RUPTURE BETWEEN THE POPE AND THE EMPEROR.

The British fleet not only contributed to the reduction of Minorca, but likewise overawed the pope, who had endeavoured to form a league of the princes in Italy against the emperor. This pontiff had manifested his partiality to the house of Bourbon in such a palpable manner, that his Imperial majesty ordered monsieur de Bonneval to march with the troops that were in Italy, reinforced by those belonging to the duke of Modena, and invade the duchy of Ferrara. He accordingly took possession of Comachio and some other places, pretending they were allodial estates belonging to the duke of Modena, and fiefs of the emperor, to which the holy see had no lawful claim. The viceroy of Naples was forbid to remit any money to Rome; and the council of the kingdom drew up a long memorial, containing the pretensions of his catholic majesty, which struck at the very foundation of the pope’s temporal power. His holiness wrote a long remonstrance to the emperor on the injustice of those proceedings, and declared that he would assert his cause though he should lose his life in the contest. He forthwith began to raise an army, and revived a plan of forming a league among the princes and states of Italy for their mutual defence. Sir John Leake had received orders to bombard Civita-Vecchia, in resentment for the pope’s having countenanced the pretender’s expedition to Great Britain; but as the emperor and duke of Savoy hoped to effect an accommodation with the court of Rome, they prevailed upon the English admiral to suspend hostilities until they should have tried the method of negotiation. The marquis de Prie, a Piedmontese nobleman, was sent as ambassador to Rome; but the pope would not receive him in that quality. Elated with the promises of France, he set the emperor at defiance; and his troops having surprised a body of Imperialists, were so barbarous as to cut them all in pieces. The duke of Savoy having ended the campaign, the troops of the emperor, which had served under that prince, were ordered to march into the papal territories, and drove the forces of his holiness before them, without any regard to number. Bologna capitulated; and Rome began to tremble with the apprehension of being once more sacked by a German army. Then the pope’s courage failed; he was glad to admit the marquis de Prie as envoy from the emperor. He consented to disband his new levies; to accommodate the Imperial troops with winter quarters in the papal territories; to grant the investiture of Naples to king Charles; and to allow at all times a passage to the Imperial troops through his dominions. On the Upper Rhine the electors of Bavaria and Hanover were so weak, that they could not undertake any thing of consequence against each other. In Hungary the disputes still continued between the emperor and the malcontents. Poland was at length delivered from the oppression exercised by the king of Sweden, who marched into the Ukraine against the czar of Muscovy, notwithstanding the submission with which that monarch endeavoured to appease his indignation. During the course of this year the English merchants sustained no considerable losses by sea: the cruisers were judiciously stationed, and the trade was regularly supplied with convoys. In the West Indies, commodore Wager destroyed the admiral of the galleons, and took the rear-admiral on the coast of Carthagena. Had the officers of his squadron done their duty, the greatest part of the fleet would have fallen into his hands. At his return to Jamaica, two of his captains were tried by a court-martial and dismissed from the service.