-;
 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 1 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 


 
 / 
 
 AN 
 
 HISTORICAL ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 AMBITION and CONQUESTS , 
 
 OF 
 
 .,:,' . FRANCE, 
 
 WITH SOME 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 i SKETCH OF GENERAL HISTORY PREVIOUS TO THE 
 
 FRENCH REVOLUTION; " 
 
 a REMARKS ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION FROM 
 
 1789 ro 1791 ; 
 
 3 ABRIDGEMENT OF THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLU- 
 TION FROM 1791 TO 1796. 
 
 Soldier, I had Arms 
 
 Had Wealth, Dominion. Doft thou wonder, Roman, 
 
 I fought to favc them > What if Caefar aims 
 
 To lord it univerfal o'er the World, 
 
 Shall the World tamely crouch at Caefar's Footftool > 
 
 CARACTACUS ; Scene tJie loft. 
 
 L ON D ON: 
 
 Panted for J. DEBRETT, oppofite Burlington Houfe, 
 Piccadilly. 
 
 *797; 
 
 (DRAWBACK.)

 
 DC 
 \so 
 
 AN 
 
 HISTORICAL ESSAY, &c. 
 
 AT this awful period, when the world 
 is convulfed by unexpected revolu- 
 tions, and when Britain appears fufpended 
 between the alternative of unfuccefsful war, 
 or difhonourable peace, it is no wonder if 
 violent declamations fhould be uttered 
 againft the fuppofed authors of a war, 
 the grounds and nature of which are not 
 generally underftood. 
 
 Many fkilful hands have alternately ap- 
 plauded and attacked the internal princi- 
 ples of the French Revolution : the objedl 
 of the prefent treatife is, to confider its ex- 
 ternal relations with the other nations of 
 Europe, and trace its remote connections 
 B with 

 
 with paft events. The indulgence of the 
 reader is demanded for fome apparent di- 
 greffion, as the different fubjects are una- 
 voidably involved together. 
 
 It is the fmcere belief of the author of 
 this EfTay, that the French Revolution, ab- 
 ftracted from other confequences, may be 
 confidered as one means of attaining that 
 end, that aim of univerfdl empire, fo often 
 the terror of Europe, which fometimes has 
 been attributed to Spain, fometimes to 
 France, and which France would willingly 
 impute to England. 
 
 Univerfal Empire is, in itfelf, an extra- 
 vagant expreffion, and was fo even in the 
 proudeft days of ancient Rome. But let 
 it be taken in this confined fenfe, that 
 there exifts a fovereign, or a nation, 
 who expect to unite the greateft part of 
 Europe in an empire almoft as extenfive as 
 the Roman, or at leaft as the empire of 
 Charlemain : in fuch a fenfe it is not an 
 impoflible project; there is reafon to be- 
 Jieve, that both Spain and France have at 
 times hoped for its attainment; and it were 
 . a eafy
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 eafy to prove, that England is difqualified 
 from it by an infular fituation, fuppofing 
 our ambition to be ever fo wickedly infa- 
 tiable. 
 
 Let not the reader be furprifed to hear* 
 that in order accurately to comprehend the 
 ground- work of thofe ambitious projects, 
 which have fo often defolated Europe, he 
 muft go back to an sera in the Englifh. hif- 
 tory, previous to the acceilion of the houfe 
 of Tudor. 
 
 In the latter end of the century 1400, 
 the great fovereigns of Europe had begun 
 to fhake off the yoke of the feudal fyftem, 
 and having fubdued their turbulent Barons, 
 began to think of increaflng their power at 
 the expence of their neighbours. The ob- 
 ject of Spain was, firft the conqueft of Gra- 
 nada, and fecondly that of Italy : the prin- 
 cipal object of France was, the ruin of the 
 great and powerful houfe of Burgundy; 
 and, indeed, the temptation was almoft irre- 
 liftible, confidering the provocations given 
 and received on both fides. 
 
 B 2 On
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 On the other hand the princes of Bur- 
 gundy and of Flanders had ever been confi- 
 dered as the natural allies of England. 
 
 Although the phrafe of the balance of 
 power is, perhaps, of later invention, the 
 principle ftill exifted, and it was even then 
 generally believed by the Englifh, that to 
 permit one fingle power to poflefs the whole 
 fea-coaft, with all its navigable rivers, from 
 the Pyrenees to the German ocean, would 
 be an error of the mofl fatal confequence 
 to the trade and fecurity of England. 
 
 Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, was, 
 at that time, poflefled of dominions which 
 might well defer ve the name of a powerful 
 kingdom. 
 
 The duchy of Burgundy, in France, 
 the country of Burgundy, generally called 
 Franche Comte, and all thofe feventeen 
 rich provinces of the Netherlands, fince 
 divided into the Spanifh. low-countries, and 
 the once powerful Republic of the United 
 Provinces. Of thefe feventeen provinces, 
 fome, (as Flanders and Artois) were held 
 
 as
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 ;is fiefs of France ; the greater part were 
 held as fiefs of the empire, and their na- 
 tive dukes and counts had been gradually 
 difpoifefled by the houfe of Burgundy. Phi- 
 lip had increafed his empire by aclions, 
 which the impartial eye of hiftory muil 
 confider as ufurpations ; but the honoura- 
 ble title of Good, which his fubjects be- 
 ftowed on him, proves, that he extenuated 
 his injustice by a tender regard to the wel- 
 fare of thofe he governed. The events that 
 accompanied and followed the death of 
 Charles, Philip's only fon, are well related 
 by Hume -, and for many reafons it appears 
 advifable to give them in that great hifto- 
 rian's own words. 
 
 " This prince, (Charles Duke of Bur- 
 " gundy) poffeiTed all the ambition and 
 " courage of a conqueror, but being defec- 
 " tive in policy and prudence, qualities no 
 " lefs efTential, he was unfortunate in all 
 " his enterprifes, and perifhed at lafl in 
 " battle againft the Swifs, a people whom 
 " he defpifed, and who, though brave and 
 " free, had hitherto been in a manner over- 
 '* looked in the general fyftem of Europe. 
 63 " This
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 '* This event, which happened in the year 
 " 1477, produced a great alteration in the 
 " views of all the princes, and was attended 
 " with confequences which were felt for 
 " many generations.* 
 
 " Charles left only one daughter, Mary, 
 " by his firft wife ; and this princefs, being 
 " heir to all his opulent and extenfive do- 
 " minions, was courted by all the poten- 
 " tates of Chriflendom, who contended for 
 *' the poffeflion of fo rich a prize. 
 
 *' Lewis, the head of her family, might, 
 " by a proper application, have obtained 
 " this match for the dauphin, and have 
 " thereby united to the crown of France 
 " all the provinces of the low countries, 
 " together with Burgundy, Artois, and Pi- 
 " cardy, which would at once have ren- 
 " dered his kingdom an over-match for his 
 " neighbours. But a man wholly mterefted 
 *' is as rare, as one entirely endowed with 
 " the oppofite qualities; and Lewis, though 
 tf impregnable to all the fentiments of ge- 
 
 * It might be added : They are felt at this prefent 
 moment at the diftance of 319 years. 
 
 nerofity
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 " nerofity and friend fhip, was, on this 6c- 
 " cafion, carried from the road of true po- 
 " licy by the paflions of animofity and re- 
 '* venge. He had imbibed fo deep a hatred 
 " of the houfe of Burgundy, that he chofe to 
 " fubdue the princefs by arms, rather than 
 " unite her to his family by marriage. He 
 " conquered the duchy of Burgundy, and 
 " that part of Picardy which had been 
 " ceded to Philip the Good by the treaty 
 " of Arras. But he forced the ftates of the 
 '* Netherlands to beftow their fovereign on 
 " Maximilian of Auftria, fon of the em- 
 '* pcror Frederic, from whom they looked 
 " for protection in their prefent diftrefles. 
 " And by thefe means France loft the op- 
 <4 portunity which fhe never could recover, 
 " of making that important acquifition of 
 '* power and territory. 
 
 u During this interefling crifis, Edward 
 " was no lefs defective in policy, and was 
 " no lefs actuated by private paflions, un- 
 ** worthy of a fovereign and a ftatefman. 
 *' Jealoufy of his brother Clarence had 
 *' caufed him to neglect the advances which 
 " were made of marrying that prince, 
 64' " (now
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 " (now a widower) to the heirefs of Bur- 
 " gundy, and he fent her propofals of 
 " efpoufing Anthony, Earl of Rivers, bro- 
 *' ther to his queen, who frill retained an 
 '' entire afcendant over him. But the match 
 " was rejected with difdain; and Edward, 
 " refenting this treatment of his brother-in- 
 " law, permitted France to proceed with- 
 *' out interruption, in her conquefts over 
 '*' his defencelefs ally., Any pretence fuf- 
 " ficed him for abandoning himfelf to in- 
 " dolence and pleafure, which were now 
 '* become his ruling pailions.'* 
 
 . Hinc illae lachrymal This fatal pe- 
 riod kindled the hatred between France and 
 the houfe of Auflria, and three hundred 
 years have proved inefficient to extinguifh 
 it. Mr. Hume has made obfervations on 
 the averfion of the Engliih people againfl 
 the French, which (hew that he thinks it 
 illiberal, and does not believe it to be reta- 
 liated by the French, whofe jealoufy is di- 
 vided between a greater number of objects. 
 The following feems to me a fairer ftate- 
 ment : that the French have two primary 
 objects of averfion, England and the houfe 
 
 of
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 of Auftria, and a few fecondary ones, 
 amongft their petty neighbours, which inter- 
 fere but little with their inveterate animo- 
 fity towards the only powers who have ever 
 arrefted their efforts to extend the limits of 
 their empire. 
 
 It is eafy to cry out with modern de- 
 claimers, that this ambition to increafe the 
 French empire was a vice inherent in their 
 kings, but it has much more the appearance 
 of a vice inherent in the reftleflhefs of the 
 French nation. There is not a French hi do- 
 rian, however independent of court favour, 
 who does not lament the lofs of that oppor- 
 tunity, which (in Mr. Hume's time) they 
 had never recovered ; and fcarcely a geo- 
 grapher, who will not tell his readers, that 
 the Rhine and the Northern ocean were the 
 limits of the ancient Gaul, and hint, that they 
 are the natural limits of modern France. 
 
 A remark is to be made on the preceding 
 paflage of Hume, which will prove of fome 
 confequence when we reflect on the 
 grounds of the prefent war. Hume was a 
 cold-hearted fceptical writer, who had but 
 pne vifible predilection, that of juftifying 
 
 the.
 
 the houfe of Stuart, at the expence of all 
 their predeceflbrs, and of the ancient con- 
 fhtution of England. The Stuarts were in 
 general remarkably unwilling to engage in 
 continental wars, and therefore his predi- 
 lection might have inclined him to excufe 
 a iimilar pacific indolence in Edward. Yet 
 he joins the univerfal ftream of hiftorians 
 in blaming that prince for deferting his 
 old alliances with Flanders and Burgundy ; 
 and the fame principle leads him to condemn 
 Henry VII. for tamely allowing Charles 
 VIII. to efpoufe the heirefs of Brittany. 
 This principle has been already ftated, and 
 jnuft never be forgot, that we lofe in great 
 meafure the benefit of an infular fituation, 
 if all the extent of coaft which bends round 
 our protecting feas, is united under the 
 fame dominion. Since this principle could 
 deeply ftnke an author, whofe partiality in 
 favour of the Stuarts, and whofe diflike to 
 King William, might have led him to a 
 contrary opinion, it muft be allowed to have 
 fo far the femblance of truth, that a virtu- 
 ous minifter, or an independent member of 
 parliament, may act upon it from patriotic 
 uncorrupt motives. 
 
 The
 
 The die was now caft, the fparks wers 
 now lighted which were to break forth in 
 future conflagrations ; but the eagernefs of 
 Charles VIII. and Lewis XII. to en- 
 gage in fchemes of Italian conqueft, fuf- 
 pended for fome years hoftilities on the 
 fide of Flanders. It was in the time of 
 Francis I. that the fmothered fire of diflen- 
 fion blazed out in all its fury, between the 
 rival houfes of Auftria and of Bourbon. 
 
 By a long feries of untimely deaths, 
 the vaft inheritance of Caftille and Arra-t 
 gon, comprehending ftill more vaft expec-, 
 tations in the new world, had fallen to the 
 young Archduke Charles, who was alfo the 
 reprefentative,/by his grandmother, Mary, 
 of the Houfe of Burgundy, and by his 
 grandfather, Maximilian, 1 of the Houfe of 
 Auftria. Francis and Charles, each proud 
 of their extenfive dominions, entered the 
 lifts as candidates for the Imperial crown. 
 The Electors of Germany preferred the 
 Houfe of Auftria, and from that time a 
 moft implacable hatred commenced be- 
 tween thofe two rivals, and war, with few 
 interruptions, and various fuccefles, defo- 
 4 lated
 
 Jated Europe during their joint lives. In 
 the end, Francis was obliged to renounce 
 his pretenfions to Italy j but in all other re- 
 fpcfts, the advantages of France, arifing 
 from its compact lhape, and central litua- 
 tion, contrafted with the disjointed fove- 
 reignties that encompafs it, were demon- 
 ftrated almoft as clearly as in the prefent 
 war. 
 
 Charles V. worn out with age and fa- 
 tigue, gave one of thofe examples of fatiated 
 and difgufted ambition, which are fome- 
 times found in the annals of monarchy, ne- 
 ver in thofe of republicanifm. He firft di- 
 vided, and then refigned his extenfive em- 
 pire, which he had found too extenfive even 
 for his own capacious mind. All the Ger- 
 man dominions, with the Imperial crown, 
 fell to his moderate and tolerating brother, 
 the Archduke Ferdinand. Happy would 
 it have been had he included the Nether- 
 lands within that noble gift, which he 
 might have done with the more propriety, 
 as the German publicifts ever called them 
 the circle of Burgundy, and confidered 
 them as part of the German empire. But 
 
 his
 
 ( '3 ) 
 
 his item and haughty foul retained to 
 the laft, fo great a love for thofe fcenes 
 ivhere he had pafTed the innocent hours of 
 childhood, and fo great a value for thofe 
 provinces which had fir ft hailed him as 
 their fovereign, that he could not bear to 
 deprive his only fon of fo dear a treafure. 
 Whilft he deftroyed the liberties of Spain, 
 to the Flemifh he had behaved like the 
 chief magistrate of a free commonwealth, 
 he fondly hoped that Philip would follow 
 his example ; and he unwittingly iigned 
 the irreparable ruin of the Netherlands 
 when he iigned the act which gave them 
 to the moft tyrannical and intolerant of 
 men. 
 
 The bad heart of Philip could not be 
 faid to love any nation, but he did not kau 
 the Spaniards ; and he feems to have per- 
 feftly abhorred all his other fubjeds. 
 
 The vices of a king can do little harm 
 unlefs they are feconded by the vices of his 
 people; and, unfortunately, the Spaniards 
 were difpoled to tyrannize as well as their 
 matter. Some Flemiui favourites of 
 3 Charles
 
 Charles had been defervedly odfoUs t<5 
 them, and they now feized the joyful op- 
 portunity of retaliating on the people. 
 Religious and political hatred joined their 
 deftrudlive fires ; a fchifm began which 
 not only rent away part of the Spanifh do- 
 minions, but feparated the Belgic provinces 
 from each other, and left them in that di- 
 vided ftate which always proves an invita- 
 tion to ambitious conquerors. 
 
 Whilft the impolitic ambition of Philip 
 weakened that empire which he fought to 
 enlarge, the gloomy cruelty which marked 
 its progrefs excited more fear and hatred 
 than the more generous ambition of Charles, 
 who yet was nearer realizing the vifion of 
 an univerfal empire over Europe. From 
 that period it became the interefl of all the 
 fecondary powers of Europe to weaken 
 Spain, but though the principle was right 
 in itfelf, it was ultimately carried to a dan- 
 gerous excefs. 
 
 France was at that time in no condition 
 to take the lead in fo great an undertaking. 
 Weakened on the fide oi Italy by the un- 
 
 fuccefsful
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 fuccefsful wars of Francis, it had alfo been 
 weakened on the fide of Flanders by the 
 defeat at St. Quentin, in the reign of 
 Henry II. and the untimely death of that 
 monarch, leaving his kingdom expofed to 
 the dangers of long minorities, and confe- 
 quently harrafled by civil and religious 
 wars, it became for many years an objecl: 
 of companion rather than of terror. Du- 
 ring that period the national hatred of the 
 Englifh againft the French was fufpended 
 and loft in their hatred againft the Spa- 
 niards, and I defy the moft malicious 
 French hiftorian to prove that the Englifh 
 nation took any unfair advantage of the 
 diftreffes of its ancient rival. 
 
 Perhaps no Englifh monarch had fo little 
 to fear from his neighbours as Henry VIII. 
 becaufe at no time were the rival powers 
 on the continent fo equally balanced. His 
 daughter, Elizabeth, had a much more 
 difficult tafk on her hands, and any error that 
 ihe had committed might have proved fatal. 
 A crifis was more than once on the point 
 of taking place, the complicated difficulties 
 of which might have baffled her prudence 
 
 and
 
 and that of Lord Burleigh, as the prefent 
 crifis feems to have baffled Mr. Pitt. This 
 crifis deferves to be considered, for it will 
 fhew that the ultimate views of France, 
 even in the hour of diftrefs, were flill the 
 fame. 
 
 In 1571, Coligni, tired and repenting 
 of civil war, even in the caufe of liberty 
 and religion, liftened to the delulive alluie- 
 ments of Catherine de Medicis, and fondly 
 hoped to unite the parties that divided 
 France under one common ftandard. But 
 it is material (in the prefent iituation of 
 things) to obferve, that according to Thu- 
 anus, Sully, and all the impartial hiflorians, 
 it was not peace and tranquillity which his 
 aged voice recommended to his diftra&ed 
 countrymen ; he aimed at turning their 
 deadly hatred into another channel, at 
 bending their weapons againft a foreign 
 enemy, and kindling a war with the Houfe 
 of Auflria, as fierce as any war undertaken 
 at the mere pleafure of a king. He was 
 deceived into the hands of his enemies by 
 the falfe afTurances, that Charles XI. had 
 agreed to his plans, and determined to be- 
 gin
 
 ( '7 ) 
 
 gin a war by reclaiming Artois and Flan-- 
 ders as fiefs of the French monarchy* 
 When once his good fortune had carried 
 him thus far, it is not likely that he would 
 not have flopped in the brilliant career of 
 conquefl ; and Elizabeth might have been 
 cmbarralTed between the old political axiom 
 Do not fujfer Prance to extend her do- 
 minion to the Northern Jeas 9 and the new 
 principle weaken the houfe of Auftria by 
 every pojjible means. 
 
 The evil genius of France prevailed ; 
 Charles, after fome moments of irrefolu- 
 tion, preferred the aflaflination of Protef- 
 tants to open war with Catholics ; all na- 
 tions flood aghafl at the dreadful mafTacre 
 of St. Barthelemi ; an univerfal odium was 
 thrown upon the Popifh. religion ? and Pro- 
 teflants, forgetting national jealoufies, 
 thought only of refitting a faith which 
 delighted in treachery and murder. 
 
 Some years afterwards, in the reign of 
 
 Henry III. this project for aggrandizing 
 
 France was taken up in a new fhape. The 
 
 tyranny of Philip and his viceroy, Alva, 
 
 C had
 
 had united both Catholics and Proteftanfs 
 in one general revolt; and the Duke of 
 Anjou, youngeft fon of Henry II. flattered 
 himfelf that they would chufe him for their 
 fovereign, with the additional hope of 
 efpoufing Elizabeth. An immenfe increafc 
 of power might thus have accrued to the 
 French empire, for Henry III. had no chil- 
 dren, his brother was his lawful heir, and 
 it w r as a maxim of the old French mo- 
 narchy, that whatever a prince of the blood 
 poffefled was, on his acceflion, united in- 
 alienably to the crown, and the royal pre- 
 rogative itfelf was infufficient to fever it. 
 Similar to this is the maxim aflerted by the 
 French Directory concerning the effect of 
 a decree of re-union ; and the farther we 
 proceed, the more plainly mall we fee that 
 the old monarchy and the new republic 
 are actuated by the felf-fame fpirit. 
 
 The Duke of Anjou, however, had nei- 
 ther virtue nor abilities fuited to the vaft 
 fcheme he had undertaken. He was indeed 
 declared Duke of Brabant, but foon loft the 
 affection of his new -fubjects ; he received 
 no fuccours from his brother, who feared 
 
 and
 
 and hated him, nor from Elizabeth, who 
 did not really intend to marry him, and 
 xvho probably as little intended that he 
 fhould unite the Netherlands to France. 
 Her deceitful conduct to that prince does 
 not redound to her honour ; I only mention 
 it as a prefumption that (he never loft fight 
 of the old Engliili policy, to watch with 
 apprehension the aggrandizement of the 
 neighbouring powers. 
 
 This unhappy prince died in 1584, over- 
 come with mortification and difappoint- 
 ment ; his death expofed France to all the 
 miferies attending a difputed fucceffion, and 
 many years elapfed before it could again 
 lift up its head and entertain proud hopes 
 of dominion. Meanwhile feven provinces 
 of the Netherlands formed themfelves into 
 a republic under the generalmip of the 
 Prince of Orange, the other ten were gra- 
 dually reconquered by Spain. Philip II. 
 fenfible of their averfion to the Spaniards, 
 pretended to beftow them as an indepen- 
 dent fovereignty on his daughter Ifabella, 
 married to the Archduke Albert, but 
 under fuch conditions as plainly fhewed 
 C 2 his
 
 ..(*>) 
 
 his intention to re-unite them 4o the Spa- 
 nifh crown, which accordingly happened 
 after the death of Ifabella. 
 
 Elizabeth, in this long interval, fome- 
 times aiTifted the Dutch and the Flemings 
 in their ftruggles for liberty; fometimes 
 affiited the houfe of Bourbon, and fent 
 Englifli troops to place Henry IV. on the 
 throne of France, from the fame principle 
 that made our miniftry afiift the prefent 
 royalifts the dread of a common enemy 
 implacable to both parties. There were 
 not wanting Englifh politicians at that pe- 
 riod who thought that Elizabeth did not 
 interfere with fufficient energy in conti- 
 nental affairs. 
 
 The reader in particular may be referred 
 to a letter of Lambarde,* a learned man, 
 and in thofe days a celebrated topographer, 
 who afferts, that if Flanders falls into the 
 hands of the Queen's enemies, the trade 
 and manufacture of England will be loft, 
 
 * Publiftied by Nicholls, at the end of the ad vol. 
 of Queen Elizabeth's. Progrefles. 
 
 " and
 
 ( 31 ) 
 
 ** and her Majefty may look in vain for 
 *' any cuftoms to be paid." This letter 
 is mentioned becaufe it forms one link of 
 a chain of proofs, that not the tools of a 
 court, but independent, learned, reflecting 
 men have moft ftrongly profeffed their opi- 
 nion of the importance of Flanders. 
 
 Elizabeth died in 1604: her fucceflbr, 
 James, was of a pacific temper, inattentive 
 to continental affairs, and defpifed by the 
 Englifh on that very account.- In his 
 reign France recovered all her lofles under 
 the fplendid government of Henry ; he had 
 brought the finances into order, through 
 the prudence of Sully, and having pro- 
 vided himfelf both with money and troops, 
 was preparing to fall on the houfe of 
 Auftria with all the fury of long-delayed 
 vengeance, when the dagger of an afTaflin 
 fuddenly laid proftrate in the duft all the 
 towering fchemes of ambition and heroic 
 valour. 
 
 This terrible cataflrophe put a flop for 
 
 the prefent to that general war which 
 
 threatened all Europe. Mary de Medicis, 
 
 C 3 regent
 
 regent of France, even allied herfelf to 
 Spain, and concluded a double inter-mar- 
 riage between the two families, a connec- 
 tion which all patriotic Frenchmen looked 
 upon with diflike. 
 
 About this period a new event revived the 
 jealoufies of moderate men. The elder 
 Imperial branch of the houfe of Auftria 
 failed, and their hereditary dominions de- 
 volved on the archdukes of Infpruck, a 
 branch which by no means inherited the 
 virtues of their common anccftor, that good 
 emperor, Frederic II. They were known 
 to be ambitious, bigotted, and devoted to 
 the dangerous fociety of Jefuits, and of 
 courfe the Proteftant princes of Germany 
 were defirous to weaken their power. Fre- 
 deric, Elector Palatine, was perfuaded to 
 accept the crown of Bohemia from the 
 malecontents of that country ; the Emperor 
 eafily expelled him, and, by way of retali- 
 ation, ufurped the Palatinate, events which 
 gave rife to that obftinate and bloody con- 
 teft yet known in Germany by the name of 
 the Thirty Years War. 
 
 Richelieu,
 
 Richelieu, foon after its commencment, 
 eftablifhed his afcendancy over all other fa- 
 vourites at the French court, and acquired 
 fovereign authority over that weak prince, 
 Louis XIII. He perfuaded him to enter 
 with fpirit into the project of weakening 
 the houfe of Auflria, which at firft gave 
 great fatisfacftion to the Proteflants, and 
 all the fecondary princes of Europe. But 
 infenfibly the fcene changed : impartial 
 men faw reafon to believe that France was 
 purfuing its old fchemes of concjueft, under 
 the pretence of defending liberty, and that a 
 power was riling in Europe more formida- 
 ble than the exhaufted monarchy of Spain. 
 
 It would be tedious to recite all the va- 
 rious countries which Richelieu attempted 
 to unite to France. The Spanifh province 
 of Catalonia was one, the duchy of .Lor^ 
 raine another. The houfe of Lorraine 
 was never popular with the French govern- 
 ment, and its ruin now become one of their 
 fecondary objects of policy. England took 
 little intereft in thefe remote tran fact ions, 
 Flanders was ever the country on which 
 our jealous eyes were fixed. 
 
 C4 The
 
 ( *4 ) 
 
 The letters of the Earl of Strafrord may- 
 be reckoned amongft the cotemporary do- 
 cuments, which give a curious pidlure of 
 the gradual change which took place in 
 Englifh minds, on the relative danger to be 
 Apprehended from different foreign powers. 
 
 * 
 
 The following are fomc of the current 
 opinions on daily news which his correfpon- 
 dents wrote from England to the abfent 
 ftatefman ; a ftatefman who, with all his 
 faults, had the fecurity and commercial 
 profperity of England ftrongly at his heart. 
 
 " This day we have letters come, that 
 " Graveline is given up to the French, 
 *' which will make open war (meaning 
 ** between France and Spain) yet not eafe 
 " us. For we are not out of as near a dan- 
 ' ' ge r, that a growing Jlate doth get bar- 
 " hours right againft us. 
 
 " Here in London men's fancies are di- 
 " verfely diftorted and bent, fome for the- 
 " one, and fome for the other, (/. e. for 
 *' France or Spain) for my part, I am as in- 
 *' different as can be, but as the matter re- 
 i " flecls
 
 ** fle&s upon my own country ; only I would 
 ** have the fcales kept even between them^ 
 * * and that our nearejl neighbour have Jlill 
 " a competency vfjirengtb, and not cver~ 
 *' grow us. 
 
 *' Some conjecture that the French and 
 *' the Dutch will feek this fummer to get 
 *' Dunkirk or Graveline; /// neighbours^ 
 " perhaps, to England, if that Jhould haf- 
 "pen" 
 
 Thefe were not the opinions of court- 
 fycophants, but of independent writers; 
 f Howell, a retired literary man, and of 
 the more celebrated Sir Thomas Rowe, to 
 whom Englilh commerce, as well as ra- 
 tional knowledge, are highly indebted, 
 
 Charles I. was not infenfible to this new 
 fpecies of danger which began to be felt by 
 fome of his mofl enlightened fubjects. 
 "Without pretending to juftify the general 
 conduct of that unhappy prince, it is yet 
 painful to reflect, that he owed the begin- 
 ning of his misfortunes to the very quality 
 which the enemies of Charles *s memory 
 
 have
 
 
 have admired in King William, a zeal to 
 reprefs the growing ambition of France. 
 The reader may find in Lord Clarendon, 
 and other Englifh hiftorians, the details *of 
 the early intrigues of France with the Scotch 
 covenanters, who would have been afraid 
 of taking up arms without fuch powerful 
 encouragement. Madame de Motteville's 
 Memoirs is a work lefs known in England, 
 and a few paflagcs tranflated from that 
 work may not be unfuitable. She is al- 
 lowed by French critics to be good hifb- 
 rical authority, and me had many converfa- 
 tions on Englifh. affairs with Henrietta Ma- 
 ria, who felt the flrongeft refentment againft 
 Richelieu's memory. The picture fhe gave 
 to her confidante of the Cardinal's policy 
 might apply word for word to the prefent 
 times, only changing cardinal into citizen ^ 
 Richelieu into BrifTotor Condorcet, and per- 
 haps Senneterre into Chauvelin or Autun. 
 
 \ 
 
 '* The Cardinal dq, Richelieu* had the 
 *' greatefl fear of a neighbouring king, who 
 * was powerful and peaceable at home, and 
 
 * Memoires d'Anne d'Autriche, Vol. I. p. 248. 
 
 " and
 
 <f according to political maxims, which con- 
 " fult intereft rather than juftice or benevo- 
 " lence, he thought it quite necefiary for the 
 " good of France that fuch a prince fhould 
 " be troubled in his own country. This in- 
 " cli nation made him fend the Marquis de 
 tl Senneterre ambaflador to King Charles, 
 *' that he might endeavour to corrupt the 
 " minds of the grandees and the people, 
 * * and fpend a great deal of money in Lon- 
 " don to infufe a fpirit of revolt, in all 
 *' which he fucceeded." 
 
 The fame female hiftorian afterwards 
 quotes from the celebrated ambaflador 
 d'Eftrades, the provocation which con- 
 firmed Richelieu in his fchemes of impla- 
 cable vengeance. 
 
 *"The Count d'Eflrades was fent to 
 ** the King and Queen of England in 1637 
 4< from the late king and the cardinal He 
 *' told me that the fubject of his journey 
 *' was to oblige that prince to remain neu* 
 " ter, if the King and the Prince of Orange 
 
 f Vol. I. page 284. 
 3 V attacked
 
 " attacked the towns on the coaft of Flan-. 
 " ders, and he fliewed me his inftructions, 
 " and all his difpatches." She then pro^ 
 ceeds to narrate how coldly d'Eftrades* 
 offers of Richelieu's friendmip were re- 
 ceived by the queen, and ends her ftory 
 thus, " The queen anfvvered, that as to 
 '* what he requefted from the king, her 
 *' hufband, me was not ufed to meddle 
 *' with affairs of that nature, but that me 
 " would mention it to the king. She 
 " afterwards told d'Eibades, that me hacl 
 " received a thorough reprimand upon, the 
 *' king her brother's propofai of permitting 
 " the coafl of Flanders to be attacked, and 
 ." bid him go himfelf to King Charles. 
 " He did go, and that prince upon hearing 
 " the great offers made by the king and 
 *' cardinal, anfwered, that he would do all 
 *' in his power to mew his friendiLip, pro- 
 " vided it was not prejudicial to his honour, 
 *' his intereft, and the intereft of his king- 
 " dom ; and that if the King of France or 
 * the States attacked the maritime towns qf . 
 " Flanders, he would keep his fleet in the^ 
 ** Downs to acl: in their defence, and have 
 
 " fifteen
 
 " fifteen thoufand men in readinefs to pafs 
 ' over the feas." 
 
 Ill-fated Charles ! this fpirited anfwer 
 fealed thy doom with the relentlefs French- 
 man ! The flame of infurrection foon broke 
 out, and burnt fo fiercely, that Richelieu 
 no longer thought it needful to fupply frefh. 
 fuel. Impartial authors of that time faw 
 both the caufe'and confequence, though too 
 late to be of fervice, as fuch pafTages as the 
 following may fhew. * " This French car- 
 ** dinal ftirs up all the devils of hell againil: 
 " Spain; nay fome will not ftick to fay, 
 " that the breach 'twixt us and Scotland is a 
 *' reach of his. The old faying was, have 
 "'* the Frenchman 'for thy friend, not for thy 
 " neighbour. I believe thefe diffractions 
 - 6 of our's have been one of the greatefl 
 " advantages that could befall France, and 
 c< they happened in the moft favourable 
 *' conjuncture of time that might be, elfe 
 "" he would never have as much as at- 
 *' tempted Dunkirk, for England in true 
 ** reafon of ftate had reafon to prevent 
 
 * HowelPs Familiar Letters, Book I. Letter xlii. 
 and Book II. Letter xliii. 
 
 " nothing
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 ** nothing more, in regard no one place 
 '* could have added more to the naval 
 " power of France." What would this 
 writer have faid had he feen in the prefent 
 times, a knot of mungril Englifhmen who 
 rejoice that France has not only Dunkirk, 
 but Oftend and the Scheld, nay even Flufh- 
 ing'itfelf? 
 
 That dark and fubtle tyrant Richelieu 
 died without having the fatisfaction to fee 
 France completely triumphant, and Mazarin 
 inherited his power ; a character lefs tyran- 
 nical, but if poflible ftill more cunning* 
 and equally adverfe to every power that 
 jprefuinecl to fet bounds to Gallic ambition. 
 Frederic Henry * before his death' grew 
 convinced that he had gone too far in 
 bringing almofl home to his own country, 
 a neighbour, more dangerous than Spain 
 itfelf. From i.hat hour the French vowed 
 vengeance againft the houfe of NaiTau, and 
 have purfued their projects of deftruclion 
 under every varying government and minif- 
 try for this century and a half. 
 
 * See Le Glare's Hiftoke des Provinces-Unics under 
 the year 1643. 
 
 The
 
 The fincere conviction of the Dutch that 
 the French were actuated by infatiable am- 
 bition, and that Spain, was become pacific 
 and tranquil, induced them firil to fend 
 their deputies to Munfter, in Weftphalia, 
 and then to conclude a feparate peace with 
 the Spaniards in June 1648. Cardinal 
 Mazarin found that Spain could not be 
 brought to the humiliating conditions that 
 he required, and was accufed by the French 
 of feeking to plunder the public treafury 
 on the pretence of an expenflve war. He 
 broke off therefore all treaty with Spain, 
 but confented to a peace with the German 
 branches of the houfe of Auflria, and 
 all the powers of Germany and the 
 north, wearied with a tedious war, con- 
 cluded their difputes by the famous treaty 
 of Weftphalia. 
 
 Germany then felt what inconveniencies 
 attend the fad neceffity of calling in 
 foreigners to protect liberty. The French 
 and the Swedes demanded an exorbitant 
 price for vindicating the rights of the diet 
 againft the prerogatives of the emperor. 
 Sweden received Pomerania, Bremen, and 
 
 Verden,
 
 C 3* ) 
 
 Verden, but as it confented to be ranked 
 amongft the members of the Germanic 
 body, its ufurpation was eafily allowed. 
 But the claims of prance were much more 
 mortifying, lince it demanded Alface, 
 Metz, and Verdun, in pure and abfolute 
 fovereignty.- The article of ceffion at laft 
 was worded in fuch ambiguous terms that 
 it remained a continual fource of diffenfion. 
 At all events, however, the rights of the 
 princes who had eftates in Alface, the rights 
 of the nobility, and of the clergy, both 
 Catholic and Lutheran, were referved as 
 facred. 
 
 Though many powers of Europe were 
 difpleafed with particular articles of* the 
 treaty of Weftphalia, it has ever fince been 
 confidered as the bails of the Germanic 
 conftitution, and a kind of Magna Charta 
 to the central part of Europe. The am- 
 bition of France for territorial conquefts 
 was, however, fo plainly demonftrated, 
 that the jealouiy of all the neighbouring 
 powers never from that time was appeafed. 
 
 The
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 The reader by only cafting his eye over 
 the map of Europe, may obferve the in- 
 finite advantage of France over all her neigh- 
 bours. They are all broken into fmall 
 republics or principalities, and the powers 
 who could have vied with the greatnefs of 
 France are at fo remote a diftance, that flie 
 can fend a thoufand men into the field before 
 her enemies can fend five hundred. No- 
 thing could have balanced fo great a dif- 
 parity, but a neighbouring fovereign as 
 powerful as thofe Dukes of Burgundy, 
 whofe race was unfortunately extinguifhed 
 in 1477. Even if Albert and Ifabella had 
 left defcendants to inherit Flanders, the 
 houfe of Burgundy would not have been 
 revived. Its confequence originally de- 
 pended on the union of feventeen rich pro- 
 vinces, and different principles of govern- 
 ment and religion had difunited them for 
 ever. Under one common chief, Antwerp 
 and Amfterdam might have poured wealth 
 and plenty on the ftate, and given fecurity 
 to the common center of government : but 
 their mutual jealoufies became irreeon- 
 ciliable, when Antwerp was devoted to po- 
 D verty,
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 verly, that Amfterdam might alone enjoy 
 riches. 
 
 Under thefe circumftances of Europe, 
 it is not furprifing that the inferior ftates 
 began to look towards England as the only 
 power that could balance the rifmg greatnefs 
 of France. England had long been in- 
 volved in civil wars, thanks to Richelieu's 
 treacherous arts, and to Henrietta Maria's 
 paffion for meddling with ftate affairs, 
 which me never underftood ! Soon after 
 the peace of Weftphalia, Cromwell ob- 
 tained fupreme dominion, and unfortunately 
 Cromwell (it is agreed by our ablefl au- 
 thors) committed a moft dangerous error 
 in foreign politics. His felfim defire of 
 money rrade him enter into a war with 
 Spain, whofe galleons he thought would 
 afford him rich plunder, and thus he 
 threw away the Englifh ftrength and valour 
 upon an old, infirm enemy, inftead of 
 watching a young and vigorous champion, 
 juft ftepping forward to claim the palm of 
 military glory. He even affifted Lewis 
 XIV. in attacking that maritime coaft of 
 Flanders, which Charles I. would have 
 
 defended
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 cefended at all hazards ; but he fomewhat 
 repaired his miftake by keeping Dunkirk as 
 an outpoft for the Englifh. nation, and the 
 ceffion of Dunkirk to France after the Re- 
 ftoration was the firil ad: which hurt Charles 
 the Second's popularity* 
 
 Previous to the Reftoration, the famous 
 treaty of Bidaflea had concluded a war 
 between France and Spain, which, like that 
 of the empire, had lafted near thirty years, 
 France difcovered its views with more open- 
 nefs than ever, and made very great fteps 
 towards their entire attainment. Rouflillon 
 on the fide of Spain, Artois on that of 
 Flanders, were yielded by the Spaniards, 
 and what was more, they gave in marriage 
 to Lewis the eventual heirefs of their em- 
 pire, obliging her indeed to renounce her 
 right, but it was well-known that the 
 French confidered fuch renunciations as void. 
 
 Cardinal Mazarin ioon, after dying, the 
 young king aflumed the reins of govern- 
 ment, and employed himfelf in preparations 
 for the great enterprifes which he meditated. 
 He gained an entire influence over De Witt 
 D 2 by
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 by the mutual jcaloufy which the French 
 and the Loweflein party both entertained of 
 the young Prince of Orange, and appa- 
 rently took part with the Dutch in their 
 firft war againft Charles II. but never gave 
 them any important afliflance. An expref- 
 ilon is, however, faid to have efcaped him, 
 which, if true, paints the very foul of a 
 Frenchman. On hearing that the King of 
 Denmark had alfo declared againfl England, 
 he exclaimed, " Now the Englifh cannot fee 
 " one friendly harbour from Bayenne to 
 " Bergen." This, we may depend on it, 
 is one great aim of all Frenchmen who 
 think themfelves patriots, whether mo- 
 narchs or republicans ; and when they have 
 deftroyed the houfe of Auftria, they will 
 never be fatisfied whilil an Englilhmman 
 can cafl his eyes on any fhore that is not 
 hoftile. 
 
 In the year 1667 Philip IV. died, and 
 left the crown of Spain to a weak fickly 
 minor, Charles II. Then all the ambition 
 of Lewis blazed forth at once, and flruck 
 the eyes of Europe with terror. He not 
 only declared his contempt for his queen *s 
 
 renunciations,
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 renunciations, but he claimed part of the 
 Netherlands, on a pretence of the moft 
 unreafonable nature, even if no renuncia- 
 tion had taken place. The laws obfervetf 
 in the private fucceflions of a few provinces, 
 preferred the daughter by a firft marriage to 
 the fon of the fecond wife, and Lewis af- 
 firmed, that this law governed the fucceflion 
 of their princes, although their hiftory for 
 the laft three hundred years was adverfe to 
 this ftrange fuppofition. De Witt was 
 ftartled at this event, and forefaw the mis- 
 fortunes ready to fall on his country, as 
 well as on Flanders. No ftate but Eng^- 
 land was able, effectually, to counteract the 
 vail projects of Lewis. Charles was, for 
 once, awakened to a fenfe of the duties in- 
 cumbent on his iituation, and figned, with 
 Holland and Sweden, the famous triple al- 
 liance intended to check the conquefts of 
 France. 
 
 As the fyftem of continental connections 
 and alliances, in opposition to France, is 
 founded in great meafure on the fenti- 
 ments and writings of the ambafTador who 
 (igned that treaty, the philofophical Sir 
 D 3 William.
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 William Temple, it is proper to furvey the 
 character and conduct of that remarkable 
 man. He was endued with talents of a 
 fuperior clafs, but they were accompanied 
 by a conftitutional indolence which gave a 
 not-unpleafing negligence to his ftiie. His 
 probity both in public and private life was 
 unqueftionable : he fet no value on riches, 
 but as they enabled a man to amule him- 
 felf with the elegant arts. Building, gar- 
 dening, and ftudy, were his favourite oc- 
 cupations; eafe and tranquillity were, in 
 his opinion, the chief happinefs; mode- 
 ration and temperance, the principal virtues, 
 of man. Epicurus was his favourite phi- 
 lofopher, of whofe morals* he has written a 
 very ingenious and plaufible defence. But 
 this partiality has laid him open to the ac- 
 cufation of fecretly profeifing Epicurus' 
 dangerous principles in religion ; an accu- 
 fation not likely, I fear, to injure him with 
 the admirers of French principles, though 
 it injured him greatly in the eyes of the 
 pious Bimop Burnett, who fays, that he had 
 right principles in matters of government, 
 
 * See the Eflay on the Gardens of Epicurus. 
 
 but
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 but in nothing elfe. This cenfure is, how- 
 ever, too fevere. Temple's principles of 
 morality are good, though it has been 
 doubted whether he built them on the only 
 folid foundation, chriftianity. If we now 
 inquire into his principles of government, 
 they feem to have confifted in a dt-fire to en- 
 joy liberty and tranquillity united, in a fear 
 of all innovation, and in the ftrongeft jea- 
 loufy of the power of France. He has 
 faid incidentally upon a naval officer* 
 chufing to be burnt with his fhip rat-her thaa 
 quit it j " whether or no it be wife in men 
 *' to do fuch actions, I am fure it is wife 
 <c in ftates to honor them." In a fimilar 
 manner, I fuppofe, he reconciled his Epi- 
 cureanifm with his patriotifm, and thought 
 that enmity to France was wife in the ftate 
 of England, although an individual for his 
 private happinefs fhould keep his foul in a 
 Hate of pacific calmnefs. A momentary 
 ambition, however, drew him out from the 
 gardens of Epicurus, and he hoped to im- 
 mortalize his name by thofe everlafting 
 bounds which the triple alliance was to have 
 
 * Sir W. T. works, folio edition, vol. ii. page 40, 
 D 4 .'fet
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 fct to the conquefts of France. But he foon 
 had the mortification to find himfelf de- 
 ceived by his own court, and reduced to 
 fufpect inwardly the moft dangerous inten- 
 tions in the king who had employed him. 
 After fome years interval, he ftepped forth 
 again into public life, when Charles endea* 
 voured to recover his popularity by forming 
 a council, of which Shaftfbury, ElTex, 
 and Temple, were the chiefs. He foon per- 
 ceived the infincerity of all parties , fre faw 
 revolutions and civil contentions approach- 
 ing with hafty (hides, and he left for ever 
 the career of public affairs, promifing the 
 king that he never would take part with 
 one branch of the royal family againft the 
 other. He kept his word inviolably, an4 
 though he did not difapprove of the revolu- 
 lution of 1 68.8, he had no fhare in the tranf- 
 action ; though he had loved and admired 
 William, Prince of Orange, he would ac- 
 cept of no office from William, King of 
 England. His fon was of an active and 
 unphilofophical turn, he took a part in 
 bulmels, he rafhly engaged to William for 
 Tirconnel's furrender of Ireland, and Tir- 
 connel having deceived him, the unhappy 
 
 youth
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 youth killed himfelf in a fit of defpair. 
 Temple bore this heavy lofs with patience 
 and refignation, and perfifted to the end of 
 his life in his old political tenets of union 
 with Holland, and oppolition to France, 
 " unplaced, unpenfioned," by the king, 
 whofe principles he fupported. Indeed, 
 what honors, what riches, could have com- 
 penfated for the death of an only fon J 
 
 I have taken this review of Sir William 
 Temple's life, to mew that it is not likely 
 that a man fo difinterefted, fo difpaffionate, 
 and, indeed, fo indolent, mould have been 
 the author of a political fyflem fo unlike 
 his natural temper, if the moft weighty and 
 irrefiflible reafons had not forced him to 
 pwn its neceflity. 
 
 Thefe reafons are fcattered in divers places 
 of his works ; it is fufficient for the pre- 
 fent purpofe to obferve, that he thought 
 *' any firm conjunction" of France or Hol- 
 land, *' either by confederacy or the fubmif- 
 f * fion of Holland, would prove the neareil 
 
 * See folio edition* vol. i. pages 84-94. 
 
 ** approach
 
 ( 4* ) 
 
 '* approach that was ever made to our ruin 
 *' and fervitude," and doubted " whether 
 '* it were poffible (on the conqueft of Flan- 
 c< ders by France) to defend ourfelves in 
 4< war, either by our own forces or the al- 
 " liances of our neighbours/ 1 I would ad- 
 vife the philofophers of the prefent day to 
 confider well ere they pronounce an ana- 
 thema on the fyflems of fo uncorrupted a 
 citizen and philofopher as Sir William 
 Temple. 
 
 It is now time to return to the deduction 
 of hiilorical fads. 
 
 Lewis XIV. was rendered fomewhat more 
 cautious by the intervention of the triple al- 
 liance, yet ftill fucceeded in making a peace 
 with Spain, which greatly forwarded his 
 views of aggrandifement, iince hekeptChar- 
 leroi, Douai, Lille, Oudenarde, Furnes, 
 (near Dunkirk) and feveral other towns. His 
 ultimate aims were only deferred, not aban- 
 doned, and his prefent object was revenge 
 upon De Witt, and the Dutch, who had 
 prefumed to flop his progrefs. To accom- 
 plifli that purpofe, it was necefTary to gain 
 
 England,
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 England, and there his fuccefs was un- 
 doubted, from the inexplicable partiality of 
 Charles II. to France, his averiion to the 
 Dutch, and his falfe crooked policy. He 
 figned with France that criminal treaty, by 
 which he promifed to declare himfelf a ca- 
 tholic, and aflift Lewis to conquer Holland, 
 whilft Lewis was to aflift him in overturn- 
 ing the religion and liberties of England. 
 The whole project was fo impracticable, 
 and Charles fo immediately eluded the firft 
 article of changing his religion, that fomc 
 have imagined his real fcheme was to cheat 
 France out of a few fubfidies, and leave it 
 engaged with Holland in a ruinous wan 
 But fuch immoral means of executing 
 his political ends deferved punifhment, 
 and amply met with it. His fubjects, 
 who fufpected the worft intentions, thought 
 themfelves authorifed to confpire againft a 
 king, who was himfelf no better than a 
 confpirator. Lewis kept him all the reft of 
 his life in a Hate of tame dependence, 
 through fear left a treaty mould be publifhed 
 \vhich might, perhaps, have authorized the 
 Englifh to cafhicr him, even in the eyes of 
 thofe who cannot approve the latitude of 
 
 Dr,
 
 , ( 44 ) 
 
 Dr. Price's cafkiering dottrine, for it went 
 a great deal further than mifconduft. 
 
 The joint war of England and France 
 againft Holland was declared in 1672, and 
 with a fuccefs that feemed, at firft, to carry 
 all before it. The King of France came 
 down upon Utrecht like a land food, (to 
 ufe Bimop Burnett's expreffion) and the ter- 
 rified Hollanders fent deputies to treat. 
 The fame author obferves that Lewis's 
 wifeft counfellors advifed him to infift upon 
 nothing more than the forts of Dutch Flan- 
 ders and Dutch Brabant, which would look 
 like moderation, and yet enable the French 
 to furround Flanders on all fides. But 
 Lewis's arrogance made him add fuch mor- 
 tifying conditions, efpecially fuch as re- 
 garded the catholic religion, that the fpirit 
 of the Dutch arofe, they flopped the pro- 
 grefs of Lewis by inundations, and turned 
 all their vengeance again ft the honeft but; 
 miftakcn De Witt, who had never conceived 
 it poffible that England and France would 
 unite to conquer Holland, 
 
 The
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 The Dutch, beyond moft nations, have 
 acted upon Dr. Price's fyftem of cafhiering 
 their rulers for mifcondud:, and framing 
 new conftitutions for themfelves, and the 
 confequences have not been fuch as mould 
 incline fenfible perfons to follow their ex- 
 ample. As their conflitution had not de- 
 clared expreflly that there fhould, or mould 
 not, be a chief magiftrate in the common- 
 wealth, there did not exifl in the great 
 body of the people an idea of facrednefs af- 
 fixed from early infancy to one or- other 
 form of government. Confequently there 
 arofe two parties openly attached to thefc 
 two different forms, each grounding itfclf 
 on plaufible reafons, each more zealous for 
 its favorite fyftem than for the general wel- 
 fare. William II. had abufed his power, 
 and his untimely death gave occafion to ex- 
 clude his infant fon, and abolifh the ftadt- 
 hbldermip. DeWitt, from his jealoufy of 
 the Orange party, too much neglected the 
 army; in confequence of this mif conduct > 
 Holland was invaded, and himfelf not only 
 cafkicred, but barbaroufly maiTacred. Wil- 
 liam III. was made ftadtholder, with powers 
 exceeding thofe of his anceflors ; he reilored 
 
 3 difcipline
 
 tlifcipline to the troops, and gradually obliged 
 Lewis to relinquifh his conquefts. Spain, 
 and the empire, faw the approaching dan- 
 ger, and . declared war againft France. 
 Charles II. finding his Parliament flow in 
 granting fupplies, quitted the war with as 
 little honor as he had commenced it. Lewis, 
 difappointed of conquering Holland firfl, 
 and Flanders afterwards, refumed his ori- 
 ginal plan of making new acquifitions in 
 Flanders, and of preventing England from 
 holding the balance by a feries of compli- 
 cated intrigues. 
 
 A moft curious argument, drawn from 
 this period of hiftory, was lafl feilion ufed 
 in oppofition to the prefent ministry. It 
 was infilled, that in endeavouring to reflore 
 the ancient French monarchy, they imitated 
 the criminality of Charles and his minifters. 
 It feems, at firfl light, that it would have 
 been very eafy to have replied by an obvious 
 parallel. The cabal of Charles II. intrigued 
 with the houfe of Bourbon to throw Hol- 
 land into the power of France if Mr. Pitt 
 has ufed any intrigue, it has been to keep 
 Holland out of that power. The cabal fe- 
 conded the houfe of Bourbon in their am- 
 bitious
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 bitious views of conqueft if Mr. Pitt en- 
 deavoured to reftore thofe princes, it was 
 in hopes, that, inftru&ed by dreadful expe- 
 rience, they would confine their ambition 
 to the limits of their own territories. Eli- 
 zabeth aflifled the houfe of Bourbon to ac- 
 quire the crown of France, becaufe Spain 
 was at that moment the more formidable 
 enemy ; and from the fame reafon it was 
 lawful to affift the Bourbons at the prefent 
 sera againfl the malicious and inveterate 
 French republic. 
 
 But there was in the end of Charles the 
 Second*s reign, another fpec ies of French 
 intrigue, an intrigue with members of Par- 
 liament, which the oppofition thought fit to- 
 pafs over in total filence. I know that I 
 tread upon dangerous ground ; I remember 
 the indignation which Sir J. Dalrymplc's 
 difcoveries excited on their firft appearance. 
 However, of late years I believe no one has 
 gone fo far as to deny the authenticity of 
 Barillon's Letters to Lewis the Fourteenth, 
 If any defperate republican would ftill fup- 
 port fuch a paradox, the anfwer is obvious* 
 The papers Hill exift at Paris, let him ap- 
 
 4 ply
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 ply to his republican friends, and fee who 
 is hardy enough to aflert their falfification. 
 Another opinion has been itarted by thofe 
 who cannot bear the idea that fo many 
 Englifh patriots, and efpecially Algernon 
 Sydney, took money of France : that Ba- 
 rillon deceived his matter, and under the 
 pretence of corrupting others, detained the 
 money for his own ufe. I will not enter 
 into the probability of this fuppofition, but 
 will frankly allow it to be pojjible, becaufe 
 politicians are not accuftomed to give re- 
 ceipts under their own hands for a bribe. 
 It is enough for my argument if we may 
 depend upon Sydney's political opinions as 
 defcribed by Barillon, for he could have 
 no intereft to reprefent them falfely. This 
 important difpatch of Barillon is dated 
 September 30, 1680, and fome of its 
 moft material paragraphs are (clofely tranf- 
 lated) as follows ; 
 
 c * There are fome who have 
 
 applied themfelves for fome time, to 
 make me underftand that it is an old er- 
 ror to believe that it is againft the inte- 
 of France to fuffer England to be- 
 
 " come
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 "come a republic. They endeavour to 
 " prove by good reafons and the example 
 *' of the paft, that the re-union of Eng- 
 *' land under a proteftant authorifed as the 
 " Prince of Orange would be, is much 
 " lefs conformable tp the true intereil of 
 " France than a republic, which would 
 " be more occupied with trade than with 
 V any other thing, and would believe as 
 " Cromwell did, that it fhould gain ra- 
 " ther at the expence of Spain than of 
 " France; they add, that the intereft of 
 " England as a republic, and that of Hol- 
 " land governed as it is, could not eaiily 
 4 * agree, whereas the Prince of Orange 
 ** could re-unite in his perfon the power of 
 " the States General and of England to- 
 " gether ****** 
 
 4 * * * * * * * 
 
 *' Mr. Sydney is one of thofe who talks to 
 " me with the moft force and the mofc 
 " opennefs on this matter." 
 
 Let the whole original letter be imparti- 
 ally fludied, and it muft be gathered from 
 it, that Sydney was a deadly foe to the 
 houfe of NaiTau, a warmer friend to France 
 E than
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 than to the proteftant religion, and willing 
 to facrifice the independence of all Europe 
 to the ambition of Lewis, fo he could fet 
 up his idol of a republic in England. I 
 have long thought it a great misfortune, 
 that the illegal condemnation of Sydney 
 inclined the whigs to rank him amongfl 
 their martyrs along with Ruflel, from 
 whom his principles divided him far as the 
 poles afunder. They might both be ho- 
 neft men in the abfiracl: fenfe, for they 
 might both follow the dictates of confci- 
 ence; but Ruffel's principles in a better 
 reign would have made him a moft ufeful 
 Engliih citizen : Sydney's fentiments would 
 have always rendered him a moft dan- 
 gerous citizen in any monarchy whatfo- 
 ever. Let his republican imitators in the 
 prefent age conlider what difcoveries fome 
 future Dairy mple may bring forth, and 
 flop their licentious tongues on the fubject 
 of corrupt intrigue. This noxious vice 
 will flouriih in other foils belides that of 
 courts. ft 
 
 Whether it was the infincerity of the 
 
 court, or the intrigues of the Houfe of 
 
 3 Com-
 
 ( 5' ) 
 
 Commons, that chiefly caufed the inaction 
 of England ; it is at leaft certain that Eng- 
 land did remain inactive, while France con- 
 cluded a moft advantageous treaty at Ni- 
 meguen in 1678, and continued, during a 
 fhort interval of gloomy and diflurbed 
 peace, to profecute the fame views of con- 
 queft as during the war. The fame policy 
 which now leads the French to treat fepa- 
 rately with every power, to divide that they 
 may reign, induced them to grant favour- 
 able terms to that very nation whofe info- 
 lence had been the oftenfible reafon for be- 
 ginning the war. Every Dutch town then 
 in the hands of Lewis was reftored to 
 Holland, but Spain was obliged to yield 
 Valenciennes, Conde, Bouchain, Cam- 
 brai, St. Omer, Ypres, and the whole 
 county of Burgundy, commonly known 
 by the name of Franchecomte. Soon after 
 the peace of Nimeguen, the Turks attack- 
 ed the Emperor Leopold with their wonted 
 impetuofity, befieged Vienna itfelf, and 
 were only defeated by the heroic valour of 
 Sobielki, King of Poland. Such was the 
 hatred entertained againft Lewis, that it 
 was generally believed his intrigues had al~ 
 E a lured
 
 ( 5' ) 
 
 lured the Turks into this defperate war, in 
 the romantic hope that after the total de- 
 ftruction of the houfe of Auftria, the Ger- 
 man princes for their own prefervation, 
 would elett him for their chief \ and thus 
 the empire of Charlemagne would be once 
 more realifed. 
 
 Thefe fufpicions are not authenticated by 
 fa tis factory proof ; but it is certain, however, 
 that Lewis profited by the alarms which this 
 waroccafioned, to attack various towns on 
 the fide of Flanders, on frivolous interpreta- 
 tions which he gave to the treaty of Nime- 
 guen. Spain, unable to bear fuch repeated 
 infults, took up arms unaffifted by any other 
 power, and only aggravated its misfortunes 
 by lofing Courtrai and the ftrong fortrefs 
 of Luxembourg. 
 
 But by this time the empire was delivered 
 from its imminent danger, by the total rout 
 of the Turks, and Lewis began to confider, 
 that he might lofe all by feeking to gain all 
 prematurely. A treaty was concluded at 
 Ratifbon in 1684, under the fingular title 
 of a' truce for twenty years, which implied 
 
 a frank
 
 ( S3 ) 
 
 a frank confeffion, that the caufes of hatred 
 were fo ftrong that no durable peace could 
 be expected in the prefent ftate of things. 
 Three caufes had contributed to unite all 
 the German princes and cities in thofe re- 
 fentments which might have otherwife been 
 confined to the two branches of the houfe 
 of Auftria; firft, the pretenfions which 
 Lewis formed in the name of his bro- 
 ther's wife to part of the fucceffion of 
 the deceafed Elector Palatine ; fecondly, 
 his feizure of Strafbourgh, which the Ger- 
 mans had refufed to furrender when they 
 were obliged by the treaty of Weftphalia 
 to furrender the reft of Alface. The con- 
 queft of this town was facilitated by the 
 difputes between two factions amongft the 
 burgomafters, which are detailed in Barnes's 
 letter. The details are in themfelves of 
 fmall moment, but yet an obfervant reader 
 might felect important instruction for the 
 prefent age, and learn the fatal effects of 
 party quarrels in great ftates as well as 
 fmall. The third and principal caufe 
 which mortified the pride of the German 
 princes, were the Chambers of Re-union 
 fet up at Metz and Brifac to inquire into 
 E 3 the.
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 the titles by which the neighbouring 
 princes held their lands; fovereigns were 
 called before thefe tribunals, and obliged 
 to own themfelves vaffals of France, or to 
 forfeit their territories. This circumftance 
 will appear of fome importance when we 
 relate events of a much later period. 
 
 In 1689, Charles the Second of England 
 ended his life and reign amidfl the turbu- 
 lence and mutual contentions of faction. 
 James the Second fucceeded, obnoxious to 
 many of his fubjects on account of his re- 
 ligion, and therefore he moft imprudently 
 conceived that the protection of a foreign 
 prince could fhelter him from the refent- 
 ment of fuch a great and populous com- 
 munity as England. A real and lading 
 league was fuppofed to be formed between, 
 James and Lewis, founded on fimilarity 
 of principles and religion, whereas the 
 friendfhip of Charles was light, and varia- 
 ble as his temper, always falling or rifing 
 as his exchequer was full or empty, and 
 always at the fervice of the higheft bidder. 
 The addition of England to the fcale of 
 France increafed the alarms of the reft of 
 
 Europe,
 
 ( ss ) 
 
 Europe, and occafioned the famous league 
 of Augfbourg in 1687, which, like the 
 treaty of Pilnitz in the prefent age, was 
 confidered by France as an offenfive, and 
 by other powers as a defenfive league. 
 D'Avaux, a moil able negotiator, had 
 been employed by Lewis to detach the 
 Dutch from the houfe of Auftria, by keep- 
 ing them in a perpetual ferment againil 
 their Stadtholder, but the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantz, and the- terrible accounts 
 of Lewis's cruelty, difTeminated every 
 where by the perfecuted Huguenots, (the 
 French emigrants of the laft age) had an 
 effect on the Dutch which all the intrigues 
 of D'Avaux could not counterbalance, 
 they confidered Lewis as a fworn enemy to 
 their religion, and not only entered heartily 
 into the league of Augfbourg, but alfo con~ 
 curred in the fcheme of fetting their Stadt- 
 holder on the throne of England. 
 
 It is not necefTary to inform an Englifh- 
 man that the Revolution took place in 1 688, 
 that James ran away to France, and that 
 William was proclaimed king of England, 
 in 1 689 ; but there is a light in, which an 
 E 4 Englifh*
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 Englifhmtfn has not been always ufed to 
 confider this famous revolution, and which 
 it is necefTary tq enlarge upon. It could 
 hardly have taken place if the mere power 
 of Englifh. factions had been employed : - 
 no ! it was aided * by a coalition of the great 
 continental powers as real, though more 
 filcnt than that coalition of princes which 
 it is the fafhion of republicans to hold up 
 at prefent in fo odious a light. The fame 
 motive, though under different fhapes, 
 made Auftria, Spain, &c. join in fuccefs- 
 fully undermining defpotic power in Eng- 
 land, and unfuccefs fully attempting to 
 overturn republicanifm in France, namely, a 
 regard to their own political intereft. If James 
 had united with France, they thought no- 
 thing could have prevented Lewis from 
 -obtaining univerfal monarchy, and the 
 fame panic fubiifted at the prefent time 
 with regard to the- eflablifhment of an 
 univerfal republic, of which France was to 
 be the center. The queftion of defpotifm 
 
 * See Bifliop Burnett's Hiftory, -who goes as far 
 as even to prove, that the revolution would have 
 hardly fucceeded if the Pope himfelf, provoked be- 
 yond bearing at Lewis's infolence, had not taken part 
 againft popery. 
 
 or
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 or liberty was but a fecondary point ; the 
 houfe of Auftria would as willingly at 
 that time have aflifted in a glorious revolu- 
 tion in France as in England, but the 
 French nation had notdifcoveredthefmallert 
 difcontent againft their fovereign ; there is 
 the greateft reafon to believe that even re- 
 tired, independent individuals were as eager 
 for national conquefls as Lewis or Louvois 
 himfelf. 
 
 The King of France had before 'the re- 
 volution of England attacked the German 
 empire by the fiege and conqueft of one of 
 its bulwarks, Philipfbourg. William the 
 Third did not fail to fulfill the tacit condi- 
 tion under which the co-operation of all 
 Europe had aflifted, in railing him to the 
 throne; and, indeed, the protection which 
 Lewis was obliged in gratitude to beftow 
 on James rendered a declaration of war in- 
 difpenfable.* 
 
 England, Spain, Holland, Germany, 
 carried on for many years an unremitting 
 
 * See Madame de Sevigne's Letters, particularly 
 thofe of the year 1672. 
 
 contefl
 
 conteft againft France, and the difadvan* 
 tage of a difunited league againfl one corn- 
 pad: body was demonftrated in that war, 
 though not in fo terrible a manner as in 
 the prefent. Sometimes the allies, but of- 
 tener Lewis, had the advantage in the 
 field, till at laft the taking of Namur, by 
 King William was confidered as decifive 
 againft the intereft of France. The dif- 
 trelTes of his kingdom began to affecl: 
 Lewis, and the French, when they felt the 
 fcarcity of money, (and never till that mo- 
 ment) began to think that their fovereign was 
 too ambitious. But the expectation that the 
 ikkly, infirm Charles the Second of Spain, 
 would die without pofterity, and leave his 
 whole fucceffion to the difpofal of France, 
 chiefly induced him to purchafe a tempo- 
 rary interval of peace by conditions which 
 a little ilraightened the limits of France. 
 Luxembourgh, Charleroi, Mons, Cour- 
 trai, Fribourg, and whatever had been 
 feized by the invidious Chambers of Re- 
 nion were reftored to Spain or to Germany 
 by the peace of Ryfvvic in 1697. The 
 duchy of Lorrain had long been one of 
 the fecondary objects of French ambition, 
 
 it
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 it had been feized by Richelieu, reftored 
 and feized again, but was now reftored 
 under more favourable aufpices to the young 
 Duke Leopold, nephew on the mother's 
 fide to the emperor. 
 
 It now became the object of all the 
 powers of Europe to provide for the vacant 
 fucceflion of Spain, and adjuft the jar- 
 ring pretenfions of Lewis the Fourteenth's 
 defcendants, fprung from that elder fifter who 
 had renounced her right by folemn oaths, 
 and of the Imperial branch of the houfe of 
 Auftria defcended from the younger lifter 
 of the Queen of France. Lewis feemed 
 difpofed to wave the extent of his claims 
 for the fake of peace ; two different treaties 
 of partition were at different times figned 
 between England, Holland, and France. 
 By the laft and definitive treaty, Naples 
 and Sicily were to be annexed to the crown 
 of France, and the reft of the Spanifh mo- 
 narchy was to defcend to the Archduke 
 Charles, fecond fon of the Emperor Leo- 
 pold, 
 
 The
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 The emperor would never fubfcribe t9 
 this partition treaty, and the national pride 
 of the Spaniards took fire at fuch an inva- 
 fion of their independence. Charles the 
 Second of Spain was perfuaded by the in- 
 trigues of Cardinal Portocarrero to leave his 
 whole dominions to the Duke of Anjou, 
 fecond fon to the dauphin, as the furefl 
 means to prevent the difmemberment of 
 the Spanifh monarchy. Charles died in 
 November 1*700; the councils of Ver- 
 failles balanced for fome moments between 
 the will and partition treaty, but the latter 
 prevailed, and the Duke of Anjou was de- 
 clared King of Spain amidft the univerfal 
 applaufe of the French nation as well as 
 the French court. It was then that Lewis 
 uttered that famous faying. " II n'y a flus. 
 * 6 de Pyrenees" the Pyrenees are no, 
 more in the true ftyle of pompous French 
 eloquence, a ftyle equally familiar to their 
 republican generals and their defpotic kings. 
 Unhappily for England the meaning of 
 that faying has been verified, and there 
 is reafon to fear that it will be verified 
 ft ill, even though the houfe of Bourbon 
 is deftroyed. 
 
 This
 
 ( 6. ) 
 
 - This unexpected union between two 
 rival nations alarmed the reft of Europe with 
 an idea of the immediate deftrucftion of the 
 balance of power, and with the apprehenfion 
 of a further progrefs on the part of France 
 towards her great aim of univerfal empire, 
 Frefh leagues and alliances were entered 
 into, and negotiations were begun rather 
 for the purpofe of gaining time to prepare 
 for war, than with hopes of confolidating 
 a durable peace. 
 
 It may be the fyftem of modern philofo- 
 phers to mark with reprobation the enfuing 
 war, (diftinguifhed as the War of the Spa" 
 nljh SucceJJiori) but Lord Bolingbroke, the 
 mortal enemy of the whigs, the framer of 
 the treaty of Utrecht, allows it to have 
 been unavoidable.* " The immediate' fe- 
 " curing of commerce and of barriers, the 
 " preventing an union of the two monar- 
 " chies in fome future time, and the pre- 
 " fervation of a certain degree at leafl of 
 " equality in the fcales of power, were 
 " points too important to England, Hol- 
 
 * Letters on the Study of Hiftory, vol. ii. p. 39. 
 
 land,
 
 *' land, and the reft of Europe, to be 
 *' refled on the moderation of French 
 " councils." 
 
 Lewis at that time wounded the pride 
 of the Englifh nation by unneceffarily ac- 
 knowledging the Pretender as King of Eng- 
 land : and he alarmed the Dutch by an ac- 
 tion not ftri&ly juft in itfelf, but more de- 
 feniible in point of policy. 
 
 The general alarm occafioned in Holland 
 by the French invafion of 1672, had made 
 that country perceive the neceffity of a 
 ftricl: alliance with its ancient enemy Spain. 
 A treaty was entered into called the Barrier 
 Treaty, by which a certain number of 
 towns in Flanders were to receive Dutch 
 garrifons, and the Dutch were thereby 
 bound to defend them if attacked. Thefe 
 Dutch troops were neighbours too perilous 
 either for Philip or Lewis ; they were fur- 
 prifed in one night, difarmed, and fent 
 home. Bolingbroke whofn I had rather 
 quote on fuch occafions than a more deter- 
 mined enemy to France) fays, that " the 
 " impreffion it made was much the fame 
 
 " as
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 <f as thofe of the furprifes and feifures of 
 '* France in former ufurpations. Every 
 " one faw that there remained no longer 
 " any barrier between France and the Seven 
 " Provinces." Thefe are precifely the 
 words that a modern Englifh jftatefman 
 might have ufed in 1792. 
 
 It is remarkable that whilfl Lewis foft- 
 ened this arbitrary meafure, by immediately 
 fending back the troops to their native 
 country, his fubjecls were angry. that he 
 had not detained them prifoners againfl the 
 law of nations. St. Simon has exprefled 
 himfelf flrongly on this head, and Prefi- 
 dent Henault confiders Lewis's behaviour 
 as generous rather than prudent. This 
 may be placed amongft the many inftances 
 which mew that a nation may have lefs 
 fenfe of juflice than a king. 
 
 William the Third died in March, 1702, 
 juft as he was going to put himfelf at the 
 head of another grand alliance, but his 
 death made uo alteration in the conduct of 
 the allies. The Dutch filently refumed 
 their republican form of government ; but 
 
 William's
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 William*s friends and partifans filled the 
 chief offices for many years. Queen Anne 
 entered into the war with more fpirit than 
 was expe&ed, and thanks to thofe immor- 
 tal names of Marlborough and Eugene, 
 names which we may vainly wifh to fee 
 equalled, the pride of Lewis and of France 
 received the fevereft (hocks. The battle of 
 Blenheim faved the empire, the battle of 
 Ramilies gave Flanders to the houfe of 
 Aufhria ; the diftrefTes of France augment- 
 ed every year, and in 1710, Lewis would 
 willingly have yielded to very humiliating 
 terms. The obftinacy of the Dutch and the 
 Englifh whigs broke off the conferences 
 at Gertruydenberg, we now think them 
 moft evidently wrong ; but had we lived in 
 thofe days, and fhared their long-rooted dif- 
 truft of Lewis, we mould perhaps have 
 been influenced by the fame paffions. The 
 minds of the Englifh foon cooled, the jea- 
 loufy between churchmen and difTenters, 
 and the diflike of Queen Anne againft her 
 tyrannical favourite, the Duchefs of Marlbo- 
 rough, produced a change of councils. Ox- 
 ford and Bolingbroke were raifed to the mi- 
 niiby, in the year 1712; they figned a truce 
 
 with
 
 with France on the condition that Dunkirk 
 fhould be garrifoned by Englifh troops, 
 called off the Englifh from the allied army, 
 and foon after the treaty of Utrecht was 
 concluded, Eugene was defeated by Villars, 
 and the emperor obliged in 1713, to fign a 
 peace at Baden, not very advantageous for 
 himfelf or the empire. 
 
 The famous treaty of Utrecht was for a 
 long while the ftanding theme of Whig in- 
 vective ; and it is a circumftance worthy 
 the attention of the modern reader, that 
 Bolingbroke in his fore-cited work owns it 
 was not fo good a treaty as he wifhed to 
 have made :* but he throws all the blame on 
 the Whigs, who by clandejlinely intriguing 
 with foreign courts, and fpiriting up Hol- 
 land and Auftria to refufe the queen's medi- 
 ation, laid her under the necefiity of making a 
 feparate peace. Some of Lord Bolingbroke's 
 reflections are fo applicable to the prefcnt 
 time, that they mould be given in his 
 own .words. " The low and exhaufted 
 "** (late to which France was reduced, was 
 
 * See vol. ii. pages 119, 122, 123. 
 
 F " but
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 *' but a momentary reduction of her power, 
 " and whatever real and more lafting re- 
 " duction the treaty of Utrecht brought 
 " about in fomeinftances, it was not fuffi- 
 " cient. The power of France would not 
 *' have appeared as great. as it did when 
 c< England and Holland armed themfelves, 
 " and armed all Germany againft her, if 
 " me had lain as open to the invafions of 
 " her enemies, as her enemies lay to her's. 
 " Her inward ftrength was great, but the 
 " flrength of thofe frontiers which Lewis 
 " the Fourteenth was almoft forty years in 
 " forming, and which the folly of all his 
 '* neighbours in their turns fuffered him to 
 " form, made this ftrength formidable. 
 '* The true reduction of the exorbitant 
 " power of France, (I take no notice of 
 " chimerical projccJs about changing her 
 " go e vern?nent 1 ) confifted therefore in dif- 
 " arming her frontiers, and fortifying the 
 " barriers againft her by the ceflion and 
 " demolition of many more places than 
 " fhe yielded up at Utrecht; but not of 
 " more than fhe might have been obliged 
 " to facrifice to her own immediate relief, 
 
 " and
 
 "-and to the future fecurity of her neigh- 
 " hours." 
 
 We fee that Bolingbroke confidered the 
 want of greater fecurity to Flanders and 
 Germany as a folid objection to the peace 
 of Utrecht. Yet Flanders itfelf was taken 
 from the houfe of Bourbon, and given to 
 Auftria as a fafer neighbour to England ; 
 yet feveral of Lewis's conquered towns 
 were given back to Flanders, and Dutch 
 garrifons were admitted into feveral more 
 under the well-known name of the Dutch 
 Barrier. But it was a great error not to 
 infill that Lifle, the almoft impregnable for- 
 trefs, Lifle, whofe conqueft was the nobleft 
 of Marlborough's achievements, that Lifle 
 (at all events) ihould be added to the por- 
 tion of the houfe of Auflria. The defliny 
 of the prefent war has in fome mcafure 
 turned on that fatal hinge. 
 
 It was alfo a misfortune to Germany 
 that Landau remained in the hands of 
 France. But the Germanic body had im- 
 practicable pretenfions, they wifhed to re- 
 take Strafbourg and the whole of Alface, 
 F 2 and
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 and were forced at laft to remain with very 
 flender fatisfaction. 
 
 The great and material objection to the 
 treaty of Utrecht, the refigning Spain into 
 the hands of a prince of the houfe of 
 Bourbon, was not felt at that time fo ftrong- 
 ly as we have felt it fince ; for mod theo- 
 retical politicians, and Lord Bolingbroke 
 amongft the reft, infifted that the Kings of 
 Spain would foon become Spaniards and 
 forget their French extraction. Unhappily 
 that metamorphofis has not yet taken place, 
 and the moft popular article of the treaty of 
 Utrecht has, in great meafure, prevented 
 it the ceilion of Gibraltar to England. 
 There is great reafon to believe that more 
 than once the miniftry would haverefigned 
 Gibraltar to purchafe Spanifh friendlhip, 
 and the rifing refentment of the fove reign 
 people has broke off all negotiation. An 
 additional hint to thofe who, like Dr. 
 Price, attribute all caufes of war to " the 
 " p a ffi ons of kings and minijlers." 
 
 We are now arrived to the clofe of Lewis 
 the Fourteenth's reign, and on reviewing 
 
 it
 
 it accurately we (hall find, that notwith- 
 ftanding the few retrograde fteps which the 
 power of France was compelled to make 
 at Ryfwic and at Utrecht, thefe were in no 
 proportion to the progreffive (hides it had 
 taken from the acceffion of Lewis in 1 640. 
 RoufTillon, Alface,Franchcomte, Artois, the 
 towns of Lille, Valenciennes, Conde, and 
 many other important fortrefTes, thefe were 
 the capital acquifitions which remained after 
 all the victories of Marlborough and Eugene. 
 The ill fuccefles attending on Lewis's de- 
 clining years had made him, however, in 
 his old age, unpopular amongft his fubjects, 
 who, mortified by difappointments, began 
 to affume a kind of philofophical cant againft 
 ambition and conqueft, which experience 
 has fhewn to have dwelt on their lips not 
 in their hearts. He himfelf \vith his lateft 
 breath declared his penitence for his too 
 frequent wars ; -a declaration which may 
 be infincere from a king, but I never yet 
 heard of a republican hero, who paid even 
 this poor tribute to humanity. By the pre- 
 matu r e deaths of the fon, two grandfons, 
 and one great-grandfon of Lewis XIV. in, 
 the cuurfe of two years, his family was 
 F 3 reduced
 
 ( 70 ) ^ 
 
 reduced to one fkkly infant, afterwards 
 Lewis XV. and to the King of Spain, who 
 with all his descendants had been excluded 
 from the crown of France by the treaty of 
 Utrecht, whilft the right of eventual fuc- 
 ceffion was given to Philip Duke of Or- 
 leans, the old king's nephew. It was not 
 one of the leaft mortifications of his unfor- 
 tunate old age, that he knew the regency 
 muft devolve on the Duke of Orleans, 
 whom he confidered as the fecret enemy of 
 his family, and to whom he ever behaved 
 with as much jealoufy, as if fome un- 
 known fecret forebodings had revealed to 
 him the crimes and misfortunes that the 
 branch of Orleans were doomed to commit 
 or to occafion. 
 
 Philip, however, though a moft profli- 
 gate character, had not the cruel cowardly 
 ambition of his laft defcendant ; he did not 
 feek to deftroy the poor orphan prince left 
 at his mercy, but he was ever ready to 
 maintain his right of fucceffion, and for 
 that purpofe was obliged by policy to keep 
 on good terms with England, and thehoufeof 
 Brimfwick, who had guaranteed that right, 
 
 and
 
 7 
 
 and to difcourage all the attempts of the 
 defcendants of James II. againft that new 
 eflablifhed family; but it mutt be obferved, 
 that this policy was reprobated by the ma- 
 jority of the French nation, and by men 
 who were no more friends than the Englifh 
 themfelves to the excefles of arbitrary 
 power. Two lately publifhed works are 
 proofs of this fact ; the Memoirs of the 
 Due de St. Simon, and the Memoirs of 
 Maflillon on the Regency (privately written 
 for the inflruction of Lewis XV. when he 
 came of age) Mafjillon was the famous 
 author of the fermons preached before Lewis 
 when a child, under the name of Le Petit 
 Careme, and it is hardly poffible to draw 
 a feverer, fterner picture of the duties and 
 office of a king. 
 
 St, Simon appears by his memoirs to 
 have been of a fteady, inflexible fpirit, 
 fparing in his praife, liberal in his cenfure, 
 a mortal enemy to Lewis XIV. and his 
 miniftry.* Yet thefe men, whofe charac- 
 ters 
 
 * To defcribe his chara&er in his own fingular but 
 
 expreflive words. In the midft of the corrupted fawn- 
 
 F4 ing
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 ters had fomcthing in them of an EnglilK 
 turn, were no friends to England. How 
 then have Englishmen, been fo deceived as 
 to expect friendmip from a Mirabeau, a 
 BriiTot, and a Condorcet ? The fact is, 
 that ever fince the revolution when Eng- 
 land interfered to check the univerfal empire 
 of France, fhe has been the primary object 
 of Frenchmen's hatred, even as much as 
 the houfe of Auftria itfelf. 
 
 It muft not be diffembled, that there 
 was no great good-will thrown away on the 
 fide of the Englifh. nation, I fay the nation 
 rather than the court, for whatever modern 
 French writers may fuppofe, the court of 
 England wifhed for twenty-five years to- 
 gether, to keep on terms of amity with 
 France, and to fettle the various difputes 
 which arofe in Europe by negociation 
 rather than by arms ; but this negociating 
 turn was made the theme of patriotic con- 
 tempt and invective, and there is not a quef- 
 tion and anfwer Hiftory of England for 
 
 ing courtiers of the regent, he made it his boaft, " that 
 * with regard to flattery and meannefs, he had pre- 
 " ferved himfelf in a ftate of virgin innocence." 
 
 children,
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 children, which does not tell its readers, 
 that, * " Sir Robert Walpole's pacific tem- 
 ** per was attributed to pufillanimity, or to 
 *' a fecret correfpondence with France/' 
 
 The temper of the young king was early- 
 known to be weak, but he was long thought 
 to be chafte, temperate, and pacific. The 
 dying admonitions of Lewis XIV. againft 
 war and prodigality were written in letters 
 of gold, hung over his bed's head, and 
 were fuppofed to have had a powerful in- 
 fluence on his mind ; had he been left to 
 himfelf his kingdom might have been 
 happy, but his reftlefs countrymen could 
 not bear their own tranquillity. Villars 
 tells us in his memoirs, that he ufed to 
 take opportunities to repeat in the council, 
 that although it was a king's duty not to 
 burden his fubjects, it was alfo his duty to 
 maintain the national honour, and keep faith 
 with his allies ; at lafl, in 1734, an occafion 
 occurred to perfuade him that the national 
 honour was affected, Lewis XV. had 
 
 * Sir R. W. was particularly blamed for (offering 
 prance to acquire Lorraine. 
 
 3 married
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 married the daughter of S tart i flans, the dif- 
 pofleired King of Poland ; on the cleath of 
 Auguftus I. Elector of Saxony* one party 
 of the Polifli nobility elected his fort 
 Auguftus II. another party re-elected Stanif- 
 kus, and Lewis took up arms to fupport 
 the in-tereft of his father-in-law, whilft the- 
 court of Vienna affifted the election of 
 Auguftus ; but it foon appeared that Stanif- 
 laus . and Auguftus were nominal rather 
 than real caufes of the war, and that the 
 aim of the French was to deprive the houfe 
 of Auftria of fome of the advantages it 
 had gained by the treaty of Utrecht. Flan- 
 ders was not attacked indeed, the remem- 
 brance of Ramillies, of Oudenarde, of Mal- 
 pkiquet, ftill haunted French imaginations,, 
 (though England had not now a Marl- 
 borough to light its battles) but Naples 
 and Sicily were conquered and given to 
 Don Carlos, fecond fon to Philip King of 
 Spain, and the French arm,s penetrated into 
 Lotmb<,rdy with the fame fuccefs as in the 
 preftnt year, and the emperor was glad to 
 purchafe peace by a facrifice of more benefit 
 to France than detriment to himfelf. His 
 daughter and heirefs was intended 
 
 both
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 Loth by her own and her parents* inclina- 
 tion to efpoufe Francis, the young Duke 
 of Lorraine, the head of a family fo long 
 perfecuted by France. It was agreed that 
 when this great alliance was concluded, 
 Francis in return fhould yield Lorraine to 
 be enjoyed by Staniflaus during his life, 
 and after his death irrevocably united to 
 Francis by way of compenfation, had the 
 great duchy of Tufcany, and France 
 guaranteed the univerfal fucceffion of Auflria 
 to Maria Terefa ; fhe wedded the young 
 Duke Francis, in 1739, and thus, to ufc 
 the expreffion of a French Author,* the 
 houfe of Lorraine found an afylum on the 
 Imperial throne. But future events have 
 Ihewn that it is but a weak afylu,m againfl 
 the pertinacious hatred of France. Three 
 years before, another marriage took place 
 in England, whofe confequences are alfo 
 felt at the prefent moment. Anne, Princefs 
 Royal of England, was marriecl to William, 
 head of the fecond or younger branch of 
 Orange, defcended in the male line from 
 an uncle of the famous William I. and in 
 
 * A trouvee pour afyl le trone imperial, were the 
 original words. 
 
 the
 
 ( 76 ) 
 
 the female from the wife and moderate Fre- 
 deric Henry. All who yet remember the 
 court of George the Second, will readily 
 vouch that neither George nor his Queen 
 greatly approved of the marriage. It was 
 preffed on by the Whig party, applauded 
 by low-churchmen and difTenters, who 
 little thought their defcendants would one 
 day take part with France againft the houfe 
 of Naflau. There were, indeed, fome men 
 who even then predicted that the marriage 
 was imprudent, and by railing jealoufies 
 in the republican party it would throw them 
 into the interefls of France. But the tide 
 of popularity carried all before it; thefe 
 predictions met with the fame fate as thofe of 
 Cafifandra, and their authors were almoft 
 ftigmatized with the name of Tories. 
 
 From 1737 to 1740, the French re- 
 mained tranquil, but the unexpected death 
 of Charles the Sixth once more threw Eu- 
 rope into confufion, and gave France an 
 opportunity to difplay her perfidious cha^ 
 jailer.
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 The male line of the powerful houfc 
 of Auftria was extinct in the Emperor 
 Charles, and feveral princes were ready at 
 the moment of his diflblution, to afTert va- 
 rious, nay, contradictory claims, on his 
 daughter's patrimony. He had hoped to 
 provide againft the danger, by engaging 
 England, France, in fhort, all the moft 
 powerful European ftates, to guarantee 
 Maria Terefa's univerfal fucceffion (under 
 the name of the Pragmatic fanction.) But no 
 fooner was he deceafed, than the uncertainty 
 of all fuch guarantees evidently appeared. 
 The King of Pruffia, the admirable, but 
 by no means amiable Frederic, firft took 
 up arms, to affert fome obfolete claims to 
 Silefiaj the Elector of Bavaria followed, 
 with one fweeping general claim to the 
 whole fucceflion of Auftria, and could al- 
 low Maria Terefa no other title than con- 
 fort to the Great Duke of Tufcany. Still 
 the balance was equally fufpendcd, but 
 France broke its plighted word, and Auf- 
 tria feemed reduced to the loweft ebb of 
 defpair. Villars and Berwick had pe- 
 riihed in the laft war; Cardinal Fleury, 
 worn down by age and infirmities, flood 
 
 tot-
 
 C 78 ) 
 
 tottering on the brink of the grave ; two 
 brothers, the Marfhal and the Count de 
 Belleifle, men of brilliant parts and un- 
 bounded ambition, prefided over the councils 
 of France; they perfuaded the fimple yield- 
 ing monarch, and hurried the fcrupulous, 
 reluctant cardinal into a war founded on in- 
 juftice and perjury. The military men were 
 glad of an opportunity to gain reputation, 
 and the nation refounded in 1 740 (as well as 
 in 1792) with the crimes of Auftria, its 
 enmity to France, and the neceffity of dif- 
 arming it for ever of its mifchievous 
 power. 
 
 The confequences of thefe unlawful, 
 but not unpopular meafures, are well 
 known ; the long and general war that 
 followed, the early fuccefles of the Elec- 
 tor of Bavaria, the firmnefs of the Queen 
 of Hungary, the loyalty of her fubjecls, 
 and the final repulfe of the French and Ba- 
 varians from Bohemia in 1742. But the 
 part that England took in thefe tranfac- 
 tions muft be explained more at large. 
 George the Second was difpleafed with the 
 
 Queen
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 Queen of Hungary, for rejecting his ad- 
 vice to yield Silefia to the King of Prufliaj 
 he was difcouraged at the reluctance of the 
 States General to enter into war, and 
 alarmed for the fafety of his German domi- 
 nions. Sir R. Walpole, on his fide, 
 thought he had enough on his hands, hav- 
 ing been forced by the oppofition into a 
 war with Spain which he forefaw would 
 prove his ruin. No effectual aiiiftance was 
 therefore fent to the Queen of Hungary 
 during 1741, the year of her greateft dif- 
 trefs, and George gave his vote as Elector 
 of Hanover, to raife her enemy the Elec- 
 tor of Bavaria to the Imperial throne. On 
 this, an univerfal fpirit was diffufed through 
 the people in favour of an oppreffed and 
 deferted orphan, and Mr. Burke's favou- 
 rite Age of Chivalry feemzd. to be realized. 
 Pamphlets were publifhed to celebrate 
 her virtues, her beauty, and her con- 
 francy under misfortunes ; and the old Dow- 
 ager Duchefs of Marlborough propofed 
 that the ladies of England fhould defend, 
 the caufe of their fex, an'd collect a fub- 
 fidy to aifift a woman deferted by thofe 
 
 who
 
 who had fvvorn her protection.* Let thofc 
 men who now think it frantic and unpar- 
 donable to enter into war to fave the houfes 
 of NafTau and Auftria, afk their own con- 
 fciences, whether if they had been mal- 
 contents in 1741, they would not, on the 
 contrary, have fupported the fore-men- 
 tioned doctrine of Villars, that it is not 
 the only duty of a king to abftain from 
 impofing taxes, but that he muft alfo fup- 
 port the national honour. 
 
 By the end of 1743, matters were greatly 
 changed, Sir R. Walpole was removed 
 from the feat of power, new ministers were 
 in office, new meafures were adopted, and 
 a continental war was fully entered upon. 
 The language of oppofition was alfo dia- 
 metrically changed, a new doctrine was 
 broached, that England fhould never en- 
 gage in continental wars, which the minif- 
 try rejected , as contrary to all the maxims 
 
 * Voltaire, with his ufual inaccurate vivacity, 
 has turned this loofe talk of Old Sarah into a feri- 
 ous tranfa&ion, but it was little more than a fquib 
 cf the day, tofled abroad to ftartle the court. 
 
 of
 
 ( 8i ) 
 
 of whiggifm introduced by King William. 
 But the violence of oppofition chiefly fell 
 on the meafure of taking Hanoverian 
 troops into Britifh pay, and they fuc- 
 ceeded fo well in railing a univerfal cla- 
 mour againfl Hanover, that the French 
 and the Jacobites were fatally perfuaded a 
 majority of the nation defired a change of" 
 government; 
 
 From this time, the c'ourfe of events 
 bore fome refembhnce to the prefent mo- 
 mentous period. Cardinal Tencih, the 
 Belle- Ifles, arid Marechal Saxe, refumed 
 thofe projects which have never been fepa- 
 rated to conquer Flanders and to change 
 the government of England. The Preten- 
 der was invited, an army was aflembled, 
 and tranfports prepared at Dunkirk and 
 Calais ; war was formally declared againfl 
 England and the Queen of Hungary, 
 Lewis the X Vth, at the head of his army, 
 entered Flanders in May 1744, and from 
 that date the war which had hitherto been 
 difadvantageous to France, was carried on 
 with that fuccefs which has ever attended 
 the French arms irt Flanders, excepting 
 & that
 
 that memorable period when Marlborough 
 and Eugene commanded the united armies, 
 and were truly united in their councils. 
 
 Very different was the cafe in the war 
 we are treating of, as well as in the pre- 
 fent. The Dutch came unwillingly into 
 the field, the Auftrians, who had defended 
 them/elves heroically when the war was at 
 their own doors, fought languidly and un- 
 fuccefsfully in Flanders. They feemed 
 ready to fay to the Englifh It is more 
 your intereil than our's to keep Flanders 
 ieparate from France, it is therefore but 
 jufl that your blood an-d your money fhould 
 fupport the contefr. 
 
 Lewis the XVth had for fome time ad- 
 dicted himfelf to a courfe of life very dif- 
 ferent from the habits of his early years, 
 and his favourite mifbefs, the Duchefs de 
 Chateau Roux, is faid to have animated 
 him to war and conqueft, thinking that a 
 woman derived honour from the heroifm 
 of her lover. He was not deficient in per- 
 fonal courage, and fhewed it at the famous 
 battle of Fontenoy, fought on May the ifr, 
 I 1745.
 
 t'745 which opened to him the gates of 
 Flanders, as the battle of Jemappe opened 
 them to Dumourier: but as the principal 
 towns were at that time well fortified, the 
 Auftrian Netherlands then took three years 
 in conquering, whereas, now they can 
 be over-run in as many weeks. A re- 
 markable faying is recorded of Lewis 
 the XVth, as he furveyed the tomb of 
 Mary of Burgundy and the Emperor : 
 46 Behold the cradle of our wars !" 
 Lewis was no very learned hiftorian, or 
 fubtle reafoner ; but he and every French- 
 man knew, by a fort of intuition, that the 
 clifappointment of not having ftretched 
 their empire to the northern fea, on the 
 death of Charles the Bold, had contri- 
 buted to keep up that reftlefs, warlike, 
 conquering fpirit, in the whole nation, 
 which induced their kings to fet the dan- 
 gerous precedent of vaft perpetual military 
 eftablifhments. 
 
 Both their kings and the nation well 
 
 knew that it would be difficult to extend 
 
 their dominion fo far, till they could fettle 
 
 a government in England entirely at their 
 
 G a devo-
 
 devotion. James II. would have been fhe 
 willing tool of their projects, and they 
 flattered themfelves with the lame fubfer- 
 viency from his grandfon. Their fchemes of 
 invafipn had been difappointed by the winds 
 in 1744, but in July 1745 they fucceeded 
 in fending the unfortunate Charles Stuart 
 to Scotland, very poorly fupplied with 
 arms or with money. His caufe was fa- 
 crificed in Scotland after the fame manner 
 as that of James II. had been facrificed in 
 Ireland, both were neglected and fufTered 
 to be crumed by the Englifh but the 
 French fucceeded in one great view, as a 
 confiderable part of the Britifh troops were 
 recalled from the continent, and fewer ob- 
 ftacles remained towards the conqueft of 
 the Netherlands. The Queen of Hungary, 
 having by this time raifed her hufband to 
 the Imperial throne, fcemed more and more 
 indifferent as to her remote dominions, the 
 triumph s>of France continued through the 
 -whole year 1746, and in the fpring of 
 1747 their troops were actually on the 
 frontiers of Dutch Flanders ; the court of 
 France was now as unable to relift the 
 temptation of attacking the United Pro- 
 vinces
 
 vinces as Louis XIV. in 1672. The 
 Dutch had only acted as auxiliaries in the 
 war, fending fuch troops as were ftipulated 
 by former treaties ; the French ambaffa- 
 dor's intrigues had greatly contributed to 
 this pacific temper ; but now the French 
 forced them to become principals, by feiz- 
 ing Sluys and Hulft, publifhing at the fame 
 time a declaration, pretending v they were 
 only feized from ftate-necelTity, and would 
 be reflored at the peace. A ferment fpread 
 through Holland at the news, which al- 
 moft equalled the ferment occafioned by 
 the invafion of Louis XIV. and produced 
 a great political revolution. The Dutch 
 once more thought their governors guilty 
 of mifconducl:, and once more therefore 
 exercifed the right of cafbiering them. The 
 common people rofe in all their towns, 
 and forced their magistrates to declare the 
 Prince of Orange ftadtholder. It mult be 
 mentioned in compliment to the prefent 
 houfe of Orange, that not one of their op- 
 ponents perifhed on this occafion; but if the 
 elevation of William IV. was not flamed 
 with murder like that of William III. it un- 
 happily was not dignified by his glorious 
 G 3 exploits
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 exploits and by his fuccefs. The furprize 
 of Bergen-op-zoom by the French General 
 Lovendahl, in the autumn of that year, 
 xvas'an irreparable lofs to the caufe of the 
 allies, and a difgrace to the new Dutch 
 government, for it gave rife to lufpi- 
 cions (though unjuft ones) of their trea- 
 chery, even as the old magistrates had been 
 fufpecled of corruption in the firft invafion, 
 and it certainly proved that they had not 
 been able to infpire their troops with more 
 vigour than the (afbjfrfd race qf dull, dron- 
 ing burgomasters. 
 
 During all the winter of 1747, a peace 
 was in agitation, and a congrefs was af- 
 fembled at Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1748, 
 Saxe and Lovendahl, with their wonted 
 military {kill, attacked Maeftricht, and 
 it furrendered by capitulation about the 
 very time that preliminaries of peace were 
 iigned at Aix-la-Chapelle. It may wdj 
 furprife us, who are witnelTes of the exor-r 
 fcitant terms demanded by a republic to 
 recollect the moderate terms of a defpotic 
 fovereign.
 
 All his conquefts in Flanders and Hol- 
 land were reftored, on condition that Eng- 
 land fhould reftore the fettlements it had 
 taken (which chiefly confifted in the ifland 
 of Cape Breton) and that Auftria fhould 
 acknowledge Don Philip, youngeft fon of 
 the King of Spain, as Duke of Parma. 
 Various reafons were affigned for this gene- 
 roiity. The firft, was the alarm occafioned 
 by an army of Ruffians, hired by an Englilh 
 iubfidy, and then on their march through 
 Germany ; another and more honourable, 
 was the general diftrefs occafioned in France 
 by the fuperiority of our marine, the loffes 
 of their merchants, and the mifery of the 
 common people ariilng from deficient har- 
 vefts. The retailers of court fcandal added, 
 that Madame de Pompadour, the reigning 
 favourite of a very different temper from 
 the Ducheffe de Chateau Roux, was fick 
 of the war, becaufe me was afraid of being 
 made a viclim to appeafe the clamours of 
 the nation, whilft her enemies fcrupled not 
 to fay, that me had accepted bribes from 
 the allies. 
 
 Whatever be the caufe, it is certain that 
 
 the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle may be rec- 
 
 G 4 koned
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 koned as one of the inftances in which an 
 abfolute king has allowed himfelf to be 
 more influenced by the difcontent arifing 
 from general mifery, than an afTembiy or 
 a fenate has done. The fubjeds of Louis 
 fhewed very little gratitude in return for his 
 moderation. Though their poets com- 
 mended his generofity at the time, yet his 
 popularity funk with the bulk of the na- 
 tion, and never recovered itfelf. Doubtlefs 
 his vices and follies contributed to produce 
 that effect : but I mutt think that bis hav- 
 ing relinquifhed that darling national ob- 
 ject, the conqueft of Flanders, had fome. 
 fhare in making him defpifed. 
 
 The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was not 
 at firft very popular in England. But 
 the rebellion of 1745 had greatly weakened 
 the rancour of oppofition, who were at laft 
 convinced, that violent invectives againft go- 
 vernment prove invitations to a common foe to 
 invade the country, and to ruin both parties* 
 The people, being left to themfelves, loon 
 grew convinced that the peace was nearly 
 as good as could have been obtained. Its 
 worft fault was, leaving fome important 
 points unfettled between England and 
 
 France
 
 France. The difputes about the North 
 American limits occafioned the war of 
 1755, and the jealoufies bet ween the French 
 and Englilh Eaft India companies opened 
 a new fource of national hatred, which 
 continues to the prefent day. 
 
 Between 1730 and 1750, the Mogul 
 empire had been mattered to pieces from 
 caufes in which neither French nor Eng- 
 lim ambition was concerned, but a French- 
 man, the famous M. Dupleix, was the firft 
 who conceived the idea of railing a Euro- 
 pean empire in Hindoftan. His views 
 were all directed to the aggrandizement of 
 France, and the deftruction of the Englifli 
 Eaft India Company, who were compelled 
 in felf- defence to adopt fimilar plans of 
 ambition and political intrigue. Dupleix 
 was difgraced, his fucceflors wanted either 
 parts or judgment, the French views of 
 empire were blafted, and thofe of England 
 fucceeded to a degree that has ailonifhed 
 the world. But hence has arifen the 
 bittereft jealoufy aiid revenge in French 
 bofoms, which has vented itfelf in the 
 groffeft exaggeration of thofe offences which 
 it cannot be denied that Englifhmen have 
 
 fome-
 
 ( 90 ) 
 
 fometimes committed in Hmdoftan, but 
 which have fprung rather from preiTmg 
 temptation or apparent neceffity, than from 
 cool malignity, or deliberate depravity of 
 heart. 
 
 Another confequence followed (nearer 
 home) from the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 
 which has been feverely felt in the prefent 
 times. The French gave back the forti- 
 fied towns of Flanders in a difmantled 
 ftate; the Dutch were by treaty engaged 
 to join in repairing their own barrier, but 
 neither they nor the emprefs queen chofe to 
 fpend their money. Delay and recrimina- 
 tion took place, the fortifications grew 
 daily more out of repair, and the impor- 
 tance of -the Barrier treaty dwindled intQ 
 nothing. 
 
 The Dutch were, at that moment, in a 
 Htuation unfavourable for exertion, and ill- 
 1 uited to a republican government, their 
 chief magistrate was a minor. William IV. 
 Prince of Orange, died fuddenly in 1751, 
 and his death proved a great lofs both to 
 England and to Holland ; for though he 
 was not equal to his predcceilors, yet he 
 
 had
 
 ( 9' ) 
 
 fcad abilities fufficient to have prevented 
 many of the misfortunes which have fince 
 .befallen his country. His fon (hereditary 
 Aadtholder by the late regulation) was an 
 infant of three years old, the princefs his 
 Another was appointed goyernefs, but did 
 not long furvive. 
 
 Duke Lewis of Brunfwic was invited 
 from Germany to fuperintend the young 
 prince's education, and to hold his plaqe 
 as captain-general ; the Englifh ambafla- 
 dor naturally thought that he alfo had a 
 right to enter into the councils of a prince, 
 whofe dying mother had recommended 
 Jiim to the care of England, and whom the 
 Englifh considered as a prince of their own 
 blood royal. But hence arofe endlefs jea- 
 Joufies amongft thofe of his own party, 
 -whilfl many Dutchmen became attached to 
 the anti-ftadtholderian faction, becaufe they 
 4ifliked the influence of England, of the 
 houfe of Brunfwic, or laftly, of Pruflia, 
 after their iladtholcjer had married a prin- 
 cefs of that family ; whilft the French 
 ^ilently cherimed all the fparks of difcontent 
 ]^y means of their ambafladors. 
 
 ft
 
 ( 9* ) 
 
 It is a great queftion in politics, whether 
 alliance by marriage with fuperiors, or even 
 equals, is not of more detriment than uti- 
 lity to a prince, from the jealoufy it gives 
 bis own countrymen of foreign influence. 
 We ihali contemplate a terrible example of 
 thofe dangers, when we retrace the hiitory 
 of the alliance between Auftria and France. 
 
 After the peace of Aix-Ia-Chapelle, the 
 court of France was more difpofed to 
 friendfhip with the court of Vienna than 
 -for ages preceding. Some have thought 
 that Lewis XV. really felt remorfe for the 
 unjuft attack he had made upon Maria 
 Terefa, in defiance of the faith of treaties ; 
 others (as before hinted) have faid that 
 Madame Pompadour was bribed by Auf- 
 trian gold j the Englifh writers almoft all 
 agree that' France had now choic-n England 
 for her primary object of vengeance, and 
 determined to ruin its colonies, commerce, 
 and marine, before it again ventured on 
 continental acquisitions. The French give 
 much the fame account of our ambition, 
 and each nation rep refents the other as de- 
 termined to expel its rival from America. 
 
 It
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 It is no part of my intention to examine 
 the jufticc or injustice of the war of 1755 ; 
 if it were as unjuft as the French chufe to 
 fuppofe it, the (in lies chiefly at the door 
 of tbofe American ftates, now the allies of 
 France, and of thofe merchants who traded 
 with our American colonies, the court, in 
 this as well as in the preceding Spanilh 
 war, only followed the temper of the na- 
 tion, which fincerely believed the French 
 to be actuated by the moil malignant 
 views. 
 
 Before France embarked in this new 
 kind of colonial and naval war, it faw a 
 neceflity for altering its plan of meafures 
 upon the continent. 
 
 The emprefs queen prefcrved the mod 
 Unrelenting hatred towards the King of 
 Pruffia, and never could be eafy whilft he 
 remained in quiet pofleflion of Silefia. It 
 was not the intereft of George II. as king 
 of England, much lefs as elector of Hano- 
 ver, to join with her againft PrinTm, all his 
 former fervices were confequently forgot, 
 and Maria Terefa was ready for an union 
 
 with
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 with her former enemy, if he gratified her 
 in her prefent darling fcheme of vengeance. 
 Actuated by thcfe motives, the French 
 king and the empreis figned, in 1756, that 
 famous treaty of alliance which at the time 
 aflonifhed all Europe, which was boafted 
 of as the mailer-piece of human policy, 
 as the palladium of both families, Bourbon 
 and Auftria ; and which from its remote 
 confequences, may be faid to have de-. 
 ftroyed one family, and nearly ruined the 
 other, I muft refer the curious (as the 
 fubject of itfelf would fill a volume) to the 
 Mernoires of Duclos, in which may be 
 found the particular hiftory of this impor- 
 tant treaty, whofe real popularity fcarce 
 lafted a twelvemonth. ' The ill-fuccefles 
 of that war fixed an odium upon the alli- 
 ance with Auftria, which was iupprefled 
 by the credit of Choifeul, and the power 
 of an abfolute government ; but filently 
 fermented in the hearts of Frenchmen, 
 and has had a greater fhare in producing 
 the French revolution than common obfer 
 vcrs will eaiily believe.
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 It is not furprifing that this treaty was 
 detefted in England, becaufe we had rea- 
 fon to accule Maria Terefa of ingratitude. 
 But if its confequences are examined with 
 an impartial eye, it will appear neither 
 England nor France had much reafon to 
 complain. England was relieved from the 
 burden of defending Auftria in its moil 
 vulnerable part, whilft the weaknefs of the 
 Auflrian power in Flanders would hinder 
 it from engaging in adlual hoftilities \vith 
 England, even when it no longer wifhed 
 well to this country. France had gained 
 that fecurity on its frontiers, that peace and 
 tranquillity for the peafant and the artifan, 
 which its philofophers pretended to be the 
 fummit f their wifhes. But it loft an 
 opportunity of conqueft, and conqueft ra- 
 ther than fecurity was the true national 
 wiih. 
 
 It cannot however be an object of fur- 
 prife, if a war fo unfuccefsful as that o.f 
 1756, fhould have left a lafting odium on 
 the minifters, the councils, and the allies 
 of that period. The glorious exploits of 
 the Englifh nation are too well known to 
 
 require
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 require any details : the French, unable 
 fingly to refill: our force, perfuaded the 
 new king of Spain, Charles III. to unite 
 with their court in the famous league cal- 
 led the family-c'ompaft, which at that time 
 fucceeded no better than the alliance with 
 Auiiria, and yet never grew unpopular. 
 The reafon muft be, that it did not im- 
 pede them from continental acquifitions, 
 and they perceived, that even in the midft 
 of our triumphs, We felt fome awe at the 
 union of thefe two empires. Then indeed 
 we felt after fo long an interval, the unfor- 
 tunate confequences of the treaty of Utrecht. 
 The tide of Englifh conquefts was not 
 however turned by this additional enemy > 
 Spain lofl the Havannah and Manilla, and 
 both Spain and France were glad to fue for 
 peace, and yield to England very confider- 
 able advantages by the treaty of Paris. In 
 all human affairs, the moil brilliant ap- 
 pearances of fuccefs often end in difap- 
 pointment, and this melancholy truth was 
 verified by the Englifh. They did nor" 
 think the colonies which they retained 
 were adequate to the expences of the war r 
 fecret diicontent againft government ran- 
 kled
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 ltd in many bofoms, whilft thofe acqlii(i* 
 ttons that England defpifed appeared fo 
 conflderable to foreign nations as to kin- 
 dle a jealoufy which has never been ex- 
 tinguiihed. 
 
 The exhaufted ftate of France required 
 many years of repofe, and the reign of 
 Lewis XV, terminated without any freili 
 war (unlefs that name can be given to the 
 conqueft of Corfica.) But the internal 
 tranquillity of France was difturbed by a 
 hundred vexatious incidents, arifing partly 
 from the perfonal vices of the king, partly 
 from the unfettled and indefinite claims of 
 the parlemens, or great courts of juflice, 
 to a (hare in the legiflative authority. There 
 was yet another caufe which operated more 
 fecretly, but with conflderable effect. Ft 
 was the rivalfhip between two confiderable 
 parties i one attached to the alliance with 
 Auftria, and headed by the Due de Choi- 
 feul, the other headed by the Due d*Aguil- 
 lon, mortally adverfe to Choifeul, and 
 therefore (in the ufual logic of factions^ 
 adverfe to Auflria. The officers of the 
 jarmy employed in Germany, had been 
 H much
 
 ( 98 V 
 
 much difTatisfled at the fuperiority obtained 
 by the King of Pruffia and Prince Ferdi- 
 nand ; they attributed it to the ftrict difci- 
 pline of the German troops, and endea- 
 voured to introduce a fimilar ftrictnefs 
 among their foldiery, though it was totally 
 repugnant to the fpirit of the French nation. 
 Thus early were fown the feeds which pro- 
 duced that defection of the foldiery from 
 their monarch and their officers, which has 
 been one of the moft aftonifhing circum- 
 ftances of the revolution. 
 
 The reader may obfervc in a book af 
 Memoirs,* publifhed under the name of 
 the Aiguillon family* that one of the fc- 
 vereft general imputations it lays upon the 
 memory of Choifeul, is his implicit devo- 
 tion to the court of Vienna. " Choifeul 
 " had fulfilled his fole duty, for Vienna 
 < f was content/* is one (for inftance) of 
 its malignant expreilions. And yet if the 
 reader confiders the fubjedt with attention, 
 he will not find one folid fubftantial facl 
 
 * Memoires du Minrilere du Due 
 troifieme edition, 1792, p. I2$ 
 
 t*
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 to prove that the iiiterefts of France were 
 facrificed to that of Vienna except that 
 Krance did not enlarge its frontiers. 
 
 The neceflity of keeping up an intereft 
 at the court of Ver failles, for the preferva* 
 tion of Flanders, was well known at Vi- 
 enna during the life of Maria Terefa, and 
 to fecure that intereft, a marriage was plan- 
 ned and completed in 1770, between the 
 young Dauphin of France and the Arcrh- 
 duchefs Maria Antonia. In all the lemg 
 annals of human difappointment and error 
 there is fcarce an inftance in which politi- 
 cal wifdorn was fo completely difappointed, 
 Here let compaffion paufe and breathe a 
 figh at the name of Maria Antonia, the 
 moft unfortunate woman hiftory ever re- 
 corded. Doomed to ruin herfelf and all 
 that was moft dear to her ; the family from 
 whom fhe fprung ; the family to which 
 Ihe was united ; and the children whom 
 fhe bore : #11 victims of her errors ! and 
 yet thofe errors were not fo much her own 
 as thofe of the nation by whom fhe was 
 adopted, and who pretended at firft to ap- 
 plaud thofe very frailties which it has finqe 
 H ^ punilhed,
 
 ( 100 ) 
 
 puni fried, not with the coolnefs of impa- 
 -ii've juftice, but with 'the fury with which 
 infernal fiends may be fuppofed to torment 
 the damned. Mr. Burke has compared 
 Jber firfr. appearance at the court of Ver- 
 failles, to the rifing of the morning ftar. 
 More truly might fhe now be likened, by 
 poetic fancy, to that comet which fome 
 philofophefs think is predefined to daili 
 eur feeble orb into fragments, whilft it- 
 felf, unconfcious of the devaluation it occa- 
 sions, only follows the cotirfe traced out 
 'tor it by over-ruling caufes. 
 
 Through all the cloud of incenfe offered 
 by the hand of flattery, it may now be 
 plainly feen that Maria Antonia was never 
 really popular in France. The unfortunate 
 accident that happened at Paris ; where 
 numbers were crumed to death at the fefti- 
 val on the celebration of the marriage, 
 ftrangely and unjuftly contributed to four 
 the minds of the Parifians againfr. her. But 
 when fhe firft was received in France, the 
 odium attached to the low vices of the king, 
 Tind his difgraceful favourite Madame de 
 
 Barre r
 
 Barre, gave an appearance of popularity to 
 every other branch of the royal family. 
 
 Lewis the Fifteenth died in 1774; his 
 grand ion, the virtuous and unfortunate 
 Lewis the Sixteenth, fucceeded, and for a 
 time was popular; but many caufes, and 
 amongft others the influence of his young 
 queen, foon contributed to cloud that auf- 
 picious dawn. She had been fent from 
 Vienna, convinced that it was both her in- 
 tereft and her duty to fupport that party 
 which fupported the alliance between her 
 own and her hufband's family, and of 
 courfe to favour the Due de Choifeul. But 
 there her intereft failed he never was 
 recalled to court, for Lewis XVI. had con- 
 ceived an infurmountable averfion to him* 
 *It has been faid that the young king be-* 
 lieved his father, the dauphin, to have been 
 poifoned by Choifeul ; and although the 
 lingering confumptive death of that prince 
 bears no refemblance to the effedts of any 
 known poifon, yet Choifeul was the dau- 
 phin's open enemy ; his cafe had been 
 
 * Mem. du Min. du Due d'Avig. page 200, and r 68. 
 
 H 3 thought
 
 thought an extraordinary one by the phyn~ 
 cians, and thefe, to the malignant imagina-* 
 tion of the French, (ever prone to accufe 
 their enemies of the blackeft crimes) were 
 grounds fufficient upon which to build the 
 moft dreadful accufations. Although the 
 queen could not prevariin one favourite point, 
 yet her influence kept the d'Aiguillon fa- 
 mily in a ftate of difgrace the particulars, 
 may be feen in the Memoirs already quoted. 
 Here, then, was one powerful party already 
 interefted to blacken her charter ; and the 
 diflike fhe foon expreffed for the young 
 Due de Chartres, added another party ftilj 
 more dangerous, becaufe fupported by im- 
 menfe wealth, and headed by a prince of 
 the blood. The greateil circumfpeclion 
 would have been necefTary in fuch a fitua- 
 tion, and unfortunately me had none. Her 
 expences were profufe, her manners indif- 
 creet, her friendfhips ill chofen ; it was 
 therefore no difficult matter for calumny tq 
 aflume the garb of truth. Meanwhile the 
 continual adulation bellowed on her by; 
 wits and poets, contributed to blind her 
 eyes to the real opinion of the people. It 
 will remain an everlafting difgrace on that 
 
 body
 
 body of Frenchmen particularly called 
 Hommes de Leffres, that they firft argued 
 or ihecred religion, continence, and deco- 
 rum, out of falhion, then turned republi- 
 cans, and perfecuted the queen and royal 
 family for real or fuppofed deficiencies ia 
 thofe~ qualities which themfelves had firft 
 iiigmatized as narrow bigotry, 
 
 In proportion as the queen grew unpo- 
 pular, the unpopularity of the family ihp 
 ijprung from naturally increafetf, but it was 
 not for a long while apparent to foreigners, 
 becaufe revenge upon England was the firfl 
 and darling project of the French nation. 
 The ill-judged fcheme of taxing America, 
 followed by the unfortunate American war, 
 gave them the opportunity fo long expected. 
 The mild temper of the king would, per- 
 haps, have patted it over, but the zeal of 
 the merchants, who thought they (hould ac- 
 quire all jthe trade of America, was too 
 violent to be refitted. Another argument 
 was invented to excufe the conduct of 
 France. It was fuppofed that as the befl 
 way to appeafe a civil war, it was intended 
 whenever Great Britain m^de peace with 
 H 4 America,
 
 ( 104 ) 
 
 America, to turn our united force upon the 
 French Weft Indies ; the fuppofition was 
 probably entirely falfe, neither the king nor 
 Lord North ever (hewed any difpofition to 
 foreign conquefts : but it is mentioned to 
 iliow the French that they cannot be fur- 
 prifed if during their own revolution, in- 
 tentions were attributed to them limilar to 
 what they attributed to England. This 
 war afforded them a happy occaiion to ac- 
 compliih another of their darling views, to 
 difunite Holland from England, and fow 
 the feeds of ruin to the houfe of NaiTau, 
 The Due de Vauguyon was fent ambalTador 
 to, Holland, to animate the courage of the 
 long-defeated republican party, and foon 
 fucceeded in rendering the Stadtholder un- 
 popular, 
 
 It were too complicated and delicate a 
 fubjeft to enter into all the grounds of 
 quarrel between that unfortunate prince and 
 }iis enemies; but the circumftance that hurt 
 him molt with the mercantile part of the 
 nation, was his oppofition to the American 
 intereft, and his defire to remain at peace 
 \vith ^England. The Dutch may have a 
 
 righs
 
 ( los ...) 
 
 right to fay that he facrificed their ho- 
 nour to that inclination ; but can thofc 
 Englifh republicans blame him, who in 
 all their publications down to Mr. Wad- 
 dington's advertifements, have taken it 
 for granted that we ought to facrifice all 
 national honour to peace and tranquil- 
 lity? Let their deluded adherents learn, 
 that their doctrine of the fovereigrity of the 
 people would be very far from infuring 
 peace, fince a chief magistrate is even now 
 wandering in exile, and cafliiered by the 
 people, fpr the mifconduct of being too pa* 
 cific. 
 
 As the Prince of Orange would by no 
 means be perfuaded into an alliance with 
 America, the burgomaflers of Amfterdam, 
 who, like the French, expected to gaia 
 millions in this new-difcovered Potofi^ the 
 American trade, concluded a clandestine 
 treaty of commerce with that country, con- 
 trary to the eftablifhed principles of the 
 iDutch conftitution. This treaty was in- 
 tercepted in 1780; we complained; we 
 found no redrefs but the ufual Dutch an- 
 fwer, that the bufmefs was taken ad refe- 
 rendum^
 
 rtndtlm ; we made it the oflenilble reafoft 
 of that iudden declaration of war in De- 
 cember, 1780, which aftonifhed all Eu- 
 rope, and called down much cenfure on 
 thofe*who framed it : but its real ground 
 was not the treaty of commerce, but the 
 armed neutrality propofed by Ruflia, 
 founded on principles, which, whether 
 they are or are not juft in the abftrad:, 
 have never been allowed by this country ; 
 and the admjffion of which, efpecially of that 
 particular one which allows free paflage to 
 paval flores, would probably ruin the po- 
 pularity of any Englifh minifler who ven- 
 tured on it. This armed neutrality was 
 another fcheme of France to embroil us 
 with all the world, and it did fucceed in 
 embroiling us with Holland. Our minif- 
 ters knew, that in the next afTembly of the 
 States General, their accelfion to the league 
 would have been voted, and therefore Ruf- 
 jjia would have been bound to ta^ke up arms 
 the firft Dutch fhip we feizedj it was 
 judged expedient to chufe the leaft of two 
 evils, to begin the War with Holland on a 
 plaunble ground, and leave Ruflia to be 
 neuter if ihe pleafed. It did pleafc her t<V
 
 be indifferent as to the fate of Holland, 
 and even to grow indifferent as to her own 
 project, and thus ^he armed neutrality did 
 not do us the harm the French intended ; 
 even as the impolitic attack from Spain in 
 1778, did not enable the French either to 
 invade England or to burn Plymouth. The 
 Stadtholder was now left to carry on a war 
 which he always difap proved, and of courfe 
 was liable to the fufpicion of carrying it on 
 faintly and ineffectually. The time when 
 that fufpicion became moft plaufible, was 
 when the French required a fquadron to 
 join their fleet at Breft, and the cap-- 
 tains abfolutely refufed. I muft obferve, 
 however, that as the French, now they 
 hold Holland in chains, have not renewed 
 any requeft for a fleet, it looks as if they 
 were confcious it was a hard demand which 
 the Dutch captains would never obey wil- 
 
 During this unhappy war, another un- 
 expected blow fell upon Holland : the Em- 
 peror Jofeph (in 1781) feized that oppor- 
 tunity to difannul at once the whole Bar- 
 jkr treaty and fend the Dutch garrifons 
 
 home.
 
 home.. -It was his theory that countries' 
 Ihould be preferved by armies, not by forti- 
 fications ; and fatal experience has fhewn 
 that all his refined philoibphical theories 
 were falfe. As he was thought neither to 
 love nor efteem his filter, it may be thought 
 ftrange he did not forefee that her unpopu- 
 larity might bring on a war between 
 France and Auftria, and give him caufe to 
 wifli for another Barrier treaty to enfure 
 the affiftancc of Holland, and perhaps of 
 ^England. 
 
 Soon after thefe events, all the belligerent 
 powers grew tired of a war from which all 
 had fuftercd in a nearly equal proportion , 
 and France, which appeared the moft fuc- 
 cefsful, was afterwards difcovered to have 
 fuffered_the moft. Neckar at the beginning 
 of the war had directed the French finances, 
 and the greateft encomiums had been paid 
 (even by Mr. Burke) to his ikill and pro- 
 bity, but he has proved a moft remarkable 
 inliance of the fallacy of popular reputa- 
 tion. Had he been fninifter in eafy peace^ 
 able times, his name might have been hand- 
 ed down to pofterity with that of Sully ;. 
 
 but
 
 ( 109 ) 
 
 but 'the cifcumftances were too difficult for 
 his genius to manage ; and his project of 
 borrowing great loans in time of war, with- 
 out laying on new taxes, and fruiting 
 their repayment to the uncertain refources 
 of frugality, is now decried by every writer, 
 whether royalift or republican. His fruga- 
 lity w r as iuppofed to be obnoxious to the 
 queen, and on her the odium of his difmif- 
 ilon was chiefly laid. With more juftice 
 might it have been laid on the parliaments, 
 who were jealous of one of his bed 
 fchemes, the chufing provincial airem- 
 blies to fuperintend the levying of taxes. 
 But Maria Antonia was a foreigner, an 
 Auftrian, and a weak, frail woman; it 
 therefore fuited the pride of the nation, and 
 the pride inherent in the very lex of man, 
 to lay the principal blame upon her influ- 
 ence. 
 
 His fucceffors in adminiftration faw the 
 gulph they were falling into, and even Ver- 
 gennes, (the minifter of foreign affairs) 
 the bittereft enemy of England, perceived 
 it. Accordingly peace was concluded in 
 1783, the States of America were divided 
 i for
 
 ( "0 ) 
 
 for ever from Great Britain, Spain regained 
 Minorca and Florida, but France made no 
 territorial acquifition but the poor little 
 ifland of Tobago, and Holland was obliged 
 to content itielf with lofing Negapatman. 
 
 Now came the time when France and 
 'Holland were to be repaid for all their ex- 
 pences by the golden harveft of the Ame- 
 rican trade that harveft turned out very un- 
 productive, and each nation, mftead of bla- 
 ming its own envious ambition, fell to bla- 
 ming its own rulers, and wilhing for a 
 change of government. Had France 
 really afiiimed moderation, and fpent fome 
 years in quietly repairing its loffes, all its 
 future convullions might have been pre- 
 vented* But Vergennes* enmity againft 
 England was implacable, and one of his 
 means of fatisfying it W 7 as by clofely 
 keeping up the new-formed alliance with 
 Holland, and putting it.out of the Stadt- 
 holder's power to reconcile his country 
 with England. To promote this end, a 
 Frenchmao, the Count de Mallebois, was 
 chofen by the French party in Holland to 
 
 command
 
 command the Dutch armies upon a new 
 danger which threatened the Republic. 
 
 The ever-reftlefs and ever-unfuccefsful 
 Jofeph the Second had in the winter of 
 1783 urged a new claim againft Holland,* 
 demanding the free navigation of the 
 Scheldt, in contradiction to the treaty of 
 Weftphalia ; and the ceffion of Maeftricht, 
 in confequence of an old promife made by 
 Holland to Spain in the hour of its greatell 
 diftrefs in 16*73. The French were now 
 ealled upon to defend their new ally, and 
 here, if ever, it muft be owned, that fome 
 effects of Auitrian influence were dif- 
 cernible in French councils. Yet if the 
 queen did prevent a war between her 
 brother and her hufband, fhe could not 
 prevent fuch an interpofition of France 
 as terrified Jofeph into giving up his ill- 
 concerted fcheme, and contenting himfelf 
 with a promife that the Scheldt Ihould be 
 opened as far as Saftingen, and that ten 
 millions of livres fhould be paid him as a 
 
 * A curious work of Mirabeau written on the na- 
 vj^gation of the Scheldt will be quoted hereafter. 
 
 ranfom
 
 ranfom of Maeftricht, of which fum France 
 engaged to pay the half. This is the only 
 inltance in which I am able to difcover the 
 ilighteft vveaknefs in the efforts of France 
 occafioned by the prevalence of Auftrian 
 councils. It was not Auftria that weaken- 
 ed the efforts of France during the war of 
 1778; that court had fhared with all Ger- 
 inuny, nay with all Europe, that ill-judged 
 e-nvy which our wealth had excited (and 
 IH11 excites) and had rejoiced to fee us hum- 
 bled by France. But though we feemed 
 humbled for a time, our fpirit revived as 
 imfubdued as over ; the French were con- 
 fcious that in the lall forty years they had 
 loft half their colonies, and gained nothing 
 but Corfica and Tobago (which the nation 
 did not care for) fome unknown caufe they 
 iuppoied mull have crippled their exer- 
 tions, and they looked for it in the Auftrian. 
 alliance, the rather becaufe that alliance had 
 been confirmed by a marriage with a lady 
 who was dilliked. 
 
 The quarter towards which the French 
 now intended to direct their efforts, was *he 
 Englifh poffeflions in India, and for that rea- 
 
 fon
 
 fon they exerted themfelves fo earneflly in 
 the enfuing years to overturn the Stadt- 
 holder. 
 
 Various books, pamphlets, and mani- 
 feftoes were written in Holland and Eng- 
 land on the iubjediof the Stadtholder's pre- 
 rogatives, and the juftice or injuftice of 
 abridging them. But a work publifhed in 
 1789 for J. Edwards, Pall-Mall, and cal- 
 led, " Hiitory of the late Revolution in the 
 ' Dutch Republic,*' removes the mitt 
 from the fplendid phantoms of equal liberty 
 and magnanimous protection, and difplays 
 the malice of France towards England, as 
 the ground of this determined zeal againft 
 the houfe of NalTau What I (aid in re- 
 gard to Dalrymple, I apply equally to the 
 book juft quoted : if any Dutch republi- 
 can or French royahii (for this crime was 
 the crime of monarchy) can refute the au- 
 thor's alfertions, let them d^ it, but till 
 then the book mull pals for creditable au- 
 thority, ar-d it is plain that the author was 
 in the fecret, and not likely at leall to err 
 from ignorance.
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 In his I22d page he afTerts, that the 
 flrength of the Dutch in Afia was the 
 original motive of the great exertions made 
 by France to fecure their alliance, and that 
 even the miffion of M. de la Vauguyon was 
 but the refumption of a project formed by 
 Choifeul foon after the peace of 1763. He 
 then proceeds to relate, for feven pages to- 
 gether, how all the powers of India, Tip- 
 poo Saib, the Marattas, the Nizam, were 
 to be induced by negotiation to join in a 
 new league againft England; that fleets 
 were to be fent to the harbour of Trinco- 
 inale, French troops to Pondicherry, 
 Dutch troops to their own fettlements under 
 the command of the intriguing Rhingrave 
 de Salm, and at laft fays, that nothing but 
 the hopes of realizing this project could 
 juftify the enormous expenccs by which they 
 fupported their influence in the republic. 
 Thefe imputations will appear the more 
 probable when we recoiled: the embaffy 
 from Tippoo, received at that very period 
 with affected magnificence and fatisfadion. 
 But the Dutch India Company felt their 
 own weaknefs, and were unwilling to en- 
 gage in fchemes fo expenli ve as might ruin 
 
 thern,
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 tliem, evert if they fucceeded. It there- 
 fore became ili) 1 more expedient to overturn 
 the whole frame of goverment in Holland. 
 The ariflocratic party was not ftrong 
 enough fingly to deflroy the Stadtholder, 
 and the people had hitherto been attached 
 to his caufe. Democratic principles were, 
 therefore, fet up for the firil time in Hol- 
 land, and the common people were en- 
 couraged to form themfelves into corps 
 francs, who chofe their own captains, iri 
 the fame manner as (by a moil awful re- 
 tributive judgment) the gardes nationaux 
 were inftituted to overturn the power of 
 the French court. The efTed of all thefe 
 manoeuvres is Xvell known; the Stadthol- 
 der was driven from the Hague in 1786, 
 and reftored to his dignities in 1787, by 
 the joint interposition of Pruflia and Eng- 
 land, who acquired a tranfient glory by 
 that fuccefsful revolution. A philofophi- 
 cal, impartial mind cannot avoid two re- 
 flections on this fubject. Firft, that as 
 the Stadtholders owed their elevation to 
 the tumultuary riiings of the populace, 
 they had lefs right to complain when the 
 populace rofe againfl them. Secondly, 
 I 2 that
 
 ( "6 ) 
 
 that although the Orange party were e.?- 
 cufed by dire nccejjity when they admitted 
 the Pruilians, yet they fet the fatal prece- 
 dent of calling in foreigners, and irreco- 
 verably weakened the fpirit of national in- 
 dependence. 
 
 France, after having encouraged tire 
 Dutch republicans with afTurances of pro- 
 tection, left them at laft to their fate, feel- 
 ing its own inability, from the bad ftate of 
 its finances, to fulfil its engagements, and 
 thus confefTing its own weaknefs to fo- 
 reigners, to mal-contents, and to its own 
 officers and foldiers. Fleury, D'Ormef- 
 fon, Calonne, had, one after another, fuc- 
 ceeded to Neckar; the two firft were honeft 
 but inefficient; Calonne had acknow- 
 ledged abilities, but a fufpicious charac- 
 ter, and his faults were aggravated by the 
 hatred of the parlements, who never for- 
 gave the part he had taken againit M. de 
 la Chaletais, procureur general of Brittany. 
 
 He aiTembled the Notables in 1787, and 
 revealed the immenfe deficit which exifted 
 in the revenues of France, compared to 
 
 its
 
 its expences. Thefe unexpected tidings, 
 which had been ftudioufly concealed to 
 the lail moment, occafioned fuch univer- 
 fal horror, that no fcheme which he pro- 
 pofed could be liftened to, nor could the 
 court of France ever regain the confidence 
 of the people. The extravagance of the 
 Queen was fuppofed to be the chief caule 
 of this deficit, and to this general 'charge 
 was. added a particular one of fending mo- 
 ney clandeftinely to her brother the Empe- 
 ror; and the ready belief of this moft 
 improbable tale fully (hews the averfion of 
 the people to the houfe of Auftria.* The 
 enormous fums fpent in the American 
 war, or facrificed fince the peace, to fup- 
 port the French influence in Holland, 
 were parTed over in filenre, becaufe thefe 
 objects fell in with the fpirit of the nation, 
 and the nation did not chufe to blame itfelf. 
 
 The Archbifhop of Sens fucceeded to 
 Calonne, and was obliged to proanie the 
 
 * Another imputation was fometimes brought 
 againft her, that me intended to give up Lcrram to 
 the Emperor. Here we may trace the old avtrfion 
 to the houfe of Lorrain. 
 
 I 3 States
 
 ("8 ) 
 
 States General at fome indefinitive period, 
 He engaged in freih. cpntefts with the 
 Parlernents, endeavoured to eftablifh in 
 their place a cour pleniere, to enregiiler 
 the King's decrees, and drove on his pro- 
 jects with fuch indifcreet violence, as 
 obliged him to refign in 1788. Neckar 
 was recalled as the faviour of France ; but 
 his indeciiipn fatally Wafted the good that 
 might have been derived from his popula- 
 rity. He gave the privilege of a double 
 reprefentation to the third eftate, and yet 
 made no regulations to fettle the manner in 
 which the three eitates were to vote, whe- 
 ther in one, two, or three chambers. 
 They afTembled in May, 1789, and the 
 quarrels that were the natural confequences 
 of the weajt and varying rneafures of the 
 rniniftry, produced t(ie infurrecliqn of Pa- 
 ris, and the taking of the Baftille, on the 
 1 4th of July, and hence followed that 
 chain of ftupendpus events known under 
 the name of the FRENCH REVOLUTION, 
 
 At that awful word THE FRENCH 
 REVOLUTION, fuch an abyfs prefents it- 
 felf before the eyes of the terrified hiflo-?
 
 ( "9 ) 
 
 nan, that imagination and memory both re- 
 coil from the contemplation. Volumes have 
 already been .written on the events of fix 
 years, and an equal number of volumes 
 would not fuffice to unfold the fecret fprings 
 of each event, many of which may, indeed, 
 be gueffed at in the prefent moment ; but, 
 through the mifts of paffion and prejudice, 
 cannot be feen diftincHy. Thofe circum- 
 ftances moft interefting to Englimmen are 
 the fubjedt of our prefent difcuflion. It 
 is certain, that when the revolution began, 
 England was peaceable, happy, and great : 
 it is equally certain, that our fituation at 
 this moment is altered for the worfe; and 
 the caufe of this unhappy change muft ex- 
 cite our moft eager curiofry. Oppofition 
 lays the blame on the miniftry, miniftry 
 on the oppofition : an author very little 
 connected with either party, may be al- 
 lowed to obferve fome errors on both fides, 
 but muft think with regret that the princi- 
 pal errors have been committed by that 
 party which boafts the moft ftrongly of 
 its 2eal for civil and religious freedom. 
 From the very firft inftant, they efpoufed 
 rhe cauf of the French revolution with 
 I 4 en-
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 enthufiaftic violence, and the fliame of 
 contradicting their firfl fentiments has 
 obliged them to tolerate what it is to be 
 hoped that few of them could approve. 
 J will not lay fo difficult a talk upon them 
 as to compare the evils of the ancient go- 
 vernment with thofe of the revolution, 
 but 1 could wifli them to take in their 
 hands that plan of conftitution propofed 
 by the king, and fcornfully rejected, on 
 the 23d of June, 1789; firft read it im- 
 partially, then let their imagination fur- 
 vey the fcenes of blood, rapine, devafta- 
 tion, which have overfpread France, Eu- 
 rope, the Weil Indies ; furvey all the 
 crimes that every party has committed in 
 the heat of exafperated pride, and then 
 anfwer my queftion: whether before that 
 fvvord of civil difcord was drawn, that 
 fword which never can be (heathed ! it 
 would not have been the act of true pa- 
 triotifm, for the tiers etat to have accepted 
 that conflitution as a general plan, infifU 
 ing only upon particular amendments ? 
 
 But I do not cenfure them for having ei* 
 
 ther overlooked or difapproved that con* 
 
 I ilitutioa
 
 ilitution at the time; I ihould not even 
 cenfure them, if they had ilmply faid, 
 that the tyranny of the government ren- 
 dered violence more pardonable in the 
 French than in any other nation ; but I do 
 cenfure them, and impute many evil confe- 
 quences to their ram, their indifcriminate 
 applaufe of the revolution; and I mall 
 give ibme reafons why they lliould have 
 abstained from it, as men in general, and 
 as Englishmen in particular. 
 
 In the firft place, the general temper of 
 the French nation was not fitted to receive 
 at once the gift of unlimited and uncondi- 
 tional freedom. Under the mafk of urba- 
 nity and gentlenefs, a clofe obferver might 
 difcern a difpolition much more inclined to 
 faction, revenge, inceflant quarrels, and 
 pertinacious hatred, than in thofe Englifh. 
 minds whom the French affected to defpife 
 as favages. Old Montagne faid of them, 
 long ago, " Set three Frenchmen down in 
 11 the deferts of Africa, and before a month 
 " is elapfed, they will begin to worry one 
 " another;" and el fe where, he obferves, 
 that the excefTes of the civil wars had 
 
 brought
 
 ( I" ) 
 
 brought many of his countrymen to fo in- 
 fernal a temper, that without any perfo- 
 nal enmity, they took delight in feeing 
 their fel low-creatures fuffer. Not that 
 any country can boaft of humanity during 
 civil and religious wars ; but more inftances 
 of favage cruelty can be brought from 
 French hiftory than from Englifli. But 
 this was not all. Even in the prefent age, 
 the rnoft trifling, contemptible circum- 
 ftances, a quarrel about precedence, a quar- 
 rel about two authors, nay, about * two 
 muticians^ would fo inflame the Parisians, 
 that they could fcarcely bear each other's 
 company. When fuch a violent fpirit was 
 called forth on matters of real confequence, 
 a philofopher might eafily have concluded 
 that the efTecft would be terrible. Add to 
 this, the credulity of the French, and 
 their difpofition to believe their enemies 
 guilty of the blackeft and moft unnatural 
 crimes. Read their memoirs from Lewis 
 the Fourteenth down to the prefent day, 
 
 * See the pamphlets, on Roufleau's quarrel with 
 the French opera ; and a drama of Mademoifelle dc 
 Genlis, called Les Faux Amis. 
 
 and
 
 and obferve if in Englifh. memoirs you 
 can find as dreadful a catalogue of imputa- 
 tions, murder, poifon, and crimes, whofe 
 deformity protects them from being ex- 
 plained ; and yet obferve how very few 
 (at leaft of the ftories of poifon) are 
 grounded upon probable facts. If it be 
 faid, that fuch a temper of mind is the con- 
 fequence of defpotifm, I do not deny it, 
 but only aflert, that they mould have been 
 brought by degrees from defpotifm to li- 
 berty, and, as one of their own writers 
 exprefled it, have gone through a thirty 
 year's political education, to fit them for 
 the blefling of a free constitution. 
 
 Secondly, the ferocity which framed the 
 very dawn of French liberty, and mingled 
 itfelf with their celebrated taking of the 
 Baftille, ought to have ftartled thofe men 
 \vho had humanity for ever on their lips ; 
 and, above all, have flartled thofe female 
 authors who fo unaccountably forgot the 
 gentlenefs of their nature in their vehe- 
 mence againft the old French government. 
 Thefe crimes were not merely the ebulli- 
 tions of fudden revenge; they were em- 
 ployed
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 ployed as fyftematic means of forcing the 
 confent of courtiers, priefts, and nobles, 
 if not by the whole National Affembly, 
 yet by thofe leaders of party who guided 
 its meafurcs. They were juftificd by Mi- 
 rabeau, by Lameth, by Barnave, of 
 whom the two laft fell victims to the 
 cruel fpirit they had encouraged. Now 
 that the prefent French government abhors 
 the Orleans party, it is no longer denied 
 that murder and cruelty were kept in con- 
 ftant pay by the treafures of the Duke of 
 Orleans,* and it is now more lawful for 
 an author to fpeajc freely of the beginning 
 of the revolution in Paris than it once was 
 in London. A remarkable circumihincc 
 of French ferocity, the mangling and in- 
 fulting the dead bodies of the flain, ought 
 particularly to have ftruck fiich philofo- 
 phers as were verfed in claffical antiquity, 
 and remembered all the efforts of Grecian 
 legiflators to prevent fimilar actions. It is 
 eaiy for a cold, logical head, to prove that 
 cruelty does not hurt the infenlible; but 
 
 * See the work intitled, Conjaration du Due 
 ^'Orleans*. 
 
 thofe
 
 thofe men who lived when human nature 
 was emerging from the favage ftate, thought 
 very differently. They called in fuperili- 
 tion to the aid of humanity ; they invented 
 thofe gods of hell to whom the dead were 
 confecrated, and who revenged infults to 
 their bodies by the fevered punifhments on 
 the living offenders.* Thofe wife men 
 knew that whether or no iuch cruelty af- 
 fects the dead, it has the mofr. certain ten- 
 dency to debafe and degrade the hearts and. 
 tempers of the living. The experience 
 of the laft fix years has confirmed the 
 leffons of antiquity, and we may fairly 
 trace the fpirit which prompted the maffa- 
 cres of the sd of September, to that fpirit 
 which difmembered the bodies of Flef- 
 felles, of Berthier, and Launay, tore 
 out their bleeding hearts, and dipped them 
 in cups of wine, whilfl all the framers of 
 the Rights of Man fat by trembling, left 
 they ihould utter one over-fevere word 
 againit the excefles of patriotifm. 
 
 * See, for inftance, the fcene between Creon 
 and Tirefias, in Sophocles' Antigone. 
 
 Thirdly,
 
 ( "6 ) 
 
 Thirdly, the averfion to which the 
 word ariftocracy was inftantly condemned 
 at Paris, ought to have excited more ap- 
 prehenfion in the minds of fuch characters 
 as, like Dr. Pricftley,' for inftance, prided 
 themfelves on their general knowledge of 
 hiftory. 
 
 Sherlock, in his fublime parallel between 
 Jefus and Mahomet, exclaims, " Go to 
 your natural religion ! " 
 
 I fay, to the admirers of France, Go 
 to your adored republicans! Go to that 
 Sidney whom you have idolized above 
 much worthier Engliihmen, and hear him 
 confefs, " that the wifeft and Deft men of 
 antiquity preferred ariftocracy to demo- 
 cracy." It is true, that the ariftocracy fo 
 unfeelingly condemned to the gibbet in 
 French popular fongs, mean? titles and 
 feudal prerogatives. But the meaning of 
 ariftocracy in Greece was the government 
 of men of education and property, and 
 at laft fignificd the government of magif- 
 trates chofen by the people, in oppoiltiori' 
 
 to
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 to the government of the multitude. 
 Was there tio danger that fome bold in- 
 novator ihould teach the French to diflike 
 equally the heft and the worft fenfes of 
 the word? Let the excefTes of Robe- 
 fpierre and his affociates anfwer that quef- 
 tion ! 
 
 Fourthly, the contemptuous fcorn with 
 which the firil national aiTembly rejected the 
 idea of two legiflative afTemblies controuling 
 one another, fhould have occafioned fome 
 fufpenfe of approbation in thofe Englifli 
 writers who had been fo devoted to the 
 American caufc. 
 
 Go to your republicans ! may again be 
 repeated to thofe zealots : go to an Ameri- 
 can republican writer, for a long chain of 
 historical proofs which militate againft the 
 leading principle of the firil French con- 
 Hit ution. 
 
 The work I mean, is Adams's Defence 
 of the American Constitution, lately re- 
 publifhed, under the title of the Hiitory 
 of Republics. It is remarkable, that 
 
 Tur-
 
 ( "8 ) 
 
 Turgot, whofe memory was revered by 
 the French conftitutionalifts, had wrote a 
 letter, in which he cenfured the Ameri- 
 cans for retaining governors and fenates, 
 and not " concentrating all power in the 
 body of the people." Adams was highly 
 difpleafed with his opinions, and wrote 
 three volumes of Political Controverfy, to 
 difprove them. He confiders this idea of 
 concentrating all power in one body of 
 reprefentatives as leading to the worfl of 
 tyranny, and, amongft other arguments, 
 brings the authorities of fome Englifh re- 
 publicans (efpecially of Harrington) to 
 prove his fyflem of the neceffity of one 
 executive and two legiilative powers. When 
 to this, we add the works that Neckar, 
 Mounier, and feveral of the early oppo- 
 nents of the court were publishing on the 
 defects of the firfl confutation, it might 
 have diiTuaded our Englifh focieties from 
 exulring as if the problem of a perfect 
 conflitution was at lafl folved, becaufe 
 they thought the French fyflem of repre- 
 fentation was better than the Englifh, with- 
 out once inquiring whether we had not 
 
 other
 
 advantages to counter-balance that 
 iingle defect. 
 
 Befides thefe general reafons, there were 
 fome particular ones, that mould have in- 
 fluenced Britons to apprehend the confe- 
 quences of a French revolution* In the 
 firft place, although the fpirit of xthe na- 
 tion would at all events have made a revo- 
 lution of fome kind, yet the particular di- 
 rection of that national fpirit againft the 
 court was given by two or three factions 
 devoured by felfiih ambition, and burning 
 with revenge againfl the queen and the 
 houfe of Auftria. The family of D'Ai- 
 guillon turned patriots from this caufe, 
 and the Orleans family were actuated ftill 
 more flrongly by it. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans, one of the moil, 
 vicious and unprincipled men of the age, 
 had been difappointed of the reveriion of 
 the place of high-admiral held by his 
 father-in-law, the Duke of Penthievre, and 
 ever fince had engaged in a courie of hoi- 
 tilities agninft the court; nor did he feel 
 any paflion fo fhongly, as the defire of 
 K ' being
 
 ( '30 ) 
 
 being revenged on the queen, who had long 
 treated him with averlion and contempt. 
 In this temper of mind, other ambitious 
 men made him their eafy tool, flattering 
 him with hopes of governing the kingdom 
 under the title of lieutenant-general, and 
 perhaps of even attaining to royalty. Such 
 tainted inftruments fhould have made good 
 men fufpect the caufe itfelf, but there was 
 a fpecial reafon which made that averfion 
 to the queen diffufed by the Orleans party 
 to the remoteft corners of France, intereir- 
 ing t the Englifh nation.* There can be 
 no furer means to mortify a queen who in- 
 terferes with public government, than to 
 involve her hufband in a war with her own 
 family, for the nation muil ever be fufpi- 
 cious that fhe does not wilh ill to her 
 natural relations. The fatal quarrels be- 
 tween Jofeph and his Flemilh fubjects 
 held out a ftrong temptation to interfere, 
 and though fuch interference was not im- 
 mediate, yet equal pains were taken to in- 
 
 * See Arthur Young's Tour in France for various 
 anecdotes of that kind. 
 
 flame
 
 $ame the nation againft the queen, and 
 againft the houfe of Auftria itfelf.* Wars 
 between France and Auftria have generally 
 involved England moft unfortunately in 
 the conteft, and the firil part of this EfFay 
 has been employed in explaining the politi- 
 cal reafons. If this argument alone was 
 deemed inefficient, the character and tem- 
 per of Mirabeau afforded very forcible 
 reafons for alarm and caution. 
 
 Of all the actors in this ftupendous 
 drarn?, who by turns have 
 
 " Strutted and fretted 
 *' Their hour on the ftage, and then 
 " Been heard no more !" 
 
 There was none who through the whole 
 progrefs of his turbulent part, bid fo fair 
 as Mirabeau, to become firft-mir.ifter and 
 director of the new conftitmional kingdom. 
 Decried for his vices he had yet obtained 
 (I know not how) the univerfal confent of 
 
 * M. Peyflbnel, who had been employed in Turkey, 
 was a principal writer againft the houfe of Auflria, 
 and the treaty of 1756. 
 
 K 2 all
 
 all parties to his fuperior abilities, lie 
 been one of the chief inftigators of the 
 Duke of Orleans' ambition, but at laft 
 defpifed him, and was fuppofed, juft before 
 he died, to have made his peace with the 
 court. This man appears through all his 
 works to have been fired with the moil 
 determined hatred to Auftria and to Eng- 
 land, and his Doutes fur la Li her I dc 
 PEfcaut, affords fuch convincing proofs 
 of thole two palTions, that however 
 ftale the narration may feem, it wiM be 
 neceiTary to give a concife idea of that 
 work. It was written to prove the juftice 
 of the Dutch title to the pofleflion and con- 
 fequent reftraint of the ScheM, and to ex- 
 cite the French to take the opportunity of 
 the Emperor Jofeph's attack on Holland 
 to feize the Low Countries, and convert 
 them, as lie pretends, into an independent 
 republic. But he fpeaks fo * feelingly O f 
 the forty-three millions of livres which 
 France received annually from the Nether- 
 lands in Mar dial Saxe's time, that there rs 
 great reaibn to believe, had he been firft 
 
 * Page 88 of Mirabcau's Doutes. 
 
 minifler
 
 ( 133 ) 
 
 sriinifter of France, the name of indepen- 
 <knce would only have proved what it 
 proved in 1792, a lure to entice the Bra- 
 banons to admit French troops, who then 
 compelled them to fend all their money to 
 Paris to retrieve the bankrupt finances of 
 their pretended deliverers. In the courfe 
 of his argument he fpeaks with afperity of 
 the houfe of Naffau, and of England with 
 greater afperity frill, foftening it now and 
 then with fome compliments to the nation, 
 and -feeming to lay the blame on its govern- 
 ment, but attacking all tbofe commercial 
 laws and fchemes of diftant enterprize, 
 which take their rife from the temper of the 
 nation at large, and not from its minifters. 
 The act of navigation, fays he,* perhaps, 
 ought to make the Englifh be coniidered 
 as the enemies of human kind. In other 
 places -f- he predicts, that England will be 
 driven out from India in ten years time, 
 and that it will fhortly be reduced to a 
 power of the third clafs, and deprived of 
 all its influence out of its own ifland, 
 which, he fays, if the Engliih are wife 
 
 * Page 77. t Page 8 and n. 
 
 K 3 they
 
 ( '34 ) 
 
 they will confider as a happinefs. One of 
 his moft remarkable paflages in regard to 
 the Eaft Indies will require to be given at 
 full length.* 
 
 " The Europeans as a military power, 
 <c or rather as regimental murderers, will 
 " fhortly be driven out of India, and I 
 " blefs heaven for it. The Indians know 
 " at laft that their tyrants are not invinci- 
 " ble, and that they may in their turn be 
 * 4 acquainted with the Furcte Candinez > 
 " but whilfl we expect this happy event, 
 " fo well deferved, fo neceffary to the peace 
 " of Hindoftan, and even to that of Eu- 
 " rope; this event that avarice will drive 
 ** off as long as poffible, whilfl wifdom 
 *' ought to prepare itfclf for it ; our military 
 " and marine joined to that of the Dutch, 
 "is by means of the Bay of Trinco- 
 " male, in the liland of Ceylon, afTured of 
 *' deciiive fuperiority in the Bay of Bengal." 
 
 This eflay of Mirabeau's was written at 
 the very time which the hiftory of the late 
 
 * Page 3 1. 
 
 revolution
 
 ( '35 ) 
 
 revolution in Holland (formerly quoted) 
 fixes for the intrigues of the French to 
 draw in Holland, in confequence of their 
 alliance, to exhauft itfelf in efforts for 
 deflroying our power in the Eaft Indies, 
 and therefore it affords ftrong confirmations 
 of the afTertions of that author. 
 
 When we remember that Coligny, a 
 more virtuous leader of party than Mira- 
 beau, could think of no other way to re- 
 concile papifts and proteftants than an at- 
 tack upon Flanders, we might well fuppofe 
 that the fame means may be thought of 
 to reconcile royalifts and republicans ; and 
 we fee how thefe three degrees, power over 
 Flanders, influence over Holland, and ruin 
 of Englim power in Hindoftan, were the 
 natural climax of fuccefsful policy which 
 preferred itfelf alike to the courtier Ver- 
 gennes, and to the democratic Mirabeau. 
 
 When Mirabeau died, I own, that for a 
 fhort interval I had hoped that the new 
 French government might become more 
 friendly to England. But the prevalence of 
 a fadion headed by BruTot de Warville, 
 K 4 foon
 
 foon painfully undeceived me, for I faw in 
 his works, as for infrance, in the three 
 volumes of his Travels to America, the 
 fame averfion to the NafTau family, the fame 
 malice againft England, as in Mirabeau ; 
 the fame deteftation of our acts of naviga- 
 tion and fettlements in the Eaft Indies, 
 though more difguifed by hypocritical blan- 
 difhments. 
 
 Happy would it have proved for Eng- 
 land, perhaps, for France itfelf, if our 
 difTenters, and that party in the oppofltion 
 who have lately courted them, had been 
 induced by one or all of thefe arguments 
 to confider the French revolution with cool- 
 nefs, and balance its advantages and dan- 
 gers fairly j-giinft each other. 
 
 Inftead of this neceflary prudence, a 
 party who fet itfelf up as uttering the voice 
 of the Englilh nation, made both countries 
 refound with the voice of unmixed, intem- 
 perate, and unreflecting applaufe. On the 
 4th of November, 1789, Dr. Price preached, 
 and afterwards publifhed, his famous fer- 
 mon on the love of our country, and the 
 
 committee
 
 < '37 ) 
 
 committee of the fociety inftituted to com- 
 memorate the Revolution, refolved, that it* 
 becomes the people to eftablifh focieties 
 throughout the kingdom on revolutionary 
 principles, to maintain a correfpondence 
 with each other, and form a grand concen- 
 trated union of the friends of freedom. 
 It is hard to fay whether the refolution or 
 the fermon was moil indifcrect, and moil 
 full of dangerous confequences. The hard 
 Avords of grand concentrated union , were 
 evidently copied from that myfterious revo- 
 lution jargon which began to prevail in 
 France, and from that club which had 
 begun at Verfailles under the name of the 
 club Breton, was continued at Paris undej 
 the name of the club des Jacobins, was 
 beginning to fpread its affiliated branches 
 through the provinces, and after caufing 
 four or five revolutions, has at laft been 
 condemned by the convention, as not only fit 
 to deftroy, but incompatible with the fafety 
 of any regular government, republican as 
 well as monarchical. It is probable that 
 its firft imitators in England did not forefec 
 
 * See pase 12 of the Appendix to Dr. Price. 
 
 the
 
 ( '38 ) 
 
 the dangerous lengths to which fuch clubs 
 might proceed, but then what right have 
 they to extol their political wifdom and 
 forefight beyond the oppofite party, to 
 whom the name of jacobins always gave a 
 fenfation of terror. 
 
 We are next to confider the revolution 
 principles which this grand concentrated 
 union is to diffufe. The Doctor has re- 
 duced them to three. 
 
 " Firft, the right to liberty of confciencc 
 * c in religious matters/* 
 
 " Secondly, the right to refifr, power 
 " when abufed." 
 
 " Thirdly, the right to chuie our own 
 " governors, to cafliie r them for mifcondufl, 
 " and to frame a government for our- 
 " felves." 
 
 On the two firft of thefe principles I 
 have little to fay ; but as to the third, I 
 rnuft own that it fcems to me one of the 
 mod imprudent, ill- worded, and dangerous 
 principles that a heated difputant ever was 
 
 tempted
 
 ( '39 ) 
 
 tempted to utter. The words that the 
 Whig authors about the time of the revolu- 
 tion chiefly ufed, to exprefs thofe caufes 
 which juftified depofing of rulers, were 
 tyranny and breach of original compatt. 
 Both expreflions are vague, but at leaft they 
 imply fome condiicl: fo terrible and fo 
 criminal, that it muft be palpable to the 
 bulk of mankind. But mifconducl com- 
 prehends every frailty that flelh is heir to; 
 comprehends all the errors that even good 
 men may commit ; and might fandtion the 
 depofition of every ruler upon earth : for 
 who will dare to lay their hands on their 
 hearts, and fay, they never in the courfe of 
 their government were guilty of mifconducl:. 
 
 It may be faid, that Dr. Price never 
 meant that his words mould be taken in fo 
 wild a fenfe ; but why then did he not in 
 his later editions add fome corrective, that 
 the ignorant might underftand he meant 
 fuch mifconducl: alone as was groffly crimi- 
 nal. The word cafoiering alfo is the moft 
 contemptuous that could have been chofen, 
 and being borrowed from military difci- 
 pline, that mod arbitrary of jurifdiclions, 
 
 looks
 
 looks as if it was intended to allow no 
 more freedom of will, or dignity of office, 
 to a king, than to a fubaltern in the army. 
 
 As to the right of framing a government 
 for ourfelves, it is an undoubted right when 
 a community firft eftablifhes itfelf as an in- 
 dependent Hate ; but if it is meant, that the 
 laid community may totally change its go- 
 vernment whenever it pleafes, I only ap- 
 peal to the recent examples of France, Hol- 
 land, and Geneva, as proofs, that the exer- 
 cife of fuch a right is neither favourable to 
 tranquillity, virtue, orhappinefs. 
 
 This paflagc, in one word, fcems to have 
 been whifpered by fome evil genius on pur- 
 pofe to render the principles of liberty 
 .odious. The high-flown principles of paf- 
 iive obedience and non -refinance were al- 
 mofr. argued out of doors, and by a tacit 
 confeiTion difputants were agreed, that there 
 is in every country fome law, made by ori- 
 ginal compact, which no king can violate. 
 But thefe words, which feemed to imply, 
 that the people were not bound by the fame 
 compact which bound their rulers, firil 
 4 paved
 
 paved the way for the open avowal of that 
 terrible principle, by Mr. Paine, and then 
 (by the natural progrefs of the human mind 
 in eager difputes) drove the opponents of 
 Dr. Price into ufing indifcreet expreffions 
 in their turn. Moderation (at this crifls) 
 might have led the world to happinefs; 
 imprudent zeal has very near overwhelmed 
 it with the oppoiite evils of defpotifm and 
 anarchy. 
 
 Many other cenfures might be pafTed on 
 the famous fermon of Dr. Price. I know 
 it is invidious to cenfure the dead, but 
 thinking fmcerely, that it has had a great 
 lhare in cauiing our prefent evils, it was im- 
 pollible not to take notice of it. Through- 
 out the whole fermon there is nor one word 
 againft carrying on civil contentions with a 
 ferocious and ianguinary fpirit. Though 
 fccncs had already palled in France, xvhich 
 iickened humanity to think of, there is not 
 one caution againft imitating their example 
 in that refpecl, however it might deferve to 
 be followed in others. The preacher pur- 
 pofely turned out of his road to lament, 
 that forne aflertors of liberty fullied fo good 
 
 a caufc
 
 ( '42 ) 
 
 a caufe by irregular lives. Why did he not 
 alfo turn afide to cenfure cruelty, that moft 
 imchriftian of all vices ? Had he argued 
 like a late republican French writer, that 
 honeft men, by punifhing guilt in a revo- 
 lutionary manner, had corrupted opinion in 
 its fource, and confecrated illegal arbitrary 
 meafures ; and that fuch actions were more 
 dangerous precedents in the caufe of virtue, 
 than in the caufe of crimes, becaufe they 
 were more likely to feduce weak minds; 
 then Dr. Price would have obviated much 
 of the danger of his work. But when he 
 was fo indifcriminate in his applaufe, it was 
 natural for zealous churchmen to think, 
 that zealous diffcn-ters had no objection to 
 crimes when they led to the ruin of a na- 
 tional church. At that moment of time 
 there had been no conteft in England on 
 the fubjecl: of the French revolution, fharp 
 enough to have naturally drawn forth fuch 
 intemperate enthuilafm in its praife, as 
 tempted a Chriftian in the pulpit to apply 
 the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon. The real 
 ground of all this difplay of eloquence lay 
 deeper ; moil probably it may be traced to 
 the unfuccefsful attempt made by the dif- 
 3 fenters,
 
 C '43 ) 
 
 fcnters, to have the Teft act repealed. Mr. 
 Pitt had taken part againft them, for which 
 they branded him with the name of un- 
 grateful, becaufe mofl of them had fup- 
 ported his caufe in the great conteft of 
 1 784 againfl the coalition. Mr. Fox and 
 the oppofition had, in the preceding win- 
 ter, entangled themfelves with fome afler- 
 tions relative to the regency, that were 
 thought not flrictly confonant to the rights 
 of Parliament. Here, therefore, feemed a 
 fair opening for the one fide to be revenged, 
 and for the other to retrieve its character, 
 by tormenting Mr. Pitt with praifes of the 
 French revolution, which he could neither 
 join in, nor contradict, without offence. 
 
 The confequences of this imprudent po- 
 licy have been very different from what 
 they expected. Had the French revolution 
 never taken place,- it is moft likely that the 
 Ted act would have been repealed by this 
 time, if we conHder the fmallnefs of the 
 majority againfr, it. But now the diffenters" 
 are farther from their point than ever ; Mr. 
 Fox is not much nearer the miniflry ; no 
 Englifhrnan has been the gainer, and our 
 
 unhappy
 
 *44 
 
 unhappy country has deeply fuffered front 
 this revengeful project. 
 
 The Parliament of England met in Ja- 
 nuary 1790; and cautious prudence was the 
 part aiTumed by the minifters, both in the 
 King's fpeech and in their own. It does 
 not feem a great breach of charity to afTert, 
 that this prudence was particularly un- 
 pleafing to Mr. Fox, iince he took fo bold 
 a ftcp to lead it aftray, as praifing one of 
 the moft dangerous circumftanccs of the 
 French revolution, the defection of the 
 troops from their officers. I may be al- 
 lowed to call it dangerous, fince that con* 
 duct which was then attributed to pa- 
 triotifm, is now openly at Paris attributed 
 to bribery ; and the directory and its friends 
 .are perpetually inveighing againft the bafc 
 arts now ufed by the factious, to feduce 
 ibldiers from their lawful commanders. 
 
 Mr. Fox took his opportunity to intro- 
 duce this eulogium when the army eftimates 
 were voted, and uncalled, unprovoked, went 
 out of his way, and contradicted his own 
 arguments by oppofing the eftimates as too 
 
 large,
 
 ( '45 ) 
 
 large, and yet adding, that a large army 
 was not fo dangerous as formerly, lince the 
 hoble example fet by the French foldiers. 
 This afTertion, as might well be expected, 
 called up feveral of the military members of 
 Parliament to oppofe his doctrine. But 
 frill the oppofitioii we're difappointed, and 
 could never drive Mr. Pitt into openly giv- 
 ing his opinion of the French revolution* 
 Such a reftraint was neceffary at the time, 
 becaufe the public disapprobation of a lead- 
 ing member of the Englifh government 
 might have hazarded the lives of all the 
 Englifhmen in France, but it has cramped 
 all his arguments ever flnce; for to fet the 
 principles and practice of the French in 
 their true light, it is necefTary to (hew, that 
 the feeds of all the evils which have hap- 
 pened under the two lail aflemblies, were 
 fown by the rafhnefs and vanity of that 
 firft cbnftitueht alTembly, which our oppo- 
 iition frill affect to praife, 
 
 The fliaft which oppofitiori aimed at 
 
 Mr. Pitt, in 1790, recoiled at that moment 
 
 unexpectedly upon themfelves. For the 
 
 jhcat of Mr. Burke's temper made him 
 
 I, burft
 
 burft forth into expreffions of abhorrence 
 of the French revolution, which Fox and 
 Sheridan never forgave : fince they were in 
 direct contradiction to the cue which infe- 
 rior actors were ufed to take implicitly 
 from the managers in the great political 
 drama. Hence arofe a fchifm in the oppo- 
 lition, which I am afraid Mr. Pitt beheld 
 with an ill-natured fatisfaction, neither fide 
 difcovering the evils which thefe intempe- 
 rate difcullions would finally bring upon 
 their country. 
 
 The mimitiy, at that time, could hardly 
 be at their cafe, fince Flanders was then in 
 a ftate of open infurrcction againft Jofeph II. 
 and a warfare in Flanders has ever been the 
 fignal for anxiety in England. I do not charge 
 the French with fomenting thofe troubles 
 in their origin, but they have been charged 
 with fending emiiTaries to fee what advan- 
 tage could be made of them, and they de- 
 clined to fuccour the Flemifh only, becaufe 
 they found the government in the hands of 
 an ariftocracy. 
 
 As a flight confirmation of this opinion, 
 it may be mentioned, that Camille de Def- 
 
 moulines,
 
 *47 
 
 moulines, then a low fcribbler, afterwards 
 a demagogue, and at lafl a victim of th 
 guillotine, published in November, 1789* 
 a journal called Revolutions de France ct 
 de Brabant, in which he endeavoured to 
 unite the two caufes in one. Attempts 
 were foon made to introduce more demo-* 
 cracy into this new- formed republic, per-"- 
 haps with fome reafon and juftice; but (as 
 the foreign gazettes related) that dangerous 
 iignal, the French tricolor cockade, ap- 
 peared on the heads of the democrats at 
 BrufTels j and no Englifhman, zealous for 
 his country, could fee that token without 
 reluctance. 
 
 A late author, (Mr* Miles) has blamed 
 the ministry for not afluming the protec- 
 tion of this new republic, and defending it 
 againfl the houfe of Auftria. In anfwer to- 
 this, I muff, refer to the Letters of the Em- 
 peror Jofeph to General Dalton, publiflied 
 at Bruflels by the emperor's bittereft ene- 
 mies, purpofely to difgrace him. We 
 need not therefore doubt the genuinefs of 
 the fentiments contained in them, which 
 L 2 in
 
 "( '48 ) 
 
 in fpite of this intended malice, re* 
 tlound to his honour, In the pages 177 
 and 178, we find the emperor ltric~lly com- 
 manding his minifters to lend no ear, either 
 to the Dutch patriots, or to the French, 
 'who were difcontented with the new con- 
 (litution, obferving, that it would give a 
 plea to foreign powers to attack him open- 
 ly. It is never lawful for a foreign power 
 to interfere in domeftic quarrels, unlefs 
 fandlioned by the law of retaliation ; and 
 after this public proof of the juftice of the 
 houfe of Auftria, neither England nor 
 France ought to have fet the firft example 
 of injuftice. On the other hand, the fitua- 
 tion of England xvas entangled with many 
 difficulties ; for if we treated the Flemings 
 as rebels, and drove them to defpair, they 
 might offer their country to France. It 
 was probably in that view, that our minif- 
 ters rather fhe wed them friendihip than 
 enmity ; kept the Engliih refident ftill at 
 BrufTels, and joined to guarantee their old 
 constitution when re-conquered by the arms 
 of the Emperor Leopold, in the end of 
 1790. But what fignified thefe embar- 
 ralTments, which might have broke the 
 4 fleep
 
 ( H9 ) 
 
 fleep- of Sir William Temple; and King 
 William, of Godolphin and Somers, to the 
 new-faihioned patriots of the prefent age. 
 They might meet to celebrate the revolu- 
 tion , but it was not King William's me- 
 mory or principles which they meant to 
 commend ; they were going upon a new 
 plan, and like Shaft (bury and Arlington, 
 and other heroes of the cabal, talked only of 
 treaties of alliance with France. The fa- 
 mous vote of renunciation of conquefts* 
 paffed in May 1790, ferved for a while to 
 blind the eyes of honeft well-meaning en- 
 thufiafts ; but whoever looked into motives, 
 and was not fatisfied with pompous, words,, 
 might eafily fee, that this vote was no part 
 of a regular unambitious pacific plan, but 
 was the effufion of a hafty moment, to fa- 
 tisfy the people, and gall the court, 
 
 A difpute had arifen between England 
 and Spain, relative to the fur trade on the 
 north- well coait of America; and, the king 
 of France fent a meflage to the national 
 affeinbly to inform them of it, and to defire 
 their amftance to equip a fleet. It has been 
 generally fuppofcd, that the court of France 
 L wimed
 
 wifhed at that time for a war with Eng- 
 land, and were difpofed to try the remedy, 
 fo unfeelingly, but fo generally recommend- 
 ed, a foreign war to prevent a civil one. 
 The people were worked up to a fudden fit 
 of rage on this occafion, not becaufe they 
 hated a quarrel with England, but becaufe 
 they thought this mefTage was a cover to 
 fome plot againft the revolution, carried on 
 in concert with the Spaniards. In the de- 
 bates that followed it is remarkable, that 
 Mirabeau, the inveterate enemy of England, 
 infifted, that the power of peace and war 
 fhould be left to the king. A decree was 
 pa/Ted, requiring, firil a formal notification 
 of the king's opinion, and then a decree of 
 the aiTembly previous to a declaration of 
 war; and thofe vaunting words were added, 
 that the French nation would never take up 
 arms but in defence of its liberty, and that 
 it renounced all conquers. 
 
 It is furprizing how much this vague 
 cnthuiiaftic decree was applauded, even by 
 fome, who in other refpefts could fee 
 through the flimfy veil of patriotifm; as 
 for instance, the Courier du Bas-Rbin, a 
 
 paper
 
 paper conducted by fome acute obferver, af- 
 ter palling fome criticifms on the nati- 
 onal aflembly, adds, " They have done one 
 " noble thing, however, in proclaiming 
 " peace to all mankind. " All mankind ^ how^ 
 ever, was to be underftoodwith an exception 
 toallpriefls, gentlemen, and kings ; nor did 
 England, in any fhape, or under any go- 
 vernment, ftand a chance of being in- 
 cluded. For after the people had been 
 quieted by thefe high-founding words, 
 a -committee was appointed to examine into 
 all exifting treaties of alliance ; and they 
 made a report favourable to a de fen live al- 
 liance with Spain. In fuch a cafe it was 
 only neceffary for Spain to infert into its 
 manifefto, that England was the firft ag- 
 greflbr, and then they might call upon 
 France for afiiftance, who probably would 
 not have refufed taking a Weft-India ifland 
 or two, under fome other name than that of 
 conqueft. Pamphlets were written, and 
 fpeeches made, to animate the nation agamfl 
 Englith ambition and felfilhnefb, at the 
 very time that the French clubs were dup- 
 ing, (as I muft ever think it) Doctor Price, 
 Stanhope, and the Engliih clubs, 
 L 4 with
 
 with exprcffions of friend (hip, directed 
 not to the government of the nation, 
 but to particular felf-elected focieties. But 
 no immediate evil followed ; Spam, con- 
 fcious of its own, and its allies' weaknefs, 
 fhrunk from the conteft ; the danger of a 
 French war wa,s deferred for a while, and 
 people rafhly flint their eyes to the proba- 
 bility that it would be renewed as foon as 
 the government of France was fettled. Had 
 the leaders of the French revolution been as 
 pacific in their intentions, as they were at 
 firjt in their declarations, they had a plain 
 path before them. There are two obvious 
 precautions to be ufed by wife and mode- 
 rate ftatefmen : firft not to provoke the 
 jealoufy of .other governments, by the idea 
 of hoirile intentions; and fecondly, not 
 to tempt the ambition of other govern- 
 ments by the idea of internal difTen- 
 fions and weaknefs. I flatter myfelf it . 
 will appear in the courfe of the narration, , 
 that both thefe rules were completely vio- 
 lated by the French, and that the fecond of 
 thefe rules was ftrangely negleded by our. 
 Englifh patriots. The nrfl provocation 
 given to foreign powers, dates as far back 
 
 as
 
 ( 153' ) 
 
 as the 4th of Auguft 1739, when all feudal- 
 rights and fervices were abolilhed. In that 
 baily theatrical manner of voting by accla- 
 mation, fo incident to a fingle afTemblyy 
 and in particular to an ailembly of petulant 
 Frenchmen, they had included in the de- 
 cree all the feudal rights belonging to the 
 Duke of Wirtemberg, the Duke of Deux 
 Fonts, and other German princes, who had 
 poffeilions within Alface, and the other 
 diitricls, once belonging to the German 
 empire. Thefe eftates, with their appur- 
 tenant rights, had been guaranteed by the 
 treaty of Weftphalia, and we have already 
 feen, how forely the German diet had en- 
 dured the relinquilhment of fovereignty 
 over thofe territories, and confequently how 
 likely it was to be thrown, by this fudden 
 and violent exertion of fovereignty, by the 
 national aiTembly, into the party, either 
 of the mal-content Frenchmen, or of the 
 houfe of Auftria, (fuppofing the houfe of 
 Aultria malevolent to France). But what 
 was this grave con fi deration to the lively 
 fpirit of Frenchmen, who would find it. 
 much more entertaining to read invidious 
 and ridiculous accounts of the feudal fyftem, 
 
 than
 
 ( '54 ) 
 
 than to iludy father Bougeant's Hiftory of 
 the Treaty of Weftphalia, orthe many treaties 
 that have fmce been made to explain its par- 
 ticular articles ? Thefe rights were, there- 
 fore, voted away in a mafs, as well as the 
 rights of all pofTeffors who were indifputa- 
 ble fubjects of France ; and no indemnifi- 
 cations were even talked of till feveral 
 months after, when the fpirit of refentment 
 and political intrigue was roufed in Germa- 
 ny, and could not be laid afleep fo eafily as 
 at firfr. Nay, even then, when a member 
 once obferved, that as the poflefling princes, 
 (princes poffejfionaires) objected, that power 
 was ill exchanged for money ; the fureft way 
 to obviate all difficulties would be, to buy 
 other lands in Germany, where the owners 
 poffeffed the fame rights, and give them to 
 thefe princes, as their beft indemnification. 
 The alTembly received this motion with 
 difdain, and declared they never would take 
 a ftep that would even appear to fanclion 
 the abominable feudal fyftem. Thus they 
 continued averting the rights of nature 
 above thofe of property, and therefore run 
 the rifque of provoking all the proprietors 
 in Europe. It may feem impertinent in an 
 
 unknown
 
 ( '55 ) 
 
 unknown individual, to dictate in what 
 manner a political negotiation fhould have 
 been carried on ; but as it is certain, that 
 no worfe fteps for the happinefs of Europe 
 could have been taken than what were actu^ 
 ally adopted, I will venture my opinion. The 
 Affembly might, on the 4th of Auguft, have 
 protefted, that the right of fovereignty be- 
 longed to France, (for there is little doubt 
 that France always claimed it) but have de- 
 clared, that for the fake of peace and good 
 neighbourhood, they defired the king to en- 
 ter into negotiations for indemnifications, 
 either with the princes, or with the diet j 
 and ordered that, till the end of the nego- 
 tiations, the feudal rights and fervices fliould 
 continue as ufual ; and, perhaps, the beft 
 indemnification would have been the fug- 
 geftion of buying fuch other feudal eltates, 
 as chanced to be upon fale. It was faid, 
 the peafants of Alface wanted immediate, 
 relief; but would it not have been better to 
 have continued paying a few oppreflivc 
 rents two or three years longer, and have 
 avoided all the burdens laid on them by 
 this prefent ruinous war ? Let thofe men 
 at leaft anfwer this <yiefliqn> who are per* 
 
 petually
 
 ( '56 ) 
 
 petually exaggerating the evils of war, and 
 would have us facrifice our very indepen- 
 dence to France, rather than impofe a iingle 
 additional tax. There is no doubt that this 
 hafty decision of the National Affembly 
 \vas one of the feeds of the prefent war. It 
 was immediately laid, by ait the difcon- 
 tented German proprietors, that this mea- 
 fure was the e^adt counterpari of thofe 
 cloambres de re-union , which have been 
 mentioned as one of the great enormities of 
 Lewis the Twelfth's reign ; and, that ftrong 
 alliances would be as neceilary againft this- 
 encroaching royal democracy, as againft 
 the abfolute monarchy of France. J5ut in- 
 vafion of our rights is not the only caufe 
 of national enmity ; contempt of foreign 
 nations and foreign manners is equally pow- 
 erful, and this contempt was mown in the 
 molt mortifying manner, from the very be^ 
 ginning of the revolution, but reached its 
 higheft pitch on the J9th of June, 1790. 
 It had long been intended by the democrats 
 to abolifh all titles, and all fubordination of 
 rank j but the blow, though fufpeded by 
 the nobles, even before the meeting of the 
 ftates, was not ftruck, till that celebrated
 
 ( '57 1 
 
 day, and was preceded by a mofl extraordi- 
 nary fcene. M. de Cloots, a mal-content 
 PrufTian, at the head of a body of foreigners, 
 Engliih, Dutch, Spaniards, Italians, Ame- 
 ricans, Turks, and Indians, entered thd 
 national affembly. It is reported, that 
 his Europeans were teachers of hinguages 
 then redding at Paris, and that his Afia- 
 tics were fellows dreffed up in habits, 
 borrowed from the opera wardrobe. Af- 
 fuming the dignity of orator and ambafFa- 
 dor of the human race, he pronounced thrl 
 following wonderful harangue : * 
 
 " SIRS, 
 
 " The avve-infpiring fiandarJs of the 
 *' French empire, are about to be dif- 
 " played on the I4th of July, in the 
 *' Field of Mars, the fame place where 
 " Julian trampled $11 prejudices under foot \ 
 " this civic folemnity will not only be the 
 " feftivalof the French, but the fellival of 
 " the human race. The trumpet which 
 
 * Hift. de la R.evo!utio"n, vol. 5, page 344. 
 
 * c founds
 
 ( '58 ) 
 
 14 founds the refurredtion of a great natiort,- 
 14 has refounded to the four corners of the 
 46 world, and the joyful fongs of a chorus 
 ** of twenty-five millions of freemen have 
 44 awakened the nations buried in a long 
 44 flavery. The wifdom, Sirs, of your de- 
 *' crees, the union of the children of France, 
 * 4 that ravifhing piclure, gives bitter anxi- 
 " eties to defpots, and juil hopes to enflavecl 
 *' nations. 
 
 41 We alfo have eonceived a great thought, 
 44 and (hall we venture to fay, that it will give 
 44 the finifhing flroke to this great national 
 *' day? A number of ftrangers from all 
 44 the countries of the earth afk to range 
 " thctnfelves in the midit of the Field of 
 44 Mars ; and the cap of liberty which they 
 44 will elevate with tranfport, will be the 
 44 pledge of the approaching deliverance of 
 44 their unhappy fellow-citizens. The tri- 
 *' umphing generals of Rome took plca- 
 4t fure in dragging conquered nations, bound 
 il to their chariots ; and you, Sirs, by the 
 " moft honourable of contiafts, you will 
 44 fee freemen in your train, whofe country 
 44 is in chains, but itchofe country will one 
 
 44 day
 
 ( '59 ) 
 
 " day be free, by the influence of your un- 
 JJjaken courage, and your philofophical 
 " laws. Our vvifhes, and our homage, are 
 " the bands that attach us to your trium- 
 " phal chariot. 
 
 *' No embafTy ever was fo facred ; our 
 " letters of credit are not written upon 
 " parchment, but our million is engraved 
 61 in everlalting characters in the hearts of 
 " all men; and, thanks to the authors of 
 * c the declaration of rights, thefe characters 
 " will no longer be unintelligible to ty- 
 " rants. 
 
 tc You have with truth acknowledged, 
 " Sirs, that fovereignty refides in the peo- 
 " pic. Now, the people is every where un- 
 " der the yoke of dictators, who call them- 
 '* felves iovereigns in defpite of your prin- 
 " ciples. Didtatorfliip may be ufurpcd, 
 *' but iovcreignty is inviolable; and the 
 *' ambafladors of tyrants could not honour 
 4< your auguit feftival, like the greater part 
 ** of us, whofe miflion is tacitly owned by 
 " our countrymen, by fovercigns under op- 
 " preflion. 
 
 " What
 
 C 
 
 '* What a lefibn for deipofs ; what a 
 44 comfort for unfortunate nations, when 
 ** we fliall inform them, that the firfr, na- 
 *' tion of Europe in aflembling its ftand- 
 " ards, has given us the fignal of the hap- 
 *' pinefs of France, and of both worlds. 
 "*' We fliall expect, Sirs, in a fefpedful 
 *' illence, the refult of your deliberations on 
 " the petition dictated to us bj the ciithu- 
 *' fiafm of univerfal liberty/* 
 
 '* This petition," fays my author, i was 
 * c received with a univerfal acclamation." 
 
 How eafy is it to fee in this petition, and 
 In this acclaination, the feeds of that famous 
 decree of the I9th of November, 1792, 
 which the Warmelr. friends of France will 
 not entirely juftify ; and yet they do not 
 condemn, as they ought, the fleps that ine- 
 vitably led to it. Could the French refufe 
 ailiftance to any club who invited them to 
 free their country, when they admitted a 
 dozen fchool- matters to tell them, that 
 their countries expected liberty from the in- 
 fluence of their courage ? Such a refufal 
 
 o 
 
 would have looked as if this unftakfti COK- 
 
 ragi
 
 C '' ) 
 
 rags was a little more fufpicious than any 
 fovercign with one head, or with many, 
 chuies to own to his flatterers. 
 
 The character of the fpeaker is as re- 
 markable as the fpeech itfelf. He Was, as 
 before mentioned, a reftlefs difcontcnted 
 Pruffian fettled at Paris, and being infected 
 with that fpirit of unbelief which Frederic 
 had encouraged French wits to dirTufe^ in 
 the courfc of the revolution affected to re- 
 nounce his chriftian name of Jean Baptifte, 
 and new name himfelf Anacharfis, the 
 Scythian philofopher, and from his open 
 impiety was fometimes called the perfonal 
 enemy of yefus Chrift. He continued lay- 
 ing plans for a uni e vcrfal Republic till even 
 Briffot laughed at his abfurdity : he next 
 became an accomplice of Roberfpjerre's 
 enormous cruelties, and having excited that 
 tyrant's jealoufy, perimedby that common^ 
 death of French revolutionifls the guil- 
 lotine.* 
 
 * This Anacharfis invented the term Septemlrizing 
 to exprefs his approbation of the bloody fecond of 
 September. 
 
 M Such
 
 Such was that worthlefs madman to 
 whom the firft aifertors of French liberty, 
 the Fayette's, the'Lameth's, the* Mathieu 
 de Montmorency's, had imprudently com- 
 mitted a dramatic fcene which was deftined 
 to work up the afTembly into an enthufiafm 
 equal to voting the utter abolition of no- 
 bility. The words of the decree were little 
 lefs offenfive than the words of the fpeech 
 to the prejudices of foreign nations, fince it 
 decreed in general terms that hereditary no- 
 bility was inconfilr.ent with a free ftate, 
 People feldom judge impartially of a tranf- 
 aclion till it is brought home to themfelves. 
 I will, therefore, once for aH, put a queftion 
 to the friends of France, which I defire 
 they will repeat to their ojtfn hearts, when- 
 ever they read of any letter from an Englifh 
 club, or deputation from aggrieved fo- 
 reigners, to the national aflembly. If the 
 Englifh parliament had received a deputa- 
 tion from Neckar, Mounier, or any other 
 cenfiwers ctf the French constitution, if they 
 had told either of the houfes, that the friends 
 
 * I name thefe three members becaafe they took a 
 leading part in the debate which followed.
 
 of government and property waited for the 
 influence of the Englilh. to correct the ex* 
 cefTes of democracy, would not fuch a raCh 
 flep have excited the utmofl indignation ia 
 France, and led ultimately to a war witli 
 England ? If their confciences anfwer that 
 queftion in the affirmative, let them fuppofe 
 that Englifhmen or Germans might be as 
 jealous of rational independence as French- 
 men i In thii light, I cannc: help confider-* 
 in^ .!-;e franiaLlioiis of the I9th of June as 
 the lire-brands which kindled the conflagra- 
 tion, whofe wide-fp riding fury -we have 
 all fo rnuth rcaion tj deplore. . 
 
 Previous to this embafTy from the whole 
 enflaved human fpecies, a tragical applica- 
 tion had been made of the principles of the 
 French revolution at Avignon, a little ftate 
 included in France, but fubje<5t to the Pope's 
 government.* The people rofe againft the 
 Pope's legate, and aguuii the old arifto- 
 cratic municipality; Four unhappy gen- 
 tlemen, of good moral character, were 
 
 * See a work entitled Hiftorical Sketch of th 
 trench Revolution. 
 
 M i mitfdered
 
 murdered in cold blood, after having fur- . 
 rendered on promife of mercy, by the po- 
 pulace, worked up to madnefs from the 
 abfurd calumnies told them by their leaders, 
 L'Efcuyer and Tournal. Thefe leaders 
 immediately offered Avignon to the na- 
 tional afTernbly, who gave fo faint a denial . 
 as evidently fhewed they only waited for a 
 pretext to contradict their famous renun- 
 ciation of conqucft ; in the mean while they 
 agreed to put a French garrifon into the 
 town, and foon found the pretence they 
 fought for in the cruel civil war which de- 
 folated that little tract of country. Happy 
 would it have been if any one of thefe cir- 
 cumflances had convinced the more virtuous 
 part of our Englifh reformers, that new 
 fcenes of wickednefs and bloodihed were 
 opening on the world, rather than of hap- 
 pinefs ! happy ! if they would but have 
 agreed to let foreign factions fight it out at 
 leifure, and have preferved the fame degree 
 of neutrality, as our Englifh writers had 
 ever observed in the quarrels, for inflance, 
 of Sweden or Poland, where one might in- 
 cline to the king, another to the diet, but 
 each party ufed temperate language, and 
 
 allowed
 
 tiJowed that faults might exift on both 
 fides, 
 
 Inftead of this moderation, ourfpecula- 
 five philofophers, and practical leaders 
 of oppofition, agreed on a feilival to cele- 
 brate annually the taking of the Baflille, 
 and by this unfortunate flep confolidated 
 the caufe of Englifh reform with that of 
 the French confutation, and made all the 
 ill-wifhers to the one, ill-wimers to the 
 other. Never had a iimilar ftep been taken 
 by any Englifli party towards any party in 
 a foreign nation, not even in 1747, when 
 the old Whigs exulted, perhaps to excefs, 
 in the revival of the power of the houfe of 
 NalTau. Wherefore ihould this preference, 
 have been fir ft held out to France? a nation 
 fo ferocipus in their quarrels, fo devoured 
 by vanity, fo ready to perfecuteall that will 
 not imitate them ; a nation fo famous for 
 over-reaching us in every kind of negoci- 
 ation ; a nation which, at that very time, fuf- 
 fered their diflike to England to peep forth 
 in many little circumftances as for in- 
 tfance, their readinefs to join the Spaniards 
 in any quarrel where England was con- 
 M 3 . cerned j
 
 eerned ; their frequent invectives againft 
 the treaty of commerce, and their idle no- 
 tions that Calonne had been bribed by Mr. 
 Pitt to confent to it ; their readinefs to be- 
 lieve, and their joy in believing, that 
 Tippoo Saib had gained advantages over 
 pur forces in the Eaft, Indies, 
 
 I will allow that Englishmen might feel 
 themfelves not much difpleafed at the down- 
 fall of a court fo hoftile to their country, 
 but thofe hoftilities had proceeded from the 
 temper of minifters, not from the natural 
 temper of their kings, except in the in^ 
 fiance of Lewis XIV. and we could have 
 no afTurance that fuch ambitious characters 
 as Choifeul and Vergennes would not be 
 employed under the new conftitution. Mi- 
 rabeau w r as at that time very near the fum- 
 mit of power, and Dumcurier was begin- 
 ning to afcend the mil fteps of its flippery 
 ladder, 
 
 But enthufiafm repreffed all fober cqnfi- 
 deration, the i/j-th of July was celebrated 
 with parade and affectation, and the fenti- 
 ments uttered on the occafipn. may be feen
 
 ( 167 ) 
 
 in the Appendix to the fourth edition of 
 Dr. Price's Sermon, where, though he in- 
 ferted them to catch popular ap-plaufe, I 
 believe they difgufted many good citizens. 
 He, himfelf, faw the neceffity to vindicate 
 Jhis toaft, " May the parliament of Eng- 
 " land become a national affembly !" 
 and to declare that he only meant a re- 
 prefentation of the commons fimilar to 
 that of the national affembly. But was 
 this fuch an interpretation as the French 
 \vere likely to put upon his words ? In all 
 their pamphlets, and, I believe, in all 
 their private convcrfations, they perpetually 
 confounded the queftion of an equal repre- 
 fentation with the queftion of a fingle le^ 
 giilative affembly ; believed that thofe who 
 talked of the one, meant, in fact, the other; 
 and that no nation was worthy of freedom, 
 who could tolerate fuch a moniteras an * up- 
 per houfe of parliament, no matter whether 
 hereditary or elective. In the very outfet of 
 
 * Chenier, a tragic poet in 1790, and a famous de- 
 magogue ever fince, fays in his preface to Charles IX. 
 ff Are the Greeks, Romans, and Englilh, our models 
 " of perfection? Then fliall we have flavery, gla- 
 fl diators, an tipper boufe, a feptennial parliament.'* 
 \Vhat an infolent parallel! 
 
 M 4 their
 
 ( '68 ) 
 
 their revolution, in Auguft 1789,* their 
 pamphleteers told them by way of good 
 news, '< On dit que les Anglois com- 
 tl mencent a s'agiter, et qu'ils ne veulent 
 " plus avoir qu 'une chambre de parlement : 
 i. e. " It is faid that the Englifh be- 
 " gin to be agitated, and will have no 
 " more than one houfe of parliament. 
 Two writers of different principles, Mr. 
 Miles and Mr. Playfair, have both attefted 
 that a total change of the Englifh conftitu- 
 tion was expected and predicted at the 
 houfes of the great leaders of the firft revo- 
 lution. Little did thofe Frenchmen think 
 that they fhould fall vidjms to their par- 
 tiality for a fimple f and ideal form of go- 
 vernment- a fingle aflembly ; and that 
 France was deftined to give an early ex- 
 ample to all other nations, that, if they 
 pull down a real ariflocracy, they mufl 
 
 * The pamphlet was called Hiftoire des Evenemen$ 
 Rcmarquables, de Juillet et Aout 1789. 
 
 t An exprefliqn ufed by Morfe in his America^ 
 Geography to defcribe a fimilar conftitution in Penn- 
 fylvania. 
 
 build
 
 ( '69 ) 
 
 build up a fftittout one as faft as poffible, 
 or be expofed to all the horrors of anarchy. 
 It could not efcape obfervation how ready 
 Dr. Price and his colleagues were to give 
 up the honor of England, and call for cen- 
 fure on its faults, whilft writing to foreign- 
 ers. Unnatural behaviour furely ! at leaft it 
 would bear that name from children to their 
 parents in a private family. When one of 
 the correfponding French clubs paid Eng- 
 land fome compliments on having fet the 
 firft example of liberty ; our revolution ib- 
 ciety took care to inform them, in return, 
 how much we were inferior to the glorious 
 example of France. Whilft the outward 
 language of thefe French focieties breathed 
 peace and amity, their inward fpirit feemed 
 a heated zeal, and a malignant abhorrence* 
 of all other governments, fit only to pro- 
 duce the confequences we know to have fol- 
 lowed. What is " this fire that will in- 
 '* flame every mind, and throughout all 
 ** Europe reduce into afhes the fhackles of 
 *' defpotifm?" what is " this union of the 
 
 * See, amongft others, pages 22 and 38 of Dr. 
 price's Appendix, 
 
 " two
 
 ( '7 ) 
 
 t two firft empires in the world/ 5 that is to 
 " waken the courage of all enflaved nations, 
 " and give the moil overpowering Icflbn to 
 *' their mad defpots ? " To learn the extent 
 of thcfe declamations, we mufl read the 
 French journals and pamphlets of the year 
 1790, and the decrees of the national af- 
 fembly ; we fliall difcover that in the French 
 opinion every nation was enflaved, in 
 which there exifled hereditary titles, a fe- 
 nate, or a church poiTefTed of landed pro- 
 perty. Now, if we join to all this, Dr, 
 Price's fcheme*of a confederation between 
 England and France, Holland and America, 
 we ihall be more and more inclined to iuf- 
 pect that the French were proposing to their 
 Engliih friends, a Crufade againft.all the ef- 
 tabliihed governments and churches in Eu- 
 rope. Hiftory will inform us that fimilar 
 declamations have ever been ufed to inflame 
 the multitude to bloodihed. It was by de- 
 claiming againft tbofe tyra?its y the Saracens, 
 jmd their cruelty to poor harmlefs piignms, 
 that Peter, the hermit, itirred up all Eu- 
 rope to the^'/y/ original model of crufades. 
 
 * Appendix, pages 35, 36, and 37. 
 
 Struck
 
 ( I?' ) 
 
 Struck with apprehenfion at the profpeft 
 of all thofe evils ready to fpring from French 
 cafhnefs and French intrigue, Mr. Burke 
 publifhed his celebrated Reflections on the 
 Revolution in France, in the autumn of 
 1790. As this book foon acquired great 
 celebrity, it has been the falhion amongft a 
 certain clafs of writers and orators, to at- 
 tribute to it all the mifchiefs which they arc 
 forced to own have followed that revo- 
 lution which, as they fuppofed, was to have 
 produced nothing but happinefs. 
 
 That a work replete with good fenfe and 
 eloquence is biemithed by fome enthu- 
 fiafm and fome indifcretion, cannot be de- 
 nied : it is the characteriftic manner of the 
 iingular genius who w rote it, and by which 
 his works, if anonymous, might be diftin- 
 guifhed amongft a thoufand authors. But 
 let it be obferved that enthufiafts are gene^ 
 rally the firft to anfwer enthufiafts, cool 
 lenfible men are otten afraid of engaging 
 with fuch antagonifts. The innate enthu- 
 iiaf:n of Dr. Price, and his aflbciates, was 
 ftronger than Mr. Burke's, only the ftile of 
 $he latter being more flowery, the poetry of
 
 ( '7* ) 
 
 his metaphors made his cnthuflafm more ap. 
 parent. 
 
 If fome of his afTertions in favour of he- 
 reditary right are deemed too pofitive, let it 
 be remembered that he was incenfed by that 
 unparalleled expreffion of cafhiering go- 
 vernors for mifconduRj and that he has re- 
 nounced the doctrine of divine indefeajibk 
 right in other paiTages ; * whereas Dr. Price 
 never explained his dangerous affertion. 
 The expreflion of fwinifo multitude has 
 been moil cruelly misinterpreted, and made 
 a by- word to incenie the populace againfr. 
 him. But it is clear that he only fpeaks of 
 a fuppoled particular multitude feduced 
 into the project of " carting learning into 
 the mire/' for had he fpoken of the com- 
 mon people in a general fenfe, the multitude 
 would have been the proper grammatical 
 expreffion. To prove that a multitude may 
 become fomething very refembling a fwinifh 
 beaft, it is only neceilary to read the fpeech 
 of Gregoire, inferted at the end of Play- 
 fair's Hiilory of Jacobinifm, OR the injuries 
 
 * See page 37 of the twelfth edition. 
 
 offered
 
 ( '73 ) 
 
 offered to learning under the government of. 
 Roberfpierre. Indeed the beft juflification 
 of Mr. Burke would be effected by the fol- 
 lowing experiment : let three columns be 
 Arranged upon paper, of which the firfl 
 mould contain the glorious predictions of 
 all the admirers of the revolution of 1789 ; 
 the fecond mould contain Burke 's predic- 
 tions of mifery j and the laft, the confefiions 
 of republican writers, during the lail twelve- 
 month, of the crimes and misfortunes it 
 has really occalioned, and the vicious fpirit 
 it has infilled into the people.. 
 
 But fuch a work would require a volume 
 to itfelf : if any one were difpofed to ex- 
 ecute the tafk, I would refer him on the 
 French fide to M'. de Marnezia's work, 
 called Lcs Ruincs y to another anonymous 
 work on Profcriptions, Confifcations, and 
 Revolutions, and., to Benjamin Conflant's 
 Eflay on the Strength of the prefent French 
 Government, befides pamphlets andfpeeches 
 innumerable. In the two firft of thefe 
 works he will find feverer things faid of 
 ^^-proprietors, than Mr. Burke ever 
 i faid
 
 laid of the poor or the multitude, which irt 
 Marnezia is particularly remarkable, as be- 
 fore the revolution he was a philanthropifty 
 who wrote in verfe and profe on the beau- 
 ties of nature, and on the happinefs of a 
 country life. In Burke's volume* I would 
 cfpecially refer the curious obferver to his 
 arguments on the danger of eftablifliing a 
 precedent of confifcation, and introducing' 
 paper money as the foundation of a new 
 constitution. It was impoffible even for 
 Burke to defcribe the fpirit of jobbing and 
 gaming diffufcd through all ranks of people 
 in ftronger terms than it has fincc been 
 painted in almoft all the debates of the af- 
 fembly on the fubject of finance* That 
 pafTage is alfo obfervable in which he hints* 
 that a new executive officer who owed his 
 flation to thofe leaders of party, his creators 
 as well as matters-,, would fill that office 
 better than a degraded king* This fenti- 
 menf has been cenfured as putting def-* 
 potifm and death into the heads of the 
 
 * Page 225. From page 280 to 288* Page 292, 
 296, 299. 
 
 king's
 
 ( -'75 ) 
 
 king's enemies. But thofe who knew the 
 fecret fprings of action, knew that Mira- 
 beau intended the- Duke of Orleans for the 
 new executive magiftrate, long before 
 Burke's Reflexions appeared ; and when 
 they did appear, Condorcet and Briifot had 
 begun to plan a complete republic. la 
 fliort, the promoters of the firft revolution 
 had done too much for a monarchy, too 
 little for a republic, and the fuccefs of the 
 new directory in war and in government 
 has proved Mr. Burke's conjectures not to 
 be wrong. 
 
 If Burke was culpable in publishing 
 his cenfures, Mounier, Lally-Tolendal, 
 Mallet-du-Pan, Malouet, Neckar, who 
 wrote numberlefs volumes on the errors of 
 the firft conftitution, were as culpable as 
 he, and were much more likely to affecl: 
 the minds of Frenchmen than an Englifh. 
 author. I name writers who all fet out on 
 the revolutionary fide, and pafs over Ca- 
 lonne and other royalifts, becaufe they were 
 unpopular,, 
 
 If
 
 If it was criminal for fuch a number * of 
 able writers to attack opinions adopted by 
 the majority of the nation, what then be- 
 comes of that unlimited liberty of the prefs, 
 which is fometimes held forward as a fhield 
 to cover the new champion that encountered 
 Burke, the redoubted Thomas Paine. 
 
 I have already faid, that it frequently 
 happens in party-quarrels, that one enthufiait 
 draws out into the conteft a wilder cnthu- 
 fiail than himfelf ; but in all fuch cafes the 
 chief blame is to be laid on that enthufiafr 
 who gave the firft provocation, and forry 
 am I again to repeat, that it was Dr. Price. 
 He died not long after the publication of 
 Paine's work, -his character in private life 
 was that of a man of religion and probity ; 
 and I wim him no other harm than to have 
 lived to the prcfent time, and feen the con- 
 fequences of thofe events that made him 
 
 * Neckar, \vhofe flile is full of fimilies, fomewhere 
 has written, " Whilft the conftituent aifembly were 
 " praifing their work, I often thought I faw the hand- 
 " writing on the wall which terrified Belfhazzar 
 " Thou art weighed in the balance and found 
 ** wanting!" 
 
 cry
 
 ( '77 ) 
 
 cry Nunc Dimittis. I will not aflert that 
 he and his aflbciates could have prevented 
 thofe confequences, by that middle courfe 
 of mixed cenfure and praife, which I think 
 they mould have purfued (even on their 
 own principles.) Perhaps the French 
 would have attributed fuch moderation to 
 Englim pride and jealoufy ; but yet there 
 is a poffibility that men who had fome im- 
 preflions of virtue in their fouls, fuch as 
 Fayette, Liancourt, Rochefoucault, would 
 have been flartled, and have reflected in 
 time how far their rafh career might extend. 
 But the reverfe of this caution added fuel 
 to their devouring fire, and made the 
 French believe there was a party in Eng- 
 land ready to fecond all their views, how- 
 ever unjuil or ambitious. 
 
 As in France, Pethion fucceeded La 
 Fayette, and Roberfpierre fucceeded Pe- 
 thion, ftp Home Tooke fucceeded Dr. 
 Price as leader of the patriotic clubs, and 
 had they difturbed England with a national 
 convention, Thelwall perhaps would have 
 difgraced and ruined Home Tooke. The 
 anti-conftitutional views of thefe clubs be- 
 N came
 
 came fully evident when they entered into* 
 * fubfcriptions to diffufe throughout the king- 
 dom, the two parts of Pained Rights of 
 Man, both written with the moft violent 
 animolity againft the principles of our go- 
 vernment. They difperfed them with moil 
 fedulous care amongft the unlearned, who 
 had no opportunity to detect their nume- 
 rous fallacies, and then excufed themfelves 
 with the jefuitical evafion, that they did 
 not equally approve of the whole book, but 
 difperfed it to prevent the ill confequences 
 of Burke*s flavifh doctrines. It is eafy to 
 detect fuch an evafion, by fuppofing them to 
 difperfe with the fame care Paine's work 
 againft chriftianity, and then pretend that 
 they mean it as an antidote againft popery. 
 Such an argument would appear ridiculous 
 ' to men of all opinions, yet in the firft cafe* 
 party-fpirit made fome peoljfle affect to 
 credit fo poor an excufe. 
 
 Mr. Burke has evidently * proved, that 
 his doctrines, if flavifh, are the profeft 
 Jlavijh doctrines of thofe Whigs who effected 
 
 * In his Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs* 
 . i. the
 
 ( '79 ) 
 
 the revolution; and the general dodrirte, 
 that every man is bound to preferve the 
 constitution under which he was reared and 
 protected when a child, to amend it if he 
 can, but not to confpire its total alteration* 
 fo far from being flavifh doctrine, feerns to 
 me the fafeguard of republics againfl ty- 
 rants, as much as of monarchs againft 
 rebels. It is the intereft of all regular 
 governments, not excepting democracies* 
 to reprobate that dreadful opinion of 
 Thomas Paine, the moral lawfulnefs of 
 changing the government of our country 
 whenever it is the will of a majority of the 
 people. Expreflions may be brought from 
 great authors, fuch as Locke, to vindicate 
 that doctrine, but political conteft has the 
 power of making the wifeft authors indif- 
 creet, and Mr. Locke was not exempted 
 from that fatal influence. I do not believe 
 that he 'ever teaches pofitively in W 7 hat 
 manner the fenfe of the people is to be 
 afcertained, whether it is to be weighed by 
 property^ or countedby heads : tillthat point 
 is fettled, the people becomes a nugatory 
 term, liable to a thoufand interpretations ; 
 and the hiftories of ancient Greece, of 
 N 2 modem
 
 fnodern France, and of Geneva, {hew what 
 torrents of blood may be fhed before any 
 ' oiie interpretation is decidedly fixed upon. 
 
 Ifhe fingle work of a fingle enthufiaft 
 would not have been of fuch high impor- 
 tance, but a thoufand fymptoms fhevved 
 that fimilar enthuiiails were every-where in 
 the pay of French clubs, labouring to ex- 
 tend their doctrines throughout Europe, 
 and that before many years were over, it 
 would become evident that the Rights of 
 Man were but a ftalking-horfe to introduce 
 the dominion of France. They did not 
 venture to attack Auftria or England whilft 
 their conftitution was forming, but their 
 foreign policy during the years .1790 and 
 1791* may be concifely exprefTed by that 
 trite proverb, " Better play at fmall 
 '* games than ihmd out." Avignon, Ge- 
 neva, Switzerland., Savoy, were the objects 
 of French intrigue and ambition, before 
 '"'they proclaimed their new-difcovered law 
 ' of nature, that the French empire mult 
 extend to the Rhine. Mallet-du-Pan, in 
 the political part of the Mercure de France t 
 (during thofe two years) has given^ ample 
 2 accounts
 
 Accounts * of the attempts to overturn the 
 exifting governments of thefe countries. 
 Moiinier and Neckar join in the fame com- 
 plaint with regard to Switzerland. " Till 
 " French emiflaries came amongft them 
 " (fays Neckar) thefe little ftates had the 
 4t weaknefs to think themfclves happy.*' 
 Gibbon in his Letters and Memoirs laments 
 the mifchiefs threatened by French princi- 
 ples to thofe peaceable countries, and ex- 
 preiTes fentiments fo fimilar to thofe of 
 Burke, that they demand great attention from 
 the difciples of French philofophers, fince 
 it cannot be fufpected that Gibbon was 
 prompted by a fuperjlitious regard for the 
 church. 
 
 If all the French journals could be col- 
 lected and extracted, the unbounded ambi- 
 tion difguifed under the maik of philan- 
 thropy would be very apparent indeed, 
 Their authors began a few weeks after the 
 1 4th of July to predict, that " the next 
 " century was likely to open Upon an uni- 
 
 * See for a fuller account, the Hiftorical Sketch of 
 tfye French Revolution, from page 480, 10540. 
 
 N 3 " verfal
 
 " verfal democracy," and they fpared no 
 pains, when united in clubs and focietics, to 
 accomplifh their own predictions. ^A few 
 leading facts are all that can be inferted in 
 this abftraft of hiftory. 
 
 In the fummer of .1790, M. de Perigny 
 difperfed pamphlets amongft the peafants 
 both in the Upper Valais and in the Pai's de 
 Vaud, exciting them to infitrreclion ; the 
 fenateof Berne arrefted him, but prudently 
 contented themfelves with banifhing him 
 from Switzerland. Other perfons fent let- 
 ters into Fribourg, Soleure, and other 
 cantons, to roufe the peafants againft the 
 magift rates. 
 
 A number of malcontents formed them- 
 felves into a club at Paris, called themfelves 
 the friends of $wifs liberty, and were 
 patronized by Mirabeau. After the infur-* 
 rection of fome Swifs regiments at Nancy, 
 they fent a deputation to the affembly, and 
 inferted into their fpeech fome cenfures of 
 the government of Switzerland. No one 
 could object to this, after the convention 
 had received Anacharfis Cloot's embafTy
 
 from all the world, to complain of all its 
 
 governors. 
 
 Here, I muft again repeat, we fee the 
 errors of thofe leaders of revolutions, 
 who take extraordinary means to work up 
 enthufiafm for extraordinary occafions. 
 The fatts themfelves were trifling, the 
 precedents were mod important. It could 
 not be fuppofed that foreign powers would 
 bear to fee the alTembly of France fit like 
 the fenate of ancient Rome, liftening to the 
 grievances of every nation upon earth. We 
 know what tyranny on one hand, and what 
 bafe degradation on the other, followed 
 the pretended philanthropy of the conquer- 
 ing Romans. 
 
 The old contefts at Geneva, between the 
 magiftrates and the people, which hadt)een 
 appeafed in 1789 by a reconciliation on 
 moderate terms, were revived again in 1791 
 by French influence, and the right of uni- 
 verfal fuffrage was aflerted. The French 
 journalifts affured their readers, that Geneva 
 would foon follow the example of Avignon, 
 and demand to be incorporated with the 
 N 4 French
 
 French empire. Lewis the Fourteenth, * 
 Jlole Stra/bourg from the German empire; 
 in confequence of fimilar domeftic difputes, 
 the republicans longed \vjleal Geneva from 
 Switzerland, till their attention was diverted 
 by nobler robberies. 
 
 The able journalift who conducts the 
 Courier du Bas-Rhin, at a time when he 
 was rather favourable to French principles, 
 had faid on this very occafion of Geneva, 
 " that France would make more conquefts 
 '* by opinion than it had ever made by 
 *' arms." Such a compliment was not cal- 
 culated to make foreign powers wifh well 
 to the French revolution. 
 
 During the quarrels of Avignon, and 
 whilft the aflembly was deliberating whe- 
 ther its fubmiffion could be accepted, the 
 constitutional club of Aix publifhed a ma- 
 nifefto againft the aflembly of Carpentras, 
 (which refilled to give itfelf to France) and 
 faid, " Frenchmen have folemnly fworn 
 
 * An expreffion of Lord Bolingbroke, in his Letters 
 on Hlflory. 
 
 ^ protedtion
 
 ** protection and affiftance without diflinc- 
 '* tion of feel: or country to every man op- 
 *' preffed by his neighbour '," 
 
 Js not this, crufading and knight-errantry 
 all in one ? 
 
 In May 1791, the mob of Paris infulted 
 M. de Clermont-Tonnerre, and threatened 
 to break open his houfe, becaufe he had 
 voted againft accepting Avignon, whilfl the 
 Parisian republicans wrote to their friends 
 in the fouth, ' that the people had given 
 *' the aiTembly an important leflbn." 
 
 In 1 791 , it was generally believed in Swit- 
 zerland that aeon fpiracy was formed to give 
 up Geneva, Savoy, and the Pai's de Vaud to 
 France.* The fenate of Berne having taken 
 fome perfons up, the conftitutional fociety 
 at Dijon wrote a moil haughty threatening 
 letter to the Bailli of Laufanne. M. Con- 
 ftant de Rebecque (perhaps the fame who 
 
 * Mr. Gibbon believed alfo in that confpiracy, and 
 he was a difinterefted obferver. 
 
 writes
 
 ( 186 > 
 
 writes pamphlets on the flrcngth of the 
 prefent French government,) wrote in the 
 French journals inviting France to take 
 the Pai's de Vaud, on the fame ground that 
 it was taking Avignon, becaufe it had long 
 ago made part of France. It was evident 
 that the fame argument might be extended 
 to Nice, Neuf-chatel, Flanders, Jerfey, and 
 Guernfey, all detached at various times 
 from the ancient French empire. 
 
 During all this time there exifled mode- 
 rate patriots, who vainly warned the 
 French of the dangers they ran from ex- 
 citing the apprehenfions of all Europe. 
 Malouet fpeaking on the long contefted 
 Affair of Avignon, ufed the following ex- 
 preffions ; 
 
 " This revolution has had a peculiar 
 " character which belongs to no other, the 
 " character pf generalifing its principles, 
 " of applying them to every nation, every 
 " country; -every government. It is a real 
 *' fpirit of conqueft, or rather of mhTionary- 
 " (hip, which has feized on the moft ardent 
 
 " fpirit s s
 
 *'* fpirits, and which feeks to fpread itfejif 
 " beyond its own limits. J> 
 
 At a fubfequent period, Montmorin a 
 rninifter, and the friend of Nec.kar, thus 
 addreffed the aflembly : 
 
 *' We have feen England and .Holland go 
 '* fafely through great revolutions, and 
 *' make other nations refpecl the conftitu- 
 " tions they chofe to give themfelves, be- 
 *' caufe they refpedled the conftitutions of 
 ic other nations. We are sccuied of endea- 
 44 vouring to excite every people againfl 
 *' their governors j^thefe accufations are 
 *' unjuft if applied to the French gqvern- 
 *' ment, or to the nation at large ; but it 14 
 " too certain that individuals, that focietis 
 " have with that aim eftabliflied correfpon- 
 ft dencies in neighbouring countries." 
 
 He then went on to tell the affembly 
 .that when he fent complaints to foreign 
 powers, he was anfwered by the refolutions 
 of clubs, or the infolent paragraphs of jour- 
 andfafked what reliance could be 
 
 had
 
 ( '83 ) 
 
 had on the friendfhip of a government, 
 which had no means of puniming fuch 
 atrocious libels. If fuch complaints were 
 now uttered in the name of the directory, 
 they would be heard with refpect, but at 
 that period the journalifts were members of 
 the popular focieties, and thofe focieties 
 were the real governors of France ; they 
 prompted the legiflative body, and the exe- 
 cutive government was reduced to a mere 
 name. 
 
 Whilft the aflembly, the clubs, the jour- 
 nalifts, and the orators, were provoking 
 and infulting every foreign power, they 
 were as grofsly deficient in the fecond 
 * maxim, which we have obferved that all 
 * pacific governments ought to follow, not 
 to invite an enemy, by the appearance of 
 weaknefs and difunion. That fatal i9th 
 ef June which abolifhed nobility, and ad- 
 mitted Anacharfis's embafly, founded the 
 firft trumpet both of foreign and civil war. 
 Rabaud de St. Etienne, and other democrats, 
 were probably not in the wrong when they 
 faid, that the gentry were from that inftant 
 ripe for inftirrec'tion. But before their 
 
 enemies
 
 ( '89 ) 
 
 enemies judge the gentry too feverely, let 
 them read hiftory, and impartially con- 
 fider whether there ever was an attempt to 
 abolifh at once old prejudices, civil or re- 
 ligious, which did not fooner or later end 
 in * bloodfhed, and the weaker the oppreft 
 party feels at home, the fooner is it tempted 
 to call in the aid of foreign powers. Almofl 
 all the officers of the army were gentlemen, 
 and confcious fear of the gentry's refent- 
 ment, excited the leaders of the revolution 
 to connive at thofe frequent mutinies of the 
 foldiery, which gave ftatefmen a falfe idea 
 of the weaknefs of the French nation. The 
 officers had always been fuppofed to con- 
 jftittite the chief ftrength of its armies, and 
 it was an old political faying, " La fiairjre 
 " noblejfe fait le foutien de la France" 
 " The poor gentry are the fupport of France." 
 This maxim has proved falfe, but till ex- 
 perience belied it, we have no reafon to 
 
 * When the Spaniards conquered Grenada, philo- 
 fophers as well as bigots might have held, that it would 
 have been happier if the Mahometans could have 
 adopted the laws of the Chriftians. Ximenes drove 
 them to it by force, and we know the misfortunes that 
 followed. 
 
 be
 
 be furprifed that foreign powers thought 
 - it more than probable. 
 
 The difputes occafioned by the civil con- 
 ' ilitution of the clergy were ftill more im- 
 portant, and ftill more calculated to im- 
 prefs on the minds of foreigners a belief, 
 that great numbers of the people were 
 ready to promote a counter-revolution. 
 
 In the fpring of 1790, the aiTembly 
 had enraged the clergy, by taking away all 
 their eftates, and reducing them to be pen- 
 fioners upon an exhaufted public treafury. 
 In the autumn of that year it drove them 
 to complete defpair, by regulating all the 
 outward difcipline of the church in a man- 
 ner that Roman Catholics fay is unlawful, 
 without the concurrence of the clergy de- 
 liberating feparately, and the confent of 
 the Pope himfelf as fupreme head of the 
 church. The author of a very democratic 
 book, L'HiJtoire de la Revolution et de la 
 Conjiitution Francoife, whilft it vindicates 
 the juftice, condemns the impolicy of this 
 
 meafure; and fays, that the aiTembly was 
 
 j 
 turned
 
 turned from, its right path, by the influ- 
 ence of a committee for church affairs, over 
 which Camus prefided, and compofed of 
 lawyers, who, like their preiident, were 
 full of the maxims of the long-perfecuted 
 and almoft forgotten Janfenifr, party.* La 
 Harpe, in the Mercure de France^ con- 
 firms the fame account, and fays, " To 
 *' our fhame, it muft be owned there did 
 *' exift a party of Janfenifts in the confti- 
 " tuent affembly." A melancholy truth 
 is to be inferred from thefe confeiTions, the 
 danger of entrusting power to men who 
 have long been perfecuted; and I fear 
 that the behaviour of a great part of the 
 French Calvinifts during this revolution, 
 (beginning with Rabaud and Barnave) 
 teaches us ftrongly how ready the oppreffed 
 are to become opprellbrs. 
 
 Dumourier, in his Memoirs, exprefles 
 his furprize that the king was ever terrified 
 or feduced into giving his fanction to a de- 
 
 * The opinions of the Janfenifts bore fome refem- 
 blance to thofe of the methodifts. 
 
 t See vol. v. page 331. 
 
 crec
 
 crce fo contrary to his ftfid: catholic priri* 
 ciples ; but as it had been previoufly laid 
 down, that the king's fandion was not ef- 
 femially neceflary to the ads of the confti- 
 tuent aflembly, his refufal would have been 
 of little avail. 
 
 TheafTembly were not fatisfied with the 
 bare decree j they called upon all the priefls 
 to fwear the obfervation of the civil confti- 
 tution of the clergy, or to quit their bene- 
 fices. On the 4th of January, 1791, the 
 affembly called upon all the clergy who 
 were members of its body, to take this 
 oarh inftantly in their places. Almoft the 
 \vhole number exclaimed, that they would 
 not take a facrilegious oath, and refigned 
 immediately. The pride of following this 
 illuftrious example fpread through the 
 Gallican clergy, and a majority refigned: 
 but now arofe the greateft difficulty, they 
 infilled they had only refigned their tempo- 
 ral revenues or penfions, not their fpiritual 
 power, derived from the church. A vio- 
 lent fpirit of enmity was immediately kin- 
 dled, between the jurors and the non-ju- 
 rors, but efpecially between the non-jurors 
 
 and
 
 ( '93 ) 
 
 arid the intrus, or intruders > who were 
 placed in their vacant benefices. The de- 
 mocratic author before quoted is forced to 
 confefs, with vifible reluctance, that the 
 national aflembly had kindled a torch of 
 diicord which would hardly be extinguished 
 but in torrents of human blood.* Never 
 has a prophecy been more completely ve- 
 rified ! 
 
 The fame author -f- attributes the flight df 
 the king, in June, 1791, chiefly to the in- 
 finuations of the difcontented non-juring 
 priefts, who furrounded him. So many 
 villages in the diilant provinces had re- 
 fufed to receive the new conftitutional 
 priefts, that it was very natural for the 
 king to fuppofe, that if he could efcape 
 from Paris, where he was continually in- 
 fulted and endangered, he mould find the 
 reft of the nation attached alike to his per- 
 fon and to their old paftors. He would, 
 perhaps, have found himfelf miftaken ; 
 but as he \vas almoft immediately flopped 
 
 * Vol. v. page 332. 
 
 t In the 6th volume. See alfo the yth, chap. ii. 
 
 O at
 
 ( 194 ) 
 at Varennes, it muft ever remain doubtful 
 
 jt 
 
 what his intentions really were, or what 
 effect would have been produced, had he 
 actually reached the fortrefs of Montmcdi, 
 under the protection of M. de Bouille. 
 The genuine republican party now began 
 to fliew themfelves, and to talk of depoiing; 
 and trying the king ; the conftitutional 
 party, however, had flilf the majority in 
 the aiTembly, and to fecure their own 
 power, were difpofed to a reconciliation. 
 The mob of Paris once more attempted an 
 mfurredtion, but were fired at and dif- 
 perfed by La Fayette and his national 
 guards, acting under the orders of Bailly,. 
 mayor of Paris. The Jacobins were hum- 
 bled for a moment ; the conftitutionalifts 
 feparated from them, and fet up a new- 
 club, under the name of the Feuillans > 
 theconflitution was revifed, but the altera- 
 tions were not important enough to fatisfy 
 any of its opponents ; the king accepted 
 it, becaufe he had no other choice, and 
 the constituent aflembly dillolved itfelf on 
 the 3oth of September, 1791, after uniting 
 Avignon to France r and thus letting the pre- 
 cedent to its fucceiTors of making thofe ter- 
 ritorial
 
 ( * 95 ) 
 
 ritorial acquisitions which it had once af- 
 fected to difown. The Feuillant party af- 
 fured all Europe that France was united, 
 contented, and happy; the Englifh clubs in 
 the French intereft repeated it to the Englifh 
 nation, whilft the Jacobins and the Or- 
 leans party were fecretly preparing for new 
 revolutions. 
 
 At that period, when the fate of the 
 king and queen hung in uncertain fufpenfe, 
 the convention of Pilnitz was figned, the 
 firft open interference that foreign powers 
 had attempted during the courfe of the re- 
 volution; The Prince of Conde had, in- 
 deed, collected a number of emigrants at 
 Coblentz; the neighbouring German princes 
 vvere more and more difcontented, efpecially 
 the ecclefiaftics, who by the civil conilitu-' 
 tion of the clergy were deprived of their 
 fpiritual power over thofe German territo- 
 ries conquered by Lewis the Fourteenth; 
 the gentry and clergy of Alface, degraded 
 and defpoiled, were fufpected of wifhing 
 for their old mailers, the Germans, and did 
 actually complain of their wrongs to the 
 diet: the Emperor Leopold, as head of 
 O I the
 
 ( '96 ) 
 
 the empire, had remonftrated agalnfr. the va- 
 rious breaches of the treaty of Weftphalia, 
 but in his own perfonal character he had hi- 
 therto been filent. A report has ilnce been 
 fpread of a treaty figned at Pavia, for the dif- 
 memberment of France in the fpring of 
 1791, but it appears to be no more than a 
 political lie of BrifTot and his party. 
 
 In the month of July, Leopold, alarmed 
 at the captivity of his neareft relations, 
 and at the clubs affiliated with the Jaco- 
 bins which were forming every where in 
 Germany, negotiated a treaty of alliance 
 with the King of PrufTia, and in the 
 month of Auguft fet his name to the fol- 
 lowing declaration: 
 
 " The Emperor and the King of Pruf- 
 " fia, having heard the defires and repre- 
 '* fentations of Monfieur and the Count 
 " d'Artois, jointly declare, that they con- 
 " fider the actual (ituation of the King of 
 " France as an object of common intcreft 
 tc to all the fovereigns of Europe. They 
 " hope that this intereft' will be acknow- 
 *' ledged by the powers whofe fuccour is 
 
 4< im-
 
 ( '97 ) 
 
 ** implored, and that in confequence, 
 " they will not refufe to employ, jointly 
 " with their majefties, the moft efficacious 
 <c means to put the King of France in a 
 " ftate to ftrengthen (in the moft perfect 
 " freedom) the ban's of a monarchical go- 
 " vernment, equally favourable to the 
 " rights of fovereigns, and the well-being 
 " of the French. Then, and in that cafe, 
 " their aforefaid majefties are determined to 
 41 act quickly, and in common accord, 
 *' with a force adequate to obtain the 
 " propofed end. In the mean time, they 
 4< will give their troops the neceffary or- 
 " .ders that they may be ready to act. 
 
 That the reader may be enabled to judge 
 whether this interference of the Emperor 
 was as culpable as republicans affert, we 
 need only go back to Mr. Fox's fpeech, at 
 the opening of that feflion which followed 
 the reftoration of the Prince of Orange. 
 He then magnanimoujly laid afide the conti- 
 deration of juftice, and aflerted, that when 
 two parties divided a ftate, a foreign power 
 might lawfully interfere to fupport the 
 O 3 party
 
 party that was friendly, and oppofe the 
 party hoftile to its interefr.. Such was 
 at that time the (ituation of Leopold. 
 There was all imaginable reafon to believe 
 that the violent revolutionists meant to' 
 quarrel with Auftria as foon as they were 
 in the full poiTeiTion of power. The aver- 
 fion diffufed through all the people of 
 France againft the queen, the brutal ex- 
 preflion of Mirabeau, that me was an hof- 
 fage, in cafe of a German war, the incei- 
 fant complaints of the mifchief done to 
 French affairs by the influence of Aiiftria, 
 the falfe reports that Maria Antonia had 
 fent money to her brother, and negotiated 
 to reftore him Lorrain thefe circumftances 
 had the weight of prefumptive proofs in 
 favour of fuch a belief. Her life had 
 been aimed at on the 6th of October, 
 1789, from the perfonal enmity of the 
 Duke of Orleans; her life now feemed 
 in danger from many united caufes; an4 
 could a brother leave his fifler to perifh, 
 even if her conduct had been fomewhat 
 faulty? It may befolemnly and rigoroufly 
 pronounced, that the governor of a great 
 nation Ihould only think of the national 
 
 in?
 
 ( '99 ) 
 
 interefl, but the common feelings of man- 
 kind revolt again!} too ftrict an application 
 of this maxim; and I believe a ruler has 
 fcarcely ever been refpefted by his fubjects, 
 allies, or neighbours, who has abandoned 
 his family in diftrefs. Such conduct has 
 ufually been attributed to pusillanimity, 
 and the vulgar fay Will that man care for 
 our wrongs, who cares not for the wrongs 
 of his own blood? It particularly behoved 
 Leopold to guard againft the imputation of 
 cowardice, becaufe he had juft concluded 
 a peace with Turkey, which his fubjects 
 defired before it was made, and were after- 
 ward much inclined to cenfure, as difho- 
 riourable. 
 
 There is no poffibility of withholding the 
 melancholy confeilion, that every fbp 
 taken to fcrve the unhappy royal family of 
 France has, in the end, accelerated their 
 deftruclion: but an impartial judge mould 
 tranipoit himfclf back to the moment 
 when the mil leading ilep was taken; and 
 there can be no doubt that the threatened 
 league between Auftria, Pruflia, Ruffia, 
 and Sweden, contributed to make the con- 
 O 4 itituent
 
 ( 300 ) 
 
 ftituent affembly proffer a reconciliation to 
 the king. As foon as the conftitution was 
 finally accepted, Leopold altered his tone, 
 and on the 22d of September,* the gazette 
 printed at Bruflels by authority, inferted, 
 6 That a concurrence of circumftances re- 
 " lative to the declaration of Pilnitz, might 
 ** make it be coniidered comme non a e ve?iue, 
 '* i. e. as if it had never happened." 
 
 There is great reafon to believe, that if 
 France had really (according to the vaunt- 
 ing words of Dr. Prieftly) been in a 
 moft glorious flate of freedom and hap- 
 pinefs, Leopold would never have liftened to 
 the exiled French princes. But the confti- 
 tution was too ill put together to fucceed. 
 The executive power had juft authority 
 enough to delay buiinefs, but was too much 
 hampered to be able to difpatch it. It was 
 entrufled to a man, who in his own perfon, 
 or in that of his deareft connexions, had 
 been fo cruelly and infultingly treated, 
 that the authors of his wrongs thought he 
 
 * See Mercure Hiftorique, attache au Mercure de 
 France, Vol. de Sept et Oct.. page 155. 
 
 never.
 
 ( 301 ) 
 
 never could forgive, and therefore were 
 themfelves implacable. He was fworn to 
 obey a conftitution he was known to dif- 
 like ; and to prepare him for that oath, he 
 was compelled to break his original corona- 
 tion oath in various inftances, and in none 
 more flagrantly, than in thofe articles that 
 relate to the church and its canonical privi- 
 leges, which all his priefts told him were 
 violated by the civil conftitution of the 
 clergy.* He, therefore, made a private 
 refolution never to fanction any act which 
 inflicted penalties on the non-juring priefts, 
 and this refolution was the immediate, at 
 leaft the oftenfible caufe of his ruin. A 
 wife commonwealth mould be careful how 
 they force their executive magiftrate to exe- 
 cute laws abhorrent to his principles. -f- It 
 
 * The king had alfo fworn at his coronation to pro- 
 t.et the orders of knighthood, which he was now 
 obliged to abolifli. 
 
 t I will not fcruple to fay, that when the Englifh 
 Parliament refufed to exclude James, Duke of York, 
 they laid themfelves under a tacit obligation to revoke 
 the penal laws againft popery. The teft was a very 
 different confideration : it was a meafurc of precaution, 
 pot of punifhment.
 
 ( ^oz ). 
 
 is moft probable that the French conftitu- 
 tion, being as faulty as the conftitution 
 adopted by the Swedes after the death of 
 Charles XII. would like that have ended 
 either in defpotifm or democracy in fome 
 given term of years. But I mail always think 
 the civil conftitution of the clergy was the 
 caufe that this object of extravagant pane- 
 gyric did not live an year to an end.* This 
 obfervation leads us to a ftill more important 
 reflection by way of general moral : the 
 imprudence of fufferin-g one tingle aflem- 
 bly to new-model a whole empire, with- 
 out referving a fingle power in the ilate 
 that may fo much as oblige them to re- 
 coniider their laws, or take time to meditate 
 on the greater or lefs danger of the meafures 
 they uie to enforce them. 
 
 The firft and laft legislative aflembly 
 of the fhort-lived conflitutional monarchy 
 began its. feffions on the lit of October, 
 1791. Its earlieft actions betrayed its jea- 
 
 * Barruel in his Hiftoire du Clerge Francois re- 
 ports that Mirabeau faid to Camus, " Your conftitiu 
 *' tion of the clergy will be the ruin of our own con- 
 dilution," 
 
 loufy
 
 loufy of the king, its hatred of non-juring' 
 pr-iefts, its incrcafing feverity againil the 
 iacrcafing emigrations of gentlemen, of 
 naval and of military officers, who left the 
 kingdom, protefting that the infolence of 
 the clubs, and the mutinies of foldiers and 
 Jailors, put them in. conftant danger of their 
 lives, and gave them a right (as well as 
 other men) to refill their oppreffors. But 
 above all, a diftruil of the houle of Auftria 
 poflefled the minds of revolutionifts, which 
 might have led only to prudent precautions, 
 if the leaders of the aflembly had been of 
 that moderate pacific clafs, which our en- 
 thufiafts fancied would take the upper hand 
 in a government founded on the principles 
 of equal reprefentation. Inftead of this, 
 the aflembly permitted a party called the 
 Girondins, with Briflbt at its head, to go- 
 vern their debates, and Briflbt has pub- 
 Jickly boafted that it was his deliberate 
 purpofe to kindle war. The paragraph I 
 am going to tranflate is taken from an ad- 
 .drefs of Briflbt to all the republicans of 
 France on the conduct of the Jacobin fo- 
 ciety, who had juft expelled him. It is 
 flated on the 24th of October, in the inter-* 
 
 val
 
 val of the retreat of the Duke of Brunfwic 
 and the victories of Dumourier in Flan- 
 ders.* 
 
 " I am accufed of having provoked a 
 *' war. And yet without the war royalty 
 " would ftill fubfift ! Without the 
 " war, we fhould be covered with igno- 
 " miny ! Without the war, a thoufand 
 " talents, a thoufand virtues would not 
 * ' have been developed ! Without this 
 " war, Savoy, and fo many other countries 
 " whofe chains are going to fall, would 
 " not have had their liberty. They feared 
 "a war made by a king; mort-fighted 
 " politicians ! It was precifely becaufe this 
 *' perjured king was to direft the war, 
 " Ipecaufe he could not direct it otherwife 
 " than as a traitor, becaufe this treachery 
 4 * alone would lead him to his ruin; it 
 " was, for this very reafon, neceilary to 
 " chufe a war carried on by a king." 
 
 Along with this paffage goes the following 
 note. 
 
 * See pages 171 and 172 of a collection of Briflbt's 
 pamphlets, reprinted in London 1794. 
 
 "it
 
 <c It was the abolition of royalty J had in 
 '* view in caufing war to be declared (en 
 " faifant declarer la guerre.) Enlightened 
 " men underflood me on the 3Oth of De- 
 " cember, 1/91, when anfwering Robe- 
 " fpierre, who was always talking of 
 < treachery to be feared, I faid to him, 
 " I have but one fear^ 'tis that we Jhall 
 " not be betrayed. We fland in need of 
 " treachery, our falvation is there, for 
 " there yet exifts ftrong dofes of poifon in 
 " the bofom of France, and there muft be 
 " ftrong explofions to expel it. Great 
 " treacheries will only be fatal to the traitors; 
 " they will be ufeful to the people, they 
 *' will caufe to difappear all that yet op- 
 * e pofes itfelf to the grandeur of the French 
 ** nation.'* He then adds as an explana- 
 tory parenthefis, *' Royalty." The French 
 words run thus. <{ Exiles feront difparoitrc 
 *' ce qui s*oppofe a la grandeur de la nation 
 " Franfoife, (La royaut'e)." 
 
 If it was poflible to fuppofe Anacharfis 
 Cloot's univerfal republic to be afTembled in 
 full convention, to bring to their trial thofe 
 crowned ruffians (as even Englifh writers 
 
 have
 
 ( 206 ) 
 
 have dared to call the princes of Europe} 
 who have ventured to defend themfelves 
 againft France, they would need no other 
 defence, than to read in open court this 
 vaunting confeffion of their bittereft enemy, 
 
 I will not weaken this paflage by decla-* 
 rnation. It fhould be left to the filent fludy 
 of thofe preachers, poets, and novel-writers, 
 who fo fondly imagined, that republicans 
 were averfe to drag foldiers from their 
 families to expire in agonies on a field of 
 battle. I will only defire my reader to 
 look back to what I have faid on the death 
 of Lewis XIV. His laft expiring worcjs 
 were, *' y*ai trop aim'e la guerre, nc 
 " m*imitez point en ccla. I have been too 
 "fond of 'war . *Boy ! -do not imitate me!'* 
 Thus fpake the king, but the republic 
 can BriiTot died proudly impenitent. 
 
 With the help of the key furnimed by 
 the great leader of the Girondist* party 
 himfelf, we may the better imderfbmi 
 
 * So named from the department of the Gironde,' 
 formerly called Gafcony. 
 
 i thofe
 
 20 7 
 
 thofe meafufes which at the time might ap- 
 pear dictated by temporary enthufiafm. 
 BriiTot began as early as the 22d of October 
 to pour out the moil violent invectives again ft 
 the emigrants, and every prince who fliel- 
 tered them ; and every fpeech fpoken by 
 himfelf or by his partizans, rofe upon eacii 
 other in ferocity and infolence towards 
 every foreign ftate, whatever was its confti- 
 tution. 
 
 * 
 
 " *This government of Venice, which 
 * c is a mere farce its Admiral Emo has 
 " outraged the national flag. Geneva, 
 " that atom of a republic its disgraceful 
 " ariftocracy hates our conftitution." 
 Such was BrifTot's language towards re- 
 publics ; it may eaiily be imagined what it 
 was towards kings. The circle in which 
 Popilius inclofed the King of Egypt till he 
 had anfwered the Roman demands, was a 
 favourite metaphor with him and his 
 friends, to rcprefent the peremptory fum- 
 mons that France ought to fend to all the 
 German princes who difpleafed them; it 
 
 * Merc. Politique, Vol. de Sept. et Oft. pages 
 318 and 323. 
 
 need
 
 ( 208 ) 
 
 need not be obferved how likely fuch a me- 
 taphor was to make France fufpe&ed of 
 the fame encroaching ambition as ancient 
 Rome. 
 
 On the 29th of November,* M. Ifnard 
 began to unveil their future plans for the 
 condtid: of a war, beginning indeed with 
 profeffing that they meant to refpecl: all 
 constitutions : but that if the cabinets of 
 kings raifed a war againft France, they 
 would raife a war of the people againfl 
 kings. He was ready, he faid, to declare 
 war againft all Europe ; he would give to 
 the nation, " not that tranfient and facliiti- 
 * c ous tranquillity which was but an inter- 
 ct val between the acls of the drama of the 
 " revolution, but that folid tranquillity 
 " which can only begin when events 
 " are brought to a conclufion." After 
 reading the quotation from BriiTot's pam- 
 phlet, it is eafy to fee that the fpeaker 
 meant, France would never be tranquil till 
 it was a republic. He proceeded to ailert, 
 '* That from the moment when the ene- 
 
 * Merc. Pol. Vol. de Nov. et Dec. page 98.
 
 ( 209 ) 
 
 ** mies* armies would ftruggle with thofe 
 " of the French, the light of philofophy 
 " would ftrike their eyes, nations would 
 " embrace each other before the face of 
 44 dethroned tyrants, earth would be com- 
 ** forted, and heaven appeafed." 
 
 This pindaric ode was followed by a de- 
 cree, rational enough in itfelf, but render- 
 ed odious by the wild doctrines that pre- 
 ceded it, and the more fo, as no moderate 
 fpeaker arofe in the aflembly to remon- 
 ftrate on the danger of fuch hyperbolical 
 conceits. This decree requested the king 
 to infift that the electors of Treves, 
 Mentz, &c. mould no longer tolerate the 
 French emigrants aflembling in arms on the 
 frontiers. By the end of December the af- 
 fembly were informed that the elector had 
 forbid thefe emigrants to buy arms or 
 horfes, or perform any military exercifes, 
 and the emperor had fome time before, 
 given fimilar orders in the Netherlands : 
 but as they were not entirely banimed from- 
 thefe countries, the diiTatisfaction ftill con- 
 tinued at Paris, and was even increafed by a 
 refcript addrefled by Leopold in his impe- 
 P rial
 
 rial capacity to the King of France,* com- 
 plaining once more of the violations of the 
 treaty of Weftphalia, and the conventions 
 ftipulated with the empire fince 1648. The 
 following paragraph may fuffice as a fpeci- 
 men of the arguments of the difpoflefTed 
 princes. 
 
 " Therein (in thefe conventions) are 
 " clearly enumerated all the domains fuc- 
 *' ceflively yielded to your crown by the 
 *' confent of the emperor, and other orders 
 " of the empire. From thence it follows, 
 " that the other pofTeflions of the German 
 " body not thus infcribed amongft the do- 
 " mains, which owe allegiance to your 
 " crown, preferve the relation they had to 
 
 * It has been faid by the friends of France, that it 
 was ready to pay indemnities to the German princes. 
 But the emperor always infifted that the unity of the 
 empire demanded that no portion of its domains mould 
 be yielded without the confent of the diet. We may 
 obferve in general, how proud France has ever been of 
 its own unity, and how ready to encourage the Ger- 
 man princes to break off from their common center, 
 in order to fubdue them feparately. 
 
 " the
 
 ( an ) 
 
 " the empire, and are not obliged to fub- 
 " mit to the decrees of your kingdom." 
 
 About this time fome paragraphs appear- 
 ed in foreign gazettes, renewing the com- 
 parifon of the afTembly's decrees with 
 Lewis the Fourteenth's chambers of re- 
 union, and reminding the Germans, that 
 an alliance between Auftria and Branden- 
 burg had the effect in thelaft age in the firft 
 inftance to check the attempts of Lewis on 
 the independence of Germany. 
 
 Whether alarmed at thefe demonftrations 
 of difcontent, or flattered with the terror 
 that had ftruck the Elector of Treves, the 
 Jacobin and Girondin party united, inr 
 creafed in violence, and were refolved to 
 drive all foreign princes into war, by driving 
 them to defpair. About the middle of 
 January, 1792, fyL Koch propofed a de- 
 cree to requeft the king to demand of the 
 emperor to engage that he would not un- 
 dertake any thing againft the French na- 
 tion, its conftitution, and its full and en- 
 tire independence in the regulation of its 
 government, and if Leopold refufed an 
 P * anfwf r
 
 anfwer in a fhort given time, to declare 
 war. BrifTot made one of his moft violent 
 fpeeches to fupport this motion, confefling 
 all the while, that Leopold, whether from 
 policy or repentance, did not feem to wifh. 
 for war ; but telling the afTembly that he 
 was certainly their enemy, and that every 
 king muft hate their conftitution. He 
 blamed the treaty of 1756, and mentioned 
 the other powers of Europe, in a tone of 
 contempt, which fhewed his dependence on 
 internal feditions. 
 
 " Brabant,* when free, will unite itfelf 
 " to France -, in Holland the Stadtholder 
 " is all y and that all is nothing. England 
 " can only flrike France at a diftance, and 
 " the co'urfe of things will foon take away 
 " its means of fo doing ; the Englifh peo- 
 " pie make vows for our fuccejfes which one 
 " day 'will be their own."']' 
 
 M. Verg- 
 
 * Merc. Politiquie, Volume de Janvier et Fevrier. 
 
 t Briflbt's intimate friends, Roland, Claviere, 
 Servan, figned, without fcruple, as far as appears, 
 a very tyrannical fet of inftru&ions to the commifla- 
 faries fent to Brabant in purfuance of the decree of 
 
 the
 
 M. Vergniaud was equally full of extra- 
 vagant oratory, and faid that the rupture of 
 the treaty of 1756, was as necelTary to Eu- 
 rope as the taking of the Baftille to France. 
 M. Fauchet, a famous bifhop of the new 
 conftitutional church, told them tnat all 
 treaties made with defpots were null of 
 themfelves, and was for leaving off the 
 cuftom of fending ambafTadors to nego- 
 tiate, or confuls for commercial affairs; 
 the French, if they pleafed, might trade 
 with peaceable ilaves as they traded with 
 favages. 
 
 M. Ifnard laid down a plan for carrying 
 liberty into Belgia, and thought they had a 
 right to fix what number of troops Leopold 
 might keep in Flanders. 
 
 The king refufed to fix a term for the 
 emperor's anfwer, but fent M. de Mar- 
 bois to affift M. de Noailles at Vienna, and 
 complain of Leopold's hoftile intentions. 
 
 the i5th of December, founded on thofe principles of 
 French fuperiority, which BriflTot cenfured four 
 months after in his Addrefs to his Condiments, 
 
 Pj The
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 The difpatches of M. de LefTart, and the 
 anfvver of the Prince of Kaunitz, were read 
 to the aflembly on the sSth of February. 
 This anfwer was long, voluminous, and 
 bore many fufpicious marks of having 
 been penned by fome French hand : but 
 it certainly bore no appearance of any dif- 
 pofition to difturb the confutation then efta- 
 blifhed in France ; admitting, however, 
 Leopold's intention to defend the liberty of 
 the King of France, and oppofe the in- 
 fluence and violence of the republican 
 party " Condemned," fays the letter, 
 " by the principles of the new conftitution, 
 *' profcribed by the conftituent aftembly, 
 " but whofe afcendant over the prefent le- 
 " giflature is feen with terror by thofe who 
 " have the falvation of France fincerely at 
 " their hearts." It accufed the fame party 
 of fomenting a new fcheme of revolt in 
 Flanders,* declaring at the fame time, that 
 Leopold would infift on the emigrants 
 keeping quiet, and that he had ever advifed 
 
 * This accufation is rendered very probable by a 
 remnrkable letter from the club of Maubeuge to the 
 patriots of Flanders in the preceding September. 
 
 them
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 them not to difturb the public tranquillity. 
 The Jacobins, with Briflbt at their head, 
 were enraged at this difpatch, which they 
 fuppofed had been dictated to Prince Kau- 
 nitz by M. Leflart himfelf, (who be- 
 longed to the Feuillant party.) They re- 
 ceived it with fury, and on the loth of 
 March, M. BriiTot made a thundering 
 fpeech againft the emperor and the mi- 
 niftry, and impeached Leflart upon nine 
 or ten general articles of accufation, fuch 
 as having meanly afked for peace, and 
 tedioufly prolonged the negotiations. His 
 fpeech was very artfully directed to ex- 
 cite that natural indignation which all bo- 
 dies of men feel when ftrangers interfere 
 with their domeftic concerns, and under 
 the veil of that fentiment to introduce hints 
 of his intended republic, by exclaiming, 
 " All power comes from the people; the 
 " people have a right to change their con- 
 " ftitution, and need not wait for any man's 
 *' confent."* A curious paffage in his 
 fpeech defer ves our attention. With all the 
 infolence of affected fimplicity, he pitied 
 
 * Merc. Politique de Fevrier et Mars, page 196. 
 
 P 4 Leo.
 
 Leopold for his blindnefs in not perceiving 
 the advantages of clubs. " He mould 
 '* lilently prepare the Germans for the hap- 
 " pinefs of being members of clubs, and 
 " thus ftrengthen his throne under the fha- 
 " dow of our fublime revolution. To de- 
 " ftroy jacobin clubs would be to ferve 
 " tyrants, and deftroy the rights of the 
 ' people." 
 
 The man who uttered this fulfome pa- 
 negyric,' was ruined in a twelvemonth by 
 the very clubs that hepraifed, and the firft 
 ftep of his difciples on their return to 
 power has been to abolifh them. 
 
 The impeachment of M. de Leflart was 
 voted with the few difTentient voices of fome 
 members, who wifhed for a longer delay to 
 procure more convincing proofs of his guilt, 
 and whofe opinions were received with mani- 
 feft difapprobation. The unfortunate LefTart 
 was fent off the very next day a prifoner to 
 Orleans, there to be tried by the high court 
 of juftice, and fell a vidtim, in the begin- 
 ning of September, to the ruffians employ- 
 ed to difpatch all the obnoxious prifoners. 
 
 He
 
 ai 7 
 
 He wrote to his old friend, M. Neckar, 
 that whenever he was brought to trial, 
 he fhould \clearly prove that the French 
 had forced on the war, and that all the fo- 
 reign powers wiihed for peace. What 
 proofs he would have given, I know not; 
 but it is perfectly clear that the murdered 
 can tell no tales. 
 
 All the miniftry attached to the 
 tution were obliged to refign, the king was 
 forced to chufe his minifters amongft his 
 enemies, the Jacobins, and Roland, Cla- 
 viere, Dumourier, were then fir ft brought 
 into power. The people of Paris exprefled 
 the utmoft rage againft Leopold ; they car- 
 ried an effigy reprefcnting his head ftuck 
 upon a pike under the very windows of his 
 iifter the queen ; the gentler printfellers 
 only endeavoured to make him contempti- 
 ble, and reprefented him dreiled as a Feuil- 
 lant, under the title of Superior General of 
 the Reverend Fathers of the Feuillant 
 Club. In the midft of this ftrange dif- 
 graceful hurly-burly , the news unexpected- 
 ly arrived that Leopold had died at Vienna 
 en the ift of March, after three days ill- 
 
 nefs,
 
 nefs, accompanied with violent vomitings I 
 How many princes have been fuppofed to 
 be poifoned, whofe difeafes were lefs fuf- 
 picious, and in a lefs important crifis of 
 affairs, BrifTot had refolvecl on a war, 
 and on the diiTolution of the constitutional 
 monarchy. Leopold wifhed to avoid a 
 war, as long as the King of France retain- 
 ed the degree of power allowed by the con- 
 ititution. The fucceffion of Auftria now 
 fell to his eldeft fon Francis, educated 
 amongft armies by his uncle Jofeph, and 
 reckoned more warlike than his father, 
 who would probably be told by ambiti- 
 ous counfellors that he ought to revenge 
 the infults offered to his father's fitter, 
 perhaps his father's death at lead the 
 favage joy expreffed by the people of Paris 
 on hearing of that fatal event. It has been 
 faid the late King of France believed his 
 father to have been poifoned by Choifeul ; 
 it was certainly much lefs improbable that 
 Leopold mould be poifoned by jacobins, 
 although I do not mean to affert that there 
 was any folid ground for fuch fufpicions. 
 I muft v alfo obferve, that although Leo- 
 pold appears to have fmcerely intended 
 3 peace
 
 peace with France, I do not applaud the 
 decilive part taken in Prince Kaunitz's de- 
 claration againft the republican party. A 
 great empire like France was more likely 
 to be incenfed againft monarchy when re- 
 commended to them by a foreign nation, 
 and a nation fo odious as the Auftrians. 
 But on the other hand it muft be considered, 
 that the abfolute declaration demanded by 
 BriiTot, of the entire independence of France 
 in altering her government, might have 
 been ufed by him as an incentive to induce 
 the republican party to deftroy the king 
 without any apprehenfion of foreign ene- 
 mies. It muft be coniidereJ that the 
 fpeeches of the party who prevailed in the 
 convention, all proved that their future means 
 of defence againft foreign wars, would be 
 debauching foldiers, and ftirring up infur- 
 re&ions j and the open threats of party 
 amounted to this : let kings and fenates 
 fubmit to every wrong, every affront that 
 France may choofe to heap upon them, or 
 they mail no longer be fuffered to govern. 
 Some leffer acts of the afTembly muft alfo 
 be added as tending to the fame end. 
 
 On
 
 ( 220 ) 
 
 On the i gth of January, fix refugee 
 Dutchmen were admitted to the bar, un- 
 der the aufpices of M. d'Averhoult, ano- 
 ther refugee, elected member of the affem- 
 bly. They complained of the ariftocracy 
 of their own country, of the Stadtholder, 
 of the King of Pruffia, and were told by the 
 prefident that they fhould conflantly be held 
 as the allies of the French nations. Here 
 was the national affembly encouraging emi- 
 grants, at the very time that it was fo incenfed 
 againft foreign powers on lefs ftrong demon- 
 Itrations of kindnefs to their own malcon- 
 tents ; emigrants from a government which 
 was not as yet accufed of fuffering French 
 gentlemen to aflemble in arms, and emi- 
 grants,- who for various reafons, were likely 
 to occafion jealoufy to England as well as the 
 Stadtholder. On other days, a deputation 
 was admitted from fome emigrant Liegeois; 
 a bookfeller came to the bar and boafted 
 that he had printed the declaration of rights 
 of man in different languages and difperfed 
 it in divers foreign countries. Complaints 
 were favourably received by the affembly 
 againft the King of Sardinia, for having 
 arrefled fome Frenchmen who preached in- 
 furred ion
 
 furrecliion to the Savoyards. In fhort, I 
 muft again repeat that numberlefs prefump- 
 tive proofs were given to the world that 
 France intended to make itfelf the general 
 court of appeal for all the grievances of 
 Europe; thus following the very plan, 
 which in ancient times enabled Rome to 
 deftroy the independency of half mankind.* 
 
 The new miniftry of France having fet 
 out with the moft bluftering profefiions, 
 and the temper of Francis not being deemed 
 very pacific, men of reflection now began 
 to think that war would not be long de- 
 layed. Leopold had evidently wifhed by 
 Prince Kaunitz's letter to court the Feuil- 
 lant or constitutional party, whofe unpopu- 
 larity were fo greatly increafed on that ac- 
 count, that they held it neceffary to prove 
 their innocence by promoting inftead of 
 retarding a war. It therefore became pro- 
 bable, that Francis would apply to the 
 royalift party, and that the emigrants 
 would at lafl find friends to affert their 
 
 * Dumourier confefles he had been fent into Bra- 
 bant to make obfervations during their firft revolt. 
 
 caufe.
 
 ( 223 ) 
 
 caufe. Yet fo late as the 5th of April, 
 Count Cobentzel continued to affure the 
 French ambaiTador that the King of Hun- 
 gary had no intention to meddle with their 
 interior affairs, or to fupport the emigrants. 
 M. de Noailles had orders to infifl on the 
 king's renouncing all armaments and all 
 coalition with Pruffia or other princes, and 
 to keep no more troops on his Belgic fron- 
 tiers than were kept on their frontiers by 
 the French. This condition, which feems 
 impartial at firft fight, is not fo in reality ; 
 becaufe France could overrun Flanders 
 with national guards, before a {Ingle regi- 
 ment could fet out from Vienna, and come 
 even within fight of Lifle or Valenciennes, 
 confequently the court of Vienna had a 
 claim to keep up the larger proportion of 
 troops. The Auftrian minifter anfwered, 
 that the coalition mutt continue till three 
 points were arranged The fatisfattion due 
 to the difpofleffed German princes fa tis fac- 
 tion to the pope for the feizure of Avignon, 
 and the adoption of the meafures neceffary 
 to put the French government in pofTef- 
 lion of fufficient ftrength for repreffing 
 whatever could give caufe of uneafi- 
 
 nefs
 
 nefs to other ftates the meafures were 
 left to the choice of the French provided 
 they were efficacious. This laft article was 
 doubtlefs connected with the jealoufy oc- 
 cafioned by the principles profeffed at the 
 time of the re-union of Avignon ; and it is 
 difficult to condemn that jealoufy without 
 condemning all that Whig and Tory 
 writers, Burnet, and Bolingbroke, and 
 Hume, have unanimoufly faid, in cenfure 
 of the powers of Europe who neglected to 
 check the ambition of Lewis the Four- 
 teenth, when it firft difplayed itfelf on the 
 death of Philip the Fourth. The clubs 
 had already correfponded with the patriots 
 of Flanders, had told them that French- 
 men *' embraced the whole world in their 
 ** circle of philanthropy," and had in- 
 veighed againft the unfortunate Leffart for 
 reprimanding them. Francis might with 
 reafon expect that an infurrection at Namur 
 or Tournay would have the fame confe- 
 quences as the infurrection at Avignon, 
 and all men of property might juftly fear 
 that it would be attended with the fame 
 maffacres, efpecially when in the courfe of 
 of the fpring the jacobin party had induced 
 
 the
 
 the afTcmbly to pardon Jourdan and his 
 bloody allbciates. 
 
 Of all the minifters whom Lewis had 
 been compelled to admit into his councils, 
 Dumourier was the ableft at court-intrigue, 
 and highly confident of his own talents to 
 con duel: a war. He profelTes in his me- 
 moires that he intended to preferve the con- 
 flitutional monarchy, and circumftances 
 render it not improbable. The majority of 
 Frenchmen, he fays, defired a war with 
 Auftria, fome to get rid of the fuppofed 
 influence of that court over the councils of 
 Verfailles, and others thinking that all 
 parties would be united againft a foreign 
 enemy. He might therefore intend to make 
 the king popular (but moft of all himfelf ) 
 by the old allurement of conquer! in Flan- 
 ders, and he did not perceive that the new 
 conflitution of France was well fitted to 
 raife tumults in every country, but not fo 
 well fitted to carry on a regular war. On 
 the 1 8th of April he read in the king's 
 council a violent report againft the conduct 
 of the court of Vienna ; a report calculated 
 to inflame that national hatred which had 
 
 fubfifted
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 fubfifted for ages between France and 
 Auftria, which the treaty of 1 756 had 
 fmothered for a while, but not extinguished. 
 
 That treaty is reprobated in the very 
 terms which the D'Aiguillon faction had 
 ufed to vilify the Due de Choifeul, and 
 France is reprefented (without proving one 
 fingle fact) as having been lor years en- 
 ilaved to the houfe of Auftria. It is faid, 
 that from the very beginning of the Revo- 
 lution, and prior to the acceffion of Leo- 
 pold, Auftria had fworn the deflruction of 
 the French conftitution, becaufe France 
 would no longer be its fervile inftrument. 
 Yet at that very time, the letters of the 
 Emperor Jofeph were public, which 
 ftri&ly charge his favourite General D 'Al- 
 ton to fend away roughly (renvoyer verfe- 
 ment) any malcontent Frenchman who 
 would draw him into confpiracies againfl 
 the Revolution ; he wrote thefe commands 
 after his fitter's life had been attacked, and 
 within three months only of his own death. 
 We fee, therefore, that Dumourier did not 
 fcruple to employ calumny againgft the 
 houfe of Auftria; and yet in this envenomed 
 Q_ attack,
 
 ( 
 
 attack, he makes no mention of the prc^ 
 tended treaty of Pavia (which, if real, he 
 muft at leaft have fufpected) nor of that 
 declaration he has fince imputed to the 
 Auftrian minifters ; that they infifted on 
 the French conftitution being regulated by 
 the king's rejected declaration of June 1789. 
 
 The unhappy king reluctantly agreed 
 to this report; urged (it has been fup- 
 pofed) by the fear that his queen would 
 be impeached. On the aoth of April 
 he came to the afTembly accompanied by 
 his minifters, and with evident emotion, 
 and a trembling voice, propofed an imme- 
 diate declaration of war. The aflembly 
 deliberated that very evening on this mo- 
 mentous queftion; one moderate man alone, 
 a M. Becquey (who had alfo wifhed to defer 
 the impeachment of LeiTart) told them 
 that the intervention of England was to be 
 feared, fince England considered the Nether- 
 lands as its own barrier, purchafed by its 
 treafures and its blood.* Thus the afiem- 
 bly was warned of what has fince hap- 
 
 * Merc. Pol. Vol. de Mars et Avri!. Page 249. 
 
 pened>
 
 pened, and repaid the warning by a fcorn- 
 ful interruption. Two or three other 
 cautious men were not permitted to fpeak. 
 M. Mailie cried out, " You are perhaps 
 " going to decree the liberty of the world ; 
 " and fuch a war is the triumph of humanity, 
 "not its fcourge." War was proclaimed 
 amidft fhouts of tranfport, and the words 
 of the decree imported, that the French 
 nation would be faithful to the principle of 
 undertaking no war with a view to make 
 conquefts, but added a very extraordinary 
 article defigned to encourage perjury and 
 defertion, and unheard-of till then amongft 
 civilized nations.* " The alTembly adopts 
 " beforehand all the ftrangers, who, ab~ 
 " juring the caufe of her enemies , (hall 
 " range themfelves under her ftandards, 
 *' and will favour by all means their efla- 
 " blifhment in France." 
 
 Future times will, perhaps, wonder at the 
 indifference with which our Englifh minif- 
 try beheld the inevitable approach of a war 
 in Flanders, that war which had always 
 
 * I know that generals receive deferters, but fenates 
 were not ufed to applaud them. 
 
 O ^ been
 
 ( 228 ) 
 
 been dreaded as one of our greateft evils. It 
 has been faid in Parliament (and not denied) 
 that the French court afked for our alliance, 
 or at leaft our mediation, and our minifters 
 have been blamed for not accepting the offer. 
 But could thofe who blamed on this occafion 
 have ftudied the Englifh hiftory, and forgot 
 with what treacherous intentions Richelieu 
 offered friendfhip to Charles I. and Lewis 
 XIV. to Charles II. ? The form of govern- 
 ment was changed indeed, but not the 
 temper of the minifters ; Dumourier's am- 
 bition was very little inferior to that of 
 Louvois or Richelieu. A mediation is of 
 no real ufe unlefs both fides require it, 
 and unlefs the mediator is ready to attack 
 the party who refufes compliance with his 
 terms. Such an armed mediation had be- 
 come fo unpopular with regard to Ruffia, 
 that Mr. Pitt could hardly venture it again. 
 What terms of mediation could he offer 
 that would have fatisfied either party? 
 Could he have promifed the emperor, that 
 if he baniflied the emigrants from Ger- 
 many, France would^ never interfere in the 
 Flemifh troubles ? The Jacobins would ha'Ve 
 immediately exclaimed, that the people of 
 
 Flanders
 
 Flanders had a right to give themfelves to 
 France if they pleafed. Was he to have 
 guaranteed the impracticable French cbnfti- 
 tution as it then exifted ? He muft then 
 have gone to war with the Jacobins who 
 intended to abolilli it. Was he to have 
 guaranteed that right of the French nation to 
 change its constitution, fo ftrenuoufly urged 
 by BrifTot ? He then nade himfelf an accom- 
 plice in the ruin and death of the king, and 
 would ftill be obliged to fight the battles of 
 the new republic. In fhort, every propofi- 
 tion from France, could only appear like a 
 fnare to allure us to aflifl her in the con- 
 queft of Flanders, that very error which the 
 Whigs reproached fo feverely in Charles II. 
 
 Yet after making every allowance for the 
 difficulties of the fituation, I muft ever 
 think that minifters were too unconcerned 
 at that time, and that oppofition was worfe, 
 far worfe than unconcerned. 
 
 The correfponding focieties were fpread- 
 ing difcontent through the nation, fome of 
 the lowed of their agents were attempting 
 to entice the foldiery by ihort pamphlets
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 left upon ale-houfe tables, to demand lefs 
 duty and more pay ; and one of the highefl 
 clafs of oppolition, Mr. Gray, was framing 
 a fociety of his own for the reform of 
 Parliament, when England fhould have been 
 armed and united as one man to watch over 
 its ambitious neighbour.* 
 
 The miferable inefficient King of France 
 might deny that he intended conquefts, but 
 he was not the matter. If a province of 
 Flanders was fubdued, the example of 
 Avignon dictated the following natural 
 progrefs . Gain fome votes for an union by 
 fear or money, threaten the life of any 
 member who fhould fpeak againft it (as 
 had been the cafe with Clermont Tonnerre) 
 le> the aflembly vote that a voluntary fub- 
 miflion differs from conquer!, and the king 
 would probably not hazard his life and 
 throne to refufe the addition of a province 
 to his nominal government. 
 
 * It has been long a plaufible argument, that with 
 art equal reprefentation we fljould have had fewejr 
 wars v but that argument loft its ftrength at the mo- 
 ment when the national aflembly voted a war with 
 fuch precipitation. 
 
 Two
 
 Two caufes may have contributed to the 
 apathy which then prevailed in England. 
 One was the ftrong apprehenfions enter- 
 tained in the preceding years by fome poli- 
 ticians of the eventual dangers to Europe 
 from the power of Ruflia, which, per- 
 haps, made them too infenfible to the dan- 
 gers arifing from the intrigues of France. 
 The other, and ftronger caufe, was a pre- 
 vailing notion of the fuperiority of German 
 difcipline over the then undifciplined French 
 troops. But the inftitution of national 
 guards was forgot, an inftitution calcu- 
 lated to teach every Frenchman the ufe of 
 arms, and they were not like our militia, 
 forbidden to go beyond the frontiers. 
 
 The firft events of the war were calcu* 
 lated, however, to increafe the general con- 
 tempt for French troops. They were 
 fhamefully repulfed on the 28th of April, 
 in their firft attempt to enter Flanders, and 
 completed their difgrace by the barbarous 
 murder of General Dillon. M. de Graves, 
 the war-minifter, excufed to the affembly 
 the rafhnefs of this attempt, on the hopes 
 that had been founded on fome local and 
 Q^ 4 indivi^
 
 ( 232 ) 
 
 individual coneftions in Brabant. But it 
 feems the Brabancons, though continually 
 thwarting their fbvereign, were not at that 
 moment ripe for in furred: ion. A paufe of 
 feveral weeks enfued in the war, which no 
 one except Dumourier was perhaps very 
 eager to carry on ftrenuouily. The king 
 did not approve it, and as to the Jacobins, 
 we may fee by BrilTbt's own confeflion, 
 " that their greater! fear was not to be be- 
 " trayed-" that is to fay, they feared left 
 victory mould have rendered the king po- 
 pular. 
 
 In the month of June, indeed, Marllial 
 Luckner fucceeded in taking Menin and 
 Courtray ; but the troops kept in a per- 
 petual ferment by emiiTaries from the 
 clubs, diiheartened by conftant fufpicion 
 of their king and their generals, were not 
 then ia a fituation to retain their conquefts. 
 They were foon obliged to evacuate Flan- 
 ders, and the people of Paris grew more and 
 more inflamed with jealoufy againft the 
 king and queen. That jeaJoufy had never 
 been appealed from the very firft exigence 
 of the conftitution, nor had real tranquil- 
 lity
 
 lity ever reigned either at Paris or the pro- 
 vinces, efpecially in the fouth of France. 
 The dreadful revolt of the negroes of St. 
 Domingo, and the bloody maffacres of 
 Avignon, were amongft the firft tidings that 
 greeted the new affembly. A civil war 
 between the royaliil town of Aries and the 
 republican Marfeilles j a riot at Aix, 
 which ended in difarming and difmiffmg 
 the Swifs regiment of Emit ;* innumerable 
 quarrels, attended with murders, between 
 the constitutional and the non-juring 
 churches, plainly mewed the mifery of 
 France, however difguifed under fpecious 
 names. There was no longer any com- 
 mander in Paris who had the fame pov\ er 
 over the national guar Is as La Fayettc ; 
 the conftituent aifembly, jealous Idr. a 
 perpetual general of the Paniians 1'hoald 
 prove another Cromwell, had decreed 
 that the commanders (hould be changed 
 every month. La Fayette, who had . cod 
 for the office of mayor of Paris, and 
 
 * See Hiftore de la Perfection du Clerge de Frs" --, 
 par M. Barruel. The work is written with a.i th? 
 Catholic prejudices, but full of curious fads and de- 
 tails. Printed for J. Debrett. 
 
 3 then
 
 '34 
 
 then retired into the country, on the 
 firil alarm of war obtained the com- 
 mand of one of the armies. But the de- 
 partment of Paris was chiefly compofed of 
 Feuillans, with the Duke de Rochefou- 
 cault at their head, who paffed for belong- 
 ing to one of the hundred French parties, 
 called the impartiah , who went a little, 
 though but a very little , farther than the 
 true conjlitutionalijls, in their attachment 
 to regal power. The Jacobins, therefore, 
 were not entirely at their eafe in Paris, and 
 once more courted the Duke of Orleans, 
 and obtained money from him to counter- 
 balance the fire-arms of the national guards, 
 by arming the mob of Paris with pikes, 
 which by a true French quibble were called 
 after his name, les Philip-piques ; and the 
 rabble were exercifed in fome popular 
 tumults of which the dearnefs of various 
 commodities (efpccially fugar) was either 
 the caufe or the pretence. The molt, hor- 
 rid libels were difperfed againft the queen, 
 who was defcribed to the people, as unit- 
 ing the incontinence of a Sappho and a 
 MelTalina with the cruelty of a Nero. 
 Madame Veto was x>.ne of the names given 
 
 to
 
 to her, alluding to the royal fufpenfive veto, 
 by which the king had ftopt fome acts re- 
 lative to emigrants and priefts, and a famous 
 patriotic fong began with 
 
 Madame Veto avoit promis 
 Dcfaire egorger tout Paris. 
 
 But when her enemies intended to make 
 her completely odious, there wanted no 
 other epithet than that of L* Autrichienne, 
 the Auftrian woman ! - and the people 
 were as ready to detefl her for her birth as 
 for any of her fuppofed vices. The ill- 
 fuccefs of the campaign was attributed to 
 her, and fhe and Montmorin, and fome 
 others, were denounced to the aflembly as 
 holding a private council at the Thuilleries, 
 which was called the Auftrian committee.* 
 It is probable that this interval of May 
 and June was filled up with many private 
 intrigues, but that the intrigues of the 
 court were much lefs culpable than their 
 
 * I cannot help recommending the tragical event of 
 the alliance between Auftria and France to the confi- 
 deration of thofe who would have recommended an 
 alliance-equally unnatural between France and England, 
 
 enemies
 
 enemies imagined. Mallet-du-Pan, the au- 
 thor of the Mercure Politique, is an author 
 I have often followed, becaufe his predic- 
 tions of the evils likely to arife from the er- 
 rors of all parties, have been fo ftrangely 
 verified as to deferve the name of prophe- 
 cies.* He has declared in a late pamphlet, 
 that the king was utterly averfe to any fo- 
 reign power interfering with the French in- 
 ternal government, and had charged him 
 in the month of May, with a fecret 
 commiffion to Francfort, to requeft the 
 combined powers ** not to let the character 
 " of this war differ from the ufual charac- 
 *' ter of wars carried on between jndepen- 
 ' dent powers," 
 
 But it was the French nation itfelf who 
 firft contributed to make the war lofe 
 that ufual character ; by the inflammatory 
 fpeeches of thofe members who guided the 
 affembly, by the encouragement to defer- 
 tion, held out in the very proclamation of 
 war, and by the protection given to a band 
 of emigrant Brabanyons and Liegeois, who 
 
 * Correfpondence deMallct-du-Pan. 
 
 pub-
 
 publifhed, jufl at the opening of the cam- 
 paign, amanifeflo, not from the ftadthoufes 
 of Antwerp, or of Liege, but from the 
 town of Paris, in which all conventions 
 were declared null and void which the re- 
 prefentatives of Brabant had concluded with 
 Leopold, which difowned every power of 
 every fort then exifting in their native coun- 
 tries, and declared their intentions to efla- 
 blifh an entire new form of government. 
 This flate paper was little attended to, be- 
 caufe the immediate defeat of the French, 
 on the 28th of April, rendered it of no ef- 
 fecT: ; but it remains a ftrong proof on re- 
 cord, that the French were carrying on the 
 war, in the fpirit of a crufade againfl arif- 
 tocracy, and therefore had little right to 
 blame thofe powers, who attempted in 
 their turn a crufade againfl democracy. 
 
 The nominal king of France had no 
 means to reprefs this dangerous fpirit, and 
 the Jacobins were daily attempting to 
 limit the power of the court within ftill 
 narrower bounds. 
 
 Two
 
 Two decrees were haftily carried through 
 the affembly, one that authorifed the de- 
 partments to tranfport any non-juring 
 priefts whom a given number of patriots 
 fhould atteffc to be dangerous men ; the 
 other to fummon a new army of twenty 
 thoufand men from the provinces to guard 
 Paris, the real object of this meafure was 
 generally fuppofed to be, to colled: a force 
 to be employed for the purpofe of de- 
 throning the king. The firft was evi- 
 dently contrary to that article of the de- 
 claration of rights, which fays, " The 
 " law mall be the fame to all men, whe- 
 " ther it protects or punifhes." The fe- 
 cond infringed on the executive power of 
 the chief magistrate, even if it had not con- 
 cealed a deeper defign. The king refolved 
 to refufe his fanctionj to difmifs Roland, 
 Claviere, and all his jacobin minifters, ex- 
 cept Dumourier, who in his Memoires, 
 declares himfelf provoked at the infulting 
 manner in which his colleagues behaved 
 daily to the king,* convinced of their evil 
 intentions againft monarchy, and determined 
 
 * Us le iuoient a coups cTepingles, is Dumourier's 
 cxpreflive French Idiom. 
 
 ful
 
 to fupport the king ; that is, to be a power- 
 ful firft minifter, if the king would take 
 away their pretences from his opponents, by 
 fanctioning the obnoxious bills. He pro- 
 mifed fo to model the camp, that it mould 
 not become dangerous ; and the king agreed 
 to fanction it ; but the bill againft the priefts 
 was, in his mind, impiety!* Dumourier 
 urged him to fave himfelf, his wife, and 
 children : he was irrefolute for a few days, 
 but at laft pofitively refufed, with thefe de- 
 ciiive words: " 1 expert to be (lain, and 
 *' forgive beforehand my murderers." 
 
 Dumourier, thus thwarted in his plans, 
 refigned foon after his colleagues, and 
 faved himfelf from the refentment of the 
 Jacobins, by leaving the king to his fate, 
 and fetting off to command one of the 
 frontier armies. The gathering ftorm foon 
 broke upon the king, and on the 2Oth of 
 June the mob forcibly entered his palace to 
 compel him to fanction the two bills. He 
 fteadily refufed, and behaved through the 
 whole tedious and terrifying day, with a 
 
 * See Dumourier's laft Memoires, and the fecond 
 vol. page 347. 
 
 calm-
 
 ( ,240 ) 
 
 calmnefs and paflive fortitude, whk:h raifed 
 his character in the eyes of his fubjects, 
 and for fome few weeks he appeared to 
 have rather gained ground on his enemies. 
 The department of Paris fufpended Pethion, 
 the Jacobin mayor of Paris, for conniving 
 at this tumult ; La Fayette came from his 
 army to complain of this infult againft the 
 king, but the inefficacy of his complaints 
 only ferved to mew that his power and in- 
 fluence were vanifhed. Addreffes of ab- 
 horrence, which came up from the different 
 departments, {truck more terror into the Ja- 
 cobins, and they were convinced, that them- 
 felves or the king muft perifh. 
 
 It is grievous for a friend of the common 
 caufe of Europe to be obliged to own, that 
 the king's ruin was hurried on by the in- 
 difcreet manifeflo which was foon after pub- 
 lifhed in the name of the Duke of Brunf- 
 wick, whofe pompous menaces bear the 
 marks of having been dictated by fome 
 Frenchman, but whofe real author and 
 real hiftory is not yet known to the world. 
 No one can juftify it entirely, but -yet it 
 does not deferve all the odious epithets . 
 
 which
 
 which have been lavifhed on it. This ma- 
 nifefto renounces all thoughts of making 
 conquefts in France, or of giving any par- 
 ticular form of government to that country; 
 but it denies that the king is free, and de- 
 clares that the German troops enter France 
 to reflore his freedom. Its chief faults are, 
 demanding that the king mould chufe a 
 residence, where he was to be guarded by 
 foreign troops, not fufficiently declaring, 
 that the war was grounded on the attempts 
 of the French to change the government of 
 all other countries, and ufing threats againfl 
 the city of Paris for infulting or detaining 
 the king. 
 
 The Parifians had, on the aoth of June, 
 fufficiently permitted the king to be infulted, 
 and therefore were already liable to the me- 
 naces of the proclamation. Yet ftill the 
 burghers were unwilling todepofe the king; 
 and BriiTot himfelf owns, in the before-men- 
 tioned addrefs to the republicans, that the ex- 
 travagance of the Jacobin club of Paris had 
 given that party the name of enrages, or 
 madmen ; and alarmed men of property at 
 R the
 
 trie idea of a total change of government 
 A formidable gang of banditti was there- 
 fore fent for from Marfeilles, the money of 
 the Duke of Orleans hired the fame ruffians 
 that had attacked Verfailks in 1789, and 
 the loth of Auguft was pitched upon to 
 complete what the 1 4th of July and the 5th 
 of October had begun; perhaps had ren- 
 dered inevitable. 
 
 It is unneceiTary now to colled argu> 
 ments by way of proof, that a premedi- 
 tated attack was made by the Girondirt 
 party upon the king's palace. Their own 
 publications, after they fplit into different 
 factions, prove it fufficiently, and the only 
 plaufible reafons they bring are, the king's 
 infincerity, and their own danger. After 
 the infuk of the 2Oth of June, their danger 
 might be real ; but they had brought it on 
 themfelves. The king's infincerity is a 
 point afierted rather than proved ; but fup- 
 pofing it real, one q-ueftion flill remains to- 
 be repeated : what iincerity could be ex- 
 pedted from a chief magistrate, who was 
 refufed liberty of confcience to praclife 
 that religion which he held to be the only 
 
 true>
 
 243 
 
 true faith ? If it be obferved, that fo rigo- 
 rous a devotion to the pope is incompatible 
 with the duties of a governor, 1 anfwer, 
 that we have now touched upon the very 
 point at iffue between the friends of the 
 church of England, and the enemies of all 
 church establishments whatfoever, who deny 
 that there is any connection between a man's 
 religious, and his political opinions. 
 
 To fpeak impartially,* I am inclined to 
 think, that the king never intended to re- 
 ftore abfolute monarchy j but that he hoped 
 all the departments, convinced of the dan- 
 gerous weaknefs of the executive govern- 
 ment, would join to petition for another re- 
 viiionof the conilitution, and, in particular, 
 for a repeal of that part which related to 
 the clergy, and which Camus had by thofs 
 manoeuvres fj eafy to be pracliied with a 
 fingle houfe of Parliament, hurried the con- 
 ftituent aflembly into placing on the fame 
 confecrated line with the articles that were 
 
 * Dumourier> in the fecond vol. of his Memoires, 
 doubts the queen's fincerity more than the king's; 
 but is that wonderful, after the daily ill-treatment 
 which Dumourier himfelf defcribes ? 
 
 R 2 purely
 
 ( 244 } 
 
 purely civil. Not one of all the articles 
 could be abrogated, till after three afTem- 
 blies had voted for their repeal; and yet no 
 fooner was the conftitution put in action, 
 than almoft every party wifhed to alter it. 
 The majority of proprietors at leaft defired 
 to preferve monarchy ; but no twenty poli- 
 ticians could agree together on what fort of 
 monarchy was mod defirable. One fide 
 wanted to diminifh, another to increafe the 
 king's prerogative j fome men would have 
 no veto, others wifhed for the veto of a 
 fecond council j and fome of the early Con- 
 ftitutionalifls, nay even La Fayette himfelf, 
 were ace u fed of this defertion of their for- 
 mer principles. The majority being thus 
 incapable of acting together, the republican 
 minority foon gained the afcendancy, and 
 the true unmixed Conftitutionalifts were left 
 in the middle of all thefe factions, vo- 
 ciferating, *' The conftitution nothing 
 " but the conftitution the whole of the 
 *' conftitution ;" unheeded and unregarded, 
 the weakeft party in the nation. Does not 
 one finking truth refult from thefe reflec- 
 tions ? the rafhnefs of thofe men who fef 
 up the early leaders of the French revolu- 
 tion,
 
 ( 245 ) 
 
 tion, as the models of all public virtue and 
 public wifdom, 
 
 On the other hand, candour requires this 
 remark, that it is moil probable theGiron- 
 dins did not originally intend the king's 
 death, but rather hoped to drive him, 
 by repeated infults, to forego his right of a 
 fufpenfive veto, and then by tormenting his 
 confcience with the execution of laws, 
 which he thought impious,* to induce him, 
 perhaps, to a voluntary abdication ; but 
 when they defpaired to execute thefe pro- 
 jects, there were no meafures too wild or 
 too defperate for their imagination, Aftsr 
 all their exclamations againft difmembering 
 the French empire, they confefs, that had 
 their infurrections at Paris failed, they would 
 themfelves have difmembered it, by retiring 
 to Aix and Marfeilles, and fetting up a re- 
 public in the fouthern provinces. Mad.de 
 Roland-f tells us a more marvellous ftory ftill, 
 
 of 
 
 * If the laws againft priefh had failed, there was 
 another law in Agitation, to permit divorce, v.hi.^h 
 parted as foon as the Icing was depofed. 
 
 * See Appel a la Pofterite, par Mad. de Roland, p 
 
 moft curious circumftance is, her fincere 
 R 2 unmixed
 
 of a wifh. expreffed, that one of their afla- 
 ciatcs mould be murdered, to throw the 
 ocijum upon the court; and of a glorious en- 
 thufiaft, who declared himfelf ready to be 
 fhot the enfuing night, by his friends, for 
 fo falutary a purpofe. If fiends were mor- 
 tal, fuch a propofal as this might be ex- 
 peeled in the debates of pandemonium. 
 
 M. Garat, in his juftification of his con- 
 duct, aflerts, that when admitted to thefe 
 private councils, fce repeatedly told his 
 friends, that the only dignified and regular 
 proceeding was, for the afTembly to declare* 
 tljat they fufpected the king of treachery, 
 to order his palace to be furrounded, and 
 feize his papers. Garat has been infulted 
 ever fince by the Briflbtins, as if he had 
 justified the maflacre of September ; but I 
 can only perceive his decided opinion, that 
 the manner in which the BrifTotins brought 
 on the loth of Auguft, led inevitably to 
 the fatal conferences of the sd of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 pnmixed admiration of this enthufiaft, M. de Grari- 
 geneuve, who would facrific? his life, to give a fanc- 
 tion to calumny. 
 
 The
 
 The aflfembly was not prepared to depofe 
 the king : Briflbt himfelf confeffes, that 
 votes had been privately counted, and his 
 party found they fhould be left in a mino- 
 rity ; they had failed of carrying the im- 
 peachment of La Fayette : Collot d'Her- 
 bois and Chenier put themfelves at the 
 head of the rabble, to demand the king's 
 depofition. Pethion, fpeaking in the name 
 of the fections of Paris, demanded, in 
 milder words, the fufpeniion of the king's 
 regal power: thefe demands were only re- 
 ferred to a committee. After fuch fleps as 
 thefe, the republicans had no alternative, 
 but fuccefs or death. It had been foiemnly 
 proclaimed, that the country was in danger, 
 and in confequence the common council at 
 the Hotel de Ville, and the councils of the 
 fections or wards, had been ordered to be 
 permanent, which gave them a legal power 
 of acting at any hour of the day or night. 
 At midnight, between the 9th and loth of 
 Auguft, when the citizens of character 
 and property were either gone home to 
 their repofe, or ferving on their pofts as 
 national guards, a number of the moft 
 defperate Jacobins took pofTeflion of the 
 R 4 coup-
 
 council room of each fection, recalled their 
 former deputies, and fent deputies as fero- 
 cious as themfelv.es to form a new common 
 council. They fent for Mandat, the com- 
 mander of the national guards, flationed in 
 the palace, pretended to commit him to pri~ 
 fon, but had an alTaflin ready to fhoot him 
 dead, as their attendants were leading him 
 down ftairs.* Being now confident that the 
 national guards, wavering in their fentiments 
 and divided, would make little opposition, 
 the Marfeillois and the Parifian mob fet out 
 to attack the palace. The king, perfuaded 
 by M. Roederer, took Ihelter, with his 
 queen and children in the national aflembly, 
 but as he had not left orders fufficiently po~ 
 fitive for the Swifs to abandon their pofls, 
 they made a fpirited but imprudent refift- 
 ance, and in confequence were almoft all 
 mafTacred. Their dead bodies were man- 
 gled with favage cruelty, the palace was 
 plundered, and fome of the king's fervants 
 murdered. Many other royalifts and con-, 
 ftitutionalifts perifhed on that terrible day, 
 
 * Juft in this manner \vas FleiTelles murdered on. 
 the 1 4th of July, 1789. 
 
 amongft
 
 ( H9 ) 
 
 amongft whom, Clermont Tonnerre de* 
 ferves to be particularly noticed. He was 
 one of the few considerable perfons of the 
 party named Monarchies, who ftill reflded 
 in France. Their principles of govern- 
 ment were royalty and two houfes of 
 Parliament ; they had diftinguifhed them- 
 felves, with Mounier, Lally, Clermont, 
 at their head, in the beginning of the re- 
 volution, and had been hated and pro- 
 fcribed ever iince. 
 
 During all the terrifying progrefs of this 
 Infurredtion, the affembly were continually 
 receiving the moft violent addrefles from 
 the fections of Paris, and hefitating no 
 longer on their conduct, pafTed one decree 
 to fufpend the king's power, and another 
 to diffolve themfelves as foon as a new 
 convention could be chofen to deliberate on 
 A total change of government.* 
 
 Oa 
 
 '. 
 
 * About this time, it was finally decided that feu- 
 dal rights and duties fliould be abolifhed without any 
 indemnification. This was done to pleafe the poor far- 
 mers, who, when the jacobin principle of requifr- 
 
 tioo,
 
 On Saturday, the nth of Auguft, it 
 was further decreed, that no qualification 
 whatever fhouhl be required of the voters 
 for this convention, except that of not be- 
 ing a domeftic fervant. This was enacled, 
 to flatter the poor ; and, to take care of 
 tbemfefoeS) they paffed another decree, that 
 the people might, if they pleafed, re- 
 cleft them for the new affembly. 
 
 m 
 The unhappy royal family remained, 
 
 for near three days, fhut up, firil in the 
 hall of the affembly, and next in the prefi- 
 dent's chamber ; at the end of that time, 
 they were fent to the Luxemburg, but as 
 that was thought too regal-like a prifon, 
 they were foon removed to an old tower, 
 called the Temple, and furrendered into 
 the unfeeling hands of their moil deadly 
 foes, the municipality of Paris, 
 
 La Fayette, previous to this catailrophe, 
 had frequently invited the king to efcapc 
 
 tion was introduced, foon found reafon to regret that 
 they had ever applauded thefe invafions of the rights 
 of property. 
 
 from
 
 from Paris, and the king's friends fay 
 thofe offers had been conrhmtly refilled.* 
 He was difmayed to the lail degree, at 
 hearing of this revolution, and endea- 
 voured to excite his army to oppofe it$ 
 whilft Dumourier gained the favour of 
 the convention, by inducing his army tq 
 fubmit to it diredly. 
 
 Fayette's attempts proved vain; he was 
 reduced to fave himfelf by ignominious 
 flight, and, with a few of his ftaff of- 
 ficers, unhappily fell into the hands of 
 the Auftrians, who have ever fince kept 
 him in clofe confinement. Unlefs more 
 particulars were publiflied of the provoca- 
 tions he had given to the Auftrians, I mufl 
 cenfure his detention, as it tended to make 
 the Conftitutionaliils believe that the emi- 
 grants were irreconcileable, and intended, 
 if they returned to France, to have them 
 tried by the reilored Parliaments, and exe- 
 cuted as traitors. Few fituations, indeed, 
 could be more diftreisful than that of the 
 
 * The fame offers were 'made by the Due de ki, 
 iricpiirt at Rouen*
 
 unhappy leaders of the firft revolution, 
 equally hated by all parties, they faw no- 
 thing but ruin and death on every fide. 
 The well-meaning, but imprudent Due 
 de Rochefoucault, was murdered by the 
 Marfeillois, the Due de Liancourt fled 
 into England, Barnave was perfecuted for 
 a long time, driven from place to place, 
 and at laft feized and executed. Thus he 
 expiated by his own blood that cruel an- 
 fwer he had made to Lally when exclaiming 
 againfl the murders of Berthier and Foulon, 
 ** Was thofe men's blood fo pure ?" 
 
 It ought to be remembered that Mallet- 
 du-Pan, in his Mercure Politique, conftanN 
 ly foretold the downfall of this party, and 
 the triumph of the Jacobins ; but he, as 
 well as Mr, Burke, unfortunately experi- 
 enced the fate of Caflandra. The firft error 
 of this party was confounding equality of 
 rank with equal liberty and equal /aw, and 
 teaching the people of France that the two 
 laft were of no confequence, unlefs they 
 obtained the firft, though at the expencc of 
 every crime. Their laft and moft irrepara- 
 t>le error was joining with the Jacobins in 
 
 pro
 
 ( 255 ) 
 
 promoting the war with Auftria, and not 
 forefeeing that its confequences would fall 
 heavy, not only on the royal family, but on 
 all who flill wifhed for a nominal monarchy. 
 
 The triumphant Jacobins experienced, 
 however, as little tranquillity in their mo- 
 ments of glory, as their predeceffors, the 
 Conftitutionalifts, and were as eafilyfplit into 
 different parties. The municipality formed 
 fora temporary purpofe on the night before 
 the i oth of Auguft, and compofed of the 
 moil violent blood-thirfty men of the party, 
 foon difcovered their intention to overpower 
 the aflembly, and the mininry, Roland, 
 Claviere, Servan, Monge, whom the af- 
 fembly had inftantly reftored to their places. 
 Dantoh, the minifter of juftice, (more 
 properly of cruelty) fided with the Parifian 
 common council; the infamous Marat, and 
 the tyrannical Roberfpierre took the fame 
 party, in oppoiltion to BriiTot, who with 
 all the Girondins, was in clofe alliance 
 with the miniftry. 
 
 The horrid maiTacres of the 2d and 3d 
 of September are too well known to need a 
 
 particular
 
 ( 5f ) 
 
 v 
 
 particular defer iption, and happily 
 ments are no longer wanted to make them 
 abhorred. For many long years to come 
 every woman will tremble at relating the 
 ihocking fate of the Princefs de Lamballe ; 
 and every philofopher, I could almofl fay 
 every proteftant, will blufh with furprize, 
 when in the maffacre at the Garmes they 
 read of the horrors St. Barthelemi revived 
 by fcepticifm againfl popery.* 
 
 Each of the two parties have fince en- 
 deavoured to throw the odium on each 
 other, but the guilt of both is but too ap- 
 parent. The murders were contrived by 
 Danton, Roberfpierre, Marat, and connived 
 at by Briffot and Roland, whilft only prieits, 
 officers, and ladies were the victims ; but at 
 the lafl they fufpected that their colleague 
 Danton was joining in a plot againft them- 
 
 * The Archbifhop of Aries, and the other priefts at 
 the Cannes, -were not prifoners waiting for a trial, 
 they had voluntarily furrendered under promife of be- 
 ing conduced to the frontiers, and left to piofrfs 
 their religion freely in foreign parts ; confcquentlr 
 their fate bears feme refemblance to that of the Hu- 
 gonots, who wert deceived by a public treaiy. 
 
 2 felvcs
 
 *ss 
 
 felves in order to have them arrefted by the 
 municipality, killed as fufpecled perfons, and 
 if any account was demanded of theirdeaths, 
 the blame might have been eafily laid upon 
 error. From this time the hatred between 
 the two contending parties grew inveterate, 
 but yet did not prevent them from joining 
 in the moft ftrenuous efforts, firft to defend 
 their own country, and then to make all 
 foreign powers fubmit to their ambition. 
 Even at the very time when the combined 
 armies were entering France, the affcmbly 
 gave orders to General Montefquiou to at- 
 tack Savoy. The King of Sardinia, though 
 his fons-in-law were exiled, and his rela- 
 tion the Princefs de Lamballe murdered, 
 had not yet broken his neutrality, but the 
 French fuppofed he was deliberating whe- 
 ther he fliould break it, and completely 
 adopted the maxim of conquerors and 
 defpots, of Lewis the Fourteenth and Fre- 
 deric of Pruflia let fufpicion ftand for 
 proof and always ftrike the firft blow. 
 To weaken the houfe of Savoy had been 
 more than once the policy of former French 
 kings ; thefe republicans, after aholifhing 
 iheir power, adopted their maxims towards 
 9 foreigners,
 
 C 
 
 foreigners, and carried them into execution 
 with more fuccefs than Henry or Lewis 
 had ever experienced. Savoy was fubdued 
 with fo much eafe, that it affords great 
 confirmation to thofe imputations of Mal- 
 let-du-Pan, that a plot had been formed the 
 preceding year to betray it into the hands 
 of France, at the very time when the vote 
 againft conqueft was a favourite theme of 
 applaufe with purblind philofophers. At 
 iirfr, the French pretended that Savoy mould 
 be conflituted into a republic, but it was 
 foon difcovered that this republic was too 
 feeble to fupport itfelf, a re-union was de- 
 manded and willingly granted ; the orators 
 who fpoke to the convention in its favour, 
 carefully obferved how much profit the 
 French republic would acquire from the 
 eftates of the church and the emigrants, 
 and thus more and more laid open the 
 real views of France in offering its frater- 
 nity to all nations. Nice, on the fide of 
 Provence, was foon after fubdued, in the 
 fame manner and for the fame purpofes of 
 re-union. Montefquiou was afterwards 
 ordered by the revengeful Claviere* to at- 
 
 * Claviere was a Geneva emigrant. 
 
 tack
 
 tack Geneva, which at that time was faved 
 by admitting a garrifon of Swifs troops, 
 whom the French were not prepared to at- 
 tack. Montefquiou drew off, and made a 
 convention with Geneva, fo odious to the 
 wild democrats, that the afTembly was per- 
 fuadcd to impeach him, and he jult learnt 
 the news in time to fave himfelf by flight. 
 The French party in Geneva recovered 
 their fpirits on the Swifs withdrawing their 
 garrifon, turned out the magiflrates, called 
 a convention to frame a new conftitution, 
 the fatal confequences of which have been 
 the murder or impoverimment of the moil 
 virtuous citizens of Geneva. Dumourier* 
 in his Memoires fays, pofitively, that it was 
 determined at Paris to invade and overturn 
 all the Swifs ariftocracies, and that they 
 were faved Chiefly by the fpirit of his 
 friend Majpr Weifs, envoy from Berne, 
 who threatened the miniftry with the dif- 
 covery of fecrets (of what nature is unex- 
 plained) that might have endangered their 
 fafety. 
 
 * In his firft Memoires, publiftied in 1794, p. no. 
 
 S At
 
 At the beginning of this violent career, 
 the combined army had entered France, 
 taken Longwy and Verdun, befieged Thi- 
 onville, whilft the Duke Albert of Saxony 
 on the fide of Flanders had bombarded 
 Lifle. All Europe was in fufpenfe, and 
 moll politicians expected a fpeedy end of 
 the new French government, Why this 
 great expedition proved fo entirely abor- 
 tive, is a problem that no one has folved 
 as yet in a fatis factory manner. It has 
 been faid that the Duke of Brunfwick was 
 difcontented with the Auflrians who had 
 not fent. the number of troops they had 
 promifed ; that he was cautioufly averfe to 
 penetrate far into the French territories, im- 
 leis fome flrong fortreffes had been previ- 
 oufly taken ; and that the King of PruiTia, 
 as well as the emperor, were^ deceived by 
 the emigrants, who allured them that the 
 French were Ib difcontented with their new- 
 government, and efpecially with their new 
 priefts, that they would join the allies by 
 thoufands.* The emigrants feem to have 
 
 been 
 
 '* It is not wonderful they fhould have trufled to 
 that difcontent, fince even uovv, M. Portalis has lately 
 
 dated
 
 been fatally confulted in drawing up the 
 manifefto, and arrefting La Fayette, and 
 yet never to have been confulted in the 
 military details of the expedition. Their 
 writers fay, that the Duke of Brunfwic, 
 after reducing Longwy and Verdun, (hould 
 have feized a poft called Les Iflettes, and 
 proceeded from thence in a direct road 
 weft ward to Chalons, inftead of turning 
 a little to the north, and taking a circuitous 
 courfe by Grandpre, through a country 
 known in France by the Sobriquet of La 
 Champagne Pouilleufe, which is either bar- 
 ren in the extreme, or fruitful only in 
 grapes, which gave the German foldiers 
 the dyfentery. This fatal camp diforder 
 was much increafed by inceflant rains, 
 which made the roads aim oft impracticable 
 and retarded their fupplies of bread, forage, 
 and ammunition. 
 
 Dumourier poffefled at that time the 
 confidence of the convention ; the clubs 
 were too fenfible of the common danger to 
 
 ftated to the council of elders that the majority in 
 France is partial to the non-juring priefts. 
 
 S 2 employ
 
 employ their ufual emiffaries to diforganize 
 the army, confequently Dumourier was 
 able to gain the affections of his ilUdifci- 
 plined troops, and with an inferior army 
 Hopped the Duke of Brunfvvic, and de- 
 fended the road to Chalons. Some 
 negociations were carried on between 
 the refpective generals which were never 
 thoroughly underftood, but which were 
 entirely put an end to, when the news was 
 brought that the convention had met for 
 the firft time on the 2Oth of September, and 
 had voted by acclamation, that France was 
 a republic. Whether fear or intereft fwayed 
 with the King of Pruffia, whether the Duke 
 of Brunfvvic was convinced that they could 
 not advance a ftep farther without immi- 
 nent danger, all fchemes of attacking the 
 French army was given up, and in the 
 beginning of October, the difappointed 
 king and his generals fell back towards 
 Verdun, with a fkkly and difcontented 
 army. The French foon obliged them to 
 evacuate their country entirely, and the 
 allies feparated Pruffians, Auftrians, and 
 emigrants, equally enraged at each other. 
 But above all the emigrants were loudeft 
 
 in
 
 in. .their complaints, accufing the German 
 princes and noblemen, and above all, the 
 Duke of Brunfwic, of being very lukewarm 
 in their caufe. Many fimilar lamentations 
 may be found in Peltier's Tableau dc Paris, 
 where the emigrants fay that the German 
 noblemen were not difpleafed with the mis- 
 fortunes of thofe whole ancestors had often 
 terrified Germany, and that the Duke of 
 Brunfwic was attached to the Illumines, * 
 admired Neckar, and pitied La Fayette. 
 If this fyftem be true, it proves that this 
 pretended crufade of kings was a meafure 
 forced, on the Germans by the French, who 
 drove them by their ambitious fchemes into 
 protecting thofe emigrants whom, they na- 
 turally did not love. 
 
 . Thefe fchemes of conquer! now blazed 
 forth in all the dazzling fplendor of fuo 
 cefs. Cuftine took Spires and Mentz, and 
 penetrated to Frankfort, which roufed the 
 King of Pruflia into once more employing 
 his troops, and forced the flow diet of 
 
 * A fanatic feet, fufpe&ed of cor refunding \vitli 
 the Jacobins. 
 
 S 3 Ratilbon
 
 ( 26* ) 
 
 Ratifbon to proclaim that this war was a 
 general war of the empire. 
 
 Dumourier entered Flanders, won the 
 battle of Jemappe on the 7th of November, 
 and completed the conqueft of the Nether- 
 lands and of Liege in one month, thus 
 furpaffing in rapidity, at lead, all the ex- 
 ploits of Conde and Turenne. 
 
 The French were now tranfported even 
 beyond the bounds of French gafconade, 
 and threw down the gauntlet to all Europe 
 in their famous decree of the I9th of No- 
 vember. As fome writers have wifhed to 
 explain away the hoftile intentions of that 
 decree, it is proper to copy from tranflations 
 of the French journals, accounts of fome of 
 the ftcps which preceded and accompanied 
 it. 
 
 On the nth of November, only two 
 days after the news of the battle of Jemappe 
 reached Paris, Narketon, a Dutchman, be- 
 ing admitted to the bar, fpoke as follows, 
 " My countrymen, the Batavians, burn 
 " with a deiire to become Frenchmen, and 
 
 -the
 
 ' the Stockholder trembles. They expect 
 " liberty from you. French generals come 
 " and break the chains of thefe unhappy 
 " republicans, flill opprefled by tyrants." 
 Applaufes. Honourable mention made 
 of this fpecch by order of the convention. 
 
 The Duke of Deux-ponts had vvimed 
 to feparate his caufe from the reft of Ger-, 
 many, had acknowledged the French re- 
 public, and fondly hoped for fafety. But 
 his country lay as convenient for the French 
 as that of Avignon, and till it was con- 
 quered, they could not accomplifh their 
 now-avowed intention of making the Rhine 
 the limit of the French empire. This pro- 
 ject had often been imputed to Richelieu 
 and Lewis the Fourteenth, whofe ambition, 
 arrogance, and unfairnefs have been as ex- 
 aclily copied as if they had left their political 
 teftaments for legacies to this new republic. 
 A quarrel was therefore to be contrived 
 with this unfortunate petty prince, and 
 under this palpable pretext, a general vote 
 of immenre importance was to be introduced 
 a manceuvre commonly ufed through the 
 whole of this revolution. 
 
 S 4 The
 
 The following fcene as defcribed in their 
 own newfpapers xvas exhibited on Novem- 
 ber the 1 9th. M. Rhul obferved, that 
 the bailliage of Darmftadt, belonging to 
 the Duke of Deux-ponts, but which by the 
 treaty of R if wick mould have belonged to 
 France, had difplayed the three coloured 
 cockade, planted the tree of liberty, and 
 that the duke was marching his troops to 
 carry off and imprifon the fyndics. Rhul 
 proceeded to move, that the aflembly mould 
 declare " Thofe people who wifh to fra- 
 " ternize with us, are under the protection 
 " of the French republic/* 
 
 BriiTot obferved, that this principk was 
 already adopted and recognized in their 
 proclamations, which ftated that they 
 would affift all thofe who wiflied to make 
 off the yoke of their tyrants, but he wifhed 
 on the whole, to refer the drawing up of the 
 expected decree to the diplomatic com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The affembly, flill more precipitate than 
 Briffot, palTed the following celebrated 
 decree before they quitted the hall. 
 
 " The
 
 V The national convention declares in 
 V the name of the French nation, that it will 
 *' grant fraternity and afliftance to every pcor 
 " p/ethat wilhto recover their liberty; and it 
 ** commillions the executive power to give 
 " the necefTary orders to its generals to affift 
 " all fuch people, and to defend thofe citi- 
 " zens who for the caufe of liberty may 
 " have been or are opprefTed." 
 
 The immediate confequences of this de- 
 cree were fatal to the poor Duke of Deux- 
 ponts, who wast obliged in a few days to 
 efcape precipitately from his palace at mid- 
 night, and take ihelter beyond the Rhine, 
 whilft his country was over-run by French 
 troops. About the fame time the executive 
 council publifhed a decree to open the 
 navigation of the Scheld, fetting up (as 
 they had done in the cafe of the German 
 eftates in Alface) the rights of nature 
 againft the poiitive letter of the treaty of 
 Weilphalia. It is remarkable how much this 
 yery meafure was reprobated by Mirabeau, 
 who in his pamphlet againrl the Emperor 
 Jofeph, declares that the Dutch could not 
 preferye their independency, if the branches 
 
 that
 
 ( 266 ) 
 
 that form the mouth of the Scheld might be 
 navigated at pleafure by foreign vefTels. 
 But it was not only the injurious meafure 
 itfelf that fhould he considered, it muft be 
 combined with all the other votes and de- 
 crees, it muft be combined with the unpo- 
 pularity of the king's pacific conduct in 
 1787, and the general national opinion, 
 that the honor of France was engaged hi 
 ruining the houfe of NafTau. In that light, 
 it looks very much like an experiment to 
 try what infults the Stadtholder would bear 
 with patience, and refembles the offers of 
 peace which the tyrannical republic of 
 Rome made to her rival Carthage previous 
 to the third Punic warr. Dilband your 
 troops, faid the Roman fcnate They are 
 difbanded, ahfwered the humble Carthagi- 
 nians. Give up your elephants They 
 are at your mercy. Give us your treafures 
 They 'are ready for your commiffioners. 
 When the Carthaginian timidity was 
 now fufficiently proved, the final fentence 
 of extermination followed. Give up your 
 city, and go fettle in any part of the world 
 where the Romans may pleafe to tolerate 
 your exiftence. The defpair of the Car- 
 3 thaginians,
 
 tbaginians, and its dreadful confequences, 
 are well known in hiftory. Similar to this 
 was the peace which France then held out 
 to all the nations in Europe, combined with 
 the hypocrify of pretending friendfhip to the 
 poorer clafTes, and thus employing one part 
 of every nation to fubdue the other. The 
 admiilion of the Dutchman on the nth of 
 November, and of the complaints from 
 the bailliage of Darmftadt on the I9th, 
 arofe from, the fame principle, and the 
 vindication of the decree that followed, at- 
 tempted afterwards by Le Brun, that it 
 only referred to thofe nations who unani- 
 moufly afferted their freedom, was proved 
 to be falfe by the very firft application that 
 was made of the decree. The Duke of 
 Deux-ponts was driven from his whole ter- 
 ritory becaufe a (ingle bailliage declared 
 againft him ; and that the Stadtholder was 
 not immediately expelled becaufe a deputa- 
 tion of Dutch patriots called him a tyrant, 
 folely depended on the dread that was yet 
 entertained of the refentment of England. 
 
 The Situation of this country became 
 every day more perplexing. To fuffer 
 
 France
 
 France to rnin the houfe of Auftria, and 
 poflefs themfelves of Belgia, had hitherto 
 been reckoned an unpardonable crime in 
 every Englifh. king or minifter who had 
 connived at it. Security from invafion on 
 the fide of Holland and Flanders was our 
 only return for all our debt and taxes; to 
 weaken that fecurity was to blaft every lau- 
 rel obtained in former wars ; and if the 
 prefent ftate of finances made our conni- 
 vance in the feizure of Flanders unavoid- 
 able, it was the greateft facrifice ever made 
 to peace and economy; but tamely to fa- 
 crifice Holland and Eaft India alfo, was not 
 forbearance, it was infamy ! 
 
 The fiimfy pretence of the French, that 
 tbey invaded all countries to reft ore the in- 
 habitants to the right of chufing their own 
 government, had been fufficiently difproyed 
 by the forced re-unions of Nice and Savoy, 
 and it was known .that fimilar meafures 
 were preparing in Flanders. Thefe re- 
 unions were accompanied with a feverity 
 unheard-of amongft modern conquerors. 
 For more than a hundred years it has been 
 common to allow thofe conquered inhabi- 
 tants
 
 tants who cannot reconcile themfelves to 
 the new government, permiffion to quit 
 the country and fell their eflates within a 
 limited time; but now that conquefl is 
 carried on in virtue of the rights of men ; 
 whoever cannot fubfcribe every tittle of the 
 new political creed is declared an emigrant, 
 and his eftates confifcated to the profit of 
 the conquering country. 
 
 The ground work of this rigour is to be 
 traced to the foundation of the French revo- 
 lution, having been laid upon the national 
 right of confifcation ; and after all the in* 
 ve&ives uttered againft Mr. Burke for his 
 fuperftitious attachment to the church, all 
 that he has written upon the dangerous pre- 
 cedent of confifcating church lands has 
 proved well founded. It was fondly be- 
 lieved that the French church lands were 
 equivalent to the deficit in the French 
 finances, and encouraged by that hope, no 
 more economy was really obferved under 
 the new conftitution than under the mo- 
 narchy ; their hopes proved vain, and the 
 gulph of the deficit itill yawned before 
 them, The next fcheme not openly avowed, 
 
 but
 
 but apparent in the ad ions of the three na- 
 tional aflemblies, was to drive the lay emi- 
 grants into rebellion, and thus have a pre- 
 tence to feize their eftates. They fucceeded 
 but too well, by dint of inhuman treatment, 
 but at the fame time they drew upon them- 
 felves an expend ve foreign war. The only 
 expedient then contrived by their financier 
 Cambon, to fill up the yawning gulph, 
 was to conquer on all fides, and feize the 
 church lands and the property of malcon- 
 tents in all the conquered countries. This 
 fcheme firfr, appeared darkly in the vio- 
 lent threats of Dumourier's proclamations 
 againft fuch Belgians as retained any affec- 
 tion for their old government Proclama- 
 tions which have efcaped the cenfure of thofe 
 men whofc humanity was fo hurt by ono 
 ra(h manifefto againft France, which, per- 
 haps, was never intended to be put in 
 practice. It was then farther developed by 
 the decree of the 1 5th of December, on the 
 manner in which generals mould fecure the 
 national property of invaded countries ; it 
 gave rife to athoufand depredations in Flan- 
 tiers, and was laftly confefTed and warmly 
 
 reprobated
 
 reprobated by Dumourier and BrhTot* 
 when they got in difgrace with the ruling 
 party. 
 
 But had England been united, France 
 might have been afraid to execute this pro- 
 ject in countries whofe independence was con- 
 nected with our fafety, the Dutch govern- 
 ment might have flumbered on as ufual, and 
 Belgia have become an independent repub- 
 lic. But the correfpondencies carried on 
 in this country from the beginning of the 
 revolution, flattered the French with hopes 
 that our miniilry would be fo entangled 
 with powerful factions and inteftine com- 
 motions in Great Britain and Ireland, as 
 to have no leifure to inquire into foreign 
 affairs. 
 
 The fituation of the French government 
 refembled that of Richelieu in 1638, and 
 they were equally afraid with the cardinal 
 " of a neighbouring king who fhould be 
 
 * See BrifTot's Adreffe afef Commettans, page no, 
 in. He fays Cambo was one chief author of this 
 fyftem. 
 
 " powerful
 
 '* powerful and peaceable at home." It re- 
 fembled that of Lewis XV. in 1744, and 
 they were defirous to fet up a national con- 
 vention in England, on the fame grounds 
 that their king wanted to fet up a popifh 
 pretender. Scotch covenanters, Jacobites, 
 Teformers, and democrats, have all in their 
 turns been made the unweeting tools of 
 French ambition, and thofe very writers 
 who declaim with fuch emphafis againjft 
 this ruinous war, may, in fome meafure, 
 take fliame to themfelves that ever it exifled. 
 
 Our miniftry have been ridiculed for en- 
 couraging an unneceflary panic amongil: 
 men of property in the winter of 1792. 
 But could they avoid that panic when they 
 knew the deputations that continually went 
 over to France? when they heard the fa- 
 mous democrate Gregoire anfwer one of 
 thefe deputations, as prefident, that he 
 " hoped foon to congratulate them on ana- 
 " tional convention in England ?" and when 
 they read all thofe predictions of revolts in 
 this country which every French journal 
 contained, and which looked more like 
 
 Gallic
 
 Gallic indifcretions than like mere Gallic 
 inventions ? 
 
 We have all heard of the journal pub- 
 lifhed by Condorcet, in which it is declared 
 that the ' ' French revolution was the object, 
 " at once, of Englishmen's fears and de- 
 " fires; that a parliamentary reform was 
 " talked of, jufl as the meeting of the 
 " Hates general was in 1787 talked of in 
 *' France; and that from a reform the paf- 
 " fage to a republic would be fhort and 
 " eafy." 
 
 There are other important paffages lefs 
 known in England, and fome may be 
 quoted from the Mercure de France, a 
 work always much read at Paris, and of 
 which the political part was then taken out 
 of the hands of Mallet-du-Pan. 
 
 November 1792. Page 285. 
 
 " The agitations that prepare a revolution 
 
 " in Ireland make every day a new pro- 
 
 " grefs. Suppofmg that the two iflands 
 
 " are, or will foon be, determined to treat, 
 
 14 as from equal to equal, they have very 
 
 T " intcrefling
 
 ( 274 ) 
 
 ** interefling queftions to confider. Shall 
 " remain under one focial organization, or 
 *' fhall the channel of St. George divide two 
 " nations and two fovereigns ? If the 
 " union (hall continue, fhall they continue 
 '* to have two legiflative and one executive 
 *' power, or fhall there be a unity of legif- 
 *' lation as well as execution ? Laftly, fhall 
 " they continue under regal power ? It were 
 '" vain to endeavour to prevent it, all the 
 ** political contracts of nations will be re- 
 44 newed.' J 
 
 I quote this pafTage becaufe it contains' 
 iin important lefTon for the Englifh nation, 
 who ought always to remember, that if ever 
 they abolifh their prefent fyftem of mo- 
 narchy, the contracts with their fifter na- 
 tions will, indeed, fland in need of being 
 renewed ; and who can forefee how much 
 blood will be fhed before thofe queftions fo 
 Charitably taught us by the French can 
 fairly be refolvcd ? 
 
 Here is another paflage from the fame 
 Work frill more infulting, December 1792, 
 page 71.
 
 ( 275 ) 
 
 *' London, November 23. 
 f * No lords ! no upper houfe ! no king ! 
 " fuch is the cry of the Englifh people in 
 " the ftreets of London, and in the ftreets 
 " of the other towns of England ; fuch is 
 " the cry that refounds in the mountains of 
 11 Scotland, and in the plains of Ireland. 
 " Puritans and catholics appear to have the 
 " fame political dogmas. There are none 
 " but the king, with, perhaps, a few old 
 " honeft lords or knavifh courtiers who 
 " profefs another facial religion. The par- 
 *' liament is prorogued to next January. 
 " But the month of January will come, 
 " and George III. muft foon refign himfelf 
 " to make a new treaty with England, who 
 4< furely will give him a good penfion, if 
 *' he refigns himfelf prudently to an in- 
 " evitable revolution.* 
 
 This 
 
 * It may feem unneceflary to quote weaker para- 
 graphs after fo ftrong a one ; but I cannot help men- 
 tioning an article in Gazette National Fran^aife of De- 
 cember the 1 4th. After defcribing how the inhabi- 
 tants of Dundee planted the tree of liberty, and fung 
 ca ira, the writer adds, " the fame ceremony was lefs 
 " peaceable at York ; two thoufand armed men pil- 
 T 2
 
 This curious paragraph is dated precifely 
 about the time when not only knavifh cour- 
 tiers and lords, but merchants and fliop- 
 keepers took alarm, and formed aiTociations 
 to defend the conftitution, a ftep ufeful and 
 even neceflary at the time, on account of the 
 many affiliated clubs which correfponded 
 with France. But the example of the pre- 
 fent age has fhewed fo evidently that all vo- 
 luntary felf-elecled clubs may grow dange- 
 rous, that even the beft meant afTociations 
 are only to be commended as a fair reta- 
 liation of their own arts upon the enemy. 
 George III. was not, however, afraid of 
 his parliament, and called them together in 
 December, without waiting for that month 
 of January which the Parisians had marked 
 out as fatal to his crown. Our country 
 gentlemen, not merely our lords, were 
 fufficiently incenfed at the boldnefs of the 
 French emifTaries, and alarmed at the pro- 
 grefs of their arms, to need but little incite- 
 ment from a minifter. Dumourier had 
 
 " laged the magazines and corn mills of the Arijlo- 
 " crats." We fee by this how foon a Frenchman's 
 cagernefs turned reformers into ariftocrats. 
 
 now
 
 ( 277 ) 
 
 now driven the Auftrians beyond Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, and propofed to take Maeitricht 
 from the Dutch, on the fame pretences ex- 
 actly with which Lewis XV. had taken the 
 forts of Dutch Flanders in i 747. The ex- 
 ecutive council did not agree to this mea- 
 fure, but their forbearance could hardly 
 fpring from moderation, fince they were 
 deliberating all that winter on fchemes to 
 invade the province of Zealand. Dumou- 
 rjer grew difcontented, and foon after put 
 his wearied troops into winter quarters. 
 He had now full leifure to reflect on his 
 iituation. The Girondins remembered his 
 attempt to remain in the king's fervice 
 when Roland was difmifled, and did not 
 thoroughly truft him j the Jacobins, efpe- 
 cially Marat, hated him cordially, and 
 contrived every means to diforganize his 
 army ; the war minifler neglected to fupp'ly 
 the neceffities of the troops, and in the 
 midfl of all his triumphs Dumourier palled 
 a very uneafy winter. 
 
 During this awful paufe of hostilities, 
 
 the aflembly at Paris was employed in the 
 
 cruel and unjufl mockery of trying and 
 
 T 3 condemning
 
 condemning to death their unhappy fove- 
 reign, againft whom no crime was ever 
 proved, and whofe perfon had been de- 
 clared inviolable by that constitution which 
 all France had fworn to obferve. Rober- 
 fpierre and his party were bent upon his 
 death ; the party of BrifTot were lefs vio- 
 lent, and made a faint effort to throw upon 
 the nation at large the odium of his death, 
 or the danger of his life, by voting to refer 
 his fentence to the primary aflemblies. 
 They loft their motion in the convention, 
 and it was reprefented to the public as a 
 meafure that might kindle a civil war. 
 After this they no longer attempted to ha- 
 zard their popularity by doing juftice to an 
 enemy, and moft of them voted for death 
 along with the Jacobins, 
 
 The demeanor of the unhappy king dur- 
 ing his trial, and at his execution, and the 
 paper he left behind him as his will, have 
 raifed his character after his death higher 
 than his detractors could have expected, 
 much higher than during the fplendor of 
 his early fortune. One fentiment in that 
 will is remarkable. He tells the French it 
 
 were
 
 were better to have no king, than a king 
 too ftraitly limited. This fentiment was 
 uttered by a much greater ^prince than him- 
 felf, by William III. who faid to Biftiop 
 Burnet, " There is much to be faid both 
 " for a monarchy and a republic, and it is 
 " difficult to decide which is beft but the 
 " worfl of all governments is a monarchy 
 '* where the king has no power.* 
 
 Dumourier was at Paris during the trial; 
 he affirms that he meant to fave the king ; 
 his enemies, affirm that he wifhed to haften 
 the king's fate, and raife the houfe of Or- 
 leans to the throne. The Duke of Orleans 
 voted for his relation's death, and by that 
 ftep fo unequivocally difplayed his bad 
 heart, and rendered himfelf fo completely 
 odious, that the fans-culottes themfelves 
 abandoned him. Dumourier returned to his 
 army, unhappy and difcontented, rumina- 
 ting vague projeds againft that convention 
 which he affedted to ferve with zeal. 
 
 On receiving the news of Louis the Six- 
 teenth's death, the Englifh rniniftry, who 
 
 * See Burnet's Hiftory, vol. iii, page 47. 
 
 T 4 had
 
 had ordered Lord Gower to quit Paris, 
 foon after the loth of Auguft, now or- 
 dered away Chauvelin, the French ambaf- 
 fador, whofe commiflion they faid was 
 annihilated by that event. The French af- 
 feCted great refentment at this affront, but 
 if Chauvelin, as many believe, was in- 
 triguing with our Englifh malcontents, it 
 is no wonder that our court was glad to 
 be rid of him; and the prefent French 
 directory have fufficiently fhewn that the 
 leaft fufpicion of intrigue is enough to 
 make them forget the refpect due to am- 
 bafladors. Private negotiations were ftill 
 going on in Holland, and Dumourier was 
 .appointed to meet Lord Auckland, near 
 the Mordyke, to fee what arrangements 
 could be taken relative to the Scheld. But 
 BrifTot and his friends were too eager for an 
 Englifh war, and all parties were too jea- 
 lous of Dumourier to wifh well to fuch ne- 
 gotiations. On the i ft of February 1792, 
 Brifibt read a report to the convention, 
 couched in the moft hoftile language, and 
 war was immediately declared againft Eng- 
 land and Holland. War was foon after de- 
 clared againft Spain in a manner which 
 
 plainly
 
 plainly contradicts Mr. Fox's aflertion, 
 that our court might have faved the poor 
 king if they would have acknowledged the 
 French republic. The Spanifh ambafla- 
 dor had negotiated with the ruling party, 
 and offered fuch an acknowledgment as the 
 price of his life ; but fo far from delaying 
 the fatal ftroke, the infolence of fuch of- 
 fers w 7 as given as one of the reafons for a 
 declaration of war. 
 
 Much has been faid on all fides of the 
 perfidious intentions either of the Englifli 
 or the French miniftry ; of the affronts of- 
 fered Jo France by the Alien Bill, by the 
 difmnTion of Chauvelin j of the 'danger 
 arifing to England from French emirTaries, 
 and to her finances from French allignats ; 
 but there were ftill deeper caufes of the 
 war, which it has been the aim of this 
 efTay to develope. Some of thefe fecret 
 caufes may be found in the latter end of 
 one of Briflbt's Reports as early as the 
 month of January.* 
 
 * See the fore-mentioned Collection of BrifTot's 
 Pamphlets, pages 54, 56, 57. 
 
 Briflbt,
 
 BrifTot, after having inveighed with tlifr 
 utmoft virulence againft the Englifh con- 
 dud in the Eafl Indies, and predicted 
 that our Eafl India Company would foon 
 fink " into annihilation, loaded with debt, 
 " and covered with maledictions, like all 
 " other companies," concluded with the 
 following 'Tar tuff e exhortation : " The 
 " Englifh nation muft at lafl, like us, feek 
 11 its profperity, not in an exclufive com- 
 " merce, not in pofTeffions torn from their 
 " proprietors, not in the art of fqueezing 
 " out the fweat and the blood of the la- 
 " bourers and artifans of India, but in a 
 " commerce founded upon morality, uni- 
 " verfal juflice, and a free developement 
 " of induftry," 
 
 When the lafl pages of this report are 
 compared with the principles laid down in 
 Briflbt's American Travels, there appears 
 fufficient ground for an opinion already 
 hinted at, that it was not merely the aboli- 
 tion of nobility or monarchy that the 
 French expected from their Englifh 
 friends, but the alteration of our commer- 
 cial laws, and the relinquifhment of all 
 
 territo-
 
 territorial pofleflions in India. A gafcona- 
 ding fpeech of M. Kerfaint on the con- 
 quefts to be made from England and Hol- 
 land, is in a fimilar ftyle with BriiTbt ; and 
 if the Girondin party had not been ruined, 
 they would probably have made fome bold 
 attempt to render Afia one of the theatres 
 of war. 
 
 > 
 
 The queftion of peace or war may be re- 
 duced to this : Shall we fuffer the emiflfaries 
 of France to diforganize all Europe, that 
 France may extend her empire, and conquer 
 thofe countries which in her hands will be 
 dangerous to our fecurity, and which will 
 furnifh her with arms againft our commerce, 
 both foreign and domeftic ? If this be right, 
 let us efface from our hiflories all the cenfures 
 beflowed on our ancient or recent kings for 
 fimilar conduct, and let us own Charles 
 the Second for a patriot, inftead of calling 
 his reign (as Whig writers flill call it) a 
 reign of " mifery and difgrace."* The 
 very oppofition who now inveigh againft 
 the war, had they feen Brabant and Hol- 
 
 * It is an expreffion in Hayley's Life of Milton. 
 
 land
 
 ( 284 ) 
 
 land in the hands of France without the 
 Icaft effort to fave them, the Prince of 
 Grange an unprotected exile, and the 
 E)utch and French joining to attack us in 
 Afia, would, perhaps, have impeached 
 Mr. Pitt for the very neutrality they fo 
 loudly recommended. 
 
 The French appear to have flattered 
 themfelves that their declaration of war 
 would have produced a revolt both in 
 Holland and in England. Jn this hope 
 they were difappointed ; but another of 
 their hopes proved but too juft, for Hol- 
 land was nearly as unprovided for war, as 
 Savoy or Nice had been. Dumourier fet 
 out, carrying with him the fkilful engineer 
 D'Aron (who had invented the Gibraltar 
 floating batteries) a number of Dutch emi- 
 grants, and a proclamation reviling the 
 Englifh and the Stadtholder. Breda fur- 
 rfendered in fo lhameful a manner that 
 treachery was generally fufpected, but 
 Williamftadt made a ftout defence under 
 the brave old General Count Botzlaer. 
 Miranda, a refugee Creole Spaniard, at- 
 tacked Maeftricht, and fummoned the ma- 
 
 giftrates
 
 giftrates to furrender, with a proclamation. 
 as full of fanguinary threats as if he had 
 been fighting under his old countryman, 
 the Duke of Alva. To fay that Maef- 
 tricht was bombarded is faying nothing ex- 
 traordinary ; it is one of the dreadful rights 
 of war; but it is remarkable how vehe- 
 mently the French inveighed againft the 
 Duke Albert for bombarding Liile, and 
 how little they have mewn themfelves dif- 
 pofed to alleviate the rigour of the martial 
 law. The fcene was however deftined to 
 be quickly altered. Clairfait, Cobourg, 
 and the Auftrians had recovered their cou- 
 rage, and on the ift of March crofted the 
 little river Roer, and carried the enemy's 
 entrenchments. They drove the French 
 from Aix-la-Chapelle and Liege, and 
 obliged Dumourier to abandon his inva- 
 fion of Holland. On the 1 8th of March he 
 attacked the Auftrians at Nerwinde, was de- 
 feated, retired, blaming Miranda, (who on 
 his fide blamed Dumourier) and was obliged 
 to evacuate Brabant as rapidly as he had 
 conquered it, whilft the inhabitants re- 
 ceived the Auftrians with fuch joy, that it 
 did not fcem likely that they would fo 
 4 ' tamely
 
 ( a86 ) 
 
 tamely have admitted the French in another 
 year. This fudden change of fortune is 
 greatly to be attributed to the bad difcipline 
 of the troops, and the feditious fpirit they 
 had imbibed from the orators of the Jaco- 
 bin clubs. 
 
 Dumourier reduced to defpair, and know- 
 ing that his head would be forfeited, wrote 
 a long letter to the convention, reproach- 
 ing them with their injuflice towards the 
 Braban9ons, .and begun to negotiate fecret- 
 ly with the Auftrians. The convention 
 fent Bournonville, Camus, and fome 
 others, to feize Dumourier ; he delivered 
 them up to Cobourg, and endeavoured to 
 perfuade his whole army to follow him to 
 Paris and reftore the poor infant king with 
 the conftitution of 1791. The attempt 
 failed, Dumourier was obliged to go over 
 to the Auftrians with one or two faithful 
 regiments : his prior negotiations enfured 
 him his liberty, but he has ever fince lived 
 moft reluctantly in a ftate of exile and ob- 
 fcurity. The eldeft fon of the Duke of 
 Orleans accompanied him in his flight, an 
 event which accelerated the final ruin of the 
 
 father.
 
 father. His money was at laft exhaufted, 
 and his influence perifhed with it ; he was 
 committed to prifon with moil of his af- 
 fociates, and never regained his liberty. 
 
 To relate all the events of this aftonifh- 
 ingly varied war, is the province of regu- 
 lar hiflory, not of an eflay. I fhall only 
 make fome remarks upon this memorable 
 epoch, and upon the cenfures thrown on 
 the conduct of the allies. 
 
 Dumourier, in his Memoires, and almoft 
 all the emigrants of every party, have fe- 
 verely blamed the Prince of Cobourg for 
 withdrawing the proclamation publifhed at 
 at the moment when Dumourier hoped tc* 
 have drawn over all his army to attack the 
 convention. This proclamation declared, 
 that his fovereign did not intend to make 
 conquefts in France, but that the Auftrian 
 troops fhould only act as auxiliaries to Du- 
 mourier. After the utter ruin of Dumou- 
 rier's hopes, a meeting was held at Ant- 
 werp amongft the minifters of the coalefced 
 powers, a fecond proclamation annulled tt^ 
 firft, and exprefled a defign of keeping 
 
 fuch
 
 fuch places as were taken by way of indem- 
 nity. Dumourier* profeffes that upon this 
 change of plan, he declared to the Prince 
 of Cobourg that he could not with honor 
 ferve againft France, defired and received 
 afTurances of protection for his unhappy 
 followers, and obtained a paflport for his 
 fafe retreat. 
 
 An author, who beyond all others truly 
 predicted the confequences of the revo- 
 lution, but who never was very favour- 
 able to England, Mallet-du-Pan, has, in a 
 late pamphlet, gone fo far in his cenfures,*f- 
 as to fay that on the firft proclamation, the 
 interior parts of France themfelves had be- 
 gun to ftir, when it was immediately re- 
 pealed by a fecond. To fhevv the exagge- 
 ration of this ftatement, it is fufficient to 
 ob ferve, that the firft proclamation was 
 figned on the 5th of April, and the next at 
 no longer diflance than the 9th, and that in 
 thefe four days interval, all that could pof- 
 (ibly have reached the ears of the allies, 
 
 , * See Dumourier's Memoires, pages 200 to 205. 
 
 t See the Firft Part of Mallet's Correfpondence 
 fur^la Revolution. 
 
 was
 
 was the total failure of Dumourier's influ- 
 ence over his army, and the horror with 
 which the news of his attempt to march 
 againft the convention was (to all appear- 
 ance) received in France. Since the firit 
 proclamation appeared to have had no effect 
 to fway the minds of Frenchmen, it could 
 not be expected that the allies fliould con- 
 tinue bound by it during the whole war, 
 and renounce the power of acting as cir- 
 cumitances might direct. 
 
 There is reafon to believe that Auftria 
 had no intention to make conquefts during 
 the king's life. There is as much reafon 
 to think that the king only defired fuch 
 amendments in the conflitution as fufficed 
 to render it lefs heterogeneous. It is a 
 prefumption in his favour, that whilft he 
 lived, Peltier in the various numbers of his 
 Tableau de Paris, did not fpeak of entirely 
 reftoring the old conftitution, and in fome 
 paflages rather commended the king for 
 fludying latterly the works of the *mo- 
 
 * Monarchians or monarchifts : the party who 
 wanted a King and Two Houfes of Parliament. 
 
 U narchian
 
 / 490 ) 
 
 narchian writers, Mounicr, Malouet, 
 Necker, Sec. But the moment that his 
 fate was certain, a new tone was given to 
 that publication, and nothing was more in- 
 fitted on, than the impoflibility of govern- 
 ing France with a reprefentative aiTembly. 
 For thofe principles I ever muft blame that 
 writer, and moft others who defended the 
 caufe of the early royalift emigrants. 
 
 It feems as if it was the intention of the 
 republicans to make their party defperate, 
 by cutting off the only man whofe gentle 
 temper could have given probability to a 
 reconciliation and a limited monarchy, 
 and thus to put the French nation between 
 the alternatives of defpotic power, the lofs 
 of feme provinces, or a triumphant ambi- 
 tious republic. They killed their king on 
 the fame principle that Cortez burnt his 
 ihips when he landed with five hundred 
 Spaniards to overturn the powerful empire 
 of Mexico, and it is grievous to reflect how 
 often the expedients of defpair are fuccefs- 
 ful. This is a fevere leffon to theorifts 
 who begin revolutions upon fancied prin- 
 ciples of humanity, and generally find, too 
 
 late,
 
 late, that murder is necefTary to make them 
 effectual . Had the unfortunate Lewis 
 been ftill alive, perhaps the proclamation 
 mould not have been recalled, but the cafe 
 was now a very different one. A good 
 Frenchman might have thought it his duty 
 to releafe and reftore the king, and yet have 
 hefitated at taking up arms to fet a helplefs 
 infant on the throne, with a regency inftant- 
 ly difputed between a hated queen, two 
 hated princes, and Dumourier h^mfelf, or 
 any other ambitious general. As a defpe- 
 rate refource it was right to try whether 
 Dumourier's fcheme could put an end to 
 this ruinous war, but it did not promife 
 much happinefs or" quiet to any party. 
 What was the conftitution he propofed to 
 reftore ? The impracticable conftitution of 
 1791, that infociable, intolerant conftitution 
 which declared every nation enflaved in 
 which fubordination of rank, or diftinc- 
 tion of birth exifted in the leaft degree; 
 that conftitution which by the means of 
 clubs had fent its emifTaries every where to 
 ftir up the rich againft the noble, and the 
 poor againft the rich; that conftitution 
 which allowed and applauded deputations 
 U 2 openly
 
 openly received from the malcontents of 
 all other countries, and during whofe ihort 
 exigence as much infolence had been utter- 
 ed, and as many principles favourable to 
 French ambition afiertecl, as in the whole 
 reign of Lewis the Fourteenth. If Du- 
 mourier had attempted any alterations, 
 which Mallet-du-Pan feems to hint, it 
 would have been faid plaufibly enough, 
 that no emendations could take place during 
 a minority, and a new war might have re- 
 commenced on that fcore. And who was 
 Dumourier himfelf that the allies could 
 trufl him ? The firebrand of all Europe ! 
 however he may difguife the fact in his 
 Memoires ; the man who had fpared no 
 pains to revive the deadly malice of the 
 French againfl Auftria ;* and worft of all, 
 the man who flill lay under the imputa- 
 tion of wifliing not to protect the young 
 king, but to fet up the infamous Duke of 
 Orleans. 
 
 Had the royalift and confHtutional par- 
 ties at that critical moment laid afide their 
 
 * I do not pretend to decide how far thofe fufpi- 
 cion$ were juft, but only mention their exiftence, 
 
 mutual
 
 mutual hatred, acknowledged that their 
 faults had been reciprocal, and their pre- 
 tenfions ' exaggerated ; had they agreed to 
 revife and alter the nrft erroneous conftitu- 
 tion as foon as the young king's title was 
 generally acknowledged France and Eu- 
 rope might flill have been happy. But 
 each fide remained inflexible, and above 
 all, the princes and their royalift emigrants. 
 Perhaps after fuch mutual injuries ; to ex- 
 pect fuch moderate behaviour was to de- 
 mand too much from human frailty ! but 
 if fo melancholy a reflection be true, the 
 impracticability of a reconciliation made it 
 impoflible to place the lawful heir upon the 
 throne of France. The emigrants could 
 leaft of all fuppofe that England would 
 exhauft her blood and treafure to reftore 
 the French royal family precifely to their 
 former fituation. Auftria had a direct 
 perfonal intereft in their reiteration, Eng- 
 land could only have a very indirect one 
 indeed ! for as long as the houfe of Bour- 
 bon pofTefTed the leaf! power, it had ufed it 
 to our detriment ; we might hope their mif- 
 fortunes had taught them prudence, but we 
 could not be fo fure of their reformation as 
 U i to
 
 to rifque tnuch in their caufe. Befldes, 
 had the emigrants ever confidered how 
 deeply the abhorrence of the old conftitu- 
 tion of France was rooted in the minds of 
 Englilhmen? Many emigrants who ufed 
 that expreflion did not indeed mean defpo- 
 tifm, but a certain idea they had formed 
 of a conftitution which exifted in France 
 before Lewis the Eleventh firft introduced 
 tyrannical power. But this was too fubtle 
 a diftinction for John Bull to comprehend. 
 He had been told for ages, fometimes by 
 government, fometimes by opposition, that 
 the constitution of France was all that was 
 ihocking and wicked; a few months were 
 not fufficient to efface that idea, and any 
 minifter who had talked of reiloring it 
 could never have flood the clamour that 
 would have been raifed. We have feen 
 Mr. Pitt's popularity weakened by the im- 
 putation of fuch a project thrown on him, 
 I believe unjuftly, by the opposition. 
 John Bull would readily fight to enfeeble 
 France, but not to en/lave it, (at leaft, in 
 bis opinion en/lave it) becaufe his rumina- 
 ting brain would foon imagine that bis own 
 turn was to come next. This is not faid 
 
 with
 
 with a view to introduce idle pleafantry 
 on fo ferious a fubjed:, but to ftate a 
 real matter of fad:. If the emigrants 
 would inquire how much the Quebec bill 
 added unpopularity to the American war, 
 becaufe it was circulated that Lord North 
 intended to govern America upon French 
 laws and principles, they would have a 
 jufter idea of the embarraffments that a 
 minifler has to encounter from the fpirit of 
 the Englifh nation. What, then, remain- 
 ed in fo perplexing a fituation ? To endea- 
 vour to confine the Jacobin fury within the 
 limits of France, and, for that purpofe, to 
 weaken that iron frontier which enabled 
 France, not fo much to defend herfelf, as to 
 carry fword and fire into the heart of Eu- 
 rope without fear of retaliation. To do 
 what had been left undone by the peace of 
 Utrecht, and what Lord Bolingbroke fo 
 heavily laments that he was di fabled from 
 doing. His own words, quoted in a former 
 page, may be referred to, for they are fo 
 much to the purpofe that nothing can be 
 added to them. I will even coincide with 
 kis fentiment, that it would have been wrong 
 ip have afked France to " facrifice more 
 U 4 " than
 
 " than was necefTary for the future fecuriry 
 " of her neighbours."* England, who in 
 tbe.laft age had fuffered from carrying her 
 views againft Spain too far, ought to have 
 interfered if a real difmemberment like that 
 of Poland had been propofed. Diis aliter 
 vifum ! 
 
 But though the emigrants born French- 
 men, and Mallet-du-Pan bred up in France, 
 snay think this fcheme a project of ambi- 
 tion, to Englishmen and Germans it muft 
 appear much rather a project of felf-de- 
 fence. Poland had not deferved to fufYer, 
 becaufe it had not for at leaft an hundred 
 3nd fifty years attacked any European 
 power, nor ever attempted to impofe its 
 own constitution on its neighbours fword 
 in hand. The provocations given by 
 France are evident, and .yet fo flrong is the 
 power of a name, that thofe unlucky 
 words, old covjlitution and partition , have 
 cad an odium on a fcheme, which if our 
 
 * Some pamphlets went too far in their fchemes of 
 retrenchment, ftich as, for inftance, Playfai.r'sThoughts 
 on P'rench Politics, 1793. 
 
 3 own
 
 own and the Auftrian miniftry had always 
 prefented under its antient name of a bar- 
 rier ^ no Englimmen could have condemned 
 without condemning almoft all thofe men 
 whom we have been ufed to efteem as pa- 
 triotic, wife, or great. 
 
 It may eafily be faid now, that our fplen- 
 did hopes have ended in difappointment, 
 that having once refcued Holland and Flan- 
 ders from France, we ought in prudence to 
 have fat down contented, and avoided all 
 further expences and dangers by making 
 peace with the convention. But on a re- 
 trofpective view it would be difficult to find 
 in all the fleeting months and days in 1793, 
 an hour in which peace could have been 
 honourably offered to the convention, and 
 flill lefs an hour in which the rulers of 
 France would have liftened to terms of 
 peace diftreiTed and endangered as they 
 were. An hereditary king would probably 
 have fent offers to his enemies, but heredi- 
 tary kiqgs feldom fight with the wild energy 
 of defpair.
 
 During the months of April, May, and 
 June, the convention was in fuch a dif or- 
 dered Situation, that it was impofTible to 
 know what authority could be applied to : 
 and there appeared great reafon to hope 
 that although monarchy might not be re- 
 ftored, yet this wicked, ambitious conven- 
 tion, which had declared war againft all 
 exifting government, would be deftroyed 
 by the very hands which ha.d raifed it. 
 The divisions grew every day more violent 
 between the Girondin party and the Jaco- 
 bins, fupported by the ufurping municipa- 
 lity of Paris. Briflbt, who in his Preface 
 tp his Travels in America, had hypocriti- 
 cally lamented that merchants and bankers 
 would think themfelves fuperior to artifans, 
 was now grown the protector of bankers 
 and rich men, and was writing vigoroufly 
 againft the feel: of levellers who were 
 making a daily progrefs, and againft the 
 influence of the rabble of Paris. In his 
 famous Addrefs to his Conflituents, he 
 loudly tells them that foreign powers 
 " will not treat with a convention that is 
 " every day dragged through theduft, and 
 " with an executive power continually de- 
 
 " nounced,
 
 *' nounced, humiliated, and tottering. 1 " 
 He goes fo far as to hint that the convention 
 ihould either quit Paris, or take into its 
 own hands the government of that city, an 
 opinion which probably contributed to the 
 unpopularity of the Girondins amongft the 
 Parifians.* 
 
 The fet of Girondin minifters who had 
 been replaced after the loth of Auguft, 
 were weeded cut one by one, beginning by 
 Roland, whofe homilies on public virtue 
 foon grew as wearifome to the convention 
 as thofe of Neckar upon moderation had 
 grown to the conftituent aflembly, and he 
 was mocked at as a weak old man, go- 
 verned by his wife, who wrote fpeeches 
 and reports under his name. The Jacobins 
 now intended to purge the convention of 
 its Girondin members, and did not want 
 for writers (amongft whom Camilles Def- 
 moulins diftinguifhed himfelf by a work 
 called Les Briffotins) to retaliate the arms 
 of farcafm and invecftiveagainil their adver- 
 laries. As the latter appealed to the de- 
 
 * See Briflbt's Addrefs, page 156, 157. 
 
 partments
 
 partments againft the injuftice of the Pari- 
 iians, fo the Jacobins invented a new op- 
 probrious epithet of Fcderalifts, and fup- 
 pofed that the Girondins intended to make 
 every department an independent fbve- 
 reignty, refembling the Thirteen States of 
 North America. The majority of the con- 
 vention was alarmed at the dark plots that 
 feemed preparing, and formed a committee 
 to examine into the conduct of the muni- 
 cipality. On the 3<Dth of May an armed 
 mob intimidated the affembly into a revo- 
 cation of that committee: on the 311!:, the 
 train bands of Paris, under the command 
 of Henri ot, marched againft the conven- 
 tion, (as they had formerly marched againft 
 the king) and petitioned for a decree of 
 arreft againft thirty-five members of the 
 Girondin- party. The frightened and irre- 
 fokite affembly referred this petition to the 
 3d of June, and on that day the terrors of 
 fhe Partfian army finally prevailed, as many 
 of the deputies as had not efcaped were 
 fhrown into prifon, and thofe who pro-, 
 fefted againft the violence were turned out 
 from their feats. 
 
 This
 
 This revolution did not pafs over with as 
 little oppoiition as the others had done: 
 Pethion, Barbaroux, and feveral other 
 Girondins, retired into Normandy, and 
 prepared for a civil war. It was preceded 
 by a lingular event, which feemed to realize 
 the fcenes of tragedy and romance. Marat, 
 that villain, who from the year 1789, had 
 never ceafed to ftir up the people to blood- 
 died and rapine, was affaflinated by a young 
 woman, Charlotte Corde, who devoted 
 herfelf to certain death to rid her country 
 of a monfter. It is difficult at firfl fight 
 not to be dazzled with her heroifm ; but 
 when we examine this event with unpreju- 
 diced eyes, we fhall find, that like all other 
 affailinations, it aggravated the crimes of 
 the furvivors, and anfvvered no end but to 
 make them hunger and third for the blood 
 of their enemies. 
 
 The infurreclion in Normandy was 
 quickly fuppreft, but in Poitou and Brittany 
 the genuine royal ifts took advantage of 
 thefe troubles to kindle the civil war of La 
 Vendee amongft the peafants, irritated to 
 madnefs at the cruelty with which their 
 
 priefts
 
 priefts bad been treated. At tbe fame time 
 Lyons, Marfeilles, and Toulon, prepared 
 for their defence againft the levellers. The 
 wealthy merchants had dilcovered too late 
 that if you preach equality to the poor and 
 ignorant, they will underfland it to mean 
 equality of property. At Lyons, fome 
 royalirls joined the discontented men of 
 property, and they bravely prepared them- 
 felves to fupport a regular fiege. 
 
 It would have been too humilating to 
 have fued for peace to a country fo divided, 
 and to a party fo infamous as that of the 
 levellers ; and belides, there ftill remained 
 many countries conquered, and re-united 
 under the maik of their falfe principles, 
 and till thefe were all taken from them, the 
 mifchief of the example was not done 
 away. Unfortunately, the Germans pro- 
 ceeded with their ufual ilownefs. The 
 whole months of April, May, June, and 
 July were confumed by the Auftrians in 
 furrounding, befieging, and taking (in all 
 due forms of war) the towns of Conde and 
 Valenciennes. The King of Pruffia out- 
 did his old rivals in flownefs, and though 
 
 he
 
 ( 3^3 ) 
 
 he had driven Cuftine from Francfort da- 
 ring the winter, he did not retake Mentz 
 (an important objcd of the war) till July 
 the 2 jd. Savoy and Nice ftill remained, 
 and though they might appear of lefs im- 
 portance than Flanders and Germany, yet 
 there was nothing in the character and 
 condud of the King of Sardinia, which 
 authorized the allies to leave him the vic- 
 tim of a war which he had not provoked. 
 Very unfortunately the Aufhian and Pied- 
 montefe expedition againft Savoy proved 
 unfucccefsful, the forces employed not be- 
 ing fufficiently numerous. So that there 
 never exifted a moment in which the allies 
 had regained all that France had unjurtly 
 ufurped, and could have offered her peace, 
 on condition of reverting to her old limits, 
 therefore all the arguments grounded on the 
 fuppofition of fuch a moment fall to the 
 ground. But the rulers of France were 
 not difpofed to accede to fuch terms, for 
 in the month of Auguft, when Savoy was 
 threatened, it was folemnly affirmed in the 
 convention, that it was an integral part of 
 France, and never could be yielded, and 
 the commemoration of the loth of Auguft 
 
 was
 
 was attended by deputies from the eighty- 
 fix departments, which included moil of 
 the conquered countries.* 
 
 
 
 The civil war in the fouth did not turn 
 out favourably to the men of property. 
 Marfeilles was forced to fubmit to all the 
 horrors of levelling tyranny on the 25th of 
 Auguft, and the adminiftrators of Toulon, 
 in defpair, put their town into the hands of 
 the Englifh immediately after, declaring 
 that they acknowledged the conftitution of 
 1791, and the young Lewis XVII. This 
 treaty was the hafty work of a moment that 
 allowed no time for deliberation ; it would 
 have appeared folly in Admiral Hood not to 
 have profited of fo unexpected an offer, 
 and yet it embarraffed our future conduct 
 with new difficulties. We could not make 
 peace with the convention till we had feen 
 whether other towns in the fouth of France 
 would follow the example of Toulon, nor 
 could we abandon, its wretched inhabitants 
 without making fome efforts in their de- 
 fence. We had not tempted them, indeed, 
 
 * See Lord Mornington's Speech. 
 
 to
 
 ( 305 } 
 
 to revolt, as oppofition has fometimes 
 hinted, we found them engaged in a civil 
 war, but they had called us in to protect 
 them from death, and we were bound to 
 afford them protection. Lyons made a 
 noble reii fiance, but was compelled to fur- 
 render on the 8th of October, and the hor- 
 rid cruelties exercifed by Collot d'Herbois 
 and other jacobins, not over courtiers and 
 nobles, but over merchants and manufac- 
 turers, are fo mocking that the mind recoils 
 from the recital with horror. It is fuffi- 
 cient to (hew how naturally democracy 
 leads to favage ay ! WK&Jkimjb levelling, 
 in fpite of Mr. Burke 's opponents, that 
 fome of the nobleft works of architecture 
 were ordered to be deftroyed becaufe they 
 had been the houfes of the rich malcon- 
 tents, and it was propofed to erect a column 
 with this infcription, " Lyons has revolted 
 44 againft liberty, Lyons is no more !"* 
 
 * The democracy of Athens encouraged the arts, 
 but not till Pericles had aflumed almoft monarchical 
 authority, and he has been cenfured for mifleading the 
 people into arts of luxury. Similar remarks may be 
 made ou Florence and the Medici family. 
 
 X Had
 
 (306 ) 
 
 Had the expedition againft Savoy fuc- 
 ceeded, this devoted city might have been 
 faved, and fome great change in affairs 
 might have happened, but the blame of 
 that failure mufl lay upon the Auftrians 
 and Piedmontefe and can, in no refpect, 
 be imputed to the Englifh. 
 
 Our councils are, perhaps, more liable 
 to blame for permitting the Duke of York 
 to feparate from the Prince of Cobourg, 
 after the taking of Valenciennes, and at- 
 tempting the fiege of Dunkirk with the 
 Englifh. and Hanoverians. But the pof- 
 feflion of Dunkirk was, at all times, con- 
 fidered as a meafure fo calculated to fecure 
 our commerce, that the people of England 
 ought, in juftice, to excufe this error in the 
 conduct of minifters. We were repulfed, 
 however, at Dunkirk, and from that time the 
 tide of affairs began to turn in favour of 
 the French, who made incurfions into 
 Flanders, which, if they did not entirely 
 fucceed, tended to revive their hopes of 
 that great object, the conqueft of Flanders. 
 Danton, very foon after the republic was 
 effoblifhed, fpoke out, and told all Europe, 
 
 that
 
 ( 307 ) 
 
 that nature herfelf had decreed that France 
 fhould extend to the Alps, the Rhine, and 
 the ocean, the very project (up po fed to 
 have been formed by Richelieu. Many 
 other fpeakers and orators aiTerted this 
 newly difcovered law of nature, * amongft 
 them Public ola Chaujfard, in his Memo? res 
 Hijloriques et Politiqucs fur la Revolution 
 dc la Belgique, and the extravagaat Ana- 
 charfis Cloots, who, during this autumn, 
 got one of his pamphlets to be circulated by 
 the Jacobin ^lub, called Revolutionary 
 Diplomatics,* written, amongft other pur- 
 pofes, to prove that France ought not to 
 purchafe peace 'by facrificing the Nether- 
 lands. Nothing, in the mean while t 
 could exceed the violence of the threats and 
 invectives which were continually poured 
 upon the whole Englifh nation : it was an 
 ufual figure of fpeech to compare Paris to 
 Rome, and London to Carthage, and 
 delendaejl Carthago was as much the motto 
 of Barrere as ever it had been of Cato the 
 cenfor. 
 
 * See GifFord's Anfwer to Lord Lauderdale and 
 Lord Mornington's Speech. 
 
 X 2 Towards
 
 Towards the end of the year the Ger- 
 mans made another effort on the fide of Al- 
 face; Marmal Wurmfer forced the lines 
 of Weiflemburg, and the Pruflians at- 
 tempted the blockade pf Landau. Some 
 blame the flovvnefs of Wurmfer, both in 
 his military career, and in his private ne- 
 gotiations with the malcontents, but 
 whatever was the caufe, the whole enter- 
 prife failed, the repeated attacks of the 
 French dr,ove the Germans from Alface in 
 the month of December, and in the fame 
 month the Englim were forced to evacuate 
 Toulon. The defence of that place had, 
 from neceffity, been entrufted to a mixed 
 collection of troops, Englim, Spaniards, 
 Neapolitans, Piedmontefe, and there too 
 little of the blame can lie upon the Eng- 
 lim; the allies firft gave way, the fur- 
 rounding forts were taken, and nothing 
 was left for the Englifh but to deftroy trie 
 fliips and bring away the inhabitants. 
 
 We have been blamed for not fuccouring 
 
 the infurgents in the Vendee, but the chiefs 
 
 in that country were never united amongft 
 
 thernfelves, nor were they mailers of a fpot 
 
 4 - on
 
 ( 309 ) 
 
 on the fea coaft where ammunition mighf 
 be landed. They did make an attempt to 
 reach the fea during the autumnal months, 
 but the peafants grew fo jealous, that their 
 leaders meant to efcape by means of Englifh 
 veflels, as to force them to return into the 
 heart of the country. That whole war 
 bears a ftrong refemblance to the war of the 
 proteftants in the Cevennes in L.ewis the 
 Fourteenth's time, and in nothing more, 
 than in that pertinacious obftinacy in mif- 
 take which firfl kindled it, and in the hor- 
 rid cruelty with which it has been carried 
 on . It may ftand on record as one of the 
 inftances in which popular aflemblies have 
 imitated the errors of defpots. Another 
 melancholy proof was furnimed by all thefe- 
 tranfactions of the impoflibility of reftoring 
 monarchy, whilft the friends of monarchy 
 arc fo difunited. The Vendeans and the 
 Toulonefe profefled fuch different princi- 
 ples in religion and government, that if 
 they had conquered the republicans, they 
 would have been ready to commence a ci- 
 vil war with each other. 
 
 X 3 A meJan-
 
 A melancholy change had taken place 
 in the ftate of affairs previous to the 
 year 1794. The Jacobins had affected 
 to fatisfy the people with a very demo- 
 cratical conftitution voted in the fummer 
 of 1793, which, in feveral cafes, gave 
 a right of controuling the legiflature to 
 the primary alTemblies. But it never was 
 put in execution, not even for a day; the 
 convention deferred it till peace mould be 
 reftored, and, in the mean time, eftablifhed 
 the executive power of two committees of 
 fafety, who governed with all the tyranny of 
 of a Moorifh divan, and who had an evi- 
 dent interefl: to prolong the w r ar, which was 
 neceffary to prolong their exigence. 
 
 The unhappy queen was treated with 
 the moft ftudied infult and cruelty by the 
 villains who prefided in the municipality of 
 Paris, and at laft dragged her to a mock trial, 
 and execution, which me fuffered with 
 that firmnefs which had always marked her 
 character; a character formed by nature 
 for virtue and heroifrrv though fatally led 
 aftray by the force of bad example. 
 
 In
 
 ( 3" ) 
 
 In the enfuing winter, they continued 
 their butchery of the royal family by exe- 
 cuting the virtuous Elizabeth, fifter to the 
 late king, a princefs on whom calumny 
 itfelf had never prefumed to affix a ftam. 
 This action may be reckoned among/I the 
 moft black, becaufe the moft unneceffary of 
 all Jacobinical crimes. An execution which 
 preceded it by fome months had more of 
 *' neceility the tyrant's plea" to urge in 
 its defence. The execution, I mean of 
 BriiTot and his colleagues,* thofe men 
 who, by their own confeflion, had kindled 
 the flames of foreign and domeftic war, 
 perifhed unlamented, by good men at lead, 
 amidft the conflagration they had raifed, 
 and all the reproaches they had heaped 
 upon royalifts and conftitutionals were 
 retorted on their own heads by the Jaco- 
 bins, But it was impoffible for the gen- 
 tleft fpirit to refrain from what Beattie finely 
 calls *f* " the ftifled fmile of flern vindictive 
 
 * falfait declarer la guerre. Thofe words of Briflbt 
 never fhould be forgot. 
 
 t In the firft part of his Minftrel, when Edwin 
 hears the children in the wood, and the punifhment of 
 the cruel uncle. 
 
 x 4 "joy."
 
 " Jy>" wr *en the Duke of Orleans fol- 
 " lo'wed his victims to the grave, and gave 
 an awful example to princes how they 
 fuffer refentment to hurry them into the 
 cabals of dark, malicious confpirators. 
 Another awful example was foon after 
 given to men of fcience in the lefs merited 
 fate of Bailly, who, for having ordered La 
 Fayette to fire upon the infurgents in the 
 Champ de Mars, was dragged to execu- 
 tion amidft unufual and aggravated infults, 
 more bitter than the aftual ftroke of death. 
 Nor were the military more refpeded than 
 other ranks of life. Cuftinc, who had 
 invaded Germany, Houchard, who re- 
 pulfed the Englim. from Dunkirk, were 
 condemned to death becaufe they had not 
 always been victorious. Many perfons 
 thought the convention would never again 
 find generals to ferve them, but, on the 
 contrary, the French fuccefles feemed to 
 prove that men never fight fo bravely, as 
 when they know that conqueft or death is 
 their only alternative. A new flile of 
 taclks was introduced, every general was 
 ordered to attack inceflantly, to pay no re- 
 gard to the lives of his foldiers, and if re- 
 
 pulfed
 
 3'3 ) 
 
 pulfed one day, to return to the charge the 
 next. As the Jacobins were now trium- 
 phant, it was their intereft to reftore that 
 difcipline which their popular artifices had 
 deftroyed, and for that purpofe the com- 
 miflaries of the convention who attended 
 the armies, inftituted a code in which the 
 flighted offences were punifhed with death.* 
 
 The campaign of 1794 opened, there- 
 fore, under very different aufpices from the 
 laft. I leave to the hiftorian the painful talk 
 of defcribing minutely, how the great work 
 of conquering Flanders and Holland which 
 Lewis XIV. had failed in, was achieved 
 by thefe enthufiaftic republicans. The firft 
 events of the campaign did not appear fa- 
 vourable to the French. Landrecies was 
 taken on the ift of May, but that town, 
 which had been the boundary of Prince 
 Eugene's exploits, proved alfo the limits 
 of victory to the prefent allies. Such mul- 
 titudes poured into Flanders, firft on the 
 fide of Lifle, and then of Charleroi, that 
 Belgia was once more completely over-run. 
 
 * See David's Account of Pichegru's Campaign. 
 
 Thofe
 
 ( 314 ) 
 
 Thofe fortified towns taken from the 
 French, Conde and Valenciennes, attempted 
 fome refiftance, when Robefpierre, who 
 had already been the author of an execrable 
 decree, ordering no quarter to be given to 
 Englifh. and Hanoverians, paiTed another, 
 declaring that thofe garrifons fhould meet 
 with no quarter if they refilled to the lafh 
 Whether fear or treachery determined a 
 furrender, I will not pretend to fay, but 
 they opened their gates to the French after 
 a very flight oppofition, in the beginning of 
 September, juft at the time it was hoped 
 that Clairfait would have advanced to their 
 relief. The Aufrrians on one fide, the 
 Dutch and Englifh on the other, were 
 -driven, ftep by ftep, beyond the Rhine, 
 the Meufe, and the Wahl, and even thefe 
 rivers proved ineffectual barriers. 
 
 There cart be little doubt but that fecret 
 difcord and difunion contributed to the re- 
 peated lofTes of the allies. England was 
 the only power whofe arms had been in 
 any degree crowned with fuccefs during 
 .that eventful year. We had gained, on 
 the firftof June, a glorious naval victory 
 in the ocean, our fleet in the Mediterranean 
 
 had,
 
 had, after the evacuation of Toulon, taken 
 Corflca from France, which, poffibly, 
 might give umbrage to Spain. But our 
 conquefts in the Weft Indies certainly dif- 
 pleafed the Auftrians, who began to think 
 that they were fighting for empty glory, 
 whilft England ran away with the profit. 
 And yet thofe conquefts were forced upon 
 
 us by a kind of neceffity. Had Mr. Pitt 
 been that Machiavelian ftatefman which the 
 French pretend to think him, he might, 
 in the Autumn of 1792, have difpatched a 
 fleet to the Weft Indies, and, perhaps, 
 have received the voluntary fubmiffion of 
 the then exifting adminiftrations who feared 
 the new republic, leaft it fhould do what 
 Robefpierre at laft accomplifhed in the be- 
 ginning of 1 794, not only declare the blacks 
 free, but put the government into their 
 hands, for the exprefs purpofe of ruining 
 the Englim iflands. So far from being 
 very eager for Weft Indian conquefts, Mr. 
 Pitt's chief fault has been not fending 
 
 ; troops early enough to fecure our pofleffions. 
 The'lofs of Guadeloupe, fo foon after it 
 was taken, fhook our empire in the weft, 
 
 ' but yet a dangerous impreffion was made, 
 
 and
 
 ( 3-6 ) 
 
 and ftill was fixed in the hearts of our 
 allies. The artifices of the French have 
 ever been employed to make the conti- 
 nental powers jealous of our extenfive trade 
 and increafing wealth ; and they wilfully 
 fhut their eyes to this truth, that it is the 
 wealth of England which has fo frequently 
 hindered all the neighbouring ftates from 
 becoming provinces to France. Old Tories 
 and modern republicans may aik why we 
 have thus employed our wealth ? 1 lhall 
 only anfwer, that notwithftanding our juft 
 confidence in our marine, yet moft perilous 
 will be that day, when France, miftrefs 
 of all the weft of Enrope, can turn with- 
 out interruption its united force upon 
 England. 
 
 The only -event amidft the miferies of the 
 European world, from which humanity 
 could derive any confolation, was the fall 
 of Robefpierre. He, and his aflbciates, 
 had carried on the government for many 
 months with that defpotic energy which 
 can never be fafely exerted, but when the 
 people in the vain hopes of equality, have 
 been deceived into giving unbounded power 
 
 to
 
 to their favourites. The French armies had 
 ever fince the fummer of 1793, been re- 
 cruited by compulfory requifitions of all the 
 young men in France, and fed by requi- 
 iitions of all the grain and cattle of the 
 farmers. A meafure was purfued, which 
 will probably ever be the darling meafure 
 of a majority, whofe votes, according to 
 the metaphyfical rights of nature, are 
 afcertained by numbers, not by property. 
 Under the name of Loi du Maximum, a 
 fixed price was put upon all neceflary 
 articles, and to the aftonifhment of the 
 poor, their diflrefles only increafed hourly, 
 and it was difcovered that thefovereign ma- 
 jority may be in the wrong and the minority 
 in the right. Wealth became a crime as an 
 oppreffion of the poor, and an invasion 
 of natural equality. Some of Mr. Burke's 
 predictions were fully verified ; and the 
 rich men of the world, who had laughed 
 at the fudden poverty offof monks, and lazy 
 canons y found that their own innoxious 
 indolence expofed them to a fimilar fate. 
 They were called neutrals, indifferents, 
 moderates, and declared to be amongft 
 thofe fufpected perfons whom the revolu- 
 tionary
 
 tionary committees had the power to im- 
 prifon. 
 
 Revolutionary tribunals were eftablifhed 
 upon principles of arbitrary decifion that a 
 Tiberius would fcarce have invented : the 
 eftates of their victims were confifcated to 
 fupport the immenfe expences of the war, 
 or prop the falling credit of the French 
 affignats : and Robefpierre coolly faid, that 
 the guillotine coined money. The lift of 
 refpectable victims to this unprecedented 
 fyftematic cruelty would fill whole volumes, 
 but every good man muft diftinguifh 
 amongft them the excellent Maleiherbes. 
 His unblemimed and patriotic character 
 had induced Lewis XVI. early in his reign, 
 to folicit the afliftance of his councils. He 
 foon quitted the miniftry, having too clearly 
 difcerned, that the king's -indecifive tem- 
 per, which haftily feized a plaufible fcheme, 
 and as haftily forfook it, rendered it im- 
 poffible for a fteady minifter to ferve him. 
 Retired from public bufinefs, in the hour 
 of his former mafter's extreme diftrefs, when 
 others ihrunk from the laft requeft of the 
 neglected king, Maleiherbes boldly ftoo4 
 
 forth,
 
 forth, and folicited the dangerous honour 
 of pleading his caufe before the convention. 
 This noble exertion made him odious to 
 the Jacobins ; they feized the firil trivial 
 pretence to condemn him, and (as Tacitus 
 fays of Nero when he perfecuted Thra(ea) 
 in deftroymg his perfon, they hoped to 
 deftroy even virtue itfelf. 
 
 Friendship cannot long exift stmongft 
 villains funk into the laft degrading ftage 
 of vice. In the fpring of 1794, Danton 
 and Robefpierre grew jealous of each other, 
 the Cordelier club quarrelled with the 
 Jacobins, and hoped to overturn it (as the 
 Jacobins had overturned the Feuillants) 
 Hebert, procureur of the municipality, 
 headed the former, and Robefpierre the 
 latter party. In this battle between two 
 tigers, Robefpierre prevailed, and Hebert, 
 with many others, were arrefted, fum- 
 marily convicted of treafon, and executed 
 on the 29th of March. His cruelty to 
 the royal family, and his attempts to efta- 
 blifh atheifm, have made his name (if pof- 
 fible) more deteftable than that of Robe- 
 fpiere himfelf. Danton, the moft flern 
 
 and
 
 and courageous of all this herd of villains, 
 with Camille Defmoulins, Fabre d'Eglan^ 
 tine, and others, were arrefted two days 
 afterwards, and executed before they had 
 time to recover from their furprife, and 
 form plans to defend themfelves. Robe- 
 fpierre, fenlible that the atheifm of Hebert 
 was growing unpopular, inftituted a fefti- 
 val in honour of the Supreme Being ; and 
 with an infolence almoft as fcandalous as 
 the others impiety, affected to behave like 
 a high prieft come to reveal the exiftenceof 
 God to a people of favages. But if he 
 did believe in a God, he certainly paid no 
 refpect to the image of God implanted in 
 the foul of man. The guillotine, actuated 
 by his mere will and pleafure, every day 
 devoured more victims, and yet his thirft 
 for blood was unfatisfied. The tyrant of 
 antiquity was now blazing forth in all its 
 horrors ; that character fo little known in 
 modern times, and fo wrongfully con- 
 founded with hereditary monarchs ; that 
 genuine democratic tyrant, whom the dif- 
 contented poor fet over the community to 
 humble the rich, and who ends by involv- 
 ing rich and poor in one univerfal oppref- 
 
 fion.
 
 ( 321 ) 
 
 iion, Robefpierre fpared none of any 
 clafs ; the wealthy financier was fent to the 
 fcaffold, becaufe he might have cheated the 
 public many years before, and the poor 
 ilarving cook-maid was beheaded, becaufe 
 Ihe had ufed anti-revolutionary expreffions.* 
 But the more he flew, the more he grew* 
 afraid of all who furvived j and though he 
 governed at once the convention, the muni- 
 cipality, and the Jacobins, yet he faw a 
 faction rifing againft him in the committee 
 of public fafety. St. Juft and Couthon 
 were devoted to his will, but Barrere, 
 Collot d'Herbois, and Billaud de Varennes 
 formed a fecond triumvirate who fome- 
 times thwarted it, and wifhed to fpare 
 divers members of the convention whom 
 he had devoted. It is pretended, that an 
 accident happened, limilar to that which 
 deftroyed one of his predece/ors in tyranny , 
 the Emperor Commodus. -f- A juryman 
 of the revolutionary tribunal was taken up 
 by the rival triumvirate, on fome caufe of 
 fufpicion ; on him (it is faid) they found a 
 
 * Tenu de$ prtyos anti-revolutlonaircs, were the pre- 
 cife words. 
 
 t See Hiftoire de la Conjuration de Robefpierre. 
 
 Y 1^
 
 lift of Robefpierre 's intended victims, with 
 their own names at the head of the bloody 
 fcroll, and afTuming courage from defpair, 
 they refolved to ftrike the firft blow. On 
 the syth of Auguft, when St. Juft mounted 
 the tribune to denounce to the convention 
 fome more of its members, he was inter- 
 rupted by the moft violent clamours, Tal- 
 lien, Barrere, and Billaud, inveighed againft 
 Robefpierre, and his fupporters, the 
 Jacobins. The convention decreed that 
 Robefpierre, his younger brother, Couthon, 
 St. Juft, and Le Bas, fhould be arrefted. 
 They were fecured, and carried out of the 
 aflembly, but inftead of taking them to 
 prifon, the municipal officers flickered them 
 in the Hotel-de-VilIe, and prepared to de- 
 fend their friends by force of arms. The 
 .event was remarkable, fince for the firft 
 time fince the beginning of the revolution, 
 .the convention got the better of the muni- 
 cipality. Robefpierre and his aflbc'.ates 
 were dragged, wounded, and half-expiring, 
 .to that fcaflbld which they had prepared 
 for others: the man who but three days 
 before was applauded as the moil immacu- 
 late of patriots, was branded unanimously 
 
 for
 
 ( 3*3 ) 
 
 for a tyrant, and the French were obliged* 
 to confefs, that for the laft twelve months 
 they had been the meaneft of Haves. 
 
 Thofe {laves, however, had ftill the 
 honour of having baffled all the coalefced 
 monarchs of Europe ; their new rulers 
 were determined that honour ihould not be 
 forfeited under a milder government, and 
 the events in the eaft of Europe, facilitated 
 their fchemes of conquefl in the weft. 
 
 The revolutions and final partition of 
 Poland belong not to my prefent fubject, 
 any farther, than to give my opinion, that 
 they have been very principal caufes of the 
 failure of the coalition, and to confefs, that 
 whole tran faction to be as melancholy an 
 inftance of the fuccefsful injuftice of kings, 
 as the French is of the fuccefsful injuftice 
 of republicans. During the year 1794* an 
 attempt was made by fome brave and defpe- 
 rate Poles, headed by Kofciufco, to vindi- 
 cate the liberty of Poland, and the French 
 were commonly fuppofed to have treated 
 them, as the Kings of France had often 
 treated the unhappy Scotch Jacobites 
 Y 3
 
 ( 324 ) 
 
 fent them money to begin an infurfedliorf, 
 and afterwards left them to their fate. The 
 King of Pruffia, immediately after re- 
 ceiving a fubfidy from England, withdrew 
 almoft all his troops to defend his ill-ac- 
 quired territories, the few that remained 
 were Stationed on the German frontiers - s 
 and the defence of Holland, which the in* 
 tereft of afifrer, a daughter, and an infant 
 grandfon, called him to undertake, was 
 entirely abandoned, though we had proba- 
 bly given him the fubiidy far that very 
 purpofe. 
 
 In the end of 1 794, the Stadtholder re- 
 duced to defpair, fent miniflers to Paris to 
 treat of peace and neutrality for Holland,. 
 The behaviour of the French on that occa- 
 ilon {hewed that his utter ruin was their 
 decided objed: ; and if England had fent 
 minifters at the 'fame time, they would; 
 have been treated with equal contempt. 
 
 The Dutch envoys were purpofely de- 
 layed on the road, till that uncommon 
 hard froft, which marked the commence- 
 ment of 1795, enabled the French to crofs 
 
 into
 
 into Holland upon the ice, at a period when 
 it was impoffible to inundate the country, 
 and when the nation had loft all its fpirit 
 for defperate refources. The Stadtholder 
 with his family flickered themfelves in 
 England from a fate, perhaps, as cruel as 
 that of Lewis XVI. The friends of France 
 were put into the administration of every 
 province ; and then the envoys were gravely 
 told, that the government which fent them 
 no longer exifted, but if they pleafed they 
 might go to Paris as private men. The 
 French (hewed more moderation in Holland 
 than they had fhewed in Flanders ; they 
 affected to leave the new flates as an inde- 
 pendent republic, but obliged them to fur- 
 render to France Maeftricht, and Dutch 
 Flanders, thofe places fo effential to their 
 barrier the very terms which his wifefl 
 T&counfellors had recommended to Lewis 
 %{V*. in 1762. They alfo compelled them 
 to a treaty of union dcfenfive and offenfive 
 againft England, thus obliging us to deftroy 
 their commerce in the Eaft, or to hazard the 
 destruction of our own, whilft their prince, 
 fo vilified and defamed, would have fe- 
 cured them neutrality, commerce, and 
 Y 3 fafety.
 
 fafety. If at any future time they mould 
 wifh to relieve themfelves from this obliga^ 
 tion of being our enemies, the French are 
 at their doors, and may again over-run 
 their country. In this ftate of humiliation 
 our narrative muft leave the Dutch, only 
 repeating our opinion, that the primary 
 caufe of their ruin may be traced to that 
 uncertainty in their conftitution, which has 
 made them change their forms of govern- 
 ment nearly ten times, in the courfe of 250 
 years.; and that every Hate which follows 
 a iimilar conduct will become a prey to 
 foreign influence, or be condemned t o per 
 petual foreign wars, to divert its reftlefs 
 fpirit from its governors at home. 
 
 Soon after this revolution, the King of 
 PrufTia avowedly deferted the alliance, and 
 the French acknowledged that prince as a 
 friend, who had publifhed the very mani- 
 fefto fo perpetually attacked by declaimers 
 as the caufe of all their crimes, whilft they 
 purfued to deftrudion the inofFeniive Stadt- 
 holder, who always wifhed for neutrality. 
 Put it was the houfe of NafTau which ha^l 
 
 formerly
 
 C 327 ) 
 
 formerly flood in the way of French con- 
 quefts, and not the houfe of Brandenburg ! 
 
 Spain, which had been forced into the war 
 by the Jacobin party, was terrified, and ex- 
 haufled by the conteft, and glad to purchafe 
 peace by the furrender of Hifpaniola. Thus 
 relieved from half their enemies, the French 
 continued their career of victory, took the 
 ftrong fortrefs of Luxemburg early in the 
 fummer, and pufhed their conquefts to the 
 Rhine, whilft the Auftrians looked on, and 
 made no attempt at relieving Luxemburg. 
 Neither did the French for ibme months 
 attempt to crofs that river, difcouraged, 
 perhaps, by the uncertain ftate of affairs 
 at Paris, 
 
 The party who ruled the convention was 
 chiefly compofed of thofe leaders who to fave 
 their own lives had deftroyed Robefpierre, 
 and who for diftin&ion were called Ther- 
 midorians, becaufe that event happened in 
 their new month of Thermidor. They felt 
 the infecurity of their fituation and the 
 narrownefs of the ground on which they 
 The unanimous cry of general horror 
 Y 4 obliged
 
 ( 3*8 ) 
 
 obliged them to give up to public refentment 
 fome of the minifters of the late dreadful 
 tyranny ; the cruelties committed at Nantes, 
 Lyons, and other places, were inquired into; 
 and at laft, even Barrere, Cojlot, and Billaud 
 themfelves were tried, and condemned to 
 tranfportation. But the remnant of the 
 Jacobins (ludicroufly ftiled the tail of 
 Robefpierre) confidered thefe acts of juftice 
 as infults, and prepared for revenge. The 
 ruling party wifhed, but feared to be re- 
 conciled to the Girondins, whom they ha4 
 helped to ruin ; and in this ftate of fufpenfe 
 there are fome reports that they entered into 
 negociations with Monfieur, then refiding 
 at Verona, but found that he would not 
 adopt their fchemes of government. It is 
 more certain that they negociated with the 
 Vendeens of Poitou, and the Chouans of 
 Brittany ; and a treaty was figned with 
 fome of their principal chiefs (Charette 
 in particular) of which very different ac- 
 coijnts have been given. Charette has 
 pofitiyely afferted, that they promifed to 
 deliver the young king into his hands, 
 fome time in the month of June, and even 
 
 gave
 
 ( 3*9 ) 
 
 gave him hopes that they would concert 
 meafures for a reiteration of monarchy. 
 
 The truth of all thefe ftories is uncer* 
 tain, but the refentment of the Jacobin 
 party broke out in actions too dreadfully 
 .evident to be denied. The mob of Paris 
 were again inftigated to complain of the 
 dearnefs of provisions, and to demand that 
 the popular conftitution of 1793 fhould at 
 length be put in practice. On the 21 ft of 
 May, the rabble broke into the convention, 
 blood was Ihed in the facred hall of legifla- 
 ?ure, and that aflembly which had delighted 
 in the image of beheaded monarchs, were 
 terrified with the fight of the bleeding 
 head of Ferraud, one of their own col- 
 leagues, carried on a pike. Moft of the 
 Thermidorians ran away in defpair, the 
 Jacobin members remained, and were be- 
 ginning to repeal all the late decrees, and 
 re-inflate themfelyes in fovereign power, 
 when Legendre, having in that interval 
 collected an armed force, returned, accom- 
 panied with troops, and drove the rabble 
 and their partifans from the hall. Thus 
 the refolutjon of a very few members faved 
 
 the
 
 ( 330 ) 
 
 the convention, Paris, and France itfelf, 
 from a revival of the fyftem of terror; all 
 men of property, and even the royalifts 
 themfelves, were ready to flock to the ftan- 
 dard of the convention as their only fafe- 
 guard. Yet it required fome days to fub- 
 due the rebellious Faux-bourg St. Antoine, 
 the bulwark of the firft revolution, but 
 whofe revolutionary principles were now 
 confidered as crimes. Regular troops were 
 collected on all fides, a camp formed in 
 the Thuilleries, military commiffions infli- 
 tuted to try rebels, and all thofe meafures 
 taken, which had been declared in 1789 
 unlawful for the chief magiftrate to take 
 againft the people. 
 
 The club of the Jacobins was henceforth 
 confidered as a profcribed body, but the roy- 
 alifts did not reap the benefit that fome of 
 them expected from this change of affairs. 
 The Thermidorians ventured on a com- 
 plete reconciliation with the Girondins, a 
 party much weakened by the death of its 
 leaders j many had periihed on the fcaffold; 
 others, like the famous Condorcet, Pethion, 
 Roland, Clavierre, had perifhed miferably 
 % by
 
 by fukide or by famine, but ftill the rem- 
 nant of this party was fuppofed to con<- 
 ilft of men of better underftanding 
 than the other factions. The fentences 
 againft BrifTot and his friends were declared 
 unjuft, and the members who had protefted 
 againft their illegal imprifonment were re- 
 admitted into the affembly, Indulgence was 
 alfo ftiewn on their account to emigrants 
 who had fled after the 3 1 ft of May ; but the 
 moft unrelenting feverity was obferved with 
 refpect to all others, though it was known 
 that many had fled after the ad of Septenv 
 ber, from terror only, not from enmity. 
 Such cruelty will always be the refult of a 
 fyftem of finance founded originally on 
 confifcation. 
 
 The poor unhappy boy, decorated with 
 the vain title of king, only to feel more 
 mifery than the offspring of a beggar, died 
 pn the Qth of June in the temple, worn 
 put with the cruel treatment he had re- 
 ceived tinder the rule of the Jacobins ; but 
 the critical moment at which he expired 
 certainly excufes the royalifts who enter- 
 tained ftill darker fufpicions, and added one 
 more to that long lift of murders, which
 
 ( 332 ) 
 
 have eftabliihed a republican government 
 in France. 
 
 The laft hopes of the ConftitutionaMs 
 expired with this child, for they well knew 
 the late king's brothers were irreconcileable 
 to their principles. Charette and Stofflet 
 took up arms once more, declaring that 
 they had been bafely deceived. Monfieur, 
 under the name of Lewis XVIII. publimed 
 a declaration at Verona, which I muft cen- 
 fure as imprudent, though I cannot with 
 our oppofition call it unjuft or defpotic. 
 It talks indeed of the old conjlitution^ but it 
 does not appear to mean arbitrary power, but 
 rather a monarchy limited by a code of 
 fundamental laws, a ftates-general meeting 
 in three orders, and a body of men like 
 the parlemens, who in the intervals be- 
 tween the ftates were the guardians of law, 
 I now think even the honeft men blameable, 
 who rather chpfe all the evils of a revolu* 
 tion, than to accept fuch a conftitution ait 
 the frft. But when all thofe evils had 
 been endured, when the total change had 
 been made, when th'ofe orders and thofe 
 parlemens were grown fo um'verfally odious, 
 
 no
 
 ( 333 ) 
 
 no fenfible man would have thought it pof- 
 iible to have reftored them, but would 
 have fought for fome Mezzo-Termino in 
 which the different parties might agree. 
 
 The Englifli fleet having driven its 
 fhattered enemies into the port of L'Ori- 
 ent on the 23d of June, a dcfcect was 
 now made on the coaft of France, which, 
 could it have been made in 1793, might 
 have been attended with great confe- 
 quences; but it muft be remembered , 
 that the French navy had not then been 
 weakened by two defeats, and the confla- 
 gration of Toulon. Several emigrants 
 were landed at Quiberon Bay, under the 
 direction of M. de Puifaye, who is faid, 
 by the few furvivors, to have been unfit 
 for the military command which he af- 
 fumed. They were totally routed in the 
 night of the 21 ft of July, partly through 
 the treachery of French foldiers, whom 
 the emigrants had ramly enliflcd from 
 Englifh prifons. The French proceeded 
 with their ufual cruelty, and put to death 
 all the emigrants who had furrendered, on 
 
 hopes
 
 { 334 ) 
 
 topes being afforded them that their lives 
 Would be fpared. 
 
 This expedition has drawn much cen- 
 fure on our ministers : but thofe unhappy 
 emigrants had always been crying out- 1 
 " Only fend us into France without the 
 " odium of foreign troops, afllire the 
 " French you have no intention to dif- 
 * c member the kingdom, and our caufe 
 " will find aiTertors." The Englifh did 
 try the experiment; they did fend the 
 Count of Artois bimfelf to land on the 
 Ifle Dieu, with the requefted declaration, 
 and yet no favourable confequences fol- 
 lowed. Nay, it did not even appear that 
 Charette wifhed a prince of the blood to 
 land : what were his real views it is now 
 impoflible to difcover, for he was taken 
 and executed in the enfuing winter, and in 
 him the laft affertor of French royalty pe- 
 riflied. 
 
 The reflored Girondins, meanwhile, had 
 learnt fome prudence from the fad fate of 
 their enthufiaftic leaders, and they could 
 
 find
 
 ( 335 ) 
 
 find a Mezzo Termino, though the royal-* 
 ifts could not. It was agreed on all hands 
 that the conftitution of 1793 was a mere 
 chaos of democratic anarchy, and a com- 
 mittee was appointed to prepare the plan of 
 a new one. When their report appeared, 
 it was impoffible not to exclaim, Felix Ji 
 fc omnial Had the firft national alTembly 
 felt the truths which thefe men have been 
 taught by misfortune, France and Europe 
 might have been fpared the evils that now 
 overwhelm them : but they were wife almoft 
 too late, and could not, confidently with 
 their former principles, correct the ex- 
 cefles of democracy fo much as they appear 
 to have wiihed. They exprefs themfelves 
 doubtfully as to the propriety of any de- 
 claration of the rights of man (if it could 
 have been avoided) and greatly diflike 
 that favourite maxim of the firft declara- 
 tion, " Man is born and remains equal in 
 rights," becaufe it endangers the rights of 
 property. Mounier and Neckar had for- 
 merly made the fame objection, but it was 
 then the famion to defpife their predic- 
 tions. Some property (though ilender) at 
 leaf!: the payment of a direct tax equal to 
 
 the
 
 ( 336 j 
 
 the value of three days labour, was re- 
 quired of the voters at the primary affem- 
 blies, and the committee propofed that 
 fome landed property mould be required 
 for a member of this legiflature ; but this 
 was rejected for an obvious reafon, becaufe 
 the convention intended itfelf to be re- 
 elefted, 
 
 But the great, the wonderful change of 
 fyftem conmled in relinquiming one prin- 
 ciple of the firft revolution, , as leading, 
 as material as the natural equality of man,' 
 that the will of the fovereign people could 
 only be expreiTed by the medium of a fin- 
 gle aflembly. Abbe Syeyes had demon^ 
 itrated this principle by dint of logic and 
 metaphyflcs, but it appeared, in the end, 
 that experience and hiftory are the better 
 political guides. The committee returned 
 to the fyflem of Harrington, in the lafl 
 age, and of Adams in the prefent, warned 
 by the abfurd and mocking decrees which 
 one alTembly had poured forth in the courfe 
 of two years, and inftituted a council of 
 elders, compofed of 250 members, of 
 -forty years and upwards, giving it not 
 
 merely
 
 < 337 ) 
 
 merely a fufpeafive but an abfolute veto, 
 over the legiflative council of 500. This 
 council of elders had alfo the right of 
 forcing the affembly to change its refidence, 
 and difobedience was ordered to be pu- 
 nifhed by difTolution, Had a council, 
 armed with fuch rights, exifled from the 
 beginning, the factious Parifiarus might 
 have been awed, the decrees againfl nobles 
 and emigrants, the decrees againfl priefls, 
 the declaration of war againft Auflria, 
 might all have been re-confidered without 
 the odium of a royal veto, which gave a 
 plaufible occafion to that popular cry 
 *' Shall the will of one man flrike a palfy 
 " into the will of the nation?" Nor is 
 this language mere theory, for the prefent 
 council has actually rejected fome oppref- 
 five laws againfl priefts with perfect fecu- 
 rity. 
 
 The executive power was now entrufled 
 to a directory compofed of five members, 
 who were to chufe fix inferior miniflers, 
 In the firfl conflitution no band of union 
 exifled between the legiflative and execu- 
 tive power. In England it has been faid 
 Z the
 
 ( 338 ) 
 
 the executive power has too much influ* 
 ence over the legiflative-r the French cor-? 
 
 O 
 
 reded our error, and the consequence was, 
 that the legiflative turned out the executive 
 in ten months. To correct their own er- 
 ror, they have now made the legiflative 
 elect the executive, and have artfully 
 introduced a kind of oligarchy into both, 
 hy prohibiting all total renewals of thefe 
 governing powers, and ordering one-third 
 of the legiflative to go out every year, and 
 one member of the executive directory tq 
 be changed; thus affimilating thefe two 
 bodies to the nature of our Eaft Indian 
 court of directors. There we all know 
 the effect of an annual koufe I/ft, and it 
 is probable that a hotife lift will virtually 
 exift in France. The member who finds 
 himfelf fingle amongH five old directors, 
 will be ready to adopt their fentiments, 
 rather than be flighted and brow-beat. 
 Doubtlefs this arrangement will give more 
 flrength to government, but it may too 
 much concentrate all power into the hands 
 of one predominating faction. 
 
 This
 
 ( 339 ) 
 
 This conftitution was fated like the two 
 others, to be introduced by civil difcord. 
 The convention had made itfelf fo many 
 enemies, and dreaded fo much the confe- 
 quence of resigning their feats at once, 
 that it pafled a very anti-democratic de- 
 cree to compel the people to re-elect two- 
 thirds of their own body. They paid the 
 compliment to the primary affcmblies of 
 fending them this decree along with the 
 conftitution, for their acceptation ; but 
 they fet the dangerous precedent of firft 
 confulting the armies on the frontiers who 
 were drawn out in order of battle by their 
 generals, and accepted the two decrees 
 with acclamations. Thus the poor pri- 
 mary aiTemblies were left in the iituation 
 of the Greek philofophcr, who did not 
 chufe to difpute with the matter of a 
 hundred legions. 
 
 The leading men of Paris who had fup- 
 ported the convention in the month of 
 May, heartily wifhed, however, to cafoier 
 it for its pafl mifcQnduft. They raifed an 
 oppofition to the decree of re-election, 
 made fome ineffectual efforts to gain the 
 Z 2 regu-
 
 ( 340 ) 
 
 regular troops, took up arms themfelves 
 in a defultory unmilitary way, and were 
 totally routed on the 7th of October. Had 
 they prevailed, it would have been imme- 
 diately declared that the will of the Jove-* 
 reign was for a free election j but as the 
 ultimate reafon of cannon balls decided for 
 the convention, it was folemnly pronounced 
 that the majority of the people was on 
 their fide. The real fentiments of the 
 primary aflemblies are not fufficiently 
 known, for the convention, though often 
 preffed, have never ventured to publifh an 
 exact lift. From that time, the city of 
 Paris has been entirely under the yoke 
 of the convention; and another of Abb 
 Syeyes's metaphyfical principles, that regu- 
 lar troops mould only act againft foreign 
 enemies, has been entirely forgot. Regu- 
 lars flew hundreds of the national guards 
 on the 7th of October, and regulars have 
 fupported the revived convention and the 
 directory ever fince. From this time, 
 alfo, the Englifh adherents of French 
 principles ought to abftain from many of 
 their cenfures againfl the famous fepten- 
 
 nial
 
 ( 34' ) 
 
 fiial billj fince their favourite convention 
 lias adoped nearly a fimilar meafurei 
 
 Since this third revolution, the reign of 
 the new governors has been much dif- 
 turbed at home, as will ever be the cafe* 
 where the people have been taught that ^t 
 is lawful on every mifcondudl to fet up a 
 government for themfelves. France has 
 had three conftitutions fince the year 1789, 
 each accepted at the time with feeming 
 tranfports of applaufe; and as the real ma* 
 jority of 25 millions is impoflible to be 
 counted, it is eafy for each party to fay 
 Our conftitution was the true will of the 
 people, and the acceptation of the others 
 was" the work of force and deceit. The 
 conftitutionalifts of 1791 are fuppofed to 
 wifh the young Duke' of Chartres for 
 king, but fuch a party will never be very 
 formidable. The Jacobins arc much more 
 awful, and they hold no conftitution to be 
 truly accepted but that of 1793, and make 
 it their landing watch-word. The direc- 
 tory, to fupport themfelves, have fup- 
 prefled all political clubs, the very meafure 
 fo much cenfured in England by our op- 
 Z -3 pofition.
 
 ( 342 } 
 
 pofition. They live in perpetual fear of 
 confpiracies, of which fome may be ima- 
 ginary, but too many are real, and the laft 
 news of September 1796, was an attempt 
 to furprize the camp of Crenelle, on which 
 occafion twelve confpirators were mot, not 
 by fentence of a jury, but of a military 
 commiffion. 
 
 The depreciation of alTignats has occa- 
 fioned great diflrefs amongit the middling 
 clafs, and a new paper-money, called 
 mandats, is not likely to be more fuccefs- 
 ful. 
 
 The directory are to be commended for 
 one act of humanity, the releafe of the 
 unfortunate daughter of Lewis the Six- 
 teenth : but ambition and violence have 
 marked their conduct towards foreign pow- 
 ers, as much as their predeceffors. The 
 new convention begun its reign by irrevo- 
 cably decreeing the re-union of Belgia and 
 Liege, and the limits of the Rhine were 
 flill the object of their wifli. Early in 
 September, 1795, the French troops 
 cioffed the Rhine, and took DufTeldorf 
 4 and
 
 ( 343 ) 
 
 and Manheim. But here they met with 
 a repulfe; Clairfait drove them back to 
 the oppofiie fhore, then returned to Mentz, 
 attacked, unexpectedly, the French en- 
 trenchments, and gained a %nal victory 
 on the 29th of October. Wurmfer retook 
 Manheim on November the aid, and, for 
 fome time, it appeared that the* Auftrians 
 had learnt the French tactics of vigorous 
 and conftant attack. But this profpect was 
 foon overcafL The retaking of Duffeldorf 
 was neglected, a, truce was concluded in 
 the end of December, and Clairfait was 
 difmiiled foon after, in confequence of 
 fome military and court jealoufies. An 
 attempt was made to open a negotiation 
 with the directory, that failed: it may 
 now be faid, we had better have perfifted 
 in itj but at that time many perfons thought 
 the Auftrians had frill a chance of retak- 
 ing Flanders by force of arms. Thefe 
 hopes ftrangely vanifhed ; General Buona- 
 parte carried all before him in Italy, with a 
 ferocity worthy of Alaric or Attila.* Jour- 
 dan 
 
 * The terrified King of Sardinia thought himftlf 
 
 obliged to feparate his caufe from that of the allies, 
 
 Z 4 and
 
 ( 344 ) 
 
 cran and Moreau were, for fome months, as 
 fuccefsful in Germany ; but the late ad- 
 vantages of the Archduke Charles have 
 driven them again to the banks of the 
 Rhine. But ftill no profpedt appears of 
 concluding the war in fuch a manner as 
 would formerly have been thought honour- 
 able. 
 
 Nations as well as kings had often ra- 
 ther be great than happy. The republican 
 rulers of France are on the point of grati- 
 fying that people', by extending their em- 
 pire to thofe limits which their monarchs 
 aimed at for 300 years, and never could 
 attain, whilft, at the 1 fame time, they have 
 concluded with Spain a treaty fimilar to 
 that family compact which was the only 
 boafl of Lewis the Fifteenth's reign. 
 Here, then, an old Englifh Whig may be 
 cxcufed for dropping the pen, full of re- 
 gret for the unexpected confequences that 
 
 and conclude a moft humiliating and difgraceful 
 peace, refigning all pretenfions to Nice and Savoy r 
 and abandoning to the French republic thofe paf- 
 fages over the- Alps which the kings of France -had 
 never been able entirely to fecure. 
 
 have
 
 ( 345 ) 
 
 have refulted from the French revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 A fe\v fhort hints of advice may yet 
 be allowed to a difintefefted volunteer. 
 Let thofe declaimers, who are perpetually 
 repeating fentences on the unlawfulnefs of 
 war, and the cruelty of fending troops to 
 languilh in unwholfo'ine climes, try their 
 eloquence upon the French directory, and 
 convince them that it is unlawful to recline 
 on beds of down within a regal palace, and 
 feaft upon delicacies, whilft the poor fol- 
 dier is ftarving in a camp, to procure them 
 contributions to keep up the value of their 
 mandats, or pictures, and ftatues, to gra- 
 tify their vanity. Let them tell their 
 friends that it is contrary to the rights of 
 man to bind together an abfolute monarchy 
 and a democratic republic, to fight each 
 other's battles, juft or unjuft as long as 
 they, {hall exift. If our tribe of peace- 
 making romancers and poets decline this 
 conjiftent embafly, let them not be fur- 
 prized, if we exclaim, with the generous 
 young Briton, in Cara&acus
 
 ( 346 ) 
 
 To Rome with reafon ; 
 
 '* Try if 'twill bring her deluging ambition 
 " Into the level courfe of right and juftice: 
 *' But pray thee do not reafon from my bread 
 " Its inbred loyalty; that holy flame^ 
 " Howe'er eclips'd by Rome's black influence 
 " In vulgar minds, ought (till to brighten our's," 
 
 For the people at large, they would do 
 well to recoiled:, although the war has 
 been unfuccefsful, there was at firft the 
 greateft reafon to expect a happier event, 
 and alfo that in moft inftances the allied ar- 
 mies have failed rather than our own. If we 
 had fuffered Flanders and Holland to be 
 conquered without opposition, the French 
 government, to employ their numerous and 
 dreaded foldiers, would probably have be- 
 gun hoftilities, and we fhould have been 
 but where we are, with more danger to 
 our Afiatic empire, and the reputation 
 both at home and abroad, of pufillani- 
 mity. 
 
 If the nation fhould determine to call 
 out for peace, let it recollect the termina- 
 tion of the American war, and not a fe- 
 cond time turn out a minifter for making a 
 
 bad
 
 ( 347 ) 
 
 bad peace, when the impatience of the 
 people had put it out of his power to make 
 a good one. Englifhmen may praife or 
 condemn Mr. Pitt at their leifure; let them 
 only beware how they put any confidence 
 in men who avowedly intrigue with a na- 
 tion which has fo often profefled its wifli to 
 annihilate our commerce : let them obferve 
 what Holland has gained by baniming the 
 houfe of Naflau, and refolve not to quar- 
 rel with our princes upon flight occafions; 
 for it is a certain truth, that allegiance to 
 the houfe of Brunfwic is our beft fecurity 
 againft becoming a tributary province to 
 France. 
 
 Oft. i, 1796. 
 
 ADDENDA,
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 .1 
 
 [Page I2O/J 
 
 'THHE unlucky plan of government pre* 
 fented by the king to the States, has 
 never had common juftice done it, becaufe 
 it was prefented at too late a period, and in 
 an impolitic manner. Playfair, though an 
 enemy to the French revolution, fpeaks of 
 it feverely, and objects to one article in 
 particular, as favourable to defpotifm in 
 which I cannot fee any fuch intention. 
 ' Le roi veut que les loix qu'il aura fait 
 " promulguer pendant la tenue, et d'apres 
 <c .Pavis ou felon le vceu des Etats-Gene- 
 ** raux n'eprouvent pour leur enregitre- 
 ' ment aucun retardement ni aucun obfta- 
 *' cle dans toute 1'etendue de.fon royaume. 1 ' 
 
 The
 
 ( 349 ) 
 
 The negative power claimed by the parlc^ 
 ments over laws, was grown odious both 
 to the crown and the popuiar party. This 
 article only fays, that laws promulgated by 
 the king during the fitting and according 
 to the advice of the States-General, fhall 
 be enregiftered without delay or obftacle, 
 which fignifies no more than if an Englifh 
 writer was to fay, that the twelve judges 
 have no power over an aft pafTed by king, 
 lords, and commons. It feems alfo as if Mr. 
 Playfair had been too ready to give credit 
 to all the hateful tales told by French wri- 
 ters of the licentious or cruel laws efta- 
 blilhed by the feudal fyftem ; tales, whofc 
 odious afpect protects them from a long 
 examination. One cuftom often mentioned 
 by wits and comic poets, has been exa- 
 mined by Sir David Dalrymple, in a dif- 
 fertation at the end of his Annals of Scot- 
 land, who brings many arguments to prove 
 that it never exijled at all, and that two or 
 three laws of very different tendency have 
 been miftaken for it by fuperficial antiqua- 
 rians. It would not perhaps be impoflible 
 to explain a horrid, cruel cuftom which 
 Playfair, in his Hiftory of Jacobinifm, 
 
 feems
 
 ( 350 ) 
 
 feems to believe. Perhaps fome vaflal was 
 obliged, according to the medical notions 
 of the time, to cut up one of his beads 
 whenever it was wanted for his matter's 
 health, and by dint of barbarous Latin and 
 barbarous French, the deed was at laft in- 
 terpreted as if the lord had a right to cut 
 the vaffal in two. I repeat it again, that 
 thefe cuftoms have not been fufficiently in- 
 veftigated by impartial antiquarians, and 
 that the frequent repetition of them in the 
 early revolutionary writers looks very like 
 one of thofe Jtrokes of ability worthy of 
 Tippoo Saib or of Mirabeau. 
 
 Thefe criticifms are not inferted from 
 any wilh to cenfure a deferving author. 
 The ableft men are liable to inaccuracies, 
 and if any fuch are found in this abridg- 
 ment of hjftory, the Author willingly fub- 
 mits them to the correction of the well- 
 informed. 
 
 II.
 
 II. 
 
 [Page 134.] 
 
 THE note which is to be found in 
 the 81 ft and 8sd pages of Mirabcau's 
 Doutes fur la Libert'e de rEfcaut, is too 
 ]ong for infertion ; but as it ftrongly marks 
 his character, the reader muft be told that 
 it contains an elaborate juftification of Tip- 
 poo Saib's cruelty to General Mathews, 
 and his army, on the ground of retaliation 
 for their cruelties committed at the taking 
 of Onore. He ufes thefe words : " The 
 " foldiers, animated by the example and 
 M by the orders of their commander, gave 
 *' themfelves up to the moft odious ex- 
 " cefTes." It is neceiTary to obferve, that 
 fome writers have denied the exceffes com- 
 mitted by our army ; and that not one of 
 the writers, the moft inveterate againft 
 the Englifh Eaft India Company, had 
 ever hinted before that Mathews ordered 
 his foldiers to kill women and children. } 
 That unfortunate general has indeed been 
 accufed of avarice, but Mirabeau alone ac- 
 cufes him of cruelty. Mirabeau proceeds ] 
 
 to
 
 ( 352 ) 
 
 to defcribc the dreadful march of the Eng- 
 liih prifoners into the interior of the coun- 
 try, and how they perifhed through the 
 ill-treatment of their conductors. He then 
 cooly adds, " Mais 1'idee de Tippoo Saib 
 " n'en eft pas moins celle d'un homme tres 
 " habile ;" The idea of Tippoo Saib is 
 * not the lefs the idea of a very able man ;' 
 becaufe, as he explains himfelf, fuch fights 
 as thefe would teach the Indians to defpife 
 their tyrants. Thefe words contain the 
 analyfis of the moral principles on which 
 Mirabeau, and likewife Barnave, La- 
 meth, Syeyes, Briflbt, Condorcet, conduct- 
 ed the firft French revolution. To in- 
 flame the quiet peafants, by carrying about 
 afles dreffed up in the paraphernalia of nobi- 
 lity, and by telling them (no matter whether 
 true or falfe) that the feudal claims of their 
 lords extended to their wives, their pro-, 
 perty, their lives, was " 1'Idee d'un homme 
 " tres habile.'* But it was a greater mark 
 of ability ftill to teach them to tear to pieces 
 the dead bodies of an officer or a gentle- 
 man, and, by the confeffion of their own 
 writers, fometimes drink their blood, on 
 the fame principle that it was fo able an 
 
 idea
 
 ( 353 ) 
 
 idea in Tippoo Saib, to (hew to the In- 
 dians the Englifh dying under fatigue and 
 blows, to teach them how eafy it was to 
 ihake off the yoke of their tyrants. On a 
 fimilar principle, Briflbt propofed and car- 
 ried the pardon of Jourdan, and other 
 murderers at Avignon; and by this frep 
 loft all his right to accufe Robefpierre for 
 defending the bloody id of September. 
 The works of Mirabeau were open to every- 
 one's reading ; their ferocious principles 
 were undifguifed ; the part that he had in 
 the early French revolution was notorious ; 
 the Chriftian divines who celebrated that 
 event are therefore inexcu fable for not hav- 
 ing adverted in time to the dangers of fuch 
 .a deliberate fyftem of political cruelty. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE difputes that have taken place be- 
 
 tween the National AfTembljes of France 
 
 and the colonies are of too complicated a 
 
 Mature to be difcufled in a note, but it 
 
 A a would
 
 ( 354 ) 
 
 would be worth the while of fome author 
 more interefled, and better informed on 
 the fubject, to coniider whether they have 
 not originated in the defire of the mother 
 country to legislate for its C9lonies, and to 
 reduce the colonial reprefentative aiTemblies 
 into mere executive adminiftrations. The 
 firit. constituent ailembly had indeed the 
 pretence of including fome members from, 
 the Well: Indies, who were always brow- 
 beaten and contemned; but the prefent 
 Convention has voted away the property 
 that planters bad in the labour of their 
 flaves, without having a fingle reprefenta- 
 tive of the whites to offer his opinion. The 
 laws of nature authorifed their decree, it 
 was faid ; and fo the laws of nature were . 
 brought in to authorife the opening of the 
 Scheld, but the arbitrary power of France 
 was probably the. real motive in both cafes. 
 The leaders of the aiTembly might think 
 that the blacks and mulattoes, from their 
 ignorance, their inexperience, and their 
 gratitude to that power which had allowed 
 them to tyrannife over the whites, would 
 bend with implicit obedience to every decree 
 and every commiffioner fent from Paris. If 
 
 fuch
 
 ( 355 ) 
 
 fuch was their motive, report fays they 
 have already been difappointed by the ne- 
 groes of St. Domingo refiifing to return to 
 their labour. An important confequence 
 may be 1 drawn from thefe reflections. The 
 advocates for reform in England have al- 
 ways fuppofed that the corrupt influence 
 of the court alone drew on the war with 
 America, and that if the people of England 
 had enjoyed an equal and unbiafTed repre- 
 fentation, they never would have pretended 
 to legiflate for their colonies. The people of 
 France did enjoy this excellent reprefenta- 
 tion, and, fetting afide all their other enor- 
 mities, we find them as ready as the cour- 
 tiers of a monarch to reduce their colonies 
 to a ftate of unconditional fubmiilion. 
 
 Let all reformers profit by this example, 
 and learn that it is not fufficient to mew 
 that an exifting government is guilty of er- 
 rors, they ought to prove that the fpecula- 
 tive government they recommend does not 
 contain the feeds of error fimilar to, perhaps 
 greater than, thofe they condemn. 
 
 Aa * INDEX.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 ADVICE^ hints of, to the people of England, 345. 
 
 4ix-la-Cbapelle t treaty of, 86. 
 Aix> the conftitutional club there publifli a manifefto 
 
 againftthe aflembly of Carpentras, which had re- 
 
 fufed to give itfelf to France, 184. A riot there, 
 
 233- 
 Alliance, treaty of, between France and the Emprefs 
 
 Queen of Auftria, Maria Terefa, in 1756, 94. 
 
 Suppofed to have had a confiderable effect toward 
 
 producing the late Revolution in France, ibid. 
 
 Treaty of, between Germany and Pruffia to aflift 
 
 the French King to ftrengthen the bafis of the 
 
 monarchy, 197. 
 
 Allicsj remarks on the cenfures thrown upon their 
 conduct in the war with France, 287. 
 
 Anne, Queen of England, her glorious conduct of 
 the war a fevere blow to the pride of France, 64. 
 
 Antwerp devoted to poverty to make Amfterdam rich, 
 
 33- 
 Arijlocracy, its true definition, 126. The people who 
 
 pull down a real one muft immediately build up a 
 
 fictitious one, or be expofed to all the horrors of 
 
 anarchy, 169. 
 Avignon, revolt there, and its confequences, 163, 
 
 184. Monf. Malouet's fpeecb on the long-con - 
 
 tcftcd
 
 I N D E X. 
 
 tefted affair of the adoption of Avignon by France, 
 186. MafTacres there, 233. 
 
 ^ the hatred between France and that Imperial 
 houfe originated 300 years ago, 8. The male line 
 of that houfe extinct in the Emperor Charles VI. 
 77. Conferences of his death, ibid. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bailly executed with peculiar marks of infult, 312. 
 
 Balance of power, the principle of, exiftent at a very 
 early period, 4. In perfection in the time of 
 Henry VIII. 15. Endangered in the reign of 
 Elizabeth, 16. 
 
 Barnave, his cruel reply to an exclamation againft 
 the murders of Berthier and Foulon, 252. Is exe- 
 cuted, ibid. 
 
 Barrier treaty entered into, 62. An obfervation of 
 Lord Bolingbrokeupon it, applicable to the ftate of 
 Holland in 1792, 63. Difannulled, 107. 
 
 Barthelemi, St. maflacre of, 17. 
 
 BidaJJeay treaty o its importance, 35. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Lord, reflections of his, applicable to 
 the prefent times, 62. 65. 
 
 BriJJot publicly boalh a deliberate purpofe to kindle 
 war, 203. His fpeech on that fubjet, 204. His 
 ferocity and infolence toward every foreign ftate, 
 whether republican or monarchical, 2of . Extra- 
 vagant oratory of, 212. Executed, 311. 
 
 Brunfwick, Duke of. See France. 
 
 Brunjwickj allegiance of Britain to the houfe of, its 
 beft fecurity from becoming a province to France, 
 
 347- 
 
 Buonaparte carries all before him in Italy, 343. 
 Burgundy, duchy of, an interefting portion of its 
 
 hiftory, 5. 
 Burke, Mr. feparates from the oppofition party in 
 
 the Houfe of Commons, 145. Fublifhes his Re- 
 A a 3 fle&ions
 
 INDEX. 
 
 flections on the Revolution in France, 171. That 
 work characterized, ibid* 
 
 C. 
 
 Calonne, M. aflembles the Notables in 1787, and re- 
 veals the immenfe deficit in the revenues of France 
 when compared with its expences, 117. 
 
 Charette, the ruling party in France enter into a 
 treaty with him, which is afterwards broken, 328. 
 He is taken prifoner, and executed, 334. 
 
 Charles V. an example" of fatiat'ed and difgufled am- 
 bition, firft divides, and then refigns his empire, 
 12. 
 
 Charles I. of England, the beginning of his misfor- 
 tunes attributable to the very quality moft admired 
 in King William, a zeal to reprefs the growing 
 ambition of France, 26. 
 
 Charles IT. of England, his tortuous policy, 43. 
 Properly- punifhed, ibid. His death, 54. 
 
 Clergy of France called upon to conform to the civil 
 conftitution, or refign their benefices, 192. This 
 meafure kindled a flame of difc.ord which was not 
 cxtinguifhed but by torrents of human blood, 193. 
 Foretold to be the ruin of the conftitution, 202. 
 
 ClootSy a malcontent Pruflian, aflumes the dignity of 
 orator and ambaflador of the human race, 157. 
 His extraordinary harangue Before the National 
 AfTembly, ibid. His character, and execution by 
 the guillotine, 161. 
 
 Combined army enters France, 258. Inexplicable 
 myftery of the failure of this firft expedition under 
 the Duke of Brunfwick, who was flopped by Du- 
 mourier with a very inferior army, 260. 
 
 Corde, Charlotte, devotes herfelf to certain death, 
 in order to rid her country of the monfter Marat, 
 whom me kills with a poniard, 301. Obfervations 
 on the event, ibid. 
 
 Cromwell
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Crom*Mell commits a dangerous error in foreign poli- 
 tics, 34. 
 
 Cufttne takes Spires and Mentz, and penetrates to 
 Franckfort, 261. Is executed, 312. 
 
 D. 
 
 Danton executed, 320. 
 
 Defmoulins, Camille, executed, ibid. 
 
 Domingo, St. revolt of the negroes there, 233. 
 
 Dumourier, his character and con duel:, 224. Deter- 
 mined to fupport the King againft the Jacobins, 
 urges him to lave himfelf, his wife, and children, 
 by fanftioning fome obnoxious bills, but is refufed, 
 and retires in difguft, 239. Saves himfelf from 
 the refentment of the Jacobins by leaving the King 
 to his fate, and taking the command of one of the 
 frontier armies, 239. Gains the favour of the 
 Convention by inducing his army to fubmit to the 
 revolution which immediately followed the infur- 
 redtion of the loth of Auguft, 251. Stops the 
 Duke of Brunfwick's army near Chalons with a 
 very inferior force, 260. Enters Flanders, wins 
 the famous battle of Jemappe, and completes the 
 conqueft of the Netherlands and of Liege in one 
 month, 262. Grows diicontented, reflects on his 
 fituation, expofed to the jealoufies and fufpicions 
 of the Girondins and Jacobins, and paffes a very 
 uneafy winter, 277. Comes to Paris on occafion 
 of the trial of the King, whom, he fays, he meant 
 to fave, but whofe fate his enemies fay he wiflied 
 to haften, 279. Returns to his army, unhappy 
 and diicontented, ibid. Reduced to defpair, he 
 reproaches the Convention with injufrice to the 
 Brabangons, and begins fecretly to negociate with 
 the Auftrians, 286 Commiffioners are fent from 
 the Convention to arrelt him, and thefe he delivers 
 tip to the Auftrian General Cobourg, ibid. Ke 
 fails in an endeavour to reftore the infant King 
 Louis XVII.. with the conftitution of 1791, and 
 A a 4 is
 
 INDEX. 
 
 is obliged to go over to the Auflrians, with whom 
 he had previoufly negotiated for his liherty, 286. 
 Now lives in a (late of exile and ohfcurity, ibid. 
 Confidered as the fire-brand of all Europe, 292. 
 Sufpecled of an intention to have given the go- 
 vernment of France to the infamous Duke of Or- 
 leans, ibid. 
 
 Dunkirk, the cefllon of, to France, confidered as the 
 firft adt which injured the popularity of Cha. II. 
 of England, 35. The Duke of York's expedi- 
 tion againft it confidered, 306. 
 
 Duplex, M. the firft perfon who conceived the idea 
 of raifcng an European empire in Hindoftan, 89. 
 
 Eglantine, Pah re de, executed, 320. 
 
 England, its corruption attempted by France, 47. 
 Its happy fituation at the time when the Revolu^ 
 tion in France began, 119. Oppofition party in 
 the parliament of, blamable, ibid. Reafons why 
 the people of England fhould have dreaded the 
 confequences of a French revolution, 121, et feqq. 
 Conduct of the Parliament which met in 1790, 
 144. A fchifm in the oppofition, which feparates 
 Mr. Burke from the party with which he had hi- 
 thertp adled, 145. Delicate fituation of England 
 at the time of the Flemifli infurreftion, 148. 
 DiTpute with Spain relative to the fur-trade, 149. 
 The enthufiafm of a party fupprefles all fober con- 
 federation, and inflames them to an indifcriminate 
 approbation of French enormities, and a propor- 
 tionate indifference to the welfare of their own 
 country, 165. The Englifh government reproach- 
 ed with apathy on the declaration by France of war 
 againft the Emperor, 227. The oppofition party 
 confidered as worfe than unconcerned on the fame 
 occafion, 229. The fituation of England becomes 
 extremely perplexing toward the end of the year 
 1792, when the French decree the opening of the 
 
 naviga-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 navigation of the Scheldt, 267. The dtfunion of 
 parties in England enables the French to execute 
 their projeds of depredation in Belgia, 271. The 
 Englifh miniftry vindicated in the panic they en- 
 couraged in the winter of 1792. Firft manifefts 
 ill-will to France by ordering Lord Gower to quit 
 Paris, and difmiffing Chauvelin, the French am- 
 baflador, 280. France declares war againft this 
 country, Ibid. Secret caufes of the war developed, 
 281. The opinion that, having once refcued Hol- 
 land and Flanders from France, we ought to have 
 retired from the war and made peace with the Con- 
 vention, controverted, 297. Glorious naval vic- 
 tory of the firfl of June, 314. Takes Corfica from 
 France, 315. Mr. Pitt blamed for not lending 
 timely fuccours to the Well Indies, ibid. The 
 day to be dreaded, when France, miftrefs of the 
 weft of Europe, may turn its united force upon 
 England, 316. The Englifh fleet makes an un- 
 luccefsful defcent on the coaft of France, 333. 
 No profpecl of the war being concluded in fuch a 
 manner as would formerly have been thought ho- 
 nourable, 344. 
 
 Englijb Hijlory, an sera of, previous to the acceflion 
 of the houfe of Tudor, confidered, 3. 
 
 Eftrades, Count de, his mi/lien to King Charles I. of 
 England, 27. 
 
 -Europe, the ground-work of thofe ambitious projeds 
 which have fo often defolated it, 3. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fayette appointed to the command of one of the ar- 
 mies of France, 234. Quits his army to complain 
 to the aflembly of the flagrant infult offered to the 
 King on the 2Oth June, 1792. Advifes the King 
 toefcape, 251. Endeavours to excite his army to 
 aid the monarch, ibid. Is reduced to fave himiclf 
 by flight, and falls into the hands of the Auilrians, 
 
 by
 
 INDEX. 
 
 by whom he has been ever fince kept in clofe con- 
 finement, 251. 
 
 Fdhteno'fa battle of, fought, 82. 
 
 Fox, Mr. the treaty between Auftria and Pruffia for 
 allifting the King of Fiance to re-eftablim the mo- 
 narchical government juftified by a reference to a 
 principle once laid down by him, 197. 
 
 France, hatred of, to the houfe of Auftria originated 
 300 years ago, 8. The fmothered fire of dilfenfion 
 burits out in the time of Francis 1. u. The old 
 monarchy and the new republic of, actuated by 
 the lame fpirit, 18. Its advantages over all the 
 neighbouring powers, 33. The grand aim of its 
 people under all kinds of government, aflerted to 
 be, to prevent the Englifh from cafting their eyes 
 on any fhore that is not hoftile, 36. Its pride 
 wounded by the fuccefles of the Englifh and their 
 allies under Marlborough and Eugene, 64. Sends 
 . the Pretender into Scotland, poorly fupplied with 
 arms and money, 84. Unites with Spain in the 
 famous league called the family compatf, 96. Yields 
 to England very confidcrable advantages by the 
 treaty of Paris, ibid. Caufe of the defection of 
 the ioldiery from their monarch and their offi- 
 cers (one of the mod aftoniihing circumftances 
 of the late revolution) traced to its origin, 
 98. The political views with which the marriage 
 was planned between the dauphin (afterwards 
 Lewis XVI.) of France and the Archduchefs of 
 Auftria, Maria Antonia, 99. Thofe views com- 
 pletely difappointed, ibid. A figh of companion 
 claimed for the unfortunate Maria Antonia, ibid. 
 Mr. Burke's comparifon of her firft appearance in 
 France, with the morning ftar, corre6ted, 100. 
 That princels never popular in France, ibid. Ac- 
 ceffion of Lewis XVI. 101. Manners and habits 
 of his queen, ibid. The projects of France for 
 revenge upon England favoured by the American 
 war, 103. It dH unites the Dutch from England, 
 and fows the feeds of ruin to the houfe of NaiFau, 
 104. Directs its views againft the Englifh pof- 
 3 feflions
 
 INDEX. 
 
 feffions in India, 112; and takes mcafures for 
 overturning the Stadtliolderate in Holland, 113. 
 The Revolution commences with the deftruclion 
 of the Baftille, 1 18. Stupendous figure preiented 
 to future hiftorians by the revolution and its con- 
 fequences, 119. The views of the prefent work 
 confined to thofe circumftances of the French Re- 
 volution which more nearly intereit Englishmen, 
 ibid. The plan of conftitution propofed by the 
 King, June 23, 1789, and rejected by the people, 
 applauded, 120. The temper of that nation not 
 fitted to receive at once unconditional freedom, 
 121. Montagne's faying of them, ibid. The 
 dawn of French liberty ftained with ferocity, 123. 
 The feeds of all the evils which have happened 
 under the two laft affemblies, prefumed to have 
 been fown in the rirft conftituent aflembly, which 
 the oppofition party in England ftill arFcft to praife, 
 145. France attempts to excite .infurre&ion in 
 Switzerland, 182. The difputes occafioned by the 
 civil conititution of the clergy in France imprefs 
 on the minds of foreigners a belief that great num- 
 bers of the people were ready to promote a counter- 
 revolution, 190. - Fluctuation of parties, 194. 
 Every ftep taken to ferve the unhappy royal family 
 of France, obferved to have ultimately accelerated 
 their deftrudlion, 199. Embarraffing lituation of 
 the King under the new conftitution which he had 
 accepted, 200. Plans for eftablifhing a republican 
 government developed by Ifnard, 208. France, 
 though proud of its own unity, yet always anxi- 
 ous to dettroy that of the Germanic princes, 210. 
 The Jacobin and Girondin party unite to kindle 
 war among all foreign princes, 211. Plain proofs 
 that France intended to make herfelf the general 
 court of appeal for all the grievances of Europe, 
 221. Negotiations between France and the 
 Emperor, 222. Declares war againft the Em- 
 peror, 226. Its real mifery difguifed under fpeci- 
 ous names, 233. New methods devifed to render 
 the Queen odious, 234. The King utterly averle 
 to any foreign power interfering with the internal 
 
 affair*
 
 INDEX. 
 
 affairs of France, 236. The King's ruin accele- 
 rated by the indifcreet manifefto publifhed in the 
 name of the Duke of Brunfwick, 240. The idea 
 of a total change of government caufes great alarm, 
 among men of property, 242. Reflexions on the 
 cjueftion of the King's fincerity, ibid. The Gi- 
 rondift party fuppofed rather to have wifhed the 
 King's abdication than his death, 245. The mob 
 attack the palace on the loth of Auguft, mafia ere 
 the Swifs guards, and fome of the King's fervants, 
 and plunder the palace, 248. The royal family- 
 are lent to the Temple, and furrendercd into the 
 hands of their moft deadly foes, 250. Diilrefsful 
 fituation of the leaders of the firft revolution, 252. 
 The Jacobins fplit into parties, 253. Maffacres of 
 the ad and 3d of September, ibid. Violent fufpi- 
 cions and confequent hatred between the different 
 parties of Jacobins, 255. The expedition under 
 the Duke of Brunfwick defeated by Dumourier, 
 and his Highnefs forced to evacuate France, 260. 
 The French, elated beyond all bounds by Dumou- 
 rier's fucceffes, throw down the gauntlet to all Eu- 
 rope, 262. Curious fcenes preparatory to the fei- 
 zing on the dominions of the Duke of Deuxponts> 
 264. France publifhesa decree to open the navi- 
 gation of the Scheldt, 265. Declares war againft 
 England, 2^0; and againft Spain, ibid. Secret 
 caufes of the war with England developed, 281. 
 The conftttution of 1791 impracticable, in foe la- 
 able, and intolerant, 291. A period of the Revo- 
 lution when the happinefs of France and Europe 
 might have been re-eftablifhed, 293. The repub- 
 lic infmuate that France ftiould extend to the Alps, 
 the Rhine, and the Ocean, 307, Tyranny of the 
 Committees of Safety, 310. The Queen dragged 
 to a mock trial, and thence to execution, ibid* 
 The Princefs Elizabeth, fifter to the late King, 
 and on whom calumny itfelf had never affixed a 
 ftain, is in like manner barbaroufly butchered, 311. 
 The campaign of 1794 opened, 313; and Flanders 
 and Holland conquered, ibid. Conde and Valen- 
 ciennes retaken by the French, who drive the 
 
 Auftrians,,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Auftrians, Dutch, and Englifh, beyond the Rhine, 
 the Meufe, and the Wahl, 314. That hcrrihle 
 engine the revolutionary tribunal eflabliflied by 
 Robefpierre, 318. The rabble break into the Con- 
 vention, and carry away the head of Ferraud, oiw 
 of its members, on a pike, 329- The republic 
 fixed after the death of the infant Lewis XVII. 
 332. A new plan of a conflitution formed, 335. 
 France has had three conftitutions fince the year 
 1789, 341. A confpiracy to furpri/,e the camp at 
 Crenelle defeated in September 1796, 342. Man- 
 <lats not more likely to fucceed as a medium of 
 circulation than the affignats, ibid. The Directory 
 commended for an al of humanity in releafing the 
 daughter of Lewis XVI. from confinement, ibid. 
 
 6. 
 
 General Hi/iory, {ketch of, previous to the French 
 Revolution of 1789, i to 118. 
 
 Geneva, old contefts revived there by French influ- 
 ence, and the right of univerfal fuffrage aflerted, 
 183. 
 
 Germany, origin of the Thirty Years War in, 22. 
 Feels the inconveniencies of calling in foreigner* 
 to protect liberty, 31. Slow operation of the 
 Germans in befleging and taking Conde and Va- 
 Jenciennes, 302. The Germans learn and adopt 
 the French tactics of vigorous and conftant attack, 
 
 343- 
 
 Gibbon, Mr. the hiftorian, forefees and laments mtf- 
 chiefs by French principles to Geneva, Switzer- 
 land, Savoy, &c. 181. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hebert executed, 319. His charadler, ibid* 
 Henry IV. of France, aflaflinated, 21.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Holland, war of England and France againft in 1672, 
 44. William III. made Stadtholder, with powers 
 exceeding thofe of his predecefibrs, 45. General 
 alarm occafioned there by the French invafion, 
 ibid. Again in 17475 84. The Emperor Jofeph II. 
 demands the free navigation of the Scheldt, 
 in. A deputation from, admitted to the bar of 
 the National Affembly of France, where they com- 
 plain of the ariftocracy of their country, of the 
 Stadtholder, and of the King of Pruffia, and are 
 told that they fhall be always held as the allies of 
 the French, 22O. The Stadtholder of, takes refuge 
 in ^England, 325. Has changed its form of go- 
 vernment ten times in 250 years, 326. 
 
 Hood, Lord, accepts the furrender of Toulon, but 
 embarraffes thereby the future conduct of England 
 with new difficulties, 304. 
 
 Houcbard executed, 312. 
 
 Hoiuell, his political opinions cited, 24. 29. 
 
 flume) Mr. remarks on as an hiftorian, 9. 
 
 I. 
 
 James I. of England, inattentive to continental af- 
 fairs, 21. 
 
 James II. fuppofed to have formed a real and laftiag 
 league, at the beginning of his reign, with Lewis 
 XIV. of France, 54. Abdicates the throne, and 
 flees to France, 55. 
 
 Intrigues and jealoufies of England and France on the 
 death of William IV. Prince of Orange, whofe 
 fucceffor was a minor, 91. 
 
 ully certain political diftin&ions too fubtle for 
 the comprehenfion of that honeft and well-meaning 
 gentleman, 294. 
 
 Ifnard developes the plan for conducting a war to 
 eftablifli a republic in France, 208* 
 
 Lamlalle^
 
 INDEX, 
 
 L. 
 
 Lambalh, Princefs de, her fliocking fate, 254.. 
 
 Laws, the experiment is dangerous in a common- 
 wealth to force the executive magiftra.te to execute 
 fuch as are abhorrent to his principles ; in(tance4 
 in the conftitution to which the French extorte4 
 the aflent of Lewis XVI. 201. 
 
 Leopold, Emperor of Germany, dies, 217. 
 
 Lejfarty who undertook to prove that the French had 
 forced on the war, and that all the foreign poweis 
 wifhed for peace, is murdered, 217. 
 
 Lewis XIV. his ambition and injuftice, 36. 41* 46. 51. 
 \Voundsthe pride of the Englifti by unnecefTarily 
 acknowledging the Pretender as King of -England, 
 62. Short review of his reign, 69. His dying ad- 
 monitions againft war and prodigality written in 
 letters of gold, and hung over the bed of his fuc- 
 ceflbr, 73. See alfo p. 206. 
 
 Lewis XV. confidered it as a king's duty not to bur- 
 den his fubjec~ts, but yet as an equal dut ^o :\\\\- 
 tain the national honour, and keep faiih \vuli al- 
 lies, 73. Takes up arms to fupport the claims of 
 the difpoflefled Staniflaus to re-afcend the throne 
 of Poland, 74; this, however, confidered only 
 as, the oftenfible, not the real ourpofe of the war 
 againft Germany, ibid. Diftinguilhe? himfelf at 
 the battle of Fontenoy, 82 ; which opens to him 
 the gates of Flanders, 83. Me.ro6rab.le laying of 
 his, on furveyingthe tomb of Mary of Burgundy 
 and the Emperor, 83. His death, 101. 
 
 Lewis XVI. his flight from Paris accounted for, 193. 
 Forced to accept a conftitution by which he mult 
 violate his former folemn oaths, 201. Comes to 
 the afTembly, and reluctantly propofes an immediate 
 declaration of war againft the Emperor, 226. His 
 remarkable reply to Dumourier, wi.o intreated 
 him to fanclion fome obnoxious bills in order to 
 lave himfelf, his wife, and children, 239. His 
 
 magna-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 magnanimous behaviour when the mob forced his 
 palace on the 2Oth of June 1792, 239. 240. 
 Takes refuge with his queen and children in the 
 National Afiembly, from the mob, on the loth of 
 Auguft, 248. Is brought to a mock trial* con- 
 demned, and executed, 278. 
 
 Lewis XVII. dies in piifon, not without fufpicion of 
 j>oifon, 331. 
 
 Lewis XVIII. Monfieur, under that title, iffues an, 
 imprudent declaration from Verona, 332. 
 
 Luckner, Marshal, takes Menin and Courtray, 232. 
 $nt is foon obliged to evacuate Flanders, ibid. 
 
 Lyons, revolt there, 302. Forced to furrender, and 
 devoted by Collet d'Herbois to unparalleled hor- 
 T ors, 305. 
 
 M. 
 
 Jlfaltjherbes, an unblcmimed character, executed un- 
 der the abominable tyranny of Robefpierre, 319. 
 
 Afalouet, M. his fpeech on the queftion of France ac- 
 cepting the fubmiffion of Avignon, 186. 
 
 Marat flain by Charlotte Corde, 301. 
 
 jMarfeillcs, revolt there, 302. Forced to fubmit t* 
 the horrors of levelling tyranny, 304. 
 
 Jftfazaririy lefs tyrannical, but fUll more cunning than 
 Richelieu, 30. His death, and its conferences, 
 35- 
 
 Jtfirabeau characterized, 1 30. 
 
 Monarchy, the worft of all governments when the 
 king is too flraitly limited, 279* 
 
 N. 
 
 Nations had often rather be great than happy, 344. 
 flecker, M. his mifraken fyftem of finance expoled, 
 209. Difmiffcd, ibid. Recalled to office as the 
 
 iayiou?
 
 INDEX. 
 
 faviour of France, 1 1 8. The probable good efMs 
 of his popularity prevented by his indecilion, Ibid. 
 Netherlands, the moment loft at which their happinefs 
 might have been fecured, 12. Seven provinces of, 
 form themfelves into a republic under the general- 
 Ihip of the Prince of Orange, the other ten gradu- 
 ally reconquered by Spain, 19. 
 
 O. 
 
 Opprcflcd people, when they gain power, readily be- 
 come oppreflbrs, 191. 
 
 Orleans, Philip, late Duke ef, kept murder and cru- 
 elty constantly in pay during the progrefs of the 
 French Revolution, 124. The caufes of his hof- 
 tility againft the court, 129. Particularly againft 
 the Queen, 130. Arms the mob of Paris with 
 pikes, thence called Philip-piques, 234. Votes for 
 the death of the King, his relation, 279. Is 
 committed to prifon, 287. And executed, 312* 
 
 P. 
 
 Paine, Thomas, his " Rights of Man" publimed, 
 and diftributed throughout the kingdom by the pa- 
 triotic clubs, 178. 
 
 Paris, treaty of, 96. A remarkable manifefto iflued 
 from, 237. That city now brought entirely under 
 the yoke of the Convention, 340. 
 
 Patriots, moderate ones vainly warned the French of 
 the dangers they ran from exciting tht apprehen- 
 fions of all Europe, 186, 187. 
 
 Pavia, the report of a treaty figned there for the 
 difmemberment 6f France unfounded, 196. 
 
 Philip of Spain, his ambition and cruelty, 13. 
 hitip-pi<[ues 9 origin of that quibble, 234. 
 
 B b ' Pilnite,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pitnitz, a convention figned there, the firft open inter- 
 ference of foreign powers in the affairs of France, 
 '95- 
 
 Poland, the fufferings of that country undeferved, 
 296. The final partition of it, as ftriking an in- 
 ftance of the fuccefsful injuftice of kings, as the 
 French Revolution of the fuccefsful injuftice of re- 
 publicans, 323. It is fuggefted, that the French 
 fent money to the Poles to begin an infurrecUon 
 tinder Kofciufko, and afterwards left them to their 
 fate, 324. 
 
 Precautions, obviou's ones to be ufed by wife and mo- 
 derate ftatefmen, 152. 
 
 Price, Dr. preaches his famous fermon on the love of 
 our country, 136. The fubjecl: of that fermoti 
 confidered in its various branches, 138. His 
 death and character, 176. 
 
 Prujfia, the -King of, deferts the alliance with Eng- 
 land and Germany, and becomes an ally of France, 
 326. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rank, fubordination of, and titles, curious ceremony 
 
 which preceded the abolition of them in France, 
 
 156. 
 Ratijbon, treaty of, in 1684, under the fmgular title 
 
 of a truce for twenty years, 52. The diet of, 
 
 declare the war with France a general war of the 
 
 empire, 262. 
 Revolution, Englijb, in 1688, confidered in a new 
 
 light, $6. 
 Revolution, French, remarks on, from 1789 to 1791. 
 
 1 18 to 202. 
 
 , from 1791 to 1796. 
 
 202 ad fin. 
 Revolutions in general, a fevere leffon to theorifts who 
 
 begin them on fancied principles of humanity, 290. 
 
 Richlieu,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 tiis fchemes for the aggrandizement of France, 
 23. 26. Dies, 30. 
 
 Robefpierre eftabl\{hes the revolutionary tribunal, 318. 
 A faying of his applied to the guillotine, ibid. 
 Affedledly pretends to reveal the exiftence of a Su- 
 preme Being, 320. His infatiate thirft of blood, 
 ibid. Meets his juft fate on the fcaffold, 322. 
 
 Roive, Sir Thomas, Englifli commerce and rational 
 knowledge highly indebted to him, 25. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sardinia, the French encourage complaints againft 
 the King of, 220. The King is left the vidtim of 
 a war which he had not t provoked, 303. Con- 
 cludes a moft humiliating and difgraceful peace 
 with France, 343. 
 
 Savoy fubdued, 254. 
 
 Spain offers to acknowledge the French Republic, as 
 the price of Lewis XVI.'s life, but in vain, 281. 
 Purchafes peace with France by the furrender of 
 Hiipaniola, 327. 
 
 Strajfordy Earl of, his patriotifm, 24. 
 
 Switzerland, attempts made by the French to excite 
 inftirrec"tion there, 182. 
 
 Sydney, Algernon, not proof againft corruption by 
 France, 48. Not to be ranked, as a patriot, 
 with RuiTel, 50. 
 
 T. 
 
 Taffies, anew ft vie of, introduced into the French. 
 
 armies, 312. 'The flighted offences in the army 
 
 punifhed with death, 313. 
 Temple, Sir William, his character and conduft con- 
 
 fidered, 37, 38. His fyftems not to he cenfured 
 
 without great confideration, 42. An uncorrupted 
 
 citizen and philofopher, ibid, 
 
 - J OOKff
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mr. Hornc, fucceeds Dr. Price as leader of 
 
 the patriotic clubs, 177. 
 Toulon, revolt there, 302. Surrenders itfelf to the 
 
 Englifli, 304. Evacuated by them, 308. 
 Triple alliance, the famous one figned between Eng- 
 
 land, Sweden, and Holland, to check the con- 
 
 quefts of France, 37. 
 
 U. 
 
 Tendee, the royalifts kindle a civil war in that coun- 
 try, 301. The Englifli miniftry blamed, but un- 
 defervedly, for not having fuccoured the infurgents 
 there, 308. 
 
 Utrecht, treaty of, figned, 65. Reflections on it, Ibid. 
 
 Univerjal Empire, thoughts on, 2. 
 
 W. 
 
 p, Sir Robert, removed from adminiftration, 80. 
 
 War of the Spanifh fuccefiion, unavoidable, 61. 
 
 Weftpballa, treaty of, 31. Con fidered as the bafis of 
 the Germanic conftitution, and as a kind of Magna 
 Charta to the central part of Europe, 32. 
 
 William III. proclaimed King of England, 55. 
 Dies, 63. 
 
 Witt, ele, an honeft but miftaken man, 44. Maffa- 
 cred, 4S . 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 4, line 7 from the bottom, for country read 
 
 1 6, penult, for Charles XI. read Charles IX. 
 
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