(b) A bill-sticker was actually imprisoned for six months for posting up a bill demanding Parliamentary Reform, and a man named Hudson was sentenced to pay £200 and to be imprisoned two years for proposing a toast to the French Republic.

(c) In 1793 Thomas Muir, a young Scotch advocate, was sentenced to fourteen years' transportation "for exciting sedition and advocating universal suffrage and annual parliaments."

(d) In 1794, however, the citizens of London made a bold stand against the tyranny of the law courts, and when Horne Tooke, Hardy, and Thelwall were prosecuted for "treason," on the ground of their connection with the Corresponding Society, the juries returned a verdict of not guilty.

SECTION X.-FIRST WAR WITH NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE.

1. In Egypt and Syria, 1798. In 1798 Napoleon, who had already gained some reputation as a military commander in Italy, formed the wild and gigantic scheme of (a) conquering Egypt, which he saw was the "key of the East" and the highway to India, (b) striking a blow at our power in India by assisting the native princes in their attempts to liberate themselves from our rule, (c) building up a mighty Oriental empire. Setting sail from Toulon with a large and efficient fleet, and a powerful army of 30,000 men, he first seized Malta from the Knights of St. John, and then pushed on to Egypt. On his arrival there he defeated the Mamelukes, a splendid body of cavalry, at the Battle of the Pyramids, took Cairo, and made himself master of the whole country.

(a) Battle of the Nile, 1789. Nelson was in command of the English Mediterranean squadron, and as soon as he discovered that the French fleet, which had conveyed Napoleon to Egypt, was anchored in Aboukir Bay, he determined to attack it. He ordered half his squadron to sail in between the French fleet and the shore and lead the attack from the inside, while the other half should commence the attack from

the side facing the open sea. By this intricate manoeuvre the French were exposed to two lines of fire.

The battle began about six o'clock in the evening, and was prolonged far into the night. Nelson was himself wounded and carried below. A surgeon seeing his condition, ran up to

attend to his wounds. "No," said he, "I will take my turn with my brave fellows." Although the French fought with the utmost bravery, Nelson's plan of attack proved so successful and the British in every way so superior, that the result was, to use Nelson's own words, "a conquest rather than a victory." The French Admiral's ship Orient caught fire and was blown up, and eleven French vessels of the line were either captured or sunk. The immediate results of this great victory were :-(a) It scattered to the winds Napoleon's wild scheme of Eastern conquest. (b) It destroyed the French naval power in the Mediterranean, and so prevented France from sending further reinforcements to Napoleon in Egypt. (c) It left Napoleon and his army stranded on the sands of Egypt. 2. Siege of Acre, 1799. Napoleon was not the man to be diverted from his scheme of Oriental conquests by these disasters. Hearing that the Sultan of Turkey had dispatched an army through Syria against him, he crossed the desert to meet it, took Jaffa, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turks at Mount Tabor. His victorious march, however, received a check before the walls of Acre.

The French had laid siege to the town and made many desperate attempts to storm it, but the Turkish garrison, assisted and encouraged by Sir Sidney Smith, heroically drove back the assailants, and for sixty days kept the French at bay. At last Napoleon was compelled to raise the siege and return to Egypt. In after years he used to say of Sir Sidney Smith, “ That man made me miss my destiny."

On his arrival in Egypt, he is said to have received a file of old newspapers from Sir Sidney, acquainting him with the events which had happened in Europe during his absence. From these papers he learnt the most startling news

(a) That Pitt had again formed a coalition consisting of Great Britain, Austria and Russia against France.

(b) That the French had been defeated in Germany and had been driven across the Rhine.

(c) That they had also been routed by the Austria-Russian army in two great battles at Trebia and Novi, and compelled to retreat over the Alps.

(d) That an English force, under the Duke of York, was threatening the northern frontier of the Republic.

Leaving his army to its fate, he slipped away from Egypt,

accompanied by a few of his best generals, and, after running the gauntlet of the English cruisers for six weeks, arrived safe in France, where he was received with the greatest enthusiasm. He now determined to use the disasters which had befallen his country to his own advantage. Having gained the support of a powerful army, he posed himself as the "saviour of France," overthrew the Directory as being a feeble and incapable body, and set up in its place a new form of government-a military despotism. In fact, he played his cards so successfully, that in 1799 he was created First Consul, and became supreme ruler of France.

3. Napoleon's successful campaign of 1800-1.

France was

compelled to make Napoleon First Consul, because she saw that he was the only man, who could save her from the powerful coalition which threatened her. In his military operations Napoleon was eminently successful :

:

(1) Crossing the Alps by the Great St. Bernard Pass, through which no large army had ever passed before, he suddenly fell upon the rear of the Austrian army at Marengo (1800), near Alessandria, and completely overthrew it. The whole of Northern Italy immediately fell into his hands.

(2) Later in the same year General Moreau annihilated another Austrian army at Hohenlinden, in Bavaria, a victory which laid Austria at the First Consul's feet and opened the way to Vienna.

(3) These disasters compelled Austria to sue for peace, and at Luneville (1801) a peace was signed between France and Austria by which-(a) Napoleon was recognized the ruler of France; (b) The Rhine was formally acknowledged as its northern boundary.

(4) Meanwhile Paul the Czar of Russia, having conceived an insane admiration for Napoleon, had withdrawn from Pitt's alliance. He was, moreover, unfriendly towards England, because she had revived the claim to search vessels sailing under a neutral flag. Thus it was that Pitt's coalition was completely broken up.

NOTE.

Battle of Alexandria and the English Conquest of Egypt. In 1801 Sir Ralph Abercrombie landed at Aboukir Bay with 20,000 men, with the view of expelling the French, who had been left there by Napoleon. Twice he defeated the French before Alexandria, but fell in the second action in the very moment of

victory. On the surrender of the city, the French general signed the Convention of Cairo, by which it was agreed that the French army should evacuate Egypt, but that their fleet should pass into the hands of the English.

It is interesting to record that Sir David Baird with an Indian contingent of 7000 sepoys" arrived in Egypt too late to take part in the actual fighting, but their presence clearly proved that Napoleon's scheme for the foundation of a mighty empire in the East had fallen to pieces.

4. The Armed Neutrality and the Battle of Copenhagen, 1801. In 1801 England stood alone in her opposition to France. Recognizing England's superiority at sea, Bonaparte determined to attack her maritime power by indirect means. He instigated Russia, Sweden, and Denmark to form a coalition under the name of the Northern League, and revive the "Armed Neutrality" of 1780, the object of which was "to resist the right which England claimed of searching vessels sailing under a neutral flag." The efficiency of our navy and the genius of Nelson broke up this League.

A great fleet was at once sent by the British Government, under Sir Hyde Parker, with Nelson only second in command, to separate Denmark from the League or capture her fleet. After many delays Parker came upon the Danish fleet while lying at anchor close to Copenhagen. He sent Nelson to the attack, who began the fight by opening a heavy fire upon the land batteries, which supported the fleet. The battle was so prolonged and so obstinately contested, that Parker believed that Nelson was in danger, and signalled to him to desist. Nelson, however, had made up his mind to finish the contest. Putting his telescope to his eye, the sight of which he had lost some years before in action, he declared "that he could not see the signal." Finally the land fortresses were silenced, and nearly the whole of the Danish fleet captured or sunk. When Nelson threatened to bombard the city unless it surrendered, the Prince Regent asked for an armistice, which was granted, and Denmark left the League.

The following year the assassination of the Czar by a band of conspirators, who were maddened by his cruelties, broke up the Northern League.

NOTE. In 1801 Pitt quarrelled with the King on the question of the Catholic Emancipation. He wished to free Roman Catholics from their political disabilities, and give them the right of taking offices in state and seats in Parliament. To such a step the King was

violently opposed, on the ground that he had in his coronation oath sworn to maintain the Protestant religion as established by law. "I must be the Protestant King of a Protestant country, or no King," cried George. Thus it was that the great Minister, "the pilot who had for seventeen years weathered the storm," was com pelled to resign office, and Henry Addington, a well-meaning but inefficient man, became Prime Minister.

5. The Peace of Amiens, 1802. Both England and France had by this time become weary of the war, and wished for peace; England, because—

(a) She saw that it was impossible to engage in a war with France successfully by land without the co-operation of allies, and the last two attempts she had made to form a coalition among the European Powers against France had signally failed.

(b) The greatest distress prevailed in the country, consequent

on the war.

(c) The Government was alarmed at the enormous and everincreasing load of the National Debt, which had been caused by the war.

France, too, was equally desirous of peace, because

(a) She saw that Bonaparte's scheme of destroying the English power in India and building up an empire in the East had completely failed.

(b) She knew that her influence among the States of Northern Europe had been lost by the dissolution of the Northern League.

(c) She had lost all her colonies, and had been obliged tacitly to acknowledge England's superiority at sea.

On the other hand, it was well known that the peace, which both nations wished to obtain, was a "hollow" peace-in fact a mere breathing time, so as to enable each country to prepare for a more decisive struggle in the future. It was a peace, as Sheridan wisely remarked, "which everybody would be glad of, but which nobody would be proud of."

Negotiations for peace were opened at Amiens, and a treaty signed in 1802 between England, France, Spain, and Holland. The terms of the Treaty were

(1) That England should restore to France all the colonies she had taken from her, but keep Trinidad, which she had taken from the Spaniards, and Ceylon, which she had taken from the Dutch.