CHAPTER XXI. BRITISH HISTORY: Exertions made by Great Britain during the War-Meeting of Parliament-Discusson on the preliminary Treaty-On the Convention with Russia--On the Civil List, and the Prince of Wales' Claims on the Dutchy of Cornwall-Death of the Earl of Clare-Of the Duke of Bedford -Of Lord Kenyon-Repeal of the Income Tax-Public Finances-Restriction on the Bank-Proposed Vote of Censure on Mr. Pitt's Administration-Changed into a Vote of Thanks-Submarine Invention-Debates on the definitive Treaty of Peace-Parliamentary Votes to Dr. Jenner, for the Promulgation of the vaccine Innoculation; to Mr. Greathead, for the Invention of the Life-boat; and to Dr. James Carmichael Smith, for his Discovery of the Process of nitrous Fumigation-Dissolution of Parliament-General Election. THE exertions of Britain during the revolutionary war, were unequalled perhaps in the annals of nations. Two hundred sail of line-of-battle ships; a military force of more than half a million of men; nearly twenty millions sterling paid in loans and subsidies, a public debt before deemed intolerable, enlarged to a frightful magnitude; and an immense annual taxation doubled: such were the efforts and sacrifices made in the prosecution of the war, to the period of the ratification of the preliminary articles of peace, succeeded by the definitive treaty of Amiens. No nation ever suffered equal privations with equal constancy. The stockholder beheld the value of his capital diminished more than one-half, the peasant and the artisan saw the price of the loaf doubled, while the higher classes of society yielded to the fiscal regulations, known by the names of the triple assessment and the in- | come tax. During the course of this confict, Britain was victorious in every sea, and successful in every naval battle; the capture of nearly five hundred ships of war, of which upwards of eighty were ships of the line, fully attest this memorable fact, and exhibits nobler trophies than were ever won before by any other nation. Nor was any quarter of the globe exempt from her conquests In America, she acquired Tobago, part of St. Domingo, the whole of Martinico, St. Lucia, and Guadaloupe, from the French; Trinidad from the Spaniards; and Dernerara, Issequibo, Surinam, Curracoa, Berbice, and St. Eustatia, from the Dutch. In the East Indies, Pondicherry, Malacca, Ceylon, Amboyna, and Banda, yielded either to her arms or influence. In Africa, Goree, the Cape of Good Hope, and Egypt, by turns confessed the sway of the conqueror; while in Europe, Toulon, Minorca, Corsica, and Malta e.ther surrendered by capitulation or were subjugated by force. Scarcely any state in want of treasure or assistance, but was either supplied with the wealth, or protected by the fleets and armies of this nation; and no fewer than two emperors, three kings, one queen, and a multitude of petty princes, were in succession ranked among her subsidiaries. In addition to this, and by a rare instance of good fortune, hitherto unexampled in any history, although the manufactures of England drooped, and many of her artisans were forced by dire necessity to wield the arms they had before fabricated, yet her commerce flourished and even increased during the war. This tide of prosperity was, however, productive of but little permanent advantage; for, after the expenditure of the lives of at least one hundred and fifty thousand of her subjects, and some hundreds of millions of money, the island of Ceylon, in the Indian, and that of Trinidad, in the Atlantic ocean, were all that remained of her numerous conquests. The second session of the imperial parliament of Great Britain, was opened, on the 29th of October, 1801, by the king in person, who, in a speech from the throne, announced the favourable conclusion of the negotiation begun during the last session of parliament. His majesty at the same time declared his satisfaction, that the difference which at that time existed with the northern powers, had been adjusted by a convention with the Emperor of Russia, to which the Kings of Denmark and of Sweden had expressed their readiness to accede, and by which "the essential rights for which we contended were secured." He then proceeded to state, that " preliminaries of peace had also been ratified between himself and the French republic; and he trusted that this important arrangement, while it manifested the justice and the moderation of his views, would also be found conducive to the substantial interests of this country, and honourable to the British character." In the house of peers, the address was moved by Lord Bolton, who observed that it was a magnificent triumph for England to make peace in the very midst of her conquests, from the frozen sea of the north, to the pillars of Hercules in the south, and from Africa to the remotest shores of Asia -Si Pergama dextra and America. His lordship contrasted, on | cided opposition to the terms of the peace this occasion, the conduct of Great Britain expressed by the Earls Spencer, Caernarwith that of Germany, which he styled von, and Fitzwilliam, the Marquis of "disunited, parricidal, and treacherous." Buckingham, Lord Grenville, and the Our allies, he said, had in an evil hour cho- Bishop of St. Asaph. The treaty was desen to desert us, and we had been left to fight fended by the Lord Chancellor, the Duke the battles ourselves; but the struggle was of Bedford, the Earls of Moira, Westglorious, and the termination happy. At moreland, and St. Vincent, Lords Hobart the period when the peace was made, it and Pelham, and the Bishop of London. was evident that the integrity of Europe On this occasion, Lord Nelson avowed it could not be preserved; had this been pos- to be his opinion, that Malta, in a naval sible, it would have been effected by the and political view, was of trivial importpower of Great Britain. ance, being at too great a distance from Toulon, to watch the French fleet in that port. In time of peace, his lordship said, Malta would have required a garrison of seven thousand men, and a much larger force in time of war, without being of any real utility. The island of Minorca also, he declared to be of no importance as a naval station; neither did he consider the settlement of the Cape as of any great value. The war had indeed been long, but he believed his majesty had seized the first opportunity of making peace, and the conditions, he was convinced, were the most advantageous that could be procured under the existing circumstances. In this opinion, the house concurred, and the address was carried by a majority of one hundred and fourteen to ten voices. Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent, The Duke of Bedford, in a speech which contained much censure of the late, and praise of the present administration, declared his cordial concurrence in the address, which was carried unanimously. In the house of commons, Mr. Fox expressed the same sentiments of approbation respecting the peace, in which he was warmly seconded by Mr. Pitt, who described the peace as glorious and honourable. On the other hand, Mr. Windham, the late secretary at war, avowed his entire disapprobation of the preliminary treaty recently signed with France, and declared himself to be a solitary mourner in the midst of public rejoicings. In signing that treaty, he thought that his honourable friends, the present ministers, had signed the deathwarrant of the country. On the same day, a similar address was moved in the house of commons; when the treaty of peace was vigorously assailed by Mr. Windham, Mr. Thomas Grenville, and Lord Temple. Mr. Pitt said that it was his misfortune to differ on this occasion from those with whom it had been his happiness to live in habits of the strict Mr. Sheridan, adverting to the terms in which Mr. Pitt had spoken of the peace, said that he could not agree that the conditions were glorious and honourable. It was, in his opinion, a peace of which eve- est friendship. He did not pretend to ry one was glad, but no one proud. It was such a sort of peace as might be expected after such a sort of war-a war the most pernicious in which this country had ever been engaged; and the peace was perhaps as good as any minister could make, considering the circumstances in which we were placed. The motion was finally carried with the same unanimity as in the other house. On the 3d of November, the subject of the preliminary treaty was taken formally into consideration by the lords, and a de *By the preliminary treaty, on which the definitive treaty already quoted was grounded, his Britannic Majesty agreed to restore to the French republic and her allies, all the possessions and colonies conquered by the British arms during the war; the island of Trinidad, and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, excepted: It was further stipulated, that "the port of the Cape of Good Hope shall be open to the commerce and navigation of the two contracting parties, who shall enjoy therein the same advantages. The island of Malta, with its dependencies, shall be evacuated by the troops of his Britannic majesty, and restored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem. And for the purpose of rendering this island completely independent of either of the two contracting parties, it shall be placed under the guarantee and protection of a third power, to be agreed upon in the definitive treaty. Egypt shall be restored to the sublime porte, whose territories and possessions shall be preserved entire, such as they existed previously to the present war. The ter ritories and possessions of her most faithful maFrench forces shall evacuate the kingdom of Najesty shall likewise be preserved entire. The ples and the Roman territory. The English forces shall in like manner evacuate Porto Ferrajo, and generally all the ports and islands which they may occupy in the Mediterranean or the Adriatic. The republic of the Seven Islands shall be acknowledged by the French republic. The fisheries on the coast of Newfoundland, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, shall be restored to the same footing on which they were before the present war. And finally, plenipotentiaries shall be named on each side, who shall repair to Amiens for the purpose of concluding a definitive treaty of peace in concert with the allies of the contracting parties." state that this peace fully answered all his wishes; but the government had obtained the best terms in their power; and the conditions were such as could not be rejected, without incurring the imputation of continuing the war without any adequate necessity. He spoke highly of the value of the conquests we had retained-Ceylon and Trinidad and though he would not depreciate the importance of Malta, he thought it, compared with the Indies, but a secondary consideration. It appeared to him sound policy, rather to place Malta under the protection of a third power, capable of defending it, than, by retaining that island ourselves, to mortify the pride and attract the jealousy of the enemy. He asserted that the resources of the country ought not to be lavished away in continuing a contest with the certainty of an enormous expense, and when it was by no means clear that we might not ultimately be obliged to sit down in a worse relative situation than at present. He would not occupy the attention of the house, by going back to the origin of the war; but peace being now happily restored, forbearance of language and terms of respect were proper. Mr. Fox expressed his cordial concurrence in the address. Upon the whole, and in reference to situation and circumstances, he regarded the peace as both safe and honourable. A glorious peace he could not style it, for such a peace could be the result only of a glorious war. He confessed himself not one of those who deemed Ceylon or Trinidad preferable to Malta; but by insisting on Malta or the Cape, either the war would have been prolonged, or a loss of national dignity sustained by making the concession on our part from compulsion; for these were points which he conceived France would never have yielded. He commended ministers for not having sought to delude the nation by the jargon of their predecessors; and by senseless assertions of the French nation being now on the verge, and now in the very gulf of bankruptcy. They justly considered France as a great and formidable foe, in treating with whom they had wisely tempered firmness of conduct with moderation of tone. As to the real object of the war, Mr. Fox confessed that he always understood it to be the restoration of the house of Bourbon. Not that it was the sine qua non; but he contended that the late ministers had avowed it with confidence, prosecuted it with perseverance, and relinquished it with reluctance. Not having been able to obtain their end, it was now allowed that the nation must content itself with gaining its secondary purpose. But what rational person had ever deemed this secondary purpose to be obtained by the acquisition of Ceylon and Trinidad? Who would have thought that those who for so many years entertained such grand and magnificent designs, should at last content themselves with Ceylon in the east, and Trinidad in the west, wrested too from our former allies, Holland and Spain, by way of indemnity against the ambitious projects of France. The terms of the treaty were zealously defended by Lord Hawkesbury, and the other members of administration, on grounds analagous to those argued upon by Mr. Pitt; and the house and the country, wearied of the war, were easily impressed by the reasoning of ministers in favour of peace. The chancellor of the exchequer concluded the debate with some judicious and conciliatory observations; he remarked, that the duty of negotiation, commenced when all hopes of continental aid in checking the power of France was at an end. We had closed the contest, he maintained, on our part, with honour. But he acknowledged it to depend upon the wisdom of government, whether this peace should be a blessing or a misfortune to the country. He could only say, that as it had been made sincerely, it should be kept faithfully. No encouragement should be given to any person in this realm to subvert the present government of France; and a line of conduct ought to be pursued, not of suspicion and jealousy, but of prudence and circumspection; and it would be necessary, he admitted, "to provide means of security never before known in times of peace." The motion was agreed to without a division. The convention with Russia occupied the early attention of parliament. On the 13th of November, the articles of the treaty having been laid before the house of peers, the Earl of Darnley moved an address of thanks and approbation to the throne. This address was vehemently opposed by Lord Grenville, who condemned the treaty in almost all its provisions; and, from the tenor of his lordship's remarks, it was obvious that no accommodation with the northern powers could have taken place under the administration which had recently been dissolved. On the same day, on a similar address having been moved in the house of commons, Lord Hawkesbury, with frankness and candour, observed, "that the treaty did enough; it substantiated our rights-it respected those of our adversaries; and, without arrogating more superiority than was meet, contained an ample recognition of all that was essen tial to us as the first maritime power of the globe." The question was carried in both houses without a division. Soon after the Christmas recess, the chancellor of the exchequer called the attention of the house to certain papers before them, relative to the civil list, by which it appeared that the pecuniary affairs of the sovereign were again deeply in arrears; and a committee was appointed to examine the accounts now presented to the house. In the course of the discussion, Mr. Manners Sutton, solicitor to the Prince of Wales, advanced a claim of right on the part of the prince against the crown, or rather against the public, for the amount of the revenues of the dutchy of Cornwall, received during his minority, and applied to the use of the civil list, which must otherwise have been supplied from other sources. The aggregate of the sums so received, on an accurate estimate, appeared to be little less than four hundred thousand pounds. Mr. Fox declared strongly in favour of the equity of this claim, but admitted that the sums voted for the payment of the prince's debts ought to be deducted from the balance accruing to the prince. On the 29th of March, the report of the committee appointed to examine the accounts of the civil list was taken into consideration; when it appeared that a debt amounting to not less than nine hundred and ninety thousand pounds had been contracted since the passing of Mr. Burke's reform bill, exclusive of the arrears discharged in the years 1784 and 1786, and that since that time the provisions of the bill had been wholly neglected. After a long and animated discussion, this sum was voted by the house but the chancellor of the exchequer allowed that measures ought to be taken to prevent in future any such accumulation of debt. Two days afterwards Mr. Manners Sut ton brought forward the question of the claim of the Prince of Wales to the arrears of the revenues arising from the dutchy of Cornwall, and concluded with moving for the appointment of a committee to inquire what sums were due to his royal highness from that quarter. The chancellor of the exchequer considered it as inconsistent with his duty to concur in this motion. As to the legal question, he did not pretend to decide upon it; but he thought the discussion ought not to be entertained in that house; not at least till it appeared in proof, that on application for redress, supposing the wrong to exist, relief could not be obtained elsewhere. He concluded by moving the order of the day, which, after a long debate, was carried by a majority of one hundred and sixty to one hundred and three voices. The commencement of the present year was signalized by the death of several distinguished personages. On the 28th of January, expired, after a long and painful illness, John Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, and Lord High Chancellor of Ireland. This nobleman possessed, from situation and character, a powerful ascendancy over the affairs of that country, at a most critical period of its history. In the elevated and arduous situation of lord chancellor, to which he was advanced in the year 1789, he discharged the duties of his office with a manly decision, and commanding ability, that extorted the applause of his political adversaries. But as a politician, he was imperious in his deportment, and inflexible in his purpose. All concessions and conciliation on the part of government he deemed weakness; and knew no other method of governing but by the strong arm of power. The earl was succeeded in the chancellorship of Ireland by Sir John Mitford, speaker of the British house of commons, who, exclusive of his great professional reputation, was the mover of the act of toleration in favour of the English Catholics. Upon him, the title of Lord Redesdale was conferred; and the speaker's chair was filled by Charles Abbot, Esq., a lawyer of eminence and activity in business, and who had the merit of possessing an intimate acquaintance with the forms, usages, and customs of the house. A striking contrast to one part of this portrait was exhibited in the character of Francis, Duke of Bedford, who, after an illness of a few days' duration, died at the family mansion of Woburn Abbey, on the 2d of March, having not yet completed the thirty-seventh year of his age. The grief for the loss of this distinguished nobleman might be styled national. "Born," says an eminent statesman,* "in a situation in which it was most difficult to keep pure the affections of the heart, and to cultivate the faculties of the understanding; possessed when yet a child of high honours and a princely fortune; and surrounded by dangers which have perverted and corrupted the best disposed minds; yet, in the midst of affluence, and the means of enjoyment, he had taught himself all the vir tues of adversity. If his condition was that of celibacy," continued Mr. Fox, "it was only so in one sense, that he has left behind him no children to lament his un *Mr. Fox. 99 timely end, and to imitate his brilliant ex- | Mr. Pitt, for the sum of 56,445,000l. three ample. But if all those are to be consider- per cents, for which the present minister, ed as our children, whom we have cherish- in consequence of the repeal of this tax, ed and protected, whom we have rendered was obliged to make provision. The loan happy by our good offices, and whom we for Great Britain he stated at twenty-three have bound to us by all the ties of affec- millions; the capital in the different funds, tion and gratitude, no man ever had a fa- created by the conversion of eight millions mily more numerous, nor was ever more and a half of exchequer bills into stock, piously lamented. There are some fami- previous to the Christmas recess, was lies," exclaimed the orator," of whom it eleven millions one hundred and thirtymay be remarked, that the love of public eight thousand and sixty-two pounds, and virtue is hereditary; and is it then unnatu- the aggregate sum for which interest was ral in a descendant of the great Earl of to be provided, appeared to be not less Bedford and of Lord Russel to be animat- than ninety-seven millions nine hundred ed by a fervent love, and to discover more and thirty-four thousand one hundred and than a common leaning towards the rights thirty-seven pounds, the interest of which and liberties of the people of England? was stated at three millions one hundred But let it not be supposed that in thus ex- and sixty-two thousand pounds. To depressing myself, I mean only to strew flow- fray this enormous demand, very heavy ers over the grave of the deceased. No! additional duties were imposed, on beer, it is for the sake of impressing his great malt, and hops. A considerable increase example upon the public; it is that men was also made to the assessed taxes; and may see it, that they may feel it; that they the last articles to which ministers had may talk of it in their domestic circles, and recourse at this crisis, was a tax on imhold it up, whenever it can be imitated, to ports and exports, being a modification of their children and to posterity.' the convoy duty. The produce of the new duties combined, he estimated at four millions, an excess which compensated for the deficiency of divers of the taxes imposed in the course of the war. In the progress of the business of revenue, the chancellor of the exchequer proposed and carried into effect, several important alterations in the sinking fund bills of Mr. Pitt. The last or new fund, provided for liquidating the debt contracted since the year 1786, was much larger than the original fund established for the liquidation of the old debt, contracted prior to that period. These two funds, the minister proposed to consolidate and to perpetuate, till the whole of the debt, both old and new, should be completely liquidated. The original fund had now risen to two millions five hundred and thirty-four thousand one hundred and eighty-seven pounds, and the new to three millions two hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred and forty-three pounds, making together five millions eight hundred and nine thousand three hundred and thirty pounds. The debt contracted previous to the year 1786, amounted to something more than two hundred and fifty-nine millions; and the new debt amounted to nearly three hundred millions, something less than forty millions having been redeemed by the old, and upwards of twenty millions by the operation of the new fund. The whole of the existing funded debt, including the loan of the present year, was consequently about five hundred and forty millions; the interest of which amounted annually to the vast sum A third person, who departed this life nearly at the same period, was the Chiefjustice of England, Lloyd, Lord Kenyon. This noble judge, though irascible in his temper, was honest in his intentions, learned in his profession, and impartial in his administration of public just ice. His parliamentary talents were of little estimation; but his judicial attainments were great, and upon them alone he sought to build his fame. He was the advocate of virtue, and the inflexible punisher of vice, however great or powerful the offender. He was succeeded by the Attorney-general, Edward Law, a distinguished lawyer, who was created, on his promotion to the chief-justiceship, a peer of the realm, under the title of Lord Ellenborough. On the 29th of March, soon after the signature of the definitive treaty, the chancellor of the exchequer, listening to the voice of the nation, expressed by petitions, gave notice of his intention to repeal the tax imposed by the late minister upon income. Mr. Addington acknowledged the burthen of the tax to be very grievous; though the necessities of the state had rendered its adoption necessary; but as this impost was originally proposed as a war-tax, it should cease with the occasion that had given it birth. On the 5th of April, the minister brought forward his plan of finance for the year; and a more arduous task no person occupying his station ever had to encounter. The income tax had been mortgaged by VOL. I. 34 |