e
Ministry not to proceed further in that doubtful course (9th April
1793). Pitt had the full support of the House in opposing Grey's motion
for Parliamentary Reform, which was thrown out by 282 votes to 41. The
war spirit also appeared in a sharp rebuff given to Wilberforce and the
Abolitionists on 14th May. The institution of a Board of Agriculture
(which Hussey, Sheridan, and Fox opposed as a piece of jobbery) and the
renewal of the Charter of the East India Company were the chief
practical results of that session. But the barrenness of the session,
the passing of the Traitorous Correspondence Bill, and the hardships
connected with the balloting for the militia stirred the Radical Clubs
to redoubled energy; so that home affairs for two or three years centred
in their propaganda and in Pitt's repressive efforts. The development of
a keen political consciousness in the masses is a subject of so much
interest that I may be pardoned for dwelling on it somewhat fully, with
the aid of new materials drawn from the Home Office Archives.

[Illustration: THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN 1793. (From a painting in
the National Gallery by K. A. Hickel)]

There we see the causes of unrest. Hunger, hatred of the militia laws,
chafing against restraints entailed by the war, all conduce to
discontent. The newly awakened Caliban is also a prey to suspicion. He
hates foreigners. Yet, either as refugees or prisoners, they swarm along
the south coast (there were for a time 5,000 prisoners in Winchester).
Fishermen are tempted to help in their escape, and a mariner of Emsworth
is arraigned for treason on this count. Even so far west as Bodmin the
prisoners are numerous and threatening. They convince many of the
townsfolk that England would be better off as a Republic; and two
patriotic ladies in fear and horror inform Lord Mount Edgcumbe
anonymously that Frenchmen cut a mark round the neck of King George on
all coins. The vicar of Ringmer, near Lewes, reports that the smugglers
of the Sussex coast carry on a regular intercourse with France. In the
Isle of Wight even the French royalists, who are there awaiting the
despatch of Lord Moira's long-deferred expedition to Brittany, figure as
murderous Jacobins. In Bath, too, the mayor, Mr. Harington, is troubled
by the influx of Gallic artists and dancing-masters, especially as they
mix in all the "routs," and dare even there to whisper treason against
King George. Another report comes that a F