strong sensation in England; but the French Court made reparation, and the matter was wisely dropped. Complaints were also made of the Spanish Governors, for interrupting the British logwood cutters; and of a Spanish Commodore, for the seizure of an English vessel in the Mediterranean; but, like the affair with the French, the matter was compromised. About this time the King of Prussia, anxious to strengthen his interest by new connexions, seconded the election of the Archduke Joseph to be King of the Romans, and pressed the completion of a treaty with Russia. The ambitious Catherine then being determined to secure her ascendancy in Poland, resolved upon raising her favourite Count Stanislaus to that throne in the room of Augustus, who had paid the debt of nature. With considerable address, she therefore precluded the interference of France and Austria, and prevailed on Frederick of Prussia, to enter into a treaty of alliance with her, offensive and defensive, and to guarantee her influence in Poland. The Crown of Poland was now no longer to be hereditary, and Russian troops secured the election of Poniatowsky, the Empress's favourite. The year 1764 was further distinguished by the murder of Prince Ivan Antonovich, grandson of Ivan V. joint heir of the Crown of Russia with Peter the Great; but, though the perpetrators of this deed were punished, no doubt was entertained but that Catherine had caused the death of this Prince, the better to secure her own usurpation. But to return to the subject of the Regency, and that conduct which was considered as an insult upon the Princess Dowager of Wales;-on the day when the King in person gave his assent to the Regency Bill, in which her name, left out by the Lords, had been inserted by the Commons, a mob of journeymen silkweavers went to St. James's with black flags, to petition for relief, under the idea that the trade was hurt by the encouragement of French silks. These people insulting several of the Members of Parliament, and behaving otherwise in a tumultuous manner, it was found expedient to call out the military, and some of the offenders were brought to condign punishment. About the middle of May 1765, the Duke of Cumberland was employed to negociate with Lord Temple and Mr. Pitt at Hayes, when acquainting them with his Majesty's design to change his Ministers, and wishing to engage them, Mr. Pitt with warmth, assured his Royal Highness, that he was ready to go to St. James's, with this proviso, "that he could carry the constitution along with him," but with his usual firmness declined all connexion with the Earl of Northumberland; insisting upon a total change of men, measures, and counsels; whilst on the part of the Court, it was made an indispensable condition, that the King's friends who held subordinate places, should not be removed. Shortly after the rising of Parliament, in July, his Majesty made the following change in the ministry: his Grace the Duke of Grafton was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, in the room of the Marquis of Rockingham; the Earl of Shelburne succeeded the Duke of Richmond, as Secretary of State; Lord Camden was created Lord High Chancellor, as successor of the Earl of Northington; as was the Honourable Charles Townshend Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the room of the Right Honourable William Dowdeswell; and the Right Honourable William Pitt, who some days before had been created Viscount Pynsent and Earl of Chatham, was appointed Lord Privy Seal, and the Earl of Hertford Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. The high popularity of the Duke of Cumberland, who was supposed to have selected this able administration, led the public to entertain very warm hopes of the most advantageous state of things; especially as one of their first acts was that of making Mr. Pratt, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, a Peer, under the title of the Earl of Camden. But whatever might have been the credit of the Duke of Cumberland in this business, he did not live long to enjoy it; for he died suddenly on the 30th of October 1765, in the 45th year of his age; and on the 29th of S December following, his Majesty sustained an additional loss, by the death of his youngest brother, Prince Frederick, in the sixteenth year of his age. The loss of the former was thus lamented in a respectable publication of the day. "A general concern was expressed by all ranks of people for the loss of this illustrious personage, and none will call it adulation, to say, that his Royal Highness will be severely lamented by the poor, especially of Windsor, to whom he was a generous benefactor; by his friends, whom he had bound to him by a chain of splendid and princely virtues; and by the public, to whom his memory will be for ever dear, from the signal service which he conferred upon this nation, in quashing the late rebellion in Scotland. "The circumstances at, and previous to the death of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, are variously related; but the most authentic account seems to be as follows: At noon his Royal Highness was at Court, after which he dined with Lord Albemarle in Arlington-street, and drank tea with the Princess of Brunswick at St. James's: he then went to his own house in Upper Grosvenor-street, in order to be present at a Council which had been appointed to be held there that evening: as soon as he came in he ordered coffee; and, when it was brought, he complained of a pain in his shoulder, and had a very cold and shivering fit: he said he felt himself much worse than ever he was before, and desired to be laid on the couch, which was done; and Sir Charles Wintringham, the King's physician, was sent for; who, being come, it is said, advised bleeding. Here the reports are a little puzzling; for one says, that his Royal Highness was let blood; and another says the contrary. It is however certain, that the shivering fit returned, and that, in about twenty minutes after, his Royal Highness departed this life, without making the least sign or motion. This was past seven o'clock. It is added, that the Duke of Newcastle and the Earl of Northington were come to His Royal Highness's, in order to assist at the intended Council. "His Royal Highness's titles were, "The Most High, Puissant, and Most Illustrious Prince, WilliamAugustus, Duke of Cumberland, and Duke of Brunswick-Lunenburgh, Marquis of Berkhamsted, Earl of Kennington, Viscount of Trematon, and Baron of Alderney; Colonel of the first regiment of FootGuards, Captain-General of all his Majesty's Forces, Ranger and Keeper of Windsor Great Park (the reversion to the Princesses Amelia and Caroline) of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy-Council, Chancellor of the Universities of Dublin and St. Andrew; first and principal Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. "Ceremonial for the private interment of his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, From the London Gazette, Nov. 10, 1765. "Last night the body of his late Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland was privately interred in the Royal Vault in King Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster, the body having been privately conveyed to the Prince's Chamber the night before. "About ten o'clock the procession began to move, passing through the Old Palace-yard to the south-east door of the Abbey, upon a floor railed in, covered with black cloth, and lined on each side with a party of foot-guards, in the following order: Drums and Trumpets, Sounding a solemn March, with banners attached to the Trumpets Gentlemen Servants to his Royal Highness. Page of the Back-stairs. Pages of Honour. Equerries. Secretary. Officers of Arms. The Gentlemen of the Horse to his Royal Highness. The CORONET, Gentleman Usher. borne by a Knight Gentleman Usher. of Arms. THE BODY, Covered with a black velvet Pall, adorned with eight escutcheous, under a canopy of black velvet, borne by eight General Officers; the Pall supported by four Barons. A Gentleman Usher. Supporter a Duke. The Lords of the Bed-chamber. Yeomen of the Guard. "At the entrance of Westminster Abbey, within the church, the Dean and Prebends, attended by the choir, received the body, falling into the procession just before the Officer of Arms, who conducted the Lord Chamberlain, and so proceeded into King Henry the Seventh's Chapel, where the body was deposited on tressels, the head towards the Altar, the coronet and cushion being laid upon the coffin, and the canopy held over it, while the service was read by the Dean of Westminster; the chief mourner and his two supporters sitting on chairs at the head of the corpse; the Lords' assistants and supporters of the pall, sitting on stools on either side. "The part of the service before the interment being read, the corpse was deposited in the vault; and, the Dean having finished the burial service, Garter proclaimed his Royal Highness's style as follows: "Thus it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this transitory life, unto his Divine Mercy, the late Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Illustrious Prince WILLIAM-AUGUSTUS, Duke of Cumberland, and Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburgh, Marquis of Berkhamsted, Earl of Kennington, Viscount Trematon, Baron of the Isle of Alderney, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and first and principal Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, third son of his late Most Excellent Majesty King GEORGE the Second. "Twenty-one pieces of artillery were drawn into the Park, and fired minute-guns during the ceremony; and three battalions, viz. one of each regiment of Guards, were drawn up in St. Margaret's Churchyard, and fired vollies, on a signal given, as soon as the corpse was deposited. "The minute-guns at the Tower were fired as usual. "The chief mourners were the Duke of Grafton, Duke of Manchester, Duke of Ancaster, and the Earl of Albemarle. The canopybearers, Lieutenant-General Sir Jeffery Amherst, General Conway, General Keppel, General Hodgson, General Honeywood, General Howard, General Cornwallis, and General Cholmondeley. "His Royal Highness was carried by fourteen Yeomen of the Guards." Another remarkable demise which occurred this year, 1765, was that of the famous Chevalier de St. George, who died at Rome on the 20th of December. He was the only son of the late King James II. The Chevalier left two sons, upon the eldest of whom devolved the asserted right of succession to the throne of Great Britain. The youngest of his sons, being brought up to the church, was afterwards known as Cardinal York, and was the last surviving male branch of the ancient and royal House of Stuart. The Royal Family of France also, on the 20th of December, lost the Dauphin, the father of Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII. at the age of 36. The affairs of America, which we have before alluded to, now began to produce consequences big with im |