into the Mediterranean, than were
actually sent thither under the command of admiral Byng; nor any greater
reinforcement than the regiment which was sent, and the detachment,
equal to a battalion, which was ordered to the relief of fort St.
Philip, consistently with the state of the navy, and the various
services essential to the safety of his majesty's dominions, and the
interest of his subjects. It must have been something more powerful
than ordinary conviction that suggested these opinions. Whatever reports
might have been circulated by the French ministry, in order to amuse,
intimidate, and detach the attention of the English government from
America and the Mediterranean, where they really intended to exert
themselves, yet, the circumstances of the two nations being considered,
one would think there could have been no just grounds to fear an
invasion of Great Britain or Ireland, especially when other intelligence
seemed to point out much more probable scenes of action. But the last
resolution is still more incomprehensible to those who know not exactly
the basis on which it was raised. The number of ships of war in actual
commission amounted to two hundred and fifty, having on board fifty
thousand seamen and marines. Intelligence and repeated information of
the French design upon Minorca had been conveyed to the ministry
of England, about six months before it was put in execution. Is it
credible, that in all this time the nation could not equip or spare
above eleven ships of the line and six frigates, to save the important
island of Minorca? Is it easy to conceive, that from a standing army of
fifty thousand men, one regiment of troops could not have been detached
to reinforce a garrison, well known to be insufficient for the works
it was destined to defend? To persons of common intellects it appeared,
that intelligence of the armament at Toulon was conveyed to the
admiralty as early as the month of September, in the year one thousand
seven hundred and fifty-five, with express notice that it would consist
of twelve ships of the line: that the design against Minorca was
communicated as early as the twenty-seventh day of August, by consul
Banks, of Carthagena; confirmed by letters from consul Bertes, at Genoa,
dated on the seventeenth and twenty-sixth of January, and received by
Mr. Fox, secretary of state, on the fourth and eleventh of February,
as well as by many subsequent intimations; that, notwithstanding these
r