I Chapter LII THE UNION WITH IRELAND AND TROUBLE LEADING DATES REIGN OF GEORGE III., A.D. 1760-1820-LORD FITZWILLIAM IN IRELAND, N 1785, when Pitt was aiming at a commercial union with Ireland, he had expressed a desire to make “England and Ireland one country in effect, though for local concerns under distinct legislatures." The difficulty, however, lay in the unfitness of the Parliament at Dublin to play the part of a legislature. It was not representative of the people, for the Catholics were excluded, nor even of the remaining Protestants, and it was unusually corrupt. Nowhere were the objections to this state of things felt more strongly than among the Presbyterians of Ulster, and in October, 1791, the Society of United Irishmen was founded at Belfast by Wolfe Tone, himself a Presbyterian. Its object was to unite Catholics and Protestants by widening the franchise and by opening office and Parliament to all without distinction of creed. Pitt took alarm, but the reforms gained were illusory. Lord Fitzwilliam was sent to Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant, but although he was favorable to the Catholics, the Irish office-holders persuaded the king that his ministers, in favoring Catholic emancipation, were leading him to a breach of the oath which he had taken at his coronation to defend the Protestant religion, and the king gave Pitt to understand that he would never consent to such a measure. Pitt under pressure at home recalled Fitzwilliam, and began to look for the best remedy for Irish difficulties in the constitution of a common Parliament for the two countries, as there had been a common Parliament for England and Scotland since 1707. The 1791-1797 evils were too provocative to remain long unassailed. A bill for Catholic Emancipation was rejected, Lord Fitzwilliam's recall was followed by an outburst of violence, the payment of tithes weighed heavy, the subletting of land made rents exhorbitant, and in the lower classes the bitterness of religious animosity had never been extinguished and blazed up into fierce hatred. Violence and illegality appeared on both sides. The United Irishmen took up the cause of the Catholics, and early in 1796 sent Wolfe Tone to France to urge the Directory to invade Ireland and to establish a republic. On October 22, 1796, a British ambassador, Lord Malmesbury, reached Paris to negotiate a peace. He asked that France should abandon the Austrian Netherlands, and should withdraw from Italy. As Pitt ought to have foreseen, if he did not actually foresee, the Directory repelled such overtures with scorn. Believ ing that they had England at their mercy, they struck at Ireland. On December 17 a great fleet carrying an army of 20,000 men sailed from Brest under the command of Hoche, one of the ablest of the French generals, who had set his heart on winning Ireland from the English. It was, however, dispersed at sea, and only some of its vessels reached Bantry Bay, out of which they were driven by a violent storm before a landing could be effected. The most satisfactory thing about this expedition, from the British point of view, was that the Irish themselves had shown no signs of welcoming the invaders. Pitt was too exclusively an English minister to appreciate the real state of things either in Ireland or on the Continent. His treatment of Ireland was not such as to secure the internal peace of that country, and his treatment of France gave him neither peace nor victory. His main support lay in the extraordinary financial resources supplied by the rapidly increasing manufactures of England. Yet even on this ground he did not escape difficulties. In addition to the military and naval expenses incurred by his own country, he spent large sums upon its allies, and in the year 1796 sent no less than 4,000,000l. to Austria. Early in 1797 the Bank of England ran short of gold, and was authorized by the Government, and subsequently by Parliament, to suspend cash payments. For twenty-four years banknotes passed from hand to hand, though those who took them knew that it would be a long time before the Bank would be again able to exchange them for gold. 1797 Success in Italy emboldened France in 1797 to attempt a great naval attack on Great Britain. The Batavian Republic-by which title the Dutch Netherlands were now known-had since 1795 been a dependent ally of France, and since October 6, 1796, France had been allied with Spain. If the French and Spanish fleets could effect a junction, they would be able to bring an overwhelming force into the English Channel, while the Dutch fleet was to be employed to convey to Ireland an army of 14,000 men. To prevent this, Admiral Sir John Jervis, on February 16, attacked the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent. His ships were fewer and smaller than those of the Spaniards, but they were better equipped and better manned. Commodore Nelson, disobeying orders, dashed with his own and one other ship into the midst of the enemy's fleet. Two other ships followed him after a while, but still the chances of war seemed to be against him. Yet he boarded and captured, first the San Nicolas of 80 guns, and then the San Josef, the flagship of the Spanish admiral, of 112. As the swords of the Spanish officers who surrendered were too many for him to hold, he gave them to one of his bargemen, who coolly tucked them in a bundle under his arm. Jervis was made Earl St. Vincent for the victory; but he was so nettled at Nelson's disobedience that he did not mention his name in the dispatch which was published in the Gazette. Nearer home the main business of the British fleet was to prevent a junction between the French and the Dutch. Admiral Duncan was sent to blockade the Dutch in the Texel, while Lord Bridport, at the head of the fleet at Spithead, was expected to look after the French. The plans of the Government were nearly upset by an unexpected mutiny in the fleet. The sailors were paid at a rate settled in the reign of Charles II., though the price of clothes and provisions had risen considerably. They were badly fed, and when they were sick or even wounded their pay was stopped. Order was kept by constant flogging, often administered for slight offenses. The sailors at Spithead finding, after petitioning the Admiralty for redress of grievances, that no notice was taken of their petition, refused to go to sea. On this the Lords of the Admiralty instructed Lord Howe to assure them that justice should be done. Howe was a favorite among them, and they agreed to return to their duty. A short while afterwards, suspecting the Admiralty of a design to break the promise given to them, they |