334

CAMPAIGN OF 1739.

[BOOK VI. and the Imperial army withdrew behind the walls of Semlin and Belgrade. The unsatisfactory issue of this campaign, both for Russia and Austria, produced a coolness between those two Powers. The Cabinet of Vienna complained that Münnich had not carried out the plan agreed upon by attacking Bender and Choczim, and also that he had hindered a Russian corps of 30,000 men from joining the Imperial army in Hungary. Both Powers now began to meditate a separate peace, and Sweden and Persia offered their mediation.

The events of 1739, however, promised to give a new turn to affairs. Münnich crossed the Dniestr, stormed and took the Turkish camp at Stawutschane (August 28th), and captured Choczim. Then, passing the Pruth, he entered Jassy, while the Bojars of Moldavia signified their submission. His intention now was to march on Bender, and in the following year to penetrate into the heart of the Grand Seignior's dominions, when he was arrested by the unwelcome news that a peace had been concluded at Belgrade.

The fortune of the Austrians this year had been as ill as his own was good. On July 23rd they had been totally defeated at Krozka with a loss of more than 20,000 men, and had abandoned the field in panic flight. The Turks, who compared their victory to that of Mohacs, now laid siege to Belgrade. The Imperial Cabinet saw no hope of safety except in making a peace by submitting to some losses, and Neuperg was commissioned to treat. The Empress of Russia, against the advice of Ostermann, and at the instigation of her favourite, Biron,29 now Duke of Courland, accepted, in conjunction with Austria, the mediation of France, through Villeneuve, the French ambassador at the Porte. This step is attributed to Biron's envy of Münnich, and to fear of the Old Russian party, which was again raising its head, and necessitated peace abroad. On September 1st 1739, Neuperg signed preliminaries in the Turkish camp, by which he engaged to surrender Belgrade and Sabacz, to evacuate Servia, Austrian Wallachia, and Orsova, and to raze Mehadia as well as the new works at Belgrade. These preliminaries were guaranteed by France. Villeneuve, it is said, had had the less difficulty to persuade Neuperg to surrender Belgrade because he knew that the Duke of Lorraine and Maria Theresa wished for peace at any price, lest, at the anticipated death of the Emperor, and the troubles that were likely to ensue thereon, they should be

29 Ferdinand, Duke of Courland, the last of the house of Kettler, having died May 4, 1737, Biron was elected under

Russian influence and bayonets, and was recognised by Augustus III. and the Polish Senate in 1739.

hampered by this war.30 The Austrian Cabinet repented when it heard of Münnich's victory at Choczim, but did not withhold its ratification of the definitive treaty, which was signed September 18th. By the peace concluded between the Porte and Russia on the same day, Asof was assigned to the Russians; but the fortifications were to be razed and the country around it wasted, in order to serve as a boundary between the two nations. Russia was authorised to build fortresses on the Don, and the Porte to do the same on the borders of the Kuban. The fortifications of Taganrog were not to be restored. Russia was to maintain no fleet either on the Sea of Zabach (or Asof.) or on the Black Sea, and her commerce was to be carried on only in Turkish vessels.31

Münnich was much irritated at this peace. In contravention of orders from the Russian Court, he carried on the war a little while on his own account, and cantoned his troops in Poland and Moldavia; and it was only on a repetition of the command to withdraw that he at length retired into the Ukraine.

So This, however, is denied by Mailath (Gesch. v. Oestreich, B. iv. S. 643), who alleges that Neuperg's son, in a biography published in justification of his father, ignores this story, which would have formed a plausible excuse. Both Neuperg

and Wallis, the Austrian commander with whom he acted, were thrown into prison by the Emperor, but released soon after his death.

31 Laugier, Negociations for the Peace of Belgrade, ch. xviii. sqq. (Engl. Trans.).

336

DISPUTES BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SPAIN. [Book VL

CHAPTER III.

THE next epoch of which we shall treat, extending from the third Treaty of Vienna, in 1738, to the Peace of Aix la Chapelle in 1748, is marked by two wars; a maritime war between England and Spain, and the war of the Austrian Succession. The complicated relations which arose out of the latter soon caused these two wars to run into one; or rather, perhaps, the interest inspired by that of the Austrian Succession caused the other to be forgotten.

Under the reign of Charles II. of Spain, the English merchants had been allowed considerable privileges in their trade with the Spanish colonies in America. The ministers of that monarch, having need of the friendship of Great Britain, had winked at the contraband trade carried on by the English, and had exercised the right of search indulgently. But all this was altered after the accession of Philip V. We have seen that at the Peace of Utrecht the privilege of supplying the Spanish possessions with slaves was assigned to the English by the Asiento for thirty years, besides the right of sending an annual ship to the fair of Vera Cruz. There can be no doubt that these privileges were abused by the English merchants; while, on the other hand, useless difficulties were thrown in the way even of the legitimate trade by the Spaniards, and illegal seizures were frequently made by the Spanish guarda costas, or cruisers. Hence demands for redress on the part of the English, and counter-claims on the part of Philip V., on account of his reserved share of the profits of the Asiento, and for duties evaded. Horrible stories were told on both sides of barbarities committed; the tale of "Jenkins' ears" will be familiar to all readers of English history.' Disputes had also arisen respecting the boundaries of Carolina and Florida, and the feeling against Spain ran so high in England that the peaceful Sir Robert Walpole was at length reluctantly compelled to make some hostile demonstrations.

The conjuncture was more important than, at first sight, it might appear to be. It was far from merely involving some quesSee Coxe, Memoirs of Sir R. Walpole, ch. li.

tions of commerce between England and Spain. It was nothing less than the commencement of a struggle between the AngloSaxon race and the nations of Roman descent to obtain a predominance in the colonies, and the principal share of the commerce of the world. The Bourbon Courts of France and Spain had again approached each other and formed a league against the maritime and colonial power of Great Britain. In November 1733, Philip V. and Louis XV. had concluded, at the Escurial, a family compact, in which Philip declared his intention of depriving the English of their commercial privileges; while Louis engaged to support him in that purpose by maintaining a fleet at Brest, and equipping as many privateers as possible. Articles in favour of French maritime commerce were agreed upon, and Louis engaged to procure the restoration of Gibraltar to Spain, even by resorting, if necessary, to force. In pursuance of this treaty, the French, after the close of the war of the Polish Succession in 1735, had devoted great attention to their navy; and the Count de Maurepas, who was to pursue the same policy forty years later with more success, had made preparations for building in the ports of Toulon and Brest twenty-six ships of the line and thirty of an inferior class. Spain also had been actively employed at Ferrol and Cadiz.

The English nation, or more properly, perhaps, the commercial portion of it, had thus taken a juster view of its interests than the ministry. The warlike demonstrations made by Walpole extorted from the Spanish Cabinet the "Convention of the Pardo," January 14th 1739. The King of Spain engaged to pay 95,000l. in satisfaction of the damages claimed by English merchants; but, on the other hand, he demanded from the South Sea Company, which traded under the Asiento, 68,000l. for his share of the profits of the trade, and for duties on negroes imported. If this sum were not shortly paid, he reserved the right to suspend the Asiento, and he declared that the Convention entered into was not valid except subject to this declaration.

Walpole endeavoured to persuade the English Parliament to accept these terms, but the nation would not listen to them; and the popular discontent ran so high that he found himself compelled to make preparations for a war. A treaty of subsidies was concluded with Denmark, March 25th 1739, by which that Power engaged to keep on foot an army of 6000 men, for three years, at

338

ATTACKS ON SPANISH COLONIES.

[Book VI. the rate of thirty crowns for each foot-soldier, and forty-five crowns for each horse-soldier, besides an annual subsidy of 250,000 crowns. A British fleet was sent to Gibraltar-a proceeding which greatly irritated the Spaniards. Philip V. complained of it as an insult, and announced to Mr. Keene, the British minister at Madrid, his determination to revoke the Asiento, and to seize the effects of the South Sea Company in satisfaction of his demands. This declaration brought matters to a crisis. The English Government demanded the immediate execution of the Convention of the Pardo, the acknowledgment of the British claims in Georgia and Carolina, and the unequivocal renunciation of the rights of search. Spain replied by a manifesto and declaration of war, which was followed by another on the part of England, November 9th. Letters of reprisal had been previously issued, by which, at the outset, the English appear to have been the greatest sufferers. During the first three months of the war the Spanish privateers made forty-seven prizes, valued at 234,000l.3 All English merchandise was prohibited in Spain on the penalty of death, so that many neutral vessels arriving at Cadiz could not discharge their cargoes. Meanwhile Admiral Vernon, setting sail with the English fleet from Jamaica, captured Porto Bello, on the Isthmus of Darien, December 1st-an exploit for which he received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. His attempt on Carthagena, in the spring of 1741, proved, however, a complete failure through his dissensions, it is said, with General Wentworth, the commander of the land forces. A squadron, under Commodore Anson, despatched to the South Sea for the purpose of annoying the Spanish colonies of Peru and Chili, destroyed the Peruvian town of Paita, and made several prizes; the most important of which was one of the great Spanish galleons trading between Acapulco and Manilla, having a large treasure on board. It was on this occasion that Anson circumnavigated the globe, having sailed from England in 1749, and returned to Spithead in 1744. Meanwhile France, at the demand of Spain, had begun to arm and equip her fleets, though protes-ing her pacific intentions.

Scarcely had the war broken out between England and Spain when the Emperor Charles VI. died, October 20th 1740, soon after completing his fifty-fifth year. He was the last male of the He of Habsburg, which had filled the Imperial throne during the centuries without interruption. His eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, had been appointed heir to the Austrian dominions by the Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iii. p. See Anson's Voyage round the Ne by Walter.

313.