NEW TREATY WITH THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

The conduct of the administration was so agreeable to both houses of parliament, that in their address to the throne they expressed their unshaken zeal and loyalty to his majesty’s person, congratulated him on the success of his arms, and promised to support his measures and allies with steadiness and alacrity. *

* That the charge of disaffection to the king’s person,
which was so loudly trumpeted by former ministers and their
adherents against those who had honesty and courage to
oppose the measures of a weak and corrupt administration,
was entirely false and without foundation, appeared at this
juncture, when in the midst of a cruel, oppressive, and
continental war, maintained by the blood and treasure of
Great Britain, all opposition ceased in both houses of
parliament. The addresses of thanks to his majesty, which
are always dictated by the immediate servants of the crown,
were unanimously adopted in both houses, and not only
couched in terms of applause, but even inflated with
expressions of rapture and admiration. They declared
themselves sensible, that the operations of Great Britain,
both by sea and in America, had received the most evident
and important advantages from the maintenance of the war in
Germany, and seemed eager to espouse any measure that might
gratify the inclination of the sovereign.

It was probably in consequence of this assurance that a new treaty between Great Britain and Prussia was concluded at London on the seventh day of December, importing, That as the burdensome war in which the king of Prussia is engaged, lays him under the necessity of making fresh efforts to defend himself against the multitude of enemies who attack his dominions, he is obliged to take new measures with the king of England, for their reciprocal defence and safety; and his Britannic majesty hath at the same time signified his earnest desire to strengthen the friendship subsisting between the two courts; and, in consequence thereof, to conclude a formal convention, for granting to his Prussian majesty speedy and powerful assistance, their majesties have nominated and authorized their ministers to concert and settle the following articles:—All formal treaties between the two crowns, particularly that signed at Westminster on the sixteenth day of January in the year 1756, and the convention of the eleventh of April in the year 1758, are confirmed by the present convention of the eleventh of April in the year 1758, in their whole tenor, as if they were herein inserted word for word. The king of Great Britain shall cause to be paid at London, to such person or persons as shall be authorized by the king of Prussia for that end, the sum of four millions of rix-dollars, making six hundred and seventy thousand pounds sterling, at one payment, immediately on the exchange of the ratification, if the king of Prussia should so require. His Prussian majesty shall employ the said sum in supporting and augmenting his forces, which shall act in such manner as shall be of the greatest service to the common cause, and contribute most to the mutual defence and safety of their said majesties. The king of Great Britain, both as king and elector, and the king of Prussia, reciprocally bind themselves not to conclude with the powers that have taken part in the present war, any treaty of peace, truce, or other such like convention, but by common advice and consent, each expressly including therein the other. The ratification of the present convention shall be exchanged within six weeks, or sooner, if possible. In effect, this treaty was no other than a renewal of the subsidy from year to year, because it was not thought proper to stipulate in the first subsidiary convention an annual supply of such importance until the war should be terminated, lest the people of England should be alarmed at the prospect of such successive burdens, and the complaisance of the commons be in some future session exhausted. On the whole, this was perhaps the most extraordinary treaty that ever was concluded; for it contains no specification of articles, except the payment of the subsidy; every other article was left to the interpretation of his Prussian majesty.

1759