concluded a treaty with Cossim, acquiescing in the duties imposed by him on the inland trade carried on by the Company's servants, the council of Calcutta, in Jan. 1763, declared their refusal to abide by it. Mr. Amyatt, who was sent to the Subah in order to obtain better terms, was massacred with his suite on his return to Calcutta, which outrage produced a declaration of war against Cossim in the month of July, and a proclamation for restoring the deposed Jaffier to the Subahship. An army took the field commanded by Major Adams, who was joined by Major Carnac; and marching to Moorshedabad, that capital was attacked and taken by storm. A battle was fought on August 2d, on the plains of Geriah, in which the Company's troops, though greatly outnumbered by those of Cossim, obtained a complete victory. The conquerors then proceeding to Mongheer, it was surrendered to them on October 11th.

Patna was the only place now remaining to Cossim, in which he had posted a large garrison. He there displayed his barbarity, by ordering the murder of near 200 English prisoners in cold blood. This atrocity was revenged by Major Adams, who, advancing against the place, took it by storm on November 6th. Cossim had now no other refuge than the territory of Sujah ul Dowla, Nabob of Oude, and Vizier to the Mogul, who received the fugitive, but refused admission to any of his troops. This was the state of affairs in that quarter at the close of the year.

In this year a commencement was made of those voyages of discovery which have so much distinguished the reign of George III. Two of those expeditions, under the command of Captain Byron, and of Captains Wallis and Carteret, set sail from England during its

Course.

Marriage of Princess Augusta to the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick. -Farther Proceedings against Mr. Wilkes.- Motion against General Warrants. — Financial Measures. Duties on Foreign Goods imported into the American Colonies. - Dismissal of Military Officers for their Votes.- Election of a King of Poland and King of the Romans. Murder of Prince Ivan.- Treaty between Genoa and France relative to Corsica. - Treaties of Peace with the North American Indians. War in the East Indies.

On the 16th of January the Princess Augusta, eldest sister of his Majesty, was married to the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lunenburg.

The parliamentary year commenced with further proceedings against Mr. Wilkes, whose total discomfiture appeared to be an object of the highest importance in the eyes of the ministers. As he still remained in France, his non-appearance to the charge against him before the House of Commons for writing the North Briton N° 45, was voted, on January 19th, a contempt of the House; he was found guilty of the charge, and after a long debate, was expelled from his seat in parliament by a large majority. On the same day, on the motion of Lord Sandwich, a complaint was brought against him in the House of Lords for "violating the most sacred ties of religion, as well as decency, by printing in his own house a book or pamphlet, entitled, 'An Essay on Woman,' with notes or remarks to which the name of a Right Rev. Prelate (Warburton Bishop of Gloucester) had been scurrilously affixed. On this account the House voted him guilty of a breach of privilege, and also voted an address to his Majesty, to direct a prosecution against him in the King's Bench,

which was instituted on the double charge of libel and blasphemy. Whilst this attack injured his character in the opinion of all the sober supporters of his cause, the sinister artifices made use of to obtain a copy of a work which was privately printed with no intention of publication, and the choice of an accuser at least as notorious for licentiousness as the culprit, gave general offence. The final result was, that Wilkes, not choosing to appear to the indictment, was at length run to an outlawry, and the suits which he had commenced against the secretaries of state were of course annulled.

In February a motion was made in the House of Commons by Sir William Meredith, to declare "that a general warrant for apprehending and seizing the authors, printers, and publishers of a seditious libel, together with their papers, is not warranted by law." The introduction of this proposition was very embarrassing to the ministers, who, while they did not choose to defend the legality of general warrants, were unwilling to be shackled by a direct determination of the point in parliament. At the same time the arguments for the motion were so strong and popular, that no better mode was found for defeating it, after a long and animated debate, than an adjournment of the question, which was carried by much less than the usual ministerial majority. The agitation of this subject proved highly interesting to the public; and the city of London voted its freedom in a gold box to Lord Chief Justice Pratt, in which expression of gratitude to the opponent of general warrants it was imitated by the city of Dublin, and various other principal places in the two kingdoms.

Although ministers might be regarded rather as having sustained a defeat, than as having been victorious, on this point, yet they retained their credit in the general administration of affairs, and particularly in the financial arrangements of the year, which were so contrived as to raise the necessary supplies for extinguishing a remaining debt contracted on account of the war, without the imposition of any new taxes.

It is

true, the proposed ways and means underwent considerable censure from the opposition writers, especially that part which consisted in the appropriation of a surplus in the sinking fund. It was a much more important circumstance, though little attended to at the time, that the plan was in this year opened of easing the burdens of Great Britain by taxes imposed upon the North American colonies. In March Mr. Grenville proposed to the House of Commons a variety of resolutions respecting new duties to be laid on foreign goods imported into the colonies of North America, which, as commercial regulations, passed with little notice. For levying them, the naval commanders appointed to the American coast were sworn to act as revenue officers, the result of which was the seizure and condemnation of many ships and cargoes, without any power of redress in that country. At this time a very beneficial, though irregular, commerce was carried on between the British West Indies and the French and Spanish colonies. By an act moved for in April this trade was in some measure legalized, but was at the same time burdened with such heavy duties, and laid under such severe restrictions, that it was almost reduced to a nullity, to the great detriment of the colonists. And as if to add to these causes of disaffection to the mother-country, the minister procured a resolution for raising a direct revenue from the colonies, and proposed to their consideration a stamp tax, with the offer, however, of substituting any other equally pro`ductive, which they might prefer. These measures were resisted on the part of the Americans by associations against the use of British manufactures, and for the encouragement of their own.

Amidst these threatenings for futurity, the ministers felt themselves possessed of so much present strength, that they did not hesitate to display their power in the face of the nation by the dismissal of several military officers of rank who had displeased the court by their votes on the subject of general warrants.

On the European continent one of the most inter

esting political occurrences was the election of a King of Poland. Among the powers of Europe there were two parties, one of which wished that the throne might be filled by a foreigner, the other by a native. Of the latter were Russia, Prussia, and Turkey, which prepared to support their preference by force of arms; in consequence, an army of Prussians entered Poland and marched towards Warsaw, whilst the two others assembled troops on their respective frontiers. The person on whom the choice of these potentates fell, was Count Poniatowski, a member of an illustrious Polish family, and a particular favourite of the Empress Catharine. A party arose against this foreign nomination, headed by the house of Radzivil, and the crown-general Count Branitzki, and the usual tumultuary proceedings taking place at the first elective assembly, the dissentients withdrew from the dict, and afterwards took up arms to assert the national freedom. They were, however, defeated by the Russians, and Poniatowski was elected (if so it could be termed) on September 7th, under the name of Stanislaus Augustus.

Another election, which took place without the least opposition, was that of a King of the Romans, in the person of the Archduke Joseph, who was crowned at Frankfort with great solemnity on April 3d.

A remarkable and tragical incident occurred in this year near Petersburg. Prince Ivan, the son of Antony Prince of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle and the Princess Anne of Mecklenburg, was proclaimed Emperor of Russia on the death of Anne Iwanowna in 1739. He was then in his cradle, and the Princess Elizabeth having gained possession of the throne, Ivan was deposed, but suffered to live in an obscure condition. Catharine, on her succession, placed him under a guard in the fortress of Schlusselburg, giving strict orders that no one should be suffered to see him. A bold design was formed by one Mirowitz, a lieutenant, of setting this Prince at liberty, and placing him at the head of a conspiracy against the Empress; and after tampering with some soldiers of the garrison of Schlusselburg, he procured himself to be put.