Chapter XXII: Part 22

Suddenly the hopes of the Irish party received an unexpected impulse. In the year 1794 the Duke of Portland and the Whigs joined the Cabinet. Their point of union was the war only, in other respects they clung to their old traditions. Portland, their chief, had been Prime Minister when the Act for legislative equality had been passed; and when, under pressure from this section of his party, Pitt consented to send Lord Fitzwilliam, the heir of Lord Rockingham, to Ireland as Viceroy, there seemed a great probability that a complete change of policy was intended. Such indeed was the view of Grattan, who had had a personal interview with Pitt, and such no doubt was Fitzwilliam's own view. Such in part was Pitt's view also, but he was half-hearted in the matter. He was displeased at having to yield anything to the new members of his Cabinet, and though desiring that the Catholic claims should be granted, he was so pledged to repression that he scarcely thought the present a desirable time for that measure; while his fidelity to personal friends, and his strong view of personal claims, made him determined that none of the existing officers or placemen should be removed. Besides this, the only statesman of great ability among the Irish, and the only one who possessed Pitt's ear, was Fitzgibbon the Chancellor, a bigoted upholder of Protestant ascendancy. It was then with very different views that Fitzwilliam and Pitt regarded the new appointment. How great this difference was seems to be absolutely proved by a reference to Grenville's letters. In fact, the way in which Pitt yielded can only be explained by his intending ultimately to produce the Union. Fitzwilliam's arrival was hailed with enthusiasm by the Irish, and acting upon his own view of his commission, which he believed that Pitt shared, he proceeded rapidly to introduce reforms. Fitzgibbon, it was clearly understood, he was not to touch; but the Attorney and the Solicitor-General, Wolfe and Toler, he removed, and replaced them by the far better known lawyers, Ponsonby and Curran. A great outcry was raised at this, but it was slight when compared with the opposition evoked when the Viceroy proceeded to lay his hands on Mr. Beresford, Commissioner of the Revenue. He was the head of one of those great families who obtained their influence by managing the country for the Government interest, without any claim on the score of talent. So great was his influence that a quarter of the places in Ireland were said to be his gift, though he himself occupied only the unimportant situation of Commissioner of the Revenue. Every underling and jobber in the country felt his position endangered, but it wanted more influence than theirs to remove Fitzwilliam. His discomfiture was completed by his own rash rapidity of action. A Bill was planned with the co-operation of Grattan for the immediate granting of the Catholic claims. Fitzgibbon at once took advantage of this, and well acquainted with the obstinacy and over-scrupulousness of the King's character, found means to have it suggested to him that to admit Roman Catholics to Parliament was a breach of his Coronation Oath. The suggestion fell on willing ears; from that time onward it became a fixed idea in the royal mind, from which no effort could remove it.

[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam succeeded by Lord Camden.]

Fitzwilliam was recalled. Lord Camden, son of Chatham's friend Pratt, succeeded him as Viceroy, with the avowed intention of restoring the system of Government and the policy of Lord Westmoreland. His arrival was marked by riots in Dublin, in which Fitzgibbon's life was with difficulty saved. Grattan persisted in bringing in the Bill he had begun under Lord Fitzwilliam, but when, after a debate which lasted all through the night, it was finally rejected by a large majority, the rejection was held to be final.

[Sidenote: An open rebellion begins.]

A change came over the spirit of Ireland, Even the more patriotic members began to think that a complete separation from England was their only hope. The Catholic committee, feeling that it was no longer of any use, dissolved itself. The Catholics made common cause with the United Irish, and the bolder spirits, scarcely hiding their revolutionary intentions, sought assistance directly from France, whither Tone and Lord Edward Fitzgerald betook themselves; and an insurrection was planned, to be carried out in conjunction with a French army under Hoche. One effect of this was the separation of the Protestants of the North from the disaffected body. Among the townsmen of Belfast revolutionary principles still kept their hold; but the eagerness of the Catholic Defenders and their constant outrages to procure arms threw the great mass of the northern Protestants, whether Churchmen or Presbyterians, on to the Government side. The Orange Lodges were formed and organized. The opposite parties were divided, as seems inevitable in Ireland, by religion; and the first open fight between the two parties took place at the little village of Diamond in Armagh, a skirmish spoken of as the battle of the Diamond. At all events, interests now began to clear themselves. The fight was between Catholic revolutionary Irish and the Protestant upholders of English ascendancy.

[Sidenote: Character of the rebellion.]

This piece of Irish history has been, and will ever be, the subject of the fiercest controversy. It is only by remembering that on one side the accumulated wrath of a half-savage and badly governed country was making itself terribly visible for an object which cannot be condemned, yet by means which were utterly odious; and that on the other side the instinct of self-defence, the stern necessity of upholding their rule at all hazards, fear of the ever-threatening horrors of a triumphant and savage foe, and revenge for the personal miseries already inflicted upon them, were driving men to cruel though perhaps necessary actions, that this period can be read in at all a judicial and unpartisan spirit.

With regard to the savage cruelty of the Irish, it can only be said, as affording some excuse for their conduct, that they had suffered much, that they had much to complain of. With regard to the real danger and lengthened organization of the conspiracy there is abundant proof, and was then abundant proof in the hands of the Irish Government, for as usual all the secret committees were full of traitors. With regard to the conduct of the Government--which, whatever may be said of it, did not drive the people to rebellion, for they had long settled upon that--it may be fairly asked what other means than severity could possibly have been used. Lord Camden deserves the greatest credit for his moderation, and for the care with which, through two years and upwards, he avoided bringing on an open outbreak. The only real question appears to be whether severity used much earlier might not have altogether frustrated the rebellion. The reason why this severity was not used is to be found in the conduct of the Whigs in England, and in the views of Pitt and the Liberal part of his Government, who sat apart from the scene and could not be brought completely to comprehend the danger.

[Sidenote: Defensive measures of the Government.]

To the Irish Government the state of the country was well known. It was known that Wolfe Tone had gone abroad, nominally to America, but with the intention of visiting France, with the full approbation of the United Committee at Belfast. It was known that in 1795 the plans of an insurrection had been almost perfected, and that to meet that insurrection there were in Ireland scarcely any English troops, about 10,000 invalids and fencibles, and a militia half of whom were among the conspirators. It was also known that assassinations and the swearing-in of conspirators were of constant occurrence. It is not surprising that in the year 1796 it was found necessary to pass an Indemnity Act to cover acts for the preservation of peace which broke the letter of the law done by the army and magistrates, or that a Bill should have been passed against assassination, or that an Insurrection Act, which allowed suspected districts to be declared beyond the law, and to be placed in military occupation and deprived of arms, should have been carried. The danger became still more threatening when it was known that Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the brother of Lord Leitrim, and Arthur O'Connor, the friend of all the Whigs in England, had gone abroad, had seen General Hoche in Switzerland, and arranged with him for a French invasion. At this time a trustworthy informant told the Government that there were 200,000 men ready officered, that there were pikes and muskets for 150,000, and that the militia were almost to a man members of the United Irish Society. It was then that it became absolutely necessary for security to raise a trustworthy force. This force, principally consisting of Protestants, who volunteered immediately to the number of 37,000, was the yeomanry. It did not, however, consist entirely of Protestants; and Camden, in spite of the pressure laid upon him by Parliament and by all who surrounded him, refused to recognize the Orange Lodges, which would at once have given him the power he wanted. As it was, the establishment of the yeomanry certainly saved Ireland, and yet it is here probably that the great error of the Government showed itself. English soldiers, if possible, alone should have been used. The traditional hatred between the religions was too fierce to allow the subjugation of the Catholics to be left in the hands of the Protestant yeomen.

[Sidenote: Arrest of the revolutionary committee.]

The invasion which Hoche had planned, in accordance with the wishes of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Wolfe Tone, was a very formidable one; nor, had it succeeded in landing, could it probably have been otherwise than successful. Fortunately the energy of the Government had just then struck a most damaging blow at the insurrectionary movement. Among the other illegal actions of the army of the North, which had been under the command of Luttrell, Lord Carhampton, had been the sudden apprehension of the whole revolutionary committee in Belfast. Neilson, Ore, Russell, and the two Sims, had been lodged in Dublin Castle. It was to allow of such arrests as these that almost at the same time the Habeas Corpus was suspended; for the Government was in the awkward position of knowing the treasonable practices which were going on, and of knowing the authors of them, but of yet being unable to produce proofs, as the information had been received under the seal of secrecy. The importance of this apprehension was much increased by the very complete organization of the United Society. A series of little societies, none of which exceeded eighteen, were linked together, and formed a complete hierarchy through baronial committees, district committees, provincial directories, up to a grand executive directory of five, elected secretly, and known to none but the provincial secretaries, who examined the votes. The military organization was almost as complete. The sudden destruction of the executive committee, whom nobody knew, in fact cut the head of the organization entirely away; till what had happened had been discovered, and a fresh committee elected, there was no power to issue any orders. It is probably to this that is to be traced, not only the apathy, but the apparent goodwill of the people of the South at the time of the French invasion.

[Sidenote: Failure of the French expedition to Bantry Bay.]

[Sidenote: General Lake's success in Ulster.]

The period during which the French expedition, thirty-eight ships of all sorts, was lying in Bantry Bay was one of extreme danger. The strange inactivity of the English navy would have allowed the French to complete their plans at perfect leisure. Fortunately Hoche himself had been separated from the expedition on its passage, and Grouchy, the second in command, shrank from the responsibility of leading without his superior's commands. A hurricane swept the bay, preventing landing, and the ships returned uselessly to Brest. But the apathy of the people was of very short duration. The evident possibility of assistance from France raised their temper. The disturbances in the North were speedily renewed; murder followed murder; Orange retributions followed in their turn, and at last, in March 1797, General Lake was ordered to disarm the conspirators of Ulster. He issued a proclamation ordering all persons to bring in their arms and surrender them, threatening to use force if they were refused. Well informed by his spies, Lake captured 50,000 muskets, 72 cannon, and 70,000 pikes, often, it must be confessed, with cruel severity on the part of the yeomanry, who were his agents. Frequently, but it is believed only when certain information had already been obtained of the existence of arms, flogging and picketing (that is, putting their feet upon sharp stakes) wrung from the wretched peasants the knowledge of their place of concealment. Such conduct, though cruel, had it been exercised throughout Ireland would probably have prevented the worst of the insurrection.

[Sidenote: Increased difficulties of the Government.]

But the Government was hampered in Ireland by a very small, but very eloquent and noisy, opposition in Parliament, and in England by the whole of the Whig opposition in and out of Parliament, constantly crying out against any severity, or any use of other than the civil power; and by the Cabinet itself, which continued half-hearted, disliked severity, looking forward ultimately to a complete change of system, and desired, even by great concessions, to put off an outbreak till that change could be effected. But it was in fact impossible. The very existence of these champions for their cause, the secession from Parliament of Grattan and his friends, who declared that their voices were now useless, the supposition that the English Cabinet would not tolerate any extreme measures, the certainty that France was still thinking of assisting them, the opportunity for that assistance afforded by the mutiny at the Nore, in which traces of Irish influence are not wanting, drove the leaders to more and more extreme steps. Still more was their confidence raised by the ill-judged conduct of Sir Ralph Abercromby, who was appointed to succeed Carhampton as commander-in-chief. He was the friend of Lord Moira. An ardent Whig, and full of English Liberal views, and used to regular English soldiery, he was disgusted both at the stringent measures and disorderly conduct of the yeomanry he was called upon to command, and shocked its feelings by declaring that their state of disorganization was such as to make them a terror to none but themselves. He even declined to carry on in the South that work which Lake had done in the North, and to disarm Munster. Again General Lake was called to undertake the unpleasant duty. It was no doubt carried out there, in the midst of an almost purely Roman Catholic population, with even more severity, more religious intolerance, and more cruelty, than in the North. It must be observed, however, that at the worst these cruelties could have lasted but a month, for after Lake had held his command about that time the insurrection broke out. When it did break out the Government was partially prepared for it, for treachery at last put the whole secret of the conspiracy into their hands. A certain Mr. Reynolds, a man of small property, had joined the United Irishmen, but frightened at the extent of their schemes, gave information that the Leinster delegates would meet in March at the house of Oliver Bond, one of their chief associates. The whole committee was there seized, together with letters and papers of the utmost importance. Many arrests of leaders followed, but Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the chief military leader of the conspiracy, contrived to escape.

[Sidenote: Actual outbreak of the insurrection. May 23, 1798.]

The 23rd of May had been appointed for a general rising. Two days before that date Fitzgerald was arrested, after a desperate resistance. With a dagger he killed one of his assailants, Captain Ryan, and severely wounded Captain Swan; nor was he secured till Major Sirr, the town mayor, shot him through the shoulder. He lingered a few days and then died. Two other leaders, of the name of Sheares, were also arrested, and papers of a most bloodthirsty nature found about them. In spite of the loss of their leaders, the insurrection broke out on the appointed day. It was to have opened with the capture of Dublin. This attempt completely failed; but on all the roads round the city the mail coaches were destroyed, so as to isolate the capital; and at Naas, Kilcullen, Rathfarnham, and Prosperous, and in other places in the county of Kildare, the military were attacked. At Prosperous the barracks were burnt, and nearly all the soldiers killed. In most other directions a brief moment of success, marked by actions of wild savagery, was all that was accomplished. From Kildare the insurrection turned upon Carlow. But there timely arrangements were made, and 600 of the rebels perished, while not a single soldier was hurt. The success of the soldiery was marked by even worse cruelty than that of the rebels; twenty-eight suspected yeomen were shot in cold blood in the neighbourhood of Dunlaven; and after the defeat at Carlow, Gordon says: "Executions commenced, as elsewhere in this calamitous period, and about 200 in a short time were hanged or shot according to martial law; among the rest Sir Edward Crosby, a loyal gentleman, who unfortunately professed Liberal opinions." But it was where least expected that the rebellion was most formidable. In Kildare the rebels never gained much head; but in Wexford, which was regarded as free from disaffection, a regular war arose. The rebels here mastered the town of Wexford, where they found a gentleman of property, Mr. Bagenal Harvey, to whom they gave the command. But their real leader was a priest named Murphy. They succeeded in overrunning the country, but were at last checked by General Johnson before the town of New Ross. He pursued them to Enniscorthy, and on the 21st of June General Lake succeeded in utterly routing the rebels, and taking their camp on Vinegar Hill. This was practically a deathblow to the rebellion, though many of its horrors continued in isolated districts.

[Sidenote: Arrival of Lord Cornwallis to succeed Camden.]

[Sidenote: His efforts at conciliation.]

Two or three days before this battle was fought a new Lord-Lieutenant had arrived in Dublin. This was Lord Cornwallis, who had once before been asked to assume the post, but, frightened at its difficulties, had withdrawn. The recall of Camden may have been necessary if any policy of reconciliation was to be tried, for he was no doubt deeply implicated in the measures of repression which had been taken, and it would have been hard to have aroused confidence in him in the minds of the Irish. Certainly, however, a shadow of blame was allowed to rest upon his conduct which was perfectly unjust. He had been as longsuffering as it was possible to be. He had even at his sorest pressure rejected the employment of the Orangemen, from the dread, which he frequently expresses in his letters, of establishing a religious war, and setting one part of the people against the other. Self-confidence was the chief characteristic of Lord Cornwallis. The ministers constantly complain in their correspondence of the little information he deigned to give them; and his view and management of the crisis were based entirely upon his own conception of what had been going on, without consultation with those who had taken part in it. He brought with him a view in some respects erroneous, but which seems on the whole to have led him to right conclusions. He denied that the insurrection was either religious or national; he considered it Jacobin. The view was, no doubt, entirely erroneous; yet it induced him to act in the same way that the most careful and enlightened philanthropist would have acted. For the Jacobin leaders, the Dublin and Belfast Protestants, he was pitiless; for the misguided people he had a profound pity. He therefore used all his efforts to conciliate, and speedily after his arrival, with the advice of Lord Clare, an amnesty was published for all who would lay down their arms. It was certainly not the way to put an end most rapidly to the insurrection. It was mistaken for fear, and again and again he found his hopes of conciliating the Catholics disappointed, the reason being that his hopes were based upon a wrong ground. But, nevertheless, this course was exactly the most desirable for England to pursue. It was the conduct of a strong third person intervening to stop an internecine contest. While the country was still disturbed, and parties of brigands were scouring all the out-of-the-way corners (for that was the form the rebellion ultimately took), the chief leaders were hanged in Dublin; till, struck with terror, the prisoners, seventy in number, offered to say all they knew if their lives were spared. Anxious to gather from their own lips proofs that would refute the constant, plausible, and factious assertions of Whigs in England and Nationalists in Ireland, although the Government knew probably all that could be told, Cornwallis accepted the offer. Arthur O'Connor, who had once before been tried in England, and acquitted because nearly every man of the Whig party had been called as a witness to swear to his character, drew up the confession. But he drew it up in a way to suit his own fancy. All the treasons of which the prisoners had been guilty they not only confessed, but, now that they were safe for their lives, boasted of in the true braggart Irish spirit. Cornwallis refused to receive such a confession; but not liking to break his word, he allowed the prisoners to give personal evidence before a Committee of Lords, and their evidence was published. Contrary to the wishes of the Home Government, their lives were spared. How thoroughly bad they must have been is shown by the fact that the American minister entreated that the United States might be mentioned as one of the countries to which they should not be allowed to withdraw; the opinions they declared were so immoral and so dangerous, that the Republic must decline to receive them. They were therefore sent to Fort-George, in Scotland, where they remained till the Peace of Amiens.

[Sidenote: Failure of General Humbert's expedition.]

Before the insurrection was quite completed there was one other short episode which seems to show how little real vitality there is in any national effort in Ireland. A small force under General Humbert, acting probably without orders, landed at Kilala, in Mayo, on the 22nd of August. With only 800 men, and a considerable number of irregular rebels, he advanced against Lake, who had an army of 3000 at Castlebar. These troops, consisting chiefly of disaffected militia, he utterly defeated; they fled with a speed which gained for the battle the name of the Castlebar Races. But on advancing further inland, he found the uselessness of his adventure, and laid down his arms to Lord Cornwallis. The squadron which was bringing him reinforcements was defeated and destroyed by Admiral Warren. Of ten ships but one frigate and one brig escaped. On board of these was Napper Tandy; while among the prisoners was Wolfe Tone, the man of most ability among the chiefs. He was tried and condemned to be hanged, but committed suicide.

[Sidenote: Proved necessity for the Union.]

[Sidenote: Opposition in the Irish party.]

[Sidenote: The Union completed. Aug. 2, 1800.]

Cornwallis' experience, although it did not diminish his self-confidence, seemed to force on him one fact, the necessity of the Union. He detested the Castle party by whom he was surrounded, he believed in the thorough bloodthirstiness of the Orangemen, he had learnt that conciliation, unless very complete, could have no effect upon the Catholics. He thus arrived at the fact of which Pitt had always been conscious, that under the existing system justice to the Catholics was absolutely impossible; it was impossible to make the Protestant Parliament agree to admit Catholic representatives; and even supposing this to be possible, Catholic representation meant confiscation of Protestant property, and the predominance of the Catholic religion, and rather than submit to that the Protestants would fight. To attempt to make such alterations was wilfully to plunge Ireland into a civil war of extermination. The only way to overcome this difficulty was to establish some paramount authority which should overrule the local and provincial interests of the island, and by a superior power keep the factions from flying at each other's throats. Cornwallis therefore threw himself heart and soul into the Union, supported by Fitzgibbon, now Lord Clare. But it was not carried out without extreme difficulties. Pitt's intention was notified to the Irish Parliament. Here it at once excited a violent agitation, and a thing unheard of in that venal House of Commons, an amendment on the Address, was carried against the Government by a majority of four. Nearly all the great names in Ireland, from Mr. Foster the Speaker, to Ponsonby, Grattan, and Curran, were strongly opposed to the Bill. As there was no constitutional way of destroying the Parliament except with its own consent, and as left to itself it seemed plain that Parliament would oppose the Union, means had to be devised to change this state of things. The English supremacy had been systematically upheld by indirect bribery; and when application was made to the same class of people as had hitherto managed that influence, their answers showed that it would not be impossible to carry the same system further. The management of the greater people was left in the hands of Lord Cornwallis, who had a profound contempt for nearly all the Irish except the better part of the Roman Catholics. The whole mass of smaller men was handed over to the management of Lord Castlereagh, a young Irishman of much ready ability, at that time Secretary. To him too was intrusted the duty of arranging a scheme which might be passed through Parliament. By this scheme a million and a half of money was to be spent in compensation to borough-holders, lawyers who had hoped to improve their prospects by entering the House, and the tradesmen of Dublin. Pitt had in one of his old reform Bills accepted the theory that boroughs were property; this part of the scheme was therefore passed, the indirect claims were not allowed. The bulk of the Catholic party, to whom hopes were held out, were not disinclined to the Union. In the English Parliament resolutions in favour of the Union were carried without much difficulty. The full force of Pitt's arguments was there felt. It was understood in fact to be a case of necessity. An independent dual Government could not be worked, nor justice be secured for Ireland, while party and religious differences ran so high, except by the intervention of the calmer and broader spirit of an Imperial Parliament. In the Irish Parliament the opposition was much stronger. But that none may feel much regret at the threatened destruction of that body, it may be mentioned that even now, in its last struggle, it extended the Act of Indemnity so as to throw a shield over the most outrageous cruelty and wickedness on the part of the Protestant suppressors of the rebellion. Fitzgerald, who boasted of having flogged many perfectly innocent people, and of having driven one at least to suicide, was not only acquitted when charges of this description were brought against him, but succeeded in turning the tables and recovering damages from his victims.[14] The interval between the Parliament of 1799 and the Session opening in 1800, which the Government had determined should be the last, was employed in continuing the trade in votes and boroughs. The Marquis of Downshire, who had seven seats of his own, was the only great borough proprietor who held out. And when the new Parliament met the Government was pretty secure of its victory. Nevertheless, there was a tremendous contest on the first night, when an amendment was moved to the Address, pledging the House to uphold the National Parliament. For fifteen hours the struggle had lasted, when, at seven in the morning, Grattan, who had not sat in the House for some years, was suddenly introduced, just dragged from his bed and very ill, clothed in the old patriotic dress of the volunteers of 1782, and walked up to the table to take the oaths. He had been hurriedly elected immediately after midnight for the town of Wicklow for the express purpose of producing this _coup de théâtre_. His speech against the Union was a very fine one, but it did not save the amendment, which was defeated by a majority of forty-two. The Opposition was now bidding high for votes. £4000 was declared by Lord Cornwallis to have been offered for one vote. It is uncertain to what extent indirect bribery had been carried; it was probably much exaggerated; but at all events, when on the 18th of February the resolutions for the Union were brought in, they were passed by a majority of forty-six. These resolutions were transmitted to England, and the royal assent was given to the Bill founded on them on the 2nd of August. By this Bill four spiritual and twenty-eight temporal peers represented Ireland in the Upper House, and one hundred commoners, elected still by the old system, sat in the House of Commons. Free trade between the two countries was established. Ireland was to contribute in the proportion of two to fifteen to the Imperial revenue, and the debts of the two countries were to be kept distinct. Having gained its object, the Government had to pay the Bill. £1,260,000 was contributed at the rate of £7000 a seat. In addition to this, twenty-two peerages were created, five Irish peers were called to the House of Lords, twenty advanced a step in the Peerage.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Desire of France to invade England.]

By the treaty of Campo Formio the French were relieved from their war with Austria, and it was probably the belief that singlehanded they were more than a match for England, the object of their particular hatred, which induced the Directory to break off the negotiations at Lisle. The victorious army of Italy was transformed into the army of England. The prospect of wealth to be gained there was held out to the troops, instead of the promised donation which the finances were in no position to bear. The command of the army was entrusted to Bonaparte, who assumed an appearance of great interest in the expedition, and visited the sea-coasts under pretense of arranging for the embarkation of the troops; but he was not likely to risk his fortunes in England while the sea was commanded by his enemies. He persuaded the Directory that a more severe blow could be dealt upon England by a descent upon Egypt, the highroad to India, whence succor could be sent to Tippoo Sahib, the Sultan of Mysore, who, after he had been crushed by Lord Cornwallis, was again, relying for success upon French arms, thinking of renewing war. To Bonaparte private ambition was no doubt a main reason for this resolution. The state of Europe was very threatening. A second coalition was getting itself formed. In none of the new republics, neither Holland, nor Switzerland, nor Rome, in all of which constitutions had been forced on the people against their will, was there a cordial love for France. But Bonaparte, who, as he said, did not consider "the pear ripe," was willing that the bad management and failures of the Directory should ripen it before he raised his hands to pluck it. His imagination too, which always played a powerful part in his resolutions, was fired with the notion of an Eastern empire, whence, as he said, he should return and take Europe _en revers_.

[Sidenote: Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt.]

On the 19th of May 1798, the army of France, 36,000 strong, sailed from Toulon harbour, escorted by 30 vessels of war, 72 smaller vessels, and carried in 400 transports. The expedition was a strange one; not only was Egypt to be conquered, it was to be scientifically explored, and a number of learned and scientific men were mixed with the generals that surrounded their commander. Before reaching Egypt a strong point was secured to give the French the command of the Mediterranean. The Order of St. John of Malta, by treason and for money, gave up the island to Bonaparte. Thence he sailed on the 2nd of July, and ten days afterwards reached Alexandria.

[Sidenote: Battle of the Pyramids.]

Thence he marched towards Cairo, which he conquered, after winning on the road the battle of the Pyramids over the Mamelukes, a warrior caste sprung originally from Circassian slaves, who had made themselves masters of Egypt. It was the old story of undisciplined valour breaking itself against the firm squares of a disciplined Western army. Murad Bey, the Mameluk commander, withdrew to Upper Egypt, and the French entered Cairo. Bonaparte at once set to work to organize the country, and in his eagerness to conciliate the people, hinted that he too believed in Mahomet. The absolute atheism, however, of the French troops, and this cynical readiness to change his creed, only exasperated the Turks against him.

[Sidenote: Battle of the Nile. Aug. 2, 1798.]

Nelson had been watching the port of Toulon, but the French fleet gave him the slip. From the 19th of May till the 1st of August he was in vain pursuit, not knowing where the expedition had gone. On that day he came in sight of the French fleet, consisting of thirteen ships of the line, one of which was the 'Orient,' with 120 guns, and four frigates. Nelson's own fleet consisted also of thirteen ships, but none of them were larger than seventy-fours, and he had but one frigate and a brig. The enemy were very advantageously placed at anchor along the shore of the Bay of Aboukir. In front of them lay an island with a fort, their flanks were covered by gunboats. They believed their position unassailable. But Nelson quickly determined, from the appearance of the anchored fleet, that there must be sufficient water for his ships between the French and the shore. He boldly ordered some of his vessels to sail inside. The left of the French line was thus enveloped and placed between two fires. Nelson began the fight at once, although it was six in the evening. It raged the whole night. In less than two hours, however, five of the French ships had struck, and at nine o'clock the 'Orient' caught fire and blew up. When the battle closed about six the following morning, nine of the French ships had been taken and two had been burnt. Want of frigates, and the damages sustained by his own fleet, prevented Nelson from pursuing the two remaining French ships, which sailed away almost unhurt. The same causes prevented him from destroying completely the French transports. This victory shut up the best French army with its great commander useless in Egypt, and excited the enthusiasm and hopes of all the conquered countries in Europe.

[Sidenote: Pitt forms a second coalition.]

But meanwhile Pitt had been able to set on foot a second great coalition. Austria, humiliated by the Treaty of Campo Formio, far from discharging her army, had raised its numbers, and demanded some sort of indemnity for the successes of France in Italy and Switzerland. Napoleon by his advance upon Egypt had himself forced the Ottoman Empire into war with France. The princes of Germany, though not desiring war, and even now treating with the Directory at Rastadt, could not forget the loss of the empire beyond the Rhine. Russia was also induced to join the coalition; for changes had taken place both in the internal and external condition of the country; since 1796, Paul I., a prince of scarcely sound mind, had succeeded Catherine in that country, and Poland having been destroyed, a road was open for him to introduce himself, as had been the constant desire of the Russian monarchs, into the politics of Europe. Prussia, where Frederick William had died, still held aloof in neutrality. The cement of this coalition was as usual English money. Naples, in the winter of 1798, had raised an army under the Austrian General Mack, and attempted to restore liberty to Italy; but, hated by its own subjects, the weak and tyrannical government was able to effect nothing. The King had to fly in the English fleet, Naples was changed into the Parthenopæan Republic, and the whole of Italy was thus brought under French dominion. The frontier line, then, against which the coalition was preparing to act, extended from the Zuyder Zee to the Mediterranean. Its centre was the mountain mass of Switzerland. Both parties regarded this as the key of the position. But the French spread their troops weakly along the whole length, so that Massena in Switzerland seemed to form the centre of one large army; and to him was intrusted the duty of separating, by capturing the salient angle formed by Switzerland and the Tyrol, the armies of the coalition. The plan was not a wise one. The opening successes of Massena and his lieutenants, which brought the French into the valley of the Inn, did not prevent the Archduke Charles from defeating Jourdan and the army of the Rhine at Stockach, nor Kray, the Austrian general, from beating Schérer at Magnano, on the Adige, and driving him behind the Adda. Massena, with his flanks thus exposed, found himself compelled to retreat also.

[Sidenote: Italy regained by the coalition.]

These successes on the part of the allies, and the murder of the French envoys to the Congress of Rastadt, excited the French to fresh energy. Schérer was replaced by Moreau. Macdonald, who was holding Naples, hastened to his assistance, and all the armies in the centre were placed in Massena's hands. But Suwarrow, a semi-barbarian, who had never yet been conquered, had arrived to take the command in Italy. He pressed on with great rapidity and success. Moreau was beaten at Cassano (April 27), and fell back behind the Po. He again retired in the direction of Genoa in order to form a junction with Macdonald coming from Naples. Suwarrow was thus able to leave him behind him and threaten the French frontier; the advance of Macdonald however across the Apennines obliged him to turn. He fell upon that general, and after a three days' battle upon the Trebia, beat him, and turned rapidly upon Moreau, who had advanced to Novi, and had there formed a junction with the broken army of Naples. But both Macdonald and Moreau, as unsuccessful generals, were removed, and Joubert was given the command. On the 18th of August, Suwarrow attacked the French at Novi, Joubert was killed, and his troops completely routed. Italy was thus lost to the French; for in Naples Cardinal Ruffo had raised the Calabrians, and with the assistance of the English fleet both Naples and Rome were regained to the coalition. It was on this occasion that Nelson committed that act which is the great blot upon his name. He had become infatuated with Lady Hamilton, wife of the English minister, through whose influence his fleet had been provisioned before the battle of the Nile, and who was devoted heart and soul to the execrable Government of the Bourbons, exercised practically by the Queen, a sister of Marie Antoinette. To please the Court, Nelson, who arrived at Naples just as the French and Republicans had completed a capitulation with Cardinal Ruffo, broke off the completed negotiation, and insisted upon the Republicans capitulating without terms. They were thus handed over to the cruel vengeance of the Court. 30,000 patriots were thrown into prison, and for six months all those who had taken the least part in establishing the Republic were continually exposed to the danger of execution.

[Sidenote: The coalition captures the Dutch fleet.]

The disasters of the French were to have been completed by a combined attack of English and Russians upon the other extremity of their line. On the 22nd of August, a few days after the battle of Novi, the Duke of York, with 30,000 men, disembarked at the Helder, to advance upon Amsterdam. The defence of the country was intrusted to Brune, but the allies succeeded in landing, and captured the whole Dutch fleet in the Texel. At this moment the hopes of the allies were very high, and the French, worsted abroad and full of discontent at home, seemed on the verge of destruction.

[Sidenote: Napoleon defeated at Acre. May 21, 1799.]

The news that Bonaparte had been defeated at Acre added still further to their depression. To complete his dreams of Eastern conquest, and to forestall the attacks of an army gathering on that side, Bonaparte had marched into Syria. He won the battle of El Arish, took Joppa, where he massacred his prisoners, and advanced as far as Acre at the foot of Mount Carmel. The fortress, which was held by Djezzar, lately a robber, now a Pacha, was not in itself strong, but the French operations were rendered slow by the fortunate capture of their battering train by Sir Sidney Smith, the English commodore. After fifty days a breach was made, but the brilliant example of Sir Sidney Smith and his sailors, who entered the town, encouraged the Turkish garrison to a desperate resistance, which rendered all efforts at assault vain; Bonaparte had to retreat disappointed. "Had it not been for Djezzar," he said, "I might have been Emperor of the East." His retreat was marked by another act of cruelty; he ordered his sick at Joppa to be poisoned. With a broken army he regained Egypt, but he was still in a condition to beat the Turks near Alexandria, at what the French call the battle of Aboukir; but while thus victorious, he heard news of affairs in Europe which led him to think that the pear was at length ripened. He slipped secretly from his army, accompanied by his four friends, Berthier, Lannes, Murat, and Marmont, and set sail for France, leaving the army under the command of Kleber.

[Sidenote: Jealousies and disasters of the coalition.]

Before Napoleon arrived the danger of France from without had disappeared. Jealousy had arisen between the Austrians and the Russians, which was not likely to be soothed by the rough behaviour of Suwarrow or the palpable self-seeking of the Court of Vienna. It became necessary to rearrange the commands. The war in Switzerland was to be intrusted to Suwarrow, who was to march thither and effect a junction with his Lieutenant Korsakoff, who was already in the country. But before the junction could be effected Massena annihilated the army of Korsakoff at the battle of Zurich (Sept. 26), and when Suwarrow had forced his way over the St. Gotthard Pass, he found himself in the midst of hostile armies instead of meeting his friends. He turned suddenly to the right, and making an extraordinary march among the glaciers and peaks of the Alps, he succeeded in reaching Coire in safety. Believing himself betrayed by the Austrians, he refused to serve again, and retired to Russia, where he died in disgrace. Nor had the Duke of York been more successful in Holland. The character of the country rendered it very difficult to advance, while the want of discipline of the Russians on the right wing entailed a defeat before Bergen. The town was indeed afterwards taken, but loss in battle and by ill health, and the want of all signs of co-operation on the part of the inhabitants, induced the English to sign what must be considered a disgraceful convention at Erckmar, by which they agreed to withdraw from Holland, and give over 10,000 French prisoners without exchange; the English however kept possession of the Dutch fleet.

[Sidenote: Success in India against Tippoo Sahib and the French.]

In India the English arms had been more successful. The intrigues of Tippoo with the French having been clearly discovered, and efforts at friendly arrangement having proved vain, General Harris, with a considerable army, was ordered in February 1799 to march upon Seringapatam. The Governor-General at this time was Lord Mornington, brother of the Duke of Wellington, who himself, as Colonel Arthur Wellesley, was one of the leaders of the expedition. After two successful skirmishes, General Harris appeared before the capital, which was a strong city well prepared for a siege. In about a month the place was taken by assault and Tippoo himself killed. This success placed the whole kingdom of Mysore, with a large amount of treasure, in the hands of the conquerors.

[Sidenote: Napoleon returns, and is made First Consul. Nov. 11, 1799.]

On his return to Paris (Oct. 16), therefore, Bonaparte found himself in a position to carry out his plans for personal aggrandizement; and though the great danger from foreign enemies had disappeared, the interior of France offered him every opportunity for laying hands on the Government. It was not forgotten that during his absence the safety of the Republic had been risked, and its hard-won victories rendered useless; and as the incapacity of their present rulers had been even more obvious at home than abroad, all eyes turned to him as the natural saviour of the State. Moreover, now that the first fervour of revolutionary energy had worn itself out, the bulk of the nation desired order, even though earned at the expense of liberty. Of the two Councils that of the Ancients was decidedly inclined in favour of a more settled Government, and it was through it that Napoleon determined to work. The Council of Five Hundred was more difficult to deal with. For a moment Napoleon shrunk before their patriotic and republican cries, but, urged by the Abbé Sièyes, who pressed him to action, crying, "They have put you outside the law, do you put them outside their hall," he recovered courage, and his Grenadiers, entering the hall with beating drums, quietly extruded the representatives. Thus was accomplished the great _coup d'état_ of the 18th Brumaire (Nov. 9). The Directory was destroyed; a new constitution, spoken of as the Constitution of the year 8, was established, by which the executive power was vested nominally in three consuls, but really in the First Consul, Bonaparte, who thus became practically Dictator. His measures were anti-revolutionary, his object being to restore confidence and to heal faction. With his thoughts thus turned to the reorganization of France, he desired to be free for the present from foreign wars, and one of his earliest steps was to make overtures with the continental powers. To England he made proposals of peace in a letter addressed immediately to the King (Dec. 25). This was of course a grave breach of the etiquette of courts, and the letter was answered by Grenville in anything but a conciliatory spirit, while the whole blame of the war was thrown upon the French, with whom the English minister declined to enter into negotiations so long as the Government was in the hands of those "whom the Revolution had so recently placed in the exercise of power." Some more correspondence ensued, but the English ministers positively refused to treat. It is certain that Napoleon's offer was merely to gain time; on the other hand, the dictatorial tone of Grenville's reply could not but be very irritating to the French.

[Sidenote: Napoleon regains the North of Italy.]

[Sidenote: Napoleon's victories.]

The weary war therefore continued, and before the year was over the position of affairs abroad had so changed that England was no longer able to maintain the haughty tone which had been adopted. War in the hands of Bonaparte was a very different thing from war in the hands of the Directory. In April the French were again across the Rhine, and the Austrians driven behind the Inn; while in Italy, though Genoa, the last town in the possession of the French, surrendered, its danger was turned to immediate advantage by Bonaparte. Under pretence of collecting an army for its relief, he massed his troops in the neighbourhood of Dijon, and while all eyes were directed towards the siege, he suddenly pushed across the Great St. Bernard and appeared at Ivrea on the rear of the besieging army. Melas, who commanded the Austrians, at length perceived his danger. He ordered Otto, his lieutenant, to raise the siege, with the intention of concentrating his troops; his orders were disregarded, and Genoa was taken, but the delay was fatal. It gave time for Bonaparte to re-establish the Cisalpine Republic, and, turning backwards, to place himself between Melas and Mantua, whither that general was now anxious to withdraw. A decisive battle was brought on before Alessandria, from which stronghold the Austrians advanced, on the 14th of June, against the French on the plains of Marengo. The Austrians, more numerous than the French, had apparently won the battle, and by three o'clock the whole French army had retreated. Melas withdrew to rest, leaving what he believed to be a pursuit in the hands of General Zach; but the French army, reinforced by the reserves, and headed by Desaix, made a great final effort. The Austrians, who had advanced too rashly in the eagerness of their pursuit, were unable to withstand his charge; they broke, and their victory was changed into a disastrous defeat. On the following day, with the victorious army in his front, and the liberated garrison of Genoa in his rear, the Austrian general, seeing no hope, entered into a convention, called the Convention of Alessandria, by which the greater part of North Italy was surrendered to the French.

[Sidenote: Battle of Hohenlinden. Dec. 2, 1800.]

[Sidenote: Treaty of Lunéville. Feb. 9, 1801.]

An attempt was made to change this Convention into a more general peace, and a Congress was held for this purpose at Lunéville, but the English Cabinet was much divided in its own views, the Austrian Government acted with extreme duplicity, and Napoleon demanded a separate treaty with the two belligerent powers, which Austria, knowing its weakness when separate from England, was afraid to grant. The Congress came to nothing, and in November the army under Moreau renewed the campaign. The Austrians were determined to hold the line of the Inn, but their troops, very badly commanded by Archduke John, were attacked in the forest of Hohenlinden, and sustained a crushing defeat. Their loss is put at 25,000 men and 100 guns. There could no longer be any question in the matter, and the Emperor had no choice, if he would save his capital, but to sue for a separate peace. By the Treaty of Lunéville (Feb. 9, 1801) the frontier of the Rhine was again ceded to France.

[Sidenote: Russia deserts the coalition.]

It needed but a breach with Russia to leave England singlehanded in opposition to France. The Emperor Paul, but little removed from madness, had seen with disgust the defeat of his troops in Switzerland, and believed that in the joint expedition to Holland his army had been wilfully sacrificed. He was also smitten with extreme admiration for the genius of Bonaparte, who took care to flatter this feeling and to intrigue against English influence. The old question of the right of search gave Paul a pretext to break with his allies. The doctrine of the English, accepted generally as the law of nations, was that a belligerent had the right of searching neutral ships for contraband of war or for property of the enemy. The Northern powers claimed that the neutral flag should cover the cargo, with the exception of contraband of war. This had been their view for many years, and, as has been mentioned, gave rise to the Armed Neutrality of 1780.[15] This view they had not been able to enforce, but it was quite an open question whether ships under convoy of a man-of-war could be searched. On this point the English and the Danes twice came into collision; but during the summer of 1800 an amicable arrangement had been arrived at. Paul however refused to let the matter drop; he took it up as an injury to the whole Northern powers, laid an embargo upon all English property in Russia, made prisoners 300 merchant seamen, and renewed the Armed Neutrality, which was joined willingly by Sweden, and under pressure by Denmark also. The English Government at once retaliated by an embargo on the property of the allied nations; and England was thus left completely singlehanded, for her allies in the south of Europe were much too weak to afford her any assistance, while her maritime superiority seemed seriously compromised by the action of the Baltic powers.

[Sidenote: Internal condition of England.]