Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/169

 alarmed lest a revolution should break out in England. War with France now became popular. Austria and Prussia had not been successful in their invasion of France, for after the first fear had passed away the French Republicans drove their enemies back, and in their turn invaded the Austrian dominions in the Netherlands. The French now wanted all other nations to become republics, and when they began to take steps to invade Holland, which was under the protection of England, peace could no longer be maintained, and in Feb. 1793, France declared war against England, Holland, and Spain.

3. War with France.—In the war that followed England had, at first, as allies, Spain, Holland, Austria, and Prussia. England had to provide much of the money for the war, which owing to bad generalship and lack of energy was full of disasters for the Allies. The French drove the English out of Toulon, captured Amsterdam, and seized the Dutch fleet. Prussia soon made peace, while Spain cast in her lot with France against England. Against these reverses, we must place a victory by Lord Howe over the French fleet at Brest, and the seizure of the Dutch colonies at the Cape of Good Hope, in Ceylon, and in Malacca. So unsuccessful was the war, and so heavy the burden placed upon the English taxpayer, that Pitt was anxious to bring about an honorable peace. But the French were so elated with their victories, that no reasonable terms could be made, and in spite of bad harvests and great distress among the poor and the working classes, the war had to go on. To make matters worse, a foolish terror had seized upon the ruling and middle classes, who imagined they saw plots and conspiracies in every meeting held, and society formed, to obtain better government and a better representation in Parliament. Cruel and unjust laws were passed to prevent public gatherings and political writings. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and innocent men on the most trivial evidence were imprisoned and banished.

4. Trouble in Ireland.—In the meantime affairs in Ireland were 'growing worse and worse. The Irish Parliament did not represent the Irish people, and all offices and places of trust were given to the friends of a few ruling families. Shut in to Ireland by heavy duties against their products in English markets, the Irish were growing restless under the combined forces of grinding poverty and