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La Blakeney, they relate to fituations fondifferent, that they will not at all ferve the purpose. Barcelona and Gib. raltar were attacked only at one part, and that very fmall with respect to the whole circumference. Gibraltar was attacked only at the isthmus facing the continent of Spain, and Barcelona on ly from the foot of Montjuick Hill; fo that the fame reafon which made it pro per for Ld Blakeney to continue near the centre of Fort St Philip, which was completely invested, made it neceffary for the governors of Gibraltar and Barcelona, which were but partly invefted, to be near the outworks, which alone could be attacked. Every part of St Philip's was liable to be attacked, and the governor chose a station that was equally near to them all. A particular part only of Barcelona and Gibraltar was liable to an attack, and the gover mors therefore gave particular attention to that part.

1. Auf, to Art. II.] Ld Blakeney did not declare in court, "That he took no minutes," but he said he had not been al lowed to make use of minutes; and fo he appears to have said in the trial of Adm. Byng which was published by authority, ander the care of Mr Fearne the judgeadvocate, which must be of greater authority than that which was published by Mr Cook, who was employed on the Fart of Mr Byng, and was not under the fame oath, by which Mr Fearne was bound to a minute regard to truth in every particular, and might therefore be less attentive in matters apparently of little moment. But Lord Blakeney can not be fuppofed to declare he kept no minutes, because the fact is not true; and if he had been capable of making fuch a declaration, he had not the leaft motive that could tempt him to do it. Befides, that he kept not minutes only, but a regular journal, was well known; for having long had a tremor on his nerves, which prevents him from ufing a pen, he employed an amanuenfis to write his journal, which he dictated himself, and which is now in his poffeffion, and open to the inspection of all who have any pretenfiens to fee it.

Anf. to Art. III.] It is true, that when a fiege is apprehended, the country ought to be laid open to the cannon of the ramparts; but Ld Blakeney had not fufficient ground for fuch apprehenfion time enough to take that measure. He was fhut up in an island, and all the intelligence he could gain was, that great preparations were making in the fouth of France, which at one time were faid to be against Gibraltar, at another againft Corfica; and fometimes against Great Britain or Ireland. The French indeed gave out that they were against Minorca: but for that very reason they were supposed to be intended against fome other place; for it was reasonable to conclude, that they would rather cover than avow their real defign, by what they faid publicly concerning it. And this, after all, was probably the cafet for there is great reason to believe, that they did not refolve to attack Minorca, till long after they had given out that an attack of it was intended; and that they were induced to take that refolution merely by the backwardness which the miniftry discovered in England. ཅན་ཉག

If Ld Blakeney, upon thefe vague and uncertain rumours, had pulled down the houfes of St Philip's town, and the place had not been attacked, the confequence would have been bad in the higheft degree. The murmurs and complaints of the natives might have been carried to very disagreeable lengths, and their known difaffection to his Majesty's fervice and government might have been fo increafed, under colour of injury, as to produce very disadvantageous effects.

The time between the landing of the French and their taking poffeffion of the town, was fo fhort, that the whole garrison could hot have pulled down all the houfes in that interval if they had done nothing else. What could be done, however, was done. Ld Blakeney fent to the chief engineer, defiring his opinion, which and how many houfes fhould be demolished; and the engineer gave for answer, that the pulling down his own houfe, which was a fine building that had been erected but a few years before, and a windmill, would be fufi

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Anf. to Art. IV.] It was not in Ld Blakeney's power to compel the Spa nifh pealants or labourers to break up the roads; for over this clafs the priests had foch influence, that their averfion to the English, whom they were taught to regard as enemies to their religion, was exceffive to the laft. If they had been fet to work in the day, they would have deferted in the night, unless a guard could have been spared fufficient to prevent it, which it is well known could not be done. It is, befide, no eafy matter to spoil roads in a country which, the author of the charge has observed, was almoft a bare rock, fo that 16,000 ment could not fink an intrenchment round the caftle. However, notwithstanding all thefe difadvantages, not withstanding the small number of the garrifon, and the other indifpenfable work and duty that was upon their hands, the roads were fpoiled as much as the time and circumftances would permit, and the only bridge upon the road was destroyed. The mine alfo was fired by Lord Blakeney's order, (though by fome accident it did not take effect), which the author of the charge pofitively afferts was not fired, and from which he alfo afferts the Minorquins stole a way the powder,

Anf. to Art. V.] A fufficient number of cattle to ferve the caftle was driven into it: the whole ftock of the island therefore was not left to the enemy; and the foldiers did not complain, nor had reafon to complain, that they were in want of fresh provifions; for feveral head of the cattle that had been driven into the caftle for their ufe, were alive when the place was furrendered,

Anf. to Art. VI.] The garrifon was not fuffered to be without wine; on the contrary, each man was allowed a pint a-day during the firft fixty days of the fiege, and half a pint during the last ten days. Nor was the reduction from a pint to half a pint caused by immediate neceffity; it was a cautionary measure, taken with the consent of the whole bo dy, that their wine might not be ex haufted if the garrifon fhould have held out confiderably longer. When this re duction was made, every man was in dulged with two glaffes of brandy aday, as an equivalent, one when he went on duty, and one when he returne ed: and materials and neceffaries for diftilling fpirits had been provided if the wine had failed; which did not happen for a confiderable quantity was left when the place furrendered. That many casks of wine in the town of St Philip's were ftaved, is true; but it is also true, that they were faved upon the representation of Col. Jefferys, that this measure was abfolutely neceffary, as well to prevent the garrifon from getting drunk, as to prevent the wine from falling into the hands of the enemy..

Anf. to Art. VII.] The taking the Queen's redoubt put the enemy into poffeffion of one of the communications of the fubterraneans, into which they poured a great number of men, who proceeded to the communications under the Kane, and might have proceeded to all the reft; this redoubt therefore could not be reentered by any effort the garrifon could make.

[It does not appear in this anfer that any notice is taken of article VIII.]

・Anf. to Art. IX. It is not true that one whole regiment ftood inactive for want of a commander; for no one regiment was upon fervice together; and though where the enemy made no imprefion, the body of referve flood ftill; yet they food still for no other reafon, than because it was not proper for them to act.

Anf. to Art. X.] Though the lofs of the garrifon of St Philip was fmall, yet if no neceffary fervice of offence or de fence was neglected, the fmalinefs of the

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lofs is rather an honour than a difgrace to the commander. Befides, every precaution was in this cafe particularly proper, as the garrifon at firft was not half the number neceflary for the defence of the fort. Against a force fo unequal as that of the befiegers, the garrifor could make no fallies; but the batteries of cannon and mortars were well ferved, and did great execution: and though as much ufe as poffible was made of the fubterraneans to preferve the men, by caufing the guards to parade in them, and to march through them to and from the pofts; yet the men were not hidden when any fervice made it necessary for them to appear. They repulfed the attack upon Charles fort; and the Queen's redoubt, the Anftruther, and the Argyle, were defended with great obftinacy; the Argyle was blown up, and three companies of French grenadiers were destroyed by three mines fprung about the Queen's redoubt. And though the lofs of the garrifon was fmall, they de. troyed 5000 of the enemy; 1200 of which fell on the night of the storm. Nor was the place furrendered at fill those who were better able to judge than the nameless author of the charge, pronounced it to be no longer tenible.

When the parley was beat by the French to bury their dead, the garrifon confifted only of 2500 men; and they were fo haraffed and worn out with inceffant duty and watchings, that they could not ftand a few minutes to their arms, even in the midft of all the roar of artillery, fired inceffantly from the fort and camp, without nodding: the enemy was in poffeffion of all the fubterraneans under the caftle; the officers of the artillery declared the works were in a fhattered ruinous condition, and irreparable in the prefent ftate of the garrifon; the body of the castle was alfo greatly fhattered, many of the guns were difmounted, the embrafures beaten down, and the palifadoes broken to pieces; a coun cil of war declared for a capitulation, as well as the officers of artillery and the captains, who all agreed that the garrifon could not fuftain another general attack, and figned their opinion. Thefe

confiderations, after the disappearance of Mr Byng, prevailed on Lord Blakeney to accept of terms of capitulation, to preferve the remains of his brave gar rifon, and a confiderable number of both fexes who were in the caftle; and the terms of the capitulation are decla. red by M. Richlieu, in his account of the fiege, to be granted in confideration of the brave defence which had been made by the governor and the garrison.

Such justice was done by a generous enemy to Lord Blakeney, whofe milita ry character, built on a fervice of threefcore years, has been invidiously and falfely traduced by a nameless writer; who, fays the author of this reply, has dared openly to fly in the face of his fovereign, by endeavouring to defame a man whom he has honoured for his loyalty, and for his brave and faithful fervices. Gent. Mag.

To the K--g's Moft Excellent M-----y. The humble petition of P** E. of C***, Knight of the most noble order of the Garter, Sherweth,

Ted by de peers as ubedels, and inHat your petitioner being render efficient, as most of his cotemporaries are by nature, hopes in common with them to fhare your Majefty's royal favour and bounty, whereby he may be enabled to fave or to spend, as he may think proper, a great deal more than he poffibly can at prefent.

That your petitioner having had the honour to ferve your Majefty in feveral very lucrative employments, feems there. by intitled to a lucrative retreat from bufinefs, and to enjoy otium cum dignitate; that is, leifure and a large penfion.

Your petitioner humbly apprehends, that he has a juftifiable claim to a confiderable penfion, as he neither wants nor deferves, but only defires, and (pardon, Dread Sir, an expreffion you are pretty much used to) infifts upon it.

Your petitioner is little apt, and always unwilling, to speak advantageoufly of himself; but as fome degree of ju ftice is due to one's felf as well as to o thers, he begs leave to reprefent, that his loyalty to your Majefty has always

been

been unfhaken, even in the worst of times: That, particularly, in the late unnatural rebellion, when the young pretender had advanced as far as Derby, at the head of an army of at least three thousand men, compofed of the flower of the Scotch nobility and gentry, who had virtue enough to avow, and courage enough to venture their lives in fupport of their real principles; your petitioner did not join him, as unquestionably he might have done, had he been fo inclined; but, on the contrary, raised, at the public expence, 16 companies of 100 men each, in defence of your Majefty's undoubted right to the imperial crown of thefe realms; which fervice remains to this hour unrewarded.

Your petitioner is well aware, that your Majesty's civil lift must neceffarily be in a very weak and languid condi. tion, after the various and profufe evacuations it has undergone: but at the fame time he humbly hopes, that an argument which does not feem to have been urged against any other perfon whatsoever, will not in a fingular manner be urged against him, especially as he has fome reasons to believe, that the deficiencies of the penfion-fund will by no means be the last to be made good by parliament.

Your petitioner begs leave to obferve, that a finall penfion is difgraceful, as it intimates opprobrious indigence on the part of the receiver, and a degrading fort of dole or charity on the part of the giver; but that a great one implies dignity and affluence on the one fide; on the other, cfteem and confideration; which doubtlefs your Majefty muft enter tain in the highest degree for thofe great perfonages whose reputable names glare in capitals upon your eleemofynary lift. Your petitioner humbly flatters himfelf, that, upon this principle, lefs than three thousand pounds a-year will not be proposed to him; and if made gold, the more agreeable.

Your petitioner perfuades himself, that your Majefty will not impute this his humble application to any mean interest

ed motive, of which he has always had

the utmost abhorrence, VOL. XIX.

No, Sir! he confeffes his weakness Honour alone is his object, Honour is his paffion--that Honour, which is facred to him as a peer, and tender to him as a gentleman; that Honour, in short, to which he has facrificed all other confiderations. It is upon this fingle prine ciple, that your petitioner folicits an Ho nour, which at prefent in fo extraordi nary a manner adorns the British peerage, and which, in the most shining pe riods of ancient Greece, diftinguished the greatest men, who were fed in the Prytaneum at the expence of the public,

Upon this Honour, far dearer to your petitioner than his life, he begs leave, in the moft folemn manner, to affure your Majefty, that in cafe you shall be pleafed to grant this his most modest request, he will honourably fupport and promote, to the utmost of his abilities, the very worst measures that the very worst minifters can fuggeft; but at the fame time, fhould he unfortunately and in a fingulas manner be branded by a refufal, he thinks himfelt obliged in Honour to declare, that he will, with the utmost acrimony, oppofe the very beft measures which your Majefty yourself shall ever propofe or promote.

C

And your petitioner, &c, GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, Mr URBAN, Jan. 1756. 'Omets having of late been a pre vailing topic of most private as well as public converfations, and fo many idle conjectures having been thrown out, either by foolish fear or pious fraud, concerning the impending confequences of that foretold by Dr Halley to return about the year 1758, I have thought it expedient, for the quieting of uneafy minds, to collect from the writings of thofe moft excellent aftronomers, Dr Halley and Sir Ifaac Newton, whatever relates to the periodic return of comets, and their near appulfe to the earth; that being all exhibited at one view, it may be more generally known. Yours, c.

D

CANDIDUS.

R Synopfis of the aftronomy of comets, lays, There are many things which 3 Y

Halley, in the first edition of his

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make me believe, that the comet which Appian obferved in 1531, was the fame with that which Kepler and Longomontanus more accurately defcribed in 1607, and which I myfelf have feen return, and obferved in 1682. All the elements a gree, and nothing feems to contradict this my opinion, befides the inequality of the periodical revolutions; which in equality is not fo great neither, as that it may not be owing to phyfical caufes. For the motion of Saturn is fo difturbed by the reft of the planets, especially Jupiter, that the periodic time of that planet is uncertain for fome whole days to gether. How much more therefore will a comet be subject to fuch like errors, which rifes almoft four times higher than Saturn, and whofe velocity, though increafed but a very little, would be fufficient to change its orbit from an elliptical to a parabolical one? And I am the more confirmed in my opinion of its being the fame, for that in 1456, in the fummer-time, a comet was feen paffing retrograde between the earth and the fun, much after the fame manner; which, though no body made obfervations upon it, yet from its period, and the manner of its tranfit, I cannot think different from thofe I have juft now mentioned. And fince, looking over the hiftories of comets, I find, at an equal interval of time, a comet to have been feen about Eafter in 1305, which is another double period of 151 years before the former. Hence I think I may venture to foretell, that it will return again in the year 1758. And if it fhould then fo return, we have no reafon to doubt but the reft may return alfo."

Again, "As far as probability from the equality of periods and fimilar appearances of comets, may be urged as an argument, the late wondrous comet of 1680-81, feems to have been the fame which was feen in the time of our K. Henry I. anno 1106, which began to appear in the west about the middle of February, and continued for many days after, with fuch a tail as was feen in that of 1680-81. And again, in the confulate of Lompadius and Orelles, a bout the year of Chrift 531, fuch ano

ther comet appeared in the weft, of which Malela, perhaps an eye witnefs, relates, that it was miyas à poßepós, a great and fearful far; that it appeared in the weft, and emitted upwards from it a long white beam; and was feen for twenty days. It were to be wished that hiftorians had told us what time of the year it was feen; but it is however plain, that the interval between this and that of 11c6, is nearly equal to that between 1106 and 1680-81, to wit, about 575 years. And if we reckon backwards fuch another period, we fhall come to the 44th year before Chrift, in which Julius Cæfar was murdered, and in which there appeared a very remarkable comet, mentioned by almost all the hiftorians of thofe times, and by Pliny in his Natural Hiftory, lib.11. c. 24. who recites the words of Auguftus Cæfar on this occafion, which leads us to the very time of its appearance, and its fituation in the heavens. In ipfis ludorum meorum diebus, fidus crinitum per septem dies, in regione cæli quae fub feptentrionibus, eft confpectum. Id oriebatur circa undecimam horam diei, clarumque et omnibus terris confpicuum fuit. Now, these ludi were dedicated Veneri genetrici (for from Venus the Cafars would be thought to be defcended), and began with the birthday of Auguftus, to wit, Sept. 23. and continued feven days, during which the comet appeared. Nor are we to fup. pofe it was feen only those seven days; nor fhould we interpret the words fub feptentrionibus as if the comet had ap peared in the north, but that it was feen under the Septem triones, or brighter ftars of Urfa Major. And as to its rifing bora undecima diei, it can no wife be underflood, unless the word diei be left out, as it is in Suetonius. For it must have been very far from the fun, either to rife at five in the afternoon, or at eleven at night; in which cafes it must have appeared for a long time, and its tail have been fo little remarkable, that it could by no means be called clarum et omnibus terris confpicuum fidus. But fuppofing this comet to have traced the fame path with that of 1680, the afcending part of the orbit will exactly reprefent

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