minister. He had been charged with so much, and convicted of so little, that the resentment of the public was diverted from him to the committee which had so egregiously failed.
It was extremely unfortunate for Pulteney that just at this time Sir Robert Godschall, lord mayor of London, moved for the repeal of the septennial act. This act had been the subject of some of Pulteney's most eloquent and impassioned attacks from year to year, whilst it was defended by Walpole; and now he was compelled by his party to put himself exactly in Walpole's position, and support, by a recreant oratory, what he had so often and so energetically condemned; for he had not yet taken his seat in the lords.
The committee of inquiry, stimulated by the disappointment of the public, began preparations for a fresh report; but their labours were cut short by the termination of the session. In order to conciliate in some degree public opinion, ministers hastened to allow the passing of a bill to exclude certain officers from the house of commons; they passed another to encourage the linen manufacture; a third, to regulate the trade of the colonies; and a fourth, to prevent the marriage of lunatics. They voted forty thousand seamen and sixty-two thousand landsmen for the service of the current year. The whole expenditure of the year amounted to nearly six million pounds, which was raised by a land-tax of four shillings in the pound; by a malt-tax; by a million from the sinking fund; and other resources. They provided for the subsidies to Denmark and Hesse-Cassel, and voted another five hundred thousand pounds to the queen of Hungary.
In the month of July lord Gower was appointed keeper of the privy seal; lord Bathurst, captain of the band of pensioners; and Pulteney took his seat in the peers as the earl of Bath. On the 15th the king prorogued parliament; at the same time assuring the two houses that a peace was concluded betwixt the queen of Hungary and the king of Prussia, through his mediation; and that the late successes of the Austrian arms were in a great measure owing to the generous assistance of the British nation.
In fact, the brave Austrian general, Khevenhöller, had severely chastised the elector of Bavaria, now emperor of Germany, for his assistance of the French and Prussians. He invaded and ravaged Bavaria itself, made himself master of Munich, the capital, and then entered the palatinate and laid it under contributions, in revenge of the prince Palatine sending a body of troops to reinforce the imperial army. The Austrians were soon after obliged, by count Saxe, at the head of Bavarian and French troops, to evacuate Bavaria, but they soon returned. In June the king of Prussia, as George assured parliament, had come to terms with the queen of Hungary, who consented to resign Upper and Lower Silesia, and Glatz, in Bohemia. Frederick engaged to pay the sum lent by the merchants of London to the late emperor on the Silesian revenues; and he was obliged to maintain a strict neutrality during the war, the kings of England, Poland, and Denmark, the czarina, the states-general, and some smaller potentates, being parties to the treaty.
Deserted by the Prussians, the French retired with precipitation to Prague, where they were followed by the Austrian army under prince Charles of Lorranine and prince Lobkowitz. Soon after the grand duke of Tuscany came and took the principal command; and the French offered to capitulate, on condition that they might march away with their arms and baggage. This was refused; but after some time, amid various marchings and counter-marchings of the Austrians under Khevenhöller and general Festilitz, the French under Maillebois, and the Bavarians under Seckendorf and Saxe, marshal Belleisle stole out of Prague in December, and, giving Lobkowitz the slip, made for the mountains with fourteen thousand men and thirty pieces of artillery. Broglie had escaped some time before, and was gone to command the army of Maillebois, who was recalled in disgrace. Belleisle, who, during his retreat, was undergoing tortures from rheumatism of the hip-joint, was carried in a sedan, and displayed unwearied activity in protecting his men and baggage from the harassing pursuit of Lobkowitz. Notwithstanding this, his men perished in great numbers from famine and the severity of the season. They had been reduced to eat horse-flesh before leaving Prague, and now they fell exhausted in the deep snows, and were mercilessly butchered by the Austrian irregulars and peasantry. On the 29th of December he reached Egra, and from that point marched into Alsace without further molestation; but he then found that of the thirty-five thousand troops which he took into Germany, only eight thousand remained. Though this retreat was celebrated as one of the most remarkable in history, the marshal, on reaching Versailles, was received with great coldness. Lobkowitz returned to Prague, and took possession of it.
Whilst these events had been passing in Austria and Bavaria, the king of England had endeavoured to make a powerful diversion in the Netherlands. Under the plea of this movement, sixteen thousand British troops were embarked in April for the Netherlands; but they were first employed to overawe Prussia, which was in contention with Hanover regarding the duchy of Mecklenburg. There were other causes of dispute betwixt Prussia and the elector of Hanover. George having now this strong British force, besides sixteen thousand Hanoverian troops and six thousand auxillary Hessians, Frederick thought proper to come to terms with him, and, in consequence of mutual arrangements, the Hanoverian troops quitted Mecklenburg, and George, feeling Hanover safe, marched this united force to the Netherlands to join the British ones. He expected the Dutch to co-operate with him and the Austrians, and strike a decided blow at France. But the earl of Stair, who was to command these forces, and who was at the same time ambassador to the States, found it impossible to induce the Dutch to act. They had increased their forces both by sea and land, but they were afraid of the vicinity of the French, and were, with their usual jealousy, by no means pleased to see the English assuming power in the Netherlands. Therefore, after making a great demonstration of an attempt on the French frontier with the united army, the project wis suddenly abandoned, and the troops retired into winter quarters.
In the north, the succession of the czarina Elizabeth only caused the war against Sweden to be carried on with more vigour, but the French court was not able to bring over the czarina to join them against the queen of Hungary.
