Chapter IV (2)

Nothing remarkable happened during the remaining part of the Campaign, until Luxembourg, being rejoined by Boufflers with a strong reinforcement from the Rhine, invested Charleroy. He had taken his measures with such caution and dexterity, that the allies could not frustrate his operations, without attacking his lines at a great disadvantage. The king detached the elector of Bavaria and the duke of Wirtemberg, with thirty battalions and forty squadrons, to make a diversion in Flanders; but they returned in a few days without having attempted any thing of consequence. The garrison of Charleroy defended the place with surprising valour, from the tenth of September to the eleventh of October, during which period they had repulsed the assailants in several attacks; but at length despairing of relief, the governor capitulated on the most honourable conditions: the reduction of the place was celebrated with a _Te Deum_, and other rejoicings at Paris. Louis however, in the midst of all his glory, was extremely mortified when he reflected what little advantage he had reaped from all his late victories. The allies had been defeated successively at Fleurus, Steenkirk, and Landen; yet in a fortnight after each of those battles William was always in a condition to risk another engagement. Formerly Louis had conquered half of Holland, Flanders, and Franche-Comté, without a battle; whereas, now he could not with his utmost efforts, and after the most signal victories, pass the frontiers of the United Provinces. The conquest of Charleroy concluded the campaign in the Netherlands, and both armies went into winter-quarters.

CAMPAIGN ON THE RHINE.

The French army on the Rhine, under De Lorges, passed that river in the month of May at Philipsburgh, and invested the city of Heidelberg, which they took, plundered, and reduced to ashes. This general committed numberless barbarities in the Palatinate, which he ravaged without even sparing the tombs of the dead. The French soldiers on this occasion seem to have been actuated by the most brutal inhumanity. They butchered the inhabitants, violated the women, plundered the houses, rifled the churches, and murdered the priests at the altar. They broke open the electoral vault, and scattered the ashes of that illustrious family about the streets. They set fire to different quarters of the city; they stripped about fifteen thousand of the inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex, and drove them naked into the castle, that the garrison might be the sooner induced to capitulate. There they remained like cattle in the open air, without food or covering, tortured between the horrors of their fete and the terrors of a bombardment. When they were set at liberty, in consequence of the fort’s being surrendered, a great number of them died along the banks of the Neckar, from cold, hunger, anguish, and despair. These enormous cruelties, which would have disgraced the arms of a Tartarian freebooter, were acted by the express command of Louis XIV. of France, who has been celebrated by so many venal pens, not only as the greatest monarch, but also as the most polished prince of Christendom. De Lorges advanced towards the Neckar against the prince of Baden, who lay encamped on the other side of the river; but in attempting to pass, he was twice repulsed with considerable damage. The dauphin joining the army, which now amounted to seventy thousand men, crossed without opposition; but found the Germans so advantageously posted, that he would not hazard an attack; having therefore repassed the river, he secured Stutgard with a garrison, sent detachments into Flanders and Piedmont, and returned in August to Versailles. In Piedmont the allies were still more unfortunate. The duke of Savoy and his confederates seemed bent upon driving the French from Casal and Pignerol. The first of these places was blocked up, and the other actually invested. The fort of St. Bridget that covered the place was taken, and the town bombarded. Meanwhile Catinat being reinforced, descended into the plains. The duke was so apprehensive of Turin that he abandoned the siege of Pignerol, after having blown up the fort, and marched in quest of the enemy to the plain of Mar-saglia, in the neighbourhood of his capital. On the fourth day of October, the French advanced upon them from the hills between Orbasson and Prosasque, and a desperate engagement ensued. The enemy charged the left wing of the confederates sword in hand with incredible fury; though they were once repulsed, they renewed the attack with such impetuosity that the Neapolitan and Milanese horse were obliged to give way, and disordered the German cavalry. These falling upon the foot, threw the whole wing into confusion. Meanwhile the main body and the other wing sustained the charge without flinching, until they were exposed in flank by the defeat of the cavalry; then the whole front gave way. In vain the second line was brought up to sustain them; the horse turned their backs, and the infantry was totally routed. In a word, the confederates were obliged to retire with precipitation, leaving their cannon and about eight thousand men killed or wounded on the field of battle. The duke of Schomberg having been denied the post which was his due, insisted upon fighting at the head of the troops maintained by the king of Great Britain, who were posted in the centre, and behaved with great gallantry under the eye of their commander. When the left wing was defeated, the count de los Torres desired he would take upon him the command, and retreat with the infantry and right wing; but he refused to act without the order of his highness, and said things were come to such a pass that they must either conquer or die. He continued to animate his men with his voice and example, until he received a shot in the thigh. His valet seeing him fall, ran to his assistance, and called for quarter, but was killed by the enemy before he could be understood. The duke being taken at the same instant, was afterwards dismissed upon his parole, and in a few days died at Turin, universally lamented on account of his great and amiable qualities. The earl of Warwick and Holland, who accompanied him as a volunteer, shared his fate in being wounded and taken prisoner; but he soon recovered his health and liberty. This victory was as unsubstantial as that of Landen, and almost as dear in the purchase; for the confederates made an obstinate defence, and yielded solely to superior number. The duke of Savoy retreated to Moncalier, and threw a reinforcement into Coni, which Catinat would not venture to besiege, so severely had he been handled in the battle. He therefore contented himself with laying the country under contribution, reinforcing the garrisons of Casal, Pignerol, and Suza, and making preparations for repassing the mountains. The news of this victory no sooner reached Paris, than Louis dispatched M. de Chanlais to Turin, with proposals for detaching the duke of Savoy from the interest of the allies; and the pope, who was now become a partisan of France, supported the negotiation with his whole influence; but the French king had not yet touched upon the right string. The duke continued deaf to all his addresses.

TRANSACTIONS in HUNGARY and CATALONIA.

France had been alike successful in her intrigues at the courts of Rome and Constantinople. The vizier at the Porte had been converted into a pensionary and creature of Louis; but the war in which the Turks had been so long and unsuccessfully engaged, rendered him so odious to the people, that the grand seignor deposed him in order to appease their clamours. The English and Dutch ambassadors at Constantinople forthwith renewed their mediation for a peace with the emperor; but the terms they proposed were still rejected with disdain. In the meantime general Heusler, who commanded the imperialists at Transylvania, reduced the fortresses of Jeno and Villaguswar. In the beginning of July the duc de Croy assumed the chief command of the German army, passed the Danube and the Saave, and invested Belgrade. The siege was carried on for some time with great vigour, but at length abandoned at the approach of the vizier, who obliged the imperialists to repass the Saave, and sent out parties which made incursions into Upper-Hungary. The power of France had never been so conspicuous as at this juncture, when she maintained a formidable navy at sea, and four great armies in different parts of Europe. Exclusive of the operations in Flanders, Germany, and Piedmont, the count de Noailles invested Eoses in Catalonia, about the latter end of May, while at the same time it was blocked up by the French fleet under the command of the count D’Etrées. In a few days the place was surrendered by capitulation, and the castle of Ampurias met with the same fate. The Spanish power was reduced to such a degree, that Noailles might have proceeded in his conquests without interruption, had he not been obliged to detach part of his army to reinforce Catinat in Piedmont.

{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}

NAVAL AFFAIRS.

Nothing could be more inglorious for the English than their operations by sea in the course of this summer. The king had ordered the admirals to use all possible despatch in equipping the fleets, that they might block up the enemy in their own ports and protect the commerce, which had suffered severely from the French privateers. They were however so dilatory in their proceedings, that the squadrons of the enemy sailed from their harbours before the English fleet could put to sea. About the middle of May it was assembled at St. Helen’s, and took on board five regiments intended for a descent on Brest; but this enterprise was never attempted. When the English and Dutch squadrons joined, so as to form a very numerous fleet, the public expected they would undertake some expedition of importance; but the admirals were divided in opinion, nor did their orders warrant their executing any scheme of consequence. Killigrew and Délavai did not escape the suspicion of being disaffected to the service; and France was said to have maintained a secret correspondence with the malcontents in England. Louis had made surprising efforts to repair the damage which his navy had sustained. He had purchased several large vessels and converted them into ships of war; he had laid an embargo on all the shipping of his kingdom until his squadrons were manned; he had made a grand naval promotion to encourage the officers and seamen; and this expedient produced a wonderful spirit of activity and emulation. In the month of May his fleet sailed to the Mediterranean in three squadrons, consisting of seventy-one capital ships, besides bomb-ketches, fire-ships, and tenders.

In the beginning of June, the English and Dutch fleets sailed down the channel. On the sixth, sir George Rooke was detached to the Straits with a squadron of three-and-twenty ships as convoy to the Mediterranean trade. The grand fleet returned to Torbay, while he pursued his voyage, having taken under his protection about four hundred merchant ships belonging to England, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Hamburgh, and Flanders. On the sixteenth his scouts discovered part of the French fleet under Cape St. Vincent; next day their whole navy appeared, to the amount of eighty sail. Sixteen of these plied up to the English squadron, while the vice-admiral of the white stood off to sea to intercept the ships under convoy. Sir George Rooke, by the advice of the Dutch vice-admiral Vandergoes, resolved if possible to avoid an engagement, which could only tend to their absolute ruin. He forthwith sent orders to the small ships that were near the land to put into the neighbouring ports of Faro, St. Lucar, and Cadiz, while he himself stood off with an easy sail for the protection of the rest. About six in the evening, ten sail of the enemy came up with two Dutch ships of war commanded by the captains Schrijver and Vander-Poel, who seeing no possibility of escaping, tacked in shore, and, thus drawing the French after them, helped to save the rest of the fleet. When attacked they made a most desperate defence, but at last were overpowered by numbers and taken. An English ship of war and a rich pinnace were burned; nine-and-twenty merchant vessels were taken, and about fifty destroyed by the counts de Tourville and D’Etrées. Seven of the largest Smyrna ships fell into the hands of M. de Cotlegon, and four he sunk in the bay of Gibraltar. The value of the loss sustained on this occasion amounted to one million sterling. Meanwhile Rooke stood off with a fresh gale, and on the nineteenth sent home the Lark ship of war with the news of his misfortune; then he bore away for the Madeiras, where having taken in wood and water, he set sail for Ireland, and on the third day of August arrived at Cork with fifty sail, including ships of war and trading vessels. He detached captain Fairborne to Kinsale with all his squadron except six ships of the line, with which, in pursuance of orders, he joined the great fleet then cruising in the chops of the channel. On the twenty-fifth day of August they returned to St. Helen’s, and the four regiments were landed. On the nineteenth day of September, fifteen Dutch ships of the line and two frigates set sail for Holland; and twenty-six sail, with seven fire-ships, were assigned as guard-ships during the winter.

EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES.

The French admirals, instead of pursuing Rooke to Madeira, made an unsuccessful attempt upon Cadiz, and bombarded Gibraltar, where the merchants sunk their ships that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy. Then they sailed along the coast of Spain, destroyed some English and Dutch vessels at Malaga, Alicant, and other places, and returned in triumph to Toulon. About this period sir Francis Wheeler returned to England with his squadron from an unfortunate expedition in the West Indies. In conjunction with colonel Codrington, governor of the Leeward Islands, he made unsuccessful attempts upon the islands of Martinique and Dominique. Then he sailed to Boston in New England with a view to concert an expedition against Quebec, which was judged impracticable. He afterwards steered for Placentia in Newfoundland, which he would have attacked without hesitation; but the design was rejected by a majority of voices in the council of war. Thus disappointed, he set sail for England, and arrived at Portsmouth in a very shattered condition, the greater part of his men having died in the course of this voyage.

BENBOW BOMBARDS ST. MALOES.

In November another effort was made to annoy the enemy. Commodore Benbow sailed with a squadron of twelve capital ships, four bomb-ketches, and ten brigantines, to the coast of St. Maloes, and anchoring within half a mile of the town, cannonaded and bombarded it for three days successively. Then his men landed on an island where they burned a convent. On the nineteenth they took the advantage of a dark night, a fresh gale, and a strong tide, to send in a fire-ship of a particular contrivance, styled the Infernal, in order to burn the town; but she struck upon a rock before she arrived at the place, and the engineer was obliged to set her on fire and retreat. She continued burning for some time, and at last blew up with such an explosion as shook the whole town like an earthquake, unroofed three hundred houses, and broke all the glass and earthenware for three leagues around. A capstan that weighed two hundred pounds was transported into the place, and falling upon a house, levelled it to the ground; the greatest part of the wall towards the sea tumbled down; and the inhabitants were overwhelmed with consternation, so that a small number of troops might have taken possession without resistance, but there was not a soldier on board. Nevertheless the sailors took and demolished Quince-fort, and did considerable damage to the town of St. Maloes, which had been a nest of privateers that infested the English commerce. Though this attempt was executed with great spirit and some success, the clamours of the people became louder and louder. They scrupled not to say that the councils of the nation were betrayed; and their suspicions rose even to the secretary’s office. They observed, that the French were previously acquainted with all the motions of the English, and took their measures accordingly for their destruction. They collected and compared a good number of particulars that seemed to justify their suspicion of treachery. But the misfortunes of the nation in all probability arose from a motley ministry divided among themselves, who, instead of acting in concert for the public good, employed all their influence to thwart the views and blacken the reputations of each other. The people in general exclaimed against the marquis of Carmarthen, the earls of Nottingham and Rochester, who had acquired great credit with the queen, and, from their hatred to the whigs, betrayed the interests of the nation.

THE FRENCH KING HAS RECOURSE TO THE MEDIATION OF DENMARK.

But if the English were discontented, the French were miserable in spite of all their victories. That kingdom laboured under a dreadful famine, occasioned partly from unfavourable seasons, and partly from the war, which had not left hands sufficient to cultivate the ground. Notwithstanding all the diligence and providence of their ministry in bringing supplies of corn from Sweden and Denmark, their care in regulating the price and furnishing the markets, their liberal contributions for the relief of the indigent, multitudes perished of want, and the whole kingdom was reduced to poverty and distress. Louis pined in the midst of his success. He saw his subjects exhausted by a ruinous war, in which they had been involved by his ambition. He tampered with the allies apart, in hopes of dividing and detaching them from the grand confederacy; he solicited the northern crowns to engage as mediators for a general peace. A memorial was actually presented by the Danish minister to king William, by which it appears that the French king would have been contented to purchase a peace with some considerable concessions; but the terms were rejected by the king of England, whose ambition and revenge were not yet gratified, and whose subjects, though heavily laden, could still bear additional burdens.

The Jacobites had been very attentive to the progress of dissatisfaction in England, which they fomented with their usual assiduity. The late declaration of king James had been couched in such imperious terms as gave offence even to some of those who favoured his interest. The earl of Middleton therefore, in the beginning of the year, repaired to St. Germain’s and obtained another, which contained the promise of a general pardon without exception, and every other concession that a British subject could demand of his sovereign. About the latter end of May, two men named Canning and Dormer were apprehended for dispersing copies of this paper, tried at the Old Bailey, found guilty of not only dispersing but also of composing a false and seditious libel, sentenced to pay five hundred marks a-piece, to stand three times in the pillory, and find sureties for their good behaviour. But no circumstance reflected more disgrace on this reign than the fate of Anderton, the supposed printer of some tracts against the government. He was brought to trial for high treason; he made a vigorous defence in spite of the insults and discouragement he sustained from a partial bench. As nothing but presumptions appeared against him, the jury scrupled to bring in a verdict that would affect his life, until they were reviled and reprimanded by judge Treby, then they found him guilty. In vain recourse was had to the queen’s mercy; he suffered death at Tyburn, and left a paper protesting solemnly against the proceedings of the court, which he affirmed was appointed not to try but to convict him, and petitioning heaven to forgive his penitent jury. The severity of the government was likewise exemplified in the case of some adventurers, who having equipped privateers to cruise upon the English, under joint commissions from the late king James and Louis XIV., happened to be taken by the English ships of war. Dr. Oldys, the king’s advocate, being commanded to proceed against them as guilty of treason and piracy, refused to commence the prosecution; and gave his opinion in writing that they were neither traitors nor pirates. He supported his opinion by arguments before the council; these were answered by Dr. Littleton, who succeeded him in the office from which he was dismissed; and the prisoners were executed as traitors. The Jacobites did not fail to retort those arts upon the government which their adversaries had so successfully practised in the late reign. They inveighed against the vindictive spirit of the administration, and taxed it with encouraging informers and false witnesses--a charge for which there was too much foundation.

The friends of James in Scotland still continued to concert designs in his favour; but their correspondence was detected, and their aims defeated, by the vigilance of the ministry in that kingdom. Secretary Johnston not only kept a watchful eye over all their transactions, but by a dexterous management of court liberality and favour, appeased the discontents of the presbyterians so effectually, that the king ran no risk in assembling the parliament. Some offices were bestowed upon the leaders of the kirk party, and the duke of Hamilton, being reconciled to the government, was appointed commissioner. On the eighteenth day of April the session was opened, and the king’s letter, replete with the most cajoling expressions, being read, the parliament proceeded to exhibit undeniable specimens of their good humour. They drew up a very affectionate answer to his majesty’s letter; they voted an addition of six new regiments to the standing forces of the kingdom; they granted a supply of above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling to his majesty; they enacted a law for levying men to serve on board the royal navy; they fined all absentees, whether lords or commons, and vacated the seats of all those commissioners who refused to take the oath of assurance, which was equivalent to an abjuration of king James; they set on foot an inquiry about an intended invasion; they published some intercepted letters supposed to be written to king James by Nevil Payne, whom they committed to prison and threatened with a trial for high treason; but he eluded the danger by threatening in his turn to impeach those who had made their peace with the government; they passed an act for the comprehension of such of the episcopal clergy as should condescend to take the oaths by the tenth day of July. All that the general assembly required of them was, an offer to subscribe the confession of faith, and to acknowledge presbytery as the only government of the Scottish church; but they neither submitted to these terms, nor took the oaths within the limited time, so that they forfeited all legal right to their benefices. Nevertheless they continued in possession, and even received private assurances of the king’s protection. It was one of William’s political maxims to court his domestic enemies; but it was never attended with any good effect. This indulgence gave offence to the presbyterians, and former distractions began to revive.

THE KING RETURNS TO ENGLAND.

The king having prevailed upon the states-general to augment their land forces and navy for the service of the ensuing campaign, embarked for England, and arrived at Kensington on the thirtieth day of October. Finding the people clamorous and discontented, the trade of the nation decayed, the affairs of state mismanaged, and the ministers recriminating upon one another, he perceived the necessity of changing hands, and resolved to take his measures accordingly. Sunderland, his chief counsellor, represented that the tories were averse to the continuance of a war which had been productive of nothing but damage and disgrace; whereas, the whigs were much more tractable, and would bleed freely, partly from the terror of invasion and popery, partly from the ambition of being courted by the crown, and partly from the prospect of advantage, in advancing money to the government on the funds established by parliament; for that sort of traffic which obtained the appellation of the monied interest was altogether a whig-gish institution. The king revolved these observations in his own mind; and, in the meantime, the parliament met on the seventh day of November, pursuant to the last prorogation. In his speech, he expressed his resentment against those who were the authors of the miscarriages at sea; represented the necessity of increasing the land forces and the navy; and demanded a suitable supply for these purposes. In order to pave the way to their condescension, he had already dismissed from his council the earl of Nottingham, who, of all his ministers, was the most odious to the people. His place would have been immediately filled with the earl of Shrewsbury; but that nobleman suspecting this was a change of men rather than of measures, stood aloof for some time, until he received such assurances from the king as quieted his scruples, and then he accepted the office of secretary. The lieutenancy for the city of London, and all other commissions over England, were altered with a view to favour the whig interest; and the individuals of that party were indulged with many places of trust and profit; but the tories were too powerful in the house of commons to be exasperated, and therefore a good number of them were retained in office.

BOTH HOUSES INQUIRE INTO THE MISCARRIAGES BY SEA.

On the sixth day of the session, the commons unanimously resolved to support their majesties and their government; to inquire into miscarriages; and to consider of means for preserving the trade of the nation. The Turkey company was summoned to produce the petitions they had delivered to the commissioners of the Admiralty for convoy: lord Falkland, who sat at the head of that board, gave in copies of all the orders and directions sent to sir George Rooke concerning the Straits fleet, together with a list of all the ships at that time in commission. It appeared, in the course of this inquiry, that the miscarriage of Rooke’s fleet was in a great measure owing to the misconduct of the admirals, and the neglect of the victualling-office; but they were screened by a majority. Mr. Harley, one of the commissioners for taking and stating the public accounts, delivered a report, which contained a charge of peculation against lord Falkland. Rainsford, receiver of the rights and perquisites of the navy, confessed that he had received and paid more money than that which was charged in the accounts; and, in particular, that he had paid four thousand pounds to lord Falkland by his majesty’s order. This lord had acknowledged before the commissioners, that he had paid one half of the sum, by the king’s order, to a person who was not a member of either house; and that the remainder was still in his hands. Rainsford owned he had the original letter which he received from Falkland, demanding the money; and this nobleman desiring to see it, detained the voucher; a circumstance that incensed the commons to such a degree, that a motion was made for committing him to the Tower, and debated with great warmth, but was at last over-ruled by the majority. Nevertheless, they agreed to make him sensible of their displeasure, and he was reprimanded in his place. The house of lords having also inquired into the causes of the miscarriages at sea, very violent debates arose, and at length the majority resolved, that the admirals had done well in the execution of the orders they had received. This was a triumph over the whig lords, who had so eagerly prosecuted the affair, and now protested against the resolution not without great appearance of reason. The next step of the lords was to exculpate the earl of Nottingham, as the blame seemed to lie with him on the supposition that the admirals were innocent. With a view therefore to transfer this blame to Trenchard, the whiggish secretary, the earl gave the house to understand that he had received intelligence from Paris in the beginning of June, containing a list of the enemy’s fleet and the time of their sailing; that this was communicated to a committee of the council, and particularly imparted to secretary Trenchard, whose province it was to transmit instructions to the admirals. Two conferences passed on this subject between the lords and commons. Trenchard delivered in his defence in writing; and was in his turn screened by the whole efforts of the ministry, in which the whig influence now predominated. Thus an inquiry of such national consequence, which took its rise from the king’s own expression of resentment against the delinquents, was stifled by the arts of the court, because it was likely to affect one of its creatures; for, though there was no premeditated treachery in the case, the interest of the public was certainly sacrificed to the mutual animosity of the ministers. The charge of lord Falkland being resumed in the house of commons, he appeared to have begged and received of the king the remaining two thousand pounds of money which had been paid by Rainsford: he was therefore declared guilty of a high misdemeanor and breach of trust, and committed to the Tower; from whence however he was in two days discharged upon his petition.

VAST SUMS GRANTED FOR THE SERVICES OF THE ENSUING YEAR.

Harley, Foley, and Harcourt, presented to the house a state of the receipts and issues of the revenue, together with two reports from the commissioners of accounts concerning sums issued for secret services, and to members of parliament. This was a discovery of the most scandalous practices in the mystery of corruption, equally exercised on the individuals of both parties, in occasional bounties, grants, places, pensions, equivalents, and additional salaries. The malcontents therefore justly observed, the house of commons was so managed that the king could baffle any bill, quash all grievances, stifle accounts, and rectify the articles of Limerick. When the commons took into consideration the estimates and supplies of the ensuing year, the king demanded forty thousand men for the navy, and above one hundred thousand for the purposes of the land service. Before the house considered these enormous demands, they granted four hundred thousand pounds by way of advance, to quiet the clamours of the seamen, who were become mutinous and desperate for want of pay, upwards of one million being due to them for wages. Then the commons voted the number of men required for the navy; but they were so ashamed of that for the army, that they thought it necessary to act in such a manner as should imply that they still retained some regard for their country. They called for all the treaties subsisting between the king and his allies; they examined the different proportions of the troops furnished by the respective powers; they considered the intended augmentations, and fixed the establishment of the year at four-score and three thousand, one hundred, and twenty-one men, including officers. For the maintenance of these they allotted the sum of two millions, five hundred and thirty thousand, five hundred and nine pounds. They granted two millions for the navy, and about five hundred thousand pounds, to make good the deficiencies of the annuity and poll bills; so that the supplies for the year amounted to about five millions and a half, raised by a land-tax of four shillings in the pound, by two more lives in the annuities, a further excise on beer, a new duty on salt, and a lottery.

Though the malcontents in parliament could not withstand this torrent of profusion, they endeavoured to distress the court interest, by reviving the popular bills of the preceding session; such as that for regulating trials in cases of high treason, the other for the more frequent calling and meeting of parliaments, and that concerning free and impartial proceedings in parliament. The first was neglected in the house of lords; the second was rejected; the third was passed by the commons, on the supposition that it would be defeated in the other house. The lords returned it with certain amendments, to which the commons would not agree: a conference ensued; the peers receded from their corrections, and passed the bill, to which the king however refused his assent. Nothing could be more unpopular and dangerous than such a step at this juncture. The commons, in order to recover some credit with the people, determined to disapprove of his majesty’s conduct. The house formed itself into a committee, to take the state of the kingdom into consideration. They resolved, that whoever advised the king to refuse the royal assent to that bill, was an enemy to their majesties and the kingdom. They likewise presented an address, expressing their concern that he had not given his consent to the bill; and beseeching his majesty to hearken for the future to the advice of his parliament, rather than to the counsels of particular persons, who might have private interests of their own, separate from those of his majesty and his people. The king thanked them for their zeal, professed a warm regard for their constitution, and assured them he would look upon all parties as enemies who should endeavour to lessen the confidence subsisting between the sovereign and the people. The members in the opposition were not at all satisfied with this general reply. A day being appointed to take it into consideration, a warm debate was maintained with equal eloquence and acrimony. At length the question being put that an address should be made for a more explicit answer, it passed in the negative by a great majority.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

The city of London petitioned that a parliamentary provision should be made for the orphans, whose fortunes they had scandalously squandered away. Such an application had been made in the preceding session, and rejected with disdain, as an imposition on the public; but now those scruples were removed, and the house passed a bill for this purpose, consisting of many clauses, extending to different charges on the city lands, aqueducts, and personal estates; imposing duties on binding apprentices, constituting freemen, as also upon wines and coals imported into London. On the twenty-third day of March these bills received the royal assent; and the king took that opportunity of recommending despatch, as the season of the year was far advanced, and the enemy diligently employed in making preparations for an early campaign. The scheme of a national bank, like those of Amsterdam and Genoa, had been recommended to the ministry as an excellent institution, as well for the credit and security of the government, as the increase of trade and circulation. One project was invented by Dr. Hugh Chamberlain, proposing the circulation of tickets on land security; but William Paterson was author of that which was carried into execution, by the interest of Michael Godfrey and other active projectors. The scheme was founded on the motion of a transferable fund, and a circulation by bill on the credit of a large capital. Forty merchants subscribed to the amount of five hundred thousand pounds, as a fund of ready money, to circulate one million at eight per cent, to be lent to the government; and even this fund of ready money bore the same interest. When it was properly digested in the cabinet, and a majority in parliament secured for its reception, the undertakers for the court introduced it into the house of commons, and expatiated upon the national advantages that would accrue from such a measure. They said it would rescue the nation out of the hands of extortioners and usurers, lower interest, raise the value of land, revive and establish public credit, extend circulation, consequently improve commerce, facilitate the annual supplies, and connect the people the more closely with the government. The project was violently opposed by a strong party, who affirmed that it would become a monopoly, and engross the whole money of the kingdom; that, as it must infallibly be subservient to government views, it might be employed to the worst purposes of arbitrary power; that instead of assisting it would weaken commerce, by tempting people to withdraw their money from trade and employ it in stock-jobbing; that it would produce a swarm of brokers and jobbers to prey upon their fellow-creatures, encourage fraud and gaming, and further corrupt the morals of the nation. Notwithstanding these objections, the bill made its way through the two houses, establishing the funds for the security and advantage of the subscribers; empowering their majesties to incorporate them by the name of the governor and company of the bank of England, under a proviso, that at any time after the first day of August, in the year one thousand seven hundred and five, upon a year’s notice, and the repayment of the twelve hundred thousand pounds, the said corporation should cease and determine. The bill likewise contained clauses of appropriation for the services of the public. The whole subscription was filled in ten days after its being opened; and the court of directors completed the payment before the expiration of the time prescribed by the act, although they did not call in more than seven hundred and twenty thousand pounds of the money subscribed. All these funds proving inadequate to the estimates, the commons brought in a bill to impose stamp duties upon all vellum, parchment, and paper, used in almost every kind of intercourse between man and man; and they crowned the oppression of the year with another grievous tax upon carriages, under the name of a bill for licensing and regulating hackney and stage coaches.

EAST INDIA COMPANY’S CHARTER.

The commons, in a clause of the bill for taxing several joint-stocks, provided, that in case of a default in the payment of that tax, within the time limited by the act, the charter of the company so failing should be deemed void and forfeited. The East India company actually neglected their payment, and the public imagined the ministry would seize this opportunity of dissolving a monopoly against which so many complaints had been made; but the directors understood their own strength; and, instead of being broken, obtained the promise of a new charter. This was no sooner known, than the controversy between them and their adversaries was revived with such animosity, that the council thought proper to indulge both parties with a hearing. As this produced no resolution, the merchants who opposed the company petitioned, that, in the meanwhile, the new charter might be suspended. Addresses of the same kind were presented by a great number of clothiers, linen-drapers, and other dealers. To these a written answer was published by the company; the merchants printed a reply, in which they undertook to prove that the company had been guilty of unjust and unwarrantable actions, tending to the scandal of religion, the dishonour of the nation, the reproach of our laws, the oppression of the people, and the ruin of trade. They observed, that two private ships had exported in one year three times as many cloths as the company had exported in three years. They offered to send more cloth and English merchandise to the Indies in one year than the company had exported in five; to furnish the government with five hundred tons of saltpetre for less than one half of the usual price; and they represented, that the company could neither load the ships they petitioned for in England, nor reload them in the East Indies. In spite of all these remonstrances, the new charter passed the great seal; though the grants contained in it were limited in such a manner that they did not amount to an exclusive privilege, and subjected the company to such alterations, restrictions, and qualifications, as the king should direct before the twenty-ninth day of September. This indulgence, and other favours granted to the company, were privately purchased of the ministry, and became productive of a loud outcry against the government. The merchants published a journal of the whole transaction, and petitioned the house of commons that their liberty of trading to the East Indies might be confirmed by parliament. Another petition was presented by the company, praying that their charter might receive a parliamentary sanction. Both parties employed all their address in making private application to the members. The house having examined the different charters, the book of their new subscriptions, and every particular relating to the company, resolved that all the subjects of England had an equal right to trade to the East Indies unless prohibited by act of parliament.

{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}

GENERAL NATURALIZATION BILL.

But nothing engrossed the attention of the public more than a bill which was brought into the house for a general naturalization of all foreign protestants. The advocates for this measure alleged, That great part of the lands of England lay uncultivated; that the strength of a nation consisted in the number of inhabitants; that the people were thinned by the war and foreign voyages, and required an extraordinary supply; that a great number of protestants, persecuted in France and other countries, would gladly remove to a land of freedom, and bring along with them their wealth and manufactures; that the community had been largely repaid for the protection granted to those refugees who had already settled in the kingdom. They had introduced several new branches of manufacture, promoted industry, and lowered the price of labour; a circumstance of the utmost importance to trade, oppressed as it was with taxes, and exposed to uncommon hazard from the enemy. The opponents of the bill urged with great vehemence, That it would cheapen the birthright of Englishmen; that the want of culture was owing to the oppression of the times; that foreigners being admitted into the privileges of the British trade, would grow wealthy at the expense of their benefactors, and transfer the fortunes they had gained into their native country; that the reduction in the price of labour would be a national grievance, while so many thousands of English manufacturers were starving for want of employment, and the price of provisions continued so high that even those who were employed could scarce supply their families with bread; that the real design of the bill was to make such an accession to the dissenters as would render them an equal match in the body politic for those of the church of England; to create a greater dependence on the crown, and, in a word, to supply a foreign head with foreign members. Sir John Knight, a member of the house, in a speech upon this subject, exaggerated the bad consequences that would attend such a bill, with all the wit and virulence of satire: it was printed and dispersed through the kingdom, and raised such a flame among the people as had not appeared since the revolution. They exclaimed, that all offices would be conferred upon Dutchmen, who would become lord-danes, and prescribe the modes of religion and government; and they extolled sir John Knight as the saviour of the nation. The courtiers, incensed at the progress of this clamour, complained in the house of the speech which had been printed; and sir John was threatened with expulsion and imprisonment. He therefore thought proper to disown the paper, which was burned by the hands of the common hangman. This sacrifice served only to increase the popular disturbance, which rose to such a height of violence, that the court party began to tremble; and the bill was dropped for the present.

Lord Coningsby and Mr. Porter had committed the most flagrant acts of oppression in Ireland. These had been explained during the last session by the gentlemen who appealed against the administration of lord Sidney, but they were screened by the ministry; and therefore the earl of Bellamont now impeached them in the house of commons, of which he and they were members. After an examination of the articles exhibited against them, the commons, who were by this time at the devotion of the court, declared, that, considering the state of affairs in Ireland, they did not think them fit grounds for an impeachment.--In the course of this session, the nation sustained another misfortune in the fate of sir Francis Wheeler, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean squadron. He received instructions to take under his convoy the merchant ships bound to Turkey, Spain, and Italy; to cruise thirty days in a certain latitude for the protection of the Spanish plate-fleet homeward bound; to leave part of his squadron at Cadiz as convoy to the trade for England; to proceed with the rest to the Mediterranean; to join the Spanish fleet in his return; and to act in concert with them, until he should be joined by the fleet from Turkey and the Straits, and accompany them back to England. About the latter end of October he set sail from Saint Helen’s, and in January arrived at Cadiz with the ships under his convoy. There leaving rear-admiral Hopson, he proceeded for the Mediterranean. In the bay of Gibraltar he was overtaken by a dreadful tempest, under a lee-shore, which he could not possibly weather, and where the ground was so foul that no anchor would hold. This expedient however was tried. A great number of ships were driven ashore, and many perished. The admiral’s ship foundered at sea, and he and all his crew were buried in the deep, except two Moors who were miraculously preserved. Two other ships of the line, three ketches, and six merchant ships were lost. The remains of the fleet were so much shattered, that, instead of prosecuting their voyage, they returned to Cadiz in order to be refitted, and sheltered from the attempts of the French squadrons, which were still at sea under the command of Chateau-Renaud and Cabaret. On the twenty-fifth day of April, the king-closed the session with a speech in the usual style, and the parliament was prorogued to the eighteenth day of September. [053] _[See note K, at the end of this Vol.]_

THE ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO MAKE A DESCENT IN CAMARET-BAY.

Louis of France being tired of the war, which had impoverished his country, continued to tamper with the duke of Savoy, and, by the canal of the pope, made some offers to the king of Spain, which were rejected. Meanwhile he resolved to stand upon the defensive during the ensuing campaign, in every part but Catalonia, where his whole naval force might co-operate with the count de Noailles, who commanded the land army. King William having received intelligence of the design upon Barcelona, endeavoured to prevent the junction of the Brest and Toulon squadrons, by sending Russel to sea as early as the fleet could be in a condition to sail; but before he arrived at Portsmouth, the Brest squadron had quitted that harbour. On the third day of May the admiral sailed from St. Helen’s with the combined squadrons of England and Holland, amounting to ninety ships of the line, besides frigates, fire-ships, and tenders. He detached captain Pritchard of the Monmouth with two fire-ships, to destroy a fleet of French merchant ships near Conquet-bay; and this service being performed, he returned to St. Helen’s, where he had left Adm. Cloudesley Shovel with a squadron, to take on board a body of land forces intended for a descent upon the coast of France. These being embarked under the command of general Ptolemache, the whole fleet sailed again on the twenty-ninth of May. The land and sea officers, in a council of war, agreed that part of the fleet designed for this expedition should separate from the rest and proceed to Camaret-bay, where the forces should be landed. On the fifth day of June, lord Berkeley, who commanded this squadron, parted with the grand fleet, and on the seventh anchored between the bays of Camaret and Bertaume. Next day the marquis of Carmarthen, afterwards duke of Leeds, who served under Berkeley as rear-admiral of the blue, entered Camaret-bay with two large ships and six frigates, to cover the troops in landing. The French had received intelligence of the design, and taken such precautions, under the conduct of the celebrated engineer Vauban, that the English were exposed to a terrible fire from new erected batteries, as well as from a strong body of troops, and though the ships cannonaded them with great vigour, the soldiers could not maintain any regularity in landing. A good number were killed in the open boats before they reached the shore; and those who landed were soon repulsed, in spite of all the endeavours of general Ptolemache, who received a wound in the thigh, which proved mortal. Seven hundred soldiers are said to have been lost on this occasion, besides those who were killed on board of the ships. The Monk ship of war was towed off with great difficulty; but a Dutch frigate of thirty guns fell into the hands of the enemy.

After this unfortunate attempt, lord Berkeley, with the advice of a council of war, sailed back for England, and at St. Helen’s received orders from the queen to call a council, and deliberate in what manner the ships and forces might be best employed. They agreed to make some attempt upon the coast of Normandy. With this view they set sail on the fifth day of July. They bombarded Dieppe, and reduced the greatest part of the town to ashes. Thence they steered to Havre-de-Grace, which met with the same fate. They harassed the French troops who marched after them along shore. They alarmed the whole coast, and filled every town with such consternation that they would have been abandoned by the inhabitants had not they been detained by military force. On the twenty-sixth of July, lord Berkeley returned to St. Helen’s, where he quitted the fleet, and the command devolved upon sir Cloudesley Shovel. This officer having received instructions to make an attempt upon Dunkirk, sailed round to the Downs, where he was joined by M. Meesters, with six-and-twenty Dutch pilots. On the twelfth of September he appeared before Dunkirk; and next day sent in the Charles galley, with two bomb-ketches, and as many of the machines called infernals. These were set on fire without effect, and the design miscarried; then Shovel steered to Calais, which having bombarded with little success, he returned to the coast of England; and the bomb-ketches and machines were sent into the river Thames.

ADMIRAL RUSSEL RELIEVES BARCELONA.

During these transactions, admiral Russel with the grand fleet sailed for the Mediterranean; and being joined by rear-admiral Neville from Cadiz, together with Callemberg and Evertzen, he steered towards Barcelona, which was besieged by the French fleet and army. At his approach, Tourville retired with precipitation into the harbour of Toulon; and Noailles abandoned his enterprise. The Spanish affairs were in such a deplorable condition, that without this timely assistance the kingdom must have been undone. While he continued in the Mediterranean, the French admiral durst not venture to appear at sea, and all his projects were disconcerted. After having asserted the honour of the British flag in those seas during the whole summer, he sailed in the beginning of November to Cadiz, where, by an express order of the king, he passed the winter, during which he took such precautions for preventing Tourville from passing the Straits, that he did not think proper to risk the passage.

CAMPAIGN IN FLANDERS.