perfection of discipline exhibited on the one fide, and opposed on the other by an unconquerable refolution and perfeverance, infpired and fupported by the enthufiafm of liberty. If the foldier finds abundant matter of entertainment and obfervation in the recital of thefe events, the statesman and philofopher will not find lefs room for ferious contemplation in the caufes and confequences of the contention. They have led to the establishment of a new epocha in the hiftory of mankind; they have opened the way to new fyftems of policy; and to new arrangements of power and of commerce. To the whole British nation, however difperfed in the old or in the new world, every part of the hiftory of this contention, in all its circumstances and confequences, muft at all times be in the highest degree interesting. It would be trefpaffing too far on the indulgence of the public, to trouble them with any detail of the unavoidable and unfortunate interruptions which have occafioned the delay of our prefent publication. We confole ourselves in the hope, that thofe causes will not appear in any degree to have operated with refpect to the attention which we have paid to a faithful difcharge of our duty in the conduct of the Hiftory. The happy return of the public tranquility will, by leffening our labours, enable us to recover our former ftation in point of publication. THE THE ANNUAL REGISTER, For the YEAR 1781. THE HISTORY OF EUROPE. CHA P. I. Retrospective view of affairs in Europe in the year 1780. Admiral Geary appointed to the command of the channel fleet on the death of Sir Charles Hardy. Eaft and Weft India convoy taken by the combined fleets, and carried into Cadiz. Lofs fuftained by the Quebec fleet. Admiral Geary refigns, and is fucceeded by Admiral Darby. M. de Guichen arrives at Cadiz, and the French fleets return to France. Great gallantry displayed in various engagements between British and French frigates. Siege of Gibraltar. Spanish fireships destroyed. Success of General Elliot in defroying the enemy's works. Queen of Portugal refufes to accede to the armed neutrality. Germany. Election of the Archduke Maximilian to the coadjutorfhip of Cologne and Munfter, oppofed in vain by the King of Pruffia. Correfpondence between the King and the Elector of Cologne on the fubject. Meeting of the Emperor and the Empress of Ruffia, at Mobilow in Poland. Proceed together to Peterburgh. King of Sweden vifits Holland. Death of the Emprefs-Queen, and fome account of that great princess. Queftion, by torture, abolished for ever by the French king. Great reform of his houfbold. Loans negociated by the court of Madrid. Public and private contributions to relieve the exigencies of the ftate. Humanity of the Bishop of Lugo. Duke of Modena abolishes the Inquifition in his dominions. T HE death of Sir Charles Hardy, about the middle of May 1780,occafioned fome difficulVOL. XXIV. ty with refpect to a proper commander,who would undetake the important charge of the channel fleet, as [4] the the difcontents which had fo long prevailed in the navy, kept feveral of our beft officers from the fervice. To remove this difficulty, Admiral Geary, an experienced officer, but who, like his predeceffor, had for many years retired from actual fervice, was prevailed on to abandon his retreat, and to enter anew into the active duties of his profeffion. He failed from Spithead pretty early in June, with 23 fail of the line, feveral of which were capital fhips, and was joined during his cruize by five or fix more. In the mean time, the French fleet from Breft had, according to a cuftom now becoming annual, formed a junction with the Spaniards at Cadiz; by which the allied nations acquired fuch a fuperiority, at leaft in point of number, (though with refpect to real force and condition it might perhaps have ad-, mitted of fome doubt) as afforded them the apparent dominion of the European feas. Admiral Geary had the fortune, in the beginning of July, to fall in with a rich convoy from Port au Prince, of which he took twelve merchantmen; but a thick and fudden fog checked his fuccefs, and along with the nearness and danger of the enemy's coaft, afforded an opportunity to the reft, s well as to the fhips of war by whom they were guarded, to make their efcape. It happened unfortunately, that the fatisfaction afforded by this fmall fuccefs was foon overwhelmed and loft, in the contemplation of one of the heavieft blows that ever had been fuftained by the British commerce. But before this event took place, the naval commanders having re ceived intelligence, that a detached fquadron of French and Spanish fhips of war, under the conduct of M. de Beauffet, were cruizing on the coafts of Spain and Portugal, the fquadron proceeded to the fouthward, at least to the height of Cape Finisterre, in the hope of intercepting the enemy. In the mean time, a rich and confiderable convoy for the East and West Indies, under the conduct of Capt. Moutray of the Ramilies, and two or three frigates, failed from Portsmouth in the latter end of July, and were intercepted, on the 9th of Auguft, by the combined fleets, under Don Louis de Cordova. The convoy included, befides the merchantmen, eighteen victuallers, storefhips, and tranfports, defined for the fervice in the West Indies; one of thefe was of particular importance, being laden with tents and camp equipage, for the troops defigned for active fervice in the Leeward Iflands. The five Eaft Indiamen, likewise, befides arms, ammunition, and a train of artillery, conveyed a large quantity of naval ftores, for the fupply of the British fquadron in that quarter. The five Eaft India fhips, and above fifty Weft Indiamen, including thofe upon government account, were taken. The Ramillies, with the frigates, and a few Weft India fhips, had the fortune to efcape. Such a prize had never before entered the harbour of Cadiz. An English fleet of near fixty fhips, led captive by a Spanish fquadron, was extremely flattering to a people, to whom naval captures, from fuch an enemy, were an unusual fpectacle. All their antient loffes, all all the infults which their coafts, and that city and port in particular, had formerly endured, feemed now, at one stroke, to be done away. The appearance of the numerous prifoners, confifting of all orders and denominations, and refembling more the various inhabitants of a facked city, than the ordinary crews of a fleet, feemed to render even the triumph more complete, and made the fight ftill more fingular, They confifted of 1520 feamen, including their proper officers; of 1255 foldiers, part in the fervice of the crown, and part in that of the Eaft India company; of 74 land officers; of 149 women; and of 137 paffengers, of both fexes, among whom were fome married and unmarried ladies of condition. The whole amounting to 2865 perfons. The value of the faleable commodities was great; but the lofs of the military and naval fupplies, both to government and the East India company, was much more confidera ble, as they could not be replaced in time and it was rendered the more particularly unfortunate to the latter, by the then very critical (though in Europe yet unknown) ftate of their affairs in the Eaft. About the fame time an account was received of the lofs of a great part of the valuable outward bound Quebec fleet, which was intercepted off the banks of Newfoundland, in the beginning of July, by fome American privateers. Some of thefe veffels were retaken; but about fourteen rich fhips were carried entirely off. Thefe heavy loffes, which, in their nearer or more remote confe quences, affected all orders of When to thefe questions it was anfwered, that the caufe of the convoy's taking that course, was in order to accommodate the merchants, and the Eaft India company, who wanted to take in wines at Madeira; it was, in the firft place, replied, that it was by no means neceffary to fteer fo close to the continent of Europe, in order to touch at Madeira; as there was not a force fufficient for the protection of the convoy, the courfe fhould have been varied, and fuited to the emergency and danger. But it was infifted, that the accommodation of the merchants, in fo very trifling a particular, was by no means to be admitted as a reafon for touching at all at Madeira, when fo great a prize was at ftake, and its fafety thereby in any [4] 2 degree degree hazarded. The merchants might have provided their wines in another manner. They were no politicians. The confideration of fuch matters, belonged properly and folely to the minilters at, large, and to the admiralty in particular. They poffeffed, or ought to poffefs, fuperior political knowledge, and they had all the means of information fully in their hands. It was their bufinefs and duty, in all fuch cafes, to cure the ignorance, or to correct the felfishness of the merchants. Such were a few of the topics ufed at that time upon the fubject. Aug. 18. feet to Portsmouth, AdUpon the return of the 1780. miral Geary chofe to refign the command. The former difficulty again recurred. It was offered to Admiral Barrington, who had been his fecond upon the late cruize, and of whofe abilities every body was convinced. From whatever caufe or caufes it proceeded, that thofe profeffional honours and diftinctions, which at all other times had been emulously fought after, and even grafped at with the utmost avidity, were now avoided, so it was, that that brave and excellent officer declined the command. He, however, offered his fervices, to affift and fecond whoever fhould be appointed. In thefe circumftances, it was bestow ́ed on Admiral Darby, who flood next in rank to Mr. Barrington. The grand fleet failed again, a little before the middle of September, but was detained by contrary winds for fome time at Torbay. In the mean time, (as we fhall hereafter more fully explain) the Count de Guichen, instead of directing his courfe from the Weft Indies to America, as had been expected and intended, found his hips fo fhattered, and his crews fo extremely fickly, that he judged it neceffary, to proceed directly, with the great convoy under his charge, to Europe. It is probable, that his apprehenfion of falling in with the British fleet, was the motive of his directing his courfe to Cadiz, where he arrived towards the latter end of October, with eighteen fail of the line, and feveral frigates. There he found M. de Eftaign, with a large fleet, in readinefs to receive and conduct him and his convoy to the French ports. The French united fleet was now numerous; amounting to thirty-fix fail of the line, two fifties, and a cloud of frigates. Notwithstanding which, as the British fleet under Admiral Darby, was now known to be in the way, the Spaniards conducted them almoft as far as Cape Finisterre. It is indeed faid, that all the enemies fleets were in very bad condition; and that those which had scarcely gone out of fight of Cadiz during the campaign, had little more to boaft of in that refpect, than the fhips which had gone through fo much hard fervice with Guichen in the Weft Indies. After being driven back into port, by a ftorm which threw them into the greateft diforder, and which rendered their condition ftill worse, the French took their final departure from Cadiz, on the 7th of November. What would in other times and circumftances have been fatal, now produced no effect; this was no lefs, than their falling in, after the feparation of the Spanish fleet, with Admiral Darby. But his force amounted |