GENERAL NATURALIZATION BILL.
But nothing engrossed the attention of the public more than a bill which was brought into the house for a general naturalization of all foreign protestants. The advocates for this measure alleged, That great part of the lands of England lay uncultivated; that the strength of a nation consisted in the number of inhabitants; that the people were thinned by the war and foreign voyages, and required an extraordinary supply; that a great number of protestants, persecuted in France and other countries, would gladly remove to a land of freedom, and bring along with them their wealth and manufactures; that the community had been largely repaid for the protection granted to those refugees who had already settled in the kingdom. They had introduced several new branches of manufacture, promoted industry, and lowered the price of labour; a circumstance of the utmost importance to trade, oppressed as it was with taxes, and exposed to uncommon hazard from the enemy. The opponents of the bill urged with great vehemence, That it would cheapen the birthright of Englishmen; that the want of culture was owing to the oppression of the times; that foreigners being admitted into the privileges of the British trade, would grow wealthy at the expense of their benefactors, and transfer the fortunes they had gained into their native country; that the reduction in the price of labour would be a national grievance, while so many thousands of English manufacturers were starving for want of employment, and the price of provisions continued so high that even those who were employed could scarce supply their families with bread; that the real design of the bill was to make such an accession to the dissenters as would render them an equal match in the body politic for those of the church of England; to create a greater dependence on the crown, and, in a word, to supply a foreign head with foreign members. Sir John Knight, a member of the house, in a speech upon this subject, exaggerated the bad consequences that would attend such a bill, with all the wit and virulence of satire: it was printed and dispersed through the kingdom, and raised such a flame among the people as had not appeared since the revolution. They exclaimed, that all offices would be conferred upon Dutchmen, who would become lord-danes, and prescribe the modes of religion and government; and they extolled sir John Knight as the saviour of the nation. The courtiers, incensed at the progress of this clamour, complained in the house of the speech which had been printed; and sir John was threatened with expulsion and imprisonment. He therefore thought proper to disown the paper, which was burned by the hands of the common hangman. This sacrifice served only to increase the popular disturbance, which rose to such a height of violence, that the court party began to tremble; and the bill was dropped for the present.
Lord Coningsby and Mr. Porter had committed the most flagrant acts of oppression in Ireland. These had been explained during the last session by the gentlemen who appealed against the administration of lord Sidney, but they were screened by the ministry; and therefore the earl of Bellamont now impeached them in the house of commons, of which he and they were members. After an examination of the articles exhibited against them, the commons, who were by this time at the devotion of the court, declared, that, considering the state of affairs in Ireland, they did not think them fit grounds for an impeachment.—In the course of this session, the nation sustained another misfortune in the fate of sir Francis Wheeler, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean squadron. He received instructions to take under his convoy the merchant ships bound to Turkey, Spain, and Italy; to cruise thirty days in a certain latitude for the protection of the Spanish plate-fleet homeward bound; to leave part of his squadron at Cadiz as convoy to the trade for England; to proceed with the rest to the Mediterranean; to join the Spanish fleet in his return; and to act in concert with them, until he should be joined by the fleet from Turkey and the Straits, and accompany them back to England. About the latter end of October he set sail from Saint Helen’s, and in January arrived at Cadiz with the ships under his convoy. There leaving rear-admiral Hopson, he proceeded for the Mediterranean. In the bay of Gibraltar he was overtaken by a dreadful tempest, under a lee-shore, which he could not possibly weather, and where the ground was so foul that no anchor would hold. This expedient however was tried. A great number of ships were driven ashore, and many perished. The admiral’s ship foundered at sea, and he and all his crew were buried in the deep, except two Moors who were miraculously preserved. Two other ships of the line, three ketches, and six merchant ships were lost. The remains of the fleet were so much shattered, that, instead of prosecuting their voyage, they returned to Cadiz in order to be refitted, and sheltered from the attempts of the French squadrons, which were still at sea under the command of Chateau-Renaud and Cabaret. On the twenty-fifth day of April, the king-closed the session with a speech in the usual style, and the parliament was prorogued to the eighteenth day of September. [053] [See note K, at the end of this Vol.]
THE ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO MAKE A DESCENT IN CAMARET-BAY.
Louis of France being tired of the war, which had impoverished his country, continued to tamper with the duke of Savoy, and, by the canal of the pope, made some offers to the king of Spain, which were rejected. Meanwhile he resolved to stand upon the defensive during the ensuing campaign, in every part but Catalonia, where his whole naval force might co-operate with the count de Noailles, who commanded the land army. King William having received intelligence of the design upon Barcelona, endeavoured to prevent the junction of the Brest and Toulon squadrons, by sending Russel to sea as early as the fleet could be in a condition to sail; but before he arrived at Portsmouth, the Brest squadron had quitted that harbour. On the third day of May the admiral sailed from St. Helen’s with the combined squadrons of England and Holland, amounting to ninety ships of the line, besides frigates, fire-ships, and tenders. He detached captain Pritchard of the Monmouth with two fire-ships, to destroy a fleet of French merchant ships near Conquet-bay; and this service being performed, he returned to St. Helen’s, where he had left Adm. Cloudesley Shovel with a squadron, to take on board a body of land forces intended for a descent upon the coast of France. These being embarked under the command of general Ptolemache, the whole fleet sailed again on the twenty-ninth of May. The land and sea officers, in a council of war, agreed that part of the fleet designed for this expedition should separate from the rest and proceed to Camaret-bay, where the forces should be landed. On the fifth day of June, lord Berkeley, who commanded this squadron, parted with the grand fleet, and on the seventh anchored between the bays of Camaret and Bertaume. Next day the marquis of Carmarthen, afterwards duke of Leeds, who served under Berkeley as rear-admiral of the blue, entered Camaret-bay with two large ships and six frigates, to cover the troops in landing. The French had received intelligence of the design, and taken such precautions, under the conduct of the celebrated engineer Vauban, that the English were exposed to a terrible fire from new erected batteries, as well as from a strong body of troops, and though the ships cannonaded them with great vigour, the soldiers could not maintain any regularity in landing. A good number were killed in the open boats before they reached the shore; and those who landed were soon repulsed, in spite of all the endeavours of general Ptolemache, who received a wound in the thigh, which proved mortal. Seven hundred soldiers are said to have been lost on this occasion, besides those who were killed on board of the ships. The Monk ship of war was towed off with great difficulty; but a Dutch frigate of thirty guns fell into the hands of the enemy.
After this unfortunate attempt, lord Berkeley, with the advice of a council of war, sailed back for England, and at St. Helen’s received orders from the queen to call a council, and deliberate in what manner the ships and forces might be best employed. They agreed to make some attempt upon the coast of Normandy. With this view they set sail on the fifth day of July. They bombarded Dieppe, and reduced the greatest part of the town to ashes. Thence they steered to Havre-de-Grace, which met with the same fate. They harassed the French troops who marched after them along shore. They alarmed the whole coast, and filled every town with such consternation that they would have been abandoned by the inhabitants had not they been detained by military force. On the twenty-sixth of July, lord Berkeley returned to St. Helen’s, where he quitted the fleet, and the command devolved upon sir Cloudesley Shovel. This officer having received instructions to make an attempt upon Dunkirk, sailed round to the Downs, where he was joined by M. Meesters, with six-and-twenty Dutch pilots. On the twelfth of September he appeared before Dunkirk; and next day sent in the Charles galley, with two bomb-ketches, and as many of the machines called infernals. These were set on fire without effect, and the design miscarried; then Shovel steered to Calais, which having bombarded with little success, he returned to the coast of England; and the bomb-ketches and machines were sent into the river Thames.
ADMIRAL RUSSEL RELIEVES BARCELONA.
During these transactions, admiral Russel with the grand fleet sailed for the Mediterranean; and being joined by rear-admiral Neville from Cadiz, together with Callemberg and Evertzen, he steered towards Barcelona, which was besieged by the French fleet and army. At his approach, Tourville retired with precipitation into the harbour of Toulon; and Noailles abandoned his enterprise. The Spanish affairs were in such a deplorable condition, that without this timely assistance the kingdom must have been undone. While he continued in the Mediterranean, the French admiral durst not venture to appear at sea, and all his projects were disconcerted. After having asserted the honour of the British flag in those seas during the whole summer, he sailed in the beginning of November to Cadiz, where, by an express order of the king, he passed the winter, during which he took such precautions for preventing Tourville from passing the Straits, that he did not think proper to risk the passage.