ess, a coarse-minded and giddy
young woman, was shamefully treated by her husband, and after the birth
of their daughter, the Princess Charlotte, in January, 1796, they
finally separated.

For the prosecution of the war parliament voted 100,000 seamen,
including marines, and L14,500,000 for army expenses; the total supplies
were about L27,500,000. Ten new taxes were imposed, one of them on
hair-powder at twenty-one shillings a head, which was calculated at
L210,000; and a loan of L18,000,000 was effected. With this year began a
period of difficulty in raising money and the loan was only obtained at
the total rate of L4 16s. 2d. per cent. In February Pitt hoped to
prevent Prussia from making peace with France, and to induce the king to
renew the war by the grant of another subsidy. Grenville, who was
convinced that no reliance could be placed on Prussia, objected and
threatened to resign if Pitt persisted in his plan. He desired a close
alliance with Austria, and believed that the grant of a subsidy to
Prussia would alienate the courts of Vienna and St. Petersburg. Pitt
would not give way, and Grenville promised to keep his intended
resignation a secret until the end of the session. He privately
announced his resignation to the king, who, though he had at first been
opposed to a Prussian subsidy, was then on Pitt's side, for he was
discouraged by the ill-success of Austria. Pitt's project came to
naught; for on April 5 Frederick William made a treaty with France at
Basle, by which he surrendered the Prussian territories on the left bank
of the Rhine. Secret articles provided that if France kept those
territories he should be indemnified elsewhere. Grenville continued in
office; Pitt had cause to rejoice that he was saved from a serious
mistake, and the threatened disruption of the cabinet remained a
secret.[264]

George himself had advised Grenville in December, 1794, to persuade
Austria to renew the war by granting her a subsidy or a loan. His advice
was in accordance with Grenville's own wishes. An arrangement with
Catherine of Russia determined the Austrian emperor to carry on the war,
with the intention of indemnifying himself at the expense of Bavaria and
Venice, if he was unable to recover the Netherlands and conquer Lorraine
and Alsace, and England had to find him money. By a convention signed on
May 4 the government guaranteed a loan of L4,600,000 to be raised in
London, to enable him to employ an army of 200,0