1794.]

HOLLAND LOST-REMNANT OF THE BRITISH ARMY.

313

man. He would not object to the command being entrusted to general Clairfait. * Cornwallis was unwilling to be placed in a position of such delicacy; but he saw the necessity of a change by which the public good might be consulted instead of private feelings, even those of royalty. At last the necessity became so obvious that, although there was an end to the notion of appointing Cornwallis to the command, Mr. Dundas informed him on the 27th of November that, "Mr. Pitt wrote a very long and dutiful letter, but at the same time a very honest and firm one, to the king, stating the necessity of putting an end to the duke of York's command of the army on the continent." His royal highness was on that day requested to return home.t

The previous disasters of the army under the command of the duke had been very serious. When Windham was at the British head-quarters, at Boisle-Duc, on the 13th of September, he saw that the army of 30,000 British, Hessians, and Hanoverians, was left to act alone, without any hope of co-operation, against an enemy who menaced an immediate attack with an army of 50,000. He blamed himself for not having pressed the resignation of the duke with greater pertinacity; for he could not but wish, "when strong immediate interest forces away every other consideration, that a person of more experience and authority had the command, first to decide whether the battle ought to be fought, and then to conduct the fighting it."‡ Bois-le-Duc was surrendered by the Dutch after a brief siege. The duke of York then moved to cover Nimeguen, the possession of which by the French would facilitate their advance into Holland. He was attacked on the 19th of October, and again on the 27th, and compelled to withdraw. Nimeguen was surrendered very shortly after this retreat. Maestricht also surrendered to Kleber. The road into Holland was open to the Republicans. The command of the army, now wretchedly reduced in number, was left to a Hanoverian nobleman, count Walmoden. The winter had set in with severity. The

Hanoverian general appears to have believed that in winter an army could do nothing but rest in its quarters. Pichegru, the French commander, thought otherwise. He crossed the river Waal on the ice in the middle of December.

"Cornwallis Correspondence," vol. ii. p. 263.

VOL. VII.

+Ibid., p. 276.

Ibid., p. 268.

Y

314

POLAND FINALLY ENSLAVED WHEN KOSCIUSKO FELL.

[1794. Then the British troops, 8000 in number, who were commanded by general Dundas under Walmoden, made a desperate attack upon the French, and drove them back over the Waal. But the bravery of our troops was exerted in vain. They were suffering great privations from a wretchedly managed commissariat; and when Pichegru again crossed the Waal with an immense army, there was no chance but that of a speedy retreat to save the remnant of the British. After terrible losses from a pursuing enemy, and from the inclement weather, two or three thousand of our countrymen fought their way to the mouth of the Elbe, and embarked at Bremen for England. Holland was lost.

"Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." France was alive, and dangerous. Poland was prostrate-"the sick man of that time; and the eagles were at hand to hasten the death, and divide the carcase. But there was an awakening before the death. When Poland, in 1792, saw her liberal Constitution put down by the armies of Russia, and had called in vain upon Prussia to support her in a resistance to aggression,* the national spirit of independence was embodied under prince Poniatowski, and Kosciusko showed his countrymen that a great leader would not be wanting if the prospect of deliverance was sufficiently clear for a protracted conflict. The oppressors were too powerful. Russia appropriated a large share of the sick man's possessions, and chucked a smaller share to Prussia. Poniatowski, Kosciusko, and many others who had fought against Russia, left their country. In 1794 the time appeared favourable for another attempt at independence. In the north of Poland there was an insurrection. An army was quickly organized. Kosciusko returned to Poland, and was

appointed the leader of his countrymen. He published a manifesto against the Russians; and obtained a signal victory on the 4th of April. The people of Warsaw then rose, and expelled the Russians from their city. Aid from all sides came to the patriotic cause. Kosciusko was advancing to meet the Russian intruders; when Frederic William of Prussia, having received his pay from England for effectual assistance in the war against France, turned his

* Ante, p. 216.

1794.]

CORSICA-SIEGE OF BASTIA.

315

thoughts to a more advantageous prospect than a hearty and honest fulfilment of his engagements would have afforded. He advanced into Poland at the head of forty thousand men; and was boldly met by Kosciusko with a force not one third of that number. Kosciusko was obliged to retreat towards Warsaw; but he effectually covered that capital for two months. Austria now considered it expedient to take a hand in this royal game, which promised great gains to those who made their stakes in time. Whilst she was bargaining for loans and subsidies with England, and leaving the duke of York to bear the brunt of the French attacks in the Netherlands, she marched an army into Little Poland. On the 10th of October, in an unsuccessful battle against the Russians under Suwaroff, Kosciusko was wounded. As he fell, he exclaimed "Finis Poloniæ." The struggle was continued for a little while, and then Warsaw capitulated; after Suwaroff had put to the sword twenty thousand wretched inhabitants of the suburb of Praga,-a massacre as horrid as that of Ismaïl, which, four years before, had signalized the triumph of this semi-barbarian.

There was one achievement of this year, memorable as an example of British daring; though it was a success without any permanent advantages. At the commencement of the French Revolution, the island of Corsica had been recognized as a department of France. But Paoli, who had been many years an exile from his country, returned; and finally organized a revolt against the French authorities. He entered into communication with lord Hood, after the evacuation of Toulon; and it was determined that the republican occupiers of Fiorenzo should be besieged. Troops were landed; and the French, being unable to maintain the post, concentrated their forces at Bastia. The British general, Dundas, thought the place too strong to be taken, without a reinforcement. Horatio Nelson, one of lord Hood's captains, said he would be ready to attack it with five hundred men, and the crew of his own ship, the Agamemnon. With his usual firm reliance upon the bravery and endurance of his sailors, and unbounded confidence in his own powers, Nelson effected for his admiral the reduction of this strong place without the help of general Dundas, taking the command of the soldiers, seamen, and marines. Four thousand troops capitulated to a force not exceeding twelve hundred men. Corsica, for a short period, was annexed to Great Britain. The people had a free Constitution offered to them; and they testified their desire to be under British protection. It was an union of very short duration, for it had no natural principles of cohesion. Corsica very soon came again under the dominion of France; and certainly this island, with its fierce and ignorant population, was not a possession that would have been easy to retain under a system of regulated liberty, even if it had been worth retaining for any higher object than the assertion of national pride.

Accessions to the Ministry-Opening of the Session-Mr. Canning-Opposition to the Address by Mr. Wilberforce-Acquittal of Warren Hastings-Marriage of the Prince of WalesSession closed-Expedition to Quiberon-Insurrections in Paris-Revolt of the Sections suppressed by Bonaparte-Opening of Parliament-Attack upon the king-Coercive policy of the Government-Dread of Mr. Fox of approaching absolutism-Bonaparte chief of the army of Italy-Territorial divisions of Italy-Bonaparte's first Italian CampaignAustrian successes in Germany-Lord Malmesbury negociates for peace, at Paris-Death of the Empress Catherine II.-Retirement of Washington-French fleet in Bantry Bay.

BEFORE the meeting of parliament on the 30th of December, 1794, the ministry of Mr. Pitt had received some important accessions from that section of the Whig party which had already given him their support in debates and in divisions. The duke of Portland was appointed third Secretary of State; Mr. Windham, Secretary at War; and earl Spencer, First Lord of the Admiralty. Earl Fitzwilliam went to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant, in December; but he was recalled in the following March.

Whatever was the amount of national gloom at the prospect of the war, there was one man who never lost heart or hope. The royal speech on the 30th of December was the anticipation of the sentiments, which William Pitt would again and again utter in majestic periods, to which his disciples would listen with unfeigned admiration. Disappointments and reverses were acknowledged, but security was only to be found in firmness and perseverance.

1794.]

OPENING OF THE SESSION-MR. CANNING.

317

Everything showed the rapid decay of the enemy's resources, and the instability of every part of their system. The United Provinces had entered into negociations for peace, but no established government could derive real security from such negociations. Forces were to be augmented; large additional burdens were to be imposed; and operations for another campaign were to be concerted with such of the powers of Europe as were impressed with the same sense of the necessity for vigour and exertion.

In the House of Commons, on that 30th of December, the speeches of two of the members excited more attention than even the stately harangue of the prime minister himself. George Canning, who had taken his seat in the previous session, seconded the motion for the Address. He had spoken three times during the session which preceded, and had been reproved for a slight exercise of his sarcastic power, being described by sir Philip Francis as "the young gentleman who had just escaped from his school and his classics, and was not yet conversant in the laws and constitution of his country." Sheridan had somewhat rashly proclaimed to the House at the end of 1792, when Mr. Jenkinson (afterwards earl of Liverpool) made his first speech on the side of the Government, that his own party was about to receive a great accession in the companion and friend of the young orator who had then distinguished himself. Canning disappointed the hopes of Sheridan, and became the most devoted as well as the most able supporter of Pitt. Of his adhesion to the great minister's policy, there is a wild story told by sir Walter Scott: "Canning's conversion from popular opinions was strangely brought round. While he was studying in the Temple, and rather entertaining revolutionary opinions, Godwin sent to say that he was coming to breakfast with him, to speak on a subject of the highest importance. Canning knew little of him, but received his visit, and learned to his astonishment, that in expectation of a new order of things, the English Jacobins designed to place him, Canning, at the head of their revolution. He was much struck, and asked time to think what course he should take; and having thought the matter over, he went to Mr. Pitt, and made the anti-Jacobin confession of faith." Scott tells this story upon the authority of sir W. Knighton. more improbable story was never told. That Godwin, a man of ripe age; singularly cautious in his actions, however bold were his political theories; studiously keeping aloof from all the Societies of that troubled time,—should have made this extraordinary proposal to a lad, whose abilities might have been exhibited in some British Forum, but were only known to the general world by his clever papers in "The Microcosm"; † moreover that Pitt should at once have gladly snatched the young democrat out of the dangerous embraces of the English Jacobins, to become his own bosom friend and companion in power-this is indeed a pretty romance, but one which we may leave for any historical value to the adornment of an eloquent biographer. Canning's uncompromising speech on the 30th of December, 1794, for a vigorous continuance of the war, excited the admiration of the ministerial

"Diary," April 17, 1828.

A

+ Published in 1787, in which year Cauning, at the age of seventeen and a half, was entered at Christchurch, Oxford.

See Robert Bell's "Life of Canning," p. 85.