17 CHAP. II. Mr. Legge's dismission.... Lord Holdernesse's resignation.... His offer to Lord Bute.. His large pension.... Lord Bute succeeds to him in the office of chancellor of the exchequer... Prince Ferdinand's position at the end of the year 1760.... He sallies out from his winter-quarters.... Orders a rendezvous for his troops at three different points, on the Dymel, on the Rhine, and at Saverland.... His own army takes Fritzlar That under the marquis of Granby recovers Gudersburg.... The French driven out of Hesse.... and lose several large magazines. ... Battle of Stangerode ... Summer campaign between the French and Prince Ferdinand, commencing June 1761.... Battle of Kirch-Denkern.... Retreat of both armies, in November, to their respective winter-quarters.... Afairs of the king of Prussia after the battle of Torgau.. Sends General Platen to relieve Colberg.... Retreat of the Russians into Poland.... Frederic draughts 4,000 men from Schweidnitz...Laudohn avails himself of this intelligence .... He surprises and takes Schweidnitz.... Plan of Mr. Pitt's operations.... The island of Belleisle invaded and reduced.... St. Dominica taken.... The Cherokee Indians quelled.... Pondicherry and Fort Mihie taken in the East-Indies... ì Shaw Zadda, now entitled the Mogul, and the French under Ar. Law, defeated and made prisoners by Major Carhac.... D. Estaing's ravages on the coast of Sumatra.... Riots upon the balloting for the militia.... King's marriage.... Nego ciations for peace.... A congress appointed at Augsburg.... Another negociation opened at Paris and London.. Basis of the intended treaty... Epochs of the treaty... Terms proposed by France.... Counter-proposal of Britain.... Mr. Bussy's memorial presented, including the Spanish claims.... Returned with indignation by Mr. Pitt.... The French immoveable upon two different articles of the treaty.... Messieurs Bussy and Stanley recalled by their respective courts.... RemonVol. I. B 18 strance of the British ministry to the court of Madrid upon the presentation of their offensive memorial.... Answer of the Spanish ambassador.... Mr Pitt's opinion of the conduct to be pursued with regard to Spain.... Family compact of the house of Bourbon.... Information of this compact communicated by Lord Mareschal.... Gross instances of the partiality of the Spaniards to the French interest.... Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple left unsupported in the cabinet council.... Mr. Pitt's last speech during this administration.... Apology for his own and Lord Temple's resignation.... His interview with the king.... His pension.... Characters of Mr. Pitt. PON the very day that parliament was dissolved, Mr. Legge was dismissed from his office of chancellor of the exchequer. This was justly regarded as the prelude to more important changes. Accordingly, two days after, Lord Holdernesse resigned his secretaryship. No one regarded his retreat from administration as either honourable to himself, or occasioned by disagreement with the court. On the contrary, Lord Bute's acknowledgement of an offer, which this accommodating statesman made to him, of quarrelling with his friends the whigs, in 'seeming anger,' to afford a vacancy in the cabinet, remains as a lasting document of his craft and servility. A large pension, with the reversion of the cinque-ports, were given to him as a bribe for his retirement. Lord Bute was appointed his successor; and he made the celebrated Charles Jenkinson, afterwards Lord Hawksbury, his confidential commis. Things were not yet ripe for dislodging the two principal leaders of the present ministry; Mr. Pitt, whose power was real, and the duke of Newcastle, whose advancing years gradually diminished his influence. The war still continued to be waged under the happy auspices of the former with success. Our subsidiary treaty with the king II. of Prussia gave that heroic monarch his usual aid CHAP. of £650,000 a-year. At the conclusion of the campaign of 1760, Prince Ferdinand was pressed_1760. back into winter-quarters before a superior enemy: but, although the French were masters of all Hesse, he sallied out from his winter cantonments during the severity of the season. He attacked the French as they lay in one immense crescent, commanding on their left the banks of the Rhine, and fortified on their right by a strong garrison in Göttingen, which inclosed the allies on that side, and exposed Hanover to their inroads. His troops assembling at three places of rendezvous, on the Dymel, on the Rhine, and at Saverland, pushed through Hesse, with scarcely any opposition, into the very centre of the French, who gave way on all sides, and retreated in a panic. They abandoned all their encampments under Göttingen and Cassel, leaving those garrisons, as well as several others, to defend themselves without a covering army. Fritzlar was attacked by the prince in person, and carried at the second assault. Gudersburg surrendered to Lord Granby. Five of the enemy's largest magazines fell into the prince's hands, containing 80,000 sacks of meal, and 1,000,000 rations of hay. It was impossible to keep up this career of victory without interruption. In pushing the siege of Cassel, a pitched battle was brought on between Battle of Marshal Broglio and the allies, in which the latter Stangerode, suffered a defeat. Ferdinand, however, had, even after this defeat, a decisive advantage to boast of; for, although obliged to retire again into cantonments, his onset in the winter season had been so rapid as to drive the enemy out of Hesse, with the loss of all their magazines and provisions. He thus disabled them from beginning offensive operations with the same facilities as before. CHAP. 1760. The allies having retired, after their loss at Stangerode, behind the Dymel, both armies, as it were by mutual consent, remained tranquil in their quarters, till the 29th of June, when the united troops of Broglio and Soubise crossed the Dymel, and began their hostile movements against Prince Ferdinand. These brought on the celebrated battle of Kirch-Denkern, where 5,000 of the enemy were said to have been killed or taken prisoners, at a comparatively trifling expence of lives to the allies. July 16. After this loss, the French were ever afterwards averse to hazard a general action. As the French army divided after this engagement, a part filing off with Soubise, and the rest remaining with Broglio, Prince Ferdinand divided his forces also. With one division he watched the French Marshal's views upon Hanover; the other he dispatched with the hereditary prince, his brother, to defend Munster against the manœuvres of Prince Soubise. When this object was accomplished, the hereditary prince rejoined his brother, and pushed to the farthest extremities of Hesse; into which country Prince Ferdinand had thought proper to march, in order that Broglio might be thereby recalled from Hanover. A variety of movements and counter-movements took place in this state of affairs, without producing any general engagement; for Broglio was averse to hazard the trial since his defeat at Kirch-Denkern. Schartsfels, Wolfenbuttle, Osnaburg, and Mippen, all fell successively into the hands of the French, who levied exorbitant contributions upon the towns and districts. Bremen, itself, a seaport, which would have given them an entire command of the Weser, was in danger of being reduced into their possession, when it was relieved by some English battalions. II. 1760. While the prince de Soubise was effecting all CHAP. these operations, Broglio remained on the defensive in his fortified camp at Eimback. He continued here till November, when Prince Ferdinand formed the design of attacking him before he could call in all his scattered detachments. His highness's plan of attack was made impracticable by the failure of one of his lieutenant-generals; but he did not relinquish his object of bringing the enemy to an engagement. The French camp being strongly fortified made an open attempt inadvisable; but, by turning a movement upon the enemy's flank, as if with an intent to cut off their communication with Göttingen, he hoped either to bring them to battle upon equal terms, or oblige them to retreat. Broglio did accordingly retreat, on the 9th of November, and quartered his whole army Nov. 9. in Cassel and the parts adjacent. Soubise marched his army to the Lower Rhine, and quartered them at Dusseldorf, and along the banks of the river. The allies having now no enemy in Westphalia, retired into winter-quarters. The British cavalry were sent into East Friesland, the infantry into the bishopric of Osnaburg, and the allies at Eimback, Hamelen, Munster, and Hilsdersham. In turning our attention to Prussian affairs, we observe Frederic, for nearly a year after the successful battle of Torgau, resting in a defensive position. Prince Henry commanded an army in Saxony, which strongly entrenched itself under Leipsic. M. Daun continued near Dresden, and watched the opposite army. The king himself kept to his entrenchment in Silesia. Two large columns of Russians 1761. had now penetrated into Pomerania and Upper Silesia. Breslau was beset and cannonaded: Colberg was attacked by the same enemy, with forty ships, and a multitude of land troops. Meanwhile, Baron Laudohn, leading the Austrians into Silesia, August 1. |