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battle ships, but nothing smaller, and to spare trading vessels. He had not been gone a week when orders reached him to destroy everything large and small between Cape Ortegal and Cape Clear. The consequence was a large capture of prizes, and a not unfair outcry from France and the rest of Europe against the strange conduct of the English in seizing vessels without a declaration of war.

George's anxiety for Hanover.

It was plain that war could not much longer be delayed; and the King's thoughts turned as usual to his continental dominions. Although the importance of the crisis was universally felt, he was content to leave England in the hands of a regency; and as soon as Parliament was over, just before Boscawen sailed, he hurried to Hanover. Next to France, the object of George's dread was Prussia. More than one cause of quarrel had arisen with that country. Frederick had refused to assist in securing the election of the Archduke Joseph (afterwards Joseph II.) as King of the Romans, a project which Newcastle and George had deeply at heart, believing that it would preserve the European balance and strengthen Austria against the French. Deprived of Frederick's assistance, the plan came to nothing. In 1753, again, a dispute had arisen about some ships captured in the late war, and condemned, as Frederick asserted, unjustly by the English Admiralty courts. To such an extent had the irritation against Prussia increased, that it was confidently believed that Frederick intended to sidiary treaties assist the Pretender in another attack upon England, taking advantage of the disturbance to secure Hanover for himself. Against Prussia, therefore, George began contracting great subsidiary treaties with the continental princes. The most important of these were with Hesse and with the Czarina of Russia. A factory, says Horace Walpole, was opened at Herrnhausen, where every prince that could muster and clothe a regiment might traffic with it to advantage.

He makes sub

against Prussia.

1755.

They are

It became Newcastle's duty to carry these contracts through Parliament. He knew the opposition they were certain to meet with, and the necessity of finding some strong support opposed by Pitt. in the Lower House; but his Cabinet was there represented by no man of mark. He had recourse to Pitt, who held the office of Paymaster, but he positively refused to support the subsidies. His colleague Legge went further, and refused to sign the warrants which were to open the Treasury. Newcastle had then recourse to Fox, and succeeded in securing his services by removing Robinson, and making Fox Secretary of State. But the introduction of the

1755]

PITT'S MINISTRY

1021

address at the opening of Parliament in the autumn, when the Russian and Hessian subsidies were recommended, was the signal for an open mutiny in the ministerial camp. It was attacked in vehement words by Pitt, who, in a well-known passage, likened the new coalition to the junction he had once seen of the Rhone and the Saône; the one a gentle, feeble, languid stream of no depth, and the other a boisterous, impetuous torrent. Newcastle had no alternative but to discharge both Pitt and Legge from their offices.

Meanwhile the courage of the nation had sunk very low. There was a dread of an immediate French invasion; and the Government so thoroughly lost heart as to request the King to garrison The French capEngland with Hanoverian troops. This dread was kept ture Minorca. May 1756. alive by a simulated collection of French troops in the north. But, under cover of this threat, a fleet was being collected at Toulon, with the real design of capturing Minorca. The ministry were at last roused to this danger, and Byng was despatched with ten sail of the line to prevent it. Three days after he set sail the Duke de Richelieu, with 16,000 men, slipped across into the island, and compelled General Blakeney, who was somewhat old and infirm, to withdraw into the castle of St. Philip, which was at once besieged. On the 19th of May-much too late to prevent the landing of Richelieu -Byng arrived within view of St. Philip, which was still in the possession of the English. The French Admiral, La Galissonnière, sailed out to cover the siege, and Byng, who apparently felt himself unequally matched-although West, his second in command, behaved with gallantry and success-called a council of war, and withdrew. Blakeney, who had defended his position with great bravery, had to surrender.

Newcastle

Nov. 1756.

The failure of Byng, and the general weakness and incapacity of the ministry, roused the temper of the people to rage; and Newcastle, trembling for himself, threw all the resigns. blame upon the Admiral, hoping by this means to satisfy the popular cry. But Fox, his chief supporter, was in no mood to risk anything by fidelity to so weak a chief. He therefore resigned the Seals; and as Murray insisted upon either resigning or being made Lord Chief Justice (which office was given him), Newcastle, without support in the Commons, found himself obliged to resign also.

It was hoped that Fox and Pitt might come in together, but their quarrel was irreconcilable. After some negotiations, therefore, the Duke of Devonshire was made First Lord of the Treasury, and Pitt

Pitt's vigorous

1757.

First Secretary of State and real Prime Minister. The measures of the new Government were in strict accordance with government. the principles of the party which Pitt represented. The Hessians were dismissed, a Bill was passed for increasing the militia, by which 32,000 men were to be called out; reinforcements were sent to America; the enterprising and warlike character of the Highlanders was enlisted on the side of order by the formation of Highland regiments, a step which did more towards the pacification of the country than any measures of coercion. Pitt also did what he could to dissociate himself from the conduct of Newcastle with regard to Admiral Byng. A court martial held upon that officer had been bound by strict instructions, and had found itself obliged to bring in a verdict of guilty, though without casting any imputation on the personal courage of the Admiral. On his accession to power Pitt was courageous enough, although he rested on the popular favour, to do his best to get Byng pardoned, and urged on the King that the House of Commons seemed to wish the sentence to be mitigated. The King is said to have answered in words that fairly describe Pitt's position, "Sir, you have taught me to look for the sense of my subjects in another place than the House of Commons." The sentence was carried out, and Byng was shot on the quarter-deck of the 'Monarque' at Portsmouth (March 14, 1757). But the new ministry was of short duration. Pitt found himself unable to stand up against the dislike of the King, and the want of that Parliamentary influence which Newcastle's position as head of the Whigs, and his long course of corruption, had gained him. He was summarily dismissed. The King tried to get back Newcastle and his subservient ministry (whom he used to speak of as "Newcastle's footmen"), and, after a period of intrigue, Pitt had to consent to a compromise, giving his own talents and popularity, and accepting in exchange the great Parliamentary support of Newcastle. To this ministry Fox was persuaded to give his adhesion, and to accept the lucrative post of Paymaster-General. Thus was formed that strong Government so gloriously known as Pitt's ministry.

Secret treaties

While these ministerial changes had been going on in England, our dispute with France as to the limits of our American colonies had become blended with a quarrel of quite a different origin, which was to plunge Europe into a general war for several years. As early as 1745, before the signature of the Treaty of Dresden, the Courts of Berlin and Dresden had entered into some sort of arrangement for curtailing what they

of Maria Theresa.

1757]

THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR

1023

regarded as the undue pre-eminence of Prussia. After that treaty the Empress Queen seems to have been still more anxious for some similar plan, and almost immediately after the termination of the War of Succession, had entered into relations with the Czarina Elizabeth of Russia; a treaty had been agreed to, to which there were added secret clauses, providing that any movement on the part of Prussia against either Russia, Austria, or Poland, should be held wholly to invalidate the Treaty of Dresden; and in the result of a success of their arms, it was arranged that Prussia should be divided between the three countries. These arrangements are sometimes spoken of as the Treaties of Warsaw and of St. Petersburg. To this treaty the Elector of Saxony, who was also King of Poland, was a party, though without signing. In 1754, magazines and armies were prepared in Bohemia and Moravia; the Saxon army was collected at Pirna; and finally, in 1756, adroit flattery addressed Europe prepares to Madame de Pampadour, the reigning mistress at the for war. French Court, induced France to join in the alliance. Louis and his ministry, ignoring the really vital question which was then at issue with England, reversed the traditional policy of France, rejected the proffered alliance with Prussia, and threw the country headlong into a European war, in close alliance with its old enemy the Austrian House.

Alliance be

and Prussia.

In accordance with the traditions of European policy it was England, not France, who should have appeared as the ally of Austria. But a coldness had been gradually springing up between the Courts. The Barrier Treaty of Utrecht, by which the Austrian Netherlands were debarred from the Indian trade, was a constant cause of uneasiness. The part which England had tween England taken in mediating the Treaties of Breslau and Dresden, which ceded Silesia to Prussia, had been mistaken by the Austrian Court; although in fact both wise and friendly, it had excited deep displeasure. Thus, when an alliance was mentioned, the terms proposed by Austria were so high that the English Government had no choice but to refuse them. Under these circumstances, as Hanover could not be left exposed wholly without friends, England turned to the opposite party and allied itself with Prussia. Frederick had already entered upon the war. hostile preparations had aroused his suspicions. He demanded a plain answer as to the intentions of the Empress Queen, and on receiving an evasive reply, he determined upon striking Frederick's first the first blow, although he knew that his nation num- campaign.

The appearance of

bered but 5,000,000, while the number of the allies could not be estimated at less than 90,000,000. He passed rapidly through Saxony, blockaded the Saxon army in Pirna, and, collecting all his forces, defeated the Austrians under Marshal Braun at Lowositz (Oct. 1, 1756). After this victory he rendered the relief of the Saxons impossible, and the whole army surrendered at Pirna. Frederick occupied Dresden, and there found and published copies of the secret treaties, which fully justified his conduct. The French had made a false step in plunging into the continental war. They were already successful in the Mediterranean; already the overbearing conduct of the English, in laying a nominal blockade on all the ports of France, had excited the general indignation of the Continent. The real policy of that country was to direct all their energies to the colonial and maritime war with England. It is probable that they thought to wring from George concessions in the colonies in exchange for the security of Hanover, which lay exactly between the contending parties. But Pitt at once apprehended the error they had made, and saw a great opportunity for raising the power of England. He knew that when France was busied in the endless difficulties of the European war, England, while subsidizing foreign troops, could employ her real power in completing her colonial empire. He therefore braved the charge of inconsistency, and threw himself heart and soul into the defence of Hanover and the support of Frederick. To understand how complete his apparent change of views was, and his courage in openly avowing them, the principles of the party which he had hitherto represented must be remembered. Though a section of the great Whig party, they differed in their views both as to foreign and domestic policy from the main body of the Whigs. To both the power of France was an object of dread. But, while the official Whigs desired to check it by the preservation of the balance of power in Europe, by close connection with the continental powers, by money subsidies, and by occasional assistance of troops,-Pitt Foreign policy and his friends thought that, as England was an island, of the various its natural policy was to depend upon the navy; that parties in Engiand. as trade was our proper business, so the navy was our proper strength; that we did but weaken ourselves by entangling ourselves with foreign politics; that our army should be entirely defensive, and that we need have no fear of invasion while we commanded the sea. Thus while one party upheld the necessity of subsidies and a considerable standing army, the other wished for no

Supported by Pitt.

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