transports, ready to carry troops on this service. At Dunkirk a squadron was ready for sailing to Ireland, under the command of Thurot, a notable privateer, whose adventures were as daring as those of the American Paul Jones in after times. Anson had to prepare for meeting all these threatened attacks. Rodney was given the command of the squadron for protection of the coasts of England. Commodore Boys was sent to watch Thurot, who contrived, however, to give him the slip, and managed to arrive at Carrickfergus, where he levied a contribution on the inhabitants and destroyed the fortifications. Captain Elliot, of the 'olus,' with two other frigates put to sea in quest of him, and falling in with the French squadron, also of three frigates, off the Isle of Man, after a sharp action took all the French ships, Thurot being killed in the engagement. Rodney in the meanwhile had destroyed the French fleet at Havre, and Boscawen had taken several of the enemy's finest ships on the west coast of France and in the Bay of Biscay. The greatest blow of all was dealt by Sir Edward Hawke, who defeated the great French fleet under M. de Conflans, and took their best ships. On his return to England he attended in his place in the House of Commons, and to the address of the Speaker, conveying the thanks of the House and of the nation for his late signal victory,' Hawke replied in a speech which is a model of pithy and pointed

language, very much like what Wellington uttered on a similar occasion. The Speaker had delivered a detailed and eloquent account of the Admiral's services, which he said 'could not but bring to remembrance the design and the fate of another Armada, in a former age of glory, whose defeat was at that time the safety of England, and the lasting renown of the English Navy.' Sir Edward, with characteristic modesty and brevity, thus replied: 'I own myself greatly at a loss as to the proper manner of acknowledging the great honour conferred on me by this august House, in their distinguished approbation of my conduct on the 20th of November last. In doing my utmost I only did the duty I owed to my King and country, which ever has been, and shall be, my greatest ambition, to perform faithfully and honestly to the best of my ability.' When he waited on His Majesty he was received with marked favour, and a pension of £2,000 a year was bestowed for his own life and that of his sons for his great services to the country.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

LAST SERVICES OF ANSON - HONOURS AND

TITLES.

HE next great event and success of the war

THE

was the conquest of Canada in the summer of 1759. The fleet on this service was under the command of Sir Charles Saunders, and the landforces were under Major General Wolfe, whose appointment over the head of other senior officers was one of the many patriotic and happy actions of Pitt, and which caused as much displeasure in the army as that of Hawke by Lord Anson had raised in the navy. But the result proved the wisdom of the appointments in either case. In the expedition under Sir Charles Saunders there were not a few men employed, some of them in very subordinate positions at that time, but who afterwards became famous in history. Among them was Lieutenant Jervis, afterwards Earl St. Vincent, and Captain Cook in command of a transport vessel, who was afterwards the renowned navigator and explorer. These, and others of like historical fame, first received distinction in the

operations that led to the taking of Quebec and the conquest of Canada.

The spirit and energy displayed by Pitt in directing the operations by land, and Anson in those by sea, had now secured for England complete security from attack, and so disheartened the French that they only continued the war in the way of desultory warfare, with small squadrons and stealthy detachment of troops to distant enterprises. The English armies and fleets did not, however, relax their vigilance, and powerful fleets kept watch on the coasts and made daring attacks on those of the enemy. While Hawke and Boscawen were on the home station no French fleet ventured out to sea, although they had many ships at Brest, Quiberon Bay, Basque Roads, and other secure places. When any vessels were despatched to carry supplies or reinforcements to their colonies, they seldom escaped the vigilance of the British cruisers, and every month increased the record of successful engagements and valuable prizes.

In 1760 Anson had to bear the heaviest affliction which could befall him personally, in the death of Lady Anson, a woman in every way worthy of her illustrious husband, She was universally respected as an accomplished and amiable woman, and of her high spirit and pride in her husband a single anecdote may be quoted in illustration. When the great

excitement was raised in London on the arrival of

the guns taken at Cherbourg, and their public exhibition in Hyde Park, Lady Anson quietly remarked that they were 'keeping Hyde Park for some days. like a fair, and making a fuss about twenty guns to be taken to the Tower. I had a great mind to send them to Woolwich, where there lie near two hundred which my lord took and never showed to anybody.'

Lady Anson died on the 1st of June, 1760. On the 27th of October of the same year the King, George II., died at Kensington. His death Anson sincerely mourned, for he had ever been to him a good master, and extended to him the utmost friendship and confidence. The accession of George III. was not immediately followed by any change in the Administration, nor in the policy and action of those in charge of national affairs. The British fleets were active at all their stations, and with such successes that France sent overtures of peace in the following year. The proposals made by the Duc de Choiseul on behalf of the French king were favourably received by Pitt and approved by George III., but the negotiations were for the time interrupted by the treachery of M. Bussy, the French Ambassador, who was found to have been plotting a new alliance with Spain against England. Pitt declared that active and decided steps should be taken to resent this underhand dealing, and was in favour of at once declaring war against Spain, threatening his resig