Smith inferred, from this unconstitutional system, that the minister cherished despotic intentions. Mr. Fox said, that the freedom of the constitution greatly depended on the anicable intercourse between, soldiers and citizens, and that the habitual separation of the two classes would render the former too subservient to the crown. Mr. Pitt replied, that soldiers were more conveniently and usefully, as well as more more cheaply, quartered in barracks, than in public houses; and Mr. Windham hinted, that the system might be advantageous in another point of view, by preventing the troops from being infected with the seditious humors of the populace.

Amidst these and other debates, the failure of an application for peace excited animadversion. Mr. Wickham, the British minister in Switzerland, had proposed a general negotiation to M. Barthelemy, the French ambassador to the cantons; but the executive directory, understanding that one of the demands at an eventual congress would relate to the restoration of the Netherlands, evaded the proposal, and furnished Mr. Pitt with a pretence for declaring, that, as the enemy had refused to listen to any requisition for the surrender of what was considered as the inalienable territory of the republic, "nothing was left for the king but to prosecute a war equally just and necessary."

A new loan was now negotiated, for the invigoration of those hostilities, which, it was alleged, the arrogance and obstinacy of the French compelled our government to continue. Above twenty-seven millions and a half had been previously voted; and a loan of eighteen millions had formed a part of the ways and means. The supply was at length augmented to 37,588, 000 pounds: and, to make up the greater part of the new demand, seven millions and a half were borrowed. The guards and garrisons were reduced to 49,000 men; the forces in the colonies were increased to 77,000 men; the sailors and marines were 110,000. Taxes were imposed on legacies to collateral relatives; wine, tobacco, salt, and sugar, were rendered additionally contributive to the public exigencies; hats

furnished a small sum; the proprietors of horses and dogs were also burdened; and all who were liable to the assessed taxes were required to pay ten per cent, extra. These' burdens were not voted without remonstrance or opposition; but all objections were overruled.

A neglect of the due means of rendering the West-Indian expedition of sir Charles Grey completely successful, and a gross inattention to the health and accommodations of the soldiers employed under that officer, were imputed to the ministry by Mr. Sheridan. Mr. Dundas replied to the charge, but did not wholly refute it.

The slave tradé for the supply of the islands occasioned various debates. A bill had been introduced for its abolition; but, though it was ably supported, it was unsuccessful; and the house would not even receive a bill proposed by Mr. Francis for improving the condition of the slaves.

A long speech from the marquis of Lansdown, calling the attention of the peers to the danger which menaced the constitution from the enormous increase of ministerial patronage and influence, and to the necessity of a retrenchment of expenditure, produced a feeble reply from lord Grenville, and a boast from lord Auckland of the great extent of the revenue. The endeavours of the earl of Guildford to promote peace and a change of system were also abortive.

Mr. Grey proposed a series of resolu tions, adducing such charges as he thought would justify an impeachment of some of the ministers. He affirmed, that the provisions of the act of appropriation had been frequently violated; that the statute for the regulation of the office of paymaster to the army had also been infringed; that false accounts had been presented to the house; and that other mal-practices had. marked the ministerial proceedings. The premier acknowledged that some irregu Îarities had occurred; but declared that nothing criminal had been wilfully committed, and that an attention to duty, and a regard for the public service, had formed the chief features of official management,

Mr. Steele moving the previous question, 209 votes, against 38, appeared for the ministry.

An address for a change of measures, was moved by Mr. Fox, after an harangue of extraordinary length. He satirised the rashness which had plunged the nation into the war, and the incapacity which appeared in the conduct of it. He condemned the connections of the court with despotic allies, who had no wish to promote the general good, but aimed only at the gratifications of self-interest. He lamented the great injury to which the people were exposed by the war, and deprecated the increase of burdens already oppressive. He censured the answer given to the note of Barthelemy, and said that peace might be obtained by a less arrogant demeanor. Mr. Pitt reasserted the justice of the war, vindicated the spirit and judgment with which it was prosecuted, and attributed the delay of peace to the restless disposition of the enemy. The motion was rejected by a majority of 174. This was the last debate of importance during the session, which terminated on the 20th of May. The distant prospect of a negotiation with France was highly gratifying to every class of society, but more particularly to the middle and lower orders. The war had begun with the approbation and applause of a great majority of the British people; but the disasters of our army in Holland, the pressure of taxes, and the

occurrence of an unusual scarcity, all contributed to excite the murmurs of the nation at the continuance of hostilities. Every domestic evil, whether occasioned by private imprudence or by the dispensation of providence, was attributed to the war; and the general discontent was cherished and exasperated by the inflammatory proceedings of the innovating societies. The more able advocates of sedition imitated the example of Thelwal, and gratified the populace by the delivery of lectures, in which they represented all wars, and this war in particular, as contrived by courts and ministers for plundering the people. The Corresponding Society resumed their proceedings at Chalk Farm, and a meeting held at Copenhagenhouse, near Islington, was frequently attended by 50,000 persons. The statutes enacted, and the sentiments expressed, during the present session of parliament, had a visible and immediate effect in restoring the tranquillity of the nation, and silencing the expression of public discontent. Some means of coercion had indeed become absolutely necessary; and, while the vigorous measures suggested by Mr. Pitt and adopted by the parliament, contributed to repress the turbulence of the advocates of disaffection, the conciliatory tone adopted by his majesty and by the minister, was productive of the most salutary influence on the virtuous but mistaken zealots of sedition.

1796.

WH

HEN the French directory hadestablished themselves in their station by the destruction of their political opponents, it became their next object to confirm the ascendency which they had acquired by the adoption of measures which might attach the nation to their persons and interests. During the last During the last campaign, the efforts of the republicans had been much less successful than might have been expected from the victories obtained, and the experience acquired, during the former year. They were anxious to recover their military superiority, and the most vigorous preparations were made for the equipment and reinforcement of the armies. It was proposed to the legislature, and solemnly decreed, to annex their acquisitions in the Low the Low Countries and on the left side of the Rhine to the dominions of the republic. In the relative circumstances of the belligerent powers, a resolution of this nature precluded all expectation of peace. The British ministers were stedfastly determined to restore the Austrian Netherlands, if possible, to their former owner; and Austria, exaggerating the advantages of the late campaign, preserved the hope of recovering her antient possessions. It was the secret intention, therefore, of the allied powers, to continue the war, unless certain terms should be obtained, to which the directory, still more partial to hostilities,

would not in all probability accede. To gratify the people, however, the belligerents found it expedient to assume the appearance of a pacific disposition, and Mr. Wickham, ambassador to the Swiss cantons, was instructed to apply to M. Barthelemy, then resident at Basle, who had concluded the treaty with Prussia, to ascertain the sentiments of the directory on the subjects of peace and war. The answer received from M. Barthelemy, intimated, in the name of the directory, that it felt the most sincere desire to terminate the war on such conditions as France could reasonably accept, and which were specified in the answer, but positively insisted on the retention of the Austrian dominions in the Low Countries; and assigned, as a reason, their formal annexation to the republic, by a constitutional decree that could not be revoked. An answer so decided, which explained to their full extent the ambitious views of the government, and rendered the decrees of the legislative body the criterion of the rights and interests of foreign states, suspended the negotiation, and both parties proceeded. to open the campaign.

The Imperial and French armies were situated in the following manner. From the frontiers of Switzerland to the environs of the town of Spires, where it ceased to be their be their common common barrier, they were separated by the Rhine. Beyond that city

the cantonments which they respectively occupied at the distance of some leagues from each other, extended across the Upper Palatinate, the duchy of Deux Ponts, and the Hundsruck. The line occupied by the imperial army, passed through the towns of Spires, Neustadt, Kayserslautern, Kussel, and from thence crossing the Nabe, terminated at the Rhine, in the neighbourhood of Bauharoch, where that river became again the point of separation to both armies, and continued so beyond Cologne, between the river Sieg and the town of Dusseldorf. The Austrians and French occupied an equal share of the space between the river and the last mentioned fortress, before which the republican army had an entrenched camp. The imperialists possessed on the Rhine the strong fortresses of Philipsburg, Manheim, Mentz, and Ehrenbreitstein. The French, on their part, possessed on the Upper Rhine, the fortresses of Alsace, and on the Lower Rhine, that of Dusseldorf.

With respect to the strength of the opposed armies, it is obvious that no one could be able to appreciate them with correctness, but the commander-in-chief or the officers of the staff. From the information, however, of individuals, whose local position and military situation, enabled them to form a probable. estimate, the numbers of the French and imperial armies, at the opening of the campaign, may be nearly determined. They authorise the supposition, that at this time the two French armies, commanded by Moreau and Jourdan, amounted to more than 160,000 men; and that the imperial forces, commanded by his royal highness the archduke Charles, including the Saxons and other contingents of the empire, amounted to 150,000 men.

Every motive which determined the French government to continue the war, imposed upon them the necessity of carrying it beyond the Rhine and into the heart of Germany. Their numerous soldiery were destitute of clothes, money, and subsistence. The Netherlands, Holland, and the countries situated between the

Meuse and the Rhine, and sustained, during two years, the whole burden of maintaining the French armies. These countries, a short time before so rich and so abundant, were exhausted; their specie was absorbed by contributions, their manufactures were suspended, and their produce consumed. An immense quantity of paper money of no intrinsic value, had operated to paralyze their commerce and their industry. Two years had been sufficient to place the countries subdued by France on a level with herself, and to subject them to one common equality of dearth and misery. It was become, therefore, absolutely necessary that the French should march forward into other countries in search of subsistence, of horses, of clothes, and above all, of money. These views were openly expressed by the di rectory, in the order given to their generals, that they should maintain their troops by victory.

To the urgent call of necessity were added, the motives of ambition. The directory was persuaded, that by an invasion of Germany it would accomplish the disunion of the Germanic body; that the inferior princes, in their alarm, would hasten by turns to purchase a separate peace; that the emperor, reduced to dependance on his own resources, would at length subscribe to such conditions as it should please his conquerors to impose; and that, at the conclusion of the war, its final result would place all the countries on the right side of the Rhine in possession of the French, and the fate of Germany at their disposal, leaving them enriched with the spoils of the empire, and dictating laws to Europe.

Every consideration, on the other hand,seemed to prescribe to the court of Vienna a line of conduct directly the reverse. A concurrence of military and political considerations should have induced it te persevere in the defensive system, which it had adopted and pursued with advantage in the preceding year. The situation of the French and imperial armies, offered to the latter no prospect of success in an offensive war. The result of several·

campaigns had borne evidence to the difficulty of penetrating into Alsace. France was nearly invulnerable by the route of the Sarre and the Moselle, which were defended by a great number of strong places. They could have entertained no prospect of retaking the Netherlands, and of advancing between the Moselle and the Meuse the French being masters of Dusseldorf, of all the fortified towns on the Meuse, and the strong places of Holland.

If in a military point of view the interest of the emperor prescribed to him a defensive war, it was still more consonant with prudence in its political aspect. The loss of the Netherlands and Holland, and the defection of Prussia and Spain, deprived the rest of the coahtion of every possibility of making conquests upon France. The combined plan of England and Austria was less directed against the armies of the republic than against her finances and military resources. To pursue this system with advantage, it became the object of the campaign to exhaust the enemy and to gain time rather than to win battles. The first and most important purpose, which, if steadily pursued, would have averted the long and unexampled series of calamities which ensued, was to conne the French to their own resources for the payment and maintenance of their numerous armies, and to prevent them from penetrating into Germany. The most natural and most easy method of accomplishing this object would have been to take the course of the Rhine as the line of defence, and to give to the different corps of the imperial army the same disposition which marshal Clairfait had established in 1795, a disposition of which that general's success had proved the advantage. It appeared advisable after his example, to abandon to the French the Hundsruck, and the duchy of Deux Ponts, countries of little importance in themselves, already exhausted by the war, and which always belong, except in the case of great superiority of force, to the possessor of Landau, Bitche, Sar Louis, Traerbatch, and Coblentz By abandoning

these countries and carrying the greater part of their forces to the right bank of the Rhine, the Austrians would have been enabled to strengthen their positions on that river with a sufficient number of men, to defend the passage from Basle to Manheim, and to place between the latter fortress and that of Mentz a large body of troops, which could readily advance to the succour of either of those places, and support their garrisons. By adopting this disposition, the imperialists would have been enabled to place on the Lahn and the Sieg more than a third of their army, to reinforce their right wing, the point at which they were most endangered; to oppose a powerful resistance to any enterprise of the French on the lower Rhine, to confine them in the camp before Dusseldorf, and to profit of any favourable opportunity of attacking them with advantage.

to

The first movements of the Austrian generals seemed to indicate the adoption of a different plan. of a different plan. The army of the Upper Rhine, under the command of general Wurmser, was strongly reinforced, a circumstance which gave reason suppose that it was intended he should cross the Rhine to penetrate into Upper Alsace. At the same time the greater part of the army of the Lower Rhine, under the immediate orders of the archduke Charles, took post in the Hundsruck and the duchy of Deux Ponts, and appeared to menace, at the same time, Lower Alsace and the fortresses on the Sallee and the Moselle. The misfortunes which rapidly followed these indications soon obliged the Austrians to renounce their first dispositions, and to adopt, in part, those which have been already mentioned.

The armistice, concluded at the end of the year 1795, between the French and Austrian generals, was broken by the letter on the 21st of May; and an interval of ten days being required between its rupture and the renewal of hostilities, the respective armies became at liberty to recommence their movements on the 31st of the same month.

On that day the French army of the