son to Grenville, 2nd January and 11th
February 1795.

[386] "F. O.," Spain, 37. Grenville to Bute, 5th, 12th, and 19th June.

[387] Del Cantillo, "Tratados," 660.

[388] "Papiers de Barthelemy," vi, Introd., xv, 71, 77-85.

[389] "W. O.," vi, 6, which contains other despatches of Dundas cited
later.

[390] "Diary of Sir John Moore," i, 208, 221, 233, 243; ii, 18, 19.

[391] "Diary of Sir John Moore," 2 vols. Edited by General Maurice.

[392] "F. O.," Spain, 39, 40. Merry to Grenville, 20th and 25th December
and 19th January, 10th February, 6th and 29th March.

[393] "Dropmore P.," iii, 214.

[394] "F. O.," Spain, 44. Bute to Grenville, 10th September and 21st
October.

[395] For the disgust of Pitt and Dundas, see "Dropmore P.," iii, 390.

[396] Malouet wrote to Pitt on 24th June 1798: "The wisdom of General
Maitland's measures, the perfect order in which he has conducted the
operations have lessened the disasters attending it, and by means of a
truce and convention agreed on with the Republican chiefs, not an
inconsiderable number of inhabitants has been induced to remain on their
plantations" (Pitt MSS., 146).

CHAPTER XI

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE: CORSICA: QUIBERON

The French Jacobins early laid stress on the weakness of the British
Empire. An official report issued in January 1793 at Paris advocated a
close alliance with Tippoo Sahib, the Raja of Mysore, and recommended
that the French force sent to assist him should threaten or secure the
Dutch possessions at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Java and Ceylon.
"There," it continued, "you would meet only with men enervated by
luxury, soft beings that would tremble before the soldiers of liberty."
The French conquest of Holland and the capture of the Dutch fleet in the
winter of 1794-5 brought these schemes within measurable distance of
fulfilment. Failing to save a single Dutch fortress or warship, Pitt and
his colleagues became alarmed about the Dutch colonies; and when the
lethargic Stadholder and his consort Wilhelmina landed in England,
Ministers conferred with him on this topic.

On 7th February 1795, shortly after his arrival at Kew House,
thenceforth the scene of his debauches, he drew up an order for the
Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, bidding him welcome the arrival of a
friendly British force, which would save Cape Town from the French. That
important post belonged to the Dutch East India Company, then virtually
bankrupt, an