Waterloo.

The first period of the war mainly antedates the century which we
are considering. In 1793 the Convention, the revolutionary body
which had taken the place of the overturned French monarchy,
declared war on Holland and England. Pitt was still at the head
of King George III.'s ministry, and the conduct of the war
devolved upon him. Her insular position and powerful fleet
rendered England safe from invasion, but her active participation
in the military operations upon the continent was limited in
measure and distressing in outcome. The expeditions which she
landed in the Netherlands were shockingly inadequate in numbers,
and led by high-born generals without knowledge, talent, or
experience. It is little wonder that they accomplished nothing
except to feed the French contempt for English arms.

Successive coalitions were formed by the energetic Pitt with
Prussia, Austria, and other nations to check the advance of the
republican armies in which, after 1795, the figure of Napoleon
Bonaparte leaped into prominence. His victories disintegrated
these alliances, which had been cemented with English gold. At
the same time his victories so strengthened his personal hold
upon the army and the nation that he was able to make himself
absolute master of France.

The Peace of Amiens (March, 1802, to May, 1803) afforded the only
breathing space in all these twenty-two years of warfare.
Napoleon, now first consul, was soon to change that republican
mask for the honest and ambitious title of emperor. The
hollowness of the peace soon became evident. Under its cloak