The country had for several years experienced the utmost prosperity
and peace, when it was roused by a series of events which took place
in France. The proceedings of the French nation for redressing the
political grievances under which they had long labored, commenced in
1789, and were at first very generally applauded in Britain, as likely
to raise that nation to a rational degree of freedom. Ere long, the
violence shown at the destruction of the Bastile, the abolition of
hereditary privileges, the open disrespect for religion, and other
symptoms of an extravagant spirit, manifested by the French, produced
a considerable change in the sentiments of the British people. The
proceedings of the French were still justified by the principal
leaders of Opposition in Parliament, and by a numerous class of the
community; but they inspired the government, and the propertied and
privileged classes generally, with great alarm and distrust.
When at length the coalition of Austria and Prussia with the fugitive
noblesse had excited the spirit of the French people to a species of
frenzy, and led to the establishment of a Republic, and the death of
the king, the British government and its supporters were effectually
roused to a sense of the danger which hung over all ancient
institutions, and a pretext was found (January 1793) for declaring war
against France. A comparatively small body of the people were opposed
to this step, which was also loudly deprecated in Parliament by
Messrs. Fox and Sheridan; but all these remonstrances were drowned in
the general voice of the nation. At such a crisis, to speak of
political reforms in England seemed the height of imprudence, as
tending to encourage the French. All, therefore, who continued to make
open demonstrations for that cause, were now branded as enemies to
religion and civil order. In Scotland, Mr. Thomas Muir, a barrister,
and Mr. Palmer, a Unitarian clergyman, were tried for sedition, and
sentenced to various terms of banishment. Citizens named Skirving,
Gerald, and Margarot, were treated in like manner by the Scottish
criminal judges, for offenses which could only be said to derive the
character ascribed to them from the temporary and accidental
circumstances of the nation. An attempt to inflict similar punishments
upon the English reformers, was defeated by the acquittal of a
shoemaker named Hardy; but the party was nevertheless subjected, with
the apparent concurrence of a large and influential portion of the
people, to many minor severities.
After alliances had been formed with the other powers hostile to
France, the British ministers despatched an army to the Netherlands,
under the command of the king’s second son, the Duke of York, to
coöperate in reducing the fortresses in possession of the French,
while the town of Toulon, being inclined to remain under the authority
of the royal family, put itself into the hands of a British naval
commander. At first, the French seemed to fail somewhat in their
defenses; but on a more ardently republican party acceding to power
under the direction of the famous Robespierre, the national energies
were much increased, and the Duke of Brunswick experienced a series of
disgraceful reverses. The Prussian government, having adopted new
views of the condition of France, now began to withdraw its troops, on
the pretext of being unable to pay them; and though Britain gave
nearly a million and a quarter sterling to induce this power to remain
nine months longer upon the field, its coöperation was of no further
service, and was soon altogether lost. On the 1st of June 1794, the
French Brest fleet sustained a severe defeat from Lord Howe, with the
loss of six ships; but the republican troops not only drove the
combined armies out of the Netherlands, but taking advantage of an
unusually hard frost, invaded Holland by the ice which covered the
Rhine, and reduced that country to a Republic under their own control.
The successes of the British were limited to the above naval victory,
the temporary possession of Corsica and Toulon, the capture of several
of the French colonies in the West Indies, and the spoliation of a
great quantity of the commercial shipping of France; against which
were to be reckoned the expulsion of an army from the Netherlands, the
loss of 10,000 men and 60,000 stand of arms, in an unsuccessful
descent upon the west coast of France, some considerable losses in
mercantile shipping, and an increase of annual expenditure from about
fourteen to nearly forty millions.
In the course of the year 1795, the lower portions of the community
began to appear violently discontented with the progress of the war,
and to renew their demands for reform in the state. As the king was
passing (October 29) to open the session of Parliament, a stone was
thrown into his coach, and the interference of the horse guards was
required to protect his person from an infuriated mob. The ministers
consequently obtained acts for more effectually repressing sedition,
and for the dispersion of political meetings. They were at the same
time compelled to make a show of yielding to the popular clamor for
peace; and commenced a negotiation with the French Directory, which
was broken off by the refusal of France to restore Belgium to Austria.
In the ensuing year, so far from any advance being made towards the
subjugation of France, the northern states of Italy were overrun by
its armies, and formed into what was called the Cisalpine Republic.
The celebrated Napoleon Bonaparte made his first conspicuous
appearance as the leader of this expedition, which terminated in
Austria submitting to a humiliating peace. At the close of 1796, a
French fleet sailed for Ireland, with the design of revolutionizing
that country, and detaching it from Britain; but its object was
defeated by stress of weather. At this crisis, a new attempt was made
to negotiate with the French Republic; but as the events of the year
had been decidedly favorable to France, a renewed demand of the
British for the surrender of Belgium was looked upon as a proof that
they were not sincere in their proposals, and their agent was
insultingly ordered to leave the French territory. To add to the
distresses of Britain, while Austria was withdrawn from the number of
her allies, Spain, by a declaration of war in 1797, increased in no
inconsiderable degree the immense force with which she had to contend.