depraved than he was. They would gladly have continued the Revolution in
its most odious form. But the Terror once destroyed, it was impossible
to check a reactionary movement. The revolutionary Committee and
Tribunal were modified, the Commune destroyed, the club of the Jacobins
dissolved, and the Girondins who had escaped execution recalled. Such
measures did not please the mob of Paris, still further excited by the
constant continuance of famine. On the 12th Germinal (April 1), and
again on the 1st Prairial (May 20), they rose in insurrection, invaded
the hall of the Convention, clamouring for bread and the constitution of
1793. For six hours a wild tumult raged within the walls. But soldiers
had been collected, and with the aid of the troops of the more
reactionary Paris sections order was restored. This was the deathblow of
the democratic party. A new constitution was drawn up, the executive
power was vested in five directors, and two councils, the one of 500,
the other of 250, established. The hopes of the royalists had been
raised by the late reactionary movement. Finding themselves thwarted by
the new constitution, the richer sections and the partisans of reaction
marched on the Tuileries. General Menou proved unequal to his place, and
the task of defending the Assembly was given to Barras, who chose as his
active lieutenant Bonaparte. With a vigour unchecked by fear of shedding
the blood of citizens, this young officer brought up thirty cannon from
the camp of Sablons, and received the advancing insurrectionists with
such showers of grape, that, though not without a short resistance, they
were completely defeated. This was the first step towards military
despotism. The new constitution came into effect on the 27th of October
1795.
[Sidenote: Pitt's first negotiations for peace.]
Thus, before it was understood how completely the army had got the upper
hand in France, how completely from henceforward its interests would be
military, the appearance of something more like a permanent and orderly
government in the shape of the Directory seemed for the instant to give
hopes of peace. Towards that point Pitt's feelings had been gradually
tending. Even as early as December 1795 he had spoken of the possibility
of an honourable peace should a more settled government ever be arrived
at in France, and since then much had happened to induce him to lower
his tone. In spite of all his efforts, he had seen his great coalition
disappear at the Congress at Basle. He had seen the complete ruin of his
Quiberon expedition. More than that, all his best tendencies had been
shocked by the consequences of his own government at home. But the
opening of his eyes to the fallacy of his belief in the speedy
bankruptcy of France and its rapid conquest, with which in all his
difficulties he had hitherto buoyed himself up, came too late. His
application for peace through the Swiss minister (March 1796), which the
King announced at the close of the session, met with a very cold
reception. For the Government of France, having just been re-established
on a new and more dangerous basis, would listen to no terms which
implied the restoration of the Low Countries to Austria; and as it was
impossible for Pitt, after his conduct to that country, to suggest any
other terms, the negotiations speedily came to nothing.
[Sidenote: Napoleon's Italian campaign. 1796.]
Indeed, the French Republic had this year reached a pitch of glory
unequalled in the palmiest times of the monarchy. Carnot, who was again
in power as one of the Directory, had conceived a plan for a campaign of
this year upon a gigantic scale. Three armies were to push out from
France and strike all of them by the three different roads, of the
Maine, the Danube, and the Po, at Vienna. Three young generals were
intrusted with the task. Jourdan was given the army of the Sambre and
Meuse, Moreau the army of the Rhine and Moselle, Bonaparte succeeded
Schérer in the command of the army of Italy. The preceding year the
battle of Loano had secured to the French the Riviera as far as Savona,
but the troops were destitute of every necessary. Napoleon aroused their
enthusiasm by promises, and in a fortnight had separated the Austrians
and Piedmontese, defeated the former at Montenotte and Dégo, and thrown
them back into Lombardy, the latter at Millesimo, and again at Mondovi,
as he pursued them towards Turin, and finally wrung from them a treaty
which left him at liberty to pursue the Austrians. Another fortnight was
hardly over before he had turned the Austrian position on the Ticino by
the passage of the Po at Placenza, driven them from the Adda by the
victories of Fombio and Lodi, and having chased them behind the Mincio,
secured the whole of Lombardy to the French. Bonaparte completed the
first act of the campaign by securing the line of the Adige and forming
the siege of Mantua. He employed some weeks in conquering Italy as far
south as Naples, but from this work he was recalled by the approach of
an Austrian army to raise the siege of Mantua. Wurmser came down the
Adige on one side of the Lake of Garda, Quasdanowich down the Chiesa on
the other. Bonaparte, giving up every other object for the moment,
placed himself between the armies, defeated Quasdanowich, at Lonato on
the one hand, and Wurmser at Castiglioni on the other, and thus driving
them into the Tyrol, resumed the siege of Mantua. Wurmser made one more
effort to raise the siege; again he advanced with two armies, hoping to
enclose the French. Davidowich descended the Adige, Wurmser the valley
of the Brenta. The battle of Roveredo destroyed the former, while
Bonaparte, turning rapidly into the valley of the Brenta in pursuit of
Wurmser, came up with and defeated him at Bassano. Thus cut off from
Germany, the Austrian general had no resource but to take refuge in
Mantua (Sept. 12). The Austrians could not leave their army thus shut up
in Mantua, and a fresh effort was made to save it. It was again a double
attack, but after three days' fight, Alvinzi, coming from the east, was
beaten at Arcola, and the attempt failed. Six weeks later he made one
more desperate effort, but was defeated again on the plateau of Rivoli.
Alvinzi's attack had been rendered the more dangerous, because upon the
Maine and Rhine Jourdan and Moreau had been unsuccessful. There the
Archduke Charles had in a certain degree followed the same plans as
Bonaparte, and directing his whole force against Jourdan, had compelled
the retreat of Moreau also. It was to this victorious general that the
Austrians looked to continue their defence. But Bonaparte, in the
beginning of the following year, repeatedly drove him backwards,
defeated him on the Tagliamento, drove him into the mountains, and
defeated him at Neumarck, and finally, having secured the pass of the
Semmering, and being within eighty miles of Vienna, he obliged the
Archduke to demand a suspension of arms, and opened negotiations known
as the Preliminaries of Léoben (April 13), which were completed under
the title of Campo Formio on the 17th of October 1797.
[Sidenote: Pitt's second negotiations for peace.]
On the Rhine and the Maine the two other divisions of the general plan
had not met with the same success as had attended the arms of Bonaparte.
Great and astonishing as his progress had been, it did not therefore
seem as yet to have closed all hope of peace, for which in fact it had
only rendered Pitt more anxious; and as the establishment of the
Directory seemed to promise that permanence to the Government which Pitt
had declared to be the indispensable condition of any hopeful
negotiations, it was determined in the autumn of this year (1796) to
make a fresh effort, this time direct, to negotiate with the Directory.
For this purpose Lord Malmesbury was despatched to Paris. The English
believed that they had something they could offer in exchange for any
restorations France might make. The Cape of Good Hope had been captured
in the preceding year, and in the spring of the present year Moore and
Abercrombie had done good service in the West Indies. Many of the
islands there had been taken, Guadaloupe almost alone remained in French
hands. These conquests they offered to restore. But if the French had
been unwilling to treat in the preceding year, their successes in Italy
had not rendered them more moderate; they were at this very time
arranging, at the instigation of the malcontents in Ireland, represented
by Wolfe Tone, a plan for the conquest of Ireland under the command of
General Hoche, and probably a still greater plan for the invasion of
England itself. In fact, there was still the same irremediable
objection--the English still felt bound in honour not to resign the
Netherlands to France. "On this point," writes Grenville in his
instructions to Malmesbury, "your Lordship must not give the smallest
hope that his Majesty will be induced to relax." There was also another
point in the French diplomacy which rendered the negotiations difficult.
They could not understand the position of a plenipotentiary who had not
absolutely full powers to act without reference to his own Court, and
taking umbrage at the repeated couriers who went to and fro from Paris,
declared their belief that the effort at peace was not honest on the
part of England, and that Malmesbury had not full powers at all; and
finally, De la Croix, a somewhat stiff man of the red tape school, who
had from the first behaved with considerable rudeness, wrote suddenly to
Malmesbury bidding him leave Paris within eighteen hours. Thus closed
the second effort on the part of Pitt to make peace, chiefly important
because it clears him from the charge of inveterate determination to
continue the war, because it throws the blame of that continuance
completely on the French, and because it shows the effect which the
lengthened efforts of England, especially the pressure on the finances,
were having upon the naturally peaceful and economical mind of the
minister.
[Sidenote: Preparations to resist the threatened French invasion.]
The preparations for invasion from abroad could not be kept secret, and
fresh and constant efforts had been made to meet them. Fresh levies were
made both for the navy and for the army; supplementary bodies of militia
were raised; plans suggested for the establishment of large bodies of
irregular cavalry, and the enrolment as irregular infantry of all those
who paid a gun license. More than this, in spite of the pressure on the
finances, under which the funds had fallen as low as £53, a new loan of
£18,000,000 was raised upon terms which, though we should now think very
high, were not then considered remunerative. The loan, which bore a
nominal interest of 5 per cent., was issued at £112, 10s.; that is,
every £112, 10s. advanced was to represent £100, thus practically
reducing the interest to less than 4½ per cent. Pitt found it necessary
to make a distinct appeal to the loyalty of the people to raise the loan
on these terms; but the temper of the wealthy classes and the amount of
riches still existing in England were shown by the extraordinary
rapidity with which the subscription list was filled. £1,000,000 was
subscribed by the Bank in their corporate capacity, £400,000 by the
directors individually; before the close of the first day £5,000,000 was
subscribed by different merchants. At ten o'clock on the Monday the
doors were opened, and by twenty minutes past eleven the subscription
was declared to be full; hundreds were reluctantly obliged to go away.
By the post innumerable orders came from the country, scarcely one of
which could be accepted, and long after the subscription was closed
persons continued coming, and were obliged to depart disappointed.[13]
The Duke of Bridgewater sent a draft on sight of £100,000, a similar sum
was even given by the Duke of Bedford, one of the staunchest opponents
of the war. The Ministry subscribed £10,000 a piece.
[Sidenote: French expeditions to Bantry Bay and Bristol.]
Such an outburst of loyalty might have opened the eyes of the French as
to the difference between the revolutionary temper of England and of
their own country, but their ignorance of the temper both of England and
Ireland was extreme; General Clark (subsequently Napoleon's War
Minister) was at this very time asking Wolfe Tone whether he thought it
probable that in case of a landing in Ireland the Irish Lord Chancellor
would join the rebels. On the 15th of December the great expedition for
Ireland set sail from Brest. Like so many invasions of England, it was
thwarted by the uncertainties of the sea. After a stormy passage a few
ships assembled in Bantry Bay; but the general had been driven in
another direction; there were no signs of the eager Jacobin uprising
which the French had expected, the commanders were afraid to proceed
without orders from Hoche, and the expedition straggled back again to
Brest, with the loss of four line of battle-ships and eight frigates. A
similar untimely fate met a more desperate assault intended for the
shores of England. Some 1500 men, two-thirds of whom were liberated
galley-slaves, and from their character known as the "Légion noire,"
were sent under Colonel Tate with the intention of burning Bristol. They
landed on the shores of Pembrokeshire, and it needed but the appearance
of a few militia and yeomanry under Lord Cawdor (and it is frequently
said of a few old Welsh women in their red cloaks and hats) to induce
the crew of miscreants to take to flight. The expedition was probably
only intended as a sort of forlorn hope to discover in what state of
preparation England was, for the negotiations having entirely ceased,
the French were thinking of a great attack on England itself.
[Sidenote: Critical condition of England.]
The idea of invasion was a well-timed one; at no time in the war, either
before or after, was England in so critical a condition or its existence
so precarious. It had become plain by this time that the strength of
England, at all events under the present management, lay in two
directions--in its enormous resources and capacity for paying money, and
in its fleet. Though such troops as had been employed had exhibited
their usual bravery, though when well led, as in India, their efforts
had met with great success, it was evident that the present ministry,
hampered by their political relations and by the incessant interference
of the King himself in the army, was unable to make any real show in the
European war. But already in the last four years nearly eighty millions
had been added to the National Debt, every variety of taxation almost
had been tried both to cover the interest of the accumulating debt and
to supply the yearly million to the sinking fund, and men began to think
that the sources of money must shortly begin to fail. And yet the
subsidized armies abroad had met with nothing but disaster. The North of
Germany, including even the King's electorate of Hanover, had been
driven to enter into a neutrality. Prussia had in the last year signed
two conventions of the most amicable and friendly description with
France; and the well-known selfishness of the Austrian Court did not
allow it to be questioned that, if it saw its way to permanent
advantage, it also would close its disastrous campaign by deserting the
coalition. Worse even than that remained behind; it seemed as if the
country was really upon the verge of a national bankruptcy, for the
amount of specie was found insufficient to carry on the business of the
country. At the same time that the financial strength of England seemed
to have been fruitlessly exhausted, her permanent power upon the sea
seemed on the point of disappearing also; for not only had the French
been lately turning their attention to their own navy, but the successes
of their arms had given them the command both of the fleets of Holland
and Spain. Holland, formed into the Batavian Republic, had early
purchased peace by promising thirty ships: in the July of the last year
Spain had entered into a similar convention, and the whole of her naval
resources, as many as forty line of battle-ships, were at the disposal
of the French. It was with these combined armaments that the intended
descent upon England was to take place. And just as the internal ruin
had gone hand in hand with the failure of external financial influence,
so it appeared that the new-born naval power of our enemies would go
hand in hand with the total dissolution of our maritime force: for
disaffection was widely spread among our sailors, and the year was
marked by the mutinies of St. Helen's and the Nore.
[Sidenote: Monetary crisis.]
[Sidenote: Suspension of cash payments.]
In point of time it was the financial difficulty which first arose. The
difficulty was not what is called a commercial but a monetary crisis.
There was no want of credit, there was no want of solid wealth, but
there was every chance of there being such a dearth of the circulating
medium that the ordinary transactions of business would not be able to
be carried on, that it would be impossible to meet engagements as they
fell due, and that consequently many houses would be forced to stop
payment, and a general bankruptcy be the result, more especially as it
seemed probable that at the head of the banks that stopped payment would
be the Bank of England itself. The causes of this state of things are
not very difficult to understand. The same forces which had been at work
to produce the necessary issue of Exchequer bills in 1793 had continued;
the balance of trade had been constantly against the country. The
position of Spain, Italy, France and Holland in the ranks of our enemies
had of necessity curtailed the number of our purchasers. The necessity
of war supplies and several poor harvests had rendered necessary the
purchase of much food and of much raw material, consequently to restore
the balance large payments in gold and silver had to be made. The great
subsidies granted to foreign powers had necessarily been chiefly paid
in specie. Large compensation had been given for the freights and
cargoes of neutral ships which had been seized; and the Government for
their special purposes had had to borrow upwards of ten millions in
specie from the Bank. Threats of invasion had induced people throughout
the country to realize their property as far as possible; this had
produced a run upon the country banks, which had in turn demanded their
deposits from the Bank of England. All these accumulated causes had so
lowered the reserve, that on Saturday the 20th of February there was
only £1,272,000 in the Bank cellars, and it was known that the demands
of the next forty-eight hours would entirely empty them. In this crisis
the Bank applied to the Government; a Council was immediately held,
although it was Sunday, and a proclamation was issued forbidding
payments in cash. A meeting of merchants next day sanctioned this step,
promising to accept bank notes as legal tender. On examination the Bank
was found solvent, but a Bill was passed prohibiting it to pay in cash
more than twenty shillings, or to advance to Government more than
£600,000. Though only intended as a temporary expedient, this Act
continued in operation for twenty-two years, and during the whole of
that time the depreciation of the paper money was comparatively slight.
[Sidenote: The threatened invasion checked by the victory of St.
Vincent.]
The danger caused by the mutiny was still greater: it was the intention
of the French Directory that the fleet of the Texel, composed entirely
of the Dutch, the fleet at Brest which had been collected for the
invasion of Ireland, and the great Spanish fleet, should combine. Thus,
an armament of more than seventy ships of the line would sweep the
English fleet from the Channel, and any operations against the island
would be rendered safe. But the check sustained by the Spanish fleet off
Cape St. Vincent ruined the well-conceived plan. A few days before Tate
landed in England, the great Spanish fleet set sail from Carthagena,
intending to join the French fleet off Brest and the Dutch fleet off the
Texel, and thus secure the mastery of the Channel. Sir John Jervis was
Admiral in the Mediterranean, and with him was Commodore Nelson, and
though the Spanish fleet had twelve more ships than he had, and 1200
more guns, he determined to fight. He contrived to separate nine Spanish
ships from the main body, and took four of the remainder, and though the
separated ships joined the line in the evening, and Jervis was still
outnumbered, the Spanish fleet retired into Cadiz.
But though the combined invasion was thus thwarted, the whole danger
for England, or rather for Ireland, was by no means at an end. Hoche had
been removed from the army of the Ocean to the army of the Sambre and
Meuse. His mind was constantly bent upon the invasion of Ireland, and,
acting under his influence, the Dutch Government, wishing to do
something to show that they were not entirely effaced from the list of
nations, with great efforts strengthened and equipped their fleet at the
Texel till it numbered fourteen sail of the line, and embarked in it
their whole army, 15,000 men, for an attack upon Ireland. The Directory,
taking umbrage at this independent action, insisted upon Hoche, with
5000 men, accompanying them, and on their refusal began again to get
ready their Brest squadron for a similar expedition. To watch the Dutch
became the duty of Admiral Duncan, the care of Brest was intrusted to
Admiral Bridport with the fleet at Portsmouth. Fortunately for England,
the sailing of the fleets was delayed; had they sailed in the summer, as
intended, they would have found England without fleets.
[Sidenote: Mutiny at Spithead.]
Early in the year a conspiracy was discovered among the crews of the
fleet at Spithead, with a view to demanding redress of certain
grievances. These grievances were shared in by all the seamen in the
navy and were very real. The pay and pensions had never been altered
since the time of Charles II., though every necessary of life had risen
from thirty to forty per cent.; this neglect was rendered particularly
objectionable as the pay and pensions of the army had been increased to
suit the times. Many officers were appointed by interest alone, and a
system of barefaced peculation was carried on by those who had the duty
of provisioning the fleet, for the ships were furnished in a great
degree by contract through the purser; moreover, all the nautical
arrangements were at this time remarkable for extreme roughness, almost
brutality, for unjust severity of discipline, for arbitrary power vested
in the hands of the captain, and frequent misuse of that power. When
Lord Bridport, Lord Howe's second in command, signalled to put to sea,
every ship in the fleet refused to obey; and the next day delegates from
every ship met in the 'Queen Charlotte,' and the mutiny was organized.
The men behaved with perfect decorum, and drew up a petition, asking
that their wages should be raised to suit the rise of prices in every
direction, and that some improvement should be made in their system of
pensions. To the Admiralty they sent a petition, exposing the
peculations of the pursers and the unwarrantable hardships to which the
sailor was exposed. The Admiralty acknowledged at once the justice of
the claim for advanced wages, but were silent upon the other abuses.
This did not satisfy the men: three admirals were sent to treat with
them; and when an outburst of anger on the part of one of them broke off
the conference, the red flag of mutiny was hoisted and the guns loaded.
However, when their demands were granted in full, and a free pardon was
sent them from London, they at once returned to their duty. During the
whole of the outbreak perfect order had reigned. But the folly of the
Admiralty, who, wishing to save their credit, sent down a perverse order
that the marines should be kept constantly ready to suppress mutiny, led
the sailors to believe that they were being deceived, and a second
outbreak was the result. An attempt to suppress it by force on board the
'London' ended in a real mutiny among all the ships then lying at St.
Helen's, outside Spithead. Lord Howe, the most popular of the admirals,
known among the sailors as "Black Dick," was intrusted with the
difficult task of recalling the fleet to its allegiance. With great
skill he contrived that while their requests were granted, they should
seem to be receiving rather than demanding a favour. He persuaded them
to write a letter of contrition to himself, and apparently as the fruit
of his good offices, announced to them that an Act of Parliament had
been passed securing to them the redress of grievances they had
demanded, and that considerable changes were to be made among the
officers.
[Sidenote: Mutiny at the Nore. May 15.]