368 VICTORY. 



possession), but mere senseless fanatics, who crushed 

 that liberty which they tried to nurse ; who governed 

 only by the guillotine, which they considered a sover- 

 eign remedy for all political disorders ; who killed all 

 the great men whom the Republic had produced, and 

 were finally guillotined themselves. The death of 

 Robespierre closed the Revolution ; the last mob-rising 

 was extinguished by the artillery of Buonaparte. The 

 Jacobins fell into disrepute ; there was a cry of " Down 

 with the Jacoquins!" stones were hurled in through 

 their windows ; the orators were hustled and beaten 

 as they sallied forth, and the ladies who knitted in the 

 gallery were chastised in a manner scarcely suited for 

 adults. The age of revolutions for a time was past ; 

 Buonaparte became Dictator ; Tom Paine took to 

 drink ; the English reign of terror was dispelled ; the 

 abolitionists again raised their voices on behalf of the 

 negro, and in 1807 the slave-trade was abolished. That 

 traffic, however, was only abolished so far as English 

 vessels and English markets were concerned, and 

 Government now commenced a long series of negotia- 

 tions with foreign powers. In course of time the other 

 nations prohibited the slave-trade, and conceded to 

 Great Britain the police control of the Guinea coast, 

 and the Right of Search. A squadron of gunboats 

 hovered round the mouths of rivers, or sent up boating 

 expeditions, or cruised to and fro a little way out at 

 sea, with a man always a,t the mast-head with a 

 spy-glass in his hand, scanning the horizon for a 

 sail. When a sail was sighted, the gunboat got up 

 steam, bore down upon the vessel, ordered her to heave 

 to, sent a boat on board, and overhauled her papers. 

 If they were not correct, or if slaves were on board, 

 or even if the vessel was fitted up in such a way 



