FOOTNOTES:

FITZWILLIAM AS VICEROY.

Their hopes were raised by the prospect of the speedy appointment of Fitzwilliam as lord-lieutenant, which seemed to promise a change of system favourable to the hopes of the Irish whigs. On taking office as president of the council in July, Fitzwilliam, in common with Portland, to whose department Ireland belonged, thought that he was to succeed Westmorland without delay; he appointed his chief secretary and openly entered into communications with Grattan and Ponsonby which implied extensive changes both of men and measures.[257]TheIrish were delighted. Pitt, however, did not mean to give Ireland over to Portland and Fitzwilliam. Unfortunately he let matters slide; though he did not recall Westmorland, he abstained from checking Fitzwilliam's somewhat premature proceedings. In October, Portland pressed for Fitzwilliam's immediate appointment. Pitt then said that he would not consent to a change of system, and specially not to the dismissal of the chancellor, Fitzgibbon, and would not recall Westmorland until he had a suitable place to offer him. A serious quarrel ensued between him and the new ministers of Portland's party. At last a compromise was effected. A court office was found for Westmorland. Fitzwilliam in an interview with Pitt and other ministers disavowed all idea of a general change of system, agreed to some arrangements with regard to appointments, and was instructed to prevent, if possible, the agitation of the catholic question during the coming session, though if he could not evade it he was to be at liberty to give the measure his full support.[258]Pitt was favourable to catholic emancipation, but wished to have no changes during the war. Fitzwilliam received his appointment and was succeeded as president of the council by the Earl of Mansfield.

FITZWILLIAM RECALLED.

He landed in Ireland on January 4, 1795. His appointment had inspired the catholic committee with fresh vigour, and he found that the catholics were united on the question of a complete removal of disabilities and that the mass of the protestant gentry favoured their demand. Defenderism was active and the country was in a disturbed state. He informed the cabinet that the catholic question was urgent. Parliament met and in a loyal humour voted large supplies for the war. Grattan undertook the catholic business, and Fitzwilliam promised his support, and pressed for the approval of the cabinet on the ground that a complete repeal of all disqualifying laws was necessary in order to secure the pacification and loyalty of the country. No answer was sent to his appeals. Meanwhile Fitzwilliam dismissed some administrative officers and among them Beresford, a powerful member of the party which had so long been preponderant at the castle. Beresford carried his complaint to London, and Pitt remonstrated with Fitzwilliam onhis dismissal. Portland, too, at last wrote, warning him not to commit himself on the catholic question. It was too late. Portland wrote again and declared himself hostile to emancipation. Fitzwilliam expostulated in vain, and finally, on February 23, the cabinet agreed to recall him. He left Ireland on March 25. It was a day of general gloom; the Dublin tradesmen put up their shutters, no business was transacted, and many persons wore mourning. The hopes of Ireland were bitterly disappointed and the door seemed shut against reforms by constitutional means. Lord Camden was appointed lord-lieutenant, the catholic bill was rejected, Fitzgibbon was made Earl of Clare, and the party in favour of the protestant ascendency was re-established in power. Whether the presence of catholics in the parliament would have led to such a thorough removal of the causes of Irish discontent as would have pacified the country and saved it from the rebellion of 1798 seems extremely doubtful, but it is certain that the recall of Fitzwilliam was fatal to any chance of so happy a settlement.

Although he acted hastily and unadvisedly as regards the dismissals, he was right in saying that it was impossible for him to stave off the catholic claims, and that no measures would secure the loyalty of the catholics or the peace of Ireland unless they were satisfied. As Pitt desired to defer emancipation to an uncertain date, the end of the war, he should not have excited the expectation of the Irish by an appointment which they naturally interpreted as a sign of immediate acquiescence. Fitzwilliam, before his actual appointment, was allowed to commit himself to a line of conduct to which Pitt afterwards objected; his instructions were somewhat vague, and he did not receive timely notice that the cabinet would not assent to the policy he was adopting.[259]Deeply immersed in the conduct of the war, Pitt seems to have neglected the affairs of Ireland at this time, and to have failed to appreciate the gravity of the crisis. Fitzwilliam's recall was due partly to Pitt's unwillingness to offend Beresford's powerful friends in both countries and the whole party which had given him valuable support,[260]partly to his determination to avoid anychange of system during the war, and partly to the dislike of some other members of the cabinet, plainly expressed by Portland, to the proposed overthrow of the protestant ascendency. Yet another influence was brought to bear on the decision of the cabinet. On February 6 the king sent Pitt a statement of his strong objection to emancipation, both as a matter of policy and on religious grounds, ending with the remark that it would be better to change the new Irish administration than to submit to it.[261]His feelings were strengthened by hearing, perhaps from Westmorland, that Fitzgibbon was of opinion that he could not give the royal assent to catholic emancipation without a breach of his coronation oath and of the act of succession,[262]a mistaken idea which ruled his later conduct with lamentable results. He consulted some great lawyers on the point; Lord Kenyon and Scott, the attorney-general, assured him that he could assent to a change in the test act without breach of his oath, but the chancellor, Loughborough, gave him an undecided answer which tended to strengthen his opinion. His feelings on the question doubtless confirmed the ministers in their decision, but must not be supposed to have dictated it.[263]

FOOTNOTES:[241]This question is admirably dealt with by Lord Rosebery in hisPitt, pp. 148-60.[242]Newmarch,On the Loans Raised by Mr. Pitt, pp. 25-27; W. E. Gladstone to H. Gladstone, March 10, 1876, in Morley'sLife of Gladstone, ii., 637-38.[243]Sorel,u.s., iii., 366-68; Sybel,u.s., ii., 239-41; Auckland to Grenville, Ap. 8 and 9, 1793, MS. Holland, R.O.[244]Chuquet,Les Guerres de la Révolution, xi., 115.[245]Auckland to Grenville, April 26 and May 14, 1793, MS. Holland, R.O.; Eden to Grenville, April 15 and May 13, MS. Austria, R.O.[246]Chuquet,Les Guerres de la Révolution, xi., 149, 151-52, 251.[247]Grenville to Eden, Jan. 3, 1791, MS., Austria, R.O.[248]Eden to Grenville, Jan. 29 and Feb. 15, 1794, MS. Austria, R.O.[249]Grenville to Eden, Feb. 18, and Eden to Grenville, March 11, 1794, MS. Austria, R.O.; Grenville to King, Feb. 16,Dropmore Papers, ii., 505.[250]Grenville to Spencer, July 19, 1794, MS. Austria, R.O.[251]Spencer and J. Grenville to Grenville, Aug. 12 and Oct. 1, 1794, MS. Austria, R.O.[252]Pitt to George III., Oct. 11 and Nov. 23, 1794 (rough drafts), MSS. Pitt Papers, 101; George III. to Pitt, Nov. 19, in Stanhope'sLife of Pitt, ii., App. xxi. The drafts of Pitt's letters escaped Lord Stanhope's notice.[253]"Log of theBrunswick,"Great Sea Fights, i., 102, ed. Admiral T. S. Jackson.[254]Pitt to George III., Dec. 8, 1794. MS. Pitt Papers, 101.[255]Lecky,History, vi., 513.[256]W. W. Tone,Life of T. W. Tone, i., 111-18.[257]Grenville to T. Grenville, Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, 1794,Court and Cabinets, ii., 301,312.[258]Add. MS., 33,118, ff. 268-78 (Pelham Papers), dated March, 1795, andFirst Letter of Fitzwilliam to Earl of Carlisle, p. 19, Dublin, 1795.[259]Second Letter of Fitzwilliam to Carlisle, pp. 12, 13, 2nd ed., 1795.[260]That it was largely a question of "men" with Pitt was held by Pelham, the chief secretary, 1795-97 (Pelham to Portland, March 22, 1795, Add. MS., 33, 113), as well as by Fitzwilliam (Second Letter to Carlisle, pp. 4, 24) and Burke (Life of Grattan, iv., 202).[261]Stanhope,Life of Pitt, ii., App. xiii.-xiv.[262]Auckland Corr., iii., 303-5; Add. MS., 33,118, f. 283.[263]For full treatment of this crisis see Lecky,Hist., vii., 1-98.

[241]This question is admirably dealt with by Lord Rosebery in hisPitt, pp. 148-60.

[242]Newmarch,On the Loans Raised by Mr. Pitt, pp. 25-27; W. E. Gladstone to H. Gladstone, March 10, 1876, in Morley'sLife of Gladstone, ii., 637-38.

[243]Sorel,u.s., iii., 366-68; Sybel,u.s., ii., 239-41; Auckland to Grenville, Ap. 8 and 9, 1793, MS. Holland, R.O.

[244]Chuquet,Les Guerres de la Révolution, xi., 115.

[245]Auckland to Grenville, April 26 and May 14, 1793, MS. Holland, R.O.; Eden to Grenville, April 15 and May 13, MS. Austria, R.O.

[246]Chuquet,Les Guerres de la Révolution, xi., 149, 151-52, 251.

[247]Grenville to Eden, Jan. 3, 1791, MS., Austria, R.O.

[248]Eden to Grenville, Jan. 29 and Feb. 15, 1794, MS. Austria, R.O.

[249]Grenville to Eden, Feb. 18, and Eden to Grenville, March 11, 1794, MS. Austria, R.O.; Grenville to King, Feb. 16,Dropmore Papers, ii., 505.

[250]Grenville to Spencer, July 19, 1794, MS. Austria, R.O.

[251]Spencer and J. Grenville to Grenville, Aug. 12 and Oct. 1, 1794, MS. Austria, R.O.

[252]Pitt to George III., Oct. 11 and Nov. 23, 1794 (rough drafts), MSS. Pitt Papers, 101; George III. to Pitt, Nov. 19, in Stanhope'sLife of Pitt, ii., App. xxi. The drafts of Pitt's letters escaped Lord Stanhope's notice.

[253]"Log of theBrunswick,"Great Sea Fights, i., 102, ed. Admiral T. S. Jackson.

[254]Pitt to George III., Dec. 8, 1794. MS. Pitt Papers, 101.

[255]Lecky,History, vi., 513.

[256]W. W. Tone,Life of T. W. Tone, i., 111-18.

[257]Grenville to T. Grenville, Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, 1794,Court and Cabinets, ii., 301,312.

[258]Add. MS., 33,118, ff. 268-78 (Pelham Papers), dated March, 1795, andFirst Letter of Fitzwilliam to Earl of Carlisle, p. 19, Dublin, 1795.

[259]Second Letter of Fitzwilliam to Carlisle, pp. 12, 13, 2nd ed., 1795.

[260]That it was largely a question of "men" with Pitt was held by Pelham, the chief secretary, 1795-97 (Pelham to Portland, March 22, 1795, Add. MS., 33, 113), as well as by Fitzwilliam (Second Letter to Carlisle, pp. 4, 24) and Burke (Life of Grattan, iv., 202).

[261]Stanhope,Life of Pitt, ii., App. xiii.-xiv.

[262]Auckland Corr., iii., 303-5; Add. MS., 33,118, f. 283.

[263]For full treatment of this crisis see Lecky,Hist., vii., 1-98.

ENGLAND'S DARKEST DAYS.

Before parliament met on December 30, 1794, a change in the public affairs of France encouraged hopes of peace in England. The fall of Robespierre and the end of the Terror on July 28 (10th Thermidor) were followed by a reaction; the revolutionary committees lost their dictatorial power, the convention regained its supremacy, and the jacobin club was closed. This reaction, combined with the success of the French arms in the Netherlands and Holland, the decay of the coalition, the burdens entailed by the war, and the conviction that the republican government would gain in stability by foreign opposition, led some of Pitt's followers to desire an attempt at negotiation. The king's speech urged a vigorous prosecution of the war, and was ably seconded in the commons by a young member, George Canning, one of Pitt's devoted adherents. Pitt's friend, Wilberforce, moved an amendment for opening negotiations, and the minority against the government was 73. Soon afterwards in two divisions, arising out of a resolution moved by Grey in January, 1795, the minority rose to 86 and 90. As in these divisions the minority included some of Pitt's regular supporters, they are highly significant. As regards domestic affairs the opposition remained in its normal condition. A motion for the repeal of thehabeas corpussuspension act, which led to a debate on the late trials for treason, was defeated by 239 to 41, and attacks on the government with reference to the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam were easily foiled by the assertion of the right of the crown to dismiss its confidential servants.

THE PRINCE OF WALES.

The affairs of the Prince of Wales again demanded the attention of parliament. He had not mended his ways since 1787; his creditors pressed him and put executions in his house.He could no longer reckon on the support of the opposition in any application to parliament, for he had voted against them on the seditious publications bill in 1792. In order to escape from his difficulties he promised the king to marry Caroline, daughter of the Duke of Brunswick. She was brought over to England by Lord Malmesbury, and though at his first interview with her the prince did not conceal his disgust, the marriage took place on April 8. Pitt brought a royal message to the commons requesting in humble terms that they would enable the prince to pay his debts and would make a provision for him and the princess. He stated the prince's debts at about £630,000, and proposed that the princess should have a jointure of £50,000 a year, that the prince's income should be increased by £65,000, making it £125,000 a year, exclusive of the duchy of Cornwall, and that £25,000 a year should be deducted for the interest on his debts, and the revenues of the duchy appropriated for the gradual payment of them. Grey moved that the increase should only be £40,000. Fox reminded the house that in 1787 the prince promised that he would not again apply to parliament for payment of his debts, and suggested that the augmentation of £65,000 and the income of the duchy should be used for the purpose. Pitt's proposals were carried. The princess, a coarse-minded and giddy young woman, was shamefully treated by her husband, and after the birth of their daughter, the Princess Charlotte, in January, 1796, they finally separated.

For the prosecution of the war parliament voted 100,000 seamen, including marines, and £14,500,000 for army expenses; the total supplies were about £27,500,000. Ten new taxes were imposed, one of them on hair-powder at twenty-one shillings a head, which was calculated at £210,000; and a loan of £18,000,000 was effected. With this year began a period of difficulty in raising money and the loan was only obtained at the total rate of £4 16s. 2d. per cent. In February Pitt hoped to prevent Prussia from making peace with France, and to induce the king to renew the war by the grant of another subsidy. Grenville, who was convinced that no reliance could be placed on Prussia, objected and threatened to resign if Pitt persisted in his plan. He desired a close alliance with Austria, and believed that the grant of a subsidy to Prussia would alienate the courts of Vienna and St. Petersburg. Pitt wouldnot give way, and Grenville promised to keep his intended resignation a secret until the end of the session. He privately announced his resignation to the king, who, though he had at first been opposed to a Prussian subsidy, was then on Pitt's side, for he was discouraged by the ill-success of Austria.Pitt's project came to naught; for on April 5 Frederick William made a treaty with France at Basle, by which he surrendered the Prussian territories on the left bank of the Rhine. Secret articles provided that if France kept those territories he should be indemnified elsewhere. Grenville continued in office; Pitt had cause to rejoice that he was saved from a serious mistake, and the threatened disruption of the cabinet remained a secret.[264]

George himself had advised Grenville in December, 1794, to persuade Austria to renew the war by granting her a subsidy or a loan. His advice was in accordance with Grenville's own wishes. An arrangement with Catherine of Russia determined the Austrian emperor to carry on the war, with the intention of indemnifying himself at the expense of Bavaria and Venice, if he was unable to recover the Netherlands and conquer Lorraine and Alsace, and England had to find him money. By a convention signed on May 4 the government guaranteed a loan of £4,600,000 to be raised in London, to enable him to employ an army of 200,000 men. Defensive treaties were also concluded with Russia and Austria, and a triple alliance was formed in virtue of which Russia sent subsidies to Austria; for Catherine would take no part in the war by land. The imperial loan, which in 1798 became a charge on the consolidated fund, was raised at the rate of 7½ per cent. It was unsuccessfully opposed by Fox, who argued against the general policy of making grants to foreign powers, whether by way of loans or subsidies, and pointed out that the only real difference between a loan and a subsidy was that, in the case of a loan England would not be able to get rid of the payment, whereas a monthly subsidy could be stopped if the contract was broken.

In Germany the war was not marked by any great event. France was much distressed by domestic troubles. Public credit failed; and Pitt, speaking on Grey's motion for peace, argued that France was near the end of her resources. Food wasscarce and half Paris was only kept alive by distributions of bread and meat at low prices. The jacobins of Paris were crushed by the thermidoriens, and in the south-east a sanguinary movement of the enemies of the republic, the "white terror," pursued its course unchecked. In August a new constitution was adopted of a far less democratic character than that of 1793; the executive was vested in a directory of five and the legislative in two assemblies. An insurrection in Paris on October 5 was quelled mainly by the fire of a few cannon under the command of Bonaparte, and the revolution assumed an organised and settled form. Three years of war had brought Austria also to a state of exhaustion. Active operations, therefore, did not begin until late. Luxemburg surrendered after a blockade; and in the autumn Jourdan and Pichegru led two armies across the Rhine at different points. Jourdan drove the Austrians back and invested Mainz; Pichegru occupied Mannheim. Clairfait, however, forced Jourdan to abandon the siege of Mainz and cut the two French generals off from one another. Mannheim was retaken and both the French armies were pushed back across the Rhine.

A LOST OPPORTUNITY.

In the war on the Italian frontier the British fleet in the Mediterranean bore some part. In Hood's absence it was commanded by Admiral Hotham, a distinguished officer, though lacking in dash and resolution. The French threatened Corsica with their Toulon fleet. Hotham engaged them on March 13 and 14, and cut off their two rearmost ships, but in Nelson's opinion lost an opportunity of destroying the whole fleet. The attempt on Corsica, however, was abandoned. Both fleets were reinforced; for the watch on Brest was slackly kept and six ships were allowed to leave the port and sail to Toulon. Another engagement in Hyères bay on July 13 only resulted in the destruction of one French ship, and was another lost opportunity. The command of the sea, which would have carried with it the control of the Italian states, was not secured. Meanwhile an Austrian army, acting with the Sardinians and relying on the co-operation of the British fleet, forced the French to evacuate Vado. The two armies faced one another, the Austrians waiting until the French should be compelled to retire by want of provisions; for as they were cut off from Genoa they depended on supplies by sea. Hotham detached Nelson with asmall squadron to intercept their supplies and co-operate with the Austrians. He performed his duty with characteristic energy, but the ships which Hotham allowed him were too few for the work he had to do. The French army was strongly reinforced and was supplied by coasting vessels. The allies were totally defeated in the battle of Loano on November 23. The Austrians retreated beyond the Apennines, and the French had no further difficulty in obtaining provisions.

QUIBERON.

Before the end of 1794 Pitt was persuaded by the Count de Puisaye, a leader of the Breton Chouans, to send an expedition to support them. The expeditionary force was to consist of French emigrants headed by the Count of Artois, the youngest brother of Louis XVI. Emigrants were enlisted in England and from the force lately serving on the Rhine, and the government supplied arms and money. It was hoped that an unexpected descent on the coast would enable the royalists in the west to gain an immediate success, which was to be followed up by an invasion of a British force under Lord Moira. The plan became known, and in June it was necessary to act at once. The first body of emigrants, about 3,500 men, under Puisaye and Hervilly, with large supplies of all kinds and specially of arms for future recruits, sailed on the 16th in a squadron commanded by Sir John Warren. The Brest fleet was on the watch for them, and Warren sent for help to Lord Bridport, then in command of the channel fleet. Bridport caught the French, who were inferior in strength, off the Ile de Groix and captured three of their line of battle, but allowed the rest to escape into L'Orient. On the 27th the emigrants were landed on the peninsula of Quiberon and, with some help from the squadron, took the fortress of Penthièvre which commanded it. A large number of Chouans joined them and arms were distributed among the peasantry.

Puisaye and Hervilly quarrelled. Time was wasted, and Hoche, who was in command in Brittany, drove in the Chouans from their advanced posts and shut the whole force up in the peninsula. They made an attempt to break out on July 16; Hervilly was wounded and his troops retreated under cover of the fire from British gunboats. A second party landed under Sombreuil. More quarrelling ensued and then treachery, for Hervilly had enlisted some who were republicans at heart.These men betrayed their companions, and with their help Hoche stormed the fort of Penthièvre, and fell on the royalists in the peninsula. Many were slaughtered; others fled. It blew hard, and for a time the British ships could do little for the fugitives. At last they were able to take off Puisaye and some 3,500 others. Sombreuil and about a thousand under him were cut off, and laid down their arms. Sombreuil was tried and executed at Vannes, and over 700 were shot in batches on successive days in a field near Auray. The fugitives were landed on the islands of Houat and Hædik which were covered by the squadron. Then the Count of Artois with a third division of the expedition and a body of British troops appeared, took possession of the Ile d'Yeu, and seemed about to cross over to the mainland to co-operate with the Vendeans. However nothing further was done of any importance, and in October the troops were embarked for England. The Vendeans, who had hoped in vain to receive help, and to be headed by Artois, were again crushed, and the only result of this ill-planned and deplorable expedition was the ruin of the royalist cause in the west.

Nor were events cheering in the West Indies during 1795. The reconquest of Guadaloupe, due to the insufficiency of the British force sent out in 1794, led to disastrous consequences. The French firmly established themselves in the island and made it a centre for operations, St. Lucia was taken, and insurrections of French inhabitants, negroes, and native races were fomented and supported in St. Vincent's, Grenada, and Dominica. An insurrection of the Maroons caused much trouble in Jamaica, and the government of the island imported bloodhounds from Cuba to track the fugitive insurgents. Great indignation was expressed in parliament at this measure, and it was asserted that the dogs tore the natives in pieces. Dundas explained that the home government was not responsible for the importation of the dogs, and promised that if they were used for such a horrid purpose the practice should be stopped. In 1796 a large force was sent to the West Indies under Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Christian. St. Lucia was retaken and the British power re-established in the Antilles. The French, however, retained Guadaloupe, and privateers both from that island and Cuba did much damage to the West Indiatrade. England gained largely by the alliance between Holland and France, for it threw the Dutch colonies open to attack. Their rich settlements in Ceylon, Malacca, and on the Malabar coast; the Cape (September, 1795); Demarara, Essequibo, and the Moluccas (1796) were taken without difficulty.

England's naval power was already forwarding the increase of her trade, and the total loss of commerce with France, Holland, and the Belgian Netherlands was more than counterbalanced by its increase with Germany, Russia, and the United States. With the United States some serious difficulties with respect to neutral rights were happily settled in 1794 by a treaty which was negotiated on their part by Jay, and finally ratified in 1796. Yet the year 1795 was one of great distress among the poor. Two bad harvests in succession raised the average price of wheat, which in 1792 had been 43s., to 75s. 2d. Bread riots broke out in Sussex, in Birmingham, Nottingham, Coventry, and other places. Bills were passed with the object of husbanding the supply of wheat; liberal bounties were granted on importation, and the members of parliament entered into an agreement to curtail the use of wheaten flour in their own households. A bill for the regulation of wages, introduced by Whitbread, the brewer, and advocated by Fox, was opposed by Pitt and was rejected. Starving men are quick to believe assertions that their sufferings are caused by ill-government, and the corresponding society, encouraged by the failure of the prosecutions in 1794, was active in spreading political discontent. At a large meeting held in St. George's Fields on July 29, an address to the king was voted and resolutions were passed demanding annual parliaments, universal suffrage, and above all peace, as remedies for the high price of food. Parliament was summoned for October 29. On the 26th, a meeting in Copenhagen Fields, Mary-le-bone, at which 150,000 persons are said to have been present, adopted a strongly worded "remonstrance" to the king, praying for parliamentary reform, the dismissal of the ministers, and a speedy peace. When the king went to open parliament a large crowd greeted him with hisses and cries of "Bread! Peace! No Pitt!" His carriage was pelted, and a missile, probably from an air-gun, broke the glass. On his return the same cries were raised; there was more pelting, and the king was only rescued fromthe crowd by the arrival of some horse-guards. George, than whom no braver man lived in his dominions, remained perfectly calm throughout these scenes, read the royal speech without a sign of excitement, and the next night went with the queen and the princesses to Covent Garden theatre, where he was received with enthusiasm. The soldiers also acted admirably and abstained from hurting any one.

REPRESSIVE ACTS.

The insult to the king and the proceedings of the corresponding society were met by repressive measures. Proclamations relating to the outrage and to seditious assemblies were followed by two bills, one introduced in the lords by Grenville, the other in the commons by Pitt. The first, the treasonable practices bill, extended the crime of treason to spoken and written words not followed by any overt act, and created a new crime by subjecting to heavy penalties any one convicted of inciting others to hatred of the sovereign or the established government. The second, the seditious meetings bill, forbade all political meetings of which notice had not previously been given by resident householders, and empowered any two justices to dissolve a legally constituted meeting at their discretion by using the riot act. Both these measures were grievous encroachments on liberty. Apart from its extension of the law of treason, the first might be used to prevent all discussion of political reforms; the second checked the public expression of opinion on public affairs. The ministry, however, was acting in accordance with the will of parliament and of the vast majority of the respectable part of the nation, who were alarmed and indignant at the success of seditious agitators in exciting political discontent among the uneducated classes. England was engaged in a struggle for existence, and could not afford to tolerate sedition. Looking back on issues then incalculable, we may think that repression was carried farther than was necessary; but anything was better than the least sign of weakness in dealing with seditious practices. Excited meetings, over one of which Fox presided, were held to condemn the bills. Numerous petitions, mostly got up by the corresponding society, were presented against them; and many were presented in their favour. They were violently opposed by the minority in parliament, and Fox declared that if they became law, obedience would no longer be a question of duty but of prudence, a directincitement to rebellion only to be excused as uttered in the heat of debate, an excuse which is also needed for some foolish and intemperate language on the other side. The sedition bill, which was limited to three years, was amended by giving up the clause empowering magistrates to dissolve meetings at their discretion as dangerous to the public peace. The two bills were passed in both houses by overwhelming majorities. The treason act was only to last during the king's life, and both acts proved quite harmless, for neither was ever called into operation.

Pitt's budget for 1796 included another loan of £18,000,000 and several new taxes, one of them on salt. He proposed duties on legacies and on collateral successions to real estate. The first was easily carried, but Fox, in spite of his democratic professions, seized on the proposal to make landed estates equally liable with other property to taxation, as an opportunity for thwarting the government by exciting the selfishness of the landed gentry, and Pitt found that so many of his supporters were hostile to the tax that he withdrew his proposal. Nor was the inequality redressed until 1853, when Gladstone, following Pitt's lead, made all successions alike liable to duty. As at the end of the session in May parliament was near the term of its natural life, a new parliament was elected. The returns showed that the government had lost no ground in the confidence of the country: as a rule, the large constituencies elected supporters of Pitt; indeed, twenty-three of Fox's small following were returned for nomination boroughs.

The policy of England in 1796 was closely connected with the course of the war between her Austrian ally and the French. In March Bonaparte took the command of the army of Italy. He defeated the Austrians at Montenotte, and compelled the Sardinian king to abandon the coalition. He crossed the Po, forced the passage of the Adda at Lodi, and occupied Milan on May 14. The Austrians fell back behind the Mincio, and garrisoned the strong fortress of Mantua. Bonaparte levied contributions on the Dukes of Parma and Modena, forced the papal states to submission, occupied Leghorn, which was thus closed against our ships, and reduced the Grand Duke of Tuscany to obedience. In June Ferdinand of Naples and the pope made armistices with France. The Austrian power in Italy depended on the possession of Mantua. Wurmser forcedBonaparte to raise the siege, and the Austrians though defeated at Lonato and Castiglione, regarrisoned the place. A second attempt by Wurmser to relieve it was defeated in August, and he was shut into Mantua. If Hotham had destroyed the French fleet in the Mediterranean, Bonaparte would not have carried everything before him in the Italian states south of the Po. As it was, his success had an unfortunate effect on England's naval war.

FLEET LEAVES THE MEDITERRANEAN.

After 1795 the French made no more attempts to cope with an English fleet. They employed their navy only in military expeditions and in the destruction of British commerce.[265]The watch upon their ports was slackly kept and ships constantly left them. Much damage was done to England's trade, specially by privateers; her navy was largely employed in convoy duty, and actions between small squadrons and single ships were frequent. In this year a French squadron cruelly ravaged the coast of Newfoundland, another captured part of a West India convoy, and a third made some prizes in the Levant. Warfare of this kind, though troublesome to England, could not affect her maritime supremacy. That was impaired by the results of Bonaparte's campaign in Italy. In December, 1795, the command in the Mediterranean was taken by Sir John Jervis, a fine seaman and a strict disciplinarian, who soon brought the fleet to a high state of efficiency. He kept a strict watch on Toulon, and employed Nelson in intercepting the French communications by sea. By the end of June the ports of Tuscany, Naples, and the papal dominions were shut against his ships; Corsica was restless, and the fleet was in danger of being left without a base. In July Nelson, who was then blockading Leghorn, occupied Elba in order to gain a harbour and establish a place of stores at Porto Ferrajo. A new danger, however, threatened the fleet, for Spain, influenced by Bonaparte's successes, made an offensive and defensive alliance with France by a treaty signed on August 19; and as the Spaniards had over fifty ships of the line, the position of the British fleet became critical. And there was work for it elsewhere, for Portugal was in need of help. The Austrian cause in Italy seemed almost hopeless, and Jervis received orders to evacuate the Mediterranean.

Then better news came to England; the Austrians had achieved a signal success in Germany. Two French armies under Jourdan and Moreau crossed the Rhine in the summer and acted independently of each other. After a campaign of about two months Jourdan was defeated by the Archduke Charles at Amberg, and again near Würzburg on September 3, and was forced to recross the Rhine. Moreau advanced as far as Munich, for Bonaparte intended, after the fall of Mantua, which he believed would not be delayed, to effect a junction with him in Bavaria. Jourdan's overthrow left Moreau in a critical position, and he only saved his army by a masterly retreat through the Black Forest. Bonaparte's hope that he would soon bring the war to an end by marching into Bavaria, and on Vienna, was disappointed. His army was kept on the Mincio, for Mantua remained untaken, and another army under Alvinzi was preparing to march to its relief. Italy was not conquered yet, and on October 19 the cabinet decided that the fleet should remain in the Mediterranean.[266]It was then too late. Corsica and Elba were abandoned; Ferdinand of Naples made peace with France, and Jervis sailed for Lisbon. After three years in the Mediterranean the fleet retired from its waters; its departure left that sea closed to British commerce, assured Bonaparte's communications, and strengthened his hold over Italy.

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.

Pitt, driven into war against his will, was sincerely anxious for peace. He had entered on the war for political reasons, and would not be deterred from negotiation by dislike of the French republican government. His views were not shared by all his colleagues; Windham and Pitt's whig supporters generally were averse from peace because they desired the overthrow of the revolutionary system. The king fully sympathised with them, and their sentiments were stimulated and expressed by Burke, whose firstLetter on a Regicide Peaceappeared in the autumn. Pitt believed that the new French government would be willing to treat, and that it would remain in power, so that a stable peace might be hoped for. The king's speech at the opening of parliament in October, 1795, stated that the government would be willing to treat, and this was emphatically declared in a royal message to parliament on December 8. Sorely against the king'swill, an attempt at negotiation was made in the early spring through Wickham, the British ambassador at Berne. His overtures were scornfully rejected, the directors replying that no proposition for the surrender of any of the countries declared by France to be "re-united" to herself would be entertained. This was final; for England was bound by treaty to maintain the integrity of the Austrian dominions, and could treat only on the basis of the surrender of the Austrian Netherlands by France.

In July the cabinet determined to make another attempt. A strong party in France desired peace, and the friends and agents of the British government abroad represented that the directors would be unable to resist its demands. The expenses of the war were enormous, for Austria clamoured for financial support; and it seemed possible that the emperor, pressed by the double French invasion of Germany and by Bonaparte's victories in Italy, might make a separate peace.[267]England's naval successes had given her much that Pitt could offer. And he would offer much, for he was in earnest in his attempt. If it did not succeed he would at least show the nation that he desired peace, and the rejection of his offers would wound its pride, rouse its spirit, and encourage it to bear the burden of the war. George believed that the attempt would fail, and consented to it because he reckoned that its failure would have this effect on the nation. In September the cabinet requested the Danish ambassador in Paris to ask for a passport for an English minister. The directors rejected his mediation, but the strength of the peace party prevented them from declining all negotiation, and they offered to receive a minister if the British government made an official request. Great Britain was, in fact, to sue for peace. The government acquiesced, and Malmesbury was sent over to Paris. England offered all that she had conquered from France for a peace which should include her allies, if France would surrender the Austrian Netherlands either to the emperor or in exchange for some equivalent which he would accept, and restore the Milanese. The surrender of the Netherlands was refused, and on December 19 Malmesbury was ordered to leave Paris in twenty-four hours. This abrupt termination was connected withthe death of Catherine of Russia on November 17, soon after she had agreed to support Austria with an army of 60,000 men to be paid by England. Her half-crazy son and successor, Paul, declared himself neutral. On the part of the directory, however, the negotiations were illusory, undertaken merely to appease domestic discontent. The French declared that England's offers were insincere. Fox and his party adopted the same line, and their attacks on the government left them with thirty-seven supporters in the commons and eight in the lords.

This ineffectual negotiation roughly coincides with the beginning of an awful period of stress and depression. The directory designed to isolate England, reduce her to bankruptcy by destroying her commerce, and complete her ruin by invasion. Already Austria, her one efficient ally, was nearly exhausted; her commerce was shut out from the Mediterranean, and, though vigorously pushed in other quarters, was constantly harassed, and a plan of invasion was ripe for prosecution. Pitt met the prospect of invasion by proposals for increasing the army and navy by parochial levies, and for the formation of militia reserves and irregular cavalry. Fox asserted that the French did not contemplate an invasion, and that the immediate duty of parliament was to guard the freedom of the people against its domestic enemies, the ministers. This disgraceful speech roused the indignation of the peace-loving Wilberforce, who declared that Fox and his friends seemed to wish that just so much evil should befall their country as would bring them into office. Though the government easily carried its proposals for defence, it was embarrassed by financial difficulties. Pitt had granted an advance of £1,200,000 to the emperor without the consent of parliament. He was justly blamed for this unconstitutional act, and eighty-one members voted against the government. In his budget of December 7 he proposed another loan of £18,000,000. The public debt already exceeded £400,000,000; the 3 per cents. had fallen with its growth, and in September were at 53. In the dangerous position of the country, financiers would have declined the loan, and Pitt offered it to the public at 5 per cent. and £112 10s. stock for £100 money. Liberal as these terms may seem, they were exiguous at that critical time, and the stock was at 4 per cent. discount before the deposit was paid. Pitt, however, appealed to theloyalty of the country. Patriotic enthusiasm was aroused, and the "loyalty loan" was promptly subscribed. Twenty-nine new items of taxation were imposed during the session; one of them raised the stamp duty on newspapers, which Pitt described as a luxury, from 2d. to 3½d., and was calculated to produce £114,000.

RELIGIOUS FEUD IN IRELAND.

The threats of invasion were not vain; a descent on Ireland was attempted. The government, though withholding emancipation, had made an effort to conciliate the catholics. While the penal code was in force Irish priests were educated abroad. Burke held that they required a special education, and that seminaries should be established for them in Ireland as a means of keeping them from disloyalty. The destruction of the French seminaries by the republicans left no choice between a priesthood educated at home and one without education, and therefore likely to be dangerous to civil order. Camden met the difficulty by favouring the foundation of the college of Maynooth. Religious animosity had broken out afresh since the recall of Fitzwilliam, and many outrages were committed on both sides. On September 1, 1795, the defenders and peep-of-day boys fought near a village called Diamond, in Armagh, and the defenders were worsted with some slaughter. Immediately afterwards the Orange society was founded to maintain the protestant cause. In 1796 protestant mobs assuming the name of Orangemen, persecuted the catholics in Armagh, and drove them from their homes, bidding them go "to hell or Connaught". The magistrates gave the catholics little help, and the government minimised the outrages of the protestants.

Religious hatred changed the position of parties. The United Irishmen no longer attempted to unite men of the two religions; they encouraged the catholics to believe that the protestants were determined to destroy them and conquer the land for themselves. There was much anarchy. Catholic disloyalty was increased by the feeling that the government favoured the Orangemen, and attacks were made on royal troops in Connaught. A stringent insurrection act was passed, which gave the magistrates power to send on board the fleet those attending unlawful assemblies or otherwise acting disloyally, and in the autumn thehabeas corpusact was suspended. Corps of yeomanry and infantry were formed by the gentry for their own protection, and were accepted by the crown. The defenderscoalesced with the United Irishmen, and the society adopted a military organisation. On different pretexts, such as a potato-digging, funerals, or football matches, large bodies of men assembled in military array; guns were collected, and pike-heads forged. Leading members of the United Irishmen pressed the directory to send an expedition to Ireland, representing that the catholic peasantry and the dissenters of Ulster were alike ripe for revolt. Among the most active of these agents were Wolfe Tone, Arthur O'Connor, and Lord Edward Fitzgerald, a son of the Duke of Leinster, a young man of romantic disposition and no special abilities, who had married a lady of great beauty, well known in French society, Pamela, supposed to be a daughter of Madame de Genlis by the Duke of Orleans.

The directors appointed Hoche to command an invading force, and a fleet of seventeen ships of the line, thirteen frigates, and other vessels sailed from Brest on December 15 with 15,000 troops and a supply of arms for distribution. Though an invasion was expected, the fleet met with no enemy, and evaded a squadron which was on the look-out off Ushant. Some of the ships, however, were separated from the others, and one of seventy-four guns was wrecked through the incapacity of the French naval officers. On the 21st thirty-five ships of the fleet arrived at the mouth of Bantry bay, "in most delicious weather," wrote Tone, who accompanied the expedition. Then the wind changed and blew hard. Only fifteen ships managed to enter the bay, and five of them were forced by the gale to put out to sea again. The ship on which Hoche sailed did not arrive. No landing was effected, and, on January 17, the battered fleet returned to Brest, less five ships lost, six captured by some British ships lying at Cork, and one of seventy-four guns, which was attacked on its way home by two English frigates off Ushant, driven ashore, and wrecked.

If the wind had remained light and favourable, or if the French had been better seamen, and their force had landed, Ireland would probably have been conquered for a time, for the country was drained of regular troops. Between Bantry and Cork were only 4,000 men hastily collected at Bandon, and stores and artillery were virtually non-existent. That a French fleet should have been able to leave Brest, remain five days on the Irish coast, and return without being attacked by thechannel fleet caused great alarm in England, and was due to Bridport's slackness. The Irish of all classes behaved with exemplary loyalty; the country people afforded every assistance in their power to the troops at Bandon, and no symptom of disaffection appeared in Dublin. It was evident that many who had joined the disloyal societies had been driven to do so by fear, and that the catholics as a body were not as yet ready to revolt.[268]Either merely to harass England, or to prove the feasibility of a more serious invasion, two frigates and two other vessels were despatched from Brest in February with about 1,200 men, half of them convicts. After destroying some merchantmen in the Bristol channel, they anchored in Fishguard bay. The troops landed on the 23rd, and were, it is said, much alarmed through mistaking a body of Welshwomen in their red cloaks and beaver hats for soldiers. The next day Lord Cawdor, captain of the Pembrokeshire yeomanry, appeared with a force of local troops and country folk, and they at once surrendered. The two frigates which brought them were captured on their way back to Brest.

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