 
to foreign tranfadtions, which unfolded the confpiracy 
that had been formed againd him. 
While the king of Pruffia drained the territories of 
Saxony, and Great Britain called to her abidance large 
bands of fubfidiary Germans, Louis affumed new vigour, 
and reforted to new modes of enterprile. Numerous bo¬ 
dies of troops drawn towards the fea-coads, continually 
alarmed, the oppofite fltores of England; their hodile ap¬ 
pearance ferved to cover the fecret intentions of the 
French, who afpired to the conqued of Minorca, which 
the Engiifh had formerly wreded from Spain. The ar¬ 
mament for that purpofe confided of fifteen thoufand 
land-forces, commanded by the duke of Richelieu ; and 
twelve (hips of the line, with five frigates, under the 
marquis Galidbniere. They immediately inveded the 
cadle of St. Philip’s, which commands the town and har¬ 
bour of Mahon. The Engiifh had detached the unfor- 
tunaie admiral Byng to the relief of the idand ; but his 
want of courage, or capacity, or indrudlions fufficiently 
explicit, carried him into the bay of Gibraltar; and 
Minorca, deftitute of fupport, fubmitted, in 1756, to the 
dominion of France. 
The fatisfadlion which Louis derived from this acqui- 
lltion, was alloyed by doniedic didenfions. The parlia¬ 
ment, by their perfecution of the partisans of the bull 
Unigenitus, had awakened again the indignation of their 
fovereign. They had alfo refufed to regilier certain 
raxes, which they confidered as oppredive to the people. 
Louis, attended by his guards, appeared in the adembly; 
he lupprelfed the fourth and fifth chambers of inqueds, 
the members of which had diftinguiflied themfelves by 
their firm and animated oppofition ; he commanded the 
bull Unigenitus to be refpetded ; and prohibited the fe- 
cular judges from ordering the adminidraticn of the fa- 
cra'ments. Fifteen counfellors of the great chamber 
lodged their refignation at the office next day j one bun- 
N C E. n? 
dred and twenty-four members of the different courts of 
parliament followed their example ; and the people, who 
participated in the fufferisgs of the champions of their 
religious freedom, difplayed their difeontent in loud and 
impatient murmurs. In the midd of thefe clamours, 
Francis Damien, in 1757, whofe fallen mind was inflamed 
by the difputes with the king relative to religion, em¬ 
braced the defperate refolution of attempting the life of 
his fovereign. In the dufk of the evening, as the king 
prepared to enter his coach, he was fuddenly wounded, 
though flightly, between the ribs, in the prefence of his 
fon, and in the midd of his guards. The daring adadln 
had mingled with the crowd of courtiers, and was in- 
dantly betrayed by his didradled countenance. He was 
condgned to a death of unheard-of tortures, the inhu¬ 
manity of which is increafed by the evident madnefs that 
Ili initiated him to the fatal attempt. But whether the 
mind of Louis was deeply impreded by his late danger, 
or that he dreaded in the midd of a bloody and extenfive 
war to alienate the hearts of his people, it is certain that 
he a fecond time baniflied the archbidtop of Paris, and 
found it expedient to accommodate matters with the par¬ 
liament, which again proceeded to budnefs. 
In refpedt to foreign engagements, Louis dill perfe- 
vered in his refolution of attacking the electoral domi¬ 
nions of George II. With this view he directed the 
marefchal d’Etrees to pafs the Rhine, with an army of 
eighty thoufand men ; that general foon compelled the 
duke of Cumberland, at the head of about forty thou¬ 
fand Hedians, Hanoverians, and Pruffians, to retire behind 
the Wefer; the marefchal alfo effected the padhge of 
that river, drove the duke from an advantageous pod in 
the village of Hadenbach, but amidd his triumphant ca¬ 
reer, the duke of Cumberland took refuge under-the can¬ 
non of Stade. Surrounded by the armies of the duke of 
Richelieu, lie was reduced to the necedity of (igning the 
convention of Cloder-leven, by which, in 1757, an army 
of thirty-eight thoufand Hanoverians, Hedians, and other 
troops in the pay of his Britannic majedy, was dilFolved, 
and didributed into different quarters of cantonment, 
without being difarmed, or even confidered as prifoners 
of war. 
With the capitulation of Cloder-feven the fortune of 
France gradually began to fuffer in every quarter of the 
world; and an event which promifed the mod brilliant 
advantages,'was fucceeded by dve years of continual de¬ 
feat and fuccedive calamity. In Europe, the king of 
Prudia, driven out of Bohemia, and menaced by the hof- 
tile armies of Sweden, Rudia, and Audria, was deferted 
by the only ally on whom he could place any depend- 
ance; and beheld the forces of France ready to penetrate 
into Saxony. Prince Sotibife with twenty thoufand 
F'rench had joined the imperial dandard ; and Frederic 
faw the necedity of giving battle to fifty thoufand French 
and imperialifis, witli lefs than half their number. But 
the prefumption and folly of prince Soubife decided the 
fate of the day; lie advanced without caution or order, 
as if to a certain victory ; his temerity was chadded by a 
bloody defeat ; and Frederic from the triumphant field 
of Rofbach directing his march towards Silelia, arrived 
in time to join the prince of Bevern, and to renew his 
laurels by a fecond victory over tiie Audrians at Lida. 
In Hanover, the rapacity of the duke of Richelieu ex- 
hauded the fubjefted country. A demand from the court 
of-France of the arms of thofe troops who had capitu¬ 
lated at Cloder-feven, aroufed their indignation : they 
confidered this after-demand as the lad disgrace of foi- 
diers; and fecretly refolving to relieve their country from 
op predion, they allembled from their different canton¬ 
ments under prince Ferdinand of Brunfwick, whom 
George II. had inveded with the chief command of his 
electoral forces. Tlie French, difperfed and unprepared, 
were excelled from Ouerberg, Bremen, and Verden ; 
four thoufand were taken prifoners in the city of Minden; 
and the duke of Richelieu, better calculated to dime in 
ourts 
