1757. PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &c. C thefe fhips and cargoes by way of reprizal, as foon as brought in, would have raised the indignation of the people, or hurt or engaged the honour of the court of France, more than our having feized them. Can any one be fo wrong-headed as to imagine, that a man's felling my property is a A greater infult upon me than his taking it by violence from me? It is the violence that is the infult, the fale is only a damage, which I am to compel him to make good, if I can, or, by agreement, allow him to retain the whole or part of what he fold it for, by way of compenfation for B fome damage I had before done to him, after having forgiven the infult, which, by the violence, he put upon me. But if he had allowed what he thus took, by violence, to perish, our agreement would become much more difficult, because he could then have nothing to retain by way of compenfation, and I must forgive the lofs as well as the infult I fuffered by his violence. Thus, if all the fhips and cargoes we have taken had been fold to the highest bidder, as foon as brought in, we fhould have had fomething to retain by way of compenfation for the expence we D have been put to by the French incroachments, and if there had been any furplus, we should have had fomething to reftore towards that indemnification, which the people of France expect for the lofs they have fuffered. But if we allow all thofe fhips and cargoes to perish in our hands, E we shall have nothing to retain by way of compenfation, and the French, if they come to any agreement with us, must forgive the lofs as well as the infult they have fuffered by our feizing their fhips. Confequently I maft conclude, that our not having condemned and fold thofe fhips as foon as brought in, tends rather towards making a war unavoidable, than towards facilitating any accommodation; and if a war fhould enfue, it will furnish a better pretence to every court in Europe for charging us with having been the authors of the war. F 61 good that furplus out of the next supplies to be granted by parliament, in cafe the whole of the produce had been appropriated to the captors. I fay, the nation could not have grudged this, after confidering that fuch numbers of our people, and thofe who beft deferved it, had been enriched by the produce, and that by the quantity of the produce we had prevented a dangerous and heavy war; for I must obferve, that any furplus would have been a ftrong argument with the court of France for coming to an agreement with us, in order to get that furplus reftored, and the larger that furplus had been, the more it would have inclined them to come to an agreement; therefore the only confideration we ought to have had, the only confideration we ought ftill to have, was, and till is, by what method fuch a furplus was, or is moft certainly to be acquired and increased; and this method every one must allow to be that of appropriating all prizes to the captors, after declaring, in the most publick manner, that the ships taken, or to be taken, were only by way of reprizal, and that we were ready to account for and return the furplus, if any fhould arife, after deducting the expence we had been or fhould be put to, by the French incroachments upon us in America, This I fay, Sir, is the method we ought to have taken, fince we refolved to begin with making reprizals for a publick injury; and therefore fuch a law as this now propofed, ought to have been paffed before the end of last feffion; for if it had, I am convinced, that there would not have been near fo great a neceflity for preffing; and if every fhip had been condemned and fold by publick auction as foon as brought in, no nation in Europe could from thence have found a juft pretence for calling us the aggreffors, after confidering what the French have been doing against us in America, almost ever fince the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. But, Sir, we have for many years given ourfelves a much G greater concern about what the other courts of Europe may think of our active, than about what they may think of our paffive behaviour; and yet there is no nation in Europe that has lefs reafon than we have, to be cautious of giving a jealousy to its neighbours; for they all know, that it is not the intereft of this nation, nay, that it is abfolutely inconfiftent with our happinefs as an inland, to make any conqueits upon the continent; therefore in our prefent difputes with France we fhould, in my opinion, have thought only of pot Now, Sir, as to the difpofal of the produce by the fale of the fhips, it is the fame thing, to the nation in general, whether that produce be appropriated to, and lodged in the hands of the captors, or appropriated to, and lodged in the hands of those who have the cuftody of the pub- H lick treafure: In either cafe the nation is poffeffed of and benefited by the capture; and if, upon balancing accounts, a furplus had appeared to have been due to France, the nation could not have grudged making giving 62 PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &c. giving a juft pretence to any nation in B E If we had begun the war in this manner, Sir, we might, long before the end of C laft fummer, have been again in poffeffion of the island of Cape-Breton; and, after our having again recovered poffeffion of that ifland, a strong fquadron, with a few fmall cruizers ftationed at Louisbourg, and another ftrong fquadron, with a few small cruizers ftationed at Jamaica, would have D made it impoffible for the French to have fent fufficient fupplies or reinforcements, either to their colony in Canada, or to the colony which we, of late years, fo tamely allowed them to establish at the mouth of the Miffifippi, as every gentleman may fee by a bare infpection of the Map. With regard to Canada every one knows, that, for four or five months of the year, all accefs to it is cut off by the ice, and, for the other months, which are the lightest, every fhip muft pafs either by the Gut of Canfo, or between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, or by the Streights of Belle-Ifle. The Gut of Canfo is not above two or three miles over, and confequently one cruizer would prevent a fingle fhip's paffing that way: The paffage between the cafternmost point of Cape Breton, and the westernmost point of Newfoundland, is not fifty miles over, and therefore four G or five cruizers ftationed there, would render it almost impollible for a fingle fhip to pafs; and a fleet could not approach either of thofe paffages without being difcovered by fome of our fishing veffels upon the banks, and intelligence thereof given to our fquadron at Louifbourg: The only H paffage then left is by the Streights of Belle-Ifle, and that paffage lies fo far north, that it can never be attempted but in the height of fummer, and, during that time, a man of war or two, with a F Feb. fmall cruizer from Louisbourg ftationed at the fouth-west end of thofe Streights, would probably intercept every fhip that attempted to pass, as the Streights are not above ten miles over, but are above fixty in length. Thus, Sir, we might, in two or three years time, by mere famine alone, reduce the French colony of Canada, especially if, at the fame time, all fupplies were in a great measure prevented from being sent to the colony of Miffifippi, which might be easily done by a few small cruizers itationed upon the north fide of the Bay of Mexico, under the protection of our fquadron at Jamaica; for in that bay, the air is almost conftantly fo ferene and clear, that no fhip can pafs within fome miles of another, even in the night time, without being difcovered; and this colony too would foon be reduced to the utmost diftrefs, if they had no fupply of provifions from France, or of ammunition for enabling them to get provifions for themselves. I therefore think it evident, Sir, from the very nature of things, that, if we had taken this method of beginning and profecuting the war, we might, in two or three years, have fo diftreffed their colonies upon the continent of North-America, that they would have been glad to have furrendered to us their colony of Canada, in order to fave their colony of Miffifippi and their Sugar Iflands; for thefe too would have been reduced to great distress, because our privateers would have fwarmed fo about them, that it would have been very difficult for them to get any fupply of provifions or ammunition; and thus we might, in a few years, have put a glorious end to the war, without any great expence, and without expofing our armies to the fatigue and danger of marching two or three hundred miles, by land, thro' a wild, defart, and impracti cable country, to attack the forts which the French have lately built in America, and which, if reduced, could be of very little advantage to us, unless we likewife fubdued the colony of Canada itself. But, by our reprizals, we have given the French the alarm, fo that, by this time, I reckon, they have fo well furnished all their colonies with troops, ammunition, and provifions, that we cannot propofe to reduce any of them by famine; and, I believe, we shall now find it both difficult and expenfive to reduce any of them, efpecially Cape-Breton, by force of arms. This will, of courfe, make the French lefs willing to agree to any reasonable terms of peace 1757. SIEGE of FORT ST. PHILIP. peace than they would otherwife have been; from whence any one may foresee, without being a conjuror, that a war is not only unavoidable, but that it will be an expenfive and a tedious war.. 63 dispatched for a reinforcement of 600 more, with a farther fupply of ammunition, and that it was a prevailing opinion among them, that the garrifon mult of neceflity fpeedily furrender. It is no wonder that an enemy animated with fuch hopes thould Thus we may fee, Sir, what an unfortunate fituation we have brought ourselves A make one general effort for its completion, into, by fhewing an extreme, and, I think, [This JOURNAL to be continued in our next.] Account of the SIEGE of ST. PHILIP'S D MAY E F TAY 12, in the morning, the French in We flackened our fire upon Cape Mola for this day, and at night, hearing the enemy at work in the town, we continued a brifk firing upon it; but the enemy opening a bomb battery from the Quay, we endeavoured to annoy them, till about 11, when opening another battery of the fame weight of metal,our greatlyexafperated men beat the fury of another fire upon that, which made this night the hotteft of any we had hitherto feen, having exchanged upwards of 500 fhells of different forts with the enemy. In all this heat of action we had the good fortune to receive but little damage, one of our bombardiers, with three foldiers on the Queen's-redoubt, being only wounded, and one of our gunners, G who unhappily loft his leg by our mortars taking fire by fome unwariness. We continued a conftant firing on the 13th, when two of lord Effingham's regiment were wounded. At night the enemy continuing their attack, a foldier of the Royal Weich Fufileers was killed by a splinter of H a fhell. On the 14th, in the morning, one of our centinels having wounded a French foldier brought him prifoner, who gave an account, that the enemy were then 25,000 ftrong, that tranfports had been while a dejected party, clofely pent up and valiantly affailed, faw no profpect of re-, lief. To this account he added, that they had loft great numbers of their soldiers and fubaltern officers; that our execution on the preceding night was very confiderable, on which night they had 34 gunners kill. ed. There was a decreafe of firing on both fides for this day, and but one man, of lord Effingham's regiment, wounded by a fplinter of a fhell. At night the affailants and affailed exerted greater vigour, keeping an inceffant fire the whole night; that of the enemy was but flow, however, from their batteries in town, occationed by one of their mortars being broken by our fhells; but from Cape Mola they kept a vigorous and conftant fire. Small parties of the enemy advancing near our weitern lunette, were foon repelled and driven back by the guards. On the 15th the attack was brifk in the afternoon, when one of the enemy's fhells falling on the north-counter guard among the cartridges and loaded fhells, fetting them on fire, blew up a large ftone blind, broke one carriage, and buried two guns in the ruins. This unhappy accident difconcerted us greatly. We had one man, of lord Effingham's regiment, wounded in the shoulder by a fplinter, and, during the night, we kept an inceffant fire, which the enemy did not return with their ufual fmartnefs, being employed in raifing a breastwork for erecting a battery oppofite the principal barrier; which however we perceived not until the morning. We alfo began to erect a battery near the drawbridge, adjacent to the north-welt ravelin. On Sunday the 16th, in the morning, the French prifoner, wounded by the centinel, expired of his wounds; and we had one of col. Rich's regiment, and one of the Royal Welch Fulilcers, wounded by the fplinters of a fhell. In the afternoon the enemy beat a parley, when an aid de camp, with a drummer, defired admittance, which he obtained, on the condition of being blind folded, and being brought to the governor, he produced tome pieces of lead bound with brats wire, which he afferted were fired from the garrison; and declaiming upon the crucity of fuch a practice among Chriftian powers, after fome short fpace, 64 Appearance of BYNG'S FLEET off the Harbour. F G Feb. when opened, the flame by a vent of air without 1757 Which beftily fails away again. On without injury to any; but, contrary to expectation, and to the furprize of every body, the fleet, instead of lying too, made fail and went off to fea; and two Tartans belonging to the enemy chaced the boat into the harbour, neither feeing or hearing more of the fleet. We had one man A wounded this night, while working at the battery near the draw-bridge. May 20, both fides kept a flow firing all the forenoon, but in the afternoon a brifker action was commenced, when we greatly damaged one of the enemy's batteries, which was erected near a windmill, by one of our largest fhells falling into it, which burnt part of it, tho' all poffible means were used to prevent it; the garrifon keeping a very brisk and conftant fire, upon that quarter, from our cannon, mortars, and fmall arms, prevented the enemy, effectually, from extinguishing the fire; C and abandoning the battery, they betook themselves to their fmall arins, and fired with exceffive fury at our men at the palifadoes, but providentially to very little effect. Another of our fhells falling into one of their magazines, made a great explofion, and quite deftroyed it. We had D two marines and a woman wounded this day. At night the enemy opened a bomb battery upon Turk's Mount, where they annoyed us all night, without doing us greater damage however, than wounding two foldiers. We could hear the enemy all this night drawing carriages from Ma- E hon into the upper part of the town. On the 21ft, a constant firing as ufual was kept on both fides, and two men were wounded. In the morning the French fleet came in fight, and steering the fame courfe which admiral Byng took, we foon loft fight of them again. Upon this day two deferters entered the garrifon, bringing their arms with them; from thefe, and not before, we had the confirmation of its being the English fleet, which we had feen on the 19th. They likewife gave us information of the frequent confultations held in the camp, 65 a parcel of timber on fire, the enemy attempted to extinguish the flame, which the garriton beholding, fnatched the occafion, and fired with great eagerness all the refidue of the night, when only one man was wounded. On the zzd, a brifk fire was continued all the forenoon. The deferters acquainted our officers, that upwards of 400 had been killed in the camp, as many wounded, and a great number. were fick of various diforders. This day we heard great rejoicings in the French camp, upon account of a victory, as we afterB wards learned, which the French admiral pretended he had obtained over the British Heet. We had a failor killed in the castle, by a splinter of a thell, and four men wounded; two women were also wounded in the caftle by splinters of a fheil, and at night one foldier received a wound. On the 23d, both tides continued their firing, the whole day; a theil from the enemy failing at the door of our oil magazine, rolled down the fteps and burit, without doing any other damage than breaking a calk of oil, tho' there were a confiderable number of men then there, who waited to be ferved with their wine, whofe prefervation was owing to the place being of good cover. This day we had one man wounded: On the 24th, one of the fuzileers was wounded alfo by the fplinter of a fhell. Towards night both fides fired but very flowly, the enemy not throwing above twenty fhells, and no great thot at all: But on the 25th, in the morning, a very brifk fire began on both fides, which continued till noon, then flackened till about four, when both fides began with incredible fury: During this inceffant firing, one of the enemy's fhells fell into a barrack-door upon the main ditch, and buriting, providentially did no damage, tho' the place was crouded with men, women, and children. We had otherwife, on this day, one killed, and two wounded. On the 26th, a brisk and continual firing was kept up on both fides, on which there fell a greater number of the enemy's fhells into the caftle fquare, than had done for the four preceding days. Nothing more remarkable happened this day, fave that one woman was wounded by a fplinter. At night we had one wounded at the works, and one was H wounded by our centinel, thro' the following mistake. The captain of the Marlborough guard, had fent a corporal, with four men, to patrole upon the outfide of the palifadoes, in order to detect any enemy lurking near, when, upon their F in order to ftorm the garrifon, G which defign was only fufpended, thro' difagreement, about the manner of execution ; their final refolution, he added, was to divide their army into three columns, that if one were deftroyed by our mines, force, or ftratagem, they might make a fresh attack, in the fame place, by another column. The night coming on, the rigour of war feemed to flacken a little, by a flow firing on both fides, till about midnight, when one of our shells falling into a carpenter's yard, and fetting February, 1757. I return |