1755.]

PARLIAMENT-SINGLE-SPEECH HAMILTON-PITT.

209

tell their own story, to do themselves and their friends justice, and not be the victims of a whisper." Pitt stoutly argued against the system of subsidies. Newcastle talked of the king's honour being engaged to Hesse and to Russia. Let his majesty give, said Pitt, a hundred thousand to one, and a hundred and fifty thousand to the other, out of the fifteen millions he had saved, to be let off these bad bargains.* Fox was more tractable than his rival. He saw promotion at hand, whatever might be his abstract dislike to subsidies, if he would be prudent.

The Parliament met on the 13th of November. The king announced the increase of the naval and land forces, and mentioned the treaties he had concluded with Russia and Hesse. In the Address of each House especial reference was made to Hanover. The Address of the Commons said, "We think ourselves bound in justice and gratitude to assist his majesty against insults and attacks that may be made upon any of his majesty's dominions, though not belonging to the Crown of Great Britain." An amendment to omit such a pledge was moved in the Lords by earl Temple, Pitt's brother-in-law. similar amendment was proposed in the Commons. These were of course rejected; but they gave occasion to two remarkable orations. William Gerard Hamilton, a young member, made his maiden speech in favour of the original Address-that one harangue, antithetical and familiar, argumentative and declamatory, which handed him down to after times as "Single-speech Hamilton." Pitt made a speech on that famous battle night, of which no fragment remains to us but one which has been preserved by Walpole. The younger Pitt said he would prefer the recovery of a speech of lord Bolingbroke to the restoration of the lost books of Livy or.Tacitus. The contemporary accounts of his father's speeches would almost induce a similar wish, even if the recovery were confined to this effort of the 13th of November. Walpole in a letter of the 15th of November to Conway, after rapturously noticing Hamilton's success, says, "You will ask what could be beyond this? Nothing, but what was beyond what ever was, and that was Pitt. He spoke at past one, for an hour and thirty-five minutes. There was more humour, wit, vivacity, finer language, more boldness, in short more astonishing perfections, than even you, who are used to him, can conceive." In a letter of the following day to Bentley, Walpole gives the fragment which, with similar detached passages of various other speeches, enable us to form some idea of the lustre which a rich imagination gave to Pitt's eloquence. "The most admired passage was a comparison he drew of the two parts of the new administration." By the new administration Walpole means the coalition between Fox and Newcastle. "It is," said Pitt, "as the conflux of the Rhone and the Saone, which I remember to have seen at Lyons; the latter a gentle, feeble, languid stream, languid but not deep; the other a boisterous and overbearing torrent. But they join at last, and long may they continue united, to the comfort of each other, and to the glory, honour, and happiness of this nation." The next morning Fox received the seals of Secretary of State, as the reward for his support of the ministerial Address. Pitt, on the 20th of November, was dismissed from his office of Paymaster; and Legge and George Grenville were also superseded.

* Doddington's "Diary," Sept. 3.

VOL. VI.

210

EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON.

[1755.

From the agitations of party,-from the impending calamities of war,the minds of men were suddenly turned to a convulsion of nature, upon which all the civilized world looked with dread and wonder. The earthquake at Lisbon was announced to Parliament by a royal message on the 28th of November, desiring the concurrence of the Houses in sending "such speedy and effectual relief as may be suitable to so afflicting and pressing an exigency." The Commons immediately voted a grant of a hundred thousand pounds. It was indeed an event to make men pause in their ordinary career of thoughtless indulgence or selfish ambition. Every church of Lisbon was crowded with worshippers on All Saints Day; and almost every church was shaken to its foundations, and thousands perished in the ruins. One fourth of all the houses in Lisbon fell. The pier of the Tagus was overthrown, with hundreds who had fled to the banks of the river to avoid the falling houses. Fires broke out all over the devoted town. The great granaries were. consumed, and the people were without bread. Robbers came forth from their dens, and murdered those who clung to their moveable property. The English people met this terrible infliction with the generous relief and sympathy that they have always extended to the sorrows of other nations. They bethought themselves, for a while, of their own sins, which might draw down the vengeance of Heaven. The fashionable world took the necessity of repentance into its earnest consideration, and resolved-to abolish Masquerades.

Dread of invasion-Defence of the country by foreign troops-French fleet at Minorca-Admiral Byng-Surrender of St. Philip, in Minorca-Popular rage against Byng-Commencement of the Seven Years' War-Successes of Frederick of Prussia-Household of George, prince of Wales-Changes of Ministry-Newcastle retires-Administration of the duke of Devonshire and Mr. Pitt-Altered tone of the king's speech-Militia Bill-Foreign troops sent home-Subsidy to the king of Prussia-Trial of Byng-His execution-Pitt and Legge dismissed from their employments-National feeling-Coalition of Newcastle and PittAffairs of India-Black Hole at Calcutta-Surajah Dowlah occupies Calcutta-It is retaken by Clive and Watson-The battle of Plassey-Surajah Dowlah deposed and killedMeer Jaffier Subahdar of Bengal-Establishment of the British ascendancy in India.

IN a fortnight after his dismissal from office, Pitt, from his place in parliament, sent forth a voice whose echoes would be heard throughout the land. The nation was dreading a French invasion-sullenly trembling at the possible consequences of an assault upon the capital, and without confidence in the government to which the public defence was entrusted. Pitt seconded the motion of the Secretary of War, for an army of thirty-four thous and men being an increase of fifteen thousand. He had wanted even a larger increase in the previous year. The king's speech of the preceding Session had lulled the nation into a fallacious dream of repose. "He wanted to call this country out of that enervate state, that twenty thousand men from France could shake it. The maxims of our government were degenerated, not our natives."

212

DEFENCE OF THE COUNTRY BY FOREIGN TROOPS.

[1756.

An opinion had gone forth, which in 1757 was embodied in a book of extraordinary popularity, alluded to by Cowper :

"The inestimable Estimate of Brown

Rose like a paper-kite, and charm'd the town."*

The nation was told, "We are rolling to the brink of a precipice that must destroy us." Effeminacy, Vanity, Luxury, Rapacity, universally prevailed. Religion was despised. The principle of honour was lost or totally corrupted. The national capacity was lowered. The national spirit of defence was impaired. There were no better fighting men upon earth than the common people of England; but in the better sort there was "such a general defect in the spirit of defence as would alarm any people who were not lost to all sense of danger." The danger was from an outward enemy. "The French, in land armies, are far our superiors. They are making large and dreadful strides towards us in naval power. . . . Should the French possess themselves of North America, what eye can be so weak as not to see the consequence? Must not a naval power come down upon us, equal, if not superior, to our own?" § A diminished population had accompanied increasing comExcess of trade and overflow of wealth had impaired our bodily strength. It is easy to detect the fallacies of this course of reasoning; but

merce.

there can be little doubt that the nation required to be roused from its lethargy. Happily there was a man capable of rousing it. Pitt, in his speech of the 5th of December, had expressedhis earnest wish to "see that breed restored, which under our old principles had carried our glory so high." The king, on the 23rd of March, announced the probability of an invasion, and informed the Houses that he had made a requisition for a body of Hessian troops, in pursuance of the treaty recently concluded. Both Houses acknowledged with gratitude his majesty's care for the national defence. On the 29th of March, Mr. Fox moved, "that an humble Address be presented to his majesty, that, for the more effectual defence of this island, and for the better security of the religion and liberties of his subjects, against the threatened attacks by a foreign enemy, he would be graciously pleased to order twelve battalions of his electoral troops, together with the usual detachment of artillery, to be forthwith brought into this kingdom." The Address was voted by the large ministerial majority; but not without strong dissatisfaction. That State alone, exclaimed Pitt, is a sovereign State, "quis suis stat viribus, non alieno pendet arbitrio "which stands by its own strength, not by the help of another country.

(Hogarth.)

"Table Talk."

+"Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times," ed. 1758, p. 15.

§ Ibid., p. 144.

Ibid, p. 189.

1756.]

FRENCH AT MINORCA-ADMIRAL BYNG.

213

The Hanoverians and Hessians came, and were encamped in various parts of the kingdom. Yet the common people of England were ready to deserve the eulogium of Brown as to their capacity for fighting. They enlisted freely, when called upon. Hogarth's print of the recruit who wanted to add "a cubit to his stature" is an evidence of this disposition.

For half a century Great Britain had held possession of the island of Minorca, which general Stanhope and admiral Leake had conquered during the palmy time of the War of the Succession. Port-Mahon, the best harbour of the Mediterranean, was thought a more important British possession even than Gibraltar. The English ministers had received intimation very early in the spring of 1756, that a formidable expedition was in preparation at Toulon, not provisioned for a long voyage. They shut their eyes to the exposed state of the island that lay within a few days' sail from the shores of Provence. The defence of Port-Mahon was entrusted to a small garrison, commanded by an aged and infirm general. The government was at last alarmed. They dispatched admiral Byng (son of lord Torrington, the admiral Byng of queen Anne's time,) with ten ships, from Spithead, on the 7th of April. On the 10th of April, the French fleet, of twelve ships of the line, sailed from Toulon, with transports, having sixteen thousand troops on board. They were off the coast of Minorca on the 18th, and began to disembark at the port of Ciudadella. The only chance of defence against such an armament was in the strong castle of St. Philip. General Blakeney got together between two and three thousand troops, the officers of the English regiments being, for the most part, absent; and he prepared for resistance. The natural and artificial strength of the fortress prevented the French from proceeding in the siege without much cautious delay. On the 19th of May admiral Byng's fleet, having been joined by two more men-of-war, arrived within view of St. Philip, whilst the batteries of the French were carrying on their fire against the fort, where the flag of England was still flying. Byng, who had touched at Gibraltar, had written home to explain that he could obtain no necessaries at that station; that the place was so neglected that he was unable to clean the foul ships with which he had sailed from England; and that if he had been sent earlier he might have been able to have prevented the landing of the French in Minorca, whereas it was now very doubtful whether any good could arise from an attempt to reinforce the garrison. This was something like an anticipation of failure, with an indication of the neglect which made success difficult. On the 21st of May, De la Galissonnière, the French admiral, bore down upon the British fleet. Byng did not engage with that alacrity which the naval traditions of our country point out as the first duty of an admiral, even with a doubtful advantage. Rear-admiral West, on the contrary, with his portion of the squadron, had attacked with impetuosity, and had driven some of the French vessels out of their line of battle. Byng was scarcely engaged, except at the beginning of the action, when his own ship, being damaged in the rigging, became for a short time unmanageable. He hesitated about advancing, for fear of breaking his line. De la Galissonnière leisurely retired. Byng called a council of war; represented that he was inferior to the enemy in number of men and weight of metal, and proposed to return to Gibraltar. The council agreed to the proposal. The admiral sent home his dispatches; and on the 16th of June, sir Edward Hawke and admiral Saunders were ordered to supersede