public, admiral Lestock was fully acquitted, and Matthews declared incapable of serving for the future in his majesty's navy!—Though it was evident to every unprejudiced mind, that Lestock, by keeping aloof, when he had it in his power to engage, was not only the cause of the miscarriage complained of, but of exposing the British fleet to the most imminent danger, in order to gratify his vindictive spirit; while Matthews, rushing into the hottest of the enemy's fire, fought like a hero, and discovered a noble zeal for the service of his king and country36. Such ridiculous things, as experience has since repeatedly proved, are courts-martial in factious times!

Before these judicial proceedings were finished, mutual MARCH declarations of war had been issued by the kings of 20...31. France and England, who thenceforth became in some measure principals in the continental quarrel, the court of Versailles having issued a declaration of war also against her Hungarian majesty. Lewis XV. accused George II. of having violated the neutrality of Hanover, of dissuading the queen of Hungary from coming to an accommodation with the emperor, and of blocking up the ports and disturbing the commerce of France. His Britannic majesty recriminated, by accusing the French king of violating the pragmatic sanction; of attempting to destroy the balance of power in Europe, by dismembering the Austrian succession; of assisting the Spaniards, the avowed enemies of England, both secretly and openly, in contempt of the faith of treaties; of harbouring the pretender, contrary to the most solemn engagements, furnishing him with a fleet and army to invade Great-Britain; and of committing actual hostilities on the British fleet in the Mediterranean37. Both parties had formed the most sanguine, and not ill-grounded hopes of success: the king of Great-Britain on the valour

36. Compare the Trials of Matthews and Lestock.

37. Printed Declarations of War.

of

of his troops, the hearty co-operation of the Dutch, and. the vigorous exertions of the court of Vienna; the house of Bourbon on the new alliances they were forming in Germany, and the vast preparations they had made for prosecuting the war, both in Italy and the Low-Countries.

MARCH 31.

The campaign in Italy was early begun on the side of Piedmont. Don Philip being joined by twenty thousand French troops under the prince of Conti, passed the river Var, which descends from the Alps, and falls into the sea of Genoa, a little below the city of Nice. The whole county of Nice submitted. But before the con federates could advance farther, they had to force the Piedmontese entrenchments at Villa-Franca, and afterwards to reduce the castle of Montauban, situated among rocks. which form a chain of almost inaccessible ramparts. All these difficulties, however, were surmounted by the valour of the French and Spaniards, though not without great loss 38. Their intention was, to penetrate into the duchy of Milan through the Genoese territories; a measure that would have been attended with the most fatal consequences to the queen of Hungary and the king of Sardinia. Admiral Matthews, who had by this time returned to the coast of Italy, therefore sent a spirited message to the senate of Genoa, declaring, that if the confederate army was suffered to pass through the dominions of the republic, he must consider it as a breach of her neutrality, and would be under the necessity of immediately commencing hostilities against her subjects.

Alarmed at this threat, the Genoese, though secretly in the interest of the house of Bourbon, prevailed with Don Philip and the prince of Conti to chuse another route. They accordingly defiled off toward Piedmont, by the way of Briançon, and attacked the strong post of Chateau Dauphin, where the king of Sardinia commanded in person. It was carried after a desperate attack, in which the officers

28. Voltaire. Millot.

and

and soldiers of the two confederate, yet rival nations, performed wonders. "We may behave as well as the French." said the count de Campo Santo to the marquis de las Minas, who commanded under Don Philip, "but we cannot behave better." "This has been," says the prince of Conti, in a letter to Lewis XV. "one of the most hot and brilliant actions that ever happened: the troops have shewn a courage more thon human. The valour and presence of mind of M. de Chevert chiefly decided the advantage. I recommend to you M. de Solemi and the chevalier de Modena. La Carte is killed. Your majesty, who knows the value of friendship, will feel how much I am affected by his loss!" History records with particular pleasure such expressions of generosity and sympathy as do honour to the human character. The appeal of the prince of Conti to the bosom of Lewis XV. is equally elegant and emphatic.

After losing the important pass of Chateau-Dauphin, and another called the Barricades, which was carried at the same time, the king of Sardinia, not being in a con-. dition to hazard a battle, drew off his troops and artillery from the frontiers, in order to cover his capital. He took post at Saluzzo, about seventeen miles south of Turin; while the confederates, having made themselves masters of the castle of Demont, situated on a rock in the valley of Stura, and deemed impregnable, invested the strong town of Coni, the possession of which was necessary to open them a passage into the duchy of Milan. Meantime the king of Sardinia, being reinforced by a body of ten thousand Austrians, under Palavicini, resolved to attempt the relief of the place. He accordingly advanced, with a superior force, and attacked the French and Spaniards in their entrenchments. But, after an ob

39. They had the boldness to clamber up rocks of an incredible height mounted with cannon, and to pass through the embrasures, when the guns recoiled.

40. Voltaire. Millot.

stinate

stinate engagement, in which valour and conduct were equally conspicuous on both sides, he was obliged to retire with the loss of five thou

SEPT. 2.

sand men, to his camp in the valley of Murasso. The loss of the confederates was little inferior. And his Sardinian majesty having found means to reinforce the gar rison of Coni, and also to convey into the town a supply of provisons, Don Philip and the prince of Conti were obliged to raise the siege, after it had been continued till the end of November, to the almost total ruin of their army. Having destroyed the fortifications of Demont, in their retreat, they repassed the mountains, utterly evacuating Piedmont, and took up their winter-quarters in Dauphiny41. But the Spaniards still continued in possession of Savoy, which they fleeced without mercy.

The campaign in the south of Italy, was also distinguished by a diversity of fortune. His Sicilian majesty having, in violation of his forced neutrality, joined the Spanish army under the count de Gages, with twenty-five thousand of his own troops, prince Lobkowitz, the Austrian general, had orders to invade the kingdom of Naples. He accordingly left Monte-Rotondo, in the neighbourhood of Rome, where he was encamped, and advanced toward Velitri, near which the confederates were posted. While the two armies lay in sight of each other, prince Lobkowitz sent a strong detachment into the province of Abruzzo, where they distributed a manifesto, in the name of her Hungarian majesty, exhorting the inhabitants to throw off the Spanish yoke, and put themselves again under the protection of the house of Austria, That measure, however, was attended with. very little success, the Neapolitans shewing no inclination to rebel. Lobkowitz, therefore, collected his forces, and resolved to make an attack upon the head-quarters of the confederates at Velitri. This enterprize he committed

41. Voltaire. Millot. Smollett. Contin. of Rapin, vol. ix. The two last volumes of this Continuation were written by the late Mr. Guthrie, though they bear the name of 'Tindal.

YOL. V.

S

to

to count Brown, an able and active general, whom I shall afterward have occasion frequently to mention, and in order to render the design successful, he amused the enemy with ambiguous motions.

tain.

In the meantime count Brown, at the head of six thousand choice troops, surprised Velitri in the night; and the duke of Modena and the king of the two Sicilies were in the utmost danger of being made prisoners. They escaped with difficulty to the quarters of the count de Gages, who performed on this occasion, the part of a great capHe rallied the fugitives, removed the panic which had begun to prevail in the camp, and made a masterly disposition for cutting off the communication of the detachment of the enemy with their main body. Count Brown, therefore, finding himself in danger of being surrounded, and seeing no prospect of assistance, thought proper to attempt a retreat. That he effected with great gallantry, carrying away a prodigious booty.

Three thousand of the Spaniards and Neapolitans are said to have been killed in this nocturnal encounter, and eight hundred were taken, together with many standards, colours, and other military trophies. The Austrians lost only about six hundred men; but the failure of the enterprize, and the heats of autumn proved fatal to their hopes. Prince Lobkowitz seeing his army daily mouldering away, without the possibility of being recruited, decamped from Fiola; and passing the Tyber at Ponte-Molle, anciently known by the name of Pons Milvius, which he had just time to break down behind him, when the enemy's vanguard appeared, he crossed the mountains of Gubio, and arrived, by the way of Viterbo, in the Bolognese territory, where he went into winter-quarters42.

NOV. 2.

The queen of Hungary and her allies were not more successful in Germany and the Low-Countries. But considering the unexpected confederacy that was formed

42. Id. ibid.

against