fish commissary, and the effective state thereof to be ascertained by the signature of the commander in chief of the said forces; and for defraying the charge of the troops of the landgrave of Hesse Cassel in the pay of Great Britain, for one year; including the annual subsidy, pursuant to treaty; and for defraying the charge of the troops of the reigning duke of Brunswick in the pay of Great Britain, for the service of the next campaign, together with the annual subsidy, pursuant to treaty; and for the charge of five battalions serving with his majesty's army in Germany, with a corps of artillery; also one million, upon account, towards defraying the charges of forage, bread-waggons, train of artillery, provisions, wood, straw, and other extraordinary expenses and contingencies of his majesty's combined army, under the command of prince Ferdinand. If to these sums we add the king of Prussia's annual subsidy of six hundred and seventy thou sand pounds; and two millious, upon a very moderate calculation, for keeping up an army of five and twenty thousand British troops in Westphalia, including the transport service, and other incidental charges, with various deficiencies and extraor dinary expenses which the commons were afterwards obliged to make good; we shall find that the generosity of Great Britain to her continental allies cost her at least five millions annually.

No part of this contribution was voted with more cheerfulness than the subsidy to Prussia. The news of the battle of Torgau had reached England just before the meeting of parliament; and the circumstantial account and confirmation of that splendid victory, with which baron Coceii, the king of Prussia's aid-de-camp, arrived a few days after, did not fail to operate very powerfully in his master's fayour. He was received by his majesty at St James's in a most gracious manner. This single blow counterbalanced all the losses he had sustained during the campaign, it made him master of all Saxony except Dresden. Laudohn abruptly raised the siege of Cosel, and evacuated Silesia; the Russians abandoned the siege of Colberg, and fell back into Poland, while the Swedes were driven with great loss out of Western Pomerania. The annual treaty or convention between the courts of Great Britain and of Prussia was renewed on the twelfth of December; and on the twenty-third of the same month the commons agreed to the resolution of the committee of supply, to enable his majesty to make good his engagements with the king of Prussia. The popularity of these proceedings, however, did not shield them from the censure of some very able political writers at that time.

COMPENSATION TO NORTH AMERICANS. 1761. THE grant of three hundred thousand pounds, voted by the commons on the twentieth of January, to enable his majesty to give a proper compensation to the respective provinces in North America for the expenses incurred by them in the levying, clothing, and pay of their troops, though not more popular than the king of Prussia's subsidy, was certainly more unexceptionable. The states had acted with the utmost vigour and despatch in the raising and equipment of those troops; and the troops themselves, particularly the Virginians, had displayed uncommon firmness and courage in several perilous situations; and had, upon every occasion that offered, co-operated with the forces of the mother country in the most hearty and effectual manner.

BALLOT FOR MILITIA PRODUCTIVE OF A RIOT AT HEXHAM.

THE militia in the northern counties had already served the term of three years, prescribed by law, it became requisite to ballot for a succession of men; and the deputy-lieutenants and justices of the peace for the county of Northumberland accordingly met at Hexham on the ninth of March for that purpose. The common people being determined to oppose the measure, which they looked upon as an insupport able grievance, assembled to the number of five thousand, of both sexes, and of all ages, some of them armed with bludgeons, and others with pikes and firelocks. The justice, had procured a battalion of the Yorkshire militia for their guard, and these were drawn up in the market-place. The mob, being reinforced by a large body of pitmen from the collieries, ridiculed the menace, assaulted

the troop, and shot an ensign dead, and two of the private men. The militia, thus exasperated, poured iu upon them a regular discharge, by which fortyfive of the populace were killed upon the spot, and three hundred miserably wounded. One of the ringleaders was taken up, tried, and executed for an example.

One of the articles, fixed upon by the committee of ways and means for raising the before mentioned supplies, seemed to threaten a more dangerous commotion in the capital than that which the renewal of the militia had excited in a different county.

LOAN OF TWELVE MILLIONS.

THE principal expedient was a loan of twelve millions, the interest of which was to be paid by an additional duty of three shillings per barrel on all strong beer, or ale, the sinking fund being a collateral security.

This tax, in addition to the former duties of excise on beer, excited a great outcry among the lower classes of people.

NEW ACT OF INSOLVENCY.

PETITIONS in favour of confined debtors had of late been presented to the house with the fullest confidence in its kind and compassionate regard. The hopes of the applicants were greatly encouraged by the accession and character of the new sovereign. They had also, at this juncture, other strong claims to the consideration of the legislature: all the prisons in the kingdom were crowded, and many thousands of valuable subjects lost to society, at a time when the people were thinned by a consuming war, and when several manufactures were standing still, or totally abandoned for want of workmen. The commons were not inattentive to remonstrances so well supported by humanity and policy. A bill was brought in, and soon passed into an act for the relief of such unfortunate captives, and containing a clause framed with a view to perpetual, but well-regulated indulgence. By it, any creditor might compel a prisoner, charged in execution, to appear at the quarter sessions with the copy of his detainer, and to deliver upon oath, a just schedule of his estate. After producing and subscribing the schedule, he was to be discharged; but, if he refused to do so, or concealed to the value of twenty pounds, he was to suffer as a felon. This clause seemed likely to be productive of the best effects it was designed to operate as a penal check on persons of a different description, who might be inclined to continue in prison and to spend their substance there, rather than give up their property for the satisfaction of their creditors. But the laudable intentions of the legislature were defeated, and its clemency abused by fraud and collusion. Great numbers of people in all stations of life seized this opportunity of disencumbering themselves of their debts. The alarm, in consequence, was so great, and personal credit received such a shock, that the common council of London instructed their representatives in the new parliament to use their best endeavours to procure the repeal of the compulsive clause, as a manifest grievance to the public.

INDEPENDENCY OF THE JUDGES.

In the beginning of March the king proposed a step for securing the independency of the judges, which was justly admired as an eminent proof of his majesty's candour, moderation, and public spirit. Having gone to the house of lords to give his assent to some bills then ready, he commanded the attendance of the commons, and explained his purpose in the following manner :

My Lords and Gentlemen,

"Upon granting new commissions to the judges, the present state of their offices fell naturally un

der consideration.

"In consequence of the act passed in the reign of my late glorious predecessor king William III. for settling the succession of the crown in my family, their commissions have been made during their good behaviour; but, notwithstanding that wise provision, their offices have determined upon the demise of the crown, or at the expiration of six months afterwards, in every instance of that nature which has happened.

"I look upon the independency and uprightness of the judges of the land, as essential to the impar

tial administration of justice; as one of the best securities to the rights and liberties of my loving subjects; and as most conducive to the honour of the crown and I come now to recommend this interesting object to the consideration of parliament, in order that such farther provision may be made for securing the judges in the enjoyment of their of fices, during their good behaviour, notwithstanding any such demise, as shall be most expedient.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons, "I must desire of you, in particular, that I may be enabled to grant, and establish upon the judges such salaries as I shall think proper, so as to be absolutely secured to them, during the continuance of their commissions."

This speech was received with the applause due to such a declaration. The commons, to whom he had more particularly addressed himself on the occasion, acknowledged their most grateful sense of his majesty's attention to an object so interesting to his people: they assured him, that his faithful commons saw with joy and veneration the warm regard and concern, which animated his royal breast, for the security of the religion, laws, liberties, and properties of his subjects; that the house would immediately proceed upon the important work, recommended by his majesty with such tender care of his people; and would enable him to establish the salaries of the judges in such a permanent manner, that they might be enjoyed during the continuance of their commissions. These assurances were converted into so many resolutions of the house on the fifth of March, and became the basis of a law, by which the independency of the bench was better secured.

THE SPEAKER RETIRES.

THE Commons concluded their proceedings with some very flattering testimonies of their regard for Mr. Onslow, the speaker, who had signified his intention to resign the chair, which he had filled dur. ing the course of above thirty-three years, in five successive parliaments.

The king closed the scene on the nineteenth of March with a speech to both houses in which his majesty touched upon the farther progress of the war in Germany, where, as his majesty observed, the superior ability and indefatigable activity of prince Ferdinand, and the spirit and ardour of the other officers and troops had been surprisingly exerted, notwithstanding all the difficulties arising from the season.

ADVANTAGEOUS POSITION OF THE

FRENCH.

Ar the close of the last campaign, the French continued masters of the whole territory of Hesse, where they had amassed large stores, and strength ened all the tenable places with additional works. On their left, they had driven the allies from the lower Rhine, and kept so considerable a body of troops there as to check any hostile effort in that quarter. On their right, having forced prince Ferdinand to raise the siege of Gottingen, they remained in quiet possession of that important fortress, while the electorate of Hanover lay quite open to their enterprises. Thus their cantonments presented the appearance of an immense crescent, the two advanced points of which were at Gottingen and Wessel, and the body extended in Hesse: so that being perfectly well provided with magazines, and unobstructed in all the communications necessary for their current subsistence, with strong places in their rear, and in both their flanks, they seemed to have nothing more to do, next campaign, than to advance their several posts in a manner to inclose the allied army, which, without some signal success, would find itself absolutely incapable of making any stand against them.

PRINCE FERDINAND'S PLAN OF ATTACK. PRINCE FERDINAND was sensible of the inconveniences of his own situation, and of the advantages the enemy had over him. He therefore resolved to strike the first blow; and having, on the ninth of February, assembled his forces at three different places of rendezvous with all possible secrecy, he communicated his designs to his generals next day, and immediately began to carry them into execution.

The centre of the army was led on by his serene

highness in person: it marched directly into Hesse, and made its way towards Cassel. The right and left wings, or rather detachments, were each at a considerable distance from the main body, but so disposed that their separate effects might fully concur in the general plan of operations. The hereditary prince commanded on the right; he pushed forward with the utmost expedition into the heart of the French quarters, leaving the country of Hesse a little to the east. General Sporken, at the head of the third division of the forces on the left, had orders to penetrate into Thuringia, and to endeavour, by a rapid and judicious movement, to break the communication of the French and Imperialists, to open one for the allies with the Prussians, and to cut off all intercourse between the grand arsay of the enemy and their garrison at Gottingen.

FRITZLAR AND SEVERAL MAGAZINES

TAKEN.

BY this sudden, extensive, and vigorous attack, the French were thrown into the utmost consternation. They retreated, or rather fled on every side. But, happily for them, they had very sufficient means of securing their retreat, and such a number of garrisons as the allies could not leave behind them in their career, without being exposed to the most imminent danger. Fritzlar was the first place, on which the hereditary prince made an attack, with only a few battalions and musquetry, having been informed that he might easily surprise it. But he was deceived in his intelligence: he found the garrison prepared and resolute: after an assault, therefore, conducted with his usual spirit, he was obliged to draw off with no inconsiderable loss. Cannon and mortars, which the hereditary prince had before neglected, were brought before Fritzlar, and soon obliged it to surrender. A large magazine was found there. Some forts and castles in the neighbourhood were also reduced by the Marquis of Granby. The victorious troops then continued their progress, and as they advanced, the French gradually retired, abandoning post after post, till they were nearly driven to the banks of the Maine. In their retreat, they set fire to their magazines; but the allies pursued with so much rapidity, that they saved five capital stores, one of which contained eighty thousand sacks of meal, fifty thousand sacks of oats, and a million of rations of hay, a very small part of which had been destroyed. These acquisitions were of the utmost advantage: as it was almost impossible that the troops could otherwise have been supplied with subsistence, and the horse with provender, in such a season, and at so great a distance from their original quarters.

Nothwithstanding the success of the allies in front, it was not there the grand object of their operations lay. Cassel, Gottingen, Marpurg, Ziegenhayn, and several smaller posts were still unreduced at their backs, and might cut off their retreat, in case of any reverse of fortune. As soon therefore as the army, under the command of Marshal Broglio, had been driven quite out of Hesse, and had retreated towards Frankfort on the Maine, prince Ferdinand ceased to advance, and made the best dispositions for the accomplishment of the other objects. The marquis of Granby, with a large body of troops, was ordered to Marpurg, which the French abandoned at his approach. Another detachment was sent off to the blockade of Ziegenhayn: but this fortress held out with great obstinacy. The siege of Cassel was committed to the count of Lippe Schaumburgh, a sovereign prince of the empire, who was reputed to be one of the ablest engineers in Europe, and whose former manage. ment of the artillery at Thornhausen had been a principal cause in the acquisition of that great victory. Prince Ferdinand himself formed the part of the army which remained with him, into a chain of cantonments, so as to watch all the steps of marshal Broglio's army, and to cover the progress of the before mentioned operations. The siege of Cassel in particular attracted his notice, and requir ed his utmost vigilance. Trenches were opened on the first of March; and every effort of vigour and judgment called forth in an enterprise, on the success of which the whole fortune of the campaign depended.

VICISSITUDES OF THE CAMPAIGN. In the mean time, general Sporken and the troops

A

under his command, who had taken their route to the left, on the side of Saxony, advanced with an intrepidity equal to the rest of the allied forces. Having been joined by a corps of Prussians, they attacked the Saxons in one of their strongest posts on the Unstrut, and totally defeated them. great number were killed in the action: five entire battalions were made prisoners, and several pieces of cannon were taken, besides a large magazine, which the routed enemy had not time to destroy. This blow was well followed: one body of the combined army pushed on to Eisemach and Gotha, whilst another by forced marches got forward to Fulda the French gave way on their right, and the army of the empire on the left, abandoning a very large tract of country to their pursuers.

Such was the flattering posture of affairs, as detailed in the last advices from Germany, when the king was about to put an end to the sessions of parliament. It was therefore very natural for him to speak of it to both houses with some degree of exultation. But this extraordinary course of prosperity was not of long continuance. The allies were obliged to undertake too many enterprises at the same time, and these too arduous for the number of which their army consisted. In proportion as general Sporken's victorious troops were carried forward by their activity and success, they left the countries on their rear more and more exposed to the powerful garrison of Gottingen. The count de Vaux, who commanded there, no sooner perceived that the allies were wholly intent upon pushing the advantages they had acquired, than he marched out with a strong detachment; attacked and routed a Hanoverian convoy ; fell upon the town of Duderstadt with great violence: and after some checks, made himself master of that post and of the most considerable places near it. He thus prevented general Sporken's corps from returning by the way they had advanced, and even put it out of their power to act separately from their main army, to which their junction soon after became necessary on another account.

Marshal Broglio, toward the close of the last campaign, had been obliged, by the bold projects of the hereditary prince, to detach from his army in Hesse a large body to the lower Rhine. He now

found it equally proper to recall this body, together with further reinforcements, in order to maintain his ground in the country northward of the Maine, where he was closely pressed by the allies, and which he must be compelled shamefully to relinquish, if Cassel was not relieved in time.

DEFEAT OF THE HEREDITARY PRINCE. HR advanced without delay. The troops under the hereditary prince were, from their situation, exposed to the first attack. This was made by the dragoons of the enemy, whose charge was so impetucus as instantly to break the whole foot, consisting of nine regiments, Hanoverians, Hessians, and Brunswickers. Two thousand prisoners, and several trophies of victory fell into the hands of the French; though very few were killed or wounded on either side. The blow was decisive. The allies could no longer think of maintaining their ground. They broke up the blockade of Ziegenhayn: raised the siege of Cassel, after twenty-seven days open trenches; and evacuated the whole country of Hesse, retiring behind the Dymel, and falling back nearly to the quarters they possessed before this undertaking. But, notwithstanding the failure of their expedition in other respects, they accomplished one very great and important purpose in the destruction or seizure of so many of the principal magazines of the enemy. Such stores could not be quickly replaced; and the French, for want of them, were disabled from taking the field till the end of June.

PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED.

As it was in the moment of the most astonishing success that the king took notice of the operations of the allied army, he showed great wisdom and temper in adding, "that the only use he proposed to make of such victories, and of the important acquisitions gained in various parts of the world, was to secure and promote the welfare of his kingdoms, and to procure to them the blessings of peace on safe and honourable conditions."

With such sentiments, the king took his farewell of the parliament, which was immediately dis solved; and writs were issued for the election of new members.

PROPOSAL OF A CONGRESS AT AUGS

BURG.

THE liberal supplies granted by parliament for for the vigorous prosecution of the war in general, astonished all Europe, and made the courts of Vienna and Versailles sensible of the necessity of proposing terms of peace. They had slighted some Overtures made by the kings of England and Prussia in the close of the year 1759; but the posture of affairs at that time rendered it very evident that those offers were dictated by a wish to keep up the show of moderation in the height of prosperity, and to reconcile the subjects of the former sovereign to what must then appear a necessary continuance of the war, rather than by a hope that the adverse parties would pay any serious regard to such proposals. As the advantages were almost wholly on the side of Great Britain, France could not then expect very favourable terms for herself or her allies. She therefore looked forward to the issue of another campaign in Germany, to counterbalance her losses elsewhere, and to place her, at least, on a footing of honourable equality. In this, however, she met with some disappointment. The success of the war proved so fluctuating, even where all her hopes lay, and where her utmost strength was exerted, that she at length began to relent, and apparently to desire peace in earnest. The other members of the grand alliance could not decently, or safely oppose these dispositions on the part of France, as she was not only the prime mover, but the chief supporter of their hostile confederacy. The court of Sweden, in particular, was given to understand, that the diminished resources of France put it out of her power to furnish any longer the stipulated subsidies, or to comply with the exact letter of her engagements. In consequence of these, and other hints on the uncertainty of being at any future period in a better condition to treat than at present, the five parties to the war on that side made as many pacific declarations, which were signed at Paris on the twenty-sixth of March, and delivered at London on the thirty-first of the same month. The counter-declaration of Great Britain and Prussia, expressing their cheerful acceptance of the offer, appeared on the third of April; and Augsburgh, an independent city in the circle of Suabia, was fixed upon as the most convenient place for the proposed congress. Lord Egremont, lord Stormont, at that time ambassador in Poland, and general Yorke, who acted in the same capacity at the Hague, were nominated as the English plenipotentiaries: the count de Choiseul was appointed on the part of France. Augsburg now became the centre of attention to all Europe; and each court prepared every thing towards this important meeting which it could furnish of splendour for the display of its dignity, and of ability for the support of its interest. The thoughts and conversation of men were for a while diverted from scenes of horror, bloodshed, and pillage; and every mind was more agreeably employed on the public shows of magnificence, and the private game of policy, in which so

Tthe ensuing campaign on the Continent, and

many contending powers were brought into the closest and most eager competition.

REASON FOR A NEGOTIATION. In order to lessen the intricacy of their future proceedings, it was unanimously agreed, in the first place, that none should be admitted to the congress but the parties principally concerned, and their allies. But although this exclusion of the neutral states tended greatly to disembarrass and simplify the treaty, yet such was the variety of separate and independent matters which still remained to be discussed, that it became advisable to make a farther separation, with a view to an easier and more speedy adjustment of their respective concerns. For this purpose it was necessary to reduce the causes of the different quarrels in so complicated a war to their first principles; and to disengage the several interests which originally, and in their own nature, had no connection, from that mass, in which mutual injuries and a common animosity had blended and confounded them. The court of France therefore proposed to settle the American dispute by a distinct negotiation at London and Paris, previously to the discussion of the German affairs at Augs burg. Nothing could afford a stronger proof of the sincerity of her intentions: for it was very certain that, if matters could be satisfactorily accommodated between her and Great Britain, and if they both should carry to the general congress the same caudour and good faith, their influence must necessarily tend to inspire sentiments of moderation into the rest, and must contribute largely to accelerate the great work of pacification.

MR. PITT UNFAVOURABLE TO A PEACE.

MINISTERS were mutually sent from both courts; Mr. Stanley on the part of England; and Mr. Bussy on that of France. The former embarked for Calais on the twenty-fourth of May; and the latter arrived in London on the thirty-first of the same month. But unfortunately the plan and disposition of the treaty were much more easily adjusted than the matter and the substance of it; and it is also very probable that the secret intrigues, or private views of both parties, did not perfectly correspond with their public professions.

Mr. Pitt, one of the British secretaries of state, whose talents and popularity had enabled him, for the last three years, to give the law in the council, felt that his influence there was likely to expire with the war. Notwithstanding the greatness of his mind and the dignity of his sentiments in many other respects, he was too much actuated by contempt and hatred of the French. But, as he could not absolutely reject their fair proposal of a treaty, his aim was to obstruct its progress, and to renew the quarrel on such grounds as might flatter the pride of his countrymen, and reconcile them to the prosecution of expensive measures, against which they now began to revolt. The posture of affairs was singularly favourable to his wishes. England had been every where victorious, except in Germany; and he knew that the people, elated by a series of conquests, would not approve of much

condescension to an enemy, whom they detested, and whom they considered as lying at their mercy. But it was evident that, without a sacrifice of some of the objects on which they had set their hearts, it would be impossible to procure any satisfactory terms for their allies, whose affairs were only not ruined in the struggle, and who had on that account a stronger claim to the generous attachment of Great Britain. Here, therefore, Mr. Pitt foresaw that he could fix the bar of honour, which was to impede and finally break off the treaty, if no other pretence occurred in the course of the negotiation.

DUPLICITY OF THE FRENCH MINISTRY.

FRANCE, on her part, was equally sensible, that she could not expect a peace, without some mortifying concessions. The moment her particular concerns came to be separated from the general cause, she had every disadvantage in the treaty, because she had suffered almost every disaster in the war. The landgraviate of Hesse, the county of Hannau, and the town of Gottingen, were the only acquisitions which she had to balance her immense losses throughout the rest of the globe. She had reason to suppose,that the Spaniards could not behold with indifference the principal branch of the house of Bourbon humbled and stripped of its American possessions; because such an event would in a manner leave their own colonies at the mercy of England. The late king of Spain, Ferdinand VI. had, indeed, refused to interfere in those disputes; but his successor, Charles III. was more likely to take the alarm at the farther progress of the English; and it was also probable, that every sacriñce or cession of American territory, which might be exacted from France in the course of the treaty, would prove a fresh incentive to the suspicions and jealousies of the Spanish monarch. Thus the cabinet of Versailles had a double game to play, in supporting at Loudon the appearance of the most earnest desire of peace, and exerting at Madrid all the secret springs of political intrigue to continue and spread still wider the calamities of war.

In the East Indies very little remained to be atchieved, after the reduction of Pondicherry and some other advantages which were gained about the same time. The day before colonel Coote took possession of that fortress, the Mogul army was defeated by major Carnac in the neighbourhood of Guya. The hopes of the French in Bengal were completely blasted; nor was fortune more favourable to them on the coast of Malabar. They still had a garrison at Mihie, which, though of little consequence as a trading port, they had fortified at a vast expense, and mounted the works with above two hundred pieces of cannon. But it did not long hold out against the well-directed efforts of a body of forces sent from Bombay under Hector Monro, to whom Louet, the commander of the fort, surrendered it, with all its dependencies, in the beginning of February. Count d'Estaigne was the only French adventurer in the east, who had effected any thing which might be placed in the opposite scale to those successes of the English. He began his career towards the close of the year 1759; and with only two ordinary frigates under his command, he destroyed the fort of Bender-Abassi on the Persian gulf, and took two frigates of almost equal force to his own, besides three other vessels belonging to the company. Early in the succeeding year, the fort of Natal surrendered to him without any terms, and he found two ships in the road. He then struck over to the island of Sumatra, where he soon reduced Bencoolen, Tappanopoli, and fort Marlborough; which last, though in a good state of defence, was ingloriously given up by the garrison, after they

POSSESSIONS.

SUCH was the mixture of hostile and pacific sentiments, of seeming candour and dark design, with which both parties entered upon the negotiation. The first proposal of the French minister was, "that the two crowns shall remain in possession of what they have conquered one from the other" and as France had assuredly been the greatest loser, so unexpected an offer on her part appeared to every dispassionate and unprejudiced member of the British cabinet, an instance of singular moderation, if not humility. But Mr. Pitt, who directed all things, did not treat it with that attention which its apparent fairness deserved. He barely acquiesced in the general principle, while he took care to render that acquiescence nugatory by his opposition to another article with which it was necessarily connected. As the war still continued, and might therefore make a daily alteration in the fortune of the contracting powers, the French minister had proposed, "That the situation, in which they shall stand at certain periods, shall be the position to serve as a basis for the treaty that is to be concluded between them." He named, for this purpose, the first of May in Europe, the first of July in Africa and the West Indies, and the first of September in the East Indies; observing, at the same time, that as those periods might seem too near or too distant for the interests of Great Britain, the court of Versailles was extremely willing to enter into an explanation on that subject.

Pitt's answer was, "that his Britannic majesty would admit of no other epoch, but that of the signing of the peace." To this blunt declaration the court of Versailles replied, with that coolness and temper which ought to govern all such transactions, "That if not those, already named, at least some fixed periods, during the war, ought to be agreed upon; as the uti possidetis, or mutual retaining of possessions, could not reasonably have reference only to the time of signing the treaty of peace: that if these difficulties occured in the simplicity of a possessory article, they must be increased tenfold upon every other, and would come to such a height,

lay in the barbour. The count, however, did not gain so much reputation by these exploits, as he incurred disgrace from having engaged in them, contrary to the most sacred laws of arms; for he was at the very time a prisoner upon parole.

On the coast of Africa there were still fewer objects to excite any particular vigilance, or exertion. England had become mistress of all the French forts and factories on the river Senegal, and had also taken the island of Goree, valuable on account of its harbour, and its convenient situation, being within cannon shot of Cape Verd. She, therefore, had nothing more to do in that quarter than to preserve her former acquisitions.

In America and the West Indies, ever since the taking of Guadalope, and the reduction of Canada, nothing had been attempted by land, except the quelling of the Cherokees, a very numerous and powerful Indian nation, who alike regardless of past treaties and of past chastisement, had begun to renew their barbarous ravages on the frontiers of South Carolina.

The Jamaica and Leeward island squadrons did not remain idle: rear-admiral Holmes, who had the command on the former station, planned some cruises with judgment and success. The squadron off the Leeward Islands, under the direction of commodore Sir James Douglas, was not less alert in scouring those seas of the Martinico privateers; and had also the merit of assisting in the conquest of Dominica, one of the islands called neutral, but which the French had fortified and settled.

Those successes were, indeed, highly honourable to the small parties by whom they were obtained; but they fell far short of what might have been reasonably expected from the employment of a greater force in that part of the world where the enemy

was most vulnerable.

It has been before observed, that although the great purpose of the early and strenuous effort made by prince Ferdinand was not fully answered, it nevertheless produced a very considerable and useful effect. The destruction of the French magazines retarded their operatious in such a manner, that the greatest part of the month of June was spent, be