in themselves. Being accustomed to pay for protection, though jealous of their very protectors, they trembled before a small body of desperate mountaineers.

Many motions were made in parliament, that the militia might be put on a respectable footing, for the general security of the kingdom. But the jealousy of government long prevented any effectual step being taken for that purpose; while the peace that followed the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, by relaxing still farther the manners of the nation, had made the people yet less warlike. And as the small standing army, widely dispersed over the extensive dominions of the empire, was evidently insufficient for its protection, the unarmed and undisciplined inhabitants of Great Britain were justly filled with terror and apprehension at the prospect of a French invasion.

In this extremity a militia-bill, on the same principles with the law now in force, was framed by the honourable Charles Townshend, and passed the house of commons, but was rejected by the house of peers. Thus deprived of the only constitutional means of defence, by a government that owes its existence to the suffrage of the people, and a family which reigns but by their voice, England submitted to the indignity of calling in foreign mercenaries, for her defence against an enemy who had often trembled at the shaking of her spear, and who was now more inferior than in any former period, in every naval and military resource.

That indignity was keenly felt by all orders of men in the state, and the national despondency, and the orderly behaviour of the foreign troops, only could have prevented a popular insurrection. The principal servants of the crown, on whom the public indignation chiefly fell, were severely blamed for exposing the kingdom to such an indelible disgrace. The ministry, indeed, had never been properly settled since the death of Mr. Pelham, in 1754. That minister, though sufficiently disposed to gratify his sovereign in his passion for German alliances and continental politics, was believed to be at bottom a sincere friend to his country, and to the liberties of the people. His brother the duke of Newcastle, who succeeded him as first commissioner of the treasury, and who was no less compliant to the court, possessed neither his virtues nor his talents; and Mr. Fox, who had lately been appointed secretary of state, and was considered as the ostensible minister, though a man of abilities, was supposed to be void of principle. He was besides very unpopular, as he had made the motion in the house of commons for bringing over the Hanoverians and Hessians, instead of adopting any vigorous measure for internal defence.

The British ministry, however, were blamed for events which it was not altogether in their power to govern, distracted as they were by the national panic. And in order to increase that panic, as well as to conceal their design upon Minorca, the French had marched down large bodies of troops to their maritime provinces, contiguous to the coast of England. Nor were their naval preparations less formidable. Besides a great number of frigates and flat-bottomed boats which might be employed as transports, they had near forty ships of the line at Brest and other ports on the ocean. It was therefore judged prudent to keep a superior English fleet in the Channel; and as it was conjectured the French could not have above six or eight sail of the fine at Toulon, an English squadron of only ten sail of the line, two ships of forty-eight guns, and three frigates was sent into the Mediterranean.

The command of this squadron was given to admiral Byng, son of the celebrated naval officer of that name, who destroyed the Spanish fleet off Messina, in 1718. When Byng arrived at Gibraltar, where his squadron was augmented by an additional ship of the line, he learned that the French had already landed fifteen thousand men in the island of Minorca, and were besieging the castle of St. Philip, which commands the town and port of Mahon. Having on board a reinforcement for the garrison of that fortress, he immediately sailed for the place of his destination, after receiving a detachment from the garrison of Gibraltar. He was joined on his way by the Phoenix frigate, commanded by captain Harvey; who confirmed his former

LET. XXXII.]

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intelligence, and informed him particularly of the strength of the enemy's fleet. It consisted of twelve sail of the line and five frigates, under the marquis de la Galissoniere.

On the approach of the English admiral to the harbour of Mahon, he had the satisfaction to see the British colours still flying on the castle of St. Philip. But notwithstanding that animating circumstance, his attempts for its relief were feeble and ineffectual. In a word, Mr. Byng seems to have been utterly discouraged, from the moment he learned the strength of the French fleet, though little superior to his own, and to have given up Minorca for lost as soon as he heard it was invaded. This fully appears, both from his subsequent conduct, and from his letter to the secretary of the admiralty, before he arrived at Mahon. In that letter (which forms a kind of prelude to the :- "I am firmly account of his miscarriage), after lamenting that he did not reach Minorca before the landing of the French, he expressed himself thus :of opinion, that throwing men into the castle will only enable it to hold out a little longer, and add to the numbers that must fall into the enemy's hands; for the garrison, in time, will be obliged to surrender, unless a sufficient number of men could be landed to raise the siege. I am determined, however, to sail up to Minorca with the squadron, where I shall be a better judge of the situation of affairs, and will give general Blakeney all the assistance he shall require. But I am afraid all communication will be cut off between us; for if the enemy have erected batteries on the two shores near the entrance of the harbour (an advantage scarce to be supposed they have neglected), it will render it impossible for our boats to have a passage to the sally-port of the garrison."(1)

Admiral Byng's behaviour was conformable to those desponding ideas. When the French admiral advanced, to prevent him from throwing troops into the citadel of Mahon, he disposed his fleet in order of battle; but kept at such a distance, under pretence of preserving the line unbroken, that his division did very little damage to the enemy, and his own noble ship of ninety guns was never properly in the engagement. The division under rear-admiral West, however, the second in command, drove three of the French ships out of the line: and, if supported, would have gained a complete victory. As an apology for not bearing down upon the enemy, Byng is said to have told his captain, that he would avoid the error of admiral Matthews, who incurred the censure of a court-martial by his wrong-headed temerity, in rashly violating the laws of naval discipline!

The consequences of this indecisive action were such as had been foreseen by those acquainted with the sentiments of the English admiral. Byng, though in some measure victorious, as the French admiral bore away to support that part of his line which had been broken by Mr. West, and although the English fleet had lost only about forty men, immediately retired to Gibraltar, as if he had sustained a defeat. The reasons assigned for that retreat, in which a council of war concurred, were his inferiority to the enemy in number of men and guns; his apprehensions for the safety of Gibraltar, and the impossibility of relieving Minorca; though it appeared, on the fullest evidence, that no attempt to afford such relief was made, and that the landing of troops at the sally-port of the castle was very practicable.(2)

The French fleet, on the retreat of admiral Byng, returned to its station And the garrison of fort St. Philip being thus off the harbour of Mahon. deprived of all hope of relief, general Blakeney, the governor, surrendered the place, and with it the island of Minorca, after a siege of nine weeks.vigorous as might have been expected, considering The defence was not so the strength of the works, the advantageous situation of the castle or citadel, and the rocky soil, which renders it almost impracticable to open trenches. But the garrison was too small by one-third, not exceeding three thousand

(1) Letter from on board the Ramillies, Gibraltar bay, to Mr. Cleveland, secretary of the admiralty, May 5, 1756. "If I should fail in the relief of port Mahon, adds he, "I shall look upon the security and protection of Gibraltar as my next object, and shall repair down here with the squadron. J. B."

(2) See the Examination of Lord Blakeney and Mr. Boyd in the printed Trial of Admiral John Byng.

Hh2

men: the besiegers were numerous, amounting to near twenty thousand, and repeatedly reinforced with fresh regiments, after the retreat of the English fleet. Their train of artillery was awfully formidable, consisting of near one hundred pieces of battering cannon, besides mortars and howitzers. The duke de Richelieu pushed his approaches with ardour, and even led on his troops in person to several desperate assaults. Therefore, although only two of the outworks were taken when the capitulation was signed, and but one hundred of the garrison slain, while the French had lost about five thousand of their best troops, the conduct of Blakeney, when contrasted with that of Byng, appeared to such advantage, that he became extremely popular on his arrival in England, notwithstanding his want of success, and was raised by his sovereign to the peerage.

'

The fortune of admiral Byng was very different. The public cry was loud against him; and he was odious to the ministry, on whom he had endeavoured to throw the blame of his miscarriage. He was superseded by sir Edward Hawke in the command of the fleet in the Mediterranean, and brought home under arrest to be tried for his life.

The news of the taking of Minorca transported the French populace, and even the court, with the most extravagant joy and exultation. Nothing was to be seen, in France, but triumphs and processions; nor any thing heard but anthems, congratulations, and hyperbolical compliments to the victor. -The people of England were depressed in an equal degree, when informed of the loss of that important place. But instead of ascribing it to the number and valour of the French soldiers and sailors, or to the skill of their commanders, the great body of the English nation imputed it wholly to the cowardice of admiral Byng, and the improvidence of the British ministry. Petitions accordingly poured in from all quarters, demanding justice, and an inquiry into the conduct of administration relative to Minorca.

Meanwhile, a general hope prevailed, that misfortune would not extend to every scene of action. And very sanguine expectations were entertained of success in North America, where the war had originated, and where our most essential interests were supposed to be at stake. Orders had been issued for raising, in the English colonies, four battalions of regulars, which were soon completed, and disciplined by experienced officers. Two additional regiments were sent from the mother-country. And government resolved to take upon itself the whole weight and conduct of the war in America, on account of the divisions in the provincial assemblies. The earl of Loudon was appointed commander-in-chief of all the British forces there, and general Abercrombie succeeded Shirley, as second in command.

The plan of operations for the campaign was great, yet promising and flattering. It was proposed to reduce the fortress of Niagara, situated, as already observed, at the junction of the lakes Ontario and Erie, in order to cut off the communication between Canada and Louisiana, and prevent the French from supporting their new posts upon the Ohio; to besiege fort du Quesne, the principal of those posts; to take Ticonderoga and Crown Point, that the frontier of New-York might be delivered from the danger of invasion, and Great Britain acquire the command of lake Champlain, over which forces might be transported in case of any attempt upon Quebec. Albany was agreed upon as the place of rendezvous.

At that station general Abercrombie arrived on the fifth day of June, and assumed the command of the forces there assembled. They consisted of about four thousand regulars, including the American battalions; four independent companies belonging to the colony of New-York; a regiment of militia from New-Jersey; a formidable body of men raised by the NewEngland provinces, and four companies levied in North Carolina.

The English colonies towards the south, but especially Virginia and Maryland, had suffered so severely from the ravages of the French and Indians, to which they were still exposed, that it was with the utmost difficulty they could defend themselves. The inhabitants of Pennsylvania, of whom Quakers form the most considerable body, though exposed to similar barbarities.

could hardly be prevailed upon to make any provision for their own security; but, instead of sending troops to the general rendezvous, when smote on one side of the head, they presented the other to the savage assailant. And the number of negro slaves, in South Carolina, above the due proportion of white inhabitants, was so great, that the assembly judged it inconsistent with the safety of the province to spare any part of their domestic force for distant enterprises.

The army assembled at Albany, however, though perhaps too small to have completed the whole extensive plan of operations, was of sufficient strength. to have performed very essential service, if it had entered immediately upon action. But as general Abercrombie delayed the execution of every part of that plan until the arrival of lord Loudon (which proved too late in the season for any thing of consequence to be afterward effected, or at least undertaken with a reasonable probability of success), another campaign was lost to Great Britain, through neglect and procrastination; while time was afforded the French, not only to take precautions at their leisure against any future attempt on their back settlements, but to proceed unmolested in their ambitious scheme of encroaching on the British colonies, and reducing all our fortifications in the neighbourhood of the lakes. The marquis de Montcalın, who had succeeded Dieskau in the command of the forces of Canada, and who possessed a bold military genius, accordingly invested Oswego, and reduced it in a few days. The garrison, to the number of sixteen hundred men, were made prisoners of war; and, besides seven armed vessels and two hundred batteaux, one hundred and twenty-one pieces of cannon, fourteen mortars, with a great quantity of ammunition and provisions, also fell into the hands of the enemy.(1)

So unfortunate for Great Britain was the issue of the second campaign in North America! Nor did our affairs wear a more favourable aspect in the East Indies. Admiral Watson, who commanded the British fleet in those latitudes, had indeed, in the beginning of the year, reduced Gheria; the principal fortress of Tulagee Angria, a piratical prince, whose ancestors had established themselves near Bombay, on the coast of Malabar, and who had there become rich and powerful by pillaging European vessels. And the English factories at Madras and fort St. David, where hostilities could never be said to have ceased, were able to maintain their ground against the French and their Indian allies. But destruction came from an unexpected quarter, and fell upon a place that was thought to be in the most perfect security.

The vast commerce of England to the East Indies, since the middle of the present century, and her immense territorial acquisitions in Bengal, where this blow was struck, provoke me to attempt a description of that rich country, whose memorable revolutions I shall have occasion to relate.

Bengal, the most easterly province of Hindostan, lies between the twentieth and twenty-seventh degrees of north latitude, and extends from east to west almost seven hundred miles. As Egypt owes its fertility to the Nile, Bengal is indebted for its opulence to the Ganges. This magnificent body of water, after having received in a course of six hundred miles, from its irruption through the mountains on the frontier of India, to the twenty-fifth degree of latitude, seven large rivers, and many inferior tributary streams, enters the province of Bengal near the mountain of Tacriagully, whose foot it washes, and whence it runs in a south-east direction to the sea.

A hundred miles below Tacriagully, the Ganges stretches towards the south an arm, which is called the river Cossimbuzar, and fifty miles lower, another arm, called the Jelingeer; which, after flowing about forty miles to the south-west, unites with the Cossimbuzar at a town named Nuddeah. The river formed by the junction of the Cossimbuzar and Jelingeer is sometimes called the Little Ganges, but more commonly the river Hoogly; which, after flowing one hundred and twenty miles in a southern direction, enters the sea at the island of Sagor.

(1) Paris Gazette, Oct. 30, 1756.

The principal stream of the Ganges, which, for the sake of distinction, is called the Great Ganges, continues to receive, from the going out of the Cossimbuzar, to the middle of the twenty-second degree of latitude, a multitude of small rivers. There its flood is joined by that of the Burrampooter, a yet greater river, which rises on the eastern side of those vast mountains that send forth the Ganges to the west. The conflux of those two mighty rivers is tumultuous, and has formed several large islands between their junction and the open sea, which their waters reach about thirty-five miles lower.

Tacriagully, is the termination of a stupendous range of mountains, which accompanies the course of the Ganges from the west. And about fifty miles beyond Tacriagully, where these mountains begin to form the northern boundary of Bengal on the western side of the Ganges, another range of mountains strikes from the south, but in a curve swelling westward, which terminates within sight of the sea, about thirty miles from Ballasur, To the north, those mountains divide Bengal from the southern division of Behar or Bahar; and, to the south, they seem the natural separation of Bengal from Orixa. Eastward, the province of Bengal extends as far as Rangamatty, a town belonging to the king of Assem, on the river Burrampooter.

The seacoast of Bengal, between the mouth of the river Hoogly and that of the Great Ganges, extends, from east to west, one hundred and eighty miles; and the whole is a dreary inhospitable shore, which sands and whirl pools render inaccessible to ships of burden. For several miles within land, the country is intersected by numerous channels, through which both rivers disembogue themselves, by many mouths, into the ocean; and the islands formed by these channels are covered with thickets, and occupied chiefly by beasts of prey. But the country higher up is very differently inhabited; and so desirable, that it has been called the Paradise of India.

The triangle formed by the Cossimbuzar and Hoogly rivers to the west, by the Great Ganges to the east, and by the seacoast to the south, as well as a large tract, on each hand, to the north of this Delta, is as level as the Lower Egypt, and no where exhibits a single stone. The soil is a stratum of the richest mould, lying on a deep sand; which, being interspersed with shells, indicates the land to have been overflowed. Such parts of that immense plain as are not watered by the Ganges or its branches are fertilized by many other streams from the mountains; and for the space of three months, from May to August, when the sun is mostly vertical, heavy rains fall every day.(1)

In consequence of these advantages of soil and climate, the inhabitants of Bengal are enabled to subsist by less labour than the people of any other country on the face of the earth. Rice, which forms the basis of their food, is produced in such plenty, that two pounds are often sold for a farthing. Many other grains, and a vast variety of fruits and culinary vegetables, as well as the spices that enter into their diet, are raised with equal ease, and in the greatest abundance. Salt is found in the islands near the sea, and the sugar-cane thrives every where. Fish swarm in all the streams and ponds; and the cattle, though small, are incredibly numerous. Hence, in spite of despotism, the province is extremely populous: and, the labours of agriculture being few and light, many hands are left for the fine fabrics of the loom, the principal branch of oriental industry. More pieces of cotton and silk are accordingly manufactured in Bengal, notwithstanding the indolence and effeminacy of the inhabitants, who are utterly destitute of all vigour of mind,(2) than in any other country of Hindostan of three times the same extent; and as these manufactures are chiefly intended for exportation, and sold cheaper than any where else, the trade of Bengal has ever excited the avidity of the Europeans, since navigation opened them a passage thither by the Cape of Good Hope.

(1) Orme, book vi.

(2) This languor may be ascribed partly to the climate, and partly to the vegetable diet of the inhabi ants, whose religion precludes them the use of animal food