UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
UTRUM HO RUM?
[ Price Two Shillings. ]
9082
Utrum Horum?
THE
GOVERNMEN T;
OR, THE
COUN TRY?
BY D. O ' B R Y E N.
f
LONDON:
PRtNTED FOR J. DEBRETT, OPPOSITE 1VRLINC-
TON BOUSE, PICCADItiY.
Jl 1 XL U U
Ttt
( ' )
. \~\>6
(0(3
IJTRUM HORUM?
The GOVERNMENT; or,
E The COUNTRY?
JOEFORE I endeavour to mew that the
Empire has no choice between the alternatives
Which form the title of this pamphlet, I am wil-
ling to guard agairtfl a miftake.
If the word Government mould, by an abufive
"conftructioh of the term, be fuppofed to compre-
^ hend the King's authority if it was underftood to
2: involve the other eftates which compofe rhe frame
of this conftitution, and that their civil extinction
were become abfolutely irtdifpenfible to the falva-
tion of the country; even in this mocking dilem-
ma, though it might be painful to act, it could noi;
be difficult to decide. King, Lords, and Com-
mons, every particle of whofe feveral authorities
^ are public trufts for public purpofes, what are
S they when fet in comparifon with the public fafety ?
g If it were clear that their civil functions were in-
A eom*>
301059
compatible with the national exiftence and moraf
happinefs of the people, what hefitation could a
man, , born under, and' bred in, the principles of
the Britifh Conftitution, have in fuch an extremity
to proclaim, perifh a thoufand governments, live
the country ! ! !
But far from us far for ever be it fo is fuch.
ali'tuation !
The fenfe in which I ufe the word government
is its vulgar and popular fenfe. I do not mean the
conftitution or any eftate of it. The conftitution
of England is an object of my finccre admiration.
It is foj not becaufe Mr. Burke (whom I name
with reverence an'd muft ever regard with affection)
not becaufe he tells me that the people of England'
are the property of King George the Third, as the
fucceffor of King William. I mould loath a.
fyftem that transferred a nation like a herd of
fwine in fuch a manner. Not becaufe Mr. Dun-
das tells me in a barbarous jargon,, well fuice \ to
his logic, that the man can- have no love for the
Englifh conftitution " who thinks it poffible for
" any form of government to be fo good ;" a dic-
tum To presumptuous, as to find excufe only in the
arrogant ignorance of the perfon who thus circum-
fcribes the immortal intellect of man- to the per-
fection, whatever it is, of the fyftem under which
he feeds and fattens a fyftem which is only de-
graded by fo fufpicious a teftimonial, and whofe
juft claim :o the attachment of reafonable men is
founded
C 3 )
founded upon a bafis very different indeed from
Rich hyperbolical abfurdity. Nor is my admba-
tion of the Englifh conftitution becaufe Mr. Payne
v/ildly tells me it is a non-entity, and triumphantly
challenges to point it out, if we have a confti-
tution.
I am far from thinking that the Britifh confti-
tution is generally understood; but without re-
ferring Mr. Payne to this page or to that book
for it, no man need be at a -lofs where to find
the Englifh conftitution. It is to be found in
the known principles of Britifli freedom, of re-
prefentative legislation, of executive refponfibility,
and ftill more diftindly .in the principles of its
jurifprudence. The common law of England, and
the maxims of our judicial code form, in defpite
of many frauds in the practice, and of fome pro-
vifions which a^e a difgrace to the ftatute book ; in
defpite of the ftudied obfcurity of lawyers, and the
frequent fervility of judges the moft perfect juri-
dical fyftem with which the civilized world has
ever been acquainted. The moft wholefome
prarfe of the Britim conftitution is, -that it has
produced more political happinefs than any other.
Of the American conftitution the .experience is
Jhort. The experience of the Fre-ach is nothing.
It is poffible indeed that the Science of Govern-
ment may be ftill in its infancy. A few years have
undoubtedly produced the moft ftupendous events
amongft nations. The worft part of the new fyf-
A 2 terns
( 4 )
ferns may become better than the beft of the old,"
I (land however upon the fureft of all bafes, the
bafeof prafHce, in preferring the Britifh conftitution
for the Britifh nation, confcious at the fame time
of many defeats, and in the full funfhine of con-
viction upon this point that the prefent govern-
ment have bereaved the people of its vital parts.
This preference of mine neither infults the
labours of other nations, nor excludes the poffible
fuperiority of other fyftems. I fhall demonftrate
before the end of this work how much it is my
wifli that the only rivalry among ftates may be
a rivalry of happinefs and a competition in the arts
Of peace. But with our prefent limited know-
ledge ; under all the wifdorn and all the ignorance
'of our focial condition at this time of the world,
there is neither offence nor extravagance in being
Content with the true confticution of England,
adminiftered according to its genuine principles
that is to fay univerfally and ftrictly for the public
good one of my objects in this publication being
to vindicate and recover that conftitution.
Of that conftitution it is a wife maxim that the
King can do no wrong but in fecuring the per-
fonal impunity of the firft magiftrate it afferts the
refponfibilicy of his agents. I;y the word govern-
ment I mean only thofe agents. None but a
traitor to the King none but an enemy to his
family will blend his perlbn, or mix his fate with
the fate of his roinifters. I mall be guilty of no
fuc!i
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fuch aft. I fliall feparate the royal authority from
the crimes of the government and, without once
touching even the exterior of the conftitution, I
fliall ftrive to convince my reader, as I am con--
vinced myfelf, that the falvation of the Empire
calls for the overthrow of the adminiftration
and that its future fecurity demands the punifhmeiit;
jpf the principals !
THE ARGUMENT OF THIS PAM.
PHLET IS DIRECTED TO THREE
POINTS.
The firft, to fhew, that the duration of the
war is ruin, and that peace alone can five us. Th&
fecond that, the left peace which can be rationally,
expected from the prejent miniftry, would be a greater
calamity then even a continuance cf the war. The
third that the true policy and bejt hope of the
country will befirjl in a grand afl of JUSTICE and
finally in a CCKJRA-GE worthy of its antient cha-
racter.
THE
THE DISTRIBUTION IS UNDER THE
FOLLOWING HEADS.
the duration of the iuar is nun and
that peace alone 'can fave us , - page j
Conduct of the Britifo government towards
the French revolution, - - page 13
tfhe fame fubjeff continued, page 32
Iffi& cf the minifter^s fyftem upon Franct,
page 56
Effetf of the fame upon England, page 64
Incapacity of the prefent miniflry to make a
real peace, page 72
Is a real peace probable from a change offyf.e:n
and new minifters ? page 96
General obfervatiom, - - page 105
Conclufion, - i page 120
THAT
( 7 y
THAT THE DURATION OF THE WAR is RUIN 5
AND THAT PEACE ALONE CAN SAVE US is a pFO-
pofition that, in the prefent ftate of this country^
proves itfelf. Future ages will fcarcely credit the
grofs impofitions that have been paffed upon the
people by the authors of the war. It is not a wife
nation, but a frantic gladiator, that can be recon-
ciled to ruin by the deftruclion of an adverfary.
Yet, ftriclly in the fpirit of this gladiator have the
people of England ftruggled for the laft four
years. I think I know Mr. Pitt as well as he
knows his auditory, and, extravagant as the fpecu-
lation feems, I proteil I do not defpair of hearing
him once again and for the fifth year, drug the
poflets of his fupporters, as wife as they are up-
right, with one more draught of French finance.
Be it known then to all men that this minifter in
drawing the intereft of a hundred millions of money
from the people of England, has uniformly given
the houfe of Commons the pious and moral fatis-
fadion, that France was undone., regularly undone
upon each fuccefiive loan ! And they believed him.
That virtuous houfe believed him. His in-
formation was fo corredr, his calculations fo exacl:
He might have pafled for chancellor of the ex-
chequer to the committee of public fafety in the
years 93 and 94 or minifter of contributions
to
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to the directory in 95 and 96, fo detailed was
his knowledge of the immediate ruin of France
from the ftate of her credit.
A member of the houfe of Commons whofe
object is not the ruin of France, but the fafety of
England, exprefled himfelf thus upon the very
firft difplay by the minifter of this pofitive deftruc-
tion of France from the ftate of her finances.
<f That the credit of France is low, her expences
" great, and her refources much exhaufted cannot
" be denied ; but if I believed the refult drawn
" by the Englifh minifter from her fituation, I
<f fhould not be the more reconciled to this war.
f< What is it to me that France mould be undone,
" if England is undone at the fame time ? Every
fc word I now hear about French affignats, I
<f heard of American affignats eighteen years
" ago. We know the confequence. For any
*' thing I know France may go on ruining at this
" rate for ten years to come, and what will then be
" the fituation of England ?"
Thus fpoke a man whofe warnings appear to
have ibmething like the fate of CaiTandra's. She
was always right; but the Trojans could never fee
the truth of her predictions, until they read them
diftinctly by the light of the Trojan conflagrations*
Thefe warnings however had no efted upon
the houfe of Commons. That aflembly took the
flattering unction to their fouls, and believed
all they were told. Like the cafuift who upon
being
C 9 )
:oeing queftioned whether he had fwo'rn the t!i!rt\-
nine articles, anfwered that he had, and was only
forry there were not as many more to fwear, that
he might the better prove his orthodoxy. The
ftouie of Commons believed every fyllable the
rninifler uttered, and would have believed thirty^
nine times as much from the fame lips, to prove
their orthodoxy.
Mr. Pitt afiured them in the year 93 that the
ruin of France was quite certain. It was quite
certain alfo in 94 of courfe it was not the lefs
certain in 95 ; but upon the very laft day the
houfe of Commons fat on national affairs, in
the month of May 96, the thing was put out of all
<jueftion. One clear hour and a half of molt
beautiful eloquence was employed by that gentle-
man upon French finance and he honeftly and
fairly, " both as a man and a minifter" convinced
his hearers that the explofion was on the point of
breaking, which would reduce the enemy to " that
" chafm in Lurope which once was France"
The ruin of France was fo certain at all
thefe periods that doubt of it became & con-
ilructive treafon. The houfe of Commons waited,
,and waited, and waited, for the promife of the
Orac.e until ruined France has brought Europe
at her feet, and mankind .looked about them
aghaft and ailoniihed J
Maracci in his hiftory of Mahomet fays that
Mahomet having promifed his followers, that
B he
he mould rife in three days after his death,
they waited round his body in expectation of
his refurreflion, until they were nearly fuffocated
by the itench from the rotten carcafe of the dead
impoftor. Not fo the difciples of Mr. Pitt. In
fober certainty of their living prophet, and fumi-
gated by the fragrance of all his places, they frill
look no doubt to the full accomplimment of their
idol's vaticination. I crave the reader's mercy,
when I propound it as a {peculation perfectly
confident with the characters of the minifter and
of his parliament, for him to feaft them again with
one more banquet upon French ruin, and for theni
again to devour and djgeft it. We mall fee.
HOWEVER, the comparative ruin of the two
countries is not the prcfent point. We believe the
diftrefs of France to be great, we know our own
to be fo. Crowned with a glory beyond any thing
Greek or Roman, they have more to (hew for
their expenditure, than ever nation had before.
We have no levies to look for beyond the bounds
of this ifland. No ranfom is to reach our coffers,
no trophy of fame, no monument of art to illul-
trate our triumphs! No king of Sardinia, no
king of Naples, no pope of Rome, no duke of
M^dena, no German circles, no cities, free or
are tq contribute one milling to our
c indemnity
C )
* f indemnity for the part." Without inquiring the
value of the vaft acquifitions of France, it is cer-
tain that a fingle Flemilh province is of more
confequence than our conquefts in the Weft
Indies. Of thofe in the Eaftj we have the re-
corded opinions of the prefent miniftry, confirmed
by the votes of the houfe of Commons, that ex-
tenfion of territory in that quarter of the globe is
mifchievous to our interefts. If, however, the
whole country on the left of the Rhine was not
worth one fhilling to France, it makes nothing
ngainft my argument.
Without dwelling upon the depreffion of our
funds, or upon the known caufes that prevented
their finking fooner -Without dwelling upon a
loan of twenty -five millions and a half in one year
(with every ferviee of the ftate enormoufly in debt
at the fame time) Without dwelling upon this
dreadful calculation ; that if the war were to ceafe
to-morrow, near THREE MILLIONS more of annual
taxes muft be drawn from the labour and comforts
of the people of England to fupply defalcations*
and to pay the interefl of debts already incurred.
(Some judicious gentleman will perhaps tell me
that I am " wrong by four (hillings and fixpence
" halfpenny," to repeat the phrafe of a noble
Marquis. Be it fo. I am content to be miftaken
in the fum total.)
Without dwelling upon the lofs to the com-
merce of this country of the markets of France,
33 CkJ
of Spain, of Holland, of the Levant, and the
Mediterranean without dwelling upon the alarm-
ing emigrations to America (emigrations provoked
by an execrable policy, which will foon be its own
punifhment) It is not upon any {ingle grievance,
but upon the whole Jlate of the Empire, my con-
clufion is founded ' That the duration of the
" war is ruin ; and that peace alone can fave us."
As this proportion is a! mod univerfally ad-
mitted, I mall proceed to the grand principle of
my argument. I have put this in ftrong terms
and reaffert what I think I mail prove, that, with
all the obvious ruin of this war; that even under
the crying neceffity for peace, fo generally pro-
claimed as our only fource of fafety ; yet " that
" the belt peace which can with reafon be expected
" from the prefent miniftry, would be a greater
<c calamity than even a continuance of the war.'^
CONDUCT
CONDUCT OF THE BRITISH GOVERN-
MENT TOWARDS THE FRENCH RE-
VOLUTION.
THE following axioms appear to me to be
irrefiftible.
That tie Engli/h government bad but one of two
courjes to purfue upon the great event of the French
revolution : either to oppofe the freedom of France in
the outfet with all its might, or to encourage it with
cordiality.
And that even a faithful neutrality would lave
been only negative wifdom but that a treacherous neu-
trality was the moft defiruftive policy our government
could poffibly adopt.
In oppofing the freedom of France, the Eng-
lifh government might reafon in this manner.
It is true the old defpotifm of France, which
brought down England fo low, has been over-
thrown by the people of France ! It is true the
national aflembly has difclaimed all wars of con-
queft, and that the French people difcover good
fympathies towards the people of England. But
neverthelels the liberty of free France may in the
end prove more fatal to England, than even the
arnbitioB
( t4 5
ambition of the grand monarchy. The flout re-'
fiftance of England to that ambition was the effect
of its free constitution and if France, to all her
phyfical fuperiorities, fuperadd the advantage of a
conftitution perhaps more free than our own, then
free England can have but a flcnde'r chance., againft
freer France, in procefs of time. Pretexts for
quarrelling can never be wanting. Succefs and
power may evade or difown what at beft is but a
declaration of the conftituent affembly. \Var,
with all its calamities, is preferable to national ex-
tinction. We will even take our chance with the
old tyranny of France, and crufli, if we can, her
new-born freedom.
I am afraid there are many men in England
many too who never read a line of Machiavel, to
whom this ftile of reafoning, odious anddeteflab!e
as it is, would have been very palatable. Pro-
mifing however as fuch a fpeculation may.be to
bad men, it did not feduce our virtuous mmiftry.
They reflected perhaps that fuch very daring
wickednefs might revolt the hearts of all honeft
men in England. We have the public declaration
of my Lord Hawkefbury himfelf, that if the Eng-
iiih miniilry had refilled the French revolution
in its outfet " he fhould not have been the laft
" man to condemn them." The Englifh miniftry
acted no fuch vile part, not they yet even this
part, iniquitous as it would have been, is the per-*
fection
( '5 )
fection of policy, in companion with the eourfe
which thev took.
It is not necefiary to enlarge upon the effect*
of the fyftemacic hoftility of the houfe of Bourbon
.to this country. From the Duke of Norfolk af
the head of the peerage, to the beggar in the
ftreet, there is not a citizen of this country who
has not in fome Ih^pe a daily experience of its
fatal confequences. It takes from the enjoyments
.of the rich, and lefiens the comforts of the poor,
/every day of the year. The mouth cannot be fed,
nor the back cloathed, without bearing teflimony
to the ambition of the houfe of Bourbon ; and
fuch is the fecundity of exaction in England, that
we are obliged to pay taxes for even the light of
Heaven, as we fhortly mud, I fear, for exiftence
itfelf.
All this is the gift of the houfe of Bourbon.
The Englifli nation thought fit about a century
3go, to alter its fyftem of government. The
tyrant king of France faid England mould not do
fo, and to prevent the fuccefs of our revolution,
went to war with us. Until the reign of this
prince the French government had not become
thoroughly tyrannical. Under him and forth from
his time, it became the -mod fettled defpotifm in
the world. Waging frequent war againft France
for many centuries before, no permanent evils
remained upon England after fuch a feries of
jioilility, until every trace of liberty in France had
at
at kngth merged in the boimdlefs authority of
Lewis the -i^-th. From that hour the lafting mif-
fortunes of this country commenced.
The national debt of England at the period of
the Englifli revolution was about a fingle million.
The tyrant king of France in the endeavour to
overfet that revolution made that national debt
near fifty millions -, and before the fucceffor of
this monarch defifted from forcing upon us a
prince and a government both of his own choice,
our debt became near a hundred millions. His
fecond fucceffor, the late unhappy king, befdes
tearing from us one of the faireft e.npires in the
world, raifed our debt to near three hundred mil-
lions. Thus by the politics of the three laft
French princes, ou-r debt from one million be-
came near three hundred millions !
Prone as this country has been to differ upon
public topics, there never was but one opinion
upon the cauie of thefe five wars. We never
allow any doubt of their originating in " the reft-
" lefs ambition of the Mod Chriftian King." A
phrafe which appea< s in every Englifh manifefto
for the laft hundred years.
In this country we have had plagues, famines,
jnvafions, rebellions. England has iurvived them
all. It has conquered all forts of calamities except
the gift of the houfe of Bourbon. That incurable
{chirr, growing into our very vitals, baffles ail re-
rpedy, and preterits noth:ng before us but a deadly
defpajr.
C 17 )
tkfpair. Ocher grievances are complex but the
fatality of the national debt of England is fen-
fible both to the " feeling and the fight" of the molt
ftupid creature in the community. An exact com-
putation cannot perhaps eafily be made of the
iums paid by each individual in excifes and
cuftoms j but the duller! being can comprehend
this that the intereft of the national debt, was
nearly one half of the rated currency of England
before the commencement of the prefent war.
Had cc the reftlefs ambition of the houfe of
" Bourbon," not harneffed England to fuch a load
as this, what might not be the profperity of a country
of eight millions of inhabitants if freed from an
annual taxation of near ten millions fterling to pay
the bare intereft of this legacy of the houfe of
Bourbon ! ! !
Such was our fituation before the prefent war.
If inftcad of being hiftory, it had been a fubject
of fpeculation, to fancy what defcription of Eng-
limmen would have rejoiced the mod in the French
revolution, it furely would be thought that a mi-
mjler would rejoice before all men and before all
minifters, Mr. Pitt !
This minifter after ten years of peace, (landing
upon vantage ground never occupied by any for-
mer adminiftration, with the hands of this re-
creant houfe of Bourbon, in a manner tied behind
its back during the whole ten years. This minif-
ter, complcatly upon velvet with regard to foreign
C affairs j
( '3 )
affairs ; backed by unprecedented majorities both
hi and out of parliament, and never denied a mil-
ling of impoft in a country too, flourifhing in trade,
according to his own account, beyond all former
examples. What then was the atchievement of
rhis minifter after ten fuch years of peace ? He
equalized the income of the country with its ex-
pence, and contended that he had a million of
fupcrflux to redeem capital ! !
The reality of this fuperflux has been a point
of difpute between the ableft men in England.
We mall however take Mr. Pitt's word, that in
f he laft year of peace it was real and efficient.
That it had no exiftence during the firfl four
years of his pretended reduction of debt, has been
proved to demonftration. It is not my immediate
purpofe to throw any blame for the non-entity of
this fuppofed fuperflux. It became a pofitive ex-
cefs of income as foon perhaps as the minifter,
without grinding the country, could make it
but if this million of fuperflux was the tttmoft 1
f reduce of ten fuch years of -peace., what in the
name of heaven did this very minifter think
would be the condition of his country after ten
years, or half ten years, of war ?
. This is the place to afk myfelf a very necef-
fary queftion Did die French revolution fo en-
tirely <f neutralize and dulcify" the people of France
towards the people of England, as to juftify our
difcarding at once the old antigalJican fyftem ?
Were
V/ere the principles of Sir William Temple,
of Lord Godolphin, of the late Lord Chat-
ham, and the prefent Mr. Fox indeed of
all the great flatefmen of the prefent century ;*
were thefe principles grown fo obfolete, that
all dread of French aggrandifement was to be
effaced from our breads as .a neceffary con-
fequence of the French revolution ? This quef-
tlon would not come amifs from a ftrang en for
in truth it would be difficult to find a greater
zealot in antigallican policy, or who exprefled his
opinion with more plainnefs upon that point, than.
* Of all the public men in our time no one has (hewn
frich indifference to thofe maxims of famous policy as the
prefent Mr. Pitt. Throughout the whole bufmete of Lord
Auckland's treaty, this policy was flighted by him in a very
notable manner,. The only trace of it to be found in h's
conduct is upon an occafion where he mifapplied and dvf-
graced it: namely rhe affair of Holland in the year "87.
1-t was not -refcuing Holland from France upon the prin-
ciples of the triple league, but enflaving the Dutch nation
by the bayonets of Pruluan grenadiers., in the true fpirit of
the Pilnitz confpiracy. Such a total want of judgment
disfigured the whole of that tranfadion the people of that
country were treated, upon that occafion, with fuch an
unfcrupulous tyranny as might well have prepared men of
common fenfe on our fide of the .water for that quick de-
fl.rueHon of the Stallholder's power and the determined
dereliction of all connection with England which took place
upon the firft opportunity. And yet the Engliih army was
iije furprifed at the ufage they lately met w;th in Holland ! !
C 2 even
even the humble author of this pamphlet. In a
tract relating chiefly to French affairs publifhed
by me in the year 86 is the following fenti-
ment.* " It is the duty of Great Britain to
<c confider any acceffion of flrength or territory
< f which France may obtain in any part of the
<f world, as fo much taken from her own power;
<f and to view any abafement of French great-
(t nefs, or diminution of French empire, as fo
c much gained to herfelf."
With fuch fentiments upon the general policy
of England to France, can it be the opinion of
the author of the pafTage juft quoted, that the
French revolution Jhould lave annihilated all na-
tional jealoufy of the power of France in the peo-
ple of this country ipfo faflo ?
Without anfwering this queftion in the affirm-
ative to tie extent of it ; I have no doubt at all that
at was the true policy of England to act upon the
hypothecs of the French revolution having radically
(hanged the relation of the two countries, and of having
placed both in an order of things nezv t and mutually
aufpicious*
Affuming, for much more than the mere pur-
pofe of my argument, that the fenfs of mankind
would have fcouted the Englifh miniftry if they
had adopted the crooked courfe of refitting the at-
View of the Treaty negotiated by Mr. Eden Debrett.
tempt
C )
tempt of France to make herfelf free, in the out-
fet of the revolution, then it follows that their
founded wifdom was to manifeft their complacency
towards it.
Of all the misfortunes that can befal this
country, the firft and greateft, beyond all queftion,
is to be the fettled opponent of free France. If
France had not gained one victory in the courfe of
the prefe'nt war, and but barely retained her an-
ticnt territory ; {till the blackeft enemy of the
Englifh nation could never wifh it a deftiny more
fatal, than that another Rome and Carthage mould
be revived in the two free empires of France and
England !
Memorable enough for this country is the
effeft of only the " reftlefs ambition of the houfe
" of Bourbon" but no imagination can contem-
plate without horror the probable confequence
of the genius of that houfe being transfufed
into the mafs of the French nation. It is this very
thought which would have been uppermoft in the
mind of a wife Britifh government, upon the
breaking out of the French revolution. With
all the atrocity of the attempt, they mould on the
jnftant have taken Lewis the Sixteenth by the
hand, and ftrangled the revolution in its birth, or
have made a virtue of neceffity and cordially en-
couraged it a courfe which in no degree involved
any interference in its domeftic progrefs.
Without detailing the natural ftrength of
France,
C )
France, her fituation in the midft of Europe, the
oornpaclnefs of her territory, the fertility of her
foil, her vaft population France in able manage-
ment mud always be an overmatch for any compe-
tition in Europe. The fame fuperiority which
inarked the territory called France, in the hands
of CcEfar and Conftantine, of Charlemagne and
Lewis the Fourteenth, muft diftinguifli it in an
equal degree, whenever its powers are wielded
with equal {kill.
Placed upon the globe as France and England
are : With fuch a community of interefts in all
leas and regions, fuch a rivalry in arts and manu-
factures, the bafe fpirit of trade itfelf, whole very
genius is monopoly all thefe circumftances would
of their own natural operation have required the
mod delicate vigilance of the moft benevolent po-
licy in both countries, to fmooth and harmonize
tjieir mutual interefts. But if delenda eft Carthago
is really the creed of either nation, then has this
country yet to witnefs calamities, compared with
which all its paft difafters are the peace and tran-
quility of the garden of Eden !
Between the beginning of the fir ft and the
fatal termination of the third Punic war, about
half the time was confumed in mutual daughter
and though the events are nineteen hundred years
pld, the dreadful narrative of five and forty years
inhuman warfare, fills the foul with terror even
$jt this diftance of time, But all this is nothing to
the
the fate of France and England, ftiould a hel'lifh
policy plant an incurable hatred between two fucfo
nations. The firft duty then of a wife Britilh
adminiftration ihould have been to eradicate, as
much as poffible, the feeds and fources of all na-
tional antipathy upon the dawn of that French
freedom which they had determined not to oppofe :
but to excite national antipathy by choice, is in-
deed an infanity that will fcarcely be credited in
after times !
Who can forget the grand and glowing picture
drawn by this very Mr. Pitt, upon the difcuflion
of Lord Auckland's treaty, of the better profpects
of France and England for evermore. " Articled
<c partner" though France became by that treaty, to
repeat the words of Mr. Burke, in the grand
arcana of Britilh commercial fuperiority, Mr.
Pitt, in the fined drains of pathos and prophecy,
defigned the two dates in future for nobler pur-
pofes than mutual butchery. But the moment the
defpotifm (fo dedructive at all times to the inte-
red of England) with which he had negotiated
that treaty had been demolimed by the heroic fpi-
rit of the French ; then all his golden expectations
vanimed in a moment ! The pernicious tyranny
of the houfe of Bourbon beamed, according to
this minider every thing that was aufpicious upon
the new connection of the two countries, but as fbon
as freedom and philofophy exalted that people of
flaves into a nation of men that wftant> the go-
vernment
vcrnment of England faw nothing but plague and
peililence in the intercourfe of the two ftates.
If ever the hour of account fhould come in
this country, the accufer knows nothing of the
crimes of the miniflry who does not begin his
indidtment with the beginning of the French re-
volution.
It is notorioufly certain that this revolution
was, at its commencement, a popular event in
England. It was fo in part from a fym-
pathy to the caufe of freedom, but in a much
greater degree from confid.erations ftri&ly JEnglilh,
and a belief that the downfall of the Bourbon ty-
ranny was a prefage of long bleflings to the Eng-
]ifli nation.' Yet coeval with the firft free fen-
timent that was uttered in the constituent aflem-
bly, was the actual enmity of the Englilh govern-
ment to the French revolution.
The Englifh government had fhewn its teeth
long before any difapprobation had yet proceeded
from the early, the late, and the immortal enemy
of that revolution, Mr. Burke himfelf !
The firft pamphlet of this celebrated perfon
upon the French revolution, was read by the author
of thefe fheets as foon, I believe, as by any man,
at this time, in the land of the living. Flattered
and honoured by its illuftrious writer, I felt more
true pride in his kindnefs and condefcenfion, than
from any favours that could be conferred by any
of the tyrants whofe caufe he has fince pleaded
with
with fuch unrivalled eloquence. Though it fell
within my knowledge, by having feen the manu-
fcript of that memorable work many months
before its publication, ar.d by various converfa-
tions with him, that Mr. Burke was hoftile to the
F<ench revolution, yet the public were ignorant of
his lentiments, until the fracas with Mr. Sheridan*
On the feven'h of February 1 790; long before which
period, the Englilh miniftry had betrayed their
hatred to the recent revolution. It is probable
enough that the powers of fuch a man as Mr.
Burke may influence the opinion of the world
more trun the combined efforts of rhe adminiftra-
tion but it is again ft all reafon that they Ihould
take their cue from a gentleman, whofe abafement
had been the labour of their lives ; whofe charac-
ter and principles they had fo long decried with
enthufiaftic rancour.
Though the miniftry were rejoiced no doubt
at fuch an ally againft the French revolution, the
* It appeared to the author of this pamphlet, that the ditfer-
fcnce between thefe two great men would be a great evil to the
country, and to their own party. Full of this perfuafion he
brought them both together the fecond night after the original
conteft in the houfe of Commons; and carried them to Burling-
ton houfe to Mr Fox and the Duke of Portland, according to
a previous arrangement. This interview, which, can never be
forgotten by thofe who were prefent, lafted from ten o'clock at
night until three in the morning, and afforded a very remark-
able difplay of the extraordinary talents of the parties.
D French
( 2-6 )
French nation had more decifive intimations of
their difpofition than in the eagernefs with which
they fomented the difference between Mr. Barke
and his friends, (a conduct which their natural
malice would have prompted) and more, even,
than the encouragement which they gave to all
that gentleman's indefatigable attacks upon the
French. Every part of the revolution was odious
in the eyes of Mr. Birrke. Every part of Mr,
Burke's former life was odious in the eyes of the
Englifh miniftry. He looked afkance at every
thing that refpeSed the French revolution. 'They
furveyed him with a lover's fondnefs, and could
difcern no fault about him. From being the ob-
ject of their maledictions he became a fudden
butt of their panegyric ; and grew into their
graces in exact proportion to the number and the
vigour of his invectives againft every thing that was
French, excepting its former tyrants and ty-
ranny r
Vhaf houfe, the five hundred and fifty-eight"
members of which, (with the exception of very
few indeed) will be no more known to have had
an exiftence than the cattle they drive, when Mr.
Burke, notwithstanding the divifion and contra-
di6lion of his character, will be a fubject of the
admiration and the commentaries of mankind.
That houfe, which would fhout him down to-mor-
row (if inftead of publilbing it, he were averting-
his confiftency there, like the Earl of Fitzwilliam
in another place) for oppofmg a treaty, as loudly
and clamoroufly, as the very fame people extolled
him four years ago, for faying that any treaty was
fi.rik.ing at the head of King George the Third
That honeft impartial auditory, which would
fcarce grant him a hearing, when with all the
fplendor of his vafl genius he defended the liber-
ties of his country hung with rapture upon his
tongue and beatified his fentiments upon their
finding, very unexpectedly, that he vindicated the
deipotifm, and derided the free fpirit of the French
nation !
Mr. Burke however had not yet fhewn his face
in the houfe of commons before the temper of the
Englilh government towards the enfranchifed
people of France was pictured in the mod legible
imprefilons.
The deftrudion of the Byzantian library, the
ravages of Italy by the Goths, the fall of Thebes
or Athens, were never more deplored by the
fons of fcience, than the French baftille was
" praifed, wept and honoured" by the fatellites of
the minifter on the meeting of parliament on the
2iftof January 1790. The minifter's own cautious
filence was emphatically explained by the oblo-
quies of Mr. Jenkinfon and Colonel Phipps,
upon that memorable day, againft the recent re-
solution.
Let it be obferved that I am fpeaking now, as
thefe noble persons were fpeaking then, of the
D 2 French
French revolution long anterior to thofe diabolical
fcenes which fill the world with fuch juft execra-
tion. No (laughter of prifoners at Paris or Ver-
failles, no September maflacres, no bloody do-
mination of Roberfpierre, nothing of this kind
had yet difgraced the progrefs of the revolution.
Yet the French troops, were arraigned and vilified
by the friends of theEnglilh minifter, upon debating
the addrefs to the King on the day before named*,
for this conducb, which in their court 1 .} 7 judgments
was a high crime for refufing to burcher the
city of Paris on the murderous mandate of the
Duke de Broglio.
But this (hall pafs for nothing. I will even
fuppole that Lord Mulgrave and Lord Hawkefbiiry,
againft whom I certainly have no perfonal ill will,
delivered only their own, and not the miniver's
fentiments upon this occafion ; flill the French
were unfortunately at no lofs to underfland the
government of England by other organs.
There is not a man of bufmefs in France who
does not underfta"nd the nature of the Englifh
prefs. From the month of May in the year 89
that is to fay as foon as principles of poli-
tical liberty began to emanate from the confti-
tuent affembly, from that moment it became the
diurnal tafk of every newfpaper under the in-
fluence of the Englifh treafury to abufc the re-
volution, to pervert every good, to exaggerate
every evil, to mutilate and mifreprefent every
fad,
faft, to tra luce and outrage the whole French
nation, in ev:ry fentiment and operation.
We arc now at war with France, and our
objurgation of that country may find bafe pre-
cedents to juftify the practice ; yet if any one
will take the trouble to look at the files of the
court prints feven years ago in profound peace,
thofe prints will be found to maintain a valiant
competition with the fyftematic calumny of the
prefent moment,
I throw no blame upon the managers of thefe
papers. When fervility is the fafhion, it is very
natural that its literary votaries mould fupply the
government with that kind of incenfe wnich it
fnuffs up with the greateft ecftacy. For fome
time this low cuftom had been difcontinued, but
lately I perceive it is refumed with very methodical
rancour. And, as if the revolution had not teemed
with fads enough, for fuch a purpofe j as if the
real excefles that have notorioufly been perpe-
trated in France, were not fufficient to excite
popular horror, fables are now invented, ftory
books fearched and records of cruelty ranfacked,
for curious crimes j and all regularly and daily
charged upon the French.
The fyftem of fcandal is indeed a cheap and
ready inftrument but it is an inftrument which
no generous foe, either man or nation, will be
anxious to emp oy. A nation is but an aggregate
of individuals ; and what brave man traduces his
antagonift ?
antagonift ? Prepared if needful, to breaft the
fteel or the lead of his enemy, fuch a man IK: }
fartilty for {lander. A better criterion of a !y
nobie nature cannot be than by an antipathy , to
this vile art. The prefent adminiftration ha. sot
been fufpected of much petticoat influence . rat
from the habitual abufe of the French, it loo > as
if the matrons of Billingfgate had changed aces
y/ith the women, or the men-like women, ut the
head of our government.
I have no doubt there are gentlemen concern-
ed in thefe prints, who love their country ; and if
a djfobedience to their patrons were not involved
in the admonition, I would conjure them to aban-
don a practice in itfeif not more illiberal, than
pernicious in its effects. Six and twenty millions
of people feparated from us by a diftance of only
twenty-one miles, mould not be driven to fwear
like Hannibal at the altar. It is not with civil
Oiceflcs alone they are inculpated; every defcrip*
tton of moral depravity is fancied and imputed
every day to every part of France. To vilify the
country in this manner would be only impolitic
if the tales were true but being falfe, even the
peril of the thing is furpafled by its bafenefs.
Exactly in tire fame way was America treated
all through the laft war ; and if thofe minillers,
whofe lofty contempt of . the Americans was fo
admirably retorted -upon themfelves, had been the
negotiators with that country, God only knows
where
( Si )
where the misfortunes of this might have ended,
We have the king's word at prefcnt for treating
with France but it is a difmal augury of the fuo
cefs of our negotiations, that we perfift in black-
ening and infulting the power we cannot conquer.
The lower orders of the Englifh have always-
been fuppofed to feel a fort of natural hatred to
the French, from which the higher were thought
to be exempt. This difpofition feems in fame de-
gree to be now reverfed. The Engliih govern-
ment, dishonoured and beaten down by the arms
of France, is inculcating this barbarous prejudice
as a fpecies of patriotifm. The truth of the charge
is undeniable, and the fentiment is in exacl keep-
ing with their morality for it is the charadteriftie
of injuftice never to forgive thofe it has injured.
Inftead of cheriming this averfion, if they loved
their country better than their places, they would
ftudy to extinguifh it in both nations. All the
fuccefs and all the glory which wife ftates can de-
fire, are perfectly compatible with the mutual amity
of France and England ; but fettled into a rooted
rivalry, the globe is not big enough for their ani*
inofity. Let the doctrines of the Englifh minif-
try furvive the war, and though a peace were
figned to-morrow, the temple of Janus' will foon
be opened again opened perhaps, until one of the
two is blotted out of the lift of independent
nations.
THE
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED,
To repeat one of my axioms I fay that the
Englifh government Ihould have made a virtue of
neceffity, and have " furveyed the revolution with
" complacency ;" confidering that event as a
mere fubject of ftricl: fpeculation : but that it
was doubly their duty to adopt this courfe, when^
in truth, the firft meafures of emancipated France^
confirmed it as the foundelt practical wifdom.
Aware of the ambitious intriguing nature of
the Bourbon defpotifm aware of the odium it
entailed upon their country, the reprefentatives
of the people of France, as the firft fruit of
their freedom, did folemnly proclaim in the face
of the world as the fundamental principle of
their new fyftem, " never again to wage a war of
" conquejl !"
Here was a declaration which, of all the go-
vernments of Europe, the Engliih Ihould have
accepted with moft ecftacy. This fhould have been
their policy, whether this grand maxim of the
nfew order of things was true or falfe. If true,
the peace of England, under wife counfels, was
infuied by it ; for the reft of Europe united
durft
( 33 )
durft not navigate a cutter againft the wifh of
France and England. If falfe, the impofture
would be vifible to mankind, and could not fail
to bring the deteftation of all nations upon the
new government, for fuch confummate hypocrify.
But let this declaration pafs, as a mere firing of
words, too loofe and general to gull the crafty cau-
tion of our ftatefmen ! Prefently occurred an
event, as if Providence had contrived it for the
very purpofe, of enabling the Englifh miniftry to
try the fincerity of the political philofophy of
France.
The reader remembers, indeed what Englifh-
man can ever forget ? the affair of Nootka Sound
in the year 1790.
The king of France, whofe caufe has coft this
country in the laft four years, fo many thoufands
of lives, fo many millions of money, and more
than ten thoufand millions worth of honour the.
king of France, demonstrating his hereditary ha-
tred to England even in the laft convulfions of his
authority, would have fallen upon us at that mo-
ment, if be could. Every body knows how the
queen, and the Auftrian cabal that ruled the
French cabinet at that time, intrigued, in order to
light up the flames of war between France and
England upon that occafion. The chief obje&.
of the French court was to ilifle the revolution,
under the pretence of fupporting the family com-
pact. I am fpeaking of things capable of juridi-
E cat
( 3+ )
cal proof. The king of France demanded twenty
ihips of the line, to fupport his ally the king of
Spain. The national afTcmbly took the family
compact into confideration, and abrogated the
ffinjive part of it, making a general declaration ot
fupporting Spain, if it appeared that ihe was
unjuftly attacked ; but feeing the country upon
the eve of a war with the very power they had
moft cultivated throughout the revolution, that
afiembly cut up by the roots the caufe of fimilar
danger for ever after. With a majefty worthy of
the vaft empire they reprefented, and with a wif-
dom never furpafled by any legiilative body lince
the beginning of the world, they deprived the man
of the dreadful power of involving the million^
and rent from his hands for ever the prerogative
of war !
It was in this memorable cafe of Nootka
Sound, that the Itupendous prerogative of war
was taken from the king of France : an aft
which was deemed by wife men at that moment,
to have done more for the peace of Europe, than
all the theories of philoibphers and all the labours
of politicians, for centuries !
Of the further iincerity of the French upon
this grand point of never waging wars of ambition ,
there is no opportunity of judging, for they never
had any fair play. The flagitious confpiracy of
Pilnitz brought the gang of tyrants upon them,
and tho& tyrants alone are anfwerable for the con-
fcquences.
( 35 )
fequences. It is frightful, without doubt, to fee
the increafed dominion of that {late ; but if there
be any juftice under heaven, it is that France
fliould exact '* indemnity" for the commrflion,
and " fecurity" againft the repetition of fuch un-
matched outrage-! 1
* c Some ftates are born to conquefts, but France
" has conquefts thruft upon her." After the pof-
Icflion of Lombardy, it is notorious that Gene-
ral Buonaparte difcouraged every difpofition of the
natives to revolutionize the country, refting in the
expectation of propofals for peace. His Italian
territories were ftill lure to be reftored to the Em-
peror, if the noxious influence of the Engliih go-
vernment had not perfuaded him to break the ar-
miftice upon the Rhine. Every previous ftage
of the war furnHhed a better opportunity for peace
than the fucceeding.%. Every delay became mor^
and more deftructive, and every delay was Britim.
Britifh influence ruined the King of Sardinia, the
Italian ftates, and the Stadtholder. By vomitinjj
out the poifon of Britim influence, Spain and Pruf-
fii have faved themfelves. The neutral ftates were
all bullied by the Englifh government, to force
them into the coalition; but they braved th?
power which they muftnow defpife ; and by avo'd-
ing the infection of Britifh politics, they have
preferved peace and happinefs. No comet carries
in its tail fuch fure deftrudtion, is the peftilent.
principles of this adminiftration.
E * I fay
I fay then that the national affembly gave all
the aflurance which in the nature of things was
poffible for one country to give of its fincerity to
anoiher. A folemn declaration confirmed by a
pofitive aft. Is it poffible that this event could
have palled without impreflion upon the Englifh
miniftry ? That it produced no public teftimony
of their gladnefs or gratitude is quite certain.
And whence this infenfibility? To this queftion
jthe only anfvver can be conje&ure. It looks as if
the miniftry balanced the bufinefs according to
their own fyftem of computation. The event was
an aufpice to Britifh politics, but a fad omen to the
craft that deals in them. Perhaps the miniftry
imagined that they loft more by the principle, than
they gained by the point. One thing is certain,
that all defcriptions of corrupt men have been uni-
formly hoftile to the French revolution, in common,
unqueftionably, with others upon whom no fuch
fufpicion can attach.
From the firft moment of that event, every
thing was cold and diftant from England. The
French king between the commencement of the
revolution, and his final overthrow, had two con-
Ititutional adminiftratibns. All his adminiftrations
were obliged to conform to the popular humour;
the contrail was curious between the frank*
nefs
( 37 )
nefs and conciliation of the French miniftcrs; the
faftidioufnefs and repulfion of the Englifh in their
official commerce.
Every Written document from the French go-
vernment to this court up to the breaking out of
the war, breathed nothing but good will, and an
eagernefs for the friendihip of England ; while an
imperious air, a civility ungracious and almoft in-
fuiting, truly characterized the anfwcrs. The
fupercilious treatment of the French ambaiTador,
the fportive farcaftns, the gay ridicule of the Eng-
lilh drawing room, that happy fcene of wit I full
rival to Marc Anthony's court at Athens ! all thefe
circumftances were as well known at Paris as in
London. It was the haut ton of the court to fcan-
dalize the revolution in every part of it. " They
" fcattered firebrands and faid 'twas in jeft 1"
This difpofition was manifeft even upon the
moft trifling occafions not that the inftance I
am about to mention is fo very trifling. The
French nation altered the title of their firft magif-
irate* They called him King of the French.
Under this defignation he proclaimed himfelf to all
the courts of Europe, and in this name he was
recognized by every neutral ftate, except England.
Lewis XIV. refufed to name the Prince of Orange
according to the title conferred upon him by the
Englifli revolution. For this refuial England de-
clared war, and forced the tyrant to acknowledge
the title but the Prince who now fills the throne
of
301059
( 3? )
of England, in virtue of the Englifh revolution,
could not abide the revolutionary name of " King
of the French." The King of the French
was only known to him by deeds of kindnefs and
good neighbourhood, but the Moft Chriftian King
tore Ainerica from his diadem and raifed the na-
tional debt of his people to near three hundred mil-
lions fterling. By this loving name did his fer-
vants perfuade King George the Third to call
Lewis XVI. to the laft moment of his life, and
by no otj-er.
A conduct more ferious and more decifive in
its relation to France is now at hand.
Whether the tenth of Auguft 92 was a day
of honour or of guilt for France is no Britifh con-
federation. Attempts have been made in this
country to affimilate the tenth of Auguft with the
diabolical fecond of September; although it is well
known that the Gironde party, who gloried in the
former, have loll their lives upon the fcafTold for
endeavouring to punifh the authors, and to vin-
dicate France from the unperimable diigrace of
the latter tranfaclions. But between thefe two
events there is no fimilitude, nor can any be
imputed except by the moft ftupid prejudice
or the moft hopelefs malignity.
In human crimes fuch another inftance of
cruelty and cowardice cannot be found as the
murders of September while the page of hiftory
cannot fhcw a difplay of heroifm beyond the
rdiftance
( 39 )
refiftance firft made, and the final victory ob-
tained, by the people over the Swifs guards
on the loth of Auguft.*
It is true that fome ferocious wretches com-
mitted dreadful atrocities upon flying individuals
at the clofe of the fcene on the loth of Auguft
but the real conquerors of the king's guards
became their protectors upon fubduing them,
and with their own bodies covered the few that
remained, into a place of fafety, from the fu-
ries that rufhed in when the battle was oven
It is however indifferent to the prefent pur-
pofe what fenfe may be entertained of the loth
of Auguft, but companion and not argument
is due to thofe, if there be any, who think
that France could furvive the war, if Lewis
XVI. had managed it. That hell fcroll,
(which even its nominal author in his perfonal and
political character has difavowed) the manifcfto
of the Duke of Brunfwick, told the French na-
tion what they had to expedt j and feparated the
* The firft volley from the S \vifs guards covered the
place de Carouzel with dead bodies and it was over heaps
of flain in the interior court, that the people entered the
palace. Whoever has feen the fpot can alone con-
ceive the carnage of the citizens, mowed down from every
door and window of that valt building, by the military.
How very like this to the detailed butchery, one by one,
f the unhappy prifeners in September ?
. court
( 4 )
court entirely from the people. The people then
refolved that the court fhould not conduct the
war, and by that refolution they faved their
country.
" At fejji tandem fives infanda furentem
" Armati circumjiftunt y ipfum^ue domvmque t
" Qlitntncant facias ; ignon ad fajtigia jaUlant :
" Ergo omnii furjhfurrcxit Etruria jujtis :
" Regent ad fupflicium prafe nti marie repofcunt."
(I do not wonder thar the Englim miniftnf
fympathized with the French court upon the cir-
cumflances that provoked the loth of Auguft.
The principle that deprived the king of France of
his crown upon that day was precifely the principle
of the Bridfli cabinet, throughout the whole of
the famous conteft between the Crown and the
Commons in the year 84. The merits of either
the India bill or of the two decrees refpefting
the clergy and the formation of a camp near Paris,
are foreign to the queflion. The cafes were; that
the fecret advifers of both princes counfelled their
refpective fovereigns to (land upon the ground of
ftrib right a memorable proof how compatible is
a violation of the vital fpirit of a conftitution with
a ftrift adherence to its letter and an exemplary
inftance of the madnefs of oppofmg prerogative to
popular privilege in the exercife of any branch of
royal authority ! !
We
We have no confidence in your minifters faid
die Engllm houfe of Commons. The king of
England flood upon his right. We e n nd your
affent to thefe two decrees faid the iegiflative af-
fembly. The king of France flood upon his right.
All Paris went in proceflion to the Thuilleries on
the 20th of June to induce the court to yield to
the aflembly the king flood upon his right. The
commons of England went in formal cavalcade
feveral times to St. James's imploring the king
to liften to their wifhes. The king flood upon his
right. The government of this country was de-
graded to a domeftic concern, and the right con-
tended, in exprefs words, of appointing or difmif-
fing a rniniiler of ftate, like a groom or butler.
In France, even while the tenets of the demolifhed
defpoiifm were ftill frefh and reeking round the
throne, no one ventured to avow fuch a principle,
though it was carried into actual effect. Both
princes were guided by fecret advifers in contempt
of their oilenfible minifters, and both difmified their
refpective adminiflrations in pointed repugnance
to the reprefentative body in both countries. Fox
and the Duke of Portland were turned out here,
Pitt and Lord Liverpool called in. Roland and
Claviere were difmifTed and Breteuil and Delef-
fart appointed there; In England the experiment
fucceeded and the king is the idol of the people !
In France it loft the king his. crown and finally
his life ! !)
F Upon
t^pon die whole a full conviction of the trca-
Jbn of the court produced the loth of Auguft..
The king is depofed, a convention called and the
administration fo lately difmiffed by the king, re-
appointed. Tliat vaft country as by electric im-
pulfe reverberates one feeling. The Duke of
IJrunfwick, almoft at the gates of Paris is chafed
out of the country, and forth from the moment of
the king's overthrow, the fuccefs and glory of the
French arms are the wonder of the world. It is
with truth then I fay that pity alone is due to the
man who doubts that the tenth of Auguft faved
France ; yet upon this event it was that the Englifli
government recalled its ambafiador.
I have faid that the merits of the tenth of
Auguft are exclufively a French consideration ;
and the Engiifh miniirry feemed in fome degree
to think fo : for one of the reafons they alledge
for this extraordinary meafure is to mew their
neutrality ! There was no countryman of mine
in the cabinet, though they recal their arnbaflador
to Jhew their neutrality ! The cloven foot how-
ever appears even in the fame note of office,,
mixed with fome more Irifh reafoning they de-
nounce France " with the indignation of Europe
" in cafe any violence is offered to the King," at
the very moment that they " dijdaim all inter-
ference in its internal concerns"
The day Lord Gower was recalled from Paris,
the Englilh war began.
Never
( 43 )
Never mall I forget the words of Brifibt upon
this occafion. It happened to me to have been in
Paris for a few clays foon after the recal of Lord
Gower, and to have dined fometimes in this gen-
tleman's company, who feemed a man of frank
character, knew England and its language very
well. He faid " he never defpaired of the duration
" of the peace with England until the recal of the
rf Englifh ambaflador. That the French were
" well aware of the hoftile dilpofition of the
<f Englifh miniftry from the beginning of the re-
" volution j they had hopes however that the un-
<e provoked injuftice of fuch a meafure would pre-
" vent the acceffion of England to the coalition ;
" but the recal of the ambaflador and fending no
" one to replace him, was too clear an explanation
<c of the Hanoverian minifter's conduft at the diet
* c of Ratifbon, who appeared more as a fadtor for
" the Duke of Brunfwick's army, than the envoy
" of a power, which had repeatedly promifed its
fc neutrality !" f
Indeed the imprefTion upon France of this
meafure of the Englifh miniftry was perfectly uni-
form. Yet the French government was fo anx-
ious for peace with England, that they ufed all
expedients to fix its neutrality. In the laft official
note to Lord Gower, the French counfel exprefs
the utmoft regret at his Jordfhip's departure , and
the famous declaration of the legiflative ailembly,
juft before its expiration, though addreflcd gene-
F 2 rally
( 44 )
rally to Europe was in reality deHgrrd for England;
in confequence of the rear excited by the de ar-
ture of the Englilh embafiy. A mafterpiece of
Condorcet, publifhed at the fame time called <f a
" parallel between the French and Englifh revolu-
<( tions," was directed entirely to this meafure,
and expofed with incomparable reafoning the not-
able difpatch of Mr. Dundas to Lord Gower.
There is ibiuething in the evidence of fenfe
more powerful than ail the authorities in the world.
It all the arguments upon the caufe of the war
vvere as much in favour of the Engliih miniilry, as
they are decifively againft them, ftill from what
I jaw in a few montns iojourning there in the year
92, 1 feel the molt riveted conviction, that of all
external advantages the French coveted moft the
friendship of England, and feared as the greatetl
of all evils its hostility. To fecure every atten-
tion and polhenef* at all hours and under all cir-
cumftances it was fufficient to be Englifh. And
their eagernefs to conciliate England expofed them
even to derifion. Nay the very pretext of the
Engliih miniftry, the reception of fome addrefles
from England by the convention, originated in
the complaidnce of the French to every thing
Englifh. How cnme that to be a crime in 92,
which pafled without an obfervation during the
three preceding years? Addreffes from various
parts of thefe three kingdoms had been repeatedly
prefentcd for the firft three years of the revolution
to
( 45 )
to the national aflembly, without a murmur on the
part of the Engiifh miniltry or Lord Gower.
Why was the government iilent upon the refo-
lution moved by Mr. Sheridan, and fent to the
national aflembly in the yeir 90 ? Was it a terror
that his tfout fpirit would have compelled them
to regorge their libels, if they ventured any againft
him, who never propounded a principle nor ut-
tered a fentiment upon public affairs that was
not in the vital eflence of the Englilh conftitution ?
If the a& was wrong, ib confpicuous a man Ihould
have been called ro account for it. If right, its
policy ihould have been adopted, and good hu-
mour cultivated as a maxim of the government,
-i To their bitter coft, they now know, that had
they purfued the principle of that fhort reiolu-
tion, the funds of this country had been now at
par, five millions of annual taxes faved to the
people, the flaughter of our countrymen and fel-
low creatur,s prevented, and England the mod
happy and flout jibing region of the globe. *
The
* During tne -agitation of the Nootlca Sound affair, when
many of the heft friends to the liberty and peace of England,
dreaded a war with France from the intrigues of the French
court, at a meeting of Weftminrter electors, Mr. Sheridan
was requefted to" propofe a refolution at a great afTembly of the
people, which was advertifed for the 4th of July following.
This refoluticn, tranfmitted afterwards by the noble chairman,
to the Duke of Rochefoucault, then prefident of the confii-
tuent
The guilt then of thefc addreflcs confifled Ire
the terms. A reafonable diftindftion I admit j and
far am I indeed from juftifying all the fluff prefented
to the convention in 92. But where was the Eng-
IHh ambafFador at fuch a critical moment, whofe
lighten: word muft have ftopt fuch impertinence
in the bud ? There was the falient fourcc of all
the' mifchief. It was not Lord Gower himfelf ; the
aieaneft of his fervants in the characler of an en-
roy, muft in one moment have put an end to
Ghefe abfurdities.
-^-Well, but the contents of the addrefTes denot-
ed their offence to theEnglifh government indeed!
Though the embafly was called away in the manner
we feave feen ; though the creatures of the Eng-
liih miniftry were in the daily habit of infulting the
French nation j though the French were in total
darknefs how to fquare their conduct to pleafe the
Engliih rninifby, who difdained all communication,
with them : though the facility of accefs to the
b.ar of the French affemblies has expofecl them
taent aflembly, was fuppofed to have had a very happy
at that very critical epoch. and was in fubitance " an
axpreffion of fatisfaclion at the amity and good will which
appeared' to pervade the French nation towards England ; and
a. hope that nothing would interrupt the harmony which then
ibfifted between them, fo eflential to the freedom and happinefs
f both, countries."
t C 47 )
to volumes of ridicule j though hundreds of axf-
dreiTes were received and call afide every day,
like wade paper, the Englifh rniniftry, forfooth,
expected that the convention with half Europe
upon their backs and the poniards of Marat
At their breafts, would fit down to analyze every
addrefs whether in broken Englifh, or barbarous
French, that poured in upon them without mercy
or meaning. !
What a reafonabte expectation ! If the recep-
tion of thefe perfons had been the moft ftudicd
offence to the Englifh government 4 inftcad of
being ihadows that left no impreffion and ex-
cited no regard, the Englifli miniftry are alone
refponfible. Had their ambaffador been at his.
poft in Paris, the firft of thefe addrefles muft
have been the laft.
Never did man labour more to preferve the
peace of two countries, than Mr. Chauvelin ; but
what fuccefs could he have with men who were
reiblved not to be latisfied ? The conduct of
Mr. Chauvelin and Lord Grenville in their epif-
tolary intercourfe is an epitome of "the two go-
vernments. On the one fide appear an eagernefs
to know the grievance, and an anxiety to explain
it. On the other a fulky fuppreflion of the caufc
of complaint, and a morofe boorifli predetermina-
tion not to be content. The one writes with a
vivacity which is confcious of no offence, and an
impatience for fhajdrig hands : the other with a
churlifh
ehurlilh fnarling growl, which fancies lome intereft
in leaving the caufe of difpute ambiguous, and a
clownifh diflike to any reconciliation. At length
Mr. Chauvelin is turned out of the country, on
account of an event, which, though calculated to
move the forrow of every tender bread, was yet
no object of cognizance for a Britifh ftatefrnan.
No ftranger to the blood of the unhappy King
of France could have lamented his fate more than
the author of thefe meets but I fhall forever
deny that England had any pretence of right to
revenge his death, or interfere in any fhape in
the domeftic concerns of his country. The minif-
try difmifled Mr. Chauvelin however immediate-
ly upon the king's death which death, in my
confcience, I believe they haftened and wiflied.
In every view of their conduit upon this oc-
cafion, this inference forces itfelf. They confi-
dered the French convention either as men of
fenfe and humanity; as a band of blood thirfty
ruffians, or as a mixture of both. Since the be-
gining of the world there was never heard fuch a
torrent of abufe as the miniftry loaded France with
from the beginning of the fefllons of Parliament on
the I3th of December 1792 to the king's death
on the 2ift of January after. Could they think
that fuch a ftile was the moft likely to influence
men of humanity and fenfe, or that it was the befl
mode to mollify the tygers of September ?
Survev
( 49 )
Survey the conduct of the Englim opposition
upon this melancholy businefs.
A day was fet apart on purpofe in the houfe of
Commons with a view to avert if poflible the
dreadful danger of this unhappy prince. Mr. Fox
(followed in the fame ftile by all the leading men
on that side of the houfe) gave reafoned opinions,
that it was for the honour and intereft of France, to
fpare the king's life, expreffing thofe fentiments
with exquisite feeling, but with perfect moderation.
If I had no perfonal knowledge of thofe fpeakers
Jf I did not well know how richly they are flored
with the milk of human kindnefs, their conducl
upon that day had left no doubt of their ardent
wim to refcue the unhappy victim Mr. Pitt on the
contrary vented himfelf againft the convention and
the country, in a ftrain of the moft loud, coarfe,
fcurrilous and vehement inveftive that tongue
ever uttered.
Do I wrong the gentleman ? My eyes faw
him. My ears heard him, and my under-
ftanding put this queftion. Can this man be in ear-
nefi tofave the devoted King ? I believe he was quite
in earned for his own purpofe, namely, to whet the
rancour of a goodly people, (who will I hope never
Hied the blood of man for evil fpeculations)
againft France, which he had long meditated to
attack, and of which meditation, the recal of
Lord Gower was, as Brifsot asserted, but too deci-
sive an indication.
G If
If the decree of fraternity .had never ifoaecf
from its tin brained* author. If no Englifh ad-
drefs had ever been received by the convention,
the war was certain.
Who can forget the bugbear put forth in No-
vember 92 ? The parliament called hi, the mili-
tia called out, the fortification of the tower of
London, and all the other abfurdities played off
at that juncture with fo much effect., and fuch
contempt of truth and decency. The trading in-
tcreft of London at Merchant Taylors I^all gives
the miniftcr a carte blanche in his military enter-
prizes. At that meeting, were many perfons
whom I sincerely regard, but I iliall for ever think
they were a main engine in promoting the pro-
fent war -., and I know of no punimment now for
their conduct, but that which appeared to be the:
proper remedy at the time a ftrait waiftcoat.f
Calumny upon calumny, outrage, abufe and
imprecation were heaped together upon the
Cambon has been twice trepanned.
f It is but candour to exculpate the majority of this meeting
from any worfe imputation than error in judgment but the
promoters of it, and the agitators, in it, thofe mifchievous money
jobbers, the ready inftraments of every war-minilter, who
thrive upon the public calamity, and riot in the ruin they have
themfelves conduced to bring upon the country. Thofe, iiv-
deed, deterve ho fuch. tendernefs. There is no lubject more
worthy of a feparate and diilinft difcuffion than the misfortune?
entailed upon this country by the avarice and fervility of this
<.': perfwns,
French.
( 5' )
French, in one undiftinguifhed mafs. To treat
with fuch people " would be degrading the ho-
" nour of the country" faid the minifter. " It
'" is a direft blow at the head of the King of
" England" faid Mr. Burke. " Sooner than treat
< with them I had ralher we were firft beaten
" and have for our excufe that we could not help
" it" faid Mr. Windhara. (What think you now,
Mr. Secretary at War?) The man who ftrove to
llill this phrenzy ; the man whofe name would go
with glory to after times, if all his public merits
were confined to his opposition to this epidemical
war, raifed his voice againft this mifchievous mad-
nefs and cried negotiate! " If all you fay of
" France was true, ftill negotiate. You have no-
" thing to do with their conduct at home, it
4< you fight on till the prefent generation is ' killed
" off,' you muft in the end negotiate. Negotiate
" now then before you have loft a life or rilked a
" fliilling. After all this lofty imperious contempt
" you muft come to negotiation in the end."
" . Tell her though fhe paint an inch thick
*' To this complexion fhall Ihe come at lafl."
It was all in vain ; this very perfon, (almoft in
danger of being ftoned in the ftreets, for obftrut't-
ing the bleffings of the prefent war, which was.
tobe the grand panacea for all diftempers inter-
nal and foreign) was obliged to defend himfelf
G 2 " from
" from the imputation of his virtues" in a printed
addrefs to his constituents at Weftminfler.
Though all was then apocrypha his wit,
" In time to come (hall pais :or holy writ."
That pamphlet mould be chalked before the door
of the minifler, that a conftant monument of his
guilt might ftare him hi the face ; for no evil has
befaiien his country, which that pamphlet and
its author had not warned him of, in due time !
He did fo, not from prefcience or preternatu-
ral gifts j but becaufe the minifter's proceedings
being in direct repugnance to common fenfe, all
that has happened is the natural effeft of fuch
conduct.
To this hour no human being can tell for what
purpofe we went to war at all. The queftion has
been afked in ten thoufand fhapes, and no intelli-
gible object ever fpecified. For myfelf I never
was at a lofs for the true motive. The true mo-
tive I never doubted to have been a hatred to li-
berty, difguifed under the patronage of law, or-
der, and religion 5 and that the multiplied embar-
rafsments of France at that moment, prefented a
tempting hope of deilroying it for ever.
Unlike the heroic war of William III. againft
a domineering tyrant, our William IV. aimed a
blow with imagined fecurity, in the true fpirit of
Qlenalvon -.in the fpirit of a Ikulking coward who
fell
( 53 )
fell on when his antagonift was ftruck by.
another.
" The villain came behind her-^but {he flew him."*
INDEMNITY FOR THE PAST AND
SECURITY FOR THE FUTURE !"
This pithy fentence is all that the Englifh mi-
niftry ever eked out of their projects in this frantic
enterprize. Before one hoftile a& took place,
though prefsed in a thoufand modes to it, they dif-
dained to flate any grievance or define any redrefs,
but whatever might be collected from thefe loofe
words.
INDEMNITY FOR THE PAST AND
SECURITY FOR THE FUTURE."
O ! fatal war creed of the Britilh go-
vernment, ^hty to talk of " indemnity and fe-
" curity" The raggedeft knave without breeches,
whom the French directory could pick up in the
purlieus of St. Antoine, and dub with the name
of a negotiator, would turn Lord Malmfbury,
though ftuck over with ftars and firings out of
doors, if fuch words were even glanced at as the
preliminaries of peace !
What is now become of the famous and once
famionable axiom, " that if the French emigrants
" were not reflored, Englishmen of property were
s< undone ! ?" Proftrate before triumphant France
Douglas.
our
C 54 >
i>ur administration muft drink fuch bitter draughts
of fhame and ignominy as the infulted govern-
ment of that country mall in its diicretion admi-
nifter to them. The former haughtinefs, oppref-
sion and infolence of the Englifh minifter will be
ftumbling-blocks at every progrefs he makes in
negotiation. Mortification to himfelf and ruin
to the nation meet him at every ftep. He can
neither carry on nor clofe the war without danger
to his country, nor make peace without difgrace
to himfelf !
In what a situation is this country placed ?
Shall it be borne that the very minifler who,
by only a/king for it, had it in his power to keep
France within her ancient limits without the lofs
of one drop of blood, or one guinea rHolland
fafe, Germany fafe, Italy fafe. Good God ! to
what a pitch of bafenefs is England brought,
how totally extinct is all fensibility to national
honour, if this very minifter is to propofe to
a Britiih houfe of Commons, after the wafte
of a hundred "millions of money and perhaps five
hundred thoufand lives, to extend the French
frontier from Dunkirk to Maeftricht from Lan-
dau to Dufseldorf from the Rhone to the Po ;
to ftrip the emperor of the low countries ;. to
exile and annihilate the unhappy ftadtholder.
It all this be necefsary as our peace-offering
for national exiftence, in the name of heaven,
kt us be faved from that laft of infamies, That
the
( 55 )
the very man who brought this ruin upon us,
lliould be the propofer of its ratification !
The popular caufes of the war then, it is evi-
dent were mere pretences. If a French corn-ihip
had never been feized in our ports Had the
French ambafsador never been drive a out of this
country ftill the French government would have-
been juftified in beginning hoftility long, long be-
fore they actually did fo. But to reproach France
with commencing the war from having firft formally
declared it, is quite defpicable ! It is like accusing
?. man of murder for Ihooting a robber who is
pulling the trigger.
A drowning man will indeed catch at a draw.
Nothing, furely, but being overwhelmed and
gafping for life in the whirlpool, where they have
ingulphed themfelves, could induce the Engliih
miniftry to bring the iniquities of Roberfpierre in
aid of their defence. The unfortunate deputies
whom that human tyger devoured in O&. 93, were:
fometimes accufed by their butchers, of declaring
war againft England. They were accufed too o
a. design to put the crown of France upon the
brows of the Duke of York ; of a plan to feder-
alize the country ; and to rcltore the Bourbons
all in a breath : in Ihort of every -incongruous
charge which infuriated tyranny could conjure up,
to put a glofs upon the murder of men, whofe
real crimes were their genius, their learning, and
their desire to punifh the perpetrators of the Sep-
tember
tember mafsacres. Yet, is the villainy of Rober-
fpierre often called by their abettors to the cha-
rafter of the Englifh miniftry : a teftimony which
is worthy of fuch a caufe !
" Matre pukhra filia pulcbrior !"
EFFECT OF THE MINISTER'S SYSTEM
UPON FRANCE.
THE manoeuvres which I have fketched fo
flightly, have excited exatly fuch feelings in the
French nation as are appropriate to reafonable
and fensitive beings.
It is true, that voting a man " an enemy to
* c the human race" is mere nonfenfe as to the vote
but fuch a fal declares the fentiment that pro-
duced it, very forcibly. Besides considering Mr.
Pitt as the fyftematic enemy of their liberties for
three years,* before the war began, he is con-
* The friends of La Fayette in charging upon Mr. Pitt's in-
trigues the cruel captivity of that general, have accounted for it
upon a principle of revenge. Mr. La Fayette, as they a/Tort,
had in his letters and converfations roundly accufed the Englifh
minifter of fecretly thwarting the progrefs of the revolution,
from its commencement.
fcfscd
( 57 )
fefsed to have been the recruiting ferjeant of Europe
againft the French ever sir\ce he joined the coa-
lition. There is not a neutral power which he
has not attempted to beguile or threaten into the
confederacy. To Mr. Pitt more than to all their
other enemies combined, the French attribute
every calamity they have differed for the laft four
years. That war, which, by raging in the bowels
of their country and medding rivers of French
blood by the hands of Frenchmen, they consider*
as the moft inhuman of all the attacks made up-
on them, the war in the weft is imputed folely
to the Englifli minifter.
(O ! that I had your powers, Mr. Burke ! to
\ * i
invoke the indignation of God and man againft
ihe plotters of the Quiberon facriiice where fome
of the braved fpirits that ever animated the hu-
man form, were led like lambs to the (laughter,
for Britilh experiments.
*
And what is the excufe ? that " many of the
" emigrants thought the expedition to Quiberon
k a proper meafure." Good God ! and fome of
thefe very minifters were minifters alfo in the
American war. 'They might well have remem-
bered the misfortunes brought upon this country
by the fchemes of emigrants ! The fchemes of
emigrants have fometimes been found to originate
in avarice, in ambition, in treafon ; but, if prompt-
ed by the raoft unfpotted virtue, what fort of a go-
H vernmej|t
V.
remtn-ent is that, which will not frill the zeal of
fuch frantic projectors? Ihc Bilhop of Dol's*
famous paper, I ran fm it ted to France in this atro-
cious expedition, (many thoufand copies of which,
printed in London, made a part of M. De Pui-
faye's ammunition,) was ten thoufand times more
abfurd than even the manifefto of the Duke of
Brunfwick ; and indeed what other could befal
fuch an expedition, than its actual deftiny ?
* That modeft veracious min-ifter Lord Grenvilk, in the
debate on the fixth inltant, denied the aflertiorj of the late
prefident of the council, that the Esglifh government contended
for the relocation of monarchy in France. To fay nothing of
the proclamation at Toulon, what laid this paper which may br
called the proclamation of M. de Puifaye ? He talked of nothing
elfe but monarchy and of what fort ? Hear their own words.
" Que le meme que Dieu e# independant, par lieu meme &
" par fa nature, de meme auffi le Koi eft indepeudant al'egard
** de fes fujets & fou.i les ordres de Dieu, qui feul peut lui de-
" mander compte dfti'ufage qn'il fait de fon autorite" to uit,
'< that as God is independent of himfelf and by his nature, f
" is the King independent with refpe& to his fubjefts, and under
" the commands of God, who alone can demand an account
" of the ufc which he has made of his authority."
Ooe more fainple of tliis Quiberon ftate paper will fatibfv
the reader. Speaking of dead republicans it fays. " Lcurs
" ames abominables font alles dans les enfers, etonner les
" demons." " Their abominable fouls are gone down to hell
" to aftonifti the devil."! !
What fay you John Bull ? Is not your money well employed:
There
( 59 )
There is not a man of icnlc in England out
of the mtnifterial pale, who did not think the
fcheme ftark. infanity. Did M. Sombreuil think
it " a good meafurc r" than whom a nobler vic-
tim has not been immolated all through this war.
His heart-firings torn with love and terror for the
dear one he had left in England ; though De
Puifaye is the nominal object of his indignation
yet both his letters are a fure demonftration, that
his feelings were common with thofe of Charette ;
whofe dying breath vented curfes upon the cabi-
net of England !)
The cabinet of England, especially the prin-
cipal minifter in it, is abfolutely Joathfome to the
French. Dearnefs of provisions, discredit of pa-
per, forgery of affignats (a profligacy proved in a
Britifli court of juflke), infurrecHon, rebellion,
every misfortune is imputed to Mr. Pitt. Whe-
ther each imputation is juft, may not be eafy to
afccrtain, but the fufpicion is, unqueftionably, a
tair inference from his own principles. Far
from any remorfe for fomenting the war in La
Vendee, he afsumes a merit from it. He " tofses
" his clung with dignity," and calls exciting rebel-
lion in that country " increasing the prefsurc." Is
the fupposition far fetched, that a few thoufands
may as well be fported among the infurgcnts at the
camp of Crenelle, as hundreds of thoufands lavifli-
cd and loft for ever at Quiberon ? Indeed without
H 2 corrupt
corrupt influence the conduct of fome o" tie
French journals is utterly unaccountable.
Let us judge of Frenchmen by the iules of
human nature.
What a hue and cry is heard at the furmife of
French fraternization, or of ary diftinftion being
attempted between the Englifii people and the
government ; but it appears a pious and moral
fyftern to carry fire and fvvord into the heart of
France, and parcel out the country among our
allies. If any fair dealing is allowed in calculat-
ing the fenfations of the French. If that univerfal
maxim of " doing as we would be done unto" is
not excluded by the barbarifm of our bigotry
againft that country. If we look at life, and
draw our deductions from humanity, I afk the
reader, what Jentiments he mould entertain of
fuch a minifter, or even of his country, if that
country avowed him ?
But as to the mere at of treating the ready
tranfmiffion of the late pafsport was not necefsary
to inform any one, who considered the fubject
well, of their probable prediie6tion. If the
French really cherifh a vital enmity againft this
country, of all the men in it, Mr. Pitt muft be
the individual they would wiih, as being the beft
fuited to their views. What defcription of mi-
.nifter fo likely to anfwer their purpofe, as the
very perfon who four years since would not breathe
the
the fame atmofphere with a French envoy as the
very perfon who would not difhonour any Englifh-
man with French negotiation ; who fo far from dif-
cuffing conditions of peace, would not defcend
to afic them even a queflion yet who has been
fo lately hunting about for a letter of recommen-
dation, that he may to repeat his own ominous
words, (< lay England at their feet and fupplicatc
" fuch terms as their clemency may grant." el-
lephus et Peleus, &c.
Such a minifter beaten and degraded, whofe
terfe fliame at this moment can only be exceed-
ed by his contemptuous fefquipedalities four years
ago, is the very man they muft prefer ! The king
not the queen of Spain had rather, I fuppofe,
have parted with the Duke of Alcudia, than
with St. Domingo ; and not a doubt can be en-
tertained, that a single word from France had
brumed away the court minion ; but of all the
men from the Pyrenees to Gibraltar, he was the
Spaniard for the French directory ! The Duke
of Alcudia made the war. The Duke of Alcu-
dia makes the peace. Behold then a fpetacle
which fpeaks the negotiator the younger branch
of the houfe of Bourbon uniting its forces with
" the regicides" of the elder ; and one half of Lewis
XIV.'s polterity exterminating the other half. If
France be hi reality implacable againft England,
of all living men Mr. Pitt is the perfon for their
busjnefs ; and L can fafely foretell, that, after ha-
ving
been their demon of difcord through the
war, he will afsuredly turn out another Prince of
the Peace to them, in the treaty !
But if the directory arc in earneft for a perma-
nent pacification with the people of England It
their plan be not to wrap their- wrongs from the
Britifli government in deep remembrance, (alto,
menfe repoftum) until their repaired refources ena-
ble them to fall upon this country single-h-
if a sincere and cordial harmony is their with,
founded upon broad benevolence, and a full- con-
viftion that the world, large enough for both
their ohjecls, " is made for Cacfar and for Titus
" too," then undoubtedly it is a logical conclusion,
shat their choice of Englifh adminiftrations could
not be that, which they aceufe of being barbarous
m hoftility, and treacherous in neutrality. If the
tiireciory wifhes to nourifh a hatred in the people
aguinft England, they will be eager for the duration
of that miniflry here, whofe -very name will be nu-
triment to French antipathy ; whofe intrigues will
be fuppofed to ftir up every commotion that may
fpring in their new government : and whofe po-
littcal fway in this country, cannot fail to be the
fburce of conftant jealoufy and endlefs fufpicioo
k that.
An armed truce may fait their views of future
revenge upon England, but would be a thoufand
times more definitive to us, than even the way
jtielf. How long we may itand the prefent con-
telt, liow foon it may bring irretrievable rum
upon us, I do not know but this is quite clear
to me ; that, without a ferfeff peace, without <a
thorough cilabliihment ot good humour, without
a mutual desire to eradicate mutual acrimony,
mid a common zeal to extinguifh national am-
bition, even tlie war is better than flopping
it, oly until France, proverbial in quick recovery
trom military ravage, fbould renovate her marine
now fo reduced, (in part by the bravery of our
navy, in part by the treafon of Toulon) and fall
upon us with that undivided exertion of all her
faculties, which (without the authority of the late
Lord Mulgrave, who afserted its fatality, when-
ever it happened ;) is Juch a profpeft as I .had
rather not difcufs.
However, without considering farther how far
this adminiftration may be agreeable or fuitable
to France ; let us fee how far they are proper
negotiators for England
EFFECT
EFFECT OF THE MINISTER'S SYSTEM
UPON ENGLAND.
IN the total incertitude of the true caufes of
this war, its fupporters have affigned as differ-
ent motives to it, as their intereft or fancies fug-
gefted. Among many other reafons it has been
called a war to proteft the conftitution againft
French opinions, and to fupprefs fedition. This
country, like all countries, contains perhaps fome
difaffefted perfons. Upon the furface of fociety
there will always be a floating portion of indivi-
duals, without families, fixed residence, or occu-
pation, who might rejoice at any confusion con-
fusion being the proper element of their hopes.
In England there are fuch. There are fuch in
every nation. Here too I am far from difputing
there may be fome perfons enamoured of French
principles and difpofed to propagate them.
That any considerable number however of the
people of England, are difsatisfied with the
found liberty of the genuine Englifli conftitution
is an afsertion falsified by inquiry, in proportion
as the inquiry has been ftrit and rigorous.
But for the fake of argument let us admit the
libels againft the people to be true. In that cafe,
the
the man fhould be fent to bedlam, who imagines-
the fafety of the conftitution augmented, or the
malignants diminifhed, by the war. The maniacs
who engaged in it were importuned in due time,
to reflect on the ineilkacy of combating opinions
with fteel and gun powder ; and furely to believe
that unexampled defeat abroad has ftrengthen-
ed the conftitution at home, or that difcontent
has been removed by increasing the caufe of it,-
fuppofes the human mind to be turned upside-
down.
The ftriking features of this adminiftration
form a -curious fubjeft of obfervation in a variety
of views. A good government is demonftrated
in the prevention of crimes, a bad one in their
punijhment. Let private life be libelled ; inun-
date the land with a deluge of immorality and
perfonal fcandal ! This is nothing but for poli-
tical fpeculations, imprifonment or exile ! In
contradiction to all reafon, policy, philafophy,
knowledge of life, and common fenfe, their never
failing ready remedy for every thing which they
choofe to denominate political offence, is punifli-
ment though the hiftory of the world cannot fur-
nifli an inftance where the manners of a country
have been altered, or any popular paffion obli-
terated, by fuch a botcher of reformation as pu-
mjhment. It would not be eafy to decide whether
huibandmen and manufacturers decreafe more
rapidly than fpies and foldiers augment. One
I portion
( 66 )
portion of the community is hired to beat dowf!
the other, and barracks fpring up like the armed
men of Cadmus. The tortoife which our minifte-
rial mathematicians place under our fyftem, is a
{landing army. The war fecretary threatens " a vi-
" gour beyond the law," exults that if " he can-
" not make the citizen dumb, he mall make th^
" foldier deaf," and almoft in plain words avows
a military government. The Englifh conflitution
which before retted upon its own fublime prin-
ciples of juftice and liberty, is now made to lean
upon its eternal enemy the fword. The vulture
that gnawed its liver is chofen to feed it. Inftead
of the fweet delights and wholefome ecftacies
which the native purity of the Englim conftitutioji
was wont to yield, thefe ba\vds to its beauty and
lovelinefs, patch it up like' a painted proftitute
and fend it forth to deal out difeafe and death I
A Handing army in time of peace \ The law
which, in giving it an annual exigence, fets its
mark againft it, will be a reproach to thepeople;
and if the preamble of the mutiny bill is retained,
after the eftabliiliment of the menaced plan of
government, it will furely be the moft grofs im-
poflure ever pra&ifed upon the understanding of
a nation !
There are bodies in matter that cannot incor-
porate. There are principles in polity that can-
not be reconciled. Immortal then be the difference
between the perfons who affirm that the true confti-
tution
tution of England exiils at tin's moment, and
thofe who have uniformly oppofed its innumera-
ble adulterations by the prefent miniftry, efpeci-
ally the two laws of the laft year !
It is true the people of England ftill have the
liberty of the prefs and the trial by jury objects
no doubt of the deareft value, but where is the
fecurity for their permanence ? In palling the
gagging bills of laft year, the miniftry confefsed
that thofe were but part of a feries of reftraints.
The rumour was ftated in the houfe of Commons,
that a bill was in referve which went to the radi-
cal fubversion of the freedom of the prefs ; and
the fat was not denied, though they durft not
venture farther in the ferment of that moment.
But who will be bondfman that fuch a bill mall
never appear ? As to the trial by jury, if we had
not feen, how that great right of which it is a
part, the habeas corpus, may be fufpended in a few
hours, where is the fecurity that the conditional
threat of one of the minifters, of introducing the
whole Scotch law of fedition, as they already
ftave the principle, into this country, may not ex-
pofe the foundeft friends of the Englilh conftitu-
tion to the fate of felons? Or what is to prevent
the introduction of the Irifh treafon law, which
takes the fubjecTs life away there, upon evidence
that could not touch a hair of his head here : Let
thefe men go on then until, bill after bill, they
make the Engliih, as defrotic as the Bourbon
I 2 government ;
( 68 )
government ; will their (lumbers then be more fe-
rene ? When according to this mocking progrefs,
they ftill have the full terrors of a baitile, and
of another Broglio, ready to flaughter his fellow
citizens, will they, even under/to A circumftances,
be at heart's eafe from the fears that now fcare
them ?
I hope not and to that divinity who re-
joicing in his welfare, muft approve his creature's
liberty as the beft bafe of virtue and happinefs,
my prayer is that if they follow the exam-
ple of the Bourbon tyranny, they may fhare it-:
fortune ! !
WITH refpect to French principles, whether
they are much diffufed in England or not, it
feems almoft impossible to believe that the go-
vernment mould have ever felt any real terror of
what they charged upon them. To fuppofe that
principles, which, according to the reprefentation
of their oppugners, inculcate a fyftem of rob-
bery, anarchy, plunder, oppreilion, afsailination
and mafsacre mould have infeted the mafs of
the public, is carting a ftain upon the Englilh
character, that favo.rs as little of \ rude i e or
decor.im
( 69 )
decorum as. of truth or juftice. No man can
believe this, who knows the juft, the mild, and
merciful nature of an Engliih heart. The infe-
rence is then, that if fears are entertained of the
general prevalence of new principles among the
people of this country, it cannot be upon the
(apposition ot their being Avicked, ferocious, and
bloody. It is abfurd to imagine that any fociety
can embrace doctrines, deftru&ive of all fociety;
for human fitnefs will be fure to find its own
level.
The greateft danger to the Englifh confti
tution is from its pretended confervators. >uis
fuftodiet ipfos cuftodes ? At all events, if difcon-
tent or political fpeculations boded peril before,
it is mere lunacy to fuppofe them removed by,
the war. There is silence indeed, but it is that
silence which was truly forefeen by the petition-
ers from Southwark againft the two bills. " If
" thefe bills," faid the petitioners, " mould pafs
" into law, it is our opinion that a fullen calm
" may for a while fucceed ; but which in the
*' end may prove more dreadful than all the fedi-
" tions which are ftated as the caufe, even fup-
" posing thefe feditions eftabliftied by due in-
" quiry, which your petitioners conceive is not
" the fact. The irritation and violence of a
" fpeaker are apt to evaporate with the oration,
" while the opprefsed mind, brooding over the
" griefe
C 70 )
* griefs it dares not utter, and (lining the angnifh
** which confumes it, is likely to burft out in
et fome terrible explosion, the effe&s of which
** may be too late for remedy."
The prefent ftillnefs is more awful than pub-
Kc clamour. The moderate party, who have
moftly confined their efforts to parliament, look
with aftonifhment at the country, and fcarcely
know -what to do for a people who will do fb
Kttlfe for themfelves. But in the extreme reformers
there is a fecret fatisfa&ion, a lurking joy, at
every aft of the m injury;, and efpecially at the
Duration of the war !*
By
* In the eourfe of last ipring, a meeting in Weftminfter to
petition for peace was talked of in fome newfpapers, though no
ftrcb meeting was in reality intended ; and it was rumoured that
? member of confiderable f\vay in the London correfpondii*^ fo-
c.iety, had <abufed the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Fox for the
foppofed" intention of convening fuch meeting. Happening to
&e acq -.ranted with the gentleman alluded to, and not a little
hirpnied at the report, I made it my bufinefs, from mere per-
tbnaj cunofity, to que.lion him as to the fact. The
I received was literally in thefe words. " I was mifre-
" prefemed. I cart no cenfure upon Mr. Fox or the Duke of
'' Bedford, whom I highly refpedl for their late condufl ; but I
c -r.iirily regretted the fuppofed plan of calling a meeting;
- and for this reafon. I coofider the war fyilem as the ruin of the
^ country ; and as I am fure that the continuance of the prer
** lent \var, will produce 'uch an- alteration of our fyftem, as
" rouft
1 7' 1
By the designation of " extreme reformer.*" far
from me is the flighted thought of offence, I
have no knowledge of this clafs of politicians,
which, as far as it goes, -is not in direft contradic-
tion to the fafliionable calumnies. My notion is,,
that an ealighiened being ; that any perfon, who .
founds his claim to the regard of mankind, upon
any fpecies of intellectual diftincYion, muft be an
enemy to anarchy, blood and plunder, and a
friend to order, humanity and law, as a necefsary
confequence of the premifes. It is poffible that
thefe gentlemen have the more correct ideas of
political liberty. For myfelf, however, I confefs,
that I have not ftrength of wing to leek
the liberty of Engliflimen beyond the outline
of the iinglifh conftitution. A republic may be
the grander inftitution but if I were convinced
that the republican form was the beft for every
other nation upon earth ; ftill I mould feel bound
upon my own principles to the fupport of limi-
ted monarchy in this country, which is fo rootedlj
attached to that fyftem.
Whether it is yet poffible to animate the
inert, and to temper the violent, into that middle
courfe, which, avoiding the fad extremes of def-
*' muft make it impofiible for any corrupt government
*' ever to wage another, I certainly did difTuade every perfon thtit
** fejl in my way, from attending the projected meeting for I
" do mod heartily wifh the duration of the war ! J "
potifra
( 7* )
potifm and licentioufnefs, {lands ftoutly upon the
true principles of the Engliih conftitution, refo-
luteiy determined to reftore and re-eftablijh it,
is very doubtful indeed ; but come what come
may, whether it fucceed or fail, in that courfe,
according to my apprehension, lies the true po-
licy of the people of England !
INCAPACITY OF THE PRESENT MINI-
STRY TO MAKE A REAL PEACE.
FOR peace or for war the prefent adminiftra-
tion appears unequal to the exigency. A peace
at their hands, in my judgment, will be mockery,
and if the war muft (till go on, we mould fight
with the whole force of the people, which they
can never wield. The alarm of invasion is now
countenanced by the king in his fpeech. If there
be any real foundation for this fear, why is the
country left in the hands of fuch a miniftry ?
The Englim army is undoubtedly brave, as it
ever has been. If our troops have not brought
their wonted laurels from the continent, it is
owing to the deteftable nature of their miflion
abroadj
I 73 )
abroad, and the wretched government at home,
that fruftrated their efforts, and made their valour
drop dead born. But is it an offensive queftion
to afk, upon what principle more is to be ex-
pecled from the Englifh army, even fupposing
every,corps in the country down to the city regi-
ments (" that light militia of the lower Iky,"
which, " prop'd on their bodkin fpears," have no
visible exiftence) to be all veterans ; than from
the experienced legions of the houfe of Auftria ?
With all the courage of the French foldiery, with"
all the genius of their generals, it is impoflible to
fatisiy common fenfe, that the celerity of their
triumphs is not in a considerable degree, attri-
butable to the apathy of the inhabitants in the
conquered countries.
How came France invincible to the moft for-
midable invasion recorded in hiftory ? by being
an armed people. How is an invasion from
France to be resifled ? by an armed people.
Why were not Germany and Italy armed then ?
the tyrants dared not trufl the people. But
why is England, which, as yet, is no tyranny,
likened to thofe countries ? No fay the miniftry,
the people are armed. .Their own fears betray
the falfehood of the afsertion. They know full
well that felefted fa&ions, accoutred capapee,
are not the people. Were the people armed,
that fufpicious contempt of the enemy, expressed
K in
( 74 )
in the king's fpeech, on which I forbear a ay ludi-
crous remark, would be juft indeed.
Powerful as France is, me will never conquer
the armed united people of England but com-
ing, with all her might, upon a country fplit into
parties and torn by difcontent ; then I fhould fay,
may God defend us from the defence of Mr.
Windham and his " deaf foldiers. !"
Were the untried bravery of all thefe corps
eftablifhed beyond the Roman ftandard, what an
abufe both of words and things it would be, to
call them the people ! " But this felection is ne-
" cefsary, to keep down the difaffected and the
" number is fully equal to the danger*" " When
" fubjefts are rebellious upon principle, kings.
u muft be tyrants by neceffity." What fort
of a principle is it that, ftamps a nation re-
bels? Are Locke and Montefquieu, are all the
patriarchs of freedom to be anathematized,,
while^doclrines of fervility which die ranked tory-
jffn of all paft times would reject and fpurn, arc
fulminated with Athanasian infallibility, as the true
creed for free Englishmen ?,
* The devotion of the armed bodies to the miniiiry is UateA
with 'triumph, upon the ground of their being for the greater
part (Iff aidant upm the government" an affirmation which is
ilirely falfe. for if true, it would be faying more againft the
Jinglilh iyfli m, than was ever urged, or ever can b; urged, by
ten thousand Thcroa? Paynes !
Irelandy
( 75 )
Ireland, for inftance, was an armed nation
in the late war. Opprefsed for ages fhe com-
plained. The man who may yet fave this coun-
try, removed the grievance ; and all was quiet
in a moment. With that (kill which diftin-
guiihes fcience from empyricifm, he went to the
fource of the evil and accomplifhed the cure in
a moment.
Every villainy* was at work againft that
country,
* The hypothefis feems not unreafonable, (comparing
events and individuals, with pofterior circumllanccs), that
there was an early referve in the mind of Mr. Pitt refpefting
the liberty of Ireland. His Mentor, the late Mr. Thomas Pitt,
whom he has fince created Lord Camelford, requefted that he
might be allowed to fecond Mr. Fox's motion for the repeal of
the 6th of George the Firft. He did fo ; but no two fpeeches,
that agreed in the famemeafure, ever differed more in principle,
than thofe of the mover, and feconder. Much of the (tuff*
which Mr. Pitt let out upon that occafion, may, I fear be very
palateable to many of the governors of Ireland, at this moment;
yet, notwithfianding the dearth of civil virtue which marks
that miferable country, there is Mill one man (I hope there are
many) who will be an impregnable obftacle to the crooked po-
licy of the common enemies of both nations. With but \
fmall portion of perfonal knowledge I confefs that I feel an in-
tereil in the character, as all feel in the conduct of that gentle-
man ; who with an eloquence that ranks him with the brighteft
orators of Rome or London, has (leaving out fome flight
{hades of conduct tinged perhaps with fome .ambiguity)
fuftained his country's caufe, with admirable fortitude and con-
ftancy ! If the extreme contempt of the Iriih for the parlia-
ment, fhould dilpo.e them to ai indifference reipe&ing public
tranfadions ; if the growing corruption which debauches away
K* fo
( 76 )
country, with the fame cry that is fo often heard
now againft bodies of men here. " Ireland
'*' means to follow the example of America.
" Ireland designs to be a republic !" Be juft and
fear not, anfwered the honeft minifter, whofe
fyftem is not made up of tricks and devices.
In an inftant the difcon tents of four millions of
people were huilied into harmony ; and twenty
thoufand feamen directly voted for the Englilh
navy. Though the regular force of Ireland was
fighting the battles of England in every quarter
of the globe, the enemy durft not land a
grenadier in that country even at the moment
that the triumphant fleet of France and Spain
had fcoured the Englilh channel !
Such was the defence of an armed nation.
Mark the situation of that country now, and be-
hold the difference between a good and a bad ad-
miniftration !
Divide et impera fatflthe Roman tyrant. As a
principle of government, the country is divided into
fo many friends and afibciates, {hould reduce this great man to
the individuality of his fingle exertion ; if by the progrefs of
profligacy he (hould be become the only man, with Irifn blood
in his veins, to ftand up for his country's welfare and honour,
I am perfuaded he will think there is more true glory even in
fuch a folitary llruggle, than in that accumulation of rewards
and pageantries, which the defertion of his duty could not fail
to fhower down \\ L on him I fcatcely need add that 1 mean
Mr. GRATTAN.
faftions.
( 77 )
factions. Sect cutting the throat of fet. It is not as
in 82, when proteftant, catholic and prelbyterian
embraced each other with one heart a religious
.perfecution defolates the country; and the mi-
niftry of Lord Camden (a man of gentle nature
but furrendered to the guidance of a greedy
grinding cabal) not unlikely to be clafsed with
the rule of Nero, or Dioclesian ! !
I {brink from the further contemplation of
this fubject.
IN England the people muft be armed and
united, or the country is gone. The plan of deaf-
ening the foldier, by immuring him from the citi-
zen (a plan more worthy of a committee from
Bedlam sitting in divan at Conftantinople,
than of an Englifh privy council), muft be given
up. The people muft be united into one body
and animated with one foul, an energy and union
impoflible to be attained by the prefent admi-
niftration ; whofe perfecutions have planted an
incurable deteftation in a very large portion of
the community ; whofe perpetual invasions of
the deareft liberties of the people have induced
others to consider any fuccefs of theirs as tri-
umphs
C 78 )
umphs over the conftitution ; whofe general mi
management and unexampled difafters are calcu-
lated to unnerve the arm of the country by a
natural defpair of the fuccefs of any operations
planned and directed by fuch bunglers !
Had the prefent war been, in the court cant,
the moft juft and necefsary, ever fupported by
England, inftead of the direct reverfe of both ihe
one and the other, as I conceive it to be the
national vengeance (if a fpark of the antient fpi-
rit of the country remained), had long since fallen
upon thefe men, whofe internal fyftem is fo exact
a corollary to their foreign.
Of foreign nations the ill will of the greater
number is entailed upon us. Accufed by our
late allies of treachery, defpifed by the neutral
ftatcs for the infolent attempt to force them into
the coalition : a <Ieteftation in fome, a diilike in
moft, of the continental powers, prevails againft
this government. Since the league of Cambray,
no combination ever difclofed fuch pointed re-
fentment as the treaty juft concluded between
France and Spain and never did enmity appear
more natural than in one of the parties of the
provocation of the other we are at prefent in the
dark. The feelings of the Dutch are perfectly
confentaneous to thofe of the Spanifh nation ;
of which their late proclamation is a doleful,
decisive proof.
With regard to the Stadtholder, the moft de-
liberate
( 79 )
liberate plot to deftroy him, root and branch,
could not be more effectual than the con-
duel of miniftry to that ill-ftarred prince ! Dia-
metrically againft the opinion of his wifeft" friends,
they originally cozened him into that fatal war,
which hurried him almoft in a moment from the
head of one of the gayeft courts in Europe,
to ready furnifhed lodgings in Pall Mall. Cou-
pling the conftitutional jealoufy of the Stadthol-
der's power, which has ever prevailed in that
country, with the diffusion of a more enlarged
fpirit of freedom, of late years ; his bittereft foe
could not have pointed out a courfe more fatal to
his profpe&s of reftoration, than dividing his inte-
reils from thofe of the Dutch people, and hold-
ing out that he was every thing they nothing.
His name and authority are faid to be proftituted
for the purpofe of depredation upon his country
in every quarter of the globe and an Englifh mi-
nifter, with unblufhing front, avows the design
of riding home, as it were, upon our dear ally
in this refembling a parcel of marpers, who, if
Grangers fail them, indulge their rapacity upon
ach other.
" Like pikes lank with hunger, that mifs of their ends,
" They bite their companions, and prey op their friends.'*
I hope the rumour is falfe that there is nothing
fo little in fafliion here as the unfortunate prince
frf
( So }
of Orange ; although indeed it is quite natural
that he iliould be hated by thofe who have ru-
ined him!
Without difcuffing the value of the Cape of
Good Hope, or anticipating the terms of a treaty,
it may be affirmed with truth, that if honour
pervaded our councils or if the moral feeling of
the country had not been perverted by maxims
of government very new amongft us, Mr. Dun-
das had not dared to boaft that our " indemnity
-" for the paft" was to arife from the plunder of
(he very people we had forced into this war ; and
whofe fuppofed danger made one of the pre-
tences of our firfl engaging in it. The annex-
ation of the Dutch colonies to this empire, mould,
under the circumilances of the cafe, if a decent
fenfe of fliame exifted, have been declared rather
with a (hew- of grief than gladnefs. In the per-
petration of fuch an act., one would have ex-
pe6ted, at leaft, fome difcretion of exterior. The
hypocrite that bluflies at his crime is not totally
devoid of grace. Moderate knavery has fomc-
times an anxiety about reputation but confum-
mate turpitude defies appearances. ! I
si r
duration 1 of the prefent miniftry is an,
anomaly in politics, and why is it fo? Why is
the fyftem of human opinions to be reverfed for
fucli men ? Why is their fortune to have no in-
fluence upon their power? In all the ages of the
world, mifcarriage civil, military, and moral, has
determined the , situations of mankind. It is not
France; but let me aik, what foreign nation is
likely to entertain refpeft for a country, w r hofe
adminiftration is at once a mifchief to its inte-
refls and a reproach to its fpirit.
I mould certainly be the firft to exclaim
againft any external interference in the composi-
tion of the domeftic government of this country-
holding very cheap indeed, the well known pre-
cedents in the prefent reign, of difplacing and
difavowing minifters to pleafe the court of
France. It is upon Englifh principles and for
Englifh considerations exclusively, that it be-
hoves the national honour and juftice, to put
fome brand upon the author of the national
misfortunes. :
I mould not need to fay, to thofe who
know me, that the laft thought in my mind
would be to affet the life of any thing human.
Criminal as I feel the minifter to be, I fliould
L even
even expofe my perfon to fhield him from poptr*
lar violence, if any accident put his perfonal
fafety within the protection of fo powerlefs an
individual. God be thanked for it, not one
life excepting a government fpy has been facri-
ficed (whatever was intended) in this country for
any civil offence ; though the perfections have
undoubtedly been manifold and the punifhments
dreadful. Without ftriking at his life, there are
other modes by which a magnanimous nation
may fet its mark upon a great delinquent, who
ftands in the way of his country's real peace and
true fafety ! As it has been the ftudy, fo it fliould be
made the -crime, of the miniftry, to have inter-
woven, as it were, "their own deftiny with that
of the -conftitut-ion, and to endeavour to identify
themfelves with the eftablifhed government of the
country. This is the grand grievance refpeting
external relations which can be remedied only
by their difgrace ; for the very point of national
falvation* depends upon a clear diftindtiotf being-
made between the people of England and the ad-
miniftratkm between the ftrft magiftrate and his
temporary agents! Such a diftin&ion clearly
.afsertcd and the majority of the nation fairly vindi-
cated from the iniquities of this baleful fyftem de-
prefsed and reduced as the country is, it may yet
be redeemed into fafety and reftored to honour.
Under fuch circumftances an honeft able mi
niftcr may hold this language to France.
*' The people of England acknowledge, and
tf never
** never refufed to acknowledge your republic*.
' Free themfelves they never repined at the free-
" dom of other countries. The people of Eng-
" land abhor the defpotifm you have overthrown,
f * and which was not more oppreffive to you, than
" mifchievous to themfelves. The king of Eng-
" land, in his electoral capacity, has made peace
" with you, and has ever since maintained his neu-
u trality inviolate. A Britiih faction with a lodg-
" cd hatred to the fpirit of liberty, has involved
" their country in a common caufe with the ty-
" rants that confpired againft you. That fa&ion
ff is difavowed and branded. No impediment
" now remains to obftrut the peace of the two
({ countries. Go on and profper with your repub-
" lie, or with whatever, you pleafe. The people
K of England will never meddle in your domeftic
" concerns, and is refolutely determined never to
t( admit any interference from you in their con-
" cerns. Let us have fuch terms as a nation like
" England has a fair right to expect, and we
" will make hands to-morrow. But if juftice
" and policy are fuperfeded by revenge and am-
" bition if you are refolved to fight the Englifh
* c nation, on account of the guilt of the minifter,
" until one of the two countries iliall be cxtin-
" guifhcd if ddenda eft Carthago be indeed your
" maxim then I warn you, that the people of
" England will perifh in their laft gun-boat, ordiein
* the extrcmeft ditch of theifland, rather than owe
J- a " their
( 84 )
** their national independence to the mercy of
Cf any foreign power."
Such language could not be fruitlefs, if the
French directory are the men they affet to be.
If the directory are indeed the faithful fer-
vants of their pretended fyftem of a fyftem which
fhould feek the happinefs rather than the ag-
grandifement of the nation which mould unite
]iberty with fecurity of property, and equality of
civil right with conftant fubmhTion to the law
the free exercife of the human intellect both in
fpeech and writing with an immutable adherence
to order- whofe government mould be abfolute
over the multitude and the individual, but obedi-
ent to the nation " whofe executive power, pof-
" feffing an ufef ul fplendour, fhould always awaken
" ideas of the grandeur of the ftate, but never of
" the man" whofe public functions mould be ac-
cefsible to .every citizen, without permitting any
individual, or family, or clafs, to claim peculiar
prerogatives or exclusive diftinctions, always aim-
Ing at the preponderance of virtue and genius -
a fyftem which ihould oblige the legiflator and
the magiftrate to return to the condition of a sim-
ple citizen after a fhort exercife of their authori-
ty, without danger of anarchy or peril to public
tranquility whofe political ceconomy ihould che-
rifti every fpecies of art and induftry, and fcrupu-
loufly exacl the due portion of each individual,
differing with the difference of his means, to fup-
port
( 85 )
port the national exigence, without mjuffice' or
oppreffion to any perfon which fhould encou-.
rage every branch of ufef'ul labour and the cul-
ture of the fublimeft fciences, with equal affi-
duity which ihould regard victory only as the
means of peace, and prefer the comfort of the
citizen to the glory of the general which mould
contrive fuch a modification of man from the cra-
dle to the grave, as to make it not only the duty,
but the intereft, of every creature in a vail re-
public to maintain the focial order ; and to
fupprefs that licentioufnefs and tumult which af-
flicted and finally deftroyed the antient democra-
cies !
Whether this picture which I copy from their
own drawing mail be a mere vision of the ima-
gination, or actually realifed in the new republic,
thofe who profefs it as their plan of government,'
will give the lie in the face of the world to their
own principles, if the language I have marked
out, fliould, under the circumftances recommend-
ed, be unavailing. It is not in human fophiitry
to reconcile the Spanifli treaty with the profefscd
maxims of the new government, nor is it vindi-
cated upon any general principle. A diitin6t
exception is made for the cafe that is to fay, for
the fpecial purpofe of revenging the crimes of the
Engliih government and if the fyftem and the
minifters of the Englifh government remain unal
tercel, the probability is, that the treaty jnft conclu-
ded
( 86 )
dcd with Spain, will ferve as afae fimile for many
more.
I fuppofe we mall have fome virtuous vigorous
alliance to oppofe to this worfe than family com-
pat In all probability that of a flagitious tyranny
treading under its truly fvvinim hoofs one of
the nobleft nations and honefteft kings in Chrift-
endom to make an experiment upon Brilifh
credulity ; and, after mult.ing the common bub-
ble of European defpots, in purfuance of the
eftablifhed precedents, to carry over perhaps its
arms to the enemy ?
Or mail it be Portugal ? Who (hall under,-
take that our faithful Portugal may not exhibit
another faithful copy of the, contagious integrity
of Mr. Pitt's allies?
At all events, whatever ally, and whether
any adhere to us, the courfe which I have taken
the liberty to fuggeft would produce thefe two
refults it would unite England, and difunite
France. France once convinced of the sincerity
of England, could not endure, after five years
geftation of a war, ftriftly pro arts et focis on her
part, to give her enemy that facred advantage
over her, the value of which me fo well knows.
The prefumptionis that the people would force their
government, if it is really disinclined, to mode-
ration. On the other hand the Englifh nation, fatis-
fied of the fallacy and ambition of the French fyf-
tsm, would be animated by one fcnfation infuch cir^
cumftances j
Cumftances ; and high as France ftands, let even
France look to it, when fhe compels the people .
of this country into a perfuasion, that, inftead of
affilting, as heretofore, the tyrants of Pilnitz,
they are now fighting for their all.
It is obvious that this language cannot be
held by the prefent minifter ; nor by any other,
while this ruinous junto is allowed the capacityi
by a new back-ftairs intrigue, of repratising
upon both England and France the deftru&ive
fchemes of the laft six years.
The conduct of one part of the cabinet
is indeed a matter of juft wonder. Speculation,
is confounded at the fupinenefs of the Duke of
Portland and Lord Spencer ! whofe motives at
leaft, however fatally they have erred, no candid
perfon will be eager to fufpet.
/ mould bluih to make even the mod diftant
charge of unworthy motives upon the Duke of
Portland, whom I muft ever regard with the
warmeft affection. It is faid that French princi-
ples inculcate an oblivion of all friend (hip and
obligation. I hope there are no fuch principles
French or Engliih in the world at all events I
difclaim them. If the horrible calumny caft upon
Condorcet in refpeft to M. de la Rochefoucault
were in any part of it true, I fhould fay that it.
was the signal juftice'of heaven that drove Con-
dorcet from human haunts, and made his aban-
doned bodv the food of rats and ravens inftead
of
( 8? >
of being, what I am pcrfuaded he was m fact, the
victim of. Roberfpierre's villainy !
Though no living creature can deplore more
than I do,, the late politics of the Duke of Portland,
never did I doubt, that it was ". only in a general
" honeft thought" he became one of this unhappy
government ; but -his native candour muft mew
him, under what disadvantages, even he, fo com-
paratively innocent, muft treat with the French.
The French. know the Duke of Portland's situ-*
ation as well as the Englifh. They know full
well, that he has departed from the tie of a long
life of private friendihip cemented by the pureft
public principle and left " the nobleft man in
all the world" for the purpofe of combining
with . men, whofe political crimes he has resided
with fo much honour to himfelf; whofe rife to
power he has fo fpecifically ftigmatifed, as fub-
verting the fundamental principles of the confu-
tation ; whofe fubfequent meafures he considered
as draining, day after day, the life blood of Bri-
t'iih freedom. ! and whom it is probable he would
be obliged, like Lord Faulkland,* to attack the
moment after he had contributed to their victory*
* Lord Faulkland was a friend to liberty. He hefitated
much before he joined the King againft the parliament ; dread-
ing the triumph of the royal party. Though he accepted the
office of Secretary of State, he feared that the King's conduft,
in the event of fuccefs, would compel him to take par: againft
him.
.and
( 89 )
- and aH this for the purpofe of carrying confla*
gration into France; and annihilating the revo-
lution in that country:
By that virtue which I know to be in him>
and which, though his new afsociates may cloud
it, nothing can extinguifh, I afk the Duke of
Portland, whether he does not think that the
prefent administration treats with France under
difficulties that augur ruin to the country, and
that no other body of Englifh politicians labours
under ? Does his Grace think that Lord North
(notwithstanding his private merits) would have
been the fitteft negotiator with America ? The
Duke of Portland fcorns, I am fure of it, the
power and emolument of his office as motives to
public condut ; I conjure him then by his un-
doubted love for his country, to relinquish a
vain project the purfuit of which has produced
fo many calamities ; and consign to Mr. Wind-
ham the practical paradox of fupporting Mr. Pitt
u on account of his crimes."
Mr. Windham ! However unpleafant it is to
life (harp language respecting a gentleman whom
one has highly refpected, it is impoflible to deny
that his conduct is the moft pure and net apoStacy
that can be; imagined. His friend Doctor Johnfon
need not be confulted, for the whole of his own
ministerial life illuftrates the word beyond the de-
finition of philology. Embracing his new faith
with a zeal beyond its firft profeft>ors, and Stig-
M matizing
( 90 )
matizing his ancient friends and principles with
rancour furpafling the bitternefs of a common
enemy, no fycophant from Sir Robert Filmur
to Mr." Reeves, ever broached doctrines more di-
rectly tending to unqualified defpotifin, than this
former advocate of the liberties of mankind !
Of him it may be truly faid, that court favor has
dropt upon him like vitriol, and " turned his
" whole mind."
Never was conviclion more luminous upon
the mind of man than that which I feel, that
neither England or France can ever enjoy tranqui-
Jity within^ or real peace without, while the power
to plague them is in the hands or within the reach
of the common difturbers of both countries.
As to principles! it is evident that if the mi-
niftry adhered to principles-, no treaty with the
republic is even poj/ible. Without entering into
the queition between them and Mr. Burke, it is
demonftrable, even before his work appears, that
he and Lord Fifzwilliam have at leart the credit
of confiftency. And did the late lord lieutenant
of Ireland (the hone ite it and wife ft that ever pre-
sided in that country) doubt, that his quondam
colleagues would play him another ilippery trick ?
Did he indeed think that their principles in the
crufade, would weigh againft their places ? Did
Lord Fitzwilliam forget the ftomach that digefted
the folemn vote of a Ruffian war, one day as
fine qua nan of Britifh fafcty, and as folemn a
dereliction
( 9' )
dereliction of it the day after ? An ignominious
oblivion of all principle upon this 'point, (tares
upon the face of all their late meafures and mif-
sions ; and who that considered their character,
ever doubted they would treat, if the nation
would fuffer it ?
But what fort of treaty? I think I might
defy the undcrftanding of man to comprehend
-any fyftem of intercourfe, which (reafoning upon
common fenfe) the prefent miniftry can eftablifh
with France, that muft not be a fort of helium in
pace, a mitigated warfare in the midft of peace.
For the fake of argument however let us
grant that the French is perfectly difpofed to truft
the Engliih adminiltration. Let us fuppofe the
latter to have renounced every fentiment they have
ever uttered refpecling the former as they muft
<lo in the event of any treaty. Let us fuppofe that
fuch recantation fatisfies the directory; and that
of all Englilhmen the -krgcft conceflions will be
made to Mr. Pitt. Admitting all this to be true,
in contradiction almo-ft to certainty, Hill for Eng-
lijli reafons wfy, the life of this miniftry even in
cafe of peace is death to the country.
The noble earl, before alluded to, demanded
-of miniftry in the laft feflion, whether they were
prepared for the emigrations, and the confequent
importation of French principles which may fol-
low a peace. I hazard but little in afsuring that
refpectable .nobleman, whole own conduct hqs
M 2 greatly
( 9* )
greatly conduced to the evil he dreads, that it
will not be fo much an emigration, as a flight to
.France. A flight of whole bodies of people,
ef thoufands of families, and perhaps millions of
individuals, in cafe the fyftem of the miniitry pre-
vails. The difference between three thoufand
jniles, and three and twenty miles, is great in-
deed and yet the man who thinks that the emi-
grations to America, in the laft four years, are
not hurtful to this country, muft be a driveller !
If the French government proceed with the
fame moderation, and regard to property that
have marked their career since the eftablifhment
of the new conftitution, the ranks of every clafs
in this country (placemen alone excepted)
muft be visibly thinned by this fecond going
forth of the Ifraelites, The probability is, that
the country will be decimated by emigrations,
unlefs it is freed from that bondage, which dil-
gufts perhaps more than it opprefses a true
Englifh fpirit.
Would the noble Earl know how to guard
againft French principles, the true defence is
Britifh freedom. Let Britifh freedom be broad,
and found, and firm, French theories oppofed to
it, will be " like fparrow mot againft a baftion."
Let him reftore the Englifh conftitution in its ge-
.nuine purity, and the noble Lord may reft upon
his coronet, in fecure defiance of French princi-
ples and propagandifts ! There is a fufficient
love
( 93 )
of his native foil planted in the breait oi
every Briton, to make England the land of his
phoice, if a benignant government ihall embrace
its whole people without diftin&ion of religion or
/eft and (hall prefent as a front to the paper
liberty of France, for as yet it is not much more,
the fterling breaft-vvprk of true old Engliili
freedom.
What fort of a government is that which
{hall make peace with an enemy only to contend
with its own people r ! Let any man read the
Jate laws againft liberty, obferve the barracks,
liilen to their own fyftem propounded by their
own lips, and then judge for himfelf, of the pro-
bable ftate of this country under a peace nego-
tiated by the prefent miniitry.
In considering a peace eftablifhment, I would
rather addrefs myfelf to the fordidnefs than the
patriotifm of a great portion of the public. I
blufh to think that the number is not fmall of
thofe, who have an utter clifregard to liberty;
and with whom the barometer of every good un-
der heaven is the ftate of the 3 per cents. What
the finance fcheme of the miniitry for the next
year is, I know not whether as rumour ftates, a
forced loan, a limited poll tax, or any other pro-
ject, which according to cuftom they have con-
demned in the French and copied after. This
Jiowever is clear, that unlefs the income is made to
quadrate with the expence, there is no talking
at
C 94 )
at all of refourccs. Of all modes of increasing
the public means, the fureft is the retrenchment
of eftablifliments words which muft be blotted
out of the code of our domeftic ceconomy.
Here let me call to mind the plan of our ene-
mies. In the late mefsage from the French dU
rectory to the war minifter they thus exprefs
themfelves. " It is the intention of the directo-
** ry, that from this moment all the territory of
*' the republic, comprising in it the countries uni-
*' ted to it, be put upon the cftablifhmcnt of the
" moft profound peace ; that the number of troops
4 * in the republic be reduced to the simple garri-
" fons of the fortrefscs ; that the fervice of the
f( interior be performed foJely by the national
" gendarmerie and the fedentary national guards.
" It is the intention of the directory, that even
" the flighteft veftige of military regime fhall be
" effaced that the conftitutional order fhall be
** uniform throughout the whole extent of the
ic republic, and that the citizens fhall approxi-
" mate by the cares of agriculture, the relations
<( of commerce and the love of the arts."
In full belief that the prcfent miniftry
if their power continues, will force us into a fixed
national flruggle with France 5 the ultimate ruin
of England may be truly feared from the princi-
ple that dictated a meafure fo aufpicious to
France in the two grand points of liberty and
^economy, as the mefsage I have -juft quoted:
wheri
( 95 )
\vhen fct againft our plan of barracks > and of tranf-
forming the brave citizen foldiers of once free
England, into a horde of Janifsaries^ contempt-
ible for the firft time to their enemies ; and ter-
rible only to their unarmed countrymen !
Let not the flight eft veftige of military regime re-
main, fays the president of the French directory.
Up with the barracks -jries the Engliih war mi-
niftcr. " If we cannot make the people dumb,
" we can make the army deaf." O ! mocking
contrail ! How difmal a profpect for this coun-
try ! how brilliant for its enemies ! The power
that relies upon force, leaves little doubt of its
character. It is the grand land mark in poli-
cal fcience, that diftinguilhcs a free government
from tyranny. Civil authority Lofes its name when
fuftained only by brutal ftrcngth ; indifferent in
which ihape it appears, that of a ragged rabble,
or of a band of myrmidons cropped in one fa-
fhion; inftruments alike detdtable, whether the
watch-words are liberty and equality, or church
and king ! !
Can any doubt then exift that the war, though
ruinous, is better, than peace from jfuch men ?
It is an abufe of the term if it fliall not give two
things firft, a reafonable hope of union and fa-
tisfation among ourfelves ; fecondly, fuch a.
reftoration of real good humour with France, as
may bury the paft in oblivion and furnifli a fair
hope of future amity ; or, to repeat once more
the
C 9* )
the phrafc of the minifter upon a former occa-
sion, " to mew the world that France and Eng-
" land were designed tor other purpofes than
* mutual llaughter" two great bleffings which i
conceive to be morally, I had almoft added, phy-
sically impoilible from Mr. Pitt and his afso-
eiates.
IS A REAL PEACE PROBABLE FROA!
A CHANGE OF SYSTEM, AND NEW
MINISTERS ?
CAN any minifter do this great work ? Is if
poffible for any man to bring all the difcordance
tot this empire into one itream of harmony r
Where is he to be found, who can furmih a pro-
fpe6t of fuch a peace, as may become us to ac^
cept, and give at the fame time a reafonable fe-
curity againft French ambition Or failing in thaf
attempt, who fhall fo wield the ftrength of Eng-
land as to defy the utmoft power of France ?
The man muft be " fent from God" who can
undertake for the certainty of fuch efTefts ; for
no agent, merely mortal, can prom ife it.
But without pretending to infallibility men
ftill remain among us, whofc virtues forbid a total
defpair of the public weal.
Here
Here let me anticipate a fort of anfwer, if it
deferves that name> which is fure to be urged
againft this pamphlet that its purpofe is to pull
down one minifter only to put up another ; a
ftile of argument much practifed by the mini-
fterialifts of late ; who, from a confcience of what
its fate ought to be, have made laboured efforts
to prolong the credit of this wretched adminiftra-
tion, by degrading the motives of its opponents
into a mere love of loaves and fifties. Depravity
would level all things to its own ftandard.
To call this conduct by its proper name,
refort muft be had to coarfe epithets It is a vil-
lainous and an impudent trick, and not the lefs fo,
for being very common and vulgar.
Without dwelling upon the mifery of begging
queftions in this way, and of replying to argu-
ments, only by the imputations of motives ; vil-
lainy alone can tell the people of England that
they have nothing for it but to go on in the fame
courfe of ftupid confidence in the fame men,
who have brought the empire to its prefent pitch
and it is fare impudence, embofsed and burnifh-
d, to charge the ftatefman who will be juftly fup-
pofed the firft in my contemplation as the fuc-
cefsor of Mr. Pitt, with any fordid fentiment.
A man whofe indifference about office is pro-
verbial ; whofe whole life is a demonftration of
the moft incorruptible integrity whofe foul was*
never ftained with the flighteft tinge of avarice,
N and
( 98 )
and whofe glory it is, to have lived in the con-
ftant disfavour of a court, the fatal politics ot*
which have brought on the greateft evils which
any nation, that ever furvived its misfortunes,
ffered the whole, both in grofs and detail,
in die metrical opposition to the advice, and con-
with moil extraordinary minutenefs, the
reiterated but fruitlefs predictions of this very
perfon I
The perturbed fpirits of the minifter's minions
may reft afsured, that Mr, Fox will never be the
favourite of fuch a court. His Majefty, well
read, I doubt not, in Horace and Father Bojfu,
makes a moft poetical ufe of this gentleman.
Epic writers never introduce a divinity, but when,
the object-is unaccompliihable by human power.
* ' Nee Deui interjit, nljl dignu* vindice nodus. "
Is it designed as the higheft flattery, that the king
never calls in the aid of Mr. Fox but when it is
tignus vindice nodus with national affairs ? that
is to fay when they are in the laft extremity
and the government becomes a kind of forlorn
hope ?
In thefe circumftances ftood the country when
Mr. Fox firft became miniiler One Engliih army
had fucceeded to the captivity of another Engliili
army, paffing Jub jugo from Saratoga to York
town. The connection with Ireland wholly de-
pended
( 99 )
pended upon the bare difcretion of an armed
country ; infulted, wronged, and refling upon
her firelocks. The navy of France, Spain and
Holland chafed the Englifh fleet into Portfmouth ;
another hundred million was added to the national
debt, and the 3 per cents, were at 57.
In thefe circumftances Mr. Fox was called
upon ; and if the reader have any curiosity to
know how foon the call lliall be repeated ; I will
tell him to an exa&nefs. When the likenefs to
the above picture is quite complete, we {hall fee
a tardy, mortified, languid, reluctant compliance
with the public voice in his favour, and not one
hour be/or*!
The two epochs differ in one refpect. At
prefent our navy has the fame fuperiority which
it maintained during the greater part of the
American war ; and therefore it is probable that
until Admiral Richery, or forae other French fai-
lor, (ball renew the triumph of M. de la Motte
Piquet in 82 Mr. Fox will have full leifure to
ihoot partridges,.
Of Lord Spencer's talents, I certainly make no
queftion ; but even Lord Spencer cannot boafl
more zeal or experience than Lord Sandwich :
from whofe clofet ifsued that dictum of French
fuperiority " whenever her navy became her fole
" care" already referred to, as coming from a late
noble fca officer, who at the time he delivered
N ? the
the opinion, was himfelf a commifiioner of the
admiralty !
It is not, God knows, from anxiety that Mr.
Fox mould be'mim'fter, either on his account or
from views perfonal to myfelf, that I have taken
the trouble of composing this work. If I were
of a corrupt nature, little as I am, the channel had
been long ago open to me and upon more than
one occasion. In his day of difficulty or
danger I believe I mould be found as near
to Mr. Fox and cling as clofe to him, as any
perfon born of woman ; but my difposition does
not particularly lead me to cultivate anybody in the
hour of fuccefs. I fufpect that I mould not be
the firft to prefent myfelf upon his killing the
king's hand no evil to the man I love beft, for
in fuch a cafe he would be fure of a crowded le-
vee. My true motive is the falvation of my
country, and without dwelling longer upon ma-
lice which perhaps mould be treated only with
contempt and fcorn I proceed.
The beft chance then of real peace with
France is furely from this defcription of minifter.
From a minifter, who, bred in the principles
of the grand alliance and nurtured in a fear of
French power, had furveyed the revolution in
France as the harbinger of peace to England and
to Europe who, burning with the ardor of a pa-
triot for the freedom of his own country, beheld
the rising liberty of other nations with the rap^
turc
ture of a philofopher -who was the firft public
man in Europe to hail the downfall of the atrocious
defpotifm of the court of Verfailles who lamented
as heartily as the enemies of the French revolution
rejoiced, in the crimes and cruelties which were
not fo much produced by that event, as by the
unprincipled combination formed againft it by fo^
reign tyrants ^who, gifted with an understanding
like intuition to fee in the right feafon the wifdoni
or folly of flate meafures, had warned his coun-
try of the fatal policy of its miniflers towards
France, and oppofed this deftructive war in all
its ftages, with invincible conftancy and courage j
though deferted by thofe who were neareft his
heart, and fupported only by a few firm afsoci-r
ates, whofe merit is increafed by the fmallnefs of
their numbers, and the general delirium which the
adminiftration had fo artfully excited a man
whofe morals prevent him from exulting at the
misfortunes of others, and whofe manners fecure
him from the neceffity of humiliation. Who
never infulted France in the period of her depref-
gion and has nothing to difavow or expiate in
the hour of her triumph- who has not left man-,
kind in the dark about his object for four fatal
years of unexampled carnage and finally, whofe
diftinguifliing character being directnefs and plain
dealing, appears the propereft man to negotiate
with a people who affect to fubftitute candour for
the finefse and fallacy of court? !
Such
( '02 )
Such a man, though the defperatecircumftances
m which the country is plunged, forbid the hope
of fuch treaties as England has been accuftomed
to, may obtain fome endurable terms ; and he
may do, what is of ten thoufand times more value :
he may extinguim national hatred. He may re-
ftore that mutual confidence between the two na-
tions, without which any peace will be delusion.
But rather than Mr. Fox mould difgrace him-
felf with any participation in the deftructive pro-
jects of the prefent miniftry (a fpeculation which
the court cant has of late very afliduoufly inculca-
ted) I had rather behold him fepulchred in that
mute fcene where Cato repofes, defeated indeed
in hi-s noble designs, but confecrated by unfullied
honour to the admiration of after ages 1
If this country is fated to contend with France
upon the principle of the delenda eft Carthago;
(which I truft in God is not the fact) if probity
and opennefs fail of all effect upon the govern-
ment of France ; this country has nothing for it,
but A FINAL COURAGE worthy of its ancient cha-
racter, and fuitable to its tremendous danger.
Then muft be roufed thofe Englifh energies, which
Mr. Windham,* with fuch mortification and ve-
nom,
* This minifter after likening France to Pandemonium and
the French to devils, in the true fpirit of the Quiberon (late-
paper, pancgyrifed the national energy they had difplayed in
the
C 103 )
nom, abufed the people of England for not di
playing in fupport of this odious war energies
impoffible to be excited by the prefent miniftry
but which Mr. Fox may yet call forth !
It may be alked with good reafon, whether
thofe inveterate friends of the war, who are fo im-
placable for its duration in the confidence of its
working the downfal of the monarchic and arif-
tocratical parts of this conftitution, are likely to
be fubdued into concord and co-operation by a
better adminiftration ? A direct " yes !" to fuch
a queftion would be too much to anfwer for but
when the caufes, heavy and grievous of their pre-
fent difcontents, are taken away ; when the En-
glifh conftitution is reftored to them, found, pure,
and vigorous ; their ill humour, to which Mr. Pitt
furnifhes fuch conftant aliment, will fhew itfelf
with an ill grace, and the conclusion is reafonable,
that after full juftice is done to the country,
the number of fuch perfons will be few, their ef-
forts feeble, and that they will foon melt into
the common current of Britim feeling.
the war, with a fore farcafm upon the Englifh, for the want
ef it.
" No, fo God help me, they fpake not a word,
" But, like dumb flames, or unbreathing {tones,
*'. Star'd at each other, and look'd deadly pale."
Buckingham's account of the people,
to Richard the III.
There
There is another clafs, which may not DC un*
worthy of consideration, in the event of a new: .
government. Thofe whom Tacitus has well de-
(bribed, marked by their propensity to fervitude j
tyrants at once and Haves, who think they gain
fomething by every abridgment of Britim li-
berty and fuffer by every acceffion to it. Thefe,
fome of them perhaps with arms in their hands,
might be reckoned cold colleagues in a truly po^
pular ftruggle Cold enough I doubt not,- but
their natural antipathy to the French revolution
would at leaft be an afsurance of their fidelity in
a conteft with France, and, for their utility in
the hour of need, of all the defcriptions among
us, the atchievements of thefe gentlemen mould
be the lad thing to be thought of. ! !
Such perfons will be more formidable to the
government of an honeft minifter in time of peace,
than in time of war to a foreign enemy ; for it will
ever be found that the worft defenders of a free-
country are thofe who love its freedom leaft.
Thefe boifterous revilers of the French are diftin-
guiflied enough for the glory of holiday foldier-
ihip. To judge by their lofty contempt, each
of them " would kill you fome six or feven do-
" zen 'Frenchmen at a breakfaft, wafh his hands
" and fay"
" Fie upon this quiet life ! We want worL"
SHAKESPEARE.
But
But fpecious profefsors are flippery performers
and vaunting pretenders to vaft exploits, com-
monly end like their great prototype, in being pla-
net-ftruck ! Never was ridicule more juft than
that which is levelled at what are called " lives
" and fortune men" The fteady tenorof true cou-
rage difdains the difcuffion of its prowefs, and if
the French mould ever invade this country, I
have no doubt that thofe wili do the me ft againft
them, who talk the leaft upon the fubject.
Upon the whole unlefs I have deceived myfelf,
the premifes are well laid whereon I build this con-
clusionthat this country has every thing to dread
from the prefent adminiftration, and every thing
to hope from its opponents !
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
HAVING exprefsed with great positivenefsj
a total d^fpair of the public fafety under this
ill-omened miniftry, it is natural to consider whe-
ther there feems any probability of better auf-
pices, by putting the nation into the manage-
ment of better men.
My opinion is that there is not the flighted
likelihood of fuch an event. As to the parlia-
O mcnt's
( 106: )
merit's compelling it the thing is totally out of
the queftion. Jcaloufy of the power of the
crown ! fufpicion of the minifter ! a vigilant
fuperintendance of executive government ! thefe
words are only known as hiftorical terms that
apply to paft times. To grant money and praife
the minifter is a-11 that is now even looked for.
A member* of the houfeof commons a few
days before the late difsolution, in a fpeech of
exquisite cloarnefs and beauty, made a folemn
charge upon administration of having confdoujly
broken feveral ftatute laws and the remit, though
it lias not excited the leaft impreffion in our time,
cannot fail to, be the wonder of poftcrity, if the
principles of the Englilli conftitutaon ihould ever
again reanimate the morbid mafs of the Englilh
people. The accufation was met by a dirett
cottfeffion of the faffs and- what is the judgment
of the judges r complete indemnity ! ! This inci-
dent, a drop of water in an ocean of similar
acts by the fame body, is mentroned only, as it
happens. to be an epitome of the conduct of that
houfe, from its birth to its expiration. No man
waftes time fo much as to fpeculate upon the
fyitein of the new parliament, fo abfolute is the
certainty of its independence and public fpirit ! !
It has been the aftoniihment of wife inert
'bow this> country ihould have been fo eager, after
* Mr. GIL'; .
Ac
the American war, to .engage in the prefent,
which is full brother to it-; and the fact fervcs to
confirm the philofopher's opinion, who faid,
" that experience had little effect upon man-
" kind." The American war was a project to
crulli .the fpirit of liberty, as well as the prefent
war ; and ,the clamour of .late years againft
French principles has not been more vehement,
than the war-whoop which had been howled
through this country againft the fedition, anarchy,
"and rebellion of the Americans. Like caufes
will ever produce like effects. Where felfiili
pride and jealous tyranny take pofseflion of men's
minds, the freedom of the human race, where-
ever it is cultivated, is fure to excite ' their ma-
Jignjty, in defpite of example, however forcible,
or of .experiment, however recent ,and afflicting.
.One of the moft furious fupporters of the
prefent war, the image indeed of many others in
the fame refpect, is Mr. Powis; This gentleman
vindicated for a long time the American war,
7,vitj4 the fame phlegm he now difplays againft
France. He lived, however, to flied, even on
the floor of the houfe of commons, fait tears
i)f forjow and rcmprfe but alas they were
The tears forgot aG Toon as (bed I"
Oblivious of paft penitence he relapfes into the
fame courfe ; and though no man -accufed Lord
Q 2 North
North with fuch afperity " for deceiving the
" country gentlemen into the American \var,"
as he expiefsed himfelf -Yet Mr. Pitt finds this
identiea, fenator a fort of parliamentary pioneer
m the French crufade.
Leaving thofe then, if there are any, to the
fruition of their reveries, who expect that the
parliament will puii down this baneful fyftem,
the next consideiation is whether the nation will
afscit itfeif, to lave hfeif.
In the firft piace, can the nation fpeak at
all ? If it can, is it inclined to fpeak ? There
are thoufands in this country, in "the situation of
Juftice Woodcock ; who, pio^ued at his sifter's
ihrewdnefs in difcovering the hnpoflure of his
daughter's lover, embraces the fuppofed impoftor,
as a means of obviating the sifter's triumph.
" Brother, brother," fays Deborah Woodcock,
" the fellow's a vagabond !" " So much the bet-
" ter," anfwers the juftice, " I'd have him a va-
" gabond." John Bull knows well enough that
he has been gulled all through the war ; but,
with his characterifiic simplicity, he prefers being
duped by the miniftry, to the acknowledgment of
being outwitted by the fuperior fagacity of thofe
who warned him of his danger.
Between the conviction of sin and the fhame
of confeflion I take this to be the precife feeling
of a great part of this country. Combining this
fentiment with the known ftate of things in this
country
country with that leviathan, the influence of the
crown (fufficient of itfelf to v.eigh down any
fpirit of the people, even when the popular tide
flowed moft rapidly againft the court) and fuper-
added to that political liftlefsnefs into which the
Englifh nation has notoriouily fallen of late years ;
the luxury of the higher, the poverty of the
lower orders ; the apathy of all to all things but
animal enjoyments fate cannot {hake a favourite
minifter in fuch a country, unlefs
" He take great pains, and work againft his fortune."
If it be a patriot maxim not to defpair of
the common wealth, no nation under heaven has
put its patriots to fo bitter a teft, as England has
done during the prefent war. Even at this mo-
ment, the moil fantaftical thoughts are encouraged
in confequence of the retreat of the French ar-
mies in Germany.
It has been well obferved that fuch exultation
is the ftrongeft proof of the difgraceful war the
country has carried on. It is indeed without in-
tending it, the higheft {tile of compliment to the
arms of France ! -s-That the collected efforts of
the houfe of Auftria, after long meditation of the
attempt by their own account, and as a fort of
dernier coup to fave the feat of empire, fliould have
driven back the French armies towards the Rhine i
that this mould excite fuch tranfports in the allies,
in
4rf total forgetfulnefs of all the paft, as well a*
of the true ftate of things at prefent, is like the joy
f\f the unhappy wretch, who having loft his legs
and arms, rejoiced that the head remained upon
his difmembercd trunk.
Why r if General Jourdan's army had been
forced back into the heart of the Hundfruck, if
General Moreau had been at this hour at Strak
-hourg if General Buonaparte had remained at
Nice where he was on the nth of laft April,
in the place of having impounded the King of
Sardinia in his abridged dominions ; of having
driven before him the veteran bands and moil
renowned commanders of the Emperor, from the
plains of Cherafco to the mountains of Trent
and of having brought all Italy to his feet in
fine, if France had been quiefcent during this
/campaign, and had remained only as me ftood at
the clofe of the laft, jthen ey.en with that compa-
rative littlenefs of her acquisition ; ilie would ftill
have waged the moft fuccetkful war that .ever na-
tion waged before her. Her conquefcs, during
the previous four years, furpsfs thofe of Rome for '
the four firft centuries of that common wealth j
and the new republic will be found to have fought
more battles in that time, taken more forrrtfscs,
gained m-ore victories, and fubdued morcftates than
the antient all-conquering republic ever did in
equal length of time, not excluding any period ot
Roman renown. !
Is
( "I )
Is this ftatemcnt an expreffion of joy at French
fuccefs ! ? How drunk' with delusion mult this'
country be how many degrees beyond intellec-
tual fanity, if it cannot bear the relation of hifto-
rical fact ! I have the authority of all philofophy
at my side in aisertihg that hatred of another nax
tion is not the teft of regard for one's own. No
error is more common in England than mistaking
a luft of the good things of government for love
of the conftitution ; and confounding an ab-
horrence of France with true patriotifm. The
bafeft communities deteft their enemies the moft.
Noble nations refpect, and favage tribes devour,
each -other. The Archduke Charles, bccaufe-
lie has the foul of a hero, holds his antagonift in-
high efteein; and if it could be known which of
that brave prince's followers, detefts the French
with molt rancour., it would infallibly turn out to-
be the dirtieft fellow in his army !
In the words of old Caratach*
** Allow an enemy both weight and worth.'*
And I repeat it, fo far from being prompted
to the fatal purfuit of this war, by the retreat of
General Jourdan when that general's army has
again its head-quarters at Treves ; when Moreau
has meafured back his two hundred miles to
Straibbttrg : and when Italy is as perfectly re-
conquered, us it is conquered now, then, c'^cn
then.
C a )
then, our motives to triumph will be exactly this ;
we mall be as near the attainment of our un-
defined object in this war, as we were* sjx
months ago ! !
The appetite of many people in this country
to traduce the French annihilates all memory as
well as judgment.
In the number of its blind cenfures, who
could believe that the advocates of the Englifh
miniftry ihould venture to taunt the French di-
rectory, for insifting on the Duke of Brunfwick's
difmiffing the peffonage called Lewis XVIII.
from his dominions. 1 feel for that unhappy
prince, becaufe he is unhappy ; and honour the
Duke of lirunfwick (the beft and mildeft fove-
reign in Europe, however he may have fuffered
by the odious fervice of the allies) for the afylum
he would have granted to the unfortunate. But
this feeling is without furprife or cenfure of the
French. I can neither forget that England had
a Pretender, nor its conduct upon a like oc-
casion.
So high was the popular indignation at Paris
in the year 51, againft the Engiiili government
for what was thought an unnecefsary perfecution
of another Pretender in thofe days, that Lewis XV.
in the plenitude of his power, found it prudent
to conceal the peremptory demand of the court
of England, until .after he had privately arrefted
and banithed from France that mifcrable fugitive,
at
( "3 )
at a. time when his whole army consiiled of his
valet de chambre. Kow diffeient from the si-
tuation of a perfon in \vhofe caufe two of the
greateft potentates of Europe and all his own
nobility are openly in arms.
No country on earth is fo prodigal of its con-
demnation as England, for practices that mould
whifper us to look at home. Very feemly and be-
coming indeed is the flippancy of Englilh .repro-
bation for f he attacks of the French government
upon the emigrants property. England ! that
exercifed the wideft fyltem of confifcation, re-
corded in latter ages, for acts which were the
efsence of civil virtue, in comparifon to the con-
duct of the French emigrants.
The Iriih deemed James II. their law r ful
king. (The full half of England thought fo at
the fame time.) They fought with him at home.
They followed his fortunes abroad. They never
visited their country with invasion or rebellion
after their departure ; and yet their innocent pof-
tcriry w r ere cut off from all poffibility of fuc-
ceflion by one ftroke of fweeping oppreffion !
whereas the French emigrants (their creed the
Duke of Brunfwick's manifeflo) carried fire and
fword into the heart of their country, for the
avowed purpofe of re-eftablifhing the ancient
defpotifm ; and did this too in direct difobedience
of the formal prohibition of Lewis XVI.
himfelf !
P It
( "4 )
It is not with pieafurc that I recur to thefe
tranfactions, I \vifli they were blotted from the
page of hiftory and effaced from the memory
of mankind. My nature leads me much more to
pity the French emigrants than to aggravate their:
fjfferings ; but the cant ot Britilh reproach for
French forfeitures, is ib very ''very grofs, that ir
appeared to me a duty to notice it, in a publi-
cation, the drift of which is to annihilate ani-
mosity between the two ftates as the greatefr
good that I am capable of rendering to my
country.!!
Should the extinction of that animosity b*
found indeed impoflible ; then is my conviction
quite positive, that England will gain a lofs^
though peace were signed to-morrow ; and
though the French directory mould defcend from
its relative altitude, to concede terms to this
country, beyond the hope of the moft fanguiru*
Englilhman !
To dole this laft claufe of my fubiect I can
perceive nothing in the conduct of the govern-
ment, or the complexion of the nation, to furnilb.
any expectation of a change from that fyflem
againfl which every day in the lali four vears bears
fuch decisive tefiimony. The country fcems de-
voted. It is remarked of men, and of nations,
who have Teen better times that in the midft of ad-
versity, they retain the habit? of the'r fonr;v?r for-
tune-
( "-5 )
tune. When the Roman .empire was reduced to
the circle of Trebifond, the defpifed inhabitants
of that miferable diftrict, fpoke .as lofty a lan-
guage as the cotemporaries of Scipio or Ca^far.
Degraded as this country -is in the face of fur-
rounding .flates, its minifter afsumed .an arro-
gance in the debate upon .the addrefs, on the
sixth inftant, as high and haughty, as could havp
become that brilliant period of its military fplen-
dour, when the Duke of Marlborou.gh was at
Bouchain, and Lewis XJV. felling his jewels to the
Jews of Amfterdam.
Indeed the whole conduct of this gentleman
in the difcuffion of the sixth, was extraordinary
even in him.
It is a maxim in morals that he who gives
all, gives leail ; and in logic, that he who proves
too much, proves nothing. Though the markets
for Britiih trade, enumerated .in a previous part
of this pamphlet are inconteftjbly gone .; though
every necefsary of life is dearer by one third
than in the commencement of this war; though
the trading intereft barely floats, by dint of the
moil extreme .exertion of pecuniary artifices ;
though the government pays 14 per cent, for mo-
ney ; though this miniiler bimfelf is faid to de-
fpair of fupplying the public necefiities any .lon-
ger by the ufual mode of loans and funding.
Yet even he, fo remarkable for captivating pic-
tures of national fuccejfs, never drew fo gaudy .a
P 2 portrait
portrait of the wealth of the ftate and the fccun-
dity of its refource^, as at tl at moment at the
very moment v lie a he announced a meafurc of
govermne. t v hich is an implied contradiction
of his o\An L agi .fi^ent reprefentation.
It is one of the moft ftriking features of Mr.
Pitt, that he neve; abandons a favourite purfuit,
without giving a thoufand reafpns again! I his own
determination.
if this country is in the ftate he affirms it to,
be, why, (to quote himfelf again) does he " fup-
" plicate France" more at this time, than at any
penod of the laft four years?
If the commerce and revenue are as he dc-
fcribes them, why defert the ufual courfe of loans
and runding r
His anfwer to the firlt was indeed Jui generis.
Studious fo to poft hin-felf in the parliamentary
battle as to avoid their contact who could tread
him under foot, he manoeuvred fo as to be his own
catechifer j and difmifsed all inquiry into his im-
perious -rcfufal to negotiate at any previous junc-
ture of the v.ar, with this fyllogifm. " Does it
u follow that we mould not treat with France
" now, becaufe we have not treated before"-r-
Such is the anfwer of this worthy gentleman, af-
ter a fccrifice without example of Britiih mo-
ney, blood and honour. !
No words but his own could convey- an idea
of the variegated abundance, and unprecedented
fortune
( "7 )
fortune of this flourifhing country at this hour !
It was fure enough, " the miraculous draught of
" fillies."
*' One faplc he has, I freely will reveal :
" Could you o'erlook but that it is to fteal."
He is the fineft painter in the world, favc one,
point. The immortal pencil of Sir Jolliua Rey-
nolds was a daubing bruili to his tongue, in every
thing except likenefs. But it fo happened that if he
had not in the courfe of distributing his colours,
very often mentioned '* this country ," it never could
have occurred to his hearers, feeling and feeing,
what they fee and feel, that he meant " England."
Indeed he refembled another fort of painter, -
who having drawn the portrait of a clock, infcri-
bed the name of the article on the top left
the identity ihould not ftrike the connoifseur.
Mr. Pitt did much more upon that day. The
Lord Mayor's intelligencer down the river, never,
went beyond killing off thirty thoufand of Jourdan's
troops but the drawcansirof thehoufe of Com-
mons demoliflied both the French armies in toto*
And
* If no other communication exerted, but the government
gazette of this country, we fhould be as ignorant of the
true ftate of Europe, as the inhabitants of Laputa. For ex-
ample. The King congratulated the parliament laft year upon
the fafety of Italy and this country paid two hundred thoq-
faivd
Andfns luck is like magic.! It was not until the
djty after, that the official report of the directory
came, ftating to thofe upon whom a fiction upon
fuch a fubject could not impofe for many hours
. that .the entire lofs of Jourdan's arijiy was
ihort of fix thoufand, and the defalcation fupplied
fry fixteen thoufand. ! !
However all this cannot be for nothing. '
.'.' Our Pitt docs never lie, but for gsod caufe."
fa;id pounds every year of the war towards that object. The
flower of the troops of our ally the Emperor and one of his
moil renowned Captains have been feat to refcue that country;
and yet to this hour, the four following lines are all the in~
telligence we have from the London Gazette. After a grand
rLefcription of General Wurmfer's achievements in the begin-
ning of Auguft, it adds-f " During this movement of the Field
* Marfhal, the enemy attacked in great force on the high
*' ground ; and fome of the battalions of the right wing having
" given way, fell in whh thofe of the left wing not yet ported.
*' This unfortunately created confufion and obliged the Field
" Marfhal to retreat on this place."
Such is the fum tptal, upon the authority of the L<?ndqi?
Gazette, of our knowledge of the utter ruin of our caufe in
;hat country ; though we have had a regular minifter, a very
refpeftable gentleman incapable of falfehood or mutilation,
Colonel Graham, Rationed with the army of Marfhal Wurmfer.
After all, I believe thofe underhand the people bed, who
treat them in this manner.
His
( "9 )
His imagination could never have taken fueir
flights but for fome grand object. I believe he
has two objects ; and time will pronounce upon
my conjecture. I guefs firft that he. has fome
very fine fcheme indeed, for raising money ; and
fecondly, I gucfs that the war is to go on.
If he can contrive that Lord Malmibury
fliall tranfmit fome extravagant condition of the
French directory, fo as to feduce. from his oppo-
nents in the houfe of commons any thing by which
he may vamp up the unanimity fo much prayed
for by his difciplcs ; I do not fee why we may
not protract the bleffings of this aufpicious con-
tention, until Lord Fitzwilliam and Mr. Burke
thcmfclves, mould call in the dogs of war.
The proema of fuch a denouement was very fkil-
fully laid upon this occasion. He insinuated his
plot with the art of a mafter The piece went
off like other farces. Valet res ludicra and truly
enough I may fay, Suique flaufu, gaudet theatri.
He was charmed with the applaufe of his own
fair and candid audience.
From Sylla to Roberfpierre, from Jack of
Leyden to Mr. Brothers ; no fuccefsful villainy or
fortunate fraud, that either terrified the timid or
deceived the ignorant for a ihort time, and finim-
ed in the indignation or contempt of the world,
ever had its day with more fiafli, than the affair
of the sixth inftant. !
Our
Our minifters have often talked of the tri-
umph of acquitted felons ; and I dare fay have
no conception of the triumph of convicted cri-
minals. No ghoft however needs come out of
the grave to point out fuch criminals : convicted,
not by the fentencc of any formal judicature, but
by a tribunal more awful and unerring by the
growing miferies of millions, i by the wafte of
incalculable treafures ! by the (laughter of many
hundred thoufands of God's creatures ! by the
defolation of provinces ! by the ruin of realms !
and by the curfes, " not loud but deep" of al)
-rational, feeling and unbiafsed beings ! !
CONCLUSION.
Ttils pamphlet has branched out far beyond
its original outline. The difficulty in difcuffing
.the mifconduct of the adminiftration, lay only in
my limiting myfelf to a single part of it. Fruitful
theme for obiervation ! as their government is in
a variety of other refpects, I have digrefsed as
tittle, I think, as poffible from that grand feature
of it, their policy with regard to the French re-
volution, and this fatal war, which was an inevi-
table
table confequence of that policy. There is an
eternal fidelity in principles. Civil government
is a great machine, and when the grand fpring
is falfe, every other movement is confufed and
irregular. The government began this businefs
in the wrong, and can never finim it in the right.
In commenting upon their conduct, I have
not hinted a single fyllable againft their private
lives. With that freedom which the fubject re*
quires, which fprings from the vital efsence of the
Englim conftitution, I have ufed, and I hope
not abufed, the right ftill remaining to us, of
fcrutinizing a great meafure of the refponsibk
fervants of the crown and the people. Their
perfonal characters may be among the mod ami-
able in the world j and I doubt not they are fuch.
I meddle with nothing but their public political
acts, in which every member of the community
has a high intereft. The ermine does not adora
any minifter of the law, who holds perfonal de-
traction and private calumny in more deteftation
than the writer of this work.
With refpect to its composition, I do not
know fo little of authorfhip, as to urge any thing
in palliation of critical defects. When a book
is once public it muft right its own way, without
the aid of excufes. It is however the truth, that
thefe meets have been put together with an ex-
pedition that afforded no leifure for thofe orna-
Q^. mentis,
( I" )
ments, which add to the force of found reafon-
ing and often reconcile that which is weak.
I felt the fubject ftrongly 3 and had no other
consideration but that of impreffing the fame con-
viction upon my reader, with little attention to
literary decorations.
CRAVEN-STREET,
Cooler the ijtfj, 1796.
F 1 N I S.
9082
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES
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