IRISH REBELLION AND NAVAL SUPREMACY.
In spite of Duncan's victory the French directors were set on an
invasion of England. All their vague designs for the extension of French
supremacy led up to the ruin of the power which they recognised as their
most formidable enemy. From the Adriatic to the North sea a vast
republic was to furnish the armies of France with recruits. Europe was
to be united in a coalition against England. The Mediterranean was to be
a French lake. Every port was to be shut against England's ships;
England's commerce was to be destroyed and her pride humbled. A quicker
means of bringing her into subjection seemed possible. On a foggy night
an army might be carried across the Channel unobserved by her fleet.
What a Norman duke had done might be done by a mighty republic, and the
English crown might be lost in a second battle of Hastings. The victors
would march on London, and be received as deliverers by a people
groaning under the oppression of "that monster Pitt". They failed to
understand that Pitt had the nation at his back, and that even the most
violent whigs would resist to the death an invasion of their country.
They formed an "army of England," and appointed Bonaparte to command it.
On his return to Paris in December, 1797, he set himself to prepare for
the invasion. Transports for over 24,000 men were soon ready at
Boulogne, Ambleteuse, Calais, and Dunkirk, and boat-builders were hard
at work. In February he made a tour of the coast from Etaples to Ostend
and heard what sailors said about the scheme. On the 23rd he told the
directors that France could not gain supremacy by sea for some years,
and that without that no operation could be more hazardous than an
invasion of England, that a surprise was possible only in the long
winter nights, and that their naval preparations were too backward for
such an attempt to be made that year.[281] He turned to other projects
of conquest which might lead to the destruction of England's commerce in
the east and of her power in India. For some while longer he ostensibly
devoted himself to preparations for invasion. The "army of England,"
which in April numbered 56,000 men, was quartered in the towns of the
north, and every port from Havre to the Texel was crowded with
transports. But by that time the army had lost its commander and the
great scheme was definitely abandoned. Nevertheless, the directors
determined to be ready if an opportunity for invasion should occur, and
maritime preparations were continued. In May a flotilla from Havre
attacked the islands of St. Marcouf, which had been seized by Sir Sidney
Smith in 1795, and was beaten back by the little garrison. Equally
feeble efforts were made by England to check the preparations for
invasion. On tidings that the transports built at Flushing were to be
conveyed to Ostend by canal in order to avoid the British fleet, a force
of 1,200 men was sent to destroy the sluices of the Bruges canal. They
landed near Ostend and blew up the great sluice. A storm prevented them
from re-embarking and, after a smart engagement, they were all taken
prisoners. If the thing was worth doing, a sufficient force should have
been sent to do it.
[Sidenote: _INVASION THREATENED._]
The threatened invasion rallied the nation to the support of the
government. Though Fox and the other seceders had ceased to attend
parliament, they kept up an agitation against the ministry. Fox's
birthday, January 24, was celebrated by a public dinner. The Duke of
Norfolk in proposing his health said that Washington began the war of
independence with only 2,000 men, yet America was free; he saw that
number before him, let them apply his words. He afterwards called on the
company to drink "our sovereign's health, the majesty of the people".
Considered in connexion with the circumstances of the time his words
were in the highest degree seditious. The government, strong in the
support of the nation, took up the silly and insolent challenge, and the
duke was deprived of his lord-lieutenancy and the command of his militia
regiment. In May, Fox repeated the toast at a meeting of the whig club.
The ministers discussed what notice should be taken of his offence. It
is not pleasant to find Pitt considering whether he might be led on to
utter similar words in parliament and be sent to the Tower for the rest
of the session. With all his greatness Pitt lacked the generosity which
was a redeeming trait in Fox's character. The anxieties of the past
year, combined with his unfortunate failing, had shaken his health and
his temper had suffered. It was finally decided that Fox should be
removed from the privy council, and the king struck his name out of the
council book with his own hand.
The belief that the country was in danger evoked patriotic enthusiasm,
and L2,300,000 was subscribed to augment the produce of the triple
assessment. Pitt's supplementary budget announced a further loan of
L3,000,000 and imposed fresh taxes. Chiefly as a means of supporting
credit he brought forward a scheme for the commutation of the land tax.
For many years the tax had been granted at four shillings in the pound;
he proposed to make it perpetual at that rate, to enable landowners to
redeem it, and to apply their payments to the reduction of debt. The
bill, though opposed in both houses on the plea that it was unfair to
the landed interest, was carried by large majorities. The alien act and
the suspension of _habeas corpus_ were revived, for with the enemy
threatening the country disloyalty was intolerable. With a view to the
organisation of defence the government was empowered to ascertain the
number of men who were prepared to take up arms in case of invasion, to
instruct each as to what he should do, and to arrange for the removal of
helpless persons, cattle, and other property from the coast.
It was a time of overwhelming anxiety to the ministers, for, in addition
to the expected invasion, they had to meet rebellion in Ireland. With so
great a strain upon him, Pitt was unable to bear with patience the
attempts of Tierney, the leader of the non-seceding section of the
opposition, to thwart his measures. On May 25 he brought in a bill to
abrogate certain exemptions from naval service, and asked the house to
pass it through all its stages in one day. Tierney objected, and Pitt
accused him of desiring to obstruct the defence of the country. The
speaker ruled that the imputation was unparliamentary. Pitt repeated his
words, haughtily declaring that he would "neither retract from nor
explain them". The next day Tierney sent him a challenge. They met on
Sunday afternoon, the 27th, on Putney heath, Pitt accompanied by his
friend Dudley Ryder, afterwards Lord Harrowby, the paymaster of the
forces, and Tierney by Colonel Walpole. Two shots were exchanged on each
side without effect, Pitt firing his second shot into the air. Honour
was then declared to be satisfied. Wilberforce, in common with many
other religious people, was much shocked, and gave notice of a motion
against duelling by members of the house, but was persuaded to withdraw
it, for Pitt threatened to resign if it was carried. The king expressed
his disapproval, telling Pitt with characteristic good sense that a
public man should remember his duty to his country before what was due
to himself. Not until that generation had well-nigh passed away was
duelling virtually extinguished by the condemnation of society. In
contrast to the lack of moral perception on that point stands the
quickening of the public conscience with reference to the slave trade.
Wilberforce again brought in his annual motion for its abolition. It was
seconded by Pitt and vigorously supported by Fox, who pertinently asked
why the minister did not use his majority to accomplish the end he
professed to desire. It was lost only by four votes. The rest of the
session was largely taken up by the affairs of Ireland.
There, as we have already seen, religious animosity strengthened the
party of rebellion. Its leaders also took advantage of agrarian and
other grievances to allure the peasantry. The catholic peasants were
little moved by the questions which weighed with their more educated
neighbours and with the dwellers in towns. They were not enamoured of
the republican sentiments which appealed to the Ulster presbyterians,
and did not care a straw about parliamentary reform for its own sake,
nor for catholic emancipation. Their motives were more personal. They
were poor and oppressed. The national parliament, though it refused to
grant political reforms, had done much to improve the condition of the
country by subsidies for promoting manufactures, fisheries, and canals,
and by bounties on exported corn. The financial position of Ireland was
bettered, but the lot of the peasantry grew worse. Corn bounties and the
high prices of war time caused a rise in the value of land. Holdings
were subdivided, and, as the agricultural population was large, were
eagerly taken at high rents. The tenants could not make a living,
especially as they were ignorant and generally thriftless. The chief
cause of their discontent was the system of tithe which pressed heavily
on the small cultivators. They believed that a reformed parliament would
rid them of that intolerable burden. Finding that reform was withheld,
they readily listened to men who bade them look for relief to France,
where tithe had been abolished. High rents, exacted by the agents of
absentee landlords or by middle-men, who rented large tracts of land and
sublet them in small holdings, were another though lesser grievance from
which they hoped to be delivered by revolution. Sentiment urged them in
the same direction. Proud and sensitive they resented the dominance of
an alien race; they held the wrongs of their forefathers in remembrance,
and looked back with mournful longing to the age, invested by their
poetic imagination with glory and happiness, when Ireland was yet
unconquered. The United Irishmen told them that a fresh conquest would
be attempted, that the Orangemen, encouraged by government, designed to
rob them of their land and destroy them. They looked to France for
protection and were ready to take up arms against the crown.
[Sidenote: _REBELLION FOILED IN ULSTER._]
The government was determined to nip rebellion in the bud, and struck
first at conspiracy in Ulster, where it was mainly engineered by
protestant leaders. In the spring of 1797 the province was almost in
open revolt. Martial law was proclaimed, and on May 18 soldiers were
empowered to act without authority from a civil magistrate. An active
search was made for arms. It was carried out mainly by yeomanry and
militia, for the regular troops were few and mostly stationed in towns.
The catholic districts were ruthlessly harried. A fierce resistance was
made. Many outrages were committed by the soldiers, specially by a Welsh
regiment of mounted fencibles, the Ancient Britons. Houses were burned
and peasants were slaughtered. Crowds were imprisoned without process of
law and many were sent off to serve in the fleet. These severities which
lasted for several months crushed the life out of the conspiracy in
Ulster. The government was justified in using force to suppress
rebellion, but it was lamentable that the work should have been
entrusted to troops which were little better than banditti. An earnest
attempt was made to restrain them by Sir Ralph Abercromby, who succeeded
Lord Carhampton as commander-in-chief in November. He issued an order
declaring that the army was in a state of "licentiousness," and
forbidding soldiers to act without the civil authority. This order was
contrary to the proclamation of May 18, and gave great offence to the
party of repression in the Irish government headed by Lord Clare, and to
the British ministry. A proclamation of March 30, 1798, re-established
martial law; Abercromby resigned his command, and was succeeded by
General Lake.
The British government upheld the Irish ministers. Early in 1797 the
Prince of Wales wished the king and Pitt to send him to Ireland as
lord-lieutenant to carry out a policy of concession. If he had been
wholly different from what he was, such a step, though it would not
perhaps have averted the coming rebellion, would have probably rendered
it less formidable by detaching some of the leaders of the conspiracy.
The prince was not a man to be trusted, and his offer was refused. The
internal affairs of Ireland were not under English direction; the
ministers knew nothing of them except through reports from the castle
and left them to the Irish government. Addresses in favour of
conciliation were moved in the lords by the prince's friend, Lord Moira,
an Ulster magnate, and in the commons by Fox. They were resisted as
attacks on the government and were rejected. Moira laid the excesses of
the soldiers before the lords in November and again in February, 1798.
The government refused to credit his accounts, or to interfere with the
measures taken by the Irish ministers to suppress rebellion.
The progress of the conspiracy was reported by informers, of whom there
was no lack. Great preparations were, as we have seen, made in France
for a possible invasion of England; the United Irishmen expected that
the French would land in Ireland in the spring, and an organised army
was ready to co-operate with them, under the command of Lord Edward
Fitzgerald. The conspiracy was directed by a committee in Dublin. One of
its leaders, Arthur O'Connor, a priest named O'Coighly, and three more
were arrested at Margate while on their way to France to make further
arrangements. O'Coighly was hanged for treason. Fox, Sheridan, and other
members of the opposition bore witness to O'Connor's character, and he
and the rest were acquitted. He was arrested on another charge and was
sent to Dublin. After the rebellion he, in common with the other
political prisoners, gave evidence as to the conspiracy, and they were
eventually released. No government is worthy of the name that sits still
and allows conspiracy to ripen unchecked. The Irish government did not
do so. It adopted measures of repression which wrecked the plans of the
conspirators and caused secret conspiracy to break prematurely into open
rebellion. It was thus enabled to put an end to a prolonged state of
danger before it could be augmented by the anticipated foreign invasion.
It struck swiftly at the heads of the conspiracy. In pursuance of
information from an officer of the rebel army named Reynolds, fifteen of
them were arrested together in Dublin on March 12. Fitzgerald escaped
for the time. A reward of L1,000 was offered for his detection, and in
May his hiding-place was betrayed. He made a desperate resistance,
mortally wounded one of the officers sent to take him, and was himself
wounded in the arm. He was conveyed to prison, where he died on June 4.
[Sidenote: _REPRESSIVE SEVERITIES._]
The government having crushed the head of rebellion in Ulster, proceeded
to combat it in the midland and southern counties, where it was
distinctly a catholic movement. Officers were ordered to enforce
disarmament by summary methods; martial law was established, and they
were enjoined to distribute their troops at free quarters where arms
were supposed to be concealed. Scenes of cruelty sickening to
contemplate followed. As soon as a district was proclaimed, troops took
up free quarters in it, burned every house where a weapon was
discovered, shot men without trial of any kind, put many to cruel
torture either on suspicion of concealing arms or to extort evidence,
and excited the bitterest feelings of revenge by outrages on women,
cutting the petticoats from the backs of girls who showed any sign of
sympathy with rebellion, such as wearing, it might be accidentally, a
green ribbon. Men were commonly tortured by floggings of fearful
severity, or by half-hanging. In imitation of the French republicans,
the rebel party cut their hair short, and it was a pastime with the
soldiers to torture "croppies" by fixing a covering lined with hot
pitch, a "pitch-cap," on their heads, which could not be removed without
tearing the scalp. More than one man died under the lash, and one from
fear of the torture. No name is more closely associated with these
horrors than that of Thomas Judkin Fitzgerald, high-sheriff of
Tipperary. Resolute, courageous, and energetic, he united with some fine
qualities a violent temper and an insensibility to human suffering.
Conspiracy was rife in Tipperary, and he was determined to stamp it out.
One instance of his cruelties will suffice. A teacher of French named
Wright was suspected of treason, and a note of a harmless kind, written
in French, was found on him. Fitzgerald, who could not read it, brutally
assaulted him, declared that he would have him first flogged and then
shot; and failing to obtain a confession from him, caused him to receive
150 severe lashes and had him put in prison, where he lay for some days
with his wounds uncared for. After the rebellion Wright sued him, and
obtained L500 damages. Fitzgerald's severity and the courage with which
he acted were effectual; Tipperary remained quiet. The government paid
Wright's damages, and Fitzgerald's services were rewarded with a
baronetcy.
The conspirators intended to wait for a French invasion. Their
organisation was deranged by the arrests of March 12. A plan was made
for seizing the castle and occupying Dublin. The city was proclaimed and
violent measures of repression were adopted. A new rebel executive was
broken up by the arrest of two brothers named Sheares, who were
eventually hanged as traitors. An outbreak of rebellion was certain; it
was forced on prematurely by drastic measures of repression. Though
nothing can excuse the barbarities perpetrated under the shield of
so-called martial law, severe repression was certainly necessary.
Without it the conspiracy would have continued to grow, and a rebellion
coincident with a foreign invasion would have been in the highest degree
dangerous. The rebels lost their leaders; their movements were paralysed
in some districts and crippled in others; they saw no hope except in an
immediate outbreak, and were driven to it by intolerable severities. So
far the system pursued by the government was successful. Yet in some
districts the terror and rage it excited stimulated rebellion, and when
rebellion broke out led to horrible reprisals. The rising began on an
appointed day, May 23. Attacks were made on the garrisons at Naas,
Clane, and other places in Kildare. Nearly everywhere they were repulsed
with heavy loss, the catholics among the militia and yeomanry behaving
with perfect loyalty. It was a sanguinary struggle. The rebels
surprised a detachment of the North Cork militia by night, and
slaughtered them, killing many of them in their beds. The troops gave
little quarter; rebels taken in arms were commonly flogged, shot, or
hanged without trial. The citizens of Dublin, where the rebels had been
thoroughly cowed by floggings and hangings, were zealous in preparing to
defend their city. On the south-west small bodies of troops routed the
rebels with heavy loss at Carlow and Hacketstown. The communications of
Dublin were secured on the north by a loyalist victory at Tara, where,
on the 26th, about 400 yeomanry and fencibles defeated ten times their
number of rebels, and on the west by another victory. By the 31st the
rebels in Meath, Kildare, and Carlow had lost all heart.
[Sidenote: _WEXFORD REBELLION._]
By that time rebellion had broken out in the county of Wexford. There it
soon took the form of a religious war, though the catholic troops
remained faithful to their colours. There were only 600 regular troops
and militia in the county, the loyalist force being composed chiefly of
yeomanry, who were generally protestants. With and without the approval
of the magistrates, they had begun to practise the usual methods of
enforcing disarmament, burning houses and flogging and half-hanging
suspected persons, and though these severities had not as yet been
practised so widely as in some other districts, they excited violent
terror and resentment. Led by a priest, Father John Murphy, whose house
or chapel had been burnt, the rebels defeated a small number of militia
at Oulart, and attacked Enniscorthy with a force of about 7,000 men.
There and elsewhere they drove horses and cattle in front of them to
disorder the ranks of their opponents. After a stout defence the
survivors of the little garrison fled to Wexford, whither the loyal
inhabitants of the neighbourhood were flocking for protection. The rebel
army, swelled to the number of 15,000, advanced on the town. An attempt
to relieve it having failed, the garrison made terms and evacuated the
place, which was occupied by the enemy on the 30th. The rebels chose
Bagenal Harvey, a protestant gentleman and one of the United Irishmen,
as commander-in-chief, and leaving a garrison in Wexford, established a
camp on Vinegar hill. Hoping to penetrate into Carlow and join the
rebels there and in Wicklow and Kildare, they detached 5,000 men to take
Newtownbarry. Colonel L'Estrange, who commanded there, retreated with
the garrison, and the rebels rushed into the place. He was soon
persuaded to return, surprised them as they were pillaging, and routed
them with the loss of only two men.
In the camp on Vinegar hill priests were dominant; mass was said every
morning, and the fury of the people was excited by violent sermons.
Protestants were brought in from the surrounding country, and all who
did not receive "protections" from the priests were butchered, sometimes
with ghastly cruelty. Though the priests often interfered to save the
captives, it is probable that at least 400 were slain in the camp.[282]
The prime object of the rebel leaders was to establish communication
with other counties. Their plans were ruined by lack of discipline and
organisation, as well as by the extraordinary gallantry of the loyalist
troops. After some fighting a detachment of rebels took Gorey in the
north of the county. Instead of pressing on into Wicklow, they remained
there feasting and plundering the neighbourhood. At the same time a
large body under Harvey marched on New Ross, with the object of opening
communication with Kilkenny and Waterford, where they believed that
thousands were ready to rise in arms.[283] The town was attacked at
daybreak on June 5, and was defended by General Johnston and about 1,600
men against thousands of rebels. Again and again the garrison, beaten
back for a time by sheer weight of numbers, rallied and steadily faced
the enemy. Lord Mountjoy was killed as he led a charge of militia. The
rebels fought desperately, but as a mere mob. After a fierce struggle of
ten hours they turned and fled through the burning town. No quarter was
given. At least 2,000 of them were slain. The loss on the loyalist side
was 230. During the battle some rebels fled to Scullabogue House, where
their army had left 224 prisoners, nearly all protestants, under a
strong guard. They declared that the day was lost, that the garrison
were slaughtering the catholics, and that Harvey had ordered that the
prisoners should be killed. Thirty-seven were massacred at the hall
door, and 184, including some women and children, were shut into a barn
and burned to death. Out of the whole number only three escaped.
[Sidenote: _BATTLE OF ARKLOW._]
After his defeat at New Ross, Harvey, who tried in vain to check the
savagery of his followers, was deposed from his command, and was
succeeded by a priest named Philip Roche. The rebels at Gorey had been
wasting their time. They were largely reinforced, and on the 9th some
10,000 men attacked Arklow. Its capture would have thrown open the road
to Dublin. The garrison under General Needham numbered about 1,500, and
had some cannon. Mainly owing to the splendid courage of the Durham
fencibles they defeated the rebels, who were much discouraged by the
fall of one of their priests, for they believed that he and some of
their other priestly leaders could not be harmed by shot or sword. Their
defeat decided the issue of the rebellion. It was almost confined to
Leinster. Connaught remained quiet, and it scarcely touched Munster. In
Ulster, the chief seat of the conspiracy, there were only two outbreaks,
in Antrim and Down, which were easily suppressed. Severity had nipped
rebellion in the bud. Nor was this the only reason for the comparative
inaction of the province. The presbyterians, whose republican sympathies
had led them to look to France and seek the support of the catholics
against England, found France fail them again and again; and they were
bitterly incensed against the catholics on hearing how in Wexford they
made the rebellion a religious war and were torturing and massacring the
protestants. Nor were French politics any longer such as to allure
republicans, for France was rapidly tending towards military rule, and
was bringing the republics she had founded into subjection to herself.
Before long Ulster became, as it has since remained, thoroughly loyal to
the crown.
The rebellion was defeated by the gallantry of the Irish loyalists and
the few English troops which supported them. No help had as yet been
sent from England. Decisive as the battle of Arklow proved to be, the
Irish ministers believed that the rebellion was still likely to grow,
and wrote urgently for reinforcements. Five regiments were despatched,
and several militia regiments volunteered for service in Ireland. The
crown could not accept their offer without the consent of parliament.
The opposition in the commons raised objections, and were defeated by a
large majority. On the 21st Lake, at the head of an army of over 13,000
men, attacked the rebels on Vinegar hill. After a short resistance they
fled in confusion. Enniscorthy was taken, and the royal army marched on
Wexford. When the rebels occupied Wexford on May 30, they behaved with
comparative moderation. There was some pillaging, but few acts of
violence were committed. Many protestants were imprisoned, and the rest
were confined to their houses and lived in mortal terror, for the lower
class of catholics showed a savage spirit which was only kept in check
by their leaders. It broke out on June 20, when nearly all the armed
rebels had marched out against the royal forces. Infuriated by the news
of disasters, the mob, under the leadership of a ruffian named Dixon and
his equally savage wife, slaughtered ninety-seven of the prisoners. The
next day the rebels offered to surrender the town on terms. They
believed that their offer was accepted, and surrendered before they
heard that Lake refused it. The rebel leaders and all found guilty of
murder were executed. Philip Roche and, in spite of his humane
exertions, Harvey were among the number. The remains of the rebellion
were stamped out with fearful severity. Many excesses were committed.
Every execution was hailed with exultation by the victorious party.
Cornwallis, who had succeeded Camden as lord-lieutenant in June, was
disgusted with their bloodthirsty and vengeful spirit. Seconded by the
chancellor, he obtained from parliament an act of general indemnity with
special exceptions, and did all in his power to restrain the ferocity of
the troops.
The rebellion left Ireland burdened with debt. Throughout wide districts
the land lay waste, houses were in ashes, the peasants homeless and
starving. Old racial and religious hatreds were revived and were
strengthened a thousandfold by the barbarities perpetrated by both
parties. If Ireland was ever to be at peace, if Celts and Saxons,
catholics and protestants, were ever to dwell together as one people, it
could only be by her acceptance of the control of a single imperial
parliament. A legislative union had long been contemplated by Pitt and
by other English statesmen. That Pitt deliberately planned and fostered
the rebellion, as Irishmen have actually asserted, in order to carry out
a union is a charge so monstrous as scarcely to demand serious
refutation. It is enough to say that he would certainly not have chosen
to have Ireland in rebellion at a time so critical for England as the
spring of 1798. That the policy of the government both in England and
Ireland, which certainly conduced to the rebellion, was to some extent
swayed by the desire for union is probable.[284] That is quite another
matter. The rebellion made union absolutely necessary, and while the
rebels were still in arms, Pitt began to prepare for it. The history of
the union must be deferred to our next chapter.
[Sidenote: _HUMBERT'S INVASION._]
The rebels' hopes of help from France were bitterly disappointed. A
serious invasion was impossible without command of the sea; only small
expeditions could be sent out by stealth. On June 16 certain Irish
conspirators represented that if a small expedition landed on the
north-west coast the independence of Ireland might be secured. The
directors determined to send one immediately.[285] It was long delayed,
for the navy was in disorder. At last, on August 6, when the rebellion
was over, and Ireland was full of troops, General Humbert sailed from
Rochelle with eighty-two officers and 1,017 men, together with supplies
and arms for the natives, in three frigates under the command of Captain
Savary. The ships took a long route to avoid the British fleet, and did
not arrive in Killala bay until the 20th. Killala, which had a garrison
of only 200 men, was occupied, and Ballina was taken. The French were
joined by a large number of Irish, delighted at receiving arms, clothes,
and food. Many of these recruits deserted, carrying away their guns, and
those who remained were of little use. General Hutchinson, who commanded
in Connaught, advanced against the invaders. He was joined by Lake, and
their forces amounted to over 5,000 men. Lake posted a detachment to
guard Castlebar. Humbert avoided it by crossing the mountains, and on
the 27th, after a march of fifteen hours engaged the British, though
vastly inferior to them in number. The militia were seized with panic,
and though the artillery behaved well, the army was utterly routed and
fled in disorder leaving nine guns in the enemy's hands.
After this shameful rout, called "the race of Castlebar," Cornwallis
took the command in person at the head of a large army, and reached the
neighbourhood of Castlebar on September 4. Early on that day Humbert
left Castlebar to march on Sligo, for he heard that there were few
troops in the counties of Sligo and Leitrim. He probably intended to
maintain himself near the sea in order to meet reinforcements from
France, and is said to have hoped to reach Dublin by a circuit to the
north-east. Wild as this hope seems, it was encouraged by the news of
insurrectionary movements. On reaching Colooney he was met by Colonel
Vereker with a small force from Sligo, which he defeated after a smart
engagement. He abruptly changed his course and marched to the
south-east, either because he believed that Vereker's force was the
vanguard of an army, or because he hoped to take advantage of a
rebellion which had broken out in Granard, and of disaffection in
Longford and Westmeath, and to reach Dublin through those counties.[286]
On the 9th Lake attacked him with an overwhelming force at Ballinamuck,
near Granard; Cornwallis was marching on his rear, and after a short
resistance the French surrendered themselves prisoners. They then
numbered ninety-six officers and 748 men. No terms were granted to their
Irish allies of whom 500 are said to have been slain. The adventure,
gallantry, and achievements of Humbert's little band form a notable
episode in the military history of France. Their conduct was worthy of
their country, for they committed no excesses. Killala was retaken from
the rebels with great slaughter and the rebellion in Connaught was soon
at an end.
The expedition under General Hardy, which was to have sailed to support
Humbert, was prevented from leaving Brest by the British fleet. From
Dunkirk a brig got away on September 4, carrying Napper Tandy and some
other United Irishmen, a few soldiers, and stores. Tandy persuaded the
French that he was a man of importance in Ireland, and that if he
appeared there the people would rise in arms; so the French made him a
general, and gave him command of this little expedition. He reached the
island of Aran, in Donegal, on the 16th, and heard of Humbert's failure.
No one paid any heed to him. He read the letters in the post office,
hoisted a green flag, got very drunk, and was carried back to the brig
eight hours after landing. The brig sailed to the coast of Norway to
avoid capture. Finally Tandy and some of his friends took refuge in
Hamburg. The city delivered them up to the English and thereby incurred
the wrath of Bonaparte. They were sentenced to death but were not
executed, and Tandy was allowed to go to France, where he ended his
days.
[Sidenote: _ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS ON IRELAND._]
At last, on September 16th, Hardy succeeded in sailing out from the Raz
with 4,000 troops for the relief of Humbert. They were carried in the
_Hoche_ (80) and nine smaller ships, under Admiral Bompard. The French
took a wide course and arrived off Lough Swilly on October 10. They were
met the next day by Sir John Warren with three ships of the line and
five frigates. The French, who fought well, were overpowered. The
_Hoche_ and three of their frigates surrendered, and three more of their
vessels were caught during the next few days. Only two frigates and a
sloop returned to Brest. On the _Hoche_ was Wolfe Tone, who had embarked
as a French officer. He was tried by court-martial in Dublin and
sentenced to be hanged. His request that he might die a soldier's death
was refused; he cut his throat and died in prison. Of all the promoters
of the rebellion he was, perhaps, the most talented, and was excelled by
none either in courage or in whole-hearted devotion to the cause of
Irish independence. One more attempt at invasion was made by Savary, who
after landing Humbert's force had returned to France. Ignorant of the
fate of Humbert's expedition, he sailed from Rochelle on October 12 with
three frigates and a corvette, carrying 1,090 troops, and appeared off
Killala on the 27th. There he heard of the failure of both Humbert and
Bompard. He set sail again and was so hotly chased by some British ships
that he threw guns, stores, and ammunition overboard.[287] His ships got
away, though with some damage, and returned to Rochelle. So ended the
French attempts on Ireland. If in the height of the rebellion a small
expedition had succeeded, as Humbert did, in evading the British fleet
and had landed in Ireland, it might have prolonged the struggle, but
could not have changed its issue. Disorganisation and unreadiness
prevented France from seizing the opportunity of doing even so much as
that. In the face of England's superiority at sea the despatch of any
large force would have ended in signal disaster. Independently of the
risk of capture at sea, the little secret expeditions to which France
was reduced were a mere waste of money.
Bonaparte sailed from Toulon on May 19, intending to take Malta, conquer
Egypt, despoil England of her power and commerce in the east, and gain
for France exclusive possession of the Red sea. He had with him 35,000
troops, and a fleet, which finally amounted to thirteen ships of the
line, fourteen frigates, and a vast number of smaller vessels, under the
subordinate command of Admiral Brueys. Malta was surrendered by the
knights of St. John. Bonaparte took Alexandria on July 2, and defeated
the Mamelukes in the battle of the Pyramids on the 21st. Lower Egypt was
conquered. As the port of Alexandria was unsuitable for his fleet,
Brueys stationed it in Abukir bay, near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile,
in order to guard the rear of the army. So far Bonaparte's schemes were
successful. But they had been formed without taking the British navy
into account. Nelson again entered the Mediterranean. Acting on orders
from the admiralty, St. Vincent sent him thither, and by June 7 he was
in command of thirteen ships of seventy-four, and the _Leander_ of fifty
guns. He at once began a long search for the French fleet, in which he
was hindered through lack of frigates to do scouting work. He anchored
off Naples on the 17th, and believing that the enemy would attack
Sicily, passed through the straits of Messina, and sailed along the east
of the island. He was off Alexandria on the 28th, two days before the
French arrived there, then he searched the Levant, and returned to
Sicily for supplies on July 19. On the 25th he put to sea again, sailed
along the coast of the Morea, and finally on August 1 discovered the
enemy in Abukir bay. The French fleet was anchored in line on the
western side of the bay, with wide shoals between it and the shore. It
was sheltered by Abukir (now Nelson's) island and its rocks, and its
leading ship was pretty close to the shoal off the island. It was
composed of thirteen ships of the line and four frigates, and was much
superior to Nelson's in the size of the ships and weight of metal. Some
of the ships, however, were worn out, and many of their crews were not
seamen.
[Sidenote: _BATTLE OF THE NILE._]
Though Troubridge's ship, the _Culloden_, and two others were not with
the main body, Nelson would not delay his attack, and at 5.30 P.M.
formed his line of battle, the wind being N.N.W. and blowing down the
French line. Very skilfully the British ships were taken round the
island and the shoals. They then swept round, and steering to the
south-west headed for the French van about 6.30, led by the _Goliath_
under Captain Foley. Near as the leading French ship, the _Guerrier_
(74), was to the shoal, Foley passed across her bows, and engaged the
next ship, the _Conquerant_ (74), on the inshore side. Hood followed
with the _Zealous_, and anchored by the _Guerrier_, and three more
engaged on the enemy's port side, Nelson's ship, the _Vanguard_, and the
two next attacking on the outside. Eight British ships set on the five
of the French van, the two others engaged two Frenchmen of much larger
size in the centre, and one of them, the _Bellerophon_, was dismasted
and drifted off. Later two of the missing ships of Nelson's squadron and
the _Leander_ came into action; the _Culloden_ having struck on a rock
off the island, remained aground. By that time the French van was
crushed, and the battle raged round the centre. Brueys fell, and soon
afterwards his ship, the _Orient_ (120), caught fire. Her assailants
poured so fierce a storm of shot upon her that her crew could not get
the fire under. The summer night was lightened by the sheet of flame
which wrapped her from the water-line to the mast-heads. The fire
reached her magazine, and the great ship blew up with a terrific
explosion. During the fight Nelson was badly wounded in the forehead. He
was soon on deck again, and sent boats to pick up the survivors of the
crew of the _Orient_. The British victory was completed in the morning,
and never was victory so complete. Of seventeen French ships two were
burnt besides the _Orient_, one sank, nine were taken, and only two
ships of the line and two frigates escaped.[288] Great was the rejoicing
in England at the news of the battle of the Nile. Nelson was raised to
the peerage as Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe; other
honours were conferred on him both at home and by foreign sovereigns,
and parliament voted him a pension of L2,000 a year for two lives.
The king's speech on November 20 described the victory as foiling an
enterprise against the most valuable interests of the British empire,
and as likely to lead other powers to combine for the general
deliverance of Europe. Let us trace its effects under these two
headings. Bonaparte's conquest of Egypt was designed to be a step
towards the overthrow of British power and commerce in the east. He
found himself shut up in his conquest. Great ideas presented themselves
to him. He would take Constantinople, and conquer Europe by a flank
attack. He would be a second Alexander, and after another Issos would
drive the English from India. Already French envoys were inciting Tipu
Sultan to war. From the shores of the Red sea Bonaparte wrote to bid him
expect his army. The letter was seized by a British ship. Nelson's
victory encouraged the sultan, Selim III., the nominal lord of Egypt, to
declare war. A Turkish army and fleet were assembled at Rhodes, and
another army in Syria. Bonaparte did not wait to be attacked in Egypt.
The conquest of Syria would deprive the British fleet of its source of
supplies in the Levant, and would open the way to a conquest either of
Constantinople or Delhi.[289] On February 15, 1799, he captured El
Arish, and on March 6 took Jaffa by storm. Then with an army weakened by
disease and fighting, he marched on Acre. There he again had to meet a
British sea-captain.
[Sidenote: _DEFENCE OF ACRE._]
After his distinguished service at Toulon, and some later employment,
Sir Sidney Smith, in 1795, was appointed to the command of some small
vessels with which he did much damage to the enemy off the Norman coast.
He was taken prisoner in 1796 and kept in France for eighteen months. He
escaped in 1798 with the help of a royalist officer of engineers,
Colonel Phelypeaux, was sent to Constantinople as joint-plenipotentiary
with his brother, and, Nelson being at Naples, became senior naval
officer in the Levant. Acre, as the best harbour on the Syrian coast,
was specially important to British maritime supremacy in those waters.
So long as it remained uncaptured, Bonaparte could not advance, for the
door would be left open to an attack on his rear. If he took the place,
he believed that Syria would rise against Djezzar, its Turkish ruler.
The fortifications were weak, but Nelson's victory deprived him of the
power of investing it by sea. Smith sent his friend, Phelypeaux, in the
_Theseus_ (74) to teach the Turks how to strengthen the place, and
followed himself in the _Tigre_ (74). On March 18 he intercepted a
French flotilla with the artillery, ammunition, and stores on which
Bonaparte depended for the siege. They were brought into Acre; the
French were left only with field-pieces, and it was not until April 25
that they could bring up heavy guns from Jaffa. Much fierce fighting
took place between the Turks and the French; and the British ships kept
up a constant fire on the French in their lines and whenever they
advanced to attack. Smith, who was given to vapouring, was offended by
some communication from Bonaparte, and sent him a challenge to which
Bonaparte replied that he would fight when the English sent a
Marlborough to meet him.
Bonaparte's victory over the Turks at Mount Tabor seemed a great step
towards conquest. All depended on the fate of Acre. At last on May 7 the
Turkish fleet from Rhodes hove in sight. It was becalmed, and the French
made a desperate attempt to storm the place before the reinforcements
could arrive. They effected a lodgment, but Smith landed his seamen who
helped to drive them out with their pikes, and they fell back with heavy
loss. On the 20th Bonaparte raised the siege which had cost him nearly
5,000 men by war and sickness. Smith received the thanks of parliament
and a pension of L1,000 a year. Though vainglorious and arrogant, he
conducted the defence of Acre with sound judgment as well as with energy
and courage. By weary marches through the desert, Bonaparte led his army
back to Egypt, where he defeated an invasion of Turks. Smith sent him a
bundle of newspapers, and from them he received tidings which determined
him to leave his army and return to France. Before we enter on the
European events which chiefly led to his return, let us see how the ruin
of his plan of eastern conquest, the fruit of Nelson's victory, affected
the British rule in India.
By reducing the resources of Tipu in 1792 Cornwallis believed that he
was establishing a balance of power in India which would enable the
English to adopt a policy of nonintervention. This policy was pursued
both by him and his successor, Sir John Shore, afterwards Lord
Teignmouth. It was defeated through the revival of French influence. The
nizam put his army under French officers who held a large part of his
territories and paid their troops out of their revenues. Daulat Rao
Sindhia, the strongest of the Maratha lords, also employed French
officers and was inclined to help Tipu rather than the English. From
neither of these powers, which were in alliance with the company in
Cornwallis's war with Tipu, could any help be expected in a fresh
struggle with him; and as in 1797 Tipu proposed an alliance with France
against the English, a struggle could not be far off. In October of that
year Pitt's friend, Lord Mornington, was appointed governor-general. On
the day that he reached Madras, in April, 1798, Tipu received a French
force from Mauritius. Mornington at once persuaded the nizam to enter
into a subsidiary treaty by which he agreed to dismiss his French
officers and to form a close alliance with the company. The Frenchmen
were made prisoners and his army was placed under British officers.
Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt encouraged Tipu in his hostility, for he
expected that a French army would shortly appear in India. This hope was
frustrated by Nelson's victory. Nevertheless, he believed that the time
would come when he would be able to co-operate with a French invasion;
he tried to play a waiting game, and evaded the British attempts at
pacification. Mornington determined to put an end to his subterfuges,
and, in February, 1799, ordered an invasion of Mysore under General
Harris, the governor of Madras. Harris's army was joined by the army of
the nizam, and, on March 27, routed Tipu at Malvalli, the left wing of
the British, which consisted mainly of the nizam's contingent, being
under the command of Mornington's brother, Sir Arthur Wellesley,
afterwards Duke of Wellington. Seringapatam was taken by storm and Tipu
was slain. Mornington, who was created Marquis Wellesley, partitioned
Mysore, set up a youthful raja, and placed him under British protection.
[Sidenote: _A NEW COALITION PROPOSED._]
While Nelson's victory enabled Englishmen to uphold the power and
interests of their country in the east, it led also to a second
coalition against France. Already mistress of the Batavian, Cisalpine,
and Ligurian republics, France occupied Rome in February, 1798, drove
out Pius VI., and founded a Roman republic. In August, the Helvetic
republic, established partly by intrigue and partly by force, in place
of the Swiss confederation, became her dependent ally. The German empire
was hopelessly divided, Piedmont was in process of annexation, Naples
was threatened. Yet the power of France was not so great as it seemed.
Among the peoples of the new republics many resented the destruction of
their old independent governments. Pitt poured money from the secret
service funds into the hands of agents, who in every country of Europe
recruited for the interest of England. He seems generally to have
received a good return, except in Holland, where the democratic party
remained strong. In other lands the rising feeling against France was of
no small importance in the coming struggle.
Paul, the Russian tsar, was deeply offended by the capture of Malta, for
he had a romantic predilection for the order of St. John, of which he
constituted himself the protector. The eastward advance of the French
seemed to threaten the spread of republicanism to his dominions and the
revival of trouble in Poland. Encouraged by Nelson's victory, he incited
the Porte to declare war on France, sent ships to act with the British
and Portuguese squadrons in the Mediterranean, and formed a defensive
alliance with the Turks to which England acceded.[290] He tried in vain
to induce the courts of Berlin and Vienna to combine against France, and
appears to have made a secret treaty with Austria concerning the passage
of troops, for some 60,000 Russians were soon marching towards the
Danube.[291] Pitt eagerly took advantage of the tsar's disposition.
Grenville promised a subsidy if the tsar would enter on the war as a
principal,[292] and on November 16 bade Sir Charles Whitworth, the
British ambassador at St. Petersburg, propose a coalition between
England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia to support Naples, re-establish
Austria in Italy, drive the French from Holland, the Belgian
Netherlands, Switzerland, and Savoy, and join the Netherlands to Holland
to form a strong barrier state.[293] Frederick William III., who
succeeded his father in 1797, would not be moved from his neutrality.
Russia was only waiting for the arrangement of a subsidy. With Austria
there were difficulties. The emperor, disgusted with the greediness of
France, was fully determined on war, but wanted a loan of L2,000,000. As
England had lost by former transactions with Austria, Pitt would make no
further promise until existing obligations had been fulfilled.[294]
Besides, the imperial minister Thugut was anxious for delay; he hoped
that the directory would be crushed by its own difficulties, and in any
case was unwilling to move without the co-operation of Prussia, or
before Russia could enter on the campaign. He had formed a defensive
alliance between Austria and the Two Sicilies, or Naples, on May 19, but
declared that Austria would only support Naples if France was the
aggressor, and would give no help if Naples began the war.[295]
His plans were disconcerted by the action of Ferdinand IV. of Naples.
After the battle of the Nile the British fleet in the Mediterranean was
broken up and employed in different directions. Nelson himself sailed to
Naples, was received as its deliverer, and was ensnared by the charms of
Emma, the wife of Sir William Hamilton, the British minister. She was a
woman of low birth, and in her youth had entered on an immoral life.
Though grown stout she was still beautiful, and her considerable natural
talents had been improved by Charles Greville, under whose protection
she had lived. He passed her over to Hamilton, who married her in 1791.
Queen Maria Caroline made a favourite of her, and used her for political
ends, for the queen was anxious for British help against the French and
the Neapolitan republicans. Under court and female influences, Nelson,
who had been ordered to protect Naples, came to consider its fortunes as
of the first importance. The queen, far bolder and more energetic than
her husband, was bent on war. Mack, the Austrian strategist, took
command of the army, and by Nelson's advice Ferdinand declared war on
France. Nelson assisted the operations by carrying troops to Leghorn.
Ferdinand entered Rome in triumph on November 29. His triumph was
short-lived; the Neapolitans were routed by the French, and Naples was
threatened. On December 23 the king and queen and their court took
refuge on board Nelson's ship, the _Vanguard_, and her companions, and
Nelson conveyed them to Palermo and remained with them there. The French
occupied Naples and the Parthenopean republic was established on the
mainland of the Two Sicilies. Among other operations in the
Mediterranean a small British force took Minorca from the Spaniards in
November without the loss of a man, and British and Portuguese ships
blockaded Valetta and compelled the surrender of Gozo. In order to avoid
offending the tsar, or exciting the jealousy of the Austrian or
Neapolitan courts, England renounced all desire for conquest either as
regards Malta, where she proposed that the knights should be
re-established, or the Adriatic, where Turkish and Russian ships were
attacking the French in the former possessions of Venice.[296]
[Sidenote: _THE SECOND COALITION._]
The ill-advised action of Ferdinand of Naples, for which Nelson was
largely responsible, caused some embarrassment to the English
government, and Grenville anxiously assured Thugut that England was not
responsible for it.[297] At the same time it hastened the formation of
the second coalition. A treaty of close alliance with Naples was signed
by Russia on November 29, and another by the Porte on December 23, to
which Great Britain acceded on January 2.[298] England further made a
treaty with Russia on December 29 by which the tsar agreed to furnish
45,000 men to act against France in co-operation with Prussia, and
England promised a subsidy of L225,000 for initial expenses and L75,000
a month afterwards. Thomas Grenville was sent to Berlin to act with
Count Panin in persuading Frederick William to join the coalition. The
king refused; the treaty with Russia was modified by a mutual agreement
that the Russian troops should be employed as seemed most advantageous
to both powers, and the English government suggested that they should
act with the Austrians in Switzerland.[299] Austria was soon forced to
abandon her temporising policy. A corps of 25,000 Russians was encamped
on the Danube. France demanded their expulsion from Austrian territory,
and that, as Thugut said, meant war.[300] On February 28 Jourdan crossed
the Rhine with 40,000 men. The second coalition of which England was the
soul was a direct result of the battle of the Nile.
England was successful alike in arms and diplomacy. She had crushed a
long-threatened rebellion and had been unharmed by attempts at invasion.
Her fleet had vindicated her naval supremacy in the Mediterranean;
Bonaparte's great design against her commerce and power in the east had
utterly failed, and she had succeeded for the second time in forming a
coalition against the common enemy. Though she was burdened with
taxation and debt, and suffering from the evils of a prolonged war, her
commerce was increasing and sedition was virtually extinct. In one
quarter only is an almost insignificant failure to be recorded. The
attempt to conquer San Domingo with insufficient forces, in which the
government had persevered since 1793, was abandoned. Animated by
republican sentiments, the negroes raised a large army under a former
slave, Toussaint l'Ouverture. The small British force at Port-au-Prince
could make no head against them, and was withdrawn in 1798. France
shortly afterwards withdrew her forces, and Toussaint remained virtually
master of the island. England's failure entailed no real loss. She
acknowledged the neutrality of San Domingo, and Toussaint opened its
ports to her commerce and prevented France from using them for
privateering purposes.
FOOTNOTES:
[281] Desbriere, _Projets de Debarquement_, i., 387-90.
[282] Gordon, _Hist. of the Rebellion_, pp. 166-67, 378-80; Lecky,
_Hist._, viii., 103.
[283] Gordon, _u.s._, p. 140.
[284] Lecky, _Hist._, viii., 286.
[285] Desbriere, _Projets de Debarquement_, ii., 40-42.
[286] Desbriere, _Projets de Debarquement_, ii., 120-21.
[287] Desbriere, _Projets de Debarquement_, ii., 182.
[288] Mahan, _Influence of Sea Power on the French Revolution_, i.,
257-71.
[289] Rose, _Life of Napoleon_, i., 201.
[290] Grenville to Whitworth, Oct. 3 and 5, 1798, MS. Russia, R.O.
[291] Garden, _Histoire des Traites_, vi., 147.
[292] Grenville to Whitworth, Oct. 23, 1798, MS. Russia, R.O.
[293] Same to same, Nov. 16, 1798, MS. Russia, R.O.
[294] Eden to Grenville, Nov. 16 and 24, 1798, MS. Austria, R.O.
[295] Eden to Grenville, Nov. 8 and 10, 1798, MS. Austria, R.O.
[296] Grenville to Whitworth, Nov. 23, 1798, MS. Russia, R.O.
[297] Grenville to Eden, Dec. 22, 1798, and Jan. 25, 1799, MS. Austria,
R.O.
[298] Garden, _Histoire des Traites_, vi., 147-51.
[299] Grenville to Whitworth, March 15, 1799, MS. Russia, R.O.; _Ann.
Register_, xli. (1799), 211.
[300] Eden to Grenville, Jan. 11 and Feb. 7, 1799, MS. Austria, R.O.