1748
About the end of June, 1748, the Admiral quitted the Coasts of the Mauritius, and proceeded to Fort St. David, where the troops were landed, and encamped with all the necessary stores; the Marines from four ships sent to Europe under Admiral Griffin, were added to the battalion employed on this service. The forces employed amounted to six thousand British and Native Auxiliary troops, and upwards of one thousand sailors, trained to the use of small arms, who were to form the besieging army. The battering cannon, mortars, and every implement were conveyed by the squadron within two miles of the town, while the land forces marched on the 8th of August towards Pondicherry, about thirty miles distant.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the troops crossed the river of Arian Coupan, and obtained possession of a strong situation within a mile of that Fort; a communication was maintained from thence with the fleet; and all the implements necessary for the siege were landed.
On the 25th of September the batteries were completed, and began to play; but, notwithstanding a combined cannonade on the part of the squadron against the town, it was found that the enemy’s fire gained an ascendency over the besiegers. The fatigues endured by the troops, sickness becoming prevalent, and the rainy season being daily expected, which would inundate the country, and render retreat impracticable, afforded strong grounds, on which a Council of War, held on the 30th of September, determined to abandon the siege, to re-embark the men and stores, and to destroy the batteries. The troops fortunately reached Fort St. David on the evening of the 7th of October, after having demolished the fort of Arian Coupan on their way; the heavy rains which fell on the same evening had nearly rendered the rivers impassable.
On the 13th of February, 1748, the British squadron in the West Indies sailed from Jamaica under the command of Rear-Admiral Knowles, on an expedition against St. Jago, in Cuba, for which purpose some land forces were embarked at Jamaica, and being joined with the Marines of the squadron, the whole put to sea; but after persevering for some time against strong northerly winds, which prevented their approaching that coast, the design was given up, and the force was directed against Port Louis, on the south side of Hispaniola, before which place it arrived on the 8th of March. The service was performed by the ships in line of battle, which, after three hours’ heavy cannonade, compelled the governor, M. de Chaleaunoye, to surrender, when Major Scott, with a detachment of Colonel Trelawny’s, the forty-ninth regiment, and the Marines, were landed, and took possession of the Fort in the name of His Majesty. After having shipped or destroyed upwards of eighty heavy cannon, and blown up the works, the whole were re-embarked; and Rear-Admiral Knowles resumed his former design against St. Jago, where he arrived on the 5th of April. The Plymouth and Cornwall were ordered to enter the harbour, but after firing a few broadsides at the castle, it was considered prudent to desist, and the squadron returned to Jamaica.
The distresses of France arising from the destruction of her Navy, and the annihilation of her commerce, compelled King Louis XV. to express a desire for peace. Accordingly, a congress was held at Aix-la-Chapelle, in order to negotiate the terms on which peace could be restored. The desire expressed by the King of France, as well as of Spain, did not, however, induce the British Government to relax in its efforts to reduce the means which those powers never failed to use, when opportunities offered, of thwarting the measures of Great Britain.
The negotiations, commenced at Aix-la-Chapelle in June, 1748, produced a Definitive Treaty of Peace, which was concluded on the 18th of October of that year, and was proclaimed on the 2nd of February, 1749.
Among the many reductions which took place during 1748, consequent on the General Peace, the Ten regiments of Marines were disbanded in November of that year, the officers of which were placed on half-pay.
1755
The conditions of the Peace concluded with France in 1748, were broken as soon as that Power had recovered from the effects of the former war: the interval of six years had been devoted to extending her Naval preparations, and to negotiations with other States, in order to reduce, or destroy, the power of Great Britain.