Stuart pretender. This was Charles Edward Louis Philip Cassimir Stuart, the son of James Frederick, or the Old Pretender," as the latter is usually called. In July, 1745, with only a handful of followers, he landed in one of the western islands of Scotland. To the enthusiasm of the Highland chieftains no dark "coming events cast their shadow before," and before the Young Pretender had been three months in Scotland, he raised, by the mere power of his personal influence, an army of twenty-five hundred men, and took possession of Edinburgh.

At Preston Pans he encountered the royal army, which quailed and fled before the furious onset of the Highlanders. In this action fell the brave and pious Colonel Gardiner, whose remarkable history has been made familiar to the world by the pen of Doddridge. Charles's adherents were chiefly Highland chieftains and their clans, who hoped to see the independence of Scotland restored, with a lineal descendant of the ancient royal line seated upon the throne.

When, therefore, Prince Charles Edward led them across the border, and plainly showed that his ambition aspired to the rule of the united kingdom, the enthusiasm and the number of his followers declined. He advanced within one hundred and thirty miles of London, but his officers absolutely refused to encounter the English forces, and the prince was obliged to yield to their opposition, and retreat into Scotland. In the winter he was again compelled to give way to the demands of his followers, and, abandoning the fruits of a victory gained over the English at Falkirk, and the siege of Stirling Castle, he retired to the Highlands. Thither he was followed by a large force of English and Lowland cavalry, commanded by King George's second son, the Duke of Cumberland.

The two armies met in "battle array" on Culloden Moor, a few miles from Inverness, and there was fought the fatal action, which for ever blasted the hopes of the Stuarts, and crushed the last attempt to place this unfortunate race upon a kingly throne. The cruelties inflicted after the battle of

Culloden, have cast a dark stain on the character of the Duke of Cumberland.

A reward of thirty thousand pounds was placed on the head of the Young Pretender. Amid the wretched cabins of the Highlands and the Western Isles, there was not found one who would betray the hiding-place of the royal fugitive. After a series of striking and romantic adventures, Charles Edward escaped in a fishing-boat to France. No family of royal lineage seem to have inspired more ardent devotion to their persons, than the unhappy race of Stuarts.

In the year 1748, the contending states of Europe entered into a treaty of peace, which was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle. A few years later, another contest, called, from its duration, "the Seven Years' War," engaged the nations of Europe.

The position of parties, however, was greatly changed. England and France were still enemies, but France fought with Maria Theresa, and England was the ally of Frederick of Prussia. The opening scenes of this war were laid in the French and English colonies of America.

The French, in the year 1754, began the erection of a chain of posts, extending along the great lakes, and the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers. These were designed to connect their colonies in Canada with those in Louisiana. In carrying out this design they intruded on territory claimed by the English colony of Virginia. The English remonstrated; no attention was paid to their remonstrances, and war ensued. The first

1755

to

years of the war in America, as well as on the continent, were unfortunate for the English. They were marked by such disasters as Braddock's defeat, and the loss of the island of Minorca.

1759.

This latter possession, granted to England by the peace of Utrecht, was much valued by the nation, and as much envied and coveted by the French. In the spring of 1756, the latter government sent out a large force for the conquest of the island. The English ministry became alarmed, and, knowing Minorca to be too feebly garrisoned to hold out long against a superior force, despatched Admiral Byng to the Mediterra

nean for its relief. The admiral encountered the French fleet; an indecisive action ensued, after which, Byng, thinking that another encounter, even if successful, would not suffice to raise the siege, withdrew to Gibraltar, leaving Minorca to its fate. After a gallant resistance, the brave garrison surrendered. Admiral Byng was taken to England, tried by a court-martial on the charge of neglect of duty, found guilty, and, by the severe penalty of the 12th Article of War, condemned to be shot. The sentence was executed on the quarter-deck of the ship Monarque, in Portsmouth harbor.

The ill-success of the war aroused the displeasure of the nation against the ministry, and the Duke of Newcastle, then premier, was forced to resign. He was succeeded by the Duke of Devonshire as nominal premier, whilst William Pitt, the new secretary of state, was virtually at the head of affairs. Pitt possessed the confidence of the nation, but was disliked by the king, who, at the end of a few months, dismissed him from office. Popular resentment became so strong, however, that even the monarch was compelled to bow before it, and restore the able minister, in whom alone the nation confided as competent to guide the ship of state through the storms which threatened.

William Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham) was a member of the House of Commons: a representative of the gentry of England. Able and eloquent, supported by the love and confidence of the nation, this statesman raised his country to a brilliant pitch of military glory.

The war assumed a new aspect. In America, success crowned the arms of the English and colonial troops. Quebec surrendered to the heroic valor of the young General Wolfe. The hero fell in the moment of victory, leaving as a glorious legacy to the country he so nobly served, the French

1759. colonial possessions of America.

QUESTIONS.-Who succeeded George I. ?-Describe the administration of Walpole.-Mention the causes and motives which led to a war with Spain. In what way did Walpole express his opinion of this

war?-What befell this minister in 1742?-Describe the wrongs inflicted upon Maria Theresa.-What power sided with her enemies?— How did England act?

In what part of America had the English planted colonies?Describe their condition.-What was the conduct of the English colonies in this war?-Give the history of the invasion of the "Young Pretender."-What treaty was signed in the year 1748?— Describe the position of the parties engaged in the "Seven Years' War."--State the circumstances which led to hostilities in America. -What is remarked of the early years of this war?-Relate the history of the expedition sent to Minorca.-What was the fate of Admiral Byng?-How did the results of the war affect the ministry? -Who succeeded Newcastle?-Describe the position and character of Pitt.-Relate the successful operations of the war in America.

CHAPTER LV.

GEORGE II.-THE ENGLISH IN INDIA.

THEIR COLONIES-THE GREAT MOGUL-FRENCH RIVALS-CLIVE-THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA-PLASSEY-SUBSEQUENT VICTORIES.

BEFORE the glory of England's arms had been retrieved in the New World, and Wolfe had fallen on the ramparts of Quebec, another young and ardent English hero had laid the foundation of British empire in a more distant portion of the globe. We have seen that the East India Company had established factories for trade in Hindostan. On the eastern coast they had built Fort St. George. The village of a halfdozen fishermen's huts, with the dwelling of a French priest, found there in 1640, had grown into the flourishing town of Madras.

A little further south, on the Coromandel coast, was built Fort St. David, whilst on the Hoogly, Fort William, the origin of the splendid city of Calcutta, arose a few years before Peter the Great had laid the foundations of his capital of St. Petersburg on the banks of the Neva. On the Malabar coast, Bombay was the important

1698.

settlement. All these had been founded before the close of the seventeenth century. Difficulties with the Dutch and Portuguese no longer existed, but another formidable rival had appeared, to dispute with England her lucrative trade in India

The French had established factories on the Hoogly 1670. and also at Pondicherry, about eighty miles below Madras, in the large southern province of India known as the Carnatic. When France and England were at war, their colonies, whether in India or America, were involved in the same calamity. In the year 1746, Fort St. George fell into the hands of the French. The garrison, surrendering after a short but brave defence, were promised honorable treatment. This promise was broken, and they were carried prisoners to Pondicherry. Numbers of them contrived to escape, and among these, habited in the disguise of a Hindoo, Robert Clive, a young merchant's clerk of twenty-one, fled to Fort St. David. Such was the position of affairs when the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle obliged the French to restore Madras. We shall find, however, that, as allies of the native princes, the French and English in India carried on hostilities even when the mother countries were at peace.

From the early part of the sixteenth century India had been governed by a potentate called "the Great Mogul," who resided in much pomp at his capital of Delhi, and appointed viceroys, who, nominally under him, but truly by their own power, ruled the provinces of Hindostan. Of the splendor of the court of Aurungzebe, one of the greatest of the Great Moguls, descriptions are given, which surpass the wonders of a fairy tale.

A French traveller, who visited Aurungzebe's court in the year 1665, tells us of his "seven splendid thrones; one covered with diamonds, another with rubies, with emeralds, or with pearls." Whilst the Great Mogul was seated on his Peacock Throne, so called from its back being formed by jewelled representations of peacocks' tails, thirty splendid horses stood ready caparisoned, with bridles set with precious