ONE:These party tactics were continued with unwonted heat by the Opposition on all occasions, till the House adjourned for three days, to meet again on the 29th, the Opposition revelling in large majorities, though they were aware that both the king and the House of Lords were adverse to them. But the country was also growing weary of this unsatisfactory position of things, and began to sympathise with the great patience of Pitt rather than the tumultuous conduct of Fox and his friends. Pitt, however, was strong in the assurance of the adhesion of the Crown and the peerage, and saw unmistakable signs of revulsion in the feeling of the public. The majorities of the Commons were becoming every time less, and on the 16th of February the Corporation of London had presented a strongly expressed address to the king, declaring its approval of the late dismissal of Ministers, and its opinion that the India Bill of Fox was an encroachment on the[306] prerogative of the Crown. Dr. Johnson also regarded it as a contest whether the nation should be ruled by the sceptre of George III. or by the tongue of Mr. Fox.The people having collected in great crowds in the neighbourhood of the Council House, Dalton ordered out a company of soldiers, under a young[355] ensign, to patrol the streets, and overawe any attempts at demonstrations in support of the Council. The young ensign, having a stone flung at him, without further ceremony ordered his men to fire into the crowd, and six persons were killed, and numbers of others wounded. No sooner did Joseph hear of this rash and cruel act, than he wrote highly approving of it, and promoting the ensign. The people, greatly enraged, rose in the different towns, and were attacked by the Imperial troops, and blood was shed in various places. With his usual disregard of consequences, Joseph was at this moment endeavouring to raise a loan in the Netherlands, to enable him to carry on the war against Turkey. But this conduct completely quashed all hope of it; not a man of money would advance a stiver. Trautmansdorff continued to threaten the people, and Dalton was ready to execute his most harsh orders. It was determined to break up the University of Antwerp, and on the 4th of August, 1789, troops were drawn up, and cannon planted in the public square, to keep down the populace, whilst the professors were turned into the streets, and the college doors locked. Here there occurred an attack on the unarmed people, as wanton as that which took place at Brussels, and no less than thirty or forty persons were killed on the spot, and great numbers wounded. This Massacre of Antwerp, as it was called, roused the indignation of the whole Netherlands, and was heard with horror by all Europe. The monks and professors who had been turned out became objects of sympathy, even to those who regarded with wonder and contempt their bigotry and superstition. But Joseph, engaged in his miserable and disgraceful war against the Turks, sent to Dalton his warmest approval of what he called these vigorous measures.
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