afterwards at Perthshire dinner-tables he used to tell with pride how
George III once proposed a toast to the Minister who planned the
expedition to Egypt and in doing so had the courage to oppose not only
his colleagues but his King.

As the year 1800 drew to its close, the opposition of the Baltic Powers
to the British maritime code became most threatening. The questions at
issue are too technical to be discussed here. Pitt and his colleagues
believed the maintenance of the rights of search and of the seizure of
an enemy's goods on neutral ships to be essential to the existence of
England. For this view of the case much was to be said. In every war
France used neutral ships in order to get supplies; and the neutrals
themselves sought to filch trade from British merchants. Now, to hinder
or destroy the commerce of the enemy, and to prevent neutrals from
bringing naval stores to his ports, were the only means of bringing
pressure from the sea upon the dominant Land Power. In a strife for life
or death Pitt and his colleagues perforce made use of every weapon, even
to the detriment of non-combatants. This stiff attitude, however,
contrasted with that of Bonaparte, who, in July 1800 flattered the Czar
by sending back Russian prisoners and by offering to cede Malta to him.
Paul, not knowing that the fall of Valetta was imminent, was duped by
this device; and, a few weeks later, occurred the rupture between Russia
and England.

Thus, within a year, the Second Coalition against France went to pieces,
and was succeeded by a league against England. Thanks to the victory of
Nelson at Copenhagen and the murder of the Czar Paul in the spring of
1801, that unnatural alliance speedily collapsed. These events, however,
belong to a time subsequent to Pitt's resignation of office, after the
completion of the union with Ireland, to which we must now return.
Enough has been said to show the statesmanlike nature of his plans for
the vindication of European independence. The intrigues of Thugut, the
selfish isolation of Prussia, and the mad oscillations of Paul marred
those plans and left the Continent a prey to the unbridled ambition of
Bonaparte, from which it was to be saved only after a decade of
exhausting wars.

FOOTNOTES:

[502] "F. O.," Austria, 51; "Dropmore P.," iv, 170. The French took
nearly 33,000,000 francs from the Swiss cantonal treasuries.

[503] Pitt MSS., 108.

[504] "Dropmore P.," iv, 166, 172; "F. O.," Austria