Public School History of England and Canada/England/Chapter 24
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
1. William Pitt the Younger.—One of Pitt's first acts was to pass an India Bill, in 1784, which gave the Government control over the political acts of the East India Company. This was done by appointing a Board of Control, the president of which was to be a member of the Government. But Pitt had a great many other reforms in view. He saw that Parliament did not represent the people, and he tried to do away with some of the small and rotten boroughs, and give more members to large cities and towns, and to populous counties. In this he failed, as too many powerful persons wished to keep things as they were. He also sought to make trade freer between Hngland and other countries. Pitt had studied and accepted the views of a famous book called the "Wealth of Nations," published in 1776, the author of which was Adam Smith, a Professor in a Scotch University. Pitt partly carried out Smith's doctrines by lowering the export and import duties on many articles. In this way he checked smuggling, and the public revenue was increased. He saw that Ireland was suffering from poverty, because she had no markets for her products, and he offered to admit Irish goods into English markets if the Irish Parliament would allow England to send her goods into Ireland. This the Irish Parliament refused to do because England did not propose to give to Ireland the right to trade in all her ports at home and abroad. Pitt was much disappointed at the refusal of his offer, but he succeeded in making trade freer with France. Pitt also put a stop to the practice of borrowing money from political friends at high rates of interest, and of giving them the privilege of doing work for the Government at their own prices. So, in many ways, he saved the public money, and began to lessen the public debt.
2. French Revolution.—Under such a wise and careful minister, who kept the country at peace and encourged trade and commerce, the people were very prosperous, and the population and wealth of the nation grew rapidly. But in 1783 it looked as if Pitt's power would soon be at an end. George III. had an attack of insanity which lasted so long that Parliament began to take steps to have his son George, the Prince of Wales, appointed Regent. The Prince of Wales was a great friend of Fox, and Pitt and Fox both expected that when the Prince became Regent, Pitt would go out of office, and Fox would come in. So when a Regency Bill was brought in which proposed to state what the power of the Regent should be, Fox wanted the Prince to become Regent at once with all the power of the king, but this Pitt would not allow. While the two parties were disputing the old king recovered, and then the Bill was no longer needed. The next year saw the beginning of the French Revolution, and from this time onward Pitt’s plans for lessening the debt and carrying out great reforms at home had to be dropped. The causes of this Revolution may be traced a long way back. For many years the French people had been very badly governed, the poor and the working classes having to pay all the taxes, while the nobles and clergy did nothing but spend the earnings of the peasants, labourers, and artisans. But the time came when the heavy expenses of the French court could not be paid out of the taxes of the poor, and then the French king, Louis XVI., called together the French Parliament, or “States-General,” to get money from the nobles and clergy. There were three branches of this States-General; for the nobles, the clergy, and the commons, sat and voted in separate chambers. When the Parliament met the commons would do no business until the nobles and clergy consented to meet and vote in the same assembly with them. The new assembly thus formed became known as the “National Assembly.” The National Assembly soon began to make many changes giving the people more freedom, and taking away much of the power of the king, nobles, and clergy. In July, 1789, the Paris mob attacked and took the Bastille, a great stone fortress and prison on the Seine, where many innocent people had met a mysterious fate. A little later the king was forced by the mob to leave his palace at Versailles and take up his abode in Paris, where he was kept a kind of prisoner. Once he tried to escape, but his flight was discovered and he was brought back. Then Austria and Prussia made war upon France to put Louis in his old position, and this so enraged the Paris mob that it broke into the prisons and murdered a great number of royalist prisoners. This was in September, 1792. A few months afterwards, Louis and his queen, Marie Antoinette, were put to death for plotting the invasion of France by Austria and Prussia. While these events were taking place in France the English people looked on quietly. Pitt, at first, was pleased with the Revolution, as he thought the French were trying to get the same kind of government as existed in England. Fox was delighted; but Edmund Burke spoke and wrote against the revolutionists with all his great genius and eloquence. Burke’s speeches had little effect for a time, but when the French went from one excess to another, then Burke’s writings began to be widely read, and people grew alarmed lest a revolution should break out in England. War with France now became popular. Austria and Prussia had not been successful in their invasion of France, for after the first fear had passed away the French Republicans drove their enemies back, and in their turn invaded the Austrian dominions in the Netherlands. The French now wanted all other nations to become republics, and when they began to take steps to invade Holland, which was under the protection of England, peace could no longer be maintained, and in Feb. 1793, France declared war against England, Holland, and Spain.
3. War with France.—In the war that followed England had, at first, as allies, Spain, Holland, Austria, and Prussia. England had to provide much of the money for the war, which owing to bad generalship and lack of energy was full of disasters for the Allies. The French drove the English out of Toulon, captured Amsterdam, and seized the Dutch fleet. Prussia soon made peace, while Spain cast in her lot with France against England. Against these reverses, we must place a victory by Lord Howe over the French fleet at Brest, and the seizure of the Dutch colonies at the Cape of Good Hope, in Ceylon, and in Malacca. So unsuccessful was the war, and so heavy the burden placed upon the English taxpayer, that Pitt was anxious to bring about an honorable peace. But the French were so elated with their victories, that no reasonable terms could be made, and in spite of bad harvests and great distress among the poor and the working classes, the war had to go on. To make matters worse, a foolish terror had seized upon the ruling and middle classes, who imagined they saw plots and conspiracies in every meeting held, and society formed, to obtain better government and a better representation in Parliament. Cruel and unjust laws were passed to prevent public gatherings and political writings. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and innocent men on the most trivial evidence were imprisoned and banished.
4. Trouble in Ireland.—In the meantime affairs in Ireland were 'growing worse and worse. The Irish Parliament did not represent the Irish people, and all offices and places of trust were given to the friends of a few ruling families. Shut in to Ireland by heavy duties against their products in English markets, the Irish were growing restless under the combined forces of grinding poverty and political injustice. Pitt had tried to remedy some of their wrongs,
but between the Irish Parliament and George III. he had failed.
In 1790, Orange lodges (so called from William, Prince of Orange), were formed in the North of Ireland, and in 1791, a body of Roman Catholics and Protestants, known as the “United Irishmen,” began to agitate for their civil and religious rights. Some of the leaders of this body, Wolf Tone, Hamilton Rowan, and others, asked the French for help, and the request was answered by sending a body of French troops under General Hoche, who attempted to land, but failed owing to a great storm at sea. At last the Irish rose in open rebellion, and formed a camp at Vinegar Hill, in Wexford, where they were attacked and defeated by General Lake, in June, 1798. A French force, under General Humbert, landed after the battle, and had a brief success, but was soon hemmed in and defeated. This rising was attended by horrible acts of cruelty, committed by both the Orangemen and the rebels, and by the different secret societies that sprang up over the land.
5. Naval Victories.—While Ireland was in this troubled condition, France, under its republican rulers, the “Directory,” was extending her conquests in Italy and elsewhere. Her great success was largely due to the wonderful genius for war of a young and rising general, Napoleon Bonaparte, a native of Corsica. He had helped to drive the English out of France, had saved the French Directory from the Paris mob, and had been given command of an army which won victory after victory over the Austrians in Italy, and forced them to yield up their Italian possessions. France now planned to invade England, with the aid of the fleets of Holland and Spain, but Admiral Jervis defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, in 1797, and drove it into Cadiz Harbor. Nelson, who was to win such great renown on the sea, was in this battle, and displayed great daring and skill. It was fortunate for England that this victory was won, for now the sailors, goaded to desperation by bad pay, bad food, and cruel treatment, mutinied, first at Spithead and then at the Nore. Their grievances were partially righted, afew of the ringleaders were punished, and then the men returned to their duty. They soon afterwards proved their loyalty and courage by defeating, under Admiral Duncan, the Dutch fleet at Camperdown, October, 1797.
But the British navy was now to win a still more famous victory, under her greatest naval commander.. Bonaparte, having humbled the Austrians, got permission to take a fleet and an army to Egypt. Admiral Horatio Nelson was sent with an English fleet to overtake him, but failed for some time to find his whereabouts. At length he got the necessary information, and sailed at once for Egypt, where he found Napoleon had landed, and had won a great victory over the Mamelukes, at the Battle of the Pyramids. But Napoleon’s fleet lay anchored in the Bay of Aboukir, and, though it was six o’clock in the evening, Nelson sent some of his ships between the French fleet and the shore, and began a battle which raged nearly all night. The morning found most of the French fleet destroyed, and Napoleon’s army without the means of return. The Battle of the Nile, which was fought August 1, 1798, brought great joy and relief to England, for France was now without a fleet. From Egypt, Bonaparte crossed over to Syria, besieged and took Jaffa, but was repulsed at Acre by the Turks and the English, and then returned to Egypt. Hearing that his interests could be best served by his return, he escaped in a vessel back to France, leaving his army behind him. He was now made First Consul, and once more led a French army against the Austrians in Italy, defeating them at Marengo in 1801. The same year his army in Egypt was defeated by Sir Ralph Abercromby, and his soldiers made prisoners.
6. Union of Great Britain and Ireland.—After the rebellion of 1798 in Ireland, Pitt saw that the only way to save the island from anarchy was to bring about a Union between Great Britain and Ireland. This he succeeded in carrying out in. 1800, by bribing the Irish members of Parliament, and by promising the Trish Catholics to repeal the laws which deprived them of their rights as citizens. So, on January Ist, 1801, the Irish Parliament ceased to exist, and Ireland became represented in the United Parliament at London, by one hundred members of the House of Commons, and by twenty-eight peers. But Pitt’s promise of civil and religious freedom for the Roman Catholics could not be carried out. When George III. heard that Pitt was preparing a Bill to give Roman Catholics their rights, he declared he would resign his crown rather than assent to it, and, Pitt who had pledged himself to this act of justice, felt it his duty to resgn in 1801.
7. Peace of Amiens.—Addington, the Speaker of the Commons, now became Prime Minister, and was supported by Pitt. In April of the same year, the English attacked the Danish fleet at Copenhagen, the Danes having shown signs of hostility. Sir Hyde Parker was the English Admiral, but Nelson did the fighting and won a hard-fought battle. Once during the struggle Parker signalled Nelson to retire, but Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye, and said he could see no signal, and went on fighting. Bonaparte, to serve his own ends, was now ready to make a truce, and so in March, 1802, the Peace of Amiens was signed. England gave up most of her conquests, and France restored the south of Italy to Austria.
8. Trafalgar.—The Peace of Amiens was but a hollow peace and Napoleon soon found a pretext for renewing the war. In defiance of the treaty he seized Parma and Piedmont, and placed an army in Switzerland. He found fault with England for not restoring the island of Malta to the Knights of St. John, and for harbouring French refugees. In 1804, his ambition was gratified by being made Emperor of France, and he was now eager to extend his empire, and dictate to Hurope. To do this he saw he must first crush England, and to this end he began to gather a large army at Bolougne which was to be carried across the Channel in flat-bottomed boats. When news of Napoleon's designs reached England, nearly 400,000 volunteers offered their services to defend their country, and formed themselves into companies and regiments for purposes of drill and discipline. But Pitt who had been called back to his old post, in 1804, depended on England's navy, and it did not fail her in this hour of danger. Napoleon hoped to draw the English fleet away from the Channel, by sending it in pursuit of the French and Spanish fleets which sailed, apparently, for the West Indies. The plan partially succeeded, for Nelson went in pursuit of them, but after a while found that they had turned back, for the purpose of escorting Napoleon's army across the Channel. The Spanish fleet was, however, met by an English fleet at Cape Finisterre and driven into Cadiz, and Nelson having found out his mistake, returned in great haste, and coming up with the French fleet at Cape Trafalgar, October 21st, 1805, fought and won the greatest naval battle of the war. When the action was about to begin, Nelson gave the signal, "This day England expects every man to do his duty," and nothing more was needed. Nelson, against the advice of his friends, exposed himself fearlessly to the French marksmen, one of whom shot him down while standing on the deck of his own ship, the Victory. He lived long enough to know that the battle was won, and that all danger of a French invasion of England’s shores was at anend. The English people rejoiced at Nelson’s last and greatest victory, although the price at which it was bought brought sorrow and mourning into every household.
Soon after this, Napoleon, who had turned away from England to attack Austria, met and defeated the armies of Austria and Russia at Austerlitz, December 2, 1805, and the news of this disaster killed Pitt. At the early age of forty-seven, in January 1806, this worthy son of a noble sire passed away, full of sorrow and anxiety for the country he had served so well.
9. Abolition of the Slave Trade,—It had been Pitt’s wish, when he returned to office in 1804, to have the aid of Fox in his Government, but George III. would not hear of it. Now, after Pitt’s death, Fox was taken in, for all parties were united in fighting England’s battles against Napoleon. It was hoped that Fox would, on account of his known friendliness to France, be able to bring about a peace, but this was not realized, and Fox soon followed his great rival to the grave, dying in 1806. It was at this time, 1807, that England took her first step in ridding herself of the curse of slavery. Hver since the revival under the Wesleys and Whitfield, a deep interest had’ been taken in the poor, the ignorant, and the oppressed. In 1773, John Howard was drawn into the work of visiting English jails and prisons, and his reports of their wretched and filthy condition, and of the vice and misery that prevailed in them, led Parliament to take steps to reform some of the more glaring abuses. In 1788, Clarkson, Wilberforce, and Zachary Macaulay, began a crusade against the slave trade between Africa and America, and against slavery itself. Pitt and Fox sympathized with the movement and lent it their aid, but the strong opposition of the merchants of Liverpool and others who made gain by the wrongs and sufferings of the poor negroes, prevented Parliament from doing justice until 1807, when the slave-trade was made piracy, and abolished.
10. The Berlin Decree.—The Battle of Trafalgar had taught Napoleon that England could defend her own shores against all attempts at Invasion. He next sought to ruin England through her trade and commerce. In 1806, he defeated Russia and Prussia at Jena, and he was now the dictator of continental Europe. He used his power in an endeavor to close the ports of the continent against English ships. By a decree issued from Berlin, he forbade all European nations to trade with England. This was a severe blow to British merchants, and the British Government retaliated by forbidding other nations to trade with France, and ordering foreign vessels to touch at British ports on pain of seizure. Between these two decrees, the vessels of neutral nations found it impossible to carry on their commerce, and the United States of America, which had hitherto a large carrying trade, was so vexed at England’s harshness and obstinacy that it declared war against her in 1812. The Americans complained, also, of English vessels claiming the right to search American vessels for deserting seamen. The war that followed was waged principally in Canada, and ended in 1815, by the matters in dispute being left unsettled. Nothing was gained by either nation in this unnatural and foolish war.
11. Peninsular War.—Napoleon had become so puffed up with his successes, that he began to make and unmake kings at pleasure. His brothers and relations had kingdoms carved out for them in different parts of Europe, at the expense of the old ruling families. His pride and arrogance carried him so far that at last he dethroned the King of Spain and put his own brother Joseph in his place. This was more than the Spaniards could endure and they called on England for aid. The rising man at this time in English polities was George Canning. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he determined to help the Spanish people. Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had distinguished himself in wars in India, and Sir John Moore were sent with a small force to Portugal. Wellesley defeated Marshal Junot at Vimiero in Aug. 1808, but a foolish “Convention,” or agreement, was made at Cintra without his consent, by which the French were permitted to leave Portugal. Wellesley was recalled to England, and Sir John Moore advanced into Spain. He found the Spanish troops that he was sent to aid utterly unreliable, although they would fight well enough in small “guerilla” bands. Moore learned that Bonaparte himself was marching on Madrid with 70,000 men, and as he had only 25,000 he prudently retreated towards the coast where he expected to find his ships. He was pursued at first by Napoleon, and afterwards by Marshal Soult, with a large army, in the hope of overtaking him before he reached the coast. When Moore arrived at Corunna the vessels in which he meant to embark his men were nowhere to be seen, and while waiting for them, the French army attacked his small force. On the
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16th Jan. 1809, was fought the famous battle of Corunna, in which Moore, perhaps the most promising general in the British army, was killed. The French were defeated with a loss of 3,000 men, and Moore's army was allowed to embark without molestation. Moore himself was buried by his sorrowing comrades on the battlefield. So ended England's first effort to drive the French out of Spain.
But Canning was not dismayed. He sent Wellesley back again, but with an army altogether too small, and too badly supplied, for such a campaign as he had to carry on. For four years did Wellesley struggle against large French armies, with little support from his friends in England, or from his Spanish allies. In spite of tremendous difficulties he drove the French out of Portugal, and won victory after victory over them in Spain. In 1809, he defeated Marshal Soult at Oporto, and Marshal Victor at Talavera. He then retreated before a large army under Marshal Massena, and constructed a strong line of defences at Torres Vedras, near Lisbon, and on the coast of Portugal. Massena found he could not pass Wellesley’s fortifications, and he had to retreat with great loss, for Wellesley had caused the whole country to be laid bare of cattle and food, and when Massena’s army began to retreat the stragglers were cut off in great numbers by the enraged Spanish guerilla bands. Wellesley, now Viscount Wellington, followed up the French retreat and won many battles. He took by storm the-two strong fortresses of Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajos in 1812, defeated the French at Salamanca and Vittoria in 1812 and 1813, and drove. Joseph Bonaparte out of Spain. The successful siege of St. Sebastian in 1813, was followed in 1814 by the battle of Toulouse, the last battle of the Peninsular War.
12. Russian Campaign.—In 1812, Napoleon started with an army of half a million into Russia, to conquer that country. The Russian emperor had been on friendly terms with Napoleon for a few years, but Napoleon’s Berlin decree, by which Russia was not permitted to trade with England, proved a great hardship to the Russian people, and they soon began to import English manufactures, against Napoleon’s orders. This led to the breaking up of the alliance between Russia and France, and to Napoleon’s invasion. At the battle of Borodino, in September 1812, the Russians were defeated after a fierce struggle, and then Napoleon pressed on to Moscow, the chief city in Russia. Rather than permit the French army to winter there, the Russians set fire to the city, and Napoleon, without food or shelter for his troops, had to begin a, retreat. Winter now came on, and the retreating French, without proper clothing and food, died daily by the thousand. The Russians hung on the rear, cutting off the weary stragglers as they fell behind the main body of the army. So out of the great host that went with light hearts to an easy conquest, only 20,000 returned. Encouraged by Napoleon’s misfortunes, Austria and Prussia now rose against the tyrant, and joining their forces with those of Russia, met and defeated him after three days of fighting, at Leipzig, in October, 1813. Step by step Napoleon was now driven back, until the armies of the allies entered Paris in 1814, Napoleon had to give up his throne, and be content with ruling over the little island of Elba, which was given him as his kingdom by his victorious foes.
13. Waterloo, 1815.—Louis X VIII., the brother of Louis XVI., was now made King of France, and the Allies began to re-arrange the map of Europe, which had been thrown into sad confusion by Napoleon’s conquests. Before they had made much progress, they were startled by the news that Napoleon had, after eleven months absence, returned to France, and was making his way towards Paris. His old soldiers gladly rallied around him, Louis XVIII. fled from Paris, and Napoleon was once more on the French throne. The Allies hastened to gather their forces to crush him, and England and Prussia soon had armies in the field. Napoleon saw that his only chance was to defeat the English and Prussians separately, before they could unite their forces. He marched north into Belgium, and on June 16, 1815, met and defeated the Prussians at Ligny. The same day the English and Belgians under Wellington were attacked at Quatre Bras by Marshal Ney. Wellington repulsed Ney, but hearing of the Prussian defeat at Ligny, he fell back to the field of Waterloo, nine miles from Brussels, to keep up his line of communication with Blucher, the Prussian general. There, on the. 18th of June, 1815, Wellington and Napoleon met for the first and only time on the battlefield. Wellington’s army was largely made up of Belgians and Germans, while his English troops were, many of them, raw levies and untried in battle. In numbers the armies were nearly equal, but Napoleon had with him the veterans of hisarmy, besides being much superior to Wellington in cavalry and artillery. Wellington’s hope was to hold the French at bay until Blucher and the Prussians could arrive in the early afternoon. Napoleon, on the other hand, hoped by the deadly play of his artillery, and the fierce charges of his cavalry to break the British ranks. As the day wore on, and. Wellington saw his thin lines growing thinner under the desperate charges of the French cavalry and the fire of their artillery, he began to long for “Night or Blucher.” At last, about five in the afternoon, the sound of distant firing was heard, and a little later it was seen that the Prussians had arrived, and were attacking the flank of the French army. Napoleon saw that but one chance remained, and that was by a desperate charge of his Old Guard to break the British lines before help from the Prussians could reach them. These trusted veterans came gallantly forward, but when near the British lines they met with such a deadly volley of musketry, followed by such a fierce bayonet charge of the British infantry, that they wavered, turned, and fled. The victory was won, Napoleon's career was ended, and Europe was saved. The Prussians pursued the fleeing French far into the night, cutting down the fugitives without mercy. Napoleon himself fled to Paris, and a little later surrendered to the captain of a British man-ef-war. He was banished to the lonely and rocky island of St. Helena, where six years after he died, May 5, 1821. Louis X VIII. came back to the French throne, and the great struggle for European freedom was over.
14. Condition of the Nation—.The long war was ended, and the nation found itself with over 800 millions of debt, much of it contracted in paying great sums to the Allies to keep their armies in the field. No nation had suffered so little from this desperate struggle as England, partly because she was free from invasion, and partly because she was the mistress of the sea, and controlled the carrying trade of the world. Her manufactures were sold in every European market and her industries suffered little check, until the poverty of other nations became so great as to prevent them from buying. But now that the war was over thousands of men were thrown out of employment, and when the crops failed in 1816, the high duty on wheat made food so dear as to cause a famine. The labour-saving machines were blamed for taking away employment from starving working-men, and riots followed in which organized efforts were made to destroy the new and hated machinery. The war had so fully taken the attention of the king's ministers and of Parliament, that all political reforms had ceased. George III. had become permanently insane in 1810, and his son George was appointed Regent. The Regent was a worthless profligate, and his base actions made him unpopular with the people. So, for some years after the war, there was great distress and much political discontent among the people, which was increased by the harsh laws passed by Parliament against freedom of speech.
15. Literature and Inventions.—George III. died in 1820, after the longest reign in our history, and was succeeded by his son George IV. The chief features of this eventful reign have been sketched; but no mention has been made of the great men who made England famous by their writings and scientific discoveries. For it was during this time that Robertson wrote his histories of Scotland, Spain, and America, that Gibbon composed his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and that Adam Smith gave to the world his Wealth of Nations. Samuel Johnson wrote essays, criticisms, and poems, but he is best remembered by his Dictionary, published in the reign of George II. Goldsmith, who talked like “Poor Poll,” wrote charming tales and essays. His name will never be forgotten while the Vicar of Wakefield retains its well deserved popularity. But the most remarkable feature of all this literary activity is the long list of great poets who lived and wrote during the latter half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. For this lterary outburst we must give some credit to the hopes and fears aroused by the great upheaval in the social and political life of France. Cowper, Burns, Shelley, Keats, Byron, Campbell, Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth, Moore, and Scott, are names of poets second only to those of Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton. But Scott (Sir Walter) ranks higher as a novelist than as a poet, and the author of the Waverley Novels, still holds the first place among the novelists of all climes and ages.
Towards the close of the reign, in 1807, two Americans, Fulton and Livingston, moved a vessel up the Hudson River by steam, and a little later, in 1813, steam-navigation was tried on a small scale on the Clyde. Scientific discoveries were made by such men as Herschel, Davey, and Priestly, while Josiah Wedgewood taught the people of Staffordshire the art of making beautiful and graceful pottery.