|g| Ex Libris ||| Timothy Dwight College pi Yale University |P^ JH Abel Gary Thomas, Yale 1905 bg^ gave to the College this Book mm among many ra (? HALF-HOURS English History. SELECTED AND EDITED BY CHARLES KNIGHT ii i 3n jfour IDolumes VOLUME IV. / i FROM THE ROMAlCPERIOrT TO THE DEATH OF fHl^i-UL- - WITH STEEL PORTRAIT LONDON FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. AND NEW YORK YALE ADVERTISEMENT. This Volume contmues the " Half-Hours of English History," from the reign of Anne to Victoria. CONTENTS. BOOK VII.— Continued. The Reign of Queen Anne . The Great Storm of 1703 Battle of Blenheim . Part II. . ' Story of Captain Green . . . The Union .... Part II Fall of the Marlboroughs . Sacheverell . Quarrels of Anne's Ministers . . The Faggot The Characters of Anne's Last Ministers Last Days of Queen Anne On the Treaty of Utrecht . Origin of the Indian Empire . State of Ireland from the Restoration George II. . .... Chronological Table to Editor . . Hone . . . Coxe . Coxe De Foe Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott Swift Wordsworth Swift Swift . SwiftStrickland BolingbrokeGleig Hallam . PAGE I • 9 • iS . 21 • 32 • 37 ' 4I • 56 . 64 ¦ 65 • 74 . 76 . 82 • 93 . 101 . 112 . 127 BOOK VIII. Reign of George I Lord Bolingbroke . . . . . . The Wee Wee German Lairdie . The Hunting of Braemar . . . . Jacobite Rising, 1715 Treatment of Jacobite Prisoners . . . Fate of the Jacobites Escape of Lord Nithsdale . . . . Epistle to Lord Oxford .... South Sea Bubble Fate of South Sea Directors The Bishop and his Dog, 1723 . . . Plot discovered by Bishop of Rochester's Dog George II. . .... FallofWalpole Battle of Dettingen, 1743 .... Enterprise of Charles Edward . . . Editor . Lord Lytton . Jacobite Relics Sir Walter Scott SmollettSir Walter Scott Smollett Lady Nithsdale Pope Lord Maiion Gibbon . Lord Maiion Swift Editor . . Macaulay Smollett . Sir Walter Scott 132 140 144 146 158 164 168 1721 So 181192'95 208 210 220228 z33 COXTEXTS. 1756 Battle of Prestonpans Johnnie Cope Battle of Gulloden . Part II. . Escape of Charles Edward Cruelties of Duke of Cumberland Tears of Scotland Trial of the Jacobite Lords Execution of Jacobite Lords Punishment of other Rebels Jemmy Dawson . The English in the Black Hole, The Battle of Plassey. British Victories in 1759 Conquest of Canada . . . Reign of George III Beginning.of George III.'s Reign . . The (Jr^at Commoner during two Reigns Battle of Bunker's Hill Battle of Saratoga .... Lord George Gordon Riots, 1780 Dr. Johnson's account of them . The Gloriqus 1st of June, 1794 Taking of Seringapatam. Mutiny in the Fleet, 1797 Battle off Cape St. Vincent Battle of Qamperdown, 1797 The Irish Rebellion, 1798 Siege of St. Jean d'Acre Battle of Alexandria . . Battle of the Baltic . , . Battle of Trafalgar Death of Nelson Pitt, 1806 Fox, 1806 .... On the death of Nelson, Fitt, and Fox Life and Manners in the Second ~" Eighteenth Century Agriculture in the Last .Century The Regency, 1810 . Battle of Albuera . The Assault of Badajos Part II Battle of Waterloo Incidents at Waterloo The Reign of George IV. . Slavery in the West Indies . . . State of the Country in 1820-1826 The "Untoward" Event— Battle of Na- varino, 1827 . . . . . . Anecdotes of George IV. . . . . Reign of William IV , Half of the Sir Walter Scott . Adam Skirving Sir Walter Scott . Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott . Sir Walter Scott. Smollett . Walpole . Walpole Sir Walter Scott. Shen stone . Smollett Macaulay . Bell Mackintosh Editor . Walpole. . MacaulayBurgoyne and. Jesse . Sir E. Creasy Lord Mahon Boswell and Johnson .Alison . James Mill Alison Alison . Alison . Hughes Alison . Maxwell Campbell Southey Southey Alison Alison . Sir Walter Scott . Lord Mahon . Lord Mahon Editor . H. Clinton "Napier '. Napier Various, and Siborne SiborneEditor . H. Martineau . H. Martineau . H. Martineau T. Raikes Editor COXTEXTS. Vll Accession of William IV., and Events pre ceding the passing of the first Reform Bill Passing of the first Reform Bill, and Cholera in England The Slaves set free, 1833 .... Death of William IV., and Accession of Victoria The Reign of Victoria .... Part II Disaster in Afghanistan, 1841 Incidents of Crimean War in 1854 and 1855-6— Balaclava ." . . . Charge of the Heavy Brigade . . . Charge of the Light Brigade Episodes of Inkerman Scene at Inkerman The Indian Mutiny — Cawnpore . . . Character of the Prince Consort The Progress of Science in the Reign of Victoria The Penny Post Chronological Table — House of Hanover Duke of Buckingham and Chandos T. Raikes . • • 557 H. Martineau • 5^4 Justin McCarthy ¦ • 567 Editor . • 573 Editor ¦ • 583 H. Martineau • 593 A. W. Kinglake • • 599 W. H. Russell . 602 W. H. Russell . . . 604 A. W. Kinglake . . 607 Our Veterans . . . 614 Justin McCarthy . . 617 Lord Beaconsfield . . 628 Justin McCarthy . *. 631 Justin McCarthy . . 636 • 643 HALF HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. BOOK VII.— (Continued) The Editor. Anne succeeded peaceably to the throne on the death of William III. She was married to prince George of Denmark, but he neither greatly desired, nor could she obtain for him any share in the sovereignty. The queen was herself at that time completely under the influence of lady Marlborough, whom she probably feared as well as loved. Anne was a well-meaning, but dull woman; and would probably never have felt enough ambi tion to act as she did towards her father, had not the Churchills instigated her conduct. As it was, they made her as false and "treacherous as themselves, and she repeatedly and eagerly assured her sister and the prince of Orange by letter, that the young prince of Wales was a supposititious child. Nevertheless, when William and Mary had gained the crown, the princess Anne did not live on pleasant terms with the relatives whom she had urged to fill her father's place. The sisters quarrelled early in the joint- sovereigns' reign, and were never reconciled. One cause of this unfriendly feeling was Anne's devotion to her friend lady Marl borough, whom Mary II, detested, and constantly urged her to B 2 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor resign. William and Mary were both aware that Marlborough (who had deserted his old master and benefactor James II. for them) had returned to his allegiance to the exiled monarch, and had actually betrayed a British expedition to disastrous defeat and death for the sake of king James. But nothing would make Anne forsake the friend who had been her companion from her early girlhood. The influence of lady Marlborough over the princess was indeed absolute. It was by her evil counsels, as we have said, that Anne had been induced to calumniate her infant brother, and desert her father in his hour of need, a father who (by the testimony of his enemy, bishop Burnet) had always treated her with tenderness and indulgence. In the ardour of her friendship for lady Marl borough, Anne insisted on all the tokens of rank being dropped between them, and on their taking the names of persons of equal and inferior position ; she called herself Mrs. Morley, lady Marl borough assumed the name of Mrs. Freeman — as she made a boast of the frankness and sincerity of her disposition — and under these names a romantic correspondence was carried on between the princess and her servant. But this absurd friend ship had serious political consequences. When Anne became queen, nothing could be obtained or done except through the Marlboroughs or their connections, and a family clique thus ruled the kingdom through the submissive and oppressed queen. The war declared by William against Louis XIV. was carried on by his successor, because Marlborough was sure of the appoint ment of captain-general of the English forces at home and abroad. He also received the garter, and was appointed master of the ordnance. His wife was made groom of the stole, and mistress of the wardrobe, and had the care of the privy purse j his two daughters were installed as ladies of the bedchamber ; and the husband of his second daughter, lord Sunderland, obtained a renewal of his pension of ^2,000 a year, granted him by the late king. Anne was a tory ; she hated the whigs, whom she considered enemies of the crown and of the church. Marl borough was ready to be (or to appear) either whig or tory, as The Editor.! THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 3 suited his interests. Godolphin, as insincere in his political opinions as his friend and family ally, was entrusted with the sole management of the finances, and was in reality prime minister, and as much despotic head of the civil government as Marl borough was of the military. But to gain Anne's favour and hold this power, they had to pretend at least to be — if they actually were not — tories. The only whigs left in power then were the duke of Devonshire, lord high steward ; and Mr. Boyle, chancellor of the exchequer. The names of the great whig leaders, Somers, Halifax, and Orford were erased from the list of those summoned to attend the privy council. War (already on the eve of explo sion when William died) was declared at once against France, and Marlborough was sent to the Hague. The allies, i.e. the Dutch, Brunswickers, Prussians, the emperor, &c, &c, united in bestow ing the command in chief on the English general. After taking Liege and a few smaller towns Marlborough returned to England, and was received with great favour by the queen, who at once conferred a dukedom on him and directed parliament to settle .£5,000 a year on the victorious general ; who, at that time, had won none of his following great victories. The houses naturally hesitated to comply with the queen's request; and murmurs arose that it was a great reward for taking a few towns, none of importance but Liege. Insinuations were thrown out that Marlborough and his wife were making a monopoly of the queen's bounty, and the outcry became so loud that by Marl borough's own advice Anne withdrew her application. This did not, however, prevent the commons from presenting a remon strance, in which they reflected harshly upon king William's pro fusion to foreign favourites. It was the tories who opposed the grant, and from that hour Marlborough became their enemy. The duchess henceforward used all her influence to overcome the queen's prejudices against the whigs, and to bring them into power. In 1704 the queen, who was an excellent churchwoman, desired secretary Hodges to inform the commons that her majesty having taken into her serious consideration the mean and insufficient 4 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. maintenance belonging to the clergy in this kingdom, had been pleased to remit the arrears of the tenths to the poor clergy ; and that, for an augmentation of their livings, she had declared that she would make a grant of her whole revenue arising cut of the first fruits and tenths, as far as it was or should hereafter become free from encumbrances, and that if the house of commons could find any proper method of making her good intention effectual, it would be very acceptable to her majesty. These tenths amounted to £11,000 a year, and the first fruits to about £5,000. The bill was passed and became law ; and addresses of thanks were presented from all the clergy of England to Anne, who rejoiced more especially in the title of " Nursing Mother to the Church." Meantime Marlborough had gained the greatest of his victories, Blenheim, and returned to England, bringing with him the French commander, Tallard, as a prisoner. He was received this time with enthusiasm, and the thanks of parliament were voted to him. Meantime the war of the succession proceeded also in Spain itself. Early in 1704 an army of English, Dutch, and Portuguese was. assembled on the western border of that country. The archduke Charles had reached Lisbon, and placed himself at the head of these troops. But the military skill of the duke of Berwick — the son of Marlborough's sister and James II. — held the allies in check. On the south, however, a most important conquest was achieved. Sir George Rooke took by a coup de maim the impreg nable rock of Gibraltar, which even the combined forces of France and Spain have never since been able to retake. This was for England a greater gain than any that she obtained from all Marl borough's fruitless victories. It gave her the key of the Mediter ranean — a conquest the value of which has increased with the advancing centuries. But Rooke received neither thanks nor reward from his country for this great service, while Marlborough and his duchess were loaded with gifts and honours. The earl of Peterborough, a man worthy of the heroic ages, was at the head of the English contingent fighting for the archduke Charles. He took Barcelona, was everywhere victorious, and had The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 5 .formed a plan for obtaining possession of Madrid ; but the arch duke, who continually refused to follow out the Englishman's suggestions, and who had dawdled away valuable time in Catalonia, refused his assent to it, and Peterborough, vexed and impatient, demanded permission to leave the army. He obtained it, and went to Italy ; but was shortly afterwards recalled by the English .ministry, who could neither understand nor appreciate him, and a veteran, lord Galway, was appointed in his stead. This utterly incompetent general lost at the battle of Almanza his whole army, 120 standards, and all his artillery. The cause of archduke .Charles was ruined in Spain from the time Peterborough left him; but in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands Marlborough had won his great victories, and the power of Louis XIV. was tottering. Meantime the intrigues of the duchess of Marlborough proved successful, and Anne, after a long struggle with herself, gave the great seal to Mr. William Cowper, afterwards lord Cowper, a whig and enthusiastic admirer of the principles of the Revolution. The privy seal was given to the whig duke. of Newcastle. The whigs were now triumphant ; and the duke of Marlborough was certain of the continuance of the war, and of his retaining the command, through the favour of those to whom he had gone over. Lord Godolphin had also abjured toryism, and was as powerful as ever. Somers was president of the council, Wharton, lord lieutenant of Ireland. It was in 1707 that the greatest event of Anne's reign occurred. •We allude to the union with Scotland, a measure violently opposed by the Scottish populace, and long regretted by Scotchmen of higher rank, but which has proved to be of the greatest benefit to .both nations. The united parliament first met in this year, 1707. Meantime Blenheim had been succeeded by Ramilies, Oude- nard, and all Marlborough's other victories, and his fame and fortune seemed alike steadfast and enduring. But a great change was at hand. Anne's love for the duchess of Marlborough had yielded to feelings of aversion ; entirely natural and well-deserved by her fierce and cruel friend. More over, she had a new favourite on whom she could rely, and whose 6 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. IThe Editor- devotion had soothed and comforted her when death removed her husband (to whom the queen was deeply attached) from her side. This lady was a bed-chamber woman, Abigail Hill, a relative of tbe duchess of Marlborough, and recommended by her to the service of the queen, over whom she soon acquired as great influence as duchess Sarah had once possessed. Miss Hill married with the royal sanction a gentleman of the household, a Mr. Masham, afterwards created a peer, and retained her majesty's affection to the close of Anne's life. She was a tory, and devoted to the exiled Stuarts, opinions in which the queen fully sympa thised, and it was not long before she found an opening to urge Anne to remove the whigs from office. It came thus. In 1710 a certain high church clergyman, named Henry Sacheverel, preached an assize sermon at Derby on the 15th of August, in which he attacked the government vehemently. On the anniver sary of the gunpowder plot he again preached in St. Paul's cathedral, and in it held the newly-turned-whig Godolphin up to detestation under the name of " Volpone," a hateful character in Ben Jonson's dramas. Godolphin was furious at this attack, and insisted that the preacher should be impeached. In vain the mild and sagacious Somers advised that no notice should be taken of him. The impeachment was brought, and the doctor was on his trial. The whole nation as by one common impulse instantly sided with the preacher, and a display of tory feeling was mani fested which appalled the ministers. The populace were frightfully excited ; vast multitudes attended Dr. Sacheverel a,s he went each day to Westminster hall, shouting for him, or silently praying for him. The queen every day went to witness the trial as a private spectator, but the mob, recognising their beloved sovereign, surrounded her sedan on the road, ex claiming, " God bless your majesty and the church ! We hope your majesty is for Dr. Sacheverel." Riots ensued ; meeting houses and the dwellings of many eminent dissenters were destroyed and plundered, and the mob proposed to attack the bank ; but these tumults were suppressed, and several of the ring leaders imprisoned. Sacheverel was found guilty, and prohibited The Editor.} THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. 7 from preaching for three years; also two of his sermons were ordered to be burned by the common hangman. The lightness of this sentence was regarded as a triumph by his party, and no doubt a much more severe one would have been given, if the ministers had not feared the popular indignation. The queen, now assured that the people would give her their support, summoned a new parliament, to which, as she had anti cipated, few but tories were returned. The duke of Marlborough's popularity had long been waning. The people, heavily taxed, could not understand why their blood should soak the plains of Flanders, and their toil pay for a war from which England reaped nothing but glory ; and Anne sickened at the sanguinary stories of even battles won. When next he landed in England, Marlborough was received with insults by the mob, and was even accused of having sold the contract for bread for the troops to a Jew for £6,000 a year. Harley as lord Oxford ; St. John as viscount Bolingbroke, were called to power, and were leaders of a large majority in parliament. Their thoughts turned at once to peace. The war was a whig war ; the general — for whom no substitute could be found — a whig, the queen was sick of bloodshed ; the people murmured at the burdens imposed to support a conflict so useless to them. Peace was desirable in all respects. Negotiations were therefore entered into with France in January, 17 12, but the treaty was not signed at Utrecht till April, 17 13. Its chief articles were that Louis XIV. should destroy the forti fications of Dunkirk, and yield Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay, and St. Christopher's to England ; retaining only Cape Breton for the French fisheries ; and that he should also abandon the cause of prince James, and acknowledge the protestant succession. Philip was allowed to retain the Spanish crown, to deprive him of which, such long and expensive wars had been undertaken — but he had to solemnly renounce his right of succession to the French throne. Moreover, Louis consented to release from the prisons and galleys in which 'they languished, the French huguenots, who suffered for their faith. Spain gave up all claim on Gibraltar and Minorca; 8 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. both were to belong to England. The Dutch, our allies, had the barrier granted to them which they wished, and the strongest towns in Flanders were ceded to them. The emperor was to have Naples, Milan, and the Netherlands ; the duke of Savoy, Sicily, with the title of king, and other places on the continent. Such was the celebrated treaty of Utrecht, which was so fiercely and bitterly disputed afterwards, and in which the tories certainly seem to have tried to do justice to all engaged in the late wars. The whigs, of course, attacked it with great violence, but their opposition was a far slighter danger to the ministry than the dis sensions -which raged among themselves. Lord Oxford and lord Bolingbroke quarrelled incessantly, even at the council board, and the ministry was only kept together by the efforts of their friends, amongst whom was the celebrated dean Swift. Lord Oxford was believed to be sincere in desiring the Hanoverian or protestant succession ; Bolingbroke was known to be desirous of calling the prince of Wales, James Francis, to the throne. Oxford (first raised to power by the influence of lady Masham), managed very soon to offend both his early friend and his sove reign, and was called on by Anne to resign his office. He obeyed, though reluctantly, and Bolingbroke was requested to form a ministry. But he could not succeed ; and the illness and death of Anne rendered the task ultimately impossible. Great anarchy prevailed in the tory party. The quarrels of the queen's coun sellors were so violent, and so unrestrained, even by her presence, that she despaired of calming them. After one terrible scene at the council, she declared "that she could not outlive their violence," and was soon after seized with a lethargy. She re covered a temporary consciousness, but almost immediately afterwards had an apoplectic fit and expired, in the fiftieth year of her age, and the thirteenth of her reign. Well might the poor queen have repeated Shakespeare's words, " Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." That for which she had failed in filial duty and slandered hei own father, brought her nothing but trouble. Her children all Hone.] THE GREAT STORM OF 1703. (j died young, one — the young duke of Gloucester — a most promis ing boy. Her husband, to whom she was much attached, soon followed her little ones ; her friends were cruel and domineering ; her servants insolent. Anne Stuart was a dull woman, but very kind and charitable ; the people long remembered her as " good queen Anne." She was a devout member of the English church, a good wife, an affectionate mother, a romantically attached friend ; but she wanted energy, strength of mind, and dignity, and paid for her weakness by the troubles of her life. As soon as the news that the queen was dying reached the public ear, the whigs rushed into the council chamber, seized the government, and immediately took measures to secure the succes sion of the elector of Hanover, the son of Sophia, who had died a year before. They sent off Mr. Craggs to Hanover, requesting the prince to proceed immediately to Holland, where a squadron should meet him, and bring him to England. They secured the sea ports, and gave the command of the navy to lord Berkeley, a whig. The tories, disorganised by their quarrels, were powerless. "The earl of Oxford," says the bewildered St. John to Swift, in a letter, " was removed on Tuesday. The queen died on Sunday. What a world is this, and how does fortune banter us I" n &xmt %iaxm ai 1703. Hone. In Little Wild street chapel, Lincoln's Inn Fields, a sermon is annually preached on the 27 th of November, in commemoration of the "Great Storm" in 1703. This fearful tempest was preceded by a strong west wind, which set in about the middle of the month ; and every day, and almost every hour, increased in force until the 24th, when it blew furiously, occ.isioned much alarm, and some damage was sustained. On the IO HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. tt'IoxB. 25th, and through the night following, it continued with unusual violence. On the morning of Friday, the 26th, it raged so fearfully that only few people had courage to venture abroad. Towards evening it rose still higher ; the night setting in with excessive darkness added general horror to the scene, and prevented any from seeking security abroad from their homes, had that been possible. The extraordinary power of the wind created a noise, hoarse and dreadful, like thunder, which carried terror to every ear, and appalled every heart. There were also appearances in the heavens that resembled lightning. " The air," says a writer at the time, " was full of meteors and fiery vapours ; yet," he adds, "I am of opinion, that there was really no lightning, in the common acceptation of the term ; for the clouds, that flew with such violence through the air, were not to my ob servation such as are usually freighted with thunder and lightning ; the hurries nature was then in, do not consist with the system of thunder.'' Some imagined the tempest was accompanied with an earthquake. " Horror and confusion seized upon all, whether on shore or at sea ; no pen can describe it, no tongue can express it, no thought can conceive it, unless theirs who were in the extremity of it; and who, being touched with a due sense of the sparing mercy of their Maker, retain the deep impressions of his goodness upon their minds though the danger be past. To venture abroad was to rush into instant death, and to stay within afforded no other prospect than that of being buried under the ruins of a falling habitation. Some in their distraction did the former, and met death in the streets ; others the latter, and in their own houses received their final doom." One hundred and twenty-three persons were killed by the falling of dwellings; amongst these were the bishop of Bath and Wells (Dr. Richard Kidder) and his lady, by the fall of part of the episcopal palace of Wells; and lady Penelope Nicholas, sister to the bishop of London, at Horsley, in Sussex. Those who perished in the waters, in the floods of the Severn and the Thames, on the coast of Holland, and in ships blown away and never heard of after wards, are computed to have amounted to eight thousand. Hone.] THE GREAT STORM OF 1703. H All ranks and degrees were affected by this amazing tempest, for every family that had anything to lose lost something : land, houses, churches, corn, trees, rivers, all were disturbed or damaged by its fury ; small buildings were for the most part wholly swept away, " as chaff before the wind." Above eight hundred dwelling- houses were laid in ruins. Few of those that resisted escaped from being unroofed, which is clear from the prodigious increase in the price of tiles, which rose from twenty-one shillings to six pounds the thousand. About two thousand stacks of chimneys were blown down in and about London. When the day broke, the houses were mostly stripped, and appeared like so many skeletons. The consternation was so great that trade and busi ness were suspended, for the first occupation of the mind was so to repair the houses, that families might be preserved from the inclemency of the weather in the rigorous season. The street? were covered with brickbats, broken tiles, signs, bulks, and pent houses. The lead which covered one hundred churches, and many public buildings, was rolled up, and hurled in prodigious quantities to distances almost incredible ; spires, and turrets of many others were thrown down. Innumerable stacks of corn and hay were blown away, or so torn and scattered as to receive great damage. Multitudes of cattle were lost. In one level in Gloucestershire, on the banks of the Severn, fifteen thousand sheep were drowned. Innumerable trees were torn up by the roots ; one writer says, that he himself numbered seventeen Cnousand in part of the county of Kent alone, and that, tired with counting, he left off reckoning. The damage in the city of London, only, was computed at near two millions sterling. At Bristol, it was about two hundred thousand pounds. In the whole, it was supposed, that the loss was greater than that produced by the great fire of London, 1666, which was estimated at four millions. The greater part of the navy was at sea, and if the storm had not been at its height at full flood, and in a spring tide, the loss might have been nearly fatal to the nation. It was so consider- j 2 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hone. able, that fifteen or sixteen men of war were cast away, and more than two thousand seamen perished. Few merchantmen were lost ; for most of those that were driven to sea were safe. Rear- admiral Beaumont with a squadron then lying in the Downs, perished with his own and several other ships on the Goodwin Sands. The ships lost by the storm were estimated at three hundred. In the river Thames, only four ships remained between London bridge and Limehouse, the rest being driven below, and lying there miserably beating against one another. Five hundred wherries, three hundred ship-boats, and one hundred lighters and barges were entirely lost ; and a much greater number re ceived considerable damage. The wind blew from the western seas, which preventing many ships from putting to sea, and driving others into harbour, occasioned great numbers to escape destruction. The Eddystone lighthouse near Plymouth was precipitated in the' surrounding ocean, and with it Mr. Winstanley, the ingenious architect, by whom it was contrived, and the people who were with him. — " Having been frequently told that the edifice was too slight to withstand the fury of the winds and waves, he was accus tomed to reply contemptuously, that he only wished to be in it when a storm should happen. Unfortunately his desire was gratified. Signals of distress were made, but in so tremendous a sea no vessel could live, or would venture to put off for their relief."* The amazing strength and rapidity of the wind, are evidenced by the following well authenticated circumstances. Near Shaftes bury a stone of near four hundred ' pounds Weight, which had lain for some years fixed in the ground, fenced by a bank with a low stone wall upon it, was lifted up by the wind, and carried into a hollow way, distant at least seven yards from the place. This is mentioned in a sermon preached by Dr. Samuel Stennett in 1788. Dr. 'Andrew Gifford in a sermon preached at Little Wylde street, on the 27th of November, 1734, says that "in a country town, a * Bclsham's History of Great Britain. Hone.) THE GREAT STORM OF 1703. 13 large stable was at once removed off its foundation and instantly carried quite across the highway, over the heads of five horses and the men that were then feeding them, without hurting any one of them, or removing the rack and manger, both of which remained for a considerable time to the admiration of every beholder." Dr. Gifford, in the same sermon, gives an account of " several remark able deliverances." One of the most remarkable instances of this kind occurred at a house in the Strand, in which were no less than fourteen persons : " Four of them fell with a great part of the house, &c, three stories, and several two : and though buried in the ruins, were taken out unhurt : of these three were children ; one that lay by itself, in a little bed near its nurse ; another in a cradle ; and the third was found hanging (as it were wrapp'd up) in some curtains that hitch'd by the way ; neither of whom re ceived the least damage. In another place, as a minister was crossing a court near his house, a stone from the top of a chimney upwards of one hundred and forty pounds weight, fell close to his heels, and cut between his footsteps four inches deep into the ground. Soon after, upon drawing in his arm, which he had held out on some occasion, another stone of near the same weight and. size, brush'd by his elbow, and fell close to his foot, which must necessarily, in the eye of reason, have killed him, had it fallen while it was extended." In the Poultry, where two boys were lying in a garret, a huge stack of chimneys fell in, which making its way through that and all the other floors to the cellar, it was followed by the bed with the boys asleep in it, who first awaked in that gloomy place of confusion without the least hurt. So awful a visitation produced serious impressions on the government, and a day of fasting and humiliation was appointed by authority. The introductory part of the proclamation, issued by queen Anne for that purpose, claims attention from its solemn import. "Whereas, by the late most terrible and dreadful storms of wind, with which it hath pleased Almighty God to afflict the greatest part of this our kingdom, on Friday and Saturday, the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh days of November last, some of 14 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. (Hone, our ships of war, and many ships of our loving subjects, have been destroyed and lost at sea, and great numbers of our subjects, serving on board the same have perished, and many houses and other buildings of our good subjects have been either wholly thrown down and demolished, or very much damnified and defaced, and thereby several persons have been killed, and many stacks of corn and hay thrown down and scattered abroad, to the great damage and impoverishment of many others, especially the poorer sort, and great numbers of timber and bthir trees have by the said storm been torn up by the roots in many parts of this our kingdom : a calamity of this sort so dreadful and astonishing, that the like hath not been seen or felt in the memory of any person living in this our kingdom, and which loudly calls for the deepest and most solemn humiliation of us and our people : therefore out of a deep and pious sense of what we and all our people have suffered by the said dreadful wind and storms (which we most humbly ac knowledge to be a token of the divine displeasure, and that it was the infinite mercy of God that we and our people were not thereby wholly destroyed), We have resolved, and do hereby command, that a General Public Fast be observed," &c. This public fast was accordingly observed throughout England, on the nineteenth of January following, with great seriousness and devotion by all orders and denominations. The protestant dis senters, notwithstanding their objections to the interference of the civil magistrate in matters of religion, deeming this to be an occasion wherein they might unite with their countrymen in openly bewailing the general calamity, rendered the supplication universal, by opening their places of worship, and every church and meeting hout,e was crowded. Coxa.] THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 11 &\t Rattle of |Ic4emt, 1704. Archbishop Coxe. PART I.— PREPARATIONS FOR THE BATTLE. On the memorable 13th of August, at two in the morning, the allied generals having detached their baggage at Reillingen, broke up their camp, leaving the tents standing, and at three the united troops, consisting of sixty-four battalions and one hundred and sixty-six squadrons, passed the Kessel in eight columns. The right wing was commanded by Eugene, the left by Marlborough, and the aggregate force amounted to fifty-two thousand men, with fifty-two pieces of artillery and a train of pontoons. The army of Eugene, filing by the right, was divided into two columns of infantry and two of cavalry, the artillery following the infantry, and the cavalry closing the march. The army of Marlborough, filing by the left, broke, also, into two columns of infantry and two of cavalry, the cavalry being to the left, and the artillery following the infantry. On reaching the banks of the Reichen, they came into parallel order, and halted. Here the outposts joined their respective corps. The two brigades of Wilkes and Rowe, which, on the preceding evening, had been stationed in advance at Dapf- beim, were formed into a ninth column, and reinforced with eleven battalions from the first line, and fifteen squadrons of cavalry. This column was designed to cover the march of the English and Dutch artillery along the great road, and to attack the village of Blenheim, the possession of which would facilitate the passage of the main army over the Nebel, and open the right flank of the enemy. The troops of Marlborough were directed to form on the ground stretching from Weilheim to Kremheim, while those of Eugene, pas sing along the skirts of the hills in the rear of Wolperstetten, Berg- hausen, and Schwenenbach, were to prolong the line to the extremity of the valley as far as Eichberg. From these general arrangements 1 6 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Coxa it appears that the allied commanders intended to make their first efforts against Blenheim and Lutzengen, which covered the flanks of the enemy. The subsequent changes arose from the locality of the ground and the order adopted by their antagonists. After these preliminary dispositions the troops resumed their march in silence. Meanwhile Marlborough and Eugene, escorted by forty squadrons, rode forward to observe the situation of the enemy ; they were accompanied by the Prussian general Natzmer, who had been made prisoner in the battle fought here between Stirum and Villars in the preceding year, and was acquainted with the local peculiarities. About six they descried the advanced posts of the enemy falling back on their approach, and at seven reaching the higher ground near Wolperstetten, they came in full view of the hostile camp. From hence they could trace the course of the Nebel, and learned that it might be traversed at the houses and watermills near the right of the enemy; but that the islet and the banks towards Oberglauh were deemed too swampy to be passable. They observed, also, that the ground on the hither side, as far as Unterglauh, was sufficiently high to protect the passage of the rivulet, but that the plain beyond the further bank, on which the troops must form for the attack, was commanded by the eminence occupied by the enemy. To these peculiarities they adapted their plan. The morning being hitherto partially hazy, the Gallo-Bavarians did not even suspect the approach of the enemy. Deceived by the intelligeuce which they had obtained from the prisoners taken on the preceding evening, they detached their cavalry to forage, and being persuaded that the allies were falling back on Nord- lingen, they considered the guard which attended Marlborough and Eugene, as a body of cavalry pushed forward to cover this retrograde movement. But at seven the fog dispersed, the heads of Eugene's column were descried behind Berghausen, and the alarm was instantly given. Signal guns were fired to recall the foragers, and the advanced corps, committing Berghausen, Schwen- enberg and Weilheim to the flames, fell back to the main body. Confusion pervaded the lines, the artillery was hurried forward, Coxe.] THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. tj and the troops were observed hastening to form at the head of the camp. The Gallo-Bavarian army consisted of 56,000 men, and was drawn up in front of the tents according to the order of encampment. The united troops of the elector and Marsin formed on the left with the cavalry on their right ; the army of Tallard on the right with the cavalry on the left, so that the centre consisted of horse and the wings of foot. This order was adopted on the supposition that the Nebel was impassable from Oberglauh to the mills. The lines extended from the commence ment of the acclivity behind Blenheim along the crest of the eminence to the rear of Oberglauh, and from thence crossing a branch of the Nebel to the woods about Lutzingen. As every moment afforded fresh indications of the approaching contest, Tallard proceeded to make ulterior arrangements. Hasten ing to Blenheim he ordered a brigade of dragoons under the count de Hautefeuille to dismount and form between the village and the Danube behind a barricade of waggons. He then directed all the infantry of the first line, and part of the second, to enter the village, and placed the three brigades of Navarre, Artois and Gueder with their right joining the left of the dismounted dragoons behind the pallisades which enclosed the gardens. The openings between the houses and gardens were closed with boards, carts, and gates. Behind the hedges to the left of the village he posted the brigade of Zurlauben ; in the centre among the houses, that of Languedoc to the right ; in the rear the royal brigade ; and behind the Meulweyer that of Montroux to act as a reserve. Two hundred men were also thrown into the castle and churchyard, and small bridges formed across the Meulweyer to facilitate the communications. The mills on the Nebel, and adjacent houses; which were likely to favour the approach of an enemy, were set on fire. A battalion of artillery was distributed on different points and lieutenant-general de Clerambault was enjoined to maintain the village to the last extremity. Eight squadrons of gens d'armes drew up to the left of Blenheim, and from thence the line, including the right wing of the electoral army, amounting to about fifty .squadrons, was prolonged near j 8 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Coxa Oberglauh. Behind this village was the infantry of Marsin con sisting of the brigades of Champagne and Bourbonnois, and the Irish brigade, in all about thirty battalions. Beyond were more battalions extending to the left, and covering the flank of the cavalry, who were drawn up in front of Lutzingen. Strong pickets of infantry occupied Oberglauh, and eighteen French and Bavarian battalions who had at first been posted at Lutzingen, were drawn out to form an oblique flank among the woods, on the extreme left of the cavalry. The second line of the united troops under the elector and Marsin, was formed in the same order as the first, but in that of Tallard were stationed three brigades of infantry in the centre of the cavalry. Behind was a reserve of horse which could not find a place in the lines. Tallard, observing the increasing mass of the allies in the centre, sent an aide-de-camp to his colleague, requesting that his reserve might likewise be posted behind the centre to resist the attack which he foresaw was meditated on that point; but this proposal was declined by Marsin, from an apprehension that his whole force would be required to withstand the attack of Eugene. The artillery was distributed with judgment. Four twenty-four pounders were planted on the high ground above Blenheim, to sweep the plain of Schweningen. Four eight-pounders were also pointed against the columns of Marlborough, as soon as they appeared about the high road leading towards Unterglauh. Before the gens d'armes was another battery of twenty-four pounders, and the other pieces were disposed along the front of the different ^ brigades. Zurlauben, who commanded the right wing of Tallard's cavalry, was directed to charge the allies whenever a certain number should have crossed the Nebel. Tallard rode along his lines to the left, and communicated his arrangements to the elector and Marsin. The three generals then visited the other points of their position, to mature the preparations against the attack of Eugene, whose columns continued to stretch along the elevated ground behind Berghausen. About seven the troops of Marl borough reached their respective points of formation, and began to deploy. Officers were detached to sound the Nebel, and indif Coxe.] THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 10 cate the spots which were most passable ; and the different generals assembled round the commanders to receive their orders. Two defects in the position of the enemy did not escape the vigi lant eyes of the confederate generals. Blenheim and Oberglauh were too distant from each other to sweep the intervening space with a cross fire, and the lines of cavalry on the elevated ground were tooremote from the rivulet to obstruct the passage. Of these defects they prepared to take advantage. While Eugene bore on the front and left flank of the troops under the elector and Marsin, Marlborough was to push his cavalry across the Nebel, under the protection of his foot, and to charge the hostile cavalry at the same time that the effort was made to carry Blenheim. With this view he ordered general Churchill to draw up the infantry in two lines, the first of seventeen, and the second of eleven battalions, in the direction of Weilheim, and between them an interval was left for the two lines of cavalry, the first of thirty-six and the second of thirty- five squadrons. Novel as this disposition may appear it was skil fully adapted to the nature of the ground and the situation of the enemy ; for the first line of infantry, by traversing the Nebel, would cover the passage of the cavalry, while the second acting as a reserve would support the manoeuvre from the hither bank. The pontoons being brought forward, the construction of five bridges was begun, one above Unterglauh, and four between that village and the mills, while the stone bridge which had been damaged by the enemy was repaired. As a short interval of time was yet left, each squadron of the second line was ordered to collect twenty fascines to facilitate the passage of the fords. During these preparations the ninth column, destined for the attack of Blenheim, had filed through Schweningen, and, inclining to the left above Kremheim, drew up in four lines of infantry and two of cavalry. The first line consisted of Rowe's brigade, the second of Hessians, the third of Ferguson's and the fourth of Hanoverians. The first line of cavalry was formed by the dragoons of Ross, and the second by part of Wood's brigade. At eight a heavy cannonade was opened from every part of the enemy's right wing. Marlborough, therefore, ordered colonel Blood, who had 20 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Coxe. just arrived with the artillery, to plant counter batteries on the most advantageous spots, particularly on the high ground below Unterglauh. He, himself, visited each battery as it opened to mark the effect. Meanwhile the imperialists had continued filing to the right, ahd the presence of Eugene became necessary to direct his attack. On taking leave of his colleague he promised to give notice as soon as his lines were formed, that the battle might begin on both wings at the same instant. While Marlborough waited for this communication, he ordered the chaplains to perform the usual service at the head of each regiment and implore the favour of heaven, and he was observed to join with peculiar fervour in this solemn appeal to the Giver of victory. After this act of devotion he showed his usual humanity in pointing out to the surgeons the proper posts for the care of the wounded. He then rode along the lines, and was gratified to find both officers and men full of the most elevated hopes, and impatient for the signal. As he passed along the front, a ball from one of the opposite batteries glanced under his horse and covered him with earth. A momentary feeling of alarm for the safety of their beloved chief thrilled in the bosoms of all who witnessed this danger ; but he coolly continued his survey, and finding his dispositions perfect sat down to take refreshment while he waited for the reports of Eugene. At this period the cannonade grew warm and general. On the left the fire of the enemy was answered with spirit and effect ; but on the right great difficulty occurred in bringing up the artillery; for the ground being extremely broken, covered with brushwood, and intersected by ravines and rivulets, the troops of Eugene were obliged to make a considerable circuit before they could gain their intended position ; and during their formation were exposed to a long and destructive fire. Unaware of these obstacles, and impatient of delay, Marlborough sent repeated messages to learn the situation of his colleague. He was apprised that Eugene had formed his lines with the infantry on the right and the cavalry on the left ; but as the enemy presented a more extensive front, he had found it necessary to fill up the interval with reserve. This change Coxe.) THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 21 of disposition was not only difficult in itself, but to the regret of Marlborough, retarded the attack at the moment when the arrange ments on the left were completed, and the troops were anxiously expecting the signal to engage. About midday an aide-de-camp arrived with the joyful intelli gence that Eugene was ready. Marlborough instantly mounted his horse, and ordered lord Cutts to begin the attack on Blenheim while he led the main body towards the Nebel, where the bridges were nearly completed. PART II.— THE BATTLE. At one the attack on Blenheim commenced. The troops selected for this service inclined to the right, and descending to the bank of the Nebel took possession of the two mills under a heavy fire of grape. Having effected their purpose, they drew up on the further bank, where they were covered by the rising slip of ground. They then deliberately advanced towards the enclosures, and at the distance of thirty paces received the first discharge of the enemy. Many brave officers and soldiers fell ; but the gallant general Rowe, who commanded the leading brigade, stuck his sword into the palisades before he gave the word to fire. In a few minutes one-third of the troops composing the first line were either killed or wounded, and all efforts to force their way against an enemy superior in number and advan tageously posted, were ineffectual. General Rowe himself was mortally wounded by a musket ball. His own lieutenant-colonel and major were killed in attempting to remove the body, and the line discouraged and broken, fell back on the Hessians, who were advancing. At this moment three squadrons of gens d'armes charged the right flank of the disordered troops and seized their colours, but were repelled by the Hessians, who, after recovering the colours, drove the assailants back to their lines. Lord Cutts> observing new squadrons preparing to advance, sent an aide-de camp for a reinforcement of cavalry to cover his exposed flank ; and general Lumley, who commanded nearest the spot, detached five squadrons under colonels Palm and Sybourg across the Nebel- 22 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Coxe. Having cleared the swamp with difficulty, they had scarcely formed, before five squadrons of gens & amies saluted them with a fire of musquetoons. The allied horse, instantly charging sword in hand, drove them back, through the intervals of the brigade of Silly, which was in the second line. They, however, suffered severely; for being galled in flank by the musquetry from Blenheim, and assailed by the brigades in front, they were repulsed in disorder, and must have recrossed the Nebel had not the brave Hessians a second time repelled the French horse. The enemy having placed four additional pieces of artillery upon the height near Blenheim, swept the fords of the Nebel with grape shot. But notwithstanding this destructive fire, the brigades of Ferguson and Hulsen crossed near the lower water- mill, and advanced in front of the village. The enemy, therefore, withdrew the guns within their defences, and met the attack with such vigour, that after three successive repulses, the assailants halted under cover of the rising ground. From the border of the Nebel, Marlborough anxiously surveyed this unequal conflict. Finding that Blenheim was occupied by a powerful body, instead of a detachment of infantry, and observing that the enemy were drawing down towards the Nebel to prevent his cavalry from forming on the farther bank, he ordered the troops of lord Cutts to keep up a feigned attack, by firing in platoons over the crest of the rising ground, while he himself hastened the dispositions for the execution of his grand design. During this interval the passage of the Nebel was already begun by general Churchill, who had pushed a part of the infantry over the bridges in the vicinity of Unterglauh, which was still in flames. As soon as they began to form on the farther bank, the first line of cavalry broke into columns and descended to the fords. Some threw fascines into the stream or formed bridges with the planks of the pontoons, while others plunged into the water, and waded through the swamp towards the point of the islet. The enemy observed them struggling for a passage, and removing part of the guns from Blenheim, enfiladed their crowded columns. Coxe.) THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 23 Scarcely had the confederate horse disengaged themselves, and begun to advance their right beyond the front of the infantry, before they were attacked by Zurlauben with the first line of cavalry, supported by the fire of artillery and musquetry from Blenheim. Exhausted by their previous efforts, and unable to present a connected line, they were borne down by the weight of the charge, and several squadrons on the left were driven to the very brink of the rivulet. Fortunately a party of infantry was now sufficiently formed to check the pursuit of the enemy by a heavy fire, as soon as the broken troops had cleared their front ; while the second line of cavalry advancing, several squadrons wheeled on the right of the French, and drove them behind the sources of the Meulweyer. These were incorporated with the first line, five additional squadrons were instantly led up to prolong the left, and the whole body in compact order halted on the hither bank of the Meulweyer, with the left flank stretching towards the outer hedges of Blenheim. They did not, however, long maintain their advantage; for two battalions of the royal brigade, filing along the enclosure to the left of the village, opened a galling fire on their flank. The nearest squadrons gave way, and the hostile cavalry, except the gens d'armes, resumed their original position. Meanwhile the passage of the Nebel was nearly completed in the centre. The broken squadrons again rallied, notwithstanding the concentrated fire of the enemy on the fords ; and by the exertions of general Lumley the whole left was drawn up beyond the Nebel. Hompesch, with the Dutch cavalry, was likewise in line, and the duke of Wirtemberg began to extend the Danes and Hano verians in the direction of Oberglauh. The remaining battalions of infantry were also rapidly moving into the assigned position. In proportion as the lines extended, the conflict which had commenced in the vicinity of Blenheim spread towards Ober glauh. The Danish and Hanoverian cavalry being charged by he right wing of Marsin, many squadrons were driven across the Nebel ¦ and though they renewed the attack, yet being outflanked 24 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Coxe. and enfiladed by the fire of the troops in and near Oberglauh they were again repulsed. While the battle fluctuated on this point, the prince of Holstein Beck, who had commanded the enemy from the elevation near Weilheim descended to the Nebel, and begun to pass with eleven battalions above Oberglaugh. Scarcely, however, did the head of this column appear beyond the rivulet before it was charged by nine battalions, including the Irish brigade, which particularly distinguished itself. Application was made for support to the contiguous squadrons of imperial horse, which were drawn up within musket shot ; but the demand being refused, the two foremost battalions were nearly cut to pieces, and the duke of Holstein Beck himself mortally wounded and made prisoner. Marlborough observed the disaster, and was conscious that not a moment was to be lost in gaining a point on which the success of his plan depended. He galloped to the spot, led the brigade of Bernsdorf across the rivulet below Ober glauh, and posted them himself. He then ordered the artillery to be brought down from Weilheim for their support, and directed some squadrons of Danes and Hanoverians to cover their left As the cavalry of Marsin evinced an intention to charge, he led forward several squadrons of the imperialists, and finally com pelled the enemy to retire into Oberglauh, or to fall back beyond. By this prompt and masterly movement he established a con nection with the army of Eugene, for while this small body of infantry divided the attention of the enemy, and protected the left of the imperialists, who were forming above Oberglauh, they covered the right of the great line of cavalry and masked the offensive movement which Marlborough meditated against Tallard. It was now three in the afternoon, and Marlborough returned to the centre, after dispatching lord Tunbridge to announce his success, and learn the situation of his colleague. Having described the progress of the battle on the left, we turn our attention to the army of Eugene. About one the first onse1 commenced. The prince of Anhalt, who commanded the infantry, prolonged his line towards the gorge of the mountains to take the enemy in flank, and traversed the main stream of the Nebel Coxe.] THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 25 Being, however, obliged to halt for the arrival of the artillery, his troops were exposed to the destructive fire of a battery in front of Lutzingen, At length a counter battery being placed near the verge of the wood, the troops again moved forward in columns filing across the stream, and forming as they advanced. The Danes attacked the enemy posted near the skirt of the wood, and the Prussians driving back the hostile cavalry, after a sanguinary conflict, carried the battery which had spread destruction through their ranks. At this moment, the imperial horse, breaking into columns, forded the stream, and drove the first line of the Bavarian cavalry through the intervals of the second. Being, however, broken in their turn by the second, they were pursued across the Nebel to their original position on the border of the wood. Some of the hostile squadrons then wheeled to the left, fell on the flank of the Prussian infantry, re covered the battery, and forced them to retreat. At the distance of two hundred paces the broken infantry made a stand, but being assailed by increasing numbers, were driven back with heavy loss. The Danes, discouraged bythe fateof their companions, relinquished the ground which they had gained, and a total rout might have ensued, had not the prince of Anhalt rushed into the thickest of the combat, animated the drooping spirits of the men, and drawn them back to the front, where they were covered by the wood. Meanwhile Eugene, rallying the cavalry, led them again to the charge. They were at first successful ; but being unsupported by the infantry, and enfiladed, both from Oberglauh and the battery in front of Lutzingen, were a second time broken, and fell back in disorder across the Nebel. Fortunately, the Dutch brigade af Heidenbrecht, which formed part of Marlborough's right, had now taken a position above Oberglauh. As these troops masked the movements of the imperialists, Eugene, after restoring order among his cavalry, again led them across the Nebel, and advanced towards the enemy. Both parties being equally exhausted, they paused before they came in contact at such a small distance, as enabled every individual to mark the countenance of his opponent. In this awful suspense, the elector 26 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Coxe. was seen emulating the conduct of Eugene, riding from rank to rank, encouraging the brave, and rousing the timid by his voice and example. At the same time the prince of Anhalt, after charging the front of the infantry, advanced obliquely, stretching the right of his line towards the wood, to take the enemy in flank. As soon as he had reached the proper point, the signal for a new charge was given. But the imperial cavalry were discouraged by the double repulse ; their onset was feeble, momentary, and indeci sive, their line was again broken, and they fled in utter confusion a third time beyond the Nebel. In a transport of despair, Eugene left the prince of Hanover and the duke of Wirtemberg to rally the horse, and flew to the infantry, who still maintained the attack with incredible resolution. Stung by the prospect of defeat, he rashly exposed his person, and was in danger of being shot by a Bavarian dragoon, but was saved by one of his own men, who sabred the trooper at the very moment he was taking the fatal aim. The daring example of the chief excited the emu lation of his troops, they at length turned the left flank of the enemy, and after a sanguinary strvjggle drove them back through the wood and across the ravine beyond Lutzingen. Still, how ever, their position was perilous in the extreme ; unsupported by the horse, their very success had placed them in a position from which it was difficult to retreat, and dangerous to advance, had the enemy been enabled to resume the attack. In the midst of this protracted contest the battle grew to a crisis on the left. The troops of Marlborough had finally effected the passage of the Nebel, and at five his dispositions were com pleted. The cavalry were formed in two strong lines, fronting the enemy, and the infantry ranged in their rear towards the left, with intervals between the battalions, to favour the retreat of such squadrons as should experience a repulse. In the course of the successive efforts made by one party to maintain their ground, and by the other to advance, Tallard had interlaced the cavalry with nine battalions of infantry, originally posted in the second line. This skilful disposition being instantly perceived by the officers commanding on the corresponding point of the allied Coxe.] THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 2"] front, to counteract it, three battalions of Hanoverians were brought forward, and placed in a similar manner, supported by several pieces of artillery. Amidst a tremendous fire of cannon and musquetry the allies, moving up the ascent, made a charge, but were unable to break the firm order of the enemy, and fell' back sixty paces, though they still maintained themselves on the brow of the acclivity. After another awful pause, the conflict was renewed with artillery and small arms ; the fire of the enemy was gradually overpowered, and their infantry, after displaying the most heroic valour, began to shrink from the tempest of balls which rapidly thinned their ranks. Marlborough seized this moment to make a new charge, and the troops pressed forward with so much bravery and success, that the French horse were again broken; and the nine battalions, being abandoned, were cut to pieces or made prisoners. The consequence of this shock was fatal, for the right wing of Marsin's cavalry fell back to avoid a flank attack, and left an interval in the centre of the line. Tallard, perceiving his situation hopeless, made a desperate effort, not for victory, but for safety. He drew up the remainder of his cavalry, and the nearest squadrons of Marsin behind the tents, in a single line, with their right extended towards Blen heim, to extricate the infantry posted in the village, and dis patched an officer, with orders for its immediate evacuation. At the same time he sent messengers to the left, pressing his col league either to support him with a reinforcement, or make an offensive movement, to divide the attention of his antagonists- But the mischief was irreparable. The elector and Marsin were too close pressed to comply with his request, and Marlborough, observing the weakness of his line, and the exposed situation of his right flank, saw that the decisive moment of victory was arrived. The trumpets sounded the charge, and the allied horse rushed forward with tremendous force. The hostile cavalry did not await the shock, but after a scattered volley, fled in the utmost dismay, the left towards Hochstadt, and the right, re duced to thirty squadrons, in the direction of Sonderheim. 28 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Coxa. Marlborough instantly dispatched Hompesch, with thirty squad rons in pursuit of the first, and himself, with the rest of the cavalry following the remainder, drove many down the declivity near Blenheim, into the Danube and the Schwanbach. Numbers were killed or taken in the rout, and many perished in the attempt to swim across the Danube. A crowd of fugitives slipped under cover of the bank, and crossed the Schwanbach, hoping to reach Hochstadt, but being entangled in the morass bordering the Brunnen, and cut off from the high road by the dragoons of Bothmar, they took refuge in a coppice. In the terror of the moment some forced their way through the dragoons, and others, plunging into the Danube, perished in the sight of their terrified companions. Among those who escaped was the marquis of Hautefort. Joining the brigade of Grignan, which still remained in a body on the bank of the Brunnen, he advanced against the dragoons of Bothmar, and ex tricated the remnant of the gens d'armes, who yet remained mounted. But fresh squadrons of the allies advancing, the French fell back to the height beyond Hochstadt, and withdrew the wounded, who had been carried thither in the heat of the engagement. Still, however, marshal Tallard, and several of his principal officers, with a body of cavalry, who had followed them in the rout , remained near Sonderheim. Cut off on one side by the allied horse, and on the other, unwilling to encounter almost certain death by plunging into the Danube, they had no alterna tive but to submit to the fate of war. Tallard delivered his sword to the aide-de-camp of the prince of Hesse, and with him sur rendered many officers of distinction. They were immediately conducted to the victorious commander, and received with all the attention which was due to their character and misfortune. During these events, Hompesch had continued to press on the broken squadrons of the retreating enemy. They attempted to rally, after crossing the Brunnen, near Diessenhofen ; but on the approach of their pursuers, were seized with a panic, and fled towards Morselingen. At the same time, two battalions of infantry Coxe.) THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 2g who had formed with them, purchased their safety by yielding up their arms. From the verge of the wood above Lutzingen, where Eugene had halted after his last attack, he witnessed the advance of his colleague, and the final charge, which ended in the wreck of Tallard's army. Observing the right of Marsin filing towards the rear, and the Bavarian infantry pouring into Lutzingen, he rightly judged that his opponents were preparing to retreat. He instantly renewed the conflict with the infantry, though supported only by two squadrons, and forced his way through the woods and ravines to Lutzingen. After an arduous struggle, his troops emerged into the plain, and he halted for the approach of the cavalry, who had pressed on the Bavarian horse in their retreat. The flames which burst forth at Oberglauh and Lutzingen, proved that the enemy had abandoned those places, and were hastening to withdraw from their perilous situation. The attention of Marlborough was now turned to the move ments of the elector and Marsin. Perceiving the advance of Eugene, and the conflagration of Oberglauh and Lutzingen, he recalled the cavalry of Hompesch, and joining them with ad ditional squadrons, prepared to charge the enemy, who were rapidly filing in good order along the skirt of the wood towards Morselingen. Such an attack would probably have terminated in the utter ruin of their whole army, but it was prevented by one of those accidents which often occur in the confusion of battles. The troops of Eugene appeared behind those of the enemy, in a situation to bear on the flank of the victorious cavalry, and as the fall of night and the clouds of smoke which hung over the field, rendered the view indistinct, they were mistaken for a part of the electoral army. Marlborough therefore countermanded the order for harassing the Gallo-Bavarians in their retreat; and though closely pursued by the cavalry of Eugene, they drew up under cover of the wood between Lutzingen and Morselingen. Having collected the remnant of the defeated wing, they fell back, on the approach of night, in the direction of Dillingen. The fate of the day was no sooner decided, than Marlborough, 30 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Coxa taking from a pocket-book a slip of paper, wrote a hasty note to the duchess, announcing his victory. August 13, 1704. I have not time to say more, but to beg you wiU give my duty to the queen, and let her know her army has had a glorious victory. M. Tallard and two other generals are in my coach, and I am following the rest. The bearer, my aide-de-camp, colonel Parke, will give her an account of what has passed. I shall do it, in a day or two, by another more at large. Marlborough. The fate of the troops posted in Blenheim still remained unde cided. They had witnessed the event of the battle without making any attempt to escape, because the officer dispatched with the order had been prevented from reaching the village by the last fatal charge. Finding themselves insulated by the defeat of the cavalry, they used the utmost exertion to maintain their post to the last extremity. The commander, monsieur de Clerambault, being lost in the Danube, they were left without a chief, and without orders, but awaited their destiny with a firmness which merited a better fate. As soon as the plain was cleared, general Churchill led "his infantry towards the rear of the village, and extended his right flank to the Danube; while general Meredith, with the queen's regiment, took possession of a small barrier which had been formed to preserve a communication along the bank with Hochstadt. These movements roused the enemy from a state of sullen des peration. They first attempted to escape by the rear of the village, and being repulsed, rushed towards the road leading to Sonder- heim. Here they were again checked by the Scotch-greys, who were led forward to the crest of the acclivity by general Lumley. They finally attempted to emerge by the opening towards Ober glauh, when eight squadrons of horse, under general Ross, com pelled them again to take refuge behind the houses and enclosures. Though encompassed by inevitable perils, they obstinately maintained their post, and it became necessary to recur to a general attack on every accessible point of the village. Lord Cutts was ordered to occupy their attention on the side of the Nebel, while lord Orkney, with eight battalions, attacked the churchyard, and general Ingoldsby with four more, supported by the dragoons of Coxe.] THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 3 1 Ross, endeavoured to penetrate on the side of the opening towards Oberglauh. Several batteries, planted within musket shot, co-ope rated in these attacks, and one of the howitzers set fire to several houses and barns. A vigorous conflict appeared likely to ensue. But on one side the prospect of a sanguinary though successful attack, and on the other, of a fruitless, though destructive defence, induced the contending parties to spare the effusion of blood. A parley took place, and the French proposed a capitulation, but general Churchill, riding forward, insisted on an unconditional sur render. No resource remained ; to resist was hopeless, to escape impossible. With despair and indignation, the troops submitted to their fate, and the regiment of Navarre, in particular, burnt their colours, and buried their arms, that such trophies might not remain to grace the triumph of an enemy. Twenty-four battalions and twelve squadrons, with all their officers, surrendered them selves prisoners of war, and thus closed the mighty struggle of this eventful day. The field being cleared of the enemy, and night approaching, the duke ordered the army to be drawn up, with the left extending to Sonderen, the right towards Morselingen, and the soldiers to lie all night under arms on the field of battle. They quickly pos sessed themselves of the enemy's tents, with great quantities of vegetables. Nearer the Danube lay about an hundred oxen, which were to have been distributed to the hostile troops. These were no unwelcome booty to the victorious soldiers after their long and hard service. After this, his grace gave orders for dressing the wounded, and putting them under cover. He then made a repartition of the prisoners, who amounted to eleven or twelve thousand men. The enemy had at least as many more killed or wounded. These prisoners, with their generals, being divided and disarmed, were ordered to the adjacent villages in the rear of our army, guarded by several squadrons of horse and dragoons. ****** We may add, .that from the subsequent letters of Marlborough, we find the total lo*** of the enemy to have been no less than 32 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Detoe. 40,000 men, including deserters, and those who were killed in the retreat. The loss on the side of the confederates was also very considerable, being 4,500 killed, and 7,500 wounded; but few officers of note, except the prince of Holstein Beck and brigadier Rowe, were killed ; and lord North and Grey, and lord Mordaunt wounded. ONE OF THE CAUSES OF THE UNION WITH SCOTLAND. Defoe. An English ship called the " Worcester," of London, captain Thomas Green, commander, homeward bound from the East Indies, put into Scotland, whether by contrary winds, or for convoy, or on what other occasion, is not to the purpose. The African Company there having had a ship formerly seized by the East India Company in London as she was fitting out in the river Thames, and for which they had in vain solicited restitution, they obtained of the government a power to seize and stop this ship by way of reprisal. Accordingly the ship was seized on and brought into Bruntisland, and some time passed while the ship lay under such circumstances. During this time some of the ship's crew, whether in their drink or otherwise, let fall some words implying that they had been pirating, and particularly some very suspicious discourses intimating that there had been blood in the case. This prompted further inquiries, and at last a plain and particular information was procured, that this captain Green with this ship "Worcester" had met with a Scots ship, com manded by one Drummond, in the East Indies, made a prize of the ship, and murdered Drummond and all his crew. These suspicions and dark speeches were so taken hold of and traced, that at last it came upon the stage, and brought Green and his ship's crew into the course of public justice ; and after a very long trial, they were found guilty of piracy, robbery, and murder; Defoe., THE STORY OF CAPTAIN GREEN. 33 and particularly the captain with two more were accordingly executed. * * * * It is not the work of this book to relate the story at its full length, but I cannot pass it here without a short abridgment of the proceedings, because as Scotland lies under much scandal on this account, which, as to the methods of public justice, I think she does not deserve ; so the clearing up that point, and the rela tion it has to the present subject I am upon I think will come out hand in hand ; and for that reason I engage in it. Some of Green's men either in their anger or in their cups, or both, having let fall words that rendered him very much suspected of having been guilty of great villanies ; they were further watched in their discourse by some that had taken hold of their words, particularly two negroes, one Haines, and another, who, it seems, being disgusted with the captain, frequently let fall such ex pressions as gave the hearers reason to suspect there had been great villanies among them. These speeches are all to be seen in the depositions of the witnesses (too long to repeat here), and particularly in the printed trial, to which I refer. I shall not take upon me here to condemn nor acquit either side; I know the world's divided on the subject; some will have Green and his crew to be guilty of all that is charged on them ; others say the company carried all against them, that they might have a good excuse for confiscating the ship. But be that as it will, it is most certain the folly and imprudence of the men hanged them, to say no more. * •* * * This folly of theirs came at last to such a height that it could no longer be con cealed, for it became public discourse that they had been guilty not of murder and piracy only, but of uncommon barbarities ; and not that only, but that it was particularly on a Scots ship and Scots men, viz., captain Drummond aforesaid. At length it was Drought to the ears of the government, and as the public justice of all nations is obliged to take cognizance of such horrid things as were here suggested, the fellows were examined, and they frankly confessing, Green and five of his men were taken up. The positive evidence were only two negroes, but others so cor- 34 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Defoe. roborated what they said, and circumstances concurring to make almost everybody believe the fact, at least in that hurry, they were, upon a long hearing, severally found guilty of piracy and murder. There are sometimes such crises, such junctures in matters, when all things shall concur to possess, not a man but a nation, even, with a belief of what at another time they would not believe, even upon the same evidence ; and in this, man seems actuated by a kind of supernatural influence, as if invisibly directed to bring to pass some particular thing pointed out by Providence to be done, for reasons of His own, and known only to His inscru table wisdom. Just such a case this seemed to be ; the circum stances of Green and his crew were very unhappy for them ; their being put into Scotland, where they had no manner of business, no distress to force them in ; their being seized by the company; the men falling out among themselves, and being the open instru ments of detecting what no one ever could have charged them with ; their staying there when they might have gone and had no more business there, from whence some allege they had no power to depart ; these and more concurring circumstances, which were observed by the most curious, and some of which were noted upon the trial, seemed to jump together so visibly, that all people seemed to acknowledge a wonderful and invisible hand in it, directing and pointing out the detecting some horrible crime which vengeance suffered not to go unpunished. On their being found guilty they were not immediately executed; but several applications were made from England for their reprieve ; the council of Scotland reprieved them for some days : and as some people began then to object that the evidence was but too slight, and that there was but one witness to matter of fact, and that the one witness was but a negro, that he was not capable of the impressions of an oath, that there was malice in it, and the like ; on these and on other considerations the government was so tender of the blood of the men, that some have thought they had not died but for the rage of the common people, who, hearing that they were further to be reprieved, got together an unusual multitude on the day appointed for their execution, crying out for Defoe.] THE STORY OF CAPTAIN GREEN. 35 justice. * * * * On the day appointed for the execution the privy council was set, and the magistrates of Edinburgh were called to assist, when the point was debated whether the con demned persons should be executed or no. I will not say the rabble influenced the council in their determinations that way ; but this is certain, that the discontent of the common people was well known, and that they were furiously bent upon some violent methods was very much feared ; that a vast concourse of people was gathered at that instant in the Parliament close, at the Cross, at the prison, and throughout the whole city; that they publicly threatened the magistrates, and even the council itself in case they (the prisoners) were not brought out that day. And some talked of pulling down the Tolbooth, which, if they had attempted, they would have sacrificed them in a way more like that of De Witt than an execution of justice. However it was, the council determined the matter, that three of them, viz., the captain Thomas Green, John Mather, and James Simpson, who were thought to be principals in the murder, should be put to death that day. When the magistrates of Edinburgh came out, they assured the people that they (the prisoners) were ordered to be executed, and that, if they would have a little patience, they would see them brought out; and this pacified them for the present. Soon after the council breaking up, my lord chancellor came out, and driving down the street in his coach, as he passed by the Cross somebody said aloud, "The magistrates had but cheated them, and that the council had reprieved the criminals." This running like wildfire, was spread in a moment among the people, immediately they ran in a fury down the street after the chancellor, stopped his coach just at the Trone church, broke the glasses, abused his servants, and forced him out of the coach ; some friends that were concerned for the hazard he was in, got him into a house, so that he had no personal hurt. It was in vain for his lordship to protest to 'them that the men were ordered to be executed ; they were then past hearing of anything, the whole town was in an uproar, and not only the mob of the city, but even from all the adjacent country was come together. Nothing but D 2 36 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Defoe. the blood of the prisoners could appease them ; and had not the execution followed immediately, it cannot be expressed what mischief might have happened. At last the prisoners were brought out and led through the streets down to Leith, the place of execution being by the laws appointed there for crimes committed upon the seas. The fury and rage of the people was such that it is not to be expressed ; and hardly did they suffer them to pass, or keep their hands off them as they went, but threw a thousand insults, taunts, and revilings. They were at last brought to the gibbet, erected at the sea mark, and there hanged. Nor can I forget to note that no sooner was the sacrifice made and the men dead, but even the same rabble — so fickle is the multitude — exclaimed at their own madness, and openly regretted what they had done, and were ready to tear one another to pieces for the excess. It was not acted there with more fury than it was with the utmost indigna tion resented in England. * * * * It was said the rabble had cried out to hang them because they were Englishmen ; that they had said they wished they could hang the whole nation so, and that they insulted them as they went to execution with the name of English dogs. Never was such an unfortunate circum stance to exasperate the common people upon both sides, and to fill them with irreconcilable aversions that might prepare them for blood ; and if England had gone a little higher, it woulcLnot have been safe for a Scotsman to have walked the streets. * * * * To exasperate the people yet more, it was reported that captain Drummond was yet living, that neither he nor any of his men was ever touched by Green or his crew, and some seamen landed in England made affidavit directly contrary to the evidence that hanged them. I shall no further enter into the merits of the case that serves to the matter of national heats. The thing was generally thought to be a hasty execution, but the argument that it ought to be no ground for a national quarrel prevailed in England, and. the rest of the prisoners in Scotland were reprieved from time to time, and at last let go. Sir Walter Scott.] THE UNION.— I. 37 In both these cases the mischief of tumult and rabbles is to be observed, and how easy it is to set nations on a flame by the violent fomenting the passions and humours of the people, and how much those sort of men are to be detested who blow the coals of strife and dissension in a nation, prompt the fury of an enraged multitude to fly in one another's faces, and insult the laws and government of both countries at once. The end of this account is to make out what I at first noted, concerning the causes which wrought these two nations up to such a necessity of an union, that either it must have been an union or a war ; the animosities on both sides being raised to such a pitch that they could no longer have remained in the usual medium of peace. * mracm. Sir Walter Scott. PART I. The principal obstacle to a union, so far as England was con cerned, lay in a narrow-minded view of the commercial interests of the nation, and a fear of the loss which might accrue by admit ting the Scots to a share of their plantation trade, and other pri vileges. But it was not difficult to show, even to the persons most interested, that public credit and private property would suffer immeasurably more by a war with Scotland, than by sacri ficing to peace and unity some share in the general commerce. It is true, the opulence of England, the command of men, the many victorious troops which she then had in the field, under the best commanders in Europe, seemed to ensure final victory, if the two nations should come to open war. But a war with Scotland was always more easily begun than ended ; and wise men saw it would be better to secure the friendship of that kingdom, by an agree ment on the basis of mutual advantage, than to incur the risk of invading, and the final necessity of securing it as a conquered country, by means of forts and garrisons. In the one case, Scot- 38 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott. land would become an integral part of the empire, and, improving in the arts of peaceful industry, must necessarily contribute to the prosperity of England. In the case supposed, she must long remain a discontented and disaffected province, in which the exiled family of James II., and his allies the French, would always find friends and correspondents. English statesmen were there fore desirous of a union. But they stipulated that it should be of the most intimate kind ; such as should free England from the great inconvenience arising from the Scottish nation possessing a separate legislature and constitution of her own : and in order to blend her interests indelibly with those of England, they demanded that the supreme power of the state should be reposed in a par liament of the united countries, to which Scotland might send a certain proportion of members, but which should meet in the English capital, and be, of course, more immediately under the influence of English counsels and interests. The Scottish nation, on the other hand, which had, of late, be come very sensible of the benefits of foreign trade, were extremely desirous of a federative union, which would admit them to the commercial advantages which they coveted. But, while they grasped at a share in the English trade, they desired that Scotland should retain her rights as a separate kingdom, making, as here tofore, her own laws, and adopting her own public measures, un controlled by the domination of England. Here, therefore, occurred a preliminary point of dispute, which was necessarily to be settled previous to the farther progress of the treaty. In order to .adjust the character of the proposed union-treaty in this and other particulars, commissioners for both kingdoms were appointed to make a preliminary inquiry, and report upon the articles which ought to be adopted as the foundation of the measure, and which report was afterwards to be subjected to the legislatures of both kingdoms. The English and Scottish commissioners being both chosen by the queen, that is, by Godolphin and the queen's ministers, were indeed taken from different parties, but carefully selected, so as to preserve a majority of those who could be reckoned upon as Sir Walter Scott.] THE UNION.— I. 30 friendly to the treaty, and who would be sure to do their utmost to remove such obstacles as might arise in the discussion. I will briefly tell you the result of these numerous and anxious debates. The Scottish commissioners, after a vain struggle, were compelled to submit to an incorporating union, as that would alone ensure the purposes of combining England and Scotland into one single nation, to be governed in its political measures by the same parliament. It was agreed, that in contributing to the support of the general expenses of the kingdom, Scotland should pay a certain proportion of taxes, which were adjusted by calcula tion. But in consideration that the Scots, whose revenue, though small, was unencumbered, must thereafter become liable for a share of the debt which England had incurred since the Revolu tion, a large sum of ready money was to be advanced to Scotland as an equivalent for that burden : which sum, however, was to be repaid to England gradually from the Scottish revenue. So far all went on pretty well between the two sets of commissioners. The English statesmen also consented, with no great scruple, that Scotland should retain her own national presbyterian church, her own system of civil and municipal laws, which is in many im portant respects totally different from that of England, and her own courts for the administration of justice. The only addition to her judicial establishment was the erection of the court of exchequer in Scotland, to decide in fiscal matters, and which follows the English forms. But the treaty was nearly broken off when the English announced, that, in the parliament of the United Kingdoms, Scotland should only enjoy a representation equal to one thirteenth of the whole number. The proposal was received by the Scottish commissioners with a burst of surprise and indignation. It was loudly urged that a kingdom resigning her ancient independence, should at least obtain in the great national council a representation bearing the same proportion the population of Scotland did to that of England, which was one to six. If this rule, which seems the fairest that could be found, had been adopted, Scotland would have sent sixty- six members to the united parliament. But the English refused 4° HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott. peremptorily to consent to the admission of more than forty-five at the very utmost ; and the Scottish commissioners were bluntly and decisively informed that they must either acquiesce in this proposal, or declare the treaty at an end. With more prudence, perhaps, than spirit, the majority of the commissioners chose to yield the point rather than run the risk of frustrating the union entirely. The Scottish peerage were to preserve all the other privileges of their rank ; but their right of sitting in parliament, and acting as hereditary legislators, was to be greatly limited. Only sixteen of their number were to enjoy seats in the British house of lords, and these were to be chosen by election from the whole body. Such peers as were amongst the number of commissioners were induced to consent to this degradation of their order, by the assurance that they themselves should be created British peers, so as to give them personally, by charter, the right which the sixteen could only acquire by election. To smooth over the difficulties, and reconcile the Scottish com missioners to the conditions which appeared hard to them, and above all, to afford them some compensation for the odium which they were certain to incur, they were given to understand that a considerable sum out of the equivalent money would be secured for their special use. We might have compassionated these statesmen, many of whom were able and eminent men, had they, from the sincere conviction that Scotland was under the necessity of submitting to the union at all events, accepted the terms which the English commissioners dictated. But when they united with the degradation of their country, the prospec4- f obtaining personal wealth and private emoluments, we can acquit them of the charge of having sold their own honr I that of Scotland. This point of the treaty was kept strir :t; nor was it fixed how the rest of the equivalent was isposed of. There remained a disposable fund of about ' lred and sixty thou sand pounds, which was to be besto' :otland in indemni fication for the losses of Darien and .tuities, upon which all those members of the Scottish pari. 10 might be inclined Sir Walter Scott.] THE UNION.— I. 4.1 to sell their votes, and whose interest was worth purchasing, might fix their hopes and expectations. When the articles, agreed upon by the commissioners as the basis of a union, were made public in Scotland, it became plain that few suffrages would be obtained in favour of the measure, save by menaces or bribery, unless perhaps from a very few, who, cast ing their eyes far beyond the present time, considered the uniting of the island of Britain as an object which could not be purchased too dearly. The people in general had awaited, in a state of feverish anxiety, the nature of the propositions on which this great national treaty was to rest ; but even those who had expected the least favourable terms, were not prepared for the rigour of the conditions which had been adopted, and the promulgation of the articles gave rise to the most general expressions, not only of dis content, but of rage and fury against the proposed union. There was indeed no party or body of men in Scotland, who saw their hopes or wishes realized in the plan adopted by the commissioners. I will show you, in a few 'words, their several causes of dissatisfaction : The Jacobites saw in the proposed union, an effectual bar to the restoration of the Stewart family. If the treaty was adopted, the two kingdoms must necessarily be governed by the English act, settling the succession of the crown on the electress of Hanover. They were, therefore, resolved to oppose the union to the utmost. The episcopal clergy could hardly be said to have had a separate interest from the Jacobites, and, like them, dreaded the change of succession which must take place at the death of queen Anne. The highland chiefs also, the most zealous and formidable portion of the Jacobite interest, anticipated in the union a decay of their own patriarchal power. They remembered the times of Cromwell, who bridled the highlands by garrisons filled with soldiers, and foresaw that when Scotland came to be only a part of the British nation, a large standing army, at the constant command of government, must gradually suppress the warlike independence of the clans. The presbyterians of the church of Scotland, both clergy and 42 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott. laity, were violently opposed to the union, from the natural apprehension, that so intimate an incorporation of two nations was likely to end in a uniformity of worship, and that the hierarchy of England would, in that case, be extended to the weaker and poorer country of Scotland, to the destruction of the present establishment. This fear seemed the better founded, as the bishops, or lords spiritual of the English house of lords, formed a considerable portion of what was proposed to be the legislature of both kingdoms ; so that Scotland, in the event of the union taking place, must to a certain extent, fall under the dominion of prelates. These apprehensions extended to the Cameronians themselves, who, though having so many reasons to dread the restoration of the Stewarts, and to favour the protestant succession, looked, nevertheless, on the proposed union as almost a worse evil, and a still farther departure from the engagements of the solemn league and covenant, which, forgotten by all other parties in the nation, was still their professed rule of action. The nobility and barons of the kingdom were alarmed, lest they should be deprived, after the example of England, of those territorial jurisdictions and privileges which preserved their feudal influence ; while, at the same time, the transference of the seat of government to London, must necessarily be accompanied with the abolition of many posts and places of honour and profit, connected with the administration of Scotland as a separate kingdom, and which were naturally bestowed on her nobility and gentry. The government, therefore, must have so much less to give away, the men of influence so much less to receive ; and those who might have expected to hold situations of power and authority in their own country while independent, were likely to lose by the union both power and patronage. The persons who were interested in commerce complained, that Scotland was only tantalized by a treaty, which held out to the kingdom the prospect of a free trade, when, at the same time, it subjected them to all the English burdens and duties, raising the expenses of commerce to a height which" Scotland afforded no capital to defray ; so that the apprehension became general, that Sir Walter Scott.] THE UNION.— I. 43 the Scottish merchants would lose the separate trade which they now possessed, without obtaining any beneficial share in that of England. Again, the whole body of Scottish trades-people, artisans, and the like, particularly those of the metropolis, foresaw, that in con sequence of the union, a large proportion of the nobility and gentry would be withdrawn from their native country, some to attend their duties in the British parliament, others from the various motives of ambition, pleasure, or vanity, which induce persons of comparative wealth to frequent courts, and reside in capitals. The consequences to be apprehended were, that the Scottish metropolis would be deserted by all that were wealthy and noble, and deprived at once of the consideration and advantages of a capital ; and that the country must suffer in pro portion, by the larger proprietors ceasing to reside on their estates, and going to spend their rents in England. These were evils apprehended by particular classes of men. But the loss and disgrace to be sustained by the ancient kingdom, which had so long defended her liberty and independence against England, were common to all her children ; and should Scotland at this crisis voluntarily surrender her. rank among nations, for no immediate advantages that could be anticipated, excepting such as might be obtained by private individuals, who had votes to sell, and consciences that permitted them to traffic in such ware, each inhabitant of Scotland must have his share in the apprehended dishonour. Perhaps, too, those felt it most, who, having no estates or wealth' to lose, claimed yet a share, with the greatest and the richest, in the honour of their common country. The feelings of national pride were inflamed by those of national prejudice and resentment. The Scottish people com plained, that they were not only required to surrender their public rights, but to yield them up to the very nation who had been most malevolent to them in all respects; who had been their constant enemies during a thousand years of almost continual war; and who, even since they were united under the same crown, had shown, in the massacre of Glencoe, and the disasters 44 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott. of Darien, at what a slight price they held the lives and rights of their northern neighbours. The hostile measures adopted by the English parliament, — their declarations against the Scottish trade, — their preparations for war on the border, — were all circum stances which envenomed the animosity of the people of Scot land ; while the general training which had taken place under the act of security, made them confident in their own military strength, and disposed to stand their ground at all hazards. Moved by anxiety, doubt, and apprehension, an unprecedented confluence of people, of every rank, sex, and age, thronged to Edinburgh from all corners of Scotland, to attend the meeting of the union parliament, which met 3rd October, 1 706. The parliament was divided, generally speaking, into three parties. The first was composed of the courtiers or followers of government, determined at all events to carry through the union, on the terms proposed by the commissioners. This party was led by the duke of Queensberry, lord high commissioner, a person of talents and accomplishments, and great political address, who had filled the highest situations during the last reigns. He was assisted by the earl of Mar, secretary of state, who was suspected to be naturally much disprjsed to favour the exiled family of Stewart, but who, sacrificing his political principles to love of power or of emolument, was deeply concerned in the underhand and private management by which the union was carrying through. But the most active agent in the treaty was the viscount Stair, long left out of administration on account of his share in the scandalous massacre of Glencoe and the affair of Darien. He was raised to an earldom in 1703, and was highly trusted and employed by lord Godolphin and the English administration. This celebrated statesman, now trusted and employed, by his address, eloquence, and talents, contributed greatly to accomplish the union, and gained on that account, from a great majority of his displeased countrymen, the popular nickname of the Curse of Scotland. The party opposing the union consisted of those who were attached to the Jacobite interest, joined with the country party, Sir Walter Scott.] THE UNION.— II. 45 who, like Fletcher of Saltoun, resisted the treaty, not on the grounds of the succession to the crown, but as destructive of the national independence -of the kingdom. They were headed by the duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland, an excellent speaker, and admirably qualified to act as the head of a party in ordinary times, but possessed of such large estates as rendered him unwilling to take any decisive steps by which his property might be endangered. To this it seems to have been owing, that the more decided and effectual measures, by which alone the union treaty might have been defeated, though they often seemed to gain his approbation for a time, never had his hearty or effectual support in the end. There was a third party, greatly smaller than either of the others, but which secured to themselves a degree of consequence by keeping together, and affecting to act independently of the rest, from which they were termed the squadr6ne volante. They were headed by the marquis of Tweeddale, and consisted of the members of an administration of which the marquis had been the head, but which were turned out of office to make way for the duke of Queensberry and the present ruling party. These dis contented politicians were neither favourers of the court, which had dismissed them, nor of the opposition party. To speak plainly, in a case where their country demanded of them a decisive opinion, the squadrone seem to have waited to see what course of conduct would best serve their own interest. We shall presently see that they were at last decided to support the treaty by a recon ciliation with the court. PART II. The unpopularity of the proposed measure throughout Scotland in general, was soon made evident by the temper of the people of Edinburgh. The citizens of the better class exclaimed against the favourers of the union, as willing to surrender the sovereignty of Scotland to her ancient rival, whilst the populace stated the same idea in a manner more obvious to their gross capacities, and cried 46 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott. out that the Scottish crown, sceptre, and sword, were about to be transferred to England, as they had been in the time of the usurper, Edward Longshanks. On the 23rd October, the popular fury was at its height. The people crowded together in the High street and Parliament square, and greeted their representatives as friends or enemies to their country, according as they opposed or favoured the union. The commissioner was bitterly reviled and hooted at, while, in the evening of the day, several hundred persons escorted the duke of Hamilton to his lodgings, encouraging him by loud huzzas to stand by the cause of national independence. The rabble next assailed the house of the lord provost, destroyed the windows and broke open the doors, and threatened him with instant death as a favourer of the obnoxious treaty. Other acts of riot were committed, which were not ultimately for the advantage of the anti-unionists, since they were assigned as reasons' for introducing strong bodies of troops into the city. These mounted guard in the principal streets; and the' com missioner dared only pass to his coach through a lane of soldiers under arms, and was then driven to his lodgings in the Canongate amidst repeated volleys of stones and roars of execration. The duke of Hamilton continued to have his escort of shouting apprentices, who attended him home every evening. But the posting of the guards overawed opposition both within and without the parliament; and, notwithstanding the remon strances of the opposition party, that it was an encroachment both on the privileges of the city of Edinburgh and of the parliament itself, the hall of meeting continued to be surrounded by a military force. The temper of the kingdom of Scotland at large was equally unfavourable to the treaty of union with that of the capital. Addresses against the measure were poured into the house of parliament from the several shires, counties, burghs, towns, and parishes. Men, otherwise the most opposed to each other, Whig and Tory, Jacobite and Williamite, presbyterian, episcopalian, and Cameronian, all agreed in expressing their detestation of the treaty, Sir Walter Scott.) THE UNION.-II. 47 and imploring the estates of parliament to support and preserve entire the sovereignty and independence of the crown and kingdom, with the rights and privileges of parliament, valiantly maintained through so many ages, so that the succeeding gene rations might receive them unimpaired ; in which good cause the petitioners offered to concur with life and fortune. While addresses of this description loaded the table of the parliament, the promoters of the union could only procure from a few persons in the town of Ayr a single address in favour of the measure, which was more than overbalanced by one of an opposite tendency, signed by a very large majority of the inhabitants of the same burgh. The unionists, secure in their triumphant majorities, treated these addresses with scorn. The duke of Argyle said, they were only fit to be made kites of, while the earl of Marchmont proposed to reject them as seditious, and, as he alleged, got up collusively, and expressing the sense of a party rather than of the nation. To this it was boldly answered by sir James Foulis of Colington, that, if the authenticity of the addresses were challenged, he had no doubt that the parties subscribing would attend the right honour able house in person, and enforce their petitions by their presence. This was an alarming suggestion, and ended the debate. Amongst these addresses against the union, there was one from the commission of the general assembly, which was supposed to speak the sentiments of most of the clergymen of the church of Scotland, who saw great danger to the presbyterian church from the measure under deliberation. But much of the heat of the clergy's opposition was taken off by the parliament's passing an act for the security of the church of Scotland as by law established at the Revolution, and making this declaration an integral part of the treaty of union. This cautionary measure seems to have been deemed sufficient; and although some presbyteries sent addresses against the union, and many ministers continued to preach violently on the subject, yet the great body of the clergy ceased to vex themselves and others with the alarming tendency of the measure, so far as religion and church discipline were con cerned. 48 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott The Cameronians, however, remained unsatisfied, and not having forgotten the weight which their arms had produced at the time of the Revolution, they conceived that a similar crisis of public affairs had again arrived, and required their active inter ference. Being actually embodied and possessed of arms, they wanted nothing save hardy and daring leaders to have engaged them in actual hostilities. They were indeed so earnest in oppos ing the union, that several hundreds of them appeared in formal array, marched into Dumfries, and, drawing up in military order around the cross of the town, solemnly burnt the articles of union, and published a testimony, 'declaring that the commissioners who adjusted them must have been either silly, ignorant, or treacherous, if not all three, and protesting, that if an attempt should be made to impose the treaty on the nation by force, the subscribers were determined that they and their companions would not become tributaries and bond slaves to their neighbours, without acquitting themselves as became men and christians. After publishing this threatening manifesto the assembly dispersed. This conduct of the Cameronians led to a formidable conspi racy. One Cunningham of Eckatt, a leading man of that sect at the time of the Revolution, afterwards a settler at Darien, offered his services to the heads of the opposition party, to lead to Edin burgh such an army of Cameronians as should disperse the parlia ment, and break off the treaty of union. He was rewarded with money and promises, and encouraged to collect the sense of the country on the subject of his proposal. This agent found the west country ripe for revolt, and ready to join with any others who might take arms against the government on the footing of resistance to the treaty of union. Cunningham required that a body of the Athole highlanders should secure the town of Stirling, in order to keep the communication open between the Jacobite chiefs and the army of western insurgents, whom he himself was in the first instance to command. And had this design taken effect, the party which had suffered so much during the late reigns of the Stewarts, and the mountaineers who had been found such ready agents in oppressing them, would have Sir Walter Scott.] THE UNION.-II. 49 been seen united in a common cause, so strongly did the universal hatred to the union overpower all other party feelings at this time. A day was named for the proposed insurrection in the west, on which Cunningham affirmed he would be able to assemble at Hamilton, which was assigned as the place of rendezvous, seven or eight thousand men, all having guns and swords, several hundred with muskets and bayonets, and about a thousand on horseback ; with which army he proposed to march instantly to Edinburgh, and disperse the parliament. The highlanders were to rise at the same time ; and there can be little doubt that the country in general would have taken arms. Their first efforts would probably have been successful, but the final event must have been a bloody renewal of the wars between England and Scotland. The Scottish government were aware of the danger, and em ployed among the Cameronians two or three agents of their own, particularly one Ker of Kersland, who possessed some hereditary influence among them. The persons so employed did not venture to cross the humour of the people, or argue in favour of the union ; but they endeavoured in various ways to turn the suspicion of the Cameronians upon the Jacobite nobility and gentry, to awaken hostile recollections of the persecutions they had undergone, in which the highlanders had been willing actors, and to start other causes of jealousy amongst people who were more influenced by the humour of the moment than any reasoning which could be addressed to them. Notwithstanding the underhand practices of Kersland, and although Cunningham himself is said to have been gained over by the government, the scheme of rising went forward, and the day of rendezvous was appointed ; when the duke of Hamilton, either reluctant to awaken the flames of civil war, or doubting the strength of Eckatt's party, and its leader's fidelity, sent messengers into the west country to countermand and postpone the intended insurrec tion ; in which he so far ' succeeded, that only four hundred men appeared at the rendezvous, instead of twice as many to HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott. thousands ; and these, finding their purpose frustrated, dispersed peaceably. Another danger which threatened the government passed as easily over. An address against the union had been proposed at Glasgow, where, as in every place of importance in Scotland, the treaty was highly unpopular. The magistrates, acting under the directions of the lord advocate, endeavoured to obstruct the pro posed petition, or at least to resist its being expressed in the name of the city. At this feverish time there was a national fast ap pointed to be held, and a popular preacher * made choice of a text from Ezra, ch. viii., v. 21, " Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance." Addressing himself to the people, who were already sufficiently irritated, the preacher told them that prayers would not do, addresses would not do — prayer was indeed a duty, but it must be seconded by exertions of a very different nature ; " wherefore," he concluded, " up and be valiant for the city of our God." The populace of the city, taking this as a direct encouragement to insurrection, assembled in a state of uproar, attacked and dis persed the guards, plundered the houses of the citizens, and seized what arms they could find ; in short, took possession of the town, and had everybody's life and goods at their mercy.t No person * The rev. James Clark, minister of the Tron Kirk, Glasgow. T " In this rage they went directly to the provost's house, got into it, took away all his arms, which were about twenty-five muskets, &c. ; from thence they went to the laird of Blackhouses' dwelling, broke his windows, and showed their teeth. "— " The provost would have made to his own house, but the multitude increasing and growing furious, he took sanctuary in a house, and running up a stair-case lost the rabble for some time, they pursuing him into a wrong house ; however, they searched every apartment to the top of the stair, and came in to the very room where he was; but the same hand that smote the men of Sodom with blindness when they would have rabbled the angels, protected him from this many-headed monster, and so blinded them that they could not find him. He was hid in a bed which folded up against the wall, and which they never thought of taking down. It is the opinion of many the seherest and most judicious of the citizens, that if they had found him Sir Walter Scott.] THE UNION.— II. ijt of any consequence appeared at the head of these rioters ; and after having put themselves under the command of a mechanic named Finlay, who had formerly been a sergeant, they sent small parties to the neighbouring towns to invite them to follow their example. In this they were unsuccessful ; the proclamations of parliament, and the adjournment of the rendezvous appointed by the Cameronians, having considerably checked the disposition to insurrection. In short, the Glasgow riot died away, and the in surgents prevented bloodshed by dispersing quietly; Finlay and another of their leaders were seized by a party of dragoons from Edinburgh, conveyed to that city, and lodged in the castle. And thus was extinguished a hasty fire, which might otherwise have occasioned a great conflagration. To prevent the repetition of such dangerous examples as the rendezvous at Hamilton and the tumults at Glasgow, the parlia ment came to the resolution of suspending that clause of the act of security which appointed general military musters throughout Scotland ; and enacted instead, that in consideration of the tumults which had taken place, all assembling in arms, without the queen's special order, should be punished as an act of high treason. This being made public by proclamation, put a stop to future attempts at rising. The project of breaking off the treaty by violence being now wholly at an end, those who opposed the measure determined upon a more safe and moderate attempt to frustrate it. It was resolved, that as many of the nobility, barons, and gentry of the realm as were hostile to the union, should assemble in Edinburgh, and join in a peaceful, but firm and personal remonstrance to the lord commissioner, praying that the obnoxious measure might be their fury was at that time so past all government, that they would have murdered him, and that in a manner barbarous enough ; and if they had, as we say of a bull dog, once but tasted blood, who knows where they would have ended ! " — " Provost Aird was an honest, sober, discreet gentleman, one that had always been exceedingly beloved, even by the common people, particularly for his care of, and charity to, the poor of Glasgow ; and at any other, time, Would have been the last man in the town they would have insulted." — De Foe, pp. 270-272. E 2 52 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott, postponed until the subscribers should receive an answer to a national address which they designed to present to the queen at this interesting crisis. It was supposed that the intended appli cation to the commissioner would be so strongly supported, that either the Scottish government would not venture to favour a union in the face of such general opposition, or that the English ministers themselves might take the alarm, and become doubtful of the efficacy or durability of a treaty, to which the bulk of Scot land seemed so totally averse. About four hundred nobles and gentlemen of the first distinction assembled in Edinburgh for the purpose of attending the commissioner with the proposed remon strance ; and an address was drawn up, praying her majesty to withdraw her countenance from the treaty, and to call a new parliament. When the day was appointed for executing the intended plan, it was interrupted by the duke of Hamilton, who would on no terms agree to proceed with -it, unless a clause was inserted in the address expressive of the willingness of the subscribers to settle the succession on the house of Hanover. This proposal was totally at variance with the sentiments of the Jacobite part of those who supported the address, and occasioned great and animated discussions among them, and considerable delay. In the mean while, the commissioner, observing the city unusually crowded with persons of condition, and obtaining information, of the purpose for which so many gentlemen had repaired to the capital, made an application to parliament, setting forth that a convocation had been held in Edinburgh of various persons, under pretence of requiring personal answers to their addresses to parliament, which was likely to endanger the public peace ; and obtained a procla mation against any meetings under such pretexts during the sitting of parliament, which he represented as both inexpedient and contrary to law. While the lord commissioner was thus strengthening his party, the anti-unionists were at discord among themselves. The dukes of Hamilton and Athole quarrelled on account of the interruption given by the former to the original plan of remonstrance ; and the Sir Walter Scott.) THE UNION.— II. 53 country gentlemen, who had attended on their summons, returned home mortified, disappointed, and, as many of them thought, deceived by their leaders. Time was meanwhile flying fast, and parliament, in discussing the separate articles of the union, had reached the twenty-second, being that designed to fix the amount of the representation which Scotland was to possess in the British parliament, and on account of the inadequacy of such representation, the most obnoxious of the whole. The duke of Hamilton, who still was, or affected to be, firmly opposed to the treaty, now assembled the leaders of the opposition, and entreated them to forget all former errors and mismanagement, and to concur in one common effort for the independence of Scot land. He then proposed that the marquis of Annandale should open their proceedings, by renewing a motioii formerly made for the succession of the crown in the house of Hanover, which was sure to be rejected if coupled with any measure interrupting the treaty of union. Upon this the duke proposed that all the oppo- sers of the union, after joining in a very strong protest, should publicly secede from the parliament : in which case it was likely, either that the government party would hesitate to proceed farther in a matter which was to effect such total changes in the consti tution of Scotland, or that the English might become of opinion that they could not safely carry on a national treaty of such con sequence with a mere faction, or party of the parliament, when deserted by so many persons of weight and influence. The Jacobites objected to this course of proceeding, on account of the preliminary motion, which implied a disposition to call the house of Hanover to the succession, provided the union were departed from by the government. The duke of Hamilton replied, that as the proposal was certain to be rejected, it would draw with it no obligation on those by whom it was made. He said that such an offer would destroy the argument for forcing on the union, which had so much weight in England, where it was believed that if the treaty did not take place, the kingdoms of England and Scotland would pass to different monarchs. He then 54 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott. declared frankly, that if the English should not discontinue press ing forward the union after the formal protestation and secession which he proposed, he would join with the Jacobites for calling in the son of James II., and was willing to venture as far as any one for that measure. It is difficult to suppose that the duke of Hamilton was not serious in this proposal ; and there seems to be little doubt that if the whole body opposing the union had withdrawn in the manner proposed, the commissioner would have given up the treaty, and prorogued the parliament. But the duke lost courage, on its being intimated to him, as the story goes, by the lord high commissioner, in a private interview, that his grace would be held personally responsible, if the treaty of union was interrupted by adoption of the advice which he had given, and that he should be made to suffer for it in his English property. Such at least is the general report; and such an interview could be managed without difficulty, as both these distinguished persons were lodged in the palace of Holyrood. Whether acting from natural instability, whether intimidated by the threats of Queensberry, or dreading to encounter the difficul ties when at hand, which he had despised when at a distance, it is certain that Hamilton was the first to abandon the course which he had himself recommended. On the morning appointed for the execution of their plan, when the members of opposition had mustered all their forces, and were about to go to parliament, attended by great numbers of gentlemen and citizens, prepared to assist them if there should be an attempt to arrest any of their number, they learned that the duke of Hamilton was so much afflicted with the toothache, that he could not attend the house that morning. His friends hastened to his chambers, and remon strated with him so bitterly on this conduct, that he at length came down to the house ; but it was only to astonish them by asking whom they had pitched upon to present their protestation. They answered with extreme surprise, that they had reckoned on his grace, as the person of the first rank in Scotland, taking the lead in the measure which he had himself proposed. The duke Sir Walter Scott.] THE UNION. -II. 55 persisted, however, in refusing to expose himself to the displea sure of the court by being foremost in defeating their favourite measure, but offered to second anyone whom the party might appoint to offer the protest. During this altercation the business of the day was so far advanced, that the vote was put and carried on the disputed article respecting the representation, and the opportunity of carrying the scheme into effect was totally lost. The members who had hitherto opposed the union, being thus three times disappointed in their measures by the unexpected conduct of the duke of Hamilton, now felt themselves deserted and betrayed. Shortly afterwards, most of them retired altogether from their attendance on parliament; and those who favoured the treaty were suffered to proceed in their own way, little encum bered either by remonstrance or opposition. Almost the only remarkable change in the articles of the union, besides that relating to church government, was made to quiet the minds of the common people, disturbed, as I have already mentioned, by rumours that the Scottish regalia were to be sent into England. A special article was inserted into the treaty, declaring that they should on no occasion be removed from Scotland. At the same time, lest the sight of these symbols of national sovereignty should irritate the jealous feelings of the Scottish people, they were removed from the public view, and secured in a strong chamber, called the crown-room, in the castle of Edinburgh, where they remained so long in obscurity, that their very existence was generally doubted. But king George IV. having directed that a commission should be issued to s-earch after these venerable relics, they were found in "safety in the place where they had been deposited, and are now made visible to the public under proper precautions. It had been expected that the treaty of union would have met with delays or alterations in the English parliament. But it was approved of there, after very little debate, by a large majority ; and the exemplification or copy was sent down to be registered by the Scottish parliament. This was done on the 25th March; and on the 22nd April, the parliament of Scotland adjourned for 56 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift. ever. Seafield, the chancellor, on an occasion which every Scots man ought to have considered as a melancholy one, behaved him self with a brutal levity, which in more patriotic times would have cost him his life on the spot, and said that "there was an end of an auld sang." On the ist of May, 1707, the union took place, amid the dejec tion and despair which attend on the downfall of an ancient state, and under a sullen expression of discontent, that was far from promising the course of prosperity which the treaty finally produced. flCfce Jail of iht ^mlhoxaxxahn. Swift. There was not, perhaps, in all England, a person who under stood more artificially to disguise her passions than the late queen. Upon her first coming to the throne, the duchess of Marlborough had lost all favour with her, as her majesty hath often acknow ledged to those who have told it me. That lady had long pre served an ascendant over her mistress, while she was princess, which her majesty, when she came to the crown, had neither patience to bear, nor spirit to subdue. This princess was so exact an observer of forms, that she seemed to have made it her study, and would often descend so low, as to observe, in her domestics of either sex, who came in her presence, .whether a ruffle, a periwig, or the lining of a coat, were unsuitable at certain times. The duchess, on the other side, who had been used to great familiarities, could not take it into her head, that any change of station should put her upon changing her behaviour, the con tinuance of which was the more offensive to her majesty, whose other servants, of the greatest quality, did then treat her with the utmost respect. The earl of Godolphin held in favour about three years longer, and then declined, though he kept his office till the general change. I have heard several reasons given for her majesty's early disgust against that lord. The duchess, who had long been Swift.) THE FALL OF THE MARLBOROUGHS. 57 his friend, often prevailed on him to solicit the queen upon things very unacceptable to her, which her majesty liked the worse, as knowing from whence they originally came; and his lordship, although he endeavoured to be as respectful as his nature would permit him, was, upon all occasions, much too arbitrary and obtruding. To the duke of Marlborough she was wholly indifferent (as hei nature in general prompted her to be), until his restless, impatient behaviour had turned her against him. The queen had not a stock of amity to serve above one object at a time ; and further than a bare good or ill opinion, which she soon contracted and changed, and, very often, upon light grounds, she could hardly be said either to love or to hate anybody. She grew so jealous upon the change of her servants, that often, out of fear of being imposed upon, by an over caution she would impose jupon herself; she took a delight in refusing those who were / thought to have greatest power with her, even in the most reason- '1 ,__able things, and such as were necessary foK^er service ; nor would let them be done till she fell into the humour of it herself. Upon the grounds I have already related, her majesty had gradually conceived a most rooted aversion from the duke and duchess of Marlborough, and the earl of Godolphin; which spread, in time, through all their allies and relations, particularly to the earl of Hertford, whose ungovernable temper had made him fail in his personal respects to her majesty. This I take to have been the principal ground of the queen's resolutions to make a change of some officers both in her family and kingdom ; and that these resolutions did not proceed from any real apprehension she had of danger to the church or monarchy. For, although she had been strictly educated in the former, and very much approved its doctrine and discipline, yet she was not so ready to foresee any attempts against it by the party then presiding. But the fears that most influenced her were such as concerned her own power and prerogative, which those nearest about her were making daily encroachments upon, by their undutiful behaviour and unreasonable demands. 58 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift. The deportment of the duchess of Marlborough, while the prince lay expiring, was of such a nature, that the queen, then in the heights of grief, was not able to bear it ; but, with marks of displeasure in her countenance, she ordered the duchess to with draw, and send Mrs. Masham to her. I forgot to relate an affair that happened, as I remember, about a twelvemonth before prince George's death. This prince had long conceived an incurable aversion from that party, and was resolved to use his utmost credit with the queen, his wife, to get rid of them. There fell out an incident which seemed to favour this attempt ; for the queen, resolving to bestow a regiment upon Mr. Hill, brother to Mrs. Masham, signified her pleasure to the duke of Marlborough ; who, in a manner not very dutiful, refused his consent, and retired in anger to the country. After some heats, the regiment was given to a third person. But the queen resented this matter so highly, which she thought had been pro moted by the earl of Godolphin, that she resolved immediately to \ remove the latter. I was told, and it was then generally reported, that Mr. St. John carried a letter from her majesty to the duke of Marlborough, signifying her resolutions to take the staff from the earl of Godolphin, and that she expected his grace's compliance ; to which the duke returned a very humble answer. I cannot engage for this passage, it having never come into my head to ask Mr. St. John about it. But the account Mr. Harley and he gave me was, That the duke of Marlborough, and the earl of Godolphin had concerted with them upon a moderating scheme, wherein some of both parties should be employed, but with a more favourable aspect towards the church. That a meeting was appointed for completing this work. That, in the meantime, the duke and duchess of Marlborough, and the earl of Godolphin, were secretly using their utmost efforts with the queen to turn Mr. Harley (who was then secretary of state) and all his friends out of their employments. That the queen, on the other side, who had a great opinion of Mr. Harley's integrity and abilities, would not consent, and was determined to remove the earl of Godolphin. This was not above a month before the season of Swift.] THE FALL OF THE MARLBOROUGHS. 59 the year when the duke of Marlborough was to embark for Flanders ; and the very night in which Mr. Harley and his friends had appointed to meet his grace and the earl of Godolphin, George Churchill, the duke's brother, who was in good credit with the prince, told his highness, that the duke was firmly determined to lay down his command, if the earl of Godolphin went out, or Mr. Harley and his friends were suffered to continue in. The prince, thus intimidated by Churchill, reported the matter to the queen; and, the time and service pressing, her majesty was unwillingly forced to yield. The two great lords failed the appointment ; and the next morning, the duke at his levee said aloud in a careless manner, to those who stood round him, that Mr. Harley was turned out. Upon the prince's death, November, 1708, the two great lords so often mentioned, who had been for some years united with the low-church party, and had long engaged to take them into power, were now in a capacity to make good their promises, which his highness had ever most strenuously opposed. The lord Sommers was made president of the council, the earl of Wharton lieutenant of Ireland, and some others of the same stamp were put into considerable posts. It should seem to me, that the duke and earl were not very willingly drawn to impart so much power to those of that party, who expected these removals for some years before, and were always put off upon pretence of the prince's unwillingness to have them employed. And I remember, some months before his highness's death, my lord Sommers, who is a person of reserve enough, complained to me with great freedom of the ingratitude of the duke and earl, who, after the service he and his friends had done them in making the union, would hardly treat them with common civility. Neither shall I ever forget, that he readily owned to me, that the union was of no other service to the nation, than by giving a remedy to that evil, which my lord Godolphin had brought upon us, by persuading the queen to pass the Scotch act of security. But to return from this digression. Upon the admission of these men into employments, the court So HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift. soon ram into extremity of low-church measures ; and although, in the house of commons, Mr. Harley, sir Simon Harcourt, Mr. St. John, and some others, made great and bold stands in defence of the constitution, yet they were always borne down by a majority. It was, I think, during this period of time, that the duke of Marlborough, whether by a motive of ambition, or a love of money, or by the rash counsels of his wife the duchess, made that bold attempt of desiring the queen to give him a commission to be general for life. Her majesty's answer was, that she would take time to consider of it; and, in the meanwhile, the duke advised with the lord Cowper, then chancellor, about the form in which the commission should be drawn. The chancellor, very much to his honour, endeavoured to dissuade the duke from engaging in so dangerous an affair ; and protested he would never put the great seal to such a commission. But the queen was highly alarmed at this extraordinary pro ceeding in the duke, and talked to a person whom she had then taken into confidence, as if she apprehended an attempt upon the crown. The duke of Argyle, and one or two more lords, were (as I have been told) in a very private manner brought to the queen. This duke was under great obligations to the duke of Marlborough, who had placed him in a high station in the army, preferred many of his friends, and procured him the garter. But, his unquiet and ambitious spirit, never easy while there was anyone above him, made him, upon some trifling resentments, conceive an inveterate hatred against his general. When he was consulted what course should be taken upon the duke of Marlborough's request to be general for life ; and whether any danger might be apprehended from the refusal; I was told, he suddenly answered, that her majesty need not be in pain ; for he would undertake, whenever she commanded, to seize the duke at the head of his troops, and bring him away either dead or alive. About this time happened the famous trial of Dr. Sacheverel, which arose from a foolish passionate pique of the earl of Godolphin, whom this divine was supposed, in a sermon, to have Swift.] THE FALL OF THE MARLBOROUGHS. 6l reflected on under the name of Volpone, as my lord Sommers, a few months after, confessed to me ; and at the same time, that he had earnestly and in vain endeavoured, to dissuade the earl from that attempt. However, the impeachment went on in the form and manner which everybody knows, and therefore there need not be anything said of it here. Mr. Harley, who came up to town during the time of the im peachment, was, by the intervention of Mrs. Masham, privately brought to the queen, and, in some meetings, easily convinced her majesty of the dispositions of her people, as they appeared in the course of that trial in favour of the church, and against the measures of those in her service. It was not without a good deal of difficulty, that Mr. Harley was able to procure this private access to the queen; the duchess of Marlborough, by her emissaries, watching all the avenues to the back-stairs, and upon all occasions discovering their jealousy of him ; whereof he told me a passage, no otherways worth relating, than as it gives an idea of an insolent, jealous minister, who would wholly engross the power and favour of his sovereign. Mr. Harley, upon his removal from the secretary's office, by the intrigues of the duke of Marlborough and earl of Godolphin, as I have above related, going out of town, was met by the latter of these two lords near Kensington-gate. The earl, in a high fit of jealousy, goes immediately to the queen, reproaches her for privately seeing Mr. Harley, and was hardly so civil as to be convinced with her majesty's frequent protestations to the contrary. The suspicions, I say, made it hard for her majesty and Mr. .Harley to have private interviews ; neither had he made use of the opportunities he met with to open himself so much to her, as she seemed to expect, and desired ; although Mrs. Masham, in right of her station in the bed-chamber, had taken all propei occasions of pursuing what Mr. Harley had begun. In this critical juncture, the queen, hemmed in, and as it were im prisoned, by the duchess of Marlborough and her creatures, was at a fyss how to proceed. One evening a letter was brought to Mr. Harley, all dirty, and by the hands of a very ordinary 62 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift. messenger ; he read the superscription, and saw it was the queen's writing ; he sent for the messenger, who said, he knew not whence the letter came, but that it was delivered him by an under- gardener, I forget whether of Hampton Court or Kensington. The letter mentioned the difficulties her majesty was under, blaming 'him for not speaking with more freedom, and more particularly; and desiring his assistance. With this encouragement he went more frequently, although still as private as possible, to the back stairs ; and from that time began to* have entire credit with the queen. He then told her of the dangers to her crown, as well as to the church and monarchy itself, from the councils and actions of some of her servants. That she ought gradually to lessen the exorbitant power of the duke and duchess of Marlborough, and the earl of Godolphin, by taking the disposition of employments into her own hands. That it did not become^ her to be a slave. to a party ; but to reward those who may deserve by their duty and loyalty, whether they were such as were called of the high- church or low-church. In short, whatever views he had then in his own breast, or how far soever he intended to proceed, the turn of his whole discourse was intended, in appearance, only to put the queen upon what they called a moderating scheme; which however made so strong an impression upon her, that when this minister, led by the necessity of affairs, the general disposition of the people, and probably by his own inclinations, put her majesty upon going greater lengths than she at first intended, it put him upon innumerable difficulties, and some insuperable ; as we shall see in the progress of this change. i Her majesty, pursuant to Mr. Harley's advice, resolved td dis pose of the first great employment that fell, according to her '.own pleasure, without consulting any of her ministers. To put this in execution, an opportunity soon happened by the death of the (earl of Essex, whereby the lieutenancy of the Tower became variant. It was agreed between the queen and Mr. Harley, that the/ earl Rivers should go immediately to the duke of Marlborough/, and desire his grace's good offices with the queen, to procure hirM that post. The earl went accordingly, was received with aburidance Swift THE FALL OF THE MARLBOROUGHS. 63 of professions of kindness by the duke, who said the lieutenancy of the Tower was not worth his lordship's acceptance, and desired him to think of something else. The earl still insisted, and the duke still continued to put him off; at length lord Rivers desired his grace's consent to let him go himself and beg this favour of the queen, and hoped he might tell her majesty his grace had no objection to him. All this the duke readily agreed to, as a matter of no consequence. The earl went to the queen, who immediately gave orders for his commission. He had not long left the queen's presence, when the duke of Marlborough, sus pecting nothing that would happen, went to the queen, and told her, the lieutenancy of the Tower falling void by the death of the earl of Essex, he hoped her majesty would bestow it upon the duke of Northumberland, and give the Oxford regiment, then commanded by that duke, to the earl of Hertford ; the queen said he was come too late ; that she had already granted the lieu tenancy to earl Rivers, who had told her that he [the duke] had no objection to him. The duke, much surprised at this new manner of treatment, and making complaints in her majesty's presence, was however forced to submit. The queen went on by slow degrees. Not to mention some changes of lesser moment, the duke of Kent was forced to com pound for his chamberlain's staff, which was given to the duke of Shrewsbury, while the earl of Godolphin was out of town, I think at Newmarket : his lordship, on the first news, came immediately up to court ; but the thing was done, and he made as good a countenance to the duke of Shrewsbury as he was capable of. The circumstances of the earl of Sunderland's removal, and the reasons alleged, are known enough. His ungovernable temper had overswayed him to fail in his respects to her majesty's person. Meantime both parties stood at gaze, not knowing to what these steps would lead, or where they would end. The earl of Wharton, then in Ireland, being deceived by various intelligence from hence, endeavoured to hide his uneasiness as well as he could. Some of his sanguine correspondents had sent him word, 64 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Wordsworth. that the queen began to stop her hand, and the church party to despond. At the same time the duke of Shrewsbury happened to send him a letter filled with great expressions of civility : the earl was so weak upon reading it, as to cry out, before two or three standers-by, " D — him, he is making fair weather with me ; but, by G— d, I will have his head." But these short hopes were soon blasted, by taking the trea surer's staff from the earl of Godolphin ; which was done in a manner not very gracious, her majesty sending him a letter, by a very ordinary messenger, commanding him to break it. The treasury was immediately put into commission, with earl Powlet at the head ; but Mr. Harley, who was one of the number, and at the same time made chancellor of the exchequer, was already supposed to preside behind the curtain. Upon the fall of that great minister and favourite, that whole party became dispirited, and seemed to expect the worst that could follow. The earl of Wharton immediately desired and obtained leave to come for England, leaving that kingdom, where he had behaved himself with the utmost profligateness, injustice, arbitrary proceedings, and corruption, with the hatred and detestation of all good men, even of his own party. SacJjxfrmJJL Wordsworth. A sudden conflict rises from the swell Of a proud slavery met by tenets strained In liberty's behalf. Tears true or feigned Spread through all ranks ; and lo I the sentinel Who loudest rang his pulpit 'larum bell, Stands at the bar — absolved by female eyes, Mingling their glances with grave flatteries Lavished on him — that England may rebel Against her ancient virtue. High and Low, Watchwords of party, on all tongues are rife ; As if a church, though sprung from heaven, mi' it owe To opposites and fierce extremes her life — Not to the golden mean and quiet flow Of truths that soften hatred, temper strife Swift.) THE QUARRELS OF QUEEN ANNE'S MINISTERS. 65 t dtitarals at (limit |nm'8 tftmrsters. Swift. The divisions between these two great men (Oxford and Boling broke) began to split the court into parties ; Harcourt, lord chan cellor, the dukes of Shrewsbury and Argyle, sir William Windham, and one or two more, adhered to the secretary; the rest were either neuters or inclined to the treasurer, whether from policy or gratitude, although they all agreed to blame and lament his mysterious and procrastinating manner in acting ; which the state of affairs, at that time, could very ill admit, and must have ren dered the earl of Oxford inexcusable, if the queen's obstinate temper had not put him under the necessity of exerting those talents, wherewith, it must be confessed, his nature was already too well provided. This minister had stronger passions than the secretary, but kept them under stricter government : my lord Bolingbroke was of a nature frank and open ; and, as men of great genius are superior to common rules, he seldom gave himself the trouble of disguising or subduing his resentments, although he was ready enough to forget them. In matters of state,' as the earl was too reserved, so, perhaps, the other was too free ; not from any incon- tinency of talk, but from the mere contempt of multiplying secrets ; although the graver counsellors imputed this liberty of speech to vanity, or lightness. And, upon the whole, no two men could differ more in their diversions, their studies, their ways of trans acting business, their choice of company, or manner of con versation. The queen, who was well informed of these animosities among her servants, of which her own dubious management had been the original cause, began to find, and lament, the ill consequences of them in her affairs, both at home and abroad ; and to lay the blame upon her treasurer, whose greatest fault, in his whole ministry, was too much compliance with his mistress, by which fifi HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift. his measures were often disconcerted, and himself brought under suspicion by his friends. I am very confident that this alteration in the queen's temper, towards the earl of Oxford, could never have appeared, if he had not thought fit to make one step in politics which I have not been able to apprehend. When the queen first thought of making a change among her servants, after Dr. Sacheverel's trial, my lady Masham was very much heard and trusted upon that point ; and it was by her intervention Mr. Harley was admitted into her majesty's presence. That lady was then in high favour with her mistress ; which, I believe, the earl was not so very sedulous to cultivate or preserve, as if he had it much at heart, nor was alto gether sorry when he saw it under some degree of .declination. The reasons for this must be drawn from the common nature of mankind, and the incompatibility of power : but the juncture was not favourable for such a refinement, because it was early known to all, who had but looked into the court, that this lady must have a successor, who, upon pique and principle, would do all in her power to obstruct his proceedings. My lady Masham was a person of a plain sound understanding, of great truth and sin cerity, without the least mixture of falsehood or disguise ; of an honest boldness and courage, superior to her sex ; firm and disin terested in her friendship, and full of love, duty, and veneration tor the queen, her mistress : talents as seldom found or sought ior in a court, as unlikely to thrive while they are there ; so that nothing could then be more unfortunate to the public, than a coldness between this lady and the first minister; nor a greater mistake in the latter, than to suffer, or connive, at the lessening of her credit, which he quickly saw removed very disadvantageously to another object,* and wanted the effects of, when his own was sunk in the only domestic affair for which I ever knew him under any concern. While the queen's favour to the earl was thus gradually lessen ing, the breaches between him and his friends grew every day wider, which he looked upon with great indifference, and seemed, * The duqhess of Surnerset. Swift.] THE QUARRELS OF QUEEN ANNE'S MINISTERS. 6j to have his thoughts only turned upon finding out some proper opportunity for delivering up his staff: but this her majesty would not then admit ; because, indeed, it was not easy to determine who should succeed him. In the midst of these dispositions at court, the queen fell dan gerously sick at Windsor, about Christmas, 17 13. It was confi dently reported in town, that she was dead ; and the heads of the expecting party were said to have various meetings thereupon, and a great hurrying of chairs and coaches to and from the earl of Wharton's house. Whether this were true or not, yet thus much is certain, that the expressions of joy appeared very frequent and loud among many of that party; which proceeding men of form did not allow to be altogether decent. A messenger was imme diately despatched, with an account of the queen's illness, to the treasurer, who was then in town ; and, in order to stop the report of her death, appeared next day abroad in his chariot, with a pair of horses, and did not go down to Windsor till his usual time. Upon his arrival there, the danger was over, but not the frighti which still sat on everybody's face, and the account given of the confusion and distraction the whole court had been under is hardly to be conceived : upon which, the treasurer said to me, " Whenever anything ails the queen, these people are out of their wits ; and yet they are so thoughtless, that, as soon as she is well, they act as if she were immortal." I had sufficient reason, both before and since, to allow his observation to be true, and that some share of it might, with justice, be applied to himself. The queen had early notice of this behaviour among the dis contented leaders, during her illness. It was, indeed, an affair of such a nature, as required no aggravation ; which, however, would not have been wanting, the women of both parties, who then attended her majesty, being well disposed to represent it in the strongest light. The result was that the queen immediately laid aside all her schemes and visions of reconciling the two opposite interests, and entered upon a firmi resolution of adhering to the old English principles, from an opinion that the adverse party waited impatiently for her death, upon views little con; isting (as 68 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift. the language and opinion went then) with the safety of the consti tution, either in church or state. She, therefore, determined to fall into all just and proper methods, that her ministers should advise her to, for the preservation and continuance of both. This I was quickly assured of, not only by the lord chancellor and lord Bolingbroke, but by the treasurer himself. I confess myself to have been then thoroughly persuaded that this incident would perfectly reconcile the ministers, by uniting them in pursuing one general interest ; and, considering no farther than what was fittest to be done, I could easily foresee any objec tions, or difficulties, that the earl of Oxford would make. I had for some time, endeavoured to cultivate the strictest friendship between him and the general,* by telling both of them (which happened to be the truth) how kindly they spoke of each other; and by convincing the latter of what advantage such an union must be to her majesty's service. There was an affair upon which all our friends laid a more than ordinary weight. Among the horse and foot guards appointed to attend on the queen's person, several officers took every occasion, with great freedom and bitter ness of speech, to revile the ministry, upon the subject of the peace and the pretender, not without many gross expressions against the queen herself; such as, I suppose, will hardly be thought on or attempted, but certainly not suffered, under the present powers. Which proceeding, besides the indignity, begot an opinion, that her majesty's person might be better guarded than by such keepers, who, after attending at court or at the levee of the general or first minister, adjourned, to publish their disaffection in coffee houses and gaming ordinaries, without any regard to decency or truth. It was proposed, that ten or a dozen of the least discreet among these gentlemen should be obliged to sell their posts in the guards ; and that two or three, who had gone the greatest lengths, should have a price fixed for their com missions, somewhat below the exorbitant rate usually demanded for a few years past. The duke of Ormond desired but ten thousand pounds to make the matter easy to those officers who * The duke of Ormond. Swift.) THE QUARRELS OF QUEEN ANNE'S MINISTERS. 69 were to succeed ; which sum, his grace told me, the treasurer had given him encouragement to expect, although he pleaded present want of money ; and I cannot but say, that, having often, at the duke's desire, pressed this minister to advance the money, he gave me such answers as made me think he really intended it : but I was quickly undeceived ; for, expostulating some days after with him upon the same subject, after great expressions of esteem and friendship for the duke of Ormond, and mentioning some ill treat ment he had received from his friends, he said, he knew not why he should do other people's work. The truth is, that, except the duke, my lord Trevor, and Mr. secretary Bromley, I could not find he had one friend left, of any consequence in her majesty's service. The lord Chancellor, lord Bolingbroke, and lady Masham, openly declared against him; to whom were joined the bishop of Rochester* and some others. Dartmouth, then privy seal, and Paulet, lord steward, stood neuters. The duke of Shrewsbury hated the treasurer, but sacrificed all resentment to ease, profit, and power : and was then in Ireland acting a part directly opposite to the court, which he had sagacity enough to foresee might quickly turn to account ; so that the earl of Oxford stood almost single, and every day found a visible declension of the queen's favour towards him ; which he took but little care to redress, desiring nothing so much as leave to deliver up his staff; which, however, as conjunctures then stood, he was not able to obtain ; his adver saries not having determined where to place it ; neither was it, upon several accounts, a work so proper to be done, while the parliament sate, where the ministry had already lost too much reputation, and especially in the house of lords. By what I could gather from several discourses with the treasurer, it was not very difficult to find out how he reasoned with himself. The church party continued violently bent to have some necessary removals made in the guards, as well as a further change in the civil em ployments through the kingdom. All the great officers about the court, or in her majesty's service, except the duke of Shrewsbury and one or two more, were in the same opinion; the queen * Dr. Atterbury. 70 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift. herself, since her last illness at Windsor, had the like disposi tions ; and, I think, it may appear, from several passages already mentioned, that the blame of those delays, so often complained of, did not originally lie at the earl of Oxford's door. But the state of things was very much changed by several incidents : the chancellor, lord Bolingbroke, and lady Masham, had entirely for saken him, upon suspicions I have mentioned before; which, although they were founded on mistake, yet he would never be at the pains to clear ; and, as he first lessened his confidence with the queen, by pressing her upon those very points, for which his friends accused him that they were not performed ; so, upon her change of sentiments, after her recovery, he lost all favour and credit with her, for not seconding those new resolutions from which she had formerly been so averse. Besides, he knew, as well as all others who were near the court, that it was hardly possible the queen could survive many months ; in which case, he must of necessity bring upon him the odium and vengeance of the successor, and of that party which must then be predominant, who would quickly unravel all he had done : or, if her majesty should hold out longer than it was reasonable to expect, yet,, after having done a work that must procure him many new enemies, he could expect nothing but to be discharged in displeasure. Upon' these reasons, he continued his excuses to the duke of Ormond, for not advancing the money; and during the six last months of his ministry, would enter into no affairs but what immediately con cerned the business of his office. That whole period was nothing else but a scene of murmuring and discontent, quarrel and mis understanding, animosity and hatred, between him and his former friends. In the meantime, the queen's countenance was wholly changed towards him ; she complained of his silence arid sullen-- ness ; and, in return, gave him every day, fresh instances of neglect or displeasure. The original of this quarrel among the ministers, which had been attended with so many ill consequences, began first between the treasurer and lord Bolingbroke, from the causes and incidents I have already mentioned ; and might, very probably, have been Swift.) THE QUARRELS OF QUEEN ANNE>S MINISTERS. >]T prevented, if the treasurer had dealt with less reserve, or the lord Bolingbroke had put that confidence in him which so sincere a friend might reasonably have expected. Neither, perhaps, would a reconcilement have been an affair of much difficulty, if their friends on both sides had not too much observed the common prudential forms of not caring to intermeddle; which, together with the addition of a shrug, was the constant answer I received from most of them, whenever I pressed them upon the subject. I cannot tell whether my lord Trevor may be excepted, because I had little acquaintance with him, although I am inclined to the negative. Mr. Prior, who was much loved and esteemed by them both, as' he well deserved, upon the account of every virtue that can qualify a man for private conversation, might have been the properest person for such a work, if he could have thought it to consist with the prudence of a courtier; but, however, he was absent in France at those junctures when it was chiefly necessary. And, to say the truth, most persons had so avowedly declared themselves on one side or the other, that these two great men had hardly a common friend left except myself. I had ever been treated with great kindness by them both ; and I conceived, that what I wanted in weight and credit might be made up with sincerity and freedom. The former they never doubted, and the latter they had constant experience of : I had managed between them for almost two years ; and their candour was so great, that they had not the least jealousy or suspicion of me. And I thought I had done wonders, when, upon the queen's being last at Windsor, I put them in a coach to go thither by appointment without other company ; where they would have four . hours' time to come to a good understanding ; but, in two days after, I learned from them both, that nothing was done. There had been three bishoprics for some time vacant in Ireland ; and I had prevailed on the earl of Oxford, that one of them should be divided. Accordingly four divines of that kingdom were named to the queen, and approved by her ; but upon some difficulties not worth mentioning, the queen's mandatory letters to Ireland had been delayed ; I pressed the treasurer every week 72 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift. while' her majesty was at Windsor, and every day after her return, to finish this affair, as a point of great consequence to the church in that kingdom ; and, growing at length impatient of so many excuses, I fell into some passion, when his lordship freely told me, that he had been earnest with the queen, upon that matter, about ten times the last fortnight, but without effect ; and that he found his credit wholly at an end. This happened about eleven weeks before the queen died ; and, two nights after, sitting with him and lord Bolingbroke, in lady Masham's lodgings at St. James's, for some hours, I told the treasurer, that, having despaired of any reconciliation between them, I had only staid some time longer to forward the disposal of those bishoprics in Ireland : which since his lordship told me was out of his power, I now resolved to retire immediately, as from an evil I could neither help to redress, nor endure the sight of : That, before I left them, I desired they would answer me two questions : first, whether these mischiefs might not be remedied in two minutes? and, secondly, whether upon the present foot, the ministry would not be infallibly ruined in two months ? Lord Bolingbroke answered to each question in the affirmative, and approved of my resolution to retire ; but the treasurer, after his manner, evaded both, and only desired me to dine with him next day. However, I im mediately went down to a friend in Berkshire, to await the issue, which ended in the removal of my lord treasurer, and, three days after, in her majesty's death. Thus I have, with some pains, recollected several passages, which I thought were most material, for the satisfaction of those who appear so much at a loss upon the unaccountable quarrels of the late ministry. For, indeed, it looked like a riddle, to see persons of great and undisputed abilities called by the queen to her service, in the place of others with whose proceedings she was disgusted, and with great satisfaction to the clergy, the landed interest, and body of the people, running,, on a sudden, into such a common beaten court-track of ruin, by divisions among them selves ; not only without a visible cause, but with the strongest appearances to the contrary, and without any refuge to the usual Swift.] THE QUARRELS OF QUEEN ANNES MINISTERS. 73 excuse of evil instruments, or cunning adversaries, to blow the coals of dissension ; for the work was entirely their own. I impute the cause of these misfortunes to the queen, who, from the variety of hands she had employed, and reasonings she had heard, since her coming to the crown, was grown very fond of moderating schemes, which, as things then stood, were by no means reducible to practice ; she had likewise a good share of that adherence to her own opinions, which is usually charged upon her sex. And, lastly (as I before observed), having received some hints that she had formerly been too much governed, she grew very difficult to be advised. The next in fault was the treasurer, who, not being able to influence the queen in many points, with relation to party, which his friends and the kingdom seemed to have much at heart, would needs take all the blame on himself, from a known principle of state-prudence, that a first minister must always preserve the reputation of power ; but I have ever thought, that there are few maxims in politics, which, at some conjunctures, may not be very liable to an exception. The queen was by no means inclined to make many changes in employments; she was positive in her nature, and extremely given to delay. And surely these were no proper qualities for a chief minister to personate towards his ¦•nearest friends, who were brought into employment upon very different views and promises. Nor could any reputation of powei be worth preserving at the expense of bringing sincerity into question. I remember, upon a Saturday, when the ministers and one or two friends of the treasurer constantly met to dine at his house, one of the company attacked him very warmly, on account that a certain lord, who perpetually opposed the queen's measures, was not dismissed from a great employment, which, besides other advantages, gave that lord the power of choosing several members of parliament. The treasurer evaded the matter with his usual answer, that this was whipping-day; upon which the secretary Bolingbroke, turning to me, said, " It was a strange thing that my lord Oxford would not be so kind to his friends, and so just to his own innocence, as to vindicate himself where he had no 74 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Swift: blame ; for, to his knowledge and the chancellor's (who was then1 also present), the treasurer had frequently and earnestly moved the meen upon that very point, without effect; whereupon this minister, finding himself pressed so far, told the company, that he had at last prevailed with her majesty, and the thing would be done in two days, which followed accordingly. I mention this fact as an instance of the earl of Oxford's disposition to preserve some reputation of power in himself, and remove all blame from the queen ; and this, to my particular knowledge, was a frequent case; but how far justifiable in point of prudence, I have already given my opinion. However, the treasurer's friends were yet much more to blame than himself; he had abundance of merit with them all not only upon account of the public, the whole change of the ministry having been effected, without any inter vention of theirs, by him and lady Masham. Swift. [Written in the year 1713, when the queen's ministers were quarrelling among themselves.] Observe the dying father speak : Try, lads, can you this bundle break ; Then bids the youngest of the six, Take Up a well-bound heap of sticks. They thought it was an old man's maggot : And strove by turns to break the faggot : In vain : the complicated wands Were much too strong for all their hands. See, said the sire, how soon 'tis done: Then took and broke them one by one. So strong you'll be, in friendship tied, So quickly broke, if you divide. Keep close then, boys, and never quarrel. Here ends the fable and the moral. This tale may be applied in few words To treasurers, comptrollers, stewards, And others, who in solemn sort Appear with slender wands sit court : Swift.] THE FAGGOT. yg Not firmly join'd to keep their ground, But lashing one another round : While wise men think they ought to fight With quarter-staves, instead of white ; Our constable with staff of peace, Should come and make the clatt'ring cease; Which now disturbs the queen and court, And gives the whigs and rabble sport. In history we never found, The consul's fasces* were unbound; Those Romans were too wise to think on't, Except to lash some grand delinquent. How would they blush to hear it said, The praetor broke the consul's head ; Or, consul in his purple gown, Came up and knock'd the praetor down? Come, courtiers : every man his stick r Lord-treasurer, t for once be quick; And, that they may the closer cling, Take your blue ribbon for a string. Come, trimming Harcourt,t bring your mace; And squeeze it in, or quit your place : Dispatch : or else that rascal Northey§ Will undertake to do it for thee : And be assured, the court will find him Prepared to leap o'er sticks, or bind 'em, To make the bundle strong and safe, Great Ormond, lend thy general's staff: And, if the crosier could be cramm'd in, A fig for Lechmere, King, and Hambden. You'll then defy the strongest whig With both his hands to bend a twig, Though with united strength they all pull, From Somers down to Craggs and Walpole. * Fasces, a bundle of rods or small sticks carried before the consuls at Rome. + Robert Harley, earl of Oxford. % Lord chancellor. § Sir Edward Northey, attorney-general; brought in by lord Harcoiirt, yet very desirous of the great seal. 7-6 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. ISwifT * Cljaratte ai ®wtm %mu'& ITast IJjCbristers. Swift. About two months before the queen's death, having lost all hopes of any reconcilement between the treasurer and the rest of the ministry, I retired into the country to await the issue of that conflict, which ended, as everyone had reason to foresee, in the earl of Oxford's disgrace ; to whom the lord Bolingbroke imme diately succeeded as first minister ; and I was told that an earldom and the garter were intended for him in a fortnight, and the treasurer's staff against the next session of Parliament ; of which I can say nothing certain, being then in Berkshire, and receiving this account from some of his friends ; but all these schemes became soon abortive by the death of the queen, which happened in three days after the earl of Oxford's re moval. Upon this great event * I took the first opportunity of with drawing to my place of residence ; and rejoiced as much as any man for his majesty's quiet accession to the throne ; to which I then thought, and it has since appeared indisputable, that the peace procured by the late ministry had, among other good effects, been highly instrumental. And, I thank God, I have been ever since a loyal humble spectator, during all the changes that have happened, although it were no secret to any man of common sagacity, that his present majesty's choice of his servants, when ever he should happen to succeed, would be determined to those who most opposed the proceedings during the four last years of his predecessor's reign ; and, I think, there hath not since happened one particular of any moment, which the ministers did not often mention at their tables, as what they" certainly expected, from the dispositions of the court at Hanover in conjunction with the party at home, which, upon all occasions, publicly disapproved their proceedings, excepting only the attainder of the duke of * The death of the queen. Swift.] CHARACTERS OF QUEEN ANNE'S LAST MINISTERS. 77 Ormond ; which, indeed, neither they, nor I, nor, I believe, any one person in the three kingdoms, did ever pretend to foresee* and, now it is done, it looks like a dream to those, who consider the nobleness of his birth, the great merits of his ancestors, and his own ; his long unspotted loyalty, his affability, generosity, and sweetness of nature. I knew him long and well, and except ing the frailties of his youth, which had been for some years over, and that easiness of temper which did sometimes lead him to follow the judgment of those who had, by many degrees, less understanding than himself, I have not conversed with a more faultless person; of great justice and charity; a true sense of religion, without ostentation; of undoubted valour, thoroughly skilled in his trade of a soldier ; a quick and ready apprehension, with a good share of understanding, and a general knowledge in men and history ; although under some disadvantage by an invin. cible modesty, which, however, could not but render him yet more amiable to those who had the honour and happiness of being thoroughly acquainted with him. This is a short imperfect character of that great person the duke of Ormond, who is now attainted for high treason ; and, therefore, I shall not presume to offer one syllable in his vindication, upon that head, against the decision of a parliament. Yet this, I think, may be allowed me to believe, or at least to hope, that when by the direct and repeated commands of the queen, his mistress, he committed those faults for which he hath now forfeited his country, his titles, and his fortune : he no more conceived himself to be acting high treason, than he did when he was wounded and a prisoner at London, for his sovereign king William, or when he took and burned the enemy's fleet at Vigo. Upon this occasion, although I am sensible it is an old precept of wisdom to admire at nothing in human life, yet I consider, at the same time, how easily some men arrive at the practice of this maxim, by the help of plain stupidity or ill-nature, without any strain of philosophy ; and, although the uncertainty of human things be one of the most obvious reflections in morality, yet such unexpected, sudden and signal instances of it, as have lately 78 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. ISwift. happened among us, are so much out of the usual form, that a wise man may, perhaps, be allowed to start and look aside, as at a sudden and violent clap of thunder, which is much more frequent, and more natural. And here I cannot but lament my own particular misfortune ; who, having singled out three persons from among the rest of mankind, on whose friendship and protection I might depend, whose conversation I most valued, and chiefly confined myself to, should live to see them all, within the compass of a year, accused oi high treason ; two of them attainted and in exile, and the third under his trial, whereof God knows what may be the issue. As my own heart was free from all treasonable thoughts, so I did little imagine myself to be perpetually in the company of traitors. But the fashion of this world passeth away. Having already said something of the duke of Ormond, I shall add a little towards the characters of the other two. It happens to very few men, in any age or country, to come into the world with so many advantages of nature and fortune, as the late secretary Bolingbroke'; de scended from the best families in England, heir to a great patri monial estate, of a sound constitution, and a most graceful, amiable person ; but all these, had they been of equal value, were infinitely below, in degree, to the accomplishments of his mind, which was adorned with the choicest gifts that God hath yet thought fit to bestow upon the children of men ; a strong memory, a clear judgment, a vast range of wit and fancy, a thorough com prehension, an invincible eloquence, with a most agreeable elocu tion. He had well cultivated all these talents by travel and study, the latter of which he seldom omitted, even in the midst of his pleasures, of which he had, indeed, been too great and criminal a pursuer ; for although he was persuaded to leave off intemperance in wine, which he did for some time to such a degree that he seemed rather abstemious ; yet he was said to allow himself other liberties which can by no means be reconciled to religion or morals ; whereof, I have reason to believe, he began to be sensible. But he was fond of mixing pleasure and business, and of being esteemed excellent at both ; upon which account he had % Swift.) CHARACTERS OF QUEEN ANNE'S LAST MINISTERS. 79 great respect for the characters of Alcibiades and Petronius, especially the latter, whom he would gladly be thought to re semble. His detractors charged him with some degree of afiec- tation, and, perhaps, not altogether without grounds ; since it was hardly possible for a young man, with half the business of the nation upon him and the applause of the whole, to escape some tincture of that infirmity. He had been early bred to business, was a most artful negotiator, and perfectly understood foreign affairs. But what I have often wondered at in a man of his temper was, his prodigious application, whenever he thought it necessary ; for he would plod whole days and nights, like the lowest clerk in an office. His talent ol speaking in public, for which he was so very much celebrated, I know nothing of, except from the informations of others ; but understanding men, of both parties, have assured me, that in this point, in their memory and judgment, he was never equalled. The earl of Oxford is a person of as much virtue, as can possibly consist with the love of power ; and his love of power is no greater than what is common to men of his superior capacities ; neither did any man ever appear to value it less after he had obtained it, or exert it with more moderation. He is the only instance, that ever fell within my memory or observation, of a person passing from a private life, through the several stages of greatness, without any perceivable impression upon his temper or behaviour. As his own birth was illustrious, being descended from the heirs general of the Veres and the Mortimers, so he seemed to value that accidental advantage in himself, and others, more than it could pretend to de serve. He abounded in good nature and good humour ; although subject to passion, as I have heard it affirmed by others, and owned by himself; which, however, he kept under the strictest government, till towards the end of his ministry, when he began to grow soured, and to suspect his friends ; and perhaps, thought it not worth his pains to manage any longer. He was a great favourer of men of wit and learning, particularly the former, whom he caressed with out distinction of party, and could not endure to think that any of ^hem should be his enemies; and it was his good fortune that none 80 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. "Swift- of them ever appeared to be so ; at least, if one may judge by the libels and pamphlets published against him, which he frequently read, by way of amusement, with a most unaffected indifference ; neither do I remember ever to have endangered his good opinion so much, as by appearing uneasy when the dealers in that kind of writing first began to pour out their scurrilities against me ; which, he thought, was a weakness altogether inexcusable in a man of virtue and liberal education. He had the greatest variety of knowledge that I have anywhere met ; was a perfect master of the learned languages, and well skilled in divinity. He had a prodigious memory, and a most exact judgment. In drawing up any state-paper, no man had more proper thoughts, or put them in so strong and clear a light. Although his style were not always correct, which, however, he knew how to mend; yet, often, to save time, he would leave the smaller alterations to others. I have heard that he spoke but seldom in parliament, and then rather with art than eloquence ; but no man equalled him in the knowledge of our constitution ; the reputation whereof made him be chosen speaker to three successive parliaments ; which office I have often heard his enemies allow him to have executed with universal applause ; his sagacity was such that I could produce very amazing instances of it, if they were not unseasonable. In all difficulties, he immediately found the true point that was to be pursued, and adhered to it ; and one or two others in the ministry have confessed very often to me, that, after having condemned his opinion, they found him in the right and themselves in the wrong. He was utte/ly a stranger to fear; and consequently, had a presence of mind upon all emergencies. His liberality, and con tempt of money, were such, that he almost ruined his estate while he was in employment ; yet his avarice for the public was so great, that it neither consisted with the present corruptions of the age, nor the circumstances of the time. He was seldom mistaken in his judgment of men, and therefore not apt to change a good or ill opinion by the representation of others ; except towards the end of his ministry. He was affable and courteous, extremely easy and agreeable in conversation, and altogether disengaged ; Swift.] CHARACTERS OP QUEEN ANNE'S LAST MINISTERS. 8Y regular in his life, with great appearance of piety ; nor ever guilty of any expressions that could possibly tend to what was indecent or profane. His imperfections were, at least, as obvious, although not so numerous, as his virtues. He had an air of secrecy in his manner and countenance, by no means proper for a great minister, because it warns all men to prepare against it. He often gave no answer at all, and very seldom a direct one ; and I the rather blame this reservedness of temper, because I have known a very different practice succeed much better : of which, among others, the late earl of Sunderland, and the present lord Sommers, persons of great abilities, are remarkable instances ; who used to talk in so frank a manner, that they seemed to discover the bottom of their hearts, and, by that appearance of confidence, would easily unlock the breasts of others. But the earl of Oxford pleads, in excuse for this charge, that he hath seldom or never communicated anything which was of importance to be concealed, wherein he hath not been deceived by the vanity, treachery, or indiscretion of those he discovered it to. Another of his imper fections, universally known and complained of, was procrastination, or delay ; which was, doubtless, natural to him, although he often bore the blame without the guilt, and when the remedy was not in his power ; for never were prince and minister better matched than his sovereign and he, upon that article; and therefore in the dis posal of employments, wherein the queen was very absolute, a year would often pass before they could come to a determination. I remember he was likewise heavily charged with the common court vice, of promising very liberally, and seldom performing ; of which, although I cannot altogether acquit him, yet, I am confident, his intentions were generally better than his disappointed solicitors would believe. It may be likewise said of him, that he certainly did not value, or did not understand the art of acquiring, friends; having made very few during the time of his power, and con tracted a great number of enemies. Some of us used to observe, that those whom he talked well of, or suffered to be often near him, were not in a situation of much advantage; and that his mentioning others with contempt, or dislike, was no hindrance at g j HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Agues Strickland. all to their preferment. I have dwelt the longer upon this great man's character, because I have observed it so often mistaken by the wise reasoners of both parties; besides, having had the honour, for almost four years, of a nearer acquaintance with him than usually happens to men of my level, and this without the least mercenary obligation, I thought it lay in my power, as I am sure it is in my will, to represent him to the world with impartiality and truth. ¦t ^ast §ags d <$imvc %vmt. Miss Strickland. The queen * * * witnessed privately the discussions in parlia ment, and by her presence, apparently, formed some barrier to the furious effervescence of party hate. " Yesterday they were all in flame in the house of lords about the queen's answer, till her majesty came in and put an end to it."* History has not noted this custom of the monarchs of the seventeenth century. Charles II. often witnessed as a private individual the debates in parlia ment. He said they were entertaining as any comedy. William III. spent much of his time there ; his entrances are always noted in the MS. journals of the house of lords, Queen Anne almost lived in the house of lords while it sat in session. She witnessed a debate within three weeks of her mortal attack. Her majesty came to the house that her presence might induce them to keep the peace. Once, however, it happened that the name of the disinherited prince, her brother, was introduced by one of the Jacobite members into his speech, on which a stormy discussion took place. Order, etiquette, and even decency, were forgotten by some of the speakers, and observations so pointed and personal were made, that her majesty, perceiving all eyes were turned on her box, became painfully embarrassed, and hastily drew the curtains with her own royal hand to conceal her confusion. Her * Letter from Dr. Arbuthnot to Swift, date July ioth, 1714. Agnes Strickland.] THE LAST DAYS OF QUEEN ANNE. 83 father's widow, Mary Beatrice, related this incident.* " In a few days," pursues Lockhart, " the money bills and other affairs of moment being dispatched, the queen came to the houses looking extremely well, and spoke to both houses more brisk and resolute than on other the like occasions, acquainting them that she was determined to call them together before it was long."t Her majesty came in state July 7, 1714 * * * In her accustomed thrilling sweetness of voice she thanked her assembled peers and commons for the supplies they had given her for the current year, and for discharging the national debts.f She added " that her chief concern was to preserve to them and to their posteritj', their holy religion, the liberty of her subjects, and to secure the present and future tranquillity of her kingdoms ; but those desirable ends could never be obtained unless all groundless jealousies were laid aside, and unless they paid the same regard for her just preroga tive, which she had always shown for the rights of the people." Her majesty then prorogued her parliament until the 10th of August— a day she never saw. ****** The queen had, it was supposed, dissolved parliament so unusually early as the 7th of July (O.S.) in order to prevent any discussions on the arrival of the baron Bothmar, who was expected from Hanover to announce the death of the electress Sophia, in her palace of Herenhausen, the preceding 8th of June. German statesmen are proverbially as slow as those of Spain, and it appears that Bothmar did not arrive with his credentials until July 25. A general mourning was, as a matter of course, ordered for her majesty's illustrious kinswoman, Anne herself complying with the injunction that had been issued in her name, for all people to put on suitable mourning. The substitution of the elector's name in the common prayer book in the place of * Memorials of the queens of James II. in the archives of France, by favour of M. Guizot. + Lockhart of Carnworth papers. $ Which discharge consisted in funding an alarming increase of it. See Tooke's- Abstract of Acts of Anne, Chronology, Vol. i., p. 432. G 2 84 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Agnes Strickland. that of his mother, as heir presumptive to the throne of Great Britain, caused her great agitation. The displacing of Harley earl of Oxford from his dignity as lord treasurer, appears to have been coincident with the resolu tion of the Jacobite party just described by its leader in the house of commons, Lockhart of Carnworth.* But the queen and her household found that no insult would induce him to quit office. " The dragon holds the little machine (the treasurer's white staff) with a dead grip," wrote Arbuthnot > " I would no more have suffered what he has done than I would have sold myself to the galleys." Lady Masham huffed her cousin whenever he dined with her, which he usually did, and in company with his enemy St. John lord Bolingbroke, not as her guest but at the board of green cloth. On one of these occasions she taunted him by saying, "You never did the queen any service, nor are you capable of doing her any." This was as late as June r4, when it was found that nothing could induce "the dragon," as they called lord Oxford, to resign. The queen — to whom he was personally obnoxious, as he had given her some unknown but mortal offence in his fits of intoxication — imparted to the lords of her cabinet council the following extraordinary list of reasons for dismissing her lord-treasurer; some of his delin quencies would have seemed more fitting for the discharge of an ill-conducted footman. Her majesty affirmed " that he neglected all business, was seldom to be understood: that when he did explain himself she could not depend upon the truth of what he said ; that he never came to her at the time she appointed ; that he often came drunk ; lastly, to crown all, he behaved to her with bad manners, indecency (indecorum) and disrespect. The stick (white staff) is still in his hand because they cannot agree who shall be the new commissioners ; we suppose the blow will be given to-night or to-morrow morning. "t This letter was dated * They had decided to join any party for the purpose of outvoting the government. + Letter of Erasmus Lewis to Swift, dated Whitehall, July 27, 1714. Scott's Swift, Vol. 9, p. 166. Agnes Strickland.] THE LAST DAYS OF QUEEN ANNE. 85 July 27, 1 7 14: it was written by one of Bolingbroke's under secretaries of state. The blow was indeed given, but it was the death-blow to the queen. Her majesty was then at Kensington palace, where she always sojourned and held council when detained to transact business in the middle of the summer ; she had, in the preceding June, been better in health than usual. Her spirits had been cheered by passing the Schism bill, which she deemed would add to the prosperity of the church, although it was feared by others that the bill would occasion some persecutions against the dissenters. The queen had visited Windsor in the beginning of July, but having been taken ill there, had returned to Kensington, in hopes of putting an end to the perpetual quarrels Between Harley, lord treasurer, and Bolingbroke, secretary of state, by dismissing the former. The queen had frequently exclaimed, in the course of the sessions, " that the perpetual contention of which her cabinet council was the scene, would cause her death,'' therefore she determined to bring matters to a crisis on Tuesday the 27 th of July. Her majesty wrote a note to the earl of Oxford, on the morning of that day telling him " she was willing to receive the resigna tion of his charge." The earl ran to speak with the queen, who was at first denied to him, but he was admitted two hours later. He only stayed with her majesty one quarter of an hour. He then went to the treasury, made his payments and arrangements, and, in eight of the evening of the same day returned to the queen, into whose hands he finally surrendered his white staff; he remained with her a full half-hour. The adventures of this eventful day had not concluded : on Tuesday night a cabinet council was held (after the earl of Oxford had resigned his staff, consequently about nine o'clock) to consult what persons were to be named in the commission into which the office of the lord treasurer or prime minister was to be put, for every one of the Jacobite party shrank from its sole responsibility. Sir William Wyndham offered to be one of the five commissioners — he was just appointed chancellor of the exchequer. None of the council 86 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Agnes Strickland. could agree as to the other four partners. The chief Jacobites in the queen's cabinet council may be reckoned as lord Harcourt, the duke of Ormond, sir William Wyndham, the duke of Buck ingham, and the duke of Shrewsbury, but the last is doubtful. However this may be, the partisans of the displaced premier kept the invalid queen sitting at council until two in the morning, raging at the Jacobite faction in the most frightful manner ; the scene only terminated by the violent agitation of the queen, who complained of the disorder of her head, and finally sank into a deep swoon from exhaustion. Nothing was settled, and her majesty was carried to bed seriously ill ; she wept the livelong night, without once closing her eyes. Another council was called for the 28th of July, with as little success as to any settled determination ; it was again broken up by the illness of the queen and consequently was prorogued until the 29th of July. The queen declared to her physicians that her indisposition was occasioned by the trouble of mind which the disputes of her ministers gave her, and made use of these words to Dr. Arbuthnot, " I shall never survive it." Her majesty was observed to be unusually silent and reserved at these two remark able councils, probably from an utter incapacity for utterance. Lady Masham became apprehensive that her royal mistress was on the verge of an illness far more alarming than any of the numerous attacks through which she had previously nursed her. In her alarm she wrote her perceptions of the queen's uneasiness of mind to dean Swift, the only politician at that crisis to whom she attributed energy and decision of character. Swift had been about the court the whole summer, soliciting the place of historio grapher to the queen, for the purpose of writing the history of the peace of Utrecht.* Her majesty or her ministers had given the office to the learned Madox, a person whose heart and soul were buried among the dusty records of the Plantagenets — studies "" A great mistake, for he lived a century too near the time. He could not have published the gist of his documents ***** Swift was then staying at the village of Letcombe to keep out of the quarrels of his two friends, Harley, earl of Oxford, and Bolingbroke. Agnes Strickland.] THE LAST DAYS OF QUEEN ANNE. 87 much more convenient than stirring up the yet glowing embers of a ratification which might have been called a cessation from bloodshed rather than a peace, so fraught was its very name with the elements of strife, a peculiarity which it retains to this day. The stormy transition from sanguinary warfare to such peace as the treaty of Utrecht gave was, even then, rudely shaking the sands of the queen's precarious existence. " I was," said lady Masham to Swift, "resolved to stay till I could tell you that our queen had got so far the better of the dragon (Harley earl of Oxford) as to take the power out of his hands. He has been the most ungrateful man to her and to all his best friends that ever was born. I cannot have much time now to write all my mind, for my dear mistress is not well, and I think I may lay her illness to the charge of the lord treasurer, who for three weeks together was vexing and teasing her without intermission ; she could not get rid of him till Tuesday last (July 27th). I must put you in mind of one passage in your letter to me, which is, ' I pray God send you wise and faithful friends to advise with you at this time, when there are so great diffi culties to struggle with.' That is very plain and true; therefore will you who have gone through so much, and taken more pains than anybody, and given wise advice (if that wretched man, Oxford, had had sense and honesty to have taken it). I say, will you leave us and go to Ireland? No, it is impossible: your charity and compassion -for this poor lady (the queen) who has been bar barously ill-used, will not let you do it. I know you take great delight to help the distressed, and there cannot be a greater object than this good lady, who deserves pity. Pray, dear friend, stay here, and do not believe us all able to throw away good advice, and despise everybody's understanding but one's own. I could say a great deal upon the subject, but I must go to her, for she is not well. This comes to you by a safe hand, so that neither of us need be in any pain about it." * At the very moment when the compassion of one of the mightiest minds in her empire was thus claimed for queen Anne by her confidential attendant, the destiny thus dreaded for her majesty was at hand. Two councils having been interrupted by the violent illness of the queen, the decisive one was delayed until the evening of the 29th of July (Thursday). The anticipa tion of another agitating and protracted scene of altercation between the unmannerly worldlings, who, although they styled * The letter is in the Swift correspondence, dated July 29. Scott's Swift, Vol. 9, p. 168. 88 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Agnes Strickland. themselves her servants, not only violated the respect due to her as their sovereign, but conducted themselves with the most cruel disregard of her feelings as a lady, and her weakness as an invalid, was of course most distressing to the poor sufferer, who was sink ing prematurely to the grave, beneath the weight of the crown she had sinfully coveted, and for her own punishment obtained. Worn out as she was with sickness of mind and body, Anne had not completed her fiftieth year when the hour appointed for the royal victim to meet these trusty lords of her council drew near. Mrs. Danvers, the oldest and probably the most attached lady of her household, entering the presence chamber at Kensington palace, saw, to her surprise, her majesty standing before the clock and gazing intently upon it.* Mrs. Danvers was alarmed and perplexed by the sight, as her majesty was seldom able to move without assistance. She approached, and ascertained that it was indeed queen Anne who stood there. Venturing to interrupt the ominous silence that prevailed through the vast room, only broken by the heavy ticking of the clock, she asked, "whether her majesty saw anything unusual there, in the clock?" The queen answered not ; yet turned her eyes on the questioner with so woe ful and ghastly a regard, that as this person afterwards affirmed, she saw death in the look. Assistance was summoned by the cries of the terrified attendant, and the queen was conveyed to her bed, from whence she never rose again. It appears that her dread of a third stormy council had caused her illness. " Her majesty was taken," says Lamberty, "on the evening of the 29th of July with a burning fever. Her brain was affected, and she murmured all night, at intervals, words relative to the ' pretender,' without cessa tion." There can be no doubt that this peculiar bias of the queen's mind occasioned her illness to be concealed for several hours in the recesses of the royal apartments of her palace at Kensington. * Tindal affirms that the clock scene took place on Thursday morning (29th of July) at eight o'clock. Yet no such serious alarm of imminent "danger could have occurred then, as is plainly ascertained by lady Masham's letter to Swift, dated the 29th. Agnej Strickland..) THE LAST DAYS OF QUEEN ANNE. 8g Dr. Arbuthnot and lady Masham dared not make her majesty's state sufficiently public, as to cause a general consultation of the royal physicians, lest one of them, Dr. Mead (a politician in the whig interest) should hear the poor queen uttering " the perilous stuff" that weighed so heavily on her breast; yet there was a medical consultation held in the middle of that important night by Dr. Arbuthnot, and such physicians as were in ordinary attendance on her majesty, being Dr. Thomas Lawrence, Dr. Hans Sloane, Dr. Shadwell, and Dr. sir David Hamilton, the same person whose very remarkable correspondence with the duchess of Marlborough has been previously quoted. It was agreed that her majesty ought to be cupped, which was accord ingly done, in the presence of lady Masham and Dr. Arbuth not about two in the morning of July 30. Eight ounces of blood very thick were taken from her. She was relieved from her worst symptoms, but it was observed that her eyes looked dull and heavy. Severe indications of indigestion occurred — indeed the common traditional report that the death of "good queen Anne" was occasioned by her eating a vast quantity of blackheart cherries was, perhaps, not altogether unfounded. Towards morning the queen fell asleep and, it is said, rose at her accustomed hour of seven in the morning, and was attired and combed by her women : but such an alarming relapse occurred at half past eight that Dr. Arbuthnot was forced to make her malady public, for he could not have recourse to the lancet without more authority, and he considered the royal patient was suffering under an access of apoplexy. When Mr. Dickens, the queen's apothe cary, had taken ten ounces of blood from her majesty's arm, a sound was heard of some one falling heavily. The queen was sufficiently recovered to ask " What that noise was ? " Her attendants answered, " It was lr dy Masham who had swooned from grief and exhaustion." It was judged proper to carry lady Masham for recovery from the royal apartments, and the bustle of removing her, together with the accident itself, was supposed greatly to alarm and worry the queen.* * La Vie d'Anne Stuart. 1716, Amsterdam. 90 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Agnes Strickland. Her majesty experienced a third terrible seizure of pain and weight in the head, just before ten o'clock the same morning, and every one around her believed that her death would be immediate. There is reason to suppose that the duchess of Ormond had, in the late violent changes, succeeded to the functions of the duchess of Somerset, the queen's principal lady and mistress of the robes. Terrified at the state of her royal mistress, the duchess of Ormond sent an account of it to her husband, who was then at the Cockpit, the official seat of government, endea vouring to arrange the jarring and broken cabinet council, of which he seems to have been president The news flgw like fire over London, and the influential whig magnates, the dukes of Somerset and Argyle, forced their way into the assembling privy council, and insisted on taking their places therein. From that moment they swayed everything, for the displaced premier, the earl of Oxford, had sent a private circular to every whig lord in or near London, who had ever belonged to the privy council, warning them to come and make a struggle for the protestant succession. There is no doubt that Oxford had had immediate notice of the queen's mortal seizure on the preceding evening. Dr. Mead's hopes made him bold in pronouncing the truth ; no one about the dying queen chose to believe him ; upon which he demanded " that those who were really in favour of the pro testant succession in the royal household should send a memorial of her majesty's symptoms to the elector of Hanover's physicians, who would soon pronounce how long Anne, queen of Great Britain and Ireland, had to live ; but he staked his professional credit that her majesty would be no more long before such intel ligence could be received." It has always been considered that the prompt boldness of this political physician occasioned the peaceable proclamation of George I. Dr. Mead even ventured to predict the queen's demise in one hour. He was often taunted afterwards with the professional chagrin his countenance expressed when the royal patient, on being again blooded, recovered her speech and senses. Lord Bolingbroke went to her, and told her the privy council were of Agnes Strickland.] THE LAST DAYS OF QUEEN ANNE. gi opinion it would be for the public service if the duke of Shrews bury were made lord-treasurer. The queen immediately con sented ; but the duke refused to accept the staff unless the queen herself placed it in his hand. He approached her bed and asked her "if she knew to whom she gave the white wand?" "Yes," the queen replied — " to the duke of Shrewsbury." History adds that, when the dying sovereign placed it in his hands, she added, " For God's sake use it for the good of my people !" — a speech perfectly consistent with Anne's conduct as regnant, because whatever wrong she practised before her accession, she was a most beneficent and loving sovereign to her people, who have reason to bless her name to this hour. Queen Anne retained sufficient intelligence to be conscious that the duke of Shrewsbury, then invested by her act with the power of prime minister, in addition to his mighty functions of lord high chamberlain, and lord lieutenant of Ireland, must, perforce, act according to the parliamentary settlement in favour of her distant kindred, the princes of Hanover. Having thus per formed her duty as queen, all the duties she had outraged in her early career to obtain the crown overwhelmed her conscience, and rendered her deathbed comfortless. When her mind wan dered she began to utter in a piteous tone, " Oh my brother ! — oh my poor brother !" The bishop of London stood by her bedside contemplating this awful termination of the successful fruition of ambition. He was the same prelate who had assisted her in giving peace to Europe, and had been advanced to the see of London on the miserable death of the queen's former tutor, the aged Henry Compton. The nature of the injunctions given by the dying sovereign to Robinson, bishop of London, after the long private conference in which she is said, in compliance with the recom mendation of the rubric for the visitation of the sick, to have disburthened her mind of the weighty matter that troubled her departed spirit, was surmised from his emphatic rejoinder as he left her bedside — " Madam, I will obey your commands, I will declare your mind; but it will cost me my head." The words 92 HALF-HOURS OP ENGLISH HISTORY. [Agnes Strickland. were heard by the duchess of Ormond; at the same time the queen said "she would receive the sacrament the next day." Whatsoever was done by the bishop of London it is impossible to say, but probability points at the fact that the royal wish was delivered to the duke of Ormond, the commander of the army. The queen, when the bishop had withdrawn, fell again into her delirious agony, and she reiterated unceasingly her former excla mations of " Oh, my brother, my dear brother ! what will become of you?" Something within her mind stronger than delirium must have whispered that her recently given commands would be useless. Little did the queen anticipate when, as princess Anne in 1688, she was eagerly employed in casting the well-known stigma on the birth of her brother, that her death-bed lamenta tions would be for him, and that her last agonising cry would be his name ! Queen Anne continued to repeat this sad exclamation until speech, sight, and pulse left her. The privy council then assembled in the royal bed-chamber ; they called on the physi cians to declare their opinions, who all told them the queen's state was hopeless. They (the privy council) withdrew, all but the bishop of London, who remained near the insensible queen ; but she never again manifested sufficient consciousness to speak or pray, although she from time to time showed signs of actual existence. As the privy council separated, the duke ot Buckingham came to the duke of Ormond, clapped his hand on his shoulder, and said, " My lord, you have twenty-four hours to- do our business in, and make yourself master of the kingdom."* The military force being in the hands of Ormond, he knew that the appeal to arms would be as useless as it was criminal ; but, if any popular move ment had coincided with his wishes, there is little doubt regard ing which side Ormond would have taken. The great seal was put to an important patent by four o'clock that day. It was to provide for the government of the country by twenty-four regents, * Marginal note. Carte's memorandum book, marked, Vol. 9, pp. 4 to 13, 1714. Bodleian. Bolingbroke.] THE TREATY OF UTRECHT. 03 who constituted an interregnum. The act had been prepared for years, and inclosed in the "black bag" which the duchess of Marlborough exultingly intimates had long been a source of in expressible horror to queen Anne. * * * » * Queen Anne drew her last breath between seven and eight o'clock, August 1, 1 7 14, in the fiftieth year of her age, and the thirteenth of her reign. Like her predecessor, she died on a Sunday morning. Waxa $alm%bxokt oxx % featg of Ekwfjt' Bolingbroke. The whig party in general acquired great and just popularity in the reign of our Charles II., by the clamour they raised against the conduct of that prince in foreign affairs. They who succeeded to the name rather than the principles of this party, after the Revolution, and who have had the administration of the govern ment in their hands with very little interruption ever since, pre tending to act on the same principle, have run into an extreme as vicious and as contrary to all the rules of good policy, as that which their predecessors exclaimed against. The old whigs com plained of the inglorious figure we made, whilst our court was the bubble, and our king the pensioner of France ; and insisted that the growing ambition and power of Louis XIV. should be opposed in time. The modern whigs boasted, and still boast, of the glorious figure we made, whilst we reduced ourselves, by their councils, and under their administrations, to be the bubbles of our pensioners, that is of our allies ;* and whilst we measured our efforts in war, and the continuation of them, without any regard to the interest and abilities of our own country, without a just and sober regard, such an one as contemplates objects in their true light and sees them in their true magnitude, to the general system of power in Europe ; and, in short, with a principal regard * The Dutch and the emperor. 94 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Bolingbroke. merely to particular interests at home and abroad. I say at home and abroad ; because it is not less true, that they have sacrificed the wealth of their country to the forming and maintaining a party at home, than that they have done so to the forming and maintaining beyond all pretences of necessity, alliances abroad. These general assertions may be easily justified without having recourse to private anecdotes, as your lordship will find when you consider the whole series of our conduct in the two wars ; in that which preceded, and that which succeeded immediately the beginning of the present century, but above all the last of them. In the adminis trations that preceded the Revolution, trade had flourished, and our nation had grown opulent : but the general interest of Europe had been too much neglected by us ; and slavery, under the umbrage of prerogative, had been well-nigh established among us. In those that have followed, taxes upon taxes, and debts upon debts have been perpetually accumulated, till a small num ber of families have grown into immense wealth, and national beggary has been brought upon us : under the specious pretences of supporting a common cause against France, reducing her ex orbitant power, and poising that of Europe more equally in the public balance : laudable designs no doubt, as far as they were real, but such as, being converted into mere pretences, have been productive of much evil ; some of which we feel and have long felt, and some will extend its consequences to our latest posterity. The reign of prerogative was short : and the evils and the dangers to which we were exposed by it, ended with it. But the reign of false and squandering policy has lasted long, it lasts still, and will finally complete our ruin. Beggary has been the consequence of slavery in some countries : slavery will be probably the conse quence of beggary in ours ; and if it is so, we know at whose door to lay it. If we had finished the war in one thousand seven hundred and six, we should have reconciled, like a wise people, our foreign and our domestic interests as nearly as possible : we should have secured the former sufficiently, and not have_sacri- ficed the latter as entirely as we did by the prosecution of the war afterwards. You will not be able to see without astonishment, Bolingbroke.] THE TREATY OF UTRECHT. 95 how the charge of the war increased yearly upon us from the beginning of it ; nor how immense a sum we paid in the course of it to supply the deficiencies of our confederates. Your aston ishment, and indignation too, will increase, when you come to compare the progress that was made from the year one thousand seven hundred and six exclusively, with the expense of more than thirty millions, I do not exaggerate, though I write upon memory, that this progress cost us, to the year one thousand seven hundred and eleven inclusively. Upon this view, your lordship will be persuaded that it was high time to take the resolution of making peace, when the queen thought fit to change her ministry, towards the end of the year one thousand seven hundred and ten. It was high time indeed to save our country from absolute insolvency and bankruptcy, by putting an end to a scheme of conduct, which the prejudices of a party, the whimsey of some particular men, the private interest of more, and the ambition and avarice of our allies, who had been invited as it were to a scramble by the pre liminaries of one thousand seven hundred and nine, alone main tained. The persons, therefore, who came into power at this time, hearkened, and they did well to hearken, to the first over tures that were made them. The disposition of their enemies invited them to do so, but that of their friends, and that of a party at home who had nursed, and been nursed by the war, might have deterred them from it ; for the difficulties and dangers, to which they must be exposed in carrying forward this great work, could escape none of them. In a letter to a friend it may be allowed me to say, that they did not escape me : and that I foresaw, as contingent but not improbable events, a good part of what has happened to me since. Though it was a duty therefore that we owed to our country, to deliver her from the necessity of bearing any longer so unequal a part in so unnecessary a war, yet was there some degree of merit in performing it. I think so strongly in this manner, I am so incorrigible, my lord, that if I could be placed in the same circumstances again, I would take the same resolution, and act the same part. Age and experience might enable me to act with more ability, and greater skill ; but all I g6 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Bolingbroke have suffered since the death of the queen should not hinder me from acting. Notwithstanding this, I shall not be surprised if you think that the peace of Utrecht was not answerable to the success of the war, nor to the efforts made in it. I think so myself, and have always owned, even when it was making and made, that I thought so. Since we had committed a successful folly, we ought to have reaped more advantage from it than we did : and, whether we had left Philip, or placed another prince on the throne of Spain, we ought to have reduced the power of France, and to have strengthened her neighbours, much more than we did. We ought to have reduced her power for genera tions to come, and not to have contented ourselves with a momentary reduction of it. . France was exhausted to a great degree of men and money, and her government had no credit: but they, who took this for a sufficient reduction of her power, looked but a little way before them, and reasoned too super ficially. Several such there were however; for as it has been said, that there is no extravagancy which some philosopher or other has not maintained, so your experience, young as you are, must have shown you, that there is no absurd extreme, into which our party-politicians of Great Britain are not prone to fall, con cerning the state and conduct of public affairs. But if France was exhausted : so were we, and so were the Dutch. Famine rendered her condition much more miserable than ours, at one time, in appearance and in reality too. But as soon as this acci dent, that had distressed the French and frightened Louis XIV. to the utmost degree, and the immediate consequences of it were over, it was obvious to observe, though few made the observation, that whilst we were unable to raise in a year, by some millions at least, the expenses of the year, the French were willing and able to bear the imposition of the tenth over and above all the other taxes that had been laid upon them. This observation had the weight it deserved; and sure it deserved to have some among those who made it, at the time spoken of, and who did not think that the war was to be continued as long as a parliament could be prevailed on to vote money. But supposing it to have deserved Bolingbroke.] THE TREATY OF UTRECHT. A 7 none, supposing the power of Fiance to have been reduced as low as you please, with respect to her inward state ; yet still I affirm, that such a reduction could not be permanent, and was not there fore sufficient. Whoever knows the nature of her government, the temper of her people, and the natural advantages she has in commerce over all the nations that surround her, knows that an arbitrary government, and the temper of her people enable her on particular occasions to throw off a load of debt much more easily, and with consequences much less to be feared, than any of her neighbours can : that although in the general course of things, trade be cramped, and industry vexed by this arbitrary govern ment, yet neither one nor the other is oppressed ; and the temper of the people, and the natural advantages of the country, are such, that how great soever her distress be at any point of time, twenty years of tranquillity suffice to re-establish her affairs, and to enrich her again at the expense of all the nations of Europe. If any one doubts of this, let him consider the condition in which this kingdom was left by Louis XIV. ; the strange pranks the late duke of Orleans played, during his regency and administration, with the whole system of public revenue, and private property; and then let him tell himself, that the revenues of France, the tenth taken off, exceed all the expenses of her government by many millions of livres already, and will exceed them by many more in another year. Upon the whole matter, my lord, the low and exhausted state to which France was reduced, by the last great war, was but a momentary reduction of her power : and whatever real and more lasting reduction the treaty of Utrecht brought about in some instances, it was not sufficient. The power of France would not have appeared as great as it did, when England and Holland armed themselves and armed all Germany against her, if she had- lain as open to the invasions of her enemies, as her enemies lay to hers. Her inward strength was great ; but the strength of those frontiers which Louis XIV. was almost forty years in forming, and which the folly of all his neighbours in their turns suffered him to form, made this strength as formidable as it became. The true reduction * * * * *» 08 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Bolingbroke. of the exorbitant power of France (I take no notice of chimerical projects about changing her government), consisted therefore in dis arming her frontiers, and fortifying the barriers against her, by the cession and demolition of many more places than she yielded up at Utrecht ; but not of more than she might have been obliged to sacrifice to her own immediate relief, and to the future security of her neighbours. That she was not obliged to make these sacrifices, I affirm was owing solely to those who opposed.the peace: and I am willing to put my whole credit with your lordship, and the whole merits of a cause that has been so much contested, on this issue. I say a cause that has been so much contested ; for in truth, I think it is no longer a doubt anywhere, except in British pamphlets, whether the conduct of those who neither declined treating, as was done in one thousand seven hundred and six; nor pretended to treat without a design of concluding, as was done in one thousand seven hundred and nine and ten, but carried the great work of the peace forward to its consummation; or the con duct of those who opposed this work in every step of its progress, saved the power of France from a greater and a sufficient reduction at the treaty of Utrecht. The very ministers who were employed in this fatal opposition, are obliged to confess this truth. How should they deny it ? Those of Vienna may complain that the emperor had not the entire Spanish monarchy, or those of Holland that the states were not made masters directly and indirectly of the whole Low countries. But neither they, nor any one else that has any sense of shame about him, can deny that the late queen, though she was resolved to retreat because she was resolved to finish the war, yet was to the utmost degree desirous to treat in a perfect union with her allies, and to procure them all the reason able terms they could expect : and much better than those they reduced themselves to the necessity of accepting, by endeavouring to wrest the negotiation out of her hands. The disunion of the allies gave France the advantages she improved. The sole question is, who caused this disunion ? and that will be easily decided by every impartial man, who informs himself carefully of the public anecdotes of that time. If the private anecdotes were to be laid Bolingbroke.1 THE TREATY OF UTRECHT. 09 open as well as those, and I think it almost time they should, the whole monstrous scene would appear, and shock the eye of every honest man. I do not intend to descend into many particulars at this time : but whenever I, or any other person as well informed as I, shall descend into a full deduction of such particulars, it will become undeniably evident, that the most violent opposition imaginable, carried on by the Germans and the Dutch in league with a party in Britain, began as soon as the first overtures were made to the queen ; before she had so much as begun to treat : and was therefore an opposition not to this or that plan of treaty, but in truth to all treaty ; and especially to one wherein Great Britain took the lead or was to have any particular advantage. That the Imperialists meant no treaty, unless a preliminary and impracticable condition of it was to set the crown of Spain on the emperor's head, will appear from this ; that prince Eugene when he came into England, long after the death of Joseph and elevation of Charles, upon an errand most unworthy of so great a man, treated always on this supposition : and I remember with how much inward impatience I assisted at conferences held with him concerning quotas for renewing the war in Spain, in the very same room, at the Cockpit, where the queen's ministers had been told in plain terms, a little before, by those of other allies, " that their masters would not consent that the Imperial and Spanish crowns should unite on the same head." That the Dutch were not averse to all treaty, but meant none wherein Great Britain was to have any particular advantage, will appear from this ; that their minister declared himself ready and authorised to stop the opposition made to the queen's measures, by presenting a memorial, wherein he would declare, "that his masters entered into them, and were resolved not to continue the war for the recovery of Spain, provided the queen would consent that they should garrison Gibraltar and Port Mahon jointly with us, and share equally the Assiento, the South Sea ship, and whatever should be granted by the Spaniards to the queen and her subjects." That the whigs engaged in this league with foreign powers against their country, as well as their queen, and with a phrenzy more unaccountable than TOO HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Bolingbroke. that which made and maintained the solemn league and covenant formerly, will appear from this ; that their attempts were directed not only to wrest the negotiations out of the queen's hands, but to oblige their country to carry on the war, on the same unequal foot that had cost her already about twenty millions more than she ought to have contributed to it For they not only continued to abet the emperor, whose inability to supply his quota was con fessed; but the Dutch likewise, after the states had refused to ratify the treaty their minister signed at London towards the end of the year one thousand seven hundred and eleven, and by which the queen united herself more closely than ever to them ; engaging to pursue the war, to. conclude the peace, and to guarantee it, when concluded, jointly with them ; " provided they would keep the engagements they had taken with her, and the conditions of proportionate expense under which our nation had entered into the war." Upon such schemes as these was the opposition to the treaty of Utrecht carried on : and the means employed, and the means projected to be employed, were worthy of such schemes ; open, direct, and indecent defiance of legal authority, secret con spiracies against the state, and base machinations against particular men, who had no other crime than that of endeavouring to con clude a war, under the authority of the queen, which a party in the nation endeavoured to prolong, against her authority. Had the good policy of concluding the war been doubtful, it was certainly as lawful for those, who thought it good to advise it, as it had been for those, who thought it bad, to advise the contrary : and the decision of the sovereign on the throne ought to have terminated the contest. But he who had judged by the appearances of things on one side, at that time, would have been apt to think that putting an end to the war, or to Magna Charta, was the same thing; that the queen on the throne had no right to govern independently of her successor ; nor any of her subjects a right to administer the government under her, tho' called to it by her, except those whom she had thought fit to lay aside. Extravagant a3 these principles are, no other could justify the conduct held, at that time by those who opposed, the peace : and. as I said just Gleig.] ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. rOI now, that the phrenzy of this league was more unaccountable than that, of the solemn league and covenant, I might have added, that it was not very many degrees less criminal. Some of those, who charged the queen's ministers, after her death, with imaginary treasons, had been guilty during her life of real treasons : and I can compare the folly and violence of the spirit that prevailed at that time, both before the conclusion of the' peace, and, under pretence of danger to the succession after it, to nothing more nearly than to the folly and violence of the spirit that seized the tories soon after the accession of George I. The latter indeed, which was provoked by unjust and impolitic persecution, broke out in open rebellion. The former might have done so, if the queen had lived a little longer. #ri0m ai % Jhriratt (Bmpxz, Rev. G. R. GtElG. The Portuguese had been in the enjoyment of [the commerce with India] little short of a century, ere England made any de cided attempt to interrupt or obtain a share in it. This is the more remarkable, that for some time previous to Vasco de Gama's expedition, an active spirit of enterprise had arisen in the country; which was excited to fresh and more hazardous undertakings by intelligence of that illustrious navigator's success. So early, in deed, as the year 1497, Cabot, with a small squadron, had explored the coast of America, from Labrador to Virginia. The merchants of Bristol soon afterwards opened a traffic with the Canary Isles, the merchants of Plymouth sent ships continually to the coasts of Guinea and Brazil ; fishing vessels were dispatched to the banks of Newfoundland for cod, and to Spitzbergen for whale oil; while the trade with Russia was engrossed, that with the Mediterranean actively prosecuted, and so close an inter course established with Germany and the central parts of Europe, as to create jealousy among the traders of the Hans Towns. Yet I02 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Gleig. the people who could thus penetrate into so many and such distant parts of the world, abstained, with a degree of moderation not to be accounted for, from engaging in any direct traffic with the East, though it was the branch of commerce in which, like the other nations of Europe, they were above measure anxious to obtain a share. The great motive which swayed our countrymen on this occasion was one which is not likely, under similar circumstances, to operate again; they imagined that the Portuguese, because they had discovered the route by the Cape of Good Hope, were exclusively entitled to make use of it. Instead, therefore, of following in the track of Gama and Albuquerque, their adven turous spirits applied themselves to the discovery of some new and equally direct line of communication between the coasts of Europe and of India. A merchant, named Robert Thome, who had resided for some years at Seville, in Spain, where he acquired a particular knowledge of the intercourse which Portugal had opened with the East, was the first to assert the practicability of a north-west passage. This he did in the year 1527, when Henry VIII. filled the throne ; but though two attempts were made during this, and not fewer than six in the succeeding reigns they all, like those of more recent date, failed of success. A similar issue attended the efforts of sir Hugh Willoughby to pass into Asia by the north-east. A storm caught his little squadron when doubling Cape North, which separated the two vessels that comprised it ; driving the one upon a barren coast, where the crew, with the commander, perished, and the other into the harbour of Archangel, where it found shelter. Yet the idea was not abandoned till the year 1580, when a second expedition having been fitted out, and entirely failing in its object, all hope of penetrating through the frozen seas was for a time relinquished. In the midst of so many disappointments the spirit of the nation was kept alive by the accomplishment of two memorable voyages, the first conducted- by Francis Drake, the son of a poor clergyman in Kent : the second by Thomas Cavendish, a gentle man of family and distinction. Drake, who had previously dis- Glkg.] ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. I0^ tinguished himself as a skilful and adventurous navigator, obtained in 1577 a commission from queen Elizabeth, and sailed from Plymouth on the 13th of December, with five ships manned by 164 seamen. With these he passed the Straits of Magellan ravaging the western coast of Spanish America as he went along ; indeed, the excesses of which he was guilty were so numerous and so glaring as to inspire him with just apprehensions should he attempt to return by the same route. Under these circum stances he formed the bold resolution to cross the Pacific Ocean, and to regain England by the Cape of Good Hope. Though there remained but one ship out of the squadron which followed him from Plymouth, Drake was not deterred from carrying his determination into force ; and, escaping all the perils, both of strange seas, and of the enemy, he had the honour, next after Magellan, to circumnavigate the globe. In the course of this memorable cruise, Drake touched at several of the Molucca Islands, making his most protracted sojourn at Ternate, where he was received with great hospitality and kindness. He visited Java likewise ; the inhabitants of which held with him and his crew much friendly intercourse ; and he departed from it with a tolerably accurate knowledge, both of the character of the people and the productions of the country. He then steered for the Cape of Good Hope, which he passed without meeting any of those horrors which the wily Portuguese had represented as attending that navigation ; and taking in a few necessary supplies at Sierra Leone, continued his progress towards England. Finally he arrived in Plymouth on the 26th of Septem ber, 1580, after an absence of two years, ten months, and twelve days. It is not easy to describe the degree of excitement produced among all classes of Englishmen by the successful termination of this daring exploit, as well as by the display of the. spices, silks, and other costly commodities, which the triumphant seamen exhibited to the view of their countrymen. Drake himself, as is well known» after entertaining the queen on board of his ship, at Deptford, received the honour of knighthood. His name afterwards became I04 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Gleig. associated in the minds of men in general with all that was gallant and great ; and the songs, epigrams, and poems which were addressed to him, appear to have exceeded all calculation. But these were not the sole, nor the most important, consequences' which attended this prosperous termination of his exploit. Many other persons, scarcely inferior to himself in the qualifications of courage and intelligence, were instigated by his example to engage in similar undertakings, till the sea swarmed with English vessels bound everywhere upon voyages of discovery. Conspicuous among the navigators of the day was Thomas Cavendish, who sailed from Plymouth on the 21st of July, 1586, in command of three ships. Steering, like his predecessor, through the Straits of Magellan, he sailed along the western coast of America, till he attained to very nearly the latitude of 24° north ; when, having completed his piratical operations by the capture of a richly laden Spanish merchantman, he commenced his homeward voyage across the Pacific. Cavendish was even more fortunate, both in the discoveries which he effected, and in the use to which he turned them, than Drake. He formed an acquaintance with the natives of the Ladrone islands; he trafficked and made some stay among the Philippines; and extensively explored the intricate navigation of the Indian Archi pelago. He passed the Moluccas, skirting the important chain of islands which bounds the Indian Archipelago, from the strait of Malacca to the extremity of Timor, and running through the narrows which separate the two Javas from one another, cast anchor on the south-west side of the greater island, where he traded with the natives, and stipulated for a favourable reception should his visit be renewed. He then directed his course towards the Cape, which he doubled without risk or suffering, and touch ing at St. Helena to refresh, reached Plymouth on the 9th of September, 1588. Jt chanced that while Cavendish was thus adding to the stock of information already possessed, his rivals in naval glory were largely instrumental in raising to a higher pitch than before the anxiety of their countrymen to engage in the Indian trade. Both Gleig.1 ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. IO5 Drake and sir Walter Raleigh were so fortunate as to make prizes of certain Portuguese vessels called carracks : ships of heavy bur den, in which were conveyed to Europe the most costly commo dities of the East. These coming in not long after the return of Cavendish, occasioned an absolute frenzy among the merchants of England, who hastened to push adventures by every channel which held out the most remote promise of success. A company was formed, called indifferently the Levant and the Turkey Company, which strove to trade overland from the port of Archangel, and dispatched more than one agent to explore the intervening coun tries, as well as to solicit the favour and protection of the Mogul. But the result of these endeavours proving less profitable than had been anticipated, men began to think more lightly than they were accustomed to do of the imaginary rights of their neighbours ; and a publication appearing from the pen of one Stevens, who had sailed with the Portuguese from Lisbon to Goa, the attention of all was immediately turned to the passage by the Cape of Good Hope. The year 1589 is distinguished in the annals of British India, as that in which the idea of reaching India by the newly-discovered course was first seriously entertained. It was then that " divers merchants " addressed a memorial to the lords of council, in which they solicited the royal permission to send three ships and as many pinnaces on a trading voyage, and avowed their determina tion not to interfere with the rights and privileges of the Portu guese. All that they wanted was the queen's sanction to pass by way of the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian seas, where they assured her majesty that there were many places open to the enterprise of her loyal subjects. We have no account of the reception which this memorial met. We know only that in 1591 a squadron actually sailed under the orders of captain Raymond ; but disease breaking out among the people, and a severe storm assailing it, the plan proved abortive. Of all that quitted England on this occasion only one officer, captain James Lancaster, with a few seamen, returned ; and the plight in which they regained their native shores was most unenviable. 106 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Gleig In the meanwhile the Portuguese, though they added several valuable stations, particularly Bombay, to their Indian empire, were not left without a rival in the trade of the East. The Dutch, after casting off the yoke of Spain, began earnestly to apply them selves to commerce ; and as they were prevented by Philip from procuring -Oriental productions at Lisbon, they determmed to seek for them in India itself. With this view they fitted out a fleet, which, penetrating by the forbidden channel, appeared, to the dismay of the Portuguese, among the Moluccas. Here the saga cious Hollanders were not slow in supplanting their rivals in the spice trade, whilst they were very little scrupulous in the applica tion of force, as soon as they saw ground to. expect that it might be applied advantageously. After a brief, but sharp struggle, the Portuguese were wholly expelled from the Moluccas ; establish ments were next formed at Java and Sumatra, and rapid strides were made towards the erection of a new monopoly which threatened to engross all the most valuable commerce of these regions. Nor were the Dutch less careful in providing means for the protection of the trade, than industrious in securing the trade itself. They erected forts at convenient stations, which they filled with soldiers, while their armed fleet swept the bays and channels both of the Chinese and Pacific oceans with a force which even England would have found it a hard matter, at that time, adequately to oppose. It was no sooner known in London that the Dutch had pene trated beyond the Cape of Good Hope, than the English mer chants determined, at all hazards, to keep pace with their rivals. An association was formed in 1599, and a fund raised by sub scription, the management of which was intrusted to a committee of fifteen persons ; whilst a second application was made, with greater earnestness than before, for the royal sanction upon the company's proceedings. But Elizabeth, though well inclined to the measure, was deterred from giving to it her countenance, in con sequence of the treaty then pending between England and Spain. She contented therefore herself with referring the memorial to her privy council, which made a favourable report ; and in the course Gleig.] ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE, 107 of the same year John Mildenhall, a merchant, was sent over land by the route of Constantinople, on an embassy to the great Mogul. It does not appear that this measure, however well intended, produced any favourable results ; indeed, the obstruction thrown in the way of the ambassador proved such, that he failed in reach ing Agra, or obtaining an interview with the emperor, till the year 1606 ; but the mercantile spirit of England was not therefore repressed. On the contrary fresh applications were made to Elizabeth for that licence, without which it was considered hope less to embark in so gigantic an undertaking ; and her own incli nations happening to coincide with the views of the privy council, the boon, so earnestly solicited, was. obtained. On the 13th of December, 1600, the petitioners were erected into a corporation, under the title of " Governors and Company of Merchants of London trading to the East Indies." They were vested, by charter, with the power of purchasing lands without any limitation ; they were enjoined to commit the direction of their commerce to a governor and twenty-four persons in committee; and the first governor, sir Thomas Knight, was especially named in the act. Upon the company, their sons when of age, their apprentices, servants, and factors in India, was conferred, for the space of fifteen years, the privilege of an exclusive trade " into the coun tries and parts of Asia and Africa, and into and from all the islands, ports, towns, and places of Asia, Africa, and America, or any of them, beyond the Cape of Bona Esperanza or the Straits of Magellan, where any traffic may be used, to and from every of them." Such were the feeble commencements of a power which now holds sovereign sway over the entire continent of India, with the islands immediately contiguous. Two hundred and fifteen persons, with the earl of Cumberland at their head, composed the com pany to which this charter was originally granted, and the capital, with which they prepared to engage in their novel enterprise, amounted barely to 70,000/., divided into shares of fifty pounds each. With this they fitted out a fleet consisting of four ships and 108 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Gleig. a pinnace, which they freighted with cloth, lead, tin, cutlery, and glass ; and adding to the cargo the value of 28,742/. in bullion, they committed the whole to the management of captain James Lancaster. On the 2nd of May, 1601, the squadron sailed from Torbay. The first port in the Indian seas at which the company's squad ron, touched, was Acheen, a chief city in the island of Sumatra, where, delivering letters of recommendation from their own govern ment, with which they had been amply supplied, the adventurers were very favourably received. A treaty of commerce was entered into with the chief of the place ; permission was granted for the erection of a factory, and a considerable quantity of pepper having been taken on board, they steered for the Moluccas. In the Straits of Malacca, however, they fell in with a Portuguese ship richly laden with spices, which Lancaster immediately attacked; and having, after a short contest, made a prize of her, he loaded his own fleet with her valuable cargo. His good fortune in this respect induced him to alter his course, and to put in at Bantam, in the island of Java. Here he traded for some time on terms which appear to have been sufficiently advantageous, and from this place, after establishing a factory, he spread his sails for England. The fleet arrived in September, 1603, with a handsome profit to his owners on the capital embarked in the adventure. From this date up to the year 1613, not fewer than eight voyages were performed ; the whole of which, with the exception of one in 1607, in which the vessels employed were lost, proved eminently prosperous. Strenuous exertions were likewise made to obtain the countenance and support of the native princes ; nor could all the opposing influence, both of the Portuguese and the Dutch, hinder these from eventually succeeding. We regret that our limits will not permit us to give of these proceedings even an abridged detail ; but the reader who is curious on this head, will find ample gratification in the journals of captain Hawkins and sir Thomas Roe ; both of whom visited Agra as ambassadors, the former in 1608, the latter in 1614. In the year 1609 a new charter was granted, by which the Gleig.] ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. I09 privileges already conceded to the company for a given time were rendered perpetual.1* Encouraged not less by this than by the permission afforded by the Mogul to trade freely in all parts of the empire, the English began to extend their views beyond the narrow limits within which they had at first been confined. In stead of restricting themselves to the commerce of the eastern islands, Sumatra, Java, and Amboyna, they turned their attention to the continent of western Asia, with the view of establishing factories at such points as might appear most commodious. Some time elapsed, however, ere the vigilance of their rivals enabled them to carry this wise intention into force. At Aden and Mocha they were opposed by the Turks, who surprised one of their ships, and made the captain, with seventy of the crew, prisoners. On the coast of India, likewise, the Portuguese stoutly withstood them ; nor was it till 1612 that any progress was made towards the attainment of their wishes. In the months of October and November of this year, however, captain Best, with two English ships, having sustained several successful actions at Swally roads against a very superior force of Portuguese, made so deep an impression upon the authorities at Surat, that they ceased any longer to be guided by the insinuations of the defeated party. The consequence was, that the object of a firman, which had been received so early as the 1 ith of January preceding, was immediately carried into effect ; and the English were permitted to erect factories at Surat, Ahmedabad, Cambaya, and Goja. From this time forth for the space of almost a century the history of the East India Company presents little but a series of commercial difficulties, originating partly in the misconduct of their own servants, and partly in the opposition of their numerous and active rivals. At home the peculiar privileges granted to the body were from time to time assailed, as well by the mercantile portion of the community in general, as by hostile corporations. Thus, independently of frequent individual efforts to establish an * No charter was ever granted to the East India Company which had not a saving clause, by which the continuance of their privileges was made to depend urjon the absence of all detriment to the general interests of the country. iro HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Gleig. intercourse with India, we find in r63S, an association formed, which had for its object the destruction of the company's mono poly, and of which sir William Courtin was at the head. So ably were the intrigues of this new society pushed forward, that Charles I. seems for a time to have been completely gained over; whilst its commercial transactions were conducted with such prudence and zeal, that the affairs of the old company became seriously deranged. Again, when the dangers apprehended from this quarter were beginning to subside, other, and not less serious difficulties succeeded them ; first, in consequence of the proceed ings of the king when raising forces for the prosecution of the civil war, and afterwards, from the abolition of all exclusive rights under Cromwell. But Cromwell, though he tried the experiment of a free trade to the east, did not persist in it beyond a space of five years. On the contrary, he took the interests of the com pany, after the year 1657, in an especial manner under the pro tection of his government ; and strove, not without success, to infuse fresh vigour into its general proceedings. The death of the usurper would have been a severe blow upon the company, had they not found both in Charles II. and his successor friends not less partial than they had latterly found in Cromwell. By the former a new charter was granted, bearing date the 3rd of April, 1661, in which not only were the ancient privileges of the company confirmed, but extensive additional powers were conceded to them. Their local agents were now authorised to make peace and war with any prince or people not being Christians ; to build forts and to maintain armies ; and to seize and send home as prisoners, all Englishmen whom they should find unprotected by a licence within their limits. These, with the right of administering justice, elevated the company at once to the rank of a sovereign state ; though as yet their terri tories comprehended nothing more than a few stations along the coast, and islands of the Indian Sea. _ Under the protection thus afforded, and it was even more exten sively afforded by James than by Charles, the prosperity of the company began to revive, and their enterprises, though still pro- Gleig.] ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. Ill ductive of less profit than they cared to avow, became daily more and more extended. In them the government did not hesitate from time to time to participate. Several large sums of money were advanced as loans to the state; whilst men in power, whether privy-councillors or members of the house of commons, were heavily paid for their good offices. Nevertheless, the com pany was not yet destined to stand free from the devices of a rival. At the moment when king William avowed himself friendly to their monopoly, and renewed to them the privileges granted by his predecessors, a new association was formed — which, applying directly to parliament, obtained from it a charter of free trade to the east. Thus were two corporate bodies created, one recog nised as the London, the other as the General East India Com pany ; between whom a contest began both at home and abroad, which proved eminently hurtful to all concerned. A state of things such as this, however, was not likely to be of long continuance. It was felt or fancied that proceedings which had a tendency to lessen the national character in the eyes of the people of India, might, and probably would, lead to the entire ruin of the Indian trade ; and hence all classes of the community, from the sovereign downwards, began to express a wish that the differences of the rival companies should be arranged. For a short time the rancour of the parties implicated kept them from paying any regard to these suggestions; but among trading bodies, as is well known, the hope of gain is ever the ruling passion. As experience proved to them that their own interests were at issue, old grudges, with their causes, ceased to operate, till overtures were mutually made, which led in course of time to a coalition. It was now agreed that the two companies should be formed into one ; that the management of their affairs should be committed to a court of twenty-four directors, twelve to be chosen by each company ; that of the annual exports, the amount of which should be fixed by the court of managers, one half should be furnished by each company ; that the court of man agers should have the entire direction of all matters relating to trade and settlements, subsequent to this union; but that the It 2 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hallam. factors of each company should' manage separately the stocks which each had sent out previously to the date of that transaction; that seven years should be allowed to wind up the separate con cerns of each company; and that after that period, one great joint-stock should be formed by the final union of the funds of both. This agreement was confirmed by the general courts of both companies, on the 27th of April, 1702. §&Mt d Jf Mkttir from % Uksioraimit ia % HJLeign jof (Starry II. Henry Hallam. At the restoration of Charles II. there were in Ireland two people, one either of native, or old English blood, the other of recent settlement; one catholic, the other protestant ; one humbled by defeat, the other insolent with victory ; one regarding the soil as his ancient inheritance, the other as his acquisition and reward. There were three religions ; for the Scots of Ulster and the army of Cromwell had never owned the episcopal church, which for several years had fallen almost as low as that of Rome. There were claims, not easily set aside on the score of right, to the pos session of lands, which the entire island could not satisfy. In England, little more had been necessary than to revive a sus pended constitution : in Ireland, it was something beyond a new constitution and code of law that was required ; it was the titles and boundaries of each man's private estate that were to be litigated and adjudged. The episcopal church was restored with no delay, as never having been abolished bylaw; and a parlia ment, containing no catholics, and not many vehement noncon. formists, proceeded to the great work of settling the struggles of opposite claimants, by a fresh partition of the kingdom. (Carte, ii. 221. Leland, 420.) The king had already published a declaration for the settlement Hallam.] THE STA TE OF IRELAND FROM THE RESTORA TION. 113 of Ireland, intended as the basis of an act of parliament. The adventurers, or those who, on the faith of several acts passed in England in 1642, with the assent of the late king, had advanced money for quelling the rebellion, in consideration of lands to be allotted to them in certain stipulated proportions, and who had, in general, actually received them from Cromwell, were confirmed in all the lands possessed by them on the 7th of May, 1659; and all the deficiencies were to be supplied before the next year. The army was confirmed in the estates already allotted for their pay, with an exception of church lands and some others. Those officers who had served in the royal army against the Irish before 1649 were to be satisfied for their pay, at least to the amount of five-eighths, out of lands to be allotted for that purpose. Innocent papists, that is, such as were not concerned in the rebellion, and whom Cromwell had arbitrarily transplanted into Connaught, were to be restored to their estates, and those who possessed them to be indemnified. Those who had submitted to the peace of 1648, and had not been afterwards in arms, if they had not accepted lands in Connaught, were also to be restored, as soon as those who now possessed them should be satisfied for their expenses. Those who had served the king abroad, and thirty-six enumerated persons of the Irish nobility and gentry, were to be put on the same footing as the last. The precedency of restitution, an important point where the claims exceeded the means of satis fying them, was to be in the order above specified. (Carte, ii. 216. Leland, 414.) This declaration was by no means pleasing to all concerned. The loyal officers, who had served before 1649, murmured that they had little prospect of more than twelve shillings and sixpence in the pound, while the republican army of Cromwell would receive the full value. The Irish were more loud in their complaints ; no one was to be held innocent who had been in the rebel quarters before the cessation of 1643 ; and other qualifications were added so severe, that hardly any could expect to come within them. In the house of commons the majority, consisting very much of the new interests, that is, of the adventurers, and army, were in favour T14 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hallam. of adhering to the declaration. In the house of lords it was suc cessfully urged, that, by gratifying the new men to the utmost, no fund would be left for indemnifying the loyalists, or the innocent Irish. It was proposed, that, if the lands not yet disposed of should not be sufficient to satisfy all the interests for which the king had meant to provide by his declaration, there should be a proportional defalcation out of every class for the benefit of the whole. These discussions were adjourned to London, where delegates of the different parties employed every resource of intrigue at the English court. The king's bias toward the religion of the Irish had rendered him their friend ; and they seemed, at one time, likely to reverse much that had been intended against them ; but their agents grew rash with hope, assumed a tone of superiority which, ill became their condition, affected to justify their rebellion, and finally so much disgusted their sovereign that he ordered the act of settlement to be sent back with little altera tion, except the insertion of some more Irish nominees. (Carte, 222, et post. Leland, 420, et post.) The execution of this act was entrusted to English commis sioners, from whom it was reasonable to hope for an impartiality which could not be found among the interested classes. Notwith standing the rigorous proofs nominally exacted, more of the Irish were pronounced innocent than the commons had expected ; and the new possessors having the sway of that assembly, a clamour was raised that the popish interest had prevailed ; some talked of defending their estates by arms, some even meddled in fanatical conspiracies against the government ; it was insisted that a closer inquisition should be made, and stricter qualifications demanded. The manifest deficiency of lands to supply all the claimants for whom the act of settlement provided, made it necessary to resort to a supplemental measure, called the act of explanation. The adventurers and soldiers relinquished one-third of the estates enjoyed by them on the 7th May, 1659. Twenty Irish nominees were added to those who were to be restored by the king's favour, but all those who had not already been adjudged innocent, more than three thousand in number, were absolutely cut off from any Hallam.] THE STATE OF IRELAND FROM THE RESTORATION. 115 hope of restitution. The great majority of these, no question, were guilty ; yet they justly complained of this confiscation with out a trial. (Carte, 258— 316. Leland, 431, et post.) Upon the whole result, the Irish catholics having previously held about two- thirds of the kingdom, lost more than one-half of their possessions by forfeiture on account of their rebellion. If we can rely at all on the calculations, made almost in the infancy of political arithmetic by one of its most diligent investigators, they were diminished also by much more than one-third through the calamities of that period.* It is more easy to censure the particular inequalities, or even, in some respects, injustice of the act of settlement, than to point out what better course was to have been adopted. The re-adjust ment of all private rights after so entire a destruction of their landmarks could only be effected by the coarse process of general * The statements of lands forfeited and restored, under the execution of the act of settlement are not the same in all writers. Sir William Petty estimates the superficies of Ireland at 10,500,000 Irish acres (being to the English measure nearly as eight to thirteen), whereof 7,500,000 are of good land, the rest being moor, bog, and lake. In 1641, the estates of the protestant owners and of the church were about one-third of these cultivable lands, those of catholics two-thirds. The whole of the latter were seized or sequestered by Cromwell and the parliament. After summing up the allotments made by the commissioners under the act of settlement, he concludes that, in 1672, the English protestants and church have 5,140,000 acres, and the papists nearly half as much. — "Political anatomy of Ireland," c. I. In lord Orrery's Letters, i. 187, et post, is a statement, which seems not altogether to tally with sir William Petty's ; nor is that of the latter clear and consistent in all its computations. Lawrence, author of " The Interest of Ireland Stated," a treatise published in 1682, says, "of 10,868,949 acres, returned by the last survey of Ireland, the Irish papists are possessed but of 2,041,108 acres, which is but a small matter above the fifth part of the whole." Part ii., p. 48. But, as it is evidently below one-fifth, there must be some mistake. I suppose that in one of these sums he reckoned the whole extent, and in the other only cultivable lands. Lord Clare, in his celebrated speech on the union, greatly overrates the confiscations. Petty calculates that above 500,000 of the Irish "perished and were wasted by the sword, plague, famine, hardship, and banishment, between the 23rd day of Oct., 1641, and the same day, 1652; " and conceives the population of the island in 1641 to have been nearly 1,500,000, including protestants. But his conjectures are prodigiously vague. Il6 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hallam rules. Nor does it appear that the catholics, considered as a great mass, could reasonably murmur against the confiscation of half their estates, after a civil war wherein it is evident that a large proportion of themselves were concerned.* Charles, it is true, had not been personally resisted by the insurgents ; but, as chif of England, he stood in the place of Cromwell, and equally repre sented the sovereignty of the greater island over the lesser, which under no form of government it would concede. The catholics, however, thought themselves oppressed by the act of settlement ; and could not forgive the duke of Ormond for his constant regard to the protestant interests, and the supremacy of the English crown. They had enough to encourage them in the king's bias towards their religion, which he was able to manifest more openly than in England. Under the administration of lord Berkeley in 1670, at the time of Charles's conspiracy with the king of France to subvert religion and liberty, they began to menace an approaching change, and to aim at revoking, or materially weakening, the act of settlement. The most bigoted and insolent of the popish clergy, who had lately rejected with indignation an offer of more reasonable men to renounce the tenets obnoxious to civil government, were countenanced at Dublin ; but the first alarm of the new proprietors, as well as the general apprehension of the court's designs in England, soon rendered it necessary to desist from the projected innovations. (Carte, ii. 414, et post. Leland, 458, et post.) The next reign, of course, reanimated the Irish party ; a dispensing prerogative set aside all the statutes; every civil office, the courts of justice, and the privy council, were filled with catholics ; the protestant soldiers were disbanded ; the citizens of that religion were dis armed; the tithes were withheld from the clergy; they were suddenly reduced to feel this bitter condition of a conquered and * Petty is as ill-satisfied with the restoration of lands to the Irish, as they could be with the confiscations. "Of all that claimed innocency, seven in eight obtained it. The restored persons have more than what was their own in 1641, by at least one-fifth. Of those adjudged innocents, not one in twenty was really so." Hallam.] THE STA TE OF IRELAND FROM THE RESTORA TION. 117 proscribed people, which they had long rendered the lot of their enemies.* From these enemies, exasperated by bigotry and revenge, they could have nothing but a full and exceeding measure of retaliation to expect ; nor had they even the last hope that an English king, for the sake of his crown and country, must protect those who formed the strongest link between the two islands. A man violent and ambitious, without superior capacity, the earl of Tyrconnel, lord lieutenant, in 1687, and commander of the army, looked only to his master's interests, in subordination to those of his countrymen, and of his own. It is now ascertained that, doubtful of the king's success in the struggle for restoring popery in England, he had made secret overtures to some of the French agents for casting off all connexion with that kingdom, in case of James's death, and with the aid of Louis, placing the crown of Ireland on his own head.t The Revolution in England was followed by a war in Ireland of three years' duration, and a war on both sides, like that of 1641, for self-preservation. In the parliament held by James at Dublin, in r69o, the act of settle ment was repealed, and above 2,000 persons attainted by name ; both, it has been said, perhaps with little truth, against the king's will, who dreaded the impetuous nationality that was tearing away the bulwarks of his throne. J But the magnanimous defence of Deny and the splendid victory of the Boyne restored the pro testant cause; though the Irish, with the succour of French troops, maintained for two years a gallant resistance, they could not ultimately withstand the triple superiority of military talents, resources, and discipline. Their bravery, however, served to * Leland, 493, et post. Mazure, Hist, de la Revolut. ii., 113. + M. Mazure has brought this remarkable fact to light. Bonrepas, a French emissary in England, was authorised by his court to proceed in a negotiation with Tyrconnel for the separation of the two islands, in case that a protestant should succeed to the crown of England. He had accordingly a private inter view with a confidential agent of the lord lieutenant at Chester, in the month of Oct., 1687. Tyrconnel undertook that in less than a year every thing should be prepared.— Id. ii., 281, 288; iii., 430. % Leland, 537. This seems to rest on the authority of Leslie, which is by no means good. Some letters of Barillon, in 1687, show that James had intended the repeal of the act of settlement.— Dalrymple, 257, 263. Il8 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hallam. obtain the articles of Limerick on the surrender of that city ; conceded by their noble-minded conqueror, against the disposition of those who longed to plunder and persecute their fallen enemy. By the first of these articles, "the Roman catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the reign of king Charles II. ; and their majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit them to summon a parliament in this kingdom, will endeavour to procure the said Roman catholics such further security in that particular as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion." The second secures to the inhabitants of Limerick, and other places then in possession of the Irish, and to all officers and soldiers then in arms, who should return to- their majesties' obedience, and to all such as should be under their protection in the counties of Limerick, Kerry, Clare, Galway, and Mayo, all their estates, and all their rights, privileges, and immunities, which they held in the reign of Charles II., free from all forfeitures or outlawries incurred by them.* This second article, but only as to the garrison of Limerick or other persons in arms, is confirmed by statute some years after wards. (Irish Stat. 9 Will. III. c. 2.) The first article seems, however, to be passed over. The forfeitures on account of the rebellion, estimated at 1,060,792 acres, were somewhat diminished by restitutions to the ancient possessors under the capitulation ; the greater part were lavishly distributed to English grantees. (Pari. Hist. v. 1202.) It appears from hence, that at the end of the seventeenth century, the Irish, or Anglo-Irish catholics could hardly possess above one-sixth or one-seventh of the kingdom. They were still formidable from their numbers and their sufferings ; and the victorious party saw no security but in a system of oppres sion, contained in a series of laws during the reigns of William and Anne, which have scarce a parallel in European history, unless * See the articles at length in Leland, 619, Those who argue from the treaty of Limerick against any political disabilities subsisting at present do injury to a good cause. iIallam.J THE STATE OF IRELAND FROM THE RESTORATION. 1 19 it be that of the protestants in France, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, who yet were but a feeble minority of the whole people. No papist was allowed to keep a school, or to teach any in private houses, except the children of the family. (7 Will. III. c 4.) Severe penalties were denounced against such as should go themselves or send others for education beyond seas in the Romish religion ; and, on probable information given to a magistrate, the burthen of proving the contrary was thrown on the accused ; the offence not to be tried by a jury, but by justices at quarter sessions. (Id.) Intermarriages between persons of different religion, and possessing any estate in Ireland, were forbidden ; the children in case of either parent being protestant, might be taken from the other, to be educated in that faith. (9 Will. III. c. 3. 2 Anne, c. 6.) No papist could be guardian to any child ; but the court of chancery might appoint some relation or other person to bring up the ward in the protestant religion. (9 Will. III. c. 3. 2 Anne, c. 6.) The eldest son, being a protestant, might turn his father's estate in fee simple into a tenancy for life, and thus secure his own inheritance. But if the children were all papists, the father's lands were to be of the nature of gavelkind, and descend equally among them. Papists were disabled from purchasing lands, except for terms of not more than thirty- one years, at a rent not less than two-thirds of the full value. They were even to conform within six months after any title should accrue by descent, devise, or settlement, on pain of forfeiture to the next protestant heir ; a provision which seems intended to exclude them from real property altogether, and to render the others almost supererogatory. (Id.) Arms, says the poet, remain to the plundered ; but the Irish legislature knew that the plunder would be imperfect and insecure while arms remained ; no papist was permitted to retain them, and search might be made at any time by two justices. (7 Will. III. c. 5.) The bare celebration of catholic rites was not subjected to any fresh penalties ; but regular priests, bishops, and others claiming jurisdiction, and all who should come into the kingdom from foreign parts, were banished on pain of transportation, in case of neglecting to 120 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hallam. comply, and of high treason in case of returning from banishment. Lest these provisions should be evaded, priests were required to be registered ; they were forbidden to leave their own parishes ; and rewards were held out to informers who should detect the violations of these statutes, to be levied on the popish inhabitants of the country.* To have exterminated the catholics by the sword, or expelled them, like the Moriscoes of Spain, would have been little more repugnant to justice and humanity, but incom parably more politic. It may easily be supposed, that no political privileges would be left to those who were thus debarred of the common rights of civil society. The Irish parliament had never adopted the act passed in the 5th of Elizabeth, imposing the oath of supremacy on the members of the commons. It had been full of catholics under the queen and her two next successors. In the second session of 1641, after the flames of rebellion had enveloped almost all the island, the house of commons were induced to exclude, by a resolution of their own, those who would not take the oath ; a step which can only be judged in connexion with the general circumstances of Ireland at that awful crisis.t In the parliament of 166 1, no catholic, or only one, was returned ;% but the house addressed the lords justices to issue a commission for administer ing the oath of supremacy to all its members. A bill passed the commons in 1663, for imposing that oath in future, which was stopped by a prorogation ; and the duke of Ormond seems to have been adverse to it. (Mountmorres, i. 158.) An act of the English parliament after the Revolution, reciting that " great dis quiet and many dangerous attempts have been made to deprive their majesties and their royal predecessors of the said realm of Ireland by the liberty which the popish recusants there have had and taken to sit and vote in parliament," requires every member * 9 W. III., c. 1. 2 Anne, c. 3, s. 7. 8 Anne, c. 3. t Carte's Ormond, i., 328. Warner, 212. These writers censure the measure as illegal and impolitic. X Leland says none; but by lord Orrery's Letters, i., 35, it appears that one papist and one anabaptist were chosen for that parliament, both from Tuam. Hallam.] THE STATE OF IRELAND FROM THE RESTORATION. 121 of both houses of parliament to take the new oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and to subscribe the declaration against transub- stantiation before taking his seat. (Ibid. 3 W. & M. c. 2.) This statute was adopted and enacted by the Irish parliament in 1782, after they had renounced the legislative supremacy of England under which it had been enforced. The elective franchise, which had been rather singularly spared in an act of Anne, was taken away from the Roman catholics of Ireland in 17 15 ; or, as some think, not absolutely till 1727.* These tremendous statutes had in some measure the effects which their framers designed. The wealthier families, against whom they were principally levelled, conformed in many instances to the protestant church. J The catholics were extinguished as a political body ; and, though any willing allegiance to the house of Hanover would have been monstrous, and it is known that their bishops were constantly nominated to the pope by the Stuart princes,}: they did not manifest at any period, or even during the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, the least movement towards a dis turbance of the government. Yet for thirty years after the acces sion of George I. they continued to be insulted in public proceedings under the name of the common enemy, sometimes oppressed by the enactment of new statutes, or the stricter execution of the old ; till in the latter years of George II. their * Mountmorres, i., 163. Plowden's Hist. Review of Ireland, i., 263. The terrible act of the second of Anne prescribes only the oaths of allegiance and abjuration for voters at elections, § 24. t Such conversions were naturally distrusted. Boulter expresses alarm at the number of pseudo-protestants who practised the law; and a bill was actually passed to disable any one, who had not professed that religion for five years, from acting as a barrister or solicitor. Letters, i., 226. " The practice of the law, from the top to the bottom, is almost wholly in the hands of these converts." J Evidence of state of Ireland in Sessions of 1824 and 1825, p. 325 (as printed for Murray). In a letter of the year 1775, from a clergyman in Ireland to archbishop Herring, in the British Museum (Sloane MSS., 4164, 11), this is also stated. The writer seems to object to a repeal of the penal laws, which Ihe catholics were supposed to be attempting ; and says they had the exercise of their religion as openly as the protestants, and monasteries in many places. 122 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hallam, peaceable deportment, and the rise of a more generous spirit among the Irish protestants, not only sheathed the fangs of the law, but elicited expressions of esteem from the ruling powers which they might justly consider as the pledge of a more tolerant policy. The mere exercise of their religion in an obscure manner had long been permitted without molestation.* Thus in Ireland there were three nations, the original natives, the Anglo-Irish, and the new English ; the two former catholic, except some, chiefly of the upper classes, who had conformed to the _ church ; the last wholly protestant. There were three religions, the .Roman catholic, the established or Anglican, and the presbyterian : more than one half of the protestants, accord ing to the computation of those times, belonging to the latter denomination.t These, however, in a less degree were under the ban of the law as truly as the catholics themselves ; they were excluded from all civil and military offices by a test act, and even their religious meetings were denounced by penal statutes. Yet the house of commons after the Revolution always contained a strong presbyterian body, and unable, as it seems, to obtain an act of indemnity for those who had taken commissions in the militia, while the rebellion of 1715 was raging in Great Britain, had recourse to a resolution, that whoever should prosecute any dissenter for accepting such a commission is an enemy to the king and the protestant interest. (Plowden, 243.) They did not even obtain a legal toleration till 1720. (Irish Stat 6 G. I. c. 5.) It seems as if the connexion of the two islands, and the whole system of constitutional laws in the lesser, subsisted only for the sake of securing the privileges and emoluments of a small number of ecclesiastics, frequently strangers, who performed no duties and rendered no sort of return for their enormous monopoly. A * Plowden's Hist. Review of State of Ireland, vol. i., passim. t Sir William Petty, in 1672, reckons the inhabitants of Ireland at 1, 100,000; of whom 200,000 English, and 100,000 Scots; above half the former being of the established church. — " Political Anatomy of Ireland," chap. ii. It is some times said in modern times, though I believe erroneously, that the presbyterians form a majority of protestants in Ireland : yet their proportion has probably diminished since the beginning of the eighteenth century. Hallam.] THE STATE OF IRELAND FROM THE RESTORATION. 123 great share, in fact, of the temporal government under George II. was thrown successively into the hands of two primates, Boulter and Stone; the one a worthy but narrow-minded man, who showed his egregious ignorance of policy in endeavouring to pro mote the wealth and happiness of the people, whom he at the same time studied to depress and discourage in respect of political freedom ; the other an able, but profligate and ambitious states man, whose name is mingled, as an object of odium and enmity, with the first struggles of Irish patriotism. The new Irish nation, or rather the protestant nation, since all distinctions of origin have, from the time of the great rebellion, been merged in those of religion, partook in large measure of the spirit that was poured out on the advocates of liberty and the Revolution in the sister kingdom. Their parliament was always strongly whig, and scarcely manageable during the later years of the queen. They began to assimilate themselves more and more to the English model, and to cast off by degrees the fetters that galled and degraded them. By Poyning's celebrated law, the initiative power was reserved to the English council. This act, at one time popular in Ireland, was afterwards justly regarded as destructive of the rights of their parliament, and a badge of the nation's dependence. It was attempted by the commons in 164 1, and by the catholic confederates in the rebellion, to procure its repeal ; which Charles I. steadily refused, till he was driven to refuse nothing. In his son's reign, it is said that " the council framed bills altogether; a negative alone on them and their several provisoes was left to parliament ; only a general proposi tion for a bill by way of address to the lord lieutenant and council came from parliament ; nor was it till after the Revolution that heads of bills were presented ; these last in fact resembled acts of parliament or bills, with only the small difference of 'We pray that it may be' enacted,' instead of ' Be it enacted.' "* They * Mountmorres, ii., 142. As one house could not regularly transmit heads of bills to the other, the advantage of a joint recommendation was obtained by means of conferences, which were consequently much more usual than in England. Id. 179. 124 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hallam. assumed about the same time the examination of accounts, and of the expenditure of public money. (Mountmorres, 184.) Meanwhile, as they gradually emancipated themselves from the ascendency of the crown, they found a more formidable power to contend with in the English parliament. It was acknowledged, by all at least of the protestant name, that the crown of Ireland was essentially dependent on that of England, and subject to any changes that might affect the succession of the latter. But the question as to the subordination of her legislature was of a different kind. The precedents and authorities of early ages seem not decisive; so far as they extend, they rather countenance the opinion that English statutes were of themselves valid in Ireland. But from the time of Henry VI. or Edward IV. it was certainly established that they had no operation, unless enacted by the Irish parliament. This however would not legally prove that they might not be binding, if express words to that effect were em ployed ; and such was the doctrine of lord Coke and of other English lawyers. This came into discussion about the eventful period of 1641. The Irish in general protested against the legis lative authority of England, as a novel theory which could not be maintained (Carte's Ormond, iii. 55); and two treatises on the subject, one ascribed to lord chancellor Bolton, or more probably to an eminent lawyer, Patrick Darcy, for the independence of Ireland, another, in answer to it by Serjeant Mayart, may be read in the Hibernica of Harris. (Vol. ii. Mountmorres, i. 360.) Very few instances occurred before the Revolution, wherein the English parliament thought fit to include Ireland in its enact ments, and none perhaps wherein they were carried into effect. But after the Revolution several laws of great importance were passed in England to bind the other kingdom, and acquiesced in without express opposition by its parliament. Molyneux, however, in his celebrated " Case of Ireland's being bound by Acts of Par liament in England stated," published in 1697, set up the claim of his country for absolute legislative independency. The house of commons at Westminster came to resolutions against this book; and, with the high notions of parliamentary sovereignty, were not Hallam] THE STATE OF IRELAND FROM THE RESTORATION. 125 likely to desist from a pretension which, like the very similar claim to impose taxes in America, sprung in fact from the semi-republican scheme of constitutional law established by means of the Revolu tion.* It is evident that while the sovereignty and enacting power was supposed to reside wholly in the king, and only the power of consent in the two houses of parliament, it was much less natural to suppose a control of the English legislature over other dominions of the crown, having their own representation for similar purposes, than after they had become, in effect and in general sentiment, though not quite in the statute-book, co-ordinate partakers of the supreme authority. The Irish parliament however, advancing as it were in a parallel line, had naturally imbibed the same sense of its own supremacy, and made at length an effort to assert it. A judgment from the court of Exchequer, in 17 19, having been reversed by the house of lords, an appeal was brought before the lords in England, who affirmed the judgment of the exchequer. The Irish lords resolved that no appeal lay from the court of exchequer in Ireland to the king in parliament in Great Britain ; and the barons of that court having acted in obedience to the order of the English lords, were taken into the custody of the black rod. That house next addressed the king, setting forth their reasons against admitting the appellant jurisdiction. But the lords in England, after requesting the king to confer some favour on the barons of the exchequer who had been censured and illegally imprisoned for doing their duty, ordered a bill to be brought in for better securing the dependency of Ireland upon the crown of Great Britain, which declares "that the king's majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual * Journs., 27 June, 1698. Pari. Hist. v. 1181. They resolved at the same time that the conduct of the Irish parliament, in pretending to re-enact a law made in England expressly to bind Ireland, had given occasion to these dangerous positions. On June 30, they addressed the king in consequence, requesting him to prevent anything of the like kind in future. In this address, as first drawn, the legislative authority of the kingdom of England is asserted. But this phrase was omitted afterwards, I presume, as rather novel; though by doing so they destroyed the basis of their proposition, which could stand much better on the new theory of tho constitution than the ancient. 126 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Hallam. and temporal and commons of Great Britain in parliament assembled, had, hath, and of right ought to have full power and authority to make laws ^.nd statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the people and the kingdom of Ireland ; and that th«; house of lords of Ireland have no' nor of right ought to have any jurisdiction to judge of, reverse, or affirm any judgment, sentence or decree given or made in any court within the said kingdom ; and that all proceedings before the said house of lords upon any such judgment, sentence or decree, are and are hereby declared to be, utterly null and void to all intents and purposes what soever." * The English government found no better method of counter acting this rising spirit of independence than by bestowing the chief posts in the state and church on strangers, in order to keep up what was called the English interest, f This wretched policy united the natives of Ireland in jealousy and discontent, which the latter years of Swift were devoted to inflame. It was impos sible that the kingdom should become, as it did under George II., more flourishing through its great natural fertility, its extensive manufacture of linen, and its facilities for commerce, though much restricted, the domestic alarm from the papists also being allayed by their utter prostration, without writhing under the indignity of its subordination ; or that a house of commons, constructed so much on the model of the English, could hear patiently of liber ties and privileges it did not enjoy. These aspirations for equality first, perhaps, broke out into audible complaints in the year 1753. The country was in so thriving a state that there was a surplus revenue after payment of all charges. The house of commons determined to apply this to the liquidation of a debt. The * 5 G. I., c. 5. Plowden, 244. The Irish house of lords toad, however, entertained writs of error as early as 1644, and appeals in equity from 1661. Mountmorres, i., 339. The English peers might have remembered that their own precedents were not much older. t See Poulter's Letters, passim. His plan for governing Ireland was to send over as many English born bishops as possible. " The bishops," he says, " are the persons on whom the government must depend for doing the public business here." I., 238, This of course disgusted the Irish church. The Editor.] CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. i2-] government, though not unwilling to admit of such an application maintained that the whole revenue belonged to the king, and could not be disposed of without his previous consent. In Eng land, where the grants of parliament are appropriated according to estimates, such a question could hardly arise ; nor would there, I presume, be the slightest doubt as to the control of the house of commons over a surplus income. But in Ireland, the practice of appropriation seems never to have prevailed, at least so strictly (Mountmorres, i. 424) ; and the constitutional right might per haps not unreasonably be disputed. After long and violent dis cussions, wherein the speaker of the commons and other eminent men bore a leading part on the popular side, the crown was so far victorious as to procure some motions to be carried, which seemed to imply its authority ; but the house took care, by more special applications of the revenue, to prevent the recurrence of an undisposed surplus.* From this era the great parliamentary history of Ireland begins, and is terminated after half a century by the Union : a period fruitful of splendid eloquence, and of ardent, though not always uncompromising patriotism; but which, of course, is beyond the limits prescribed to these pages. €^xor(olaa,xml Cable. The Editor. 1603 Accession of James I. 1603 Sir Walter Raleigh condemned for the " Main " plot. 1604 Gunpowder plot devised. 1605 Lord Mounteagle receives a letter warning him to stay away from parliament. 1605 Guy Fawkes discovered in the cellar. 1606 Remaining conspirators in plot executed. 1607 An insurrection in Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire." It is quelled. 1607 Robert Carr knighted. 1610 Arabella Stuart committed to the Tower. 161 1 Bible translated. 1612 Prince Henry dies. 161 3 Princess Elizabeth married to the Palatine. * Plowden, 306, et post. Hardy's Life of Lord Charlemont. I28 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. IThe Editor. 1613 Sir Thomas Overbury murdered. 1614 George Villiers appears at court. 1615 The Somersets tried for the murder of Overbury. 1615 Death of Arabella Stuart. 1616 Shakespeare dies. 161 7 Villiers created earl of Buckingham. 1617 Sir Walter Raleigh sails for Guiana. r6i8 He returns and is lodged in the Tower. 1618 He is beheaded. 1619 The Palatine is elected king of Bohemia. 1621 Bacon is impeached and disgraced. 1623 Prince of Wales and Buckingham go disguised to Spain. 1623 They return to London. 1624 Massacre of the English at Aml:oyna. 1625 Death of James I. 1625 Accession of Charles I. 1626 Sir John Eliot, Hampden, and sir Thomas Wentworth pent to prison for refusing to contribute to the enforced loan. 1628 Murder of Buckingham at Portsmouth by Felton. 1629 Sir Thomas Wentworth created viscount Wentworth. 1629 Cromwell's first appearance in parliament. 1629 The king sends seven members of the commons to the Tower. 1629 Sir John Eliot, HoUis, and Valentine fined and imprisoned for words spoken in parliament. 1630 Charles, prince of Wales, born. 1630 Emigration of puritans to America. 1632 Sir John Eliot dies in the Tower. 1633 Wentworth made lord deputy of Ireland. 1633 Laud consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. 1637 The question of ship money tried. 1640 Wentworth created earl of Strafford. 1640 The king opens the long parliament, 1641 The execution of lord Strafford. 1 641 Protestants massacred in Ireland. 1 64 1 Parliament made indissoluble, except by members' own wish. 1642 The five members of the commons accused escape. 1642 Princess Mary married to the prince of Orange. 1642 The king is refused admission to Hull by sir John Hotham. 1642 Royal standard erected at Nottingham. 1642 Battle of Edge hill. 1643 Battle of Chalgrove field; Hampden mortally wounded. 1643 Parliamentarians defeated at Atherton moor. 1643 Sir John Hotham and his son sent to the Tower for a plot to deliver Hull to the king. 1643 Cromwell gains a victory at Grantham. The Editor.] CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. j2n 1643 The royalists take Gainsborough and Lincoln. 1643 Gloucester besieged. 1643 Battle of Newbury; Falkland killed. 1643 Sir William Waller defeated by royalists at Devizes. 1643 Prince Rupert takes Bristol. 1643 The league and covenant taken by the Scots. 1644 The Hothams beheaded. 1644 Laud tried. 1644 Battle of Marston moor. 1644 Second battle of Newbury. 1644 Self-denying ordinance passed. 1645 Laud beheaded. 1645 Victories of Montrose in Scotland. 1645 Battle of Naseby. 1645 Montrose takes Glasgow; Edinburgh surrenders. 1645 The king takes Huntingdon. 1645 Battle of Rowton heath. 1645 Battle of Philiphaugh ; Montrose defeated. 1646 Charles throws himself on the protection of the Scotch army, 1647 The Scots give up the king for a sum of money. 1647 The army seize the king at Holmby. 1647 Presbyterian party suppressed. 1647 The king escapes from Hampton court to the Isle of Wight. 1648 Insurrection in London in favour of Charles. 1648 It is put down by Cromwell and Ireton. 1648 Colchester surrendered to Fairfax. He shoots sir Charles Lucas and sir George Lisle. 1648 The king removed to Hurst castle. 1649 Brought up for trial. 1649 Execution of Charles I. 1649 Cromwell's severities in Ireland. 1650 Montrose taken and executed. 1650 Battle of Dunbar. 1651 Battle of Worcester and escape of Charles. 1652 Blake's great victories. 1653 Cromwell dissolves the long parliament. 1653 The " little " parliament assembled. 1653 Blake defeats Van Tromp, who is killed. 1653 Cromwell made Protector. 1656 Cromwell divides England and Wales into eleven districts, each under a major-general. 1656 Jamaica taken from Spain. Cromwell protects the Waldenses. 1658 Death of Cromwell. 1658 Richard Cromwell, Protector, 1659 Monk marches from Scotland. 1660 Fairfax meets him at York, and agrees to the restoration of Chatles II, 1,0 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [TheEditob 1660 The king restored. 1660 Monk created duke of Albemarle. 1660 Marriage of duke of York to Anne Hyde. 1661 Marquis of Argyle executed for treason. 1661 Sharp made Archbishop of St. Andrew's. 1661 Marriage of the king to Catherine of Braganza. 1662 Dunkirk sold to the French. 1665 The plague in London. 1665 Duke of York's victory over the Dutch fleet. 1666 The great fire of London. 1666 Herbert hanged on suspicion. 1666 Insurrection of covenanters. 1667 De Ruyter destroys Sheerness and many ships in the Medway. 1667 Fall of Clarendon. 1667 The " Cabal " assume the government. 1670 Charles's secret treaty with France. 1 67 1 Blood attempts to steal the regalia from the Tower. 1672 The king shuts the exchequer. 1672 De Ruyter attacks the English and French fleets in Sole bay. Lord Sandwich is killed. 1677 The prince of Orange marries Mary, daughter of the duke of York. 1678 The so-called Popish plot. 1679 Habeas corpus act passed. 1679 Archbishop Sharp murdered. 1679 Dangerfield's pretended plot. 1680 Lord Stafford beheaded. 1681 Ryehouse plot concocted. 1683 Ryehouse plot discovered. Execution of Russell and Algernon Sidney. 1683 Prince George of Denmark marries Anne, daughter of the duke of York. 1684 Titus Oates condemned in ,£100,000 damages under the act " de scandalis magnatum," for a libel on the duke of York. 1685 Death of Charles. 1685 Accession of James II. 1685 Titus Oates tried for perjury, fined, whipped, and put in the pillory, as was also Dangerfield. 1685 Argyle lands in Scotland. 1685 Monmouth lands at Lynn, 1685 Battle of Sedgemoor. 1685 Monmouth beheaded. 1685 The bloody assize. 1685 Lady Lisle beheaded. 1685 Rebels sold as slaves. 1685 Elizabeth Gaunt burned at Tyburn. 1686 Bishop of London suspended. 1687 University of Oxford refuses to acknowledge the right of Father Petre to name fellows of Exeter College. The Editor.] CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. I31 1687 The fellows of Magdalen college refuse to elect a papist for their Master. 1688 The king orders the reading of the declaration of indulgence. 1688 The bishops sent to the Tower. 1688 Prince James Stuart born. 1688 The bishops acquitted. 1688 Landing of the prince of Orange at Torbay. 1688 Flight of James II. 1690 William and Mary proclaimed. 1690 The siege of Londonderry by James's army. 1690 Dundee slain at Killiecrankie. 1690 Londonderry relieved. 1690 Battle of the Boyne. 1690 Siege of Limerick. 1 69 1 Battle of Aghrim ; Irish and French defeated. 1692 Massacre of Glencoe. 1692 Battle of La Hogue. 1692 Wilham defeated at Steinkirk. 1692 National debt begins. 1693 Bank of England incorporated. William defeated at Li nrfea. 1694 Death of queen Mary. 1695 William takes Namur. 1697 Sir John Fenwick beheaded. 1697 Treaty of Ryswick signed. 1698 The Darien expedition. 1701 Death of James II. in exile. 1702 King William dies. 1702 -Accession of Anne. 1702 Power of the Marlboroughs begins. 1702 Rooke destroys the Spanish fleet in Vigo bay 1704 Queen Anne's bounty established. 1704 Admiral Rooke takes Gibraltar. 1704 Battle of Blenheim. 1706 Battle of Ramifies. 1707 Battle of Almanza. 1707 The union of Scotland and England. 1708 Battle of Oudenarde. 1708 Admiral Leake takes Sardinia. 1708 Prince George of Denmark dies. 1709 Battle of Malplaquet. 1709 Dr. Sacheverel's famous sermon. 171 1 Mr. Harley stabbed by Guiscard. 1713 Treaty of Utrecht signed. 1714 Sophia, electress of Hanover, dies. 1714 Death of queen Anne. •c a BOOK VIII. t gjLeign of &tox%t I. The Editor. The act of succession had made Sophia, the electress of Hanover, granddaughter of Charles I., heiress to the English crown on the death of Anne ; but, as we have seen, she died before the Stuart queen. Consequently her son George inherited in her stead. He was a man of good capacity, but spoke no English, and knew nothing of the character of the nation he was to rule. His domestic life in Hanover had been sorely troubled. He had married a young and beautiful princess, Sophia Dorothea of Zell, and there seemed every prospect of a happy union, but the court of the elector was a very immoral one ; the worthless courtiers intrigued continually in it to gain their own ends, and the princess was gay and thoughtless. She acted with great imprudence, though no actual crime was ever proved against her ; in fact she was undoubtedly the victim of a base calumny; but she was divorced from the king, and imprisoned for over thirty years in the castle of Ahlden. Her supposed lover, Count Konigsmark, was murdered and buried under the floor of the antechamber lead ing to her apartments. She had a son and daughter — whom (on her account probably) king George seems to have detested. When the new king came to England he found party spirit running high, and unhappily his first actions intensified it. He had been made to understand that he owed his crown entirely to the whigs, and — ignorant altogether of parliamentary government, and of a more grateful disposition than the preceding dynasty — he repulsed the TheEditpr.) THE REIGN OF GEORGE I. '33 tories who approached him with coldness and haughtiness, and threw himself into the arms of the opposite faction, of which Walpole was the leader. The first meeting of parliament showed how the new king's favour would be utilised by the whigs. It was proposed in it that a committee should be appointed to inspect all papers relating to the late treaty of, Utrecht ; the purpose of the whigs being to find in them matter on which they could ground an accusation of high treason against their political opponents. In a short time Walpole, who was on the committee, announced to the house that their report was ready, and in consequence of the discoveries they had made, moved that a warrant should be issued for the arrest of Matthew Prior, poet and statesman, and Mr. Thomas Harley, both of whom had been engaged in concluding the treaty. These gentlemen were in the house at the time, and were instantly arrested. Bolingbroke was next attacked, and Robert Harley, earl of Oxford and Mortimer, whose recent resignation of the treasurer's staff, and known adherence to the Hanoverian cause, could not save him from the malice of his foes. Bolingbroke and the duke of Ormond having been warned in time of what they might expect, escaped and fled to France; where both at once joined the court of the pretender. Lord Oxford was committed to the Tower, though in very bad health — bail being refused — in spite of Dr. Mead's declaration that imprisonment might endanger the earl's life. The whigs, who meant to bring him to the block, cared little for that risk ! He bore his fall and extreme danger with a noble resignation and fortitude which touched the people, who likewise murmured at the duke of Ormond's and lord Bolingbroke's estates being confiscated without trial, simply because they had not answered to their impeachment. But murmurs were hushed by the strong hand. All who spoke in condemnation of the whig oppression were stigmatised as Jacobites, and threatened with the horrible death of the traitor Yet the people, if partially silenced, were not appeased, and the discontent grew with the days and weeks of the new reign. T34 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Edito* George became the king of a faction rather than of a people. " The whigs," says Goldsmith, " governed the senate and the court whom they oppressed : bound the lower orders of the people with severe laws, kept them at a distance by vile distinctions ; and taught them te call this liberty !" The nation grew more and more discontented — the clamour of " the church's being in danger" revived, and there were disturbances at Birmingham, Bristol, Norwich and Reading; the cry being "Down with the whigs, and Sacheverell for ever ! " The Jacobite party in the west and north naturally began to encourage hopes of the restoration of the " king over the water," and the prince-pretender, receiving a promise of support from France, urged his adherents to rise, promising to join them himself shortly. George had received the tories, who were willing at first to acknowledge him, so coldly, and the action of the government had been so hostile to them, that the earl of Mar, calculating on the spirit of resentment awakened in them, and offended by the king's reception of himself, ventured to assemble the highland chiefs at Braemar, and finally to proclaim prince James Stuart king, and to raise the banner of revolt. Two vessels laden with arms and ammunition, and a number of officers, had already arrived from France, and the earl soon found himself at the head of ten thousand men. Unfortunately for him, however, the prince was, at the moment, unable to join him, and a still greater loss almost immediately occurred. Louis XIV., who had promised to support the enterprise, died six days before Mar's proclamation, and the duke of Orleans, regent for the infant king, was no friend to the Stuarts. The old king's death was in fact the ruin of then- cause. Mar was a sadly inexperienced and incompetent general. The duke of Argyle, who supported the Hanoverian king, had, at first, only 1,000 foot and 500 horse to oppose to the Jacobites. His own clan could not move because their land was threatened by the Gordons : in his rear the chief towns were in danger of attack by the Jacobites ; there seemed great risk of his being completely The Editor.] THE REIGN OF GEORGE I. jig surrounded in Stirling, and he could not move without peril. Mar had even then 8,000 men ; if he had immediately marched forward he might have driven Argyle across the Tweed and gained all Scotland. But he did not see his opportunity ; he lingered at Perth for some weeks, awaiting the Jacobite outbreak in England, which the English delayed in expectation of his own prior move ment. Meantime Argyle was reinforced from Ireland, and his army raised to 3,300 (horse and infantry together) ; with this inferior force, however, he resolved to meet Mar. The armies encountered each other near Sheriffmuir, on the 13th January, and the battle of Dumblane began. The highlanders attacked general Whetham's division so fiercely that in seven minutes the dragoons were routed, and the general fled at full gallop to Stirling, announcing on his arrival there that the king's troops were utterly defeated. Meanwhile, however, Argyle's followers had driven back the other wing of Mar's army. It rallied, however, and again confronted the foe. But the engagement was not renewed, and the opposing forces stood facing each other till evening, when they drew off in different directions; both sides claiming the victory. In reality Argyle was the gainer from this pitched battle, because he had delayed Mar's advance, and delay was the danger the earl had most to dread. Mar retreated safely, but the clans began to fall away from him ; lord Lovat took Inverness castle for king George, and the marquis of Tullibardine was compelled to return to his own estates to defend them. The rebellion in England was equally unfortunate. From the time the insurrection had been devised in France, lord Stair, the English ambassador there, had become cognizant of it, and kept his court well informed of all the projected measures of the pretender and his adherents, whose names also he sent to the government. In consequence the earls of Home, Kinnoul, Wintoun, and others were arrested and confined in the castle of Edinburgh, and the king obtained leave from the commons to seize in their house sir William Wyndham, sir John Packington, Mr. Edward Hervey, Mr. Anstice, Mr. Corbet Kynaston; lords Lansdowne and Duplin were taken intc custody also. All these I36 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Th« Editok. precautions, however, did not stop the insurrection. But in the western counties every measure was betrayed to the government by some traitor, and the revolt there was suppressed at the outset The university of Oxford — which was ostentatiously Jacobite — was treated with great severity : major-general Pepper, with a strong detachment of dragoons took possession of the city one day at daybreak, declaring that he would instantly shoot any students who appeared beyond the limits of their respective colleges. In the north the rebellion was not so easily put down. The earl of Derwentwater and Mr. Forster took the field with a large body of horse, and being joined by some gentlemen from the borders of Scotland, proclaimed James III. They then attempted to seize Newcastle, a town in which they had many friends, but they found the gates shut against them, and were obliged to retire to Hexham. They afterwards marched through Cumberland into Lancashire. The county militias were hastily called out to oppose them, but fled whenever they came in sight of the enemy. Thus without molestation the Jacobites reached Preston. They had begun to raise barricades and put that town in a posture of defence when general Wills appeared before it with 7,000 regular troops. He attacked them at once ; but was at first repulsed. Next day, how ever, general Carpenter arrived with reinforcements, and the town was invested on all sides. Without hope of relief, nothing remained to the Jacobites but a capitulation, and colonel Oxburgh, who had been taken prisoner, was sent to the general to propose it. But Wills refused to treat with rebels, and told them the only favour they could expect was to be spared from immediate slaughter. Unable to obtain any other terms they laid down their arms, and were taken prisoners. A few officers who had deserted from the king's army to the Jacobites were tried at once by court- martial and shot. The men were imprisoned at Chester and Liverpool, the noblemen and chief officers were sent to London, and were led through the streets pinioned and bound together like criminals, in order to intimidate their, party. At this moment of hopeless defeat the pretender made his ap pearance in Scotland. The Editor.] THE REIGN OF GBORGE I. jjy But he came too late ! Passing through France in disguise he had embarked in a small vessel at Dunkirk and arrived on the Scottish coast safely, attended by only six gentlemen. He passed unrecognised through Aberdeen to Fetteresso, where he was met by the earl of Mar and about thirty noblemen and gentle men of the highest rank, and immediately proclaimed k bg. He went from thence to Dundee, where he made a public entry, and in two days more arrived in Scone, intending to be crowned there according to the custom of the Scottish kings. He had thanks givings put up in all the churches for his restoration, and ordered the ministers to pray for him. But all these demonstrations could not help his cause ; they only delayed and hindered the action of his followers, and the approach of the duke of Argyle, and the utter hopelessness of his affairs, which became daily apparent to him, alarmed the prince, who lacked the courage and resolution of his race. He assembled his council, pointed out to them his want of money, arms, and ammunition for a campaign, and regretted the necessity which forced him to abandon his enterprise. Soon after he embarked in a small French ship lying in the harbour of Montrose, attended by lord Mar and other adherents, and seven days after arrived safely at Gravelines. He left his unhappy adherents to all the rigour of the laws they had broken. No mercy was shown them, and the prisons in London were crowded with the defeated Jacobites. The earls of Derwent- water, Nithsdale, Carnwath, and Wintoun, the lords Widdrington, Kenmure, and Nairn were impeached, and pleaded guilty. All but lord Wintoun were sentenced to death; and orders for the immediate execution of the three first were given ; the rest were respited. Lord Nithsdale had the good fortune to escape in women's clothes, but Derwentwater and Kenmure suffered death on the scaffold at Tower Hill. They died with dignity and courage, pitied by all. Forster escaped from Newgate, so also did Mackintosh and a few others ; four of the gentlemen were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn ; two and twenty were executed at Preston and Manchester, and about a thousand were sent to f*g HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. work as slaves in the plantations of North America. Thus ended the unhappy and rash attempt of 1715-16. The earl of Oxford, who had now been two years confined in the Tower, presented a petition to the house of lords at this time that his imprisonment might not remain indefinite. He had found a favourable opportunity, for the nation was weary of bloodshed, and after a short and hurried trial he was dismissed to freedom and retirement for the remainder of his days. A rupture between the governments of England and Spain once more raised the hopes of the pretender and his adherents. The duke of Ormond obtained from the Spanish court a fleet of ten ships of war, and transports having on board 6,000 regular troops, with arms for r 2,000 others, and sailed for Scotland. But Provi dence still refused success to the Stuart. The fleet was disabled in a violent storm off Cape Finisterre, and the Spaniards having been defeated in Sicily and elsewhere, Philip sued for peace, and finally joined the quadruple alliance. In 1 72 1 the famous South Sea scheme was devised — a gigantic swindle which ruined thousands. The government, ever since king William's wars, not having sufficient supplies granted by parliament, or wanting time to collect the taxes, had borrowed money from different companies of merchants, amongst others from the company that traded to the South Seas. A certain sir John Blunt, a speculating man, proposed to the ministry, in the name of the South Sea company, to buy up all the national debts and thus become sole creditor to the state. The terms he offered were very advantageous. The South Sea company was to redeem the debts of the nation out of the hands of the private proprietors who were creditors to the government, on whatever terms they could agree to, and, for the interest of the japr*^, which they had thus taken into their own hands, the govenfrrien\''was to pay them five per cent, for six years ; then the interest was to be reduced to four per cent, and it was at any time to be redeemable by parlia ment. So far, perhaps, the scheme promised well, but next came that part of it fraught with fraud and ruin. As the directors of the South Sea company could not be supposed to have money THEEmroR.] THE REIGN OF GEORGE I. r»n enough to buy up the debts of a nation, they were empowered to raise it by opening a subscription to a scheme for trading in the South Seas, a commerce from which they promised immense profits to the shareholders. All persons therefore, to whom the government owed money were invited to come and exchange their stocks for that of the South Sea company. The directors had scarcely opened the subscription before crowds thronged in to buy or exchange their stock. A perfect mania for speculation seized the people. Stocks in ten days could be sold for double what they had cost ; and finally, for ten times the original price. People bought and sold incessantly in and out of the South Sea company. Many who sold out when the stocks were at their highest made large fortunes, — but all who stayed in were ruined. The scheme proved a mere bubble, the trading a vision, and it collapsed wholly in a few months. So terrible was the distress caused by it that parliament was compelled to make an enquiry into the matter. The principal delinquents were punished with forfeiture of the estates they had acquired during the popular mania, and efforts were made to redress the injuries of the suf ferers by it, but thousands were ultimately ruined. This affair, in which the government were thought not free from blame, caused great discontent amongst the people. Plots were once more rife for the pretender; but they were again discovered. Francis Atterbury, bishop of Rochester, was arrested on suspicion, as well as the duke of Norfolk, lords North and Grey, and lord Orrery, with some persons of inferior rank. Of these, however, all were at last set free, except a Mr. Layer, who was hanged at Tyburn. The bishop of Rochester was exiled. King George did not understand English, and as his minister, sir Robert Walpole, could speak neither French nor German, the business of the government had to be conducted in Latin. The corruption and venality of this period of English history were frightful. Sir Robert Walpole is said to have declared that every man had his price, and bribery was shamelessly practised everywhere. I40 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Lytton. The earl of Macclesfield, lord chancellor, was impeached by the commons for corruption in the court of chancery. A long trial followed; the chancellor was convicted of fraudulent prac tices, and fined ^30,000, with imprisonment till the sum was paid. It was discharged in six weeks. The act for triennial parliaments was repealed in this reign, and their duration fixed for seven years, as it still continues. George I. died June n, 1727* whilst on his J<>urney t0 his electoral dominions of .Hanover. He was in the sixty-eighth year of his age and thirteenth of his reign. His unhappy wife died a year before, him, having been a prisoner thirty-two years ; there is a story that she wrote to the king on her death-bed— solemnly declaring her innocence, and summoning him to meet her at the tribunal of God that day twelve months,— the legend goes on to say that the letter was given to George while in the carriage on his road to Hanover, and that its effect was the fit of which he died. George I. married Sophia Dorothea of Zell. His children were— George, and Charlotte, married to. the king of Prussia. $T.ot0 §crlmrj[h'rjke. Lord Lyttos, In this English Alcibiades what restless, but what rich vitality ! We first behold him, like his Athenian prototype, bounding into life, a beautiful, ambitious youth, seizing on notoriety as a sub stitute for fame; audacious in profligate excess — less, perhaps, from the riot of the senses, than from a wild joy in the scandal which singles him out for talk. Still but a stripling, he soon wrenches himself from so ignoble a corruption of the desire for renown. He disappears from the haunts that had rung with the turbulent follies of a boy. He expends his redundant activity in travel, and learns the current language of Europe to so nice a LordLyttonJ LORD BOLINGBROKE. I41 perfection, that, in later life, Voltaire himself acknowledges obli gations to his critical knowledge of French. He returns to England, enters parliament at the age of twenty-two, and wins, as it were with a bound, the fame which a free state accords to the citizen in whom it hails the sovereign orator of his time. Nor of his time alone. So far as we can judge by concurrent testimonies of great weight, Henry St. John was, perhaps, in point of effect upon his audience, the most brilliant and fascinating orator the English parliament ever knew : Chesterfield, himself amongst the most accomplished of public speakers, and doing full justice to Chatham, to whom he ascribes " eloquence of every kind," still commends Bolingbroke as the ideal model of the perfect orator. And Chatham must have accepted as truthful the traditions of his precursor's eloquence, when he said he would rather win back from oblivion lord Bolingbroke's unreported speeches than Livy's lost books — an opinion endorsed by a still higher authority, Chatham's son. Arid how soon all this splendour is obscured ! Queen Anne dies ; and the councillor of Queen Anne is denounced as a traitor to king George. What a scene for some high-bred novelist might be laid in the theatre itself the night in which Bolingbroke vanished from the town he had dazzled and the country he had swayed ! The playhouse is crowded — all eyes turn to one box; — there sits serene the handsome young statesman whom, says Prior, " men respect and women love." Curious tongues whisper, "But what is really the truth? Is there any proof against him ? It is said the articles of impeach ment are already drawn up ; the whigs are resolved to have his head. Tut, impossible ! See how gaily he smiles at this moment ! Who has just entered his box? — an express? Tut, only the manager, my lord has bespoken the play for to-morrow night." The curtain falls— falls darkly on an actor greater than any Burbage or Betterton that ever fretted his hour on the mimic stage. Where behind the scenes has my lord disappeared ? He is a fugitive on the sea. Axe and headsman are baffled. Where next does my lord appear? At the playhouse in Paris. All eyes 142 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Lytton. there, as in London, are fixed on the handsome young statesman. And lo ! even there he is minister of state— distrusted, melancholy minister of a crownless and timid pretender! He who gave Europe the peace of Utrecht — he who had supplied ammunition and arms to Marlborough, is an exile in the court of the Bourbon, or rather in the mimic court of the Bourbon's pensioner, and plotting a buccaneering foray on the shores of disdainful England. He has told us himself how soon that episode in his life came to a close ; and if the cause he had espoused was a wrong one, we may include his mistake in the general amnesty long ago granted to the Jacobites. And now Alcibiades in a new phase of multiform genius, affects to be Socrates himself. King George has set a price upon his head, and he sits quietly down to show that that head is worth a much higher price than the letterless Guelph has offered for it. From his secluded chateau in France he sends forth that mar vellous pamphlet * which secured to the silenced orator his rank amongst the highest of contemporaneous writers. This was, perhaps, the happiest period of his life. Then, per haps, he sincerely felt that august contempt for the gauds of ambition which he laboured hard but with imperfect success to sustain through the length of years yet in store for the passionate would-be stoic, for then he first knew the calm of a virtuous and genial home. A very early marriage had proved unfortunate, and the triumphs of his official career had been imbittered by domestic dissensions. The death of his first wife shortly after his exile allowed him to form nuptials more auspicious. The second lady Bolingbroke, a Frenchwoman, appears to have been all that his heart had sought elsewhere in vain ; accomplished, gentle, cheer ful, tenderly devoted to him. * * * * And qui&pPall the friends whom this once paramount chief of pa^^&'fallied round him, whom does he select to negotiate texf&Stfhis return to his native shore? What friend but the sweet second self ? His trust is placed in the resolute heart and quick woman-wit of the faithful wife. Not the least interesting passage in the romance of his * The letter to sir William Wyndham, Lord Lytton.] LORD BOLINGBROKE. 1 43 checkered career is that where the plot of the drama shifts once more into court comedy. Lady Bolingbroke, baffling all the shrewd acts of sir Robert Walpole, entrapping the saturnine king with a golden bait set for the German gorgon who ruled him, hastening back to her lord victorious, as Walpole, an hour too late, comes out of the royal closet foiled and discomfited. The tories look up. The high church smooths its band with decorous delight Woe to Walpole and the whigs ! Lord Bolingbroke, The senate's darling and the church's pride, can return to England. But Walpole is not so artless a spider as to be destroyed by a wasp, whatever its sting or its nippers. True, the wasp has broken one mesh of the web, but to that hole in the wall, wherein sits the spider despotic, the wasp shall bring neither nippers nor sting. Lord Bolingbroke may return to England, but lord Bolingbroke shall not re-enter the doors of Parliament. The voice of Achilles must not be heard from the ramparts on which his form appears. Perhaps so signal a compliment was never yet paid to that eloquence by which Euripides tells us great states can be overturned. Lord Bolingbroke is now far advanced in middle age, but long years are yet before him. Lost to the senate, his stately, mourn ful image is seen distinct in the groves of Academe. He is still that "prodigy of parts" for whom the dark misanthropy of Swift softens into reverent affection. He is still that " lord of the silver bow " from whom Pulteney borrows his piercing shafts. He is still the " accomplished St. John " from whom Pope takes the theme and argument of a poem unequalled in didactic solemnity and splendour since Lucretius set to music the false creed of Epicurus. No Guelph and no Walpole can interdict genius from fame. But fame alone seldom comforts the man who has trained his mind from youth to the pursuit of power. Throughout all Bolingbroke's correspondence, though he seeks, with no ignoble simulation, to appear serene, his melancholy is intense. To ambition excluded from its fair field of living 144 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Jacobite Relics. action, the gardens of philosophy, like those of the Homeric spectreland, are landscapes without a sun. But at last the sun itself, so radiant in the morn, so obscured in the noon and evening of his life, breaks faintly forth on eyes it can rejoice no more. Walpole at length has fallen. A new ministry is formed to whom the attainted traitor is a patriot martyr. A new generation has arisen, for whom the errors of one whose works have charmed their taste, whose sorrows have moved their hearts, are merged in renown or atoned by penance. The prince of Wales selects for his. political teacher and councillor the man whose voice had been gagged lestjhe throne of the Guelph should reel before the sound of its trumpet peal. The sun rests upon slopes smoothed to the strides of ambition^- if ambition has still heart and strength to renew the journey. But all the old man, weary and worn out, now needs from earth are six feet of mould never lit by the sun I $ueoaxh ^nlho, THE WEE, WEE GERMAN LAIRDIE. Jacobite Relics. Wha the deil hae we gotten for a king, But a wee, wee German lairdie ? And, when we gaed to bring him hame, He was delving in his kail-yardie : Sheughing kail, and laying leeks, But the hose, and but the breeks ; And up his beggar duds he cleeks, This wee, wee German lairdie. And he's clapt down in our gudeman's chair, The wee, wee German lairdie ; And he's brought forth o' foreign leeks, And dibbled them in his yardie. Jacobite Relics.] yACSBITE BALLA !). He's pu'd the rose o' English loons, And broken' the harp o' Irish clowns ; But our thistle-tap will jag his thumbs, This wee, wee German lairdie. Come up amang our Highland hills, Thou wee, wee German lairdie ; And see the Stuarts' lang kail thrive, We dibbled in our yardie ; And if a stock ye dare to pu', Or haud the yoking o' a plough, We'll break your sceptre o'er your mou', Thou wee bit German lairdie. Our hills are steep, our glens are deep, Nae fitting for a yardie ; And our Norland thistles winna pu', Thou wee bit German lairdie : And we've the trenching blades o* weir, Wad prune ye o' your German gear ; We'll pass ye 'neath the claymore's shear, Thou feckless German lairdie. Auld Scotland, thou'rt ower cauld a hole For nursin' siccan vermin ; But the very dougs o' England's court They bark and howl in German. Then keep thy dibble in thy ain hand, Thy spade but and thy yardie ; For wha the deil hae we gotten for a king But a wee, wee German lairdie ? »45 I46 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Scott, Pmttkg of §mnra:r. . Sir Walter Scott. It was early in August, 1715, that the earl of Mar embarked at Gravesend, in the strictest incognito, having for his companions major-general Hamilton and colonel Hay, men of some military experience. They sailed in a coal-sloop, working, it was said, their passage, the better to maintain their disguise, landed at Newcastle, hired a vessel there, and then proceeded to the small port of Elie, on the eastern shore of Fife, a county which then abounded with friends to the Jacobite cause. The state of this province in other respects offered facilities to Mar. It is a penin sula, separated from Lothian by the Frith of Forth, and from the shire of Angus by that of Tay ; and it did not, until a very late period, hold much intercourse with the metropolis; though so near it in point of distance, it seemed like a district separated from the rest of Scotland, and was sometimes jocosely termed the "Kingdom of Fife."' The commonalty were, in the begin ning of the 1 8th century, almost exclusively attached to the presbyterian persuasion; but it was otherwise with the gentry, who were numerous in this province to a degree little known in other parts of -Scotland. Its security, during the long wars of former centuries, had made it early acquainted with civilization. The value of the- soil, on the sea-coasts at least, had admitted of great subdivision of property ; and there is no county of Scotland which displays so many country-seats within so short a distance of each other. These gentlemen were, as we have said, chiefly of the Tory persuasion, or, in other words, Jacobites ; for the subdivision of politicians termed Whimsicals, or Tories attached to the House of Hanover, could hardly be said to exist in Scotland. though well known in South Britain. Besides their tenants, the Fife lairds were most of them men who had not much to lose in civil broils, having to support an establishment considerably above the actual rents of their estates, which were, of course, impaired Sir W. Scott.] THE HUNTING OF BRAEMAR. T47 by increasing debts : they were, therefore, the less unwilling to engage in dangerous enterprises. As a party affecting the manners of the ancient cavaliers, they were jovial in their habits, and cautious to omit no opportunity of drinking the king's health ; a point of loyalty which, like virtue of other kinds, had its own immediate reward. Loud and bold talkers, the Jacobites had accustomed themselves to think they were the prevailing party ; an " idea which those of any particular faction, who converse exclusively with each other, are usually found to entertain. Their want of knowledge of the world, and the total absence of news papers, save those of a strong party leaning, whose doctrines or facts they took care never to correct by consulting any of an opposite tendency, rendered them at once curious and credulous. This slight sketch of the Fife lairds may be applied, with equal justice, to the Jacobite country gentleman of that period in most counties of Scotland. They had virtues to balance their faults and follies. The political principles they followed had been handed down to them from their fathers ; they were connected, in their ideas, with the honour of their country; and they were prepared to defend them with a degree of zeal, which valued not the personal risks in which the doing so might place life and property. There were also individuals among them who had natural talents improved by education. But, in general, the persons whom the earl of Mar was now desirous to stir up to some sudden act of mutiny, were of that frank and fearless class who are not guilty of seeing far before them. They had already partaken in the general excitation caused by queen Anne's death, and the approaching crisis which was expected to follow that important event. They had struggled with the whig gentry, inferior in number, but generally more alert and sagacious in counsel and action, concerning the addresses of head-courts and the seats on the bench of justices. Many of them had com missioned swords, carabines, and pistols, from abroad. They had bought up horses fit for military service ; and some had taken into their service additional domestics, selecting in preference men who had served in some of the dragoon regiments, which l 3 I48 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Scot*. had been reduced in consequence of the peace of Utrecht. Still, notwithstanding these preparations for a rising, some of the lead ing men in Fife, as elsewhere, were disposed to hesitate before engaging in the irretrievable step of rebellion against the esta blished government. Their reluctance was overcome by the impatience of the majority, excited by the flattering though premature rumours which were actively circulated by a set of men, who might be termed the Intelligencers of the faction. It is well known that in every great political body there are persons, usually neither the wisest, the most important, nor most estimable, who endeavour to gain personal consequence by pretending peculiar access to information concerning its most intimate concerns, and who are equally credulous in believing, and indefatigable in communicating, whatever rumours are afloat concerning the affairs of the party whom they incumber by ad hering to. With several of these lord Mar communicated, and exalted their hopes to the highest pitch, by the advantageous light in which he placed the political matters which he wished them to support, trusting to the exaggerations and amplifications with which they were sure to retail what he had said. Such agents, changing what had been stated as probabilities into certainties, furnished an answer to every objection which could be offered by the more prudent of their party. If any cautious person objected to stir before the English Jacobites had shown themselves serious — some one of these active vouchers was ready to affirm, that every thing was on the point of a general rising in England, and only waited the appearance of a French fleet with ten thousand men, headed by the duke of Ormond. Did the listener prefer an invasion of Scotland, — the same num ber of men, with the duke of Berwick at their head, were as readily promised. Supplies of every kind were measured out, ac cording to the desire of the auditors ; and if any one was moderate enough to restrain his wish to a pair of pistols for his own use, he was assured of twenty brace to accommodate his friends and neighbours. This kind of mutual delusion was every day in creasing; for as those who engaged in the conspiracy were Sir W. Scott.] THE HUNTING OF BRAEMAR. 149 interested in obtaining as many proselytes as possible, they became active circulators of the sanguine hopes and expectations by which they, perhaps, began already to suspect that they had been themselves deceived. It is true, that looking abroad at the condition of Europe, these unfortunate gentlemen ought to have seen that the state of France at that time was far from being such as to authorize any expecta tions of the prodigal supplies which she was represented as being ready to furnish, or, rather, as being in the act of furnishing. Nothing was less likely than that that kingdom, just extricated from a war in which it had been nearly ruined by a peace so much more advantageous than they had reason to expect, should have been disposed to afford a pretext for breaking the treaty which had pacified Europe, and for renewing against France the confederacy under whose pressure she had nearly sunk. This- was more especially the case when, by the death of Louis XIV., whose ambition and senseless vanity had cost so much blood, the government devolved on the regent duke of Orleans. Had Louis survived, it is probable that, although he neither did nor dared to have publicly adopted the cause of the chevalier de St George, as was indeed evident by his refusing to receive him at his court, yet the recollection of his promise to the dying James II., as well as the wish to embarrass England, might have induced him to advance money, or give some underhand assist ance to the unhappy exile. But, upon Louis's death, the policy of the duke of Orleans, who had no personal ties whatever with the chevalier de St. George, induced him to keep entire good faith with Britain — to comply with the requisitions of the earl of Stair — and to put a stop to all such preparations in the French ports, as the vigilance of that minister had detected and de nounced as being made for the purpose of favouring the Jacobite insurrection. Thus, while the chevalier de St. George was repre sented as obtaining succours in arms, money, and troops from France, to an amount which that kingdom could hardly have supplied, and from her inferiority in naval force, certainly must have found it difficult to have transported into Britain, even in I^O HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Scott. Louis's most palmy days, the ports of that country were even closed against such exertions as the chevalier might make upon a small scale by means of his private resources. But the death of Louis XIV. was represented in Scotland as rather favourable than otherwise to the cause of James the pre tender. The power of France was now wielded, it was said, by a courageous and active young prince, to whose character enter prise was more natural than to that of an aged and heart-broken old man, and who would, of course, be ready to hazard as much, or more in the cause of the Jacobite than the late monarch had so often promised. In short, the death of Louis the great, long the hope and prop of the Jacobite cause, was boldly represented as a favourable event during the present crisis. Although a little dispassionate inquiry would have dispelled the fantastic hopes founded on the baseless rumour of foreign assis tance, yet such fictions as I have here alluded to, tending to exalt the zeal and spirits of the party, were circulated because they were believed, and believed because they were circulated ; and the gentlemen of Stirlingshire, Perth, Angus, and Fifeshire, began to leave their homes, and assemble in arms, though in small parties, at the foot of the Grampian hills, expecting the issue of lord Mar's negotiations in the highlands. Upon leaving Fifeshire, having communicated with such gentle men as were most likely to serve his purpose, Mar proceeded instantly to his own estates of Braemar, lying along the side of the river Dee, and took up his residence with Farquharson of Invercauld. This gentleman was chief of the clan of Farquharson, and could command a very considerable body of men. But he was vassal to lord Mar for a small part of his estate, which gave the earl considerable influence with him ; not, however, sufficient to induce him to place himself and followers in such hazard as would have been occasioned by an instant rising. He went to Aberdeen to avoid importunity upon the subject, having previously declared to Mar that he would not take arms until the chevalier de St. George had actually landed. At a later period he joined the insurgents. Sir W. SctrtT.] THE HUNTING OF BRAEMAR. IS' Disappointed in this instance, Mar conceived, that as desperate resolutions are usually most readily adopted in large assemblies, where men are hurried forward by example, and prevented from retreating or dissenting by shame, he should best attain his pur pose in a large convocation of the chiefs and men of rank who professed attachment to the exiled family. The assembly was made under pretext of a grand hunting match, which, as main tained in the highlands, was an occasion of general rendezvous of a peculiar nature. The lords attended at the head of their vassals, all, even lowland guests, attired in the highland garb, and the sport was carried on upon a scale of rude magnificence. A circuit of many miles was formed around the wild desolate forests and wildernesses which are inhabited by the red-deer, and is called the tinchel. Upon a signal given, the hunters who compose the tinchel begin to move inwards, closing the circle, and driving the terrified deer before them, with whatever else the forest contains of wild animals who cannot elude the surrounding sportsmen. Being in this manner concentrated and crowded together, they are driven down a defile, where the principal hunters lie in wait for them, and show their dexterity by marking out and shooting those bucks which are in season. As it required many men to form the tinchel, the attendance of vassals on these occasions was strictly insisted upon. Indeed, it was one of the feudal services required by the law, attendance on the superior at hunting being as regu larly required as at hosting, that is, joining his banner in war ; or watching and warding, garrisoning, namely, his castle in times of danger. An occasion such as this was highly favourable ; and the general love of sport, and well-known fame of the forest of Braemar for game of every kind, assembled many of the men of rank and influence who resided within reach of the rendezvous, and a great number of persons beside, who, though of less consequence, served to give the meeting the appearance of numbers. This great council was held about the 26th of August, and it may be supposed they did not amuse themselves much with hunting, though it was the pretence and watchword of their meeting. T,j2 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W.Scott. Among the noblemen of distinction, there appeared, in person or by representation, the marquis of Huntly, eldest son of the duke of Gordon ; the marquis of Tulliebardine, eldest son of the duke of Athole; the earls of Nithsdale, Marischal, Traquair, Errol, Southesk, Carnwath, Seaforth, and Linlithgow ; the viscounts of Kilsythe, Kenmuir, Kingston, and Stormount ; the lords Rollo, Duffus, Drummond, Strathallan, Ogilvy, and Nairne. Of the chiefs of clans, there attended Glengarry, Campbell of Glendarule, on the part of the powerful earl of Breadalbane, with others of various degrees of importance in the highlands. When this council was assembled, the earl of Mar addressed them in a species of eloquence which was his principal accom plishment, and which was particularly qualified to succeed with the high-spirited and zealous men by whom he was surrounded. He confessed, with tears in his eyes, that he had himself been but too instrumental in forwarding the union between England and Scotland, which had given the English the power, as they had the disposition, to enslave the latter kingdom. He urged that the prince of Hanover was an usurping intruder, governing by means of an encroaching and innovating faction ; and that the only mode to escape his tyranny was to rise boldly in defence of their lives and property, and to establish on the throne the lawful heir of these realms. He declared that he himself was determined to set up the standard of James III., and summon around it all those over whom he had influence, and to hazard his fortune and life in the cause. He invited all who heard him to unite in the same generous resolution. He was large in his promises of assistance from France in troops and money, and persisted in the story that two descents were to take place, one in England, under the com mand of Ormond, the other in Scotland, under that of the duke of Berwick. He also strongly assured his hearers of the certainty of a general insurrection in England, but alleged the absolute necessity of showing them an example in the north, for which the present time was most appropriate, as there were few regular troops in Scotland to restrain their operations, and as they might look for assistance to Sweden as well as to France. Sir W.Scott.] THE HUNTING OF BRAEMAR. iS3 It has been said that Mar, on this memorable occasion, showed letters from the chevalier de St. George, with a commission nomi nating the earl his lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of his armies in Scotland. Other accounts say, more probably, that Mar did not produce any other credentials than a picture of the chevalier, which he repeatedly kissed, in testimony of zeal for the cause of the original, and that he did not at the time pretend to the supreme command of the enterprise. This is also the account given in the statement of the transaction drawn up by Mar him self, or under his eye, where it is plainly said that it was nearly a month after the standard was set up ere the earl of Mar could procure a commission. The number of persons of rank who were assembled, the eloquence with which topics were publicly urged which had been long the secret inmates of every bosom, had their effect on the assembled guests; and every one felt that to oppose the current of the earl's discourse by remonstrance or objection, would be to expose himself to the charge of cowardice, or of dis affection to the common cause. It was agreed that all of them should return home, and raise, under various pretexts, whatever forces they could individually command against a day, fixed for the third of September, on which they were to hold a second meeting at Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire, in order to settle how they were to take the field. The marquis of Huntly alone declined to be bound to any limited time ; and in consequence of his high rank and importance, he was allowed to regulate his own motions at his own pleasure. Thus ended that celebrated hunting in Braemar, which, as the old bard says of that of Chevy Chace, might, from its conse quences, be wept by a generation which was yet unborn. There was a circumstance mentioned at the time, which tended to show that all men had not forgotten that the earl of Mar, on whose warrant this rash enterprise was undertaken, was considered by some as rather too versatile to be fully trusted. As the castle ol Braemar was overflowing with guests, it chanced that, as was not unusual on such occasions, many of the gentlemen of the secondary iS4 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [SirW. Scorr. class could not obtain beds, but were obliged to spend the night around the kitchen fire, which was then accounted no great grievance. An English footman, a domestic of the earl, was of a very different opinion. Accustomed to the accommodations of the south, he came bustling in among the gentlemen, and com plained bitterly of being obliged to sit up all night, notwithstanding he shared the hardship with his betters, saying, that rather than again expose himself to such a strait, he would return to his own country and turn whig. However, he soon after comforted him self by resolving to trust to his master's dexterity for escaping every great danger. " Let my lord alone," he said ; " if he finds it necessary, he can turn cat-in-pan with any man in England." While the lowland gentlemen were assembling their squadrons, and the highland chiefs levying their men, an incident took place in the metropolis of Scotland which showed that the spirit of the enterprise which animated the Jacobites, had extended to the capital itself. James, lord Drummond, son of that unfortunate earl of Perth, who, having served James VII. as chancellor of Scotland, had shared the exile of his still more unfortunate master, and been rewarded with the barren title of duke of Perth, was at present in Edinburgh; and by means of one Mr. Arthur, who had been formerly an ensign in the Scots Guards, and quartered in the castle, had formed a plan of surprising that inaccessible fortress, which resembled an exploit of Thomas Randolph, or the Black lord James of Douglas, rather than a feat of modern war. This ensign Arthur found means of seducing, by money and promises, a sergeant named Ainslie and two privates, who engaged that, when it was their duty to watch on the walls which rise from the precipice looking northward, near the sally-port, they would be prepared to pull up from the bottom certain rope-ladders prepared for the purpose, and furnished with iron grapplings to make them fast to the battlements. By means of these, it was concluded that a select party of Jacobites might easily scale the walls and make themselves masters of the place. By a beacon placed on a par ticular part of the castle, three rounds of artillery, and a succession SirW. Scott.] THE HUNTING OF BRAEMAR. »S5 of fires made from hill to hill through Fife and Angus shires, the signal of success was to be communicated to the earl of Mar, who was to hasten forward with such forces as he had collected, and take possession of the capital city and chief strength of Scot land. There was no difficulty in finding agents in this "perilous and im portant enterprise. Fifty highlanders, picked men, were sum moned up from lord Drummond's estates in Perthshire, and fifty more were selected among the Jacobites of the metropolis. These last were disbanded officers, writers' clerks and apprentices, and other youths of a class considerably above the mere vulgar. Drummond, otherwise called MacGregor, of Bahaldie, a highland gentleman of great courage, was named to command the enter prise. If successful this achievement must have given the earl of Mar and his forces the command of the greater part of Scotland, and afforded them a safe and ready means of communication with the English malcontents, the want of which was afterwards so severely felt. He would also have obtained a large supply of money, arms, and ammunition, deposited in the fortress, all of which were most needful for his enterprise. And the apathy of lieutenant-colonel Stewart, then deputy-governor of the castle, was so great that, in spite of numerous blunders on the part of the conspirators, and an absolute revelation on the subject made to government, the surprise had very nearly taken place. The younger conspirators who were to go on this forlorn hope, had not discretion in proportion to their courage. Eighteen of them, on the night appointed, were engaged drinking in a tippling- house, and were so careless in their communications that the hostess was able to tell some person who inquired what the meeting was about, that it consisted of young gentlemen who were in the act of having their hair powdered in order to go to the attack of the castle. At last the full secret was intrusted to a woman. Arthur, their guide, had communicated the plot to his brother, a medical man, and engaged him in the enterprise. But when the time for executing it drew nigh, the doctor's extreme melancholy was observed by his wife, who, like a second Belvidera 156 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W.Scott, or Portia, suffered him not to rest until she extorted the secret from him, which she communicated in an anonymous letter to sir Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, then lord justice-clerk, who in stantly despatched the intelligence to the castle. The news arrived so critically, that it was with difficulty the messenger obtained entrance to the castle; and even then the deputy- governor, disbelieving the intelligence, or secretly well affected to the cause of the pretender, contented himself with directing the rounds and patrols to be made with peculiar care, and retired to rest. In the meantime the Jacobite storming party had rendezvoused at the churchyard of the West Kirk, and proceeded to post them selves beneath the castle wall. They had a part of their rope ladders in readiness, but the artificer, one Charles Forbes, a merchant in Edinburgh, who ought to have been there with the remainder, which had been made under his direction, was nowhere to be seen. Nothing could be done during his absence; but actuated by their impatience, the party scrambled up the rock, and stationed themselves beneath the wall at the point where their accomplice kept sentry. Here they found him ready to perform his stipulated part of the bargain, by pulling up the ladder of ropes which was designed to give them admittance. He exhorted them, however, to be speedy, telling them he was to be relieved by the patrol at twelve o'clock, and if the affair were not com pleted before that hour, that he could give no further assistance. The time was fast flying, when Bahaldie, the commander of the storming party, persuaded the sentinel to pull up the grapnel and make it fast to the battlements, that it might appear whether or not they had length of ladder sufficient to make the attempt. But it proved, as indeed they had expected, more than a fathom too short. At half-past eleven o'clock the steps of the patrol, who had been sent their rounds earlier than usual, owing to the message of the lord justice-clerk, were heard approaching, on which the sentinel exclaimed with an oath, " Here come the rounds I have been telling you of this half-hour ; you have ruined both yourselves and me ; I can serve you no longer." With that he threw down Sir W. Scott.] THE HUNTING OF BRAEMAR. *57 the grappling-iron and ladders, and in the hope of covering his own guilt, fired his musket and cried " Enemy ! " Every man was then compelled to shift for himself, the patrol firing on them from the wall. Twelve soldiers of the burgher guard, who had been directed by the lord justice-clerk to make the round of the castle on the outside, took prisoners three youths, who insisted that they were found there by mere accident, and an old man, captain MacLean, an officer of James VII., who was much bruised by a fall from the rocks. The rest of the party escaped along the north bank of the North Loch through the fields called Barefoord's Parks, on which the new town of Edinburgh now stands. In their retreat they met their tardy engineer, Charles Forbes, loaded with the ladders which were so much wanted a quarter of an hour before. Had it not been for his want of punctuality, the informa tion and precautions of the lord justice-clerk would have been in sufficient for the safety of the place. It does not appear that any of the conspirators were punished, nor would it have been easy to obtain proof of their guilt. The treacherous sergeant was hanged by sentence of court-martial, and the deputy-governor (whose name of Stewart might perhaps aggravate the suspicion that attached to him) was deprived of his office, and imprisoned for some time. It needed not this open attack on the castle of Edinburgh, or the general news of lord Mar's highland armament, and the rising of the disaffected gentlemen in arms throughout most of the counties of Scotland, to call the attention of king George's govern ment to the disturbed state of that part of his dominions. Measures for defence were hastily adopted. The small number of regular troops who were then in Scotland were concentrated for the purpose of forming a camp at Stirling, in order to prevent the rebels from seizing the bridge over the Forth, and thereby forcing their way into the Low country. But four regiments, on the peace establishment, only mustered two hundred and fifty- seven men each ; four regiments of dragoons were considerably under two hundred to a regiment— a total of only fifteen hundred nen at the utmost. jc8 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Tobias Smollett. faxfl&iU §tfsmg, 1715. Tobias Smollett. The'earl of Mar was at the head of 10,000 men well armed : he had secured the pass of the Tay at Perth, where his head quarters were established, and made himself master of the whole fruitful province of Fife, and all the seacoast on that side of the Frith to Edinburgh. He selected 2,500 men, commanded by brigadier Mackintosh, to make a descent on the Lothian side, and join the Jacobites in that country, or such as should take arms on the borders of England ; boats were assembled for this purpose ; and, notwithstanding all the precautions that could be taken by the king's ships on the Frith to prevent the design, above r,5oo chosen men made good their passage in the night, and landed on the coast of Lothian, having crossed an arm of the sea about sixteen miles broad in open boats that passed through the midst of the king's cruisers. Nothing could be better concerted, or executed with more conduct and courage, than was this hazardous enterprise. They amused the king's ships with marches and countermarches along the coast in such a manner that they could not possibly know where they intended to embark. The earl of Mar, in the meantime, marched from Perth to Dumblane as if he had intended to cross the Forth at Stirling Bridge ; but his real design was to divert the duke of Argyle from attacking his detach ment which had landed in Lothian. So far the scheme succeeded. The duke, who had assembled some troops near Lothian, returned to Stirling with the utmost expedition, after having secured Edinburgh, and obliged Mackintosh to abandon his design on that city. This partisan had actually taken possession of Leith, from whence he retired to Seaton house, near Prestonpans, which he fortified in such a manner that he could not be forced without artillery ; here he remained until he received an order across the TobiXs Shollett.] fACOBITE RISING, 171s. 1 59 Forth from the earl of Mar to join lord Kenmuir and the English at Kelso, for which place he immediately began his march, and reached it on the 22nd of October, though a good many of his men had deserted on the route. The lord Kenmuir, with the earls of Wintoun, Nithsdale, and Carnwath, the earl of Derwent- water and Mr. Forster, with the English insurgents, arriving at the same time, a council of war was immediately called. Wintoun proposed that they should march immediately into the western parts of Scotland and join general Gordon, who commanded a strong body of highlanders in Argyleshire ; the English insisted on crossing the Tweed and attacking general Carpenter, whose troops did not exceed 900 dragoons : neither scheme was executed. They took the route to Jedburgh, where they resolved to leave Carpenter on one side, and penetrate into England by the western border ; the highlanders declared they would not quit their own country ; but were ready to execute the scheme pro posed by the earl of Wintoun ; means were, however, found to prevail on one half of them to advance, while the rest returned to the highlands. At Brampton Forster opened his commission of general, which had been sent to him from the earl of Mar, and proclaimed the pretender; they continued their march to Penrith, where the sheriff, assisted by lord Lonsdale and the bishop of Carlisle, had assembled the whole posse comitatus of Cumberland, amounting to 12,000 men, who dispersed with the utmost precipitation at the approach of the rebels. From Penrith Forster proceeded by the way of Kendal and Lancaster to Preston, from whence Stanhope's regiment of dragoons and another of militia immediately retired,. so that he took possession of the place without resistance. General Wills marched against the enemy with six regiments of horse and dragoons and one battalion of foot commanded by colonel Preston. They had advanced to the bridge of Ribble before Forster received intelligence of their approach ; he forth with proceeded to raise barricades and put the place in a posture of defence. On the 12th of November the town was briskly attacked in two different places ; but the king's troops met with 160 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Tobias Smollett. a very warm reception, and were repulsed with considerable loss. Next day general Carpenter arrived with a reinforcement of three regiments of dragoons, and the rebels were invested on all sides. The highlanders declared they would make a sally, sword in hand, and either cut their way through the king's troops or perish in the attempt; but they were overruled. Forster sent colonel Oxburgh with a trumpet to general Wills to propose a capitulation. He was given to understand that the general would not treat with rebels ; but in case of their surrendering at discretion, he would prevent his soldiers from putting them to the sword until he should receive further orders ; he granted them time to consider till next morning on their delivering the earl of Derwentwater and Mackintosh as hostages. When Forster submitted, this high- lander declared he could not promise the Scots would surrender in that manner ; the general desired him to return to his people, and he would forthwith attack the town, in which case every man of them would be cut to pieces. The Scottish noblemen did not choose to run the risk, and persuaded the highlanders to accept the terms that were offered. They accordingly laid down their arms and were put under a strong guard. All the noblemen and leaders were secured. Major Nairn, captain Lockhart, and ensign Erskine were tried by a court-martial as deserters and executed ; lord Charles Murray, son of the duke of Athole, was likewise condemned for the same crime, but reprieved; the common men were imprisoned at Chester and Liverpool, the noblemen and considerable officers were sent to London, con veyed through the streets pinioned like malefactors, and com mitted to the Tower and Newgate. [The day on which the rebels surrendered at Preston was re markable for the battle of Dumblane, fought between the duke of Argyle and the earl of Mar, who commanded the pretender's forces.] Mar, having been joined by the northern clans, under the earl of Seaforth, and those of the west, commanded by general Gordon, who had signalised himself in the service of the czar of Muscovy, resolved to pass the Forth, in order to join his southern friends, Tobias Smollett.] JACOBITE RISING, 17.5. 16 1 that they might march together into England. With this view he advanced to Auchterarder, where he reviewed his army, and rested on the nth of November. The duke of Argyle, apprised of his intention, and being joined by some regiments of dragoons from Ireland, determined to give him battle in the neighbourhood of Dumblane. On the 12th of the month, Argyle passed the Forth at Stirling, and encamped, with his left at the village of Dumblane and his right towards Sheriffmuir. The earl of Mar advanced within two miles of his camp, and remained till daybreak in order of battle. His army consisted of 9,000 effective men, cavalry as well as infantry. In the morning, the duke, understanding they were in motion, drew up his forces, which did not exceed 3,500 men, on the heights to the north-east of Dumblane ; but he was outflanked both on the right and left. The clans that formed part of the centre and right wing of the enemy, with Glengarry and Clanranald at their head, charged the left of the king's army, sword in hand, with such impetuosity, that in seven minutes both horse and foot were totally routed with great slaughter, and general Whetham, who commanded them, fled at full gallop to Stirling, where he declared the royal army was totally defeated. In the meantime the duke of Argyle, who commanded in person on the right, attacked the left of the enemy, at the head of Stair's and Evans's dragoons, and drove them two miles before him, as far as the water of Allan. Yet in that space they wheeled about, and attempted to rally ten times, so that he was obliged to press them hard that they might not recover from their confusion. Brigadier Wightman followed in order to sustain him, with three battalions of infantry ; while the victorious right wing of the rebels, having pursued Whetham a considerable way, returned to the field, and formed in the rear of Wightman to the amount of 5,000 men. The duke of Argyle, returning from the pursuit, joined Wightman, who had faced about and taken possession of some enclosures and mud-walls, in expectation of being attacked. In this posture both armies fronted each other till evening, when the duke drew off towards Dumblane, and the rebels retired to Ardoch without mutual molestation. Next day the duke marched back to the 1 62 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Tobias Smollett. field of battle, carried off the wounded, with four pieces of cannon left by the enemy, and retreated to Stirling. Few prisoners were taken on either side ; the number of slain might be about five hundred of each army, and both generals claimed the victory. This battle was not so fatal to the highlanders as the loss of In verness, from which sir John Mackenzie was driven by Simon Frazer, lord Lovat, who, contrary to the principles he had hitherto professed, , secured this important post for the government, by which means a free communication was opened with the north of Scotland, where the earl of Sutherland had raised a considerable body of vassals. The marquis of Huntly and the earl of Seaforth were obliged to quit the rebel army in order to defend their own territories, and in a little time submitted to king George ; the marquis of Tullibardine withdrew from the army to cover his own country, and the clans, seeing no likelihood of another action, begun to disperse according to custom. The Government was now in a condition to send strong rein forcements to Scotland; 6,000 men, that were claimed of the states-general by virtue of the treaty, landed in England and began their march to Edinburgh. General Cadogan set out for the same place with brigadier Petit, and six other engineers ; and a train of artillery was shipped at the Tower for that country, the duke of Argyle resolving to drive the earl of Mar out of Perth, to which town he had retired with the remains of his forces. The pretender having been amused with the hope of seeing the whole kingdom of England rise up as one man in his behalf, and the duke of Ormond having made a fruitless voyage to the western coast, to try the disposition of the people, he was now convinced of the vanity of his expectations in that quarter, and as he knew not what other course to take, he resolved to hazard his person among his friends in Scotland at a time when his affairs in that kingdom were absolutely desperate. From Bretagne he posted through part of France in disguise ; and embarking in a small vessel at Dunkirk hired for that purpose, arrived on the 22nd of December at Peterhead, with six gentlemen in his retinue, one of whom was the marquis of Teignmou'th, son to the duke of Rerwick. He Tobias Smollett.] JACOBITE RISING, 1715. 163 passed through Aberdeen incognito to Fetteresso, where he was met by the earls of Mar and Marischal, and about thirty noblemen and gentlemen of the first quality. Here he was solemly pro claimed; his declaration dated Commercy was printed and cir culated through all the parts in that neighbourhood, and he received addresses from the episcopal clergy and the laity of that community in the diocese of Aberdeen. On the 5th of January he made his public entry into Dundee, and on the 7th arrived at Scone, where he seemed determined to stay until the ceremony of his coronation should be performed , from thence he made an excursion to Perth, where he reviewed his forces ; then he formed a regular council, and published six proclamations ; one for a general thanksgiving on account of his safe arrival ; another enjoining the ministers to pray for him in churches ; a third establishing the currency of foreign coins ; a fourth summoning the meeting of the convention of estates ; a fifth ordering all sensible men to repair to his standard : and a sixth fixing the 23rd of January for his coronation. He made a pathetic speech in a grand council, at which all the chiefs of his party assisted. They determined, however, to abandon the enterprize, as the king's army was reinforced by the Dutch auxili aries, and they themselves were not only reduced to a small number, but likewise destitute of money, arms, ammunition, forage, and provisions, for the duke of Argyle had taken posses sion of Burntisland, and transported a detachment to Fife, so as to cut off Mar's communication with that fertile country. Notwithstanding the severity of the weather and a prodigious fill of snow, which rendered the roads almost impassable, the duke, on the 29th of January, began his march to Dumblane, and next day reached Tullibardine, where he received intelligence that the pretender and his forces had, on the preceding day, retired towards Dundee. He forthwith took possession of Perth, and then began his march to Aberbrothwick, in pursuit of the enemy. The chevalier de St: George being thus hotly pursued, was pre vailed on to embark on board a small French ship that lay in the harbour of Montrose. He was accompanied by the earls of Mar M 2 164 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Scott. and M effort, lord Drummond, lieutenant-general Bulkley, and other persons of distinction, to the number of seventeen. In order to avoid the English cruisers, they stretched over to Norway, and coasting along the German and Dutch shores, arrived in five days at Gravelines. General Gordon, whom the pretender had left commander-in-chief of the forces, assisted by the earl marshal, proceeded with them to Aberdeen, where he secured three vessels to sail northward and take on board the persons who intended to make their escape to the continent. Then they continued their march through Strathspey and Strathdown to the hills of Badenoch, where the common people were quietly dismissed. This retreat was made with such expedition, that the duke of Argyle, with all his activity, could never overtake their rearguard, which consisted of a. thousand horse, commanded by the earl marshal. Such was the issue of a rebellion, that proved fatal to many noble families ; ' a rebellion which in all probability would never have happened had not the violent measures of a whig ministry kindled" such a flame of discontent in the nation, as encouraged the partizans of the pretender to hazard a revolt. featmtrct of % Jacobite ^prisoners. Sir Walter Scott. The prisoners of most note were sent up to London, into which they were introduced in a kind of procession, which did less dishonour to the sufferers than to the mean minds who planned and enjoyed such an ignoble triumph. By way of balancing the influence of the tory mob, whose violences in burning chapels, &c, had been of a formidable and highly criminal character, plans had been adopted by government to excite and maintain a rival spirit of tumult among such of the vulgar as were called, or called themselves, the low church party. Party factions often turn upon the most frivolous badges of distinction. As the tories had affected a particular passion for ale, as a national and truly Sir W. Scott.] TREATMENT OF THE JACOBITE PRISONERS. 165 English potation, their parliamentary associations taking the title of the October and the March clubs ; so, in the spirit of opposi tion, the whigs of the lower rank patronised beer (distinguished, according to Dr. Johnson, from ale, by being either older or smaller), and mug-houses were established, held by landlords of orthodox whig principles, where this protestant and revolutionary liquor was distributed in liberal quantities, and they speedily were thronged by a set of customers, whose fists and sticks were as prompt to assault the admirers of high church and Ormond, as the tories were ready to defend them. It was for the gratifica tion of the frequenters of these mug-houses, as they were called, that the entrance of the Preston prisoners into London was graced with the mock honours of a triumphal procession. The prisoners, most of them men of birth and education, were, on approaching the capital, all pinioned with cords like the vilest criminals. This ceremony they underwent at Barnet. At High- gate they were met by a large detachment of horse grenadiers and foot guards, preceded by a body of citizens decently dressed, who shouted to give example to the mob. Halters were put upon the horses ridden by the prisoners, and each man's horse was led by a private soldier. Forster, a man of high family, and still member of Parliament for Northumberland, was exposed in the same manner as the rest. A large mob of the patrons of the mug- houses attended upon the occasion, beating upon warming-pans (in allusion to the vulgar account of the birth of the chevalier de St. George), and the prisoners, with all sorts of scurrilous abuse and insult, were led through the streets of the city in this species of unworthy triumph, and deposited in the jails of Newgate, the Marshalsea, and other prisons in the metropolis. In consequence of this sudden increase of tenants, a most ex traordinary change took place in the discipline of these melan choly abodes. When the high church party in London began to recover from the astonishment with which they had witnessed the suppression of the insurrection, they could not look back with much satisfaction on their own passive behaviour during the con test, if it could be called one, and now endeavoured to make up 1 66 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Scott. for it by liberally supplying the prisoners, whom they regarded as martyrs in their cause, with money and provisions, in which wine was not forgotten'. The fair sex are always disposed to be com passionate, and certainly were not least so in this case, where the objects of pity were many of them gallant young cavaliers, sufferers in a cause which they had been taught to consider as sacred. The consequence was, that the prisons overflowed with wine and good cheer, and the younger and more thoughtless part of the inmates turned to revelling and drowning in liquor all more serious thoughts of their situation ; so that even lord Derwentwater himself said of his followers, that they were fitter inhabitants for Bridewell than a state prison. Money, it is said, circulated so plentifully among them, that when it was difficult to obtain silver for a guinea in the streets, nothing was so easy as to find change, whether of gold or silver, in the jail. A handsome, high-spirited young highland gentleman, whom the pamphlets of the day called Bottair (one of the family of Butter in Athole), made such an impression on the fair visitors who came to minister to the wants of the Jacobite captives, that some reputa tions were put to peril by the_excess of their attentions to this favourite object of compassion. When such a golden shower descends on a prison, the jailor generally secures to himself the largest share of it ; and those prisoners who desired separate beds, or the slightest accommoda- . tion in point of lodging, had to purchase them at a rate which would have paid for many years the rent of the best houses in St. James's square or Piccadilly. Dungeons, the names of which indicate their gloomy character, as the lion's den, the middle dark, and the like, were rented at the same extravagant prices, and were not only filled with prisoners, but abounded with good cheer. These riotous scenes went on the more gaily that almost all had nursed a hope, that their having surrendered at discretion would be admitted as a protection for their lives. But when numerous bills of high treason were found against them, escape from prison began to be thought of, which the command of money, and the Sir W.Scott.] TREATMENT OF THE JACOBITE PRISONERS. 167 countenance of their friends without doors, as well as the general structure of the jails, rendered more easy than could have been expected. Thus, on the ioth of April, 1716, Thomas Forster escaped from Newgate, by means of false keys, and having all things prepared, got safely to France. On the ioth of May, brigadier Mackintosh, whom we have so often mentioned, with fourteen other gentlemen, chiefly Scottish, took an opportunity to escape in the following manner. The brigadier having found means to rid himself of his irons, and coming down stairs about eleven at night, he placed himself close by the door of the jail ; and as it was opened to admit a servant at that time of night (no favourable example of prison discipline), he knocked down the jailor, and made his escape with his companions, some of whom were retaken in the streets, from not knowing whither to fly. Among the fugitives who broke prison with Mackintosh, was Robert Hepburn, of Keith. This gentleman had pinioned the arms of the turnkey by an effort of strength, and effected his escape into the open street without pursuit. But he was at a loss whither to fly, or where to find a friendly place of refuge. His wife and family were, he knew, in London ; but how, in that great city, was he to discover them, especially as they most probably were residing there under feigned names ? While he was agitated by this uncertainty, and fearful of making the least inquiry, even had he known in what words to express it, he saw at a window in the street an ancient piece of plate, called the Keith tankard, which had long be longed to his family. He immediately conceived that his wife and children must be inhabitants of the lodgings, and entering, without asking questions, was received in their arms. They knew of his purpose of escape, and took lodgings as near the jail as they could, that they might afford him immediate refuge ; but dared not give him any hint where they were, otherwise than by setting the well-known flagon where it might by good fortune catch his eye. He escaped to France. Tg3 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Tobias Smollett. Tobias Smollett. On Thursday, the 19th of January, all the impeached lords pleaded guilty to the articles exhibited against them, except the earl of Wintoun, who petitioned for a longer time on various pretences. The rest received sentence of death on the 9th of February, in the court erected in Westminster Hall, where the lord chancellor Cowper presided as lord high steward on that occasion. The countess of Nithsdale and lady Nairn threw themselves at the king's feet as he passed through the apartments of the palace and implored his mercy on behalf of their husbands ; but their tears and entreaties produced no effect ; the council resolved that the sentence should be executed, and orders were given for that purpose to the lieutenant of the Tower, and the sheriffs of London and Middlesex. The countess of Derwentwater, with her sister, accompanied by the duchesses of Cleveland and Bolton and several other ladies of the first distinction, was introduced by the dukes of Richmond and St. Albans into the king's bed-chamber, where she invoked his majesty's clemency for her unfortunate consort ; she afterwards repaired to the lobby of the house of peers, attended by the ladies of the other condemned lords, and above twenty others of the same quality, and begged the intercession of the house, but no regard was paid to their petition. Next day they petitioned both houses of parliament; the commons rejected their suit. In the upper house the duke of Richmond delivered a petition from the earl of Derwentwater, to whom he was nearly related, at the same time declaring that he himself should oppose his solicitation ; the earl of Derby expressed some compassion for the numerous family of lord Nairn ; petitions for the rest were presented by other lords, moved with pity and humanity. Lord Townshend and others vehemently opposed their being read. The earl of Nottingham thought this indulgence might be granted ; the house assented to Tobias Smollett.] FATE OF THE JACOBITES. 169 his opinion, and agreed to an address, praying his majesty would reprieve such of the condemned lords as should seem to deserve his mercy. To this petition the king answered, that on this and all other occasions he would do what he thought mOst consistent with the dignity of his crown and the safety of his people. The earl of Nottingham, president of the council ; his brother, the earl of Aylesbury, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster ; his son, lord Finch, one of the lords of the treasury ; his kinsman, lord Guernsey, master of the jewel office, were altogether dismissed from his majesty's service. Orders were dispatched for executing the earls of Derwentwater and Nithsdale and the viscount Kenmuir imme diately, the others were respited till the 7th of March. Nithsdale made his escape in woman's apparel, furnished and conveyed to him by his wife. On the 24th of February, Derwentwater and Kenmuir were beheaded on Tower hill ; the former was an amiable youth, brave, open, generous, hospitable, and humane. His fate drew tears from the spectators, and was a great misfortune to the country in which he lived ; he gave bread to multitudes of people whom he em ployed on his estates ; the poor, the widow, and the orphan rejoiced in his bounty. Kenmuir was a virtuous nobleman, calm, sensible, resolute, and resigned. He was a devout member of the English church, but the other died in the faith of Rome : both adhered to their political principles. On the 15th of March, Wintoun was brought to trial, and being convicted, received sentence of death. When the king passed the land-tax bill (1716), which was ushered in with an extraordinary preamble, he informed both houses of parliament of the pretender's flight from Scotland. In the beginning of April a commission for trying the rebels met in the court of common pleas, when bills of high treason were found against Mr. Forster, Mackintosh, and twenty of their confederates. Forster escaped from Newgate and reached the continent in safety ; the rest pleaded not guilty, and were indulged with time to prepare for their trials. The judges appointed to try the rebels at Liverpool found a considerable number guilty of high treason ; 170 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Tobias Smollett. two-and-twenty were executed at Preston and Manchester. About a thousand prisoners submitted to the king's mercy, and petitioned for transportation. Pitts, the keeper of Newgate, being suspected of having connived at Forster's escape, was tried for his life at the Old Bailey and acquitted. Notwithstanding this prosecution, which ought to have redoubled the vigilance of the jailors, brigadier Mackintosh and several other prisoners broke from Newgate, after having mastered the keeper and turnkey, and disarmed the sentinel. The court proceeded with the trials of those that re mained, and a great number were found guilty. Four or five were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, and amongst these was one William Paul, a clergyman, who in his last speech professed himself a true and sincere member of the church of England, but not of the revolution schismatical church, whose bishops had abandoned the king, and shamefully given up their ecclesiastical rights, by submitting to the unlawful, invalid, lay deprivations authorised by the prince of Orange. The earl of Oxford, who had now remained almost two years a prisoner in the Tower, presented a petition to the lords that his imprisonment might not be indefinite. Some of the tory lords affirmed that the impeachment was destroyed and determined by the prorogation of parliament, which superseded the whole pro ceedings, but the contrary was voted by the majority. The 13th of June was fixed for the trial, and the house of commons made acquainted with this determination. The commons appointed a committee to enquire into the state of the earl's impeachment, and in consequence of their report sent a message to the lords demand ing a longer time to prepare for trial ; accordingly the day was prolonged to the 24th of June ; and the commons appointed the committee, with four other members, to be managers for making good the articles of impeachment. At the appointed time the peers repaired to the court in Westminster hall, where lord Cowper presided as lord steward ; the commons were assembled as a com mittee of the whole house ; the king, the rest of the royal family, and the foreign ministers assisted at the solemnity. The earl Tobias Smoliett.] FATE OF THE JACOBITES. iyi of Oxford was brought from the Tower, the articles of impeach ment were read, with his answers, and the replications of the commons. Sir Joseph Jekyl standing up to make good the first articles, lord Harcourt signified to their lordships that he had a motion to make, and they adjourned to their own house ; there he repre sented that a great deal of time would be unnecessarily consumed in going through all the articles of the impeachment ; that if the commons would make good the two articles for high treason, the earl of Oxford would forfeit both life and estate, and there would be an end of the matter ; whereas to proceed on the method pro posed by the commons would draw the trial on to a prodigious length ; he therefore moved that the commons might not be permitted to proceed until judgment should be first given on the articles of high treason. He was supported by the earls of Anglesea and Nottingham, the lord Trevor, and a considerable number of both parties;. and, though opposed by the earls of Sunderland, the lords Coningsby and Parker, the motion was carried in the affirmative. It produced a dispute between the two houses ; the commons, at a conference, delivered a paper contain ing their reasons for asserting it as their undoubted right to impeach a peer either for treason or for high crimes and misdemeanours ; or should they see occasion, to mix both in the same accusation. The house of lords insisted on their former resolution, and in another conference delivered a paper, wherein they asserted it to be a right in every court of justice to order and direct such methods of proceeding as it should think fit to be observed in all causes that fall under its cognizance ; the commons demanded a free conference, which was refused ; the dispute grew more and more warm. The lords sent a message to the lower house im porting that they intended presently to proceed on the trial of the earl of Oxford ; the commons paid no regard to this intimation, but adjourned to the 3rd of July. The lords, repairing to West minster hall, took their places, ordered the earl to be brought to the bar, and made proclamation for his accusers to appear. Having waited a quarter of an hour, they adjourned to their own house, 172 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Ladv Nithsdale, where, after some debate, the earl was acquitted on a division ; then returning to the hall, they voted that he should be set at liberty. Oxford owed his safety to the dissensions among the ministers, and to the late change in the administration : in consequence of this he was delivered from the persecutions of Walpole, and numbered among his friends the dukes of Devonshire and Argyle, the earls of Nottingham and Hay, and lord Townshend. The commons, in order to express their sense of his demerits, presented an address to the king desiring he might be excepted out of the intended act of grace ; the king promised to comply with their request, and in the meantime forbade the earl to appear at c'ourt. On the 15th of July the earl of Sunderland delivered in the house of peers the act of grace, which passed through both houses with great expedition. From this indulgence were excepted the earl of Oxford, Mr. Prior, Mr. Thomas Harley, Mr. Arthur Moore; Crisp, Nodes, O'Bryan, Redmarne the printer, and Thompson ; as also the assassinators in Newgate, and the clan of Macgregor in Scotland. By virtue of this act, the earl of Carnwath, the lords Widdrington and Nairn, were immediately discharged ; together with all the gentlemen under sentence of death at New gate, and those that were confined on account of the rebellion in the Fleet, the Marshalsea, and other prisons of the kingdom. From Lady Nithsdale — to her Sister the Countess of Traquajr. (From Lord Ma/ton's History and the Percy Anecdotes.) My lord was very anxious that a petition might be presented, hoping that it would, at least, be serviceable to me. , I was in my own mind convinced that it would answer no purpose ; but as I wished to please my lord I desired him to have it drawn up, and I undertook to make it come to the king's hand ; notwithstanding ail the precautions he had taken to avoid it. So the first day I Lady Nithsdale.] ESCAPE OF LORD NITHSDALE. 173 heard that the king was to go to the drawing-room, I dressed myself in black, as if I were in mourning, and sent for Mrs. Morgan (the same who accompanied me to the Tower), because as I did not know his majesty personally I might have mistaken some other person for him. She stayed by me and told me when he was coming. I had also another lady with me ; and we three remained in a room between the king's apartments and the drawing-room, so that he was obliged to go through it ; and as there were three windows in it we sat in the middle one that I might have time enough to meet him before he could pass. I threw myself at his feet, and told him in French that I was the unfortunate countess of Nithsdale, that he might not pretend to be ignorant of my person. But perceiving that he wanted to go off without receiving my petition, I caught hold of the skirt of his coat, that he might stop and hear me. He endeavoured to escape out of my hands ; but I kept such strong hold that he dragged me upon my knees from the middle of the room to the very door of the drawing-room. At last one of the blue ribbons who attended his majesty took me round the waist while another wrested the coat out of my hands. The petition which I had endeavoured to thrust into his pocket fell down in the scuffle, and I almost fainted away through grief and disappointment. ****** Upon this I formed the resolution to attempt his escape, but opened my intention to nobody but my dear Evans. In order to concoct measures I strongly solicited to be permitted to see my lord, which they refused to grant me unless I would remain con fined with him in the Tower. This I would not submit to, and alleged for excuse that my health would not permit me to undergo the confinement. The real reason of my refusal was, not to put it out of my power to accomplish my design. However, by bribing the guards, I often contrived to . see my lord, till the day upon which the prisoners were condemned ; after that, we were allowed for the last week to see and take our leave of them. By the help of Evans I had prepared everything necessary to disguise my lord, but had the utmost difficulty to prevail on him to make us» of 174 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lady Nithsdale them. However, I at length succeeded by the help of Almighty God. On the 22nd of February, which fell on a Thursday, our petition was to be presented to the house of lords ; the purport of which was to entreat the lords to intercede with his Majesty to pardon the prisoners. We were, however, disappointed the day before the petition was to be presented ; for the duke of St. Alban's, who had promised my lady Derwentwater to present it, when it came to the point, failed in his word. However, as she was the only English countess concerned, it was incumbent upon her to have it presented. We had but one day left before the execution, and the duke still promised to present the petition ; but for fear he should fail, I engaged the duke of Montrose to secure its being done by one or the other. I then went in company of most of the ladies of quality who were then in town, to solicit the interest of the lords as they were going to the house. They all behaved to me with great civility, but particularly my lord Pem broke, who, though he desired me not to speak to him, yet promised to employ his interest in our favour, and honourably kept his word, for he spoke in the house very strongly in our behalf. The subject of the debate was whether the king had power to pardon those who had been condemned by the parlia ment ; and it was chiefly owing to lord Pembroke's speech that it passed in the affirmative. However, one of the lords stood up and said, that the house would only intercede for those of the prisoners who should approve themselves worthy of their inter cession, but not for all of them indiscriminately. This salvo quite blasted all my hopes, for I was assured it aimed at the exclusion of those who should refuse to subscribe to the petition, which was a thing I knew my lord would never submit to; nor, in fact, could I wish to preserve his life on such terms. As' the motion had passed generally I thought I could draw some advantage in favour of my design. Accordingly I im mediately left the house of lords and hastened to the Tower, where, affecting an air of joy and satisfaction, I told all the guards I passed by. that I came to bring joyful tidings to the prisoners. I Lady Nithsdale.] ESCAPE OF LORD NITHSDALE. 175 desired them to lay aside their fears, for the petition had passed the house in their favour. I then gave them some money to drink to the lords and his majesty, though it was but trifling, for I thought that if I were too liberal on the occasion they might suspect my designs, and that giving them something would gain their good humour and services for the next day, which was the eve of the execution. The- next morning I could not go to the Tower, having so many things in my hands to put in readiness ; but in the evening, when all was ready, I sent for Mrs. Mills, with whom I lodged, and acquainted her with my design of attempting my lord's escape, as there was no prospect of his being pardoned ; and this was the last night before the execution. I told her I had every thing in readiness, and that I trusted she would not refuse to accompany me, that my lord might pass for her. I pressed her to come immediately, as we had no time to lose. At the same time I sent for a Mrs. Morgan, then usually known by the name of Hilton, to whose acquaintance my dear Evans had introduced me, which I look on as a very singular happiness. I immediately communicated my resolution. She was of a very tall and slender make, so I begged her to put under her own riding-hood one that I had prepared for Mrs. Mills, as she was to lend hers to my lord that in coming out he might be taken for her. Mrs. Mills was not only of the same height, but nearly of the same size as my lord. When we were in the coach I never ceased talking, that they might have no leisure to reflect. Their surprise and aston ishment when I first opened my design to them, had made them consent without ever thinking of the consequences. On our arrival at the Tower, the first I introduced was Mrs. Morgan, for I was only allowed to take one in at a time. She brought in the clothes that were to serve Mrs. Mills, when she left her own behind her. When Mrs. Morgan had taken off what she had brought for my purpose, I conducted her back to the staircase, and, in going, I begged her to send me in my maid to dress me ; that I was afraid of being too late to present my last petition that night if she did not come immediately. I dispatched her safe, 1>j6 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH H1ST0RV. [Lady Nithsdale-. and went partly downstairs to meet Mrs. Mills, who had the pre caution to hold her handkerchief to her face, as was very natural for a woman to do when she was going to bid her last farewell to a friend on the eve of his execution. I had, indeed, desired her to do it, that my lord might go out in the same manner. Her eyebrows were rather inclined to be sandy, and my lord's were dark and very thick ; however, I had prepared some paint of the colour of hers to disguise his with. I also bought an artificial head-dress of the same coloured hair as hers, and I painted his face with white, and his cheeks with rouge to hide his long beard, which he had not time to shave. All this provision I had before left in the Tower. The poor guards, whom my slight liberality the day before had endeared me to, let me go quietly with my company, and were not so strictly on the watch as they usually had been; and the more so as from what I had told them the day before, they were persuaded that the prisoners would obtain their pardon. I made Mrs. Mills take off her own hood and put on that which I had brought for her. I then took her by the hand, and led her out of my lord's chamber ; and in passing through the next room, in which there were several people, with all the concern imaginable I said, " My dear Mrs. Catherine, go in all haste, and send me my waiting-maid ; she certainly cannot reflect how late it is ; she forgets that I am to present a petition to-night, and if I let slip this opportunity I am undone, for to-morrow will be too late. Hasten her as much as possible, for I shall be on thorns till she comes." Everybody in the room, who were chiefly the guards' wives and daughters, seemed to com passionate me exceedingly ; and the sentinel officiously opened the door. When I had seen her out I returned back to my lord and finished dressing him. I had taken care that Mrs. Mills did not go out crying as she came in, that my lord might the better pass for the lady who came in crying and afflicted ; and the more so because he had the same dress on which she wore. When I had almost finished dressing my lord in all my petticoats excepting one, I perceived that it was growing dark, and was afraid that the light of the candles might betray us, so I resolved to set off. I Lady Nithsdale.] ESCAPE OF LORD NITHSDALE. !** went out leading him by the hand, and he held his handkerchief to his eyes. I spoke to him in the most piteous and afflicting tone of voice, bewailing bitterly the negligence of Evans, who had ruined me by her delay. "Then," said I, "my dear Mrs.'Betty, for the love of God, run quickly and bring her with you. You know my lodging ; and if ever you made dispatch in your life, do it at present; I am almost distracted with this disappointment." The guards opened the doors, and I went downstairs with him, still conjuring him to make all possible dispatch. As soon as he had cleared the door I made him walk before me for fear the sentinel should take notice of his walk ; but I still continued to press him to make all the haste he possibly could. At the bottom of the stairs I met my dear Evans, into whose hands I confided him. I had before engaged Mrs. Mills to be in readiness before the Tower to conduct him to some place of safety, in case we succeeded. He looked upon the affair as so very improbable to succeed that his astonishment when he saw us threw him into such consternation that he was almost out of himself, which Evans perceiving, with the greatest presence of mind, without telling him anything lest he should mistrust them, conducted my lord to some of her own friends, on whom she could rely; and so secured him, without which we should have been undone. When she had con ducted him, and left him with them, she returned to find Mr. Mills, who by this time had recovered himself from his astonishment. They went home together, and having found a place of security, they conducted him to it. In the meanwhile, as I had pretended to send the young lady on a message, I was obliged to return upstairs and go back to my lord's room, in the same feigned anxiety of being too late, so that everyone seemed sincerely to sympathise with my distress. When I was in the room I talked to him as if he had been really present, and answered my own questions in my lord's voice as nearly as I could imitate it. I walked up and down, as if we were conversing together, till I thought they had had time enough to clear them selves of the guards. I then thought proper to make off ako. I opened the door and stood half in it, that those in the outer I J-8 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lady Nithsdalb. chamber might hear what I said, but held it so close that they could not look in. I bid my lord a formal farewell for that night, and added that something more than usual must have happened to make Evans negligent on this important occasion who had always been so punctual in the smallest trifles, that I saw no other remedy than to go in person ; that if the Tower were still open when I had finished my business, I would return that night ; but that he might be assured that I would be with him as early in the morning as I could gain admittance to the Tower; and I flattered myself that I should bring favourable news. Then, before I shut the door, I pulled through the string of the latch so that it could only be opened on the inside. I then shut it with some degree of force, that I might be sure of its being well shut. I said to the servant as I passed by, who was ignorant of the whole transaction, that he need not carry in candles to his master till my lord sent for him, as he desired to finish some prayers first. I went down stairs and called a coach, as there were several on the stand; I drove home to my lodgings, where poor Mr. Mackenzie had been waiting to carry the petition, in case my attempt had failed. ¦-- * * * * * * Her grace of Montrose said she would go to court to see how the news of my lord's escape was received. When the news was brought to the king he flew into an excess of passion and said he was betrayed ; for it could not have been done without some con federacy. He instantly dispatched two persons to the Tower to see that the other prisoners were well secured. When I left the duchess I went to a house which Evans had found out for me, and where she promised to acquaint me where my lord was. She got thither some few minutes after me, and told me that when she had seen him secure, she went in search of Mr. Mills, who by the time had recovered himself from his astonishment, that he had returned to her house, and that he had removed my lord from the first place where she had desired him to wait, to the house of a poor woman directly opposite to the Lady Nithsdale.) ESCAPE OF LORD NITHSDALE. iyg guard-house. She had but one very small room up one pair of stairs, and a very small bed in it. We threw ourselves upon the bed that we might not be heard walking up and down. She left us a bottle of wine and some bread, and Mrs. Mills brought us some more in her pocket the next day. We subsisted upon this provision from Thursday to Saturday night, when Mrs. Mills came and conducted my lord to the Venetian ambassador's. We did not communicate the affair to his excellency; but one of his servants concealed my lord in his own room till Wednesday, on which day the ambassador's coach and six was to go down to meet his brother. My lord put on a livery and went down in the retinue without the least suspicion, to Dover, where Mr. Mitchell (which was the name of the ambassador's servant) hired a small vessel and immediately set sail for Calais. The passage was so remarkably short that the captain threw out his reflection, that the wind could not have served better if his passengers had been flying for their lives, little thinking it to be really the case. Mr. Mitchell might have easily returned without being suspected of being concerned in my lord's escape : but my lord seemed inclined to have him continue with him, which he did, and has at present a good place under our young master. Lady Nithsdale rejoined her husband and lived with him till his death twenty-eight years afterwards. She died in 1 749. N 2 t8o HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Poig. (Bo,wih io %o\txi (&wd of @rfoxo uvib $xxl ^oxixm&x* PorE. Such were the notes thy oncelov'd poet sung, Till death untimely stopp'd his tuneful tongue. Oh just beheld, and lost !t admir'd and mourn'd ! With softest manners, gentlest arts adorn'd ! Blest in each science, blest in ev'ry strain ! Dear to the Muse ! to Harley dear — in vain ! For him, thou oft hast bid the world attend,- Fond to forget the statesman in the friend ; For Swift and him despis'd the farce of state, The sober follies of the wise and great ; Dex'trous the craving, fawning crowd to quit, And pleas'd to 'scape from flattery to wit. Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear (A sigh the absent claims, the dead a tear) ; * Epist. to Robert Earl of Oxford.'] This Epistle was sent to the earl of Oxford with Dr. Parnell's Poems published by our Author, after the said earl's imprisonment in the Tower, and retreat into the country, in the year 1 72 1. Pope. T Thomas Parnell, an Irish Poet, was born 1679 and died 1717. He was the friend and correspondent of Swift, Gay, Arbuthnot, and Pope. With the latter he was especially intimate, writing for him the life of Homer to be pre fixed to Pope's translations of the Greek poet. None of Parnell's poems have survived, except the " Hermit," the beautiful story of which is taken from the Gesta Romanorum. After Parnell's death Pope edited and published his poems, in the year 1721. Lord Oxford was Parnell's patron, as well as that of all the other literary men of the period. After the earl's acquittal from the charge ofhigh treason in 1717, lord Oxford retired into private life, and em ployed himself in making the magnificent collection of MSS. known as the Harleian manuscripts, which were purchased for the British Museum for ;£io,ooo, and contain information on almost every subject, especially historical ones. Lord Macaulay constantly refers to them in his History of England. Lord Oxford died in 1724. Po?E ] EPISTLE TO EARL OF OXFORD AND EARL MORTIMER. iSj Recall those nights that clos'd thy toilsome days; Still hear thy Parnell in his living lays, Who, careless now of int'rest, fame, or fate, Perhaps forgets that Oxford e'er was great ; Or, deeming meanest what we greatest call, Beholds thee glorious only in thy fall. And sure, if aught below the seats divine Can touch immortals, 'tis a soul like thine : A soul supreme in each hard instance tried, Above all pain, all passion, and all pride, The rage of pow'r, the blast of public breath, The lust of lucre, and the dread of death. In vain to deserts thy retreat is made ; The muse attends thee to thy silent shade : 'Tis hers, the brave man's latest steps to trace, Rejudge his acts, and dignify disgrace. When int'rest calls off all her sneaking train, And all th' oblig'd desert, and all the vain ; She waits, or to the scaffold, or the cell, When the last ling'ring friend has bid farewell. Ev'n now, she shades thy ev'ning-walk with bays (No hireling she, no prostitute to praise) ; Ev'n now, observant of the parting ray, Eyes the calm sunset of thy various day, Thro' fortunes's cloud one truly great can see, Nor fears to tell, that Mortimer is he. %ox\i\ %m |UrMrIe, 1720. ,, Lord Maiion. As soon as the South Sea bill had received the royal assent in April, the directors proposed a subscription of one million, which was so eagerly taken that the sum subscribed exceeded two. A l82 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Maiion. second subscription was quickly opened, and no less quickly filled. The most exaggerated hopes were raised and the most groundless rumours set afloat ; such as that Stanhope had received overtures at Paris to exchange Gibraltar and Port Mahon for some places in Peru ! The South Sea trade was again vaunted . as the best avenue to wealth. Objections were unheard or over ruled, and the friends of lord Oxford might exult to see his visions adopted by his opponents.* In August the stocks which had been 130 in the winter, rose to 1000 ! Such general infatua tion would have been happy for the directors had they not them selves partaken of it. They opened a third and even a fourth subscription, larger than the former; they passed a resolution that from Christmas next their yearly dividend should not be less than fifty per cent. ; they assumed an arrogant and overbearing tone. " We have made them kings," says a member of parlia ment, "and they deal with everybody as such."+ But the public delusion was not confined to the South Sea scheme ; a thousand other mushroom projects sprung up in that teeming soil. This evil had been foreseen and, as they hoped, guarded against by the ministers. On the very day parliament rose they had issued a royal proclamation against " such mischievous and dangerous undertakings, especially the presuming to act as a corporate body, or raising stocks or shares without legal authority." But how difficult to enforce that prohibition in a free country! How impossible, when almost immediately on the king's departure, the heir apparent was induced to publish his name as a governor of the Welsh Copper company ! In vain did the speaker and Walpole endeavour to dissuade him, representing that he would be attacked in parliament, and that "the prince of Wales's bubble " would be cried in Change Alley. It was not till the company was threatened with prosecution * You rembember when the South Sea was said to be Lord Oxford's brat: now the king has adopted it and calls it his beloved child : though perhaps you may say if he loves it no better than his son, it may not be saying much. Duchess of Ormond to Swift, April 18, 1720. + Mr. Brodrick to Lord Middleton, Sept. 13, 1720. Lord Mahon.) THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE, 1720. 18 J and exposed to risk, that his royal highness prudently withdrew, with a profit of ^40,000. Such an example was tempting to follow ; the duke of Chandos and the earl of Westmoreland appeared likewise at the head of bubbles, and the people at large soon discovered that to speculate is easier than to work. Change Alley became a new edition of the Rue Quincampoix.* The crowds were so great within doors that tables with clerks were set in the streets. In this motley throng were blended all ranks, all professions, all parties, church men and dissenters, whigs and tories, country gentlemen and brokers. An eager strife of tongues prevailed in this second Babel; new reports, new subscriptions, new transfers fled from mouth to mouth, and the voice of ladies (for even many ladies had turned gamblers) rose loud and incessant, above the general din. A foreigner would no longer have complained of the English taciturnity.f Some of the companies hawked about were for the most extravagant objects. " Wrecks to be fished for on the Irish coast ; insurances of horses and other cattle (two millions) ; in surance of losses by servants ; to make salt water fresh, &c, &c. ; for building of ships against pirates ; for making of oil from sun flower-seeds ; for improving of malt liquors ; for recovering of seamen's wages ; for extracting of silver from lead ; for the trans muting of quicksilver into a malleable and fine metal ; for making of iron with pit coal ; for importing a number of large jackasses from Spain ; for trading in human hair ; for fattening of hogs ; for a wheel for perpetual motion." But the most strange of all, perhaps, was " For an undertaking which shall in due time be revealed!" Each subscriber was to pay down two guineas, and hereafter to receive a share of one hundred with a disclosure of the object ; and so tempting was the offer that 2,000 of these subscriptions were paid, the same morning, with which the pro jector set off in the afternoon. Amidst these real follies, I can * Where John Law's Mississippi scheme was carried on. [Edit.] t A French traveller, a few years afterwards, declares that the " Actions du Sud, et les galleons d'Espagne " were almost the only subjects on which Englishmen would talk. In general, he says, we were quite silent. 184 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord MahoU. scarcely seep any difference or exaggeration in a mock proposal which was circulated at the time in ridicule of the rest : "For the invention of melting down sawdust and chips, and casting them into clean deal boards without cracks or flaws." Such extravagances might well provoke laughter; but, un happily, though the farce came first, there was a tragedy behind. When the sums intended to be raised had grown altogether, it is said, to the enormous amount of three hundred millions, the first check to the public infatuation was given by the same body whence it had first sprung. The South Sea directors, craving for fresh gains, and jealous of other speculators, obtained an order from the lords justices, and writs of scire facias against several of the new bubble companies. These fell, but in falling drew down the whole fabric with them. As soon as distrust was excited all men became anxious to convert their bonds into money, and then at once appeared the fearful disproportion between the paper promises and the coin to pay. Early in September the South Sea stock began to decline ; its fall became more rapid from day to day, and in less than a month it sunk below 300. In vain was money drained from all the distant counties and brought up to London. In vain were the goldsmiths applied to, with whom large quantities of stock were pawned. Most of them were broke or fled. In vain was Walpole summoned from Houghton to use his influence with the Bank; for that body, though it entered into negotiations, would not proceed in them, and refused to ratify a contract drawn up and proposed by the minister. Once lost, the public confidence could not be restored; the decline pro gressively continued, and the news of the crash in France* com pleted ours. Thousands of families were reduced to beggary; thousands more were threatened with the same fate, and the large fortunes made or supposed to be made by a few individuals served only by comparison to aggravate the common ruin. Those who had sported most proudly on the surface of the swollen waters were left stranded and bare by the ebbing of that mighty tide. The resentment and rage were universal. " I perceive," says a * The failure of John Law's scheme. Lord Mahon.] THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE, 1720. 1 85 contemporary, " the very name of a South Sea man grows abomin able in every county." And a cry was raised not merely against the ministry but against the royal family, against the king himself Most of the statesmen of the time had more or less dabbled in those funds. Lord Sunderland lost considerably; Walpole, with more sagacity, was a great gainer; the duke of Portland, lord Lonsdale, and lord Irwin were reduced to solicit West India governments, and it is mentioned, as an exception, that " neither lords Stanhope, Argyle, nor Roxburgh have been in the stocks."* Townshend, I believe, might also be excepted. But the public indignation was pointed chiefly against sir John Blunt, as pro jector, and against Sunderland and Aislabie as heads of the treasury, and it was suspected, how truly will afterwards appear, that the king's mistresses, and several of his ministers, both English and German, had received large sums in stock to recom mend the project. In short, as England had never yet under gone such great disappointment and confusion, so it never had so loudly called for confiscation and blood. That there was some knavery to punish I do not deny, and I shall presently show. It seems to me, however, that the nation had suffered infinitely more by their own self-willed infatuation than by any fraud that was or could be practised upon them. This should not have been forgotten when the day of disappoint ment came. But when a people is suffering severely from what ever cause, it always looks round for a victim, and too often strikes the first it finds. It seeks for no proof; it will listen to no defence : it considers an acquittal as only a collusion. Of this fatal tendency our own times may afford a striking instance. Whilst the cholera prevailed at Paris and Madrid, it was seen that the mob, instead of lamenting a natural and unavoidable calamity, were persuaded that the springs were poisoned, and ran to arms for their revenge. During this time express after express was sent to the king at Hanover announcing the dismal news and pressing his speedy return, George had intended to make a longer stay in Germany; * Mr. Brodrick to Lord Middleton, September 27, 1720. 1 86 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Mahon. but seeing the urgency of the case he hastened homewards attended by Stanhope, and landed at Margate on the 9th of November. It had been hoped that his majesty's presence would revive the drooping credit of the South Sea funds, but it had not that effect; on the contrary, they fell to r35 at the tidings that parliament was further prorogued for a fortnight. That delay was necessary to frame some scheme for meeting the public difficulties, and this task, by universal assent, and even acclama tion, was assigned to Walpole. Fortunately for that minister he had been out of office when the South Sea act was passed : he had opposed it, as he had opposed all the measures, right or wrong, of Stanhope's and Sunderland's government ; and its unpopularity therefore turned to his reputation with the country. Every eye was directed towards him ; every tongue invoked him, as the only man whose financial abilities and public favour could avert the country's ruin. Nor did he shrink from this alarming crisis. Had he stood aloof or joined the opposition he would probably have had the power to crush the South Sea directors and their abettors, and especially to wreak his vengeance on Sunderland ; and he is highly extolled by a modern writer for magnanimity in resisting the temptation.* But though Walpole undoubtedly deserves great praise through all his administration for placability and personal forbearance, yet I can scarcely think the present case an instance of it. In this case the line of interest exactly coincided with the line of duty. Would not the king have shut out Walpole for ever from his confidence had Walpole headed this attack on his colleagues ? Would not a large section at least of the whigs have adhered to their other chiefs ? Was it not his evident policy, instead of hunting down the objects of popular outcry, to befriend them in their inevitable fall, and then, quietly to step into their places, with the consent, perhaps even with the thanks, of their personal adherents. On the 8th of December, parliament met in a mood like the * Coxe's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 138. A letter in his second volume (p. 194) from Pulteney, then a friend of Walpole, confirms the view I have taken. Lord Mahon.] THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE, 172ft. 187 people's, terror-stricken, bewildered, and thirsting for vengeance. * * * It was in the midst of this general storm that Walpole on the 21st December, brought forward his remedy. He had first desired the house to decide whether or not the public con tracts with the South Sea company should be preserved inviolate. This being carried by a large majority, Walpole next unfolded his scheme ; it was in substance to engraft nine millions of stock into the Bank of England, and the same sum into the East India company, on certain conditions, leaving twenty millions to the South Sea. This measure, framed with great financial ability, and supported by consummate powers of debate, met with no small opposition, especially from all the three companies, not one 01 whom would gain by it ; and though it passed both houses, was never carried into execution, being only permissive and not found necessary in consequence, as will be seen hereafter, of another law. A short Christmas recess had no effect in allaying animosities. Immediately afterwards a bill was brought in by sir Joseph Jekyll, restraining the South Sea directors from going out of the kingdom, obliging them to deliver upon oath the strict value of their estates, and offering rewards to discoverers or informers against them.* The directors petitioned to be heard by counsel in their defence, the common right, they said of British subjects — as if a South Sea director was still entitled to justice ! Their request was rejected, and the bill was hurried through both houses. A secret committee of enquiry was next appointed by the commons, con sisting chiefly of the most vehement opponents of the South Sea scheme, such as Molesworth, Jekyll, and Brodrick, the latter of whom they selected for their chairman. This committee proceeded to examine Mr. Knight, the cashier ' of the company and the agent of its most secret transactions. But this person, dreading the consequences, soon after his first examination, escaped to France, connived at, as was suspected, oy some persons in power, and carrying with him the register of * This last clause is mentioned by Brodrick to Lord Middleton, Jan. 19, 172 1. l88 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Maiion. the company. . His escape was reported to the house on the 23rd of January, when a strange scene of violence ensued. The com mons ordered the doors to be locked, and the keys to be laid on the table. General Ross then stated that " the committee, of which he was a member, had discovered a train of the deepest villany and fraud that hell ever contrived to ruin a nation." No proof beyond this vague assertion was required, four of the directors members of parliament, were immediately expelled the house, taken into custody, and their papers seized.* Meanwhile the lords had been examining other directors at their bar, and on the 24th they also ordered five to be taken into custody. Some of the answers indicated that large sums in South Sea stock had been given to procure the passing of the act last year ; upon which lord Stanhope immediately rose, and expressing his indignation at such practices, moved a resolution, that any transfer of stock, without a valuable consideration, for the use of any person in the administration, during the pendency of the South Sea act, was a notorious and dangerous corruption. He was seconded by lord Townshend, and the resolution passed unanimously. On the 8th of February the house, continuing their examinations, had before them sir John Blunt, who, however, refused to answer, oh the ground that he had already given his evidence before the secret committee of the commons. How to proceed in this matter was a serious difficulty, and a debate which arose upon it soon branched into more general topics. A vehe ment philippic was delivered by the duke of Wharton, the son of the late minister, who had recently come of age, and who, even previously, had received the honour of a dukedom, his father having died while the patent was in preparation. This young nobleman was endowed with splendid talents, but had early plunged into the wildest excesses, and professed the most godless doctrines ; and his declamations against " the villanous scheme," or on public virtue, came a little strangely from the president of * Several of the directors were so far innocent as to be found poorer at the breaking up of the scheme than when it began. Macpherson's History of Commerce. Lord Mahon.] THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE, 172a 189 the Hell Fire club.* On this occasion he launched forth into a general attack upon the whole conduct of the administration, and more than hinted that Stanhope had fomented the late dissension between the king and the prince of Wales. " Look to his parallel," he cried, " in Sejanus, that evil and powerful minister, who made a division in the imperial family and rendered the reign of Tiberius hateful to the Romans." Stanhope rose with much passion to reply ; he vindicated his own conduct and that of the administration, and in conclusion, after complimenting the noble duke .on his studies in Roman history, hoped that he had not over looked the example of the patriot Brutus, who, in order to assert the liberty of Rome, and free it from tyrants, sacrificed his own degenerate and worthless son. But his transport of anger, how ever just, was fatal to his health ; the blood rushed to his head ; he was supported home much indisposed, and relieved bycupping, but next day was seized with a suffocation and instantly expired. Thus died James, earl of Stanhope, leaving behind him at that time few equals in integrity, and none in knowledge of foreign affairs. His disinterestedness in money matters was so well known that in South Sea transactions, and even during the highest popular fury, he stood clear, not merely of any charge, but even of any suspicion by the public ; and the king on learning the news was so much affected that he retired for several hours alone into his closet to lament his loss. In the room of Stanhope, Townshend became secretary of state ; while Aislabie, finding it impossible to stem the popular torrent, resigned his office, which was conferred upon Walpole. But this resignation was far from contenting the public or abating their eagerness for the report of the secret committee. That committee certainly displayed no want of activity ; it sat every day from nine in the morning to eleven at night, being resolved, * On the 29th of April, this year, the king issued a proclamation against the Hell Fire club. Wharton hereupon played a, strange farce ; he went to the house of lords, declared that he was not, as was thought, a patron of blasphemy, and pulling out an old family Bible, proceeded with a sanctified air to quote several texts. But he soon reverted to his former courses, 190 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Mahon as the chairman expressed it, "to show how the horse was curried."* At length, on the 16th of February, their first report was presented to the house. It appeared that they had expe rienced obstacles from the escape of Knight, from the taking away of some books, and from the defacing of others ; but that the cross-examination of the directors and accountants had supplied the deficiency. A scene of infamous corruption was then dis closed. It was found that last year above half a million of fictitious South Sea stock had been created, in order that the profit upon that sum might be disposed of by the directors to facilitate the passing of the bill. The duchess of Kendal had ;£io,ooo ; another of the king's favourites, Madame de Platen, with laudable impartiality, had the same sum ; nor were the two nieces of the latter forgotten. Against these ladies no steps were, nor perhaps could be taken. But those persons in the adminis tration accused of similar peculation were secretary Craggs, his father, the postmaster-general, Mr. Charles Stanhope, secretary of the treasury, Mr. Aislabie, and the earl of Sunderland ; and the report added the various evidence in the case of each. On the very day when this report was read in the commons died one of the statesmen accused in it, James Craggs, secretary of state. His illness was the small-pox, then very prevalent,t joined no doubt to anxiety of mind. Whatever may have been his conduct in the South Sea affairs (for his death arrested the enquiry), he undoubtedly combined great talents for business with a love of learning and literature ; and his name, were it even to drop from the page of history, would live enshrined for ever in the verse of Pope. But the fate of his father was still more lamentable. A few weeks afterwards, when the accusation was pressing upon him, he swallowed poison and expired. If we may trust Horace Walpole, sir Robert subsequently declared that the unhappy man had hinted his intention to him. J * Mr. Brodrick to Lord Middleton, February 4, 172 1. f See a list of its victims in that month, in Boyer's Political State, vol. 21, p. 196, &c. J Compare Walpole's. Reminiscences, Works, vol. 4, p. 288, ed. 1798, and Brodrick's letter to Lord Middleton, March 16, 1721. Lord Mahon.] THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE, 1720. 19I The other cases were prosecuted by the house with proper vigour, and singly, as standing each on separate grounds. The first that came on was that of Mr. Charles Stanhope, secretary to the treasury ; he was a kinsman of the late minister,, and brother of colonel William Stanhope, afterwards lord Harrington. It was proved that a large sum of stock had been entered for him in the bank of sir George Caswall and Co., and that his name had been partly erased from their books, and altered to Stangape. On his behalf it was contended, that the transfer had been made without his knowledge or consent ; but I am bound to acknowledge that I think the change of his name in the ledger a most suspicious circumstance. On a division he was declared innocent, but only by a majority of three. On this occasion, according to Mr. Brodrick, " lord Stanhope, son to lord Chesterfield, carried off a pretty many by mentioning in the strongest terms the memory of the late lord of that name."* This respect to a living minister would not surprise us, but it was surely no small testimony to the memory of a dead one. The next case was Aislabie's. It was so flagrant that scarce any member ventured to defend him, and none to divide the house ; he was unanimously expelled, and sent to the Tower, and afterwards great part of his property seized. Many had been the murmurs at Stanhope's acquittal; and so great was the rejoicing on Aislabie's conviction that there were bonfires that night in the city. Lord Sunderland now remained. He was charged with having received, through Knight, ^50,000 stock without payment, and the public outcry against him was fierce and loud, but, as I believe, unfounded. The charge rested entirely on hearsay testi mony, on words which sir John Blunt said that Knight had said to him : there was collateral evidence to shake it ; and the character of Blunt himself was that of a dishonest and now ruined and desperate man. It is also remarkable that Sunderland had in fact lost considerably by the South Sea scheme, and that one of his bitterest enemies then accused him, not of having con- * To Lord Middleton, March 7, 1721, 192 HAzf-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Edward Gibbon. federated with the directors, but of being their dupe and victim.* So strong seemed these considerations, that a large majority (233 against 172) declared the minister innocent. But notwithstand ing this acquittal, the popular ferment was too strong for Sunder land to continue at the head of the treasury ; he resigned, and was succeeded by Walpole. His influence at court, however, still continued, and he obtained the appointment of lord Carteret in the room of secretary Craggs, V%t Jfale of % Souijj j&ea <§mrtaxti. Edward Gibbon. Under the tory administration of the four last years of queen Anne (1710 — 171 4), Mr. Edward Gibbon was appointed one of the commissioners of the Customs; he sat at that board with Prior : but the merchant was better qualified for his station than the poet ; since lord Bolingbroke has been heard to declare, that he had never conversed with a man who more clearly understood the commerce and finances of England. In the year 17 16 he was elected one of the directors of the South Sea company ; and his books exhibited the proof that, before his acceptance of this fatal office, he had acquired an independent fortune of sixty thousand pounds. But his fortune was overwhelmed in the shipwreck of the year twenty, and the labours of thirty years were blasted in a single day. Of the use or abuse of the South Sea scheme, of the guilt or innocence of my grandfather and his brother directors, I am neither a competent nor a disinterested judge. Yet the equity of modern times must condemn the violent and arbitrary proceed ings, which would have disgraced the cause of justice, and would render injustice still more odious. No sooner had the nation awakened from its golden dream, than a popular and even a par- * Mr. Brodrick to Lord Middleton, September 27, 1720, Koward Gibbon.] THE FATE OF THE SOUTH SEA DIRECTORS. *93 liamentary clamour demanded their victims : but it was acknow ledged on all sides that the South Sea directors, however guilty, could not be touched by any known laws of the land. The speech of lord Molesworth, the author of "The State of Den mark," may show the temper, or rather the intemperance, of the house of commons. "Extraordinary crimes," exclaimed that ardent whig, "call aloud for extraordinary remedies. The Roman lawgivers had not foreseen the possible existence of a parricide : but as soon as the first monster appeared, he was sewn in a sack, and thrown headlong into the river; and I shall be content to inflict the same treatment on the authors of our present ruin." His motion was not literally adopted ; but a bill of pains and penalties was introduced, a retroactive statute, to punish the offences, which did not exist at the time they were com mitted. Such a pernicious violation of liberty and law can be excused only by the most imperious necessity; nor could it be defended on this occasion by the plea of impending danger or useful example. The legislature restrained the persons of the directors, imposed an exorbitant security for their appear ance, and marked their characters with a previous note of igno miny: they were compelled to deliver, upon oath, the strict value of their estates; and were disabled from making any transfer or alienation of any part of their property. Agains a bill of pains and penalties it is the common right of. every subject to be heard by his counsel at the bar : they prayed to be heard; their prayer was refused; and their oppressors, who required no evidence, would listen to no defence. It had been at first proposed that one-eighth of their respective estates should be allowed. for the future support of the directors; but it was speciously urged, that in the various shades of opulence and guilt such an unequal proportion would be too light for many, and for some might possibly be too heavy. The character and conduct of each man were separately weighed; but instead of the calm solemnity of a judicial inquiry, the fortune and honour of three and thirty Englishmen were made the topic of hasty conversation, the sport of a lawless majority; and the basest member of the 194 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Edward Gibboh. committee, by a malicious word or a silent vote, might indulge his general spleen or personal animosity. Injury was aggravated by insult, and insult was embittered by pleasantry. Allowances of twenty pounds, or one shilling, were facetiously moved. A vague report that a director had formerly been concerned in another project, by which some unknown persons had lost their money, was admitted as a proof of his actual guilt. One man was ruined because he had dropped a foolish speech, that his horses should feed upon gold ; another because he was grown so proud, that, one day at the treasury, he had refused a civil answer to persons much above him. All were condemned, absent and unheard, in arbitrary fines and forfeitures, which swept away the greatest part of their substance. Such bold oppression can scarcely be shielded by the omnipotence of parliament; and yet it maybe seriously questioned, whether the judges of the South Sea directors were the true and legal representatives of their country. The first parliament of George the First had been chosen (17 15) for three years: the term had elapsed, their trust was expired ; and the four additional years (1718 — 1722), during which they continued to sit, were derived not from the people, but from themselves ; from the strong measure of the septennial bill, which can only be paralleled by it serar di consiglio of the Venetian history. Yet candour will own that to the same parlia ment every Englishman is deeply indebted : the septennial act, so vicious in its origin, has been sanctioned by time, experience, and the national consent. Its first operation secured the house of Hanover on the throne, and its permanent influence maintains the peace and stability of government. As often as a repeal has been moved in the house of commons, I have given in its defence a clear and conscientious vote. J.osd Maiiom-J THE BISHOP AND HIS DOG, 172a. 195 %\t §ts]p]j xxia jjis 'gaQ, 1722. Lord Mahon. Francis Atterbury was born in 1662, and educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford ; he distinguished himself at a very early age by a powerful defence of Luther, and on taking orders commanded universal attention by his eloquence and active temper. It was by him that the lower house of convocation was mainly guided and governed ; he was high in the confidence of queen Anne's last ministers, and in 1713 was promoted by them to the deanery of Westminster and bishopric of Rochester. Few men have attained a more complete mastery of the English language, and all his compositions are marked with peculiar force, elegance and dignity of style. A fine person and a graceful delivery added lustre to his eloquence both in the pulpit and in the house of lords. His haughty and aspiring mind con stantly impelled him into violent measures, which were well sup ported by his abilities, but which seemed in some degree alien from his sphere. It is well observed by Mirabeau, in speaking of the duke of Brunswick, that the great sign of a well regulated character is not merely to be equal to its daily task, but to be satisfied with it, and not to step beyond it in search of fresh employment.* Atterbury, on the contrary, could never remain tranquil. He might be compared to the chivalrous Peterborough exclaiming to the minister, " You must find me work, in the old world or the new." His devotion to the protestant faith was warm and pure ; his labours for the established church no less praiseworthy ; but his defence was of somewhat too fierce and turbulent a character ; he thought less of personal worth than of party principles in others, and he was one of those, of whom it has been wittily said, that * Une marque d'un tres bon esprit ce me semble, et d'un caractere superieur c'est moins encore qu'il suffit au travail de chaque jour, que le travail de chaque jour lui sufSu Hostoire secrete de Berlin, vol. i., p. 30, edit* 1789.. o a 196 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Maiion, out of their zeal for religion they have never time to say their prayers ! Yet in private life no trace of his vehemence or bitterness appeared ; his " softer hour " is affectionately remem bered by Pope, and his own devoted love to his daughter, Mrs. Morice, sheds a milder light around his character. On the whole he would have been an admirable bishop, had he been a less good partizan. The political views of Atterbury were always steadily directed against the accession of the house of Hanover. When the re bellion broke forth in 17 15 a declaration of abhorrence of it was published by the other prelates ; but Atterbury refused to sign it, on. the pretext of some reflections it contained against the high church party. At no distant period from that time we find him in frequent correspondence with James, writing for the most part in a borrowed hand, and under counterfeit names, such as Jones and Illingtoh. Were we inclined to seek some excuse for his adherence to that cause, we might, perhaps, find it in his close study of lord Clarendon's history, which had been edited by him self, conjointly with Aldrich and Smalridge. I have always con sidered the publication of that noble work (it first appeared under queen Anne) as one of the main causes of the second growth of Jacobitism. How great seems the character of the author ! How worthy the principles he supports and the actions he details ! Who could read those volumes and not first be touched, and at last won by his unconquerable spirit of loyalty — by his firm attachment to the fallen — by his enduring and well founded trust in God when there seemed to be none left in man ! Whose heart could fail to relent to that unhappy monarch more sinned against than sinning — to that " gray discrownetl head," which lay upon a pillow of thorns at Carisbrooke and rolled upon a block at White hall ? Or whose mind would not brighten at the thought of his exiled son — in difficulty and distress, with every successive attempt disappointed — every rising hope dashed down — and yet suddenly restored against all probable chances, and with one universal shout of joy ! How spirit stirring must that history have been to all. but above all to those (and there were many at that time) Lord Mahon.] THE BISHOP AND HIS DOG, 1722. 197 whose own ancestors and kinsmen are honourably commemorated in its pages — the soldiers of Rupert — or the friends of Falkland ! Can we wonder then or severely blame, if their thoughts descended one step lower, and turned to the grandson — also exiled for no fault of his own, and pining in a distant land under circumstances not far unlike to those of Charles Stuart in France. I know the difference of the cases, and most of all in what Atterbury ought least to have forgotten, in religion : I am not pleading for Jacobitism, but I do plead for the honest delusion and pardonable frailty of many who espoused that cause ; I am anxious to show that the large section of our countrymen which sighed for the restoration of James, were not all the base and besotted wretches we have been accustomed to consider them. The great object of Atterbury and of the other Jacobite leaders, was to obtain a foreign force of 5,000 troops to land under Ormond. Failing in this, from the engagements of the English government with almost every continental court, they determined, nevertheless, to proceed with only such assistance in arms, money, and disbanded officers or soldiers as could be privately procured abroad. For this purpose their manager in Spain was Ormond ; in France general Dillon, an Irish Roman catholic, who had left Ireland after the capitulation of Limerick, and had since risen in the French service. The project was to have made themselves masters of the Tower ; to have seized the Bank, the Exchequer, and other places where the public money was lodged, and to have proclaimed the pretender at the same time in different parts of the kingdom. The best time for this explo sion was thought to be during the tumults and confusion of the general election ; but the chiefs not being able to agree among themselves, it was deferred till the king's journey to Hanover, which was expected to take place in the summer. James himself was to embark at port Longone, where three vessels were ready for him, and to sail secretly to Spain, and from thence to England, as soon as he should hear of the king's departure. Already had he left Rome for a villa, the better to cover his absence, when it 1q8 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Mahoit. should take place ; and with a similar view had Ormond also gone from Madrid to a country seat half way to Bilbao. But the eye of the government was already upon them. One of their applications for 5,000 troops had been made to the regent of France, who, as they might have foreseen, so far from granting their request, immediately revealed it to sir Luke Schaub, the English minister, on the condition, it is said, that no one should die for it. Other intelligence and discoveries completed the in formation of the government, and they became apprised, not merely of the intended schemes and of the contriving heads, but> alsp, of the subaltern agents, especially Thomas Carte and Kelly, two non-juring clergymen, Plunkett, the same Jesuit whose active intrigues in 17 13 have been mentioned, Neynoe, another Irish priest, and Layer, a young barrister of the Temple. So many of their letters were intercepted abroad, that at length some conspi rators, perceiving it, wrote letters on purpose to be opened, and with false news, to mislead and distract the government ; but this artifice could not impose on the sagacity of Walpole. Prudent measures were now adopted with prudent speed. The king was persuaded to relinquish his journey to Hanover for this year; troops were immediately drawn to London and a camp was formed in Hyde Park. An order was also obtained from the court of Madrid to restrain Ormond from embarking. This would, no doubt, have been sufficient to make the conspirators postpone their scheme ; but the object was to crush it altogether, and, with this view, warrants were issued for the apprehension of all the subaltern agents above named, and of several others. On the 2 1 st of May accordingly Mr. Kelly was seized at his lodgings in Bury street by two messengers. They came upon him by surprise, and took his sword and papers, which they placed in a window while they proceeded with their search. But . their negligence gave Kelly an opportunity of recovering his weapon and of threatening to run through the first man that came near him, and so saying he burnt his papers with his left hand while he held his drawn sword in the other. When the papers were burnt, and not till then, he surrendered. Neynoe on his arrest showed Lord Mahon.] THE BISHOP AND HIS DOG, 1722. 399 equal spirit, but he did not meet with the same success. He escaped from a window two stories high by tying the blankets and sheets together, and came down upon a garden wall near the Thames, from which he leaped into the water, but as he could not swim was drowned. An attempt to escape was also made by Layer ; but being brought back he was examined at great length, and with some success. Much information was also gained from the papers, none from the answers, of Plunkett. As for Carte, the same whose historical writings have.gained him a high and deserved reputation, he fled betimes to France. At the news of the arrest of Layer, lord North, who had been principally in communication with that person, fearing the conse quences, passed over under a feigned name to the Isle of Wight, intending from thence to make his way to the continent, but he was discovered, seized, and brought back to London. Some time afterwards Lord Orrery was sent to the Tower ; at a later period still the duke of Norfolk. But the evidence against these noble men being insufficient, or the government less eager to press it they were, after some confinement, released. The bishop of Rochester was less fortunate. The proof against him might also have been thought too scanty had it not been for a very trifling and ridiculous but most convincing incident. The case was as follows : There was no doubt that the letters to and from Jones and Illington were of a treasonable nature ; the point was to prove that these names were assigned to the bishop. Now it so happened that Mrs. Atterbury, who died early this year, had a little before received a present from Lord Mar, in France, of a small spotted dog called Harlequin, and this animal having broken its leg, and being left with one Mrs. Barnes to be cured, was more than once mentioned in the correspondence of Jones and Illington. Mrs. Barnes and some other persons were examined before the council on this subject, and they, supposing that at all events there could be no treason in a lap-dog, readily owned that Harlequin was intended for the bishop of Rochester. There were many other collateral proofs ; but it was the throwing up of this little straw which decisively showed in what quarter blew the wind. 200 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Maiion. Had the proofs against Atterbury been less strong or his abilities less dangerous the ministers would probably have shrunk from the unpopularity of touching him. As it was, they hesitated during three months ; but at length, on the 24th of August, a warrant being issued, the bishop was arrested at the deanery and brought before the council. Though taken by surprise, his answers to their questions showed his usual coolness and self-pos session ; and he is said to have concluded with the words of the Saviour : — " If I tell you ye will not believe ; and if I also ask you, ye will not answer me or let me go." After three-quarters of an hour's examination he was sent to the Tower privately in his own coach, without any public notice or disturbance. The arrest of a bishop for the first time since the ill-omened precedent of James the Second, was, however, no sooner known than it produced a general clamour. The high churchmen had always inveighed against the government as neglecting the estab lishment and favouring the dissenters, and this new incident was, of course, urged in confirmation of the charge. They called it an outrage on the church and the episcopal order ; and they boldly affirmed that the plot had no real existence, and was a mere ministerial device for the ruin of a political opponent. Atterbury had also great influence among the parochial clergy, not only from the weight of his abilities, but from his having so long stood at the head of their party in convocation. Under the pretence of his being afflicted with the gout, he was publicly prayed for in most of the churches of London and Westminster ; and there was spread among the people a pathetic print of the bishop looking through the bars of a prison, and holding in his hand a portrait of archbishop Laud. The public ferment was still further in creased by rumours (I fear too truly founded) of the great harsh ness with which Atterbury was treated in the Tower. " Such usage, such hardships, such insults as I have undergone," said the bishop on his trial, " might have broke a more resolute spirit and a much stronger constitution than falls to my share. I have been treated with such severity and so great indignity as I believe no prisoner in the Tower of my age, infirmities, function and rank Lord Mahon.] THE BISHOP AND HIS DOG, 172a. 201 ever underwent!" He was encouraged or permitted to write private letters which were afterwards pryed into and made use of to support the accusation against him. He was restricted in his only consolation — the visits of his beloved- daughter* — nor was he at first allowed to prepare freely for his defence with his son- in-law, Mr. Morice.f Everything sent to him was narrowly searched ; even some pigeon-pies were opened. " It is the first time," says Pope, " dead pigeons have been suspected of carrying intelligence." It was amongst great and general excitement that the new par liament met on the 9th of October. The king's speech gave a short account of the conspiracy : " I should less wonder at it," he said, " had I in any one instance since my accession to the throne invaded the liberty or property of my subjects." With equal justice he observed on the infatuation of some Jacobites and the malice of others, " By forming plots they depre ciate all property that is vested in the public funds, and then complain of the low state of credit ; they make an increase of the national expenses necessary, and then clamour at the burthen of taxes, and endeavour to impute to my government, as grievances, the mischiefs and calamities which they alone create and oc casion." The first business of the commons after again placing Mr. Compton in the chair, was to hurry through a bill suspending the Habeas Corpus act for one year. Mr. Spencer Cowper and sir Joseph Jekyll observed that the act had never yet been suspended for so long a period and proposed six months, declaring, that at the end of that period, they would, if necessary, readily agree to a further suspension. The next subject with both houses was the pretender's declara tion. It appears that James had been so far deluded by the * He writes to Lord Townshend, April 10, 1722, "I am thankful for the favour of seeing my daughter any way; but was in hopes the restraint of an officer's presence in respect to her might have been judged needless. t Mr. Morice used to stand in an open area, and the bishop to look out of a two pair of stairs window, and thus only were they allowed to converse. Preface to his Correspondence, p. 6. 202 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Mahon. sanguine hopes of his agents or by his own, as to believe that the British people were groaning under a state of bondage and oppres sion, and that the king himself was ready to cast off an uneasy and precarious crown. Under these impressions he issued from Lucca on the 22nd of September, a strange manifesto, proposing that if George will quietly deliver to him the throne of his fathers,, he will in return bestow upon George the title of king in his native dominions, and invite all other states to confirm it, with a promise to leave his succession to the British dominions secure, if ever, in due course, his natural right should take place. This declaration was printed and distributed in England. Both houses expressed their astonishment at its " surprising insolence ;" it was ordered to be burned by the common hangman, and a joint address was presented to his majesty, assuring him that the designs of the public enemy shall be found " impracticable against a prince relying on and supported by the vigour and duty of a British par liament and the affections of his people." Walpole, availing him self of the general resentment, next proposed to raise £ 100,000 by a tax on the estates of Roman catholics. The project of Stanhope to relieve them from the penal laws, which was still on foot at the beginning of the South Sea scheme, had been arrested first by the crash and then by his death. Moderation to the Roman catholics had always been one of his leading principles of government. Other maxims now prevailed ; a system of general and indiscriminate punishment, which was at least nearly allied to persecution, and which, if it did not find every Roman catholic a Jacobite, was quite sure to make him so. Many, said Walpole, had been guilty — an excellent reason for punishing all ! With a better feeling did Onslow (afterwards speaker) declare his abhorrence of persecuting any others on account of their opinions on religion. Sir Joseph Jekyll, after praising the mode ration and wisdom of the king, wished he could say the same of those who had the honour to serve him. But the proposal of Walpole was quite in accordance with the temper of the times : it was not only carried by 217 against 168, but on a subsequent motion was even extended to nonjurors. The house, however, Lord Mahon.] THE BISHOP AND HIS DOG, 1723. 20? favourably entertained a singular petition from the family of the Pendrills, praying to be exempted from the tax on account of the services of their ancestors in preserving Charles the Second after the battle of Worcester. ' PART H.— 1723. The report of the committee, drawn up by Pulteney, their chairman, and read to the house on the ist of March, is a very long and circumstantial document. The evidence which it gives touching Atterbury, though founded on many trifling incidents such as the dog Harlequin, and dark hints in intercepted letters, was yet, by their combination, as I think, more than sufficient to satisfy any candid mind. The Opposition, however, did not belong to that class; they not only asserted the innocence of Atterbury and of the rest, but maintained that the plot itself was a chimera devised by ministers for the basest purposes of faction. The incident of Harlequin was especially held up to ridicule. Swift, who during the last nine years had prudently kept aloof at Dublin from party warfare, could not resist this tempting oppor tunity to resume it, and poured forth one of his happiest strains of satire on the horrid conspiracy, discovered by a French dog, who " confessed as plain as he could bark, then with his forefoot set his mark." To this conspiracy he afterwards alluded in Gulliver's Travels, as " the workmanship of persons who desire to raise their own character of profound politicians ; to restore new- vigour to a crazy administration ; to stifle or divert general dis contents, and to fill their coffers with forfeitures !" Such is party justice 1 * * * * After the close of the commons' committee, one was also appointed by the lords : but its report did not add materially to the proofs already known. Layer had been already tried at the king's bench and condemned to death ; he was reprieved for examination before these com mittees, but not disclosing as much as was hoped, he was exe cuted at Tyburn, and his head affixed at Temple Bar. With respect to the bishop of Rochester, a bill was brought 204 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Mahon. in by Yonge (afterwards sir William) enacting his banishment and deprivation, but without forfeiture of goods ; that it should be felony to correspond with him without the king's licence ; and that the king should have no power to pardon him without consent of parliament. The bishop, on receiving a copy of this bill, wrote to the speaker requesting to have sir Constantine Phipps and Mr. Wynne as his counsel, and Mr. Morice as his solicitor, and that they might have free access to him in private. This was granted. He next applied to the lords, stating that as by a standing order of their house of January 20th, 1673, no lord might appear by counsel before the other house, he was at a loss how to act, and humbly requested their directions. The lords determined that leave should be given him to be heard by counsel or otherwise, as he might think proper ; but Atterbury, who had probably only taken these steps.with the view of raising difficulties or creating a grievance to complain of, wrote a letter to the speaker on the very day he was expected to make his defence, to the effect that he should decline giving the house any trouble, and content himself with the opportunity, if the bill went on, of making his defence before another house, of which he had the honour to be a member. Accordingly, the bill having passed through the commons with out a division, the bishop was brought to the bar of the house of lords on the 6th of May. The evidence against him being first gone through, some was produced on his side. Among his witnesses was Erasmus Lewis, to prove from his official experience how easily hand writing may be counterfeited ; and Pope, to depose to the bishop's domestic habits and literary employments. Pope had but few words to speak, and in those few we are told that he made several blunders. But those on whom Atterbury most relied were three persons who invalidated the confessions of Mr. Neynoe, as taken before his escape and death, and who alleged that Walpole had tampered with that witness. One of them (Mr. Skeene) stated, that having asked Neynoe, whether in real truth he knew anything of a plot, Neynoe answered that he knew of two ; one of Mr. Walpole's against some great men ; the other of his own, which Lord Mahon.] THE BISHOP AND HIS DOG, 1723. 205 was only to get eighteen or twenty thousand pounds from Mr. Walpole. It should be observed, however, that of these three witnesses, one at least was of very suspicious character, having been convicted, whipt, and pilloried at Dublin for a treasonable libel. Their charges made it necessary for Walpole himself to appear as a witness and disavow them. On this occasion the bishop used all his art to perplex the minister, and make him contradict himself, but did not succeed. " A greater trial of skill," observed speaker Onslow, " than scarce ever happened between two such combatants ; the one fighting for his reputation, the other for his acquittal." Whatever vindication there may be for Jacobite principles in general, it is shocking to find a clergyman and a prelate swear allegiance to the king whom he was plotting to dethrone, and solemnly protest his innocence while labouring under a conscious ness of guilt The bishop's own defence, which was spoken on the nth of May, begins with a touching recital of the hardships he had suffered in captivity, "By which means," he adds, "what little strength and use of my limbs I had when committed in August last, is now so far impaired that I am very unfit to appear before your lordships on any occasion, especially when I am to make my defence against a bill of so extraordinary a nature." Atterbury next enters into a masterly review, and so far as was possible, refutation of the evidence against him, and proceeds in a high strain of eloquence to ask what motive could have driven him into a conspiracy. " What could tempt me, my lords, thus to step out of my way ? Was it ambition, and a desire of climbing into a higher station in the church ? There is not a man of my order further removed from views of this kind than I am. * * * * Was money my aim? I always despised it, too much, per haps, considering the occasion I may now have for it. Out of a poor bishopric of ^500 a year, I did in eight years' time lay out ^2000 upon the house and the appurtenances, and because I knew the circumstances in which my predecessor left his family, I took not one shilling for dilapidations; and the rest of my income has all been spent as that of a bishop should be, in hospi- 206 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTQRY. [Lord Mahon. tality and charity. * * * * Was I influenced by any dislike to the established religion, any secret inclination towards popery, a church of great pomp and power ? Malice has ventured thus far to asperse me. I have, my lords, ever since I knew what popery was, disliked it ; and the better I knew it, the more I opposed it. * * * * Thirty-seven years ago I wrote in defence of Martin Luther. * * * * And whatever happens to me I will suffer anything, and would by God's grace burn at the stake rather than in any material point depart from the protestant religion as professed in the church of England. * * * Once more, can I be supposed to favour arbitraiy power ? The whole tenour of my life speaks otherwise. I was always a friend to the liberty of the subject, and to the best of my power a constant maintainer of it. I may have been mis taken, perhaps, in the measures I took for its support at junctures when it was thought expedient for the state to seem to neglect public liberty in order, I suppose, to secure it. * * * * I am here, my lords, and I have been here, expecting for eight months an immediate trial. I have, my lords, declined no impeachment — no due course of law that might have been taken. * * * * The correspondence with the earl of Clarendon was made treason, but with me it is only felony. * * * * Yet he was allowed an intercourse with his children by the express words of the act : mine are not so much as to write, so much as to send any message to me without a sign manual ! * * * * The great man I men tioned carried a great fortune with him into a foreign country ; he had the languages, and was well acquainted abroad ; he had spent the best part of his years in exile, and was therefore in everyway qualified to support it. The reverse of all this is my case. Indeed, I am like him in nothing but his innocence and his punish ment. It is in no man's power to make us differ in the one, but it is in your lordships' power to distinguish us widely in the other, and I hope your lordships will do it. * * * * Shall I, my Jords, be deprived of all that is valuable to an Englishman (for in the circumstances to which I am reduced life itself is scarce valuable). by such an evidence as this ? Such an evidence as would Lord Mahon.} THE BISHOP AND HIS Duikrtir. Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn, Thy banishd peace, thy laurels torn : Thy sons, for valour long renown'd, Lie slaughter'd on their native ground. Thy hospitable roofs no more Invite the stranger to the door; In smoky ruins sunk they lie, The monuments of cruelty. The wretched owner sees afar His all become the prey of war ; Bethinks him of his babes and wife, Then smites his breast and curses life. Thy swains are famish'd on the rocks Where once they fed their wanton flocks j Thy ravish'd virgins shriek in vain, Thy infants perish on the plain. Smoi.t.ett, Jmullbtt.] THE TEARS OF SCOTLAND. j8 j What boots it then, in every clime, Through the wide spreading waste of time, Thy martial glory, crown'd with praise, Still shines with undiminish'd blaze? Thy towering spirit now is broke, Thy neck is bended to the yoke, What foreign arms could never quell, By civil rage and rancour fell. The rural pipe and merry lay No more shall cheer the happy day; No social scenes of gay delight Beguile the dreary winter night ; No strains but those of sorrow flow, And nought is heard but sounds of woe J While the pale phantoms of the slain Glide nightly o'er the silent plain. O baneful curse ! O fatal morn, Accursed to ages yet unborn I The sons against their fathers stood, The parent shed his children's blood J Yet when the rage of battle ceased, The victor's soul was not appeased — The naked and forlorn must feel Devouring flames and murdering steel. The pious mother, doom'd to death, Forsaken, wanders o'er the heath ; The bleak wind whistles round her head, Her hapless orphans cry for bread ; Bereft of shelter, food, and friend. She views the shades of night descend ; And stretch'd beneath th' inclement skiea Weeps o'er her tender babes, and dies. Whilst the warm blood bedews my veins, And unimpair'd remembrance reigns. Resentment of my country's fate Within my filial breast shall beat; And spite of her insulting foe, My sympathising verse shall flow. Mourn, hapless Caledonia, morn, Thy banish'd peace, thy laurels torn. HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. TWalpole. %xml of % ^ucoh'xU %oxa%. Horace Walpole. I am this moment come from the conclusion of the greatest and most melancholy scene I ever yet saw ; you will easily guess it was the trials of the rebel lords. As it was the most interesting sight, it was the most solemn and fine ; a coronation is a puppet show, and all the splendour of it idle; but this sight at once feasted one's eyes and engaged one's passions. It began last Monday; three parts of Westminster hall were inclosed with galleries, and hung with scarlet ; and the whole ceremony was conducted with the most awful solemnity and decency, except in the one point of leaving the prisoners at the bar, amidst the idle curiosity of some crowd, and even with the witnesses who had sworn against them, while the lords adjourned to their own house to consult. No part of the royal family was there, which was a proper regard to the unhappy men who were become theii victims. One hundred and thirty-nine lords were present, and made a noble sight on their benches frequent and full ! The chancellor* was lord high steward ; but though a most comely person with a fine voice, his behaviour was mean, curiously searching for occasion to bow to the ministerf that is no peer, and consequently applying to the other ministers, in a manner, for their orders ; and not even ready at the ceremonial. To the prisoners he was peevish, and instead of keeping up the humane dignity of the law of England, whose character is to point out favour to the criminal, he crossed them and almost scolded at any offer they made towards defence. I had armed myself with all the resolution I could, with the thought of their crimes and -of the danger past, and was assisted by the sight of the marquis of Lothian}: in weepers for his son who fell at Culloden ; but the * Lord Hardwick. . t Henry Pelham. % William Ker, third marquis of. Lothian. Lord Robert Ker, who was killed at Culloden, was his second son. D. Waltole,] TRIAL OF THE JACOBITE LORDS. 289 first appearance of the prisoners shocked me ! — their behaviour melted me ! Lord Kilmarnock and lord Cromarty are both past forty, but look younger. Lord Kilmarnock is tall and slender with an extreme fine person ; his behaviour a most just mixture between dignity and submission; if in anything to be repre hended, a little affected, and his hair too exactly dressed for a man in his situation ; but when I say this, it is not to find fault with him, but to show how little fault there was to be found. Lord Cromarty is an indifferent figure, appeared much dejected and rather sullen; he dropped a few tears the first day and swooned as soon as he got back to his cell. For lord Balmerino, he is the most natural brave old fellow I ever saw ; the highest intrepidity even to indifference. At the bar he behaved like a soldier and a man ; in the intervals of form with carelessness and humour. He pressed extremely to have his wife, his pretty Peggy, with him in the Tower. Lady Cromarty only sees her husband through the grate, not choosing to be shut up with him, as she thinks she can serve him better by her intercession with out. * * * *' She is very handsome; so are their daughters. When they were to be brought from the Tower in separate coaches, there was some dispute in which the axe must go ; old Balmerino cried, " Come, come, put it with me." At the bar he plays with his fingers upon the axe while he talks to the gentle man-gaoler ; and one day somebody coming up to listen, he took the blade and held it like a fan between their faces. During the trial a little boy was near him, but not tall enough to see ; he made room for the child and placed him near himself. When the trial began the two earls pleaded guilty, Balmerino not guilty, saying he could prove his not being at the taking of the castle of Carlisle, as was laid in the indictment. Then the king's counsel opened, and Serjeant Skinner pronounced the most absurd speech imaginable; and mentioned the duke of Perth, "who," said he, "I see by the papers is dead." Then some witnesses were examined whom afterwards the old hero shook cor dially by the hand. The lords withdrew to their house and returning demanded of the judges, whether one point not being 290 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Waltole. proved, though all the rest were, the indictment was false ? To which they unanimously answered in the negative. Then the lord high steward asked the peers severally, whether lord Balmerino was guilty? All said, "Guilty, upon honour," and then adjourned, the prisoner having begged pardon for giving them so much trouble. While the lords were withdrawn the solicitor-general Murray (brother of the pretender's minister) officiously and inso lently went up to lord Balmerino and asked him how he could give the lords so much trouble, when his solicitor had informed him that his plea could be of no use to him ? Balmerino asked the bystanders who this person was? and being told, he said, " Oh, Mr. Murray, I am extremely glad to see you ; I have been with several of your relations ; the good lady, your mother, was of great use to us at Perth." Are you not charmed with this speech ? How just it was ! As he went away he said, " They call me Jacobite ; I am no more a Jacobite than any that tried me ; but if the great Mogul had set up his standard I should have followed it, for I could not starve." The worst of his case is, that after the battle of Dumblain, having a company in the duke of Argyle's regiment, he deserted with it to the rebels, and has since been pardoned. Lord Kilmarnock is a presbyterian with four earldoms* in him, bat so poor since lord Wilmington's stopping a pension that my father had given him, that he often wanted a dinner. Lord Cromarty was receiver of the rents of the king's second son in Scotland, which, it was understood he should not account for, and by that means had six hundred a year from the government Lord Elibank, a very prating, impertinent, Jacobite, was bound for him in nine thousand pounds, for which the duke is determined to sue him. When the peers were going to vote lord Foley withdrew, as too well a wisher ; lord Moray, as nephew of lord Balmerino, and lord Stair as, I believe, uncle to his great grandfather. Lord Windsor very affectedly said I . am sorry I must say, Upon my honour. lord Stamford would hot answer to the name of Henry, having been christened ^serjc What a great way of thinking on such an * Kilmarnock, Enroll, Linlithgow, and Calender. D. Walpole.] TRIAL OF THE JACOBITE LORDS. 291 occasion.* * * * When my lady Townshend heard her husband vote, she said, " I always knew my lord was guilty, but I never thought he would own it upon his honour." Lord Balmerino said that -one of his reasons for pleading not guilty was that so many ladies might not be disappointed of their show. On Wednesday they were again brought to Westminster hall to receive sentence, and being asked what they had to say, lord Kilmarnock with a fine voice read a very fine speech, confessing the extent of his crime, but offering his principles as some alleviation, having his eldest son (his second, unfortunately, was with him) in the duke's army, " fighting for the liberties of his country at Culloden, where his unhappy father was in arms to destroy them." He insisted much on his tenderness to the English prisoners, which some deny, and say that he was the man who proposed their being put to death, when general Stapleton urged that he was come to fight and not to butcher, and that if they acted any such barbarity he would leave them with all his men. He very artfully mentioned Vanhoey's letter, and said how much he should scorn to owe his life to such intercession. Lord Cromarty spoke much shorter and so low that he was not heard but by those who sat very near him ; but they prefer his speech to the other. He mentioned his misfortune in having drawn in his eldest son, who is present with him ; and concluded with saying, " If no part of this bitter cup must pass from me, not mine, O God, but Thy will be done." If he had pleaded not guilty, there was ready to be produced against him a paper signed with his own hand, for putting the English prisoners to death. Lord Leicester went up to the duke of Newcastle and said, " I never heard so great an orator as lord Kilmarnock ; if I was your grace I would pardon him and make him paymaster." * That morning a paper had been sent to the lieutenant of the Tower, for the prisoners; he gave it to lord Cornwallis, the governor, who carried it to the house of lords. It was a plea for the prisoners, objecting that the late act for regulating the trials of '* Alluding to Mr. Pitt, who had lately been preferred to that post from the fear the ministry had of his abusive eloquence. it 2 292 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Walpole. rebels did not take place till after their crime was committed. The lords very tenderly and rightly sent this plea to them, of which, as you have seen, the two earls did not make use, but old Balmerino did, and demanded counsel on it. The high steward, almost in a passion, told him that when he had been offered counsel he did not accept it. Do but think of the ridicule of sending them the plea and then denying them counsel on it. The duke of New castle, who never lets slip an opportunity of being absurd, took it up as a ministerial point, in defence of his creature, the chancellor; but lord Granville moved, according to order, to adjourn the debate in the chamber of parliament, when the duke of Bedford and many others spoke warmly for their having counsel, and it was granted. I said their, because the plea would have saved them all; and affected nine rebels who had been hanged that very morning, particularly one Morgan, a poetical lawyer. Lord Balmerino asked for Forester and Wilbraham, the latter a very able lawyer in the house of commons, who the chancellor said privately he was sure would as soon be hanged as plead such a cause. But he came as counsel to-day (the third day) when lord Balmerino gave up his plea as invalid and submitted without any speech. The lord high steward then made his, very long and very poor, with only one or two good passages ; and then pronounced sentence. Great intercession is made for the two earls ; * duke Hamilton, who has never been at court, designs to kiss the king's hand and ask lord Kilmarnock's life. The king is much inclined to some mercy; but the duke (Cumberland), who has not so much of Cassar after * While king George the second was perplexed and overwhelmed with personal applications for mercy, in behalf of lords Cromarty and Kilmarnock, he is said to have exclaimed, with natural feeling, " Heaven help me, will no one say a word in behalf of lord Balmerino? he, though a rebel, is at least an honest one ! " The spirit of the time was, however, adverse to this generous sentiment : nor, would it have been consistent to have spared a criminal, who boldly avowed and vindicated his political offences, while exercising the severity of the law towards others, who expressed penitence for their guilt. The earl of Cromarty being, as we have said, reprieved, the earl of Kilmar nock and lord Balmerino remained under sentence, with an intimation that they must prepare for death. The king, however, commuted the mode of execu tion into decapitation. Walpole.) TRIAL OF THE JACOBITE LORDS. 293 a victory as in gaining it, is for the utmost severity. It was lately proposed in the city, to present him with the freedom of some company ; one of the aldermen said aloud, " Then let it be of the butchers I" The Scotch and his royal highness are not at all guarded in their expressions of each other. When he went to Edinburgh in his pursuit of the rebels, they would not admit his guard, alleging that it was contrary to their privileges ; but they rode in, sword in hand; and the duke, very justly incensed, refused to see any of the magistrates. He came with the utmost expedition to town, in order for Flanders ; but found that the court of Vienna had already sent prince Charles* thither, with out the least notification ; at which both the king and duke are greatly offended. When the latter waited on his brother, the prince carried him into a room that hangs over the wall of St. James's park, and stood there with his arm about his neck, to charm the gazing mob. Murray, the pretender's secretary, has made ample confessions ; the earl of Traquair and Dr. Barry, a physician, are apprehended, and more warrants are out. So much for rebels. ******* We know nothing certainly of the young pretender, but that he is concealed in Scotland, and devoured with distempers. I really wonder how an Italian constitution can have supported such rigours. He has said, that "he did not see what he had to be ashamed of ; and that if he had lost one battle he had gained two." Old Lovat curses Cope and Hawley for the loss of those two, and says, if they had done their duty, he had never been in this scrape. Cope is actually going to be tried; but Hawley, who is fifty times more culpable, is saved by partiality. Cope miscarried by incapacity ; Hawley by insolence and carelessness. Lord Cromarty is reprieved ; the prince asked his life, and his wife made great intercession. Duke Hamilton's intercession for lord Kilmarnock has rather hurried him to the block ; he and lord Balmerino are to die next Monday. Lord Kilmarnock, with the greatest nobleness of soul, desired to have lord Cromarty pre ferred to himself for pardon, if there could be but one saved ; and * Of Lorraine 294 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Walpole. lord Balmerino laments that himself and lord Lovat were not taken at the same time, " For then," says he, " we might have been sacrificed and those other two brave men escaped." Indeed lord . Cromarty does not much deserve the epithet, for he wept whenever his execution was mentioned. Balmerino is jolly with his pretty Peggy. There is a remarkable story of him at the battle of Dum blane, where the duke of Argyle, his colonel, answered for him, on his being suspected. He behaved well ; but as soon as we had gained the victory, went off with his troop to the pretender, protesting that he had never feared death but that day, as he had been fighting against his conscience. Popularity has changed sides since the year fifteen, for now the city and the generality are very angry that so many rebels have been pardoned. Some of those taken at Carlisle dispersed papers at their execution, saying, they forgave all men but three, the elector of Hanover, the pretended duke of Cumberland, and the duke ofRichmond, who signed the capitulation at Carlisle. (Bumtiotx 'of % Jtwxrbxte 'goxos. Horace Walpole. I came from town (take notice I put this place * upon myself for the country), the day after the execution of the rebel lords. I was not at it, but had two persons come to me directly who were at the next house to the scaffold ; and I saw another who was upon it, so that you may depend upon my accounts. Just before they came out of the Tower, lord Balmerino drank a bumper to king James's health. As the clock struck ten, they came forth on foot, lord Kilmarnock all in black, his hair un- powdered in a bag, supported by Forster, the great presbyterian, and by Mr. Home, a young clergyman, his friend. Lord Balmerino followed, alone, in a blue coat turned up with red, his rebellious regimentals, a flannel waistcoat, and his shroud beneath ; their hearses following. They were conducted to a house near the scaffold ; the room forwards had benches for spectators ; in the * Windsor. Walpole.] THE EXECUTION OF JACOBITE LORDS. 295 second lord Kilmarnock was put, and in the third backwards, lord Balmerino ; all three chambers hung with black. Here they parted ! Balmerino embraced the other, and said, " My lord, I wish I could suffer for both." He had scarce left him, before he desired again to see him, and then asked him, " My lord Kilmar nock, do you know anything of the resolution taken in our army the day before the battle of Culloden, to put the English prisoners to death?" He replied, " My lord, I was not present ; but since I came hither, I have had all the reason in the world to believe that there was such an order taken, and I hear the duke has the pocket-book with the order." Balmerino answered, " It was a lie, raised to excuse their barbarity to us." Take notice, that the duke's charging this on lord Kilmarnock (certainly on mis-infor mation), decided this unhappy man's fate ! The most now pre tended is, that it would have come to lord Kilmarnock's turn to have given the word for the slaughter as lieutenant-general, with the patent for which he was immediately drawn into the rebellion, after having been staggered by his wife, her mother, his own poverty, and the defeat of Cope. He remained an hour and half in the house, and shed tears. At last he came to the scaffold, certainly much terrified, but with a resolution that prevented his behaving in the least meanly, or unlike a gentleman. He took no notice of the crowd, only to desire that the baize might be lifted up from the rails, that the mob might see the spectacle. He stood and prayed some time with Forster, who wept over him, exhorted, and encouraged him. He delivered a long speech to the sheriff, and with a noble manliness stuck to the recanta tion he had made at his trial ; declaring he wished that all who embarked in the same cause might meet the same fate. He then took off his bag, coat and waistcoat with great composure, and after some trouble put on a napkin cap, and then several times tried the block, the executioner who was in white with a white apron, out of tenderness concealing the axe behind himself. At last the earl knelt down, with a visible unwillingness to depart, and after five minutes dropped his handkerchief— the signal, and his head was cut off at once, only hanging by a bit of skin, and 296 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Walpole. was received in a scarlet cloth by four of the undertaker's men kneeling, who wrapped it up, and put it into the coffin with the body, orders having been given not to expose the head, as used to be the custom. The scaffold was immediately new strewed with sawdust, the block new covered, the executioner new dressed, and a new axe brought. Then came old Balmerino, treading with the air of a general. As soon as he mounted the scaffold, he read the inscrip tion on his coffin, as he did again afterwards. He then surveyed the spectators, who were in amazing numbers, even upon the masts of ships in the river, and pulling out his spectacles, read a treasonable speech, which he delivered to the sheriff, and said the young pretender was so sweet a prince, that flesh and blood could not resist following him ; and lying down to try the block, he said, " If I had a thousand lives I would lay them all down here in the same cause." He said, if he had not taken the sacrament the day before, he would have knocked down Williamson, the lieutenant of the Tower, for his ill-usage of him. He took the axe and felt it, and asked the headsman how many blows he had given lord Kilmarnock ; and gave him three guineas. Two clergymen who attended him coming up, he said, " No, gentlemen, I believe you have already done me all the service you can." Then he went to the corner of the scaffold, and called very loud for the warder to give him his periwig, which he took off, and put on a nightcap of Scotch plaid ; and then pulled off his coat and waistcoat, and lay down. But being told he was on the wrong side, vaulted round, and immediately gave the sign by tosssing up his arm, as if he were giving the signal for battle. He received three blows, but the first certainly took away all sensation. He was not a quarter of a hour on the scaffold ; lord Kilmarnock above half a one. Balmerino certainly died with the intrepidity of a hero, but with the insensibility of one too. As he walked from his prison to execution, seeing every window and top of house filled with spectators, he cried out, " Look, look ! how they are all piled up like rotten oranges." ****** Walpole.] THE EXECUTION OF JACOBITE LORDS. 297 I have been living at old Lovat's trial, and was willing to have it over before I talked to you of it. It lasted seven days ; the evidence was as strong as possible; and after all he had de nounced, he made no defence. The solicitor-general, who was one of the managers for the house of commons, shone extremely ; the attorney-general, who is a much greater lawyer, is cold and tedious. The old creature's behaviour has been foolish, and at last indecent I see little of parts in him, nor attribute much to that cunning for -which he is so famous : it might catch wild high landers ; but the art of dissimulation and flattery is so refined and improved, that it is of little use now where it is not very delicate. His character seems a mixture of tyranny and pride in his villainy. I must make you a 'little acquainted with him. In his own domain he governed despotically, either burning or plundering the lands and houses of his open enemies, or taking off his secret ones by the assistance of his cook, who was his poisoner in chief. He had two servants, who married without his consent. He said, " You shall have enough of each other," and stowed them in a dungeon, that had been a well, for three weeks. When he came to the Tower, he told them that if he were not so old and infirm, they would find it difficult to keep him there. They told him they had kept much younger. "Yes," said he, "but they were inexperienced, they had not broke so many gaols as I have." At his own house, he used to say that for thirty years of his life he never saw a gallows but it made his neck ache. His last act was to shift his treason upon his eldest son, whom he forced into the rebellion. He told Williamson, the lieutenant of the Tower, " We will hang my eldest son, and then my second shall marry your niece." He has a sort of ready humour at repartee, not very well adapted to his situation. One day that Williamson complained that he could not sleep, he was so haunted by rats, he replied, "What do you say, that you are so haunted with Ratcliffes?" # # * * At his trial he affected great weakness and infirmities, but often broke out into passions ; particularly at the first witness, who was his vassal. He asked him how he dared come thither ? The man replied, to satisfy his conscience. Murray, the pre- 298 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Walpole. tender's secretary, was the chief evidence, who, in the course of his information, mentioned lord Traquair's having conversed with lord Barrymore, sir Watkin Williams, and sir John Cotton on the pretender's affairs, but that they were shy. He was proceeding to name others, but was stopped by lord Talbot, and the court acquiesced — I think very indecently. It is imagined the duchess of Norfolk would have come next upon the stage. The two knights were present, as was Macleod, against whom a bitter letter from Lovat was read, accusing him of breach of faith, and afterwards Lovat summoned him to answer some questions he had to ask ; but did not. It is much expected that lord Traquair, who is a great coward, will give ample information of the whole plot. When sir Everard Falconer* had been examined against Lovat, the lord high steward asked the latter if he had anything to say to sir Everard. He replied, " No ; but that he was his humble servant, and wished him joy of his young wife." The two last days he behaved ridiculously, joking and making every body laugh, even at the sentence. He said to lord Uchester, who sat near the bar, " Je meurs pour ma patrie, et ne m'en soucie gueres." When he withdrew, he said, " Adieu, my lords, we shall never meet again in the same place." He says he will be hanged, for that his neck is so short and bended, that he should be struck in the shoulders. I did not think it possible to feel so little as I did at so melancholy a spectacle, but tyranny and villainy, wound up to buffoonery, took off the edge of concern. * * * * I de ferred writing to you, as long as they deferred the execution of old Lovat, because I had a mind to send you some account of his death, as I had of his trial. He was beheaded yesterday, and died extremely well, without passion, affectation, buffoonery, or timidity ; his behaviour was natural and intrepid. He professed himself a Jansenist ; made no speech, but sat down a little while in a chair on the scaffold, and talked to the people round him. He said, " He was glad to suffer for his country, duke est pro Patria mori ; that he did not know how, but he had always loved it, nescio quae natale solum, &c. ; that he had never swerved from He was secretary to the duke of Cumberland during the rebellion. Sir Walter Scott.] PUNISHMENT CF THE OTHER REBELS. 299 his principles ; that this was the character of his family, who had been gentlemen for rive hundred years." He lay down quietly, gave the sign soon, and was dispatched at a blow. I believe it will strike some terror into the highlands, when they hear that there is any power great enough to bring so potent a tyrant to the block. A scaffold fell down and killed several persons; one, a man that had rid post from Salisbury the day before to see the ceremony ; and a woman was taken up dead who had a live child in her arms. The body is sent to Scotland ;* the day was cold, and before it set out, the coachman drove the hearse about the court before my lord Traquair's dungeon, which could be no agreeable sight; it might to lord Cromartie, who is above the chair. \ IPimts^roent of i\t oi\n |leMs. Sir Walter Scott. While the blood of the nobility concerned in the insurrection of 1 745 was flowing thus plentifully, the criminals of minor import ance had no cause to think that justice was aristocratic in her selection of victims. The persons who earliest fell into the hands of the government, were the officers of the Manchester regiment, left, as we have seen, in Carlisle after the retreat from Derby. Of these the colonel and eight other persons who had held com missions, were tried and condemned in London. Eight others were found guilty at the same time, but were reprieved. Those who were destined for execution, underwent the doom of law in its most horrible shape, upon Kennington common ; where they avowed their political principles, and died firmly. A melancholy and romantic incident took place amid the terrors of the executions. A young lady, of good family and handsome fortune, who had been contracted in marriage to James * It was countermanded, and buried in the Tower. t He had been pardoned. 30Q HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott Dawson, one of the sufferers, had taken the desperate resolution of attending on the horrid ceremonial. She beheld her lover, after having been suspended for a few minutes, but not till death (for such was the barbarous sentence,) cut down, embowelled, and mangled by the knife of the executioner. All this she supported with apparent fortitude ; but when she saw the last scene finished, by throwing Dawson's heart into the fire, she drew her head within the carriage, repeated his name, and expired on the spot. This melancholy circumstance was made by Mr. Shenstone the theme of a tragic ballad. The mob of London had hooted these unfortunate gentlemen as they passed to and from their trial, but they witnessed their last sufferings with decency. TJrree Scottish officers of the party taken at Carlisle, were next condemned and executed in the same manner as the former ; others were tried in the like manner, and five were ordered for execution ; among these, sir John Wedder- burn, baronet, was the most distinguished. At Carlisle no less than 385 prisoners had been assembled, with the purpose of trying a select number of them at that place, nhere their guilt had been chiefly manifested. From this mass, 119 were selected for indictment and trial at the principal towns in the north. At York, the grand jury found bills against 75 insurgents. Upon this occasion, the chaplain of the high sheriff of Yorkshire preached before the judges on the very significant text (Numbers, xxv. 5,) "And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, slay ye every one his man that were joined unto Baalpeor." At York and Carlisle seventy persons upon the whole received sentence of death; some were acquitted on the plea of having been forced into the rebellion by their chiefs. This recognises a principle which might have been carried much farther ; when it is considered how much by education and principle these wretched kerns were at the disposal of their leaders, a similar apology ought, in justice, to have been admitted as an excuse to a much larger extent. The law, which makes allowance for the influence of a husband over a wife, or a father over a son, even when it involves them in guilt, ought unquestionably to have had the Sir Walter Scott.] PUNISHMENT OF THE OTHER REBELS. 30 1 same consideration for the clansmen, who were trained up in the most absolute ideas of obedience to their chief, and politically exerted no judgment of their own. Nine persons were executed at Carlisle on the r8th of October. The list contained one or two names of distinction ; as Buchanan of Arnpryor, the chief of his name; MacDonald of Kinloch- Moidart, one of the first who received the prince on his landing ; MacDonald of Teindreich, who began the war by attacking cap tain Scott's detachment when marching to Fort Augustus, and John MacNaughton, a person of little note, unless in so far as he was said, but it is believed erroneously, to have been the indi vidual by whose hand colonel Gardiner fell at Preston. Six criminals suffered at Brampton ; seven were executed at Penrith, and twenty-two at the city of York ; eleven more were afterwards executed at Carlisle ; nearly eighty in all were sacrificed to the terrors which the insurrection had inspired. These unfortunate sufferers were <•£ different ages, rank, and habits, both of body and mind ; they agreefl, however, in their behaviour upon the scaffold. They prayed for the exiled family, expressed their devotion to the cause in which they died, and particularly their admiration of the princely leader whom they had followed, till their attachment conducted them to this dreadful fate. It may be justly questioned, whether the lives of these men, supposing every one of them to have been an apostle of Jaco bitism, could have done so much to prolong their doctrines, as the horror and loathing inspired by so many bloody punishments. And when to these are added the merciless slaughter upon the fugitives at Culloden, and the devastation committed in the high land districts, it might have been expected that the sword of justice would have been weary with executions. There were still, however, some individuals, upon whom, for personal reasons, vengeance was still desired. One of these was Charles Ratcliffe, brother to the earl of Derwentwater. This gentleman had been partaker in the earl's treason, of 17 15, and had been condemned for that crime, but escaped from Newgate. In the latter end of the year 1745 or beginning'of 1746, he was 302 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir Walter Scott. taken on board a French ship of war, with other officers. The vessel was loaded with arms and warlike stores, bound for the coast of Scotland, for the use of the insurgents. Ratcliffe's case was, therefore, a simple one. He was brought before the king's bench, where evidence was adduced to show that he was the same Charles Ratcliffe who had been condemned for the earlier rebel lion, and who had then made his escape. Upon this being found proved by a jury, he was condemned to die, although, appealing to his French commission, he pleaded that he was not a subject of Britain, and denied himself to be the Charles Ratcliffe to whom the indictment and conviction referred, alleging he was Charles earl of Derwentwater. On the 7th of December, Ratcliffe appeared on the scaffold, where he was admitted, in respect of his birth, to the sad honours of the axe and block. He was richly dressed, and behaved with a mixture of grace and firmness which procured him universal sympathy. Lovat, whose tragedy I have already given, was, in point of time, the last person who suffered death for political causes in 1 747. An act of indemnity was passed in June r747, granting a pardon to all persons who had committed treason, but with an awful list of exceptions, amounting to about eighty names. I may here mention the fate of some of those persons who had displayed so much fidelity to Charles during the time of his escape. The laird of MacKinnon, MacDonald of Kingsburgh, and others, ascer tained to have been active in aiding the prince's escape, were brought to London, and imprisoned for sometime. Flora Mac Donald, the heroine of this extraordinary drama, was also, for a time, detained in the Tower. As I have recorded several of the severities of government, I ought to add, that nothing save a short imprisonment attended the generous interference of those individuals in behalf of the unfortunate adventurer, during his dangers and distresses. After being liberated from the Tower, Flora MacDonald found refuge, or rather a scene of triumph, in the house of lady Primrose, a determined Jacobite, where the prince's highland guardian was visited by all persons of rank who Sir Walter Scott.] PUNISHMENT ^>F THE OTHER REBELS. 303 entertained any bias to that unhappy cause. Neither did the English Jacobites limit their expressions of respect and admira-' tion to empty compliments. Many who, perhaps, secretly re gretted they had not given more effectual instances of their faith to the exiled family, were desirous to make some amends, by loading with kind attentions and valuable presents, the heroine who had piayed such a dauntless part in the drama. These donations supplied to the gallant highlandwoman a fortune of nearly ^1500. She bestowed this dowery, together with her hand, upon MacDonald of Kingsburgh, who had been her as sistant in the action which procured her so much fame. The applause due to her noble conduct, was not rendered by Jacobites alone ; many of the royal family, and particularly the good-natured and generous prince Frederick of Wales, felt and expressed what was due to the worth of Flora MacDonald, though exerted for the safety of so dangerous a rival. The simplicity and dignity of her character was expressed in her remark, that she never thought she had done any thing wonderful till she heard the world wondering at it. She afterwards went to America with her husband Kings burgh, but both returned, in consequence of the civil war, and died in their native isle of Skye. I should make these volumes thrice as long as they ought to be, were I to tell you the stories which I have heard (sometimes from the lips of those who were themselves the sufferers) concerning the strange concealments and escapes which the Jacobites were reduced to for the safety of their lives after their cause was ruined. The severity of legal prosecution was not speedily relaxed, although the proceedings under martial law were put a stop to. Lord Pitsligo, who lurked on his own estate, and displayed a model of patience under unusual sufferings, continued to be an object of occasional search long after the 1 746 ; and was in some degree under concealment till his death in 1762, at the age of eighty-five. Some other criminals peculiarly obnoxious to govern ment were not liberated from prison until the accession of George III. 304 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Shenstone. Jfimmg §Efoson. W. Shenstone. A young lady of good family and fortune had been long engaged to be married to Mr. James Dawson, who was one of the con demned Jacobite gentlemen in 1 746. Had he been pardoned or acquitted, the day of his enlargement would have been that of their wedding. But he was sentenced to the terrible death of a traitor, and no persuasions could prevent the unhappy girl from being present at his execution. She followed the sledge on which he was drawn in a coach, with a gentleman related to her, and a female friend. " She advanced near enough," says the Whitehall Evening Post, " to see the fire kindled which was to consume that heart which had been devoted to her. She beheld all the dreadful preparations of inhumanity without betraying any of those extravagancies which her companion had apprehended. But when she found that her beloved friend was no more, she drew her head into the coach, and exclaimed, " My dear, I follow thee ! Jesus receive our souls together," fell on the neck of her companion, and expired instantly. Come listen to my mournful tale Ye tender hearts and lovers dear ! Nor will you scorn to heave a sigh, Nor need you blush to shed a tear. And thou, dear Kitty, peerless maid 1 Do thou a pensive ear incline, For thou can'st weep at every woe, And pity every plaint — but mine. Young Dawson was a gallant boy, A brighter never trod the plain, And well he loved one charming maid, And dearly was he loved again. One tender maid she loved him dear ; Of gentle blood the damsel came, And faultless was her beauteous form, And spotless was her virgin fame. Shenstone.] JEMMY DAWSON. But curse on party's hateful strife That led the favoured youth astray, The day the rebel clans appeared ; O had he never seen that day 1 Their colours and their sash he wore, And in the fatal dress was found : And now he must that death endure Which gives the brave the keenest wound. How pale was then his true love's cheek, When Jemmy's sentence reached her ear ; For never yet did Alpine snows So pale or yet so chill appear. With faltering voice, she weeping said, " Oh Dawson, monarch of my heart ! Think not thy death shall end our loves, For thou and I will never part. " Yet might sweet mercy find a place, And bring relief to Jemmy's woes ; O George ! without a prayer for thee, My orisons should never close. " The gracious prince that gave him life, Would crown a never dying flame, And every tender babe I bore, Should learn to lisp the giver's name. "But though he should be dragged in scorn To yonder ignominious tree, He shall not want one constant friend, To share the cruel fates' decree." O ! then her mourning coach was called, The sledge moved slowly on before ; Though borne in a triumphal car, She had not loved her favourite more. She followed him, prepared to view, The terrible behests of law, And the last scene of Jemmy's woes, With calm and steadfast eye she saw. Distorted was that blooming face, Which she had fondly loved so long; And stifled was that tuneful breath, Which in her praise ha"d sweetly sung. 3°5 306 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Smollett. And severed was that beauteous neck, Round which her arms had fondly closed ; And mangled was that beauteous breast On which her love-sick head reposed. And ravished was that constant heart She did to every heart prefer ; For though it could its king forget, 'Twas true and loyal still to her. Amid those unrelenting flames She bore his constant heart to see ; But when 'twas mouldered into dust, " Yet, yet," she cried, "I follow thee. " My death, my death alone can show The pure and lasting love I bore : Accept, O heaven, of woes like ours, And let us, let us, weep no more." The dismal scene was o'er and past, The lover's mournful hearse retired ; The maid drew back her languid head And sighing forth his name, expired. Though justice ever must prevail, The tear my Kitty sheds is due ; For seldom shall she hear a tale So'sad, so tender, and so true. %\% %xx$x%\ xxx tigt §Iaxh Hole of ftdzixtte, 1756. Smollett. Scenes of highest import were this year (1756), acted by the British arms in the East Indies : the cessation of hostilities between the English and French companies on the peninsula of India, though it encouraged Mr. Clive to visit his native country, was not of long duration ; for in a few months both sides recommenced their operations, no longer as auxiliaries to the princes of the country, but as principals and rivals both in arm Smollett.] THE ENGLISH IN THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA. 307 and commerce. Major Lawrence, who now enjoyed the chief command of the English force, obtained divers advantages over the .enemy, and prosecuted his success with such vigour, as in all probability would in a little time have terminated the war, accord ing to his own wish ; when the progress of his arms was interrupted, and suspended by an unfortunate event at Calcutta, the cause of which is not easily explained, for extraordinary pains have been taken to throw a veil over some transactions, from whence this railamity was immediately or remotely derived. The old suba, or viceroy of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa dying in the month of April, 1756, was succeeded by his adopted son, Surajah Dowlah, a young man of violent passions, without principle, fortitude, or good faith, who began his administration with acts of perfidy and violence. In all probability, his design against the English settlements was suggested by his rapacious disposition, on a belief that they abounded with treasure, as the pretences he used for commencing hostilities were altogether inconsistent, false, and frivolous. In the month of May he caused the English factory at Cossimbuzar to be invested; and inviting Mr. Watts, the chief of the factory, to a conference, under the sanction of a safe conduct, detained him as a prisoner ; then by means of fraud and force intermingled, made himself master of the factory. This exploit being achieved, he made no secret of his design to deprive the English of all their settlements. With this view he marched to Calcutta, at the head of a numerous army, and invested the place, which was then in no posture of defence. The governor, intimidated by the number and power of the enemy, abandoned the fort, and with some principal persons residing in the settlement, took refuge on board a ship in the river, carrying along with them their most valuable effects, and the books of the company. Thus the defence of the place devolved to Mr. Holwell, the second in. command, who, with the assistance of a few gallant officers, and a very feeble garrison, maintained it with uncommon courage and resolution against several attacks, until he was overpowered by numbers, and the enemy had forced their way into the castle ; then he was obliged to submit, and the suba 308 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Smollett. or viceroy promised on the word of a soldier, that no injury should be done to him or his garrison ; nevertheless they were all driven, to the number of 146 persons of both sexes, into a place called the Black hole prison, a cube of about eighteen feet, walled up to the eastward and southward, the only quarters from which they could expect the least refreshing air ; and open to the westward by two windows, strongly barred with iron, through which there was no perceptible circulation. The humane reader willconceive with horror the miserable situation to which they must have been reduced, when thus stewed up in a close sultry night, under such a climate as that of Bengal, especially when he reflects that many of them were wounded, and all of them fatigued with hard duty. Transported with rage to find themselves so barbarously cooped up in a place where they must be exposed to suffocation, those hapless victims endeavoured to force open the door, that they might rush on the swords of the barbarians by whom they were surrounded ; but all their efforts were ineffectual ; the door was made to open inwards, and being once shut on them, the crowd pressed on it so strongly, as to render all their efforts abortive; then they were overwhelmed with distraction and despair. Mr. Holwell, who had placed himself at one of the windows, accosted a jemmautdar, or sergeant of the Indian guard, and having en deavoured to excite his compassion by drawing a pathetic picture of their sufferings, promised to gratify him with 1,000 rupees in the morning, if he would find means to remove one-half of them into a separate apartment. The soldier, allured by the promise of such a reward, assured him that he would do his endeavour for their relief, and retired for that purpose ; but in a few minutes returned, and told him that the suba, by whose orders alone such a step could be taken, was asleep, and no person dared disturb his repose. By this time a profuse sweat had broken out on every individual, and this was attended with an insatiable thirst, which became the more intolerable, as the body was drained of its moisture. In vain these miserable objects stripped themselves of their clothes, squatted down, and fanned the air with their hats, to produce a refreshing undulation ; many were unable to rise Smollett.] THE ENGLISH IX THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA. 309 again from this posture, and falling down, were trod to death, or suffocated. The dreadful symptom of thirst was now accom panied with a difficulty of respiration, and every individual gasped for breath. Their despair became outrageous ; again they attempted to force the door, and provoked the guard to fire on them by execration and abuse. The cry of "water! water!" issued from every mouth ; even the jemmautdar was moved to compassion by their distress ; he ordered his soldiers to bring some skins of water, which served only to enrage the appetite, and increase the general agitation ; there was no other way of conveying it through the window but by hats ; and this was rendered ineffectual by the eagerness and transport of the wretched prisoners, who at the sight of it, struggled and raved even into fits of delirium. In consequence of these contests very little reached those who stood nearest the window, while the rest, at the further end of the prison were totally excluded from all relief, and continued calling on their friends for assistance, and conjuring them by all the tender ties of pity and affection ; to those who were indulged it proved pernicious ; for instead of allaying their thirst, it enraged their impatience for more. The confusion became general and horrid ; all was clamour and contest ; those who were at a distance endeavoured to force their passage to the window, and the weak were pressed down to the ground, never to rise again. The inhuman ruffians without derived entertainment from their misery ; they supplied the prisoners with more water, and held up lights close to the bars, that they might enjoy the inhuman pleasure of seeing them fight for the baneful indulgence. Mr. Holwell, seeing all his particular friends lying dead around him, and trampled on by the living, finding himself wedged up so close as to be deprived of all motion, begged, as the last instance of their regard, that they would remove the pressure and allow him to retire from the window, that he might die in quiet. Even in those dreadful circumstances which might be supposed to level all distinction, the poor delirious wretches manifested a respect for his rank and character; they forth with gave way, and he forced his passage into the centre of 310 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Smollett. the place, which was not crowded so much, because by this time about one-third of the number had perished, and lay in a little compass on the floor, while the rest still crowded to both windows. He retired to a platform at the further end of the room, and lying down on some of his dead friends recommended his soul to Heaven. Here his thirst grew insupportable, his difficulty in breathing increased, and he was seized with a strong palpitation ; these violent symptoms, which he could not bear, urged him to make another effort. He forced his way back to the window and cried aloud, "Water, for God's sake.!" He had been supposed already dead by his wretched companions, but finding him still alive they exhibited another extraordinary proof of tenderness and regard for his person. "Give him water," they cried, nor would any of them attempt to touch it till he had drunk. He now breathed more freely, and the palpitation ceased; but finding himself still more thirsty after drinking, he abstained from water, and moistened his mouth from time to time by sucking the perspiration from his shirt sleeve. The miserable prisoners, per ceiving the water rather aggravated than relieved their distress, grew clamorous for air, and repeated their insults to the guard, loading the suba and his governor with the most virulent re proaches ; from railing they had recourse to prayer, beseeching Heaven to put an end to their misery. They now began to drop on all hands ; but then a steam arose from the living and the dead, as pungent and volatile as spirits of hartshorn, so that all who could not approach the windows were suffocated. Mr. Hol well, being weary of life, retired once more to the platform and stretched himself by the Rev. Mr. Lewis Bellamy, who, together with his son, a lieutenant, lay dead in each other's arms. In this situation he was soon deprived of sense and lay to all appearance dead till day broke, when his body was discovered and removed by his surviving friends to one of the windows, where the air revived him and he was restored to his sight and senses. The suba at last, being informed that the greater part of the prisoners were suffocated, asked if the chief were alive, and being answered in the affirmative, sent an order for their immediate release, when Smollett.] THE ENGLISH IN THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA. 31 1 not more than twenty-three survived of the 146 who had entered alive. Nor was the late deliverance of these few owing to any senti ment of compassion in the viceroy ; he had received intimation that there was a considerable treasure secreted in the fort, and that Mr. Holwell knew the place where it was deposited. That gentleman, who with his surviving companions had been seized with a putrid fever immediately on their release, was dragged in that condition before the inhuman suba, who questioned him about the treasure, which existed nowhere but in his own imagi nation, and would give no credit to his protestations, when he solemnly declared he knew of no such deposit. Mr. Holwell and three of his friends were loaded with fetters, and conveyed three miles from the Indian camp, where they lay all night exposed to a severe rain. Next morning they were brought back to town, still manacled, under the scorching beams of a sun intensely hot, and must have infallibly expired had not nature expelled the fever in large painful boils that covered almost the whole body. In this piteous condition they were embarked in an open boat for ¦ Muxadavad, the capital of Bengal, and underwent such cruel treatment and misery on their passage as would shock the humane reader should he peruse the particulars. At Muxadavad they were led through the city in chains, as a spectacle to the inhabitants, lodged in an open stable, and treated for some days as the worst of criminals. At length the suba's grandmother interposed her mediation in their behalf; and as that prince was by this time convinced that there was no treasure concealed at Calcutta, he ordered them to be set a liberty. When some of his sycophants opposed the indulgence, representing that Mr. Holwell had still enough left to pay a considerable ransom ; he replied with some marks of compunction and generosity, " If he has any thing left, let him keep it. His sufferings have been great ; he shall have his liberty." Mr. Holwell and his friends were no sooner unfettered than they took water for the Dutch tanksall or mint in the neighbourhood of that city, where they were received with great tenderness and humanity. * * * * The suba, havins 312 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay destroyed Calcutta and dispersed the inhabitants, extorted large sums from the French and Dutch factories, that he might display a spirit of impartiality against all Europeans, even in his oppres sion, and returned to his city of Muxadavad in triumph. By the reduction of Calcutta the English East India Company's affairs were so much embroiled in that part of the world, that, perhaps, nothing could have retrieved them but the interposition of a national force, and the good fortune of a Clive, whose enterprises were always crowned with success. %\i $attlt oi $kfls*8. Lord Macaulay. The Nabob* had feared and hated the English, even while he was still able to oppose to them their French rivals. The French were now vanquished ; and he began to regard the English with still greater fear and still greater hatred. His weak and unprin cipled mind oscillated between servility and insolence. One day he sent a large sum to Calcutta, as part of the compensation due for the wrongs which he had committed. The next day he sent a present of jewels to Bussy, exhorting that distinguished officer to hasten to protect Bengal " against Clive, the daring in war, on whom," says his highness, " may all bad fortune attend." He ordered his army to march against the English. He counter manded his orders. He tore Clive's letters. He then sent answers in the most florid language of compliment. He ordered Watts out of his presence, and threatened to impale him. He again sent for Watts, and begged pardon for the insult. In the mean time, his wretched maladministration, his folly, his dissolute manners, and his love of the lowest company, had disgusted all classes of his subjects, soldiers, traders," civil functionaries, the proud and ostentatious Mahommedans, the timid, supple, and parsimonious Hindoos. A formidable confederacy was formed against him, in which were included Roydullub, the minister of * Surajah Dowlah. Macaulay.] THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY. 313 finance, Meer Jaffier,- the principal commander of the troops, and Jugget Seit, the richest banker in India. The plot was confided to the English agents, and a communication was opened between the malcontents at Moorshedabad and the committee at Calcutta. In the committee there was much hesitation ; but Clive's voice was given in favour of the conspirators, and his vigour and firm ness bore down all opposition. It was determined that the English should lend their powerful assistance to depose Surajah Dowlah, and to place Meer Jaffier on the throne of Bengal. In return, Meer Jaffier promised ample compensation to the com pany and its servants, and a liberal donative to the army, the navy, and the committee. The odious vices of Surajah Dowlah, the wrongs which the English had suffered at his hands, the dangers to which our trade must have been exposed had he con tinued to reign, appear to us fully to justify the resolution of deposing him. But nothing can justify the dissimulation which Clive stooped to practise. He wrote to Surajah Dowlah in terms so affectionate that they for a time lulled that weak prince into perfect security. The same courier who carried this " soothing letter," as Clive calls ft, to the nabob, carried to Mr. Watts a letter in the following terms : " Tell Meer Jaffier to fear nothing. I will join him with five thousand men who never turned their backs. Assure him I will march night and day to his assistance, and stand by him as long as I have a man left." It was impossible that a plot which had so many ramifications should long remain entirely concealed. Enough reached the ears of the nabob to arouse his suspicions. But he was soon quieted by the fictions and artifices which the inventive genius of Omichund produced with miraculous readiness. All was going well ; the plot was nearly ripe ; when Clive learned that Omichund was likely to play false. The artful Bengalee had been promised a liberal compensation for all that he had lost at Calcutta. But this would not satisfy him. His services had been great He held the thread of the whole intrigue. By one word breathed in the ear of Surajah Dowlah, he could undo all that he had done. The lives of Watts, of Meer Jaffier, of all the conspirators, were 314 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay. at his mercy; and he determined to take advantage of his situa tion, and to make his own terms. He demanded three hundred thousand pounds sterling as the price of his secrecy and of his assistance. The committee, incensed by the treachery and appalled by the danger, knew not what course to take. But Clive was more than Omichund's match in Omichund's own arts. The man, he said, was a villain. Any artifice which would defeat such knavery was justifiable. The best course would be to promise what was asked. Omichund would soon be at their mercy ; and then they might punish him by withholding from him, not only the bribe which he now demanded, but also the compensation which all the other sufferers of Calcutta were to receive. His advice was taken. But how was the wary and sagacious Hindoo to be deceived? He had demanded that an article touching his claims should be inserted in the treaty between Meer Jaffier and the English, and he would not be satisfied unless he saw it with his own eyes. Clive had an expedient ready. Two treaties were drawn up, one on white paper, the other on red, the former real, the latter fictitious. In the former Omichund's name was not mentioned ; the latter, which was to be shown to him, contained a stipulation in his favour. But another difficulty arose. Admiral Watson had scruples about signing the red treaty. Omichund's vigilance and acute- ness were such that the absence of so important a name would probably awaken his suspicions. But Clive was not a man to do any thing by halves. We almost blush to write it. He forged admiral Watson's name. All was now ready for action. Mr. Watts fled secretly from Moorshedabad. Clive put his troops in motion, and wrote to the nabob in a tone very different from that of his previous letters. He set forth all the wrongs which the British had suffered, offered to submit the points in dispute to the arbitration of Meer Jaffier, and concluded by announcing that, as the rains were about to set in, he and his men would do themselves the honour of waiting on his highness for an answer. Surajah Dowlah instantly assembled his whole force, and Macaulay.] THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY. 315 marched to encounter the English. It had been agreed that Meer Jaffier should separate himself from the nabob, and carry over his division to Clive. But, as the decisive moment ap. proached, the fears of the conspirator overpowered his ambition. Clive had advanced to Cossimbuzar ; the nabob lay with a mighty power a few miles off at Plassey ; and still Meer Jaffier delayed to fulfil his engagements, and returned evasive answers to the earnest remonstrances of the English general. Clive was in a painfully anxious situation. He could place no confidence in the sincerity or in the courage of his confederate : and, whatever confidence he might place in his own military talents, and in the valour and discipline of his troops, it was no light thing to engage an army twenty times as numerous as his own. Before him lay a river over which it was easy to advance, but over which, if things went ill, not one of his little band would ever return. On this occasion, for the first and for the last time, his dauntless spirit, during a few hours, shrank from the fearful responsibility of making a decision. He called a council of war. The majority pronounced against fighting; and Clive declared his concurrence with the majority. Long afterwards, he said that he had never called but one council of war, and that, if he had taken the advice of that council, the British would never have been masters of Bengal. But scarcely had the meeting broken up when he was himself again. He retired alone under the shade of some trees, and passed near an hour there in thought. He came back determined to put every thing to the hazard, and gave orders that all should be in readiness for passing the river on the morrow. The river was passed ; and, at the close of a toilsome day's march, the army, long after sunset, took up its quarters in a grove of mango-trees near Plassey, within a mile of the enemy. Clive was unable to sleep; he heard, through the whole night, the sound of drums and cymbals from the vast camp of the nabob. It is not strange that even his stout heart should now and then have sunk, when he reflected against what odds, and for what a prize, he was in a few hours to contend. 316 HALF-HOURS CF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay. Nor was the rest of Surajah Dowlah more peaceful. His mind, at once weak and stormy, was distracted by wild and horrible apprehensions. Appalled by the greatness and nearness of the crisis, distrusting his captains, dreading every one who approached him, dreading to be left alone, he sat gloomily in his tent, haunted, a Greek- poet would have said, by the furies of those who had cursed him with their last breath in the black hole. The day broke, the day which was to decide the fate of India. At sunrise the army of the nabob, pouring through many openings of the camp, began to move towards the grove where the English lay. Forty thousand infantry, armed with firelocks, pikes, swords, bows and arrows, covered the plain. They we're accompanied by fifty pieces of ordnance of the largest size, each tugged by a long team of white oxen, and each pushed on from behind by an elephant. Some smaller guns, under the direction of a few French auxiliaries, were perhaps more formidable. The cavalry were fifteen thousand, drawn, not from the effeminate population of Bengal, but from the bolder race which inhabits the northern- provinces; and the practised eye of Clive could perceive that both the men and the horses were more powerful than those of the Carnatic. The force which he had to oppose to this great multitude consisted of only three thousand men. But of these nearly a thousand were English ; and all were led by English officers, and trained in the English discipline. Conspicuous in the ranks of the little army were the men of the thirty-ninth regiment, which still bears on its colours, amidst many honour able additions won under Wellington in Spain and Gascony, the name of Plassey, and the proud motto, Primus in Indis. The battle commenced with a cannonade in which the artillery of the nabob did scarcely any execution, while the few field-pieces of the English produced great effect. Several of the most dis tinguished officers in Surajah Dowlah's service fell. Disorder began to spread through his ranks. His own terror increased every moment. One . of the conspirators urged on him the expediency of retreating. The insidious advice, agreeing as it did with what his own terrors suggested, was readily received. Macaulay.] THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY. 317 He ordered his army to fall back, and this order decided his fate. Clive snatched the moment, and ordered his troops to advance. The confused and dispirited multitude gave way before the onset of disciplined valour. No mob attacked by regular soldiers was ever more completely routed. The little band of Frenchmen, who alone ventured to confront the English, were swept down the stream of fugitives. In an hour the forces of Surajah Dowlah were dispersed, never to reassemble. Only five hundred of the vanquished were slain. But their camp, their guns, their baggage, innumerable waggons, innumerable cattle, remained in the power of the conquerors. With the loss of twenty-two soldiers killed and fifty wounded, Clive had scattered an army of near sixty thousand men, and subdued an empire larger and more populous than Great Britain. Meer Jaffier had given no assistance to the English during the action. But, as soon as he saw that the fate of the day was decided, he drew off his division of the army, and, when the battle was over, sent his congratulations to his ally. The next morning he repaired to the English quarters, not a little uneasy as to the reception which awaited him there. He gave evident signs of alarm when a guard was drawn out to receive him with the honours due to his rank. But his apprehensions were speedily removed. Clive came forward to meet him, embraced him, saluted him as nabob of the three great provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, listened graciously to his apologies, and advised him to march without delay to Moorshedabad. Surajah Dowlah had fled from the field of battle with all the speed with which a fleet camel could carry him, and arrived at Moorshedabad in little more than twenty-four hours. There he called his councillors round him. The wisest advised him to put himself into the hands of the English, from whom he had nothing worse to fear than deposition and confinement. But he attributed this suggestion to treachery. Others urged him to try the chance of war again. He approved the advice, and issued orders accor dingly. But he wanted spirit to adhere even during one day to a manly resolution. He learned that Meer Jaffier had arrived ; and 318 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay. his teiTors became insupportable. Disguised in a mean dress, with a casket of jewels in his hand, he let himself down at night from a window of his palace, and accompanied by only two at tendants, embarked on the river for Patna. In a few days Clive arrived at Moorshedabad, escorted by two hundred English soldiers and three hundred sepoys. For his residence had been assigned a palace, which was surrounded by a garden so spacious that all the troops who accompanied him could conveniently encamp within it The ceremony of the installation of Meer Jaffier was instantly performed. Clive led the new nabob to the seat of honour, placed him on it, presented to him, after the immemorial fashion of the east, an offering of gold, and then turning to the natives who filled the hall, congratulated them on the good fortune which had freed them from a tyrant. He was compelled on this occasion to use the services of an interpreter ; for it is remarkable that, long as he resided in India, intimately acquainted as he was with Indian poltics and with the Indian character, and adored as he was by his Indian soldiery, he never learned to express himself with facility in any Indian lan guage. He is said indeed to have been sometimes under the necessity of employing, in his intercourse with natives of India, the smattering of Portuguese which he had acquired, when a lad, in Brazil. The new sovereign was now called upon to fulfil the engage ments into which he had entered with his allies. A conference was held at the house of Jugget Seit, the great banker, for the purpose of making the necessary arrangements. Omichund came thither, fully believing himself to stand high in the favour of Clive, who, with dissimulation surpassing even the dissimulation of Bengal, had up to that day treated him with undiminished kindness. The white treaty was produced and read. Clive then turned to Mr. Scrafton, one of the servants of the company, and said in English, " It is now time to undeceive Omichund." "Omi chund," said Mr. Scrafton in Hindostanee, " the red treaty is a trick. You are to have nothing." Omichund fell back insen sible into the arms of his attendants. He revived ; but his mind Macaulay.] THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY. 319 was irreparably ruined. Clive, who, though little troubled by scruples of conscience in his dealings with Indian politicians, was not inhuman, seems to have been touched. He saw Omichund a few days after, spoke to him kindly, advised him to make a pil grimage to one of the great temples of India, in the hope that change of scene might restore his health, and was even disposed, notwithstanding all that had passed, again to employ him in the public service. But from the moment of that sudden shock, the unhappy man sank gradually into idiocy. He, who had formerly been distinguished by the strength of his understanding and the simplicity of his habits, now squandered the remains of his fortune on childish trinkets, and loved to exhibit himself dressed in rich garments and hung with precious stones. In this abject state he languished a few months, and then died. We should not think it necessary to offer any remarks for the purpose of directing the judgment of our readers, with respect to .this transaction, had not sir John Malcolm undertaken to defend it in all its parts. He regrets, indeed, that it was necessary to employ means so liable to abuse as forgery ; but he will not admit that any blame attaches to those who deceived the deceiver. He thinks that the English were not bound to keep faith with one who kept no faith with them, and that, if they had fulfilled their engage ments with the wily Bengalee, so signal an example of successful treason would have produced a crowd of imitators. Now, we will not discuss this point on any rigid principles of morality. Indeed, it is quite unnecessary to do so ; for, looking at the question as a question of expediency in the lowest sense of the word, and usino- no arguments such as Machiavelli might have employed in his conferences with Borgia, we are convinced that Clive was altogether in the wrong, and that he committed, not merely a crime, but a blunder. That honesty is the best policy is a maxim which we firmly believe to be generally correct, even with respect to the temporal interest of individuals ; but with respect to societies, the rule is subject to still fewer exceptions, and that for this reason, that the life of societies is longer than the life of individuals. It pssossible to mention men who have owed great worldly prosperity 320 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay. to breaches of private faith ; but we doubt whether it be possible to mention a state which has on the whole been a gainer by a breach of public faith. The entire history of British India is an illustration of the great truth, that it is not prudent to oppose perfidy to perfidy, and that the most efficient weapon with which men can encounter falsehood is truth. During a long course of years, the English rulers of India, surrounded by allies and enemies whom no engagements could bind, have generally acted with sincerity and uprightness ; and the event has proved that sincerity and uprightness are wisdom. English valour and English intelli gence have done less to extend and to preserve our oriental empire than English veracity. All that we could have gained by imitating the doublings, the evasions, the fictions, the perjuries which have been employed against us, is as nothing, when compared with what we have gained by being the one power in India on whose word reliance can be placed. No oath which superstition can devise, no hostage however precious, inspires a hundredth part of the confidence which is produced by the " yea, yea," and " nay, nay," of a British envoy. No fastness, however strong by art or nature, gives to its inmates a security like that enjoyed by the chief who, passing through the territories of powerful and deadly enemies, is armed with the British guarantee. The mightiest princes of the east can scarcely, by the offer of enormous usury, draw forth any portion of the wealth which is concealed under the hearths of their subjects. The British government offers little more than four per cent. ; and avarice hastens to bring forth tens of millions of rupees from its most secret repositories. A hostile monarch may promise mountains of gold to our sepoys on condition that they will desert the standard of the company. The company promises only a moderate pension after a long service. But every sepoy knows that the promise of the company will be kept : he knows that if he lives a hundred years his rice and salt are as secure as the salary of the Governor-General ; and he knows that there is not another state in India which would not, in spite of the most solemn vows, leave him to die of hunger in a ditch as soon as he had ceased to be useful. The greatest advantage which a govern- Bell.] BRITISH VICTORIES IN 1759. 32 1 ment can possess is to be the one trustworthy government in the midst of governments which nobody can trust. This advantage we enjoy in Asia. Had we acted during the last two generations on the principles which sir John Malcolm appears to have considered as sound, had we as often as we had to deal with people like Omichund, retaliated by lying and forging, and breaking faith, after their fashion, it is our firm belief that no courage or capacity could have upheld our empire. |lritxslj Widnxm in 1759. Continuation of Mackintosh's History by Robert Bell. The ships of England at this period commanded nearly all the practicable waters of the world, and were everywhere triumphant. The number and importance of the collisions with the enemy were unparalleled within a similar compass of time. A fierce and un remitting warfare was kept up in the West Indies, where several armed ships and prizes, richly laden with French goods, were captured, and carried into the neighbouring harbours. Those seas were covered with privateers, who inflicted at intervals severe reprisals upon the British, seizing during the year no less than two hundred ships, valued at 600,000/. ; a large amount, but sinking into insignificance in comparison with the seizures on the other side. A vast number of privateers and ships were taken in the channel and elsewhere, and conveyed into the English ports ; and the engagements that took place in distant quarters exhibited a roll of victories more rapid and decisive than had ever before been achieved by the naval power of England. The names of Hood, Elliot, Gilchrist, Barrington, and Falkner, are conspicuous in these gallant exploits, which conferred such imperishable glory upon their country. The intelligence received in England of the preparations on the coast of France for a meditated invasion of Great Britain, assuming by degrees a more distinct and unequivocal shape, admiral Rodney was ordered with a squadron to Havre-de-Grace for the purpose of destroying the flat-bottomed g2 2 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Bell. boats that were building in that harbour for the embarkation of the troops. Arriving at the narrow channel of the river leading to Harfleur, the admiral disposed his vessels for a bombardment of the town. The inhabitants fled in the utmost consternation ; the town was set on fire in several places, and the devastation committed by shots and shells was very considerable. But the actual injury committed upon the military resources of the country was trifling compared to the cost of the armament. Pitt was prodigal of expenditure in such enterprises, contenting himself with planning magnificent projects, and leaving the treasury people to find the means. The only sound apology that could be made for this fruitless undertaking was, that it warded off the battle from the shores of England, ill prepared at the time to encounter an attack. There were not more than twelve thousand disposable troops in the whole kingdom, and the French prisoners who crowded the towns were consigned to the charge of the militia. Under such circumstances it was necessary, at any expenditure, to divert the scene of hostility from home. A more decisive action occurred later in the year off the straits of Gibraltar. Admiral Boscawen, who then, held the command in the Mediterranean, finding the French fleet lying at anchor at Toulon, had the temerity to order three ships of the line to ad vance and burn, two of the enemy's ships that lay close to the mouth of the harbour. Overpowered, however, by a superior force, and exposed to the fire of a line of batteries they had not before perceived, they sustained serious damage, and the admiral returned to Gibraltar for the purpose of refitting his shattered vessels. In the meanwhile M. de la Clue, the French commander, availed himself of the opportunity of sailing, hoping to pass the straits unobserved. But the English admiral had not omitted to take the necessary precautions : and, being apprised of the ap proach of the enemy, he immediately put out to sea, and made the signal to chase. A furious running fight ensued, in which the French showed great intrepidity against a superior force. At length M. de la Clue, finding the struggle hopeless, and the English squadron crowding a1.}, their sails to come up with him Bell.] BRITISH VICTORIES IN 1759. 323 determined to burn his ships rather than submit Being at this time near the coast of Portugal, he ran his own vessel ashore near the fort of Almadana, from the batteries of which three shots were fired on the English. One of the French captains followed the example of the admiral ; others attempted to land their men at another part of the coast; and two of the vessels altered their course, and deserted. This victory was effected at a very incon siderable loss, while the carnage on the other side was terrific. The admiral's ship (esteemed the best in the French navy) and three other first-rate vessels struck their colours, a fifth was burnt after having been abandoned by the crew, and two of the prizes were sent home to England. The gallant de la Clue was severely wounded in both legs, and expired shortly after. This engage ment took place on the 18th of August. By the arrangements so promptly made to arrest the threatened invasion, nearly all the French harbours where naval armaments of any consequence had been in preparation were kept in check ; and it was hoped that the assault on Havre-de-Grace, and the failure of the squadron equipped at Toulon, would effectually prevent any further attempts to carry the menace into execution. But the French government had not yet abandoned the design; and a formidable fleet, which had been fitted in the harbours of Rochfort, Brest, and Port Louis, was now ready for sea, under the command of M. Conflans, with powerful reinforcements of troops assembled in Lower Bretagne. But the coast was so completely blockaded by the British navy that no opportunity offered of getting out of the harbour of Brest, where the fleet was collected, until, in the month of November, the English squadron, com manded by sir Edward Hawke, were driven from their reconnoitr ing station by stress of weather, and forced to take anchor in Torbay. M. Conflans instantly put out to sea with twenty-one sail of the line and four frigates. Sir Edward Hawke, receiving intelligence of their departure, sailed without loss of time, and came up with them on their own coast, off the bay of Quiberon, on the 20th of November. The weather was tempestuous, and the days short and cloudy; and the English admiral laboured 324 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Bell. under the further disadvantage of a lee shore, and a coast full of rocks and quicksands. M. Conflans, availing himself of these circumstances, endeavoured to shelter his fleet amongst the rockSj but sir Edward Hawke followed him with broadsides. The action opened at three o'clock in the day, and a scene, rendered awful by the state of the elements, ensued. The gallantry of the English throughout the whole of this tremendous engagement, was worthy of the signal victory they obtained. In the midst of a tempest, exposed to a dangerous shore, and maintaining a position which the most heroic courage could not improve, they poured such a destructive fire into the enemy, that the whole fleet must have been annihilated if darkness had not intervened, and suspended the battle. Two English vessels were lost in the storm, but the crews were saved : arid this was the principal damage the squadron sustained. On the other side two ships of the line were stranded, or destroyed ; two more were sunk during the action ; a fifth struck her colours, but the state of the weather precluded the possibility of taking possession of her ; the flag ship was burned by her own crew ; to prevent her from falling into the hands of the British ; another was taken ; eight got away during the night : and seven, with considerable difficulty, sheltered themselves in the river Vilaine, where they were blockaded, but ultimately found means to escape to Rochfort. This conclusive defeat nearly extinguished the French navy, and after this time the invasion was heard of no more. A petty armament of four or five frigates, that had sailed out of Dunkirk under the command of Thurot, an adventurer, who had distinguished himself by his intrepidity, was still hovering round the coasts of Scotland, and north of Ireland. Cruising about amongst the northern isles, Thurot learned the fate of Conflans ; but he had the genius and audacity of a pirate, and being sorely pressed for want of provisions, in the following February he landed a small body of men on the Irish coast, under the walls of the dilapidated town of Carrickfergus. The duke of Bedford, lord lieutenant of Ireland, had been urged by the administration to take some measures for the protection of the country ; but the alarm created Mackintosh.] THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 325 by the sudden announcement of his instructions to the Irish parliament led to such consternation that the project was aban doned. The small force at Carrickfergus had scarcely any ammu nition, and the place was in so ruinous a condition that it could not hold out against a siege. But Thurot only wanted provisions, which he promised to pay for, giving the scanty garrison the alternative of having the tottering walls razed to the ground. The provisions were agreed for ; but, some differences arising, the courageous little band closed the gates upon the hungry enemy. When their powder was expended they had recourse to stones and bricks. This species of warfare, however honourable to the besieged, was useless; and the place at length surrendered, reduced by famine as much as by want of the means of defence. Thurot plundered the town, and sent to demand contributions from the opulent city of Belfast. The duke of Bedford thought it was now time to interfere, and ordered seven regiments of horse and foot to the rescue. But Thurot prudently took to his boats before they arrived, carrying with him the mayor and three of the principal inhabitants of Carrickfergus as hostages. Three frigates that lay at Kinsale, commanded by captain Elliot, immediately put to sea, overtook the roving vessels in the Irish channel, and captured them, after a desperate resistance, Thurot falling, as became him, sword in hand. %\t €onqxx.tBt of €ixtmax. Continuation of Mackintosh. In America the progress of the war was crowned with results still more important and decisive. The French, harassed at all points, and weakened by losses and divisions, felt the necessity of concentrating their forces, and drawing them in for the protection of their Canadian possessions. The English generals, having now a clear field of operation before them, laid down the plan of a single campaign, which might be described as a romantic dream, if success had not finally justified the daring conception. The avowed object of this enterprise was the conquest of Canada. Brigadier-general Wolfe, a man young in the Service, but moulded 326 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Mackintosh. by nature for a hero, was appointed to take the command of a large body of forces destined for the siege of Quebec, the capital of the French province. A second portion of the army, com manded by general Amherst, was to attempt the reduction of Fort Ticonderoga, at Crown Point ; then crossing Lake Champlain, and proceeding by the Richelieu and the St. Lawrence, to join Wolfe under the batteries of Quebec. A third section, committed to brigadier-general Prideaux, strengthened by a numerous body of Indian auxiliaries, was to invest Niagara, then embarking on Lake Ontario, to lay siege to Montreal, seated near the waves of the St. Lawrence, and having reduced the stronghold, to meet the rest of the army at the grand rendezvous before the capital. Such was the plan of the campaign, magnificent in design, and demanding the ablest qualities of judgment and resolution to carry it into effect. General Amherst moved forward on his expedition in the beginning of July. The French, either struck by panic, or con templating some ulterior design, retired before him as he advanced, evacuating Ticonderoga and Crown Point in succession, and taking refuge in the Te"te-aux-Noix, at the northern extremity of Lake Champlain. Several attempts were made to follow them ; but the stormy season set in, and general Amherst was compelled to take up his winter quarters at the last fort he had seized. In the mean time Niagara capitulated ; but a combination of insurmountable obstacles rendered it necessary to suspend the projected movement upon Montreal. These two portions of the anny, therefore, were winter bound on their way to Quebec : and Wolfe was left single handed, to prosecute an enterprise, which, even to him, seemed hopeless. Quebec is built at the confluence of the St Lawrence and the St. Charles, on the summit of a precipitous rock, which, stretching westward parallel with the former river, renders the town on that side inaccessible. On the opposite side it is protected by the rough tide of the St. Charles, roaring over broken channels, with its borders intersected by numberless ravines. Powerful forti ficatiohs surround the whole, and present an impregnable aspect, from whatever point of view the elevated citadel is approached. Mackintosh.) THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 327 When Wolfe found his army, wasted by sickness and dispirited by toils, floating in their ships before this isolated battery, he became at once sensible of the dangers of his situation. The French general, M. de Montcalm, well acquainted with the natural ad vantages of the position, had taken up his post with 10,000 men, on the left bank of the St. Charles, their encampments extending to the river Montmorenci to the east, and covered in the rear with impassable forests. Wolfe saw that unless the enemy could be brought to a decisive engagement, nothing was left but ruin. Nor were these the only difficulties against which he had to contend. The jealousies of some of his officers exposed him to embarrassments of another kind. Townshend, the third in command, who thought he ought to have been first, thwarted his plans, and endeavoured to retard his operations. Such con duct was characteristic of the individual who afterwards sought to defraud him of the honours of victory. Wolfe desponded, but did not despair. He resolved to attack the enemy in the entrenchments, near the falls of Montmorenci. Landing under cover of the cannon of the ships of war, the grenadiers rushed impetuously to the charge, contrary to express orders not to advance until the whole army was formed. Checked by the steady fire of the enemy, they were thrown into confusion, but Wolfe rallied them at the head of the remaining brigades, and made a fresh assault. The plan of the battle, however, was effectually frustrated, and it was not without great difficulty and considerable loss that they ultimately effected their retreat to the island of Orleans. The despatches of general Wolfe at this period communicated a deep gloom to the people of England. Without exaggerating the misfortunes that had already occurred, or the still greater calamities that seemed to lie before him, he drew such a picture of dilemmas, that the undertaking was already looked on as a total failure. No succours had arrived, nor was there any prospect of them ; provisions to the amount of twenty-two shiploads, escaping the vigilance of the English fleet, had been conveyed into the town ; 328 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Mackintosh and the besieging army were reduced to nearly half the comple ment of the besieged. " We have," said Wolfe, in one of his despatches — remarkable for perspicuity and felicity of style — "almost the whole force of Canada to oppose. In such a choice of difficulties, I own myself at a loss how to determine. The affairs of Great Britain I know to require the most vigorous measures ; but the courage of a handful of brave men should be exerted only when there is some hope of a favourable event However, you may be assured that the small part of the campaign which remains shall be employed, as far as I am able, for the honour of his majesty, and the interest of the nation." The public did not know how to interpret such language as this, and were doubtful whether he meant to prepare the way for the abandonment of the siege, or to lay the foundation, in the extreme hopelessness of the case, for some extraordinary act of heroism. But despondency prevailed ; and intelligence was daily expected of the total destruc tion of " the handful of brave men " under the walls of Quebec. Wolfe's anxieties were increased by illness — a painful disease, and a fever produced by the enervating heats of August Still, his spirit was strong and watchful, arid he resolved upon a final effort, so bold and hazardous, that he could not have failed and lived. This was to land his troops on the bank of the river ; to scale the heights generally supposed to be inaccessible, and to secure the grounds on the summit at the back of the town, where the artificial fortifications were slight. This desperate project was carried into execution with the most perfect precision. In order to deceive the enemy, the admiral moved up the river, several leagues beyond the place fixed upon for disembarkation : and when night arrived, he dropped noiselessly down the current. At one o'clock in the morning they effected the landing, but found themselves beyond the spot originally destined for the enterprise. A dark and almost perpendicular precipice rose above them, presenting so impracticable a surface, that the French had left only 150 men to defend it. The pace of the sentinels, mingled with the low murmur of the waters, could be distinctly heard ; but the besiegers, treading stealthily to the base Mackintosh.] THE CONQUEST OF CANADA 329 of the lofty crag, on which no trace of pathway could be dis covered, commenced the laborious ascent one by one, clambering up by branches of trees and tufts of grass, which grew in the clefts that scarred the rugged face of the rock. As they increased in number, the rustling attracted the attention of the guards above, who, gathering at the edge of the precipice, fired down at random. The shots were returned with more enthusiasm than prudence, but fortunately, the French picquet became possessed with a vague feeling of terror, at finding their volleys answered from the dark abyss at their feet, and fled in consternation, leaving their captain alone, wounded but undaunted. As the men reached the summit in tumultuous exultation, this valiant soldier fired at one of the officers, refusing to accept quarter; but instead of being cut down, his generous adversaries, honour ing his courage, punished him only by sending him to the hospital. At daybreak, the British soldiers were in possession of the emi nence, and formed in order of battle. When it was reported to Montcalm that the English troops were actually drawn up on the heights of Abraham, his astonish ment deprived him of all power of collecting his thoughts. At first he utterly disbelieved it; but there was no time for speculation. Nothing but an immediate engagement could save the town, and scorning their reduced numbers, he believed he had only to appear to make sure of victory. " S'il faut done combattre," was his exclamation, "je vais les ecraser." Abandoning his strong entrenchments, he advanced to the attack, after lining the bushes with detachments of Indians. The British troops, strictly ob serving the cautious instructions they had previously received, reserved their fire until a favourable moment occurred to pour it in with deadly effect on the enemy. The French were quickly thrown into disorder. Montcalm, endeavouring to restore them, was killed on the spot. In the ardour of the contest, Wolfe received a wound in the head ; covering it with his handkerchief, he endeavoured to conceal it from his soldiers. In a few moments after a second ball struck him in the body ; this, too, without betraying it to those around him. A third ball entered his 330 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. breast ; pain and loss of blood now compelled him to retire. He was carried behind the ranks; but his solicitude was for the battle, not for himself. Hearing loud cries of " They fly ! they fly!" he enquired, "Who flies?" His sight was dim — he could see no more. Being informed that it was the French, he said, "Then I die content!" and falling back into the arms of his supporters, he expired. It was the death of a hero. Victory wept over his immature grave. The commanders on both sides were killed ; and by a remark able coincidence, the seconds in command were wounded. The loss of the English was slight, for the whole engagement did not continue more than half-an-hour, the French ranks having been broken early, which produced a premature and precipitate retreat. The town was still strongly garrisoned, and provided with the means of a vigorous defence : but a panic had spread amongst the troops, and at the end of five days the governor capitulated, and the shattered remains of the great army of Canada retired in dis order to Montreal. The rejoicings in England, mixed with deep and universal sympathy for the loss of Wolfe, upon this occasion exceeded all former celebrations. The whole year was one unvaried round of triumphs, and every day brought intelligence of some new miracle of arms. " Our bells," said lord Orford, " are worn threadbare with ringing for victories." |Utrj(tt flf ti&ZBXQt III. The Editor. George the second was succeeded by his grandson, George, prince of Wales, the son of the late Frederick, prince of Wales. He had been brought up by his widowed mother, the princess dowager of Wales, and her jealousy of any diminution of her influence had prompted her to seclude her son from general society, and to encourage disputes between his preceptors. Con sequently the new king's education was defective, and his pre judices strong. But he was an excellent young man in charactei The Editor.) REIGN OF GEORGE III. 33 1 and disposition; thoroughly well intentioned, and possessed of good sense and firmness — amounting occasionally to obstinacy. An early passion for a young English lady was opposed by his mother and her favourite, lord Bute, and the young king yielded to their influence and married a German princess, Sophia Char lotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz. The war was continued with France, and as Mr. Pitt — the great minister of George II.'s latter days, who was still in office — had certain knowledge that Spain was about to join France in it, he proposed forestalling her purpose by declaring war against her and intercepting her treasure ships; thus depriving her of hei chief means of carrying on hostilities. But the opposition to this measure in parliament was so great that he had to give it up and resign. On his retirement from office he was created earl of Chatham. The justice of his suspicions became immediately afterwards manifest War was declared by the Spanish Government. France and Spain, united, declared war against Portugal also ; for whose defence England sent forces that repulsed an invasion of that country by the Spaniards. Lord Bute had been introduced into the ministry almost imme diately after the king's accession. He was appointed secretary of state in place of lord Holderness ; and on the resignation of the duke of Newcastle, he became first lord of the treasury. The Pelhams, of which family the duke was the head, had been thought to have as great influence and power in the latter years of George II. as the Marlboroughs had had under queen Anne ; they were consequently not looked on with a very favourable eye by the young sovereign. But they were, at least, free from the sin of avarice to which the heads of the latter powerful family had been prone. The duke of Newcastle was an absurd person age; ignorant and undignified. He was ambitious in the extreme, and managed in spite of being, as Macaulay says, "a living, moving, talking caricature," to overreach the statesmen around him, and remained for nearly thirty years secretary of state, and during nearly ten, first lord of the treasury. 332 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor, Lord Bute was neither a popular nor a successful minister ; yet the war was carried on with vigour. Two expeditions were sent out, one against the Havannah, the other against Manilla, both of which proved successful. The plunder found in the former amounted to three millions sterling. This war, says Goldsmith, " was one of the most glorious and successful for Great Britain that had ever been carried on in any age or nation." In the space of seven years she had obtained possession of the whole of North America; she had conquered twenty-five large, rich, and important islands. She had won by land and sea twelve great battles. She had reduced nine fortified cities and towns, and nearly forty forts and castles; she had de stroyed or taken a hundred ships of war, and gained twelve millions of plunder. But these money gains did not suffice to repay the great outlay of the war, and she was as willing to treat of peace as the powers who had lost and suffered were. The navy of France was almost annihilated, and she was exhausted of men and money ; Spain had lost much and could hope for nothing by a continuance of the struggle. All were eager for peace, which was finally concluded at Paris, February 10, 1763. Peace be tween Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa followed, and thus Europe was once more tranquil. In 1764 lord Bute, who had always been vilified by the people as " the favourite," was compelled to resign, and was succeeded by Mr. George Grenville. The member for Aylesbury — a Mr. Wilkes— a man of wit and ability, but profligate and reckless, conducted at this time a paper called the " North Briton," in the 45th number of which he attacked the king's speech at the closing of the session of parliament with so much bitterness that the ministers thought it expedient to arrest the author, printer, and publisher. Wilkes was committed to the Tower ; but instantly applied for a writ of habeas corpus to the court^of common pleas, and after a short interval was released ; the judges unanimously declaring that the privilege of parliament extended to the writing of a libel with impunity, since it extended to all acts save treason, felony or breach of the peace ! Such was not the opinion of the The Editor.) REIGN OF GEORGE III 333 house of commons, however. Its members declared that their privileges did not extend to writing a "false, scandalous, and seditious libel " — which they declared the one in question to be, and they ordered it to be burned by the hands of the common hangman. A Mr. Samuel Martin, who had been secretary of state under both the duke of Newcastle and lord Bute, then rose and complained that in an earlier number of the " North Briton," he had been mentioned as "a low fellow, and a dirty tool of power." He now declared that the author, whoever he might be, was a cowardly, malignant scoundrel — next day Wilkes wrote to him and announced himself as the author. A duel immediately ensued, in which Wilkes was dangerously wounded. Neverthe less in spite of the delay caused by his wound, the house of lords carried an address to the crown begging for a prosecution of Wilkes, as the author of a blasphemous poem called an " Essay on Woman," whilst the house of commons prepared to take measures against him for No. 45 of the "North Briton." Wilkes was alarmed, and though still suffering from his wound, escaped to France. The commons, however, proceeded with his case, and he was expelled the house. Then, as he did not answer to his indictments, he was outlawed. General warranto (on one of which Wilkes had been arrested), were afterwards declared to be illegal, and this decision was the only advantage which followed the quarrel with Wilkes, who was afterwards allowed to sit in par liament, and being left unnoticed, passed out of the favour of the people, who had, for a time (because they believed him to be a persecuted man), upheld his cause, and shouted for " Wilkes and Liberty." We have no further space for the story of this con temptible and profligate demagogue. It is pleasanter to turn to the voyages and discoveries of our navigators. Of these, four had already made a voyage round the world. Commodore Byron was the first ; captain Wallis the second ; the third, captain Carteret ; the fourth, the well-known Cook — all of whom either discovered new lands or more fully explored those already known. The sad dispute which lost England her American colonies had been gradually smouldering since 1764. The frequent change of 334 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor ministers during the first ten years of this reign and the incapacity and shortsightedness of many of them, had led to repeated false steps. In 1774 these heartburnings and wrongs reached a climax. The great and chief subject of dispute between England and the American colonies was the right of taxation. The parliament of Great Britain insisted on taxing them by imperial authority ; the colonists denied this right, and declared that they could not be taxed legally without their own consent, and that they were not represented in the parliament which taxed them. They persisted that they would encounter every danger before they would pay these taxes. Their resolution was tested by some tea being sent out laden with a heavy duty. It was not suffered to be landed — but was dispatched back again to England with contempt and indignation. At Boston it was seized in the ships by the populace, and cast into the sea. To punish the New Englanders for this act, two bills were passed, one shutting up the port of Boston, and the other taking the executive power from the colonists and vesting it in the British crown. Thus originated the American war of independence. A union was formed between thirteen of the colonies, who established a congress or body of representa tives from each state. Still, the war did not begin till 1775. The first shots were fired at Lexington, near Boston. George Wash ington — who had served in the king's army — was appointed com mander-in-chief of the American levies, and by his patience, courage, and skill, formed of them an army which soon became equal to contending with the disciplined British troops. The defeat by the Americans of an English army under general Bur- goyne induced France (who from the first had given secret aid to the colonists) to openly espouse their cause, and to send them a French fleet under the command of the count D'Estaing, a body of troops, and large sums of money. In 1778 the duke of Richmond brought forward an address to the king praying him to withdraw all troops from America. The great lord Chatham (Pitt), though very ill, came down to the house and made his last great speech in opposition to this motion. "Let us," he said, "at least make one effort, and if we fall let us The Editor.] REIGN OF GEORGE III 335 fall like men."* The duke answered him, and lord Chatham again rose to reply, but tottered, fell, and was removed from the house in a fit. He survived only a few weeks. His death made a great impression on the country, for he had always been a popular minister. The expense of his funeral was defrayed by the public, and every possible honour was shown to him in death. The king of Spain followed the example of France in acknow ledging the independence of the colonies, and the fleets of the two great powers combined against Britain. At first they were too much for our navy, but Rodney soon retrieved the honour of the flag by his glorious victories over count de Guichen in the West Indies, and (1782) over the count de Grasse, taking the admiral's own ship (the largest then in the world), of no guns, and many others. It was at this period that the Americans excuted major Andre as a spy. In 1780 disgraceful riots occurred in London, caused by the mad folly of a fanatical young nobleman, named George Gordon. They were suppressed ; but their suppression cost the lives of 220 of the ringleaders. In 1 78 1 lord Cornwallis, who had fought several successful combats against the Americans, found himself shut up and sur rounded in Yorktown by the joint forces of France, America, and the French fleet. Succours were asked by him from sir Henry Clinton at New York, but were delayed till it became impossible for lord Cornwallis to hold out longer. The very day the English ships approached Yorktown, he was obliged to surrender to the American and French forces with his army of about 4,000 effective men. This capitulation virtually ended the war, though it languished on for a time. In the end the independence of the states was acknowledged, and peace signed at Paris. * Lord Chatham was averse to resigning the American colonies, but had always been opposed to the war. He would have saved the colonies by con ciliation; and was greatly beloved by the Americans themselves. His great son, William Pitt, also, denounced the war as cruel and wicked. Had lord Chatham been in power, the revolt might never have occurred. 336 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor, Meantime the Spaniards had made a fruitless attempt to retake Gibraltar. This siege was a very remarkable one, but all their attempts were defeated by the skill and gallantry of the governor, general Elliot. The Spaniards, however, succeeded in retaking Minorca and West Florida from Britain. As soon as peace was concluded, Mr. Pitt (the second son of the great lord Chatham) endeavoured to effect an electorial reform, but his proposition was negatived by a large majority. In 1786, the first penal settlements were made in Australia, then called New Holland, at Botany Bay. In 1788 prince Charles Edward Stuart died at Rome. He had much degenerated from the spirited and generous youth who had escaped from Culloden. His brother had become a cardinal, and in his old age received a pension from his cousin, George III. The first symptoms of the king of England's insanity appeared soon after the loss of the American colonies, and a regency was proposed, but before it could be settled the good king was restored to health. The year 1789 was memorable for the terrible French revolution. Louis 1 6th was deposed and put to death ; the nobles, who had not fled, perished on the guillotine ; the convention (who ruled the country) announced that "France declared war against all the world,"-— and undoubtedly humanity had a just right to declare war against her, so terrible were the cruelties committed under the name of Liberty. The revolutionists not only put their king to death, they treated his child-heir with unheard of barbarity, imprisoned the queen, whose blood they afterwards shed on the scaffold, and massacred the prisoners who filled all their jails, and who were guilty only of loyalty to their sovereign. The national convention, as they called their government, passed a decree of fraternization with all persons revolting from monarchical govern ment, and professed enemies of all ruling powers. They ended by declaring war against the king of Great Britain and the Stadtholder of Holland; an artful phraseology by which they hoped to separate the people from their princes. Great Britain then entered into a confederacy with Prussia and Austria to The Editor.] REIGN OF GEORGE III. 337 attempt the restoration of the royal family and punish the terrorists of France. British troops, under the duke of York, were sent to join the allied army. He besieged and took Valenciennes, but was afterwards com pelled to retire and return to England. All the nobles who could escape had meantime fled from France, and found refuge chiefly in England. But, escaping for their lives, they were mostly penniless, and had no books, even of devotion. The University of Oxford printed for them at her sole expense 2,000 copies of the New Testament, according to the Vulgate — the version that Roman Catholics use, — the marquis of Buckingham added 2,000 more. And though engaged in the most expensive war the country had ever waged, the government allowed ^8,000 monthly for their support, with the approbation of the whole nation ; an instance of splendid liberality. The successes of the allies in the first campaign confined the French armies nearly to their own territory, but never was victory more fatal in its effects. It called forth the resistance of despair, and the reign of terror which soon followed, with all its cruelties and frightful vigour, sanctioned the maxim that created a nation of warriors — "every citizen is a soldier." The fortune of war, hence forward, turned (for a long time) against the allies — but at sea England continued supreme. Lord Howe gained his glorious victory of the 1st of June, 1794. And in India the British made themselves masters of the French settlements, and took Seringa- patam, defeating their great enemy, Tippoo Sahib, who was slain. In 1797., sir John Jervis won the famous victory over the Spaniards off Cape St. Vincent, and admiral Duncan defeated the Dutch fleet off Camperdown. The French revolution produced many disturbances and discontents amongst the people, however, and a mutiny of the fleet at Spithead (1797), and one at the Nore, alarmed the nation greatly — but the sailors were even then — though demanding better pay, food, &c. — so patriotic that they declared they would not sail " unless the enemy should put to sea." The mutiny was quelled and the ringleaders executed. A rebellion was also excited by France in Ireland in 1798, and great cruelties 338 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [TiiEEniron, were perpetrated by the rebels, but it was put down, and eight hundred French troops which had landed to aid the insurgents were compelled to surrender after a contest at Ballinamuck. Meantime Buonaparte, the hero of the French army, proceeded to Egypt, which he designed to make use of as a. pied de terre in attacking the eastern possessions of the hated British. He was, however, pursued by Nelson, who found the French fleet lying at anchor in Aboukir bay, and engaged it with great bravery. The whole fleet of France was then destroyed or taken, except two ships of the line and two frigates. Buonaparte had nevertheless conquered Egypt, and invaded Syria ; but was stopped at Acre by sir Sidney Smith, and the Turkish pasha Ghezar ; and entirely repulsed. He retreated to Egypt, and took the extraordinary resolution of abandoning his army there and returning to France ; rumours of fresh troubles in Paris having reached him. He escaped the British cruisers, arrived in Paris, succeeded in abolish ing the Directory, which had succeeded the reign of terror, and established a government of three consuls, of which he was first. One of his first acts then was to send a letter to the king of Great Britain, offering to negotiate peace ; an application which was at once rejected. The fate of the army which he had left in Egypt was sealed in 1801 by the victory of Alexandria, and the further British conquests there. The French general, Menou, capitulated, and Egypt was cleared of the French. From the moment the king of England had rejected his advances, Buonaparte, perceiving that his worst and most dangerous foes were the English, devoted his energies to their destruction. He succeeded in uniting Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, in an armed neutrality against Great Britain. Our countiy claimed the right of searching neutral vessels, in order that supplies of war might not be sent under a neutral flag to the enemy. The "armed neutrality" denied this right to the British; and in 1800 Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia, having received what they termed insults from English ships, who insisted on searching their merchantmen, prepared for hostilities. The king of Prussia not only shut up the Elb^, the Weser, and the Ems, against our ships The Editor.] REIGN OF GEORGE III. 339 .but resolved to occupy the king of Great Britain's continental dominions, and Denmark took possession of Hamburg. Nothing remained but an appeal to arms, for Denmark closed the Baltic against us. Sir Hyde Parker, with vice-admiral Nelson, and rear- admiral Graves, was therefore sent to Copenhagen, and on the morning of the second of April, Nelson (acting at one time against a signal of recall) won the famous battle of the Baltic. The death of the emperor Paul of Russia, which happened at this very time and the withdrawal of his successor, Alexander, from the con federacy, completed what the battle had begun, and the armed neutrality was abandoned. In this year, 1801, Mr. Pitt — the darling of the English people — resigned the premiership; believing that his continuance in power would prevent the restoration of peace. He was succeeded by Mr. Addington and the duke of Portland, who opened a negotiation with France, and concluded in 1802 the Peace of Amiens. But it was of short continuance. Buonaparte, still resenting the rejection of his first appeal, made so many demands and showed so unfavourable a disposition that war became again imperative, and he seized and detained in France as prisoners of war great numbers of English who had during the peace visited that country and had not had time to leave it. In 1804 Buonaparte was crowned emperor of France. He had now acquired an almost absolute power on the continent — Hol land, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, were subservient to him. Spain had declared war against Britain also, and in 1805 (Oct. 21st), the united fleets of France and Spain, numbering 33 sail, were encountered by Nelson off Cape Trafalgar with 27 ships, and totally defeated. This was the greatest naval victory Britain had ever won; it established her dominion of the seas, but the joy for it was clouded by the death of the heroic admiral who had won it. Nelson was shot on the quarter-deck of the Victory But on land Napoleon was everywhere successful. Austria was humiliated and subdued at Austerlitz. At Jena the power of Prussia was destroyed. In 1806 the two great rival statesmen, Pitt and Fox, both z 2 340 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. expired, and on the death of the latter, Mr. Perceval became prime minister. By 1808 the whole continent had become subject to Napoleon Russia was friendly; the German princes tributary; he had made a triumphant entry into Berlin; he reigned over Northern Italy — Naples he had given to his sister's husband, Murat — his brother Joseph was on the throne of Spain. Portugal had been conquered, and the royal family had fled to their empire of Brazil. Holland was the kingdom of his brother Louis; the pope was his prisoner in France. But the first movement adverse to his power arose this year. The Spaniards, enraged at the cruelties of the French in Madrid, threw off their enforced submission, and asked the aid of England. Ten thousand men under sir Arthur Wellesley were sent out and landed in Mondego Bay on the 25 th of July. On the 21st of August they defeated the French at Vimiera. This victory would have placed in their power the whole French army, had not sir Hugh Dalrymple, who took the command, entered at Cintra, into a disgraceful convention, by which the French troops were sent back to France. In November sir John Moore, who had been made commander-in-chief, commenced his campaign and calami tous retreat. He was pursued by the French, and gave them battle and defeated them at Corunna, where he fell. In 1809, sir Arthur Wellesley was again appointed to the command of the troops in the Peninsula, where he was to win deathless laurels. In 18 10 the country was grieved at the intelligence that the king was again attacked by the calamity from which he had suffered in 1788. The death of his favourite and youngest daughter, the princess Amelia, his threatening blind ness, and the anxieties of his long and troubled reign, had un settled his reason a second time, and now irretrievably. His eldest son, the prince of Wales, was appointed regent, and from this year the actual reign of George III. closes. George married Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg, and had nine sons and six daughters; the sons were George, prince of Wales; Frederick, duke of York; William, duke of Clarence; Edward, Walpole.] BEGINNING OF GEORGE TIPS REIGN. 34: duke of Kent; Ernest, duke of Cumberland; Augustus, duke of Sussex; Adolphus, duke of Gloucester; and the daughters, Char lotte, princess royal: Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia. Two sons died in infancy, Octavius and Alfred. ^tyimxitxa, rxf (gtox^t III.'s §Uipi. Horace Walpole. Even the honeymoon of a new reign don't produce events every day. There is nothing but the common saying of addresses and kissing hands. The chief difficulty is settled; lord Gower yields the mastership of the horse to lord Huntingdon, and removes to the great wardrobe', from whence sir Thomas Robin son was to have gone — into Ellis's place; but he is saved. The city, however, have a mind to be out of humour; a paper has been fixed to the Royal Exchange with these words : " No petti coat government,* no Scotch minister^ no lord George Sack- ville "% — two hints totally unfounded, and the other scarce true. No petticoat ever governed less; it is left at Leicester House; lord George's breeches are as little concerned; and except lady Susan Stuart and sir Harry Erskine, nothing has yet been done for the Scots. For the king himself, he seems all good nature and wishing to satisfy everybody; all his speeches are obliging. I saw him again yesterday, and was surprised to find the levee room had lost so entirely the air of the lion's den. The sovereign don't stand in one spot with his eyes fixed royally on the ground, and dropping bits of German news; he walks about and speaks to everybody. I saw him afterwards on the throne, where he is graceful and genteel, sits with dignity, and reads his answers to addresses well ; * Alluding to the princess-dowager's influence over her son. t Lord Bute. J Lord George Sackville, condemned by a court martial in George II. 's reign for bad conduct at the battle of Minden. 342 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Walpole, it was the Cambridge address, carried by the duke of Newcastle in his doctor's gown, and looking like the medecin malgrk lui. He had been vehemently solicitous for attendance, for fear my lord Westmoreland, who vouchsafes himself to bring the address from Oxford, should outnumber him. Lord Lichfield and several other Jacobites have kissed hands. George Selwyn says, " They go to St. James's because now there are so many Stuarts there." Do you know I had the curiosity to go to the burying t'other night I had never seen a royal funeral; nay, I walked as a rag of quality, which I found would be (and so it was) the easiest way of seeing it. It is absolutely a noble sight. The prince's chamber, hung with purple and a quantity of silver lamps; the coffin, under a canopy of purple velvet and six vast chan deliers of silver on high stands, had a very good effect. The ambassador from Tripoli and his son were carried to see that chamber. The procession through a line of footguards, every seventh man bearing a torch ; the horse guards lining the out- sides ; the officers, with drawn sabres and crape sashes on horse back ; the drums muffled, the fifes, bells tolling, and minute guns; all this was very solemn. But the charm was the entrance of the abbey, where we were received by the dean and chapter, in rich robes ; the choir and alms men bearing torches ; the whole abbey so illuminated that one saw it to greater advantage than by day ; the tombs, long aisles, and fretted roof, all appearing dis tinctly and with the happiest chiaro scuro. There wanted nothing but incense and little chapels here and there, with priests saying mass for the repose of the defunct ; yet one could not complain of its not being catholic enough. I had been in dread of being coupled with some boy of ten years old ; but the heralds were not very accurate, and I walked with George Grenville, taller and older, to keep me in countenance. When we came to the chapel of Henry VII., all solemnity and decorum ceased; no order was observed ; people sat or stood where they could or would ; the yeomen of the guard were crying out for help, oppressed by the immense weight of the coffin. The bishop read sadly, and blun dered in the prayers; the fine chapter, "Man that is born of a Walpole.] BEGINNING OF GEORGE UPS REIGN. 343 woman " was chanted, not read ; and the anthem, besides being immeasurably tedious, would have served as well for a nuptial. The real serious part was the figure of the duke of Cum berland, heightened by a thousand melancholy circumstances. He had a dark brown adonis, and a cloak of black cloth, with a train of five guards. Attending the funeral of a father could not be pleasant, his leg extremely bad, yet forced to stand upon it near two hours, his face bloated and distorted with his late para lytic stroke, which has affected also one of his eyes, and placed over the mouth of the vault into which, in all probability, he must himself so soon descend — think how unpleasant a situation. He bore it all with a firm and unaffected countenance. This grave scene was fully contrasted by the burlesque duke of Newcastle. He fell into a fit of crying the moment he came into the chapel, and flung himself back in a stall, the archbishop, hovering over him with a smelling bottle ; but in two minutes his curiosity got the better of his hypocrisy, and he ran about the chapel with his glass to spy who was or who was not there, spying with one hand and mopping his eyes with the other. Then returned the fear of catching cold ; and the duke of Cumberland, who was sinking with heat, felt himself weighed down, and turning round found it was the duke of Newcastle standing upon his train to avoid the chill of the marbles. It was very theatric to look down into the vault, where the coffins lay, attended by mourners with lights. Clavering, the groom of the chambers, refused to sit up with the body, and was dismissed by the king's order. % -VI- * * * * Unless I were to send you journals, lists, catalogues, computa tions of the bodies, tides, swarms of people that go to town to present addresses or to be presented, I can tell you nothing new. The day the king went to the house I was three-quarters of an hour getting through Whitehall : there were subjects enough to set up half-a-dozen petty kings ; the pretender would be proud to reign over the footmen only; and indeed, unless he acquires some of them he will have no subjects left; all their masters flock to St. James's, and the palace is so thronged that I will stay 344 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay. till some people are discontented. The first night the king went to the play, which was, civilly, on a Friday — not on the opera night as he used to do, the whole audience sang "God save the king " in chorus. For the first act the press was so great at the door that no ladies could go to the boxes, and only the servants appeared there who kept places ; at the end of the second act the whole mob broke in and seated themselves ; yet all this zeal is not likely to last, though he so well deserves it. Seditious papers are again stuck up; one t'other day in Westminster hall declared against a Saxe Gothian princess. * * * * This is a very brief letter ; I fear this reign will soon furnish longer. When the last king could be beloved a young man with a good heart has little chance of being so. Moreover, I have a maxim, that the extinction of party is the origin of faction. t (&xmi €ommomx hxxxma, Cforr HUrgns. Macaulay. The king disliked Pitt, but absolutely hated Temple. The new secretary of State, his majesty said, had never read Vatel. and was tedious and pompous, but respectful. The first lord of the admiralty was grossly impertinent. Walpole tells one story, which, we fear, is much too good to be true. He assures us that Temple entertained his royal master with an elaborate parallel between Byng's behaviour at Minorca and his majesty's behaviour at Oudenarde. The advantage was all on the side of the admiral ; and the obvious inference was, that if Byng ought to be shot, the king most richly deserved to be hanged. This state of things could not last. Early in April, Pitt and all his friends were turned out, and Newcastle was summoned to St James's. But the public discontent was not extinguished. It had subsided when Pitt was called to power. But it still glowed under the embers ; and it now burst at once into a flame. The stocks fell. The common council met. The freedom of the city Macaulay.) THE GREAT COMMONER IN POWER. 345 was voted to Pitt. All the greatest corporate towns followed the example. " For some weeks," says Walpole, " it rained gold boxes." This was the turning point of Pitt's life. It might have been expected that a man of so haughty and vehement a nature, treated so ungraciously by the court, and supported so enthusi astically by the people, would have eagerly taken the first oppor tunity of showing his power and gratifying his resentment ; and an opportunity was not wanting. The members for many coun ties and large towns had been instructed to vote for an enquiry into the circumstances which had produced the miscarriage of the preceding year. A motion for enquiry had been carried in the house of commons, without opposition ; and, a few days after Pitt's dismissal, the investigation commenced. Newcastle and his colleagues obtained a vote of acquittal ; but the minority were so strong that they could not venture to ask for a vote of appro bation, as they had at first intended ; and it was thought by some shrewd observers that, if Pitt had exerted himself to the utmost of his power, the enquiry might have ended in a censure, if not in an impeachment. Pitt showed on this occasion a moderation and self-government which was not habitual to him. *He had found by experience that he. could not stand alone. His eloquence and his popularity had done much, — very much for him. Without rank, without fortune, without borough interest, — hated by the king, hated by the aristocracy, — he was a person of the first importance in the state. He had been suffered to form a ministry, and to pronounce sentence of exclusion on all his rivals, — on the most powerful nobleman of the whig party, — on the ablest debater in the house of commons. And he now found that he had gone too far. The English constitution was not, indeed, without a popular element. But other elements generally predominated. The confidence and admiration of the nation might make a statesman formidable at the head of an opposition,— might load him with framed and glazed parchments and gold boxes,— might possibly, under very peculicr circumstances, such as those of the preceding year, raise 346 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay, him for a time to power. But, constituted as parliament then was, the favourite of the people could not depend on a majority in the people's own house. The duke of Newcastle, however contemptible in morals, manners, and understanding, was a dan gerous enemy. His rank, his wealth, his unrivalled parliamentary interest, would alone have made him important But this was not all. The whig aristocracy regarded him as their leader. His long possession of power had given him a kind of prescriptive right to possess it still. The house of commons had been elected when he was at the head of affairs. The members for the ministerial boroughs had all been nominated by him. The public offices swarmed with his creatures. Pitt desired power, — and he desired it, we really believe, from high and generous motives. He was, in the strict sense of the word, a patriot. He had no general liberality, none of that philan thropy which the great French writers of his time preached to all the nations of Europe. He loved England as an Athenian loved the City of the Violet Crown — as a Roman loved the "maxima rerum Roma." He saw his country insulted and defeated. He saw the national spirit sinking. Yet he knew what the resources of the empire, vigorously employed, could effect ; and he felt that he was the man to employ them vigorously. " My lord," he said, to the duke of Devonshire, " I am sure that I can save this country, and that nobody else can." Desiring, then, to be in power, and feeling that his abilities and the public confidence were not alone sufficient to keep him in power against the wishes of the court and of the aristocracy, he began to think of a coalition with Newcastle. Newcastle was equally disposed to a reconciliation. He, too, had profited by his recent experience. He had found that the court and the aristocracy, though powerful, were not everything in the state. A strong oligarchical connection, a great borough interest, ample patronage, and secret-service-money, might, in quiet times, be all that a minister needed ; but it was unsafe to trust wholly to such support in time of war, of discontent, and of agitation. The composition of the house of commons was not Macaulay.] THE GREAT COMMONER IN POWER. 347 wholly aristocratical ; and, whatever be the composition of large deliberative assemblies, their spirit is always in some degree popular. Where there are free debates, eloquence must have admirers, and reason must make converts. Where there is a free press, the gover nors must live in constant awe of the opinions of the governed. Thus these two men sp unlike in character, so lately mortal enemies, were necessary to each other. Newcastle had fallen in November, for want of that public confidence which Pitt pos sessed, and of that parliamentary support which Pitt was better qualified than any man of his time to give. Pitt had fallen in April, for want of that species of influence which Newcastle had passed his whole life in acquiring and hoarding. Neither of them had power enough to support himself. Each of them had power enough to overturn the other. Their union would be irresistible. Neither the king nor any party in the state would be able to stand against them. Under these circumstances, Pitt was not disposed to proceed to extremities against his predecessors in office. Something, however, was due to consistency : and something was neces sary for the preservation of his popularity. He did little ; but that little he did in such a manner as to produce great effect. He came down to the house in all the pomp of gout, his legs swathed in flannels, his arm dangling in a sling. He kept his seat through several fatiguing days, in spite of pain and languor. He uttered a few sharp and vehement sentences ; but during the greater part of the discussion, his language was unusually gentle. When the enqairy had terminated without a vote either of approbation or of censure, the great obstacle to a coalition was removed. Many obstacles, however, remained. The king was still rejoicing in his deliverance from the proud and aspiring minister who had been forced on him by the cry of the nation. His majesty's indignation was excited to the highest point when it appeared that Newcastle, who had, during thirty years, been loaded with marks of royal favour, and who had bound himself, by a solemn promise, never to coalesce with Pitt, was meditating a new perfidy. Of all the statesmen of that age. Fox had the largest share 34.8 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaclay, of royal favour. A coalition between Fox and Newcastle was the arrangement which the king wished to bring about. But the duke was too cunning to fall into such a snare. As a speaker in parlia ment, Fox might, perhaps, be, on the whole, as useful to an administration as his great rival ; but he was one cf the most un popular men in England. Then, again, Newcastle felt all that jealousy of Fox which, according to the proverb, generally exists between two of a trade. Fox would certainly intermeddle with that department which the duke was most desirous to reserve entire to himself, — the jobbing department Pitt, on the other hand, was quite willing to leave the drudgery of corruption to any who might be inclined to undertake it During eleven weeks England remained without a ministry ; and in the meantime parliament was sitting, and a war was raging. The prejudices of the king, the haughtiness of Pitt, the jealousy, levity, and treachery of Newcastle, delayed the settlement. Pitt knew the duke too well to trust him without security. The duke loved power too much to be inclined to give security. While they were haggling, the king was in vain attempting to produce a final rupture between them, or to form a government without them. At one time he applied to lord Waldegrave, an honest and sensible man, but unpractised in affairs. Lord Waldegrave had the courage to accept the treasury, but soon found that no administration formed by him had the smallest chance of standing a single week. At length the king's pertinacity yielded to the necessity of the case. After exclaiming with great bitterness, and with some justice, against the whigs, who ought, he said, to be ashamed to talk about liberty while they submitted to be the footmen of the duke of Newcastle, he notified submission. The influence of the prince of Wales prevailed on Pitt to abate a little, and but a little, of his high demands ; and all at once, out of the chaos in which parties had for some time been rising, falling, meeting, separating, arose a government as strong at home as that of Pelham, as successful abroad as that of Godolphin. Newcastle took the treasury. Pitt was secretary of state, with the lead in the house of commons, and with the supreme direction Macaulay.] THE GREAT COMMONER IN POWER. 349 of the war and of foreign affairs. Fox, the only man who could have given much annoyance to the new government, was silenced with the office of paymaster, which, during the continuance of that war, was probably the most lucrative place in the whole govern ment. He was poor, and the situation was tempting ; yet it can not but seem extraordinary that a man who had played a first part in politics, and whose abilities had been found not unequal to that part, — who had sat in the cabinet, who had led the house of commons, who had been twice intrusted by the king with the office of forming a ministry, who was regarded as the rival of Pitt, and who at one time seemed likely to be a successful rival, — should have consented, for the sake of emolument, to take a subordinate place and to give silent votes for all the measures of a government to the deliberations of which he was not summoned. The first measures of the new administration were characterised rather by vigour than by judgment. Expeditions were sent against different parts of the French coast with little success. The small island of Aix was taken, Rochefort threatened, a few ships burned in the harbour of St Maloes, and a few guns and mortars brought home as trophies from the fortifications of Cherbourg. But before long conquests of a very different kind filled the kingdom with pride and rejoicing. A succession of victories undoubtedly brilliant, and, as it was thought, not barren, raised to the highest point the fame of the minister to whom the conduct of the war had been intrusted. In July, 1758, Louisbourg fell. The whole island of Cape Breton was reduced ; the fleet to which the court of Versailles had confided the defence of French America was destroyed. The captured standards were bome in triumph from Kensington Palace to the city, and were suspended in St. Paul's church, amidst the roar of guns and kettle-drums, and the shouts of an immense multitude. Addresses of congratulation came in from all the great towns of England. Parliament met only to decree thanks and monuments, and to bestow, without one murmur, supplies more than double of those which had been given during the war of the Grand Alliance. The year 1759 opened with the conquest of Goree. Next fell Guadaloupe; then Ticonderoga; then - Niagara. The Toulon 350 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay. squadron was completely defeated by Boscawen off Cape Lagos. But the greatest exploit of the year was the achievement of Wolfe on the heights of Abraham. The news of his glorious death and of the fall of Quebec reached London in the very week in which the houses met. All was joy and triumph; envy and faction were forced to join in the general applause. Whigs and tories vied with each other in extolling the genius and energy of Pitt. His colleagues were never talked of or thought of. The house of Commons, the nation, the colonies, our allies, our ene mies, had their eyes fixed on him alone. Scarcely had parliament voted a monument to Wolfe when another great event called for fresh rejoicings. The Brest fleet, under the command of Conflans, had put out to sea. It was overtaken by an Engrish squadron under Hawke. Conflans at tempted to take shelter close under the French coast. The shore was rocky, — the night was black, — the wind was furious, — the Bay of Biscay ran high. But Pitt had infused into every branch of the service a spirit which had long been unknown. No British seaman was disposed to err on the same side with Byng. The pilot told Hawke that the attack could not be made without the greatest danger. " You have done your duty in remonstrating," answered Hawke ; " I will answer for everything. I command you to lay me alongside the French admiral." The result was a com plete victory. The year 1.760 came; and still triumph followed triumph. Montreal was taken ; the whole province of Canada was subju gated: the French fleets underwent a succession of disasters in the seas of Europe and America. In the meantime conquests equalling in rapidity, and far sur passing in magnitude, those of Cortes and Pizarro, had been achieved in the east. In the space of three years the English had founded a mighty empire. The French had been defeated in every part of India. Chandernagore had surrendered to Clive. Pondicherry to Coote. Throughout Bengal, Bahar, Orissa, and the Carnatic, the authority of the East India Company was more absolute than that of Acbar or Aurungzebe had ever been. Macaulay.] THE GREAT COMMONER IN POWER. 351 On the continent of Europe the odds were against England. We had but one important ally, the king of Prussia ; and he was attacked, not only by France, but also by Russia and Austria. Yet even on the continent the energy of Pitt triumphed over all difticulties. Vehemently as he had condemned the practice of subsidising foreign princes, he now carried that practice farther than Carteret himself would have ventured to do. The active and able sovereign of Prussia received such pecuniary assistance as enabled him to maintain the conflict on equal terms against his powerful enemies. On no subject had Pitt ever spoken with so much eloquence and ardour as on the mischiefs of the Hanoverian connection. He now declared, not without much show of reason, that it would be unworthy of the English people to suffer their king to he deprived of his electoral dominions in an English quarrel. He assured his countrymen that they should be no losers, and that he would conquer America for them in Germany. By taking this line he conciliated the king, and lost no part of his influence with the nation. In parliament, such was the ascend ancy which his eloquence, his success, his high situation, his pride, and his intrepidity had obtained for him, that he took liberties with the house of which there had been no example, and which have never since been imitated. No orator could there venture to reproach him with inconsistency. One unfortunate man made the attempt, and was so much disconcerted by the scornful demeanour of the minister, that he stammered, stopped, and sat down. Even the old tory country gentlemen, to whom the very name of Hanover had been odious, gave their hearty ayes to subsidy after subsidy. In a lively contemporary satire, — much more lively indeed than delicate, — this remarkable conversion is not unhappily described : " No more they make a fiddle-faddle About a Hessian horse or saddle. No more of continental measures j No more of wasting British treasures. Ten millions and a vote of credit, — 'Tis right. He can't be wrong who did it.' The • success of Pitt's continental measures was such as migh' 352 HALF-HOURS-OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macaulay. have been expected from their vigour. When he came into power, Hanover was in imminent danger ; and before he had been in office three months, the whole electorate was in the hands of France. But the face of affairs was speedily changed. The invaders were driven out. An army, partly English, partly Hano verian, partly composed of soldiers furnished by the petty princes of Germany, was placed under the command of prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. The French were beaten in 1758 at Crevelt. In 1759 they received a still more complete and humiliating defeat at Minden. In the meantime, the nation exhibited all the signs of wealth and prosperity. The merchants of London had never been more thriving. The importance of several great commercial and manu facturing towns, — of Glasgow in particular, — dates from this period. The fine inscription on the monument of Lord Chatham in Guild hall records the general opinion of the citizens of London, that under his administration commerce had been " united with and made to flourish by war." It must be owned that these signs of prosperity were in some degree delusive. It must be owned that some of our conquests were rather splendid than useful. It must be owned that the expense of the war never entered into Pitt's consideration. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that the cost of his vic tories increased the pleasure with which he contemplated them. Unlike other men in his situation, he loved to exaggerate the sums which the nation was laying out under his direction. He was proud of the sacrifices and efforts which his eloquence and his success had induced his countrymen to make. The price at which he purchased faithful service and complete victory, though far smaller than that which his son, the most profuse and inca pable of war ministers, paid for treachery, defeat, and shame, was long and severely felt by the nation. Even as a war minister, Pitt is scarcely entitled to all the praise which his contemporaries lavished on him. We, perhaps from ignorance, cannot discern in his arrangements any appearance of profound or dexterous combination. Several of his expeditions, Macaulay.] THE GREAT COMMONER IN POWER. 353 particularly those which were sent to the coast of France, were at once costly and absurd. Our Indian conquests, though they add to the splendour of the period during which he was at the head of affairs, were riot planned by him. He had undoubtedly great energy, great determination, great means at his command. His temper was enterprising ; and, situated as he was, he had only to follow his temper. The wealth of a rich nation, the valour of a brave nation, were ready to support him in every attempt. In one respect, however, he deserved all the praise that he has ever received. The success of our arms was perhaps owing less to the skill of his dispositions than to the national resources and the national spirit. But that the national spirit rose to the emer gency, — that the national resources were contributed with unex ampled cheerfulness, — this was undoubtedly his work. The ardour of his spirit had set the whole kingdom on fire. It in flamed every soldier who dragged the cannon up the heights of Quebec, and every sailor who boarded the French ships among the rocks of Brittany. The minister, before he had been long in office, had imparted to the commanders whom he employed his own impetuous, adventurous, and defying character. They, like him, were disposed to risk everything, — to play double or quits to the last, — to think nothing done while anything remained, — to fail rather than not to attempt. For the errors of rashness there might be indulgence. For over-caution, for faults like those of lord George Sackville, there was no mercy. In other times, and against other enemies, this mode of warfare might have failed. But the state of the French government and of the French nation gave every advantage to Pitt. The fops and intriguers of Versailles were appalled and bewildered by his vigour. A panic spread through all ranks of society. Our enemies soon con sidered it as a settled thing that they were always to be beaten. Thus victory begot victory ; till at last, wherever the forces of the two nations met, they met with disdainful confidence on the one side, and with a craven fear on the other. The situation which Pitt occupied at the close of the reign of George the second was the most enviable ever occupied by any * * * * A A 354 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Macau/.ay. public man in English history. He had conciliated the king ;. he domineered over the house of commons ; he was adored by the people •; he was admired by all Europe. He was the first English man of his time, and he had made England the first country in the world, The " Great Commoner,"— the name by which he was often designated, — might look down with scorn on coronets and garters. The nation was drunk with joy and pride. The parliament was as quiet as it had been under Pelham. The old party distinctions were almost effaced ; nor was their place yet supplied by distinctions of a still more important kind. A new generation of country squires and rectors had arisen, who knew not the Stuarts. The dissenters were tolerated; the catholics not cruelly persecuted. The church was drowsy and indulgent. The great civil and religious conflict which began at the Reformation seemed to have terminated in universal repose. Whigs and tories, churchmen and puritans, spoke with equal reverence of the con stitution, and with equal enthusiasm of the talents, virtues, and services of the minister. A few years sufficed to change the whole aspect of affairs. A nation convulsed by faction, a throne assailed by the fiercest in vective, a house of commons hated and despised by the nation, England set against Scotland, Britain set against America, a rival legislature sitting beyond the Atlantic, English blood shed by English bayonets, our armies capitulating, our conquests wrested from us, our ehemies hastening to take vengeance for past humilia tion, our flag scarcely able to maintain itself in our own seas, — such was the spectacle which Pitt lived to see. But the history of this great revolution requires far more space than we can at present bestow. We leave the "Great Commoner" in the zenith .of his glory; Burgoyne and Jesse.] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 355 xt §attle 0f §twiker's pill. Burgoyne and Jesse. This action between the English and Americans, at the com mencement of the war which created the independence of the United States, was caused by the fact that Breed's hill (one of two uneven ridges — the other is Bunker's hill) overlooked the town of Boston ; and the English general Gage thought it neces sary to drive the Americans from- it. He therefore sent over in boats a division under general Howe to attack them. General Burgoyne, who gazed on the scene from one of the batteries of Boston, has thus described it : " And now ensued one of the greatest scenes of war that can be conceived. If we look to the height, Howe's corps, ascending. the hill in- face of intrenchments, and in a very disadvantageous", ground, was much engaged ; to the left, the enemy pouring in fresh troops by thousands over the land ; and in the arm of the sea our ships and floating batteries cannonading them. Straight before us a large and noble town* in one great blaze; and the church steeples, being timber, were great pyramids of fire above the rest. Behind us the church steeples and. heights of our own camp covered with spectators of the rest of our army which was engaged ; the hills round the country also covered with spectators.; the enemy all in anxious suspense ; the roar of cannon, mortars, and musquetry ; the crash of churches, ships upon the stocks, and whole streets falling together, to fill the ear ; the storm of the redoubts, with the objects above described, to fill the eye; and the reflection that perhaps a defeat was a final loss to the British empire of America, to fill the mind, made the whole a picture and a complication of horror and importance beyond anything that ever came to my lot to witness." * Charleston. A body of American riflemen, posted in the houses, galled the left line as it marched; therefore, by Howe's orders, the town was set on fire. A A 2 356 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Burgoyne and Jesss. About eleven o'clock on the 16th of June, a detachment of about a thousand men, who had previously joined solemnly together in prayer, ascended silently and stealthily a part of the heights known as Bunker's hill, situated within cannon-range of Boston, and commanding a view of every part of the town. This brigade was composed chiefly of husbandmen, who wore no uniform, and who were armed with fowling-pieces only, un equipped with bayonets. The person selected to command them on this daring service was one of the lords of the soil of Massa chusetts, William Prescott, of Pepperell, the colonel of a Middle sex regiment of militia. " For myself," be said to his men, " I am resolved never to be taken alive." Preceded by two sergeants bearing dark lanterns, and accompanied by his friends colonel Gridley and judge Winthrop, the gallant Prescott, distinguished by his tall and commanding figure, though simply attired in his ordinary calico frock, calmly and resolutely led the way to the heights. Those who followed him were not unworthy of their leader. * * * It was half-past eleven before the engineers commenced drawing the lines of the redoubt. As the first sod was being upturned, the clocks of Boston struck twelve. More than once during the night, which happened to be a beautifully calm and starry one, colonel Prescott descended to the shore, where the sound of the British sentinels walking their rounds, and their exclamations of "All's well !" as they relieved guard, continued to satisfy him that they entertained no suspicion of what was passing above their heads. Before daybreak the Americans had thrown up an in- trenchment, which extended from the Mystic to a redoubt on their left. The astonishment of Gage when on the following morning he found this important site in the hands of the enemy may be readily conceived. Obviously not a moment was to be lost in attempting to dislodge them ; and accordingly a detachment, under general Howe, was at once ordered on this critical service. In the meantime a heavy cannonade, first of all from the Lively sloop of war, and afterwards from a battery of heavy guns from Copp's Hill, in Boston, Burgoyne and Jesse.] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 357 was opened upon the Americans. Exposed, however, as they were to a storm of shot and shell, unaccustomed, as they also were, to face an enemy's fire, they nevertheless pursued their operations with the calm courage of veteran soldiers. Late in the day, indeed, when the scorching sun rose high in the cloudless heavens, when the continuous labours of so many hours threatened to prostrate them, and when they waited, but waited in vain, for provisions and refreshments, the hearts of a few began to fail them, and the word retreat was suffered to escape from their lips. There was among, them, however, a master spirit, whose cheering words and chivalrous example never failed to restore confidence. On the spot — where now a lofty column, overlooking the fair lands cape and calm waters, commemorates the events of that momentous day — was then seen, conspicuous above the rest, the form of Prescott of Pepperell, in his calico frock, as he paced the parapet to and fro, instilling resolution into his followers by the contempt which he manifested for danger, and amidst the hottest of the British fire delivering his orders with the same serenity as if he had been on parade. " Who is that person ?" inquired governor Gage of a Massachusetts gentleman, as they stood reconnoitring the American works from the opposite side of the river Charles. " My brother-in-law, colonel Prescott," was the reply. " Will he fight?" asked Gage. "Ay," said the other, "to the last drop of his blood." * * * It was past three in the afternoon when general Howe's detach ment, consisting of about two thousand men, landed at Charleston and formed for the attack. Prescott's instructions to his men, as the British approached, were sufficiently brief: " The redcoats," he said, " will never reach the redoubt if you will but withhold your fire till I give the order, and be careful not to shoot over their heads." In the meantime, ascending the hill under the protection of a heavy cannonade, the British infantry had ad vanced unmolested to within a few yards of the enemy's works, when Prescott gave the word " Fire ! " So promptly and effectually were his orders obeyed, that 'nearly the whole front rank of the British fell. Volley after volley was now opened upon 358 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Burgoyne and Jesse. them from behind "the intrenchments, till at length even the bravest began to waver and fall back ; some of them, in spite of the threats and passionate entreaties of their officers, even retreat ing to the boats. Minutes, many minutes apparently, elapsed before the British troops were rallied, and returned to the attack, exposed to the burning rays of the sun, encumbered with heavy knapsacks containing provisions for three days, compelled to toil up very disadvantageous ground with grass reaching to their knees, clambering over rails and hedges, and led against men who were fighting from behind intrenchments, and constantly receiving reinforcements by hundreds — few soldiers perhaps but British infantry would have been prevailed upon to renew the conflict. Again, however, they advanced to the charge ; again, when within five or six rods of the redoubt, the same tremendous discharge of musketry was opened upon them ; and again, in spite of many heroic examples of gallantry set them by their officers, they retreated in the same disorder as before. By this time the grena diers and light infantry had lost three-fourths of their men ; some companies had only eight or nine men left, one or two had even less. When the Americans looked forth from their intrenchments, the ground was literally covered with the wounded and dead. According to an American who was present, " The dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold." For a few seconds general Howe was left almost alone. Nearly every officer of his staff had been either killed or wounded. The Americans, who have done honourable justice to his gallantry, remarked that, conspicuous as he stood in his general officer's uniform, it was a marvel that he escaped un hurt. He retirecL but it was with the stern resolve of a hero to rally his men— to return and vanquish. * * * The third and last attack made by general Howe upon the enemy's intrenchments appears to have taken place after a con siderably longer interval than the previous one. This interval was employed by Prescott in addressing words of confidence and exhortation to his followers, to which their cheers returned an enthusiastic response. • " If we drive them back once more," he said, " they cannot rally again." General Howe, in the meantime, Burgoyne and Jesse.] THE BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 3S9 by disencumbering his men of their knapsacks, and by bringing the British artillery to play so as to rake the interior of the American breastwork, had greatly enhanced his chances of success. Once more, at the word of command, in steady unbroken line, the British infantry mounted to the deadly struggle ; once more the cheerful voice of Prescott exhorted his men to reserve their fire till their enemies were close upon them ; once more the same deadly fire was poured down upon the advancing royalists. Again on their part there was a struggle, a pause, an indication of waver ing ; but on this occasion it was only momentary. Onward and headlong against breastwork and against vastly superior numbers dashed the British infantry, with an heroic devotion never surpassed in the annals of chivalry. Almost in a moment of time, in spite of a second volley as destructive as the first, the ditch was leaped and the parapet mounted. In that final charge fell many of the bravest of the brave. Of the 52nd regiment alone, three captains, the moment they stood on the parapet, were shot down. Still the English infantry continued to pour forward, flinging themselves among the American militiamen, who met them with a gallantry equal to their own. The powder of the latter having by this time become nearly exhausted, they endeavoured to force back their assailants with the butt-ends of theft muskets. But the British bayonets carried all before them. Then it was, when further resistance was evidently fruitless, and not till then, that the heroic Prescott gave the order to retire. From the nature of the ground it was necessarily more a flight than a retreat. Many of the Americans, leaping over the walls of the parapet, attempted to fight their way through the British troops; while the majority endeavoured to escape by the narrow entrance to the redoubt. In consequence of the fugitives being thus huddled together, the slaughter became terrific. "Nothing," writes a young British officer, who was engaged in the melee " could be more shocking than the carnage that followed the storming of this work. We tumbled over the dead to get at the living, who were crowding out of the gap of the redoubt, in order to form under the defences which they had prepared to cover their retreat." Prescott was one 360 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sin E. Creasy. of the last to quit the scene of slaughter. Although more than one British beyonet had pierced his clothes, he escaped without a wound * * * * That night the British entrenched themselves on the heights, lying down in front of the recent scene of contest. The loss in killed and wounded was 1,054. According to the American account their loss was 145 killed and 304 wounded; of their six pieces of artillery, they only succeeded in carrying off one. Such was the result of the famous battle of Bunker's hill, a contest from which Great Britain derived little advantage "beyond the credit of having achieved a brilliant passage of arms, but which, on the other hand, produced the significant effect of manifesting, not only to the Americans themselves, but to Europe, that the colonists could fight with a steadiness and courage which ere long might render them capable of coping with the disciplined troops of the mother country. t §attfe of Saratoga:, 1777. THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE AMERICAN WAR. Sir E. Creasy. The contest was fiercely maintained on both sides. The English cannon were repeatedly taken and retaken; but when the grenadiers near them were forced back by the weight of superior numbers, one of the guns was permanently captured by the Ame ricans and turned on the English. Major Williams and major Ackland were both made prisoners, and in this part of the field the advantage of the Americans was decided. The British centre still held its ground ; but now it was that the American general Arnold appeared upon the scene, and did more for his country men than whole battalions could have effected. Arnold, when the decisive engagement of the 7th of October commenced, had been deprived of his command by Gates, in consequence of a quarrel between them about the action of the 19th of September. • Sir E. Creasy.] THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA, 1777. 36 1 He had listened for a short time in the American camp to the thunder of the battle, in which he had no military right to take part, either as commander or combatant. But his excited spirit could not long endure such a state of inaction. He called for his horse — a powerful brown charger — and springing on it, galloped furiously to where the fight seemed to be the thickest. Gates saw him, and sent an aide-de-camp to recall him ; but Arnold spurred far in advance, and placed himself at the head of three regiments which had formerly been under him, and which welcomed their old commander with joyous cheers. He led them instantly upon the British centre, and then galloping along the American line, he issued orders for a renewed and a closer attack, which were obeyed with alacrity, Arnold himself setting the example of the most daring personal bravery, and charging more than once, sword in hand, into the English ranks. On the British side officers did their duty nobly, but general Frazer was the most eminent of them all, restoring order wherever the line began to waver, and infusing fresh courage into his men by voice and example. Mounted on an iron-grey charger, and dressed in the full uniform of a general officer, he was conspicuous to foes as well as friends. The American colonel Morgan thought that the fate of the battle rested on this man's life, and calling several of his best marksmen round him, pointed Frazer out, and said, " That officer is general Frazer ! I admire him, but he must die. Our victory depends on it. Take your stations in that clump of bushes, and do your duty."* Within five minutes Frazer fell mortally wounded, and was carried to the British camp by two grenadiers. Just previously to his being struck by the fatal bullet, one rifle-ball had cut the crupper of his saddle, and another had passed through his horse's mane close behind the ears. His aide-de-camp had noticed this, and said, " It is evident you are marked out for particular aim ; would it not be prudent for you to retire from this place?" Frazer replied, " My duty forbids me to fly from danger :" and the next moment he fell. * Compare this order with the duke of Wellington's answer, when it was proposed to him to fire at Napoleon. 362 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir E. Creasy. Burgoyne's army was now compelled to retreat towards its camp; the left and centre were in complete disorder, but the light infantry and the 24th checked the fury of the assailants, and the remains of the column with great difficulty effected their return to their camp, leaving six of their cannons in the possession of the enemy, and great numbers of killed and wounded on the field, and especially a large proportion of the artillerymen, who had stood to their guns till shot down or bayoneted beside them by the advancing Americans. ***** When night fell it became absolutely necessary for Burgoyne to retire again, and accordingly the troops were marched through a stormy and rainy night towards Saratoga, abandoning- their sick and wounded, and the greater part of their baggage, to the enemy Before the rear guard quitted the camp, the last sad honours were paid to the brave general Frazer, who expired on the day after the action. He had almost with his last breath expressed a wish to be buried in the redoubt which had formed the part of the British lines where he had been stationed, but which had now been abandoned by the English, and was within full range of the cannon which the advancing Americans were rapidly placing in position to bear upon Burgoyne's force. Burgoyne resolved, nevertheless, to comply with the dying wish of his comrade, and the interment took place under circumstances the most affecting that have ever marked a soldier's funeral. Still more interesting is the narrative of lady Acland's passage from the British to the American camp after the battle, to share the captivity and alleviate the sufferings of her husband, who had been severely wounded, and left in the enemy's power. The American historian, Lossing, has described both these touching incidents of the campaign in a spirit that does honour to the writer as well as his subject. After narrating the death of general Frazer on the 8th of October, he says that " It (vas just sunset on that calm October evening that the corpse of general Frazer was carried up the hill to the place of burial within S>ir E. Creasy.] THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA, 1777. 363 the ' great redoubt' It was attended only by the military mem bers of his family and Mr. Brudenell, the chaplain ; yet the eyes of hundreds of both armies followed the solemn procession, while the Americans, ignorant of its true character, kept up a constant cannonade upon the redoubt. The chaplain, unawed by the danger to which he was exposed, as the cannon-balls that struck the hill threw the loose soil over him, pronounced the impressive funeral service of the church of England with an unfaltering voice; the growing darkness added solemnity to the scene. Suddenly the irregular firing ceased, and the solemn voice of a single cannon, at measured intervals, boomed along the valley and awakened the responses of the hills. It was a minute gun fired by the Americans in honour of the gallant dead. The moment the information was given that the gathering at the redoubt was a funeral company fulfilling, at imminent peril, the last-breathed wishes of the noble Frazer, orders were issued to withhold the cannonade with balls, and to render military homage to the fallen brave." The case of major Acland and his heroic wife presents kindred features. He belonged to the grenadiers, and was an accom plished soldier. His wife accompanied him to Canada in 1776, and during the whole campaign of the year, until his return to England after the surrender of Burgoyne in the autumn of 1777, endured all the hardships, dangers, and privations of an active campaign in an enemy's country. At Chambly-on-the-Sorel she attended him in illness in a miserable hut ; and when he was wounded in the battle of Hubbardton, Vermont, she; hastened to him at Henesborough from Montreal, where she had been per suaded to remain, and resolved to follow the army hereafter. Just before crossing the Hudson, she and her husband had had a narrow escape from losing their lives, in consequence of their tent accidentally taking fire. During the terrible engagement of the 7 th October, she heard all the tumult and dreadful thunder of the battle in which her husband was engaged, and when, on the morning of the 8th, the British fell back in confusion to their new position, she, with the other women, was obliged to take refuge among the dead and 364 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir E. Creasy. dying, for their tents were all struck and hardly a shed was left standing. Her husband was wounded and a prisoner in the Ame rican camp; that gallant officer was shot through both legs. When Poor and Jearned's troops assaulted the grenadiers and artil lery on the British left, on the afternoon of the 7th, Wilkinson, Gate's adjutant-general, while pursuing the flying enemy when they abandoned their battery, heard a feeble voice exclaiming, " Protect me, sir, against that boy." He turned, and saw a lad with musket taking deliberate aim at a wounded British officer lying in a corner of a low fence. Wilkinson ordered the boy to desist, and discovered the wounded man to be major Acland. He had him conveyed to the quarters of general Poor (now the resi. dence of Mr. Wilson), on the heights, where every attention was paid to his wants. When the intelligence that he was wounded and a prisoner reached his wife, she was greatly distressed, and by the advice of her friend, baroness Riedesel, resolved to visit the American camp, and implore the favour of a personal attendance on her husband. On the 9th she sent a message to Burgoyne by lord Petersham, his aide-de-camp, asking permission to depart. " Though I was ready to believe," says Burgoyne, " that patience and fortitude, in a supreme degree, were to be found, as well as every other virtue, under the most tender forms, I was astonished at this proposal. After so long an agitation of spirits, exhausted •»S0t only for want of rest,but absolutely for want of food, drenched inr®A? u>r twelve hours together, that a woman should be capable of such an undertaking as delivering herself up to an enemy, pro bably in the ; night, and uncertain of what hands she might fall into, appeared ~an effort above human nature. The assistance I was enabled to 'give was small indeed. I had not even a cup of wine to offer her. \ All I could furnish her with was an open boat, and a few lines vyrilfcgri upon dirty wet paper to general Gates, recommending her to hisl protection." The following is a copy of the note sent by Burgoyrlte to general Gates :— " Sir, — Lady Harriet Acland, a lady of the first distinction of Sir E. Creasy.] THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA, i777. 365 family, rank, and personal virtues, is under such concern on account of general Acland, her husband, wounded and a prisoner in your hands, that I cannot refuse her request to commit her to your protection. Whatever general impropriety there may be in persons of my situation and yours soliciting favours, I cannot see the uncommon perseverance in every female grace, and the exaltation of character of this lady and her very hard fortunes, without testifying that your attention to her will lay me under obligations. " I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, "J. Burgoyne." She set out in an open boat upon the Hudson, accompanied by Mr. Brudenell, the chaplain, Sarah Pollard, her waiting-maid, and her husband's valet, who had been severely wounded while searching for his master on the battle-field. It was about sunset when they started, and a violent storm of rain and wind, which had been increasing since the morning, rendered the voyage tedious and perilous in the extreme. It was long after dark when they reached the American outposts ; the sentinel heard the oars and hailed them. Lady Harriet returned the answer herself. The clear silvery tones of a woman's voice amid the darkness filled the soldier on duty with superstitious fear, and he called a comrade to accompany him to the river bank. The errand of the voyage was made' known, but the faithful guard, apprehensive of treachery, would not allow them to land until they sent for major Dearborn. They were invited by the officer to his quarters, where every attention was paid them, and lady Harriet was comforted by the joyful tidings that her husband was safe. In the morning she experienced paternal tenderness from general Gates, who sent her to her husband at Poor's quarters, under a suitable escort. There she remained until he was removed to Albany. 366 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Mahon. * 3axo deora* totora gjkte. 1780. Lord Mahon. On Friday, the 2nd of June, and at ten o'clock in the morning, St. George's fields were thronged with blue cockades.* They were computed at 50,000 or 60,000, and by some persons even at 100,000 men. The love of frolic and of staring had certainly brought many new accessions to their ranks. Appearing in the midst and welcomed by their enthusiastic cheers, lord George Gordon in the first place indulged them with another of his silly speeches. Next they were marshalled in separate bands, the main body marching over London Bridge and through Temple Bar to the houses of parliament. In this procession they walked six abreast ; and in their van was carried their great petition,- con taining, it was said, no less than 120,000 signatures or marks. Loncton at that period was far from yet possessing the sturdy and disciplined police, which now on any chance of riot, or even of mere crowd and pressure, lines our streets and squares. There were only the parish beadles, and the so-called watchmen of the night, for the most part feeble old men, frequently knocked down by the revellers, and scoffed at by the playwrights, of the age. In the face of that mighty array so long previously announced, which lord George Gordon was leading to Whitehall, not one measure of precaution had been taken by the government. They had neither sworn in any special constables, nor stationed any soldiers. It must be owned, however, that the reproaches on that score came with no good grace from the lips of the Opposition chiefs, who had so lately poured forth their loudest clamours when, in the apprehension of some tumult at the Westminster meeting, a body of troops had been kept ready. Finding no obstruction to their progress, the blue cockades advanced to Palace Yard, and took possession of the open space some time before the two houses met, as they did later in the afternoon ; * The badge of the so-called protesUnts. Lord Mahon.] THE LORD GEORGE GORDON RIOTS. 1780. 367 then, with only a few door-keepers and messengers between them and some of the principal objects of their fury, they were not long in learning the dangerous secret of their strength, The lords had been summoned for that day to hear a motion from the duke of Richmond in favour of annual parliaments and unrestricted suffrage. Lord Chancellor Thurlow was ill and at Tunbridge, and the earl of Mansfield had undertaken to preside in his place. But as it chanced, lord Mansfield was then most unpopular with the protestant associators, having not long since charged a jury to acquit a Roman catholic priest, who was brought before him charged with the crime of celebrating mass. Thus, no sooner did his carriage appear, than it was assailed, and its windows broken, while the venerable judge, the object of the fiercest execrations as a "notorious papist," made his way into the house with great difficulty, and, on entering, could not conceal his torn robe and his dishevelled wig. He took his seat on the woolpack pale and quivering. The archbishop of York's lawn sleeves were torn off and flung in his face. The bishop of Lincoln, disliked as a brother of lord Thurlow, fared still worse; his carriage was demolished, while the prelate, half fainting, sought refuge in an adjacent house, from which, on recovering himself, he made his escape in another dress (some said in a woman's) along the leads. Lord Hillsborough and lord Townshend, who came together, and the other secretary of state, lord Stormont, were roughly handled, and could scarcely make their way through the people. From lord president Bathurst they pulled his wig, telling him in con tumelious terms that he was "the pope," and also "an old woman " : thus, says Horace Walpole, splitting into two their notion of pope Joan ! The duke of Northumberland having with him in his coach a gentleman in black, a cry arose among the multitude that the person thus attired must be a Jesuit, and the duke's confessor ; a conclusion, it may fairly be owned, not at all more unreasonable than many others they had formed. On the strength of this their discriminating judgment, his grace was forced from his carriage and robbed of his watch and purse. Still, however, as the peers by degrees came in, the business of 368 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Mahon. the house in regular course proceeded. Prayers were read, some formal bills were advanced a stage, and the duke of Richmond then began to state his reasons for thinking that, under present circumstances, political powers might safely be entrusted to the lowest orders of the people. His grace was still speaking when lord Montfort burst into the house, and broke through his harangue. Lord Montfort said that he felt bound to acquaint their lordships of the perilous situation in which, at that moment, stood one of their own members ; he meant lord Boston, whom the mob had dragged out of his coach and were cruelly maltreat ing. " At this instant," says an eye witness, " it is hardly pos sible to conceive a more grotesque appearance than the house exhibited ; some of their lordships with their hair about their shoulders ; others smutted with dirt ; most of them as pale as the ghost in Hamlet, and all of them standing up in their several places, and speaking at the same instant; one lord proposing to send for the guards, another for the justices or civil magistrates, many crying out 'Adjourn ! adjourn !' while the skies resounded with the huzzas, shoutings, or hootings and hissings in Palace Yard. This scene of unprecedented alarm continued for about half an hour." It was proposed by lord Townshend that the peers should go forth as a body, and attempt the rescue of lord Boston. This proposal was still debating rather too slowly for its object, when lord Boston himself came in, with his hair dishevelled, and his clothes covered with hair powder. He had been exposed to especial danger, through a wholly unfounded suggestion from some persons in the crowd, that he was a Roman catholic ; upon which the multitude, with loud imprecations, had threatened to cut the sign of the cross upon his forehead. But he had the skill to engage some of the ringleaders in a controversy on the ques tion whether the pope be antichrist : and while they were eagerly discussing that favourite point, he contrived to slip through them. After such alarms, however, the peers did not resume the original debate. They summoned to the bar two of the Middlesex magis trates, who declared that they had received no orders from the Lord Mahon.] THE LORD GEORGE GORDON RIOTS. 1780. 369 government, and that, with all their exertions since the beginning of the tumult, they had only been able to collect six constables. Finally, at eight o'clock, the House adjourned till the morrow; and the peers, favoured by the dusk, returned home on foot, or in hackney carriages, with no further insult or obstruction. The members of the commons, as' less conspicuous in their equipages than the peers, were not so much molested in passing to their House. But when once assembled,, their danger was far greater, since the infuriated multitude, finding no resistance, burst into and kept possession of the lobby. Here they raised loud shouts of "No popery ! no popery !" and " Repeal ! repeal !" Meanwhile, lord George Gordon, seconded by alderman Bull, was presenting their great protestant petition, and moving that the house should consider it in committee forthwith. On the other side, it was proposed that this committee should be deferred until Tuesday, the 6th. When, however, upon this point a divi sion was demanded, it was found impracticable. Neither the ayes nor the noes could go forth, thronged as was the lobby with strangers, and unable as the sergeant-at-arms declared himself to clear it. During the debates, lord George endeavoured to keep up the spirit of his friends, by showing himself at the top of the gallery stairs, and making several harangues to the noisy concourse in the lobby. He exhorted them by all means to persevere, and told them from time to time the names of the members who were speaking against them. " There is Mr. Burke," he said, " the member for Bristol ;" and soon afterwards, "Do you know that lord North calls you a mob?" Thus their fury in creasing, the House at intervals resounded with their cries, of "No popery!" and their violent knocks at the door. General Conway and lord Frederick Campbell, that same evening at supper, said there was a moment when they thought they must have opened the doors, and fought their way out sword in hand. Lord North, however, at this crisis showed great firmness, animating the resolution of the house by his unperturbed de meanour, but sending privately and in all haste for a party of the guards. Other members made it a personal matter with lord 37"0 HALF-HOURS OF. ENGLISH HISTORY. Lord M-ahoh, George. Colonel Holroyd told him that he had hitherto ascribed his conduct to insanity, but now saw that there was more of malice than of madness in it ; and that if he again attempted to address the rioters, he (colonel Holroyd) would immediately move for his commitment to Newgate. Colonel Murray, one of lord- George's kinsmen, used still bolder language — " My lord George, do you really mean to bring your rascally adherents into the house of commons ? If you do, the first man of them that enters, I will plunge my sword, not into his body, but into yours !" Lord George appears to have been daunted. Certainly, at least, he was silenced. Indeed, in one part of the evening, he quietly went up to the eating-room, where he threw himself into a chair and fell asleep, or nearly so, while listening to some excellent admonitions from Mr. Bowen, the chaplain of the house. Failing the incitements of lord George, the crowd within the lobby grew less, fierce. Out of doors, moreover, great exertions were making to allay the storm. Lord Mahon, who was known to many of the people as a recent candidate for Westminster, harangued them from the balcony of a coffee-house, and, is said to have done good service to the cause of law and order.* In this manner time was gained until towards nine o'clock, when an active Middlesex justice, Mr. Addington, appeared with a party of horse-guards. Mr. Addington told the people in the streets that he meant them no harm, and that the soldiers should retire if they would quietly disperse, which many hundreds of them did accordingly, first giving the magistrate three cheers. . A party of the foot-guards was also drawn up in the Court of Requests, and the. lobby was now cleared ; thus, at length, enabling the house of commons to divide. Only eight members * " Lord Mahon counteracted the incendiary, and chiefly contributed by his harangues to conjure down the tempest" (H. Walpole to Mahon), June 4, 1780. One of lord Mahon's qualifications for addressing a large crowd with effect is satirically glanced at in the Rolliad : " Mahon outroaring torrents in their force, Banks the precise, and fluent Wilberforce. Lord Mahon.] THE LORD GEORGE GORDON RIOTS. 1780. 371 were found willing to support lord George in his ignominious pro posal for immediate deliberation, at the bidding and in the presence of the mob. Against that proposal 194 votes, including tellers, were recorded ; and the house was then adjourned until the Tuesday following. With the adjournment of both houses, and the dispersion of the crowd in Palace Yard, it was imagined that the difficulties of the day had closed. The magistates returned home, and sent away the soldiers. Unhappily, several parties of the rioters were intent on further mischief. Repairing to the two Roman catholic chapels of the Sardinian and Bavarian ministers, in Lincoln's Inn fields and in Warwick street — chapels which existed by the faith of treaties, and were not at all con nected with the Acts of 1778 — they set them in flames. Engines were sent for, but the mob prevented them from playing, while the benches from the Sardinian chapel, being flung into the street, afforded the materials for a bonfire, as a token of public exulta tion. At length the soldiers came — too late to prevent the havoc, in time only to seize and secure thirteen of the rioters. Next morning the town was, to all appearance, perfectly tran quil. The house of lords met in the forenoon ; and on the motion of earl Bathurst, agreed to an address for prosecuting the authors and abettors of the recent outrages. The angry taunts that fol lowed between the government and opposition members may be readily conceived, and need not be detailed. But it is well worthy of note with how much of political foresight and sagacity lord Shelburne suggested the idea of a new police. " Let their lordships," he said, "at least those that are in administration, recollect what the police of France is ; let them examine its good, and not be blind to its evil. They would find its construction excellent, its use and direction abominable. Let them embrace the one, and shun the other." Notwithstanding the genejal and confident belief that the dis turbances were over, they recommenced, in a slight degree, that very evening in Moorfields. On the next afternoon, that is, on Sunday, the 4th, they became far more serious in the same quar ter. Unhappily, Kennett, the lord mayor, was, as Wilkes after- 3*7* ' "; HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Maiion wards complained, a man wholly wanting in energy and firmness. The first outrages within his jurisdiction being unchecked and almost unnoticed, tended to give rise to many more. Again assembling in large bodies, the mob attacked both the chapels and the dwelling-houses of the Roman catholics in and about Moorfields. The houses they stripped of furniture, and the chapels of the altars, pulpits, pews, and benches, all which served to make bonfires in the streets. On the ensuing afternoon, that is, on Monday, the 5th of June, a drawing-room had been appointed at St. James's in celebration of the king's birthday. Previous to the drawing-room a privy council was held, at which the riots were discussed. But as yet they were deemed of so slight importance, that no one measure was taken with regard to them, beyond a proclamation offering a reward of ^500 for a discovery of the persons concerned in setting fire to. the Sardinian and Bavarian chapels. Even lord Mansfield, who had not only seen but felt the fury of the mob, fell into the same error of under-rating it. When in the course of this day Mr. Strahan, the printer, who had also been insulted, called upon his lordship to express his fears from the licentious ness of the public, the chief justice, as we are told, treated it as a very slight irregularity. That delusion, however, was dispelled by the events of the same day. The blue cockades growing bolder and bolder by indulgence, mustered in high spirits, and with increased numbers. While some parties proceeded to destroy the Romanist chapels in Wapping and East Smithfield, others broke open and plundered the shops of Mr. Rainsford and Mr. Maberly, two tradesmen who had given evidence against the rioters secured on the Friday night. But the principal object of attack was the house of sir George Savile, obnoxious as the author of the first relaxation in the penal code. Savile house, whi«h stood in Leicester fields, was accordingly carried, as it were, by storm, and given up to pillage.- Some of the furniture derived from the chapels or the private dwellings was, previously to its being burned in the' adjacent fields,; dragged in triumph and displayed through Boswell & Johnson.] THE LORD GEORGE GORDON RIOTS. 1780. 373 Welbeck street before the house of lord George Gordon. That foolish young fanatic now began to shrink from the results of his own rashness. In the name of his protestant association he put forth a handbill disavowing all share in the riots ; but he soon found how far easier it is to raise than to allay the storm. By this time the alarm had spread far and wide. Burke, who had most zealously supported Savile, in the good work of religious toleration, found it requisite, with his family, to take refuge beneath the roof of his friend, general Burgoyne. Throughout these troubles, and amidst all the anxious scenes of the next day, his demeanour was courageous and composed, and his' wife showed herself not unworthy such a husband. (The remainder of this story will be given from the pen of an eye witness — Dr. Johnson.) £)r. Jfjjjrrr.Smt.'s %MO\XXXt 0f % l&stifi ($tBXO,Z ®axaaxx $kte. 1780. Boswell and Johnson. The tranquillity of the metropolis of Great Britain was un expectedly disturbed, by the most horrid series of outrage that ever disgraced a civilized country. A relaxation of some of the severe penal provisions against our fellow-subjects of the catholic communion had been granted by the legislature, with an opposi tion so inconsiderable, that the genuine mildness of Christianity, united with liberal policy, seemed to have become general in this island. But a dark and malignant spirit of persecution soon showed itself, in an unworthy petition for the repeal of the wise and humane statute. That petition was brought forward by a. mob, with the evident purpose of intimidation, and was justly rejected. But the attempt was accompanied and followed by such daring violence as is unexampled in' history. Of this extra- 374 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Boswell & Johnson. ordinary tumult, Dr. Johnson has given the following concise, lively, and just account in his " Letters to Mrs. Thrale :"* " On Friday, t the good protestants met in St. George's fields, at the summons of lord George Gordon, and, marching to West minster, insulted the lords and commons, who all bore it with great tameness. At night, the outrages began by the demolition of the mass-house by Lincoln's Inn. " An exact journal of a week's defiance of government I cannot give you. On Monday Mr. Strahan, who had been insulted, spoke to lord Mansfield, who had, I think, been insulted too, of the licentiousness of the populace ; and his lordship treated it as a very slight irregularity. On Tuesday night they pulled down Fielding's house,$ and burnt his goods in the street. They had gutted on Monday sir George Savile's house, but the building was saved. On Tuesday evening, leaving Fielding's ruins, they went to Newgate to demand their companions, who had been seized demolishing the chapel. The keeper could not release them but by the mayor's permission, which he went to ask ; at his return, he found all the prisoners released, and Newgate in a blaze. They then went to Bloomsbury, and fastened upon lord Mans field's house, which they pulled down ; and as for his goods, they totally burnt them. They have since gone to Caen-wood, but a guard was there before them. They plundered some papists, I think, and burnt a mass-house in Moorfields the same night. " On Wednesday I walked with Dr. Scot to look at Newgate, and found it in ruins, with the fire yet glowing. As I went by. the protestants were plundering the Sessions house at the Old Bailey. There were not, I believe, a hundred ; but they did their work at leisure, in full security, without sentinels, without trepida tion, as men lawfully employed in full day. Such is the cowardice of a commercial place. On Wednesday they broke open the *Vol. ii., p. _I33> e* ¦«?• I have selected passages from several letters, without mentioning dates. t June 2. t [This is not quite correct. Sir John Fielding was, I think, then dead. It was justice Hyde's house in St-. Martin's street, Leicester fields, that was gutted, and his goods-burnt in the street. B.] Boswell & Johnson.] THE LORD GEORGE GORDON RIOTS. 1780. 375 Fleet, and the King's Bench, and the Marshalsea, and Wood Street Compter, and Clerkenwell Bridewell, and released all the prisoners. " At night they set fire to the Fleet, and to the King's Bench, and I know not how many other places ; and one might see the glare of conflagration fill the sky from many parts. The sight was dreadful. Some people were threatened; Mr. Strahan advised me to take care of myself. Such a time of terror you have been happy in not seeing. " The king said in council, ' That the magistrates had not done their duty, but that he would do his own : ' and a proclamation was published directing us to keep our servants within doors, as the peace was now to be preserved by force. The soldiers were sent out to different parts, and the town is now [June 9], at quiet. "The soldiers are stationed so as to be every where within call; there is no longer any body of rioters, and the individuals are hunted to their holes, and led to prison. Lord George was last night sent to the Tower. Mr. John Wilkes was this day in my neighbourhood, to seize the publisher of a seditious paper. " Several chapels have been destroyed, and several inoffensive papists have been plundered, but the high sport was to burn the jails. This was a good rabble trick. The debtors and the criminals were all set at liberty; but of the criminals, as has always happened, many are already retaken; and two pirates have surrendered themselves, and it is expected that they will be pardoned. " Government now acts again with its proper force ; and we are all under the protection of the king and the law. I thought that it would be agreeable to you and my master to have my testimony to the public security; and that you would sleep more quietly when I told you that you are safe. "There has, indeed, been an universal panic, from which the king was the first that recovered. Without the concurrence of his ministers, or the assistance of the civil magistrates, he put the soldiers in motion, and saved the town from calamities, such as a rabble's government must naturally produce. 376 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Boswell & Johnson; " The public has escaped a very heavy calamity. The rioters attempted the Bank on Wednesday night, but in no great number; and, like other thieves, with no great resolution. Jack Wilkes headed the party that drove them away. It is agreed, that if they had seized the Bank on Tuesday, at the height of the panic, when no resistancehad been prepared, they might have carried irrevoc ably away whatever they had found. Jack, who was always zealous for order and decency, declares that, if he be trusted with power, he will not leave a rioter alive. There is, however, now no Tonger.any need of heroism or bloodshed; no blue riband * is any longer worn." Such was thfe end of this miserable sedition, from which London was delivered by the magnanimity of the sovereign himself. Whatever some may maintain, I am satisfied that there was no combination or plan, either, domestic or foreign ; but that the mischief spread by a gradual contagion of frenzy, augmented by the quantities of fermented liquors, of which the deluded populace possessed themselves in the course of thejir depredation. I should think myself very much to blame, did I here neglect todo; justice to my esteemed friend Mr. Akerman, the keeper of Newgate, who long discharged a very important trust with an uniform intrepid; firmness, and at the same time a tenderness and a liberal charity, which entitle him to be recorded with dis tinguished honour. : Upon this occasion, from the timidity and negligence of magis tracy on the one hand, and the almost incredible exertions of the mob on the other, the first prison of this great country was laid open, and the prisoners set free ; but that Mr. Akerman, whose house was burnt, would have prevented all this, had proper aid been sent him in due time, there can be no doubt. Many years ago, a fire broke out in the brick part which was built as an addition to the old gaol of Newgate. The prisoners were in consternation and tumplt, calling out, "We shall be burnt — we shall be burnt ! Down with the gate ! — down with the *-[Lord George Gordon and his followers, during these outrages, wore, as we have seen, blue ribands hi their hats.] Boswell & Johnson.] THE LORD GEORGE GORDON RIOTS. 1780. 377 gate ! " Mr. Akermen hastened to them, showed himself at the gate, and having, after some confused vociferation of " Hear him — hear him ! " obtained a silent attention, he then calmly told . them, that the gate must not go down ; that they were under his care, and that they should not be permitted to escape : but that he could assure them, they need not be afraid of being burnt, for that the fire was not in the prison, properly so called, which was strongly built with 'stone : and that if they would engage to be quiet, he himself would come in to them, and conduct them to the farther end of the building, and would not go out till they gave him leave. To this proposal they agreed ; upon which Mr. Aker man, having first made them fall back from the gate, went in, and with a determined resolution ordered the outer turnkey upon no account to open the gate, even though the prisoners (though he trusted they would not) should break their word, and by force bring himself to order it. " Never mind me," he said, " should that happen." The prisoners peaceably followed him, while he conducted them through passages of which he had the keys, to the extremity of the gaol, which was most distant from the fire. Having by this very judicious conduct fully satisfied them that there was no immediate risk, if any at all, he then addressed them thus : " Gentlemen, you are now convinced that I told you true. I have no doubt that the engines will soon extinguish this fire ; if they should not, a sufficient guard will come, and you shall be all taken out and lodged in the Compters. I assure you, upon my word and honour, that I have not a farthing insured. I have left my house that I might take care of you. I will keep my promise, and stay with you if you insist upon it ; but if you will allow me to go out and look after my family and property, I shall be obliged to you." Struck with his behaviour, they called out, " Master Akerman, you have done bravely ; it was very kind in you : by all means, go and take care of your own concerns." He did so accordingly, while they remained, and were all preserved. Johnson has been heard to relate the substance of this story with high praise, in which he was joined by Mr. Burke. My illustrious friend, speaking of Mr. Akerman's kindness to his 378 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. prisoners, pronounced this eulogy upon his character : — " He who has long had constantly in his view the worst of mankind, and is yet eminent for the humanity of his disposition, must have had it originally in a great degree, and continued to cultivate it very carefully." it d&loxxoxxs Jroi rjf $nxu, 1794. Alison. A glorious triumph was awaiting the British arms. The French government having, by great exertions, got twenty-six ships of the line into a state fit for service at Brest, and being extremely anxious to secure the arrival of a large fleet laden with provisions, which was approaching from America, and promised to relieve the famine which was now felt with uncommon severity in all parts of France, sent positive orders to admiral Villaret Joyeuse to put to sea. On the 20th of May, the French set sail ; and on the 28th, lord Howe, who was well aware of the expected arrival of the convoy, hove in sight, with the channel fleet of England, con sisting of twenty-six line-of-battle ships. The French were im mediately formed in line, in order of battle, and a partial action ensued between the rearguard of their line and the vanguard of the British squadron ; in the course of which, the Revolutionaire was so much damaged that she struck to the Audacious, but not being taken possession of by the victors before night-fall was towed the following morning into Rochefort During the next day, the manoeuvres were renewed on both sides, each party endeavouring to obtain the weather gage of the other ; and lord Howe, at the head of his fleet, passed through the French squadron; but the whole ships not having taken the position assigned to them, the action, after a severe commencement, was discontinued, and the British admiral strove with the utmost skill to maintain the wind of the enemy. During the two following days, a thick fog concealed the rival fleets from each other, though they were so near, that both sides were well aware that a Alison.] THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE, 1794. 379 great battle was approaching, and with difficulty restrained the ardour by which they were animated. At length, on the ist June, a day ever memorable in the naval annals of England, the sun broke forth with unusual splendour, and discovered the French fleet in order of battle, a few miles from the English, awaiting the combat, while an agitated sea promised the advantage of the wind to an immediate attack. Lord Howe instantly bore down, in an oblique direction, upon the enemy's line, designing to repeat the manoeuvre long known in the British Navy, but first traced to scientific principles by Clerk of Eldin, and so successfully carried into execution by Rodney on the 12 th April. Having the weather gage of the enemy, he was enabled to break their line near the centre, and double with a preponderating force on the one half of their squadron. The English admiral, in the Queen Charlotte, engaged the Republican commander in the Mountain, but such was the superiority of his fire, that before the combat had continued an hour, the French admiral was compelled to fall out of the line with such of his ships as were able to move, leaving twelve in close action to their fate. Though overpowered by superior forces, they bravely main tained the combat, and several of the vessels on both sides were speedily dismasted, and lay like logs in the water. The heroism of the crew of the Vengeur is worthy of eternal remembrance ; though sinking rapidly in the water, and after the lower deck guns were immersed, they continued vehemently to discharge the upper tier; and at length, when she went to the bottom, the crew con tinued to cheer, and the cries, "Vive la Republique," "Vive la Libertey "Vive la France," were heard as she was swallowed up in the waves. So severely was the British fleet injured, that several of the vessels which had struck escaped, and two or three even under a sprit-sail, or a small sail raised on the stump of a foremast, could not be detained. Six ships of the line, however, beside the Vengeur, which sunk, remained in the possession of the British admiral, and were brought into Plymouth; while the remains of the French squadron, diminished by eight of their number, and with a loss of 380 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. •eight thousand men, took refuge in the roads of Berthaume, and ulti mately regained the harbour of Brest, shattered, dismasted, riddled with shot: how different from the splendid fleet which had so recently departed amidst .the acclamations of the inhabitants ! The loss of the British was two hundred and ninety killed, and eight hundred and fifty-eight wounded, in all eleven hundred, and forty-eight, being less than that sustained in the six French ships alone which were made prizes. The Republicans were in some degree consoled for this disaster, by the safe arrival of the great American convoy, consisting of one hundred and sixty sail, and valued at ^5,000,000 sterling; a supply of incalculable, importance to the wants of a, population whom the Reign of Terror and civil dissension had brought to the verge of famine. .They, entered the harbour of Brest a few days after the engagement, having escaped, as if by a miracle, the vigi lance of the British cruisers. Their safety was in a great degree owing to the sagacity of the admiral, who traversed the scene, of destruction a day or two after the engagement, and judging from the magnitude and number of the wrecks which were floating about, that a terrible battle must have taken place, concluded .that the victorious party would not be in a condition for pursuit, and resolved to hold on his course for the Frenchharbour. Lord Howe gained so decisive a success from the adoption of the same principle, which gave victory to Frederic at Leuthen, to Napoleon at Austerlitz, and Wellington at Salamanca, viz. to bring an overwhelming force to one point, and reduce one-half of the enemy's fleet to be the passive spectator of. the destruction of the other. To a skilful and intrepid squadron, who do not fear to engage at the cannon mouth with their enemy, such a manoeuvre offers even greater, chances of success at sea than at land, because the complete absence of obstacles on the level expanse of water enables the attacking squadron to calculate with more certainty upon reaching their object ; and the advantage of the wind, if once obtained, renders it proportionately difficult for one part of the enemy's line to be brought up to the relief of the other. Never was a victory more seasonable, than, lord Howe's to the James Mill.] - TAKING OF SMRINGAPATAM. 38 1 British government. The war, preceded as it had been by violent party divisions in England, had been regarded with lukewarm feelings by a large portion of the people ; and the friends of freedom dared not wish for the success of the British arms, lest it should ex tinguish the dawn of liberty in the world. But the Reign of Terror had shocked the best feelings of all the respectable portion of this party, and the victory, of rst June captivated the affections of the giddy multitude. The ancient but half extinguished loyalty of the British people wakened at the sound of their victorious cannon ; and the hereditary rivalry of the two nations revived at so signal a triumph over the Republican arms. From this period may be dated the commencement of that firm union among the inhabitants of the country, and that ardent enthusiasm in the contest, which soon extinguished the seeds of former dissension, and ultimately carried the British empire triumphant through the severest struggles which had engaged the nation since the days of Alfred. ^nhxxxa, xrf j&ermgapaiam. James Mill. A breaching battery of six guns was erected on the night of the 28th; and on the morning of the 30th it began to fire. On the first day it demolished part of the outward wall at the west angle of the fort, and made an impression on the masonry of the bastion within it On the second its fire was attended with increased effect. An additional battery, constructed on the night of April the 30th, opened in the morning of the 2nd of May. On the 3rd, the breach appeared to be practicable, and preparations were eagerly made for the assault. On the morning of the 4th, the troops destined for the service were placed in the trenches before day-light, that no extraordinary movement might serve to put the enemy on their guard. The beat of the day, when the people of the east, having taken their mid-day repast, give themselves up to a season of repose, and when it was expected that the troops in the fort would be least prepared to resist, was chosen for the hour 382. HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [James Mill. of attack. Four regiments, and ten flank companies of Europeans, three corps of grenadier sepoys, and 200 of the Nizam's troops, formed the party for the assault. Colonels Sherbrooke, Dunlop, Dalrymple, Gardener, and Mignan, commanded the flank corps ; and the conduct of the enterprise was entrusted to major-general Baird, who had solicited the dangerous service. At one o'clock the troops began to move from the trenches. The width, and rocky channel of the river, though at that time it contained but little water, its exposure to the fire of the fort, the imperfection of the breach, the strength of the place, the numbers, courage, and skill of its defenders, constituted such an accumulation of diffi culties, that nothing less than unbounded confidence in the force and courage of his men could have inspired a prudent general with hopes of success. The troops descended into the bed of the river, and moved, regardless of a tremendous fire, towards the opposite bank. From the time when general Harris sat down before the fort, the sultan had remained on the ramparts, varying his position according to the incidents of the siege. The general charge of the angle attacked, was given to Seyed Saheb, and Seyed Goff- har, the last, an able officer, who began his career in the English service, and was in the number of the prisoners at the disaster of colonel Brathwaite. The angle of the fort which the English attacked was of such a nature, that a retrenchment to cut it off might have been easily effected ; and this was counselled by the most judicious of the Mysorean officers. But the mind of the sultan, which was always defective in judgment, appears to have been prematurely weakened by the disadvantages of his situation. By the indul gence of arbitrary power, and the arts of his flatterers, his mind was brought into that situation in which it could endure to hear nothing but what gratified the will of the moment. He had accordingly estranged from his presence every person of a manly character; and surrounded himself with young men and parasites, who made it their business not -only to gratify his most childish inclinations, but to occupy him. with a perpetual succession Of James Mill.] TAKING OF SERINGAPATAM. 383 wretched pursuits. He seems, therefore, when adversity came upon him, to have been rendered too effeminate to look it steadily in the face, and, exploring firmly the nature of the danger, to employ in the best manner the means which were in his power for averting it. The flatterers were able to persuade him, partly that the fort was too strong to be taken, partly that God would protect him ; and they maintained successfully that in decision which which was now congenial to the relaxed habit of his mind. " He is surrounded," said Seyed Goffhar, who was wounded early in the siege, "by boys and flatterers, who will not let him see with his own eyes. I do not wish to survive the result. I am going about in search of death, and cannot find it" On the morning of the 4th, Seyed Goffhar, who from the num ber of men in the trenches inferred the intention to assault, sent information to the sultan. The sultan returned for answer, that it was good to be on the alert, but assured him, as persuaded by the flatterers, that the assault would not take place till night. And in the meantime he was absorbed in religious and astrolo gical operations ; the one, to purchase the favour of heaven ; the other, to ascertain its decrees. " Seyed Goffhar," says colonel Wilks, " having satisfied himself; by further observation, that one hour would not elapse before the assault would commence, hurried in a state of rage and despair towards the sultan : ' I will go,' said he, ' and drag him to the breach, and make him see by what a set of wretches he is surrounded ; I will compel him to exert himself at this last moment' He was going, and met a party of pioneers, whom he had long looked for in vain to cut off the approach by the southern rampart. ' I must first,' said he, 'show these people the work they have to do ;' and in the act of giving his instructions, was killed by a cannon shot."* The sultan was about to begin his mid-day repast, under a small tent, at his usual station, on the northern face, when the * Hist. Sketches, iii., 436, 437. For the interior history of the Mysoreans, . at this time, colonel Wilks, who afterwards governed the country, enjoyed singular advantages; and we may confide in his discrimination of the sources and qualities of his information. 384 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [James Mill. news was brought him of the death of Seyed Goffhar, and excited strong agitation. Before the repast was finished, he heard that the assault was begun. He instantly ordered the troops which were about him, to stand to their arms, commanded the car bines to be loaded, which the servants in attendance carried for his own use, and hurried along the northern rampart to the breach. " In less than seven minutes, from the period of issuing from the trenches, the British colours were planted on the summit of the breach." It was regulated that as soon as the assailants sur mounted the rampart, one half of them should wheel to the right, the other to the left, and that they should meet over the eastern gateway. The right, which was led by general Baird, met with little resistance, both as the enemy, lest retreat should be cut off, abandoned the cavaliers, and as the inner rampart of the south western face was exposed to a perfect enfilade. The assailants on the left were opposed in a different manner. Lieut-col. Dun- lop, by whom it was commanded, received a wound in the ascent; and the sultan passed the nearest traverse, as the column quitted the breach. A succession of well-constructed traverses were most vigorously defended ; and a flanking fire of musquetry from the inner rampart did great execution upon the assailants. All the commissioned officers, attached to the leading companies, were soon either killed or disabled ; and the loss would, at any rate, have been great, had not a very critical assistance been received. When the assailants first surmounted the breach, they were not a little surprised by the sight of a deep, and, to appearance, im passable ditch between the exterior and interior lines of defence. A detachment of the 12th regiment, having discovered a narrow strip of the terreplein, left for the passage of the workmen, got up the inner rampart of the enfiladed face, without much opposi tion, and wheeling to the left, drove before them the musqueteers who were galling the assailants of the left attack, and they at last reached the flank of the traverse, which was defended by the sultan. The two columns of the English, on the outer and inner rampart, then moved in a position to expose the successive tra- James Hill.] TAKING OF SERINGAPATAM. 38s verses to a front and flank fire at the same time ; and forced the enemy from one to another, till they perceived the British of the right attack, over the eastern gate, and ready to fall upon them in the rear, when they broke, and hastened to escape. The sultan continued on foot during the greater part of this time, performing the part rather of a common soldier, than a general, firing several times upon the assailants with his own hands. But a little before the time at which his troops resigned the contest, he complained of pain and weakness in one of his legs, in which he had received a severe wound when young, and ordered a horse. When abandoned by his men, instead of seeking to make his escape, which the proximity of the water gate would have rendered easy, he made his way toward the gate into the interior fort. As he was crossing to the gate by the communication from the outer rampart, he received a musket ball in the right side nearly as high as the breast, but still pressed on, till he arrived at the gate. Fugitives, from within, as well as from without, were crowding in opposite directions to this gate'; and the detachment of the 12th had descended into the body of the place, for the purpose of arresting the influx of the fugitives from the outer works. The two columns of the assailants, one without the gate and one within, were now pouring into it a destructive fire from both sides, when the sultan arrived. Endeavouring to pass, he received another wound from the fire of the inner de tachment ; his horse also being wounded sunk under him, and his turban fell to the ground, while his friends dropped rapidly around him. His attendants placed him in his palankeen, but the place was already so crowded, and choked up with the dead and the dying, that he could not be removed. According to the statement of a servant who survived, some English soldiers, a few minutes afterwards, entered the gateway ; and one of them offer ing to pull off the sword belt of the sultan, which was very rich, Tippoo, who still held his sabre in his hand, made a cut at him with all his remaining strength. The man, wounded in the knee, put his firelock to his shoulder, and the sultan, receiving the ball in his temple, expired. * * - ~ c c 386 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [James Hill Thetwo bodies of assailants, from the right and the left, had met over the eastern gateway; and the palace was the only place within the fort not now in their possession. In this the faithful adherents of Tippoo, whose fate was yet unknown, were expected to make a desperate stand in defence of their sovereign and his family. The troops, exhausted by the heat and the toils of the day, stood in need of refreshment. In the meantime major Allan was sent with a guard to inform the persons within the palace, that if they surrendered immediately their lives should be secured; that any resistance on the other hand would be fatal to them all. When that officer arrived at the palace, before which a part of the British troops were already drawn up, he observed several persons in the balcony, apparently in the greatest consternation. Upon communicating his message, the Kelledar, another officer of dis tinction, and a confidential servant, came over the terrace of the front building, and descended by an unfinished part of the wall. They exhibited great embarrassment, and a disposition to delay; upon which the British officer reminded them of their danger, and pledging himself for the protection of the inmates of the palace, desired admittance, that he might give the same assurance to the sultan himself. They manifested strong aversion to this proposi tion; but the major insisted upon returning with, them; and desir ing two other officers to join him, they ascended by the broken wall, and lowered themselves down on a terrace, on which there was a number of armed men. The major, carrying a white flag in his hand, which he had formed on the spur of the occasion by fastening a cloth to a Serjeant's pike, assured them it was a pledge of security, provided no resistance was attempted : and as an addi tional proof of his sincerity took off his sword, which he insisted upon placing in the hands of the Kelledar. All affirmed that the family of the sultan was in the palace, but not the sultan himself. Their agitation and indecision were conspicuous. The major was obliged to remind them, that the fury of the troops, by whom they were now surrounded, was with difficulty restrained; and that the consequences of delay would be fatal. The rapid movements of several persons within the palace, where many hundreds of James Hill.] TAKING OF SERINGAPATAM. 387 Tippoo's troops still remained, made him begin to think the situation critical even of himself and his companions, by whom he was advised to take back his sword. As any suspicion, however, of treachery, reaching in their present state the minds of the British soldiers, would inflame them to the most desperate acts, probably the massacre of every human being within the palace walls, he had the gallantry, as well as presence of mind, to abstain from such an exhibition of distrust. In the meantime, he was entreated by the people on the terrace to hold the flag in a con spicuous manner, as well to give confidence to the people within the palace, as to prevent the British troops from forcing the gates. Growing impatient of delay, the major sent another message to the princes. They now sent him word, that he would be received as soon as a carpet for the purpose could be procured ; and in a few mimutes the Kelledar returned to conduct him. He found two of the princes seated on the carpet, surrounded by attendants. " The recollection," says major Allan, " of Moiz ad Dien, whom on a former occasion I had seen delivered up with his brother, hostages to marquis Cornwallis; the sad reverse of their fortunes; their fear, which, notwithstanding their struggles to conceal it, was but too evident, excited the strongest emotions of compassion in my mind." He endeavoured by every mark of tenderness, and by the strongest assurances of protection and respect, to tranquillize their minds. His first object was to dis cover where the sultan was concealed. He next requested their assent to the opening of the gates. At this proposition they were alarmed. Without the authority of their father, whom they desired to consult, they were afraid to take upon themselves a decision of such unspeakable importance. The major assured them, that he would post a guard of their own sepoys within the palace, and a guard of Europeans without; that no person should enter but by his authority; that he would return and remain with them, until general Baird should arrive; and that their own lives, as well as that of every person in the palace, depended upon their compliance. Their confidence was gained. Upon opening the gate, major Allan found general Baird and several officers with a 388 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [James Hill. large body of troops assembled. It was not safe to admit the troops, who were burning for vengeance. And major Allan returned to conduct the princes, whose reluctance to quit the palace was not easy to be overcome, to the presence of the general. General Baird was one of those British officers who had personally experienced the cruelty of their father, and suffered all the horrors of a three years' imprisonment in the place which he had now victoriously entered. His mind too had been inflamed by a report at that instant received, that Tippoo had murdered all the Europeans made prisoners during the siege. " He was neverthe less," says major Allan, " sensibly affected by the sight of the princes; and his gallantry on the assault was not more conspicuous, than the moderation and humanity which he on this occasion displayed. He received the princes with every mark of regard : repeatedly assured them that no violence or insult should be offered to them, and he gave them in charge to two officers to conduct them to headquarters in camp." They were escorted by the light company of a European regiment; and the troops were ordered to pay them the compliment of presented arms as they passed. The mind dwells with peculiar delight upon these instances in which the sweet sympathies which one human being has with another, and which are of infinite importance in private life, prevail over the destructive passions, alternately the cause, and consequence, of war. The pleasure, at the same time, which we feel in conceiving the emotions produced in such a scene, lead the bulk of mankind to over-value greatly the virtues which they imply. When you have glutted upon your victim the passions of ambition and revenge ; when you have reduced him from great ness and power, to the weakness and dependence which mark the insect on which you tread, a few tears, and the restraint of the foot from the final stamp, are not a very arduous virtue. The grand misfortune is to be made an insect When that is done, it is a slight, if any, addition to the misfortune to be crushed at once. The virtue to which exalted praise would be due, and to which human nature is gradually ascending, would be, to restrain James Hill.] TAKING OF SERINGAPATAM. 389 in time the selfish desires which hurry us on to the havoc we are vain of contemplating with a sort of pity after we have made it. Let not the mercy, however, be slighted, which is shown even to the victim we have made. It is so much gained for human nature. It is a gain which, however late, the progress and diffusion of philosophy at last have produced; they will in time produce other and greater results. When the-persons of the princes were secured, Tippoo was to be searched for in every corner of the palace. A party of English troops were admitted, and those of Tippoo disarmed. After pro ceeding through several of the apartments, the Kelledar was entreated, if he valued his own life, or that of his master, to discover where he was concealed. That officer, laying his hand upon the hilt of major Allan's sword, protested, in the most solemn manner, that the sultan was not in the palace ;' that he had been wounded during the storm ; and was lying in a gateway on the northern side of the fort He offered to conduct the inquirers ; and submit to any punishment if he was found to have deceived. General Baird and the officers who accompanied him, proceeded to the spot ; covered with a promiscuous and shocking heap of bodies wounded and dead. At first, the bodies were dragged out of the gateway to be examined, it being already too dark to distinguish them where they lay. As this mode of examination, however, threatened to be very tedious, a light was procured, and major Allen and the Kelledar went forward to the place. After some search, the sultan's palankeen was discovered, and under it a person wounded, but not dead. He was afterwards ascertained to be the Rajah Khan, one of Tippoo's most confidential servants, who had attended his master during the whole of the fatal day. This person being made acquainted with the object of the search, pointed out the spot where the sultan had fallen. The body being brought out and sufficiently recognised, was conveyed in a palankeen to the palace. It was warm when first discovered ; the eyes were open, the features not distorted, and major Allan and colonel Wellesley were for a few moments doubtful, whether it was not alive. It had four wounds, three in the trunk, and one 390 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. in the temple, the ball of which, having entered a little above the right ear, had lodged in the cheek. His dress consisted of a jacket of fine white linen, loose drawers of flowered chintz, the usual girdle of the east, crimson-coloured, tied round his waist ; and a handsome pouch, with a belt of silk, red and green, hung across his shoulder. He had an amulet on his arm ; but his ornaments, if he wore any, were gone.* ®Ije ItMottj xxx % gMt 1797. Alison. Unknown to government, or at least without their having taken it into serious consideration, a feeling of discontent had for a very long period prevailed in the British navy. This was no doubt partly brought to maturity by the democratic and turbulent spirit which had spread from France through the adjoining states ; but it had its origin in a variety of real grievances which existed, and must, if unredressed, have sooner or later brought on an explosion. The sailors complained with reason, that while all the articles of life had more than doubled in price, their pay had not been augmented since the reign of Charles II. ; that prize money was unequally distributed, and an undue proportion given to the officers ; that discipline was maintained with excessive and undue severity, and that the conduct of the officers towards the men was harsh and revolting. These evils, long complained of, were rendered more exasperating by the inflammatory acts of a number of persons of superior station, whom the general distress arising from commercial embarrassment had driven into the navy, and who persuaded the sailors, that by acting unanimously and decidedly, they would speedily obtain redress of their grievances. The influence of these new entrants appeared in the secrecy and * See major Allan's own account of the scenes at the palace, and the gate way; annexed (Appendix 42) to Beatson's View of the War with Tippoo Sultaun. Alison.] THE MUTINY IX THE FLEET, 1797. 39 1 ability with which the measures of the malcontents were taken, and the general extension of the conspiracy before its existence was known to the officers of the fleet The prevalence of these discontents was made known to lord Howe and the lords of the admiralty, by a variety of anonymous communications, during the whole spring of 1797 ; but they met with no attention ; and upon enquiry of the captains of vessels, they all declared that no mutinous disposition existed on board of their respective ships. Meanwhile, however, a vast conspiracy unknown to them was already organised, which was brought to maturity on the return of the channel fleet to port in the beginning of April ; and on the signal being made from the Queen Charlotte, by lord Bridport, to weigh anchor, on the 15 th of that month, instead of obeying, its crew gave three cheers, which were returned by every vessel in the fleet, and the red flag of mutiny was hoisted on every masthead. In this perilous crisis, the officers of the fleet exerted themselves to the utmost to bring back their crews to a state of obedience, but all their efforts were in vain. Meanwhile, the fleet being completely in possession of the insurgents, they used their power firmly, but with humanity and moderation ; order and discipline were universally observed ; the most scrupulous attention was paid to the officers ; those most obnoxious were sent ashore without molestation ; delegates were appointed from all the ships to meet in lord Howe's cabin, an oath to support the common cause administered to every man in the fleet, and ropes reeved to the yard-arm of every vessel as a signal of the punishment that would be inflicted on those that betrayed it. Three days after wards two petitions were forwarded, one to the admiralty, and one to the house of commons, drawn up in the most respectful, and even touching terms, declaring their unshaken loyalty to their king and country, but detailing the grievances of which they com plained ; that their pay had not been augmented since the reign of Charles II., though every article of life had advanced at least one-third in value; that the pensions of Chelsea were ^13, while those of Greenwich still remained at £1 ; that their allowance of 392 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. provisions was insufficient, and that the pay of wounded seamen was. not continued till they were cured or discharged. This unexpected mutiny produced the utmost alarm both in the country and the government ; and the board of admiralty was immediately transferred to Portsmouth to endeavour to appease it. Earl Spenser hastened to the spot, and after some negotiation, the demands of the fleet were acceded to by the admiralty, it being agreed that the pay of able-bodied seamen should be raised to a shilling a-day ; that of petty officers and ordinary seamen in the same proportion, and the Greenwich pension augmented to ten pounds. This, however, the seamen refused to accept, unless it was ratified by royal proclamation and act of parliament ; the red flag, which had been struck, was rehoisted, and the fleet, after subordination had been in some degree restored, again broke out into open mutiny. Government upon this sent down lord Howe to reassure the mutineers, and convince them of the good faith with which they were animated. The personal weight of this illustrious man, the many years he had commanded the channel fleet, the recollection of his glorious victory at its head, all conspired to induce the sailors to listen to his representations ; and in conse quence of his assurance that government would faithfully keep its promises, and grant an unlimited amnesty for the past, the whole fleet returned to its duty, and a few. days afterwards put to sea, amounting to twenty-one ships of the line, to resume the blockade of Brest harbour. The bloodless termination of this revolt, and the concession to the seamen of what all felt to be their just demands, diffused a general joy throughout the nation ; but this satisfaction was of short duration. On the 22 nd May, the fleet at the Nore, forming part of lord Duncan's squadron, broke out into open mutiny, and on the 6th June, they were joined by all the vessels of that fleet, from the blockading station off the Texel, excepting his own line- of-battle ship and two frigates. These ships drew themselves up in order of battle across the Thames, stopped all vessels going up or down the river, appointed delegates and a provisional govern ment for the fleet, and compelled the ships, whose crews were Alison.] THE MUTINY IN THE FLEET, 1797. V 53 thought to be wavering, to take their station in the middle of the formidable array. At the head of the insurrection was a man of the name of Parker, a seaman on board the Sandwich, who assumed the title of President of the Floating Republic, and was distin guished by undaunted resolution and no small share of ability. Their demands related chiefly to the unequal distribution of prize- money, which had been overlooked by the channel mutineers; but they went so far in other respects, and were couched in such a menacing strain, as to be deemed totally inadmissible by govern ment. At the intelligence of this alarming insurrection, the utmost consternation seized all classes in the nation. Every thing seemed to be failing at once ; their armies had been defeated, the bank had suspended payment, and now the fleet, the pride and glory of England, seemed on the point of deserting the national colours. The citizens of London dreaded a stoppage of the colliers, and all the usual supplies of the metropolis ; the public creditors apprehended the speedy dissolution of government, and the cessation of their wonted payments from the treasury. Despair seized upon the firmest hearts ; and such was the general panic, that the three per cents, were sold as low as 45, after having been nearly 100 before the commencement of the war. Never, during the whole contest, was the consternation so great, and never was England placed so near the verge of destruction. Fortunately for Great Britain, and the cause of freedom through the world, a monarch was on the throne whose firmness no danger could shake, and a minister at the helm whose capacity was equal to any emergency. Perceiving that the success of the mutineers in the channel fleet had augmented the audacity of the sailors, and given rise to the present formidable insurrection, and conscious that the chief real grievances had been redressed, government reselved to make a stand, and adopted the most energetic measures to face the danger. All the buoys at the mouth of the Thames were removed; Sheerness, which was menaced with a bombardment from the insurgent ships, was garrisoned with four thousand men ; red-hot balls were kept in 394 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. constant readiness; the fort of Tilbury was armed with ioo pieces of heavy cannon ; and a chain of gun-boats sunk to debar the access to the harbour. These energetic measures restored the public confidence ; the nation rallied round a monarch and an administration who were not wanting to themselves in this ex tremity ; and all the armed men, sailors, and merchants in Lon don, voluntarily took an oath, to stand by their country in this eventful crisis. The conduct of parliament, on this trying occasion, was worthy of its glorious history. The revolt of the fleet was formally com municated to both houses by the king on the ist of June, and immediately taken into consideration. The greater part of the Opposition, and especially Mr. Fox, at first held back, and seemed rather disposed to turn the public danger into the means of over turning the administration ; but Mr. Sheridan came nobly forward, and threw the weight of his great name and thrilling eloquence into the balance in favour of his country. " Shall we yield," said he, " to mutinous sailors ? Never ; for in one moment we should extinguish three centuries of glory." Awakened by this splendid example to more worthy feelings, the Opposition at length joined the administration, and a bill for the suppression of the mutiny passed, by a great majority, through both houses of parliament. By this act, it was declared death for any person to hold commu nication with the sailors in mutiny after the revolt had been declared by proclamation ; and all persons who should endeavour to seduce either soldiers or sailors from their duty were liable to the same punishment. This bill was opposed by sir Francis Burdett, and a few of the most violent of the Opposition, upon the ground that conciliation and concession were the only course which could ensure speedy submission. But Mr. Pitt's reply, — that the tender feelings of these brave but misguided men were the sole avenue which remained open to recall them to their duty, and that a separation from their wives, their children, and their country, would probably induce the return to duty which could alone obtain a revival of these affections, — was justly deemed conclusive, and the bill accordingly passed. Alison.] THE MUTINY IN THE FLEET, 1797. 395 Meanwhile a negotiation was conducted by the admiralty, who repaired on the first alarm to Sheerness, and received a deputation from the mutineers ; but their demands were so unreasonable, and urged in so threatening a manner, that they had the appearance of having been brought forward to exclude all accommodation, and justify, by their refusal, the immediate recurrence to extreme measures. These parleys, however, gave government time to sow dissension among the insurgents, by representing the hopeless nature of the contest with the whole nation in which they were engaged, and the unreasonable nature of the demands on which they insisted. By degrees they became sensible that they had engaged in a desperate enterprise ; the whole sailors on board the channel fleet gave a splendid proof of genuine patriotism, by reprobating their proceedings, and earnestly imploring them to return to their duty. This remonstrance, coupled with the energetic conduct of both parliament and government, and the general disapprobation of the nation, gradually checked the spirit of insubordination. On the 9th June, two ships of the line slipped their cables and abandoned the insurgents, amidst a heavy fire from the whole line; on the 13th, three other sail of the line and two frigates openly left them, and took refuge under the cannon of Sheerness; on the following day, several others followed their example; and at length, on the 15th, the whole remaining ships struck the red flag of mutiny, and the communica tion between the ocean and the metropolis was restored. Parker, the leader of the insurrection, was seized on board his own ship, and, after a solemn trial, condemned to death ; which he under went with great firmness, acknowledging the justice of his sen tence, and hoping only that mercy would be extended to his associates. Several of the other leaders of the revolt were found guilty and executed ; but some escaped from on board the prison- ship, and got safe to Calais, and a large number, still under sentence of death, were pardoned, by royal proclamation, after the glorious victory of Camperdown. The suppression of this dangerous revolt with so little blood shed, and the extrication of the nation from the greatest peril in 396 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. .[Alison which it had been placed since the Spanish Armada, is the most glorious event in the reign of George III., and in the administra tion of Pitt* The conduct adopted towards the insurgents may be regarded as a masterpiece of political wisdom ; and the hap piest example of that union of firmness and humanity, of justice and concession, which can alone bring a government safely through such a crisis. By at once conceding all the just demands of the channel fleet, and proclaiming a general pardon for a revolt which had too much ground for its justification, they deprived the disaffected of all real causes of complaint, and detached from their cause all the patriotic portion of the navy ; while by resolutely withstanding the audacious demands of the Nore mutineers, they checked the spirit of democracy which had arisen out of those very concessions themselves. For such is the singular combina tion of good and bad principles in human nature, and such the disposition of man, on the least opening being afforded, to run riot, that not only do our virtues border upon vices, but even from acts of justice the most deplorable consequences frequently flow ; and unless a due display of firmness accompany concessions, dictated by a spirit of humanity, they too often are imputed to fear, and increase the very turbulent spirit they were intended to remove. Admiral Duncan's conduct at this critical juncture was above all praise. He was with his fleet, blockading the Texel, when intelligence of the insurrection, was received, and immediately four ships of the line deserted to the mutineers, leaving him with an inferior force in presence of the enemy. They were speedily followed by several others ; and at length the admiral, in his own * The magnanimous conduct of the British Government on this occasion was fully appreciated on the continent. — "Let us figure to ourselves," says prince Hardenberg, ' ' Richard Parker, a common sailor, the leader of the revolt, taking, at Sheerness, the title of admiral of the fleet, and the fleet itself, con sisting of eleven sail of the line and four frigates, assuming the title of the floating republic; and, nevertheless, recollect, that the English, but recently recovered from a financial crisis, remained undaunted in presence of such a revolt, and did not withdraw one vessel from the blockade of Brest, Cadiz, or the Texel ! It was the firmness of ancient Rome." — Hard. iv. 432. Alison.] THE MUTINi IN THE FLEET, 1797. 397 ship, with two frigates, was left alone on the station. In this extremity his firmness did not forsake him ; he called his crew on deck, and addressed them in one of those speeches of touching and manly eloquence, so well known in antiquity, which at once melts the human heart* His crew were dissolved in tears, and declared, in the most energetic manner, their unshaken loyalty. and resolution to abide by him in life or death. Encouraged by this heroic conduct, he declared his determination to maintain the blockade, and, undismayed by the defection of so large a part of his squadron, remained off the Texel with his little but faithful ' " My lads, — I once more call you together, with a sorrowful heart, from what I have lately seen of the disaffection of the fleets ; I call it disaffection for they have no grievances. To be deserted by my fleet, in the face of the enemy, is a disgrace which, I believe, never before happened lo a British admiral, nor could I have supposed it possible. My greatest comfort, under God, is, that I have been supported by the officers, seamen, and marines of this ship, for which, with a heart overflowing with gratitude, I request you to accept my sincere thanks. I flatter myself, much good may result from your example, by bringing those deluded people to a sense of their duty, which they owe not only to their king and country, but to themselves. " The British navy has ever been the support of that liberty, which has been handed down to us from our ancestors, and which, I trust, we shall maintain. to the latest posterity; and that can only be done by unanimity and obedience. This ship's company, and others, who have distinguished themselves by their loyalty and good order, deserve to be, and doubtless will be, the favourites of a grateful nation. They will also have from their inward feelings a comfort which will be lasting, and not like the floating and false confidence of those who have swerved from their duty. " It has been often my pride with you to look into the Texel, and see a foe which dreaded coming out to meet us. My pride is now humbled indeed !— my feelings cannot easily be expressed. Our cup has overflowed, and made us wanton. • The all-wise Providence has given us this, check as a warning, and I hope we shall improve by it. On Him, then, let us trust, where our only security is to be found. I find there are many good men among us': for ray own part, I have had full confidence in all in this ship, and once more beg to express my approbation of your conduct. " May God, who has thus far conducted you, continue to do so; and. may the British navy, the glory and support of our country, be restored to its wonted splendour, and be not only the bulwark of Britain, but the terror of the world. But this can only be effected by a strict adherence to our duty and obedience; and let us pray that the Almighty God may keep us all in the right way oi thinking— God bless you all 1"— Ann. Reg. 1797, 214. 398 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. remnant By stationing one of the ships in the offing, and fre quently making signals, as if to the remainder of the fleet, he succeeded in deceiving the Dutch admiral, who imagined that the vessels in sight were only the inshore squadron, and kept his station until the remainder of his ships joined him after the sup pression of the insurrection. It was naturally imagined at the time that this formidable mutiny was instigated by the arts of the French government. But though they were naturally highly elated at this unexpected piece of good fortune, and anxious to turn it to the best advantage, and though the revolutionary spirit which was abroad was unquestion ably one cause of the commotion, there is no reason to believe that it arose from the instigation of the Directory, or was at all connected with any treasonable or seditious projects. On the contrary, after the minutest investigation, it appeared that the grievances complained of were entirely of a domestic character, that the hearts of the sailors were throughout true to their country, and that at the very time when they were blockading the Thames in so menacing a manner, they would have fought the French fleet with the same spirit, as was afterwards evinced in the glorious victory of Camperdown. The ultimate consequences of this insurrection, as of most other popular commotions which originate in real grievances, and are candidly, but firmly, met by government, were highly beneficial. The attention of the cabinet was forcibly turned to the sources of discontent in the navy, and from that to the corresponding causes and grievances in the army, and the result was a series of changes which, in a very great degree, improved the condition of officers and men in both services. The pay of the common soldiers was raised to their present standard of a shilling a-day; and those admirable regulations were soon after adopted in regard to pen sions, prize-money, and retired allowances, which have justly endeared the memory of the duke of York and lord Melville to the privates of the army and navy. Alison.] BATTLE OFF CAPE ST. VINCENT. 399 §attlc off Cape St. Vincent. Alison. But whatever may have been the internal dissensions of the British fleet, never did it appear more terrible and irresistible to its foreign enemies than during this eventful year. Early in Febru ary, the Spanish fleet, consisting of twenty-seven ships of the line, and twelve frigates, put to sea, with the design of steering for Brest, raising the blockade of that harbour, forming a junction with the Dutch fleet, and clearing the channel of the British squadron. This design, the same as that which Napoleon after wards adopted in r8os, was defeated by one of the most memor able victories ever recorded even in the splendid annals of the English navy. Admiral Jervis, with fifteen ships of the line, and six frigates, was cruising off Cape St. Vincent, when he received intelligence of their approach, and immediately prepared for battle. He drew up his fleet in two lines, and bearing down before the wind, succeeded in engaging the enemy, who were very loosely scattered, and yet straggling in disorderly array, in close combat, before they had time to form in regular order of battle. Passing boldly through the centre of their fleet, the British admiral doubled with his whole force upon nine of the Spanish ships, and by a vigorous cannonade, drove them to leeward, so as to prevent their taking any part in the engagement which followed. The Spanish admiral upon this endeavoured to regain the lost part of his fleet, and was wearing round the rear of the British lines, when commodore Nelson, who was in the rearmost ship, perceiving his design, disregarded his orders, stood directly towards him, and precipitated himself into the very middle of the hostile squadron. Bravely seconded by captains Collingwood and Troubridge, he run his ship, the Captain, of 74 guns, between two Spanish three- deckers, the Santissima Trinidada, of 136 guns, commanded by admiral Cordova, and the San Josef, of 112, and succeeded, by a tremendous fire to the riaht and left, in compelling the former to 400 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. strike, although it escaped in consequence of Nelson not being able, in the confusion of so close a fight, to take possession of his noble prize. The action on the part of these gallant men con tinued for neaTly an hour with the utmost fury against fearful odds, which were more than compensated by the skill of the British sailors and the rapidity of their fire. The Salvador del Mundo, of t 1 2 guns, struck to captain Collingwood ; but that gallant officer, disdaining to take possession of beaten enemies, nobly bore up, with every sail set, to assist his old messmate, Nelson, who was by this time surrounded by three of the enemy's ships within pistol shot. There was not a moment to be lost ; for Nelson's ship was now almost dismasted, and incapable of farther service. But no sooner was he relieved by Collingwood's fire, than resuming his wonted energy, he boarded the St. Nicholas, of 74 guns, and speedily hoisted the British colours on the poop; and finding that the prize was severely galled by a fire from the San Josef, of 112 guns, pushed on across it to its gigantic neighbour, himself leading the way, and exclaiming, " Westminster Abbey, or victory ! " Nothing could resist such enthusiastic courage; the Spanish admiral speedily hauled down his colours, and Nelson's ship lay a perfect wreck beside its two prizes. The remainder of the Spanish fleet closing in, prevented any further success ; but the British succeeded in capturing and retaining two ships of 112, and two of 74 guns ; and though towards evening the detached part of the Spanish fleet rejoined the main body, and thereby formed a force still greatly superior to the British squadron, yet such was the con sternation produced by the losses they had experienced, and the imposing aspect of the English fleet, that they made no attempt, to regain their lost vessels, but after a distant cannonade, retreated in the night towards Cadiz, whither they were immediately followed and blockaded by the victors. This important victory, which delivered England from all fears of invasion, by preventing the threatened junction of the hostile fleets, was achieved with the loss of only 300 men, of whom nearly one-half were on board Nelson's ship, while above 500 were lost on board the Spanish ships which struck alone : a signal Alison.] BATTLE OFF CAPE ST. VINCENT. 40 1 proof how much less bloody sea-fights are than those between land forces, and a striking example of the great effects which sometimes follow an inconsiderable expenditure of human life on that element, compared to the trifling results which attend fields of carnage in military warfare. Admiral Jervis followed the beaten fleet to Cadiz, whither they had retired in the deepest dejection, and with tarnished honour. The defeat of so great an armament by little more than half their number, and the evident superiority of skill and seamanship which it evinced in the British navy, filled all Europe with aston ishment, and demonstrated on what doubtful grounds the repub licans rested their hopes of subduing this island. The decisive nature of the victory was speedily evinced by the bombardment of Cadiz on three different occasions, under the direction of com modore Nelson ; and although these attacks were more insulting than hurtful to the Spanish ships, yet they evinced the magnitude of the disaster which they had sustained, and inflicted a grievous wound on the pride of the Castilians. Horatio Nelson, who bore so glorious a part in these engage ments, and was destined to leave a name immortal in the rolls of fame, was born at Birnam Thorpe, in the county of Norfolk, on the 29th September, 1758. He early evinced so decided a par tiality for a sea life that though of a feeble constitution, he was sent on shipboard at the age of thirteen. Subsequently he went on a voyage to the Greenland Seas, and distinguished himself as a subaltern in various actions during the American war. Early in the revolutionary contest he was employed in the siege of Bastia, in the island of Corsica, which he reduced ; a singular coincidence, that the greatest leaders both at land and sea in that struggle should have first signalized themselves on the same island. After the battle of St Vincent, and the bombardment of Cadiz, he was sent on an expedition against the island of Teneriffe; but though the attack, conducted with his wonted courage and skill, was at first successful, and the town for a short time was in the hands of the assailants, they were ultimately repulsed, with the loss of 700 men, and Nelson's right arm. 402 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. Gifted by nature with undaunted courage, indomitable resolu tion, and undecaying energy, Nelson was also possessed of the eagle glance, the quick determination, and coolness in danger, which constitute the rarest qualities of a consummate commander. Generous, open-hearted, and enthusiastic, the whole energies of his soul were concentrated in the -love of his country ; like the youth in Tacitus, he loved danger itself, not the rewards of courage ; and was incessantly consumed by that passion for great achievements, that sacred fire, which is the invariable charac teristic of heroic minds. His whole life was spent in the service of his country; his prejudices, and he had many, were all owing to the excess of patriotic feeling; he annihilated the French navy, by fearlessly following up the new system of tactics, plung ing headlong into the enemy's fleet, and doubling upon a part of their line, in the same manner as Napoleon practised in battles at land. The history of the world has seldom characters so illustrious to exhibit, and few achievements as momentous to commemorate. If a veil could be drawn over the transactions at Naples, history would dwell upon him as a spotless hero; but justice requires that cruelty should never be palliated, and the rival of Napoleon shielded from none of the obloquy consequent on the fascination of female wickedness. § attic rjf Camptt-tfofort, 1797. Alison. The great victory of St. Vincent entirely disconcerted the well- conceived designs of Truguet for the naval campaign ; but later in the season, another effort, with an inferior fleet, but more experienced seamen, was made by the Dutch Republic. For a very long period the naval preparations in Holland had been most extraordinary, and far surpassed anything attempted by the United Provinces for above a century past. The stoppage of the Alison.] BATTLE OF CAMPERDOWN, 1797. 403 commerce of the republic had enabled the government to man their vessels with a choice selection both of officers and men ; and from the well-known courage of the sailors, it was anticipated that the contest with the English fleet would be more obstinate and bloody than any which had yet occurred from the commence ment of the war. De Winter, who commanded the armament, was a staunch republican, and a man of tried courage and expe rience. Nevertheless, being encumbered with land forces, des tined for the invasion of Ireland, he did not attempt to leave the Texel till the beginning of October, when the English fleet having been driven to Yarmouth roads- by stress of weather, the Dutch government gave orders for the troops to be disembarked, and the fleet to set sail, and make the best of its way to the harbour of Brest. Admiral Duncan was no sooner apprised by the signals of his cruisers that the Dutch fleet was at sea, than he weighed anchor with all imaginable haste, and stretched across the German Ocean, with so much expedition, that he got near the hostile squadron before it was out of sight of the shore of Holland. The Dutch fleet consisted of fifteen ships of the line and eleven frigates; the English of sixteen ships of the line and three frigates. Duncan's first care was to station his fleet in such a manner as to prevent the enemy from returning to the Texel ; and having done this, he bore down upon his opponents, and hove in sight of them on the following morning, drawn up in order of battle at the distance of nine miles from the coast between Camperdown and Egmont With the same instinctive genius, which afterwards inspired a similar resolution to Nelson at Aboukir, he gave the signal to break the line, and get between the enemy and the shore, a movement which was imme diately and skilfully executed in two lines of attack, and proved the principal cause of the glorious success which followed, by preventing their withdrawing into the shallows, out of the reach of the British vessels, which, for the most part, drew more water than their antagonists. Admiral Onslow first broke the line, and com menced a close combat ; he was soon followed by Duncan him self, at the head of the second line, who pierced the centre, and 404 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. laid himself alongside of De Winter's flag-ship, and shortly the action became general, each English ship engaging its adversary, but still between them and the lee-shore. De Winter perceiving the design of the enemy, gave the signal for his fleet to unite in close order ; but from the thickness of the smoke, his order was not generally perceived, and but partially obeyed. Notwithstand ing the utmost efforts of valour on the part of the Dutch, the superiority of English skill and discipline soon appeared in the engagement, yard-arm to yard-arm, which followed. For three hours, admiral Duncan and De Winter fought within pistol-shot ; but by degrees the Dutchman's fire slackened ; his masts fell one by one overboard, amidst the loud cheers of the British sailors ; and at length he struck his flag, after half his crew were killed or wounded, and his ship incapable of making any further resistance. The Dutch vice-admiral soon after struck to admiral Onslow, and by four o'clock, eight ships of the line, two of fifty-six guns, and two frigates, were in the hands of the victors. No less skilful than brave, admiral Duncan now gave the signal for the combat to cease, and the prizes to be secured, which was done with no little difficulty, as during the battle both fleets had drifted before a tempestuous wind to within five miles of the shore, and were now lying in nine fathoms of water. It was owing to this circumstance alone that any of the Dutch squadron escaped ; but when the English withdrew into deeper water, admiral Story collected the scattered remains of his fleet, and sought refuge in the Texel, while Duncan returned with his prizes to Yarmouth roads. The battle was seen distinctly from the shore, where a vast multitude was assembled, who beheld in silent despair the ruin of the armament on which the national hopes had so long rested. This action was one of the most important fought at sea during the revolutionary war, not only from the valour displayed on both sides during the engagement, but the important consequences with which it was attended. The Dutch fought with a courage worthy of the descendants of Van Tromp and De Ruyter, as was evinced by the loss on either part, which in the British was 825 men, and in the Batavian r.160, besides the crews of the Alison.] BATTLE OF CAMPERDOWN, 1797. 405 prizes, who amounted to above 6,000. The appearance of the ' British ships at the close of the action was very different from what it usually is after naval engagements ; no masts were down, little damage done to the sails or rigging ; like their worthy adver saries, the Dutch fired at the hull of their enemies, which accounts for the great loss in killed and wounded in this well-fought engage ment. But the contest was no longer equal ; England had quad rupled in strength since the days of Charles II., while the United Provinces had declined both in vigour and resources. Britain was now as equal to a contest with the united navies of Europe, as she was then to a war with the fleets of an inconsiderable republic. But the effects of this victory, both upon the security and the public spirit of Britain, were in the highest degree important. Achieved as it had been by the fleet which had recently struck such terror into every class by the mutiny at the Nore, and coming so soon after that formidable event, it both elevated the national spirit by the demonstration it afforded how true the spirit of the seamen still was, and the deliverance from the immediate peril of invasion which it effected. England now learned to regard without dismay the victories of the French on land, and secure in her sea-girt isle, to trust in those defenders " Whose march is o'er the mountain wave, Whose home is on the deep. " The joy, accordingly, upon the intelligence of this victory, was heartfelt and unexampled, from the sovereign on the throne to the beggar in the hovel. Bonfires and illuminations were universal ; the enthusiasm spread to every breast : the fire gained every heart, and amidst the roar of artillery and the festive light of cities, faction disappeared, and discontents sunk into neglect. Numbers date from the rejoicings consequent on this achieve ment their first acquaintance with the events of life, among whom may be reckoned the author, then residing under his paternal roof in a remote parish of Shropshire, whose earliest recollection is of the sheep-roasting and rural festivities which took place on the joyful intelligence being received in that secluded district. 406 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Rev. T. S. Hughes. The national gratitude was liberally bestowed on the leaders in these glorious achievements. Sir John Jervis received the title of earl St. Vincent ; admiral Duncan that of viscount Duncan of Camperdown, and commodore Nelson that of sir Horatio Nelson. From these victories may be dated the commencement of that concord among all classes, and that resolute British spirit, which never afterwards deserted this country. Her subsequent victories were for conquest, these were for existence ; from the deepest dejection, and an unexampled accumulation of disasters, she arose at once into security and renown ; the democratic spirit gradually. subsided from the excitation of new passions, and the force of more ennobling recollections; and the rising generation, who began to mingle in. public affairs, now sensibly influenced national thought, by the display of the patriotic spirit which had been nursed amidst the dangers and the glories of their infant years. &{re |ris{r %tMXxo\xt 1798. Continuation o/'Smollett by Rev. T. S. Hughes. At the commencement of this year a grand effort was resolved on by the United Irish. In the month of February a military commission was appointed by their executive council ; and noc turnal assemblies were held in various parts of the kingdom, where the people were trained to arms. The most savage atrocities were committed by the insurgents. on those whom they were taught to consider as enemies and interlopers in their dominions : while these outrages were severely retaliated by the Orangemen and military, whose floggings and half-hangings for the discovery of arms and plots, connived at rather than encouraged by the govern ment, fixed in the hearts of the lower orders the most rancourous determination of revenge. At this time Arthur O'Connor, a member of the pretended directory, repaired to London, with an intention of proceeding to France in company with one Binns, an Rev. T. S. Hoghes.] THE IRISH REBELLION, 1798. 407 active member of the London Corresponding Society, Coisley, ai: Irish priest, and two attendants of the names of Allen and Lean These associates, however, were taken into custody at Margate, anc1 after a short confinement in the Tower, were brought to trial under a special commission ; when Coigley, on whose person was found an address from the secret committee of England to the executive directory of France, was found guilty, and executed as a traitor. Leary and Allen, against whom no evidence appeared, were acquitted ; while O'Connor and Binns were detained on another charge of high treason. Such, however, was the secrecy maintained by the chief conspirators, that al though the plot was disclosed, the names of the traitors remained unknown. At length one Reynolds, colonel of a regiment of United Irishmen, conscious of the attrocities meditated, and struck with remorse for his concurrence in them, laid open the whole to government ; and on his information thirteen mem bers of the provincial committee of Leinster, with other prin cipals of the conspiracy, were arrested. Among these were Emmet, a protestant barrister of considerable talent, and Dr. McNiven, chairman of the catholic committee. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, brother of the duke of Leinster, made his escape, and remained for several weeks concealed in Dublin, though a reward of 1,000/. was offered for his apprehension. But he was dis covered on the 19th of May, when justice Swan was wounded dangerously, and captain Ryan mortally, in their efforts to arrest him ; he himself, however, received a fatal shot in the shoulder, of which he languished till the 3rd of June, and died in extreme agony. The vacancies created by these arrests were speedily filled up, but with men much less qualified for the arduous task of upsetting an established government. Among the members of the new directory were two brothers, John and Henry Sheares, into whose confidence captain Armstrong, a government agent, contrived to insinuate himself by a great show of zeal in their cause, and from them he learned that a general rising was in tended on the 23rd of May, the plan proposed being to seize simultaneously on the camp of Loughlin's town, the artillery at 408 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Rev. T. S. Hughes. Chapelizod, and the castle of Dublin. On the 21st, however, these two Sheares, with some other leaders of the conspiracy, were arrested. The city and county of Dublin were declared in a state of insurrection ; the guards at the castle and at all other grand objects of attack, were trebled; and the whole city was converted into a garrison. Among other precautions taken by government, was the augmentation of the yeomanry corps, which was mostly cavalry. In six months after their first establishment, in 1796, they had amounted to 37,000 men; and during the rebellion this useful force was increased to 50,000 men. Of the means accumulated by the insurgents some notion may be formed from a paper given to Reynolds, the informer, by lord Edward Fitzgerald, purporting to be a return made by a national com mittee on the 26th of February, from which it appeared that the number of armed men in Ulster, Munster, and Leinster, amounted to 269,896 ; and that the sum of 1,485/. was in the hands of their treasurers. Another return made by an assembly of colonels on the 28th of March, gave the proportion of one to three in their favour even among the king's troops; while the insurgents were in sufficient force to disarm all the military within their own counties. On the 29th of April sir Ralph Abercromby, commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland, who had made a tour through the provinces, and observed the excesses committed by the military, notified in general orders " that the irregularities of the troops in Ireland had unfortunately proved the army to be in a state of licentiousness which must render it formidable to every one but the enemy." Having also failed to impress the minds of those in power with his own ideas, that coercive measures to the extent resolved on were not necessary, he resigned his command on the 29th of April, and was succeeded by general Lake. In the month of March orders were issued by the lord lieutenant for the army to march into the disturbed districts ; and a manifesto was published on the 3rd of May at headquarters in Kildare, requiring the inhabitants to surrender their arms within the period of ten days, under penalty of supporting large bodies of troops at free quarters ; while rewards were promised for the discovery Rev. T. S. Hughes.] THE IRISH REBELLION, 1798. 40O of weapons, and extreme severity was denounced against those counties which should continue in a disturbed state. The rebel chiefs, however, had decided on a contest, and the 23rd of May was appointed for a general insurrection. The command of their forces, after the capture of lord Edward Fitzgerald, devolved on Samuel Neilson, who planned a simultaneous attack on Newgate for the purpose of rescuing his lordship ; and on the castle, to secure the principal members of the government, for which pur pose he assembled fifteen insurgent colonels on the night of the 22nd, and assigned them their respective posts. Nor was the plan confined to the metropolis ; it embraced the whole kingdom ; the stoppage of mail coaches being appointed as a signal for the general rising. This part of the project was carried into effect ; for on the 23rd the Belfast mail was detained and burnt at Santry; the Cork mail at Naas; and that running in the direction of Athlone at Lucan. Both the guard and coachman of the Limerick mail were barbarously murdered near the Curragh of Kildare, and the coach destroyed. Early in the morning of the 23rd all the yeomen of Dublin, and the small garrison of that city, were ordered by general Lake to repair to their respective posts; while the lord Mayor placed the Cork militia, with two field pieces, at the north side of St. Stephen's Green. The north and south sides of Dublin being protected by the royal canal and the grand canal, each fifty feet broad and eight feet deep, and the bridges being occupied by the military, almost all communication was cut off between the city and the insurgents. Still a disaffected body of about 3,000 men had entered on the evening of the 23rd and numerous armed rebels had assembled in the suburbs, and were advancing with an intention to rush in and join their con federates as soon as these latter had taken possession of the castle. At this crisis, Neilson, the rebel chieftain, was appre hended in the street by one Greig, after a desperate struggle, and lodged in prison; when several thousands of rebels who were lurking in lanes and by-places, and waiting for the signal of assas sination, dispersed in various directions. During the night of the 23rd, and several days following, skirmishes were fought in the 410 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Rev. T. S.Hughes. adjacent counties, and attacks were made on Naas, Clane, Bally- more, and other towns. But these feeble and unconnected efforts were not seconded by any general insurrection; for Ulster, in which province 10,000 United Irishmen were said to have been enrolled, declined the contest on account of the unpromising aspect of affairs, and the rebellion resembled rather the capricious movements of a mob than the united efforts of a national force. Martial law was now, however, proclaimed by the lord lieutenant against all persons abetting the rebels, and an opportunity soon occurred for putting it in execution; for on the 25th the garrison of Carlow, consisting of 450 men under colonel Mahon, was assailed by a body of about 1,500 insurgents. On their advance into the town they were received with so destructive a fire that they recoiled and took refuge in the houses; many of which being set on fire by the soldiers, the wretched inmates perished in the flames. Not an individual of the garrison was even wounded, but no less than 500 of the assailants fell; and after the defeat, about 200 were either hanged or shot. Among the latter was sir Edward Crosbie; before whose house the rebel column had assembled previous to their attack. He was a gentleman of an amiable disposition, but being accustomed to express great pity for the distresses of the Irish peasantry, and to declare himself a zealous friend of parliamentary reform, he was on that account considered a republican by the zealous loyalists, and the mode of conducting his trial was not of the fairest kind ; he was soon convicted, and executed with equal precipitation at an unusual hour ; after which his head was cut off and fixed on a pike. * ',: ¦::¦ -u- * « On the night of the 26th of May the standard of rebellion was unfurled between Gorey and Wexford, when father John Murphy, a Romish priest, placed himself at the head of the insurgents, two large bodies of which were collected on the following Sunday, one on the hill of Oulart, the other, amounting to near 3,000, on that of Kilthomas, under another priest named Michael Murphy. These latter were attacked and defeated with consider- Rev. T. S. Hughes.] ¦ THE IRISH REBELLION. 1798. 41 1 able slaughter by about 300 yeomen, who advanced intrepidly up the hill. * * * * On the same day an action was fought with a very different result on the hill of Oulart, where the rebels, find ing their retreat cut off, attacked their opponents with so success ful an impetuosity that a whole picked detachment, consisting of no men from the Cork militia, were slain, except the colonel and four privates, while the loss of the rebels did not exceed three killed and six wounded. Father John, flushed with victory, then advanced, with a corps increased to 7,000, to Enniscorthy, the garrison of which place, after a contest of about three hours, was obliged to evacuate the place and retreat. The next position of the insurgents was at Vinegar hill in that neighbourhood ; and on the 29th John Henry Conclough, Edward Fitzgerald, and Bagnal Harvey, who had previously been com mitted to prison on suspicion by the loyalists, were sent, though ineffectually, to prevail on them to disperse. Fitzgerald was detained in the rebel camp, and so prompt were their movements that before evening on the same day their advanced guard was pushed on to Three Rocks, about three miles from Wexford, the inhabitants of which city were thrown into the utmost conster nation at their approach. The shops were all shut up ; multitudes repaired for refuge on board the ships in harbour, and many sought security in flight. The military in Wexford at this time amounted to about 1,200 men, while their opponents equalled 1 5,000; but it was announced that general Fawcett was on his march from the fort of Duncannon, and a strong reinforcement might hourly be expected. But that commander arriving at night at Tagmon, pushed forward on the morning of the thirtieth a small detachment, which was wholly cut off; after which he made a retreat unknown to the garrison, and when colonel Maxwell — supposing that the general would be able to take the rebels in the rear while he attacked them in the front — sallied forth from the town next morning he was unable to cope with his antagonists. On the return of the troops a council of war was hastily assembled, and the result was that the garrison retired, and the insurgents poured by thousands into the city with horrid shouts 412 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Rev. T. S. Hughes. of exultation. They were in the most disorderly state ; their arms consisted chiefly of pikes with handles sixteen or eighteen feet long, scythes, hay knives, old bayonets fixed on poles, and rusty- muskets. They first proceeded to the prison, and having liberated Bagnal Harvey, insisted that he should become their commander. The inhabitants endeavoured to appease them by a profuse hospi tality, and after various scenes of plunder and disorders, parties were dispatched in boats to bring on shore all the men, arms, and ammunition they could find on board the vessels in harbour ; when every one that was recognised as obnoxious to the rebels, and many in mere wantonness, were pierced with pikes by these san guinary wretches on the beach. The night of the 30th passed in comparative tranquillity, but early on the 31st the streets were again crowded, scenes of plunder recommenced, and the prisons were filled with persons obnoxious to the rebels. At length the insurgent forces were induced to move out of the town and encamp m two bodies on Windmill hill ; but a kind of commission was still left to supply the camps, issue proclamations, and select un fortunate protestants for execution. The number of these latter increased in proportion to the reverses of the rebel army, and the general mode of putting them to death as follows : — At a certain period of the day they were taken out of the prisons, and led in companies of ten or twenty to the new bridge, preceded by black flags, with ruthless pikemen as guards, and assailed by insults and execrations from the mob. A few were then shot ; but generally two rebels stood before, and two behind each victim, into whom having thrust their pikes, they held him suspended in the air and writhing with torture till he expired, when they threw his body into the river, and the crowd, who were mostly females, expressed their savage joy with loud huzzas. One woman, the wife of Dixon, a rebel captain,* particularly distinguished herself. She prevented the prisoners being shot in prison, in order, as she said, " that the people might have the pleasure of seeing them die," and stepping * The master of a trading vessel ; and the inhuman wretch who brought his miserable cargo t>{ fugitives to land again, when they had paid an immense price for their passage to Wales. Rf.v. T. S. HuGm^.l THE IRISH REBELLION, 1798. 413 over the ground at the place of execution, with her riding dress pulled up lest it should be stained with blood, she exclaimed to the executioners, "Spare your ammunition, boys, and use your pikes." * Such were the transactions in the southern part of the county. In the north, after the rebels had been repulsed at Gorey, and defeated with great slaughter at Newtonbarry, they routed a large detachment under colonel Walpole, and obliged the royal troops under general Loftus, weakened by that loss, to retreat to Carnew, by which means an immense tract of country was left at their mercy. A large division, under Bagnal Harvey, advanced to the south-west for the purpose of attacking New Ross and opening a communication with the counties of Waterford and Kilkenny. Having encamped on Carrickburn mountain, they advanced on the 4th of June to Corbet hill, and early on the 5th prepared for the assault, being armed, some with muskets, but most with pikes, having also a few pieces of cannon. As they moved on, a number of priests in canonical vestments, and holding crucifixes in their hands, went through the ranks to animate them with religious enthusiasm for the combat. Urged by such motives, and inflamed by intoxication, a large column drove in the outposts, forced back the cavalry on the infantry, and seized the artillery, after driving the royal troops to the bridge on the other side of the river. General Johnson, however, who commanded this garrison, having rallied his men with great energy and skill, recovered the post, and drove the rebels into the suburbs, which had been fired by their adherents. Rallied by their . chiefs, they returned with fury to the assault, and regained the same ground ; but at last they were finally defeated, after an engagement of nine hours' con tinuance, and with a loss of near 2,000 men. On the royal side, about 300 fell, among whom was lord Mountjoy, colonel of the Dublin militia. On the day of this battle one of the most atrocious acts which distinguished this unhappy period was committed. Though many helpless protestants had been put to death by roving parties of rebels, yet a greater number were taken and placed in * C. Jackson's " Sufferings and Escape," p. 26. 414 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Rev. T. S. Hughes. confinement for future purposes. About 200 of these, men, women, and children, were shut up in a barn at Scullabogue, near Carrick- burn mountain, and left in charge of one Murphy, a rebel captain, During the engagement, when their party began to give way, an order was sent to put all these unfortunate prisoners to death. Murphy twice resisted its execution, until given to understand that it came from the priesthood, and his men became outrageous to begin the bloody work. In the first instance 37 protestants were shot or piked outside the barn ; the rest, in number r84, were burnt alive within the building, which was set on fire by bundles of lighted straw. Struck with horror at this atrocious deed, Bagnal Harvey resigned his command and returned to Wexford ; when the rebels chose for his successor a priest named Philip Roche, who had gained a victory near Clough ; a man whose lofty stature and boisterous manners rendered him well adapted to govern such an outrageous multitude. After this time they lay for a con siderable period inactive, indulging their appetite for intoxicating liquors. Fortunately for the country at large, their associates at Gorey continued equally inactive after the retreat of general Loftus; wasting their time in burning the town of Carnew, trying Orange men, and plundering houses. At length, rousing themselves from this indolence, they advanced in a body of 27,000 men against Arklow, under Michael Murphy, the priest. The garrison consisted only of r,6oo, but they were well supplied with artillery, and ably commanded by general Needham ; three sides of the town being defended by the military, a.nd the fourth by the river Oraca. The attack, which continued two hours, was fierce, though irregular; but the incessant fire of the troops rendered all their efforts abortive to get possession of the place. The attack on one quarter was conducted by father Murphy, who used every method to excite superstitious enthusiasm in his followers. When they seemed reluctant to advance, he would take musket balls out of his pocket, and throwing them in the air, exclaim that they had been fired at him by the enemy, but that the balls of heretics could not hurt those who were steadfast in the true faith. At length he was Rev. T. S.Hughes.1 THE IRISH REBELLION, 1798. 415 brought down by a canuon shot, and the rebels, dispirited at his fall, began a retreat towards Gorey, in which it was not thought prudent to molest them. The issue of this battle prevented them from effecting their scheme of penetrating to Dublin, which might have given a very dangerous turn to the rebellion. The insurgent army, now under the command of Garret Byrne, having burnt the little town of Tinnahely, and put numerous pro testants to death, as Orangemen, next meditated an attack on "Hacketstown, but were compelled to abandon that design by the approach of general Lake, and commenced a retreat on the 20th to Vinegar hill. There they established a general depot for prisoners, and every morning at parade, a number of these unfor tunate victims were sacrificed, many of them with the most excruciating torments, for the amusement of the rebels. The plan of general Lake was to surround this position : for which reason he moved several corps simultaneously from different quarters, generals Dundas, Duff, and Loftus, proceeding from the vicinity of Kilcavern, Eustace and Johnson from Ross, and Needham from Arklow, and Gorey. General Johnson began the attack on Enniscorthy at seven o'clock in the morning of the 2 1st of June ; and his example was followed by the other commanders. The town was soon carried, but the revolters were enabled to resist for some time the showers of bullets and shells, as well as the advance of the troops, by the strength of their position on the hill. At the end, however, of an hour and a half they were com pletely routed, and made their escape through a space intended to have been occupied by general Needham's corps, which was unable to come up ; the immense column which retreated through this opening, which received the name of Needham's Gap, now poured into Wexford ; but the greater number soon left it, at the instance of Dr. Caulfield, titular bishop of Ferns, who assured them that general Moore was approaching, as was really the case. They, therefore, held a hasty council of war, and marched across the mountains to the county of Kilkenny. Wexford was then relieved by general Moore's army ; the rebels having previously released their prisoner, lord Kingsborough, 416 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Rev. T. S. Hughes. whose life had been wonderfully preserved by Dr. Caulfield. The body which had retired to Kilkenny obtained success for a short time by overwhelming numbers ; but being at length pursued by general Dunn, and sir Charles Asgill, they were totally defeated on the 26th of June, at Kilcomney hill ; and John Murphy, their chief, flying from the field of battle, was soon afterwards captured and conducted to the headquarters of sir James Duff at Tullow, where he was hanged the same day, and his head placed on the market-place. In the south, the spirit of rebellion was now happily approaching its termination. In the north catholic priests were not so numerous or so active, and the enormities perpetrated were not so atrocious. The insurgents having risen at Antrim, an attack was made on them by a force which general Nugent, commander of the district, dispatched for that purpose in the early part of June ; and the rebels were dispossessed of the town with a loss of 200 men, but not till lord O'Neill, an accomplished nobleman, had been mortally wounded with pikes. Being repulsed at Larne, Ballymena, and Ballycastle, the main body retired to Donnegar hill ; but hearing of the turn affairs had taken in Leinster, they dispersed. About the same time, also, an insurrection commenced in the county of Down ; where, after a battle fought near Saintfield, in which about sixty of the royalists fell, their commander, colonel Stapleton, was obliged to retire into Belfast The insurgents, then assembling from all quarters to the number of 5,000, and electing for their gerferal Henry Munroe, a linen draper of Lisburn, encountered the royal troops, amounting to 1,500 men under general Nugent, at Ballinahinch, when they at first gained a con siderable advantage by desperate valour, but lost it for want of military tactics ; and at length giving way, took to flight in all directions. Their leader being captured, was hanged before his own door at Lisburn ; and some dissenting ministers also were executed. There were no catholics in this battle, for the preced ing night 2,000 deserted their dissenting brethren, and during the engagement expressed great satisfaction at seeing protestants destroy each other. On the suppression of this insurrection in Alison.] SIEGE OF ST. JEAN D'ACRE. 41 7 Ulster, another local rising took place in Munster, which was put down without much difficulty After the signal defeat of the rebel forces at Vinegar hill, and their consequent expulsion from the vicinity of Wexford, a consi derable number dispersed and returned to their usual occupations. The more desperate retired to the mountainous parts of Wexford and Wicklow, where for a time they waged a desultory warfare ; at length, being perpetually harassed, most of the insurgent chiefs surrendered ; and those who still resisted might rather be con sidered as small bands of banditti than as embodied forces. Dublin, having escaped the horrors of civil war, now became the chief theatre of public justice, where many of the chief instigators of rebellion were tried and executed. Numerous leaders, also, were condemned to suffer death at Wexford, on the very bridge which had been the scene of so many horrid massacres. Among these were some to whom mercy would have been properly extended ; for instance, Philip Roche, the catholic priest, by whose interference many loyalists had been saved from destruction ; and captain Matthew Keogh, a protestant, who made an excellent defence, and for whose acquittal the military officers were very anxious. iSieg* rxf St. Jfian $%txt, Alison. After this hideous massacre [of the Turks at Jaffa], the French army wound round the promontory of Mount Carmel, and, after defeating a large body of horse, under the command of Abdallah pacha, on the mountains of Naplouse, appeared before Acre on the 1 6th March. This town, so celebrated for its long siege, and the heroic exploits of which it was the witness in the holy wars, is situated on a peninsula, which enables the besieged to unite all their means of defence on the isthmus which connects it with the mainland. A single wall, with curtains flanked by square.towers, 41 8 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. and a wet ditch, constituted its sole means of defence; but these in the hands of Ottoman soldiers, were not to be despised. The pacha of Syria, with all his treasures, arms, and artillery, had shut himself up in that stronghold, determined to make the most desperate resistance. But all his efforts would probably have proved unavailing, had it not been for the desperation inspired by the previous massacre at Jaffa, and the courage and activity of an English officer, sir Sidney Smith, who at that period commanded the squadron in the bay of Acre. This celebrated man, who had been wrecked on the coast of France, and confined in the Temple, made his escape a few days after Napoleon left Paris to take command of the Egyptian expe dition. After a variety of adventures, which would pass for abulous, if they had not occurred in real life, he arrived in ^England, where his enterprise and talents were immediately put in requisition for the command of the squadron in the Archi pelago. Having received information from the pacha of Syria that Acre was to be attacked, he hastened to the scene of danger, and arrived there just two days before the appearance of the French army, with the Tiger of eighty-four and Theseus of seventy- four guns, and some smaller vessels. This' precious interval was actively employed by him in strengthening the works, and making preparations for the defence of the place. On the following day, he was fortunate enough to capture the whole flotilla dispatched from Alexandria with the heavy artillery and stores for the siege of the town, as it was creeping round the headlands of Mount Carmel; and the guns, forty-four in number, were immediately mounted on the ramparts, and contributed, in the most important manner, to the defence of the place. At the same time, colonel Philippeaux, a French officer of engineers, expatriated from his country by the revolution, exerted his talents in repairing and arming the fortifications, and a large body of seamen and marines, headed by sir Sidney himself, were landed to co-operate in the defence of the works.* * It is not the least curious fact in that age of wonders, that Philippeaux, whose talents so powerfully contributed, at this crisis, to change the fate of Alison.] SIEGE OF ST. JEAN D'ACRE. 419 The irreparable loss sustained by the capture of the flotilla, re duced the battering cannon of the assailants to four bombs, four twelve and eight-pounders. Notwithstanding, however, these slender means, such was the activity and perseverance of the French engineers, that the works of the besiegers advanced with great expedition ; a sally of the garrison was vigorously repulsed on the 26th, and a mine having been run. under one of the prin cipal towers which had been severely battered, the explosion took place two days after, and a practicable breach was effected. The grenadiers instantly advanced to- the assault, and running rapidly forward, arrived at the edge of the counterscarp. They were there arrested by a ditch, fifteen feet deep, which was only, half filled up with the ruins of the wall. Their ardour, however, speedily overcame this obstacle ; they descended into the fosse, and mounting the breach, effected a lodgment in the tower ; but the impediment of the counterscarp having. prevented them from being adequately supported, the Turks returned to the charge, and, after a desperate struggle, succeeded in expelling them from that part of the ramparts, and driving them with great slaughter back into their trenches.* This repulse convinced the French that they had to deal with very different foes from those whom they had massacred at Jaffa. A second assault, on the rst April, having met with no better success, the troops were withdrawn into the works, and the general-in-chief resolved to await the arrival of the heavy artillery from Damietta. Meanwhile the Ottomans were collecting all their forces on the other side of the Jordan, to raise the siege. Napo leon had concluded a sort of alliance with the Druses, a bold and hardy race of Christian mountaineers, who inhabit the heights of Napoleon, had been his companion at the military school at Brienne, and passed his examinations with him, previous to joining their respective regi ments. * A striking instance of the attachment of the soldiers to Napoleon appeared on this occasion. In the trenches, a bomb, with the fusee burning, fell at his feet; two grenadiers instantly seized him in their arms, and covering him with their bodies, carried him out of danger. They got him out of the reach of the explosion before it took place, and no one was injured. — Las Casas, i. 235. e e 2 420 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. Lebanon, and only awaited the capture of Asia to declare openly for his cause, and throw off the yoke of their Mussulman rulers. The Turks, however, on their side, had not been idle. By vast exertions, they had succeeded in rousing the Mahometan popula tion of all the surrounding provinces ; the remains of the mame- lukes of Ibrahim Bey, the janizaries of Aleppo and of Damascus, joined to an innumerable horde of irregular cavalry, formed a vast army, which had already pushed its advanced posts beyond the Jordan, and threatened soon to envelope the besieging force. The French troops occupied the mountains of Naplouse, Cana in Galilee, and Nazareth : names for ever immortal in Holy Writ, at which the devout ardour of the crusaders burned with generous enthusiasm, but which were now visited by the descendants of a Christian people without either interest in, or knowledge of, the inestimable benefits which were there conferred upon mankind. These alarming reports induced Napoleon to send detachments to Tyre and Saffet, and reinforce the troops under the command of Junot at Nazareth. Their arrival was not premature ; for the advanced posts of the enemy had already crossed the Jordan, at the bridge of Jacob, and were pressing in vast multitudes towards the mountain-ridge which separates the valley of that river from the maritime coast. Klebef, on his march from the camp at Acre to join Junot, encountered a body of four thousand horse on the heights of Loubi ; but they were defeated and driven beyond the Jordan by the same rolling fire which had so often proved fatal to the mamelukes in Egypt. On the day following, a grand sortie, headed by English officers, and supported by some marines from the fleet, took place from Acre, and obtained at first considerable advantages ; but the arrival of reinforcements from the camp at length obliged the assailants to return into the town. Napoleon now saw that he had not a moment to lose in marching to attack the cloud of enemies which were collecting in his rear, and preventing a general concentration of the hostile forces by sea and land against the camp before Acre. For this purpose he ordered Kleber, with his division, to join Junot ; Murat, with a thousand infantry and two squadrons of horse, was stationed at Alison.] SIEGE OF ST. JEAN D'ACRE. 42 1 the bridge of Jacob, and he himself set out from the camp before Acre with the division of general Bon, the cavalry, and eight pieces of cannon. Kleber had left Nazareth with all his forces, in order to make an attack on the Turkish camp ; but he was anticipated by the enemy, who advanced to meet him with fifteen thousand cavalry, and as many infantry, as far as the village of Fouli. Kleber in stantly drew up his little army in squares, with the artillery at the angles, and the formation was hardly completed when the immense mass came thundering down, threatening to trample their handful of enemies under their horses' hoofs. The steady aim and rolling fire of the French veterans brought down the foremost of the assailants, and soon formed a rampart of dead bodies of men and horses ; behind which they bravely maintained the unequal combat for six hours, until at length Napoleon, with the cavalry and fresh divisions, arrived on the heights which overlooked the field of battle, and amidst the multitudes with which it was covered, distinguished his men by the regular and incessant volleys which issued from their ranks, forming steady flaming spots amidst the moving throng with which they were surrounded. He instantly took his resolution. General Letourcq was dispatched, with the cavalry and two pieces of light artillery, against the mamelukes who were in reserve at the foot of the mountains of Naplouse, while the division of Bon, divided into two squares, advanced to the attack of the flank and rear of the multitude who were sur rounding Kleber's division, and Napoleon, with the cannon and guides, pressed them in front. A twelve-pounder fired from the heights, announced to the wearied band of heroes the joyful in telligence that succour was at hand; the columns all advanced rapidly to the attack, while Kleber, resuming the offensive, extended his ranks, and charged the mass, who had so long oppressed him, with the bayonet. The immense superiority of European disci pline and tactics was then apparent ; the Turks, attacked in so many quarters at once, and exposed to a concentric fire from all the squares, were unable to make any resistance ; no measures, either to arrest the enemy or secure a retreat, were taken, and the 422 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. TAlison, motley throng, mowed down by the discharges of grape-shot, fled in confusion behind . Mount Thabor, and finding the bridge of Jacob seized by Murat, rushed in desperation, in the night, through the Jordan, where great numbers were drowned.* This great victory, gained by six thousand veterans over a brave but undisciplined mass of thirty thousand Oriental militia, com pletely secured the flank and rear of Napoleon's army. The defeat had been complete ; the Turkish camp, with all their bag gage and ammunition, fell into the hands of the conquerors ; the army, which the people of the country called " innumerable as the sands of the sea or the stars of heaven," had dispersed, never again to return. Kleber occupied in force the bridge of Jacob, the forts of Saffet and Tabarieh, and, having stationed patrols along the banks of the Jordan, fixed his headquarters at the village of Nazareth, while Napoleon returned, with the remainder of the army, to the siege of Acre. The French cruisers having at length succeeded in debarking three twenty-four and six eighteen-pounders at Jaffa, they were forthwith brought up to the trenches, and a heavy fire opened upon the tower, which had been the object of such vehement contests. Mines were run under the walls, and all the resources of art exhausted to effect the reduction of the place, but in vain. The defence under Philippeaux was not less determined nor less skilful than the attack; he erected some external works in the •fosse, to take the grenadiers in flank as they advanced to the assault ; the mines of the besiegers were countermined, and con stant sorties made to retard their approaches. In the course of these desperate contests, both Caffarelli, who commanded the engineers of the assailants, and Philippeaux, who directed the operations of the besieged, were slain. The vigour and resolution of the garrison increased with every hour the siege continued. * General Junot commanded one of these squares, which heroically resisted the Ottomans. His valour and steadiness attracted the ¦ especial notice of Napoleon, who had the names of the three hundred men of which it was com posed, engraved on a splendid shield, which he presented to that officer, to be preserved among the archives of his family. — See Duchesse D'Abrantes, xi. 372. Alison.] SIEGE OF ST. JEAN D'ACRE. 423 Napoleon, by a desperate effort, for a time succeeded in effecting a lodgment in the ruined tower ; but his men were soon driven out with immense loss, and the Turks regained possession of all their fortifications. The trenches had been open and the breach practicable for nearly two months, but no sensible progress as yet made in the reduction of the place. At length, on the evening of the 7th May, a few sails were seen from the towers of Acre, on the farthest verge of the horizon. AH eyes were instantly turned in that direction, and the besiegers and besieged equally flattered themselves that succour was at hand. The English cruisers in the bay hastily, and in doubt, stood out to reconnoitre this unknown fleet ; but the hearts of the French sunk within them when they beheld the two squadrons unite, and the Ottoman crescent, joined to the English pendant, approach the road of Acre. Soon after a fleet of thirty sail entered the bay, with seven thousand men, and abundance of artillery and ammuni tion, from Rhodes. Napoleon, calculating that this reinforcement could not be disembarked for at least six hours, resolved to anticipate its arrival by an assault during the night. For this, the division of Bon, at ten at night, drove the enemy from their exterior works. The artillery took advantage of that circumstance to approach to the counterscarp, and batter the curtain. At day break, another breach in the rampart was declared practicable, and an assault ordered. The division of Lannes renewed the attack on the tower, while general Rambaud led the column to the new breach. The grenadiers, advancing with the most heroic in trepidity, made their way to the summit of the rampart, and the morning sun displayed the tricolor flag on the outer angle of the tower. The fire of the place was now sensibly slackened, while the besiegers, redoubling their boldness, were seen intrenching themselves, in the lodgments they had formed, with sand-bags and dead bodies, the points of their bayonets only appearing above the bloody parapet. The troops in the roads were embarked in the boats, and pulling as hard as they could across the bay; but several hours must still elapse before they could arrive at the menaced point. In this extremity sir Sidney Smith landed the 424 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. Alison. crews of the ships, and led them, armed with pikes to the breach. The sight reanimated the courage of the besieged, who were beginning to quail under the prospect of instant death, and they mounted the long-disputed tower, amidst loud shouts from the brave men who still defended its ruins. Immediately a furious contest ensued; the besieged hurled down large stones on the assailants, who fired at them within half pistol shot, the muzzles of the muskets touched each other, and the spear-heads of the standards were locked together. At length the desperate daring of the French yielded to the unconquerable firmness of the British and the heroic valour of the Mussulmans; the grenadiers were driven from the tower, and a body of Turks, issuing from the gates, attacked them in flank while they crossed the ditch, and drove them back with great loss to the trenches. But while this success was gained in one quarter, ruin was im pending in another. The division headed by Rambaud succeeded in reaching the summit of the rampart, and leaping down into the tower, attained the very garden of the pacha's seraglio. Every thing seemed lost ; but at the critical moment sir Sidney Smith, at the head of a regiment of janizaries, disciplined in the European method, rushed to the spot. The progress of the assailants was stopped by a tremendous fire from the house-tops and the barri cades which surrounded the seraglio ; and at length the French, who had penetrated so far, were cut off from the breach by which they had entered, and driven into a neighbouring mosque, where they owed their lives to the humane intercession of sir Sidney Smith. In this bloody affair the loss of lives was very great on both sides : Rambaud was killed, and Lannes severely wounded. Notwithstanding this disaster, Napoleon was not yet sufficiently subdued by misfortune to order a retreat. " The fate of the East," said he, " is in yonder fort ; the fall of Acre is the object of my expedition ; Damascus will be its first fruit." Although the troops in the fleet were now landed, and the force in the place greatly increased, he resolved to make a last effort with the division of Kleber, which had been recalled in haste from its advanced post on the Jordan. Early on the ioth May, he advanced in person to Alison.] SIEGE OF ST. JEAN D'ACRE. 425 the foot of the breach, and seeing that it was greatly enlarged by the fire of the preceding days, a new assault was ordered. The summit of the breach was again attained; but the troops were there arrested by the murderous fire which issued from the barri cades and intrenchments with which the garrison had strengthened the interior of the tower. In the evening, the division of Kleber arrived, and, proud of its triumph at Mount Thabor, eagerly de manded to be led to the assault " If St. Jean d'Acre is not taken this evening," said one of the colonels, as he was marching at the head of his regiment to the assault, " be assured Venoux is slain." He kept his word ; the fortress held out, but he lay at the foot of the walls. A little before sunset, a dark massy column issued from the trenches, and advanced with a firm and solemn step to the breach. The assailants were permitted to ascend un molested to the summit, and descend into the garden of the pacha ; but no sooner had they reached that point, than they were assailed with irresistible fury by a body of janizaries, who, with the sabre in the one hand, and dagger in the other, speedily reduced the whole column to headless trunks. In vain other columns, and even the guides of Napoleon, his last reserve, advanced to the attack ; they were all repulsed with dreadful loss. Among the killed in this last encounter was general Bon, and the wounded, Crosier, aide-de-camp of the general-in-chief, and a large proportion of his staff. On this occasion, as in the assault on Schumla, in 1808, it was proved that, in a personal struggle, the bayonet of the European is no match for the Turkish scimitar. Success being now hopeless, preparations were made for a retreat, after sixty days of open trenches; a proclamation was issued to the troops, announcing that their return was required to withstand a descent which was threatened from the island of Rhodes, and the fire from the trenches kept up with such vigour to the last moment, that the Turks were not aware of the prepa rations made for a retreat. Meanwhile, the baggage, sick, and field-artillery were silently defiling to the rear, the heavy cannon were buried in the sand, and, on the 20th May, Napoleon, for the first time in his life, ordered a retreat. 426 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. ¦ [Alison, No event, down to the retreat from Moscow, so deeply affected Napoleon as the repulse at Acre. It had cost him 3,000 of his bravest troops, slain or dead of their wounds; a still greater number were irrecoverably mutilated, or had in them the seeds of the plague, contracted during the stay at Jaffa ; and the illusion of his invincibility was dispelled. But these disasters, great as they were to an army situated as his was, were not the real cause of his chagrin. It was the destruction of his dreams of oriental conquest which cut him to the heart. Standing on the mount which still bears the name of Richard Cceur-de-Lion, on the evening of the fatal assault when Lannes was wounded, he said to his secretary, Bourrienne : " Yes, Bourrienne, that miserable fort has indeed cost me dear ; but matters have gone too far not to make a last effort. If I succeed, as I trust I shall, I shall find in "the town all the treasures of the pacha, and arms for 300,000 men. I shall raise and arm all Syria, which at this moment unanimously prays for the success of the assault I will march on Damascus and Aleppo ; I will swell my army as I advance with the discontented in every country through which I pass ; I will announce to the people the breaking of their chains, and the abolition of the tyranny of the pachas. Do you not see that the Druses wait only for the fall of Acre to declare themselves ? Have I not been already Offered the keys of Damascus ? I have only lingered under these walls because at present I could derive no advantage from that great town. Acre taken, I will secure Egypt ; on the side of Egypt cut off all succour from the beys, and pro claim Desaix general-in-chief of that country. I will arrive at Constantinople with armed masses; overturn the empire of the Turks, and establish a new one in the East, which will fix my place with posterity ; and perhaps I may return to Paris by Adrianople and Vienna, after having annihilated the house of Austria." Boundless as these anticipations were, they were not the result merely of the enthusiasm of the moment, but were deliberately repeated by Napoleon, after the lapse of twenty years, on the rock of St. Helena. " St. Jean d'Acre once taken," said he, "the French army would have flown to Aleppo and Damascus; Alison.] SIEGE OF ST. JEAN D'ACRE. 427 in the twinkling of an eye it would have been on the Euphrates ; the Christians of Syria, the Druses, the Christians of Armenia would have joined it ; the whole population of the East would have been agitated." Some one said, he would soon have been reinforced by a hundred thousand men. " Say rather six hundred thousand," replied Napoleon; "who can calculate what would have happened ? I would have reached Constantinople and the Indies : I would have changed the face of the world." Splendid as his situation afterwards was, he never ceased to regret the throne which he relinquished when he retired from Acre, and repeatedly said of sir Sidney Smith, " That man made me miss my destiny."* * Napoleon, who had been hitherto accustomed to an uninterrupted career of victory, achieved frequently with inconsiderable means, did not evince the patience requisite for success in this siege; he began it with too slender resources, and wasted the lives of his brave soldiers in assaults, which, against Turkish and English troops, were little better than hopeless. Kleber, whose disposition was entirely different, and who shared in none of the ardour which led him to overlook or undervalue these obstacles, from the beginning pre dicted that the siege would fail, and loudly expressed, during its progress, his disapprobation of the slovenly, insufficient manner in which the works of the siege were advanced, and the dreadful butchery to which the soldiers were exposed in so many hopeless assaults. Though grievously mortified by this failure, the French general evinced no small dexterity in the art with which, in his proclamation to his troops, he veiled his defeat : — " Soldiers 1 You have traversed the desert which separates Asia from Africa with the rapidity of the Arab horse. The army which was advancing to invade Egypt is destroyed ; you have made prisoner its general, its baggage, its camels ; you have captured all the forts which guard the wells of the desert ; you have dispersed on the field of Mount Thabor the innumer able host which assembled from all parts of Asia to share in the pillage of Egypt. Finally, after having, with a handful of men, maintained the war for three months in the heart of Syria, taken forty pieces of cannon, 50 standards, 6,000 prisoners, razed the fortifications of Gaza, Jaffa, Caffa, and Acre, we are about to re-enter Egypt; the season of embarkation commands it. Yet a few days, and you would have taken the pacha in the midst of his palace; but at this moment such a prize is not worth a few days' combat ; the brave men who would have perished in it are essential for further operations. Soldiers ! we have dangers and fatigues to encounter ; after having disabled the forces of the East, for the remainder of the campaign we shall perhaps have to repel the attacks of a part of the West."— Miot, 204. 428 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Maxweli.. §utih uf %hxmxQxm, Maxwell. Menou was reported to be advancing; and an Arab chief apprised sir Sidney Smith, that the French intended an attack upon the British camp next morning. The information was dis credited ; but the result proved that it was authentic. On the 2rst of March, the army; > at three o'clock as usual, stood to their arms. For half an hour all was undisturbed. Suddenly a solitary musket was fired, a cannon shot succeeded it, and a spattering fusilade, broken momentarily with the heavier booming of a gun, announced that an attack was being made. The feebleness of the fire rendered it doubtful against what point the real effort of the French would be directed. All looked im patiently for daybreak, which, though faintly visible in the east, seemed to break more tardily the more its assistance was desired. On the right, a noise was heard; all listened in breathless expectation ; shouts and a discharge of musketry succeeded ; the roar increased, momentarily it became louder, — that indeed was the enemy in force — and there the British line was seriously assailed. Favoured by broken ground, and covered by the haze of morn ing, the French had partially surprised the videttes, attacked the pickets, and following them quickly, drove them back upon the line. One column advanced upon the ruin held by the 58th, their drums beating the pas de charge, and the officers cheering the men forward. Colonel Houston, who commanded the regi ment, fearing lest his own pickets might have been retiring in front of the enemy's column, reserved his fire, until the glazed hats of the French were distinguishable in the doubtful light. The 58th lined a wall partly dilapidated, but which in some places afforded them an excellent breastwork ; and the twilight allowed the French column to be only distinctly seen when within thirty yards of the post. As the regiment occupied detached portions Maxwell.] BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA. 429 of the wall, where its greater ruin exposed it to attack, an irregular but well-sustained fusilade was kept up, until the enemy's column, unable to bear the quick and well-directed musketry of the British, retired into a hollow for shelter. There they reformed, and wheeling to the right endeavoured to turn the left of the redoubt, while another column marched against the battery occupied by the 28th. On the front attack the regiment opened a heavy fire — but part of the enemy had gained the rear, and another body penetrated through the ruined wall. Thus assailed on every side, the 58th wheeled back two companies, who, after delivering three effective volleys, rushed forward with the bayonet. The 23rd now came to support the 58th, while the 42nd moved round the exterior of the ruins, cutting off the French retreat ; and of the enemy, all who entered the redoubt were killed or taken. The situation of the 28th and 58th was, for a time, as extra ordinary as it was dangerous ; at the same moment they were actually repelling three separate attacks, and were assailed simul taneously on their front, flanks, and rear ! The 42nd, in relieving the 28th, was exposed to a serious charge of French cavalry. Nearly unperceived, the dragoons wheeled suddenly round the left of the redoubt, and though the ground was full of holes, rode furiously over tents and baggage, and, charging, en masse, completely overthrew the Highlanders. In this desperate emergency, the 42nd, with broken ranks, and in that unavoidable confusion which, when it occurs, renders cavalry so irresistible, fought furiously hand to hand, and opposed their bayonets fearlessly to the sabres of the French. The flank com panies of the 40th immediately beside them, dared not, for a time, deliver their fire, the combatants were so intermingled in the mil'ee. At this moment general Stuart brought up the foreign brigade in beautiful order, and their heavy and well-sustained fusilade decided the fate of the day. " Nothing could withstand it, and the enemy fled or perished." During this charge of cavalry, sir Ralph Abercromby, who had ridden to the right, on finding it seriously engaged, advanced to the ruins where the contest was raging, after having dispatched 430 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Maxwell. his aide-de-camp* with orders to the more distant brigades. He was quite alone ; and some French dragoons having penetrated to the spot, one, remarking that he was a superior officer, charged and overthrew the veteran commander-. In an attempt to cut him down, the old man, nerved with a momentary strength, seized the uplifted sword, and wrested it from his assailant, while a highland soldier transfixed the Frenchman with his bayonet. Unconscious that he was wounded in the thigh, sir Ralph com plained only of a pain in his breast, occasioned, as he supposed, by a blow from the pommel of the sword during his recent struggle with the dragoon. The first officer that came up was sir Sidney Smith, who, having broken, the blade of his sabre, received from sir Ralph the weapon of which he had despoiled the French hussar. The cavalry being completely repulsed, sir Ralph walked firmly to the redoubt on the right of the guards, from which a command ing view of the entire battle-field could be obtained. The French, though driven from the camp, still maintained the battle on the right, and, charging with their reserve cavalry, attacked the foreign brigade. Here, too, they were resolutely repulsed ; and their infantry, finding their efforts everywhere unsuccessful, changed their formation and acted en tirailleur, with the exception of one battalion, which still held nftechef in front of the redoubt, on either flank of which the republican colours were planted. At this time the ammunition of the British was totally ex hausted; some regiments, particularly the reserve, had not a single cartridge ; and in the battery the supply for the guns was reduced to a single round. In consequence, the British fire on * A curious incident occurred immediately afterwards. An aide-de-camp of general Craddock, in carrying orders, had his horse killed, and begged per mission of sir Sidney Smith to mount a horse belonging to his orderly dragoon. As sir Sidney was turning round to give the order to dismount, a cannon shot took off the poor fellow's head. "This," said the admiral, "settles the question; major, the horse is at your service." + Fliche, in field fortification, is a work with two faces, generally used to cover the quarter guards of a camp, or any advanced post, as a tttl de &c. Maxwell.] BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA. 43 1 the right had nearly ceased, but in the centre the engagement still continued. There the attack had commenced at daybreak ; a column of grenadiers, supported by a heavy line of infantry, furiously assail ing the guards, driving in the flankers which had been thrown out to check their advance. Observing the echelon* formation of the British, the French general instantly attempted to turn their left ; but the officer commanding on that flank as promptly prevented it, by wheeling some companies sharply back, while Coote's brigade having come up, and opening its musketry, obliged the enemy to give way and retire. Finding the attack in column fail, the French broke into extended order, and opened a scattered fusilade, while every gnn that could be brought to bear by their artillery, was turned on the English position. But all was vain ; though suffering heavily from this murderous fire, the formation of the guards was coolly corrected when disturbed by the cannon ade — while the fine and imposing attitude of the regiments, removed all hope that they could be shaken, and prevented any renewal of attack. The British left had never been seriously attempted, con sequently its casualties were very few, and were merely occasioned by a distant fire from the French guns, and a trifling interchange of musketry. While the British right was, from want of ammunition, nearly hors de combat, the French approached the redoubt once more. They, too, had expended their cartridges — and both the assailants and assailed actually pelted the other with stones,t of which missiles there was a very abundant supply upon the ground. A sergeant of the 28th had his skull beaten in by a blow, and died * Echelon, in military parlance, is the movement of companies or regiments when each division follows that which preceded it, like the steps of a ladder. It is employed when changing from a direct to an oblique or diagonal formation. The oblique changes are produced by the wheel, less than the quarter circle of division, from line; the direct oxe effected by a perpendicular and successive march of divisions from line to front or rear. + Wilson. 432 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Maxwell upon the spot. The grenadiers of the 40th, however, not relish ing this novel mode of attack and defence, moved out to end the business with the bayonet Instantly the assailants ran — the sharpshooters abandoned the hollows — and the battalion, follow ing their example, evacuated the flkhe, leaving the battle-ground in front unoccupied by any save the dead and dying. Menou's attempts had all been signally defeated. He per ceived that the British lines had sustained no impression that would justify a continuation of the attack, and he determined to retreat His brigades accordingly moved off under the heights of their position in excellent order ; and though, for a considerable distance, they were forced to retire within an easy range of cannon shot, the total want of ammunition obliged the English batteries to remain silent, and permit the French march to be effected with trifling molestation. The cannon on the British left, and the guns of some men-of-war cutters, which had anchored close in with the land upon the right, kept up a galling fire, their shots plunging frequently into the French ranks, and particularly those of a corps of cavalry posted on a bridge over the canal of Alexandria, to observe any movement the British left might threaten. At ten o'clock the action had ended. Sir Ralph Abercromby previously refused to quit the field, and remained exposed to the heavy cannonade directed on the battery where he stood, until perfectly assured that the French defeat had been decisive. From the fatal wound he appeared at first to feel but little incon venience, complaining only of the contusion on his breast :* when, however, the day was won, and exertion no longer necessary, nature yielded, and in an exhausted state he was carried in a hammock off the field, accompanied by the tears and blessings * The pain attendant upon wounds is very uncertain, and depends chiefly on the means by which they have been inflicted. It is said, " that a wound from a grape-shot is less quietly borne than a wound from round shot or musketry. The latter is seldom known in the night, except from the falling of the indi vidual, whereas the former not unfrequently draws forth loud lamentations."— Leith Hay. Maxwell.] BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA. 433 of the soldiery. In the evening he was removed, for better care, on board the flag-ship, where he continued until his death. Immediate attention was bestowed upon the wounded, who, from the confined nature of the ground on which the grand struggles of the day had occurred, were lying in fearful numbers all around. Many of the sufferers had been wounded by grape- shot, others mangled by the sabres or trodden down by the horses of the cavalry. Death had been busily employed. Of the British, two hundred and forty were dead, including six officers ; eleven hundred and ninety men and sixty officers wounded ; and thirty privates and three officers missing. Other casualties had occurred. The tents had been shred to pieces by the French guns, and many of the wounded and sick, who were lying there, were killed. No wonder could be expressed that the loss of life had been so ter rible, for thousands of brass cannon balls were lying loosely about, and glistening on the sands. The French loss had been most severe. One thousand and fifty bodies were buried * on the field of battle, and nearly seven hundred wounded were found mingled with the dead. The total loss sustained by Menou's army could not have been much under four thousand ; and in this the greater portion of his principal officers must be included. General Roiz was found dead in the rear of the redoubt, and the French order of battle discovered in his pocket. Near the same place two guns had been abandoned,t * In a sandy soil the decomposition of animal matter proceeds slowly. On the landing of the " Captain pacha " in the bay of Aboukir, his army encamped on the beach, near the place where four thousand Turks had formerly perished. They had been interred upon the plain where they had fallen, but, although two years had elapsed, the corruption of the battle-field was intolerable ; every hoof-mark baring a corpse in partial putridity, while the clothes remained perfectly entire. t One gun, an Austrian eight-pounder, was lying dismounted in front of the redoubt. In the darkness of the morning it had been too far advanced, and a round of grape from an English twenty-four pounder in battery, had anni hilated the men attached to it, and killed the four horses. The colours bore most honourable inscriptions : — " Le Passage de la Serivia ; Le Passage du Tagliamento; Le Passage de ITsonzo, Le Prise de Graz, Le Pont de Lodi." * » * « F F 434 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Maxwell, and these, with a stand of colours, fell, as trophies of their vic tory, to the conquerors. No army could have behaved more gallantly than the British. Surrounded, partly broken, and even without a cartridge left, the contest was continued, and a victory won. That the French fought bravely, that their attacks were vigorously made, and, after discomfiture, as boldly repeated, must be admitted ; and that, in becoming the assailant, Menou conferred an immense advantage on the British, is equally true. There Menou betrayed a want of judgment; for had he but waited forty-eight hours the British must have attacked him. Indeed, the assault was already planned ; and, as it was to have been made in the night, consi dering the strength of the position, and the fine materiel of the republican troops, a more precarious trial would never have been hazarded. But the case was desperate ; the successes of the 8th and r3th, — and dearly bought, though gloriously achieved, they were, — must have been rendered nugatory, unless forward opera tions could have been continued. In short, Menou fought Aber- crombie's battle — and he who must have been assailed, became himself the assailant Military criticism, like political disquisitions, comes not within the design of a work merely intended to describe the action of a battle, or the immediate events that preceded or resulted ; but, if the truth were told, during these brief operations, from the landing to the evening of the 21st, mistakes took place on both sides. The military character of Britain had been sadly lowered by mis management at home, and still more ridiculously undervalued abroad, — and it remained for future fields and a future conqueror to re-establish for England a reputation in arms, and prove that the island-spirit wanted only a field for its display. After lingering a few days, the French generals Lannuse and Bodet died of their wounds ; and on the evening of the 28th, the British army had to lament the decease of their beloved and talented commander. An attempt to extract the ball, attended with great pain, was unsuccessful. Mortification ensued, sir Ralph sank rapidly, and while his country and his army engrossed Campbell.] BATTLE OF THE BALTIC. .435 his every thought,. he expired, full of years and honour, univer sally and most justly lamented.* The eulogy of his successor in command thus concludes : " Were it permitted for a soldier to regret any one who has fallen in the service of his country, I might be excused for lamenting him more than any other person ; but it is some consolation to those who tenderly loved him, that as his life was honourable so was his death glorious. His memory will be recorded in the annals of his country, will be sacred to every British soldier, and embalmed in the recollection of a grateful posterity." Mih of % §altic. Campbell. Of Nelson and the North, Sing the glorious day's renown, When to battle fierce came forth All the might of Denmark's crown, And her arms along the deep proudly shone ; By each gun the lighted brand, In a bold determined hand, And the Prince of all the land Led them on. — 11. Like leviathans afloat, Lay their bulwarks on the brine ; While the sign of battle flew On the lofty British line : * The body was conveyed to Malta in a frigate, and buried in the north-east bastion of Valetta. A black marble slab, with a Latin inscription, marks the place where the ashes of the brave old commander- are deposited. t F 2 436 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Campbell. It was ten of April morn by the chime : As they drifted on their path, There was silence deep as death ; And the boldest held his breath, For a time. — in, But the might of England flush'd To anticipate the scene ; And her van the fleeter rush'd O'er the deadly space between. " Hearts of oak ! " our captains cried ; when each gur. From its adamantine lips Spread a death shade round the ships, Like the hurricane eclipse Of the sun. IV. Again ! again ! again ! And the havoc did not slack, Till a feeble cheer the Dane To our cheering sent us back : — Their shots along the deep slowly boom : — Then ceased — and all is wail, As they strike the shatter'd sail : Or, in the conflagration pale, Light the gloom. — v. Out spoke the Victor then, As he hail'd them o'er the wave ; " Ye are brothers ! ye are men 1 And we conquer but to save : — So peace instead of death let us bring ; But yield, proud foe, thy fleet, With the crews, at England's feet, And make submission meet To our king." — Campbell.] BATTLE OF THE BALTIC. 437 VI. Then Denmark blest our chief, That he gave her wounds repose ; And the sounds of joy and grief From her people wildly rose, As death withdrew his shades from the day. While the sun look'd smiling bright O'er a wide and woeful sight, Where the fires of funeral light Died away. VII. Now joy, Old England, raise ! For the tidings of thy might, By the festal cities' blaze, While the wine cup shines in light ; And yet amidst that joy and uproar, Let us think of them that sleep, Full many a fathom deep, By thy wild and stormy steep, Elsinore ! VIII. Brave hearts ! to Britain's pride Once so faithful and so true, On the deck of fame that died ; — With the gallant, good Riou :* Soft sigh the winds of Heaven o'er their grave ! While the billow mournful rolls And the mermaid's song condoles, Singing glory to the souls Of the brave ! — * Captain Riou, justly entitled the gallant and the good, by lord Nelson, when he wrote home bis despatches. 438 HALF-HOURS 'OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Robert Southev. %&ii\t uf Crafalpr, Robert Southey. Nelson arrived off Cadiz on the 29th of September, 1805 — his birthday. Fearing that if the enemy knew his force they might be deterred from venturing to sea, he kept out of sight of land, desired Collingwood to fire no salute and hoist no colours, and wrote to Gibraltar to request that the force of the fleet might not be inserted there in the Gazette. His reception in the Mediterranean fleet was as gratifying as the farewell of his countrymen at Portsmouth : the officers, who came on board to welcome him, forgot his rank as commander in their joy at seeing him again. On the day of his arrival, Villeneuve received orders to put to sea the first oppor tunity. Villeneuve, however, hesitated when he heard that Nelson had resumed the command. He called a council of war, and their determination was that it would not be expedient to leave Cadiz, unless they had reason to believe themselves stronger by one-third than the British force. In the public measures of this country, secrecy is seldom practicable and seldom attempted : here, how ever, by the precautions of Nelson and the wise measures of the admiralty, the enemy were for once, kept in ignorance ; for as the ships appointed to re-enforce the Mediterranean fleet were dis patched singly, each as soon as it was ready, their collected number was not stated in the newspapers, and their arrival was not known to the enemy. On the 9th of October, Nelson sent Collingwood what he called, in his diary, the Nelson-touch. " I send you," said he, " my plan of attack, as far as a man dare venture to guess at the very uncertain position the enemy may be found in ; but it is to place you perfectly at ease respecting my intentions, and to give full scope to your judgment for carrying them into effect. We can, my dear Coll, have no little jealousies. We have only one great object in view,' that of annihilating our enemies, and getting a glorious peace for our country. No man has more confidence in Robert Southey.] BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. 439 another than I have in you ; and no man will render your services more justice than your very old friend, Nelson and Bronte." The order of sailing was to be the order of battle; the fleet in two lines, with an advance squadron of eight of the fastest sailing two- deckers. The second in command, having the entire direction of his line, was to break through the enemy, about the twelfth ship from their rear : he would lead through the centre, and the advanced squadron was to cut off three or four ahead of the centre. This plan was to be adapted to the strength of the enemy, so that they should always be one-fourth superior to those whom they cut off. Nelson said, " That his admirals and captains, knowing his precise object to be that of a close and decisive action, would supply any deficiency of signals, and act accordingly. In case signals cannot be seen or clearly understood, no captain can do wrong if he places his ship alongside that of an enemy." One of the last orders of this admirable man was that the name and family of every officer, seaman and marine, who might be killed or wounded in the action, should be, as soon as possible, returned to him, in order to be transmitted to the chairman of the patriotic fund, that the case might be taken into consideration, for the benefit of the sufferer or his family. On the 21st, at daybreak, the combined fleets were distinctly seen from the Victory's deck, formed in a close line of battle ahead, on the starboard-tack, about twelve miles to leeward, and standing to the south. Our fleet consisted of twenty seven sail of the line and four frigates; theirs of thirty-three and seven large frigates. Their superiority was greater in size and weight of metal than in numbers. They had four thousand troops on board; and the best riflemen who could be procured, many of them Tyrolese, were dispersed through the ships. Little did the Tyrolese, and little did the Spaniards, at that day imagine what horrors the wicked tyrant whom they served was preparing for their country. Soon after daylight Nelson came upon deck. The 21st of October was a festival in his family, because on that day his uncle, captain Suckling, in the Dreadnought, with two other line- 440 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH' HISTORY. [Robebt Southev. of-battle ships, had beaten off a French squadron of four sail of the line and three frigates. Nelson, with that sort of superstition from which few persons are entirely exempt, had more than once expressed his persuasion that this was to be the day of his battle also; and he was well pleased at seeing his prediction about to be verified. The wind was now from the west, light breezes, with a long heavy swell. Signal was made to bear down upon the enemy in two lines, and the fleet set all sail. Collingwood in the Royal Sovereign, led the lee-line of thirteen ships; the Victory led the weather-line of fourteen. Having seen that all was as it should be, Nelson retired to his cabin, and wrote the following prayer: — " May the great God, whom I worship, grant to my country, and for the benefit of Europe in general, a great and glorious victory, and may no misconduct in any one tarnish it; and may humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British fleet ! For myself individually, I commit my life to Him that made me; and may His blessing alight on my endeavours for serving my country faithfully ! To Him I resign myself, and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend. Amen, Amen, Amen." Blackwood went on board the Victory about six. He found him in good spirits, but very calm; not in that exhilaration which he had felt upon entering into battle at Aboukirand Copenhagen; he knew that his own life would be particularly aimed at, and seems to have looked for death with almost as sure an expectation as for victory. His whole attention was fixed upon the enemy. They tacked to the northward, and formed their line on the lar board-tack; thus bringing the shoals of Trafalgar and St. Pedro under the lee of the British, and keeping the port of Cadiz open for themselves. This was judiciously done; and Nelson, aware of all the advantages which it gave them, made signal to prepare to anchor. Villeneuve was a skilful seaman, worthy of serving a better master and a better cause. His plan of defence was as well con ceived and as original as the plan of attack. He formed the fleet in a double line, every alternate ship being about a cable's length Robert Southey.] BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. 441 to windward of her second ahead and astern. Nelson, certain of a triumphant issue to the day, asked Blackwood what he should consider as a victory? That officer answered, that, considering the handsome way in which battle was offered by the enemy, their apparent determination for a fair trial of strength, and the situation of the land, he thought it would be a glorious result if fourteen were captured. He replied, "I shall not be satisfied with less than twenty." Soon afterwards he asked him if he did not think there was a signal wanting? Captain Blackwood made answer, that he thought the whole fleet seemed very clearly to understand what they were about. These words were scarcely spoken before that signal was made, which will be remembered as long as the language, or even the memory of England, shall endure : — Nelson's last signal, — " ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN TO DO HIS DUTY ! " It was received throughout the fleet with a shout of answering acclamation, made sublime by the spirit which it breathed and the feeling which it expressed. " Now," said lord Nelson, " I can do no more. We must trust to the great Disposer of all events, and the justice of our cause. I thank God for this great opportunity of doing my duty." He wore that day, as usual, his admiral's frock-coat, bearing on the left breast four stars, of the different orders with which he was invested. Ornaments which rendered him so conspicuous a mark for the enemy were beheld with ominous apprehension by his officers. It was known "that there were riflemen on board the French ships, and it could not be doubted but that his life would be particularly aimed at. They communicated their fears to each other; and the surgeon, Mr. Beatty, spoke to the chaplain, Dr. Scott, and to Mr. Scott, the private secretary, desiring that some person would entreat him to change his dress or cover the stars; but they knew that such a request would highly displease him. " In honour I gained them," he had said, when such a thing had been hinted to him formerly, " and in honour I will die with them." A long swell was setting into the bay of Cadiz; our ships crowd ing all sail, moved majestically before it, with light winds, from the south-west. The sun shone on the sails of the enemy; and 442 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Robert Southey. their well-formed line, with their numerous three-deckers, made an appearance which any other assailants would have thought for midable; but the British sailors only admired the beauty and the splendour of the spectacle; and, in full confidence of winning what they saw, remarked to each other, " what a fine sight yonder ships would make at Spithead ! " The French admiral, from the Bucentaure, beheld the new manner in which his enemy was advancing— Nelson and Colling wood each leading his line; and pointing them out to his officers, he is said to have exclaimed, that such conduct could not fail to be successful. Yet Villeneuve had made his own dispositions with the utmost skill, and the fleets under his command waited for the attack with perfect coolness. Nelson's column was steered about two points more to the north than Collingwood's, in order to cut off the enemy's escape into Cadiz; the lee-line, therefore, was first engaged. "See,'; cried Nelson, pointing to the Royal Sovereign, as she steered right for the centre of the enemy's line, cut through it astern of the Santa Anna, three-decker, and engaged her at the muzzle of her guns on the starboard side, "see how that noble fellow, Collingwood, carries his ship into action ! " Collingwood, delighted at being first in the heat of the fire, and knowing the feelings of his commander and old friend, turned to his captain and exclaimed, " Rotherham, what would Nelson give to be here." The enemy continued to fire a gun at a time at the Victory, till they saw that a shot had passed though her main-top-gallant-sail; then they opened their broadsides, aiming chiefly at her rigging, in the hope of disabling her before she could close with them. Nelson, as usual, had hoisted several flags, lest one should be shot away. The enemy showed no colours till late in the action, when they began to feel the necessity of having them to strike. For this reason, the Santissima Trinidad, Nelson's old acquaint ance, as he used to call her, was distinguishable only by her four decks ; and to the bow of this opponent he ordered the Victory to be steered. Meantime an incessant raking fire was kept up upon Robert Southey.] BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. 443 the Victory. The admiral's secretary was one of the first who fell ; he was killed by a cannon shot while conversing with Hardy. Captain Adair, of the marines, with the help of a sailor, en deavoured to remove the body from Nelson's sight, who had a great regard for Mr. Scott ; but he anxiously asked, " Is that poor Scott that's gone ? " and being informed that it was indeed so, ex claimed, " Poor fellow ! " Presently a double-headed shot struck a party of marines, who were drawn up on the poop, and killed eight of them ; upon which Nelson immediately desired captain Adair to disperse his men round the ship, that they might not suffer so much from being together. A few minutes afterwards a shot struck the fore-brace-bits on the quarter-deck, and passed between Nelson and Hardy, a splinter from the bit tearing off Hardy's buckle and bruising his foot. Both stopped, and looked anxiously at each other, each supposing the other to be wounded. Nelson then smiled, and said, " This is too warm work, Hardy, to last long." The Victory had not yet returned a single gun ; fifty of her men had been by this time killed or wounded, and her main-top-mast, with all her studding-sails and their booms shot away. Nelson declared, that in all his battles, he had seen nothing which had surpassed the cool courage of his crew on this occasion. At four minutes after twelve she opened her fire from both sides of her deck. It was impossible to break the enemy's line without running on board one of their ships : Hardy informed him of this, and asked him which he would prefer. Nelson replied, " Take your choice, Hardy, it does not signify much." The master was ordered to put the helm to port, and the Victory ran on board the Redoubtable, just as her tiller-ropes were shot away. The French ship received her with a broadside ; then instantly let down her lower-deck ports for fear of being boarded through them, and never afterwards fired a great gun during the action. Her tops, like those of all the enemy's ships, were filled with riflemen. Nelson never placed musketry in his tops ; he had a strong dislike to the practice, not merely because it endangers setting fire to the sails, but also because it is a murderous sort of warfare, by which individuals may suffer, and a 444 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH. HISTORY. [Robert Southey. commander now and then be picked off, thougb it never can decide the fate of a general engagement. Captain Harvey, in the Temeraire, fell on board the Redoubt able, on the other side. Another enemy was in like manner on board the Temeraire : so that these four ships formed as compact a tier as if they had been moored together, their heads lying all the same way. The lieutenants of the Victory seeing this, depressed their guns of the middle and lower decks, and fired with a diminished charge, lest the shot should pass through and injure the Temeraire. And because there was danger that the Redoubt able might take fire from the lower deck gun, the muzzle of which touched her side when they were run out, the fireman of each gun stood ready with a bucket of water, which, as soon as the gun was discharged, he dashed into the hole made by the shot An inces sant fire was kept up from the Victory, from both sides ; her lar board guns playing upon the Bucentaure and the huge Santissima Trinidad. gmtjj Of |Ws0tt. Robert Southey. It had been part of Nelson's prayer that the British fleet might be distinguished by humanity in the victory which he expected. Setting an example himself, he twice gave orders to cease firing upon the Redoubtable, supposing that she had struck, because her great guns were silent ; for as she carried no flag, there was no means of instantly ascertaining the fact. From this ship, which he had thus twice spared, he received his death. A ball fired from her mizen-top, which, in the then situation of the two vessels, was not more than fifteen yards from that part of the deck where he was standing, struck the epaulette on his left shoulder, about a quarter after one, just in the heat of action. He fell upon his face, on the spot which was covered with his poor secretary's blood. Hardy, who was a few steps from him, turning round, saw three men raising him up. " They have done for me at last, Hardy ! " Robert Southey.] DEATH OF NELSON. 445 said he. " I hope not ! " cried Hardy. " Yes ! " he replied, "my backbone is shot through." Yet even now, not for a moment losing his presence of mind, he observed as they were carrying him down the ladder, that the tiller-ropes which had been shot away. were not yet replaced, and ordered that new ones should be rove immediately : then, that he might not be seen by the crew, he took out his handkerchief, and covered his face and his stars. Had he but concealed these badges of honour from the enemy, England perhaps would not have had cause to receive with sorrow the news of the battle of Trafalgar. The cockpit was crowded with wounded and dying men ; over whose bodies he was with some difficulty conveyed, and laid upon a pallet in the midshipmen's berth. It was soon perceived, upon examination, that the wound was mortal. This, however, was concealed from all except captain Hardy, the chaplain, and the medical attendants. He himself being certain, from the sensation in his back, and the gush of blood he felt momentarily within his breast, that no human care could avail him, insisted that the surgeon should leave him, and attend to those to whom he might be useful : "For," said he, "you can do nothing for me." All that could be done was to fan him with paper, and frequently to give him lemonade, to alleviate his intense thirst. He was in great pain, and expressed much anxiety for the event of the action which now began to declare itself. As often as a ship struck the crew of the Victory hurraed ; and at every hurrah a visible expression of joy gleamed in the eye and marked the countenance of the dying hero. But he became impatient to see captain Hardy ; and as that officer, though often sent for, could not leave the deck, Nelson feared that some fatal cause prevented him, and repeatedly cried, " Will no one bring Hardy to me ? He- must be killed ! He is surely dead ! " An hour and ten minutes elapsed from the time when Nelson received his wound before Hardy could come to him. They shook hands in silence : Hardy in vain struggling to suppress the feelings of that most painful and yet sublimest moment. "Well, Hardy," said Nelson, "how goes the day with us ? " " Very well," replied Hardy, " ten ships have struck, but five of the van have tacked, and show an intention to 446 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Robert Southey. bear down upon the Victory. I have called two or three of our fresh ships round, and have no doubt of giving them a drubbing." " I hope," said Nelson, " none of our ships have struck ? " Hardy answered, " There is no fear of that." Then, and not till then, Nelson spoke of himself. " I am a dead man, Hardy," said he ; " I am going fast ; it will be all over with me soon. Come nearer to me. Let my dear lady Hamilton have my hair and all other things belonging to me." Hardy observed, that he hoped Mr. Beatty could yet hold out some prospect of life. " Oh, no ! " he replied, " it is impossible : my back is shot through ; Beatty will tell you so." Captain Hardy then once more shook hands with him ; and, with a heart almost bursting, hastened upon deck. By this time all feeling below the breast was gone; and Nelson, having made the surgeon ascertain this, said to him, " You know I am gone. I know it I feel something rising in my breast '' — putting his hand on his left side — "which tells me so." And upon Beatty's inquiring whether his pain was very great, he replied, " So great that he wished he was dead.' Yet " said he in a lower voice, " one would like, to live a little longer, too." And . after a few minutes, in the same undertone he added, "What would become of poor Lady Hamilton if she knew my situation ? " Next to his country she occupied his thoughts. Captain Hardy, some fifty minutes after he left the cock-pit, returned ; and, again taking the hand of his dying friend and commander, congratulated him on having gained a complete victory. How many of the enemy were taken he did not know, as it was impossible to per ceive them distinctly; but fourteen or fifteen at least "That's well," cried Nelson, " but I bargained for twenty." And then, in a stronger voice, he said, "Anchor, Hardy— anchor." Hardy, upon this, hinted that admiral Collingwood would take upon him self the direction of affairs. " Not while I live, Hardy," said the dying Nelson, ineffectually endeavouring to raise himself from the bed : " Do you anchor." His previous order for preparing to anchor had shown how clearly he foresaw the necessity of this. Presently, calling Hardy back, he said to him in a low, voice, Alison.] PITT. 1806. 447 " Don't throw me overboard : " and he desired that he might be buried by his parents, unless it should please the king to order otherwise. Then reverting to private feelings : " Take care of my dear lady Hamilton, Hardy ; take care of poor lady Hamilton." " Kiss me, Hardy," said he. Hardy knelt down and kissed his cheek ; and Nelson said, " Now I am satisfied. Thank God, I have done my duty." Hardy stood over him in silence for a moment or two, then knelt again and kissed his forehead. " Who is that ? " said Nelson ; and being informed, he replied, " God bless you, Hardy." And Hardy then left him — for ever. Nelson now desired to be turned upon his right side, and said, "I wish I had not left the deck; for I shall soon be gone." Death was, indeed, rapidly approaching. He said to the chap lain, " Doctor, I have not been a great sinner;" and after a short pause, " Remember that I leave lady Hamilton and my daughter Horatio as a legacy to my country." His articulation now be came difficult ; but he was distinctly heard to say, " Thank God, " I have done my duty ! " These words he repeatedly pronounced ; and they were the last words which he uttered. He expired at thirty minutes after four, — three hours and a quarter after he had rceeived his wound. fiti 1806. Alison. The dissolution of the great confederacy, which he had so long laboured to construct, and from which he confidently expected such important results, was fatal, however, to the master-spirit which had formed it The constitution of Mr. Pitt, long weak ened by the fatigues and the excitement incident to his situation, sunk at length under the dissolution of the confederacy. In vain he tried the waters of Bath — in vain he retired for a while from the fatigues of office: his constitution was worn out by the labours, the anxiety, and the excitement which have proved fatal to so 448 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. many parliamentary leaders, and while yet hardly advanced beyond middle life, he already felt the weakness of age. Upon a frame thus enfeebled, the disappointment and anguish arising from the prostration of the last hopes of European freedom by the defeat of Austerlitz, fell with accumulating force. From the time the disastrous news were received he hourly declined, and political distress accelerated an event already approaching from natural causes. A devouring fever seized his blood — delirium quenched the fire of his genius. In the intervals of rest his thoughts, how ever, still were riveted to the fortunes of his country. After a me lancholy survey of the map of Europe, he turned away, saying, " Henceforth we may close that map for half a century ;" so little could the greatest intellect anticipate that general resurrection of the principles of freedom which even then was beginning, and which his own efforts had so largely contributed to produce. At the close of a lingering illness, which he bore with the wonted fortitude of his character, he expired at his house in London, on the 23rd January, 1806, exclaiming with his last breath, "Alas, my country ! " not less the victim of devotion to patriotic duty than if he had been pierced through the heart on the field of battle. Thus perished, at the age of forty-seven, while still at the zenith of his intellectual powers, William Pitt. Considered with refer ence to the general principles by which his conduct was regulated, and the constancy with which he maintained them through adverse fortune, the history of Europe has not so great a statesman to exhibit. Called into action at the most critical and eventful period in the annals, not merely of his country, but of modern times, he firmly and nobly fulfilled his destiny: placed in the vanguard of the conflict between ancient freedom .and modern democracy, he maintained his ground from first to last, under circumstances the most adverse, with unconquerable resolution. If the coalitions which he formed were repeatedly dissolved ; if the projects which he cherished were frequently unfortunate, the genius which had planned, the firmness which had executed them, were never subdued ; and from every disaster he rose only greater and more powerful, till exhausted nature sunk under the Alison.] PITT. 1806. 449 struggle. If the calamities which befel Europe during his adminis tration were great, the advantages which accrued to his own country were unbounded ; and before he was called from the helm he had seen not merely its independence secured by the battle of Trafal gar, but its power and influence raised to the very highest pitch by an unprecedented series of maritime successes. Victories unex ampled in the annals of naval glory attended every period of his career ; in the midst of a desperate strife in Europe he extended the colonial empire of England into every quarter of the globe ; and when the continental nations thought all the energies of his country were concentrated on the struggle with Napoleon, he found means to stretch his mighty arms into another hemisphere, strike down the throne of Tippoo Saib in the heart of Hindostan, and extend the British dominion over the wide extent of the Indian peninsula. Under his administration the revenue, trade, and manufactures of England were doubled, its colonies and poli tical strength quadrupled ; and he raised an island in the Atlantic, once only a remote province of the Roman empire, to such a pitch of grandeur as to be enabled to bid defiance to the world in arms. But these external successes, great as they were, were but a part of the lasting benefits of Mr. Pitt's government. It was the interior which was the scene of his real greatness : here the durable monu ments of his intellect are to be seen. Inheriting from his father, the great lord Chatham, a sincere love of freedom ; early imbued with liberal principles, the strenuous supporter of a relaxation of the fetters of trade, financial improvement, catholic emancipation, and such a practical and equitable system of parliamentary reform as promised to correct the inequalities complained of, without in justice to individuals or danger to the state, he was at the same time fully alive to the extreme risk of legislating precipitately on such vital subjects, or permitting democratic ambition, under the name of a desire of improvement, to agitate the public mind at a hazardous time by attempts to remodel the institutions of society. No sooner, therefore, did the French Revolution break out, and it had become evident that a social convulsion was designed, than he threw his weight into the opposite scale ; and though the advocate 45° HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. for a strict neutrality, till the murder of the king had thrown down the gauntlet to every established government, when once fairly drawn into the contest, he espoused it with the whole ardour and perseverance of his character, and became the soul of all the con federacies which, during the remainder of his life, were framed to oppose a barrier to the diffusion of its principles and the ravages of its armies. The steady friend of freedom, he was on that very account the resolute opponent of democracy ; the deadly, because the unsuspected, enemy by whose triumphs in every age its prin ciples have been subverted, and its blessings destroyed. When the greatest intellects in Europe were reeling under the shock, when the ardent and philanthropic were everywhere rejoicing in the prospects of boundless felicity, which the regeneration of society was supposed to be opening, when Mr. Fox was pronouncing the revolutionary constitution of France " the most stupendous monument of political wisdom and integrity ever yet raised on the basis of public virtue in any age or country," his superior sagacity, like that of Burke, beheld amidst the deceitful blaze the small black cloud which was to cover the universe with darkness. Watching with incessant vigilance the changeful forms of the Jacobin spirit, ever unravelling its sophistry, detecting its perfidy, unveiling its oppression, he thenceforth directed the gigantic energies of his mind towards the construction of a barrier which might restrain its excesses ; and if he could not prevent it from bathing France in blood, and ravaging Europe with war, he at least effectually opposed its entrance into the British dominions.. With admirable foresight he there established a system of finances adequate to the emergency, and which proved the mainspring of the continued, and at length successful, resistance which was opposed to revolutionary ambition ; with indomitable perseverance he rose superior to every disaster, and incessantly laboured to frame, out of the discordant and selfish cabinets of Europe, a cordial league for their common defence. Alone of all the states men of his age, he from the outset appreciated the full extent of the danger, both to the independence of nations and the liberty of mankind, which was threatened by the spread of democratic Alison.] PITT. 1806. 451 principles; and continually inculcated the necessity of relinquish ing every minor object to unite in guarding against the advances of this new and tremendous enemy. And the event has abun dantly proved the justice of these principles ; for while liberty perished in a few months in France, amidst the fervour of revo lutionary ambition, it steadily grew and flourished in the British empire ; and the forty years which immediately followed the com mencement of his resistance to democratic ambition, were not only the most glorious, but the freest of its existence. Chateaubriand has said, that "while all other contemporary reputations, even that' of Napoleon, are on the decline, the fame of Mr. Pitt alone is continually increasing, and seems to derive fresh lustre from every vicissitude of fortune." It is not merely the greatness and the constancy of the British statesman which has drawn forth this magnificent eulogium ; it is the demonstration which subsequent events have afforded of the justice of his prin ciples which is the real cause of the steady growth and enduring stability of his fame. Without the despotism of Napoleon, the freedom of the Restoration, the revolt of the Barricades, and the military government of Louis Philippe, his reputation would have been incomplete in foreign transactions ; without the passing of the reform bill, and the subsequent ascendant of democratic ambition in Great Britain, his worth would never have been appre ciated in domestic government Every hour, abroad and at home, is now illustrating the truth of his principles. He was formerly admired by a party in England as the champion of aristocratic rights ; he is now looked back to by the nation as the last steady asserter of general freedom : his doctrines were formerly prevalent chiefly among the great and affluent : they are now embraced by the generous, the thoughtful, the unprejudiced of every rank ; by all who regard passing events with the eye of historic enquiry, or are attached to liberty as the birthright of the human race, not the means of elevating a party to absolute power. To his speeches we now turn as to a voice issuing from the tomb, fraught with pro phetic warnings of future disaster. It is contrast which gives brightness to the colours of history ; it is. experience which wrings. 452 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Alison. conviction to the cold lessons of political wisdom. Many and eloquent have been the eulogiums pronounced on Mr. Pitt's memory : but all panegyrics are lifeless compared to that furnished by earl Grey's administration. Foreign writers of every description have fallen into a signal mistake in estimating the policy of this great statesman. They all represent him as governed by an ardent desire to elevate his own country — the mortal enemy, on that account, of the French nation — and as influenced through life by a Machiavelian desire to promote the confusion and misery of the continent, in order that England might thereby engross the commerce of the world. There never was a more erroneous opinion. For the first ten years of his political life, Mr. Pitt was not only noways hostile to France, but its steadfast friend. So far from being actuated by a com mercial jealousy of that country, he had embraced the generous maxim of Mr. Smith's philosophy, that the prosperity of every state is mainly dependent on the prosperity of those which sur round it* Had he been influenced by the malevolent designs * In the debate on the treaty of commerce with France, on February 12, 1787, Mr. Fox said, " France is the natural enemy of Great Britain; and she now wishes, by entering into a commercial treaty with us, to tie up our hands and prevent us from engaging in alliances with other powers. All the most glorious periods of our history have been when in hostility : all the most dis graceful when in alliance with that power. It is the disgrace of the tories that they have interfered to stop these glorious successes. This country should never, on any account, enter into too close an alliance with France ; the true situation is the bulwark of the oppressed whom that ambitious power has attacked." " The honourable gentleman has said," observed Mr. Pitt, "that France is the natural enemy of England : I repudiate the sentiment. I see no reason whatever why two great and powerful nations should always be in a, state of hostility merely because they are neighbours ; on the contrary, I think their prosperity is mutually dependent on each other, and as a British subject, not less than a citizen of the world, I entertain the sincerest wish for the prosperity and happiness of that great country. To suppose that one nation is unalterably the enemy of another nation is weak and childish ; having no foundation in the experience of nations, it is a libel on the constitution of human, societies, and Supposing the existence of diabolical malice in the original frame of man." Nor were these sentiments merely uttered in the heat of debate ; they were carried into effect in every great and important legislative measure; and this, statesman,' Alison.] PITT. 1806. 4153 which they suppose, he would not have adhered to a strict neutrality when France was pierced to the heart in 1792; but before the revolutionary levies were completed, have raised the standard to avenge the interference of its government in the American war. It was not against France, but republican France, that his hostility was directed ; it was not French warfare, but French propagandism, which he dreaded ; and his efforts would have been equally persevering to resist Russia or Austria by the aid of the Gallic legions, if these insidious principles had emanated from their states. If, from the contemplation of the general principles of Mr. Pitt's government, we turn to the consideration of the particular mea sures which he often embraced, we shall find much more room for difference of opinion. Unequalled in the ability with which he overcame the jealousies, and awakened the activity of cabinets, he was by no means equally felicitous in the warlike measures which he recommended for their adoption. Napoleon has observed that he had no turn for military combinations ; and a retrospect of the campaigns which he had a share in directing, must, with every impartial mind, confirm the justice of the opinion. By not en gaging England as a principal in the contest, and trusting for land operations almost entirely to the continental armies put in motion by British subsidies, he prolonged the war for an indefinite period and ultimately brought upon the country losses and expenses much greater than would have resulted from a more vigorous policy in the commencement. By directing the national strength whom the continental writers represent as the eternal inveterate enemy of France, concluded a commercial treaty between that country and Great Britain, which in liberality far surpasses any thing ever proposed by the warmest modern ad vocates of free trade. It stipulated "a reciprocal and entirely perfect liberty of navigation and commerce between the subjects of each party in all the king doms of Europe." The wines of France were to obtain admission on the same terms as those of Portugal; their brandy on paying a duty of 7s. a-gallon; their oil on the same terms as that of the most favoured nation; their hardware, cutlery, and iron work on a duty ad valorem of 10 per cent. ! So wide is the common opinion of the principles of this great statesman from the truth ! — See the treaty in Pari. Hist ! ^igljfwuf^ €mixxxxx. Lord Mahon. On comparing the Great Britain of the last century with the Great Britain of the present day, the change is nowhere more apparent than in the ease and. speed of travelling, and the con sequent increase of travellers. Of this the steam engine is, of course, the principal cause ; but it should be noted that personal security is likewise a plant of later growth. Only three summers since a French gentleman in the Highlands was gazing with some surprise at the tranquil and orderly scenes around him, and saying that his friends in Paris had advised him to come upon his journey well provided with pistol and sword, since, as they bid him bear in mind, "you are going to the country of Rob Roy!" We can scarce blame these Parisians for so faithfully remembering that little more than a hundred years ago Rob Roy was able to levy his black mail on all who came beneath the shadow of his moun- Which hushes all t a calm unstormy wave Which oversweeps the world. The theme is old Of ' dust to dust; " but half its tale untold; Time tempers not its terrors." Byron's "Age of Bronze.'7 Mahon.] LIFE IX THE SECOND HALF OF THE iSth CENTURY. 47 I tains. But they might at least with equal reason have applied the same advice to England ; for, much less than a hundred years ago, the great thoroughfares near London, and above all the open heaths, as Bagshot and Hounslow, were infested by robbers on horseback, who bore the name of highwaymen. Booty these men were determined by some means or other to obtain. In the reign of George the first they stuck up handbills at the gates of many known rich men in London, forbidding any one of them, on pain of death, to travel from town without a watch or with less than ten guineas of money* Private carriages and public con veyances were alike the objects of attack. Thus', for instance, in 1775, Mr. Nuthall, the solicitor and friend of lord Chatham, re turning from Bath in his carriage, with his wife and child, was stooped and fired at near Hounslow, and died of the fright. In the same year the guard of the Norwich stage (a man of different metal from the lawyer) was killed in Epping forest, after he had himself shot dead three highwaymen out of seven that assailed him. Let it not be supposed that such examples were but few and far between ; they might, from the records of that time, be numbered by the score; although in most cases the loss was rather of property than life. These outrages appear to have in creased in frequency towards the close of the American War. Horace Walpole, writing from Strawberry hill at that time, com plains that, having lived there in quiet for thirty years, he cannot now stir a mile from his own house after sunset without one or two servants, armed with blunderbusses. Some men of rank at that period — Earl Berkeley above all— were famed for their skill and courage ki dealing with such assailants. One day — so runs the story — lord Berkeley, travelling after dark on Hounslow heath, was awakened from a slumber by a strange face at his carriage window, and a loaded pistol at his breast. " I have you now, my lord," said the intruder, " after all your boasts, as I hear, that you would never let yourself be robbed." " Nor would I now," said lord Berkeley, putting his hand into his pocket, as though to draw forth his purse, "but for that other fellow peeping over your * Lettres d'un Francais (en Angleterre), vol. iii. p. 211, ed. 1845. 472 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. IMahon. shoulder." The highwayman hastily turned round to look at this unexpected intruder, when the earl, pulling out instead of a purse a pistol, shot him dead upon the spot. It is strange that so highly civilised a people should have endured these highway robberies so long. In this respect we scarcely seemed above the level of the modern Romans. But stranger still, perhaps, to find some of the best writers of the last century treat them as subjects of jest, and almost as subjects of praise. From such productions as the "Tom Clinch," of Swift, or the " Beggars' Opera," of Gay, we may collect that it was the tone in certain circles, to depict the highwaymen as daring and generous spirits, who " took to the road," as it was termed, under the pressure of some momentary difficulties — the gentlefolk, as it were, of the profession, and far above the common run of thieves.* A highly intelligent traveller, towards the year 1770, has de scribed a great number of our country inns, and upon the whole . on favourable terms.t * * * There might be comfort in many a wayside cottage, such as Isaac Walton speaks of, neat and trim, with its rosemary strewn sheets, its dish of new caught trout, and its ballads on the walls. There might be splendour in some few houses, as "the Castle," at Marlborough, along the great Bath road, and other lines of daily and luxurious thoroughfare. Even in those of humble pretensions there was seldom wanting a secret bin, from the dust and cobwebs of which the landlord could draw upon occasion a bottle of excellent Bordeaux. Travellers of rank were frequently expected to call for such, even when they had no need of it " for the good," as the phrase went, " of the house." But the dinner was seldom equal to the wine, and the charges were often exorbitantly high. When, in 1763, the duke de Nivernois, the new ambassador from France, landed at Dover, * Some of these worthies appear to have enjoyed a kind of traditionary fame : above all, " the bold Turpin," who was hanged at York, for horse-stealing, in I739- * * * Many of them showed great pride in their own achievements, " Not know me? " said John Rami, to the tollman on the Tottenham road " Why, I am Sixteen-String Jack, the famous highwayman ! " t Northern Tour, by Arthur Young, vol. 4, pp. 586-594. Mahon.] LIFE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE Mh CENTURY. 473 he was astonished at the charges in his bill. This was no new matter of complaint. So early as 1619 we find lord Herbert of Cherbury say : " At Calais, I remember, my cheer was twice as good as at Dover, and my reckoning half as cheap." Besides the slowness, the risk and the cost of travelling,, which might tend to diminish the journeys to London in that age, the country gentlemen were also, in some measure, kept away by their estrangement from the two first princes of the house of Hanover. Not a few who had been loyal subjects of Queen Anne, disliked the reign of her German cousins, and began to cast a wistful look towards her nearer kindred beyond the sea. Without partaking, or desiring to partake, the Jacobite designs, they would at least, while giving in due form " the king," as their first toast after dinner, make a motion with the glass to pass it on the other side of the water decanter which stood before them, and imply or speak the words, " over the water." They would revile all adherents of the court as " a parcel of roundheads ' and Hanover rats." * * * * It so chanced that not long after the accession of the house of Hanover, some of the brown, that is the German or Norway, rats were first brought over to this country (in some timber as is said) ; and being much stronger than the black or (till then) the common rats, they in many places quite extirpated the latter. The word (both the noun and the verb) " to rat " was first, as we have seen, levelled at the converts to the government of George I., but has by degrees obtained a wider meaning, and come to be applied to any sudden and mercenary change in politics. While we may reject in all the more essential features such gross caricatures as those of squire Western and parson Trulliber, we yet cannot deny that many both of the country gentlemen and clergy in that age, showed signs of a much neglected education. For this, both our universities, but Oxford principally, must be blamed. " I have heard," says Dr. Swift, " more than one or two persons of high rank declare they could learn nothing more at Oxford and Cambridge than to drink ale and smoke tobacco; wherein I firmly believed them, and could have added some hun- 474 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Mahon. dred examples from my own observations in one of these univer sities : " meaning that of Oxford.* At Cambridge such men as professor Saunderson had kept up the flame, worthily maintaining her high mathematical renown. But even there, it is plain from the letters of Gray, how little taste for poetry and literature lin gered in her ancient halls. Oxford, on the other hand, so justly famed, both before that age and after it, had then sunk down to the lowest pitch of dulness and neglect. Gibbon tells us of' his tutor at Magdalen College, that this gentleman well remembered he had a salary to receive, and only forgot he had a duty to per form. The future historian was never once summoned to attend even the ceremony of a lecture, and in the course of one winter might make, unreproved, in the midst of term, a tour to Bath, a visit into Buckinghamshire, and a few excursions to London, t We may incline to suspect the testimony of the sceptic against any place of Christian education, but we shall find it (allowing only for the superior licence of every gentleman commoner) con firmed in its full extent by so excellent and so eminent a member of our church as Dr. Johnson. Here is his own" account of his outset at Pembroke college : " The first day I came I waited on my tutor, Mr. Jordan, and then stayed away four. On the sixth Mr. Jordan asked me why I had not attended. I answered, I had been sliding on Christ church meadow." This apology appears to have been given without the least compunction, and received without the least reproof. It is painful to read such charges against an university so rich in her foundations, so historic in her fame, and standing once more so high in the respect of those who have been trained within her walls. But the case is even worse, if possible, when we come to her system of degrees. In granting these, the Laudian * Essay on Modern Education: Works, vol. 9, p. 373, edit. 1814. The dean, however, afterwards limits his remark to " Young heirs sent thither only for form." t Memoirs of My Life, p. 70, edit. 1839. Dean Milman himself, for many years a professor at Oxford, adds in a note, that from the best authority, he has understood Gibbon's observations to have been at that time by no means exaggerated. Mahon.] LIFE IX THE SECOND HALF OF THE iSth CENTURY. 475 statutes still in name and theory prevailed. But in practice there appeared a degree of laxity which, were the subject less important, would be wholly ludicrous. Lord Eldon, then Mr. John Scott, of University college, and who passed the schools in February, 1770, gave the following account of them : " An examination for a degree at Oxford was, in my time, a farce. I was examined in Hebrew and in history. ' What is the Hebrew for " the place of a skull?" ' I replied, ' " Golgotha." ' ' Who founded University college ? ' I stated (though, by the way, the point is sometimes doubted) that king Alfred founded it. 'Very well, sir,' said the exa miner, ' you are competent for your degree.' " Similar to this is the description, in 1780, by the rev. Vicesimus Knox: "The masters take a most solemn oath that they will examine properly and impartially. Dreadful as all this appears, there is always found to be more of rppeirance in it than reality, for the greatest dunce usually gets his " testimonium " signed with as much ease and credit as the finest genius. * "" * * The statutes require that he should translate familiar English phrases into Latin. And now is the time when the masters show their wit and jocularity. I have known the questions on this occasion to consist of an inquiry into the pedigree of a racehorse ! " The commissioners of 1850 who quote these testimonies add, that at the time in question, the examiners were chosen by the candidate himself from among his friends, and that he was expected to provide a dinner for them after the examination was over. Oaths upon this subject, as upon most others, proved to be no safeguard. Oaths at Oxford were habitually taken because the law required them, and habitually disregarded because their fulfilment had become impossible in some cases, and inconvenient in many more. From this ignominious state the students of the university were not rescued till the commencement of the present century. In 1 800 a new statute was passed, chiefly, it is said, at the instance of Dr. Eveleigh, provost of Oriel,* which reformed the whole system of examination, and awarded honours to the ablest candidates, By another statute in 1807, a further great improvement was * Report of Oxford University Commission, p. 60, edit. 1852. 476 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Mahon. effected. A division was then made between the classical and the mathematical schools, and the first who attained the highest rank in each was a future prime minister — sir Robert Peel. The last century at Oxford was, indeed, as a valley between hills. Look either at the age which preceded, or at the age which followed it, and own their intellectual elevation. At either of these periods a traveller from London might, as he left the uplands and crossed the Cherwell bridge, have wandered through the proud array before him of pinnacles and battlements — from where spread the cloisters of Magdalen, and the groves that bear Addison's name — to the books and galleries of the Bodleian, to that unequalled chapel of New college, or that noble bequest of Wolsey, the wide quadrangle of Christ church, and all the way met nothing that misbecame the genius of the place — nothing to clash with the lofty and reverent thoughts which it suggested. He would have seen many men of eminent learning and high spirit, men not unworthy of the scenes in which they dwelt, men not misplaced among the high-wrought works of art or the store houses of ancient knowledge — the foundations of saints, and the monuments of martyrs. There, in the reign of Charles I., he might have seen the heads and fellows cheerfully melt their plate or pour down their money for the service of their royal master — willing to dare deprivation and poverty — willing to go forth unfriended into exile, rather than bate one jot of their dutiful allegiance both to church and king. There, in the reign of James II., he might have seen those cloisters of Magdalen the last and the firmest citadel of freedom. Or, if the lot of the traveller whom we sup pose had been cast in these later days — if he had visited Oxford under the fourth George or the fourth William, he would then, amidst some indefensible abuses, have found much, very much, to admire and commend. He would have found most indefatigable tutors, most searching examinations, most hard fought honours. He would have found on all sides a true and growing zeal for the reputation and well-being of the place. But in the middle of the last century there were none of these things. The old spirit had sunk, and the new not yet arisen. * * * * The remissness of the Mahon-.] LIFE IX THE SECOXD HALF OF THE iSth CEXTURY. 477 tutors at Oxford and Cambridge led, of course, to other neglects of duty in those whom they had failed to teach. Such neglects were only too apparent in the church of England of that age. Let us hear upon them a wholly unexceptionable witness — Dr. Thomas Newton, bishop of Bristol, who died in 1782. In his account of his own life this prelate states, that by living and re siding so much at Bristol he had hoped that his example would have induced the other members of the church to perform their part also, and fulfil at least their statutable duties. The deanery, he states, was worth at least 500/. a year, and each prebend about half the sum ; and for these preferments the residence then usually required was three months for the dean, and half that time for each prebendary. " But alas ! " continues the worthy prelate, " never was church more shamefully neglected. The bishop has several times been there for months together without seeing the face of dean or prebendary, or anything better than a minor canon." And as in some cases there were undisguised neglects of duty, so in others we may have its jocular evasion. We may learn, on the same episcopal authority, that the church of Rochester was in no less ill plight than the church of Bristol ; and that one of the prebendaries dining with bishop Pearce, the bishop had asked him, "Pray, Dr. S., what is your time of residence at Rochester? " " My lord," said he, " I reside there the better part of the year." " I am very glad to hear it," replied the good bishop. But the doctor's meaning, and also the real fact was, that he resided at Rochester only during the week of the audit. Among the laity, as might have been expected, a corresponding neglect of church ordinances was too often found. Bishop Newton cites it as a most signal and unusual instance of religious duty, that Mr. George Grenville " regularly attended the service of the church every Sunday morning, even whilst he was in the highest offices." Not only was Sunday the common day for cabinet councils and cabinet dinners, but the very hours of its morning service were frequently appointed for political interviews and conferences. It is gratifying to reflect how clear and constant since that tim 2 has been the improvement on such points. The lord 478 IIALF-IIOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Maiion. lieutenant, and for very many years the representative of one of the midland shires, has told me that when he came of age, there were only two landed gentlemen in his county who had family prayers, •whilst at present, as he believes, there are scarcely two that have not. g^riwltutc xxx i\t ITasi €nxtxxxv. Lord Mahon. Scarce any great or real progress in the modes of husbandry can be traced until after the accession of George III., when they were no doubt much animated by the personal example and predilection of the king in his farms both at Richmond and Windsor. Until then the accounts from the most opposite quarters tell nearly the same tale, of lands either wholly waste, or at least imperfectly tilled. Take, in the first place, the extreme northern county of Caithness. The daughter of sir John Sinclair, in the biography she has written of her father, states that when he first began his vigorous improvements at the age of eighteen, and in the year 1772, the whole district round him presented a scene of most discouraging desolation. Scarce any farmer in the county owned a wheel cart, and burdens were conveyed on the backs of women, thirty or forty of whom might be seen in a line, carrying heavy wicker creels. -"At that period," continues Miss Sinclair, " females did most of the hard work — driving the peats or rowing the boats ; and it sometimes occurred that if a man lost a horse or an ox, he married a wife as the cheapest plan to make up the difference." If we come to Northumberland, we shall find it alleged by War- burton, who was Somerset Herald to George II., and who published his "Vallum Romanum" in 1753, that "such was the wild and barren state of this country, even at the time I made my survey, that in those parts now called the wastes, and heretofore the debateable grounds, I have frequently discovered the vestiges of towns and camps that seemed never to have been trod upon by any human creature than myself since the Romans abandoned them ; the traces of streets, and the foundations of buildings being Mahon.] AGRICULTURE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 470 still visible, only grown over with grass." The prevalence of turnip-growing in the place of fallows, which, says Mr. Grey of Dilston, has made complete revolution in the management and the value of land, took place in that county within the memory of living men. No turnip ever grew on a Northumbrian field till between the years 1760 and 1770, although they had been sown and reared in gardens for several years before. It may be said not only of Northumberland, but of all the counties which are, in fact, what it calls itself — north of Humber — that at the accession of George III. they were still, in great part, uninclosed. As in 1832 I was riding with the late earl of Harewood, at his seat near Leeds, he pointed out to me the remains of a narrow horse-bridge with a turnpike beside it. This, he said, was, till his childhood, the sole communication between the Leeds district and the north, and that was the first toll which, on coming into England, the Scottish drovers had need to pay. But let us pass on to Lincolnshire, a county renowned perhaps beyond any other of the present day for its skilful cultivation and luxuriant crops ; and let us hear certainly one of the most experi enced and able of our living agriculturists. Only a few years since, Mr. Pusey, then the member for Berkshire, was engaged in a critical examination of the farming round Lincoln. As he journeyed onward, his attention was arrested by a column seventy feet high, which stood by the road side. On enquiry from his companion, Mr. Hand-ley, he learnt that it was a land lighthouse, built no longer since than the' middle of the last century, as a nightly guide for travellers over the dreary waste which still retains the name of Lincoln Heath. But though the name might linger, the scene had wholly changed ; the spirit and industry of the people had reared the most thriving homesteads around the column, and spread a mantle of teeming vegetation to its very base. " And it was certainly surprising to me," Mr. Pusey adds, "to discover at once the finest farming I had ever seen, and the only land lighthouse that was ever raised." As a hundred years ago, the lands were too often untilled, so were the cultivators of the land too often untaught. Throughout 480 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Maiion. England the education of the labouring classes was most grievously neglected ; the supineness of the clergy of that age being manifest on this point as on every other. It would be very easy to adduce many cases of deplorable ignorance and consequent credulity at that period, both in individuals and in whole villages and parishes. ****** Among the principal means which under Providence tended to a better spirit in the coming age, may be ranked the system of Sunday schools ; and of these the main praise belongs to Robert Raikes. There are indeed some previous claims alleged on behalf of other persons, especially Miss Hannah Ball, at High Wycombe in 1769. But certainly, at least, the example did not spread at that time. The elder Mr. Raikes, being printer and proprietor of the " Gloucester Journal," had been brought before the house of commons, in 1729, for the offence, as it was then considered, of reporting their debates. His son, born in 1735, became in due time his successor in his business. Struck at the noise and riot of the poor boys in his native streets, Raikes the younger established the first of his Sunday schools in 1781. Thus, in one of his early letters, does he explain his views — further carried out in our own day by lord Ashley's care : " I argue, therefore, if you can loiter about without shoes and a ragged coat, you may as well come to school and learn what may tend to your good in that footing. All that I require are clean hands, clean face, and the hair combed. * * * I cannot express to you the pleasure I ofteW* receive in discovering genius and innate good dispositions among this little multitude. It is botanizing in human nature." The benevolent exertions of Mr. Raikes were well seconded and widely diffused. His schools received the early patronage and aid of several eminent prelates, especially of Dr. Porteus, at that time bishop of Chester. Adam Smith bore his testimony to them in these remarkable words : "No plan has promised to effect a change of manners with equal ease and simplicity since the days of the apostles." Thus it happened that schools on Mr. Raikes's plan soon started up in almost every county. In London they owed their first secure establishment to TlliJ Editor.] AGRICULTURE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. $1 the zeal of Mr. William Fox, a wholesale draper, assisted by Mr. Jonas Hanway, a gentleman who had first risen into notice by the pubhcation, on a most ample scale, of his Journey to Persia in 1753 — wno> since that time, had been forward in all works of benevolence, as in the foundation of the Magdalen Charity in 1758 — and who will be remembered as a philanthropist long after he is forgotten as a traveller. The progress of agriculture at this period was greatly aided by the exertions of Arthur Young. As a working farmer, in his youth he had applied himself with zeal to the improvement of tillage, and what he had begun as a profession ever afterwards continued his pursuit. He first attracted the attention of the public in 1768, by an account of a six weeks' Tour through the Southern Counties, The success of that experiment soon produced a Tour to the Northern Counties, in four volumes, and then another of the same length to the Eastern. These books were read the rather from their clear and lively style, and proved of great practical importance from the contrasts which they drew and the emulation which they excited. In 1780 he also described, in print, a journey which he had made in Ireland, and in 1784 commenced his Annals of Agriculture, a periodical in monthly parts. Among the many contributions to that useful work came several from George III. — in fact, though not by name. More than a year elapsed ere Young discovered that his unknown correspondent, Mr. Ralph Robinson, of Windsor, who sent him accounts of a farm at Petersham, was no other than the king. ' It may be worthy of note that in Norfolk the system of large farms — a system sometimes imputed as a blot in the great agricul tural improvements pursued at a later period by Mr. Coke of Holkham — has on its side the high authority of Arthur Young " Great farms," says he, " have been the soul of the Norfolk culture ; split them into tenures of an hundred pounds a year and you will find nothing in the whole country but beggars and weeds." Even in his time, as he. declares, the husbandry in Norfolk had advanced to a much greater height than he had seen anywhere else in England over an equal extent of soil. * # * * 1 j 4?:> HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Tun Editor, &\]t $t$mcs, 1810. The Editor. The regent, after his accession to power, made very few changes in the ministry ; but in May, 1812, the prime minister, Mr. Perceval, was shot as he entered the lobby of the house of commons by a man named Bellingham, who was actuated by motives of private revenge. A short war with America this year 18 12 was attended with no important results. Meantime the tide of Napoleon's success was turning. He had, in 1809, divorced his wife Josephine, who had been his stepping-stone to fortune, and asked and obtained (to the disgrace of Austria) the hand of the archduchess Marie Louise in 1810. In 1812 he determined to invade Russia, and passed the Niemen, June 24th, with 400,000 men. Sweeping all before him, he fought and won the battle of Borodino, and advanced on Moscow, which he entered a week afterwards ; but on the same day the Russians set fire to the city, and consumed it nearly entirely. Napoleon had, of course, to retreat, since his troops were without shelter or food, and the cold was so intense that 30,000 horses died in a few days. Closely pursued by his enemies, he commenced his unhappy retreat, the route of which could be traced by the bodies of soldiers who had died of hunger, cold, and fatigue. Of his great army only 50,000 reached, the Russian boundary alive. On the 7th of December the miserable remnant entered Wilna, where Buonaparte left his soldiers, and made a rapid journey to Paris.; But the stone had been set rolling down hill; Prussia shook off the French yoke at once, and joined the advancing armies of Russia, Sweden, under . Bemadotte, joined them; Austria declared war in 1813. The Dutch recalled the prince of Orange; Denmark joined the allies. The battle of Leipsic was decisive against the French. The immense army of the allies advanced, gained a victory at Paris, and entered that city in triumph March 30th, 1.814. run Editor,] THE REGENCY. 1S10. 4S3 Meantime lord Wellington — for so sir Arthur Wellesley was now styled — had gained battle after battle in the Peninsula, and driven the French out of Spain. On the 7th of October, 1813, he entered France, was received as a deliverer at Bordeaux, and defeated Marshal Soult at Toulouse, on the nth of April, 1813. By that time — indeed, a week before — the French senate had declared that Napoleon had forfeited the throne. On the 4th he abdicated, and on the 28 th was conveyed in an English frigate to the island of Elba, which was assigned him as a residence by the allied powers. The Bourbons were recalled, and Louis XVIII. made a solemn entry into Paris. In i8r4 the allied sovereigns paid a visit to England, and were entertained with great honour. But the peace was most evanescent. On March 1st, 1815, Napoleon (escaping from Elba) landed in the south of France. The soldiery received him with rapture ; Louis fled from Paris, and Napoleon resumed the government without opposition. The allied powers had not yet disbanded their troops, which were still numerous. They resolved to assemble in Belgium, and the British government sent out a large force under the duke of Wellington, which, in conjunction with the Prussians, was ready to take the field, but did not intend to act on the offensive till strengthened by the armies of Russia and Austria. Blucher com manded joo,ooo men, Wellington 70,000 of British, Belgians, and Germans. Against them Napoleon took the field with 1 50,000 men, of whom 25,000 were cavalry — these were all veteran soldiers; while the Prussians consisted in great part of new levies, as in fact did the- British. On the 1:5th of June Buonaparte attacked the Prussians at Ligny, with a superior force of 100,000 men. The battle raged with great fury till late in the evening, when the Prussians, their succours not arriving, were compelled to retreat. The duke, meantime, had been fighting all day at Quatre Bras with Ney, but as his own cavalry had not yet come up, he was unable to send aid to Blucher. He had, in fact (even though victor in the fight), to retreat also, and took up a position on the plains of Waterloo. Napoleon is said to have been delighted when he foil nd himself opposite to the English host. " I have 1 1 2 484 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editoh" them, those English !" he exclaimed; but the day, hotly contested, ended in his total defeat and rout. The Prussians coming up about four o'clock, completed the defeat of the French by an attack on the enemy's flank, and joined, in the pursuit, which they continued long after the weary English had given it up. This was the greatest and most decisive battle of modern times. The allied army marched on Paris, and Louis was again king. Napoleon gave himself up to the English, and was by them, and with the consent of the allies, sent as a captive to the island of St. Helena, where he passed the remainder of his life, a restless, miserable, disappointed man. Thus ended the long European war; in a general peace, and a new arrangement of territories. The prince regent, whose marriage had been a very unhappy one both for himself and his wife, had one only daughter, the beloved princess Charlotte. When the allied sovereigns visited England they were accompanied by the young prince of Saxe Cobourg, Leopold ; the princess Charlotte was captivated by his manners and appearance, and as her father did not oppose her wishes, they were married in 181 6. In the same year Britain sent out an expedition against the piratical state of Algiers, under lord Exmouth. A terrible conflict ensued ; two-thirds of the city, its forts, arsenals, and navy, were destroyed, and 7,000 Algerines perished. The Dey thus reduced, consented to give up all the christian slaves, and abolish christian slavery throughout his dominions; also to make reparation for all losses sustained by those powers who had suffered by his aggressions. Upwards of 1,000 slaves were taken on board the British fleet, and landed in their respective countries. The reaction which peace after a great war brings now fell on our country. The consumption of armaments ceased, and trade and labour suffered. The distress was terrible, and great dis turbances followed. In London, Manchester, and Derby, riots took place, and the habeas corpus act was obliged to be sus pended. Numbers of the principal demagogues escaped ; but Brandreth, Ludlam, and Turner, tried at Derby, were executed as traitors. These terrible examples restored quiet, and as trade H.Clinton.] BATTLE OF ALBUERA. 485 improved and a good harvest came in 1817, matters grew better for the people. In 18 1 7 the nation had to lament the death of the princess Charlotte, then looked on as a national misfortune. Her death was followed by the marriage of the king's brothers, one of whom, the duke of Kent, was destined to be father of our future kings. Queen Charlotte died in the following year. A radical gathering in a square in Manchester was dispersed in 18 1 9 by the Manchester yeomanry, who in a mistaken zeal to execute their orders rode in among the crowd, trampling down those who obstructed their progress. The scene was terrible ; 60,000 persons were assembled in a small space, where there was no room to move ; numbers were bruised, some crushed to death, some sabred. The people called this event "Peterloo," in mockery of Waterloo, and the prisoners taken were looked on as the champions of liberty. In 1820 the duke of Kent died of violent cold, after a few days' illness. He was the best and most popular of the king's sons, and . left an infant daughter, the princess Alexandrina Victoria, now our beloved queen. In this year, also, the aged king expired, in the presence of his son, the duke of York, to whose care he had been entrusted by the nation. For many years his reason had been obscured, but he had heavenly visions in his hallucinations, and was still fond of playing the divine melodies of Handel. As a man he had few faults ; as a king, if sometimes mistaken, he ever meant to do the best for his people. He had reigned 59 years, seven months and three days, and was eighty-one years of age. IJatik flf iUIraera;. H. Cl.INTON. On the morning of the 15th May the British and Portuguese took possession of the Albuera ridge, which rises in gentle undu lations, and extends about four miles. Along its eastern base, which is practicable for cavalry and artillery, the river Albuera (an affluent of the Guadiana) flows, with the Feria rivulet, which joins 486 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H.Clinton, the river just above a fine stone bridge ; and on the west of the ridge there is a brook, the Aroya. The hamlet of Albuera stands on the east of the hills, below the stone bridge, and at the points where the roads from Talavera Real (on the north-east) and Vai- verde (on the west) strike the high road from Badajos to Seville. A little below the village the river is spanned by an old narrow bridge. The heights across the Albuera are densely wooded. The centre of the Anglo-Portuguese army was commanded by major-general William Stewart — " Auld Grog Willie," as he was familiarly termed in the Scottish regiments, from his frequent orders for extra allowances of grog — and consisted of Colborne's (the 2nd) division, and two brigades of Cole's (the 4th) division, the latter force coming up when the battle was well advanced : it rested on the village of Albuera, a battery commanding the stone bridge, and general (baron) Charles Alten's German brigade hold ing the village itself. The cavalry, which had been on the other side of the Albuera, retired, not having been supported by any infantry, before the enemy's light horsemen on the afternoon of the 15th, and after being temporarily drawn up on the right, were placed with the artillery behind the centre, and part in front. The allies' right, the hill on the Valverde road, was the key of the position, as it commanded the only line of retreat It was re served for the large body of Spaniards under Blake and Castanos ; but though they were ordered to hasten up from Almendral, to which they had retired on Soult's advance, it was midnight before the Spanish van reached the position. Beresford, a brave man, but without the capacities of a great general, committed a fatal blunder in leaving unoccupied an isolated hill which trended on the Spanish right, back towards the Valverde road, and overlooked the rear of the allies' line, and he thus gave to the enemy an op portunity of cutting off his retreat. The left, stretching away beyond the Badajos road, was occupied by the Portuguese — the artillery, Hamilton's and Collin's infantry, and Otway's cavalry. On the arrival of Cole's two brigades on the morning of the 1 6th May the allies numbered 30,000 infantry, 2,500 cavalry, and 38 guns ; but the British, who had to bear the brunt of the battle, H.Clinton.] BATTLE OF ALBUERA. 487 did not exceed 7,000, the Spaniards being 16,000, and the Portu guese 8,000. Soult had with him 19,000 picked infantry, 4,000 veteran cavalry, and 40 guns ; but his inferiority in mere numbers was amply compensated for by his superiority in tactics to Beres- ford, and by the want of agreement between Beresford and Blake, for these two were not on speaking terms. The withdrawal of the allies' cavalry from the roads by the wooded heights on the eastern side of the Albuera enabled Soult to conceal his movements, and to place behind the height oppo site the allies' right a force of r5,ooo men (Girard's 5th corps and Latour-Maubourg's heavy cavalry) and 30 guns within ten minutes' march of Beresford's right wing. His design was to seize the hill which trended back towards the Valverde road, push the allies' centre into the valley behind, and cut them off. To dis tract the centre and left, Godinot's brigade with 10 guns — Werle's brigade being in reserve — and light cavalry, were placed in the woods near the junction of the Feria with the Albuera, to attack the bridge and village. At nine o'clock in the morning of the 16th May the 10 guns and Godinot's brigade issued from the wood and opened a sharp cannonade and musketry fire on the bridge. Werle" followed for some distance, and the cavalry attempted to cross, — the lancers above the stone bridge and general Brichd's two hussar regiments below. The lancers were driven back by the 3rd dragoon guards and the guns which were placed on a height above the village. Beresford, observing that Werld's brigade was not close to Godi not's, concluded rightly that the attack on the left was but a feint He therefore sent off the 2nd division, under Colbome, to Blake, and ordered Colonel (afterwards viscount) Hardinge to desire him to throw the mass of his troops on the broad summits of the hills at right angles to his former front. He drew in Hamilton's Portuguese from the left towards the centre, part to reinforce Alten, part to act as a reserve ; he posted general Lumley's cavalry and the horse artillery on a small plain behind the Aroya, in an oblique line, half musket-shot behind them, and then galloped off to join Blake. 488 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Clinio*. The latter general, whether from unfriendly feeling or because he feared a movement would disorder his ranks, maintained that the main attack was upon the village, and obstinately refused Hardinge's request to change the front. He only yielded when his flank was directly threatened. Before the Spaniards, moving slowly from their enfeeblement by hunger and fatigue, could take up their new position, the French were upon them in force. For now all Werld's brigade (except a battalion of grenadiers) had parted from Godinot's, and, having forded the river above the bridge, had joined the 5th corps ; and all the light cavalry, cross ing the river in the same way, had joined Maubourg's dragoons, who now were threatening Lumley's squadrons. The French guns, under general Ruty, opened, and the Spaniards, thrown into disorder in executing their perilous movement, gave way after a short but sanguinary struggle with the strong veterans of France. Soult, believing that the day was won, pushed forward his columns and ordered the reserve to advance. At this critical moment major-general William Stewart brought up Colbonie's men, the 2nd division. Stewart, not waiting to form order of battle, hurried them up the hill in columns of com panies ; and, after passing the Spanish right, as they were unable to form into open line from the bewildering fire, they charged. But at this time, about noon, a heavy storm of rain was passing over the heights ; and, unseen through it, the French hussars and Polish lancers swooped down upon them, captured six guns, and, sabring to right and left, rode through and almost annihilated three regiments, the 3rd (Buffs), the 66th, and a battalion of the 48th^Hhe fourth only, the 31st regiment, which was on the left, having time to form square and present a solid impregnable mass. The colours of the Buffs were saved by the heroism of the ensigns. Ensign Thomas was cut down and his flag seized, but the survivors recovered it in the struggle over his body. The staff of the other flag, which was borne by ensign Walsh, was broken, and Walsh, being himself severely wounded, he tore off the flag and thrust it in his breast, where it was found, saturated with blood, after the battle. The flag of the 29th was similarly H.Clinton. BATTLE OF ALBUERA. 489 saved by ensign Vance, who fell a little later in the day. During the tumult on the hill, a lancer rode at Beresford, but the marshal, a man of great strength, pushed his lance aside and hurled him from the saddle, and his orderly dispatched him. The Spaniards had fallen back behind the British, but .some of their regiments halted and fired wildly to their front, regardless of the British 2nd division. As a gust of wind swept the mist and smoke aside, general Lumley on the plain beheld the disaster on the heights. He immediately detached four squadrons against the lancers, and ordered the count of Penne-Villemur's Spanish dragoons to charge the French heavy cavalry. The Spaniards galloped bravely up to within a few yards of the enemy, and then turned and fled pell- mell. In this state of the battle the 29th regiment appeared to succour Colborne's broken battalions, and, as the flying Spanish infantry were stopping their progress, they cleared their front with a volley. In a few minutes Stewart, who had escaped the slaughter of the lancers' charge, brought up the remainder of general Houghton's brigade ; and Julius Hartman's British guns opened. Beresford, with great intrepidity, tried, but in vain, to induce the Spanish infantry to advance. They scarcely under stood his appeals, and when he more forcibly explained his wishes by seizing an ensign and carrying him to the front in his iron grasp, the Spaniard, as soon as he was released, ran back, and his countrymen still remained immovable. The thick weather prevented Soult from gaining a general view of the scene, and consequently his heavy columns had been kept inactive in the crisis. As the weather cleared and the roar of the guns on both sides increased, Houghton's brigade deployed on the heights, repulsed a flank charge of the lancers, and poured a withering fire on the French columns. Now at last Zayas and Ballesteros brought forward the Spanish troops, and the battle was stoutly maintained, with showers of grape at half range and volleys of musketry often within pistol-shot. In this struggle the intrepid general Houghton and colonel Duckworth of the 48th were slain. The cry of the falling officer to the 57th regiment, "Die hard, my 49O. HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Clinton. men, die hard ! " — whence their popular appellation, the " Die- hards " — was nobly responded to : their name was well earned on the hill of Albuera, where colonel Inglis and 430 of their number fell out of 570 who had come upon the field, the adjutant being the senior officer at last to lead the remnant from the field. So terrible had the slaughter been that scarcely a single regiment had a third of its number standing. The British fire was slackening from failing ammunition ; a French column was advancing upon the right flank, and destruction seemed to be inevitable. The battle being all but lost, Beresford now thought only of the escape of his troops from the field. He ordered Alten to abandon the Albuera village, and, along with Hamilton's Portuguese — who had already been moved to cover a retreat — to take up a position to cover a retrograde movement by the Valverde road. But while these orders were being given, colonel Hardinge (who was quarter-master general of the Portuguese army) had, by a happy inspiration, on his own responsibility ordered Cole, who had just come up the road from Badajos with two brigades, to move with his division, the 4th, by the side of the hill on the right, and he had ordered colonel Abercrombic to push forward the third brigade of the 2nd division into the thickest of the fight by the left of the hill. Beresford, on learning this, authorised what had been done as a last effort, and ordered Alten to retake Albuera. Cole led his brigades forward, sending one brigade, general Harvey's Portuguese, between Lumley's dragoons and the hill, and himself leading the other, the brigade of sir William Myers — the 7th (royal fusiliers) and 23rd (royal Welsh fusiliers)— flanked by colonel Hawkshawe with the Lusitanian legion, straight upon the lancers, who were riding about the captured guns. The fusiliers drove back the lancers, recovered five of the guns and one colour, and dashed up to the right of Houghton's brigade as Abercrombie passed to the front on its left. "Such a gallant line, issuing from the midst of the smoke, and rapidly separating itself from the confused and broken multitude, startled the enemy's masses, which were increasing and pressing onwards as to an assured victory ; they wavered, hesitated, and then, vomiting a. Clinton.) BATTLE OF ALBUERA. 491 forth a storm of fire, hastily endeavoured to enlarge their front, while a fearful discharge of grape from all their artillery whistled through the British ranks. Myers was killed, Cole, and the three colonels, Ellis, Blakeney, and Hawkshawe, fell wounded, and the fusilier battalions, struck by the iron tempest, reeled and staggered like sinking ships; but, suddenly and sternly recovering, they closed on their terrible enemies, and then was seen with what a strength and majesty the British soldier fights. In vain did Soult with voice and gesture animate his Frenchmen ; in vain did the hardiest veterans break from the crowded columns and sacrifice their lives to gain time for the mass to open out on such a fair field ; in vain did the mass itself bear up, and, fiercely striving, fire indiscriminately upon friends and foes, while the horsemen, hovering on the flank, threatened to charge the advancing line. Nothing could stop that astonishing infantry. No sudden burst of undisciplined valour, no nervous enthusiasm weakened the stability of their order ; their flashing eyes were bent on the dark columns on their front, their measured tread shook the ground, their dreadful volleys swept away the head of every formation, their deafening shouts overpowered the dis sonant cries that broke from all parts of the tumultuous crowd, as, slowly and with a horrid carnage, it was pushed by the inces sant vigour of the attack to the farthest edge of the hill. In vain did the French reserves mix with the struggling multitude to sustain the fight : their efforts only increased the irremediable con fusion ; and the mighty mass, breaking off like a loosened cliff, went headlong down the steep ; the rain flowed after in streams discoloured with blood, and 1,800 unwounded men, the remnant of 6,000 unconquerable British soldiers, stood triumphant on the hill" (Napier). During this glorious contest of the fusilier brigade, Harvey's brigade and the cavalry, though under a heavy cannonade from Lefevre's guns, drove back Maubourg's dragoons, who with their right were threatening the fusiliers, and with their left were saving their beaten infantry from Lumley's horsemen. A force of 10,000 fresh Portuguese — Hamilton's and Collins' brigades— were brought 492. HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Clinton. up to support the fusiliers and Abercrombie ; Blake's first line of Spaniards, which had not been in action, and the divisions of Zayas, Ballesteros, and Espana, also advanced. But these reserves did not reach the front in time to do any execution, for the dis comfited French hurried across the Albuera under the protection of Ruty's guns, which had been transported to the other side of the river as soon as it was seen that the day was irrecoverably lost. Meanwhile the victory had been completed by Alten's Germans retaking the village ; and, after some further fighting at the bridge, Godinot's division and the grenadiers were withdrawn, and all firing ceased before three o'clock. Soult's troops, on crossing the Albuera, formed in order on the hill from which they had moved in the morning, and Beresford drew up on the parallel hill on his own side. During the night both armies retained these positions. When the pickets were posted there were hardly any men left to remove the wounded. Blake, whose pride was mortified by the events of the day, chur lishly refused Beresford's request for a detachment to assist in the removal. The wounded and dying lay during the night amidst the piles of corpses, while storms of rain swept over the heights. There was no place of shelter to remove them to, for Albuera was a wreck, and there was no means of transport if there had been shelter, every man being required for duty. "Seven thousand bodies occupied the space of a few hundred feet," and in the latter part of the battle the allies' artillery " were compelled to pass over them, deaf to their cries, and averting their gaze from the brave fellows thus laid prostrate in the dust " (Londonderry). Most of the bodies of the dead were stripped during the night by the Spaniards. The Feria was almost choked with the bodies of those who had crawled down to its miry bank to allay their thirst. During the night the enemy remained quiet. At dawn on the 1 7th they were seen with their dark masses still covering the hill opposite, and apparently menacing the Badajos road. About six o'clock the third brigade of Cole's division, which had marched round from the Badajos lines by Jerumenha, came up ; and the 2nd division was then able to return to its former position between Sir W. Napif.e;] THE ASSAULT OF BADAJOS. -493 the Valverde and Badajos roads. Beresford, though expecting a renewal of the attack and a ruinous defeat in the reduced con dition of his forces, pertinaciously clung to his position. But Soult made no attack, although his artillery and cavalry were comparatively uninjured. In the course of the night the French marshal sent away all the wounded that could be moved, on the main road by Seville to Santa Marta; and on the 18 th May, perhaps thinking from Beresford's boldness that he had received large reinforcements, he made a flank march to the right towards Solano, where he halted his troops on the r 9th, to await reinforce ments, Bridie being sent to protect the route of the wounded, Souit left to the generous treatment of the victors the most severely wounded, who amounted to 800 men. Albuera* is pro bably the most desperate and sanguinary battle that has ever been fought, though it lasted only four hours. Soult's total loss was over 4,000 in killed and wounded, including two generals slain and three wounded. On Beresford's side, 7,000 were struck down, of whom only 2,000 were Spaniards and 600 Germans and Portuguese ; Houghton, Myers, and Duckworth were killed ; Cole, Stewart, Ellis, Blakeney, and Hawkshawe were wounded; and 500 men, a howitzer, and several colours were carried off by the French, Sir William Napier. Dry but clouded was the night, the air was thick with watery exhalations from the rivers, the ramparts and trenches unusually still ; yet a low murmur pervaded the latter, and in the former * " Albuhera " is borne on the colours of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, 3d (Buffs), 7th (Royal Fusiliers), 23rd (Royal Welsh Fusiliers), 28th (North Gloucester shire), 29th (Worcestershire), 31st (Huntingdonshire), 34th (Cumberland), 39th (Dorsetshire), 48th (Northamptonshire), 57th (West Middlesex), 60th IRifles), and 66th (Berkshire). 494 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Napier, lights flitted here and there, while the deep voices of the sentinels proclaimed from time to time that all was well in Badajos. The French, confiding in Phillipon's direful skill, watched from their lofty station the approach of enemies they had twice before baffled, and now hoped to drive a third time blasted and ruined from the walls. The British, standing in deep columns, were as eager to meet that fiery destruction as the others were to pour it down, and either were alike terrible for their strength, their dis cipline, and the passions awakened in their resolute hearts. Former failures there were to avenge on one side, and on both leaders who furnished no excuse for weakness in the hour of trial ; the possession of Badajos was become a point of personal honour with the soldiers of each nation ; but the desire for Glory on the British part was dashed with a hatred of the citizens from an old grudge, and recent toil and hardship, with much spilling of blood, had made many incredibly savage : for these things, which render the noble-minded averse to cruelty, harden the vulgar spirit. Numbers also, like Caesar's centurion, who could not forget the plunder of Avaricum, were heated with the recollection of Rodrigo, and thirsted for spoil. Thus every passion found a cause of excitement, while the wondrous power of discipline bound the whole together as with a band of iron, and in the pride of arms none doubted their might to bear down every obstacle that man could oppose to their fury. At ten o'clock, the castle, the San Roque, the breaches, the Pardaleras, the distant bastion of San Vincente, and the bridge head on the other side of the Guadiana, were to be simul taneously assailed. It was hoped the strength of the enemy would quickly shrivel within that fiery girdle, but many are the disappointments of war. An unforeseen accident delayed the attack of the fifth division, and a lighted carcass, thrown from the castle, falling close to the third division, exposed its columns and forced it to anticipate the signal by half an hour. Thus everything was suddenly disturbed, yet the double columns of the fourth and light divisions moved silently and swiftly against the breaches, and the guard of the trenches, rushing forward with a shout, encom- Sir W, Napier.] THE ASSAULT OF BADAJOS. 495 passed the San Roque with fire and broke in so violently that scarcely any resistance was made. Soon however a sudden blaze of light and the rattling of musketry indicated the commencement of a more vehement combat at the castle. There Kempt, for Picton, hurt by a fall in the camp and expecting no change in the hour, was not present ; there Kempt, I say, led the third division. Passing the Rivillas in single files by a narrow bridge under a terrible musketry, he re formed his men, and ran up the rugged hill with great fury, but only to fall at the foot of the castle severely wounded. Being carried back to the trenches, he met Picton at the bridge hastening to take the command, and meanwhile the troops, spreading along the front, had reared their heavy ladders, some against the lofty castle, some against the adjoining front on the left, and with incredible courage ascended amidst showers of heavy stones, logs of wood, and bursting shells rolled off the parapet, while from the flanks musketry was plied with fearful rapidity, and in front the leading assailants were with pike and bayonet stabbed and the ladders pushed from the walls; and all this was attended with deafening shouts, the crash of breaking ladders, and the shrieks of crushed soldiers answering to the sullen stroke of the falling weights. Still swarming round the remaining ladders those undaunted veterans strove who should first climb, until all were overturned, when the French shouted victory, and the British, baffled, yet untamed, fell back a few paces to take shelter under the rugged edge of the hill. There the broken ranks were re-formed, and the heroic colonel Ridge, again springing forward, called with stentorian voice on his men to follow, and seizing a ladder, raised it against the castle to the right of the former attack, where the wall was lower and where an embrasure offered some facility : a second ladder was placed alongside by the grenadier officer Canch, and the next instant he and Ridge were on the rampart, the shouting troops pressed after them, and the garrison, amazed and in a manner surprised, were driven fighting through the double gate into the town : the castle was won. Soon a reinforcement from 496 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. ISm W. Napif.R. the French reserve came to the gate, through which both sides fired and the enemy retired ; but Ridge fell, and no man died that night with more glory — yet many died, and there was much glory. All this time the tumult at the breaches was such as if the earth had been rent asunder and its central fires bursting upwards un controlled. The two divisions reached the glacis, just as the firing at the castle had commenced, and the flash of a single musket, discharged from the covered way as a signal, showed them the French were ready : yet no stir followed, and darkness covered the breaches. Some hay-packs were then thrown, some ladders placed, and the forlorn hopes and storming parties of the light division, five hundred in all, descended into the ditch without opposition : but then a bright flame, shooting upwards, displayed all the terrors of the scene. The ramparts crowded with dark figures and glittering arms were on one side, on the other the red columns of the British, deep and broad, coming on like streams of burning lava : it was the touch of the magician's wand, a crash of thunder followed, and the storming parties were dashed to pieces by the explosion of hundreds of shells and powder-barrels. For an instant the light division soldiers stood on the brink of the ditch, amazed at the terrific sight, but then, with a shout that matched even the sound of the explosion they flew down the ladders, or, disdaining their aid, leaped, reckless of the depth, into the gulf below ; and nearly at the same moment, amidst a blaze of musketry that dazzled the eyes, the fourth division came running in to descend with a like fury. There were only five ladders for both columns, which were close together, and the deep cut made in the bottom of the ditch, as far as the counterguard of the Trinidad, was filled with water from the inundation : into this miry snare the head of the fourth division fell, and it is said above a hundred of the fusiliers, the men of Albuera, were there smothered. Those who followed, checked not, but, as if the disaster had been expected, turned to the left and thus came upon the face of the unfinished ravelin, which, rough and broken, was mistaken for the Sir W. Napier.] THE ASSAULT OF BADAJOS. 497 breach and instantly covered with men ; a wide and deep chasm was however still between them and the ramparts, from whence came a deadly fire wasting their ranks. Thus baffled, they also commenced a rapid discharge of musketry, and" disorder ensued ; for the men of the light division, whose conducting engineer had been disabled early, having their flank confined by an unfinished ditch, intended to cut off the Santa Maria, rushed towards the breaches of the curtain and the Trinidad, which were indeed before them, but which the fourth division had been destined to storm. Great was the confusion, the ravelin was crowded with men of both divisions, and while some continued to fire, others jumped down and run towards the breach ; many also passed between the ravelin and the counterguard of the Trinidad ; the two divisions got mixed, and the reserves, which should have remained at the quarries, also came pouring in until the ditch was quite filled, the rear still crowding forward and all cheering vehemently. The enemy's shouts also were loud and terrible, and the bursting of shells and of grenades, the roaring of guns from the flanks answered by the iron howitzers from the parallel, the heavy roll and horrid explosion of the powder-barrels, the whizzing flight of the blazing splinters, the loud exhortations of the officers, and the continual clatter of the muskets, made a maddening din. Now a multitude bounded up the great breach as if driven by a whirlwind ¦ but across the top glittered a range of sword blades, sharp-pointeW, keen-edged, immovably fixed in ponderous beams chained together and set deep in the ruins ; and for ten feet in front the ascent was covered with loose planks studded with iron points, on which the feet of the foremost being set the planks slipped, and the unhappy soldiers falling forward on the spikes rolled down upon the ranks behind. Then the Frenchmen, shouting at the success of their stratagem and leaping forward, . plied their shot with terrible rapidity, for every man had several muskets, and each musket in addition to its ordinary charge contained, a small cylinder of wood stuck full of wooden slugs, which scattered like hail when they were discharged. Once and again the assailants rushed up the breaches, but the sword-blades, immovable and impassable, always stopped the 498 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Napier. charge, and the hissing shells and thundering powder-barrels exploded unceasingly. Hundreds of men had fallen, hundreds more were dropping, yet the heroic officers still called aloud for new trials, and sometimes followed by many, sometimes by few, ascended the ruins ; and so furious were the men themselves, that in one of these charges the rear strove to push the foremost on to the sword blades, willing even to make a bridge of their writhing bodies ; the others frustrated the attempt by dropping down, yet men fell so fast from the shot it was hard to say who went down voluntarily, who were stricken, and many stooped unhurt that never rose again. Vain also would it have been to break through the sword-blades ; for a finished trench and parapet were behind the breach, where the assailants, crowded into even a narrower space than the ditch was, would still have been separated from their enemies, and the slaughter have continued. At the beginning of this dreadful conflict, Andrew Barnard had with prodigious efforts separated his division from the other, and preserved some degree of military array ; but now the tumult was such, no command could be heard distinctly except by those close at hand, while the mutilated carcases heaped on each other, and the wounded, struggling to avoid being trampled upon, broke the formations ; order was impossible ! Nevertheless officers of all stations, followed more or less numerously by the men, were seen to start out as if struck by a sudden madness and rush into the breach, which, yawning and glittering with steel, sefmed like the mouth of some huge dragon belching forth smoke and flame. In one of these attempts Colonel Macleod of the 43rd, whose feeble body would have been quite unfit for war if it had not been sus tained by an unconquerable spirit, was killed. Wherever his voice was heard there his soldiers gathered, and with such strong reso lution did he lead them up the ruins, that when one, falling behind him, plunged a bayonet into his back, he complained not, but continuing his course was shot dead within a yard of the sword-blades. There was however, no want of gallant leaders or desperate followers, until two hours passed in these vain efforts convinced the soldiers the Trinidad was impregnable ; and as the opening in the curtain, although less strong, was retired, and Sir W. Napier.] THE ASSAULT OF BADAJOS.— II. 499 the approach impeded by deep holes and cuts made in the ditch, the troops did not much notice it after the partial failure of one attack, which had been made early. Gathering in dark groups and leaning on their muskets they looked up with sullen despera tion at the Trinidad, while the enemy stepping out on the ram parts and aiming their shots by the light of the fireballs which they threw over, asked, as their victims fell, Why they did not come into Badajos 1 %\t Assault Of §aflilj'0g — II. In this dreadful situation, while the dead wefe lying in heaps, and others continually falling, the wounded crawling about to get some shelter from the merciless shower above, and withal a sick ening stench from the burnt flesh of the slain, captain Nicholas of the engineers, was observe'?! by lieut Shaw of the 43rd, making incredible efforts to force his way with a few men into the Santa Maria. Collecting fifty soldiers of all regiments he joined him, and passing a deep cut along the foot of this breach, these two young officers, at the head of their band, rushed up the slope of the ruins, but ere they gained two-thirds of the ascent, a concen trated fire of musketry and grape dashed nearly the whole dead to the earth : Nicholas was mortally wounded, and the intrepid Shaw stood alone ! * After this no further effort was made at any point, and the troops remained passive, but unflinching, beneath the enemy's shot, which streamed without intermission : for many of the riflemen on the glacis, leaping early into the ditch, had joined in the assault, and the rest, raked by a cross-fire of grape from the distant bastions, baffled in their aim by the smoke and flames from the explosions, and too few in number, had entirely failed to quell the French musketry. About midnight, when two thousand brave men had fallen, Wellington, who was.on a height close to the quarries, sent orders for the remainder to retire and re-form for a second assault ; for * Now major-general Shaw Kennedy. Captain Nicholas, when-dying, told the story of this effort, adding that he saw Shaw, while thus standing alone, deliberately pull out his watch, and repeating the hour aloud, declared that the breach could not be carried that night, K K 2 500 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Napier, he had just then heard that the castle was taken, and thinking the enemy would still hold out in the town, was resolved to assail the breaches again. This retreat from the ditch was not effected with out further carnage and confusion ; for the French fire never slack ened, and a cry arose that the enemy were making a sally from the flanks, which caused a rush towards the ladders. Then the groans and lamentations of the wounded, who could not move and expected to be slain, increased : and many officers who did not hear of the order endeavoured to stop the soldiers from going back ; some would even have removed the ladders, but were un able to break the crowd. All this time the third division lay close in the castle, and either from fear of risking the loss of a point which insured the capture of the place, or that the egress was too difficult, made no attempt to drive away the enemy from the breaches. On the other side however, the fifth division had commenced the false attack on the Pardaleras, and on the right of the Guadiana the Portuguese were sharply engaged at the bridge : thus the town was girdled with fire. For Walker's brigade had, during the feint on the Pardaleras, escaladed the distant bastion of San Vincente. Moving up the bank of the river, he reached a French guard house at the barrier-gate undiscovered, the ripple of the waters smothering the sound of the footsteps ; but then the explosion at the breaches took place, the moon shone out, the French sentinels discovering the column fired, and the British soldiers springing forward under a sharp musketry, began to hew down the wooden barrier at the covered way ; the Portuguese, panic-stricken, threw down the scaling-ladders, but the others snatched them up, forced the barrier and jumped into the ditch ; there the guiding engineer was killed, a cunette embarrassed the column, and when the foremost men succeeded in rearing the ladders they were found too short, for the walls were generally above thirty feet high. The fire of the French was deadly, a small mine was sprung beneath the soldiers' feet, beams of wood and live shells were rolled over on their heads, showers of grape from the flank swept the ditch, and man after man dropped dead from the ladders. At this critical moment some of the defenders being called Sir W. Napier.] THE ASSAULT OF BADAJOS.— II. 501 away to aid in recovering the castle, the ramparts were not entirely manned, and the assailants having discovered a corner of the bastion where the scarp was only twenty feet high, placed three ladders under an embrazure which had no gun, and was only Stopped with a gabion. Some meri got up with difficulty, for the ladders were still too short, but the first man being pushed up by his comrades drew others after him, and thus many had gained the summit ; and though the French shot heavily against them from both flanks and from a house in front they thickened and could not be driven back. Half the 4th regiment then entered the town itself, while the others pushed along the rampart towards the breach, and by dint of hard fighting successively won three bastions. In the last, general Walker, leaping forwards sword in hand just as a French cannonier discharged a gun, fell with so many wounds that it was wonderful how he survived, and his soldiers seeing a lighted match on the ground cried out a mine ! At that word, such is the power of imagination, those troops whom neither the strong barrier nor the deep ditch, nor the high walls, nor the deadly fire of the enemy could stop, staggered back, appalled by a chimera of their own raising. While in that dis order a French reserve under general Veillande drove on them with a firm and rapid charge, pitching some over the walls, killing others outright, and cleansing the ramparts even to the San Vin cente : but there Leith had placed a battalion of the 38th, and when the French came up, shouting and slaying all before them, it arose and with one close volley destroyed them. This stopped the panic, and in compact order the soldiers once more charged along the walls towards the breaches, yet the French, although turned on both flanks and abandoned by fortune, would not yield. Meanwhile the detachment of the 4th regiment which had entered the town when the San Vincente was first carried, was strangely situated ; for the streets though empty were brilliantly illuminated, no person was seen, yet a low buzz and whisper were heard around, lattices were now and then gently opened, and from time to time shots were fired from underneath the doors of the houses by the Spaniards, while the regiment with bugles 1,02 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sir W. Napier. sounding, advanced towards the great square of the town. In its progress several mules going with ammunition to the breaches were taken, but the square was as empty and silent as the streets, and the houses as bright with lamps. A terrible enchantment seemed to prevail, nothing to1 be seen but light, and only low whispers heard, while the tumult at the breaches was like the crashing thunder : there the fight raged, and quitting the square the regiment attempted to take the enemy in reverse, but they were received with a rolling musketry, driven back with loss, and resumed their movement through the streets. At last the breaches were abandoned by the French, other parties entered the place, desultory combats took place in various parts, and finally Veillande and Phillipon, both wounded, seeing all ruined, passed the bridge with a few hundred soldiers and entered San Christoval. Early next morning they surrendered upon summons to lord Fitzroy Somerset, who with great readiness had pushed through the town to the drawbridge ere the French had time to organize further resistance ; yet even at the moment of ruin, this noble governor, with an unperturbed judgment, had sent horsemen out from the fort in the night to carry the news to Soult's army, which they reached in time to prevent a greater misfortune. Now commenced that wild and desperate wickedness, which tarnished the lustre of the soldier's heroism. All indeed were not alike, hundreds risked, and many lost their lives in striving to stop violence ; but madness generally prevailed, and the worst men being leaders, all the dreadful passions of human nature were displayed. Shameless rapacity, brutal intemperance, savage lust, cruelty, and murder, shrieks and piteous lamentations, groans, shouts, imprecations, the hissing of fires bursting from the houses, the crashing of doors and windows, and the reports of muskets used in violence resounded for two days and nights in the streets of Badajos ! On the third, when the city was sacked, when the soldiers were exhausted by their own excesses, the tumult rather subsided than was quelled : the wounded men were then looked to, the dead disposed of! Five thousand men and officers fell during the siege, including Sir W. Napier.] THE ASSAULT OF BADAJOS— II. 503 seven hundred Portuguese; three thousand five hundred were stricken in the assault, sixty officers and more than seven hundred men slain on the spot. Five generals, Kempt, Harvey, Bowes, Colville, and Picton were wounded, the first three severely ; six hundred men and officers fell in the escalade of San Vincente, as many at the castle, and more than two thousand at the breaches ; each division there lost twelve hundred ! But how deadly the strife was at that point may be gathered from this ; the 43rd and 52nd regiments of the light division, alone lost more men than the seven regiments of the third division engaged at the castle ! Let it be remembered that this frightful carnage took place in a space of less than a hundred yards square. That the slain died not all suddenly nor by one manner of death. That some perished by steel, some by shot, some by water ; that some were crushed and mangled by heavy weights, some trampled upon, some dashed to atoms by the fiery explosions, that for hours this destruction was endured without shrinking and that the town was won at last : these things considered, it must be admitted that a British army bears with it an awful power. And false would it be to say the French were feeble men ; the garrison stood and fought manfully and with good discipline, behaving worthily. Shame there was none on any side. Yet who shall do justice to the bravery of the British soldiers ? the noble emulation of the officers ? Who shall measure out the glory of Ridge, of Macleod, of Nicholas, of O'Hare of the rifles, who perished on the breach at the head of the stormers, and with him nearly all the volunteers for that desperate service? Who shall describe the springing valour of that Portuguese grenadier who was killed, the foremost man, at the Santa Maria ? or the martial fury of that desperate rifleman, who, in his resolution to win, thrust himself beneath the chained sword-blades, and there suffered the enemy to dash his head to pieces with the ends of their muskets? Who can suffi ciently honour the intrepidity of Walker, of Shaw, of Canch, or the resolution of Ferguson of the 43rd, who having at Rodrigo received two deep wounds was here, with his hurts still open, leading the stormers of his regiment, the third time a volunteer and the third time wounded? Nor are these selected as pre- 504 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Siborne. eminent ; many and signal were the other examples of unbounded devotion, some known, some that will never *be known; for in such a tumult much passed unobserved, and often the observers fell themselves ere they could bear testimony to what they saw : but no age, no nation ever sent forth braver troops to battle than those who stormed Badajos. When the havoc of the night was told to Wellington, the pride of conquest sunk into a passionate burst of grief for the loss of his gallant soldiers. t% g$gttle jorf Wluhxloo, Various, chiefly Siborne. The night of 17th June, 1815, was one of heavy and incessant rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Amid such a storm the troops of two mighty armies lay down within cannon-shot of each other. The allied forces under Wellington were posted on the field of Waterloo, about twelve miles from Brussels, with the forest of Soignies, eight miles in width, intervening. Their posi tion extended a little more than two miles, from a ridge on the road to Wavre, to a series of heights in the rear of the chateau of Hougoumont. From the summit of the ridge the ground sloped backwards, so as to hide the reserves, and keep the front itself concealed till the moment for action had arrived. In front of the left stood the farm of La Haye Sainte, abutting upon the road from Charleroi to Genappe, and on the right the chateau of Hougoumont — both places being formidable posts in advance. The army of Napoleon was formed in two lines, with a reserve. The first consisted of infantry flanked by cavalry, with five batteries, comprising eight guns in each, ranged along the front of this line, with a sixth, consisting of 12-pounders, in support; while six guns of horse artillery were posted on the right of Jac queminot's cavalry. The second line consisted entirely of cavalry, with the exception of the two infantry divisions of the 6th corps, under count Lobau, on the Charleroi road, well supported by artillery. In reserve, the imperial guard drew up, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, right and left of the road. These disposi- SlBORXE.] THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 5°5 tions of Napoleon were as judicious as circumstances would admit of, and he was free to move his columns of attack against any part of the English which might seem the weakest, while his own position was such as to render a direct attack by a force not superior to his own dangerous in the extreme. The force brought into the field by Wellington was as follows : — ¦ Nation. Infantry. Cavalry. Artillery. G. ns. British King's German Legion Hanoverians .... Brunswickers . . . Nassauers .... Dutch Belgians . . . Total .... I5,l8l 3,301 10,258 4,586 2,880 13,402 5,843 i,997 497 866 3,205 2,967 526 465 5IO 1,177 78 181216 32 49,608 12,408 5,645 156 Grand total, 67,661 men, with 156 guns. Napoleon, having detached Grouchy, confronted the allies with — infantry 48,950, cavalry 15,765, artillery 7,232; total, 71,947 men, with 246 guns. The numerical strength was not so very disproportionate ; but, when the composition of the corps is taken into account, the preponderance in favour of the French was beyond all comparison. The soldiers of Napoleon were all of one nation — devotedly attached to their leader, had one system of tactics, and knew their chief. Wellington's army was made up of raw levies, gathered from five or six sources, and were mostly in a state of discipline that rendered it perilous to manoeuvre with them under fire. Whilst preparation was making for the coming strife, the duke had the satisfaction of knowing that he could rely on the co-operation of the Prussians ; and long before a shot was fired a Prussian officer arrived to say that Bulow's corps was already at St. Lambert. It was about this time that Napoleon dispatched a letter to Grouchy, apprising him of the intended attack on the English, and directing him to move upon Wavre, so that he might approach, and keep up communication with head-quarters. It was about ten o'clock on the morning of Sunday the 18th 506 ' HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Siborne. that a great stir was observed along the French line ; and presently a furious attack was made upon the chateau of Hougoumont, occu pied by a detachment of the brigade of guards under cols. Hepburn and lord Saltoun, who maintained the post throughout the day, despite the repeated and desperate assaults by large bodies of the enemy. While the enclosures of Hougoumont thus continued to be furiously assailed, the artillery on both sides thundered along the whole extent of each line. Under cover of the cannonade, Ney formed his columns of attack against the left and centre of the British position. This dense mass, consisting of at least 16,000 men, supported by seventy pieces of cannon, ranged along the brow of the height, led by D'Erlon, at about two o'clock moved forward to attack the left centre of the British under a murderous fire from the allied artillery. The divisions of Alix and Marcognet pressing onwards, had opened fire on the Dutch-Belgian line, when the latter lost all order and fled. Picton's division, con sisting of the brigades of Kemp and Pack, numbering altogether little more than 3,000 men, deployed into line, to receive not fewer than 13,000 infantry, besides cavalry; but Picton, nothing daunted, as soon as the enemy halted and began to take ground to the right, shouted, " A volley and then charge ! " The order was so rigidly obeyed, that the enemy, taken in the act of deploying, were borne back in the utmost confusion. The success was, however, dearly purchased — Picton was mortally wounded by a musket-ball in the temple ; but Kemp gallantly supplied his place, and the line moved on, driving before it all resistance. A body of cuirassiers bearing hard upon the Hanoverian infantry, the household brigade, led by lord Edward Somerset, came thundering forward, and the elite horsemen of the rival nations met in close and desperate strife. The British prowess at length prevailed, and the enemy, overpowered, fled in wild confusion ; but as the French far outnumbered the allies in cavalry, their reserve coming up in excellent order once more turned the tide of battle. Our dispersed horsemen fell back, experiencing con siderable loss. Covered by the horse artillery and supported by Vivian's hussars, they, however, succeeded in reaching the crest of the position, where they re-formed under protection of the infantry. Siborne.] THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 507 But the ground was covered with the dead and dying ; and among the former was major-general Ponsonby. While great efforts con tinued to be made by the French to gain possession of Hougou mont, and the right of the line was threatened by a body of lancers, Donzelat's division pushed upon La Haye Sainte. The interval between became filled by such a display of horsemen as had never been looked upon by the most experienced soldier in the allied army. Forty squadrons, of which twenty-one consisted entirely of cuirassiers, descending from the French heights in three lines, began to mount to the English position ; and despite the murderous discharge of the allied artillery, these resolute horsemen continued to advance at a steady trot, their cannon thundering over them. Arriving within forty yards of the English guns, with a loud shout they put their strong horses to their speed, and in a moment all the advanced batteries were in their possession. At this period all the allied regiments were in squares along the crest of the glacis, with their front ranks kneeling. Nevertheless the cuirassiers would not shrink from the trial. Once again the cry arose, " Vive l'Empereur ! " and, with the noise of thunder, they rushed on. But their pace slackened as they approached ; and they no sooner received a fire than they broke off from the centre by troops and squadrons. Thus passed the whole line of cuirassiers, while the second and third lines, the former consisting of lancers, the latter of chasseurs, plunged headlong into the same course, and the British infantry became enveloped by the enemy. But they were not left long to maintain the combat single-handed. Lord Uxbridge, gathering as many squadrons as were available, launched them against the assailants, and drove them back over the declivity in confusion. They, however, soon rallied under their own guns, and driving back the English beyond their squares, the game of the previous half hour was played over and over again. Round and round these impenetrable masses the French horsemen rode, individuals here and there closing upon the bayonets and cutting at the men, but not a square was broken. The repulse of Ney's cavalry, and the failure of the attempts upon Hougoumont and La Haye, deter mined Napoleon to make another effort upon the main position of 508 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Siborne, the allies. Kellermann was ordered to move forward with his corps, whilst Ney adding the cavalry of the guard, no less than thirty-seven squadrons formed in rear of the broken force which had begun to rally ; and in a short time the whole extent of the field between Charleroi road and Hougoumont was covered with these splendid corps of horsemen. Again were the squares assailed without success, and again did lord Uxbridge come to the rescue. Having failed to make an impression on the first line, composed entirely of British and German troops, a large body of French cavalry passed over the ridge, and threatened the Dutch-Belgians in the second line. Great was the commotion in that part of the field, from which whole masses of men began to move off with out firing a shot. Lord Uxbridge again led the remains of his cavalry forward, and the enemy were driven back, pursued by Somerset's brigade ; but the Dutch-Belgian carbineers disregarded the exhortation of lord Uxbridge to follow him in the same course. Instead of advancing to the attack they went to the right about, and galloping through the 3rd Hussars of the German Legion, fairly fled the field. Never did a battle field present such an anomalous spectacle. To all appearance the French were masters of the position of the allies. Their cavalry rode round the English infantry, and their strength of numbers overawed the allied horse. Scarcely an English gun gave fire, and most of those in front were actually in possession of the enemy, the gunners having sought shelter within the squares. Yet the guns were safe, for the artillerymen had left neither harness nor limber, and thus the cavalry were deprived of the means of carrying them off. Meanwhile, the right of the English line had been sharply assailed, but Adams' brigade, con sisting of the 52nd, 71st, and 2nd battalion of the 95th regiment, under the immediate direction of Wellington, drove the enemy back over the hill. Napoleon, finding that all his attempts upon Hougoumont had failed, in order to make a lodgment in front of the main position, pushed forward Donzelat's division against La Haye Sainte, which, after a sharp opposition by major Baring, was carried. Siuorne.] THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 509 It was now about half past four o'clock, when the British regi ments, although reduced to skeletons, still held their ground ; and the duke rode along the line, encouraging his diminished battalions, when the welcome sound of Blucher's approach was heard, as the 15 th and 16th Prussian brigades debouched from the wood of Paris, moving upon the right flank of the French army. Lobau, with the 6th corps, had been detached to resist this movement ; but the Prussians continued to receive reinforce ments, and at six o'clock they had brought thirty battalions, twenty-seven squadrons, and sixty-four guns into action. It was in vain that Lobau, with half that force, sought to maintain his ground ; and abandoning Planchenoit, he drew off towards the Charleroi road. It was at this critical moment that Napoleon, observing the masses of Prussians pouring into the field, deter mined to attack the right centre of the English position with a column of the imperial guard ; whilst a second, in support, moved nearer towards Hougoumont. The cavalry were at the same time to advance en masse ; and this movement was to be made under cover of the whole of their powerful artillery. The interval between these masses was to be filled up with cavalry, and Donze- lat's division, now gathered round La Haye Sainte, was to dash forward. These preparations were met by Wellington filling up the gaps already made in his line ; and these arrangements were yet in progress when forth from the enclosures of La Haye Sainte Donzelat's corps came pouring. They advanced in dense skir mishing order, and brought several pieces of artillery to bear within a hundred yards of the allied line — doing such dreadful execution on the German Legion, that Kreuse's Brunswickers wavered until sustained by Du Plat's Brunswickers and the Nassau regiments, gallantly led by the prince of Orange, on which occasion he was severely wounded. The duke's presence restored order, and the battle was renewed. The imperial guard, led by Ney, Friant, and Michel, after filing past the emperor, now passed down the descent from La Belle Alliance. There was a cessation in the firing of the French artillery, and simultaneously with this advance the corps of D'Erlon, en 'echelon of columns, moved partly upon Lambert's brigade, while their right was engaged with 510 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Siborne the Prussians ; and Reille, with some of his battalions penetrating the wood of Hougoumont, advanced boldly with another portion upon the centre of the English line. It was now seven o'clock — the third corps of Prussians had arrived ; and their whole force, close at hand, was little less than 50,000 men, with 100 pieces of cannon. The French batteries, which had remained silent until the rear of the advancing column had cleared their muzzles, opened with rapidity and precision, doing fearful execution upon the regiments that came within their range. As the leading column of the guard approached, the English batteries played upon them : yet they never paused a moment, but continued boldly to advance, despite the havoc occasioned by their murderous fire. Michel nobly fell, Friant was severely wounded, and Ney, who rode at the head of these veterans, had his horse shot under him ; but, nothing dismayed, he led them on foot, and driving in the light troops, they reached the summit. It was then that Wellington directed the brigade of guards, under major-general Maitland, to attack this imposing force. Pouring in a destructive volley, they moved upon the enemy with the bayonet, and spite of every effort of the officers to rally, this elite of the French army ran down the slope, closely pursued by the British guards. Meanwhile there was close fighting everywhere else, and Donzelat's troops were borne back by Halkett, on whom the command of Alten's division had devolved. The second column of the imperial guard, although much cut up by the fire of our artillery, still pushed forward somewhat towards the flank of Maitland's troops ; and that officer, observing the direction of this fresh attack, withdrew his men to the ridge whence they had descended. Adam's brigade now bearing on the enemy's flank, poured a deadly fire into the mass ; and Maitland once more descending the slope, the two brigades, enveloping the column, swept it from the field. D'Erlon's corps was also repulsed, that of Reille dispersed, and it only wanted the general advance of the British line to complete the victory ; but it should be borne in mind that, on the extreme right, Lobau's corps, though over-matched, was unbroken, and faced Bulow stoutly. Siborne.] THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 511 Napoleon, seeing his guards falling back in confusion, his broken squadrons fleeing, his guns abandoned, and having no reserve to fall back upon, shortly after eight o'clock galloped from the field. A cheer was now heard on the right, which flew swiftly along the entire position of the allies, and the whole line rushed forward. Darkness soon set in, and such confusion pre vailed that the advanced cavalry got so completely intermingled among the crowds of fugitives that they could with difficulty extricate themselves, and more than one awkward rencontre took place. Guns, tumbrils, the whole materiel, in short, of the routed army, remained in possession of the British. Then as the Prussians came furiously advancing upon the routed enemy, the duke, feeling that the day was won, caused the order for a general halt to be passed ; and the weary but victorious English lay down upon the position they had so gloriously gained. Almost every individual of Wellington's personal staff was either killed or wounded. Colonel de Lancey, quarter-master-general, was mor tally wounded, as were two of his grace's aides-de-camp — colonel the lion. Alexander Gordon and lieutenant-colonel Canning; major-general Barnes, adjutant-general, and lieutenant-colonel Fitzroy Somerset, military secretaiy, were wounded; and lord Uxbridge, who was struck by one of the last shots fired, lost his right leg. The duke, after following the flying army far beyond the Belle Alliance, was on his way back when he met Blucher. Many congratulations passed between the two generals ; and the latter readily undertook to follow up the pursuit. Thus was fought, and thus ended, one of the greatest battles in modern times ; and if its results be taken into account, perhaps the most important recorded in history. Jnribmte ut Mixttxloa. Siborne. Alix's leading brigade, having passed clear of Kempt's left, found itself unopposed by infantry in its front, but the head of Marcognet's column, after passing close by the right of captain von Rettberg's Hanoverian foot-battery, from which 512 HALF HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Skiborne. it had received a very destructive fire during its advance, beheld Pack's brigade approaching to meet it. The three Scotch regiments, the ist Royals, the 42nd and 92nd High landers, under the animating sounds of their native pibroch, moved steadily on with the noble mien and gallant bearing of men bent upon upholding, at any sacrifice, the honour and glory of their country. The 44th regiment, which formed the left of the brigade, having its front covered by Best's Hanoverians, remained in support upon the summit or knoll immediately above, and on the left of the hollow in which the rest of the brigade had been posted. That portion of the French column which had by this time crossed the hedge was in perfect order, and presented a bold and determined front. It was opposed to the 42nd and 92nd Highlanders, but principally to the latter regiment. As the brigade approached the column, it received from it a fire, which, however, it did not return, but continued to advance steadily until it had arrived within twenty or thirty yards' distance, when the 92nd and 42nd Highlanders, who were more directly in front of the column, threw into the mass a concentrated fire, most destructive in its effects. The French were staggered by the shock, but speedily recovering themselves, began to reply with great spirit to the fire of their opponents, when the latter received the order to charge ; but at this very moment Ponsonby's. brigade came up. Colonel Muter had just before perceived the raised cocked-hat,* when he instantly ordered and conducted the advance of the brigade. The Scots Greys had been ordered to support the Royals and Inniskillings ; but having moved down into lower ground on the left, to get more under cover from the enemy's cannonade, and subsequently advanced in left rear of those two regiments, they beheld in their direct front the head * This signal was not made by sir William Ponsonby himself, but by his aide-de-camp, captain Evans (afterwards sir de Lacy Evans, K.C.B., lieut.- general in the Spanish service). The former was mounted on a secondary un trained horse, which became restive, and startled by the fire and noise that prevailed at the very moment the general had decided upon advancing the brigade. His cloak being loose, flew off, and he dismounted for an instant for the purpose of restoring it to its place; it was while he was thus engaged that he directed captain Evans to make the signal in question. ¦ Siborne.1 INCIDENTS AT WATERLOO. 513 of Marcognet's division establishing itself on the height. Their course from that moment was obvious. They soon got up into line, or nearly so, with the remainder of the brigade, and joined in the general charge. Upon Ponsonby's brigade coming up with the infantry, it passed through the latter as well and as quickly as it could : in some instances, intervals were made for the dragoons by the wheeling of companies ; in others, by that of subdivisions or of sections : but generally the passage was effected in rather an irregular manner; and, under the circumstances, this was un avoidable. As the Scots Greys passed through, and mingled with the High landers, the enthusiasm of both corps was extraordinary. They mutually cheered. "Scotland for ever!" was their war-shout The smoke in which the head of the French column was en shrouded had not cleared away, when the Greys dashed into the mass. So eager was the desire, so strong the determination of the Highlanders to aid their compatriots in completing the work so gloriously begun, that many were seen holding on by the stirrups of the horsemen, while all rushed forward, leaving none but the disabled in their rear. The leading portion of the column soon yielded to this infuriated onset ; the remainder, which was yet in the act of ascending the exterior slope, appalled by the sudden appearance of cavalry at a moment when, judging by the sound of musketry-fire in front, they had naturally concluded that it was with infantry alone they had to contend, were hurled back in confusion by the impetus of the shock. The dragoons, having the advantage of the descent, appeared to mow down the mass, which, bending under the pressure, quickly spread itself outwards in all directions. Yet, in that mass were many gallant spirits, who could not be brought to yield without a struggle; and these fought bravely to the death ; not that they served to impede, but only to mark more strongly the course of the impetuous torrent a3 it swept wildly past them, presenting to the eye of the artistic observer those streaks which, arising incidentally from such partial and individual contests, invariably characterise the track of a ¦charge of cavalry. Within that mass, too, was borne the imperial eagle of the 45th regiment, proudly displaying on its banner the 514 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Sibornb names of Jena, Austerlitz, Wagram, Eylau, and Friedland — fields in which this regiment had covered itself with glory, and acquired the distinguished title of " The Invincibles." A devoted band encircled the sacred standard, which attracted the observation, and excited the ambition, of a daring and adventurous soldier named Ewart, a sergeant of the Greys. After a desperate struggle, evincing on his part great physical strength combined with extra ordinary dexterity, he succeeded in capturing the cherished trophy. The gallant fellow was directed to proceed with it to Brussels, where he was received with acclamations by thousands who came forward to welcome and congratulate him.* Without pausing for a moment to re-form, those of the Greys who had forced their way through, or on either flank of the mass, rushed boldly onwards against the leading supporting column of Marcognet's right brigade. This body of men, lost in amazement at the suddenness, the wildness of the charge, and its terrific effect upon their countrymen on the higher ground in front, had either not taken advantage of the very few moments that intervened, by preparing an effectual resistance to cavalry, or, if they attempted the necessary formation, did so when there was no longer time for its completion. Their outer files certainly opened a fire which proved very destructive to their assailants ; but to such a degree had the impetus of the charge been augmented by the rapidly increasing descent of the slope, that these brave dragoons pos sessed as little of the power as of the will to check their speed, and they plunged down into the mass with a force that was truly irresistible. Its foremost ranks driven back with irrepressible violence, the entire column tottered for a moment, and then sank under the overpowering wave. Hundreds were crushed to rise no more ; and hundreds rose again but to surrender to the victors; who speedily swept their prisoners to the rear, while the High landers secured those taken from the leading column. Along the remainder of the line the charge of the "Union brigade " was equally brilliant and successful. On the right, the royal dragoons, by inclining somewhat to their left, during the * Early in the following year, sergeant Ewart was appointed to an ensigncy in the 3rd royal veteran battalion. Siborne.] ' INCIDENTS AT WATERLOO. 515 advance, brought their centre squadron to bear upon the head ot the leading column of Alix's division, which had crossed the hedges lining the Wavre road, and being unchecked, was rapidly advanc ing across the crest of the ridge. Suddenly its loud shouts ot triumph ceased as it perceived the close approach of cavalry up the interior slope of the Anglo-allied position. Whether it was actuated by a consciousness of danger from the disorder neces sarily occasioned in its rear by the passage through the banked-up hedges, by a dread of being caught in the midst of any attempt to assume a formation better adapted for effective resistance, or being entirely cut off from all support, it is difficult to decide, but the head of this column certainly appeared to be seized with a panic. Having thrown out an irregular and scattering fire, which served only to bring down about twenty of the dragoons, it instantly faced about, and endeavoured to regain the opposite side of the hedges. The Royals, however, were slashing in amongst them before this object could be effected. The rear ranks of the column, still pressing forward, and unconscious of the obstruction in front, now met those that were hurled back upon them, down the exterior slope, by the charge of the Royals, who continued pressing forward against both front and flanks of the mass. The whole was in a moment so jammed together as to have become perfectly helpless. Men tried in vain to use their muskets, which were either jerked out of their hands, or discharged at random in the attempt. Gradually a scattering flight from the rear loosened the unmanageable mass, which now rolled back helplessly along vts downward course. Many brave spirits, hitherto pent up in the midst of the throng, appeared disposed to hazard a defiance ; and amongst these the swords of the Royals dealt fearful havoc : many threw down their arms, and gave themselves up in despair, and these were hurried off by the conquerors to the rear of the British line. The 28th French regiment,* which formed a direct support to the 105th regiment,* comprising the column thus attacked, though astounded by the scene before it, and almost driven back by the * These two regiments, consisting of two battalions each, constituted the left brigade of Alix's division, commanded by general Quiot. L L 2 516 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Siborne. panic-stricken fugitives, still retained a considerable semblance of order. Amidst the crowd that was now precipitating itself on this supporting column, to seek its shelter and protection, was an officer, the bearer of the eagle of the 105th regiment. This standard, which had been presented to the corps by the Empress Maria Louisa, was accompanied at the moment by a party appa rently forming a guard for its defence. Captain Clarke,* com manding the centre squadron of the Royals, on discovering the group, instantly gave the order, "Right shoulders forward — attack the colour ! " and led directly upon the eagle himself. On reaching it, he ran his sword through the body of the standard-bearer, who immediately fell, and the eagle dropped across the head of captain Clarke's horse. He endeavoured to catch it with his left hand, but could only touch the fringe of the colour, and it would pro bably have fallen to the ground, and have been lost in the confu sion of the moment, had it not been saved by corporal Stiles, who, having been standard-coverer, and therefore posted imme diately in rear of the squadron-leader, came up at the instant, on captain Clarke's left, and caught the colour as it struck, in falling, against his own horse's neck.t So great were the confusion and dismay, created in the second column by the rush towards it of the disorganized remnant of the leading body, mixed up as it was with the dragoons, still pressing eagerly forward, as also by the signal overthrow of the columns on their right by the Inniskillings, that the entire mass speedily yielded to the pressure, and commenced a disorderly flight, pur sued by the Royals to the foot of the valley by which the two positions were divided. * Afterwards colonel Alexander Kennedy Clarke Kennedy, C.B., K.IL, commanding the 7th dragoon guards. f As a reward for this distinguished service, lieut. -colonel Clarke was appointed a companion of the order of the Bath. Upon receiving the eagle from corporal Stiles, he vainly endeavoured to break it off from the pole, with the intention of placing it in the breast of his coat, in order to secure it, whilst in the midst of the enemy's troops. Seeing this, corporal Stiles remarked, " Pray, sir, do not break it;" yv-nereupon colonel Clarke said, "Very well, tarry it to the rear as fast as you can — it belongs to me. " Corporal Stiles was appointed, in the following year, to an ensigncy in the 6th West India Regiment. The Editor] THE REIGN OF GEORGE IV. 517 The Inniskillings, forming the centre regiment of the brigade, did not come quite so soon into contact with the French infantry as did the flank regiments. The columns in their immediate front were the two formed by the 54th and 55th French regiments of two battalions each, which, as previously explained, advanced in support, and in right rear of Alix's leading brigade. Only the' left and part of the centre squadron of the Inniskillings had to pass through British infantry as they advanced ; the front of the right squadron was clear. The Irish " hurrah ! " loud, wild, and shrill, rent the air, as. the Inniskillings, bursting through the hedge and bounding over the road, dashed boldly down the slope towards the French columns, which were about sixty yards distant ; an interval that imparted an additional impetus to their charge, and assisted in securing for it a result equally brilliant with that obtained by the other two regiments. The right and centre squadrons bore down upon the 55 th French regiment. These columns, like those on their right and left, were not allowed, time to recover from their astonishment at the unexpected, sudden, and vehement charge of cavalry launched against them. A feeble and irregular fire was the only attempt they made to avert the im pending danger. In the next instant the dragoons were amongst them, plying their swords with fearful swiftness and dexterity, and cleaving their way into the midst of the masses, which, rolling back, and scattering outwards, presented an extra ordinary scene of confusion. In addition to the destruction effected by this regiment, the number of prisoners which it secured was immense. Vat $*ip of <&tax$b IV. The Editor. The reign of George IV. began with the discovery of a con spiracy to overthrow the government by the assassination of alL the cabinet ministers. The chief leader in this terrible plot was a man named Arthur Thistlewood. He had served as a subaltern in the West Indies, and had afterwards resided in France during the worst era of the revolution. In America he had imbibed republican opinions; the idea of assassination sprang probably eiS HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editok. from the scenes with which he had been familiar in France. He had been an accomplice of Watson, a demagogue, who had headed a riot in Spafields in 1816, and whose son had shot a gentleman who remonstrated with the rioters. He was tried with Watson, but acquitted, and, on his acquittal, sent a challenge to Lord Sidmouth, for which he was sentenced to fine and imprison ment. From that moment he cherished a deep-set feeling of revenge, and devoted his whole time to the accomplishment of a means for wreaking it on the ministers. Mingling with the most depraved of the people, he gathered round him a number of men as desperate as himself. Of these the principal were Ings, a butcher, Davidson, a Creole, Brunt and Tidd, shoemakers. These, with a number of others, held meetings, and decided that the distress they laboured under could no longer be borne, and that they would act at once. They fixed on Wednesday, the 23rd of February, for the execution of their plot, and arranged that forty or fifty of the gang should assassinate the cabinet ministers — on pledge of forfeiting their own lives if they failed through want of resolution; other detachments were simultaneously to seize the field-pieces in the artillery ground and at the London light-horse station in Gray's Inn-lane ; possessed of these they were to take possession of the Mansion House, which was to be the palace of the provisional government. The bank and the Tower were to be attacked and taken, and the city fired at several points. Meetings were held by them on the preceding Monday and Tuesday. On the last-named day a pretended accomplice, named Edwards — in reality a spy of the government — assured Thistle wood that a cabinet dinner would be given the next day at lord Harrowby's house in Grosvenor-square, and the chief conspirator exultingly observed that, "as there had not been a political dinner for a long time, there would be fourteen or fifteen present, and it would be a rare treat to dispatch them together." An injunction was laid on the destined assassins to bring away the heads of lords Castlereagh and Sidmouth, as proofs of their success. From lord Harrowby's a few were to proceed imme diately to the barracks in King-street, Portman-square, to set the straw depot on fire, and then to hasten to co-operate with the The Editor.] THE REIGN OF GEORGE IV, 519 others. Strict watch was to be kept on the house in Grosvenor- square, into which they were to gain admittance by a stratagem. Thistlewood was to knock at the door, and to present to the porter a despatch box, resembling those in which papers were transmitted from one minister to another, and to desire the man to take it to lord Harrowby. The gang were then to rush in, and throw com bustibles into the passage to increase the alarm, while the chief conspirators were to proceed to the dining-room and massacre all who were present. They had hired for their place of meeting two lofts over a stable in Cato-street, near the Edgware-road, and the neighbours had been alarmed by seeing a number of strange men assemble after dark in the winter evenings carrying sacks and parcels of all descriptions ; these contained firearms, swords, pikes, and hand-grenades. The whole of the day fixed for the massacre was spent in adding to and distributing these arms, and in pre paring proclamations to be affixed to the public buildings. Gradually; towards evening, they gathered to their rendezvous in Cato-street, and then, assembling in the larger loft, leaving a sentinel below, they armed themselves for their desperate and wicked enterprise. The room was lighted only by a few small candles, and the scene must have been one ot gloomy horror, considering the purpose on which they were bent. But all the time, the plot had been betrayed by Edwards. Every precaution, however, was taken to hide this fact from the conspirators, who were far too dangerous to be let escape. The apparent preparations for lord Harrowby's banquet were continued till nearly eight o'clock ; and a party of police, headed by Mr. Birnie, the magi strate, proceeded to the place of rendezvous in Cato-street, where a detachment of the Coldstream guards was to support them. But the constables reached the spot before the military, and, ascending the ladder, surprised the conspirators in their loft, on the very point of starting on their enterprise. They were ordered to surrender, and Smithers, an active police officer, rushing forward to secure the ringleader, was run through and killed by the con spirator. The lights were then extinguished, and the conflict became general ; some of the gang dashed down the ladder as the officers grappled with them ; others forced their way out through ij20 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. a window at the back of the loft At this juncture captain- Fitz- clarence arrived with the Coldstream guards, with fixed bayonets. They secured one of the gang in the act of escaping, but he succeeded in firing first at captain Fitzclarence. The aim, how ever, was averted by sergeant Legge, whom it wounded in the discharge. The officer then ordered his men to follow him into the stable, but his entrance was opposed by a negro, who aimed a blow at him with a cutlass. One of the soldiers intercepted the blow with his musket> and the fellow was secured. Then all entered the stable and mounted to the loft, where they captured five more. The darkness favoured the escape of these assassins so well that only nine were taken in all. Thistlewood effected his escape, but a reward of ^1,000 being offered for his appre hension, he was seized next day in bed, and some others were apprehended during the two following days. On the 27th of March true bills on a charge of high treason were returned against eleven of the prisoners. On the 17 th of the month Thistle wood was tried, and, after a three days' trial, condemned chiefly on the testimony of Adams, one of the gang, who was allowed to turn king's evidence. Ings, Tidd, Brunt, and Davidson, also were severally tried and convicted. The other six pleaded guilty; five were sentenced to transportation for life, and one, who appeared to have been ignorant of the purpose of the conspirators, was pardoned. The ringleaders suffered the horrible penalty of high treason ; they were hanged, drawn, and quartered, but suffered their punish ment with great hardihood, glorying in their purpose, and calling themselves martyrs of liberty. The conspirators were of the poorest and lowest class. When searched after their apprehension, not a shilling was found on the whole party, and only their utter ignorance could have urged them to such an impossible attempt. For Thistlewood, revenge was probably all he expected or desired — the rest was a chance. Their execution was productive of much popular clamour. It was said that the government spies had not only watched them, but incited them to the attempt, and had furnished them with arms. In fact, the system of espionage practised by the government was most objectionable, and opposed to all English feeling. Never- The Editor.] THE REIGN OF GEORGE TV. 52 J theless, the terror the plot inspired strengthened the hands of the government, as" people were terrified at the dangers lurking in their midst. In fact, midnight meetings for training, the collection of arms, and manufacture of pikes, had been going on all the winter in the West Riding of Yorkshire ; but when the appointed time for a general insurrection arrived, two hundred or three hundred malcontents only appeared in arms near Huddersfield, and these fled in consternation at the approach of a detachment of cavalry, leavmg behind them a green standard and a number of pikes. The next trouble of the reign was the dissension between the king and his wife Caroline of Brunswick, from whom he had long been separated. She had, by Mr. Canning's advice, gone abroad in 1814, after a judicial inquiry, to which she had been subjected. But spies had been set upon her conduct, and their reports decided the king to demand a trial of his wife, in hopes of getting a divorce. Finding her name omitted in the liturgy, she had demanded its introduction, and, on receiving a refusal, came to England to claim her regal rights. She was offered .£50,000 a year if she remained on the continent, and threatened with a trial if she returned. Nevertheless she came back, and was supported by the great majority of the people, who have a generous instinct for defending the weaker side. She was, however, tried by the house of lords, her defenders being Mr. Henry (afterwards lord) Brougham, and Mr. Thomas (afterwards lord) Denman, and was acquitted ; but she gained little by the trial. Many believed her guilty of all with which she had been charged. The lower people at the beginning of the trial had been her champions. But on her refusing to receive their deputations as often as. at first, and on her throwing herself on the support of the whig leaders, her popularity waned. She was not allowed by the king to share his coronation, but endeavoured to force her way into the abbey. Finding this impossible, she returned, utterly depressed and broken-hearted, to her house. A fatal illness set in, and Caroline of Brunswick expired on the 7 th of August, i82r. She ordered, on her death-bed, that her remains should be taken to her native land, and that the inscription on her 522 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. tomb should be, " Here lies Caroline of Brunswick, the injured queen of England." Whether she was injured, time has not revealed. That George IV. was a bad husband cannot be disputed ; but the queen was un doubtedly ill-conducted, and coarse, and gave only too much scope for the impression that she was grievously to blame. The May of this year saw the death of Napoleon Buonaparte, at St Helena. The king visited Ireland, Scotland, and Hanover, and, soon after his coronation in England, he was again crowned at the latter place. In 182 1 the Greeks rose against the Turks, and declared their independence. The sultan sent large forces against them, and great cruelties were committed by the Pashas, numbers of Christians being barbarously murdered, especially in the island of Scio. The sympathy of all Europe was excited in behalf of the Greeks, and many remarkable men championed their cause, especially our great national poet, Byron. He took five hundred men into his pay, lent the Greeks £10,000, and joined their army in person. Un happily he died from fatigue and fever at Missolonghi, in 1824. The Greeks fought bravely for their freedom, but must finally l^ave been defeated had not England, France, and Russia interfered in their behalf. Sir Edward Codrington was sent out with a fleet to try and check the savage cruelties of Ibrahim Pasha, and a sea- fight occurred at Navarino August 21, 1827, in which the Turkish fleet was destroyed. In 1829 a bill was passed emancipating the Roman catholics, and permitting them to sit in parliament. The freedom of Greece (in great part) was now achieved, and prince Leopold, the widowed husband of the princess Charlotte, was offered the throne — but he declined it. It was accepted by Otho, a prince of Bavaria, 1832. In 1829 a great outcry arose about the corn laws, which con tinued as an agitation till they were repealed. During this peaceful reign many discoveries and improvements were made. North Polar expeditions were undertaken ; African explorations commenced under lieutenant Clapperton and major Denham; and Belzoni brought the antiquities of Egypt to the H. Martineau.] SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES 523 knowledge of the people. The Regent's Park was laid out, the Zoological Gardens formed; Mechanics' Institutes were estab lished — the first by Dr. Birkbeck. Cheap literature was issued, such as " Chambers's Journal," &c, &c. ; a type was also invented for the blind. The laws were amended, and milder punishments decreed. Elizabeth Fry continued Howard's good work in the jails. But the great discovery of the age was the use of steam on the ocean. Fulton introduced steam-vessels in America. George Dodd brought them into use on the Thames, 1812-13. Ocean steam-packets were first used in 1818. In 1 8 19 the first steam voyage was made between America and England in twenty-six days, and in 1825 the first to India by captain Johnstone, in -the Enterprise, for which he received a reward of £10,000. Omnibuses came into use in 1829, and the present post office was built. The king was in bad health, and lived much secluded from his people ; he was, therefore, not a very popular monarch. He was a man of some ability, and possessed much personal grace and courtesy ; but his youth had been wild and dissipated, and his age, therefore, lacked the love and reverence yielded to the good old king, his father. He died May 26, 1830, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and the eleventh of his reign, but he had virtually ruled the country ever since 181 1. His next brother, the duke of York, had died childless in 1827. The king was, therefore, succeeded by his brother William, duke of Clarence, the third son of George III. George IV. married Caroline of Brunswick, and had one daughter, Charlotte, who married prince Leopold, of Saxe Cobourg, and died young. glubtxxx in % WitBi Jfnirbs. Harriet Martineau. Nothing is more memorable in the history of this year than the movement in the House' and in the West Indies on the subject of negro slavery. Those who had achieved the abolition of the slave ¦frade, declared (and no doubt in all sincerity at the time) that 524 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. their aim was confined to this object; but when men have entered on a work of principle, be it what it may, they had better decline saying how far they will go. They can no more say beforehand where they will stop in the application of a principle than in the development of a science. New light is not calculable ; and the future must be left to reveal itself. Thus did the truth now appear to the abolitionists. Their work was only begun, and they must not rest till they saw the end. At present, it is now clear, they did not see the end ; and they had much to learn about the means — much that we know only through their labours and sufferings, and which we must therefore apply to their case with reverence and gratitude. They did not yet see fully that while there is slavery in the world, there will be a slave trade ; and that therefore the opposition should be made, in all parts of the world, not to the trade, but to the institution, through effectual denuncia tion of its principle. They did not then know that slaves can never be prepared by education for freedom; that freedom itself is the only possible education for a free man. They did not know tha|, in regard to the abolition of slavery, " gradualism " is impossible. They did not see for long that gradual or prospec tive emancipation is indefensible in principle ; and that, if it were not so it would be impossible in practice. Those to whom they have bequeathed their good work see now — and they saw it before they died — that a man either can or cannot righteously be the property of man. If he can, then slavery is justified, and there is nothing for abolitionists to do. If not, there can be no tampering with the wrong ; no retention of stolen goods ; no satisfaction in the promise of restitution at a distant day. Nor, as the stolen goods are men, is it possible to put off their release. If they know that they are entitled to freedom on the ground of natural right at any future time, they are entitled to it now. If their chil dren are to be free as a matter of right, they themselves have the right to be free now. This logic, which lies deep down in the negro's heart, and is ever ready upon his tongue, cannot be con troverted by legislative enactments even though all the highest wits of the world went to make the parliament. All this appears plain enough to us now; but there is nothing in our modern his- H. Martineau.] SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES. 525 tory more interesting than the evolution of the proof. It seems like going back to the early tentative stage of an established moral question to read the debates of the session of 1823 on West Indian affairs." Mr. Thomas Fowell Buxton moved as a resolution on the 15 th of May, " that the state of slavery is repugnant to the principles of the British constitution, and of the Christian religion, and that it oughtto be abolished gradually throughout the British colonies, with as much expedition as may be found consistent with a due regard to the well-being of the parties concerned." The enact ments which he hoped would follow upon the adoption of this resolution, were such as would ordain the freedom of all children born after a certain day, and mitigate the condition of such slaves as were never to be freed. Mr. Canning seized at once upon the weak point: the "gradualism." He contended that if slavery was repugnant to the principles of the British constitution and of the gospel, no terms ought to be held with it. It should be met by no proposal of gradual abolition, but by a demand for its immediate extinction. He declared, however, that while the spirit of English society and government was not that which could fraternise with slavery, it was certain that the legislature — the maker and regulator of the British constitution — had sanctioned slavery in the colonies during preceding centuries. As for the rest of his speech, it amounted to much the same as those of everybody out of the band of associated abolitionists. He did not go quite so far as Mr. Baring, who in the same breath declared himself as sincere an abolitionist as any man, and deprecated all mention of the subject of slavery in that House, rebellion and bloodshed being sure to follow. He did not, like Mr. Baring and some others, regard the welfare of the West Indian property as the only important consideration in the case. He did remember, as too many did not, that the negroes were a party in the case, and that their fate was an element in the question. But he was not prepared to assert any principle, or to contemplate any course of action, which should bring the abolition of the institution into question practically, within any assignable time. He proposed resolutions declaratory of the expediency of immediately amelior 526 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. ating the condition of the British slave population, of the hope that such amelioration might fit the slaves for freedom ; and of the desire of the House that these objects should be accomplished at the earliest period that the safety of all parties would allow. This was as much as the most sanguine of the abolitionists had expected to obtain ; and it was more than their adversaries were able to bear. After a long debate, Mr. Canning's resolutions were carried without a division, and it was ordered that they should be laid before the king by certain members of the privy council. Then arose a prodigious clamour in the country, on the part of the West Indian interest. The government was declared to have gone over to ultra-abolitionism, and West Indian property fell in the market. As for the colonies, when the news of the debate arrived, there was much anger : but there was at first little fear- Mr. Canning's resolutions were looked upon as mere declarations ¦ — mere words ; and abolition " in the abstract " is as little for midable to a slave-holder as slavery in the abstract is disturbing to the heart of an abolitionist like Mr. Baring, whose action in the matter consisted in recommending universal silence on the subject. It soon appeared, however, that the resolutions and the House that had passed them really meant something. A circular iated from Downing Street on the 24th of May, reached the functionaries of the different islands, and in this circular they read the doom of slavery. It did not convey anything which appears to us very tremendous. It drew the attention of its recipients to the debate in the House, and gave a decisive intimation that there must be an end of the flogging of women, and of the use of the whip in the field. It was not the nature of these particulars which affected so deeply the West Indian mind. It was the fact of the interference at all ; the prospect of further interference ; the dread of emancipation at last ; and before all these there was the besetting vision — the panic which comes upon the slave holder with every breath from over the seas, his cold horror at noon, his nightmare in the dark, the apprehension of insurrection if any one of a million of negroes should hear that the British government was thinking about them. To other people it appears that the very time when the negroes are least disposed to rebel is H. Martineau.] SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES. 527 that when they know that their cause is in good hands ; and that nothing is so likely to drive them to insurrection as the feeling that they have none to help them. * * * * The house of assembly in Jamaica was passionate, according to its wont ; talked of proclaiming the independence of the islands if parliament should attempt to dictate to them ; talked of addressing the king to remove lord Bathurst (the signer of the circular) from his majesty's councils ; talked of repealing the registry act ; but did none of these things. What they did was to appoint a committee to consider what steps should be taken in consequence of the receipt of the circular : and they finally voted that they would take their own way of being just and kind to their slaves ; and would not attend to any dictation from the mother country. They also voted an address to the government, in which they declared against making any alterations in their slave code. In Barbadoes there was a rising : but it was of the slave-holding party. In slave-holding countries, the poorest order of freemen are, as everybody knows, a peculiarly depraved class : for reasons obvious enough. Where there are slaves to do the work of a society, industry is opprobrious, and idleness is honour. Such freemen as are too poor to have slaves and to avoid work, are in a disgraced position ; and none but the degraded would hold that position. A missionary at Barbadoes, named Shrewsbury, was believed to have written home to those who sent him that the lowest class of white men in that colony were ignorant and de praved. It is probable that he did so write ; and that what he wrote was true. A multitude assembled round his chapel while he was in the pulpit, and silenced him with the noise of cat calls and other clamour. The preacher stood in his place till he could be heard, and then went on with the service. The rioters next put out placards, inviting the missionary's enemies to assemble at the chapel on the following evening. They did so, and levelled the building with the ground. A placard put forth by the governor, sir Henry Warde, offering a reward for the apprehen sion of any of the persons engaged, was answered by one issued by the rioters, threatening vengeance on any one who should giv-_ information, and warning all missionaries not to set foot in 528 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau Barbadoes ; — a place which did indeed seem as alien as it thus declared itself from the religion of Christ. Mr. Shrewsbury was obliged to fly for his life. Such proceedings could not end at the point they had reached ; and now ensued an excited state of sus pense as to what was to happen next. And so it was in another colony, Demerara, whose name and fame were deeply disgraced this year. When the circular reached the colony, the members of the government and other gentlemen talked of it in the presence of their domestic slaves, without making any express communications to the negroes on the sub ject of it, and even endeavouring to keep it secret from the field hands. When the court of policy passed regulations in accord ance with the instructions of the circular, pains were still taken to conceal the whole affair from the negroes. From what they heard from the house-slaves, they naturally supposed that orders for their emancipation had arrived from England, and that they were to be defrauded of it In most slave regions, this would have led to a massacre of the whites, and it no doubt would here, but for the influence of a missionary of the independents, to whom the episcopalian clergyman of the colony ascribes the whole merit of the fact, that not a drop of the blood of white men was shed. This missionary, John Smith, had been in the colony for seven years, during which time he had trained his flock to habits of order, industry, submission, and peace. Under his care marriage became almost universal; and not one marriage in fifty was violated. There was an extraordinary deficiency of religious ministers in this colony ; and that one man could have effected what Mr. Smith did, shows what may be done by the calm and steady zeal of one man; whose single object is the improvement and happiness of his neighbours. Just before the changes caused by the circular, the governor, whose object it was " to make head against the sectaries " (among whom he included all the religious bodies in the colony except the one episcopalian flock, even the Dutch and Scotch churches, as well as the methodist and inde pendent missionaries), had issued a prohibition to all the negroes to attend public worship, except by means of a "pass " from their owners ; these owners being under no obligation to grant such a II. Martineau. J SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES. 529 pass. When the slaves found themselves thus hindered in their worship, and believed themselves debarred from the liberty which the king had granted them, they rose upon their masters ; they shed no blood ; but they imprisoned the whites, and put some in the stocks. The first who rose were some upon the east coast, who had suffered most by the deprivation of liberty to attend church, and they were joined by others who thought more of the other cause of complaint. The rising took place on the 18th of August On the 19th martial law was proclaimed. On the 20th the insurrection was completely over. While no white was sacri ficed, above two hundred negroes were killed and wounded in the first instance; forty-seven were executed; and the floggings of many more were worse than death; — a thousand lashes being a frequent sentence. So much for the insurrection. It was Mr. Smith's story in connection with it, which makes this parti cular revolt conspicuous above others in the history of our time. The governor kept the colony under martial law for five months after this insurrection of two days; and one of the persons brought to trial under this martial law was the missionary, Mr. Smith. Now was the time, during the reign of martial law, for " making head against the sectaries." The one episcopalian clergyman, however, gave the governor no help in the valiant work. His testimony is all in favour of the " sectary " under persecution. He declared his conviction " that nothing but those religious impressions, which, under Providence, Mr. Smith has been instrumental in fixing — nothing but those principles of the gospel of peace which he has been proclaiming — could have pre vented a dreadful effusion of blood here, and saved the lives of those very persons who are now (I shudder to write it) seeking his." Under this reign of martial law the. pastor was kept in prison for two months before trial ; in apartments — the one under the roof, exposed to burning heat, and the other on the ground, fetid from the stagnant water visible under the boards of the floor. He was an invalid before his arrest; and his death under these circumstances is not to be wondered at. The mode and conduct of the trial abounded in illegalities ; and his conviction took place on the evidence of three negroes, who afterwards confessed that * * * * MM 530 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau, they had been wrought upon to allege what was wholly false. The charges were of having incited the slaves to revolt ; of having concealed their intention to rise ; and of having refused (which he did on the grounds of ill-health, and of his clerical office) to serve in the militia several days after the suppression of the rebellion. But the real purpose of the trial is obvious, through all the ill- supported pretences put forward in the military court which assembled in the name of justice, "No man," declared Mr. Brougham in Parliament, " can cast his eye upon this trial with out perceiving that it was intended to bring on an issue between the system of the slave law and the instruction of the negroes." This was, in truth, the cause in question ; and John Smith was its martyr. The life of the martyrs in a cause so vital and com prehensive as this is rarely or never given in vain : and few have been laid down to more effectual purpose than that of the Deme- rara missionary. He was sentenced to death : but his persecutors had not the courage to subject themselves to the consequences of executing a judgment so obtained. They transmitted the sentence to England, for the decision of the British government. Tha British government rescinded the sentence of the court-martial as far as related to the penalty of death, but decreed Mr. Smith's banishment from the colony. No time was lost in transmitting the information to Demerara : but before it arrived the missionary was in his grave. His medical attendants had repeatedly de clared that if he had not a better apartment he must sink ; but he was not removed, nor was he allowed a change of linen ; nor the attendance of a friend to relieve the cares of his worn and wearied wife. He died on the 6th of February, 1824. The funeral was ordered to take place at two o'clock in the morning, that no negro tears might be shed over the pastor's coffin. The widow, and her friend Mrs. Elliot, intended to follow the coffin ; but the head constable declared that this could not be permitted. " Is it possible," cried Mrs. Elliot, " that general Murray can wish to prevent a poor widow from following her husband to the grave ? " The widow exclaimed that general Murray should not prevent it : that she would go, happen what might, The head constable went H. Martineau.] SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES. 531 to his excellency to report this, and brought back orders to im prison the women if they attempted to follow the coffin. The mourners, therefore, went first. They left the jail, attended by a negro with a lantern, and arrived at the grave before the coffin was brought ; the light weight carried by two negroes with a single lantern, and attended only by the clergyman, Mr. Austin, whose testimony in favour of his christian brother we have quoted above. Two negro members of Mr. Smith's congregation, a carpenter and bricklayer, wished to mark the spot of their pastor's rest. They began to rail in and cover over the grave ; but by official orders the brick work was broken up, the rails torn down, and the spot left desolate. Mr. Smith died on the 6th of February. On the 24th of the same month a public meeting of Demerara slave-owners resolved forthwith to petition the court of policy " to expel all missionaries from the colony, and to pass a law prohibiting their admission for the future." The government .paper of the same month declares, " It is most unfortunate for the cause of the planters, that they did not speak out in time. They did not say, as they ought to have said to the first advocates of missions and education, we shall not tolerate your plans till you prove to us that they are safe and necessary ; we shall not suffer you to enlighten our slaves who are by law our property, till you can demonstrate that when they are made religious and knowing, they will still continue to be our slaves." Again, " To address a promiscuous audience of black or coloured people, bond or free, by the endearing appellation of ' my brethren and sisters,' is what can nowhere be heard except in Providence chapel." These are evidences quite as strong as any connected with the trial, that the christian religion was wholly inappropriate to Demerara society. These are evidences as strong as any afforded by the trial, that " it was intended to bring on an issue between the system of the slave-law and the instruction of the negroes ; " and to one who clearly saw this, the cause would appear one worth dying for. But to martyrs themselves, the scope of their case is seldom clear ; and in this instance, the pro bability of such an animating comprehension was less than ordi nary. This John Smith, perhaps, prepared himself, during his missionary training, for violence from half-naked savages, for 532 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. mockery in an unknown tongue, for the fire, for the flint knife, the tomahawk, and every possible destitution of comfort and of intercourse : but he could hardly have anticipated persecution and heart-break from christian gentlemen, and officials under the British government. If he saw clearly the scope of his own case, saw that he was not less a martyr for his judges being British officers, the curses uttered on him by christian tongues, and his bolts turned by christian hands, he might sustain his spirit amidst the reeking vapours of his dungeon, and the damps of death. In court he had been silenced ; but his voice was soon to be heard in the British parliament, and by the firesides in Orkney and Scilly, and under the cane roofs in India, and among the pine barrens of Canada. His private journal had been taken from his locked desk, to be pored over by malignant eyes : but he need not therefore wish that he had never written it. Once brought to light, the very light seemed to catch it up, and to present it, sun- printed before all eyes that were vigilant for human liberties. He might have appeared to himself sunk in desolation and squalor, and ignominious misfortune when arrested, tried, and sentenced as a criminal under the semblances of the forms of British law, and christian authority ; and he might not have felt that exhilara tion of martyrdom which would have thrilled through him in a scene outwardly more savage. But not the less he was a martyr ; and the cause was not the less express or worthy, because the heathens with whom he had to. do bore the christian name. The true issue will never be forgotten : " the issue between the system of the slave-law and the instruction of the negroes." It was understood in England as by an universal intuition, by the whole nation — from the king in his sumptuous seclusion, going over the matter with the premier, to the little child on its mother's knee, hearing its father tell on the cottage bench of the missionary's negro flock, his unfair trial, and his dreary lantern-burial. It needed only to be brought fairly before British minds, and near to British hearts, that slaves were anywhere denied to be their brethren and sisters, — were anywhere deliberately denied their birthright of knowledge and religious fellowship — to secure the overthrow of slavery. H. Martineau.] STATE OF THE COUNTRY IN iSso-rStf. 533 From this time the doom of slavery was fixed, and known to be so ; and the impotent struggles of resistance in the colonies served no other purpose so effectually as that of reminding men of Smith the missionary, and stimulating them to new efforts in the cause for which he died. [Slavery ceased for ever in our colonies in 1834, when 770,280 slaves became free. The slave-trade had been abolished 1807. Slavery was abolished in India in 1838.] State of % Cmmtrji vx 1820-1826. Harriet Martineau. In casting the eye over the chronicles of these years, nothing is so painfully impressive as the frequent records of capital punish ment. Even in these recent days, men were brought out upon the scaffold in batches, and hanged in rows. Boys of seventeen, hired for the adventure of stealing sheep, or to pass forged notes, were hanged with the strong-bodied burglar, and the hoary old coiner. The day before an execution, the gaol was crowded with the families of the doomed men, come to bid them farewell. Six or eight wives together who are to be widows to-morrow — fifteen or twenty children who are to be orphans to-morrow, these were the moaning and weeping reprovers of our law, so barbarous at so late a day ! Some ameliorations in the law had, as we know, taken place, but still men were brought out in batches and hanged in rows The number of executions was fearfully on the increase ; and yet it was universally known that so much impunity was allowed, on account of the severity of the law, as materially to weaken the authority of law, and encourage crime. In 1826 a discovery was made of a gang of banditti, who led a romantic life in Gloucestershire. In the neighbourhood of Wickwar the in habitants had suffered cruelly for seven years under incessant depredations, and the consequent pains of insecurity. The thefts were so various and vast, as to indicate the co-operation of a large number of persons ; but none of the stolen property was ever traced, nor any thief ever recognised. The police at last were set 534 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. to arrest, almost at a venture, a family of the name of Mills ; an old man and his wife, and their four sons ; and the confession of these people revealed the whole. The gang consisted of forty or fifty thieves, of whom thirty-four were immediately arrested. They had formed or made a-subterranean cavern of some extent, which was entered by a hole behind the fireplace in Mills's cottage — the large pot concealing the aperture. Nearly fifty pounds worth of half-crowns was found there ; no less than twenty flitches of bacon, and furniture, cloth, and farm produce in plenty. The romance of smuggling was expiring at the close of the period we have traversed.. From the date of Mr. Huskisson's measures coming into operation, such tales of adventure began to decline. The plain prose of the matter is, that smuggling does riot answer when duties are reduced to 30 per cent, ad valorem ; and the poetry of the case was henceforth to be found in fictions of a preceding time, and in the traditionary tales which haunt the Christmas hearth. tP W tF fl« W flfc Within this period the last remaining stocks in London, — those belonging to St. Clement Danes in Portugal-street were removed. This ancient instrument of punishment was henceforth to be looked for only in the bye places of England — in some nook of a village, or under some old park paling — green with lichens, and splintering away under rain and wind, or the pranks of children playing with the boards and the holes which were once so awful. A new instrument of punishment had been previously introduced in jails — the tread-wheel, the very name of which was presently rendered detestable by the abuse of the invention. New inven tions are usually stretched beyond due bounds, and this was the case with the tread-wheel. Not only men who had been unac customed to such muscular exertion as is necessary for ascending an interminable flight of stairs (which the work of the tread-wheel in fact is), were condemned to the same amount of treading as the most hardy, but women were put upon the wheel long after the time which afforded ample proof that this was work totally unfit for women. It might appear to a stranger from another hemisphere a strange thing that we should boast of our Christian H. Martineau.] STATE OF THE COUNTRY IN iSio-iS^. 535 civilization, while we had such a spectacle to show, as was seen even at a later time than this. ' An elderly lady of good station and fortune might be seen on the tread-wheel in Coldbath Fields prison, in the gaol dress and with her hair cut close — for the offence of shop-lifting. It is difficult to write this fact ; and it must be painful to read it ; but the truths of the time must be told. During this period the tread-wheel was in high repute, and the punishment might be applied at the discretion of the justices of the peace connected with each prison ; and it was some time before many of them had the discretion to see and admit the gross inequality of the punishment, and therefore its essential badness when applied indiscriminately. It was employed chiefly for raising water and grinding corn ; and sometimes the convicts were punished over and above their sentence, by the mockery of being compelled to turn the wheel to no purpose whatever. In Ireland the crimes of the early part of this period were as savage and atrocious as in any portion of the history of that unhappy country. It was in 1821 that the murder of the Shea family took place, on the borders of Tipperary, when the whole farm-house and offices were burned, and seventeen persons thrust bac"k into the flames, as often as they attempted to escape. The seventeen were the farmer himself and his wife, seven children, three female servants, and five labourers. The only offence alleged was, that Shea had brought labourers from a neighbouring village to dig his potatoes, when his own tenants would neither pay their rent nor work it out. After the formation of the Catholic association, there was a rapid diminution of crimes of outrage ; and the leaders of the association were no doubt justified in claiming the merit of the improvement There is no ground for disputing their claim to have pacified the Catholic peasant popu lation of Ireland for the time. In England evidences of popular ignorance abound during this perted. In one place or another, from time to time, there was a demolition of machinery ; sometimes power looms, and sometimes threshing machines ; and we meet with one or two instances of the stack burning, which became a rage some years afterwards. Instances of fanaticism abound ; the holy land pilgrims— a set of §36 HalE-hours Of English history, h martineau. men who gave up their industry and sold their property to go to Jerusalem to meet the Lord ; the followers of Joanna Southcote ; the flying serpent of Dorsetshire and Devonshire, which, in the shape of a black blight, poisoned the air ; the sorcerer, Isaac Stebbings, who was ducked in a Suffolk village in the presence of thousands; the drowning of children, "to put the fairy out of them ; " and the destruction of Carmarthen fair, on the ground of the ancient prophecy of Merlin, that the town should be destroyed on the 1 2th of August, 1824 ; the cutting and carving of a witch at Taunton; and, above all, the sensation about the miracles of prince Hohenlohe. * * * * One class of the violences of this period arose from the practice of body-snatching. No suffi cient provision was as yet made by law for the practice of dissec tion — a practice necessitated by the demands of science. Before it could be foreseen what this necessity must become, an unfor tunate arrangement had been made, by which disgrace and horror were associated with the process of examining the human body after death. The bodies of criminals were devoted to this purpose, and much time and vigorous effort on the part of individuals were required to overcome the prejudice thus originated. Meantime, as bodies must be had, there was nothing for it but taking them from the churchyards by night ; a painful fear was spread over the whole class of survivors of those who were buried in the ordinary way; and affrays and police cases, in consequence, appear fre quently in the records of the time. fy "ffintofoarfr" mmi—§mt of gafjarino, 1827. Harriet Martineau. By the end of 1826 the whole of western Greece was recovered by the Turks; and the Greek government had transferred itself to the islands. Men who find it at all times difficult to agre^ are sure to fall out under the provocations of adversity, and the dis sensions of the Greek leaders ran higher now than ever. It was this quarrelling which prevented the Greeks from taking advantage of some successes of their brave general, Karaiskaki, to attempt H. Martineau.] BATTLE OF NAVARIN0, 1827. 537 the relief of Athens, closely pressed by the Turks. The Turkish force was soon to be strengthened by troops already on their march ; and now, before their arrival, was the time to attempt to relieve Athens. Some aid was sent, and some fighting went on, on the whole with advantage to the Greeks; but nothing decisive was done till lord Cochrane arrived among them, rated them soundly for their quarrels, and took the command of their vessels; the Greek admiral Miaulis, being the first and most willing to put himself under the command of the British officer. In a little while count Capo d'Istria, an official esteemed by the Russian government, was appointed president of Greece for seven years. The Turkish reinforcements had arrived absolutely un opposed, before Athens ; and this rendered necessary the strongest effort that could be made for the deliverance of the place. General Church brought up forces by land, and lord Cochrane by sea ; and by the first of May the flower of the Greek troops, to the number of ten thousand, were assembled before the walls of Athens. It was soon too clear to the British commanders that nothing was to be done with forces so undisciplined, and in every way unreliable. The troops of Karaiskaki lost their leader, and incurred disaster by fighting without orders, and then through a series of mistakes and follies the issue became hopeless. Between eight and ten o'clock in the morning of the 6th, all was ruined. The killed and wounded of the Greeks amounted to 2,500, and the rest were dispersed like chaff before the wind. Of those who escaped, the greater number took refuge, in the mountains. Lord Cochrane was compelled to throw himself into the sea and swim to his ship. General Church strove hard to maintain his fortified camp at the Phalerus, with 3,000 men whom he had collected ; but when he found that some of the Greek officers were selling his provisions to the enemy, he gave up and retired to Egina, sorely grieved, but not in despair. Lord Cochrane kept the sea, generally with his single frigate the " Hellas," contributed to the cause by the United States, and now and then with a few Greek vessels, when their commanders had nothing better to do than to obey orders. He was alone when he took his station off Navarino to watch the fleet of the Egyptian Ibrahim ; and he had better have been alone 538 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. when he went on to Alexandria to look after the fleet which the pasha was preparing there, for when the Egyptians came out to ofier battle, the Greeks made all sail homewards. The Turks now supposed they had everything in their own hands. On the intervention of the French admiral, De Rigny, they spared the lives of the garrison of the Acropolis, permitting them to march out with their arms, and go whither they would. Then all seemed to be over. The Greeks held no strong places but Corinth and Napoli ; and had no army, while the Turks held all the strong places, but Corinth and Napoli ; and had two armies at liberty — that of the Egyptian leader in the west, and of the Turkish seraskier in the east — to put down any attempted rising within the bounds of Greece. But at this moment of extreme humiliation for Greece aid was preparing, and hope was soon to arise out of despair. While Mr. Canning was fighting his own battles in parliament, he had his eye on what was passing in Greece ; and the fall of Athens, and the dispersion of the Greek forces, only strengthened his resolution that the powers of Europe should hasten the interposition he had planned long before. It was important to Russia that Turkey should be weakened in every possible way ; and Russia was therefore on the side of the Greeks. The sympathies of France and England were on the side of the Greeks, but they must also see that Greece should be freed in reality, and that Turkey should not be destroyed ; so they were willing to enter into alliance with Russia to part the com batants, preserve both, impose terms on both, and see that the terms were observed. The duke of Wellington had gone to St. Petersburg to settle all this ; and the ministers of the three courts laid before the government of the Porte at Constantinople the requisition of the allies. The great object was to separate the Turks and the Greeks — the faithful and the infidels — who could never meet without fighting ; and it was proposed — or we may rather say ordained — by the allies, that all the Turks should leave Greece, receiving compensation (in some way to be devised), for the property they must forsake. The Greeks were to pay a tribute to the Porte, and to be nominally its subjects, and the Turkish government was to have some sort of veto on the appointment of H. Martineau.] BATTLE OF NAVARINO, rSi7. 539 officials, but substantially, the choice of officers, and the enjoy ment of their own mode of living, were to be left to the Greeks. As might be expected, the victorious Turk was amazed at this interference between himself and his rebellious subjects ; and if he would not listen to dictation before the fall of Athens, much less would he afterwards. There was threat as well as dictation — threat of enforcing the prescribed conditions ; but the Porte treated the threat as loftily as it rejected the interference. The rejection was too natural and reasonable not to be rceeived as final ; and the three powers proceeded therefore to their acts of enforcement It may be remembered that Mr. Canning, ill and wearied after the close of the session, exerted himself to transact some public business. The chief item of this business was causing to be signed the treaty with France and Russia, concerning the affairs of Greece, which was finished off in London, and imme diately dispatched to Constantinople. In this treaty the alliance and its purposes were justified on the ground of " the necessity of putting an end to the sanguinary contests which, by delivering up the Greek provinces and the Isles of the Archipelago to the dis orders of anarchy, produces daily fresh impediments to the commerce of the European States, and gives occasion. to piracies which not only expose the subjects of the contracting powers to considerable losses, but render necessary burdensome measures of suppression and protection." England and France moreover pleaded the appeals they had received from the Greeks. The treaty concluded with a declaration and pledge of disinterested ness, — of desiring nothing which the whole world beside was not at liberty to obtain. A month from the date of the arrival of the instructions to the ambassadors at Constantinople was the time allowed to the Porte for consideration. If the terms of the three powers were not by that time acceded to, they must proceed to the threatened en forcement, with every intention to preserve their own pacific relations with Turkey. The work of mediation was to be carried on by force in such a case under the plea that such a proceeding would be best for the interests of the contending powers, and necessary for the peace and comfort of the rest of the world. 540 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. There were squadrons of all the three powers ready in the Levant — that of Russia being commanded by admiral Heiden ; that of France by admiral de Rigny ; and that of England by sir Edward Codrington. The formal note of the ambassadors at Constantinople was delivered in on the 16th of August, with a notification that an answer would be expected in fifteen days. On the 30th of August, no reply having been volunteered, it was asked for, and given only verbally. Again the Porte declined recognising any interference between itself and its rebellious subjects ; and when the conse< quent notice of enforcement was given, the Turkish government became, as any other government would, in like circumstances, bolder in its declaration of persistence in its own rights. Then begat* a season of activity at Constantinople such as had seldom been witnessed there; horses and provisions pouring in from the country, and sent off, with ammunition, arms, and stores, to occupy the ports along the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. There was an incessant training of troops under the eye of the sultan or his vizier, and the capital seemed in the way to be turned into a camp. There is something striking in the only words the Turkish minister would utter, in the final interview of the 14th of Sep tember. "God is my right," said he, in the calmest manner; " such is the motto of England. What better answer can we give when you intend to attack us?" Meantime the Egyptian fleet, strongly reinforced, had arrived in the Morea, and the English commander had no right to interpose any obstacle ; the time being the end of August, and the answer of the Porte not being yet delivered. Sir Edward Codrington, however, hailed Ibrahim, informed him of what -was going on at ' Constantinople, and offered him a safe conduct, if he wished to return to Egypt. But if he chose to enter the harbour of Navarino, to join the Turkish fleet there, he must clearly understand that any of his vessels attempting to get out would be driven back. Ibrahim chose to enter. There now lay the ninety-two Egyptian vessels and the Turkish fleet crowded in the harbour ; and off its mouth lay the British squadron on the watch. For some time Ibrahim occupied himself in preparing his troops for action against H. Marti seau. BATTLE OF NAVARINO, iSsy. 541 the Greeks; but on the 19th of September he determined to try an experiment. He sent out a division of the Turkish fleet to see if the English would let them pass. Sir Edward Codrington warned them back, but the Turkish commander replied that he was under no other orders than those of Ibrahim. The Egyptian prince being referred to by both parties, and afterwards by the French admiral, who had come up with his squadron, and the danger of the case amply explained to him, declared that he would recall the Turkish ships, and wait the return of couriers, whom he would send to Constantinople and to Alexandria ; but that as soon as he received orders to sail, his whole combined fleet would come out and brave all opposition. A sort of armistice was agreed on, verbally, for twenty days, during a long conference between the Egyptian, French, and English commanders, on the 25th of Sep tember. The two latter trusted to Ibrahim's word that his ships would not leave the harbour for the twenty days— ample facilities having been allowed by them for the victualling of his troops ; and they sailed for Zante to obtain fresh provisions for their fleet. As soon as they were gone, only five days after the conference, Ibrahim put out to sea, to sail to Patras. On the 2nd of October, an armed brig brought notice to sir Edward Codrington of this violation of the treaty. The admiral immediately returned with a very small force, met successfully two divisions of the Turkish fleet, and turned them back to Navarino. In his wrath Ibrahim carried war inland, slaughtering and burning, and driving the people to starvation, and even uprooting the- trees wherever he went, that no resources might be left to the wretched inhabitants. As the spirit of the treaty of London was thus broken through, the three admirals concluded to compel an adherence^to the terms ¦agreed upon at the conference, by entering the harbour and placing themselves ship by ship, in guard over the imprisoned fleets. The strictest orders were given that not a musket should be fired, unless firing should begin on the other side. They were permitted to pass the batteries, and take up their position ; but a boat was fired upon by the Turks, probably under the impression that she was sent to board one of their vessels. A lieutenant and several of the crew were killed. There was a discharge of 542 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. musketry in return by an English and a French vessel ; and then a cannon shot was received by the French admiral's ship, which was answered by a broadside. The action, probably intended by none of the parties, was now fairly begun ; and when it ended, there was nothing left of the Turkish and Egyptian fleets but frag ments of wreck strewing the waters. As the crews left their dis abled vessels they set them on fire ; and among the dangers of the day to the allied squadrons, not the least was from these floating furnaces drifting about among a crowd of ships. The battle, which took place on the 20th of October, lasted four hours. The Turkish and Egyptian forces suffered cruelly. Of the allies the English suffered the most, but with them the loss was only seventy-five killed ; and the wounded were under two hundred. The three British line of battle ships had to be sent home after being patched up at Malta for the voyage. The anxiety of mind of the three admirals is said to have been great — both on account of the calamity itself, and the doubt about how their conduct of the affair would be viewed at home. One reasonable apprehension was that there would be a slaughter of the Christians at Constantinople. But things were now conducted there in a more cautious and deliberate manner than of old. An embargo was laid on all the vessels in the harbour; but the mob of the faithful were kept in check. There were curious negoti ations between the government and the ambassadors, while each party was in possession of the news, and wanted to learn how much the other knew. The sultan himself wished to declare war at once, but his counsellors desired to gain time ; and there were doubts, fluctuations, and bootless negotiations, in which neither party would concede anything for several weeks. The Turks would yield nothing about Greece, and the allies would yield neither compen sation nor apology for the affair of Navarino. On the 8th of December, however, it being clear that nothing could be gained by negotiation, the embassadors left Constantinople. The Christian merchants might have embarked with them, but they must have left their property behind ; and some preferred remaining. The Turkish authorities went to great lengths in encouraging them to do so ; but whether this was from pacific inclinations, or from a H. Martineau,] BATTLE OF NAVARINO, 1827. 543 sense of their value as hostages, could not be certainly known ; and the greater number did not relish trusting themselves to con jecture in such a case. The day before the ambassadors left, an offer was made of a general amnesty to the Greeks. But this was not what was required. As they sailed out of the harbour, the sultan must have felt that he was left deprived of his fleet, at war with Russia, England, and France. But the coolness and ability shown by his government in circumstances so extremely em barrassing as those of this autumn, were evidence that there were minds about him very well able to see that if Russia desired to crush him, England and France would take care that she did not succeed. As for the Greeks, their government was thankful to accept the mediation of the allies : but so weak as tP be unable to enforce any of their requisitions. Piracy under the Greek flag reached such a pass in the Levant, that Great Britain had to take the matter into her own hands. In the month of November it was decreed, by an order in council, that the British ships in the Mediterranean should seize every vessel they saw under the Greek flag, or armed and fitted out at a Greek port, except such as were under the immediate orders of the Greek government. Thus we were carrying matters with a high hand in regard to both parties concerned in the unhappy Greek war. It is a case on which so much is to be said on every side, that it is impossible to help sympathising with all parties in the transactions preceding and following the battle of Navarino, — with the Greeks, for reasons which the heart apprehends more rapidly than tongue or pen can state them ; with the Porte, under the provocation of the inter ference of strangers between her and her rebellious subjects ; with the Egyptians, in their duty of vassalage (however wrongly it might be performed), and with the allied powers in their sense of the intolerableness of a warfare so cruel and so hopeless going on amidst the haunts of commerce, and to the disturbance of a world otherwise at peace; and with two of those three allies in their apprehension of Turkey being destroyed, and Greece probably once more enslaved by the power and arts of the third. 544 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H, Martineau. %moaim of (Btoxat IV. T. Raikes. George IV. never had any private friends, he selected his confi dants from his minions. * * * # The prince was at one time a great supporter of Newmarket ; an untoward event which made a great noise at the time, abated his ardour for that pursuit. His debts of all sorts were very great. Vulliamy's bill (a French jeweller in Pall Mall, who served the court, and was employed by H.R.H.) amounted to a large sum, for which he could never obtain pay ment- In vain did he apply at Carlton house ; he met with nothing but vague promises which were never realised. At length the jeweller's affairs got so embarrassed, that he determined to make a personal application to the prince, and went down to Brighton. The doors of the pavilion, however, being locked against all intruders of that sort, he watched his opportunity when the prince's carriage drove into the court, and, gliding in unob served, hid himself behind one of the pillars of the colon nade. As the prince came out and had got one foot on the step, Vulliamy rushed forward, and falling on his knees, cried out, " Sare, your royal highness, pray stop one minute." The prince looked round and said rather impatiently, " Vulliamy," what do you want?" "Oh, Sare, by G— , if your royal highness not pay my bill, I shall be in your father's bench to-morrow." The prince laughed, and got into his carriage, but the debt was left unpaid till parliament furnished the means. He once took a fancy that he was very fond of hunting, and took a place in Hampshire for that purpose, called the Grange ; but he soon wearied of it, and relapsed into his usual mode of in dolent existence. For years even before he came to the throne he very seldom appeared in public, or went anywhere. * * * * In the latter days of his reign, and before his health had ren dered it necessary, he very seldom went out even. in his favourite low phaeton and ponies at Windsor ; his more general habit was to remain in his robe de chambre all the morning, and never dress till the hour of dinner. In this deshabille he received his minis- Raikes.] ANECDOTES OF GEORGE IV. 545 ters, inspected the arrangement of all the curiosities which now adorn the gallery in the castle, and are standing monuments of his good taste ; amused himself with mimicking Jack Radford the stud groom, who came to receive orders, or lecturing Davison the tailor on the cut of the last new coat. His dress was an object of the greatest attention to the last, and incredible as it may appear, I have been told by those about him, and by Bachelor, who on the death of the duke of York entered his service as valet de chambre, that a plain coat from its repeated alterations would often cost 300/. before it met his approbation. This, of course, included the several journeys of the master and his men back wards and forwards to Windsor, as they almost lived on the road. George IV. was not only a man of refined manners and clas sical taste, but he was endowed by nature with a very good under standing ; still, there is no doubt that for several years before his death, whether from early indulgence in luxury, or from a malady inherent in his family, his mind would occasionally wander, and many anecdotes have been current of the unfortunate impressions under which he laboured. After the glorious termination of the long continental war in 18 15 by the battle of Waterloo, it would not perhaps be unpardonable vanity for him to have thought that the English nation had mainly contributed to this great event ; but he certainly at times in conversation arrogated to himself per sonally the glory of subduing Napoleon's power, and giving peace to the earth. It was upon one of these assumptions being re ported to the sarcastic Sheridan, that he archly remarked, " That is well enough, but what he particularly piques himself upon is the last productive harvest" When a clergyman was once preaching upon death before Louis XIV. and his court at Versailles, at a particular part of his sermon he addressed his audience in the following words, " Nous mourrons tous," and then turning to the king added, "presque tons." That monarch afterwards reproved him for his senseless sycophancy. It might have been more palatable at Windsor. No man clung to life with greater eagerness than George IV., or was more unwilling to hear from those about him any hint or suspicion of his appa rent decay. When confined to his room, and his case had become *•* * N.N 546 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. evidently hopeless, he still felt the vital stamina so strong in him that he would not believe his own danger : he talked of prepara- tions for the approaching Ascot races, which he would attend in person, and showed a confidence in his recovery, which all around him knew to be impossible. On the 27th of May, 1830, prayers were ordered to be read in the churches for the restoration of the king's health ; and though the work of death was gradually approaching, the most contra dictory reports were constantly circulated of his real state. At length the awful moment arrived. He went to bed, without any particular symptoms on the night of the 25th of June, but at three o'clock in the morning he seemed to awake in great agita tion, and called for assistance. Sir Wathen Waller, who was in attendance, came to his bedside, and at his request helped to raise him from his bed. He then exclaimed, " Watty, what is this 1 It is death. They have deceived me ! " And in that situation, without a struggle expired. The temptations in his exalted situation to a life of indulgence were numerous ; but he was not without a proper sense of reli gious feeling, as may be inferred from the following anecdote. Some years previously to his own death, an old housekeeper at Windsor castle, who had held that situation for near half a cen tury, died, very much regretted by the royal family and the whole establishment. On that occasion he sent for his chaplain, Sumner, now bishop of Winchester, and urged him to improve the feeling excited in the household by the occurrence, by a religious admo nition ; he concluded by saying that he wished him to preach an appropriate sermon in the chapel the following Sunday, and re quested that he would take the following text: "Be ye also ready." The sermon was preached accordingly. gwgn of Wixllmm IV. The Editor. William IV. was the third son of George III. ; he had been brought up to the sea, and had acted as lord high admiral of England. in the latter years of his brother's reign. He was an hones':, simple-' The Editor.] THE REIGN OF WILLIAM IV. 547 minded sailor, and was popular with the people, who love the national profession above all others. He had married, after the death of the princess Charlotte, princess Adelaide of Saxe Meiningen, and had two children, daughters, who both died in infancy. The first event event of national importance in this reign was the opening of the first great railway — that from Liverpool and Manchester, on the 15th of September, r83o. It was made a great historical event by the presence of the premier the great duke of Wellington, sir Robert Peel, and Mr. Huskisson, one of the members for Liverpool. Immense crowds had assembled to witness the opening, which was to the minds of the lower orders wonderful, and even alarming. The railway proved all" that its promoters had hoped, but a sad accident damped the pleasure of their success. Mr. Huskisson rashly crossed the line, not perceiving that the Rocket engine was at that moment moving forward. He was struck down, and so terribly injured, that he survived only a few hours. This railway was a triumph of engineering skill ; its maker, George Stephenson, having actually carried the road over a great bog known as the Chat Moss, which in some parts would only bear the weight of a man in the driest weather. In the year when William IV. ascended the throne, Charles X. of France (the successor of Louis XVIII.), lost his. His govern ment had been very rash and arbitrary, and on an attempt to restrict the press, a revolution suddenly occurred. The people of Paris barricaded the streets, and assumed the tri-coloured cockade ; the soldiers sent against them were repulsed, or fraternised with the populace, and for three days — from July 27th to the 30th — the city was in the hands of the people. The king fled to England, and lived for some time afterwards at Holyrood house, Edinburgh ; while the son of the infamous Philip Egalite', duke of Orleans, who had long secretly intrigued for the crown, was pro claimed king in his stead, under the title of Louis Philippe. A revolution also occurred in Belgium on August 25 th, when the Belgians threw off the yoke of Holland, and erected the provinces into an independent monarchy. In 1831 they offered the crown to prince Leopold, and it was accepted by him. By his wise government the little state prospered, and he lived— 548 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editok. honoured and revered — till he was considered the Nestor of European monarchs. Torrents of blood were shed in Poland, which this year made an unsuccessful effort to shake off the cruel yoke of Russia, but being unaided, was again crushed by the might of her ancient and barbarous foe. The disturbances on the continent tended, as the first French Revolution had, to disturbances in England. A cry arose for a reform in the constitution, by a change and enlargement of the number of voters. Riots occurred in many places, on the first bill being thrown out by the lords. The duke of Wellington's, windows were broken ; in memory of which he put up iron shutters, which he retained always afterwards as a silent reproach to the people (whose very existence as a free nation he had saved), for their ungrateful violence. At Nottingham the rioters set fire to the castle. At Bristol the riots lasted three days, and were of a very serious character. The bishop's palace and the mansion house were set on fire, the prisons were broken open, and the prisoners set free ; a hundred houses were burnt down, and property to the value of half a million was destroyed. Before order could be restored by the military, a hundred men were killed and wounded ; one officer suffered for life from his wounds. Twenty-two of the ringleaders were transported ; four were hanged. The cry for Reform continued, however, and a Reform Bill — the third offered by lord John Russell — passed the commons in 1832, but was again rejected by a majority in the house of lords, and ministers resigned. Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, with many other large towns which were not represented in parliament, remonstrated loudly, and the king was finally induced to place lord Grey at the head of the government, and give him permission to create enough new peers to pass the bill through the upper house. The threat of such a creation was enough. , The peers allowed the bill to pass, by the members most opposed to it absenting themselves, and on June 7 th the royal assent was given to it. By this bill the insignificant and decayed boroughs were dis franchised ; forty-one new large towns received electoral privileges) The Editor.] REIGN OF WILLIAM IV. 549 and in thirty-seven counties the number of members was increased. Eighteen members were taken from England; eight additional seats were bestowed on Scotland ; and five additional on both Ireland and Wales. The franchise was given in the counties to tenants of 50/. annual rent, and to copyholders or leaseholders (for sixty years or more), of '10/. a year : in cities and towns persons who paid a yearly rent of 10/. had a vote. The number of electors was thus nearly doubled. The agitation about the Reform Bill was scarcely over, before the nation was alarmed by the appearance of a new plague in the country — the Asiatic cholera, which broke out in the autumn of 1 83 1, at Sunderland. The following February it appeared at Rotherhithe and Limehouse, and spread from town to town throughout the whole country. It continued till the end of the year, and many thousands died from it. In 1833 the new parliament passed an act for the abolition of slavery throughout the British colonies. The West Indian slaves thus became free at the end of four years. Twenty millions of money were paid to their owners by the nation ; nevertheless the change caused great loss and distress to the possessors of sugar plantations. William Wilberforce lived to be assured of this final triumph over the inhuman custom of buying and selling human beings, though he died a month before the bill passed. In this year, also, the East India Company's chartered monopoly of the China tea trade ceased, and a renewal of it being refused, the trade with China was free, and the price of tea fell from i2.r. per pound, (at which price the best green tea was then sold,) to a moderate rate. In this year the old houses of parliament were burni- down. In 1836 dissenters were allowed to marry at their own places of worship. The latter years of the reign were prosperous for the people, as the harvests were good, and there was no plea for agitators to work mischief. The king and queen were much beloved ; indeed, queen Adelaide was a most.excellent woman, charitable in the extreme, and of high moral character. On June 30th, 1837, however, the good old king died, supported to the end by his affectionate queen. With the words, " Thy will be done," this worthy son of George III. '55° HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Duke of Buckingham. passed to his rest. The queen survived him nearly twelve years, dwelling in England, beloved and respected by the people. The king being childless, was succeeded by his young niece, our present beloved and gracious queen. %tmtnm of WxlXxwrn IV., uxxa % $imtis ^xmo'xxxa, . % |) gaging of %, Jxrsi §Uform §ill. The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos,. i The duke of Clarence ascended the throne of the British Empire under the title of William IV., accompanied by the most cordial wishes of his subjects of every grade. The antecedents of his royal highness had invested him with an extraordinary degree of personal favour, especially with the lower and middling classes in consequence of his connection with the more popular branch of the united services. Prince William Henry, as he was then styled, had commenced his naval career as a midshipman under Captain Digby, in the "Royal George," of 98 guns, as far back as the year 1779, and having ascended the subsequent steps, , was appointed a rear admiral of the blue by an order in council. He had previously been created duke of Clarence. His only subsequent employment in the British marine was in the year 1814, when as admiral of the fleet he had the command of the naval escort that attended Louis XVIII. across the channel on the return of that monarch to his kingdom; and in 1827, when he was appointed lord high admiral, which office he resigned in the following year, after having gained an increased popularity by the .promotion of one hundred and twenty -seven lieutenants to the rank of commander. His royal highness had to some extent identified himself with the liberal party in politics, which he de monstrated by taking office under Mr. Canning, and resigning when the duke of Wellington became premier, and whigs and radicals rivalled each other in expressing their sense of his virtues and merits. He had been married since the nth of July, 1818, to Adelaide Louisa, .daughter of the duke of Saxe Meiningen, a princess of singular amiability of disposition. The deaths of the Duke op Buckingham.] ACCESSION OF WILLIAM IV. 55 1 princess Charlotte and of the duke of York brought him next in sucession to the throne. Though a very brilliant prospect opened before him, the duke of Clarence made no alteration in his habits, which had always been remarkable for simplicity and cordiality. He lived much at Bushey Park with his duchess — a pleasant domesticated life, entirely free from political intrigues, professing what were considered liberal opinions, but without intimate rela tions with any party. Indeed he was no partizan ; and though he suffered himself once or twice to be put forward as an advo cate, he was averse to making demonstrations in favour of any particular measure as a means of influencing others. His only partiality was for the naval service of his country, and this he was incapable of disguising. On the death of George IV. it became a favourite study with some politicians to make contrasts between that sovereign and his successor. There is no question that little similarity could be discovered when they were compared ; "the first gentleman in Europe " and the " bluff sailor king," as the latter was popularly called, appeared to have nothing in common. The ultra-refine ment, as it was considered, of the one, was opposed by the bluff honesty of the other, and king George's intellectual advantages were thought to be thrown into the shade by king William's sincerity of purpose. His elevation to the throne was regarded by the profession to which he belonged with extraordinary gratifi cation. England had not seen a naval sovereign since James II., and the people generally anticipated a wholesome*chahge in the government of the country, from the frankness of character, and other favourite attributes with which they had always invested the character of the " true British sailor." The funeral of the late king was performed on the 15 th of June, 1830, with much magnificence, and every possible degree of respect; William IV taking part in the procession that accom- .panied the royal corpse from St. George's Hall to St. George's Chapel, Windsor, as chief mourner, and the duke of Buckingham assisting to support the pall. The right hon. Charles Watkin Williams Wynn attended with the privy councillors, and sir W. H. Freemantle in his place as treasurer of the late king's household. 552 HALF-HOUR'S OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Duke of Buckingham. The other mourners were the duke of Sussex, prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg, and the dukes of Cumberland and Gloucester. The ceremony was extremely affecting, especially that portion of it where sir George Nayler, Garter principal king-of-arms, after pronouncing the titles, and announcing the demise of the deceased monarch, repeated the titles of his successor, concluding with the exclamation, " God save king William IV." Increased effect was given to the solemnity of the scene by its occurring in the even ing, for the number of torches that were carried threw a pic turesque light over the various costumes worn by the different •officials, while-the sombre shadows of the building placed them in prominent relief. William IV. almost immediately after the supreme power had been placed in his hands, gave very pleasing evidence of the kindness of his heart. An application was made to him on behalf of Mrs. Fitzherbert, of whose intimacy with his late brother* when prince of Wales he must have been aware. The king, it has been stated, invited her to Windsor, treated her with the greatest respect, gave her permission to clothe her servants in the royal livery, placed implicit reliance in all her statements, and baving sanctioned an arrangement by which all private papers were destroyed, with a few exceptions that were placed under seal at Coutt's banking house, settled upon her an income of 6000/. a year. Mrs. Fitzherbert never forgot this liberal conduct and to the close of her life spoke of it -with the most earnest expressions of*gratitude. Society had long been in an extremely disturbed state in Eng land, and the imperfect development of liberal ideas during the supremacy of Mr. Canning had apparently given increased im petus to the popular desire for legislation in the same direction. This was particularly the case with the great question of parlia mentary reform, which every day seemed to assume increased dimensions, while betraying a more hostile aspect towards those who opposed it It was attempted to set the middle classes against the aristocracy, while the industrious portion of the com munity were stirred up to active hostility to the conservative * She was married to George IV. when prince of Wales. [Editor.] Duke of Buckingham.] THE ACCESSION OF WILLIAM IV. 553 leaders, by representations that the latter were interested in making bread dear and labour cheap. It is impossible for an unprejudiced person to look over the speeches and publications ostensibly addressed at this period to the English people, without a painful conviction of the injustice done to a party to whose exertions, through a period of terrible danger, the country owed its greatness as a nation. A hundred national advantages were forgotten, and many legislative improvements ignored. Only two days after the accession of the new sovereign, a signi ficant meeting was held at Manchester of members of various trades' unions, preliminary to the creation of a national associa tion to prevent a reduction in wages. It produced many speeches on the ostensible object of this assemblage of delegates, as well as declarations of plans for organising all branches of industry, with a view to exert influence over their employers, and in time over the government. They expressed the strength of their body by affirming that by levying a subscription of a penny per man, they could raise a fund of 1,683,333/. Such demonstrations were not regarded with perfect compla cency by the duke of Wellington, then the head of the adminis tration ; and these signs of the times were not overlooked by the whigs who had supported his government. An estrangement soon became evident, and a general conviction appeared to be forming that the duke would not be able to retain his post. While parliament was sitting a message came from the king, June 29, announcing its speedy dissolution, and in consequence, recommending the dispatch of all business of importance. On the 30th the duke moved an address to the king in the house of peers, declaratory of the willingness of that assembly to proceed with such business; after which earl Grey brought forward an amendment for an adjournment of the house, to afford proper time for the consideration of the civil list, and for the establish ment of a regency. It was rejected by nearly two to one. ******* Parliament was prorogued to the 23rd of July, when a speech from the new sovereign congratulated the assembly prematurely — as was soon proved—on the tranquillity prevailing throughout 554 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Duke of Buckingham. Europe, and expressed the king's satisfaction at the relief afforded to the community at large by the recent repeal of certain taxes^ and his congratulations upon the judicial reforms which had been accomplished, as well as for the removal of disqualifications that had pressed on particular classes of his subjects. On the follow ing day parliament was dissolved, and now a general election was about to be added to other disturbing causes that agitated the entire fabric of society. King William evidently strove to realise the expectations of the people generally, apparently maintaining by his actions the favour able contrast with his predecessor that had already been estab lished for him. In nothing was this more evident than in the frequency with which his majesty showed himself in public, par ticularly in such spectacles as were known to be most popular; but he did not neglect those in which the higher classes were interested. On the 19th of July the king inspected the Coldstream guards in St. James's Park, attended by the dukes of Cumberland and Gloucester, to the great gratification of a large assemblage of spectators of all ranks. * * * * The chief gratification of the king was playing the hospitable host, and in this his majesty indulged so liberally, that he enter tained on an average two thousand persons a week. He was delighted if he could find out a former messmate, or naval officer with whom he had formed an acquaintance during his professional career. The latter was sure to be made welcome at the palace. Every admiral in the service was equally certain of finding a place at the royal table ; indeed the uniform had only to have been worn with credit to be accepted as a court suit quite as readily as the established costume. Sometimes it seemed difficult to say which was the royal livery, true blue or scarlet. One thing at least was certain, the combination of these colours added considerably to the picturesque effect of the grouping. These social reunions were remarkable in other respects ; a nautical freedom prevailed which often gave a peculiar heartiness to the conversation, though strict etiquette was not unfrequently entirely lost sight of. The good-natured sovereign was constantly besieged for favour?, which he sometimes found it as difficult to grant as to refuse. Duke of Buckingham.] ACCESSION OF WILLIAM IV. 555 His majesty related to a select circle after dinner the manner in which he had recently been persecuted by a persevering applicant, and said, evidently with a feeling of relief, " I got rid of him. I made him a knight of the Hanoverian Guelphic order." "Serve him right ! " exclaimed an admiral famous for his con versational escapades. The laugh was general. * * * * [The duke gives the following animated picture of the state of the country preceding the passing of the Reform Bill.] * * * The most exciting language was freely used, and a dis position shown to resort to violence. Indeed, the marquis of Londonderry and other noblemen who had had the manliness to express their opinions, as they had a constitutional right to do, in their place in parliament/ were savagely assaulted by the mob. The example of London rioting and outrage spread to the provinces. In Derby the town gaol and the houses of many respectable inhabitants were demolished. At Nottingham the ancient castle, the residence of the duke of Newcastle, was destroyed. Similar mischief was perpretrated in other places. On the 1 2th a mob was suffered to march upon St. James's Palace under the pretence of presenting addresses, and several mansions were stoned with vindictive fury. Lord Eldon, writing to lady F. J. Bankes on the following day, says, — " Our day here yesterday was tremendously alarming. Very fortunately for me, the immense mob of reformers — hardly a decent looking man among them — proceeded first to the duke ot Wellington's, and set about the work of destruction. This, after some time, brought to that end of Piccadilly some hundreds of the police in a body, but the Blues coming up from the Leve"e, the appearance of this large force was a complete protection to me, dissipating the multitude that were a little higher up Piccadilly. They had probably heard that the soldiers had behaved with great firmness in or near St. James's Square. The civil power being on the alert, and the military being known to be ready, the night was passed most unexpectedly quiet hereabout, and now I think we have nothing to dread. Londonderry has been seriously hurt . . The duke of Newcastle's house, Lord Bristol's, and all other anti- reforming lords' have been visited and left without glass in their 556 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Duke of Buckingham. windows. All the shops in the town were shut yesterday. The accounts from Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and other places, are very uncomfortable." Such was the manner in which the supporters of the reform bill answered the arguments of those who were opposed to it. But some excuse might be made for a mob excited by the language expressed in the house of commons in a discussion that took place there on the ioth, when a popular member, after some ex pressions suggestive of violence, said he was convinced that if the measure of reform were ultimately refused, no government could exist unsupported by the sword. Sir Robert Peel animadverted with much warmth on the opinions expressed, and on the advice that had been given to the people not to pay taxes. * * * * Riots still continued. One of a most formidable character broke out at Bristol on the public entrance of the recorder, sir Charles Wetherall. It lasted three days. The mansion house, custom house, excise office, and the bishop's palace were plundered and set on fire, the toll-gates thrown down, the prison doors burst open and the prisoners liberated; and in addition, forty-two offices, dwelling-houses, and warehouses completely destroyed — a loss of property incurred valued at half a million. At last the military attacked the rioters, and after a short conflict in which three were killed, order was restored, but not till many of them had been destroyed in the flames they had themselves kindled, after drinking to excess of plundered spirits. Public meetings of a menacing character were held in various parts of the country, particularly in the great manufacturing towns. In London, one of the London political unions was adjourned from the Crown and Anchor to Lincoln's Inn Fields, with sir Francis Burdett in the chair, when the organisation of a national union, with branch societies sending delegates to the central coun cil, was agreed to. At a subsequent meeting the chairman appears to have felt for the first time a little distrust of the intentions of some of his associates ; for on a proposal that part of the council should be representatives of the working classes, sir Francis ven tured to demur, saying that it assumed the existence of a distinc tion of classes with separate interests. Nevertheless the proposal Raikes.] FIRST REFORM BILL, AND CHOLERA IN ENGLAND. 557 was adopted, and sir Francis sagaciously withdrew his name from the association. Probably he had had an opportunity of learning the fallacy of his statements in the house of commons respecting the authors of the incendiary publications quoted on a former page. Incendiary fires, between the 2nd and 9th of November, became frequent in Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Somersetshire — the natural consequences of the inflammatory language that had been "tole rated. The populace having been so far encouraged, announced a meeting of the political union of the working classes at White Conduit House, with Mr. Thomas Wakley in the chair, to demand universal suffrage, vote by ballot, and annual parliaments ; and the programme stated thus: " All property honestly acquired is sacred and inviolable ; that all men are born equally free, and have certain natural and inalienable rights; that all hereditary distinctions of birth are unnatural and opposed to the equal rights of man, and ought to be abolished ;" and declared that the con veners of the meeting would never be satisfied with any law that stopped short of these principles. The home secretary and the magistrates made these "persons aware that a meeting for such objects was illegal and seditious, and it was postponed. The government followed up this blow with a proclamation, declaring affiliated political unions unlawful, and cautioning persons from belonging to such combinations, and on the following day (22nd) the Birmingham association abandoned its plan of organisation. passing of i\t Jfirsi Inform §UI, mxo Cfyolara in (jlnrjkno. T. Raikes. May 24, 1832. — The bill is now passing rapidly (but in sullen- ness on the part of the tories) through the lords : few vote against it, but the debates are acrimonious and marked by the most un. seemly personalities. The unfortunate and ill-judged line which. the party has taken precludes any chance of modifying the clauses. Thus the metropolitan clause was carried against the general feel ing of the House, and there seems to be only one object in view, 558 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Raikes. that of finishing the question. Ministers cannot object to forward their own work, and the opposition in their pique wish to saddle them with all the responsibility of its most odious defects. Their motto seems to be — " Vous I'avez voulu, done vous taurez." Thus patriotism yields to party feeling. In the meantime the country though apparently tranquil does not seem satisfied ; that general content which was predicted to follow the settlement of this question is not so evident. The adherents of the tory party are numerous, wealthy, and influential ; and the despondency assumed by such a class must naturally have its weight with the public mind, and particularly with the moneyed interest, always more alive to alarm than others, and naturally suspicious of a whig or popular ascendancy. The stockholder loves the tory bolstering system, which put the best face on existing circumstances, and strenuously maintained the doctrine of faith with the public creditor. He trembles at the former republican threats of lord Althorpe, with his pruning knife and his sponge, though perhaps without much reason, as the maxims of a whig out of place seldom regulate the practice of a whig in office. The wand of power makes strange alterations in the feelings and policy of all men. Then the unlucky coincidence, that at this moment, two such serious questions as the renewal of the Bank and the East Indian companies' charters should come into discussion gives fresh cause for apprehension. The committee of the former is already named, and all the secrets of that massive establishment will be laid open to public view ; and from what -I have some reason to known, certain sanguine anticipations of the accumu lations of that company may be grievously disappointed. ^ Glad would the government now be if they could dissolve the political unions, but of this there is little chance ; on the contrary success Seems only to have raised their tone, and lord Grey will find that he has used a dangerous auxiliary, who will only serve under him as long as he will lead them on to further conquest. They have got their reform, what will be their next war cry ? The repeal of the corn bill — which will reduce the income from land one half will that satisfy them? No ! then comes, &c, &c, annual parlia ments, ballot. Raikes.] FIRST REFORM BILL, AND CHOLERA IN ENGLAND. 559 June 12. — I do not think that in all my experience I ever remember such a season in London as this has been ; so little gaiety, so few dinners, balls, and f$tes. The political dissensions have undermined society, and produced coolnesses between so many of the highest families, and between even near relations, who have taken opposite views of the question. Independent of this feeling, the tory party — whose apprehensions for the future are most desponding, who think that a complete revolution is near at hand, and that property must every day become less secure — are glad to retrench their usual expenses, and are beginning by economy to lay by a. poire pour la soif Those who have money at command are buying funds in America* or in Denmark, which they think less exposed to political changes. Those who have only income are reduced to retrench; but all seem impressed with the idea that they cannot long depend on their present prosperity, and these very means of precaution may tend to accelerate the crisis, if such there is. The London tradesmen are first affected ; \ihe petit commerce declines, which creates discontent; the orders to the country are diminished, which disappoints the manufac turer; he in return must discard workmen, which augments the number of those already out of employ; and thus the apprehen sions on one side create distress on the other, till at length that which was oiily imaginary creates for itself an alarming reality * * * * T^g retrenchments that are gradually making in all the salaries of the public offices, all tend to the same end, to diminish the circulation of capital, to curtail the demand for the comforts and luxuries of life, and consequently to circumscribe the demand for labour and ingenuity, These circumstances are only beginning to be felt ; but the progress is sure though slow, and will be a disheartening contrast to the smiling prosperity which the advocates of reform have so unblushingly predicted as the immediate result of the success of their measure. June 16. — The news from Ireland to-day is unsatisfactory; and sir Hussey Vivian,f the commander-in-chief, has been sent back * Lord Hertford, under this impression, lost ^300,000 or £400,000 by his nvestments in American stock which was repudiated. + He v.as raise 1 to the peerage in 1841, and died 1842. 560 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. Raikes. to his post at a minute's warning. The public funds are declining, for which various reasons are alleged. It is stated from Ireland, that, for some days past, many of the country people are seen running over the midland counties, carrying with them pieces of burning turf, a small piece of which they leave at every house with the following exhortation : — " The plague * has broken out ; take this, and while it burns offer up seven paters, three aves, and a credo, in the name of God and the holy St. John, that the plague may be stopped." The person leaving it lays each householder under an obligation to set fire to his piece of turf, and run to seven other houses where no holy fire has been left, and leave it to each, under a penalty of falling a victim to the cholera himself. Men women, and children are seen scouring the country in every direction with this charmed turf; one man had to run thirty miles before he could perform his task. The priests, however,. pretend entire ignorance of the matter ; and when we recollect the bearing of the fiery cross in Scotland previous to a rising, there is too much reason to fear that the ceremony has more of a political than a sanatQry tendency. June 1 8. — Anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. The duke, on returning from the Tower this morning on horseback, was assailed in the streets by a mob of ruffians, who hissed and abused him. Their conduct at last became so violent that a band of the police were obliged to escort him to his house. In the evening he gave the annual banquet at Apsley House to all the field officers who were present at the battle, and it was deemed necessary to have a large armed force of regulars, besides a numerous police in the neighbourhood ; but no further riots ensued. To such a pass has popular ferment arrived ! * * * * * Thursday, June 19. — The first day of Ascot races, which was attended by the king and queen, &c. As soon as his majesty presented himself in the stand a ruffian threw a stone at him, which hit him on the forehead but fortunately did him no serious injury. The scoundrel was taken up and sent to prison. The poor king will now see the value of mob popularity. June 20. — An address moved by the government in both houses * The cholera. Raikes.] FIRST REFORM BILL, AND CHOLERA IN ENGLAND. 5G1 . to congratulate the king on his escape from stone thrown at Ascot It would have been wiser to let the subject be forgotten. It appears to have been the act of a half-cracked Greenwich pen sioner, unconnected with any political feeling, and therefore not worthy of public remark ; but they wish now to make a show of loyalty and attachmeut to the king. Tuesday, June 26. — The king and queen and all the royal family were at the duke of Wellington's fete at Apsley House. Very crowded, but uniforms, stars, and ribbons enlivened the scene, and there were many handsome women. The king looked infirm and tired. The queen was evidently out of spirits ; she had attended a review in Hyde Park in the morning, when the sovereign mob thought proper to treat her with much incivility and rudeness. Truly enough might the king remark that he feared he had got into bad hands, when he sees that his own wife cannot escape from insult before his face. June 29. — The cholera has broken out again even in London, Sir James Macdonald, who was going out to Corfu as lord high commissioner of the Ionian Islands in the room of Sir Frederick Adam, appointed to the government of Madras in place of Lush- ington, died this morning of that complaint after an illness of only eighteen hours. July 3. — The cholera very near home. A maidservant at lord Clarendon's who lives only a few doors off in this street, was seized with this complaint at seven o'clock last evening, and died at two o'clock this morning ; she was in her coffin at eight o'clock, and buried at ten. July 19. — * * * * The cholera still very violent, particu larly in the city. Among many other victims within my know-. ledge was a Mr. Von Rossum, a native of Holland, but esta blished here as an exchange-broker. He went to Rothschild yesterday to ask if he would advance money on stock ; the old Jew refused him, saying, " In these times I shall not advance money to any one by Got; who knows what may happen ? you may be dead to-morrow." It so happened that the poor man was seized with cholera that very evening, and the next morning he was dead. » » » * 00 §62 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. " [Raikes. Sunday, July 22. — Mrs. Robert Smith was seized with cholera this morning, and died at eleven o'clock this evening. She was at the opera last night in health and spirits, to-night she is no longer of this- world. How short a warning ! Even the set at Crockford's was- for a moment electrified at this sudden catas trophe. She was young, beautiful, daughter of the late lord Forester and sister of the present ; niece to the duke of Rutland; sister to lady Chesterfield and to Mrs. Anson. She was married to Mr. Smith, eldest son of lord Carrington, who is disconsolate for her loss. Monday, July 23. — This morning died, at lord Dacre's house in Chesterfield-street, of cholera, Harry Scott, consul at Bordeaux. He was brother to lady Oxford. Mrs. Orde and he were to have sailed this week with his daughter in Augustus Craven's yacht for Bordeaux. Yarmouth arrived from Paris. Duncombe was seized with spasmodic cholera yesterday and was nearly dead ; but by timely assistance was saved, and is now recovering. August 19. — The cholera still goes on here, and has extended itself to Ireland. The report of the board of health is to-day 764 new cases, and 271 deaths for England alone, and total of cases from the commencement 32,853, and deaths 12,274. Sunday, September 2. — The cholera reports are very much- increased ; they now amount for England to 44,354 cases, and 16,441 deaths. This does not include the London list ; and as many deaths have occurred which are not registered, the amount must be more serious. September 16. — The cholera returns this week from the country are now increased to 53,464 cases, ^,396 deaths; among which is that of my old friend Charles Calvert, M.P. for Southwark, who died at Saxmundham after an attack of only a few hours. December 2. — How strikingly alike are the respective situations of France and England at the present day. Each country torn by faction and party spirit ; each making the same efforts for liberty or democracy, and each equally failing in their object ; the' «ne collapsing towards despotism, the other towards confusion. These evils arise from confounding personal with political -liberty. I call personal freedom the right to dispose without molestation Raikes.] FIRST REFORM BILL, AND CHOLERA IN ENGLAND. 563 of one's person and estate, and' be secure that neither the one nor the other will be disquieted without your consent. That liberty may be carried to the utmost extent that society can permit. The other species of liberty, called political liberty, consists in the right of taking a part in the government of the state. This kind of liberty should be restrained within narrow limits, for experience proves it cannot be widely extended without destroying the other. To produce the greatest amount of liberty and security with the smallest degree of political power in the lower classes, to combine the maximum of liberty widi the minimum of demo cracy is the great end of all good government, and should be the great object of every true patriot in the country. This distinction between individual and political freedom, between liberty and democracy, is the great point of separation between the whigs and tories. The conservatives strive to increase personal freedom to the utmost degree, and to effect that they find it indispensable to restrain its worst enemies, the democracy. The whigs affect to attend only to the augmentation of popular power, and in so doing they trench on civil liberty ; as we have lately seen in the flames of Bristol, the conflagration of Jamaica, and the dreadful tithe murders in Ireland ; nothing of which nature we had ever witnessed in this country from r8i5 to 1830, the days when demo cracy was restrained. In France we have a parallel case. The revolutionists saw their despotic rule impossible under the sway of the Bourbons, and therefore they inflamed the public mind till they got their government overthrown ; for the ordinances them selves were no more the cause of that catastrophe than the storming of the Bastille was the cause of the revolution in ^89. Then despotism of one kind or another instantly returned, that of the National Guard, the Parisian imeutes or marshal Soult's cannoniers, and liberty has been destroyed by the demagogues who raised the people in its name. ' December 3. — The king came up to town from Brighton, and signed the proclamation for dissolving the present parliament, and assembling the new on the 29th of January, 1833. From this day commences a new era for England. 00 2 564 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY, [H. MartineaV, &\t g»teom M ixn, 1833. Harriet Martineau; On the 14th of the next May, the government had declared that they had found the pressure of public opinion on the subject of slavery too strong to be resisted, and they had brought forward; by the mouth of Mr. Stanley (who had become colonial secretary), a series of resolutions, which were to be debated on the 30th of the same month. In the speech of the secretary, introducing the resolutions, nothing is more remarkable than the narrative given jf West India distress ; a distress so frequently recurring, so incessantly complained of, in all conditions of war and peace, and of changing seasons, as to show that the secret of prosperity does not lie in slavery, and that there was some fatal fault in the system which the planters were so unwilling to have touched. There was nothing in this narrative to surprise the economists, in or out of the House ; and the economists and the friends of the negro, and the most enlightened of the advocates of the. planters were alike sorry to see in the resolutions a clinging to the unsound method of " gradualism " in the abolition of slavery. It was proposed that all children born after the passing of any act of emancipation, and all that should be under six years old at the time of its passage, should be declared free — that all others, then slaves, should be registered as apprenticed labourers, beings considered free, except for the restriction of being compelled to labour for their present owners, under conditions, and for a space of time to be determined by parliament : that a loan not exceed ing 15,000,000/. should be offered to the planters ; and that par liament should provide for the expense of a local magistracy, and of means of education and religious training of the negroes. Mr. Buxton declared at once against the compulsory apprentice ship, as a device pregnant with mischief. He was joined by one who had been a member of the government — lord Howick, who had resigned office from his inability to countenance this pro vision, and his reluctance to introduce confusion into the govern ment by his opposition, otherwise than as an independent member of the House. This apprenticeship arrangement .was one .great H. Martineau.] THE SLAVES SET FREE, 1833. '565 difficulty; and the loan was another. The planters and their advocates considered the amount a mere pittance, and yet were sure they could never repay it. With a good grace the loan of 15,000,000?. was converted into a gift of 20,000,000/., and the term of apprenticeship was reduced. Mr. Buxton was so well supported in his opposition, that Government had no choice but to yield. The field slaves were to have been apprenticed for twelve years, and the house slaves for seven ; their terms were now reduced to seven and five. As to the money part of the affair, there were many who saw and declared that, in strict prin ciple, there could be no claim for compensation for deprivation of that which from its very nature never could have been property ; and such opposed any payment at all to the planters, as they would have refused to purchase a slave who could be freed with out. But the greater number, seeing how long the law had recognised human beings as property, and on how bare a legal basis all right to property rests, were willing to avoid subtle con troversy, and to close the dispute rather with generous concession than with rigidity ; and the gift of 20,000,000/. was voted with an alacrity which must ever be considered a remarkable and honour able sign of the times. The generous acquiescence of the people under this prodigious increase of their burdens, has caused the moralists of other nations to declare that the British act of eman cipation stands alone for moral grandeur in the history of the world ; while those of other nations who do not happen to be moralists, see in it only an inexplicable hypocrisy, or obscure process of self-interest On the 30th of August, 1833, the emancipation act passed the lords. The name and much of the substance of slavery was to expire on the 1st of August, 1834. The young children were then to be free ; and the government fondly hoped, against the warnings of those who understood the second nature which over grows the first in the holders of irresponsible power, that the parents would, from the same hour, be morally and civilly free^- bound only in the salutary obligations to virtuous labour. How ever that might be, the day was within view when all should.be wholly free. To her great honour— and not the less because the 566 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. act proved to be one of true policy — Antigua surrendered the right of apprenticeship, and set her slaves wholly free on the appointed day. Elsewhere the arrangement worked so ill, the oppression of the negroes was so gross, and to them in their transition state so intolerable ; the perplexities were so many and so difficult to deal with, that government was soon convinced that "gradualism" was as impracticable under the name of freedom as of slavery; in three years the term of apprenticeship was shortened, and presently afterwards the arrangement was relin quished altogether. The season of emancipation was dreaded by some of the slave holders, who had spent all their lives in fear of negro risings. To others it appeared that the danger of revolt was, when the negroes were suffering under tyranny, and not when they were relieved from it. On both shores of the Atlantic, however, expectation stood on tiptoe to watch the moment which should give freedom to 800,000 of the enslaved race. The Carolina planter looked well to his negro quarter to see that his " hands " were not abroad after dark. Garrison* and his band sate waiting for tidings— with more faith in the negro temper than any one else, but still with some anxiety for the cause. The British parliament looked benevolently forth, in the consciousness of having done an act which should stand alone in the history of the world. The British peasant thought affectionately of the black brethren whom he, as a freeman and a tax payer, had helped to release from bondage. * * * » The 1 st of August fell on a Friday, and there was to be holiday from the Thursday night till Monday. The missionaries did their duty well ; and they completely succeeded in impressing the people with a sense of the solemnity of the occasion. The arrival of that midnight in the island of Antigua, where the negroes were to be wholly free at once, was an event which cannot be read without a throbbing of the heart It was to the negroes their pass- over night. They were all collected in their chapels — the Wesleyans keeping watch-night in the chapels throughout the island. The * The editor of the "Liberator," American paper, who devoted himself to the cause of the abolition of slavery. M CarthV.] DEATH OF WILLIAM IV., ACCESSION OF VICTORIA. 567 pastors recommended to the people to receive the blessing in silence, and on their knees. At the first stroke of midnight from the great cathedral bell, all fell on their knees, and nothing was heard but the slow tolling bell, and some struggling sobs in the intervals. The silence lasted for a few moments after the final strokes, when a peal of awful thunder rattled through the sky, and the flash of lightning seemed to put out the lamps in the chapels. Then the kneeling crowd sprang to their feet, and gave voice to their passionate emotions, — such voice as might be expected from this excitable people. Some tossed up their free arms, and groaned away at once the heart's burden of a life. Families and neighbours opened their arms to each other. Some prayed aloud, after the lead of their pastors, that they might be free indeed ; and a voice was heard in thanksgiving for a real Sabbath now, when the wicked should cease from troubling, and the weary be at rest, and the voice of the oppressor should be no more heard, and the servant should be free from his master. In some of the chapels the noble spectacle was seen, of the masters attending with their negroes, and when the clock had struck, shaking hands with them, and wishing them joy. The rest of the holiday was spent partly in mirth, as was right, and much of it in listening to the addresses of the missionaries, who urged upon them with much force, and in the utmost detail, the duties of sobriety and diligence, and harmony with their employers. On the Monday morning they went to work — work that they were proud of now, as it was for wages. §*at{r of Miiligm IV., nxxb %ttmxo\x of B'xdox'xn* Justin McCarthy. Before half-past two o'clock on the morning of June 20, 1837, William IV. was lying dead in Windsor Castle, while the messengers were already hurrying off to Kensington Palace to bear to his successor her summons to the throne. The illness of the king had been but short, and at one time, even after it had * From the " History of Our Own Times." 568 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH -HISTORY. [McCarthy been pronounced alarming, it seemed to take so hopeful a turn that the physicians began to think it would pass harmlessly away. But the king was an old man — was an old man even when he came to the throne, and when the dangerous symptoms again exhibited themselves, their warning was very soon followed by -fulfilment. The death of king William may fairly be regarded as having closed an era in our history. With him, we may believe, ended the reign of personal government in England. William was indeed a con stitutional king in more than mere name. He was to the best of his lights a faithful representative of the constitutional principle. He was as far in advance of his two predecessors in understanding and acceptance of the principle as his successor has proved her self beyond him. Constitutional government has developed itself gradually, as everything else has done in English politics. The written principle and code of its system it would be as vain to look for as for the British constitution itself. King William still held to and exercised the right to dismiss his ministers when he pleased and because he pleased. His father had held to the right of maintaining favourite ministers in defiance of repeated votes of the house of commons. It would not be easy to find any written rule, or declaration of constitutional law, pronouncing decisively that either was in the wrong. But in our day we should believe that the constitutional freedom of England was outraged, or at least put in the extremest danger, if a sovereign were to dismiss a ministry at mere pleasure, or to retain it in despite of the expressed wish of the house of commons. Virtually, therefore, there was still personal government in the reign of William IV. With his death the long chapter of its history came to an end. We find it difficult now to believe that it was a living principle openly at work among us, if not openly acknowledged, so lately as in the reign of king William. The closing scenes of king William's life were undoubtedly characterised by some personal dignity. As a rule sovereigns show that they know how to die. Perhaps the necessary con sequence of their training, by virtue of which they come to regard hemselves always as the central figures on a great state pageantry, is to make them assume a manner of dignity on all occasions when M'Carthy.] DEATH OF WILLIAM IV., ACCESSION OF VICTORIA. 569 the eyes of their subjects may be supposed to be on them, even if the dignity of bearing is not the free gift of nature. The manners of William IV. had been like those of most of his brothers, some what rough and overbearing. He had been an unmanageable naval officer. He had again and again disregarded or disobeyed orders, and at last it had been found convenient to withdraw him from actual service altogether, and allow him to rise through the successive ranks of his profession by a merely formal and technical process of ascent. In his more private capacity he had, when younger, indulged more than once in unseemly and insufferable freaks of temper. He had made himself unpopular while duke of Clarence, by his strenuous opposition to some of the measures which were especially desired by all the enlightenment of the country. He was, for example, a determined opponent of the measures for the abolition of the slave trade. He had wrangled publicly, in open debate, with some of his brothers in the house of lords ; and words had been interchanged among the royal princes which could not be heard in our day, even in the hottest debates of the more turbulent house of commons. But William seems to have been one of the men whom increased responsibility improves. He was far better as a king than a prince. He proved that he was able, at least to understand that first duty of a constitutional sovereign, which, to the last day of his active life, his father, George III., never could be brought to comprehend — that the ' personal predilections and prejudices of the king must sometimes give way to the public interest. Nothing, perhaps, in life became him like the leaving of it. His .closing days were marked by gentleness and kindly consideration for the feelings of those around him. When he awoke on June 1 8th he remembered that it was the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. He expressed a strong pathetic wish to live over that day, even if he were never to see another sunset. He called for the flag which the duke of Wellington always sent him on that anniversary, and he laid his hand upon the eagle which adorned it, and said- he felt revived by the touch. He had himself attended since his accession the Waterloo banquet, but this time the duke of Wellington thought it would perhaps be more seemly to have 570 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [M'CARTilv. the dinner put off, and sent accordingly to take the wishes of his majesty. The king declared that the dinner must go on as usual, and sent to the duke a friendly, simple message, expressing his hope that the guests might have a pleasant day. He talked in his homely way to those about him, his direct language seeming to acquire a sort of tragic dignity from the approach of the death that was so near. He had prayers read to him again and again, and called those near him to witness that he had always been a faithful believer in the truths of religion. He had his despatch boxes brought to him, and tried to get through some business with his private secretary. It was remarked with some interest that the last official act he ever performed was to sign with his trembling hand the pardon of a condemned criminal. Even a far nobler reign than his would have received new dignity if it closed with a deed of mercy. When some of those around him endeavoured to encourage him with the idea that he might recover and live many years yet, he declared with a simplicity which had something oddly pathetic in it that he would be willing to live ten years yet for the sake of the country. The poor king was evidently under the sincere conviction that England could hardly get on without him. His consideration for his country, whatever whimsical thoughts it may suggest, is entitled to some, at least, of the respect which we give to the dying groan of a Pitt or a Mirabeau, who fears with too much reason that he leaves a blank not easily to be filled.. "Young royal tarrybreeks," William had been jocularly called by Robert Burns fifty years before, when there was yet a popular belief that he would come all right and do brilliant and gallant things, and become a stout sailor In whom a seafaring nation might feel pride. He disappointed all such expectations ; but it must be owned that when responsibility came upon him he dis appointed expectation anew in a different way, and was a better sovereign, more deserving of the complimentary title of patriot king than even his friends would have ventured to anticipate. ****** William IV. (third son of George III.) had left no children who could have succeeded to the throne, and the crown passed there fore to the daughter of his brother (fourth son of George) the duke M'Carthy.] DEATH OF WILLIAM IV., ACCESSION OF VICTORIA. 571 of Kent. This was the princess Alexandrina Victoria, who was born at Kensington Palace, on May 24, 1819. The princess was therefore at this time little, more than eighteen years of age. The duke of Kent died a few months after the birth of his daughter, and the child was brought up under the care of his widow. She was well brought up: both as regards her intellect and her character her training was excellent. She was taught to be self- reliant, brave, and systematical. Prudence and economy were inculcated on her as though she had been born to be poor. One is not generally inclined to attach much importance to what historians tell us of the education of contemporary princes and princesses ; but it cannot be doubted that the princess Victoria was trained for intelligence and goodness. ***** There is a pretty description, which has been often quoted, but will bear citing once more, given by Miss Wynn of the manner in which the young sovereign received the news of her accession to a throne. " The archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Howley, and the lord chamberlain, the marquis of Conyngham, left Windsor for Kensington Palace, where the princess Victoria had been residing, to inform her of the king's death. It was two hours after midnight when they started, and they did not reach Ken sington till five o'clock in the morning. They knocked, they rang, they thumped for a considerable time before they could rouse the porter at the gate ; they were again-kept waiting in the courtyard, then turned into one of the lower rooms, where they seemed to be forgotten by everybody. They rang the bell and desired that the attendant of the princess Victoria might be sent to inform her royal highness that they requested an audience on business of importance. After another delay and another ringing to inquire the cause, the attendant was summoned, who stated that the princess was in -such a sweet sleep that she could not venture to' disturb her. Then they said, ' We are come on busi ness of state to the queen, and even her sleep must give way to that.' It did ; and to prove that she did not keep them waiting, in a few minutes she came into the room in a loose white night gown and shawl, her nightcap thrown off and her hair falling upon her shoulders, her feet in slippers, tears in her eyes, but perfectly 572 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY, (M'Carthy. collected and dignified." The prime minister, lord Melbourne, was presently sent for, and a meeting of the privy council sum moned for eleven o'clock, when the lord chancellor administered the usual oaths to the queen, and her majesty received in return the oaths of allegiance of the cabinet ministers and other privy councillors present Mr. Greville, who was usually as little disposed to record any enthusiastic admiration of royalty and royal personages as Hum boldt or Varnhagen Von Ense could have been, has described the scene in words well worthy of quotation. *' The king died at twenty minutes after two yesterday morning, and the young queen met the council at Kensington palace at eleven. Never was anything like the first impression she pro duced, or the chorus of praise and admiration which is raised about her manner and behaviour, and certainly not without jus tice. It was very extraordinary, and something far beyond what was looked for. Her extreme youth and inexperience, and the ignorance of the world concerning her, naturally excited intense curiosity to see how she would act on this trying occasion, and there was a considerable assemblage at the palace, notwithstand ing the short notice that was given. The first thing to be done was to teach her her lesson, which for this purpose Melbourne had himself to learn. . . . She bowed to the lords, took her seat, and then read her speech in a clear, distinct, and audible voice, and without any appearance of fear or embarrassment. She was quite plainly dressed and in mourning. After she had read her speech, and taken and signed the oath for the security of the church of Scotland, the privy councillors were sworn, the two royal dukes first by themselves; and as these old men, her uncles, knelt before her, swearing allegiance and kissing her hand, I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast between their civil and their natural relations ; and this was the only sign of emotion which she evinced. Her manner to them was very graceful and engaging; she kissed fhem both, and rose from her chair and moved towards the duke of Sussex, who was farthest from her, and too infirm to reach her. She seemed rather bewildered at the multitude of men who were sworn, and The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 573 who came one after the other to kiss her hand ; but she did not speak to anybody, nor did she make the slightest difference in her manner, or show any in her countenance, to any individual of any rank, station, or party. I particularly watched her when Melbourne, and the ministers, and the duke of Wellington, and Peel approached her. She went through the whole ceremony, occasionally looking at Melbourne for instruction when she had any doubt what to do, which hardly ever occurred, with perfect calmness and self-possession, but at the same time with a graceful modesty and propriety particularly interesting and ingratiating." Sir Robert Peel told Mr. Greville that he was amazed at " her manner and behaviour, at her apparent deep sense of her situa tion, and at the same time her firmness." The duke of Wellington said, in his blunt way, that if she had been his own daughter he could not have desired to see her perform her part better. "At twelve," says Mr. Greville, " she held a council, at which she pre sided with as much ease as if she had done nothing else all her life ; and though lord Lansdowne and my colleague had contrived between them to make some confusion with the council papers, she was not put out by it. She looked very well." * * * Waz %naxx of (fyxxmt fflxdatm, 6 The Editor. PART I. The young queen, who succeeded William IV., was the only child of Edward, duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. and the dowager princess of Leiningen, the sister of Leopold of Saxe- Cobourg, the husband of the lamented princess Charlotte. She was born at Kensington Palace, May 24, 1819, and was just eighteen when the king, her uncle, died. Thus she was legally of age, and assumed the sovereign power at once. The nation welcomed their fair young princess with heartfelt joy; they knew how sensibly and carefully she had been brought up, and looked forward to a new era of prosperity under her sway. As the Salic law existed in Hanover, that kingdom passed from the queen to her uncle, Ernest duke of Cumberland ; to the great 574 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. (The Editor. relief of England, whose interests had been so often sacrificed to that of the home of the earlier Georges. The queen was crowned June 28, 1838. Her first minister was lord Melbourne, a whig ; and to that party the queen herself inclined, till the wise young prince, whom she married two years afterwards, taught her that the queen or king of England must not be the sovereign of a faction, but of her people, — a lesson the Georges could never learn. The first trouble of the new reign was a civil war in Canada, caused by the jealousy of the successors of the old French colonists against the English. Considerable loss of life ensued, but peace was at last established, and the two Canadas were united under one governor — the seat of the government being transferred from Quebec to Montreal. Since then the provinces of North America have been united, under the name of the Dominion, and Ottawa has become the capital. New domestic troubles were brewing now in England. The people, always ready to ascribe their inevitable troubles to political causes, had become discontented with their eagerly-pressed-for Reform Bill, and demanded a people's charter; the six points of which were, vote by ballot, universal suffrage, annual parliaments, electoral districts, no property qualification for members of parlia ment, and the payment of members. The people adhering to this charter were called chartists. Unprincipled agitators, as usual, appeared and counselled the ignorant multitude to establish the people's charter by force. Serious riots ensued. One espe cially, led by John Frost and two men named Jones and Williams, occurred at Newport, South Wales ; but was suppressed, and the three demagogues were sentenced to death, but afterwards re prieved, and transported instead to Tasmania. This severity, and a royal proclamation against seditious meetings, quieted the chartists for a time. On the ioth of February, 1840, the young queen was married to her cousin, prince Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, prince of Saxe-Cobourg-Gbtha. His father was brother to the queen's mother, and to Leopold king of Belgium. The marriage was one of love on both sides ; and never was royal union so per- The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 575 feet and so happy. The prince was highly gifted, personally and mentally. He had great talents, and a disposition of the most perfect sweetness and goodness. The nation, with the strange blindness inherent in humanity, never fully realised the value of the queen's great husband, till he was taken from them ; yet he was acknowledged always to be good and amiable. But we are digressing. Disturbances now broke out in the east. Egypt, under Mehemet Ali, its pasha, (aided by France) revolted from its allegiance to Turkey; and the Turkish fleet went over to the Egyptians. England united with Austria and Turkey to suppress this rebellion, and war commenced against Mehemet Ali. The town of Beyrout in Syria was destroyed, and Acre taken by the English. Then the pasha submitted, and the rebellious fleet was returned to the sultan. In 1840 and 1841 England entered into a war with China. The dispute began in 1839, when the emperor prohibited the opium trade. It ended in a peace signed at Nankin in 1842, by which China consented to pay 2r,ooo,ooo. of dollars, ceded Hong-Kong to England, and opened Canton, Amoy, Foo-choo-foo, Ningpo, and Shanghai to British merchants ; consuls to be resident in those places. But a terrible disaster was about to befall Britain in the east. It was well known that Russia was desirous of rivalling England in Asia, and that the border land of Afghanistan was the object of her desire as the first step to be taken in wresting England's possessions in Hindostan from her. The Tartar power pursues her aims with wonderful patience and perseverance, stirring up strife by her intrigues, and then reaping her own advantage out of them. She sought her opportunity in Afghanistan, and found it about this time. By her intrigues disturbances were excited in that country. The ameer of Cabul, Shah Soojah, was dethroned by a brave and very intelligent chief named Dost Mohammed, favoured by the Shah of Persia ; but the British were well aware that both the chief and the Shah were mere tools of the great northern power, who would, 576 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. should they succeed, use them only as instruments. British forces were therefore sent to replace our ally, Shah Soojah, on the throne. They conquered Candahar, and took Ghiznee. Dost Mohammed fled ; and Shah Soojah was reinstated ; but the people hated him, and he was only kept on his throne by British soldiers. It happened then that sir Robert Sale, who was stationed at Jella- labad in Cabul, with a portion of the English army, undertook an expedition against the Ghilzaies, a hill-tribe. Unfortunately, he was defeated, and had to retreat. This misfortune to our arms en couraged the people of Cabul to make an attempt at throwing off the yoke of Shah Soojah, the English nominee, and in November, 1841, they rose; sir Alexander Burnes and Sir William Macnaghten were assassinated, and the British were compelled to evacuate Cabul. On their road out of the country they were pursued and cut off in the Koord Pass, and massacred by the treacherous Akbar Khan; 17,000 men, besides women and children, perished in the mountains. Lady Sale and other ladies were taken prisoners. Of the army retreating from Cabul only one man, Dr. Brydon, escaped and reached Jellalabad, which was still held by sir Robert Sale. But the British were not slow to avenge their wrongs. Generals Pollock and Nott were sent against Cabul with fresh forces ; Nott retook Ghiznee ; Pollock defeated Akbar Khan, and retook Cabul ; and lady Sale, and other ladies, and 108 English prisoners, with 300 Sepoys, were rescued. A terrible vengeance was executed on the treacherous Afghans; the fortifications of Cabul were destroyed, and the troops evacuated the place Octo ber 2, 1842. The next war was with Scinde ; the ameers of which countiy had refused to allow our troops at Bombay to pass through their country to Cabul during the war, and would not permit any British vessel to navigate the Indus. The Beloochees were* however, defeated by sir Charles Napier on the plains of Meeanee, February. 16, 1843, and finally the ameers were brought prisoners to Bombay ; Scinde was united to the empire, and the Indus declared free to the world. Two years before this time a better triumph was attained : sir Rowland Hill established the penny postage. The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 577 O'Connell had meantime appeared as the liberator of Ireland, and held monster meetings for the repeal of the union. He was seized, tried, and imprisoned for twelve months, but on an appeal to the House of Lords was set free. The agitation, however, was subdued by this proof of determination on the part of the govern ment. We must add here, in justice to a great man, that O'Connell restrained the Irish from the acts of cruelty and savage vengeance into which more recent agitators have led them. He was a man of great ability. The corn laws still kept up the price of bread, and in conse quence the Anti-Corn-Law Association was formed, which by all possible means, and at great outlay, brought the subject constantly before the public. Year by year it went on ; John Bright of Roch dale and Richard Cobden being its advocates in parliament, and Ebenezer Elliott making it the subject of the Anti-Corn-Law rhymes, which were very popular with the people, and did much for the cause. But the dreadful famine which occurred in Ire land in 1847 did the most for the change of law. 1848 was a troubled year all over Europe. Louis Philippe was driven from the French throne and a republic was set up. The pope fled from Rome ; everywhere the people had risen against their rulers ; and, as was ever the case, the continental disturbances agitated England. The chartists made their appearance again ; led by Feargus. O'Connor, an Irish member of parliament. He invited the chartists to assemble on Kennington Common in multitudes, and take their monster petition themselves to the House of Commons. Some alarm was felt, but the wise precautions of the duke of Wellington and the aid of a heavy rain dispersed the mob, and there was no show of revolution. In Ireland, however, Smith O'Brien, Meagher of the Sword, as he was called, and O'Gorman, went over to Paris, and invited France to assist them in invading England ! The attempt at rebel lion was frustrated. O'Brien and the other confederates were arrested and transported for life ; but were afterwards pardoned and allowed to return. The corn laws were abolished by sir Robert Peel — one of the 578 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. greatest of the conservative chiefs — but his action caused a division in his party ; those who were against the measure being henceforth called protectionists. The cholera, which reappeared in 1848, produced some good; its causes were traced to the wretched and crowded homes of the poor, and a board of health was established : public baths and wash-houses were opened, vaccination enforced, and burials in towns forbidden. Gold was discovered in California, and in Victoria (Australia) ; the discovery reduced the value of money, but drew great numbers of people from this country to the gold fields, and thus gave a new impetus to emigration. The electric telegraph was invented by Mr. Cooke, a surgeon in the army, and perfected by Mr. Wheatstone. The Sikh war occurred in India in 1843, and ended in the Punjaub being annexed to British India in 1849. The Overland Route to India connected us more closely with that magnificent empire. The Suez Canal has now made the sea-journey a mere nothing in comparison with the old voyage round the Cape. In 1852 the duke of Wellington died, to the great regret of the nation ; he had a public funeral, and was interred in St Paul's Cathedral, as Nelson had been. The second Burmese war, ended June, 1853, secured to Britain the free navigation of the Irrawaddy, the most important river of the Burmese empire. The same year Pegu was added to our empire. In 1854 the Crimean war began with Russia. That empire had long looked with covetous eyes on Turkey, her aim being to fix the capital of her empire at Constantinople. A proposal made by her to England that the two countries should divide or at least share the " sick man's inheritance " — by the sick man she signified the sultan or Turkish state — was honestly and even indignantly rejected ; and then the czar, on the pretext of a dispute about the holy places in Syria, declared war against the Turks, crossed the Pruth, and occupied Moldavia and Wallachia. The first battle between Tartar and Turk was fought at Oltenitza, when the Russians were defeated by the Moslems. Other Turkish victories The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 579 followed, and the Russians were driven out of the Danubian pro vinces. In 1854 England and France entered into an alliance with Turkey; the interest of Britain rendering it imperative that she should not allow her rival in the east to obtain or hold the great city which is the key to the British possessions in India ; and France being not at all inclined to see the Mediterranean become a mere Russian lake, as it would if the White Czar reigned in Stamboul. The most vulnerable part of the Russian empire was thought to be the Crimea ; thither consequently the English and French armies proceeded, while sir Charles Napier was sent into the Baltic to bombard the Russian ports. He took Bomarsund. The first battle in the Crimea was that of the Alma, fought on September 20, 1854, in which the allies were victorious, although they suffered great loss. It is thought now that had they pressed on immediately, Sebastopol (the chief town) might have at once been taken; but a delay, perhaps inevitable, ensued, and a regular and long siege had consequently to be undertaken. Whilst it proceeded several battles were fought. That of Balaclava occurred on October 17, and is memorable for the heroic charges of the Heavy and Light Cavalry Brigades. The latter will always hold a place in history as an example of magnificent though mistaken valour. Of 670 soldiers who made this rash charge on the whole Russian army, supported by tremendous batteries of artillery, nearly 500 fell. On the 25th of November the Russians, hoping to conquer the English by a surprise, stole upon them in a fog at Inkerman, and attacked them desperately, 50,000 Russians to 8,000 English. But the roused troops fought with desperation, and being, after a terrible conflict, reinforced by the gallant French, won the field with the loss of over 4,000 men. Ten thousand Russians fell. This has been called the "Soldiers' Battle," because the officers and privates acted very much upon their own judgment, and with little leading; fighting in scattered groups. But the terrible part of the war was the besieging of the city, the sufferings of our poor soldiers in the trenches from the severity of the season and the want of proper provision for them were dreadful. Wounded, starved, frozen, their wants touched 580 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. every English heart, and great private efforts were made to relieve them. Miss Florence Nightingale went out with a band of nurses to tend them, and aided their necessities from her own purse. Sisters of Mercy of the Roman Catholic church had preceded her and the English nurses. In March, 1S55, tne czar Nicholas died; but no change took place in the military situation. The war continued ; a number of Russian forts in the sea of Azoff were destroyed, and Kertch in the Straits of Yenikale- was taken. In June the Malakoff and great Redan were stormed, but vainly, and ten days afterwards the English commander-in-chief died. The allies were soon after strengthened by a reinforcement from the king of Sardinia, under general de la Marmora. On August 16 the allies gained the battle of Tchernaya; and on September 8th the final bombardment commenced. The Russians in despair set fire to the town and shipping and blew up the works, and a few days afterwards the allies took possession of the ruined city. This siege lasted two years, and cost 100,000 lives ! Kars in Asia Minor had meantime been held by general Williams and the Turks against Russia for some time and defended with heroic courage ; but he was at length compelled by famine to surrender. Peace was concluded in 1856. By its terms the independence of Turkey, the free navigation of the Danube, the exclusion of ships of war from the Black Sea, and of arsenals and fortifications from its shores were agreed on. Thus — to save Constantinople and (through it) our Eastern empire — the best blood of Britain had bedewed the soil of the Crimea, and the nation had to pay 80,000,000 of money. In 1856 the second Chinese war began. It ended in the allied French and English taking Pekin and an immense quantity of spoil. But a terrible disaster — the worst that ever befell our nation was approaching. The year 1857 was the centenary of the battle of Plassey, which had established British power in the East. It has been said, that predictions existed assuring the conquered race that at the end of a hundred years they should shake off the yoke The Editor.] THE REIGX OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 581 of the Infidels, and be free. There had been that shadow thrown already which " coming events " are said to cast before them. The writer heard general sir Charles Napier declare long before, that the English in India lived over a volcano which might at any time burst forth in the shape of mutiny. In 1843 or 1844 a sheep was cut in small pieces at the temple of the murdering god at the bottom of the government garden at Dahpoorie, and morsels of it were sent all over the Presidency of Bombay ; but if anything then was in agitation it was suppressed by the national dread of that great captain. Before the outbreak of 1857, chupatties — small bread-loaves or cakes of rather heavy dough — were sent all over the British Raj — a signal to prepare the natives for the intended rising. But a sudden alarm on the part of the Hindoos and Mahometans precipitated, it is believed, the outbreak. The new Enfield rifle had been sent out ; the cartridges used for it were greased. The natives, distrustful and jealous, believed that the grease used was the fat of the cow, their sacred animal, or of the swine, the abhorrence of the Mahometans. To use the former would not only be sacrilege but would make them incur loss of caste — the greatest calamity imaginable to them, as it would excommunicate them from intercourse with their family and nation on earth, and banish them from Brahma's heaven here after. Some sepoys at Meerut refused to use the cartridges though solemnly assured that they were not greased by either fat ; and they were imprisoned. On the following day (Sunday) the sepoys broke out into open mutiny, fired on their officers, broke open the prison and released their comrades, massacring many Euro peans. The European troops, however, rallied and drove them from their cantonments. They then hurried off at once to Delhi, and proclaimed the old king — who lived there as a pensioner on the English government — emperor of India. They proceeded next to murder the greater number of Europeans within the city — men, women, and children. One whole family, whose young daughters had just gone out to join their parents, were extermi nated on that day — to the knowledge of the writer — and there was no exception to the general barbarity and ferocity of the sepoys. Lord Canning, the governor-general, acted with great jjg2 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. energy and decision. He stopped some troops on their way to China — where war was also threatening — and gathered a force to besiege Delhi at once. There had been war with Persia, and the English had quite recently defeated the Shah, and made peace. Sir James Outram, with his brave companions, colonels Jacob and Havelock, marched instantly to the assistance of their endangered countrymen. Help also came from the Punjaub ; the recently conquered Sikhs were quite ready to fight against the hated Hindoos. Happily also the Bombay and Madras sepoys and two of the native princes were faithful to the English. Delhi was taken after an investment of three months, but with great loss of life in the English army. Meantime terrible events were happening at Lucknow and Cawnpore. At Cawnpore General sir Hugh Wheeler had only about 300 soldiers with him; and there were 560 women and children to defend and sixty-five civilians. He drew them all within the mud walls of an old military hospital, and defended himself valiantly. He sent to ask the aid of a neighbouring rajah, Nana Sahib of Bithoor, who had lived on the most friendly terms apparently with the English. But this treacherous man coming with his followers and two guns to Cawnpore, at once sided with the sepoys, and attacked the British. Still the defence was so vigorous that the Nana had recourse to treachery to end it He proposed terms of surrender to sir Hugh; offering to send him and the survivors of the terrible siege to Allahabad by water. The terms were eagerly accepted, for the besieged had suffered fearful privations, and they were all embarked in boats on the stream for their destination. , But they had only gained the middle of the river when they were fired on by the treacherous sepoys, and endeavouring to land, were surrounded; the men brutally murdered and the women carried into captivity. When it was known, however, that general Havelock was approaching with his army, the monsters had these poor ladies and their children murdered with great cruelty, and threw them — some of the children being still alive — down an old dry well ! On entering the town the soldiers, stern men as they were, were seen to turn weeping from that awful well The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. t,S3 at Cawnpore. They had come too late to save ; but they took a terrible vengeance on the murderers. The Nana, however, escaped, nor has his fate ever been ascertained. Tantia Topee, his lieu tenant, was however found long after, tried and hanged. At Lucknow sir Henry Lawrence had only 500 British soldier;) to defend the English ladies, children and other Europeans resid ing there, from a horde of 50,000 ferocious sepoys. He withdrew them into the residency, where they stood a siege most gallantly against their many foes. The brave commander was killed, and many other gallant soldiers ; but at length general Havelock, who had fought his way through all possible perils and difficulties, forced a passage through the town, swarming with foes, and entered the besieged residency. But once in, it became apparent that he could not leave it, and he had to remain and take the conduct of the defence for seven weeks before sir Colin Campbell arrived to release him and remove the ladies and garrison from the residency. Finally the mutiny was entirely put down, and terrible chastise ment inflicted on the sepoys. But it had put an end to the rule of the East India Company. Henceforward, India was to be under the sway of the queen — since proclaimed empress of India —and from that time, in spite of two great famines, the country has progressed and been prosperous. PART II. In 1859 a bill was passed admitting the Jews into Parliament } and the property qualification for members was removed. The volunteer movement took place also in this year. An attempt had been made on the life of the emperor Napoleon by an Italian named Orsini. He had concocted it, and had had some detonat ing pear-shaped bombs prepared in England ; these bombs were thrown before the emperor's carriage on his way to the opera. They exploded, wounded many innocent people and killed ten, though the emperor and empress escaped. This event caused so much excitement in France that a war was threatened. Lord Palmerston tried to bring in a bill against conspiracies to murder, but it was defeated, and he had in consequence to resign. How- 584 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. ever, the French colonels had published and avowed such hatred to England, that it was thought well to be prepared for any possible emergency. A circular was therefore issued from the war-office inviting the people to form themselves into volunteer rifle-corps. So warmly was the offer accepted that by the end of two months the volun teer force numbered 130,000 men. It is now established as an admirable national army, to which we may safely trust the protec tion of our shores. With the French and Italian war with Austria we have nothing to do in this brief summary. The deliverance of Italy, however, was welcomed when her brave deliverer, Garibaldi, paid his visit to England. In 1 86 1 the American civil war broke out. England, though deeply interested in it, was only so far concerned as that she had afterwards to pay a large sum for the injuries done by the "Alabama" to the northern states' fleet and trade — the brave little ship having been fitted out and armed in an English port. Out of the other foreign wars England also kept — not we fear greatly to her honour. She interfered between Russia and Poland when the latter kingdom rose against the*tyranny of the czar, but she would not join France in any effort for those brave and injured people the Poles, and her interference did consequently more harm than good. But meantime a great national misfortune and sorrow had fallen on England, — a loss we can scarcely yet estimate fully. The ex cellent prince consort died — almost suddenly. The grief of the people was general and profound. The queen has never ceased to mourn for him. Though still faithful and energetic in fulfilling her duties, she has not again mixed in the world. Her life has been consecrated to the memory of her lost and beloved husband. The subsequent marriage of the prince of Wales to the beautiful princess Alexandra of Denmarkenabled the sovereign to depute her daughter-in-law to take her place at drawing-rooms, balls, &c, for some years ; and the loveliness, grace, and winning sweetness of the young bride soon gained for her the hearts of all England. When the Prussians and Austrians attacked Denmark, therefore, The Editor.! THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 585 there was a strong wish amongst the people to take the little mari time kingdom's side, and lord Russell proposed to the emperor of the French tnat France and England united should intervene by arms in support of the Danes. But the emperor refused, and the heroic Danes were outnumbered and defeated. The half-hearted measures of the Liberal Government ; the manner in which they had encouraged Denmark and then drawn off from giving her aid, roused much indignation, and was brought before the house of commons. Mr. Disraeli made one of his best speeches on the subject. The government were on the verge of being censured and of resigning, when lord Palmerston once more used his popu larity with the house to defend his conduct and save his govern ment — and he succeeded. But his long active life was drawing to its close. He was over eighty years of age, and had been nearly sixty years in parliament The genial and well-beloved minister died in 1865. His death was the signal for the begin ning of the factions and disputes of the political parties which have continued to this day. In 1865, there was a disturbance in Jamaica. The negroes roes in revolt and attacked the court house in Morant Bay, where the magistrates were then sitting. They set the house on fire ; killed eighteen persons — the Custos among them— and wounded thirty. The rebellion was, however, almost instantly. suppressed by the energy and determination of governor Eyre, and when the great danger of the European inhabitants, especially of the English women and children, is considered, the severity of the repression may be pardoned, though it is ever to be regretted. Gordon, the man who was supposed to have incited his fellow- coloured men to the outbreak, was hanged, on the sentence of a court-martial, afterwards declared to be illegal. In 1866, the Atlantic cable united America and England by the electric telegraph, since which telegraphic wires have been laid in the beds of many oceans, and the whole empire is now united by them. In 1867, the Conservative Government, under lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli, passed the second Reform Bill — granting almost universal suffrage. It was well described by the conservative 586 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. leaders as "a leap in the dark;" its effects are only now begin ning to be apparent Neither Mr. Gladstone nor Mr. Bright would have carried the vote so low in the social scale, and Mr. Lowe wisely said, when it had passed — " We must now at least educate our new masters." Disturbances, originating in Irish discontent, occurred at Man chester and in London, and a new faction had arisen in Ireland, calling themselves Fenians. They were incited and directed by American-Irish soldiers, who had served during the American civil war in the armies of the States. At Manchester a party of them rescued two Fenian prisoners from the prison van, and in so doing shot and killed the police officer Brett, who had the accused men in charge. The rescuers were taken, and three of them, Allen, Larkin' and O'Brien, were hung for the murder of the policeman. Not long after a horrible crime was committed by adherents of this cause. Two Fenian prisoners were in the Clerkenwell House of Detention, and in order to deliver them during the period of their exercise in the prison-yard, their friends outside exploded a barrel of gunpowder close to the prison wall. Had the prisoners really been inside it, they would have been set free by death : as it was, the Governor, having had warning of a projected attempt at deliverance, kept themi in the jail and thus saved their lives. But the explosion had many victims. Numbers of the small houses near were shattered to pieces. Six innocent persons were killed on the spot ; six more died from the injuries they had re ceived, and twenty infants were destroyed by this foolish, wicked and useless act. Five men and one woman were arrested on sus picion of having perpetrated this crime, but one only was found guilty and was executed. Great crimes were soon afterwards dis covered to have been committed by trades-unionists who had established a system of terror by assassination, mutilation, setting fire to houses, destroying tools, and all sorts of cruelty. A new law was in consequence introduced to protect non-unionists. In 1868, public executions were done away with; criminals henceforth being hung within the precincts of the jail. A social horror of the worst kind was thus abolished. In this year, also, sir Robert Napier ("afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala), brought The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 587 the Abyssinian expedition to a successful termination by destroy ing the chief city, Magdala. Inside the gates the dead body of the self-slain king was found. The cause of the war had been the detention by King Theodore of a number of Englishmen as captives ; among them were Captain Cameron, the queen's consul at Massowah, with his secretary and servants, Mr. Rassam, a Syrian Christian, but a naturalised English subject, Lieutenant Prideaux and Dr. Blane. These men were made prisoners when actually engaged on the business of the English government. There were a number of other European prisoners also, but it was, of course, for English subjects the war was undertaken. The expedition was remarkable for its excellent strategy and admirable conduct. In 1868, the parliament was dissolved and a Liberal majority being returned, Mr. Gladstone became prime minister. He pro ceeded at once on a rapid course of reform. In the same year he succeeded in disestablishing the Irish Protestant church, and next year in introducing an Irish Land Bill, with the expectation that thus an end would be put to Irish agitation — how much those hopes have been disappointed we have seen ! In the same year Mr. Forster introduced and passed a Bill for the compulsory education of the people. The next strong measure was the abolition of purchase of com missions in the army. There was great opposition to this Bill as it was a manifest injustice to the officers, and the House of Lords insisted on delay and enquiry before they passed ft ; but Mr. Gladstone was resolved and took the unprecedented step of using the royal prerogative to carry out his will. He advised the queen to grant a royal warrant abolishing purchase in the army. Both houses were amazed at this proceeding, and Mr. Disraeli con demned in the strongest terms this use of the prerogative of the crown to oppose the wishes of parliament ; many distinguished Liberals were of his opinion, especially Mr. Fawcett. Indeed, no one could defend so unfair and violent — even if legal— an act ; Which was exceedingly dishonest towards those who had invested large sums in their profession. This act did much to weaken Mr. Gladstone's cabinet The Ballot Act was carried, 1871, without difficulty but has not fulfilled the expectations then entertained 588 HALF-HOURS OF- ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. of it as a preventative of corruption and bribery. An absurd attempt of Mr. Lowe's to tax lucifer matches, against which the poor match girls walked to the House of Commons in procession, tended, still more, to injure the government by rendering it ridiculous. 1870 had witnessed a great war on the continent between France and Prussia. Russia took advantage of this opportunity to announce that she would no longer be bound by the Treaty of Paris, but should restore her arsenal, and replace her ships in the Black Sea. Lord Granville argued, of course, in support of the treaty, but yielded to Russia in the end. Prince Bismarck suggested a conference in London to decide the question, but it was already decided by Mr. Gladstone's government, and the treaty was " torn up." At the demand of America, the govern ment (on arbitration) paid three millions and a half as compen sation for the injuries the "Alabama," a southern states' ship, fitted out in England, had done ; in spite of a long and eloquent protest against the decision by the chief justice, sir Alexander Cockburn, who however recommended submission to the award. The island of St. Juan was also (on arbitration) given up to America, and people began to wonder what next England would have to give up, to other powers. The government boasted that these arrangements "saved money;" but the English are a brave and proud race, and it is to be hoped will long feel that " saving money " is a very poor way of looking at the affairs of a renowned and ancient country. The popularity of the government, which had been so fiercely active, and (many thought) so destructive at home, and so compliant and timid beyond home-limits,' was fading. About this time also the home-rule agitation began in Ireland, and added another disturbing element to parliament. The Ashantee war, which occurred in 1874, was successfully ended by sir Garnet Wolseley. Meantime, Mr. Gladstone had suddenly dissolved parliament, and the general election returned a conservative majority, which placed Mr. Disraeli again in power. The visit of the Prince of Wales to India, and the Queen's receiving the title of Empress of India, were some of the events during this ministry. In 1876, the Sultan of Turkey, the unhappy The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 589 Abdul Aziz, was dethroned, and it is supposed murdered. His nephew Murad was made Sultan in his place, but was deposed as insane three months afterwards, and his brother Abdul Hamid succeeded him. An insurrection broke out in Bulgaria, and irregular Turkish troops were sent to repress it. A story reached England of atrocities committed .by the Turks on the Bulgarians which made a great stir at the time ; the English people not having been then used to the recitals of such barbarites as the Bulgarians themselves have since made them familiar with (as exercised by them against the helpless women and children of Turkey), their humane anger was instantly seized on for party purposes by the Russian faction. Immediately afterwards, Servia and Montenegro declared wai with the Porte, encouraged and incited to the attempt, there can be no doubt, by Russia. Servia was speedily defeated, though her troops were officered by Russians ; Montenegro held out more stubbornly. Soon afterwards Russia took the field herself openly, and the cruel Russo-Turkish war began, in which the Turks showed heroic courage. But it is believed that some of their generals were either incompetent or traitors. The gallant Osman Pasha was not reinforced at Plevna in time, and Russia succeeded in finally defeating her foe. An armistice was signed, followed shortly by the Treaty of St. Stefano, which would have virtually destroyed the Turkish empire. But England interfered firmly ; out fleet passed the Dardanelles and anchored near Constantinople ; soldiers were brought from India to Malta, and Russia, seeing that the British nation was resolved that the blood shed in the Crimean War should not have been poured out in vain, did not venture to enter Con stantinople. Nothing can be imagined more violent than the disputes about these attempts of Russia. As there was, in James the first's reign, a Spanish party in England, to which so many of the statesmen of his day were devoted; and whose interests they served till Raleigh's head fell and crowned their devotion ; so in the England of the decade from 1870 to 1880, there was a party wholly devoted to Russia ; though we do not mean to say of them (as we can, from positive proofs of the Spanish faction) that foreign gold secured their services to the strangers ; the British party were, 590 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. however, in power, headed by one of the greatest statesmen of the day, whose energy and courage were equal to the occasion. We appeared to be on the eve of war. Lord Derby, being peacefully disposed, receded from the ministry, and Lord Salisbury a man of great talent and high spirit, became foreign minister. Prince Bismarck stepped in as a mediator, and proposed a congress to be held in Berlin, to discuss the treaty of St. Stefano. To this Russia (seeing that only thus could war with England be averted) after a delay consented. The treaty has since been much discussed and much blamed ; but at the time it was highly popular. The prime minister, on his return from the conference, was received as a Conqueror might have been, or as one who had saved his country. And surely it speaks highly for the lofty nature of a nation on whom his words, "that he had brought them back Peace with Honour," could have such effect In 1878 the Indian Government, being well informed that Russian intrigues were rife in Afghanistan, determined to send a mission to the ameer Shere Ali. The mission and envoy were turned back insolently, and not allowed to advance to Cabul. To submit to such an insult was to risk our power in India, where any instance of cowardice or even hesitation is always the signal for disturbances. The embassy became an invasion ; Cabul was soon occupied and Shere Ali fled to his friend the Czar ; but he was not allowed to enter Russia, for he was no longer useful to her ; and, disappointed and betrayed, he died. His son Yakoob Khan was placed on his throne by England, and with him the treaty of Gundamuk was signed. He was to receive a subsidy of ^60,000 a year from the Indian Government ; in return he was to allow a British representative to remain at Cabul, and to cede a strong strategic frontier to the English. Sir Louis Cavagnari was sent up to Cabul as resident. But the old treachery of 184 1 was repeated • the envoy and his companions were murdered. As soon as the news reached the Viceroy other troops were sent up and once more the British accupied Cabul ; Yakoob Khan pretending that he had been unable to save the envoy, abdicated, and was sent to India ; and due punishment was meted out to the principal leaders of the murderous attack upon our brave soldier-envoy. The Editor.] THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 591 The war in South Africa against Cetewayo and the Zulus was meantime undertaken to defend the South African colony of Natal from threatened invasion by that savage monarch. It began with a terrible disaster to the British arms. An English force was surprised and overwhelmed by an immense body of Zulus at Isan- dula, and the greater part of them cut to pieces. The disaster was soon after retrieved at Ulundi, where the British army under lord Chelmsford utterly defeated the Zulus. Soon after Cetewayo was made prisoner. During the war, prince Louis Napoleon, son of the late emperor Napoleon III., who had joined our army as a volunteer, was surprised and killed by Zulus, fighting bravely in self-defence single-handed against many foes. This war, undertaken actually against the will of the govern ment, tended nevertheless to make it unpopular. Then also, there had been a succession of bad seasons. The labourers were in great distress ; famine was threatening in Ireland ; and trade had long been in a depressed state. The people are always wont to lay the blame of all their needs and difficulties on the govern ment — moreover the parliament was six years old, and the nation was tired of it — as it generally is by that time. Suddenly lord Beaconsfield, in the March of 1880, dissolved it. A change in the opinions of the people was then, most un expectedly, manifested. It was nearly as marked as it had been when Mr. Gladstone had set the example of a like surprise. A majority of 1 20 sent the Liberals back to power, and Mr. Gladstone once more assumed the premiership ; burdened, however, by many rash promises and pledges which threatened to render his rule uncertain and feeble. Since then the invasion of Afghanistan by Ayoob Khan; the defeat of a small force of English, and the following wonderful march and victory of sir Frederick Roberts, equalling any of the famous historical marches, has taken place. Meantime the disorder in Ireland increased daily, till it became a mere Reign of Terror. A Land League was formed which practised the worst kind of social tyranny on the landlord class- No man's life seemed safe; even poor animals were hurt and mutilated in this strangely savage and scarcely veiled rebellion ; tenants were not allowed to pay their rents ; obnoxious individuals 592 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [The Editor. were placed under a sort of interdict ; no tradesman might sell them goods ; no labourers work for them. This system being first practised on a captain Boycott was named " Boycotting." Mean time obstruction in parliament on the part of the Irish home-rulers totally prevented the execution of public business, and the Houses of Parliament were becoming a jest and a bye-word in Europe ; when the Prime Minister himself, supported by the Conservatives, was compelled to interfere. Fresh powers were given to the Speaker, and thus the excess of "Talk" was stopped, and a Coercion Bill was passed by the Liberal Government. A war meantime broke out in the Transvaal with the Boers. The Transvaal had been annexed on account of the fear there was that the Dutch settlers, by their conduct to the native races, would bring on a universal rising of the blacks against the colonists, The Boers, an illiterate but sturdy rase, were in the habit of attacking native villages, massacring the men and sometimes the women, and taking the children as slaves (openly bought and sold afterwards), to work on their farms. People differed in opinion as to the wisdom of the annexation, and Mr. Gladstone (when out of office) had strongly denounced it. The Boers must consequently have had good hopes that the action of the former ministers would be " repudiated " when Mr. Gladstone came into power. In this hope, prouably, they called the attention of their former friends to them by taking up arms. The English were three times defeated, and then — for the second time in our history, the other was the shameful Peace of Breda in Charles II. 's reign — peace was made with dwhonoui, and the demands of the Boers were granted. Happily perhaps for his feelings, our great patriotic statesman, lord Beaconsfield, expired just previously, to the intense regret both of the queen and the people ; leaving a noble name in our annals. The marriage of the queen's grandson, prince William of Prussia, to princess Victoria of Sleswig-Holstein may fitly conclude our brief sketch of a period which is too present for history. The children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are — Victoria Mary Adelaide, Crown Princess of Prussia ; H. Martineau.] THE DISASTER IN AFGHANISTAN IN 1841, 593 Albert Edward, Prince of Wales ; Alice Maud Mary, Grand Duchess of Hesse (dead) ; Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh ; Arthur William Patrick Albert, Duke of Connaught ; Leopold George Duncan Albert, Duke of Albany . Princesses Helena, of Sleswig-Holstein, Louise, Marchioness of Lome, and Beatrice. %\t gististcr in IMsljimisian in 1841. Harriet Martineau. It was an anxious summer for the British in Cabul. They were living in cantonments near the city. Their position was so arranged as that they were a mile and a half from the citadel — the Bala Hissar — where Shah Soojah resided, and a river lay between ; all the four corners of the cantonments where there were defences, were commanded by hills or Afghan forts ; and their provisions were actually stored in a fort at some distance from the cantonments. General Elphinstone* became more and more helpless, and he called in, as his adviser, an officer whose sole thought was to get back to India, and -who therefore dis couraged every effort to strengthen the position of the Cabul force. From the moment that a force knows itself to be ill- commanded, its heart and soul die out ; and so it was now. The officers grew moody and disheartened, as they saw their situation becoming dangerous, while it seemed too plain that they would neither be allowed to prepare for defence now, nor to fight here after. The men were worn and weary with incessant watching, with bearing the insults of the natives, and with receiving frequent tidings of their comrades being picked off by roving enemies as often as opportunity offered. The ladies occupied themselves with their gardens, which in that temperate climate rewarded all the pains taken. Sir Alexander Burnes gloried in his, which was attached to his house in the city ; and during these last months of his life, he was as confident and gay as ever. He had real * General Elphinstone was a distinguished officer during the Peninsular War, but he was now ek! and in bad health. — Editor. # * * * Q Q 594 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineav. friends among the Afghans ; and these friends warned him again and again of danger ; told him that he was deceived ; that the ground was mined under his feet ; and that he must save himself now or not at all. He did not believe a word of it. He kept his fears for Russia, and was perfectly satisfied about Afghanistan. The envoy, sir William Macnaghten, was less happy. One of the last things he said — in the next December — was, that a thousand deaths were better than the hell of suspense he had lived in for six weeks; and already he was having some foretaste of that bitter suffering. The aged Shah Soojah could do nothing. He was merely a puppet prince set up by us, in the absence of , any real call to the throne. He remained retired in the Bala Hissar, hated by the people, and pitied by the British for his contemptible position, some few the while strongly doubting his fidelity. We find throughout the narratives of this war a painful suggestion thrown in here and there, that this or that incident makes for or against the supposition of Shah Soojah's fidelity. For some months there was hope that general Nott was coming from Candahar, with a clear head upon his shoulders, a cheerful spirit in his breast, and a well-disciplined force at his heels. But he did not appear ; and then it became known that he could not come at all at present. He had quite enough on his hands below. Early in September, there were small treasons and skirmishes in the mountains north of Cabul, when parties were out collecting the revenue. Later in September, major Pottinger came to Cabul with fresh information, which so far convinced sir William Macnaghten of the probability of a rising in Kohistan, that he resolved to detain as hostages the sons of the great chiefs. Early in October, the second son of Dost Mohammed — that Akbar Khan, in whose hand the fate of the British in Afghanistan was henceforth to lie — came down from the north, and posted himself in the Khoord Cabul Pass, ten miles from the city; that pass being the only way back to Hindostan.* General Sale, who would haye been in his winter quarters at Jellalabad before this, but for the treasons and skirmishes in the mountains, now set forth to clear this pass. His troops might force it, but they could not * Then known,. II. Martineau.] THE DISASTER IN AFGHANISTAN IN 1841. 595 clear it. The foe was perched on the rocks, where no guns could be brought to bear upon them ; and the British had to run the gaunt let through the whole pass. General Sale was himself wounded. Akbar Khan now had command of the British communications. It is piteous to read of the suspense at the cantonments after this. There were rumours of battles, with great slaughter of the British on the road to Jellalabad, and no letters came to clear up the matter. Sometimes a messenger arrived ; but he brought only newspapers ; not a written line for even the general. Sometimes a letter or two came with a forged seal, — sometimes a letter which itself appeared to be forged. On the 31st of October, "no des patches for the general " nor private letters ; but further accounts hoped for to-morrow. On that morrow "no letters from camp, which has caused both surprise and anxiety."* This was an early foretaste of the horrors of the next day— November 2nd. On this night once more, and for the last time, sir Alexander Burnes's Afghan friends came to him with warnings ; and this once more in vain. He was as confident as ever. The next morning, while he and his brother and captain Broadfoot were at breakfast, the street filled, and the cries of the crowd told too well what they came for. Burnes was sure it was only a riot, and sprang into the balcony to address the people. The enemy burst in. Broadfoot killed six with his own hand before he fell. All three were murdered on the spot, though Shah Soojah sent word some hours after to Sir William Macnaghten that all was well with Burnes. Shah Soojah also said that if the rebellion was not over that night he would burn the city the next day ; but he neither did that, nor anything else, but order the guns of the citadel to fire, which they did all day without any apparent effect. For two months after this, all was unmitigated wretchedness. General Sale was hoped for — looked for — but he did not come. He could not ; and his wife and comrades were told it was because his soldiers had forsaken him. General Nott never came, also because he could not. Ammunition failed ; and, what was if pos sible worse, food failed. The commissariat fort, which stood detached, as has been said, was taken through sheer inertness and * Lady Sale's Journal. q q 2 596 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [H. Martineau. mismanagement of the authorities. There had been three possible courses for the British : to go back to India ; to remain in canton ments, in a state of defence, till aid should arrive; or to go to the Bala Hissar, and crowd in there, sacrificing the horses, but securing human life at least, till reinforcements should come. All these were difficult and dangerous, and each entailed great sacrifices ; but a vigorous adoption of any one would have left some chance to somebody. But there was no -vigour, no concert. The few who were fit to command, and the many who were ready to act, were paralysed by neglect and prohibitions'. The insulting enemy hovered round and picked off every straggler, and especially all the messengers whom they could hit. Then there was talk of treaties ; and the wretched envoy — the most responsible man and yet disabled by the imbecility of the general — caught at every false hope thus held out. Rather than endure the daily sight of the perishing force, he went out to treat — even falling into the snare of negotiating an underhand treaty which no man in any but a desperate condition would have believed attainable — and thus losing something of his honour in the eyes of the enemy. He went out to treat, saying to his companions what has been quoted of the horrors of the last six weeks, and was seized by Akbar Khan himself, and murdered on the spot. Those who saw the two faces, tell of them as what can never be forgotten : Akbar Khan's charged with " diabolical ferocity," sir William Macnaghten's with " horror and astonishment" The Afghans made a plaything of his head, with its green spectacles, and held up one of his severed hands at the prison window of the officers who had been rescued by the intervention of Afghan chiefs. Captain Trevor, whose wife and seven children were with the force, was murdered with the envoy. This decisive event happened on the 23rd of December. The' British were now "advised" by the enemy to go back to India ; and they were so nearly starved that they agreed to do so, though some of the officers were still of opinion that they should fight their way for the mile and a half which lay between the cantonments and the citadel, and take refuge there, trusting to the interest of the country people to supply them with food. They set out. however, some of them knowing that the Afghan chiefs were H. Martineau.] THE DISASTERS IN AFGHANISTAN IN 1841. 597 saying that they would allow only one man to live ; that they would cut off his limbs and set him down at the entrance of the Khyber Pass, with a letter between his teeth, warning the British to meddle no more with Afghanistan. Many set forth believing this boast to be not unreasonable ; and it was too true that only one man reached Jellalabad. Those who gave themselves up as prisoners and hostages were saved — such of them as did not die of fever and hardship ; but only one man performed the march from Cabul to Jellalabad. The doom of the force was clear at the . end of five miles. Four thousand five hundred fighting men, and twelve thousand camp followers, besides women and children, set forth from Cabul on the 6th of January. The distance traversed that day was only five miles,; yet it was two o'clock in the morning before the last of the force came up. The glare from the burning cantonments was visible to the fugitives as they sat in the snow, and heard what had been the destruction already, and knew what a road lay before them. Officers and soldiers lay dead in the bloody snow, all the way back to Cabul ; baggage was aban doned at the very gates of the cantonment ; the ladies only had what they wore, and some of them, hurried away or sick, wore only night-clothes. Each day was worse than the last. One lady had her youngest boy snatched from her arms by an Afghan; and another sawjher eldest girl put into a sack and carried off. The camp followers, whose frostbitten feet would' carry them no farther, died by hundreds along the roadside, or crawled in among the rocks without food or prospect of any. On the fourth day only 270 soldiers were left On the fifth, the loss altogether was 12,000 out of 17,000 men. On the sixth day there were but twenty to make a stand against the still tormenting foe. Twelve escaped from a barrier which detained them cruelly long under the enemy's fire; and of these twelve, six dropped before reaching the last town to be passed. Near this town some peasants offered bread to the remaining six, who were famishing. They stayed a few moments only ; but in those few moments the inhabitants were arming. Two were immediately cut down. The other four fled as men may do who have death at their heels, and safety almost within sight ; but three of the four were overtaken and slaughtered gq£ HALF-HOURS OP ENGLISH HlSTOkV. [H. MartineaC within four miles of Jellalabad, and Dr. Brydon arrived alone. He was seen from the fort stooping over his jaded pony evidently wounded, looking as forlorn in liis approach as could be imagined. He was supposed to be a messenger, and the gate was opened in readiness to admit him ; but his only message was such an one as perhaps no other man has ever had to deliver — that he was the sole remnant of an army. Except the burying of Cambyses' army in the African desert, such a destruction has perhaps never been heard of in the world. There were more saved, however, than Dr. Brydon knew of. The omnipresent Akbar Khan, who had proposed to escort the force to Jellalabad, and then declared that he could not protect them, offered to save the ladies and children if the married and wounded officers were delivered with dieir families into his hands. These pri soners were carried about from fort to fort till the next summer, when they were released in consequence of the advance of fresh British troops. General Elphinstone was among the prisoners. He died — greatly to the relief of all to whom his fame, and the respect due to grey hairs, were dear— in the course of his captivity. His case was clear, and government was saved the pain of calling him to account. Among the captives was the remarkable woman to whom we owe much of our knowledge of the incidents of this terrible history — the wife of general Sale. Her narrative shows her a true soldier, and one of the bravest. If, in reading her narrative, we almost recoil from the hardihood which could sustain itself in that inaction which is often fatal to high courage ; we cannot but fervently admire it in the form of cheerful patience under protracted personal suffering, and inconceivable discomforts. Her husband met her and her widowed daughter, with hernew-born infant, and the other prisoners, on the 20th of September, 1842, nearly nine months after the march from Cabul. When general Elphinstone wrote to general Sale, at that disastrous time, to leave Jellalaba,d and return to India, the general resolved to hold his post at all risks ; and it is said that his captive wife urged him by letter to do so, regardless of the consequences to herself. If so, this meeting of the 20th of September might well be a happy one ; for general Sale had held his post till relieved on the 16th of April. A. W. Kinglake.] BALACLAVA. 599 Jnciomts of Crimean Mlar in 1854 mxo 1855-6. BALACLAVA. A. W. Kinglake, [On the 25th of October, a large body of Russian cavalry, sup ported by artillery and several battalions of infantry, attacked the Turkish redoubts, which were placed 3,000 yards in advance of the British army, on four heights situated towards the valley of the Tchernaya. Perfectly un?.ul'e to cope with the great numbers which attacked these outworks, the Moslems abandoned them and fell back on the British forces. The alarm had been instantly given, and the first and second divisions and part of the light division instantly turned out and prepared to resist the enemy] By this defection* in presence of the enemy's advancing cavalry, Campbell was suddenly shorn of two-thirds of the nu merical strength engaged in defending the gorge; and a few hundred British soldiers who had hitherto constituted but a fraction of his force were now almost all that remained to him upon the hillock in front of Kadikoi.t Whilst he waited the movements of an enemy who was altogether some 25,000 strong he could not help seeing how much was now made to depend upon the steadfastness of the few hundred men who remained with him still on the hillock. He had, however, so great a confi dence in his highlanders that he judged he could safely impart to them the gravity of the occasion. He rode down the line, and said, " Remember, there is no retreat from here, men ! You must die where you stand ! " \ The men cheerily answered his appeal, saying, "Ay, ay, sir Colin, we'll do that." It was whilst our men were still lying on their faces at the foot of the hillock, that the four Russian squadrons began their advance ; and it is said that the mission of this detached force was to try to seize one of the batteries connected with the inner line of defence. The horsemen, it seems, rode on, not expecting * The flight of two battalions of Turks.— Editor. 1 1 say almost, because there were men amongst the Turks who manfully stood their ground. X These words were heard by captain (now major) Burroughs, the officer hen in command of the 6th company of the 93rd. 6o6 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [k. W. Kinglake. a combat with infantry ; when suddenly they saw the slender line of highlanders springing up to the top of the hillock. Not un. naturally the Russian horsemen imagined that they were falling into some ambush ; and on the other hand, the men of the 93rd, with a wild impetuosity, which was characteristic of the battalion as then constituted, showed a mind to rush forward as though undertaking to charge and exterminate cavalry in the open plain; but in a moment sir Colin was heard crying fiercely, " Ninety- third ! ninety-third ! d— n all that eagerness ! " and the angry voice of the old soldier quickly steadied the line. The Russian squadrons had come within long musketry range. The high landers and the men alongside of them delivered their fire ; and although they emptied no saddles, they wounded some horses and men. The horsemen thus met, abandoned at once their advance upon Campbell's front, and wheeled to their left, as though under taking to turn his right flank. Sir Colin, turning to his aide-de camp, and speaking of the officer who led the Russian squadrons, said, " Shadwell ! that man understands his business." To meet his assailant's change of direction, Campbell caused the grenadier company of the 93rd, under captain Ross, to bring the left shoulder forward, and show a front towards the north-east. Stopped at once by this, ready manoeuvre, and the fire that it brought on their left flank, the horsemen wheeled again to their left and retreated. They retreated together but not in good order ; and the fire of our artillery increased their confusion * * * ' * Without being at all formidable in itself, the advance of the four Russian squadrons marked what might well seem at the moment to be an ugly, if not desperate crisis in the defence of the English seaport ' Few or none, at the time, could have had safe grounds for believing that before the arrival of succours sent down from the upland, Liprandi would be all at once stayed in his career of victory ; and in the judgment of those, if any there were, who suffered themselves to grow thoughtful, the whole power of our people in the plain and the port of Balaclava must have seemed to be in jeopardy; for not only had the enemy overmastered the outer line of defence, and triumphantly broken in through it, but also, having a weight of numbers which, for the moment, stood as A. W. Kinglake,] BALACLA I A. 60 1 that of an army to a regiment, he already had made bold to be driving his cavalry at the very heart of the English resources, when the Turkish battalions — troops constituting two-thirds of that small and last body of foot with which Campbell yet sought to withstand his assailant — dissolved all at once into a horde of fugitives thronging down in despair to the port. If, in such a con dition of things, some few hundreds of infantry men stood shoulder to shoulder in line, confronting the victor upon open ground, and maintaining from first to last their composure, their cheerfulness, nay even their soldierly mirth, they proved themselves by a test which was other than that of sharp combat, but hardly, perhaps, less trying. And the highlanders whilst in this joyous mood were not without a subject of merriment ; for they saw how the Turks in their flight met a new and terrible foe. There came out from the camp of the highland regiment a stalwart and angry Scotch wife, with an uplifted stick in her hand ; and then, if ever in history, the fortunes of Islam waned low beneath the manifest ascendant of the Cross, for the blows dealt by this christian woman fell thick on the backs of the faithful. She believed, it seems, that, besides being guilty of running away, the Turks meant to pillage her camp ; and the blows she delivered were not mere expressions of scorn, but actual and fierce punishment. In one instance she laid hold of a strong-looking burly Turk, and held him fast until she had beaten him for some time, and apparently with great fury. She also applied much invective. Notwithstanding all graver claims upon their attention, the men of the 93rd were able to witness this incident. It mightily pleased and amused them. It amuses men still to remember that the Osmanlis, flying from danger, and yearning after blissful repose, should have chosen a line of retreat where this pitiless dame mounted guard. 602 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [W. H. RuiSKfX. <£.f)a*0e of % Heaoir §ripo£. W. H. Russell. The cavalry who have been pursuing the Turks on the right are coming up to the ridge beneath us, which conceals our cavalry from view. The heavy brigade in advance is drawn up in two lines. The first line consists of the Scots Greys, and of their old companions in glory, the Enniskilleners ; the second of the 4th royal Irish, of the 5th dragoon guards, and of the 1st royal dragoons. The light cavalry brigade is on their left, in two lines also. Lord Raglan sent orders to Lord Lucan to cover the ap proaches, and his heavy horse were just moving from their posi tion near the vineyard and orchard, when he saw a body of the enemy's cavalry coming after him over the ridge. * * * * * We saw Brigadier-general Scarlett ride along in front of his massive squadrons. The Russians — evidently corps d'elife — their light blue jackets embroidered with silver lace, were advancing on their left, at an easy gallop, towards the brow of the hill. A forest of lances glistened in their rear, and several squadrons of grey-coated dragoons moved up quickly to support them as they reached the summit. The instant they came in sight the trumpets of our cavalry gave out the warning blast which told us that in another moment we should see the shock of battle beneath our very eyes. Lord Raglan, all his staff and escort, and groups of officers, the Zouaves, French generals and officers, and bodies of French infantry on the height, were spectators of the scene, as though they were looking on the stage from the boxes of a theatre. Nearly every one dismounted and sat down, and not a word was said. The Russians advanced down the hill at a slow canter, which they changed to a trot, and at last nearly halted. Their first line was at least double the length of ours — it was three times as deep. Behind them was a similar line, equally strong and compact. They evidently despised their insignificant- looking enemy, but the time was come. The trumpets rang out W. H. Russell.] CHARGE OF THE HEAVY BRIGADE. 603 again through the valley, and the Greys and the Enniskilleners went right at the centre of the Russian cavalry. The space be tween them was only a few hundred yards : it was scarce enough to let the horses "gather way," nor had the men quite space sufficient for the full play of their sword arms. The Russian line brings forward each wing as our cavalry advance, and threatens to annihilate them as they pass on. Turning a little to their left so as to meet the Russian right, the Greys rush on with a cheer that thrills to every heart ; the wild shout of the Enniskilleners rises through the air at the same instant. As lightning flashes through a cloud the Greys and Enniskilleners pierced through the dark masses of Russians. The shock was but for a mo ment. There was a clash of steel and a light play of sword- blades in the air, and then the Greys and the redcoats disappear in the midst of the shaken and quivering columns. In another moment we see them emerging and dashing on with diminished numbers, and in broken order against the second line, which is advancing against them as fast as it can to retrieve the fortune of the charge. It was a terrible moment. " God help them ! they are lost!" was the exclamation of more than one man, and the thought of many. With unabated fire the noble hearts dashed at their enemy. It was a fight of heroes. The first line of Russians, which had been smashed utterly by our charge, and had fled off at one flank and toward the centre, were coming back to swallow up our handful of men. By sheer steel and sheer courage, Enniskillener and Scot were winning their des perate way right through the enemy s squadrons, and already grey horses and red coats had appeared right at the rear of the second mass, when, with irresistible force, like one bolt from a bow, the 1st Royals, the 4th dragoon guards, and 'the 5th dragoon guards rushed at the remnants of the first line of the enemy, went through it as though it were made of pasteboard, and dashing on the second body of Russians as they were still disordered by the terrible assault of the Greys and their companions, put them to utter rout. This Russian horse in less than five minutes after it met our dragoons, was flying with all its speed before a force certainly not 604 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [W. H. Russell half its strength. A cheer burst from every lip — in the enthu siasm, officers and men took off their caps and shouted with delight, and thus keeping up the scenic character of their position, they clapped their hands again and again. Lord Raglan at once dispatched lieutenant Curzon, aide-de-camp, to convey his con gratulations to brigadier-general Scarlett, and to say, "Well done." The gallant old officer's face beamed with pleasure when he re ceived the message. " I beg to thank his lordship very sincerely," was his reply. The cavalry did not long pursue the enemy. Their loss was very slight — about thirty-five killed and wounded in both affairs. There were not more than four or five men killed outright, and our most material loss was from the cannon playing on our heavy dragoons afterwards, when covering the retreat of our light cavalry. xq& of t\t Wxa^i §rioaoe. W. H. Russell. The quartermaster-general brigadier Airey, thinking that the light cavalry had not gone far enough in front, gave an order in writing to captain Nolan, r5th hussars, to take to lord Lucan. A braver soldier than captain Nolan the army did not possess. He was known for his entire devotion to his profession and for his excellent work on our drill and system of remount and breaking horses. He entertained the most exalted opinions respecting the capabilities of the English horse soldier. The British hussar and dragoon could break square, take batteries, ride over columns, and pierce any other cavalry as if they were made of straw. He thought they had missed 'even such chances as had been offered to them ; that in fact they were in some measure disgraced. A matchless horseman and a first-rate swordsman, he held in con tempt, I am afraid, even grape and canister. He rode off with his orders to lord Lucan. When lord Lucan received the order from captain Nolan, and had read it, he asked, we are told, "Where are we to advance to?" Captain Nolan pointed with his finger in the direction of the W. H. Kussell.] CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. 605 Russians, and according to statements made after his death, said " There are the enemy and there are the guns." Lord Raglan had only in the morning ordered lord Lucan to move from the position he had taken near the centre redoubt to " the left of the second line of redoubts occupied by the Turks." Seeing that the 93rd and invalids were cut off from the cavalry, lord Raglan sent another order to lord Lucan to send his heavy horse towards Balaclava, and that officer was executing it just as the Russian horse came over the ridge. The heavy cavalry charge then took place, and afterwards the men dismounted on the scene. After an interval of half an hour, lord Raglan again sent an order to lord Lucan — " cavalry to advance and take advantage of any opportunity to recover the heights. They will be supported by infantry which has been ordered to advance upon two fronts." Lord Lucan's reading of this order was, that the infantry had been ordered to advance on two fronts. It does not appear that the infantry had been ordered to advance ; the duke of Cam bridge and sir G. Cathcart stated they were not in receipt of such instructions. Lord Lucan advanced his cavalry to the ridge, close to No. 5 redoubt, and while there, received from captain Nolan an order which was as follows : " Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns; troops of horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Im mediate." Lord Lucan gave the order to lord Cardigan to advance upon the guns, conceiving that his orders compelled him to do so. The noble earl saw the fearful odds against him. It is a maxim of war that cavalry never act without a support. " Infantry should be close at hand when cavalry carry guns, as the effect is only instan taneous," and should always be placed on the flank of a line of cavalry. The only support our light cavalry had was the heavy cavalry at a great distance behind them, the infantry and guns being in the rear. There were no squadrons in column. There was a plain to charge over, before the enemy's guns could be reached, of a mile and a half in length. At ten minutes past eleven our light cavalry brigade advanced, 606 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [W. H. Russell. The whole brigade scarcely made one effective regiment, accord ing to the numbers of continental armies ; and yet it was more than we could spare. They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of war. They advanced in two lines; quickening their pace as they closed towards the enemy. At the distance of 1,200 yards the whole line of the enemy belched forth from thirty iron mouths a flood of smoke and flame. The flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or riderless across the plain. In diminished ranks, with a halo of steel above their heads and with a cheer that was many a noble fellow's death cry, they flew into the smoke of the batteries ; but ere they were lost from view the plain was strewed with their bodies. Through the clouds of smoke we could see their sabres flashing as they rode between the guns, cutting down the gunners as they stood. We saw them riding through, returning, after breaking through a column of Russians and scattering them like chaff, when the flank fire of the batteries on the hill swept them down- Wounded men and dismounted troopers flying towards us told the sad tale. At the very moment a regiment of Lancers was hurled upon their flank. Colonel Shewell of the 8th hussars, whose attention was drawn to them by lieutenant Philips, saw the danger, and rode his few men straight at them. It was as much as our heavy cavalry brigade could do to cover the retreat of the miserable remnant of that band of heroes as they returned to the place they had so lately quitted in all the pride of life. At thirty-five minutes past eleven not a British soldier except the dead and dying was left in front of those Mus covite guns. The heavy brigade in columns of squadrons moved slowly backwards, covering the retreat of the broken men. The ground was left covered with our men, and with hundreds of Russians, and we could see the Cossacks busy searching the dead. Our infantry made a forward movement towards the redoubts after the cavalry came in, and the Russian infantry in advance slowly retired towards the gorge ; at the same time the French cavalry pushed forward on their right and held them in check, pushing out a line of skirmishers and forcing them to withdraw their guns. A. W. Kinglake.] EPISODES OF INKERMAN. 607 Captain Nolan was killed by the first shot fired as he rode in advance of the first line. Lord Cardigan received a lance thrust through his clothes. While the affair was going on the French cavalry made a most brilliant charge at the battery on our left, and cut down the gunners ; but they could not get off the guns, and had to retreat with the loss of two captains and fifty men killed and wounded out of their little force of 200 chasseurs. d^tsobfs of -fnkmnan. A. W. Kinglake. [In the thick mist and drizzling rain of a November morning, November 5, 1854, the Russian army in great strength approached unperceived the small British force stationed on Mount Inkerman. The battle consisted rather of a number of separate combats fought by scattered parties of troops led by their officers, than of an ordered engagement imder a commander-in-chief. Of this glorious combat, we give some episodes from Mr. Kinglake's animated and admirable description of the "Soldiers' Battle."] General Pennefather * * * * was now commanding the 2nd division, and the defence of Mount Inkerman was a problem which he regarded from his own point of view. Without at all underrating the strength of the English heights, he still found himself always remembering that there lay no ground in their rear upon which the English, if thence forced back, could well make a second stand, and he was unwilling that the fate of the allies on the Chersonese — nay, even in all the Crimea — should be staked, as it were, once for all upon this single rib of ground. Governed much by that aspect of the question, and being of such tempera ment as to become quickly heated in battle by his inborn passion for fighting, he inclined to dispute with the enemy for every step of ground, and so to keep the strife raging, however unequally, on ground more or less in advance of his own heights. Instead of drawing in all his strength for a decisive conflict on the Home 608 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [A. W. Kinglake. Ridge, he would reinforce his combating pickets by pushing forward little bodies of troops, some two or three hnndred strong, and thus generate in front of his position that kind of conflict that can be waged for a time in brushwood, by a few men opposing great numbers. Plainly, to adopt this course of action, and to carry it to the extent of leaving no sufficient troops in reserve for the defence of the heights, would be to intrust great issues to the freewill and personal prowess of small groups or knots of men, instead of to coherent battalions ; and in weighing the value of the plan it was to be remembered that, although the protracted resistance of skirmishers to formed and powerful masses would of necessity involve a rapid expenditure of ammunition, there were no means by which the needed supplies of cartridges could be quickly pushed forward to the extreme front, and dealt out to numbers of men whilst scattered and fighting in cover. Still Pennefather, as we have seen, could give a reason for his choice of tactics, and one that was not without force. Pennefather's instinctive desire to follow this last plan of action was quickened from moment to moment by the evident life and stir of the fights which his obstinate pickets stood waging on the slopes of Shell Hill; for the mist or incumbent cloud which obscured all else, did not ¦ shut out from view the flashes of the musketry, and by these the whole tenor of the strife carried on by the unseen combatants was plainly disclosed. Fired by the sight and enchanted with the evident tenacity of the resistance, Pennefather began to push forward little bodies of troops in order — for so he expressed it — in order " to feed the pickets." On this errand he sent the 30th regiment divided into two wings. He pushed forward the 41st regiment under General Adams towards his right front. In the same direction but with orders to halt and take post on the right of the Home Ridge. Colonel Percy Herbert moved up one wing of the 49th under Bellairs ; whilst on the opposite or left side of the field the other wing under Dalton, together with a wing of the 47th under major Fordyce, was pushed forward to the head of the Mikriakoff Glen. For awhile the 95th remained posted on the reverse slopes of Home Ridge; but before long, its scanty strength was divided A. W. Kinglake.] EPISODES AT INKERMAN. 6ot) into wings, of which one under Champion advanced towards the Sand-bag battery, whilst the other under Hume pushed forward to the centre of the field. As to the 55th, it had furnished that day a large proportion of the 2nd division pickets, and the companies so employed were already out fighting at the extreme front. Thus, then, with the exception of some companies of the 47th, and the remnant of the 55th, not already engaged at the outposts, the whole of the 2nd division was sooner or later taken off from the heights which constituted the natural stronghold of the Inkerman position, and for the most part pushed forward in numerous small bodies under separate leaders, who, whilst working in mist and through brushwood, could not be easily reached by any command from head-quarters.# * # * * * The only succours destined to reach Pennefather in time for this early fight were the six guns of Townsend's battery, and 649 men of the light division, making up altogether, along with his own troops, a force of 3,600 infantry and 18 guns. The first of the English reinforcements, namely, five companies of the Con naught rangers, with a strength of 390 men, and the six guns of Townsend's battery, now hastily came into action on the left of Home Ridge ; but at the very outset they met with discomfiture. The Connaught rangers wandered on a long way through dense mist, till at last, whilst struggling in broken and rocky ground near the head of Mikriakoff Glen, they all at once found themselves met by heavy masses of Russian infantry fast closing upon them ; and not being, it seems, at the moment in a state for effective combat, they fell back, with the purpose of re-forming their ranks, but still for the time in disorder. Towards the same part of the field Townsend's battery advanced in column of route, under the vehement personal impulsion of colonel David Wood, whose ardour was not to be cooled by the mere want of infantry supports. Whilst groping, as it were, through mist, the battery had already become involved in thick brushwood, when lieutenant Miller (the officer in command of the two foremost guns), who had ridden forward some paces to reconnoitre the ground, was met by Grant's people retreating. Miller desired that the handful of infantry thus * • » • R ft 6lo HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. A. W. King LAKE. falling back should form up in rear of his guns — three of which by this time were unlimbered — and believed that with this support he might be able to open upon the enemy with artillery fire; but Grant, as we know before, had come from the front with no small means of knowing that the enemy was overwhelmingly strong in this part of the field; and when he found that there were no limbers or teams at hand with which to effect the withdrawal of the guns, he judged that any effort to save them by making a stand must of necessity prove vain. His men, accordingly, continuing their retreat, passed on to the rear of Townsend's three foremost guns, which were thus left exposed to the immediate attack of two columns advancing upon them. These, it seems, were the 2nd and 3rd Catherinburg battalions. Colonel Wood being asked for orders in this emergency, answered tersely, " Fire case ! " but the enemy's masses — which before, though unseen, had been close — now broke out at once into sight through the curtain of mist, and were presently within ten yards of the half battery. They came on> approaching in form the direction of our right front, and were utter ing strange, joyous cries. Without limbers or teams (which already were a long way in rear) no attempt to withdraw the guns could be made; and our artillerymen, retarded somewhat by their veiy eagerness, had delivered but one hasty shot, when already the enemy was closing upon them. Left without any kind of support) Miller, in his last resort, bade his gunners draw swords and charge, and he himself, under a shower of bullets, rode straight at the nearest of the advancing Russians.* As though bewildered by the novelty of the challenge, and the sudden necessity of having to encounter a horseman, these men for a moment stopped short in their onset, and then there followed a conflict of a singular kind between, on the one hand, a great weight of advancing infantry, and on the other, a few score of artillerymen, finding vent for some part of their rage in curses and shouts of defiance, but wildly striving besides to beat back the throng from their beloved guns with swords, with rammers, with sponge-staves, nay, even one may say with clenched fists — for the story of the mighty Clitheroe bruiser felling man after * In recognition of his services on this occasion, Colonel Miller holds the Victpria Cross, A. W. Kinglake.] EPISODES AT INKERMAN. 6 II man with his blows, and then standing a while unmolested and seemingly admired by the enemy, is not altogether a fable. Of course, a struggle like this was rather a fray than a combat ; and the columns, at last, rolling on with irresistible weight, the enemy — at least for the time being — was left in possession of Townsend's three foremost guns. On our extreme left the swirl of the war-tide had run up yet further and higher ; for — surprising, as we saw, the picket of the light division, and without encountering any further obstacle — the under-road column had ascended along the bed of the Careenage ravine, and its soldiery, almost at their goal, were now swarming up by the Well-way to within a few paces of Pennefather's tents, thus striking into the flank and rear of the English position. So upon the whole it resulted at this time that whilst the Russians were content towards the east with a less determined advance, and inclined to hold back towards their centre in avoidance of the Saddletop Reach, they had so used their strength on the west of Mount Inkerman that the left of Pennefather's position was both overborne in front and turned in flank ; the achievement of the enemy being made besides the more signal by his capture of three English guns. This was the state of the fight when general Buller in person (who had marched from his camp rather later than the five com panies of the Connaught rangers) came opportunely in the left rear of Pennefather's camp. It is true, he brought with him only four companies (comprising just 259 men) of the 77th regiment, under colonel Egerton ; but his force, small as it seems, was des tined to exert a strong sway over the course of the battle. With their right towards the shoulder of the Home Ridge, and their left closely skirting the Well-way, the companies of the 77 th, having already wheeled into line, were diving into the mist and the smoke, guided rather by the sounding tumult of battle than by anything that had yet been descried ; when from the shot whistling past, from the piercing flashes of the musketry, but at last, from the grey shapes of men dimly seen, and a gathering darkness im porting densemasses behind them, Buller's aide-de-camp, lieutenant Hugh Clifford, became sure that what immediately confronted him 6l2 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [A. W. Kinglake, was a number'of Russian infantry disposed in no order themselves, but followed by compact masses, and already within a few paces. Clifford imparted this conviction to his chief; and if Buller, who was near-sighted, remained for a moment incredulous, he quickly p.ccepted the truth, and determined that the men were at once to fix bayonets, but continue their forward movement. Clifford, entrusted with the order, rode off, and carried it down the line; but upon reaching the extreme left, he saw that the 77th men were there overlapped by forces of the enemy, not seen or heard of before, which were filing up by the Well-way into the left rear of Egerton's people. This newly-seen force was the under- road column which had long been ascending Mount Inkerman by the closely constricted bed of the Careenage Ravine, and moving of necessity upon a very narrow front. The head of the column had already climbed up past the spot which Clifford had reached, and the nearest part of the long, trailing, snake-like body thus defiling before him was its neck. Clifford seized the moment Calling out to the men who formed the extreme left of the 77 th line", he asked them in simple, nay, almost boyish language, " to come and charge with him." Then galloping forward himself he rode straight at the nearest of the enemy's troops, struck into the throat of the column,* and was followed so loyally by the score or two of the 77 th men who had heard his sudden appeal, that they, too, no less than their youthful leader, broke through the opposing files, and were received into the midst of the hostile soldiery. Amongst the surmises which aimed at an explanation of the result, one was that from the apparition of a single horseman coming suddenly out from behind the mist, and galloping into their ranks, the Russians inferred a great charge of cavalry delivered against their unprepared flank ; but whatever might be the par ticular form of their dominant apprehension, they plainly were taken by surprise. Some, indeed, it is true, held firm for a while, defending themselves with the bayonet as well as with fire, but the great bulk of them stood and looked helpless, with the air of brave soldiers bewildered, and seeking in vain for guidance. * For this exploit, Clifford received the Victoria Cross. A. W. Kinglake.] EPISODES AT INKERMAX. 613 Thus— though only at one confined spot between its head and its trunk — the integrity of the column was disturbed by a medley of intermingled combatants ; and Clifford's handful of men soon having obtained an ascendant, the Russians, who had struggled against him, disengaged themselves now from the strife, and before many moments the soldiery advancing still from below were met and borne down by a descending torrent of fugitives. Those men forming the head of the column who had all but reached Pennefather's camp before the moment of Clifford's attack, now judged, it would seem, that they were hopelessly cut off for they laid down their arms, and gave themselves up for prisoners. And the trunk of the column thus pierced and beheaded by Clifford's assault on its left was now also under a fire delivered against its opposite flank. Prince Edward of Saxe- Weimar, who was on picket duty with his company of the grenadier guards at Quarter -guard Point, could scarcely have hoped that his watch (which was in the nature of a " quarter-guard " thrown out from Bentinck's camp, and quite unconnected with the general system of the English outposts) would all at once prove to be in the front of battle ; but when he saw that the Russians in the bed of the Careenage Ravine and on its right bank were driving in the pickets, and turning the flank of the 2nd division, he understood that an op portunity had come to him. After first drawing back the men to ground which seemed apt for his design, he caused them there to lie down in skirmishing order, and open fire upon the trunk of the under-road column — the force which we saw give way at its higher extremity under the sudden assault of Hugh Clifford. The fire thus delivered from an opposite flank did not fail to confirm the overthrow of a column already discomfited in front. The smitten troops made haste to fall back. Prince Edward pressed their retreat, took from them some prisoners, moved down after them to the verge of the crag, which was the extreme limit of his watch, and thence pursued them with fire. Thus, by the happy effort of a youthful lieutenant on one side of the Well-way, and of a captain of guards on the other— the one 614 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [From "Our Veterans." with a following of perhaps some twenty men, the other with a company about eighty or ninety strong — the enemy's turning movement was altogether defeated, and that, too, at a moment when he seemed to be on the verge of a signal achievement. The defeat of the under-road column proved final, and no second enterprise was attempted in this part of the field. Bttxxt ut Jfttkrmsm. From "Our Veterans." I have said that the men needed no pricking on, " no inspiring example ; " on the contrary, that the officer had more frequently to draw the rein than to ply the spur. Of this truth, a remarkable illustration was now afforded me. The group with which I was connected had forced a superior number of Russians into hurried flight down the hill's side into the valley. With this good fortune the brave fellows ought to have been content. Not so, however. Immediately the " Muscov " showed their heels, I saw several soldiers break away from the right of my party, and pursue the fugitives. It was plain that, unless the hunters were quickly halted, they hasted to destruction. Therefore shouting " Halt ! halt ! " I ran after them. As well might a penny trumpet strive to make its puny pipe heard amidst the crash of Costa's orchestra as my small voice in that mortal uproar. Down the steep we went, the dogs of war hot upon the trail, I calling them off with impotent vehemence. We reached the valley in disorder. Scarcely had our feet touched the plain before some of Liprandi's riflemen sprang up from amongst the bushes, and blazed full in our faces. A few men dropped. At this moment, several soldiers of the 46th and 68th, remnants of Torrens's crushed brigade, joined us. We all turned about, and began to ascend the hill. The rise was pre cipitous, the ground slippery ; distant field-pieces let fly grape at us, without, however, doing much hurt : tirailleurs kept peppering our backs; not a round left in our pouches. Every minute guardsmen or " liners " rolled over, some struck with lead, others done for through sheer exhaustion. It was a dire emergency— From "Our Veterans.*] SCENE AT INKERMAN 615 press on, or die. We had got about half-way up the height, and were beginning to think ourselves safe, and yet the worst was to come. On a sudden a shower of bullets from the hill's crest, right above our heads, amazed us, the soldiers around me crying out, "Why, our own chaps are firing on us; we be mistaken for Rooshians ! " Looking upward, I beheld, through the vapour which still hung upon the plateau, a black line of infantry, which I also took for countrymen ; and so with one accord we roared — " Hold hard, for God's sake ; we are English ! " The louder we shouted, the heavier rained the balls about our ears. Dismal pre dicament ! a set of panting wretches clambering up a mountain between two fires ! We still toiled upward, and now it became plain that the troops shooting at us from above were Russian, that by some mishap had gotten possession of our old position on the ridge. As soon as I ascertained the fact, I formed my omnium gatherum into single file, with an interval of several paces between each man, and desired the soldiers, instead of advancing straight to the front, to turn sharp to the left, and proceed along the hill's side, inclining gradually towards the summit. My object was to gain the rear of the enemy, our only chance of avoiding cold steel or bonds. As we ran in this string for our very lives, a man fell wounded near me ; the thump of his fall made me turn round ; and as I did so two Russians started up from behind a bush, and, with bayonets fixed, dashed at the poor shuddering fellow ; but the grenadier nearest him had marked their damnable intent, and, before a word could be said, I heard the muzzle of a musket ring upon the breast-bone of one ruffian. I saw a gory point pro truding between his twitching shoulder-blades. With a last effort, the transfixed raised his firelock to strike at his assailant, and in that attitude tumbled head over heels down the steep place. The second miscreant escaped. I have said we lacked ammunition. We now actually stumbled upon enough and to spare. Stretched right across our path was a dead ammunition mule, evidently killed by a shell, as also had been the Turkish driver, whose corpse lay close by. Heaven be praised, the panniers were untouched ! I shall not attempt to describe the ravenous avidity with which the few men that 616 HALF HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [From " Our Veterans.'* remained to me seized upon the godsend. In an instant the panniers were broken open, and pouches, pockets, caps crammed with cartridges. March ! By this time, we were some little distance to the right of where the Russians stood, when they commenced firing upon us, and were close to the brow of the height. The crisis, therefore, was at hand. Should we escape, or should we be knocked on the head ? The odds, I own, seemed rather in favour of the grim alternative. For all that, we put our trust in Providence, and kept going. At length, my little band — it had dwindled to next to nothing — topped the ridge. The fog had passed away : there is broad daylight now. But where are the English! Gone; and in their stead large bodies of the enemy. A bad look-out ! We're in for it ! Hark ! the pas de charge — the roll of fifty drums — the bray of fifty clarions ! We're saved ! See clouds of Zouaves and Algerians ! Bosquet's Light Infantry ! As they come bounding towards us, we flourish our muskets with rapture in the air. We cry " Thank God ! " We cheer. How we cheer? "Wive francis" (such was the un- scholarly pronunciation of the benediction). The French reply with equal heart, " Vivent les Anglais ; les Anglais sont les plus braves soldats du monde ! " And on every side, hot Zouave hands are stretched forth to clasp ours. We mix with the glorious ranks, and now the grand, the ecstatic moment of a life — victory ! triumph ! The warrior-whirlwind sweeps on ; the Zouaves with flashing eyes and deep-mouthed oaths, a tiger herd; the "Turcos" hoarsely screaming and wildly brandishing their rifles. The officers point with their swords to the ever memorable battery ahead — bur goal for the last time — shouting, " En avant, mes braves !" We are received with a scathing fire from behind the sandbags ; it lashes the fury of the Zu-zus. By the gorge the torrent floods into the work. The panic-struck Russians are shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, trod under foot by scores, in the endeavour to escape. The place is as a slaughter-house — blood and groans, and shrieks for mercy ; but there is no mercy. At times like this, man is no Christian, but a ruthless savage. The Zouaves clamber over the parapets of the work, and on after the flying enemy ! My God, a hideous sight ! The little space in Justin McCarthy.] CAWNPORE. gjy front of the battery (i.e., toward Inkerman) is literally heaped with dead and wounded, so thickly heaped that nowhere could we get clear footing ; our path lay over stiffening carcasses, or fainting wounded. In this fiery onset the French, at least the covering party, suffered greatly ; some idea of their losses may be inferred from the fact that nearly every Englishman who fought in their front was hit — Bosquet's attack being obviously successful, and my right-hand man, the last of my party, as I believe, and one of .the best and bravest of soldiers (as more than one Frenchman remarked to me, on the field) having fallen badly wounded, I considered it my duty to rejoin my own regiment, where such humble aid as I could offer would at all events be in the right place. A French chef de bataillon to whom I addressed myself for information as to the whereabouts of the guards, told me he believed ces beaux soldats had taken post somewhere to the left. In that direction then I sought my battalion. I will not stop to narrate all I saw on my way. I will not attempt to paint the furious cannonade that tore and rooted up the earth on all sides ; now and again blowing to atoms or pounding into shapeless masses of flesh the groups of wounded men who, for the sake of companionship or shelter, had herded together under boulders and bushes. %\t fnbian glntinn.* CAWNPORE. Justin McCarthv. At the time when the mutiny broke out in Meerut there were some three thousand native soldiers in Cawnpore, consisting of two regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and a company of artillerymen. There were about three hundred officers and soldiers of English birth. The European or Eurasian population, including women and children, numbered about one thousand. These consisted of the officials, the railway people, some mer chants and shopkeepers, and their families. The native town * From " A History of Our Own Times." 6 1 8 HALF HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTOR Y. [/ustin McCarthy. had about sixty thousand inhabitants. The garrison was under the command of sir Hugh Wheeler, among the oldest of an old school of Bengal officers. Sir Hugh Wheeler was some seventy- five years of age at the time when the events occurred which we have now to describe. The revolt was looked for at Cawnpore from the moment when the news came of the rising at Meerut ; and it was not long ex pected before it came. Sir Hugh Wheeler applied to sir Henry Lawrence for help ; Lawrence, of course, could not spare a man.- Then sir Hugh Wheeler remembered that he had a neighbour whom he believed to be friendly, despite of very recent warnings from sir Henry Lawrence and others to the contrary. He called this neighbour to his assistance, and his invitation was promptly answered. The Nana Sahib came with two guns and some three hundred men to lend a helping hand to the English commander. The Nana Sahib resided at Bithoor, a small town twelve miles up the river from Cawnpore. He represented a grievance. Bajee Rao, peishwa of Poonah, was the last prince of one of the great Mahratta dynasties. The East India Company believed him guilty of treachery against them, of bad government of his dominions, and so forth ; and they found a reason for dethroning him. He was assigned, however, a residence at Bithoor and a large pension. He had no children, and he adopted as his heir Seereek Dhoondoo Punth, the man who will be known to all time by the infamous name of Nana Sahib. It seems almost superfluous to say, that according to Hindoo belief it is needful for a man's eternal welfare that he leave a son behind him to perform duly his funeral rites : and that the adoption of a son is recognised as in every sense conferring on the adopted all the rights that a child of the blood would have. Bajee died iu 1851, and Nana Sahib claimed to succeed to all his possessions. Lord Dalhousie had shown, in many instances, a strangely unwise dis regard of the principle of adoption. The claim of the Nana to the pension was disallowed. Nana Sahib sent a confidential agent to London to push his claim there. This man was a clever and handsome young Mahomedan, who had at one time been a servant in an Anglo-Indian family, and had picked up a know- Justin McCarthy.] CAWNPORE. 619 ledge of French and English. His name was Azimoolah Khan. This emissary visited London in 1854, and became a lion of the fashionable season. As Hajji Baba, the barber's son in the once popular story, was taken for a prince in London and treated accordingly, so the promoted footman, Azimoolah Khan, was welcomed as a man of princely rank in our west-end society. He did not succeed in winning over the government to take any notice of the claims of his master, but being very handsome and of sleek and" alluring manners, he became a favourite in the drawing- rooms of the metropolis, and was under the impression that an unlimited number of Englishwomen of rank were dying with love for him. On his way home he visited Constantinople and the Crimea. It was then a dark hour for the fortunes of England in the Crimea, and Azimoolah Khan swallowed with glad and greedy ear all the alarmist rumours that were afloat in Stam boul about the decay of England's strength and the impending domination of Russian power over Europe and Asia. In the Crimea itself Azimoolah had some opportunity of seeing how the campaign was going, and it is not surprising that with his pre possessions and his hopes, he interpreted everything he saw as a threatened disaster for the arms of England. Mr. Russell, the correspondent of the " Times," made the acquaintance of Azi moolah Khan in Constantinople, and afterwards met him in the Crimea, and has borne testimony to the fact that along with the young Mahomedan's boasts of his conquests of Englishwomen were mingled a good many grave and sinister predictions as to the prospects of England's empire. The western visit of this man was not an event without important consequences. He doubtless reported to his master that the strength of England was on the wane ; and while stimulating his hatred and revenge, stimulated also his confidence in the chances of an effort to gratify both. Azimoolah Khan did, afterwards, as it will be seen, make some grim and genuine havoc among English ladies. The most bloodthirsty massacre of the whole mutiny is with good reason ascribed to his instigation. With Azimoolah Khan's mission and its results ended the hopes of Nana Sahib for the success of his claims, and began, we may presume, his resolve to be revenged. 620 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy, Nana Sahib, although his claim on the English government was not allowed, was still rich. He had the large private pro perty of the man who had adopted him, and he had the residence at Bithoor. He kept up a sort of princely state. He never visited Cawnpore ; the reason being, it is believed, that he would not have been received there with princely honours. But he was especially lavish of his attentions to English visitors, and his invi tations went far and wide among the military and civil servants of the crown and company. He cultivated the society of English men and women ; he showered his civilities upon them. He did not speak or even understand English, but he took a great interest in English history, customs, and literature. He was luxurious in the most thoroughly oriental fashion ; and oriental luxury implies a great deal more than any experience of western luxury would suggest. At the time with which we are now dealing he was only about thirty-six years of age, but he was prematurely heavy and fat, and seemed to be as incapable of active exertion as of unkindly feeling. There can be little doubt that all this time he was a dis sembler of more than common eastern dissimulation. It appears almost certain that while he was lavishing his courtesies and kindnesses upon Englishmen without discrimination, his heart was burning with a hatred to the whole British race. A sense of his wrongs had eaten him up< It is a painful thing to say, but it is necessary to the truth of this history, that his wrongs were genuine. He had been treated with injustice. According to all the recog nised usages of his race and his religion, he had a claim inde feasible in justice to the succession which had been unfairly and unwisely denied to him. It was to Nana Sahib, then, that poor old sir Hugh Wheeler in the hour of his distress applied for assistance. Most gladly, we can well believe, did the Nana come. He established himself in Cawnpore with his guns and his soldiers. Sir Hugh- Wheeler had taken refuge, when the mutiny broke out, in an old military hospital with mud walls, scarcely four feet high, hastily thrown up around it, and a few guns of various calibre placed in position on the so-called intrenchments. Everything seemed to have been against our people in this hour of terror. Sir Hugh Wheeler Justin McCarthy.] , CAWNPORE. 62 1 might have chosen a far better refuge in the magazine, in a different quarter of Cawnpore ; but, it appeared destined that the mutineers should have this chance too, as they had eveiy other. The English commander selected his place in the worst position, and hardly capable of defence. Within his almost shadowy and certainly crumbling intrenchments were gathered about a thousand persons, of whom four hundred and sixty-five were men of every age and profesison. The married women and grown daughters were about two hundred and eighty, thechildren about the same number. Of the men there were probably four hundred who could fight. It can never be made quite clear whether Nana Sahib had in the beginning any idea of affecting to help the Englishmen. If any object of his could have been served by his assuming such a part for any given length of time, or until any particular moment arrived, he assuredly would not have been wanting in patient dis simulation. But almost as soon as his presence became known in Cawnpore, he was surrounded by the mutineers, who insisted that he must make common cause with them, and become one of their leaders. He put himself at their disposal. At first their idea was that he should lead them on to Delhi, the recognised centre of the revolt. But he was urged by some of his advisers, and especially by Azimoolah Khan, not to allow all his personal pre tensions to be lost in the cause of Delhi, and his individual influence to be absorbed into the court of the Great Mogul. He was advised to make himself a great man in the first instance by conquering the country all round Cawnpore ; and, overcome by these persuasions and by the promptings of personal ambition, he prevailed upon the mutineers not to leave the city until they had first "scoured these English thence." The Nana, therefore, became the recognised chief of the Cawnpore movement. Let us do justice even to Nana Sahib. It will be hard to say a word for him after this. Let us now observe that he gave notice to sir Hugh Wheeler that if the entrenchments were not surrendered they would be instantly attacked. They were attacked. A general assault was made upon the miserable mud walls on June 12, but the resistance was heroic and the assault failed. It was after that 622 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy. assault that the garrison succeeded in sending a message to sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow, craving for the aid which it was absolutely impossible for him to give. From that time the fire of the mutineer army on the English entrenchments never ceased. Cawnpore was alive with all the ruffianism of the region. It became an Alsatia for the scoundrels and jail-birds of the country round and of the province of Oudh. All these scoundrels took their turn at the pleasant and compara tively safe amusement of keeping up the fire on the English people behind the mud walls. Whenever a regular attack was made the assailants invariably came to grief. The little garrison, thinning in numbers every day and almost every hour, held out with splendid obstinacy, and always sent those who assailed it scam pering back — except, of course, for such assailants as perforce kept their ground by the persuasion of the English bullets. The little population of women and children behind the entrenchments had no roof to shelter them from the fierce Indian sun. They cowered under the scanty shadow of the little walls, often at the imminent peril of the unceasing Sepoy bullets. The only water for their drinking was to be had from a single well, at which the guns of the assailants were unceasingly levelled. To go to the well and draw water became the task of self-sacrificing heroes, who might with better chances of safety have led a forlorn hope. The water which the fainting women and children drank might have seemed to be reddened by blood ; for only at the price of blood was it ever obtained. It may seem a trivial detail, but it will count for much in a history of the sufferings of delicately nurtured Englishwomen, that from the beginning of the siege of the Cawnpore entrenchments to its tragic end, there was not, as Mr. Trevelyan put it, " one spongeful of water " to be had for the purposes of personal cleanliness. The inmates of that ghastly garrison were dying like flies. One does not know which to call the greater; the sufferings of the women or the bravery of the men. The Nana was joined by a large body of the Oudh soldiers, believed to be amongst the best fighting men that India can produce. These made a grand assault on the entrenchments and Justin McCarthy.] CAWNPORE. 623 these, too, were driven back by the indomitable garrison, who were hourly diminishing in numbers, in food, in ammunition, in every thing, but courage and determination to fight. The repulse of the Oudh men made a deep impression on the mutineers. A con viction began to be spread abroad that it was of no use attempting to conquer these terrible British sahibs ; that as long as one of them was alive he would be as formidable as a wild beast in his lair. The Sepoys became unwilling to come too near to the low crumbling walls of the entrenchment. Those walls might have been leaped over as easily as that of Romulus ; but of what avail to know that, when from behind them always came the fatal fire of the Englishmen? It was no longer easy to get the mutineers to attempt anything like an assault. They argued that when the Oudh men could do nothing, it was hardly of any use for others to try. The English themselves began to show a perplexing kind of aggressive enterprise, and took to making little sallies, in small numbers indeed, but with astonishing effect on any bodies of Sepoys who happened to be anywhere near. Utterly, overwhelm ingly, preposterously outnumbered as the Englishmen were, there wcpmbments when it began to seem almost possible that they rr%nt actually kept back their assailants until some English army coutabsome to their assistance and take a terrible vengeance upon Cawnpore. Meanwhile the influence of the Nana began sensibly to wane. They who accept the responsibility of undertakings like his soon come to know that they hold their place only on com dition of immediate success. Only great organizations, with roots of system firmly fixed, can afford to wait and to look over dis appointment. Nana Sahib began to find that he could not take by assault those wretched entrenchments ; and he could not wait to starve the garrison out. He therefore resolved to treat with the English. The terms, it is believed, were arranged by the advice and assistance of Tantia Topee, his lieutenant, and Azi moolah Khan, the favourite of English drawing-rooms. ¦ An offer was sent to the entrenchments, the terms of which are worthy of notice. " All those," it said, " who are in no way connected with the acts of lord Dalhousie and who are willing to lay down their arms, shall receive a safe passage to Allahabad." 624 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy The terms had to be accepted. There was nothing else to be done. The English people were promised, during the course of the negotiations, sufficient supplies of food and boats to- carry them to Allahabad, which was now once more in the possession of England. The relief was unspeakable for the survivors of that weary defence. The women, the children, the wounded, the sick, the dying, welcomed any terms of release. Not the faintest sus picion crossed any mind of the treachery that was awaiting them. How indeed could there be any such suspicion ? Not for years and years had even Oriental warfare given example of such practice as that which Nana Sahib and the graceful civilised Azimoolah Khan had now in preparation. The time for the evacuation of the garrison came. The boats were in readiness on the Ganges. The long procession of men, women, and children passed slowly down ; very slowly in some instances, because of the number of sick and wounded by which its progress was encumbered. Some of the chief among the Nana's counsellors took their stand in a little temple on the margin of the river, to superintend the embarkation and the worse ~ that was to follow it. Nana Sahib himself was not therer ~%* is understood that he purposely kept away ; he preferred to hea/'bf the deed when it was done. His faithful lieutenant, Tantia- Topee, had given orders it seems, that when a trumpet soundsd, some work for which he had arranged, should begin. The wounded and the women were got into the boats in the first instance. The officers and men scrambling in afterwards. Suddenly the blast of a trumpet was heard. The boats were of the kind common on the rivers of India, covered with roofs of straw, and looking, as some accounts describe them, not unlike floating haystacks. The moment the bugle sounded the straw of the boat-roofs blazed up, and the native rowers began to make precipitately for the shore. They had set fire to the thatch, and were now escaping from the" flames they had purposely lighted up. At the same moment there came from both shores of the river thick showers ofgrapeshot and musketry. The banks of the Ganges seemed in an instant alive with shot, a very rain of bullets poured in upon the devoted in mates of the boats. To add to the- horrors of the moment, if, Justin McCarthy.] CAWNPORE. 625 indeed, it needed any addition, nearly all the boats stuck fast in mud banks, and the occupants became fixed targets for the fire of their enemies. Only three of the boats floated. Two of these drifted to the Oudh shore, and those on board them were killed at once. The third floated further along the stream, reserved for further adventures and horrors. The firing ceased when Tantia Topee and his confederates thought that enough had been done : and the women and children who were still alive were brought ashore, and carried in forlorn procession back again through the town where they had suffered so much and which they had hoped that they were leaving for ever. They were about 125 in number, women and children. Some of them were wounded. There were a few well-disposed natives who saw them and were sorry for them ; who had perhaps served them and experienced their kind ness in other days, and who now had some grateful memory of it, which they dared not express by any open profession of sympathy. Certain of these afterwards described the English ladies as they saw them pass. They were bedraggled and dishevelled these poor English women ; their clothes were in tatters ; some of them were wounded, and the blood was trickling from their feet and legs. They were carried to a place called the Savada house, a large building, once a charitable institution, bearing the name of Salvador, which had been softened into Savada by Asiatic pro nunciation. On board the one boat which had floated with the s treamwere more than a hundred persons. At length a party of some twelve men or thereabouts landed with the bold object of attacking their assailants and driving them back. In their absence the boat was captured by some of the rebel gangs, and the women and the wounded were brought back to Cawnpore. Some sixty men, twenty-five women, and four children were thus recaptured. The men were immediately shot. It may be said at once, that of the gallant little party who went ashore to attack the enemy hand to hand, four finally escaped, after adventures so perilous and so extraordinary that a profes sional story-teller would hardly venture to make them part of 4 fictitious narrative. ** « * 5 s ild HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy. The Nana had now a- considerable number of English women in his hands. They were removed, after a while, from their first prison-house to a small building north of the canal, and between the native city and the Ganges. Here they were cooped up in the closest manner, except when some of them were taken out in the evening and set to the work of grinding corn for the use of their captors. Cholera and dysentery set in among these unhappy sufferers, and some eighteen women- and seven children died. Let it be said for the credit of womanhood, that the royal widows, the relicts of the Nana's father by adoption, made many efforts to protect the captive Englishwomen, and even declared that they would throw themselves and their children from the palace win dows if any harm were done to the prisoners. We have only to repeat here that as a matter of fact no indignities,' other than that of the compulsory corn-grinding, were put upon the English ladies. They were doomed, one and all, to suffer death, but they were not, as at one time was believed in ngland, Emade to long for death as an escape from shame. Meanwhile the prospects of the Nana and his rebellion were giowing darker and darker. He must have begun to know by this time that he had no chance of establishing himself as a ruler any where in India. The English had not been swept but of the country with a rush. The first flood of the mutiny had.broken on their defences, and already the tide was falling. The Nana well knew it never would rise again to the same height in his day. The English were coming on. Neill had recaptured Allahabad, and cleared the country all round it of any traces of rebellion. Havelock was now moving forward from Allahabad towards Cawn pore, with six cannon and about a thousand English ' soldiers. Very small in point of numbers was that force when compared with that which Nana Sahib could even still rally round him ; but no one in India now knew better than Nana Sahib what extraordinary odds the English could afford to give with the certainty of winning. Havelock's march was a series of victories although he was often in such difficulties that the slightest display of real generalship or even soldiership on the part of his opponents might have stopped lis advance. He had one encounter with the lieutenant of the Jus i « McCarthy.] CA WNFORE. 627 Nana, who had under his command nearly four thousand men and twelve guns, and Havelock won a complete victory in about ten minutes. He defeated in the same off-hand way various other chiefs of the mutiny. He was almost at the gates of Cawnpore. Then it appears to have occurred to the Nana, or to have been suggested to him, that it would be inconvenient to have his English captives recaptured by the enemy, their countrymen. It may be that in the utter failure of all his plans and hopes he was anxious to secure some satisfaction, — to satiate his hatred in some way. It was intimated to the prisoners that they were to die. Among them were three or four men. They were called out and shot Then some sepoys were sent to the house where the women still were, and ordered to fire volleys through the windows. This they did, but apparently without doing much harm. Some persons are of opinion, from such evidence as can be got, that the men purposely fired high above the level of the floor, to avoid killing any of the women or children. In the evening five men, two Hindoo peasants, two Mahomedan butchers and one Maho- medan, wearing the red uniform of the Nana's body guard, were sent up to the house and entered it Incessant shrieks were heard to come from that fearful house. The Mahomedan soldier came out to the door holding in his hand a sword hilt from which the blade had been broken off, and he exchanged this now use less instrument for a weapon in proper condition. Not once but twice this performance took place. Evidently the task imposed on these men was hard work for the sword blades. After a while the five men came out of the now quiet house and locked the doors behind them. During that time they, had killed nearly all the English women and children. They had slaughtered them like beasts in the shambles. In the morning it appeared indeed, that the work, however zealously undertaken, had not been quite thorough. The strongest arms and sharpest sabres sometimes fail to accomplish a long piece of work to perfect satisfaction. In the morning it would seem that some of the women, and certainly some of the children were still alive ; that is to say were not dead. For the. five men came then with several attendants to clear out the house of the 628 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Beaconsfield. captives. Their task was to tumble all the bodies into a dry well beyond some trees that grew near. A large crowd of idlers assembled to watch this operation. Then it was seen by some of the spectators that certain of the women and children were not yet quite dead. Of the children, some were alive and even tried to get away. But the same well awaited them all. # * * * * The well of horrors has been filled up and a memorial chapel, surrounded by a garden, built on the spot. It was right to banish all trace of that hideous crime and to replace the house and the well, as Mr. Trevelyan says, by " a fair garden and a graceful shrine." Something, however, has still to be told of the Nana and his fortunes. He made one last stand against the victorious English in front of Cawnpore, and was completely defeated. He galloped into the city on a bleeding and exhausted horse ; he fled thence to Bithoor, his residence. He had just time left, it is said, to order the murder of a separate captive, a woman who had pre viously been overlooked or purposely left behind. Then he took flight in the direction of the Nepaulese marshes ; and he soon disappears from history. Nothing of his fate was ever known. Cljaraxter of ifr* ^x'xxxu €amaxi. Lord Beaconsfield. [The speech which follows contains a fine estimate of the life and character of the late Prince Consort. It was delivered by Mr. Disraeli [Lord Beacons field] in the House of Commons on its re-assembling in January, 1862, for the first time after the great national loss to which the speaker so eloquently referred.] No person can be insensible of the fact that the House meets to-night under circumstances very much changed from those which have attended our assembling for many years. Of late,. indeed for more than twenty years past, whatever may have been our personal rivalries and our party strifes, there was at least one sentiment in which we all acquiesced, and in which we all shared, and that was a sentiment of admiring gratitude to that throne whose wisdom and goodness so frequently softened the acrebities Lor= Beaconsfield.] CHARACTER OF THE PRINCE COXSORT. 629 of our free public life, and so majestically represented the matured intelligence of an enlightened people. All that has changed. He is gone who was the comfort and support of that throne. It has been said that there is nothing which England so much appreciates as the fulfilment of duty. The prince whom we have lost not only was eminent for the fulfilment of his duty, but it was the fulfilment of the highest duty ; and it was the fulfilment of the highest duty under the most difficult circumstances. Prince Albert was the consort of his Sovereign. He was the father of one who might be his Sovereign. He was the prime councillor of a realm, the political constitution of which did not even recog nise his political existence. Yet, under these circumstances, so difficult and so delicate, he elevated even the throne by the dignity and purity of his domestic life. He framed, and partly accomplished, a scheme of education for the heir of England which proves how completely its august projector had contem plated the office of an English king. In the affairs of state, while his serene spirit and elevated position bore him above all the possible bias of our party life, he showed, upon every great occa sion, all the resources, all the prudence, and all the sagacity of an experienced and responsible statesman. I have presumed, sir, to touch upon three instances in which there was, on the part of Prince Albert, the fulfilment of duty of the highest character, under circumstances of the greatest difficulty. I will venture to touch upon another point of his character, equally distinguished by the fulfilment of duty ; but in this instance the duty was not only fulfilled, but it was created. Although Prince Albert was adopted by this country, he was, after all, but a youth of tender years ; yet such was the character of his mind that he at once observed that, notwithstanding all those great achievements which long centuries of internal concord and of public liberty had per mitted the energy and enterprise of Englishmen to accomplish, there was still a great deficiency in our national character, and which, if neglected, might lead to the impairing not only of our social happiness, but even the sources of our public wealth, — and that was a deficiency of culture. But he was not satisfied in detecting the deficiency, he resolved to supply it. His plans were 630 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Lord Beaconsfield. deeply laid ; they were maturely considered, and notwithstanding the obstacles which they encountered, I am prepared to say they were eminently successful. What might have been his lot had his term completed that which is ordained as the average life of man, it may be presumption to predict. Perhaps he would have impressed upon his age not only his character but his name ; but this I think posterity will acknowledge, that he heightened the intellectual and moral standard of this country, that he extended and expanded the sympathies of all classes, and that he most beneficially adapted the productive powers of England to the inexhaustible resources of science and art. It is sometimes de plored by those who loved and admired him, that he was thwarted occasionally in his enterprises, and that he was not duly appre ciated in his works. These, however, are not circumstances for regret but for congratulation. They prove the leading and original mind which so long and so advantageously laboured for this country. Had he not encountered these obstacles, had he not been subject to occasional distrust and misrepresentation, it would only have proved that he was a man of ordinary mould and tem per. Those who move must change, and those who change must necessarily disturb and alarm prejudices ; and what he encoun tered was only a demonstration that he was a man superior to his age, and admirably adapted to carry out the work he had under taken. Sir, there is one point, and one point only, on which I would presume for a moment to dwell, and it is not for the sake of you, sir, whom I am now addressing, or for the generation to which we belong, but it is that those who come after us may not misapprehend the nature of this illustrious man. Prince Albert was not a patron. He was not one of those who, by their smiles and by their gold, reward excellence or stimulate exertion. His contributions to the cause of progress and improvement were far more powerful and far more precious. He gave to it his thought, his time, his toil : he gave to it his life. I see in this house many gentlemen — on both sides, and in different parts of it — who occasionally entered with the Prince at those council boards where they conferred and decided upon the great under takings with which he was connected ; and Task them, without the Justin McCarthy.] THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 63 1 fear of a denial, whether he was not the leading spirit — whether his was not the mind that foresaw the difficulty, and his the resources that supplied the remedy, whether his was not the courage to overcome apparently insurmountable obstacles, and whether every one who worked with him did not feel that he was the real origi nator of those great plans of improvement which they contributed to carry out. Sir, we have been asked to-night to condole with the Crown in this great calamity. That is no easy office. To condole in general is the office of those who, without the pale of sorrow, feel for the sorrowing; but in this instance the country is as heart-stricken as its Queen. Yet, in the mutual sensibilities of a Sovereign and a people there is something ennobling, something that elevates the spirit beyond the ordinary claim of earthly sorrow. The counties, and cities, and corporations of the realm, and those illustrious institutions of learning, of science, of art, and of skill, of which he was the highest ornament and the inspiring spirit, have bowed before the throne in this great calamity. It does not become the Parliament of the country to be silent. The expression of our feelings may be late, but even in that lateness some propriety may be observed if to-night we sanction the expression of the public sorrow, and ratify, as it were, the record of a nation's woe. It is with these feelings that I shall support the address in answer to the speech from the throne. ^xoQxmB of Bmxxa in % ifcign of IBxdaxm* Justin McCarthy. The opening of the reign of Queen Victoria coincided with the introduction of many of the great discoveries and applications in science, industry, and commerce, which we consider specially representative of modern civilisation. A reign which saw in its earlier years the application of the electric current to the task of transmitting messages, the first successful attempts to make use of steam for the business of Transatlantic navigation, the general development of the railway system all over these countries and the introduction of the penny post, must be considered to have * From " A History of Our Own Times," 632 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy, obtained for itself, had it secured no other memorials, an abiding place in history. A distinguished author has lately inveighed against the spirit which would rank such improvements as those just mentioned with the genuine triumphs of the human race, and has gone so far as to insist that there is nothing in any such which might not be expected from the self-interested contrivings of a very inferior animal nature. Amid the tendency to glorify beyond measure the mere mechanical improvements of modern civilization, it is natural that there should arise some angry questioning, some fierce disparagement of all that it has done. There will always be natures to which the philosophy of contemplation must seem far nobler than the philosophy which expresses itself in mechanical action. It may, however, be taken as certain that no people who were ever great in thought and in art wilfully neglected to avail themselves of all possible contrivances for making life less laborious by the means of mechanical and artificial contrivance. The Greeks were to the best of their opportunity, and when at the highest point of their glory as an artistic race, as eager for the application of all scientific and mechanical contrivances to the business of life as the most practical and boastful Manchester man or Chicago man of our own day. We shall afterwards see that the reign of Queen Victoria came to have a literature, an art, and a philosophy of its own. For the moment we have to do with its industrial science, or at least with the first remarkable movements in that direction which accompanied the opening of the reign. This, at least, must be said for them, that they have changed the cohditions of human life for us in such a manner as to make the history of the past forty or fifty years almost absolutely distinct from that of any pre ceding period. In all that part of our social life which is affected by industrial and mechanical appliances, the man of the latter part of the eighteenth century was less widely removed from the English man of the days of the Paston Letters than we are removed from the ways of the eighteenth century. The man of the eighteenth century travelled on land and sea in much the same way that his forefathers had done hundreds of years before. His communi cations by letter with his fellows were carried on in very much the same method. He got his news from abroad and at home after Justin McCarthy.] THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 633 the same slow uncertain fashion. His streets and homes were lighted very much as they might have been when Mr. Pepys was in London. His ideas of drainage and ventilation were equally elementary and simple. We see a complete revolution in all these things. A man of the present day suddenly thrust back fifty years in life, would find himself almost as awkwardly unsuited to the ways of that time as if he were sent back to the age when the Romans occupied Britain. He would find himself harassed at every step he took. He could do hardly anything as he does it to-day. Whatever the moral and philosophical value of the change in the eyes of thinkers too lofty to concern themselves with the common ways and doings of human life, this is certain, at least, that the change is of immense historical importance, and that even if we look upon life as a mere pageant and show, interesting to wise men only by its curious changes, a wise man of this school could hardly have done better, if the choice lay with him, than to desire that the lines of his life might be so cast as to fall in the earlier part of this present reign. It is a somewhat curious coincidence, that in the year when professor Wheatstone and Mr. Cooke took out their first patent "for improvements in giving signals and sounding alarms in distant places by means of electric currents transmitted through metallic circuits," Professor Morse, the American electrician, applied to congress for aid in the construction and carrying on of a small electric telegraph to convey messages a short distance, and made the application without success. In the following year he came to this country to obtain a patent for his invention ; but he was refused. He had come too late. Our own countrymen were beforehand with him. Very soon after, we find experiments made with the electric telegraph between Euston Square and Camden Town. These experiments were made under the authority of the London and North Western Railway Company immediately on the taking out of the patent by Messrs. Wheatstone and Cooke. Mr. Robert Stephenson was one of those who came to watch the operation of this new and wonderful attempts to make the currents of the air man's faithful Ariel. The London and Birmingham Railway was opened through its whole length in 634 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy. 1838. The Liverpool and Preston Line was opened in the same year. The Liverpool and Birmingham had been opened in the year before ; the London and Croydon was opened the year after. The act for the transmission of the mails by railways was passed in 1838. In the same year it was noted as an almost incredible triumph of human energy and science over time and space, that a locomotive had been able to travel at the speed of thirty-seven miles an hour. " The prospect of travelling from the metropolis to Liverpool, a distance of 210 miles, in ten hours, calls forcibly to mind the tales of fairies and genii by which we were amused in our youth, and contrasts forcibly with the fact, attested on the personal expe rience of the writer of this notice, that about the commencement of the present century this same journey occupied a space of about sixty hours." These are the words of a writer who gives an interesting account of the railways of England during the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria. In the same volume from which this extract is taken an allusion is made to the possibility of steam-communication being successfully established between England and the United States. "Preparations on a gigantic scale," a writer is able to announce, " are now in a state of great forwardness for trying an experiment in steam navigation which has been the subject of much controversy among scientific men. Ships of an enormous size, furnished with steam power equal to the force of 400 horses and upwards, will, before our next volume shall be prepared, have probably decided the question whether this description of vessel can, in the present state of our know ledge, profitably engage in Transatlantic voyages. It is possible that these attempts may fail, a result which is indeed predicted by high authorities on this subject. We are more sanguine in oui hopes ; but should these be disappointed, we cannot, if we are to judge from our past progress, doubt that longer experience, and a further application of inventive genius, will at no very distant day render practicable and profitable by this means the longest voyages in which the adventurous spirit of man will lead him to embark." The experiment thus alluded to was made with perfect success. The Sirius, the Great Western, and the Royal William accomplished voyages between New York and this country in the Justin McCarthy.] THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 635 early part of 1838, and it was remarked that "Transatlantic voyages by means of steam may now be said to be as easy of accomplishment, with ships of adequate size and power, as the passage between London and Margate." The Great Western crossed the ocean from Bristol to New York in fifteen days. She was followed by the Sirius, which left Cork for New York and made the passage in seventeen days. The controversy as to the possibility of such voyages, which was settled by the Great Western and the Sirius, had no reference to the actual safety of such an experiment. During seven years the mails for the Mediterranean had been dispatched by means of steamers. The doubt was as to the possibility of stowing in a vessel so large a quantity of coal or other fuel as would enable her to accomplish her voyage across the Atlantic, where there could be no stopping place and no possibility of taking in new stores. It was found to the delight of all those who believed in the practicability of the enterprise, that the quantity of fuel which each vessel had on board when she left her port of departure proved amply sufficient for the completion of the voyage. Neither the Sirius nor the Great Western was the first vessel to cross the Atlantic by means of steam propulsion. Nearly twenty years before, a vessel called the Savannah, built at New York, crossed the ocean to Liverpool, and some years later an English-built steamer made several voyages between Holland and the Dutch West Indian colonies as a packet vessel in the service of that government. Indeed, a voyage has been made round the Cape of Good Hope more lately still by a steam ship. These expedi tions, however, had really little or nothing to do with the problem which was solved by the Sirius and Great Western. In the former instances the steam power was employed merely as an auxiliary. The vessel made as much use of her steam propulsion as she could, but she had to rely a good deal on her capacity as a sailer. This was quite a different thing from the enterprise of the Sirius and the Great Western, which was to cross the ocean by steam propulsion, and steam propulsion only. It is evident that so long as the steam power was to be used only as an auxiliary, it .would be impossible to reckon on speed and certainty of arrival. 636 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy, The doubt was whether a steamer could carry, with her cargo and passengers, fuel enough to serve for the whole of her voyage across the Atlantic. The expeditions of the Sirius and the Great Western settled the whole question. It was never again a matter of controversy. It is enough to say that two years after the Great Western went out from Bristol to New York the Cunard line of steamers was established. The steam communication between Liverpool and New York became thenceforth as regular and unvarying a part of the business. of commerce as the journeys of the trains on the Great Western Railway between London and Bristol. It was not Bristol which benefited most by the Transatlantic voyages. They made the greatness of Liverpool. Year by year the sceptre of the commercial marine passed away from Bristol to Liverpool. No port in the world can show a line of docks like those of Liverpool. There the stately Mersey flows for miles between the superb and massive granite walls of the enclosures within whose shelter the ships of the world are arrayed as if on parade for the admiration rof the traveller who has hitherto been accustomed to the irregular and straggling arrangements of the docks of London and New York. Wat ffwrnff lost* ' Justin McCarthy, On July 5, 1839, an unusually late period of the year, the chan cellor of the exchequer brought forward his annual budget. The most important part of the financial statement, so far as later times are concerned, is set out in a resolution proposed by the finance minister, which perhaps represents the greatest social im provement brought about by legislation in modern times. The chancellor proposed a resolution declaring "that it is expedient to reduce the postage on letters to one uniform rate of one penny charged upon every letter of a weight to be hereafter fixed by law : parliamentary privileges of franking being abolished and official franking strictly regulated : this House pledging itself at the same time to make good any deficiency of revenue which may be occa- * From " A History of Our Own Times." Justin McCarthy.] THE PENNY POST. 637 sioned by such an alteration in the rates of the existing duties." Up to this time the rates of postage had been both high and various. They were varying both as to distance and as to the weight, and even the size or shape of a letter. The district of London post was a separate branch of the postal department, and the charge for the transmission of letters was made on a different scale in London from that which prevailed between town and town. The average postage on every chargeable letter throughout the United Kingdom was 6Jd. A letter from London to Brighton cost eightpence : to Aberdeen, one shilling and threepence half penny ; to Belfast, one shilling and fourpence. Nor was this all ; for if the letter were written on more than one sheet of paper, it came under the operation of a higher scale of charge. Members of parliament had the privilege of franking letters to a certain limited extent; members of the government had the privilege of franking to an unlimited extent. It is perhaps as well to mention, for the sake of being intelligible to all readers in an age which has not, in this country at least, known practically the beauty and liberality of the franking privilege, that it consisted in the right of the privileged person to send his own or any other person's letters through the post free of charge by merely writing his name on the outside. That meant, in plain words, that the letters of the class who could best afford to pay for them went free of charge, and that those who could least afford to pay had to pay double — the expense, that is to say, of carrying their own letters and the letters of the privileged and exempt. The greatest grievances were felt everywhere because of this absurd system. It had along with its other disadvantages that of encouraging what may be called the smuggling of letters. Every where sprang up organizations for the illicit conveyance of cor respondence at lower rates than those imposed by the govern ment. The proprietors of almost every kind of public convey ance are said to have been engaged in this unlawful, but certainly not very unnatural or unjustifiable traffic. Five-sixths of all the letters sent between Manchester and London were said to have been conveyed for years by this process. One great mercantile house was proved to have been, in the habit of sending sixty- 638 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy. seven letters by what we may call this underground post-office for everyone on which they paid the government charges. It was not merely to escape heavy cost that these stratagems, were em ployed. As there was an additional charge when a letter was written on more sheets than one, there was a frequent and almost a constant tampering by officials with the sanctity of sealed letters for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not they ought to be taxed on the higher scale. It was proved that in the years be tween 1815 and 1835, while the population had increased 30 per cent., and the stage-coach duty had increased 128 per cent, the post-office revenues had shown no increase at all. In other countries the postal revenue had been on the increase steadily during that time ; in the United States, the revenue had actually trebled, although then and later the postal system of America was full of faults, which at that day only seemed intelligible or ex cusable when placed in comparison with those of our own system. Mr. (afterwards sir Rowland) Hill is the man to whom this country, and, indeed, all civilization owes the adoption of the cheap and uniform system. His plan has been adopted by every state which professes to haye a postal system at all. Mr. Hill belonged to a remarkable family. His father, Thomas Wright Hill, was a teacher, a man of advanced and. practical views in popular education, a devoted lover of science, an advocate of civil and religious liberty, and a sort of celebrity in the Birming ham of his day, where he took a bold and active part in trying to defend the house of Dr. Priestley against the mob who attacked it. He had five sons, every one of whom made himself more or less conspicuous as a practical reformer in one path or another. The eldest of the sons was Matthew Davenport Hill, the philan thropic reformer of Birmingham, who did so much for prison reform and for the reclamation of juvenile offenders. The third son was Rowland Hill; the author of the cheap postal system. Rowland Hill, when a little weakly child, began to show some such precocious love for arithmetical calculations as Pascal showed for mathematics. His favourite amusement as a child was to lie on the hearthrug and count up figures by the hour together. As he grew up he became teacher of mathematics in Justin McCarthy.] 'THE PENNY POST. ^ 639 his father's school. Afterwards he was appointed secretary to the South Australian commission, and rendered much valuable service in the organization of the colony of South Australia. His early love of masses of figures it may have been which in the first instance turned his attention to the number of letters passing through the post-office, the proportion they bore to the number of the population, the cost of carrying them, and the amount which the post-office authorities charged for the conveyance of a single letter. A picturesque and touching little illustration of the veritable hardships of the existing system seems to have quickened his interest in a reform of it. Miss Martineau thus tells the story : — "Coleridge, when a young man, was walking through the Lake district, when he one day saw the postman deliver a letter to a woman at a cottage door. The woman turned it over and examined it, and then returned it, saying she could not pay the postage, which was a shilling. Hearing that the letter was from her brother, Coleridge paid the postage, in spite of the manifest unwillingness of the woman. As soon as the postman was out of sight she showed Coleridge how his money had been wasted, as far as she was concerned. The sheet was blank. There was an agreement between her brother and herself, that as long as all went well with him, he should send a blank sheet in this way once a quarter ; and she thus had tidings of him without expense of postage. Most persons would have remembered this incident as a curious story to tell ; but there was one mind which wakened up at once to a sense of the signification of the fact. It struck Mr. Rowland Hill that there must be something wrong in a system which drove a brother and sister to cheating, in orerd to gratify their desire to hear of one another's welfare." Mr. Hill gradually worked out for himself a comprehensive scheme of reform. He put it before the world early in 1837. The public were taken by surprise when the plan came before them in the shape of a pamphlet, which its author modestly entitled " Post-office Reform ; its Importance and Practicability." The root of Mr. Hill's system lay in the fact made evident by him beyond dispute that the actual cost of the conveyance of 640 HALF-HpURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy. letters through the post was very trifling, and was but little in creased by the distance over which they had to be carried. His proposal was therefore that the rates- of postage should be diminished to the minimum ; that, at the same time, the speed of conveyance should be increased; and that there should be greater frequency of dispatch. His principle was, in fact, the very opposite of that which had prevailed in the calculations of the authorities. Their idea was that the higher the charge for letters the greater the return to the revenue. He started on the assumption that the smaller the charge the greater the profit. He therefore recommended the substitution of one uniform charge of one penny the half ounce, without reference to the distance within the limits of the United Kingdom which the letter had to be carried. The post-office authorities were at first uncompromising in their opposition to the scheme. The post master-general, lord Litchfield, said in the house of lords that of all the wild and extravagant schemes he had ever heard of, it was the wildest and most extravagant. " The mails," he said, " will have to carry twelve times as much weight, and therefore the charge for transmission, instead of 100,000/. as now, must be twelve times that amount The walls of the post-office would burst, the whole area in which the building stands would not be large enough to receive the clerks and the letters." It is im possible not to be struck by the paradoxical peculiarity of this argument. Because the change would be so much welcomed by the public, lord Litchfield argued that it ought not to be made. He did not fall back upon the then familiar assertion that the public would not send anything like the number of letters the advocates of the scheme expected. He argued that they would send so many as to make it troublesome for the post-office authorities to deal with them. In plain words, it would be such an immense accommodation tp the population in general, that the officials could not undertake the trouble of carrying it into effect. Another post-office official, colonel Maberley, was at all events more liberal. " My constant language," he said afterwards, "to the heads of the departments was — This plan we know will fail. It is your duty to take care that no obstruction is placed in the way of it b v the Justin McCarthy.] THE PENNY POST. 641 heads of the department, and by the post-office. The allegation, I have not the least doubt, will be made at a subsequent period that this plan has failed in consequence of the unwillingness of the government to carry it into fair execution It is our duty, as servants of the government, to take care that no blame eventua11" shall fall on the government through any unwillingness of ours to carry it into proper effect." It is, perhaps, less surprising that the routine mind of officials should have seen no future but failure for the scheme, when so vigorous and untrammelled a thinker as Sydney Smith spoke with anger and contempt of the fact that " a million of revenue is given up in the nonsensical penny post scheme to please my old, excellent, and universally dissentient friend Noah Warburton." Mr. Warburton was then member for Bridport, and with Mr. Wallace, another member of parliament, was very active in supporting and promoting • the views of Mr. Hill. " I admire the whig ministry," Sydney Smith went on to say, " and think they have done more good things than all the ministries since the Revolution ; but these concessions are sad and unworthy marks of weakness, and fill reasonable men with alarm." It will be seen from this remark alone that the ministry had yielded somewhat more readily than might have been expected to the arguments of Mr. Hill. At the time his pamphlet appeared a commission was actually engaged in inquiring into the condition of the post-office department. Their attention was drawn to Mr. Hill's plan, and they gave it a careful consideration, and reported in its favour, although the post-office authorities were convinced that it must involve an unbearable loss of revenue. In parliament, Mr. Wallace, whose name has been already men tioned, moved for a committee to inquire into the whole subject, and especially to examine the mode recommended for charging and collecting postage in the pamphlet of Mr. Hill. The com mittee gave the subject a very patient consideration, and at length made a report recommending uniform charges and prepayment by stamps. That part of Mr. Hill's plan which suggested the use ot postage stamps was adopted by him on the advice of Mr. Charles Knight. The government took up the scheme with some spirit and liberality. The revenue that year showed a deficiency, but 642 HALF-HOURS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. [Justin McCarthy. they determined to run the further risk which the proposal in volved. The commercial community had naturally been stirred deeply by the project which promised so much relief and advantage. Sydney Smith was very much mistaken, indeed, when he fancied that it was only to please his old and excellent friend Mr. War burton, that the ministry gave way to the innovation. Petitions from all the commercial communities were pouring in to support the plan, and to ask that at least it should have a fair trial. The government at length determined to bring in a bill which should provide for the almost immediate introduction of Mr. Hill's scheme, and for the abolition of the franking system except in the case of official letters actually sent on business directly belonging to her majesty's service. The bill declared, as an introductory step, that the charge for postage should be at the rate of fourpence for each letter under half an ounce in weight, irrespective of distance, within the limits of the United Kingdom. This, how ever, was to be only a beginning; for on January 10, 1840, the postage was fixed at the uniform rate of one penny per letter of not more than half an ounce in weight. The introductory measure was not, of course, carried without opposition in both houses of parliament. The duke of Wellington in his characteristic way declared that he strongly objected to the scheme, but as the government had evidently set their hearts upon it, he recom mended the house of lords not lo offer any opposition to it. In the house of commons it was opposed by sir Robert Peel and Mr. Goulburn, both of whom strongly condemned the whole scheme as likely to involve the country in vast loss of revenue. The measure, however, passed into law. Some idea of the effect it has produced upon the postal correspondence of the country may be gathered from the fact that, in 1839, the last year of the heavy postage, the number of letters delivered in Great Britain and Ireland was a little more than eighty-two millions, which in cluded some five millions and a half of franked letters, returning nothing to the revenues of the country; whereas, in 1875, more than a thousand millions of letters were delivered in the United Kingdom. The population during the same time has not nearly doubled itself. (Itljimolocriral Cable. HOUSE OF HANOVER. 1714 George I. accession. 1715 Scots' rebellion. 1 7 16 Rebellion quelled. 1716 Bill for Septennial 'Parliaments passed. 1720 South Sea bubble. 1727 George II., accession. 1743 The battle of Dettingen. 1745 Fontenoy (duke of Cumberland defeated at). 1745 Charles Edward in Scotland. 1745 His victory at Prestonpans. 1746 His victory at Falkirk. 1746 He is defeated at Culloden. 1 75 1 Death of prince Frederick of Wales, 1752 New style introduced. 1757 Conquest of India begins by Clive. 1759 Battle of Minden. '759 Victory and death of Wolfe. 1759 Great naval victories. 1760 George III., accession. 1763 Canada conquered. 1765 Isle of Man annexed to Britain 1765 Death of prince James Stuart. 1775 American war begins by affair at Lexington. 1775 Bunker's Hill (American defeat). 1777 Saratoga (British defeat). 1780 "No Popery" riots. 1781 York town (Cornwallis surren ders at). 1782 Rodney's victory. 1782 Siege of Gibraltar. 1782 Separation of America from England. 1788 Death of Charles Edward. 1791 Battle of Seringapatam. 1794 Howe's victory (1st of June). 1795 Marriage of prince of Wales, 1796 Princess Charlotte born. 1798 Battle of the Nile. 1798 Irish rebellion. 1801 Union of Great Britain with Ireland. 1801 Nelson's victory at Copenhagen. 1801 Peace of Amiens concluded. 1803 War against France. 1805 Nelson's victory and death at Trafalgar. 1806 Death of Pitt. 1806 Death of Fox. 1807 Abolition of the slave trade. 1808 Peninsular campaign begins. 1808 Battle of Vimiera. 1809 Battle of Corunna. 1809 Battle of Talavera. 1809 Walcheren expedition. 1810 Death of Princess Amelia. 1810 Malady of George III. 1810 Battle of Busaco.' 1811 Battle of Albuera . 181 1 Battle of Barrosa. 1812 Battle of Salamanca. 1812 Siege of Badajos. 1813 St. Sebastian taken. 1813 Battle of Vittoria. 1814 Peace with America. 1815 Battle of Waterloo. 1816 Princess Charlotte married prince Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg. 18 17 She dies. 1819 Queen Victoria born. 1819 Manchester reform meeting (Peterloo). 1820 Duke of Kent dies. 1820 Death of George III, 644 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1820 George IV., accession. 1S20 Cato-street conspiracy. 1820 Trial of queen Caroline. 1 82 1 Death of queen Caroline, 1827 Duke of York dies. 1827 Battle of Navarino. 1829 Roman catholic relief Act passed. 1830 Death of George IV. 1830 William IV.,, accession. 1830 Mr. Huskisson killed at opening of railway. 1 83 1 The cholera in England. 1832 First reform bill passed. 1834 West India slavery abolished. 1835 Corporation reform act passed. 1837 Death of William IV. 1837 Victoria, accession. 1839 War with China. 1840 Penny postage begins. 1840 Marriage of the queen to prince Albert of Saxe Cobourg Gotha. 1842 Oxford's assault on the queen. 1842 Income tax act passed. 1842 Peace with China. 1843 Battle of Meeanee. 1844-45 Tractarian controversy. 1 845 Railway mania. 8846 Corn Importation Bill passed. 1846 Railway panic. 1848 Chartist demonstration. 1848-49 Cholera reappears. 1 85 1 Australian gold discovered. 1 85 1 Great exhibition opened. 1852 Death of Wellington. 1854 War with Russia. 1854 Battle of the Alma (English and French victory). 1854 Balaklava (battle of). [854 Inkerman (battle of). [855 Sebastopol taken. [856 Peace made with Russia. 1857 Indian mutiny. 1857 Siege of Lucknow. 1857 Cawnpore Massacre. 1857 Delhi taken. 1858 East India Company ceacej. 1858 Jewish Disabilities Bill passed. 1859 Mutiny ended. i860 Peace with China. 1 86 1 Famine in India. 1861 Death of the prince Consort. 1862 Great distress of cotton trade. 1863 Marriage of prince of Wales. 1864 Ionian isles made over to Greece. 1866 Atlantic telegraph laid. 1867 New reform bill passed. 1867 Abyssinia war. 1867 Fenian outrages. 1868 Chartist Scare. 1869 Irish church disestablished by Mr. Gladstone's Ministry. 1874 Ashantee war ended. 1876 Queen Victoria proclaimed em press of India. 1879 Zulu war. 1879 Massacre of British soldiers at Isandula. 1879 Battle of Ulundi and defeat 01 Zulus. 1879 War in Afghanistan. 1879 Candahar taken. 1879 Treaty of Gundamuk. 1879 Massacre of sir Louis Cavagnari and embassy at Cabul. 1879 General Roberts retakes Cabul. 1880 General Roberts defeats Ayoub Khan and relieves Candahar. 1881 The Gladstone ministry give up Candahar and Cabul to Ab- dulahman Khan. 1881 Death of Lord Beaconsfield. 1881 War with the Boers. 1 88 1 British defeats. 1881 Peace made with the Boers. 1881 Gladstone ministry give up the Transvaal to the Boers. 1881 Outrages, Boycotting, Sec. in Ireland. 1 88 1 Irish Land Bill passed. 1 88 1 Outrages and agitation continue. INDEX. ABERCROMBV, sir Ralph, at the battle of Alexandria, 429 ; fatally wounded, 430 Aboukir bay, Nelson's victory at, 338 Abyssinian war, 587 Acland, major, wounded at the battle of Hubbardton, 363 ; heroism of his wife, 3°3 Acre, siege of, 417 ; Napoleon at, 42r Afghanistan, disaster in, 576, 593; Rus sian intrigues in, 590 Agriculture in the 18th century, 478 Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 219 Akerman, Mr., governor of Newgate, 37° Alabama claims settled, 588 Albuera, battle of, 485 Alexandria, battle of, 428 Algiers bombarded, 484 Alma, battle of, 579 Almanza, battle of, 5 American civil war, 584 Andre, Major, executed as a spy, 335 Anne, queen, reign of, 1 ; quarrels of her minister, 65 ; serious illness, 67 ; character of her last minister, 76 ; her last days, 82 ; frequently in the house of lords, 82 ; her death, 93 Anson, lord, captures a Spanish trea sure-ship, 214 Anti-Corn Law League, 577 Ashantee war, 588 Atlantic cable laid, 585 Atterbury, Bishop, and his dog, 193 ; exiled, 208 ; Swift's satire an, 208 Badajos, assault of, 493 Balaclava, battle of, 579. 599 ; charge of the Heavy Brigade, 602 ; charge of the Light Brigade, 604 Ballot Act passed, 587 Balmerino, lord, trial of, 289 ; be headed, 296 Barbadoes, rising in, 527 ' • Battle of the Baltic, " by Campbell, 435 Battles— Albuera, 485 ; Alexandria, 428; Alma, 579 ; Almanza, 5 ; Aboukir Bay, 338 ; Balaklava, 579, 599 • Blenheim, 15—32 ; Bunker's Hill, 355 ; Cam- Dcrdown, 337, 4°2 I CaPe St- Vincent, 337- 399 '< Culloden, 218, 256 ; Dum blane, 135, 161 ; Dettingen, 216, 228 ; Fontenoy, 217 ; Inkerman, 579 ; Na- varino, 522, 538 ; Plassey, 312 ; Pres tonpans, 244 ; Trafalgar, 439, 444 ; Waterloo, 483, 504 Beaconsfield, earl of, on the character of the prince consort, 628 ; his death, 592 Belgium, revolution in, 547 Berlin treaty, 590 Black Hole of Calcutta, the, 306 Blenheim, battle of, 15 — 32 Body-snatching, 536 Boers, revolt of the, 592 ; demands granted, 592 Bolingbroke, viscount, his quarrel with Harley, 65 ; on the treaty of Utrecht, 93 ; impeached but escapes to Fran«e, 133 ; his character, 140 " Boycotting," 592 Braemar, the hunting of, 146 British victories in 1759, 321 Bunker's Hill, battle of, 355 Buonaparte, Napoleon, career of, 338 ; his death, 522 Burdett, Sir Francis, 556 Burgoyne, general, at the battle of Saratoga, 362 Bute, lord, made prime minister, 331 Cabul, British evacuation of, 576, 593 ; retaken, 576, 593 Cameron of Lochiel joins the Young Pretender, 240 Camperdown, battle of, 402 Canada, the conquest of 325 ; civil war in, 574 Cape St. Vincent, victory off, 337, 399 . Caroline, Queen, trial of, 521 ; death of, 521 Cato Street conspiracy, 517 ; fate of the conspirators, 520 Cavendish, Thomas, voyage of, 104 Cawnpore, massacre of, 582, 617 Charles X. of France, flight of, 547 Charles Edward lands in Scotland, 239 ; escape of, 275 Charlotte, princess, marriage of, 484 ; her death, 485 Chartkt riots, 574, 577 646 INDEX. Chatham, earl of, his last speech, 334 ; death of, 335 China, war with, 575 ; second war, 580 Cholera, outbreak of, 549, 561 Chronological tables, 127, 643 Clergy, Queen Anne's Bounty, 4 Clerkenwell explosion, 586 Clive, lord, at Plassey, 315 Cochrane, lord, 537 Coercion Bill passed, 592 Commons, House of, debates during the Lord George Gordon riots, 369 Companies formed during the South Sea excitement, 183 Cope, sir John, defeated at Preston pans, 253 Corn Laws abolished, 577 Corunna, battle of, 340 Craggs, James, secretary of state, death of, 190 Crimean war, 578 ; peace proclaimed, 580 Cromarty, lord, trial of, 289 ; sen tenced to death, but reprieved, 293 Culloden, battle of, 218, 256 Cumberland, duke of, at Culloden, 218, 257 ; at Dettingen, 233 ; his cruelties, 283 Dawson, James, romantic incident at execution of, 300 ; ballad describing, 3°4 Demerara, rising in, 528 Derwentwater, earl of, joins the rebels, 159 ; trial of, 168 ; beheaded, 169 Dettingen, battle of, 216, 228 Dowlah, Surajah, imprisons English in the Black Hole of Calcutta, 306 ; defeated at Plassey, 317 Drake, sir Francis, his voyage round the globe, 102 Dumblane, battle ot, 135, i6r Duncan, admiral, deserted by greater part of his fleet, 396 ; speech to his crew, 397 ; at Camperdown, 402 Dutch fleet defeated off Camperdown, 337. 4°2 East India Company, formation of, 107 ; supported by Cromwell and Charles II., no Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed, 12 Edinburgh Castle, attempt to surprise, 15° Egypt, the French driven out of, 338 Eighteenth century, life and manners in the second half of, 470 England in 1820 — 26, 533 Eugene, Prince, at the battle of Blen heim, 15 " Faggot, The," a poem oy Swift, 74 Fenian agitation, 586 Fitzherbert, Mrs., pensioned, 552 Fontenoy, battle of, 217 Forster, general, escapes to France, 167 Fox, Charles James, 456 Franco-German war, 588 Frazer, general, at the battle of Sara toga, 361 French Revolution of 1789, 336 George I., reign of, 132 — 140 George II., reign of, 210 ; at Dettingen, 232 ; his death, 220 George III., reign of, 330, 341 ; a con tributor to Arthur Young's "Annals of Agriculture," 481 George IV. , reign of, 5r7 ; his death, 523, 546; anecdotes of, 1,544 Gibraltar taken, 4 ; besieged by the Spaniards, 336 Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., becomes prime minister, 587 ; resigns, 588 ; again premier, 591 Gordon, lord George, committed to the Tower, 375 Gordon riots, 335, 366 ; Dr. Johnson's account of, 373 Greville, Mr. , on the accession of queen Victoria, 572 Green, captain, the story of, 32 Hamilton, the duke of, and the Union, 52 Harlev, Robert (see Oxford, earl of), 61 " Harley, Thomas, arrest of, 133 Hawke, admiral, defeats the French at Quiberon Bay, 350 Hepburn, Robt. , of Keith, escapes from Newgate, 167 Highwaymen in the reign of George I. , 47i Hill, Abigail (lady Masham) her in fluence over Queen Anne, 6 Hill, sir Rowland, 576, 638 Howe's, lord, victory on the glorious first of June, 1794, 378 Huskisson, Mr., death of, 547 Indian Empire, origin of, 101 Indian mutiny, 581, 617 INDEX. 647 Inkerman, battle of, 579 ; episodes of, 607, 614 Ireland, state of, from the Restoration to the reign of George II., 112; Act of Settlement, 113 Irish Land Bill of 1870 passed, 587 Irish Land League established, 591 Irish rebellion of 1798, 406 Jacobite rising, 1715, 158 | acobtie ballad, 144 Jacobite lords, trial of the, 288 Jacobite prisoners, treatment of, 164 Jamaica, rebellion in, 585 Jenkins, capt. , barbarous treatment of, 212 Jervis, sir Tohn, defeats the Spaniards at Cape St. Vtncent, 337, 399 Jews admitted to Parliament, 583 "Johnnie Cope," 255 Kenmuir, viscount, joins the rebels, 159 ; beheaded, 169 Kent, duke of, death of, 485 Kilmarnock, lord, trial of, 289 ; be headed, 295 Kleber, general, at Acre, 421 Konigsmark, count, murder of, 132 Koord Pass, massacre in, 576 Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opening of, 547 London, the great storm in 1703, n Lucknow, relief of, 583 Macclesfield, earl of, impeached, 140 MacDonald of Boisdale refuses to join the Young Pretender, 238 MacDonald, Flora, aids the Young Pretender in his escape, 278 ; im prisoned in the Tower, 302 ; married, 303 Mansfield, earl ot, attacked by the mob, 367 ; his house destroyed, 374 Mar, earl of, proclaims James Stuart, 134 Marlborough, duke of, at Blenheim, 15 his fall, 56 Marlborough, duchess of, her influence over queen Anne, 1 Masham, lady, her influence with queen Anne, 6 ; her character, 66 ; letter to Swift concerning Harley, 87 Mead, Dr., queen Anne's physician, 90, 133 Me^r Jaffier deserts Surajah Dowlah at Plassey, 317 ; installed Nabob, 318 Melbourne, lord, prime minister, 574 Minorca, French take possession of, 219 Montcalm, general, killed at the assault on Quebec, 329 Moore, sir John, killed at Corunna, 340 Moscow, burning of, 482 Murray of Broughton, John, secretary 01 state, and the Young Pretender, 243 Murray, lord George, at the battle of Culloden, 270 Mutiny at the Nore, 337, 392 Nana Sahib, 621 Napoleon III., Orsini's attempt to assassinate, 583 Navarino, battle of, 522, 538 Nelson, admiral, at St. Vincent, 337 ; at Aboukir Bay, 338 ; at Trafalgar, 339, 444 ! his death, 447 Newgate burnt during the Lord George Gordon riots, 374 Nithsdale, the earl of, joins the rebels, 159 ; sentenced to death, 168 ; escape of, 172 Nore, mutiny at the, 337, 392 "North Briton," the, 332 O'Brien, Smith, 577 O'Connell, Daniel, 577 Ormond, duke of, his character, 76 ; impeached, but escapes to France, 133 Oxford, Robert Harley, earl of, his quarrel with Bolingbroke, 65 ; his chaiacter, 79 ; called on to resign, 85 ; committed to the Tower, 133 ; re leased, 138 ; epistle to, 180 Palmekston, lord, death of, 585 Peers molested during the Lord George Gordon riots, 368 Penny postage established, 576, 636, 642 Perceval, Mr., shot, 482 Perth, the titular duke of, escapes from Campbell of Inveraw, 242 Peterborough, earl of, takes Barcelona, 5 Pitt, William, the Great Commoner, during two reigns, 344 ; death of, 448 Plassey, battle of, 312 Porteous riot, 211 Porto Bello taken, 213 Portuguese and the trade of the East, 106 Pragmatic Sanction, the, 215 Prescott, Colonel, at Bunker's Hill, 356 Prestonpans, battle of, 244 Pretender, the Old, proclaimed, 134 ; lands in Scotland, 137, 163 ; escapes to France, 164 648 INDEX. Pretender, the Young, lands in Scotland, 217, 239 ; joined, by Cameron of Lochiel, 240; escapes from Culloden, 275 ; lands in Brittany, 282 ; death of, 336 Prince Consort, death of, 584 ; his char acter, 628 Prior, Matthew, arrest of, 133 Quebec, capture of, 330 . Quiberon Bay, Hawke's victory at, 350 Ratcliffe, Charles, beheaded, 302 Reform Bill, passing of the first, 548, 557 ; riots, 555 ; second bill passed, 585 Regency, the, 482 Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill passed, 522 Rooke, sir George, captures Gibraltar, 4 Roqueville, admiral de, sails up the English Channel with a French fleet, 216 Russo-Turkish war began, 589 Sacheverel, Dr., trial of, 6 ; sonnet on, 64 St. Jean d'Acre, siege of, 417 Sale, sir Robert, at Jellalabad, 576 Saratoga, battle of, 360 Science, progress of, in the reign of Vic toria, 631 Scinde, war with, 576 Scotland, union with, 5, 37 Scott, sir Walter, poem by, on the death of Nelson, Pitt, and Fox, 465 Sebastopol, siege of, 579 Seringapatam, taking of, 381 Slavery in the West Indies, 523, 549 Slavery, abolition of, ,549, 564 Smith, sir Sidney, at the siege of Acre, • 418 ' . , Smith, Mr., missionary in Demerara, trial and death, 529 South Sea Scheme started, 138 ; history of, 181 ; fate of the directors, 192 Spain, war with, 213 Spithead, mutiny of the fleet at, 337, 39° Stanhope, James, earl of, his death, 189 Storm of 1703, the great, 9 Swift, dean, lady Masham's letter to, concerning Robert Harley, 87 ; his satire on the bishop of Rochester's dog, 208 Tallard, marshal, at Blenheim, 17; taken prisoner, 28 " Tears of Scotland, " by Smollett, 286 Thistlewood, Arthur, 517 Thurot, lands in Ireland and takes Carrickfergus, 324 ; death of, 325 Tippoo Sahib, death of, 337, 389 Trafalgar, battle of, 339, 439, 444 Transvaal, revolt in the, 592 Union of Scotland and England, 37, 56 Utrecht, treaty of, 7 ; lord Boling broke on, 93 ; parliamentary com mittee appointed to discuss, 133 Vernon, admiral, takes Porto Bello, 213 Victoria, accession of, 571 ; coronation, 574 ; marriage, 574 ; her children, 592 ; progress of science in her reign, 631 Vimiera, French defeated at, 340 Wales, prince of, married, 584 ; visit to India, 588 Walpole, sir Robert, resignation of, 215, 227 Waterloo, battle of, 483, 504 ; incidents at, 511 Wellington, duke of, his death, 578 West Indies, slavery in, 523 Wilkes and the "North Briton," 332 William IV , accession of, 547, 550 ; his death, 567 ¦ Winstanley, Mr,, lost with the Eddy- stone Lighthouse, 12 Wintoun, earl of, joins the rebels, 159 ; sentenced to death, 169 Wolfe, general, killed at Quebec, 329 Young, Arthur, 481 Zulu war, 591 DRAtlCL't 351.15** Io;84.?7. 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