May 1762. Affairs in Germany. ived, that Pr. Henry has had further advantages in Saxony. He fent Gen. Seydlitz to attack the Auftrians at Dip. poldfwalda and Maxen; and Gen. HulTen to Keffeldorp, and the Plunfche Grund. They were both fuccefsful, and drove the Auftrians on all fides, who have loft above 4000 more prifoners. A battalion and two regiments of Auftrian horse were taken at Dippoldfwalda by Gen. Seydlitz, befides 2500 horfes, 365 waggons, and feveral pieces of cannon, ftandards, and other trophies. The Auftrians incamp near Pirna; and the Pruffian huffars make excurfions to the frontiers of Bohemia, and the gates of Drefden." It was not till the 24th of March, that Gen. Czernicheff's corps in Silefia actually feparated from the Auftrians, in order to retire into Poland. His Pruffian Ma jefty invited all the Ruffian general officers to dine with him at Breflau on the 27th. Notwithstanding M. Daun's being made prefident of the council of war at Vienna, he is this campaign to command the Austrian army in Silefia, where the Emprefs-Queen feems refolved to use her utmost efforts. We are told, that he has received full powers to act according to his own judgment, that he may be the more upon an equality with his Prullian Majefty, who, being fubject to no control, can vary his plan as circumstances arife, and conceal his designs till the moment of executing them. The Marhal arrived at Schweidnitz the 9th of May. About that time the principal Autrian army began to aflemble between that town and the mountains. We were old, that it would consist of near 60,000 men; and that 35 or 40,000 more were ander the command of Gen. Laudohn, eady to go where-ever they fhould be noit needed. His Pruilian Majefty left Breflau the 16th, and fixed his quarters t Bettlern, a village five British miles liftant from thence. Gen. Werner, with bout 20,000 Pruffians, was in Upper ilefia, near Cofel. There have been fe eral skirmishes, in which the Pruflians ave generally had the advantage. In ne of these rencounters, the Auftrian reiment of Baden-Baden was almoft cut and the colonel, Count de Harrack, as fo wounded that his life was despairdof. The following articles are from Ratif- 267 granted for the fupport of the army of the Empire; fo that if the ftates of the Empire do not fpeedily pay their quota's, that army must be disbanded." "April 5. The impreflion which the change of fyftem in Ruffia has made on the diet is very evident already. The fupply demanded by the court of Vienna will not be granted. The court of Berlin is mentioned, in the debates, with more respect than before; and the words patriotic zeal have a different meaning affixed to them from what they had fome time ago. The majority of the diet are fenfible, that a general peace would be much to their advantage; and would have little private interests facrificed, to obtain that defirable bleffing." "April 26. The minifter of the Landgrave of Heffe-Caffel hath presented to the minifter of Mentz, a memorial, to be laid before the diet of the Empire, pray ing, that the Empire would set aside the teftamentary deed by which the late Landgrave [xxii. 153.] appropriated the county of Hanau for the maintenance of the present Landgravine and her two fons, who are educated Calvinifts. The Land grave infinuates in this memorial, that he indeed acquiefced in the faid teftamentary deed of his father, but he is now fenfible of the confequences of it; that it is the less valid, as the late Landgrave did not make the first acquifition of the county of Hanau to his family, as he alledged; and on that account likewife could not deprive his fon of that part of his inheritance. The Landgrave farther fets forth, that he had offered the Landgravine his lady, as an equivalent, a yearly revenue of one hundred thousand florins, and to align for fecurity a capital of two millions; but that as thefe offers were rejected, he was laid under the neceflity of having recourfe to the diet to have their decifion; and would only add, that the excluding a prince by a teftament and laft-will from his lawful inheritance, without any just caufe or pretext, was an affair that concerned every state of the Empire. It was expected that this memorial would have been immediately laid before the diet, in order to be taken into confideration: but that hath not yet been done and it is fuppofed that it hath been hinted to the Landgrave, that he ought to make application immediately at Vienna, that the affair may be determined in a fummary way by the Emperor; for if it fhould be taken into confideration by the diet in the prefent circumftances of things, the Roman Catholics might indeed declare in favour of the Landgrave; but as England, by whofe advice the Landgravine refufed the offers of her husband, would oppofe him, all the Protestant ministers would join the Hanover minifter, and that party is at prefent the Strongest." The Dutch Eaft-India company have made new representations to the STATESGENERAL, concerning the differences between the British Eaft India company and them at Bengal. This is fuppofed by fome to have been done through the inftigations of the French, in order to render the people difcontented, and difpofe them to compliance, in cafe the miniftry of Verfailles and Madrid fhall think fit to make demands at the Hague, like thofe they have already made at Lisbon. A fresh fubject of difpute has arifen. A French privateer having been chafed by a British fhip of war, and finding that he had no probability of efcaping, but by running afhore on the Dutch coaft, fhe did fo near Scheveling; upon which the British followed, and not only fet her on fire, but threatened the inhabitants if they attempted to fave her. This is the Dutch account of the affair. Upon this the deputies of their High Might ineffes have made remonftrances to Gen. Yorke, his Britannic Majefty's minifter at the Hague, and defired him to tranfmit them to his court. As to affairs in FRANCE, another fmall fquadron got out from Breft not long ago, during a brisk easterly wind. They write from Paris, that it was deftined for St Domingo, at which they were informed the former one from Breft had arrived with the loss of one capital fhip. They write from Versailles of April 24. that the Count d'Herouville de Claye was to have the command of 45,000 French affembling near Dunkirk; and that he had fet out the 14th for the general rendezvous. T With refpect to the Jefuits in that kingdom, we have the following articles to add. "Verfailles, April 24. As the Jefuits have not yet paid the money they were condemned to pay the Sieurs Liency and Goufre, their creditors, the parliament iffued an arret on the 23d, for fequeftrating all their effects in the jurifdiction of the parliament of Paris. And as notwithftanding this, they continued to difpofe of effects for ready money, a guard has been placed at the door of the college in St James ftreet. In one of the houses of the fociety, there was found a great quantity of coffee, which they traded in." "Paris, May 10. By an arret of the 5th inft. the parliament appoints the places where all perfons are to give notice of the effects of the Jefuits, who, it has been difcovered, lent large fums of money under borrowed names. A chamber-maid, who received an annuity of 15,000 livres from the guildhall of Paris, has declared, that no part of it belonged to her, but that the delivered the whole of it to the Jefuit her confeffor." With respect to the state of affairs bethe following tranflations of two authentween SPAIN and PORTUGAL, we have f tic pieces from the London gazette, dated, Lilbon, April 27. "The third memorial prefented to the fecretary of State Don Lewis da Cunha, by Don Jofeph Torrero, his Catholic Majesty's ambafador, and M. James O Dunne, his Moft Chriftian Majesty's minifter-plenipotentiary, on the 23d of this month. DON Jofeph Torrero, his Catholic Ma jefty's ambaffador, and M. James O Dunne, his Moft Chriftian Majefty's minifter-plenipotentiary, to the King of Portugal, agreeably to the inftructions and orders of their auguft fovereigns, to put an end to the negotiation which they are jointly engaged in and have pursued in order to bring his Moft Faithful Majefty over to his true intereft, which although exposed to the contingencies of war, yet furely for his honour and glory, to unite his forces to thofe of France and Spain, and endeavour to thake off the prejudicial dependency on England which the Portuguese nation labours under; the faid ambaffador, and minifter-plenipotentiary, having loft all hopes that their mafters fhould attain this fo laudable and heroic a purpose; either because the Por tuguese monarch and his ministers, being accustomed to this evil, do not perceive it, or elie because the common enemy has gained a defpotic power over their understanding; fince they will not admit of thofe reafons which their Catholic and Moft Chriftian Majefties have with fo much friendship, and fuch good intentions, reprefented; and knowing that although very eafy, it would be abfolutely ufelefs to refute thofe contained in his Excellency Don Lewis da Cunba's lat memorial, May 1762. Memorials, France and Spain, against Portugal. memorial, delivered to them the 5th of this month, they will only lay before the - Moft Faithful King, through his means, a curfory refutation thereof. That it is matter of great concern to the Kings their mafters, that the Most Faithful King, by confefling that England has given him cause to break the defenfive treaties, which he does, in faying, that it is not of fo great or fo immediate intereft to Portugal as to outweigh the calamities of war; if his Moft Faithful Majefty has weighed in the fame fcale, thefe of a war with England, and thofe of maintaining it against France and Spain, he has chofen the latter, with little regard to their power, and great difregard of their friendship, fince he joined himfelf to one who has offended him, whether much or little, to offend those who have given him no other motive, than that of perfuading him to what would be moft convenient for him. The King and his minifters cannot, because they will not, be perfuaded, that these defenfive treaties with the English, are offenfive ones with regard to Spain and France; the arguments to the contrary, alledged in the preceding memorials, being unanfwerable; and the comparing them to thofe of other powers ill grounded, his fituation and circumftances being extremely different from theirs. That their Moft Christian and Catholic Majefties, far from finding any merit in the friendly confidence of his Moft Faithful Majefty, from the filence obferved by his ambassador at Madrid, upon the military preparations that were making and carrying on upon the frontiers of Portugal; this has from the beginning raised in them a diftruft, which, to their great concern, is now confirmed by the experience of his preferring the alliance of the King of G. Britain to theirs: for otherwise he would, in a friendly manner, have inquired into the defign of fuch preparations, and have endeavoured to have fet on foot a negotiation, which their Catholic and Moft Chriftian Majefties could not immaturely folicit, at the known hazard of having their views difcovered by the court of Lifbon to that of London, which then held, and still holds poffeflion of their affections. Certain it is, that that of Lisbon had already taken the refolution within itself, which it is now obliged to difcover; and that the apparent indifference with which it faw 260 tion of its frontiers, without speaking of it in Madrid, was a latent fire for foliciting fuccours in London; thus oppofing difguifed preparations to open ones. That notwithstanding the court of Lisbon infifts, that there is no difference between her neutrality and that of other powers, and that there is no right to force them out of it, they may be affured, that it is by no means looked upon as a point of indifference, on account of the inconve niencies experienced by Spain in other wars with the English; and be perfuaded, that if the breach with their Catho lic and Moft Chriftian Majefties fhould bring upon the Moft Faithful King those which, united with the King of G. Britain, he does not fear, to thefe will be added the diffatisfaction, in the opinion of the most found and judicious part of Europe, of his having had it in his power to avoid them. That fince his Moft Faithful Majesty erroneously founds his own honour, and that of his crown, not in delivering himself from the truly oppreffive yoke of the Englith, but in oppofing the entry of Spanish troops into Portugal, who come to his affistance and defence, their Catholic and Moft Chriftian Majefties found theirs in attempting it; and will fuftain it with as much inflexibility as his Most Faithful Majefty, when he heroically declares, that rather than abandon Portugal, he will fee the last tile fall from his palace, and fpill the last drop of his fubjects blood. And finally, That the Moft Faithful King having, upon the alternative propofed to him, preferred the refifting the entry of Spanish troops as enemies, to admitting them as friends; and confequently the enmity of their Catholic and Moft Chriftian Majefties to their friendfhip, there is nothing more unneceflary, and even unbecoming, than the continuance of the above-mentioned ambassador of Spain, and minifter-plenipotentiary of France, near his Moft Faithful Majefty; therefore they befeech him, and hope he will be pleafed to direct the neceffary paffports to be furnished, that each may immediately retire to his respective court. Libon, April 23. 1762. DON JOSEPH TORRER^. what is called the blockade and infefta DN Lewis da Cunha, in execution of VOL. XXIV, the orders which he has received from the the Most Faithful King, his mafter, in anfwer to what is contained in the memorial which was prefented to him, on the 2 d day of the prefent month of A pril, by his Excellency Don Jofeph Torrero, ambaffador from the Catholic King, and by M. James O Dunne, minifterplenipotentiary from his Moft Chriftian Majefty, informs them, That having pofitive orders to fet apart from the fubftance of the bufiuefs under confideration, the adventitious, warm expreffions, fuch as have hitherto never been ufed between fovereigns, with which the faid memorial is filled; his Moft Faithful Majefty has found in it nothing new, that by giving an opening to negotiation, fhould make him alter his for mer refolutions, communicated in the an fwers of him, the fecretary of state, dated the 20th of March last, and the 5th of the prefent month of April. That the effective rupture, which the faid allied minifters have now owned in fuch clear and exprefs words, was not matter of furprife to his Majefty, after having feen, that this unexampled negotiation was opened by notifying to his Moft Faithful Majefty, in the first memorial, of the 16th of March laft, that it had been determined between the courts of Paris and Madrid, without any previous notice to his Majefty, to make the neutral kingdom of Portugal the theatre of war; to oblige his faid Moft Faithful Majesty calmly to fee his provinces and ports occupied by Spanish armies, to intimate to him, that for this purpose, the said armies were already pofted upon the frontiers of this kingdom; adding to all this, that he ought, not only to infringe all the treaties of peace and commerce which he has with the crown of England, but likewife to declare an offenfive war against the faid crown; the whole conceived in a style, by no means gentle or perfuafive, but rather expreling in the ftrongest terms, that the intent on was not to negotiate, but to break; and his faid Moft Faithful Majefty having teen this confirmed in the fecond memorial prefented by the faid Don Jofeph Torrero and M James O Dunne, on the 1ft inftant, therein declaring, that his Catholic Majefty had already given ultimate orders, that his troops fhould enter the dominions of this kingdom, without waiting for any other anfwer, or confent of his Moft Faithful Majefty, That his faid Moft Faithful Majefty folely places his honour and glory in be ing faithful to his royal word; in the obfervance of the duties of his crown, and of religion and humanity, which forbid his entering into an offenfive war against any power, although ever fo indifferent to him, and although not allied by reciprocal treaties, which have been adhered to for this age paft, as are those which fubfift with the crown of England. That their Catholic and Most Christian Majefties have been informed with very little fincerity, if any body has fuggested to them, that any claufe in the anfvers which went from this court on the 20th of March and the 5th of the prefent month of April, could be interpreted in the fenfe that his Moft Faithful Majefty fhould own, that England had given caufe to break thofe ancient defenfive alliances; becaufe, on the contrary, he owes to the crown of G. Britain, all that good harmony which is the natural effect of those ancient alliances. That his Moft Faithful Majefty, who has a high opinion of the power and friendship of their Moft Christian and Moft Catholic Majefties, cannot doubt that their said Majesties would be the first to difapprove of the ftep of breaking his neutrality, to make an offenfive war againft his allies, in the manner already related. That his faid Majefty fees no other difference between his neutrality and that of other powers, than the manner in which his frontiers are befet, under no other pretence, than the perfuafion, that it is convenient to the courts of Paris and Madrid that Portugal fhould break through all the above-mentioned ties. But furely mere conveniency, without any legitimate title, has never hitherto authorised belligerent powers to attack those which are neuter, and who enjoy the advantages attending on peace. That his Moft Faithful Majesty could' with, that the blame imputed to him for not having complained, that the frontiers of his kingdom were blocked up and infefted, were not fo fully proved by the faid memorials of the 16th of March, and the 1ft inftant, where it was declared in exprefs words, which cannot be mifunder ftood, that the faid blockade and infestation were ordered, from the time of the ftipulation of the family-compact, to invade and feize upon this kingdom; which are terms that plainly fhew, that Portugal was neither to ask nor expect fuccours from 1 May 1762. Military operations in Portugal. from the faid courts, which had joined themselves in alliance to attack it; and that the latent fire has always been on the fide of thofe who had determined to act offenfively, and not on the fide of him who has endeavoured, and does only endeavour, to defend and preferve himself in peace, which, by all laws of God, of nature, and of nations, he has a right to do. That if his Catholic Majefty were truly informed of what has happened in preceding wars, he would find, that his crown and subjects have reaped many and great benefits, upon feveral occafions, from the peace infeparable from the neutrality of Portugal, and of which there are, in Madrid, many living witneffes; and that it has not been the crown of England alone, which has profited by the neutrality and peace of Portugal. That, finally his Moft Faithful Majefty understands that he has the fame right to defend his kingdom from invafion, which is permitted to every private perfon, who is indifpenfably obliged to defend his own houfe against any body that fhould enter it without his confent. And that his Majefty, confining himfelf to this fole point of the natural defence of the neutrality and peace of his kingdoms, ports, and fubjects, will exert his utmost efforts, together with his allies, in cafe, notwithstanding all that has been related, he be attacked; and has given the neceffary orders, in his fecretary's office, that Don Jofeph Torrero, and M. James O Dunne, be furnifhed with the ufual paflports, as foon as they please to fend for them; and that, in fuch cafe, expreffes be fent to his ambassador Don Jofeph da Silva Pecantra, and to his minifter Pedro da Costa de Almeeda, with orders to leave the courts of Madrid and Paris, in the fame manner as the said ambaffador of his Catholic Majefty and minifter-plenipotentiary of his Moft Chriftian Majefty do here. Palace of Alcantara, April 25. 1762. DON LEWIS DA CUNHA. M. da Cunha, upon delivering to the Spanish and French minifter the above anfwer to their memorials, acquainted them, at the fame time, that the paff ports which they had demanded, would be ready, whenever they pleafed to fend for them. Accordingly, they took up their pafiports last night, and the barges being ready for them, they fet out this afternoon." 271 The Portuguese minifters who were in France and Spain, foon after left the courts of tho e two kingdoms. The Spanish troops entered Portugal about the 7th of May. On their entrance, M. de Saria, the Spanish general, rublifhed a manifefto, announcing to the Portuguese, "That his orders were, to release them from the yoke of G. Britain: That all his actions, if they did not oppofe his defigns, would be favourable to them; but that, in case of refiftance, he would employ against them the forces which were destined only against the English." Immediately after the publication of this manifefto, M. de Flobert, quartermafter-general, was fent to Miranda with a letter for the governor of the place, demanding to know how he intended to receive the troops which would foon appear at his gates. The Governor went to meet the officer, accompanied by the principal people of his garrifon, received him very politely, and took him into the city, and regaled him: but his anfwer to the demand in the letter was, "That he had no inftructions from his court, whereby he could difpenfe with doing the duty he was obliged to by his oath; and that he would defend the place to the last drop of his blood." Next day, as the Spanish troops destined for the fiege of this place were employed in dreffing a battery, a powder-magazine in the town accidentally took fire, and blew up; by which means two breaches were made in the wall. and 500 perfons deftroyed, including the inhabitants who unfortunately perithed. Though hoftilities were not yet begun, this determined Don Fagueredo, the governor, to furren der prifoner of war, with his garrifon. According to an article in the London gazette," the garrifon confifted of 350 men regular troops, with fome few militia. The Count de Cifuentes, lieutenant-colonel of horfe, carried the news to the King of Spain, and was rewarded with the rank of colonel. After the Spada, he fent a detachment of 4000 men to nifh general had got poffeffion of Miraninveft Braganza, which was done on the 10th." Saunders's fleet, fince its being lately According to letters from Spain, Adm. joined by 15 fhips of war fent from England, amounts to upwards of 40 fail, with which he has taken entire poffellion of the whole ftraits of Gibraltar. |