672 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. In the month of October 1799, all Europe was 

 '-"TT astonished by the appearance of Bonaparte in Paris, 

 JE 1799 ' a ^ ter h avm g returned from Egypt, like a spirit from 



a few immaterial alterations, and, on the 2d of July, Britai'i 

 were ratified by the royal assent. 



The offers of peace which Bonaparte held out to 



another world. His return was quickly followed by Britain, he extended to her allies bVt by them also c '" n P ai l 

 made P Fim 1 V S usur ,P atio " of the supreme power in France, under they were rejected. Flattered by 'the deluding pro > " Ge "" 

 Con MI I ot e title of First Consul; and the first use he mu-./rf ><=. ;.. It ,; .1... ir _r /~>_... 



Erance. made of his sovereignty, was to convey a direct offer 

 of peace to this country, in a letter written with his 

 own hand to the king of Great Britain. His Bri- 

 tannic majesty refusing to depart from the acciibtomed 

 He offers forms of diplomacy, replied, through his secretary tor 

 peace to foreign affairs, to the proposition, that he would seize 

 Britain, the first favourable opportunity for a peace, but 

 which is that at present there appeared to be none. The cou- 

 rt-luted. j uct O r m j n ; Bters ; n adding the king to this unfa- 

 vourable answer, met with the severest censures of 

 the opposition at the opening of the session of 1800. 

 The emperor Paul, already tired of a war in which 

 he had reaped neither benefit nor glory, had recalled 

 Suwarrow with the remnant of his army, which had 

 been driven out of Switzerland from the scene of 

 action ; and among the subsidiaries of Britain for the 

 year 1800, he was no longer named. Negotiations 

 were, however concluded, by which the troops of the 

 empire of Germany, and of the elector of Bavaria, 

 were taken into pay. 



Theunion The Irish parliament having assembled on the 

 "h^i h" l-^'h of January, the subject of the union was again 

 unrliament. Drou g nt forward ; and it was found, that the strength 

 1SOO. of the anti unionists was diminished in the Irish com- 

 mons to 96 voices. On the 5th of February, the 

 whole plan of the union was detailed by Lord Castle- 

 reagh, the principal Irish secretary of state, who, after 

 displaying the general principles of the measure, 

 proposed eight articles as the foundation of the union. 

 The 1st article imported, that from the first of Janu- 

 ary 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain. and Ire- 

 land should be for ever united under one kingdom. 

 The 2d, That the succession to the imperial crown 

 should continue limited and settled, according to the 

 act of union between England and Scotland. The 

 3d, that the united kingdom should have one parlia- 

 ment. The 4th, that four lords spiritual of Ireland, 

 by rotation of sessions, and 28 lords temporal, should 

 be the number of Irish peers who should sit in the 

 united parliament. The 5th, That the churches of 

 England and Ireland should be united into one Pro- 

 testant Episcopal church, the doctrines and disci- 

 pline to remain for ever the same. The 6th article 

 provided for a fair participation in commercial privi- 

 leges ; for which end it was however thought neces- 

 sary to impose certain countervailing duties. The 

 7th article left to each kingdom the separate dis- 

 charge of its public debt already incurred ; and or- 

 dained, that for 20 years from the time of the union, 

 the national expence should be defrayed in the pro- 

 portion of 15 parts out of 17 for Great Britain, and 

 2 for Ireland. The 8th article provided, that the 

 laws and courts of both kingdoms, civil and ecclesi- 

 astical, should remain as they were now established, 

 but subject to future alterations of the united par- 

 liament. These articles were voted by the peers and 

 commons of Ireland, and on the 2d of April were 

 submitted to the British legislature. In the British 

 as in the Irish parliament, they again encountered the 

 warmest opposition, but finally prevailed. Having 

 been remitted to the latter parliament, they suffered 



raises of success in Italy, the Emperor of Germany I800i 

 WHS. induced Jo continue .the war; but Bonaparte re- 

 suming, in that quarter, the command in pepson,v vic- 

 tory, as'before, waited on his stamiard ; and the fatal Battled! 

 b.'.ttle of Marengo, in Italy, decided the campaign. Mareng 

 An armistice was proposed by the defeated Aus- 

 trians, and granted, on condition of Genoa, Milan, 

 Tortona, Alessandria, Geva Savone, Uibino, and 

 ether important places, being delivered into the hands . 

 of the French. Moreau had led another army of 

 France across the Rhine, defeated the Austrians at 

 Blenheim, and penetrated to the Danube, when the 

 exteusbn of the armistice to Germany made him 

 pause in his career of victory. 



The English maritime forces, during this year, Milita 

 made a descent on the coast of Bretagne, and de- operati 

 stroyed the forts of Quiberon. The Dutch settle- of the 

 ments of Goree and Curagoa were also added to our tlsh ' 

 conquests. Two unsuccessful attempts were made 

 upon the Spanish coast. The first by a force under 

 General Pulteney, which debarked from a squadron 

 of Sir J. B. Warren, at Ferrol, but which retired, 

 after a slight skirmish with tiie enemy, the place be- 

 ing found to be too strong for assault. A still larger 

 armament, under Lord Keith and General Aber- 

 cromby, appeared before Cadiz ; but the plague, 

 which raged in the garrison, and the tempestuous 

 weather on-the coast, induced them to retire. They 

 proceeded to the Mediteiranean, and happily succeed- 

 ed in wresting Malta from the hands of the French. 



The first continental armistice expired in Septem- 

 ber, when Austria, unable to renew the combat so 

 soon, dearly purchased a prolongation of the Ger- 

 man truce, by surrendering the three fortresses of 

 Ulm, Philipsburg, and Ingoistadt. Hostilities be- 

 ing renewed, at the close of the second armistice, a 

 few partial successes attended the Imperial arms in 

 Franconia ; but the contest was speedily and disaster- 

 ously closed by the battle of Huhenlmden, and by Battle 

 the contemporary victories of General Brufle in Italy. Hoh.ii 

 At the same time, Macdonald being in possession of den. 

 the Tyrol, could either turn to strengthen the Italian 

 army, or to join Moreau, who advanced within seven- 

 teen leagues of Vienna. Compelled by these disas- xhe Em 

 trous circumstances, the Emperor signed a peace ror of i 

 with France, by which he ceded the Belgic provinces, m.my 

 all his .territories on the left banks ot the Rhine, and l ' lu<Je a 

 all the rights he possessed in Italy over those parts ' 

 which were now comprehended under the Cisalpine 

 and Ligurian republics. 



To increase the gloom of our affairs, the insane and No , 

 capricious Emperor Paul commenced a dispute with coalmo 

 Great Britain, on pretence of her maritime encroach- agamst 

 ments; and, without warning, laid an embargo on all tain. 

 the British shipping in his ports. This embargo he 

 revoked; but again imposed it, in consequence of a 

 new quarrel respecting Malta, the Russian monarch 

 having assumed the title of Grand .Master of the 

 Knights ot that island. Sweden and Denmark speedi- 

 ly acceded to a convention against us, in support of 

 what they styled the maritime rights of neutral na- 

 tions. 



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