Loe raamatut: «Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third», lehekülg 24
Charles Street, November 19th, 1798.
My dearest Brother,
I have been anxious, as you will naturally suppose, to lose no time in making such arrangements as may in any shape assist a situation so little to my taste, and so repeatedly refused by me, till it was put in such a shape of duty, as neither my opinions nor yours could allow me to put by. I have therefore pressed for information on the subject of Mr. Fisher, and wish to take the earliest opportunity of stating to you how that matter stands. My mission will be a special mission to Berlin and Vienna, and William is desirous of putting it upon the footing and establishment of Ambassador in Ordinary, though with the rank only of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, and with that of Privy Councillor; for I understood that this last high honour will facilitate the means of increasing the establishment of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to that of Ambassador in Ordinary. If this meets with no difficulty, he hopes likewise, upon inquiry, to find himself justified in allowing me a private secretary, at something less than that of a Secretary of Legation, which is a guinea per day. With this general description, therefore, I immediately acquaint you, and hope you will think its outline tempting enough to Mr. Fisher to engage him to come immediately, although I cannot yet name the specific sum to be allowed to him. I must, however, add that William has urged me in the strongest manner to hold out to Mr. Fisher no expectation of farther remuneration or promotion in consequence of this employment; not only because officially he never admits any such claim of a private secretary, but also because, by the many foreign appointments lost in the present state of Europe, he is overloaded with claims of promotion, so as to leave him no such means whatever. I think it fair to state this as strongly as it was told me; but, as in your former letter you had expressed Mr. Fisher's readiness to come to me without any expectation of farther remuneration, I am still inclined to think that I may depend upon this arrangement as made, and trust to you for obtaining immediate leave of absence for him in Ireland; I say immediate, because I apprehend that my stay in England cannot possibly exceed a fortnight from to-day, though I cannot well be prepared much under that time.
Of course, you will suppose me to be very impatient for Mr. Fisher's arrival; and I trust he will lose no time, but will let me see him in London as soon after you receive this letter as he conveniently can. I cannot describe the probable duration of my absence, it may be three months, or twelve, or more or less; but it is too uncertain to leave me any fixed opinion even in my own mind. Lord Elgin goes to Constantinople, where he will find Sir Sydney, Koehler, &c. &c.
There is no foreign news whatever by the last mail; but many accounts are come in of great loss on both sides, both insurgents and the republican troops in Flanders; and the country is in such a state, that the six last mails from France have not yet reached Rotterdam.
A strong report prevails of Guadaloupe having given itself to the English. It is believed in the city, on the credit of a Danish ship, arrived from St. Thomas at Portsmouth; and I think they are disposed to believe it at the Admiralty, though they have no official account of it.
Our idea in London is, that all Irish courts-martial proceeding on martial law will be suspended till this question is decided; my own opinion is, that if the courts of law can safely sit, the courts of martial law cannot exist at the same time. These latter seem to me to grow only out of such a disturbed state of things as will not allow of the due administration of justice by the regular course of law, and therefore that for a time military government must for the common safety stand in lieu of the courts of law; but to allow the courts of law to resume their functions, is, in itself, as it strikes me, a notice of the cessation of martial law; they cannot go on together inter arma silent leges.
It is expected that Fox and his friends will continue to secede; and Tierney support the Address, abuse O'Connor, and attack Government only on this last event in Ireland. Pray write to me by return of post. I presume I may depend on Mr. Fisher, and therefore that I am secure in waiting for him.
No news yet of the 'Melpomene.'
God bless you, my dearest brother.
LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Cleveland Row, Dec. 11th, 1798.
My dearest Brother,
I have this morning received your letter; and to the first paragraph of it I will only say that I am too much accustomed to your kindness to be surprised at this fresh instance of it. Be assured that I feel it as I ought.
Tom will, I think, set out to-morrow, though it is in truth useless for him to leave town while this east wind blows in the teeth of all our projects. He will have a more difficult task to accomplish than I once thought, particularly on account of a new intrigue that has just sprung up at Berlin, as if on purpose to cross or thwart our plans. Still, however, I persuade myself that all will ultimately go right, and I am confident that he will do whatever can be done.
If no more solid arguments are opposed to the Union than those of Mr. Wild, we shall have at least the victory in disputation, though in point of violence and inflammation he will, to be sure, not be easily surpassed. The part which you say the Catholics are disposed to take is undoubtedly very important; but does this mean only their leaders, who do not lead them, or has this opinion been spread among the parish priests and lower orders? Certainly, if they knew their interest, those descriptions ought to be peculiarly favourable to it, for they will come under the especial protection of the mildest and most equitable government upon the earth. But do they see and feel this, and are any pains taken to impress them with it? Forster's language continues to be very hostile, and I imagine he thinks the Government will be frightened out of the measure. The appointment of Commissioners seems, on the whole, to be unavoidable, and the Acts for that purpose should, I think, be proposed on the same day to both Parliaments.
Much objection seems to be taken to any Committee or other body of that sort resident in Ireland; and perhaps the novelty in our Constitution of Members of Parliament who cannot attend Parliament is a solid objection to it. Would it not be easier to make the representation consist of thirty county members, eight or ten city members chosen from Dublin, Cork, &c., and the remainder elected by alternate choice from classes of four boroughs each? What I mean is not that the four in each class should choose altogether by delegates, &c., but that the choice should be in one of them for each Parliament, and this rotation settled at first by lot, and then to continue unalterable. If this will not do, we must then class them and choose by delegates, as in the Scotch precedent. But who shall regulate this classing? and how conciliate the jarring interests of great men?
By the way, you got me into something of a scrape by giving Cooke a copy of the queries in the margin of the paper I sent you. I omitted to give you any caution on this subject, because I thought it was quite safe that you would not communicate it, and you probably thought that the communication was very unimportant and indifferent. It happened otherwise, but do not say anything to Cooke about it.
You see the French papers confirm our hopes of Minorca. The Russians and Turks have begun their operations against the department of the Egean Sea, and have taken Cephalonia, I believe Zante. I expect to hear very soon of the attack of Alexandria by the Turks.
Ever yours,
G.
Dec. 12.
By a mistake this was omitted to be sent to you yesterday. No mails in to-day, nor anything new of any kind. By the newspaper accounts, Canning seems to have made an admirable speech yesterday.
1799
ENGLAND ENTERS INTO A TREATY WITH RUSSIA AGAINST FRANCE – MR. THOMAS GRENVILLE'S MISSION TO THE CONTINENT – THE UNION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND – SUSPENSE RESPECTING THE FATE OF MR. GRENVILLE – PROGRESS OF EVENTS ON THE CONTINENT – AUSTRIA JOINS THE COALITION – VACILLATIONS AND INACTIVITY OF PRUSSIA – EXPEDITION TO HOLLAND – FURTHER AUGMENTATION OF THE MILITIA – PROJECTS FOR THE ENSUING YEAR.
About the middle of December, 1798, a provisional treaty had been entered into between Russia and England, by which the Emperor bound himself, on condition of a monthly subsidy from Great Britain, to have a contingent of forty-five thousand men ready for the field, whenever the common cause should require their services. The original object of this treaty was to induce Prussia to join the confederacy of European powers which England was now endeavouring to form against France, with a view to bring the war to a conclusion by an overwhelming military combination; but Prussia, guarded and timid, declined to embark in the coalition; and, failing that result, Russia accepted the alternative of a subsidy proposed and guaranteed by the treaty. The value of her co-operation was not limited merely to the force she brought to bear against the enemy. England hoped that the influence of her example would stimulate the other Powers to concur in a general movement to repel the aggressions of the French, who were rapidly extending the scene of hostilities, and who, in the course of this year, carried their arms over the whole surface of Italy, swept the banks of the Rhine, penetrated Holland, and ravaged the valleys of Switzerland.
When Mr. Thomas Grenville set out upon his mission to the Courts of Vienna and Berlin, intelligence had arrived of the disasters that had recently befallen the King of Naples, who, alarmed at the approach of the French, had taken the field with twenty thousand men, and was driven back by Championet with a much inferior force, and compelled to act upon the defensive. The last news was that Naples had surrendered to the French after a gallant resistance, chiefly sustained by the Lazzaroni, who have an insuperable aversion to all changes in their government.
The first incident that befell Mr. Grenville on his departure from England was inauspicious and discouraging. The weather was unusually severe. On the night of Christmas Eve, the thermometer was 14° below freezing point; and for many weeks afterwards the snow lay so thickly on the ground that the service of the ordinary coaches was arrested, and the mails were forwarded on horseback. This delay and suspension of communication occasioned serious anxiety at a time when every item of intelligence was of importance to the country. The effect of the inclement state of the season was to force Mr. Grenville back to England. He embarked on his destination as had been arranged, but the sea was frozen up, and, unable to effect a landing, he was compelled to return and wait for a more favourable opportunity.
The Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland, which Ministers were now preparing, was recommended to the consideration of Parliament in a message from the King on the 22nd of January. The Rebellion had given a decisive impulse to the project by effectually demonstrating the want of power, energy, and influence of the local Parliament to control the insubordinate spirit of the country, or to provide adequate remedies for existing and acknowledged evils. It was considerably accelerated also by the despair of the Protestants and the landed proprietors generally, who, exhausted by the long and wasting struggles of faction, looked to England, across the ashes of a desolating insurrection, for the last hope of relief from anarchy and spoliation. In the letters that immediately follow, the views of Ministers in reference to the proposed plan are incidentally elucidated; and it appears, from Lord Grenville's allusions to the subject, that it was originally suggested to make the representation of the Irish Peerage in the Imperial Legislature elective under every new Parliament, like that of the Scotch Peerage; a mode of representation to which Lord Grenville objected, although, in other respects, he approved of the adoption of the Scotch Union as a model for imitation. He foresaw clearly the confusion and jealousies likely to be engendered in such a country as Ireland by repeated elections amongst a body whose title to the right of election rested on hereditary grounds, and he felt that the frequent recurrence to such contests would re-open old grievances and party feuds, and, instead of satisfying the expectations of the Peers, would only create a new element of discontent. The elective principle was the single feature in the Scotch Union which Lord Grenville seems to have considered injudicious and impolitic. We gather from many passages in his letters that he regarded harmony in the structure of the legislative body to be as essential to its effective action as unity in the executive; and that the nearer the House of Lords approached to permanency in the foundation of all its parts, the more completely would it realize, as a whole, the constitutional theory of an hereditary estate.
LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Cleveland Row, Jan. 4th, 1799.
My dearest Brother,
I have been so occupied this last week as really not to have had a moment to write to you. We have indeed nothing to write; this frost locks up all our communications; it has sent poor Tom back to us after nine days' sea-sickness, and when I hoped he was already at Berlin; and we are now told that less than a fortnight's thaw will not open the intercourse again. In that time how many things may be done, and what is worse, how many may not be done! Naples and Sardinia, with all that belongs to them, you will have seen in the French papers as fully as we, and we know no more.
In this interval the Union engrosses all my thoughts. I worked hard when Lord Castlereagh was here to assist in expediting his return, for I clearly see that without communication the thing will not do, and that there can be none but through him. I was better satisfied than I had expected with his manner of doing business, which I found both ready and clear; and he seems to me to have the success of this measure most thoroughly at heart. Your letters teach me still to indulge hopes of success, but the prospect is certainly less favourable than it was, and the difficulties of Government with its supporters will be proportionably increased.
Before you receive this you will have learnt that Parnell has been brought to a positive explanation of his sentiments. What the final issue has been I do not yet know, but I conclude it will be hostile, and in that case I think his removal will operate very favourably, particularly in dissipating the foolish idea you mention.
Lord Castlereagh brought over here a plan for the election of the Commons which was approved, and indeed I am satisfied it is the most reasonable. As it admits only nine or ten single members from cities, &c., and classes all the other boroughs by twos it seems to me free from most of the objections you mention; all we cannot hope to obviate, but must on the whole choose between contending inconveniences on both sides. It is a very great merit of this plan in my eyes that it so closely follows the model of the Scotch Union.
Yet from that model I am tempted to think we ought to depart in the election for the House of Lords, by choosing for life, and letting the electors sit in the House of Commons. When Lord Castlereagh was here I drew a scheme for that purpose, which he has taken over with him, in order to see which of the two plans is likely to be most palatable to the Irish peerage – this, or the mode followed in the Scotch Union. I own I think that the re-election of so large a number as near fifty Peers in every Parliament would tend almost to destroy the very principle of a House of Lords in our Constitution; nor do I think a body of Peers excluded from Parliament (like the Scotch) by any means a good elective body from Parliament to Parliament. With one vacancy at a time, arising from death, they may more safely be trusted.
You gave me hopes some time since of receiving from you some ideas about provision for Catholic and Dissenting Clergy. I am very anxious for them.
Adieu, I have exhausted my paper and my light.
God bless you.
LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Cleveland Row, Jan. 10th, 1799.
My dearest Brother,
* * * It is for you to send news, and not to receive it, for nothing is interesting just now but what relates to Ireland and the Union. Twelve days bring us to the prologue, to this swelling scene, as Shakspeare calls it. How long it will be before the dénouement, and what that dénouement will be, and what the piece, who shall say?
Your chief Governor, you know, is not given to be very communicative, either to his employers or to any one else; but I collect from the statement in the newspapers that he has resolved to adopt, without further reference here, the suggestions which Lord Castlereagh carried over as to the members of the two Houses in the United Parliament. I am very glad of it as to the House of Lords, not only from parental fondness, but because on solid grounds, as I think, I very much feared the effect of a septennial election of fifty Peers not chosen by the very best possible bodies of electors.
As to the House of Commons, it is almost entirely a question of local expediency as to the best chance of satisfying Messieurs les intéressés; for you and I, who are not parliamentary reformers (and, thank God, never were), do not hold very high the superior virtue of a man chosen by one mode of election rather than by another. I am, however, entirely satisfied that the plan of a resident committee at Dublin was impracticable; and even if it had not been so, the universal prejudice was so strong against it here, on the part of everybody of every description who was talked to on the subject, that it put the execution of such a plan totally out of the question. The strongest, and with me quite decisive, argument against it was the introduction into our Constitution of a principle so perfectly novel and anomalous; the merit of the Scotch Union having been, and that of the Irish being intended to be, its simplicity, and the precision with which everything new is accommodated to the existing state of our Constitution and Government. In the Scotch Union, the Peerage was the only exception; and in the present case we are, as you see, labouring to bring even that point nearer to the actual practice.
Ever most affectionately yours,
G.
Lord Cornwallis had been avowedly selected for Ireland on account of his military talents. But his Administration did not satisfy the Cabinet. Lord Grenville, who confesses to the feeling of disappointment with which he reflects upon the results of the appointment, makes allowances for the failure on the ground that Lord Cornwallis undertook the office unwillingly, and from a sense of public duty alone, and that he had experienced nothing but disgusts and mortifications. In this case, however, as in all former cases, the difficulty was to find a successor. There was, also, another consideration which Lord Grenville points out – the evils that always attended a change of Government in Ireland, even from worse to better.
LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Dropmore, Jan. 28th, 1799.
My dearest Brother,
I am much more mortified than surprised at the event of the House of Commons debate on the Union; for though Lord Castlereagh wrote (as he talked) with confidence, yet one saw very clearly the elements of ratting. I rejoice to hear that you think the question recoverable, because I am more than ever of opinion that it must be tried again and again, till it succeeds. With respect to the person in whose hands it has failed, I may say to you (in our confidence) that my opinion does not very much differ from yours, if indeed it does at all. Since he has been in Ireland I have seen no one trait of that character which I thought he had displayed in former situations of great difficulty, and for which I still gave him credit, though a nearer view of his mind had certainly diminished the impressions which I once entertained on the subject. Sorry I am to confess that I concurred heartily and eagerly in his appointment, a measure, my share in which I shall deplore to the hour of my death, though I certainly have nothing to reproach myself with on that account, having done conscientiously what I then thought the best, though I did not, even then, think it so good as others did.
The question of his removal is, however, a very difficult one indeed – one of the most embarrassing circumstances attending the present state of Ireland being, that in that office, above all others, the effect of change, even from worse to better, is frequently, if not always, more mischievous than the continuance of the evil. A violent and precipitate removal just now would, I think, totally unhinge the Government, and it would, above all, throw the whole absolutists at the feet of those who perhaps (I think, certainly) need not have been made enemies, but who being such, must be guarded against as such. Lord Cornwallis never did like the situation; he accepted it unwillingly, and, to do him justice, I believe solely from a sense of public duty. Since he has held it he has experienced nothing but disgusts of every kind, and mortification in every shape, arising no doubt in a very great degree from his own misconduct, but not on that account the less galling to his mind. He can therefore certainly have no desire to stay, and, I should think, would very probably desire to quit at the close of this session, if the dread of foreign invasion is at that time not very urgent.
But if it is, what officer have we to oppose to the domestic and external enemies whom we should in such case have to meet? In a situation requiring above all others the mixture of civil and military talents, to a degree that the Duke of Marlborough scarce possessed them, and for which we must provide by sending some old woman in a red riband that has not a grain of either.
You see it is easy enough to start difficulties, but I do not think myself quite so ready at expedients as I wish I was. This is, I believe, a case where nothing is to be done just now, but to remain quite steady, announcing an unalterable purpose of carrying this great measure, and a fixed persuasion that we must succeed in it. And as to all the rest, if Paddy will set fire to his own house, we must try to put it out if we can, and if we cannot, we must keep the engine ready to play upon our own.
I rejoice that you took the determination, both of not speaking or attending this question in the Irish House of Lords, and of giving your proxy to the Chancellor, which was at once showing him a mark of attention and confidence, which he well deserves, and manifesting your own sentiments in the only way at all consistent with your situation. A little more than two months will now close your pilgrimage, from which you will return with the satisfaction of having done a great deal of good, though not quite all that you might have done if others had done their part.
God bless you.
You will see in to-day's papers the fate of the poor King of Naples. The infatuation of the Emperor is like nothing but that of an Irish Orangeman.
Towards the end of January, Mr. Thomas Grenville again left England on his mission; but his second departure proved even more unfortunate and disastrous than the first. The vessel in which he had sailed was supposed to have made the Elbe, and to have been lost in the ice. The distressing tidings, or rather the terrible apprehensions caused by the absence of any authentic or reliable intelligence, were immediately forwarded to Lord Buckingham. For several days this state of dreadful suspense continued. Every fragment of news that afforded the slightest ground of hope was eagerly seized upon; and, in the anxious solicitude of that affection which appears so touchingly all throughout these letters, Lord Grenville communicated to Lord Buckingham all he could learn from day to day. At last came the joyful intelligence that he was safe! This happy news was rapidly followed by letters from Mr. Grenville himself, and from his Secretary, Mr. Fisher, announcing his landing at Cuxhaven, and his subsequent arrival at Berlin.
MR. FISHER TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Cuxhaven, Thursday, Feb. 7th, 1799.
My dear Lord,
I cannot think of leaving this place without first acquainting you of our safe arrival here, after experiencing a thousand dangers and difficulties in consequence of our ship having run aground on the Newerk bank, at the entrance of the Elbe.
Mr. Grenville, I am delighted to be able to assure you, is in good health, notwithstanding the extreme fatigue he has undergone since Thursday last. The few hours he stays here being entirely occupied with writing letters of business, he fears he shall not have time to write to you from hence. The same reasons, my dear Lord, will deprive me of the honour of giving you, at the present moment, the details of our misfortunes. The officers and crew are all saved with the exception of thirteen seamen, and one woman and child, who were frozen to death in attempting to gain Newerk from the wreck. We are without a change of any one article of dress, and we fear there is little probability of saving any part of our baggage. We, however, proceed on our journey in a few hours to Berlin, from whence it shall be my first care to write to you the particulars of the melancholy events of the last week. Mr. Wynne is quite well, and has on every occasion of danger and difficulty shown the greatest fortitude and discretion.
I beg to be recalled to the remembrance of Lady Buckingham. Believe me, my dear Lord, to be ever, with the most grateful attachment, your Lordship's most obliged and most devoted servant,
Edward Fisher.
MR. T. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Cuxhaven, Feb. 7th, 1799.
My dearest Brother,
The fatigue which I have undergone, added to the necessity of my writing several letters upon my arrival here, makes it impossible for me to say more to you than that I am alive and well, after a miraculous escape from the 'Proserpine,' which ran ashore off Searhorn, and a second danger, scarcely less, yesterday morning, in a long walk to gain this place, during which we were overtaken by the tide and forced to wade for an hour, in the hardest frost I ever felt, against a strong current of tide, which was sometimes up to, and sometimes above our middle. We are all, however, well to-day, and I proceed this evening towards Berlin, as well as my fatigues will allow me. I cannot say enough to you of Mr. Fisher's behaviour in these trials of danger; his resources, his attachment, and his kind attentions in assisting our poor Henry, and lessening, where he could, the inconvenience of my situation, have entitled him and ensured to him the sincerest and warmest regard. Henry, likewise, has been a stout mariner, and has shown a fortitude much beyond his years.
I find no Italian news except a report of the French having possession of Naples. They have, likewise, Ehrenbreitstein. When will they have Berlin? We have not a shirt in company. My loss, about £700.
God Almighty bless and preserve you.
Having arrived safely at Berlin, Mr. Grenville gives a sketch of his first impressions of the King of Prussia and his Court.
MR. T. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Berlin, Feb. 28th, 1799.
My dearest Brother,
The journal which Mr. Fisher has shown to me, and which he proposes to send to you by this messenger, will give you a much more accurate account of our voyage than I could pretend to do if I had time to undertake it; but that is unfortunately so far from being the case, that I can with difficulty catch a short time by this opportunity to write even a few words to you.
We arrived here on the 17th, and I have scarcely yet got through the endless presentations and the weary first suppers of the Princes, which engross the whole evening from six in the evening till one in the morning. I have seen the King hitherto very little, but I am going to dine with him to-day; he is thought to be well-disposed in his general intentions, perfectly aware of all he has to fear from the great nation whom he detests and abhors; but having no original opinions of his own, nor habits of forming his own judgment, he falls unfortunately too much into the hands of the military officers, particularly the aides-de-camp with whom he lives, and their influence is, in consequence, powerful enough to weigh sometimes against the opinions of the Ministers whom he employs.
The general idea here is, that the person who has most weight with him is an aide-de-camp named Kochentz, of whose honesty there is no suspicion, but whose talents and capacity are of a very inferior description, and who is therefore open to the artifices of bad and designing men, who work powerfully through him upon the King.
Haugwiz is believed to be sincere in his apprehensions of the general danger of French republicanism, and is considered as struggling against the more immediate followers of the King, who surround him daily, and haunt him with the dreadful consequences of war to Prussia, and the old jealousies and distrusts of Austria.
If the Court of Vienna should at last act, as I am almost disposed to think they will rather than send back the Russian troops at the requisition of France, the beginning of hostilities from that Court cannot fail of producing a good effect here; the great danger is, that while each is waiting for the other to begin, the time for useful and effective exertion will pass by.
I have seen Sièyes at Court with his scarf and cockade. What Lavater would say of his features I know not, but I have seldom seen a countenance of so bad impression. His manners, conduct and appearance here have produced nothing but disgust in all that are not of the lower ranks of life, but it is to those that his mission is considered as being chiefly addressed, and he is said to have both means and agents enough to work through upon the lower classes of men here.
I have heard nothing from England or Ireland since I left Yarmouth, nothing of Union, and nothing of you; but how can I till the summer, if the last ten days of soft weather will not unlock the inhospitable ice of the Elbe at Cuxhaven? We are all well. God send that you and yours are so. Love to Lord B. and George and Mary. The Major is, I trust, soon expecting you in England.
God bless you, dearest brother. You will be glad to hear great part of my baggage is saved.
The negotiations which the French had been carrying on at Rastadt relative to the German boundaries, were broken off in consequence of the Emperor having permitted the Russian troops to enter his dominions; and on the 1st of March, the Directory having declared war against him, Jourdan, at the head of forty thousand men, crossed the Rhine at Kehl and Basle. Austria was now fairly committed to the war, and, strengthened by the Russians, who entered into it with enthusiasm, achieved a succession of important movements. On the 5th of March, the Arch-Duke Charles crossed the Leck; and on the 25th, defeated Jourdan at the battle of Stockach, and, leaving ten thousand men dead or expiring on the field, compelled the French to retire towards the Rhine. This triumph was followed up vigorously by the battle of Magnan, on the 5th of April, in which the Austrians, under Kray, joined by the vanguard of the Russians, effected so signal a victory, that Scherer, beaten for the third time in the course of the campaign, fled in precipitation across the Nincio. The effect of these encouraging successes was utterly lost on the Court of Prussia, where the policy, or no-policy, of doing nothing still prevailed over the counsels of friends, and the menaces of enemies. The picture Mr. Grenville gives of the weakness and incapacity of the Government suggests the only intelligible explanation of the conduct they pursued at this juncture.
