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HISTORY OF THE WAR.

CHAP. IX.

Proceedings of the Revolutionary Societies-Policy of the English Administration--Debates in Parliament, on several interesting Subjects-Conquest of Holland by the French, and Disastrous Retreat of the British Army-Desertion of the Confederacy by Prussia-Invasion of Spain-Naval Exploits of Hotham and Cornwallis-War in La Vendée-Unfortunate Expedition to Quiberon-Distresses of the Loyalists and Emigrants.

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HE punishment of the Scotch revolutionists did not alarm the fears or retard the machinations of the English associations. Of the three societies which had congratulated the French convention on the downfall of monarchy, the revolutionary club had been dissolved, and the constitutional and corresponding societies formed the bond of connection among the friends of Jacobinism and the advocates of disaffection. The secretaries of these institutions were Daniel Adams, a clerk, and Thomas Hardy, a shoe-maker. In the course of their proceedings, the two societies had called several meetings, especially at Chalk Farm near Hampstead. At this place several intemperate speeches were delivered, and many inflammatory toasts proposed. Some of the most active members of the meeting manifested themselves inimical to the British constitution, as far as their enmity could operate; hostile to every description of kingly government, and desirous of establishing a Jacobinical democracy. One of the number, Mr. John Thelwall, an individual who has lived to atone for his early errors, by the moderation of his opinions and the utility of his pursuits, was separately and personally instrumental to the purposes of sedition, by, the delivery of periodical lectures; declamations abounding with the

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most violent invectives against every existing establishment, and vehement exhortations to resume the rights of nature. The administration observed the open proceedings of these societies and individuals, and suspected the secret machinations of the ring-leaders: to discover the truth,. they adopted the truth, they adopted the policy of every antient and modern government, whether limited or arbitrary, and employed those despicable instruments of power, which are to be found in all great cities as spies, commissioned to attend the conventicles of sedition, and to become members of the societies in order to betray the secrets. with which they might be entrusted. consequence of the information they re ceived, the ministers ordered Hardy and Adams to be arrested and their papers to be seized, and, immediately after, Thelwall, Loveit, a hairdresser, Martin, an attorney, and a few others, to be apprehended. In a few days these measures were extended to men of higher rank and reputation. Mr. Joyce a respectable clergyman, chaplain to lord Stanhope, Mr. Kydd, a barrister of talents and of rising character, and the eminent and celebrated Mr. Horne Tooke were among the numbers of the imprisoned. The papers being examined, it was found that the two so cieties had concerted a project for as

sembling by their joint influence, a national convention. This design, in combination with many other proceedings, was construed by ministers into a conspiracy against the constitution, and consequently a conspiracy against the king, amounting to high treason. The suspected persons were therefore committed to the Tower, there to be confined till evidence should be prepared for their trials. On the 5th of November the commission was opened, and Mr. Hardy was first tried, but, though the proceedings were continued to the 8th day, no evidence of treasonable criminality could be substantiated against him by all the efforts of the council for the king: he was therefore pronounced not guilty, after being ably defended by Messrs. Erskine and Gibbs. The next trial was that of Mr. Tooke, who endeavoured to prove that he had merely followed the example of Mr. Pitt in recommending a plan of parliamentary reform. The minister was examined on the occasion, chiefly with regard to the proceedings of the popular party, previous to the close of the American war, for the attainment of that object, but he evaded the most important questions by alleging a want of recollection. The acquittal of Mr. Tooke being followed by that of Mr.. Thelwall, a despair of convicting any one of the supposed traitors, produced the inemediate termination of the proceedings. Had the prisoners been indicted for sedition, it is probable that they might have been convicted, but to condemn them as traitors, would have been a flagrant perversion of the forms and principles of justice.

The appointment of commissioners to decide with respect to disputed captures between England and America, and the equipment of the embassy to China, under lord Macartney, scarcely attracted the notice of the public amidst the turbulence of political contention.. Complaints of territorial aggrandizement and illegal seizure of merchandise and shipping, had been repeatedly urged by the Americans; and they also requested a perfect understanding of the terms on which they were

to trade with British subjects. After frequent discussions between lord Grenville and Mr. Jay, the boundaries of dominion were more precisely marked, and a general but not unrestricted trade was permitted from America to the East and West Indies.

The successes which had attended the arms. of France, the defection of one of our most powerful allies, and the mutinous disposition which had been displayed by the various. associations throughout the kingdom, were considered by many men of dispassionate minds, as reasons sufficient to counterbalance the various objections to a negotiation with the enemy. But the conclusions deduced from these very considerations by the administration, by a considerable majority in both houses of parliament, and by a great portion of the individuals throughout the kingdom, who entertained a zealous attachment to the existing government, were directly the reverse. The successes of France, were, in their opinion, at once the motive and the justification of determined resistence, to power so formidable and encroachments so extensive, and the turbulence and activity of the revolutionary societies the most powerful inducements to avert, by the adoption of vigorous measures, the danger to be apprehended from their designs. Actuated by these sentiments, and stimulated by the hope that the experience of democratic tyranny and the pressure of taxes in France, would favour the efforts of the royalists in accomplishing a counterrevolution, the English government persevered in warlike councils, even after the Prussian monarch, who had basely deserted his allies, was now applying the subsidies. of Great Britain to the prosecution of his.. views on Poland; and, when it was evident that nothing but the pecuniary support of England would retain the house of Austria in its attachment to the confederacy.

At the commencement of a new parliamentary session on December 30th, . the speech from the throne, after an 1794.. allusion to the disappointments and. reverses of the late campaign, signified his

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majesty's conviction of the necessity of persisting in the war, as perseverence alone could produce a secure and honourable peace; and repeated the remark of the progress and rapid decay of the French resources, and the probable instability of the violent and unnatural system pursued by the French leaders. The reflections excited by a comparison of this speech with the actual appearance of circumstances and events, were of so gloomy a nature, as put the firmness of the British minister and the national loyalty and fortitude to a severe trial, but they were not seen to shrink from the burden, nor to be intimidated by the dangers and difficulties to which they were subjected.

The address was defended and attacked by arguments nearly similar to those which had been employed in preceding sessions. The proposal of a loan of £4,000,000 to the emperor was opposed by the leading members of the minority in both houses, but without success, and was acceded to by great majorities. The various propositions brought forward by the opposition, were almost uniformly rejected. A motion A motion was made in the house of peers by lord Stanhope, that a declaration should be made that Great Britain neither would nor ought to interfere in the internal affairs of France. Successive motions were made in the two houses by Mr. Grey and the duke of Bedord, purporting that the nature of the French government ought not to be considered as precluding a negotiation for peace; and these were followed by others made by Mr. Fox and the earl of Guildford, importing that a committee of the whole house should take into consideration the state of the kingdom. All these 1795. endeavours to oppose and distract. the policy of the minister, terminated only in the disappointment and gradual diminution of the minority.

A second motion from Mr. Grey recommendatory of a negotiation, gave an opportunity for an animated display of the eloquence of both parties. That gentleman, apprehending from some expressions of the minister, that the war was intended to he conducted beyond the limits of reason

or of justice, deprecated the general adop‐ tion of such alarming sentiments. His own opinion was, that it was the duty of the cabinet to treat for peace without delay. He wished the house to consider how far the object of the war on our part was attainable, and how far under the present circumstances it was politic to continue it. Much had been said of the exhaustion of the French finances, but no wise statesman' would merely on that ground conclude that a people struggling for supposed freedom would soon relinquish the contest. While iron could be found in the bowels of the earth and grass upon its surface, there was no end to the resources of a nation inflamed with enthusiasm in such a cause. Even our resources, great as they were stated to be, would be inade-quate to the task of forcing a governmenton such an enemy, and our allies were not in a condition to give us effectual assistance. There appeared not the smallest chance of an anti-republican revolution, and, though we might be aided by many traitors, the great body of the people appeared to be attached to the existing government, Mr. Pitt moved an amendment declarative. of a resolution to concur with his majesty: in the prosecution of the war, and expressive of a reliance on the desire which he had uniformly manifested, to effect a. pacification on just and honourable terms: with any government in France, under whatever form which should appear capable · of maintaining the accustomed relations of peace and amity with other countries. It appears from the sentiments expressed in this motion, that at this period the restoration of the Bourbons was not the object of ministerial policy, nor regarded as an. indispensable condition of the termination of hostilities with France. Mr. Pitt allowed that he sincerely wished for the re-establishment of monarchy in France, but observed, that security was the great object of our concern, and at present we had no chance: of obtaining it. The instability of the power of the ruling party, that revolutionary. spirit which had not yet subsided, the total absence of true moderation of sentiment, the decline of religious principles,

and the virulence of animosity against our
government, precluded the hope of a secure
peace. Mr. Fox was pleased to find that
the tone of the cabinet had become less
imperious, and that the sentiments for
which the members of opposition had been
reviled as Jacobins and traitors, were now
adopted by the ministers of the crown.
Yet he did not think that all the members
of the cabinet agreed with the premier in
this change of sentiment, or that it was
sufficient to restore to him the confidence
of the people. It would be more agreeable
to them that a treaty should commence
without delay, than that we should wait
for what the minister might consider as
a capability of maintaining the due relations
of peace and amity. Two divisions fol-
lowed; in one a majority of 183 opposed
the motion; in the other the amendment
was sanctioned by a plurality of 164 votes.
An attempt was made by Mr. Sheridan,
to obtain a repeal of the bill which sus
pended in particular cases, the acts of
Habeas Corpus. He was apprehensive
that the operation of the bill might be con-
tinued in time of peace as an instrument
of power, and that ministers would then
allege the necessity of guarding against
the dissemination of French principles.
He denied the reality of the plot on which
the suspension was professedly founded,
and deprecated a recurrence to that bug-
bear of the minister, "a war of plots and
conspiracies." He lamented the encourage-
ment given to spies and informers, as
disgraceful to any government. He re-
prehended Mr. Windham, the secretary
at war, for the intemperance of his language
and conduct, and severely blamed the other
members of the cabinet for having directed
the prosecution of men whose guilt merely
consisted in following the path which their
present adversaries had trodden. Mr.
Windham replied with warmth to the
strictures upon his character, and vindicated
the suspension on the plea of serious
danger. Mr. Erskine contended that the
late verdicts had not merely by probable,
inference, but almost directly and techni-
cally disproved the conspiracy alleged in
the charge; and therefore the pretence

for the suspension no longer existed. Serjeant Adair was convinced of the seditious views of the societies, and did not wish that the privelege of habeas corpus should be so soon restored. Mr. Fox asserted, that the pretended plots had no existence but in the imagination of the deluders and the fears of the deluded; and that from the obvious difference between the present state of Britain and that of France before the revolution, as well as from the different habits and feelings of the people, there was no real ground for supposing that any considerable number of persons or any respectable portion of the community would aim at the ruin of the constitution. The motion was then rejected by a great majority, and a bill for prolonging the suspension was soon after introduced and carried through both houses after warm debates.

The abolition of the slave trade was again recommended by Mr. Wilberforce, who affirmed that recent information tended to establish his conviction of the impolicy of this traffic. Mr. Barham and Mr. East dreaded the ruin of our plantations from the adoption of this measure. But Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox treated these apprehensions with ridicule, and again condemned the atrocity of the system. By a majority of 17, however, in a crowded house, the hopes of the friends of humanity were disappointed.

As it does not accord with the intention of this work to detail the domestic history of England, except as it is connected directly or indirectly with that of the rest of Europe, or on occasions of singular and general importance, I shall pass but slightly over many topics which in a history of England alone, would demand the most detailed and minute narration. Among these was the marriage of the prince of Wales to the princess Catherine of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, which was celebrated on the 5th of April, in the royal chapel at St. James's. It is generally understood that his royal highness was induced to acquiesce in the wishes of his father, and the formation of a nuptial union by the promise of relief from his numerous

embarrassments. His debts, amounting to £630,000, were paid, and his revenue augmented to £125,000, subject to an annual payment to his creditors of £65,000, besides the rents of the duchy of Cornwall, amounting to £13,000. The events which immediately succeeded to the consummation of this unfortunate alliance, the separation of the illustrious pair, and the distress and mortification to, which their dissentions subjected almost every member of the royal family, will become the subject of inquiry and historical record in a future chapter. While the people were indulging in misplaced rejoicing at this unfortunate union, the acquittal of Mr. Hastings, by a great majority of the peers, a defensive treaty with the empress of Russia, and the affairs of Ireland, chiefly attracted the attention of the political circles. The first indications of that rebellious spirit, which shortly afterwards rendered that country the seat of military law and sanguinary rebellion, were excited by the prevailing influence of revolutionary principles; and the lower classes took advantage of the discontent excited among the catholic gentry by the acts of government, to convert every instance of resistance on the part of their superiors, into the means of their own protection and encouragement. The Irish catholics had conceived the hope of obtaining, from the liberality of their sovereign and the parliament, a grant of those rights or favours which had not been included among the concessions of 1793; and, when earl Fitzwilliam, whose zeal for the war had recommended him to the ministry, was appointed to the government of that realm, he encouraged the leaders of the sect with promises of support. He was, indeed, prohibited by the cabinet from bringing forward the bill of farther relief; but he was not instructed to oppose it, if it should be introduced by any member, uninvested with an official character. Yet, when the measure had been proposed to the commons, by whom it did not appear to be disapproved, he was suddenly recalled, at the instigation of that party which had long enjoyed a

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dangerous influence in Ireland, and had been suffered by the British ministry to thwart the views of every lord-lieutenant who did not submit to its dictates. His recall excited great discontent in that kingdom, both in and out of parliament. Earl Camden (son of the celebrated chan cellor) succeeded him in the lieutenancy; and the bill was then rejected by the influence of the intolerant faction. After the return of the former viceroy to England, the duke of Norfolk condemned in strong terms the dismission of that nobleman, and moved for an inquiry into the subject, not merely as it involved the honour and character of a very respectable peer, but as it was connected with the tranquillity of the country which he had been deputed. to govern. The earl courted an investigation of his conduct, that his zeal for the public welfare might be manifested. He referred to the extraordinary concord. which he had observed among the people of Ireland, and the unexampled zeal which had appeared for the support of the crown; and lamented that such a favourable prospect should be clouded by the continuance of a plan of government which derived its support from the corruption of one part of the community and the depression of the other. The earl of Caernarvon and other peers affected to think that the inquiry would be unconstitutional, and might be hazardous; but the earl of Guildford strenuously contended for its propriety. The earl of Moira said, that the recall of a viceroy at a critical period, in the midst of the most important business, and when his conduct and views were approved by the generality of the nation, was very different from a common dismissal, or the discharge of an ordinary placeman, and therefore required every explanation that could calm and satisfy the public mind. It was known, that a leading feature in the administration of the nobleman whom the premier had thus endeavoured to stigmatise, was a disposition to correct those flagrant abuses which had long disgraced the government of Ireland. By this part of his system he had exposed himself to

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