invasion of holland by dumouriez—he is defeated at neerwinden and goes over to the enemy—second partition of poland—the campaign in the netherlands—and on the rhine—the english fleets in the channel and west indies—siege of toulon—first appearance of napoleon buonaparte—fall of lyons—the reign of terror—insurrection in la vendée—its brutal suppression—worship of the goddess of reason—opposition to the war in england—prosecutions for sedition—trials in scotland—discussions on the subject in parliament—arrests of horne tooke, thelwall, hardy, and others—battle of the first of june—the war in the west indies—annexation of corsica—the campaign of 1794—the prussian subsidy—successes of pichegru against the austrians—the struggle for the sambre—loss of belgium—danger of holland—the war in the south—the reign of terror continues—the festival of the supreme being—death of robespierre and his associates—the thermidorians—final extinction of poland—the portland whigs join the ministry—trials of hardy, horne tooke, and their associates—opening of parliament—the budget—attempts at reform—marriage of the prince of wales—his allowance—the french occupy holland—it becomes a republic—prussia and spain leave the coalition, but the war continues—campaigns on the rhine and in italy—the war in la vendée and in brittany—the expedition from england planned—destruction of the expedition at quiberon—extinction of the war in la vendée—establishment of the directory—attack on george the third—the budget—pitt's first negotiations for peace—failure of lord malmesbury's mission—successes in the west indies and africa—expedition to bantry bay—the campaign of 1796—retreat of the french—napoleon's italian campaign—the battles of arcole—a new british loan—suspension of cash payments—grievances of the seamen—mutiny at portsmouth—its pacification—mutiny at the nore—descent on the welsh coast—campaign of 1797—preliminaries of leoben—treaty of campo formio—lord malmesbury's mission to lille.

dumouriez was now making his projected attack upon holland. on the 17th of february, 1793, he entered the dutch territory, and issued a proclamation, promising friendship to the batavians, and war only to the stadtholder and his british allies. his success was brief, and he was soon forced back at all points. he received peremptory orders from the convention to retire into belgium. he obeyed with reluctance. on dumouriez' return to belgium, he was greatly incensed at the wholesale rapacity of the commissioners of the convention. they had plundered the churches, confiscated the property of the clergy and the wealthy inhabitants, and driven the people, by their insolence and violence, into open revolt. he did not satisfy himself by simply reproving these cormorants by words; he seized two of the worst of them, and sent them to paris under a military guard. general moreton-chabrillant, who defended the commissioners, he summarily dismissed; he restored the plate to the churches, as far as he was able, and issued orders for putting down the jacobin clubs in the army. on the 16th of march he was attacked at neerwinden by the prince of saxe-coburg, and after a sharply-fought field, in which both himself and the duke of chartres fought bravely, he was routed with a loss of four thousand killed and wounded, and the desertion of ten thousand of his troops, who fled at a great rate, never stopping till they entered france, and, spreading in all directions, they caused the most alarming rumours of dumouriez' conduct and the advance of the enemy. the convention at once dispatched danton and lacroix to inquire into his proceedings, and, roused by all these circumstances, no sooner had these two envoys left him than he entered into communication with the prince of saxe-coburg. colonel mack, an austrian officer, was appointed to confer with dumouriez, and it was agreed that he should evacuate brussels, and that then the negotiation should be renewed. accordingly, the french retired from brussels on the 25th of march, and on the 27th they encamped at ath, where dumouriez[419] and mack again met. the result of this conference was the agreement of dumouriez to abandon the republic altogether, to march rapidly on paris, and disperse the convention and the mother society of the jacobins. his designs, however, were suspected by the jacobins, and he was eventually compelled to go over to the enemy almost alone. dampierre, who had been appointed by the convention to supersede dumouriez, took the command of the army, and established himself in the camp at famars, which covered valenciennes. he was there attacked, on the 8th of may, by the combined armies of austrians, prussians, english, and dutch, under clairfayt, the duke of saxe-coburg, and the duke of york. he was defeated with terrible slaughter, four thousand men being killed and wounded, whilst the allies stated their loss at only eight hundred men. dampierre himself lost a leg and died the next day. lamarque, who succeeded him, might have easily been made to retreat, for the french were in great disorder; but the allies had resolved to advance no farther till mayence should be retaken. lamarque, therefore, fortified himself in his camp at famars, and remained unmolested till the 23rd of the month. he was then attacked and beaten, but was allowed to retire and encamp again between valenciennes and bouchain. the allies, instead of pushing their advantages, waited the advance of the king of prussia upon mayence. custine, who was put in command of the rhine, was enabled to keep back the prince of hohenlohe, who had but an inconsiderable force, the king of prussia having been compelled to send a large force to poland, instead of forwarding it according to agreement to the rhine.

in fact, whilst these events had been proceeding on the frontiers of france, russia, prussia, and austria had been dividing poland amongst them. the king of prussia, when contemplating his participation in this vile business, issued a proclamation assigning the most virtuous reasons for it. it was to check the spread of french principles in poland, which had compelled himself and his amiable allies, the empress of russia and the emperor of germany, to invade poland. but these pretences were merely a cloak for a shameless robbery. poland abutted on prussia with the desirable ports of thorn and dantzic, and therefore great poland was especially revolutionary in the eyes of frederick william of prussia. the polish diet exposed the hollowness of these pretences in a counter-manifesto. this produced a manifesto from francis of austria, who declared that the love of peace and good neighbourhood would not allow him to oppose the intentions of prussia, or permit any other power to interfere with the efforts of russia and prussia to pacify poland; in fact, his love of peace would not allow him to discountenance an aggressive war, but his love of good neighbourhood would allow him to permit the most flagrant breach of good neighbourhood. as for the empress of russia, she had a long catalogue of ingratitude against the poles, in addition to their jacobinical principles, and for these very convenient reasons she had now taken possession of certain portions of that kingdom, and called on all the inhabitants of these districts to swear allegiance to her immediately. the empress having thus broken the ice of her real motives, the king of prussia no longer pretended to conceal his, but called on all the inhabitants of great poland to swear allegiance to him forthwith. the russian ambassador at grodno commanded the poles to carry these orders of russia and prussia into effect by a circular dated the 9th of april. the great polish confederation, which had invited the interference of russia in order to carry out their own party views, were much confounded by these announcements of their friends. they reminded the marauders of the engagements entered into by russia, prussia, and austria, at the time of the former partition, to guarantee the integrity of the remainder. but this was merely parleying with assassins with the knife at their throats. the aggressive powers by force of arms compelled poor king poniatowski and the nobles to assemble a diet, and draw up and sign an instrument for the alienation of the required territories. by this forced cession a territory, containing a population of more than three millions and a half, was made over to russia; and another territory to prussia, containing a million and a half of inhabitants, together with the navigation of the vistula, with the port of thorn on that great river, and of dantzic on the baltic, so long coveted. as for the small remainder of what once had been poland, which was left to that shadow-king, poniatowski, it was bound down under all the old oppressive regulations, and had russian garrisons at warsaw and other towns. but all these powers were compelled to maintain large garrisons in their several sections of the appropriated country.[420]

view in the old town, warsaw.

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thus it happened that the king of prussia, with hands full of aggression, did not appear on the rhine to chastise the aggressions of france, before the month of april. he brought with him about fifty thousand men, prussians, saxons, hessians, and bavarians. he was joined by fifteen or twenty thousand austrians, under wurmser, and five or six thousand french emigrants under the prince of condé. but the french had on the rhine one hundred and forty thousand men at least, of whom twenty thousand were within the walls of mayence. the prussians laid siege to that city, and the austrians and british to valenciennes. on the 21st of july the french engaged to give up mayence on condition that they should be allowed to march out with the honours of war, and this the king of prussia was weak enough to comply with. they must, of necessity, have soon surrendered at discretion; now they were at liberty to join the rest of the army and again resist the allies. valenciennes did not surrender until the 28th of july, and not till after a severe bombardment by the duke of york. thus three months of the summer had been wasted before these two towns, during which time the french had been employed in drawing forces from all quarters to the frontiers of belgium, under the guidance of carnot. the duke of york was recalled from valenciennes to menin, to rescue the hereditary prince of orange from an overwhelming french force, against which his half-jacobinised troops showed no disposition to act. having effected his deliverance, the duke of york marched on dunkirk, and began, towards the end of august, to invest it; but he was left unsupported by the prince of orange, and being equally neglected by the austrians, he was compelled to raise the siege on the 7th of september, and retreated with the loss of his artillery. the prince of orange was himself not long unassailed. houchard drove him from menin, and took quesnoy from him, but was, in his turn, routed by the austrian general beaulieu, and chased to the very walls of lille. according to the recent decree of the convention, that any general surrendering a town or post should be put to death, houchard was recalled to be guillotined. there continued a desultory sort of warfare on the belgian frontiers for the remainder of the campaign. on the 15th and 16th of october jourdain drove the duke of coburg from the neighbourhood of maubeuge across the[421] sambre, but the duke of york coming up with fresh british forces, which had arrived at ostend under sir charles grey, the french were repulsed, and the netherland frontiers maintained by the allies for the rest of the year.

retreat of the royalists from toulon. (see p. 423.)

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on the rhine, the war was carried on quite into the winter. the king of prussia did not stay longer than to witness the surrender of mayence; he then hurried away to look after his new polish territory, and left the army under the command of the duke of brunswick. brunswick, in concert with wurmser and his austrians, attacked and drove the french from their lines at weissenburg, took from them lauter, and laid siege to landau. wurmser then advanced into alsace, which the germans claimed as their old rightful territory, and invested strasburg. but the convention commissioners, st. just and lebas, defended the place vigorously. they called forces from all quarters; they terrified the people into obedience by the guillotine, lebas saying that with a little guillotine and plenty of terror he could do anything. but he did not neglect to send for the gallant young hoche, and put him at the head of the army. wurmser was compelled to fall back; hoche marched through the defiles of the vosges, and, taking wurmser by surprise, defeated him, made many prisoners, and captured a great part of wurmser's cannon. in conjunction with pichegru, dessaix, and michaud, he made a desperate attack, on the 26th of december, on the austrians in the fortified lines of weissenburg, whence they had so lately driven the french; but the duke of brunswick came to their aid, and enabled the austrians to retire in order. hoche again took possession of weissenburg; the austrians retreated across the rhine, and the duke of brunswick and his prussians fell back on mayence. once there, dissatisfied with the prussian officers, he resigned his command, he and wurmser parting with much mutual recrimination. wurmser was not able long to retain mayence; and the french not only regained all their old positions, before they retired to winter quarters, but hoche crossed the lines and wintered in the palatinate, the scene of so many french devastations in past wars. the french also repulsed the enemy on the spanish and sardinian frontiers.

[422]

though war had long been foreseen with france, when it took place we had no fleet in a proper condition to put to sea. it was not till the 14th of july that lord howe, who had taken the command of the channel fleet, sailed from spithead with fifteen ships of the line, three of which were first-rates, but none of them of that speed and equipment which they ought to have been. he soon obtained intelligence of a french fleet of seventeen sail of the line, seen westward of belleisle. he sent into plymouth, and had two third-rate vessels added to his squadron. on the 31st of july he caught sight of the french fleet, but never came up with them, the french ships being better sailers. after beating about in vain, he returned to port, anchoring in torbay on the 4th of september. at the end of october howe put to sea again with twenty-four sail of the line and several frigates, and several times came near the french fleet, but could never get to engage. he, however, protected our merchant vessels and disciplined his sailors. one french ship was taken off barfleur by captain saumarez of the crescent, and that was all.

in the west indies a small squadron and some land troops took the islands of tobago, st. pierre, and miquelon. at the invitation of the planters, we also took possession of the western or french portion of st. domingo; but in martinique, where we had had the same invitation, the royalist french did not support our efforts according to promise, and the enterprise failed from the smallness of the force employed. besides these transactions, there occurred a severe fight between captain courteney, of the frigate boston, with only thirty-two guns and two hundred men, and the ambuscade, a french frigate of thirty-six guns and four hundred picked men, in which both received much damage, and in which captain courteney was killed, but in which the frenchman was compelled to haul off. in the east indies we again seized pondicherry, and all the small factories of the french.

the great maritime struggle of the year was at toulon. the south of france was then in active combination against the convention and the jacobin faction. there was a determination in toulon, marseilles, and other places on the coast to support the royalist party in aix, lyons, and other cities. for this purpose they invited the british to co-operate with them. lord hood, having obtained from the people of toulon an engagement to surrender the fleet and town to him, to be held for louis xvii., arrived before that port in july, with, however, only seven ships of the line, four frigates, and some smaller vessels. nearly all the old royalist naval officers were collected in toulon, and were so eager for revenge on the jacobin officers and sailors—who had not only superseded them, but had persecuted them with all the savage cruelty of their faction—that they were all for surrendering their fleet to lord hood, and putting him in possession of the forts and batteries. there was a firm opposition to this on the part of the republicans, both in the fleet and the town, but it was carried against them. besides the royalist townsmen, there were ten thousand proven?als in arms in the town and vicinity. as general cartaux had defeated the royalists at marseilles, taken possession of the town, and, after executing severe measures on the royalists there, was now in full march for toulon, there was no time to be lost. lord hood landed a body of men under captain elphinstone, to whom the forts commanding the port were quietly surrendered. lord hood was thus at once put into possession of the best french port in the mediterranean, and a great fleet, with all the stores and ammunition. but he knew very well that the place itself could not long be maintained against the whole force of republican france. he resolved, however, to defend the inhabitants, who had placed themselves in so terrible a position with their merciless countrymen, to the utmost of his power. he therefore urged the spaniards to come to his assistance, and they sent several vessels, and three thousand men. he received reinforcements of ships and men from naples—the queen of which was sister to marie antoinette—and from sardinia. fresh vessels and men also arrived from england. lord mulgrave arrived from italy, and at lord hood's request assumed command, for the time, of the land forces.

general cartaux arrived and took up his position in the villages around toulon. he was reinforced by general doppet, from the rhone, and general dugommier, from the var; and the latter had in his corps-d'armée a young lieutenant of artillery, who contained in his yet unknown person the very genius of war—namely, napoleon buonaparte. cartaux was a man who had risen from the ranks; doppet had been a physician in savoy; and dugommier was acting on a plan sent from the convention. buonaparte suggested what he thought a much superior plan. "all you need," he said, "is to send away the english; and to do that, you have only to sweep the harbour and the roadstead with your batteries. drive away the[423] ships, and the troops will not remain. take the promontory of la grasse, which commands both the inner and outer harbour, and toulon will be yours in a couple of days." on this promontory stood two forts, equilette and balaquier, which had been much strengthened by the english. it was resolved to assault these forts, and batteries opposite to them were erected by the french under buonaparte's direction. after much desperate fighting, vast numbers of troops being pressed against the forts, that of balaquier was taken. this gave the french such command of the inner harbour, that lord hood called a council of war, and showed the necessity of retiring with the fleet, and thus enabling the royalists to escape, who would otherwise be exterminated by their merciless countrymen. this was agreed to, and it was resolved to maintain the different forts till the ships had cleared out. the neapolitans behaved very ill, showing no regard for anything but their own safety. they held two forts—one at cape lebrun, and the other at cape lesset; these, they said, they would surrender as soon as the enemy approached. they made haste to get their ships and men out of harbour, leaving all else to take care of themselves. the spaniards and piedmontese behaved in a much nobler manner. they assisted willingly all day in getting on board the royalists—men, women, and children. all night the troops began to defile through a narrow sallyport to the boats under the guns of the fort la malaga. this was happily effected; and then sir sidney smith, who had recently arrived at toulon, and had volunteered the perilous office of blowing up the powder-magazines, stores, arsenals, and the ships that could not be removed, began his operations. he succeeded in setting fire to the stores and about forty ships of war that were in the harbour.

after the departure of the british fleet, the jacobin troops, townsmen, and galley convicts, were perpetrating the most horrible scenes on the unfortunate toulonese. even the poor workmen who had been employed by the english to strengthen the defences, were collected in hundreds, and cut down by discharges of grape-shot. three jacobin commissioners, the brother of robespierre, barras, and freron, were sent to purge the place, and besides the grape-shot the guillotine was in daily activity exterminating the people. the very mention of the name of toulon was forbidden, and it was henceforth to be called port de la montagne.

the troops of the convention were equally successful against lyons. it was speedily invested by numerous troops, under the command of dubois-crancé, one of the commissioners of the convention. on the 21st of august he summoned the place to surrender, but the lyonese held out till the 2nd of october, when couthon, one of the most ruthless of the jacobin deputies, arrived, with twenty-eight thousand armed peasants, from auvergne. he demanded that the city should be instantly bombarded, and, if necessary, reduced to ruins. dubois-crancé said there was no need for this merciless alternative, as the place must very soon yield from famine. couthon thereupon obtained an order from the convention to supersede dubois-crancé, as devoid of proper republican zeal; and on the 7th of october commenced a terrible bombardment. the inhabitants came to a parley with couthon, and agreed to surrender without conditions. couthon immediately appointed a committee to try all rebels, and he sent his opinion of the population at large to the convention, describing the people as of three kinds—the wicked rich, the proud rich, and the ignorant poor, who were too stupid to be good republicans. he proposed to guillotine the first class, to seize the property of the second, and to remove the last into different quarters of france. the convention adopted his views cordially, and passed a decree that lyons should be destroyed; that nothing should be left but the houses of the poor, the manufactories, the hospitals, the school of arts, the public schools, and public monuments; that the name of lyons should be buried for ever, and that on its ruins should be erected a monument bearing this inscription:—"lyons made war against liberty: lyons is no more!" the name of the spot ever afterwards was to be the liberated commune. the massacres were carried out by collot d'herbois.

the same scenes, but on a still larger scale, were exhibiting in the capital. the reign of terror was fully inaugurated, and rapidly extending itself. at first, on the expulsion of the girondists from the convention—that is, in june—the guillotinings were only fourteen. in july the number was about the same; but in august robespierre became a member of the committee of public safety, which carried on the machinery of government, and then the work went on swimmingly. from the moment that robespierre took his place on the committee, the stream of blood flowed freely and steadily. his friend—if such monsters can be said to have any friends—barrère, who belonged to the timid plain till the girondists were[424] overthrown, now became his active agent. he proposed, on the 7th of august, that william pitt should be proclaimed the enemy of the whole human race, and that a decree should be passed that every man had a right to assassinate him. on the 9th it was announced that the republic was completed; that hérault de séchelles had produced a new and perfect constitution, which was at once adopted by the convention. it was a constitution containing all the doctrines of the mountain, in the bombast of that truculent faction. as it was quickly set aside, we need not detail its principles. then this constitution was celebrated on the 10th of august, the anniversary sacred to the downfall of monarchy. next followed fresh executions, among the most notable victims being marie antoinette (october 16) and madame roland (november 9), while most of the prominent girondists were hunted down and killed.

whilst blood was thus flowing by the guillotine, not only in paris, but, under the management of jacobin commissioners, in nearly all the large towns of france, especially lyons, bordeaux, and nantes, a terrible work of extermination was going on against the royalists of la vendée. the simple people of that province, primitive in their habits and sincere in their faith, desired no republic. their aristocracy, for the most part of only moderate possessions, lived amongst them rather like a race of kindly country squires than great lords, and the people were accordingly cordially attached to them. in march of the year 1793 the convention called for a conscription of three hundred thousand, and the vendéans, to a man, refused to serve under a government that had persecuted both their priests and their seigneurs. this was the certain signal of civil war. troops were ordered to march into la vendée, and compel obedience. then the peasants flew to arms, and called on the nobles and priests to join them. at first they were entirely successful, but matters changed when kleber was put in practical command.

their general, lescure, was killed, and most of their other leaders were severely wounded. kleber triumphed over them by his weight of artillery, and they now fled to the loire. amongst a number of royalist nobles who had joined them from the army of the prince of condé on the rhine, was prince de talmont, a breton noble, formerly of vast property in brittany, and now of much influence there. he advised them, for the present, to abandon their country, and take refuge amongst his countrymen, the bretons. the whole of this miserable and miscellaneous population, nearly a hundred thousand in number, crowded to the edge of the loire, impatient, from terror and despair, to cross. behind were the smoke of burning villages and the thunder of the hostile artillery; before, was the broad loire, divided by a low long island, also crowded with fugitives. la roche-jaquelein had the command of the vendéans at this trying moment; but the enemy, not having good information of their situation, did not come up till the whole wretched and famished multitude was over. on their way to laval they were attacked both by westermann and léchelle; but being now joined by nearly seven thousand bretons, they beat both those generals; and léchelle, from mortification and terror of the guillotine—now the certain punisher of defeated generals—died. the vendéans for a time, aided by the bretons, appeared victorious. they had two courses open before them: one, to retire into the farthest part of brittany, where there was a population strongly inspired by their own sentiments, having a country hilly and easy of defence, with the advantage of being open to the coast, and the assistance of the british; the other, to advance into normandy, where they might open up communication with the english through the port of cherbourg. they took the latter route, though their commander, la roche-jaquelein, was strongly opposed to it. stofflet commanded under jaquelein. the army marched on in great confusion, having the women and children and the waggons in the centre. they were extremely ill-informed of the condition of the towns which they approached. they might have taken rennes and st. malo, which would have greatly encouraged the bretons; but they were informed that the republican troops were overpowering there. they did not approach cherbourg for the same cause, being told that it was well defended on the land side; they therefore proceeded by dol and avranches to granville, where they arrived on the 14th of november. this place would have given them open communication with the english, and at the worst an easy escape to the channel islands; but they failed in their attempts to take it; and great suspicion now having seized the people that their officers only wanted to get into a seaport to desert them and escape to england, they one and all protested that they would return to the loire. in vain did la roche-jaquelein demonstrate to them the fatality of such a proceeding, and how much better it would be to make themselves strong in[425] normandy and brittany for the present; only about a thousand men remained with him; the rest retraced their long and weary way towards the loire, though the republicans had now accumulated very numerous forces to bar their way. fighting every now and then on the road, and seeing their wives and children daily drop from hunger and fatigue, they returned through dol and pontorson to angers: there they were repulsed by the republicans. they then retreated to mons, where they again were attacked and defeated, many of their women, who had concealed themselves in the houses, being dragged out and shot down by whole platoons. at ancenis, stofflet managed to cross the loire; but the republicans got between him and his army, which, wedged in at savenay, between the loire, the vilaine, and the sea, was attacked by kleber and westermann, and, after maintaining a desperate fight against overwhelming numbers and a terrible artillery, was literally, with the exception of a few hundred who effected their escape, cut to pieces, and the women and children all massacred by the merciless jacobins. carrier then proceeded to purge nantes in the same style as collot d'herbois had purged lyons.

napoleon buonaparte, lieutenant of artillery.

(after the portrait by j. b. greuze.)

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these godless atrocities, these enormous murders, beyond all historic precedent, proclaimed a people which had renounced god as well as humanity; and they soon proceeded to avow this fact, and to establish it by formal decree. in their rage for destroying everything old, there was nothing that escaped them. they altered the mode of computing time, and no longer used the gregorian calendar, but dated all deeds from the first year of liberty, which they declared to have commenced on the 22nd of september, 1792. the next and greatest achievement was to dethrone the almighty, and erect the goddess of reason in his place. under the auspices of the goddess of reason they did a very unreasonable thing: they deprived all working people and all working animals of one rest-day in every month. instead of having the four weeks and four sundays in a month, they[426] decimalised the months, dividing them each into three decades, or terms of ten days each, so that there were only three rest-days, instead of four, in the month.

the british parliament met on the 21st of january, 1794. the opposition, on the question of the address, made a strong remonstrance against the prosecution of the war. they urged the miserable conduct of it, and the failures of the allies, as arguments for peace. they did not discourage the maintenance of a proper system of self-defence, and therefore acceded to the demands of ministers for raising the navy to eighty-five thousand men. the production of the budget by pitt, on the 2nd of february, gave additional force to their appeals for peace. he stated that the military force of england, including fencibles and volunteers, amounted to a hundred and forty thousand men, and he called for nineteen million nine hundred and thirty-nine thousand pounds for the maintenance of this force, and for the payment of sixty thousand german troops. besides this, he asked for a loan of eleven million pounds, as well as for the imposition of new taxes. this was an advance in annual expenditure of fifteen million pounds more than only two years ago; and when the manner in which the money was spent was inquired into, the objections became far more serious. it thus appeared that we were not only fighting for holland and belgium, but that we were subsidising german princes to fight their own battles. there had been a large subsidy to the king of prussia, to assist him, in reality, to destroy poland. we were, in fact, on the threshold of that system of pitt's, by which britain engaged to do battle all over europe with money as well as with men. but remonstrance was in vain. fox, grey, and sheridan, and their party in the commons, the marquis of lansdowne, the duke of bedford, and the whigs in the peers, made amendment after amendment on these points, but were overwhelmed by pitt's majorities. burke, in the commons, was frantic in advocacy of war, because france was revolutionary and impious.

the anti-gallic spirit was at the same time made violent use of to crush opinion at home. it is true that there was a foolish zeal on behalf of the french revolution in a certain portion of the british public, which ought, by this time, to have been cooled by the too obvious nature and tendency of that revolution; but this might readily have been prevented from doing harm by a fair exposure of the folly of the admirers of so bloody and dishonest a system as that of the french jacobins. but it was more in accordance with the spirit of government at that time to endeavour to crush the freedom of the press and of speech, under cover of the repression of a gallic tendency. the persecution began in scotland.

the first indictment was preferred against james tytler, a chemist, of edinburgh, for having published an address to the people, complaining of the mass of the people being wholly unrepresented, and, in consequence, being robbed and enslaved; demanding universal suffrage, and advising folk to refuse to pay taxes till this reform was granted. however strange such a charge would appear now, when the truth of it has long been admitted, it was then held by government and the magistracy as next to high treason. tytler did not venture to appear, and his bail, two booksellers, were compelled to pay the amount of his bond and penalty, six hundred merks scots. he himself was outlawed, and his goods were sold. three days afterwards, namely, on the 8th of january, 1793, john morton, a printer's apprentice, and john anderson and malcolm craig, journeymen printers, were put upon their trial for more questionable conduct. they were charged with endeavouring to seduce the soldiers in the castle of edinburgh from their duty, urging them to drink, as a toast, "george the third and last, and damnation to all crowned heads;" and with attempting to persuade them to join the "society of the friends of the people," or a "club of equality and freedom." they were condemned to nine months' imprisonment, and to give security in one thousand merks scots for their good behaviour for three years. next came the trials of william stewart, merchant, and john elder, bookseller, of edinburgh, for writing and publishing a pamphlet on the "rights of man and the origin of government." stewart absconded, and the proceedings were dropped against the bookseller. to these succeeded a number of similar trials, amongst them those of james smith, john mennings, james callender, walter berry, and james robinson, of edinburgh, tradesmen of various descriptions, on the charges of corresponding with reform societies, or advocating the representation of the people, full and equal rights, and declaring the then constitution a conspiracy of the rich against the poor. one or two absented themselves, and were outlawed; the rest were imprisoned in different towns. these violent proceedings against poor men, merely for demanding reforms only too[427] much needed, excited but little attention; but now a more conspicuous class was aimed at, and the outrageously arbitrary proceedings at once excited public attention, and, on the part of reformers, intense indignation.

the persons now indicted were thomas muir and the rev. thomas fyshe palmer. muir was a young advocate, only eight-and-twenty years of age. he was brought to trial at edinburgh, on the 30th of august, 1793. he was charged with inciting people to read the works of paine, and "a dialogue between the governors and the governed," and with having caused to be received and answered, by the convention of delegates, a seditious address from the society of united irishmen in dublin, to the delegates for promoting reform in scotland. he was also charged with having absconded from the pursuit of justice, and with having been over to france, and with having returned in a clandestine manner by way of ireland. to these charges muir replied that he had gone to france after publicly avowing his object, both in edinburgh and london, that object being to endeavour to persuade the french convention not to execute louis xvi.; that when in paris he urged this both on the ground of humanity and good policy, as tending to make constitutional reform easier, as well as the keeping of peace with england; that the sudden declaration of hostilities whilst there had warned him to return, but had closed up the direct way; that that was the reason of his taking a vessel from havre to ireland; that he had, however, returned publicly, and surrendered himself for trial at the earliest opportunity.

the most respectable witnesses testified in his favour, that he had always argued that the monarchy of the country was good; the government far superior to that of france; that many opinions of paine were unsound and untenable; that an equal division of property was a chimera, and that we here wanted no revolution, but only moderate reform. the chief witness against him was a woman-servant, who had lived in his father's family, who deposed to his telling people to read the "rights of man;" to giving an organ-man something to play "?a ira!" and the like. it is clear that mr. muir was what would now be considered a very moderate reformer indeed. but the lord advocate treated him with the most scurrilous indignity, calling him "that unfortunate wretch at the bar;" "that demon of mischief;" "that pest of scotland." the very proofs of muir's moderation were turned by the lord justice clerk into crimes; it was only "policy;" and he proceeded to pass on him the monstrous sentence of transportation for fourteen years!

this base and disproportionate sentence startled the people of england. in scotland then party spirit ran furiously high. as there were clubs for advocating thorough reform, so there were others for discouraging and crushing it. the tory arbitrary principle was rampant, and muir was the victim of it.

mr. fyshe palmer was not tried till the 12th of september. he was then brought before the circuit court of justiciary at perth, and charged with writing and publishing an "address to the people," which had been issued by the society of the friends of liberty, at dundee. palmer was an englishman of good family, in bedfordshire. he had taken his degree at cambridge, and obtained a fellowship at queen's college; but he had afterwards joined the unitarians, and had resided and preached some time at montrose and dundee, and had delivered lectures on unitarianism in edinburgh and forfar. it appeared that palmer was not the author of the address, but had only been asked to correct the proof of it, and that he had, whilst so doing, struck out some of the strongest passages. one mealmaker, a weaver, acknowledged himself the author of the address; but palmer was a unitarian, and this, to the bigoted presbyterianism of his judges, was rank poison. his advocate pleaded that he was not quite sane, but neither did this avail; the jury brought in an instant and unanimous verdict of guilty, and the judges condemned him to be transported for seven years. this was a still more outrageous sentence than that of muir, for palmer had corresponded with no french or reforming societies whatever; he had simply corrected a proof!

not at all dismayed by this unrighteous severity, the scottish friends of the people met in convention, in edinburgh, on the 9th of october. at this convention delegates appeared, not only from most of the large towns of scotland, but also from london, sheffield, and dublin. letters were also received from the societies in england. mr. william skirving, a friend of muir and palmer, as secretary to the convention, read these letters, and other papers, demanding annual parliaments and universal suffrage. as the british parliament was considered, and truly, merely a corrupt clique of the representatives of boroughmongers, they proposed to apply directly to the king, that he might urge those necessary reforms on the legislature.[428] in scottish fashion, the reformers opened and closed their sittings with prayer, presenting a striking contrast to the french revolutionists. on the 6th of november delegates appeared from the society of united irishmen, and margarot and gerald from the society of the friends of the people in london. margarot stated that five hundred constables had beset the meeting in london, to prevent delegates from getting away to this convention, but that the manufacturing towns of england were almost all in favour of reform; that in sheffield alone there were fifty thousand; that a general union of the reformers of the united kingdom would strike terror into their enemies, and compel them to grant annual parliaments and universal suffrage.

the irish delegates described the condition of ireland as most deplorable. they said that the government interest, through the landed aristocracy, was omnipotent; that the manufacturers were unemployed; that an infamous coalition had taken place between the irish opposition and ministry; that the catholics had been bought up so that all parties might combine to crush reform; that the united irishmen were everywhere persecuted, and that one of them had only just escaped from a six months' imprisonment.

amongst these, for the most part working men, sat a number of gentlemen, and even one lord, lord dacre, who had lived in paris and was a regular revolutionist. the convention sat unmolested till the 5th of december, arranging for a future meeting in england, and organising committees and correspondents in different towns. they also recommended to all reform clubs and societies to invoke divine aid on their endeavours for just reform. on meeting on the morning of the 5th, the president, paterson, announced that himself, margarot, and the delegates had been arrested, and were only out on bail. immediately after this, the lord provost appeared with a force to disperse the meeting, and though skirving informed him that the place of meeting was his own hired house, and that they had met for a purely constitutional purpose, the lord provost broke up the meeting and drove out the members. that evening they met again at another place, but only to be turned out again. still they did not disperse before gerald had offered up a fervent prayer for the success of reform. mr. skirving then issued a circular inviting the delegates to meet in his private house, and for this he was arrested on the 6th of january, 1794, brought before the court of justiciary, and sentenced to fourteen years' transportation. on the 13th margarot received the same sentence; and, in the month of march, gerald likewise.

muir and palmer, on the 19th of december, 1793, had been conveyed on board the hulks at woolwich, before being shipped off to the antipodes, and were put in irons; but before they were sent off, the matter was brought before parliament. it was introduced by mr. adams, on the 14th of february, 1794, moving for leave to bring in a bill to alter the enactment for allowing appeals from the scottish court of justiciary in matters of law. this was refused, and he then gave notice of a motion for the revision of the trials of muir and palmer. sheridan, on the 24th, presented a petition from palmer, complaining of his sentence as unwarranted by law. pitt protested against the reception of the petition, and dundas declared that all such motions were too late; the warrant for palmer's transportation was already signed and issued. wilberforce moved that palmer's being sent off should be delayed till the case was reconsidered, but this was also rejected by a large majority. such was the determined spirit of pitt and his parliamentary majority against all reform, or justice to reformers. on the 10th of march mr. adams again moved for a revision of the trials of muir and palmer, declaring that "leasing-making" (verbal sedition), their crime by the law of scotland, was punishable by fine, imprisonment, or banishment, but not by transportation, and that their sentence was illegal. fox exposed the rancorous spirit with which the trials had been conducted, and to which the judges had most indecently lent themselves; that the lord justice clerk, during muir's trial, had said, "a government in every country should be just like a corporation; and, in this country, it is made up of the landed interest, which alone has a right to be represented. as for the rabble, who have nothing but personal property, what hold has the nation on them? they may pack up all their property on their backs, and leave the country in the twinkling of an eye!" lord swinton said, "if punishment adequate to the crime of sedition were to be sought for, it could not be found in our law, now that torture is happily abolished." the lord advocate was in his place to defend his conduct and doctrine, but pitt and dundas supported these odious opinions. the house also sanctioned them by a large majority, and adams's motion was rejected. in the upper house, similar motions, introduced by lords lansdowne and stanhope, were similarly treated.

[429]

the tolbooth, edinburgh.

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the success of the scottish courts in sentencing reformers encouraged the ministers to try the experiment in england; but there it did not succeed so well. first, one eaton, a bookseller, of bishopgate, was indicted for selling a seditious libel, called "politics for the people; or, hog's-wash." on the 2nd of april, thomas walker, a merchant of manchester—was, with six others, indicted at the lancaster assizes; but eaton, in london, and these manchester men, were acquitted. rather irritated than discouraged by these failures, pitt and dundas made a swoop at the leaders of the corresponding society, and the society for constitutional information in london; and, in the month of may, horne tooke, john thelwall—a celebrated political lecturer—thomas hardy, daniel adams, and the rev. jeremiah joyce—private secretary to the earl of stanhope, and tutor to his son, lord mahon—were arrested and committed to the tower on a charge of high treason. no sooner was this done, than, on the 12th of may, dundas announced to the house of commons that, in consequence of the government having been informed of seditious practices being carried on by the above-named societies, they had seized their papers, and he now demanded that a committee of secrecy should be appointed to examine these papers. this was agreed to; and on the 16th pitt brought up the report of this committee, which was so absurd in its results that nothing but the most blind political desperation could have induced the government to make it known. the committee found nothing amongst these papers but the reports of the societies since the year 1791, which had been annually published and made known to every one. yet on this miserable evidence pitt called for the suspension of the habeas corpus act, and it was accordingly granted, burke—who now seems to have grown quite politically mad by dwelling on the horrors of the french revolution—believing it the only measure to insure the safety of the country. windham and others asserted that the mere suspension of the habeas corpus act was hardly[430] sufficient: there required yet more stringent measures. similar language was held in the lords, but did not pass without some severe comments from the duke of bedford, and the lords stanhope, lauderdale, and albemarle, who declared that ministers, instead of suppressing, were creating a veritable reign of terror. the bill was, notwithstanding, readily passed; and on the 13th of june an address was carried to his majesty, expressing the determination of their lordships to punish the men who had been concerned in the so-called conspiracy. fox and lambton condemned this course energetically in the commons, declaring that, if there were any conspiracy, the ordinary laws and tribunals were amply sufficient for their punishment. fox moved that all that part of the address which expressed a conviction of the existence of a conspiracy should be struck out, but it was carried entire; and such was the alarm of the country at the reverses of the allies on the continent and the successes of france, that far more violent measures would have been readily assented to.

meanwhile lord howe had been on the look-out some time for the french fleet, which, it was understood, was about to leave brest, in order to meet a convoy of merchant ships from the west indies, and aid it in bringing that trade fleet into port. on reaching brest, however, he discovered that the french fleet had sailed, and it was not till the 28th of may that he caught sight of it out at sea, opposite the coast of brittany. the french fleet, commanded by admiral villaret joyeuse, was greatly superior to howe's in ships, number of seamen, and weight of metal. howe had twenty-five sail of the line and five frigates, carrying two thousand and ninety-eight guns, in weight of metal twenty-one thousand five hundred and nineteen pounds, and sixteen thousand six hundred and forty-seven men. joyeuse, now joined by admiral neilly, had twenty-six line-of-battle ships and smaller vessels, carrying two thousand one hundred and fifty-eight guns, in weight of metal twenty-five thousand five hundred and twenty-one pounds, and nineteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight men. after some skirmishing, on the 1st of june—"the glorious first"—howe came to close quarters with the enemy, who was compelled to fight by the presence of the conventional commissioner bon st. andré. he ordered his fleet to follow his ship, the charlotte, in cutting right through the enemy's line. only five ships, however, accomplished this so as to engage the french to the leeward, and prevent them from escaping. howe afterwards complained that some of his captains had not obeyed his orders, and threatened them with a court-martial; but some replied that their ships were in such bad sailing condition that they could not effect this movement, and others that they did not understand the signal. thus, five vessels fighting to the leeward, and the rest to the windward, the battle raged furiously from nine in the morning till three in the afternoon, when the french admiral sheered off for brest, leaving behind seven of his finest vessels in the hands of the british. the british lost in the action two hundred and seventy-nine men, and had eight hundred and seventy-seven wounded. the french lost in six of the captured ships alone six hundred and ninety men, and had five hundred and eighty wounded. the seventh, the vengeur, went down almost as soon as the british flag was hoisted on her, with, it is supposed, three hundred men in her. altogether, it is likely that the french did not lose less than fifteen hundred men, besides wounded, and two thousand three hundred prisoners. the british lost a number of officers, who were either killed in the battle or died afterwards of their injuries amongst these were sir andrew douglas, second captain of howe's own ship; captains montagu of the montagu, hutt of the queen, and harvey of the brunswick; rear-admirals pasley of the bellerophon, and bowyer of the barfleur. admiral graves and captain berkeley were severely wounded. howe made every effort to pursue and bring the french admiral again to action; but, owing to the bad sailing qualities of english ships at that time, and the shattered state of many of them, he could not overtake villaret, who made the best of his way to brest. during the remainder of the year there were various engagements between small squadrons in different quarters, in which the advantage generally remained with the british, besides the training thus afforded to the officers and sailors for the mighty victories which awaited them.

during the spring of 1794 the british, under lieutenant-general sir charles grey, took the french island of martinique, in which attempt the duke of kent, father of queen victoria, distinguished himself. they also took st. lucia, guadeloupe, and its dependencies, marie-galante, deseada, and the saintes. but they were not so successful in assisting the french royalists in st. domingo to expel the republicans. they beat the french in three successive battles, but[431] our troops were then attacked by the yellow fever. general whyte made himself master of the french capital, port-au-prince; but general dundas, who was appointed governor, was carried off by the fever, as also were numbers of the troops. the french general also fell a victim to the fever; but at this juncture arrived the jacobin commissioner, victor hugues, with a reinforcement of from fifteen hundred to two thousand men. he immediately assumed the command, proclaimed freedom to all the blacks, and the plunder of the royalists. the royalists, terrified, submitted, or only feebly supported their british allies, who were thereupon compelled to yield them to their fate. hughes, one of the bloodiest of the french revolutionists, set the guillotine to work in the hands of the negroes. the royalists were beheaded or fusilladed in troops, their houses burnt, and their estates ravaged. before the end of the year this monster had reduced the island to a dreadful desert. in his ferocious fury, he had caused the very sick and wounded in the hospitals to be massacred, and the dead to be thrown out of their graves. amongst these were the remains of general dundas, and the other dead british officers, which were flung into the river. hugues also recovered guadeloupe, and perpetrated the same cruelties and abominations there.

during this summer the island of corsica fell into our hands, and that by conduct as brilliant on the part of nelson and the troops and seamen under him, as was at the time the formal inefficiency of our generals there. the corsicans soon experienced the insolence and rapacity of the godless french republicans, and rose in general insurrection. the patriot paoli was the first to advise them to renounce all connection with such a race of fiends, and was, in consequence, proscribed by the convention, but at the same time appointed general-in-chief and president of the council of government by his own people. as he well knew that little corsica was no match for france, he applied to the british for assistance. lord hood was then engaged in the defence of toulon, but he sent a few ships and troops during the summer and autumn to paoli's aid, and by this assistance the french were driven out of every part of the island except san fiorenzo, calvi, and bastia. the mother of buonaparte, and part of the family, who were living at ajaccio, fled to france, imploring the aid of the convention for her native island. lord hood, however, having evacuated toulon, made haste to be beforehand with them. by the 7th of february, 1794, he had blockaded the three ports still in the hands of the french, and had landed five regiments, under the command of general dundas, at san fiorenzo. the french were soon compelled to evacuate the place, but they retreated to bastia, without almost any attempt on the part of dundas to injure or molest them. lord hood now urged the immediate reduction of bastia, but dundas, an incompetent officer, and tied up by all the old formal rules of warfare, declared that he could not attempt to carry the town till the arrival of two thousand fresh troops from gibraltar. but there was a man of very different metal and notions serving there, namely, nelson, who was indignant at this timid conduct. he declared that if he had five hundred men and the agamemnon ship-of-war, he could take the place. lord hood was resolved that he should try, whilst he himself blockaded the harbour. nelson, who declared his own seamen of the agamemnon were of the right sort, and cared no more for bullets than for peas, had one thousand one hundred and eighty-three soldiers, artillerymen, and marines, with two hundred and fifty sailors, put under his command, with the title of brigadier. they landed on the 4th of april, dragged their cannon up to the tops of the rocks overhanging bastia, to the astonishment of french, corsicans, and the timid dundas. on the 10th nelson was aloft with his whole force, and with all his cannon in position. a body of corsicans rather kept guard than gave any active assistance on another side of the town; for they had no cannon, or could not drag them up precipices like british seamen. on the 11th lord hood summoned the town to surrender; but the french commander and commissioner, lacombe-saint-michel, replied that he had red-hot shot for the ships and bayonets for the british soldiers, and should not think of yielding till he had two-thirds of his garrison killed. but nelson, ably seconded by colonel vilettes, plied his artillery to such purpose, that, on the 10th of may, lacombe-saint-michel made offer of surrender, and on the 19th the capitulation was completed. the french forces and the corsicans in their interest were shipped off to toulon, after the signing of the capitulation on the 21st; and now general d'aubant, who had succeeded general dundas, but who had continued lying at san fiorenzo instead of assisting at the siege, came up with his troops and took possession of bastia. the whole loss of the british in this brilliant affair was only fourteen men killed and thirty-four wounded. calvi, the most strongly-situated and fortified[432] place, still remained to be taken. by the middle of june it was thoroughly invested, both by sea and land, and nelson again serving on shore, assisted by captains hallowell and serecold, was pouring shells and red-hot shot into the fort. captain serecold was killed at the very outset; but nelson and hallowell, chiefly with the sailors and marines, continued the bombardment through the terrible heat of the dog-days, and the enervating effects of malaria from stagnant ponds in the hills, and compelled the surrender on the 10th of august, but not before one-half of the two thousand men engaged were prostrated by sickness. the island was now, by the advice of paoli, offered to the british crown and by it accepted; but a gross blunder was made in not appointing paoli governor, as was expected both by himself and his compatriots. instead of this most proper and conciliatory measure, sir gilbert elliot was appointed governor, to the disappointment and disgust of the corsicans. sir gilbert attempted to gratify the islanders by framing a new constitution for them, and granting them trial by jury; but neither of these institutions was adapted to their ideas, and both failed to heal the wound which the ignominious treatment of their great patriot occasioned.

calvi, corsica.

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but this little episode of the war presented one bright spot amid the vast picture of miserable mismanagement, want of concert and of activity, amongst the allies engaged against france. the campaign of 1794 was most disgraceful and discouraging. the plan still was for the different armies of the allies to advance from the different frontiers, north, west, east, and south, and concentrate themselves on paris; but all the activity and concentration were on the side of the french. in the very commencement of it, it was observed that prussia was not bringing by any means the stipulated amount of forces into the field. the king, thinking much more of securing his polish robberies than of co-operating against france, remained in poland, and was even discovered to be secretly negotiating with the french convention for peace. britain was alarmed at this symptom of prussian defection and made strong remonstrances. frederick william coolly replied that it was impossible for him to go on without a large sum of money. the hint of prussia was not lost; money was promised, and in april of this year a subsidy of two millions two hundred thousand pounds was paid to prussia to secure her more active operation, and on condition that she brought into the field sixty thousand men. the bulk of this money was paid by britain, a small fraction by holland; and what was the result? the king of prussia sent very few troops into the field, but employed the money in paying and[433] maintaining armies to keep down the invaded provinces of poland, and to invade more! thus britain was duped into the disgraceful business of riveting the fetters of unhappy poland; and it would have been well had this taught the british government wisdom. but it was now intent on that astonishing career of subsidising almost all the nations of europe against france; of purchasing useless german soldiers at astounding prices; of pouring out the wealth and blood of britain like water to enable the germans and russians to defend their own hearths and homes, and in vain. the results of this subsidy ought to have satisfied britain, and would have satisfied any other nation; for it did not long retain prussia as an ally, even in name.

st. just. (after the portrait by david.)

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belgium, this summer, was the great battle-ground. in it were austrians, dutch, british, and hanoverians. at the opening of the campaign the allies had probably two hundred thousand men scattered along the frontiers, and the french upwards of three hundred thousand. but whilst the french were united in one object, and the convention kept pouring fresh masses of men in, the allies were slow and disunited. the duke of york, who commanded the english and hanoverians, about thirty thousand men, was completely tired of the sluggish formality of the austrian general, clairfait, and refused to serve under him. to remove the difficulty, the emperor of austria agreed to take the command of his forces in the netherlands in person, so that the duke of york would serve under him. francis ii. arrived in april, and great expectations were excited by his presence. instead of urging all the different divisions of the allied armies to concentrate in large masses against the able generals, pichegru and jourdain, francis sat down before the secondary fortress of landrecies, though the allies already held those of valenciennes,[434] condé, and quesnoy. this enabled pichegru to advance on west flanders, and take courtrai and menin in the very face of clairfait. at the same time jourdain had entered the country of luxembourg with a large force, and whilst the austrians were wasting their time before landrecies, he was still further reinforced from the army of the rhine, which the absence of the king of prussia left at leisure, and he now fell upon the austrian general, beaulieu; and though beaulieu fought bravely for two days, he was overwhelmed by successive columns of fresh troops, and driven from his lines. jourdain then advanced upon the moselle, where the prussians ought to have been, and were not, in spite of the subsidy.

pichegru, on his part, having driven back clairfait, turned round on the duke of york, who lay at tournay. there he met with a severe repulse, and fell back with heavy loss; but clairfait having again advanced to regain courtrai, pichegru once more engaged and defeated him. clairfait then fell back into flanders, to cover ghent, bruges, and ostend. pichegru, urged on against his better judgment by st. just, who was the commissioner from the convention, sent kleber and marceau across the sambre to attack general kaunitz; but kaunitz gave the french a severe defeat, killing four thousand of them; and had the austrians been as rapid as they were brave, they might have nearly exterminated the whole of the french division. this success inspirited the allies to advance actively, but the duke of york, not taking into account the habitual slowness of german troops, shot ahead, expecting to fall in with clairfait's columns at turcoing; but there he only found the french, under souham and bonnaud, who well nigh enveloped him by their vast numbers, totally defeated, and nearly took him prisoner. this gave such a panic to the austrians, that the entire army fell back, and francis ii., thoroughly discouraged, withdrew from the command and left it to the prince of coburg. the duke of york rallied, and maintained his ground at tournay against pichegru, and kaunitz followed up his advantage against kleber and moreau, driving them across the sambre; but these were only temporary successes. jourdain, finding no prussians in the moselle, drew nearer to the camp of pichegru. there were various conflicts at ypres, charleroi, and on the plains of fleurus. the allies drove the french three times across the sambre, but they returned with fresh and never-ending forces, and compelled the allies to a general retreat. bruges opened its gates to the french; pichegru, aided by moreau, compelled the duke of york to retire successively on oudenarde, tournay, and antwerp, places filled with the fame of marlborough. at antwerp the duke of york was joined by lord moira, with ten thousand men, intended originally for la vendée, but too late to prevent the massacre of savenay. the english garrison quitted ostend, and came round to antwerp; and the british occupied that town, whilst clairfait lay at louvain, and the two armies, unitedly, protected mechlin.

the french allowed the retreating allies no rest. there was no want of men. the convention, by the menace of the guillotine at home, and the promises of plunder and licence abroad, could raise any number of thousands of men, could find millions of money, and they had not a single feeling of humanity, as the streaming axes of the executioners all over the country showed. they could also fight and daunt their enemies by the same unhesitating ferocity. they had long published to all their armies that no quarter was to be given to british or hanoverians—they were to be massacred to a man; and they now sent word to the fortresses of valenciennes, condé, quesnoy, and landrecies, that unless the garrisons surrendered every soul on their being taken should be butchered. the fortresses were immediately surrendered, for the menace was backed by one hundred and fifty thousand men—the combined troops of pichegru and jourdain. besides, the fortresses in the hands of the allies were so badly supplied both with ammunition and stores, that they were but dens of famine and impotence. on the 5th of july ghent opened its gates to the french; on the 9th the french entered brussels, having driven the duke of coburg out of his entrenchments in the wood of soignies, near which the battle of waterloo was afterwards fought. they next attacked the duke of york and lord moira at mechlin, and after a sharp conflict drove them thence. the very next day clairfait was defeated and obliged to abandon both louvain and liége. general beaulieu was driven out of namur, solely because he had no provisions there for his army, though otherwise the place could have made a long defence. the duke of york was compelled to abandon the strong and important citadel of antwerp from the same cause, and to cross the scheldt into dutch territory, leaving the french to make their triumphant entry into antwerp on the 23rd of july. such was the brilliant campaign of the french in the[435] netherlands in the summer of 1794—such the ignominious defeat of the allies, with an army of two hundred thousand men. pitt, however, bravely struggled to keep up the coalition. a loan of four million pounds was granted to austria. at the same time, in addition to the hessian soldiers engaged, the duke of brunswick, the king's relative, was to furnish two thousand two hundred and eighty-nine men on the same liberal terms, and was himself to have an annual allowance of sixteen thousand pounds sterling.

those princes that did bring men into the field, such as the hessians, brunswickers, etc.—the menschen-ver?ufer, or man-sellers, as they were styled by their own people—were rapacious beyond example. during the american war we had employed these hessians, brunswickers, and the like, at a cost that excited general indignation. besides paying seven pounds ten shillings and a penny for every man, the duke of brunswick, who furnished only four thousand and eighty-four men, had had an annual subsidy of fifteen thousand five hundred and nineteen pounds. the landgrave of hesse-cassel, who furnished twelve thousand men, had ten thousand two hundred and eighty-one pounds a year.

it was towards the end of may before marshal m?llendorf, the prussian general, began the campaign. he then attacked the french, and drove them out of their entrenchments at kaiserslautern with great slaughter. there, however, his activity seemed to cease; and on the 12th of july the french again fell upon him. he fought bravely for four whole days, supported by the austrians; but both these powers were compelled to retreat down the rhine, the prussians retiring on mayence and the austrians crossing the river for more safety. the french marched briskly after the prussians, took trèves, and then sent strong detachments to help their countrymen to make a complete clearance of belgium and to invade holland. clairfait, who was still hovering in dutch flanders, was attacked by overwhelming numbers, beaten repeatedly, and compelled to evacuate juliers, aix-la-chapelle, and finally cologne. the french were so close at his heels at cologne that they shouted after him that "that was not the way to paris." coblenz, where the royalist emigrants had so long made their headquarters, though strongly fortified, soon after surrendered. the stout fortress of venloo, on the meuse, and bois-le-duc, as promptly surrendered, and the french marched on nimeguen, near which the duke of york lay, hoping in vain to cover the frontiers of holland. the people of holland, like those of belgium, were extensively jacobinised, the army was deeply infected by french principles, and to attempt to defend such a country with a mere handful of british was literally to throw away the lives of our men. yet the duke stood stoutly in this hopeless defence, where half holland ought to have been collected to defend itself.

on the 19th of october the french attacked the duke with sixty thousand men, and though his little army fought with its usual dogged bravery it was compelled to give way. it did this, however, only to assume a fresh position, still covering nimeguen, where, on the 27th, the french again attacked it, and compelled it to retire from the contest. the duke led the wreck of his army across the waal and the rhine, and posted himself at arnhem in guelderland, to throw some impediment in the path of pichegru, who was advancing, at the command of the convention, to reduce holland. nimeguen, full of dutch traitors, soon opened its gates; maestricht did the same to kleber; and at the end of the campaign the gloomiest prospects hung over holland.

in the south great successes had been won by the french. a formidable attack was made on the territories of the king of sardinia and the position of saorgio was turned. but another division of these french descended from the alps. it was the month of may when general dumas, with the army of the alps, had forced his way through the defiles of mont cenis. the piedmontese garrisons of the forts there had fled without much resistance, astonished and confounded at seeing the french appear on the loftiest heights around them. the french pursued their retreating troops as far as susa, led on by jacobinised savoyards, who hated the piedmontese. but dumas, finding that strong forces of piedmontese and austrians, under the king of sardinia and the austrian general wallis, were drawn up at the foot of the alps, did not venture to descend into the plains. another body of the army of italy was delayed some time in the genoese territory, whilst buonaparte was employed in sounding the condition and intentions of the people of genoa. all the alpine passes were in their hands, and italy was doomed to drink the cup of misery to the very dregs.

whilst the french armies had been carrying bloodshed and misery into the countries around them, their brethren at home had been equally[436] busy in pushing forward those mutual hatreds which appeared likely to end in the extermination of the whole race of revolutionists. the girondists being destroyed, new divisions showed themselves in those who had hitherto been allies—robespierre and his coadjutors. hébert, chaumette, clootz, ronsin, and others, began to raise their heels against their chief, and their chief doomed every one of them to the guillotine. his most important victim was danton, a man by no means contemptible (guillotined april 5th, 1794).

robespierre believed that there was a majority of the republicans who thought they had gone too far in abolishing the deity and setting up the goddess of reason. he declared that the people needed festivals, and immediately it was decreed that every decade should be celebrated as a festival. a festival in honour of the supreme being inaugurated this series of special holidays, and it was to be followed by festivals to the human race, the french people, the love of country, agriculture, necessity, misfortune, posterity, and various other qualities and sentiments, each having one decade in the year. the first festival to the supreme being was fixed for the 20th of prairial, or 8th of june. the painter david was commissioned to prepare the scenes and ceremonies of the festival, which was enacted in the gardens of the tuileries. robespierre, in his sky-blue coat and most showy waistcoat, and carrying in his hand a grand bouquet of flowers mixed with ears of wheat, led the procession and officiated as high priest. but though robespierre had proclaimed the reign of the supreme being, he had not the least intention that it should on that account be any the more a reign of mercy. in his speech at the festival of the supreme being, he declared that the republic must be still further purged—that they must remain inexorable. on this point he and all his colleagues were agreed, but they were agreed in nothing else. they immediately broke into fresh schisms, as would necessarily be the case with such men, who must go on exterminating one another to the last. robespierre, st. just, and couthon still hung together; but barrère, collot d'herbois, billaud-varennes, and most of the other members of the committees of public welfare and public safety, were in the very act of rushing into opposition, and beginning a struggle with the triumvirate—robespierre, couthon, and st. just—to the death. st. just advised robespierre to anticipate them, but he, relying on his authority with the convention, remained inactive. it was a fatal mistake. barrère and his faction determined to strike a decisive blow at robespierre; and tallien volunteered to commence the attack on robespierre in the convention. to robespierre's utter astonishment, his friends were outnumbered, and decrees were immediately passed for the arrest of couthon, lebas, st. just, robespierre and his brother. he escaped and fled to the commune. for a moment it seemed as if a revolution would have restored him to power. but the parisians were weary of their tyrant, and on the following day robespierre with twenty members of the commune perished on the scaffold (july 28th, 1794).

no sooner had collot d'herbois, barrère, and that party triumphed over robespierre than they summoned the members of the tribunal to their bar—ay, on the very morning of the day of his execution—and voted them honours amid much applause. the tribunal replied, that though a few traitors like coffinhal and dumas had found their way into the tribunal, the majority of them were sound and devoted to the convention. accordingly, the next day the convention handed over to fouquier-tinville and his colleagues a list of fresh proscriptions of sixty-nine municipals, and a few days afterwards—namely, the 12th of thermidor, being the 30th of july—they added twelve more, completing eighty-one victims! these were all executed within twenty-four hours. the convention then fell into new divisions, some members contending for its being time to cease these tragedies, others insisting on maintaining them. billaud-varennes, barrère, and collot d'herbois defended the guillotine and fouquier-tinville, but the greater number of the enemies of robespierre denounced them, declared themselves the overthrowers of robespierre, and assumed the name of thermidorians, in honour of the month in which they had destroyed him. for the thermidorians saw that the better part of the public had become sick of blood, and they set about contracting the reign of terror. they reduced the powers of the two governing committees; they decreed that one-fourth of the members should go out every month; they reduced the revolutionary sections of paris from forty-eight to twelve, and abolished the forty sous a day to the sansculotte patriots for their attendance. a month after the execution of robespierre, tallien made a fierce onslaught on the terrorist system, and declared that there were numbers yet living who had been equally merciless with robespierre, couthon, and st. just; and the next day lecointre denounced by name barrère, billaud-varennes, and collot d'herbois. to put an end to the jacobin resistance, the convention closed the jacobin club altogether, which had thus only survived the fall of robespierre about four months. thereupon the jacobins began to denounce the thermidorians as anti-republicans, but they retorted that they were republicans of the purest school—that of marat.

paris under the reign of terror: a vain appeal. (after the picture by paul svedomsky)

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[438]

whilst these frightful horrors were taking place, russia, prussia, and austria had been completing the extinction of poland. an ill-advised attempt by the poles for the recovery of their country had precipitated this event. the russian minister in poland had ordered the reduction of the little army of that country, under its now almost nominal king, stanislaus augustus, from thirty thousand to fifteen thousand. the poles resented this, without considering that they were unable, at the moment, to resist it. kosciusko was appointed commander-in-chief, and he issued an order for the rising of the people in every quarter of poland, and for their hastening to his flag. at first, the enthusiasm of the call to liberty and to the rescue of the common country gave some brilliant successes. kosciusko, on his march from cracow to warsaw, at the head of only four thousand men, encountered a russian army of upwards of twelve thousand, and defeated it with a slaughter of three thousand of the enemy. on the 17th of march, 1794, the polish troops in warsaw attacked the russian garrison, eight thousand strong, and slaughtering more than half of them, drove the rest out of the city, and kosciusko marched in soon afterwards. a week later the population of lithuania, kosciusko's native province, rose, and drove the russians with much slaughter from wilna, its capital. but this could not save poland: its three mighty oppressors were pouring down their multitudinous legions on every portion of the doomed country. the emperor of austria marched an army into little poland at the end of june, and an army of fifty thousand russians and prussians was in full march on warsaw. for a time, kosciusko repulsed them, and committed great havoc upon them on the 27th of july; again, on the 1st and 3rd of august. at the same time, generals dombrowski, prince joseph poniatowski, and other polish generals, were victorious in different quarters, and the king of prussia was compelled to draw off his army, forty thousand strong, from warsaw, in order to recover great poland. this gleam of success on the part of the poles, however, was but momentary. their army in lithuania, commanded by corrupt, gambling, and gormandising nobles, was beaten at all points by the russians, and driven out of wilna on the 12th of august. at the same time, the savage suvaroff, the man who had cried "glory to god and the empress!" over the ruthless massacre of ismail, was marching down on warsaw. kosciusko had unwisely weakened his army by sending a strong detachment under dombrowski into great poland, and, attacking a russian force under count fersen, at macziewice, about fifty miles from warsaw, on the 17th of september, he was utterly routed. he had only about twenty thousand men, whilst fersen had at least sixty thousand. but kosciusko was anxious to prevent the arrival of suvaroff before the engagement, and thus rushed into battle with this fatal inequality of strength. he was left for dead on the field, but was discovered to be alive, and was sent prisoner to st. petersburg, where he was confined till the accession of the emperor paul, who set him at liberty. the fall of kosciusko was the fall of poland. not even kosciusko could have saved it; but this catastrophe made the fatal end obvious and speedy. still the poles struggled on bravely against such overwhelming forces for some months. the ultimate partition treaty was at length signed on the 24th of october, 1795; some particulars regarding cracow, however, not being settled between prussia and austria till the 21st of october, 1796. stanislaus augustus was compelled to abdicate, and he retired, after the death of catherine, to st. petersburg, with a pension of two hundred thousand ducats a year. he died there in the month of february, 1798, only about fifteen months after his former mistress, the czarina. and thus poland was blotted out of the map of nations.

in england there had been a coalition of what was called the portland section of the whigs, with pitt's ministry. these whigs had not only separated from fox and his friends, but they had, from the first outbreak of the french revolution, followed the lead of burke and supported all pitt's measures. the duke of portland, therefore, was, in july, made third secretary of state; lord fitzwilliam, president of the council, and, in december, lord-lieutenant of ireland; earl spencer was made, at the same time, lord privy seal, and, in december, first lord of the admiralty; pitt's elder brother, lord chatham, being removed for him, and made privy seal; and windham became secretary of war in place of sir george yonge.

but this large infusion of whiggery did not[439] render the administration any the more liberal. it was determined to bring the politically accused, now out on bail, to trial. on the 6th of october true bills were found by the grand jury of middlesex against thomas hardy, the secretary of the corresponding society, john horne tooke, john augustus bonney, stewart kyd, the rev. jeremiah joyce, thomas wardle, thomas holcroft, john richter, matthew moore, john thelwall, richard hodgson, and john baxter, for high treason. hardy was put upon his trial first at the old bailey, october 29th, before chief justice eyre, a judge of noted severity, chief baron macdonald, baron hotham, mr. justice buller, and mr. justice grose, with other judges. sir john scott, afterwards lord eldon, as attorney-general, opened the case against him in a speech of nine hours. in this he laboured to represent the corresponding society, and hardy as its secretary, as guilty of a treasonable intercourse with the french revolutionists, and read numbers of documents expressing great admiration of the french institutions. but these were merely the documents which had long and openly been published by the society, and were well known through insertion in the newspapers. there was nothing clandestine about them, nothing suggestive of a concealed and dangerous conspiracy. their invariable burthen was the thorough reform of parliament, and the utter disfranchisement of the rotten boroughs, by which the whole representation of the country was transferred to the aristocracy. next a strong attempt was made to connect the secretary of the society with the men lately condemned in scotland, especially margarot, with whom, as all undoubtedly engaged in the same object of reform, hardy, as secretary, had considerable correspondence. the whole failed to impress an english jury, and hardy was acquitted after a trial of eight days.

the next who took his trial was horne tooke. the evidence was much the same, but the man was different. tooke was one of the keenest intellects of the time, full of wit and causticity, by which he had worsted even junius. he summoned as witnesses the prime minister himself, the duke of richmond, master-general of the ordnance, and others of the cabinet, who had all in their time been ardent reformers, and cross-questioned them in a style which, if he were guilty, showed that they had once been as much so. tooke's trial was very damaging to the government, and he was also acquitted after a trial of six days, during the whole of which the jury had not been allowed to separate, that they might not receive any popular impressions from without—a course which was not calculated to put them in a particularly good humour with the prosecutors.

on the 1st of december bonney, joyce, kyd, and holcroft were brought up, but the evidence was precisely the same against them as against tooke; they were discharged without trial. holcroft would have made a speech condemnatory of these prosecutions, but was not allowed. as these gentlemen were removed from the bar, john thelwall, the well-known elocutionist and political lecturer, was brought up. as the government thought there were some other charges against him, the trial went on, and lasted four days, but with the same result; and as it was found that it was hopeless to expect verdicts of guilty from english juries for mere demands of reform, the rest of the accused were discharged. to the honour of the nation, people of all parties appeared to rejoice at the independent conduct of the juries.

this noble independence was in bright contrast to that of scottish juries. in this very autumn, fresh trials of accused seditionists had taken place at edinburgh, in which the conduct of government and the servility of the scottish juries were equally reprehensible. one robert watt, a ruined tradesman of that city, was put upon his trial, on the 14th of august, charged with eighteen overt acts of high treason—in exciting many individuals to arm themselves, and to meet in convention to concoct plans for the overthrow of the government. but it appeared on the trial that watt had long been a government spy, employed to instigate people to these courses, by direct orders from mr. secretary dundas and the lord advocate of scotland. letters from these gentlemen containing these orders, and proofs of watt being in the pay of government for these purposes, were produced by mr. henry erskine, the prisoner's counsel. it was shown unanswerably that he had been encouraged to have arms made and distributed, and to tempt soldiers in edinburgh. he had been thus employed to mislead and ensnare unsuspecting persons from august, 1792, to october, 1793—more than twelve months; and it was shown that after this the government had abandoned him, and that he had then joined the reformers in earnest. notwithstanding this display of the infamous conduct of the government, watt was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.

one samuel downie was next arraigned on the[440] same charges, on the 5th of september, as an accomplice of watt. but it appeared that he had been rather the dupe of watt and the spy-employing government than anything else; and though the jury pronounced him guilty, they recommended him to mercy. he was respited and eventually pardoned; but watt underwent his sentence, so far as being hanged and beheaded,—a warning to spies how they trusted a government equally faithless to the people and to the tools by which they sought to betray them.

the last act of this year, 1794, was the opening of parliament on the 30th of december. the king, in his speech, was compelled to confess the deplorable defeat of our allies, and of our own army under the duke of york. he had to admit that, robespierre having fallen, there might possibly be a more pacific spirit in france; that holland, the only ally for whom we were verbally bound to take up arms, was negotiating a peace with the french; that the united states of america had refused to coalesce with the french against us, and had, on the contrary, made a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation with us. here, then, was an end of all real causes for anything more than a mere defensive war on our part. yet the speech breathed a most warlike spirit, and made a great deal of the secession of the island of corsica from france and its adhesion to england. in the same spirit were the addresses from both houses carried by overwhelming ministerial majorities.

canning, now rising into note, and windham, declared that there were no motives for peace, but everything to necessitate the active prosecution of the war; and windham could not help severely condemning the acquittal of horne tooke, hardy, thelwall, and the rest of the accused reformers. he was called to order for thus impugning the conduct of independent juries, and reminded that no legal proofs of the guilt of the prisoners had been produced—on which he replied that they ought to have been condemned, then, on moral proofs.

sheridan marked the opening of the year 1795 by moving, on the 5th of january, for the repeal of the suspension of the habeas corpus act. he showed that the very grounds on which this suspension had been based had miserably given way on the trials of tooke, hardy, and the rest; that the whole amount of arms and money on which the so-called "formidable" conspiracy had rested had been shown to be one pike, nine rusty muskets, and a fund of nine pounds and one bad shilling! he said that the great thing proved was the shameful conspiracy of the government against the people, and their infamous employment of spies for that end; that eight thousand pounds had been spent on the crown lawyers, and a hundred witnesses examined, only to expose the guilt of the ministry. windham defended the measures of government, and charged the juries with ignorance and incapacity, for which erskine severely reprimanded him. but the standing majorities of pitt were inaccessible to argument, and the continuance of the suspension was voted by a majority of two hundred and thirty-nine against fifty-three. a like result attended the debate in the lords, where, however, the dukes of norfolk and bedford, the marquis of lansdowne, and the earls of lauderdale and guildford strongly opposed the suspension.

these debates were immediately followed by the opening of the budget on the 23rd of february—an opening which was enough to have made any men but such as were then at the head of british affairs pause in their ruinous career. there was a call for one hundred thousand seamen, for one hundred and sixty thousand regulars, and fifty-six thousand militia—total, two hundred and sixteen thousand soldiers, besides volunteers, fencibles, and foreign troops in british pay, amounting, by land and sea, to at least four hundred thousand men! for their support there were demanded sixteen million and twenty-seven thousand pounds, in addition to other taxes to make up deficiencies and interest on the debt; the whole revenue demanded was twenty-seven million five hundred thousand pounds. besides this there was an annual subsidy to the king of sardinia of two hundred thousand pounds, although there was no prospect whatever of saving him. to raise all this, new duties had to be laid on tea, coffee, raisins, foreign groceries and fruits, foreign timber, insurances, writs, affidavits, hair-powder, licences, etc., and the revenue from the post office, while the privilege of franking had to be abridged. the only tax that the compliant aristocracy protested against was that on the powdered pates of their menials; but the country cried lustily and in vain against the increase of taxation, which, gross as it was, was but the beginning of their burdens and of the burden of posterity.

the reformers made repeated and strenuous efforts to obtain a parliamentary expression of the desirableness of this country refraining from interfering with the internal affairs of france, and of making specific arrangements with that country. earl stanhope made such a motion in the lords[441] on the 6th of january, and the duke of bedford made a similar one on the 27th of february. lord grey had moved the same thing on the day before, but all these endeavours were rendered abortive by pitt's standing majority. it was replied that france had no government that could be treated with, and lord mansfield asserted that we had a right to interfere in the internal affairs of any country that acted on principles dangerous to its neighbour. fox, on the 24th of march, moved for a committee of the whole house to inquire into the state of the nation, but this was rejected on the ground that the times were too critical, and canning adduced the condition of ireland, just on the verge of rebellion, as a sufficient cause for not ascertaining our actual state.

the palace of the tuileries, paris.

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the only attempts at reform were in the commissariat and discipline of the army. the soldiers were allowed an extra quantity of bread and meat, and the militia regiments were permitted to have artillery, and to increase their force and improve their staffs. but even these reforms were made unconstitutionally by the dictum of the ministers, without the authority of parliament, and occasioned smart but ineffectual remonstrances from the house. every motion for inquiry or censure was borne down by the ministerial majority.

the remainder of the parliamentary session was occupied with royal marriages and settlements. george iii. and his queen, though pious and decorous in their own lives, had the misfortune to have amongst their sons some of the most dissolute and debauched men that ever figured in the corrupt atmosphere of courts. the prince of wales was become a very byword for his profligacy and extravagance. the duke of york was but little better, so far as his means allowed him; and the duke of sussex, wishing to marry a woman to whom he was really attached, found the royal marriage act standing in his way.

the marriage of the prince of wales with mrs. fitzherbert was notorious; but as it was not openly avowed by the prince, no steps were taken to dissolve it. but in 1794 the prince had got a new favourite, the lady jersey, already a grandmother, but a young one. for her mrs. fitzherbert was dismissed, showing how little the prince thought of the reality of the marriage with[442] that fair lady, and he now lived openly and ostentatiously with lady jersey, lord jersey being well contented with the arrangement for the sake of the good things he hoped to gain by it, being at once appointed master of the horse to the prince. but the prince's extravagance and gambling, by the practice of which, notwithstanding his own losses, he reduced his friends, one after the other, as the earl of moira, sir wallace porter, and others, to beggary, had now brought him into extreme difficulties. his debts, after having been more than once paid off by parliament, now again amounted to six hundred and thirty thousand pounds! another appeal to parliament was absolutely necessary, for his creditors were grown excessively clamorous. the king seized the opportunity to induce the prince to marry a foreign princess, representing it as the only plan by which they could apply to parliament for such an increase of means as would enable him to liquidate his debts. but instead of allowing the prince to go abroad and make his own selection, so that there might be possibly some degree of freedom of choice in the matter, the queen was anxious to have her own niece, the princess louisa augusta amelia of mecklenburg, selected for him. this princess, afterwards the popular queen of prussia, was a good creature, and might possibly have wrought some favourable change even in so depraved a nature as that of the prince of wales. but the king was equally determined to secure the unenviable post for his own niece, caroline amelia elizabeth, the second daughter of the duke of brunswick, who was one of the petty princes of germany. to effect this arrangement, an attachment between the crown prince of prussia and this princess caroline had to be rent asunder. the prince was ready to fall in with any such bargain, on condition that he was liberated from his debts. it was certain that he would please himself as to the lady or ladies with whom he would really live. all obstacles of nature, or of nearness of consanguinity, or of private attachments were overborne by diplomacy, and by the promise of the discharge of the prince's debts. the princess caroline of brunswick was selected—a young lady of not unpleasing person in her youth, according to the descriptions of the time, but of defective education, and coming to this country with the repugnance of a prior and rudely-sundered attachment. she landed at greenwich on sunday, the 5th of april, 1795, and the marriage ceremony was performed at st. james's, by the archbishop of canterbury, on the 8th. the princess had not been ignorant of the dissolute character of her appointed husband, and his mode of receiving her was not calculated to inspire any brilliant hopes of his improvement. he had sent his mistress, the lady jersey, to meet her on landing, and he made no disguise of his connection with her before or after the marriage. the memoirs of the time assert that lady jersey omitted no arts to render the princess ridiculous and even disgusting to the prince; but what chagrined him far more deeply was the breach of the promises held out to him of the discharge of his debts by a parliamentary grant or grants.

on the 27th of april pitt introduced a message from the king, recommending the settlement of a suitable provision on the prince of wales on his marriage. the prince expected that pitt would propose and carry, by means of his compliant majority, which had readily voted away millions to foreign monarchs, a vote for the immediate discharge of his debts. his astonishment may therefore be imagined, when pitt proposed that parliament should grant him such an income as should enable him, by decent economy, to defray these debts by instalments through a course of years. having stated these debts at six hundred and thirty thousand pounds, he proposed to increase the prince's allowance from seventy-five thousand to one hundred and forty thousand pounds, an increase of sixty-five thousand pounds a-year. twenty-five thousand pounds of this were to be set apart every year for the liquidation of the debts in the course of twenty-seven years. this was, in fact, only giving him an increase on his marriage of forty thousand pounds per annum; but so unpopular was the prince that not even that amount of money could be obtained. the question was warmly debated during two months, and it was not till the 27th of june that it was finally settled in still worse terms for the prince, namely, that his allowance should be one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds per annum, with the income of the duchy of cornwall, about fifteen thousand pounds more, thus making up the one hundred and forty thousand pounds; but out of this seventy-five thousand pounds per annum were appropriated to the payment of his debts, leaving him only sixty-seven thousand pounds a year clear for his own expenditure, or eight thousand pounds per annum less than his previous allowance. with the grant to the prince this session closed, namely, on the 27th of june.

[443]

the first transactions of the campaign of 1795 which demand our attention, are those of holland. to the british army these were most disastrous, and came to an end before the winter closed. the duke of york had returned to england early in december, 1794, leaving the chief command to general walmoden, a hanoverian, second to whom was general dundas. walmoden had gone quietly into winter quarters in the isle of bommel, forgetting that the firmness of the ice would soon leave him exposed with his small force to the overwhelming swarms of the french, under pichegru, who, in the middle of december, crossed the waal with two hundred thousand men, and drove in his lines. general dundas advanced against him with eight thousand men, and, for the time, drove the french back, on the 30th of december, across the waal. but this could not last with such disproportionate forces, especially as our troops were left with the most wretched commissariat, and an equally wretched medical staff; in fact, there were neither surgeons to attend the greater part of the wounded, nor medicines for the sick. on the 4th of january, 1795, the french came back with their overpowering numbers, and on the 6th the british were compelled to retire across the leck, and continue their retreat, suffering indescribable miseries from the want of food, tents, and proper clothes, in the horrors of a dutch winter. notwithstanding this, the british repeatedly turned and drove back the enemy with heavy slaughter. but on the 11th of january pichegru attacked them in a defile between arnhem and nimeguen, with a condensed force of seventy thousand men, and took every measure to destroy, or compel the surrender of, the whole british army. they, however, fought their way through and continued their march for the elbe, the only quarter open to them. during this retreat they were less harassed by the french, who fell off to occupy utrecht and rotterdam, than by the fury of the winter and the hostility of the jacobinised dutch, who cursed them as the cause of all the sufferings of their country. such was the end of britain's campaign for the defence of her dutch allies. holland was proclaimed a free republic under the protection of france, and britain immediately commenced operations for indemnifying herself, by seizing the ships and colonies of her late ally in every quarter of the globe. they intercepted the homebound dutch indiamen, and when the council of government sent deputies to london to reclaim them, lord grenville, the foreign minister, asked them in what character they came. they replied, that they came as representatives of the sovereign people of batavia. the foreign minister said he knew of no such power, and declined to receive them. no time was lost in seizing the dutch colonies and factories. on the 14th of july admiral sir g. keith elphinstone appeared in table bay, and landed a considerable force under command of major-general craig. they possessed themselves of simon's town and the strong fort of muyzenberg, and in the beginning of september, being reinforced by another body of troops, under major-general alured clarke, on the 23rd of that month they were masters of cape town. a similar activity was displayed in the east indies; and in the course of the year, or early in 1796, all the dutch possessions in ceylon, malacca, cochin, amboyna, and other places were surrendered to the british. the same seizures were in course of execution on the settlements of the dutch in the west indies, and on the coast of south america.

but though we punished the dutch for their french predilections, the tide of french success was rolling on in various quarters, and presenting a prospect of a single-handed conflict with france. the powers on whose behalf we had armed were fast, one after another, making terms with the republicans. holland was in their hands, and the king of prussia, on the 5th of april, concluded a peace with them at basle, in which he agreed to surrender to france all his possessions on the left bank of the rhine, on condition of retaining those on the right. there was a mutual exchange of prisoners, including the troops of such other german states as had served with prussia. spain hastened to follow the example of prussia. a peace was concluded at the same place—basle—on the 22nd of july, by which she gave up all the spanish part of san domingo. to purchase the french evacuation, the ministers of spain itself recognised the batavian republic—which was become, in reality, a province of france—and promised to intercede with portugal, naples, parma, and sardinia. the grand duke of tuscany followed with a proclamation of a treaty of neutrality with france, on the 1st of march. sweden and the protestant cantons recognised the french republic and the batavian one, its ally; and the duke of hesse-cassel, and even george iii., as elector of hanover, were compelled to an agreement to furnish no more troops to the emperor of germany. whilst the allies were thus falling away in rapid succession before the forces of[444] republican france, britain, instead of taking warning, and resolving to mind only her own business, went madly into fresh treaties with continental powers. russia and austria were received into fresh treaties of mutual defence. russia we were to assist with ships, and austria with twenty thousand foot and six thousand horse, or to pay each month ten thousand florins for every thousand infantry, and thirty thousand florins for every thousand of cavalry. to complete the circle of treaties, sir gilbert elliot, british governor of corsica, entered into a treaty with the dey of algiers, by which, on payment of a hundred and seventy-nine thousand piastres, he was to restore all the corsicans captured and enslaved by him, and was to enjoy the strange privilege of carrying all his piratical prizes into the ports of corsica, and to sell them there—which was, in fact, licensing this chief of sea-robbers to plunder all the other italian states.

on the rhine there was a good deal of sharp fighting between the french and austrians. general bender had been compelled to surrender luxembourg, on the 7th of july, and allowed to retire with his army of ten thousand men into germany, on condition of not serving again till exchanged. there then remained little on either bank of the rhine to restrain the advance of the french, except mayence on the left bank, and manheim and düsseldorf on the right. pichegru, in august, made himself master of both düsseldorf and manheim, and was advancing to the reduction of heidelberg when he was met by old general wurmser, and driven back to manheim. he was, in fact, meditating treachery. jourdain, who was advancing in another direction to co-operate with pichegru in the reduction of mayence, was encountered by clairfait, and driven back to düsseldorf. clairfait then attacked the french forces already investing mayence, and the garrison making a sally at the same time, the french were completely dispersed, and part retreated north and part south. wurmser then invested manheim, and compelled its surrender on the 22nd of november. pichegru signed an armistice with the austrians before joining them. jourdain also retreated.

in italy nothing was done till late in the year. towards the end of november, the french army, under massena, commenced operations in earnest. the austrians and piedmontese being scattered over a wide extent of country, defending various passes, the french attacked and beat them from different points. the right and centre of the allies were ere long routed; and the left, posted on the shores of the bay st. pier d'arena, near genoa, was attacked, both from the land and from the water, by gunboats, which nelson, who had been detached to co-operate with the austrians, had no means of coping with, except by letting loose a far greater number of armed vessels, and was also compelled to flight. nelson managed to keep open the bochetta pass for them, or from eight thousand to ten thousand prisoners would have been made, including the austrian general devins himself, who was laid up at novi, at the foot of the apennines. the french were then in a position to open the campaign against italy in the spring.

the massacre of savenay had not settled la vendée. in the spring of 1794 armed parties were again on foot. the largest body was that under charette, posted on the isle noirmoutier, to which many of the fugitives who escaped from the massacre of savenay betook themselves. amongst these was the wounded general d'elbée, with his wife, and a brother of cathelinau. charette quitted the isle to make an attack on some of the republican troops left in small bodies in the country, consigning the care of the sick and wounded to the protection of a garrison of one thousand eight hundred men. this garrison was soon corrupted by the republican general, turreau; it surrendered, and d'elbée and his wife were both shot, and the sick and wounded treated with merciless cruelty. this was about the only place of any strength left the vendéans; but a worse misfortune was at hand. the young and chivalrous henri la roche-jaquelein, marching, at the head of a body of his own peasantry, between trementine and nouaillé, met two republican soldiers. the count generously offered them quarter; but, instead of accepting it, one of them instantly levelled his musket and shot him through the head. the two soldiers were immediately dispatched by his followers and, supposing that a republican column must be at hand, they buried the three hastily in one grave and fled. the young count was only in his twenty-first year, and with him died the hopes and confidence of his peasantry. stofflet succeeded him in the command of his people, but charette might be considered the commander-in-chief of the vendéans.

the fall of robespierre produced a marked change in the policy of the convention towards the royalists of this district, and they were promised, on laying down their arms, that they[445] should enjoy their country and their religion in peace. on this assurance, charette signed a treaty of pacification with the agents of the government at nantes, in february, 1795. but scarcely was the peace signed, when charette received a letter from monsieur—brother of the late king, and now appointed by the royalist party regent to the dauphin, now styled by them louis xvii.—assuring him of his confidence, declaring him the second founder of the monarchy, and appointing him his lieutenant-general. charette wrote back to inform him that he had been compelled to sign a peace, but that his submission was only apparent, and when the royalist affairs were somewhat reinstated, he should be ready to take up arms and die in the service of his prince. the young general hoche, who was sent to reduce the insurgents of brittany, whilst canclaux reduced those of la vendée, did not for a moment believe in the sincerity of the peace. he was aware that puisaye, the chief of the insurgents in brittany, was gone to england, to endeavour to induce pitt to do what all the efforts and importunities of the bourbon princes and emigrant nobles had failed to do—to send an expedition to the coast of brittany, with another to the coast of la vendée, in which the british fleet should support the bodies of emigrants who had, in england and the channel islands, formed themselves into regiments for the purpose. aware of this, he still did all he could to reconcile the peasantry to the peace, and very soon they would have been pacified by this judicious treatment, and been averse from rising again, with a prospect of re-experiencing their former sufferings; but the bourbon princes and the tribes of emigrants now driven from the rhine did not allow them that chance.

la roche-jaquelein and the republican soldiers. (see p. 444.)

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puisaye's mission to london had been successful. pitt was weak enough to fall into the plan of sending over the emigrants in our ships—as if any such force could do more against the republican armies than create fresh miseries to all parties, and bring down worse vengeance on the unfortunate vendéans and bretons. puisaye, with the aid of the counts d'hervilly, d'hector, du dresnay, colonel routhalier, and other royalist officers, had mustered a most miscellaneous[446] body of three thousand emigrants, most of whom had been soldiers, and who were accompanied by four hundred artillerymen of toulon, commanded by routhalier. besides these men, of whom the count d'artois, for the time, gave the command to puisaye, intending himself to follow, puisaye carried over ten thousand pounds, furnished by the count d'artois, twenty-seven thousand muskets, six hundred barrels of gunpowder, uniforms for seventeen thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, as well as provisions for three months. these troops and stores were, after many delays, conveyed in a little squadron of three ships of the line and six frigates, attended by transports, and commanded by sir john borlase warren. they sailed from the isle of wight in the beginning of june, another squadron being sent to take up the emigrant troops in the channel islands, and land them at st. malo, where they were to co-operate with bodies of chouans. these chouans were smugglers and bandits, who had led a life of plunder, and had been easily collected into a sort of guerilla force, and their mode of warfare still bore a strong resemblance to their old habits. these men, under their different chiefs, had been excited by puisaye to combine for a strong resistance to the republicans. they were dressed in green coats and pantaloons, with red waistcoats. during his absence, puisaye had deputed the chief command of the chouan bands to the so-called baron cormatin, or sieur désoteux, who had assumed the title of baron de cormatin from an estate of his wife's. cormatin was a vain, weak man, and by no means trustworthy, being ready, at any moment, to supersede his chief, puisaye, and act for himself. if the expedition against st. malo did not succeed, it was to join puisaye and his detachment in the bay of quiberon; and transports were also sent to the mouth of the elbe, to fetch thence the emigrant regiments with the black cockade, and bring them to join puisaye. if all went well, the count d'artois was to follow with british troops. the grand error of the whole was, that the french prince did not put himself at once at the head of the expedition, and see the different squadrons united in the bay of quiberon before making the descent, though, even then, it could have effected no great success.

on the passage, the squadron of sir john warren came in sight of the french fleet of villaret-joyeuse, of nine ships of the line, but it bore away, and left them to pursue their course. they entered the bay of quiberon on the 25th of june and, after much wrangling as to the best situation for landing, they put the troops ashore at the village of carnac. there they were immediately joined by georges cadoudal, d'allègre, dubois-berthollet, and other chouan chiefs, with about four thousand or five thousand of their wild and bandit-looking soldiers. along with the chouans came troops of peasants, crying "vive le roi!" and bringing in abundance of fresh eggs, poultry, and other provisions. puisaye was delighted, and felt confident that all brittany was ready to rise. but this delusion was soon dissipated. the emigrants, accustomed to regular armies, looked with contempt on this wild and ragged band, and they, on their part, were not restrained, on the landing of the arms and uniforms, from seizing and carrying them off, without much exertion on the part of puisaye. there was danger of bloodshed. at length, in about a couple of days, ten thousand of them were put into red coats, and furnished with muskets. but fatal dissensions prevented all operations. puisaye proposed to march up the country, seize different towns, such as vannes and rennes, and take up their position behind the mayenne; but d'hervilly refused to march till the troops were formed into regular regiments, and the emigrants joined him in despising the chouans, and in complaining that they had not been taken to la vendée to join charette. puisaye and d'hervilly also disputed the supreme command, and puisaye had to dispatch letters to london, to count d'artois, on the subject. at length, after five days had been wasted in this contention, puisaye proposed that they should endeavour to carry fort penthièvre, which stood on a small peninsula on quiberon bay, and was united to the main land by a sandy isthmus. to this d'hervilly consented, and sir john warren agreed to support him in the attempt. on the 1st of july warren began to bombard the fort, and on the 3rd, the place being warmly assailed by both the british and the chouans, the republicans surrendered. meanwhile, puisaye had sent off emissaries all over brittany, to rouse scépeaux, charette, stofflet, and the rest of the insurgent chiefs. the news of the landing had flown all over brittany in a few days, and the royalists were full of joy.

but the convention sent to hoche two extraordinary commissioners to stimulate him to the utmost activity. hoche immediately wrote to the committee of public welfare to assure them that nothing was wanting to his success but for government to support him with "provisions, of which[447] we are in want, and the twelve thousand men whom you promised me so long ago." he posted his generals on every frontier, and in every strong place. thus he had enveloped brittany on all sides; instead of the bretons rising en masse, as was expected, they kept quiet, and only the chouans appeared in arms. even they demanded that the count d'artois should come and put himself at their head; and the emigrants asked to be re-embarked, and taken to la vendée to support charette. on their part, the able arrangements of hoche and canclaux prevented the vendéans from operating in favour of the bretons, and puisaye saw himself paralysed by the vigour of his opponents and the dissensions of his followers. the different bodies of chouans were repulsed by the republicans as they advanced towards quiberon bay, and they complained that d'hervilly had withdrawn the four hundred men of the line who had been ordered to support them. d'hervilly replied that he had recalled them to assist at the taking of penthièvre. thus favoured by the wranglings of the royalists, hoche, on the 5th of july, found himself established on the heights of st. barbe, commanding the isthmus of falaise. on the 7th d'hervilly, supported by his regulars and by two hundred british marines, endeavoured to drive him thence, but was repulsed with great slaughter. hoche then bore down from the heights, and drove all the miscellaneous forces of emigrants and chouans, mingled with women and children, to the promontory, and under the guns of fort penthièvre. but for the well-directed fire from warren's boats the mass, nearly twenty thousand fugitives, must have surrendered at once, having no outlet of escape. there, however, for some days they stoutly defended themselves.

on the 15th the british squadron brought in the emigrant troops from the elbe, under the young and gallant count de sombreuil; but they amounted only to eleven thousand men. puisaye now ordered the count de vauban to advance against hoche with twelve thousand chouans, and, whilst they attacked on the right, he himself attacked his lines in front. after some desperate fighting they were driven back, and lost most of their cannon in the deep sand of the isthmus. their misfortunes were completed, on the 20th, by the garrison of the fort of penthièvre going over to the enemy, surrendering the fort to them, and helping to massacre such of their officers and comrades as refused to follow their example. the english admiral exerted himself to receive the remainder of the troops who remained true on board his ships; but the storminess of the weather and the impatience of the fugitives rendered this a most difficult task. about fourteen thousand regulars and two thousand four hundred chouans were got on board; but sombreuil, exposed to the murderous fire from the enemy whilst waiting on the beach, surrendered on promise of life. no sooner, however, were they in the hands of the republicans than all the officers and gentlemen were led out and shot; and the common men enrolled in hoche's regiments.

sir john warren put the two thousand four hundred chouans on shore near lorient, and left them to return to their own predatory mode of warfare. he then located himself on two small neighbouring islands, and waited for a fresh squadron carrying four thousand british troops, which arriving in september, he bore away with them for la vendée, and thus terminated the miserable descent on the coast of brittany. the descent on the coast of la vendée was still more unsatisfactory. on arriving there, it was found that fifteen thousand republicans were in possession of the isle noirmoutier, formerly the stronghold of charette. the british, therefore, disembarked on the little desolate isle dieu, about five leagues from noirmoutier, and there awaited the arrival of count d'artois, who did not come till the 10th of october, and then, alarmed at the fusillading of the officers at quiberon, declined to land. on hearing this, charette exclaimed—"we are lost! to-day i have fifteen thousand men about me; to-morrow i shall not have five hundred!" and, in fact, chagrined at the pusillanimous conduct of the prince, and the approach of hoche with his victorious troops from brittany, his followers rapidly dispersed, and at the end of the year the british armament returned home, having done nothing. from this day may be dated the extinction of the war in la vendée. stofflet, in january, 1796, was defeated, and in february was betrayed to the enemy, and on the 26th of that month was executed at angers with four of his companions. charette was captured a month afterwards, and was shot at nantes on the 29th of march. with him died the last vendéan general of mark. by this time, the spring of 1796, not a fifth part of the male population of la vendée remained alive; and hoche himself calculated that the vendéan war had cost france a hundred thousand men.

meanwhile the convention determined to proceed to the abolition of the constitution of '93, and to the establishment of one more accordant[448] with their own tendencies. in 1793 the revolutionists were as violent against aristocracy as against monarchy, and had allowed only one legislative body. the precipitate acts of the last three years had now persuaded them that at least a second, if not an aristocratic, chamber might be useful, as a balance against legislation under violent impulses. they proposed, then, to have two chambers—one called the council of five hundred, composed of that number of members of at least thirty years of age, having exclusively the right of proposing laws, of whom one-third should be renewed every year; the second, called the council of the ancients, to consist of two hundred and fifty members, of at least forty years of age, all either widowers or married, having the sanctioning of the law, and also to be annually renewed by one-third. no sooner were these decrees passed than there was a violent outburst of discontent. on april 1st, and again on may 20th, the parisian mob rose in insurrection, but were completely suppressed. this was the death-blow of the democratic party. then came the turn of the royalists. a meeting took place in the odéon theatre, on the 3rd of october, under protection of some battalions of national guard. the duke of nivernois presided. the committees of public safety and welfare gave the alarm to the convention, and the convention sent a force to disperse the meeting, but it had already dissolved itself. the sections had committed the mistake of refusing to allow the ultra-jacobins to vote, and the convention now embodied and armed one thousand eight hundred of these, ready, in their indignation, to do anything. on the 4th, the section lepelletier beat to arms, and the committee held its meeting in the convent of filles st. thomas, in the rue vivienne. general menou was summoned from the camp at sablons, and ordered to disperse the meeting. he proceeded to the convent, found the committee of the section armed, and, instead of dispersing them, agreed to retire on a promise that they would withdraw of themselves. the convention immediately arrested menou as a traitor, and deprived him of his command. they forthwith appointed barras general of the interior in the place of menou, and ordered him to clear the streets, and place troops in a position to insure the safety of the convention. barras was a general of brigade, but he was not too fond of exposing himself and, fortunately for him and for another, he had his eye on one who would execute the orders of the convention without shrinking. this was napoleon buonaparte. the convention had about five thousand troops; but the decision of the conflict must depend on the cannon. these were in the camp at sablons. buonaparte instantly dispatched murat to secure them, and received the insurrectionists with such a shower of grape that after a short resistance they were completely defeated.

during this time britain was suffering severely from the effects of the war. the nation was indignant under the disgrace of the complete defeat of its army on the continent, at the defection of those very allies who had been so profusely subsidised, at the perfidy by which these despot powers had made britain the efficient party in the dismemberment of poland, and at the heavy taxes imposed in consequence. political meetings were held in most large towns and in the metropolis, expressing the most decided disapprobation of the policy of ministers and at the refusal of all reforms. at the end of june a monster meeting had been held in st. george's fields, and on the 26th of october, another, of fifty thousand people, near copenhagen house, at which the lately prosecuted but acquitted agitators, thelwall, gale jones, and others, were the speakers. the numbers and tone of these meetings, which were accompanied with loud cries of "bread! bread!" and "down with pitt!" greatly alarmed government, and there was a summons of parliament at the unusually early date of october 29th, only three days after the meeting in copenhagen fields. on going to the house to open the session, the king—who had become very unpopular from his eager support of the war, and his going about saying, "the french won't leave a single crowned head in europe!"—was shot at with an air-gun in margaret street, opposite to the ordnance office, the ball from which passed through the windows of the carriage, between his majesty and the earl of westmoreland. the king on entering the house, exclaimed to the lord chancellor, "my lord, i have been shot at!" as the king returned, he was again furiously hissed; there was the same vociferous shouting of "bread! bread!" and "no pitt!" stones were thrown at the royal carriage; and, in the haste and confusion to escape into the palace of st. james's, one of the royal grooms was thrown to the ground, and had his thigh broken. the king got into a private coach to regain buckingham house, where his family was; but he was recognised, and pursued by the same cries of "bread! bread!" and "peace!" that evening the king, who had[449] behaved throughout with great courage, accompanied the queen and three of his daughters to covent garden theatre, where he was received with zealous acclamations; the actors sang "god save the king!" three times over. some of the people in the gallery were, however, pretty vehement in their hisses, but were attacked and turned out.

attack on the royal carriage. (see p. 448.)

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the ministers, instead of making rational concessions to the demands of the people for reform, proceeded without delay to fresh aggressions on their liberties. not contented with the existing suspension of the habeas corpus act, and with introducing into the lords a bill for the protection of the king's person and government, they passed a law prohibiting all political meetings, and another to extend the law of treason; they recommenced arrests and prosecutions, and sent out shoals of spies and informers, so that all the safeguards of public liberty were completely annihilated. these despotic measures did not pass without energetic opposition and a good deal of violent language from fox; but all remonstrance was useless against pitt's majority. still the alarm of the government was not allayed. on the 8th of december the king sent a message to both houses, reiterating his assurance of an earnest desire to negotiate peace with france. the opposition very properly pointed out that, so far as france was concerned, victorious in its armies, and as anti-monarchical in its government as ever, there were less hopes of any consent on its part to peace than when the opposition had so repeatedly urged the same measure. in this unsatisfactory state closed the year 1795.

mr. grey seized the professed desire of peace by government, so soon as parliament met after the christmas recess, to bind them to it by a resolution. he complained that, so far from any intentions of peace, ministers were making fresh preparations for the prosecution of the war. pitt denied this, and asserted that the government was really anxious for peace, but could not consent to it unless france agreed to yield up its conquests of belgium, holland, savoy, and nice. on the 10th of march mr. grey moved for an inquiry into the state of the kingdom. he showed that this contest, so unsuccessful, had[450] already, in three years, added seventy-seven millions to the national debt; more than the whole expense of the american war, which had cost sixty-three millions. he commented severely on the wasteful manner in which this money had been thrown away on monarchs who had badly served the cause, or had perfidiously betrayed it; and on the plunder of the country by jobbers, contractors, commissaries, and other vampires, who had left the poor soldiers to neglect, starvation, and death, amid the horrors of winter, and inhospitable, pretended friends, for whom they had been sent to fight. grey and fox followed this up by fresh resolutions and motions condemning ministers for their misconduct of the war, and enormous waste of the public money; but all these were triumphantly got rid of by overwhelming majorities; and in the face of this ineffectual assault, pitt introduced his budget, calling for fresh loans, amounting to no less than twenty-five million five hundred thousand pounds, and for supplies to the amount of upwards of forty-five millions. some of the items of this sum were—navy, seven million five hundred and twenty-two thousand five hundred and fifty-two pounds; army, eleven million nine hundred and eleven thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine pounds; ordnance, one million nine hundred and fifty-four thousand six hundred and sixty-five pounds; miscellaneous and extraordinary, thirteen million eight hundred and twenty-one thousand, four hundred and thirty pounds. the last item alone amounted to more than the whole national expenditure before the commencement of this war, yet the whole of these startling sums were readily voted away by the ministerial majority; and with these funds in hand for renewed prosecution of the war, the session ended, on the 19th of may.

in march, 1796, mr. wickham, the british envoy to switzerland, asked of m. barthélemy, by direction of pitt, whether the french directory were desirous of entertaining the question of peace. barthélemy replied that the directory would enter into negotiations on the basis of france retaining all the netherlands won from austria, which were now annexed to the republic, and which france would never restore. the reply was certainly insincere. france was as busy as ever by her emissaries undermining the loyalty of all the populations around her on pretence of liberating them. she had worked upon the swiss, so that it was evident that they would soon fall into her net. she had entered into a treaty with the disaffected in ireland, namely, lord edward fitzgerald, wolfe tone, arthur o'connor, and their fellow-conspirators, and the treaty was already signed, and a large fleet and force preparing for the invasion of ireland. not only was france on the very eve of invading ireland, but she had issued a decree prohibiting the introduction of all british manufactures into holland, belgium, and the german states on the rhine, as well as into any of the french colonies, on the severest penalties. yet, in the face of all these hostile demonstrations, did pitt send over lord malmesbury to endeavour to negotiate a peace. lord malmesbury arrived in paris, on the 22nd of october, with a splendid retinue. the directory received him haughtily, and commissioned m. delacroix to discuss the matter with him. lord malmesbury insisted on the restoration of the netherlands to austria, a point on which the french government had declared there could be no treaty, and which rendered the embassy, from the first moment, utterly absurd. delacroix communicated the proposal to the directory, and the directory immediately published it, contrary to all the rules of diplomacy, in the moniteur, instead of proceeding further with britain, the directory immediately dispatched general clarke, an officer of irish extraction, and afterwards made duke of feltre, under buonaparte, to vienna, to treat separately with austria. this failed, and, of course, with it all failed; though there was much talk between malmesbury and the directory on the subject of britain restoring the french colonies in the east and west indies, since the restoration of belgium and holland was a sine qua non. thus, as might have been seen from the first, the negotiation was at a deadlock. the king of sardinia was already in negotiation for peace for himself; and therefore british ministers did not add to his difficulties by demanding the restoration of savoy and nice.

at the very moment that these negotiations on the part of britain were going on, buonaparte, who had been appointed to the command of the army of italy, was achieving there victory after victory. genoa had shut her ports against our ships, naples had concluded peace with france, spain had been induced to proclaim war against us, and hoche had sailed for ireland with twenty-five thousand troops. on the 19th of december lord malmesbury received a message to quit paris within forty-eight hours, with the additional assurance, that whenever great britain was prepared to accept the terms of france, an ordinary courier would answer the same purpose as well as[451] a lord. the blame of continuing the war thus lay entirely with the french.

during the year 1796 strong forces were sent to the west indies, and the island of grenada was recovered by general nichols; st. lucia, by general abercromby, whilst general whyte conquered the dutch settlements of demerara, berbice, and essequibo; but some of these possessions were dearly purchased by the number of the troops who perished from the unhealthiness of their climate. the dutch made an effort to recover the cape of good hope. they were to have been assisted by the french in this enterprise, but their allies not keeping their engagement, they sailed alone, and reached saldanha bay on the 3rd of august, when rear-admiral sir george elphinstone surprised and captured the whole of their vessels, consisting of two sixty-four-gun ships, one fifty-four, five frigates and sloops, and a store-ship. a squadron then proceeded from the cape to madagascar, and destroyed a french settlement there, seizing five merchant vessels.

during the summer a french squadron stretched away across the atlantic with six sail of the line, and finding our newfoundland coasts almost wholly unprotected, destroyed and plundered the fishermen's huts and fishing stages, as well as their vessels, and then, returning, picked up a considerable number of our merchantmen at sea, and was lucky enough to make a retreat, by favour of a fog, through our watching squadrons, into brest. after this clever exploit, they joined the great brest fleet, which sailed for ireland on the 15th of december. this consisted of no fewer than forty-three sail, seventeen of them of the line, four frigates, six corvettes and brigs, with six transports. on board the transports were twenty-five thousand men, who had been well tried in the war of la vendée, and abundance of arms and ammunition, as well as extra arms to put into the hands of the disaffected irish, for to ireland the armament was bound. general hoche, who had terminated the vendéan war, was appointed to terminate all the woes of ireland, and convert that sacred island into another french paradise. besides hoche, generals grouchy, hombert, and bruix were attached to the expedition. the fleet sailed out and anchored in camaret bay, but no british fleet was visible to intercept them. but no sooner did the armament put out to sea again the next day, than it was assailed by a tempest and the ships were driven different ways. one of them was forced immediately on the grand stenet rock, and wrecked—out of one thousand four hundred souls on board only sixty were rescued. seven ships of the line, and ten of the vessels commanded by rear-admiral bouvet, managed to reach bantry bay on the 24th of december, but there the storms continued to batter them. there being no sign of an insurrection, and no other part of the fleet appearing, they sailed back and reached brest on the 1st of january, 1797. when they were gone, another portion of the fleet arrived in bantry bay, but only to be tossed and driven about without rest, to lose several of the ships, and to put back again. as for hoche, he never saw ireland; the greater part of the fleet being driven about and swamped in the channel. of the forty-three sail, only thirty-one returned, and thousands of the soldiers were drowned in the foundering transports. sir edward pellew, in the indefatigable, of forty-four guns, and captain reynolds, in the amazon, of thirty-six guns, fell in with the droits de l'homme, of seventy-four guns, and after a severe fight close in audierne bay, south of ushant, left her a wreck aground, where, of the one thousand eight hundred men aboard, scarcely more than three hundred were saved, notwithstanding the greatest exertions of the british seamen to rescue them.

the directory began its campaigns of 1796 with much spirit and ability. the plans which had been repeatedly pointed out by dumouriez, pichegru, moreau, and more recently by buonaparte, of attacking the austrians in germany and italy simultaneously, and then, on the conquest of italy, combining their armies and marching them direct on the austrian capital, were now adopted. pichegru, who had lost the favour of the directory, was superseded by moreau, and that general and jourdain were sent to the rhine. jourdain took the command of sixty-three thousand foot and eleven thousand horse, at coblenz, and immediately invested the famous fortress of ehrenbreitstein, on the opposite bank of the river. moreau was sent to lead the army at strasburg, consisting of seventy-two thousand foot and nearly seven thousand horse. jourdain found himself soon menaced by the archduke charles, the emperor's brother, the ablest and most alert general that the austrians possessed at that period. he advanced rapidly on jourdain's position with seventy thousand foot and twenty thousand horse, defeated a division of jourdain's army under general lefebvre, and compelled jourdain himself to raise the siege. but the archduke, out of too much anxiety for wurmser, who was opposed to[452] moreau with much inferior forces, ascended the rhine to support him, and jourdain immediately availed himself of his absence to advance and seize frankfort on the main, würzburg, and other towns. moreau advanced to drive back wurmser and the archduke, till a union with jourdain would enable them to fall conjointly on the austrians. but the archduke perceived that, in consequence of the orders of the directory, moreau was spreading his army too wide, and he retreated so as to enable wurmser to join him. this retrograde movement was mistaken, both by friends and enemies, for a sign of weakness; and whilst moreau advanced with increased confidence, many of the raw contingents of the archduke's army deserted, and several of the petty states of germany sued to the directory for peace. but the moment for the action of the archduke had now arrived. whilst moreau was extending his lines into bavaria, and had seized ulm and donauw?rth, and was preparing to occupy the defiles of the tyrol, the archduke charles made a rapid detour, and, on the 24th of august, fell on jourdain, and completely defeated him. he then followed him to würzburg, and on the 3rd of september routed him again. with a velocity extraordinary in an austrian, the archduke pushed on after jourdain's flying battalions, and on the 16th of september gave him a third beating at aschaffenburg, and drove his army over the rhine. moreau—left in a critical position, so far from the frontiers of france, and hopeless of any aid from jourdain, who had lost twenty thousand men and nearly all his artillery and baggage—made haste to retrace his steps. thus both of the french armies were beaten back to the left bank of the rhine, and germany was saved.

but meanwhile in italy the french had been completely successful. buonaparte reached the french headquarters at nice on the 26th of march, and immediately set himself to organise and inspirit the forces, which were in great disorder; he found the commissariat also in a deplorable condition. the troops amounted to fifty thousand; the austrians, under the veteran general beaulieu, to considerably more. the united army of the sardinians and austrians, beaulieu on the left, d'argenteau in the centre, and colli with the piedmontese division on the right, hastened to descend from the apennines, to which they had retreated at the end of the last campaign. beaulieu met the french advanced guard at voltri, near genoa, on the 11th of april, and drove it back. but d'argenteau had been stopped in the mountains by the resistance of a body of french, who occupied the old redoubt of montenotte. buonaparte, apprised of this, hurried up additional forces to that point, and defeated d'argenteau before beaulieu or colli could succour him. having now divided the army of the allies, buonaparte defeated a strong body of austrians under general wukassowich; and having left colli and the piedmontese isolated from their allies, debouched by the valley of bormida into the plains of piedmont. beaulieu retreated to the po, to stop the way to milan; and buonaparte, relieved of his presence, turned against colli, who was compelled to retreat to carignano, near turin. trembling for his capital, and with his means exhausted, victor amadeus made overtures for peace, which were accepted; the terms being the surrender of all the piedmontese fortresses and the passes of the alps into the hands of the french, and the perpetual alienation of nice and savoy. this humiliation broke the heart of the poor old king, who died on the 16th of october. buonaparte, however, did not wait for the conclusion of this peace; the truce being signed, he hastened on after beaulieu whom he defeated and drove across the po. beaulieu next posted himself at lodi, on the adda; but buonaparte, after a fierce contest, drove him from the bridge over the adda on the 10th of may, and with little further opposition pursued him to milan. beaulieu still retreated, and threw himself into the fastnesses of the tyrol. on the 15th buonaparte made a triumphal entry into milan, and immediately sent troops to blockade mantua. buonaparte then advanced into the papal states, rifling the monti de pietà at bologna and ferrara. everywhere contributions were demanded at the point of the bayonet, and french authorities superseded the native ones. pius vi. made haste to sue for peace, and it was granted on the most exorbitant terms. fifteen millions of francs must be paid down in cash, six millions in horses and other requisites for the army. a great number of paintings and statues were to be selected from the galleries of art, and five hundred manuscripts from the library of the vatican. the provinces of ferrara and bologna must be ceded; the port and citadel of ancona, and all the papal ports, must be closed against the british. this most costly peace was signed on the 23rd of june, and buonaparte hastened northward to stop the advance of the army of wurmser, which had been sent through the tyrol to compete with the rising corsican.

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the cathedral of milan.

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wurmser advanced down the valley of trent with fifty thousand men, whose number was increased, by the remains of the army of beaulieu, to sixty thousand. with such a force well conducted, the austrians might have worsted buonaparte, whose troops were not more than forty-five thousand, and already greatly harassed by rapid marches. but there was no comparison between the genius of the commanders. the conduct of the austrians was a series of fatal blunders. had the archduke charles been there it might have been different; but the first thing which wurmser did was to weaken himself by dividing his forces, and sending one detachment under quasdanowich along the western shore of the lake of garda, and marching along the eastern bank himself with the other. the quick eye of buonaparte instantly saw his advantage; neither of the divisions was now equal to his own, and he beat them both in detail. he raised the blockade of mantua, defeated quasdanowich at lonato, chased him back into the mountains, and then engaged and routed him twice near castiglione, on the 3rd and 5th of august. wurmser had to make a hasty retreat into the mountains, leaving behind his artillery and many thousand men slain. buonaparte pursued him into the very gorges of the tyrol, and inflicted fresh losses upon him. the sturdy but not very bright old austrian, however, made a detour in the hills, and again issued on the plains[454] from the valley of the brenta. with remarkable address and agility for him, he made his way to mantua, and threw himself into the fortress with the wretched remains of his army, about eighteen thousand men.

there was still a fair chance for the austrians—britain had furnished them with money—and two fresh armies were descending from the hills. one of these, amounting to thirty thousand, was led by a brave officer, general alvinzi; the other of twenty thousand, under davidowich, was marching from the tyrol to meet alvinzi near verona, who was coming from carinthia by belluno. buonaparte did not allow them to meet. he attacked alvinzi on the 6th of november, and met with a terrible repulse. a detachment of french under vaubois had been dispatched to impede the march of davidowich, but was also in retreat. buonaparte again attacked alvinzi near verona, and again was repulsed. had the austrians united their two new armies before entering italy, or had wurmser marched from mantua to support alvinzi, the french must have been utterly annihilated. as it was, napoleon was dreadfully disheartened, and wrote a despairing letter to the directory, saying his best officers were killed, and his men exhausted from fighting and severe marches. but his pride and dogged pertinacity came to his aid. he made a rapid march and got into the rear of alvinzi, but found himself stopped by a narrow bridge over the alpone at arcole. the country on each side was a marsh, and the only approach to the bridge was by long narrow causeways. as the french advanced along the causeway on their side to storm the bridge, they were swept down by hundreds by the austrian cannon. time after time, buonaparte drove his columns along the causeway, but only to see them mown down by grape shot. his men fled into the very marshes to save themselves, and he himself was thrown from his horse into the marsh, and had to be dragged from the mire. bodies of hungarians and croats made a final sally along the causeway, cutting down all before them, and it was marvellous that he escaped them. by this time alvinzi had brought up his main body to the neighbourhood of the bridge, and the battle raged obstinately there for three days. seeing it impossible to carry the bridge against that solid mass of troops, buonaparte dispatched general guyeuse to cross the adige at the ferry of albaredo, below the confluence of the alpone, and take alvinzi in flank. guyeuse succeeded in crossing, but was repulsed on the other side by the austrians. buonaparte again, on the 16th, made one more desperate rush at the bridge, but only to receive another bloody defeat. the next day he threw a bridge over the alpone, just above its confluence with the adige, and sent over augereau with a powerful force, whilst he again assailed the bridge from his side. these combined operations succeeded. alvinzi was compelled to retreat to vicenza and bassano. scarcely had he given way, when davidowich, who ought to have joined him long before, came down the right bank of the stream. he now came only to experience a severe defeat, whereas his timely arrival might have insured a complete victory. he again had recourse to the security of the hills. the belligerents then went into winter quarters, leaving the french victorious.

whilst the french had been thus beating the austrians out of italy, and thus rendering abortive our new and lavish subsidy to the emperor, ministers had been busy in the election of a new parliament. this new parliament assembled on the 6th of october, and was full of patriotism. as hoche's army had not yet sailed, and as nobody seemed to know its destination, pitt represented that it probably was for the coast of england, and called for the enrolment of fifteen thousand men from the parishes, half of whom were to be sent into the navy, and for sixty thousand militia and twenty thousand more yeomen cavalry, all which were carried. on the 26th of october windham, as secretary at war, announced the whole military force of the country at home and abroad, apart from the troops in the east indies, which were raised and maintained by the company, to be one hundred and ninety-six thousand men, and he demanded for their payment five million one hundred and ninety thousand pounds. on the 7th of november pitt opened his budget, requiring no less than twenty-seven million nine hundred and forty-five thousand pounds for the total expenditure of the year. there was another loan called for of eighteen million pounds, and though the terms were then considered low, such was the spirit of the nation that the amount was subscribed within two days.

the year 1797 was opened by the suspension of cash payments. the bank of england had repeatedly represented to pitt, as chancellor of the exchequer, that his enormous demands upon it for specie, as well as paper money, had nearly exhausted its coffers and could not long be continued. the payment of our armies abroad, and the advances to foreign kings, were necessarily made[455] in cash. the government, in spite of enormous taxation, had already overdrawn its account eleven million six hundred and sixty-eight thousand eight hundred pounds, and the sole balance in the hands of the bank was reduced to three million eight hundred and twenty-six thousand eight hundred and ninety pounds. pitt was demanding a fresh loan for ireland, when a message came from the bank to say that, in existing circumstances, it could not be complied with. thus suddenly pulled up, the privy council was summoned, and it was concluded to issue an order for stopping all further issue of cash, except to the government, and except one hundred thousand pounds for the accommodation of private bankers and traders. paper money was made a legal tender to all other parties, and the bank was empowered to issue small notes for the accommodation of the public instead of guineas. a bill was passed for the purpose, and that it might not be considered more than a temporary measure, it was made operative only till june; but it was renewed from time to time by fresh acts of parliament. the system was not abolished again till 1819, when sir robert peel brought in his bill for the resumption of cash payments, and during the whole of that time the depreciation of paper money was comparatively slight.

at the same time, our seamen—who were the real and proper defenders of the country but were so miserably paid and so abominably treated in many ways, that they could only be compelled into the service by the odious operation of pressgangs—now burst forth into mutiny. their complaints and resistance compelled a small advance and improvement. none since then had taken place. this advance of wages did not amount to more than eightpence-halfpenny a day to able seamen and sevenpence to ordinary seamen. and the low pay was but the smallest part of the complaint of these brave men. they complained that a most unfair system of prize-money had prevailed, by which the admirals and chief officers swept off most of the money and left little or nothing to the petty officers and the men; that their treatment on board was barbarous, unfeeling, and degrading; that their provisions were of the vilest description, being the direct consequence of the contracts with villainous purveyors, through equally rascally navy commissioners, so that, in fact, they were served with such salt beef, salt pork, and biscuit as no dog would touch. nor did their list of grievances only too real end here. instead of government paying the pursers direct salaries, they were paid by deducting two ounces from every pound of provisions served out to the men. thus, instead of sixteen ounces to the pound, they received only fourteen ounces; and the same rule applied to the measurement of liquids—beer and grog—served out to them. things had come to such a pass from these causes, and the neglect of their complaint was so persevering, that the whole fleet determined on a mutiny.

accordingly, petitions were sent in from several of the principal men-of-war lying at portsmouth, to lord howe, the commander of the channel fleet, praying him to intercede with the admiralty for the same liberality towards the seamen of the royal navy and their families as had been shown to the army and militia, in increase of pay and better provisions. lord howe, instead of complying with this reasonable desire, sent the petitions to the port-admiral, sir peter parker, and to lord bridport, who commanded the channel fleet under howe. they treated the petitions as the work of some ill-disposed person, and therefore of no consequence; but parker was very soon compelled to inform lord spencer, the head of the admiralty, that he had discovered that there was a general conspiracy to take the command of the ships from the officers on the 16th of april. to test this, orders were immediately issued to put out to sea; and the moment that lord bridport signalled this order to the fleet, the effect was seen. the sailors all ran up into the rigging and gave several tremendous cheers. they instantly followed up this by taking the command from the officers, and sending two delegates from each ship to meet on board the queen charlotte, lord howe's flag ship. they thence issued orders for all the seamen to swear fidelity to the cause, and the next day they all swore. they kept part of the officers on board as hostages, and put others, whom they accused of oppression, on shore. they next passed resolutions to maintain order, and treat the confined officers with all due respect. they then drew up a petition to the admiralty stating their grievances, and respectfully praying for redress. this brought down to portsmouth lord spencer, and other lords of the admiralty, where they met in council with bridport and other admirals. had these admirals shown a proper attention to the health and claims of these men, their grievances must long ago have ceased; but though they were perfectly well aware of them, they now proposed, along with the admiralty, to recommend the granting of part of their demands. the deputies replied that they sought nothing but what was reasonable, and would never[456] lift an anchor till those terms were granted. this admiralty committee then offered some of the terms, but left out the proposal that the pensions of the greenwich veterans should be raised from seven pounds to ten pounds, and the crews of men-of-war should have vegetables when in port. the sailors, indignant at this miserable parsimony, returned on board and hoisted the red flag at every mast-head. this was a sign that no concession would be made. yet, on the 22nd, the delegates addressed letters to the admiralty, and to lord bridport, firm, but respectful. government then tried its usual resource, the proclamation of a pardon, but without taking notice of the necessary concessions. with this proclamation, lord bridport went the next day on board the royal george, and assured the seamen that he had brought a royal pardon, and also the redress of all their grievances. on this assurance, the crew hauled down the red flag, and all the other ships did the same.

news now came that the brest fleet was putting to sea. on the 7th of may lord bridport went on board and ordered anchor to be weighed. not a man stirred; nor was it likely. no sooner had lord bridport told them what was not true, that their demands were acceded to, than, in the house of lords and the house of commons, ministers had spoken of the subject in very ambiguous terms, and the board of admiralty had only ended the ambiguity by issuing an order on the 1st of may, commanding, in consequence of "the disposition lately shown by the seamen of several of his majesty's ships," that the arms and ammunition of the marines should be kept in readiness for use in harbour, as well as at sea; and that on the first appearance of mutiny the most vigorous measures should be taken to quell it. this was ordering the officers of marines to fire on the sailors who should refuse to be thus shamefully juggled out of their promised rights by the government. on board the london, vice-admiral colpoys pushed the matter so far that his men resisted orders; and as one was unlashing a gun, simpson, the first-lieutenant, told him that if he did not desist he would shoot him. the man went on unlashing, and simpson shot him dead! on this, the sailors, in a rage, disarmed the officers and proceeded to hang simpson at the yard-arm. colpoys then begged for the lieutenant's life, assuring them that the order was his own, and that simpson had only done his duty in obeying it. the chaplain and surgeon joined in the entreaty; and the men, far more merciful and reasonable than their commanders, complied. they ordered, however, colpoys and all the officers to their respective cabins, and put the marines, without arms, below deck. similar scenes took place on the other ships, and the fleet remained in the hands of the sailors from the 7th to the 11th of may, when lord howe arrived with an act of parliament, granting all their demands. howe, who was old and infirm, persuaded them to prepare a petition for a full pardon. they, however, accompanied this petition by an assurance that they would not serve again under the tyrannical officers whom they had put on shore; and this was conceded. admiral colpoys was included in this list of officers proscribed by their oppressed men, along with four captains, twenty-nine lieutenants, seventeen masters' mates, twenty-five midshipmen, five captains of marines, three lieutenants, four surgeons, and thirteen petty officers of marines. the whole being arranged on the 15th of may, the red flag was struck; and the deputies waited on lord howe to express their obligations to him for his kind services on behalf of the oppressed seamen. his lordship gave them luncheon, and then was escorted by them, along with lady howe, on board the fleet. on their return, they carried lord howe on their shoulders to the governor's house. sir roger curtis's squadron had just come in from a cruise, and on learning what had passed, declared themselves ready to support the rest of the fleet; but the news which howe had brought at once satisfied them, and all eagerly prepared to set sail, and demonstrate their loyal zeal by an encounter with the brest fleet.

but the fleet at sheerness, which sympathised with that at portsmouth, did not think fit to accept the terms which had satisfied the seamen of portsmouth. they were incited by a sailor, named richard parker, to stand for fresh demands, which were not likely to meet with the sympathy of either sailors or landsmen, being of a political character and including a revision of the articles of war. on the 20th of may, the ships at the nore, and others belonging to the north sea fleet, appointed delegates, and sent in their demands, in imitation of the portsmouth men. the admiralty flatly rejected their petition. on the 23rd of may the mutineers hoisted the red flag; and all the ships of war lying near sheerness dropped down to the nore. on the 29th, a committee from the board of admiralty went down to sheerness, to try to bring them to reason, but failed. the mutineers then drew their ships in a line across the thames, cutting off all traffic between the sea and london. on this, the government proceeded to pull up the buoys at the mouth of the river, to erect batteries along the shores for firing red-hot balls; and a proclamation was issued declaring the fleet in a state of rebellion, and prohibiting all intercourse with it. this soon brought some of the mutineers to their senses. they knew that every class of people was against them. on the 4th of june, the king's birthday, a royal salute was fired from the whole fleet, as a token of loyalty; the red flag was pulled down on every ship but the sandwich, on board of which was parker, and all the gay flags usual on such occasions were displayed. several of the ships now began to drop away from the rest, and put themselves under protection of the guns of sheerness. on the 13th of june the crew of the sandwich followed this example, and delivered up the great agitator, richard parker, who was tried, and hanged at the yard-arm of that ship on the 30th. some others of the delegates were executed, and others imprisoned in the hulks; and thus terminated this mutiny, as disgraceful to the sailors as that at portsmouth was reasonable and honourable.

the mutiny at spithead: hauling down the red flag on the "royal george." (see p. 456.)

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early in this year admiral sir john jervis fell in with the great spanish fleet, which was intended to co-operate with the french in the invasion of ireland, and defeated it. nelson had predicted that the spanish fleet would not take much destroying. admiral de langara had had a fortunate escape in the mediterranean, in venturing to corsica. he had now been superseded by don juan de cordova, and jervis, on the 14th of february, met with him off cape st. vincent. cordova had twenty-seven sail of the line, jervis only fifteen; but he had nelson in his fleet, which more than counterbalanced the inequality of numbers; and the discipline on board the spanish ships was far below that of the british. nelson broke through the spanish line, and chiefly by his exertions and man?uvres four of the largest vessels were taken, including one of one hundred and twelve guns. the rest escaped into cadiz, and there the british blockaded them. the news of this brilliant victory arrived in london when the public was greatly dispirited by the exhausted state of the bank of england, and helped to revive confidence. sir john jervis was made earl of st. vincent, and nelson, the real hero, a knight of the bath.

a still more signal victory was won by admiral duncan in the autumn. on the 11th of october, the admiral, who had been watching the dutch fleet in the texel, found that during a storm it had stolen out, and was on its way to join the french fleet at brest. there were eleven sail of the line, and four fifty-six gun ships, commanded by admiral de winter. duncan had sixteen sail of the line. notwithstanding our superiority of numbers, the dutch fought with their accustomed valour, but duncan ran his ships between them and the dangerous coast, to prevent their regaining the texel, and so battered them that they were compelled to strike. eight sail of the line, two fifty-six gun ships, and two frigates remained in our hands; but the dutch had stood it out so stoutly, that the vessels were few of them capable of being again made serviceable. the loss in killed and wounded on both sides was great. duncan was elevated to the peerage for this victory of camperdown, and the danger of immediate invasion was at an end.

on the 10th of february, 1797, the french made a descent on the welsh coast, which created much alarm at the time, and no less speculation as to its meaning. four armed vessels, containing about fourteen hundred men, had appeared in the bristol channel, off ilfracombe, in north devon. they did not attempt to land there, but stood over to the welsh coast, and landed in a bay near fishguard. they were commanded by general tate, and commenced marching inland, and the whole country was in alarm. lord cawdor marched against them with three thousand men, including a considerable body of militia, and they at once laid down their arms and surrendered without a shot. many were the conjectures as to the object of this descent, and historians have much puzzled themselves about a matter which appears plain enough. the men looked ragged and wild, more like felons than soldiers, and were apparently not unwilling to be made prisoners. they were, no doubt, a part of the great brest fleet meant for ireland, which had been driven about by the tempests ever since they quitted that port on the 17th of december, and were only too glad to set foot on any land at all, and probably were by this time so famished and bewildered that they did not know whether they were in england or ireland. many of their comrades of the same unfortunate expedition never did see land again.

the opening of the campaign on the rhine in 1797 restored the positions of the french. on the lower part of the river, hoche, who now commanded them, defeated general kray; on the upper rhine moreau retook the fortress of kehl,[459] opposite to strasburg; and such was the alarm of austria that she began to make overtures of peace. the fortunes of her army in italy made these overtures more zealous; alvinzi was defeated at rivoli on the 14th of january, and provera soon after surrendered with four thousand men, and wurmser capitulated at mantua. the archduke charles was now sent into italy with another army, but it was an army composed of the ruins of those of beaulieu, alvinzi, wurmser, and davidowich, whilst it was opposed by the victorious troops of buonaparte, now supported by a reinforcement of twenty thousand men under bernadotte. the archduke, hampered by the orders of the aulic council in vienna, suffered some severe defeats on the tagliamento in march, and retreated into styria, whither he was followed by buonaparte. but the danger of a rising in his rear, where the austrian general laudon was again collecting numerous forces, induced buonaparte to listen to the austrian terms for peace. the preliminaries were signed on the 18th of april at leoben, and buonaparte, to bind the emperor to the french cause, and completely to break his alliance with britain, proposed to hand over to the austrians the territory of venice. this being effected, buonaparte hurried back to seize and bind the promised victim. he took a severe vengeance on the people of verona, who had risen against the french in his absence, and then marched to genoa, where, under pretence of supporting the people in their demands for a republic, he put down the doge and senate, set up a democratical provisional government, seized on all the ships, docks, arsenal, and stores—in fact, took full possession. all further pretence of regard for the neutrality of genoa was abandoned.

on the 17th of october the peace between france and austria was definitively signed at campo formio. to france austria ceded belgium, the left bank of the rhine, including mayence, the ionian islands, and the venetian possessions in albania, both of which really belonged to venice. venice itself, and its territory as far as the adige, with istria and venetian dalmatia on the other side of the adriatic, were made over to austria without ceremony. the milan and mantuan states were given up by austria, with modena, massa, carrara; and the papal provinces of bologna, ferrara, ravenna, and the rest of them, as far as the rubicon, were included in a new so-called cisalpine republic belonging to france. tuscany, parma, rome, and naples were still called italian, but were as much, naples excepted, in the power of france as the rest. in fact, except venetia, which austria secured, all italy except naples was subjected to the french, and the regular process of democratising was going on, in the latter kingdom, for an early seizure.

before the conclusion of this treaty pitt had made another effort to obtain peace with france. the fact that one ally, austria, was engaged in separate negotiations gave him a fair excuse, and lord malmesbury was once more sent to negotiate. he went to lille, presented his plan of a treaty, and at first all went well. britain promised to restore all her conquests with the exception of ceylon, the cape of good hope, and trinidad. but the directory suffered the negotiations to drag on, and when intestine struggles in france had been terminated in the triumph of the republican party on the 18th fructidor (september 4), the negotiations were suddenly broken off on the ground that malmesbury had not full authority. once more the war party in france had gained the day, and the weary contest was resumed.