t for which His
Majesty originally took up arms."[243] This gentle rebuke to Hood (an
impetuous and opinionated officer), clearly shows the attitude of the
Cabinet towards that problem. For Great Britain the re-establishment of
monarchy was not an affair of principle, but solely of expediency. It is
also noteworthy that the inhabitants of Toulon retained the tricolour
flag, thus signifying their adhesion to constitutional royalism as
established in 1791.

The fortunes of the Republic now appeared desperate; and the Allies
would certainly have triumphed had they put forth a tithe of the energy
developed by the Jacobins at Paris. With ordinarily good management on
the part of Austria, Sardinia, and Naples, Toulon might have become the
centre of a great royalist movement in the South. That was certainly the
expectation of Pitt; and Langara, the Spanish admiral at Toulon,
expressed to his Government the hope that the war would soon end with
honour.[244]

No one at first realized the difficulties of the enterprise. The
ramparts of Toulon were extensive; and the outlying forts, from Lamalgue
on the east to Mount Faron on the north, and the works on the west and
south-west, spread over a circumference of fully fifteen miles. Then
again the French royalist committee in Toulon was somewhat suspicious of
the Allies. In truth a blight seemed to settle on the royalist cause
when it handed over to foreigners one of the cherished citadels of
France. Loyalty to Louis XVII now spelt treason to the nation. The
crisis is interesting because it set sharply against one another the
principles of monarchy and nationality; and the sequel proved that the
national idea, though still far from mature even in France, had more
potency than royalism. A keen-sighted observer had very forcibly warned
the Marseillais against delivering their city into the hands of the
Spaniards, a crime which must ruin their efforts. Such was the judgement
of Bonaparte in that curious pamphlet "Le Souper de Beaucaire."

Other invisible agencies, those of time and space, told against the
Allies. Despatches sent by Hood were at least eleven days in reaching
their destination, and often far longer. Consequently, the plans framed
at home were always belated. The first tidings (received on 7th
September) found the Cabinet half committed to another enterprise, that
in the West Indies, which Pitt very reluctantly postponed owing to the
drain of troops to Flanders and Toulo