THE successes which had attended the French arms in the late campaign, the defection of one of our most powerful allies, and the disunion which was seen to weaken the exertions of the remaining confederates, the desire for peace which pervaded the great body of the people, and the mutinous disposition which had discovered itself among the members of very numerous associations that were formed throughout the kingdom, and were connected with each other by their common connexion with those of the capital, together with the distress and dissatisfaction occasioned by the enormous and increasing load of taxes, were deemed, by many men of dispassionate minds, reasons of sufficient force to outweigh the objections to a negotiation with our enemy. But this was not the opinion of the ministry, of a vast majority in the legislative bodies, and of a great portion of those throughout the kingdom who were zealous for the preservation of the present system of government. With them the apprehensions of danger from suffering a powerful republic to subsist in the midst of Europe, whose democratic principles were incompatible with the safety of all monarchical states, and whose avowed principles and increasing influence threatened them with destruction, were predominant: and they deemed it essential to the existence of all kingly governments effectually to counteract the contagious example of France by restoring monarchy in that country. Actuated by these sentiments, and by a hope that the experience of democratic tyranny, and the increasing burthen of taxes in France, would favour the efforts of the royalists 3 м 2 1795 1795 royalists in accomplishing a counter-revolution, the English government persevered in warlike councils, even after the Prussian monarch had basely deserted his allies, and was now applying the subsidies of Great Britain to the forwarding his ambitious designs in Poland, and when it was evident that nothing but the pecuniary support of this crown would hold the house of Austria firm to the confederacy. This was the language of his majesty's speech at the meeting of parliament at the close of the late year; in which the British nations were stimulated to the most vigorous and persevering exertions, as the only means of obtaining peace on such grounds as might secure them in the enjoyment of all that was most dear to them, and were exhorted to cheer themselves amidst surrounding perils by a contemplation of the prosperous state of our commerce, of public credit, and national resources. What exertions, what constancy, what resources would be required in the British nations, to enable them to confront the dangers of their situation and to prosecute the war with any hope of success, was manifest when the supplies of men and money demanded for the present campaign became the subject of parliamentary discussion. The disastrous issue of the late campaign in the Netherlands, which was balanced only by one naval victory; Prussia deserting our alliance; Spain and the Dutch provinces driven to treat with the French government by the extreme exigency of their affairs; and the confidence derived to our enemy from these circumstances; were contemplations of so gloomy a nature as put the firmness of the British minister and the national loyalty and fortitude to a severe trial. But they were not seen to shrink from the burthen, nor to be intimidated by the arduousness of the task which they had taken upon them. There was no subject which occasioned more interesting debates during the present session than his majesty's message relative to the proposals made by the emperor, † importing that, to enable him to increase his exertions during the approaching campaign, the loan of £.4,000,000 would be necessary. The grounds on which this requisition was founded were represented by the premier in the fairest light-" that the loan would enable "the emperor to make the most formidable_exertions by land, and thereby " empower + February 4. State Papers, ap. Ann, Regist. 154. empower the British navy to act with the greater vigour and success. 1795 "Austria, he said, was the power to which he could look with just expec"tation for the most effectual assistance in the present contest: the cause " at issue was peculiarly its own: the house of Austria was the ancient and "natural ally of England, and the people under its dominion were brave " and warlike, and particularly hostile to the French. Now was the time, he said, to exert the united strength of both powers against France; "when its internal pressures were so heavily felt that the principal heads of "the convention had unequivocally acknowledged the necessity of dimi nishing them; which could be done only by a reduction of the immense quantity of paper currency that deluged the country and banished all "confidence from the common transactions of society. But this step, "however necessary, could not be taken without a considerable diminution " of the French armies, which must debilitate the republic and disable it " from resisting its numerous enemies." Having descanted further on the reasons for a firm adherence to the Austrian alliance, he gave it as his opinion that the loan required by the emperor was perfectly reasonable, and that the payment of it was secured on the fairest terms. This measure was opposed by the leading members of the minority in both houses, but without success: the same motives which had actuated the advocates of warlike councils on former occasions enforcing a compliance with the emperor's requisition, it was approved by great majorities. A statement was afterwards made of the force and the supplies requisite for the service of the year: the former amounted to 100,000 seamen, 120,000 regulars for guards and garrisons; 40,000 for Ireland and the West Indies; and 56,000 militia; besides fencibles and volunteer corps. For the pay of this vast force and other expences of the state, ways and means were provided for levying £.27,540,000; which, together with the interest of the national debt, amounted to the enormous sum of £.40,000,000. The minority, in the mean-time, that they might shew their aversion to the present measures, did not desist from their efforts, even when the great majorities upon every question relative to the war precluded all hope of success. The earl of Stanhope, after calling on the house of lords to reflect Ann. Regist. 173-5 Idem. 179. on 1795 on the state of the French armies, amounting to a million of men, and those too, animated by their late victories over the bravest and best disciplined troops in the world, and on the prevailing spirit in the French nation, which would impel them to exert their utmost strength and to exhaust every resource to overcome a state on which they knew that the whole confederacy against them rested for support, moved, "that a decla"ration should be made, that Great Britain neither ought nor would inter" fere in the internal affairs of France." In support of his motion, he adverted to the losses we had sustained and the hopeless circumstances of the confederates, and then enlarged on what he asserted to be the object of the war-" to deprive the French of a government erected by them on the " ruins of their former servitude. Were we the only people entitled to be "free? The pretence for this quarrel," he said, "was a resolution passed " in the convention, which had been rescinded the moment they found " that it had given offence to our government." On these grounds he moved the propriety of entering into a negotiation with France. The motion was opposed by the earls of Abingdon, Carlisle and Mansfield.The duke of Bedford and the marquis of Lansdowne, although they coincided with the earl in the general drift of it, did not approve his manner of expressing it: and, in the result, he had the mortification to find himself unsupported against a majority of 62.d Successive motions were afterwards made in the two houses by Mr. Grey and the duke of Bedford, || purporting "that the nature of the "French government ought not to be considered as precluding a nego"tiation for peace."-These were followed by others made by Mr. Fox† and the earl of Guildfords in their respective houses, importing, " that a "committee of the whole house should take into consideration the state of "the kingdoın." The different lights in which the merits of the present war were placed in the eloquent speeches made in support of the motions did not, however, make any impression on the sentiments of the legislative bodies. They all shared the same fate of being rejected by great majorities. When the session was far advanced, and the pacific disposition discovered by our allies, as well as the disastrous events with which the campaign had 1795 commenced in Holland, afforded new grounds for opposition to warlike measures, Mr. Wilberforce brought forward a motion which recommended itself to men of temperate minds by the mild language in which it was expressed.|| "That the house of commons declare itself of opinion that, " in the present circumstances of France, the British government ought not "to object to proposals for a general pacification, and that it was the "interest of the nation to put an end to the war as soon as just and "honourable terms could be obtained. Though he would not," he said, " insist on the common axiom, that the voice of the people was the voice " of God, yet much weight should be allowed to sentiments generally " received. Thus the public being in the persuasion that a speedy end ought to be put to the present ruinous war, it was incumbent on the legislature to pay a due deference to the inclinations of its constituents, " and earnestly to seek for every facility in the way to attain it. The " people were the more justified in their warm expression of so reasonable " a desire, when they heard how readily the most potent of our allies "acceded to the wishes of his people in this particular: the very day on "which the emperor signed the treaty for a loan of money from this " country, he also signed a rescript, expressing that he was ready to enter " into a negotiation with the French. What were we to think of such " behaviour? Did he really mean to be true to the conditions on which he " accepted our subsidy? or to sacrifice the faith he owed to this country, " to the interest and the entreaties of his subjects? Whichever of these " determinations he adopted, he could not be exculpated from duplicity, as he must necessarily deceive one of the parties. Could we proceed in " security with such allies? Were the French themselves less worthy of " being trusted? The condition of these, however deplorable in the repre"sentation of those who argued for the war, was now much more formi"dable than when it began: they had suppressed all domestic insurrections, "they had made peace with Prussia, and were negotiating with the other " members of the coalition, which in fact was, if not actually dissolved, on "the point of dissolution: they had conquered Belgium and Holland, and expelled all their enemies from the low countries: they were masters of "the May 27. |