Editing William Pitt the Younger (section)

====Saint-Domingue====

In 1793, Pitt approved plans to capture the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]], which had been in a state of unrest since a [[1791 slave rebellion]]. Its capture would provide a bargaining chip for future negotiations with France and prevent similar unrest in the [[British West Indies]].{{sfn|Perry|2005|pp=63–64}} Planters in the British West Indies were greatly disturbed by events in Saint-Domingue, and many pressured the Pitt ministry to invade the colony.{{sfn|Duffy|1987|p=28}}{{sfn|James|1938|p=109}}{{sfn|Geggus|1982|p={{pn|date=August 2023}}}} On 20 September 1793, a British invasion force sent from [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]] landed in [[Jérémie]], where they were greeted with cheers by the city's white population. Two days later, another British force under Commodore [[John Ford (Royal Navy officer)|John Ford]] took [[Môle-Saint-Nicolas]] without a fight. However, British attempts to expand into the rest of the colony were frustrated by a lack of troops and [[yellow fever]].{{sfn|Perry|2005|p=64}} As commissioners sent by the French Republic to Saint-Domingue had abolished slavery, an institution legal in areas of the colony under British occupation, most of Saint-Domingue's Black inhabitants rallied to the Republican cause. An undeterred Pitt launched what he called the "great push" in 1795, sending out an even larger expedition.{{sfn|Perry|2005|p=69}}

In November 1795, some 218 ships left Portsmouth for Saint-Domingue.{{sfn|Duffy|1987|p=197}} After the failure of the [[Invasion of France (1795)|Quiberon expedition]] earlier in 1795, when the British landed a force of French royalists on the coast of France who were annihilated by the [[French Revolutionary Army]], Pitt had decided it was crucial for Britain to take Saint-Domingue, no matter what the cost in lives and money, to improve Britain's negotiating hand when it came time to make peace with the French Republic.{{sfn|Duffy|1987|p=162}} British historian Michael Duffy argued that since Pitt committed far more manpower and money to the Caribbean expeditions, especially the one to Saint-Domingue, than he ever did to Europe in the years 1793–1798, it is proper to view the West Indies as Britain's main theatre of war and Europe as more of a sideshow.{{sfn|Duffy|1987|pp=370–372}} By 1795, half of the British Army was in the West Indies (with the largest contingent in Saint-Domingue), with the rest being divided among Europe, India and North America.{{sfn|Evans|2002|p=50}}

As the British death toll, largely caused by yellow fever, continued to climb, Pitt was criticised in the House of Commons. Several MPs suggested it might be better to abandon the expedition, but Pitt insisted that Britain had given its word of honour that it would protect allied French colonists in Saint-Domingue.{{sfn|Perry|2005|p=73}} In 1797, Colonel [[Thomas Maitland (British Army officer)|Thomas Maitland]] arrived in Saint-Domingue and quickly realised the British position there was untenable. He negotiated a withdrawal with Governor-General [[Toussaint Louverture]] and the last British troops left the colony on 31 August 1798. The invasion had cost the British treasury 4 million pounds (roughly £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|4|1796|fmt=c|r=-2}}|0}} million in {{inflation/year|UK-GDP}}{{inflation/fn|UK-GDP}}) and resulted in the deaths of roughly 50,000 soldiers and sailors in British service, mostly through disease, with another 50,000 no longer fit for service.{{sfn|Perry|2005|pp=75–76}} British historian Sir [[John William Fortescue]] wrote that Pitt and his cabinet had tried to destroy French power "in these pestilent islands&nbsp;... only to discover, when it was too late, that they practically destroyed the British army".{{sfn|Perry|2005|p=69}} Fortescue wrote that the British troops who served in Saint-Domingue were "victims of imbecility".{{sfn|Perry|2005|p=76}}