1757 King George read it very unwillingly, and a bill was at once brought in and passed for the remodelling of the militia, and placing the country in such an efficient state of defence, as to render it independent of foreign mercenaries. He will have • no mercena The recent panic caused by the dread of a French invasion, and the consequent introduction of Hessians and Hanoverians, had roused the fiery spirit of the patriot statesman, and on that occasion he had exclaimed, "I want to call this country out of that enervate state, that 20,000 men from France could shake it that state alone is a sovereign state which stands by its ries to fight own strength, not by the help of another country." And in the same session he expressed his earnest wish "to see that breed restored, which under our old principles had carried our glory so high." On taking office he also now exclaimed to the Duke of Devonshire, "My Lord, I am sure that I can save this country, and that nobody else can."+ the battles of England. The Act for the enrolment and training of 32,000 men throughout England and Wales, was Pitt's first measure for the accomplishment of these lofty aims; but although it was received with popular approbation during its progress through the two Houses, the tide of national favour was immediately turned, when its provisions were found to interfere with personal ease and freedom, and several tumults took place in consequence.‡ The most important event during this short Administration, was the trial and execution of Admiral Byng, for his neglect execution of duty before Port Mahon. The authorities would gladly Trial and have spared him; but the clamours of the people were of Admiral too threatening to be despised, and he was shot at Ports- Byng. mouth, on the quarter deck of the Monarque (14th March, 1757).§ Pitt bravely ventured to put both his power and his popularity to hazard, by pleading for the condemned officer; but the King would not listen to him. The royal aversion against both him and Temple still continued, and had become, in fact, so intolerable, that they were summarily dismissed, and the Pitt Duke of Newcastle was again commanded to form an Administration (April, 1757). That imbecile Minister, distracted between his love of power and dread of responsibility, could decide on dismissed. The speech announced the dismissal of the German mercenaries, and recom mended a scheme of national defence. As it so totally misrepresented the King's private opinions, a spurious speech, supposed to express the latter, got into circulation. The printer was ordered to be prosecuted; but George sarcastically observed that he liked the spurious speech better than his own, and hoped the man would be mildly dealt with. + Stanhope's England IV., 52 and 62. Stanhope's England, IV., 89-90. § See Macaulay's Essay on William Pitt. Government is impossible CHAP. V. nothing; for he knew that a Government without Pitt was impossible, and that the King would not hear of the Secretary's return; while the latter would not condescend to join a Ministry, unless he had the entire control of the war. Thus three months went by, during which various schemes were propounded and cast aside, and in the end the King was compelled to submit to the return of his obnoxious Minister, on his own terms. Newcastle returned without him. to the Treasury, with not one of his own party at the board; Legge, the first financier of the day, again became Chancellor of the Exchequer; Pratt, a rising lawyer, and personal friend of Pitt, was made Attorney-General; and Temple, Lord Privy Seal; while Fox sank down to Pitt's former post of Paymaster, without a seat in the Cabinet. But the office which Fox accepted was the most lucrative in the Government. This fact may excuse to modern ideas, a political degradation, which was not then probably regarded as such, under a different state of public opinion.* SECTION III.-THE COALITION MINISTRY OF PITT AND NEWCASTLE.-1757 to 1760. Corruption of the 48. The Secret of Pitt's Popularity.—At this period, when Pitt's genius, for the first time, had ample scope, both in opportunity and the means of action, the fortunes of the country were at their lowest ebb. "The administration of public affairs, Government. passing for a series of years, through the foul channels of parliamentary corruption, had, at last, become almost stagnant. The people believed, not without cause, that every politician was a mere self-seeker; and that the interests of the nation were sacrificed to the connections of the reigning family." Pitt alone, Stanhope's England, IV., 98-108; Massey's George the Third, I., 24-25. 1757 of all the public men, possessed the confidence of the country. When he was first called to power, in Devonshire's Administration, the popular discontent subsided; when he was dismissed, it burst out again into a greater flame. The Stocks fell; the Common Council of London met, and passed some strong resolutions; the freedom of the City was voted to the discarded Minister; the chief towns followed the example of the metropolis; and "for some weeks," says Horace Walpole, "it rained gold boxes." The secret of all this popularity was, that Pitt was the only statesman of his time whose life was pure, whose hands were free from corruption, and whose sole policy was, the promotion of his country's greatness. He was, in the Pitt's purity highest sense of the word, a Patriot. He loved England patriotism. with an intense and personal love; her triumphs were his triumphs; her defeats his defeats; and her dangers lifted him high above all thought of self or party-spirit. This glowing patriotism was the real spell by which he held England, and rallied round him the commercial and middle classes of the country, with their energy, their self-confidence, their pride, honesty, and moral earnestness. and lofty His powers His profound convictions, and the sincerity and generosity of his motives gave to Pitt's eloquence a resistless strength, in spite of all his affectation and theatrical extravagance of delivery. As a debater, he was inferior to Walpole; in lucidity and clearness of statement, he was also unequal to Somers; while his set speeches were not comparable to those of Chesterfield. But when he was once up, and his mind came out, the authority of eloquence. with which he spoke, his large and poetic imagination, his sympathy with popular emotion, his sustained grandeur, his lofty vehemence, and his command over the whole range of human feeling, raised him high above the men of his own day, and set him in the front rank among the orators of the world. His words then became a power, not only over Parliament, but over the nation at large; and though it was only in detached phrases and halfremembered outbursts that these became known, they stirred the people of his own day like the utterances of inspiration, and their influence has not yet passed away.* 49. The Battles of Prague and Kolin.-The news which now reached England from the Continent, and the events which subsequently occurred during the summer, before Pitt could exert any influence upon the course of affairs, were of such a character as needed a bold and resolute Minister. The Prussian monarch had * Green's Short History, 728-731; Macaulay's Essay. CHAP. V. commenced his second campaign at the end of April, with only 150,000 men, to face 450,000 of the allies. His scheme for resisting these terrible odds was simple, bold, and judicious. While the French, Russians, and Swedes were still in their winter quarters, he made a forced march through the mountain defiles of Bohemia, and attacked the Austrians under the walls of Prague, on the 5th of May, 1757.* The conflict was "more bloody than any which Europe saw, during the long interval between Malplaquet and Eylau "t; and although victory remained with the King, it was not decisive. Part of the defeated army escaped within the ramparts of the Bohemian capital, and part effected a junction with a second Austrian army which was now advancing from the side of Moravia. Leaving a portion of his troops to maintain the siege of Prague, Frederick at once set out to meet this new enemy, whom he found intrenched along the steep heights of Kolin, and stronger than his own force by 20,000 men. Nothing daunted, the King led up his forces to an assault on the 18th of June; but after a whole day's fighting, he was compelled to retire from the field, with the loss of 13,000 men. rode away alone, and was found by his officers seated at the side of a well, drawing figures in the sand with his stick. The siege of Prague was immediately raised; the Prussians hastily retired into Silesia, and the cause of England's only ally seemed hopelessly ruined.‡ Desperate position of Frederick the Great. He 50. Convention of Closter-Seven.-Failure of an Expedition against Rochefort.-This great reverse was followed by the utter discomfiture of the Duke of Cumberland at Hastenbeck, near Hamelu (26th July), and his capitulation to the French by the Con Hanover. vention of Closter-Seven (8th September). The Duke had Surrender of undertaken to defend Hanover; but by this agreement, he consented to evacuate the Electorate and dismiss his auxiliaries. The French were thus free to turn their arms against the King of Prussia. Cumberland returned to England in disgrace; he resigned all his military appointments, and passed the remainder of his life (until 1765) in comparative obscurity.§ While the indignation of the country was still sore upon this unfortunate Treaty, it was aggravated by the failure of an expedition sent out to surprise Rochefort, the great French arsenal, in Septem Carlyle's Frederick the Great, Vol., VII., Book XVIII., Chap. 1. 1 Stanhope's England, IV., 113-114; Carlyle's Frederick the Great, Vol. VII., Book 1757 ber. There was every reason to believe, that a prompt assault would have found the place almost defenceless; but Sir John Mordaunt, the commander of the troops, was more concerned upon securing a safe retreat to the ships in case of failure, than upon achieving success; and while he and Admiral Hawke were deliberating upon this, the French strengthened and garrisoned the place, and the chances of a surprise being lost, the expedition returned home, followed by the derision of the foe, and greeted by a loud burst of public indignation.* Pitt restores energy and The failure of this enterprise was due, not only to the evils of divided command, but to some general causes which had long depressed the tone of military energy and intelligence. The system of promotion by seniority, which then obtained, was not calculated to bring forward merit; and the routine leaders of our fleets and armies, following a conventional line of duty, regarded safety greater than success, and caution public spirit more than daring. It was the peculiar glory of Pitt's administration, that the services were delivered from these ignoble ideas of duty. This great Minister sought for merit, wherever it was to be found. He threw aside all obstacles of official routine; inspired his own lofty spirit into the men who served him, and soon made it understood that zeal and enterprise in the performance of public duty were the only recommendations to favour.† to the services. 51. The Battles of Rosbach and Leuthen.-The attack upon Rochefort had been devised for the purpose of drawing the French troops away from Germany, and another project was also now entertained for exchanging Gibraltar for Minorca, on condition that Spain declared war against France. The suggestion, however, came to nothing, and more efficient means were found for prosecuting hostilities, by directly assisting the indomitable chief, who, beaten and apparently ruined one day, showed himself again victorious the next. The position of the Prussian Monarch was now well nigh desperate. The Russians were devastating his eastern provinces; the Croats had taken and plundered Berlin, and a large French army was advancing from the West. Yet in the short space of thirty days, Frederick extricated himself from these gathering dangers, and covered his arms with glory. On the 5th of November, 1757, he encountered the French at Rosbach, close to the plain of Lutzen, and inflicted upon them a total defeat. Then turning his arms Stanhope's England, IV., 109-111. Stanhope's England, IV., 118, 119; XVIII., chapter 8. + Massey's George the Third, I., 29. Carlyle's Frederick the Great, VII., Book |