FRANCE. 
mediately prepared to crofs the Elbe in tine face of the 
Hanoverian army, who had taken a (trong pofition on the 
banks of.the river, which was well defended with artil¬ 
lery. But general VValmoden, feeing that the French army 
was determined to force itspadage, fent new propofttions, 
which were at length agreed to ; and on the 5th of July 
a convention was fettled, by which the Hanoverian army 
was to be dilbanded, and return to their homes upon tiieir 
parole, not to ferve againft Fratnce or her allies until re¬ 
gularly exchanged ; and its artillery, horfes, and military 
Hores, were to be given up to the French. General Mor- 
tier in his letter to the firft conful, faid, that “ it was 
only from generofity to an enemy imploring clemency, 
that he granted thofe terms; that general Walmoden 
figned the capitulation with an afflidted heart; and that 
it was difficult to paint the fituation of the fine regiment 
of the king of England’s guards at difmounting.” 
From the inftanr commencement of the war, the firft 
conful began to make every preparation to carry into ef¬ 
fect the menace which he had thrown out to lord Whit¬ 
worth, of invading England. Independently of his grand 
fleet at Brefl, an immenfe number of tranfports was order¬ 
ed to bo built and collected with the greateff expedition. 
He afferted that it would be poffible for fome thoufands 
of thefe veffels to force their way acrofs the channel in 
fpite of the Britifh navy. This idea was univerfally re¬ 
ceived in France, and in the courfe of the year fuch afto- 
nifliing exertions were made, that a fufficient flotilla was 
alfembled at Boulogne, to carry over any army that France 
fhould choofe to employ. This menacing difpolition, 
and the mighty preparations for carrying it into effeft, 
were ultimately advantageous to Great Britain. The 
evident neceflity of defending the country againft inva- 
iion obtained a ready confent to every plan which could 
be propofed for increafing its military defence. Indepen¬ 
dently of the regular and fupplementary militia, an addi¬ 
tional army of fifty thoufand men was propofed under the 
titleof an army of referve, and a general levy a1 viajfe of all 
perfons capable of bearing arms was univerfally approv¬ 
ed of: this meafure was however rendered unneceflury 
by the fpirit of the country, which in a fhort time pre- 
j'ented above 300,000effective volunteers, as an additional 
defence to the country. This vaft acceflion to its military 
force, placed it on fo proud a footing of fecurity, that the 
people no longer feared the vifit of their invaders, but 
felt fo confcious of their fuperiority as to wifti the enemy 
to try that experiment. Thus it appears, that until the 
year 1803, Great Britain was a ft ranger to her own ftrength, 
and to the extent of her refources. The power of France, 
for the firft time fince the revolution, appeared now to 
have received the mod ferious check ; and the Britifh 
channel feemed a barrier beyond which it could not pafs. 
Other powers appeared to catch fomewhat of the fire 
which animated that country, and thecaufeof Great Bri¬ 
tain was felt to be, that of all the independent nations of 
the univerfe. 
But Great Britain, at the fame time, was not inattentive 
to the annoyance of the enemy in the vulnerable part. 
Expeditions againft the Dutch fettlements of Demarara 
and Iffequibo, and the French iHands of St." Lucie and 
Tobago, were difpatched in the courfe of the year. St. 
Domingo, the mod valuable colony that France ever pof- 
feffed, was wrefted from her by the black population, af- 
fifted by a Britifh fquadron. For particulars of this 
dreadful infurredtion, the wars of the black , and their 
final conqueft of the country under Deffalines, fee the 
article Hispaniola. 
The reduction of the French army in the ifland of St. 
Domingo was the fevered blow which France fuftained 
in the courfe of the year. The blockading fquadro'ns of 
England cut off all fupplies from France, and general 
Rochambeau, and the remains of that great army, which 
had been judged fully fufficient to re-conquer the colony, 
were necefiitated to furrenderprifonersof war to the naval 
* 
So 9 
force of Br itain. This was not the only lofs which France 
fuftained in the Weft Indies. On the t ft of July the 
ifland of Tobago furrenaered to general Grinfield, who 
after the conqueft of St. Lucie directed his force thither. 
The garrifort immediately propofed a capitulation, by 
virtue of which they were to be fent over to France at 
the expence of Great Britain. Belide the French iflands 
of St. Lucie and Tobago in the Weft Indies, the Dutch 
fettlements of Berbice and Demarara fell into the hands 
of the Britifh in the courfe of the year 1803. But the 
lofs of St. Domingo to France Was conlidered of the mod 
ferious confequence ; for previous to the war, Bonaparte 
had determined to eftablifh a colonial power in St. Do¬ 
mingo and Louifiana, which would bid fair not only to 
out-rival the Britifti empire in the Weft Indies, but alfo 
to check the riling greatnefs of the united dates of Ame¬ 
rica. Thefe objects were entirely deranged by the rup¬ 
ture with England—his plan of fubjugating Egypt and 
the Levant, was crulhed by the conftant fuperiority of 
the Britifti fleet in the Mediterranean—and his fcheme of 
fuperiority in the Weft-Indian fettlements being rendered 
abortive by the lofs of St. Domingo, he was induced to 
fell his claim on Louifiana to the American States for 
thirty millions of dollars. Thus the firft year of the re¬ 
newed war, 1S03, ended with the conqueft of Hanover, 
and the acquifitio,n of an enormous furn of money for a 
diftrict which France had never poffeffed, and upon which 
it had no other claim than tlie pretenlions transferred to 
Bonaparte by the court of Spain. 
Early in the month of February, 1804, a plot was de¬ 
tected, the objeCt of which feems to have been the over¬ 
throw of the confular government. The principal per¬ 
fons implicated were Pichegru, Georges Cadoudal, La- 
jo! lais, a confident of the former, and feveral other 
individuals attached to the latter. It likewife appears 
that general Moreau had, to a certain extent, entered into 
the views of Pichegru, having had fome fecret interviews 
with him fince his return to Paris. It was alfo pofitively 
afferted, that the confpirators had come to the refolution 
of making away, in the firft inftance, with Bonaparte. 
The firft intimation of this intrigue feems to have been 
given by a confidential agent of the parties, who had been 
arrefted near Calais. Lajollais, Moreau, and feveral 
others were, hereupon, arrefted ; but Pichegru and 
Georges, though known to be at Paris, found means, for 
a fhort time, to fereen themfelves from the refearches of 
the police. On the 17th of February, a detailed report 
of this confpiracy was made to the government by the 
grand judge, or minifter of juftice ; and the prefiden.t, 
after making a few obfervations on the fubjedf, concluded 
by declaring, in the name of the tribunate, that they 
would be refponfible for the life of Bonaparte, which 
fecured to France her glory and her profperity. He then 
piropofed that the tribunate fhould, in a body, wait on the 
firft conful, in order to exprefs their detelfation of the 
meditated attempt, and to congratulate him on his efcape 
from the threatened danger. 
Hereupon, the brother of Moreau, who was a member 
of this body, teftified his deep concern to find that endea¬ 
vours had been made to traduce a man who had rendered 
fuch important fervices to the republic, and who was de¬ 
prived of the liberty of exculpating himfelf. He made 
a folemn declaration of his brother’s innocence, and de¬ 
manded that he fhould be brought to trial before any or¬ 
dinary tribunal ; for he could eafily make it appear, that 
the accufatiori againft him was an infamous calumny. It 
was faid, in. reply, that the defence of general Moreau 
fhould have all the latitude, liberty, and publicity, of 
which fo important a caufe was fuTceptible. 
Deputations from the fenare, the legiflative body, and 
the tribunate, waited accordingly on the firft conlul,and, 
in terms of ftrop.g indignation, deprecated the confpiracy 
which had been revealed : attributed it to the inftiganon 
of England, and exhorted him to pay greater attention 
• ilian- 
