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[ iv ] is ever fomething queaionable in the bene- fits of error, and the fuccefs of incapacity. The profped: of war, indeed, is removed for the prefent, and foon the public cutio-. fay will feek another channel. But we muft ufe it while it lafts, in order that if we find caufe for cenfure any where, we may fix that cenfure where it deferves to fall. « , rf r. ; .. :i ., ■■> ♦ *.. 1 1 - i « ( • <-'.-« i I a\-. '■ ! : I ' 'i',u I •, , ERRORS * > I « '^'Nrnt: '-''^" ""— ( I ) ERRORS OF THE BRITISH MINISTERi &c. No. I September 99 1790* NEVER was the feeblenefs of human forefight more fingularly exemplified than in the prefcnt fituation of this country t The calamities of Europe, as well as the appa- rent fuperiority of her own ftrength, feemed to fecure her in the enjoyment of a permanent and happy peace. A period moft propitious to its prefcrvation had fucceeded the American war. That proud monarchy, whofe dangerous pre- ponderance in Europe had fo often compelled us to appear in arms, had been gradually lofing her afcendancy, and difcovered no anxiety to regain it. She found that her encouragement of American refiftance had been pulhed a ftep too far-, and that, while fhe probably meant no 6 more X ( « ) . more than the ruin of a rival, fhe had intro- duced the feeds of difcontent within her owti bofom, and juftified the fpirit of revolution, A domeftic danger, threatening even the (labi- lity of the Royal power, fufpended the progrefs of her foreign intrigues. The Auftrian alliance, by which fhe promifed herfelf the fupreme fway in continental affairs, had by no nneans anf^ered fuch expedlations. Each of thofe mighty em- pires, jealous even in their union, had continually thwarted the other's operations. Holland and Sweden were difmembered from the Bourbon confederacy; and Ruflia had waited to be driven into it by the fatal improvidence of Britifh counfels. Ir • word, the deplorable condition of her financ . lie general diftrefs and poverty, her navy negleded, and her army altogether without difcipline, rendered the kingdom of France, confidering her as difpofed to offenfive meafures, an objed of no immediate terror to Great Britain. Relieved from our ufual apprehenfions on this fide, the tranquillity of our empire was menaced with interruption from no other. The Mini- ster himfelf was not backward in adding the fanftion of his authority to the general opinion :— when fuddenly the fcene Ihifcs, and within a few inonths after he had renewed his aiTurances in a man- r?"..!: ' .!! .■sasaacJUM ( 3 ) a manner more than ordinarily folemn, we find that he has incurred an expence of about four millions for hoftile preparations, that the greater part of our naval force is in commiflion, the army augmenting by new levies, and three bat- talions of Guards in daily expedation of embark- ing upon foreign fervice. We enquire the caufe, and are told thefe fafts : That fince the Minifter's pacific aflurances, he has informed the country of an outrageous infult offered to the Britifh flag by Spain. That Spain had agreed to make atonement for that infult. That the Minifter had accepted it, and de» dared himfelf fatisfied. That neverthelefs he had redoubled his pre- parations for war. And That, in this fecond ftage of the difpute, the reft of the maritime powers had come forward, after having adjufted their differences with each other, and were arming every fhip in their re- fpedive navies with the greateft expedition. At this place we are naturally led to enquire what new objeft of difpute can have arifen be- tween Spain and us which can juftify the hazard of a war — what condition we are in to enforce that obje<5t — how the maritime powers are dif- pofed in cafe of a rupture — and whether it is '•"^ B 2 probable ( 4 ) 1 ft \ probable that they could have appeared in fuck force as to make their adive co-operation deci- five of its event, if this new difHculty had not arifen ? In the rational anfwer to thefe fuggeftions I can fee no caufe for exultation to my country. But a few months, and the empire of the feas was our's without difpute ! Now, if the Minifter is anxious that it ihould exifc even in opinion, I fear he muft not rifque the experiment. Un- doubtedly, in a moment which demands our ut- moft firmnefs to meet every melancholy poflibi- lity, it were mod: difheartening to conclude that the fupcriority of the Britilh power, fo exult- ingly vaunted, and fo willingly believed, did in fadt depend upon the continuance of peace : but the point of moft importance to afcertain, be^ caufe it's determination muft decide upon our hopes for the public fafety, is, whether the ralhnefs and mifconduft of the Britifh Minifter has not raifed up and united againft his country a formidable league, that dares to prefcribe li- mits to her power, and reduce the glory of her name ? It is not wonderful that all ranks of men fhould look forward with an anxious impatience to the moment that muft refolve this doubt. The meeting of Parliament, therefore, on the asth, \ V r-y^j0~. w (. i ) ajth, dcfcrves to be confidered as an event of no common intcreft. We cannot fuppofe that an Aflembly, fo recently fprung from the mafs of their fellow-citizens, will commence the cx- ercife of their truft by the impofition of new burthens, before they fatisfy themfelves very minutely with regard to the exigency of the public fervice, and the general ftate of our af- fairs. In my mind there is fomething very au- fpicious to the public good in the circumftances which, it is well known, has occafioneu .heir meeting before Chriftmas. The granting of money to a Minifter has become fo much a matter of courfe, that it begins to be confidered rathei as the difcharge of a duty than the cxer- cife of one of the deareft privileges of the Lower Houfe. As long as Parliament is not denied its particular franchifes and difti nations; as long as it's members are permitted the plea- fures of debating, and dividing, and enjoy every flattering folemnity of the legiflative character, no further enquiries are made — the ends of the conftitution feem to be fufficiently anfwered. Any occurrence, therefore, which can roufe them to a confcioufnefs of their own importance ; which can force upon their under* (landings a diredt and operative proof that Go- vernment, after all its procraftination, muft come ^ ) come at laft to Parliamon, f o- " no longer a mat Tf Ldlf ^-' %PO^t, "fining friends of tlL "" '° ""^ «- Had they, indeed. beercalTer^ f' '"^'°"- . "pefted feafon, ..^^n the M' f'^"" '" "'^ miilions were neceflary 1^ , /''" ""'^ probably have been L„ 1. t '"'"^ """''' J>efitation or enquiry ^Th "" ^"'' J'"'« nothing in the H. 7 ^^ ^"""^^ l-'^e felt ^-th^vttrrirf.r'"^"'-'^'''- «- - is the derperate meafl 'oTpr"'^""' country into a war, withol ^.P^^^S'^S 'he «moteft information arto°t' ^'""^ "'^'" '^^ '■"g attempt to hurrv?h "'°"'"' ">« ^ar- f-ive powi beytz :er ;^;tr °' ""^ ^^^- -g voice, and thl part." f ^t ^r"""'" by e^e want of nerves i„ his coL^ tot 7T tfie Direcflors oi tht. n i ^ J"^"^^> (^ mean -"ftitutes the eif"' "^ ^"eland) that denotes the novel v If r '"'"' ^"'^ ^''«bly cannot doubt b^^,:! ! "^"«'°" "^ which wc nefit. """' "«=y *i'i ferioufly be- ;:^-He ir.fo.e fjf;:,,7j;« /^ marches, wc ihaJl not find them un- profitably I ( 7 ) profitably thrown away in a retrofpcdtivc view of the condud of Minifters on this bufinefs, Purfuing it with candour and precifion, we (hall arrive at the difcovery of many latent paradoxes which have baffled for a long time the utmoft ingenuity of fpeculation *, — we fhall gain fomc determinate knowledge of the real value of a chara6ter, an appeal to which was ufed to charm the ficrceft debate, and fufpend the operation of human reafon. By inveftigating the means which have been taken to involve us in this un- happy quarrel, we (hall judge of the probability of our efcaping from it with fuccefs. They who feed the confumption of war with the hard earnings of a patient and deluded induftry, mult naturally wilh to be made acquainted with the pretenfions of him that is to condud it. Motives of no perfonal nature will direct our fteps : his young companions might exhauft the efforts of an heedlefs partiality, unmolefted, in his fervice -, or he might enjoy — if t' ^i: could pleafe him — the praife of thofe experienced pa- negyrifts who feldom find any thing to blame in the conduct of a Firft Lord of the Treafury : for whether he can fupport the title of a wife nego- ciator, a fpirited alTertor of the rights and d gnity of the Briti(h empire, is a matter of little mo- (nent, othcrwife than as it may become a fanc- tion ( 8 ) tbn for meafures eventually the mod calamitoui that can be purfued in the prefent pofture of our affairs. To that invidious, untafteful, and de* trading fyftem, whofe only purpofe is the foli* tary cenfure of an individual, I am perfuaded that no man, however violent his animofities, however decided his preference of particular per- fons, can, in the prefent fituation of parties, have the remoteft temptation. I.eaft of all would it be of fervice to the Oppofition. Their exile from fituations to which from talents, from public fervices, from hardy confiftency of prin^ ciple, they have fome pretcnfions, depends on circumftances which have very little to do with the charadtcrs of their opponents. Be- fore they can hope for favour, they muft either *' ceafe to be," or content themfelves to be *' on ^' this fide nothing." They muft renounce the avowal of all fixed principle of public condufl ; —they muft banifli union from their objedls, and friendfhip from their political habits. • For one I can anfwer, that a better motive has produce :1 the following fpeculations : and if decifion be the purpofe of enquiry — if the aflfer- tion of what we believe to be juft, fhall be taken to involve (as I am apt to think it does) much of the adlive duty of a citizen, as well as his un- doubted right— I can deem no apology necef- »i. 4 . fary m *-mk^ ,!►-»■•, ^.3 -wp ( 9 ) fary for cxprefling with all decent freedom my fentiments on the fubjcd of Mr. Pitt's firft ne- gotiation with the Court of Spain: for con- demning it, as difgraced by the moil clumfy errors, direftcd by a pitiable want of capacity, and difreputably fludtuating between the ex- tremes of anger and timidity; as totally failing in its promifed objeft, as calculated to provoke an extenfive war, new in it's principle, and un- known to the policy of Great Britain ; as dero- gatory to the King's honour, and detrimental to the interefts ol" his people. No. II. September lo, 1720. I N the commencement of this difpute the line of condud to be adopted by Great Britain was obvious, fimple, and indifpenfable. The fub- jedls of Spain having been guilty of various out- rages againft thofe of England in time of pro- found peace, it was the duty of him to whom the defence of our national rights is entruftcd, to obtain from his Catholic Majefty the only fuitable reparation for thofe outrages, namely, a difavowal of the ads in the face of Europe, and indemnification to the individuals injured by them. : ,- . , C To =^=i' '-^^.niaii ( lO ) were called forth the "//f°*''"^8'-"t country -•'hout one invi s coif ;?'^"'^ ''"'''' of the Houfe on the tranfT "^ ""^ P"" thcftatementofoa^Iole *"'""^^^^' ""'^ -''* be deemed hoftile ^ ^^'-"'"ftance that could been in poffeffion of th^'T'^^,';^'' ^'^'"8 ■tebruary, bv a m^« he ^'^ '-■•Shty armamems. '""^ '^' «^M of His conduft in this rcrnpti. • "nderftood. The po „; off " "°^ '» ^e n.if- ■ he acknowJedces it t„ J ""^ ^'^J"ft<=d, as ^--iion of his Si tannic M •".''^ "'"P'«'= '"«'- °-hedirro,utionrC;rr-''-t,. Spam with other nari. ^ '"'"' '^<=«'« of -«y) plain, honeft p "; " ^^° *-'' -genu- ^'•- Pitfs conception ;tm-'" ^" '■'™'''"^' '" «''e utmoft refources'/h T°"''°'^^'"^"d «"d to juftify ^. "5 h's exhaufted country, ^ ^''". as K w,]j be found ihould ■i? ( 13 ) of n it ever break out, that ever defolated the hutnari fpecies. The Minifter's conduft proves further, that, previous to his acceptance of the Spanifh Decla- ration, he never intended to be fatisfied with it, but that he was determined to infift on more. With this refolution, how could ht let pafs the fair and proper moment of demanding a dif- avowal, which, whether fufEcient or not, muft be acknowledged a neceffary and indifpenfable part of the fatisfadion ? If it be faid he could not infift on a difavowal without involving in fome degree the queftion of right, which he meant to keep diftind from that of fatisfadlion, I anfwer, that he is now contending for the quef- tion of right, and not negotiating it j and that the juftice and expediency of contending for it being once admitted, it was very unlike a ftatef- man in him firft to create two contefts inftead of one, and fecondly to finiOi and put wholly out of the queftioa that in which he was moft evidently right, on every principle which go- verns the law of nations, for the fake of clearing his way to the other, which is of a very different complexion indeed, when confidered on the principles of immutable juftice, or on thofe of a wife and confiderate policy. But a difavowal muft come at fome period or other. ^ I t ■ ' f 14 ) Other, or clfc the fatisfadion is incomplete. If it is to be delayed until the queftion of right is decided, (o far from having fucceeded in the favourite objed of cftablilhing his diftindion, Mr. Pitt has involved the two queftions moft inextricably, by making the completion of the fatisfadtion depend upon the event of the prefenC negotiation. Every ftep he takes not only evinces hi« er- ror, but his confcioufnefs of it. He tells the world that he is fatisHed, and his armaments continue with increafed adivity. To be con- fident with the principle laid down by himfelf, he was obliged to acknowledge fatisfadlion with an atonement which his cojiduft every hour avows to be inco nplete. No. IV. September 13, 1790. IN whatever manner the prefent difference with Spain may terminate, two things are cer- tain ; the fird, that nothing further is expedled from her on the ground of fatisfadlion for the infults Ihe has offered to the Britifh flag ; — the fecond (an objed of remoter enquiry), that her political union with the new kingdom of France is rivetted and confirmed for ever. That ( »s ) I i .1 A ■(-' That no further fatisfadion is cxpedled, is evident from the declarations exchanged between the two countries. Mr. Pitt has clofcd the queftion. He has fuffered the moment to elapfe, in which he could have demanded a complete fatisfaftion with juftice, and obtained it with confiderably lefs difficulty than he will meet with at prefcnt. I fay, " than he will meet with at prefent,** becaufe, fuch is the abfurd confequence of his diftindlion between honour and right, that he is now, to all intents and purpofes, ftruggling for the eflential parts of the fatisfadion, and for a point which, connected with the acknow- ledgment he has obtained, would have rendered it, as far as it went, complete. Common fenfe, had he condefcended to follow its dictates, would have pointed out to him the neceflity of making this point a part of the fatisfadtion indif- penfably involved in the queftion of honour. As it ftands at prefent, the fettlement of the queftion of right, whenever produced, can only extend its operation to the fource of future in- dignities. It can have no retrofpecSlive refer- ence j and the ftain on the Britifh flag muft continue to difcolour it for ever. To have avoided thefc perplexities, which rife up on every fide to thwart bis progrefs, nothing more f ( 16 ) Aiore was neceflary than to have held a plain and proper language in the outfet. To have faid to the Court of Spain — " You have made your pretended right a ground for various adls of violence and injuftice againft Great Britain, contrary to the Jaws of nations, and the common privileges of man. You compel us, therefore, to bring the right fo claimed, and abufed by you, if it be your's, into ferious inveftigation; and we will not be fatisfied for the outrages you have already committed againft us, until we have af- certained of what nature that right can be which is thus alledged in defence of fuch unprece- dented violence," This had been the language of juftice •, and if the confequence had been im- mediate hoftility, the calamities of war had been on the head of him who provoked it, by obfti- nately aflerting the contrary principles. The war on the part of Spain would have been confi- dered as offenfive, not only againft Great Britain, but againft human nature itfdf. m No. V. September 14, 1790. THE advantage which our Miniftef s prin- ciple of negotiating has given to the Spanifh Cabinet, is of a double nature. The firft relates 1 ^f ,-4 4. :;! ( »; ) to the grounds on which the war (if fuch fhould be the melancholy event of his mifcondufl) will be maintained •, the fecond relates to the in- crcafed ability of Spain to carry it on, compared to the fituation Ihe was in two months earlier. Having accepted with fo much eagernefs the fort of apology which Spain thought it expedi- ent to offer, the Britilh Minifter unequivocally acknowledges thus much — that whatever caufe of difference may continue to fubfift between the two countries. Great Britain has no further CAUSE OF COMPLAINT againil Spain. Many wars have happened, in which it has been difficult to (late which country was the original aggreffor; but if there be one method of clearing up fuch a difficulty more eafy than another, or indeed of obviating the exiftence of it, Mr. Pitt has taken that method in the prefent difpute ; for the cffential point of all, in deter- mining the aggrejfion^ is unqueftionably the dt^ gree of juft complaint which may be found to cxift between the two nations. Caufes of com- plaint are various. That ftated againft Spain was the commiffion of certain ads of violence againft Britifli fubjefts. Not the right (he has claimed to the exclufive fettlement of Nootka Sound, but the a£fs by which (lie aflcrted it. The complaint, therefore, being doi D away by the ( i8 ) u- .V the acceptance of the Spanifh Monarch's decla* ration, the ground of the difpute is confequcntly changed : the principle on which it began is in- verted; and from that inftant we can\e to the great queftion, unencumbered with any colla- teral matters, either in regard to the neceflity of upholding the honour of the Britilh flag, or any caufe of complaint on the part of this coun- try againft Spain — whether, in the prefent fitua^ tion of Great Britain* it is a wife meafure to go to war with half Europe for the fur trade of Nootka Sound ? If the appeal be now made to the fword, it will be no longer a neceflary appeal on the part of Great Britain, becauie it is no longer defen- five. He mult be a very convenient interpreter of the laws of nations that can ftate a cafe of de- fenfive war, in which the country that pretends to be defending^ attacks another, againft which fhe has folemnly acknowledged that there exifls no caufe of compiaint -, th^t fuch has been atoned for by fatisfa(5lion and fubmiflion. . S \'i No. VI. September 15, 1790. THE fecond advantage which has been given to Spfiin by Mr. Pitt's fyftem of negotiating, is tha^ dccia* lucntly is in- to the |colJa. :cffity g, or poun- ogo e of d, it part eter de- "ids ich ij^s ed f - ( tg ) that which arifes from her increafed power to carry on a war, whenever it fhall fuit her Cabinet to drive Mr. Pitt into a declaration of it. How much better prepared is (he for fuch a fituation at this mon:icnt, than fhd was two months ear- lier ? I take the period of two months rather than any other for this reafon — Spain having had a confiderable naval force ready for fea, either be* fore Mr. Pitt knew it, or before he knew what to think of it, we muft in fairnefs allow that fome time was neceffary to put Great Britain into a pofture of defence. The wifli and the duty of Adminiftration pointed out to them the neceflity of immediately aflembling a force fuffi- cient to oppofe to that which Spain had in rca- dinefs to fupport her pretenfions and her out- rages. Thirty fail of line of battle (hips was the utmoft; force which that country could fend upon the feas the latter end of July. Thirty fail of line of battle fhips, fuppofed by minifte- rial ftatcmcnts to be better manned, better ap- pointed, and in all refpeds fitter for aftual fer- vice, were then ready to fail from the ports of Britain. If I am indulging a too fanguine ex- pe6tation in taking it for granted, that^ had the two fleets met, a blow muft have been given to the Spanifh marine, by which her immediate ^ '^ ' D 2 exertions ( 20 ) I exertions would have been crippled, and her re- covering, for a long period, extremely doubtful, I muft blame the Minifter and his friends for having held out fuch hopes to me in common with the reft of my cotintrymen. The blow was not ftruck. Mr. Pitt was en- gaged in a deep difquifition on the different lliades that diftinguilh the honour from the rights and the right from the interefi of nations. The leader of the Britilh Cabinet was fubtilizing on the fubtleties of Count de Florida Blanca ; and the leader of the Britifli fleet was puzzling the heads of his Captains with a new code of meta- phyfical fignals ! Confolatory profpedt to thofe who confider the after-reckoning for an idle pa- rade of filling the feas with fhips of war, and the Gazettes with contrads and bankruptcies ! But Spain was employed in the purfuit of great and effedlual objeds. Very early in the conteft fhe had prefented a requifition to the French Minifters, claiming the fuccours ftipulated by her alliance with that country. The hefitation of France, in the firft inftance, produced the final demand of the Spanilh AmbaflTador to Monfieur de Montmorin, prefented to that Mi- nifter fo early as the i6th of June, and kept back from the National Aflembly until the ifl: of A uguft. Why it was kept back until that • . ' time. .•'-.'^ %4f • . . ■■'^ 1 and her re- h doubtfuJ, i friends for »n common itt was en- e different 1 the righf^ )ns. The :iiizing on ^^^a; and zzling the of nieta- to thofe idle pa- > and the 2s! of great ' conteft French Ued by 'fitation :ed the dor to lat Mi- i kept :he iGl ii that time. •I i ( 21 ) time, the addrefs of the French Cabinet in Co doing, and the confequences, together with the curious manner in which they have made Mr. Pitt their dupe, will amply reward us for the trouble of a fhort digreflion. No. VII. September |6, 1790. IT is neceflary to premife one circumftance peculiar to this negotianon. From the acciden- tal lituation of France, the falutary terror of hec Minifters on the ground of refp /nfibility, and the determination ot the fubfifting Legiflature to watch over every tranfadion that may endanger the cftablifhment of their conltitution, a number of very important (late papers have been volun- tarily made public by thofe entrufted with the dircdtion of affairs in that country. Thefc pa- pers are publifhed in the Proces Verbal^ which anfwers to our Journals of Parliament, and is of equal authenticity. I now proceed to the detail of the manoeuvres at Paris which led to the Declaration of the Spa- ni(h Court, figned by the Count de Florida Blanca the 24th of July. Early in the month of May, the King of France addiefled a letter to the National Aflem- bly, dating " the difpute between England and Spain, ( 22 m Spain, the rcfpedlive armaments of the two countries, and the orders that he had given to equip a fquadron of fourteen fail of the line, and to have them in readinefs in the ports of the Ocean and the Mediterranean." He further fays, " that thcfe fteps are merely for the fake of prudence and precaution, that he is confident the peace between France, and Great Britain cannot be difturbed, becaufe his Amhajfador at the Court of London has been told that the only obje£l of thefe preparations is the difference between that Court and Spain : and that his Britannic Majefty de- fires to preferve the good underftanding which fubfifts fo happily between the two Courts." Alarmed at the contents of this meffage, but flill more at the profpefb of being ultimately drawn into a war with England without the fmalleft grounds of immediate difpute with her, the Aflembly, previous to making any provifion for the cxpences of this armament, rcfolve that THE Right of declaring War shall not BELONG TO THE EXECUTIVE PoWER. The remonftranccs and requifidons from the Spanifh AmbalTador, who clearly faw the object of this decree, were inceflant from that time for- ward; at length he aflis — *' What F'*ance can do in the a6lual circumftances of the country, to affift Spain ?"— -He ftates *' that the circum- * ■ ' * ftances wa to nd he ner of le be ( 23 ) ftances of Spain demand a mofl: immediate de- termination ; that the conduct of France mud be fo active, fo clear, and fo unequivocal, as to avoid the fmalleft ground for miftruft. That otherwife Spain muft fearch for other alliances among the other European powers, without ex^ cepting any one of thofe powers with which, in cafe of mceffityy fhe can form them. That in fuch an event, his Mafter will pay every attention that circumftances will permit him to do, to the reciprocal rnterejls of the t\wo countries ." This firm and intelligible demand is made on the 18th of June; about three weeks after the National Affembly of France had pafled the de- cree by which they rendered a compliance with it impoffible. But the French Minifter was too much a friend to Spain to prefent fuch a requi- fition at fuch a moment j he knew,' as every body who knew France at that period might eafily have perceived, that an immediate diflblu- tion of the Fai»^ily Compact mull be the confe- quence, if thisr a{h demand were infifted upon, before the queftion between England and Spain ihould have affbmed a very different form, and before it fhould be made clear that Spain was requiring no more than a compliance with the defenfive claufes of the treaty. In the difcuf- fjon> therefore, between the French Cabinet and Spanifh ( H ) ^'. iK'i m ■I I. ^:1 !; 1 Spanifli Minifter at Paris, which followed this ultimate requifition, it was made a point, that the captured veflels fliould be firft reftored -, that the injured parties fhould be indemnified, and that fome fort of an apology fhould be made to the King of England, for the infult offered to his flag : the precife points which Mr. Pitt thinks he has obtained, fo much to the credit of his own incredible exertions, matchlefs ability^ and dextrous negotiation ! It mud be obferved, that this is the official language of Monfieur de Montmorin, fpeaking to a controuling Aflembly to which he was fe- verely refponfible for his condudl; that he, therefore, is obliged to give a colour to his offi- cial communications with the Spanifli AmbafTa- dor, to affcft a fincere defire for peace, and a regard for juflice, which few men will be fimple enough to believe, was obferved in t leir confi- dential conferences. In purfuance of this wife fyfteffj, for the praife of wifdom and dexterity belong to thofe who conduced the cffedual negotiation at Paris, Monf de Montmorin delays, as I have obferved, the anfwer to this requifition for fuccours -, con- certs with the Spanifh Ambaffador a plaufible (lory to tell the National AfTembly and Mr. Pitt} gets Mr. Pitt to declare himfelf mofl per- fedly ^ •s s ( 25 ) feftly fatisfied, and not only fatisfied, but pleafed with it ; carries this declaration to the National Afiembly in one hand, and the Spanifh Anfibaf- fador's requifition irt the other, having fifft placed Spain on the defenfive in all future dif- cuffions with England by perfuading Mr. Pitt to give up his complaint; makes the people of Paris believe,/r<7W Mr, Pitt'*s own words ^ that all hoftility is at an end j and then accomplifhes his grand obje6t of bringing the National Affem- bly to a refolution, which they vote to all ap- pearance in the abftradt, of adhering to the DEFENSIVE CLAUSES OF THE FaMILY COM- PACT ! No. VIII. September 17^ 1790. SUCH was the manoeuvre by which France, notwithftanding her prefent fituation, and her friendly difpofitions towards Great Britain, is compelled once more to appear in arms again ft her: by which the Britifh Minifter, while he was gaping for difpatches from Madrid, was entrap* ped by the efforts of fuperior talents, and ma- turer artifice at Paris. Nor has Monf. dt; Montmorin wholly deceived his country, or led her into impolitic meafures. The conduft of E France . J ( 26 ) France is the refult of a neceflity impofed upon her by the adual circum (lances of the nego- tiation ; by Mr. Pitt's divifion of the two quef- tions, and his making them objefts of diftinft arrangement ; by his concluding the one before he commenced the other ; by his declaring him- felf fatisfied, and proving that he was not. Determining, however, as he did, on this line, it was his bufmefs to follow the fuggeftions of a more vigorous policy. Confcious that he meant to contend for both thefe points, he fliould have contended for them at one and the fame time : and if the appeal to force had at Jaft become inevitable, in what a fuperior fitu- ation would he have ftood ! Spain would not then have founded with impunity the cry of union againft Great Britain, in every quarter of Europe. What power could have declared in her favour, fupporting, lingle and unaflifted as (he then would have been, a war of rapine and violence againft mankind ? RufTiz, was fufli- fiently engaged with Sweden. The neutrality of Denmark, at that time, fecured in regard to Northern politics, in which (he has an immedi- ate intereft, was not likely to give way to the remote one of a Spanifh connection. Portugal cannot ftir, except in concert with all the naval power- if the South. Where then could Spain have ( 27 ) have found an ally, had fhe fearched throughoul Europe for one, after having failed to aroufe the tardy vigilance and defponding generofity of the French nation ? — Or if France had declared openly for her in the early period of this dif- pute, when her Weft- India i (lands were equally without defence againft a foreign enemy, and againft themfelves, exhibiting one general fcene of maffacre and revolt — what — I may fairly a(k— muft have been the fituation of chofe pofTeflfions at this moment ? No. IX. September i8, 1790, IT is not merely to the Houfe of Bourbon that Mr. Pitt was enabled to fpeak the language of firmnefs and of juftice. The deftru6li ve principle afierted during the laft war by theNaval Powers of the North, namely, that neutral bottoms fhall in all cafes make free goods, muft have perifhed in the confli(5ting interefts of thofe who had confe- derated to maintain it. In the mid ft of a war between the two moft confiderable of thofe Powers 5 not a war of commerce, but of mu- tual and deadly animolity, we might have fairly demanded from Sweden, while our alliance was E 2 ^ufeful ( 28 ) vifeful to her, a formal derclidlion of the neu- tral principle. What right have we to demand it from her now ? And what one folitary advan- tage is Great Britain to expeft as a compenfa- tion for having facrificed for ever the valuable alliance of Ruffia ? Our unhappy Statefman has fuffered Spain to negociate a peace between thefe kingdoms, which reftores that formidable league to its firft confiftency ! Is this the man who holds the balance with a firm hand, and calls himfelf the arbiter of Eu- rope, while every part of it is filled with nego- tiations which he does not know, and alliances Hart up every where againft his country ? Does he fend the Britifh lion to roar at Reichenbach, while her proteding genius on the ocean hides her head beneath its waves, and drops the trident from her grafp ? He menaced loudly on the borders of Bohemia, where the real and folid in- terefts of Great Britain never could come in queftion \ he talked with decifion on the furren- der of Belgrade, and reafoned with nicenefs and perfpicacity of the claims of the Imperial allies to Choczm and Oczakow, of the fortrefs of IVid- dw, of the limits of fFallacbia, of the Calmucks and the Cojfacks^ of the Danube, the Dnieper, 'and- the Dmefter — names equally foreign to Britifh ears and Britifh interefts •, he pledged his coun- try ( 29 ) try to his land ally the Kingof Pruflla, that Leo- pold (hould not gain a foot of territory on the fide of thc-^/«M; but his cheek grew pale at the found of a French armament at Breft, which his firm- nefs might have prevented, and his imbecility has fince provoked. The afpedt of affairs is indeed materially chan- ged. The firll fliot that is fired againft Spain, is equally fo againft France; and poflTibly againft the fame Northern confederacy which, during the laft war, was fo formidable and fatal to Great Britain. The firft ftiot that had been fired in June, July, or the beginning of Augu ft, rauft have torn afunder the ties of the Family Compa(5t, and, if not wholly annihilated the Northern union, fufpended its operation during the courfe of the war, France would have been then compelled to anfwer the requifition of Spain, not only before the country was ready to adopt her caufe, but while hoftilicies were adu- ally going forward: her declaration of fupport would then have been a declaration of war, in which ftie could not have mixed without calling down an inftantaneous mifchief upon her head j now, ftie has the hopes that her powerful me- diation may prevent a war; now, her declara- tion of fupport is not fuch an adl of hoftility as can juftify an ad of immediate retribution on the ( so ) the part of this country ; now (he is pledged to the performance of engagements moft folemnly entered into by her for the defence of Spain, at a period in which the queftion came before her di- vefted of thofc circumftances, as well of in- juftice on the part of Spain, as of immediate danger to herfelf. No. X. September 20, 1790. THE preceding papers, I truft, have made it fufliciently evident, not only that Spain is rea- dy to meet the conteft, if fuch muft be the refult of our negotiations, with an infinitely more for- midable force than fhe could by any means have oppofed to us in the beginning of this difpute, but that her being fo is folely imputable to the multiplied miftakes, and the fcarcely credible in- capacity of Mr. Pitt. Such, indeed, is the ftrength of the confederacy, at the head of which, even if the difpute were immediately to finifh, Spain will ftand, that I much doubt whether any pof- fible fettlement we can come to in regard to the fur trade of Nootka Sound, including even the reimburfement of our expences, can produce political advantages fufficient to balance it. Ifhall ( 3« ) I fhall now proceed to that point which it fcems is, after all, to conftitute the Minifter's principal defence. The honour of the Britilh flag is abandoned : — he difcovers, at the very found, that he has not wholly forgot to blufli. The policy of fighting for the cat-fkins of Nootka, the juftice of precipitating hi^ taxed country into a war, the charader of which throughout Europe would be a war of pi- rates TO PROTECT SMUGGLERS, is wholly abandoned alfo. Profound and extenfivc views, far beyond the vulgar fimplicity of other Mini- fters, are afcribed to the enlightened mind of Mr. Pitt: — the Southern whale -fifliery, that fource of inexhauftible profperity to the com- merce and navigation of Great Britain, is now affirmed to be the material point in the difpute, and the true juftification for our immenfe and profitlefs exertions. It comes not within the plan of difcuffion which I have propofed to myfelf, to argue from any premifes but from fuch as are eftablifhed, evident, and in the full poflfeffion of the public. What I have to obferve, therefore, in regard to the Southern whale fifhery, Ihall be confined fimply to certain fadls which have long been known ; and which indeed their notoriety would render it unneceflary to revert to, if there was any ( 3* ) tiling like fenfe or confiftency in the reafoning that would exculpate the Minifteron this ground. On any other than thefe fads, I Ihall wholly avoivl to comment ; as it is but fair to fay, in the prefent ftate of the pending negotiation, that, confidered by itfelf, it may deferve much praife or much blame ; while of the negotiation that is concluded, and now before the public, I repeat the opinion — already imprefied, I am peii'uaded, on the minds of all thinking men— namely, that from the beginning to the end it is a bad firft eflay of a youthful negotiator, whofe talents, however dazzling in their kind, are noc thoie which qualify him for the arduous walk of foreign politics, and who is obliged to learn bu- finefs by experiments of which the deareft inte- refts of his country are alternately the fubjedb and the fport. No. XI. September 2 a, ;v;90. I SHALL now ftate my reafons for thinking the Southern whale filhery, on the renuncia- tion of which, as an exclufive claim, Mr. Pitt is cunningly laying a foundation for much tri*. umph, to be by no means the leading difficulty in ( 33 ) fn the negotiation now pending with the Court of Spain. ^ It is an admitted fadt, in the firft place, that the fub)e(5ls of Great Britain have never been in- terrupted, or menaced with interruption, in the exercife of this employment. In the next, the manner in which the claim is advanced, on the part of Spain, fhews evident- ly that it is thrown in as a mere make-weight to the reft of her complaint. Important as it is, Spain certainly does not think her pretenfr-.ns fo clear as to bear the bc^mg put forward alone, and without the afliftance of other matters, Juft as any individual, when called upon to ftate his caufes of grievance againft another, would not only ftate all he knew, but probably fomething more than he knew. His Majefty's Mefldge to Parliament on the 5th of May, will illuftrate this obfervation. " The capture of one of thefe " veflels had before been notified by the Am- *' baftador of his Catholic Majefty, by order of ** his Court •,** [We fince have obtained the date of this notification, viz. the loth of Fe- bruary.] " who at the fame time defired that " meafures might be taken for preventing his *' Majefty's fubjeds from frequenting thofe *' coafts, which were alledged to have been " pevioujly occupied and frequented by the fub- F . " jects { 34 ) "je6ls of S'pain. Ccmplaints were alfo made of " the Ftjheriss carried on by his Majejlfs fub- ^^ jtSis in the feas adjoining to the Spanift> conti- " nent, as being contrary to the Rights of the Crown •' of Spain.'* This is all his Majefty's McflTage contains upon the fubjcdlj and the opinion his Majefty's Minifters entertained of the degree of obftinacy with which Spain intended to con- tcft the point with us, and adhere to the exclu- five claim of filhery, is bcft evinced by their tak- ing no further noike of it in any other part of the Meflagc -, the purport of which is to com" plain of the a5ls of violence^ and to defire that Par- liament would enable his Majelly to take fuch meafures as might be eventually ncccflary to fupport the honour of his Crown. The Soiuhern whale fifhery, however important in itfelf, forms but a very inferior part of the difputc then fub- fifting between the two Courts. The principle too, on which it forms any part of it, admits of accommodation more eafily than any other, be- caufe the feizure of the fhips at Nootka is grounded on an afil-rtion of prior occupancy (a principle contended for on our part), whereas the complaint in regard to the fifheries, flightly as it is urged, is diminifhed to a ftill Icfs confi- derable point of difference, when the nature of fuch a right, and the fpccies of poflcffion and occupancy ( 35 ) occupancy of which it is capable, come to be confidered. The meafures^ which may eventually become nee effary^ relate therefore to the p )int of full and adequate fat'tsfatiion^ which his Mijefty fays, in his Meflage, he has direSled his A^mfier at Madrid to demand. No. XII. September 24, 1790. IN confirmation of my former reafoning, I fhall beg to repeat, and infill upon the circum- ftance, that this fifhery, dated by Mr. Pitt in his Budget to be the fource of fuch infinice ni- portance to the commercial and maritime* inte- refls of the country, never experienced any hof' tile interruption on the partot Spain •, difpoicd, as from recent examples it appears tnat (he was, not very quietly to put up with any dirct:l 'n^a- fion of her rights. Compare her condud a this inftance with the line (he purfued at Noo < a. In the feas adjomtn^ the Spanijh continent Ihc .'.as fuffered a fifliery to be • (tabiilhed by t3rir:lii (^va jedts, and gradually to inciealc i.i a pro'Kunon fo formidable, as in a (ew yt-ais to become a jurt of the ^permanent wealth of the country. At Nooikj. 1* 2 Ihe ( 36 ) fhe feized and confifcated the property, and im- priibned the fettlcrs, the very firft moment fhe found any there. What ftronger evidence can exift of the opinion entertained by Spain in re- fpedt to the validity of her pretenfions, and which of the two fhe deemed indefenfible ? But if any thing further were wanting to ren- der this reafoning conclufive, we may look for it in Mr. Pitt's own words the day of the de- bate on his Majefly's MefTage : words, not ca- fuaily and unguardedly thrown out, extorted from him in the acrimony of debate, but earneflly pronounced at the moment of his utmoft need, relifd on by him as his fote defence agiinfl the attack which he had provoked, by having flated the probability of peace on the Budget-day, "when he was fuppofed to have known that hof- tile claims had been advanced, and hoflile ads committed. " The Right Hon. Gentleman," faid he, (fpeaking of Mr. Fox) " is miftaken in his " fta'-^ment of the circumftances to which he *' refers. The Right Hon. Gentleman fays, fVe *' knezv every thmg when the Budget was opened that " we know now. The cafe is diredlly the rc- *' vcrfe. We knew nothing of the fads in quef- '•' tion, except what we knew from the Com- " MUNICATION O? THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR, which ( 37 ) ** which was extremely vague, and related only " to the capture of one of the vefTels, and that " without the particulars,''^ Was it the knowledge oi thtk particuJars that fnade the mighty difference ? — Did the communi- cation of the SpaniJJj /Imhajfador inform Mr. Pitt of nothing clfe that was likely to produce a war? Admitting the fa (ft s (which, except for the fake of argument, I am by no means dif- pofed to do), namely, that until the arrival of Captain Mears*s Memorial, he knew not of tl-^ofe adls of outrage and injuftice which cOm- ^ ' '::d him fince to feek reparation at the point of the fword, he knew pofitively the claim of Spain, fuch as it was, to the Southern whale fifhery. 7hat we have from the King's MefTage. But was the fort of claim then advanced, and the manner in which it is fpoken of in the Com- munication of the Span'fh Amhoffc.dor fo very fi-ri- ous, as lo make Mr. Pitt believe it likely that Spain " c. Id g6 to war about it? He himfelf, if onecr f:iit afinglc fyllable of whathefays, tells us No, . r \ relics upon this nt- gative for his de- fence againit one of the moil ferious charges ever produced in Parliament againft a Minifter. Demonftration itfeU can throw no new light u[)on the fubjc(5l ; and I advert to it in an early pc- jriori. becaufe I know the tricks of this Mini- Her, ( 38 ) fter, and that his whole condu6l in every political concern of his lite is nothing but a trap for po- pularity. To cover the poverty of his meafures, he will arrogate immenfe credit to himfelf, at the end of the negotiation, for having fecured to Great Britain what never was ferioufly difpu- ted with her •, he will boafl: of having flrength- ened the finews of Britifh commerce and naviga^ tion by the addition of the Southern whale fifh- ery, with a fcarcely better right to boafl: of it, than if the Newfoundland fifheri^^s had been ac- knowledged to belong to us, W 1 he comes to Parliament, as he very poflibly ruay, with a Convention from Spain in one hand, and his ac- counts of four millions expended in the other, he will think it a fair anfwer to every pofTible ob- jeftion, to fay — " Look at my Convention, ac- *' knowledging your right to fidi in the Spanifli " feas : look at the 3 per cents, at 8i.'* — Upon fome fuch empty, fhallow title, we fliall fee pa- negyrick exhaufted, extravagance itfelf outftrip- ped, and new terms of adulation invented for the glorious Minifter who will have done all this ! — ' Have done what ? Who will have obtained a point which he acknowledges not to have been fuch an objedl of conteft as to make him appre^ hend the leaft chance of a rupture with Spain when it was dated by her, , No. XIII. ( 39 ) No. XIII. September 28, 1790* THAT the Family Compaft would not have been affirmed ; that the Northern Confederacy could not have been renewed, if Mr. Pitt had finiflied his difpute with Spain when he might have done it, from the fituation in which Ihe flood, both in point of right and in point of preparation, are fadls of which thofe who at- tend to political occurrences cannot entertain a doubt. That there is no juft reafon to think Spain would have continued the difpute, in a ftate of hoftility, on the fubjed of the fiHierics, muft be equally- clear to thofe who have attend- ed to the proceedings of Minifters in this coun- try. If, by fair ftatements from authentic do- cuments, 1 have proved him the egregious dupe of a private negotiation at Paris, I hope the public will give me credit for having detailed that fa6t, more with a view to the mifchief the country will fufFer by his being fo, than with any defign injurious to his fame, or painful to his vanity. What could have induced him to purfue a condu<5t which involves him, of neceffity, in fuch a labyrinth of embarrafflnents, were otherwife a fpeculation ( 40 ) fpeculation of more curiofity than importance* The ..rue and only line feemed to obtrude itfelf upon the underftanding, and required a fpecies of addrefs to mifs, rather than to difcover it. His Majefty of Pruflia could have given him fome excellent advice on this head. *' Never *' think, he would have faid, of *^ giving up your " caufe of complaint ! — Nurfe the infult you have *' received, encourage the continuance of it while " you have any matters to fettle with the Court " of Spain. What did I do, in a fimilar fitua- " tion ? My ambition and my Minifters told '* me, in the year 1787, that I ought to take ad- " vantage of the dilira(^ed ftate of the Dutch " Republic, and, by one bold and decifive *' ftroke, fecure my own influence in it for ever. *' The advice was good, but the execution of it " d'r^kult. A forcible interference in the do* " meitic politics of an independent ftate would ** have alarmed Europe, I fearched for a pre* '■' tence, and found one at iaft, though it was but " ihallow. — I caufed my fifter to undertake a *' clandeftine expedition to the Hague, in the *' execution of which I knew fhe would be in- " terrupted. All fucceeded to my wifhes. Her •* perfon was feized. I pretended to demand fa- •' tisfaflion as her brother, while in reality I de- " manded the government of the republic, as its t •* m after. u cc <( (I (C <( « ( 41 ) mafter. Apologies were offered me, but I would accept none that did not involve the re-inftatement of the Stadtholder in all his rights and dignities. I did not timidly fcpa- rate the queftion of faiisfa^ion for the infult from the real objedb of my interference in his affairs, but marched my troops to Amfterdam, before France could have time to declare her- felf. You affifted my views, and ihould know better how to deal with the Court of Spain." No. XIV. September 29, I7$d. SENTIMENTS fuch as thefe decided the condud of Frederick William, and infured his fuccefs. I am faf from applauding the crafty policy of a tyrant at the head of an hundred thoufand men, eager for his prey, and fcarching only the pretext to feize it : I am far from pro- pofing the manner in which he courted an in- fult to the perfon of his fitter, to the imitation of the Britifh Minifter 5 but when the Court of Spain had actually, and without juft provoca- tion^ committed an outrageous infulc towards T. . ' # this ( 42 ) this country, I affirm that it was an unwife con*-' dud in him, and exemplifies fomething more faulty than a confufed head, to divide this infult, in his negotiations, from the right afferted by Spain to ad in the fame manner whenever the occafion may fuit her, and acknowledge himfelf p€rfe5fly fatvjitd before he had obtained any fe- curity againft the recommifTion of it. But it is not for the illumined mind of Mr. Pitt to bend either to the examples of illuflrious men, or the fuccefsful pradice of his predecef- fors. Hitherto, where a Sovereign, the guar- dian of his people, has been compelled to de- mand reparation for an infult offered to his ho- nour and rights, the firft ftep to fuch reparation has been a formal difavowal, on the part of the adverfe Sovereign, of any authority from him to commit the ads complained of. Such was obtained from Spain in the affair of Falkland's Illands. Her difavowal was explicit, complete, and, as far as it went, fatisfadory : Whether ic embraced all the points of complaint then exift- ing between the two Courts, is foreign to the purpofe. It was the more mortifying to Spanifli arrogance, as the feizure of the fettlement, and difpofieffion of the Britifh inhabitants, was done in a regular hoftile manner, under all the forms of open war in which inferior force fubmits, without fr < 43 ) Without dilhonour, to its fuperior. There, the difavowal contained no oppofite ftipulations for the right — no equivocal explanation of general orders — no protecting falvo for the honour of the Spanilh Monarch. The atonement came in the very feat of the affront. A particular expedi- tion fitted out in the face of Europe, failing from a Spanilh port, commanded by a commif- fioned Officer, was ftigmatized in the face of Europe with the names of piracy and plunder by its author *, and Spain was humbled by the furrender of her national claim, and of her na- tional veracity. I Ihall expofe the degrading contrail in a few remarks on the Declaration and Counter-Decla-* ration, figned by Mr. Fitzherbert and the Count de Florida Bianca. > No. XV. Oflober i, 1790. MANY obfervations which apply to the in- fufficiency of the Spanifh declaraiion, confidered merely as an apology for the inlult, have necefla- rily been anticipated in the courle of thefe pa- pers. I the lefs regret my having but a few G 2 niore ( +4 ) more to prefs upon the public attention, becaufc the general opinion of impartial men is already formed upon thefubjed, and almoft as much to Mr, Pitt's difadvantage as his improvident con- dudl can defer ve. Thofe who examine the political life of this Minilter muft have remarked, that whenever he has a point to carry, or is engaged in any im- poriiant tranfadion, his meafures are ufually pre- ceded by the dil gent circulation of feme popu- lar and lofty fentimeni, which, while it capti- vates the public car, ferves as a ^hrafe of union^ a fort of watch word, to thofe who have the tafk of defending and admiring him. Of this fort is the ehildiih, unmeaning cry, echoed by liis partifans in the Houfe of Commons, and re- echoed with a ridiculous induftry to the people, of SATISFACTION PREVIOUS TO DISCUSSION : — one of thofe obfcure combinations of found which Mr. Pitt never underftood himfelf, and never meant fhould be underflood by others. For the prefent, however, let us meet him on his own ground : let us examine how he has conduced himfeli", after eftablifhing the princi- ple from which he meant to deduce all fubfe- quent proceedings with the Court of Spain. Li- beral in our admiflions, we will agree, firft, that his principle was intelligible ; fecondly, that it was ( 45 ) was correal : that the queflion of honour allow- ed itfelf to be feparated from the right, and that fatisfaclion for the firft was indifpenfable bt.ore the commencement of any enquiry into the fe- cond. ^ It will, r imagine, hardly be difputed with me, that the reparation ought, in all its points, to have been complete : the ideas on which it was founded, diftmd : the confequences, blended in no way one with the other. As little will it he denied that the fpecies of fatisfaiflion to be re- quired by the Britifh Court ought to have been equally clear ^ definite^ and unmixed. Poffelfing fuch requifites, it became one of thefe quellions, fo rarely occurring in politics, which admit of no negotiation : efFe£lualIy fleering clear of thofc undecifive diftindions under which one tiltimatum (as it is called) lingers after the other, and muft inevitably continue to do fo, unlefs the Minifter departs materially from his firft ground, and quickens the dreaming conferences of Mr. Fitz- herbert by refolutions at home, renouncing that inadive fyftem to which he bound himfclf when he accepted the Declaration I am examining. Such were Mr. Pitt's ideas, and fuch were his promifes. The affront once eftablifhed, the ne- ceility for immediate reparatio;; followed. It is with him, therefore, to account to his country, why ( 4^ ) why he admitted this necefHty to be demurred to for three mouths by the Court of Spain ? If, du» ring that period, an inveftigation of fads and of right had been going on, with a view to deter- mine whether any infult had been committed or not, I fhould be fatisfied. But Mr. Pitt denies me this. " Not one word of the right," fays he, *' previous to the apology !" Captain Mears's Memorial, the document on which the complaint of Great Britain for the infult offered to her flag is founded, was in Mr. Pitt's pofleflTion the 13th of April. That complaint, according to Mr. Pitt, was fimplej flood entirely on its own ground •, and was capable of immediate atone- ment on the one hand, or of a pofuive denial on the other. How is it then, that no fuch atone- ment, or any apology for an atonement (Mr. Pitt is fond of diflinftionsj, was offered until the end of July ? I have already flated the true rea- fon in the fevcnlh number of thefe difcuffions \ and that it was at lad conceded by Spain at the inftigation of the French Miniftry, with a view to procure the adhefion of the National AlTem- bly of France to the defenfive claufes of the Fa- mily Compadt. But under what pretence did Mr. Pitt allow the Spanilh Minifter fo much time to deceive him in ? — Was he ignorant what to demand by way of fatisfaclion ? He will not acknow- ( 47 ) acknowledge it if he was. Did he fairly grant the Court of Spain fo much time to deliberate ? Scarcely fo weak as to grant it them in terms, although their condudt demonftrates that they took it. Did he vary in the objedls of his de- mand, and leave it to his Ambafladbr to make them out as well as he could ? The plain truth is, that this delicate matter, any negotiation about which, according to Mr. Pitt, could not be fufFered without a frefh wound to the dignity of the Britilh nation, was after all fettled by a very long negotiation. Had it been otherwife, the return of his firft MefTenger would have been decifivc. '^'^ be commonly confiftent with himfelf, it w 3 bufinefs to have admitted but of one ne- gotiation, namely, that which was to follow his point of honour* But he departs from his plan, and his promife •, and how many more negotia- tions we are now to be indulged with, depends no longer upon him. I Ihould not have condemned his recantation from principles which I think erroneous, if he had done the next befl; thing, and, confent- ing to negotiate the affront, had negotiated the right at the fame time. The (late of affairs at this moment will fufficiently evince the degree of 1 * error vn;.., ( ) error and abfurdity in which the feparating thefc queftions has involved him. No. XVI. Odlober 4, 1 7901 IN Mr. Pitt's firft fpeech, explanatory of his Majefty's Meflage to Parliament, he declared, *' that he Ihould confider no fatisfadion ade- " quate, which did not include the prevention *' of futuie infults from the Spaniards," From this principle it appears that he thought it expe- dient to recede •, and Mr. Fitzherbert's counter declaration announces the direct reverfe. For after all that can be faid in favour of thefe wife men, whe.v we come to plain fadls, their condudl will appear precifely the fame as I ori^ ginally dated it. The language of the bigb con- (racing parties is fimply this : — Mr. Pitt. " I fhall confider no fatisfa6l;.on adequate that *' does not preclude future difputes.** King of Spain. *' I am ready to reftore your (liips, but aflert my right to capture as many more as I pleafe.'* Mr. cc ( 49 ) Mr. Pitt. ** We will talk of that afterwards ; at prc- ** fent I declare myfelf fatisfied with your pro- ** mife." Here we (hall obferve that the fatisfadlion which Mr. Pitt propofed to obtain for us, never could in its nature be complete j and for the fol- lowing plain reafons : — Firlt— That from the inftant he eftablilhed two diftindt principles for his negotiations, and two diftindt periods for commencing and con- cluding them, he precluded himfeif from obtain- ing fromSpain a public difavowaloi the condudb of her officers j that point being, according to better opinions, infeparably connected with that of the right to the pojfejfion of the fettlcment, or territory in difpute. Secondly — That by confining his ideas of *' adequate fatisfadtion'* to the preclufion of fu- ture difputes, he abandoned all his claims to re- paration for the paft. For that if the right was ours at any time, it clearly was fo at the com- miflion of the outrages complained of. If, therefore, the fettlcment of this point, fo as only to prevent future indignities, was to be put off to a fecond negotiation, and fatisfadion acknow- ledged on our part previous to the commence- ment, even, of that fecond Degotiation, no pro- H vi/ion ( so ) vifion could be made for the affront under which we have been aching ever fince the loth of Fe- bruary. A difavowal, indeed, would have cured this •, but under the prefent circumftances there muftever exill a chafm in the proceedings which no future arrangement can fupply. The narrow ground taken at firft by Mr. Pitt was contraded flill more by the neceflity under which he placec} himfelf of accepting a fatisfadion, inadequate, according to himfeif. But under every admiflion I can make him, the neceflity of a difavowal will appear indifpenf- able. Let it be fuppofed that the right to form exclufive fettlements in Nootka Sound belongs to Spain, and that this point afcertained, a rea- foring man lliould affirm that we had fuftained no infulc. — What would Mr. Pitt fay to this ? — " " No infuk ! -4re not the circum^ances of ag- " gravation infults ? Is not the imprifonment of " Bririfli fubjeds, and the cruelty exercifed up- *' on their perfons, an outrage which it becomes " their countrymen to refent ? I felt it as fuch, *' and fo did Parliament •, and fo completely in- ** dependent of the right did [ feel it, that I will '* have fatisfadlion for it, whether the right is in " me or not." — What would be the anfwcr ac- cording to the dictates of common fenfe, and the praflicc of nations ? " Wherever there is an in« 'fult, ( 51 ) *' fult, there muft be a difavowal on the part of ** the Sovereign under whofe authority it appears *' to have been committed.** I fhould be glad to fee this principle controverted. The neceflity of a difavowal, therefore, ap- plies to both cafes; with this fimple difference, that if it were the refult of a negotiation con- duced upon the principles of a well-underftuod policy, extenfive in its views, and fpirited in the affertion of them, it would go to the extent of acknowledging a right in Great Britain to that particular fettlement in Nootka Sound, in the pofleflion of which they were difturbed ; and if it were the refult of a negotiation conducted up- on the more narrow principles eftablifhed by Mr. Pitt, a difavowal would be the firlt (Vep to reparation, and part cf a neceffary apolotzy from the King of Spain for thofe indignitie*; which, under no pofTn^le cirrnmftances, hi* fubjedls can have a right to offer to the Britifh flag. No. XVII. Oflober (L 17QO. IF the circumftances of the times, and the tranfadtions which have led to them, were not of H 2 an ( 52 ) an importance equal to whatever can happen to us within the compafs of political events, I fhould deem it incumbent upon me to apologize to the Public for renewing any demand upon their indulgence on points fo clear, that to be proved they require but to be difcriminated. Lcfs, however, than a continued, undiffipated at» tention to the method in which Mr. Pitt has condudled his negotiation, will not avail, if we mean fairly to try him on the principles we con- tend to be corred, as well as on thofe which he has eftabliflied for himfelf. It is not the invef- tigation of an hour that can detedt the latent intri* cacies of a confufed and contradictory fyftem of conducling the national affairs. The man who limits his obfcrvations to the general fallacy and inexpediency of fuch a fyftem, has a tafk infi- nitely lefs difficult, and lefs painful, than he who purfues the mifchief from its fource, through the detail of its perplexities, and the difgufting fo- phiftry of its perverfions. But in this period of a difpute, pregnant, as I fear, with every cala» mity which can befal a country, the clofenefs of fuch an inquiry appears to me indifpenfable. The day approaches in which a Minifter,who has hitherto had no one ferious difficulty to encounter, will find that his ficuation is not fo totally exempt from ( 53 ) from them, but that the good, eafy people of this country, ever ready almoft to give popularity to power, will exa£t, when they begin to feel, a fevere refponfibility for the ufe of it. On thefe grounds, while the author of important meafures can be produced before he is difguifed; before the'country forgets, in its misfortunes, the true caufe which has led to them ; before that caufe is fheltered under an all-abforbing INFLU- ENCE, which has baffled every popular exer- tion, and nearly extirpated all popular principle, to point out, and ^.fcertain him, becomes one of the mod neceffary afts of public duty. Little accuftomed to defpair of the natural energy of my country, I fhall foon fee awakened among us the fame generous ardour that unites for the common good, and the fame adtive, inquifuive, perfevering Ipirit, that ever proves fatal to weak and wicked minifters. The complicated errors of Mr. Pitt have placed us in a fituation fo truly alarming, that I muft profefs myfelf too much in earneft to relax from the developcment of thofe falfe and fatal principles in which they originate; or to dcfift from expofing (till further the trifling inanity of a meafure that betrays at the fame time the in- corrcdnefs of a (latefman*s mind without his ge- nius ( i4 ) nius, and the minutenefs of a lawyer's without his method. Such is the negotiation, the charader of which we are to look for in the Gazette Extraordinary of Auguft.— *This is the document that contains the extent, the quality, the all in (hort, of the fatisfadtion obtained, or at any time to be ob- tained, for the infults and injuries fuftained by the King of Great Britain and his fubjeds. On the fide of that infult(d and injured Mo- narchy his Minifter declares hi mfe If content with the reftoration of the raptured fhips ; and with thcfe words, the meaning of which \ (hall (hortly have eccafion to examine, — *' His Catholic Ma- jefty is willing to give fatisfadlion for the injury of which he has complained, fully perfuaded his Britannic Majefty would a6l in the fame manner towards the King [cf Spain] under fimi- lar circumftances.'* On tlie fide of that Monarch, who h the au- thor of a grofs and outrageous infult, defcribed by Mr. Pitt himfclf in terms of the mod marked atrocity, his Miniiler declares him content to ac- knowledge that he is in the wrong, fubjed to the decifion of his afTcrted right, which nothing in his declaration, he fays, fhall prejudice. He is ready alfo to reftore the captured Britiih fhips, and ( 55 ) and to indemnify the parties for their lofs, as foon as they can a/certain ihe amount of it. No, XVIII. Oftober 8, 1790. "WHAT, therefore, has the King of Spain con^ ceded to Great Britain ? Examine his Declara- tion under the three heads of — 1. Atonement to the King for the affront which he has received. 2. Reftoration of the captured veffels. 3. Indemnification to the fufferers for their ioffcs. On the firfl: of thefe points it will appear, that the refervation of right on the part of his Catho- lic Majefty completely vitiates the apologizing part of his Declaration, and renders it, as fuch, totally null and nugatory, ab initio. It is a con- ditional fatisfa(5lion for a formal, deliberate, and avowed infult. Mr. Pitt's very laboured fepara- tion between that which conftitutes a national in- fult, and that which amounts only to a (imple injury, has not been overlooked by the King of Spain. Accordingly he has adapted his offer of fatisfadlion precifely to " the injury of which his J^ritanmc Majejiy has complainedj" What ( 56 ) What was the exa6t and fpecific wrong ftated by him we are not inlormcd by any authentic in- ftrument of his Minifters ; — we mud colledt it, therefore, as we have an undoubted right to do, from the paper under confideration. In this we cannot err •, for if the matter of complaint be not faithfully referred to in the inftrument which profefles to be a fatisfaftion for fuch complaint, then is there a radical obje6lion to the whole of its contents confidered under any poflible point of view. But if it be faithfully referred to in the King of Spain's Declaration, the injury complained of will be found to relate fimply to " the capture of certain vejfels belonging to his (Britannic Majefty's) fuhjeSis in the fort ef Nootka.^^ Should it be faid that his Catholic Majefty thinks otherwifc, and that his promife to rcftore the (hips and indemnify the parties, as z further fatisfaftion, neceffarily fuppofes another fpccies of atonement, 1 anfwer, that from the very terms in which he makes the promife, the performance of it is impoflible. Were it promifed for the infult fo loudly refounded, then it might be a queftion, what further atonement would be re- quifite ? But promifed as it is, for the injury of which the King has complained, which injury is fpecifically referred to, and defcribed to be " ihj capture in) taptiire of certain vejfeh belonging to his fuhjeffs in the port of Nootka^' the Kingc Spain precludes us from advancing any claim independent of that which naturally connedts itfeif with the in- jury, and which will refolve itfeif at laft into a fatisfadlion abfolutely pecuniary. I confefs, that thefe diftinclions are nice, and new in the hiftory of negotiations. But who is the author of them ? A ftatefman who has for- gotten every thing but that he was once a pleader — who has involved the great interefts of nations in the fubtleties, and the delay of a fuit in Equi- ty — fplitting cafes with the Count de Florida Blanca while he was lofing one alliance, render- ing another precarious, and raifing up on all fides a formidable maritime conlederacy, againft which Great Britain can be fuccefsful in no war jfhe ever undertakes. No. XIX. Odlober ii, 1790. THAT the fatisfadlion offered by Spain is conditional on her part, will appear from thofe remarkable words in the DeclaraC'on, which Mr. Fitzherbert admits without any refcrve, any ex- planatory fentence, or even any notice, " per- fuaded that his Britannic Majejly would a^ in the I fame If * I ( J8 ) fame manner towards the King under Jimilar cir* cumfiances,'*^ What is meant by " fimilar cir- cumftances ?" Clearly, under a fimilar invafion of the rights of Spain. Now, as Spain has re- ferved her claim to this very right, the fup- pofed invafion of which conftrtutes the offence for which an apology has been demanded from her, and as Great Britain has confented to enter into the difcuflion of this claim, and abide by the de- termination of it, if the fadt (hould eventually turn out to be that the fettlement in difpute is to all intents and purpofes the property of Spain on the principle of prior occupancy, I afk whether, under this admitted refervation coupled with the words ex cradled frorp the Declaration, the Spa- nifh Monarch will not have good reafon to expedl ,an apology from his Britannic Majefty for dif- turbing him in his rightful polTefiions ? — That I am warranted in this conclufion will appear ftill further by the addition of an extrafl from a do- cument which the Miniftcrs will fcarcely under- value. We know very well that on fome occa- fions thev are not above a communication with nevvfpapers. Perhaps no fet of men that ever held official fituations have made a more diredt ufe of thofe channels of intelligence, whenever they have had particular purpofes to anfwer by it. Very foon after the Gazette Extraordinary made ctr* cir- ifion ( 59 ) made Its appearance, two papers, purporting to contain the grounds on which the firll negotia- tion was concluded, and the Spanlfh apology was promifed, were laid before the Public through the medium of thofe chofen prints in which the triumphs of the Minilbr commonly keep pace with his wiflies : theiice they were tranfpofed into others, and are now in univer- fal circulation. Thefe curious documents — on which I regret my not being uble to bellow the particular attention they fo richly merit — are figned, the one '* Alleyne Fitzherbert," and the other *' De Florida Blanc a." Of their authenticity there is no difpure. The lafl: of them contains the three explanatory propo- fitions, under either of which tne King of Spain is content to offer facisfadon for the injury done to the King of Great Britain. From Mr. Fitzherbert's difpatches it appears that he chofe the third, which deferves the more to be tran- fcribed, as it will difplay in their true colours Mr. Pitt's holdnefsy £onJiftencyy and regard for the infulted honour of his country. 3d. " The faid fatisfadion will be given, ** provided it fhall not be underllood to follow '* as a confequence that Spain has renounced *' any of her rights in this bufinefs, any more " than the right which (he has to require a fatif- I 2 fadion ( 6o ) r. with fuch a caufe as ours then was, to acquiefce in the raifmg of fo poor a difficulty, and in a fyftem of fuch undifguifed prevarication ? Wich the Britifh Minillcr, m this inftance, there could be none. He — modeil negotiator — engages to be fatisfied with a little. Projccit ampidlas et fef- quipedalia verba — Promife rhiit you are ready to give fatisfadlion, and that lliall conftirute fitis- fadlion — is the unoffending language of Mr. Pitt ' to the Spanilh IMonarch— to that dark and in- K human li ft! ' ( 66 ) human tyrant who had trampled under his fc^t the dearcfl: rights of which an Knglilhman can boaft — who had robbed Britifh fubjeds of their property — who had cruelly confined and tortured their perfons — ads which, if their own Mo- narch had dared to do, — who did not wait to be aflced for a difavowal of the deed, but infultingly prefled forward by his Ambaflador at the Britilh Court to acknowledge and to juftify it. — Yet this bold and decifive Minifter — —this deicendant of the illuftrious CHATHAM— at a feafon of life in which every generous fentiment, in other minds, is animated and enterprifing- — this vigorous and fpirited prote6tor of his Sovereign's honour and his fellow fubjedls unalienable rights, allows fuch an enemy to hold off from February to Auguft before he fubfcribes even to the inno- cent condition of de,^' ring that he is ready to make fatisfadion. Aftonifhed almoft to ftupefadion at fuch an inftance of unexampled imbecility, I muft here fufpend the progrefs of thefe remarks, to afk, upon what degraded reprefentation of the Britifh charadter Mr. Pitt can indulge the profped of a moment's applaufe ? Does he believe that a general political depravity, the peculiar vice of his domeflic adminiftration, has extended its in- fluence ( «7 J fluence to the feelings as well as to the opinions of men ? — Has it been whifpered to him, " The blow you ftruck to the importance of Parlia- ment has involved a very natural change in the manners of the people. New principles, fuit- able to the fcenes of which we were then wit- nefles, have grown up with us from that period, and prepare us for the approbation of any mea- furcs you may purfue. Many of thole who really loved the Conftitution faw nothing, after it, that could intereft their regard. An accom- modating defertion of a poft too difficult for their virtue, (ecured the moderate men. They fhrunk back from another ten years trial •, from a life of perfeverance unfuftained by hope, and of honour that was likely to remain its own re- ward. The fixed and unalterable enemies to liberty were adlive in the mean time. A popu- lar delufion had fandioncd fome of their princi- ples. Poffeflfed of power, they made the reft follow. Violation of the firft principles of elefli on— difcou rage meat of the popular trial by Jury — the freedom of the prefs undermined by reftriflions multiplied almofl every feffions— new and arbitrary revenue laws copied from the caft-ofF defpotifm of French finance — the ex- tenfion of the excife — the army eftablilhment augmented regularly in time of peace, and its K 2 force / III ( 68 ; force concentred ftill more in the executive power — the public money fquandered on fortifi- cations exprefsly againft a vote of Parliament — the prerogative o^ creating Peers mofl: inde- cently bartered with the marketable power of creating Members of the Houfe df Commons^ and the benches of the Lords filled with your college friends, or your college tutors — ihefe are fomc of the leading meaiures which will im- mortalize the fix firll years of your Adminiftra- tion. For us, indeed, wc complained but little j for the old, fturdy Englilh energy, which, fome years earlier, would have made the authors of fuch deeds a memorable example to pofterity, periflied wiih the dignity of its reprefenting body. That lofty popular fpirit which \\as ufed to circula:e from the head to the members, to pervade, animate, and vivify the whole frame, is become torpid. Dif^bled from rcfiftance at iirft, we are at length refigned. From indo- lent we are changed to patient. There is a falliion even in politics •, and while yuu have been fucceflively deftroying the vital principles of our conftifution, while the evidence of every day difcovers fome new impofition which had been maflced under the boafted purity of your name, you have not the lefseftablifhed a maxim which muft fuftain you in this eventful hour, that *« POPU. ^ ( % ) » POPULARITY BELONGS NEITHER TO CONDUCT NOR TO CHARACTER.'* No. XXIL •ar Oftober i8, 1790, YET even were we thus fallen from the an- tient dignity of our public charafter, feme ar- gument, fome excufe for fuch a conducfb would ftill be requifite Men retain their habits long after they are loft to principle ; and I much doub', even under the lall of their difgraccs, whether the people of England could be eafily perfuaded that they have no bufinefs with the folly or wickednefs of their Minifters, An infulting filence would not fail to revive in them the dear and dangerous memory of their former importance. No cautious Minilter will rifque it. What he cannot deny, he muft ex- plain ; what he cannot juftify, he mud extenu- ate. The darling appeal to his character is urged in vain. Driven from one intrenchment to the other, he will at laft refolve the whole into State-Secrecy: However anxious, he may defcribe himfelf, for his private fame, he will refer us to the fuperior neceffity of his public duty. But if Mr. Pitt poffefled twenty times the capacity I am ready to allow him, on the fubjedt I ( 70 ) fubjefb of State- Secrecy he could advance no- thing new, nothing that, in the phrafe of a man he much refembles, " the meaneft of his predecejfors** has not worn out in the cause before him. He has not, however, a friend more ready to applaud the ufeful fecrecy of his meafures than I am. Independent of the propriety of putting a check to the deftrudtive fpeculations of monied men, in times of difficulty and alarm I know of how much importance it is to the energy of the executive government, that its defigns, as well as its deliberations, (hould be feduloufly veiled from the public eye. But good policy demands that even this claim fhould have its limits. Stretched beyond what reafon will bear, it will fail of its beft purpofe. In the fame degree that the human mind yields a ready obedience to a rational fyftem of faith, it turns away with difguft from bigotry and impofture. Politicks, as well as religion, produce us men who mufl: fubfift upon the mifguided paffions of the vul- gar. State-craft, as well as prieft-craft — the mountebank and the monk — even to this day, have fpread the mantle of myftery and fupcr- ftition over mankind. The agents of the one, and the miflionaries of the other, work with the fame tools, fucceed by the fame frauds, build upon ( 7' ) upon the fame credulous ignorance, and are alike the ridicule and contempt of an enlightened phiiofophy. Enveloped in impenetrable clouds, their condud is kept from the public eye, after, as well as before, the end of it 's anfwered. For they argue, and not unwilely, that if the fanfluary were once profaned, if the materials of a fingle miracle were difcovercd, not one mi- racle of them all would efcape the derifion, and perhaps the fury of the multitude. But fuch charadlers cannot for long be mif- taken. There are infallible tokens, which at all times diftinguilh and betray them. When- ever, therefore, we find a man, born with every dazzling qualification for officiating as the high- prieft to fome wooden god whofe temple no mortal muft invade, but who, from the acci- dents of his fate, is elevated into political life and becomes a Minifter, we (hall not fail to fee him guard all accefs to publick information with a jealous and unremitting vigilance. In office, he will pledge himfelf to no fet of meafures ; he will conned himfelf with no fet of men. In his parliamentary fpeeches, we fhall trace no definite meaning ; in his foreign negotiations, he will be irrefolute and falle. A Statefman of this (lamp will fucceed in quiei times. Where no external mifchief preffes, he can play oft^ the machinery of ( ^^ ) of government without interruption ; and at the lad moment, when foreign da-^g r threatens, and the alarm is founded at the threfhold, he will fnatch the fecrets of the prifon-houfe from dif- covery, and kindle the pile with his own hand which muft: confume at once his miracles, his divinity, and himfelf. No. XXIII. Oftober 20, 1790. IT is not, therefore, difficult to forefee that State fecrefy, State neceflity, and implicit Con- fidence, will be the topics of exculpatory defence for Mr. Pitt from all the inconfiftencies of his meafures. But fomething more is due to the gravityofconftitutional enquiry. We, who are not ufed to confider a concluded negotiation as a matter fo wonderfully facred, or to annex ideas of profound and fpeculative doubt to what is in itfelf fo fimple ; who, free from the tyranny of opinion, can approach the red box of a Secre- tary of State without any fentiments of reveren- tial awe, and who receive not the myfteries of Diplomatic revelation like the articles of a reli- gious creed, or the orthodox communications of a Divine will, ferioufly fhall demand to know, why, in the impofmg fituation in which his country ( 73 ) country then flood, Mr, Pitt fufFered himfclf to be amufed into a furrender of his Sovereign's honour, and ot the rights and dearefl: intercfts of the people ? Or why the man, who pretended to think that honour lb nice a point as not to hear of a negotiation about it, contents himfelf at lad with a conditional fatisfaflion for the in- jury it has fuftained, and even that amounting to no more than a readinefs to make fatisfa(5lion, exprefTed by the King of Spain ? I have but a few more obfervations to add upon the remaining heads — II. The King of> Spain agrees to reftore the Britifb veflfels. No principle is aflerted here. The reftoration of the captured veflels was a voluntary a£t of the King of Spain, always under the refervation of his right. That the mere a6l of reftoring them includes no fatisfadtion, I aflume from his Majefty's meflage, in which the diftindion is. exprefsly made. III. The King of Spain agrees to indemnify the fufferers for the lofTes they Jhall prove themfelves to have fuftained in their property* What they will be able to prove — what is to be the nature of the proof which may be agreed upon between Commiffioners appointed by the re- L fpe6tive ( 74 ) * fpediveMonarchs — or whether any difficulties can • poinbly arifeon this point, are qucftions which I iloop not to examine. All objc6lions are loft in his difgracetul abandonment of that which ought to ftand foremoft in the exacted reparation -, in his fcandalous fubmifiion to the moft biting and corrofive part of the infult we have fuftained — I mean — a corporal punishment inflicteix UPON British subjects. What ? is the glorious Miniftcr fatisjied when he knows that his fellow fubjeds have been con- demned to a lingering flavcry ? Are the owner* of thefe veffcls to be paid a compenfation for the ftripes and imprifonment of innocent men, who own allegiance to an Engltfh King ? Ifthis, how- ever, is to be avowed, how fhall the damage be appreciated ? Let him retire to his calculations^ and tell us at how much per hour he values an Engliihman's liberty ? The principle is in his own Excife laws j and he can refort to it with* out trouble and without regret. In the mear* lime 1 will tell him — (and unlefs I much mif- take he will hear of this again) — that if at the time he accepted the Spanifh Minifter's Dcclara^ tion, he was not in poflefiion of full and fuf- ficient evidence that every individual Britifh fubjcdt captured at the Port of Nootka wau re- leafed ( 75 ) leafed from the Spanilh dungeons, he is guilty •OF AN IMPEACHABLE OFFENCE fof having Hf- gledcd to make their reieafe the fubjeft of an «xprefs (lipulation. Here I (hall ciofe my remarks upon the Spa- Bifli Declaration- An inftrument which thofe who have attended to the preceding arguments will not wonder 1 fhonld arraign as the mod nugatory in its matter, the moll infolent in its humility, that ever pafled from one independent Monarch to another, purporting to be an atonement for aa affront. What remain for me to ftate, in further elu- cidation of the reafoning by which I fupport my -charge againft the Minifter, are thofe clear, fixed, and immutable principles of public right, and the ^Dradlice of nations, which in political difputes fiever are denied but by that Power notorioufly in a condition to prefcribe t?h€ law to its antagonift. Firft, That in the cafe of an affront offered to the flag of an independent State, the ad itfelf muft be unconditionally difavowed ; — a point fuf- iiciently argued already. Secondly, That where the affront is accompa- nied -with a(5ls of outrage to individuals, thofe afts (hall be atoned for not only by the moft am- ple indemnification in point of property, but by L 2 the ( 76 ) the punlfhment of the ofRcer who committed the outrage. Thirdly, That if a denial, or improper delay of j'ift fatisfadion, compels a nation to arm with a view of vindicating its honour and aflerting its undoubted rights, the nation, wh leobftinacy and pertinacity alone is the caufc of fuch armament, fhall pay the expences of it. No. XXIV. Oftobcr 22i 1790* WITH regard to the firft of thefe principles, it will not be fufHcient that, after a long negotia- tion, the aggrelTor confent to difavow his aft by a fimple declaration. It muft be done, not only effeftively in itfelf, but with all the folemnity of apology. In thefe cafes the procefs is fimple, and the praftice is eftablifhed. The injured So- vereign expofes the nature of his complaint by his AmbalTador, and Oiould wait a reafonable time for an anfwer. If in that anfwer no fatif- faftion be offered, but expedients, delays, and fophiftry be fubftituted in the room of it, his dignity forbids him to enter into the difcuflion of fuch matters •, it becomes his duty to renew his firft ( 77 ) firfl demand, and in a peremptory tone to infift on compliance with it within a limited period. After this, he can go no further in negotiation : he muH: fubmit his caule to the law of arms.- But if the offending party confent to make atone- ment, the laws of national honour require that every honourable formality ht obferved in the execution of this engagement •, and that an Am- balfador Extraordinary befent for that pur pofe alone, to fhe Court of the offended Monarch, "y'^^b a fpecific and dire6l apology to him for the infults of which he has complained. The fecond principle is derived from the fame fource. Applied to this country, an exemplary punifbment muff be inflisiiled on the commander of any velfel, or expedition, or the perpetrator, whoever he may be, of any wanton barbarity upon the perfon of a Britilli fubjetft. The right of re- venging fuch an a6t, which if his own arm con- tained fufRcient ftrength, is in him by the law of nature, from his accidental incapacity to do (o devolves immediately upon his country ; and with his country, that right becomes a duty. Or what would be the ufe of apologies and difavow- als ? What effectual benefit would be derived to Britifli commerce, what fecurity would be gained for the perlbns of the merchants and fca- men who carry it on, if thofe who pillage and torture ( 78 ) torture them are permitted to mock their fuffcr- ings, and repeat the fame afts with impunity, while the two Courts are amufing each other with metaphyfical difquKitions ? Years, I may almoft add, centuries of experience, mud con- vince us of the nece(fity of infifting upon this principle in all our difputes with Spain. The law of retaliation alone, executed with prompt- nefs and feverity, can ever operate as an efFcdlual check to the barbarous treatment our feameti have ever fufFered when captured in thofe lati- tudes in which Spain claims the privelege of exclufive navigation. Nor does the right of Great Britain to adt thus depend merely on the general principles of juftice ; it is diredlly ac- knowledged by the 17th Article of the Treaty of Utrecht, which is as follows : — Art. 17. — " But if it happen through inad- *• vcrtency, imprudence, or any other cauje^ that *' any fubjeSf of either of their aforefaid Royal *' Majefties do or commit any thing, by land, *' fea, or on frefh waters, in any 'part of the ** worlds whereby this prefcnt treaty be not ob- *' ferved, or whereby any particular article of *• the fame hath not its effedl, this peace and •* good correfpondence, between the King of *' Great Britain and the Catholic King, fliall not •' therefore be interrupted or broken, but (hall " remain ( 79 ) ** remain In its former (Irength, force, and vi- *« gour ; and that fubjeft only Jhall be anfwerable ^^ for bis own aSi^ and fuffer fuch punijhment as is '' infli£led by law, and according to the prefcriptions " of the law of nations,"** An Englifhman*s (hip is his caftle. No power but the law can enter without his confent. Shall then a Spanifii plunderer be fuffered to invade it, and pkad his matter's will in juftification ? Whether Von Martinez is amenable to an En- gliih tribunal, to take his trial for an offence committed againft Britifh fubjeds on the higli feas, is a quellion which I am not competent to decide. As a lawyer, Mr. Pitt ought to be bet- ter acquaintf^d with this, and, 'f It be fo, to have iriliuid char Don ^vlartihcz fhji.ld be deli- vered up. In the other cafe, he Ihouid have fti- puiated for the inflidion of a fevere pumlhment on him for the afts of rapacity and cruelty of which he has been guilty. Europe has long admired the efficacy of a jjfftice that could reach the remoteft Ihores, glad- den the oppreffed inhabitants of a defolated em- pire, and, *' twice bleffed" in itfelf, (bed its be- nignant influence over cheerlefs and inhofpitable regions. Let her now contemplate the fad re- verfe, when, (tripped of its avenging fword, the juftice ( go V juftice of Great Britain is too feeble to protecl the fufi^ring fubjeds of its own iQand ! As little can the third principle be denied. A fecurity againft pillage and inhuman treatment is to be required from the commanders of Spanifli veflVls, namely, refpon Ability for their condudl. A fimilar fecurity is not lefs to be infifled upon from the Spanilh nation, againft the pofTible re- newal of the fame contumacy and infolence which have compelled us to incur a very heavy cxpence for preparations of defenfive hoftility, I confefs, however, that this will not apply to tl-ke expences we have incurred fmce Mr. Pitt's acceptance of the Spanilh Declaration. No. XXV. Oftober 25, 1790. THE pofitlons I have here advanced arc not only correft in themfelves, but, if there muft be a divifion between the quf^ftionof honour and the queftion of right, the eftablilhment of them belongs indifputably to the firft, and ought to have been provided for under the head of fatis- fadlion. That circumftances may exift, under which it would be the wifer mcafure to wave thefe I (81 ) thefe points, I am not prepared to deny ; but in that cafe it is a reafon, and a conclufive one, for putting up with an affront, and not mooting them at all. For as (to apply the principle) a juft caufe of quarrel between this country and any other European power can fcarcely be found, except in a violence done to its honour, fo no- thing can fo much degrade us as to complain loudly of indignities offered to that honour, and afterwards to alTert it by halves, and reft fatBsfied with a paltry, pecuniary fatisfadion. — The ho- nour of a country is the firft and falient princi- ple of its profperity. A dignified affertion of it is always a juft caufe for war -, commerce and territory, never. '" Rightly to be great, Is not to ftir without great argument, But greatly to find quarrel in a ilraw When honour** at the lUke.*' If we could not have proudly maintained this honour, we lliould nave been cautions of com- mitting ourfelves to any humiliating national complaints that acknowledged an offence to it in the firft inftance. The alTjmption ot a lofty tone of imperious baughtinefs and anger could only ferve to excite the contempt of our adver- faries, and the pity of Europe. M Wheiher ( 82 ) Whether the nation was in fuch unhappy cir- cumftances as |to make it inexpedient for her to infifl: on a proper fatisfadlion, is beft known to the King's Minifters. From Mr. Fitzherbert's letter, I fhould be apt to conclude the affirma- tive, and to think that the high language afcrib- ed to Mr. Pitt has, in point of fadt, been con- lined to his own country, and to the defcription of his own atchievements 5 — that the Count de Florida Blanca will vouch for his humility at Madrid. But when I look to the (late of Europe at that period, I muft think otherwife. Great Bri- tain feems then to have been in a condition, ^nd to have remained fo, until the figning of the Counter-declaration, to exadl ample and com- plete fatisfadion for the infu It offered to herftag, and the injury done to her merchants. Found- ed on all thefe arguments^ my charge againft the Britifh Minifler is unanfwerable. By negled- ing to provide for the objects detailed under thefc three heads, he has proved himfelf incom- petent to the duties of his office, and miferably ignorant of the principles of public law ; and, by accepting the Declaration, he has loft the on- ly moment at which he could have obtained the fettlement of them, when by the fealbnable in- terpofition of a vigorous demand he might have prevented ( 83 ) ill prevented a war, or, if a war had been pro- duced by it, have obliged Spain to ftand alone againft the Britilh power. It may be remembered, that in an early pe- riod of this difcuflion, I touched upon the two principal matters which render our fituatlon at prefent fo elfentially different from that in which we ftood at the beginning of the difpute. The tirft, relating to the objed and charader of the impending contelt. This I ftatcd to have be- come wholly changed from a ncceflary defenfive war to a very queftionable ofFenfive one, from the moment Mr. Pitt committed the fatal mif- take of acknowledging fatisfadion ; and, con- fequently, that having brought, as he imagined, his caufe of complain^ to an ijfuable point (I bor- row one of his own phrafes), and declared him- felf fatisficd with the manner in which that point was fettled, all his hoftile preparations muft neceflarily have had an objed connf.ded, in no manner whatfocver, with the neceflary vin- dication of the national honour. I dated, in the fecond inftance, that Spain had feized the lucky moment in which this change of the original ground was announced to Europe, to fill every Court with her intrigues, to detach our maritime alliances, to confirm her M 2 own, ( H ) own, and to revive the dormant confederacy of the neutral powers againft Great Britain. To a more ample confideration of this laft I now proceed, fincerely regretting that the necef- fary detedlion of his errors as a negotiator has fo long detained me from the review of that part of his condud which is infinitely more cenfura- ble, and betrays ftill more his want of capacity, when looked upon as the leading Minifter of an exienfive empire. No. XXVI. Oftober it, 1790, SINCE the exchange of the Declarations, Europe has witnefled a more fudden, a more ex- tenfive, and, in many inftances, a more uncx- pe6ted revolution in the afped of politics, than ever has been experienced within the fame given time •, and in none will it be more felt than in its effed upon the naval fuperiority of this country, as- well as upon the immediate fuc- cefs of our claims againft Spain, unlefs the difference be terminated without having recourffe 10 wjir. I cannot. ( 8s ) I cannot, however, with any propriety, ad- mit the degreeof unlimited pre-eminence, which it has been fo much the fafhion of fanguine poli- ticians to attribute to Great Britain and her alhes. The fyftem of continental alliances pur- fued by Mr. Pitt is, in my opinion — and I may venture to fay, in the opinion of thofe whofe names would give authority to doubts infinitely lefs warrantable — very ill calculated to give us that pre-eminence. It has the fundamental er- ror of being grounded upon adventitious princi- ples, and of depending for its {lability upon the accidental weaknefs of thofe powers who muft unite themfelves of courfe in an oppofite confede- racy. But until a common caufe, and areafon- able point of union fliould be given them, it is fair to fay, that Great Britain, Pruflia, and thofe of the Germanic body who could be depended iipon, formed a connexion of more efficient and a6live ftrength than belonged to any other Euro- pean power whofe ofFenfive defigns could be di- redted againft the interefts of this country. It were needlefs to fay more. The teft of Mr. Pitt's continental fyltem will be the moment in which he draws the fword againft a power whofe aggrandifcment in Europe never can be looked upon with any reafonable jealoufy by Qreat Britain. It ( S6 ) It is not, therefore, yet the moment to difcufs this extenfive queftion. We are now to ccnfider in what manner he has preferved the adlual ex- ifting force of this kingdom, a part of which its alliances are to be deemed For although the badnefs of our alliances may be a ftrong rea- fon againfl entering into a war, it mud be al- lowed that the moment of impending hollilicy is not very favourable to a change in them. Bad alliances, if we muft go to war, are preferable to none. It would have been enough, if Mr. Pitt, where he had a defenfive alliance with a power not at war, had fecured the performance of its flipulations. If, where he had allied him- felf to a power adlually at war with another like- ly to become his enemy, he had prevented the fudden conclufion of peace bt^tween them and the fubfequent conjundtion of both in a confede- racy againft Great Britain 5 and, above all, if, where he had a fecurir.y for the neutrality of our worft enemy, he had kept her in that humour by reprefentations which his fituation enabled him to make, and which, enforced with a due mixture of moderation and firmnefs, would ap- ply with equal fuccefs to her interefts and her fears. Thus rcftraincd from contending any preli- minary objedlions, I am compelled to go further^ I mufl: ( 87 ) I mud admit, that his alliances had in view the old Englifli defcnfive fyftem of preventing the- exorbitant aggrandifement of the Houfe of Bour- bon; that, as the means of fo doing, he had good reafon to prefer PrufTia to Auftria ; that, of the two, he confidered the kingdom of Pruf- fia as poflefled of more fubftantial ftrength, taking even into the fcale the never-ending en- mity of the Court of Peterfburgh to that of Berlin, which, in the event of a war with the Court of Vienna, would be fare to league with the latter. I mufl: fuppofe this, and not that his choice of PrulTia was dictated by a neceflity im- pofed upon him by the ftrifl connexion between the Courts of Vienna and Verfailles, becaufe, it is well known, that the formidable alliance - of 1756 f called the Treaty of Verfailles, never' Was of any efficient offenftve flrengtli (and there-' fore ufelefs to the Bourbon i)ftem}, never was* liked by the people of cither countries, that the moment of its diffoiution was eagerly looked' for at Verfailles, and its exiftence, even at Vienna, only prolonged from day to day, with the influence of Prince Kaunitz, by whom, ia concert with th^ CardinaS de Bernis, it had beea originally planned As, during the life of Fre- deric the Second, this league had failed of its- ofFenfivc purpofc, I mufl conclude, from Mr, Pitt's IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 12.8 |25 ^ iiii 12.2 u Hi £ li£ 12.0 I; i L2I 114 lu ^ y] ^;. k4^ /I .% V 7 Photographic Sdences Corporation n WIST N«AIN STRfiT WnSTER.N.V. '4'! St (716) •72-4903 ^ <^\<^ ^A^ ^ ^ ( 88 ) Pitt's fyflem, that he confiders it equally liable to failure when its ftrength is exerted for an objedt purely defenfive ; and that when Pruflia, in her turn, ftiall aim at dictating the law to Europe, the acquiefcence of the allied Courts will be equally fecure, as their confederated enmity was inefFedual, when they fought to deprive his un- cle of his dominions. No. XXVII. Norember i, 1790. THE Pruffian alliance, therefore, and the fubfidiary treaties negotiattd with other Princes of the German empire, muft be confidered, un- til fome other objed appears, as intended to balance the power of the Houfe of Bourbon on the Continent. But now let us fuppofe the cafe of this country engaged in a war altogether naval, the objedt of which is not the eftablifli- ment of any balance of power, but the exten- fion of its commerce and navigation at the ex- pence of others — How would a wife Minifter aft towards France ? — Either he would oppofe her poflible interference with a formidable naval alliance^ againft which her exertions would be inefficient, or he would endeavour, by every means ( 89 ) means within his reach, to gain her neutrality. This were obvioufly the better method of the two, as the neutrality of France, fecured at this moment of our difpute with Spain, muft have inevitably diflblved that formidable union of the two kingdoms, which, while it cxifts, is an invincible impediment to the decided fupc- riority of Great Britain. In the front rank, therefore, oF the BridlTi Minifter's political faults, I place his conduftwith regard to France. Confidered in a general point of view, it has been uniformly miflaken and impolitic fince his appointment to the head of affairs. In the year 1786, he negotiated a treaty of commerce with her, of which it was jiiTcly predided, that in cafe the ambition of the Houfe of Bourbon flioufd be tempted to renew her old defigns againft the general tranquillity, Great Britain muft ceafe to oppofe her, left fhe fhould lofe the benefits of an advantageous commerce : that a war with France would not only be, like other wars, oppreffive and ruinous in general, but that it would involve her in a calamity pecu- liar to itfelf, and be manifeft in the bankruptcy of all thofe who had embarked their fortunes in the French trade. It was argued, therefore^ that the profits of a trade with France wouM operate as a dirc6t bribe upon the merchants and N manufa(5lurers ( 90 ) manuFafturers of this country, to prevent, as far as in them lay, its interference in conti- nental affairs, whenever France fhould renew her fchemes of aggrandifement and defpotifm in Europe, This reafoning was far from being oppofed by the Minifler. His friends went further ; they denied the juftice of thofe jealoufies which our anceftors had ever nourifhed againft the ambi- tion of France : they denied the expediency of our oppofing any of her continental plans. It was dated, by one of his mod intimate aflbci- ates, with much ability and eloquence, that the poor opprefled peafant, when he was called upon to pay the taxes for his day-light, his candles, and his fire, would think it an infult to his mifery, to be told, that he had paid them for the balance of power in Europe. Now, mark the fingular contradidlion of the politics of this day i When the old fyflem of the French mo- narchy was, to every rational appearance, in its vigour, Mr. Pitt was courting her alliance, and binding our merchants to her by the ftrideft obligations of a reciprocal and indifToluble in- tereft. Now, that a comprehenfive and com- plete revolution has totally Hopped the fource of her foreign intrigues, as well as of her domeflic niifchicis — when fhe holds out the olive branch ( 91 ) with a fincerity, arifing not from the enthufiafm of the moment, not from a rafli repentance and inconfidcrate recognition of her errors, but from the univerfal prevalence of a difpofition com- pletely adverfe from fuch purfuits, and of in- tereds wholly incompatible with them, he re- jects her friendfliip with a contempt equally un- wife and unbecoming : \t fcattcrs between two countries, rivals no longer for dominion, the iceds of an inexringuilhable difcord ; he reno- vates, and perpetuates to after ages, the fpirit of hereditary hatred, and the principle of con- ted and defolation. No. XXVIII. November 2, 1 790. IT devolves not upon me to juftify or con- demn the French Revolution in either extreme. The fad, and the probability of its permanency, is all my argument requires 5 and 5ven this in no greater degree than as conceding to me, that however matters may end with them, a return to the old fyftem is imprafticable. Declining, therefore, a minute enquiry into its merits, I muft yet declare myfelf perfuaded, that if the N 2 concern- (( 9^ ) contemplation of its progrefs muft extort from us, on many accounts, fentiments of regret and abhorrence, it will juftify not the Jefs a due mixture of exultation, when we confider its pro- bable cfFedt upon the peace of mankind. At this point we may fairly paufe. Humanity grants a tear to the melancholy fcenes which ic has wimeflcfd ; and while the heart of an Eng- lifhman readily expands itfelf to whatever is beautiful in the Spontaneous efforts of infant li- berty — to whatever is animating in the example of a generous people, whom the whips, the fcorns, and tyranny of their fellow creatures have goaded into refiftance, it were exerdng a domi- nion over his reafon fcarcely lefs defenfible to tell him, that, as a confequence of his Sympa- thy, he muft thence-forward approve all the dif- orders to which their refiftance may lead, or all the hafty, intemperate decificns which may re- fult from the eftablifliment of a new order of things. But, on the other fide, muft he necef- farily hope for a revival of the original mifchicf ? "Who is there that ferioufly wifties to France a return of the fyftem from which flie has deliver- ed herfelf ? To fuch a man, if fuch a man could be found, I would fay, " the mildnefs of the laws under which you live has enervated your ^ hilofophy— Go to the houfc of mournitg ! Defccnd ( 9J ) Defcend with me into the dungeons of the Baf- tile : and while you tread over heaps of bones and carcafes to read the tales of mifery that wretches have infcribed upon its walls, remem- ber thefe were the vi6lims of a fierce and iin- hearing defpotifm, that nourifhed itfelf with the tears of its fubjefts; intercepted the beneficence of Heaven in its way to man ; tore from the peafant's lip the fcanty morfel of unprofitable labour, and held out to the world this impious principle — that the gratification of private re- venge is the end of public punifhment !** An intereft, however, much nearer than the fettlement of any fpeculative do£trines on this event, demands the vigilance of an Englilh Mi- nifter. Stained by the fouleft murders, buried in the darkeft ignorance, and governed by a rab- ble of tyrants ; if fuch were ajuft reprefentatioB of the (late of France, her friend fhip muft ever be ufeful, her enmity terrible; Grant me but the fair inference, that the revolution of her monarchy muft operate a change in her foreign politics — I might indeed maintain, with little hazard, that the period was arrived, in which an alliance with Britain was pradicable ; but not wanting fo much for my argument, I (hall con- tent myfelf with advancing this pofition — that j>cr neutrality in the prcfen: conteft, and all the cndlefs ( 94 ) cndlefs advantages arifing from her dlfunion with Spain, was within our reach, if the Mi- nifter's capacity had been on a level with his fituation, and with the commanding afcendancy of the circumftances in which his country flood. , No. XXIX. November 4* 1790* T H AT this vice in the French government, this infatiable ambition for conquefl and aggran- difcment, which has deluged fo often the world with blood, is radically extirpated by the Revo- lution, depends not fingly upon the teftimony of general renunciations entered into by indivi-» duals, or by any bodies of men whatever. Reafon and phiiofophy declare it, Thefe invite to far different purfuits :— to the diffufion Of induftry, the encouragement of commerce and population, the improvement of fcience and the laws -, — to the cultivation of thofe fecial and civil virtues, by which peace, profperity and abundance are imparted to the human fpecies. It is hence that I regard the refolutions of the National Aflembly on this fubjed, not as lead- ing the opinions of the people, but as themfelves growing ( 95 ) growing out of an cftablifliment, whofc objedt and end avows itfclf to be the fecnring thefe bleflings to all. In this point of view, the evi- dence of the decrees themfelves is not flight. The National Aflembly have, in them, formally renounced all plans for the extenfion of their dominions at the expence of other nations. They have confirmed their countroul over the execu- tive power, and deprived it of i..e means of in- fringing the fpirit of this decree, by declaring the right of determining war and pedce to refide in the nation. Mifl:ruftful of themfelves, and not of their monarch alone, in their review of the treaties exilling between France and other powers, they have exprelsly excepted from con- firmation, all decrees, the object of which are not merely defenfive or commercial. Such is the magnanimous repentance ! Thefe are the peace-offerings of France to mankind ! — The aera of their liberty they deemed aufpicious to the facrifice. Their profpedts were as compre- henfive as benevolence itfelf, and their arms were open to this country. Peace, I take upon me to aflcrt, was the ge- neral objedt, and frienddiip towards England, the univerfal feeling of the French nation, from Dunkirk to Marfeilles, when our our fatal dif- ference aiolc with Spain, Prevalent ( 96 ) Prevalent, however, as thefe fentiments were at the time, they were far from meeting with tht concurrence of all. Under the mafk of an acquief* cence which they are compelled to put on, there Ilill rankles among many an incurable averfion to the new eftablilhment. The fudden and af- flidting viciflitudes of their fate, the remembrance of their darling honours, the ruin of their for- tunes, the difmemberment of their illuflirious fa- milies, added to what they fufFer from the un- reftrained liccntioufnefs of bad men, to whofe growth the convulfions of a State are but too propitious, contribute, one with another, to make them ardently wilh for meafures which may feed their :s of change, as any change to them muft o,; lor the better. This (trong, and flill powerful confederacy, to which the Monarch himfelf is fuppofed not to be adverfe, look towards England with a lefs afFedionate prejudice. They attribute, with what reafon I know not, a confiderable (hare of the popular difcontents in France, and their con- fequent misfortunes, to the encouragement and fecret machinations of their ancient rival. Regarding the royal ftate as dripped of every valuable prerogative under its prefent reftri6lions, they unite in looking forward to a war as to the only poflible chance of preventing the total anni- I hilacion ( 91 ) bihtion of its remaining confequence ! By war they hope to ficken the fpirit of daring innova- tion *, that invents new methods every day to confine and cripple the Sovereign. The decrees having yet left him at the head of the military and naval forces, a wife or a dazzling exertion of them might recover their affedlions : Where corruption can fucceed, much good might arife from a judicious application of that enormous influence ever at the difpofal of the executive power in time of war — much from a revival of the national ardour, which, becoming embo- died for the public caufe, fubmits to difcipline, feparates itfelf from the common mafs, and learns at laft to truft and to love the valour that leads it on to viflory, or to glory. The nation itfelf would participate in the Monarch's tri- umph, and be afhamed to crufli his laurels un- der a barren crown. The views of the moderate Aristocrates go not beyond this. Too wife ever to imagine a re- turn to the old government pradicable, their hopes go no further than to retrieve a portion of the regal power fufficient to give dignity to the Monarch and protection to themfelves. Vifion- ary theories of a counter-revolution are invent- • Non meus hie fermo, o ed, ( 9' ) cd, it is true, every day, but belong to no ra- tional party in France. Ic will be evident that the hoflile appearance of affairs between Great Britain and Spain, came admirably in aid of their wifhes. Events confirm the fpeculation. They feized, with eagerncfs, the moment of an au- thenticated difclofure of the ftate of affairs, to prefs for a fpeedy armament, and as the negoti- ation developed itfelf, to enforce the claims of Spain for the fuccours ftipulated by the Family Compaft, on every principle of jultice, of good faith, ando f good policy. ' x'io. XXX. • I > I November 6, tygor. THE fituation of France, however, at the time to which I allude, took from the Ariftocrates all hopes of fucceeding in fuch views by their own influence. They retted upon their arms there- fore, and waited in filence the gradual operation of events. Thefe had hitherto been fingularly fa- vourable to Great Britain* The whole efficient power lay with the Na- tional Affembly, fupported by the people. With them iM ' ( 99 ) them the name of Englilhman, in fpitc of cer- tain ralh declarationr, of Mr. Pitt, to which I ihall again have occafion to advert, began to be dear, from its fuppofed relation to liberty and a free government. It was not a mere difinclina- tion to war, refulting from the general principles I have ftated before, that difpofed them to fa- vour the Englifh caufe : — it was a fettled averfion to the particular fpecies of v^^ar, in which they might be called upon to interfere, founded upon old habits of diflike to Spain, which already bt- gan to operate in their new fyftem — upon fcn- ous doubts in regard to the ju (I ice of her caufe — upon confidei anions of the abfolute necelTity of peace to the fettlement of their conftitution : and finally, upon the ftrongeft fufpicions of the n'Wtives of thofe who fought to involve them in the quarrel. Hence all the precautions i have had occafion to remark. Hence the fuddennefs of their refolutions, which, however agreed to in the abftraft, vifibly were intended to have their immediate and particular effcd:. Hence, when they voted the armament of fourteen fail of the line, in May, it was accompanied with fuch pofitive reftridions in point of orders, with the denunciation of fuch a terrible refponfibility on thofe to whom the command of this force was pi>trufted, that, however at fii ft the opinion may Z feeni ( 100 ) fcem a paradox, Spain, and not Great Britain, was, in effeft, th^ country which had moft rea- fon to be difllitisfied at its equipmentc It was hence that they deprived the Crown of the power of making war. — Sufpedling too, that Monf. de Vauguyon had fecretly llimulated the Court of Spain to this conteft, they fuperfeded that moft able Minifter in his embafly, and compel- led him to give an account of the part he took in the negotiation. No war with England ! our brothers in liberty ! the friends of the rights ^ of men !— was the general cry. Spain, inftigated by French counfels, they deemed the aggreflbr, and in their debates, their decrees, their writings ; in fliort, by every method by which the public opinion is capable of diftind expreflion, it was raifed as with one voice, not only for peace ge- nerally, but for a total difruption from all poli- tical ties with Spain. Such were the difpofitions of the two parties, previous lO the exchange of the Declarations be- tween the Spanifh Court and our's. Difptjfitions more hoftile, more incongruous, or more highly charged with the fpirit of a bitter, perfevering, perfonal rancour, never, perhaps, were known to exift, fmce political animofities have divided mankind. It muft have been a Angularly happy talent in the Bi^tifh Minifter, that could difco- ver ( lOI ) ver the means of reconciling thefe two oppofites againft himfelf, and bringing them to a cordial coalefcence on the very queftion, which had the mod tendency of itfelf to drive them into every extremity of difunion. In this pofture of affairs, if ever a caufe ap- peared defperate, it furely was that of Spain at Paris. Her fituation, indeed, became every Jay more critical. HarafTed by the demands of England, whofe ability to enforce a compliance with them was now apparent — menaced with de- fertion by her ally, for whom fhe had twice i'a- crificed her navy — the reft of Europe occupied with their own quarrels, fhe found herlelt driven at laft to the neceflity of meeting the National AiTembly with a boldface, and provoking a de- cifion upon the queftion of the Family Compad:. With this intention a Memorial was prelented to the Minifters of the Court of France by the Spanilh Ambaflador, on the i6th of June. Spain, however, had yet to learn what a powerful auxiliary flie had in th'* Britifh Mini- fter. Some confidence, indeed, ihe might have rcafonably placed in him when fhe underilood his plan for the condudl of this negotiation — when fne found he would be content with any thing he could get by way of apology, no mat- ter how qualified, how explained, or how nuga- tory. ( 10* ) tory. But that he would fufFer her to hcfitate—- that, twelve days alter her principal Minillcr at Madrid had delivered, to the AmbafTadors of all foreign Courts *, a circumftantial, digefted, and detailed fpecification of thofe points to which Ihe was determined to adhere, if any maritime power in Europe would elpoufe her quarrel, the Brltifh Minifter would have fufFercd her with Impunity to deliver a formal requifition to the Court of France, claiming an immediate com^ plianee with the terms of the Family Compact— a claim of no lefs import than the jundbion of France with her whole force — that he would have fuffercd more than two months to elapfe before any anfwer was given to this requifition, which time was employed under his very eyes, in difpofing the minds of thofe who governed the country to favour the principles on which it was made — that he would have quietly witnefled her progrefs in other parts of Europe, and the fuccefs of her intrigues from Lifbon to the Bal- tick — were hopes certainly not in reafon, and fcarcely to be trufted even by the fanguine cre- dulity of fuperftition itfelf. * Memorial of the Catholic King, prefented the fth of Junct No. XXXL ( i<^3 ) No. XXXI. ^ November 9, 1790. WHAT method, therefore, did Spain piufuc to avail herfelf of this difpofition, at once haugh- ty and ^ccomnriodating, at once violent and ir- refolute, of the Britifh MiniLler ? Precifely the method he had chalked out for his own condudt : With this difference, that in regard to time and circumftances fhe fuited her own convenience. A queftion had arifen of infinitely more confe- quence to her, that whether Ihe fhould make a conditional conceflion to the Britifh Couj-t, or whether Ihe fhould pay the value of the cargo of a Britifh fmuggler ? Swayed by the wife counfels of the French Cabinet, who had previoufly founded the temper of that AfTembly in whofe brcafl the mutual hopes of the two Courts were depofited, aware of the necefTity the Britifh Mi- niflcr had imfK)fed upon himfelf of giving up all pretence to hoflility before fhe fhould be necefli- tated to give up the fmallefl of her rights, Spain was foon convinced of the part it became her prudence to adopt. Not to be diflurbed in the choice of her time was now the only point of im- portance. The great qiieflion which engrofTed all ( 104 ) all her cares was not yet ripe for the declfion (he had been obliged to provoke. Precipitation in the lead degree would have loft it irrecoverably; while, on the other hand, an abfolute fenfe of fafery comptflled her, in urging her demands upon the French nation, to keep pace with the urgency of thofe advanced by the Britilh Cabinet upon her. Peremptory language from hence muft have forced her into peremptory language, and hazardous remonftrances, with her ally. The dilemma was diftrefllng ; but in the moment of decifion the Britilh Minifter deliberated, and faved her. When Spain was ready, and had difpofed all matters for this experiment by a judicious ma- nagement of the time of which (he had been left the miftrefs, fhc came forward with her concef- fions, fuch as they were, and offered immediately to difarm. But here the Britilh Minifter could not follow her. He was in the embarrafling pre- dicament of having obtained from his adverfarics all that he had demanded •, and yet on the main point, namely the preclufion of fin urc difputes, of remaining exaftly in the fame fpot from whence he had fet out. He could not therefore difarni without acknowledging that he might as well not have armed at all ; while he was compelled to continue armed upon an inverted principle, and ( 105 ) and for anobjedl which, however ncceflary to his own perfonal vindication, ceafed to be dcfen- five the moment it was diftinguifhed from the adts of outrage and hoftility offered to his Sove- reign's flag. Mark, therefore, the natural and eafy inver- fion of opinion and of a(flion produced in the kingdom of France by this obvious change of principle ! That Mr. Pitt was an enemy to their Revolu- tion had been long known to them. He had proclaimed it himfelf upon an occafion well re- membered, and which reflefls a new light upon the ingenuous fimplicity of his moral charadter. The opportunity which, according to his way of judging of mankind, then prefented itfelf of extending a divifion of fentiment (certainly a very material divifion of fentiment) between two leading members of Oppofition into an open, eternal rupture, and of prolonging into anger, ftubborn and implacable, the generous vehe- mence with which fuch men when they differ will always debate their differences, was not to be miffed. A little dexterity on his part, he thought, would difunite them for ever upon all points. He grafped at the occafion with an eagernefs little lefs than extravagant. Utterly forgetting his public fi:ation, utterly unmindful P of ( io6 ) of the efFedb fuch declarations mud have m other quarters, anxious alone to create difunion among friends, and to fix and confirm, if he could, what in their diflentions might be mo- mentary or doubtful, he came forward as the Minifter of the Crown of Great Britain, with his fentiments on the internal proceedings of a State, with which he had himfelf connedted his country by folenin treaties; of a State, whofe nearer friendfhip it had become his intereft to cultivate for that very caufe, and on thofe very grounds which he had ieleifted for break- ing all meafures with her, and originating an entirely new fpirit of national inveteracy and difcord. At this time, however, there exided no pro- bability of a rupture with England •, and the ef- fect of his precipitate and unbidden declaration on the minds of men in France was limited to opinions merely perfonal to himfeif. They faw nothing in his principles either to awaken their fears, or impede their progrefs. They waited until he fhould be difpofed to give them efie<5t and prevalence. Even the difpute with Spain occafioned at firft but a partial alarm. What- ever mealures of precaution they found it necef- fary to purfue, it was precaution without hof^ tility. Too much enthufialts for fufpicion, too ', fpeculative ( 107 ) 1 fpeculative to comprehend that a nation which glories in its freedom can wifh to preclude others from the enjoyment of its bleflfings, they fcomed to implicate the country which had taught ihem its firft Icflbns, in the guilt of its Minifter. They clung to the laft hope that held out to them a poflibility of friendfhip and union with England. But not long were they fufFered to remain in a fentiment which a falutary policy might have improved to fuch infinite advantage ! The Bri- tifli Minifter was committed on the ilTue of his negotiation with Spain : he was to recover, at any rifque, the pernicious error with which he had originally commenced it. He looked no longer to foreign affairs. The precipaung his country into a general war with the maritime powers fhrunk in his mind into nothing when ftaked againft: the popularity he had rifqued. That very war^ the profped of which but a few days be- fore had feared and terrified him — that very war, to avoid which he had receded from his two original propofitions, permitting, in th.- firft place, a difcufiion of five months on the queftion of fatisfadion, although he had begun with de- claring that he would have fatisfadion previous to any difcufllon-— and aflenting in the next to the adequacy of that fatistadion, although it P 2 ■; pre- ■v/,'-' ( io8 ) precluded no future difputes — that very war, I repeat, he now found himfelf obliged, not for his country but himfelf, to provoke and acce- lerate under every additional circumftance of diladvantage. His armaments accordingly were redoubled after the exchange of the Declztra- tions. It was then that he began to prefs his other points with a degree of pertinacity per- fedly inconfiftent with his former forbearance. In this extremity France could no longer remain neuter. The eyes of the National Affembly, as well as of the country at large, began to open upon this conduct. They faw, or imagined they faw, — and never furely did the behaviour of an EnglifhMinifter fo much warrant the concludon, — purpofes very different, and infinitely more extenfive, gradually develope themfelves in his proceedings. They remembered, but gloried in remembering, their own condudt in regard to America, and fancied the moment of their dif- tradlions prefented an opportunity to retaliate, which thofe who guided the Britifh counfels would fcarcely mifs : that the attack meditated againft Spain, was but the commencement of a plan, the objeft of which was the commerce, the colonies, and the maritime power of their own country : that when Spain had fallen, as fall flie mud, if Tingle and unfupported in fuch a con* ted. ( 109 ) teft, their turn would come next. The encrcafc of his armament, after he had declared that» in the way of redrefs for injuries, he had nothing further to expeft from Spain, confirmed their reafoning-, and as far as pafllons and refent- ments could operate, thefewere fufficiently roufed by the ungenerous attempt, as they deemed it, to plunder them of their pofTeflions in fuch a moment^ and to thwart the fettlement of their conftitution. No. XXXIL November ii, 1790. WHEN once the tone was given — when fuf- picion and miftruft had once begun to work upon the vivacity of the French character, it is not to be told how rapidly thefe impreflions were received in every circle. The profpedb of peace, which had been raifed by the exchange of the Declarations, foon vanifhed. In theiin- terval of its continuance, however, the National Aflembly had pledged themfelves to maintain the Family Compad under certain limitations. A fenfe of common danger taught them its i value C 110 ) value more and more. What one day was a principle of good faith, became the next a prin- ciple of felf-prefervation By degrees, the mod oppofice and jarring fadions began to co-ope- rate. Even the people, for this once were fatif- ficd with their Minifters •, a id the man, who but a few weeks before would have been exhibited upon a lamp-poft for hazarding a propofition the moft remotely favourable to Spain, was now extolled to the (kies, as poflefling every quality that can dillinguifli the Patriot and the Statef- man, for his fhare in the renovation of the Treaty. Thus, at the moment in which this formida- ble confederacy was at the point of diflblution from caufes peculiar to itfelf, when the whole circle of political events could offer but one to fave it, Mr. Pitt condefcendingly brought Jthat event to the door of his adverfaries ; namely, the neccffity of a mutual union to the individual fafety of each country. Aduated by a wife and comprehenfive forefight, and not by a fpirit of difputatious and wrangling fophiflry, had he preferved, and kept together, all the points for which he was contending, fo as to drive Spain at on-^e into an explicit avowal of thofe to which fhe meant to adhere — Had Mr. Fitzherbert been inilrudted to menace her with his return to England ( II' ) England on the rejeftion of his propofals, during the time that Ihe was remonftrating and memo- rialifing the French Minilters, one of thefc two things muft have followed : — Either he would have obtained his c invention at a much lefs cxpence to the country, and a much lefs detri- ment to its commerce, and the Family Corn- pad would have been ftill left open to fubfequenc views i or if Spain had determined upon war, that queftion muft have been prefied on to its decifion at a time when the National Aflembly would have infallibly rejected it /;/ toto, A wile Minifter for England would have given no room for the management by which it was fe- cured. The requifitions of Spain for afTiftance, and more particularly the laft, prefented on the 1 6th of June, was tantamount to a declaration of war ; and as fuch, would have been confi- dered, under all the advantages Great Britain then pofTeffed, by a Miniller juftly refolute, ^nd whofe fpirit and decifion had fonie better foundation than the heavy panegyric of a news- paper. When a nation demands fuccours from her allies, and upon hefitation renews the de- mand with a menace that, unlefs it be imme- diately complied with, Ihe will renounce her alliance and feek others, is it a time for difcuf- fion, diflindions, and a timid, tempuriiing nego- f tiation ? i ( 112 ) tiation ? Ic was, indeed, if ever, the moment for vigour, and a rapid decilion ; and for found' ing upon the difunion of our enemies, inftead of expedling from their fears, a new sera of prof- perity and fplendour for this country. For France, as we have feen, didilcing any fort of war, and protefting againft an ofFenfive one, was ready to renounce a treaty of which Ihe then confidered nothing but the obligation that would have involved her in it ; and Spain, dii^ gufted, as fhe would have had reafon to be, with the want of faith in her ally, muft have conceded every thing we could a(k in any way. The circumftances of Europe were little favourable to YiQrfearch of other allies (with which (he had menaced the Court of France), if her object had been refiftance to our demands. What muft have followed ? By temperate and healing counfels, the neceflity which had driven Spain to fubmiflion, might have foon been foftened into preference, and a friendfhip, infi- nitely beneficial to both countries, have arifen from it. The objed was feafible : it was nothing new. Political and commercial ties with Spain would have had but to feek their old channel, whence the fuccefsful arms of France, when France polTeficd all her energies, and her ftill more fuccefsful negotiation?, from die treaty ... . of ( ( "3 ) of the Pyrennees to the Family Compif^. had diverted them. That compad at an end, one branch of which we know is commercial, and th? balance of its advantages wholly againft Spain, and ended, as it would have been, under circumftances at once galling to the pride, and ofFenfive to the honourable gallantry of tiie Spanilh nation, it was not Ruflia, it was not Sweden, or any other of the neur.ral Powers that fhe was to feek ; it was Great Britain that flood next in her view, as the country to which it would be mofl: her interefl: to attach herfelf. Nearly to this length flie went in her declaration to Monfieur de Montmorin. Great Britain is not to be excepted from the fair meaning of the following words, when Spain threatened France with other treaties and " different''* alliances — " The ties of blood and perfonal friendfhip w'.iich unite our two Sovereigns, and the recipro- cal intereft of two nations, united by nature, fhall be refpe5ied in all new arrangements^ as far as circumftances will permit.'''' — Let this be coupled with what we know relative to the Commercial Treaty, which Mr. Eden was to have negotiated with Spain in the year 1787, and which failed, as it is generally admitted, only from its inju- rious tendency to the interefts of France •, it is obvious, that when France had let her at liberty Q- fro ul from thofe engagements, every impediment to a connexion at once the moft profitable, the mod honourable, and the moft rational, of any that Europe could offer to us, was wholly done away j and a new world thrown open to Britifh enterprize, not upon the precarious fecurity of extorted and unintelligible conventions; but upon the fanclion of reciprocal interefts, of a policy well underftood, and of a national fidelity grounded upon mutual confidence and efteem. Such had been the benefits of a diflblution of the Family Compact : benefits attainable, as all circumftances convince me, without having re- cou'-fe to war ; and evidently more worth the rifqueof it than all the concefilons of this ft range Convention, enumerated an hundred fold. I have heard of Mr. Pitt's fortune — Certainly if he were endowed with a capacity to draw the fair profit from opportunities which Fortune has la- vi(hed before him with open hands, the period of his adminiftrarion would be evidently confpi- cuous in thepageofhiftory. But never, furely, did a Minifter fo abufe her indulgence as he has done, in his late proceedings with the Court of Spain! The mifchicf of the Family Corn- pad, in its full malignity, has not yet been felt by this country. Perhaps the day of experi- ment .>-;!^' .:C- •■ ^: * ■^ <^£*t^' Int to the ff uny done Iritifh Ity of but s, of tional e and on of as all ngre^ th the trange id. I inly if he fair las la- period onfpi- furely, as he Court Com- ?n felt xperi- meat ( "5 ) ment is not very diftant. Until then ('and long may be the interval !) we can but fpeculate upon the extent and confequences of a fault, than which, in the eye of a Statefman, one more cen- furablc never was committed in politics. No. XXXUI. November i6, 1790. HAVING thus reflored to Spain her principal ally, juft as he was going to war with her, it were next to be confidered, whether he had been equally provident for his country in fecuring the co-operation of her own. I am aware, however, that independent of the many difficulties of this fubjed, the temporary fufpenfion of our diffe- rences (for that this Convention is a final fettle- ment of them, no man in his fenfes believes), will confiderably diminifh its immediate intereft. When peace appears eftablifhed, few men will be difpofed to fpeculate upon the doubt whether, in the event of war, we were likely to have de- rived much effedual afliftance from Holland? There are, however, fome general confiderations which may not be wholly undeferving our atten- tion. I am one of thofe, whofe expectations from Q^ 2 a Dutch ( ii6 ) a Dutch alliance have ever been of the moll fangiiine; but, 1 am confident that, to give us its due benefit?, a judicious management of the habits and difpofitions of men, the appearance of moderation in our views, and the profpe6t of fome ultimate advantage to the Republic, are highly eflfential. It is a nation that will not be inconfiderately driven into the meafures of any foreign power whatever. It is true, that the fud- den exercife of a mighty force delivered Holland from the influence of France ; but I much doubt whether, under the circumftances of either country, the continuance, or the appearance of coercive meafures, is the right method of keep- ing her fteady ip the oppofite fcale. Fear is, at all times, but a bad incitement to adlive friend- Ihip. In our connexions with Holland, I am fure it is wholly a new ingredient. The ufe of terror, as an inftrument of political views, is fimply that of prevention. In the cafe of Hol- land, it has nothing to a6l upon : the French faflion is no more •, there is no trace of it ; but certainly there are very ferious difcontents. Its efi'ecls, therefore, muft be doubly prejudicial. Men muft have fome principle to unite upon. If any thing could re-alTemble the difperfed members of that fadlion, and give them a common caufe, it certainly would be the betray- jng ( »'7 ) ing a fcheme of governing Holland by a Prufllan army. This principle will be found to apply very ftrongly to Mr Pitt's fyftem in regard to that country. With Pruflia at his back, he counted upon her not daring torefufe fulfilling the ft.pula- tions of the treaty of •787. But it may be worth confidering, whether if Holland had joined him with herfhips under thefe imprefllons, (he would have joined him with that without which her fhips xt ufelefs hulks upon the ocean -, I mean the fpirit of her men, and the zealous indefa- tigable perfeverance of her national charader. This, however, is by no means the onlv def'^dt of fuch a fyftem. To govern Holland through Pruflia, an Englifh Minifter muft neceflarily fub- je(^ himfelf to two evils. The operative in- fluence of a land army being more dire6t and lefs doubtful than that of a naval force, he mult, in the firft place, fubmit to appear in a lubordi- nate character at the Hague. He mud quietly fufft-r his land ally to purfue every means of .in- creafing his authority over their counfels. la the next, he muft conned himfelf with the Court of Berlin on principles which the natural interefts of his country will fcarcely warrant. I protcfs myfelf a friend to that ancient fyftem of conti- nental connexions which had for its objed re- fiftance ( ii3 ) fiftance to the inordinate aggrandif^ment of the HouTe of Bourbon. But when the he^d of that Houfe prefents to mankind the fpeflacle of aw- ful humiliation which it does at prefent, I muft own that I fee nothing but madnefs in the coun- fels which condemn this impoverifhed country to follow th€ King of Pruffia to Reichenbach and Breflau, and to fupport his idle menaces at the Court of Peterfburgh. Involving, in this manner, our interefts with his, although indeed it were far from an eafy tafk to fhew in what one advantage of his fuccefs we Ihould partici- pate, we involve our honour too. We are pledged to fhare his fortune -, and, fuch is the fatality ! — have in one inftance borne more than our (hare of his difgraces. This Monarch did once fancy himlelf at the head of Europe, and appeared indeed to a6l as if he was. He has ended, however, in much charity with fome of his enemies. To the Emperor lie has made a prefent of his revolted provinces in Brabant; he has enabled him to fupprefs a fpirit of danger- ous infurredtion in others. To put his injuries on a footing with his benefits, he has done this, and given him his vote in the Eledoral College befides, as the reward for his neutrality (mod falutary neutrality to that Monarch) in theTurk- iih war. With regard to Poland, he has nearly ruined ( 119 ) ruined his influence in that quarter, by afllng upon a miftaken view of the politics of Europe, which had perfuaded him that he had then an opportunity of fucceeding in his defigns upoa ibme of the rem:^ining dominions of that Re- public. On the fide of RufTia, both he and his ally of Great Britain have met with the mod mortifying contempt. To this point, therefore, my obfervation fairly applies. It is a fadt which I call upon the Miniller's friends to deny, that the King of Pruffia, upon receiving the dignified anfwer of Catherine to his haughty proposals, namely, that Jhe would decide upon peace or war^ under the circumfiances which jhould make either appear advifeahk to herfelf^ without a/king the per- mijfion of any foreign power-, did actually, in vehe- ment indignation, appiy to the Bririfli Court for a fleet of men of war to be fent, forthwith, to the Baltick -, and that, to obviate the objedtion with regard to the latenefs of the feafon (of his right to demand the fhips he had no doubt), he pro- pofed the Angular expedient of wintering them at Dantzick, in order that they fhould be ready for early operations in the enfuing feafon. The Britifli Minitter has not been quite ill-judging enough to comply with this wild demand ; and,^ if report fpeaks true, has difiatisficd his ally not a little by demurring to it. The fufpenfion of his ♦ !■ * *>«**i.>J4WW». ( 120 ) his difpute with Spain happens fortunately enough for him in this refped, as it is but fair to infer that his refufal to comply with the requifition of the King of Jf ruflia would have prevented that Monarch from co-operating very cordially with him at the Hague, in forwarding the equip- ment of any armament he might demand un- der the ftipulations of the defenfive Treaty. Ko. XXXIV. November 20, 1790. IF the policy of the Britifli Minifler, how- ever, towards Holland is extremely queflion- able, that with refpedl to Sweden is moft mif- chievous, weak, and difreputable, whether con- fidered with a view to the principle of his en- gagements with her, the circumftances under which he broke them, or the manner in which his adverfary has profited from his faults. • Had he been called upon, either by fome prcfling national necefTity, or tempted by any p ufible profpedl of national interefl, Mr. Pitt V. 'Id fcarcely have fcrupled to proceed in the regular way, by negotiating a treaty with the . King ( 121 ) King of Sweden to fecure his objedt upon fome permanent principle of reciprocity : he would afterwards either have laid that treaty before Parliament, or have informed Parliament fimply of the fa6t, and Hated reafons of State for with- holding the produdion of its artich^s. With a different purpofc to anfA^er, he has followed a very different courfe. Not content with involv- ing himfelf deeply in the continental fchemes of the King of Pruffia by a treaty which is to fur- nifh that monarch with Englilh money, or Eng- lifh foldiers, at his option, Mr. Pitt contrives an ingenious method of granting him, circuit- oufly (wonderfully fond is this Minilter of com- ing at his point by thefe means), the difpofal of a very confiderable part of the Englifli naval forces. Dire(5lly to promife him that when he fliould attack the Emprels oi^ Ru(fia by land. Great Britain would fend a fleet to the Bakick to alfift his operations, would have been too much. The country wouhl not have borne fuch a pro- fligate engagement, by which her blood and her treafures would be lavi:'hed, to gratify the little palfions of a foreign defpot They (.Oiicerc a better plan. The King of Pruifia, with the af- fiflance of fubfidies, hid eftabhlhes a ciofe con- nexion with Sweden. Great Britam ke.ps 'u\ the back ground j does not accede to this treaty, or R admit f-^'-ff«flBlK^.*!2** ( >22 ) admit the'accefiion of Sweden to her own treaties with Holland, or with Piuffia, but ilipulatcs fc- crctly with the latter, that under certain circum- flances flie will aHlft his confederate, the King of Sweden, with a powerful fleet. The efFed of this curious fchemc will Toon appear. Its end is obvious; its principle cannot be fufficiently re- probated. Whether, under any circumllances, it were expedient to enter into defenfivc engage- ments with Sweden, is furely a very ferious quef- tion of general politics; but when a Minifter takes upon hi mfelf to decide that queftion in the afRrmative, the extent and purpofe of fuch en- gagements furely becomes a confideration of fuf- ficient magnitude to form a folemn national com- pa6l by itfelf, inftead of being fmuggled under a fecret article in another treaty, the avowed objcdl of which is wholly diiferf nt. Such a pro- ceeding deferves no better charader than that of a dire6t, palpable, unqualified fraud upon Par- liament and the country. Next, as to the breach of them. Still avoid- ing to come forward in perfon, during ihe life of Jofeph II. the King of FrulTia, adling by his fubfidies to Sweden, excites that monarch to break the peace with the Emprefs, and to attack her with a confiderable land army, and the whole of his maritime force. The correfponding part of ( 123 ) of this manoeuvre is played off by the Britilh Minifter at Copenhagen, who menaces the Court of Denmark with hoftilitie? if fhe aHifts Ruffhi, as fhe is bound to do by treaties. — The war be- gins : it were necdlefs to go into the detail of it. The commoneft cbferver is in polTefljon of the principal events in the naval campaigns of the King of Sweden \ of the various proofs of his undaunted refolution ; of his alternate mif- fortunes and fuccefs •, until a courage, rafh and defperate, as it has bten deemed, but ralh and defperate alone in truiVing to the promifes of the Britilli Minifter, involved him iii a fituation of extreme perfonal peril, from vhich nothing but a Providence, as wonderful as his gf^nius, could have faved him. In that fearful moment, he caft a long look for the fuccours which had been promifed him, to whet the ardour of his enter- prize, and to tempt his hopes of revenge as well as glory. Not a frigate did we arm in his caufe 1 Thus deferted on all fides, and left to the re- fources of his own mind alone, he put his fate to the hazard of one bold exertion, and opened a ' rouah his enemies to h ray capital he arrived with fcarcely any thing leit him but his fword. That great monarch is not filent as to the caufe of his misfortunes. He makes no fcruple to R declare, 'A,tmi!l^»f'--<'*3f"""":UM^:.^^_, ( 124 ) declare, that Great Britain had promifed to join him early in the feafon, with a force that would have given him the decided fuperiority in the Ealtick ; that otherwife he never would have en- tered the Gulf of Wybourg. Having prtrfiimcd for fo long on tiie public attention, 1 am now anxious to comprefs the re- mainder of what I have to offer within limits that may juftify its indulgence. Much impor- tant matter, therefore, muft necefFary efcape me ; among others, the enquiry, generally, into the policy of dtfenfive engagemenis with the Court of Stockholm. But, to Hate fliortly the refult of what I have been able to obferve on that fubjedt, I am clear, that in one point of view, and only one, is there coi-nmon fenfe in forming fuch a conneftiop •. alio that the mode of it fhould have been by a iresty with mutual flipulations, under which we m ght have availed uurfelves of the pi)pci[)]e of reciprocity. We had an objedt of much importance to gain, and much to offer for thai ohjedt. A wife Minifler would ha^ve made our alliance the price of a renunciation, on the part of Sweden, of the celebrated northern confederacy, under the effedls of which we fmarted feverely during the laft, and fhall fmart ilill more feverely, perhaps, in any future war. Independent of the weight of his own friend- fhip, ( 125 ) fhip, the Britifh Minifter did not come empty handed to Sweden. Whatever difguft may have fubfifted between the Courts of Peterfburg and London, the connexion had never been wholly- broken off. — While we had entered into no en- gagements pofitively hollilc to her, the wife and politic Princefs who governs, and will continue to govern the North, fuv, th out^h the perplexi- ties of cur foreign f) ftem, fome glimmering rays of light by which Great Britain, in better times, might find her way to thofe old habits and old friends, under the aufpices of which her profpe- rity and pre eminence in Europe had been firft obtained For thofe tim.es fiie had referved her- felf. Deciding., therefore, upon a facrifice of fo much importance to Sweden, the Britifh Mi- nifter might have demanded with reafon a fimi- ]ar pledge of her fidelity. But it is eafy to per- ceive that fuch an cngrao-ement would have fa- voured the views of Pruflia but in a collateral dfGiree •. and PriilTia was to be firft confulted. Bound hand and foot, and delivered over to Frederick William, the Engliih nation was com- pelled to follow his ftandard unconditionally, without the profped of any one folitary benefit to herfelf, whether of power, of comm.erce, or pf navigation. But i -x^mmm^m ( 126 ) But whatever doubts, to fay no more, we may entertain of thofe engagements with Sweden in point of policy, there can be none on the con- duct it behoved us to follow, when once the pub- lic faith was pledged for their performance. They who feek to diilinguilh between the ho- nour and the interefts of a nation, and 'who would oppofe the captious interpretations of po- litical expediency to the fimplicity of good faith, treat of a fubjtd: they are incapable of compre- hending. They know neither the value of the honour they are fo ready to forfeit, nor of the benefits they propofe to themfelves by its fur- render. Still worfe is that Minll^er who pro- vokes the alternative, and impofcs upon his country the hard neceflity of a choice in whicli (he can neither adopt the one without lofs, nor the other without difgrace. One point alone was wanting to complete that difgrace ! Abandoned by the Britiih Minifter in the moment of his dilcrefs, it rc^^xjained with the King of Sweden to fliew his fcnfe of this conduct by feme mark of contempt, which Ihould embrace the opinions of Europe, and conciliate the fufFrages of pofterity. He did fo. He made his peace without imparting one fyllable of his intentions to Pruflia who fubfi- dizcd him, or to the Britifh Cabinet who had facrificed /l\ '11 /■ \ ( 127 ) facrifizcd RufTia to him. But, to point the in- dignicy more dire»OiiiSi4»«a»»««'!*lfi»ei , r C 128 ) ferviceable, by that very power againft whofe intrigues and machinxitions his afliftance would have been chiefly required. To lum up, therefore, in one Ihort point of view, the fituation in which we (land in £urope, as refulting from our recent differences with the Court of Spain. — The great branches of the Houfe of Bourbon are united. Ruflia is de- cidedly our enemy ; and is fecure at all times of Sweden and Denmark, if not for an immediate alliance with the Houfe of Bourbon, certainly for the re-union of the neutral confederacy, the efFedts of which we muft feel infinitely more when the head of that confederacy connedts it- felf diredlly with an adverfe power. With a force thus confolidated againft us, we want but a STANDING CAUSE OF QjJARREL, of which OUT enemies may avail themfelves when it fuits their convenience. This the glorious Minifter pre- fents to his country under the name of '' A CONVENTION for terminating all paft differ- ences, and for flopping up the fource of all dif- putes in future :" 1 fuppofe on the fame princi- ple that certain atrocious adls of Parliament, pafTed at a period when Kings were more profli- gate than their Minifters, were ufually named in their fcveral preambles — *' d£is for quieting the confciences and fecuring the liberties of the fubjedl.*' But lore lid { J29 ) But here I refign him to other hands; My plaa for thefe difcuflions extends no further than his negotiations ; in them I have unanfwerably prov- ed, that the Britifh Miniiler, prefuming upon abilities which belong not to his meafure of mind, and entangling himfelf with an experien- ced Statefman, who managed him as he pleafer* from February to July, failed mod lamentably in the firfl: great objed of his armament, namely, the obtaining an adequate fatisfadion for the in- fult offered to the Britifh flag. How he has fuc- ceeded in his fecond, in the definitive arrange- ment by which all difputes with Spain are to be for ever precluded, may pofTibly be the fubjeft of a future fpeculation. For the prefent, I de- liver him up to the feverer fcrutiny of Parlia- ment, where he mufl produce his negotiations, his ofFenfive and defenfive treaties, and all thofe documents offlate which ferve to afcertain what it is more than ever neceffary for us to, know, the relative fituation of Great Britain with regard to foreign powers. I leave him, with this ge- neral opinion of his Convention, which I would pledge myfclf, if the pledge were of any weight, to make appear ; — that, never fince Conventions were in ufe, was there one fram- ed £0 POSITIVE IN ITS DEFINITION OF WHAT WE SURRENDER, SO LOOSE IN ITS DESCRIPTION S or II' C '30 ) OF WHAT WE ACQUIRE, SO INGENIOUSLY CON- TRIVED RO PREVENT TWO NATIONS, WELL-DIS- POSED TOWARDS EACH OTHER, FROM CONTINU- ING LONG AT PEACE, AND THE PEACE ONC^ BROKEN TO PRECLUDE EVERY POSSIBILITY OF OUR BEING IN THE RIGHT. I FINIS. r ,-», «*,1« , 1 l(«.f ilWSl,ifi«,'^f S- J- )F