ar the path of prudence. By the talisman of trust in the people
France conjured up those armed hosts which overthrew old Europe. At the
stamp of Napoleon's heel a new Europe arose, wherein the most potent
defiance came from the peoples which drew upon their inmost reserves of
strength. That these consist in men, not in money, is clear from the
course of the struggle against the great Emperor. Spain, Russia, and
Prussia adopted truly national systems of defence, and quickly forged to
the front. Britain and Austria clung to their old systems, and, thanks
to Wellington's genius and Metternich's diplomacy, they survived. But
they did not play the decisive part which they might have done if
George III and Pitt, Francis II and Thugut, had early determined to
trust and arm their peoples. Unfortunately for England, she underwent no
military disaster; and therefore Pitt was fain to plod along in the old
paths and use the nation's wealth, not its manhood. He organized it
piecemeal, on a class basis, instead of embattling it as a whole. In the
main his failure to realize the possibilities of the situation arose
from his abandonment of those invigorating principles which nerved him
to the achievements of the earlier and better part of his career. It is
conceivable that, had he retained the idealism of his youth and
discovered a British Scharnhorst, Waterloo might have been fought in
1796 and won solely by British troops.

FOOTNOTES:

[411] "Diary of a Tour through Great Britain in 1795," by W. MacRitchie
(1897).

[412] "Dropmore P.," ii, 172.

[413] In "H. O.," Geo. III (Domestic), 27, are Dundas's instructions to
Moira, dated 20th November 1793, appointing him Major-General in an
expedition to Guernsey, with Admiral MacBride, taking with him a Hessian
corps as soon as it arrives. He is to seize St. Malo or any place near
it suitable for helping the Royalists and harassing the enemy. If he
deems success doubtful, he is to await reinforcements. The aim is to
help the cause of Louis XVII and lead to a general pacification.

[414] "Malmesbury Diaries," iii, 96-8.

[415] Chevening MSS.

[416] Pretyman MSS.

[417] "Cornwallis Corresp.," ii, 289.

[418] "Life of Wilberforce," ii, 92.

[419] Sorel, v, 41; "Wickham Corresp.," i, 269-74, 343. Some
mis-statements of Sorel may be noted here. On pp. 39, 40 of vol. v he
states that Pitt was intent on acquiring Malta and Egypt (though he was
then in doubt whether to retain Corsica):