BRITAIN. 



667 



Kr.vlll. 



ant 



ry o- 



he 



isll 



at 



St 



rat. 



ure of 



t.-mpt 

 I'e- 



rh fleet 



'am- 



own. 



jaijjn 

 Uy. 



Parker) were seized by the loyal part of the crews, 

 and put to death after a solemn trial. 



But the gallantry and success of our seamen funn- 

 ed, during this year, a brilliant contrast to their tem- 

 porary dereliction of duty. On the 14th of Febru- 

 ary. Admiral Jrrvis, while crui/.ing off Cape St Vin- 

 cent, on the coa-t of Portugal, with fifteen sail of 

 the line, received intelligence of the approach of a 

 powerful Spanish fleet, which was found to consist 

 of twenty-seven ship< of the line. Unintimidated by 

 superior numbers, the British admiral bore down 

 upon the enemy with a press of sail, and, after passing 

 with electric celerity through their line before it was 

 yet formed, tacked about, and separated one-third of 

 them from the main body. After a furious engage- 

 ment of four hours, he captured two ships of 112 

 guns each, one of HI, and one of 74. Only 300 of 

 the victors were lost in this memorable battle ; while 

 the loss of the Spaniards, in killed, wounded, and 

 prisoners, could not be less than 6000. The ho- 

 nour of a peerage was deservedly bestowed on Sir J. 

 Jervis, and the title of St Vincent commemorated 

 the scene of his glory. 



In the course of the summer, an unsuccessful at- 

 tempt was made upon the island of Teneriffe, by a 

 body of mi n that were landed from the squadron of 

 Nelson, who had eminently distinguished himself in 

 the late action. After an ineffectual attempt to 

 storm the fort of Santa Cruz, the assailants were 

 suffered to retire to their ships, rather from the re- 

 pect than the fear which the Spaniards felt for their 

 rash valour. But the affa:r cost nearly as many 

 lives as the splendid victory of St Vincent, besides 

 the lives of some brave officers, and the arm of Nel- 

 son. 



The Dutch fleet, which had long been blocked up 

 in the Texel by Admiral Duncan, ventured out in 

 the month of October, when the British had retired 

 for the purpose of refitting. But Duncan hastily 

 returned from Yarmouth, and found the Dutch fleet, 

 under De Winter, amounting to fifteen sail of the 

 line, drawn up off the coast, adjacent to the village 

 of Camperdown. By the accustomed manoeuvre of 

 breaking the hostile line, he engaged the main body 

 tinder De Winter alone, and prevented his retreat ; 

 while Storey, the Dutch vice-admiral, fled btsely, 

 with the greater part of his division, soon after 

 the commencement of the action, and entered the 

 Texel in safety. De Winter, with all his remain- 

 ing crews, fought with desperation, but at length 

 was compelled to strike, with eight others of his line, 

 and two frigates, to the overwhelming force of the 

 British. The carnage on both sides was great, but 

 on the side of the Dutch it was terrible, five hun- 

 dred men being killed or wounded on board two of 

 their ships only. 



Early in this year, Trinidad was captured by a 

 force under Sir Ralph Abercromby, and a fleet un- 

 der Admiral -Harvey. In the Gulf of Pavia, the 

 Spaniards set fire to a fleet of four ships of the line, 

 to prevent their falling into the hands of the captors, 

 but one of them escaped the conflagration. 



After the last disastrous campaign of 1796, the 

 Austrian armies in Italy were reinforced with asto- 

 nishing promptitude, and the imperial general, Al- 

 vingi, had even forced the French to fall back. It 

 was then that Bonaparte assumed the command of 



the army in Italy, and completely beat the Austri- 

 ans at Rivoli. Mantua was by the issue of this en- 

 :ient compelled to capitulate, and the shattered 

 remains of the Austrian* retired across the Adige, 

 or retreated to Trent. Bonaparte then advanced 

 against the Papal forces, and carrying hu <irrm to 

 Tolentino, reduced his holiness to sign a humiliating 

 peace at that place, as the price of which he paid 

 30,000,000 livres, and the most valuable manuscripts, 

 statues, and pictures, in his dominions. 



In the northern parts of Italy, the Austrians were 

 again enabled to take the field, in considerable force, 

 under the Archduke Charles. But in the fuce of 

 their reinforced army, Bonaparte passed the Tagha- 

 tnento, and gaining a succession of victories, com- 

 pelled the Archduke to retreat towards the Vene- 

 tian territory, leaving Palma, Nuova, Udine, and 

 the adjacent territory, to the mercy of the French. 

 The main body of the French soon after entered the 

 Austrian dominions, Friuli, and the garrison of Gra- 

 disca. having surrendered, Triest, the chief town 

 of Carniola, and the whole province of Istria, bor- 

 dering on the Adriatic, were added to the republi- 

 can conquests. The French armies continued to ad- 

 vance to within 120 miles of Vienna, when the Arch- 

 duke accepted a suspension of arms. The prelimi- 

 naries of a peace between France and Austria were 

 signed at Leoben in Stiria, in April, and a defini- 

 tive treaty in the following October. By this treaty, 

 the emperor completely renounced the Netherlands, 

 and acknowledged the Cisalpine republic, erected on 

 the French conquests in Italy. By this event, Eng- 

 land was left to combat alone with an enemy which 

 had, by force or intimidation, withdrawn Prussia, 

 Germany, Spain, Holland, and the Italian States, 

 from our alliance. Ministers, either intimidated at 

 the alarming solitude in which we now stood as the 

 opponents of France, or desiring to throw -the odi- 

 um of the war upon our enemies, announced, for the 

 third time, their inclination for peace. An answer 

 was returned by the French Directory, expressing 

 an equal desire for peace, but requiring that the ne- 

 gotiation should be for a definitive treaty. Lord 

 Malmesbury arrived at Lisle, and was there met by 

 three French plenipotentiaries, (Messrs Latourneur, 

 Maret,and Pleville. ) By accepting French passports, 

 purporting that he was received for the purpose of ne- 

 gotiating a definitive treaty, the British government 

 certainly had virtually acknowledged that his Lord- 

 ship was invested with powers for more than a preli- 

 minary treaty. After a residence of two months at 

 Lisle, the negotiation was broken oft by an order 

 from the Directory for his Lordship to depart. The 

 French complaining that he was not invested with 

 sufficient powers, and the British complaining that 

 the Directory had demanded a restitution of all that 

 we had conquered from them and their allies in the 

 course of the war. 



Tired with an unavailing contest against the mini- 

 ster's uniform majorities, the chief speakers of the 

 opposition absented themselves from most of the de- 

 bates in the session of 1797-8. Mr Fox, however, 

 took his place on some occasions of peculiar import- 

 ance, he strongly combated the minister's plan* of 

 finance for 1798, which included the imposition of 

 the triple assessed taxes, and he gave his support to 

 the yet unsuccessful efforts of Mr Wilberforce for 



Britain. 



c.l the 

 I^cnch un- 

 der Bona- 

 parte. 



Treaty of 

 Leoben,bff- 

 twecn the 

 French and 

 Austrian*. 



Negotia- 

 tions for 

 peace un- 

 der Lord 

 Malmesbu- 

 T- 



Secession 

 of the op- 

 position 

 members 

 from par- 

 liament, 

 1798. 



