CHAPTER XX.

{GEORGE III. 1793–1794}

Hostile Message of the King to Parliament..... Declaration

of War by the French, &c. Pitt’s Financial

Statement..... The Traitorous Correspondence Bill.....

Preparations for War..... Relief granted to Mercantile

Men..... Renewal of the East India Company’s Charier.....

Relief of the Roman Catholics of Scotland, &c. Trial

of Warren Hastings..... Discussion on a Memorial

presented to the States-General..... Fox’s Motion for Peace

..... Mr. Grey’s Measure of Parliamentary Reform.....

Prorogation of Parliament..... Affairs of Ireland.....

Prospects of the French Republic, &c.

{A.D. 1793}

HOSTILE MESSAGE OF THE KING TO PARLIAMENT.

The news of the death of the King of France incited our government to

active measures. On the 27th of December a memorial had been presented

by the French ambassador, M. Chauvelin, to Lord Grenville, demanding to

know whether France ought to consider England as a neutral or hostile

power. In reply Lord Grenville acquainted M. Chauvelin that, as all

official communication had been suspended since the unhappy events of

the 10th of August, he could only be treated with under a form neither

regular nor official. On the 4th of January a letter was received by his

lordship from M. le Brun, minister of foreign affairs, together with a

memorial in the name of the executive council, stating that they desired

peace and harmony, and that they had sent credential letters to M.

Chauvelin, to enable him to treat in the usual diplomatic forms. But

peace and harmony were now out of the question. Three days after

the death of the French monarch M. Chauvelin was ordered to quit the

kingdom, and a war with the republic became no longer a matter of

choice. On the 30th of January, Dundas presented a royal message to the

commons, alluding to the execution of Louis XVI.; importing that his

majesty had given directions for copies of a correspondence, &c.,

between the late minister of his most Christian majesty and our foreign

secretary, to be laid before them; and stating the necessity that

existed of a further augmentation of forces by sea and land. The house

took this message into consideration on the 2nd of February, on which

occasion there was an animated debate. Pitt commenced it by describing

the execution of the King of France as an event which outraged every

sentiment of religion, justice, and humanity; and as the effect of

principles which started by dissolving all the bonds of society, and

which, relying on fanciful theories, rejected not only the experience

of past ages, but likewise the sacred instructions of revelation. Pitt

stated that the British government had from the commencement adopted

a system of neutrality; that they had declined taking any part in the

internal affairs of France; and that in return for a declaration made to

that effect the French had entered into a positive contract to abstain

from those very deeds by which they had since provoked the indignation

of the country. In a paper, he said, which was then on the table, they

had disclaimed all views of conquest; had given assurances of friendship

to all neutral nations, and had protested that they entertained no idea

of interfering with the government of other countries. But what, he

asked, had been the conduct of the French? They had annexed Savoy

to their dominions, had rendered the Netherlands a province; and had

exhibited a resolution to pursue the same course wherever they could

carry their arms. As an illustration of the sentiments and designs

of the French rulers, he read a letter from one of them, which was

addressed to the friends of liberty in the different sea-ports of

France, and which was written only four days after M. Chauvelin had

complained to Lord Grenville that a harsh construction had been put by

the British ministry on the conduct of France, and professed the warmest

friendship for Great Britain. In this letter there was the following

passage;—“The king and his parliament mean to make war against us. Will

the English republicans suffer it? Already these free men show their

discontent and the repugnance they have to bear arms against their

brothers, the French. Well! we will fly to their succour—we will make

a descent on the island—we will lodge there fifty thousand caps of

liberty—we will plant there the sacred tree—we will stretch our arms

to our republican brethren, and the tyranny of their government shall

soon be destroyed.” Under all these circumstances Pitt declared that war

was preferable to a peace which could not be consistent either with the

internal tranquillity or external safety of England, and he moved an

address to his majesty to that effect. The motion was seconded by Lord

Beauchamp and supported by Windham, the latter of whom said that we must

go to war for the security of the country, and that it would truly be a

war _pro aris et focis_. Fox, and some of his friends deprecated such a

measure, and endeavoured to show that war was not necessary, and might

be avoided; but Pitt’s motion was carried without a division, An address

to the same effect was also voted by the lords.

DECLARATION OF WAR BY THE FRENCH, ETC.

A few days after the above proceedings of parliament, intelligence was

received that France had declared war against Great Britain and Ireland.

On the 11th of February, indeed, his majesty sent a royal message to

the two houses, announcing that the national convention, had, without

previous notice, directed acts of hostility to be committed against the

persons and property of his majesty’s subjects, in breach of the law of

nations, and of the positive stipulations of treaty; and that since they

had given these directions, they had actually declared war against his

majesty and the United Provinces. The message continued—“Under the

circumstances of this wanton and unprovoked aggression, his majesty has

taken the necessary steps to maintain the honour of his crown, and

to vindicate the rights of his people; and his majesty relies with

confidence on the firm and effectual support of the house of commons,

and on the zealous exertions of a brave and loyal people, in prosecuting

a just and necessary war; and in endeavouring, under the blessing of

Providence, to oppose an effectual barrier to the progress of a system

which strikes at the security and peace of all independent nations,

and is pursued in open defiance of every principle of moderation, good

faith, humanity, and justice. In a cause of such general concern, his

majesty has every reason to hope for the cordial co-operation of those

powers who are united with his majesty by the ties of alliance, or who

feel an interest in preventing the extension of anarchy and confusion,

and in contributing to the security and tranquillity of Europe.” This

message was taken into consideration on the next day, when Pitt gave

a detailed statement of our transactions with France, and of our

endeavours to preserve a strict neutrality as long as it was possible.

In adverting to those insults which the French supposed they had

received from England, and which they stated as grounds for their

declaration of war, he said that he found in them nothing but pretexts

and allegations too weak to require refutation. These insults were, that

the King of England had not ceased, especially since the revolution of

the 10th of August, to give proofs of his dislike to the French nation,

and of his attachment to the coalition of crowned heads; that the

English government had ceased since that period to correspond with

the French ambassador at London, on pretext of the suspension of the

heretofore King of France: that since the opening of the national

convention, the said government had refused to resume the usual

correspondence between the two states, and to acknowledge the power of

the convention; that it had refused to acknowledge the ambassador of the

French republic, although provided with letters of credit in its name,

and that the said court had caused to be stopped several boats and

ships laden with grain for France, contrary to the treaty of 1786, while

exportations to other countries were free. Pitt concluded by moving an

address in answer to his majesty’s message, which was seconded by Mr.

Powys, who said that under present circumstances war was preferable to

peace with France. On the contrary Fox still contended that war with

France was both impolitic and unnecessary. If any necessity existed,

he said, that necessity arose from the unwise, arrogant, and provoking

conduct of ministers. He moved an amendment, promising effectual support

to his majesty in repelling every hostile attempt upon this country,

and in such other exertions as might be necessary to induce France to

consent to such terms of peace as should be consistent with the honour

of his majesty’s crown, the security of his allies, and the interests

of his people. The conduct of government was defended by Dundas, while

Burke, also, showed to demonstration that ministers had not precipitated

the nation into this war, but were brought into it by overruling

necessity. The amendment was negatived, and the address, as moved by

Pitt, carried without a division; as was also an address moved by Lord

Grenville in the house of lords.

In all these proceedings ministers were encouraged by the voice of the

people, for the prevailing opinion was for war. Yet, on the 18th of

February, Fox moved a string of resolutions the effect of which was that

the two houses should load themselves with reproaches for having voted

the addresses which they had just carried up to the throne. These

resolutions were, that war with France on the grounds alleged, was

neither for the honour nor the interests of this country; that ministers

in their late negociations with the French government had not taken the

means for procuring an amicable redress of the grievances complained of;

and that it was their duty to advise his majesty against entering into

engagements which might prevent a separate peace. Fox alleged that his

object in making these motions was to pronounce a declaration of the

precise grounds upon which gentlemen had voted for the war, for from

many circumstances, he was persuaded that the object of ministers in

going to war were those which they disclaimed, and that those they

avowed were only pretexts. Fox pressed these resolutions to a division,

and they were rejected by two hundred and seventy against forty-four:

a majority which sensibly marked the feeling of the house. Yet,

notwithstanding this decided victory of ministers, Mr. Grey, encouraged

by Fox, produced the same string of resolutions three days after in a

new form, which, however, were negatived without a division. A motion

moved by Mr. M. A. Taylor, on the 22nd of February, against the erection

of barracks or inland fortresses in our free country, shared the same

fate; as did likewise another, moved by Sheridan, on the 4th of March,

to the effect that the house should resolve itself into a committee to

consider of the seditious practices, &c., referred to in his majesty’s

speech. All the efforts of the opposition to thwart the measures of

government were, indeed, futile: the propriety and necessity of war

were acknowledged by the great majority of the nation, as well as of the

members of parliament. All the old Whigs ranged themselves on the side

of government, by which Fox and his party lost much both of moral and

numerical strength.

PITT’S FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

On the 11th of March Pitt brought forward his budget for the current

year: estimating the expenses at £11,182,213, and that of the ways and

means at £8,299,696. He proposed to raise the deficiency by loan, and to

defray the interest by rendering permanent some of the temporary taxes

imposed on account of the Spanish armament. In his speech Pitt made some

remarks which show that he had then no idea of the subsequent enormous

increase of the national debt and national taxation. He observed:—“I do

not think it useless to suggest some observations with respect to this

war in which we are engaged. The excess of the permanent revenue, if

kept up, is not less than £900,000 above the peace establishment; which,

even if destroyed by war, will leave the country in possession of all

its ordinary revenue. This £900,000 I am desirous to leave as a security

against those contingencies to which war is liable.” The sum borrowed

was £4,500,000, and the terms were that for every seventy-two pounds

advanced, the lender should be entitled to one hundred pound stock,

bearing interest at three per cent. Pitt said that he expected to have

made better terms for the loan, but he had not received two offers

for it. Among other resources, the sum of £675,000 was to be raised by

lottery, which was warmly opposed, but which, after a debate wherein

several regulations were laid down to diminish the practice of

insurance, received the consent of the house.

THE TRAITOROUS CORRESPONDENCE BILL.

As it was expedient, after a declaration of war, to prevent all

correspondence between British subjects and the French, Sir John

Scott, the attorney-general, brought in a bill called the “Traitorous

Correspondence Bill,” by which it was declared high-treason to supply

the existing government of France with, military stores; to purchase

lands of inheritance in France; to invest money in the French funds; to

underwrite insurances upon ships and goods bound from France to any part

of the world; and to go from this country to France without a license

under the privy-seal; it likewise prohibited the return of British

subjects from that country to England without giving security. This bill

was opposed as inconsistent with the treason laws of Edward III., and

several of its obnoxious clauses were modified in the course of its

progress. It received several alterations, also, in the lords, which

were finally agreed to by the commons, and the bill passed into a law.

PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.

A royal message was presented to parliament on the 6th of March, stating

that his majesty had engaged a body of his electoral troops in the

service of Great Britain to assist his allies, the States-general; and

that he had directed an estimate of the charge to be laid before the

house of commons. A few days after M. le Brun, minister of foreign

affairs in France, addressed a letter to Lord Grenville, stating that

the French republic was desirous to terminate all differences with Great

Britain, and requesting a passport for a person vested with full powers

for that purpose. He named M. Maret as the proposed plenipotentiary

of France; but the present state of affairs did not permit the British

government to accede to such an overture, and no notice was taken of the

application. On the contrary, a treaty, about this time, was concluded

with the King of Sardinia, by which England bound herself to furnish a

subsidy of £200,000 annually, to be paid three months in advance;

and not to conclude peace with France without comprehending in it the

restitution of all territories belonging to that monarch when he engaged

in war.

RELIEF GRANTED TO MERCANTILE MEN.

At this period, through the spirit of commercial speculation, there

occurred an unusual number of bankruptcies. A select committee was

appointed by the commons to investigate this subject, and it was

discovered that large issues of paper money and a scarcity of coin had

induced bankers to suspend their usual discounts, in expectation of

which merchants had formed engagements they could not meet. As a remedy

for this evil an issue of exchequer-bills to the amount of £5,000,000

was recommended, under commissioners to be nominated for the purpose of

lending portions to those merchants in distress who could give security.

This bill was objected to as ineffectual against failures, and as

opening a way to the exercise of improper patronage by government, but

it was carried, and the relief proved beneficial.

RENEWAL OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY’S CHARTER.

It was generally supposed at this time that the charter of the East

India Company, which was on the eve of expiration, would be abolished,

and that the whole Indian trade would be thereby thrown open to

British enterprise. The public expectation however, was doomed to be

disappointed. On the 23rd of April Mr. Dundas brought the question

before the house, in consequence of a petition from the company, and

after taking a view of the prosperous state of India under the present

system, he brought in a bill for the renewal of the charter for twenty

years, which passed without a division. At the same time Dundas

proposed certain regulations, tending to promote a free trade, but not

interfering with the company’s charter.

RELIEF OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF SCOTLAND, ETC.

In the course of this session a bill was passed for the relief of the

Roman Catholics of Scotland from certain penalties and disabilities

imposed upon them by acts which incapacitated them from holding or

transmitting landed property. Towards the close of the session, at the

suggestion of Sir John Sinclair, a board of agriculture was established,

and £3000 per annum were voted for the encouragement of that science.

TRIAL OF WARREN HASTINGS.

The trial of Warren Hastings was resumed on the 15th of February, and

during the session the court sat twenty-two days, in which time the

counsel for the prisoner completed the defence set up by them on the

last three articles; namely, those relating to the Begums, to presents,

and to contracts. After this Hastings addressed the court, praying

that their lordships would order the trial to continue to its final

conclusion, but all further proceedings were adjourned till the next

session.

DISCUSSION ON A MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO THE STATES-GENERAL.

During this session some violent debates took place on a memorial

presented to the States-general, by the British and imperial ministers

at the Hague, on the 5th of April. In this memorial their high

mightinesses were called upon to prevent any of the French regicides

from finding an asylum in their states in Europe, or in any of their

colonies. The language which was used was very strong; and Earl

Stanhope moved that the British envoy, Lord Auckland, should not only

be recalled, but impeached for putting his signature to such a paper. In

the commons, also, Sheridan moved an address to his majesty, expressive

of the displeasure of the house at the said memorial; and stating that

the minister who presented it had departed from the principles on which

the house had concurred in the measures for the support of the war. In

the course of his speech, Sheridan held up to detestation the conduct of

the Empress of Russia, the Emperor of Germany, and the King of Prussia,

in the new partition of Poland, which they had just completed. Sheridan

said, that no robbery committed by the most desperate of the French, and

no crimes that had been perpetrated in France, exceeded in infamy

the injustice and tyranny of those sovereigns. Sheridan’s motion was

negatived by two hundred and eleven, against thirty-six. In the upper

house Lord Grenville made a motion for approving the conduct of Lord

Auckland, which was carried without a division.

FOX’S MOTION FOR PEACE.

Burke remarks:—“After it had been generally supposed that all public

business was over for the session, and that Mr. Fox had exhausted all the

modes of pressing his French scheme, he thought proper to take a step

beyond every expectation, and which demonstrated his wonderful eagerness

and perseverance in his cause, as well as the nature and true character

of the cause itself.” This step was taken by Mr. Fox immediately after

giving his assent to the grant of supply, voted to him by Mr. Sergeant

Adair and a committee of gentlemen, who assumed to themselves to act

in the name of the public. In the instrument of his acceptance of

this grant, Mr. Fox took occasion to assure them that he would always

persevere in the same conduct which had procured to him so honourable a

mark of the public approbation. He was as good as his word. On Monday,

the 17th of June, Fox, in accordance with his resolution, moved an

address to the throne, importing that, having obtained the only avowed

object of the war—the evacuation of Holland by the French—peace

ought to be concluded. In support of his motion Fox declaimed, in an

impassioned manner, against the partitioners of Poland, and against

all the powers in alliance with England. In the debate on this motion,

Windham observed, that it was an avowed purpose of the war to endeavour

to bring about the establishment of a government in France with which we

could safely treat; and that, therefore, the war must be prosecuted till

we could make peace with safety. Burke said that the motion involved

this serious question—whether we should make war with all Europe in

order to make peace with France. He continued:—“And with whom can we

now treat in France? M. Lebrun, with whom we were so lately called on to

treat, is in gaol. Clavière, another minister, is nowhere to be found.

Or shall we treat with M. Egalité, who is now in the dungeons of

Marseilles? And what are the principles upon which this negociation is

to be carried on? Brissot himself has told us what the French think on

this subject. In the report of a committee, upon the subject of a treaty

with Geneva, he has affirmed that treaties are useless and cannot

bind the people, who are to be united by principles alone, and

that, therefore, to make treaties with any other sovereign power, is

disgraceful to a free people.” Pitt added to the string of questions

which Burke had put, by asking Fox, whether he would enter into

negociations with Marat; that monster and his party being now lords of

the ascendant, and the arbiters and rulers of France. He added,—“But it

is not merely to the character of Marat, with whom we would now have to

treat, that I object; it is not to the horror of those crimes which have

stained their legislators—crimes in every stage rising above another in

enormity—but I object to the consequences of that character, and to

the effect of those crimes. They are such as to render a negociation

useless, and must entirely deprive of stability any peace which could

be concluded in such circumstances. Where is our security for the

performance of a treaty, where we have neither the good faith of a

nation, nor the responsibility of a monarch? The moment that the mob of

Parrs comes under the influence of a new leader, mature deliberations

are reversed, the most solemn engagements are retracted, or free will is

altogether controlled by force. In every one of their stages of repeated

revolutions, we have said, ‘Now we have seen the worst, the measure of

iniquity is complete, we shall no longer be shocked by added crimes

and increasing enormities.’ The next mail gave us reason to reproach

ourselves with our credulity, and by presenting us with fresh crimes,

and enormities still more dreadful, excited impressions of new

astonishment and accumulated horror. All the crimes which disgrace

history have occured in one country, in a space so short, and

with circumstances so aggravated, as to outrun thought and exceed

imagination.” Fox replied; but his motion was lost by one hundred and

eighty-seven against forty-seven.

MR. GREY’S MEASURE OF PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

During this session Mr. Grey brought forward a motion for parliamentary

reform. He observed, in reply to the objection, that this was not the

proper time for reform, that it would be equally rational in times

of prosperity and adversity, in times of peace and war. He

remarked:—“Whatever evils did, or might threaten the nation, there was

no preventive so certain, no safeguard so powerful, as an uninterrupted

house of commons, emanating fairly and freely from the people. To the

want of this we owed the American war, and the vast accumulation of

national debt; and if this had been done last year, it would probably

have saved us from our present distresses. No set of Britons, unless

bereft of their senses, could, after recent events, propose the French

revolution as a model for our imitation. But were such principles

even likely to threaten danger, the surest way of preventing it was

to promote the happiness and comfort of the people, to gratify their

reasonable wishes, and to grant that reform which was so earnestly

desired.” Grey’s arguments were enforced by Fox, Whitbread, and others;

and opposed by Pitt, Jenkinson, and Powys. Pitt explained his former

motives for being friendly to a parliamentary reform, and his objections

against it at the present moment. Many petitions had been presented in

favour of reform; and Pitt said, that if the principle of individual

suffrage, pointed at in some of these petitions, was to be carried out,

the peerage would be extinguished, the king deposed, every hereditary

distinction and every privileged order swept away, and there would be

established that system of equalizing anarchy announced in the code of

French legislation, and attested in the blood of the massacres at Paris.

Fox attacked Pitt on the score of inconsistency. He observed, that as

Lord Foppington said in the play, “I begin to think that when I was a

commoner, I was a very nauseous fellow; so Pitt began to think, that

when he was a reformer, he must have been a very foolish fellow.” Fox

called the objection to the time for reform a fallacy; a mere pretext

for putting off what the house knew was necessary, but felt unwilling

to grant. The debate lasted two days; when the motion for referring the

petitions to a committee were negatived by two hundred and eighty two,

against forty-one.

{GEORGE III. 1793–1794}

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

The king prorogued parliament on the 21st of June. In his speech his

majesty noticed the rapid and signal successes which, in an early period

of the campaign, had attended the operations of the combined armies; the

respectable force which he had been enabled to employ by sea and land,

and the measures which he had concerted with the other powers for the

effectual prosecution of the war. From all this his majesty augured a

happy issue to the important contest in which we were engaged.

AFFAIRS OF IRELAND.

During this year an important concession was made to the Roman Catholics

of Ireland. Many events led to this measure. On the failure of Pitt’s

attempt, in 1785, to reconcile the commercial interests of the two

countries, resolutions were made in Ireland to abstain from the

importation of English manufactures, and efforts were made by the

populace to enforce these resolutions on all who disapproved of them.

The tumults and alarms which followed these proceedings, gave rise, in

the session of 1786, for an act, establishing a police in the city of

Dublin, which, as the inhabitants were taxed for the support of the

officers appointed by the crown, gave great offence. In the south, also,

there existed serious disturbances. Men, called “Right Boys” banded

together in order to defraud the Protestant clergy of their incomes. For

this purpose the farmers entered into a combination, under the sanction

of an oath, neither to compound for tithes, nor to assist any clergyman

drawing them. This insurrection commenced in Kerry and the combination

soon extended to Cork and other neighbouring counties, where the

insurgents marched in large bodies, administering their oath in the name

of Captain Right, giving out their laws, and punishing those who broke

their faith. In these proceedings they were secretly encouraged by many

gentlemen of landed property, who hoped from their violence that

their estates might be exonerated from tithes; but when the insurgents

proceeded to limit the rents of land, to increase the price of labour,

and to oppose the collection of hearth-money, then an outcry was raised

by these landlords against their designs, and an act was passed in 1787

for preventing tumultuous and illegal assemblies. Upon inquiry it was

discovered that the clergy instead of receiving one-tenth scarcely

received one-twentieth of the produce, and that the insurrection was

owing to the avarice of the landlords, who charged the peasantry six

pounds an acre for their land, and yet made them work for fivepence per

day. It was also found that some landlords had excited their tenants

to rob the clergy, for the purpose of adding the value of the tithes

to their rack-rents, and that the magistrates had in several instances

connived at the outrages. These troubles passed over, but the same

spirit of disaffection towards the government still existed in Ireland.

And this, perhaps, was increased by the contests which took place in the

Irish parliament between the patriotic band, headed by Mr. Grattan, and

those who adhered to government. It has been seen that at the time the

regency bill was discussed in the British parliament, the Irish were in

favour of the Prince of Wales. An address to him was carried by a large

majority in the Irish parliament, and when the lord-lieutenant refused

to forward it, commissioners were deputed to present it, as before

narrated. Encouraged by his success in the matter of the address Mr.

Grattan proposed several bills of a popular description, which were

carried. But this patriotic bias did not long continue. When his majesty

recovered, then many who had voted against government changed their

sentiments, and again supported it. The very men who had voted for the

introduction of the popular bills proposed by Grattan, on the committal

of them gave their votes against them, and they were rejected. Hitherto

the professed principles of the Marquess of Buckingham’s government had

been strict economy, but when this struggle terminated every source of

influence was thrown open in order to prevent future opposition to its

measures. This system of corrupt influence was continued after the Earl

of Westmoreland was appointed lord-lieutenant, in 1730, notwithstanding

strenuous opposition had been made to it by the patriotic party. In order

to render their opposition more systematic and strong, this party formed

themselves into a Whig club, similar to that in London, and at their

meeting arranged plans of parliamentary tactics, assigning to each

member his particular post. The declared objects for which this

association was pledged were bills for the limitations of places and

pensions; for excluding certain descriptions of placemen, &c., from

parliament; to disqualify revenue-officers from voting; to repeal the

Dublin Police Bill; and to secure the responsibility of public officers

in regard to payments from the treasury. But the efforts of the

patriotic party were vain. When they banded together for these purposes

they were unable to oppose government effectually, and when a new

election took place in 1791, they rather lost strength than otherwise.

Such was the state of affairs in Ireland when the French revolution took

place. This event was looked upon by the mass of the Irish with strong

sensations of joy. Ever disposed to revolt, they looked upon it as the

harbinger of their own liberty. Meetings were held to celebrate

its anniversary in different places, and also for the discussion of

politics. The chief topics at these meetings were parliamentary reform

and Catholic emancipation, in favour of which strong resolutions were

entered into with a view of intimidating government to concede them. In

Dublin a society was formed, under the title of “United Irishmen,” and

which declared itself to be “a union of Irishmen of every religious

persuasion, in order to obtain a complete reform of the legislature,

founded on the principles of civil, political, and religious liberty.”

Against this and similar associations government issued a proclamation,

interdicting all seditious assemblies, and commanding the magistrates,

if necessary, to disperse them by military force. Still the society of

United Irishmen resolved to persevere. It issued a counter proclamation,

exhorting the volunteer companies which had been formed in Dublin to

take up arms for the maintenance of public tranquillity against domestic

and foreign foes, and recommending the Protestants to unite cordially

with the Papists for the purpose of obtaining universal emancipation

and a representative legislature. This agitation led government, in the

session of 1792, to grant some new indulgences to the Papists, but these

by no means satisfied them. They still persevered in seeking a redress

of grievances, and in order to lay before government the sentiments of

the collective body of Catholics, a secret committee for managing the

political concerns of the Irish Catholics, which had long subsisted in

Dublin, fixed on the plan of a convention of delegates from the several

towns and counties, to be elected by persons deputed, two from each

parish. At the same time this committee thought proper to disavow

all dangerous tenets respecting the excommunication of princes, the

persecution of heretics, the violation of oaths, the infallibility of

the pope, &c., and to renounce all claims to forfeited estates, and all

designs of subverting the present establishment. The convention met

in December, 1792, and after various displays of eloquence, voted a

petition to the king, stating the grievances, patience, and long-tried

loyalty of his Catholic subjects, and dwelling particularly on the

deprivation of the elective franchise. This petition was presented by

deputation, and received graciously by his majesty, who, when the Irish

parliament met on the 10th of January, 1793, pressed on its attention

such measures as might be most likely to strengthen and cement a general

union of sentiment among all classes and descriptions of his Catholic

subjects, in support of the established constitution. In consequence of

this recommendation Mr. Secretary Hobart brought the bill of relief into

the house of commons; the chief enacting clause of which enabled the

Catholics to exercise and enjoy all civil and military offices, and

places of trust or profit under the crown, under certain restrictions.

This privilege was not to extend so far as to enable any Roman Catholic

to sit or vote in either house of parliament, or to fill the office

of lord-lieutenant or lord chancellor, or judge in either of the three

courts of record or admiralty, or keeper of the privy-seal, secretary

of state, lieutenant or _custos rotulorum_ of counties, or

privy-counsellor, or master in chancery, or a general on the staff, or

sheriff of any county, &c. This bill passed with few dissentient voices,

and though it fell short of complete emancipation, it was supposed to

contain all that the executive government, could, at this time, without

too violent an exertion, effect; upon which account it was received with

gratitude. As a further concession to Ireland, a libel bill, similar to

that of England, was passed; the power of the crown to grant pensions on

the Irish establishment was limited to the sum of £80,000; and certain

descriptions of placemen and pensioners were excluded from the privilege

of sitting in the house of commons. His majesty also declared his

acceptance of a limited sum, fixed at £225,000 for the expenses of his

civil list, in lieu of the hereditary revenues of the crown. Having thus

conciliated opposition, government carried several bills for the safety

of the country. Among these were the alien and traitorous correspondence

bills, analogous to those of England; a bill to prevent arms and

ammunition from being imported, or kept without license; and another

“to prevent the election or appointment of assemblies,” purporting to

represent the people or any number of the people, under pretence of

preparing or presenting petitions, &c., to the king or either house of

parliament, for alteration of matters established by law, or redress of

alleged grievances in church or state. As a further measure for securing

the safety of the country, a bill was passed for raising a body of

militia by ballot, to serve the period of four years. This measure,

how-over, gave rise to discontent and outrage. As each person, on whom

the lot fell, was obliged to serve unless he could procure a substitute

or pay a large fine, it was considered a heavy grievance. To alleviate

the burden, subscriptions for raising recruits were adopted, and

insurance offices established to indemnify individuals on the payment

of a stated sum. It was not, however, without great difficulty that

recruits could be raised; the peasantry imagining, that, as was the case

in the American war, if they joined the militia, they should be sent out

of the kingdom. This caused discontents and riots, which cost the lives

of many persons. But apart from this, there were other causes which

produced disturbances in this unhappy country. About the year 1784, a

set of insurgents, called “Defenders,” succeeded the White Boys. These

arose from a quarrel between some Catholics and Protestants, in the

county of Armagh, the former of whom, being possessed of arms, overcame

their opponents. Enraged at this defeat the Protestants began to take

arms from the Catholics; styling themselves “Peep-of-day Boys,” from

their breaking into the houses of their opponents at break of day.

On the contrary, those who strove to prevent them called themselves

“Defenders;” but these, in 1789, seem to have been regularly organised,

prepared for assault as well as defence, and, becoming private

aggressors, committed some atrocious murders. Their outrages attracted

the notice of parliament, and a secret committee of the lords in this

session was appointed to make a report of their proceedings and also

of the “United Irishmen.” At the time when this committee made their

report, they had extended their associations through several counties,

which associations assembled by night to learn the use of arms, and also

for the purpose of plundering houses and murdering the protestants, and

especially the established clergy. In many parts of the country, indeed,

gentlemen were obliged to quit their houses, or to place soldiers

therein for defence. It was hoped that the Catholic Relief Bill would

have the effect of conciliating the marauders, but it failed to produce

this effect. The principle of contention, in fact, still remained in

full force. By this bill the Catholics were vested with the elective

franchise; and now the question between them and the Protestants was,

whether they should form a part of the government. They had gained much,

but they wanted more, and so the system of agitation and outrage was

still continued.

PROSPECTS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, &c.

At the commencement of this campaign, France had to combat 55,000

Austro-Sardinians from the Alps; 50,000 Spaniards from the Pyrenees;

66,000 Austrians, reinforced by 38,000 Anglo-Batavians, on the Lower

Rhine and in Belgium; 33,000 Austrians, between the Meuse and the

Moselle; and 112,000 Russians, Austrians, Prussians, and Imperialists,

of the Middle and Upper Rhine. Against these formidable enemies the

convention ordered a levy of 300,000 troops, and at the same time

established a committee of public safety, with dictatorial power over

persons and property. Meanwhile Dumouriez was occupied with an ambitious

plan of reaction. Instead of remaining neutral between the contending

factions composing the national convention, as was the duty of a

general, he proposed to establish the constitutional monarchy of 1791.

But first he intended to deliver Belgium from the rule of the Jacobins,

to secure Holland by aid of the Batavian republicans, and to unite

those two countries into a single state. With this end in view,

Durnouriez moved from Antwerp and attacked the Dutch towns of Breda,

Kiundert, and Gerbruydenberg, all which capitulated, after little more

than a show of resistance from the garrisons. His plan was to penetrate

into the heart of the United Provinces; but he was brought to a pause

at the fortress of Williamstadt, That fort was occupied by the

Dutch general Botzlarr, with some Dutch troops, who held no Jacobin

principles, and by a strong detachment of English guards, who made an

obstinate resistance; and while the French troops were still engaged

in the siege of this fortress, intelligence arrived from the eastern

frontier of the Netherlands, which materially changed the aspect of

the war. Durnouriez had sent General Miranda, his second in command, to

reduce the important town of Maestrecht, on the Maes or Meuse. On the

1st of March General Clairfait having suddenly passed the Roer in the

night, attacked the French posts on that side, and compelled them

to retreat, with the loss of 2,000 men; and this was followed by two

successive victories over the French, on the 2nd and 8th of March; the

one gained by the Archduke Albert, brother to the Emperor of Germany,

and the other by the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, who obtained a singular

advantage over the main body of the French, in front of Aix-la-Chapelle,

driving them from thence with the loss of 5,000 men, and twenty pieces

of cannon. On hearing of these events, General Miranda gave orders for

retreating to Tongres, whence the French armies were again compelled

to fall back to Saint Tron. At Saint Tron Miranda was joined by General

Valence, who had evacuated Liege and its territory, and they then moved

towards Tirlemont, where Durnouriez soon after arrived to take the

command in person, leaving the conduct of affairs on the northern

frontier to General de Fluers. Dumouriez was attacked by the Prince of

Saxe-Cobourg, at Tirlemont, with great spirit; but he kept his ground,

and obliged the Austrians to fall back upon Neerwinden. This was on the

16th of March, and two days after Durnouriez moved to attack the Prince,

but received a signal defeat; 4,000 killed and wounded remained on the

field of battle, and ten thousand deserted, and scarcely paused in

their flight until they reached the other side of the French frontier.

Durnouriez attributed the origin of all his misfortunes to the Jacobin

Club of Paris, and to the Mountain, which at this time was preparing

to crush the Gironde. Half-crazed, he retreated towards Louvaine and

Brussels, and in his route he was met by Danton and Lacroix, who came

as commissioners from the convention to draw up a report on his conduct,

both civil and military. He was devoted to destruction by the Jacobins,

if they could get hold of him, for he had long ago offended Marat and

Camus, two of the prime leaders of that fraternity. Dumouriez knew this,

and the commissioners had scarcely left him, when he sent an officer of

his staff to the head-quarters of the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, to make

some arrangements relative to the wounded and prisoners. This officer

was referred to General Mack, who was considered to be a consummate

politician, and it was agreed that Mack and Durnouriez should meet

and confer together. When they met it was agreed that the Imperialists

should not again attack the French army in force; that Durnouriez should

be allowed to retire to Brussels; and that after the French should have

evacuated Brussels the two generals should have another interview.

All this was done, and at the future meeting, which took place at

Ath, Durnouriez, knowing that there was nothing for him but a

counter-revolution, or death, or flight, agreed with Mack to co-operate

with the Imperialists against the Republicans; to give up to them the

whole of Belgium; to march with his own army to Paris; and to call

in the aid of the Austrians, if he should not prove strong enough to

disperse the Jacobin rulers of France, and dictate the law at Paris. It

is supposed that Dumouriez intended setting the Duke of Chartres on

the throne of France, and that the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg assented to

his project, hoping that if a counter-revolution could be effected, the

young dauphin might be liberated from the Temple, and the regular

line of the monarchy restored in him. The project seemed the more

practicable, because the Prussians were preparing to invade France from

the Moselle; the Spaniards, against whom the convention had declared

war, were descending through the passes of the Pyrenees; an English army

was collected in Holland to co-operate with the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg;

and the royalists in the Vendee had gained several victories over the

troops of the republican government. Dumouriez evacuated all the places

he held in the Netherlands, and slowly retired towards the French

frontier. In his route he met a great number of persons who were flying

from Paris to escape the guillotine, many of whom encouraged him to

persevere in the enterprise. The designs of Dumouriez, however, did

not pass unsuspected at Paris, and three commissioners, friends of his

mortal foe, Marat, were dispatched to watch his movements, under the

pretence of conferring with him concerning the affairs of Belgium. In

an interview with these commissioners, Dumouriez expressed himself

with great violence against the Jacobins, and denounced the republican

constitution as too silly a thing to last. “Ever since the battle of

Jemappe,” he observed “I have regretted every advantage I have gained in

the field for so bad a cause.” Growing warm in conversation, he likewise

remarked:—“The convention is composed of two hundred brigands and five

hundred fools. As long as I have three inches of steel at my side,

I will never suffer it to reign or to shed blood by means of the

revolutionary tribunals they have just established.” All Dumouriez said

was carefully treasured up in the minds of these commissioners, and,

on their return, reported to the Jacobins. In the mean time, Dumouriez

attempted to gain possession of the three important frontier fortresses

of Lille, Condé, and Valenciennes. Some secret communication with

friends was opened by him in these fortresses, but the convention had

sent commissioners to each of them, and both the populace and the troops

were declared republicans, so that his designs were frustrated. Thus

unsuccessful, Dumouriez removed his head-quarters to the baths of Saint

Arnaud. Meanwhile the convention had summoned him to their bar, and

imagining that he would not come without compulsion, had despatched four

of their members to bring him and win over his army. The commissioners

transmitted their orders to Dumouriez, while they remained at Lille; and

finding that he did not obey them, they resolved to proceed to the

camp. Dumouriez received the commissioners at the head of his staff, but

refused to quit his troops; at the same time he promised, at a calmer

time, he would demand an investigation of his conduct, and give an

explanation both of his actions and designs. In order to gain their

point, the commissioners replied that no harm was meant to his person,

and alleging the example of the ancient Roman generals, they contended

that it was his duty to submit to the republic. To this Dumouriez

rejoined, “Gentlemen, we are constantly committing mistakes in our

quotations from the classics; we parody and disfigure Roman history

in citing their virtues to excuse our crimes. The Romans did not kill

Tarquin: the Romans had a well-regulated republic and good laws; and

they had neither a Jacobin Club nor a revolutionary tribunal. We are

plunged in anarchy; we are wading in blood.” “Citizen general,” said

Camus, one of the commissioners, “will you obey the decree of the

National Convention or not?” “Not exactly at this moment,” replied

Dumouriez. “Well then,” continued Camus, “I declare, in the name of the

convention, that you are no longer general of this army, and I order

that your papers be seized, and that you be arrested,” “This is very

strong,” replied Dumouriez, and calling for his German hussars, he

ordered them to seize the commissioners, and to convey them to General

Clairfait’s head-quarters at Tournay, as hostages for the safety of

the royal family of France. During that night Dumouriez drew up a

proclamation to his army and to all France, in which he called upon

all true Frenchmen to rise and rally round him and the monarchical

constitution of 1791. His troops were informed of all that had happened

on the following morning, and the measure was enthusiastically approved

by those of the line and the artillery. Dumouriez, however, had enemies

in his camp. He had an appointment with Colonel Mack, the Archduke

Charles, and the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg on the 4th of April, in order to

regulate future operations; and at an early hour on the morning of that

day he set off with his staff; but he and his party had scarcely got

upon the road which led to Condé, when they met two battalions of

volunteers who were marching without order, and apparently without

instructions. The design of these volunteers was to arrest Dumouriez and

his party; and on discovering this they quitted the high-road and struck

across the country, towards the Austrian lines, for protection. They

reached Rury in the evening, where they were soon after joined by

Saxe-Cobourg and Mack, who, with Dumouriez, passed the night in

preparing a proclamation to be issued in the name of the Austrians, and

in further explaining and settling the treaty between the French army

and that of the emperor. But Dumourez was doomed to be disappointed. He

still imagined that his regular troops were faithful to his person,

and on the morrow he resolved to throw himself among them. His

army, however, was now no more. Instigated by some emissaries from

Valenciennes, who told them that Dumouriez was either killed or drowned,

the artillery had risen upon their officers in the night, and

had marched, with all their guns, baggage, and ammunition, for

Valenciennes, whither they were soon followed by the troops of the line.

When, therefore, Dumouriez returned in the morning to Saint Arnaud,

his army was no more; and he with the Duke of Chartres, the Duke of

Montpensier, Colonel Thouvenot, and the rest of his numerous staff’,

joined the Austrians. They were followed by the entire regiment of

Berchingy, 1,500 strong, and some fragments of some French regiments,

and the sons of Orleans. The rest of his army joined the camp at Famars,

under Dampierre, who was now invested with the chief command. On the

following day, Dumouriez issued a proclamation, which contained a

recapitulation of his services to the French republic, and an animated

picture of the outrages of the Jacobins and of the mischiefs to be

apprehended from a continuation of anarchy in France; concluding with

an exhortation to the French to restore the constitution of 1791, and

a declaration on oath that he bore arms only for that purpose. This

proclamation was accompanied by a manifesto on the part of Saxe Cobourg,

now commander-in-chief of the armies of Austria, announcing that the

allied powers were no longer to be considered as principals, but

merely as auxiliaries of France; that they had no other object than to

co-operate with the general in giving to France her constitutional king,

and the constitution she formed for herself. These proceedings were

no sooner known at Paris than the convention declared its sittings

permanent, denounced Dumouriez as a traitor, and fixed a price on his

head; banished all the Bourbons, and established that “committee of

public safety,” which was destined to complete the crimes and destroy

the chief authors of the revolution.

This defection of Dumouriez gave great advantage to the Jacobins. They

exclaimed that he was leagued with the Girondists, and that all were

loyalists and traitors. Robespierre attacked many of them by name in

the convention, and Marat denounced them in the popular assemblies. The

committee of public safety, to which the plots of their enemies gave

rise, seemed to promise advantage to the Girondists; but it served only

to excite their adversaries more violently against them. The struggle

between these contending parties at length approached a crisis. At this

time Lyons, Orleans, Bordeaux, Marseilles, and La Vendee, indignant

against the anarchists, were all declaring themselves for the party

of moderation and the Girondists. These were startling events to the

Jacobins, and they prepared to strike a blow which should prostrate

their antagonists. A plot had been devised for their destruction, but it

was discovered, and the infamous Hébert, who was at the head of it,

was thrown into prison. Tumults in the assembly and commotion in the

city now became the order of the day; and at length, on the 25th of May,

a furious multitude assembled at the hall of the convention, and loudly

demanded the suppression of the committee of public safety and the

liberation of Hébert. These proposals were resisted, but the Girondists

could not long sustain the conflict with the Jacobins. On the 27th, the

Sans-culotte bands of the anarchists appeared in a body at the door of

the convention, bearing a general petition of the sections, and despite

the expostulations of the assembly, they took their seats with the

members, and, under the influence of terror, the commission of twelve

was broken, and Hébert set at liberty. On the morrow, however, the

convention boldly reversed this compulsory vote; at the same time

seeking a compromise with the populace. But it was in vain that the

Girondists sought to conciliate an enraged populace. On the 2nd of

June, the mob, under the command of Henriot, surrounded the hall of the

convention, and thirty of the leaders of the Girondists were arrested.

The political career of the Girondists, indeed, was now over: henceforth

they were known only as individuals by their courage in the midst of

calamity and death. Many of them saved themselves by concealment, others

by flight, while many fell by their own hands, or were cut off by

the axe of the executioner. Twenty-one of them languished in long

imprisonment, until a decree of accusation was issued against them, and

the guillotine ended their sufferings.

With the Girondists, the last bulwark against the inbreaking tyranny

fell. All the good lamented their fall, while the evil-disposed

rejoiced. On their ruin the revolutionary government was formed.

Robespierre, who directed all acts in the committee of public safety,

became dictator, while his associates divided the departments among

themselves, and the superintendence of the police was vested in a

committee of general safety, possessed of formidable authority. One

of the first results of this new order of things was a change in the

divisions of the year, and the names of the months and of the days,

which republican calendar soon led to the abolition of public worship.

One of the prime leaders of this new movement was Marat, who did not

long enjoy his triumph over the Girondists. He was assassinated by a

young Norman girl, named Charlotte Corday, who fancied that by cutting

him off she could destroy his party.

The tyranny displayed in the capital, and the appearance of some of

the proscribed Girondist deputies, stirred up the spirit of war in

the provinces. The people of Normandy at once declared against the

anarchists, and raised an army which, under General Wimpfen, pushed

forward to Evreux, within a day’s journey of Paris. The victorious

insurgents of La Vendee also marched upon Nantes, in order to procure

themselves a stronghold and a sea-port. Moreover, Bordeaux, indignant

at the arrest of the deputies, despatched a remonstrance to Paris, and

began to levy an army to second it; and Toulouse, Lyons, and Marseilles

all arrayed themselves against the Jacobins. Their fall seemed

inevitable, and they themselves anticipated such a consummation.

Rendered desperate, thereby, they prepared to ward off the blow. In a

brief period the republicans had on foot fourteen armies, consisting in

the whole of 1,200,000 soldiers and the whole of the hostile provinces

cowered before their arms.

In the meantime several engagements had taken place between the

republican forces of France and those of the allied powers. After

succeeding to the command, General Dampierre threw himself into the

fortified camp of Famars, which covered Valenciennes, He made some

attempts to cover Condé also, but that important fortress was securely

invested by a part of the Austrian army; and the Duke of York soon after

arriving with some English troops, it was resolved to make a vigorous

attack along all that part of the French frontier, and to reduce

Valenciennes, Condé, and Lisle. The supreme command of the armies, which

consisted of. Austrians, Prussians, English, and Dutch, was held by

General Clairfait. Against these Dampierre issued from his camp at

Famars, on the eighth of April, but his best troops were beaten at all

points, and he himself received a mortal wound. After this defeat

the republicans fell into a lamentable state of discouragement and

disorganization; General Lamarche, who had succeeded to the command,

being a man of neither skill nor energy. Had the allied powers pushed

forward, they might have carried the fortified camp of Famars without

any difficulty; but they allowed a whole fortnight to elapse before they

made the attempt; and then, reinforcements having been received, it was

not carried before many lives were lost on both sides, and after all

Lamarche was allowed to retire and occupy another fortified camp

between Valenciennes and Bouehain. The allied armies now laid siege to

Valenciennes, and it was in vain that General Custine, who had arrived

to take the command of the French army, sought to relieve the place;

it was captured towards the end of July, and the Duke of York took

possession of it in the name of the Emperor of Germany. About the same

time the garrison of Condé yielded themselves prisoners of war, and

Mayence submitted to the Prussian arms. A few days later the French were

driven from a strong position near the Scheldt, called Caesar’s Camp.

At this point the success of the allied armies during this campaign

closed. Jealousies and dissensions had long existed in their camp; and

after the French were driven from their position behind the Scheldt,

a grand council of war was held, wherein it was determined that the

British, Hanoverians, Dutch, and Hessians should form a distinct army,

not dependent upon the co-operation of the Austrians. This was the

origin of sad disasters; had they held together, and had they acted

vigorously against the enemy’s masses, which were weakened and depressed

by defeat, it is probable that the object of the war would have been

gained. The Prince of Saxe-Coburg and General Clairfait strongly

opposed the fatal step; but the British army, conducted by the Duke of

York, decamped, and moved towards Dunkirk, while the Imperialists sat

down before Quesnoy. The Austrians were successful in their enterprise:

after fifteen days the garrison of Quesnoy capitulated. A different fate

awaited the British army. The Duke of York arrived in the vicinity of

Menin on the 18th of August, where several severe contests took place,

and the post of Lincelles, lost by the Dutch, was recovered by a gallant

charge of the English guards, led on by General Sir John Lake. His royal

highness now laid siege to Dunkirk, where he was attacked by Houchard

and Jourdan, and from whence, after losing a great number of his forces,

he was compelled to make a precipitate retreat. This victory excited

great joy at Paris, and changed the aspect of the war from the German

Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Relieved from the immediate danger of

invasion, the convention had now time to mature its plans of conquest,

and to organise its numerous troops. Houchard, however, did not follow

up his success as a skilful general would have done. He neglected to

concentrate his forces and to attack the English, and after a series of

actions against detached corps and gaining a victory over the Dutch,

he was defeated at Courtray by General Beaulieu, and driven behind

the Lys. His army sought shelter under the cannon of Lisle, but he

was exposed to the fury of the convention; he was accused by his own

officers, brought before the revolutionary tribunal, condemned, and

executed.

By this time the French had formed an overwhelming force on the Belgian

frontier. Had they made a series of single concentrated attacks on

the divided forces of the allies, they could scarcely have failed of

crushing them in detail. Instead of acting thus, however, a scattered

enemy was attacked by separate corps, and there was fighting from

Dunkirk to Maubeuge, and from Maubeuge to Luxembourg.

After the retreat of the Duke of York, the French attacked every post

on that long frontier line, but were everywhere repulsed. They were more

successful at Maubeuge. The Austrians, after the capture of Quesnoy,

laid siege to this place, but the French under General Jourdan, attacked

them in their trenches on the 15th of October, and after sustaining a

great loss, forced them to raise the siege. Nothing more of importance

was undertaken in Flanders, and both parties went into winter-quarters:

the Austrians at Bavay, and the French at Guice. Jourdan was removed

from the chief command, and it was conferred on Pichegru, who had

all the talent, energy, and enterprise which the situation of the

republicans demanded.

After the capture of Mayence, and after having gained some trifling

advantages in skirmishes on the Rhine, the King of Prussia, impatient to

secure his iniquitous acquisitions in Poland, travelled with all speed

into that country. The command of his army was given to the Duke of

Brunswick, who was to act in concert with a small Austrian army under

Wnrihser. These two generals drove the French from several strong

posts, and expelled them from their fortified lines at Weissumberg, and

from the fortified camp and triple lines a Lauter. The Prussians

then laid siege to Landau, while the Austrians invested Strasburg, the

capital of the province of Alsace. The Austrians had been invited by

the noblesse of Strasburg, and the convention in consequence despatched

thither Saint Just and Lebas, who introduced the reign of terror, not

only into the town, but also into the whole of Alsace, except where

the Austrians were located. General Oustine was sent to Paris to be

beheaded, and Saint-Just called young Hoche from Dunkirk and gave him the

command of that army, which was now reinforced by nearly the whole of

the army of the Moselle. Wurmser was obliged to retreat, and Strasburg

was left to the mercy of the two commissioners of the convention.

General Hoche sought to get between Wurmser and the Duke of Brunswick,

but he was repulsed and put to flight with the loss of three or four

thousand men. The republican general then effected a junction with

the French army of the Rhine, and with some troops collected by the

commissioners in Alsace, and taking Wurmser by surprise, he defeated

the Austrians, making many prisoners. On the 26th of December, aided

by Desaix, Pichegru, and Michaud, General Hoche made an attack upon the

lines of Weissemberg, and was on the point of driving the Austrians from

thence, when he was checked by the Duke of Brunswick, who broke up the

siege of Landau, in order to assist his allies. The Duke of Brunswick

wished Wurmser, who, on the morrow, withdrew his army from the lines

of Weissemberg, to remain on the left bank of the Rhine, until all

his artillery and stores should be well advanced on the road towards

Mayence; but the Austrian general would not consent to remain a single

day, but crossed the Rhine, and left the duke to shift for himself. The

duke conducted his army safely to Mayence, but he soon after resigned

his command, with many bitter accusations against the Austrians. By the

end of this year the French had not only recovered their old frontier

lines in this direction, but had the whole of the Palatinate at their

mercy. They soon appeared before Manheim, and Germany began to tremble

for the safety of its own frontier.

The most energetic opponents with whom the republicans had to contend in

this campaign were the Spaniards. Two armies were formed in Spain; one

of 30,000 men to invade Rousillon; the other of 25,000, to penetrate

France on the side of Bayonne. The former of these two armies, under

Don Ricardos, gained several important victories, passed Perpignan, and

interrupted the communication between Rousillon and Languedoc. Alarmed

at the progress of this, formidable foe, the convention took energetic

measures to reinforce their armies. Two divisions were ordered to

advance against a corps of Spaniards under Don Juan Courten; and this

being defeated, the republicans determined to assault the camp of the

Spaniards at Truellas. The intrenchments were carried, and they were

on the point of gaining a victory, when Don Ricardos arrived with his

cavalry, and turned the fortune of the day: three French battalions

laid down their arms, and 4,000 were slain. The French general Davoust,

however, having been reinforced by 15,000 men, compelled Don Ricardos to

act on the defensive, and to retire to a strongly intrenched camp near

Boulon. But Ricardos still showed himself to be a formidable foe. Having

received reinforcements in the beginning of December, he attacked and

routed the republican army with a loss of 2,500 men, and this success

was followed by the capture of Port Vendre and Collioure. Davoust’s army

was so much discouraged that whole battalions disbanded and returned

home, and the national guards deserted their colours. The general

announced to the convention that he was left with only 8,000 men; but

Don Ricardos, ignorant of his opponent’s condition, did not follow up

his successes, and the arrival of reinforcements, sent from Toulon

in the beginning of the next month, rescued France from peril in this

quarter. The other force of the Spaniards, under Don Ventura Caro,

crossed the Bidassoa, and on the 1st of May drove the republicans from

one of their intrenched camps, taking fifteen pieces of cannon; and on

the 6th of June, after storming another camp and taking all its cannon

and ammunition, forced the French troops into Saint Pied de Port. Having

fortified some posts in the country, they repulsed a vigorous attack

made by the Republican forces, and so crippled them that no movement of

consequence could be undertaken during the rest of the campaign.

On the side of the Alps, the King of Sardinia, having received some

money from England, commenced the campaign with considerable vigour. He

was reinforced by some fresh Austrian regiments, under the command of

General Devins, and having collected the mass of their forces on the

maritime Alps, they resolved to make a descent into the country of Nice,

in order to wrest it from the French republicans, it being wholly in

their hands. Before they descended, fortified camps were to be made, and

sundry fortresses improved or reconstructed, to render it impossible,

even in case of a reverse, that the French should force the passes of

the mountain, and get into Piedmont on that side. Kellerman held the

command in chief of the French army of the Alps, and towards the end

of May he ordered Brunet, who commanded in Nice, to push forward to the

crests of the maritime Alps, and dislodge the Piedmontese and Austrians,

before they should have time to complete their fortifications. Brunet

divided his army into four columns, giving them instructions to attack

three of the more important points at once, and then to unite and fall

upon Fort Raus, which was the strongest of all, and the key to all the

country behind. The French columns ascended the steep heights on the 8th

of June, and the Piedmontese were driven from every position except

Fort Hans; but when they had ascended that loftier mountain, they were

repulsed and, finally, driven down the mountain with great loss. The

attack was renewed on the 12th; but they were again repulsed from Fort

Rtaus, and driven down the mountain, with a loss more dreadful than

the first. The French, disheartened by these reverses, were obliged to

confine themselves to the low country of Nice, and fearing the descent

of the enemy, Kellerman placed strong detachments in the gorges through

which they must have descended, and caused trenches to be dug and

redoubts raised to impede their progress. But the King of Sardinia did

not adhere to his purpose. General Devins was of opinion that while a

part of the army should be left on the maritime Alps to keep the French

forces in check, the greater part of the army, composed of the Austrians

and of the best Piedmontese and Sardinian troops, should march through

Savoy, drive the French out of that country, chastise the Savoyard

Jacobins, and thence march straight on the populous city of Lyons. The

King of Sardinia finally resolved to unite this plan with his own, and

to pursue them both at the same time. His son, the Duke of Montferrat,

was sent to drive the republicans out of Savoy and the Tarantaise; and

though the duke took the field several weeks too late, he drove the

French before him, took possession of the Tarantaise, and became master

of the whole of Upper Savoy and of a great part of the low country.

Instead of advancing rapidly upon Lyons, however, the Duke halted at

Aigur Belle; and Kellerman, hearing of his successes, rushed from his

camp at Tornns with reinforcements for the French camp at Conflans,

and being joined by other republicans from Annecy and the country round

Geneva, the Duke of Montferrat was obliged to retrace his steps, and to

abandon everything he had gained on the eastern side of the Alps. The

King of Sardinia had remained on the maritime Alps, and, like his son,

began operations by driving the republicans before him. Descending from

the crests of his mountain station, he made himself master of all the

advanced posts and works of the French; but on the 18th of October

he was repulsed with great loss at the bridge of Giletta, and then he

retreated by the roads through which he had come, leaving Nice to the

French, and depriving the English and Spaniards, with his other allies

at Toulon, of any hope they might have entertained of future assistance

from him.

Before war was declared against Great Britain, the French resolved

to make use of their sovereignty over the Mediterranean sea. Admiral

Truguet was sent with nineteen ships of the line and some frigates to

make the conquest of Sardinia, chiefly, it would appear, for the purpose

of obtaining corn from that exuberantly fertile island. It was imagined

by the French that the Sardinians, who were an unruly and turbulent

people, were ripe for revolt, and that, therefore, with their aid,

they would throw off the yoke of monarchy. But if the Sardinians were

turbulent they were not disaffected; and, moreover, they had a mortal

aversion for all changes, all projects, all foreigners, and all

interlopers. Truguet soon discovered their temper. He sailed into the

bay of Cagliari on the 24th of January; and as soon as he had anchored

his great ships in front of the town, he sent an officer and twenty

soldiers to summon the place, and to represent the advantages which the

islanders would derive from a union with the French republic. No sooner,

however, had the boat got within the range of their guns, than the

Sardinians opened a fire upon it, and killed the officer and fourteen

of his men, and wounding nearly all the rest. Truguet, enraged at such a

reception, commanded a bombardment on the town, which lasted three days

without any visible effect on its walls; and having suffered great loss

from the red-hot shot of the garrison, he was compelled to haul off, and

come to anchor at the mouth of the Gulf. About the same time an attack

was made with the same ill-success on La Madalena, a small island

belonging to the Sardinians in the Straits of Bonifacio, by a small

republican force from Corsica, among which was Napoleon Buonaparte, It

was months after Truguet’s Sardinian adventure, when the English put

to sea for the purpose of encountering the French fleet. On the 14th of

July Lord Howe took the command of the channel-fleet; and though he

kept cruizing till the 10th of December, and several times descried

the French fleet, the services he rendered did not much exceed that of

securing the safe arrival of our West-India convoys. The first encounter

between two frigates of the hostile nations took place in the Channel;

when the Nymph, of thirty-two guns, commanded by Captain Edward Pellew,

captured the Cleopatra, of forty guns, commanded by one of the ablest

officers in the French service. In the West Indies the French island

of Tobago, St. Pierre, Miquelon, and Domingo were reduced; but at

Martinique the English met with a repulse. In the East Indies all the

small French factories were seized, and Pondicherry, which had been

restored at the last peace, surrendered to General Brathwaite.

{GEORGE III. 1793–1794}

During the month of July Vice Admiral Lord Hood entered the

Mediterranean with a small fleet, and presented himself before Toulon.

Many old officers of the French navy were in this city, and they entered

into a correspondence with Lord Hood suggesting the separate measures,

of surrendering their fleet to him, and putting him in possession of the

ports and forts. As a proof of their loyalty and sincerity, Hood called

upon them to acknowledge Louis the Seventeenth, and upon that condition

he promised the people of Toulon, together with those of Marseilles

and other towns, all the support in his power. The sections met to

deliberate upon this proposal; and notwithstanding the fierce opposition

of the Jacobins, it was carried. Thus victorious, the majority put to

death the president of the Jacobin club; persecuted and imprisoned many

of their persecutors; and re-revolutionized everything. They committed

themselves so deeply that they felt they had nothing to expect from the

republicans but destruction; and as they were victorious at Marseilles,

the counter-revolutionists concluded their treaty with Lord Hood; and

thus the most important maritime place of the kingdom, with immense

magazines, and with a fleet of seventeen ships of the line and five

frigates, fell, without a stroke of the sword, into the hands of the

English. Lord Hood, however, had scarcely put the port in order and

taken possession of the town, before General Cartaux arrived with his

victorious army from Marseilles, and cantoned himself in the surrounding

villages and bastides. He was subsequently joined by volunteers and

other corps; and Lord Hood, sensible that the most desperate efforts

would be made to recover the place, and that his sailors and the French

royalists would be unequal to its defence, applied in all directions

for assistance. He was joined by the Spanish Admiral Langara, by some

Neapolitan and Sardinian troops, and by other ships of the line and

frigates from England, and subsequently by some troops from Gibraltar.

Before active operations commenced General Cartaux was succeeded in the

command of the republican forces by General Dugommier. But there was

one in his army who was more skilful than Dugommier himself. This was

Napoleon Buonaparte, who had served at Nice during the summer as a

young officer of artillery, and in whom Dugommier placed the greatest

confidence. Buonaparte was also in favour with the Jacobin commissioners

of the convention; and though but a youth, he obtained the command of

the whole besieging artillery. The executive at Paris sent a plan of

attack to Dugommier, and the commander-in-chief assembled a council upon

it. Dugommier thought the plan a good one, but Buonaparte suggested

a better. He remarked: “All that you want is to force the English to

evacuate Toulon. Instead of attacking them in the town, which must

involve a long series of operations, try and establish batteries which

shall sweep the harbour and the roadstead. If you can only drive away

the ships, the troops will not remain.” Buonaparte contrived to conduct

the works according to his own plan, and his genius decided the fate

of Toulon. After a series of operations, Lord Hood was compelled to

evacuate the town, and its wretched inhabitants were left to the mercy

of their furious republican conquerors. Dugommier subsequently strongly

recommended Buonaparte to the notice of the convention, remarking,

“that, if neglected, he would assuredly force his own way up.” On this

recommendation he was placed on the list for promotion, and confirmed in

a provisional appointment of chef-de-battaillon in the army of Italy.

The capture of Toulon crushed all hope of resistance to the Jacobins in

the south of France. Every danger to the republican government of Paris,

indeed, arising from an ill-converted and ill-directed confederacy, had

been warded off in all quarters. At the commencement of the contest

the allies had the advantage both in numbers and discipline; but this

advantage was no match for that spirit which the revolution had infused

into their opponents. Moreover, their adherence to the old system of

warfare, and the policy of merely keeping up their contingents, soon

exposed them to dispersion or annihilation, as the overthrow of all

pacific employments in France enabled the convention to send out armies

in large masses wherever danger was discovered.

Revolutionized France, therefore, was left free to act and to conquer.

And how fearfully the republicans acted, how cruelly they treated their

vanquished foes, the pages of history unfolds. It has before been stated

that in all the revolted provinces their arms during the year were

finally victorious—wherever they conquered there followed vengeance.

The most fearful scenes wore enacted in the Vendée. The inhabitants of

this department, which is situated in the old province of Poitou, were

terrified at the idea of liberty, which had never come before their

understanding, and they repeated the execrations that priests and nobles

threw out against the revolution and its leaders. From small beginnings

a terrible storm arose: the insurrection which began in Lower Poitou

extended the whole length of the Loire, both north and south of that

river. In the space of one month there were forty thousand men under

arms, and two months later, thrice that number threatened death to

the republicans. In many bloody engagements the republican troops were

defeated by them. During the battle-cry, “Vive Louis XVII! Vive Jesus

Christ!” they rushed upon the soldiers of the republic, and in their

native country appeared invincible. Alarmed at their valour and success,

the convention, upon the proposal of Barrère, decreed the extermination

of the Vendée within twenty-one days; and in order to carry this decree

into execution they poured their troops from all sides into that

doomed country. The decisive battle was won near Chollet: D Elbée

and Beauchamp, two of their most noble leaders, fell, and then their

soldiers, seized with terror, fled, and the republic celebrated the most

bloody triumph. Humanity shudders at the atrocities which then ensued.

The convention had proscribed the whole population of the Vendée,

and its generals executed the dreadful proscription with tiger

rage;—children, old men, and women were pitilessly massacred, and ruin

marked the path of the victors. The bulk of the Vendee army had passed

the Loire, where it was reinforced by many malcontents arriving from

Bretagne, and after several victories intended to march upon Paris;

whilst Charette with a small force occupied the most inaccessible parts

of the Vendée, and conquered the islands of Boccin and Noirmoutier.

But it was in vain that they struggled against the masses which the

convention soon poured forth against them.

After changing results, the death-blow was given to them at Maus, in the

month of December: 20,000 then fell in the field of battle, and, soon

after, the remnant of their army was annihilated. Again vengeance

fell upon the inhabitants of the Vendée: columns sur-named “Infernal”

inarched through the country in all directions, destroying thousands

of its inhabitants, and carrying thousands more as prisoners to Nantes,

where they were delivered over to the tiger-fangs of the monster

Carrier. Doomed to death, they were there either crushed in bodies by

the cannon’s thunder, slain with the sword, or drowned by hundreds in

the Loire. Similar atrocities filled Lyons, the ornament of the south of

France; and Bordeaux and Marseilles suffered the like hard fate.

Nor was Paris, the seat of the revolution, free from scenes of

slaughter. As it has been said of Rome, she did “fearful execution

on herself.” After the fall of the Girondists, their mortal foes, the

Jacobins, proceeded to establish the most democratic constitution

that ever existed. From that time the committee of public safety, now

composed of decimvirs under the infamous, Robespierre, exercised all the

powers of government, ruling the provinces, generals, and armies, with

despotic sway, by means of its commissioners, and exercising, by the

revolutionary tribunal, supreme authority over both property and life.

Every section of the community was held in terror by this miscalled

“committee of public safety.” Even the representatives of the people,

which thought itself called to liberate the world, and with them the

whole people, trembled before these few tyrants, who, elevated from the

dust by the power of accidents more than by that of genius, displayed

a hideousness never yet beheld. “The whole people was in fearful

excitement by anger, by fear, and love of liberty; and the terrorists,

grasping at the terrible as the only means of salvation, manifested

hereby the fever convulsions of the nation.” The prisons in Paris were,

during this year, filled with all that yet remained of dignity or

virtue in the republic; while thousands upon thousands perished by the

blood-stained guillotine. The “committee of public safety,” consisting

of Robespierre, Barrère, Billaud, Varennes, Callot d’Herbois, Carnott,

Prieux, Lindet, Couthon, Saint Just, and Jean Bon Saint André, sat

almost uninterruptedly, dealing destruction to all around. A law, to the

application of which an unlimited extension was given, exposed even the

suspicious to the mercy of this revolutionary tribunal. Every day

new victims, both in Paris and in the provinces, were sent to the

guillotine. Among the more afflicting tragic scenes of these fearful

times was the execution of Marie Antoinette. She,—the once all-powerful

queen of France, she,—the daughter of Maria Theresa, sister of

three emperors, and aunt of one emperor still living,—after she

had languished many months in prison, was finally dragged before the

criminal tribunal, condemned, and carried in a cart to the place of

execution. So perished the innocent Princess Elizabeth, the sister of

the slain monarch; and so fell the criminal Duke of Orleans. But

the terrorists murdered not only princes and royalists, but also

acknowledged friends of the revolution. The “Mountain” party even turned

its rage against itself: Chaumette, Hébert, and Anarcharsis Cloots,

all fierce demagogues and heads of the common-council of Paris, were

arrested by order of the “committee of public safety,” and executed with

sixteen of their partisans. Thus perished also their violent enemies the

Cordeliers, among whom were Danton and Desmoulins; and thus fell several

of the most successful generals of the republic. This unheard-of tyranny

continued for eighteen months, during which space of time one million of

persons perished, as is proved by detailed calculations, by the hand of

the assassin and the executioner: others died of grief and misery. Many

of these perished in the provinces, for the furious “Sansculottes” were

commissioned to march through the bleeding kingdoms carrying along with

them a movable guillotine, beneath which thousands perished. And these

made war, not only upon their species, but upon the arts and sciences,

which they regarded as allies of the aristocracy. Scenes of folly

alternated with those of rage and brutality: Vandalism obtained the

possession of the beautiful country of France. The fine tone of society

was superseded by the rudest manners; and even the better sort affected

them that they might not be suspected of favouring aristocracy. As

a climax to their folly and madness, the republicans even assailed

religion. First, the republican calendar was substituted for the

Christian calendar; then, the celebration of the Christian festivals

was restricted; and, finally, the ordinary worship gave place to the

so-named “service of reason,” as the emblem of which prostitutes were

placed upon the altar. Such was the liberty for which the French had

contended—such the liberty for which some in England would even at the

close of this year have obtained, at the price of the blessings which

they enjoyed under a monarchical and free constitution.

“Scorn and contempt forbid me to proceed!

But history, time’s slavish scribe, will tell,

How rapidly the zealots of the cause

Disbanded—or in hostile ranks appeared;

Some tired of honest service; these, outdone,

Disgusted, therefore, or appalled by aims

Of fiercer zealots—so confusion reigned,

And the more faithful were compelled to exclaim

As Brutus did to virtue—

‘Liberty, worshipped thee, and find thee but a shade.’

—Wordsworth.”