Obv.: VICTORY. AT. PLASSY CLIVE. COMMANDER. Victory without wings, bearing trophy and palm, seated on elephant, to left. Below, soc. P.A.C. MDCCLVIII. Clive, in Rev. INIVRIES. ATTONED. PRIVILEGE. AVGMENTED. TERRITORY. ACQUIRED. CHAPTER XXXI. GEORGE III. FROM HIS ACCESSION TO THE RECOGNITION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, AND THE PEACE OF VERSAILLES. A.D. 1760-1783. § 1. Accession of George III., and Settlement of the Government. King's Marriage and Coronation. § 2. State of the Campaign. Negotiations. Pitt resigns. § 3. War with Spain. Lord Bute's Administration. Peace of Fontainebleau. § 4. Rise and Progress of the Indian Empire. § 5. Unpopularity of Lord Bute. Wilkes and the North Briton, No. XLV. General Warrants. § 6. Grenville's American Stamp Act. §.7. Lord Rockingham Prime Minister. Succeeded by Lord Chatham. Lord North's American Taxes. § 8. Proceedings against Wilkes. Disturbances in America. Lord North Prime Minister. Royal Marriage Act. § 9. Effect of the Tea Duties in America. Commencement of the Rebellion. Skirmish at Lexington. Battle of Bunker's Hill. § 10. Attempts at Conciliation. American Independence. Progress of the War. § 11. La Fayette. Philadelphia taken. Capitulation of Saratoga. Treaty between France and the Americans. § 12. Death of Chatham. § 13. The French Fleet in America. Actions in the Channel. Spain joins the French and Americans. Paul Jones. § 14. Lord George Gordon's Riots. § 15. Rodney's Victory at Cape St. Vincent. The "Armed Neutrality." American Campaign. Battles of Camden and Eutau Springs. Capitulation of Yorktown. § 16. Naval Engagements. Losses and Disasters. Lord Rockingham's second Ministry. Independence of the Irish Parliament. Parliamentary Reform. § 17. Rodney's Victory in the West Indies. Lord Shelburne's Ministry. Foundering of the Royal George. Siege of Gibraltar. § 18. Treaty with America, and Recognition of American Independence. Peace of Versailles. § 1. THE young prince who now ascended the throne of his grandfather with the title of George III. was 22 years of age. His person was tall and strongly built, his countenance open and engaging. In his first address to the Parliament he inserted, with his own hand, a paragraph stating that "he gloried in the name of Briton"-an expression which could not but awaken a cordial echo in a country which, during the greater part of a century, had been governed by foreigners. His conduct answered to his professions. The party distinctions which had prevailed during the reign of his grandfather seemed to be forgotten; the Jacobites, who had absented themselves, returned to court, and some of the principal of them obtained places in the royal household. The old ministers were retained; but it was soon evident that the Earl of Bute would be the king's principal adviser, and both he and Prince Edward were made privy councilors. After the dissolution of the Parliament the seals of secretary of state were transferred from Lord Holderness to Lord Bute-a step in which Pitt acquiesced, though he had not been consulted. At the same time Legge vacated the chancellorship of the exchequer, and was succeeded by Lord Barrington; and Lord Henley, who, after the resignation of Lord Hardwicke, had been made lord keeper only, now 'became lord chancellor. The vigorous administration of Pitt had nearly annihilated all party feeling: in the Commons he reigned supreme, and was regarded with a kind of awe. In the following year the king concluded a marriage with Charlotte, second sister of the Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, then only 17 years of age. In person she was short, thin, and pale; but she was sensible, cheerful, and good-tempered. George is said to have been captivated by a spirited letter which she wrote to the King of Prussia, beseeching him to spare her country. She arrived at St. James's September 8, 1761, and the marriage was celebrated on the same day. The coronation followed, September 22. § 2. During the last two or three years the campaign in Germany had proceeded with various success, and, on the whole, the contending parties stood much in the same position. The British contingents, under the Marquis of Granby and General Conway, had made some atonement for the disgrace of Lord Sackville at Minden. The losses sustained by France had made her sincerely desirous of peace. The affairs of that country were now conducted by the Duke de Choiseul, always, however, under Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV. A conference at Augsburg was agreed to by all the belligerents; but between France and England Choiseul preferred a separate negotiation, with which view M. de Bussy was accredited to London, and Mr. Hans Stanley to Paris. In order to strengthen his negotiations, Pitt sent A.D. 1760-1762. RESIGNATION OF PITT. 633 an expedition under Commodore Keppel, with 9000 troops under General Hodgson, against Belleisle, a barren island, but strongly fortified, on the coast of Brittany. Belleisle was taken; and it was considered that it might be set off against Minorca, not for its importance, but as a point of honor in the sight of France. Good news also arrived from other quarters. The island of Dominica had been reduced by Lord Rolls; and in the East Pondicherry had been captured, the last of the French strongholds in India. Choiseul might probably have yielded all the points demanded by Pitt had not the court of France been supported by that of Madrid. Ferdinand VI. had died in 1759, and his brother Charles, formerly King of Naples, now ruled Spain and the Indies with the title of Charles III. Naples he had been obliged to relinquish to his third son Ferdinand, as by the treaty of Vienna the crowns of Spain and Naples could not be united on the same head. Charles naturally regarded the French Bourbons as the head of his house; he was desirous of acting with them, and he had, besides, several causes of complaint against England. He now proposed that the contemplated peace between England and France. should be guaranteed by Spain, and that, at the same time, certain claims of Spain on England should be adjusted. Pitt at once refused to mix up the claims of France and Spain; and the latter court was informed that no negotiations could be opened with it through the medium of France. The consequence of this refusal was what has been called the FAMILY COMPACT, concluded August 15, 1761, by which France and Spain mutually agreed to regard for the future the enemy of either as their common enemy, and to guarantee their respective dominions. The King of Naples, as a Bourbon, also acceded to this alliance. A secret convention was also entered into, that in case England and France should be still at war on May 1, 1762, Spain should declare war against England, in consideration of which France was to restore Minorca to Spain. As soon as Pitt obtained certain intelligence of this agreement, he strongly advised that the Spanish declaration should be anticipated, and war at once begun against Spain. He urged the importance of striking the first blow, and he showed that expense would be saved by taking the Spaniards unawares, and seizing their merchantmen and treasure-ships; but he could find none to second him in this bold yet prudent counsel, except his relative Temple, and they therefore tendered their resignation, which was received by the king with many gracious expressions toward Pitt. Thus fell the renowned administration of Pitt, which had raised England to a great pitch of glory. He was offered the governor ship of Canada, without residence, and £5000 a year; or the duchy of Lancaster, with about the same emolument. These offers he rather haughtily refused, but he accepted the title of Baroness Chatham for his wife, Lady Hester Pitt, and a pension of £3000 per annum for three lives-his own, Lady Chatham's, and their eldest son's., Pitt's retirement paved the way for the ascendency of Lord Bute. §3. The Spanish business turned out precisely as Pitt had foretold. No sooner were the Spanish West Indiamen safe in harbor than the Spaniards began to alter their tone, and before the close of the year the embassadors on both sides were dismissed from London and Madrid. The Spanish minister, before his departure, inveighed against Pitt by name, in an angry memorial which he presented to Lord Egremont, the new secretary. War was declared against Spain, January 4, 1762. Shortly afterward France and Spain made a joint demand on Portugal to renounce her neutrality, and large bodies of Spanish troops were collected on the Spanish frontiers to enforce it. The King of Portugal gave a spirited refusal, and applied to England for assistance, which Bute, in spite of his pacific policy, could not, of course, refuse. The Duke of Newcastle still continued at the head of the treasury, though Bute had the chief share of power. The latter, however, having refused to support the King of Prussia and withdrawn the subsidy, Newcastle tendered his resignation, and was somewhat surprised to find it accepted. Bute immediately named himself first lord of the treasury; George Grenville became secretary of state in his stead, and Sir Francis Dashwood was made chancellor of the exchequer. Bute owed his rapid promotion not to any merit of his own, but to the ascendency he possessed over the king. Wilkes, who was now beginning to emerge into notice, directed the popular indignation against him in the North Briton and other papers, and he was assisted by his friend and fellowsatirist Churchill. The thoughts of Bute were constantly directed toward peace, though the arms of Great Britain and her allies had been on every side successful. In Germany, Frederick and Prince Ferdinand had been victorious. In Portugal, the British troops under Burgoyne arrested the progress of the Spaniards. In the West Indies, an armament under Admiral Rodney and General Monckton had taken Martinico in January. Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent subsequently surrendered; Guadaloupe had been taken in 1759, and thus the whole of the Caribbees were now in the power of England. The Havana also capitulated after a desperate siege, where the booty, in treasure and merchandise, was computed at three millions. About the same time, in the eastern A.D. 1762, 1763. RISE OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. 635 hemisphere, the Philippine Islands were taken, and several rich Spanish prizes were made at sea. In spite of these brilliant successes, overtures for a peace were made through the neutral court of Sardinia, and eagerly caught at by France. Bute seems to have been alarmed at the great increase of the national debt, which had doubled during the war, and now amounted to £122,600,000. A treaty was concluded at Paris (Feb. 10, 1763). The peace of Paris put an end to the Seven Years' War. By this treaty Minorca was exchanged for Belleisle; the provinces of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Canada were ceded to England; the islands of Guadaloupe, Martinico, and St. Lucia were restored; but Tobago, Dominica, St. Vincent, and Grenada were retained. These were the principal provisions with regard to the interests of England. By a clause in the treaty, all conquests made in any part of the world during the negotiations were to be given up. This involved the cession of the Havana and of the Philippine Islands, the conquest of which was not yet known. Bute seemed inclined to yield them without an equivalent; and it was only at the pressing instance of George Grenville and Lord Egremont that Florida or Porto Rico was de-. manded in return. The former was readily yielded. § 4. Among the places restored to the French was also Pondicherry in the East Indies; but they could never recover their lost influence in that country, and soon after their East India Company was dissolved. The courage and genius of Clive had now converted an association of traders into the rulers of a large and magnificent empire. Though established in the latter part of Elizabeth's reign, it was not till the time of Charles II. that the East India Company made any considerable advances in wealth and power. Charles granted them a new charter, conveying many exclusive rights and privileges, and also ceded to them the settlement of Bombay, which he had received as a marriage portion with Catherine of Braganza. Fort St. George and the town of Madras had already been founded in the Carnatic. The first English factories were at Bantam and Surat, but these were subsequently abandoned. At the period of the Revolution a new company was instituted, the rivalship of which produced much mischief, till in 1702 they were both united. In 1698 a grant of land on rent having been obtained from Aurungzebe, the Mogul emperor, at Chuttanuttee, on the River Hooghly, Fort William was erected, under shelter of which ultimately expanded the town of Calcutta, the magnificent capital of modern India. Thus, before the accession of the house of Hanover, the three presidencies of Madras (Fort St. George), Calcutta (Fort William), and Bombay had already been erected; but no central government yet ex |