BOOK seemed disposed to defend with vigor; but on XIII. the 14th deputies arrived with proposals of ca1762. pitulation for the whole island, and this impor

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tant conquest was achieved with inconsiderable loss. In the mean time commodore Swanton was detached from the fleet with a force sufficient for the reduction of the island of Grenada and the Grenadines, which submitted without resistance, and proved in the hands of the English a very valuable acquisition. At the same time the English took possession of the islands of St. Lucia, Tobago, and St. Vincent, which, though declared neutral by former treaties, had been for some time occupied by the French.

Spain, who meant certainly nothing further than, by the weight of her influence and too partial mediation, to procure for France more favorable terms of accommodation than were otherwise obtainable, found herself unexpectedly engaged as a principal in the war, for which she was extremely unprepared. The marine of France, by repeated defeats, was broken, and almost ruined; whilst the numerous fleets of Britain seemed to cover the ocean, and rode triumphant from the Ganges to the Mississippi, from the rising to the setting sun. The naval power of Spain was utterly unable to cope with this prodigious force. In one quarter only could England be considered as vulnerable. By an at

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tack on Portugal, a kingdom in close alliance воок with Great Britain, very open to invasion, feeble, opulent, defenceless, Spain might reasonably hope fully to indemnify herself for any losses she might elsewhere sustain. The military and heroic spirit by which the Portuguese nation had been formerly characterized, was now no more; her privileged orders were sunk in luxury; her people in sloth, ignorance, and bigotry; her troops were destitute of discipline, her fortresses of artillery and ammunition. The recent destruction of her capital, the mysterious conspiracy against the life of the monarch, the consequent execution of her most distinguished and popular nobles, the forcible expulsion of the jesuits, and the entire alienation of the court of Lisbon from the see of Rome: all these causes, conjoined, had filled, the kingdom with confusion and discontent. In this situation it was doubtless imagined that Portugal would fall an easy prey to the arms of Spain; and great military preparations were made, and a large body of forces assembled on the frontiers of that kingdom.

On the 16th of March, 1762, a joint memorial was presented by the ambassadors of France and Spain at the court of Lisbon, "inviting the king of Portugal to renounce his connexion with Great Britain, and engage in the offensive and defensive alliance which they had formed

BOOK against that insolent and dangerous power." The XIIL Catholic king, professing "the most cordial at1762. tachment to the interests of his most Faithful

majesty, to whom he was so nearly allied, insisted that the English subjects resident in Portugal should be compelled to depart the kingdom, and the English shipping no longer be allowed shelter in her ports; declaring, that he should immediately occupy with his troops the fortresses and maritime places belonging to his most Faithful majesty, to protect them from the resentment of England." To this extraordinary requisition the ambassadors of the two courts demanded a categorical answer in four days. The king of Portugal replied, in very moderate and conciliatory language, "That he was sincerely disposed to act as mediator in compromising the present differences, but that the unfortunate state of his kingdom would not allow him, were he so inclined, to engage as a principal in the war; that the honor of his crown, and the faith of solemn treaties, would not permit him to abandon the alliance of England; and that he was determined to observe a strict neutrality, making those preparations only which were necessary for his own

defence."

In a second memorial, dated April 1, the confedèrate powers declared, in a tone still more imperious, "That his most Faithful majesty's

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alliance with England became in effect an offen- BOOK sive alliance, from the situation of the Portuguese ~ dominions, and the nature of the English power; that the British squadrons could not keep the sea without the use of the ports of his most Faithful majesty; that the riches of Portugal passed into the hands of the English ; and they again invited him, since the differences between the crowns of Spain and Portugal, which had laid the foundation of the alliance with England, had been long since happily accommodated, to abandon that alliance, and enter into a strict league of friendship with their Christian and Catholic majesties." The king of Portugal persisting in his refusal of these overtures, the ambassadors of the two courts, after the delivery of a third memorial, still more insolent and insulting than the former, were ordered to leave the kingdom *.

• The political and moral reflections of the king of Prusia, in speaking of this procedure of the kings of France and Spain respecting Portugal, must be acknowledged very edifying; and it is unfortunate that the same mode of reasoning did not happen to occur to him previous to his successive invasions of Silesia, Saxony, and Poland. Pourquoi," says the royal historian, "attaquer le roi de Portugal, qui n'avoit offensé personne? sur le royaume duquel ni l'Espagne ni la France n'avoient des droits? C'étoit le commerce lucratif que l'Angleterre faisoit en Portugal que la France vouloit ruiD'ailleurs elle étoit persuadée que les Anglois auroient rendu la meilleure partie de leur conquêtes pour faire restituer

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On the 23d of May, 1762, war was declared by Spain against Portugal, the Spanish army 1762. having already passed the frontier. His most clared by Faithful majesty having made previous and urgent solicitation to the court of London for asPortugal, sistance, it was determined to grant him the most speedy and efficacious succor, by the embarkation of a large body of troops under lord Tyrawley, a veteran officer, who had formerly resided with high reputation as ambassador at the court of Lisbon, and who now united the different characters of plenipotentiary and general. The king of Portugal had conferred, at the recommendation of the king of England, the supreme command of his armies on the famous count de la Lippe-Buckebourg, master-general of the artillery under prince Ferdinand of Brunswic; a man whose military talents were of the highest class, and who possessed all the heroic and romantic qualities which distinguished and adorned the ages of chivalry. Lord Tyrawley returning soon to England, perhaps in disgust at this superior appointment, the command of the English auxiliaries devolved on the earl of Loudon, under whom served the generals Burgoyne, Crawford,