ginally inhabited, or came as adventurers, or were brought as flaves, into their extenfive dominions. From this short account it is vifible, that the acquifition of fuch a place muft have proved of very great advantage towards carrying on the war with Spain effectually, and could not, therefore, fail of having an advantageous influence on the terms of pacification. Accordingly it was refolved to make an attempt upon the Mamilas, from a plan of operations delivered to the miniftry by colonel Draper; and, perhaps, the reader will be glad to know how this plan came to be formed.

After the memorable defence of Madras, in 1759, colonel Draper's bad ftate of health obliged him to leave that country. He embarked,in company with the honourable capt. Howe, then commander of the Winchelfea, for Canton in China, a city with which the inhabitants of Manila carry on a confiderable trade. Here they wifely fpent that time of relaxation from military operations, in attaining fuch a knowledge of the Philippine iflands, as might afterwards be ferviceable to their country, giving a leffon to all men in public employment, that, at times when they cannot perform an active fervice, they may fill do a material one by wife attention and fenfible obfervation. They difcovered, that the Spaniards of the Philippine iflands, confiding in their remote distance from Europe, fuppofed an attack upon them impracticable, and were by that fatal fecurity, which is always the confequence of an ill-founded confidence, lulled into a total inattention to a regular military ftrength.

Upon the first rumour of a war

with Spain, lord Anfon and lord Egremont were made acquainted with thefe obfervations concerning the state of the Philippine islands; they gave that attention to the information, which the importance of it juftly merited. They ordered colonel Draper to give his ideas in writing; affuring him, that, if the war fhould become unavoidable by the Spaniards joining with France, they would recommend the undertaking to his majefty. The memorial upon the fubject was greatly improved by the naval experience and judgment of capt. Howe, who poffeffes all the noble qualities of his illuftrious family.

The motives for the undertaking (exclufive of the popular and dazzling notions of booty and plunder) were very serious and interefting, both in a commercial and political light. For Manila, in the poffeffion of an enterprifing people, is capable of ruining the whole China trade of any other, as the port of Cavite can build, fit out, and man very large fhips of war, which, if properly ftationed, no veffels could poffibly efcape, unless protected by a fquadron. Befides, with Manila in our hands, we might at all times depend on the proper refpect being fhewn to our flag in the ports of that extenfive empire. On the other hand, the objections to the enterprise were not inconfiderable. It was impoffible to fpare either fhips or troops from England for the conqueft, as the additional weight of Spain in the fcale of France, demanded the utmost exertion of our power nearer home. The vaft diftance of the object, and the uncertainty of the time, in which the expedition conld be undertaken, were, befides, no fmall difficulties:

but

but they were foon obviated. Nothing was demanded but a light frigate to carry colonel Draper to Madras, where alone fuitable preparations could be made for this important enterprise.

The colonel arrived at Madras the latter end of June, 1762, and on his arrival was appointed brigadier general and commander in chief of the expedition, which was to be undertaken folely by the troops and fquadron then in India. No doubt, as we were become arbiters of the great peninfula of India, by the total expulfion of the French, and by, the humiliation of the Dutch, this attempt became more feasible. However, as this dominion was new, and rather entered upon, than firmly established, fomething was to be dreaded even from the natives; and, therefore, from this peninfula (the only place from which fuch an attempt could be made with any profpect of fuccefs) fo great a force could not be employed, as the difficulty and importance of the enterprise feemed to require. But the fpirit of the troops, and the celerity and judgment with which the preparations were made, compenfated every difficulty.

The 79th regiment was the only regular corps that could be spared. But this corps was, by reputation, by fervice, and by being long inured to the climate, almoft equal to an army. By this regiment the progrefs of the French in India had been firft ftopped. They had contributed not a little to the happy turn and decifion of that war, under colonel Coote; and they were now chofen to extend the glory of the English arms to the utmoft verge of Afia. A company of ar

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tillery, and a body of feamen and marines, were appointed. to act with them. Some companies of feapoys (Indian foldiers who serve after the European manner) were added. In the whole, the force for the land operations amounted to two thousand three hundred men. The naval force confifted of nine men of war and frigates, befides fome ftore-fhips.

The command of the land forces in this expedition was given, as before mentioned, to brigadier general Draper. Nobody was more perfectly acquainted with the fervice in that part of the world; and nobody had shewn greater zeal to forward it. It was impoffible to forget the merit he had in the prefervation of Madras, and in giving the Eaft India war, against Mr. Lally, the firft turn in our favour. Admiral Cornish commanded the marine; a brave and able officer, and worthy to cooperate with fuch a general, in fuch an important fervice. three weeks the preparations for forming this body, and getting ready all the ftores, were begun, compleated, and the whole shipped through a raging and perpetual furf, which in thofe climates is one of the greatest difficulties in any expedition, extremely embarraffing the embarkation, and rendering' ftill more hazardous the debarkation of troops, especially in the face of an enemy, who knows how to profit of this advantage.

In

The celerity of thofe preparations was neceffary. In the Eaft Indies, they are obliged to regulate all their motions by the courfe of the monfoons. The feafon for the expedition was far advanced, when the plan and orders arrived; and, if the north

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weft monsoon fhould fet in with any degree of violence, before they were advanced on their voyage, the success of the whole enterprise would have been rendered exceedingly precarious. There was, befides, another confideration, which demand all poffible hafte; this was, that the English army might come to its deftination, before the news of war being actually broke out between England and Spain could reach the Manilas, and, by roufing the Spaniards from their illgrounded fecurity, give them time to put themselves into the best pofture of defence.

The judgment with which every arrangement was made, equalled the celerity of the preparations. A fhip of force was difpatched before the fleet through the ftreights of Malacca, in order to watch the entrance of the Chinese sea, and to intercept whatever veffels might be bound to Manila, or fent from the neighbouring fettlements, to give the Spaniards notice of the defign. As it was neceffary to take in water at Malacca, a divifion of the fquadron, with a confiderable part of the land forces, was fent off, before the reft 29th of Jucould be got ready, in ly, 1762. order that a moment of fuperfluous delay might not happen to the fleet in prcc ring this neceffary refreshment.

Before they failed, every thing was fettled with relation to the co-operation of the land and feaforces, to the diftribution of the plunder, and to the government of the place, in cafe it fhould be taken, that no difpute might arife in the course of their operations. The Eaft India company were, by agreement, to have a third of the booty, or the ranfom; by orders

from England, the government of the conquered country was to be vefted in that body; the land and fea forces, by common confent, were mutually to participate in the diftribution of their feveral captures, according to the rules eftablithed in the navy. Thefe precautions had fo good an effect, that no circumftance of difagreement once arofe between the army and the marine, either in the conduct of the enterprife, or in the divifion of the advantages of it. Nothing diftinguishes this war more from every former war, in which we have been engaged, than that, in fo many conjunct expeditions, and in fuch a vaft variety of difficulties and of fervices, there was fo perfect an harmony, and fo cordial a co-operation between the land and the fea forces, that there is not a single inftance of the least degree of difcord or diffention between them. Nothing can more advantageously characterife the fpirit of the age.

All things being thus judiciously difpofed, and all difficulties forefeen and provided for, the laft and grand divifion of the fleet fet fail from Madras the firft of Auguft 1762. On the 19th of the fame month they arrived fafe at Malacca, formerly confidered as the key of the Indian commerce, and ftill the center of a very confiderable trade. It had formerly been difputed between the then great naval powers in India, Portugal and Holland, as a port of the utmoft moment in determining the abfolute fovereignty in thofe feas because it commands the grand communication between Chinaand Indoftan, and that it is a fituation, which has a confiderable influence on all the islands that compose thẹ great Indian Archipelago. But at

this

this time, fo great was the revolution in this part of Afia, and the fuperiority of the English was such, that it was of no great moment to them, in whofe hands Malacca was. The Dutch, who could look with no very favourable eye upon our progrefs in those eastern regions, were neither in spirit nor condition to give any check to it. The English fleet ufed Malacca as a port of their own, and there they fupplied themfelves, not only with refreshments, but with every ne

ceffary not already provided for the Gege they meditated.

The weather favoured them very much. Without the least diftrefs to the fquadron, or the dif perfion of any of the thips which compofed it, in thirty-one days from Malacca they came in fight of Lu- 19th of Sepconia. At that time, indeed, the fquadron was feparated, and driven out to fea, but they foon recovered the fhore, and again compleated their junction.

tember.

WH

HEN the British armament arrived upon the coaft of Luconia, they found the Spaniards abfolutely unacquainted with the breaking out of the war, confequently unprepared, and in all that confufion, which neceffarily attends a fudden and precipitate difpofition against an attack. That they might have as little time as poffible to recover from this confufion, fo favourable to our enterprife, it was determined that the forces fhould be landed, and the operations commence immediately. A fmall fort and town lay upon the harbour of Cavite, which was conveniently fituated to ftrengthen Manila, and might afford an ufeful ftation for fhips during the fiege. The firft idea was to begin with the attack of this fort; but on confultation between Mr. Draper and the admiral, it was concluded more adviseable to pro

ceed directly to the grand object, judging very properly, that a conqueft there would of courfe occafion and draw after it the fall of Cavite. The delay naturally attendant on the first plan would have given time to the Spaniards to recover their fpirits, dismayed by the fudden appearance of an enemy on their coafts, which had been long unaccustomed to the alarms of the war, they would have had leisure to clear away the buildings which obftructed their fortifications, to put their works in repair, and to take every step towards an orderly, and therefore, probably, an effectual defence. Befides, the fhifting of the monfoons began to difplay itfelf by very evident and alarming figns. The weather grew uncertain and nienacing; the rain began to pour down in torrents; the winds became boisterous; and it was greatly to

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