vested Philipsburg, inthe face of the imperial forces, while the count de Belleisle made himself master of Traerbach. The duke of Berwick was killed by a cannon-ball, in visiting the trenches;(1) but Philipsburg was taken, nevertheless. The marquis d'Asfeld, who succeeded to the command of the French army, as the eldest lieutenant-general, continued the operations of the siege in sight of prince Eugene; and in spite of the efforts of that experienced general, and the overflowings of the Rhine, the place was forced to surrender.

The French and their allies were no less successful in Italy. The count de Montemar having gained a complete victory over the imperialists, at Bitonto in Apulia, the Spaniards afterward carried every thing before them; and in two campaigns, became masters of Naples and Sicily. Meanwhile, the forces of France and Piedmont under old mareschal Villars and the king of Sardinia, took Milan and other important places. The mareschal de Coigny, who succeeded to the command of the French army on the death of Villars, defeated the imperialists under the walls of Parma after an obstinate battle, in which count de Merci, the imperial general, was killed. The imperialists were again worsted at Guastalla, where the prince of Wirtemberg was slain. In these two engagements the emperor lost above ten thousand men.

Discouraged by so many defeats, his imperial majesty signified his desire of peace; and as peace was the sincere and constant wish of cardinal Fleury, a treaty for that end was soon concluded. By this treaty it was stipulated, That Stanislaus should renounce his pretensions to the throne of Poland, in consideration of the cession of the dutchy of Lorrain, which he should enjoy during life, and which, after his death, should be reunited to the crown of France; that the duke of Lorrain should have Tuscany, in exchange for his hereditary dominions, and that Lewis XV. should ensure to him an annual revenue of three millions five hundred thousand livres, till the death of the grand-duke, John Gaston, the last prince of the house of Medicis; that the emperor should acknowledge Don Carlos king of the Two Sicilies, and accept the dutchies of Parma and Placenza, as an indemnification for these two kingdoms; that he should cede to the king of Sardinia, who had some old pretensions to the whole dutchy of Milan, the Novarese, the Tortonese, and the fiefs of Langes. And, in consideration of these cessions, the king of France agreed to restore all his conquests in Germany, and to guarantee the pragmatic sanction.(2)

Scarce was this peace negotiated, when a new war broke out on the confines of Europe and Asia, in which the emperor found himself involved. Provoked at the ravages of the Crim Tartars, as well as at the neglect of the Ottoman porte to her repeated remonstrances on that subject, the empress of Russia resolved to do herself justice. She accordingly ordered Lasci, one of her generals, to attack Azoph, which he reduced; while the count de Munich, entering the Crimea with another army, forced the lines of Prekop, made himself master of the place itself, took Baniesary, and laid all Tartary waste with fire and sword. Next campaign Munich entered the Ukraine, and invested Oczakow, which was carried by assault, though defended by a garrison of three thousand janizaries and seven thousand Bosniacs. A bomb having set fire to the powder magazine, it immediately blew up and communicated its contents to many of the houses. The Russian general seized this

(1) The mareschal of Berwick is justly reputed one of the greatest of modern commanders. No general ever had the coup d'œil quicker or more accurate; whether, in battle, to discover the blunders of an enemy, and make those decisive moments that carry victory with them; or, in a campaign, to observe and take advantage of positions, on which the success of the whole depends. His character in private life, though no less worthy of admiration, is less known. "It was impossible," says Montesquieu, “to behold him, and not to be in love with virtue, so evident was tranquillity and happiness in his soul. No man ever knew better how to avoid excesses; or, if I may so express myself, to keep clear of the snares of virtue. He had a great fund of religion, and was fond of the clergy, but could not bear to be governed by them. No man ever followed more strictly those precepts of the Gospel which are most troublesome to men of the world; no man, in a word, ever practised religion so much, and talked of it so little. He never spoke ill of any one, nor bestowed any praise upon those whom he did not think deserving of it. In the works of Plutarch I have seen, at a distance, what great men were; in him I behold at a nearer view, what they are."-Sketch of an Historical Panegyric.

(2) Voltaire. Tindal. Smollett.

opportunity to storm the town; and the Turks, unable to recover themselves from their consternation, or to fight on narrow ramparts contiguous to buildings all in flames, tamely suffered themselves to be cut to pieces. (1)

The rapid successes of the Russians awakened the ambition of the court of Vienna, which was bound by treaty to assist that of Petersburg against the porte. The emperor was made to believe, that if he should attack the Turks, on the side of Hungary, while the Russians continued to press them on the borders of the Black Sea, the Ottoman empire might be finally subverted. Prophecies were even propagated, that the period fatal to the crescent was at last arrived. (2) But these prophecies and the emperor's am bitious hopes proved equally illusory. The Turks turned their principal force towards Hungary. The imperial generals were repeatedly defeated; several important places were lost, and Belgrade was besieged; when Charles VI., discouraged by his misfortunes, and resolving to put an end to a war from which he reaped nothing but disgrace, had recourse to the mediation of France. M. de Villeneuve, the French ambassador at Constantinople, accordingly repaired to the Turkish camp; and the empress of Russia, though recently victorious at Choczim, afraid of being deserted by her ally, and left to support alone the whole weight of the war, had also recourse to negotiation. In consequence of this pacific disposition in the Christian allies, the Turks, so lately devoted to destruction, obtained an advantageous peace. By that treaty, the emperor ceded to the grand seignior, Belgrade, Sabatz, the isle and fortress of Orsova, with Servia, and Austrian Wallachia: and the contracting powers agreed, that the Danube and the Saave should, in future, be the boundaries of the two empires. The empress of Russia was left in possession of Azoph, but on condition that its fortifications should be demolished; and the ancient limits between the Russian and Turkish empires were re-established.

Soon after this peace was signed, died the emperor Charles VI., the last prince of the ancient and illustrious house of Austria, the disputed succession to whose hereditary dominions kindled anew the flames of war in Europe. But before we enter upon that important subject, I must give you, my dear Philip, a short account of the maritime war already begun between Spain and Great Britain; and in order to make the grounds of their quarrel distinctly understood, it will be necessary to continue our view of the progress of navigation, commerce, and colonization.

LETTER XXVII.

Progress of Navigation, Commerce, and Colonization, from the Year 1660, to the Year 1739, when Spain and Great Britain engaged in a Maritime War, occasioned by certain commercial Disputes-An Account of the principal Events in that War-The taking of Porto Bello, the Siege of Carthagena, and the Expedition of Commodore Anson to the South Sea.

We have seen, towards the middle of the seventeenth century, the English and Dutch in possession of almost the whole trade of the universe. But the Dutch commerce received a severe wound from the English navigation act, passed by the commonwealth parliament, in 1651; and the subsequent wars between England and Holland, during the reign of Charles II. reduced still lower the trade of the United Provinces. Their trade to the East Indies, however, continued to flourish, while that of England remained in a languishing condition till after the revolution. But this disadvantage on the part of England was amply compensated by the population, culture, and extension of her colonies in North America and the West Indies, which began to consume a vast quantity of European goods; and by a great and lucrative trade to (2) Id. ibid.

(1) Mem. de Brandenburg, tom. ii.

Spain, Portugal, and Turkey.(1) During no former or subsequent period, in a word, did England ever make such rapid progress in commerce and riches, as during that inglorious one, which followed the restoration, and terminated with the expulsion of the house of Stuart ;(2) though she found, at the same time, a formidable rival in France, and a rival whose encroachments were not sufficiently repressed by her pusillanimous and pensioned monarchs.

The great Colbert, who, as I have had occasion to notice, introduced order into the French finances in the early part of the reign of Lewis XIV., who encouraged the arts, promoted manufactures, and may be said to have created the French navy; Colbert established an East India company, in 1664. This company, which founded its principal settlement at Pondicherry, on the coast of Coromandel, never attained to any high degree of prosperity, notwithstanding the countenance shown it by government. At last, in consequence of Law's Mississippi scheme, it was united with the West India company, which had been established in the same year with that trading to the East, and was also in a languishing condition. A separation afterward took place. The West India company was judiciously abolished, as a pernicious monopoly ;(3) and the French trade to the East Indies became, for a time, of some importance, while that to the West Indies flourished greatly from the moment it was made free.

But France is chiefly indebted for her wealth and commerce to the genius and industry of her numerous inhabitants, and to the produce of an extensive and naturally fertile territory. Her wines, her brandies, her raisins, her olives, have been long in request, and by her ingenious manufactures, established or encouraged by Colbert, her gold and silver stuffs, her tapestries, her carpets, her silks, her velvets, her laces, her linens, and her toys, she laid all Europe, and indeed the whole world, under contribution for half a century. Colbert extended his attention also to the manufacture of wool; and the French, by fabricating lighter cloths, by employing more taste and fancy in the colours, and by the superior convenience of the ports of Toulon and Marseilles, soon acquired the almost entire possession of the trade of Turkey, formerly so beneficial to England. The same and other circumstances have procured them a great share in the trade of Spain and Portugal.(4)

The prosperity of the French manufactures, however, received a temporary check from the revocation of the edict of Nantz, in 1685. The persecuted Protestants, to the number of almost a million, who had been chiefly employed in these manufactures, took refuge in England, Holland, and other countries, where they could enjoy the free exercise of their religion; carrying along with them their arts and ingenuity, and even the fruits of their industry, to a very great amount, in gold and silver. They were much caressed in England, where they improved or introduced the manufacture of hats, of silk, and of linen. The importation of those articles from France was soon prohibited, as inconsistent with national interest; the culture of flax was encouraged; raw or unmanufactured silk was imported from Italy and China; beaver skins were procured from Hudson's Bay, where settlements had been established, and where all sorts of furs were found in the greatest plenty, and of the most excellent quality. Clock and watch-work was executed in England, with the utmost elegance and exactness, as well as all other kinds of machinery, cutlery, and jewelry; the cotton manufactory, now so highly perfected, was introduced; and toys of every species were at length finished with so much taste and facility, as to become an article

(1) England sent annually to the Levant above twenty thousand pieces of woollen cloth. (2) Davenant affirms, that the shipping of England was more than doubled during these twenty-eight years. (Discourse on the Public Revenues, part ii.) And we are told by sir Josiah Child, that, in 1688, there were on the 'Change, more men worth ten thousand pounds, than there were, in 1650, worth one thousand. Brief Observations, &c.

(3) Exclusive companies may sometimes be useful to nourish an infant trade, where the market is under the dominion of foreign and barbarous princes; but where the trade between different parts of the dominions of the same prince, under the protection of his laws, and carried on by his own subjects with goods wrought in his own kingdom, such companies must be equally absurd in their nature, and ruinous In their consequences to commerce.

(4) Anderson's Hist. of Commerce, vol. ii.

of exportation, even to the European continent, and privately to France itself, the birthplace of fashion, and the nursery of splendid bagatelles.

In the mean time, the English and French colonies in North America enlarged their boundaries, and increased in wealth and population. The French colony of Canada, or New France, was augmented by the settlement of Louisiana, and a line of communication was established, before the middle of the present century, from the mouth of the river St. Lawrence to that of the Mississippi. The English colonies, more populous and cultivated, extended along the seacoast, from the bottom of the bay of Fundy to the river Altamaha, on the frontiers of Florida. New-England furnished masts and yards for the royal navy, as well as timber for other uses; New-York and New-Jersey, formerly known by the name of Nova Belgia, conquered from the Dutch in 1664, and Pennsylvania, settled in 1681, produced abundant crops of corn, and a variety of other articles, for the European markets, as well as for the supply of the English islands in the West Indies; the tobacco of Virginia and Maryland was become a staple commodity, in high request, and a great source of revenue; and the two Carolinas, by the culture of rice and indigo, and the manufacture of tar, pitch, and turpentine, so necessary to a naval and commercial people, soon became of vast importance.

But the most beneficial trade of both nations arose, and still continues to proceed, from their colonies in the West India islands. The rich produce of those islands, which is chiefly intended for exportation, and all carried in the ships of the mother-countries, affords employment to a great number of seamen; and as the inhabitants, who do not so much as make their own wearing apparel, or the common implements of husbandry, are supplied with clothing of all kinds, household furniture, tools, toys, and even the luxuries of the table, from Europe, the intercourse is active, and productive of mutual prosperity and happiness. The islands in the American Archipelago, in a word, are the prime marts for French and English manufactures, and furnish the nations to which they belong, in their sugars, their rums, their cotton, coffee, cocoa, and other articles, with a more valuable exchange than that of gold.

Nor are those islands destitute of the precious metals, though now less plenty there than formerly. An inquiry into this subject will lead us to many curious particulars in the history of the West Indies, and prove, at the same time, a necessary introduction to the maritime war between England and Spain, which broke out in 1739.

After the failure of the mines of Hispaniola, which were never rich, and the conquest of the two extensive empires of Mexico and Peru, where the precious metals were found in the greatest profusion, that valuable island was entirely neglected by the Spaniards. The greater part of its once flourishing cities were deserted by their inhabitants, and the few planters that remained sunk into the most enervating indolence. The necessaries, however, and even many of the luxuries, of life were there found in abundance. All the European animals had multiplied exceedingly, but especially the horned cattle, which were become in a manner wild, and wandered about in large droves, without any regular owner. Allured by these conveniences, certain French and English adventurers, since known by the name of buccaneers or freebooters, had taken possession of the small island of Tortuga, as early as the year 1632, and found little difficulty, under such favourable circumstances, of establishing themselves on the northern coast of Hispaniola. They at first subsisted chiefly by the hunting of wild cattle. Part of the beef they ate fresh, part they dried, and the hides they sold to the masters of such vessels as came upon the coast, and who furnished them, in return, with clothes, liquors, firearms, powder, and shot. (1) But the wild cattle at

(1) The dress of the buccaneers consisted of a shirt dipped in the blood of the animals they had slain; a pair of trowsers, dirtier than the shirt; a leathern girdle, from which hung a short sabre and some Dutch knives; a hat without any rim, except a flab before, in order to enable them to pull it off, shoes made of raw hides, but no stockings. (Hist. Gen. des Voyages, tom. xv. liv. vii.) These barbarous men, the outcasts of civil society, were denominated buccaneers, because they dried with smoke, conformable to the custom of the savages, part of the flesh of the cattle they had killed, in places denominated buccans, in the language of the natives. Id. ibid.

length becoming scarce, the buccaneers were under the necessity of turning their industry to other objects. The sober-minded men applied themselves to the cultivation of the ground, which abundantly requited their toil, while those of a bold and restless disposition associated themselves with pirates and outlaws of all nations, and formed the most terrible band of ravagers that ever infested the ocean. To these ravagers, however, rendered famous by their courage and their crimes, France and England are indebted, in some measure, for the prosperity of their settlements in the West Indies.

Nothing could appear less formidable than the first armaments of the piratical buccaneers, who took the name of brothers of the coast. Having formed themselves, like, the hunters of wild cattle, into small societies, they made their excursions in an open boat, which generally contained between twenty and thirty men, exposed to all the intemperature of the climate; to the burning heat of the day, and the chilling damps of the night. The natural inconveniences, connected with this mode of life, were augmented by those arising from their licentious disposition.

A love of freedom, which, duly regulated, cannot be too much cherished, rendered the buccaneers averse to all those restraints, which civilized men usually impose on each other for their common happiness; and as the authority which they had conferred on their captain was chiefly confined to giving orders in battle, they lived in the greatest disorder. Like savages, having no apprehension of want, nor taking any care to guard against famine by prudent economy, they were frequently exposed to all the extremities of hunger and thirst. But deriving, even from their distresses, a courage superior to every danger, the sight of a sail transported them to a degree of phrensy. They seldom deliberated on the mode of attack, but their custom was to board the ships as soon as possible. The smallness of their own vessels, and their dexterity in managing them, preserved them from the fire of the enemy. They presented only to the broadside of a ship their slender prows, filled with expert marksmen, who fired at the enemy's port-holes with such exactness, as to confound the most experienced gunners. And when they could fix their grappling tackle, the largest trading vessels were generally obliged to strike.(1)

Although the buccaneers, when under the pressure of necessity, attacked the ships of every nation, those belonging to the subjects of Spain were more especially marked out as the objects of their piracy. They thought that the cruelties which the Spaniards had exercised on the natives of the New World, were a sufficient apology for any violence that could be committed against them. Accommodating their conscience to this belief, which, perhaps, unknown to themselves, was rather dictated by the richness of the Spanish vessels than by any real sense of religion or equity, they never embarked in an expedition without publicly praying to Heaven for its success; nor did they ever return loaded with booty, without solemnly returning thanks to God for their good fortune. (2)

This booty was originally carried to the island of Tortuga, the common rendezvous of the buccaneers, and then their only place of safety. But afterward the French went to some of the ports of Hispaniola, where they had established themselves in defiance of the Spaniards, and the English to those of Jamaica, where they could dispose of their prizes to more advantage, and lay out their money more agreeably, either in business or pleasure.

(1) Hist. Gen. des Voyages, ubi sup. Hist. Buccaneers, part i. chap. vi.

(2) Id. ibid. This is a precious picture of the inconsistency of human nature, and a striking proof how little connexion there frequently is between religion and morality! a truth which is farther illustrated by the following curious anecdote. "One of the chief causes of our disagreement," says an enlightened freehooter, speaking of the quarrels between the French and English buccaneers, in their expedition to the South Sea," was the impiety of the English; for they made no scruple, when they got into a church, to cut down the arms of a crucifix with their sabres, or to shoot them down with their fusils and pistols, bruising and maiming the images of the saints in the same manner!" (Voy. des Flibust, par Raveneau de Lussan.) But it does not appear that those devout plunderers, who were shocked at seeing the image of a saint maimed, were more tender than the English buccaneers, of the persons or properties of their fellow-creatures, or ever attempted to restrain their impious associates from any act of injustice or inhumanity.