C h .ip. XVII.
during the Reign oj Qgeen Ana.
I 7 I 3-
Conclusion°s the Peace.
’Che Parlia-ment dis-solved.
pother cal-kd.
Speech, to both Houses, acquaintedthem with the Conclusiorrof the Peace.(d) The tenth and eleventh, the Lordsand Commons waited on Her Majestywith their respective Addressesof Thanksand Congratulation.
The eighth of Augufi, a Proclama-tion was published for dissolving theParliament, and, on the seventeenth, a-nother, for calling a new one.
About the Middle of December *Her Majesty was pleased to constituteSis James JVlfhart, Admiral of thePHhite Squadron of Her Majesty’s Fleet,and Commander in Chief of a Squadronof Men of War, and Bomb-Vessels,that was getting ready for a Secret Ex'pedition : But I find no farther Accountof his Proceedings; So presume the De-sign was laid aside.
io K The
( d ) Thus ended a War heavy and burthen-some to the Nation, by a Peace, which tho' farfrom giving all the Satisfaction to the Nation, thatmight have been expected from the glorious Suc-cesses, which attended our Arms, by Sea and Land,and were obtained, at so vast an Expence of Trea-sure and Bloodshed ; Yet procured us some Ad-vantages, among which, those who judge the mostfavourably of it, reckon the following: The Set-tlement of the Succession to the Crown in the Il-lustrious House of Hanover was acknowledgedby the King of France ; The Union of France and"Spain was prevented; The Benefit of the AJsten -to- Trade, and the Privilege of sending a Ship e-very Year to the Spanish Weft-Indies, was grant-ed to the South-Sea Company, Gibraltar and theIsland of Minorca were yielded to the Crown ofGreat Britain ■ Hudson's Bay and Streight wererestored, and all Damages, sustained by the En-glish Company, trading thither, made good. AllRight of the French Nation to any Part of theIsland of St. Christopher's was renounced. NovaScotia (or Acadia ) as also the City of Port Royal(now Annapolis Royal) and their Dependencies,were left in Possession of the British Nation. SuchParts of Newfoundland, as were possessed by theFrench, were given up. The Haven and Fortifi-cations of Dunkirk (which had cost immense Sums)were filled up and entirely demolished ; And tho’the French Court had probably in View, to re-trieve this last Article, by making a new Canal atMar dyke, equally prejudicial to Great Britain, yet,by the seasonable Interposition of His late Majesty,after his happy Accession to the Crown, theirHopes have been frustrated.
The Balance of Ships taken and destroyed, oneither Side, during this War, was likewise verymuch in our Advantage, as the Reader may fee •by the following Lists from Mr. Burchett.
English taken or lost.
Guns.
Ships.
Total of Guns
80
2
. 160
70
4
280
60
2
120
5 °
8
400
48
I
48
40
2
80
3 6
1
36 .
32
4
128
3°
I
30
28
I
28
24
II
264
22
I
22
38 ' 155X3
French taken or lost.
Guns.
Ships.
Total of Guns.
100
4
400
po
8
720
L6
8
688
Guns.
Ships.
Total of Guns.
74
r
74
70
3
210
64
1
6 4
36
r
36
54
4
216
5 0
2
IOO
48
1
48
40
I
40
36
2
72
34
1
34
32
1
32
3°
2
60
28
1
28
24
8
*92
20
3
60
S 2
3°94
1396
The Loss of the French ex- ? »
ceeded ours 0 ^
This List is exclusive of what Spanish Ships wetook and destroyed.
It has likewise been observed, that the FrenchPrivateers had much less Success in this War, thanin the former, several Hundred of them havingbeen either taken or destroyed by our Frigats.
If we had this Success at Sea, during this War,notwithstanding the Dutch were every Year of itdeficient in furnishing the Quota they were byTreaty obliged, what may we not suppose, wemight have done, if they, on their Side, hadpro-portionably assisted in weakening the common E-nemy. By a Computation given by the LordsCommissioners of the Admiralty, the Deficiencyof Ships of the Line was every Year as follows:
1702 instead of 44
33
1703
44
22
1704
44
iS
17 °s
47
20
1706
46
*5
1707
43
27
1708
43
2.3
1709
42
1 r
1710
37
l 3
1711
33
11
So that, one Year with another, they were shortof furnishing half the Number of Ships of theLine, which they should have done. And thisDeficiency was not only an Obstruction to fartherConquests, which might probably have been madeon France ; But was a great Weakning of the Bri-tisto Navy, by our being obliged to continue, ourShips in greater Numbers, in remote Seas, and atunseasonable Times of the Year; And a great Pre-judice to our Trade, our Ships, which shouldhave been employed as Convoys and Cruisers, be-ing absolutely necessary to supply their Deficien-ces. Not to mention what advantageous Usemight have been made of these Ships in the JVestIndies,
86 ?
1714.
Sir JamesWishartCommanderin Chief ofHer Ma-jesty's Flees