.1747 Genera rains prevented the execution of his design. § XXV. In this manner was the French king baffled in his projects upon Italy; nor was he more fortunate in his naval operations. He had, in the preceding year, equipped an expensive armament, under the command of the duke d'Anville, for the recovery of Cape Breton; but it was rendered ineffectual by storms, distempers, and the death of the commander. Not yet discouraged by these disasters, he resolved to renew his efforts against the British colonies in North America, and their settlements in the East Indies. For these purposes two squadrons were prepared at Brest, one to be commanded by the commodore de la Jonquiere; and the other destined for India, by monsieur de St. George. The ministry of Great Britain, being apprised of these measures, resolved to intercept both squadrons, which were to set sail together. For this purpose vice-admiral Anson and rear-admiral Warren took their departure from Plymouth with a formidable fleet, and steered their course to Cape Finisterre on the coast of Gallicia. On the third day of May they fell in with the French squadrons, commanded by la Jonquiere and St. George, consisting of six large ships of war, as many frigates, and four armed vessels equipped by their East India company, having under their convoy about thirty ships laden with merchandize. Those prepared for war immediately shortened sail, and formed a line of battle; while the rest, under the protection of the six frigates, proceeded on their voyage with all the sail they could carry. British squadron was likewise drawn up in line of battle; The but Mr. Warren, perceiving that the enemy began to sheer off, now their convoy was at a considerable distance, advised admiral Anson to haul in the signal for the line, and hoist another for giving chase and engaging, otherwise the French would, in all probability, escape by favour of the night. The proposal was embraced: and in a little time she engagement began with great fury, about four o'clock in the afternoon. The enemy sustained the battle with equal conduct and valour, until they were overpowered by numbers, and then they struck their colours. The admiral detached three ships in pursuit of the convoy, nine sail of which were taken; but the rest were saved by the intervening darkness. About seven hundred of the French were killed and wounded in this action. The English lost about five hundred; and among these captain Grenville, commander of the ship Defiance. He was nephew to the lord viscount Cobham, a youth of the most amiable charac ter and promising genius, animated with the noblest senti'ments of honour and patriotism. Eager in the pursuit of glory, he rushed into the midst of the battle, where both his legs were cut off by a cannon ball. He submitted to his fate with the most heroic resignation, and died universally lamented and beloved. The success of the British arms in this engagement was chiefly owing to the conduct, activity, and courage of the rear-admiral. A considerable quantity of bullion was found in the prizes, which was brought to Spithead in triumph; and the treasure being landed, was conveyed in twenty wagons to the bank of London. Admiral Anson was ennobled, and Mr. Warren honoured with the order of the Bath. § XXVI. About the middle of June, commodore Fox, with six ships of war, cruising in the latitude of Cape Ortegal in Gallicia, took above forty French ships, richly laden from St. Domingo, after they had been abandoned by their convoy. But the French king sustained another more important loss at sea, in the month of October. Rearadmiral Hawke sailed from Plymouth in the beginning of August, with fourteen ships of the line, to intercept a fleet of French merchant ships bound for the West Indies. He cruised for some time on the coast of Bretagne; and at · length the French fleet sailed from the isle of Aix, under convoy of nine ships of the line, besides frigates, commanded by monsieur de Letendeur. On the fourteenth day of October the two squadrons were in sight of each other, in the latitude of Belleisle. The French commodore immediately ordered one of his great ships, and the frigates, to proceed with the trading ships, while he formed the line of battle, and waited the attack. At eleven in the forenoon admiral Hawke displayed the signal to chase, and in half an hour both fleets were engaged. The battle lasted till night, when all the French squadron, except the Intre pide and Tonant, had struck to the English flag, These two capital ships escaped in the dark, and returned to Brest in a shattered condition. The French captains sus tained the unequal fight with uncommon bravery and reso lution; and did not yield until their ships were disabled. Their loss in men amounted to eight hundred: the num, ber of English killed in this engagement did not exceed two hundred, including captain Saumarez, a gallant officer, who had served under lord Anson in his expedition to the Pacific ocean. Indeed, it must be owned, for the honour of that nobleman, that all the officers formed under his example, and raised by his influence, approved themselves in all respects worthy of the commands to which they were preferred. Immediately after the action, admiral Hawke despatched a sloop to commodore Legge, whose squadron was stationed at the Leeward Islands, with intelligence of the French fleet of merchant ships, outward bound, that he might take the proper measures for intercepting them in their passage to Martinique, and the other French islands. In consequence of this advice, he redoubled his vigilance, and a good number of them fell into his hands. Admiral Hawke conducted his prizes to Spithead; and in his letter to the board of admiralty declared, that all his captains behaved like men of honour during the engagement, except Mr. Fox, whose conduct he desired might be subjected to inquiry. That gentleman was accordingly tried by a court martial, and suspended from his command, for having followed the advice of his officers, contrary to his own better judgment: but he was soon restored, and afterwards promoted to the rank of admiral; while Mr. Matthews, whose courage never incurred suspicion, still laboured-under a suspension for that which had been suc cessfully practised in both these late actions, namely, engaging the enemy without any regard to the line of battle. § XXVII. In the Mediterranean, vice-admiral Medley blocked up the Spanish squadron in Carthagena; as sisted the Austrian general on the coast of Villafranca; and intercepted some of the succours sent from France to the assistance of the Genoese. At his death which hap pened in the beginning of August, the command of that squadron devolyed upon rear-admiral Byng, who proceeded on the same plan of operation. In the summer, two Bri tish ships of war, having under their convoy a fleet of mer chant ships bound to North America, fell in with the Glorioso, a Spanish ship of eighty guns, in the latitude of the Western Isles. She had sailed from the Havannah, with an immense treasure on board, and must have fallen a prize to the English ships, had each captain done his duty. Captain Erskine, in the Warwick of sixty guns, attacked her with great intrepidity, and fought until his ship was entirely disabled; but being unsustained by his consort, he was obliged to haul off, and the Glorioso arrived in safety, at Ferrol: there the silver was landed, and she proceeded on her voyage to Cadiz, which, however, she did not reach. She was encountered by the Dartmouth, a British frigate of forty guns, commanded by captain Hamilton, a gallant youth, who, notwithstanding the inequality of force, engaged her without hesitation : but in the heat of the action, his ship being set on fire by accident, was blown up, and he perished with all his crew, except a midshipman and ten or eleven sailors, who were taken up alive by a privateer that happened to be in sight. Favourable as this accident may seem to the Glorioso, she did not escape. An English ship of eighty guns, under the command of captain Buckle, came up, and obliged the Spaniards to surrender, after a short, but vigorous engagement. Commodore Griffin had been sent, with a reinforcement of ships, to assume the command of the squadron in the East Indies; and although his arrival secured fort St. Davids, and the other British settlements in that country, from the insults of monsieur de la Bourdonnais, his strength was not sufficient to enable him to undertake any enterprise of importance against the enemy: the ministry of England, therefore, resolved to equip a fresh armament, that when joined by the ships in India, should be in a condition to besiege Pondicherry, the principal settlement belonging to the French on the coast of Coromandel. For this service, a good number of independent companies was raised, and set sail in the sequel, with a strong squadron under the conduct of rear-admiral Boscawen, an officer of unquestioned valour and capacity. In the course of this year, the British cruisers were so alert and successful, that they took six hundred and forty-four prizes from the French and Spaniards: whereas the loss of Great Britain in the same time, did not exceed five hundred and fifty. § XXVIII. All the belligerent powers were by this time heartily tired of a war which had consumed an immensity of treasure, had been productive of so much mischief, and in the events of which, all, in their turns, had found themselves disappointed. Immediately after the battle of Laffeldt, the king of France had, in a personal conversation with sir John Ligonier, expressed his desire of a pacification; and afterwards his minister at the Hague presented a declaration on the same subject to the deputies of the states general. The signal success of the British arms at sea confirmed him in these sentiments, which were likewise reinforced by a variety of other considerations. His finances were almost exhausted, and his supplies from the Spanish West Indies, rendered so precarious by the vigilance of the British cruizers, that he could no longer depend upon their arrival. The trading part of his subjects had sustained such losses, that his kingdom was filled with bankruptcies; and the best part of the navy now contributed to strengthen the fleets of his enemies. The election of a stadtholder had united the whole power of the states general against him, in taking the most resolute measures for their own safety: his views in Germany were "entirely frustrated by the elevation of the grand duke to the Imperial throne, and the reestablishment of peace between the houses of Austria and Brandenburgh: the success of his arms in Italy had not at all answered his expectation; and Genoa was become an expensive ally. He had the mortification to see the commerce of Britain flourish in the midst of war, while his own people were utterly empoverished. The parliament of England granted, and the nation paid such incredible sums as enabled their sovereign not only to maintain invincible navies and formidable armies, but likewise to give subsidies to all the powers of Europe. He knew that a treaty of this kind |