and Duchess of Brunswick were fain to pack up their valuables and leave
their capital in haste.

Such was the French conquest of Holland and part of Hanover in the
winter of 1794-5. So speedy was it that Pitt and Dundas took no timely
means to ensure the carrying off the Dutch fleet. As no small part of it
was loyal to the Prince of Orange, who now fled to England, the
oversight is to be censured. Surely Flushing or the Brill could have
been secured. The Cabinet, however, as we shall see later, prepared to
rescue from the general ruin the most valuable of the Dutch colonies,
the Cape of Good Hope, the importance of which, for the safety of India,
Pitt and Dundas rated most highly. Meanwhile, under the command of
Abercromby, Harcourt, Cathcart, and Walmoden, the British and subsidized
German forces fell back towards the River Ems, and thence to the Weser.
Pitt, as we have seen, desired to recall the British regiments for
service in the West of France. But various considerations told against
this plan; and, as will appear later, the King obstinately opposed the
withdrawal of the British cavalry from the confines of his beloved
Electorate until the autumn of 1795. In April of that year the infantry,
now reduced to some 6,000 effectives by the rigours of winter, embarked
at Bremen.

Thus ended an expedition unprecedentedly fatal to the British arms. The
causes of the disaster are not far to seek. The campaigns of 1793-4 were
undertaken heedlessly, in reliance upon the strength of a Coalition
which proved to have no strength, and upon the weakness of the French
Republic which proved to be unconquerably strong. The Allies were
powerful enough to goad France to fury, too weak to crush its
transports. Their ill-concealed threats of partition bound France to the
cause of the Jacobins, which otherwise she would have abjured in horror.
Thus the would-be invaders drove France in upon herself, compelled her
to organize her strength to the utmost; and that strength, when
marshalled by Carnot, was destined to shatter the Coalition and overrun
neighbouring lands. She then learnt the fatal secret that she could
conquer Europe.

In a later chapter I propose to survey Pitt's conduct as War Minister.
Here I need only point out that his mistakes resulted mainly from his
unquenchable hopefulness. A singular proof of this admirable but
dangerous quality is seen in his effort during the months of February
and March 1795 to frame one more pl