THREE:But besides nascent war, the Anti-Slavery movement of Wilberforce, Pitt's friend, was decidedly adverse to the expected increase of income. The Abolitionists had now begun to abandon the use of slave-grown sugar, and they proposed to extend this to all the produce of the West India islands, till the slave trade should be extirpated. This alarmed Pitt, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he prevailed on Wilberforce to discourage this project for awhile. The Abolition cause received serious injury from the frightful insurrection which had broken out in St. Domingo, and from the outrages which the insurgent blacks had perpetrated on the whites. Such were held up by the friends of slavery as the natural consequences of novel doctrines of philanthropy. What made[391] the matter more serious was, that Brissot and the worst of the Jacobins were the authors of these bloody tragedies, by their violent advocacy of the universal adoption of the Rights of Man. All these men were enthusiastic applauders of the English Abolitionists. Paine was a prominent Abolitionist; and Clarkson, the right hand of Wilberforce, was an equal admirer of the French Revolution, and gave serious offence by attending a dinner at the "Crown and Anchor," to celebrate the taking of the Bastille. These circumstances had a great effect when Wilberforce, on the 2nd of April, brought in his annual motion for the immediate abolition of the slave trade. Fox and Pitt eloquently supported him; but Dundas, now become Secretary of State, prevailed to introduce into the motion the words "gradual abolition." The Wilberforce party managed to carry a motion in the Commons, for the abolition of the trade to the West Indies, on the 1st of January, 1796; but this was thrown out in the Lords, where it was opposed by the Duke of Clarence, who had been in the West Indies, and thought the descriptions of the condition of the slaves overdrawn. It was also opposed by Thurlow, by Horsley, Bishop of St. Davids, and a considerable majority.[See larger version]
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THREE:The brilliant successes of this campaign had clearly been the result of Pitt's plans before quitting office. Bute and his colleagues had no capacity for such masterly policy, and as little perception of the immense advantages which these conquests gave them in making peace. Peace they were impatient forless on the great grounds that peace was the noblest of national blessings, than because the people grumbled at the amount of taxationand because, by peace, they diminished, or hoped to diminish, the prestige of the great Minister, who had won such vast accessions to the national territory. Bute was eager to come to terms with France and Spain, regardless of the advantages he gave to prostrate enemies by showing that impatience. Had he made a peace as honourable as the war had been, he would have deserved well of the country; but to accomplish such a peace required another stamp of mind.
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THREE:Pitt, though he remained determined against our continuing to send soldiers to Germany, was so elated at the success of Frederick that, on the meeting of Parliament, on the 1st of December, he supported the vote of six hundred and seventy thousand pounds as a subsidy to Prussia, George having entered into a new convention with Frederick to defend his Electorate. Pitt, on the same occasion, pronounced a glowing eulogium on Clive's proceedings in India. This great Minister had, in fact, formed the most extensive designs for the colonial aggrandisement of England, and the repulse of France in those quarters. At his suggestion, Lord Loudon had been sent to North America, and as he had failed to render any service, General Abercrombie had gone out to supersede him. Pitt already, however, had his eye on a young officer, Wolfe, whom he deemed the true hero for that service; whilst, on the opposite side of the globe, he was watching the proceedings of another young officer with immense pleasurenamely, Clive. These two remarkable men, under the fostering genius of Pitt, were destined to destroy the ascendency of France in those regions, and to lay the foundations of British power on a scale of splendour beyond all previous conception. Meeting of ParliamentLord Chatham's Amendment to the AddressThe News of SaratogaTreaty between France and AmericaWashington in Valley ForgeIntrigues against himViolation of Burgoyne's ConventionDebates in ParliamentAttempt to bring Chatham into the MinistryLord North's Conciliation BillsThe French NotePatriotism of the NationThe King refuses to send for ChathamHis last Speech and DeathHonours to his MemoryBurke's Measure of Irish ReliefRepeal of Laws against Roman CatholicsExplosion of Scottish BigotryTurgot's WarningsNaval Engagement off UshantFailure of Lafayette's Canadian ExpeditionClinton compelled to evacuate PhiladelphiaFailure of Lord North's CommissionersD'Estaing and Sullivan attempt to take Rhode IslandSubsequent Proceedings of D'EstaingCourts-martial of Keppel and PalliserThe Irish VolunteersSpain declares WarMilitary PreparationsJunction of the French and Spanish FleetsThey retire from the ChannelD'Estaing in the West IndiesHis Attempt on SavannahWeakness of Lord North's MinistryMeeting of ParliamentLord North's Irish BillRichmond, Shelburne, and Burke attempt Economic ReformsThe Meeting at York petitions for Reform of ParliamentBurke's Economic SchemeNorth's Man?uvreFurther Attempts at ReformThe Westminster MeetingDunning's MotionDefeat of his later Resolutions"No Popery" in ScotlandLord George Gordon's AgitationThe Riots and their ProgressTheir SuppressionTrial of the PrisonersRodney relieves GibraltarDestruction of English MerchantmenDisputes with HollandThe Armed Neutrality of the NorthCapture of CharlestonDeclaration of South CarolinaBattle of CamdenExpedition into North CarolinaArrival of the French SquadronRodney in the West IndiesArnold's TreacheryTrial and Death of AndrBreach with HollandAttacks on Jersey and GibraltarMutiny in the Army of WashingtonArnold's Raids in VirginiaCornwallis in North CarolinaHis Engagements with GreeneHis March into VirginiaRawdon and GreeneBattle of Eutaw SpringsSiege of York TownThe American Armies close round himCornwallis compelled to Surrender.