THE situation of Great Britain, at the beginning of the year 1808, was more extraordinary than any that is exhibited in the history of former times. After a war, which, with the short interval of the peace of Amiens, had continued fifteen years, and, at the commencement of which all Europehad been leagued with her against France, her last reliance upon the continental governments had failed, and all Europe (Sweden alone excepted,) was so humbled, that it was manifest the few states which still preserved a semblance of neutrality, would soon be compelled into a confederacy with France against her. The French military force, and the English navy, two the most tremendous powers that had ever yet existed, were opposed to each other without the possibility of coming in conflict. Masters, as the French were, of the continent, all thoughts of

attacking them by land were at an end, and neither they nor their allies dared show their flag upon the sea. We, therefore, could not in any way lessen the power of the enemy, neither could they subdue, nor in any way weaken us. The threat of invasion had long been laid aside; that it had been seriously* intended by Buonaparte, at the recommencement of hostilities, is beyond a doubt; but the spirit with which all England flew to arms at the menace, had in timidated him, and his gun-boats were left to rot in the harbour of Boulogne. Secured against this bugbear, by its confessed abandonment, by our fleets, and still more by our internal strength, we were carrying on the war, equally without fear and without hope.

The state of our home politics was not less remarkable. For the first

VOL. I. PART I.

A

time, we were under an administration without a name; its ostensible head, the duke of Portland, was a man who never appeared in parliament, and who was never either spoken or thought of by the public. The other members held their place, less by their own strength, than by the weakness of their opponents. Of all administrations, indeed, that of "All the Talents," as it was denominated, had been the most unpopular. The two parties of which it was composed had been for many years engaged, not merely in opposition, but in absolute enmity and hatred of each other; and their coalescence was like the combination of two chemical substances, each having a distinct character of its own, which, when they meet, and are neutralized, is lost in both. The Grenville party suffered least by this union; for it had less to lose, and had made the fewest concessions of principle. The peace of Amiens had placed the talents of Lord Grenville in a stronger light than they had ever before been seen in the same prophetic foresight which Mr Fox had displayed when the first unhappy war was undertaken, he had manifested at its fallacious termination, and that too with a feeling of national honour which all his opponents seemed in some degree to have laid aside. In another point, also, his character stood higher than that of Mr Pitt; for, both of them equally favouring and being equally pledged to the measure of Catholic Emancipation, he had refused to abandon that measure as the means of coming into power, when Mr Pitt thought proper to concede it. Lord Grenville, therefore, on his re-entering into administration, was looked to with confidence, by those who expected great

benefits to result from this Emancipation, as it was pompously termed ; by the remains of that once numerous portion of the people, who, having formerly been duped by the Anti-Jacobin alarmists, regarded the old minority as the most dangerous enemies of their country, and relied upon him, as their security against them; and by that wiser class, who, however they had differed concerning the justice and necessity of the last war, were convinced that the present was unavoidable; and that England had no other danger to apprehend, than that of being entrapped into a deceitful peace. To the Catholics, and to a vigorous prosecution of the war, so long as war was essential to the safety and honour of the nation, Lord Grenville and his friends were pledged; to these points, and to these only. With the Foxites it was otherwise: their leader was bound, as strongly as professions could bind him, to obtain the repeal of the Test Act; and, with the same reason, a reform in the representation of the people was expected from Lord Howick. It. was expected, and justly expected, from these statesmen, now they were in power, that each should effect the measure which he had so often and so strenuously brought forward when in opposition; and from the whole party, the removal, or, at least, the modification, of the income-tax was looked for, which they had formerly resisted as so inquisitorial in its principle, so iniquitous in its proportions, and so oppressive in its operation. operation. The promises of men in place have long been considered as proverbially worthless; the professions of those who are out of place are no better. Upon the death of Mr Pitt, the government fell, as it were by inheritance, to his opponents.

The sinecure which he had vacated, was secured by one of his colleagues, and then, without a struggle, they yielded to the influence and reputation of their successors.

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Lord Castlereagh told them they had succeeded to a bed of roses; a phrase which became for a time, from its ridiculous inapplicability, a bye-word among the people. Great, however, as were the difficulties of the times, the uniform ill success of their measures was to be attributed at least as much to misconduct, as to mishap. It was apprehended that the French would again seize upon Egypt, and take to themselves the whole of the Levant; the Egyptians, weary of the ignorant tyrants who degraded them, longed to be again under the dominion of a more enlightened power; they had successively experienced the effect of French and of British protection, and decidedly preferred the latter: the common cry was, English if we can, but hats at any rate." When it was determined to prevent the enemy from obtaining possession of this important country, and information was required concerning the force that would be requisite, it was replied, that five thousand men might secure Alexandria; but, if it was meant to take Egypt, twenty thousand would then be wanted. Five thousand were sent; they attempted to do that for which twenty were necessary, and the consequences were equally disgraceful and disastrous. At the same time, an expedition was sent to Constantinople to overawe the Porte; and there also, from causes which have never yet been satisfactorily explained, we retreated with shame, our fleet narrowly escaping from the enormous stone-balls of the Turkish artillery. But the heaviest loss, and

the deepest dishonour, which the British arms sustained, was at Buenos Ayres. That city having been surprised without the knowledge, and against the wishes of government, the ministry, in condescension to a popular cry, consented to carry on plans of conquest, which, in their own better judgment, they disapproved; and, instead of establishing an independent government in those colonies, for which the opportunity was so favourable, began to dream of subduing South America; they sent out General Whitelocke, and, by his gross in capacity, several hundred brave men were destroyed, and the rest of the army reduced to an ignominious capitulation. Every ministry will be judged of by its contemporaries according to the success of its measures; nor is the criterion altogether false: for, though wise measures may perhaps fail, it is impossible that foolish ones should prosper. Neither was it sufficient in these instances to shift the blame from administration to its agents, and complain that they had been unfortunate in their transactions abroad: in such cases, unfortunate is but another word for unwise; and, as a general is responsible for the safety of his army, so ought a minister to be answerable for the capacity of the ambassador or commander to whom he has intrusted the interests of the nation.

They sinned equally in what they attempted, and in what they omitted to attempt. It was not possible to have assisted Prussia at Jena,-for Prussia had given us no time for cooperation; and her king, relying too confidently upon the fortunes of the house of Brandenburgh, upon his own popularity in the north of Germany, his untried strength, and the inherited reputation of his armies,

was playing an ambitious game, of which Hanover, and perhaps Holland, with an imperial crown, would have been the prize. A memorable lesson was afforded to posterity in that disastrous battle, when a single day sufficed for the overthrow of a power, which it had taken a century of violent and iniquitous policy to build up. But, with the Baltic'open to our fleets, we might have assisted Russia; an English force might have relieved Dantzic; an English army might have been present at Pultusk and at Eylau, and would probably have rendered either of those battles, a decisive victory over the French; an English army might have drawn off part of the strength of France from Russia, and either by such a diversion, or by its presence, have changed the fortune of the day at Friedland. But, instead of exerting the resources of Great Britain now, when, for the first time, the popular opinion upon the continent was in our favour; when the writings of enlightened men had succeeded in exciting against the French that feeling, upon which, at the commencement of the war, their strength was founded; and when Buonaparte, throwing off the mask, had manifested himself to all Europe, by the murder of Palm, for the bloody and insolent tyrant that he is; instead of taking advantage of these circumstances, and the spirit of resistance which had arisen, our ministry stood aloof from the contest, leaving the continental pow. ers to fight their own battles, as if their victory was not to be our gain, and their defeat our loss. This timorous policy explained what were the con

cessions which the Grenville party had made to their colleagues; and the nation perceived, when it was too late, that the good which either party might have produced by acting wholly upon its own principles, was not to be expected from a coalition which had paralysed both.

The parliamentary conduct of the Foxites disappointed still more poignantly those who had fixed their hopes upon them. Catholic Emancipation was adjourned till a more convenient season; the dissenters looked in vain to Mr. Fox for therepeal of the Test Act; and Lord Howick, so many years the foremost advocate for a reform in the representation, had now discovered that it was not the general wish of the people of England. The income-tax, instead of being more equally proportioned, was doubled; and the full impost of ten per cent., which Mr Pitt, with sufficient rigour, had made commence with incomes of two hundred a-year, was levied upon those of one. Cruel and iniquitous as this tax was in the highest degree, the most oppressive to which a free people has ever submitted, it was made as vexatious as possible, by compelling those persons, whose little incomes were below the standard of taxation, to pay their full proportion, which they were afterwards to recover by producing proper testimonials; thus subjecting them to certain trouble, probable inconvenience, and not unlikely loss, from their ignorance how to apply for restitution, and the difficulty and expence of taking a journey to obtain it. * Such, indeed, were the first proceedings of this

party, when in possession of that power which had been for so many years the object of their wishes, that the sorrow and humiliation with which they filled those persons who had hoped for better things, could only be equalled by the pleasure of their enemies, and the astonishment of all men. Every debate afforded some fresh instance of pliability; old doctrines were recanted, new ones, which were utterly incompatible, advanced; and language, which had formerly been used for the purpose of obtaining popularity, was explained away, till no meaning was left which could either have flattered the mob, or offended the most submissive devotee of the crown. "What shall we hear unsaid to-night?" was the triumphant sneer with which the New Opposition used to enter the House of Commons; and the general question was,---If these be the principles of the Foxites, what is it that has kept them out of place till now? To these causes of general disgust, (for, except the mere hangers-on of the party, all persons were disgusted, those whose opinions were taken up, and those whose opinions were cast off, alike,) other circumstances are to be added, which were even more offensive to the public feeling. Never before had so total a displacement been made in the offices of state; hitherto such changes had been confined to those great places which are the stakes for which the game of politics is played: the revolution extended farther now, and men, too humble, it might have been thought, to be considered as belonging to any party, and who regarded themselves, and were regarded, as possessing alife-hold property in their respective situations, were ejected to make room for a set of hungry par

tizans. The facetious complaint of the leader of the party, that they lay three in a bed, got abroad'; and the people of England sorrowfully remembered the old fable of the Fox and the Flies.

Nevertheless, this ministry, deplorably as it disappointed the nation in other respects, has the merit of having effected the two most important and beneficial measures of the present reign. Mr Windham's Army Bill is the one. By this, the country was relieved from the mode of raising the militia by ballot, a method in every respect the worst that could be devised; operating upon those who can afford to pay for substitutes, as a tax by lottery; upon the poor, as absolute compulsion; and impeding the regular recruiting service, by tending inevitably to raise the price of men. No law was ever yet so beneficial to the whole peasantry, and poor of England, as that which delivered them from this great and heavy evil. That part of the bill, which substitutes service during a limited term of years, for that indefinite and hopeless bondage to which our soldiery had hitherto been doomed, had long been called for by enlightened men; its consequences, if left to their natural operation, will, in the course of half a century, fill our towns, villages, and hamlets, with men, who, having employed the rest. less activity of youth in seeing the world, and retired, when that restlessness is abated, to calmer occupations, will at all times be ready for the effectual defence of their country; and will, by their stories of what they have seen, excite the rising generation to follow the same course. The crimp, and the hardly less nefarious practices of the recruiting serjeant, may thus be dispensed with;