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him to strike. The English had but two lieutenants
and twelve men killed; and one lieutenant, with
four sergeants, and twenty four privates wounded.

SURRENDER OF THE MORO, AND THE
ISLAND.

No sooner did the Spaniards in the town and in Fort Puntal see the besiegers in possession of the Moro, than they directed all their fire against that place. Meanwhile the British troops, encouraged by their success, were vigorously employed in remounting the guns of the captured fort, and in erecting batteries upon an eminence that commanded the city. These batteries being completed, and sixty pieces of cannon ready to play upon the Havannah, lord Albemarle, willing to prevent an unnecessary carnage, sent his aid-de-camp, on the tenth of August, with a flag of truce, to summon the governor to surrender, and make him sensible of the unavoidable destruction that was ready to fall upon the place. The governor replied, that he was under no uneasy apprehensions, and would hold out to the last extremity. But he was soon brought to reason. The very next morning, the batteries were opened against him with such effect, that in six hours all his guns were silenced flags of truce were hung out in every quarter of the town; and a deputy was sent to the camp of the besiegers, in order to settle the terms of capitulation. A cessation of hostilities immediately took place; and, as soon as the terms were adjusted, the city of Havannah, and a district of one hundred and eighty miles to the westward included in its government, the Purtal castle, and the ships in the harbour, were surrendered to his Britannic majesty. The Spaniards struggled a long time to save the men of war, and to have the harbour declared neutral; but after two days' altercation, they were obliged to give up those capital points as wholly inadmissible. The garrison were allowed the honours of war, and were to be conveyed to Spain. Private property was secured to the inhabitants, with the enjoyment of their former laws and religion. Without violating this last article, which rendered the property of individuals sacred, the conquerors, who took possession of the city on the fourteenth of August, found a booty there, computed at near three millions sterling, in silver and valuable merchandise belonging to the Catholic king, besides an immense quantity of arms, artillery, and military stores.

This was the most considerable, and in its consequences the most decisive blow which had been struck since the beginning of the war. It united in itself all the honours and advantages that can be acquired in hostile enterprises. It was a military triumph, that reflected the brightest lustre on the courage, steadiness, and perseverance of the British troops. Its effect on the enemy's marine made it equal to the greatest naval victory. Nine ships of the line and four frigates were taken: three of the former description had been sunk by the Spaniards, as already mentioned, at the beginning of the siege, to stop up the entrance into the port; and two more, that were in forwardness on the stocks, were destroyed by the conquerors. The harbour itself was of still greater value than the fleet. It absolutely commanded the only passage by which the Spanish ships could sail from the bay of Mexico to Europe; so that the court of Madrid could no longer receive any supplies from the West Indies, except by such routes as were equally tedious and uncertain. The reduction of the Havannah, therefore, not only distressed the enemy by stopping the sources of their wealth, but likewise opened to the English an easy avenue to the centre of their American treasures. The plunder found at this place should also be taken into the account: it impoverished Spain, and enriched the captors; and though it contributed nothing directly to the public service, it might be said to increase the stock of the British nation, and to supply those prodigious drains of specie, foreign subsidies and foreigu armies.

CAPTURE OF THE HERMIONE. THE capture of the Spanish register ship, the Hermione, which happened in the latter end of May, just as she was on the point of entering_one of the ports of old Spain, must be added to these resources. She was loaded with treasure and valuable effects, estimated at one million sterling, hich was considerably more than had ever before

been taken in any one bottom. The prize was brought from Gibraltar to England: and the gold and silver, being conveyed in covered waggons to London, was carried to the Tower with great parade. The waggons entered St. James's street in the morning of the twelfth of August, just after her ma jesty had been safely delivered of her first son, the Prince of Wales; and the king with many of the nobility, who were present, went to the windows over the palace gate, to see the procession, and joined their acclamations to those of the populace on two such joyful occasions.

INVASION OF THE PHILIPPINES.

BUT these losses though immense, were not the only ones, in which Spain was involved by her treacherous and precipitate junction with France. She soon received another dangerous wound in a very remote quarter, where she little expected so sudden an attack. The plan for invading the Philippine islands, which colonel Draper had laid before ministry upon the first rumour of a war with Spain, was now carried into execution. Nothing was demanded but a light frigate to carry colonel Draper to Madras, where he arrived in the latter end of June, with orders to employ such of the troops and squadron then in India as could be spared, to execute his important project.

This plan seemed the more feasible, as no great force was thought necessary to be kept in the pe ninsula after the total expulsion of the French and the humiliation of the Dutch in that quarter. The whole force for the land operations amounted to two thousand three hundred men, commanded by brigadier general Draper, who had been promoted to that rank on his arrival: the naval force consisted of nine men of war and frigates, besides some store-ships, under the direction of rear-admiral Cornish. In three weeks the preparations for forming this body, and getting ready all the stores, were begun, completed, and the whole shipped through a raging and perpetual surf.

A ship of force was despatched before the fleet through the straits of Malacca, in order to watch the entrance of the Chinese sea, and to intercept whatever vessels might be bound to Manilla, or sent from the neighbouring settlements, to give the Spaniards notice of the design. The East India company were to have a third of the booty or ransom: the government of the conquered country was also to be vested in them: and the land and sea forces were by mutual consent, to share between them, the several captures according to the rules established in the navy.

The fleet sailed from Madras the first of August. Proper dispositions were made for landing to the south of the town, on the twenty-fourth of September. The garrison consisted of eight hundred regular troops; and as the place was too extensive to be entirely surrounded by the English army, its communication was open with the country, which poured in to its assistance ten thousand natives, a fierce and daring race, as remarkable for their hardiness and contempt of death, as most of the other Indians are for their cowardice and effeminacy. Had it been the interest of the Spaniards to have taught them the use of arms, Manilla would have been impregnable. The governor, who was also the archbishop of the Philippine islands, united in his own person, by a policy not wholly without precedent in the Spanish colonies, the civil power, the command of the forces, and the ecclesiastical dignity. But however unqualified by his priestly character for the defence of a city attacked, he seemed not unfit for it by his intrepidity and resolution. In less than two days all the defences of the Spaniards were completely destroyed; and they had no resource left but in vigorous sallies. MANILLA AND THE PHILIPPINES TAKEN.

GENERAL DRAPER therefore took the most effectual means for carrying the place by assault. The governor retired into the citadel; but as that place was not tenable, he soon surrendered at discretion. The humanity and generosity of the British commanders saved the town from a general and justly merited pillage. A ransom of four millions of dollars was promised for this relaxation of the laws of war. It was stipulated, at the same time, that all the other fortified places in the island, and in all the islands dependent on its government, should also be surrendered to his Britannic majesty.

The whole range of the Philippines fell with the
city of Manilla.
A valuable addition was made to this conquest,
and a fresh wound was given to the enemy by a
small part of the victorious fleet. During the siege,
admiral Cornish received intelligence by the cap-
ture of an advice-ship, that the galleon from Aca-
pulco was arrived at the straits which form the en-
trance into the archipelago of the Philippines. Two
ships of the squadron, the Panther man of war and
the Argo frigate were immediately despatched in
quest of her. They were out six and twenty days,
when the Argo, in the evening of the thirtieth of
October, discovered a sail, which they did not doubt
to be the same they looked for. Just as the two
ships in company were approaching their object,
the Panther was driven by the rapidity of a counter
current among shallows and obliged to cast anchor.
The Argo escaped the danger, overtook the galleon,
and began a hot engagement with her, which con-
tinued for two hours. But the frigate was so un-
equally matched and so roughly received by the
Spaniard, that she was obliged to desist, and to
bring to in order to repair her damage. In this
pause of action the current slackened; and the
Panther, by strenuous exertion, and judicious man-
agement, got under sail with the galleon in sight,
and about nine the next morning got up to her. It
was not until she was battered for two hours, with-
in half musquet shot, that she struck. So obstinate
a resistance, with very little activity of opposition,
surprised the English. In her first engagement
with the Argo, this galleon mounted only six guns,
though she was pierced for sixty. She had but
thirteen in her engagement with the Panther. But
she was a huge vessel lying like a mountain in the
water; and the Spaniards trusted entirely to the
excessive thickness of her sides, not altogether
without reason, for the shot made no impression
upon any part, except her upper works. Another
subject of surprise occurred after she struck. In-
stead of the American galleon, as was expected, re-
turning with the treasures of Mexico to the Philip
pines, she proved to be that from Manilla bound
to Acapulco. She had proceeded a considerable
way on her voyage, but meeting with a hard gale
of wind in the great South-Sea, she was dismasted,
and obliged to put back to refit. Though the cap-
tors were disappointed in their hopes of a ship full
of silver, their prize was of immense value, her
cargo in rich merchandise being worth more than
half a million.

FAILURE OF AN EXPEDITION AGAINST

BUENOS AYRES.

NOTHING could reflect greater honour on the wisdom and vigour of the administration, under whose auspices so many important enterprises were carried into effect in different quarters of the globe, than the signal success which almost every where attended them. Only one expedition of inferior moment, failed during the whole campaign; and that failure was not owing to the temerity of the attempt, but to an unfortunate accident which could not have been guarded against by any stretch of human foresight. The circumstances attending it were equally melancholy and unexpected.

The Spaniards were also found better armed and better prepared for resistance than was expected, having even acted on the offensive with success, and taken, some time before, the Portuguese settlement of Nova Colonia, in which they found a very great booty, and a large quantity of military stores. On this view of things, the adventurers consulted together, and, after deliberation, judged it necessary to begin with the recovery of Nova Colonia, before they made any attack upon Buenos Ayres. An English pilot, who knew the place and river, undertook to carry the commodore's vessel into the harbour, and within pistol shot of the enemy's principal battery. They advanced to the attack with the fullest confidence of victory, and began a fierce fire which was quickly returned and supported, on both sides, for four hours with uncommon resolution. The Spanish batteries were almost silenced, when, just as their success seemed certain, the ship by some unknown accident took fire. The same moment discovered the flames and the impossibility of extinguishing them. The scene of horror and confusion that followed is undescribable. The commodore was drowned; and of three hundred and forty souls, only seventy eight in all escaped. The other! vessels of the squadron, far from being able to yield any assistance to the sufferers, were obliged to get off as expeditiously as they could, lest they should have been involved in the same fate. As they had also received some damage in the action, it was with great difficulty that they made good their retreat to the Portuguese settlement at Rio de Janeiro. DISASTERS SUSTAINED BY SPAIN AND

FRANCE.

As this was the only check which Great Britain met with in the career of conquest, so it was the only little triumph that Spain enjoyed after a continual series of defeats and disasters. In the course of one year, she saw herself stripped of the most valuable of her distant possessions: her ships of war, her merchant-men, her treasures, had every where become the prey of a watchful, active, and irresistible enemy: the intercourse between the mother country and her remaining colonies was almost totally cut off: Such were the fruits of her treachery to Great Britain, such the consequences of her yielding to the artful and self-interested suggestions of France.

France had as little reason to exult in the success of her intrigues at the court of Madrid. The Bourbon confederacy served only to involve both powers in the same distresses. The attempts in Germany and Portugal, where their fondest hopes lay, ended in the most mortifying disappointment. The loss of Martinico and its dependencies was a severe blow to France. So far from being able to make any attempts to regain those islands, she had it not in her power to send out a sufficient force to secure the only settlements that still remained to her from sharing the same fate. Her navy was so much reduced, that she could only spare very small squadrons for any undertaking; and she was frequently obliged to trust to single frigates and transports for the conveyance of re-inforcements to St. Domingo and Louisiana. These seldom escaped the vigilance of the British cruizers. Her merchant ships were, for the same reason, left equally exposed. A detail of all the single captures made upon her trade would be endless. She lost at one time, a fleet of twenty five sail, richly laden with sugar coffee, and indigo, which had taken their departure from Cape Francois for Europe, under convoy of four frigates. Five of the merchant-men were surprised and taken in the night by some privateers of New York and Jamaica. Next day commodore Keppel fell in with the remainder, and having cap. tured them and their convoy, sent the whole into Port-royal harbour.

It was deemed expedient to encourage some private adventurers to add to the other operations against so extensive a sphere of commerce, an attack upon the colony of Buenos Ayres in South America. The conquest of this place was doubly desirable, as it would afford great security to the Portuguese settlements, and prove, at the same time, an excellent station for farther enterprises against the dominions of Spain upon the SouthSeas. The Portuguese, therefore, being no less interested than the English in the issue of this undertaking, readily concurred to promote its success. The embarkation was made from the Tagus, on the thirtieth of August, and the force consisted of three ATTEMPT TO BURN A BRITISH SQUADRON. stout frigates, and some small armed vessels and Ir France was thus incapable of defending herstore-ships, with five hundred troops on board. self at sea, it was not likely that her offensive They had for their commander captain Macnamara, operations on the same element could be very an officer of courage and experience. Their voyage vigorous or formidable. She made some attempts, to the mouth of the Plata was expeditious and fav- however, which proved ultimately fruitless. Two ourable. They arrived there on the second of of them deserve notice. The object of the first was November; but no sooner had they entered that to burn the British ships of war at anchor in vast river than they were attacked by a violent Basque-road, where they were stationed to watch storm attended with thunder and lightning. The the coast of Britanny, and Brest harbour in partiriver itself is shoaly, and its navigation dangerous.cular. The enemy prepared three fire vessels,

which being chained together were owed out of the port, and set on fire, with a strong breeze that wafted them directly towards the English squadron. Through hurry, mistake, or accident, two of them blew up with a terrible explosion; and every person on board perished. The wind, also, suddenly shifting, drove them clear of the ships which they were intended to destroy. Had they been managed with the coolness and intrepidity so requisite upon such occasions, they might have done some execution.

John's; and prepared to attack St. John's itself with so much vigour and activity, that Monsieur d'Hausonville, who had remained there as governor, thought proper to deliver up that place on the eighteenth of September, and to surrender himself and garrison prisoners of war, before lord Colville could arrive from the place where the troops had been landed, to co-operate with them. Mousieur de Ternay escaped with the fleet, partly by having gained a considerable distance, by means of a thick fog; and partly because lord Colville, after their having been discovered, did not apprehend that

NEWFOUNDLAND TAKEN BY THE FRENCH, they really were the ships of the enemy.

BUT RETAKEN.

THE next offensive effort of any moment, which France made upon the ocean, was directed against Newfoundland. Monsieur de Ternay, with a squadron of four men of war, and a proportionable number of land forces under the command of Monsieur de Hausonville, having at first eluded observation in their departure from Brest, and afterwards baffled pursuit in their voyage cross the Atlantic, entered the Bay of Bulls on the 24th of June, and landed some troops without opposition. Having taken possession of an inconsiderable settlement in that bay, they advanced to the town of St. John's, which being in no condition of defence, readily capitulated. One company of soldiers, of which the garrison of the fort consisted, were made pris oners of war. This exercise of their power was of very short duration. As soon as the news reached England, a force was immediately fitted out to retake those places. But the vigilance and activity of general Amherst, who had the chief command in North America, superseded the necessity of this armament. He detached colonel Amherst with a body of forces, and lord Colville with a small, but sufficient squadron, to recover the island. The land forces attacked some detachments of the French advantageously posted in the neighbourhood of St.

OVERTURES FOR PEACE.

THUS did all the operations, both naval and mili tary, of the year 1762 remarkably concur to humble the pride, and to dash the hopes of the Bourbon confederacy. France was convinced by woeful ex perience, that the present at least was not the favourable time for drawing from the family compact all the advantages with which she had vainly flattered herself. Disconcerted in her views of giving the law to Great Britain, she now felt in good earnest those moderate and pacific sentiments, which she had formerly professed, but the sincerity of which was at that time rather questionable. Spain, in like manner, having suffered beyond example, during her short engagement in the contest, and labouring under the most dreadful apprehensions of future misfortunes, keenly repented of the steps she had taken, and wished to recede. As every day brought intelligence to both of some mor tifying stroke, they did not wait for the issue of all the enterprises before related, but endeavoured in the beginning of September, to put a stop by early negotiation to calamities, which they foresaw the improbability of averting by war. Happily for them, as well as for the general tranquillity, they found the court of London favourably disposed to listen to their peaceful overtures

31

CHAPTER V.

Causes and Effects of the sincere Dispositions of all Parties towards Peace-Motives of national Policy for encouraging Pacific Proposals-Want of perfect Harmony in the Cabinet-Changes in AdministrationDukes of Bedford and Nivernois employed in the Negotiation-Difference between this and the Treaty in 1761-Conduct of the Courts with Respect to their German Allies-Change in the Behaviour of the British Ministry towards the King of Prussia justified-France guided by the same Alteration of Circumstances; and the Peace of Germany restored-The Article relating to Portugal very easily settled-Circumstance which facilitated the Adjustment of Great Britain's direct Concerns-Extent of her Acquisitions in North America by this Treaty-Terms annexed to the Surrender of St. Pierre and Miquelon-Spain's Renunciation of her Pretensions to the Fishery-Arrangement Respecting the French West India Islands-The Havannah restored on very moderate Terms-Cession and Exchange of the other Conquests in Africa, the East Indies, and Europe-Sacrifice made by France to the honour of Great Bri tain, in suppressing the old Claim on Account of Prizes before the Declaration of War-Preliminaries signed by the British and French Ministers at Fontainbleau-Disputes concerning the Articles of the Peace-Coalition between the Duke of Newcastle's and Mr. Pitt's Adherents-Meeting of Parliament -Conflict in the House of Commons-The Security of our Colonies-Majority in Favour of the Address-Arrival of three Cherokee Chiefs in England.

SITUATION OF THE BELLIGERENTS.

HE delays that frequently took place in the

this war: another change made it expedient to put an end to it.

Tcourse of the former negotiation, and the pre council, except lord Temple, were unanimous in

texts finally made use of to break it off, form a striking contrast, when opposed to the despatch with which concerns of still greater importance were afterwards adjusted, as soon as the intentions of all parties towards peace became cordial and sincere. France and Spain had, indeed, no other resource; and Great Britain herself was not so in toxicated with success, as to prefer the continuance of expensive and hazardous efforts to a satisfactory termination of hostilities. The sentiments of the sovereign, the temper of the people at the time, the state of the nation as well as of parties, and many other motives of humanity, policy, and patriotism concurred to render the ministry very earnest in their advances to the accomplishment of so desirable an object.

In all the king's speeches to parliament, he had constantly expressed an anxious wish to see the tranquillity of his kingdoms restored; and had declared, as before taken notice of, that the only use he proposed to make of the advantages gained over the enemy in war, was to procure for his subjects the blessings of peace, on safe and honourable conditions. The happy moment was now arrived, when the offers made by the humbled house of Bourbon enabled his majesty to demonstrate to the world, that those were not studied or delusive professions, but that he had really spoken the language of his heart..

There is no doubt but that the country, in the midst of all her successes, had the most urgent occasion for peace. Though her trade had been greatly augmented, a circumstance without example favourable; and though many of her conquests were not less valnable than glorious; yet her supplies of money, great as they were, did not keep pace with her expenses. The supply of men too, which was necessary to furnish the waste of so extensive a war, became sensibly diminished; and the troops were not recruited but with some difficulty, and at a heavy charge. Besides, every end that could be rationally proposed in carrying on the war, was answered: the designs of the enemy were frustrated in all parts of the globe: their daring encroachments had been repressed, and such conquests made upon them, as put it out of their power to insist upon any terms but those which might be dictated by the moderation and generosity of Great Britain. These strong motives of public policy, for encouraging pacific proposals, were farther enforced by other considerations. A change m the system of the British ministry had begun

It has been already observed, that the whole the rupture with Spain. But their unanimity upon their opposition to Pitt's scheme for precipitating that occasion did not imply a perfect coincidence of opinion, or harmony of sentiment in other respects. He was not long removed from office, before it appeared that the remaining part of the system was framed upon principles so very discordant, that it was by no means likely to stand. The liberal ideas of the old king's ministers, when brought as it were into new king's friends, and the exclusive spirit of the immediate collision, kindled a flame, the violence of of human sagacity. which was not to be easily subdued by any efforts

tory patriots, and first acquired distinction by opPitt had originally associated himself with the pole, the declared head of the whigs. After the posing the corrupt measures of Sir Robert Wallatter was driven from the seat of power, Pitt occasionally temporized, being sometimes reputed a whig, sometimes a tory, till he got the chief direc tion of public affairs, when he indiscriminately employed persons of all parties, with equal honour to such an example, that justified in practice the wishimself and advantage to the state. Struck with dom, as well as the liberality of the king's views, his majesty would have gladly availed himself of Pitt's assistance to complete so noble a design; to do away all local and party distinctions; and to estab the most impartial encouragement to every man lish a plan of administration, which would afford of virtue and abilities throughout the whole empire.

But his majesty's hopes of Pitt's concurrence indeed, of no party; but it was rather owing to a were unhappily disappointed. This minister was, defect, than to any excellence in his character. An imperious and unaccommodating disposition rendered him incapable of acting any otherwise superiority of his own genius, he treated the opinthan alone. Placing too great a confidence in the ions of others with too little delicacy. The want of manent union between him and his colleagues in more conciliating manners was a bar to any peroffice. Thus the state was prevented from enjoying the joint fruit of the wisdom of many able men, forwarded each other; and Pitt's extraordinary tawho might mutually have tempered, and mutually lents became not merely useless, but, upon some occasions, injurious to his country.

Soon after the resignation of Pitt, the duke of extremely jealous of the earl of Bute's influence in Newcastle, first commissioner of the treasury, grew the cabinet. This nobleman enjoyed a very dis

tinguished share of his sovereign's esteem and confidence. His conduct was irreproachable; but he was said to be a tory. On this ground, therefore, the duke who had long been considered as the head of the whigs, hoped he could ruin the credit of his rival, by reviving those factious distinctions, on which his own merit principally rested. A loud clamour was therefore raised by the duke's hirelings against the tory favourite. But their malignaut efforts served only to rivet the king's attachment to the object of their unmerited obloquy; and the duke found his own weight in administration daily decline. He accordingly thought himself obliged to resign in the latter end of May; and the earl of Bute was immediately placed at the head of the treasury. Mr. George Grenville, brother to earl Temple, became secretary of state in the room of his lordship; and the place of first commissioner of the admiralty being vacated by the death of lord Anson, that office was bestowed on the earl of Halifax, now return. ed from Ireland.

CHANGES IN ADMINISTRATION.

THE two last appointments were well calculated to lessen the unpopularity of the earl of Bute's promotion. Grenville's character for integrity and patriotism stood as high in public estimation as that of his brother, lord Temple; and, in point of application and abilities, he was certainly his superior. Any unfavourable impression, therefore, which might be made by the resignation of the one, ought naturally to have been effaced or counteracted by the other's acceptance of an office under the new minister. The earl of Halifax had acquitted himself in a variety of public employments with great applause. Such were the men, whom the earl of Bute was desirous of having associated with him in office; and it is not, perhaps, the least of his praise, that all the vacancies which happened in the higher departments of the state, during his administration, were uniformly filled by men of reputation and abilities.

The earl of Bute also thought it sound policy, in conformity with the system of liberal comprehension already explained, to attempt a coalition with the great body of the tories, or country gentlemen of ancient families, who were able to yield him effectual support. They readily came into his measures; and as they had long been excluded from any share in the management of the state, they were now doubly zealous to show themselves worthy of the confidence of their king and country. Their efforts, however, were as vigorously opposed by the discontented party.

Whilst the nation was thus distracted by violent cabals, the conduct of a war became difficult; its continuance unsafe; and its supplies uncertain. If the administration failed, their failure would be imputed to incapacity: if they succeeded, their success would be converted into an argument for such terms of peace, as it would be impossible for them to procure. Above all, the ancient and known connection between the chiefs of the monied interest and the principal persons in the opposition, must have been a subject of great anxiety to the ministry. These motives co-operated to render them most heartily inclined to peace.

The Bourbon courts and that of England thus concurring in the same point, all difficulties were speedily smoothed. Accordingly, on the fifth of September, the duke of Bedford set off for Paris, with the character of ambassador and plenipoten. tiary from the court of England, to negotiate a peace; and on the twelfth of the same mouth, the duke of Nivernois arrived in London, with the like commission from the French court.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. VERY little time was spent in adjusting the outlines of the treaty, or explaining the principles on which it was to proceed. The negotiators seemed, in some measures, to assume as a basis those points which were nearest to a settlement in the treaty of 1761; and to commence where that transaction concluded. The spirit of the two negotiations, so far as regarded the peculiar interest of Great Britain, was almost perfectly similar. There was scarcely any other difference than that Great Britain, in consequence of her successes since that time, acquired more than she then demanded. With regard, indeed, to some of her allies, the principle of the two treaties was greatly varied; but this change was sufficiently

justified by the alteration which happened in the affairs of Germany, during the interval between both. Those, who conducted the negotiation in 1761, were steady in rejecting every proposition, in which they were not left at liberty to aid the king of Prussia with the whole force of great Britain: those, who concluded the peace in 1762, paid less attention to the ambitious or interested views of that monarch, though they did not neglect his safety. At the beginning of the year, and before they had entered into this negotiation, they refused to renew that article of the annual treaty, by which his Britannic majesty would have been engaged to conclude no peace without the king of Prussia; though, at the same time, they declared themselves willing to as sist him with the usual subsidy. He, on his part, refused the subsidy unconnected with that article; and a cooluess was supposed to take place between both courts for some time after:

The adjustment of affairs in the empire did not form any material obstruction to the progress of the treaty. Both parties readily agreed to withdraw themselves totally from the German war. They thought, and rightly, that nothing could tend so much to give peace to their respective allies, as mutually to withdraw their assistance from them; and to stop that current of English and French money, which, as long as it ran into Germany, would be sure to feed a perpetual war in that country. When the former negotiation was on foot, the affairs of the king of Prussia were at the lowest ebb: he was overpowered by the whole weight of Austria, of Sweden, of the empire, and of Russia, as determined as ever in her enmity, and then successful; to say nothing of France. It would have been ungenerous, on the part of Great Britain, to have deserted him in that situation. But, at the time of making the last treaty, the condition of his affairs was absolutely reversed. He had got rid of the most powerful, and one of the most implacable of his enemies. He had also concluded a peace with Sweden. The treaty itself freed him from all apprehensions of France. He had, then, none to contend with, but a nominal army of the empire, and one of Austria, which, though something more than nominal, was wholly unable to oppose his progress. His situation from being pitiable, was become formidable. It was, perhaps, good policy to prevent the balance of Germany from being overturned to his prejudice: it would have been the worst in the world to overturn it in his favour. These principles sufficiently explain and justify the British ministry for so remarkable a change in their behaviour towards the king of Prussia.

The conduct of France upon both those occasions may be accounted for, nearly in the same manner. She had very justly excepted to the demand of the evacuation of Wesel, Cleves, and Gueldres, when made by Pitt in the first negotiation; because he refused to put an end to the German war. In this last treaty, the French assented without hesitation or difficulty, to the very same demand; because we agreed, in common with them, to be neutral in the disputes of the empire; the other contending powers, being left to themselves, soon terminated their differences.

As the Bourbon confederacy had no pretext for the quarrel with Portugal, but the advantages which Great Britain derived, from her friendly intercourse with that country during the war, the article relating to his most faithful majesty did not admit of the least altercation. Any of his territories or possessions in Europe, or in any other part of the globe, which had fallen into the hands of the French and Spaniards, were to be evacuated by their troops, and restored in the same condition they were in when conquered.

After the concerns of the allies were provided for, the most important part of the treaty still remained, which was to adjust every thing that related to the settlements and commerce of Great Britain and of the Bourbon courts. The circumstance, which so much impeded this adjustment in the preceding negotiation, was the intervention of the claims of Spain. The attempt of the Bourbon powers to intermix and confound their affairs at that juncture, had a share in making the war more general on this occasion it had a contrary effect. As the whole was now negotiated together, it facilitated the peace, by affording easier methods of regulating the system of compensation, and furnishing more largely to the general fund of equivalents.

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