The Seven Years' War. Europe enjoyed but short repose after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. France and England still quarrelled about boundaries in America, and still carried on war in India. England, as war seemed inevitable, wished to make it solely a naval one; and it was arranged to put Hanover under the protection of the king of Prussia. The court of France was displeased at this project; and the court of Vienna hoped, by means of this displeasure, to recover Silesia, and to free itself from the fears it entertained of the ambition of Frederic. The houses of 1755. Bourbon and Habsburg laid aside their jealousy, of two hundred and eighty years' standing, and concluded an alliance: they were joined by Sweden and Saxony. The empress of Russia, who was bound to aid the king of Prussia in protecting Hanover, declared against him. Spain, Portugal, the Italian powers, and the United Provinces remained neutral. Prussia and England stood alone. The island of Minorca was taken by the French; and their arms were successful in India and America. The king of Prussia entered Saxony, and made himself master of Dresden: he invaded Bohemia, and routed the Austrians at Lowesitz; the Saxon army surrendered at Ebenhert. A. D. 1756. The marshal d'Estrées passed the Rhine, with eighty 1757. thousand men, to invade Hanover. The duke of Cumberland, with forty thousand Hanoverians and Hessians, attempted its defence, but was driven across the Weser; and the French became masters of the electorate. The Prussians entered Bohemia in four divisions: that commanded by the prince of Bevern obliged the Austrians to retire at Reichenberg. This division, and that of marshal Schwerin, united with the one led by the king, engaged the Austrian army under prince Charles of Lorrain and count Brown, at Prague. The Prussians were victorious, and besieged the Austrians in that town ; but having been defeated at Colin, they raised the siege, A. D. 1758. 1759. and evacuated Bohemia. The combined German and French army had meantime advanced into Saxony: the king of Prussia hastened to Dresden, assembled an army, and at the village of Rosbach (Nov. 5.) gave them battle, with but half their number of men. His victory was brilliant, his loss being but five hundred, while that of the enemy was nine thousand killed, wounded, and taken. The Austrians had defeated the prince of Bevern, and taken Breslau. Frederic gave them battle, and defeated them at Lissa: Breslau was recovered. The Russians, who had entered the Prussian dominions, were forced, by want of provisions, to return home: the Swedes were driven under the walls of Stralsund: the Hanoverians rose against the French; but the English were unsuccessful in North America, and at sea. At the head of the Hanoverians, prince Ferdinand of Brunswick obliged the French to cross the Rhine, and defeated them at Crevelt. The king of Prussia recovered Schweidnitz, and invested Olmutz; but the approach of a large Russian force obliged him to raise the siege. At Zorndorf he defeated them with great slaughter. At Hochkirchen he was himself defeated by the Austrians: he afterwards forced them to retire into Bohemia. Marshal Daun was obliged to retire from before Dresden, and Frederic entered it in triumph. The English admirals Hawke and Anson restored the lustre of the British arms at sea. In America, the islands of Cape Breton and St. John's were taken by general Amherst; the French settlements on the coast of Africa were reduced. In India, the advantage was on the side of the French. At the commencement of the next campaign, the Prussian arms were victorious on all sides. The French had made themselves masters of Frankfort on the Main. Prince Ferdinand, with an inferior force, attacked the duke of Broglio at Bergen, in its vicinity, but was forced to retire with some loss. The French reduced Minden, Münster, and some other places. To save Hanover, the prince found it necessary to give them battle the conflict took place (Aug. 8.) at Minden: the French were defeated. The blame of the victory not being complete was laid on lord George Sackville, the English commander. The Russians defeated the Prussian general Wedel in Silesia. Frederic attacked the combined Austrian and Russian army, of eighty thousand men, at Cunersdorf; and the horrible carnage of the day ended in the defeat of the Prussians: yet Frederic, almost immediately after, forced his enemies to act on the defensive. The French army in Westphalia was extremely numerous: a portion of it was defeated by prince Ferdinand at Warburg; but the French remained masters of Hesse. The Austrians and Russians poured into the dominions and conquests of Frederic, and in his camp at Lignitz he was in danger of being surrounded by three hostile armies. He advanced to meet, and defeated that of general Laudohn, and thus escaped; but the Russians and Austrians entered Brandenburg, and pillaged Berlin. Frederic rushed into Saxony at the head of fifty thousand men, followed by Daun with seventy thousand men; and at Torgau the Prussian monarch gained a hard-fought battle. The English took the island of Guadaloupe, in the West Indies: Crown Point and Ticonderoga were taken by general Amherst. Quebec, after the defeat of the French army by general Wolfe, surrendered. The British arms were victorious in India. Admirals Boscawen and Hawke defeated the French fleets off Cape Lagos and Belleisle. A. D. George II. died; but his successor resolved to continue 1761. the war. A family compact was concluded between the courts of Versailles and Madrid. Prince Ferdinand repelled an attack of the French armies at Kirche Denkern; and Belleisle was taken by a British force. War was now mutually declared by the courts of London 1762. and Madrid. Portugal, refusing to join the alliance against England, was invaded by the Spaniards; but they were driven out of it by the British and native troops. Prince Ferdinand was every where successful in Westphalia. The death of the empress of Russia relieved the king of Prussia from his apparently desperate situation. Peter III. was mild and pacific: he made a peace and alliance with the Prussian monarch. Frederic carried on the war with vigour against the Austrians; but the dethronement and death of his Russian ally perplexed him, as he knew not what the policy of Catherine II. might be she continued the peace, but recalled her troops. Frederic recovered Silesia. A cessation of arms was made for Saxony and Silesia. Frederic ravaged Bohemia and Franconia. The British fleets and troops took Martinique and the Havannah, in the West Indies, and Manilla, in the Philippine islands. Negotiations for peace had long been going on, and the definitive treaty was signed at 1763. Paris (Feb. 10.); and about the same time another at Hubertsburg, between the empress-queen and the king of Prussia. A. D. England obtained all Canada, and the islands of St. John and Cape Breton, great part of Louisiana, her conquests on the Senegal, the island of Grenada: all her other conquests she restored. Prussia and Austria agreed to place themselves on the footing they were on at the commencement of hostilities. Thus ended the Seven Years' War-a war which had caused such an effusion of blood and treasure: it ended without being productive of any real advantage to any one of the parties. Suppression of the Jesuits. Europe now reposed from war. This period of tranquillity is marked by the suppression of the order of the Jesuits. This order was founded by a soldier, Ignatius Loyola, in the time of Charles V. Retaining his military ideas, Ignatius imposed on the members of his new order the strictest obedience; but his rules were simple and innocent. His successors, Lainez and Aquaviva, formed it into an institution which might vie with any of ancient or modern times. It speedily developed its powers; the Jesuits became directors of the consciences of the great, and teachers of the young; they excelled in learning; they were the most zealous of missionaries. Forming a body, whose soul was the general of the order at Rome, they were the chief stay of papal power, and on them rested the remaining faint hopes of regaining spiritual dominion. But with all its great qualities and high aspirations, the order was fated to meet with no final success; the spirit of the age was against it; its assumptions were too high, its moral system too lax, its intrigues and movements too dark and complicated. The marquis of Pombal, the Richelieu of Portugal, hated the order, which stood in his way: vile calumnies were forged against them, and they were expelled from Portugal. The example was followed by France, then by Spain, Naples, and finally by Austria. Their property was seized by the rapacious governments: Spain and Portugal, the most bigoted nations, were their most relentless persecutors. It was the expulsion of the Moriscoes on a minor scale. The unhappy fathers were forced on shipboard, and landed in the papal states. The good Clement XIII. remonstrated-he could do no more-in their favour the excellent Clement XIV. yielded to 1773. the torrent, and suppressed the order. First Partition of Poland. A. D. An event now occurred which throws into the shade all that we have previously seen of injustice and aggression. The empress Catherine II., the northern Clytemnestra, had ascended the throne of her deposed and murdered 1762. husband, and had piously restored to the clergy their beards, pictures, and revenues, of which he had deprived them. Augustus III. king of Poland dying, the diet assembled at Warsaw to choose a successor proved a stormy one: the pacific empress considerately sent a body of troops thither to preserve the peace; and Stanislaus Poniatovsky, the candidate whom she favoured, was of course elected. 1764. He mounted the throne in tranquillity; but that state did not long endure. Animosities broke out between the |