e I
have very little apprehension.

I think it probable that the consequences of this new state of
things will be to detain me in and about town, and to put an end to
my hopes of a journey to Stowe or Wotton; but I am not yet quite
sure as to this. I hope we shall not be in a hurry to meet
Parliament, as I understand that it will not be necessary, in point
of finance, till about the middle of November. Between this and
that time many things may still happen to raise people's spirits,
which I should fear would in the present moment be much depressed,
whatever pains we took to raise them.

Ever, my dearest brother, most affectionately yours,
G.

1798.

CONDITION OF ENGLAND--PLANS FOR THE NATIONAL DEFENCES--THE AUGMENTATION
OF THE MILITIA--VOLUNTARY SUBSCRIPTIONS--A REBELLION BREAKS OUT IN
IRELAND--LORD CORNWALLIS SUCCEEDS LORD CAMDEN AS LORD-LIEUTENANT--LORD
BUCKINGHAM VOLUNTEERS FOR IRELAND--DIFFERENCES WITH LORD CORNWALLIS--MR.
THOMAS GRENVILLE IS APPOINTED ON A MISSION TO VIENNA AND BERLIN.

A rebellion in Ireland, and a threat of invasion from France, for which
active preparations were making on the coast and in the Channel, almost
exclusively absorbed the attention of Government at the beginning of the
year 1798, and demanded all the resources which the devotion of the
people could contribute to the protection of the country. The extremity
of the public danger had the effect of uniting all classes in a combined
effort for self-preservation; and the national enthusiasm was pronounced
so strongly and unanimously on this point, that the heads of the
Opposition, shattered and enfeebled, retired from the fruitless contest
they had been so long waging against the Administration, and left Mr.
Pitt and his colleagues in almost undisturbed possession of both Houses
of Parliament.

But security was not to be purchased without great sacrifices. The
expenditure of the past year had amounted to the enormous sum of
twenty-five millions and a half; and Mr. Pitt found it necessary, in
order to provide a supply equal to the emergencies of the future, to
introduce an entirely new system of finance. He proposed to triple the
amount of the existing assessed taxes, with a limitation, restraining
the maximum of taxation to the tenth of each person's income; and to
borrow the remainder of what was required without creating any
additional debt, by appropriating the