1755.

THE LISBON EARTHQUAKE.

61

raise gallows all round the city, and after about one hundred executions of the murderers and robbers (amongst whom, it is said, were some English sailors) that evil at least was arrested. All then relapsed into smouldering flames and mournful silence; and human crimes were no longer left to mingle with and to aggravate still further these appalling tokens of the Almighty Power and Divine Dispensation.

I may be asked why I have related at such length an event that seems foreign to my allotted theme-the History of England?-I answer because the benevolence of England made it not foreign. On the first authentic intelligence of the disaster through our Minister at Madrid, the King sent a message to the House of Commons, desiring their concurrence and assistance towards speedily relieving the unhappy sufferers. In reply the House of Commons unanimously voted a free gift of 100,000l. At that time the English themselves were in great want of grain; nevertheless a considerable part of this sum was sent over in corn and flour, besides a stock of beef from Ireland, and the rest in money. Such supplies came most seasonably for the poor Portuguese, many of whom were already pinched with famine. Their King expressed his gratitude in the warmest terms, and as a token of it ordered that in the distribution of the provisions a preference should be given to the British subjects who had suffered by the earthquake; accordingly about one thirtieth part was set aside for their use. Nor were the people less grateful than their monarch for such generosity; it created, or rather it confirmed, a cordial feeling between the two nations. "These things are not forgotten in Portugal," says one who long resided amongst the Portuguese, and whose genius has drawn no small share of its inspiration from their literature and language,

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"the face of its rudest mountaineer brightens when he "hears that it is an Englishman who accosts him, and he "tells the traveller that the English and the Portuguese were always-always friends." *

66

Another effect of the Lisbon earthquake-more trifling yet not to be slighted by any close observer of national

*

Southey's Peninsular War, vol. iii. p. 388. 8vo. ed.

feelings and customs- -was the prohibition of the London masquerades.* It was feared that the continuance of these diversions might draw down the same calamity on England which Portugal had just sustained.-On the other hand, a pamphlet was published at Madrid to prove that this calamity was allowed to befall the Portuguese solely on account of their connection with the heretic English.†

During the winter, and until the close of the Session in May 1756, England was stirred with constantly recurring alarms of a French invasion. Scarce a French sail appeared in the Channel but it was expanded by popular rumour into a hostile flotilla. Our national confidence had dwindled under our pusillanimous rulers; a little longer and we might all have sunk to the level of Newcastle. "I want," exclaimed Pitt, in a tone becoming an Englishman," to call this country out of that enervate state that 20,000 men from France could shake it!"‡Then, on the contrary, far from relying on our own spirit and resources, Addresses were moved in both Houses entreating or empowering the King to summon over for our defence some of his Hanoverian troops, and some also of the hired Hessians,—an ignominious vote, but carried by large majorities. Throughout the Session, indeed, the majorities, supported by the plausible arguments of Murray, and the ready retorts of Fox, were firm and ample on the side of the Government. But the eloquence of Pitt shone with a higher lustre than it had ever yet attained; his voice found an echo in the public tongue; and the public eye was fixed upon him as the present champion-as the future restorer,-of a better system.

*Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 283.

† Clarke's Letters on the Spanish Nation, 353. ed. 1763.
Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 440.

.1756.

FRENCH DESIGN UPON MINORCA.

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CHAPTER XXXIII

WHILE throughout the winter the French were boasting of their intended descent on England,—while, at least, apparent preparations were proceeding in all their harbours from Dunkirk to Brest, they had secretly a far different object in view. They had set their hearts on the island of Minorca,-which in September 1708 had been conquered by General Stanhope at the head of 2,000 men, and which five years afterwards had been secured to England by the Peace of Utrecht. There seems strong reason to believe that at the period of Stanhope's conquest the French had designed the island for their own possession; it was supplied from their treasury and held by their troops, nominally for their ally, King Philip, but in truth for themselves; and their grief and indignation at its loss were manifested in the rigorous treatment of the Governor, La Jonquière, notwithstanding his resolute defence."

That by far the best port in the Mediterranean should be in the hands of England was a thorn that long continued to rankle in the side of France. An expedition against the island was now planning and preparing from the coast of Provence, but in spite of every precaution this could not be done with perfect secrecy. Intelligence reached the English Ministers early in the year 1756 from several of the Envoys and Consuls both in Spain and Italy, that large bodies of French troops were gathering along the Rhone,—that a French squadron of twelve or fourteen sail of the line was equipping at Toulon,—that a great number of transports was likewise made ready,— and that these ships were supplied with provisions for so short a period that they could not be intended for Ame

66

* "Le Roi l'a cassé et degradé, lui a oté la croix de St. Louis et

ses pensions. On l'envoie en prison en une place de Franche "Comté." (Journal de Dangeau, le 21 Janvier 1709.)

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rica.* To all these repeated advices the Ministers in London were unwilling to give credit, and long insisted that this was but a feint to divert their attention from their own shores. "I say it with concern," writes Horace Walpole, " considering who was Newcastle's associate," (he alludes to his friend Fox,) "but this was the year of "the worst administration that I have seen in England; "for now Newcastle's incapacity was left to its full play." No pains were taken to reinforce the garrison, which was wholly inadequate to the defence of the place; the Governor, Lord Tyrawley, was allowed to remain in England; and the Deputy Governor on the spot, General Blakeney, though a gallant veteran, who had defended Stirling Castle in the last Rebellion, was disabled by old age and infirmities.

At length, such intelligence arriving as left no further room for doubts, the Ministers endeavoured to repair by precipitation the evils of their previous delay. They sent out ten ships of war, but these in ill condition and poorly manned, and they intrusted the command of them to Admiral John Byng. This was the second son of the late Admiral Byng, who had been created Viscount Torrington, and who, by a singular contrast, as it proved, had distinguished himself at the conquest of Minorca in 1708. Byng sailed from Spithead on the 7th of April; only three days afterwards the French armament issued from Toulon. This armament consisted of twelve ships of the line, and many transports, under M. de La Galissonière, and had on board 16,000 troops commanded by the Duke de Richelieu. They appeared off the port of Ciudadella in Minorca on the 18th. Some days before a fast-sailing sloop had brought General Blakeney the tidings of their approach, and he had been able to make his final dispositions to receive them. Minorca affords no advantages of ground for defence, being, though rocky, nearly all lowland, except towards the centre of the island,

*The first of these advices came from Consul Birtles at Genoa; it distinctly mentions the French project of surprising Minorca, and is dated so early as January 17. 1756. See Commons Journals, May

3. 1757.

† Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 54,

1756.

PREPARATIONS AT PORT MAHON.

65

where there rises a detached eminence called Monte Toro*, a name which appears to have denoted a hill in the primitive tongues, and which may be traced from the Asiatic Mount TAURUS to our own TORS in Devonshire. But the castle of St. Philip, which commanded the town and harbour of Mahon, had been constructed with great care and cost, and was probably at this time inferior in strength to no other fortress in Europe. The redoubts, ravelins, and other outworks might have done honour to Vauban, while underground a great number of galleries and mines had been cut with incredible labour through the solid rock. Behind these defences the Governor now withdrew all his advanced parties, calling in especially five companies and two pieces of cannon from Ciudadella. A large herd of cattle was driven into the fort; twentyfive Minorquin bakers were hired to prepare biscuits and bread; the ports were walled up, the posts assigned, and some windmills and houses demolished so as to clear the esplanade and the approaches. Commodore Edgcumbe, who lay anchored off Mahon with a little squadron, being wholly unable to cope with the enemy's, set sail for Gibraltar, leaving his marines to reinforce the garrison; after which General Blakeney sunk a sloop in the channel, and thus obstructed the entrance of the harbour.

As to regular troops, however, General Blakeney with every exertion could muster no more than 2,800 men. Of the officers belonging to these troops full thirty-five were absent from their duty, including, besides the Governor, Lord Tyrawley, all the Colonels of the regiments. The chief engineer was confined to his chamber with the gout, and Blakeney himself had, for the most part, to issue his orders from his bed. Amidst so much of negligence or infirmity the conduct of one young officer stands forth in spirited contrast.-Captain Cunningham had been engineer in second at Minorca, but being promoted to a Majority in England, was on his way homewards, and was only delayed at Nice by the

* Armstrong's History of Minorca, p. 52. ed. 1752. He adds, "Mount Toro is of the sugar-loaf make, and its vast cone is elevated 66 on a base that is many miles in diameter."

+ See Commons' Journals, May 3. 1757.