[Footnote 24: "At home, in the king's absence, our councils were most feeble and wavering.... A great difference appeared among the members of the regency. The Duke of Cumberland, always inclined to vigorous measures, wished to declare war at once, and to strike the first blow.... The Duke of Newcastle, trimming and trembling as was ever his wont, thought only of keeping off the storm as long as possible, and of shifting its responsibility from himself.... At length, as a kind of compromise, it was agreed that there should be no declaration of war; that our fleet should attack the French ships of the line, if it fell in with any, but by no means disturb any smaller men-of-war or any vessels engaged in trade. When, at the Board of Regency, these instructions came round to the bottom of the table to be signed by Fox, he turned to Lord Anson, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and asked if there were no objections to them. 'Yes,' answered Anson, 'a hundred; but it pleases those at the upper end of the table, and will signify nothing, for the French will declare war _next week, if they have not done it already_.'[59] While the prospects of peace grew darker and darker, there was also gathering a cloud of popular resentment and distrust against the minister. It was often asked whether these were times when all power could be safely monopolized by the Duke of Newcastle? Was every thing to be risked--perhaps every thing lost--for the sake of one hoary jobber at the Treasury?"--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 72.] [Footnote 25: _MS. Journal of Major-general Braddock's Expedition against Fort du Quesne_, 1755. Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich.] [Footnote 26: "Mr. Franklin had observed that Sir John St. Clair's uniform (the quarter-master general) was of the hussar kind, and this gave him a hint which he immediately improved: he caused a report to be propagated among the Germans that, except 150 wagons could be got ready and sent to the general within a certain time, St. Clair, who was a hussar, would come among them, and take away what he found by force. The Germans, having formerly lived under despotic power, knew the hussars too well to doubt their serving themselves, and believing that General St. Clair was indeed a hussar, they provided, instead of 150, 200 wagons, and sent them within the time that Franklin had limited. The Pennsylvanians also advanced a further sum above the king's bounty, and sent him 190 wagons more, laden with a ton of corn and oats, four wagons with provisions and wine for the officers, and 60 head of fine cattle for the army."--_Gentleman's Magazine_, August, 1755.]