At the commencement of 1801, Britain had not only to lament this
unexpected turn of fortune, but to reckon among her enemies the whole
of the northern states of Europe, which had found it necessary to
place themselves on a friendly footing with Bonaparte, and though they
did not declare war against Britain, yet acted in such a manner as to
render hostilities unavoidable. Nelson sailed in March with a large
fleet for Copenhagen, and proved so successful against the Danish
fleet, as to reduce that country to a state of neutrality. The death
of the Russian Emperor Paul, which took place at the same time, and
the accession of Alexander, who was friendly to Britain, completely
broke up the northern confederacy. Yet the great achievements of
France on the continent, joined to the distresses of a famine which at
this time bore hard on the British people, produced a desire for that
peace which, a year before, might have been gained upon better terms.
With a view, apparently, to save the honor of Mr. Pitt and his
friends, a new ministry was appointed under Mr. Addington, by whom a
peace was at length, in the end of the year (1801), concluded with
France, which was left in the state of aggrandizement which has just
been described.
The war of the French Revolution placed Great Britain in possession of
a considerable number of islands and colonies in the East and West
Indies and elsewhere; and while only two war ships had been lost on
her part, she had taken or destroyed 80 sail of the line, 181
frigates, and 224 smaller ships, belonging to the enemy, together with
743 privateers, 15 Dutch, and 76 Spanish ships. The triumphs of the
British fleets were indeed numerous and splendid, and had the effect
of keeping the national commerce almost inviolate during the whole of
the war while that of France was nearly destroyed. There was, however,
hardly the most trifling instance of success by land; and the expenses
of the contest had been enormous. Previously to 1793, the supplies
usually voted by the House of Commons were £14,000,000; but those for
1801 were £42,197,000――a sum about double the amount of the whole
land-rent of the country.