ABSTRACT
In February 1792 William Pitt announced reduced defence expenditure during his budget speech to the Commons. On 1 February 1793 the French National Convention declared war on Britain. True to British traditions in foreign policy, no action was taken as first Prussia and then Austria declared war on revolutionary France during 1792. France's new client state declared war on Britain, which retaliated immediately with the capture of both the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon in 1795. Crushing defeats in Italy at the hands of the young Napoleon forced Austria to make peace with France in 1797. The reduced taxation of peacetime cooled parliamentary tempers while Joseph Bonaparte's obvious preparations to extend French influence once more in Holland and Italy made a return to war politically acceptable. Britain's defences early in 1803 were in sufficiently good order for Henry Addington to take the initiative, declare war himself and take Bonaparte by surprise.
