the great blow which should crush this ancient monarchy to the earth.
The Federates called a meeting of the Committee of Insurrection to
arrange the final plans, and it was resolved that the insurrection
should take place on the 10th of August.
On this day all Paris was astir. The drums were beating in all
quarters; the National Guard were assembling at their different posts;
the Insurrectional Committee had divided itself into three sections.
One took its station in the Faubourg St. Marceau, with Fournier at its
head; another in the Faubourg St. Antoine, headed by Westermann and
Santerre; whilst Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Carra, were at the
Cordeliers. About twelve o'clock the tocsin began to ring out from
the Hôtel de Ville, and was quickly followed by the bells in every
church tower in Paris. By one o'clock the palace was surrounded by
vast throngs of armed people. They could be seen by the inmates of the
palace through the old doors of the courts, and from the windows. Their
artillery was visibly pointed at the palace, and the noise of their
shouting, beating of drums, and singing of insurrectionary songs, was
awful. The king had issued an order that the Swiss and Guards should
not commence the attack, but should repel force by force. It was now
recommended that the king also should go down, and by showing himself,
and addressing a few words to them, should animate them in their duty.
The queen, her eyes inflamed with weeping, and with an air of dignity,
which was never forgotten by those who saw her, said also, "Sire, it is
time to show yourself." She is said to have snatched a pistol from the
belt of old General d'Affry, and to have presented it in an excitement
that scarcely allowed her to remain behind. Could she have changed
places, had she been queen in her own right, there would soon have
been a change of scene. As for Louis, with that passive courage which
he always possessed, and so uselessly, he went forward and presented
himself to view upon the balcony. At the sight of him, the Grenadiers
raised their caps on the points of their swords and bayonets, and
there were cries of "_Vive le Roi!_" the last that saluted him in his
hereditary palace. Even at this cry, numbers of the National Guard took
alarm, imagining that they were to be surrendered to the knights of
the dagger, and that they had been betrayed. The gunners, joining in
the panic, turned their guns towards the palace, but the more faithful
Guard drove them from the guns, disarmed them, and put them under watch.
The king, undeterred, descended into the court, and passing along the
ranks, addressed them from time to time, telling them he relied on
their attachment, and that in defending him they defended their wives
and children. He then proceeded through the vestibule, intending to
go to the garden, when he was assailed by fierce cries from some of
the soldiers: "Down with the veto!" "Down with the traitor!" "Vive la
nation!" Madame Campan, who was at a window looking into the garden,
saw some of the gunners go up to the king, and thrust their fists in
his face, insulting him in the most brutal language. He was obliged
to pass along the terrace of the Feuillants, which was crowded with
people, separated from the furious multitude merely by a tricolour
line, but he went on in spite of all sorts of menaces and abuse. He
saw the battalions file off before his face, and traverse the garden
with the intention of joining the assailants in the Place du Carrousel,
whilst the gensdarmes at the colonnade of the Louvre and other places
did the same. This completely extinguished all hope in the unhappy
king. The Viscomte Du Bouchage, seeing the situation of Louis from
the palace, descended in haste with another nobleman, to bring him
in before some fatality happened to him. He complied, and returned
with them. When the gunners thrust their fists in his face, Madame
Campan says Louis turned as pale as death; yet he had shown no want
of courage, had it been of the right sort. He had, indeed, refused to
wear a kind of defensive corset which the queen had had made for him,
saying, on the day of battle it was his duty to be uncovered, like the
meanest of his servants. When the royal family came in again, Madame
Campan says, "The queen told me all was lost; that the king had shown
no energy, and that this sort of review had done more harm than good."
The royal family, amidst insults and reproaches, walked on fast to the
Assembly, and placed themselves under its protection. Vergniaud, the
president, assured them of safety.
Hardly had they arrived, when a discharge of cannon was heard. The
Assembly was horror-struck; and the king exclaimed, "I assure you I
have forbidden the Swiss to fire!" But he was interrupted by fresh
reports of cannon, showing that a fierce conflict was taking place at
the Tuileries. No sooner was the royal family gone than the gensdarmes
and the National Guard fraternised with the people, and breaking open
the chief gate with hatchets rushed into the court. They then formed
in column, and turning the guns which had been left in the court on
the palace, they called out to the Swiss within to give up the place
to them, and they would be friends. The Swiss, to show their amicable
disposition, threw cartridges out of the windows, but remained firm to
their duty. Some of the mob, with long poles and hooks at the end, then
dragged some of the Swiss out of the vestibule and murdered them. They
next fired three of the cannon right into the palace, and the Swiss
thereupon returned a smart fire of musketry. Those of the servants
and courtiers that still remained in the palace now made haste to
escape, if possible. Cléry, one of the king's valets-de-chambre, who
has left a vivid narrative of these events, escaped by dropping from
a window upon the terrace. At the same moment the mob was breaking
in at the grand entrance. They found a stout piece of timber placed
as a barrier across the staircase, and the Swiss and some of the
National Guard entrenched behind it; then commenced a fierce struggle;
the barrier was forced, and the throng pushed back the Swiss up the
staircase. These now fired a sharp volley, and the crowd fled, crying
that they were betrayed. They were struck by another volley in their
retreat, and the Swiss then descended into the court, made themselves
masters of the cannon, and, firing, killed a great number. Had the
Swiss followed their advantage and scoured the streets of the city,
they would have completely trodden out this insurrection, releasing
the royal family, and, had there been any one in command capable of
it, he would have ended the Revolution as promptly as Buonaparte did
afterwards. Buonaparte, then a poor lieutenant of artillery, was
himself a spectator of the scene; and it was his opinion that the Swiss
only wanted an adequate commander to crush the whole rebellion. But, by
that fatality which attended all Louis XVI.'s affairs, at this moment
arrived M. d'Hervilly from the Assembly with the king's order not to
fire on the people, but to follow d'Hervilly to the Assembly. This was,
in fact, to leave the palace at the mercy of the mob. Such as were in
the court did follow d'Hervilly to the Assembly, where he promised them
their lives and security under the protection of that body. At this
sight the populace recovered their courage. The palace was attacked
on both sides; the crowds every moment became greater, and the Swiss
poured successive volleys upon them from the windows. Numbers fell
dead before they forced an entrance; but this once effected, the crowd
not only rushed in a dense mass up the great staircase, but dragged up
cannon by main force to blow open the interior doors. For some time
the Swiss made a stout stand against this raging mob; but being few
against tens of thousands, and having exhausted their cartridges, they
grounded their arms and called for quarter. They called in vain; the
bloodthirsty sansculottes commenced a relentless massacre of them;
women and children, armed with knives, assisted in their slaughter. The
unhappy men, fixing their bayonets, drove the furious mass before them,
resolving to cut their way through the Champs Elysées to Courbevoie,
where was another detachment of their countrymen in barracks; but no
sooner were they outside than they were surrounded and shot and cut
down without mercy. Vainly did they cry for quarter; none was given.
They then broke and fled in small parties, one of them seeking to gain
the Assembly for protection; but they were butchered, nearly to a man,
their heads stuck on pikes and paraded through the city.
The butcheries were not terminated till late at night; but the shouts
of victory had, so early as eleven o'clock in the morning, informed the
Assembly that the people were masters of the Tuileries. Numbers of
the insurrectionists had appeared at the Assembly from time to time,
crying, "_Vive la Nation!_" and the members replied with the same cry.
A deputation appeared from the Hôtel de Ville, demanding that a decree
of dethronement should be immediately passed, and the Assembly so far
complied as to pass a decree, drawn up by that very Vergniaud who had
assured the king that the Assembly was prepared to stand to the death
for the defence of the constituted authorities. This decree suspended
the royal authority, appointed a governor for the Dauphin, stopped
the payment of the Civil List, but agreed to a certain allowance to
the royal family during the suspension, and set apart the Luxembourg
for their residence. The Luxembourg Palace being reported full of
cellars and subterranean vaults and difficult of defence, the Temple, a
miserable dilapidated old abbey, was substituted, and the royal family
were conveyed thither.
The triumph of the mob had consummated the triumph of Jacobinism.
The Republic was at length established, but not to the benefit of
the Girondists. The ruin of royalty, for which they had so zealously
laboured, was in reality their own ruin. The Jacobins, and at their
head the sanguinary Robespierre, were left without a rival, except
in that mob by which they worked, and which was destined to destroy
them too. Danton appeared before the Assembly on the morning of
the 10th, at the head of a deputation of the Commune, to state
what had been done, and said plainly, "The people who send us to
you have charged us to declare that they think you worthy of their
confidence, but that they recognise no other judge of the extraordinary
measures to which necessity has forced them to recur than the French
nation--our sovereign and yours--convoked in primary Assemblies."
This was announcing without disguise that the Clubs were the supreme
authorities. The Assembly felt its weakness and professed to approve of
everything. Next, the new Ministers were chosen; Roland, as Minister
of the Interior; Servan, as War Minister; and Clavière as Minister
of Finance. But to these were added Danton as Minister of Justice,
Mongé as Minister of the Marine, and Le Brun as Minister of Foreign
Affairs. They were to receive instructions, not from Louis, but from
the Assembly. And now came into full light the mortal antagonism of
the Assembly and the Clubs, and the real ascendency of the latter.
The Assembly voted for the education of the Dauphin; the Clubs called
for the utter removal of royalty. The Assembly recommended an active
campaign against Foreign Powers, but mercy to the vanquished; the
Clubs called for instant and universal vengeance on all supporters of
royalty, who, they said, had intended to massacre the people and bring
in the Prussians. They declared that there was no need of electoral
bodies to form a new Assembly, but that every man, and some said every
woman, was entitled to vote; and they insisted that the people ought to
come in arms to manifest their wishes to the legislative body. This was
plainly-avowed mob rule. Marat argued loudly for this and for purging
France, as he called it, by cutting off every man, woman, and child
that was not for mob rule; and Robespierre demanded the removal of the
Assembly as effete and the summoning of a Convention. His advice was
adopted, and the National Democratic Convention was convoked for the
21st of September. In the interval the Royalists were murdered in the
prisons, and the Revolutionary Commune established at Paris. News of
the most alarming character arrived from the frontier, Lafayette had
gone over to the enemy, and the Prussians had taken Longwy.
At this point the advance of the Prussians was unexpectedly checked.
After the capture of Verdun, on the 2nd of September, they had spread
themselves over the plains of the Meuse, and occupied, as their
main centre, Stenay. Dumouriez and his army lay at Sedan and in its
neighbourhood. To reach him and advance on Châlons in their way to
Paris, the Allies must pass or march round the great forest of Argonne,
which extends from thirteen to fifteen leagues, and was so intersected
with hills, woods, and waters, that it was at that time impenetrable
to an army except through certain passes. These were Chêne-Populeux,
Croix-aux-Bois, Grand Pré, La Chalade, and Islettes. The most important
were those of Grand Pré and Islettes, which however were the two most
distant from Sedan. The plan therefore was to fortify these passes;
and in order to do this Dumouriez immediately ordered Dillon to march
forward and occupy Islettes and La Chalade. This was effected; a
division of Dillon's forces driving the Austrian general, Clairfayt,
from the Islettes. Dumouriez followed, and occupied Grand Pré, and
General Dubouquet occupied Chêne-Populeux, and sent a detachment to
secure Croix-aux-Bois between Grand Pré and Chêne-Populeux.
[Illustration: LOUIS XVI. AND MARIE ANTOINETTE IN THE PRISON OF THE
TEMPLE.
FROM THE PAINTING BY E. M. WARD. R.A.]
On the 10th of September the Prussians began to examine the passes
of the forest; and finding them defended, they attacked the French
entrenchments but were everywhere repulsed. On the 11th, they
concentrated their efforts on the pass of Grand-Pré, defended by
Dumouriez himself, and were again repulsed by General Miranda at
Mortaume, and by General Stengel at St. Jouvion. The Allies, thus
unexpectedly brought to a check, for they had been led by the Emigrants
to expect a disorganised or as yet undisciplined army, determined to
skirt the forest and endeavour to turn it near Sedan. Whilst engaged in
this plan, the Austrians discovered the weakness of the force in the
defile of Croix-aux-Bois, where only two battalions and two squadrons
of volunteers were posted, for Dumouriez had not examined the pass
himself and was assured that this force was amply sufficient. Once
aware of this mistake, the Austrians, under the Duke de Ligne, briskly
attacked the position and drove the French before them. Dumouriez,
informed of this disorder, ordered forward General Chasot with a strong
force, who defeated the Austrians, killed De Ligne, and recovered the
pass. But the advantage was but momentary; the Austrians returned to
the charge with a far superior force, and again cleared the pass and
remained in possession of it. Thus Dumouriez saw his grand plan of
defence broken up; and finding that Chasot, who had fallen back on
Vouziers, was cut off from him on his left along with Dubouquet, he
saw the necessity of falling back himself into the rear of Dillon,
on his right, who was yet master of the Islettes and the road to
St. Menehould. He then sent messages to Chasot, Dubouquet, and to
Kellermann, to direct their march so as to meet him at St. Menehould.
[Illustration: MARIE ANTOINETTE (1783.)]
At the same time, the Duke of Brunswick was approaching from the rear,
and Kellermann from Metz, but both with equal tardiness. Dumouriez
dispatched a courier to order Kellermann, on arriving, to take his
position on the heights of Gisancourt, commanding the road to Châlons
and the stream of the Auve; but Kellermann, arriving in the night of
the 19th, instead of reaching the heights of Gisancourt, advanced
to the centre of the basin at Valmy, where, on the morning of the
20th, he found himself commanded by the Prussians, who had come up
and formed on the heights of La Lune, when, had Kellermann taken the
position assigned him on Gisancourt, he would have commanded La Lune.
The Prussians had been in full march for Châlons when they took post
here, and discovered Kellermann below them by the mill of Valmy, and
Dumouriez above on the heights of Valmy. Kellermann, perceiving the
error of his position, and that the Prussians would soon seize on the
heights of Gisancourt, which he ought to occupy, sent to Dumouriez for
assistance to extricate himself. The King of Prussia, perceiving that
forces were thrown forward towards Kellermann's position, imagined that
the French meant to cut off his march towards Châlons, and immediately
commenced firing. From the heights of La Lune and of Gisancourt, which
he now occupied, he poured a deadly fire of artillery on Kellermann;
and the Austrians, about to attempt to drive the French from the
heights of Hyron, if they succeeded, would leave him exposed on all
sides. The battle now was warmly contested, but only through the
artillery. A shell falling into one of Kellermann's powder waggons
exploded it, and occasioned much confusion. The King of Prussia thought
this the moment to charge with the bayonet, and now, for the first
time, the Revolutionary soldiers saw the celebrated troops, bearing
the _prestige_ of the great Frederick, marching down upon them in
three columns, with the steady appearance of victory. Kellermann, to
inspirit his inexperienced soldiers, shouted, "_Vive la Nation!_" The
troops caught the enthusiasm of the cry, replied with a loud "_Vive
la Nation!_" and dashed forward. At this sight the Duke of Brunswick
was astonished; he had been led to expect nothing but disorder and
cowardice; he halted, and fell back into his camp. This movement raised
the audacity of the French; they continued to cannonade the Prussians,
and after one or two more attempts to reach them with the bayonet,
Brunswick found himself, as night fell, in anything but a victorious
position. About twenty thousand cannon shots had been exchanged, whence
the battle was called the cannonade of Valmy. Yet there stood the
French, who, according to the reports of the Emigrants, were to have
run off at the first smell of powder, or to have come over to them
in a body. The next morning it was worse. Kellermann, in the night,
had recovered himself from his false position; had gained the heights
of Gisancourt which he should have occupied at first; had driven the
Prussians thence, and now commanded them in La Lune.
The condition of the Prussian camp was daily growing worse; the troops
were compelled to kill their horses for food; they were drenched with
heavy rains and decimated by dysentery. The King of Prussia and the
Duke of Brunswick were full of resentment at the false representations
of the Emigrants, who had assured them that they would have little to
do but to march to Paris, loaded with the welcomes and supplies of the
people. Europe was surprised at the easy repulse of the Prussians;
with their reputation, it was expected that they would march rapidly
on Paris, and disperse the Republican troops with scarcely an effort.
But they were no longer commanded by old Frederick; and even he would
have found it difficult to make his way through a country which refused
the barest food for an army, and which almost to a man was in arms to
resist the foe. On the 24th of September overtures were made by the
Prussians for an exchange of prisoners, to which Dumouriez agreed,
refusing, however, to give up a single Emigrant captive. This led
to discussions on the general question, and having bargained for a
safe retreat, the Allies hurried homeward with all speed. Oppressed
by famine and disease, and disgusted with the Emigrants, who had led
them to suffering and disgrace, they made the best of their way to the
Rhine, and, at the end of October, reached Coblenz, a sorry spectacle,
reduced from eighty thousand, who had entered France three months
before confident of victory and fame, to fifty thousand humbled and
emaciated men. If Dumouriez had had unity and subordination amongst
his generals he would have been able by a forced march to outstrip the
Allies, cut them off from the Rhine, and scarcely a thousand of them
would have escaped. The blame thrown upon him for not thus inflicting a
terrible chastisement appears unmerited.
After a visit to Paris, Dumouriez arrived at Valenciennes on the
27th of October, and prepared to follow the Austrian commander,
Saxe-Teschen, who had been in vain bombarding Lille. On the 5th of
November he overtook Saxe-Teschen at Jemappes. The Austrians were
strongly posted, but were only about fifteen thousand men opposed to
the sixty thousand French; yet they made a vigorous resistance. The
battle raged from early in the morning till two in the afternoon,
when the Austrians gave way. They retired, however, in good order;
and Dumouriez, who had led his forces into the field singing the
Marseillaise hymn, did not make much pursuit. Upwards of two thousand
men are said to have fallen on each side. The battle placed all
Flanders at the mercy of the French; Tournay opened its gates to
Labourdonnais, and Courtrai, Menin, and Bruges sent deputies to welcome
Dumouriez. Other towns rapidly followed their example. The country
had been already Jacobinised, and now fancied it was going to enjoy
liberty and equality in alliance with the French. The people were
soon undeceived. The French had no intention of anything but, under
those pretences, of subduing and preying on the surrounding nations.
Flanders had speedy proofs of what every country where the French came
had to expect. Jacobin Commissioners arrived from the Convention to
levy contributions for the maintenance of the army, as if they were a
conquered people. Dumouriez issued an order on entering Mons for the
clergy to advance one year's income for the same purpose. Saxe-Teschen
and old Marshal Bender evacuated Brussels, and on the 14th Dumouriez
entered and took up his headquarters there. He there made heavy forced
loans, and soon after arrived what was styled a Committee of Purchases
from Paris, headed by Bidermann, the banker, and partner of Clavière,
Minister of Finance. This Committee, on which were several Jews, made
all the bargains for the army, and paid for them--not in gold but in
the worthless _assignats_ of France. The Belgians remonstrated and
resisted, but in vain. Dumouriez advanced to Mechlin, having dispatched
Labourdonnais to lay siege to Antwerp and Valence, and to reduce
Namur. At Mechlin he found a great store of arms and ammunition, which
enabled him to equip whole flocks of volunteers who came after him from
France. On the 22nd, at Tirlemont, he again overtook Saxe-Teschen, who
made another stout resistance, and then retired to Liége, where the
Austrians made another stand on the 27th. They were repulsed, but with
heavy loss on both sides; and soon afterwards, Antwerp and Valence
having surrendered, all the Austrian Netherlands, except Luxembourg,
were in the hands of France within a single month. Dumouriez sent
forward Miranda, a Peruvian, who had superseded Labourdonnais at
Antwerp, to reduce Roermond, and to enter Holland by the seizure of
Maestricht; but the Convention were not yet prepared for this invasion
of Holland, and Dumouriez pushed on to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he again
defeated the Austrians on the 7th of December, and levying heavy
contributions there, took up his winter quarters in the ancient city of
Charlemagne, and within little more than a day's march of the Rhine.
Whilst Dumouriez had thus overrun the Netherlands, other French
generals had been equally pushing on aggressions. Custine, with about
twenty thousand men, had marched upon the German towns on the Rhine;
had taken Spires, Worms, and Mayence by the 21st of October. These
towns abounded with Democrats, who had imbibed the grand doctrine
of the Rights of Man, and laboured, to their cost, under the same
delusion as the Belgians--that the French were coming solely for their
liberation and advantage. Custine advanced to Frankfort-on-the-Main,
which he plundered without mercy. Custine called loudly for
co-operation from Kellermann; but Kellermann not complying, he was
superseded by Beurnonville, who was ordered to take Trèves. He
attempted it, but too late in the season, and failed. Custine, who had
advanced too far from the main army to support his position, still,
however, garrisoned Frankfort with two thousand men, and took up his
own quarters at Ober-Ursel and Homburg, a little below Frankfort, in
the commencement of December.
This was a broad indication of the French seizing, under the pretence
of propagating liberty, on what had been called the natural boundaries
of France in the time of Louis XIV.,--namely, the Rhine and the
Alps, thus including Belgium, part of Holland, Nice, and Savoy.
They dispatched emissaries to Victor Amadeus, the King of Sardinia,
offering to drive the Austrians out of Italy, and give Italy to the
Italians. As they had, however, previously sent numbers of their
Jacobin propagandists to inoculate his people with Republicanism, the
king refused their offers, and forbade General Semonville to enter
the country. On this, the Convention proclaimed war against him, and
ordered Montesquieu to invade Nice and Savoy. With an army of fifteen
thousand men and twenty pieces of artillery, Montesquieu entered
Savoy, and the few Savoyard troops being unable to compete with him,
the people, moreover, being already prepared by French Republicans,
he overran the country, entered Chambéry in triumph, and occupied
the province to the foot of Mont Cenis. Elated by the successes of
these campaigns, the French Convention passed a decree, declaring
that it would grant succour and fraternity to all peoples desirous of
recovering their liberty; it ordered its generals to give such aid
to all citizens who were, or might be, harshly treated on account of
their desire for liberty; and the generals were instructed to post this
decree in all public places to which they should carry the arms of the
Republic. Two days afterwards Savoy was formed into a new department as
the Department of Mont Blanc.
On the 21st of September the Convention had met in the Tuileries. The
first act of the Convention was to send to the Legislative Assembly the
notification of its formation, and that the existence of that body was,
as a matter of course, at an end. They then marched in a body to the
Salle de Manege, and took possession of it. The Girondists now appeared
on the Right, the Jacobins on the Left, under the name of the Mountain,
and the Centre, or Moderates, took the name of the Plain. The first
speech and motion was made by Manuel, proposing that the President
of the Convention and of France should be lodged in the Tuileries,
attended by all the state which had accompanied the king, and that,
whenever he appeared in the House, all the members should receive him
standing. The motion was received with a storm of reprobation, and
dismissed. The second motion, made by Collot d'Herbois, was for the
immediate abolition of royalty. He was seconded by the Abbé Gregoire,
and it was unanimously abolished accordingly. No time was lost in
communicating this fact to the royal family in the Temple.
The Convention proceeded to debate the question of Louis's trial. On
the 6th of November Valazé, a Girondist, presented to it the report of
the Committee of Twenty-Four. This report charged Louis Capet with high
treason against the nation, and declared that his punishment ought to
be more than simple deposition. The next day Mailhé, another Girondist,
presented the report of the Committee of Legislation, and accompanied
it by a speech, in which he accused Louis of all the crimes which had
been committed during the Revolution, and recommended the trial of
Charles I. as the model for his trial. The queen, he said, ought to
be tried by an ordinary tribunal, observing that the heads of queens
were no more inviolable than other women's heads. This was as plainly
intimating the wishes of the Girondists for the execution of the king
and queen as any Jacobins could do. In fact, so completely did his
remarks coincide with the views of the Jacobins, that he was applauded
by Jacobins, Girondists, and Plain. It was voted that the report should
be printed and circulated through the Departments; that a committee
should be appointed to collect the necessary papers and other evidence;
that these should be submitted to Louis, or his counsel; that the
Convention should fix the day of trial, and should pronounce sentence
by every member voting separately, and aloud. It was decreed that
Louis should be brought to the bar of the Convention on the 26th of
December. The king's demand to be allowed counsel having been conceded,
he began to prepare his defence. In the afternoon of the 16th, four
commissioners, who had been members of the Committee of Twenty-Four,
appeared, and presented him with a copy of his impeachment, and also
submitted to him a number of papers that were to be produced against
him. At half-past nine in the morning of the 26th all Paris was again
under arms, and Chambon, the mayor, appeared at the Temple, attended
by Santerre with a strong force. Louis was conducted to the mayor's
carriage, and was thus guarded to the Feuillants, the House of the
Convention.
At the close of an admirable defence by his counsel Desèze, Louis rose
and read the following few remarks, which he had prepared:--"My means
of defence are now before you. I shall not repeat them. In addressing
you--perhaps for the last time--I declare that my conscience reproaches
me with nothing, and that my defenders have told you the truth. I was
never afraid that my conduct should be publicly examined; but it wounds
me to the heart to find, in the act of accusation, the imputation that
I caused the blood of the people to be spilt; and, above all, that the
calamitous events of the 10th of August are attributed to me.
"I confess that the multiplied proofs which I have given at all times
of my love for the people, and the manner in which I have always
conducted myself, ought, in my opinion, to demonstrate that I was not
afraid to expose myself in order to prevent bloodshed, and ought to
clear me for ever from such an imputation."
On the 14th of January, 1793, the members of the Convention met, amid a
mob surrounding the House, and demanding, "Death to the tyrant! Death
to him or to us!" Other crowds crammed the galleries. The debate, which
had begun immediately after the king's speech, was renewed, and furious
menaces and recriminations between the Girondists and the Mountain were
uttered. At length the Convention reduced all the questions to these
three: 1st. Is Louis Capet guilty of conspiring against the liberty
of the nation and the safety of the State? 2nd. Shall the judgment,
whatever it be, be referred to the sanction of the people? 3rd. What
punishment shall be inflicted on him?
[Illustration: VIEW IN OLD PARIS: THE PORTE AU BLÉ, FROM THE END OF
THE OLD CATTLE MARKET TO THE PONT NOTRE DAME. (_From a Print by De
l'Espinasse in_ 1782.)]
The debates and voting on these three questions occupied the
Convention till late in the evening of the 17th. On the first question
thirty-seven pronounced Louis guilty, but proposed only that he should
be taken care of for the general safety; six hundred and eighty-three
declared him guilty simply; and, as the Assembly consisted of seven
hundred and forty-nine members altogether, there was a majority
affirming his guilt of the whole, except twenty-nine members. He was
therefore declared, by the President, guilty of conspiracy against
the liberty and safety of of State. On the second question thirty-one
members were absent: four refused to vote; eleven voted conditionally;
two hundred and eighty--and these almost exclusively were members of
the Girondist section--for the appeal to the people; and four hundred
and twenty-three rejected it. The President, therefore, proclaimed that
the appeal to the people was declined. The last fatal question of death
to the monarch was put on the 16th. By this time the excitement was as
intense all over Paris as within the walls of the Convention itself.
It was found, that of the seven hundred and forty-nine members, three
hundred and eighty-seven voted in favour of death unconditionally,
while three hundred and thirty-four voted in favour of Louis'
detention, or imprisonment, or death under defined conditions and in
certain circumstances. Twenty-eight votes were not accounted for.
Either they were lost amidst the excitement of the hour, or members to
that number took no part in the decision. The king's death, therefore,
was carried by a majority of only fifty-three votes. Then came the
question of a reprieve.
On the 20th, at three o'clock in the morning, the voting on this point
terminated, and the President declared that there was a majority of
three hundred and eighty votes against three hundred and ten, and that
there could be no reprieve; the execution must take place without
delay. Louis met his death with dignity on the 21st of January, 1793.
For a short time quiet prevailed, as if the nation, and Europe, too,
were stunned by the news of the execution of the king. In spite of the
loud talk of the Jacobins and sansculottes throughout France, there
was a startled sense of terror--a foreboding of calamity. In La Vendée
there was intense horror and indignation. Abroad, every monarchy seemed
thrown into a new attitude by the death of Louis. Spain and England,
which had maintained a careful neutrality, assumed a threatening
aspect. Germany, which had not yet federally allied itself with the
movements of Austria and Prussia, became agitated with resentment;
and Holland, by the fear of suffering the fate of Belgium. The axe
which severed the head of Louis from his body seemed to sever every
international sympathy with France. In England, the sensation on the
news of the execution was profound. People in general had not believed
that the French would proceed to such an extremity with a monarch of so
inoffensive a character. The crime seemed to verify all the predictions
and the denunciations of Burke. There was, except amongst a certain
class of almost frantic Republicans, a universal feeling of abhorrence
and execration. There was a gloomy sense of approaching war; a gloomy
sense, as if the catastrophe was a national rather than a foreign one.
Pitt had hitherto maintained a position of neutrality. He had contrived
to avoid giving any support to the royal family of France, which must
have produced immediately hostile consequences, but he had not failed,
from time to time, to point out in Parliament the atrocious conduct of
the French revolutionists, which justified all the prophecies of Burke,
and threw shame on the laudatory language of Fox.
Whilst the fate of Louis XVI. was drawing to a crisis, the question
of danger menaced by the French revolution had been warmly discussed
in the British Parliament. The Government had already called out the
militia when Parliament met on the 13th of December, 1792. The speech
from the throne attributed this to the attempts of French incendiaries
to create disturbance in the country, coupled with the doctrines of
aggression promulgated by the French Convention, and their invasion
of Germany and the Netherlands, which had already taken place. The
latter country was overrun with French armies, and Holland, our ally,
was threatened. The Address to the Speech, in the Commons, was moved
by Mr. Wallace and seconded by Lord Fielding in the same tone. Fox,
on the other hand, strongly opposed the warlike spirit of the speech.
He declared that he believed every statement in the royal speech was
unfounded, though the invasion of Germany and of the Netherlands
was no myth. Fox had not yet, despite the horrors perpetrated by
the French revolutionists, given up his professed persuasion of
the good intentions of that people--a wonderful blindness--and he
recommended that we should send a fresh ambassador to treat with the
French executive. Grey and Sheridan argued on the same side; Windham
and Dundas defended the measures of Government, declaring that not
only had the French forced open the navigation of the Scheldt, the
protection of which was guaranteed by Britain, but that they were
preparing for the regular subjugation of Holland. Burke declared
that the counsels of Fox would be the ruin of England, if they could
possibly prevail. He remarked that nothing was so notorious as the
fact that swarms of Jacobin propagandists were actively engaged in
disseminating their levelling principles in Great Britain, and were in
close co-operation with Republican factions. These factions had sent
over deputations to Paris, who had been received by the Jacobin society
and by the Convention. He read the addresses of Englishmen and Irishmen
resident in Paris, and of Joel Barlow and John Frost, deputies of the
Constitutional Society of London. Burke said the question was, if they
permitted the fraternising of these parties with the French Jacobins,
not whether they should address the throne, but whether they should
long have a throne to address, for the French Government had declared
war against all kings and all thrones. Erskine replied, ridiculing the
fears of Burke, and denouncing the prosecution of Paine's "Rights of
Man" by Government. The Address was carried by a large majority. Fox,
however, on the 14th of December, moved an amendment on the Report;
and in his speech he rejoiced in the triumph of the French arms over
what he called the coalition of despots, Prussia and Austria. He
declared the people of Flanders had received the French with open
arms; that Ireland was too disaffected for us to think of going to
war; and that it was useless to attempt to defend the Dutch, for the
people there would go over to France too. He again pressed on the House
the necessity of our acknowledging the present French Government,
and entering into alliance with it. He said France had readily
acknowledged the Revolution in England, and entered into treaty with
Cromwell. Burke again replied to Fox, declaring that France had no real
Government at all to enter into terms with. It was in a condition of
anarchy, one party being in the ascendency one day, another the next;
that such was not the condition of England under Cromwell. There was
a decided and settled Republican Government, but a Government which
did not menace or overthrow all monarchies around it, any more than
Switzerland or the United States of America did now. Dundas reminded
the House that we were bound by treaties to defend Holland if attacked,
and that we must be prepared for it. Whigs, who had hitherto voted
with Fox, now demanded to whom we were to send an ambassador--to the
imprisoned king, to the Convention, or to the clubs who ruled the
Convention? Fox's amendment was rejected without a division.
Undismayed, Fox renewed the contest on the following day, December
15th, by moving that an humble address should be presented to his
Majesty, praying him to send an ambassador to France to treat with the
persons constituting the existing executive Government. He said that
he did not mean to vindicate what had taken place in that country,
although, if we condemned the crimes committed in France, we must also
condemn those of Morocco and Algiers, and yet we had accredited agents
at the courts of those countries.
Grey followed, contending that we ought to avoid the calamities of war
by all possible means. A long debate ensued, in the midst of which Mr.
Jenkinson declared that on that very day, whilst they were discussing
the propriety of sending an ambassador to France, the monarch himself
was to be brought to trial, and probably by that hour was condemned to
be murdered. All the topics regarding Holland and Belgium were again
introduced. Fox was supported by Grey, Francis, Erskine, Whitbread, and
Sheridan; but his motion was negatived without a division.
On Monday, the 17th, Fox renewed the discussion, supported by Mr. Grey,
who complained that at a so-called loyal meeting held at Manchester,
the people had been incited to attack the property of those of more
liberal views; and that an association had been formed in London, at
the "Crown and Anchor" Tavern, which had issued a paper called "A
Pennyworth of Truth from Thomas Bull to his Brother John," containing
most unfounded censures on the Dissenters, whom it charged as being the
authors of the American war. He declared that this paper was far more
inflammatory than Paine's "Rights of Man," and he desired that it might
be read at the table. Fox severely criticised the conduct of the loyal
associations, and the means taken by the subscription papers to mark
out those who maintained Liberal opinions; all such marked persons,
he said, were in danger, on any excitement, of having their persons
or houses attacked. He mentioned one paper concluding with the words,
"Destruction to Fox and all his Jacobin crew!" This was, he thought,
pretty plainly marking him out for such treatment as Dr. Priestley and
Mr. Walker had received. The motion was rejected.
Immediately after this, Fox encouraged the formation of a Society
of Friends of the Liberty of the Press, of which Erskine and Horne
Tooke were members. As several French emissaries were traversing the
country disseminating their opinions, Lord Grenville, on the 19th of
December, 1792, introduced a bill into the House of Lords, subjecting
aliens to certain regulations not included in the ordinary Alien Bill.
All foreigners were to announce themselves on their arrival, and
surrender any arms brought with them; they were to take out passports,
and to have them viséd on every fresh removal through the country,
so that their movements might be known to the authorities; those who
had arrived during the year 1792 to be particularly observed, and
the motives for their coming ascertained; all such foreigners as
received allowances from the British Government to be distributed
into particular districts, under the eye of the authorities. With
some opposition, this Bill was carried. The Marquis of Lansdowne
forthwith moved that a negotiation should be immediately opened with
the French Government, requiring it to receive back the numerous
Frenchmen driven into exile, or to provide for their support, and at
the same time to endeavour to save Louis XVI. from the terrible fate
which threatened him. This was negatived on the declaration of other
lords, who said that both propositions would be useless; the latter
one would in all probability hasten, rather than avert, the fate of
the French king. In the Commons, Fox and Sheridan strenuously resisted
the new Alien Bill, and Burke as vehemently supported it. He declared
that no measures of precaution could be too strict; that thousands of
daggers had been manufactured in Birmingham for France, and intending
to produce a startling effect he drew an actual dagger from his bosom,
and flinging it on the floor of the House exclaimed, "That is what you
are to obtain from an alliance with France. You must equally proscribe
their tenets and their persons; you must keep their principles from
your minds, and their daggers from your hearts!" In the French
Convention such an action would have created a sensation, but in the
matter-of-fact British Parliament it produced only surprise followed
by laughter. Fox endeavoured as much as possible to weaken the sense
of danger of French principles, though he expressed his abhorrence of
the September massacres. The Bill was passed, and was succeeded by one
prohibiting the circulation of French _assignats_, bonds, promissory
notes, etc., and another, prohibiting the exportation of naval stores,
saltpetre, arms, and ammunition.
On the 30th of January, 1793, Dundas announced to the House of Commons
a message from the throne, communicating the news of the execution of
the French king. This was accompanied by copies of a correspondence
with M. Chauvelin, the late plenipotentiary of Louis, and of an order
for his quitting the kingdom, in consequence of this sanguinary
act. The message made a deep impression on the House, though the
circumstances were already well known. It was agreed to take these
matters into consideration on the 2nd of February, when Pitt detailed
the correspondence which had for some time taken place between the
British Cabinet and the French Government. He said that Britain,
notwithstanding many provocations, had carefully maintained an attitude
of neutrality, even when, in the preceding summer, France was at war
with Austria and Prussia, and was menacing our Dutch allies. The
French, on their part, had, he said, made similar professions. They had
publicly renounced all aggression, and yet they had annexed Saxony,
overrun Belgium, and now contemplated the invasion of Holland. They
had done more: they had plainly menaced this country with invasion.
So recently as the last day of the year, their Minister of Marine had
addressed a letter to the seaports of France, in which this was the
language regarding England:--"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 out our arms to our Republican brethren, and the tyranny
of their Government shall soon be destroyed!" There was a strong war
spirit manifest in the House. Fox and his diminished party combated
it in vain. The same prevailing expression was exhibited in a similar
debate in the House of Lords, in which Lord Loughborough--who, on the
20th of January, succeeded Thurlow as Lord Chancellor--supported the
views of Ministers. But there was little time allowed for the two
Houses to discuss the question of peace or war, for on the 11th of
February Dundas brought down a royal message, informing the Commons
that the French had declared war on the 1st of February, against both
Britain and Holland. On the following day Pitt moved an Address to his
Majesty, expressing a resolve to support him in the contest against
France. In the debate, Burke declared the necessity of war against a
nation which had, in fact, proclaimed war against every throne and
nation. At the same time, he declared that it would be a war in defence
of every principle of order or religion. It would not be the less a
most desperate war. France was turning almost every subject in the
realm into a soldier. It meant to maintain its armies on the plunder
of invaded nations. Trade being ruined at home by the violence of mob
rule, the male population was eager to turn soldiers, and to live on
the spoils of the neighbouring countries. Lyons alone, he said, had
thirty thousand artisans destitute of employment; and they would find
a substitute for their legitimate labour in ravaging the fields of
Holland and Germany. He deemed war a stern necessity. A similar Address
was moved and carried in the Peers.
On the 18th of February, however, Fox moved a string of resolutions
condemnatory of war with France. They declared that that country
was only doing what every country had a right to do--reorganise its
internal Constitution; that, as we had allowed Russia, Prussia, and
Austria to dismember Poland, we had no right to check the aggressions
of France on these countries; as we had remained quiescent in the one
case, we were bound to do so in the other, and not to make ourselves
confederates of the invasion of Poland; and his final resolution went
to entreat his Majesty not to enter into any engagements with other
Powers which should prevent us from making a separate peace with
France. Burke did not lose the opportunity of rebuking Fox for his long
advocacy of the Empress Catherine, whose unprincipled share in the
partition of Poland he was now compelled to reprobate. The resolutions
of Fox were negatived by two hundred and seventy votes against
forty-four. Not daunted by this overwhelming majority, Fox again, on
the 21st of February, brought forward his resolution in another form,
declaring that there were no sufficient causes for war. The motion was
negatived without a division.
[Illustration: TRIAL OF LOUIS XVI. (_See p._ 409.)]
During these debates, Ministers detailed the proceedings which had
for some time past taken place between the Governments of France and
Britain, to show that the maintenance of peace was impossible. The
chief of these transactions were briefly these:--From the date of the
conferences at Pillnitz in 1791, when Prussia and Austria resolved to
embrace the cause of the French king, and invited the other Powers to
support them, Britain declared, both to those Powers and to France,
her intention of remaining neutral. It was no easy matter to maintain
such neutrality. To the Jacobin leaders, every country with an orderly
Government, and still more a monarchy, was an offence. Against Britain
they displayed a particular animus, which the most friendly offices
did not remove. When, towards the end of 1791, the Declaration of
the Rights of Man having reached St. Domingo, the negroes rose in
insurrection to claim these rights, Lord Effingham, the Governor of
Jamaica, aided the French Colonial Government with arms and ammunition,
and the fugitive white people with provisions and protection. When
this was notified to the National Assembly, with the King of Britain's
approval of it, by Lord Gower, the ambassador at Paris, a vote of
thanks was passed, but only to the British nation, and on condition
that not even Lord Effingham's name should be mentioned in it. Other
transactions on the part of the French still more offensive took place
from time to time, but Britain still maintained her neutrality. When
war was declared by France against Austria, in April, 1792, Chauvelin
announced the fact to the British Government, and requested that
British subjects should be prohibited from serving in any foreign army
against France. Government at once issued an order to that effect.
In June the French Government, through Chauvelin, requested the good
offices of Britain in making pacific proposals to Prussia and Austria;
but find that France expected more than friendly mediation--actual
armed coalition with France--the British Government declined this, as
contrary to existing alliances with those Powers. The proclamations of
the French Government were already such as breathed war to Europe; all
thrones were menaced with annihilation. At this time Mr. Miles, who
exerted himself to maintain a friendly feeling between the nations,
records, in his correspondence with the French Minister Lebrun and
others, that Roland declared to one of his friends that peace was out
of the question; that France had three hundred thousand men in arms,
and that the Ministers must make them march as far as ever their legs
could carry them, or they would return and cut all their throats.
This was the state of things when, on the 17th of August, 1792, the
French deposed Louis, and prepared for his death. Lord Gower was
thereupon recalled, on the plain ground that, being accredited alone to
the king, and there being no longer a king, his office was at an end;
he was, however, ordered to take a respectful leave, and to assure the
Government that Britain still desired to maintain peaceful relations.
Yet at this very time London was swarming with paid emissaries of the
French Government, whose business was to draw over the people to French
notions of republican liberty. Nay, more, Lebrun, the Foreign Minister,
took no pains to conceal the assurance of the French that Ireland would
revolt and that France would secure it. On the 18th of November a
great dinner was given at White's Hotel in Paris, at which Lord Edward
Fitzgerald and other Irish Republicans, Thomas Paine, Santerre, and a
host of like characters, English, Irish, French, and others, toasted
the approaching National Convention of Great Britain and Ireland, and
amid wild acclamations drank the sentiment, "May revolutions never be
made by halves!" The very next day, the 19th, the National Convention
issued its decree, declaring war against all thrones and proclaiming
the enfranchisement of all peoples. This was immediately followed by
Jacobinised deputations of Englishmen, thanking the Convention for
this proclamation; and the President, in reply, said, "Citizens of
the world! Royalty in Europe is utterly destroyed, or on the point of
perishing on the ruins of feudality; and the Rights of Man, placed by
the side of thrones, are a devouring fire which will consume them all.
Worthy Republicans! Congratulate yourselves on the festival which you
have celebrated in honour of the French Revolution--the prelude to the
festival of nations!"
Before the close of 1792 the French resolved to send an ambassador to
the United States to demand a return of the aid given to the Americans
in their revolution, by declaration of war against Great Britain.
M. Genet was dispatched for this purpose at the beginning of 1793.
Still neutrality was maintained, though our ambassador was withdrawn
from Paris, and M. Chauvelin was no longer recognised in an official
capacity by the British Court. This gentleman, however, continued in
London, ignoring the loss of his official character, and officiously
pressing himself on the attention of Ministers as still French
plenipotentiary. Lord Grenville was repeatedly obliged to remind him
that he had no power to correspond with him officially. He, however,
informed him privately that, if the French Government wished to be
duly recognised in Great Britain, they must give up their assumed
right of aggression on neighbouring countries and of interference with
established Governments. The French Girondist Ministers took advantage
of this letter which Chauvelin transmitted to them to send a reply, in
which, however, having now invaded Holland, they gave no intimation
of any intention of retiring. They even declared that it was their
intention to go to war with Britain; and if the British Government did
not comply with their desires, and enter into regular communication
with them, they would prepare for war. Lord Grenville returned this
letter, informing Chauvelin again that he could receive no official
correspondence from him in a private capacity. This was on the 7th of
January, 1793; Chauvelin continued to press his communications on Lord
Grenville, complaining of the Alien Bill, and on the 18th presented
letters of credence. Lord Grenville informed him, in reply, that his
Majesty in the present circumstances could not receive them. These
circumstances were the trial and conviction of Louis XVI. On the 24th
arrived the news of Louis's execution, and Chauvelin immediately
received passports for himself and suite, and an order to quit the
kingdom within eight days. This order created the utmost exultation
in the French Convention, for the Jacobins were rabid for war with
all the world, and on the 1st of February the Convention declared war
against Britain, and the news reached London on the 4th. Such was the
Ministerial explanation.
The declaration of war against Britain by the Convention was unanimous.
The decree was drawn up by the Girondists, but it was enthusiastically
supported by the Jacobins, including Robespierre and Danton. A vote
creating _assignats_ to the amount of eight hundred million livres was
immediately passed, a levy of three hundred thousand men was ordered,
and to aggravate the whole tone of the affair, an appeal to the
people of Great Britain was issued, calling on them to act against and
embarrass their own Government.
It must be confessed that it was impossible to keep peace with a nation
determined to make war on the whole world. Perhaps on no occasion had
the pride of the British people and their feelings of resentment been
so daringly provoked. War was proclaimed against Britain, and it was
necessary that she should put herself in a position to protect her
own interests. The country was, moreover, bound to defend Holland
if assaulted. But though bound by treaty to defend Holland, Great
Britain was not bound to enter into the defence of all and every one
of the Continental nations; and had she maintained this just line of
action, her share in the universal war which ensued would have been
comparatively insignificant. Prussia, Russia, and Austria had destroyed
every moral claim of co-operation by their lawless seizure of Poland,
and the peoples of the Continent were populous enough to defend their
own territories, if they were worthy of independence. There could be
no just claim on Britain, with her twenty millions of inhabitants, to
defend countries which possessed a still greater number of inhabitants,
especially as they had never been found ready to assist us, but on the
contrary. But Britain, unfortunately, at that time, was too easily
inflamed with a war spirit. The people as well as the Government were
incensed at the disorganising and aggressive spirit of France, and
were soon drawn in, with their Quixotism of fighting for everybody or
anybody, to league with the Continental despots for the purpose not
merely of repelling French invasions, but of forcing on the French a
dynasty that they had rejected.
Fox and his party still maintained a vigorous and persevering endeavour
to remain at peace; but he weakened his efforts by professing to
believe that we might yet enter into substantial engagements with
the French, who had at this moment no permanent settled Government
at all, but a set of puppet Ministers, ruled by a Convention, and
the Convention ruled by a mob flaming with the ideas of universal
conquest and universal plunder. If Fox had advocated the wisdom of
maintaining the defensive as much as possible, and confining ourselves
to defending our Dutch allies, as we were bound, his words would have
had more weight; but his assurance that we might maintain a full and
friendly connection with a people that were butchering each other at
home, and belying all their most solemn professions of equity and
fraternity towards their dupes abroad, only enabled Pitt to ask him
with whom he would negotiate--Was it with Robespierre, or the monster
Marat, then in the ascendant? "But," added Pitt, "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 one another in
enormity,--but I object to the consequences of that character, and
to the effect of those crimes. They are such as render a negotiation
useless, and must entirely deprive of stability any peace which could
be concluded in such circumstances. The moment that the mob of Paris
comes under a new leader, mature deliberations are reversed, the most
solemn engagements are retracted, or free will is altogether controlled
by force. All the crimes which disgrace history have occurred in one
country, in a space so short, and with circumstances so aggravated, as
to outrun thought and exceed imagination." In fact, to have made an
alliance with France at that moment, and for long afterwards, would
have been to sanction her crimes, and to share the infamy of her
violence and lawlessness abroad.
In the presence of this great exciting cause the remaining business
of the Session of the British Parliament appeared tame. Mr. R. Smith
introduced a petition for Parliamentary reform from Nottingham, and
this was followed by a number of similar petitions from other places:
but whilst French emissaries and English demagogues were preaching up
revolution, nobody would listen to reform, and a motion of Mr. Grey,
to refer these petitions to a committee, was rejected by two hundred
and eighty-two votes to forty-one. On the 25th of February Dundas
introduced an optimistic statement of the affairs of India, declaring
that dependency as very flourishing, in spite of the continuance of the
war with Tippoo; and this was preparatory to a renewal of the charter
of the East India Company, which was carried on the 24th of May.
Francis, Fox, and others, opposed the Bill, and made very different
statements in vain. The real condition of India was not destined to
force itself on the nation till it came in the shape of a bloody
insurrection, and seventy million pounds of debt, more than sixty years
afterwards.
On the 6th of March the first blessings of war began to develop
themselves in the announcement, by Pitt, that his Majesty had engaged a
body of his Hanoverian troops to assist the Dutch; and, on the 11th,
by his calling on the House to form itself into a Committee of Ways and
Means to consider the propriety of raising a loan of four millions and
a half, and of issuing four millions of Exchequer Bills, in addition
to the ordinary revenue, to meet the demands of the year. Resolutions
for both these purposes were passed; and, on the 15th, a Bill was
introduced, making it high treason for any one to sell to the French
any muniments of war, bullion, or woollen cloth. Fox and his party
opposed this Bill, but it was readily carried through both Houses.
The repulse of the French in their attack on Holland, and their
repeated defeats in Belgium, which will be mentioned in the next
chapter, induced the French Government to make overtures for peace
with Britain, but in a secret and most singular way. Instead of an
open proposal through some duly-accredited envoy, the proposals came
through a Mr. John Salter, a public notary of Poplar. This notary
delivered to Lord Grenville two letters from Lebrun the French Foreign
Minister, dated the 2nd of April, stating that France was desirous to
accommodate its differences with Britain, and, provided the idea was
accepted, M. Marat should be sent over with full powers, on passports
being duly forwarded. A Mr. John Matthews, of Biggin House, Surrey,
attested that these notes were perfectly genuine, and had been signed
in the presence of himself and Mr. John Salter. Lord Grenville,
suspecting a correspondence coming through so extraordinary a medium,
and believing that the design of the French was only to gain time, in
order to recover their losses, took no notice of the letters. Moreover,
as the Jacobins were then following up their attacks on the Girondists
from day to day, he saw no prospect of any permanence of this party in
power. In fact, they were expelled by the 2nd of June, and on the 22nd
of that month Lebrun was in flight to avoid arrest. Marat arrived, but
held no communications with Grenville, and very shortly returned to
France. Soon afterwards came indirect overtures through Dumouriez to
our ambassador, Lord Auckland, but they were too late. War had been
declared.
Before the close of April a great commercial crisis had taken place in
England, and Ministers were compelled to make a new issue, by consent
of Parliament, of five millions of Exchequer Bills, to assist merchants
and manufacturers, under proper security. The sudden expansion of
industry which was met by an undue increase of the paper currency
rather than bullion, combined with reckless banking, produced the
crisis. It was calculated that out of the 350 provincial banks 100
failed. In the circumstances the issue of Exchange Bills was a most
successful makeshift.
[Illustration: ROBESPIERRE.]
Fox did not suffer the Session to close without another powerful
effort to avoid war with France. A petition had been handed to him for
presentation to the Commons, drawn up by Mr. Gurney of Norwich, and
signed by the Friends and other inhabitants of that city, praying that
peace with France might be concluded. Fox not only agreed to present it
and support its prayer, but he earnestly exhorted Mr. Gurney and his
friends to promote the sending of petitions from other places for this
object, as the only means of influencing the House, bent determinedly
on war. On the 17th of June, only four days before the close of the
Session, Fox moved an Address to the Crown, praying that, as the French
had been driven out of Holland, peace should be made. In pursuance of
his object--a great one, if attainable--he did not spare his former
favourite, the Empress of Russia, and the other royal robbers of
Poland. Burke replied that Fox knew very well that the defence of
Holland was but a very partial motive for the war. The real obstacles
to peace were the avowed principles of the French--those of universal
conquest, of annexation of the kingdoms conquered, as already Alsace,
Savoy, and Belgium; their attempts on the Constitution of Great Britain
by insidious means; the murder of their own monarch held up as an
example to all other nations. To make peace with France, he said truly,
was to declare war against the rest of Europe, which was threatened
by France; and he asked with whom in France should we negotiate for
peace, if so disposed? Should it be with Lebrun, already in a dungeon,
or with Clavière, who was hiding from those who were anxious to take
his head? or with Egalité, who had been consigned to a dungeon at
Marseilles? Burke declared that you might as well attempt to negotiate
with a quicksand or a whirlwind as with the present ever-shifting and
truculent factions which ruled in France.
The motion of Fox was negatived by a large majority, and on the 21st of
June the king prorogued Parliament.