Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/494

480 Islands to Acapulco, in Mexico. For this purpose he had to traverse the whole enormous Pacific, and on, the way, finding the "Centurion" and the two other vessels too much for his reduced crews, he destroyed them, and continued his voyage with the "Centurion" alone. After many hardships and adventures he readied China, and anchored at Macao, in the bay of Canton, in November, 1742. He there new-coppered the "Centurion," and at the proper time sailing thence with some fresh seamen, he fell in with the Manilla galleon, and, after a short but sharp contest, took it, though mounting forty guns and carrying six hundred men. The treasure found on board was valued at three hundred and thirteen thousand pounds. He sold the ship in China, pursued his way home by the Cape of Good Hope, and after incredible hardships, and passing through the French fleet without seeing it, he reached Spithead on the 15th of June of the present year, 1744. There were great rejoicings on the announcement of his arrival with silver and gold to the amount of a million and a quarter sterling. Anson was made rear-admiral of the fleet; and to show the nation that at length there was a decided triumph over the Spaniards, the whole of this wealth was drawn in procession from Portsmouth to London in thirty wagons, escorted by the ships crew, preceded by their officers with drawn swords, and with bands playing and flags flying, amongst them those taken from the Spaniards, and conspicuously that of the great galleon itself.

The French having now formally declared war with England, entered on the campaign with Flanders in the middle of May with eighty thousand men, and the king taking the nominal command, in imitation of his great grandfather, Louis XIV. Marshal Saxe was the real commander, and with this able general Louis went on for some time reaping fictitious laurels, as his ostentatious predecessor had done. The king of England expected to see the allies muster seventy-five thousand men—a force nearly equal to that of the French; but the Dutch and Austrians had grievously failed in their stipulated quotas, and the whole army did not exceed fifty thousand. Marshal Wade, the English commander, was a general of considerable experience, but no Marlborough, either in military genius or that self-command which enabled him to bear up against tardy movements and antagonistic tempers of the foreign officers. Wade found all the trying opposition and petty jealousy in the Dutch and Austrian leaders which Marlborough had done, but he had not the patience and firm urbanity by which Marlborough conquered them. Consequently, whilst he had to contend with a very superior force, he was hampered by his coadjutors—lost his temper, and, what was worse, lost battles, too. The French went on, as in Louis XIV.'s time, taking town after town and fortress after fortress. In six weeks they had made themselves masters of Courtray, Menin, Ypres, Fort Knoque, and Furncs, and spread a terrible consternation through the whole of Holland itself.

But this career of victory was destined to receive a check. Prince Charles of Lorraine, at the head of sixty thousand men, burst into Alsace, and marched without any serious obstacle to the very walls of Strasburg. This diversion was effectual. Louis left Saxe to contend with the allies with half the army, and at the head of the other half marched to the relief of Strasburg. Had the allies been united, they might now have struck a decided blow at the diminished French army; but their feuds were incurable, they continued quarrelling with Wade instead of with Saxe, and thus they did nothing. On the other hand, the hurry of the march towards Alsace overthrew the feeble constitution of the French king. He was seized at Metz with a violent fever, which made so rapid an advance, that in a few days the utmost alarm was entertained for his life. The queen and royal family were summoned in all haste, and expecting scarcely to reach him whilst he was alive, arrived to find the crisis past, and the king recovering. Louis had led a life of mere laziness and voluptuousness, but at the approach of death he became very penitent, dismissed his reigning mistress, Madame de Chateauroux, and promised all sorts of good things to his people. As he recovered, he as quickly returned to the wallowing in the old mire, sent for his mistress back again, and thought no more about the people. The people, who had shown the most sincere concern during his illness, soon came to entertain a juster feeling towards him, and instead of Louis le Bien Aimé, as they had called him, grew, as lord Chesterfield observed, to hate and despise him—a thing rarely happening to the same man.

Whilst Louis lay ill at Metz, France received an unexpected relief. Prince Charles was hastily recalled to cope with Frederick of Prussia, who, in violation of his treaty, of public oaths and private promises, had again, in his insatiable cupidity, burst into the territories of Maria Theresa. It is true that this "great" monarch was bound by all tho sacred obligations that can be imposed to attempt nothing further against the queen of Hungary; but Frederick was an admiring disciple of Voltaire and the infidel school of France, and on such men all moral restrictions are lost. The successes of Austria had alarmed him, and, apprehensive that Maria Theresa would ere long be attempting to recover Silesia, he, to the delight of France, had made fresh overtures in that quarter, and also encouraged the emperor simultanously to strike a blow for his lost Bavaria. Frederick burst into Bohemia at the head of sixty thousand men, sending another division of his army into Moravia. He found in Prague a garrison of fifteen thousand men, yet by the 15th of September he had reduced the place, after a ten days' siege. At the same time marshal Seckendorf, the imperial general, entered Bavaria, which was defended only by a small force, and quickly reinstated Charles on the throne of Munich. Vienna itself was in the greatest alarm, lest the enemies uniting should pay it a visit. But this danger was averted by the rapid return of prince Charles of Lorraine from before Strasburg. He had to pass the very front of the French army ; nevertheless, he conducted his forces safely and expeditiously to the frontiers of Bohemia, himself hastening to Vienna to consult on the best plan of operations. Maria Theresa again betook herself to her heroic Hungarians, who, at her appeal, once more rushed to her standard; and Frederick, in his turn alarmed, called loudly on the French for their promises of assistance, but called in vain. The French had no desire for another campaign in the heart of Austria. The Prussian invader, therefore, soon found himself menaced on all sides by Austrians, Croatians,