although this was no more than what was usual in like cases, yet as admiral Byng was then a member of the house, and as his confinement might detain him some time from his duty there, the board of admiralty thought it a respect due to the house to inform them of the commitment and detainer of the said admiral. This message being delivered, the journal of the house in relation to rearadmiral Knowles" was read, and what Mr. Boscawen now communicated was also inserted.

XXII. The committees of supply, and of ways and means, being appointed, took into consideration the necessities of the state, and made very ample provision for enabling his majesty to maintain the war with vigour.* They granted fifty-five thousand men for the sea service, including eleven thousand four hundred and nineteen marines; and for the land service forty-nine thousand seven hundred and fortypine effective men, comprehending four thousand and eight invalids. The supply was granted for the maintenance of these forces, as well as for the troops of Hesse and Hanover; for the ordnance; the levy of new regiments; for assisting his majesty in forming and maintaining an army of observation, for the just and necessary defence and preservation of his electoral dominions, and those of his allies; and towards enabling him to fulfil his engagements with the king of Prussia; for the security of the empire against the eruption of foreign° armies, as well as for the support of the

n Rear-admiral Knowles being, in the month, of December, one thousand seven hundred any forty-nine, tried at Deptford, before a court martial, for his behaviour in and relating to an action which happened on the first day of October in the preceding year, between a British squadron under his command, and a squadron of Spain, the court was unanimously of opinion, that the said Knowles, while he was standing for the enemy, might, by a different disposition of his squadron, have begun the attack with six ships as early in the day as four of them were engaged; and that, therefore, by his neglecting so to do, he gave the enemy a manifest advantage; that the said Knowles remained on board the ship Cornwall with his flag, after she was disabled from continuing the action, though he might, upon her being disabled, have shifted his flag on board another ship; and the court were unanimously of opinion, he ought to have done so, in order to have conducted and directed, during the whole action, the motions of the squadron intrusted to his care and conduct. Upon consideration of the whole conduct of the said Knowles, relating to that action, the court did unanimously agree that he fell under part of the fourteenth article of the articles of war, namely, the word negligence, and no other; and also under the twenty-third article. The court, therefore, unanimously adjudged, that he should be reprimanded for not bringing up the squadron in closer order than he did, and not beginning the attack with as great force as he might have done; and also for not shifting his flag, upon the Cornwall's being disabled.

* An 1757.

o Nothing could more gloriously evince the generosity of a British parliament than this interposition for defending the liberties of Germany, in conjunction with

common cause; for building and repairs of ships, hiring transports, payment of halfpay officers, and the pensions of widows; for enabling his majesty to discharge the like sum, raised in pursuance of an act passed in the last session of parliament, and charged upon the first aids or supplies to be granted in this session, for enabling the governors and guardians of the hospital for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children to receive all such children, under a certain age, as should be brought to the said hospital within the compass of one year;" for maintaining and supporting the new settlement of Nova Scotia; for repairing and finishing military roads; for making good his majesty's engagement with the landgrave of Hesse Cassel; for the expense of marching, recruiting, and remounting German troops in the pay of Great Britain; for empowering his majesty to defray any extraordinary expenses of the war, incurred or to be incurred for the service of the ensuing year, and to take all such measures as might be necessary to disappoint or defeat any enterprises or designs of his enemies, as the exigency of affairs should require: for the payment of such persons, in such a manner as his majesty should direct, for the use and relief of his subjects in the several provinces of North and South Carolina and Virginia, in recompense for such services as, with the approbation of his majesty's commander in chief in America, they respectively had performed, or should perform, either by putting these provinces in a state of defence, or by acting with vigour against the enemy; for enabling the East India company to defray the expense of a military force in their settlements, to be maintained in them, in lieu of a battalion of his majesty's forces withtwo electors only, against the sense of the other seven, and in direct opposition to the measures taken by the head of the empire, who, in the sequel, stigmatized these two princes as rebels, and treated one of them as an outlaw.

p This charity, established by voluntary contribution, might, under proper restrictions, prove beneficial to the commonwealth, by rescuing deserted children from misery and death, and qualifying them for being serviceable members of the community; but since the liberality of parliament hath enabled the governors and corporation to reecive all the children that are presented, without question or limitation, the yearly expense hath swelled into a national grievance, and the humane purposes of the original institution are, in a great measure, defeated. Instead of an assylum for poor forlorn orphans and abandoned foundlings, it is become a general receptable for the offspring of the dissolute, who care not to work for the maintenance of their families. The hospital itself is a plain edifice well contrived for economy and convenience, standing on the north side of the eity, and a little detached from it, in an agreeable and salubrious situation. The hall is adorned with some good paintings, the chapel is elegant, and the regulations are admirable.

drawn from those forts and factories; for the maintenance and support of the forts on the coast of Africa; for widening the avenues, and rendering more safe and commodious, the streets and passages leading from Charingcross to the two houses of parliament, the courts of justice, and the new bridge at Westminster. Such were the articles under which we may specify the supplies of this year, on the whole amounting to eight millions three hundred fifty thousand three hundred and twenty-five pounds, nine shillings, and three-pence. It must be acknowledged, for the honour of the administration, that the house of commons could not have exhibited stronger marks of their attachment to the crown and person of their sovereign, as well as of their desire to see the force of the nation exerted with becoming spirit. The sums granted by the committee of supply did not exceed eight millions three hundred fifty thousand three hundred twenty-five pounds, nine shillings, and three-pence; the funds established amounted to eight millions six hundred eighty-nine thousand fifty-one pounds, nineteen shillings and seven-pence; so that there was an overplus of three hundred thirty-eight thousand seven hundred and twenty-six pounds, ten shilling, and four-pence; an excess which was thought necessary, in case the lottery," which was founded on a new plan, should not succeed.

§ XXIII. Some of these impositions were deemed grievous hardships by those upon whom they immediately fell; and many friends of their country exclaimed against the projected army of observation in Germany, as the commencement of a ruinous continental war, which it was neither the interest of the nation to undertake, nor in their power to maintain, without starving the operations by sea, and in America, founded on British principles; without contracting such an additional load of debts and taxes, as could not fail to terminate in bankruptcy and distress. To those dependants of the ministry, who observed that as Hanover was threatened by France for its connexion with Great Britain, it ought, in common gratitude, to be protected, they replied, that every state, in assisting any ally,

q The bridge at Westminster may be considered as a national ornament. It was built at the public expense, from the neighbourhood of Westminster hall to the opposite side of the river, and consists of thirteen arches, constructed with equal elegance and simplicity.

ought to have a regard to its own preservation: that, if the king of England enjoyed by inheritance, or succession, a province in the heart of France, it would be equally absurd and, unjust, in case of a rupture with that kingdom, to exhaust the treasures of Great Britain in the defence of such a province and yet the inhabitants of it would have the same right to complain that they suffered for their connexion with England. They observed, that other dominions, electorates, and principalities in Germany were secured by the constitutions of the empire, as well as by fair and equal alliances with their co-estates; whereas Hanover stood solitary, like a hunted deer avoided by the herd, and had no other shelter but that of shrinking under the extended shield of Great Britain: that the reluctance expressed by the German princes to undertake the defence of these dominions flowed from a firm persuasion, founded on experience, that England would interpose as a principal, and not only draw her sword against the enemies of the electorate, but concentrate her chief strength in that subject, and waste her treasures in purchasing their concurrence; that exclusive of an ample revenue drained from the sweat of the people, great part of which had been expended in continental efforts, the whole national debt incurred, since the accession of the late king, had been contracted in pursuance of measures totally foreign to the interest of these kingdoms; that, since Hanover was the favourite object, England would save money, and great quantities of British blood, by allowing France to take possession of the electorate, paying its ransom at the peace, and indemnifying the inhabitants for the damage they might sustain; an expedient that would be productive of another good consequence; it would rouse the German princes from their affected indifference, and oblige them to exert themselves with vigour, in order to avoid the detested neighbourhood of such an enterprising invader.

XXIV. The article of the supply relating to the army of observation took rise from a message signed by his majesty, and presented by Mr. Pitt, now promoted to the office of principal secretary of state; a gentleman who had, upon sundry occasions, combated the gigantic plan of continental connexions with all the strength of reason, and all

the powers of eloquence. He now imparted to the house an intimation, importing, it was always with reluctance that his majesty asked extraordinary supplies of his people; but as the united councils, and formidable preparations of France and her allies threatened Europe in general with the most alarming consequence; and as these unjust and vindictive designs were particularly and immediately bent against his majesty's electoral dominions, and those of his good ally, the king of Prussia, his majesty confided in the experienced zeal and affection of his faithful commons, that they would cheerfully assist him in forming and maintaining an army of observation, for the just and necessary defence and preservation of those territories, and enable him to fulfil his engagements with his Prussian majesty, for the security of the empire against the irruption of foreign armies, and for the support of the common cause. Posterity will hardly believe, that the emperor and all the princes of Germany were in a conspiracy against their country, except the king of Prussia, the elector of Hanover, and the landgrave of Hesse Cassel; and they will, no doubt, be surprised, that Great Britain, after all the treaties she had made, and the numberless subsidies she had granted, should not have an ally left, except one prince, so embarrassed in his own affairs, that he could grant her no succour, whatever assistance he might demand. The king's message met with as favourable a reception as he could have desired. It was read in the house of commons, together with a copy of the treaty between his majesty and the king of Prussia, including the secret and separate article, and the declaration signed on each side by the plenipotentiaries at Westminster: the request was granted, and the convention approved. With equal readiness did they gratify his majesty's inclination, signified in another message, delivered on the seventeenth day of May, by lord Bateman, intimating, that in this critical juncture, emergencies might arise of the utmost importance, and be attended with the most pernicious consequences, proper means should not be immediately applied to prevent or defeat them; his majesty was, therefore, desirous that the house would enable him to defray any extraordinary expenses of the war, incurred or to be incurred for the service of the current year; and to take all such

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