Niagara, situated between the lakes Ontario and Erie, and the great key of communication between Canada and Louisiana. The attempt was therefore laid aside, as impracticable; and Shirley having marked out the foundations of two new forts in the neighbourhood of Oswego, which stands on the south-east side of lake Ontario, and augmented the garrison of that place to the number of seven hundred men, returned ingloriously to Albany with the wretched remnant of his army13.

In the meantime general Johnson, having advanced as far as lake George, on which he intended to embark, was unexpectedly attacked in his camp by the baron Dieskau, commander in chief of the French forces in Canada, at the head of two thousand men. And although the camp was both naturally and artificially strong, there is reason to believe that the French general might have forced it, if he had immediately stormed the English entrenchments. Fortunately, however, he ordered his troops to halt at the distance of about an hundred and fifty yards, whence they began their attack with platoon-firing, which was able to do little or no execution upon troops defended by a strong breast-work. The English, meanwhile, plied their great guns and musketry so warmly, that the central body of the enemy, composed of the French regulars, began to flag in their fire; and the Canadians and Indians, who formed the flanks of their army, squatted below bushes or skulked behind trees. Encouraged by these favourable appearances, the English and their Indian allies leaped over the breast-work, and completed the discomfiture of the assailants. After killing many, and entirely dispersing the whole, they took several prisoners, among whom was Dieskau himself, an old and experienced officer, who was mortally wounded But this action, though decisive in favour of the English, was followed by no important consequences, as general Johnson did not think it prudent

13. Id. Ibid.

14. Lond. Gazette, October 30, 1755.

to

to pursue his victory, and it was found too late in the -season to proceed to the attack of Crown-Point.

Such was the termination of the first campaign in North-America; which, all things considered, notwithstanding the defeat of Dieskau, and the expulsion of the French out of Nova-Scotia, was estimated to the disad-. vantage of Great-Britain. But that disadvantage was counterbalanced, in the opinion of the nation, by the great number of French merchant's ships that had been captured during the summer. No sooner was intelligence. brought of the taking of the Alcide and Lys, which it was thought would be considered by the court of Versailles as an indirect declaration of war, than an order was issued by the British ministry, to make prize of all French ships on the high seas, wherever they might be found. In consequence of that order, above three hundred trading vessels belonging to France, many of which were very valuable, being laden with West-India produce, and about eight thousand seamen were brought into the ports of England before the end of the year's.

Contrary to all political conjecture, the French made no reprisals. As this inaction could not be imputed to moderation, it was justly ascribed to a consciousness of their inferiority at sea, and a desire of interesting in their cause the other European powers. Stunned by the unexpected blow that impaired their naval strength, and distressed the trading part of the kingdom, they were at a loss how to proceed; having always flattered themselves, that the anxiety of George II. for the safety of his German dominions, which they had for some time threatened, would prevent him from adopting any vigorous measure, notwithstanding their encroachments in America. discovering at length their mistake, by the capture of their ships, and seeing no hopes of restitution, the court of Madrid having declined the dangerous office of mediator, they now resolved to put their threats in execution;

15. Smollett, vol. xii. Contin. of Rapin, ubi sup.

But

and

and an army of two hundred thousand men, with their vicinity to the country to be invaded, seemed to promise the most brilliant success.

While the flames of war were thus breaking out between France and England, the southern parts of Europe were visited by a more dreadful calamity than even war itself. A violent earthquake, which NOV. 1. shook all Spain, Portugal, and the neighbouring countries, threw the inhabitants into the utmost consternation, and laid the city of Lisbon in ruins. About ten thousand persons lost their lives; and many of the survivors, deprived of their habitations, and altogether destitute of the means of subsistence, were obliged to take up their abode in the open fields. But they were not suffered to perish. The British parliament, though pressed with new demands, generously voted one hundred thousand pounds sterling for the relief of the unhappy sufferers in Portugal. And this noble instance of public liberality was enhanced by the manner of conferring the benefit. A number of ships, laden with provisions and clothing, were immediately dispatched for Lisbon; where they arrived so opportunely, as to preserve thousands from dying of hunger or cold.

LETTER XXXII.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE OF EUROPE IN 1756, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE OPERATIONS OF WAR, IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD, TILL THE CONQUEST OF HANOVER, BY THE FRENCH, IN 1757.

No sooner did France resolve to invade the electorate of Hanover, and the king of Great-Britain to defend it, than both became sensible of the neA. D. 1756. cessity of new alliances. Spain and Portugal seemed determined to remain neutral, and the states-ge

16. Id. Ibid.

neral

neral of the United Provinces politically pursued the same line of conduct. The German powers were less quietly disposed.

The court of Vienna, ever since the treaty of Breslaw, but more especially since that of Aix-la-Chapelle, had viewed the rising greatness of the king of Prussia with envious eyes. The empress-queen had never been reconciled to the loss of Silesia; one of the most fertile countries in Europe, and which yielded a clear annual revenue of four millions of dollars, to a rival whom she personally hated. She accordingly entered secretly into a league with the empress of Russia for the recovery of that fine province, and even for stripping the king of Prussia of his hereditary dominions. But this league, into which the king of Poland, as elector of Saxony, also was drawn, did not escape the vigilance of the penetrating, Frederic. And time and circumstances enabled him to break its force, before the scheme of his enemies was ripe for execution.

As soon as the king of Great-Britain saw his German dominions seriously threatened by the French, who had already formed magazines in Westphalia, with the consent of the elector of Cologne, he applied to the court of Vienna for the troops which it was bound to furnish by treaty. But the empress-queen excused herself from fulfilling her engagements, under pretence that the war, having originated in America, did not come within the terms of her treaty with the court of London. Thus disappointed by the Imperial court, as well as in his application to the states-general, his Britannic majesty concluded a subsi diary treaty with the court of Petersburg; in consequence of which the empress of Russia engaged to hold in readiness, for his support, an army of fifty-five thousand men, on the frontiers of Lithunia, and to put them in motion on the first notice.

This treaty was perfectly agreeable to the court of Vienna, whose secret views it was calculated to promote ; as it afforded the Russians a decent pretext for entering Germany, and even encouraged them to such a measure

by

by a liberal subsidy. The two empresses, therefore, flattered themselves, that they should not only be able to accomplish their ambitious project, but to make GreatBritain bear the expense of the execution of it. The ruin of the king of Prussia seemed inevitable to all the powers who expected to share in his dominions. His own sagacity, however, at once saved him from the machinations of his enemies, and gave a new turn to the politics of Europe. Though assured of the friendship of France, and acquainted with her views, he boldly declared, That he would oppose the introduction of foreign troops into the empire; under whatsoever pretence, and consider as enemies those who should attempt to introduce them..

JAN. 16.

The king of Great-Britain, alarmed at this strong declaration, yet pleased with its professed object, the exclusion of foreign troops, concluded at Westminster, on that principle, a treaty with the king of Prussia; not doubting but he should still be able to preserve a good understanding with the courts of Vienna and Petersburg. But the house of Austria, forgetting its jealousy of the family of Bourbon, in its animosity against the Prussian monarch, not only entered into a league with France, along with Russia and Sweden, but partly gave up its barrier in the Netherlands, which had been acquired by torrents of British blood, and millions of British treasure, in order to cement more closely the unnatural confederacy. These new and singular alliances, signed at Versailles, necessarily drew tighter the bands of union between George II. and his nephew, the king of Prussia.

MAY 1.

Meanwhile the people of Great-Britain, having no confidence in their ministry, were seized with a shameful panic, notwithstanding their naval superiority, at the rumour of a French invasion. That panic was in some measure dissipated, by the arrival of a large body of Hanoverians and Hessians, for the protection of the kingdom. But new jealousies and fears arose, as soon as the alarm of the invasion subsided; the foreign troops being represented