ABSTRACT
During the summer of 1797 Government’s attention was largely concentrated on mutinous Ireland and the peace negotiations proceeding at Lille. As early as August it was obvious that the main difficulty at Lille would be the French Government’s insistence on the return both of its own captured colonies and those of its allies, Spain and the Batavian Republic. Despite relieving factors the reassembly of Parliament, on November 2nd, opened what was necessarily a more anxious time for Ministers. During the first half of 1798, the anxieties of Government seem to have been almost as great as they had been in the darkest days of 1797. The French Directory was known to have offered General Buonaparte every facility for organising invasion, and the Irish situation was plainly such as would have given James Fox excellent prospects of success if he could have landed in Ireland only a proportion of the troops available.
