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were, at first equally illustrious. The latter obliging 

 Mi ran d;i to raise the siege of Maestricht, repasscd 

 tin- Maese, and defeated Durnouricr, in two severe 

 encounters at Neerwindc and at Fer de Louvain. 

 The French now retreated from Belgium, pursued by 

 the vengeance of the inhabitants. The defection of 

 Dumourier left the FrencK army in a state of immi- 

 nent peril, from which the genius and courage of 

 Dampierre, with difficulty, recovered it. But that 

 enterprizing commander, advancing from his camp at 

 Famars, attacked the allies atQuivcrain, where he was 

 defeated with the loss of 4000 men, and where he him- 

 self foil in the action. In this engagement, the English 

 and Hanoverians turned the fortune of the day: the 

 Coltlst ream guards were particularly distinguished, by 

 charging the foremost lines of the French. By this 

 success, the allies were enabled to besiege Valen- 

 ciennes, which surrendered on the '25th of July. 

 Mentx and Conde, about the same time, capitulated 

 to the confederates. While so important a mass of 

 the allied forces kept together, nothing could with- 

 stand their efforts ; but unhappily they divided, en- 

 tertaining different views of aggrandizement. The 

 British, under the Duke of York, forming a distinct 

 army with the Dutch and Hessians, opened the 

 trenches before Dunkirk on the 24th of August. 

 The works were carried on, though with trivial ef- 

 fect, till the 6th of September, when the covering 

 army, commanded by the Hanoverian Field Marshal 

 Freytag, was unexpectedly attacked and defeated by 

 the French General Houchard; a successful sortie 

 was at the same time made by the garrison, and the 

 besieging army was compelled to retreat with the loss 

 of all its heavy artillery. On her own element, Bri- 

 tain began the war with success. Tobago was cap- 

 tured by a British squadron under Axlmiral LaForey. 

 The settlements of Fort Jeremie, indCape St Nichola 

 Mole in St Domingo, also surrendered to our arms. 

 The small islands of Miquelon and St Pierre became 

 an easy prey to our arms ; and, in the East Indies, 

 we became masters of Pondicherry, Fort Mahie, and 

 other settlements of the French on the Malabar and 

 Coromandel coasts. A fallacious hope, for a short 

 time, shone upon the affairs of the allies, that the in- 

 ternal distractions of the French would afford them 

 effective partizans in restoring the- monarchy. After 

 the fall of the Girondine, (the less ferocious faction of 

 the republicans,) and the ascendency of the terrorists, 

 some of the proscribed deputies fled from Paris, and 

 raised the standard of insurrection in the provinces. 

 In the south, a most formidable federation agains>t 

 the Jacobins was framed by the three cities of Mar 

 seilles, Lyons, and Toulon. Lord Hood was at that 

 time cruising in the Mediterranean, and with him the 

 people of Toulon and the French Admiral Frugoff 

 negotiated to surrender the town and the shipping. 

 His Lordship took possession of both in the name of 

 Louis XVII. solemnly engaging to assist in restoring 

 the constitution of 1789- The siege of this place 

 was immediately commenced by a large army of the 

 republicans, with all the advantages of having the 

 adjacent country subjected, although not devoted, to 

 their cause. General O'Hara, who luul reinforced 

 the garrison with troops from Gibraltar, was wound- 

 ed aiid made prisoner in a sortie, the neighbouring 

 forts were carried by the enemy, and the town was 

 bombarded and found untenable. Thousands of the 



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inhabitants who crowded to the shore, were taken on Britain. ^ 

 board the English ships; but many more thousands ' ~~ -* 

 were necessarily abandoned to the cruel vengeance of (j 

 their countrymen. Of 15 French ships of the line 

 which had surrendered to Lord Hood, only three 

 were brought off. 



The session of parliament of 1794 was opened on 



thc 21st of January. As the avowed object of the '" 



i i i- i- 11- J i Iiament. 



war had been the deliverance of our allies, and secu- 



rity for ourselves, the ministry were called upon, 

 by their opponents, to explain why they had suffered 

 a period of time to pass over, when the arms of the 

 allies were every where victorious, without endeavour- 

 ing to profit by success, and to restore the blessings of 

 peace. " The present war, (said his Grace the Duke 

 of Grafton, in seconding a motion of the Marquis of 

 Lansdown, for addressing his majesty to make a paci- 

 fic attempt,) was undefined in its principle and object. 

 It was a war of extermination, which, if continued 

 upon the present principles, would convert Fiance 

 into a great military school ; it would rouse her ut- 

 most enthusiasm, and ultimately shake the prosperity 

 and safety of these kingdoms." To these almost pro- 

 phetic predictions, and to other views and argument8> 

 strongly urged dining this session by Mr Fox and 

 Mr Whitbread, the answer of ministers was in sub- 

 stance : That though security was the object of the 

 war, they would not bind themselves to define the 

 circumstances which might be allowed to constitute 

 that security ; that the war held out every probable 

 hope of success ; that France was on the eve of bank- 

 ruptcy, and could not long resist the allied powers ; 

 and finally, that, with a seditious faction at home, 

 and a foreign enemy, bent on subverting our mo- 

 narchy, we could not expect refuge from danger, 

 even in peace, nor were peace itself desirable, and 

 safe, could we treat with such men as the present go- 

 vernors of France. The public in general received 

 implicitly those views of success in the war. They 

 listened to the descriptions which ministers gave of 

 the dangerous conspiracy hatched by the reforming 

 societies. Parliament was induced to suspend the 

 habeas corpus act; and twelve of the reforming Trials for 

 leaders were arrested for high treason. Of these, John sedition. . 

 Home Tooke was the only man of the smallest po- 

 litical distinction. Hardy, a shoemaker; Thelwall, 

 an itinerant lecturer ; Holcroft, a play writer; and 

 others of less note, were his associates. They were 

 indicted at the Old Bailey. It was sought to be 

 proved, that the associations in question had armed 

 themselves against the government; but it was only 

 proved, that a few of the individuals had procured 

 som pikes to defend themselves against the mobs at 

 places where they held their meeting. Hardy was 

 first tried ; and r.fter a trial of nine days, acquitted. 

 Never was a verdict considered as more important to 

 public liberty ; and the eloquence of Erskine never 

 brought more reputation to himself, or on the legal 

 profession, than on this occasion. The verdict in 

 Hardy's case clearly predkted the acquittal of -the 

 other reformers. 



Some of the late members of opposition, who had Partial 

 left their party on the breaking out of the war, were c '| :lu >'f< '<n 

 this year admitted to a share in the administration. t " lm9W ** 

 Ear! Fitzwilliain was appointed President of the 

 Council; Earl Spencer, Lord Privy Seal ; the Duke 

 of Portland, third Secretary of State ; and MrWi 



