Hanover, where he concluded a peace with Ulrica, the new queen of
Sweden. By this treaty Sweden yielded for ever to the royal and
electoral house of Brunswick the duchies of Bremen and Verden, with
all their dependencies; king George obliged himself to pay a million
of rix-dollars to the queen of Sweden; and to renew, as king of Great
Britain and elector of Hanover, the alliances formerly subsisting
between his predecessors and that kingdom. He likewise mediated a peace
between Sweden and his former allies, the Danes, the Prussians, and the
Poles. The czar, however, refused to give up his schemes of conquest. He
sent his fleet to the Scheuron, or Bates of Sweden, where his troops
landing to the number of fifteen thousand, committed dreadful outrages:
but sir John Norris, who commanded an English squadron in those seas,
having orders to support the negotiations, and oppose any hostilities
that might be committed, the czar, dreading the fate of the Spanish
navy, thought proper to recall his fleet. In the Mediterranean, admiral
Byng acted with unwearied vigour in assisting the Imperialists to finish
the conquest of Sicily. The court of Vienna had agreed to send a strong
body of forces to finish the reduction of that island; and the command
in this expedition was bestowed upon the count de Merci, with whom sir
George Byng conferred at Naples. This admiral supplied them with
ammunition and artillery from the Spanish prizes. He took the whole
reinforcement under his convoy, and saw them safely landed in the bay of
Patti, to the number of three thousand five hundred horse, and ten
thousand infantry. Count Merci thinking himself more than a match for
the Spanish forces commanded by the marquis de Lede, attacked him in a
strong camp at Franca-Villa, and was repulsed with the loss of five
thousand men, himself being dangerously wounded in the action. Here his
army must have perished for want of provisions, had they not been
supplied by the English navy.

{GEORGE I, 1714--1727}

ACTIVITY OF ADMIRAL BYNG.

Admiral Byng no sooner learned the bad success of the attack at
Franca-Villa, than he embarked two battalions from the garrison of
Melazzo, and about a thousand recruits, whom he sent under a convoy
through the Baro to Scheso-bay, in order to reinforce the Imperial army.
He afterwards assisted at the council ol war with the German generals,
who, in consequence of his advice, undertook the siege of Messina.
Then he repai