On the 10th of February, 1800, the bill presented by Lord Castlereagh and discussed with the most extreme violence, was finally passed by both houses of the Irish Parliament. On the 2nd of July it received the royal signature. Henceforth the union of Ireland and England was definitive, and useful and efficacious for both countries, notwithstanding the difficulties that it was still to encounter, and the bitterness that it left behind. This union was of the highest importance to the repose of Great Britain. Foreign invasions now ceased.
The expedition of General Bonaparte into Egypt diverted his attention from the projected invasion of England. It had led to the great naval battle of Aboukir (August 1st, 1799), where the French Admiral Brueys was killed and the English Admiral Nelson was severely wounded. The French fleet, after a heroic resistance, was conquered, and almost entirely destroyed. Bonaparte found himself shut up in Egypt, while war became again general in Europe. The Congress of Radstadt, intended to regulate the relations of France with the Germanic States, had not been successful, and was officially dissolved in August, 1799: a new coalition against the French Republic was formed, and henceforth England was supported by Austria, Russia, Naples, Portugal and Turkey. Hostilities broke out simultaneously in Switzerland, Italy, and Germany.
In this great struggle, sustained by France alone, against the European world, England took, from the commencement, an active and glorious part. An attempt upon Holland, under the direction of the Duke of York and Sir Ralph Abercromby, was unsuccessful. The finances and determined public opinion of Great Britain everywhere sustained the courage of her allies.
Bonaparte landed at Fréjus, leaving in Egypt his army under the command of General Kleber. Some days later he accomplished at Paris the Revolution of the 18th Brumaire (November 9th, 1799); the feeble government of the Directory was overturned, and General Bonaparte seized the power in his triumphant hands, inspiring in those rivals who were soon to become his lieutenants, the same ardor which animated himself. Before the end of the year the victories of Marengo (June 14th, 1800), of Hochstett (June 19th), and Hohenlinden (Dec. 3), changed the aspect of affairs. Conferences were opened at Luneville, between France, the Empire of Austria and the Germanic Confederation. On the 9th of February, 1801, peace was signed. The Rhine became the frontier of republican France, and the Adige that of the Cisalpine republic. At the same time the Emperor Paul I. was won over by the French, and at his instigation the armed neutrality against Great Britain was renewed by Russia, Sweden and Denmark. Once again England found herself alone against France, now governed by Bonaparte.
Almost immediately master of the situation in Paris, Bonaparte, at the beginning of his power, personally made overtures of peace to England, by a letter addressed directly to King George III. The ministry would not recognize this unusual proceeding, and Lord Grenville, the minister of Foreign Affairs, replied in the name of the king, refusing to treat alone without the co-operation of their allies.
When the question was brought before parliament, Mr. Pitt rose. "I am," said he, "too sincere a friend of peace, to content myself with possessing it only in name; I desire to follow that course that promises to assure definitively to this country and to Europe all its benefits. I am too sincere a friend of peace to lose it by seizing the shadow when the substance is really within my grasp: 'Cur igitur pacem nolo? quia infida est, quia periculosa, quia esse non potest.'" The minister was all powerful upon foreign questions in both houses. Notwithstanding the weariness of the nation, national pride and the confidence in Mr. Pitt inspired yet greater efforts. Never were the friends of the ministry more encouraged. In vain did Mr. Fox re-appear in the house, ardently and cleverly sustained by Lord Grey. "The proud and monumental architecture" of his eloquence crushed by its weight the powerful charm of his adversaries. In his hands England resisted, with an audacious calmness, coalesced Europe. So much power and so many victorious efforts were to fall before a double question of conscience. Sincerely and honestly liberal, Mr. Pitt was favorable to the political emancipation of the Catholics, and he also held himself pledged to further their cause, in consequence of the assistance they had given to his measures for the union with Ireland. Perhaps he mistook the resolution of the king regarding this question, and judged incorrectly of the effect that a great moral agony would be able to exercise over an intelligence as limited, and a soul as sincerely conscientious as that of George III.
The project for the emancipation of the Catholics had during several months been discussed, in the Council, without the knowledge of the king; but political treachery or honest scruples finally made it known to his Majesty. When Lord Castlereagh came to London, in the month of January, 1801, desirous of assuring himself that the intentions of Mr. Pitt remained the same, George III. suddenly addressed Mr. Dundas, an intimate friend of Pitt's, and who shared his opinions on this subject: "What!" he exclaimed, in a loud voice, "what is this, that this young lord has brought over which they are going to throw at my head? I shall reckon any man my personal enemy who proposes any such measure—the most Jacobinical thing I ever heard of!"