to their high mightinesses on this subject. A spirited memorial was now presented to them by the English ambassador, sir Joseph Yorke, setting forth some of the particulars in which these subjects of the states had offended against the rules observed among powers that are in amity with each other. This was answered by an assurance of a friendly disposition towards his Britannic majesty. But the conduct of the Dutch government soon evinced the insincerity of their professions.* 1777 FRANCE. aa FRANCE Continued yet to pursue the same general principles of policy in its conduct towards Great Britain. Whilst the government was treating with Dr. Franklin, the American agent, to prevent the states from listening to any proposals of accommodation that might be held out, it preserved a fair shew of amity towards that state, to throw it off its guard; and it was endeavouring, at the same time, to put the kingdom in a condition for carrying on a war, without exposing its weakness, by retrieving its finances, and regenerating every source of national force. Among other measures were the vast works constructed for securing the harbour of Cherburg; " which was deemed the most advantageous station for the royal navy in time of war. As its warlike preparations advanced, the government became less cautious and reserved; thereby justifying an observation of a British statesman," that America was contending with England under the masked battery of France; which would open as soon as she perceived the latter "sufficiently weakened by the contest."-Monsieur de Sartine, the marine minister, a zealous friend of the revolted provinces, proceeded so far, on some doubts arising relative to the protection of their trade with the Americans, as to say, "that his majesty was determined to afford the fullest protection to their commerce, and would reclaim all ships that were taken "under that pretext." 66 - The war in which the kingdom was about to be engaged by that Austrian party which began now to have a fatal influence in his majesty's council, was 1777 * Anderson. 4. 204. aa Ann. Regist. 176. b Lord Chatham. Ann. Regist. 1778. 38. 1777 was instrumental to their schemes of policy in two different ways. It had for its first object the ruin of the commerce of Great Britain, and the humiliation of a power whose naval superiority had given it that ascendency in Europe which France had once possessed: another was to promote the interests of the Austrian court.-That it might devote the whole force of the crown to the war with England, the French government refused to accede to the proposals now made by Thugut, the emperor's minister, for a new alliance with him, for the purpose of opposing the designs of Russia against the Turks, and checking the progress of a power which threatened to destroy the independency of Europe; and by that means it lost the opportunity of recovering the weight which this crown had before enjoyed among the European states, and especially among those of Germany. But the Austrian party hoped to make the emperor a compensation for this refusal by forwarding his views, and disabling the French government from interfering with his schemes of ambition. We have a proof of their attachment to his interests in the transactions that ensued on the death of Maximilian elector of Bavaria, at the close of this year. On that occasion, the court of Versailles, instead of uniting with the king of Prussia in resisting the emperor's measures in support of his pretensions to the Bavarian dominions, secretly assisted him in the prosecution of them; a line of conduct calculated to aggrandize the great rival of the house of Bourbon; and which, though abortive, sacrificed the dignity of the French crown, and gave Frederic the sole honour of acting as protector of the Germanic constitution. d But however the measures now pursued towards Great Britain might be condemned by men of dispassionate minds, who considered them with a view to distant consequences, they were approved not only by the Austrian partisans, but by those enterprising persons who hoped to derive benefit from them, and even by a great part of the nation; who were delighted with the idea of a war, which, they flattered themselves, would be eventually a source of great wealth to them. Their characteristic spirit of enterprise led many individuals to offer their services to the American states; among whom were the marquis de la Fayette, an eminent example of that thirst of freedom which began at this period to prevail in this country. Impatient to d Grimouard ap. Soulavie. 5. 45. • Idem. 5.49. to signalize himself in what he esteemed the cause of liberty, that young nobleman would not wait till the battery was unmasked; but, embarking, this year, in a vessel fitted out by himself, he accepted a commission in the American army and began soon to be distinguished by his military actions.* 1777 SPAIN. ALTHOUGH the Spanish monarch had a decided superiority of force in South America, and his arms were crowned with success, yet a considerable degree of embarrassment and expence might have been experienced from a war with Portugal. From the apprehension of these inconveniencies don Carlos was freed by the death of don Joseph.-This event was followed by a partial change of policy in that crown.-His successor did not leave the alliance of Great Britain. But the intimate connexion and treaty then. formed with the court of Spain, which expressed, "that a permanent, "indissoluble union should be established between the two crowns," at a time when don Carlos was preparing for war with England, may be considered as a dereliction of principle and a preparatory step to an alliance with the powers combined by the family.compact. a 1777 PORTUGAL. * Ramsay, as a further proof of the young marquis's zeal, says that the American commissioners at Paris, who were informed of the retreat of their army across the Jerseys, and the perilous state of their affairs, dissuaded him from the enterprise, and that he embarked against the wishes of the French government. "Independent of the risk he ran as an American officer," says he, "he "hazarded his large fortune in consequence of the laws of France, and also the confinement of "his person in case of capture, when on his way to the United States, without the chance of "being acknowledged by any nation; for his court had forbidden his proceeding to America, and had dispatched orders to have him confined in the West Indies, if found in that quarter."-On his arrival he was honoured with the rank of major-general in the American army, and was present at the battle of Brandywine.-Ramsay. 2. 11. VOL. II. 20 a Annual Register. 183. 1777 PORTUGAL. Ar the close of the late year, her majesty was invested with the regency, on account of don Joseph's extreme ill state of health. From this era we may date the decline of the marquis de Pombal's fortune. He, however, retained his offices and honours till the king's death, which happened on the twenty-fourth of February, in the sixty-third year of his age. Don Joseph was succeeded on the throne by his daughter, the infanta Maria, who had been married in 1760, to her uncle don Pedro.-This succession, which was productive of an immediate change of policy with respect to Spain, was also followed by a change in the administration.— Donna Maria, who bore a personal dislike to the marquis de Pombal, was glad to sacrifice him to the good-will of her subjects, and made his dismission the first measure of her reign.-In appretiating the merit and demerit of this celebrated minister's character, we must take into the account the nature of the people whom he was called to govern, and the state of the kingdom at the commencement of his ministry; otherwise, the odium excited by his tyranny particularly in the proceedings against those charged as accomplices in the attempt on the king's life, will prevent us from giving him that credit for his wise policy in other respects which candour and justice demand.-Portugal appears, at this period, to have gradually sunk to the lowest state to which a kingdom can fall. The prodigious influx of wealth from the commerce of the East and West Indies, consequent on the discoveries of the Portuguese, introduced extravagance and luxury, the habits of which were entailed on them after their resources failed; and, extending to the lower orders, were productive of the most fatal consequences. The manners of the people were excessively depraved: the towns were infested with thieves, and the country with banditti of robbers and plunderers: the finances of the state were ruined; and the trade much decayed; the navy almost annihilated; the army, with all the expence of a military establishment, was in effect a mere shadow; and the chief part of the landed property was in the possession of the nobility; who, instead of feeling the the eminence which their rank and fortunes gave them as a stimulus to great and worthy actions, seemed to have considered it as a cover for ignorance, and as conveying a privilege for dissoluteness and an exemption from every kind of useful employment. Such a state of things required the hand of an able and resolute statesman, who was not unwilling or afraid to exert himself in a station in which his predecessors had slumbered: and such a one appeared in the person of this unpopular minister. He was a man of vast ambition: and that passion led him to signalize his ministry by an effort to restore the nation to its former prosperity, and the crown to its political importance. The measures employed for that purpose though marked, in some instances, with that arbitrary power which he loved to exercise, made the brightest part of don Joseph's reign, and may be considered as a summary of his meritorious actions. They were in general calculated to restore order in every department of government. He recovered the finances by his economy and attention to the domains and other branches of the crown revenue. He endeavoured the improvement of the police by a strict administration of justice. He encouraged agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. And, notwithstanding his regulations respecting the latter, were, perhaps, too favourable to exclusive companies, yet they may be, in some measure, justified by the poverty of individuals, which disabled them from adventuring in undertakings of great expence. He restrained the power of the inquisition: he led the way to the abolition of the order of jesuits: he founded an academy for the nobility, to remedy the ill effects arising from their notorious want of education: he regulated the army; put the small remains of the navy in good condition; and prepared for the national defence by repairing the fortifications of the frontier towns. Moreover, by his spirited conduct in his transactions with foreign courts, he reinstated that of Lisbon in the respect which was due to it.-To account for a minister's being followed into his retreat with the curses of a licentious people, whose administration had been distinguished by such salutary actions, we need only advert to his severe and arbitrary execution of the laws. But when the prison-doors were thrown open, after his disgrace, and eight hundred miserable wretches, who had not seen the sun near twenty years, crawled from their dungeons, half-naked, crippled, and diseased, it brought on 1777 |