sympathy in ireland for the french revolution—intrigues with the french—attitude of the roman catholics—failure of fitzwilliam's efforts at reform—open rebellion begins—the mission of fitzgerald and o'connor to france—disclosure of the conspiracy—arrest of fitzgerald and his confederates—outbreak of the rebellion—battle of vinegar hill—arrival of humbert's expedition—its brief success and surrender—suicide of wolfe tone—desire of france to invade england—napoleon advises the expedition to egypt—he gives nelson the slip—his gigantic projects—surrender of malta—nelson's pursuit—napoleon's campaign—battle of the pyramids—surrender of cairo—battle of the nile (or aboukir bay)—pitt's second coalition—the income tax—projected union of great britain and ireland—proclamation of the parthenopean republic—italy regained by the coalition—suppression of the revolution in naples—the allies in holland—napoleon's march into syria—his defeat at acre—battle of aboukir—napoleon returns to france—coup d'état of the 18th brumaire—death of tippoo sahib—napoleon's letter to the king—the union with ireland—means by which it was carried—its reception in england—napoleon crosses the alps—battle of marengo—the french recover lombardy—battle of hohenlinden—treaty of lunéville—corn riots—breach with russia—pitt's resignation—the king's illness—the addington ministry—revival of the armed neutrality—battle of copenhagen—peace between britain and the northern powers—the expedition to egypt—battle of alexandria—evacuation of egypt by the french—negotiations for peace—treaty of amiens.

britain had seen her continental allies fall away one by one. the time was now approaching when some good allies might have been very useful to herself, if such people were ever to be found. we have seen that, during the american revolution, the rebellious colonists found admirable allies in the irish. they had no difficulty in exciting disturbances amongst that ardent celtic race, and thus greatly to augment our difficulties. no sooner did the french commence the work of revolution than the irish became transported with admiration of their doings. not all the bloodshed and horrors of that wild drama could abate their delight in them, and their desire to invite them over to liberate ireland, as they had liberated belgium. these views found expression in the north of ireland, especially in belfast and other places, where the population was presbyterian and to a certain extent republican. the roman catholics were inert, and disposed to wait patiently. ever since the american revolt the necessity of conciliating the irish had been impressed on the british government, and many important concessions had been granted them. they had not yet obtained catholic emancipation, but the public mind was ripening for it, and the chief difficulty was the opposition of the extreme protestant party in the irish parliament. whatever were the evils which england had inflicted on ireland, they were nothing compared with those which french fraternity would have perpetrated. but the united irishmen, as the revolutionaries called themselves, could see nothing of this, not even after all the world had witnessed the french mode of liberating belgium, and french waggons, guarded by soldiers, were day after day, and month after month, bearing over the alps the priceless chefs-d'?uvre of the arts from ravaged italy. in the spring of 1798 the preparations of the french directory for the invasion of ireland were too open and notorious to be overlooked by anybody.

the british government had employed the best portion of the session of parliament between the commencement of november and christmas, 1797, in receiving the report of the insults of the french commissioners at lille to our ambassador, and his summary dismissal from the place of meeting without any chance of peace, and in voting money to carry on the war at our own doors. pitt called for the grant of twenty-five million five hundred thousand pounds, and for trebling all the assessed taxes. all this was readily granted. in april, 1798, he called for three millions, and that was as freely conceded. in fact, by that time, the irish were on the very verge of appearing in arms to cast off the yoke of england and accept the boasted fraternity of france. lord edward fitzgerald, brother of the duke of leinster, one of the leading members of the society of united irishmen, had spent some time in france during the revolution. he had married pamela, the daughter of madame de genlis. to him, on his return to ireland, french emissaries of revolution were secretly sent over, and he introduced them to the leading members of the projected revolt. in 1794 a jacobinised irishman, the rev. william jackson, came over from paris, at the time of the fiercest raging of the reign of terror, to concert with wolfe tone and his fellow-conspirators the plans of insurrection. at the very time that some of these—bond, simon butler, and hamilton rowan—were[461] tried as accomplices of the scottish reformers, muir and the rest, and acquitted as men only seeking reform of parliament, they were deep in this scheme of french invasion. jackson was arrested in dublin, was tried and convicted of high treason, but anticipated his sentence by suicide. the most public display of sympathy with his views and mission was made by a vast attendance of carriages at his funeral, and the features of rebellion became so undisguised that a stop was put to all questions of political concession and amelioration.

dublin castle. (from a photograph by w. lawrence, dublin.)

[see larger version]

hitherto the united irishmen had obtained little support from the catholics, who were entirely out of sympathy with the protestantism of one section of the party, and the irreligion of wolfe tone and his immediate associates. they preferred to look to the british government, and especially to pitt who was known to be favourable to the catholic claims. but the protestants in the irish parliament were too strong for him, and only a few remedial measures were passed and those inconsiderable in extent. in 1792 sir hercules langrishe, with the consent of the government, succeeded in carrying a bill which admitted catholics to the profession of the law, removed restrictions on their education, and repealed the intermarriage act. in 1793 the irish secretary, major hobart, succeeded, after much government pressure, in carrying a second catholic relief bill, admitting catholics to the grand juries, magistracy, and finally to the franchise, though not to parliament. further than that pitt could not be induced to go. he would neither consent to the admission of catholics to parliament, nor would he consent to a measure of parliamentary reform, though the state of the representation was about as rotten as could possibly be conceived. from an inquiry instituted some years earlier it appeared that out of a house of 300 members 124 were nominated by 53 peers, while 91 others were chosen by 52 commoners. the british ascendency was, in fact, maintained by a system of organised corruption and place-holding, which failed only when religious bigotry carried the day.

disappointed in their hopes from england, educated roman catholic opinion in ireland began to drift towards the united irishmen, in spite of the[462] peasants' war that was rife in various parts of the country between the members of the two religions. suddenly their expectations received an unlooked-for impulse. during the spring of 1794 pitt determined to send over lord fitzwilliam, who was heir to the marquis of rockingham and a prominent member of the portland whigs, as lord-lieutenant. it was clearly understood that fitzwilliam should be allowed to inaugurate a policy of reform, but pitt wished that reform to be gradual and cautious. it is plain that he gave grattan intimation to that effect, and that grattan thought the stipulation a reasonable one, but it is equally clear that he somehow or other failed to make much impression upon fitzwilliam. no sooner had the new lord-lieutenant arrived in ireland than he proceeded to dismiss castle officials before he could possibly have had time to inquire into the rights and wrongs of their cases, and with equal abruptness turned out the attorney, and solicitor-general, and mr. beresford, the commissioner of revenue, the head of the most powerful of the protestant families. the result was a violent outcry, which was increased when he proceeded, in conjunction with grattan, to draw up a bill for the immediate granting of the catholic claims. the ascendency party clamoured for his recall, and the lord chancellor fitzgibbon represented to the king that to admit roman catholics to parliament would be to violate his coronation oath. pitt was obliged to give way, and on march 25th, 1794, fitzwilliam left ireland, amidst every sign of national mourning. the incident is a melancholy one, but a calm review of the circumstances produces the conclusion that the indiscretion of lord fitzwilliam was very much the cause of it.

after the departure of fitzwilliam an open rebellion began. but the measures of his successor, lord camden, were at once moderate and prompt. a vigilant eye was kept on the agents of sedition and the democratic clubs, which swarmed all over ireland, as much in the presbyterian north as in the catholic south. wolfe tone and hamilton rowan had escaped to the united states; but there they fell in with dr. reynolds, napper tandy, and other enthusiastic irish revolutionists. tone was supplied with money, and dispatched to france to stimulate the directory to the irish invasion. he arrived at havre in february, 1796, and on reaching paris he presented letters from m. adet, the french minister to the united states, and was warmly received by carnot, general clarke, acting as minister of war, and the duke de feltre. he was assured that general hoche should be sent over with a resistless army as soon as it could be got ready, but the directory desired to see some other of the leading members of the united irishmen before engaging in the enterprise. tone promised general clarke one thousand pounds a year for life, and similar acknowledgments to all the other officers, on the liberation of ireland; and he solicited for himself the rank of brigadier-general, with immediate pay, and obtained it.

lord edward fitzgerald and mr. arthur o'connor, nephew of lord longueville, went over to paris to arrange the invasion. in london, fitzgerald, his french wife, who accompanied him, and o'connor, were entertained by members of the opposition, and dined at the house of a peer in company with fox, sheridan, and several other leading whigs; and thomas moore, in his life of fitzgerald, more than hints that he made no secret to these patriots of the object of his journey, for he was of a very free-talking and open irish temperament. the friends of fox have been inclined to doubt this discreditable fact, but no one was more likely than moore to be well informed about it; and when fitzgerald and o'connor were on their trial, not only fox, but sheridan, lord john russell, the dukes of suffolk and norfolk, lords thanet and oxford came forward, and gave them both the highest character as excellent, honourable men. these emissaries reached basle, by way of hamburg, in the spring of 1797, and there, through barthélemy, negotiated with the directory. the directory objected to receive lord edward fitzgerald at paris, on account of his connection with the orléans family through his wife, lest the people should imagine that it was with some design on the orléans estate; he therefore returned again to hamburg, and o'connor proceeded to paris and arranged for the expedition under general hoche, whose disastrous voyage we have already related. fitzgerald and o'connor did not reach ireland again without the british government being made fully aware of their journey and its object, from a lady fellow-traveller with fitzgerald to hamburg, to whom, with a weak and, as it concerned the fate of thousands, unpardonable garrulity, he had disclosed the whole. almost simultaneously the arrest of the revolutionary committee of the north disclosed a systematic and well-organised conspiracy. in march, 1797, general lake proceeded to disarm the revolutionaries in ulster, and accomplished his task with ruthless severity.

[463]

still, emissaries continued to pass to and fro, and notwithstanding that the promised armament had failed to reach ireland, the impatient irish were determined to rise. in february, 1798, they sent appeals to the french to come over, assuring them that they had three hundred thousand men banded to receive them, who only wanted arms; and talleyrand sent them word that a fresh armament was preparing. but on the 28th of that month, o'connor, one o'coigley, an irish priest, and burns, a leading member of the london corresponding society, were arrested at margate as they were about to embark for france. papers found on o'coigley, or quigley, proved his treason. one was a direct invitation to the french to send an army into england, as certain to prevent the sending of british forces into ireland, and thus to make the descent there sure. he was condemned and executed, but burns was acquitted, and o'connor remanded for fresh evidence. that was soon forthcoming; for one thomas reynolds, who had been the treasurer for the insurgents in his county, and also a colonel in the intended revolutionary army, being pressed for money, betrayed his associates. in consequence of the information which he gave, a number of the conspirators were arrested at their place of meeting. the four chief leaders, however, were not there, as expected, namely, lord edward fitzgerald, emmet, sampson, and macnevin, but they were afterwards secured. lord edward fitzgerald was surprised at one murphy's, 153, thomas street, dublin, and made a desperate resistance. he attacked major swan, who presented the warrant, with a dagger, and, being a powerful man, was very formidable. major swan discharged a pistol at him, but missed. captain ryan, next entering, was stabbed mortally by lord edward, and a bloody struggle ensued, captain ryan, who was, practically speaking, unarmed, behaving with great courage and self-sacrificing heroism. major sirr, who had surrounded the house with soldiers, then rushed in and fired at fitzgerald, and wounded him in the shoulder. he was then overpowered and secured by the soldiers, and conveyed first of all to dublin castle and then to newgate. this took place on the 19th of may. captain ryan died of his wounds on the 30th. lord edward died of fever, the consequence of his wounds, and of mortification at the failure of the enterprise (june 4).

on the 23rd, the day fixed for the rising, the insurgents turned out in many places, notwithstanding the arrest of their leaders. they did not succeed at carlow, naas, and kilcullen. but, on the 25th, fourteen thousand of them, under one father murphy, attacked wexford, defeated the garrison which came out to meet them, took a considerable number of prisoners, whom they put to death, and frightened the town into a surrender on the 30th. they treated such protestants as remained in the place with the utmost barbarity. they took enniscorthy and, seizing some cannon, encamped on vinegar hill. on the 31st they were attacked by general lake, who drove them from their camp, made a great slaughter of them, and then retook wexford and enniscorthy. general johnson attacked another party which was plundering the town of new ross, killing and wounding two thousand six hundred of them. on this news reaching scullabogue, the insurgents there massacred about one hundred protestant prisoners in cold blood. these massacres of the protestants, and the presbyterians in the north having been too cautious to rise, after the betrayal of the plot, caused the whole to assume the old character of a popish rebellion. against this the leading catholics protested, and promptly offered their aid to government to suppress it. of the leaders, maccann, byrne, two brothers named sheares, the sons of a banker at cork, were executed. the success of the soldiers was marked by worse cruelty than that of the rebels; for instance, at carlow about 200 persons were hanged or shot. arthur o'connor, emmet, macnevin, sampson, and a number of others, were banished. lord cornwallis was appointed lord-lieutenant in place of lord camden, and pardons were assured to those who made their submission. all now seemed over, when in august there appeared at killala three french frigates, which landed nine hundred men, who were commanded by general humbert. why the french should send such a mere handful of men into ireland, who must inevitably be sacrificed or made prisoners, can perhaps only be accounted for by the assurances of the disaffected irish, that the whole mass of the people, at least of the catholics, were ready to rise and join them. but if that were true—if, as wolfe tone assured them, there were three hundred thousand men already disciplined, and only in need of arms, it would have been sufficient to have sent them over arms. but then tone, who had grown as utterly reckless as any sansculotte frenchman, described the riches of ireland, which were to repay the invaders, as something prodigious. in his memorial to the directory he declared that the french were to go shares with[464] the nation whom they went to liberate, in all the church, college, and chapter lands, in the property of the absentee landlords, which he estimated at one million pounds per annum, in that of all englishmen, and in the income of government, which he calculated at two millions of pounds per annum. general humbert, who had been in the late expedition, and nearly lost his life in the droits de l'homme, no doubt expected to see all the catholic population flocking around him, eager to put down their oppressors; but, so far from this, all classes avoided him, except a few of the most wretched catholic peasants. at castlebar he was met by general lake, with a force much superior in numbers, but chiefly yeomanry and militia. humbert readily dispersed these—the speed of their flight gaining for the battle the name of the castlebar races—and marched on through connaught, calling on the people to rise, but calling in vain. he had made this fruitless advance for about seventeen days when he was met by lord cornwallis with a body of regular troops, and defeated. finding his retreat cut off, he surrendered on the 8th of september, and he and his followers became prisoners of war. but the madness or delusion of the french government had not yet reached its height; a month after this surrender sir john warren fell in with a french line-of-battle ship and eight frigates, bearing troops and ammunition to ireland. he captured the ship of the line and three of the frigates, and on board of the man-of-war was discovered the notorious wolfe tone, the chief instigator of these insane incursions, and who, before sailing, had recorded in his diary, as a matter of boast, that every day his heart was growing harder, that he would take a most dreadful vengeance on the irish aristocracy. he was condemned to be hanged, but he managed to cut his throat in prison (november 19, 1798). and thus terminated these worse than foolish attempts of france on ireland, for they were productive of great miseries, both at sea and on land, and never were conducted on a scale or with a force capable of producing any permanent result.

meanwhile, buonaparte, summoned by the directory to take the command of the army of england, had arrived in paris on the 5th of december, 1797, and had taken up his abode in his former residence, in the rue chantereine, which the commune immediately changed, in honour of the conquest of italy, into the rue de la victoire. but it was necessary that buonaparte should prepare for the invasion of england, for which purpose he had been called home. all france was in transports of joy at the thought of seeing england at last overrun. the directory had raised their cry of "delenda est carthago!" "it is at london," they said, "that all the misfortunes of europe are manufactured; it is in london that they must be terminated." on the 8th of february, 1798, napoleon left paris to obtain information as to the coasts of the english channel, preparatory to the sailing of the armament. he visited étaples, ambleteuse, boulogne, calais, dunkirk, furnes, nieuwport, ostend, and walcheren, making at these different ports the necessary surveys, and holding long and earnest conversations with sailors, pilots, smugglers, and fishermen. he returned to paris on the 22nd, having, in a fortnight, quite satisfied himself that the attempt had better be relinquished so long as england commanded the sea.

but though the abandonment, for the present, of this enterprise, so fondly cherished by france, was calculated to cast a damp on the country, buonaparte had another project ready which flattered the french pride of conquest. this was to seize on egypt, as the preliminary to the fall of britain. he had for some time entertained this idea, and had written from italy to the directory on the subject in the previous september. to insure the real destruction of england, he said, they must make themselves masters of egypt. malta and corfu must be seized first, and for this purpose he conceived eight or ten sail of the line and twenty-five thousand men would suffice. the possession of egypt, he contended, would draw all the commerce of the east thither, instead of taking the circuitous route by the cape of good hope. he had thoroughly inspired talleyrand with his scheme. egypt was imagined to be much more wealthy than it was, and there were monuments of ancient art for buonaparte and his right-hand bandit, monge, to lay hands on. the directory, which was extremely unpopular, uneasy at the presence of so popular and daring a person, were glad to be rid of him anywhere, the farther off the better. there were not wanting counsellors who already advised him to perpetrate a coup d'état, and place himself at the head of affairs; but buonaparte, not at all averse from the prospect, replied, "the pear is not ripe." he knew that, however popular with his own army, he was looked on with jealousy by the army of the rhine, which served under, and prided themselves in, moreau. he knew that the middle classes hated him for sweeping them away with grape-shot in the affair of the sections. he hoped to make[465] himself yet more popular and more necessary, and that in the meantime the directory would have completed their full measure of odium. he now therefore plunged into arrangements for this grand conquest of the east.

capture of wolfe tone. (see p. 464.)

[see larger version]

the preparations for invasion turned the attention of the british government to ports where it was supposed the troops would be embarked. ostend was regarded with particular suspicion, and sir home popham was sent in may with a small squadron, conveying a thousand men, under colonel coote, to destroy the ships and sluices of the bruges canal there. the troops were landed, and did their work, but found themselves unable to regain the ships from the violence of the wind and the surf, and were surrounded and compelled to surrender. in the autumn of this year admiral duckworth sailed for minorca, and landed eight hundred men, under sir charles stuart, who readily made themselves masters of the island.

meanwhile, the fleet which was to bear buonaparte to egypt was lying in various squadrons in the ports of genoa, civita vecchia, and bastia, ready, when any adverse wind should drive the british fleet from the coast, where it blockaded them, to drop down to toulon and join the main body. on board of these vessels were thirty thousand men, chiefly from the army of italy. nelson, with a numerous fleet, was maintaining the blockade, though the secret of the fleet's destination had been so well kept that it was only surmised that egypt might be its destination. buonaparte himself had been recalled to paris. a sudden message sent him back to toulon. a gale had driven nelson's fleet from the coast, and so much damaged it that he was obliged to make for sardinia to repair. the moment was come; the different squadrons joined from the italian ports, and the egyptian armament issued on the 19th of may from toulon. napoleon was on the mission destined, he believed, to conquer egypt, and thus to place not only a powerful barrier between us and our indian possessions, but, having established a strong empire in egypt and syria, to enable france to maintain a large fleet in the persian gulf, and to accomplish the invasion and conquest of british india by land or sea, with the aid of tippoo sahib, who was once more at war with[466] britain. nay, like another alexander, the boundless ambition of buonaparte—an ambition which was his final ruin—contemplated the conquest of all asia and the founding of a giant empire there. "if st. jean d'acre," he said to las cases, "had yielded to the french arms, a great revolution would have been accomplished in the east. the general-in-chief would have founded an empire there, and the destinies of france would have undergone different combinations from those to which they were subjected." he would have come back and proceeded to the conquest of europe.

with such chimerical fancies, the young corsican saw the fleet, on a splendid morning, stand out into the mediterranean, the line-of-battle ships extending for a league, and the semicircle formed by the convoy six leagues in extent. on their way to malta, the first object of their enterprise, they were joined by a large fleet of transports, bringing the division of general desaix. on the 10th they were before valetta, a fortress which, properly defended, would have set the french at defiance for months, before which time the british admiral would have been upon them, and destroyed the whole scheme of the expedition, and probably its commander and projector with it; but the surrender of the place had been bargained for with the grand master, hompesch, before starting. the once formidable knights of malta were now sunk in indolence and sensual sloth, and the french agent had agreed for the surrender for a bribe of six hundred thousand francs to the grand master. as general caffarelli passed through the most formidable defences with napoleon on their way to the house of the grand master, he said to him, "it is well, general, that there was some one within to open the gates for us. we should have had more trouble in entering if the place had been altogether empty."

a strong garrison was left in malta, under general vaubois, and on the 16th the fleet was again under sail. as they were off the coast of crete, and the savants were gazing on the birthplace of jupiter, and speculating on the existence of the remains of the celebrated labyrinth, nelson, who had missed the french fleet, and had sailed in quest of it, was near enough to be perceived by some of the frigates on the look-out, and created a terrible panic. but nelson, not having frigates to send out as scouts, did not observe them, and suspecting that egypt was their destination he made all sail for alexandria. finding no traces of them there, in his impatience he returned towards malta. if he had but waited a while they would have come to him; but on reaching malta and finding that they had taken and manned it, he again put about and made for alexandria. he had actually been seen by some of the french frigates as he was crossing their track on his return from alexandria, and napoleon was impatient to reach land before he could overtake them again. on the 1st of july the french fleet came in sight of alexandria, and saw before them the city of the ptolemies and cleopatra with its pharos and obelisks. the landing was effected at marabout, about a league and a half from alexandria.

as soon as five or six thousand of his troops were landed, buonaparte commenced his march on alexandria. the turks manned the walls, and resisted furiously, incensed at this invasion by a power with which they were nominally at peace. but the walls were ruinous; the french forced their way over several breaches, and commenced an indiscriminate massacre. the place was abandoned to pillage for four hours. as the mamelukes were hated by the arabs and the copts, and were the military mercenaries of the country, chiefly recruited from georgia and circassia, buonaparte determined to destroy them. he considered that he should thus rid himself of the only formidable power in egypt, and at the same time conciliate the bedouins and fellahs. on the 7th of july he set out on his march for cairo with his whole force. he marched up the bank of the nile, but at such a distance as to prevent the soldiers from getting any water to quench their burning thirst. it was all that buonaparte could do to keep his troops in subordination. for fourteen days this melancholy march was continued, when they came at once in sight of the pyramids, not far distant from cairo, and of the army of the mamelukes, drawn up across their way, headed by murad bey. this force consisted of five thousand cavalry—mamelukes, mounted on the finest arabian horses in the world, trained to obey the slightest touch of the rein, to advance, wheel, or fly with wonderful rapidity. the riders were all fine men, armed with sabres, pistols, and blunderbusses of the best english workmanship. they were deemed invincible and were ruthlessly cruel. they presented in appearance the finest body of cavalry in the world, the plumes of their turbans waving in the air, and their arms glittering in the sun. there were, moreover, twenty thousand infantry lying in a slightly-entrenched camp on their right;[467] but these were a mere rabble—fellaheen, or, in other words, peasantry, brought from their fields, and armed with matchlocks. they had forty pieces of cannon to defend the camp, but these had no carriages, being mounted on clumsy wooden frames. buonaparte drew up his army so as to keep out of gunshot of the camp, and to deal only with the cavalry first. he formed his troops into squares to resist the onslaught of the cavalry; and as he saw the mamelukes come on, he called to his men, "from yonder pyramids twenty centuries behold your actions!" the mamelukes came thundering on like a whirlwind, and sending before them the most horrible yells. murad bey said he would cut up the french like gourds. one of the french squares was thrown into confusion, but it recovered itself, and the battle was instantly a scene of the most desperate fury. the mamelukes fought like demons; but, finding that they could not break the french ranks, whilst they and their horses were mown down by musketry and artillery, in despair they flung their pistols at their foes, backed their horses up to them to break them by kicking, and finding all unavailing, fled. such as were left wounded on the ground crept forward to cut at the legs of the french soldiers. both cavalry and infantry then, by swimming their horses, or in boats, attempted to cross the nile, but the greater part were drowned in the attempt. murad bey, with the residue of his mamelukes, escaped into upper egypt.

to give to this action greater importance in the eyes of the world, buonaparte called it the battle of the pyramids. he then marched to cairo, which surrendered without opposition. napoleon called together a council of about forty of the most distinguished sheiks, who were to continue the government of all lower egypt, as before his arrival. he professed to listen to their counsels, and in fact to be a mahometan; he said he was not come to destroy the practice of the doctrines of the koran, but to complete the mission of mahomet; he celebrated the feast of the prophet with some sheik of eminence, and joined in the litanies and worship enjoined by the koran.

but nelson had now tracked the french to their goal, and was preparing to annihilate their fleet. admiral brueys, unable to enter the harbour of alexandria, had anchored his ships in the bay of aboukir, in a semicircular form, so close in shore that he deemed it impossible for ships of war to thrust themselves between him and the land. he had altogether thirteen ships of war, including his own flagship of one hundred and twenty guns, three of eighty, and nine of seventy-four, flanked by four frigates and a number of gunboats, with a battery of guns and mortars on an island in the van. nelson had also thirteen men-of-war and one five-gun ship, but the french exceeded his by about forty-six guns, three thousand pounds' weight of metal, considerably more tonnage, and nearly five thousand men. no sooner did nelson observe the position of the french fleet than he determined to push his ships between it and the shore. no sooner was this plan settled than nelson ordered dinner to be served, and on rising from table said, "before this time to-morrow i shall have gained a peerage, or westminster abbey." it was half-past five o'clock on the afternoon of the 1st of august, 1798, when this celebrated battle was commenced. as the british vessels rounded a shoal, to take up their position, the battery of the island played upon them; but this ceased as they came near the french line of vessels, lest they should damage their own countrymen. unfortunately, nelson lost the use of the culloden, a seventy-four, commanded by captain trowbridge, which struck on a ledge of rocks, and could not be got off in time for the engagement. nelson's own vessel was the first that anchored within half pistol-shot of the spartiate, the third ship of the french line. the conflict immediately became murderous, and nelson received a severe wound on the head, which compelled him to go below. the battle continued with a terrible fury till it was so dark that the only light the combatants had to direct their operations was the flashes of their own broadsides. at ten o'clock the orient, admiral brueys' own great ship, was discovered to be on fire. he himself had fallen, killed by a cannon-shot. the stupendous ship continued to burn furiously, lighting up the whole scene of action. at eleven it blew up, with an explosion which shook the contending fleets like the shock of an earthquake, and with a stunning noise that caused the conflict instantly to cease. a profound silence and a pitchy darkness succeeded for about ten minutes. nelson, wounded as he was, had rushed upon deck before the explosion, to order every possible succour to be given to the shrieking sufferers in the burning ship, and many of the crew had been got into boats and saved. the cannonade was slowly resumed, but when morning dawned two french ships and two frigates only had their colours flying and were able to get away, none[468] of the british vessels except the zealous being in a condition to give chase. the two ships of the line and one of the frigates were afterwards intercepted by our mediterranean fleet, so that of all this fine fleet only one frigate escaped. had nelson not been wounded, and had captain trowbridge been able to bring up his ship, probably not even that frigate would have got away. the british took eight vessels of the line; the rest were destroyed in one way or other. the loss of the british, in killed and wounded, was eight hundred and ninety-five; of the french, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was nine thousand eight hundred and thirty. brave brueys, as has been stated already, was slain. captain westcott, of the majestic, was the only commander of a ship who fell. such was the victory of aboukir; but "victory," said nelson, "is not a name strong enough for such a scene—it is a conquest!" fortunately for the french, admiral brueys had secured the transports and store-ships in shallow water in the port of alexandria, where nelson could not come at them for want of small craft. half-a-dozen bomb ships would have destroyed them all, and have left buonaparte totally dependent on the egyptians for supplies. and these he must have collected by force, for now the news of the destruction of his fleet was spread over all egypt by bonfires, kindled by the arabs, along the coast and far inland. he was cut off from communication with france. on the 22nd of october the people of cairo rose on the french, and endeavoured to massacre them; but the french took a bloody vengeance, sweeping them down with grape-shot, pursuing them into their very mosques, and slaughtering in one day five thousand of them.

nelson, having blockaded the port of alexandria, sailed to naples to repair. there he received the news of the intense rejoicing his victory had spread through england, and that he was raised to the peerage by the title of baron nelson of the nile. he found ferdinand of naples already collecting an army to drive the french from rome and tuscany. austria, switzerland, and other countries were again in arms. the treaty of campo formio was at an end by the french violation of it everywhere, and as it was supposed that buonaparte would never be allowed to get back again, the spirit of europe had revived. nelson, allowing himself as little repose as possible, in november had made himself master of the island of gozo, separated only by a narrow channel from malta. he had blockaded malta itself, and it must soon surrender. pitt, elated by nelson's success, and in consequence of the death of the old czarina, catherine, some two years earlier, now entered into a treaty with her successor, paul, who was subsidised by a hundred and twelve thousand pounds a month, and great expectations were raised of the effect of his victorious general, suvaroff, leading an army into italy. the other members of the second grand coalition were austria, the princes of germany, and the ottoman empire. prussia weakly held aloof. when the british parliament met on the 20th of november, the late victory and this new alliance with russia were the themes of congratulation from the throne. twenty-nine million two hundred and seventy-two thousand pounds were granted with alacrity for the ensuing year, and the nation willingly submitted to the imposition of a new impost—the income tax.

the year 1799 opened by the discussion of this new scheme of revenue. it was a mode of making every man tax himself by stating the amount of his income, on which he was to be charged ten per cent., with the exception only of such persons whose incomes were less than two hundred pounds per annum, who were to be charged less than ten per cent. it was to include all who had more than sixty pounds a-year. pitt calculated the income of the nation at a hundred and two million pounds, which would thus produce a revenue of ten million pounds. to make this excellent device the more palatable, the increase in the assessed taxes made in the preceding session was to be repealed. to such a degree did the nation trust the great minister, that this tax was carried through both houses with comparatively little difficulty.

a still more important proposition was laid before parliament by royal message, on the 22nd of january—the union of ireland with great britain. it was argued that the late attempts to bring in a french army, and to alienate ireland from great britain altogether, showed the necessity of drawing closer the bonds between the two countries. on the 31st of january a series of resolutions was agreed to as the basis of this union, but for the present year the matter ended in a joint address on the subject from both houses being presented to the king.

lady hamilton welcoming the victors of the nile.

from the picture by robert hillingford.

[see larger version]

[469]

on the continent the struggle against the french was renewed. the king of naples and the emperor of austria, in alliance with russia, determined to free italy of them in the absence of buonaparte; but without waiting for the arrival of the austrians and russians, ferdinand mustered nearly forty thousand men, badly disciplined, and worse officered, and set out to drive the french from rome. general mack, still in high repute, was sent from vienna to command this army, and ferdinand, a most self-indulgent and unwarlike monarch, was advised to march with them in person. nelson was employed, with an addition of some portuguese ships, to land a division of five thousand men of this army at leghorn. mack, in true austrian style, then divided the remaining thirty-two thousand men into five columns, and marched them by different routes towards rome. nelson had narrowly watched the man?uvres of mack, and pronounced him incompetent, and that the whole would prove a failure. this was speedily realised. ferdinand, with a portion of his forces, entered rome in triumph on the 29th of november; but championnet, the french general, who evacuated rome to concentrate his forces at terni, soon defeated the other divisions of the neapolitan army in detail, and ferdinand fled from rome back to naples. but there was now no security for him there. championnet was marching on that capital with twenty thousand veteran soldiers, and ferdinand availed himself of nelson's fleet to get over to palermo. the lazzaroni defended the deserted city for three days with incredible bravery against the french, but they were betrayed by a republican party in the city, which hoisted the tricolour flag, surrendered the forts to the enemy, and fired on the defenders from the castle of st. elmo, which commands the town. championnet took possession of naples on the 23rd of january, 1799, and proclaimed a republic under the title of "respublica parthenopea."

lord nelson. (after the portrait by sir william beechey, r.a.)

[see larger version]

[470]

the austrians and russians by this time were in full march for italy. leaving the archduke charles to cope with jourdain, who had made himself master of the fortress of ehrenbreitstein in january, and menaced a march on the danube, an army of austrians, under generals bellegarde and hotze, entered switzerland, re-occupied the grisons country, drove the french from the st. gothard, and menaced massena at zurich. another army of austrians, under old general mélas, issued from the tyrol and drove the french general, scherer, from post to post in upper italy, till he took refuge behind the mincio. moreau was then sent to supersede scherer, but found himself in april confronted not only by mélas, but by suvaroff, with an addition of fifty thousand men. on the 27th of that month he was attacked by this combined force and beaten. brescia and peschiera surrendered, mantua was invested, and suvaroff entered milan. moreau was compelled to retreat upon genoa, and await the arrival of macdonald, who was rapidly marching from naples to his aid. but macdonald was confronted on the banks of the trebia, and after a fierce battle of three days he was routed, and escaped only to moreau with the remnant of his army. moreau now stationed himself in the entrance of the bochetta pass, in the apennines, behind the town of novi; but there he was superseded by general joubert, the directory having lost faith in him. joubert, however, had no better success than moreau. suvaroff attacked him on the 16th of august, routed his army and killed him; the french abandoning nearly all their artillery on the field, and flying in disorder towards genoa.

leaving mélas to complete the subjection of italy, suvaroff then turned his army towards switzerland, where massena had effectually opposed the austrians under bellegarde and hotze, and defeated a russian force under korsakoff, sent to reinforce them. but suvaroff found himself unable to unite with korsakoff till after much fighting with massena; and the two russian generals retreated to augsburg, leaving massena master of switzerland.

the french were driven again out of naples by the end of july. cardinal ruffo brought down a wild army of calabrians, and an army made up of russians, turks, portuguese, and british, completed the expulsion of the republicans and restored the king. in this restoration nelson and his squadron took a most effective part; but unfortunately for his fame, he at this time became acquainted with lady hamilton, the wife of the british ambassador, and gave himself up entirely to her fascinations. lady hamilton was the friend of the queen of naples (a sister of the unfortunate marie antoinette), and she was said to have instigated nelson to take a melancholy part in the savage retaliations of the court on the neapolitan republicans, but the charge has since been completely disproved. nelson sent commodore trowbridge to civita vecchia to blockade it, and both that port and the castle of st. angelo soon surrendered, and captain lewis rowed up the tiber in his barge, hoisted the british colours on the capitol, and acted as governor of rome till pius vi., ejected by the french in the previous year, was nominally restored. the poor old man, however, never returned to his kingdom; he died at valence, on the rh?ne, on the 29th of august of this year. the election of the new pope, pius vii., did not take place till march, 1800. before the end of the year, nearly all italy, except genoa, was cleared of the french.

while these changes were being made in italy, the british, with their new allies, the russians, made an abortive attempt to drive the french from holland. an army of seventeen thousand russians and thirteen thousand british was assembled on the coast of kent, and sir ralph abercromby, who was destined to fall on a more memorable field, taking the command of a division of twelve thousand men, admiral mitchell put them across to the coast of holland. abercromby landed, and took the fort of the helder, and our fleet, occupying the texel, compelled the dutch fleet to surrender and mount the orange flag. so long as abercromby commanded, he repelled all the attacks of the french general, brune, with a force more than double in number; but on the 13th of september the duke of york arrived with the remainder of the anglo-russian army and took the chief command. from that moment all went wrong. the old want of success followed the royal duke, who, whatever his courage, certainly possessed no abilities as a general. by the 17th of october, notwithstanding the bravery of his troops, he was glad to sign a convention by which he was allowed to withdraw his army, on condition of the liberation of eight thousand french and dutch prisoners of war in england. in switzerland, too, massena defeated korsakoff at zurich, and suvaroff, believing himself to have been betrayed by the austrians, effected a brilliant retreat over the mountains.

buonaparte in egypt, now cut off from all[471] communication with france, soon found himself threatened by the attack of two turkish armies, one assembling at rhodes, and one in syria. to anticipate this combination, he determined to march into syria, where he expected to startle the turks by the progress that he should make there. he therefore commenced his march through the desert at the head of ten thousand men, easily routed a body of mamelukes, and took the fort of el arish, reckoned one of the keys of egypt. he set out in february and, passing the desolate wilderness, not without experiencing some of the sufferings which might be expected, entered gaza, where he found plenty of provisions. he then attacked jaffa, the joppa of the gospels, carried it, and put three thousand turks to the sword, giving up the town to licence and plunder and brutally massacring some two thousand prisoners.

he next marched to st. jean d'acre, and summoned it to surrender. the pacha, named, from his fierce cruelties, djezzaar, or the butcher, instead of returning an answer, cut off the head of the messenger. buonaparte vowed an awful revenge. but the pacha had warned sir sidney smith, who was off the coast ready to convey the turkish army to egypt, of the appearance of the french before acre; and sir sidney, so famous already for his exploits at toulon, where he and buonaparte had met, sailed into the port with two ships of the line, the tigre and the theseus. scarcely had sir sidney arrived, when he heard of the approach of a french frigate flotilla bringing to buonaparte artillery, ammunition, and machines for the siege. he captured seven vessels out of the nine, and turned the artillery on the walls against the french themselves. a french royalist officer, general phillippeaux, took charge of these cannon. the siege began on the 17th of march, and ended on the 21st of may—a period of sixty-five days, during which eight desperate assaults had been made, and eleven as desperate sallies. at one time buonaparte had to march to mount tabor to disperse an army of moslems; at another, he succeeded in making himself master of a tower which commanded the rest of the fortifications; but sir sidney smith, himself leading on a body of his seamen armed with pikes, drove the french, in a hand-to-hand fight, from the tower. buonaparte, one day walking on the hill still called c?ur de lion's mount, pointing to acre, said to murat, "the fate of the east depends upon yonder petty tower." buonaparte had now, however, lost several of his best generals, and retreat was inevitable; but he endeavoured to cover the disgrace of it by asserting that it was the plague raging at acre that drove him from it. on the march he proposed to desgenettes, the surgeon, to end the lives of some of the wounded who encumbered him, by poisoning them with opium. desgenettes replied indignantly that his art was employed to save, and not to kill. but the proposal soon grew into a rumour that it had been carried into execution, and that not on a few dozens, but on several hundreds—a rumour which continued to be believed for many years, not only by the other european nations, but by buonaparte's own army. he continued his march back to cairo, burning the crops and villages by the way, in revenge for the hostility of the natives. he reached cairo on the 14th of june, his reputation much diminished by his repulse.

buonaparte found that, during his absence in syria, egypt had been disturbed by insurrections, which desaix had put down, and had again defeated, and driven back into upper egypt, murad bey, who had made a descent thence. soon after his return, however, murad was once more in motion, descending the nile in two bodies, and ibrahim bey was moving on the frontiers of syria, as if to form a union with murad. lagrange was despatched against ibrahim, and murat against murad. scarcely were they repulsed when the cause of their man?uvres became evident. a turkish fleet, containing eighteen thousand men, appeared in the bay of alexandria, commanded by mustapha pacha. they seized the fort, and, landing, began to fortify themselves, expecting the arrival of the mamelukes, as had been concerted. on the 25th of july buonaparte attacked them, and drove in all their outposts; but on coming within reach of their batteries and their gunboats in the bay, the french were checked, and the turks, rushing out, with their muskets slung at their backs, made terrible havoc amongst them with their sabres, poniards, and pistols. the defeat of napoleon must have been complete had not the turks stopped to cut off the heads of the slain, for which they were offered a reward. this gave time for the french to rally. it was now the turn of the turks to give way, and murat, who had fought at the head of the troops, followed them so impetuously with the bayonet that the confusion and panic became general. the turks threw themselves en masse into the sea to regain their ships; and by drowning and the bayonets and bullets of the french, ten thousand out of the eighteen thousand perished. mustapha pacha himself was taken, and carried in triumph before[472] buonaparte. this battle had been fought at aboukir, near the spot where nelson had so signally triumphed over them. the victory was the event which buonaparte needed to enable him to return with credit to france. he immediately embraced it. all his plans and brilliant visions of empire in the east had perished for the present, and private letters from his brothers in paris, and a number of newspapers, which sir sidney smith had furnished him with to mortify him, roused him to instant action. from these he learnt that the directory had, as he expected, consummated their unpopularity; that italy, which he had won to france, was again lost by the other generals. to remain in egypt was to sink into a sort of provincial or proconsular general; to return to paris was, by a bold and adroit stroke, to make himself the master of france. he immediately ordered admiral gantheaume to have ready a couple of frigates, which lay in the harbour of alexandria; and, taking with him his favourite generals, murat, lannes, marmont, berthier, desaix, andréossy, and bessieres, and the two principal savants, monge and denon, to give an account of the scientific results of the expedition, he rushed on board. he had left the care of the army to kleber and menou; and he issued a short proclamation, saying that events in paris demanded his presence there, but that he would return with all possible expedition. he arrived in paris without mishap.

though buonaparte had been absent, his family had taken care to keep public opinion alive to his importance. his wife, josephine, lived at great expense, and collected around her all that was distinguished in society. his brother lucien had become president of the council of five hundred; and joseph, a man much respected, kept a hospitable house, and did much to maintain the buonaparte prestige. talleyrand and fouché were already in napoleon's interest, and bernadotte, now minister of war, jourdain, and augereau, as generals, were prepared to act with him. the abbé siéyès, with his perpetual constitution-making, had also been working in a way to facilitate his schemes. he had planned a new and most complicated constitution, known as that of the year eight, by which the executive power was vested in three consuls. of the five directors buonaparte left in office, the most active had been removed; abbé siéyès had succeeded rewbell, and two men of no ability, gohier and moulins, had succeeded others. roger ducos, also in the interest of buonaparte, made the fifth. all measures being prepared, on the 18th brumaire, that is, the 10th of november, buonaparte proceeded to enact the part of cromwell, and usurp the chief authority of the state, converting the republic into a military dictatorship. the army had shown, on his return, that they were devoted to his service. jourdain, bernadotte, moreau, and augereau were willing to co-operate in a coup-de-main which should make the army supreme. he therefore assembled three regiments of dragoons on pretence of reviewing them, and, everything being ready, he proceeded to the council of ancients, in which the moderate, or reactionary, party predominated, on the evening of the 10th of november. they placidly gave way in the midst of a most excited debate on the menaced danger, and every member, including lucien buonaparte, who was the president, had just been compelled to take an oath to maintain inviolable the constitution of the year three, when napoleon entered, attended by four grenadiers of the constitutional guard of the councils. the soldiers remained near the door, napoleon advanced up the hall uncovered. there were loud murmurs. "what!" exclaimed the members, "soldiers—drawn swords in the sanctuary of the laws!" they rushed upon him, and seized him by the collar, shouting, "outlawry! outlawry! proclaim him a traitor!" for a moment he shrank before them, but soon at the instigation of siéyès returned, and quietly expelled them. thus buonaparte, with an army at his back, was openly dictator. he removed to the palace of the luxembourg, and assumed a state little inferior to royalty. he revised the constitution of the abbé siéyès, concentrating all the power of the state in the first consul, instead of making him, as he expressed it, a personage whose only duties were to fatten, like a pig, upon so many millions a-year.

napoleon's coup de main: scene in the hall of the ancients. (see p. 472.)

[see larger version]

[474]

in concluding the remarkable events of this year, we must turn to india, and witness the termination of the career of tippoo sahib. this prince, for ever restless under the losses which he had suffered from the british, though nominally at peace with them, was seeking alliances to help him once more to contend with them. he sought to engage the afghans in his favour, and to bring over the british ally, the nizam of the deccan. failing in this, he made overtures to the french republic through the governor of the isle of france. buonaparte, as we have said, had tippoo in his mind when he proposed to march to india and conquer it, but only a few hundreds of french of the lowest caste reached seringapatam from the isle of france. lord mornington, afterwards the marquis of wellesley, determined to anticipate the plans of tippoo, and dispatched general harris with twenty-four thousand men into mysore, at the same time ordering another force of seven thousand, under general stuart, from bombay, to co-operate with him. to these also was added a strong reinforcement of british troops in the pay of the nizam, and some regiments of sepoys, commanded by english officers. the united forces of harris and the nizam came into conflict with tippoo's army on the 22nd of march, 1799, when within two days' march of seringapatam. in this action, colonel wellesley, afterwards the duke of wellington, greatly distinguished himself, and the success of the action was ascribed to his regiment, the 34th. on the 5th of april general harris invested seringapatam, and on the 14th general stuart arrived with the bombay army. tippoo soon made very humble overtures for peace, but the british, having no faith in him, continued the siege, and the city was carried by storm on the 4th of may, and tippoo himself was found amongst the slain. two of his sons fell into the hands of the victors; his territories were divided between the british and the nizam. the former retained seringapatam and the island on which it is situated, and the whole of his territory on the malabar coast, with coimbra, and all the rest of his possessions stretching to the company's territories west and east, thus completing their dominion from sea to sea. the nizam received equally valuable regions in the interior, and a province was bestowed on the descendant of the hindoo rajah who had been dispossessed of it by hyder ali, tippoo's father. thus was the british empire of india freed from its most formidable enemy, and thus was it enabled, soon afterwards, to send an armament up the red sea to assist in driving the french from egypt.

the year 1800 opened in the british parliament by a debate on an address to the king, approving of the reply to an overture for peace by buonaparte, as first consul of france. the letter addressed directly to the king was a grave breach of diplomatic etiquette, and was answered by lord grenville, the secretary for foreign affairs, in a caustic but dignified tone. a correspondence ensued between lord grenville and m. talleyrand, as french minister for foreign affairs; but it ended in nothing, as the british minister distinctly declined to treat. if buonaparte had been sincerely desirous of peace, he must have withdrawn the french army from egypt, as it was there with the open declaration of an intention to make that country a stepping-stone to india. but, so far from this, buonaparte was, at the same moment, preparing to make fresh and still more overwhelming invasions of italy, switzerland, and germany, and the proposal was simply made to gain time.

in july of the present year the union of ireland with great britain was carried. pitt and lord cornwallis had come to the conclusion that a double government was no longer possible, and that unless the irish were to be allowed to exterminate one another, as they had attempted to do during the late rebellion, the intervention of the british parliament was absolutely necessary. a resolution had passed the british parliament in 1799, recommending this union, and the news of this created a tempest of indignation in protestant ireland. in january, 1799, the speech on the address to the throne in the irish parliament was, on this account, vehemently opposed, and an amendment was carried against the government by a majority of one; yet in january, 1800, a motion was carried, at the instigation of lord castlereagh, the secretary, in favour of the union, by a majority of forty-two. whence this magical change in twelve months? on the 5th of february the whole plan of the union was detailed by lord castlereagh, the principal secretary of state for ireland, in the irish commons. he stated that it was intended to give to ireland in the parliament of the united kingdom four lords spiritual sitting in rotation of sessions, and twenty-eight lords temporal elected for life by peers of ireland, and that the irish representatives in the united house of commons should be a hundred. the motion for this plan was carried in the irish commons by a majority of forty-two in spite of a magnificent speech from grattan, and by a great majority in the house of lords; but this was in the face of the most unmitigated amazement on the part of the opposition, and of the people, who were not in the secret. their rage was beyond description. on the 13th of march sir john parnell declared that this measure had been effected by the most unexampled corruption, and moved for an address to his majesty, imploring him to dissolve this parliament, and present the question to be decided by a new one. but the solicitor-general declared that this motion was "unfurling the bloody flag of rebellion;" and mr. egan replied that the solicitor-general and other members of the[475] administration had already "unfurled the flag of prostitution and corruption." but the measure was now passed, and that by the same parliament which, only a year before, had rejected the proposition in toto. but what were the means employed by the british government to produce this change? the answer is simple; a million and a quarter was devoted to the compensation of borough owners, lawyers who hoped to improve their prospects by entering the house, and the dublin tradesmen.

the names and prices of all the purchased members of the irish parliament were preserved in the irish black and red lists. a selection of a few of them will interest the reader:—

j. bingham, created lord clanmorris; ￡8,000 for two seats, and ￡15,000 compensation for tuam. had first offered himself for sale to the anti-unionists.

joseph h. blake, created lord wallscourt.

sir j. g. blackwood, created lord dufferin.

sir john blaquiere, created lord de blaquiere, with offices and pensions.

lord boyle, son of lord shannon, father and son received each ￡15,000 for their boroughs.

charles h. coote, created lord castlecoote, with a regiment, patronage in queen's county, and ￡7,500 in cash.

james cuffe; his father made lord tyrawley.

lord fitzgerald, a pension and peerage.

luke fox, made judge of common pleas.

william fortescue, a pension of ￡3,000 a year.

j. galbraith, a baronetage.

richard hare, made lord ennismore, with patronage.

colonel b. heneker, a regiment, and ￡3,500 a-year for his seat.

hon. j. hutchinson, made lord hutchinson, and a general.

hugh howard, made postmaster-general.

william handcock, an extraordinary instance. he made and sang songs against the union, in 1799, at a public dinner, and made and sang songs for it in 1800; for which he was made lord castlemaine.

w. g. joscelyn, promotion in the army, and his brother made bishop of lismore.

william johnson, according to his own statement, "returned to parliament by lord castlereagh, to put an end to it;" a judgeship.

rt. hon. sir h. langrishe, ￡15,000 for his patronage of knocktopher, and a commissionership of revenue.

t. lingray, ￡1,500, and a commissionership of stamps.

t. lingray, junior, ￡1,500, and made usher at the castle.

j. longfield, made lord longville.

lord loftus, ￡30,000 for boroughs, and made an english marquis.

h. d. massey, ￡4,000 in cash.

rt. hon. lodge morris, made a peer.

sir r. musgrove, made receiver of customs, with ￡1,200 a year.

james m'cleland, made baron of exchequer.

sir w. g. newcomen, a peerage for his wife, etc.

h. f. prittle, made lord dunally.

sir richard quin, made a peer.

the hon. h. skeffington, made clerk of paper office at the castle, with ￡7,500 for his patronage.

h. m. sandford, made lord mount sandford.

john stewart, made attorney-general and a baronet.

hon. b. stratford, ￡7,500, as half compensation for baltinglass.

hon. j. stratford, ￡7,500 for the other half of baltinglass, and paymaster of foreign troops, with ￡1,300 a year.

rt. hon. j. toler, a peerage and chief justiceship.

hon. r. trench, made a peer and ambassador.

this is a mere fragment of a list of a hundred and forty persons thus bought up. amongst the most prominent pickings were those of—

lord shannon, for his patronage in the commons ￡45,000

the marquis of ely " " 45,000

lord clanmorris " " 45,000

lord belvidere " " 45,000

sir hercules langrishe " " 45,000

then follows a long list of lawyers. we may select a few of the most lavishly paid:—

mr. charles osborne, made judge of the king's bench ￡3,300

mr. st. john daly, ditto 3,300

mr. williams, made baron of the exchequer 3,300

mr. m'cleland, ditto 3,300

mr. robert johnson, made judge of common pleas 3,300

mr. william johnson, ditto 3,300

mr. torres, ditto 3,300

mr. vandeleur, made judge of queen's bench 3,300

mr. charles ormsby, counsel to commissioners, value 5,000

mr. henry deane grady, ditto ditto 5,000

mr. jemison, as commissioner for distributing a million and a half of this compensation money! 1,200

besides this, there remains a number of other lawyers, amounting, in the whole, to thirty-four, bought up at from four and five hundred to six and eight hundred a year.

such were the means by which the union of ireland with great britain was accomplished, and it would be idle to argue that a majority in the irish parliament was not purchased by places, pensions, peerages, and compensation for suppressed seats. but it was a bargain, made above-board, and in the open market. it was, moreover, in agreement with the sentiment of the age, a borough-owner was thought to have a right "to do what he willed with his own," and pitt, in one of his own reform bills, had acted on the theory that boroughs were a species of property. lord cornwallis, though he acknowledged that he was engaged in dirty work, declared that the union was imperatively necessary, and could be accomplished only by those means. the irish parliament was profoundly corrupt, and from no point of view could its extinction be regretted, but that extinction could be accomplished only by further corruption. nor is there any proof that the irish nation as a whole were opposed to the union. it was, of course, hard on a pure patriot like grattan to be involved in the fate of a corrupt gang of placemen, but, as a protestant, he only[476] represented the minority. the catholics were either indifferent, with the indifference resulting from long oppression, or in favour of the measure. they knew that from the irish parliament it had become, since the rebellion, hopeless to expect catholic emancipation; they believed the assurances of pitt that a measure for their relief would speedily be introduced in the british parliament. had he been able to fulfil his promise, the union would have been—to use macaulay's familiar phrase—a union indeed.

the british parliament accepted the measure without much debate, regarding it as a simple case of necessity. it passed the house of lords with only three non-contents—lords derby, king, and holland. in the commons it was passed by a majority of two hundred and thirty-six against thirty. mr. grey moved an amendment, praying his majesty to suspend the question till the sentiments of the irish people at large could be ascertained regarding this measure. he said that twenty-seven counties had petitioned against the measure; that seven hundred and seven thousand persons had petitioned against it, and only three thousand for it. but this amendment was swept away by a vast majority; the act was passed, and received the royal assent on the 2nd of july. this and the vote of the necessary moneys being the great business of the session, parliament was prorogued on the 29th of the same month.

napoleon buonaparte, who had appeared so anxious for peace with britain, was, in truth, greatly rejoiced at the rejection of his proposals, for it furnished him with the pleas which he desired, for the still more extended schemes of military ambition that he entertained. he issued a proclamation complaining of the obstinate hostility of britain, and called on the people to furnish men and arms to conquer peace by force. having placed moreau at the head of the army on the rhine, buonaparte prepared for his favourite project of reconquering italy. he had judged right in sending moreau to germany, who took care to prevent the austrians from sending reinforcements to italy to increase buonaparte's difficulties; and another circumstance, most auspicious to the chief consul, was the fact that paul of russia, offended at the austrians for not better supporting his generals, korsakoff and suvaroff, had withdrawn his army from the campaign. the austrians, under mélas, in the north of italy, amounted to one hundred and forty thousand men. they had spent the winter on the plains of piedmont, and contemplated, in the spring, reducing genoa, by assistance from the british fleet, and then, penetrating into provence, to join the royalists there, ready to take arms under generals willot and pichegru. massena, freed by the retreat of the russians from his confinement at zurich, lay, with an army of forty thousand, between genoa and the var; but his troops had suffered great distress from want of provisions, and whole regiments had abandoned their posts, and, with drums beating and colours flying, had marched back into france. buonaparte first arrested their desertion by several stirring appeals to the soldiers, and then prepared to march with a strong army of reserve through the alps, and to take mélas unexpectedly in the rear. to effect this it was necessary to deceive the austrians as to his intentions; and for this purpose he assembled a pretended army of reserve at dijon, as if meaning to obstruct the march of the austrians southward. to favour the delusion, buonaparte went to dijon, and reviewed the pretended army of reserve with much display, he then got quietly away to lausanne, and pushed across the great st. bernard, amidst incredible difficulties.

mélas, who had been besieging genoa, had left part of his army to reduce that city, defended by a strong french division under massena and soult, and advanced to nice, which he had entered, and was contemplating his descent on provence, when the news of buonaparte's entrance of piedmont reached him. he directed his march now to meet him. in the meantime, massena and soult, worn out by famine, the fort being blockaded by admiral lord keith, had surrendered genoa to general otto, whom mélas had ordered to raise the siege and join him. mélas summoned his scattered forces to make head against buonaparte, and was himself pursued from the neighbourhood of nice by suchet. buonaparte deceived mélas by false movements, making him imagine that his object was turin, and so entered milan in triumph on the 2nd of june. after various encounters and man?uvres between buonaparte and mélas, the first consul crossed the po at piacenza, drove back the advanced guard of the austrians, and took up a position on the plains of marengo, on the right bank of the little stream, the bormida, and opposite to alessandria, where mélas was lying. the next day—the 14th of june—mélas drew out his forces, and attacked the french with great spirit. the austrians amounted to about forty thousand, including a fine body of cavalry, for which the ground was highly[477] favourable; the french were not more than thirty thousand, posted strongly in and around the village of marengo, in three divisions, each stationed about a quarter of a mile behind the other. after two or three attempts the austrians drove the french out of the village of marengo, threw the second division, commanded by lannes, into confusion, and put to rout the left wing of buonaparte's own division, threw his centre into disorder, and compelled him to retreat as far as st. juliano. the whole tide of battle was running against buonaparte, and a short time must have completed his rout, when the strength of the old general, mélas—more than eighty years of age—gave way, for he had been many hours on horseback. he retired from the field quite secure of the victory, and left general zach to finish it. but, at this moment, general desaix, who had lately arrived from egypt, and had been sent by buonaparte to make a diversion at rivolta, came back with his detachment of twenty thousand men. kellermann, also, who was posted in the rear with a body of reserve, marched up at the same time. a new and desperate charge was made on the fatigued austrians, and they were broken and put to the rout. they retreated across the bormida, towards alessandria, in a panic, the horse galloping over the infantry. mélas, dispirited by his defeat, but more by his age, gave up the struggle and on the 16th of june concluded an armistice, resigning not only alessandria, where he might have stood a longer siege, but genoa, which had just surrendered to the austrians, and all the genoese territory, agreeing to retire behind the line of mantua and the mincio, and leaving to the french all lombardy as far as the oglio. the french themselves could scarcely believe the reality of such a surrender.

genoa.

[see larger version]

during this brilliant campaign in italy, moreau, in germany, had beaten general kray in several engagements, advanced to ulm, and there, crossing the danube, had overrun a great part of bavaria, and had made himself master of munich and menaced vienna. on hearing of the armistice in italy, the emperor demanded one for austria, to continue till september; and buonaparte, seeing that the czar paul had ceased to support austria, recommended the emperor to make peace with[478] france. the emperor required that britain should be included in it. but napoleon demanded a separate negotiation, which austria was afraid to grant. no sooner was this answer received in paris than buonaparte gave the word for renewed and vigorous action, both in italy and germany. moreau advanced by salzburg towards vienna, whilst brune drove the austrians from the mincio, and over the adige and the brenta to the very vicinity of venice, whilst macdonald occupied the passes of the tyrol, ready to march to the support of the army either in italy or germany. the archduke john met moreau near haag, and for a moment worsted him; but on the 2nd of december the two armies came to a general engagement at hohenlinden, between the rivers iser and inn, in which the austrians were routed, with a loss of ten thousand men. moreau advanced and occupied salzburg, and trembling for the safety of vienna itself, the emperor hastened to make peace. an armistice was signed on the 25th of december, and the treaty was concluded at lunéville on the 9th of february, 1801. by this treaty all the conditions of the treaty of campo formio were renewed, and the frontier of the rhine was again ceded to france.

in britain there were terrible outcries in consequence of the scarcity of bread. there were rioting and plundering of corn-factors' and bakers' shops, and government passed a number of acts giving premiums on the importation of grain, and forbidding the making of any but mixed and coarse breads. had not large subscriptions been raised, and private benevolence been called forth to an immense extent for the relief of the distress, the consequences would have been more terrible. pitt was in favour of remedial legislation, but grenville was against interfering with the laws of supply and demand.

on the 22nd of january, 1801, the first imperial parliament met, and addington was re-elected speaker. the king did not meet this parliament till the whole of its members had been sworn; his opening of it for business took place on the 2nd of february, and his speech had no cheering topics to give spirit to its first proceedings; on the continent there had been nothing but defeat on the part of the allies, of triumph on that of france. our late ally, paul, had not only seized our merchant vessels in the ports of the baltic, and the property of our merchants in the russian towns, but he had entered into a league with sweden and denmark to close the baltic altogether to us, and to compel us to relinquish the right of search. this confederacy, by stopping the supplies of corn from the north, threatened us with great aggravation of the distresses at home; and some members advocated the surrender of the right of search, or the acceptance of the principles of an armed neutrality, such as catherine of russia had endeavoured to establish. but pitt plainly showed that to allow neutral vessels to carry arms, ammunition, and commodities of life into the ports of our enemies would render all blockades of their forts useless, and enormously increase our difficulties during war. orders were immediately issued to send a powerful fleet into the baltic to chastise the insane czar.

but there was another topic started in this first imperial parliament which was as odious to george iii. as the perfidious conduct of his late russian ally. as one means of bringing about the union with ireland, pitt held out to the irish catholics the argument that by having irishmen in the united parliament they would be most likely to obtain a repeal of the catholic disabilities. both he and lord cornwallis had sent circulars to this effect, anonymous, it is true, but with a secret avowal of their authorship, amongst the leading catholics, which had a great effect in procuring their assent to the union. lord castlereagh, who as secretary of state for ireland had helped to carry the union, claimed the redemption of this pledge. the matter was talked over in the cabinet during the autumn of 1799, and again in september, 1800. pitt introduced the subject about the middle of january in the privy council. but in the interval the chancellor, lord loughborough, had betrayed the plan to the king, and in conjunction with lord auckland had convinced his majesty that it would involve a violation of the coronation oath. george was indignant, and almost furious. at the levee on the 28th of january, when lord castlereagh was presented, he said to dundas, "what is this which this young lord [castlereagh] has brought over to fling at my head?" he alluded to a plan for catholic emancipation, and added, "i shall reckon every man my personal enemy who proposes any such measure! this is the most jacobinical thing i ever heard of." dundas replied that his majesty would find amongst those friendly to the measure some whom he had never supposed to be his enemies. on the 31st of january pitt wrote to the king, assuring him that the union with ireland would render it absolutely necessary that important questions regarding the catholics and dissenters should be discussed; but, as he found how extremely such[479] topics were disliked by his majesty, and yet how just it was that catholics should be admitted to parliament as well as protestant dissenters, who were already admitted, he begged to be permitted to resign. at the same time, not to inconvenience his majesty, he was willing to hold office till his majesty had reconstructed a cabinet wholly to his mind. george replied, the very next day, that mr. pitt's letter had occasioned him the liveliest concern; that, so far from exposing him to the agitation of this question, he had flattered himself that the union, by uniting the protestants of both kingdoms, would for ever have excluded the question of catholic emancipation. he expressed his ardent wish that pitt should continue to be his minister as long as he lived; and he only required, as a condition, that he should stave off this question. pitt replied, on the 3rd of february, that his majesty's determined tone on the subject of catholic emancipation left him no alternative but to resign, in compliance with his duty; and that, as his majesty's resolve was taken, it would certainly be best for the country that his retirement should be as early as possible. on the 5th the king wrote, accepting pitt's resignation, though with expressions of deep regret.

five days after this, february 10th, the matter was made public by lord darnley rising in the upper house, and moving for an inquiry into the conduct of the ministry. this roused up lord grenville, who candidly avowed that, in consequence of their failure to introduce the question of catholic emancipation, the ministers had resigned and only held office till a new cabinet was formed. on this, lord darnley postponed his motion. on the same day, in the commons, a letter from addington, the speaker, was read, announcing his resignation of the speakership in consequence of the king's proposal to nominate him to a situation incompatible with that post. pitt then rose and confirmed this, and proposed an adjournment till the next day in order to prepare for the nomination of the new speaker. the house adjourned accordingly, and next day, the 11th of february, elected sir john mitford, the attorney-general, as speaker. before the house could resume business, it was announced that the king was ill—confined to the house by a severe cold; but it was soon known that it was a return of his old malady, lunacy, in consequence of his extreme agitation on the proposal of the catholic question and the resignation of pitt. the report was soon augmented into the startling rumour that the king was dangerously ill, and that a regency must take place—if not superseded by his death. at this news fox, who had for some time absented himself from parliament, on the plea that all endeavours to carry sound and prudent measures were hopeless with pitt's great martial majority, hastened up to town from st. anne's hill; and the whig body was in a flutter of expectation that he would soon be the minister of the prince regent, or of george iv. but all these hopes were speedily overthrown by the news of the rapid improvement of the king, and on the 12th of march the royal physicians announced him perfectly recovered. he attributed his illness to pitt's conduct, and the ex-premier thereupon wrote and promised never to re-open the question again.

the new ministry consisted of addington, son of chatham's old physician, dr. addington, as first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer: the duke of portland, president of the council; lord eldon, chancellor; earl st. vincent, first lord of the admiralty; the earl of chatham, master-general of the ordnance; lord pelham, secretary of the home department; lord hawkesbury, the eldest son of the earl of liverpool, secretary for foreign affairs; lord hobart, secretary for the colonies. several of pitt's ministers remained, but the important members, grenville, dundas, woodham and spencer retired with him. it was soon seen, however, that though pitt was out of office his principles dominated in it, and that there was no chance of a change of system. the cabinet was one of mediocrities, and was probably regarded by pitt as a convenient makeshift until he could return to power.[480]

nelson at the battle of copenhagen. (see p. 481.)

[see larger version]

but long before this—as early, indeed, as the 15th of april—news had reached london of the death of the erratic emperor paul, and of the bombardment of copenhagen by the british fleet. paul had been won over by buonaparte to his views, and had been flattered by him by being elected—though irregularly and illegally—grand-master of the knights of malta. he had been persuaded that the conquest of malta by the british was an invasion of his rights, and by these and other flatteries buonaparte had influenced his weak mind to become the agent of his plans in destroying the british ships in the baltic, and in closing that sea to british commerce. paul pretended that we had captured danish convoys, these same convoys being engaged in guarding vessels loaded with materials of war for france, and that thus the independence of the north was menaced by us. on this ground, and on that of the invasion of malta, he immediately laid an embargo on all british vessels in russian ports, and as two vessels in the harbour of narva resisted the attempts to seize them, in consequence of the embargo, he ordered all the british vessels in that port to be burned. in consequence of this sudden and unwarrantable order, contrary to all the laws of nations, about three hundred british vessels were seized, and the officers and crews dragged on shore, put into irons, and sent up the country under menaces of siberia. paul next ordered all property of englishmen in russia to be seized and sold. denmark—with whom we had various rencontres, on account of its men-of-war convoying vessels laden with stores for french ports—soon joined russia. we sent lord whitworth to copenhagen to endeavour to come to some understanding on these matters in 1800, but though a convention was signed, it was not satisfactory. sweden followed the example of denmark, and the three northern powers entered into a treaty of armed neutrality to resist our search of their vessels in any circumstances. as the consequence of this policy would be to shut us out of all trade with the ports of the baltic, it was resolved to send a fleet to chastise these powers and break up their co-operation with france. mr. vansittart was despatched to copenhagen, accompanied by a fleet of eighteen sail of the line, with several frigates and smaller vessels, under command of admiral sir hyde parker, with vice-admiral nelson as second. the fleet left the yarmouth roads on the 12th of march, 1801, and arriving at the mouth of the sound, nelson recommended that they should sail directly up to copenhagen, and be prepared, on the refusal of our proposals, to bombard the place, as this would not allow them time to get ready their batteries, and thus do all the more damage to our ships and men. but this was deemed too offensive before any attempt at negotiation, and accordingly mr. vansittart was sent forward in a frigate with a flag of truce, leaving the fleet at the scaw. he returned without effecting anything more than what nelson anticipated. sir hyde parker wasted time in making[481] the needless inquiry by a flag of truce of the governor of elsinore, whether the passage of the sound would be disputed, who replied that it would. it was then proposed to enter by the belt. nelson said:—"let it be by the sound, or the belt, or anyhow—only don't let us lose an hour."

copenhagen.

[see larger version]

on the 30th of march the british cast anchor before copenhagen, between it and the island of huen. on reconnoitring, the defences of the place were found to be very formidable. nelson was appointed to make the attack with twelve line-of-battle ships, and some smaller craft. he had asked for ten. the next morning—the 2nd of april—the wind was favourable, and nelson weighed and drew nearer to the town—sir hyde parker on the outside threatening the batteries and vessels at the mouth of the harbour. at ten o'clock the firing commenced, and at eleven it was general. three of the british vessels—the agamemnon, the bellona, and the russell—stuck fast on the shoal. for three hours the battle raged fiercely, for the danes fought with their well-known valour. it was necessary for nelson to silence or destroy the floating batteries and gunboats before he could come at the ships of the line and the great land batteries. he had ordered five hundred seamen, under the hon. colonel stuart and captain freemantle to storm the kroner battery as soon as it was silenced; but at this moment sir hyde parker, seeing the signals of distress flying at the mast-heads of the three vessels aground, and that three others, which he had sent forward as a reinforcement, were making but slow way to the front, signalled for the fleet to draw off, and cease the engagement. but nelson took no notice of the signal: he continued to walk the deck, and asked if his signal for close action was still hoisted, and, being told it was, said:—"mind you keep it so." about half-past one o'clock the fire of the danes slackened, and by two it had nearly ceased. but the vessels that had struck their flags recommenced firing on our boats sent to take possession of them, and the fire of the batteries on land and on amager island struck these surrendered vessels on one side, and that of our ships on the other. to prevent the destruction of the unhappy danes placed in this fatal situation, nelson sent on shore[482] sir frederick thesiger with a flag of truce, and a letter to the crown prince, entreating him to put an end to a contest that was uselessly wasting the lives of the brave danes. within half an hour after thesiger's departure, the firing from the kroner battery ceased, and adjutant-general lindholm came on board to learn the precise object of nelson's note. nelson replied that his object was humanity. he demanded that the action should cease, and that the wounded danes should be taken on shore; that then he would burn or carry away the surrendered vessels, as he should think fit. it was agreed that the combat should cease for twenty-four hours, during which negotiations should be entered into. after five days' arduous discussion, an armistice was concluded for fourteen weeks, during which the treaty of armed neutrality with russia was to be suspended. nelson was to have full liberty to purchase any necessaries for his fleet, in copenhagen or along the coast, and in case of renewal of hostilities all the danish prisoners were to be again surrendered.

the ships being got afloat again, on the 12th of april parker sailed away with the main body of the fleet, leaving the st. george (with nelson) and a few other ships to repair their damages. sir hyde parker went in quest of the swedish fleet, which consisted only of six ships, and which had taken refuge behind the forts of karlskrona. parker sent in a flag of truce, informing them of the armistice with denmark, and demanding an answer as to the intentions of sweden. gustavus, the king of sweden, hastened to karlskrona, and on the 22nd informed the english admiral that he was ready to treat with an envoy accredited to the northern powers. admiral parker then proceeded towards the gulf of finland to attack the russian fleet, but was soon overtaken by a dispatch boat from the russian ambassador at copenhagen, announcing that the emperor paul had been murdered by his courtiers, and that his son, alexander, had accepted the proposals of britain to treat. parker considered the news of paul's death as tantamount to the conclusion of peace, and proposed sailing down the baltic again; but nelson, who had joined him at karlskrona, thought very differently. he had blamed parker's slowness and easiness all through the affair of copenhagen, and he now wanted to push on to revel, and destroy the russian fleet before the ice allowed it to retire into cronstadt. sir hyde parker refused; and the fleet was on its way down the baltic when an order came recalling parker and giving the command to nelson. he immediately put about and proceeded to revel, but the thaw had allowed the russian fleet to get into cronstadt. nelson, however, opened communications with the emperor alexander, and proposed to land and terminate a convention with him at once. alexander, not liking to have nelson's fleet too near, declined the proposal in terms of courtesy, and nelson took his leave in no complimentary mood. the emperor thought it best to send after him admiral tchitchagoff, to assure him that alexander regretted that any misunderstanding had ever taken place between russia and britain; that all the british subjects seized by paul should be immediately liberated, all their property restored, and that the czar would be glad to see nelson at st. petersburg in any style which he liked to assume. but nelson had now resolved to return at once to britain, his shattered health ill bearing the severity of the northern climate; nor was his presence necessary, for on the 17th of june, two days before nelson went on board the brig which took him to britain, lord st. helens, who had proceeded to st. petersburg as ambassador, had signed a convention, by which all subjects of dispute between the two countries were ended. denmark and sweden came into the convention as a matter of course.

general kleber, whom buonaparte had left in command of the egyptian army, was an excellent officer, and he had improved the condition of the forces there. instead of the french army in egypt being weaker than when buonaparte left it, it was much stronger. in 1800 kleber was attacked at the fort of el arish, in the desert, by a strong turkish force, supported by the british squadron under sir sidney smith. being defeated, he agreed to a convention, by which he promised to evacuate egypt, on condition of his army being allowed to return unmolested to europe; but no sooner were these terms communicated to the british government than they disavowed them, declaring that sir sidney had no authority to propose them. kleber, therefore, resumed hostilities and returned towards cairo; but being attacked by the turks, he fought and routed them with great slaughter, on the 20th of march, 1800, near the ruins of the ancient city of heliopolis. the moslems of cairo, encouraged by murad bey, who still hovered about with his mameluke cavalry, rose on the french there, and massacred such as could not escape into the citadel. kleber hastened to cairo, relieved the forces in the citadel, and entered into a truce with murad bey, but whilst thus busily engaged he was assassinated by an[483] arab, who declared he was commissioned by allah to free the country of the infidels. the command was taken by menou, whose administration of the army and general affairs was far inferior to that of kleber. at the time that matters were changing thus for the worse, amongst the french, dundas, now lord melville, urged upon ministers the good policy of sending an army to egypt and compelling the surrender of the french. he contended that, whilst one army was sent from britain, another should be brought across the persian gulf from india, and success made certain. the plan was much too bold, even for pitt; and the king opposed it energetically, as "a dangerous expedition against a distant province." but the danger of having this french army transferred to europe at some critical moment—as it would have been had the convention of el arish been carried out, by which these twenty thousand seasoned men could have been landed in italy to act against suvaroff—at length brought the british ministry to dare the attempt.

on the 8th of march, 1801, general sir ralph abercromby landed in egypt, where nelson had fought the battle of aboukir. menou brought down against the british twelve or fourteen thousand men, including a fine body of cavalry. sir ralph abercromby landed only about ten thousand in effective order, but these were men full of ardour and disciplined to perfection. on the 8th of march they landed in face of the french, five thousand being put on shore at once, these returning no single shot whilst in the boats, though assailed by fifteen pieces of artillery from the opposite hill, and by grape-shot from aboukir castle. they were led on by general (afterwards sir john) moore; and running, or climbing on hands and knees, up the steep sand-hills, they drove the french from their cannon, and seized them. the french retreated, and posted themselves on some heights between aboukir and alexandria. on the 19th, having compelled fort aboukir to surrender, general abercromby advanced, and found menou had concentrated all his forces between them and alexandria. on the 21st of march a general engagement took place. it commenced as early as three o'clock in the morning, whilst quite dark, by an attack on the british left, which was meant to draw all attention to that quarter, then a desperate charge was made on the right by the main body of the french cavalry, which hoped to get into the rear of the british infantry; but the attempted surprise failed: the french were driven back with great loss. as the day dawned the battle became general, and the french found themselves opposed not only by accustomed british doggedness, but by a precision of fire and an adroitness of man?uvre which astonished them. by ten o'clock the french were in full flight for alexandria, leaving seventeen hundred men on the field. the loss of the british was stated at fourteen hundred killed and wounded; and, unfortunately, the brave abercromby was killed. to complete the success, the capitan pacha's fleet in a few days brought a turkish army of between five and six thousand men, and the grand vizier, posted at el arish, began to march towards cairo. general hutchinson, now chief in command of the british army, hastened to join the grand vizier; but before he could accomplish this, he had to drive four thousand french from a fortified camp at ramaneeh, and meanwhile five thousand french rushed out of cairo and attacked the grand vizier. on the 27th of june cairo capitulated, general belliard obtaining the condition that his troops should be conveyed to the ports of france on the mediterranean with their arms and baggage; yet they left behind them three hundred and thirteen heavy cannon and one hundred thousand pounds of gunpowder. on the 8th of june general baird had landed at cosseir on the red sea with his indian army, and was marching through the burning desert for cairo. menou, cooped up at alexandria, found it useless to contend further and, before baird could join the main army, capitulated on the same terms as belliard, and the egyptian campaign was at an end. the news of the french expulsion reached france sooner than it did england, and created a strong sensation.[484]

sir ralph abercromby. (after the portrait by j. hoppner, r.a.)

[see larger version]

britain was everywhere successful on the sea, and lord nelson, on the 1st of august, made an attempt on the french flotilla lying at boulogne for the invasion of england. he was furnished with a flotilla of gunboats for the purpose, and he was able to destroy two floating batteries and a few gunboats, but found the fleet too strongly posted under the batteries of the harbour to make further impression. however, napoleon saw that for the present an invasion was out of the question, and the autumn of this year was employed in endeavours to arrange a peace. lord cornwallis proceeded to paris for this object, and went to amiens, which was appointed as the place for the conference. the preliminaries were signed on the 1st of october, and general lauriston, the schoolfellow and first aide-de-camp of buonaparte, brought them over to london. the negotiations progressed slowly, being arrested now and then by the conduct of the first consul. without waiting for the ratification of peace, he sent off, on the 14th of december, 1801, only ten days after the signing of the preliminaries, a strong fleet and army to the west indies to reduce the independent black republic in st. domingo. britain was obliged to send reinforcements to her own west indian fleet by admiral martin—so that it looked much more like war than peace. again, in january, 1802, came the news of the election of buonaparte to the presidency of the cisalpine republic, directly contrary to the treaty of lunéville, and betraying the ambitious aims of napoleon. immediately followed the news that buonaparte had exacted from spain a treaty by which parma and the island of elba were made over to france on the death of the present, already aged, duke; that spain had been compelled to cede part of the province of louisiana in north america, by the same treaty; and that portugal, though the integrity of her dominions had been carefully guaranteed by the preliminaries of peace, had by a secret article given up to france her province of guiana. a republican constitution was forced on holland, and in switzerland instructions were given to the french minister to thwart all efforts at the formation of a stable constitution. these revelations startled the british ministers, but did not deter them from concluding the peace, with the full approbation of pitt. it was not that the first consul, who every day betrayed some fresh symptom of an insatiable ambition, was disposed to offer them tempting terms; on the contrary,[485] though we were never more able to dictate measures at sea, and he never less so, he was as haughty and dictatorial in his demands as if great britain had been completely under his feet. yet the treaty went on, and was concluded and signed on the 27th of march, 1802. it settled nothing, as britain refused to acknowledge the newly organised republics, and declined to entertain napoleon's preposterous suggestion that malta was to be occupied by neapolitan troops, under a neutrality guaranteed by all the chief european powers; since it was well known that napoleon, when it suited him, would cease to respect the conditions, and would readily dispossess the troops of naples. though pitt believed him to have been sincere, grenville, windham, and spencer saw that the ambition of the "little corporal" was insatiable, and denounced the treaty.