Dennis Wheatley - The wanton princess

Later there had arisen a much more cogent reason for uniting the two countries. From the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France, the French had sent hundreds of agi­tators m Ireland. They had succeeded in stirring up the natural resentment that the Irish Catholics fell at being debarred from any voice in the government of their country and the general discontent that had long smouldered among the Irish at being subservient to Britain. This had led not only to a strong movement aimed at achieving independence, but an open rebellion in '98 that had been difficult to put down. Added to this was the fact that the French consistently encouraged potential rebels with promises of military sup­port, had actually on one occasion landed a small force and, on another, been prevented from succeeding in a full-scale invasion only because their Fleet and troop transports had been scattered by a great tempest. And for Ireland lo be occupied by a French army with the willing consent of the majority of its inhabitants would, strategically, have been fatal to England.

The bases of Pitt's proposals were that the Irish Par­liament, which was notoriously corrupt, should be abolished; that twenty Irish Peers elected for life and four Protestant Bishops should be given seats in the House of Lords, and that representatives of the Irish cities and boroughs should sit in the House of Commons.

It was also his intention that these newcomers to Westmin­ster should not be required to take the Oaths of Supremacy and Abjuration but only the Oath of Allegiance, which would have been no bar to Catholics sitting.

In a speech to Parliament on the subject. Pitt had said, 'We must consider it as a measure of great national policy, the object of which is effectively to counteract the restless machinations of an inveterate enemy, who has uniformly and anxiously endeavoured to effect a separation between the two countries.' And in September Pitt's Cabinet had, with one important exception, agreed to give him their backing.

This was Lord Loughborough who, as Lord Chancellor, was technically, 'The King's conscience'. Loughborough apart. King George III was a deeply religious man, a bigoted Protestant, and held the belief that as Head of the Church of England, religious matters were entirely his concern and that Parliament had not even the right to debate them. So he refused absolutely even to consider allowing any Catholic to become a member of a United Parliament. Upon this liberal and wise innovation depended the real success of the measure, but the King's Veto had forced Pitt to shelve it indefinitely.

In the meantime Lord Cornwallis who, as a General, had been compelled to surrender to the revolutionary American colonists at York Town, but who had since directed a brilliant campaign in India, had been sent by Pitt to Ireland as Viceroy. By a policy of leniency he had won the goodwill of the greater part of the people, and had overcome the reluctance of the Irish Parliament. Finally, when Pitt put die temporal clauses of the Bill to the House, he had achieved a great triumph. The Act of Union had been passed by 236 votes to only 30 and had become law that New Year's Day of 1801.

As the First Consul's projected expedition to conquer India was still in its planning stage, Roger had felt no urgency about informing Mr. Pitt of it: so it was hot until January 3rd that he rode out to Holwood House, just beyond Bromley, the home at which the Prime Minister always resided during Parliament's Christmas recess.

Having kept Roger waiting for over an hour, when Mr. Pitt did at length receive him it was standing and with a frigid mien. Roger had expected that and had in his pocket a remedy for it. Producing a piece of paper he said :

'Sir, this document has long outgrown its usefulness and I have, on occasions, thought of destroying it; but it seemed to me that you might prefer to do so yourself. I have shown it to no-one and by consigning it to the flames you will be assured that it will never fall into the hands of any malicious person.'

The paper was, of course, Mr. Pitt's admission that he had used his powers arbitrarily to imprison Roger in the Tower. A pale smile lit up his lined grey face and, accepting the paper, he said. 'I greatly appreciate your delicacy in this matter. Mr. Brook. Be pleased to sit down and inform me of the reason for this somewhat surprising return of yours to England, after your decision to remain for good in France. Is it that you have quarrelled with Bonaparte?'

Taking a seat and crossing his legs, Roger replied affably, ‘By no means, sir. The First Consul and I continue to be on excellent terms, and I am still the happy recipient of Mon­sieur de Talleyrand's confidences. But they are now planning an operation which might have a most unfortunate effect upon Britain's interests in the East, so I felt it my duty to return and inform you of it.' He then told the Prime Minister of the expedition being planned to conquer India.

Mr. Pitt ran a hand over his sparse grey hair and said, 'Mr. Brook, 1 am grateful to you for your timely warning. I had no previous knowledge of this but it fits in with other intelligence I have received The Czar, as you may know, is about to go over to our active enemies. His imagination has been caught by the old Russian project of conquering the Turkish Empire. In recent years it has become so effete that it is in no state to resist him. Given an alliance with Bonaparte he might well overrun it, move east through Persia and. byway of Afghanistan, aid the French in depriving us of our possessions in the East.'

After talking of the matter for a while, the Prime Minister said, i pray you, Mr. Brook, remain on here to join us at dinner. With me I have Dundas, Castlereagh and Canning, now my staunchest supporters, and I should much like to discuss this matter further in their presence.'

Roger had long known Henry Dundas well. This bluff Scot, a heavy drinker who never hesitated to call a spade a spade, but was a glutton for work and ruled the Scottish members with a rod of iron in Pitt's interest, had for many years been a tower of strength to him. Viscount Castlereagh was the same age as Roger and George Canning a year his junior. These two had been Pitt's principal lieutenants in getting the Act of Union passed, and Castlereagh had recently been appointed Chief Secretary to Ireland.

When they talked over the meal of Bonaparte's designs against India Dundas, who as the head of the India Board was responsible for British interests there, exclaimed to the Prime Minister, 'Bloody my soul, Billy; but you see now how right I was to press you last October into sending an expedi­tion to conquer Egypt. Does General Abercrombie succeed in that we'll spike the Corsican's guns in his plan to use the country as a staging base.'

'Loath as I was to agree, I'll now admit you were right in that. Hal,' Pitt replied. 'But the main thing we have to consider is can we by any means prevent this mad Czar from sending an army to take our Austrian allies in the rear and so putting them out of the war for good?'

Roger then related his conversation at Stillwaters with Count Vorontzoff and added. 'I gathered from him that we have many highly placed friends in St. Petersburg. Would it not be possible through our Ambassador there to incite them to take steps to restrain the Czar; I mean, if need be, arbitrarily?’

The Prime Minister looked across at him and replied: 'We are now without diplomatic representation in St. Petersburg. By last June the Czar's attitude to this country had already become so hostile that as a mark of our resent­ment I recalled my Lord Whitworth. When about to depart he asked leave to present Mr. Justinian Casamajor, our Secretary of Legation, as Chargé d’Affaires; but the Czar refused to receive him and sent him too, a passport. There is, though, just a chance that what you suggested might come about. On my Lord Whitworth's return he told me that Paul's principal advisers now go daily in fear that without reason he may suddenly turn upon them and send them to exile in Siberia. The Russians are a proud and violent people, and it would not be the first time that they had deposed a Sovereign.’