1798 - Political Events

Political Events

"Right," "Center," and "Left" political designations have their origin as France's Council of 500 meets in the palace of Louis XIV's illegitimate daughter Louise Françoise de Bourbon. The palace's "grand apartments" assembly hall is semicircular, and the representatives soon develop the habit of seating themselves with the most revolutionary on the left, the most reactionary on the right.

General Bonaparte occupies Rome in February, proclaims a Roman republic, and takes Pope Pius VI prisoner (see religion, 1799). French troops at Rome mutiny, General Masséna is recalled, and former Polish Army general Jan Dabrowski, now 42, enters Rome May 3, having obtained permission from the Directory 2 years ago to form a Polish legion in Italy.

The Battle of Frauenbrün March 3 ends in victory for the French over a Swiss force that includes 280 women under the leadership of Martha Glar, 64, who is killed along with the men in her family, her two daughters, three granddaughters (the youngest is only 10), and 154 other women. Survivors carry the wounded and mutilated from the field.

General Bonaparte assembles an army of England at Boulogne, but while the English await an invasion he sails from Toulon May 19 with 13 ships of the line, 18 frigates, some smaller vessels, and nearly 400 transports carrying some 34,000 troops and a large corps of scientists and engineers. Determined to cut Britain's overland trade route to India, Bonaparte takes Malta without resistance June 12, lands in Egypt July 1 after a rough 6-week passage, and captures Alexandria July 2 (once a great city of some 600,000, it has become a fishing village with a population of about 7,000).

The Battle of the Pyramids in a melon patch on the west bank of the Nile within sight of the pyramids July 21 gives a 25,000-man French army an easy victory over Murad Bey, who has about 40 cannon but whose 40,000-man army includes a crack 6,000-man medieval Mameluke cavalry force armed only with lances, rifles, and swords. Telling his men, "Soldiers, 40 centuries are looking down on you," General Bonaparte arranges his army in five divisional squares, each with six ranks of infantry on all four sides to protect the cavalry and transport at its center; supported by 30 cannon and able to move in any direction, the squares repulse the undisciplined mass charges by the Egyptians, who in about 1 hour of combat sustain 4,000 to 6,000 casualties, many of whom are driven into the Nile and drown while a larger Egyptian army under the command of Ibrahim Bey looks on from the east bank of the river. That force disperses into the desert after witnessing the defeat of the Mamelukes, who have controlled Egypt since the 13th century but whose power is now ended. French casualties total about 300; Cairo falls to Bonaparte July 22 (see 1799).

The Battle of the Nile August 1 destroys much of the French fleet in Abukir Bay east of Alexandria, cuts off Bonaparte and his men from their homeland, and dashes any hopes the French may have had of gaining India and Ceylon. General Bonaparte has given the 45-year-old Vice-Admiral François Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, compte de Brueys, command of the fleet, whose 120-gun flagship L'Orient requires 30 feet depth in calm water and cannot anchor in Alexandria Harbor. Admiral Horatio Nelson, now 39, has sighted the French in early afternoon, Brueys prepares for a battle he expects to come the following day, but although Nelson has no charts or pilots to help him navigate the unfamiliar waters of the shallow bay he sends H.M.S. Goliath (74 guns) inside the French line as it gets dark, has his captains hoist identifying lanterns to keep them from firing at each other, and dispatches H.M.S. Zealous, Orion, Theseus, and Audacious in Goliath's wake. Some of the Royal Navy vessels slip in between the French ships and fire on the enemy from offshore, catching them off guard with their guns pointed out to sea; Nelson comes up on the outside in his 74-gun flagship H.M.S. Vanguard with support from Minotaur and Defence, and overwhelms the five old French vessels. H.M.S. Bellerophon opens fire in the dark on L'Orient, dismasts her, and leaves Brueys with two broken legs; he remains on his quarterdeck and is killed by a cannonball just before his ship explodes, killing all but 70 of her 1,010 men after a combined attack from several of Nelson's ships. Two of the 13 French ships escape. French losses total 1,700 killed, 1,500 wounded, 3,000 taken prisoner; British losses come to about 218 dead, perhaps 200 wounded, and although Nelson sustains a head wound it turns out to be minor. "Victory is not a name strong enough for such a scene," he says; news of his brilliant victory reaches Naples (where the people go wild with joy), and swift couriers speed the news northward to the Papal States, Florence, Venice, Vienna, and (after 2 months and a day) London. The hero of the battle is made Baron Nelson of the Nile November 6; Lloyd's members subscribe £38,000 to the Patriotic Fund for the relief of widows and orphans.

General Bonaparte orders that medals be struck at Paris to make it appear that he has gained a great victory in Egypt, but Cairo has a bloody uprising in October as Muslims rise against their infidel occupation forces (Bonaparte had announced that he and his men were converting to Islam, but the men balked at being circumcised and giving up alcohol). Bonaparte tries to appease the mob by telling them they have been freed of Mameluke rule, but thousands of Egyptians rampage through the city, some 300 Frenchmen are killed, and the insurgency ends only when the French train their cannon on the El Azhar mosque (see 1799).

French forces in Italy capture Naples despite the truce signed in 1796; Ferdinand IV flees to Palermo aboard Horatio Nelson's ship, which nearly founders in a storm while a ship under the command of Naples-born admiral Francesco Caracciolo, 46, duca di Brienza, rides out the storm without trouble. Caracciolo fought with the Royal Navy against the Americans in their War of Independence and served under Nelson at Toulon 5 years ago (see 1799).

Britain's Irish militia seize the leaders of the United Irishmen along with their papers in March (see 1796). Roman Catholics seeking parliamentary reform and complete Catholic emancipation obtain French assistance for a rebellion fueled in large part by agrarian discontent, but the French delay sending arms and troops, British agents seize many of the conspirators in May, Lord Edward Fitzgerald is arrested at Dublin May 19 after a struggle in which he is shot in the arm, his comrades rise against the British May 23 but are suppressed, Lord Edward dies of his wounds in a London prison June 4 at age 34, radical nationalist lawyer Daniel O'Connell, 23, has allied himself with the United Irishmen and hides out in Kerry to avoid arrest, but he opposes the insurrection. The Battle of Vinegar Hill June 21 breaks resistance to British rule (vinegar is an English homonym for a Gaelic word meaning "Hill of the wood of the berries"). The earl of Camden resigns as lieutenant governor after 3 years in that post. Lieut. Gen. Gerard Lake, 54, savagely disarmed the north last year, now defeats the rebels and enters Wexford, which the United Irishmen have held for a month. A French force sent by the Directory at Paris at the urging of T. W. Tone lands August 22, defeats several British contingents, but surrenders to General Cornwallis September 15 at Ballynamuck in Connaught. Tone's brother is captured and hanged, Tone himself is taken at sea October 12 and sentenced to death, but he slits his throat with his penknife and dies November 19. James Napper Tandy is taken but released upon the intercession of General Bonaparte and will be remembered as the hero in "The Wearing of the Green" (see legislative union, 1800)

China's former emperor Qianlong (Chien-lung) dies at Beijing (Peking) February 7 at age 87, having retained control of the nation's affairs since abdicating to his son 2 years ago. The new emperor Jiaqing (Chia-ching) promptly arrests his handsome, affable, and witty brother-in-law He Shen (Ho-shen), who used his influence on Qianlong to obtain governmental positions and has prolonged hostilities against the White Lotus Rebellion in order that he and his confederates could embezzle money intended for the war effort. Jiaqing confiscates He Shen's loot (by some accounts at least 60 million ounces of silver, gold, and precious stones, 70,000 furs, and a gold table service of 4,288 pieces), and claps him in prison (see 1799). It will take the new emperor another 5 years to suppress the rebellion, and his efforts to restore the imperial treasury's finances will meet with only limited success as he tries to hold down court expenses rather than reduce official corruption.

British forces in Central America defeat the final Spanish attempts to drive them out of what later will be Belize and establish what becomes in effect the colony of British Honduras (see 1836). Spain and Britain have vied for more than a century to control the swampy and mountainous 8,867-square-mile Caribbean coastal territory, whose chief value is its logwood and mahogany resource.

President Adams appoints Washington, D.C., banker Benjamin Stoddert first secretary of the navy as an undeclared naval war with France takes its toll of U.S. commercial shipping (see 1794; Constitution, 1797). Having helped the Americans win their independence from Britain, the French feel betrayed because the Americans have not supported them in their war against the British; they have begun seizing U.S. ships on the high seas, and although the U.S. frigate Constellation takes the French ship l'Insurgente she is knocked to pieces by La Vengance. Stoddert drafts a bill in July that provides for the organization of a U.S. Marine Corps; now 47, he will add some 50 vessels to the U.S. Navy in the next 2 years (see 1803).

The Alien Acts empower President Adams to order any alien from the country and imprison any alien in time of war. Approved by Congress June 25 and July 6, respectively, the Naturalization Act requires a 14-year waiting period before a foreign-born resident can become a citizen and the Alien Friends Act allows the president to deport anyone born abroad and considered dangerous. Aimed at Republicans from France and Ireland, the acts force French aliens to flee the country at a time when war looms with France; Thomas Jefferson opposes the legislation and drafts Kentucky Resolutions that declare acts of Congress "void and of no force" when Congress "assumes undelegated powers." The governor of Kentucky approves Jefferson's resolutions November 16, Virginia legislator John Taylor gives strong backing to the Jefferson resolutions, James Madison drafts similar resolutions, and the governor of Virginia approves them December 24.

Former Supreme Court justice James Wilson dies at Edenton, North Carolina, August 21 at age 55, having lost his wealth in land speculations.