*1756

NEWCASTLE'S RESIGNATION

749

actually asked the king to bring Hanoverian and Hessian soldiers to England to save it from a French invasion.

6. The Loss of Minorca. 1756.—The weakness of the Government weakened the hands of its officers. In 1756 a French fleet and army assailed Port Mahon, in the island of Minorca, which was still a British possession. Admiral Byng set out to relieve it, but, though he was brave, he was deficient in energy, and, finding the French ships more numerous than his own, thought it prudent to withdraw without serious fighting. Before long the whole of Minorca fell into the hands of the French. Port Mahon and Gibraltar were the two ports on which English maritime operations in the Mediterranean could be based, and it is therefore no wonder that there was a howl of indignation in England at the loss of one of them. The popular theory was that Byng had been bribed to avoid fighting. The charge was utterly false, but so many bribes were taken in those days that it cannot be said to have been unreasonable. Byng wäs brought home to await his trial.

7. Beginning of the Seven Years' War. 1756.-After this, war was at last declared. What might have been the result if England and France had been obliged to fight it out alone, it is impossible to say. France, however, had other enemies than England. Whilst England had only a sea frontier, France had a land frontier as well, and, therefore, whilst England was able to throw her main strength into a struggle for mastery on the sea and for the acquisition of colonies, France threw her main strength into her efforts to become predominant by land, and consequently neglected her navy and her colonies. She now, at the very time when England was ready to challenge her power in America, embarked on a war in Europe which was alone sufficient to occupy her energy. This time she forsook her old policy of hostility to Austria, and joined with Austria, Russia, and the German states to attack and dismember Prussia. The war which was thus begun in 1756 is known as the Seven Years' War.

8. Ministry of Devonshire and Pitt. 1756-1757.-So strong was the feeling aroused by Newcastle's incompetence that his own subordinates were frightened. In October, 1756, Fox resigned, and no one could be found to fill his place. Murray would give no help to the ministry, and was allowed to become Chief Justice, with the title of Lord Mansfield, under which he is known as one of the greatest of English judges. Newcastle, helpless and frightened lest the mob which was raving for the hanging of Byng should want to hang him too, also resigned. The Duke of Devonshire

became First Lord of the Treasury, with Pitt as Secretary of State and practically Prime Minister. At once Pitt took vigorous measures for the prosecution of the war. Money was raised, and men levied. It was not, however, merely by his energy that Pitt differed from the former ministers. Newcastle relied on a Parliamentary majority acquired by influence and corruption; Pitt had confidence in the nation and in himself as well. "My Lord," he said to Devonshire, "I know that I can save this nation and that nobody else can." He understood how to inspire the confidence which he needed. He sent out of England the Hanoverian and Hessian troops which had been brought over to protect the country, and passed a Bill for re-organising the national militia. He even raised regiments in the very Highlands, out of the men who had been the most vigorous enemies of the House of Hanover, knowing that the Highlanders had fought under Charles Edward far more because they were poor than because they reverenced the House of Stuart. On the other hand, he moved for a grant of 200,000l. for the protection of Hanover. It seemed as if Pitt was about to fall back on the policy of Carteret. There was, however, this difference, that whereas with Carteret the war on the Continent was alone thought of, with Pitt intervention on the Continent was regarded as subsidiary to the great colonial struggle on which England was now embarked.

9. Pitt's Dismissal. 1757.-Pitt was the most popular man in England, but he had only a scanty following in the House of Commons, and he was disliked by the king on account of his former declamations against payments for the sake of Hanover. Whilst he was in office Byng was brought to trial and condemned to be shot as a coward, which he certainly was not. Pitt pleaded for Byng's life with the king, telling him that the House of Commons was favourably disposed. "You have taught me," was George's reply, "to look for the sense of my people in other places than the House of Commons." Byng received no pardon, and died bravely, having been guilty of no more than an error of judgment. Soon afterwards the king dismissed Pitt. At once there was an outburst of feeling in his favour. "For some weeks," wrote a brilliant letter-writer of the day, "it rained gold boxes." The reference was to the boxes in which numerous corporations sent the freedom of their respective cities or boroughs to Pitt.

10. Nature of Pitt's Popularity. 1757.-Pitt's popularity, though wide-spread, was not like that by which a popular statesman is supported at the present day. It was not a popularity amongst

1757

A CALL FOR PITT

751

the nation at large, of which the majority could not at that time either read or write, or appreciate a political discussion. Pitt's enthusiastic admirers were to be found amongst the merchants and tradesmen of the towns. These were the men who had built up England's commercial prosperity by their thrift and honesty. Amongst them the profligacy, the drunkenness, and the gambling which disgraced polite society found little place. They had borne long with Newcastle and his like because times had been quiet, and the Government, scandalous as it was, never harassed Englishmen in their business or their pleasure. Now that times were dangerous they called for Pitt—the Great Commoner, as they styled him to assume power, not because they were conscious of his latent capacity for statesmanship, but because they knew him to be even ostentatiously uncorrupt. To the end of his life Pitt called himself a Whig, but his hostility to a system of government in which patronage was distributed to those who could bring most votes to the Government, without regard to merit, led him to place himself in opposition to Newcastle, and ultimately led to his estrangement from the great Whig families. By opposing power derived from popular support to power based on parliamentary connection, he introduced into constitutional struggles an element which had long been left out of account, and thus became (though unintentionally) a precursor of the new Toryism which, in the hands of his son, broke the power of the Whigs.

II. Coalition between Pitt and Newcastle. 1757. - The middle class in the towns formed, at this time, the most vigorous element in English society; but it disposed of few votes in Parliament. The great majority in the House of Commons sought for loaves and fishes, and as they knew that incompetency might hope for reward from Newcastle but not from Pitt, they steadily voted as Newcastle bade them, even after he had ceased to hold office. Newcastle, however, could not make up his mind whether he wished to resume office or not. He was too fond of the lower sort of power to share it willingly with any colleague whose intelligence was greater than his own, and too timid to grasp authority at a time when it was dangerous to its possessor. Accordingly, he long vacillated between acceptance and refusal, and for eleven weeks there was no ministry at all. At last an admirable arrangement was made. A coalition was effected between Newcastle and Pitt. Newcastle was to be First Lord of the Treasury to manage the business of patronage, and Pitt was to be Secretary of State to manage the business of politics and war. Both were

satisfied; Newcastle gave to Pitt the Parliamentary majority which he wanted, and Pitt took on himself the responsibility which Newcastle shunned. Fox got a lucrative appointment without political influence, and in a few years made himself enormously rich. 12. Military Disasters. 1757.-When Pitt took office in combination with Newcastle things were going badly. In America, French reinforcements were poured into Canada, and an attempt made by Lord Loudon, the British commander, to take Louisburg, a strong fortress which guarded the French island of Cape Breton, failed signally. In Germany, the king of Prussia, Frederick the Great, after overrunning Saxony in the preceding year, now, in 1757, attempted to overrun Bohemia. After winning a battle at Prague in May, he was disastrously defeated at Kolin in June, and driven out of the country. A French army, in the meanwhile, entered Hanover and defeated the Duke of Cumberland at Hastenbeck; after which Cumberland signed the Convention of Closterseven in September, leaving Hanover in the hands of the enemy. "Here is my son," said George II. of him when he returned to England, "who has ruined me and disgraced himself."

13. Pitt and Frederick the Great. 1757-1758.-Pitt set himself to remedy the mischief, as far as he could. His plans for military action were often faulty, but he had indomitable courage, and an almost unique power of inspiring others with courage. Boldly throwing aside the traditions of the century, according to which appointments in the army and navy were given to men of good birth, or of families whose favour would bring votes in Parliament, he chose commanders for their merit. Every young officer knew that Pitt's eye was on him, and that he would be promoted if he conducted himself well, even if he were poor and friendless. A new spirit was breathed into both services. Before Pitt could achieve anything, Frederick's military genius had given him the mastery over his enemies. In November the King of Prussia smote down the French at Rossbach, and in December he smote down the Austrians at Leuthen. Pitt at once saw that a close alliance with Frederick was necessary if England was to maintain her struggle with France beyond the Atlantic. In 1758, therefore, he repudiated the Convention of Closterseven, which had not been brought into a binding form, gave a subsidy of 700,000l. a year to Frederick, and sent 12,000 English soldiers to join the Hanoverian army in defending Hanover. The commander of this force was Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, one of the best of Frederick's generals. In June the Prince defeated the French at Crefeld.

1757-1759

AN ATTACK ON QUEBEC

753

Frederick had, in the meanwhile, driven back the Russians at Zorndorf, but late in the year was beaten at Hochkirch by the Austrians.

14. Fighting in France and America. 1757-1758. Both in 1757 and in 1758 Pitt sent expeditions to harass the French at home. In 1757 an attempt to take Rochefort failed through dissensions amongst the commanders. One expedition, in 1758, destroyed some French ships and stores at St. Malo, whilst a second did some damage at Cherbourg, but was driven off with heavy loss in the Bay of St. Cast. In America Pitt made a great effort to gain his ends. He dismissed the incompetent Loudon, and appointed Abercrombie to command in chief, placing under his orders young men whose ability and energy he had noted, of whom the most conspicuous was Wolfe, who had distinguished himself in the abortive attempt on Rochefort. England's superiority at sea now told heavily in her favour. In the course of 1758 Louisburg and Fort Duquesne were taken, though Abercrombie was repulsed at Ticonderoga. In America the British troops, supported as they were by the colonial militia, far outnumbered the French. France was so fully occupied in Germany that she was unable to send more than scanty reinforcements to the Marquis of Montcalm, the commander of the French army in Canada, who had, therefore, to defend the French possessions in America against heavy odds.

15. The Campaign in Canada. 1759.—Pitt planned a serious attack on Canada for 1759. Abercrombie, having failed at Ticonderoga, was discarded. Three armies were to be brought from distant points to meet before Quebec, the fortified capital of Canada. Amherst, who replaced Abercrombie, was to capture Ticonderoga and Crown Point, push up by way of Lake Champlain, and approach Quebec from the south. Prideaux and Johnson were to capture Fort Niagara and approach it from the west. Wolfe was to sail up the St. Lawrence and to approach it from the east. The idea that three armies, separated by vast and thinly populated regions, could be brought to co-operate at a given time was essentially faulty. In fact, though the western army captured Niagara and the southern army captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point, neither of them got near Quebec that year. Wolfe found himself, with his troops, alone at the meeting-point on the St. Lawrence. The position of Quebec is exceedingly strong, lying between two rivers, the St. Lawrence and the St. Charles. Behind it rise the Heights of Abraham, which are easily defensible, as it has steep cliffs on the river sides. Around the defences of the town Montcalm