however, were soon sent out for putting him under an arrest, and for carrying him to England. 6. Upon his arrival he was committed to close custody in Greenwich hospital, and some arts used to inflame the populace against him, who want no incentives to injure and condemn their superiors Several addresses were sent up from different counties, demanding justice on the delinquent, which the ministry were willing to second. 7. He was soon after tried by a court-martial in the harbour of Portsmouth, where, after a trial which continued several days, his judges were agreed that he had not done his utmost during the engagement to destroy the enemy, and therefore they adjudged him to suffer death by the twelfth article of war. At the same time, however, they recommended him as an object of mercy, as they considered his conduct rather as the effect of error than of cowardice. By this sentence they expected to satisfy at once the resentment of the nation, and yet screen themselves from conscious severity. 8. The government was resolved upon showing him no mercy; the parliament was applied to in his favour; but they found no circumstance in his conduct that could invalidate the former sentence. Being thus abandoned to his fate, he maintained to the last a degree of fortitude and serenity that no way betrayed any timidity or cowardice. On the day fixed for his execution, which was on board a man-of-war in the harbour of Portsmouth, he advanced from the cabin where he had been imprisoned, upon deck, the place appointed for him to suffer. 9. After delivering a paper, containing the strongest assertions of his innocence, he came forward to the place where he was to kneel down, and for some time persisted in not covering his face; but his friends representing that his looks would possibly intimidate the soldiers who were to shoot him, and prevent their taking a proper aim, he had his eyes bound with a handkerchief; and then giving the signal for the soldiers to fire, he was killed instantaneously. There appears some severity in Byng's punishment; but it certainly produced soon after very bene ficial effects to the nation. 10. In the progress of the war the forces of the contending powers of Europe were now drawn out in the following manner. England opposed France in America, Asia, and on the ocean. France attacked Hanover on the continent of Europe. This country the king of Prussia undertook to protect; while England promised him troops and money to assist in the operations. Then again Austria had her aims at the dominions of Prussia, and drew the elector of Saxony into the same designs. In these views she was seconded by France and Sweden, and by Russia, who had hopes of acquiring a settlement in the west of Europe. 11. The east was the quarter in which success first began to dawn upon the British arms. The affairs of the English seemed to gain the ascendency by the conduct of Mr. Clive. This gentleman had at first entered the company's service in a civil capacity; but finding his talents more adapted to war, he gave up his clerkship, and joined among the troops as a volunteer. His courage, which is all that subordinate officers can at first show, soon became remarkable; but his conduct, expedition, and military skill soon after became so conspicuous as to raise him to the first rank in the army. 12. The first advantage that was obtained from his activity and courage was the clearing the province of Arcot. Soon after the French general was taken prisoner; and the nabob, whom the English supported, was reinstated in th government of which he had formerly been deprived. 13. The prince of the greatest power in that country declared war against the English from motives of personal resentment; and, levying a numerous army, laid siege to Calcutta, one of the principal British forts in that part of the world; but which was not in a state of strength to defend itself against the attack even of barbarians. The fort was taken, having been deserted by the commander; and the garrison, to the number of a hundred and forty-six persons, were made prisoners 14. They expected the usual treatment of prisoners of war, and were therefore the less vigorous in their defence; but they soon found what mercy was to be expected from a savage conqueror. They were all crowded together into a narrow prison, called the Black Hole, of about eighteen feet square, and received air only by two small windows to the west, which by no means afforded a sufficient circulation. 15. It is terrible to reflect on the situation of these unfortunate men, shut up in this narrow place, in the burning climate of the East, and suffocating each other. Their first efforts, upon perceiving the effects of their horrid conânement, were to break open the door of the prison: but, as it opened inwards, they soon found that impossible. They next endeavoured to excite the compassion or the avarice of the guard, by offering him a large sum of money for his assistance in removing them into separate prisons; but with this he was not able to comply, as the viceroy was asleep, and no person dared to disturb him. 16. They were now, therefore, left to die without hopes of relief; and the whole prison was filled with groans, shrieks, contest, and despair This turbulence, however, soon after sunk into a calm still more hideous! their efforts of strength and courage were over, and an expiring languor succeeded. In the morning, when the keepers came to visit the prison, all was horror, silence, and desolation. Of a hundred and forty-six who had entered alive, twenty-three only survived, and of these the greatest part died of putrid fevers upon being set free. 17. The destruction of this important fortress served to interrupt the prosperous success of the English company; but the fortune of Mr. Clive, backed by the activity of an English fleet under admiral Watson, still turned the scale in their favour. Among the number of those who felt the power of the English in that part of the world was the famous Tullagee Angría, a piratical prince, who had long infested the Indian ocean, and made the princes on the coast his tributaries. He maintained a large number of galleys, and with these he attacked the largest ships, and almost ever with success. 18. As the company had been greatly harassed by his depredations, they resolved to sub due such a dangerous enemy, and attack him in his own fortress. In pursuance of this resolution, admiral Watson and colonel Clive sailed into his harbour of Geriah; and though they sustained a warm fire as they entered, yet they soon threw all his fleet into flames, and obliged his fort to surrender at discretion. The conquerors found there a large quantity of warlike stores, and effects to a considerable value. Questions for Examination. 1. Who was sent out to the relief of Minorca ? 2, 3. What was the conduct of admiral Byng? 4. What was the consequence? 5. What afterwards followed? 6. What treatment did Byng experience? What was the result of the court-martial? 8, 9. Relate the manner of Byng's execution. 10. In what manner were the contending powers opposed to each other? 11 In what quarter did success first attend the British arms? From whose conduct? 12, 13. What were the first operations? 14-16. Relate the terrible situation of the prisoners confined in the Black Hole at Calcutta. 17, 18. What are the particulars of the success which attended colonel Clive and admiral Watson ? SECTION X. Pelham nis place and life resigns, In our commercial constellation.- Dibdin. 1. (A.D. 1757.) COLONEL CLIVE proceeded to take revenge for the cruelty practised upon the English. About the beginning of December he arrived at Balasore, in the kingdom of Bengal. He met with little opposition either to the fleet or army, till they came before Calcutta, which seemed resolved to stand a regular siege. As soon as the admiral with two ships arrived before the town, he received a furious fire from all the batteries, which he soon returned with still greater execution, and in less than two hours obliged them to abandon their fortifications. By these means the English took possession of the two strongest settlements on the banks of the Ganges; but that of Geriah they demolished to the ground. 2. Soon after these successes, Hoogly, a city of great trade, was reduced, with as little difficulty as the former, and all the viceroy of Bengal's storehouses and granaries were destroyed. In order to repair these losses, this barbarous prince assembled an army of ten thousand horse and fifteen thousand foot, and professed a firm resolution of expelling the English from all their settlements in that part of the world. 3. Upon the first intelligence of his march colonel Clive obtained a reinforcement of men from the admiral's ships, and advanced with his little army to attack these numerous forces. He attacked the enemy in three columns, and, though the numbers were so disproportionate, victory soon declared in favour of the English. 4. The English by these victories having placed a viceroy on the throne (for the Mogul had long lost all power. in India), they took care to exact such stipulations in their own favour as would secure them in possession of the country whenever they thought proper to resume their authority. They were gratified in their avarice to its extremest wish; and that wealth which they had plundered from slaves in India, they were resolved to employ in making slaves at home. 5. From the conquest of the Indians, colonel Clive turned to the humbling of the French, who had long disputed empire in that part of the world, and soon dispossessed them of all their power, and all their settlements. 6. In the mean time, while conquest shone upon us from the East, it was still more splendid in the western world. But some alterations in the ministry led to those successes which had been long wished for by the nation, and were at length obtained. The affairs of war had hitherto been directed by a ministry but ill supported by the commons, because not confided in by the people. They seemed timid and wavering, and but feebly held together, rather by their fears than their mutual confidence. 7. When any new measure was proposed which could not receive their approbation, or any new member was introduced into government whom they did not appoint, they considered it as an infringement on their respective departments, and threw up their places with disgust, with a view to resume them with greater lustre. Thus the strength of the crown was every day declining, while an aristocracy filled up every avenue to the throne, intent only on the emolument, not the duties of office. 8. This was, at that time, the general opinion of the people, and it was too loud not to reach the throne. The ministry that had hitherto hedged in the throne were at length obliged to admit some men into a share of the govern. ment, whose activity at least would counterbalance their |