y 
 
 BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, 
 
 ?cc.
 
 TrinUd by W. Flint, Old BaJiy.
 
 Better Late than Never 
 
 Constoetattons 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 AND TUB 
 
 EXPEDIENCY OF MAKING PEACE 
 
 WITH 
 
 FRANCE, 
 
 Justum est bellum quibus necessarium ; et pia arma, quibus nulla 
 nisi in armis relinquitur spes. LIVIUS u. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J, RIDGWAY, 170, PICCADILLY, 
 OPPOSITE BOND-STREET. 
 
 tsio.
 
 &c. 
 
 NOTHING is more common than even for men 
 of sense and education to talk of the im- 
 possibility of ever making peace with Bona- 
 parte. Impossible even to make peace ? What 
 a sweeping sentence of universal devastation ! 
 Are hostilities then to be entailed on this de- 
 voted country from generation to generation ? 
 Are all avenues towards approximation to be for 
 ever closed ; and all intercourse interdicted with 
 a nation, where science, and genius, and all the 
 amiable talents, which form the charm and 
 ornament of social life, were wont to flourish 
 in an eminent degree ? God forbid that such a 
 state of things should ever exist in the civi- 
 lised world ! It cannot exist. The fiends of 
 plunder may cry for blood, but the rights of 
 humanity must ultimately be vindicated ; andthe 
 sword of destruction be^sheathed. So far from 
 admitting the impracticability of ever making 
 peace with Bonaparte, I will venture 
 
 i
 
 to reverse the proposition, and affirm that it is 
 impossible to make war with him for ever. 
 
 To speculate on the illness of this extraor- 
 dinary man, who conquers an empire before 
 most other generals would have captured a 
 town ; and to anticipate the revolutions which 
 might be occasioned by his death, would at 
 best prove an unprofitable labour; but to ex- 
 amine what means may be most likely to restrain 
 liis overwhelming career, by directing his am- 
 bition towards a less dangerous channel, is a 
 subject most worthy ofthe attention of all, whose 
 hearts are alive to the feelings of patriotism. 
 
 Before we subscribe to a sentence of incessant 
 hostility, it might be prudent to consider for 
 what objects we are now contending, and 
 what probability there is of our ever obtaining 
 them. And this enquiry becomes the more 
 necessary, because since the commencement of 
 the contest with revolutionary France, the 
 first has never been clearly defined, but has in- 
 cessantly varied with the hopes and expecta- 
 tions of those, who unfortunately for mankind 
 were entrusted with the conduct of affairs. 
 At one period we were fighting for the destruc- 
 tion of Jacobinism, at another for the restora- 
 tion of the Bourbons. " Indemnity for the 
 pa^t, and security for the future" was the po- 
 pular theme to which the minister resorted, 
 when the tide of war rolled in favour of the
 
 3' 
 
 allies ; but when the artillery of the enemy had 
 rendered abortive the fallacious promises 
 with which he pampered the credulity of the 
 nation, his tone was lowered, and we were , 
 waging war from compulsion alone, as the only f 
 possible means of protecting our religion, our 
 property, and our constitution, against the 
 machinations of a deadly and inveterate foe. 
 
 There was a man indeed, and one man only, 
 whose intuitive glance dived into futurity. 
 With a precision all but prophetic, he predict- 
 ed the calamities which must result from a 
 coalition, where pride and anger, interest and 
 ambition were the impellent principles. He 
 knew that from the petty jealousies of the 
 continental rulers, and the profligate venality 
 of their ministers, disgrace and ruin must 'in- 
 evitably ensue. He saw that the folly of at- 
 tempting to starve twenty-five millions of 
 people with arms in their hands, was almost 
 equal to the iniquity of the plan. He ex- 
 plained the absurdity of presuming to calculate 
 the resources of a nation exasperated by 
 oppression and indignant of controul, by the 
 mercantile barometer of funds and loans ; or 
 f predicting their ruin from the depreciation 
 of their paper currency, or the extinction of 
 their commerce. But his warning; voice was 
 
 o 
 
 either heard with indifference, like that of Cas- 
 sandra, or stigmatized by men incapable of
 
 4 
 
 understanding the depth of his arguments, as 
 the factious cry of a designing 1 demagogue. 
 
 There are few questions concerning which a 
 greater \ariefy of opinions has prevailed, than 
 respecting the origin of the war. By one 
 party it is attributed to the overbearing 1 ambi- 
 tion of France ; by the other it is supposed to 
 have arisen from the mercantile policy of Eng- 
 land. To examine the subject under all its 
 beanos would lead me away from my present 
 object, aid could Answer no laudable purpose. 
 Thus much, however, I will venture to say 
 without fear of contradiction ; that it was the 
 general wish of the French nation to have con- 
 tinued to li^re on pacific terms wilh a country, 
 whose constitution and spirit they admired. 
 " Paix avec VAngleterre, ct guerre twee le reste 
 de r Europe," was the common cry in the 
 streets of Paris. This, I believe, to be accu- 
 rately true. Neither is it less so, that the 
 conduct of the English cabinet was calculated 
 rather to kindle, than to extinguish the flame. 
 "Whether it might have been possible, or not, 
 to have avoided a rupture, can now be only 
 matter of speculation. But tremendous in- 
 deed must be the responsibility of those from 
 whose passions, or prejudices it arose. It is 
 not alone at the tribunal of posterity where 
 they must answer for the blood which has been 
 wantonly shed. There is another, and far
 
 more equitable, Judge, before whom they must 
 one day appear, to render up the awful account 
 of devastation and plunder, unpalliated by the 
 , arts of sophistry, undisguised by the intrigues 
 of party ! , 
 
 Neither is it my intention to enter into a minute 
 detail respecting the conduct of a war, profess- 
 edly undertaken in defence of religion, morality, 
 andjustice,and in the prosecution of which every 
 principle of justice, morality, and religion, has 
 been unbiushingly sacrificed at the shrine of 
 interest and ambition. The errors and misfor- 
 tunes of the last eighteen years, may in future 
 ages afford an awful lessonto posterity, and teach 
 them the folly of attempting to subjugate, a peo- 
 ple determined to be free. Never were pre- 
 sumption and incapacity so fully exemplified in 
 the misery of nations, as they have been by the 
 members of the different coalitions, assembled 
 apparently for the destruction of France, but 
 whose ill- directed efforts have eventually en- 
 abled her to dictate laws to the whole conti- 
 nent of Europe. The blunders committed both 
 by those who planned, and those who conduct- 
 ed the campaigns, so far exceed the bounds of 
 human imbecility, as almost to excite a sus- 
 picion that, in order to consummate some im- 
 portant scheme too deep and intricate for the 
 contracted powers of mortal intellect to pene- 
 trate, Providence has blinded all the princes of
 
 Europe, as she did the Egyptian Pharaoh, and 
 rendered them insensible even to the impressive 
 dictates of personal calamity. Though en- 
 gaged in a contest, the event of which was des- 
 tined to decide whether they should con- 
 tinue to reign with independant authority, or 
 hold a precarious sceptre like the tributary 
 kings of Asia Minor, under the proud do- 
 minion of a master, the infatuated sovereigns 
 of Austria and Prussia were unable so far to 
 conquer their hereditary jealousies, as hearti- 
 ly to unite for their mutual defence. The 
 acquisition of a barren bailiwick, or even a 
 miserable village, by either of these rival 
 powers, without an adequate compensation, of 
 poverty and sterility to the other, would have 
 created almost as much alarm at Vienna or 
 Berlin, as if the capital had been invested by 
 the armies of France. Jealous in the extreme 
 of each other, they beheld the gigantic strides 
 of the common enemy with an indifference bor- 
 dering on insensibility. This want of har- 
 mony was so clearly manifested in the first cam- 
 paign,* that it required no extraordinary por- 
 tion of sagacity to foresee, that they would 
 both be ready to abandon the cause, when any 
 private emolument should accrue from the sa- 
 crifice. 
 
 792.
 
 To this contemptible policy of calculation 
 and interest all the subsequent mifortunes may 
 be ascribed. Instead of being a league of con- 
 fidence and unanimity, it proved a league of 
 suspicion and treachery. Even England her- 
 self, whether intentionally or not it is in vain 
 to enquire, contributed to increase the univer- 
 sal delusion. The rapid progress of general 
 Pichegru was in great measure occasioned by 
 a deficiency in the troops to be provided by 
 England. I have been assured by a confiden- 
 tial friend of General Mack, that the plan of 
 attack for 1794 was formed on the supposition 
 of a much larger force than was actually 
 brought into the field. In the winter preced- 
 ing that disastrous campaign, General Mack 
 came over to this country, that he might ascer- 
 tain with precision to what extent the British 
 subsidies were to be employed. I do not re- 
 collect the exact numbers promised by the 
 English minister, but I understood them to have 
 been greatly exaggerated ; even the Dutch, 
 over whom the government of this country 
 might be supposed to have exercised a salutary 
 control, were deficient by several thousands, 
 while the Prussians (as General Mack suspect- 
 ed, on account of their neglect in collecting 
 magazines) never advanced to the theatre of 
 war. Misled by the assurances of Mr. Pitt, 
 the Austrian! took a line too extensive to be
 
 defended by the force which was actually at 
 their disposal, but which would have present- 
 ed an impenetrable barrier to th'3 enemy, had 
 the promises of England been fulfilled. The 
 French availed themselves of this error with 
 their usual dexterity, and both Belgium and 
 Holland were irrecoverably lost. 
 
 This infamous duplicity on the part of 
 Prussia, was so far systematized by the late 
 king, that it formed the characteristic feature 
 of his government. At the very moment 
 when the court of Berlin had entered into a 
 treaty with this country to furnish auxiliary 
 troops at an enormous expense, he was nego- 
 tiating with France for the express purpose 
 of rendering his succours useless. For though 
 the conferences at Frankfort between general 
 Ralkreuth and the commissioners deputed by 
 the National Convention, were ostensibly 
 confined to the exchange of prisoners, no doubt 
 is entertained by those, whose situations en- 
 abled them to form a correct judgment, that 
 they tended directly to the restoration of peace. 
 The high consideration in which general Kal- 
 kreuth is held by the Prussian array, was alone 
 sufficient to excite a suspicion by no means 
 favouiable to the integrity of his master; since 
 it was difficult to believe that such a man would 
 have been employed on any mission, unless the 
 most important interests were at stake. It would
 
 9 
 
 however have been deviating most essentially 
 from that code of profligacy, which seems 
 to have been considered by the cabinet of Berlin 
 as the perfection of political wisdom, had they 
 honestly avowed their intention ; because such 
 a confession must infallibly have deprived 
 them of the subsidies which they expected from 
 the prodigality of Britain, and which they re- 
 solved to pocket, without a single effort to 
 deserve. This, too, was become an easy task, 
 since with a credulity unparalleled in diplomatic 
 history, the English minister consented that the 
 Prussian army, though paid by this country, at 
 an extravagant rate, should remain entirely un- 
 der the control of a Prussian commander. 
 
 Were not these facts authenticated by public 
 documents, they would exceed the bounds of 
 credibility. Neither is it easy to decide which 
 most deserves censure, the perfidy of the 
 Prussians in accepting payment for services 
 which they never meant to perform ; or the 
 folly of the English in lavishing treasures, 
 which, from the construction of the treaty, 
 could not possibly be productive of the smallest 
 advantage. 
 
 In the following spring the coalition received 
 a fatal blow by the conclusion of a peace be- 
 tween Prussia and France ; this forms a memo, 
 rable epoch in the war, because the atheis- 
 tical republic was no longer excluded from the
 
 10 
 
 rank of nations, as unable to maintain the ac- 
 customed relations of amity, but was formally 
 acknowledged by one of the leading powers of 
 the hostile league, as an essential member of 
 the Christian commonwealth. 
 
 The example set by the venality of Berlin 
 was soon followed by the timidity of Spain. 
 A Bourbon prince was the second sovereign 
 who condescended to receive the fraternal 
 embrace from the murderers of a Bourbon. 
 
 This, surely, was sufficient to have displayed 
 the absurdity of coalitions, and to have con- 
 vinced the world that republican France was 
 not the only country from which probity and 
 honour were banished. But the eloquence of 
 Mr. Burke had inflamed the nation to such a 
 degree, that no schemes were rejected, how- 
 ever extravagant, which aimed at the extirpa- 
 tion of Jacobinism. The conduct of this 
 country at that momentous crisis, may pos- 
 sibly be attributed by some future historian to 
 the effect of a new disease, which may be dis- 
 criminated by the name of the Burkeian mania, 
 and described in the following words : " At 
 " the close of the eighteenth century, an un- 
 ( known malady broke out in England, which 
 
 roved full as contagious as the sweating 
 
 ' sickness, or the plague. The characteristic 
 
 '' of this distemper was fear, and its principal 
 
 JC seat was the brain. Kvcry object, which
 
 11 
 
 *' presented itself to the disordered imagina- 
 " tion, assumed a terrific form. It was amid 
 <e the wreck of thrones and altars that the 
 (C patient wandered in idea. In the paroxism 
 <f of his fever he waged war against every 
 " thing that caaie in his way, pelting all who 
 e( opposed him with gold. At the bare mention 
 *' of peace he was seized with convulsions, 
 " like a person attacked with a hydrophobia 
 " at the sight of water/' 
 
 The enthusiasm of the people unfortunately 
 kept pace with the Quixotism of the minister., 
 and I firmly believe there are few men in the na- 
 tion, whohavenot applauded the frantic project 
 of marchingto Paris,, and hanging the National 
 Convention. It will be no easy task, however, 
 to persuade posterity, that at a period of the 
 world the most enlightened, all persons who pre- 
 sumed to exercise the faculties of reason, and to 
 question the policy of confiding implicitly in the 
 exertions of those who refused to defend their 
 own possessions without a bribe from England, 
 were stigmatized with the opprobious epithet 
 of Jacobins ; that every one was shunned 
 as an enemy both to God and man, who ven- 
 tured to suggest that better methods might be 
 devised to secure the affections of a loyal peo- 
 ple., than to overwhelm them with taxes suffi- 
 cient to abridge every comfort of life, and then 
 by unconstitutional bills to deprive, them of their
 
 12 
 
 only remaining consolation, that of uttering 
 their com plaints with freedom. 
 
 Though little could he expected from the 
 bravest troops, commanded by such get 
 Coburg, Wurmser, and Bcaulif.u, yet so grr.it 
 was the ardor for war, that by the prodigality 
 of our offers, we tempted Austria to persevere 
 in the contest, till the victories of Bonaparte 
 made her seriously tremble for her capital. 
 The convention of Leoben left us destitute of 
 an ally, singly to contend against the gigan- 
 tic resources of France. The armistice con- 
 cluded between Archduke Charles and the 
 conqueror of Italy, proved, as 1 have been as- 
 sured by credible authority, an unexpected 
 blow to the British ministry, though circum- 
 stances had occurred, which, independently of 
 the weakness of the Austrian army, might in 
 some measure have prepared them for the 
 event. If I am not greatly mistaken, informa- 
 tion was transmitted to the secretary of state for 
 foreign affairs, of a meeting which took place 
 at Bologna, a few weeks previous to the ter- 
 mination of hostilities. Upon Bonaparte's 
 return from Tolentino, where he dictated 
 peace to the affrighted Pontiff, he was met at 
 Bologna by Marquis Luchesini, the favourite 
 negociator of Prussia; and Marquis Manfre- 
 dini, the confidential friend of the grand duke 
 of Tuscany. During several hours they were
 
 13 
 
 shut up together in close debate, and. the sub- 
 ject was regarded to be of so much importance, 
 that General Berthier was stationed, during 
 the whole of their conference, in an anti-cham- 
 ber adjoining to the room in which they con- 
 versed, to prevent any intruder from approach- 
 ing the door. It is difficult to attribute the 
 assemblage of such distinguished statesmen, to 
 accident alone; and if we believe it intentional, 
 it is almost equally so, to suppose that it could 
 have any object in view, but to smooth the 
 obstacles which existed in the way of a nego- 
 tiation, and this latter opinion was still further 
 confirmed bv the character and principles of 
 the Florentine minister, who was generally 
 known to be a decided advocate for peace. 
 
 Previously, however, to this calamitous pe- 
 riod, the British ministry had been induced by 
 the debility of Austria, but more so perhaps 
 by the wish of establishing a permanent system 
 of finance, to open a uegociation with the 
 French directory. The result of Lord Malmes- 
 bury's mission to Paris, so ably described 
 by his own pen. may serve to establish, 1/eyond 
 the possibility of a doubt, what it is my prin- 
 cipal object to shew ; viz. that our means of 
 negotiating were progressively deteriorated by 
 every campaign^ with the single exception of 
 the year 1799, when we refused to avail our- 
 selves of our advantages.
 
 11 
 
 111 the triumphant siluationto which France 
 was raised by the genius of Bonaparte, no ra- 
 tional hope could have been cherished even by 
 the most sanguine, that she would ever consent 
 to relinquish Belgium, while she possessed the 
 power to retain it. So long as the Nether- 
 lands remained in the hands of Austria, her 
 northern frontier was insecure ; but with the 
 Beheld and Rhine for her boundaries, she had 
 nothing serious to apprehend. Yet Lord 
 Malmesbury declared in peremptory terms to 
 M. Delacroix, that " this was a point on which 
 " he must entertain no expectation that hisMa- 
 ' f jesty would relax, or ever consent to seethe 
 ff Netherlands remain a part of France." 
 
 The restitution of Belgium was therefore 
 made a sine qua non in the treaty, and the re- 
 fusal to accept of any equivalent occasioned 
 the rupture of the negocaition. The lofty 
 tone in which the British Plenipotentiary per- 
 sisted in a demand, with which it was highly 
 improbable thata victorious nation should com- 
 ply, and to which they could not have acceded 
 without degrading themselves in the eyes of the 
 world, was calculated to inspire a general be- 
 lief that the English minister was not at that 
 time sincere in his wishes for peace, but that 
 the mission to Paris was intended solely to re- 
 kindle a spirit, which visibly began to de- 
 cline.
 
 15 
 
 It was highly probable from the laconic 
 style affectedly employed by the Republican 
 Government in all political intercourse, that 
 something might occur in the course of the ne- 
 gociation, offensiveto the pride of an English- 
 man, and inflame his resentment to such a 
 pitch, that he would support with patience 
 the most intolerable burthens, in the hope of 
 speedy revenge. 
 
 But if this attempt to negociate was merely 
 illusory, various circumstances occurred during 
 the following spring, which seem to have in- 
 spired a serious desire for peace. The preca- 
 rious state of the public credit, the stoppage 
 of payment in specie at the Bank, but above all 
 the alarming mutiny which broke out in the fleet, 
 were events of a nature to awaken the most serious 
 apprehensions in every bosom, nottotally callous 
 to the dictates of prudence. The treaty of Lille 
 was accordingly conducted, on the part of 
 Great Britain, with a degree of candor and mo- 
 deration which probably would have led to an 
 amicable termination, had they been met by the 
 enemy with sentiments equally pacific. By com- 
 paring the projet presented by Lord Malmes- 
 bury, in July 1797, with the demands which he 
 made in December 1796, we shall be enabled 
 to form a pretty accurate estimate of the folly 
 of breaking off the treaty of Paris on ac- 
 count of an object, which we now were ready to
 
 16 
 
 abandon without any equivalent, but in return 
 for which we might have before obtained 
 concessions of infinite value. The language of 
 the Directory from the very beginning- was that 
 of conquest, and not of conciliation ; but after 
 the fall of Carnot and Barthelemy, the only 
 members of the executive government who had 
 the smallest pretensions to talent or honesty, the 
 new plenipotentiaries assumed a tone of inso- 
 lence, which it would have been degrading to 
 England to have borne. If any blame can at- 
 tach to the ministers of this country upon that 
 occasion, it is only for having been patient too 
 long. The dignity of a great and independent 
 nation should never be compromised. 
 
 Though unsuccessful in the avowed and 
 most material point, I have reason to believe 
 that important advantages resulted from the 
 mission, which I apprehend, are not generally 
 known. Some circumstances accidentally came 
 to my knowledge, which led me to suspect 
 that many interesting particulars respecting 
 the plan and organization of the Irish rebellion, 
 were betrayed to Lord Malmcsbury during his 
 residence at Lille ; and from the nature of the 
 communication it could have come only from 
 persons high in office, and entrusted with the 
 most important secrets of the government. So 
 notorious a violation of every established prin- 
 ciple of integrity and honor would be utterly
 
 17 
 
 incredible in any other country ; but with such 
 men as Barras and Reubel, the infamy of the 
 transaction tends only to increase its proba- 
 bility. 
 
 The ministers of Great Britain had now 
 given proof to the world, that there were cer- 
 tain situations in which they were ready to 
 shake hands with the regicide republic ; but it 
 remained for them to shew that these were alone 
 the effect of adversity, and that, with the first 
 gale of prosperity,their terror of jacobinism, or 
 their ardor for war, would revive. The high 
 respect which I entertain for the integrity and 
 talents of the noble lord who then presided over 
 the foreign department, makes it painful for me 
 ever to mention him in any language ex- 
 cept that of admiration. But I am persuaded 
 that he feels and regrets his rashness, in having 
 returned an answer so decidedly repulsive to 
 the amicable overtures of Bonaparte. During 
 a contest discriminated by a succession of errors 
 more extraordinary than any recorded in his- 
 tory, no measure has been attended with such 
 fatal consequences, as the rejection of a propo- 
 sal, which, if received and acted upon with a 
 spirit of placability, might have led to a per- 
 manent peace. The child and champion of 
 Jacobinism, (as he has been emphatically call- 
 ed ) at that time held his authority by a preca- 
 rious tenure; he had difficulties to encounter 
 
 D 
 .
 
 in his internal administration sufficient to oc- 
 cupy all the energies of his mind ; his armies 
 were disorganized, and the nation was desirous 
 of peace. This, then, \vas the precise moment 
 which a prudent administration would have 
 selected to treat. But the cabinet of England 
 had other views. Elated by the splendid at- 
 chievements of Suwarow, they fondly believed 
 that the period was at length arrived, when 
 the threats of the Duke of Brunswic would be 
 fulfilled. It might indeed have been more con- 
 sistent with wisdom to take a different view of 
 affairs. For though the Austrian soldiers had 
 proved to the world, that their former defeats 
 were ascribable rather to the incapacity of 
 their commanders, than to the defect of courage, 
 or the want of activity ; yet it ought to have 
 been remembered, that the despicable weak- 
 ness of the directorial councils had left their 
 armies destitute of almost every resource.* 
 That many-headed monster had fallen, and the 
 reins of government were now entrusted to the 
 hands of a hero, whose past exploits were suf- 
 ficient to inspire an alarming presage of what 
 he might perform, when all the resources of 
 France were abandoned entirely to his own di- 
 rection. 
 
 Though the French had been driven out of 
 Italy by the eccentric genius of a savage, yet 
 
 * Sec Campagnc du General Jourdan, &c.
 
 it was difficult for any man, who impartially 
 considered the military spirit of the Gallic 
 people, or the splendid talents of its chief, to 
 discover any thing in the reverses of a single 
 campaign, to raise the expectations of their ene- 
 mies to so high a pitch, that they were justi- 
 fied in rejecting all offers of peace. Besides., 
 the battle of Zuric had in some measure re- 
 stored the balance of war, and clearly demon- 
 strated, that though the Russians were irre- 
 sistible when commanded by Suwarow, their 
 fortunes were inseparably united with his, and 
 if deprived of him,, they had nothing to oppose 
 to a host of experienced warriors, which France 
 could marshal in every exigency, but dis- 
 union, ignorance, and presumption. Neither 
 ought it to have escaped the observation of 
 ministers, that the instability of Paul was no 
 longer to be trusted. The ingratitude of h.'s 
 ally, in abandoning a general to whom he was 
 indebted for the conquest of Italy, was suffici- 
 ent, it must be confessed, to have offended a 
 temper less irritable than that of the Russian 
 autocrat. 
 
 This clearly explains his animosity towards 
 Austria ; his animosity towards England, how- 
 ever, has never been accounted for ; but if I 
 am rightly informed, it proceeded from a mo- 
 tive no less contemptible for its futility, than 
 fatal in its consequences. The following anec-
 
 20 
 
 dote was.related to me by a gentleman of high 
 rank, and great connections, whose official si- 
 tuation rendered him an almost constant at- 
 tendant on the emperor. The characteristic of 
 Paul was caprice. Hence he estimated things, 
 not according to their intrinsic value, but ac- 
 cordingto the difficulty which he experienced in 
 procuringthem. Among other objects of vanity, 
 he had set his heart upon the English garter, 
 and communicated his wishes to the English 
 court. His eagerness to obtain it was, as I 
 am assured, so great, that he would have pre- 
 ferred a few yards of ribbon to the most libe- 
 ral subsidy, which the prodigality of the mi- 
 nister could have offered. The subsidy, how- 
 ever, was more easily acquired than the rib- 
 bon. For so lavish was Great Britain of her 
 money, that she thought it better to give it for 
 nothing, than not to give it all. But the garter 
 was a present of a very different nature, and 
 did not come out of the pockets of the people. 
 Though originally a catholic order, it bad 
 never decorated a member of the Greek church. 
 No precedent could be discovered by the eru- 
 dite researches of Sir Isaac Heard. Having 
 been never initiated in the etiquette of a court,. 
 Ishallnot attempt toexplain from what quarter, 
 or on what grounds the insurmountable obstacle 
 arose. Precedent I know to be a most power- 
 ful ageut with stateiiuen and lawyers ; and
 
 sometimes, I believe, is carried so far, that 
 they prefer doing wrong in conformity to 
 established practice, to doing right in contra- 
 diction to it. This, therefore, might have treat- 
 ed the impediment, or it might have proceeded 
 from religious scruples, and a delicate appre- 
 hension that the purity of the order might have 
 been contaminated by the difference of faith, 
 though it is certainly proof against every other 
 contamination. Whatever may have been the 
 motive, the mischief was done; nor is this un- 
 fortunately the only instance in which con- 
 science has been opposed to the interests of the 
 nation. So far from refusing to gratify the 
 autocrat of the north, a prudent minister 
 would have inquired if there was any other 
 colour or variety of colours, which pleased him 
 more than blue, and have set all the manufac- 
 turers in the country to work, to produce a 
 decoration exactly suited to the imperial taste* 
 This ought to have been done, and if we may 
 be allowed to judge from the general conduct 
 of the war, the urgency of the measure was 
 probably one of the most cogent reasons for 
 omitting it. 
 
 A change of administration produced a 
 change of system. The acrimonious spirit of 
 personal hostility, which had hitherto embit- 
 tered the conduct of the war, in great measure 
 expired with the administration of Mr. Pitt.
 
 SB 
 
 The mild virtues of his successor, more cal- 
 culated to shine in the tranquil scenes of do- 
 mestic repose, than amid the ruins of a deso- 
 lated world J conduced to render him more 
 friendly to peace; and with respect to France, 
 events had taken place, calculated to inspire a 
 rational hope, that she might be induced to treat 
 on honourable terms. The death of Paul, 
 and the consequent dissolution of the northern 
 confederacy, had considerably diminished the 
 powers of annoyance, till then in the hands of 
 the enemy. The splendor and magnitude of 
 our naval victories were no less objects of ad- 
 miration and dread, than the continental vic- 
 tories of France. The vapouring boast of inva- 
 sion, so far from alarming the sober part of 
 the nation, began at last to be treated with the 
 contempt it deserved. Like its twin brother 
 Jacobinism, it had served the purpose of 
 ministers, and was laid at rest. In my esti- 
 mation it was folly to suppose that so consum- 
 mate a general as Bonaparte should risk his 
 troops and reputation in an enterprize, the 
 chances of which, by his own confession, were 
 greatly against his success. The public opinion, 
 both in France and her dependant states, was 
 likewise known to be entirely in favour of 
 peace, and it could hardly be expected that 
 so enlightened a statesman would venture as 
 yet entirely to disregard the influence of pub-
 
 
 23 
 
 lie opinion. Under this persuasion a negotia- 
 tion was opened between Lord Hawkesbury 
 and Mr. Otto, the result of which was unex- 
 pectedly communicated on the 2d of October 
 1S01, in the London Gazette, by announcing 
 the signature of preliminaries. The general 
 joy diffused over the whole nation by this hap- 
 py event proclaimed the sentiments of the 
 people, in terms more unequivocal than those 
 of addresses of thanks. Delighted at being 
 delivered from the burthens incidental to a pro- 
 tracted contest, hardly any one attended to the 
 conditions of the treaty or deigned to reflect at 
 how dear a rate the spices of Ceylon and the 
 fevers of Trinidad were purchased. 
 
 This feeling was laudable, and sprung from 
 the best propensities of the human heart; for 
 it is no paradox to affirm that peace upon any 
 terms, not inconsistent with national honour, 
 is preferable to the most prosperous war, and 
 that no acquisitions are purchased so dearly, 
 as those which are made with the sword. An 
 incalculable advantage accrued to the world 
 from this short and tempestuous truce, for such 
 it in reality proved. The motive of the war 
 was totally changed. It was no longer a con- 
 test for the extermination of principles, it be- 
 came a contest for the extension of power, and 
 was accordingly conducted, with a few excep- 
 tions, in strict conformity to the established
 
 24 
 
 code of plunder and devastation, universally 
 dignified with the preposterous appellation of 
 the LAW OF NATIONS. It is however worthy of 
 observation, that conditions infinitely more 
 favourable than those acceded to in 1801, 
 would have been readily granted in 1796. And 
 hence it is evident, that the blood and treasure, 
 so profusely wasted in a protracted contest of 
 five years, proved a gratuitous sacrifice to the 
 wanton vengeance of frustrated ambition, and 
 the interested views of peculation. With 
 respect to our great, and only active ally, by 
 terminating the contest at an earlier period, we 
 should have preserved both his territory and his 
 honour, for unfortunately, in his different 
 negotiations with France; the sacrifices to 
 which he consented, were not restricted to the 
 loss of a province, but were extended to objects 
 of higher moment, which till this fatal era 
 of universal confusion had been held sacred 
 by every civilized people. 
 
 The final partition of Poland, which imme- 
 diately followed the secession of Prussia from 
 the grand confederacy, exceeds in enormity any 
 act of iniquity, with which the regicide republic 
 can be upbraided. A work lately published 
 in France, (though written by Rutiliere for 
 the instruction of the unfortunate Louis XVI. 
 when dauphin) deserves attention, since it 
 throws new light on the transactions of Poland
 
 25 
 
 during the stormy reign of the unhappy Stanis- 
 laus ; and places the crimes and cunning of 
 Catherine in a light, that cannot fail to devote 
 her memory to the execration of posterity, 
 while there is a corner left in the human heart 
 for freedom and humanity to lurk in. This 
 moiistrous scheme., originally commenced un- 
 der the incongruous union of a conqueror, a 
 prostitute, and a saint, was progressively ex- 
 tended through an endless variety of guilt. 
 Fraud and treachery, oppression and cruelty, 
 i gratitude and injustice, were perhaps never 
 practised with such daring effrontery, as by 
 the agents of a princess, who, aspiring to pre- 
 eminence both in power and in vice, first 
 crowned and then dethroned the adulterous 
 partner of her bed, alternately making the royal 
 puppet the tool and victim of her vanity. The 
 ultimate consummation of this diabolical pro- 
 ject, which has been vainly defended by the 
 partisans of despotism, as a necessary conse- 
 quence of the balancing system so highly 
 venerated by the politicians of the last century, 
 and so entirely overturned by those of the pre- 
 sent, was reserved fora moment when Europe 
 wanted some great example of integrity and 
 virtue, to rouse her languid patriotism. 
 
 By the treaty of Campo Formio this fraud- 
 ful policy was completely systematized, so that 
 it now forms the basis of that abominable
 
 26 . 
 
 code of complicated robbery which constitutes 
 the modern science of diplomatic compensa- 
 tions. The contracting parties boldly pro- 
 claimed, in the face of an indignant and as- 
 tonished world, that honesty and honour are 
 insidious terms thrown out to deceive the un 
 wary, but that in the breasts of those, to whom 
 providence has entrusted her most important 
 concerns, no ties are binding except those of 
 interest. Interest is the deity at whose insati- 
 ate shrine the sovereigns of Europe unblush- 
 ingly sacrifice every principle till now held 
 sacred by society; fame, friendship, and 
 faith. Though in the negotiations at Paris, 
 the probity, -or the presumption of England 
 had indignantly revolted at the idea of con- 
 senting to the secularization of the ecclesiastical 
 electorates, as a compensation to Austria for 
 the loss of the Netherlands, the virtue of their 
 sovereign was less austere, and readily con- 
 descended to accept an equivalent for the ces- 
 sion of Belgium and of Austrian Lombardy, 
 though purchased by the destruction of the 
 Venetian republic, his firm and faithful ally. 
 Nothing now seemed wanting to give a legal 
 sanction to this nefarious system, but the con- 
 sent of the Germanic diet, and that too was 
 extorted by fear, or promises, during the Con- 
 gress at Radstadt. Impelled by the most dis- 
 honourable motives, Prussia and Austria
 
 agreed to suspend their ancient jealousies, ia 
 order the more easily to repay themselves for 
 the losses and expenses of the war, by the 
 general subversion of states and property, 
 effected under the name of indemnities. 
 Against their united power it was in vain 
 for the devoted objects of their devouring 
 avarice to plead the precedents of better 
 times, the authority of treaties, or the law 
 of nations. No law existed except that of 
 force. Nothing was deemed dishonest that 
 violence could accomplish ; and nothing dis- 
 graceful except moderation. 
 
 An example, recommended by such high 
 authorities, was too inviting to be viewed with 
 indifference. It was adopted with avidity by 
 all established governments as the easiest mode 
 of negociation : even the boasted integrity of 
 Britain, I blush to confess it, engrafted it as 
 a leading article in her political creed ; it has 
 been blazoned forth in the house of commons 
 by an eloquent member of the cabinet, under 
 the disgusting appellation of new morality, 
 and has been practised in India with such 
 successful imitation, as almost to surpass the 
 original. 
 
 An alliance with Russia inspired .Austria 
 with the fallacious hope, that while the con- 
 queror of Italy was busily occupied in the
 
 28 
 
 reduction of Egypt, she might by a \vcll con- 
 certed attack regain her ascendancy in Europe. 
 Neither can it be denied that the events of 
 1799, in great measure justified the expectation. 
 In the course of a single campaign the armies 
 of the Directory were driven from the banks of 
 the Adige to the walls of Genoa, which alone 
 remained of all their former conquests ; and 
 little doubt was entertained by the cabinet of 
 Vienna, that the wealthy capital of the Ligu- 
 rian republic would fall an easy prey in the 
 ensuing spring. The surrender of Nice, per- 
 haps of Toulon and Marseilles, was already 
 anticipated, and even an insurrection organized 
 in idea, which, rapidly spreading from the 
 coasts of the Mediterranean to the gates of 
 Lyons, would give an irrecoverable shock to 
 the republic. The arrival of Bonaparte, how- 
 ever, produced a sudden change, and dispelled 
 the clouds which darkened the horizon of 
 France. Surrounded by the companions of his 
 former triumphs, he crossed the Alps by nar- 
 row defiles, which a judicious system of 
 defence might have rendered impervious. But 
 the forces of Austria were no longer under 
 the command of the Russian hero. A super- 
 annuated invalid had been appointed to succeed 
 him, who neglected to secure the most impor- 
 tant passes, while he amused himself with 
 menacing the frontier of France. With the
 
 rapidity of lightning the first Consul descend- 
 ed into the plains of Lombardy, accompanied 
 by the terror of a mighty name, and the proud 
 assurance of victory. The ascendancy of 
 France was permanently established in the 
 plains of Marengo., and the hopes of Austria 
 for ever levelled in the dust. All the towns 
 and fortresses regained by the genius and the 
 activity of Suwarow, were disgracefully sur- 
 rendered by a single stroke of the pen, for so 
 great was the consternation occasioned by the 
 fate of a single battle, that General Melas con- 
 sidered it as a most fortunate circumstance to 
 be allowed to purchase a momentary respite 
 at the expence of national honour. These 
 losses were confirmed after an inglorious strug- 
 gle by the treaty of Luneville, with the addi- 
 tional surrender of Tuscany ; arid as the Adige 
 was taken as the boundary between the Aus- 
 trian and Cisalpine territory, the emperor's in- 
 fluence in Italy was nearly destroyed.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the tide of war had hitherto 
 rolled with an almost equable current in favour 
 of France, the fortune of Austria wasbyno means 
 desperate. Though considerably curtailed in 
 population and territory, she was not as yet de- 
 graded from the elevated station which- she 
 had held during so long a period. Bohemia 
 
 * By the treaty of Campo Formio it was the Canal 
 Bianco.
 
 30 
 
 and Hungary, Austria anil Moravia, Gallicii 
 and the Tyrol, together with the vast track of 
 mountains which extended from the Danube to 
 the Adriatic and the Po, inhabited for the most 
 part by a warlike race of men, attached to their 
 sovereign by the strongest ties,and total strangers 
 to the modern doctrines of equality, wanted 
 only a better system of government to render 
 their resources inexhaustible. Rich in corn, 
 in cattle, and in mines, Austria found within 
 the limits of her own possessions almost every 
 thing requisite to give comfort, or splendor, or 
 stability to states. The grand desideratum 
 was a more enlightened system of political eco- 
 nomy, the abolition or limitation of certain 
 feudal abuses, and a wider field for the exer- 
 tion of talents. These improvements are in 
 their nature slow and progressive, and could 
 only be attained by a long duration of peace. 
 
 The defects inherent in her military esta- 
 blishment had been proclaimed by successive 
 defeats. Educated in the tactics of Brown 
 and 'Daun, and promoted according to the se- 
 niority of rank, few of her generals attained to 
 the supreme command, till they were physically 
 incapacitated from service. Subservient to the 
 control of the Aulic council, an Austrian gene- 
 ral even when he obtained an advantage, dared 
 not venture to advance till a courier had re- 
 turned with fresh instructions from Vienna.
 
 * 31 
 
 Hence moment* the most important were al- 
 lowed to escape, which if actively employed 
 might possibly have led to results no less decisive 
 than glorious. Evry order was also detailed 
 with the minutest accuracy, from which it was 
 dangerous under any circumstances to depart. 
 Hence the love of glory became a passion sub- 
 ordinate to the dread of incurring the tremen- 
 dous responsibility to which the slightest de- 
 viation might expose a commander. Various 
 other defects were closely interwoven in the 
 existing system of Austrian tactics, which it 
 would be easy to develope, had I leisure at 
 present for the investigation. Sufficient how- 
 ever has been already said, to shew that much 
 time and industry would be required to eradicate 
 them in a country where obstinacy and preju- 
 dice are indigenous. 
 
 Peace therefore was confessedly the true po- 
 licy of Austria ; it was essential to her 
 existence as a first-rate power, and ought ac- 
 cordingly to have been made the leading ob- 
 ject of her pursuit. Neither was it less appa- 
 rent, that her stability was requisite toward 
 maintaining the equilibrium of the European 
 common-wealth, because she was in fact the 
 only continental state, whose resources and po- 
 pulation enabled her to oppose an efficacious 
 barrier to the overwhelming ambition of France. 
 For this reason, the system, best calculated to
 
 13 
 
 promote the prosperity of Austria,oug-ht to have 
 been strenuously enforced by the arguments 
 and influence of England ; instead of rashly 
 attempting to hurry into a war, in? less repug- 
 nant to her interest than to her inclination. 
 
 But no sooner was it determined by the Bri- 
 tish cabinet to recommence hostilities, than all 
 the odious passions of the human breast were 
 again called into action. Accredited agents were 
 stationed in every court wliich had an easy 
 communication with France, with ample lati- 
 tude for mischief. No sums however great 
 were considered by the ministers to be misap- 
 plied, which were squandered for the purpose 
 of exciting insurrections to overturn the con- 
 sular throne. With a mixed sensation of asto- 
 nishment and contempt Europe viewed the con- 
 duct of the English diplomatists. Yet the 
 absurdity of the attempt was so glaring-, that 
 I very much doubt whether the complaints 
 and clamours of M. Talleyrand would 
 have persuaded many, that the government 
 of a country celebrated alike for sense and 
 integrity, could descend to measures of so base 
 a nature, had they not been boldly proclaimed 
 by the pompous folly of (heir patron. For my 
 own part, I confess that I was inclined still to 
 suspect that much exaggeration had been em- 
 ployed by the minister of Bonaparte, till his 
 assertion was confirmed by the testimony of
 
 33 
 
 a gentleman of unquestionable veracity, who 
 assured me that some of the letters which pass- 
 ed between our B n plenipotentiary and 
 the Revolutionary committee^, had been com- 
 municated to him by the Prefect of Strasburg. 
 ff Here/' said the magistrate (holding out a 
 paper containing an order for money) as my 
 friend one morning entered his room, '.' here is 
 a notable proof of the senselessf prodigality of 
 our foes."* 
 
 It is difficult to decide whether measures like 
 these are most entitled to indignation or scorn. 
 There is something imposing in acts of daring 
 atrocity, while meaner villany entails on its 
 perpetrators nothing Jmt disgrace. When 
 men bid defiance to the precepts of morality, 
 they should be particularly cautious that they 
 do not also abandon the guidance of common 
 sense. 
 
 The moderation of Mr. Addington proving 
 totally inadequate to the views and wishes of 
 the zealous advocates for eternal war, Mr. 
 Pitt was again placed at the helm of affairs, 
 as the only man capable of conducting the 
 contest with- decision and vigor. The plan 
 of crusading was immediately revived ; and 
 by the bribes and promises of an infatuated 
 administration both Austria and Russia were 
 
 * This statement is fully confirmed by the curious pub- 
 lication of Mr. Meh. 
 
 F
 
 induced to arm. Hitherto the latter had acted 
 solely under the character of auxiliary, but 
 she now became a principal in the sanguinary 
 struggle for empire, and revealed to the world, 
 what the policy of Catherine had studied to- 
 conceal, the fatal secret of her own inferiority. 
 While contending against the indocile valour 
 of the Turks, or butchering the undisciplined 
 peasantry of Poland, the tactics of Russia were 
 formidable ; but when opposed to the science 
 of France, ber presumption and incapacity be- 
 came alike conspicuous. Her cavalry, in the 
 judgment of military men, is by far the worst 
 in y.urope ; her engineers the most ignorant ; 
 and her officers, for the must part, men raised 
 either by favour, or by the barbarous atchieve- 
 ments of untutored ferocity. Suwarow alone, 
 since the commencement of the contest with 
 revolutionary France, forms a proud excep- 
 tion to this general censure. Elevated by the 
 impulse of native genius, he soared to a level 
 with the greatest commanders which modern 
 Europe has produced. Under the garb and 
 manners of a savage, he concealed a mind en- 
 lightened by the study of history, and prepared 
 to shine in the highest military station, by a- 
 thorough acquaintance with every science ap- 
 plicable to the practice of war. 
 
 These however were unwelcome truths, not 
 Buffered to penetrate into the palace of St.
 
 . 
 
 Petersburg'. Unacquainted with the real in- 
 terests of his country, it was natural for the 
 unexperienced ardor of a youthful emperor to 
 co- siderthe precocious refinenientg of the capi- 
 tal as an unquestionable proof of the wealth and 
 prosperity of the provinces; while he exercised 
 on the parade his well dressed, and well-disci- 
 plined guards, he little suspected that the 
 greater part of his troops were fed and clothed 
 in a very different manner, and would have 
 formed a melancholy and disheartening contrast 
 with the pretorian cohorts of Russia. Ambi- 
 tious of meriting an heroic name, he plunged 
 without reflection into a war. destined to dis- 
 solve the potent charm to which his inhospita- 
 ble deserts were chiefly indebted for their un- 
 founded character of strength. 
 
 Dispirited by the recollection of her recent 
 losses, Austria, it is now universally known, 
 wouldhave been happy tohave persevered in that 
 pacific system, which the embarrassment of her 
 finances, the state of her army, and the fears of 
 her people, contributed equally to recommend. 
 Scarcely an officer joined his corps, (and I now 
 speak from personal observation,) who was not 
 impressed with the strongest conviction of the 
 superiority of France/ and anticipated incon- 
 sequence the disgrace and ruin of his coun- 
 try. 
 
 Though endowed with those splendid talents ^
 
 . 
 
 ' 
 36- 
 
 \vliidi are peculiarly qualified to fascinate and 
 surprize, the genius of Mr. Pitt was never in- 
 tended by nature for the stormy scenes in which 
 he was placed. Inordinary times,when the affairs 
 of nations flowed on in an even course, he might 
 have descended iothe grave with the unblemished 
 reputation of an able financier, and an accom- 
 plished orator, and might possibly have been 
 placed by an admiring nation on a level with 
 a Colbert, a Sully, or a Cecil. But the extra- 
 ordinary changes produced by the French re- 
 volution renidered all former combinations un- 
 certain, and created an era in the political 
 world, which set precedentatdefiance,andbaffled 
 speculation. From the beginning of the con- 
 test, Mr. Pitt appears to have miscalculated 
 the resqurces of France ; and to have regarded 
 the war as an ordinary struggle for the acqui- 
 sition of a sugar island, or of a military station, 
 instead of contemplating it in its true light, a 
 contest between freedom and tyranny, reason 
 and prejudice, superstition and philosophy. 
 From such a mighty effort, if properly direct- 
 ed, results might have been expected in the 
 highest degree favourable to the condition of , 
 man. I mean not to become the apologist of * 
 atheism and murder. 1 execrate the atrocities 
 of the French revolutionists as much as Mr. 
 Burke. The enthusiasm of the people was 
 
 p
 
 artfully perverted to the most atrocious pur- 
 poses. The friends of sober and moderate re- 
 form were buried under the ruins of their 
 distracted country, and the throne of despotism 
 has been accordingly erected, where the temple 
 of liberty should have towered. 
 
 Though it was evident to the world that no 
 real advantage could arise from another coali- 
 tion without the concurrence of Prussia, yet 
 so eager were ministers for the renewal of hos- 
 tilities, that they determined again to plunge 
 in all the horrors of war, without ascertaining 
 the intentions of the cabinet of Berlin. This part 
 of the subject, however, hasbeen so ably treated 
 in a pamphlet published in 1806, under thetitle 
 of ef An Inquiry into the State of the Nation," 
 that I shall confine my observations within 
 very narrow limits. Conscious of my own ig- 
 norance of military affairs, I speak with diffi- 
 dence of the march of an army, or the conduct 
 of a siege ; and scarcely ever venture to give 
 an opinion, unsanctioned by that of professional 
 men. I was however assured, by an officer of 
 rank in the Hessian service, who felt indig- 
 nant at the vacillating policy of Berlin, that 
 nothing could have been easier than for the 
 Electoral troops, in concert with the Prussians 
 usually cantoned in the division of Magdeburg, 
 to have surrounded Marshal Bernadotte's army 
 in Hanover, and taken them prisoners without
 
 the loss of a man. This vlan, he said, might 
 have been executed in eight and forty hours, 
 as the officers were all on the alert; and no- 
 thing was wanting except an order from the 
 king. 
 
 Such a hold and decisive stroke would have 
 given splendour to the arms of the allies, and 
 operated as an inducement to Saxony, and the 
 other German powers of an inferior order, to 
 join hand and heart in the. common cause. 
 But it was the destiny of Prussia to act with 
 equal imprudence, whether s':e preserved 
 her neutrality, or hroke it. The balance of 
 Europe was now in her ha;ids; by one act of 
 decision she might have turned the scale, and 
 averted the calamities which so speedily en- 
 sued. Whereas by remaining a tranquil 
 spectatress of the fall of Austria, she paved 
 the \vay for her own annihilation. Aam tua res 
 agitur paries duni proximns ardet. is a truth 
 that neither the powers of oratory, the records 
 of history, nor even the impressive lesson of 
 personal danger, could imprint on the minds 
 of the great continental powers. The capi- 
 tulation of Ulm, and its consequent disasters, 
 compelled the emperor to purchase peace by 
 the cession of Italy, and of the Tyrol. The 
 former, inestimable from the fertility of its soil, 
 thegenius ofitsinhabitants, and the magnificence 
 of its cities, those splendid seat of riches, of
 
 39 
 
 cience, and of art. The latter scarcely in- 
 serior in value, from the importance of its 
 'tuation as a military post, and the unshaken 
 o^ altv of its inhabitants. 
 
 Thus ended the third coalition, like every 
 former effort for the emancipation of Europe* 
 in rivetting her fetters more tenaciously. The 
 dreadful example of rashness and folly, so 
 fatally elucidated in the plains of Austerlitz, 
 might have sufficed to shew that disgrace and 
 ruin must inevitably result from any fresh 
 competition with France, , while Bonaparte 
 continued at the head of her armies. Ye t 
 such was the madness of Prussia, that he ha'd 
 no sooner humbled her hereditary rival, and 
 driven back the barbarous hordes of Russia, 
 disgraced and diminished to their native snows, 
 than she resolved with unexampled temerity, 
 to meet the conqueror. Having once embraced 
 this desperate resolution, and secured the con- 
 currence of the emperor Alexander, she 
 formed a plan of operations exactly calculated 
 to preclude the assistance of that powerful ally. 
 Instead of waiting the arrival of the Russian 
 troops, who were pouring to her succour from 
 the frozen regions of the pole, and to whom 
 the comparative mildness of a German winter 
 would have appeared soft and genial as a 
 summer campaign, she boldly advanced into 
 the plains of Saxony, resolute to set the chance
 
 of empire on the event of a single battle, and 
 vainly flattering herself that the cumbersome 
 tactics of Germany might for once be able to 
 outstrip a warrior whose most astonishing 
 quality is celerity. 
 
 At the earnest request of the king M. G enz \va 
 , invited to the head quarters at Erfurt, for the 
 ostensible purpose of preparing a manifesto, 
 but more probably with the design of engag- 
 ing him if possible, to exert his influence 
 with Austria, in order to induce her to become 
 a party in the war. During his residence in 
 
 Ihe camp, he kept a regular journal of all his 
 conversations with the generals and ministers 
 of Prussia. This important document was 
 communicated to me by a friend of the author, 
 and a most melancholy entertainment it afford- 
 ed. This mighty host, which had courted 
 
 ' danger with the chivalrous temerity of knight- 
 
 . errantry,appears never to have calculated upon 
 the possibility of a reverse ; but to have sup- 
 
 ' posed that system irresistible which had 
 formerly subjected Silesia. Hence, after the 
 defeat and death of the gallant prince Louis, 
 the camp presented a scene of confusion which 
 presaged the most fatal results. Destitute of 
 the confidence of the troops, and mistrusting 
 his own capacity, the commander in chief 
 issued an order one moment and revoked it the 
 next. The vacillation of the general was too
 
 clearly demonstrated in every act, to escape 
 observation; and in the minds of all who were 
 best able to appreciate military talents, every 
 hope of success was abandoned, unless the 
 direction of the array was immediately com- 
 mitted to abler hands. Mr. Genz asserts, that 
 on the eve of the battle of Jena, he was 
 engaged in an interesting conversation with 
 General Kalkreuth, at Weimar, when a de- 
 putation, composed of officers of rank and 
 distinction, abruptly entered the room. After 
 apologizing for their intrusion, one of them 
 stated, in the name of the army, that the in- 
 capacity of their leader, (I grieve to mention 
 a gallant man in terms of so little respect) 
 appeared so clearly in all his operations, that 
 if he were permitted any longer to retain the 
 command^ the ruin of their country was inevi- 
 table. The perilous situation in which they 
 were placed was sufficient, they thought, to 
 justify the adoption of measures unsanctioned 
 by precedent, but rendered indispensable by 
 the imperious law of necessity. The safety of 
 the king, the lives of thousands, and the still 
 unsullied glory of the Prussian name, de- 
 pended on the decision of the moment. They 
 therefore requested General Kalkreuth in the 
 most impressive manner, to lay before the king 
 an honest picture of the dangers which sur- 
 rounded him, accompanied with the earnest
 
 42 
 
 prayer of his gallant troops, that he would 
 be pleased to remove their present chh'f, and 
 entrust the conduct of the army to the only 
 man (bowing to General Kalkreuth) whose 
 talents were calculated to inspire hope, even 
 in the present hour of distress. It was impos- 
 .sible for a heart alive to glory, to receive with 
 indifference this flattering testimony from the 
 mouths of those, who had fought and conquer- 
 ed by his side. Having expressed to the of- 
 ficers his warmest thanks for this honourable 
 mark of their approbation, and explained to 
 them the impossibility of complying with 
 their request, or even of obtruding his unso- 
 licited advice on the royal ear, he ear- 
 nestly requested them to retire. No represen- 
 tations, however, could induce them to depart, 
 till they had extorted a promise, that if vo- 
 luntarily offered by the king, without any 
 suggestions of his own, he would not decline 
 the perilous honour. 
 
 The fatal catastrophe, anticipated by judg- 
 ment rather than by fear, was completely 
 realized the following day, by the destruction 
 of a power erected by the daring genius of a 
 hero, and which wanted a hero to support it. 
 The death of the duke of Brunswick made 
 ample atonement for his errors. There is a 
 period of ^fe when men should retire from the 
 command of armies, or the government of
 
 43 
 
 states. Had this unfortunate prince been con- 
 tent to repose upon the laurels which he 
 gathered in Holland, his name might have 
 been transmitted to after ages in undisputed 
 possession of the praise so liberally be- 
 stowed by the royal historian of the seven years 
 war. 
 
 The extinction of a great and warlike em- 
 pire by the loss of a single battle, an event 
 without a parallel in the annals of modern 
 Europe, is calculated to shew that of all forms 
 of government a military despotism is the most 
 insecure. To give developement to the ideas 
 excited by this extraordinary vicissitude of 
 fortune,, would require far more leisure than 
 I can at present spare. I must therefore con- 
 tent myself with a few observations respecting 
 the impolicy of Austria in neglecting to profit 
 by a favourable moment, that was never des- 
 tined to recur. Had the armies, collected on 
 the frontiers of Poland, been suffered to ad- 
 vance, after the battle of Eylau had given a 
 temporary check to the impetuous career of 
 Napoleon, the fortune of the campaign might 
 have been reversed ; and Prussia, reinstated in 
 all she had lost, might still retain her 
 preponderating influence in Europe. But the 
 pitiful jealousies, originally excited by the . 
 conquest of Silesia, were obstacles which the 
 Austrian cabinet had neither wisdom nor mag-
 
 nanimity to overcome. Influenced alone by 
 the mean spirit of retaliation, and sensible only 
 to recent injuries, they did enough to kindle the 
 resentment of Bonaparte, without daring to do 
 auy thing that might improve their own situa- 
 tion. While they foolishly fluctuated between 
 envy and fear, the Russians were exterminated 
 at Friedland, and the treaty of Tilsit was 
 signed. 
 
 When we read the manifesto, by which with 
 chivalrous generosity the emperor Alexander 
 announced to the world, his resolution never 
 to lay down the sword, till he had driven the 
 French out of Germany, we little expected that 
 he would terminate the contest by consenting 
 to the dismemberment of that very country 
 which he so pompously promised to defend ; 
 much less that he would descend to accept a 
 paltry share in the. plunder of a brother, as the 
 disgraceful price of his submission to France. 
 
 It is impossible seriously to examine the 
 conduct of Prussia, and still to deny that she 
 merited her fate. It is not on her account that I 
 bewail her fall. The complex system of po- 
 litical prostitution to which she had so long 
 and so basely adhered, deprived her deservedly 
 of that generous sympathy to which fallen 
 greatness has so just a claim. But as a leading 
 member of the European common-wealth, I 
 lament her misfortunes. I lament the loss of
 
 45 
 
 her armies, the loss of her fortresses ; I lament 
 to see her dissevared territories in the hands of 
 an upstart, and dependent on a nation which 
 presumptuously assumes the significant appel- 
 lation of GREAT. 
 
 I must here regret, in common with every 
 friend to the liberties of mankind, that the 
 benevolent intentions of that illustrious states- 
 man whose loss was irreparable to the world, 
 should have failed of completion. 
 
 Neither is it less a subject of bitter reflection, 
 that the rupture of the negociation should have 
 arisen solely from the attention of England to 
 the interests of a power, by whom she was so 
 soon, and so shamefully deserted. The offers, 
 made to Lord Lauderdale at Paris, were no less 
 honourable, than advantageous to this country. 
 Tor the character of Mr. Fox inspired confi- 
 dence in the sincerity of England, which her 
 recent conduct had been too well calculated 
 to impair. That the wishes of our enemy were 
 pacific, is clearly demonstrated in the proposal 
 of M. Talleyrand, to restore Hanover, Malta, 
 and the Cape ; observing " that the first was 
 " for the honour of the crown, the second for 
 " the honour of the navy, and the latter for the 
 " honour of British commerce." 
 
 These propositions, with the valuable ad- 
 dition of Pondicherry, Chandenagore, and 
 Tobago, were positively rejected by Lord 
 Laudtrdale, with the express declaration, " that
 
 " he felt himself bound to consider the oMain- 
 " ing for Russia the arrangements which she 
 " desired, as an object more interesting ifpossi- 
 <f ble to England, than those points which 
 " might be regarded as peculiarly connected 
 " with her own interests.*" 
 
 The unsuccessful issue of these conferences is 
 the more to be lamented, because had they ended 
 favourably, two important objects would hare 
 been gained, independently of the waste of 
 treasure and of blood inseparable from every 
 campaign. The power of Prussia was then 
 unbroken; neither was her inherent weakness 
 suspected. For the glory of Frederic was so 
 far identified with the nation over which he 
 reigned, that it gave splendor and celebrity 
 even to her greatest defects. Yet had her po- 
 pulation and revenues been duly appreciated, it 
 must have appeared beyond a doubt, that the 
 
 * The extent of these arrangements, and the probability 
 of obtaining them in the then situation of Europe, maj be 
 inferred from a paper delivered to the emperor of the French 
 by prince Dalgarouky, a few days previous to the battle of 
 Austerlifz. In compassion to the reader the author has 
 curtailed, as much as possible, the painful catalogue of 
 modern folly. He need only recall to his recollection 
 the catamaran project,the frequent and almost yearly changes 
 in our military system, Buenos Ayres, &c, &r. He has 
 purposely omitted making any comments on the murder of 
 theFrench ministers at Radstedt, and on the ttrange proceed- 
 ings at Naples in 1790. Credite poitcri !!!
 
 47 
 
 part which she had sustained during half a cen- 
 tury, had kept every nerve and sinew in an 
 unnatural state of extension, which could not 
 fail to impair her vital strength. Hence it 
 might have been inferred, that upon the first 
 reverse of fortune, the bubble would burst, and 
 she would sink under the weight of her own 
 incumbrances. 
 
 But another evil, and one still more impor- 
 tant, would have been prevented. The for- 
 mation of the Rhenish confederacy has sur- 
 rounded France with tributary states, and 
 placed at her disposal the troops and treasures 
 of many vassal kings. The stated contingents 
 which these miserable pageants are compelled 
 to furnish with the most scrupulous exactness 
 at the beck of their master, amount to no less 
 than one hundred thousand effective men. 
 This number, substracted from the population 
 of Germany, and thrown into the opposite 
 scale, creates a difference in the relative force of 
 thetvvo countries to the enormous extent oftwo 
 hundred "thousand men. JBy this fatal expedi- 
 ent, (to use the vigorous language of Mr. 
 Burke), Germany has been blotted out from 
 the map of Europe ; and virtually converted 
 from an independent nation, into a province 
 subject to France. No plan of aggrandize- 
 ment, which ambition might have adopted, 
 could have proved more conducive to the ob-
 
 48 
 
 ject in view, than the creation of a number of 
 federative states, progressively strengthened at 
 the expense of those who disdained to be the 
 slaves of France, and which extends the chain 
 of her power with little interruption, from 
 the banks of the Rhine to those of the Vistula, 
 and from the shores of the Baltic to the shores 
 of Calabria. The influence of the house of 
 Austria over the Germanic empire was thus 
 transferred into the hands of Bonaparte, with 
 the pompous title of Protector of the Rhenish 
 Confederacy ; and nothing seemed wanting but 
 another coalition to confine her entirely to 
 Hungary and Transylvania, thus virtually ex- 
 cluding her from any further share in the ge- 
 neral politics of Europe. This important point 
 has been clearly shewn in the admirable pam- 
 phlet to which I before alluded.* 
 
 I have hitherto omitted to mention Lord 
 Mulgrave's note to M. Talleyrand, in reply 
 to a letter addressed to his Britannic Majesty, 
 under date of 2nd of January, 1805, by Bona- 
 parte, immediately after his assumption of the 
 imperial dignity. The grand feature of this 
 communication is its absurdity. For what 
 can be more ridiculous than for ministers to 
 talk of their anxiety for peace, at a time when 
 they reject the only means by which peace can 
 be obtained. It is natural for a courtier to 
 
 * Inquiry into the State of the Nation.
 
 49 
 
 shelter his duplicity under the flimsy veil of 
 etiquette ; but it is difficult for professions to 
 deceive a nation, when directly contradicted by 
 facts. The unprecedented mode of communi- 
 cation, for the second time adopted by the ruler 
 of France, was treated by the friends of govern- 
 ment as in the highest degree insolent and pre- 
 sumptuous ; though they would have probably 
 considered a similar step from the head of the 
 ancient dynasty, as a mark of respect and cor- 
 diality. Great God! to talk of precedent at 
 a time to which no former precedent applies. 
 The prostration of Europe is unprecedented ; 
 the power of France is also unprecedented since 
 the proudest era of Rome, The situation, alas ! 
 is also unprecedented to which England has 
 been reduced by the incapacity of men, who 
 professed, like Lord Mulgrave, " to be ready 
 c< to avail themselves of the first opportunity to 
 " procure again the advantages of peace," 
 while they indignantly spurned at every over- 
 ture. It is far easier to vilify the character of 
 Bonaparte, than to imitate it. With all his 
 crimes, and all his excesses, it is now univer- 
 sally admitted that since the da}-s of Julius 
 Ciusar, Europe has not beheld so extraordinary 
 a man. Among most of those who have been 
 honoured by their contemporaries with the 
 title of great, he shines velut inter igncs lima 
 winores. I must apologize for the incorrect? 
 
 ii
 
 50 
 
 ness of the simile. The star of Napoleon bor- 
 rows not its radiancy from a brighter lumi- 
 nary; but communicates splendor to a subor- 
 dinate system of dependent satellites, which, 
 deprived of his reflected lustre, would never have 
 glimmered in the political hemisphere. 
 
 The difficulties opposed by his Majesty's 
 ministers to every proposal that originated with 
 France, were surely sufficient to have persuaded 
 the nation, as they did the rest of the world, 
 that no change of principle, nor vicissitude of 
 fortune, could ever produce that particular 
 crisis, when, in their opinion, it would be 
 safe and honourable to treat. Yet notwith- 
 standing the rejection of his former offtrs ; this 
 tremendous foe, whose hatred to Great Britain 
 is called implacable, made three other attempts 
 at negociation, in the course of the year 1807. 
 
 These are so well known to the public, that 
 I shall do little more than enumerate them in 
 chronological order. The first came through 
 the medium of the Austrian ambassador in the 
 month of April, and was accepted by Mr. Can- 
 ning, " as far as England was concerned, sub- 
 " ject only to the condition of a like accept- 
 '"" ance, on the part of all the powers who were 
 "engaged in the war." This declaration was 
 accompanied by an assurance, " that his Ma- 
 " jesty would lose no time in communicating 
 " with the poweis connected with him by the 
 *' bonds of amity ; and if their vieus should 
 
 , 
 I
 
 51 
 
 " be favourable to his imperial Majesty's pro- 
 t( posal, of concerting with them the mode in 
 " which such negociations should be opened, 
 "&c." 
 
 This Av-as precisely the answer of the Secretary 
 of State for Foreign Affairs; and yet no public 
 document was produced to shew that any steps 
 were ever taken in order to carry it into effect. 
 Neither does it appear, that any farther com- 
 munication took place on the subject between 
 this country and Austria, till the month of 
 November, when a fresh proposal was made 
 by prince Stahremberg. Had the first over- 
 ture been accepted, it is highly probable that 
 the debasement of Russia might have been 
 prevented, as the battle of Friedland was not 
 fought till the 14th of June, and the proposi- 
 tion of the emperor to act as mediator was 
 transmitted to Mr. Canning on the 18th of 
 April. Had a negociation commenced, we 
 may fairly infer that hostilities would have 
 been suspended in Poland ; and had that been 
 the case, we should not now have seen the 
 councils of Russia entirely guided by the as- 
 cendancy of France, and the emperor Alexan- 
 der moving, like a puppet, at the will of Cau- 
 lancourt. 
 
 By one of the articles of the treaty of Tilsit, 
 our quondam-magnanimous ally was allowed 
 to offer his mediation to effect a peace between 
 
 Great Britain and France, provided it should 
 
 ' 
 
 .
 
 52 
 
 be accepted within a month. To the notifica- 
 tion of M. Alopeus, who officially imparted 
 the intentions of his master, Mr. Canning, after 
 dwelling long upon the pacific views of the 
 king, required, as a preliminary, that lie should 
 he made acquainted with the secret articles of 
 the treaty of Tilsit, and that he should likewise 
 be informed of the exact terms upon which 
 France wa^> inclined to treat. From the nature 
 of this demand, fresh intrusions became neces- 
 sury from St. P. the discussion 
 
 .-5 accordingly removed thither,and entrusted 
 to the management of Lord G. L. Gouer. 
 It cannot be deni-d tli.it the explanation 
 , en by General Dudberg was far from satis- 
 factory. Like the responses of the ;,>;dent 
 oracles, that minister's statement was calculat- 
 ed to admit of two opposite constructions ; 
 cither " that there were some secretarticles,7zo//e 
 " of which concerned the interests of England," 
 or" \\\&\.someof them only <\\<\ not ci.-nciru them." 
 It, however, appeared from this conversation, 
 that the French emperor had communicated to 
 his imperial ally the basis upon which he was 
 prepared to treat. 
 
 Tins important point having been ascer- 
 tained, it was natural to suppose that the 
 anxiety for Qace, so repeatedly proclaimed by 
 his majesty's ministers, would have induced 
 them to avail themselves of the favourable op- 
 portunity. No such thing. The only object
 
 M 
 
 which seems to have influenced the mind of the 
 Secretary of State was to display his talents as 
 an author. In every dispatch we may visibly 
 discover the pretensions of a man, who con- 
 siders a well sounding period to be an irrefra- 
 gable proof of political wisdom ; and regards a 
 quiz, or a lampoon as the highest attainments 
 which the genius of a statesman can reach. 
 But while this eloquent gentleman was flourish- 
 in and parrying with his pen, an account of 
 the bombardment of Copenhagen, and the 
 capture of the Danish fleet, arrived at St. 
 Petersburg; and excited so much indignation 
 in the mind of the emperor, that he refused any 
 longer to maintain an amicable intercourse will? 
 a nation, which had so outrageously violated 
 the sacred laws of humanity. I fairly confess 
 that at the time of aggression, I was inclined 
 to impute this violent measure to the impe- 
 rious dictates of necessity ; and gave credit 
 to ministers for possessing such information as 
 might in some measure palliate its almost un- 
 paralleled atrocity. Had this been the case, 
 a regard for decency would surely have tempt- 
 ed even the witty apostle of the new morality to 
 have produced it, if not in justification of hi* 
 own honour, at least as due to that of the 
 nation. But subsequent events have led me t 
 suspect, that I was more indulgent to minis- ' 
 ters than they deserved, and that I greatly 
 overrated the penetration of men, who were
 
 54 
 
 . 
 utterly unacquainted with the pestilential 
 
 climate of Walcheren,* and who so far mistook 
 the Spanish character as to believe that imbe- 
 cility and indolence might successfully con- 
 tend against the skill and activity of the 
 French. 
 
 This rooted animosity, so affectedly disguised 
 under the thread-bare veil of conciliation, was 
 still more strikingly exemplified in the answer 
 returned to the second proposal of Austria. It 
 would be useless to comment on the insincerity 
 of professions so frequently and so ineffectu- 
 ally made; or to shew with what eagerness his 
 majesty's ministers recurred to forms, instead 
 of manfully declaring their aversion to peace. 
 The reasons alleged by the Secretary of State, 
 for refusing to give credit to the intentions of 
 France, are every way worthy of their con- 
 triver. For could it once be established as an 
 
 * I did not intend to have said any thing more upon this 
 disgraceful subject at present, because 1 wanted language 
 to express my feelings. But it is impossible to remain si- 
 lent, when an attempt is made to implicate the honour of the 
 British navy. Let the sense and generosity of a grateful 
 nation resist the insidious attack ! Let them unite with the 
 city in demanding an inquiry, which becomes now more 
 necessary than ever. lu firm, but respectful language, let 
 them carry to the throne the undisguised sentiments of their 
 hearts, and express their abhorrence of the conduct of men, 
 who in order to screen the general, whom they so impru- 
 dently selected for an important command, are mad enough 
 to risk the existence of the country, by offending those, on 
 \\hom she almost entirely depends for her safety.
 
 55 
 
 axiom in politics, that an attempt to negotiate 
 is a sign of hostility ; it would follow of 
 course, that the/nlost convincing proof, which 
 can possibly be given of a pacific disposition, 
 
 IS TO REJECT EVERY OVERTURE FOR PEACE. 
 
 The result of this effort proved exactly such 
 as was anticipated, and probably sought after, 
 by ministers. Educated in all the prejudices 
 of the ancient school, and wedded to them by 
 the united impulse of reason and habit, Prince 
 Stahremberg demanded his passports, and quit- 
 ted a country, whose diplomatic language he 
 was no longer able to comprehend. 
 
 Thus ended all prospect of peace, and left 
 Great Britain in that happy state to which her 
 minister had strove to conduct her. Separated 
 from all connection with the continent of 
 Europe, no less by the policy of her govern- 
 ment, than by the tempestuous element that 
 encircles her shore?, she was reduced exactly to 
 the situation* in which France was placed at 
 the commencement of the revolutionary war. 
 There existed not a power in the civilised world 
 whom she could call her friend, except Swe- 
 den and the United States of America. Con- 
 nected as we are with the trans-atlantic re- 
 publics by consanguinity of blood, by mutual 
 pursuits and mutual interests, by similarity of 
 language, by customs, habits, and fashions, it 
 required some ingenuity on the part of 
 the ministry, to dissolve an union cement-
 
 56 
 
 cd by so many ties. But the mind of the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer was never at a loss 
 for expedients, when the grand desideratum 
 of universal hostility was to be accomplished. 
 
 Now as it is impossible to suppose that an 
 able financier who has studied political eco- 
 nomy in Westminster Hall, can have any other 
 motive for loving M : ar, than because it is at- 
 tended with bloodshed and expense, 1 am half 
 inclined to believe that there is some myste- 
 rious blessing in store for the nation, which 
 
 n:v limited understanding is unable to discover, 
 
 * ^ 
 
 And this supposition acquires additional pro- 
 bability, when 1 find the minister so anxiously 
 bent on fulfilling his purpose, that he readily 
 consents to every* sacrifice, even that of our 
 commerce, to attain it. This I conceive to 
 K- a point of view under \vhichthc subject has 
 
 neve: yet been regarded : I shall therefore state 
 
 * 
 
 the case as briefly as I can, and leave the in- 
 ference to be drawn by the public. 
 
 Our ships were excluded from all the ports 
 of K u rope by the preponderating influence 
 of France, but by the means of American 
 bottoms, our manufactures continued to find 
 their way into the foreign market, and were 
 publicly sold in ail the cities or". (uTinany, 
 It;:ly and even France itself, under the name of 
 American goods. In vain did Xapuleon 
 thunder out decree after decree, and. enforce 
 his prohibition^ with rigoroi. rity. He
 
 . 
 
 might as well have forbidden the rain to Pall, 
 or the wind to blow. Our coffee and sugar 
 were universally drunk in every house on the 
 Continent, and our cottons and cloths as uni- 
 versally worn at Berlin, Milan, Amsterdam, 
 and Paris. This contraband trade was carried 
 to so great an extent that it prevented the ruin 
 of our manufacturers. What now does the 
 minister do? Why he issues the proclama- 
 tion, which from mistaken motives has been 
 so generally reprobated, under the title of 
 OKDERS OF COUNCIL, and hermetically closes 
 all the ports of Europe against the produce of 
 England and her colonies. Some parts of his 
 system have been sadly misconceived. It was 
 presumed to be his intention to have excited 
 a general revolt in all the provinces of France, 
 by depriving the natives of Jesuits' bark and 
 Indigo. No such thing. His reasons I con- 
 fess are too obscure for me to explain, but 
 without doubt they are equally wise; unless 
 the reader is prepared to agree in opinion 
 with some of his friends, that Napoleon 
 the great is the dreadful instrument of Provi- 
 dence, designed to accomplish some mighty 
 change in the established order of things, and 
 that all the princes in Europe, together with 
 their generals and ministers, their Chatham?, 
 and their Percivals, are driven on by a su- 
 pernatural impulse to act in the manner 
 
 i
 
 58 
 
 most conducive to the fulfilment of that 
 great and momentous dispensation. 
 
 From the foregoing statement, \vhich I have 
 endeavoured to render as concise and clear as 
 I am able, one farming inference may be 
 drawn, viz. that whatever is not subject to the 
 dominion of Great Britain, is virtually depen- 
 dent upon France. She may indeed affect 
 to treat the continental , wers as free 
 states ; she may solicit one to acknowledge a 
 newly created sovereign, and court another to 
 guarantee a treaty; but she feels that her 
 wishes must be equally complied with, whether 
 delivered in the friendly language of a request, 
 or the haughty tone of a mandate. Of this no 
 man in his senses entertains the smallest doubt. 
 The conviction is lamentable ; but what is still 
 more grievous to an English heart, is the sad 
 reflection that this tremendous fabric of mili- 
 tary despotism has been raised by the folly 
 and the corruption of England. Had our 
 ministers been blessed with common prudence, 
 or the representatives of the people been only 
 half as attentive to the interests of the nation, 
 as to their own, these things could have never 
 happened. With the infatuation of madmen we 
 rushed into the war, with the infatuation of 
 madmen we still pursue it ; though every suc- 
 cessive attack has added to the power which it 
 was meant to overturn ; and every successive
 
 campaign, by deteriorating our prospects, has 
 curtailed our means of negociation. 
 
 Had we even accepted the proposals which 
 were jointly made by the emperors Alexander 
 and Napoleon at Erfurt, the final overthrow 
 of the Austrian monarchy might in all proba- 
 bility have been prevented. It will undoubt- 
 edly be said that we acted with a dignity be- 
 coming a mighty nation, in refusing to ac- 
 knowledge an usurper for the legitimate sove- 
 reign of Spain. God forbid! that I should 
 ever discourage those noble feelings of justice 
 and generosity, which distinguish the natives 
 of this happy island from the rest of Europe; 
 or that I should ever advise the sacrifice of 
 national honour. But states, ]ike individuals, 
 are not always at liberty to chuse that which 
 is intrinsically best ; but are compelled to 
 select among comparative evils, that which 
 is attended with the smallest danger. Before 
 we rejected the imperial offers, it would have 
 been prudent to have considered the practica- 
 bility of restoring the Bourbon line to the 
 throne of Castille, as well as the means which 
 we possessed of effecting it ; and hence 
 might have arisen a question respecting the 
 policy of wasting the armies and treasures of 
 England in a contest, which could not fail to 
 terminate in disappointment and disgrace. 
 On what can we depend for success ? Is it on 
 the energy of a people debased by superstition
 
 60 
 
 and despotism, who have nothing to lose and 
 little to gain in the contest ? Is it on the ex- 
 ertions of a nobility, scarcely leas higoted 
 and ignorant, who fight for privilege and not 
 for freedom, and are prepared for the most part 
 to offer at the shrine of a conqueror, the 
 homage of flattery, so long and shamefully 
 prostituted to the upstart minion of the 
 queen ? Is it on the patriotism of a Junta, who 
 caught with avidity at every subterfuge to 
 postpone the meeting of the Cortes, forgetting 
 that it is necessary, in order to make men 
 brave, to give them rights that are worth 
 defending, and who, from the apprehension of 
 meeting with the censure which their dastardly 
 conduct deserved, foolishly restricted the 
 liberty of the press, the only instrument capa- 
 ble of infusing tenor into the callous bosom of 
 their oppressor? Our enemy lost not this 
 favourable opportunity ; but instantly taking 
 advantage of the supineness of his foes, by the 
 abolition of the inquisition, the suppression 
 of feudal jurisdictions; and the equalization 
 of territorial imposts, conferred more solid 
 blessings upon the people of Spain in the space 
 of a year, tban the boasted humanity of their 
 ancient rulers had done in a century.* 
 
 * Those who are desirous of meeting with more ample 
 details respecting these chef-i? ocuvrcs of ministerial sagacity, 
 may Cud them in abundance in the last six numbers of the 
 Edinburgh Reriew.
 
 61 
 
 That our troops will accomplish all that 
 human valour can achieve, has been proved on 
 the plains of Maida, and on the sands of Alex- 
 andria. But what could be expected from a 
 handful of heroes, when opposed to the nu- 
 merous legions which Bonaparte is able to 
 muster? Besides, the superior skill of his 
 generals in the grand evolutions of an extensive 
 campaign was sufficient toi inspire the most 
 sanguine with alarm. Yet inferior as we were 
 thought in the science of arras, it was re- 
 served for Cintra and Talavera to manifest to 
 the world, that it is possible for a defeat to 
 prove more advantageous than a victory; and 
 e/en for a victory to be attended with all the 
 disastrous consequences of a defeat. 
 
 That we shall be ultimately constrained to 
 acknowledge Joseph Bonaparte as king of 
 Spain, or as emperor of Turkey, should his 
 brother please in the pride of power to confer 
 on him the Ottoman sceptre, is a melancholy 
 truth, which no candid enquirer can deny. 
 What then is to be gained by protracting the 
 contest? We may send armies to Lisbon, and 
 armies to Ferrol, and order our generals (even 
 when by chance they are selected with discern- 
 ment) to submit to the guidance of a commis, 
 incapable of perceiving that he is deceived 
 by every one who approaches him ; who with 
 a generous credulity, not quite so well suited 
 to the profession of a minister, as to that of
 
 62 
 
 a monk, believes that soldiers, like the forces of 
 Cadmus, spring up completely equipt from every 
 clod; and who, though actually living within 
 a few leagues of Madrid, was the last man in. 
 the peninsula, to learn tiiat the capital was in 
 the hands of the French. But this will avail 
 us nothing. It is not in the power of Great 
 Britain to prevent Joseph Bonaparte from being 
 sovereign of Spain. The folly of the under- 
 taking is strikingly exemplified in the dis- 
 patches of Sir John Moore, who in spite of dif- 
 ficulties and dangers, which nothing could 
 have overcome but skill and courage like his 
 own, by his judicious plans disconcerted the 
 deep laid schemes of the enemy, and convinced 
 Bonaparte that there is nothing too arduous for 
 British valour to perform, when led to victory 
 by a hero. 
 
 If all our efforts to replace the captiv* 
 sovereigns on the throne of Spain, are destined 
 to fail, it would surely be prudent to make a 
 merit of necessity, and to endeavour at least to 
 procure spine advantage in return, instead of 
 ultimately yielding, without the hope of com- 
 pensation, to the triumphant arms of a victor. 
 It would have proved no ordinary benefit to 
 the world to have impeded the final destruction 
 of Austria ; who, prostrate now at the con- 
 queror's feet, holds her precarious throne at 
 his pleasure. Let any mas examine a map of
 
 Europe, and if he is not blessed with feelings 
 very different from mine, he will shudder at 
 contemplating the diminution of power to 
 which she has been reduced by the battle of 
 Wag ram. Cutoff from all communication with 
 the sea,exceptby the uncertain channel of a river, 
 one bank of which is subject to a prince the ally 
 and tool of Napoleon, she has no longer the 
 possibility of receiving a pound of coffee or a 
 cask of sugar, without the express permission 
 of her conqueror. Separated from Italy by a 
 chain of mountains, which the tactics of the 
 enemy will easily render impassable; and from 
 France by the tributary kingdoms of Bavaria 
 and Wirtemberg, growing daily more formid- 
 able at her expence, she has almost ceased to 
 exist as an European power. The outposts of 
 the enemy are now advanced within three days 
 march of Vienna, which it is equally danger- 
 ous to fortify, or to leave in its present de- 
 fenceless state. Should the successor of 
 Charles V. be ever rash enough to resume the 
 sword, he must be reduced to the distressing 
 alternative of chusing which to abandon of his 
 two remaining kingdoms, Bohemia or Hun- 
 gary, and probably that which he leaves to its 
 fate, will be for ever severed from his domi- 
 nion. His cessions of Poland, (no unmerited 
 punishment for usurpation) by totally unco- 
 vering his northern frontier, may be prodnctire
 
 64 
 
 of evils scarcely less disastrous than the enor- 
 mous loss of population and revenue. 
 
 The limits, prescribed to an ephemeral pub- 
 lication, will not allow me to pursue this sub- 
 ject farther. Enough however has been al- 
 ready said, to awaken the attention of thinking 
 minds, and I write noc for those who can 
 calmly contemplate all human calamities, pro- 
 vided they affect not the English markets, 
 men capable of sitting clown with callous in- 
 sensibility to calculate the advantage which 
 speculating, prudence may derive from the 
 loss of a fleet, or from the destructive violence 
 of a hurricane. 
 
 It is no unusual thing, in reviewing the 
 situation of the inhabitants of the countries sub- 
 jugated by France, for Englishmen to attribute 
 to them sentiments analogous to their own. 
 They wonder at the apathy so universally pre- 
 valent from Copenhagen to Naples ; they are 
 astonished that great and populous countries 
 should have yielded without a struggle to the 
 Gallic yoke ; and they tax them with coward- 
 ice and disaffection for not rising to a man to 
 defend their constitution, totally forgetting 
 that they had no constitution to defend. The 
 feeling of patriotism, the noblest certainly that 
 the heart of man can embrace, is confined al- 
 most exclusively to the British isles; every 
 where else it is an unmeaning sound, existing
 
 65 
 
 solely in the pages of poetry, but totally ei= 
 eluded from the human bosom. We love our 
 country, and venerate our laws, because they 
 deserve our veneration and love ; because they 
 protect the poor from the oppression of him, 
 on whom fortune has showered her choicest 
 gifts, by establishing an equality founded on 
 reason, and prescribed by nature^ which is in 
 fact the only one that can ever exist. But for 
 what should the Prussian peasant fight ? Does 
 he possess any thing worth the hazard of life? 
 The military conscriptionestablished in Franc^, 
 oppressive as it appears to a British eye, is a 
 code of mercy compared with the system 
 of Frederic the Great. By the latter he is 
 destined from his cradle to be a soldier, by the 
 former the ballot decides his fate; and even 
 should he be enrolled in the Gallic legions, he 
 is sure of being treated with far greater lenity, 
 than he would have been in the service of his 
 country. The same remark will apply to Rus- 
 sia with equal, or even greater propriety. I 
 was myself once in company with a gentleman 
 of high rank in that country, who, upon being- 
 asked how it was possible for men to endure 
 such hardships as the soldiers of Alexander are 
 exposed to, carelessly replied, " ce ne sont 
 "pas des hommcs, metis des soldats Russes." 
 Can it be hoped that beings thus excluded
 
 66 
 
 from the privileges of men, will ever she\v 
 themselves in reality to be such ? It is not thus 
 that the armies of Napoleon are trained to con- 
 quest. They are taught to participate hi the 
 triumphs of their leaders, and to value the na- 
 tional glory as their own. A Russian or a 
 Prussian may be instructed to move with the 
 mechanical precision of an automaton. He 
 may encounter death with the indifference of 
 a creature who knows not the value of life; 
 but a mind so brutified will never be animated 
 with a sentiment more heroic than the passive 
 courage of despair. For should the arms of 
 the despot, by whose orders he is dragged from 
 his native hovel, be crowned with success, the 
 best he can hope for, is to return to his rags, 
 maimed and neglected, to add one unit more 
 to the miserable aggregate of slaves and beg- 
 gars, who are treated and transferred like 
 beasts of burthen, as the caprice or passion of 
 an arbitrary tyrant may decide. 
 
 Wherever the feudal system prevails in all 
 its ancient deformity, man has little to excite 
 his courage, or to animate his industry. To 
 breathe and vegetate like the ox, which 
 draws his plough, would be a state of feli- 
 city compared with that of a Russian boor. 
 Having nothing better to anticipate, and no- 
 thing worse to apprehend, he^would behold the
 
 67 
 
 fall of the empire prematurely civilized by a 
 savage Lycurgus, with the same sottish insen- 
 sibility, that he heard of the murder of the 
 husband and son of that celebrated princess, 
 upon whose crimes and vices the venal pen of 
 flattery has unblushingly prostituted the title 
 of GREAT. 
 
 These are simple facts, and are known to 
 all who have visited the north of Europe, not 
 only her courts and cities in the train of an 
 ambassador, but who have penetrated into her 
 provinces, and entered her cottages, those for- 
 lorn abodes of filth and distress. It is in the 
 latter alone that the condition of man can 
 be studied with accuracy. In the splendor of 
 St. Petersburg, the traveller may forget that 
 plants are exhausted by being forced beyond 
 their natural strength ; but if he finds poverty 
 and oppression in every district, he may pro- 
 nounce with confidence, that there is something 
 unsound at the heart. 
 
 Subjugation to France is in the estimation of 
 an Englishman, the severest calamity that hea- 
 ven could inflict, for it implies every thing- 
 most hateful to his imagination, subversion 
 of property, extinction of commerce, annihila- 
 tion of freedom. But with the exception of 
 Switzerland, and perhaps of some favoured 
 parts of the Austrian dominions, it presents it-
 
 self in very different colours to the rest of Eu- 
 rope. To them the armies of France have 
 brought emancipation from slavery; and by 
 bursting the shackles of feudal tyranny, and 
 of papal superstition, have conferred an inesti- 
 mable benefit on the world. By the first of 
 these blessings men have regained the power of 
 acting, by the second that of thinking for 
 themselves. The shock of the revolution has 
 a\vakened the Italians from a slumber of two 
 hundred years; and roused them to action by 
 every incentive that can inflame and stimu- 
 late the activity of man. Some indeed of 
 the privileged orders may have reason to 
 lament the change ; but privileged orders are 
 themselves such atrocious abuses, that the 
 equalization of privileges would be alone a 
 subject of lasting triumph to the world. The 
 abolition of monopolies, and of all asylums for 
 criminals has done more to promote the happi- 
 ness of mankind, than all the bulls and decretals 
 which ever issued from the papal see. Assassin's 
 will no longer fly in the face of insulted justice, 
 nor will the Romans be compelled to make use 
 pf rancid oil, because it is the produce of the 
 estates of a nephew of the pope.* These ob- 
 
 * This actually happened while I was at Rome. The 
 fluke of Braschi, hating obtained from his uocle Pius VI, 
 an exclusive privilege for supplying the city with oil, would
 
 69 
 
 servations will apply still more strongly to 
 Spain, for there the inquisition had erected its 
 throne amidst racks, and scourges, and auto-de 
 fe. That regenerated country may again re- 
 sume her ancient rank among the nations of the 
 earth, and the poor and indolent noble find 
 something better to do, than to bask in the 
 sun with a long sword by his side, thanking 
 heaven that he was not born a Plebeian. 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to demonstrate to 
 the meanest capacity the evils inseparable from 
 a war, which has been carried on with unabating 
 animosity, till scarcely a point of contact with- 
 out the circumference of this island, any longer 
 remains. It requires little foresight to perceive 
 that we shall soon be compelled to abandon Spain. 
 and we may then marshal our regulars and our 
 militia,our yeomanry cavalry,and our volunteers 
 on this side the channel, while all the opposite 
 coast from Flushing to Brest is covered with 
 troops. But this parade of hostilities will do 
 little more toward bringing the contest to a 
 termination, than if we were to throw our gui- 
 neas into the sea. We may frown and bluster 
 as much as we please : the coasts of France are 
 invulnerable; and I trust the British navy 
 
 not suffer any to enter the gates, till he had sold a large 
 quantity of very inferior quality, which was made upon hip 
 own estates.
 
 70 
 
 will ever oppose an insuperable barrier to the 
 ambition of Napoleon. Were it even possible 
 to form another continental league, can any 
 man be mad enough to desire it ? What then 
 remains except peace ? solid and permanent 
 peace ; peace founded on the basis of mutual 
 benefit, and which it will be for the advantage 
 of both to maintain. For it is ridiculous to 
 suppose that any peace can be lasting, unless 
 both parties find it their interest to preserve 
 it. 
 
 We hear much of the animosity which in- 
 flames the bosom of our inveterate foe; and 
 are told that it would lead him secretly to plot 
 our destruction, even in the midst of security 
 and peace. But are the feelings of Englishmen 
 less hostile towards him? Does a single day 
 pass without our offering up prayers for his 
 death ? To suppose that two nations, so long 
 engaged in a war for mutual extermination, 
 should cordially shake hands, and with Chris- 
 tian resignation forget all the blood that has 
 been shed, is to suppose every noxious passion 
 to be at once eradicated from the human heart, 
 and man to be no longer man. I readily ad- 
 ir.jt that the ruler of France holds England in 
 greater abhorrence than he does any other 
 country in the world. lie hates us because 
 we arc free, and exhibit to the world a glorious 
 .example, not exactly suited to the wishes of %
 
 71 
 
 despot. He hates us because we are powerful, 
 and can bid defiance to his threats. But he 
 views with delight the apathy of the people, 
 and the presumptuous incapacity of their ru- 
 lers ! His animosity toward England arises 
 from her wealth, her strength, and her prospe- 
 rity ; for he knows without the obstacles 
 which she has opposed he would be un- 
 disputed master of the world. But has not 
 hatred toward France been always regard- 
 ed in this country as the criterion of pa- /. 
 triotism ? She is our nearest neighbour, and 
 is consequently the power with whom it is most 
 for our comfort to live on amicable terms, and 
 therefore we consider her as an hereditary rival, 
 whom it is our duty to injure whenever we can 
 do it with impunity. This feeling augments in 
 exact proportion as her means of aggression 
 increase. In the reign of Lewis XIV. it rose 
 to an extraordinary height, and gradually 
 subsided under the imbecile government of his 
 successors, but has been kindled again with 
 greater violence than ever by the stupendous 
 triumphs of Napoleon. 
 
 We have been repeatedly told by the highest 
 authorities that no peace can be safe with Bona- 
 parte, because he will certainly break it, whenever 
 he thinks that hecan do so with advantage. But 
 is not this exactly what has been invariably prac- 
 tised, not only by all his predecessors on the
 
 72 
 
 Gallic throne, but by all the sovereigns who 
 ever reigned. Did not Lewis XVI. mild and 
 unaspiring as he was, attack England when 
 engaged in a fratricidal contest withher Ameri- 
 can colonies, for no other reason, than because 
 the moment appeared propitious for her humi- 
 liation. Neither is this perfidious policy (as 
 it is so frequently termed in the declamatory 
 invectives of ministers) peculiar to France. 
 Every page of history can furnish instances of 
 similar perfidy, and the king or the minister, 
 who has carried this system to the greatest per- 
 fection, has been regarded by posterity as the 
 wisest. 
 
 This position being established, (and it is 
 hardly possible for any person acquainted \vitli 
 the science of politics to dispute it), it follows 
 of course, that if a treaty were signed tomorrow 
 between the rival nations, neither of them 
 would observe it one moment longer, than a 
 due regard for their interests should prescribe. 
 This has ever been the case, and is still more 
 likely to happen on the present occasion, be- 
 cause the struggle has assumed a degree of as- 
 perity, which has not embittered the quar- 
 rels of states since the struggle between Car- 
 thage and Rome. 
 
 By the extinction, or degradation of the 
 continental states, the balance of the wotW is
 
 73 
 
 left entirely in the bands of two great and war- 
 like nations, formidable alike upon tbeir re- 
 spective elements ; though the sources from 
 whence their power arises, are widely different. 
 The one derived from physical causes is the re- 
 sult of an immense, but connected territory, 
 an enormous population, invincible armies, the 
 strongest fortresses in Europe, a people whose 
 genius is naturally active and equally formed 
 for science, for manufactures, or for war, its 
 fortunate position with respect to climate, the 
 fertility of its soil, the excellence and variety of 
 its natural and artificial productions. 
 
 An extensive commerce, vast beyond exam- 
 ple in the annals of nations, has elevated Eng- 
 land to a dazzling eminence, which excites the 
 envy and admiration of mankind ; while the 
 skill and bravery of her fleets have enabled her 
 to contend with glory against a rival possessing 
 at least three times her natural means of de- 
 fence, and placed her in a situation to offer sub- 
 sidies to the greatest potentates, even to the 
 mercenary magnanimity of the Russian auto- 
 crat. This, however, is the brilliant side of 
 the picture ; since it is hardly possible to con- 
 template with an impartial judgment, the slen- 
 der basis upon which this mighty fabric reposes, 
 without being compelled to acknowledge that 
 the magnitude of her enterpriser, and the ex- 
 It.
 
 71 
 
 tent of her colonial possessions far exceed her 
 real resources. And this melancholy truth 
 impresses itself more strongly on every think- 
 ing mind, since the madness of ministers has 
 adopted a system so fatally calculated to para- 
 lyse all the efforts of Ireland. Did it ever enter 
 into the head of any human being, except that 
 of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that as a 
 preparation for fighting a celebrated boxer, a 
 man should maim himself in an arm or a leg? 
 And yet this would be wisdom compared with 
 the system which he is pursuing in politics. 
 Ireland alas ! is the vulnerable part of the Bri- 
 tish empire, and strong indeed must be that 
 man's nerves, who can anticipate without emo- 
 tions of horror, the situation in which that 
 country would be placed, should even twenty 
 thousand French be ever able to make good a 
 landing. Is it possible for any man to lay his 
 hand upon his heart, and boldly to affirm, that 
 he believes England can long continue to main- 
 tain its independence, if Ireland were in the 
 hands of an enterprising foe ? and yet every at- 
 tempt that has been made by enlightened states- 
 men to avert the danger, by a measure equally 
 recommended by wisdom, justice, or religion, 
 has hitherto proved ineffectual. 
 
 Every year that is suffered to pass tranquilly 
 away without overwhelming an empire in its
 
 75 
 
 course, is a substantial benefit to the world. 
 Some alteration meanwhile may take place in 
 our situation, or in that of the enemy, which 
 may either detract from the immensity of his 
 resources, or tend to improve our own. Neither 
 is it unworthy of our attention that by delaying 
 the contest we shall have time to recruit our 
 exhausted strength, while his must of necessity 
 decline in a proportionate degree. Let France 
 once resume her pacific habits, and direct her 
 attention to commercial pursuits, and her pas- 
 sion for arms will subside. War is now be- 
 come her sole occupation, it is the only road 
 that leads to distinctions and. riches ; the views 
 of a soldier are no longer restricted within the 
 limits of probability, but soar with boundless 
 temerity to every elevation, when they behold 
 a stranger and a subaltern on the throne. But 
 give her colonies and manufactures, let her 
 convert her cannon into steam-engines, and 
 her bayonets into coulters, and she will gradu- 
 ally imbibe all the speculating prudence of 
 trade ;and while she calculates the losses which 
 must inevitably ensue from a rupture with the 
 greatest maritime power in the world, she will 
 shudder at the bare mention of war. Even the 
 dukes and princes, who have risen from the 
 ranks to a level with the ancient sovereigns 
 of Germany, will prefer the luxurious ease of
 
 76 
 
 a capital to the toils and dangers of a camp ; 
 and unless they squander in profligacy what 
 they have acquired by plunder, will never 
 again wish to expose their wealth and digni* 
 ties in the bogs of Poland, and much less 
 in attempting to subjugate a country whose 
 navy has still its Nelsons in reserve. 
 
 The superiority of our marine (for I will never 
 admit the humiliating idea that it will ever 
 cease to be superior) must always enable us at 
 the commencement of a war, to strike a deadly 
 blow against the commerce of France. Within 
 the space of a year the mischief will be effected, 
 and she will have little to apprehend from the 
 continuance of hostilities. Hence it is natural 
 to believe that Bonaparte will hesitate before 
 lie rashly engages in a maritime contest. 
 
 One of the grossest errors by which the hu- 
 man understanding is misled, (though by no 
 means uncommon among men who have studied 
 political economy iu such pamphlets as that in 
 which a noble lord has lately imparted to the 
 world thenotablediscovery thata nation is pros- 
 perousinproportionto the paucityofitsimports), 
 is to suppose that by destroying the commerce of 
 a foreign people, we eventually benefit our own. 
 And the consequences of this mistake are the 
 more to be lamented, because they frequently 
 induce men of mercantile education to become
 
 77 
 
 strenuous advocates of war, ignorant that they 
 are assisting in kindling a fire, in which they 
 must ultimately perish themselves. All char- 
 tered companies from the petty oppression of 
 a country corporation to that mighty mass of 
 tyranny and corruption which has spread dis- 
 cord and desolation ever half the continent of 
 Asia, are systematically the advocates of mono- 
 poly. But such narrow views are utterly in- 
 consistent with the character of a statesman, 
 who ought to consider every political question 
 upon the broad basis of public utility. It is 
 with nations as with individuals ; if they have 
 nothing to sell, they are unable to buy. In 
 proportion to the flourishing conditionof its trade 
 and manufactures, a country is enabled to pro- 
 cure foreign commodities, part of which is 
 consumed at home, and part again exported, 
 improved and modified by the hand of in- 
 dustry. 
 
 Let us divest ourselves of all local prejudices, 
 and consider Europe in the light of a great 
 confederate republic ; each member of which 
 is labouring in its respective department for the 
 general benefit of the whole, and exchanging 
 advantageously its own staple commodities for 
 the superfluities of its neighbours. Under this 
 point of view, it instantly becomes evident, that 
 Sweden would be unable to dress herself in the
 
 78 
 
 silk which is spun in Provence and in Lombardy, 
 unless she furnished iron for the consumption 
 of the south. The fleets of England, which 
 are equipt from the forests of the north, carry 
 sugar to Stockholm and St. Petersburg ; while 
 the cottons of Manchester, and the hardware 
 of Birmingham, are converted into Lucca oilj 
 or Bourdeaux wines. These truths are so obvi- 
 ous that they seem hardly to require illustra- 
 tion ; and yet so wedded is man to ancient ha- 
 bits, that lie frequently is tempted to reject 
 improvement from the dread of innovation. 
 Nothing however can be more certain, than 
 that the wisest commercial system is to encum- 
 ber trade with as few restrictions as possible, 
 and to leave it free and open to all the world. 
 Let us suppose that, in conformity to the 
 mercantile plan, we were able by one fatal stroke 
 of impolicy to annihilate all manufactures ex- 
 cept our own; what would be the result? 
 Should we be gainers by the operation ? Cer- 
 tainly not. On the contrary we should give a 
 death-blow to our own commerce. Our arti- 
 ficers would soon be reduced to beggar}', be- 
 cause the produce of their industry, beyond 
 what was required for home consumption, 
 \vould rot in their warehouses, for want of a 
 foreign market. Yet still there are men, and 
 among the number some who have written
 
 79 
 
 pamphlets, who are prepared to advocate the 
 ancient abuses, and will refer you for prece- 
 dents to parliamentary speeches, and publica- 
 tions as dull as their own. But if precedent 
 were an excuse for doing wrong, we might 
 still be wandering in the errors of popery 
 and groaning under the systematical tyranny 
 of the house of Stuart. We might still submit 
 to be told that heaven has selected one favour- 
 ed race from among the sons of men, to trample 
 with impunity upon the rest of its creatures. 
 
 We must indeed prepare ourselves to meet 
 with rivals in the genius and industry of the 
 French; though in a nation abounding neither 
 in credit, nor in capital, no very formidable 
 competition can suddenly arise. The superior- 
 ity of England in wealth and machinery will 
 not be easily overcome. 
 
 One of the most frequent objections urged 
 against peace is the probability of Bonaparte's 
 employing his immense resources to raise a 
 navy competent to dispute with Great Britain 
 the empire of the seas. That this will be his 
 object we may fairly infer; but it is by no 
 means probable that with all his exertions, he 
 will be ever able to accomplish it. He may 
 build ships, it is true, in all his numerous 
 ports, but where will he find sailors to man 
 them : pilots to navigate them : or officers
 
 80 
 
 to command them ? Can it be supposed that 
 men who have studied navigation during a 
 commercial voyage, can contend against 
 heroes who have learned to conquer under a 
 Howe, a St. Vincent, or a Nelson ? But let 
 us admit the fact, that the genius of Napoleon 
 is capable of surmounting every obstacle that 
 habit or inclination hare so long opposed to 
 the creation of a great maritime power in 
 France, can this be a reason for refusing peace? 
 Has England then nothing to obtain by sheath- 
 ing the sword ? Has she no amelioration to 
 introduce in her military establishment? no 
 improvements to undertake in .her domestic 
 policy; in the administration of her finances, 
 in her parliamentary representation; and in 
 her foreign relations? Is the diminution of 
 taxes to be regarded as nothing ? Is the reduc- 
 tion of expenditure a trifling consideration? 
 Is the happiness diffused among all classes of 
 people by the consequent alleviation from the 
 burthens which they have so long and so pa- 
 tiently suffered an object unworthy of re- 
 gard? 
 
 These objections however were equally liable 
 to the Bourbon reigns, though we never be- 
 fore heard of the danger of treating 
 because peace would allow leisure to an
 
 81 
 
 enemy to repair his fleets, -recover his trade,, 1 
 and improve his colonial establishments. 
 
 This part of the subject has been however so 
 ably treated in various papers of the Edinburgh 
 Review, that it is hardly possible to throw addi- 
 tional light on the subject. I shall therefore 
 hasten to a conclusion. 
 
 Let it not be imagined that I consider peace 
 as a situation exempt from danger, though I 
 am decidedly of opinion that it has been greatly 
 exaggerated, by the fears of the timid, and the 
 interested designs of the speculator. Had we 
 condescended to negotiate before we were 
 abandoned by all our allies, we might certainly 
 have obtained some ad vantage for them, in return 
 for the conquests which we relinquished. But 
 in our present insulated state the sacrifice must 
 be gratuitous. Thishowever perhaps is a lesser 
 evil than the pride of an Englishman is wil- 
 ling to admit, as we are in possession of 
 colonies more than sufficiently extensive, and 
 which from the nature of their climate occasion 
 a waste of population which the mother coun- 
 try can ill afford. Perhaps the only real de- 
 triment, likely to arise from the cession of the 
 West India islands, which have been captured 
 in the course of the war, will be to put a 
 variety of military positions into the hands 
 of the enemy, from whence in case of a rupture, 
 
 m
 
 82 
 
 he may be able to attack us with t fafrer pros* 
 pect ofsuccws. This however is an objection 
 which might have always been urged with equal 
 reason against every peace. 
 
 We must also make up our minds to support 
 with patience the ascendancy of France in all 
 our transactions with the continent, and con- 
 sequently to lower that haughty tone which we 
 have lately assumed, and which is scarcely less 
 ridiculous than offensive. Men of acknow- 
 ledged ability should be sedulously sought 
 after to represent their sovereign in every foreign 
 court; and a diplomatic appointment must be 
 no longer regarded as a sinecure provision for the 
 younger son of a peer who has demonstrated 
 his incapacity for every other office. The state 
 f the continent imperiously requires that pru- 
 dence shoud be substituted in the place of in- 
 solence, and that profligacy should give way to 
 decorum. Neither is it any longer necessary 
 for an English minister to evince his abhorrence 
 of Jacobinism by horse-whipping a foreign 
 nobleman, while he is in the carriage of a 
 papal legate, but may in future reserve this 
 display of excessive loyalty for a more private 
 occasion.* It might be as well also to ad- 
 
 The gentleman was count Carletli, a Florentine} who 
 fl) minister was, I leave the reader to guess.
 
 83 
 
 monish our ambassadors that the most likely 
 method of conciliating the good will of a pow- 
 erful monarch i> not to treat his consort with 
 indignity, and when she has fixed a day for a 
 grand presentation, totally to forget the ap- 
 pointment, and gai Ian fly to leave her to cool 
 her heels in a state apartment, while he is break- 
 fasting with an opera singer in a public garden. 
 Anecdotes like these (for it would be no dif- 
 ficult a task to add to the catalogue of inde- 
 cent folly) induced the prince de Ligne, who 
 is an enthusiastic admirer of England, to say 
 ii my hearing, J'avoue qui'l y a plus de talens 
 en Angleterre, que dans tout le reste de 
 V Europe, cependantje nai gueres vie de minis* 
 Ire Anglais avec du sens commun. 
 
 The manner in which our affairs were conduct* 
 cdat Genoa and Florence, at Munich and Berne 
 would have disgraced the understanding of a 
 Hottentot. Prodigality withouteven thechance 
 of an adequate return; the most insulting Ian- 
 guage that pride could employ, unsupported 
 by vigorous exertion ; the most atrocious at- 
 tempts, combined with the most contemptible 
 folly : such is the disgraceful history of our 
 foreign policy for many a yean 
 
 So long as he is engaged in hostilities with 
 Great Britain, it is for the interest of Bonaparte 
 to find occupation for his armies in a ccmti-
 
 nental war. This has a double ad vantage. lc 
 the first place, it provides for the support of a 
 large portion of his troops without any addi- 
 tional burthen to France; and in the second, it 
 affords a plausible excuse for delaying the in- 
 vasion of England. But from the moment 
 that he terminates the contest with this coun- 
 try, his position materially changes, and it 
 then becomes his wisest policy to remain in 
 jepose. For the comforts and wishes of 
 all the continental powers he has manifested 
 *n indifference which must arise from con- 
 tempt, but his Jhatred toward England shews 
 how much he admires her. He knows that a 
 high-minded people will never tamely endure 
 to remain tranquil spectators of his usurpa- 
 tions, and therefore, that if he desires to con- 
 tinue with us on amicable terms, he must learn 
 the useful lesson of forbearance. 
 
 But even admitting him to be as ambitious 
 as the Macedonian hero, be has done enough 
 to be satiated with military fame, and it is no 
 paradox to infer that atthe return of tranquillity 
 he may direct his active genius to works of 
 more lasting renown. Could he restore com- 
 merce and manufactures to his impoverished 
 empire, now prepared to receive them with 
 open arms, since all ridiculous prejudices re- 
 specting ir.ercaiUik> degradation are for ever
 
 85 
 
 extinguished, he would deservedly merit the 
 appellation of GREAT.* It would be an emu- 
 lation worthy of an elevated mind, to strive 
 with Great Britain for the palm of superiority in 
 every useful art ; in the iinprovernents of agri- 
 culture, thesimplificatian of machinery, the dis- 
 coveries of science, in the decoration of her build- 
 ings, the strength and beauty of her bridges, 
 the excellence of her roads, and the extent and 
 contrivance of her inland navigation. This 
 is a field for enterprize which nations may 
 enter with the assurance of gain, where it is glo- 
 rious to conquer, honourable to contend, and 
 neither disgraceful nor ruinous to be outdone. 
 , But even supposing his mind to be so bent 
 on war, that he disdains as inglorious all the 
 occupations of peace, I must again repeat, 
 that a cessation of hostilities, were it only to 
 continue for five or six years, is " a consum- 
 mation devoutly to be wished." We ought 
 never to forget that the destiny of France de- 
 pends, in great measure, on the life of a single 
 man. For we may faiily infer, from recent 
 events, that when left entirely to their own dis- 
 cretion his generals cease to be infallible. Had 
 Napoleon been near enough to have directed 
 
 * We have his own express declaration in favour of this 
 assertion : k< ships, colonies and commerce is all 1 want, 
 and there I *m determined to possess."
 
 36 
 
 the operations of the campaign, it is highly 
 probable that not a single man of Lord Wel- 
 lington's army would have escaped. This con- 
 sideration holds out to the world the promise 
 of better times. Many of the present genera- 
 tion may live to see the glorious clay when the 
 emancipation of Europe will he again effected. 
 To accomplish this it is perfectly indifferent 
 whether the descendants of Joseph, or those of 
 Ferdinand, reign over the peninsula of Spain, 
 provided the kingdom be left entire; and for this 
 reason, the union of Portugal with her sister 
 crown, ought rather to be promoted, than 
 dreaded. In the present distracted situation of 
 the world, the soundest policy which England 
 can pursue, is so far to wink at the usurpations 
 of JFrance, as to consent to her extending her 
 tributary kingdoms, provided it be not at the 
 expence of Austria. It would be far better for 
 us to have the whole of Italy consolidated un- 
 der the dominion of Murat, or Beauharnois, 
 than frittered out into a variety of little states; 
 and I should hail the day, when the iron crown 
 was placed on the head of either, with an in- 
 dependant jurisdiction from the foot of the 
 Alps to the Straits of Messina. 
 
 Considering the destiny of Spain to be irre- 
 trievably fixed, by the battle of Ocana, let us 
 endeavour to anticipate the projects of Bona-
 
 87 
 
 parte, should war be prolonged. Every thing 
 seems prepared for the invasion of Turkey, in 
 the plunder of which the policy of the conquer- 
 or will allow Russia, and even Austria, to 
 share. There are men so unaccountably pious, 
 that they consider with transport, as the most 
 glorious triumph of the Christian faith, the for- 
 tunate moment when the long-degraded cross 
 shall again tower on the dome of St. Sophia. And 
 it is far from impossible that a similar feeling 
 may influence the opinions of a minister who 
 rose to power by a cry so senseless, that it 
 would have degraded the bigotry of a Domi- 
 nican friar, even before the revival of letters. 
 Is it not thus that a statesman will view the sub- 
 ject ? He will discern at once the danger that 
 must arise from leaving all the coast of Europe 
 from the Dardanelles to the Elbe, in the hands 
 of France. From the former pretensions of the 
 representative of Charlemagne, he will estimate 
 the claims whichhis vanity may urge, when seat- 
 ed on the throne of Macedonia. The city of 
 Alexander and the whole empire of the Ptolo- 
 mies, will belong to him of course, as a neces- 
 sary consequence of his usurpation, and should 
 the modern Darius presume to dispute his right 
 fc> the crown of Persia, he may probably fur- 
 nish, with his disconsolate family, a melan- 
 choly subject for a series of pictures to some
 
 modern Lebrun. The conquest of India was, 
 to my certain knowledge, contemplated as 
 possible by the daring ambition of Napoleon, 
 during the summer which elapsed between 
 the convention of Leoben and the treaty of 
 Campo Formic; and should he undertake it 
 from Egypt, with all the vast resources which 
 victory has given him, it is much to be feared 
 that he will not limit his conquests, like his 
 Macedonian predecessor, to the banks of the 
 Indus, Let the mercantile sovereigns of Leaden- 
 hall Street ponder well the ruin that awaits 
 them, before they venture to give another 
 vote for the continuance of the war. 
 
 With what insolent joy will the pretended 
 restorer of Grecian liberty issue bulletins from 
 Athens, Thebes, or Sparta ! and fancy that 
 he combines in his own sacred person all the 
 united excellences of Pericles, Agesilaus, and 
 Epaminondas. These perhaps are the triumphs 
 of a pardonable vanity : would to God we had 
 no other triumphs to fear ! From the wrecks of 
 anarchy what gigantic strength may eventually 
 arise L Could we even brini* our minds to behold 
 
 O 
 
 with indifference the subjugation of Europe, to 
 see all the islands of the Archipelago, the fertile, 
 peninsula of the Morea, the spacious and va- 
 luableprovincesof Asia Minor, and thcstillmore 
 fertile banks of the Nile, added to the colossal
 
 89 
 
 ppwer of France, it is hardly possible for us to 
 contemplate the uncertain destiny of Spanish 
 America with equal apathy. 
 
 Neither are the mismanagement and error so 
 fatally conspicuous in our internal situation 
 less a subject of melancholy reflection. We 
 are told indeed that the high price of provisions 
 is a most striking proof of prosperity, and pro- 
 ceeds entirely from superfluity of wealth, and 
 not from the depreciation of paper currency or 
 the difficulty of procuring them; We may 
 hear also (since nothing is too absurd for party 
 to propagate) that those who purchase guineas 
 at an advanced price, are either persons dis- 
 affected to the government, or agents employ- 
 ed by our formidable foe to destroy our nation- 
 al credit. Such a destructive system of malice 
 and folly might have been resorted to by men, 
 who hoped to ruin a mighty nation by a sack- 
 full of false assignats, and to compel Bona- 
 parte to unconditional submission by issuing 
 the orders of council. But it is not thus that 
 Napoleon acts. He unfortunately plays a more 
 certain game, and never strikes at random. 
 
 We have already far exceeded the bounds of 
 calculation as prescribed by all speculative 
 writers, but if we pertinaciously persevere in 
 the same prodigal system, sooner or later, the 
 moment must arrive, when it will be no longer 
 practicable, even for the most dextrous finan- 
 
 N
 
 citT to find the means of raising additional 
 supplies. Even now it seems doubtful, whe- 
 ther we are not arrived at the maximum of 
 taxation; so thatevery additional impost must 
 of necessity occasion a proportionate defalca- 
 tion in some existing tax. We should compare 
 the amount of our poor-rates before the com- 
 mencement of the war, with the enormous sum 
 to which they have actually risen, if we wish 
 fairly to appreciate the prosperity of the nation. 
 We should consider what was the usual rate 
 O f wages for the labouring classes of society, in 
 1790 and what they are in 1809, and observe 
 whether the nominal increase of money has kept 
 pace with the enormous advancement in the 
 price ofevery article of necessity or convenience. 
 It was the wish of Henry IV. of France, that 
 every peasant in his kingdom should have a 
 fowl for dinner on Sunday. This patriotic 
 prayer, I apprehend, is at present more nearly 
 realised in France, than in any other country in 
 Europe ; and this two in the midst of a war, 
 which has disgraced, or impoverished all the 
 other belligerents. Ministerial ingenuity may 
 possibly be able to trace in the midst of abun- 
 dance striking symptoms of poverty; would 
 iv> God I could discover any such symptoms of 
 poverty here ! and that no stronger marks could
 
 91 
 
 be found of national distress, than what proceed 
 from plentiful markets ! 
 
 Since writing the above, a report has prevail- 
 ed that fresh proposals have arrived for a treaty, 
 Should this be the case, may they be met with 
 a spirit truly conciliatory, and speedily termi- 
 nate in peace ! Could that important blessing 
 be obtained, the conditions ought to be regard- 
 ed as a secondary consideration, provided no 
 concessions are made in the smallest degree de- 
 rogatory to national honour. Let peace be 
 established only on as solid a foundation as it 
 has usually been with the Bourbon kings, and 
 a wise administration might yet retrieve the ca- 
 lamities occasioned by war, provided they had 
 integrity and courage to face the danger like 
 men. The paramount object which must en- 
 gage their attention, would necessarily be to 
 support the tottering credit of the nation, and 
 to give fresh life and energy to its decaying 
 constitution ; and these important objects can . 
 be alone obtained by conciliating the affections 
 of the Irish catholics by the equalization of all 
 civil rights ; by introducing economy into 
 every branch of the public expenditure; aud 
 by removing those abuses which gradually un- 
 jrfermineth'e glorious fabric of our constitution. 
 
 Having already touched upon the question 
 of catholic emancipation, I shall confine my-
 
 self entirely to a few hasty remarks respecting 
 the necessity of economy and reform. 
 
 It is evident that in the embarrassed state of 
 our finances, all useless expences should be 
 curtailed. I mean not to recommend that 
 ill-judged parsimony which M. Neckar af- 
 fected with pedantic ostentation, (and which 
 consisted in robbing the poor and unprotected 
 of the scanty recompense of meritorious service, 
 while he left the high-born peculator to fatten, 
 on the spoils of a plundered nation) but gradual 
 and temperate ameliorations, which progres- 
 sively improve the national revenue without 
 injuring the fortune of any man. Measures 
 resorted to from prudential motives, ought never 
 to be founded in injustice; which would be the 
 case, were their operations to be made retrospec- 
 tive. Let the possessor of a pension, however 
 undeserving of public encouragement, enjoy it 
 or life ; but never iu future let theearnings of 
 industry be lavished on the tools of a profligate 
 administration as the wages of servility, or the 
 reward of political apostacy. 
 
 The calamities occasioned in a neighbouring 
 country by the crimes of bold and profligate 
 leaders, (and which have been so eloquently 
 painted by the genius of an orator, whose 
 transcendant abilities were originally conse* 
 crated to the defence of freedom, ) by creating 
 an almost universal alarm, rallied the soundest
 
 93 
 
 friends of constitutional liberty around the 
 standard of prerogatire. An imagination Tivid 
 as that of Mr. Burke was formed by nature, not 
 only to catch fire with facility from the small- 
 est spark, but to communicate the flame with 
 electric rapidity to all who approached him. 
 
 Perhaps the most fatal consequence of the 
 French revolution, is the terror which it has in- 
 spired for every thing bordering on innovation* 
 For this reason it has operated in disfavour of 
 general liberty in an almost incalculable de- 
 gree, by inducing moderate men to unite with 
 the partizans of arbitrary power, in supporting 
 the ancient fabric of corruption; rather than 
 hazard (as they erroneously term it) the exist* 
 ence of the constitution in pursuit of a chime* 
 ricat good. 
 
 The situation of this country is so widely 
 different from that of France, that no rational 
 parallel can be drawn. I mean neither to 
 defend the parties concerned, nor the princi- 
 ples upon which they acted. But it was 
 natural to expect, that when all the landed 
 property was abandoned to be scrambled for by 
 the people, men of enterprizing crimes would 
 seize it, and endeavour by every means that 
 iniquity could supply, to prevent the return of 
 the owners. Our path is direct, and plain, and 
 requires only to be trodden with caution. For- 
 tunately the delusion, which so long prevailed,
 
 begins to abate.* Men venture once more to 
 consult their understandings, and even to ao 
 knowledge that there are errors in the most per- 
 fect fabric of human polity, which prudence 
 might be able to correct. Let the example of 
 prance prevent us from listening to political 
 quacks, or indulging in speculative theories; 
 but let it not deter us from adopting such re- 
 medies as the exigency of the times may require. 
 The constitution of England was transmitted 
 to us by our ancestors, not to be gazed on, like 
 a canonised relic, with mute and idolatrous 
 -worship, but as an useful inheritance to be sur- 
 rendered to posterity in a flourishing and im- 
 proved condition. 
 
 * This lias been gloriously demonifrafcd by the election 
 of Lord GrcnTille to the highest dignity which the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford can confer. The decision of the contest 
 ought, for this reason, to be regarded as a national triumph, 
 for it is the triumph of reason, of public spirit, and of tole? 
 ration, over prejudice, cabal, and bigotry. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 "W.f list, Printer, Old iJtilsy, London^
 
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