to lead an easy life preferred to govern in accordance with the wishes of the corrupt faction which formed the Parliamentary majority. 2. The United Irishmen and Parliamentary Reform. 1791— 1794. Nowhere were the objections to this state of things felt more strongly than amongst the Presbyterians, who formed a great part of the population of Ulster, and especially of the flourishing town of Belfast, and were excluded as completely as the Catholics from office and from Parliament. Amongst the upper and middle classes in Ulster, religious bigotry had almost died out, and they had, for some time past, been ready to admit Catholics to the franchise and to put them on political equality with themselves. Then came the influence of the French Revolution, 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 in 1793, in order to baffle this extreme demand, he obtained from the Irish Parliament two Acts, the one freeing the Catholics from some of the worst penalties under which they suffered, and the other allowing them to vote for members of Parliament. As, however, they were still disqualified from sitting in Parliament, the concession was almost illusory, and, moreover, only a minority of seats depended on election in any real sense. In 1794 a very moderate Reform Bill, proposing the increase of independent constituencies, was rejected in the Irish House of Commons by a decisive majority. 3. The Mission of Lord Fitzwilliam. 1794-1795. — The seceders from the Whig party who joined Pitt in 1794 urged him to strengthen the Irish Government by granting Catholic emancipation and moderate reform, so as to keep in check the revolutionists on the one hand and the corrupt officials on the other. Pitt consented to send Lord Fitzwilliam, one of the Whig seceders, to Ireland, as Lord Lieutenant, rather because he wished to gratify his new allies than because he personally approved of the change. Fitzwilliam himself understood that there was to be a complete change of system and that justice was to be done to the Catholics; but he had held only verbal communications with Pitt, and there was probably a misunderstanding between the two statesmen. At all events, Pitt told Fitzwilliam that not one of the existing officials was to be dismissed except for actual misconduct. With Pitt as, at the best, a hesitating ally, Fitzwilliam's mission was doomed to failure. Fitzwilliam himself hastened that failure. He 1795 FITZWILLIAM IN IRELAND 833 landed in Dublin on January 4, 1795, and, almost at once, in defiance of his instructions, dismissed two of the worst of the officials, one of whom, John Beresford, was popularly known as the king of Ireland from the unbounded influence which he had gained by jobbery. He and the Irish Chancellor, Fitzgibbon, complained to the king that his ministers, in favouring 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 was, moreover, subjected to pressure from English opinion, where the Catholics were anything but popular, and where any proposal to reform Parliament savoured of the principles of the French Revolution. In these views Pitt to some extent shared, 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 (see p. 685). Fitzwilliam, whose arrival in Dublin had been welcomed as a message of peace from England, was promptly recalled, and Ireland was once more handed over to a Parliament dominated by place-hunters who, under the pretence of maintaining Protestantism, banded themselves together with the object of gaining wealth and position. "Did I ever give an honest vote in my life?" is a sentence which is said to have escaped from the lips of a member of this faction. 4. Impending Revolution. 1795-1796.-Such an evil system was too provocative to remain long unassailed. In the Irish Parliament, Grattan spoke vehemently in favour of a Bill for Catholic emancipation, but the Bill was rejected. Lord Fitzwilliam's recall was followed by an outburst of violence. The Catholic gentry and middle classes were at that time quite ready to make common cause with the Protestants of their own standing in resistance to any popular movement; but the mass of Irish peasants had grievances of their own so bitter that it was difficult for a Parliament hostile to their race and creed to govern them. The payment of tithes, especially, weighed heavily on an impoverished population, and was the more deeply felt as the money went to the support of a clergy of a creed hostile to that of those from whom it was exacted. If the Catholic gentry had been allowed to sit in Parliament, they would at least have brought their influence to bear in favour of an amelioration of the lot of the Catholic peasant in this respect. With respect to another grievance, it is doubtful whether the introduction of Catholic landlords into Parliament ( would have had any salutary effect. The landlords themselves for the most part let their land at a low rent, but their tenants usually let it out again at a higher rent, and the sub-tenants again let it at a rent higher still, till in some places 67. was charged as the rent of an acre of potato ground. In the lower classes the bitterness of religious animosity had never been extinguished and blazed up into fierce hatred. In the summer of 1795, when hope of obtaining fair treatment from Parliament was extinguished, outrages committed by Catholics upon Protestants became frequent. Angry Protestants, calling themselves Orangemen in memory of William III., retaliated, with all the strength of the Government behind them. 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. 5. Bonaparte in Italy. 1796-1797.-Before the end of 1796 France had reached a position of overwhelming strength on the Continent. At the beginning of that year her only serious enemies were England, Austria and Sardinia. In the spring, Bonaparte was sent to attack the Austrian and Sardinian armies in Italy. "You," he told his soldiers, "are ill-fed and naked. I will lead you into the most fertile places of the world, where you will find glory and riches." He defeated both Austrians and Sardinians, compelled the king of Sardinia to make peace, drove the Austrians out of Milan, and laid siege to Mantua their strongest fortress in Italy. Again and again Bonaparte, with marvellous skill, defeated Austrian armies attempting to save Mantua. It was not, indeed, till February 3, 1797, that Mantua, and with it the mastery of Italy, passed into his hands; but for some time before that its surrender had been a mere matter of time. 6. Pitt's First Negotiation with the Directory. 1796.—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. Believing 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 1797 A NAVAL VICTORY 835 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. 7. Suspension of Cash Payments. 1797.-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 (see p. 814). 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 4,000,000/. to Austria. Early in 1797 the Bank of England ran short of gold, and was authorised 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. 8. Battle of St. Vincent. 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, which, as soon as the excitement caused by the horrors of the Revolution came to an end, was brought back to the French side, by alarm at the preponderance of England at sea. If the French and Spanish fleets could effect a junction, they would be able to bring an overwhelming force into the English Channel, whilst 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 flag-ship of the Spanish Admiral, of 112. As the swords of the Spanish officers who surrendered were too many for 1i.e. A captain having command of other ships besides his own. 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 even mention his name in the despatch 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, whilst Lord Bridport, at the head of the fleet at Spithead, was expected to look after the French. 9. Mutiny at Spithead. 1797.-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 offences. 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 favourite amongst 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 again broke out into mutiny; but subsequently abandoned their hostile attitude on discovering that the Admiralty had no intention of dealing unfairly with them. 10. Mutiny at the Nore. 1797. --A more serious mutiny broke out in the fleet stationed at the Nore to guard the mouth of the Thames, where the sailors asked not merely to have actual grievances redressed, but to vote on the movements of their own ships even in the presence of an enemy, and blockaded the mouth of the Thames to enforce their demands. The mutiny spread to Duncan's ships off the Texel, the greater number of which sailed to join the fleet at the Nore. At one time Duncan was left to blockade the Dutch with only one ship besides his own. With this one ship he kept the Dutch in port, by constantly running up flags to make them think that he was signalling to the rest of his fleet, which they imagined to be just out of sight. In the meanwhile, the Government at home got the better of the mutineers. Parker, the chief leader of the revolt, was hanged, with seventeen others, and the crews submitted to their officers and did good service afterwards. II. Pitt's second Negotiation with the Directory. 1797.-Soon |