The supplies for the present year were voted to the amount of fifty million one hundred and eighty-five thousand pounds. No new taxes were to be levied, but there was to be a loan of eight million pounds. This money was distributed as follows: twenty-five million pounds to the land service and ordnance, twenty million pounds to[600] the navy, a subsidy to Portugal of nine hundred and eighty-eight thousand pounds, and to Sicily of four hundred thousand pounds.
THE BRITISH FLEET PASSING THROUGH THE DARDANELLES. (See p. 538.)The whole of London was thrown into great agitation, and Sir John Anstruther that evening, in the House of Commons, was very severe on the Ministers for not taking more decided measures for the protection of the metropolis. The next day the letter of Sir Francis was taken into consideration. Many severe strictures were made on his conduct, and even Whitbread contended that the Speaker's warrant was perfectly legal, and that[598] Sir Francis had done a great injury to the cause of Reform by stirring up a riot in the prosecution of a constitutional question. There was a call for the expulsion of the Radical baronet from the House; but as this would have produced a new election in Westminster, by which he would certainly have been returned afresh, that was prudently abandoned.
FORE:The Duke of Richmond read a paragraph from a newspaper in which the report was stated, naming Lord Temple without any disguise. On this Temple rose, and admitted that he had given certain advice to the king, but would neither admit nor deny that it was of the kind intimated in the report. That the rumour was founded on truth, however, was immediately shown by the division. Numbers of lords who had promised Ministers to vote for the Bill withdrew their support; the Prince of Wales declined voting; and the Opposition carried a resolution for adjournment till the next day, in order to hear evidence in defence of the East India Company. It was clear that the Bill had received its death-blow, and would never pass the Lords after this expression of the royal will, and on the 17th of December it was lost by nineteen votes.
The year 1800 opened in the British Parliament by a debate on an Address to the king, approving of the reply to an overture for peace by Buonaparte, as First Consul of France. The letter addressed directly to the king was a grave breach of diplomatic etiquette, and was answered by Lord Grenville, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in a caustic but dignified tone. A correspondence ensued between Lord Grenville and M. Talleyrand, as French Minister for Foreign Affairs; but it ended in nothing, as the British Minister distinctly declined to treat. If Buonaparte had been sincerely desirous of peace, he must have withdrawn the French army from Egypt, as it was there with the open declaration of an intention to make that country a stepping-stone to India. But, so far from this, Buonaparte was, at the same moment, preparing to make fresh and still more overwhelming invasions of Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, and the proposal was simply made to gain time. Progress of the War on the ContinentLethargic Condition of PoliticsBattle of LaufeldtCapture of Bergen-op-ZoomDisasters of the French on the Sea and in ItalyNegotiations for PeaceCongress of Aix-la-ChapelleConditions of PeacePeace at HomeCommercial Treaty with SpainDeath of the Prince of WalesPopular feeling against the Bill for Naturalising the JewsLord Hardwicke's Marriage ActFoundation of the British MuseumDeath of PelhamNewcastle's DifficultiesFailure of RobinsonApproaching Danger from AmericaA State of Undeclared WarThe Battles of Boscawen and BraddockGeorge's Anxiety for HanoverSubsidiary Treaties against PrussiaPitt's OppositionDebate in the House of CommonsDanger of EnglandFrench Expedition against MinorcaThe Failure of ByngNewcastle resignsAttempts to Form a MinistryDevonshire SucceedsWeakness of the MinistryCoalition against PrussiaAlliance with EnglandCommencement of the Seven Years' WarFrederick Conquers SaxonyGloominess of AffairsCourt-Martial on Byng, and his DeathDismissal of PittThe Pitt and Newcastle CoalitionFailure of the attack on Rochefort and of that on LouisburgConvention of Closter-SevenFrederick's Campaign; Kolin, Rosbach, and LissaSuccesses elsewhereWolfe and CliveBattle of PlasseyCapture of LouisburgTiconderoga and Fort DuquesneAttacks on St. Malo and CherbourgVictory of CrefeldFrederick's CampaignCommencement of 1759; Blockade of the French CoastPitt's Plans for the Conquest of CanadaAmherst's and Prideaux's ColumnsWolfe before QuebecPosition of the CityWolfe fails to draw Montcalm from his PositionApparent Hopelessness of the ExpeditionWolfe Scales the Heights of AbrahamThe BattleSuccesses in IndiaBattle of QuiberonFrederick's FortunesCampaign of Ferdinand of BrunswickBattle of MindenGlorious Termination of the YearFrench Descent on CarrickfergusAttempt of the French to Recover QuebecTheir Expulsion from North AmericaFrederick's Fourth CampaignSuccesses of Ferdinand of BrunswickDeath of George II.CHAPTER XIX. THE REIGN OF GEORGE III. (continued).
