CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY.
From the period of the king’s malady, and the lord chancellor’s double-dealing in the matter of the Regency Bill, a misunderstanding had existed between him and Pitt. Lord Thurlow, in fact, was the aggressor, and the more inclined to continue the quarrel, for on no occasion did Pitt exhibit his hostility, while my lord chancellor was continually manifesting it both in the council and in parliament. In private society also Thurlow was often heard to speak contemptuously of the chancellor of the exchequer, and no remonstrance on the part of their mutual friends could check his display of ill-feeling. In parliament, on some occasions when the assistance of Thurlow was necessary, he would-preserve a dogged silence; while at other times he would oppose measures to which Pitt attached the highest importance. At length his rough temper brought matters to a crisis. Early in this session Thurlow severely condemned Pitt’s bill for liquidating future loans, and irritated thereby the chancellor of the exchequer wrote to the king stating the impossibility of his remaining in office with his lordship, and that it was necessary for his majesty to choose between them. In consequence of this communication, the king informed Thurlow that he must resign; but as a change was not desirable during the session, and as it was wished that the lord chancellor should terminate some chancery business, it was agreed that he should hold the seals until the prorogation of parliament, on which day the great seal was placed in the hands of three commissioners; an event which was not followed by a single resignation or change in any political or legal department. There is no doubt that Pitt knew, when he wrote to his majesty, that the choice of dismissal would fall on his rough-minded colleague, for the chancellor of the exchequer was well aware that he stood high in his royal master’s favour. His majesty, indeed, had often expressed his high sense of his minister’s services in words, and soon after this he testified it in a more tangible manner. By the death of Lord Guildford on the 5th of August, the wardenship of the cinque ports, worth about £3000 a-year, became vacant, and his majesty offered it to Pitt in such pressing terms, that even if he had been inclined to refuse the boon it would scarcely have been possible. The royal letter by which it was offered to him was in fact imperative, and Pitt had only to obey—no very difficult task, as the chancellor of the exchequer, though he could guide the helm of the state with a skilful hand, nevertheless could not manage his own affairs with sufficient skill to keep himself out of debt.
EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.
During this year the war in India was brought to a close. The events of that war had been various. After the re-establishment of the Rajah of Travancore in his dominions, as recorded in a previous page, Lord Cornwallis, the governor-general, took the command of the army upon himself, and laid siege to Bangalore. This important place was taken by storm, and his lordship then determined to penetrate into the heart of Mysore, to dictate his own terms of peace to Tippoo Sultaun at his capital. His army burned with impatience to revenge the cruelties which Tippoo had inflicted on their unfortunate countrymen who had fallen into his hands by the chances of war. Lord Cornwallis began his march early in May, 1731, and General Abercrornbie moved towards the same destination, though by a different line. The forces under his lordship reached Arikera, on the Cavery, and about nine miles from Seringapatam, on the 13th of May, and Tippoo having ventured to oppose him, the Mysorean army was defeated and obliged to seek shelter under the guns of the capital. The road to Seringapatam was now open to the English, and the prize seemed to be within their reach, but at this time General Abercrornbie had not arrived, and Lord Cornwallis convinced that his force was not sufficient to invest the city, his camp being half-filled with the sick and dying, was compelled to retreat. He sent orders to General Abercrornbie, who had reached Periapatam, about three marches from Seringapatam, to retire towards the coast, while he himself retreated towards Bangalore. He had scarcely left the scene of his victory, having first demolished his heavy artillery, when he was joined by the Mahratta army, under the command of Purseram Bhow, a celebrated Mahratta warrior, and Harry Punt, a Brahmin of the highest rank, who was likewise charged to act as minister plenipotentiary to the whole Mahratta league. Had these chiefs arrived before the recent battle, Tippoo Sultaun would have been besieged in his capital, but the swelling of the rivers, the sickly state of his soldiers, and the loss of his artillery forbade all thoughts of returning, and Lord Cornwallis therefore continued his march towards Bangalore. Tippoo boasted that he had gained a great victory, though at the same time he made some fruitless attempts at negociation. During the following autumn great preparations were made for renewing the war in Mysore. The ensuing campaign opened early in February, 1792, the forces under Lord Cornwallis and General Abercrornbie resuming their former plan of operations. This time both armies met under the walls of Seringapatam; while the forces of the Peishwa and of the Nizam encamped at a little distance from the city, and furnished to the British army a plentiful supply of stores and provisions. Tippoo’s forces awaited the approach of Lord Cornwallis under the walls of his capital, but they were defeated, and Seringapatam was in consequence closely and completely invested. The first parallel, with a large redoubt in the rear, was finished by the 21st of February, and two days afterwards the second parallel was completed, and breaching-batteries were commenced and furnaces prepared for heating shot. In a few days Seringapatam would have been taken by storm, but Tippoo seeing his situation hopeless sent a vakeel to sue for peace. The treaty which Tippoo was forced to accept contained the following articles:—That he should cede one-half of his territories to the allies: that he should pay three crores and thirty lacs of rupees to indemnify them for the expenses of the war; that he should release all his prisoners; and that he should deliver two of his sons as hostages for the due execution of the treaty. The young princes were conducted to the camp of Lord Cornwallis with great ceremony on the 26th of February, and were received by him with all possible demonstrations of kindness and affection. But though Tippoo had delivered his sons into the hands of Lord Cornwallis as pledges of his good faith, he still reluctantly fulfilled the articles of the treaty. His chief objection was the cession of the principality of Coorg, nor would he consent to it until Lord Cornwallis had sent off his hostages in the direction of the Carnatic, ordered his guns to be replaced in the batteries, and made preparations for renewing the siege. Then, when he saw that there was no alternative, on the 19th of March Tippoo signed the definitive treaty which was delivered to Lord Cornwallis by the young princes, his hostages, with great solemnity. By this treaty the English obtained all the dominions of Tippoo on the coast of Malabar, a district surrounding Dindigul and some territory on the western frontier of the Carnatic; the Mahrattas recovered possession of the country as far as the river of Toombuddra, which had once been their frontier line; and the Nizam had for his share all the country from the river Kistna to the Pennar, including the forts of Gunjecottah and Cudapa. When the princes were delivered into the hands of Lord Cornwallis some of the money exacted from Tippoo was paid, but the whole not being forthcoming they remained under the safeguard of his lordship for sometime longer. Out of the money paid by Tippoo the commander-in-chief made a spontaneous gift to his troops, equal to six months batta, in order to soothe them for the disappointment of their expectations of booty in the storming of Seringapatam, and for their good conduct during the war. His lordship and General Meadows even resigned their own share, in order that the soldiers might have the more. Their conduct deserved reward, for though they burned with impatience to revenge the wrongs which their countrymen had received at the hands of Tippoo, yet when they found that Lord Cornwallis had agreed to a treaty of peace, they rendered all due obedience to his injunctions not to commit any violence, and to abstain from making use of any kind of insulting expression towards a fallen enemy. Even though fired upon by the Mysoreans after their own fire had been suspended, the troops obeyed his commands to the very letter: a proof of their admirable discipline, and their devotedness to their general. As for Tippoo Sultaun, although humbled, he still remained the same inveterate foe to the English as before. No act of kindness shown to himself, or his captive sons, by Lord Cornwallis, could soften his bitter resentment: every generous action shown towards him by the conqueror was considered rather as an insult than as a proof of friendship, and nothing in his conduct could justify the hope that peace would be permanent.
PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
During this year the principles of the French revolution were more clearly manifested to the world. Early in the year the state of foreign affairs assumed a more menacing aspect. Austria was collecting troops, and the only ultimatum on which the emperor would agree to discontinue preparations, was the re-establishment of the French constitution on the basis of the declaration of June, 1789; the restitution of their property to the clergy; and the cession of Alsace to the German princes, and of Avignon to the pope. But these terms were “like a summons directed to the torrent, or a command to the whirlwind:” the assembly replied to them by a declaration of war, to which Louis was compelled to assent. Nor was this the only effect produced by the demands of the Emperor of Austria. The assembly required of Louis that he should freely resign himself to the current of the revolution, or be dethroned. Influenced, however, by the queen and by Dumouriez, who finding himself in office broke with the Girondists as he had previously with the Constitutionalists, he fearlessly resisted their counsels. The friendship of Dumouriez raised the drooping spirits of the old royalist party, and Louis was once more induced to listen to their plans for the restoration of the former government. But this party was now a broken reed, on which no hope of support could be placed. Events on the frontiers conduced likewise to render the cause of Louis and the Royalists more hopeless. In their first action the revolutionary soldiers were defeated, and on the news of this reverse the populace turned their rage against the monarch. Orders were issued by the assembly for the disbanding of his guard, by which he was at all times exposed to the irruptions of the rabble; and two decrees were likewise issued in opposition to the royal will: one for the exile of the refractory priests, and another for the establishment of a camp of 20,000 men under the walls of Paris. This was another crisis in the reign of Louis, and had he made proper use of it he might have prevented the supremacy of the populace. Aroused by a sense of danger from this federal camp, thousands of the national guards and of the respectable citizens petitioned against it; at the same time exhibiting an inclination to rally round the throne. Dumouriez advised the monarch to throw his whole influence into the scale of this party, and he was about to act upon this advice, when he was prevented by a deep laid stratagem of the Girondists. Being assured that he would resist the decree relative to the nonjuring and seditious priesthood, they sent it to him for the purpose of provoking his resistance, that the citizens might see his lack of cordiality towards the revolution. This scheme succeeded. Exasperated by the insults daily heaped upon him and his family, he defied the Girondists, and yet at the same time neglected to rally round him either the national guards or the citizens. The Girondist ministers were now dismissed, and both their decrees were rejected, all which tended to accelerate the fearful catastrophe which had been long hovering over the throne of France, and the nation at large. The new administration was chosen from among the Feuillants, but it possessed no weight either with their own party or the people. The Feuillants joined with the royalists to repress the growing spirit of insubordination, but all their exertions were vain. Lafayette also wrote an energetic letter to the assembly, denouncing the Jacobin faction, and demanding the dissolution of the clubs, but he only stirred up the rage of the populace against himself, without curbing their evil passions. The Girondists, moreover, became as dangerous a set of men as were the hot-headed and cold-blooded Jacobins. Chagrined at the loss of place and power, they allied themselves with the mob, and inflamed them by petitions and harangues. Nay more: by direction of the Girondists, a general insurrection was prepared in the fauxbourgs, and a body of ten thousand men organised in the quarter of St. Antoine. A pretext for arming was found in the non-success already mentioned, of the revolutionary forces on the frontier. Under the pretence of fear of the Austrians and Prussians, pikes were forged, and distributed among men who thirsted to commit outrage and wrong on their monarch and their fellow-citizens. Revolt broke out on the 20th of June: pikemen from the suburbs of St. Antoine and St. Marceau marched from the place of the Bastille towards the Tuilleries. At their head was the ferocious Santerre, a brewer, who proved himself to be the worthy hero of this horrible day. Their approach was made known by shouts of “Down with the Veto,” and by the revolutionary chorus of Caira. The “Tree of Liberty,” and the “Rights of Man” were borne before them as banners, and in this manner they forced an entrance into the palace. On discovering the monarch, some of them exclaimed that they had a petition, and Louis led the way to the largest saloon of the suite. The petition was not forthcoming, but placing the “Rights of Man” before the king they demanded his assent to the decrees for the federal camp and the transportation of the priests. Never did the unhappy Louis exhibit so much fortitude as on this trying occasion. He bore all their insults with calmness, and to their reiterated demands, merely replied; “This is neither the time nor the way to obtain them from me.” This storm passed by: the Girondists, on hearing that the insurrection was likely to prove serious, persuaded the rabble to retire. All good citizens manifested abhorrence at the outrage committed, and indignation was exhibited in the provinces and among the armies. His admirable coolness extorted admiration even from his enemies. The Duke de la Rochefaucault, who commanded at Rouen, offered him an asylum there; Lafayette implored him to throw himself into the arms of the constitutional forces; and the national guard offered to protect his person. Louis, however, declined all these proposals, for he still hoped that the allied powers would deliver him from his rebellious subjects. Lafayette made a last effort to save the throne, by appearing in person before the legislative assembly, and demanding, in his own name and in that of the army, the rights of constitutional royalty; but the Jacobins threatened him with destruction, and Louis refused to be saved by a person whom he considered as the author of his misfortunes, and Lafayette returned to his troops with the loss of both influence and popularity. The situation of Louis became daily and hourly more critical. Emboldened by Lafayette’s failure, the Girondists and Jacobins aimed at the monarch’s dethronement. The minds of men were inflamed by the harangues of demagogues, and it was proclaimed that the country was in danger. The contest of parties was fierce in the extreme; their madness being heightened by the collection of formidable masses of hostile armies on the frontiers. The approach of a crisis became evident on the 14th of July, when a fête was held in commemoration of the destruction of the Bastille. On that day the king with the queen and dauphin went to the Champ de Mars, and it was with difficulty that the soldiers saved them from the rage of the rabble. The fermentation of the public mind received a fearful acceleration, when it was discovered that the Prussians and Austrians were advancing upon the capital, under the command of the Duke of Brunswick. All France was put in motion thereby, and thousands of hot-brained youth resorted to the capital to join the already overwhelming rabble there. Thus supported the legislative assembly determined on the deposition of the king, having first appointed a commission to examine what grounds could justify such a step, and whether such grounds existed. The blow was struck on the 10th of August. On the preceding day the popular excitement was extreme, and at midnight the tocsin for a scene of wild fury was sounded throughout Paris. Obeying its horrid summons, the self-called patriots poured into the fauxbourg Saint Antoine, the centre of the insurrection, from the different rallying points; and by the dawn of day their columns, which had been organized under the direction of the assembly, were ready for the work of destruction. The palace of the Tuilleries was in vain defended by some Swiss and royalist troops; after a great slaughter on both sides it fell into the hands of the rabble. Before the combat took place the king had fled to the legislative assembly, to place himself under their protection. He imagined that he would there be safe, but the first act of the assembly told him that his hopes were fallacious: under the plea that his presence marred the freedom of debate, he was removed from the side of Vergniaud, the president of the chamber, where he instinctively took his seat, to the box reserved for the reporters. This was the last day of the monarchy. The assembly concluded the crimes of that day by a decree suspending Louis from his kingly functions, by ordering the formation of a national convention, and by the appointment of a new ministry, the members of which were taken conjointly from the ranks of the Girondists and Jacobins. The national convention was to have unlimited authority to decide in the name of the people upon all the interests of the country, and its session was to commence on the 20th of September. In the meantime several important events took place. Lafayette, having in vain endeavoured to re-establish the constitutional throne, fled with his staff over the frontier, and was arrested in Liege by an Austrian general, and thrown into prison. The allied armies had taken Longwy and Verdun, and a report was spread that they were advancing upon the capital. These successes alarmed the patriots, and made them turn their rage upon each other. The Girondists conceived the plan of abandoning the capital and defending the country behind the Loire; but the Jacobins opposed this, and it was resolved that, rather than surrender the capital, the population should be buried beneath its ruins. Division was in the camp, and blood-thirsty men were now to rule. Thousands suspected of being unfavourable to the principles of the revolution were thrown into prison, and thousands were barbarously massacred. The Jacobin faction of Paris ruled France; and such sanginuary fanatics as Robespierre and Marat carried the sway. The guillotine was declared permanent, and many members of the legislative assembly were themselves menaced by the fatal axe. At length this assembly, after having passed a great many decrees—decrees which were partly fanatical and partly inefficacious—closed its session, and the national convention rose upon its ruins. This new assembly was principally composed of the Jacobin or republican party; the elections preponderating in their favour. This spirit was manifested almost in the first hour of its session; the legislative assembly had transferred the king and his family to the prison of the Temple; the national convention came to a speedy and unanimous resolution that royalty should be for ever abolished, and that France should henceforth be a republic. But, although united in this principle tendency, this assembly, like the one which preceded it, was divided into two hostile parties; the moderates, or Girondists, and the Republicans, or Jacobins. In the national convention these two parties took the names of the Mountain and the Plain; and from the very commencement of its sitting the assembly was threatened with new convulsions, through the struggles of these parties. But the populace now, in reality, possessed the power, and they naturally permitted themselves to be led only by men whose character and principles were in accordance with their own; hence the triumph of the Mountain, or the Jacobins. On one point, however, both parties came to a perfect agreement. Encouraged by recent successes over the allied armies—for the French generals had everywhere defeated them—the Parisian populace loudly demanded the blood of their monarch; and, after violent contests, it was resolved that the inviolability of Louis was forfeited, and that the convention had power to decide on his life or death. These resolutions were passed on the 3rd of December, and on the 11th of that month, an act of accusation was drawn up, and the King of France was brought before the bar of his revolutionary subjects. His trial and death will be noticed in a future page.
GEORGE III. 1792-1793