A View of the Affairs of Great Britain, from the Peace of 1783, to the Commencement of the War, in 1793, between that kingdom and the French He proposes, however, a reformation in the government of India, and in ibid. He is driven from the cabinet . ibid. And Mr. Pitt is fully invested with the ministerial dignity ibid. 1784 A dissolution of parliament is ordered with a view of baffling the perti- ibid. A commercial treaty is proposed to the French court. 1786 The commons reject the fortification schemes of the duke of Richmond A fund is provided for the gradual redemption of the national debt Warren Hastings is impeached for the misgovernment of India The treaty of commerce is completed 1787 And confirmed by parliament 1788 Mr. Pitt abridges the power of the India company The Trial of Hastings commences The king contracts a new alliance with Holland He becomes incapable of exercising the functions of royalty FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA, IN 1648, TO THE PEACE OF PARIS, IN 1763. LETTER XXI. History of Europe, from the Beginning of the General War, in 1701, to the Offers of Peace made by France, in 1706, and the Union of England and Scotland. NOTWITHSTANDING the alliance which the king of England had concluded with the emperor and the states-general, it may be questioned whether he could have prevailed upon his people to engage heartily in a new continental war, had it not been for an unforeseen measure, which roused their resentment against France. Soon after the alliance had been formed, James Sept. 5, II. died at St. Germain's; and Louis, in violation of the 1701. treaty of Ryswick, acknowledged the son of that unfortunate prince, king of Great Britain and Ireland, under the title of James III. Whether Louis was prompted to this measure by generosity of sentiment, or what the French writers term the elevation and sensibility of his great soul-by the tears of the widow of the deceased prince, seconded by the entreaties of madame de Main tenon-or by political motives-is a matter of very little consequence. It is probable, however, that he was partly influenced by political considerations; that, believing war to be unavoidable, he hoped, by thus encouraging the Jacobites, to be able to disturb the English government; especially as the life of William, from his declining health, was not expected to be greatly prolonged, and the party in favour of the direct line of succession was still powerful in each of the three British kingdoms. But whatever might be the motive of the French monarch for such a measure, whether it sprang from weakness, generosity, or selfishness, it hurried him into a war, for which he was very little prepared, and which reduced him, in a few years, from the highest pinnacle of grandeur to the lowest state of despondency. France, nearly exhausted by her former efforts, had not yet had time to recover her strength; and Spain, languishing under every kind of political malady, was only a load upon her shoulders. But the supply of the precious metals, which she was suffered, by the negligence of the maritime powers, to procure from the Spanish dominions in America, and particularly from those near the South Sea, enabled her to maintain the contest much longer than would have been possible for her merely with her own internal resources'. The Marquis de Torcy attempted in vain to apologise to the king of England for the conduct of his master: the affront to William was too flagrant to be patiently borne. He instantly recalled his ambassador from the court of France, and ordered the French envoy to quit his dominions. Nor did the parliament, to which William made a speech well suited to the occasion, discover less resentment at the insult offered by Louis to the sovereign and the nation, in presuming to declare who should be king of England, and in naming a person excluded from the A. D. succession by an act of the whole legislature. They 1702. passed a bill of attainder against the pretended prince of Wales, and also a bill obliging all persons, who held any office in church or state, to abjure his claim to the crown. They entered warmly into the war, which was eagerly desired by the people; voted forty thousand men for land service, agreeably to the terms of the Grand Alliance, and an equal number for the navy. And they presented an address to the throne, requesting the king to insert in the treaty an article, which was readily 1 Bolingbroke's Sketch of the Hist. and State of Europe. |