At length Louis fell a prey to the fury of his subjects. In order to fortify the new-born republic it seemed necessary to the republicans that all institutions and usages that reminded them of royalty and the ancient order should be abolished. The convention applied itself to this work with fanatical zeal, but first of all the Jacobins demanded the blood of the fallen monarch. Fierce contests arose between them and the Girondists on this demand, but the Jacobins were sustained by the Parisian populace, and their opponents were compelled to yield: a resolution was carried that Louis had forfeited his inviolability, and that the convention was authorised to judge him. The unfortunate monarch was brought before the bar of his subjects on the 11th of December, and he was nobly defended by Tronchet, Malesherbes, and Deseze; but after having heard their defence, and after a stormy deliberation that lasted some days, the convention resolved that the yeas and nays should be taken upon the following questions: First, Is Louis Capet guilty of conspiracy against the liberty or safety of the state? Second; Shall the judgment to be pronounced upon him be submitted to the sanction of the people in the primary assemblies? Third: What punishment ought to be inflicted upon Louis? The first of these questions was decided in the affirmative; the second was negatived; and as to the third question, five votes over half demanded death unconditionally. And such a small majority was deemed sufficient for pronouncing the sentence of death. The monarch was executed on the 21st of January, 1793, under circumstances that augmented the horror of the deed, and no nation in Europe endeavoured to save him from his fate. The King of Spain pleaded for his life, but the plea of a crowned head was not likely to be heard by men who had sworn eternal war against royalty.
CHAPTER XX.
GEORGE III. 1793-1794
Hostile Message of the King to Parliament..... Declaration of War by the French, &c..... Pitt’s Financial Statement..... The Traitorous Correspondence Bill..... Preparations for War..... Relief granted to Mercantile Men..... Renewal of the East India Company’s Charier..... Relief of the Roman Catholics of Scotland, &c...... Trial of Warren Hastings..... Discussion on a Memorial presented to the States-General..... Fox’s Motion for Peace ..... Mr. Grey’s Measure of Parliamentary Reform..... Prorogation of Parliament..... Affairs of Ireland..... Prospects of the French Republic, &c.
A.D. 1793
HOSTILE MESSAGE OF THE KING TO PARLIAMENT.
The news of the death of the King of France incited our government to active measures. On the 27th of December a memorial had been presented by the French ambassador, M. Chauvelin, to Lord Grenville, demanding to know whether France ought to consider England as a neutral or hostile power. In reply Lord Grenville acquainted M. Chauvelin that, as all official communication had been suspended since the unhappy events of the 10th of August, he could only be treated with under a form neither regular nor official. On the 4th of January a letter was received by his lordship from M. le Brun, minister of foreign affairs, together with a memorial in the name of the executive council, stating that they desired peace and harmony, and that they had sent credential letters to M. Chauvelin, to enable him to treat in the usual diplomatic forms. But peace and harmony were now out of the question. Three days after the death of the French monarch M. Chauvelin was ordered to quit the kingdom, and a war with the republic became no longer a matter of choice. On the 30th of January, Dundas presented a royal message to the commons, alluding to the execution of Louis XVI.; importing that his majesty had given directions for copies of a correspondence, &c., between the late minister of his most Christian majesty and our foreign secretary, to be laid before them; and stating the necessity that existed of a further augmentation of forces by sea and land. The house took this message into consideration on the 2nd of February, on which occasion there was an animated debate. Pitt commenced it by describing the execution of the King of France as an event which outraged every sentiment of religion, justice, and humanity; and as the effect of principles which started by dissolving all the bonds of society, and which, relying on fanciful theories, rejected not only the experience of past ages, but likewise the sacred instructions of revelation. Pitt stated that the British government had from the commencement adopted a system of neutrality; that they had declined taking any part in the internal affairs of France; and that in return for a declaration made to that effect the French had entered into a positive contract to abstain from those very deeds by which they had since provoked the indignation of the country. In a paper, he said, which was then on the table, they had disclaimed all views of conquest; had given assurances of friendship to all neutral nations, and had protested that they entertained no idea of interfering with the government of other countries. But what, he asked, had been the conduct of the French? They had annexed Savoy to their dominions, had rendered the Netherlands a province; and had exhibited a resolution to pursue the same course wherever they could carry their arms. As an illustration of the sentiments and designs of the French rulers, he read a letter from one of them, which was addressed to the friends of liberty in the different sea-ports of France, and which was written only four days after M. Chauvelin had complained to Lord Grenville that a harsh construction had been put by the British ministry on the conduct of France, and professed the warmest friendship for Great Britain. In this letter there was the following passage;—“The king and his parliament mean to make war against us. Will the English republicans suffer it? Already these free men show their discontent and the repugnance they have to bear arms against their brothers, the French. Well! we will fly to their succour—we will make a descent on the island—we will lodge there fifty thousand caps of liberty—we will plant there the sacred tree—we will stretch our arms to our republican brethren, and the tyranny of their government shall soon be destroyed.” Under all these circumstances Pitt declared that war was preferable to a peace which could not be consistent either with the internal tranquillity or external safety of England, and he moved an address to his majesty to that effect. The motion was seconded by Lord Beauchamp and supported by Windham, the latter of whom said that we must go to war for the security of the country, and that it would truly be a war pro aris et focis. Fox, and some of his friends deprecated such a measure, and endeavoured to show that war was not necessary, and might be avoided; but Pitt’s motion was carried without a division, An address to the same effect was also voted by the lords.