12 GROSS MISMANAGEMENT. CH. XXXVI. and it is hardly possible that he could have gained the heights, or attempted a forward movement, in the presence of ten thousand British soldiers. But, as it had been at Toulon, and as it had been in the former war of La Vendée, so it was at Morbihan. The British aid was too late. While the shattered remnant of the emigrant corps was retreating to the sea, along the peninsula of Quiberon, the advanced transports of the British regiments were tossing in the Channel, waiting for a favourable wind. Charette in With this expedition, the cause of the Royalists may be said to have perished. Another insurrection, indeed, had taken place in Poitou; Charette was again in arms, and using every effort to obtain the aid of the British force which had been destined for service in Brittany. The first detachment of that force sailed towards the coast of Poitou, and Charette was led to believe that he might rely on its co-operation; but after a Council of War, it was determined that the troops should be landed at L'Isle Dieu, to await the arrival of the transports which were conveying the remainder of the force. At L'Isle Dieu, the army was, for the first time, joined by the Count d'Artois, who had given his authority to the expedition, and had promised to place himself at its head. The appearance, at Quiberon, of the first prince of the blood,* might, in a great measure, have compensated for the delay of the British regiments; but the Republican force, which, in June, when the expedition landed at Quiberon, did not exceed five thousand men, had been increased to forty thousand when His Royal Highness landed at L'Isle Dieu, in October. Still it was not too late. The Prince's name, coupled with the promise of British reinforcements, had enabled Charette to col * The unhappy child of Louis the Sixteenth had lately died, a victim to ill-treatment; and Monsieur had consequently assumed the title of Louis the Eighteenth. 1795. IMPUTATIONS ON THE GOVERNMENT. 13 lect an army of fifteen thousand men in a few days, and the presence of the Count d'Artois at their head would soon have doubled their numbers, and inspired a confidence which no other event could have secured. But the Count d'Artois remained at L'Isle Dieu with the British regiments, while Charette, with his brave and devoted comrades, were left to their fate. That fate was not long delayed. Deserted by their Prince, disappointed by their allies, and closely pressed by the savage legions of the Republic, the brave Royalists in vain maintained the conflict. They fought desperately; but they were overwhelmed. Those who were not slain in the field perished by the murderous vengeance of the enemy. Charette and Stofflet, the last of the famous leaders who had so long defied the regicide Government, were among the last who were taken and put to death. Even when the cause was hopeless, and further resistance was vain, the gallant spirit of Charette was unbroken. Hoche, admiring his valour, or unwilling to tempt the last effort of despair, offered the Royalist chief a ship to convey himself and his friends to Jersey. But Charette replied, that all the ships of the Republic would not be sufficient to remove the loyal adherents of the Crown from the territory where he commanded. The vacillation and inconsistency of the English ministers, throughout this unhappy busi- vacillation of ness, gave rise to an imputation on their the Ministry. sincerity and good faith. It was said, not alone by disappointed partisans, but by writers on both sides, that Pitt, actuated by an impartial animosity to the French people, had artfully fomented their dissensions, and had amused one party with promises of support, which he never intended to realise. It was even alleged that, on the fatal morning when the Royalists were driven in wild disorder from Penthièvre to the sea, the British gun-boats and ships of 14 NAVAL OPERATIONS. CH. XXXVI. war fired indifferently upon the advancing columns of Humbert and the retreating emigrants. No English writer can condescend to vindicate the Government of this country from a charge which could be invented only by the extreme of ignorance and malignity. The expedition to Quiberon, so far as the English Ministry were concerned, was, like almost every other transaction of the war, marked by a degree of incapacity seldom exceeded in the administration of public affairs; but there is not the smallest pretence for accusing Pitt and his colleagues of conduct which would have exhibited a refinement of cruelty and treachery more atrocious than that of Tallien and his infamous coadjutors. The successes of the British navy hardly compensated for the inaction of the army during A few detached engagements, Affairs in the this year. in which the English had mostly the advantage, had no effect upon the fortunes of the war; but a masterly retreat of Admiral Cornwallis, from a position which exposed his squadron to great danger, proved in a signal manner the superiority of British seamanship and skill. The two small West India islands of St. Lucie and St. Vincent were taken by the French. On the other hand, the important island of Ceylon, with the Malaccas, and all the Dutch settlements on the southern continent of India, yielded to the British arms without resistance. The valuable settlement of the Cape of Good Hope likewise surrendered. The domestic condition of the country during this year was not prosperous. A succession of bad harvests combined, with the increasing pressure of taxation, and the languor of trade, to inflict severe privation on many classes, but more especially on the labouring people. The times were, therefore, favourable to those persons who, from ignorance or malignity, are always ready to persuade the populace that distress is entirely owing to political causes, and that 1795. POPULAR COMMOTION. 15 the only remedy is to be found in organic changes in the constitution of the country. The agents of sedition did not fail to take advantage of this season; and their efforts were more successful than they had been since the commencement of the French Revolution. Immense assemblages were Political gathered in London and the great towns, meetings. to hear how bread was made dear, and how taxes were heaped upon an overburdened people for the purposes of an effete monarchy, and a grasping aristocracy; and how universal suffrage and annual Parliaments were the only cures for all these evils. Many riots took place, and a turbulent spirit of discontent became manifest throughout the country. Seditious hand-bills and ribald ballads were widely circulated among the common people, while persons of better education were supplied with publications in which revealed religion was assailed, together with political establishments. Paine's Age of Reason' appeared at this time, and being written in a more popular and plausible style than any of his former works, which had, from time to time, controverted the truth of Christianity, it was eagerly read by thousands, who were deluded with the idea of a new era of freedom, from which the restraints of religion and law should be alike banished. 6 The ministers were so much alarmed at this state of the country, that they thought it necessary to call Parliament together in the autumn, in order that the Government might be armed with new powers for the maintenance of order, and the suppression of dangerous opinions. The Corresponding Society, which had taken the lead in the propagation of the new revolutionary doctrine, organised an immense demonstration three days before the meeting of Parliament. They fixed upon some open ground in the parish of Marylebone, called Copenhagen Fields, a district now covered with streets and terraces, and 16 SEVERE MEASURES. CH. XXXVI. there they collected an assemblage amounting, it was said, to a hundred and fifty thousand persons. An address to the King was voted, praying for reform in Parliament, the dismissal of ministers, and peace with the French Republic. Outrage on the King. The immediate result of this meeting was an outrage upon the King, when he went in state to open the session of Parliament. A vast concourse of people filled the streets, and the procession was followed by a rabble, vociferating against the war, the ministers, and the King. In Pall Mall, opposite the Ordnance Office, the window of the state coach was perforated by a bullet, and His Majesty, on arriving at the House of Lords, announced to the Chancellor that he had been shot at. On his return, the carriage was attacked with greater fury, and was with difficulty saved from destruction. At St. James's, the King quitted the state coach, dismissed the guard, and proceeded in his private carriage to Buckingham House. He was still pursued by the infuriated populace, who threatened to pull him out of the carriage, and would probably have done so, but for the rapid driving of. the coachman, and the timely arrival of a troop of Life Guards. Proceedings These violent proceedings prepared the way for measures of a very stringent character, to in Parliament. which the ministers had already determined to require the assent of Parliament. A proclamation was, in the first place, issued by way of introduction to two Bills; the one for the repression of seditious meetings, and the other for extending the definition and penalties of high treason. The last-mentioned Bill was introduced in the Lords. Its provisions extended the crime of treason far beyond any limits which had been hitherto assigned to it. Writing, preaching, and speaking, which, under the existing law, would be criminal only if accom |