The 1795 Treasonable Practices Act appeared to be a vicious attack on personal liberties.

It extended the definition of

'treason' to include speaking and writing, even if no action followed. It attacked public meetings, clubs, and the
publication of pamphlets, for example. Tom Paine had been outlawed; his writings were deemed to be treasonable and
were blacked. Paine was in France at this time. It became treasonable to bring the king or his government into
contempt.

The 1795 Seditious Meetings Act said that any public meeting of more than 50 persons had to be authorised by a
magistrate. JPs had the discretionary power to disperse any public meeting.

In 1799 and 1800 the Combination Acts were passed. These laws forbade societies or amalgamations of persons for the
purpose of political reform. Interference with commerce and trade became illegal. The penalty for breaking these laws
was 3 months in gaol. Pitt passed the Combination Acts because trade clubs and societies had effectively demanded
wage rises to keep pace with inflation. The government saw wage claims as a clear sign of disaffection. The Combination
Acts introduced no new principle into law because unlawful combinations were already unlawful.

War of the First Coalition

The arrest of the French royal family at Varennes persuaded Leopold II to help his sister and her family. In July
1791 he sent a circular letter to the monarchs of England, Spain, Prussia, Naples, Sardinia, and Russia, urging them to
join him in a protest to the French. Most rulers were unwilling to act. The only ruler who joined Leopold II was King
Frederick William II of Prussia. Soon they would invade France. International tension distracted the Legislative Assembly
from further reform. Instead, the assembly adopted legislation against the émigrés, branding those who did not return
as conspirators. Such legislation worsened French relations with the Austro-Prussian alliance. In March 1792, a
counterrevolutionary Francis II had succeeded to the Habsburg throne. By this time, the Girondins, whose foreign policy
was more radical than their revolutionary aims, dominated the French assembly. They argued that war with the
counterrevolutionaries would rally the French to defend the revolution, test the sympathies of Louis XVI, and export the
revolution to other peoples. Francis II and Brissot had led their countries to war by April 1792.

A Prussian army invaded eastern France in August 1792 and won several victories, but the course of the war
shifted when a French army defeated the Prussians near the town of Valmy, reinforcing republican enthusiasm. The
allies would not quickly crush the French Revolution. A few weeks later, a French army marched into Habsburg lands on
France’s northern border (today’s Belgium) and won a decisive victory at the town of Jemappes.

The War of 1792 grew into the War of the First Coalition (1793–95) when Britain, Spain, and Russia joined the
alliance against the revolution, which had become passionately antimonarchical. Though it was an unevenly matched
wars, the French survived it and occupied the lowlands, the German Rhineland, and Northern Italy . In August 1793, the
assembly decreed universal military conscription, placing the entire nation “in permanent requisition for army service.”
the French infantry advanced in deep columns instead of the traditional line, taking advantage of its superior numbers
and revolutionary enthusiasm to overwhelm more disciplined enemies.

The crisis began with the war against the European coalition. In early 1793, the Austrians defeated the French
armies in the Austrian Netherlands and moved toward the French frontier. While the French braced themselves for an
invasion, Dumouriez (French leader) stunned them by defecting to the allies, making military catastrophe seem
imminent. In addition, Prussians were besieging French forts in the east, Italian troops were invading from the
southeast, the Spanish army had crossed the southern border, and the English navy was threatening several ports.

French armies were in a strong position in 1795. The lowland provinces of modern Belgium had been taken from
the Austrians and annexed to France. The coalition had collapsed over the division of Poland. A peace treaty with Prussia
had given France the left bank of the Rhine River and recognized a French claim to Holland. The Dutch had been given
their own republic, created by French armies. Spainhad left the war against France and Britain had no troops on the
continent. Victory in the Vendée freed French armies.

Napoleon decided to force the Austrians to accept peace by driving them from northern Italy. His victory at the
battle of Arcola (November 1796). Within a few months, Napoleon had created two sister republics in Italy—the Ligurian
republic (formerly Genoa) and the Cisalpine republic (Lombardy, Modena, and part of Venetia. In October 1797 Francis I
signed the Treaty of Campo-Formio, accepting French expansion and the sister republics.