charge was renewed, in a different form, against
both him and Perceval, and their accusers moved for a trial at bar. But
as it turned out that undue influence rather than corruption was their
alleged offence, and as the avowed object of the resolution was to force
on parliamentary reform, it was negatived by an immense majority.
Nevertheless, the object was not wholly defeated.

The removal of the Duke of York from the command of the army was
singularly inopportune, for Sir David Dundas had scarcely been appointed
as his successor when a juncture arose specially demanding a combination
of energy and experience. The British government, already engaged in the
Peninsular war, had at last resolved to take a vigorous part in the new
and desperate struggle between France and Austria in Southern Germany.
The latent spirit of German nationality, aroused by Napoleon's ruthless
treatment of Prussia, and quickened into a flame by sympathy with the
uprising in Spain, was embodied in the secret association of the
_Tugendbund_; and Austria, smarting under a sense of her own
humiliation, mustered up courage to assume the leadership of a national
movement. South Germany, governed by old dynasties, which profited by
the French alliance, displayed as yet no symptoms of disaffection to
France; but in North Germany the old dynasties had been either humbled
or deposed, and the general ferment among the people, needed, as the
Austrians believed, only the presence of a regular army to break out
into a national revolt against the foreigner. Prussia, it is true, was
still unwilling to move, because Russia was hostile; but the Austrian
court knew well the lukewarmness of Russia's attachment to France, and
hoped that a national upheaval would carry the Prussian government along
with it. No one, in fact, had played a more active part in rousing
Northern Germany than the Prussian minister, Stein, whom Frederick
William, by Napoleon's advice, had called to his councils after Tilsit,
and who was now compelled to resign his office and take refuge in
Austria.

[Pageheading: _NAPOLEON IN AUSTRIA._]

The British government was aware of the situation in Germany when it
received a request in January, 1809, for the despatch of a British force
to the mouth of the Elbe. Austria was, however, still nominally at war
with Great Britain, and George III., perhaps not unreasonably, refused
to give her active military assistance till peace was concluded.
Meanwhil