The First History of British Empire
A HISTORY OF
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
VOL. I
[img_p6]
Allan Ramsay pinx
George III.
A HISTORY OF
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
BY
MARCUS R. P. DORMAN, M.A.
VOL. I
FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR WITH
FRANCE TO THE DEATH OF PITT
(1793–1805)
WITH SIX PHOTOGRAVURES
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. LTD
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD
1902
The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved
Printed by B[sc]ALLANTAYNE[sc/], H[sc]ANSON[sc/] & C[sc]O[sc/]
At the Ballantyne Press
PREFACE
T[sc]HE[sc/] period dealt with in this volume is probably the most important in the history of Modern England, so no apology is needed for commencing a History of the Nineteenth Century at the year 1793. Indeed, it would be impossible either to describe the condition of the country in 1801, or to continue the narrative of the war with France, without some account of the events which occurred during the last few years of the eighteenth century.
The mine of historical wealth in the Foreign Records is by no means yet exhausted, and any one who has taken the trouble to compare the published documents with the original communications to and from the ambassadors and agents of England abroad, will realise how impossible it is to write the true history of this period from the former alone. A study of the original letters of Lord Malmesbury in 1796 cannot fail to produce an impression very different from that acquired by reading the correspondence as presented to Parliament, and even in the more extensive extracts published later by the biographer of that distinguished diplomat some points of great importance are omitted. The rupture with Spain is more easily understood after a perusal of the correspondence with the Earl of Bute, which shows clearly that at this date the British Ministers were distrusted almost as much as the Continental Courts of Europe. We know now that this
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
VOL. I
[img_p6]
Allan Ramsay pinx
George III.
A HISTORY OF
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
BY
MARCUS R. P. DORMAN, M.A.
VOL. I
FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR WITH
FRANCE TO THE DEATH OF PITT
(1793–1805)
WITH SIX PHOTOGRAVURES
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. LTD
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD
1902
The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved
Printed by B[sc]ALLANTAYNE[sc/], H[sc]ANSON[sc/] & C[sc]O[sc/]
At the Ballantyne Press
PREFACE
T[sc]HE[sc/] period dealt with in this volume is probably the most important in the history of Modern England, so no apology is needed for commencing a History of the Nineteenth Century at the year 1793. Indeed, it would be impossible either to describe the condition of the country in 1801, or to continue the narrative of the war with France, without some account of the events which occurred during the last few years of the eighteenth century.
The mine of historical wealth in the Foreign Records is by no means yet exhausted, and any one who has taken the trouble to compare the published documents with the original communications to and from the ambassadors and agents of England abroad, will realise how impossible it is to write the true history of this period from the former alone. A study of the original letters of Lord Malmesbury in 1796 cannot fail to produce an impression very different from that acquired by reading the correspondence as presented to Parliament, and even in the more extensive extracts published later by the biographer of that distinguished diplomat some points of great importance are omitted. The rupture with Spain is more easily understood after a perusal of the correspondence with the Earl of Bute, which shows clearly that at this date the British Ministers were distrusted almost as much as the Continental Courts of Europe. We know now that this