AFFAIRS OF IRELAND.
During this year an important concession was made to the Roman Catholics of Ireland. Many events led to this measure. On the failure of Pitt’s attempt, in 1785, to reconcile the commercial interests of the two countries, resolutions were made in Ireland to abstain from the importation of English manufactures, and efforts were made by the populace to enforce these resolutions on all who disapproved of them. The tumults and alarms which followed these proceedings, gave rise, in the session of 1786, for an act, establishing a police in the city of Dublin, which, as the inhabitants were taxed for the support of the officers appointed by the crown, gave great offence. In the south, also, there existed serious disturbances. Men, called “Right Boys” banded together in order to defraud the Protestant clergy of their incomes. For this purpose the farmers entered into a combination, under the sanction of an oath, neither to compound for tithes, nor to assist any clergyman drawing them. This insurrection commenced in Kerry and the combination soon extended to Cork and other neighbouring counties, where the insurgents marched in large bodies, administering their oath in the name of Captain Right, giving out their laws, and punishing those who broke their faith. In these proceedings they were secretly encouraged by many gentlemen of landed property, who hoped from their violence that their estates might be exonerated from tithes; but when the insurgents proceeded to limit the rents of land, to increase the price of labour, and to oppose the collection of hearth-money, then an outcry was raised by these landlords against their designs, and an act was passed in 1787 for preventing tumultuous and illegal assemblies. Upon inquiry it was discovered that the clergy instead of receiving one-tenth scarcely received one-twentieth of the produce, and that the insurrection was owing to the avarice of the landlords, who charged the peasantry six pounds an acre for their land, and yet made them work for fivepence per day. It was also found that some landlords had excited their tenants to rob the clergy, for the purpose of adding the value of the tithes to their rack-rents, and that the magistrates had in several instances connived at the outrages. These troubles passed over, but the same spirit of disaffection towards the government still existed in Ireland. And this, perhaps, was increased by the contests which took place in the Irish parliament between the patriotic band, headed by Mr. Grattan, and those who adhered to government. It has been seen that at the time the regency bill was discussed in the British parliament, the Irish were in favour of the Prince of Wales. An address to him was carried by a large majority in the Irish parliament, and when the lord-lieutenant refused to forward it, commissioners were deputed to present it, as before narrated. Encouraged by his success in the matter of the address Mr. Grattan proposed several bills of a popular description, which were carried. But this patriotic bias did not long continue. When his majesty recovered, then many who had voted against government changed their sentiments, and again supported it. The very men who had voted for the introduction of the popular bills proposed by Grattan, on the committal of them gave their votes against them, and they were rejected. Hitherto the professed principles of the Marquess of Buckingham’s government had been strict economy, but when this struggle terminated every source of influence was thrown open in order to prevent future opposition to its measures. This system of corrupt influence was continued after the Earl of Westmoreland was appointed lord-lieutenant, in 1730, notwithstanding strenuous opposition had been made to it by the patriotic party. In order to render their opposition more systematic and strong, this party formed themselves into a Whig club, similar to that in London, and at their meeting arranged plans of parliamentary tactics, assigning to each member his particular post. The declared objects for which this association was pledged were bills for the limitations of places and pensions; for excluding certain descriptions of placemen, &c., from parliament; to disqualify revenue-officers from voting; to repeal the Dublin Police Bill; and to secure the responsibility of public officers in regard to payments from the treasury. But the efforts of the patriotic party were vain. When they banded together for these purposes they were unable to oppose government effectually, and when a new election took place in 1791, they rather lost strength than otherwise. Such was the state of affairs in Ireland when the French revolution took place. This event was looked upon by the mass of the Irish with strong sensations of joy. Ever disposed to revolt, they looked upon it as the harbinger of their own liberty. Meetings were held to celebrate its anniversary in different places, and also for the discussion of politics. The chief topics at these meetings were parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation, in favour of which strong resolutions were entered into with a view of intimidating government to concede them. In Dublin a society was formed, under the title of “United Irishmen,” and which declared itself to be “a union of Irishmen of every religious persuasion, in order to obtain a complete reform of the legislature, founded on the principles of civil, political, and religious liberty.” Against this and similar associations government issued a proclamation, interdicting all seditious assemblies, and commanding the magistrates, if necessary, to disperse them by military force. Still the society of United Irishmen resolved to persevere. It issued a counter proclamation, exhorting the volunteer companies which had been formed in Dublin to take up arms for the maintenance of public tranquillity against domestic and foreign foes, and recommending the Protestants to unite cordially with the Papists for the purpose of obtaining universal emancipation and a representative legislature. This agitation led government, in the session of 1792, to grant some new indulgences to the Papists, but these by no means satisfied them. They still persevered in seeking a redress of grievances, and in order to lay before government the sentiments of the collective body of Catholics, a secret committee for managing the political concerns of the Irish Catholics, which had long subsisted in Dublin, fixed on the plan of a convention of delegates from the several towns and counties, to be elected by persons deputed, two from each parish. At the same time this committee thought proper to disavow all dangerous tenets respecting the excommunication of princes, the persecution of heretics, the violation of oaths, the infallibility of the pope, &c., and to renounce all claims to forfeited estates, and all designs of subverting the present establishment. The convention met in December, 1792, and after various displays of eloquence, voted a petition to the king, stating the grievances, patience, and long-tried loyalty of his Catholic subjects, and dwelling particularly on the deprivation of the elective franchise. This petition was presented by deputation, and received graciously by his majesty, who, when the Irish parliament met on the 10th of January, 1793, pressed on its attention such measures as might be most likely to strengthen and cement a general union of sentiment among all classes and descriptions of his Catholic subjects, in support of the established constitution. In consequence of this recommendation Mr. Secretary Hobart brought the bill of relief into the house of commons; the chief enacting clause of which enabled the Catholics to exercise and enjoy all civil and military offices, and places of trust or profit under the crown, under certain restrictions. This privilege was not to extend so far as to enable any Roman Catholic to sit or vote in either house of parliament, or to fill the office of lord-lieutenant or lord chancellor, or judge in either of the three courts of record or admiralty, or keeper of the privy-seal, secretary of state, lieutenant or custos rotulorum of counties, or privy-counsellor, or master in chancery, or a general on the staff, or sheriff of any county, &c. This bill passed with few dissentient voices, and though it fell short of complete emancipation, it was supposed to contain all that the executive government, could, at this time, without too violent an exertion, effect; upon which account it was received with gratitude. As a further concession to Ireland, a libel bill, similar to that of England, was passed; the power of the crown to grant pensions on the Irish establishment was limited to the sum of £80,000; and certain descriptions of placemen and pensioners were excluded from the privilege of sitting in the house of commons. His majesty also declared his acceptance of a limited sum, fixed at £225,000 for the expenses of his civil list, in lieu of the hereditary revenues of the crown. Having thus conciliated opposition, government carried several bills for the safety of the country. Among these were the alien and traitorous correspondence bills, analogous to those of England; a bill to prevent arms and ammunition from being imported, or kept without license; and another “to prevent the election or appointment of assemblies,” purporting to represent the people or any number of the people, under pretence of preparing or presenting petitions, &c., to the king or either house of parliament, for alteration of matters established by law, or redress of alleged grievances in church or state. As a further measure for securing the safety of the country, a bill was passed for raising a body of militia by ballot, to serve the period of four years. This measure, how-over, gave rise to discontent and outrage. As each person, on whom the lot fell, was obliged to serve unless he could procure a substitute or pay a large fine, it was considered a heavy grievance. To alleviate the burden, subscriptions for raising recruits were adopted, and insurance offices established to indemnify individuals on the payment of a stated sum. It was not, however, without great difficulty that recruits could be raised; the peasantry imagining, that, as was the case in the American war, if they joined the militia, they should be sent out of the kingdom. This caused discontents and riots, which cost the lives of many persons. But apart from this, there were other causes which produced disturbances in this unhappy country. About the year 1784, a set of insurgents, called “Defenders,” succeeded the White Boys. These arose from a quarrel between some Catholics and Protestants, in the county of Armagh, the former of whom, being possessed of arms, overcame their opponents. Enraged at this defeat the Protestants began to take arms from the Catholics; styling themselves “Peep-of-day Boys,” from their breaking into the houses of their opponents at break of day. On the contrary, those who strove to prevent them called themselves “Defenders;” but these, in 1789, seem to have been regularly organised, prepared for assault as well as defence, and, becoming private aggressors, committed some atrocious murders. Their outrages attracted the notice of parliament, and a secret committee of the lords in this session was appointed to make a report of their proceedings and also of the “United Irishmen.” At the time when this committee made their report, they had extended their associations through several counties, which associations assembled by night to learn the use of arms, and also for the purpose of plundering houses and murdering the protestants, and especially the established clergy. In many parts of the country, indeed, gentlemen were obliged to quit their houses, or to place soldiers therein for defence. It was hoped that the Catholic Relief Bill would have the effect of conciliating the marauders, but it failed to produce this effect. The principle of contention, in fact, still remained in full force. By this bill the Catholics were vested with the elective franchise; and now the question between them and the Protestants was, whether they should form a part of the government. They had gained much, but they wanted more, and so the system of agitation and outrage was still continued.
PROSPECTS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, &c.
At the commencement of this campaign, France had to combat 55,000 Austro-Sardinians from the Alps; 50,000 Spaniards from the Pyrenees; 66,000 Austrians, reinforced by 38,000 Anglo-Batavians, on the Lower Rhine and in Belgium; 33,000 Austrians, between the Meuse and the Moselle; and 112,000 Russians, Austrians, Prussians, and Imperialists, of the Middle and Upper Rhine. Against these formidable enemies the convention ordered a levy of 300,000 troops, and at the same time established a committee of public safety, with dictatorial power over persons and property. Meanwhile Dumouriez was occupied with an ambitious plan of reaction. Instead of remaining neutral between the contending factions composing the national convention, as was the duty of a general, he proposed to establish the constitutional monarchy of 1791. But first he intended to deliver Belgium from the rule of the Jacobins, to secure Holland by aid of the Batavian republicans, and to unite those two countries into a single state. With this end in view, Durnouriez moved from Antwerp and attacked the Dutch towns of Breda, Kiundert, and Gerbruydenberg, all which capitulated, after little more than a show of resistance from the garrisons. His plan was to penetrate into the heart of the United Provinces; but he was brought to a pause at the fortress of Williamstadt, That fort was occupied by the Dutch general Botzlarr, with some Dutch troops, who held no Jacobin principles, and by a strong detachment of English guards, who made an obstinate resistance; and while the French troops were still engaged in the siege of this fortress, intelligence arrived from the eastern frontier of the Netherlands, which materially changed the aspect of the war. Durnouriez had sent General Miranda, his second in command, to reduce the important town of Maestrecht, on the Maes or Meuse. On the 1st of March General Clairfait having suddenly passed the Roer in the night, attacked the French posts on that side, and compelled them to retreat, with the loss of 2,000 men; and this was followed by two successive victories over the French, on the 2nd and 8th of March; the one gained by the Archduke Albert, brother to the Emperor of Germany, and the other by the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, who obtained a singular advantage over the main body of the French, in front of Aix-la-Chapelle, driving them from thence with the loss of 5,000 men, and twenty pieces of cannon. On hearing of these events, General Miranda gave orders for retreating to Tongres, whence the French armies were again compelled to fall back to Saint Tron. At Saint Tron Miranda was joined by General Valence, who had evacuated Liege and its territory, and they then moved towards Tirlemont, where Durnouriez soon after arrived to take the command in person, leaving the conduct of affairs on the northern frontier to General de Fluers. Dumouriez was attacked by the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, at Tirlemont, with great spirit; but he kept his ground, and obliged the Austrians to fall back upon Neerwinden. This was on the 16th of March, and two days after Durnouriez moved to attack the Prince, but received a signal defeat; 4,000 killed and wounded remained on the field of battle, and ten thousand deserted, and scarcely paused in their flight until they reached the other side of the French frontier. Durnouriez attributed the origin of all his misfortunes to the Jacobin Club of Paris, and to the Mountain, which at this time was preparing to crush the Gironde. Half-crazed, he retreated towards Louvaine and Brussels, and in his route he was met by Danton and Lacroix, who came as commissioners from the convention to draw up a report on his conduct, both civil and military. He was devoted to destruction by the Jacobins, if they could get hold of him, for he had long ago offended Marat and Camus, two of the prime leaders of that fraternity. Dumouriez knew this, and the commissioners had scarcely left him, when he sent an officer of his staff to the head-quarters of the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, to make some arrangements relative to the wounded and prisoners. This officer was referred to General Mack, who was considered to be a consummate politician, and it was agreed that Mack and Durnouriez should meet and confer together. When they met it was agreed that the Imperialists should not again attack the French army in force; that Durnouriez should be allowed to retire to Brussels; and that after the French should have evacuated Brussels the two generals should have another interview. All this was done, and at the future meeting, which took place at Ath, Durnouriez, knowing that there was nothing for him but a counter-revolution, or death, or flight, agreed with Mack to co-operate with the Imperialists against the Republicans; to give up to them the whole of Belgium; to march with his own army to Paris; and to call in the aid of the Austrians, if he should not prove strong enough to disperse the Jacobin rulers of France, and dictate the law at Paris. It is supposed that Dumouriez intended setting the Duke of Chartres on the throne of France, and that the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg assented to his project, hoping that if a counter-revolution could be effected, the young dauphin might be liberated from the Temple, and the regular line of the monarchy restored in him. The project seemed the more practicable, because the Prussians were preparing to invade France from the Moselle; the Spaniards, against whom the convention had declared war, were descending through the passes of the Pyrenees; an English army was collected in Holland to co-operate with the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg; and the royalists in the Vendee had gained several victories over the troops of the republican government. Dumouriez evacuated all the places he held in the Netherlands, and slowly retired towards the French frontier. In his route he met a great number of persons who were flying from Paris to escape the guillotine, many of whom encouraged him to persevere in the enterprise. The designs of Dumouriez, however, did not pass unsuspected at Paris, and three commissioners, friends of his mortal foe, Marat, were dispatched to watch his movements, under the pretence of conferring with him concerning the affairs of Belgium. In an interview with these commissioners, Dumouriez expressed himself with great violence against the Jacobins, and denounced the republican constitution as too silly a thing to last. “Ever since the battle of Jemappe,” he observed “I have regretted every advantage I have gained in the field for so bad a cause.” Growing warm in conversation, he likewise remarked:—“The convention is composed of two hundred brigands and five hundred fools. As long as I have three inches of steel at my side, I will never suffer it to reign or to shed blood by means of the revolutionary tribunals they have just established.” All Dumouriez said was carefully treasured up in the minds of these commissioners, and, on their return, reported to the Jacobins. In the mean time, Dumouriez attempted to gain possession of the three important frontier fortresses of Lille, Condé, and Valenciennes. Some secret communication with friends was opened by him in these fortresses, but the convention had sent commissioners to each of them, and both the populace and the troops were declared republicans, so that his designs were frustrated. Thus unsuccessful, Dumouriez removed his head-quarters to the baths of Saint Arnaud. Meanwhile the convention had summoned him to their bar, and imagining that he would not come without compulsion, had despatched four of their members to bring him and win over his army. The commissioners transmitted their orders to Dumouriez, while they remained at Lille; and finding that he did not obey them, they resolved to proceed to the camp. Dumouriez received the commissioners at the head of his staff, but refused to quit his troops; at the same time he promised, at a calmer time, he would demand an investigation of his conduct, and give an explanation both of his actions and designs. In order to gain their point, the commissioners replied that no harm was meant to his person, and alleging the example of the ancient Roman generals, they contended that it was his duty to submit to the republic. To this Dumouriez rejoined, “Gentlemen, we are constantly committing mistakes in our quotations from the classics; we parody and disfigure Roman history in citing their virtues to excuse our crimes. The Romans did not kill Tarquin: the Romans had a well-regulated republic and good laws; and they had neither a Jacobin Club nor a revolutionary tribunal. We are plunged in anarchy; we are wading in blood.” “Citizen general,” said Camus, one of the commissioners, “will you obey the decree of the National Convention or not?” “Not exactly at this moment,” replied Dumouriez. “Well then,” continued Camus, “I declare, in the name of the convention, that you are no longer general of this army, and I order that your papers be seized, and that you be arrested,” “This is very strong,” replied Dumouriez, and calling for his German hussars, he ordered them to seize the commissioners, and to convey them to General Clairfait’s head-quarters at Tournay, as hostages for the safety of the royal family of France. During that night Dumouriez drew up a proclamation to his army and to all France, in which he called upon all true Frenchmen to rise and rally round him and the monarchical constitution of 1791. His troops were informed of all that had happened on the following morning, and the measure was enthusiastically approved by those of the line and the artillery. Dumouriez, however, had enemies in his camp. He had an appointment with Colonel Mack, the Archduke Charles, and the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg on the 4th of April, in order to regulate future operations; and at an early hour on the morning of that day he set off with his staff; but he and his party had scarcely got upon the road which led to Condé, when they met two battalions of volunteers who were marching without order, and apparently without instructions. The design of these volunteers was to arrest Dumouriez and his party; and on discovering this they quitted the high-road and struck across the country, towards the Austrian lines, for protection. They reached Rury in the evening, where they were soon after joined by Saxe-Cobourg and Mack, who, with Dumouriez, passed the night in preparing a proclamation to be issued in the name of the Austrians, and in further explaining and settling the treaty between the French army and that of the emperor. But Dumourez was doomed to be disappointed. He still imagined that his regular troops were faithful to his person, and on the morrow he resolved to throw himself among them. His army, however, was now no more. Instigated by some emissaries from Valenciennes, who told them that Dumouriez was either killed or drowned, the artillery had risen upon their officers in the night, and had marched, with all their guns, baggage, and ammunition, for Valenciennes, whither they were soon followed by the troops of the line. When, therefore, Dumouriez returned in the morning to Saint Arnaud, his army was no more; and he with the Duke of Chartres, the Duke of Montpensier, Colonel Thouvenot, and the rest of his numerous staff’, joined the Austrians. They were followed by the entire regiment of Berchingy, 1,500 strong, and some fragments of some French regiments, and the sons of Orleans. The rest of his army joined the camp at Famars, under Dampierre, who was now invested with the chief command. On the following day, Dumouriez issued a proclamation, which contained a recapitulation of his services to the French republic, and an animated picture of the outrages of the Jacobins and of the mischiefs to be apprehended from a continuation of anarchy in France; concluding with an exhortation to the French to restore the constitution of 1791, and a declaration on oath that he bore arms only for that purpose. This proclamation was accompanied by a manifesto on the part of Saxe Cobourg, now commander-in-chief of the armies of Austria, announcing that the allied powers were no longer to be considered as principals, but merely as auxiliaries of France; that they had no other object than to co-operate with the general in giving to France her constitutional king, and the constitution she formed for herself. These proceedings were no sooner known at Paris than the convention declared its sittings permanent, denounced Dumouriez as a traitor, and fixed a price on his head; banished all the Bourbons, and established that “committee of public safety,” which was destined to complete the crimes and destroy the chief authors of the revolution.
This defection of Dumouriez gave great advantage to the Jacobins. They exclaimed that he was leagued with the Girondists, and that all were loyalists and traitors. Robespierre attacked many of them by name in the convention, and Marat denounced them in the popular assemblies. The committee of public safety, to which the plots of their enemies gave rise, seemed to promise advantage to the Girondists; but it served only to excite their adversaries more violently against them. The struggle between these contending parties at length approached a crisis. At this time Lyons, Orleans, Bordeaux, Marseilles, and La Vendee, indignant against the anarchists, were all declaring themselves for the party of moderation and the Girondists. These were startling events to the Jacobins, and they prepared to strike a blow which should prostrate their antagonists. A plot had been devised for their destruction, but it was discovered, and the infamous Hébert, who was at the head of it, was thrown into prison. Tumults in the assembly and commotion in the city now became the order of the day; and at length, on the 25th of May, a furious multitude assembled at the hall of the convention, and loudly demanded the suppression of the committee of public safety and the liberation of Hébert. These proposals were resisted, but the Girondists could not long sustain the conflict with the Jacobins. On the 27th, the Sans-culotte bands of the anarchists appeared in a body at the door of the convention, bearing a general petition of the sections, and despite the expostulations of the assembly, they took their seats with the members, and, under the influence of terror, the commission of twelve was broken, and Hébert set at liberty. On the morrow, however, the convention boldly reversed this compulsory vote; at the same time seeking a compromise with the populace. But it was in vain that the Girondists sought to conciliate an enraged populace. On the 2nd of June, the mob, under the command of Henriot, surrounded the hall of the convention, and thirty of the leaders of the Girondists were arrested. The political career of the Girondists, indeed, was now over: henceforth they were known only as individuals by their courage in the midst of calamity and death. Many of them saved themselves by concealment, others by flight, while many fell by their own hands, or were cut off by the axe of the executioner. Twenty-one of them languished in long imprisonment, until a decree of accusation was issued against them, and the guillotine ended their sufferings.
With the Girondists, the last bulwark against the inbreaking tyranny fell. All the good lamented their fall, while the evil-disposed rejoiced. On their ruin the revolutionary government was formed. Robespierre, who directed all acts in the committee of public safety, became dictator, while his associates divided the departments among themselves, and the superintendence of the police was vested in a committee of general safety, possessed of formidable authority. One of the first results of this new order of things was a change in the divisions of the year, and the names of the months and of the days, which republican calendar soon led to the abolition of public worship. One of the prime leaders of this new movement was Marat, who did not long enjoy his triumph over the Girondists. He was assassinated by a young Norman girl, named Charlotte Corday, who fancied that by cutting him off she could destroy his party.
The tyranny displayed in the capital, and the appearance of some of the proscribed Girondist deputies, stirred up the spirit of war in the provinces. The people of Normandy at once declared against the anarchists, and raised an army which, under General Wimpfen, pushed forward to Evreux, within a day’s journey of Paris. The victorious insurgents of La Vendee also marched upon Nantes, in order to procure themselves a stronghold and a sea-port. Moreover, Bordeaux, indignant at the arrest of the deputies, despatched a remonstrance to Paris, and began to levy an army to second it; and Toulouse, Lyons, and Marseilles all arrayed themselves against the Jacobins. Their fall seemed inevitable, and they themselves anticipated such a consummation. Rendered desperate, thereby, they prepared to ward off the blow. In a brief period the republicans had on foot fourteen armies, consisting in the whole of 1,200,000 soldiers and the whole of the hostile provinces cowered before their arms.
In the meantime several engagements had taken place between the republican forces of France and those of the allied powers. After succeeding to the command, General Dampierre threw himself into the fortified camp of Famars, which covered Valenciennes, He made some attempts to cover Condé also, but that important fortress was securely invested by a part of the Austrian army; and the Duke of York soon after arriving with some English troops, it was resolved to make a vigorous attack along all that part of the French frontier, and to reduce Valenciennes, Condé, and Lisle. The supreme command of the armies, which consisted of. Austrians, Prussians, English, and Dutch, was held by General Clairfait. Against these Dampierre issued from his camp at Famars, on the eighth of April, but his best troops were beaten at all points, and he himself received a mortal wound. After this defeat the republicans fell into a lamentable state of discouragement and disorganization; General Lamarche, who had succeeded to the command, being a man of neither skill nor energy. Had the allied powers pushed forward, they might have carried the fortified camp of Famars without any difficulty; but they allowed a whole fortnight to elapse before they made the attempt; and then, reinforcements having been received, it was not carried before many lives were lost on both sides, and after all Lamarche was allowed to retire and occupy another fortified camp between Valenciennes and Bouehain. The allied armies now laid siege to Valenciennes, and it was in vain that General Custine, who had arrived to take the command of the French army, sought to relieve the place; it was captured towards the end of July, and the Duke of York took possession of it in the name of the Emperor of Germany. About the same time the garrison of Condé yielded themselves prisoners of war, and Mayence submitted to the Prussian arms. A few days later the French were driven from a strong position near the Scheldt, called Caesar’s Camp.
At this point the success of the allied armies during this campaign closed. Jealousies and dissensions had long existed in their camp; and after the French were driven from their position behind the Scheldt, a grand council of war was held, wherein it was determined that the British, Hanoverians, Dutch, and Hessians should form a distinct army, not dependent upon the co-operation of the Austrians. This was the origin of sad disasters; had they held together, and had they acted vigorously against the enemy’s masses, which were weakened and depressed by defeat, it is probable that the object of the war would have been gained. The Prince of Saxe-Coburg and General Clairfait strongly opposed the fatal step; but the British army, conducted by the Duke of York, decamped, and moved towards Dunkirk, while the Imperialists sat down before Quesnoy. The Austrians were successful in their enterprise: after fifteen days the garrison of Quesnoy capitulated. A different fate awaited the British army. The Duke of York arrived in the vicinity of Menin on the 18th of August, where several severe contests took place, and the post of Lincelles, lost by the Dutch, was recovered by a gallant charge of the English guards, led on by General Sir John Lake. His royal highness now laid siege to Dunkirk, where he was attacked by Houchard and Jourdan, and from whence, after losing a great number of his forces, he was compelled to make a precipitate retreat. This victory excited great joy at Paris, and changed the aspect of the war from the German Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Relieved from the immediate danger of invasion, the convention had now time to mature its plans of conquest, and to organise its numerous troops. Houchard, however, did not follow up his success as a skilful general would have done. He neglected to concentrate his forces and to attack the English, and after a series of actions against detached corps and gaining a victory over the Dutch, he was defeated at Courtray by General Beaulieu, and driven behind the Lys. His army sought shelter under the cannon of Lisle, but he was exposed to the fury of the convention; he was accused by his own officers, brought before the revolutionary tribunal, condemned, and executed.
By this time the French had formed an overwhelming force on the Belgian frontier. Had they made a series of single concentrated attacks on the divided forces of the allies, they could scarcely have failed of crushing them in detail. Instead of acting thus, however, a scattered enemy was attacked by separate corps, and there was fighting from Dunkirk to Maubeuge, and from Maubeuge to Luxembourg.
After the retreat of the Duke of York, the French attacked every post on that long frontier line, but were everywhere repulsed. They were more successful at Maubeuge. The Austrians, after the capture of Quesnoy, laid siege to this place, but the French under General Jourdan, attacked them in their trenches on the 15th of October, and after sustaining a great loss, forced them to raise the siege. Nothing more of importance was undertaken in Flanders, and both parties went into winter-quarters: the Austrians at Bavay, and the French at Guice. Jourdan was removed from the chief command, and it was conferred on Pichegru, who had all the talent, energy, and enterprise which the situation of the republicans demanded.
After the capture of Mayence, and after having gained some trifling advantages in skirmishes on the Rhine, the King of Prussia, impatient to secure his iniquitous acquisitions in Poland, travelled with all speed into that country. The command of his army was given to the Duke of Brunswick, who was to act in concert with a small Austrian army under Wnrihser. These two generals drove the French from several strong posts, and expelled them from their fortified lines at Weissumberg, and from the fortified camp and triple lines a Lauter. The Prussians then laid siege to Landau, while the Austrians invested Strasburg, the capital of the province of Alsace. The Austrians had been invited by the noblesse of Strasburg, and the convention in consequence despatched thither Saint Just and Lebas, who introduced the reign of terror, not only into the town, but also into the whole of Alsace, except where the Austrians were located. General Oustine was sent to Paris to be beheaded, and Saint-Just called young Hoche from Dunkirk and gave him the command of that army, which was now re-inforced by nearly the whole of the army of the Moselle. Wurmser was obliged to retreat, and Strasburg was left to the mercy of the two commissioners of the convention. General Hoche sought to get between Wurmser and the Duke of Brunswick, but he was repulsed and put to flight with the loss of three or four thousand men. The republican general then effected a junction with the French army of the Rhine, and with some troops collected by the commissioners in Alsace, and taking Wurmser by surprise, he defeated the Austrians, making many prisoners. On the 26th of December, aided by Desaix, Pichegru, and Michaud, General Hoche made an attack upon the lines of Weissemberg, and was on the point of driving the Austrians from thence, when he was checked by the Duke of Brunswick, who broke up the siege of Landau, in order to assist his allies. The Duke of Brunswick wished Wurmser, who, on the morrow, withdrew his army from the lines of Weissemberg, to remain on the left bank of the Rhine, until all his artillery and stores should be well advanced on the road towards Mayence; but the Austrian general would not consent to remain a single day, but crossed the Rhine, and left the duke to shift for himself. The duke conducted his army safely to Mayence, but he soon after resigned his command, with many bitter accusations against the Austrians. By the end of this year the French had not only recovered their old frontier lines in this direction, but had the whole of the Palatinate at their mercy. They soon appeared before Manheim, and Germany began to tremble for the safety of its own frontier.
The most energetic opponents with whom the republicans had to contend in this campaign were the Spaniards. Two armies were formed in Spain; one of 30,000 men to invade Rousillon; the other of 25,000, to penetrate France on the side of Bayonne. The former of these two armies, under Don Ricardos, gained several important victories, passed Perpignan, and interrupted the communication between Rousillon and Languedoc. Alarmed at the progress of this, formidable foe, the convention took energetic measures to reinforce their armies. Two divisions were ordered to advance against a corps of Spaniards under Don Juan Courten; and this being defeated, the republicans determined to assault the camp of the Spaniards at Truellas. The intrenchments were carried, and they were on the point of gaining a victory, when Don Ricardos arrived with his cavalry, and turned the fortune of the day: three French battalions laid down their arms, and 4,000 were slain. The French general Davoust, however, having been reinforced by 15,000 men, compelled Don Ricardos to act on the defensive, and to retire to a strongly intrenched camp near Boulon. But Ricardos still showed himself to be a formidable foe. Having received re-inforcements in the beginning of December, he attacked and routed the republican army with a loss of 2,500 men, and this success was followed by the capture of Port Vendre and Collioure. Davoust’s army was so much discouraged that whole battalions disbanded and returned home, and the national guards deserted their colours. The general announced to the convention that he was left with only 8,000 men; but Don Ricardos, ignorant of his opponent’s condition, did not follow up his successes, and the arrival of reinforcements, sent from Toulon in the beginning of the next month, rescued France from peril in this quarter. The other force of the Spaniards, under Don Ventura Caro, crossed the Bidassoa, and on the 1st of May drove the republicans from one of their intrenched camps, taking fifteen pieces of cannon; and on the 6th of June, after storming another camp and taking all its cannon and ammunition, forced the French troops into Saint Pied de Port. Having fortified some posts in the country, they repulsed a vigorous attack made by the Republican forces, and so crippled them that no movement of consequence could be undertaken during the rest of the campaign.
On the side of the Alps, the King of Sardinia, having received some money from England, commenced the campaign with considerable vigour. He was reinforced by some fresh Austrian regiments, under the command of General Devins, and having collected the mass of their forces on the maritime Alps, they resolved to make a descent into the country of Nice, in order to wrest it from the French republicans, it being wholly in their hands. Before they descended, fortified camps were to be made, and sundry fortresses improved or reconstructed, to render it impossible, even in case of a reverse, that the French should force the passes of the mountain, and get into Piedmont on that side. Kellerman held the command in chief of the French army of the Alps, and towards the end of May he ordered Brunet, who commanded in Nice, to push forward to the crests of the maritime Alps, and dislodge the Piedmontese and Austrians, before they should have time to complete their fortifications. Brunet divided his army into four columns, giving them instructions to attack three of the more important points at once, and then to unite and fall upon Fort Raus, which was the strongest of all, and the key to all the country behind. The French columns ascended the steep heights on the 8th of June, and the Piedmontese were driven from every position except Fort Hans; but when they had ascended that loftier mountain, they were repulsed and, finally, driven down the mountain with great loss. The attack was renewed on the 12th; but they were again repulsed from Fort Rtaus, and driven down the mountain, with a loss more dreadful than the first. The French, disheartened by these reverses, were obliged to confine themselves to the low country of Nice, and fearing the descent of the enemy, Kellerman placed strong detachments in the gorges through which they must have descended, and caused trenches to be dug and redoubts raised to impede their progress. But the King of Sardinia did not adhere to his purpose. General Devins was of opinion that while a part of the army should be left on the maritime Alps to keep the French forces in check, the greater part of the army, composed of the Austrians and of the best Piedmontese and Sardinian troops, should march through Savoy, drive the French out of that country, chastise the Savoyard Jacobins, and thence march straight on the populous city of Lyons. The King of Sardinia finally resolved to unite this plan with his own, and to pursue them both at the same time. His son, the Duke of Montferrat, was sent to drive the republicans out of Savoy and the Tarantaise; and though the duke took the field several weeks too late, he drove the French before him, took possession of the Tarantaise, and became master of the whole of Upper Savoy and of a great part of the low country. Instead of advancing rapidly upon Lyons, however, the Duke halted at Aigur Belle; and Kellerman, hearing of his successes, rushed from his camp at Tornns with reinforcements for the French camp at Conflans, and being joined by other republicans from Annecy and the country round Geneva, the Duke of Montferrat was obliged to retrace his steps, and to abandon everything he had gained on the eastern side of the Alps. The King of Sardinia had remained on the maritime Alps, and, like his son, began operations by driving the republicans before him. Descending from the crests of his mountain station, he made himself master of all the advanced posts and works of the French; but on the 18th of October he was repulsed with great loss at the bridge of Giletta, and then he retreated by the roads through which he had come, leaving Nice to the French, and depriving the English and Spaniards, with his other allies at Toulon, of any hope they might have entertained of future assistance from him.
Before war was declared against Great Britain, the French resolved to make use of their sovereignty over the Mediterranean sea. Admiral Truguet was sent with nineteen ships of the line and some frigates to make the conquest of Sardinia, chiefly, it would appear, for the purpose of obtaining corn from that exuberantly fertile island. It was imagined by the French that the Sardinians, who were an unruly and turbulent people, were ripe for revolt, and that, therefore, with their aid, they would throw off the yoke of monarchy. But if the Sardinians were turbulent they were not disaffected; and, moreover, they had a mortal aversion for all changes, all projects, all foreigners, and all interlopers. Truguet soon discovered their temper. He sailed into the bay of Cagliari on the 24th of January; and as soon as he had anchored his great ships in front of the town, he sent an officer and twenty soldiers to summon the place, and to represent the advantages which the islanders would derive from a union with the French republic. No sooner, however, had the boat got within the range of their guns, than the Sardinians opened a fire upon it, and killed the officer and fourteen of his men, and wounding nearly all the rest. Truguet, enraged at such a reception, commanded a bombardment on the town, which lasted three days without any visible effect on its walls; and having suffered great loss from the red-hot shot of the garrison, he was compelled to haul off, and come to anchor at the mouth of the Gulf. About the same time an attack was made with the same ill-success on La Madalena, a small island belonging to the Sardinians in the Straits of Bonifacio, by a small republican force from Corsica, among which was Napoleon Buonaparte, It was months after Truguet’s Sardinian adventure, when the English put to sea for the purpose of encountering the French fleet. On the 14th of July Lord Howe took the command of the channel-fleet; and though he kept cruizing till the 10th of December, and several times descried the French fleet, the services he rendered did not much exceed that of securing the safe arrival of our West-India convoys. The first encounter between two frigates of the hostile nations took place in the Channel; when the Nymph, of thirty-two guns, commanded by Captain Edward Pellew, captured the Cleopatra, of forty guns, commanded by one of the ablest officers in the French service. In the West Indies the French island of Tobago, St. Pierre, Miquelon, and Domingo were reduced; but at Martinique the English met with a repulse. In the East Indies all the small French factories were seized, and Pondicherry, which had been restored at the last peace, surrendered to General Brathwaite.
GEORGE III. 1793-1794
During the month of July Vice Admiral Lord Hood entered the Mediterranean with a small fleet, and presented himself before Toulon. Many old officers of the French navy were in this city, and they entered into a correspondence with Lord Hood suggesting the separate measures, of surrendering their fleet to him, and putting him in possession of the ports and forts. As a proof of their loyalty and sincerity, Hood called upon them to acknowledge Louis the Seventeenth, and upon that condition he promised the people of Toulon, together with those of Marseilles and other towns, all the support in his power. The sections met to deliberate upon this proposal; and notwithstanding the fierce opposition of the Jacobins, it was carried. Thus victorious, the majority put to death the president of the Jacobin club; persecuted and imprisoned many of their persecutors; and re-revolutionized everything. They committed themselves so deeply that they felt they had nothing to expect from the republicans but destruction; and as they were victorious at Marseilles, the counter-revolutionists concluded their treaty with Lord Hood; and thus the most important maritime place of the kingdom, with immense magazines, and with a fleet of seventeen ships of the line and five frigates, fell, without a stroke of the sword, into the hands of the English. Lord Hood, however, had scarcely put the port in order and taken possession of the town, before General Cartaux arrived with his victorious army from Marseilles, and cantoned himself in the surrounding villages and bastides. He was subsequently joined by volunteers and other corps; and Lord Hood, sensible that the most desperate efforts would be made to recover the place, and that his sailors and the French royalists would be unequal to its defence, applied in all directions for assistance. He was joined by the Spanish Admiral Langara, by some Neapolitan and Sardinian troops, and by other ships of the line and frigates from England, and subsequently by some troops from Gibraltar. Before active operations commenced General Cartaux was succeeded in the command of the republican forces by General Dugommier. But there was one in his army who was more skilful than Dugommier himself. This was Napoleon Buonaparte, who had served at Nice during the summer as a young officer of artillery, and in whom Dugommier placed the greatest confidence. Buonaparte was also in favour with the Jacobin commissioners of the convention; and though but a youth, he obtained the command of the whole besieging artillery. The executive at Paris sent a plan of attack to Dugommier, and the commander-in-chief assembled a council upon it. Dugommier thought the plan a good one, but Buonaparte suggested a better. He remarked: “All that you want is to force the English to evacuate Toulon. Instead of attacking them in the town, which must involve a long series of operations, try and establish batteries which shall sweep the harbour and the roadstead. If you can only drive away the ships, the troops will not remain.” Buonaparte contrived to conduct the works according to his own plan, and his genius decided the fate of Toulon. After a series of operations, Lord Hood was compelled to evacuate the town, and its wretched inhabitants were left to the mercy of their furious republican conquerors. Dugommier subsequently strongly recommended Buonaparte to the notice of the convention, remarking, “that, if neglected, he would assuredly force his own way up.” On this recommendation he was placed on the list for promotion, and confirmed in a provisional appointment of chef-de-battaillon in the army of Italy.
The capture of Toulon crushed all hope of resistance to the Jacobins in the south of France. Every danger to the republican government of Paris, indeed, arising from an ill-converted and ill-directed confederacy, had been warded off in all quarters. At the commencement of the contest the allies had the advantage both in numbers and discipline; but this advantage was no match for that spirit which the revolution had infused into their opponents. Moreover, their adherence to the old system of warfare, and the policy of merely keeping up their contingents, soon exposed them to dispersion or annihilation, as the overthrow of all pacific employments in France enabled the convention to send out armies in large masses wherever danger was discovered.
Revolutionized France, therefore, was left free to act and to conquer. And how fearfully the republicans acted, how cruelly they treated their vanquished foes, the pages of history unfolds. It has before been stated that in all the revolted provinces their arms during the year were finally victorious—wherever they conquered there followed vengeance. The most fearful scenes wore enacted in the Vendée. The inhabitants of this department, which is situated in the old province of Poitou, were terrified at the idea of liberty, which had never come before their understanding, and they repeated the execrations that priests and nobles threw out against the revolution and its leaders. From small beginnings a terrible storm arose: the insurrection which began in Lower Poitou extended the whole length of the Loire, both north and south of that river. In the space of one month there were forty thousand men under arms, and two months later, thrice that number threatened death to the republicans. In many bloody engagements the republican troops were defeated by them. During the battle-cry, “Vive Louis XVII! Vive Jesus Christ!” they rushed upon the soldiers of the republic, and in their native country appeared invincible. Alarmed at their valour and success, the convention, upon the proposal of Barrère, decreed the extermination of the Vendée within twenty-one days; and in order to carry this decree into execution they poured their troops from all sides into that doomed country. The decisive battle was won near Chollet: D Elbée and Beauchamp, two of their most noble leaders, fell, and then their soldiers, seized with terror, fled, and the republic celebrated the most bloody triumph. Humanity shudders at the atrocities which then ensued. The convention had proscribed the whole population of the Vendée, and its generals executed the dreadful proscription with tiger rage;—children, old men, and women were pitilessly massacred, and ruin marked the path of the victors. The bulk of the Vendee army had passed the Loire, where it was reinforced by many malcontents arriving from Bretagne, and after several victories intended to march upon Paris; whilst Charette with a small force occupied the most inaccessible parts of the Vendée, and conquered the islands of Boccin and Noirmoutier. But it was in vain that they struggled against the masses which the convention soon poured forth against them.
After changing results, the death-blow was given to them at Maus, in the month of December: 20,000 then fell in the field of battle, and, soon after, the remnant of their army was annihilated. Again vengeance fell upon the inhabitants of the Vendée: columns sur-named “Infernal” inarched through the country in all directions, destroying thousands of its inhabitants, and carrying thousands more as prisoners to Nantes, where they were delivered over to the tiger-fangs of the monster Carrier. Doomed to death, they were there either crushed in bodies by the cannon’s thunder, slain with the sword, or drowned by hundreds in the Loire. Similar atrocities filled Lyons, the ornament of the south of France; and Bordeaux and Marseilles suffered the like hard fate.
Nor was Paris, the seat of the revolution, free from scenes of slaughter. As it has been said of Rome, she did “fearful execution on herself.” After the fall of the Girondists, their mortal foes, the Jacobins, proceeded to establish the most democratic constitution that ever existed. From that time the committee of public safety, now composed of decimvirs under the infamous, Robespierre, exercised all the powers of government, ruling the provinces, generals, and armies, with despotic sway, by means of its commissioners, and exercising, by the revolutionary tribunal, supreme authority over both property and life. Every section of the community was held in terror by this miscalled “committee of public safety.” Even the representatives of the people, which thought itself called to liberate the world, and with them the whole people, trembled before these few tyrants, who, elevated from the dust by the power of accidents more than by that of genius, displayed a hideousness never yet beheld. “The whole people was in fearful excitement by anger, by fear, and love of liberty; and the terrorists, grasping at the terrible as the only means of salvation, manifested hereby the fever convulsions of the nation.” The prisons in Paris were, during this year, filled with all that yet remained of dignity or virtue in the republic; while thousands upon thousands perished by the blood-stained guillotine. The “committee of public safety,” consisting of Robespierre, Barrère, Billaud, Varennes, Callot d’Herbois, Carnott, Prieux, Lindet, Couthon, Saint Just, and Jean Bon Saint André, sat almost uninterruptedly, dealing destruction to all around. A law, to the application of which an unlimited extension was given, exposed even the suspicious to the mercy of this revolutionary tribunal. Every day new victims, both in Paris and in the provinces, were sent to the guillotine. Among the more afflicting tragic scenes of these fearful times was the execution of Marie Antoinette. She,—the once all-powerful queen of France, she,—the daughter of Maria Theresa, sister of three emperors, and aunt of one emperor still living,—after she had languished many months in prison, was finally dragged before the criminal tribunal, condemned, and carried in a cart to the place of execution. So perished the innocent Princess Elizabeth, the sister of the slain monarch; and so fell the criminal Duke of Orleans. But the terrorists murdered not only princes and royalists, but also acknowledged friends of the revolution. The “Mountain” party even turned its rage against itself: Chaumette, Hébert, and Anarcharsis Cloots, all fierce demagogues and heads of the common-council of Paris, were arrested by order of the “committee of public safety,” and executed with sixteen of their partisans. Thus perished also their violent enemies the Cordeliers, among whom were Danton and Desmoulins; and thus fell several of the most successful generals of the republic. This unheard-of tyranny continued for eighteen months, during which space of time one million of persons perished, as is proved by detailed calculations, by the hand of the assassin and the executioner: others died of grief and misery. Many of these perished in the provinces, for the furious “Sansculottes” were commissioned to march through the bleeding kingdoms carrying along with them a movable guillotine, beneath which thousands perished. And these made war, not only upon their species, but upon the arts and sciences, which they regarded as allies of the aristocracy. Scenes of folly alternated with those of rage and brutality: Vandalism obtained the possession of the beautiful country of France. The fine tone of society was superseded by the rudest manners; and even the better sort affected them that they might not be suspected of favouring aristocracy. As a climax to their folly and madness, the republicans even assailed religion. First, the republican calendar was substituted for the Christian calendar; then, the celebration of the Christian festivals was restricted; and, finally, the ordinary worship gave place to the so-named “service of reason,” as the emblem of which prostitutes were placed upon the altar. Such was the liberty for which the French had contended—such the liberty for which some in England would even at the close of this year have obtained, at the price of the blessings which they enjoyed under a monarchical and free constitution.
“Scorn and contempt forbid me to proceed! But history, time’s slavish scribe, will tell, How rapidly the zealots of the cause Disbanded—or in hostile ranks appeared; Some tired of honest service; these, outdone, Disgusted, therefore, or appalled by aims Of fiercer zealots—so confusion reigned, And the more faithful were compelled to exclaim As Brutus did to virtue— ‘Liberty, worshipped thee, and find thee but a shade.’ —Wordsworth.”