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^i M._, 
 
 I 
 
 VIEW 
 
 
 •' ti 
 
 OF THE 
 
 fAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 OF THB PRESENt 
 
 WAR WITH FRANCE. 
 
 -#v 
 
 v: ■«...■; 
 
 BY THE HONOURABLE THOMAS ERSKINE. 
 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION. - 
 
 '1 t-y'*^'' 
 
 .5 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 VKIMTID FOR J. DEBRETT, PICCADILLY* 
 M,DCC,XCVII, 
 
r - 
 
 *. 
 
 ,r 'i I (TjTfij fit 
 
 '■0 ■ :a 
 
u- 
 
 VIEW. 
 
 & 
 
 r. 
 
 m- < ■ 
 
 ON the 26th of lad December his Majefty, by d 
 gracious meffagc to both Houfes of Parliament, 
 commuaicnted, with the utmcfl; concern, the abrupt 
 termination of the late negotiation with France, and 
 directed the details of the enibaflfy to be laid before 
 them for. their confidcration. 
 
 Upon this occafion it appeared, th?t the nef^otUrioit 
 had terminated upon a difference totally unconiiefted 
 with the original caufes of the war. It was manifeft, that 
 this country had completely abandoned the principles 
 which, in the face of all Europe, the great confede- 
 racy againft France had affigned as the juftification 
 of hoftilities. The return of peace (now removed to 
 an incalculable diftance) turned entirely upon terri* 
 torial c-^flions, neither in faft nor in principle con- 
 tefted at the time of the rupture, but which, as will 
 lappear by the following pages, were put at the fecc 
 
 B of 
 
; / 
 
 ( ^ ) 
 
 of Great Britain, as the arbitrcfs of univerfal tran- 
 quillity. 
 
 1 f 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 This was our condition. The objecft of the con- 
 tefl: totally funk, but the conteft continuing without 
 profpeft ofconclufion; one hundred millions of dfbt 
 added to the former grievous weight of national in- 
 cumbrances J many channels of our commerce ob- 
 ftrufted, and our manufadures fuffcring in pro- 
 portion; objects of revenue within the pale of luxury 
 threatening unproduction from the necefllty of ex- 
 tending them beyond what luxuries will carry ; whilft 
 the finews of the laborious poor were cracking under 
 the burdens already impofed upon all the nt'ccilafies 
 of life. 
 
 The Englilh people had heretofore been charaile- 
 rifed by an extreme jealoufy of their government j 
 by a difpofition rather to magnify, and even to ima- 
 gine evils, than to fubmit without inquiry to adual 
 and unexampled calamities. A great public fenfa- 
 tion might, therefore, have been expcfted from fuch 
 a conjuncture ; more efpecially as the near approach 
 of peace had been induftrioufly circulated and anxl- 
 oufly anticipated j yet, as far as 1 have been able to 
 inform myfelf, no public event of any magnitude 
 ever appeared to be received with more perfcft in- 
 difference and unconcern. Intlcad of any defire to 
 qucftion the prudence of the public councils, to re- 
 view the pa(t-, or to provide for the future, it ap- 
 peared to be more than ever the prevailing, and 
 
 feemingly 
 
( 3 ) 
 
 Teein\ng\y exulting maxim, that government muft 
 be fupported ; mixed too with a confiderable de- 
 gree of bitternefs againfl all who quellioncd its 
 proceedings, • ,-:'...(; 
 
 That government muft be fupported is a maxim 
 juft and incontrovertible, when properly underftood. 
 liut the adminiflration and the government have of 
 late been confounded and identified. A change in 
 the one is confidercd as a fubverlion of the other ; 
 and a difpofition to remove abufes, under any re- 
 gulations, is accounted, even by thofe who admit 
 and lament their exiftence, as an attack upon the 
 conftitution which fuffers from them. 
 
 It is from this wide-fpread fenfation that the 
 authors of our prefent calamities are cheriftied and 
 fupported, even by thofe who condemn them ; 
 whilll they, who with wifdom and perfeverance have 
 oppofed all the meafures which produced them, 
 are difcountenanced and diftrufted. 
 
 Such an unnatural change in the feelings and 
 charaders of Engliflimen has naturally given rife to 
 fpeculations upon its caufes. It is impoffible to 
 afcribe it wholly either to the general increafe of 
 luxury, or to the enormous increafe of the crown's 
 influence : thefe are capable, indeed, of producing 
 great changes in the public charadler, and are faft 
 producing them ; but their march is too flow to 
 have reached fo fuddenly to the pitch we are ar- 
 
 B 2 rived 
 
TT 
 
 ( 4 > 
 
 Hvcd at. The ftatc of the public mind mud there- 
 fore be otherwife accounted for, and another caufc 
 has according,ly been affigned tor it--the phenome- 
 non of the French revolution, and its mighty influ- 
 ence upon the higher orders of men. This is true 
 in part : the French revolution is the caufe, but not 
 the only caufc; it would have probably fubfided 
 (Quickly, and with confequences extremely ditferent* 
 but for the cotemporary phenomenon of the power 
 ftnd chara(aer of the Britifh minifter. 
 
 Within all our memories another great revolution 
 has taken place, fcarcely lefs ftriking and extraordi- 
 nary, as it applied to alarm the government of Great 
 Britain. The foundation of republican America had 
 a fimil^.i', if not an equal, tendency to produce the 
 fame difpofition in the people to an indifcriminate 
 fupport of minifters. If degrees of comparifons were 
 neceflary to my argument, I might alTert, that the 
 ?Bra of the American war had even a more natural 
 and obvious tendency than the later one in France 
 to coUeft the landed and monied intereft of Englancl 
 in a blind fupport of the minifters of the day. 
 
 'r i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 i i 
 
 The revolution in America, like the revolution of 
 J^rance, exhibited to the world the danger of fuffer- 
 jng the general grievances of a people, real or ima-» 
 ginary, to remain unredrefled ; but with this ftri- 
 king diiferepce— the revolution in France was the 
 fubverfion of a foreign government ; that of Ame-f 
 ll^a \Yas tl>e deftrudion of oi4r own ; the difcon- 
 
 tents 
 
 « 
 
 ■ \ 
 
( i ) 
 
 tents that provoked the French to refiflancc werp 
 abufes which could not be felt by Engiidimen un<^ 
 dcr any mifgovernment ; but the Americans were 
 revolted fubjedts, and the caufc of their revolt waft 
 the abufes and corruptions in our own conftitution ; 
 the very abules and corruptions which are com- 
 plained of to this hour. Yet fo impoffible is it to 
 take any corred account of the events of the world, 
 without attending to thf chara6ters of men who are 
 the aftors in them ; fo vain is it to think of tracing 
 civil confcquences from their caufes, as if we were 
 dealing with the operations of matter, that, unlefs 
 we look to the accidental impulfes arifing from in- 
 dividual predominancy, we (hould be conftantly 
 deceived. The American convulfion produced z 
 fenfation in EngUnd diredly the reverfe of what is 
 felt at this moment ; and the fame man gave to the 
 two events, fo calculated to have produced correC- 
 ponding effedts, a dire^^ion and confcquences dia- 
 metrically oppofite. With the one he roufed the 
 Britilh democracy to threaten the corruptions of the 
 other orders which had tainted and enflaved it ; 
 with the other he now frightens the people into a 
 furrend^r of their beft privileges, and claims the 
 title of an upright minider upon principles whicH 
 he repeatedly and folemnly declared to be utterly 
 incpnllftent with the very exiftenge of an upright 
 ^dminillration. 
 
 It may be faid, that the two revolutions were very 
 (liiferentt — Very different indeed. — It is now too 
 
 late 
 

 ( 6 ) 
 
 late to rail at or fight with the one, and our railing' 
 and fighting have created altnoft all the evils of the 
 other. America and France began their revolutions 
 wpon the fame principles, but with very different 
 fortunes. America had no ancient internal arifto- 
 cracy — France had nothing elfe. America had to 
 contend with England only ;' a contention which 
 gave her France to proteA her : France had to con- 
 tend againft the world. When England had cx- 
 haufted and difgraced herfelf, America was therefore 
 free; but France had to exhauft and difgrace the 
 world, and in the dreadful effort has been driven to 
 extremities which frequently has difgraced herfelf. 
 But, with thefe accidental differences, the objects 
 were the fame : difcontent occafioned by abufes pro- 
 duced both revolutions. Both governments might 
 Jiavc continued monarchical, if corrupt power would 
 kave fubmitted to correftion : they are now both 
 free reprefentative republics ; and if corruption 
 wiH not yet be correfted, let her look, to herfelf. 
 
 111 
 
 During the firft of ihefe great a»ras,Mr. Pitt began 
 liis public life, under circumftances fo fplendid and 
 fo honourable to himfelf, that, having no perfonal 
 enmity towards him, it is painful to me to recur to 
 them ; indeed, if any part of what is written here- 
 after Ihall appear to be dictated by fo unworthy a 
 motive, I utterly and folemnly difclaim it. I makp 
 no attack upon his private charader ; but the pub- 
 Jic exiftence is at ft ke : Mr. Pitt is a minifter in a 
 mod awful crifis: I feel a duty in exan^ining his 
 
 condu6t 
 
 :[; 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 Conduft in that capacity, and my public condu<5l iti 
 oppofing him is equally open to the animadverlloi\ 
 of the world. It is only by looking back to the paft 
 that we can hope to corredl the future ; and when 
 delufion has overfpread a nation, the illumination 
 of an angel would only darken it, unlefs the caufes 
 of it were firft detedtc J and expofcd. To obtain fe- 
 curity for England, we muft look back to the time 
 when (he was at peace : we muft examine the caufes 
 and progrefs of the war ; muft retrace all our fteps, 
 and looky if we dare, to what they lead. - 
 
 Towards the clofe of the American war, Mr. Pitt 
 (a boy almoft), faw the corrupt condition of Parlia- 
 ment, from the defed in the reprefentation of the 
 people, with the eyes of a mature ftatefman : the ea- 
 gle eyes of his father had feen it before him, and the' 
 thunder of his eloquence had made it tremble. Lord 
 Chatham had deteded and expofed the rank cor- 
 ruption of the Houfe of Commons as the fole caufc 
 of that fatal quarrel, and left it as a legacy to his Ton 
 to avenge and to correct them. The youthful ex- 
 ertions of Mr. Pitt were worthy of the delegation. 
 — From my acquaintance with him, both before and 
 upon his firft entrance into public life, I have no 
 doubt of his perfcd fmcerity in the caufe he then 
 undertook; and the maturity of his judgment, even 
 at that time, with which I was well acquainted, 
 fecures his condufl from the ralhnefsof unthinking 
 youth. His efforts are in the memory of the whole 
 public, and their mifcarriage at that time are nor, 
 in my opinion, to be imputed to him. 
 
 I Cor- 
 
i. 
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 • Corruptiort and abufe, always uniform, oppofcd 
 to Mr. Pitt's propofitions of reformation the identi- 
 cal objcftions which, under his own aufpices, they 
 oppofe to all reformation now ; and Parliament at 
 that time, like the late Parliament, for motives 
 which I leave to every man's own refledion, rejeA- 
 cd reformaiion in all its (hapes. vVithin the Walk 
 of the Houfe of Commons, the proprietors of bo- 
 roughs expreffed their indignation (as they have 
 lately, and as they would o-morrow} that luch a 
 prepoiterous time fhould be cholen for alteration, 
 however wife or regulated, as the conclufion of the 
 American war ; the empire, they faid, had been 
 rent afunder by the fermentation of polincal opi- 
 nions; that our colonifts had become republicans; 
 and th^t if the door were once opened to changes, 
 ■who Ihould prefcribe their limits ? 
 
 Thcfe arguments triumphed in the Houfe of Com- 
 mons, but Mr. Pitt triumphed with the difinterefted 
 part of ihe nation. His arguments for cHufing that 
 crifis were convincing and unanfwerable. The caufe of 
 reform was highly popular, and men of the greateft 
 lankand fortune took the lead in it. Irregularities of 
 courfe were committed, but the public mind was 
 found. Libds on Parlianr.ent at that time, as fince, 
 were written ^ but Mr. Pitt's were unqueftionably the 
 itrongeft and the btft. Public meetings, to take the 
 fenfe of the people upon the condud of the Houfe of 
 Commons in rqedling the propofition, were univer- 
 lally promoted ; but thofe of Mr. Pitt, at the Thatched 
 Houfe Tavern, (as iii'ghtbe cxpeded from hi. ■■ ilents 
 
 and 
 
oppofcd 
 e idend- 
 es, they 
 iment at 
 motives 
 I, rejedt- 
 le Walk 
 5 of bo- 
 :y have 
 : iuch a 
 eration. 
 n n^ the 
 id heen 
 cal opi- 
 Dlicans; 
 hanges. 
 
 f Com- 
 terefted 
 ng that 
 caufe of 
 greateft 
 ritiesof 
 id was 
 s fince, 
 bly the 
 ike the 
 (ufe of 
 iniver- 
 atched 
 ' ilents 
 and 
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 a?id the influence of his fupporters) were by much 
 the mod fyftematical, and the moft alarming to go- 
 vernment. - • 
 
 ■ Soon after this period Mr. Pitt became prime mi- 
 rtifter, an objedt of overfetting ambition for a very, 
 yx)ung perfon, and indeed, independently of that, ic 
 is but juftice to remark, that whatever difpofition he 
 might have had to ferve the King, and rule theBritilh 
 Parliament, according to the liberal principles widi 
 which he began his public life, his Majefty, without 
 Very cflential changes, could not be fo ferved, nor a 
 Britilh Parliament be fo condu6led. 
 
 It would be unfair, in a publication addrefTed to 
 the world, to prefume to trace the infenfible changes 
 in the mind of this minifter upon the favourite ob- 
 je6l of his youth, the nurfe of his fame, and his con- 
 dudlor to power ; I know enough of the corruptions 
 infeparable from the adminiftration of a government 
 which muft be managed upon the principles of our 
 own at prefent, to be able to make many allowances. 
 It is enough for my prefent purpofe, that Mr. Pitt 
 firft totally abandoned his own opinions, and after- 
 wards became the oppofer, and even the perfccutor 
 t>t all who continued to pre%ve them. 
 
 I will not leave it to his advocates to remark, that 
 though he had indeed abandoned the caufe of reform, 
 yet that the condition of things was in feme refpedls 
 ■changed when he made his grand attack upon the 
 
 C reformers: 
 
tl 
 
 ' 
 
 
 i 
 
 rf formers: that the French revolution had intervened; 
 that it had cauicd a great fermentation in the minds 
 of men j that it appeared to have given to the zeal 
 of feme Britifli reformers a tinge of republicanifm ; 
 and that the cffe(5ls and confequences of that great 
 event had read an awful leflbn to the world. Had 
 Mr. Pitt adted with good faith upon thefe con- 
 fiderations^ if uc really entertained them, I know 
 Enough of the charafter of his underftanding to be- 
 lievc that his conduft would have been different; 
 and his original principle, on which he refted the 
 whole of his memorable argument for the reform of 
 t^arliament, confirms me in that belief. Mr. Pitt*^i 
 principle, illuftrated by the American conteft, was, 
 that the holding high the abufes of government had 
 been the foundation of ail danger and violence to its 
 authority. He would therefore have again brought 
 foivvard the Britifh conf^itution in its purity, as an 
 antidote to republican fpeculations ; confident that 
 from his fituation, and from the double hold he 
 would have had by it over the nation, he might 
 have given the fpiric of reform his own direflion, 
 and moulded it la his own will. But unfortunately 
 for England, he could not do this witwout at 
 
 LEAST A TEMPORARY SACRIFICE OF HIS STATION 
 
 AS minister; Mr. Pitt, therefore, chofc to remain 
 in his ftation upon the only principles in which, with- 
 out reform, it could polTibly be maintained* 
 
 Having made this ele<Si:ion> it is impoffible, with- 
 out the grotlcft injuftice, to deny that h€ has con- 
 
 » du<5tcdf 
 
 li 
 
dufted himfelf with the mafterly (kill, and with a bold- 
 ncfs without example in the hiftory of the minifter 
 of any regular government. The enthufiafm for 
 Englifh reform, animated in its zeal from the ftrug- 
 gles of the firft reformers of France, when the Baftile 
 fell, and when the Parliament of Paris opened its 
 4oors to the rcprcfentatives of the nation, began to 
 aflume an energy of which wifdom and virtue might 
 have taken the fafe diredion, but which, I admit, at 
 the fame time, required either to be managed by a 
 liberal fupport from government, or to be checked 
 in its exccffcs by a prudent and conftitutional re- 
 (Iraint. The Britifh minifter took neither of thcfc 
 pourfes. Too old in office to put his fituation to ha- 
 zard, by fupporting the liberal principles which be- 
 llowed it i too bold and too ftrongly fupported to 
 employ caution in his remedy; embittered, perhaps, 
 with the reflection of his own defeflion, and with the 
 reproaches levelled at him, he fecms to have refolved 
 to cut the Gordian knot with a fword. Alarmed at 
 the contagion of liberty from France, he determined 
 to cut off all communication between the two na«» 
 ;ions, and to keep them feparated at the chance, or 
 rather the certainty, from his own creation, of Hi 
 general war in Europe. 
 
 For this purpofe the honeft but irregular ze^l 
 pf fome focieties, inftituted for the reform of Par- 
 liament, furnilhed a feafonable but a contemptible 
 pretext i they had fent congratulations to the French 
 government when it had ceafed to be naonarchical : 
 
 C 2 in 
 
I 
 
 -1 
 
 
 ( " ) 
 
 in their correfpondencies through the country oi^ 
 the abufes and corruptions of the Britifh confti- 
 tution, they had unfortunately nnixed many ill-timed 
 and extravagant encomiums upon the revolution 
 of France, whilft its pradice, for the time, had 
 broke lOofe from the principles which deferved them ; 
 and, in their juft indignation towards the con- 
 federacies then forming in Europe, they wrote 
 many fevere ftridlurcs againft their monarchical efta- 
 blifhments, from which the mixed principles of our 
 own government were not (Iriflly or prudently fe- 
 parated. They wrote befides, as an incitement to 
 the reform of Parliament, many bitter obfervations 
 upon the defedive conftitution, and the confequent 
 corruptions of the Hoiife of Commons j fome of 
 which, according to the juft theory of the law, were 
 unqueftionably libels. 
 
 Thefe irregularities and excelFes were, for a con- 
 fiderable length of time, wholly overlooked by 
 government. Mr. Paine's works had been exten- 
 iively and induftrioufly circulated throughout Eng- 
 land and Scotland} the correfpondencies, which 
 above a year afterwards became the fubjed of the 
 flate trials, had been printed in every newfpaper, 
 and fold without queftion or interruption in every 
 £hop in the kingdom ; when a circumftance took 
 place, not calculated, one would imagine, to have 
 occafioncd any additional alarm to the country, but 
 which (mixed with the efFefts on the public from Mr,i 
 Purkc's firll celebrated publication on the Frencl,i 
 
 Revo* 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 Revolution,) feems to have given rife to the King'$ 
 Proclamation, the firft aft of government regar^ing| 
 France and her affairs. 
 
 A few gentlemen, not above fifty in number, and 
 confiding principally of perfons of rank, talents, and 
 charader, formed themfelves into a fociety, under the 
 name of the Friends of the People. They had 
 obferved with concern, as they profeflcd in the pub- 
 liihed motives of their aflbciation, the grofsly unequal 
 reprelcntation of the people in the Houfe of Com- 
 jmons; its cffeils upon the meafures of govern- 
 ment j bur, above all, its apparent tendency to 
 lower the dignity of Parliament, and to deprive it of 
 the opinion of the people. Their avowed objeft was, 
 therefore, to bring the very caufe, which Mr, Pitt 
 had io recently taken the lead in, fairly and refpeft- 
 fully before the Houfe of Commons ; in hopes, as 
 they declared, to tranquilife the agitated part of the 
 public, to reftore affeftion and refpedt for the legi- 
 flature, fo neceffary to fecure fubmilTion to its au- 
 thority ; and, by concentrating the views of all re- 
 formers to the prcfervation of our invaluable conftitu- 
 tion, to prevent that fermentation of political opinion, 
 which the French revolution had undoubtedly given 
 rife to, from taking a republican direflion in Great 
 Britain.* Thefe were not only the profeffed objefls 
 of this aflbciation, but the truth and good faith of 
 
 * I declare, upon my honour, thefe were my reafons forbc« 
 coming a member of that fociety, 
 
 thena 
 
ii 
 
 ii I 
 
 I 
 
 
 ilij ! 
 
 m 
 
 n 
 
 ( H ) 
 
 them received afterwards the fandlion of judicial 
 authority, when their, proceedings were brought for^ 
 ward by government in the courfe of the ftatc trials. 
 
 Neverthelefs, on the very day that Mr. Grey, at 
 |he defire of this fmall fociety, gave notice of his 
 intended motion in the Houfe of Commons, there 
 was an inftantaneous movement amongft minifters, 
 as if a great national confpiracy had been difcover- 
 cd. No a6b of government appeared to have 
 J)een in agitation before that period, although the 
 corrcfpondencies before alluded to had, for months^ 
 jjeen public and notorious, and there was fcarcely 
 an information, even for a libel, upon the file of the 
 Court of King's Bench. Neverthelefs, a council 
 W<is almoll immediately held, and his Majefty wa^ 
 advifed to ilTue his royal proclamation of the 2iii( 
 pf May, 1792, to roufe the vigilance and attention of» 
 |he magiftrates throughout the kingdoni to the vigo^ 
 |-ous difcharge of the*r duties. 
 
 If this had been the only objed of the proclamation, 
 t^d if it had been followed up by no other proceed^ 
 ings than the fuppreflion of libels, and a coercive 
 rclpe^ for the authorities of Parliament, it would 
 hav^ been happy for England; unfortunately it 
 feemed to have other objects, which, if as a fubjed 
 pf the country I have no right to condemn, 1 may slX, 
 leaft, with the freedom of hiftory, be now allowed 
 to lament. 
 
 The 
 
I 
 
 The proclamation had unquellionably for its ob « 
 jeft to fprcad the alarm againft French principles; 
 and, to do it efFe(5lually, all princ'ples were confidercd 
 as French by his Majefty's minifters which qucftioned 
 the infallibility of their own governmenr, or which 
 looked towards the lead change in the reprefentation 
 of the people in Parliament. 
 
 If it had ilTued, however, under the authority of 
 the Britifli miniftry only, it probably could not 
 have produced its important and unfortunate efFcds* 
 But the minifter, before he advifed the meafure, had 
 taken care to fccure the difunion of the Whig party, 
 which had hitherto firmly and uniformly oppoied 
 both the principles and pradlice of his adminiftration. 
 To this body I gloried to belong, as I dill do to 
 cling even to the weather-beaten pieces of the wreck 
 which remains of it. Neither am I alhamed of the 
 appellation of party, when the phrafe is properly un- 
 derftood j for without parties, cemented by the union 
 of found principles, evil men and evil principles 
 cannot be fuccefsfully refilled. I flatter myfelf that 
 the people of England will not haftily believe, that 
 I have ever been adtuated in my public conduft by 
 intereft or ambition. 
 
 The Whig party, as it has been called, was 
 infignificant indeed from its numbers, and weak 
 from the formidable influence of the crown in the 
 hands of its adverfaries j but formidable, neverthelefs^ 
 from illuftrious rank^ great property, and fplendid 
 
 talents; 
 
im 
 
 ill 
 
 ^ii 
 
 'I 
 
 1 ,!. 
 
 ( ^6 ) 
 
 talents ; ftill more from an opinion of public inffg- 
 rity, which formed a flrong hold upon the minds" 
 of the country. I look back with the mod heart- 
 felt and difpiriting forrow to the divifion of this 
 little phalanx, whofe union upon the principles 
 which fiifl: bound them together m ht, in fpite of 
 differences of opinion in matters concerning which 
 good men may fairly differ, have prefcrvcd the peace 
 of the world, re- animated the forms of our own con- 
 ftitution, and averted calamities, the end of which I 
 tremble to think of. Rcfleding, however, as I do, 
 upon the frailties of human nature, adverting to the 
 deceptions which may be pra6lifed upon it, and which' 
 men, by infcnfible degrees, unconfcioufly praflife' 
 upon themfdlves j compelled by candour to keep iii 
 view the unexampled crifis of the French revolution, 
 the horrors which disfigured it, the alarms infeparable 
 from it, bur, above all, the dexterous aitifices which it 
 furniflied to infl.nme and to miflead ; I wilh to draw 
 a veil over the ftages which divided ftatefmen and 
 friends, at they very moment of all others when they 
 ought to have drawn cloftr together, and when their 
 union might have prefcrved their country. ^ fliall,; 
 therefore, content myfelf with cbferving-, that before 
 the King's Proclamation was iffued, the llrpport of 
 the Duke of Portland had not only probably been 
 fecurcd to it, but the affent of fome of the moft dif- 
 tinguiflicd perfons in the oppofition had been well 
 iinderftood to the whole of that fyftem of meafurea 
 which ended in the war with France. 
 
 The 
 
( 17 ) 
 
 ' The proclamation, thus fupportcd, was planted as 
 the only genuine banner of loyalty throughout the 
 kingdoms voluntary bodies, to ftrengthen the exe- 
 cutive power by maintaining profecutions, were every 
 where inftitutcd. Society was rent afunaer, and the 
 harrtiony and freedom of Englilh manners were, for 
 a feafon, totally deftroyed. 
 
 It was at this period that the feeds of war were 
 Ibwn, which ever fince we have been unfortunately 
 reaping. Nothing is more diftant from my temper, 
 or my purpoft*, than to fallen the charge either of 
 corruption or folly upon all who were feized withf 
 this alarm, or who even contributed to its propaga- 
 tion. Many worthy and intelligent perfons, fuperior 
 to common weakneflcs, and aloof from all meannels, 
 were undoubtedly hurried away by its influence. It 
 is far more pleafant to me to hope, that many of 
 thofe who were adtive in fpreading the delufion were 
 themfelves deluded, than to fcatter imputation upon 
 thoufands who may be wifer and better than myfelf. 
 The public, in a cooler hour, will be prepared to 
 make the proper diftinflions, and to feparate the in- 
 nocent from the guilty. But the efFcdls were not 
 the lefs mifchievous, whatever might have been thp 
 motives ; and the delufion, however it may be yet 
 difguifcd by the caufts which produced it, will ap- 
 pear in the future hiftory of England as a. blot in the 
 annals of an enlightened age and of a free country. 
 
 Th« 
 
I ! 
 
 ii ! 
 
 ii t 
 
 mm ' 
 
 t 
 
 ■I 
 
 
 ( •« ) 
 
 i The fpirit which became prevalent about this'chne, 
 which bore down every thing before it, and prepared 
 the nation for war, was an abfolute horror of every 
 thing connefled with France, and even for liberty 
 itfelf, becaufe France avowed to be contending for 
 it. It confounded the cafual intemperance of an en- 
 larged and warm zeal for the freedom and happinefs 
 of mankind with a tendency to univerfal anarchy, 
 and to a refiftance of all governments : it confidercd 
 an irritable fenfe of the evils attending die Ciirillian 
 fuperftitions, and a complacency under their rapid 
 declenfion, as a decided apoftacy from the church, 
 and as the flirc teft of irreligion, and even of aiheifm 
 itfelf. It fet down as a declared enemy to monarchy, 
 however exifting by confenr, and poized, like our 
 own, by tjie balances of a popular conftitution, every 
 man who did not throw up his cap when combined 
 defpotifm was trampling upon the eftablifliments, and 
 calling lots for the territories of free men, or who 
 dared to exult and triumph when a murderous ma- 
 nifefto was thruft down the throats of the tyrants who 
 uttered it, and when a great people, determined to be 
 .free, fucceedcd in repelling the lawlefs invaders of 
 •their country. 
 
 » 
 
 . Thefe were the feelings which minlrters at this 
 period imputed to large clafTcs of the people of Great 
 Britain, and of our filter kingdom. 
 
 The imputadon was made with truth : the infe- 
 rence only was fallacious and wicked. If the well- 
 founded 
 
 ■'fit 
 
 I,'. I 
 
 'ii. 
 
( ^9 ) 
 
 founJed Imputation of thefc fenfations, and the habits 
 of publicly exprcfTing thenn, be political guilt, I for 
 one plead guilty; and I thank God, above all hit 
 other bleflTings, that he has indelibly impreffed ihcm 
 upon my undcrftanding and my heart. But let u« 
 examine what were the public fruits of thefe dang6* 
 rous emotions, which rendered it neccffary td convert 
 the nation, as it were, into a large prifon, by reftriftivc 
 laws, by internal'iV^ilitary ftations, and by the repa- 
 rations of external war. 
 
 Confiderable bodies of the people were defirous of 
 ftirring the queftion of reform at a time when Mr. 
 Pitt had laid it down, and the followers of the IDukc 
 of Richmond (then a cabinet miniftcr of the King) 
 wer^ not only the mod numerous, but were diilin- 
 guifhcd by the lengths to which they feemed to pufli 
 their views upon the fubjcfl ; views which I admit to 
 liave been very little Jloort of thofe which the Duke 
 himfclf had avowed and adted upon a few years 
 before. 
 
 Whilft it continues to be the office of courts of 
 jufttce to decide upon evidence, 1 ihall maintain this 
 to have been the extent of the defigns which at the 
 date of the proclamation, or which at any time after- 
 wards, prevailed in this country. Not z man had 
 been then convicted, nw has now, whilft I am writing, 
 for any treafon againft the ftate, though the laws 
 have been new eaft and manufadlured to reach cafts 
 which the venerable inflitucions «f our /oufathers did 
 ♦ Da not 
 
m 
 
 I 
 
 ' i<>< 
 
 I 
 
 li^ 
 
 It 
 
 li' 
 
 m 
 II 
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
 fidr touch i and no confpiracy againft the govern<* 
 ment had then, or has to this hour, been detedled. 
 Libels, indeed, both then and fince, as at all other 
 periods, were undoubtedly written by mifchievous, 
 turbulent, and mifguideci individuals. But the com- 
 munity at large was found, and the objeft which gave 
 the real offence was virtuous and laudable. It was 
 to reform the reprefentation of the Houfe of Com- 
 mons, by the ways of the conftitutionj by an endeavour 
 to colledl the public fentiment, and to produce it be- 
 fore Parliament. Three Englifh juries determined this 
 lo have been the objeft, and the crown never invited 
 a fourth to contradid them. The objedt, therefore, 
 was virtuous and laudable; and if the conftitutioi^ 
 is to be prefer ved, the renewed purfuit will alone 
 prefervc it; and it might then have been fecurcd 
 without a flruggle, without a war with France, and 
 without fear of her revolution — if thofe who have 
 the deepefl: intercft in the (late had not been afraid of 
 English liberty. 
 
 I never fliall be the defender of popular excefles^, 
 nor of commotions which can endanger the peace of 
 my country j God forbid that I ihoqld : but I know 
 they never can arife, if men, who ft^nd on the vantage 
 ground in fociety, will only behave with common 
 honefty and common fenfe. It is not yet too late 
 for the higher orders of this country to confider well 
 this fubjeft. Let me implore them, while yet prac- 
 ticable, to give a fafe direftion to a fpirit which 
 neither Laws nor Wars will reprcfs. 
 
 This 
 
 ^!. 
 
 1 
 
ic govern-* 
 n dctcfted 
 t all oihcr 
 ifchievous, 
 t the com- 
 vhich gave 
 e. Ic was 
 : of Com- 
 endeavour 
 uce it be- 
 mined this 
 er invited 
 therefore, 
 mftitutior^ 
 viil alone 
 1 fccured 
 ince> and 
 I'ho have 
 afraid of 
 
 cxccflcs, 
 peace of 
 I knqw 
 vantage 
 :omnnon 
 too late 
 der well 
 et prac- 
 t which 
 
 This 
 
 
 • This fpirit is at prcfcnt high in Ireland, and the 
 recent zeal of that brave and virtuous people has 
 connplecely detected the falfe and pernicious calum«> 
 nies upon both countries. It has demonllrated that 
 a defire to reform abufes in the government is not at 
 all conneftcd with difloyalty to its eflablilhrnent, and 
 that the rcftoration of a free conftitution by the wif- 
 dom and fpirit of a nation has no alliance with, but, 
 on the contrary, is utterly aborrent to a fubmifTioo 
 |o foreign force. . 
 
 The late attempt upon Ireland ought neverthc- 
 kfs to make the dcepeft impreffion upon the govern- 
 ment of England. The very fenfation occafioncd by 
 it, and our congratulations upon the fupport of the 
 ^elements, is in itfelf a condemnation of the meafuret 
 purfued in that country. 
 
 If Ireland were condufted as (he ought to be, what 
 dependence, in God*s name, could we have to place 
 upon the winds? Could a prote(5tive government of 
 three millions of men, happy tinder the enjoyment of 
 our free conftitution, have occafion to look to a wea- 
 ther-glafs for its fafety againft twenty thoufand men i 
 or could any thing but a hope of difunion, held 
 out to an enemy by the efFedts of a narrow policy, 
 have fuggefted fo weak and feeble an expedition? 
 
 This is a hope that will remain unextinguilhed in 
 
 J^rance, and which may be expend to produce 
 
 future and m9re dangerous expeditions, unlets fatis* 
 
 ^ fa(5tion 
 
■i • ,1 
 
 iiUii:!^ 
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
 h£t'ion be p;vvcn to the feelings of that country. It 
 k a dangerous mode of reckoning, that becaufe the 
 people have not manifefted their difcojnent by invit- 
 ing an enemy, they are therefv^i e to be confidered as 
 contented; or, that their wiflics may be the more 
 Mely neglefled. It is juftly obfcrved by Locke, 
 $Iiae nations^ inftead o» being prone to rcfift their 
 governmencs without caufe^ require long continued 
 r.«gled and provocatioa to roufe them even to ar 
 reafonable and juftifiablc refiftance. But he follows 
 this obfervation by reminding the rulers of ftates and 
 kingdoms, that this dilpofiiion leaves them neither 
 juftififcation nor protedfon when their authorities are 
 liibveried ; and that th^ degree of difgflift, which will 
 at laft furely overturn them, is not matter of fafc of 
 F&tional calculation : that the progrefs of difaffcdion 
 is infenfible and invifible, and that it is frequentlyj 
 hurried on to the fatal conclufion by accidents neither 
 to be forefcen acr refiftcd^ 
 
 Thefe refled^ions ought to fuggeft the propriety of 
 kcmmg this moft valuable part of the empire fronrr 
 die poflible danger of a bette: concerted attack. This 
 ought to be done, not merely by more watchful opera- 
 lions (as I have purpofely fhunned all confideration 
 of the details of departments), but by letting the watch 
 in the interefts and^ affedions of the Iriih people. 
 
 Nothing can accompHfh this but the abfolute re- 
 
 hnnriation of that jealous and reftriiflive fyftem oi 
 
 governmenr, which ciiara(5lerifca the prefent adminif- 
 
 ■' tration 
 
< ^3 ) 
 
 oration every where, but more than any where in thit 
 kingdom. To rule with fecuvrity over that people, 
 or over any other, in the prefent condition of the 
 world, they muft be fet at their eafe, and made happy 
 by every indulgence within the compafs of their 
 governnnent. To niake the intereH: of ftjpporting 
 any civil eftablilhment univerfal, the privileges ic 
 confers muft be made univerfal alfo. To infpirc 
 the multitude with indignation at a foreign enemy, 
 they muft be made to feel pradically the privileges 
 which his invafion ftrikes at, and the focial bleflings 
 it would deftroy. .... 
 
 - It is fald, that when peace arrives It may be prudent 
 to confider thefe great objecfts. But without inftant 
 confideration of them, peace may never arrive at 
 all. If 1 had the princely dominion of Ireland, 
 and were lord of all her foil, I would choofe that 
 moment for reforming her parliament, and for com- 
 plete emancipation, when the enemy was plying 
 upon her coafts : not as ac^s of fudden fear, but of 
 found wifdom and critical juftice. To withhold 
 from great bodies of a people the freeft and fulleft 
 communications of al! the privileges of their govern- 
 ment when its exiftence is externally threatened, is 
 to bandage up the right arm when an enemy is ap- 
 proaching, and, by robbing k of its circulation, to 
 deprive it of its ^rength. 
 
 But the Irilh people flocked with loyaky to the 
 
 iianclard of their country. For that verv reafon ic 
 
 3 Ihould 
 
''•1'^:! 
 
 I ■ li 
 
 I !)■ 
 
 Hi' 
 liii 
 
 n 
 
 C 24 ) 
 
 Ihould be crowned with the garland of conftitutionat 
 freedom. Lee the prefent moment be fcized of 
 making reformation a fpontaneous aft of liberal and 
 enlightened poHcy, inftead of being hereafter an adl of 
 cautious prudence, which may deftroy its grace and 
 effeft. Liet all the conceflions of government in 
 both countries be the conceflions of wifdom and be- 
 neficence; and not, as was happily exprelfcd by a 
 great writer, like the reftitution of ftolen goods. 
 Let the people of both countries receive the greateft 
 degree of freedom which the true fpirit of our con- 
 ftitution is capable of difpenfing, and we may then 
 fmile at all invafions, whatever reach of coaft our 
 enemies may polTcfs. Under fuch a fyftem, inftead 
 of riots and murmurings, by coercive afts of parlia- 
 ment, every man would be a volunteer with a cou* 
 rage which no mutiny bill can infpire, and every 
 houfe and cottage in Great Britain and Ireland would 
 be a barrack for the foldiers of their country* 
 
 Thefe are nnfortlinately not abftra«5l and fpeculative 
 rcflcflioDs i they would have been fo formerly : but 
 ihcy are now taught by the awful times we live in. 
 It is the ufe of hiltory and obfcrvatlon to be a guide 
 for the future. 
 
 It was a reftri6livc fyftem of government in Hoi* 
 land and the Netherlands, and the confcqnent divi- 
 (ions amongft: their inhabitants^ that has fuddenly al- 
 tered che face of Europe by their fubjugation, and it 
 is the difference bctWeen the noble and independent 
 
 pride 
 
 1 .i..!|' 
 
( ^5 ) 
 
 pride of a free government and the valTalagc of ap- 
 bitrary power, that is wrefting at this moment fronsi 
 the hands of the Emperor the fceptrc of his Itahan ' 
 ftates. > 
 
 The French fyflem of fraternization, the efte6l of 
 which we have teen with fo much horror, could have 
 had no other foundation. If the free governments 
 which they ful^verted had not fallen off from the 
 ends of their inftiti-tions, their fubverfions would 
 have been imprac-licablc, and the memorable decree 
 of the 1 9th of November would have been the dc» 
 rifion, inftCLd of the tc^'or of Kurope. 
 
 I am forry indeed to remark, that this decree, and 
 the fyllem of which it was a part, exifted only upon 
 paper, and in the inflammatory fpeeches of enthuliaf- . 
 tic men, until confederated Europe began the aclual 
 and forcible fraternization of the monarchical part 
 of France. When that nation had eft'et^cd an inter- 
 nal revolutio'^-, no matter upon what principle or with 
 what crimes, it fliould have occurred to her invader?, 
 who could not have looked to fubjugation but by 
 the divifions of civil furyj that they were themfelves 
 practically purfuing that very fpecies of hoitility, the 
 theory only of which had been an objecSl of their exe- 
 cration, and the foundation of their confederacy. The 
 fame refleiTlion ought to have deterred Great Britain 
 from the mereilcfs and impolitic expedition toQuibc- 
 ron. The go\'ernment of France had then aifumcd a 
 regular form, and was in the exerci{<j; of a regular Ic- 
 
 E galized 
 
ill 
 
 
 !l 
 
 ii I 
 
 I 'li; 
 
 m 
 
 liiiiiir.!'' 
 
 mm 
 
 m 
 iili 
 
 ill 
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 galized authority. The devoted handful of unhappy 
 fugitives from their country could do nothing by the 
 iword. The expedition, therefore, was to rekindle 
 the torch of difcord amidll twenty- five millions of 
 men beginning to clcape from its former fury, and 
 fettled under an eflablifhed government. Our inva- 
 Hon was to work by confulion againfl eftablifhcd 
 authority ; to llir up all the elements of mifery and 
 mifchief amongll the innocent part of the commu- 
 nity, incapable of undcrflanding the caufe for which 
 they fouglit, and without even the hope on our part 
 of pro te(9:ing them from the fury of the government 
 againfl which they rebelled. 
 
 What was this proceeding but the very fyllem wc- 
 had imputed to France, and proclaimed with hor- 
 ror to the univcrfc ? 
 
 I hope, indeed, all civilized nations will hereafter 
 concur in fligmalifing this liorrible and barbarous 
 fyflem of hoflilities : a granger even to that heroifm 
 which has unfortunately converted the crimes of con- 
 quefl into the moft fafcinating triumphs of mankind. 
 It is a fyflem which is dire<fted againfl the firfl 
 principle of focial honour and happinefs. It beats 
 up for every bad, degrading, and dangerous paflion 
 of the human mind. It does not raife the open, 
 manly flandard of nation againfl nation, but in the 
 cowardice of warfare, which difTolves its only inchant^ 
 ment, divides a nation againfl itfelf. It makes up 
 ^n army of public crime and private difcontent. 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 of honed error and falfe opinion, of dcfperate vice 
 and virtuous poverty driven to defperation. It 
 fets free the viflims of the laws to imprifon and 
 enflave the flate; brings into the field againft one 
 another men whom the fame land and the fame 
 fathers have bred, and which, inftead of ^ ttling this 
 horrible conflicSt by the cannon and the fword, the 
 fliortefl cure for the miferies it has engendered, 
 and extending no further than to the aftual com- 
 batants, fpreads wide the defolation by the flower 
 weapons of jealoufy and dlftruft, of terror and ven- 
 geance; fcowers the land with difeafe and famine, and 
 by the dtflruclion of public credit, public confidence, 
 and public opinion, dcftroys for the prefent, and puts 
 to the die of chance hereafter, the exiftence and 
 even the name of a country. 
 
 When my fubjefb is attended to, I have no apo- 
 logy to make for this digreflion. Indeed it can 
 hardly be called one ; becaufe the fads which gave 
 rife to it (land in their proper places as connefted 
 with the origin of the war againft France, and be- 
 caule the refledions from them are not fpontaneous, 
 being diflated by public duty to the hiftorian of 
 fuch events. 
 
 The excefl*es which unfortunately diftinguiflied 
 the French revolution, foon after the proclama- 
 tion, further favoured the fyftem of antipathy againft 
 France, and the death of her unhappy monarch yet 
 
 E a further 
 
ffp 
 
 111! 
 
 Miru 
 
 mw 
 
 .li 
 
 ii 
 
 ( a8 ) 
 
 further ripened the plans of government already in 
 agitation. 
 
 . Before this nnemorablc acra thtre was a vifible dif- 
 pofition in miiiifters to a rupture with Fi ance, but the 
 fenfe of her fituation infpircd the French councils with 
 a prudence which difappointed it. Minillers had 
 notorioully connived at, if not afliftcd in fomenting 
 the confpiracy then forming throughout Europe; 
 they had covertly libelled France in the proclamation 
 which M. Chauvclin, by order from his court, had 
 only mildly complained .of; they had withdrawn Lord 
 Gower from Paris : thev had fet on foot a corre- 
 fpondence between the fecretary of ftate and her mi- 
 nifter here in the moH: imperious language, and upon 
 complaints which fhe either difavowcd, or to the re- 
 moval of which fhe feemed to fubmit. 
 
 All thefe provocations were rcfiftcd by France, 
 and the concefiions which flie made before and after 
 our rcfufal to acknowledge her ambaflador would 
 fcarcely be believed, if it did not remain on record in 
 the correfpondence as it was laid before the Houfe of 
 Commons by m.inidcrs themfelves, to vindicate their 
 condu£l in difmifllng M. Chauvclin, and to juftify 
 the war which it produced. 
 
 This correfpondence is fcarcely known to, or re- 
 collected by, the Englifli public. Its authenticity is 
 unquedionable, and the examination of it will place 
 the authors of the war in their proper colours. 
 
 5 The 
 
( =9 ) 
 
 The miflion c f M. Chauvel i n, as am])airador from 
 the King of the French, commenced in the fprlne; 
 of 1792 i and his firlt note, as appears by thecorre- 
 fpondence with Lord Grenvillc, bears date the 12th 
 of May in that year. It had for its obje6l to explain 
 to the court of Great Britain (as will appear by jo- 
 fcrencc to it) the realbns which had determined 
 France to a war with the Emperor. 
 
 It flated, in the name of the P'rench King, that a 
 great confpiracy had been formed in Europe againlt 
 France to dcltroy her new conllitution, w^hich he 
 had fworn to maintain, malking for a feafon the 
 preparations of its deligns by an infulting pity for 
 his perlbn and a zeal for his authority. 
 
 It fet forth the remonftranccs which he (the French 
 King) had made upon the fubjei'^ of this Coalition, 
 firft to the Emperor Leopold, and afterwards ta 
 Francis, who fucceedcd him. He intbrmed Great 
 Britain, that it had at lail been avowed, and a de- 
 claration made, that it fliould not ceafe " imtil 
 *' France JJiould reynove the ferious caujes ■which had 
 " give7i rife to it'* The note added, that this de- 
 claration had been accompanied with the allembling 
 of troops upon all the frontiers of France, evidently 
 for the purpofe of con draining her inhabitants to 
 alter the form of the government they had chofcn. 
 
 Having thus flated the cauies of the war with the 
 Emperor, the French King appealed to the Britifli 
 
 govern- 
 
^^ 
 
 i 
 
 
 § 
 
 ! I 
 
 
 i: 
 
 .ill 
 
 M.I 
 
 ■'I 
 
 'JV 
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 government for the juflicc of his caufe; and, to re- 
 move all jealoufies rcfpedling this country which Imil 
 been indullrioufly circulated, Monlicur Chauvelin, 
 in his name, and by his authority, further declared, 
 " that whatever might be the fate of arms in that zi'ar, 
 " France rejeded all ideas of aggrandifenicnt ^ that JJje 
 ** would preferve her liberty y her con flit ut ion ^ her ««- 
 ** alienable right of reforming herfclf whenever JJje 
 ** might think proper J that JJ^e never would allow other 
 " powers to nouriJJ) a hope of dictating laws to her. 
 " But that that very pride, fo natural andfojujf, was 
 " a fure pledge to all the powers jrom whom JJjc JJmild 
 *' receive no provocation, not only of her conftant pa" 
 ** cijic dijpojition, but alfo of the refpeB zvhich France 
 ** would J/:ezv at all times for the lazvs, the cujloms, and 
 *' the forms of governments, of different nations J" 
 
 As at this time much had been faid of attempts 
 made by France to produce diflurbances in this 
 country, the note further declared, " that the French 
 " King defiredto have it knozvn, thai he would publicly 
 " and feverely difavow all agents at foreign courts in 
 *' peace with France, zvhofiould dare to depart an injlant 
 from that refpect, either by fomenting or favouring 
 ' injur reBion againjl the ejlablijhed order, or by inter- 
 fering in any manner whatever in the interior polity of 
 *^ fttch Jlates, under pretence of a profelytifniy which f 
 ** exercifcd in the dominions of friendly power i^ would be 
 " a real violation if the lazv of nations.*' 
 
 Tiii'a 
 
 <( 
 
 a 
 
( 3- ) 
 
 This note was dated, as 1 have obfcrvcJ, on tlie 
 12th of May, 1792. No anfwer was given to it, 
 until the 24tli of the fame month, when Lord Gren- 
 ville, pairing by the caufes of the war with the Em- 
 peror, declared, ** that Great Britain, faithful to her 
 
 engagements, would pay the Jlri8ejl attention to pre- 
 * ferve that good underjlanding which fo happily lubfijlei 
 
 between his Majejly and the Mofi Chrijlian King'* 
 3ut notvvitlilianding this declaration, the royal pro- 
 clamation had iilucd only three days before, and in 
 the very interval between M. Chauvclin's note and 
 this anfwer to it. 
 
 n 
 
 ti 
 
 The proclamation, it is true, took no dircc"^ notice 
 of France ; and being an acSl of national police, 
 i^'rance had, in (Iri^lnefs, no right to complain of it. 
 Yet the period of its iflliing being fo critical, 
 Tvl. Chauvelin repeated to Lord Grenville, the day 
 afterwards, the afitirances he had made on the 1 2th 
 of May preceding ; and in another letter, received 
 by Lord Grenville in June, exprelled l^imfelf as 
 follows : 
 
 *' If certain individuals of this country have ejlahlijljcd 
 " a (orrefpondence abroad, tending to excite troubles 
 ^' therein, and if as the proclamation feems to infmuatc, 
 " certain Frenchmen have come into their viezvs, that is 
 " a proceeding wholly foreign to the French nation, to 
 '* the legijlative body, to the King, and to his mini/Iers ; 
 " it is a proceeding of which they are entirely ignorant, 
 ** zc'hich militates againjl every principle of jitjlice, and 
 
 " which 
 
1^ 
 
 i ill 
 
 llll 
 
 11 
 
 :|il ■'■^-' 
 
 lllllliji 
 
 '111 
 • .1 1 
 
 ( J» ) 
 
 ** zvJ:icl\ \vhencvcr It became knozvn, zvotdd be wii" 
 ** verfaUy condemned in France. Independently of thofe 
 ** principles of jujlice^ from which a Jree people ought 
 •* never to deviate, is it not evident, from a due con- 
 *^ Jiik'ra/ioH of the true inter ejls of the French nation, 
 " that JJjc ought to defire the interior tranquillity , the 
 ** continuance and the force of the conflitution of a country 
 ** zvhich fJjc already looks upon as her natural ally ? h 
 ** not this the only reafonable zvifl) which a people can form 
 *' zvhofecsfo many efforts united againjl its liberty F 
 
 '* The miniflcr plenipotentiary, deeply fenfible of thefe 
 ^^ truths, and of the maxims of univerfal morality upon 
 *' which they are foumied, had already reprefented them 
 " in an official note, which he tranfmitted to the Britifh 
 *' mlmjlry the'i^th of this month y by the exprefs orders 
 * ^ of his court \ and he thinks it his duly to repeat, on 
 ' ' ihc prcfent occajion, the important declarations which 
 
 a 
 
 It contains. 
 
 In the inontli of July, when the vair (^onfcclcracv 
 bcj^un it) I'tirop'- was more vifibly extcndhig itlclf 
 agaiult France, iV. C'hauvelin, in the name of the 
 French King, earneftly appUed for the mediation of 
 Great Britain upon the lubjech After fiating the 
 publie proeeedings of the ditlerent nations, the note 
 concladed as follows : 
 
 
 " The Jlcps taken by the cabinet of P'ienna among fi 
 * ' the dfferent pozvers, and principally ainongfl the allies 
 *' of his Britannic MaJeJJy, in order to engage them in 
 
 " ^ quar- 
 
 ,iM 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 ** a quarrel which is foreign to tbetJU are known alt 
 *^ Eur Dpi* If public report even were to be creJiteJ, 
 •* its fuccejfes at the court of Berlin prepare the way for 
 *^ others in the United Frovitues \ the threats held out 
 " to the different members of the Germanic body to make 
 ** them deviate from that wife neutrality which their 
 ** political fttuation, and their dearefi, inter eft s^ prefcribe 
 ** to them; the arrangements taken with different fove^ 
 *' reigns of Italy, to determine them to a5i hoftilely 
 againft France; and, lajtly, the intrigues by which 
 Ruff a has juft been induced to arm againft the confti- 
 '' tut ion of Poland; every thing points out frefts marks 
 ^'ofa vaft confpiracy againft free ftates, which feems t9 
 *' threaten to precipitate Europe in univerfal war. 
 
 t( 
 
 <t 
 
 
 ** The confequences of fuch a confpiracy, formed bj 
 *' the concurrence of powers who have been fo long rivals, 
 f^ will be eaftly felt by his Britannic Majefty: the balance 
 ** of Europe, the independence of the different powers, the , 
 ^' general peace, every conftdcration which at all times 
 ** has fixed the attention of the Englijh government, is 
 ^' at once expofed and threatened. 
 
 it 
 
 ^^ The King of the French prefents thefe ferious and 
 important confiderations to the folicltude and to the 
 *^ friendJJoip of his Britannic Majefty. Strongly pene^ 
 " trated zvith the marks of intereft and of affeSlion which 
 *' he has received from him ; he invites him to feek, ifs 
 *' his wifdom, in his fituation, and in his influence, means 
 compatible with the independence of the French nation, 
 to ftop, whilfi it is ft ill time, the progrefs of that con" 
 
 JF ^' federacy^ 
 
 *( 
 
 a 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 ** federcj, which equally threatens the peace, the. tf-^ 
 " berty, the happinefs of Europe, and^ above all, U 
 « diffuade from all acceffwn to this projeEl thofe of his 
 ** allies whom it may be wijhed to draw into it, or wht 
 " may have been already drawn into it from fear, fe- 
 «' du^ion, and different pretexts of the falfejl as "well as 
 " of the mojl odious policy." 
 
 This application was anfwcred by Lord Grcnvillc 
 on the 8th of Julvj in which, after repeating former 
 alTurances of fricndfiiip towards France, and of a 
 difpofition to maintain the happy harmony which 
 fubfifted between the two empires, the propofcd me- 
 diation was rcfufed in the following words : 
 
 '* llis Majejly will never refufe to concur in the pre- 
 *' fervution or re-ejlablijrmient of peace betzveen the other 
 '* pozvers of Europe, byfuch means as are proper to pro- 
 ** duce that effeEl, and are compatible with his dignity, 
 ** and with the principles which govern his condu^. 
 ** Bttt the fame fintiments which have determined him 
 
 * * not to take a part in the internal affairs of France, 
 " ought equally to induce him to rcfpe!^ the rights and 
 ** the independence of other fovereigns, and efpecially 
 
 * * thofe of the allies ; and his Majefly has thought that, 
 " in the exijling circumjlances of the war nozu begun, 
 *•' the intervention of his councils, or of his good office s-^^ 
 ** cannot be ofufe, unlefs theyfkouldbe dejind by all the 
 ** parties intercftcd." 
 
 The 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 The cxprcfllon of this determination, not to inter- 
 fere with the internal affairs of PVance, was written 
 only a few days before M. Chauvelin was ordered to 
 quit the kingdom, under the circumftances of direft 
 interference which will prcfently appear to have at- 
 tended his difmiffion: and the refufal to mediate with 
 the Emperor for the reftoration of peace, without his 
 concurrence with France in ner defirc of mediation, 
 was given at the very fame moment that, without 
 being at all defired by Holland to intermeddle in her 
 affairs, we were involving her in the horrors of war. 
 
 This proceeding, which terminated all hopes of 
 tranquillity in Europe, furnifhcs the true cypher to 
 explain every fucceeding afl of his Majefty's prefent 
 councils. We fhall find them uniformly and fcru- 
 puloufly obfervant of the mofl novel pundili*, which 
 could furniih the fmalleft pretence for repelling peace, 
 but overleaping every rule hitherto adopted by regu- 
 lar governments in feeking a j unification for war. 
 
 Soon after this, the unhappy King of France was 
 brought from Verfailles, and deprived of the fundions 
 of government, and Lord Gower was recalled from 
 Paris J and M. Chauvelin was ftill continued by- 
 France at the court of London, although he was no 
 longer acknowledged as her ambalTador: a pretty 
 flfong proof that (lie was not then defirous of ieekin 
 a caufe of quarrel. 
 
 g 
 
 F2 
 
 Though 
 
p 
 
 ii : I'' 
 
 
 jiHiLi!! 
 
 ilH 
 
 ii' .-;il 
 
 ■iiii' 
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 ' Tlrough M. Chauvelin was now in z. manner k 
 private man, yet the correfpondence neverthelefs , 
 Goniinued with the fecretary of ftate j and it appears, 
 by refening to it, that the charges made by this 
 country to the conduft of France were principally 
 thefe: 
 
 A meditated attack upon Holland^ and at all 
 events a violation of her rights^ notwithftanding her 
 neutrality, by the proceedings of the Convention re- 
 fpefting the Scheldt, and the opening a naflage 
 through it to attack the citadel of Antwerp ; the 
 French invafion and pofleflion of the Netherlands, 
 and the encouragement given to revolt in other 
 :ountries, not only by emi/Taries in this country, 
 but by the decree of the 19th of November, which 
 contained a formal declaration to extend univerfally 
 the new principles of government adopted in France, 
 and to encourage revolt in all countries, even in thofe 
 which were neutral. 
 
 M. Chauvelin had explained himfclf upon thefc 
 fubjec^s in the early part of the correfpondence : but 
 as his formal charafter of ambaflador was then con- 
 fidercd to be vacated, I purpofely pafs them over, 
 becaufe they were afterwards formally repeated, and 
 nearly in the fame words, when M. Chauvelin, 
 in January, 1793, prefented his letters of creden(?e 
 from the executive council of France, the acceptance 
 of which were formally refufcd ,bv Lo:J Grenville, 
 
 '; ^ I, 
 
 In 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 In this note the executive council again in terms 
 t^ecbred, ** that France would refpe5l the fafety of all 
 " nations whilfi they prejerved their neutrality ; that fi^e 
 ** had before renounced^ and again renounced^ every con- 
 ^^ quejl ; and that her occupation of the Low Countries 
 *' Jhould only continue during the war, and the time 
 " which might be necejfary for the Belgians to confoU- 
 " date their liberties • after which lei them be happy ^ 
 *' France would find her recompence :n their felicity." 
 
 With regard to the Scheldt, Ihe confidered that as 
 a matter between England and Belgium, as inde- 
 pendent nations, upon the principle of her former 
 declaration regarding that country, exprefTing nerfelf 
 thus : 
 
 « The executive council declares, not zvlth a v'iezv of 
 '^^ yielding to fome expre[Jicr,s of threatening language, but 
 *' folcly to render homage to truth., that the French re- 
 ** public does not intend to ereB itf^lf into an tmiverfal 
 ** arbitrator of the treaties zvhich bind nations. She 
 " will know how to refpeB ether governments, asjhe will 
 ** tab. Cure to make her ozvn rejpel;Jed. She docs not 
 " wi/h to impofe lazvs upon any one, and will no t fuffer 
 *' any ont to impofe lazvs upon her. She has renouncedj 
 ' and again reno,:*ices every conquejl ; and her occupation 
 
 of the Lozv Countries fiall only continue during 
 *' the war, and the time zvhich may be necejfary to the 
 
 Belgians to infure and confolidate their liberty ; after 
 
 zvhich let them be independent and happy, France will 
 'find her recompence in their fell pty, 
 
 « MO:en 
 
 C( 
 
 « 
 
 «c 
 
<( 
 
 I i 
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 '* IP'ken that nation fJjall be found In the full enjey.^ 
 ment of liberty, when its general will can lawfully de-^ 
 ** clare itfelf zvithout JJoackle^y then if England and ffol- 
 *' land Jim attach fotne importance, to the opening of the 
 *' Scheldt y they may put the affair into a dire£l negotia^ 
 *' tion zvith Belgia. If the Belgians, by any motive 
 ** whatever, confcnt to deprive the )> fives of the nuvi- 
 *' ga;'o}i of the Scheldt, France will not oppnfe it ; ^oe 
 " will hioxv hozu to refpeB their independence, even in 
 *' their errors,'* 
 
 The charge of encouraging fedicion againfl: go- 
 vernments fhe again repelled with indignation in the 
 language of her former declarations on the fubjed, 
 and difavowed the conftruftion put upon the decree 
 of the 19th of November, (qualifying and explaining 
 \t as follows : 
 
 <c 
 
 PFe have fild, andzve dejire to repeat it, that the 
 " dcrce of the igth of November could not have any 
 *' application, unlefs to the fingie cafe in zvhich the ge- 
 " neral zvill of the nation, clearly and unequivocally ex'- 
 " P^ilfi-'^i Jhould call the French nation to its ajfijlance 
 "^ and fraternity. ^ Sedition can certainly never be con- 
 *^ flrued into the general zvill. Thefe tzvo ideas mutually 
 •■' repel each other, Jincc a fedition is not, and cannot be 
 ** any other than the movement cf a fmall number againjl 
 *' the nation at large', and this movement zvould ceafe to 
 ** be fediiioHS, provided all the members of a fociety JJjould 
 '* at once rifCy either to correal *heir government, or to 
 " change its form in toto, or for any other ohjeEl, 
 
 " The 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 *' The Dutch were ajjuredly not fedhious, when thiy 
 ^^ formed the generous refolution ofJ}jaking off the yoke of 
 ^^ Spain ; and when the general will of that nation called 
 for the ajjijlance of France, it was not reputed a crime 
 in Henry the Fourth, or in Edizuheth of England, to 
 *' have lijiened to them. Ihe knoivledge of the general 
 ** will is the only hajis of the tranfaclions of nations zvith 
 " each other ; and we can only treat with apy government 
 •' whatever on this principle, that fuch a government is 
 *« deemed the organ of the general will of ths nation go- 
 
 ti 
 
 it 
 
 ti 
 
 ven 
 
 ud. 
 
 
 " Thus, when by this natural interpretation the decree 
 of the I ^th of November is reduced to what it truly im- 
 ' plies, it 7vill be found that it announces nothing morb 
 *' than an a£l of the general will, and that beyond any 
 " doubt f and fo effectually founded in right, that it was 
 ** fcarcely worth the trouHe to exprefs it. On this ac~ 
 ** count, the executive council thinks that the evidence of 
 ** this right mi9ht, perhaps, have been difpenfedwith by 
 " the Nationr:'. C:''vention, ami did not deferve to l)e 
 ** made the ol ' ,v if a particular decree. But with the 
 ** interpretaiion .-''icb precedes it, it cannot give uneaji^ 
 " nefs to any nation whatever." 
 
 Having adverted to all the material parts cf tl.c 
 correfpondc-nce, I define very diftind^ly o be under- 
 ftood, that I am not undertaking the jiiftification of 
 the condi^ of France, at this period, though I (hall 
 ever think, her *^ more finned againfl: than finning." 
 With regard to this decree of the 19th of November, 
 
 no 
 
li:i. 
 
 li; 
 
 ( 40 ) . 
 
 no conlicif rate perfbn can juftify it! bccaufe thertfis a 
 great difference between one nation giving parti- 
 cular afllftance to another which is oppreflcd by its 
 government, as King William did to England, and 
 a GENERA I. profpedlive declaration, fuch as is con- 
 tained in the decree of the 1 9th of November, and 
 which became more hoftilc to the peace of other na- 
 tions, as being ilTued upon the eve of a great revo- 
 lution which naturally affbded the temper and feel« 
 ings of mankind. Nt f .^o I feek ro maintain that 
 England fhould have relk. .cure from the explana- 
 tion of the other points in difFerence, as they are 
 explained in this correfpondence, much lefs that (he 
 iliould have relied upon the fincerity of them, or the 
 durability of' French councils, to give fincerity its 
 effc6l. Thefe are matters of fair political controverfy, 
 which I purpofely avoid ; but I hazard the aflertion, 
 that confjmon policy and common fenfe abfolutely 
 enjoined that they (hould cither have been made the 
 inftant foundations of war, as aggreffions v;hich ad- 
 mitted po fettlement, or the fubjcdl of negotiation 
 upon terms confident with dignity and fafety. 
 
 i,; 
 
 But, unfortunately, neither of thefe courfes were 
 purfued. We neither made war upon thefe aggref- 
 fions, which might have led to a termination of ic upon 
 their removal, nor would we confent to put their re» 
 moval into a train of amicable negotiation. 
 
 The letters of credence fent by the republic 
 were rcfufed, not becaufc of thefe enumerated ag- 
 
 grcfllons. 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 greflions, or of any Gther^ but becaufe fhe wdS a 
 republic ; and in a (ew days afterwards, Monlieut 
 Chauvelin, who prefented them, was alfo difmiflcd 
 from the kingdom ; not becaufe the anfwers of hia 
 government were declared unfatisfadlory on the 
 points obje<5^ed to, but becaufe the French monarchy 
 had been finally terminated by the deftruction of. 
 their King. On that act junt folely Monfieur 
 Chauvelin was direded, on the 24th of January> 
 1793, to quit this kingdom ; the King having de- 
 clared by the fecrctary of ftate, " That after fuch an 
 ** event y his Majefty could 710 longer permit Ms refidence . 
 ** here^ And the communication of that order to . 
 the Parliament on the 28th of January following,- 
 cxprcflly ilated his difmiffion to be *' on account of- 
 *' the late atrocious a^ perpetrated at Parish* 
 
 r 
 
 Before this period, France was, undoubtedly, fo- 
 licitous for peace. She had done none of the adls 
 complained of in the correfpondence, until her inde- 
 pendence had been threatened by a hoftile confe- ^ 
 deracy. She had prayed the mediation of Great 
 Britain to dillolve that confederacy, and to avert its 
 confequences. She had difavowed conqueil and 
 aggrandizement ; and the only ileps flie had taken 
 inconfiftent with that declaration, were invafions of 
 the territories of princes confederating or confede- 
 rated againft her. She offered to refpedt the neutrality 
 of Holland, and Solemnly difavowed every a6t or in- 
 tention to diflurb the government of Great Britain. 
 
 G This 
 
 ) i^i 
 
11 
 
 i^ 
 
 liii*" 
 
 ( 4* ) 
 
 This pofture of things, which, if not wholly fatif- 
 faftory, was certainly a poflure for amicable and 
 commanding fettlement, the Britilh government thus 
 difturbed by an a6l which may be termed an interfe- 
 rence with the internal government of Fra nee ; accom- 
 panied bcfides with what cannot well be denied to be 
 an infult by thofe who maintain THAT LoR D Malmes- 
 BURY WAS INSULTED. Monficur Chauvclin was dif- 
 mifled from this kingdom, not as Lord Malmefbury 
 was from France, becaufe his terms of negotiation 
 were inadmifliblc ; but becaufe no intercourfe upon 
 any terms could be admitted to a nation which with 
 cruelty or injultice had put her king to death. I am 
 not juftifying or extenuating the regicide — but 
 what had this nation, as a nation, to do with it ? 
 Would any one of thofe who, in cc . iCring it as 
 a murder to be avenged by England, nave been ac- 
 ceffary to the deaths of above a milhon of innocent 
 unoffending men, and to the mifery and devaflation 
 of Europe, venture now to conlider it as a frefli caule 
 of hoftilities, if all the crowned heads in Europe were 
 to be cut of by their fubje(5ts ? — I believe not. In- 
 deed fuch a caufe of war has been lince abandoned : 
 but by what (lages, upon what principles, and with 
 what confequences, I fhall examine hereafter. 
 
 Il!;|. 
 
 In this ftate of things the king met the parliament 
 on the 1 2th of December, 1792: whennuiwithfland- 
 ing the conciliatory declarationsdetailed in the prece- 
 ding correfpondencc (to the ivhoJe of 'xlnch parVtU" 
 went ivasJllU a nentirejiran^er), his Majcfl^y was ad- 
 ' vifcd 
 
 1 ,11- 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 vifcd by Ills mlnifters to repeat the fame three diiecfi 
 charges againil France, which had been before made 
 to her ambaflador, and upon the footing of thefe 
 complaints, without fubmitting the anfwers wliich 
 had been given to them to the conlidcration of parlia- 
 ment, they called upon the country to enable them 
 to augment our forces, and mixed in their addrefs 
 to tl throne, bat ilill more in the debates which led 
 to it, a language of reproach and infult wholly un- 
 exampled in the proceeding of any public council 
 to the government of an independent nation. 
 
 To fave the country rufhing down this precipice 
 pf ruin in the phrenzy of alarm, which every nerve 
 of government had been ftraincd to propagate, Mr. 
 Fox, on the 1 5th of December, when the Speaker 
 of the Houfe of Commons had reported the King's 
 anfwer to the addrefs of the Houfe, and whilH M. 
 Chauvelin was yet in England, propofed, " That 
 " an humble addrefs Jliould he frefented to his Majefty, 
 " pnying that he woidd be ^leafed to appo'mt a min'ijler 
 " to be Jent to Paris to treat with the persons 
 
 " EXERCISING provisionally THE FUNCTIONS OP 
 
 *^ GOVERNMENT IN France, toucMng fuch poiitis as 
 " uiight be ill differ eiice between his Majejiy and his 
 " allies and the French nation.^* 
 
 At this time the French government had done no 
 one a6l which even miniflers themfelves confidered 
 as a foundation for war ; lince war was not even 
 propofed in the King's ipeech ; but, on the contrary, 
 
 the 
 
 G z 
 
 •J 
 

 i '.-a 
 
 
 1! *!!''' 
 
 w 
 
 iiri! 
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 ihe correfpunJ nee not then dtfchfed to the Houfe, 
 wNch "vas gc r OH at this very period, continued to 
 
 CXpr S THE MOST PACIFIC DISPOSITIONS. 
 
 The proportion was therefore the moft important 
 in point of matter, and the moft critical in point of 
 time, ever offered to the coniideration of parliament, 
 and it was made in a manner the moft limple and 
 afFe6ling ; afraid of irritating where the object; was 
 to perfuade, and fubdued by the dreadfully impend- 
 ing calamities, Mr, Fox put the rein upon that 
 overpowering eloquence which fo eminently diftin- 
 guifhes him, and in a very few, plain, unaufwer- 
 able fentences, befeeched the Houfe to try the efFe<^ 
 of negotiation before fteps were taken which would 
 inevitably bring on hoftilities : to prepare with 
 vigour and firmnefs for war, but with prudence 
 and gentlenefs to cultivate peace. 
 
 "When this propofition was made, the annexa- 
 tion OB' Belgium, now the main obftacle to peace, 
 was dilavowed by France; and, as fhe was a fuitor to 
 us belides for our mediation with the Emperor, it 
 is eafy to fee how fure the road was to its return to 
 its former government. The fecurity of Holland, 
 whilft ftie perferved her neutrality, was profeffed, 
 and in a manner guarantied. The ancient limits of 
 France were propofed as her dominion, and implicit 
 refpet^ was manifefted to the independence and con- 
 ftitutions of other nations. Yet fo irrefiftible was the 
 fqrce of delufion and infatuation, that Mr. Fox's pro^. 
 
 pofition^ 
 
( 45 > 
 
 pofitlon, though its objc6t was to fecure every thing 
 whilft it conceded nothing, and though it came from 
 a perfon long the favourite, and with all its leanings 
 flill the favourite of the Houfe of Commons, yet it 
 was received amidft almoft univerfal burfls of difap- 
 probation, fcarcely indeed with the ohfervances of 
 parliamentary decorum. Some pcrfons long attach* 
 -ed to this great man, by friendfhip as well as opi- 
 nion, feemed to forget their reverence for his talents 
 and integrity, and one went the length of lamenting 
 -^ven his former political attachment to hiin. 
 
 For having made this propofitlon I will not vin- 
 dicate Mr. Fox ; his own eloquent and mafterly 
 vindication of ii, his prcdidlions, too fatally ac- 
 complilhed, and the groans of a fufFering world, 
 bear awful teftimony for him. 
 
 At the time this motion was made, the correfpon- 
 dence between Lord Grenville and M. Chauvelin 
 being ftill kept bacjc. from the Houfe of Commons, 
 Mr. Fox himfelf did not know the additional foun- 
 dations he had for his proportion : it refled upon 
 his own wife forecaft at the time he made it ; but, 
 in a few days afterwards, the whole details were 
 communicated by a meffage from the King,* and 
 the late Houfe of Commons found in the fubmiffive 
 propolitions of France (which they did not know of 
 
 ii: 
 
 * See the King's meffage to the Houfe of Commons, Jan. 
 a8th, 1793. 
 
 *wnen 
 
«^ 
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 wheti they refufed negotiating) an additional juftifi- 
 •cation for the war. They thanked his Majcfty for 
 his gracious communication, and pledged their 
 lives and fortunes to fupport hoftilitics. 
 
 :.ii!r 
 
 
 It is impoflible not to paufe here, for a moment, to 
 contemplate the probable confequenccs, if we had at- 
 tended to the counfels of this exalted and dilintcreftcd 
 ilatefman at that critical and momentous period. 
 
 
 I 
 
 1;::! 
 1} 
 
 
 The regular governments of Europe, as if they 
 were one power, furrounded Great Britain with un- 
 broken force and refources ; a confederacy which 
 would have been infinitely more awful and command- 
 ing, if the principles of its union had only been com- 
 mon fecurity. Had Great Britain, the lirll amongft 
 the nations, and enjoying herfelf a fiee conflitution, 
 accepted the offer of being the arbitrefs of the repofe 
 of Europe, with what a commanding voice might 
 fhe have fpoken to France whilfl her factions were 
 tearing one another to pieces, and her government 
 could fcarcely fupport itfclf during p-jacc ! 
 
 If, Inllead of inciting and encouraging the princes 
 of Europe to invade France, for the purpofe of dif- 
 folving her eflablifliment, we had become her fecurity 
 againft their invalions, whilft her revolution fliould 
 be confined to her own limits and fubje61s, it is not 
 poffible io believe upon any reafoning from human 
 life or experience, that Europe could have now been 
 in its prefcnt condition. But if, inflead oii\i\^ ^ajftve 
 
 and 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 and tnerely preventive influence, Great Britain, m the 
 truf fpirit and in the full ripenefs of civil wifdom, 
 had felt a juft and generous compaflion for the fuffcr- 
 ings of the French people ; if, feeing them thiriling 
 for liberty, but ignorant of the thoufand difficulties 
 which attend its eftablifhment, fhe had taken a 
 friendly, yet a commanding part ; if, not contenting^ 
 herfelf with a cold acknowledgment of the king of 
 the French, by the infidious forms of an embafly, 
 Ihc had become the faithful, but at the fame time 
 the cautious protedtor of the firft revolution ; if Ihc 
 had put the rein upon Europe to prevent its inter- 
 ference, inflead of countenancing the confederacy of 
 its powers againft it, the unhappy Louis might no\f 
 have been reigning, according to his oath, over a 
 free people ; the horrors of fucceeding revolutions 
 might have been averted, and much of that rival 
 jealoufy, the fcourge of both n'liions for fo many 
 centuries, might, without affedling the happy ba- 
 lances of our mixed conftitution, have been gradu- 
 ally and happiJy extinguifhed. 
 
 The powers that then exiftedin France, however 
 infincere, or however unfettled in their authority, 
 having proffered the continuance of peace, and hav- 
 ing alked our mediation with the Emperor, upon the 
 renunciation of conqueft and aggrandizement, and 
 upon the difavowal of interference with the govern- 
 ments of other countries, we should ha\e taken 
 THEM AT THEIR WORDS. Tlic poffiblc inlinccrity of 
 the offer, or the weaknefs of perhaps an expiring 
 
 fa6i:ion 
 
•I 'in I) 
 
 w 
 
 ■ n I 
 
 I'll 
 'III:' I 
 
 i 
 
 i|l|!l :. I 
 
 .]?: 
 
 f 
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 faction to give it efficacy, would have only added id 
 the predominancy of Great Britain. The magnani- 
 mous and beneficent condu6l of a powerful natioa 
 poflTeffing a free government, admitting the right of 
 another nation to be free, offering its countenance to 
 rational freedom^ lamenting the departure from its. 
 true principles, and demanding only fecurity againft 
 its influence to diflurb hcrfelf, would have beert irrc- 
 fiflible in its effed^s. Amidft tlie tyrannies of quick, 
 fucceeding fadions, the r .ited force of this country 
 and her allies exerted upon fuch a found principle^ 
 and thrown into the fcale of any party in France 
 that might have been willing to preferve the peace^ 
 would have given to that party an overruling 
 afcendancy. 
 
 This Is fo true, that we know the fhare vvbicli 
 even Briilbt had in the commencement of hS/ftilities, 
 amidfl all the provocations to them, was the principal 
 caufe of his deftru6lion, and the root of Robefpierre's 
 popularity, which enabled him to become the tyrant 
 of France. Nothing, indeed, could have withflood, 
 in the fentiments of that nation, the ftriking and 
 falutary contrail between being left to the confolida- 
 tion of her own conftitution, without any obflaelc 
 but the vices and paffions of her own fubjedls, and 
 the wilful provocation of the whole civilized world 
 cncompafling her territories with a force apparently 
 fufficient to crufh to pieces her eflablifhment, even 
 if it had not been to:tering upon its own balls from 
 internal caufes. 
 
 4 But 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 But fuppofirtg the pradicability, or the effcifls of 
 fuch a fyftem in Great Britain to be altogether falfe 
 ard vifionary ; admitting, for the fake of argument, 
 that the agitation of the French Revolution was too 
 violent, and irs principles, from the very beginning, 
 too diforganifmg and mifchievous for regular govern- 
 ments, under any reftraints, to have intermeddled 
 with or even acknowledged, nothing would follow 
 from the admiflion in favour of the war; becaufe a 
 (incere yet armed neutrality on the part of Europe 
 would have been the furell and the moft obvious 
 courfe for diflblving the new republic, or, at all 
 events, of recalling it the foonell to fome /ocial 
 order of things. 
 
 i I 
 
 . **rance was at that time (according to the au- 
 thors of the war) torn to pieces by the moft fu- 
 rious and nearly balanced fadlions, which made her 
 government a mere phantom, competent only to 
 evil, and incapable of good. Be it fo. — For ; lat 
 very reafon we fhould have obferved the moft per- 
 fe(5t, and even the moft foothing neutrality. Hete- 
 rogeneous bodies, having no principle of union ca- 
 pable of conftituting a fubftance, and which, if left 
 to themfelves, would feparate and difperfe, may be 
 bound together by external force, and pafled through 
 the furnace till they unite and incorporate. This 
 was precifely the cafe with France. She was 
 rent afunder by the internal divifions of her own 
 people, but cemented again by the confpiracy of' 
 kings. Her great leaders were banded againft each 
 
 H other 
 
 51 
 
lii'V 
 
 Hifir,, 
 
 
 ^m 
 
 II 
 
 ;p !.'! li 
 
 other, not only from the mod deadly hatred ano 
 the luft of dominion, but fcparated by the moft 
 extravagant zeal for contradictory theories of go- 
 vernment, whilft the people were tofled to and fro,thr 
 alternate vidims of repugnant and defolating changes. 
 In this unexampled crifis, perfons, capable upon 
 Other occalions of judging with accuracy and acute- 
 iicfs, were looking by every mail for the utter de- 
 ftrudion of the French government ; but they had 
 fofl the clue to the myftery, or rather to the plain 
 principle which preferved it: the Britifh minifler way 
 the guardian angel that hovered over France, and the 
 f6le creator of her ominous and portentous ftrength. 
 The neceflity of refilling by combination the ex- 
 ternal war with wiiich he furrounded her, counter- 
 adled the feparation arifing from her internal com- 
 motions. It raifed up a proud, warlike, and fuperior 
 fpirit, at the call of national independence, too ftrong 
 for the inferior fpirits, whofe enchunthients were dif- 
 folving her as a nation ; and by the operation of the 
 iimpleft principles of unalterable and univerfal na- 
 ture, rather than from any thing peculiar in the 
 charaSeriftic of Frenclmien, confolidated her mighty- 
 republic, and exhibited a career of conqueft an-t 
 glory unequalled in the annals of mankind. 
 
 In the fame manner the cruel confifeations and 
 Judicial murders, which, under the fame tyrannies 
 deftroying one another, difgraced the earlier periods 
 of the republican revolution, may be mainly afcribed 
 to the fame predominai.^t caufes. If France had been 
 
 3 kfs 
 
left by otb^r nations to the good or evil of her own 
 changes, the profcriptions which prevailed for a long 
 feafon could not Lave exifted in the fame extent in 
 any civilifed nation, nor eve* in a nation of humai^i 
 beings : but the reign of terror (as it was well called) 
 muft be always a reign of blood, becaufe there is nq 
 principle o ' t'le human mind fo Diean or fo mercilef^ 
 as fear. In proportion, therefore, as. th® government 
 of France was ihaking by externa), confpiracies, and 
 trembling for its exii'tc^ce, it became of courfe more 
 fuhjedl to internal agitation by the revolts of its own 
 fubjecls. Had it not therefore been for our unhappy 
 interference, royahfts of tlie old fchool, and royaliils 
 o^ the monarchical revolution, beuding before the 
 ftorm of national opinion, and feeing no great ftan- 
 dard hoilltd for their proteflion, would have really 
 or feemingly acquiefced in the new order of things ; 
 they would have given little offence or jealoufy to the 
 ftate, and, what is far liore important, the ftate itfclf, 
 ynimpelled by the terrors of revolt and the expences 
 of war, would not have hrA the fame irrefiftibl'^ mo- 
 tives for feizing upon the perfons and property of 
 its fubjedts ; and thus numerous claflcs of men, 
 pofleffing dignities and picperty, which have been 
 chafed from their country, or fwept off the face of 
 the earth, would have remained within the bofom 
 m France, inadive, indeed, for the prefent, but 
 whofe filent and progreffive influence (hereafter 
 
 niight have 
 form of the 
 
 greatly affeded the temper, li not the 
 government, at no very diftant period. 
 
 h^'( 
 
 H 2 
 
 This 
 
 ■i'i 
 
% '\ 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 fif 
 
 
 
 1:1 
 
 ^ 5r;|li!i'' ■! 
 
 Itilr 
 
 if'' : 
 
 Ipi 
 
 ( i^ ) 
 
 This was precifely the cafe in England upon the 
 death oF Charles the Firft : the nobles and great men 
 of the realm fubmitted to the protedorniip of Crom- 
 well, and Europe acquiefced in it. Cromwell, there- 
 fore, executed his authority according to the new 
 forms, but without any fydem of profcription. The 
 high men of the former period continued to exift, 
 and with all the influences of property, which re- 
 mained with its ancient pofleflbrs ; the monarchy 
 might, therefore, be faid to have been rather in 
 abeyance than aboliflied, and when the return of 
 Charles was planned and executed, every thing flood 
 in its place, and confpircd to favour his reftoration. 
 But if the nations of Europe had then unfuccefsfully 
 combined to reftore monarchy in England, as they 
 have lately to reftore it in France, the confequences 
 would have been exadly fimilar. The monarchical 
 party in England would have undoubtedly flocked to 
 the ftandard : they would have endeavoured by force, 
 or by intrigue, to diflblve the commonwealth; thofe 
 who were taken would have been executed as trai- 
 tors ; others would have been driven out ot England 
 as emigrants ; their great eftates would have palfed 
 into other hands; a title to them would have been 
 made by the new government to thofe who, as in 
 France, became th -creditors of the public during 
 an exhai, fling war; he whole body of nobility and 
 great landed proprietors would have perifhed in 
 England ; and Charles the Second could no more 
 have landed at Dover than Louis the Eighteenth 
 could offer himfelf before Calais at this moment. 
 
 It 
 
( 53 )■ 
 
 It may be afked, why the fagacity of that areh 
 ftatefman Cromwell did. not forefee the confequences 
 I have appealed to? and the application of my whole 
 argument is concluded, and becomes invulnerable by 
 ihe anfwer. The anfwer is— he could not do iu The 
 powers of Europe and his own fubjcds, through their 
 interference, did not furnifh him with the occafion. 
 Neither in Engb.nd, nor in France, nor in any other 
 country, will men bear bloody murders, or cruel 
 confifcations, but under the prelTure of fome aftual 
 or apparent neceffity to form the tyrant's plea. This 
 plaufible and unfortunate plea was given by con- 
 federated Europe, but principally by England, to 
 the tyrants of France; and thus the Republic became 
 not only coifolidated for the prefent, but the return 
 of ibch a ftate of things was inevitably prevented, as 
 might have led to a reftoration in France like that 
 which followed the commonwealth in England, 
 
 In the firft flages of the revolution, the French 
 people, like the Englifh in the laft century, had no 
 intereft in their governmCiit more folid, nor more 
 permanent, than the theories which had given it 
 birth. The French Republic, therefore, like the 
 Englifh commonwealth, had but a precarious and 
 doubtful foundation. But how ftands it now, in 
 confequence of our unprincipled and impolitic in- 
 terference? It ftands upon arock. — It exifl:s no longer 
 from force, but from will. It depends no longer 
 upon opinion, but leans upon intereft; and not 
 pierely upon that general intereft, which, after a ftate 
 
 of 
 
 'it 
 
Ill 
 
 
 , '•^,:;?ii'- H 
 
 m;'1' i 
 
 iit I 
 
 
 'i :ll 
 
 «|' 
 
 C 54 ) 
 
 (Cf great" agitation, naturally inclines a nation to reft, 
 hut upon a paiticular and individual intereft unive«- 
 ially fpre td. The very exiftencc of all clafles of the 
 people now depends wholly upon the power and the 
 continuance of the ftate. There is fcarcely any pro- 
 perty in France, real or perfonal, which, in the hands 
 of the prefcnt poflefTors, has any other foundation. 
 There is no ancient undifpuced pofleffion of land, 
 which has ever been a title in mod changes of hu- 
 man governments : there is no money, which may be 
 buried till the ftorm is overblown. On the contrary, 
 the land is almoft univerfally held by the public 
 credito*'s againft the former pofleflbrs, either under 
 afale from the government, or as a pledge for money 
 lent to it ,* and the paper currency of the nation 
 (which is it$ perfonal eftatej may, without lofs to the 
 proprietors, be torn into a thousand pieces, unlefs 
 the Republic continues to be one and inpi^ 
 
 VISIBLE. 
 
 In the very point in difference at this moment, 
 whichftands as a Humbling block in the way of peace, 
 the force of this important truth may fpeedily be 
 made manifefl. With all the influence of the Britifh 
 minifter, he cannot probably continue the war for 
 any long feafon on the fcore of Belgium; and for this 
 plain reafon, the intereft which the public ought to 
 take in its feparation from France, bears no rational 
 proportion to the price at which it muft be purchafc4 
 through war, fuppofing the event to be even certain. 
 The people therefore will fpeedily murmur; and as 
 Mr. Pitt muft either abandon Belgium or his fitua- 
 
 tion. 
 
i> »■; 
 
 ( ss ) 
 
 tion, it is eafy to anticipate the ele<5lion he will' make. 
 France, on the other hand, will find fewer difficulties 
 with her fubjcds. The wifdom of minifters has pro-- 
 vided againft it. Belgium, through the neceflitics of 
 war, has been pledged to the public creditor, and 
 the furrender of it upon any principle fhort of a ne- 
 ceffity which fuperfedes all choice, would be a fur- 
 rende; of the very CKiftence of her republic. 
 
 
 • t am not defending France; 1 am dating her actual 
 fituation, her views, and her capacities, and am en- 
 deavouring to trace thenn to their original and obvi- 
 ous caufes. 
 
 n. 
 as 
 a- 
 n. 
 
 But it was a contefl:, it feems, to fave religion and 
 its holy altars from profanation and annihilation. 
 Of all the pretences by which the abufed zeal of 
 the people of England has been hurried on to a blind 
 fupport of minifters, this alarm for the Chriftian reli- 
 gion is the moft impudent and prepofterous. How 
 it could fucceed, for a moment, in an enlightened 
 age, and with a nation of Chriilians, will probably ba 
 confidered hereafter as one of the moft remarkable 
 events which has diftinguifhed this age of wonders. 
 
 . Before this difcovery of the prefent minifters, wh» 
 had ever heard of the Chriftianity of the French 
 court, and its furrounding nobles, towards whom the 
 hurricane of revolution was principally di reeled ? 
 Who had ever heard of their evansielical chara6lcrs fo 
 »s to lead to an apprehenfion that Chriftianity muft 
 
 be 
 
Ill'tii 
 
 'm 
 
 i|i'i!f ' I 
 
 i'li ■ 
 
 0' , 
 
 44 
 
 I I 
 
 ( SO ) 
 
 be extiriguiflicd with their extinflion? Who that 
 ever really profcfled the C'liiftian religion, from the 
 times of the apoftles to ihp prefcnt moment, ever 
 before confidered it as a human eftablifliment, the 
 work of particular men or nations, fubjeft to decline 
 with their changes, or to perilh with their falls ? No 
 man ever exifted who is more alive to every thing 
 connedled with the Chriftian faith than the author of 
 thefe pages, or more unalterably imprefled with its 
 truths ; but thefe very imp' cfTions deprive me of any 
 ihare in that anxious concern of the cabinet at 
 St. James's for the prefervation of religion, which 
 was going to ruin, it feems, with the fall of the 
 grofs fuperftitions and abominable corruptions of 
 the priefthood and monarchy of France. Weak 
 men, not to have remembered, before they difturbed 
 the repofe of the world by their pious apprehenfions, 
 that the fabric of Chriftianity was raifed in direifl op- 
 pofition to all the powers and eftablilhments of the 
 world, and that we have the authority of God him- 
 felf, that all the nations of the earth fliall be finally 
 gathered together under its fliadow. Rafh men, not 
 to have reficvfled before they embarked in this crufade 
 of defolation, that hov;ever good may be attained 
 through evil, in the myfterious fyftem of Divine Pro- 
 vidence, it is not for man to fupport that religion, 
 which commands peace and good will upon earth, by 
 a deliberate and deep laid fyftem of bloodfhed, fa- 
 mine, and devaftation. I by no means intend to in- 
 culcate by thefe obfervations, that, becaufc Chriftia- 
 nity, if ic be founded in truth, mud ultimately pre- 
 vail 
 
 'ill 
 
(57 J 
 
 Vail over all oppofition, that therefore Chriftian na- 
 tions, or Chriftian individuals, are abfolved from their 
 aflivicies in its defence, or in its propagation. Iir 
 this, as in all other hunnan difpenfations, the Supreme 
 Being adls by means that are human> and our dutiei 
 are only exalted inftead of being weakened by this 
 awful corifideration : but thefe duties, whilft they. 
 ferve to quicken our zeal in what is good, can in no 
 inftance involve us in what is eviK They dignify 
 that piety which propagates the gofpel by Chriftian 
 charities, but cond'*mn that raftinefs which would 
 eftablifli or extend it by force. ... • .n 
 
 ' * * 
 
 This condemnation, from the vc-y eflence of Chrif- 
 tianity, muft fall' even upon honeft error aflerting its 
 dominion by the fword : but if the condemnation 
 fliould ever happen to range more widely, fo as to 
 involve ambition, dealing coldly in blood, for its own 
 fcandalous purpofes, under the garb of meeknefs and 
 truth, I dare not adrnit into my mind even an idea 
 of the punifliment which ought to follow* I would 
 rather from humanity invoke the patience of God 
 and man, than invite or diredl their vengeance* 
 
 The pretence of a war waged againft opinions to 
 check, as it was alledged, the contagion of their pro* 
 pagation, is equally fenfelefs and extravagant. The 
 fame reafon might equally have united all nations, in 
 all times, agai^ift the progreflive changes which have 
 conduded nations from barbarifm to light, and from 
 defpotifm to freedom. It ought indiflblubly to have 
 
 1 com- 
 
 ''S 
 
 I 
 
 !;»' 
 
i; 
 
 .;: 
 
 ( 5« ) 
 
 Combined the catholic kingdoms to wage eternal wir, 
 til! the principles of the reformation, leading to a 
 new civil cftablifhment, had been abandoned. It 
 ihould have kept the fword unfheathcd until the 
 United Provinces returned to the fubjedion of Spain, 
 until King William's title and the eftablifliment of 
 the Britifh revolution had given way to the perfons 
 and prerogatives of the Stuarts, and until Wafhing- 
 ton, inftead of yielding' up the cares of a republican 
 empire to a virtuous and free people, in the face of 
 an admiring and aftonifhed world, fhould have been 
 dragged as a traitor to the bar of the Old Bailey, and 
 his body quartered upon Tower Hill. 
 
 I ilh'l' 
 
 1 1 
 
 All thefe changes were alike in their turns calum- 
 niated and reprobated, and fought with by the abufes 
 which they difgraced and trampled on. Timohas 
 now placed in the fliade the arguments and the deeds 
 by which wifdom and valour triumphed : they arc 
 there only viewed by learning and retirement, which 
 enables cowardice and folly, by artifices formerly de- 
 feated, the eaficr to impofe upon a bufy or an un- 
 thinking world. 
 
 But it is maintained, that independent of the gene- 
 ral intereft of all nations to fupprefs irreligion and 
 anarchy, the exiftence of the French revolution had a 
 dired and immediate bearing on the fecurity of the 
 Britijh government \ that the political principles which 
 of old divided the country, and formed a falutary op- 
 pofition to the crown, had taken an entirely new and 
 
 dangerous. 
 
^^11 
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 dangerous dIre<Stion ; that the firft principles of our 
 mixed and balanced government were held up to 
 deriiion and reproach ; that the privileged orders of 
 the ftate were mocked and infulted ; whilft the reign 
 of liberty, under a republican form, was anticipated 
 with enthuliafm by large clalFcs of the people. 
 
 Without at all admitting this to have been the 
 cafe in the extent contended for, and relying, as I 
 have already done, upon the judgments of our folemn 
 tribunals for the refutation of it ; yet, for the fake 
 of the argument, afluming it to be true, I am again 
 utterly at a lofs to difcover what is gamed from flie 
 admiflion by the advocates for the war. Such a dif- 
 pofition in any confiderable clafTes of the people 
 might have called for particular prudence in govern- 
 ment, and might have juftified particular exertions 
 of police. It might, in the honell opinion of many, 
 have been a ftrong argument againft yielding to any 
 reforms at that particular moment ; it might have 
 fuggefted fome referves in the communications with 
 France, even in times of peace, during the crifis of 
 her political explofion ; and it might have j'lftificd 
 vigorous profecutions, carried on in the fpirit and, 
 according to the pra6\ice of the laws. But I demand 
 of the returning reafon of the country, how the appre- 
 hended danger from the contagion of opinions could 
 poflibly be averted by war, or by the concomitant 
 meafures which were an infcparable part of the fyf- 
 tem? Were the forms of our .ree government likely 
 to be better recojiciled to the minds of alienated fub- 
 
 I 2 jc£ls 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 •1.! 
 
 Ms 'J 
 
 m 
 
r 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 jcds by depriving them of the a(^ual fubftancc of 
 freedom, which it ii the obje6l of all governments to 
 iecure? If they were difcontentcd with the Englifh 
 conflitution, was it likely that an attack upon the 
 rights of juries, the alteration of the facred laws of 
 King Edward the Tiiird, and the fufpenfion of the 
 a6l of Habeas Corpus, would bring them back to 
 their former zeal and admiration of it ? If a con- 
 tempt for their reprefentatives was the crime imputed 
 to them, and a difpolition to invade their authority 
 was the danger to be averted, was it the wifcll courle 
 to erc6l the Houfc of Commons into a grand jury 
 to fmd capital bills of indidmcnt for the crown 
 againfl: the people, and to prejudge their caufes by 
 publifliing the aceufing evidence under the crufliing 
 weight of their authority ? If the arillocratic part of 
 fhc Hate was unhappily loiing its due eflimation in 
 popular opinion, was it prudent, at that particular 
 moment, to deflroy all that was venerable in the peer- 
 age, from ancient dignities and names of renown in 
 the befl- times of England, by filling the Houfe of 
 Lord with the proprietors of contemptible boroughs 
 without even a pretence of public lervice ; and ad* 
 vancing to high titles, over the heads of the moll 
 ancient peers in the kingdom, men familiar to our 
 recollection in very fubordinate fit nations, marked 
 during their whole lives by their fervile dependence 
 upon all minifters, and odious to the people from 
 their notorious attachment to arbitary principles of 
 government ? If it be pofiible to add to this climax 
 of folly, was it reafonable to expedt, that by rufliing 
 
 blindly 
 
( 9' ) 
 
 blindly into war, and thereby impofing the inevIt^bU 
 ncccffity of new taxes to an incalculable amo,uDt> 
 we Ihould purge away the fplecn which the very 
 weight of taxes had notorioully engendered ? Laftlyn 
 was it the right c( iirfe to efcape from the confe* 
 quences of French opinions, when we knew to a cer- 
 tainty that it was not from the opinions with which 
 wc were to fight, but from that very fyftem of war 
 jind taxation that we were purfuing, as a remedy far 
 difaffedlion, that the French monarchy flruck upon 
 the rock of revolution ? , . i . 
 
 I dcfire only to be rcfpedled or dcfpifed, to be 
 confidered as a man of common fenfe or a madkaan, 
 as the fair ptiblic voice of England \^ fvm now pre- 
 pared to anfwer thefe qucftions. 
 
 The caufc of this bold appeal to an enlightened 
 country is obvious. IC the ((ueilion be alkcd, m 
 what the excellence of every human government 
 mull confift ; the anfwer from civilized man th :ough- 
 out the v^orld muli be invariable and univerfal. It is 
 that which fecures ibc ends of civil fociety with the 
 fcwefl rt'flraints and at the leaft expence. This is un?- 
 doubtedly true government. This is that fyftemof 
 rule and order in fociety, exifling by exprefs or tacit 
 confent, howc\ jr it may have at firfl begun, ot by 
 whatever progrcfs it may have become eftablifhed, 
 which fecures the greatell number of benefits and 
 (enjoyments, and which fecures them permanently 5 
 which impofes the fewefl poffible retbaints beyond 
 
 thofe 
 
 I 
 
,1 ■ • 
 
 ril 
 
 I 
 
 
 i 
 
 ,i 
 
 m 
 
 :l:\ 
 
 n 
 
 ( 6z ) 
 
 tlioic which a found, moral, and a wife police ought 
 to fugged in every country, and which leaves the 
 fubjedl in full pofleflion of all that induflry or harm- 
 Icfs chance can bring along with them, fubje6l only 
 to the ordinary internal expcnces of a frugal govern- 
 ment, and the extraordinary contributions, to fecurc 
 its prefervation and independence. This was once 
 the emphatical defcription of the Englifli govern- 
 ment, but it is infcnfibly ceafing to be fo : not that 
 the conftitution is loft ; but that its ineflimable objedl . 
 is in the courfe of being facrinced to a falfe and pre- 
 tended zeal for its prefervation. Taxation, as I have 
 juflobfervedjis the univerfal prict which mufl univer- 
 fallybe paid as a fecurity for a national eftablifliment; 
 but there are limits to every thing ; if by rafh and 
 unneceffary wars, and by a venal fyftem of expen- 
 diture, even in times of peace the revenue gets to the 
 point which, without vijiant repentance and refor- 
 mation, is faft approaching ; the nation (by which I 
 mean the great mafs and body of the people) can 
 have no longer any poffible interefl in the defence or 
 prefervation of their government : for if this fyftem 
 of finance is perfifted in, what has government in the 
 end to fecure ? Not the property of the people de- 
 rived from their induflry, but the property of the 
 public creditor, to whom that induftry is pledged j 
 and thus all the majcfty and dignity of the ft ate may 
 degenerate into a mere machinery, necelTary to pro- 
 te6l the legalized incumbrance by further burdens on 
 the fubjedl, vvhofe labour and exiftence are mort- 
 gaged. In fuch a lituation, a government may too 
 
 lats 
 
( «3 ) 
 
 late difcover its error and infecurity; becaufe the 
 very zeal of the higher orders which encourages it in 
 its extravagance, is, upon the Brfl principle of human 
 nature, an inducement to the lower orders to revolt. 
 Adverting to this awful confidcration, I have been 
 fhocked in the extreme at the late oltentatious 
 triumph of the loan by fubfcription. Very many 
 perfons, I am perfuaded, have fubfcribed to it from 
 real motives of public fpirit, and their exertion was a 
 mod feafonable and critical relief to the ftatej but 
 paffing by the condition to which minifters have 
 reduced their country, when public fpirit may be 
 really nianifeftcd towards a government by a loan 
 which would condudt a private lender to a prifon as 
 an ufurer, what muft be the refleflions of the middle 
 clafTes and the labouring poor of England upon the 
 facil/'y cf taxation, which this fort of patriotifm pro- 
 duces ? The rich lend their money at ten per cent, 
 but the public induftry is mortgaged for the payment 
 of the intereft, and every article of confumption is 
 already almoft beyond the reach of the artificer and 
 hufbandman, fcrewed up as they are in proportion 
 as they happen to come within the vortex of this 
 accumulating revenue. 
 
 To what length this fyftem may extend with- 
 out a great public calamity, I purpofcly avoid 
 difcuflingj but the fupport given by the delufion 
 of the higher clafTes of the public to a fyftem of 
 meafures at once fo weak and fo deftrudive, fo un- 
 juft to the people, and fo deftru6tive' to themfelves, 
 
 pofterity. 
 
 1 1 
 
 I :-M 
 
 
I If," I* 
 
 l^i 
 
 |»l 
 
 C H \ 
 
 joljcrity, if not the prefent generation, may have 
 qqcafion to lament in unavailing fackcloth. The 
 danger to the monied intereft and the proprietors of 
 th? fundsi by the prefent unexampled expenditpre>. is 
 certainly the moft prominent and imminei t. A 
 danger which they have thenifelves provoked, and 
 which is becoming critical by their own infatuation. 
 But the proprietors of lands would do well to recol- 
 left alfo that their fituation is fcarcely preferable. 
 T.'ic war could neither have been begun nor con- 
 tin\jed to this hour, if the great reprefcntatives of the 
 larjded inrercft had not fupported the minifters who 
 projeded it \ and I cannot believe that the people of 
 Great Britain, whofe fortunes depend upon public 
 credit, or the Parliament reprefcnting that people, 
 will .^ver confent either to a bankruptcy or to any 
 infolvent compofition with the government, withouC 
 a procefs, which in the horrors of revolution would 
 be a difgraceful confifcatioaj but which in the legal 
 reformatioris, impofed by neceffity and juflice upon 
 the councils of a moral ^nd intelligent people, would 
 teach every diftind clafs a.ud order of mankind, that 
 their interefts are infeparably interwoven with the 
 intereft of the wnole corumunity ; and that they muft 
 always bear their contingent in the final fettlement of 
 ft national account. " . ./ 
 
 Amongft the public fupportcrs in Par;liament of 
 
 thefe meafures I am complaining of, and amongft.the 
 
 higher clalTes of men, vho with equal zeal have 
 
 piivately fupporf^d them, I know there are many, 
 
 4 very 
 
( «J ) 
 
 Viery tnany perfons of the firft honour, of the cleafeft 
 mtegrity, and tht; beft general fenfe, however rt^if* 
 guided upon this particular fubjcd. Indeed, it is a 
 matter of great comfort to me to believe, as I do 
 tnoft firmly^, that notwithftanding the wide range of 
 luxury and corruption, the nation is enlightened and 
 Virtuous. 1 defire indeed to faften pcrfonal ignominy 
 br reproach upon no individual, public or private. 
 I leave every man's motives to his own confcience, 
 and to Him who alone can fearch them. But theft 
 tonceflions, which private honour and publi': de- 
 cency alike exad fronn me, leave me neverthelefs in 
 TuH pofffdlon of the privilege of a British fubjeft, 
 \^hich I fhall fearlefsly proceed to exercife, by 
 charging the full, exclufive, and conftitutional re- 
 lj>bhfibility of all confequences upon thofe minltlers 
 who have officially advifed and conduced the mea- 
 furcs which produced them. 
 
 ^-:! 
 
 of 
 
 he 
 
 ry 
 
 iTo ellimate rightly the extent of this refponfibility, 
 let us ibok at the comparative conuition of Gi'eat 
 Britain, if even fortitude and patience can bear to 
 look at it, had the prefent war been avoided by pru- 
 dent councils i and if the one hundred millions of 
 money abfoluccly thrown away upon it, or even half 
 of that fum had been raifed by a vigorous and popular 
 adminiftration for the redudlion of the national debt. 
 Fancy can hardly forbear to indulge in fuch a reno- 
 vating fcene of profperity; a fcene ' 'hich unhappily it 
 is now her exclufive and melan^.ioly privilege to 
 refort to, 
 
 K • We 
 
■?)" 
 
 'I 
 
 J: 
 iiii 
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 Wc Ihould have feen a moral, ingenious, and 
 induftrious people, confenting to an encreafe of bui- 
 dens to repair the errors of their fathers, and to ward 
 off their confcrquences from crufhing their pofterity ; 
 but enjoying under the prefllire of them the virtuous 
 9onrolation, that they were laying the foundation of 
 a lonw career of national happinefs ; feeing every 
 relaxed and wearied finew of the government coming 
 back to its vigour, not by fudden reft, which is an 
 enemy to convalefcence, but by the gradual diminu- 
 tion of the weight which overprefied them. Obferv- 
 ^ng new fources of trade and manufacture burfting 
 forth like the buds of the fpring as the frofts of winter 
 are gradually chafed away, and feeing with pride and 
 fatisfadion, in the hands of a wife and frugal govern- 
 mCBt, a large and growing capital for the refrelhment 
 of all its dependencies. To encourage and to extend 
 marine eftablilhments, our only real fecurity againft 
 the hour when ambition might difturb the repofe of 
 nations, To give vigour to arts and manufaflures, 
 by large rewa-ds and bounties. To feed and to em- 
 ploy the poor, by grand and cxtenfive plans of national 
 improvement. To remove by degrees the preflfure 
 of complicated revenue, and with it the complicated 
 and galling penalties infeparable from its colledion 
 To form a fund, to Ijring juftice within the reach 
 and to the very doors of the poor, and, by a large 
 public revenue at the command of the magiftracy, 
 to ward off the mileries, the refleftion of which, 
 under the beft fyilem of laws in the world, and under 
 their pureft adniiiiidration, have wrung with frequent 
 
 ; forrovf 
 
( 6; ) 
 
 (brrow the heart of the wriier of thefc pages* 
 And, finally, to enable this great, benevolent, and 
 enlightened country, with a more liberal and exhauft- 
 lefs hand, to advance in her glorious career of huma- 
 njfing the world, and fpreading the lights of the 
 golpel to the uttermon- coiners of the earth. All 
 thcfe animating vifions are, I am afraid, fled for ever. 
 It will be happy now if Great Britain, amidfl: the 
 fufferings and diftrefles of her inhabitants, can main- 
 tain her prefent trade, and preferve, even with all its 
 defedts, her prefent inellimable conflitution. 
 
 em- 
 nal 
 
 Ofure 
 cated 
 ^ion 
 reach 
 arge 
 
 racy, 
 hich, 
 jnder 
 quent 
 irovf 
 
 Having fliewn the origin of th^ '• ,% and the exer- 
 tions made by the fmall minority a Parliament, I 
 now proceed to expofe to the nation the blindnefs 
 and obflinacy with which it was purfued ; in fpite of 
 a feries of the mofl favourable opportunities to ter- 
 minate it with advantage in the beginning, and in 
 defiance afterwards of a chain of events in rapid and 
 difaftrous fuccefTion. which manifefted the utter im- 
 pra£licabili':y of the obje(5ls for which it was perfevered 
 in. I will do this from a fhort review of the princi- 
 pal proceedings of Parliament upon the fubjefl, which 
 fpeak for themfelvesj their exiftence cannot be denied, 
 nor their contents mifreprefented with effe6b. I fcleft 
 thofc of the Houfe of Commons, not only becaufe I 
 was perfonally prefent at moft of them, but becaufe 
 they arc notorioufly the foundation of all the tranf- 
 aflions of government. 
 
 K2 
 
 Hofti- 
 
m 
 
 
 III 
 
 P 
 
 mi 
 
 8i', ' 'i 
 
 Ski'' 
 
 l^!'»- 
 
 ;l rl 
 
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 HoftilkJe^ had fcarcely been commenced, vihen 
 the fubjeft was again brought before the Houfe of 
 Commons by Mr. Grey; a gentleman w,ho has juftjy 
 endeared himfclf to his country by his able and in- 
 defatigable exertions throughout every ftage of this 
 extraordinary conjunfture, and who has fecured to 
 himfelf the well-earned fame of a mod accompliftied 
 orator, and, what is better, of an honcft ftatefman, in 
 times of unexampled profligacy and corruption. 
 
 On the 2ift of February, ^793> Mr. Grey pm- 
 pofed an addrefs to the King, expofing the mifcon- 
 duifl of his minifters in plunging the nation into war 
 ■without any adequate neccfficy, and lamenting the 
 pretexts by which its popularity was promoted;, in 
 furprifing the humanity of Engliftimcn into meafures 
 which their deliberate judgments would condemn, 
 and by influencing their mod virtuous fenfibilities 
 "into a blind and furious zeal for a war of vengeance. 
 The conclurion " implored his Majejly to fiize tks mofl 
 ** imnudiate opportunity of putting a flop to the hojiilities 
 *' which threatened all Europe zvith the greateft ca- 
 " laniities." 
 
 !:||j; 
 
 No, other anfwer was given to this feafonable pro** 
 pofition, than that the Houfe had already' and re- 
 cently decided upon the queftion ; and not only nc? 
 Hep was taken to open the way to negotiation, but, 
 on the contrary, after many other fruitkfs attempts 
 loivards the fame obJe£ij his M?jefty*s minifters, at the 
 
 opfnirg 
 
the 
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 Opening ot the following fcflion, on the 21ft oC 
 January, 1794, with greater fincerity than has in 
 general charadcrifed their proceedings, boldly and 
 plainly avowed the principle on which the war had 
 been begun, and was to be profccutcd, viz. ** To 
 *' oppofe that wild arid dejlru^ive fyjlem of rapine^ 
 ** anarchy, impiety y and ir religion, the effe5ls of which^ 
 ** ai they had been manifejled in France, furnijhed a 
 *' dreadful but ufeful kjjon to the prefent age an4 
 *' pojlerity." — This was the avowed principle of Con- 
 tinuing the war, as appears by a reference to his 
 Majefty's Speech.* — Not a word was faid upon th^ 
 footing of territory and conqueft — ^although ail the 
 Auftrian Netherlands had then been reduced under 
 the government of the Emperor, although Mcntz had 
 been recaptured, and foon after Valenciennes, Condc, 
 and Quefnoy, taken ; and although Holland had 
 been delivered from an impending invalion. 
 
 Under thefe circumftances, fo favourable for ne- 
 gotiation, fo critical for terminating the war on terms 
 advantageous to England and her allies, (if it had 
 proceed :d upon any rational intelligible foundation) not 
 only no motion was made towards an amicable ar- 
 rangement, but a principle of hoflilities was thus 
 openly developed, which wholly and abfolutely pre- 
 cluded the return of peace. 
 
 This declaration of minillers, as contained in the 
 King's Speech, \Vas the more ilriking and extraor- 
 
 *• Vide the King's Spcedi, aid Jan. 1794. 
 
 dinary, 
 
 Si 1 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
If 
 
 I , 
 
 Ill 
 
 ( 70 ) 
 
 dinary, as it dire(5lljr refuted their own unfounded 
 aflertion, that the war had proceeded from France. 
 Mr. Pitt had continued to aflert in Parliament, long 
 after the difmifHon of Chauvelin, that the King had 
 JtVl left the door open to negotiation and amicahle ad^ 
 jufiment : vet no fooner was the war begun than 
 its continuance was avowed and fupportcd upon a 
 principle, which (hewed that peace could, under no 
 concefijons of France, have been prefervt d. For as 
 the war was to be waged to fubdue principles and 
 opinions; to change the government and not to punifh 
 overt afts of infult; or to enforce le^itution; it is 
 plain, that the door had never been left open at all, as 
 the minifter had pretended, fince France was pre- 
 cifely in the fame (late at this moment as when 
 M. Chauvelin was ordered to quit the kingdom; and 
 if the return of peace was at the opening of thefeflion 
 declared to be inadmifTible, whilft the principles of 
 her government continued, it follows, that the original 
 prefervation of peace mufl have been equally inad- 
 mifTible, whatever conceffions might have been made 
 by France to preferve it; fince the felf-fame fyftem 
 cxifted at the commencement of the war, which was 
 now pronounced to be an infuperable obflacle to 
 negotiation. I hope the time is now arrived, or at 
 leafl is rapidly arriving, when the calm common fenfe 
 of the country will deteft fuch palpable duplicity. 
 
 This new and fatal principle of hoftility was ren- 
 dered flill more clear from the poflure of the debate 
 upon the Addrcfs; which was led, »,'; the part of the 
 
 govern- 
 
( 71 ) 
 
 government, by the Earl of Mornington, in a very 
 able and complicated fpeech, the refiik of much 
 thought and labour, and delivered with great force. 
 It was afterwards pnblifhcd as a fort of creed of mi- 
 nifters upon ihe fubjeft of the war. Towards the 
 conclufion of this fpccch, as far as I could hear 
 diftindtly from the enthufiaftic approbation which the 
 fentiiTient produced, it contained thefe exprefTions: 
 '* That wh'iljl the prefent^ or any Jacobin government 
 ** continued in France^ no propojition for peace could be 
 " received or propofed by England,'' I forbear to re- 
 mark upon the fallac) of the means by which this 
 ftout propoficipn wasjuftified; time has unfortunately 
 been beforehand with me upon the fubjefl ; events 
 have already trampled upon tlie principles, and ro 
 futed the calculations. 
 
 n- 
 ite 
 he 
 n- 
 
 Upon this orcafion the Minifter, the Houfe, and 
 the Nation, received another folemn warning from 
 Mr. Fox, againft the phrenzy of thus purfuing a 
 conteft big with the mod ruinous confequences, w//^- 
 cut any defined or definable objeEl, This extraordinary 
 man, fummoning up all thf mighty powers of his ca- 
 pacious mind, in a fpeech of utiparalltled depth, com- 
 prehenfion, and eloquence, detailed the inevitable 
 confequences of fuch a proceeding : he predided 
 the future conlblidation of France from our very 
 efforts to deflroy her: he anticipated the diflblutiot^ 
 of a confederacy cemented by no intelligible principle 
 of common intereft : he looked forward to the de- 
 fedion of fome, to the fubjugation of others, and 
 
 with 
 
 M' 
 
If-';' 
 
 ( 7a ) 
 
 ^ith a too prophetic pencil (would to God he had 
 been permitted to expunge the fcene again by hi» 
 f)wn councils !) painted the melancholy and difaftrous 
 ftate to which his country would in the end be re- 
 duced, and whicli I aflcrt to be nearly her condition at 
 this moment. Left almofl: fingle as We are upon (he 
 theatre of war — afking for peace, but afking for it in 
 vain, upon terms which without war were not only 
 within our reach to obtain, but left to us to di(5latd — 
 afking for peace in France under the j.reflure of a 
 necelTity created by our own folly— -afking it of the 
 i-egicide Direftory, whofe ekiftence (1 appeal to Mr. 
 Burke and Lord Fitzwilliam) was pronounced to "be 
 perpetual war. Silent upon the 'fubjetft of religion, 
 without any atonement to its violated altars—- and 
 feeking by a thoufand fubterfuges and artifices un- 
 worthy of a great nation (and which mufl and will 
 certainly be unfuccefsful) to reftore peace without 
 humbling the pride of the minifters who provoked 
 -the war, by confenting to terms which uothing but 
 their own imbecility could have raifed France to tfhi 
 condition of ofFeringj or have reduced England t6 
 the mortification of accepting.* 
 
 In order to relieve the country from the horrible 
 condition of thus waging a war without a defined ob- 
 ject, and confequently without a profped of termi- 
 nation, Mr, Grey, on the 26th of January, I7^5> 
 
 * A motion for peace was alfo made in the Houfe of Lords, 
 on the 17th of February, by the Marquis of Lanfdowne, fup- 
 porred by a moft enlightened and convincing fpcech v»po« the 
 rottenncfs of that eonfederacy which has fince fallen to pieces. 
 
 made 
 
up. 
 
 the 
 
 ( ?3 ) 
 
 tnacVe a motion " to declare it to he the opinion of the 
 ** Itoiife of Commons i that the exijience of the prejent 
 " government of France ought not to be conjidcred as 
 f* including at that time a negotiation for peace '^ 
 
 ' At this time his Majefty's minifteiS had begun to 
 open their eyes to the improbability of reftoring the 
 French monarchy, or, indeed, any monarchical cfta- 
 biifhment in France, and had begun to fee alfo the 
 danger of being pledged to war during the exifterice 
 of her republican conftitution. For although Mr. 
 Grey*s propofition had been diJUnSlfy Jlatedy and as 
 fkarly and dyitnBly accepted for debate by the minijier, 
 as if it had been an iflTue framed by lawyers for judi- 
 cial decifion, yet on the day of the motion he fled 
 front) the difcuflion thus tisndered and received, and 
 mterpofed the following dexterous, but difaftrous, 
 amendment*—" Deflaring thf determination of thf 
 i' Houfe tofupport the King in the profecution of the jufi 
 ** and neceffary war, and praying his Majefy to employ 
 ** the refiurces of the country t0 profecute it with vigour 
 '* and effect until a* pacification could bb 
 
 *' EFFECTED ON JUST AND HONOURABLE TERMS 
 ^* WITH ANY GOVERNMENT OF FrANCE CAPABLE 
 ^* OF MAINTAINING THE ACCUSTOMED RELA- 
 ^' TIONS OP PEACE AND AMlTy YHDl OTHE^ 
 '* COUNTRIES.** 
 
 The objeft of diis amendment vvhich the late 
 Houfe of Commons adopted is almoft too plain for 
 commentary. The minifter, unable to juftify an ab- 
 ^lute rpfufai of negotiation upon any terms wifh the 
 
 L cxifting 
 
 
 m 
 
 #1 
 
 ''a\ 
 
m 
 
 N 
 
 C 74 ) 
 
 cxifting French government, but being refolved not 
 to negotiate for the present, nor to pledge him- 
 feif to any futuiI? period when he would negotiate, 
 nor to any diftinft principles or circumflances by 
 which he might ftand in any degree pledged at any 
 time upon the fubjeifl, had recourfs to the abfolutely 
 general terms of his own amencjment tp evacje Mr. 
 Grey's propofuion. What fort of government it 
 was, or might be, which fliould create or fecure this 
 (rapacity uf maintaining tbe relations of amity he rc- 
 fcrved for his own fingle determination, to be after- 
 lyards exerclfed juft as it might fuit his convenience 
 from the contingencies of ^dverfity or fuccefs. If 
 fuccefs attended the war, he might contih to deny 
 the capacity of preferving amity, and purfue the fyf- 
 tem of fubjugation or utter externrii nation j whilft on 
 the other hand, if the adverfity foretold to him over- 
 took him, he might recede from his haughty prc- 
 tenfions without inconfiftency qr humiliation, and, 
 without any change of the principles to be fubdued 
 by war, declare the return of a focial ancl civil capa-. 
 city of his own mere cre^fion. 
 
 y^ 
 
 P 
 
 It 
 
 Jf this tranfa^lion, pregnant wjch fo many dangers, 
 were not thus authenticated by the very Joqrna's of 
 Parliament, the hi(lorian )*ho Ihould vepture to 
 tranfmit it to future times would fcarccly find credit 
 for his narration. 
 
 We fee ^ mighty and warlike nation, with a pQ? 
 pulation of twenty-five millions of fouls, fituated top 
 at our very dcors, and wi:h \\bich therefore fooner oj 
 
 latef 
 
tOQ 
 
 ( is ) 
 
 liter wc muft cither cultivate a friendly intctcc jtCe, 
 or live in a perpetual ftatc of warfare ; we fee 
 fuch a community put with a fingle ftroke of the 
 pen out of the pale and communion of civilized na- 
 tions. We fee her (whilft, ftrange to tell! peace was 
 avowed to be our obje<fl) branded in the face of all 
 Europe as a (landing plagUe, abomination, and re- 
 proach, not upon any l-ecent acl of aggreffion or 
 infult, nor upon any aflual or alledged refinance to 
 propofitions of peace and amity from ourfclvts dr 
 from other nations, but only upon this arrogant and 
 infulcing pretext of a politic incapacity wholly and 
 purpofely undefined. 
 
 By this linparilleled procedure, the French nation, 
 inftead of being drawn infenfibly back to the humane 
 and fecial order from which the paroxyfms of her 
 revolution had diverted her — inftead of being ac 
 once awed by and reconciled to Great Britain, front 
 feeing her purfuirtg a fyftem adliVeonly as it regarded 
 her own fecurity, but in all other refpeds neutral^ 
 and even complacent, fhe has been brought to a tem- 
 per of rooted jealoufy and difguft: and as an animal 
 purfued bey^pnd the ordinary courfe for which its 
 common powers and inftinds are bellowed, rifes to a 
 pitch of fagaCity, ftrength, and boldncfs, which the 
 natural hiftorian can take no account of, fo France, 
 thus baited and infulted, thus furrounded by nations 
 with the arm of death lifted againft her, has equally 
 put at fault the ordinary calculations of national ex- 
 ertions, and brought this ralh and dangerous mi- 
 
 L a nifter 
 
 1 
 
 ft 
 
 1) 
 
s 
 
 '!:} 
 
 ■j.'^ 
 
 
 r 
 
 m. 
 
 
 hi 
 
 Isi 
 
 < 7<; ) 
 
 niftcr to u ftate of repentance unfortunately too late kf 
 his country. 
 
 The charge which this tranfaif^ion eftabiifhej 
 againft him is of the mof! ferious and heavy com- 
 plexion. We are now defircd by this very minillef 
 to raifc the cry againft the ainbition of France j .gainft 
 her infolent demeanour on the fubjcifl of peace, and 
 her contempt of the balances which treaties have 
 cllablifhed in Europe. If to obey this call would 
 fcrve the intereits of n^y country, I fliould think it a 
 pious fraud to burn thele pages, and to join in the 
 abufe. But as railing at our enemies will neither 
 conciliate nor fubdue them, it is fit to recoiled that 
 the infolence of ber deportment has been didated, if 
 notjuftified, by mir own. It is the Britifh minifler 
 who has enabled France to hold a language which it 
 may not, perhaps, be in our power to filcncc, and 
 which, under ilmiiar circumuances, would be the 
 iiniverfal language of man from the Pole to the 
 Equator, if French principles, French opinions, and 
 French revolution., had never exi^led in die world. 
 
 Every jjcople, i'o abfurdly and impoliticly ontragcJ, 
 Tx-ould hold this language to us: — 'You, who now 
 from no jurtice or good-will towards us, hut under 
 the preflurc of a necefTity created by yourfclvcs, pre-* 
 fent yourfelves at Paris with the balance of Europe 
 in your hands, which you call upon us to refpedl > 
 YOU were the firfl- to break it to pieces for our dis*. 
 ftrudion. You expunged us even from amongft the 
 4 nations 
 
( 77 ) 
 
 nations whofc aggregate compofc that Europe y(ki 
 would thus adju(l and biiiance ; and you invited all the 
 nations, which fhould be poifed in its fcales for com-> 
 mon fecurity, to put themfclves together into one 
 fcalc to crufli and overwh'^lmn us. In the refiftancc 
 of this unprincipled confjjiracy, and for our own 
 fecurity againft its efFefts, we have feized upon the 
 territories of the principal confpirator, and we will 
 preferve them as a barrier againft the dangers we haivc 
 furmounted, which, under other circumftances, might 
 have been fatal. You now talk to us of your treaty 
 with this Emperor, and we have no right to queftion 
 the merit of that fidelity which binds you to each 
 other. If you agreed not to lay down the fword but 
 by common confent, it is not for France to argue 
 Great Britain into a breach of her obligations. But 
 what have we to do with the terms of a treaty between 
 the Emperor and England which had our utter de- 
 flrudion as a nation for its foundation ; and if, as 
 you aflcrt, (perhaps with reafon) that it is inadinifll- 
 ble for France to fct up the annexation of Belgium, 
 and the demands of her conjlitution as a bar to the 
 propofed retroceflion, it is no lefs inadmiflibie for 
 Great Britain to fet up her own treaties with belli- 
 gerent nations made without the confei.t of France, 
 and made only for her deftrudion, as hei 'ultimatum 
 for the reftoration of the peace which ^^ propofes. 
 
 Would to God this were the language of fpeculatlon 
 only — if it were fo, it (hould not be publicly mine — 
 but it is the adual language of the councils of France, 
 
 as 
 
 I 
 
My 
 
 ( 7« ) 
 
 I will nppear more diflindtly in the ftquci— as agaihfl 
 roinifters it is an argument of weight ; but I hope td 
 Ihcw hereafter, that under other councils it never 
 coul(j have been held, and would not even now be 
 heki in the fame extent or in the fame temper againft 
 the BriciOi ttrition in its old, fimple, manl/i and au« 
 guft chirafter of freeddrli. 
 
 
 
 Minifters cannot hereafter be (heltered from the 
 rcfponfibility of thefe proceedings upon the plea of 
 inadvertency or miftake. Their danger and impo- 
 licy, and their certain efFed to produce the very con- 
 junflure v;c are at this moment placed in, was infifted 
 on before the late Parliament in both Houfes in a 
 feries of motions, one after another, during two 
 whole feiFions, condudled with fuch great abilities, 
 and fupported by fuch obvious policy, that though 
 they had no efFeft within doors, they wrought an in-. 
 Icnfiblc cffcd upon the public, which, mixed with the 
 diftrefles of the war, and the impradicability of its 
 objeA, convinced the minifter that his pretenfions 
 muft at lad be abandoned, and led him, amidll the 
 druggies of obftinacy and neceflity, to purfue thaC 
 lyftem of management, duplicity, and evafion, 
 which has placed us, at leng.h^ in our prcfcnt fitua* 
 tion. 
 
 On the 6th of February, 1795, Mr. Grey moved 
 a refolucion, that without preluaiing to dictate or to 
 fuggcll the t«me, nor the mode, nor the lines of ne- 
 gotiation; oniy foughc co remove the formal obAacl^ 
 
 by 
 
 »/ 
 
wm 
 
 led 
 to 
 
 I by 
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 ^>y the acknc "Icdgmcnt of a power in France compe-. 
 t«nt ;o negotiate ? " and appealing for that compc^ 
 " tency not only to the univerfal principlts on which 
 ^* all nations had ever afted towards each other, but 
 •" to the praftice and experience of tne United States 
 " of America, and of feveral powers of Europe in 
 1? amity with the prcrch republic." 
 
 This rcfolution was confidered by the miniiirr to 
 be in fubftance the fame which had been made in the 
 January preceding, and was difpofed of accordingly 
 by the previous queftion. But Mr. Wilberfcrce, 
 member for Yorklhire, ftruck I muft fuppofe by the 
 unanfvyerable principle and moderation of the propo- 
 fition, divided with the minority; declaring that the 
 language in the addrefs to his Majefly's fpeech, and 
 on various other occafions having held out to the 
 f rcnch, that ve would not treat with their ptefent 
 rulers, it was fit that that infurmountable obftacle to 
 peace fliould immediately be removed. And that as 
 the lattei part of the refolution had no other objeft, 
 he fijould give i;; his fupport. 
 
 I mention this circumftance, becaufe it proves to 
 3 demonftration, that independently of all terms of 
 negotiation y the incapacity of France to negotiate con- 
 tinued to be the ruling principle of the zvar. 
 
 That the feffion might not pafs away, leaving the 
 jifTaiis of the public in a condition fo unexampled, 
 fijpre efpccially, as it was plain from a thoufand cir- 
 
 cumllances. 
 
 J, ■ 
 
 mi 
 ^ %'■' 
 
 1 >'i,. 
 
 H 
 
 II 
 
 ii 
 

 it' 
 
 i 
 ,11 
 
 
 ( ^o ) 
 
 cumftanccs, that before Parliament could rc-aflemble| 
 the condition of Great Britain would be lefs com- 
 manding, Mr. Fox, on the 24th of March, moved 
 that the Houfe might refolvc itfclf into a committee 
 of the whole Houfe, to conlider oftheftate of the na- 
 tion. I had the good fortune to hear the noble ora- 
 tion by which this motion was fupported. Its prin- 
 cipal heads and arguments the public is happily 
 poflTefled of j but not of all the fubordinate parts which 
 conne(5ted them together, much Icfs of that awful 
 and commanding eloquence which brought home 
 every part of it to the underftanding and the heart. 
 It did not, however, add a fingle name to the divi- 
 fion, and although the internal commotions of France 
 were then faft fuofiding, though her prefent conftitu- 
 tion was in a (late of organization, though the King of 
 PrulTia's condufl was mor'? than ambiguous, tiiough 
 the French had penetrated into the heart of Catalonia, 
 and a peace of necefllty v;ith Spain was inevitably 
 approaching, and though v/e were proceeding by 
 remonftrance againft the Swifs cantons, Tufcany, 
 ^and Genoa, on the fubjedt of their neutrality ; yet the 
 Parliament was prorogued without any inquiry into 
 the paft, or plan or objedl for the future j an infu- 
 perable obftacle of peace v/as wantonly prcferved, 
 and France was left under the ban of excommuni- 
 cation to exhauft our rclburces, to feparate us from 
 our allies, to extend her conquefts, and upon the un- 
 alterable and univerfal principles of human conduct, 
 to nourifli that fpirit of diftruH and aniniofity, at whiph 
 we now affcdl to be furprifed, 
 
 . When 
 
( 8. ) 
 
 • Vv*hen the Parliament met, ontHe igtUofOdioh'cfi 
 1795, Ibmc of the changes in the affairs of Eiirbpe/" 
 which ail the world, except minifters, had feen th«; 
 ctrtain approach of, had arrived, and the refl: were* 
 following. The detectable expedition at Qiiiberori 
 had failed, and covered its authors with everlafting 
 lliame; all profpeft of keeping up rebellion in La. 
 Vendee had vanifhed, and France was far advanced 
 in the organization of her prefent conftiturion j many 
 of our pofTefTions in the Weft Indies had been over- 
 run nnd pillaged, the King of PrulTici had totally- 
 depar'H from his alliance, and Spain had been for- 
 cibly der;iched from it j the dominion of the Stadt- 
 holdti 'ad paflt^d away, and his Majefty declared to 
 us to be in a ftate of war with fubjugated Holland* 
 Minifters, l:owever, faw nothing in all this, difaftrous 
 or alarming — on the contrary, his Majefty 's fpeech 
 began with the following encouraging declaration : 
 
 % ■^ 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 
 t< 
 
 ** It is a great fathfaSlton to me to reflect, that ■ 
 nctwithflanding the many events tfnfavourable td 
 " the common caufe^ the profpe^ refidting from the 
 " general Jituation of affairs hasy in many refpeBs, 
 *' been materially improved in the courfe of the prefent 
 
 ** war. 
 
 » 
 
 hen 
 
 Amongft the enumerated improvements, the alte- 
 ration in the aff.ii s of France was not omitted, and 
 would probably have appeared the moft (Iriking 
 and remarkable if it had not been wholly eclipfed by 
 the conclulion which was drawn from it. 
 
 M France 
 
Iff,' 
 
 
 
 ii I;,; '^^^ 
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 France had now organized her new conftitutiprf, 
 indasth? country was looking with encreafcd anxiety 
 to the monricnt when Ihe miglit be declared capable of 
 negotiation. It nnight have been expe<5ted that mini- 
 fters would have advifcd his Majefty to conned the 
 communication ot this important event with the 
 profpeft of immediate peace. 
 
 If, by the praflice of the eonftitution, the fpeech of 
 the Sovereign proceeded perfonally from himfelf, it 
 is impoflible they could have been feparated j but 
 the fpeech of the King is the fpeech of his miniftcr, 
 and is always fo confidcrcd by the Parliament and the 
 nation, and in good truth the prefent one bears the 
 moft indelible and genuine marks of its author. 
 
 As the anarchy of France was in a manner admitted 
 to be at an end, what was to come next ? A govern- 
 ment undoubtedly capable of maintaining the rela- 
 tions of amity — no — this conclufion would have, been 
 too rapid a motion towards a negotiation. — We were 
 therefore told, ** that 'be dijlraSiion and amnchy 
 " zvhich had prevailed in France had led to a crijisy of 
 " which it was as yet impojfible to forefee the iffue ; 
 but zvhich, in all human probability^ mufi produce 
 confequences highly important to the interejls of 
 ' Europe.''' 
 
 
 I, 
 
 This bold and penetrating declaration led the way, as 
 might be expeded, to the old necellity of profecuting 
 the war with vigour and alacrity i and accordingly, 
 
 with 
 
 a 
 
( 83 ) 
 
 wkh the communication of new treaties, this was the? 
 conclufion of his Majcfty's fpeech, which, in the form 
 of a fuitable addrefs, received again the fandion of 
 the late Houfe of Commons. 
 
 On this occafion Mr. Fox once more implored the 
 miniftcrs, and the Houfe, and the nauon, to advert 
 to our condition, and the utter impradicability of 
 fucceeding in the objecl of the war, and propofed an 
 humble addrefs, '^ earneftly befeeching his Majelly 
 " not to confider the governing powers of France to 
 " be incapable of maintaining the accuflomed rela- 
 tions of peace and '.miiy, and ap^ aiing to the 
 recent treaties Ihe iiad entered inro, and the peace? 
 that (he already maintained with Pruflia, Spain, 
 " and feveral of the princes of the empire." — This 
 falutary propofition was alfo negatived — che miniiter, 
 at the fame time, declaring, that when the conftitutioii 
 of France Ihould be put in adtivity with the acquis 
 efcence of the nation, fo as to enable its legiflature 
 to fpeak as the reprefentatives of the French people, 
 we ought then to be ready to negotiate without any 
 regard to the form or nature of the government. 
 
 4C 
 
 C( 
 
 it 
 
 ,as 
 
 Ing 
 
 Here then was another explicit admiflion, that 
 without any refufal on the part of Fiance to ne- 
 gotiate, or upon any Ipecific diffcience fas at 
 frefent) concerning terms of pe.icc, we wt^rr (u riidjv 
 her to confolidate her empire, to nou i(h her ar"- 
 mofities, to dilfolve our aliinnces, and tu thrcifn 
 r.urope with univerfal fubjugation: the blood .'ixi 
 
 M z iiionty 
 
m 
 
 v, . 'j 
 i:1 , 
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 money of England pouring out, in the mean time, 
 until our conditution-mongers and augurs of poli- 
 tical capacities fhould be fatisfied that France 
 was fit to be received into the holy communion of 
 the robbers and deftroyers of Poland. 
 
 ml' 
 
 I; 
 
 *' The longefl; day will have an end." In only a 
 lirtle more than a month after iliis period, France 
 had completed her probation to the fatisfadlion of 
 his Majefty's miniflers, who accordingly advifed the 
 King to fend a meffage to the Commons on the 9th 
 of December, acquainting the Houfe, *^ That the 
 ** crifis zi'hich was dc ponding at the beginning of the 
 ** fe^oii, had led to Juch a Jlate oj things , as would 
 ^* induce his Majejly to meet any difpojitidn to nego- 
 *' tiation on the part of the enemy, zvith an earnejl dejirc 
 *^ to give it the fullefl and fpeediejl effeB^ and to 
 *' conclude a treaty of general peace whenever it could 
 " he effc5led on jujl and fuitahle terms for his M^jeJly 
 <* and his allies*^ 
 
 W 
 
 i 
 
 It is fit to paufe here a little to examine this de- 
 claration ; to confidcr to what, in lioneft effeft, 
 ^hough not in precife words, it pledged the miniftcrs 
 who advilcd it, that we may be enabled to examine 
 the corrcfpondcncc or repugnancy of their fubfcquent 
 condurt to their folemn engagements in the mouth 
 pf their Sovereign. 
 
 The declaration admits the return of France to a 
 
 fapacicy to maintain the common relations of peace 
 
 I ^"4 
 
imine 
 
 :e to a 
 peace 
 an4 
 
 ( 8s ) 
 
 and amity, becaufe, though it malks this capacHf 
 under the vague defignation of ajlate of ihingSy yet « 
 readinefs to negotiate, in avowed conformity with the 
 King's former declarations, amounts to a fubftantivc 
 admilFion, that the formerly declared objlacle to peace 
 from the condition of France was done away. More- 
 over, by the expreflion of an earned defire, on the 
 part of his Majefty, to give the fullcft cffcdt to the 
 fpcedieft negotiation of an honourable peace, it un- 
 queftionably bound the minifters to take feme im- 
 mediate ftep to manifcfl: the fmcerity of that decla- 
 ration. But mark the refervation obvioufly intro- 
 duced into the meflage to nullify this whole pro* 
 ceeding. 
 
 Minifters were pledged to no ^^iV^ ftep whatfoevsr; 
 on the contrary, the language of the meflage com- 
 pleady fecured to them the privilege of continuing 
 perfe<5tly paflive upon the fubjeft of peace. Hi?^ 
 Majefty only expreflcd his readinefs to meet any 
 difpofition on the part of his enemies to negotiate. 
 Now, confidering again the royal declaration as not 
 fit all perfonal to the King, but wholly as the aft of 
 his minifters, in what language Jball I Ipeak of it ? 
 Where or how was his Majefty, in the nature of 
 things, to meet fuch pacific difpofitions, however they 
 might have been entertained on the part of France? 
 The Brltifti government, by the various a6ls of its 
 Crown and Parliament (enumerated in the preceding 
 pages), had inte: poled a pofitive and public obftacle 
 to negotiation — it had declared the incapacity of the 
 
 F'"«nch 
 
 i 
 
 ; pil 
 
 

 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 French government ; an obflacle the moft infulting 
 «nd degrading ever offered by one independent na- 
 ttbn to another i and, notwithftanding this declaration 
 of the new ftatc of things in the melTage, it is plain 
 that this obHiack ilill continued. 
 
 The declaration was a mere private communica- 
 tion of the King of Great Britain to bis own Parlia- 
 ineut\ it contained no fignification to France of iW\s 
 change of fcntiment regarding her government. Tli« 
 cxiftence of a government was not even acknow- 
 Jcdged. — If indeed his Majefty had accompanifd the 
 communication to his own Parliament wich an au-^ 
 thoritative declaration to the new government af 
 France, acknowledging its civil capacity as the re- 
 prelentative of the French nation, and expreffing a 
 readineis to negotiate, even in the paffivc langi^age 
 €)f the meflage, 1 (hould then have confidered fuch 
 a piGceedmg as a fair motion towards peace. But I 
 again make my conilant appeal to the enlightened 
 good fenfe of the country, whether, without making 
 France at all a party to this proceeding, without any 
 declaration to her, that we ^aw that capacity in her 
 government admitted by the mefTage, but which we 
 had fo long denied, it was poflible minillers could 
 beiieve for a moment that they were really advancing 
 in the work of peace. I defire to (land or fall in the 
 vhoie of what I have written, as this plain queftion 
 fiaall be anfwered by every man whofe rcafon is not 
 dlilbrdered, or whole heart is not corrupted. 
 
 When 
 
 :i^ 
 
( ?7 ) 
 
 , When the meflage came to be taken into confi-; 
 Cderation in the Houfe of Comunons on the 9th of 
 December, the remarks I have made upon tht 
 wording of it were completely illuftrated. The ad-, 
 drefs breathed nothing but vigorous preparations for 
 continuing the war — not a hint was given of any 
 communication to France of our fcntiments con- 
 cerning her new government j nor was there ;iny thing- 
 in the language of minifters that could lead France 
 even to believe, that we looked towards a negotiatioa 
 in the genuine temper and fpirit of peace. 
 
 In oppofition to this addrefs, an amendment was 
 move^^ by Mr. Sheridan, " lamenting that his Ma- 
 ** jefly had ever been led to confider the internal 
 " order of things in France as an obftacle to peace, 
 " becaufe, if the prcfent order of thirigs were ad- 
 " mitted as the inducement to negotiation, a change , 
 ** of that order of things might be confidered as a, 
 ** ground for difcontinuing negotiation begun, or 
 "even for abandoning a treaty concluded; and 
 praying his Majefty to give diftindt dired:ions, that 
 immediate negotiation might be entered upon foe 
 " the above falutary obie(5l." I forbear to notice 
 the powerful manner by which tliis moft feafonable 
 propofition was fupported, becaufe it might fcem as 
 if it were the only occafion in which this extraordinary ■» 
 perfon had employed his great talents in Parliament 
 upon the fubjed of the war. I have not before had' 
 occafion to name Mr, Sheridan, becaufe my obje(fk 
 naturally led me to the propofitions made in Parlia- 
 ment 
 
 (C 
 
 tt 
 
 ill 
 
V( .' 
 
 ''"nHc''' 
 
 iii 
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 mcnt during the war, and not to the debates ort 
 them, which arc in the hands of every body ; but 
 when I am brought to name him as the mover of 
 this amendment, it is but a juft tribute to fo happy 
 an union of public fpirit and genius, to exprefs my 
 admiration of the various powers of his mind, which 
 nature has To feldom united. A fuperior and fublimc 
 eloquence, the force of found reafoning, and the 
 happieft command of wit, which ferves occafionally 
 to expofe when no arguments would defeat, and 
 which affords the happieft illuftration of Pope's de- 
 fcription of this rare and uf-ful qualification. 
 
 For the fame reafons, let me not be thought to 
 have overlooked the merits of the few excellent and 
 accompliflied pcrfons who compofe the minority in 
 both Houfes of Parliament, and who have diflin- 
 guifhed themfelves by their talents and fleadinefs in 
 the caufe of their country — amidfl the raoft mortify- 
 ing and difpiriting circumflances which ever attended 
 any oppofition in Britifh Houfes of Parliament. This 
 fmall body of men have flood firmly and indefatigably 
 at their pofls, animated by the fenfations which a great 
 moral writer afcribes to greatnefs under temporary 
 deprefTion and negledj " Little difappoinicd, not at 
 " all deje<5led, relying upon their own merit with 
 fteady confcioufnefs ; and waiting, without im- 
 patience, the vicifTitudes of opinion and the impar- 
 " tiality of a future generation.'* 
 
 «( 
 
 (C 
 
 ii 
 
 From 
 
 .t. ' 
 
ir- 
 
 \rei 
 
 ( 89 ) 
 
 Fi-om the 9th of December, 1795, when this 
 meflT^ge from the King was agitated, and the pro- 
 pofition for negotiation was negatived, until the 8th 
 of March, 1796, when Mr. Wickham tranfmitted 
 the note * to M. Barthclemi, no motion Whatfoever, 
 direftly or indire(5lly, was made by minifters towards 
 peace — on the contrary, when they were again urged 
 to it by a motion of Mr. Grey, in the Houfe of 
 Commons, on the 6th of February^ the anfwer was, 
 that though the negotiation had been declared inad- 
 miflible, they were not to be bound hand and foot 
 to negotiate j and we are now therefore brought, a: 
 lad, to the period of Mr. Wickham's propofition, 
 the true criterion by which the wifdom and fincerity 
 of minifters, on the fubjed of peace, muft be efti- 
 mated; not oni; becaufe both the time and the mode 
 were the rcfult of their own long deliberations, but 
 becaufe they have been pleafe to alfcrt, in his 
 Majcfty's late . ^yal dcclariuion ** that the Jlep in 
 '* quejlion was tL'' he ft calculated Jv its obj.jl; that 
 " the anfwer of the French government wci^ haughty 
 " and evajive, and affected to quejilon the fincerity 
 " of thofe d'lfpojitions of which ^-is Majejifs condutl 
 " afforded so unequivocal a pr of." Laying in 
 conftitutional claim, a third time, to confider his 
 Majefty's declaration as the declaration of his minifter 
 merely, and for which he is perfonally relponfible, I 
 
 * See the note alliiclcd t( In ".is ^lajefty's late mtflage, and 
 printed with the other parts of li;.' negotiation, on Lord Malmef- 
 bury's rsturn from Paris, for the ufe of both Houfes of ParHa- 
 nient. 
 
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( 9* ) 
 
 iJtterly ditty that the bed ftep, or that any jtift or 
 rational ftep was taken by minifters in Mr. Wiek- 
 ham's propofitions towards peace. And I affert, 
 that it was impoflible that France ftiould not aftually 
 entertain that fufpicion of our fincerity v.hich the 
 declaration charges to be affcdled. 
 
 
 
 In order to eftablifh the grounds of this aflertion, 
 Jdefire only to recur to the oblervation which I have 
 already made upon his Majefly's meffage in the De- 
 «e(n^r preceding. 
 
 Till t^at time, France had been declared incapable 
 of maintaining the common civil intercourfe of na- 
 tions. Her government had been publickly branded 
 to all Europe as a den of tyrants and robbers, and her 
 country had been invaded, not only by foreign war, 
 but by her revolted fubjeds, under Englifl> banners, 
 to defolate France by inteftint and civil fury, 
 
 I am not now re-arguing the impropriety of fucH 
 a proceeding, I am only ftating the fad, in order to 
 eftimate i{s natural t&cd$. 
 
 When Mr. Wickham made his propofition m 
 March, no notification (as I hare obfcrved already) 
 had been given to France that any change of fenti- 
 ment had taken place in the Britilh councils on the 
 llibjc^ of Jaer governnr.ent, neither could (he read it 
 in the conduft of the war. England was ftill endea- 
 V-Quring to engage the adivity of her allies in the 
 
 4 original 
 
< sO 
 
 or/ginal canfc which had confederated Europf. She 
 continued as before to fubfidize the Emperor, and, 
 what is more important, (he -continued to pay the 
 army of <the Prince of Conde, made up of Frenclj 
 noblemen, who could not be fuppofcd to be fighting 
 for the new French conftitution, ^nd vrhom, by the 
 bye, they never took into pay until they had in cffe6t 
 given up the very caufe for which thefe unfortunate 
 men were -contending. 
 
 
 ? iU 
 
 Vfidcr thefe circunrtftances, could France reallf 
 believe that we were fincerely converted to her repub- 
 lican government by the divifion of the Council of 
 Ancients from the Council of Five Hundred, and in 
 theflriking fimilitude between the five perfons of the 
 Diredlory and the hereditary unity of the monarchical 
 part of a ftate ? Had we acknowledged her govern* 
 iTjent ? or had we tdd her of this happy and wonder^ 
 ful converfion ? or is there a man of honour in Eng- 
 land, who will lay his hand upon hi* heart and fay, 
 that he believes this new French xonftitution, this 
 legitimate infant of a month old, was the caufe o^ 
 the King*s nveflTage? Nay, further, who will no$ 
 admit that the growing neceflities of the country, and 
 the feelings of the people on the fubjed of the war, 
 did not folely and fingly produce it .? And that mini- 
 fters were feeling their way towards peace, whilft they 
 were taking the chance of the tabUs to fupport and 
 to triumph in the war ? Let Mr, Burke and Lord Fitz- 
 william anfwcr thefe queftions, rcfpe^able witnefTes a« 
 they are, from the confiftency of their teftimony.-^ 
 
 N 2 Let 
 
 m 
 
■ ( 9» 5 
 
 let them tell us upon their honours, where was the 
 difference between this new order of things cxpreffc^ 
 in the King's meflage, and the old order of things, 
 which was with them and minifters together, and Jill 
 with tbem, the foundation of the war with France, 
 and the flame that fed it from the beginning. How 
 could \ye then be fo weak as to cxpeft, that a nfioft 
 fubtle, infulted, and enraged enemy, would believe 
 what we do not believe ourfelves, and what no man 
 of common fenfe ever did, or to the end of the world 
 will believe. 
 
 But fuppofing thcfe obfervations to be out of the 
 queftion, was there any thing in the mode of Mr, 
 Wickham's propofition as conneded with the antcr 
 cedent, or with the cxiftin^ relations of the vno 
 countries, which gave it even the air of alerious and 
 manly embafly from one great ftate at war with ano- 
 ther ? Mr. Wickham had no diplomatic charafter 
 conferred upon him for the purpofe of negotiation— r 
 he was only the mini(ler to the Swifs cantons : he had 
 no fpecific inftruftions from his court on the fubjed:, 
 except indeed thofe which he communicated to Mr. 
 Barthelemi, viz. " That he was not in any man- 
 
 ^* N£R AUTHORISED TO ENTER WITH HIM INTO ANV 
 *' NEGOTIATION OR DISCUSSION UPON THE SUBJECT 
 ** OF HIS NOTE." 
 
 
 The obje£l, therefore, of Mr. Wickham's propo- 
 
 ' fition, and the extent of this authority, were to pump 
 
 M. Barthelemi. A new title in the code of diplo- 
 
 macy, 
 
. ( 93 ) 
 
 nriacy, perfedly fuitable to the novel principles upon 
 which the war had been engaged. But what nnuft 
 be decifive with every thinking perfonj that nninrfters 
 wef" rather fceking for fome public juftification for 
 continuing the war than anxioudy looking for an 
 opening towards peace, is thpir condu(5l upon recei- 
 ving the anfwer of France tranfmitted to Mr. Wick- 
 I^ani, ... 
 
 This anfwer, like the late one to Lord Malmef- 
 bury at Paris, fet up the French conllitution as an 
 abfolute bar to the cefllon of any part of the territory 
 of the republic, but in other rel|)e<5ts inviting negor 
 tiation. 
 
 :• 
 
 Now I am not at all abo\it to juftify this preten- 
 fion of France, far lefs the reafon of it, which I con*? 
 fider to be perfcflly frivolous, and unworthy of a 
 great and enlightened nation in its communication 
 with another j but for that very reafon I confider the 
 apfwer as more favourable for continuance of nego- 
 tiation than if Ihe had rtfufed the cellion on the 
 ground of national fafety produced by the aggrcP- 
 fions of the confederacy ; becaufe as no determina- 
 tion was exprefled to keep Belgium, except for a 
 reafon which further difcuflion might well have 
 fhcwn to be no reafon at ail, it appears to me to have 
 opened to minifters (had they really been anxious for 
 peace) a far better opportunity for keeping negotia- 
 tion open, than when they afterwards fcnt Lord 
 Maltnefbury to Paris to recommence it ; and whicb^ 
 
 If 
 
( 94 ) 
 
 if accompanied with a gentlencfs and frankneis^ not 
 only confident with, but the very charadcriftic of, 
 independence and greatnefs, might have been attended 
 with the mofl falutary confequenccs. Inftead of this 
 what was the condudt of the very men who now talk 
 to us of their fincerity, and who demand our confi- 
 dence as peace-makers ? 
 
 Although Mr. Wickham's note was a collateral, 
 private, and, I might almoll fay, a confidential com- 
 munication from Mr. Wickham to M, Barthelemi, 
 to found the difpofitions of the French government 
 as a channel to further communications ; yet ro 
 fooner was this anfwer given, and by the fame colla- 
 teral mode of communication we had ourfelves prc- 
 fcribed, than we immediately and eagerly feized the 
 opportunity of officially* publilhing it to all Europe 
 in the name of the Court of London, making it the 
 vehicle of frefli abufe upon prance, and of a new 
 {pur to the vigorous profecution of the war. 
 
 But what is worft of all (and for which, in my opi* 
 nion, minifters deferve the fcvereft cenfure and pu- 
 nifhment), they dilated in this note a language for 
 their foyereign to all the courts of Europe, containing 
 a pledge fcarcely preferved already, and fronri which* 
 perhaps, it may be wifdom hereafter whoHy to depart, 
 ^* fp'hile iheje difpofitions Jliall he perjifted in,'* (fays the 
 note of the court of London, adverting to the refufal 
 
 * Vide the Note dated loth of April, 1796, lately published' 
 for the ufe of the two Houfes of Parliament, 
 
 ,» to 
 
• ( 95 ) 
 
 to difannex any part of the French territory) ** nothing 
 is left for the King but to profecute a war equally juji 
 and necejfary." The note then goes on to fay, 
 that whenever the King's enemies Jhould manifefi more 
 pacific fentiments, his Majejly would then concur 
 with his allies in meafures the hejl calculated to refiore 
 
 •« peace." 
 
 t( 
 
 4C 
 
 <( 
 
 <( 
 
 tl 
 
 Now let us fee how well his Majefty's miniftcri 
 have maintained this dignified language of their So- 
 vereign i let us examine whether, for the mere pur- 
 pole of obtaining money for the profecuting their 
 favourite war, they did not hold out fallacious hopes 
 of peace when not a Ihadow of new hope exifted j 
 whether they did not make his Majefty lower the 
 tone of his public declaration to all Europe, by fending 
 a public cmbafly to Paris without any manifeftations 
 of more pacific fentiments in our enemies; and 
 whether, for the mere occafion, they did not falfely 
 create a ftrong fenfation in the public mind on the 
 fubjedV of peace. Whether they did not tacidy, and 
 in fubftance, hold out that fomething important had 
 happened fincc the date of the circular note of the 
 <oun of London, opening a new profped of treating 
 with efFcdt, although they knew that things were not 
 merely in the fame condition, but in a much worlc j 
 becaufe the interval had not been employed in con- 
 ciliatory conduftj becaufe the French might have 
 been expefled to be more haughty by recent fuccefles, 
 which were beyond the reach of imagination in the 
 March preceding} and becaufe,, ncverthelefs,minifters 
 
 had 
 
( gS ) 
 
 had privately fefolvcd to rcfift their former prctenfiona 
 oppofcd to Mr. Wickham's negotiation by an abfo- 
 lute Jine qua non in the front of the new one to be kt 
 on foot. 
 
 It would be an affront to the public to maintain 
 by argument what fpeaks for itfelf, yet, to prefervc 
 the thread of the proceeding, fome notice mud be 
 taken of this important embafly. 
 
 
 
 I have long had the honour to be well acquainted 
 with Lord Malmelbury j I greatly refpeft his diplo- 
 matic talents, and I Tec no reafbn to change my 
 opinion from any thing which is perfonal to him in 
 the Jate negotiation. I lament the narrownefs of his 
 powers, and indeed, if I were perfonally his enemy, 
 I might as well abufe the bell-man, if 1 received a 
 libel by the poft, as refleft upon a meflenger becaufe 
 he happens to be called an ambaflador. 
 
 From the 9th of April laft, the date of the cir- 
 cular note of the court of London, till the opening of 
 the new Parliament in November, which announced 
 Lord Malmefbury's miflion, no intermediate fttp to- 
 wards negotiation had been taken ; and a very (Irong 
 fenfation began to prevail in the public mind on the 
 fubjeft. From the enormous public expenditure 
 more alarming difficulties, in the way cf the fupplics, 
 were at the fame time approaching than any Biitifli 
 minifter ever had to encounter. The ordinary plan of 
 a common loan was abandoned -, and, as it was im> 
 
 poffible 
 
( 97 ) 
 
 pofliblc to forefee with certainty the rcfourccs which 
 the overflowing zeal of the public fo rapidly pro- 
 vided, fchemes of finance wholly new to England, 
 and alien to her conftitution, were publicly in agita- 
 tion. Nothing, indeed, but Lord Malmefbury's 
 mifljon could probably have prevented the experi- 
 ment j but a diredt motion towards peace by a dig- 
 nified embafly, and the profpecft of obtaining it, 
 which was induftrioufly held out alfo, naturally ani- 
 mated the public zeal, and fupplied with popularity 
 the neceflTities of government. 
 
 To give tinriC for this operation was the obvious 
 plan of the forms in which Lord Malmelbury was 
 inftrufled to negotiate. Minifters had determined 
 (no matter whether properly or not) to infift, that 
 Belgium Ihould not continue to be a part of France. 
 — The French Diredory, on the other hand, no 
 matter whether properly or not, had determined not 
 to cede it j and this determination they had publicly 
 exprefled in the month of March preceding. If 
 England, therefore, with this determination of difan- 
 nexing Belgium as a Jine qua tjortf the propriety of 
 which I am ftill not difcufling, had really fet on foot 
 the negotiation, with a view to afcertain whether 
 France dill perfiftcd in this unjuft and unfounded 
 pretenfion as exprefled by M. Barthelemi to Mr. 
 Wickham, the bufinefs could not have lafted a day. 
 It would of courfe have begun with a dircift reference 
 to the formerly exprefled determination in March j it 
 would haxc contained a candid, and, in my opinion, 
 
 O an 
 
 m> 
 
 j T. 
 
 ill 
 
 v-.i 
 
p 
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 an cafy refutation of its principles, and would havi 
 demanded an anfwer. This fimple courfc would 
 have brought the matter to an inftantaneous con* 
 clufion. But, inftead of this direft and obvious pro- 
 cedure, what do the papers which have been laid on 
 the table of the Houfe of Commons really contain f 
 what have been the proceedings of this embaffy, 
 which feafonably occupied fo many weeks, amufing 
 the Englifli public while the loan was tranfading ? 
 
 The whole proceeding is neither more nor lefs 
 than this— the court of London having refolved upon 
 a Ji/ie qua non, which they did not at firft communi- 
 cate, and which was in dired oppofiiion to the former 
 ^\ih\\c Jine qua non of France, as expreflcd in the March 
 preceding, propo^j mutual compenfation as the bafis 
 of negotiation. The Executive Direftory, being deter- 
 mined not to adopt that bafis of compenfation which 
 Ihould break in upon their former determination, 
 not to cede the territory of the republic, anfwer, that 
 they cannot accept compenfation as a bafis, unleis 
 they know what it comprehends , and they therefore 
 demand of Lord Malmefbury to ftate his fpecific 
 jpropofition of compenfation. — This demand the 
 ambaflador, in purfuance of his inftrudions, of 
 comfe refufes, until the Directory fhould firft admit 
 the bafis. After a confiderable length of time in this 
 difpute about nothing, the French Directory, who 
 never meant, nor in common fenfe could mean, that 
 mutual compenfauon (the bajis of every pojftbk peace J 
 ihould not be the bafis of the propofed one, but who 
 
 were 
 
( 99 ) 
 
 were only determlntd not to accept that bafis of 
 copnpenfation which connprehcrided the Netherlands, 
 at lad confent to rcnnove this ridiculous ftumbHog" 
 block, and, by M. Delacroix's letter to Lord 
 Malnnc(bury the 27th of November, they hold this 
 language to him, which accordingly removed it. 
 
 It 
 
 !i 
 
 " Our anfwer, of the ^th and iid of lajl Brumaire, 
 ** contained an acknozvledgment of the principle of c^m" 
 *' penfatioHi by ajking you to jlate what it compre" 
 ** heuded. But to avoid all further pretext of difcujjion 
 ** on the fubje^ t}:>€ Executive Diredory now makes 
 *' the pofttive declaration of fuch acknowledgment , and 
 ** Lord Malmejhury is accordingly again invited in 
 *' th€ terms of the propofal of iid Brumaire, to de- 
 *^ Jignate without delay and exprefsly the obJeSfs of re- 
 <* ciprocal ccmpenfation which he has to propofe.'^ 
 
 Now if peace, or the injlant alternative between 
 peace and war, had been the ferious objedof this cm* 
 bafly, was not a man of the ambaffador's high dignity 
 and grest capacity to be entrufted with even a fingl^ 
 term which conftituted the Jtne qua nou of his embafly ? 
 that fingle term was not however entrufted to Lord 
 Malme(bury; and after the public mind was kept 
 (Iretched upon the rack of impatience, the ambalTador 
 had no anfwer at all to give upon the fubjcd, but 
 defired to confult his court. The reafon of this 
 ftrange departure from the ordinary and natural 
 courfe of negotiation, in the hands of a high and ac< 
 compliflied ambaffador, all the world is already 
 
 O 2 aware 
 
 • • * 1 
 
( 100 ) 
 
 aware of. Procraftination was moft material, not 
 only from the particular circumftancc of the loan, 
 but from the critical ftate of the war. "When the 
 embaffy was firfl: projcdled, we were in the loweft ebb 
 of difgrace and misfortune — We had nothing left 
 to cover our nakednefs but what we had torn from 
 the Dutch, for whofe protedlion we went to war; 
 and our laft ally, the Emperor, was likely to be even 
 befieged in his capital : but whilft Lord Malmcfljury 
 was at Paris, the unexampled fpirit and gallantry of 
 the Archduke Charles changed the face of things, 
 and the feafon became favourable for negotiation to 
 lie upon its oars. 
 
 ; • 
 
 At lad, however, the fpecified demand of com-r 
 penfation, which every body is acquainted with, was 
 tranfmitted to, and delivered by Lord Malmefbury, 
 in which England demanded reftitution to the Em- 
 peror, on the footing of the Jiatus ante bellum, — This 
 demand was not expreflcd in terms as a Jine qua no», 
 or ultimatum, upon the face of the confidential me- 
 morial i but in the collateral difcuflions with M. Dela- 
 croix, it was expreflcd as a positive ulimatum that 
 Belgium Jhould not remain as part of France. This 
 , appears by Lord Malmcfbury's letter to Lord 
 Grenville in the following words.* " Tou thenperjiji, 
 ** Jaid M.Delacroix, in applying this principle to Belgium? 
 
 * This letter is very creditable to Lord Malmefbury ; ii never 
 could be intended for publication, yet it has all the peripicuitjr, 
 (orre^^nefs, and^lcganqe, of the t, jfl fiudled performance. 
 
 «' I an- 
 
( XOI ) 
 
 •* lanjwered moft certainly : and I pould not dealfeirfy 
 •* with you if I hefitated to declare in the outfet of the 
 •* negotiation, that on this point you must bn- 
 
 ** TERTAIN NO EXPECTATION THAT HIS MAjESTT 
 *' WILL RELAX, OR EV^ER CONSENT TO SEE BeLOIUJC 
 
 ** A PART OF France.** And again in the fame 
 letter, " he," M. Delacroix, " again afked me, 
 *' whether in his report he zvas to fiat e the dif uniting 
 ** Belgium as a fine qua non from which his Majefi^f 
 *' would not depart', I replied, it most certain lt 
 
 •* WAS A sine qua non FROM WHICH HIS MAJESTF 
 
 *' WOULD NOT DEPART.** And again in the very 
 next paragraph, ** M. Delacroix repeated his cc tcerm 
 ** at the peremptory way in which I made this ajfertion^ 
 *' and afked whether it would admit of no modification, 
 ** I replied, if France could in a conrre projec, point out 
 " a praBicable and adequate one, stii.l keeping ih 
 ** view that the netherlands must not be 
 ** French, or likely again to fall into the 
 *' HANDS OF France, fuch a propofal might £ertain^ 
 ** be taken into confideration.** 
 
 This lafl exprefllon, which has been confidered as 
 opening the negotiation, by the admifiion of a contrt 
 projet, not only re-infifts upon the original fine qua 
 non, but even adds another, not expreffed before ; for 
 Lord Malmefbury adds, that this contre projet mull 
 not only keep in view, that Belgium (hould not be 
 French, which he had faid before; " ^«/, that it 
 *^ fjjould not be again likely to fall into the hands of 
 '* France'* 
 
 ThW 
 
 !: ;i 
 
 'Hi 
 
! ! 
 
 ( 104 ) 
 
 . This private difcuffion being finiftied, M. Deli- 
 croix, but without pofuive inftrudions.. cxprelTed his 
 own apprchcniion, that this would terminate the 
 negotiation, and tranfrnitted the note and confidential 
 incmprial to his government. 
 
 The Executive Dire(5tory having received chem, 
 and having learned undoubtedly from M. Delacroix, 
 by Lord Malmcfbury's permiffion, that the retro- 
 ceflion of Belgium from France, thoi*g/Q not ojficially 
 fxprcffed in the inemorial as an ultimatum, was ncver- 
 tbelefs abfolutely infilled on as fuck, they demanded 
 of X^ord Malmefbury that he would fend his ultima- 
 tum officially in writing. This demand was exprt-fll'd 
 in the following words: " Jnd to require of you to 
 ^* give in to me ofRcially, in twenty-four hours, your 
 ** ultimatum figned by you'" 
 
 This required ultimatum had undoubtedly a 
 pointed reference to Belgium, and cannot be confiderp' 
 ed as a requifition of an ultimatum upon every colla- 
 teral point of negotiation. It feems to have been 
 fo underftood by Lord Malmefbury himfelfj for 
 his Lordlhip referring to his official note, and alfo 
 to his verbal declarations to M. Delacroix, conne^ing 
 them properly together, expreflls himfelf thus : "He 
 ** thertfove can add nothing to^ the ajfurances zvhich he 
 " lu^s already given to the minijier for foreign affairs, 
 •* as well by woi d of mouth as in bis official note,'* 
 
 This 
 
This anfwer from Lord Malmefbury, which wai 
 correft, explicit, and manly, incorporated by infe- 
 rence the unofficial fine qua non, delivered verbally id 
 M. Delacroix, with the officidi demand of the Jiatui 
 snte bellum, contained in the confidential menriorial. 
 The Direflory confidered it> as fuch, and therefore, 
 repffated their former ultimatum on that point, as 
 cxpreffed in the March preceding to Mr. Wick ham, 
 viz. '* "That they would I'tfien to no propofal contrary to 
 " the confiitution, to the laws, and to the treaties which 
 " bind the Republic.^* This anfvver being uliimatuni 
 againft ultimatum, upon a particular point, the nego- 
 tisCtion was brought to ai^ inevitable conclufion ; and 
 it is felf-evident, that this muft have been its fate in 
 one day or in one hour, if Great Britain, aware, with 
 the reft of Europe, of the former determination of 
 France regarding Belgium, and determined to con- 
 tinue to refift that pretenfion, had afked her at oncg 
 whether Ihe would conlint to modify or to abandon, 
 it. 
 
 When the details of thib negotiation came to be 
 confidered in the Houfe of Commons, on the ^ctli 
 of December laft, th« minifter difplayed ail that 
 dexterity rnd ability, for which he is fo remarkable. 
 His objed was to conceal from the Houfe thefc 
 obvious conclufions which ftare one in the face froln 
 reading the proceedings, and to inccnfe the Parlia- 
 ment and the nation at the infolent unfounded pre- 
 tences of France, which defeated, by their unparal- 
 leled abfurdity and inadmiiTbilitv, the earncft anxiety 
 I '. of 
 
 m 
 

 f 104 ) 
 
 of miniftcrs for peace. H* wifely, therefore, and 
 ably, and dexccroufly, kepc in the back ground the 
 thing refufed^ which formed the obftacle. — He pru- 
 dently fuppreffed the details of his own adminiftration, 
 which had given to France both the power and the 
 temper to refufe the demanded celTion of Belgium, and 
 brought forward, with the greateft addrefs, the unfound- 
 ed realbns for the refufal ; - realbns, which I am the laft 
 man to fupport; which I think are abfurd and ridi- 
 culous, but which were, in fad, very little to the argu- 
 ment of our fituation. Mr. Pitt knew this, and 
 therefore feized upon it as the weak point of his 
 adverfary. He made it every thing in his view of 
 confidcring the termination of the negotiation, and 
 triumphed with theHoufe bv a forcible and eloquent, 
 but, for the following reafons, a fallacious ftatement. 
 
 
 .€ 
 Ill *■-«•• 
 
 The danger of fufFering Belgium to remain with 
 France was much funk in his argument, and the evil 
 mainly infifted upon was her unfounded reafon for 
 refilling the celTion. He not only enlarged upon the 
 injuflice of a nation finally annexing a territory ac- 
 quired during war*i but appealing to the French 
 
 • Mr. Pitt appears to have forgotten the annexation of Corficaf 
 hy his Mnjcfy*s folemn acceptance of its croivn ; and J nuill not 
 infult the King^ ^ f"pp"f"gi '^'^^ f ^^'^ f^*^ ofivar had permitted 
 itf and the Corjicuns had claimed our protcHion as the price of their 
 accepted allegiance, our gracious fovereign woould have abandoned 
 them to the pofjihle rcfentment of their fo} mer governors, itonuever^ 
 us the crown was accepted ivithout the confcnt of Parliament^ the 
 difficulty might have been got over^ and minifers might have denied 
 tISat Corfua bad ever been legallj; annexed to the Britijl) cronun. 
 
 , confti- 
 
( 'OS ) 
 
 conftitution, he denied that it cftablifhed its annexation. 
 This part of the minifter's fpeech was by far the mod 
 laboured, argumentative^ and ingenious; infomuch, 
 that I could not help being ftruck, in the moment, 
 with the force of that ciiaradteriftic infirmity, vvhicli 
 feems to impel him as it were, by a law of his nature, 
 always to a6t upon one principle, under the pretext of 
 another. 
 
 If the pofTcfTion of Belgium by France, from its 
 extent of coaft and other local circumftances, be 
 really Co dangerous to England in her infular cha- 
 racter, or as connefled in interell with the political 
 balances of the continent, that it is found policy to con- 
 tinue the war at all events, in the hopes of compelling 
 its rellitution, then the defence of the minifter for his 
 prefent condu6l would be fubftantial; but it is plain 
 that his defence in that cafe would be founded upon 
 the refufal of France to give up Belgium^ and not 
 upon the realons for which ilie refufed it. 
 
 To try the force of this reafoning, let me fuppofe 
 (lie had been willing to cede Belgium, and every 
 territory of any confequence demanded of her, with 
 the exception of fome infignificant fort or town, 
 which (he had refufed upon the footing of annexation 
 during the war, under her conftitution. Let me 
 further fuppofe (which is necedary for bringing the 
 touchftone to the argument), that it was admitted the 
 thing refufed was of no confequence or value to Great 
 Britain, In fuch a cafe, is any man prepared to 
 
 P con- 
 
 Mi 
 
 ¥ i 
 
 ml 
 
( 106 ) 
 
 Contend, that we ought to continue the war, net for 
 the ckjjion of additional terrltoryy but to beat the 
 French out of an unfounded reafon for refufing what 
 we did not want. Having been at war fo long to dcftroy 
 her whole conftitution, and having at laft abandoned 
 its deftrudlion, were wc now to continue it only to 
 batter this chio froin off a corner of it? Or, admit- 
 ting theconflitution of France to be a rule for France, 
 were we to fpend a hundred millions more to prove 
 that file did not underftand her own conftitution, and 
 that Mr. Pitt was the only able commentator upon 
 the text of it. To do Mr. Pitt juftice, notwith- 
 ftanding his public pretences, he does not ferioufly 
 entertain fuch an abfurdity. The putting forward 
 the reafon of refufal which is unfounded and falla- 
 cious, and keeping back the view of the real queftion, 
 the value of the thing refufed, and the chance of 
 retrieving it by continuing the war, was only the 
 j)arade and juggle of the day. It was to bide from 
 the Houfe arid the Country, that we were ac- 
 tually TO BE AT WAR FOR BELGIUM. 
 
 To put tliis plain truth beyond the reach of con- 
 troverfy, let me fuppofe (to expofe our ftare quackery) 
 that France were to abandon the ground of political 
 annexation altogether, and to aflert, as fhe has to her 
 own people, her pofTeffion of the Netherlands upon 
 the principle of fai^ety againfl future aggreffion from 
 the northern powers of Europe — fliould we, in that 
 event, be nearer to a peace ? The beft anfwer to this 
 queftion is an appeal to the King's firlt note delivered 
 
 by 
 
' ( 107 ) 
 
 by Lord Malmefbury, wherein originated the bafis 
 of negotiation. T.'ie ceflion of Belgium to the 
 Emperor is there propofed by the King upon the 
 footing, that the facred obligation of his crown, and 
 the force of treaties, rendered it binding upon his 
 Majefty to demand it. . 
 
 Upon this bafis of negotiation it is plain, that the 
 refufal of ceflion, whatever might have been the 
 rcafon for it, or a refufal without a reafon, muft 
 equally have terminated the negotiation ; becaufe the 
 facred obligations of his Majefty's crown, and the 
 binding force of treaties, have no relation whatever 
 to the refiftance of arrogant pretenfions of France 
 againft the law of nations, but apply wholly to the 
 duty impofed upon his Majelly to obtain for the 
 Emperor the pofTeflbn of the Netherlands. 
 
 The war is therefore continued at this 
 moment in consequence of the sine qua nonf 
 OF Great Britain, which is Belgium, and not 
 AT all upon the reason given why that sine 
 QUA NON IS RESISTED; fince it is plain, that if the 
 ceflion of Belgium to the Kmperor be our ultimatum, 
 the refufal of yielding to that ultimatum muft have 
 been an ablblute bar to peace, whatever might have 
 been the reafon of refufing to accede to it, or though 
 no reafon had been given by the party refufing. 
 
 The British nation is therefore at this 
 MOMENT at war FOR Belgium ; fince, fuppofing all 
 
 P 2 Other 
 
( io8 ) 
 
 other obftacles could be removed, this territory, upon 
 the footing of the late negotiation, rennains an in- 
 fuperable bar to peace j England infifting to demand, 
 and France to refufe it. 
 
 But is the annexation of Belgium, thus artfully 
 put forward, as if it were the grand embarraflfiTient, 
 the only reafon given or entertained by France for 
 refufing th^ demanded cefTion ? We know the con- 
 trary. It appears from M. Delacroix's difcufTion with 
 Lord Malmefbury, that though it could not be 
 ceded by an aft of the executive power, and confe- 
 quendy not by the Diredory, as the bafis of a treaty, 
 yet that it might be done by the convocation of 
 primary aflembliesj but France has given other 
 public and official reafons to her own 'ubje<f>s (and 
 which are unqueftionably her real ones) why this 
 courfe is not likely to be taken, and why the cefTion 
 of Belgium will probably not be admitted. 
 
 Thefe reafons involve minifters in that deep re- 
 fponfibility which it has been the objedl of thefe pages 
 to make plain to the Britifh nation. France confiders 
 the original annexation of Belgium as an aft of ne- 
 ceflity impofed upon her by the aggrefTion of con- 
 federated Europe, and (he maintains the pofleffion of 
 it againfl: the future afTaults of the fame confpiracy. 
 
 Until the treaty of Pilnitz had been framed for the 
 deftruftion of her conftitution, and the difmember- 
 ment of her empire, Ihe had not extended its limits. 
 
 The 
 
( 109 ) 
 
 The hoftile fyftem of Europe againfl: France had 
 been refolvcd on, and the Emperor had aflually be- 
 gun the war. before the Netherlands were invaded. 
 The entreaties of Louis the Sixteenth to the Emperor 
 Jofeph to defift from his purpofes, and to maintian 
 the tranquillity of Europe, were moft earneft and 
 affedling. They bore his name as King of the 
 French, and though they were the public ads of his 
 miniflers, yet their fincerity was avowed and infiffced 
 on by that mod unfortunate prince upon his trial, and 
 Ihortly before his death. Long after the war was 
 raging in Europe, and when his fate became hourly 
 more critical by the ill-omened proteflion of defpots, 
 the fame earneft appeal was made by him to the 
 councils of Great Britain j our mediation with the Em- 
 peror was earneftly entl^eated, and haughtily refufed ; 
 the continuation of peace, on the renunciation of 
 conqueft and aggrandizement, was alfo humbly of- 
 fered, and with the fame loftinefs rejedled. 
 
 The fame offers were renewed on the part of the 
 republic, and were not merely refifted, but repelled 
 with infult, by the fudden difmiflion of the ambaflador 
 
 from the kingdom. 
 
 Since that period Europe and France have been 
 oppofed to each other. If the combined princes 
 could at any tim.e have penetrated through Alfatia, 
 or through the Netherlands, into the territories of 
 the republic, the republic muft have fallen. And 
 
 could 
 
 1' 
 
( no ) 
 
 •could thfy do fo to-niorrow, France muft feci that 
 her independence would be endangered. This fitu- 
 ation probably produced the annexation of the Ne- 
 therlands, and the fenfe of fimilar dangers nofv cp- 
 pofes its retroceflion. 
 ■• 
 Thefe arc fads; and they not only cxpofc the 
 inifcondudl: of minifters, but demonftrate, that wluill 
 their fyltem of policy remains in force, there is no 
 hope that France, feeling a fenfe of fccurity, will 
 relax from demands which a natural anxiety for fc- 
 curity has fuggefted. 
 
 I can have no pleafure in adverting to this ca- 
 lamitous profped:. But it is not by concealing 
 the public diftemper that its cure can be efFeded 
 — to heal the wound it muft be probed. — If I 
 zm charged (as Mr. Fox lately was in the Houfe 
 of Commons) v/ith fuggefting arguments to the 
 enemy, I anfwer^ that they are not my private argu- 
 ments, but the public arguments of France; that to 
 pluck them from her mouth, we muft by wife 
 councils change the temper that didlates them, and 
 by removing her fenfe of danger which gives them 
 ftrength with her people, detach her from the fyftem 
 fhe purfues. Let us not deceive ourfelves — nations 
 and the councils of nationo are made up of men j 
 and their operations muft invariably be purfued upon 
 human interefts and mixed up with human paflions. 
 Upon this principle I dcfire to afk, whether Great 
 Britain, under the diredion of her prefent councils, 
 
 can 
 
( I" ) 
 
 can expc£t from France, whom they have fo long 
 thruft out from the pale of civil foci^ty, the fame 
 temper and conceflion as if the war had been con- 
 duced upon the ordinary principles of belligerent 
 nations. It may be very dejirable, that upon the firft 
 moment of our return to our fenfes. all thefe things 
 fhould be forgotten and overlooked ; but is ii in the 
 nature of human affairs that this fhould happen ? 
 
 Let us aflTimilate a conteft with a nation com- 
 peted of men to a quarrel with an individual man 
 in fo rude a ftate of fociety as that there ihould be 
 no certain law to give a rule for both. The ana- 
 logy is a clofe one, becaufe nations have no com- 
 mon fuperior. If inftead of differing with a man 
 upon fome intelligible point of controverfy, fome 
 diftindt claim of pofTeflion violated, or fome per- 
 fonal infult unredrefTed, and for which I demanded 
 fatisfadion, I fl^ould proclaim him as a wretch 
 unfit for the excrcife of fecial life, combine all his 
 neighbours to deftroy his dwelling, and invite his 
 children and fervaniis to rob and murder him, un- 
 til infulted nature, fummoning up more than ordi- 
 nary ^ftrength, might enable him to refifl: the confpi- 
 racy, to enlarge his boundaries on the fide from 
 whence the attacks had been made, and to fet his 
 houfe in order for the return of domeftic life ; — 
 fuppofe I (hould then fuddenly affed to fee a great 
 change in him, and were to declare that I now 
 found him to be a man capable of neighbourhood, 
 and that if he would rellore to his neighbours 
 
 what 
 
( itz ) 
 
 what he had taken from them I would be at peace 
 with him ; whild human nature is human nature, 
 what anfwer might I expert ? He would fay un- 
 doubtedly — If I believed you to be fmcere, and 
 that you and my neighbours, againft whom I 
 ' have been compelled to take fecurity, were in 
 carneft to keep the peace with me, I might be 
 difpofed to lillen to your propofition. 1 told 
 you originally that I had no wilh to enlarge my 
 boundaries, and that I only defired to be at 
 peace : but now, if I remove it, what fecurity 
 have I, that, when your bruifes are healed, brought 
 on by your own violence, I may not be the 
 victim of a frelh confpiracy when 1 may be lefs 
 able to refill it ? 1 muft therefore keep what 
 you compelled me for my own fecurity to oc- 
 cupy. 1 have, befides, borrowed money upon 
 the property I was thus entitled to take ; the 
 occupants have laid out money on them ; they 
 aflifted me in my diftrefs ; they prevented my 
 uiter ruin by your confpiracy ; and 1 have fworn 
 not to defert them. This would be the anfwer 
 of every man, and of every nation under heaven, 
 when the proud provokers of ftrife are the baffled 
 propofers of peace. 
 
 With regard to the aflual danger of fuffering 
 Belgium to remain with France, I am not fuffici- 
 ently mafter of the fubjed: to be qualified publicly 
 to difcufs it. It involves many weighty confiderr.- 
 tions, and is a fair fubjedt of political difference. 
 5 "But 
 
( "3 ) 
 
 But I lay in my claim that the confideratlon of its 
 importance may always be difcuffed with a refe- 
 rence to the probability of regaining it, and the 
 price at which it muft be regained. Let it never 
 be forgotten that by purfuing it through war, 
 though upon the principle of fecuriry, we may 
 regain it at a price which leaves us notliing to fe- 
 curc^ which breaks up our credit, and diffolves 
 our government. 
 
 It is remarkable that mod of the arguments 
 which are now employed to vindicate the rej« dion 
 of peace until Belgium can be feparated from the 
 French republic, are the confiderations of diftant 
 and contingent confequences ; and iheib argu- 
 ments are loud and vehement in the mouths of thofe 
 very men who fcorned all confequences, however 
 immediate, when they were oppofed to the fyftem 
 of the war, t has appeared that when they began the 
 conteft they refufed to look at its mod obvious and 
 calamitous confequences and^ when warned ot 
 them in every ftage towards their accomplilhment, 
 they rejeded them with difdain as vague and vi- 
 fionary fpeculations. But now, when it becomes 
 convenient to hold up confequences in order to 
 juftify the continuation of hoililities begun and 
 profecuted in utter contempt of them, they them- 
 felves enter into fpeculations the moft diftant and 
 moft doubtful ever retorted to by (tateunen. To 
 difappoint the advantages of peace, they look much 
 farther forward into liiturity than they were aiked 
 
 Q. by 
 

 ( "4 ) 
 
 by their opponents, in order to avert the liorrors 
 of war. They cftimate, with all the anxiety of in- 
 tercftcd ohjedion, every finifter confequence of a 
 treaty which would leave France with an extended 
 territocy, and augur other dangers to Great Bri- 
 tain upon the moft remote and uncertain contin- 
 gencies. Surely this is the very revcrfe of that 
 condu6l which policy and morality iiniverfally 
 diflatt;. War is in itfclf fo mighty an evil, either 
 politically or morally confidered ; it entails fo many 
 miferies upon mankind, even after the attainment 
 .of all ii5 objedls, that it ought never to be engaged 
 in until after every effort and fpeculation have been 
 employed to repel its approach. Peace, on the 
 other hand, is the parent of fo many bleflings, that 
 all nations ought to run into her embraces with an 
 ardour which no diflant or doubtful apprehenfions 
 fhould repel. What then mull be the refponfibi- 
 lity of he rafh and precipitate authors of war, 
 and the uniformly backward negotiators of its 
 termination ? 
 
 This fatal and obflinate mifcondu(5t is hourly 
 producing the moft calamitous effefts. The 
 difference, though totally diverted from its origi- 
 nal principle, has changed to another equally irra- 
 tional. It began with an objeft in the nature of 
 things unattainable, and for that very reafon has 
 reduced us to a contention for another which can- 
 not be attained. Its authors are fo conipletely 
 bewitched with it, that in their zeal to preferve it 
 I they 
 
♦ ( "5 ) 
 
 they feem totally to have forgotten both the old 
 ground on which they firft made it, and the new 
 one upon which they continue it. The only prin- 
 ciple which has invariably diftinguifhcd all the pe- 
 riods ol' it, has been that the extended territories 
 of France were lefs dangerous than the changes 
 wrought by her fyftem in the minds of their inha*^ 
 bitants ; that conquelt was infignificant when 
 compared with profelytifm ; and yet for the fake 
 of difanncxing Belgium merely as a territory, with 
 a view to fea coaft, and to continental balances, 
 they are fufFering, whilft I am writing, the whole 
 face of the earth to be rapidly changing under their 
 eyes, by the continuance of war ; the authors con- 
 tenting themfelves with railing here at home againft 
 republican theorifts, who never exifted but in their 
 own imaginations, whilft they themfelves are the 
 pra6tical founders' of republics all over Europe, 
 which exifted only at firft in their own imagina- 
 tions, but which thjy have fmcc fubftantially real- 
 ifed by their works. 
 
 ra- 
 
 it Is truly lamentable that this rcfletftion, in- 
 {lead of being a farcafm upon government, falls 
 very (hort of the truth. The war is profefledly 
 continued at this moment for another campaign 
 or more, as circumftances may arife ; juft as if 
 it could be fo kept up, upon the mere calcula- 
 tion of expence, to be put down again, like an 
 eftablilhment or an equipage, at the call of con- 
 venience or prudence. In the mean time the 
 
 0^2 great 
 
( "5 ), 
 
 great regular governments of Europe, diflblvcd 
 from their union, and exhaufccd by their efforts, 
 are becoming feeble as adverfaries, and contemp- 
 tible to their own fubjefts, whilft the fmailer Itates 
 of Italy, from which France might have been with- 
 drawn by a cordial and manly negotiation, are 
 now flatting up into new conditions of fociety, 
 tinder the fafcinating banners of glory and victory ; 
 and England, inftead of didlating a conftitution 
 and boundaries to the French republic, or fettling 
 at Paris the imaginary balances of Europe, may 
 be probably foon driven to fight againft her upon 
 Englifli ground for her own conftitution ; whiift 
 the wafte and anticipation of her refources nourifties 
 difguft and alienation to its excellent principles, 
 and deftroys that enthufiafm which nothing but 
 • the pradical enjoyment of good government can 
 infpire. 
 
 ^1^- 
 
 But to fpeak plainly and boldly my opinion with 
 regard to peace, it is this-— That when the relative 
 lituations of the two countries are confidered, the 
 cefilon of Belgium to the Emperor, the arrange- 
 ment concerning St. Donringo, or any other fpe- 
 cific line of negotiation, are as duft in the balance 
 when compared with the spirit and temper 
 of the peace which hereafter (hall be made. 
 
 Suppofing by our great refources, and by the 
 chances of war, we could drive the government of 
 
 France 
 
( i-y ) 
 
 France to recede from her prefent pretenfions, not 
 upon the approach of a new sera of fecurity, confi- 
 dence, and friendthip, but to avoid a political cx- 
 plofion by the deftrudion of her credit : confider 
 coolly what fort of peace this would be — where the 
 hoftile mind remained ; — confider how eafily France 
 might again embroil us to the hazard of our 
 finances, and of our conftitution which leans abfo- 
 lutely upon public credit for fupport. The exci- 
 tation, tliei.^fore, which prevails at prefent to arti- 
 ficial hatred and diftruft of France, is a moft 
 fatal arid ruinous policy for England. No man is 
 lefs difpofed than I am to furrender an atom of the 
 principles of our fathers to French, or to any 
 other principles. I (hall, on the contrary, be found 
 at all times amongft the foremoft to affert them, 
 becaufe I have been bred, beyond mod others, te 
 know their value : but the foundnefs of our infti- 
 tutions, the attachment which mud follow from a 
 pure adminiftration of them, and their mortal 
 connexion with the public credit of the ftate, 
 convince me that our falvation mud abfolutely de- 
 pend upon a fpeedy and liberal ^^eace fought 
 ** in the fpirit of peace, and laid in principles purely 
 '* pacific.^* Thefe laft words are the words of Mr. 
 Burke ; they were employed by him whilft, to ufe 
 his own 
 
 exprel 
 
 it 
 
 T 
 
 —they were employed by him to fliew the means 
 by which America might have been brought back 
 to a profitable fubjedlion to Great Britain, which, 
 

 I . 
 
 ( "8 ) 
 
 if fhe had been, afl the calamities that have fincc 
 dcfolated Europe would have oeen averted. 
 
 The writings of Mr. Burke have had a great and 
 cxtenfive influence in producing and continuing 
 this fatal conteft. Let us avail ourfelves, then, 
 of the great wifdom of his former writings to iiy 
 the foundations of peace. 
 
 When an extraordinary perfon appears in the 
 world, and adds to its lights by fuperior maxims 
 of policy and wifdom, he cannot afterwards de- 
 flroy their benefits by any contradidions, real 
 or apparent, in his reatbnings or in his condu(fc. 
 \\' e are not to receive the works of men as revela- 
 t'ons, but as the chequered produ(5tions of our 
 impcrfcd natures, from which, by the help of our 
 own reafonings, we are fcafonably to feparate the 
 good from the evil. .This is the true courfe to be 
 taken with all human authorities. It is a poor tri- 
 umph to difcover that man is not perfedl, and an 
 imprudent ulc of the difcovery to rcjedl his wif- 
 dom, when the very fault we find with his infirmi- 
 ties is, that they tend to deprive us of its advantages. 
 Differing wholly from Mr. Burke, and lamenting 
 the confequcncesof his iate writings, I always think 
 of the books and of the author in this kind of tem- 
 per. Indeed when 1 look into my own mind, and 
 find its bed lights and principles fed from that im- 
 menfe magazine of moral and political wifdom, 
 which he has left as an inlicritance to mankind for 
 
 their 
 
( "9 ) 
 
 tlieir inftruftion, I feel myfelf repelled by an aw- 
 ful and grateful fenfibility from petulantly approach- 
 ing him.* 
 
 I recoiled^ that his late writings cannot deceive 
 me, becaufe his former ones have fortified me 
 againft their deceptions. When I look befid.es at 
 his inveterate confiftency even to this hour, when 
 all fupport from men and things have been with- 
 drawn from him ; when I compare him with thofe 
 who took up his errors only for their own conve- 
 nience, and for .he fame convenience laid them 
 down again, he rifes to fuch a deceptive heijght 
 from the comparifon, that with my eyes fixed upon 
 minifters, I view him as if upon an eminence too 
 high to be approached. 
 
 The principles upon which Mr. Buikc founded 
 the whole fyftem of his conciliation with America, 
 were not narrow and temporary, but permanent 
 and univerfal. They were not applicable only to 
 a difpute between a mother country and her colo- 
 nies, but to every pofiible ':ontroverfy between 
 equal and independent nations ; they were not 
 fubjed to variation from the tempers and charac- 
 ters of the contending parties, becaufe being 
 
 * If reference is had to the arguments of the author during 
 the ftate trials. Ir. the trial of Mr. Paine, and tipon feveral other 
 occafions, he will be found to have uniformly purfued this courfe 
 with regard to Mf. Bqrkc, 
 
 founded 
 
( 120 ) 
 
 founded in human nature they embraced the \vh0l5 
 world of man. 
 
 The maxims of pacification which he laid down 
 were plain and fimple, but for that very reafon were 
 the wifer. Wiidom does not confift in complexity; 
 the lyftem of the univerfe is lefs intricate than a 
 county clock. 
 
 The firft grand maxim which I before adverted 
 to, and v/hich, in truth, includes al! others, was, 
 that peace is not bed fought " through the meriium 
 *' cf war, nor to be hunted through the labyrinth of 
 •' endlejs negotiation ; hut was to be fought in the fpirit 
 ** of peace, and laid in principles purely pacific*^* 
 He inculcated, that crimination and recrimination 
 was not the courfe by which any human contro- 
 verfy was to be ended ; and, above all he protefted 
 againft the ruling vice and impolicy of the prefent 
 adminiltration, who have never had any definable 
 fyftem of peace or warfare, who have always 
 mixed the bitternefs of reproach with propofitions 
 for conciliation, and have uniformly brandifh^d 
 the fword in one hand with more irritating menace, 
 at the very moment they were holding forth the 
 ol'"e branch in the other. 
 
 This we did alio in the American war — the re- 
 pealing a6ls which we pafled to foothe America 
 were gent-rally carried out in the fame fliip with 
 pew penal bills to coerce them. This induced 
 Jdr. Burke in Parliament to exprefs his doubts of 
 
 their 
 
( I" ) 
 
 their efficacy : — *' You fend out an angel of peace, 
 ** but you fend out a deftroying angel along with 
 ** her, and what will be the efferSls of the conflid 
 ** of thefe adverfe fpirits is what I dare not fay. 
 " Whether the lenient meafures will caufe paflion 
 *' to fubfide, or the feverer fncrcafe its fur^ all 
 ** this is in the hands of Providence ; yet now, 
 •* even now, I fliould confide in the prevailing 
 ** virtue and efficacious operation of lenity, 
 ** though working in darknefs and in chaos. In 
 " the midft of this unnatural and turbid combina- 
 " tion, I (hould hope it might produce order and 
 *' beauty in the end."* 
 
 I have never paflcd this fentence through my 
 mind, where it has been prefent for many years, 
 without being deeply affeded by it. Its eloquence 
 is only valuable as it makes the moral and political 
 truth fmk deeper into the underftanding and the 
 heart. The angel of peace drefled in fmiles and 
 cloathed with her own mild attributes, is not merely 
 defcribed as triumphing in the blue ferene, where 
 only ordinary paffions are to be oppofed to her ; 
 but, as if Mr. Burke had looked forward to his own 
 pidure of the French revolution, he trufts to her 
 operation, though 'forking in darknefs and in 
 ch-'os, iti the midft of unnatural and turbid com- 
 bination, and looks forward from her prefence to 
 order and beauty in the er>d. 
 
 * Mr. Burke's Speech in the Hoiiffe of Commons, a'gth of 
 April, 1774. 
 
 R The 
 
 \ 
 
 ml 
 
( 122 ) 
 
 . The unalterable cffedt of this genuine fpirit 
 and principle of peace, it is but juftice to Mr. 
 Burke to fay, he has never fled from. He is in 
 this perfedly confiftent with himfelf; he, of courfe, 
 docs not agree with the plan 1 am fuggefting, be- 
 caufe he propofes no.peace with France, becaufe 
 he thinks the peace of the world would be facri- 
 ficed by its attainment ; but if he could once be 
 brought to agree that peace was defirable, I would 
 be contented to ftand or fall as he fubfcribed to 
 what 1 am propoling. Grant but the premifes of 
 bis late writings, and all his dedudions are full of 
 the fame vigour, and lighted up with the fame 
 eloquence, which diftinguiih every thing he has 
 written. It is his, falfe premifes only, that leads 
 him aftray, and make fuch havoc in the world. 
 But minifters have no fort of excufe for their 
 V -idufl; ; they proftfs to be fincere in defiring 
 peace, yet they refufe to purfue the only methods 
 b> which, between man and man, or between 
 nation and nation, it ever was, or ever can be per- 
 manently fecured. 
 
 / 
 
 I have no more doubt than I entertain of my 
 own exiftence, than that if France faw a change 
 in the Britifh councils, and with that change a 
 confcquent renunciation of the fyftem which pro- 
 duce th? war, and which, though no longer 
 avo i, notoriouily obilruds its termination, the 
 face ci things would be entirely altered. The 
 confcquences of our mifguided councils would no 
 
 doubt 
 
; fpirit 
 to Mr. 
 e is in 
 courfc, 
 ig, be- 
 becaufc 
 e facri- 
 >nce be 
 [ would 
 ibed to 
 nifes of 
 : full of 
 le fame 
 
 he has 
 at leads 
 ; world, 
 or their 
 defiring 
 nethods 
 between 
 
 be per- 
 
 of my 
 , change 
 [lange a 
 lich pro* 
 
 longer 
 lon^ the 
 , The 
 ould no 
 
 doubt 
 
 ( 12:3 ) 
 
 doubt load the negotiation, under whatever 
 aufpices it might be produced. The ftrong 
 pofition which France has obtained, and the ne« 
 ceffity to which England has reduced herfelf from 
 the war, muft be expeded to be felt in the peace, 
 whenever or by whomfoever it Ihall be made. But 
 I look lefs to the terms, which I forefee will ralfe 
 the difficulties, and which befides, may be fmooth- 
 cd and rounded by the fpirit of conciliation, than 
 I look to the future efFe(5ts which that fpirit would 
 produce ; to the folidity of the peace which would 
 be fofterod under its wings; to the return of that 
 good will and the liberal confidence between 
 nations, by which the profperjcy of each ftrikes 
 down frefh roots to the profperity of all. Depend 
 upon it, where peace is prefcrved, and its true 
 fpirit ailtivated, the world is large enough for all 
 the nations which compofe it. As they multiply 
 in numbers, and increafe in arts and improve- 
 menis, traffic only becomes more extenfive and 
 complicated ; and traffic amongft nations is like 
 traffic amongft individuals, he who has the greateft 
 capital, and the beft fituation for trade, ftarcs with 
 an advantage which only imprudence can deftroy. 
 
 This is ftill the fituation of Great Britain. Her 
 immenfe capital taken with all its mortgages, and 
 her vaft poifeffions in every quarter of the globe, 
 would get the ftart of all Europe, tofs it and 
 tumble it, and divide it as you will so as peacs 
 ONLY CAN BE PR£S£RV£D* It is War foUowlng. 
 
 R2 
 
 war. 
 
( "4 ) 
 
 war, and accumulating revenue, their infeparablc 
 companions, that alone can deftroy, and which has 
 already nearly accompliflaed tihe deftru<5tion of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 f' 
 
 • I 
 
 \ 
 
 
 There is another fiiperior advantage attending 
 this liberal fyftem of pacification, which, informer 
 times, would have funk deep into the feelings of 
 EngliQimen. The nation would fuffer no humi-. 
 liation, though fninijlers would be difgraced. 
 Such a peace would be a peace of liberal choicc» 
 not, as we look forward to it at prcfent, of baffled 
 neceflity. The peace of a free and independent 
 nation, lamenting the errors and fufferings of 
 freedom, holding forth her ample (hield to protect 
 it every where, and laying the foundation of a 
 tranquillity, which defpotifm never more fliould 
 diftnrb. Compared with fuch a proceeding, what 
 is the wrefling of the fea-ports of Oftend and Ant- 
 werp, from France, in order to reft3re7,.them to 
 the Emperor, who in the tranfitions of things, 
 may be the enemy of England to-morrow, whilft 
 France may be her ally. 
 
 The afcendancy of France hereafter in the fcale 
 of Furope, whatever may be the ultimate terms of 
 general tranquillity, muft be always fo very power- 
 ful, from the fertility and extent of her territory, 
 her immenfe population, and the aftive genius of 
 her people, that her relation to England can never 
 he indifferent. She ijiuft always be a mofl defira^ 
 • 3 blc 
 
( i«5 ) 
 
 ble ally, or a mcft fprmidabie enemy. If we were 
 truly friends ypon liberal j)rinciple8, war mufl; for 
 a century be baiiiflied from the earth : if we con- 
 tinue at variance, from contemptible prejudices, 
 it muft be drowned in blood. When the com^ 
 plicated and cla(hing interefts of two great coun- 
 tries, almoft joined together, are conten^glated, 
 the various caufes of quarrel which intcreft might 
 fow, which jealoufy might quicken, and which falfe 
 pride muft be always ripening into war, huma- 
 nity (brinks back from confideration of the future. 
 It is not for a very private man, like me, with no 
 talents for a (latefman, and engaged be(ides in the 
 purfuits of a moft laborious profeffion, to compre- 
 hend, in my view, the detailed interefts of Great 
 Britain as they intcrfe<St the interefts of France. 
 But this I will fay diftindly, that I would not 
 accept the completeft knowledge of all of thcm^ 
 nor the higheft ftation to bring them into adion, 
 tinlefs I was confcious of poffeffing, at the fame 
 time, the principles and the temper of turning 
 them to the benefit of my country. 
 
 Without peace, and peace on a permanent bafis, 
 this nation, with all the trade which the world will 
 furnifti, cannot fupport her eftabliftiments, and 
 muft pafs through bankruptcy into the jaws of 
 revolution. AH the qualifications of Britifli 
 ftatefmen for details and managemetit are there- 
 fore frivolous and contemptible, when compared 
 with thofc which fit them for peace -makers and 
 
 for 
 
C 126 ) 
 
 for Its guardianlhip when it is made. Cunning and 
 haughtinefs are no parts of this chara(5tcr. Peace- 
 makers, to denote their humility and fimplicity-y 
 arc ftilcd the children of God. For their own ex- 
 altationy our miniflers have fufficiently humbled 
 their country : let them at leaft take it by turns, 
 and, that their country may now be exalted, lee 
 them humble themfelvos. 
 
 That an honourable peace might even now be 
 obtained, if rationally and honeftly porfued, every 
 fucceeding account eftabliihes and confirms. Pro- 
 ceedings now provoke the indignation of the en- 
 lightened part of that nation, which not long ago 
 would have been a fignal for enthufiaftic approbation. 
 What was formerly a favage feftival is now fcarcely 
 endured as a political commemoration, and we fee 
 her public councils, even in the firft tranfports of their 
 unexampled vidlories, hailing them as the harbingers 
 of univerfal tranquillity. 
 
 But a peace alone would not fecure Great Britain, 
 in the prefent (late of the world, as the war has left it. 
 She muft prepare to redeem herfclf from her burdens, 
 and from the corruptions which occafioned them, 
 by the nobleft afts of fortitude and felf-denial, and by 
 the moft rigid fyftcm of (Economy : every expence 
 that is ufelefs or inconvenient muft be put down : the 
 refources of the country muft be fifted and examined 
 to the bottork^, and the revenue upheld by their moft 
 judicious application. But no ikill in finance, nor 
 
 even 
 
' ( 127 ) 
 
 cren integrity in a minifter, can accomplifh thde 
 great objedli^ without creating in all ranks and clafTcs 
 of the people a deep and warm intereft in the fup- 
 porting additional burdens^ and an enthufiafm in the 
 conditution which protedts them in their rights. \-/ 
 
 This (late of things is abfolutely incompatible widi 
 the whole internal fyftem of policy adopted by the 
 prefent auininiflration. It is in vain to think of even 
 attempting the renovation of our country upon a 
 principle of diftruft anc! terror of the very inhabitants 
 which compofe it. Ihe only remedy againft mobs 
 is to extend to the multitude the* full privileges of a 
 people. To give awful dignity and fecurity to the 
 Commons of England, let every man who has a 
 houfe over his head have the proud fenfation that he 
 is prefent in it by deputai:on. The alarm of fuch a 
 changej even though made by Parliament itfelf in 
 the benevolence and juftice of its difpenlations, has 
 always appeared to me very extraordinary. But its 
 reception with enlightened men is wholly unaccoun- 
 table. The ftrength and fecurity of government, by 
 the breadth of a popular bafis, is confirmed by all 
 experience, and by the univerfal analogies of thing;. 
 
 When a government emanates from the whole 
 people, when the delegation, which forms the, balance 
 to its wifely fixed executive, is fuificiently mutable to 
 prevent an agency from degenerating into a controul, 
 and fufiicientiy extended to be the organ of univcrlal 
 will, the clubs and ibcieties and conventions which 
 
 have 
 
( laS ) 
 
 have Trightened us out of our fenfes, could not in the 
 rature of things cxifV. When the people tht-mfclvcs 
 aftoally c^hufe the popular branch of the legiflature, 
 that forms the controul upon the other parts of it, 
 which are, for the wifeft purpofes, put out of their 
 own choice by other naodifications, and whcie that 
 choice is hiade for a very limited feafon, upon 
 whar principle can rtbellion esift againft fuch k 
 Parliament, and who, in God's name, are to be tht 
 rebels ? How carl H people be brought to refift A 
 voluntary emanation from thenifelves ? By the ope- 
 ration of what vice or infirmity will they pull down 
 the legidativc organ of their own will ? Even if fuch 
 a body /hould occafionally betray its truft, the remedy 
 13 at hand without tuittult or revolution; the agency 
 . expires by the forms of the conflitution, and a better 
 is appoirtcri'd in its (lead. The bad pafTions of men 
 will, it is true, \frork up faftion<i in the ftate ; but 
 faftions, where there is a broad and general reprefcn- 
 tion, are like waves which rife in the ocean and fink 
 again infenfibly into its bolbm ; it is only when con- 
 fined and obflrufted that they dafli into foam, and 
 deltroy by the impetuofity of their courfe. 
 
 This was prccifely the cafe in France.— Until there 
 was a juft and legitimate reprcfentation of the people, 
 controuling the other modifications of a government, 
 no matter how conftituted, clubs and knots of 
 men fpread terror and confufion, and the people fup- 
 ported them J becaufe they were reprefented in thofe 
 clubs and fa(5tions, or not reprefented at all. They 
 
 had 
 
' 
 
 ( 129 ) 
 
 had no other fccurity againft tyranny than by a general 
 organization of their authority, and the public hu-« 
 tnours therefore fettled into factions. For this ftate 
 of fociety there was no poflible cure but legiti- 
 mate power proceeding from the people. When 
 force and violence were attennptcd, they only inflanied 
 the diftennper ; but when the caufc was removed by a 
 genuine organ of the public choice, the clubs decayed 
 and fell to pieces. Mifguided men were no doubc 
 difpofed to continue them, but the people at large, 
 having then no longer any intereft in fupporting their 
 authorities, they were every where put down without 
 a ftruggle t and now, whatever faults or imperfcdions 
 may be afcribed to the government of France, it is 
 certainly not one of them, that its operations arc 
 controuled or menaced by meetings of the people j 
 and if its authority is to be imputed to great power 
 and tyranny, it fhews at lead that theftrength of go- 
 vernment has nothing to fear from an extended reprc- 
 fentation* 
 
 This is not the form or falhion of fociety in a par- 
 ticular nation, or in a fingular conjunflure, but it is 
 the univerfal law which pervades civil life throughout 
 all regions and in all agesj and not civil life only, 
 but the life of all created things, and the exiflence of 
 the whole material world. It is the free tranfmiflTion 
 of that, which conftitutes fubftances throughout all 
 the parts which compofe them, that alone can prefervc 
 them. 
 
 tha 
 
( ijo ) 
 
 The humours of the human body, which odc^-» 
 cafionally deform its beauty, and impair its ftrength, 
 are not in themfelves difeafes, but indications that the 
 body is generally difeafed : they are but the poifoned 
 fymptoms of imperfedi: circulation, and the cure muft 
 be conduded accordingly. If their difpcrfion is at- 
 tempted without touching their caufes, they difappear, 
 it is true, from the furface, and the medical, like the 
 political quack, is applauded j but the true phyfician 
 difcovers only in this apparent reftoration the furc 
 prognoftic of death. Science, therefore, commences 
 its reformation in the primary feat of vital move- 
 irentsj it fets free the juices throughout all the ca- 
 pillaries of thj body, and without a knife, or an em- 
 brocation, the fores infenfibly dry up, convert them- 
 felves irito duft, and the lazar rifes from his couch. 
 In the fame manner, when the fap which belongs to 
 the entire ftr idlure of the vegetable kingdom, is ob- 
 llrucled in its courfe to the remoteft branches of 
 every plant that grows^ it is not merely thefe de- 
 frauded branches which perifii j the trunk itfclf that 
 monopolizes the nourifliment of which it only ought 
 to be the conduit, is fpeedily encrufted with canker, 
 and confumed to its very root. Even the inanimate 
 mafs of matter cxifts by the fame rules. It is fome 
 univerlal though hidden union which holds its fub- 
 ftances together j and whenever from any c*ufe it is 
 impeded or deilroyed, their furfaces become covered 
 with deleterious incruftations, which, in procefs of 
 time, will diflblve the hardcft of them, until their 
 atoms are fcattered to the wind. 
 . , The 
 
Btl 
 
 ( 131 ) 
 
 The ruling principle of the prcfent monnent is 
 moft naturally the terror of revolution, and wildom, 
 therefore, dirt'<5ls our view to its caufes j becaufe, 
 without that confideration, we may be running upon 
 danger in our very zeal to efcape from it. The 
 paufes of revolutions are within reach of every body, 
 if pride would (loop to regard them. Whatever may 
 be the original defefls of civil eftablifhments, hiftory 
 affords few examples of violent changes (otherwife 
 than by conqucft), except when they grofsly degene- 
 rate from their principles, whatever they may be. 
 All primitive governments are, to a great degree, 
 founded in fecial freedom, however defectively it 
 may be fecured. A fpirit of liberty and equality 
 pervaded even the vaflalage of the feodal conquerors 
 of Europe. Undue delegation of pov.'er and occa^ 
 fional abufe of it only ferved to roufe unadulterated 
 man to an early and timely alfertion of himfelf. 
 The former changes in fociety were, .herefore, dig- 
 nified and merciful. But corruption brutines and 
 debafes ; her votaries are ftgpidly infenfibie, and, as 
 this contagion n^-jlt, in the nature of things, ihxp (liort 
 of the great mafc of the people, vhe multitude feparated 
 from their fuperiors are of courfe the indignant re- 
 formers ; and the lazy, profligate, bloated abufers c ' 
 rational and ufeful eminence are knocked on the 
 head l.ke feals whom the tide has left fleeping upon 
 the fliore. 
 
 P 
 
 This is the clue to the wonders that furround us. 
 b precifciy the lame. It is the cor- 
 
 um^n natuji 
 
 S 2 
 
 niption 
 
( 13* ) 
 
 ruption of eflablifhments, ten thoufand times worfc 
 than the rudcft dominion of tyranny, which has 
 changed, and is changing, the face of the modern 
 world. The old parliament of France had no re- 
 fembldnce to the modern parliament of Paris when 
 monarchy fell to the ground. The States of Holland, 
 tjndtr the immortal Piince of Orange, were loft \i\ 
 every thing but the name when the French croflfed 
 the Waal to deftroy them, and it was not the freezing 
 of the river that fecured the conqueft, but becaufe 
 the hearts of the inhabitants were frozen by the 
 abufes of their government. In the fame manner the 
 Netherlands pafTed away from the Emperor. The 
 Joyeufe entree of the good Duke of Burgundy had 
 been for centur.cs nibbled away by monopolies and 
 rcftridions before the Belgians even murmured againHr 
 his authority. This venerable conftitution was of- 
 fered to be rtftored at laft : but the offer was too late, 
 as all offers muft neceflarily be when they proceed 
 from thofe who can no longer keep what they arc 
 ready from neceffiiy to grant. Such were the con- 
 ceffions '.r Charles the Firft to his parliament i of 
 Great Britain to America; and of France, when her 
 notables were affembled. Even the horfe knows 
 when his rider ftrokes his neck from affe(5lion or from 
 fear. 
 
 The fubje(51: propofed is now brought to its con* 
 clufion. Deeply impreffed with its importance, of 
 which indeed every hour that paffes is furnilhing 
 fomc new and awful example, 1 have given my ob- 
 
 fervations. 
 
( »33 ) 
 
 fervatlons, defcdlive as they arc, openly and without 
 referve to the public, and I have ventured to fub« 
 fcribe them with my name, at the rifk of the many 
 calumnies which they are fure to draw down upoa 
 me. My opinions concerning the advantage of a 
 radical reformation in the reprefentation of the Houfe 
 of Commons have been exprejQTcd from no difrcfpefb 
 for that high aflembly, to which I owe a reverence 
 and a duty, both a^ a member and a fubjcft, but 
 from a mod fincere and equal attachment to all the 
 blanches :^f t' conftitution. They may long flouriih 
 together, ,/ iiiey will always be contented to hold 
 their own places in the fyftem which gave them 
 birth. It can only be from an attempt to chang e 
 or to enlarge them that a fcuffle may enfue, in which 
 all of them may be ufurped. 
 
 I am perfedly aware that <fvery thing I have 
 written will be ineffedl-ial for the prefent ; the cloud 
 that hangs over us is as yet too thick to be pene- 
 trated by a light ^ ft-eble. It is much eaficr to 
 fcourge vice than f., ''m ite error. Indolent indif- 
 ference, timorous inadw.iy, and miftaken virtue, arc 
 great caufes of our prefent misfortunes ; they apply 
 to ten times the number of thofe who are materially 
 affedted by fejf-inrereft j and of the three the laft is 
 by far the moft mifchievous j not only bccaufe prin- 
 ciples of energy * more dangerous than thofe which 
 incline men to b. c ffive, but bccaufe there is fome- 
 thing awful and fafcinating in virtue, however mif- 
 guided, «nd however deftrudivefrom its errors. The 
 
 a truth 
 
( «34 ) 
 
 truth is, we were fuddenly placed by the moft extra- 
 ordinary events in a new fituation, both as it regarded 
 our moral feelings as good men, and our prudence as 
 enlightened members of civil life. 
 
 The conjuncture I allude to, under any circum- 
 flances, would have been a ftumbling block to many; 
 coming in critical aid of the defperate projeds of 
 ambition and corruption, it became fo i ^".^fon irre- 
 fiflible J it ftill continues to be dangerouh^ werful, 
 but it will infenfibly wear away. 1 have had a thou- 
 fand opportunities of obferving its influence amongfl: 
 thofe valuable clafles of men who take the deepeft 
 intereft in whatever appears to be connefted with the 
 moral order of the world. Propenfities fo perfedlly 
 worthy deferve a greater reward than man can confer 
 on them i but they are apt, without great caution, 
 to lead men beyond the fphere of their duties, as 
 every thing mufl: neceflarily be which is wholly be- 
 yond the limits of our contradled powers. The ex- 
 travagance of pious but mifdireded zeal may work 
 as much evil as the outrages of impiety. Men be- 
 come mad from arrogance and prefumption, when 
 they prefume to decide upon confequences far beyond 
 the reach of human forecalt, and they become wicked 
 to a degree, from which nothing but madncfs ought 
 to ward off punifhment, when they fupport in their 
 own country the groffeft nbufes, and the moft ruinous 
 wafte of the refources of future ages, under the pretence 
 of arrefting thofe mighty and never ceafing changes 
 of the world, the confequences of which no, mortaj 
 
 ftrength, 
 
( I3S J 
 
 llrength can fubdue, and which are as much beyond 
 our capacities as they are foreign to our concerns. 
 
 Fronn fuch extraordinary conjun6lures much better 
 fruits may be gathered by a modeft confideration of 
 them, as furnifhing the mod awful and inftrudive 
 Icffons for our conduct and reformation. 
 
 The French revolution, by (hewing the irrefidible 
 force of popular zeal and fury, may be expedled to 
 teach the regular governments of the world to be- 
 ware how they provoke them by a6ls of injuftice 
 and oppreflion, or by the gradual Hiding of political 
 eftablilhments from die great proteflive ends of their 
 inftitutions. It may inculcate the wifdom of mode- 
 rate and infenfible changes, as the mutable and periih- 
 able nature of all focial eftablifhments may require 
 them J and, above all, it may remind them of a truth 
 quite univerfal and incontrovertible, but which feems 
 to be too little adverted to, that when men are really 
 happy under their governments, they never pufh their 
 reafonings upon political theories to extravagant con- 
 clufions, much lefs combine to reduce them by forc?^ 
 into pra5ikey at the hazard of all the horrors and fuffer- 
 ings, which to fome extent or other, every revolution 
 muft'unavoidably produce. 
 
 To the governed the leflbn may not be the lefs 
 momentous. It may ferve as a warning to the in- 
 habitants of all nations not fuddenly to pufli the re- 
 formations of fociety beyond the pitch of prudence 
 
 and 
 
 J 
 
( i3« ) 
 
 and the analogies of experience ; to confider gof- 
 vernment as a praiftical thing, rather to build upori 
 the foundations laid by the united wifdom of focial 
 man, improving upon the model by the rifing lights 
 of the world, than to aflume at once the exercife 
 and praftice of their full rights merely because 
 
 T'rE RIGHTS UNQUESTIONABLY BELONG TO 
 
 THEM, inftead of confenting by infenfible and 
 peaceable operations to adopt fuch changes and 
 modifications of popular authority as may anfwer 
 the full purpofes of focial fecurity and happinefs : 
 but, above all, it may fcrve, as with the voice and 
 force of thunder, to fink deep into the hearts both 
 of princes and people never to fuffer their fupport 
 of human authority, or their zeal for the correclio' 
 of its abufes, however defirable or important, to 
 fuperfede that fyftem of benevolence towards our 
 fellow creatures, the firft and grand precept of our • 
 religio whofe obfervance is the key-ilone of hu* 
 man happinefs, and whofe breach is the fource of 
 all the miferies which afflid and agitate the world. 
 
 Thefe are the leffons which it may be expefted 
 to teach to every nation as confidered by itfelf* 
 For the regulation of leparate communities in their 
 concerns with others, future ages will probably, 
 looking back to the diftraded councils of Great 
 Britain during this unparalleled crifis, have refort to 
 them as a negative example of prudent government. 
 It will teach particular ftates to confine their inter- 
 ferences with the affairs of other countries within 
 
 the 
 
'1 
 
 ( '37 ) 
 
 tlie bounds which are calculated to fee are their own, 
 territories and independence. It will caufe them 
 to beware how they arrogantly aflume to nhemfelves 
 againft the firft laws of nature, and the obvious- 
 plans of Pro.vidence in the progreflive changes of 
 the, world, the right^of, arreftingthe awful and ma-; 
 jeftic courfe f freedom^ contending againft ufurped 
 authority, whatever may b^ the fury or irregularity 
 of its courfe. It will alfo ferve to remind the 
 rulers of nations in the neighbourhood of changes 
 arifing from abufes of authority, that abufes of 
 authority are the conftant forerunners of changes, 
 and the caufes by which they are produced. 
 
 There is one further and laft example to be de- 
 rived to future ages from the prefent fortunes of 
 Great Britain, which it refts with the people of 
 England to furnifli to the world. By coming for- 
 ward at this moment with prudence and with 
 order, with a fubmiflion which wifdom didates 
 to every people to their eftabliOied government, 
 but with a firmnefs which at the fame time re- 
 minds that government, that it exifts only for 
 their benefit and by their confent, they may yet 
 preferve their country. This majeftic and com- 
 manding condud, will demonftrate to future times, 
 and to other nations, that there is no flate of ad- 
 verfity which ought to reduce a great people to 
 defpair ; that national adverfity cannot even exift 
 for any long feafon, but from wicked mifgovern- 
 ment, and fliameful fubmidion to it; and that the 
 
 T advantage 
 
mmm 
 
 ( ij ) 
 
 Advantage of o^ r fr^e cor, tution (well worthy of 
 all the blood that . .as been ihcd for it ; and which 
 jna^ yet be Qied to prcferve it) is, that it poffeffcs 
 within iifelf the means of its own reformation j 
 infuring to its fubjcfts an exemption from revolu- 
 tion, the worft of all poffible evils, except that 
 confirmed eftablifhment of tyranny and opprcffion 
 for which there is no other cure. 
 
 ''••)''>M:.i > in \ , ' 
 
 ■| ■ .i .1: 
 
 :•.) .•■>.. .1; 
 
 fi.' J . i i 
 
 ; h: 
 
 THE END. 
 
 ) ^'^ i \. 
 
 
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 ■ ) 
 
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m 
 
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