Mark's, the fallen republic paid the penalty of a movement, which, undertaken when it was, could lead only to the ruin of those engaged in it.

The situation of England all this while, with reference both to her foreign and domestic relations, was extremely critical. The failure of the duke of York's expedition cast a gloom over the minds of the wellaffected; while the exertions made in consequence, to recruit both the sea and land forces, furnished ample subject of complaint to the seditious and the cowardly. Jacobinism, moreover, became more and more a dis ease in every corner of the empire. In the great towns, in particular, especially in London, and in the more populous places of Scotland, the worst spirit prevailed. Corresponding Societies were instituted, which avowed themselves the advocates of principles altogether at variance with those of the British constitution; nor were there wanting men both of rank and influence to give a countenance to their proceedings, and to promote their views, possibly without intending to do so. In 1794, this spirit attained to such a height that many arrests took place, and several persons being put upon their trial, one by name Watt, a native of Scotland, was executed. But of the remainder, some received sentence of banishment only for a period of fourteen years; while by far the greater number, including the celebrated John Horne Tooke, Hardy, Thelwall, and some others, were acquitted.

The year 1795 was rendered memorable in the annals of Great Britain, by a ferocious attack made upon the king, while he was proceeding to open the session of parliament at Westminster. Wild cries arose from the mob, such as "No war," "No Pitt," "Down with George," "Liberty and equality," while a shower of stones, and even a pistol-ball directed against the carriage, told how inveterate were the feelings of

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those who uttered them. But of all the monarchs that ever filled the English throne, George the Third was the best fitted to treat this popular ebullition as it deserved. His foreign policy had not, perhaps, been wisely conducted. He had adventured a second expedition to the Continent, by landing on the shores of Quiberon Bay a mixed force composed of emigrants, one or two English regiments, and a body of volunteers gathered from prison-hulks, which, being wretchedly conducted, and wholly inadequate in point of numbers, sustained a signal defeat. But at home his proceedings were marked with much more of energy. While he humoured the dispositions of the really patriotic, by sending lord Malmesbury to Paris, with full powers to conclude, if possible, a peace with the existing French government, he did not scruple to recommend, through his minister, a suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. It was a daring step to take, but the circumstances of the times required it; and the events of the next two or three years gave proof, that it had not been taken unadvisedly.

Lord Malmesbury's mission failed, as all thinking persons had anticipated; and an extraordinary depression overspread the public mind. The funds fell greatly, nor was confidence restored by the suspension, in 1797, of cash-payments from the bank. It appeared, indeed, to most men, that England had engaged in a struggle, which could not but end in her ruin; for her allies had one by one forsaken her, while of her own children there were many who did not wish her well. But Providence had so ordered it, that in this dark hour of trial her councils should be directed by one who, if occasionally he erred in too prodigal an application of her resources, was under all circumstances sensitively jealous of her honour. There broke in, too, from time to time, upon the gloom of her prospects, the report of victories both by land and sea,

which, while it assured her rulers of the undiminished valour of British soldiers and sailors, taught even the desponding to hope for better days. Thus during the years 1796 and 1797, almost all the West India Islands belonging to France and to Holland were reduced. Trinidad was in like manner wrested from the Spaniards, while nearer their own shores the confederates sustained a memorable disaster, in the overthrow of a fleet which it had cost many years of assiduous exertion and great expenditure to organize. On the 14th of February, sir John Jervis, while cruising off Cape St. Vincent, with fifteen sail of the line, descried, and brought to action, a combined French and Spanish fleet of twenty-seven sail. Notwithstanding so vast a disparity of force, the skill of the admiral, aided by the valour of the ships companies, prevailed. Jervis defeated the enemy, took four sail, two of them carrying one hundred and twelve guns each, and compelled the remainder to seek safety within the harbour of Cadiz.

Such was the general state of affairs, when two events befell, both of them calculated to strike terror into the bosoms of the well-disposed, and to increase, in a proportionate degree, the confidence of the enemy. On the 15th of April a mutiny broke out among the crews of the squadron assembled in Portsmouth harbour. For some time previously discontents had been known to prevail; indeed, the lords of the admiralty had received many anonymous communications, in which, complaints of scanty pay and inadequate allowances. were brought forward, and demands made for redress. But it was not till the morning of the day just specified, when the signal for sailing was hung out, that the height to which the feeling extended became manifest. Instead of obeying the signal, the crew of the Queen Charlotte cheered, and the cheer was returned from all the vessels around. No violence, however, was offered to the commanders, of whom the most obnoxious