OPERATIONS IN THE WEST INDIES.

In the course of this year admiral Vernon and general Wentworth made another effort in the West Indies. They had in January received a reinforcement from England, and planned a new expedition, in concert with the governor of Jamaica, who accompanied them in their voyage. Their design was to disembark the troops at Porto-Bello, and march across the isthmus of Darien to attack the rich town of Panama. They sailed from Jamaica on the ninth day of March, and on the twenty-eighth arrived at Porto-Bello. There they held a council of war, in which it was resolved, that as the troops were sickly, the rainy season begun, and several transports not yet arrived, the intended expedition was become impracticable. In pursuance of this determination, the armament immediately returned to Jamaica, exhibiting a ridiculous spectacle of folly and irresolution.*

* In May, two English frigates, commanded by captain Smith
and captain Stuart, fell in with three Spanish ships of war,
near the island of St. Christopher’s. They forthwith
engaged, and the action continued till night, by the favour
of which the enemy retired to Porto Rico in a scattered
condition.—In the month of September, the Tilbury ship of
war, of sixty guns, was accidentally set on fire, and
destroyed, off the island of Hispaniola, on which occasion
one hundred and twenty-seven men perished; the rest were
saved by captain Hoare of the Defiance, who happened to be
on the same cruise.

In August, a ship of war was sent from thence, with about three hundred soldiers, to the small island of Rattan in the bay of Honduras, of which they took possession. In September, Vernon and Wentworth received orders to return to England with such troops as remained alive; these did not amount to a tenth part of the number which had been sent abroad in that inglorious service. The inferior officers fell ignobly by sickness and despair, without an opportunity of signalizing their courage, and the commanders lived to feel the scorn and reproach of their country. In the month of June the new colony of Georgia was invaded by an armament from St. Augustine, commanded by Don Marinel de Monteano, governor of that fortress. It consisted of six-and-thirty ships, from which four thousand men were landed at St. Simon’s; and began their march for Frederica. General Oglethorpe, with a handful of men, took such wise precautions for opposing their progress, and harassed them in their march with such activity and resolution, that after two of their detachments had been defeated, they retired to their ships and totally abandoned the enterprise.

In England the merchants still complained that their commerce was not properly protected, and the people clamoured against the conduct of the war. They said, their burdens were increased to maintain quarrels with which they had no concern; to defray the enormous expense of inactive fleets and pacific armies. Lord Carteret had by this time insinuated himself into the confidence of his sovereign, and engrossed the whole direction of public affairs. The war with Spain was now become a secondary consideration, and neglected accordingly; while the chief attention of the new minister was turned upon the affairs of the continent. The dispute with Spain concerned Britain only. The interests of Hanover were connected with the troubles of the empire. By pursuing this object he soothed the wishes of his master, and opened a more ample field for his own ambition. He had studied the policy of the continent with peculiar eagerness. This was the favourite subject of his reflection, upon which he thought and spoke with a degree of enthusiasm. The intolerable taxes, the poverty, the ruined commerce of his country, the iniquity of standing armies, votes of credit, and foreign connexions, upon which he had so often expatiated, were now forgotten or overlooked. He saw nothing but glory, conquest, or acquired dominion. He set the power of France at defiance; and as if Great Britain had felt no distress, but teemed with treasure which she could not otherwise employ, he poured forth her millions with a rash and desperate hand, in purchasing beggarly allies, and maintaining mercenary armies. The earl of Stair had arrived in England towards the end of August, and conferred with his majesty. A privy-council was summoned; and in a few days that nobleman returned to Holland. Lord Carteret was sent with a commission to the Hague in September; and when he returned, the baggage of the king and the duke of Cumberland, which had been shipped for Flanders, was ordered to be brought on shore. The parliament met on the sixteenth day of November, when his majesty told them, that he had augmented the British forces in the low countries with sixteen thousand Hanoverians and the Hessian auxiliaries, in order to form such a force, in conjunction with the Austrian troops, as might be of service to the common cause at all events. He extolled the magnanimity and fortitude of the queen of Hungary, as well as the resolute conduct of the king of Sardinia, and that prince’s strict adherence to his engagements, though attacked in his own dominions. He mentioned the requisition made by Sweden, of his good offices for procuring a peace between that nation and Eussia; the defensive alliances which he had concluded with the czarina, and with the king of Prussia; as events which could not have been expected, if Great Britain had not manifested a seasonable spirit and vigour in defence and assistance of her ancient allies, and in maintaining the liberties of Europe. He said the honour and interest of his crown and kingdoms, the success of the war with Spain, the re-establishment of the balance and tranquillity of Europe, would greatly depend on the prudence and vigour of their resolution. The marquis of Tweedale moved for an address of thanks, which was opposed by the earl of Chesterfield, for the reasons so often urged on the same occasion; but supported by lord Carteret on his new-adopted maxims, with those specious arguments which he could at all times produce, delivered with amazing serenity and assurance. The motion was agreed to, and the address presented to his majesty. About this period a treaty of mutual defence and guarantee between his majesty and the king of Prussia, was signed at Westminster. In the house of commons Mr. Lyttelton made a motion for reviving the place-bill; but it was opposed by a great number of members who had formerly been strenuous advocates for this measure, and rejected upon a division. This was also the fate of a motion made to renew the inquiry into the conduct of Robert earl of Orford. As many strong presumptions of guilt had appeared against him in the reports of the secret committee, the nation had reason to expect that this proposal would have been embraced by a great majority; but several members, who in the preceding session had been loud in their demands of justice, now shamefully contributed their talents and interest in stifling the inquiry.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760