Chapter XVII: {george III. 1789–1791} (2)

To stem the onward tide of revolution which threatened to overwhelm the nation, the king, by a herald at arms, declared that the debates of the assembly were suspended, and that it was his majesty’s intention to hold a royal session. The hall of the states was now closed, but the deputies, under their first president, Bailly, assembled at one time in the Tennis Court, and at another in the Church of St. Louis, and took an oath to remain united until the regeneration of the state was accomplished. The royal session took place on the 23rd of June, and the king having pronounced the previous resolutions of the assembly to be illegal, ordered the estates to leave the hall, and withdraw each to their chamber, to deliberate there upon certain subjects which he laid before them. He would consider himself, and himself alone, he said, as the representative of the nation, and threatened to take all necessary measures into his own hands, if the national assembly acted contrary to his wishes. But the words of the monarch fell upon the ears of men who hated royalty, and who were resolved upon stripping the diadem from his brow. Being by this time joined by the greater part of the clergy, who seem to have considered that their interests were blended with those of the people, the commons resolved not to stir from the hall. The command of the king was repeated by a royal messenger, and then was seen the determined hostility which prevailed in the assembly towards the courts. “Only the force of bayonets,” said Mirabeau, “can drive the deputies of the people from their seats.” The assembly, therefore, still remained, and on the following day was reinforced by some members of the nobility, with the Duke of Orleans at their head. The king was perplexed; but hoping still to counteract their measures, he ordered the majority of the nobles, and the minority of the clergy to unite with the third estate, whereby the national assembly was finally completed. But there was still no reconciliation. Thirty thousand armed men, foreigners, were assembled in the vicinity of the capital, under the command of Marshal de Broglio, and these hostile preparations excited the people to revolt, engaged the representatives of the nation in a struggle between opposite duties, and alarmed the friends of liberty. All Paris—all France, became agitated and excited to action. Patriotic societies were formed as guides of the wild-fermenting masses of the people, and means of resistance were debated upon and adopted. In the midst of the commotion, a report was spread that Necker and Montmarin, the two popular ministers, had been dismissed and banished the kingdom, and that they and their colleagues were succeeded in office by men who were decided advocates of the ancient _régime_. Now commenced insurrection. On the 14th of July the people rose _en masse_, and being joined by the French guards, they stormed and captured the Bastille. Alarmed at these proceedings the king discharged his new ministers; recalled Necker; sent away the foreign troops, and threw himself into the arms of the nation. Joy and acclamation succeeded, and a festival of reconciliation was celebrated at Paris, between king and people, which seemed to presage the return of harmony. But there were two parties in the state who were far from being satisfied with the reconciliation thus brought about—the aristocrats and the democrats. The former saw their downfall therein, and rather than submit to such a state of things, great numbers went into voluntary exile. By their departure, the king was left without defence and counsel in the midst of the roaring storm—was left to the mercy of men who were in heart his most deadly enemies. He assumed the tri-coloured cockade, and sanctioned the decrees of the assembly, which aimed at the overthrow of the old, and the establishment of a new government; but still, though he complied with their every wish, it was evident, to all men of discernment, that he had not the affections of his subjects, and that his life was not safe in their hands. After his apparent reconciliation with the Parisians, Louis hastened to Versailles, where he hoped to remain in peace. But it was scarcely to be expected that a people, and especially the people of a corrupt capital, after they had broken the bonds of obedience, would immediately return to social order. Despite the exertions of Bailly, the recently elected mayor of Paris, and of Lafayette, the head of the newly created citizen militia, tumults were the order of the day. Famine raged in the city, and urged by it, as well as by a desire of revenge, many fell victims to the fury of the multitude. Thus Foulon, counsellor of state, and thus Berthier, his son-in-law, hitherto intendant of Paris, perished. Accumulated murders were committed in the capital, and similar scenes occurred in the provinces. Several cities followed the example of Paris, and in the country the peasants armed themselves against the nobles: the times of King John seemed to return. These crimes are in a great measure to be imputed to some members of the national assembly; but in the month of August the better part got a resolution passed, whereby the disturbers of the tranquillity were reminded of their duty, and the national guards, which were promptly raised in the whole kingdom, charged with the maintenance of order and security. But resolutions and decrees, and even the sword, were still impotent to allay the rash fury of the populace. It was suspected by them that the higher orders were not sincere in the sacrifices to which they had assented, and a rumour was industriously spread abroad that preparations were making for the retreat of the king to Metz, in Lorraine, where the royal standard was to be raised in opposition to the national assembly. Nor does it appear that the king was sincere in the concessions which had been wrung from him, or that he intended their perpetuation. At all events, if the king himself was sincere, it is certain that the queen and her counsellors turned their thoughts towards the restoration of the monarchy. Full of warlike sentiments, the court brought the regiment of Flanders to Versailles, and surrounded itself with soldiers, whence not only the populace suspected its movements, but the municipality of Paris became alarmed, and Lafayette himself spoke openly of a plot against liberty. A fresh insurrection now took place. Urged in part by famine, in part by wild cannibal passions, and in part by objects of treason and ambition, on the 5th of October, several thousand furious women, intermixed with a number of men of the most abandoned characters, assembled together, and after having committed some outrages, set up a long and hideous cry “To Versailles!” And the cry was not long confined to them. It resounded also among the citizen-militia, and among the great mass of the population of Paris, and Lafayette placed himself at the head of the insurrection. On the night of the 6th of October the palace of Versailles was attacked; many of its defenders were slain; and the king and the royal family, being rescued from the hands of the infuriated mob by Lafayette at the head of the national guard, were carried in triumph to Paris. The heads of the unfortunate defenders of the monarch, fixed on pikes, adorned the procession as it passed through the streets of the city. This new triumph of the populace occasioned another change in the constitution by the national assembly: the king being compelled to accede to every thing which they chose to establish. But France was not yet tranquil. The king and the people—except the factionists—became again, in appearance, if not in reality, reconciled; but there was still an under-current of mischief at work, which finally involved the monarch in ruin, Paris in bloodshed, and all Europe in war!

{GEORGE III. 1789–1791}

STATE OF PARTIES IN ENGLAND.

The events which had taken place in France during this year, naturally attracted the anxious notice of other European states. In England many persons read of them with pleasure, others with suspicion and jealousy, and others with anxiety and alarm. The general opinion was favourable to the revolution, arising from the natural abhorrence with which Englishmen look upon despotism under every possible form and shape. Even Fox and Pitt at first united in a tribute of admiration of the great movement; they, with others, overlooking its most criminal excesses, on the presumption that it would tend to establish the liberty and the happiness of the French people. All parties, indeed, agreed in believing, or at least hoping, that the states being properly modelled would by degrees effect the most important reforms, and produce the most valuable results, not only to the French themselves, but to all the world. Poets sang the destruction of the Bastille; orators applauded the asserters of liberty; statesmen contemplated the revolution with pleasure; and even divines from their pulpits did not blush to extol the character of the French regenerators. Among the most ardent admirers of the French revolution was an assemblage of persons, with Lord Stanhope at their head, who had associated for many years for the purpose of commemorating the British revolution of 1888. These revolutions were totally different in character, but losing sight of this, the society even went so far as to offer a formal address of “congratulation to the national assembly on the event of the late glorious revolution in France.” It must be in charity supposed, that a great deal of ignorance existed as to the real character of the movement in France, otherwise it could only be concluded that a similar spirit existed in England as in that country. It must not be disguised, however, that England contained a certain class of discontented speculative men, who considered their own country deficient in the liberty which, they imagined as agreeable to man’s natural rights; and who therefore looked upon the French revolution as the precursor to a similar movement among ourselves: men who, from a revolutionary ardour and a fondness for innovation, looked on all resistance to power as commendable, confounded revolt with liberty, and identified conspiracy with patriotism. But this section of the community happily was not extensive: the many who admired the French revolution did so from a generous sympathy, and while they lamented the excesses committed, they attributed it to the old tyranny, which had brutalized the people, and which they considered as not likely to continue. They concluded, erroneously indeed, that a change from the old system of despotism must be an improvement, and fondly hoped that the alterations would produce a government in France, similar to that which they themselves enjoyed. Others there were, however, who viewed the new politics of France with horror. Looking from the present to the future, they foresaw that the events which had taken place in that country, instead of producing such a change in the condition of the French people as every friend to rational and well-regulated freedom must desire, would only produce the most lamentable consequences—would either terminate in anarchy, or in the establishment of despotism. Of the great public men of the day, Burke was perhaps the first to discern the true character of this movement in France. The letters which he wrote during its progress all show that he looked upon it with the utmost suspicion: arguing from the bloody deeds with which it was consummated, deeds still more bloody and fearful. But the keen insight into the French character which Burke possessed was not common to the public at large, or even to his own party and the friends of his bosom: the general impression was, that the French people, after the first ebullitions of vengeance, would return to their senses; and that then they would build up a fabric of freedom on the ruins of tyranny, which might serve for a model to all Europe: a bulwark of liberty which the iron foot of despotism should never be able to throw down.

“But history, time’s slavish scribe, will tell
How rapidly the zealots of the cause
Disbanded—or in hostile ranks appeared:
Some, tired of honest service; these outdone,
Disgusted, therefore, or appalled, by aims
Of fiercer zealots—so confusion reigned,
And the more faithful were compelled to exclaim,
As Brutus did to virtue: ‘Liberty,
I worshipped thee, and find thee but a shade.’”
—Wordsworth.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

{A.D. 1790}

The British parliament met on the 21st of January. The king, who had now recovered from his malady, attended in person, and in his speech he slightly glanced at the affairs of the continent, by observing that they had engaged his most serious attention; paid an appropriate tribute to the excellence of the British constitution; and congratulated the country on the increase of the public revenue, the extension of commerce and manufactures, and the general prosperity. The addresses in both houses were voted without opposition or division. In moving that in the commons, Lord Valletort took occasion to contrast the tranquil and prosperous situation of England with the anarchy and licentiousness prevailing in France, and to stigmatize the revolution as an event the most disastrous and the most fatal that had ever taken place since the foundation of the French monarchy. Nearly all who followed Lord Valletort coincided in his sentiments, attributing the prosperity and tranquillity of England to the superior excellence of its constitution, and to the prudent administration of the executive government. The subject was resumed in the debates which took place on the 5th and 9th of February, in both of which Fox spoke in a laudatory manner of the French military, and in the latter of which he extended his eulogiums to the French revolution itself. It has been seen before that Burke’s sentiments on this subject were foreign to those of his party, and notwithstanding his political connection _with_, and friendship _for_ Fox, he rose from his seat greatly agitated, and denounced the revolution as “an irrational, unprincipled, proscribing, confiscating, plundering, ferocious, bloody, tyrannical democracy.” In his speech, Burke, after paying some high compliments to the genius and character of Fox, and adverting to the danger of his opinions as sanctioned by the authority of so great a name, entered at large into the subject. He remarked:—“The French have shown themselves the ablest architects of ruin that have hitherto appeared in the world. In one short summer they have completely pulled down their monarchy, their church, their nobility, their law, their army, and their revenue. Were we absolute conquerors, with France prostrate at our feet, we should blush to impose on them terms so destructive to their national consequence, as the durance they have imposed on themselves. Our present clanger is that of being led, from admiration, to imitate the excesses of a people whose government is anarchy, and whose religion is atheism.” Burke expressed his concern at hearing this strange thing called a revolution in France, compared with the glorious event called the revolution in England. He instituted a parallel between the two, and showed how widely they differed from each other, and how Great Britain had risen beyond the standard of her former self, because she had commenced with reparation, and not with ruin. The French, he said, had made their way through the destruction of their country to a bad constitution, when they were absolutely in possession of a good one. Instead of redressing grievances and improving the fabric of their state, to which they were called by their monarch and sent by their country, they had first destroyed all the balances and counterpoises which served to fix the state and to give it a steady direction, melting down the whole into one incongruous, ill-connected mass; and then, with the most atrocious perfidy and breach of all faith, they laid the axe to the root of all property, and consequently of all national prosperity, by the principles they established and the example they set in confiscating all the possessions of the church. They had made and recorded a sort of institute and digest of anarchy, called “A Declaration of the Rights of Man;” thus systematically destroying every hold of authority by opinion, religious or civil, on the minds of the people. By this mad declaration they had subverted the state, and brought on such calamities as no country, without a long war, had been known to suffer. Burke expressed himself astonished and troubled at the movements in France beyond measure, and denounced it as so far from being worthy of imitation, that it ought to have our utter abhorrence He would spend the last drop of his blood—would quit his best friends, and join his bitterest enemies, to oppose the least influence of such a spirit in England. Burke concluded his noble harangue by saying that he was now near the end of his natural, and probably still nearer the end of his political, career; that he was weak and weary, and wished for rest; that at his time of life, if he could not do something by weight of opinion, it would be useless to attempt anything by mere struggle; and that, with respect to the British constitution, he wished but few alterations in it, adding, that he should be happy if he left it not the worse for any share he had taken in its service. This speech, so full of patriotism and unanswerable argument, gave rise to a grand schism among the Whigs. As soon as Burke had concluded, Fox rose and declared his total dissent from opinions “so hostile to the general principles of liberty,” and which, he said, he was grieved to hear from the lips of a man whom he loved and revered; a man by whose precepts he had been taught, and from whom he had learned more than from all the men with whom he had ever conversed. His speech on that day, he remarked, some arguments and observations excepted, was among the wisest and most brilliant that had ever been delivered in the house; but still, with all these admissions, his opinion on the general subject remained unaltered. Fox entered into a vindication of the conduct of the French army, in refusing to act against their fellow-citizens, and excused the scenes of bloodshed and cruelty which had been committed by the citizens, on the ground of their long-suffering from tyranny. At the same time Fox declared, that he never would lend himself to support any cabal or scheme to introduce any dangerous innovation into our excellent constitution; and that Burke might rest assured they could never differ in principles, although they might disagree in the application of principles. Burke rejoined, and expressed himself satisfied with the explanation of his right-honourable friend; and the discussion might have ended for the present, had it not been for Sheridan, who wished to make a speech on this grand subject. Sheridan, in rising, said, that he felt it his duty to declare that he differed from Burke in almost every word respecting the French revolution. In his opinion it was as just as our own, proceeding upon as sound a principle, and a greater provocation. Sheridan then eulogised Lafayette, Bailly, and other patriots of that stamp, and vehemently defended the general views and conduct of the national assembly. He concluded his harangue by charging Burke with being an advocate for despotism, and with having spoken of the national assembly with an unwarrantable freedom of speech. Burke instantly rose to reply; and in doing so he expressed his indignation at the language which Sheridan had used, and declared that henceforth his honourable friend and he were separated in politics. Sheridan’s language, he said, was not new, since it was only a repetition of what was to be heard at the reforming clubs and societies with which the honourable gentleman had recently become entangled, and for whose plaudits he had chosen to sacrifice his friends. He added, that his argument was chiefly an argument _ad invidiam_, and that all the applause he could hope for from clubs was scarcely worth the sacrifice which he had chosen to make. The Whig party were alarmed at this breach in their camp; and attempts were instantly made to bring about a reconciliation by means of mutual explanations. But these attempts were fruitless; the bond of union was for ever broken. The Whig party were rendered still more uneasy by the conduct of Pitt, who declared that Burke had that day conferred a great obligation upon the country, and warmly applauded the zealous and seasonable attachment which he had displayed to the principles of the British constitution. No man, in truth, rendered more service to the cause of constitutional liberty than did Burke at this period. This was but the first of a series of splendid harangues which he uttered upon the subject of the French revolution, and which were as the sound of a trumpet to the hearts of the English people. The contagion of its principles were also arrested by the weighty productions of his pen; in which productions “his fancy laid all nature under tribute, collecting treasures from scenes of creation, and from every walk of art to adorn his pages.” His sentiments had the more weight because they proceeded from a mind which had ever been active in the great business of reform; some traces of which activity were manifest in the statute-book. But the reforms which Burke had ever advocated were founded in justice; those which the French regenerators had adopted were subversive of all order, and tended only to anarchy and desolation.

DEBATES ON THE TEST AND CORPORATION ACTS.

Since the decision of the last session relative to the test and corporation acts, the Protestant dissenters had not relaxed in their efforts to increase the number of their friends in the house of commons. Moreover, they had held provincial meetings in all parts of the kingdom, and by their public resolutions, in contemplation of a general election, earnestly recommended the friends of equal and universal liberty to the choice of electors. Unfortunately at these meetings, in their speeches and resolutions, they warmly applauded the principles of the French revolution; and they appear to have thought that this season of change was favourable for pressing their old claims upon parliament. Under this impression they resolved to bring the subject before the commons; and instead of Mr. Beaufoy, the friend of Pitt, Fox, the tried friend of liberty, was requested by them to become their advocate. Fox moved for the repeal of the two acts in question, and supported his motion by a long and able speech, in which he showed himself anxious to prove that the application of his clients had nothing whatever to do with the principles of the French revolution. It certainly did not emanate from that movement, for the first application had been made three years ago, when the keenest sagacity could not have formed anything like a conjecture of the events which had taken place in France. It is most certain, however, that the Protestant Dissenters, in seeking their claims, had uttered language which savoured of a spirit of innovation. It may have been only out of generous sympathy, but they had been among the warmest approvers of the French revolution; and this gave offence in high places. Hitherto, Pitt, although he opposed the repeal of the corporation and test acts, had done so with temper and moderation; but now, in opposing the motion, he spoke of their conduct with the utmost indignation. At the very moment, he said, when they were reprobating the test laws, they discovered their intention of forming associations to impose a test on members of the house of commons. Pitt also vindicated the necessity of a church establishment for the good of the state; and endeavoured to show that such an institution could not exist if toleration were extended to equality of privileges. Burke was more emphatic in his opposition to the motion than Pitt. A wild spirit of innovation was abroad, he said, which required not indulgence, but restraint; and he asserted that the avowed leaders of the dissenters had, in their speeches, resolutions, writings, and sermons, given countenance to the revolutionary spirit which everywhere prevailed. Burke read some extracts from dissenting divines in proof of his assertions; and he adjured the house to let the events which had taken place in France, and the sudden downfall of the church in that kingdom, awaken their zeal for the preservation of our own establishment. Fox rejoined, and urged the injustice of deciding a general question of right upon the conduct of a few individuals; but the motion was rejected by a majority of two hundred and ninety-four against one hundred and five. This decided hostility to the measure chiefly arose from the time at which it was brought forward, and the means which had been employed to ensure success. Many members, and among them the amiable Wilberforce, who had before voted for the repeal of these laws, now voted against it, from a conviction that it would give an impetus to the innovating spirit which so universally prevailed.

FLOOD’S MOTION FOR REFORM OF PARLIAMENT.

On the 4th of March, Mr. Flood, a celebrated Irish orator, moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend the representation of the people in parliament. This bill proposed to add one hundred members to the present house of commons, in a proportionate ratio to the population of each county, to be elected by resident householders. In his speech Mr. Flood boldly asserted that the members who sat in the house were not the adequate representatives of the people. He would not deny that they were the legal representatives, and he acknowledged that they were a useful and honourable council; but, to the honour of the British constitution, we were entitled to something better. Although Mr. Flood avowed that he was no friend to revolutions, and that he considered them an evil, yet it was evident that his motion arose from an innovating spirit; and as such it was opposed. Mr. Wyndham, member for Norwich, and the professed admirer of Burke, said, that if he had approved of the measure, he should still have objected to its being brought forward or adopted at the present time. Where was the man, he asked, who would advise them to repair their house in the hurricane season? Speculatists and visionaries were at work in a neighbouring country, and that, he thought, was sufficient. There was project against project, theory against theory, _frontibus adversis pug-nantia_. He entreated the house to wait for the event, and to guard with all possible care against catching the French infection. Pitt followed Wyndham, and he declared, “that if the motion before them were the precise resolution which he himself had formerly proposed, he should now vote against it, from a thorough conviction of its impropriety.” He recommended its withdrawal, promising, on some future day, to make the subject of parliamentary reform a ministerial measure. Fox rose to support the motion; and he affirmed, in the course of his speech, “that no season could be more proper for the commencement of repairs than when a hurricane was near and ready to burst forth.” At the same time he acknowledged that he felt convinced the opinion which he supported was neither that of the majority of the house nor of the people. Burke combated the whole scheme and all the arguments that had been adduced in support of it; and asserted that these attempts at parliamentary reform were not countenanced by the people. Other members, as Wilberforce, Granville, and Powys, spoke on the same side, and the motion was at length withdrawn. These were the only great political questions which engaged the attention of the commons during this session. All change met with such an unyielding and decided opposition, that its advocates deemed it their wisdom to remain silent. In this line of conduct they were confirmed by the good temper of the people, who wisely exhibited a disposition to submit to any little wrongs they might be called upon to endure, rather than by a refractory spirit to run the risk of incurring greater.

EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.

On the 31st of March Mr. Dundas presented to the house an account of the financial state of India. He announced a great increase of revenue in Bengal; which he looked upon as the strongest proof of the prosperity and good government of the country. Dundas said, that in a few years he trusted the company would be enabled to pay off the whole of their arrears, and that the British possessions in India would be more flourishing in wealth, commerce, and manufactures, than any other part of Hindustan. In the present state of things, he remarked, we had nothing to fear from any European nation: Holland was our ally, and France was in no condition to disturb our foreign possessions. Tippoo Saib, he acknowledged, was an enemy; but without European auxiliaries, and the support of other native powers, he could never become formidable to the British empire. Dundas, indeed, indulged himself in the pleasing vision that this country was likely long to enjoy an undisturbed peace at home and abroad.

PITT’S FINANCIAL STATEMENT, ETC.

Pitt opened the budget for the year on the 15th of April; and in doing so he congratulated the house upon the prosperous state of the finances. He regarded the increase of revenue as progressive, and spoke with triumph of the growing greatness of England. Like Dundas, he spoke of the continuance of peace as certain; and he concluded his speech with an encomium upon the British constitution, to which, under Providence, the prosperity of the nation was to be ascribed. About the same time that the budget was opened, the house voted several sums as a recompense for services or indemnification for losses in the cause of the country. Thus an annuity of £1000 per annum was granted to the Rev. Dr. Willis, who had been instrumental in restoring his majesty’s intellects; the speakers salary was increased from £3000 to £6000; and the family of Penn had a perpetual grant of £4000 per annum bestowed upon them out of the consolidated fund, for the losses they had sustained during the revolt of the American colonies.

THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.

Early in this session, Mr. Wilberforce, who had continued to devote time, life, fortune, and talent to the great subject of the slave-trade, moved that the house would resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to take that trade into consideration. This motion was agreed to; and on a subsequent day he moved and carried the appointment of a special committee for the examination of witnesses. Wilberforce was himself one of the most active members of this special committee; but nothing further was done during this session beyond hearing of evidence; every mode of procrastination being resorted to on the part of the slave-merchants and planters. The bill of Sir William Dolben, for limiting the number of slaves to be transported in each slave-ship, was renewed for another year; and the further consideration of the subject was adjourned till next session.

DISPUTES WITH SPAIN.

Although both Pitt and Dundas had so recently spoken confidently of the long continuance of peace, yet, on the 5th of May, a royal message was delivered, announcing circumstances which indicated the approach of war. The circumstances from whence this message originated were briefly these:—In his last voyage of discovery, the celebrated navigator, Captain Cook, had touched at Nootka, or Prince William, on the Western coast of North America, where his crew purchased some valuable furs, which they disposed of to great advantage in China. In consequence of the recommendation of Captain King, who published the last volume of “Cook’s Voyages,” some mercantile adventurers from the East Indies, with the consent of the governor-general, undertook to supply the Chinese with fur from these regions. For this purpose they fitted out two small vessels; and the trade proved so advantageous, that, in 1788, the adventurers resolved to form a permanent settlement. A spot of ground was accordingly procured from the natives at Nootka Sound, and a regular establishment was formed, which was defended by a slight fortification. This was, however, regarded by the Spaniards as an encroachment of their exclusive right of sovereignty; and two Spanish ships of war arrived in the sound, seized two English vessels with the crews, and then took possession of the settlement. The British flag was removed; the Spanish commandant declaring, that the whole line of coast from Cape Horn to the 60th degree of north latitude, belonged to the King of Spain. These incidents were notified to the court of Great Britain by the Spanish ambassador; who, at the same time, requested that measures might be taken for preventing his Britannic majesty’s subjects from frequenting those coasts, and from carrying on their fisheries in the seas contiguous to the Spanish continent, they being, it was stated, the rights of the Spanish crown. The claims of Spain, in reference to her right of dominion and sovereignty in America, were wholly chimerical; and the notification and request of the Spanish ambassador, therefore, were met by a demand of satisfaction for the insults offered to the British nation, and reparation to the individuals who had suffered in property and person. This satisfaction had not been given; and intelligence having also been received that armaments were fitting out in the Spanish ports, his Britannic majesty judged it right to prepare on his side for supporting the rights and interests of his kingdom. Such were the circumstances related in his majesty’s message to the house of commons; and he requested that they would enable him to make such an augmentation of force as necessity seemed to require. At the same time the king expressed an earnest wish that the satisfaction due might yet be given, and that the affair might terminate without recourse to arms, or any interruption of the friendship and harmony which subsisted between the two nations. The message being taken into consideration, the commons unanimously voted an address to the king, assuring his majesty of their determination to afford the most zealous and effectual support in maintaining the dignity of his crown, and the essential interests of his dominions. This was followed by a vote of credit for £1,000,000, for the purpose of making the necessary warlike preparations. Fox gave his warm support to the address and vote of credit, but he blamed ministers for their exultation on the prospect of peace, when a war with Spain had so long been threatened: though from Pitt’s explanation it did not appear that they knew anything of the preparations in the Spanish ports till a very few days since. Subsequently, motions were made in both houses, by opposition, for the production of papers to illustrate the grounds of this dispute; but these were successfully resisted, on an established rule of policy, prohibiting all documents relating to a negociation with a foreign power from being produced while such negociation was still pending.

{GEORGE III. 1789–1791}

IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS.

The trial of Warren Hastings recommenced on the 10th of February, on which day Mr. Anstruther went through the charge relating to the corrupt receipt of presents. Disputes instantly arose about the evidence proper to be admitted, and their lordships took another walk to their chamber in order to debate and consult. Fresh objections were then made by the counsel acting for Hastings, who said that the matter which, the managers brought forward was neither set down nor made a charge of in the articles of impeachment. On this their lordships adjourned again, and after long consultation, the objections made on the part of the defendant were held to be valid. The managers and the public by this time seemed to consider that the trial would never be finished, and Burke, on the 11th of May, called the attention of the house of commons to its protracted continuance; and moved the two following resolutions:—1. “That this house, taking into consideration the interruptions occasioned by the occupations of the judges and the house of lords, as also the impediments which have occurred, or may occur, in the course of the trial of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, Esq., doth, without meaning to abandon the truth or importance of the charges, authorize the managers of their said impeachment, to insist only upon such and so many of the said charges as shall appear to them the most conducive to the obtaining speedy and effectual justice against the said Warren Hastings. 2. That the commons of Great Britain in parliament assembled, from a regard to their own honour, and from the duty which they owe to all the commons of Great Britain, in whose name, as well as in their own, they act in the public prosecutions by them carried on before the house of lords, are bound to persevere in their impeachment against Warren Hastings, Esq., late governor-general of Bengal, until judgment may be obtained upon the most important articles in the same.” The first of these resolutions was adopted, but the latter was dropped as unnecessary. In supporting them the managers attributed the delay to Hastings himself, to his counsel, and to the house of lords. A day or two after, however, Major Scott, published a letter containing a review of the trial, and strictures upon the managers, whom he accused of being guilty of a great crime in instituting the prosecution, and of a still greater crime in not having brought it to a close long ago. Long and angry debates took place on the publication of this document, the result of which was that Major Scott was reprimanded, sitting in his place, for the violation of his duty as a member of the house of commons. In the meantime the impeachment still went but slowly forward. The court of peers only sat thirteen days during the session, and did not get beyond the charge which Anstruther had opened. After Fox had summed up and commented upon the evidence, on the 9th of June their lordships agreed to postpone the trial till the first sitting in the next session of parliament.

PARLIAMENT PROROGUED, AND DISSOLVED.

On the 10th of June his majesty closed the session by a speech from the throne, in which he informed the two houses of his intention of dissolving the present and calling a new parliament. In his speech the king said that he had as yet received no satisfactory answer from the court of Madrid, and that he was therefore under the necessity of continuing his preparations for war. He acknowledged their affectionate and unshaken loyalty to his person; their uniform and zealous regard for the true principles of the constitution; and their unremitting attention to the happiness and prosperity of his people. His majesty then dwelt upon the rapid increase of manufactures, commerce, and navigation; the security given to our most distant possessions; and the improvement of the public revenue. He added, after thus enumerating the salutary effects of their counsels:—“The loyalty and public spirit, the industry and enterprise of my subjects have well seconded your exertions. On their sense of the advantages which they at present experience, and their uniform attachment to my person and government, I rely for a continuance of that harmony and confidence, which must at all times afford the surest means of meeting the exigencies of war, or of cultivating with increasing benefit the blessing of peace.” On the next day parliament was dissolved by proclamation: it had existed seven sessions.

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES WITH SPAIN.

The British government, desirous of avoiding hostilities, dispatched Mr. Fitzherbert to Madrid, with full powers to settle all disputes between the two nations. At first the Spanish court showed itself adverse to negociation, and applied to that of France for aid. The court of France, however, though willing to support the Bourbon compact, had lost the power, for the people, by whom it was now kept in awe, were averse at this time to a war with England. Unable to contend with the British arms alone, Spain was therefore compelled to comply with the demand of restitution and indemnification: on the 2nd of October a convention was signed at the Escurial, by which every point in dispute was conceded. The settlement at Nootka-Sound was restored; the free navigation and right of fishery in the Southern Pacific were confirmed to Britain; and a full liberty of trade and even of settlement was granted to all the north-west coasts of America, beyond the most northerly of the Spanish territories, though unaccompanied by any formal renunciation of their right of sovereignty. Both nations were equally restricted from attempting to form any settlement nearer to Cape Horn than the most southerly plantations already established by Spain. It was also agreed, that, in case of any future complaint, no violence should be committed, but recourse had to an amicable adjustment between the respective courts. This convention was generally applauded in England, though £3,000,000 had been expended in warlike preparations.

CONTINENTAL AFFAIRS.

Early in this year the Emperor Joseph of Austria died, and was succeeded by his brother Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany. On his death-bed, Joseph, who had during his life shown himself an ambition & warrior, recommended peace, and the first care of his successor was to free himself from the Turkish war. Under the mediation of England, Prussia, and Holland, negociations for peace were opened at Reichenbach, in Silesia, on the 4th of June, and a treaty of peace was settled on the _status quo_ principle, that each party should retain what it possessed previous to the war, restoring all that it had conquered, and recovering all that it had lost. The Czarina of Russia was invited to be a party to this treaty, but she refused, and still carried on war with the Turks on the one side, and the Swedes on the other.

The congress at Reichenbach interfered likewise in the affairs of the Netherlands: England, Prussia, and Holland guaranteed to the Emperor Leopold all the possessions of the House of Austria in Flanders, Brabant, &c., on the condition that he acknowledged and re-established the ancient privileges and constitution of those provinces. On the accession of Leopold, and before the meeting at Reichenbach, or before any kind of measure was attempted, either diplomatically or otherwise, he had sent a memorial to the Netherlanders, in which he expressed sincere regret for the despotic proceedings of the Austrian government, and declared his anxiety to redress all grievances; at the same time vindicating his claim to the sovereignty, and announcing his resolution to maintain it with all his might. Although the Netherlanders had established their independence, there was still among them a strong loyal imperial party, and this address and the situation of Belgian affairs revived the spirits of these loyalists, and they soon began to declare themselves in favour of Leopold, and to wear the old cockade, instead of the new patriotic ribands. By degrees, great numbers of the populace, also, embraced their opinions, and the party soon acquired a very imposing force. Such was the situation of affairs when Leopold issued a second manifesto, after the meeting at Reichenbach, engaging himself, under an inaugural oath, and the guarantee of Great Britain, Prussia, and Holland, to govern the Belgic Netherlands according to the constitution that was in force under Maria Theresa, and offering an amnesty to all who should return to their duty before the 1st of November. The mediating powers notified to the Belgian states the approval of these terms, but that body, who had exercised sovereign authority ever since the revolt, were loth to relinquish it; and under these circumstances, Austrian troops entered their territory. Various engagements took place, but resistance was vain: the arms of the emperor were uniformly successful, and the people generally acknowledged the heir of their ancient rulers. The leading members of opposition now took refuge in flight, and in a convention, guaranteed by the defensive alliance and executed on the 10th of December, the constitution of Maria Theresa was restored to the Belgic provinces, with some additional rights and privileges.

In the meantime the war between Russia and the Porte went on but slowly. Early in the year the czarina made some attempts to detach the Greek subjects of the sultan from their obedience, and a rebellion was fomented by her means in Albania, and an extensive plan was arranged by the Greeks for emancipating themselves from the Ottoman yoke. A memorial, offering the sovereignty of Greece to Constantine her son, was laid before the czarina, but before the plan could be matured she was induced to postpone her attempts upon Turkey. It was late in the autumn before Suvaroff received reinforcements, supplies, and positive orders to commence operations, and he then invested Ismael, which he captured; slaying 24,000 Turkish soldiers, and destroying 7,000 of the inhabitants. The loss of the Russians themselves was estimated at 10,000 men, including a great number of officers, some of whom were of the highest rank.

The King of Sweden opened the campaign early in this year, and penetrated within one hundred miles of St. Petersburg. Alarmed at the approach of her enemies, the czarina sent 10,000 Russians, under the command of General Ingelstrom, to obstruct their progress. Ingelstrom attacked the Swedes in their lines at Karnomkoksi, on the Saima Lake, but he was defeated with the loss of 2000 men. Gustavus still advanced, while his fleet, under the Duke of Suclermania, sailed up the Gulf of Finland, penetrated into the harbour of Revel, in the hope of demolishing that great naval arsenal, and a division of the Russian fleet which lay at anchor in that harbour. He was frustrated by a storm, and, subsequently, he was twice attacked by Russian squadrons, which on both occasions enclosed his fleet; but each time he extricated himself from danger, though with great loss cf ships and men. Having recruited his shattered forces, Gustavus took the command of the fleet himself, and having encountered a large Russian fleet, after a bloody battle, which lasted two days, he gained a decisive victory. This defeat alarmed the czarina, and being abandoned by Austria and threatened by England and Prussia, she entered into negociation with Gustavus, and by the month of August a treaty of peace was concluded between them. By this treaty those of Abo and Nystad were confirmed; each power was to retain what it possessed before the war; and Sweden renounced all claim to the possessions which had once belonged to it, and which it had overrun during the present war. Russia also granted permission to export grain from Livonia; and it was mutually agreed to appoint commissioners to settle in an amicable manner the line of frontier between the two countries: the two courts further promised themselves that they should strengthen their connexion by a close alliance, and agreed to forget what was past.

In Paris, during this year, the national assembly pursued its legislative labours. All ecclesiastical possessions had, at the close of the preceding year, been declared national property, and the reformers soon after laid their hands on the domains of the crown: with the exception of some castles, which were to be left to the king, the rest were transferred to the state. To facilitate the sale of the possessions of the crown and the church, paper money was created, which was at first ordered to last only six years, but which was subsequently declared current money—as good as gold. These measures were followed by the suppression of all orders and cloisters; by the suppression of the parliaments; by an entire change of the judicial system; by the admission of Jews to the rights of citizens; by the abolition of all the titles of the noblesse, coats of arms, and decorations of the order of chivalry; by an order that the estates of Protestants who fled from France on the iniquitous repeal of the edict of Nantz, should be restored; by a division of France into eighty-three departments, subdivided into two hundred and forty-nine districts, each of which was composed of from three to five cantons; and by a change in the national representation, which was made to harmonize with this new division. To all these decrees the king, who had no alternative, gave his unqualified sanction, and in return the national assembly fixed the civil list of the king at 25,000,000 of livres, besides the possession of castles of pleasure. Harmony seemed to be restored, and to establish it a festival of confederation was ordained, which, on the first anniversary of the capture of the Bastille, was held in the field of Mars, when the king and 500,000 Frenchmen swore on the altar of the country to observe the new constitution. But notwithstanding all this show of harmony, a secret fermentation remained. The abolition of titles and the insignia of rank inflamed the anger of the aristocrats, and the manifestations of their wrath increased the hatred of the commons. A new emigration took place, and officers, as well as nobles, fled for their lives. The emigrants assembled in arms at Coblentz, Worms, and Ettenheim, from whence, maintaining a close connexion with their friends or dependants at home, they cast firebrands into the interior of the kingdom. Nor did the priesthood quietly submit to the civil constitution which the national assembly imposed upon them: they refused to take the oath, and stirred up many against public authority and the new constitution. The friends of liberty were alarmed and exasperated at the open and secret preparations of this twofold and implacable opposition. In this state of irritation all that was known was friend and enemy; and these relations effected the triumph of the fanatic and the fall of the moderate. One of the first who fell was Necker, to whose counsels the nation was indebted for most of the concessions of the king, and consequently for its success: Necker lost all his popularity, and fled from a country which he had contributed to ruin. The king, also, soon again declined in popular favour; the sentiments of his heart did not accord with his public declarations, and this becoming manifest, the popular party was disquieted and enraged. Mirabeau, whose ardour for revolution had begun to cool, and who now saw that the constitution was far too democratic for a monarchy, leagued secretly with the fallen court, and laboured with all the force of his popularity to raise it from its degraded state, and to recover for the crown a portion of strength necessary for its existence. But it was too late. Before this, clubs had been formed among the members of the national assembly, in order that better directed and more energetic efforts might be made in securing the objects of the revolution. Pre-eminent among these clubs was that of the deputies from Bretagne, which held its sessions in the suppressed cloister of the Jacobins, from which cloister the members of the club received the name of Jacobins; a name which finally obtained a bad celebrity in the world’s history. Similar clubs were also formed in most of the important cities of the kingdom, which maintained, with that at Paris, the closest union of sentiments and efforts. The bonds of society in France were, in truth, loosened, and no human skill could restore them: the bridle had been taken from the mouth of the fiery steed, and no human arm could arrest his headlong course. Marat, Danton, and Robespierre-men of blood—with others of the same stamp, had already made their execrable names known in the clubs of the Cordeliers and Jacobins, which finally united, and these were the men who were, for a brief period, to rule the destinies of France.

PROGRESS OF REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES IN ENGLAND.