Cumberland takes

command of

in Scotland.

command of the Royalists. He had under him an excellent army, and at once set out in pursuit of the rebels. On this Charles retreated across the Forth, pursued by the Royalists Cumberland, and thence to Perth. From there he marched towards Inverness, Cumberland still pursuing; and when they neared that town, Charles, who knew that his army was outnumbered, determined to attempt a surprise. The plan was a failure, as the distance to be marched by the rebels had been underrated, and the Highlanders were forced to retrace their steps Battle of to Culloden Moor, where they drew themselves up and waited for the English to come up. Cumberland ranged his men in two lines, placing the artillery in the gaps 'between the regiments, and the cavalry on the flank; and in this position they were attacked by the Highlanders. With impetuous valour some of the clansmen actually forced their way through the first line; but the reserve stood steady, and the brave Highlanders melted away before a terrible fire. Charles' army was completely routed, and his men dispersed in all directions.

Culloden.

to France.

The Pretender himself, after five months' wandering in the Highlands, disguised sometimes as a servant and sometimes as a woman, Charles escapes Succeeded in reaching France. Had it not been for the courage of Flora Macdonald, who took him with 'her in disguise, and the devotion of numbers of poor men and women, who scorned even for a reward of £30,000 to betray their prince, he must again and again have been captured. To his unfortunate followers a vengeance so terrible was meted out that Cumberland gained the title of "the Butcher." Of the more distinguished rebels, Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino, and Charles Ratcliff, brother of the late Earl of Derwentwater, were executed in 1746, Lord Lovat in 1747, and one victim, Dr. Cameron, so late as 1753. The most stringent regulations were made in order to destroy the power of the Highlanders. They were disarmed, forbidden to wear the national dress, and the hereditary jurisdiction of the Highland chiefs was abolished by Act of Parliament. A few years later Pitt raised the Highland regiments, which not only conciliated the chiefs, but also changed a source of danger into a means of defence.

During the rebellion the country had passed through a ministerial

crisis. Of the younger members of Parliament, none had distinguished themselves more than William Pitt and Pitt and Fox. Henry Fox. Pitt, who belonged to a family which

had made money in India, had entered the House of Commons at an early age, and had soon become conspicuous among a crowd of debaters by his mastery over the arts of oratory and sarcasm. In spite of the fact that he was unconnected with any of the great Whig families which at this time monopolized office, he soon attained a high position in the eyes of the country; for his absolute freedom from mercenary motives gained him much respect in Parliament, while his enthusiastic support of English interests gained him the good will of the people at large. With George, however, he was by no means a favourite, for much of Pitt's popularity had been won by his vigorous opposition to Carteret's Hanoverian policy, and in particular he had always opposed the taking of Hanoverians and Hessians into English pay. Henry Fox was not so distinguished a man as Pitt, but he was an admirable debater and an excellent man of business, and the opposition of these two young statesmen to the ministry was a very serious matter. Accordingly, at the beginning of 1746, before Culloden had been fought, Pelham determined to offer them office; and when the king refused to admit Pitt, he and his colleagues resigned. For a time George held out, but the ministry soon returned with Pitt as ViceTreasurer of Ireland, and a few months later he became Paymaster of the Forces, and at once made good his reputation for disinterestedness by refusing to receive the usual percentage of the money which passed through his hands. At the same time Henry Fox became Secretary at War.

cease.

After the defeat of the Pretender the Duke of Cumberland returned to the Continent, but though an excellent officer, he was not a great general, and in 1747 he was defeated Hostilities on at Lauffeld, and the important town of Bergen-op- the Continent Zoom fell into the hands of the French. During this war the English had continued their plan of attacking the French colonies in North America, and in 1745 they took from the French Louisburg, the capital of the Isle of Cape Breton, Peace of Aixat the mouth of the river St. Lawrence. But when la-Chapelle. peace was made, in 1748, at Aix-la-Chapelle, all conquests made

during the war were restored on both sides. By this peace hostilities on the Continent were concluded, and Maria Theresa's right to her dominions was recognized.

Pelham reduces the

National Debt.

When peace was restored, Pelham gave his attention to domestic matters. As a follower of Walpole, he had a great interest in finance, and took measures to reduce the National Debt. Most of the debt had been borrowed at high interest, when the government's credit was bad. The recent defeat of the rebellion had improved the position of the Hanoverians so much, that Pelham was able to offer the government creditors either to be paid off in full, or to accept three per cent. interest instead of the high rate they then enjoyed. Most of them accepted the lower rate, and the nation benefited by the change.

Death of the Prince of Wales and of

In 1751 Frederick, Prince of Wales, died, leaving a widow and many children, the eldest of whom, Prince George, then thirteen years of age, became heir-apparent to the throne, and was created Prince of Wales. Frederick was Bolingbroke. soon followed by Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, who had tried in vain to recover his lost power by the destruction of the Whig party.

calendar.

In 1752, through the influence of Lord Chesterfield, a change was made in the calendar. The calendar arranged by Julius Cæsar, by Change in the not making sufficient allowance for leap year, had caused the English date to be then eleven days behind the right time. These days were now omitted after September 2, so that the next day was reckoned as September 14. The legal year was made to begin on January 1, instead of on March 25, as heretofore. A similar change had been made in all Roman Catholic countries by order of Pope Gregory XIII.; but England, being a Protestant country, had hitherto refused to do so, and Russia still preserves the Old Style of reckoning. This change was much disliked, and "Give us back our eleven days," was long a popular cry.

Death of

In 1754 Henry Pelham died. Though not brilliant, he had been a man of great common sense, and when the news of his death was told the king, he exclaimed, "Now I shall Pelham. have no more peace -a prophecy which proved true. Pelham's place was taken by his elder brother, the Duke of Newcastle, who was a greater master of Parliamentary management,

but a far inferior statesman. Hitherto Pitt and Fox, though ministers, had been kept out of the Cabinet, as the changes in the inner circle of ministers had begun to be called; but ministry. in 1755 Fox1 was raised to be Secretary of State, which made Pitt very discontented.

The Seven Years' War.

Rivalry between the French and English in North America.

In 1756 the Seven Years' War was begun by Frederick of Prussia, for whose overthrow a coalition, in which Russia soon joined, had been made by Austria, France, and Saxony. In this war England joined, partly for reasons connected with Hanover, partly in defence of her colonial interests. As a Protestant prince, Frederick had the sympathy of Hanover; but the chief cause of our attack upon the French was our rivalry in America and in India. In North America the French held Canada, or the valley of the St. Lawrence, and Louisiana, which then comprised the valley of the Mississippi, and thus the English colonies which lay along the eastern coast were altogether prevented from extending their territory west of the Alleghany Mountains. Moreover, the French forbade them to trade with the Indians in the interior, and strictly enforced this rule. In 1754 the French built Fort Duquesne on the Ohio, to be the chief of a ring of forts stretching all along the border, and in consequence there was always bad blood between the rival nations, and whether or not the mother countries were at peace, war more or less regular was always going on between the colonists. In India there was a similar rivalry, though not so open, between the French and English East India Companies. For a century and a half after their foundation these companies had confined 1 GENEALOGY OF THE FOX FAMILY. Sir Stephen Fox, d. 1716.

between the
French and
English in
India.

themselves to trade, which the English carried on from their three Rivalry factories, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, and the French from Pondicherry and Trichinopoly. During the second quarter, however, of the eighteenth century, Dupleix, the French governor of Pondicherry, formed a plan for getting rid of the English, and bringing the country under the rule of the French.

State of India.

At this time the whole of India was nominally under the rule of the Great Mogul, who lived at Delhi; but he had little authority over the local governors, the nabobs, and rajahs, who were constantly trying to make themselves independent, just as the feudal dukes used to do in the Middle Ages. Government was so weak, that frequently robbers raised themselves to be independent princes; and besides, there were a few states which had never been under the rule of the Mogul. Moreover, the natives of these states were divided among themselves; they spoke many languages, and they had divers religions. Among these rivals war was constantly going on, and quarrels about succession were Dupleix hires frequent, and Dupleix saw that if he got an armed native soldiers. force and hired it out to one side or the other, he might in time become more powerful than any of the native states. Accordingly he drilled a body of Sepoys, as hired native soldiers were called, and began to take part in the quarrels of the natives. This he did successfully, and gained so much power that the English, in self-defence, were forced to imitate his plan. The champion of the English was Robert Clive, who had gone out to India as a clerk, but soon deserted the pen for the sword. He was a man of unconquerable courage, and soon showed himself to be not only an excellent soldier, but as good a diplomatist as Dupleix himself. During the war of the Austrian Succession there had been open war between the French and English traders, and in 1746 the French had captured Madras, which was, however, restored at the peace; but in 1751 the English and French again found themselves fighting against one another on behalf of the rival Nabobs of Arcot. Clive with a small force seized Arcot itself, and there stood a famous siege from a French and native army, in which the English were victorious, and Clive gained a great reputation.

Siege of Arcot.