tainly is no matter of blame to a young Prince if he ardently pants for warlike distinction; but on the other hand, Lord Marischal was undoubtedly most kind, judicious, and farsighted in preventing him from entering the French ranks against his own countrymen, where his restoration was not concerned, and thereby heaping a needless unpopularity upon his head.

As another instance how rife were divisions and animosities amongst those who had every motive to remain united, it may be mentioned that Charles had, at first, neglected to summon the Duke of Ormond from his retirement at Avignon, to embark with the intended expedition. Ormond, it is true, was now an octogenarian, and his exertions even in his prime were little worth; but his name and popularity in England had long been a tower of strength. The Prince perceived his error when too late, and hastily wrote to the Duke pressing him to join the armament, and Ormond accordingly set out; but, receiving intelligence upon the road that the design had already miscarried, returned to his residence,

Disappointed in all projects of immediate action, whether in England, in Scotland, or in Flanders, Charles now returned to Paris. He received a message from the King directing him to remain concealed; accordingly, he writes to his father"I have taken a house within a league of this town, "where I am like a hermit." But in a little while the zeal and loquacity of his adherents betrayed his presence; so that, as is observed by himself, "at last my being in Paris was LE 66 SECRET DE LA COMÉDIE." ** At some intervals, accordingly, he was allowed to live privately in the capital, but at others, he found it necessary to retire to Fitz-James, the seat of the Duke of Berwick, where he sought recreation in field sports. During all this time he carried on an active correspondence with his Scottish partisans, whom he soon perceived to be greatly superior in zeal and determination to his English. *Letter, June 1. 1744. Stuart Papers. **To his father, November 16. 1744.

1745.

NAVAL BATTLE OFF TOULON.

185

"The truth of the matter is," says he at a later period, "that 66 our friends in England are afraid of their own shadow, and "think of little else but of diverting themselves; otherwise, "we should not want the King of France."* During the last two years his adherents in the North had employed, as their principal agent, Mr. John Murray, of Broughton, a gentleman of birth and property, whom they knew to be active and able, and believed courageous and trusty; and this person being despatched to Paris in the summer of 1744, held frequent conferences with Charles. In these the Prince appeared sanguine of French assistance, but declared himself willing to go to Scotland though he brought but a single footman. **

The invasion of England had not been the sole object of the armaments at Dunkirk and at Brest; the French were equally desirous of striking a decisive blow upon the naval resources and reputation of Great Britain. With this view the fleet at Toulon, consisting partly of French, partly of Spanish vessels, was likewise directed to sail from that harbour, and to risk an engagement with Admiral Mathews. The two fleets met off Toulon on the 22nd of February, New Style; the British vessels were the more numerous, but in worse condition from the length of time they had kept the sea, and a deadly feud rankled between Mathews and Lestock, the first and second in command. Mathews, with his own division, attacked the Spanish squadron very gallantly, himself bearing down upon the Spanish flag-ship, a vessel of 114 guns. Lestock during this time kept aloof, withheld, as Mathews alleged, from motives of personal envy; as himself declared, from the confused and doubtful signals of his chief. When night parted the combatants, the Spaniards had suffered severely; their Admiral's ship was shattered to a mere wreck: the Royal Philip was disabled; and the Poder, after being taken and retaken, was finally burnt by the Eng

*To his father, February 21. 1745.

** Examination of Mr. Murray of Broughton, August 13. 1746. Appendix.

See

lish. Next day, the combined squadrons retiring in disorder, Lestock, with his division, gave them chase, and was followed by the whole fleet; but, just as he was in hopes of coming up with the enemy, Mathews gave the signal to cease from pursuit; a measure difficult to explain from any other causes than jealousy and resentment. Lestock was, moreover, treated with great personal harshness by his superior officer, suspended from his command, and sent for trial to England, where, however, Mathews himself was speedily summoned to answer for his conduct. After some proceedings in the House of Commons, there ensued a Court Martial, and a most protracted and wearisome inquiry: the result being at last, that Lestock was honourably acquitted, and Mathews declared incapable of serving His Majesty in future. The Spaniards, on their part, accused the French, though unjustly, of having deserted them in the engagement, and, as unjustly, claimed for themselves the honour of the day, decorating their Admiral, Don Joseph Navarro, with the pompous title of Marquis de la Victoria.

The naval designs of the French Government, and their reported reception of the young Pretender, contrary to the stipulations of treaties, were loudly complained of by Mr. Thompson, who was still British Resident at Paris. His representations, however, were met by haughty answers, and terminated by a public declaration of war, issued by France in the month of March, and couched in most offensive terms.**

About the middle of May, King Louis took the field in person, on the side of Flanders, with De Saxe for his general, with 80,000 effective men for his army. The Allies had undertaken to have 75,000 in that quarter; but, so grievously had the Dutch and Austrians failed in their contingents, that the whole united force did not exceed 50,000. Besides the British commander, Marshal Wade, though a respectable

*Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain, vol. iii. p. 346.

** See this declaration and the counter one of England in Tindal's Hist. vol. ix. p. 28-32.

1744.

ALSACE INVADED BY THE AUSTRIANS.

187

as

officer, was ill qualified to cope with the practised skill and daring energy of Saxe. He might also complain that the Dutch and Austrian generals impeded all his measures they once had Marlborough's - by their jarring and jealous counsels; and he had not Marlborough's high serenity of temper and gift of patience "patience," says that great man, "that will overcome all things"* to support him. Thus the French, feebly opposed by inferior and divided adversaries, reduced within six weeks Courtray, Menin, Ypres, Fort Knoque, and Furnes, and spread alarm to the inmost provinces of Holland. But, in July, their progress was arrested by the tidings, that another Austrian army had suddenly burst into Alsace.

Prince Charles of Lorraine had with great promptitude drawn together a considerable force at Heilbronn, and with great skill passed the Rhine near Philipsburg in the very face of the enemy, from whence, at the head of 60,000 men, he forced the lines of the Lauter, and drove the French before him to the ramparts of Strasburg. To avert the threatened danger Louis the Fifteenth resolved to march in person, with half his army, leaving the rest, under De Saxe, to maintain their ground. This would have been the moment for the Allies in Flanders to undertake some important operation; but discord and inefficiency were still the bane of their councils, and their campaign closed as it had begun without enterprise or glory.**

The French King had been but little inured to the fatigues of the field, and had sought to alleviate them by the pleasures of the table.*** He had advanced as far as Metz on his march to Alsace, when he was seized with a violent fever, which increased so rapidly that, in a few days, his life was despaired of. The news reached Paris in the middle of the night; immediately the Queen and Royal Family hastened away to the scene of danger, and arrived just when the King's

* Duke of Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, July 13. 1702. ** Lord Hardwicke to the Duke of Newcastle, August 16. 1744. *** Tindal's Hist. vol. ix. p. 74.

illness had taken a favourable turn. But the general grief and consternation in the capital can scarcely be described. The cry was, "If he dies it will be from marching to our de"fence." The churches were opened at midnight, and prayers offered for His Majesty's recovery; but the voices of the priests were often overpowered by their own emotion, or lost amidst the rising sobs of a loyal and afflicted people; and, when the tidings of the King's convalescence came, the messenger who brought them was embraced and nearly stifled by rejoicing crowds; his very horse was covered with kisses, and led in triumph through the streets.* Such feelings are the more remarkable, as flowing from duty and principle rather than from gratitude. Louis had, hitherto, done nothing for the welfare of his subjects, and seldom even bestowed a thought upon them except as instruments of his pleasures: he was selfish and cold-hearted, incapable of friendship, but always blindly governed by some female favourite. In his illness, however, he discerned the error of his ways, and hearkened to the voice of priestly admonition; he dismissed his reigning mistress, Madame de Chateauroux, and declared that if Providence spared his life he should henceforth devote it to the good of his people. Almost every man, when sick, forms an earnest resolution of amendment, and his progress in recovery may be accurately traced, day after day, by the slackening of his good intentions. And so it proved with Louis. As he grew in strength he recalled his former mistress, and sunk back to his old voluptuous indolence. And thus it happened in the course of time, and by the progress of misgovernment, that the surname of LE BIEN-AIMÉ, which he justly obtained from such signal marks of popular affection, has become a byword of derision whenever coupled with his name. "The French King," says Chesterfield only eight years afterwards, "is both "hated and despised, which seldom happens to the same "man."**

*Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XV. ch. xii.

** Earl of Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles, May 19. 1752.