Then, with Britain at war with Revolutionary France, he was ordered to leave the country, under suspicion of Jacobin sympathies. Period papers hint at an intrigue in the favour of Viotti's rival, Wilhelm Cramer, who had led the Opera House orchestra before Viotti took over. The "Morning Post" and "Gazetteer" in its issue of Friday, 9 March 1798, reported that "the Duke of L... and the Earl of C... have been particularly active in entreating his Majesty to order Viotti out of the kingdom". This may refer to Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, and to Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield. Pierre Rode, Viotti's favourite pupil, was expelled from England, too, and may have left the country some days previous to Viotti who awaited the outcome of his case, after several gentlemen and even Princess Elizabeth spoke in his favour. But finally, Viotti left England with a packet ship on 8 March 1798. He lived on the estate of a rich English merchant, John Smith, in Schenefeld (Pinneberg) near Hamburg from ca. March 1798 to ca. July 1799. Between March and May 1798 he gave private lessons to the 13-year-old virtuoso Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis. After that, according to two papers issued in February 1800, he seems to have lived incognito on the estate of his English friends, William and Margaret Chinnery, at Gillwell House, where he lived officially from 1801; according to another paper he was still in Schenefeld in April 1800. He gave up giving concerts to run a wine business, but used to play in private concerts. In July 1811, he became a naturalised British citizen, after his friend, the Duke of Cambridge, a younger brother of the Prince of Wales, had interceded on his behalf. In 1813, he was one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society of London. Viotti didn't perform as a soloist anymore but as orchestra leader and chamber musician. After his wine business failed, he returned to Paris to work as director of the Académie Royale de Musique, from 1819 to 1821. He returned to London in November 1823 together with Margaret Chinnery and died in her presence on 3 March 1824.