CHAPTER XIX.

{GEORGE III. 1792–1793}

Meeting of Parliament..... Debates on the Russian Armament..... Debate on the Affairs of India..... Pitt’s Financial Statement..... The Slave-Trade Question..... London Police Act..... Act to relieve the Scotch Episcopalians, &c. Sheridan’s motion respecting the Royal Burghs of Scotland..... Debates on Parliamentary Reform, &c. Trial of Hastings, &e...... Bill respecting the New Forest and Timber for the Navy..... Prorogation of Parliament..... Changes in the Ministry..... East India Affairs..... Progress of the French Revolution..... Affairs of Poland..... State of the Public Mind in England..... Meeting of Parliament..... The Alien Bill, &c. Execution of the French King.

{A.D. 1792}

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

The British parliament did not assemble until the 31st of January. The first topic mentioned in the king’s speech was the marriage of his second son, the Duke of York, with the Princess Frederica, daughter of the King of Prussia. His majesty then informed the two houses that a treaty had been concluded, under his mediation and that of his allies, between the Emperor of Austria and the Porte, and that preliminaries had been agreed upon between the latter of those powers and Russia. The king next expressed his regret that he was not yet enabled to inform parliament of the termination of the war in India with Tippoo Sultaun, but the success which had already attended the British arms afforded, reasonable ground to hope that the war would speedily be concluded. Although events in Europe at this time cast their dark shadows before them, yet his majesty affirmed that the general state of affairs appeared to promise to Great Britain the continuance of her present tranquillity; and he even suggested that some immediate reduction might safely be made in our naval and military establishments. He concluded by recommending the house of commons to consider of such measures as the flourishing state of the funds and of public credit might render practicable and expedient, for a reduction in the rate of interest of such of the annuities as were now redeemable; by stating that he entertained the pleasing hope of their being enabled to enter upon a gradual reduction of taxes, giving at the same time additional efficacy to the plan for the reduction of the national debt; and by recommending a steady, zealous, and confirmed attachment to the British constitution.

The debates on the address principally turned upon the line of policy pursued by the ministry in their interference in the quarrel between Turkey and Prussia, and in the hostility they had displayed towards the latter power. Ministers were loudly condemned for this interference by the opposition; Mr. Grey and Fox taking the most prominent part in the attack. Fox, as usual, introdued France and her revolution and constitution into his speech. The frequent eulogiums on the British constitution which had been introduced into parliament, he said, had been introduced in order to reproach him and his friends for their admiration of what had been done in France, and to suggest the suspicion that he and his friends were hostile to our own form of government. The French, he contended, had done perfectly right in overturning a constitution so radically bad as that of France; but that of Great Britain was so good, though not absolutely perfect, that it merited the efforts of all honest subjects to preserve it. It was hence most unjust to insinuate that those who approved of the destruction of despotism in France, would rejoice in the downfall of the British constitution. Fox concluded by condemning the Birmingham riots; asserting that the outrages had been committed through the laxity or tacit approbation of the magistrates. He remarked:—“It would have been well if his majesty in his speech had spoken of those riots in the terms they merited. They were not riots for bread; they were not riots in the cause of liberty, which, however highly to be reprobated, had yet some excuse in their principle; they were riots of men neither aggrieved nor complaining—of men who had set on foot an indiscriminate persecution of an entire description of their fellow-citizens, including persons as eminent for their ability, as blameless in their conduct, and as faithful in their allegiance as this or any other country could boast.” In reply, Pitt said that the Birmingham riots had better be consigned to oblivion, especially as sufficient had been done for their atonement; and he broadly hinted that Fox revived the subject for party purposes. He warmly defended the conduct of the cabinet in the interference between Turkey and Russia; asserting that the object of it was to prevent the ruin of the Turkish empire, and to preserve that balance of power in Europe which was essential to the interests of Great Britain. Pitt concluded by adverting to the more pleasing topic of financial improvement; stating that the last year’s revenue amounted to £16,790,000, which, after all the expenditure and the annual million devoted to the reduction of the national debt, left a surplus of £900,000; and that, encouraged by this prosperous condition of the finances, he contemplated taking off some of those taxes which pressed most heavily upon the poor.

DEBATES ON THE RUSSIAN ARMAMENT.

Papers relative to the apprehended rupture between Great Britain and Russia were laid before the house on the 6th of February. This gave rise to several debates, in which the spirit of party was strongly displayed. On the 13th of February Mr. Grey loudly complained that ministers had not produced the preliminaries said to have been adjusted between the Russian and Turkish negociators; and that large sums had been unnecessarily spent in fitting out the armament. A week later Mr. Grey moved for a more ample production of papers regarding various portions of the recent diplomacy of ministers; arguing that the whole of the correspondence was necessary, if they wished to justify the steps they had taken. Pitt resisted the demand, conceiving that sufficient had been disclosed to make the house master of all the essential parts of the business, and asserting that confidence was due to the administration, until their capacity or integrity was impeached. The motion was negatived, but on the 29th of February the subject was revived by Mr. Whitbread, who moved the following resolutions:—“That no arrangement respecting Oczakow and its district appears to have been capable of affecting the political or commercial interests of this country, so as to justify any hostile interference on the part of Great Britain between. Russia and the Porte: that the interference for the purpose of preventing the cession of the said fortress and its district to the Empress of Russia has been wholly unsuccessful; and that his majesty’s ministers, in endeavouring, by means of an armed force, to compel the Empress of Russia to abandon her claim to Oczakow, and in continuing an armament after the object for which it was proposed had been relinquished, have been guilty of gross misconduct, tending to incur unnecessary expenses, and to diminish the influence of the British nation.” Many members took part in the debate which followed this motion, but the most remarkable speeches were delivered by those two great rivals, Pitt and Fox. After reviewing our foreign policy from the time of our joining Prussia, in order to prevent Holland becoming the prey of France, Fox said that we were standing forward the principals of every quarrel, the Quixotes of every enterprise, and the agitators in all the plots and disturbances that were every day arising in Europe. He said, if Oczakow was a place of no importance, ministers ought to be censured for having armed and protracted war on its account; and if it was an important place, they ought to be censured for disarming without having obtained repossession of it from the Turks. Fox argued that the Empress of Russia weald have granted better terms to the Turks if England had not interfered; and bitterly complained of Pitt’s reserve and secrecy with parliament. On the latter subject he remarked:—“This is what puts our constitution in danger. That the pride, the folly, the presumption of a single person shall be able to involve a whole people in disgrace is more than philosophy can teach mortal patience to endure. Here are the true weapons of the enemies of our constitution! Here may we search for the source of the present outpourings of seditious writings, meant either to weaken our attachment to the constitution by depreciating its value, or that loudly tell us we have no constitution at all. We may blame, we may reprobate such doctrines; but while we furnish those who circulate them with argumenta such as these, while the example of this day shows us to what degree the fact is true, we must not wonder that the purposes the seditious writings are meant to answer be but too successful. They argue that a constitution cannot be right where such things are possible; much less so when they are practised without punishment. Against the vain theories of men who project fundamental alterations upon grounds of mere speculative objection I can easily defend the constitution; but when they recur to these facts, and show me how we may be doomed to all the horrors of war by the caprice of an individual, who will not even condescend to explain his reasons, I can only fly to this house, and exhort you to rouse from your lethargy of confidence, into the active mistrust and vigilant control which your duty and your office point out to you.” But Fox had by his intrigues brought the country into danger from a war with Russia, more than Pitt had by his armament. Although the laws and constitution of this country entrust the exclusive right of treating with foreign potentates to the king, yet without the knowledge or participation of a single member in the house, Fox had sent an agent to St. Petersburgh to frustrate the objects for which a plenipotentiary from the crown was authorised to treat. And Fox succeeded in his design: it was through his influence that the czarina still obstinately refused to give up Oczakow, And yet Fox condemned ministers for not having succeeded in their negociations! On this subject Pitt’s biographer, Tomline, writes:—“It is to be presumed that Mr. Fox never would have had recourse to such a measure, if he had not entertained a confident hope, that, having already succeeded in rendering the Russian armament unpopular, he should overset Mr. Pitt’s administration, provided the empress could be prevailed on to persevere in her demands. That point he accomplished without difficulty, yet the result did not turn out as he expected—he defeated Mr. Pitt’s plan, and brought a certain degree of discredit and danger on his country, by effecting the aggrandisment of an unfriendly and powerful court, but his own personal ambition remained ungratified.” In his reply to Fox the minister exhibited a noble mind, in not making any use of his rival’s unjustifiable conduct: conduct which was more unconstitutional than Pitt’s rigid reserve, and which was to a certain extent, treasonable. In his reply Pitt defended his policy with great spirit. He asked whether any one conversant in politics could admit that the Turkish empire, being unable to defend itself against Russia and Austria, should be abandoned by the other European powers, every one of which was so visibly interested in the preservation of its independence: whether, if other European powers were indolent, or hindered by untoward circumstances from interfering. Great Britain could coolly leave Turkey to its fate? and whether a British ministry could look on with indifference, while her commerce in the Levant was threatened, and the maritime power of England, not only in the Mediterranean and Archipelago, but in every other sea, must receive a blow from the increase of shipping that would accrue to Russia and Austria, were they to become masters of European Turkey? The interest and honour of this country, he said, required us to pay vigilant attention to the political situation of the continental powers, lest the predominance of any one should destroy that equipoise which was essential to the safety of the whole. And it was evident, he remarked, that the ruin or depression of the Turkish empire would materially affect the balance of power in Europe. All the world knew that the object of Russia had long been to acquire exclusive authority in the Black Sea; and were the Russians to gain possession of its ports, a new naval power would arise, dangerous to all Europe, but especially so to Great Britain, whose safety and prosperity chiefly depended on the superiority of her fleets. It was certain, also, he said, that if Great Britain had not assumed a hostile disposition, the original demands of the court of Petersburgh would have been insisted on to the last, and Turkey would have been forced to submit to a dismemberment. As for Oczakow, he acknowledged that it was not a place of great importance, but as a fortress commanding the navigation of the Dniester, and a point to be gained by the empress in her system of ambition, it was worth some risks, and he conceived that he had done his duty by first attempting to secure this object to Turkey, and afterwards relinquishing it when it could only be obtained at the price of war. At the same time Pitt remarked, Oczakow might have been secured had it not been for the division and opposition in this kingdom; it was chiefly through Fox and his party that what had been done well, had not been done better. Party divisions in this country had encouraged the ambitious designs of Russia; and yet opposition now took merit to themselves for rendering negociations useless; which, but for their efforts, would have been attended with complete success. But he did not envy them their triumph: it was not a triumph over an enemy, but over the council of their king. Pitt concluded by a sarcastic reflection on Fox, which must have been keenly felt by him. In the summer of 1791, the czarina finding that the Whig party was averse to the Russian armament, directed her ambassador to request Fox to sit to Nollekens for a bust in white marble, in order that she might place it between the statues of Demosthenes and Cicero. In allusion to this Pitt said, that if he and his honourable friend Dundas were to go to St. Petersburg, he felt certain that neither of them should be found in any place of glory between two orators of antiquity! Fox replied, vindicating his conduct, and condemning the policy of ministers in the same unmeasured terms as before. But the sentiments of the house were against him and his party: Whitbread’s resolutions were all rejected, either without a division or by very large majorities. During these debates the same question was agitated in the house of lords; but Lord Fitzwilliam, who moved a similar resolution to that of Mr. Grey in the commons, was outvoted by a majority of eighty-nine against nineteen.

DEBATES ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA.

It was not on the subject of the Russian armament alone that opposition sought to bring ministers into contempt, and to overthrow their administration. In their plan of campaign they had determined to attack them on the subject of the Indian war, and accordingly, on the 9th of February, Major Maitland moved for all papers necessary to throw light upon the subject. It was the chief object of the opposition to prove that the war with Tippoo Sultaun was unnecessary, and that it had been conducted by Lord Cornwallis without spirit or talent. Such was the substance of the arguments employed by Colonel Maitland in support of his motion, and in which he was supported by Francis, the antagonist of Hastings and Tupey. The motion was on the whole agreed to; Dundas consenting to produce all the papers called for, except copys of any proposals of peace which had been made by Tippoo Sultaun. But this did not satisfy opposition. On the 15th of March Major Maitland moved various resolutions on the Indian war, all tending to reprobate it as unjustifiable, and as the result of a plan laid down by ministers for Tippoo’s destruction. These resolutions were negatived; but on a subsequent day the major renewed the subject, declaring that the papers proved the correctness of his views—that a plan of conquest had been formed, and that the war had been sought for that purpose. In order to settle the matter, after showing the warlike character of Tippoo, and defending the honour of Lord Cornwallis, ministers moved a resolution declaring that the conduct of the governor-general accorded with the true spirit and intent of the rules of government established by the British parliament for the affairs of India, which resolution was adopted.

PITT’S FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The house went into committee to consider the financial affairs of the country, on the 17th of February, when Pitt made a speech representing the country as in a nourishing condition, almost unprecedented. The revenue had increased so much, he said, that government would be enabled to take off taxes, bearing chiefly upon the poor, to the amount of £200,000, and to apply an equal sum more to increase the sinking-fund for paying off the national debt. He proposed to take off the additional duty on malt; the new duties on male and female servants; the duties upon waggons, wains, carts, and other such carriages; the taxes on houses containing less than seven windows; and a halfpenny in the pound of the duty upon all candles, except wax and spermaceti. These propositions were agreed to without a division. Sheridan only questioning the truth of Pitt’s financial statement, which he did more from the force of habit, and by way of opposition, than from any just cause. On the same day, in a committee of supply, the house granted £400,000 to his majesty, to be issued and paid to the governor and company of the Bank of England, to be by them placed to the account of the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt. So far as Pitt’s statements on this occasion related to the actual condition of the finances of the country they were doubtless correct; but his sentiments on the future were too soon proved to be fallacious. He remarked:—“From the result of the whole, I trust I am entitled to conclude that the scene which we are now contemplating, is not the transient effect of accident, not the short-lived prosperity of a day, but the general and natural result of regular and permanent causes. Though we may yet be subject to those fluctuations which often occur in the affairs of a mighty nation, and which it is impossible to calculate or foresee, yet, as far as reliance can be placed on human speculations, we have the best ground, from experience of the past, for looking with satisfaction on the present, and with confidence toward the future.” Pitt, indeed, expressed his deep conviction that there never was a time when a durable peace might more reasonably be expected than at the present moment. And yet there never was a time when war was manifestly more imminent. England was, in truth, on the verge of a war which was to increase the national debt more than any in which she had been yet engaged. The nation was taught to entertain brilliant hopes at the opening of this year, but at its close those hopes were dashed to the ground. They were called upon to indulge in visions of a total release from national debt; but it was soon found that this debt was to increase by a sure and rapid process. Pitt himself soon discovered that he might be wrong; and hence, being apprehensive that in the case of a new and protracted war, requiring large additions to the public debt, the sinking fund might not operate with sufficient effect to prevent a national bankruptcy, he subsequently proposed, that, whenever a loan should be hereafter made, one per cent on the new stock thus created, besides the dividends, should be raised and applied in the same manner, and under the same regulations as the original £1,000,000. This bill passed the commons without any particular opposition; but in the upper house it was violently reprobated by Lord Chancellor Thurlow as a provision likely to answer no good purpose, and as exhibiting an extraordinary degree of arrogance, by dictating to future parliaments, and prescribing to future ministers a mode of action to be adopted some thirty years hence. He remarked:—“None but a novice, a sycophant, a mere reptile of a minister, would allow this act to prevent him doing what, in his own judgment, circumstances might require at the time; and a change in the situation of the country might render that which is proper at one time inapplicable at another. In short, the scheme is nugatory and impracticable; the inaptness of the project is only equalled by the vanity of the attempt.” This bill, however, passed into a law, and was adhered to in the numerous loans advanced during the whole of the revolutionary contest. About the same time Pitt brought another measure into the house, which indicated that his views were undergoing a change as to the long continuance of peace; this was a proposition to raise £812,500 by means of a lottery. But in this he met with decided opposition. Great surprise was expressed that, in a time of profound peace, he should have recourse to a method of levying money so extremely injurious to the morals and habits of the people. Instances were adduced in which state-lotteries had led to robbery and suicide; and a petition was presented from the grand jury of Middlesex, earnestly praying the house to take the subject into consideration. These representations produced such an impression, that a motion was forthwith carried for a committee to inquire into the evils arising from lotteries.

{GEORGE III. 1792–1793}

THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.

Although defeated in his humane endeavours to effect the abolition of the slave-trade during the last session, yet Mr. Wilberforce resolved to persevere in the great cause which he had undertaken. And in this he was now supported by popular opinion; not less than five hundred and eight petitions having been presented, in the early part of the sessions, praying for the abolition of that abominable traffic. Thus encouraged, on the 2nd of April, Wilberforce moved, in a committee of the whole house, “that it is the opinion of this committee, that the trade carried on by British subjects, for the purpose of procuring slaves from Africa, ought to be entirely abolished.” In his speech, which was very able and eloquent, the mover declared that he would never abandon this business till he had obtained his object; and he intimated that if he carried his present motion, he would follow it up by another to this effect:—“That the chairman be directed to move the house for leave to bring in a bill for the abolition of the slave-trade.” Wilberforce was opposed by Jenkinson, Colonel Tarleton, and other members interested in the slave-trade, who endeavoured to show that our West India islands would be useless without such a traffic, and who treated the petitions on the table with contempt, as signed by raw youths, inexperienced persons, or needy individuals, who wrote their names for money. On the other hand, the motion was eloquently supported by Thornton, Montague, Whitbread, Pitt, and Fox. One of the most powerful speeches was that delivered by the prime-minister. The subject was not made a cabinet question; but every member of administration was left to follow that line of conduct which their own notions of policy, expediency, or right might dictate. Dundas, who had recently become secretary of state, by the resignation of the Duke of Leeds, was averse to instant abolition; and he recommended a middle course, which he thought might reconcile the interests of the West India islands with the eventual abolition of the trade; and he concluded by moving, that the word “gradual” should be inserted before the word “abolition.” In reply, Pitt asked why injustice was to be suffered to remain for a single hour? “Reflect,” said he, “on the eighty thousand persons annually torn from their native land; on the connexions which are broken; on the friendships, attachments, and relationships that are rent asunder! There is something in the horror of it that surpasses all the bounds of imagination. How shall we repair the mischiefs we have brought upon that continent? If, knowing the miseries we have caused, we refuse, even now, to put a stop to them, how greatly aggravated will be the guilt of Britain! Shall we not rather count the days and hours that are suffered to intervene, than to delay the accomplishment of such a work? If we listen to the voice of reason and duty, and pursue this night the line of conduct which they prescribe, some of us may live to see the reverse of that picture from which we now turn our eyes with shame and regret. We may live to behold the natives of Africa engaged in the calm occupations of industry; in the pursuits of a just and legitimate commerce. We may behold the beams of science and philosophy breaking in upon their land, which, at some happy period, in still later times, may blaze with full lustre; and, joining their influence to that of pure religion, may illuminate and invigorate the most distant extremities of that immense continent.” It was argued by some of its supporters, that slavery was a necessary evil. On this argument Pitt remarked:—“The origin of the evil is indeed beyond the reach of human understanding; and the permission of it by the Supreme Being is a subject into which we are not concerned to inquire. But where the evil in question is a moral evil, which a man can scrutinise, and where that moral evil has its origin within ourselves, let us not imagine that we can clear our consciences by this general, not to say irreligious, way of putting aside the question.” Pitt concluded by urging on the house the influence which their decision would produce in other countries, and that the divine blessing was to be expected on their own, by exertions in such a righteous cause. His speech was rapturously applauded, but he failed in obtaining total and immediate abolition; the amendment which Dundas proposed being adopted by one hundred and ninety-three against one hundred and twenty-five. Wilberforce was now asked whether he meant to bring in a gradual abolition bill; but he declared that he could not do any such thing; he could not sanction for a time that which ought not to endure for one moment longer. It was for Dundas, or some one of his supporters, he said, to bring in such a bill; and though Dundas exhibited much unwillingness to take up the matter, he felt called upon to do so; and on the 23rd of April, therefore, he produced twelve resolutions, to the effect that all that branch of the trade which did not refer to the supply of the British West India islands, should cease forthwith; that no male slaves above the age of twenty-five, or female slaves above the age of twenty, should henceforth be exported from Africa in British ships; that the tonnage employed in the slave-trade should be limited and strictly ascertained; that the duties on slaves imported into the colonies should be increased; that laws should be enacted against those who maltreated their slaves; that the colonial legislatures should be invited to concur in these measures; and that the trade should be finally abolished in the year 1800. Wilberforce, Pitt, and Fox warmly opposed these resolutions; and amendments were made, first, that the trade should cease in 1793, and then 1795, both of which were lost; but it was finally agreed, on the motion of Sir Edward Knatchbull, that the final abolition should take place on the 1st of January, 1796. The resolutions, as thus amended, were carried up to the lords on the 2nd of May; on which occasion Prince William, Duke of Clarence, who, in the course of his naval training, had visited the West India islands, and who, conceiving that the state of society there did not justify the pictures drawn of it by the abolitionists, opposed the abolition with great facility of elocution. The friends of immediate abolition were very few in the house of lords; and in order to retard the business, a committee for the hearing of evidence at the bar of the house was proposed. This was objected to by Lords Grenville, Porchester, Stanhope, and Rawdon, and by Bishop Beilby Porteus; but it was carried by a large majority. The examination of witnesses at the bar commenced forthwith; but little progress was made in it before the prorogation, so that the business was virtually postponed till the next session. Wilberforce complained that it was owing to the appeal made by Dundas to the gradual abolition of this horrid traffic, that he was defeated; but it may fairly be questioned whether he could have carried an immediate abolition at the present time, if this appeal had not been made; for, at this period, there were many circumstances which operated to the injury of his cause. Thus the abolitionists had recently determined to use no sugar which came from the West Indies; a determination that would materially interfere with the revenue. Then again, the massacres and burnings in the French division of the island of St. Domingo, where the negro slaves had been set free from their chains, gave rise to a fear that, if a total abolition took place, these troubles might extend to Jamaica and our other West India islands, and hence indisposed the king and many members of parliament to support the measure. Moreover, Clarkson, one of the most active abolitionists, and the bosom friend of Wilberforce, openly advocated the principles of the French revolution, whence occasion was offered of representing the friends of abolition as levellers. Finally, the knowledge that Brissot and the other friends of the blacks in France were fierce revolutionists, and that the redoubtable Tom Paine ranged on the side of Wilberforce in the cause of humanity, had the effect of depriving him of many votes. All these circumstances, combined with the powerful motive of self-interest, would, doubtless have ensured his defeat, had not Dundas interposed his scheme of gradual abolition. So the murderous traffic was to be continued unmitigated; and, as it proved, for another long twenty years.

LONDON POLICE ACT.

Complaints had long been made of the disgraceful state of the police of the metropolis, and especially of the largest portion of it, not included in the jurisdiction of the city of London. Every one felt that the unpaid magistracy were altogether inadequate to the discharge of their onerous duties; and many rules and ordinances had been enacted at various periods, for the preservation of the public peace, which had been nullified by their want of power and incompetency. To rectify this defect, early in March a bill was introduced into the commons, with the countenance and approbation of government, the plan of which was to open five different police-offices in the metropolis, for the prompt administration of those parts of justice which were in the hands of magistrates. Hitherto magistrates, though nominally unpaid, had driven a handsome trade in fees; but by this bill three were to sit in each office, with a salary of three hundred pounds per annum, and all fees were to be applied to the disbursement of salaries and official expenses. The bill provided that constables should possess authority to apprehend persons who could not give a satisfactory account of themselves, and that magistrates should have the power of committing such persons as rogues and vagabonds. Strong objections were made against the bill; opposition arguing that the vesting the appointment of these new magistrates in the crown, would give an unconstitutional increase of strength to government; and that the summary arrest and commitment of any individual, was an infringement on the liberty of the subject, and contrary to the spirit of the constitution. The arguments of its opponents, however, were overruled, and it was passed by a considerable majority. The bill met with a warm opposition in the upper house, by lords Rawdon and Loughborough; but it passed there likewise, and became law.

ACT TO RELIEVE THE SCOTCH EPISCOPALIANS, ETC.

During this session, a bill was introduced in the lords for the relief of the Scottish Episcopalians, who had long been subject to heavy penalties, on the ground of disaffection to the revolution establishment. The bill was opposed by Lord Chancellor Thurlow, who ventured to intimate doubts whether bishops could exist in any Christian country not authorised by the state; but being assured by the bishop of St. David’s, that Christian bishops existed three hundred years before the alliance between church and state took place under the Emperor Constantine, his lordship expressed himself satisfied, and the bill passed. Encouraged by this concession to the Scotch church, the Unitarians applied for a repeal of the statutes affecting them; but their recent advocacy of revolutionary principles made their cause more hopeless than ever: their application was rejected.

SHERIDAN’S MOTION RESPECTING THE ROYAL BURGHS OF SCOTLAND.

Petitions had recently been presented to parliament, setting forth the general mismanagement, misapplication of money, dilapidation of property, and various grievances sustained in consequence of the usurped authority of certain self-elected magistrates in the royal burgs of Scotland. On the 18th of April Mr. Sheridan made a motion for an inquiry into the grievances thus complained of and petitioned against. The main grievance was considered to lie in the self-election of the magistrates; and Sheridan required that this practice should be abolished. He remarked, it was urged that abuses of a similar nature existed in England; but he did not consider that this was an argument to justify abuses in either country. Was justice, he asked, to be defeated by a community of oppression? As there was a dread of innovation at this period, Sheridan endeavoured to disarm this principle. Some persons, he observed, think that the French revolution should deter us from thinking of reform. Whatever might be the conduct of the parties engaged in it, with regard to the event itself, there could but be one feeling upon the subject; exultation and joy at the downfall of despotism in France, which had been the greatest enemy England ever had. Its ambitious, restless, and turbulent spirit, he said, had cost England thousands of subjects and millions of money; but now that which had long disturbed the happiness of the human race was completely destroyed. Could Sheridan have seen into futurity, he would not thus exultingly have triumphed over the downfall of the despotic government of France; for the revolution was to cost England much more blood and treasures than the monarchs of France had cost her at any period of history. Sheridan’s speech had the very reverse effect of that which he intended; it rather exasperated than allayed the general fear. His motion was opposed by the Lord-advocate for Scotland, who defended the corporations and magistrates of the royal burghs from the charges brought against them; and asserted that the power of self-election had worked well, and was held in sufficient restraint by public opinion. Sheridan was ably supported by Fox; but his motion was lost by sixty-nine against twenty-seven.

DEBATES ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM, ETC.

The subject of parliamentary reform had many times been debated in the house of commons, though uniformly to very little purpose. The debates in parliament, however, on this subject, if void of any immediate result, had their effects. From them, and from the knowledge conveyed through the medium of the press, the nature of our representative system became well understood by the mass of the people, and about this period a society was instituted for the alleged purpose of effecting a reform in parliament, on the principles formerly advocated by the prime-minister. This society assumed the name of the “Friends of the People,” and about thirty members of parliament, besides other persons of note, enrolled their names as members. Frequent meetings were held by the society, and the resolutions adopted on these occasions were uniformly published, together with the sentiments which were entertained by the members upon this subject. These resolutions and sentiments were often violent and unconstitutional, whence a strong feeling was created at court and in parliament against all parliamentary reform. This was seen on the 30th of April, when, conformably to the plan of the society, Mr. Gray rose to make a speech on the subject, and to give notice of his intention to move, in the course of the ensuing session, for an inquiry into the state of the representation. Mr. Grey said, that both Fox and Pitt had declared themselves to be parliamentary reformers, and that the majority of the nation were of an opinion that parliamentary reform was required. But Pitt at least had now altered his opinion upon this subject. In reply to Mr. Grey he remarked, that this was no time for. moving questions that involved the peace and safety, and endangered the constitution of the kingdom. He was, indeed, no enemy to reform if it could be obtained peaceably and by a general concurrence, but the present time was not proper for, and the national sentiment was decidedly hostile to any such attempt. The present was not a season for experiments, and he would resist every attempt of the nature to his last hour; if he was called on either to hazard our safety, or abandon all hopes of reform for ever, he would say that he had no hesitation in preferring the latter alternative. It was true, that at the conclusion of the American war he had thought a parliamentary reform necessary, in order to quiet the clamour and confusion which had arisen from the dread of an approaching bankruptcy; but however much he might in early life have promoted schemes of reform, experience had taught him the danger of tampering with the established forms of government. Pitt noticed the society of the “Friends of the People,” and its advertisements, which invited the public to join the standard of reform: stating that he saw with concern the gentlemen to whom he alluded, united with others who professed not reform only, but direct hostility to the nature of our government, and who threatened the extinction of monarchy, hereditary succession, and everything which promoted order and subordination in a state. Against the whole class of revolutionary writers Pitt inveighed in the most bitter terms; asserting that they were labouring might and main to bring about an imitation of the revolution in France. Fox replied to Pitt, and in allusion to the applause which the minister’s speech had gained, he observed that he felt additional difficulty in delivering his sentiments. He knew, he said, that the words “parliamentary reform” were very unpopular in the house of commons, but he believed that the public regarded them in a very different light, and that unless something were done to quiet the minds of the people there would be a difficulty in preserving the public tranquillity for any length of time. He had never, he continued, been so sanguine on the subject as the right honourable gentleman who had just spoken, but he was more consistent, for early in life he had formed an opinion of the necessity of some parliamentary reform, and he was still convinced of that necessity. The danger which then existed to the liberty of the people existed still, and the necessity for reform in Parliament, so far from diminishing had increased more than ever since the last session of parliament. Fox said that the opinions of that house were often at variance with those of the people; instancing, by way of illustration, the Russian armament, which had been carried by a ministerial majority, notwithstanding the public voice was hostile to such a measure. The people of England, he remarked, were at this moment paying the expenses of an armament for which they never gave their consent, and as far as that went, they were paying their money for not being represented in parliament. Fox, in conclusion, made some indefinite remarks on the books recently published upon principles of government; ridiculed the idea of danger from innovation in the constitution of England, and warmly applauded the principles of the French revolution, expressing his belief that the accounts received of the calamities of the French and of the defectiveness of their present form of government were maliciously exaggerated. Burke rose to reply to Fox, and in doing so he loudly declaimed against the political societies of the day. The object at which some of them aimed, he said, might not be altogether bad, and the motives of many individuals might be innocent, but the way they went to work was decidedly wrong. The sense of the people had not been taken on the subject, nor had any specific grievance been pointed out, or any specific remedy assigned, without which innovation might be made, but it would not be reform. The house of commons, he said, was not perfect, but he believed it was as perfect as human nature would permit it to be. He added:—“At any rate, while I can raise a voice or arm to prevent it, it shall never assimilate to the national assembly. In that body there are seven hundred members, four hundred of whom are lawyers, and three hundred out of no description that I could name: and, out of the whole, there are not a dozen who possess, in any way, one hundred pounds per annum.

“Such might be the perfection of representation in the eyes of some, and I understand it to be the opinion of many of the new sect of politics; but I trust to the good sense of the people of England never to permit such a mob, nor any thing resembling it, to usurp the sacred office of their legislature.” Windham, one of the most eloquent and accomplished men of the Whig party, warmly seconded Burke, and after a few words from Sheridan and Fox, the conversation dropped. The subject, however, was one of intense interest and not easily to be forgotten. Government by this time, indeed, had become alarmed at the proceedings of its opponents, which alarm was made manifest by a royal proclamation issued against seditious meetings and seditious writings; and exhorting the magistrates to vigilance, and the people to submission and obedience. This proclamation was laid before the house on the 2nth of May, when the master of the rolls moved an address of approbation and support to his majesty. Both in and out of the house opinions varied as to the propriety of this proclamation: some contending that public opinion was not to be directed by such a measure, and others arguing that it was a timely exertion of authority in a turbulent season, and which was indispensably requisite to restrain that lawless spirit which threatened to subvert the established government. The address was warmly opposed by Mr. Grey, who denounced the proclamation in severe terms, as an insidious and pernicious measure, and who moved a counter address, which declared that government was already vested with sufficient power to punish any open violation of the laws; that if seditious writings had been published, ministers had been guilty of neglect in not instituting prosecutions against the authors; that the proclamation was not necessary, and was calculated to create groundless alarms and suspicions; that the house of commons was ever ready to concur with his majesty in the suppression of all riots, tumults, or other disorders, on whatever pretexts they might be formed; that they deeply regretted the tumults and disorders which took place at Birmingham in the course of last summer, to the disgrace of all good government, etc.; and that the surest means of averting the like calamities would be to proceed with all the severity of the law against such persons as might have been instrumental in aiding and abetting those tumults and disorders, and particularly to prosecute and punish such magistrates as appeared to have been guilty of neglect in their duty. It was argued by Grey, and others of the opposition, as Fox, Francis, Whitbread, Lambton, and Lord John Russell, all of whom vehemently supported the counter address, that the diligent inquiry enjoined by the proclamation after the authors and distributors of wicked and seditious writings, tended to establish an odious system of espionage; a system which had made the old government of France an object of general detestation, and which was unworthy of the sovereign of a free people. Grey, and those who supported his amendment, uttered many bitter invectives against Pitt in their speeches, but he declared in reply that such language should not deter him from pursuing that line of conduct which he deemed most conducive to public tranquillity, and the preservation of constitutional freedom. Pitt expressed his high respect for many of the members of the society of “the Friends of the People,” and said that they need not come—as the opposition had presumed they would—within the scope of the proclamation. It was, he remarked, directed against those daring and seditious principles that had been so insidiously propagated amongst the people, under the plausible and delusive appellation of “The Rights of Man.” Pitt expressed his astonishment that the existence of a republican spirit in England had been denied, when it was openly avowed and industriously propagated, both by individuals and by societies. He charged Fox with being the only person who saw no danger in the writings and doctrines so widely promulgated; proclaimed him a friend, if not an advocate, of Paine and his doctrines; and asserted that such conduct could not be reconciled with any spark of patriotism. Fox indignantly rejoined, and disclaimed all sympathy with Paine. At the same time, he avowed that he saw no danger in his writings and doctrines, or of any other writer of his class, because the good sense and constitutional spirit of the people at large were a sure protection against them. Fox intimated that these were once the opinions of Pitt, and that he had only altered them when he saw, or thought he saw, the means of stirring up division among the friends of freedom. Whether a division in the camp of the Whigs was stirred up by Pitt or no, it is certain that such existed at the present time, for several opposition members, as the Marquess of Titchfield, Lord North, Windham, Grenville, with others, spoke in favour of the address; acknowledging their conviction that the doctrines promulgated by the press, and the conduct lately pursued by clubs and societies demanded the vigorous interposition of government, lest they should lead to the evils experienced in France. The address was carried without a division, and it was then communicated to the house of lords, and their lordships’ concurrence requested, in order that it might be presented to the king as the address of both houses. At this time the Prince of Wales was as closely connected as ever with Fox and Sheridan, and it was supposed that he might share their opinions with reference to the French revolution. On this occasion, however, he put the public in possession of his sentiments upon this subject. As soon as the motion for an address was made and seconded, the prince rose for the first time, and said that he should be deficient in his duty as a member of their lordships’ house, unmindful of the respect he owed to the constitution, and inattentive to the peace and welfare of the country, if he did not state openly what was his opinion upon a subject of such magnitude, as that on which their lordships were then deliberating. He continued:—“Having been educated in principles which taught me to revere that constitutional liberty of the people on which their happiness depends, to those principles I will give my firm and constant support. The matter at issue appears to be, whether the constitution was or was not to be maintained—whether the wild notions of untried theory are to conquer the wholesome maxims of established practice; and whether those laws, under which we have flourished for so long a series of years, are to be subverted by a pretended reform, which the people will not sanction. As a person nearly and dearly interested in the happiness of the people, I should feel it treason against my own principles if I did not declare my disapprobation of those seditious publications which have occasioned the present motion. On this great and solid basis I will vote for a concurrence with the commons in their wise and salutary address.” In the course of the debate Lord Grenville observed that such sentiments as those delivered by the Prince of Wales must warm the breast of every Englishman who heard them, and would convey the greatest satisfaction to the people at large, inasmuch as they might expect a continuance of those essential blessings which they had enjoyed since the accession of the present illustrious family to the throne of these realms. The address was supported by several opposition peers, and an amendment moved by Lord Lauderdale and seconded by Lord Lansdowne was rejected without a division. Having received the concurrence of the lords, the address was presented in form to the throne, and it was followed by addresses from all parts of the kingdom. Encouraged by the public sentiment, the ministry commenced prosecutions against many offenders, amongst whom Paine, the author of the “The Rights of Man,” was the most conspicuous. Paine was found guilty, but foreseeing the event, he eluded punishment by absconding to France, where he was elected member of the national convention. It is a question whether it was judicious to prosecute the demagogue, for his prosecution only served as an advertisement to his production, the sale of which became more rapid and more extensive than ever it had been before.

{GEORGE III. 1792–1793}

TRIAL OF HASTINGS, ETC.

During this session the trial of Hastings occupied twenty-two days but no decision took place. Towards the close of the session the attention of parliament was also drawn to the situation of India. In presenting his annual statement of the income and expenditure of British India, Dundas drew a flattering picture of its happiness and prosperity; stating that the surplus of the Bengal revenue for the preceding year was more than one million pounds sterling. Francis denied every thing that Dundas said; asserted that one-third of the company’s territory was inhabited only by wild beasts; and prognosticated nothing but disgrace, defeat, and ruin from the war which was still carried on against Tippoo. Francis said that the seizures for non-payment of the land-revenue were notorious, and that he held in his hand two advertisements, one of which announced the sale of seventeen, and the other of forty-two villages.

BILL RESPECTING THE NEW FOREST AND TIMBER FOR THE NAVY.

In the course of this session Pitt introduced a bill for encouraging the growth of timber for the navy, and improving the royal revenue raising out of the New Forest, by the sale of certain parts, and the enfranchisement of copyholds. This bill passed the commons without much opposition, but on the second reading in the upper house it was strenuously opposed by Lord Chancellor Thurlow. His lordship objected to the principle of the bill as favouring the alienation of the crown lands, and he asserted that it was essential to the safety of the constitution that his majesty should have his interests blended with those of the landed property in the country. Thurlow’s arguments seem to have had great weight, for though the bill was committed by a majority of forty one against twenty-nine, it was postponed and never afterwards resumed.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was prorogued on the 15th of June, when his majesty expressed great concern at the commencement of hostilities in Europe, and stated that his principal care would be to preserve to his people the blessings of peace. His majesty applauded the measures which had been adopted for the diminution of taxation, and the additional provision made for the reduction of the existing national debt; and for the prevention of the accumulation of debt in future. But no prudential measures could lessen the existing debt, or prevent its accumulation, for in a few months England was involved in the most expensive war that had ever called forth her energies.

CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY.

From the period of the king’s malady, and the lord chancellor’s double-dealing in the matter of the Regency Bill, a misunderstanding had existed between him and Pitt. Lord Thurlow, in fact, was the aggressor, and the more inclined to continue the quarrel, for on no occasion did Pitt exhibit his hostility, while my lord chancellor was continually manifesting it both in the council and in parliament. In private society also Thurlow was often heard to speak contemptuously of the chancellor of the exchequer, and no remonstrance on the part of their mutual friends could check his display of ill-feeling. In parliament, on some occasions when the assistance of Thurlow was necessary, he would-preserve a dogged silence; while at other times he would oppose measures to which Pitt attached the highest importance. At length his rough temper brought matters to a crisis. Early in this session Thurlow severely condemned Pitt’s bill for liquidating future loans, and irritated thereby the chancellor of the exchequer wrote to the king stating the impossibility of his remaining in office with his lordship, and that it was necessary for his majesty to choose between them. In consequence of this communication, the king informed Thurlow that he must resign; but as a change was not desirable during the session, and as it was wished that the lord chancellor should terminate some chancery business, it was agreed that he should hold the seals until the prorogation of parliament, on which day the great seal was placed in the hands of three commissioners; an event which was not followed by a single resignation or change in any political or legal department. There is no doubt that Pitt knew, when he wrote to his majesty, that the choice of dismissal would fall on his rough-minded colleague, for the chancellor of the exchequer was well aware that he stood high in his royal master’s favour. His majesty, indeed, had often expressed his high sense of his minister’s services in words, and soon after this he testified it in a more tangible manner. By the death of Lord Guildford on the 5th of August, the wardenship of the cinque ports, worth about £3000 a-year, became vacant, and his majesty offered it to Pitt in such pressing terms, that even if he had been inclined to refuse the boon it would scarcely have been possible. The royal letter by which it was offered to him was in fact imperative, and Pitt had only to obey—no very difficult task, as the chancellor of the exchequer, though he could guide the helm of the state with a skilful hand, nevertheless could not manage his own affairs with sufficient skill to keep himself out of debt.

EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.

During this year the war in India was brought to a close. The events of that war had been various. After the re-establishment of the Rajah of Travancore in his dominions, as recorded in a previous page, Lord Cornwallis, the governor-general, took the command of the army upon himself, and laid siege to Bangalore. This important place was taken by storm, and his lordship then determined to penetrate into the heart of Mysore, to dictate his own terms of peace to Tippoo Sultaun at his capital. His army burned with impatience to revenge the cruelties which Tippoo had inflicted on their unfortunate countrymen who had fallen into his hands by the chances of war. Lord Cornwallis began his march early in May, 1731, and General Abercrornbie moved towards the same destination, though by a different line. The forces under his lordship reached Arikera, on the Cavery, and about nine miles from Seringapatam, on the 13th of May, and Tippoo having ventured to oppose him, the Mysorean army was defeated and obliged to seek shelter under the guns of the capital. The road to Seringapatam was now open to the English, and the prize seemed to be within their reach, but at this time General Abercrornbie had not arrived, and Lord Cornwallis convinced that his force was not sufficient to invest the city, his camp being half-filled with the sick and dying, was compelled to retreat. He sent orders to General Abercrornbie, who had reached Periapatam, about three marches from Seringapatam, to retire towards the coast, while he himself retreated towards Bangalore. He had scarcely left the scene of his victory, having first demolished his heavy artillery, when he was joined by the Mahratta army, under the command of Purseram Bhow, a celebrated Mahratta warrior, and Harry Punt, a Brahmin of the highest rank, who was likewise charged to act as minister plenipotentiary to the whole Mahratta league. Had these chiefs arrived before the recent battle, Tippoo Sultaun would have been besieged in his capital, but the swelling of the rivers, the sickly state of his soldiers, and the loss of his artillery forbade all thoughts of returning, and Lord Cornwallis therefore continued his march towards Bangalore. Tippoo boasted that he had gained a great victory, though at the same time he made some fruitless attempts at negociation. During the following autumn great preparations were made for renewing the war in Mysore. The ensuing campaign opened early in February, 1792, the forces under Lord Cornwallis and General Abercrornbie resuming their former plan of operations. This time both armies met under the walls of Seringapatam; while the forces of the Peishwa and of the Nizam encamped at a little distance from the city, and furnished to the British army a plentiful supply of stores and provisions. Tippoo’s forces awaited the approach of Lord Cornwallis under the walls of his capital, but they were defeated, and Seringapatam was in consequence closely and completely invested. The first parallel, with a large redoubt in the rear, was finished by the 21st of February, and two days afterwards the second parallel was completed, and breaching-batteries were commenced and furnaces prepared for heating shot. In a few days Seringapatam would have been taken by storm, but Tippoo seeing his situation hopeless sent a _vakeel_ to sue for peace. The treaty which Tippoo was forced to accept contained the following articles:—That he should cede one-half of his territories to the allies: that he should pay three crores and thirty lacs of rupees to indemnify them for the expenses of the war; that he should release all his prisoners; and that he should deliver two of his sons as hostages for the due execution of the treaty. The young princes were conducted to the camp of Lord Cornwallis with great ceremony on the 26th of February, and were received by him with all possible demonstrations of kindness and affection. But though Tippoo had delivered his sons into the hands of Lord Cornwallis as pledges of his good faith, he still reluctantly fulfilled the articles of the treaty. His chief objection was the cession of the principality of Coorg, nor would he consent to it until Lord Cornwallis had sent off his hostages in the direction of the Carnatic, ordered his guns to be replaced in the batteries, and made preparations for renewing the siege. Then, when he saw that there was no alternative, on the 19th of March Tippoo signed the definitive treaty which was delivered to Lord Cornwallis by the young princes, his hostages, with great solemnity. By this treaty the English obtained all the dominions of Tippoo on the coast of Malabar, a district surrounding Dindigul and some territory on the western frontier of the Carnatic; the Mahrattas recovered possession of the country as far as the river of Toombuddra, which had once been their frontier line; and the Nizam had for his share all the country from the river Kistna to the Pennar, including the forts of Gunjecottah and Cudapa. When the princes were delivered into the hands of Lord Cornwallis some of the money exacted from Tippoo was paid, but the whole not being forthcoming they remained under the safeguard of his lordship for sometime longer. Out of the money paid by Tippoo the commander-in-chief made a spontaneous gift to his troops, equal to six months batta, in order to soothe them for the disappointment of their expectations of booty in the storming of Seringapatam, and for their good conduct during the war. His lordship and General Meadows even resigned their own share, in order that the soldiers might have the more. Their conduct deserved reward, for though they burned with impatience to revenge the wrongs which their countrymen had received at the hands of Tippoo, yet when they found that Lord Cornwallis had agreed to a treaty of peace, they rendered all due obedience to his injunctions not to commit any violence, and to abstain from making use of any kind of insulting expression towards a fallen enemy. Even though fired upon by the Mysoreans after their own fire had been suspended, the troops obeyed his commands to the very letter: a proof of their admirable discipline, and their devotedness to their general. As for Tippoo Sultaun, although humbled, he still remained the same inveterate foe to the English as before. No act of kindness shown to himself, or his captive sons, by Lord Cornwallis, could soften his bitter resentment: every generous action shown towards him by the conqueror was considered rather as an insult than as a proof of friendship, and nothing in his conduct could justify the hope that peace would be permanent.

PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

During this year the principles of the French revolution were more clearly manifested to the world. Early in the year the state of foreign affairs assumed a more menacing aspect. Austria was collecting troops, and the only ultimatum on which the emperor would agree to discontinue preparations, was the re-establishment of the French constitution on the basis of the declaration of June, 1789; the restitution of their property to the clergy; and the cession of Alsace to the German princes, and of Avignon to the pope. But these terms were “like a summons directed to the torrent, or a command to the whirlwind:” the assembly replied to them by a declaration of war, to which Louis was compelled to assent. Nor was this the only effect produced by the demands of the Emperor of Austria. The assembly required of Louis that he should freely resign himself to the current of the revolution, or be dethroned. Influenced, however, by the queen and by Dumouriez, who finding himself in office broke with the Girondists as he had previously with the Constitutionalists, he fearlessly resisted their counsels. The friendship of Dumouriez raised the drooping spirits of the old royalist party, and Louis was once more induced to listen to their plans for the restoration of the former government. But this party was now a broken reed, on which no hope of support could be placed. Events on the frontiers conduced likewise to render the cause of Louis and the Royalists more hopeless. In their first action the revolutionary soldiers were defeated, and on the news of this reverse the populace turned their rage against the monarch. Orders were issued by the assembly for the disbanding of his guard, by which he was at all times exposed to the irruptions of the rabble; and two decrees were likewise issued in opposition to the royal will: one for the exile of the refractory priests, and another for the establishment of a camp of 20,000 men under the walls of Paris. This was another crisis in the reign of Louis, and had he made proper use of it he might have prevented the supremacy of the populace. Aroused by a sense of danger from this federal camp, thousands of the national guards and of the respectable citizens petitioned against it; at the same time exhibiting an inclination to rally round the throne. Dumouriez advised the monarch to throw his whole influence into the scale of this party, and he was about to act upon this advice, when he was prevented by a deep laid stratagem of the Girondists. Being assured that he would resist the decree relative to the nonjuring and seditious priesthood, they sent it to him for the purpose of provoking his resistance, that the citizens might see his lack of cordiality towards the revolution. This scheme succeeded. Exasperated by the insults daily heaped upon him and his family, he defied the Girondists, and yet at the same time neglected to rally round him either the national guards or the citizens. The Girondist ministers were now dismissed, and both their decrees were rejected, all which tended to accelerate the fearful catastrophe which had been long hovering over the throne of France, and the nation at large. The new administration was chosen from among the Feuillants, but it possessed no weight either with their own party or the people. The Feuillants joined with the royalists to repress the growing spirit of insubordination, but all their exertions were vain. Lafayette also wrote an energetic letter to the assembly, denouncing the Jacobin faction, and demanding the dissolution of the clubs, but he only stirred up the rage of the populace against himself, without curbing their evil passions. The Girondists, moreover, became as dangerous a set of men as were the hot-headed and coldblooded Jacobins. Chagrined at the loss of place and power, they allied themselves with the mob, and inflamed them by petitions and harangues. Nay more: by direction of the Girondists, a general insurrection was prepared in the fauxbourgs, and a body of ten thousand men organised in the quarter of St. Antoine. A pretext for arming was found in the non-success already mentioned, of the revolutionary forces on the frontier. Under the pretence of fear of the Austrians and Prussians, pikes were forged, and distributed among men who thirsted to commit outrage and wrong on their monarch and their fellow-citizens. Revolt broke out on the 20th of June: pikemen from the suburbs of St. Antoine and St. Marceau marched from the place of the Bastille towards the Tuilleries. At their head was the ferocious Santerre, a brewer, who proved himself to be the worthy hero of this horrible day. Their approach was made known by shouts of “Down with the Veto,” and by the revolutionary chorus of _Caira_. The “Tree of Liberty,” and the “Rights of Man” were borne before them as banners, and in this manner they forced an entrance into the palace. On discovering the monarch, some of them exclaimed that they had a petition, and Louis led the way to the largest saloon of the suite. The petition was not forthcoming, but placing the “Rights of Man” before the king they demanded his assent to the decrees for the federal camp and the transportation of the priests. Never did the unhappy Louis exhibit so much fortitude as on this trying occasion. He bore all their insults with calmness, and to their reiterated demands, merely replied; “This is neither the time nor the way to obtain them from me.” This storm passed by: the Girondists, on hearing that the insurrection was likely to prove serious, persuaded the rabble to retire. All good citizens manifested abhorrence at the outrage committed, and indignation was exhibited in the provinces and among the armies. His admirable coolness extorted admiration even from his enemies. The Duke de la Rochefaucault, who commanded at Rouen, offered him an asylum there; Lafayette implored him to throw himself into the arms of the constitutional forces; and the national guard offered to protect his person. Louis, however, declined all these proposals, for he still hoped that the allied powers would deliver him from his rebellious subjects. Lafayette made a last effort to save the throne, by appearing in person before the legislative assembly, and demanding, in his own name and in that of the army, the rights of constitutional royalty; but the Jacobins threatened him with destruction, and Louis refused to be saved by a person whom he considered as the author of his misfortunes, and Lafayette returned to his troops with the loss of both influence and popularity. The situation of Louis became daily and hourly more critical. Emboldened by Lafayette’s failure, the Girondists and Jacobins aimed at the monarch’s dethronement. The minds of men were inflamed by the harangues of demagogues, and it was proclaimed that the country was in danger. The contest of parties was fierce in the extreme; their madness being heightened by the collection of formidable masses of hostile armies on the frontiers. The approach of a crisis became evident on the 14th of July, when a _fête_ was held in commemoration of the destruction of the Bastille. On that day the king with the queen and dauphin went to the Champ de Mars, and it was with difficulty that the soldiers saved them from the rage of the rabble. The fermentation of the public mind received a fearful acceleration, when it was discovered that the Prussians and Austrians were advancing upon the capital, under the command of the Duke of Brunswick. All France was put in motion thereby, and thousands of hot-brained youth resorted to the capital to join the already overwhelming rabble there. Thus supported the legislative assembly determined on the deposition of the king, having first appointed a commission to examine what grounds could justify such a step, and whether such grounds existed. The blow was struck on the 10th of August. On the preceding day the popular excitement was extreme, and at midnight the tocsin for a scene of wild fury was sounded throughout Paris. Obeying its horrid summons, the self-called patriots poured into the fauxbourg Saint Antoine, the centre of the insurrection, from the different rallying points; and by the dawn of day their columns, which had been organized under the direction of the assembly, were ready for the work of destruction. The palace of the Tuilleries was in vain defended by some Swiss and royalist troops; after a great slaughter on both sides it fell into the hands of the rabble. Before the combat took place the king had fled to the legislative assembly, to place himself under their protection. He imagined that he would there be safe, but the first act of the assembly told him that his hopes were fallacious: under the plea that his presence marred the freedom of debate, he was removed from the side of Vergniaud, the president of the chamber, where he instinctively took his seat, to the box reserved for the reporters. This was the last day of the monarchy. The assembly concluded the crimes of that day by a decree suspending Louis from his kingly functions, by ordering the formation of a national convention, and by the appointment of a new ministry, the members of which were taken conjointly from the ranks of the Girondists and Jacobins. The national convention was to have unlimited authority to decide in the name of the people upon all the interests of the country, and its session was to commence on the 20th of September. In the meantime several important events took place. Lafayette, having in vain endeavoured to re-establish the constitutional throne, fled with his staff over the frontier, and was arrested in Liege by an Austrian general, and thrown into prison. The allied armies had taken Longwy and Verdun, and a report was spread that they were advancing upon the capital. These successes alarmed the patriots, and made them turn their rage upon each other. The Girondists conceived the plan of abandoning the capital and defending the country behind the Loire; but the Jacobins opposed this, and it was resolved that, rather than surrender the capital, the population should be buried beneath its ruins. Division was in the camp, and bloodthirsty men were now to rule. Thousands suspected of being unfavourable to the principles of the revolution were thrown into prison, and thousands were barbarously massacred. The Jacobin faction of Paris ruled France; and such sanginuary fanatics as Robespierre and Marat carried the sway. The guillotine was declared permanent, and many members of the legislative assembly were themselves menaced by the fatal axe. At length this assembly, after having passed a great many decrees—decrees which were partly fanatical and partly inefficacious—closed its session, and the national convention rose upon its ruins. This new assembly was principally composed of the Jacobin or republican party; the elections preponderating in their favour. This spirit was manifested almost in the first hour of its session; the legislative assembly had transferred the king and his family to the prison of the Temple; the national convention came to a speedy and unanimous resolution that royalty should be for ever abolished, and that France should henceforth be a republic. But, although united in this principle tendency, this assembly, like the one which preceded it, was divided into two hostile parties; the moderates, or Girondists, and the Republicans, or Jacobins. In the national convention these two parties took the names of the Mountain and the Plain; and from the very commencement of its sitting the assembly was threatened with new convulsions, through the struggles of these parties. But the populace now, in reality, possessed the power, and they naturally permitted themselves to be led only by men whose character and principles were in accordance with their own; hence the triumph of the Mountain, or the Jacobins. On one point, however, both parties came to a perfect agreement. Encouraged by recent successes over the allied armies—for the French generals had everywhere defeated them—the Parisian populace loudly demanded the blood of their monarch; and, after violent contests, it was resolved that the inviolability of Louis was forfeited, and that the convention had power to decide on his life or death. These resolutions were passed on the 3rd of December, and on the 11th of that month, an act of accusation was drawn up, and the King of France was brought before the bar of his revolutionary subjects. His trial and death will be noticed in a future page.

{GEORGE III. 1792–1793}

AFFAIRS OF POLAND.

France was not the only European state now in commotion. It has been seen that the two imperial courts of Austria and Russia had seized a great portion of Poland as their prey, and that they had imposed their yoke upon the nation. This ignominious situation of Poland remained unchanged until the year 1788, when, encouraged by the war which had broken out between their oppressors and the Porte, and by the secret promises of Prussia, the Poles meditated the means of effecting their salvation. The Russians had requested them to conclude a defensive alliance against the Porte; and, under these circumstances, a diet assembled in Warsaw, which immediately declared itself a confederated diet, in order that it might not be dissolved by the right of veto, which, under the old constitution, belonged to every deputy individually. Those who were in the interests of Russia were completely overpowered by the patriotic party, and the proposed alliance was rejected. The confederative diet further decreed the increase of the army, granted imposts on the property of the nobility and clergy, and established a commission of war dependent on the diet only, in order to check the influence of the permanent council of state, which their spoliators had created, for the purpose of destroying the national power. All these regulations were expressly sanctioned by Prussia, and that power solemnly promised to respect and protect the independence of Poland. Thus supported, the Polish diet demanded the removal of the Russian troops from their territory; and Catherine, alarmed at the terrible energy with which the demand was made, felt herself compelled to recall her soldiers. The diet now commenced the work of remodelling the constitution of Poland. The new constitution was finished in the space of a year; and though it was opposed by some aristocrats it was adopted by the majority, and solemnly sworn to and proclaimed. By this constitution the Catholic religion was fixed as the dominant religion of the kingdom, though liberty was granted to other confessions; the Polish throne was declared hereditary; Frederic Augustus of Saxony was appointed the successor of Stanislaus, the reigning king, with right of succession for his descendants; the king, with his council of state, was to exercise the executive power, and was to have some influence on the legislative; the diet, which was composed of two chambers, one of the deputies, and the other of the senators, was to assemble every two years, and was to possess the right of making war or peace; independent judges were to administer justice in the name of the king; the ministers of the crown were to be responsible, and the person of the king inviolable; the prerogatives of the nobility were to remain untouched; the royal cities were to be endowed with the right of personal liberty for their citizens; the citizens of these cities were to possess the right of electing their magistrates, as well as the right of acquiring titles of nobility, and the estates of nobles; at every diet a number of citizens were to be elevated to the rank of nobles; the cities in which were courts of appeal were to have the privilege of sending a deputy to the diet; the peasantry were to be protected from an aggravation of their hard lot by the laws; and personal liberty was to be possessed by foreign settlers. By the mass of the nation this constitution was received with gratitude and joy; but some of the aristocracy protested against it, and their resistance was encouraged by Russian gold. At first, however, their opposition was fruitless, and everything promised well for the establishment of this new order of things. Russia, it is true, threatened to subvert them; but the Porte, Sweden, and Prussia, with other European powers, looked upon them in a friendly manner. Prussia, indeed, solemnly promised assistance; and in the month of March, 1790, Frederic William even concluded a defensive alliance with Poland. But the friendship of courts is variable, and the favour of monarchs fickle. The King of Prussia had attached himself to the cause of Poland, not from any respect for her rights, but from a spirit of jealousy towards Russia, and in the hopes of obtaining something for himself. He was to have Dantzic and Thorn for his support; and when the republic refused to cede these cities, his ardour on the behalf of the Poles underwent a great change. He grew cool, and when peace was concluded between Russia and the Porte, Frederic William withdrew from the cause of Poland altogether, and even joined with her old and inveterate enemy. When the Russian hordes entered the Polish territory, under the pretext of assisting those aristocrats who protested against the new constitution, he not only refused his promised assistance, but took a menacing attitude. But the Poles were not discouraged by his perfidy. The diet summoned the nation to its defence; and the army fought valiantly, under the command of the celebrated Kosciusko. The enemy, however, proved too strong for Poland. The king was not in heart on the side of the patriots; and Kosciusko himself deserted them and went over to the aristocratic party. The patriots now fled; and the Russians having advanced to within three days march of the capital, compelled the king to save his throne by consenting to the abolition of the new constitution. On the 23rd of July, 1732, an armistice was concluded, and the command of the Polish troops consigned to a Russian general. Vengeance soon followed. On the 29th of October a diet assembled in Grodno, to which diet it was declared, on the part of Russia and Prussia, that a second division of Poland was necessary, and that its members would be called upon to comply with this measure. There was no alternative; for, at this time, Prussian as well as Russian troops had entered Poland, and there was no means of defence against their combined operations. So that whatever Russia and Prussia chose to demand, that they were sure of obtaining; for what, it has been asked, can feeble justice do against exorbitant power? But it was not till the spring of the succeeding year that the diet were called upon to give their consent to this second spoliation of their fatherland.

STATE OF THE PUBLIC MIND IN ENGLAND.

At the commencement of this year, and even as late as the month of August, when it was known that the French monarch was deposed, there appears to have been no disposition on the part of government to take part in the war against France. On the contrary, in pursuance of a recommendation from the throne, the army and navy were reduced; and when our ambassador was ordered to leave Paris, on the virtual extinction of monarchy, he was directed to renew his assurances of British neutrality. But there were many causes at work which, before the year closed, induced the government to exhibit signs of a change of policy. Although the generality of the people were struck with terror at the deposition of the monarch, and the horrid massacres which preceded and followed that event, yet the revolutionary societies in England, grew daily bolder and bolder in their proceedings. Some there were, it is true, who were convinced of their evil tendency, and who, in consequence, gave up all connexion with them; but still they existed in all their original vigour. So enthusiastic were these societies in their admiration of the French revolution, all stained with blood as it was, that they even transmitted addresses of applause to the national convention. The London Corresponding Society, the Manchester Constitutional Society, the Norwich Revolution Society, the Society for Constitutional Information in London, and the London Constitutional Whigs, these all joined in addresses of congratulation on the victory which the French people had gained over their hapless and ill-fated monarch. All these addresses received a warm response from those to whom they were addressed. For once in the annals of history the French hailed Englishmen as brethren; and a hope was expressed that the day would soon arrive when they might join the hands of fraternity. But these addresses and responses contained something more than mere compliments; they breathed destruction to the English constitution. It was evident, indeed, that, unless checked by the popular voice or by government, the revolutionary societies in England would one day produce corresponding fruits to those of France. Happily the nation at large and the government joined in stemming the onward tide of revolutionary principles. Among the first to take the alarm at the political societies and publications, were the established clergy, who sent up addresses from all parts to his majesty, thanking him for his late wise and provident proclamation. Towards the close of the year the alarm became general; and clubs and associations began to be formed with the avowed object of counteracting the baneful influence of those which were founded upon revolutionary principles. These societies came to certain resolutions, and made certain declarations, which they caused to be published both in the newspapers and in the form of pamphlets. One grand end at which they aimed was to expose the fallacy that all men are born equal and must remain so; an argument which the revolutionists had ever on their lips, and which was the very root and life of their factious disposition. Nor did these societies labour in vain. Their spirit spread rapidly throughout the kingdom, and in every county, and almost every town and village resolutions were subscribed, expressive of loyalty and attachment to the king and constitution. It became manifest that though the French had some few thousands of admirers in England, yet the great mass of the people abhorred their proceedings; that, though there were many who wished to bring about a revolution in their own country, yet there were more who were ready to maintain the constitution as it existed, against all its enemies, native or foreign. The public feeling encouraged government, at the close of the year, to assume a hostile appearance towards the French. Alarmed at the circumstances that the national convention held out the hand of fraternity to other countries, and especially to England; that Savoy was now incorporated with France, in contradiction to the formal renunciation of all plans of conquest, that Belgium was declared independent, under the protection of France; that the navigation of the Scheldt was opened, in disregard of all existing relations between European states; and that a decree of the 16th of November ordered the French troops to pursue the Austrians, whom they had recently defeated, into the Dutch territories, the British government placed the country in a state of defence. The militia were called out; the Tower was strengthened; a second royal proclamation was issued; and parliament summoned to meet on the 13th of December.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

When parliament met, the speech from the throne was full of alarm. All the expressions of the first proclamation were repeated in it; and, towards the conclusion, the king remarked:—“I have carefully observed a strict neutrality in the present war on the continent, and have uniformly abstained from interference in the internal affairs of France; but it is impossible to see, without serious uneasiness, the strong and increasing indications which have there appeared, of an intention to excite disturbances in other countries, to disregard, the rights of neutral nations, and pursue views of conquest and aggrandisement; as well as to adopt towards my allies, the States-general, measures which were neither conformable to the laws of nations, nor to the positive stipulations of existing treaties.” Under all these circumstances, his majesty added, he had thought it right to adopt precautionary measures, and to make some augmentation of his naval and military force.

The address was moved by Sir James Sanderson, lord-mayor of London, who affirmed that seditious practices were prevalent; that various political societies were established in London, which corresponded and confederated with other societies in different parts of the United Kingdom; and that these societies, whose aim was to subvert the constitution and to destroy monarchy, root and branch, were circulating a vast number of pernicious pamphlets and publications among the lower orders of people. A memorable debate arose on the address. Fox, who was yet enchanted with French liberty, condemned every part of the speech and of the address. It was his firm conviction, he said, that every fact asserted in the king’s speech was false; that no insurrection existed; and that the alarm was occasioned by the artful designs and practices of ministers. Fox reprehended the system of intellectual oppression, which induced ministers to represent the tumults and disorders that had taken place, as designed to overthrow the constitution; and that the various societies instituted for discussing questions relative to the constitution, were so many schemes for propagating seditious doctrines. He was aware that he was advancing opinions not likely to become popular; but he was as ready to meet the current of popular opinion, which was running high in favour of the high lay doctrines now existing, as he was, in times past, to meet the opposite torrent, when it was said that he wished to sacrifice the people to the crown. He remarked:—“One extreme naturally leads to another. Those who dread republicanism fly for shelter to the crown; those who desire reform, and are calumniated, are driven by despair to republicanism. And this is the evil I dread. These are the extremes into which these violent agitations hurry the people, to the gradual decrease of that middle order of men, who dread republicanism as much on the one hand, as they do despotism on the other. That middle order of men, who have hitherto preserved to this country all that is dear in life, I am sorry to say, is daily lessening; but while my feeble voice continues, it shall not be totally extinct; there shall be at least one who will, in this ferment of extremes, preserve the centre point.” In adverting to the affairs of France, Fox said that he rejoiced in the triumph of men, fighting for liberty, over the armies of despots. He bitterly condemned the calling out of the militia, and as bitterly condemned ministers for not sending a new ambassador to treat with the present executive government of France. As for England, he did not think that it was in a state to go to war; nor did he think that we should be justified in taking such a step for anything which had occurred in France, or in Belgium, or in Savoy, or anywhere else. In conclusion, Fox praised the English constitution as the best adapted to England, because the people loved it best; and moved an amendment, pledging the house that inquiry should be made into the facts stated in his majesty’s speech. Pitt was not in the house on this occasion; but Fox was effectively answered by one of his own party one who had figured for many years as one of the leaders and most eloquent chiefs of the Whig opposition, and who had been linked in close friendship with the man whom he now opposed. Mr. Windham said that he felt himself constrained to vote on this occasion with those whose measures he had uniformly and conscientiously reprobated. The alarm, he said, which existed in the country, was not, he believed, greater than the existing danger. It was well known that constant communication was maintained between persons in Paris and persons in London; and that the object of this communication was the destruction of our present form of government. These worthy gentlemen, he said, had their agents throughout the country, in order to disseminate their pamphlets; which, as these agents were poor men, was at once a proof that there must be a society somewhere who defrayed the expense. In adverting to France, Windham said, he believed that the motives of the combined armies, that had attempted to march to Paris were good; and he justified their interference by demonstrating that France herself had intermeddled with the affairs of neighbouring countries. The amendment was supported by Mr. Grey, who said that he was no friend to Paine’s doctrines; but he would not be deterred by a name from acknowledging that he considered the rights of man as the foundation of every government, and those who opposed these said rights as traitors against the people. Dundas replied to Grey, and justified the measures which government had adopted. A universal and serious alarm, he said, pervaded the country gentlemen, farmers, and others, and this had rendered some active steps absolutely necessary on the part of government, in order to restore confidence. Dundas remarked, that the national convention had been eager to countenance every complaint of grievance from the factious and discontented in this country; and in proof of it he read some of the addresses which the convention had received with applause from the political societies of England. He asked, “Was not this, on the part of the French, an unjustifiable interference in the internal affairs of another country? And had not the leading members of the convention declared that they would not look to the sovereign, but to the people of Great Britain; that they would appeal from the government to the republicans of England.” He maintained that, under all the circumstances, government were fully justified in all they had done, and would have merited impeachment if they had remained inactive at such a critical juncture. Sheridan, in a flippant manner, endeavoured to show that the alarm was ridiculous, and had been created by ministers for their own selfish and wicked purposes. The republicans said to exist in England, were, he said, men of buckram; and should any French army attempt to invade England, with the idea of effecting any change in our government, every hand and heart in the country would be united to resist them. He condemned a war with France, and asserted that he would vote for the impeachment of that minister who should enter into such a war, for the purpose of re-establishing the old despotism of the Bourbons. The deep earnestness of Burke, who next spoke, contrasted strangely with the flippancy of Sheridan. Burke said that this day was indeed a trial of the constitution. He agreed with an honourable gentleman, in regarding the present as a momentous crisis; but for reasons different from those which he had assigned. Liberty and monarchy, he continued, are connected in this country; they were never found asunder; they have flourished together for a thousand years; and from this union has sprung the prosperity and glory of the nation. With impassioned eloquence Burke affirmed, that there was a faction in this country who wished to submit it to France, that our government might be reformed upon the French system; and that the French rulers, cherishing views on this country encouraged that faction, and were disposed to aid it in overturning our constitution. As a proof of this, Burke read an address, which men, calling themselves Englishmen, presented at the bar of the convention on the very day in which there had been a discussion respecting the union of Savoy with France; and to which address the president, in his reply, remarked:—“That royalty in Europe was in the agonies of death; that the declaration of right, now placed by the side of thrones, was a fire which, in the end, would consume them; and he even hoped that the time was not far distant when France, England, Scotland, Ireland, all Europe! all mankind! would form but one peaceful family.” Burke asked, whether, if Englishmen had applied to Louis XVI. to reform our government, such language would not have been considered as an aggression? Burke declared that the question now was, not whether we should present an address to the throne, but whether there should be a throne at all; and he concluded with recommending unanimity, and representing the danger which might arise from the progress of French armies, if not speedily resisted. Mr. Erskine, who was a member of the Society for Parliamentary Reform, justified that society and himself, and blamed ministers for delaying to prosecute the author of the “Rights of Man” till nearly two years after its publication. Erskine charged Burke with inconsistency; and concluded with recommending the house to meet the complaints of the people, not with abuse, but by removing the grounds of their dissatisfaction; by reforming parliament, and granting them a fair representation. The people, he said, were already taxed to an enormous extent; and should a war be the consequence, when it appeared every precaution had not been taken to prevent it, ministers would incur a heavy responsibility, both to the public and to that house, for having precipitated the nation into so great a calamity. The debate lasted till midnight; and when the house divided there was a majority in favour of the address of two hundred and ninety against fifty.

This large majority snowed that a great portion of the Whigs had parted company with Fox. Nothing daunted, however, at this desertion, he gave notice that to-morrow he would move an amendment upon the report. The object of this amendment was to induce his majesty to open a negociation with France, for the purpose of preventing the calamities of war. In the speech which Fox made in support of it, he threw the whole blame of the horrid scenes which had occurred in France upon the coalition; and he eulogised the spirit and valour of the French republicans in the warmest strains of panegyric, he thanked God, he said, that nature had been true to herself; that tyranny had been defeated; and that those who fought for freedom were triumphant. All the inhabitants of Europe, he said, sympathised with the French and wished them success, regarding them as men struggling with tyranny and despotism. Sheridan seconded this amendment, and Burke opposed it, affirming “that to send an ambassador to France would be a prelude to the murder of our own sovereign.” Fox had said, in the course of his speech, that the republic of this country was readily acknowledged by European courts in the time of Cromwell, after the execution of Charles I.; but Burke shattered this argument, in favour of acknowledging the French republic, at a blow. He remarked: “The French republic is _sui generis_ and bears no analogy to any other republic or system of government that has ever existed in the known world. The English commonwealth did not attempt to turn all the states of Christendom into republics. It did not wage war with kings, merely because they were not democrats; it professed no principles of proselytism. The same might be said, of the republic of the United States of America. But France wanted to make all the world proselytes to her opinions and dogmas: France was for turning every government in the world into a democratic republic. If every government was against her, it was, because she had declared herself hostile to every government. This strange republic may be compared to the system of Mahomet, who, with the Koran in one hand and a sword in the other, compelled men to adopt his creed. The Koran which France held out was the declaration of the Rights of Man and universal fraternity; and with the sword she was determined to propagate her doctrine, and conquer those whom she could not convince.” Burke said that he did not wish to hurry the nation into a war, but only to make the people of England see that France had in reality declared war against them. The national convention had passed a variety of decrees, every one of which might be considered as a declaration of war against every government in Europe; and the people of France had resolved to wage an eternal war against kings, and all kinds of kingly government. Moreover, in contempt of the king and parliament, the convention had received Englishmen at its bar, as the representatives of the people of England. In the absence of Pitt, his colleague, Dundas, entered into a long and elaborate vindication of the measures of administration; concluding with a confident prediction that, “if we were forced into a war, it would prove successful and glorious.” The amendment was rejected without a division.

Still undismayed, Fox, on the 15th of December—which was a Saturday—a day when parliament did not usually meet—moved, “that a minister be sent to Paris, to treat with those persons who exercise provisionally the executive government of France.” Fox contended that this measure would neither imply approbation nor disapprobation of the conduct of the existing government; and that it was the policy and practice of every nation to treat with the existing government of every other nation with which it had relative interests, without inquiring how that government was constituted, or by what means it acquired possession of power. He illustrated his argument by asserting that we had more then once sent embassies to the government of Morocco, when men sat upon that throne who had waded to it through blood. We had, likewise, he said, ministers at the German courts at the time of the infamous partition of Poland; and we had a minister at Versailles when Corsica was bought and enslaved. Yet, he argued, in none of these instances was any sanction given, directly or indirectly, by Great Britain to these nefarious transactions. But this line of argument was more specious than sound; for, although there was nominally a government in France, it was self-constituted, and founded in anarchy. This motion was seconded by Mr. Grey, who declared that an immediate embassy to Paris was the only means of averting war; a war which he deemed the most dangerous that had overtaken this country. Lord Sheffield, who had been an ardent admirer of Fox, reprobated the object of this motion, and, with many others, censured him for his conduct during the last three days. Fox, however, was resolute, and the debate continued. In combating his arguments, Mr. Jenkinson asked, what government we could acknowledge where there was virtually no government? and how England could recognize a constitution which the French themselves were every day violating? and how we could negociate with men who had declared a universal war against all governments? He added,—“On this very day, while we are here debating about sending an ambassador to the French republic; on this very day is the king to receive sentence, and, in all probability, it is the day of his murder. What is it, then, that gentlemen would propose to their sovereign? To bow his neck to a band of sanguinary ruffians, and address an ambassador to a set of regicides, whose hands are still reeking with the blood of a slaughtered monarch? No, sir, the British character is too noble to run a race of infamy; nor shall we be the first to compliment a set of monsters who, while we are agitating the subject, are probably bearing through the streets of Paris—horrid spectacle—the bloody victim of their fury.” The master of the rolls, Sheridan, Windham, Burke, Sir William Young, and others took part in this debate; but the motion was negatived without a division.

In the meantime the address had been carried in the lords almost unanimously; the Duke of Norfolk, and lords Lansdowne, Hawdon, and Stanhope only speaking against it. In both houses the opposition had, at this time, suffered a severe defection. At the head of the seceders in the lords were the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Portland, Lords Fitzwilliam, Spencer, Mansfield, and Loughborough, the last of whom, on the resignation of Lord Thurlow, had been created chancellor; the chief seceders in the commons, besides Burke, were Mr. Windham, Sir Gilbert Elliot, Mr. Anstruther, Lord Sheffield, &c., who by their secession acquired the appellation of alarmists.

Yet, though Fox was thus deserted, on the 17th of December he returned to the charge. On that day Mr. Grey complained that the loyalists and high churchmen had been committing riots in Manchester and other towns in the kingdom. The Manchester riots, he said, had risen out of a loyal meeting held in that town, at which meeting he represented that Mr. Peel—the father of Sir Robert—declared that it was time for the people to rouse from their lethargy, as there were incendiaries in the country. He called upon Mr. Peel to name these incendiaries; and then called the attention of the house to a paper issued by the association against republicans and levellers, which was entitled “One Penny-worth of Truth from Thomas Bull to his Brother John.” Mr. Grey said, that this pamphlet contained some unfounded and libellous invectives against the dissenters; and that it was calculated to produce alarming effects, by exciting the people against them. He moved, that the said libellous paper should be delivered in at the table and read. In reply to his demand of Mr. Peel, that gentleman said that there was no truth in any part of the report to which Mr. Grey had alluded, except that “God Save the King” had been sung at the meeting: and he proved that, so far from exciting the people against their fellow-subjects, the resolutions of the committee of the Manchester Society were calculated to dissuade the populace from outrage and wrong. Many members opposed the motion; but Fox strenuously supported it. In the course of his speech, Fox criticised the loyal associations and subscriptions which had been set on foot, for the purpose of aiding in the prosecution of affected persons. He treated the associations as tending to hinder the improvement of the mind, and as a mobbish tyranny; and he compared them with Lord George Gordon’s mob; declaring, at the same time, that he had advised his friends in Westminister to sign the said associations, whether they agreed with them or not, in order that they might avoid destruction to their persons or their houses, or a desertion of their shops. Burke was very severe in his remarks upon this last assertion. He observed:—“This insidiuous advice will tend to confound those, who wish well to the object of the association, with the seditious against whom the association is directed. By this stratagem the confederacy intended for preserving the British constitution and the public peace, will be wholly defeated. The magistrates, utterly incapable of distinguishing the friends from the enemies of order, will in vain look for support when they stand in the greatest need of it.” Mr. Grey’s motion was negatived without a division.

Pitt was not in the house when these debates occurred; but on the 18th, having been re-elected for the university of Cambridge, he resumed his seat; and in doing so he referred to the recent discussions, by declaring his conviction of the facts stated, and his approbation of the arguments used in support of the address. To send an ambassador to France, he said, under present circumstances, would be incompatible with the dignity of the crown, and contrary to the interests of the public; counteracting and disclaiming those very principles on which the whole of our conduct was founded. The decided opinion expressed by all parties, that if war was necessary, it should be prosecuted with vigour, gave him pleasure; but, at the same time, he assured the house, that nothing consistent with the dignity of the crown, the safety of the country, and the security of Europe should be omitted by government to preserve the blessings of peace.

THE ALIEN BILL, ETC.

At this period many of our provincial towns were filled with Frenchmen. Most of these were royalists; but there were some who mixed with the royalists in order to serve the cause of the republic; and there were others who were professed republicans, and who were using their utmost efforts to seduce the people. As the English laws were not made for foreigners, on the 19th of December, Lord Grenville brought forward a bill in the house of lords, for subjecting aliens to certain regulations. Thus the bill proposed that all foreigners arriving in the kingdom, should give an account of themselves, and surrender such arms as they might have in their possession; that they should be obliged, in their removals from one part of the country to another, to use passports; that all emigrants, who received allowances from the British government, should be distributed in certain districts, where they would be more under the cognizance of the civil power; and that particular attention should be paid to such foreigners as had arrived within the present year, or as might afterwards arrive without obvious reasons. This bill, though opposed by several lords, passed the three readings in the upper house without a division, and was then sent down to the commons. It was there treated by Fox and his party as a measure contrary to the existing treaties between Great Britain and France; as a violation of the law of nations; and as an outrage on Magna Charta. Burke supported the measure as strenuously as Fox opposed it. Having commented in severe terms on the exultation which Fox had manifested on the success of the French, he then expatiated on the nature of French fraternization, and of that liberty which the revolutionists were so anxious to propagate throughout Europe, and which he denounced as a liberty without property, morals, order, government, and security. The apostles of liberty in France, he said, had destroyed the Bastille, while they had converted every man’s house in Paris into such a prison. He quoted the speech of M. Dupont in the convention, to show that Atheism was the first-fruits of French liberty: that fierce demagogue had declared that the religion of Jesus Christ was unfit to be tolerated in a republic, because it was a monarchical religion, and preached subjection and obedience to God; a declaration which was received by the convention with shouts of impious applause. Burke feelingly deplored the natural effects of a profligacy, which went to deprive man of happiness in life, and consolation in the hour of death. On the subject of the Alien Bill, Burke remarked, that he thought it calculated to save the country, for although the number of suspicious aliens might be small, it should be remembered that the horrid massacres in Paris in the preceding autumn had been perpetrated by a body of men not exceeding two hundred. Burke alluded to the fact that three thousand daggers had been ordered and manufactured in Birmingham, and it was on this occasion that he had recourse to a stroke of oratorical acting which has been often commented upon. Drawing a concealed dagger from his bosom, and throwing it down upon the floor of the house, he exclaimed:—“This is what you are to gain by an alliance with the French! Wherever their principles are introduced, their practice must follow. You must equally proscribe their tenets and their persons! You must keep their principles from our minds, and their daggers from our hearts.” The debates on the bill were renewed in its different stages: on the third reading Fox endeavoured to prove that the anxiety about a few French aliens in England was ridiculous; that no Alien Act could guard against the introduction of opinions; and that if dangerous principles were propagated in this country it must be by the English themselves, and not by foreigners. But all opposition was vain. The bill was carried by a great majority, as was also another bill to prevent the circulation in England of French assignats, bonds, and promissory notes. A third bill was passed to enable his majesty to restrain the exportation of naval stores, saltpetre, arms, and ammunition, after which Mr. Pitt moved an adjournment to the 23rd of January, which was unanimously accorded.

{GEORGE III. 1792–1793}

EXECUTION OF THE FRENCH KING.

At length Louis fell a prey to the fury of his subjects. In order to fortify the new-born republic it seemed necessary to the republicans that all institutions and usages that reminded them of royalty and the ancient order should be abolished. The convention applied itself to this work with fanatical zeal, but first of all the Jacobins demanded the blood of the fallen monarch. Fierce contests arose between them and the Girondists on this demand, but the Jacobins were sustained by the Parisian populace, and their opponents were compelled to yield: a resolution was carried that Louis had forfeited his inviolability, and that the convention was authorised to judge him. The unfortunate monarch was brought before the bar of his subjects on the 11th of December, and he was nobly defended by Tronchet, Malesherbes, and Deseze; but after having heard their defence, and after a stormy deliberation that lasted some days, the convention resolved that the yeas and nays should be taken upon the following questions: First, Is Louis Capet guilty of conspiracy against the liberty or safety of the state? Second; Shall the judgment to be pronounced upon him be submitted to the sanction of the people in the primary assemblies? Third: What punishment ought to be inflicted upon Louis? The first of these questions was decided in the affirmative; the second was negatived; and as to the third question, five votes over half demanded death unconditionally. And such a small majority was deemed sufficient for pronouncing the sentence of death. The monarch was executed on the 21st of January, 1793, under circumstances that augmented the horror of the deed, and no nation in Europe endeavoured to save him from his fate. The King of Spain pleaded for his life, but the plea of a crowned head was not likely to be heard by men who had sworn eternal war against royalty.