Part 3
The French Revolution, no doubt, stirred up the discontented, and disaffected, in England: the perusal of Paine's "Rights of Man" in no ways tended to soothe a rebellious feeling, and the mob, on several occasions, was very riotous. Societies, like the "Corresponding Society" and the "Society for Constitutional Information," were founded in London, and the Government, feeling itself strong enough, was determined to strike a blow and crush them: so, on the 12th May, the King sent a message to Parliament, saying, that "having received information that the seditious practices, which have been for some time carried on by certain societies in different parts of the country, have lately been pursued with increased activity and boldness," &c.... he "has given directions for seizing the books and papers of the said societies in London, which papers have been seized accordingly, and these books and papers appear to contain matter of the greatest importance." He directed them to be laid before Parliament for consideration, so that they might take "measures thereupon, as may appear to be necessary, for effectually guarding against the further prosecution of these dangerous designs."
John Thelwall (political lecturer), Daniel Adams, and Thomas Hardy were taken into custody. The latter two were examined before the Privy Council on the 13th, the former on the 14th, on which date a Royal Messenger went to Earl Stanhope's house, and arrested his lordship's private secretary, the Rev. Jeremiah Joyce. A famous agitator, the Rev. John Horne Tooke, was also taken. Their trials took place in October, November, and December 1794, and ended in the acquittal of the prisoners, after which the Government abandoned similar prosecutions.
But a patriotic feeling was abroad, more than enough to counterbalance these turbulent spirits. The vast majority of the population was loyal, and volunteers hastened to band together for the defence of their country. One or two instances will suffice. "On the 17th April the Court of Common Council of the City of London agreed to open a subscription for raising, and disciplining, a regiment of infantry and a troop of cavalry for the defence of the city, to be called the 'Loyal London Volunteers.'"--"_Rutland Volunteers Troops of Cavalry._ On the 5th instant, 154 men and horses, consisting of the high sheriff, the noblemen, gentlemen, and yeomen, who intend forming this corps, met at Oakham.... Uniform, French gray and buff. Every person who belongs to this corps binds himself, under £50 penalty, to attend when called upon."--_Times_, 21st April. These two instances shew the wide range the volunteers' movement--then in its very infancy--took.
The feeling, however, of the nation was not altogether unanimous in favour of war. There was then, as now, a peace party. On 6th March Mr. Whitbread moved an address to the King, strongly disapproving of the policy of the Government, and of their conduct, not only preceding, but succeeding the war. The Earl of Guildford did the same in the Lords, but in both Houses the motions were negatived by large majorities. Nothing daunted by this, on 30th May, the Duke of Bedford, in the House of Lords, reviewed the causes which led to the war, and also the foreign policy of the Government, ending by moving fourteen resolutions, of which the most material were the two following:--"That it appeared expedient to that House, that it should recommend to His Majesty to adopt such measures as might lead to a negotiation for peace."
Or that, "if His Majesty, in his wisdom, thought it advisable still to prosecute the war, that he would be most graciously pleased to state what the object of it was."
After a debate, which lasted till half-past one o'clock, it was adjourned till the following Monday.
In the Commons, Fox took the same tone, winding up with--"The advantages we had gained by sea and land were favourable for the negotiation of a peace, as they served as so many funds to induce the enemy to treat; and, should we fail, we should thereby justify our pacific intentions to the world." He concluded by moving resolutions similar to those of the Duke of Bedford. The result was--For the previous question, 208; for Mr. Fox's resolutions, 55--majority, 153. And no more was heard of the Duke of Bedford's resolutions.
The next, and last, great incident was, Lord Howe's great naval victory over the French off the coast of Ushant, on "the glorious first of June." Two 80 and five 74 gun ships were the substantial fruits of this victory, although "Le Vengeur," one of the 74's, sunk soon after capture, drowning some 300 men. No one knows the French loss in this battle, but we do know, that on board the prizes taken there were found 1200 dead bodies. Our total loss was 904. The news travelled very fast, for that day; Sir Roger Curtis, Howe's first captain, arrived at the Admiralty with despatches on the evening of the 10th June.
The jubilation was great, nor was practical sympathy with the widows and orphans of our seamen wanting. In less than one hour a thousand guineas were subscribed at Lloyd's for their relief. The popular rejoicing took the form of illuminating the houses, smashing Earl Stanhope's windows, and much beer drinking. The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were given to Earl Howe, and, on his arrival at Portsmouth, the King, Queen, and the Royal family went down and paid him a visit on board his own ship, on 29th June. As there is a crispness, and freshness, about contemporary accounts of events, let the _Times_ (July 1st) tell the story.
"On the King being received on board the 'Queen Charlotte,' he presented Earl Howe with a diamond hilted sword. His lordship, perceiving His Majesty's intention, threw the sword he had on his side upon the deck, and, kneeling, received from the Sovereign's hand this distinguished proof of approbation. His Majesty also presented a gold chain, to which a medal is hereafter to be annexed, to Admiral Sir Alexander Hood, and Rear-Admiral Gardner; the like honour was conferred on Lord Howe's first captain, Sir Roger Curtis. The wounded Admirals, Bowyer and Pasley, who consequently could not attend, have been distinguished with similar marks of His Majesty's favour."
Poor Admirals Bowyer and Pasley had to be pensioned off, on account of their wounds, in February 1795, the sum awarded to each being £500 per annum.
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At the commencement of 1795 the French took possession of Utrecht, Rotterdam, and Dort: the treasure of the Prince of Orange was sent to London, and the Stadtholder and his family had to make a hurried flight for their lives in an open boat, luckily reaching Harwich safely. The French having thus occupied Holland, the English Government laid an embargo on all Dutch vessels in our ports.
The Opposition still attempted to embarrass the Government on the question of the War, and, on 26th January, Mr. Grey, in a very lengthy speech, brought forward a motion, recommending peace with France. Pitt came forward with an amendment, to the purport that there could be no security for peace whilst the Government of France was an irregular one, and, on its being put, it was carried by 269 to 86.
Wilberforce still kept "pegging away" at the Slave Trade, and, on 26th February, introduced a motion, "for leave to bring in a Bill for the abolition of the slave trade, at a time to be limited." Pitt lent him the weight of his influence, but it was a small House, and he lost it by a majority of 17.
Fox, naturally (being in opposition), was always baiting the Government, and on 24th March he moved, "That the House should resolve itself into a Committee to inquire into the state of the nation;" but he suffered a severe defeat, the numbers against his motion being 219; for, 63.
The English troops in Holland had met with a series of misadventures, and were compelled to retreat. A fine array of 35,000 men left our shores for this expedition, and but about a fifth part could be mustered when they reached the town of Bremen, on the 27th and 28th of March--and right glad were they to embark on board the transports lying in the Elbe, ready to receive them.
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The harvest of 1794 had been bad, and bread and provisions generally were so dear as practically to amount to a famine among the poor. People, as a rule, will, unfortunately, not starve quietly, so we hear of food riots occasionally. On 11th April a mob at Portsea attacked the butchers' and bakers' shops, and compelled them with persuasive eloquence to sell, the one, meat at 4d per lb.--the other, bread at 6d a quartern loaf. Again on 20th April, the Oxford Militia, with loaded guns and fixed bayonets, went to Seaford, where, having confiscated all the beef and mutton they could lay their hands on, they sold it at 4d per lb., and then, going to Newhaven, they seized 2000 sacks of flour, and sold it at their own price. This flagrant breach of military discipline was, however, soon punished, for the Horse Artillery and Lancashire Fencibles came up and took the rioters prisoners. But similar riots were rife all through the Midlands.
In the autumn things got even worse, and Parliament was assembled earlier than usual to deliberate on a remedy for this state of things; the outcome of which was an order for a bounty of twenty shillings per quarter on wheat from the Mediterranean, fifteen shillings on wheat from America, and five shillings per quarter on Indian corn. Bills also were passed prohibiting the manufacture of starch from wheat, and also the distillation of spirit from grain.
This scarcity of food, and the heavy burdens, both in taxation, the levying of men, and the pressgangs, fell sorely on the poor, who murmured loudly,--a fact which was duly taken advantage of by the demagogues for their own seditious purposes. They agitated for universal suffrage and annual parliaments, and the movement gathered strength. On the 26th October, the Corresponding Society held a mass meeting in Copenhagen Fields, and the inflammatory speeches there delivered, no doubt, bore their fruit three days afterwards, when the mob stoned the King. As the _Times'_ account of this assault is very meagre, compared with that in the _Annual Register_, I copy the latter _verbatim_.
"_29th October._--On the occasion of His Majesty's going to the House of Lords, the Mall and the Parade of St. James's Park, and Parliament Street, were completely choked up with spectators. The crowd was by no means so great at the Coronation, and, to see the King go to the House, there never were before more than a tenth part of the numbers of this day; for they, at least, amounted to 200,000. Several noblemen and Cabinet Ministers passed through the Park from Buckingham House about two o'clock. The Earl of Chatham, Duke of Gloucester, &c., were hissed, and the Duke of Portland was very much hooted.
"About twenty minutes afterwards the King left Buckingham House, and was violently hissed and hooted and groaned at the whole way; but no violence was offered till he arrived opposite the Ordnance Office, when a small pebble, or marble, or bullet, broke one of the windows. In returning, the moment His Majesty entered the Park the gates of the Horse Guards were shut, for the purpose of excluding the mob who followed the carriage; at which, as it passed opposite Spring Gardens Terrace, another stone was thrown, but it fortunately struck the woodwork between the windows.
"The crowd now pressed closely round the coach, and His Majesty, in considerable agitation, signified, by waving his hands to the Horse Guards on each side, his anxiety that the multitude should be kept at a distance. In this way he passed on through the Park, and round by the Stable Yard, into St. James's Palace, at the front gate, the bottom of St. James's Street. A considerable tumult took place when His Majesty was about to alight, and one of the horses in the state coach took fright, threw down an old groom of the name of Dorrington, and broke one of his thighs, but it proved, fortunately, a simple fracture; his other thigh was considerably bruised, but not dangerously.
"A few minutes after His Majesty had entered the palace, the mob attacked the state coach with stones, and did it great injury. In its way along Pall Mall to the Mews many things were also thrown at it. After a short time the King went, in his private coach, from St. James's to Buckingham House; but, on his way through the Park the mob surrounded the carriage, and prevented it from proceeding, crying out, 'Bread! Bread! Peace! Peace!'--The Guards were, however, speedily brought up, and they protected the carriage till His Majesty got safe into Buckingham House.
"When His Majesty entered the House of Peers, the first words he uttered were these, to the Lord Chancellor: 'My Lord, I have been shot at!' This alluded to the substance which had broke the window while passing the Ordnance Office.
"Three or four persons were apprehended on suspicion of having thrown stones, &c., at the King, and one of them was charged with having called out, 'No king,' and other such expressions. They were all examined at the Duke of Portland's office; and, waiting the result of this business, nothing was done in the House of Lords till near six o'clock, when Lord Westmoreland, who rode in the carriage with the King, having previously moved 'that strangers be ordered to withdraw,' stated the insult and outrage with which the King had been treated; and added that His Majesty, and those who had accompanied him, were of opinion that the glass of the coach had been broken by a ball from an air-gun, which had been shot from a bow window of a house adjoining the Ordnance Office, with a view to assassinate him.
"The King, through the whole of the riot, displayed the cool magnanimity for which the family have ever been distinguished. At the time that the glass of the coach was broken, he said to Lord Westmoreland, 'That is a shot;' and, instead of leaning back in the carriage, or striving to avoid the assassin, he pointed to the round hole in the pane, and examined it. But this was not all; he went into the private coach, to go from St. James's to the Queen's house, in the midst of the wildest commotions of the multitude, thereby exposing himself, almost without guards, to their fury; and then it was that His Majesty's person was most imminently in danger."
"_30th October._--Confident in the attachment of his people, notwithstanding the alarms of the preceding day, the King, accompanied by Her Majesty and three of the Princesses, visited Covent Garden Theatre, and, at their entrance, was received with the usual burst of applause. 'God save the King' was sung twice, and, by a considerable part of the house, over-zealously called for a third time; this, in a corner of the gallery, provoked a few hisses, which, however, were soon overruled, and one or two of the most active of the turbulent party were turned out; after which the performance went on."
Five persons were apprehended for this outrage, but with the exception of one, Kidd Wake, aged 27, a journeyman printer, who owned to his hissing and hooting at His Majesty, and who was committed to take his trial on 14th November, I cannot trace their fate; probably they were discharged for want of evidence.
A Royal Proclamation was issued, offering one thousand pounds reward to any one "who shall give information, so that any of such authors, actors, or abettors, as aforesaid, shall be apprehended and brought to justice."
In November there were fearful storms, especially on the 6th, which were extraordinarily destructive, both to life and property. One of these storms was so severely felt at Weymouth, that nearly 1600 dead bodies were, at different times, thrown up on the beach, 300 being buried at one time, and, had not the Gloucestershire Militia helped in burying them, there would, doubtless, have been a pestilence.
On 8th December Pitt, in the House of Commons, delivered a message from the King, in which occurs the following passage, which must have been hailed with thanksgiving throughout the length and breadth of the land:--"His Majesty, on this occasion, thinks proper to acquaint the House, that the crisis which was depending[2] at the commencement of the present session, has led to such an order of things in France, as will induce His Majesty (conformably to the sentiments which he has already declared) to meet any disposition to negotiation on the part of the enemy, with an earnest desire to give it the fullest and speediest effect, and to conclude a treaty for general peace, whenever it can be effected on just and suitable terms for himself and his allies."
[Footnote 2: (?) impending.]
At the commencement of 1796 the Royal Family were still in bad odour with a certain section of the public,--nor can it be wondered at by any one who has studied the satirical prints of the day. Every foible of Royalty was noted, exaggerated, engraved on "perennial brass," exhibited most freely in the shop windows, and most eagerly purchased. Farmer George, and his simple, and somewhat mean habits, the Queen's avarice, the Prince of Wales' licentiousness, and extravagance, and all the scandals (and they were many) appertaining to the rest of the Royal Family, were ruthlessly laid bare, and mercilessly exposed to the public gaze.
That this must have tended to lower the Royal Family in most men's eyes, there can be no doubt, so that we are not very much surprised at the occasional practical manifestations of the mob. On the night of 1st February, there was more stone-throwing on the part of the populace, which the _Times_ of 3rd February thus describes:--"On Monday night, as the Royal Family were returning from Drury Lane Theatre, just as they reached the middle of Pall Mall, a stone was flung at the coach in which were their Majesties and the lady-in-waiting, which broke the glass, and, entering the carriage, struck the Queen on the cheek, and fell into Lady Harrington's lap.
"A deposition of the circumstances was taken yesterday at the Duke of Portland's office, at which his Grace and some of the Bow Street Magistrates were present; when four of the footmen attending their Majesties were examined; a reward will be immediately offered to discover the offender." And so it was to the extent of £1000, but nothing came of it.
Whilst on the subject of the royal unpopularity, I may mention that Kydd Wake, who last year was apprehended for hissing and hooting at the King, was tried before Lord Kenyon, for "trespass, riot, and misdemeanour," and found guilty--sentence being deferred. This, however, was pronounced upon him by Mr. Justice Ashurst at the Court of King's Bench 7th May. His judgment was somewhat long-winded, and he concluded thus:--"It now becomes my duty to pronounce the sentence of the Court; which is, that you be committed to the custody of the keeper of the Penitentiary House, in, and for, the County of Gloucester, and be kept to hard labour for the space of five years; and, within the first three months of that time, that you stand in, and upon, the Pillory for one hour, between the hours of eleven and two o'clock in the afternoon, in some public street on a market day; and that you give sureties in £1000, for your good behaviour for the term of ten years, to be computed from the expiration of the said five years; and that you be further imprisoned till you find the said sureties."
On the 15th February, Mr. Grey, in the House of Commons, again ventilated the subject of peace, this time in the shape of an address to the King, praying him to communicate to the executive government of France, his readiness to meet any disposition to negotiate a general peace. Both Pitt and Fox spoke on the subject, but the motion was lost by 189 to 50.
There was one crumb of comfort to the nation, which had hitherto been suffering from a grievous scarcity of bread-stuffs, and this was the great fall in wheat, which took place on 31st March. On that date, owing to the large importations of foreign wheat, this grain fell 13s. per quarter.
Joy, too, must have sprung up in the national heart when the King made his speech on the opening of both Houses, 7th October. He said:--"I have omitted no endeavours for setting on foot negotiations to restore peace to _Europe_, and to secure, for the future, general tranquillity. The steps I have taken for this purpose have at length opened the way to an immediate and direct negotiation, the issue of which must either produce the desirable end of a just, honourable, and solid Peace for Us, and for Our Allies, or must prove, beyond dispute, to what cause alone the prolongation of the calamities of war must be ascribed. I shall immediately send a person to Paris with full powers to treat for this object, and it is My anxious wish that this measure may lead to the restoration of General Peace; but you must be sensible that nothing can so much contribute to give effect to this desire, as your manifesting that We possess both the determination and the resources to oppose, with increased activity and energy, the farther efforts with which We have to contend."
The "person" who was to go over to France as Plenipotentiary, was Sir James Harris, who had lately been made Lord Malmesbury--and he arrived at Paris on 22nd October. The usual diplomatic fencing took place, but this was brought to an end by a squabble respecting the annexation of the Netherlands to France. Lord Malmesbury wished to communicate with his Government on this point, but the Directory meant to force his hand, and required his ultimatum within twenty-four hours, and, as he still asked for time, he was told his presence in Paris was useless, and that he must depart within two days. He replied that he would leave next day, and demanded his passports. On the 20th December he left Paris for England, and so ended, for a while, all hopes of peace. That the French had but faint hopes of a successful end to the mission is evident, for, during the negotiations, on 2nd November, the Council of Five Hundred passed a decree, prohibiting the importation of British goods into the Republic.
As a proof of the patriotism of the English people, and their thorough reliance on the Government, Pitt asked for a loan of eighteen millions. This loan, called "The Loyalty Loan," was opened on 5th December, and in _15 hours 20 minutes_ it was all subscribed. The _Times_ of 6th December says--"Yesterday, soon after 11 o'clock, the SUBSCRIPTION for EIGHTEEN MILLIONS STERLING, for the services of the ensuing year, closed at the Bank; and such was the general desire to subscribe, that the Court Room was a scene of the utmost confusion. Many gentlemen were altogether disappointed; and those who could get near the books to put down their names, did so with the utmost difficulty. There was very little remaining to be subscribed; for a great number of orders had been received by Mr. Newland in the morning, from the country, which claimed a preference; and, accordingly, the doors were shut some time, until these commissions were written down. There is no doubt but that many millions more would have been subscribed, if the public service had required it. There cannot be a greater proof of the patriotism of all ranks of people in thus assisting Government, because, at the time the loan was opened, the other funds were considerably the cheapest purchase."