FOOTNOTES:
[238] Abundant evidence on the elasticity of the commerce of England in spite of all the odds against her may be seen in Macpherson, vol. iv. passim; in Lord Sheffield’s ‘Observations on the Treaty with America;’ and Chalmers’ ‘Comparative Estimate of the Strength of Great Britain,’ 1794.
[239] The sufferings of the French, especially in Paris, in March, 1795, from famine and the severity of the weather, was even greater than any experienced in England (Alison, ii. p. 604).
[240] ‘Parliamentary History,’ Dec. 11, 1795.
[241] Vide ‘Annual Register,’ 1780, p. 348, where the declarations of Great Britain and the other Powers will be found. Denmark and Sweden replied in July 1780, assenting to Catherine’s doctrines.
[242] See further details on this subject, and on the duties of neutrals, together with an examination of the Orders of Council, [infra ch. viii.]
[243] Vide ‘Annual Register,’ 1796, p. 308.
[244] Vide the American despatch quoting the French minister’s despatch of the 29th of Sept., 1795. This famine was subsequently noticed by Bonaparte in his speech to Cambacérès on receiving the news of the Peace of Amiens.
[245] Alison, iii. p. 28.
[246] See various details on these matters in the correspondence between Lord Hawkesbury and Mr. Rufus King, quoted in Mr. Alex. Baring’s pamphlet, pp. 39, 41, 53; and ‘Rights of War as to Neutrals,’ in Wheaton’s ‘Elements of International Law,’ vol. II. ch. iii. pp. 132-260; and in Furneaux, ‘Treaties of Peace since that of Westphalia,’ 8vo, Lond., 1817.
[247] On the 18th January, 1798, the French Directory issued a decree declaring: “that all ships having for their cargoes, in whole or in part, any English merchandise shall be held good prize, whoever is the proprietor of such merchandise, which should be held contraband from the single circumstance of its coming from England, or any of its foreign settlements; that the harbours of France shall be shut against all ships having touched at England except in cases of distress; and that neutral sailors found on board English vessels should be put to death”!—Ann. Reg. 1800, 54, 55.
[248] The fleets of the Confederacy were as follows: Spain and Holland united possessed eighty ships fully equipped. Sweden had twenty-eight, Russia thirty-five, Denmark twenty-three, making a total of one hundred and sixty-six ships of the line: a force that would have been infinitely superior to the British navy, but that the efficiency of her vessels and armaments far surpassed those of the Confederacy. Austria alone was then in amity with Great Britain.
[249] Alison, iv. p. 529.
[250] M. Thiers, in his ‘Consulate and the Empire,’ book xi. vol. iii., relates this remarkable anecdote, and adds that “Cambacérès, with his usual sagacity, had touched upon the difficulty which at a subsequent period was again to embroil the two nations.” And see [ante, p. 294].
[251] The preliminaries of peace were signed at Amiens October 1, 1801, and the definite Treaty March 27, 1802. See also Alison, iv., pp. 604-624.
[252] See excellent remarks on the ‘Rights of war as against Enemies’ in Wheaton, vol. ii. ch. ii. pp. 75-131.
[253] It is said that of thirty-five thousand men (including reinforcements) scarcely seven thousand reached France again (Alison, v. p. 43).
[254] The most striking instance was the prosecution of M. Peltier for an alleged libel on the First Consul. In this Peltier was condemned, though defended with extraordinary power and eloquence by Sir James Mackintosh (see ‘Trial of Peltier,’ etc., Lond. 1801).
[255] Perhaps the most graphic description of this remarkable scene is that by M. Thiers, in his ‘History of the Consulate and the Empire.’
[256] “Effroyable parole!” (“Frightful expression!”) ejaculates M. Thiers, “which was afterwards but too truly realised for the misfortune of our country” (France).
[257] M. Thiers dwells on all these aggressive schemes with a certain national pride. The lives of millions were to be sacrificed to carry out these mad freaks of ambition!
[258] The English Legislature was nearly unanimous in supporting the Declaration of War; the numbers in the House of Commons being three hundred and ninety-eight for, sixty-seven against; and in the House of Lords, one hundred and forty-two to ten (Alison, v. p. 126).
[259] Speech of M. de Fontanes in his reply to the Corps d’ l’Etat, when war was announced by Bonaparte.
[260] Others who had not held the King’s commission were occasionally thus detained. Thus the Rev. Mr. Lee, then a Fellow of New College Oxford, was kept a prisoner at Verdun till 1814. The number altogether arrested is said to have been ten thousand (Alison, v. 114).
[261] Extracted from two letters which appeared in the Morning Chronicle in the early part of 1804, and which attracted considerable attention at the time.
[262] Tonnage Duties Acts, 42 Geo. IV. c. 43; 43 Geo. IV. c. 70, United Kingdom.
[263] See sensible remarks in Mr. Baring’s pamphlet (p. 7) on Mr. Pitt’s firmness in not giving way to the popular clamour on this occasion.