The clemency of his character was shown in this policy, but he saw that it was necessary to do something more to assure the peace of Ireland; he saw that it was necessary to stamp out the corruption of officials as sternly in Ireland as in India; he saw that the parliament of Ireland did not represent the people of Ireland, and was useless from a practical point of view for business, and he therefore became an ardent advocate for catholic emancipation and the abolition of the Irish parliament.
In carrying the Act of Union more credit must rest with Lord Castlereagh than with Cornwallis; but nevertheless Castlereagh could not have done what he did without the viceroy's active help and steady support. As early as 12 Nov. 1798 the Duke of Portland [see Bentinck, William Henry Cavendish, third Duke or Portland] sent over the first scheme of the articles of union to Dublin, and from that time the question received the viceroy's unceasing attention. The measure was at once introduced into the Irish House of Commons, but to the surprise of the government the opposition appeared in strength, and on 22 Jan. 1799, a motion of Mr. George Ponsonby, 'That the house would be ready to enter into any measure, short of surrendering their free resident and independent legislature, as established in 1782,' was carried by 107 to 105. This defeat did not discourage Lord Castlereagh, and he prepared, by boldly bribing with titles, places, and money, especially with money in the shape of compensation for borough influence, to win a majority for the Act of Union. Cornwallis loathed this trafficking for votes, and left it to his subordinate, but he supported him consistently, and passed his word for the fulfilment of the promises which Castlereagh made. He took far more interest in Castlereagh's grander scheme for the establishment of the Roman catholic church in Ireland, and believed firmly that if the invidious laws against the catholics were repealed, when the union was an accomplished fact, peace and quiet would be restored to the country. Castlereagh's bribery was successful, and on 7 June 1800 the Union Bill passed the Irish House of Commons by 153 to 88. Cornwallis had still many difficulties to contend with, for the government, or rather the king, declined at first to fulfil the pledges which he had had to make in order to get the bill carried, and when he found that such was the case he as a man of honour felt it necessary to resign. He announced this resolve in a manly letter, dated 17 June 1800 (Cornwallis Correspondence, iii. 262-6). The government on receiving this letter at once gave in, and all the new peerages and promotions in the peerage which Cornwallis had promised were duly conferred. But the question of catholic emancipation, which he had still nearer his heart, was not to be carried, and as soon as he heard that the king had refused to hear of emancipation, and that Pitt had resigned, he at once resigned both the viceroyalty and his post as master-general of the ordnance. His words in announcing his retirement to General Ross, in a letter of 15 Feb. 1801, are striking: 'No consideration could induce me to take a responsible part with any administration who can be so blind to the interest, and indeed to the immediate security of their country, as to persevere in the old system of proscription and exclusion in Ireland' (ib. iii. 337). He had, however, to wait until May, when his successors, Lord Hardwicke and Sir William Medows, came over to Ireland, and he then hurried back to his seat in Suffolk, Culford, intending to retire for ever from public life.
In July 1801, however, he received the command of the important eastern district, with his headquarters at Colchester, and in October he was appointed British plenipotentiary to negotiate peace with Bonaparte. He left Dover on 3 Nov., and after an interview with the first consul at Paris, he proceeded to Amiens to negotiate the treaty with the French plenipotentiary, Joseph Bonaparte. This mission was the most unfortunate which Cornwallis ever undertook. He was no diplomatist; had partly forgotten his French (see Diary of Sir George Jackson, K.C.H.); and was no match for Joseph Bonaparte, who was throughout cleverly prompted by Talleyrand. But in truth both nations wanted peace, though the plenipotentiaries wrangled until 27 March 1802, when the treaty of Amiens was signed. By it England surrendered all her conquests except Ceylon and Trinidad, which Holland and Spain were compelled to cede to her, and France lost nothing. Other questions were slurred over, and the treaty was in fact rather a truce than a peace.
On his return from France, Cornwallis retired to Culford, where he lived a peaceful life for three years until a demand was suddenly made upon him to go to India again as governor-general and commander-in-chief, he felt that it was a desperate thing for a man of sixty-six to undertake such a task, but his sense of duty forbade him to refuse, and he left England in March 1805. He found the country much changed when he landed at Calcutta on 29 July. The policy of Lord Wellesley and the victories of Harris over Tippoo, and of Lake and Sir Arthur Wellesley over the Mahrattas, had established
