ABSTRACT
Unfortunately for Ministers, the very hopeful forecast of the Dutch situation they had ventured upon in the King’s Speech was singularly belied by the course of events. Then came another sensational occurrence, the coup d’etat in France, effected on November 9th by General Buonaparte scarce a month after his return from his abandoned army in Egypt. The distress of the poor was specifically invoked when Fox, returning to the House on the plea of his friends, wound up Opposition’s criticism of Government’s rejection of Buonaparte’s peace offer. There was, of course, a great deal for “malignity” and “foreboding” to occupy themselves with during the winter of 1800–1801. The war situation seemed to be going from bad to worse as news came, first, of Buonaparte’s termination of the armistice with Austria, then, of the decisive French victory of Hohenlinden (December 3rd), and, finally, of the Austrian resolve to negotiate a separate peace at Luneville.
