[33] _Ibid._ As late as 9th August a proclamation was posted about Birmingham: "The friends of the good cause are requested to meet us at Revolution Place to-morrow night at 11 o'clock in order to fix upon those persons who are to be the future objects of our malice." Of course this was but an incitation to plunder. See Massey, iii, 462-6, on the Birmingham riots. [34] "Dropmore P.," ii, 133, 136; "Parl. Hist.," xxix, 1464. [35] Burke "Reflections on the Fr. Rev.," 39 (Mr. Payne's edit.). [36] Conway, _op. cit._, ii, 330. The printer and publisher were prosecuted later on, as well as Paine, who fled to France. [37] "Mem. of T. Hardy," by himself (Lond., 1832). [38] Leslie Stephen, "The Eng. Utilitarians," i, 121. I fully admit that the Chartist leaders in 1838 went back to the Westminster programme of 1780. See "The Life and Struggles of William Lovett"; but the spirit and methods of the new agitation were wholly different. On this topic I feel compelled to differ from Mr. J. L. le B. Hammond ("Fox," ch. v, _ad init._). Mr. C. B. R. Kent ("The English Radicals," 156) states the case correctly. [39] "Parl. Hist.," xxix, 1303-9. [40] "Application of Barruel's 'Memoirs of Jacobinism' to the Secret Societies of Ireland and Great Britain," 32-3. [41] "Application of Barruel's 'Memoirs of Jacobinism' to the Secret Societies of Ireland and Great Britain," Introduction, p. x. [42] "H. O.," Geo. III (Domestic), 20. CHAPTER II BEFORE THE STORM I find it to be a very general notion, at least in the Assembly, that if France can preserve a neutrality with England, she will be able to cope with all the rest of Europe united.--GOWER TO GRENVILLE, _22nd April 1792_. Indirect evidence as to the intentions of a statesman is often more convincing than his official assertions. The world always suspects the latter; and many politicians have found it expedient to adopt the ironical device practised frequently with success by Bismarck on his Austrian colleagues at Frankfurt, that of telling the truth. Fortunately the English party game has nearly always been kept up with sportsmanlike fair play; and Pitt himself was so scrupulously truthful that we are rarely in doubt as to his opinions, save when he veiled them by ministerial reserve. Nevertheless, on the all-important subject of his attitude towards Revolutionary France, it is satisfactory to have indirect proofs of his desire to maintain a strict, if not friendly, neutrality. This proof lies in his handling of the nation's armaments and finances.