William Pitt the Younger intelligence network of spies and informers to crush the United Irishmen. In April 1797, the Pitt government was badly shaken by the mutiny of the entire fleet at Spithead with the sailors demanding a pay increase to match inflation. The Spithead mutiny occurred at exactly the same moment that the French and their Dutch allies were preparing for an invasion of Great Britain which threw the government into a state of panic. To regain control of the fleet, Pitt agreed to sailors' demands for pay increases and to have George III pardon the mutineers. By contrast, the more political "floating
William Pitt the Younger with the rest of the British Army all divided between Britain, Europe, India and North America. As the British death toll caused by yellow fever continued to climb, Pitt was criticised in the House of Commons with several MPs suggesting it might be better to abandon the expedition, but Pitt insisted that Britain had given its word of honor that it would protect the French planters from their former slaves, and the expedition to St. Domingue could not be abandoned. The British attempt to conquer St. Domingue in 1793–1798 ended in disaster with the British pulling out on 31 August