L 
 
 A 
 
 SKETCH 
 
 OF THI 
 
 REIGN 
 
 OF 
 
 GEORGE THE THIRD. 
 
 FROM 
 
 I 7 80, 
 
 TO THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR 
 I79O. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. DE BRETT, 
 OPPOSITE BURLINCTON HOUSE, PICCADILLT. 
 M DCCXCI. 
 
 ><L
 
 SKETCH, 8ff. &c 
 
 TO thofe who open the volume of 
 hiftory with a view to improve 
 their underftanding ; who are competent 
 to carry their researches beyond the ex- 
 ternal appearance of events, and to fpecu- 
 late on the concealed caufes which produce 
 the elevation, or accelerate the decline of 
 empires, there is not, perhaps, in the 
 annals of time a period more pregnant 
 with political matter, than the one which 
 has elapfed between the year 1780 and 
 the prefent.time. In that fhort interval, 
 we have feen the Britifli Empire, which 
 had embraced both hemifpheres, and to 
 which India and America were only pro- 
 
 B yinces ;
 
 ( * ) 
 
 vinces ; which had fuccefsfully oppofed, 
 under the aufpices of the late Earl of 
 Chatham, the combined force of the 
 Houfe of Bourbon, and, after giving laws 
 to Europe, had difpenfed peace to man- 
 kind : we have feen this empire fhaken to 
 its bafis, convulfed at home, and aflailed 
 on every fide ; vainly invoking the aid of 
 that perfidious Princefs, whofe fleets wc 
 had conducted into feas unknown to her 
 barbarous fubjects, and whofe victorious 
 banner we had taught to fly on the more 
 of Greece and of Afia Minor. It was 
 from her ungrateful hand that England, 
 already bending beneath the complicated 
 calamities of domeftic divifion and of 
 foreign war, was deftined to receive the 
 final blow, which unnerved our arm, 
 and compelled us, reluctantly, to afifemble 
 our diftant legions for the protection of 
 the capital, and the prefervation of our 
 exiftence. It is unneceffary to fay, that 
 I allude to the " Armed Neutrality;" a 
 meafure which originated from the cabinet 
 ©f Catherine the Second, although it was 
 
 followed
 
 ( 3 ) 
 followed by all the Baltic Powers j and 
 the retribution due to which, however 
 long delayed, is now probably near its ac- 
 compli (h merit But we have not only 
 feen the Bntifh monarchy, in common 
 with other itates and kingdoms, oppreffed 
 by enemies, and finking under the 
 weight of adverfe fortune, or pufillani- 
 mous and feeble counfels : we have 
 feen this expiring and diminifhed empire 
 (unlike to every other, and in this dilTimi- 
 larity laying the ftrongen; claim to the 
 admiration of mankind), within the tran-» 
 fitory period of only ten years, rife from a 
 Urate of humiliation and depreflion, re- 
 adjuft her fcattered infignia refume her 
 ancient luftre, and wing a fublimer flight 
 than ihe had ever held acrofs the political 
 expanfe. It is in vain that the moll: la- 
 borious refearch would endeavour to paral^ 
 lei this extraordinary renovation in the 
 hiftory of modern Europe. It is only in 
 the Athenian or Roman Annals ; it is only 
 at the facal periods of Marathon, and of 
 Cannae, that we fee any example of a 
 
 B % republic
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 republic fuddenly and rapidly emerging 
 from the loweft point of ruin and cala- 
 mity, into greater power and grandeur 
 than fhe had previoufly enjoyed. 
 
 The Auftrian Eagle, which, under Charles 
 the Fifth and Ferdinand the Second, had 
 foared fo high, and which had even 
 nearly extinguished all the Germanic liber- 
 ties ; ftripped of its plumage by Guftavus 
 Adolphus, and chained to the earth by the 
 manacles which were impofed on it at the 
 Treaty of Weftphalia, long flumbered 
 in peaceful bondage, 'till Marlborough 
 releafed the Imperial captive, and once 
 again reftored it to freedom, though not 
 to its former greatnefs. 
 
 Spain, which under Philip the Second 
 had menaced Europe, and feemed almoft in 
 poffeffion of her inordinate projects of am- 
 bition ; which fitted out her invincible Ar- 
 mada for the fubjection of England, while 
 Hie prepared to place an Infanta on the throne 
 of France : Exhaufted by her own perpetual 
 efforts, and having drained the treafures 
 of the new world, in vainly attempting 
 
 to
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 to reduce a revolted province, funk at once 
 into impotent infignificance ; and now, 
 after the lapfe of two hundread years, 
 appears to be only flowly emerging from 
 poverty and weaknefs. 
 
 Sweden, which like a torrent over- 
 ran Poland, Saxony, and Denmark, at 
 the commencement of the prefent century ; 
 and which, conducted by the frantic 
 valour of Charles the Twelfth, appeared 
 ready to plant her triumphant ftandards 
 on the walls of Mofcow, was hurled in 
 a fingle day from the zenith of power and 
 glory. All her laurels withered at Pul- 
 towa ; and fince that memorable aera, her 
 melancholy and fteril annals contain no- 
 thing which can awaken curiofity, or in- 
 terest, mankind, though more than feventy 
 years have elapfed fince Charles expiated 
 his wild and deftructive projects of am- 
 bition under the walls of Frederickmall. 
 At the moment when I am writing, a 
 Prince, emulous of the fame of Guftavus 
 Adolphus, and adorned with qualities 
 which : in a more fortunate period, might 
 
 have
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 have reftored the drooping genius of Swe- 
 den, and re -inflated her in thofe provinces 
 which me has loft, is endeavouring to fup- 
 ply the inherent deficiencies arifing from 
 the impoverished and depopulated ftate of 
 his dominions, by perfonal fortitude and 
 ability. He has even made an effort not 
 inglorious, to check the Ruffian progrefs, 
 and to alTert the ancient pre-eminence of 
 his fceptre in the Baltic. Thefe, how- 
 ever, arc feeble attempts, and ferve rather 
 to remind us of what Sweden once was, 
 than to awaken any well-grounded expec- 
 tation that fhe can again refume her for- 
 mer fituation in Europe. 
 
 Even France, the favoured country of 
 nature ; bleffed with a happy diverfity of 
 climates ; enriched with the choicer!: and 
 moft delicate productions of a luxuriant 
 foil ; embracing the Atlantic and the Me- 
 diteranean feas ; formed for empire, for 
 dominion, and for fupenority among the 
 European kingdoms ; uniting in herfelf 
 every natural advantage which indufhy 
 -can beflow, or commerce can procure ; 
 
 inured
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 inured to habits of obedience and loyalty, 
 as well as trained to conquefl and to war : 
 
 France herfelf, after the fevere chaftife- 
 ment which Louis the Fourteenth, to- 
 wards the conclufion of his reign, received 
 froTn Eugene and Marlborough, remained 
 almoft fupine and torpid during thirty 
 years which fucceeded the Treaty of 
 Utrecht ; content tQ . cultivate the peace- 
 ful olive, and opprefled under the load of 
 public debt, which the infatiable and 
 ruinous ambition of her fovereign had 
 incurred. It was not 'till Marechal Saxe 
 awoke her dormant genius, and revived 
 in his perfon the fublime talents which 
 have equalled him with Conde and Tu- 
 renne, that France, in any meafure, re- 
 fumed her afcendant, or feemed again to 
 occupy her natural pre-eminence among 
 the flates of Europe. 
 
 It cannot be more curious to enquire, 
 than it muft be inflruclive to afcertain, 
 v hence has arifen this chara&eriflic, and 
 peculiar principal of refufcitation, if I 
 may be allowed the expreffion, which, in 
 
 a mort
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 a mort fpace of time, has raifed England 
 from her depreffion ; and has enabled her, 
 unlike the other furrounding monarchies, 
 to profit of her very misfortunes, and to 
 engraft fplendor and power upon her 
 loffes and defeats. 
 
 Where are we to fearch for this vivi- 
 fying fource of renovation ? Is it in her 
 fpirit of commercial enterprize; in her 
 undiminished induftry; in her numerous 
 and ingenious manufactures, which have 
 penetrated, into almoft every province of 
 the civilized world ? Doubtlefs, thefe caufes 
 have contributed much to extricate and to 
 reftore the nation ; but, efficacious and 
 falutary as their tendency and opera- 
 tion are, they cannot be confidered as 
 adequate to fo great a work. 
 
 It was requifite that Providence mould 
 extend its tutelary care, to prolong the life 
 and reign of a Prince, inexpreffibly dear 
 and neceflary to his people ; whofe expe- 
 rience, matured by years and chaftened 
 by adverflty, might, and could alone be 
 equal to the arduous talk of felecting from 
 
 among
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 among his fubjects, thofe who from ca- 
 pacity and virtue were competent to heal 
 the wounds, and reftore the energy of the 
 commonwealth. It was requifite that a 
 minifter mould arife, who, to incorrupti- 
 ble integrity, and unblemifhed manners, 
 fhould unite ftrength of mind, fevere 
 ceconomy, vigilance which never fleeps, 
 eloquence to captivate, and vigour to fub- 
 due. Rare, and almoft unexampled com- 
 bination of endowments, conferred by Hea- 
 ven on thofe, and on thofe only, whom, 
 in her wife difpenfations, fhe deftines to 
 fuftain, and reftore a finking monarchy ! 
 Yet fuch a minifter, may it be afterted with- 
 out flattery, has this age and country feen. 
 Such an adminiftration have we already 
 enjoyed during near feven years ; and to it 
 may be juftly afcribed thofe aufpicious and 
 happy events, which the prefent age re- 
 gards with mingled wonder and admira- 
 tion, and which will be long commemo- 
 rated by a grateful pofterity. 
 
 To trace the gradual progreftion from 
 the darknefs of 1780, to the bright fun- 
 
 C mine
 
 ( to ) 
 
 mine of the prefent moment : to pourtray 
 fomeof the leading characters and events, 
 which have fucceffively marked and dif- 
 tinguifhed the intermediate time: to de- 
 fcribe that ftormy and tempemrous pe- 
 riod, which, during two years, fliook the 
 cabinet, the palace, and the throne, till 
 in 1784, the prefent minifter, after a long 
 and painful Struggle, advanced into open 
 day, and commenced his brilliant career: 
 to mark the principal and moil difcrimi- 
 nating features of his domeftic govern- 
 ment, and foreign policy : to take a gene* 
 ral and rapid furvey of the caufes which 
 have involved the monarchy of France in 
 anarchy, and which feem to threaten that 
 beautiful portion of Europe with all the 
 horrors of civil war, of bloodfhed, and 
 of bankruptcy : finally, to deduce this 
 interesting feries of events from the period 
 at which I have commenced, to the time 
 when 1 fhall lay before the public the pic- 
 ture which I am 1 ow defigning : thefe 
 are the objects of the prefent attempt. I 
 am fenfible of all its difficulty and deli-? 
 
 % cacy,
 
 ( II ) 
 
 Cacy. I know how dangerous it is to hold 
 up even truths to the eye of prejudice, or 
 of party ; and how reluctantly we allow 
 the veil to be withdrawn from before the 
 political fanctuary, when we are interefted 
 in its concealment or its defence. I feel 
 how invidious is the talk of appreciating 
 the motives and actions of our cotempo- 
 raries, our friends, and our fellow citi- 
 zens. I am not infenfible, above all, of 
 my own incapacity to treat of matters 
 yet recent, and obfcured by the paffions 
 and interests of the great actors themfelves. 
 But, great as thefe impediments are, they . 
 cannot induce me to relinquifh my defign. 
 What narrative can be fo inftructive, or fo 
 interefting to the prefent age, as the hif- 
 tory of the prefent age ? " Veteris populi 
 " Romani, profpera, vel adverfa, claris 
 * c fcriptoribus memcrata funt :*' Of thelail: 
 ten years, no fketch has yet been offered 
 to the public. It will be my province, 
 ' fine ira et ftudio, quorum caufas procul 
 V habeo ;" with as much impartiality as 
 the fubjecl: itfelf, and the infirmities of 
 
 C % our
 
 ( '2 ) 
 
 our nature will admit, to delineate the 
 events which have pafTed in fucceffion be- 
 before us, fince the difaflrous period 
 where the prefent memoirs commence. 
 
 The Britilh empire, which only a few 
 years preceding that sera had appeared to 
 be fo elevated and durable, then exhibited 
 a melancholy and iivlructive leffon of the 
 mutability of human greatnefs. Civil 
 war, which had commenced its deftruc- 
 tion, was aided by a combination of the 
 firfl European powers to compleat its fall. 
 Her fleets and armies, accuftomed to con- 
 quer!, retreated before the navies of France 
 and Spain. Her fhores, fo long unufed to 
 hoftile invafion, were threatened andinfult- 
 ed. Her finances groaning beneath new and 
 annual loans, conducted upon injudicious 
 or ruinous principles, feemed to approach 
 that point, beyond which public credit 
 cannot exift or furvive, Difcord raifed her 
 flaming brand in the capital, the fenate, 
 and the cabinet. London, fcarcely cfcaped 
 from conflagration and pillage, looked, 
 forward to a general fufpeniion of com- 
 merce,
 
 ( «3 ) 
 
 merce, and to national infolvency, as im- 
 minent and almoft inevitable. Clamour 
 and difcontent filled the kingdom, and cha- 
 ra&erifed the affemblies of the people in 
 the different counties. Ireland, difdain- 
 ing all further appeal except to the fword, 
 and treading in the traces of America,, 
 armed her fubjects, not fo much for de- 
 fence and protection, as for the purpofes 
 of emancipation from the yoke of Eng- 
 land. In the Britim Channel, once facred 
 from foreign intrufion, the iilands of Jer- 
 fey were repeated ly attacked. Spain, 
 which had already re-united Minorca to 
 hei crown, held Gibraltar beheged, and 
 meditated the conqueft of the Floridas. 
 Every month brought accounts of the di- 
 minution of the Weft India Iflands, which 
 fucceffively fell into the hands of France; 
 while Jamaica, left almofl to her own in- 
 ternal capacities of defence, expected with 
 trembling folicitude the long meditated 
 invaficn by the united fleets of the Houfe 
 of Bourbon. 
 
 In India, Hyder Ally, the fcourge of 
 
 the
 
 ( '4 ) 
 the Britifh nation, aided by the arms of 
 France, was on the point of exterminating 
 and expelling us from our moil: ancient 
 pofTeflions. Madras was menaced by fa- 
 mine, as well as by war ; while Bengal 
 itfelf fcarcely fuftained the preiTure of the 
 Mahrattas ; and the vaft fabric which 
 Clive had cemented with a profusion of 
 European and Afiatic blood, was ready to 
 crumble with as much rapidity as it had 
 been originally conftructed. 
 
 In America, the names of Clinton and 
 Cornwallis had fucceeded to thofe of 
 Howe. New armies had occupied the 
 ports of their victorious, but departed pre- 
 deceffors. The war which had long 
 blazed in the midland provinces, was 
 then principally transferred to thofe of 
 Carolina and Virginia. Ufelefs trophies 
 and barren laurels appeared to be the only 
 advantages, which we were deilined to de- 
 rive or acquire. Impenetrable woods 
 and impaffible moraffes, in the centre of 
 which freedom had difplayed her banner, 
 perpetually baffled all the exertions of va- 
 lour,
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 lour, military (kill, and perfeverance. 
 England began to awake from her dream 
 of fubjugating the Thirteen Colonies, and 
 already meditated the dereliction of that 
 ruinous and expenfive undertaking ; while 
 her pride, her honour, and her indigna- 
 tion ltill propelled her forward, and 
 amufed her with hopes of fuccefs, which 
 constantly vanifhed at a nearer view. Like 
 the Roman empire under Gallienus, that 
 of Britain feemed to approach the period 
 of all its glories, and to be menaced with 
 impending and total fubverfion. 
 
 From this gloomy and dejecting picture 
 of foreign affairs, it may be judicious to 
 pafs to a more animated, if not a more 
 exhilerating fcene; that which was ex- 
 hibited at home in the two houfes 
 of Parliament. The principal figure 
 which here prefented itfelf, was the rirft 
 minifter, Lord North, ftruggling againfr. 
 a holt of enemies, and flowly retreat- 
 ing before them, while they preifed 
 forward with loud and . repeated cla- 
 mours. A thoufand javelins hung upon 
 
 his
 
 ( >6 ) 
 
 his political buckler, the points of which 
 were continually broken and turned afidc 
 by his urbanity, his ready and pleafant 
 wit, or his able and ingenious reafonings, 
 when fufficiently flung by the reproaches 
 which were heaped on him, to awaken 
 and to roufe his torpid parts. Inur'd 
 to the habits of parliamentary debate, 
 mailer of all the fcience of minifterial eva- 
 sion or defence: though deftitute of energy 
 and coercion of character, yet eloquent, 
 mild, perfuafive, and blelfed with an al- 
 most infuperable tranquillity of temper, 
 he patiently faw the ftorm exhauft itfelf ; 
 and looked round, ferene and placid, to 
 that powerful phalanx, which, long ac- 
 cuftomed to obey, ilill clofely adhered to 
 him under every circumftance of public 
 diftrefs, and never abandoned him in the 
 hour of neceility. Even the lethargic and 
 foporific qualities of his body, as they 
 frequently prevented him from either 
 hearing or feeling the invectives of oppo- 
 fition, in fome meafure difarmed and 
 blunted their edge; while flumbers, which 
 
 fo
 
 ( <7 ) 
 fo often fly the couch of princes, not un- 
 ufually vifited Lord North amidfr. ail the 
 din and tumult of the Treafury Bench. 
 Near him fat the American Secretary, 
 Lord George Germain ; whofe more irri- 
 table nerves, and more communicative or 
 unguarded character, afforded materials 
 and fcope for continual attack. Cited 
 with extraordinary natural endowments, 
 though little cultivated by polite letters, or 
 adorned by fcience ; aciive, perfevering, 
 deciiive, and capable of conducting the 
 greater!: affairs of ftate, he was yet pur- 
 fued by the fame fatality which had 
 blafted his early profpects of greatnefs. 
 Unfuccefsful in age upon the plains of 
 America, as he had been unfortunate in 
 youth upon thofe of Germany, he vainly 
 invoked an exhausted nation, and a dif- 
 contented Parliament, to continue a war, 
 which, however juft and neceffary in its 
 origin, had become odious and ungrateful, 
 from a long feries of ill fuccefs. Loyal 
 to his Sovereign, pertinacious in his fa- 
 vourite meafure of fubj ceding America, 
 
 D and
 
 ( i8 ) 
 
 and conceiving his own political fituation 
 infeparably connected with the final fuc- 
 cefs of that attempt, he adhered inflexibly 
 to it, and regarded its profecution as a 
 facred principle, from which no obftacles 
 could induce him to recede. 
 
 Mr. Ellis, who for near half a century, 
 fince the times of Walpole and Pelham, 
 had occupied a place under Government, 
 continued to retain his ancient corner on 
 the Treafury Bench ; while Mr. Dundas, 
 whofe pliant and verfatile talents have 
 adapted themfelves to almofi every Admi- 
 niftration, and whofe abilities are calcu- 
 lated to ftrengthen and fupport any, was 
 feated nearer to the centre of action, and 
 boldly prefented himfelf at the poft of dan- 
 ger, whenever the enemy attempted to 
 llorm the outworks. His friend and com- 
 panion Mr. Rigby, ftill enjoyed the ample 
 revenue of the Pay Office, without a part- 
 ner j and in the exceiTes of a voluptuous 
 table, of wine and conviviality, drowned 
 the recollection of tirefome debates, and 
 
 more difgraceful defeats. 
 
 Th<
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 The two great luminaries of legal know- 
 ledge, Thurlow and Wedderburne, who had 
 long occupied and adorned their feats on 
 the fame fide of the houfe, had been fuccef- 
 fively raifed to the honours of the peerage ; 
 and their empty places were filled by 
 others far inferior in energy, dignity and 
 capacity. Such was the afpect of miniitry 
 at the period to which I allude. On the 
 other fide of the houfe, Mr Fox led on the 
 bands of oppofition in clofe and well 
 conducted files, while Mr. Burke charged 
 at the head of his irregular fquadrons, 
 and carried terror into the ranks of 
 adminiftration. Dunning, in defiance of 
 nature, deftitute almoft of organs of 
 articulation, monotonous and difgufting 
 in his tones, ungraceful in his figure, 
 poiTefTing no external advantages, and un- 
 adorned by any factitious circumftances of 
 birth and alliance ; yet, under all thefe im- 
 pediments, arretted the judgment, charm- 
 ed the ear, and captivated the imagination, 
 by the ftream of his eloquence ; though it 
 fometimes flowed through the channels of 
 
 D % law,
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 law, it was always bright, clear, and 
 lucid. Keppel, Conway, Howe, and 
 Barre occupied their refpe&ive flations in 
 this formidable and augmenting body, and 
 aided the general attack upon the feeble 
 and difmayed adherents of the minifter. 
 
 Suftain'd by the purity and integrity 
 of his 'Mentions ; repofing on the elleem 
 and affetlions of his people ; and bent on 
 the profecution of a war, which, however 
 unfortunate in its conduct, was founded 
 in the juft rights of his throne, no fymp- 
 tom of change or alarm was to be traced 
 in the fovereign. At no period of his 
 reign were his fortitude and magnanimity 
 put- to fo fevere a teft, and at none were 
 they more unfhaken. Equanimity, fere- 
 nity, and dignity appeared in his features, 
 and pervaded his manners, even in mo- 
 ments of the moft acute perfonal fuffering. 
 That piety, and that reiignation to the dif- 
 penfations of Providence, which has always 
 formed fo diilinguifhing a part of his cha- 
 racter, eminently gilded the gloom of this 
 melancholy portion of his reign, preceded 
 
 and
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 and followed by fcenes of profperity and 
 glory. Such was the fublime and affect- 
 ing fpectacle which George the Third 
 exhibited to mankind, amidft the convul- 
 fions of every kind which menaced his 
 domeftic tranquillity, diminifhed his em- 
 pire, and attacked him with augmenting 
 violence. 
 
 To the limited and erring eye of man, in- 
 capable of pervading futurity , and of remov- 
 ing the darknefs which furrounds it, Louis 
 the Sixteenth thenprefented a very different 
 and a much more enviable figure. Fortunate 
 in having fucceeded to a prince, who was 
 funk in diffolute pleafures, and loft to all 
 public exertion before his reign expired, he 
 afcended the throne of Henry the Fourth, 
 under every flattering circumftance of 
 youth and of profperity. His want of any 
 eminent talents feemed to be amply com- 
 penfated by ceconomy, application, deco- 
 rum of manners, and, above all, by a fe- 
 leclion of wife and able minifters. A 
 fuccefsful war, which eclipied and obli- 
 terated the difgraces and defeats, fuf- 
 
 tained
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 tained by France in her laft rupture 
 with England, endeared him to a loyal 
 and affectionate nation, characterifed for 
 ages by its predilection and attachment to 
 its monarchs. A Queen, diftinguimed 
 by endowments of mind, of manners, and 
 of perfon, not lefs than by her high rank 
 and imperial defcent, had formed the 
 bond of connexion between the Houfes of 
 Bourbon and of Auflria, while fhe ren- 
 dered Verfailles the refidence of pieafure, 
 gaiety, and magnificence. France appear- 
 ed to re-afcend in the fcale of Europe, in 
 the fame proportion as Great Britain de- 
 clined ; and flattery, if not reafon, already 
 predicted the revival of the proud age of 
 Lewis the Fourteenth. But, to confound 
 the fpeculations of policy, and to evince 
 the hafly transitions of human greatnefs, it 
 was prccifely at this very juncture that 
 the feeds were fown, which we have fince 
 feen matured; which have already over- 
 turned the very elements of order and go- 
 vernment, ftained the palace of Verfailles 
 with blood, and menace the extinction of 
 
 property,
 
 ( n ) 
 
 property, perfonal fecurity, and every 
 thing dear to mankind. The troops who 
 were fent as auxiliaries to the rebellious 
 provinces of Great Britain beyond the 
 Atlantic, fpeedily imbibed that fpirit of 
 freedom, which they were commanded to 
 defend ; and did not relinquifh thefe fen- 
 timents fo incompatible with abfolute 
 monarchy, when they returned to their 
 native country. On the other hand, the 
 anticipation of the public revenue, which 
 was neceflarily produced by a war, how- 
 ever glorious and fuccefsful, added to the 
 immoderate expences of a diffipated and 
 luxurious court, foon reduced the King to 
 adopt a meafure, which though difln- 
 terefted and even patriotic, opened the way 
 to make his throne. Louis the Sixteenth 
 was perfuaded to break the royal houfe- 
 hold, to difmifs about four hundred officers 
 holding pofls immediately about his per- 
 fon, and to content himfelf with a lefs 
 expenfive and fplendid eitablifhment. 
 Perhaps no advice more replete with cala- 
 mity, could have been conceived or fol- 
 lowed.
 
 ( M ) 
 lowed. The pomp and external para- 
 phernalia of majefty being once with- 
 drawn ; and the numbers of nobility at- 
 tached to the fovereign by interefl, va- 
 nity, or affection, being once difbanded, 
 the throne was left naked, unprotected, 
 and expofed to infult. Experience has 
 evinced its deflructive tendency ; and has 
 fhewn that only a limited monarch, who 
 reigns in the affections of his fubjects, 
 and whofe interefls are intimately blended 
 with thofe of his people, can remain an 
 object of refpect and homage, diverted of 
 the fplendor and protection of a royal 
 court, and numerous houfehold. 
 
 The Emprefs Queen, Maria Therefa, 
 clofedat this period a reign of forty years, 
 marked by the moll linking viciflitudes of 
 profperous and of ad verfe fortune. During 
 the exiflence of the powerful combination 
 which fhook her throne in the commence- 
 ment of her life, Ihe exhibited the moil 
 undaunted magnanimity, the greatefl re- 
 fources of mind, and a courage fuperior 
 to her fex. Driven from Vienna in 1 741 , 
 
 while
 
 ( =5 ) 
 while Bohemia and Auftria were over-run 
 by the French and Bavarians, Hie found 
 protection and fuecours in the loyalty of 
 her Hungarian fubjedts, who at fight of 
 her beauty, youth, and misfortunes, for- 
 got their hereditary enmity and jealoufy of 
 the Imperial houfe from which fhe fprung. 
 The afternoon and evening of her reign, 
 though frequently difturbed by foreign 
 wars, were pafTed by her in the difcharge 
 of every duty due from a fovereign to 
 her people. Mild, clement, humane, 
 munificent, and ever extending the proofs 
 of her parental tendernefs to her wide ex- 
 tended dominions, fhe was idolized by 
 the Hungarians, beloved by the Flemings, 
 and dear to every order of citizens. That 
 piety and fortitude which had charac- 
 terized her life, accompanied and bright- 
 ened her dying moments. Her crowns 
 defcended to her fon Jofeph ; a Prince who 
 had given premature expectations of genius 
 and capacity, and whofe emulation of the 
 King of PrufTia promifed to render him 
 worthy of fo great an antagonist. But Eu- 
 
 E rope
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 fope was foon undeceived in this favorable 
 anticipation of the talents of Jofeph the 
 Second. Agitated with perpetual and 
 varying fchemes of conquefl: : reftlefs, and 
 incapable of repofe : planning innovations 
 in religion, in manners, and in civil life, 
 which were no fooner executed than re- 
 voked : oppreflive and defpotic, without 
 the art either of concealing thefe qualities, 
 or of rendering their effects palatable to 
 his fubjecls : menacing at the fame mo- 
 ment the juff. franchifes of the Netherlands, 
 and the antient liberties of Hungary : dread- 
 ed in the empire, and detefted in his own 
 capital : anxious to enlarge the limits of his 
 dominions, even at the expence of faith and 
 juftice : rapacious of ecclefiaftical property, 
 and profufe only of the blood of his peo- 
 ple ; Jofeph foon alienated the affections 
 of every rank, and clofed a tempeftuous 
 reign, unregretted, and unlamented; leav- 
 ing the Houfe of Auftria in embarrafs- 
 ments, produced by his violence and am- 
 bition, fcarcely inferior to thofe which 
 had fo nearly overturned and extinguished 
 
 it,
 
 ( V ) 
 
 it, at the death of his grandfather Charles 
 the Sixth. 
 
 Two illuftrious and extraordinary Prin- 
 ces then filled the thrones of Mufcovy 
 and of Pruffia. A woman was ftill 
 deftined to fway the fceptre of the Czars, 
 and to govern the immenfe regions ex- 
 tending from the Frozen to the Cafpian 
 Sea. Unequalled in magnificence, and 
 unconquerable in war, Catherine the Second 
 had enlarged the limits of her vail domi- 
 nions, covered the Black Sea with Ruffian 
 fleets, and threatened the entire fubverfion 
 of the Ottoman power. Protectrefs of 
 the fciences and liberal arts, (lie cultivated 
 the friendfhip of d'Alembert, courted the 
 correfpondence and the praifes of Vol- 
 taire, and, like Louis XIV., extended her 
 munificence to men of letters throughout 
 every kingdom of Europe. Intoxicated 
 with fuccefs, and elevated to the fummit of 
 human grandeur and felicity, fhe forgot 
 the friendly hand which had aided her arms, 
 and taught them the way to victory ; 
 while dreaded and admired in every quar- 
 
 E 2 ter
 
 ( *« ) 
 
 ter of the globe, me feemed to have 
 chained the inconstancy of fortune, and to 
 defy the changes and clouds which fo 
 frequently darken the conclufion of a fe- 
 
 ma.e reign. 
 
 Frederic, covered with laurels, and re- 
 tired from Berlin to the folitary magni- 
 ficence of Potzdam ; in the bofom of lite- 
 rary repofe, and linking under the preffure 
 of augmenting infirmities, advanced to- 
 wards the termination of his memorable 
 life and reign. Alienated from, or indif- 
 ferent to the misfortunes of England, he 
 regarded with a philofophic and averted 
 eye her prefent unequal conteft againit fo 
 many powers ; and extended no relief, nor 
 made any exertion in favour of his antient 
 ally. 
 
 Portugal alone, among fo many neutral, 
 or hoflile ilates, ventured at this diitrefs- 
 ful moment, to grive fome affirmative 
 marks of friendship to the crown of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 While Europe exhibited this afpecl, fo 
 iittle calculated to awaken hope, frefh 
 
 loffes
 
 ( 29 ) 
 
 lofles and defeats awaited the arms of Eng- 
 land beyond the Atlantic. The capture of 
 the Ifland of St. Euftatius, which, on its 
 firft promulgation, had diffufed a general 
 joy throughout the nation, produced in the 
 event only obl( quy to the captors, and a 
 fufpeniibn the moil untimely and injurious 
 in ^ur naval and military exertions ; while 
 the troops, which mould have adted with 
 vigour againft the enemy, were funk in 
 inactivity, or occupied in plunder. 
 
 As the year advanced, new lflands were 
 loft, and new difgrai :es incurred j 'till the cli- 
 max of national calamity attained its ulti- 
 mate point by the furrender of an army of 
 feven thoufand men, who laid down their 
 arms before Walhington and Rocham- 
 beau, on the more of the Chefapeake. 
 After fix years of mutual flaughter and 
 alternate fuccefs, the genius ot America 
 triumphed, and this laft unexampled vic- 
 tory for ever confirmed her independence. 
 The intelligence, when it was received in 
 England, lhook the already tottering Ad- 
 ministration, and precipitated its fall. 
 
 Difmay,
 
 ( 30 ) 
 Difmay and terror pervaded the cabinet, 
 and agitated the counfels. The Oppofition, 
 confcious of the augmenting diftrefs and 
 fluctuating irrefolution of the firft minifter, 
 called aloud for an explicit avowal of his 
 renunciation of any further efforts to fubju- 
 gate the revolted colonies. The exprellive 
 filence of Lord North to thefe peremptory 
 demands, left no room to doubt either of 
 his fentiments or his wifhes ; and the 
 Secretary for America, retiring from a 
 lituation no longer tenable, after a rude 
 attack from Lord Carmarthen, was re- 
 ceived into the quiet bofom of the Houfe 
 of Lords. The enemy rufhed into the 
 breach which this difunion had occafioned, 
 and already beheld the prize within their 
 grafp. The Adminiftration, however, 
 ftill lingered, though deftitute of animation 
 or energy ; a feeble and ineffectual effort 
 was even made to prolong their exigence, 
 by the fubffitution of Mr. Ellis in the place 
 of Lord George Germain; but this ftep 
 ferved only to accelerate their dhXolution. 
 Oppofition, eager to feize the prey, and ac- 
 quiring
 
 ( 3« ) 
 
 quiring force as they advanced, pufhed on 
 towards the citadel ; 'till Lord North, on 
 the 20th of March, 1782, exhibited the 
 lingular and humiliating fpectacle of a Firft 
 Minifter diverting himfelf of all theinfignia 
 of office, before a crowded Houfe of Com- 
 mons j and announcing his refignation to 
 an altonifhed audience, who fcarcely 
 credited the fact of which they were wit- 
 nefTes. The novelty and effect of this 
 extraordinary furrender of power, were 
 encreafed by its being equally fudden and 
 unexpected. Neither his friends nor his 
 enemies were aware of the blow; and 
 even his fovereign did not fufpect, 'till 
 almoft the very inftant in which he exe- 
 cuted his purpofe, that any fuch was me- 
 ditated or intended. It is nugatory and 
 unneceffary here to enquire, whether it was 
 principally produced by timidity, fatigue, 
 or difguft. Probably, by a combination 
 of all thefe emotions ; and unqueftionably 
 by a very unforefeen and hafly determina- 
 tion. 
 
 In this difarmed and unprepared fitua- 
 tion, without either time or ability for 
 
 framing
 
 ( 3* ) 
 
 framing a new ministry, the King could 
 only furrender at discretion. He did fo; 
 and the royal garrifon, entered by Storm, 
 was plundered by the conquerors. Three 
 garters were found among the fpoils, and 
 which ferved to decorate the principal 
 chieftains. Offices and ports were distri- 
 buted at their arbitrary pleafure ; and a new 
 Administration loon appeared, compofed 
 of motley materials, and evincing in its 
 very formation and component parts, the 
 principles of fpeedy difTolution. The 
 feeble genius of Lord Rockingham pre- 
 sided over it, but could infpire no heat or 
 energy into the heterogeneous mafs. Ill 
 calculated for fo arduous and delicate a 
 ftation, he wanted talents to guide, and 
 animate the complicated machine of 
 which he was only the oStenSible leader. 
 Mr. Fox and the Earl of Shelburne occu- 
 pied the two Secretaryships of State ; 
 while Keppel, raifed to the peerage for 
 his fervices on the 27th of July, 1778, 
 fucceeded to the presidency of the vacant 
 Board of Admiralty. 
 
 It is not my intention minutely to deli- 
 neate
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 tieate or depicture the meafures of this 
 tranfitory Administration, juft lliewn to 
 the Britiih, as Marcellus was to the Ro- 
 man people ; and fnatched away by an ex- 
 tinction as hafty, but not as much la- 
 mented. I have ever regarded the ihort 
 period of its duration, as the laftand loweft 
 point of national and royal depreffion. 
 Though illuminated by a victory, which 
 has flied an unexampled lultre over the 
 annals of England, no ray of it reflected 
 upon the Miniftry : they had vilified and 
 persecuted the great naval commander who 
 obtained it, previous to his departure for 
 his Station : they recalled him in the very 
 moment of his conquefts. The annals of 
 that period, circumfcribed within three 
 months, are marked by the humiliating 
 and fruitlefs attempts of the Government 
 to obtain peace from Holland ; though il- 
 lufory promifes and alTurances of fuccefs 
 had been held out to parliament, and to 
 the country, by Mr. Fox, before his entry 
 upon office. The peerage, in the almo(t 
 only inftance where it was conferred, was 
 
 F extorted
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 extorted from the fovereign, without even 
 the decencies of refpect, or of requeft ; 
 and the extraordinary fpectacle of a 
 newly-created Peer kifling the King's 
 hand in the Queen's drawing room, in 
 violation of all form or ufage, was re- 
 ferved for the Rockingham Adminiftra- 
 tion to exhibit, in the perfon of Sir Flet- 
 cher Norton. . 
 
 A bill, which without materially con- 
 ducing to national ceconomy, or public 
 benefit, diminimed on one hand the dig- 
 nity which ufed to wait upon the perfon 
 of the fovereign ; and on the other, dif- 
 armed every fucceeding minifter, by leav- 
 ing him fcarcely any objects with which 
 to ftimulate activity, or reward merit and 
 adherence. A bill, which by compelling 
 every Administration, from want of of- 
 fices, to multiply the peerage, as the 
 only thing left in their power to beftow ; 
 and which, if not redrelfed and repealed, 
 may eventually deflroy the balance of the 
 conftitution. A bill, well known, and as 
 
 well
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 well characterized by the name of its elo- 
 quent, but theoretical and vifionary author, 
 was introduced, and rapidly carried 
 through the unrefifting Houfes of Parlia- 
 ment; while the King was compelled to 
 lend his name and aid to the completion of 
 a law, which difbanded his houfhold, and 
 difarmed his authority. 
 
 This unwife and impolitic attack upon 
 the majefty of the throne, was properly 
 accompanied and fucceeded by fimilar in- 
 vafions of the hereditary franchifes of the 
 people. Under the fpecious allegation of 
 extinguifhing the corrupt influence of the 
 Crown, a great and induftrious body of 
 men, the officers of the cuftoms, were 
 deprived of their juft and unalienable right 
 to vote in elections for their reprefentatives 
 in Parliament ; and the natural reward of 
 merit or fervices was converted by the 
 Legiflature, into an inftrument of punifli- 
 ment and privation. 
 
 But, happily for the monarch and for 
 the nation, a Miniftry, in which hypocri- 
 tical profeflion was fubftituted for ad ion ; 
 
 F z whofc
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 whofe conquefts were limited to St. 
 James's, and whofe trophies were only 
 obtained over clerks of the Green Cloth 
 and houfekeepers, now drew near its ex- 
 tinction. The natural deceafe of the 
 Marquis of Rockingham, which took 
 place upon the ift of July, 1782, can 
 fcarcely be faid to have preceded, or an- 
 ticipated his political difmiffion. He 
 expired in the vicinity of London ; regret- 
 ted only by his immediate friends and ad- 
 herents ; efleemed as a virtuous and a well 
 intentioned, though an inadequate Minif- 
 ter. His elevation to the firft poft. in the 
 Adminiflration was injurious to his cha- 
 racter as a man of talents ; and he was 
 twice deftined in the prefent reign, to fee 
 the political fab rick which he had reared, 
 moulder within a few months, and fink 
 under its own prefTure. Like Galba, 
 •' Major privato vifus, dum privatus fuit ; 
 ** et omnium confenfu, capax imperii, 
 " ni(j imperaiTet." 
 
 Releafed by this interposition of for- 
 tune, from a bondage equally fevere and 
 
 humiliating,
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 humiliating, the Sovereign made a ielection 
 from among his fervants, more confonant 
 to his own perfonal inclinations, as well as 
 more calculated to advance the public 
 fervice. The Earl of Shelburne affumed 
 the vacant Treafurer's ftaff, which had 
 dropped from the hand of the deceafed 
 Marquis ; while the honeft and virtuous 
 incapacity of the late Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, was fupplied by equal probity 
 and integrity, but accompanied with thofe 
 fublime and early talents, which Mr. Pitt 
 alone has difplayed and fuftained in the 
 prefent age. Having declined the proffered 
 advances of the late Miniftry, and having 
 refufed to form any inferior part of, or ac- 
 cept any fecondary fituation under that 
 fyftem, he now firft appeared in the front 
 ranks of government ; and evinced to an 
 aflonifhed nation, that in a poll: fo arduous 
 as that of the fuperin tendance of the com- 
 plicated finances of an cxhauhxd and im- 
 poverished country, he could unite the 
 cnerg) and vigour of youth, with the 
 
 maturity
 
 . ( 38 ) 
 
 maturity and experience of more advanced 
 life. 
 
 Some fubordinate alterations in other 
 departments of flate completed the new 
 Adminiftration ; which, at its commence- 
 ment was favoured by the advanced period 
 of the year and fefTion, and the proroga- 
 tion of Parliament which naturally fol- 
 lowed. The adherents of Lord Rocking- 
 ham filled the Lower Houfe with loud 
 clamours and pointed infinuations, againfl 
 the fuppofed motives and authors of a 
 change fo inimical, as they afTerted, to 
 the beft interests of the monarchy. Mr. 
 Fox in a manly and magnanimous, Mr. 
 Burke, in a querulous and reluctant man- 
 ner, refpe&ively refigned their fituations. 
 The impamoned exclamations of the latter 
 were only interrupted and extinguifhed by 
 the arrival of the Black Rod, and the fum- 
 mons to attend the Chancellor at the bar 
 of the Houfe of Lords. The feffion 
 clofed ; and oblivion already drew her veil 
 acrofs the departed Adminiftration, while 
 new convulsions, and new fcenes of political 
 
 confufion
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 confufion were filently, but rapidly, ge- 
 nerating in the womb of time. 
 
 Peace, which for fo many years had 
 fled, now prepared to return. Inactivity, 
 and a premature fufpenfion of hoftility be- 
 yond the Atlantic, gradually opened the 
 paffage to univerfal tranquillity in Europe. 
 America, already declared independent by 
 the Legiflature, no longer occupied the 
 arms or efforts of Great Britain. Holland, 
 divided by the Orange and the Republican 
 factions, feebly fuftained her portion of 
 the common attack. France, arretted in 
 the midft of all her conquefls by the arm 
 of Rodney, faw her boafted navy fcattered 
 over the Weftern world ; happy to efcape 
 the purfuit of a victorious fleet, and to 
 (ink undifturbed, in the havens of Marti- 
 nico, or of Bofton. It only remained to 
 humble the arrogance of Spain ; who, in- 
 folent with unaccuftomed fuccefs, and 
 elated with the trophies acquired at Mi- 
 norca, and in Florida, had affembled her 
 forces of every kind round the rock of 
 Gibraltar, and already anticipated the re- 
 union
 
 ( 40 ) 
 union of that proud fortrefs to her domi- 
 nions. To indulge at once the gratifica- 
 tion of national vanity, as well as the ac- 
 quifition of glory, a Prince of the Blood 
 Royal of France was invited to quit the 
 effeminate pleafures of Verfailles, and to 
 become a fpectatorof its reduction from the 
 Spanifh camp. Preparations only inferior to 
 thofe of Philip the Second againft Eli- 
 zabeth, were made to accelerate and fe- 
 cure fo favourite an object of the court of 
 Madrid ; while all Europe might be faid, 
 in common with the Count d'Artois, to 
 have fixed their eyes upon this animating 
 fpectacle. I need not relate the event ; in- 
 scribed in characters which muft lafl as 
 long as military fame and valour are re- 
 vered among men. The formidable ar- 
 maments of Charles the Third periflied 
 under the fuperior fire of the garrifon ; 
 and the miferable victims who efcaped 
 from the conflagration, were indebted for 
 their lives to the exertions of that very 
 enemy, for whofe dcflruction they had been 
 afTcmbled. 
 
 Under
 
 ( 4i ) 
 
 Under this fingular blaze of glory and 
 fuccefs was terminated a war, which had 
 been marked during its progrefs with every 
 circumftance adverfe to England, and 
 which, at many periods, had menaced its 
 very exigence. Negociations, prolonged 
 throughout the autumn, produced a gene- 
 ral pacification at the beginning of 1783 ; 
 the terms of which, however widely dif- 
 ferent they were from thofe which Great 
 Britain dictated at the treaties of Utrecht 
 and of Fontainbleau, feemed neither igno- 
 minious ncr difadvantageous, in the en- 
 feebled ftate of the finances and refources 
 of the country. France reftored almoft all 
 her acquifitions, while Spain retained her 
 conqueftsj and Holland, which had tar- 
 dily and reluctantly been forced from her 
 pacific fyftem, was abandoned by her al- 
 lies, and left to expiate by conceflions, the 
 departure from her ancient policy and 
 connexions. 
 
 But the waves of party, which had 
 been fo long and fo violently agitated, 
 could not immediately fublide with the 
 
 G extinction
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 extinction of hostilities. The two power- 
 ful factions, who had fucceffively poffeff- 
 ed, and been deprived of the government, 
 however adverfe they were to each other, 
 yet united in their common oppofition to 
 the new intruders. The character of the 
 Firft Lord of the Treafury, though dif- 
 tinguiihed by many impofing qualities of 
 mind, by ingratiating and popular man- 
 ners, and by an enlarged acquaintance 
 with the foreign interefts of England ; yet 
 wanted that ftamp of probity and princi- 
 ple, without which a great nation never 
 confers efteem and confidence. Infincerity 
 and duplicity were afcribed to him by his 
 enemies. Accufations and fufpicions were 
 circulated, poffibly originating only in 
 calumny, which arraigned his purity 
 of conduct, as a Minifter, and infinuated 
 his acquifition of perfonal wealth by the 
 abufe of his high Situation, during the- 
 progrefs of the late negociations, to the 
 fordid purpofes of private gain. Doubts 
 of this complexion, however unauthenti- 
 catcd or unjuflthey may be fuppofed, yct t 
 
 by
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 by operating on the public, equally indif- 
 pofed them towards the peace, and to- 
 wards its author. 
 
 To thefe obvious and oftenfible caufes of 
 his difmiflion, may be added the extraordi- 
 nary and almoft inexplicable indifference 
 which marked his conduct, towards pre- 
 ferving a fituation, which it had been the 
 leading and predominant object of his life 
 to acquire. Parliament met, and after long 
 and violent debates, renewed at various 
 times, expreffed its difapprobation of the 
 peace recently concluded, though by a very 
 fmall majority. It is even highly probable 
 that this mark of their diflatisfaction would 
 not have been attended or followed by any 
 fuch affirmative proofs of national refent- 
 ment, as to have compelled a Minifter 
 of firmnefs and rectitude to retire from 
 his public fituation. Whether any con- 
 fcioufnefs of a deficiency in either of thefe 
 qualities, or whether motives more con- 
 cealed and unafcertainable actuated the 
 Earl of Shelburne; it is certain that he 
 did not hefitate to take the warning 
 
 G % which
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 which had heen given him, and to lay down 
 his office without delay. 
 
 But though he had embraced this pufilla- 
 nimous and precipitate part, the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, animated by feelings of 
 integrity, loyalty, and duty to his Prince and 
 to his country, generoufly refufed to aban- 
 don them to the refentments and discretion- 
 ary mandates of two factions, who had 
 agreed to a mutual facrifice of principle, and 
 even of decency, in order to gratify their 
 thirft of power. x\fter a manly and mag- 
 nanimous, but ineffectual ftruggle, he was 
 however compelled to yield to fo unequal 
 a force. The Sovereign, who had vainly 
 endeavoured to compofe a new Adminiftra- 
 tion, and who had been befieged in his 
 own palace during fix weeks, found the 
 lines of circumvallation too ftrong to force, 
 and furrendered a fecond time prifoner of 
 war. The two victorious chieftains, who 
 had agreed to bury all paft caufes of re- 
 fentment in oblivion, entered the breach 
 in triumph, bound their captive, polled 
 their centinels, and inverted th^mfelves 
 
 in
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 in the fpoils which their conduct had ac~ 
 quired. The larger fhare however of 
 thefe emoluments fell to Mr. Fox ; and 
 the Treafury was transferred from the mild 
 incapacity of Lord Rockingham, whom 
 death had removed, to the laborious, but 
 limited and fubfervient talents of the Duke 
 of Portland. Lord North, who did not 
 feel with Caefar, that " the firit. fituation 
 " in a village out-valued the fecond in an 
 *' empire ", was content with the inferior 
 portion of power and profit, allotted him 
 -by the liberality of his new aiTbciates, 
 and mixed in the cavalcade, which he had 
 fo long conducted. Too happy to obtain 
 an amnefty for the misfortunes of his 
 Adminiftration, and foothed with the un- 
 accuftomed panegyrics of thofe who had 
 fo lately called out for axes and fcaffolds ; 
 he funk without emotion, into a fubordi- 
 nate office, and religned the painful pre- 
 eminence of Itate into hands of greater 
 energy or ambition. 
 
 A paufe fucceeded to this extraordinary 
 and eventful transfer of power; as the 
 
 monarcti
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 monarch and the nation were equally in- 
 capable of inflantly exerting any effort for 
 their emancipation. The " Coalition " 
 impofed their fetters upon both ; and little 
 attentive to acquire the affection, were fatis- 
 fied with the fubmiflion of their prifoners. 
 Relying on their own united ftrength to 
 retain the conquefts which they had made, 
 they only began already to project the 
 means of perpetuating and extending the 
 term of their duration. To atchieve this 
 object, it was indifpenfably neceffary to 
 reconflruct the edifice which their injudi* 
 cious fpirit of reform had lately over- 
 thrown ; and to fubftitute other charges 
 and offices in the place of thofe, which had 
 been annihilated in the houfehold of the 
 Sovereign. Thefe pleafing anticipations 
 and reveries formed a grateful occupation 
 during the recefs of Parliament ; and the 
 fucceeding winter was deftined to fee the 
 chains, which an unprincipled ambition 
 had fabricated, impofed with all the fo- 
 lemnity of legiflation upon an unrefifting 
 people. 
 
 There
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 There is however a limit prefcribed 
 to violence, which it has ever been found 
 impracticable to pafs ; and the " Coalition" 
 was deStined to be taught by it's own ex- 
 perience, that no combination of talents, 
 power, or ability can fuStain a Govern- 
 ment, where all opinion of principle, or 
 refpect for character have ceafed to exiSt, 
 on the part of the nation towards its ty- 
 rants. Even the forms of the constitution 
 and the fanctity of law will not prevent a 
 generous and an enlightened country, from 
 difcerning the abufe of that authority, 
 which while it extinguishes prerogative, 
 militates equally againSt freedom. Time 
 alone was requifite to mature thefe re- 
 flections ; and the Administration opened 
 the way to their own destruction, by the 
 very means which they had concerted for 
 placing their greatnefs beyond the reach 
 of accident. 
 
 Mr. Fox introduced his celebrated 
 V EaSt India Bill," with all that fplendor 
 of parts, and difplay of ability, which has 
 rendered him fo distinguished in the hif- 
 
 tory
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 tory of the prefent age. Though India 
 Was not in that department of public 
 bufinefs, over which as Secretary of State, 
 he perfonally prefided, yet the fuperior 
 energy of his character, and the conveni- 
 ent facility of his new colleague, allowed 
 him to afTume this arduous and danger- 
 ous pre-eminence. Mr. Burke's ample 
 and inexhauftible ftock of materials and 
 documents, fupplied any deficiencies of 
 memory or local information ; while the 
 " Inftitutes of Timur," and the wifeft re- 
 gulations of European policy, were new- 
 modelled by this generous legiflator. The 
 oppreffions and calamities under which 
 India had fo long fuffered j the peculations, 
 committed by the fervants of the Company, 
 as well as the wanton and unprincipled 
 wars in which they had engaged, were 
 highly painted, and ftrongly reprobated. 
 The remedy to thefe numerous evils was 
 prefented ; and all palliatives were depre- 
 cated, as unequal to the extermination of a 
 difeafe which had pervaded the whole fy{- 
 tern, which demanded a meafure of more 
 
 than
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 than ordinary vigour in the Legiflature. 
 The Houfe of Commons yielded to thefe 
 convincing and minifterial arguments, fo 
 calculated to operate on their paffions as 
 well as their judgments. The ineffectual 
 oppofition which was made to it by Mr. 
 Pitt, and a few perfons who adhered to him, 
 neither retarded nor impeded the rapid 
 progrefs of the bill. It was carried through 
 one Houfe of Parliament by prodigious 
 fuperiority of numbers ; and it was not 
 apprehended that the fubfervient undcr- 
 derftandings of the other Houfe, generally 
 difpofed to fee all meafures of all Adminif- 
 trations with a favourable eye, would re- 
 ject the prefent, or canvafs it with unufual 
 feverity. The " Coalition" appeared al- 
 ready to touch the more, and to be near 
 the accomplifhment of their molt, fanguine 
 projects of grealnefs. 
 
 The magnanimity and penetration of the 
 Sovereign, awakened and directed by the 
 timely exhortation of thofe who collected 
 round the throne in this critical and dan- 
 gerous conjuncture, matched the country 
 
 H from
 
 ( 5° ) 
 
 from the impending misfortune. Trie 
 great incorporated bodies in various parts 
 of the kingdom, flowly roufed to a com- 
 prehenfion of the evil, and alarmed at the 
 violation of the chartered rights of the firft 
 commercial company in the nation, ap- 
 peared ready to reclaim and to defend their 
 own threatened immunities, or properties. 
 London led the way in thefe fymptoms 
 of confternation, and was followed by the 
 principal cities and provinces. AddrefTes, 
 remonltrances, and petitions, arrived from 
 every part of Great Britain. Satire and 
 ridicule, fo powerful in their operation 
 upon the minds of men, united with rea- 
 fon and argument to overturn a Minifrry, 
 who had attempted to conftruct their own 
 grandeur, equally on the ruin of the Prero- 
 gative, and the deftruction of the Conftitu- 
 tion. Two caricature drawings, conceived 
 with exquifite humour, and whofe effect can 
 perhaps be compared with nothing in our 
 hiftory, except the fong of «? Lillabullero" 
 under James the Second, were circulated 
 in every company. In one of thefe, the 
 
 Secretary
 
 ( 5' ) . 
 
 Secretary of State who had introduced the 
 bill, was depictured carrying, like Atlas, 
 the whole Eaft- India Houfe upon his 
 fhoulders ; while the affrighted Directors, 
 looking out of the windows, appeared vain- 
 ly to invoke afliftance agai'nfl the violence. 
 The other reprefented his triumphal entry 
 into Dehli, the capital of his newly con- 
 quered dominions. Mr. Fox was habited in 
 the fplendid Afiatic drefs of Shaw Allum ; 
 while his obedient colleague in office 
 Lord North, degraded to the inferior na- 
 ture of the trained and managed elephant, 
 fupported the victor on his back. Mr. 
 Burke, as a trumpeter, accompanied the 
 proceffion, proclaiming the virtues and 
 trophies of this fucceffor of Tamerlane and 
 Aurungzebe. 
 
 The ftorm of national indignation, 
 though long and tardy in forming, had 
 now collected, and prepared to burft with 
 the utmoft violence. The Houfe of Peers 
 led the way, by throwing out the Eaft- 
 India Bill ; and on the fubfequent night, 
 at a late hour, his Majefty lent to de- 
 li 7, mand
 
 C 52 ) 
 
 mand the feals of office from the two Se- 
 cretaries of State. An Adminiftration, 
 St the head of which was Mr. Pitt, and 
 of which he may be faid to have formed the 
 vital principle, w T as inilantly compofed. 
 So fecure, however, were the late Miniflers 
 of their afcendancy in the Houfe of Com- 
 mons, and in fuch contempt were thefe 
 efforts of the Crown to liberate itfelf 
 held by them, that when the writ was 
 moved for Appleby, in confequence of the 
 new Firft. Lord of the Treafury having va- 
 cated his feat, it was received with loud, 
 and almoft general laughter. Even thofe 
 whofe judgment and experience in Parlia- 
 mentary matters were moft refpected, 
 ventured to predict that a few weeks would 
 fee the termination of this fugitive Govern- 
 ment, either by a gradual or a violent 
 death. For the firfb time fince the accef- 
 £011 of the houfe of Brunfwick ; perhaps 
 it may be faid fince the exiflence of the 
 monarchy, the fovereign and the people 
 were united in oppofition to the reprefenta- 
 tiyes of the people t The patient and 
 
 pafTive
 
 ( S3 ) 
 
 pafTive fortitude of Mr. Pitt fultained him, 
 even more than his talents or integrity, 
 during near three months that this liege 
 continued; nordidheadvifehisSovereignto 
 have recourfe to the laft constitutional mea- 
 fureleft him, that of dilfolution, till above 
 a hundred and twenty addreifes, couched in 
 terms of loyalty, and of reprobation againit 
 the attempt to overturn the prerogative, 
 left no room to hefitate on its popularity, 
 or on the general joy with which it would 
 be received. The elections for the new 
 Parliament, which at no period of the pre- 
 fent century were ever fo incorrupt, and 
 fo free from all ministerial interference, 
 evinced beyond difpute, how odious to 
 the nation were the principles and conduct 
 of the late Adminiftration. The Firit 
 Minifter emerged at length, from a flate of 
 the moft painful exertion and depreflion, 
 into political day ; and the reins of Go- 
 vernment, fo long and fo violently retained 
 by the " Coalition,'* fell from their hands. 
 It is from this acra that we may date the 
 flow, but progreflive elevation of the Bri- 
 
 tifh
 
 ( 5+ ) 
 
 t'ifh empire ; which, fhaken and convulfed, 
 during the calamitous period of the Ameri- 
 can war, had not been lefs agitated by in- 
 ternal ftruggles of faction, fince its ter- 
 mination. But, before we arrive at that 
 exhilerating fcene, it may be a not lefs 
 inflructive, though it is a lefs pleafing 
 talk, to furvey the picture of the empire 
 at the moment when the prefent Minifter 
 commenced his Administration. 
 
 Exhaufted in her finances , and deprived of 
 vigour from the rapid fucceffion of fo many 
 Governments, debility, languor, and de- 
 cay characterifed every internal depart- 
 ment of the State. The public funds 
 feemed to have funk below the point of 
 depreffion, to which even the misfortunes 
 of the war had reduced them; and the 
 confifcation which had menaced the Eafl 
 India Company while Mr. Fox's bill im- 
 pended over their property, had operated 
 to fink their flock below any former pre- 
 cedent. The revenue was diminifbed 
 and invaded by the bold inroads of contra- 
 band commerce, which loudly called on 
 
 the
 
 ( ss ) 
 
 the Legiflature for effectual interpofition 
 and redrefs. No foreign alliance, or con- 
 nexion with any of the great powers on 
 the Continent, offered the profpect offup- 
 port in a future war. Holland was com- 
 pletely governed by the Republican fac- 
 tion, who, under Van Berkel in the 
 prefent, as under the De Witts in the 
 kit. century, had entered into the clofefl 
 connexions with the Court of Verfailles ; 
 while the Prince of Orange, retaining 
 little more than the name of Stadtholder, 
 was reduced to a Hate of paffive infignifl- 
 cance. Denmark, whofe fovereigns had 
 been connected by alliances ' of blood and 
 policy with the Crown of England for 
 near half a century ; and whofe natural 
 interests, in oppofition to thofe of Sweden, 
 tended to confirm thefe tyes ; had departed 
 from her ancient principles, and no longer 
 cultivated the friendfhip of a kingdom, 
 incapable of extending protection, or ren- 
 dering itfelf refpectable in the Baltic. 
 From the Court of Stockholm, attached for 
 ages to France, no demonftrations of 
 3 amity
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 amity could be expected. The Emperor, 
 occupied in fy items of reformation, or 
 projects of aggrandizement ; planning the 
 exchange of the Netherlands with the 
 Elector Palatine, while he wantonly at- 
 tacked the Republic of Holland, whofe 
 troops, in defiance of the moil facred 
 treaties, he had ejected by force from the 
 barrier towns of Flanders : Jofeph, en- 
 gaged in thefe ambitious enterprizes, and 
 already connected with the Court of Peterf- 
 burgh, might be regarded as inimical 
 rather than friendly to Great Britain. Ruilia 
 continued in a ilate of fullen alienation, 
 and Pruffia betrayed no marks of returning 
 friendihip ; while France, ilill conducted by 
 the fplendid and impoiing counfels of 
 Vergennes, appeared to extend, to cement, 
 and to confirm her greatnefs. 
 
 The firil years of the prefent Adminis- 
 tration were principally characterifed by 
 thole beneficial regulations of commerce, 
 and by thofe falutary meafures of finance, fo 
 indifpenfably requifite in the fallen and im- 
 poverifhed condition of the country. An 
 
 "Eail
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 " Eaft India bill," mild and temperate in 
 its genius, and widely different from the 
 rapacious and arbitrary principles which 
 had rendered the former fo univerfally 
 odious, was introduced, and paffed into a 
 law. The moft vigorous and efficacious 
 meafures were adopted for the fuppreffion 
 of fmuggling. The royal woods and fo- 
 relts, from whence {o great a fupport to 
 the navy ought naturally to be derived, 
 but which had been completely abandon- 
 ed, as an object of national protection, for 
 half a century, did not efcape the vigi- 
 lant attention of a Minifter, anxious to 
 avail himfelf of every public refource. 
 Provifion was made for the flow, but cer- 
 tain diminution of the national debt, by 
 the appropriation of a million iterling an- 
 nually, veiled in the hands of commif- 
 fioners for the purchafe of flock. 
 
 The confolidation of the Cuftoms and 
 Excife, a meafure of incredible labour 
 and detail, as well as of infinite advantage 
 to commerce, by facilitating and fimpli- 
 fying the intricacies attendant on mercan- 
 
 I tile
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 tile tranfactions, and the payment of du- 
 ties ; a regulation which in itfelf might 
 immortalize any Adminiflration, was fully 
 and permanently effected. It had failed 
 under the inert and feeble efforts of Lord 
 North; and its completion, fo evidently 
 productive of national benefit, drew ap- 
 plaufes even from the enemies and op- 
 pofers of the Minifler. This long lift of 
 enlightened and patriotic meafures was 
 clofed by the accompli fhment of one of the 
 greater!:, but moll delicate and arduous 
 attempts, which have diflinguifhed the 
 prefent century; I mean the " Commer- 
 cial Treaty with France." An enlarged and 
 liberal policy; the greateft incitements to 
 general induftry ; the extenflon of com- 
 merce, and the extinction of thofe mutual 
 jealoufies and antipathies, which have for 
 fo many ages actuated the rival mo- 
 narchies of France and England : thefe were 
 the characterises and principles of a trea- 
 ty, which, notwithflanding the fpacious 
 objections urged againfl it in Parliament, 
 excited univerfal approbation, and extort- 
 ed
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 cd involuntary eulogiums. The genius of 
 Great Britain, long obfcured and fettered, 
 began to aiTert its antient energy ; and, li- 
 berated from domeftic anarchy, prepared 
 to re-appear on the theatre of Europe, from 
 whence fhe had been banifhed by inter- 
 nal calamities and diftrefs. The fignature 
 of the '* Germanic League/' at Berlin, 
 whofe object was the prefervation of the 
 liberties of the Empire againft the ambi- 
 tion of Jofeph the Second, was the firit, 
 fymptom exhibited of returning attention 
 to the concerns of the Continent ; and 
 though this confederation was only acceded 
 to by his Britannic Majefty in his capacity 
 of Elector of Hanover, yet its effect un- 
 queftionably extended beyond its often- 
 fible object, and recalled the Englifh na- 
 tion again to general view and confi dera- 
 tion. 
 
 While under a wife, vigorous, and 
 ceconomical Government, we were thus 
 refumingour ancient eminence and dignity 
 among the European States, the clouds of 
 difcontent and civil commotion were ra- 
 
 I 2 pidly
 
 ( 6o ) 
 
 pidly collecting over the monarchy of 
 France. The finances, involved fince the 
 ceffation of the late war in augmenting 
 embarrafTments and inextricable difficul- 
 ties, might have been found beyond the 
 probity of a Sully, or the capacity of a 
 Colbert, to re-eitablifh : in the hands of 
 Calonne, railed to the fuperintendance, 
 they appeared to prefent a profpect of 
 public infolvency as imminent and una- 
 voidable. Though the Court of Verfailles 
 was much diminifhed in majefty and 
 fplendor by the numerous reforms which 
 had fucceiTively taken place, yet the mi- 
 niftry had not fubftituted any judicious 
 fyftem of frugality, nor adopted any mea- 
 fures of energy and wifdom, either for the 
 alleviation of the national burthens, and 
 liquidation of the enormous debt contract- 
 ed under the late and prefent King; nor 
 (which feemed to be flill more neceffary 
 for their perfonal fafety) to guard againfr. 
 the gathering ftorm of public violence 
 and indignation. 
 
 J^ouis the Sixteenth had already, in a 
 
 con-
 
 ( 6i ) 
 
 confiderable degree, furvived the re- 
 ipecl:, though he continued to enjoy the 
 affection of his people. The firfl years 
 of his reign, conducted by Maurepas and 
 Vergennes, had been diftinguifhed by the 
 moft brilliant fuccefs ; which, while it 
 dazzled and flattered the national vanity, 
 had, in a great meafure, concealed from 
 view the ruin which it occafioned in the 
 finances. The King pofTefTed none of thofe 
 qualities, either corporal or mental, cal- 
 culated to fafcinate, and to fupply the 
 place of more folid endowments. His 
 figure was dcftitute of dignity, and his 
 addrefs awkward and embarrafled. He 
 neither knew how to affume the open 
 and winning manners of Henry the Fourth, 
 nor how to adopt the majeftic con- 
 defcenfion of Louis the Fourteenth. At- 
 tached to the Queen from motives rather 
 fenfual than intellectual, and retrained by 
 religious fcruples from forming any con- 
 nexions of gallantry with other women, 
 he never, in any inftance, violated his 
 nuptial fidelity, though furrounded by 
 courtiers anxious to anticipate, and eager 
 
 to
 
 ( 6a ) 
 
 to adminifter to his defires on the firft 
 intimation. Addicted to the pleafures of 
 the table, and fometimes induced to pafs 
 the limits of temperance and fobricty, he 
 yielded in thofe moments of facility to 
 the demands which the profufion of the 
 Queen, and of his brother the Court d'Ar- 
 tois, made it necefTary for them conti- 
 nually to renew. His own expences were 
 moderate, and his pleafures few. The 
 former were chiefly confined to the con- 
 •ftruction of the Caftle of Compiegne, and 
 the repairs of the palace of Verfailles. The 
 latter confifted principally in the amufe- 
 ment of the chace. Though much ne- 
 glected in his education during the life of 
 Louis the Fifteenth, his mind was not 
 uninformed; and he had attained fince 
 his acceffion to the throne, a very con- 
 fiderable degree of acquaintance with po- 
 lite letters, hiflory, and geography, by his 
 own private application and folitary 
 ftudy, unaflifted by any aid. In the art 
 of reigning, he had unfortunately made 
 little progrefs or proficiency. Unambi- 
 tious
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 tious and moderate in his character, he 
 formed no views of conquefl. He even 
 difapproved, though only paffrvely, of 
 the alliance with America, into which his 
 minifters had led him in the commence- 
 ment of his reign ; and fuffered himfelf, 
 with fome degree of averfion and reluct- 
 ance, to be made an acceffary to the inde- 
 pendence of the Thirteen Colonies. 
 
 His parts, however fluggifh, inert, and 
 limited, yet were not inadequate to the 
 comprehenfion and difcharge of the high 
 duties annexed to his ftation. He un- 
 questionably loved his people, and paf- 
 lionately defired, at the price of every 
 perfonal renunciation and facrifice, to 
 render his reign dear to France. Averfe 
 to cruelty, and of a nature acceflible to 
 the impreflions of pity and humanity, 
 he threw open the gates of the caftle 
 of Vincennes, which for ages had been 
 one of the principal prifons of ftate ; and 
 mitigated, in numerous inftances, the 
 rigour of arbitrary power, which his 
 grandfather had ftrengthcned and abufed. 
 
 His
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 His behaviour on the night of the 5th of 
 October, 1789, has evinced, notwith- 
 standing the doubts which have been en- 
 tertained upon that point, that he did not 
 want perfonal refolution or fortitude. 
 But the quality in which he has been emi- 
 nently deficient, and to the want of which 
 may be principally afcribed all the late ca- 
 lamities of his life, is Political courage and 
 decifion. In times of tranquillity and re- 
 pofe, this defect might not have been 
 perceived ; or, if difcovered, might have 
 yet been limited in its effects : in tempef- 
 tuous periods, and popular inSurrections, 
 it has convulfed the monarchy, and me- 
 naced the existence of the throne itfelf. 
 
 The character of the Queen, though 
 ftrongly contrasted with that of Louis the 
 Sixteenth, was perhaps ilill more calcu- 
 lated to alienate the affections and excite 
 the clamours of the nation. Of a figure 
 favoured by nature, and adorned by graci- 
 ous and insinuating manners, fhe was 
 formed to attach mankind. The Short 
 period which elapfed, Sub Sequent to her 
 
 marriage
 
 ( 6 S ) 
 
 marriage with the Dauphin, in 1770, and 
 previous to her afcending the throne, was 
 marked by the moll: general partiality, and 
 by all the flattering prognostics of poetry and 
 genius, who anticipated the future glories 
 and felicity of her reign*. Her education 
 in the court of Vienna, under the fevere 
 infpection of Maria Therefa, a Princefs 
 
 * It was during this brilliant and tranfitory portion of her 
 life, that fhe was feen by the author of a production, which 
 has recently made its appearance in this country ; and which, 
 from the celebrity of the writer, as well as from the intereft 
 excited by the fubject itfelf, has been read with univerfal 
 avidity. It is not my intention to criticife, or to appreciate 
 the merits of a performance, which embraces fo many 
 objefts, and ranges over fo vaft a field, as the late Revolu- 
 tion in France opens to a creative imagination. With fome 
 errors and fomeblemifhes, it appears to me to be a moft ex- 
 traordinary exhibition of genius, fancy, and in many parts, 
 of deep, able, and judicious reafoning. Its author is en- 
 titled to fomething more than the mere approbation of every 
 man who refpecls kingly power, or eftablifhed Government ; 
 and who deprecates the violence of popular innovation. 
 Perhaps the portrait of the Dauphinefs may be too highly 
 coloured; but it is the colouring of Titian, and not of a 
 common artift. Indeed, thofe who remember the prefent 
 Queen before the death of Louis the Fifteenth, mull admit 
 that flie was then calculated to excite fentiments of perfonal 
 admiration and delight, in no ordinary degree. 
 
 K eminent
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 eminent for chaftity and piety, feemed in 
 fome meafure to guarantee the exiftence of 
 thefe qualities in her daughter. But, 
 Marie Antoinette appears to have inherited 
 fcarce any of the characterise virtues or 
 vices of the Auftrian family, except her 
 attachment to the Houfe from whence fhe 
 fprung. The fond predictions of adula- 
 tion, offered to the Dauphinefs, were not 
 realized by the Queen. Her levity of man- 
 ners ; her expenfive prodigality ; her dif- 
 fipations ; her attachments ; her retire- 
 ments^ perhaps, more than all thefe defects, 
 her fuppofed abufe of the afcendant which 
 fhe had acquired and preferved over 
 her hufband, gradually eftranged every 
 order of the people; and eventually, as 
 the public embarraffments augmented, 
 rendered her generally odious. Her ac- 
 tions were examined with the moil fevere 
 and unjuft fpirit of national enquiry. Her 
 political connections with the Imperial am- 
 baffador were as loudly arraigned on one 
 hand, as her perfonal intimacy with the 
 Comte d'Artois was ftrongly cenfured on 
 
 the
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 the other. Imputations the mofl injuri- 
 ous to her fame as a woman and a wife, 
 were fuperadded to accufations of her dif- 
 pofition to facrifice the intereft, and fquan- 
 der the treafures of the kingdom over 
 which fhe reigned, in order to aggrandize 
 her brother the Emperor. She was ac- 
 cufed of miniftering to the weakneffes, and 
 even ftimulating the appetites of the King, 
 with a view to avail herfelf of his fond- 
 nefs, or temporary privation of reflexion. 
 The continual vifits, and long interviews 
 which fhe accorded to Madamoifelle Bertin, 
 excited fentiments of difapprobation in 
 thofe, who thought the leifure of the firfr. 
 Queen in Europe indecently thrown away 
 in difquifitions upon a cap, or confultations 
 upon a handkerchief. Her purchafe of the 
 palace of St. Cloud, in the midft of general 
 pecuniary diflrefs, was taxed with equal 
 i.cp_udence and profufion. Her frequent 
 ^•uirements to Trianon were ftigmatized, 
 as exhibiting fcenes unfit for the public 
 eye. The myfterious and inexplicable 
 ti^nfaction relative to the famous neck- 
 
 K 2 lace,
 
 (68) 
 
 lace, afTerted to have been purchafed by 
 her; although the Cardinal de Rohan 
 and the Comteffe de la Motte were the 
 victims of it, yet had left imprefTions dis- 
 advantageous to her honour in the minds 
 of a nation, difpofed to fee all her actions 
 through an unfavourable medium. Her 
 predilection for, and attachment to the 
 Duchefs de Polignac, fuffered the moft 
 malignant comments of fatyrical prejudice; 
 and the liberal donations, or high em- 
 ployments, with which that family was 
 diftinguifhed, neceflarily added to the 
 load of public execration. Thefe accumu- 
 lated topics of popular invective and ani- 
 madverfion, were circulated witt} rapidity, 
 and received with equal avidity, by an ig- 
 norant and credulous multitude, who 
 filled the arcades of the " Palais Royal," 
 and who imbibed the moll inveterate de- 
 testation of their Q^ieen, as conceiving her 
 the author of the public diftrefs. They 
 had already, in fome degree, marked her 
 out as a victim to the general indignation ; 
 and anxioufly waited for the favourable 
 
 occafion,
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 occafion, which mould liberate the Sove^ 
 reign and the nation from the pretended 
 evils of her influence, and leave Louis the 
 Sixteenth to the impulfe of his natural 
 beneficence and affection for his people. 
 
 The Count de Provence, the elder!: of 
 the King's two brothers, acted a very 
 inferior and fubordinate part upon this 
 great theatre. Either deftitute of talents 
 to excite public attention, or repreifing 
 them from motives of prudence and frui- 
 tion, he appeared only in the back ground ; 
 and formed a contrail to the impofing 
 qualities which diftinguiihed the Count 
 d'Artois. Of a figure much more grace- 
 ful and elegant than either of his brothers, 
 this Prince was like wife adorned with 
 more dignified, if not more courteous 
 manners. Attached to the Queen from 
 fimilarity of tafte and character, he even 
 exceeded her in profufion, expence, and 
 diffipation. After having pafTed the morn- 
 ing on the ',' Plaine de Sablons," in the 
 drefs and occupations of a jockey, he only 
 retired from thefe fatigues, torepofe in the 
 
 palace
 
 ( 7° ) 
 
 arms of Madamoifelle Contat. His little 
 palace of " Bagatelle," in the " Bois de 
 Boulogne," was at once the fcene of the 
 moll: refined and voluptuous debauch, and 
 of the mod profligate pleafures which 
 luxury could devife or afTemble. Two 
 fons, already advancing faft towards man- 
 hood, and whofe constitutions feemed to 
 promife a vigorous health, attracted the 
 eyes of the nation, and gave him a mani- 
 fest, fuperiority to the Count de Provence, 
 whofe marriage had not been fruitful. 
 The feeble and debilitated ftate of the 
 Dauphin, whofe infirmities already ap- 
 peared to menace a premature end, left 
 only the Duke de Normandie between him 
 and the eventual fucceffion to the Crown. 
 Though not endowed with any eminent 
 talents, yet, as being of a character more 
 decided and affirmative than either the 
 King or the Count de Provence, he c^me 
 more forward to public view; and by 
 his adherence to the Queen, influenced 
 very confiderably on affairs of ftate. 
 
 At
 
 C 7' 3 
 
 At a greater diftance from the throne, 
 but decorated with the title of Firft Prince 
 of the Blood, was feen the Duke of 
 Orleans. PorTefTed of an immenfe revenue, 
 and having in reversion all the domains of 
 his father-in-law, the Duke de Penthievre, 
 he might be efteemed the richer! fubject 
 in Europe. His reputation for generofity 
 and munificence, bore, however, no pro- 
 portion to his ample pofTeffions : on the 
 contrary, though profufe in the gratifica- 
 tion of his appetites, he was accufed by 
 the popular voice of an attention to the 
 arts of ceconomy, unworthy of his high 
 birth and fplendid fortune. Emulous of 
 being thought to refemble Henry the 
 Fourth, and the Regent Duke of Orleans, 
 from both of which Princes he derived 
 his defcent, he had no limilarity to either, 
 except in the foibles which fhaded the 
 character of the former, and in the vices 
 which difgraced the conduct of the latter. 
 The beneficence, the heroic valour, and 
 clemency of mind, which characterifed 
 the King of Navarre, were not to be traced 
 
 in
 
 { .1* ) 
 
 in his degenerate grandfon. The fublime 
 talents, the military genius, and the vari- 
 ous endowments of a ftatefman and a ge- 
 neral, which combined in the Regent, 
 were as vainly fought in the Duke of 
 Orleans. 
 
 Abandoned to pleafures of every de- 
 scription, he yet had no elevation nor re- 
 finement in his amufements. His per- 
 fonal courage, which had fuflained fome 
 injury, and excited fome farcaftic com- 
 ments, from his behaviour under d'Or- 
 villiers in 1778, had not been retrieved 
 by his unpropitious attempt to fignalize 
 himfelf, by accompanying Charles and 
 Robert into the air. The malignant re- 
 flexions formerly thrown out upon his in- 
 trepidity as a naval officer, were follow- 
 ed by pafquinades upon his fuppofed ap- 
 prehenfions in the balloon; and he was 
 faid to have been as unfortunate in the 
 park of Meudon, where he alighted from 
 his aerial excurlion, as he had been at an 
 earlier period of his life, in the vicinity 
 of the iflands of UfTiant. Notwithftand- 
 
 lng
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 ing thefe afperfions and defects, he yet 
 pofTefTed qualities, which if conducted by 
 judgment, might have redeemed him from 
 the load of obloquy under which he was 
 oppreffed. His talents were certainly 
 above mediocrity; his mind enlarged, his 
 manners condefcending and popular, and 
 his underftanding cultivated by letters, and 
 an extend ve acquaintance with mankind. 
 He was the only Prince of the Houfe of 
 Bourbon who had ever vifited England in 
 perfon ; the Duke d'Alencon, brother to 
 Henry the Third of France, having been 
 the laft, who in the profecution of his 
 defign to marry Elizabeth, had palTed 
 over into thefe kingdoms. The diforders 
 in the finances, and the defperate, or ar- 
 bitrary meafures to which the Court was 
 neceffitated perpetually to have recourfe, 
 in order to raife new loans and obtain fup- 
 plies, had given the Duke of Orleans an 
 occafion, of which he gladly availed him- 
 felf, to regain his long loft popularity. 
 To this public and oftenfible caufe of his 
 alienation from the Court, were added 
 
 L fome
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 fome private mifunderftandings, which had 
 their origin in the interference of the 
 Queen to prevent an alliance, which was 
 projected between the eldeft fon of the 
 Count d'Artois, and the daughter of the 
 Duke of Orleans : a marriage which it 
 was more than poffible might eventually 
 elevate the young Princefs to the Throne 
 of France. Animated and Simulated by 
 thefe motives, he feemed to awake from 
 the difTolute pleafures in which he had 
 been plunged, and to affume the more dig- 
 nified and ingratiating character of an 
 oppofer of defpotifm, and a protector 
 of the people. This change of conduct 
 foon produced its full effect ; and he pall- 
 ed with the molt rapid tranlition, from 
 the contempt and reprobation of the inha- 
 bitants of Paris, to the heighth of favour 
 and general attachment* 
 
 Such was the afpect which the Court of 
 Verfailles prefented at the commencement 
 of the year 1787, andfuch were the principal 
 characters and peifonages of which it was 
 compofed. The fources of dilcontent, 
 
 and
 
 ( 7S ) 
 
 and even of revolt and infurre&ion, were 
 numerous and augmenting. The ordinary- 
 channels of revenue were either dried up, 
 or had become inadequate to the exigen- 
 cies of the Government. Recourfe was 
 therefore reluctantly had to other modes 
 of obtaining fupplies ; and the convoca- 
 tion of the " Notables" was propofed by 
 Calonne to the King, and adopted im- 
 mediately, as the only remaining expe- 
 dient. 
 
 In thefe critical circumftances of per- 
 plexity and diftrefs, Vergennes, whofe 
 high reputation and fuperior talents had 
 hitherto diffufed a luftre over the councils 
 of France, and alone fuftained the tottering 
 load of public credit and national grandeur: 
 this celebrated Minifter, the fucceflbr of 
 Maurepas, and who, fince his death, had 
 during eight years held the firft place 
 in the Adminiftration, was removed by 
 death from a fcene, to which all his abi- 
 lities would probably have been found un- 
 equal. Fortunate in his alliances, in his 
 wars, in his negociations, in his acquifi- 
 
 L 2 tion
 
 ( 76 ) 
 
 tion of fame, in the enjoyment of the 
 royal favour and the popular opinion, he 
 was yet more happy in not furviving thefe 
 frail and uncertain pofTeilions. Unlike to 
 Louvois and to Fleury,he neither forfeited 
 the affection of his Sovereign, nor outlived 
 his own talents and capacity. Admired, 
 regretted, and lamented, his death feemed 
 to be the fignal which unloofed the jarring 
 elements of civil commotion, and which 
 marked the aera of the extinction of tran- 
 quillity and obedience. 
 
 The difmiffion of Calonne followed in 
 a few r weeks; and the elevation of an ec- 
 clefiaftie, the Archbifhop of Touloufe, to 
 the fupreme controul of the finances, 
 whatever expectations it might at firfl 
 awaken of alleviation and redrefs, only- 
 tended in the event to aggravate the na- 
 tional calamities, and to encreafe the po- 
 pular difcoatent. New fyflems, equally 
 unproductive as the preceding, and only 
 calculated for temporary relief, afforded 
 neither a remedy to the preffing neceffities 
 of the court, nor to the clamorous griev- 
 ances
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 ances of the people. The " Notables" 
 were found to be equally incompetent and 
 averfe, to adduce any cure for thefe mul- 
 tipled diftempers of the ftate. They were 
 therefore difTolved ; and the nation al- 
 ready began to demand an affembly of 
 the " States General," as the laftand only 
 meafure competent to extricate and re- 
 trieve them from the danger of impending 
 bankruptcy and ruin. 
 
 But the troubles and internal feuds of 
 the Dutch commonwealth, which had 
 been long nourifhed and fed by the poli- 
 tical liberality of the cabinet of Verfailles : 
 which had grown up under the foftering 
 hand of Vergennes, and which a feries of 
 deep and artful negociations had inflamed 
 and augmented, now approached rapidly 
 to their crilis. Never could they have 
 attained to their maturity at a more in- 
 aufpicious moment for France; and never 
 was the triumph of fortune over the ma- 
 chinations of policy more confpicuouly 
 exemplified. 
 
 William
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 William the Fifth, Prince of Orange, 
 pofTefled the Stadtholderate of the United 
 Provinces. Allied by name rather than 
 by blood, to the great Houfe of NafTau, 
 fo fertile in heroes and in legiflators, few 
 traces of the fublime qualities which have 
 rendered that family immortal, were to 
 be diicovered in their fuccefTor. But, in 
 the Princefs his wife, fprung from the 
 union of the houfes of Brandenburgh and 
 NafTau, the chara&eriftic energy of both 
 was vifible. Driven out of the Province 
 of Holland by the indignities and intuits 
 with which the republican faction had 
 treated the Pnnce, whom they had com- 
 pelled to retire to Nimeguen, fhe had 
 the courage to fet out for the Hague, and, 
 unattended by any guards, to traverfe a 
 hoftile country.. jn the hope of adjufting 
 by her pre fence, addrefs, and flexibility, 
 the points in difpute between her hufband 
 and the States. In this arduous and de- 
 licate attempt me was fruftrated, and 
 even her perfon laid under an arreft, by the 
 brutality of one of the military officers 
 
 in
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 in the fervice of the Republic. Obliged 
 to abandon her project, and to return to 
 Nimeguen, fhe invoked the protection 
 and ailiftance of the King of Pruffia, to 
 re- inflate the exiled Stadtholder in the 
 hereditary dignities and offices, of which 
 he had been fo unjuftly and unconstitu- 
 tionally deprived. It was not to her un- 
 cle that fhe addrefTed thefe entreaties. The 
 great Frederick was no more: he had 
 paid the common tribute to mortality, 
 and had expired at Potzdam under the 
 accumulating weight of age and difeafes. 
 But, though he no longer animated in 
 pcrfon the councils of Berlin, the vigour 
 of his genius furvived : it feemed even to 
 have attained new force in the hands of a 
 Sovereign, whofe more active period of 
 life led him to adopt meafures of decision, 
 and whofe near relationfhip to the Prin- 
 cefs of Orange ftimulated him to warmer 
 exertions in her behalf. 
 
 The iuncture was favourable to the 
 Pruffian interpofition ; and England, un- 
 der the aufpices of a Minifler prompt to 
 
 feize
 
 ( 8o ) 
 
 feize tlie occafion of again re-appearing 
 with dignity and effect on the Continent, 
 avowedly joined and aided the attack upon 
 the enemies of the houfe of Orange. An 
 army of about fifteen thoufand men, com- 
 manded by the firft military genius ill 
 Europe, the Duke of Brunfwick, entered 
 the territories of the States General, 
 in September, 1787, and over-ran with 
 the fame rapidity that Louis the Four- 
 teenth had done in laft. century, the pro- 
 vide of Holland. Amfterdam itfelf, the 
 centre of difaffection, and. the laft afylum 
 of the French and republican factions, 
 after a mort and ineffectual ftruggle, capi- 
 tulated, and received the conqueror. A 
 complete, but almoft. bloodlefs revolution 
 was effected ; and the Hague, fo long a 
 prey to difcord and to animofity, faw the 
 Stadtholder return, and occupy his high 
 ftation, with every expreffion of loyalty 
 and attachment. 
 
 France, embarrafTed, and incapable from 
 her domeftic misfortunes, of interfering 
 either with honour to herfelf, or efficacy to 
 
 her
 
 ( Si ) 
 
 her friends, though fhe appeared to make 
 a feeble effort in their favour, yet ulti- 
 mately gave way to the ftorm, and con- 
 fented to difarm ; nay more, publicly to 
 deny her having ever intended to fuftain 
 that party, in whofe fupport (he had ex- 
 pended her treafures, and for whom, in 
 more aufpicious aeras, fhe would have in- 
 volved Europe in blood and hoftility. 
 The high reputation which fo fignal a fuc- 
 cefs reflected on the councils of Great 
 Britain, was contrafted and rendered more 
 fplendid, by a comparifon with the fallen 
 ftate of her ancient rival, who, only a few 
 years preceding thefe events, in conjunc- 
 tion with America, had feemsd to give 
 laws in every quarter of the globe. The 
 energy and wife precaution of the Minifter 
 did not, however, remit its vigilance, or 
 content itfelf with having liberated the 
 Dutch Republic, and reinstated the Stadt- 
 holder. Attentive to profit of this fortu- 
 nate and propitious moment, and to avail 
 himfelf of the gratitude with which the 
 aflifUnce extended to Holland had equally 
 
 M impreffed
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 impreffed the Government and the people, 
 he cemented thof'e fentiments by immedi- 
 ately framing, and eventually concluding a 
 defenfive treaty with the United Provinces. 
 It was figned in April, 1788, and was 
 evidently built on the model of that, which 
 had been terminated under the aufpices of 
 Vergennes, between France and Holland, 
 towards the clofe of the year 1785. 
 Reciprocal fuccours, naval and military, 
 were ftipulated; and the bands of 
 political union were drawn as clofe, as 
 human wifdom and mutual intereft could 
 devife. 
 
 This alliance, fo much approved, and 
 fo highly beneficial to England, was fuc- 
 ceeded by a fecond, fimilar in its tenor, 
 nature, and tendency, between the Courts 
 of St. James's and Berlin, which was rati- 
 fied in the month of Auguft of the fame 
 year. They had been preceded by a fufe- 
 iidiary treaty between England and the 
 Landgrave of HefTe, which enabled the 
 former power, on the payment of a cer- 
 tain annual fum, to demand from tne 
 
 latter,
 
 ( 8 3 ) 
 
 latter, at a very fliort notice, a body of 
 twelve thoufand troops. 
 
 Thus, in the fpace of only four years 
 which might be faid to have elapfed fince 
 the complete triumph of the Sovereign and 
 the nation over the " Coalition," had 
 Great Britain, under the conduct of aMinif- 
 ter who had not yet attained his thirtieth 
 year, rifen from a ftate of unexampled de- 
 p rem on, to her antient fuperiori ty among 
 the European kingdoms. The financ s had 
 been re-eftablifhed by a fyftem of unre- 
 mitting and fevere ceconomy. Commerce, 
 aided and emancipated by the wife regu- 
 lations of an enlarged policy, opened new 
 fources, and navigated feas hitherto un- 
 known or unexplored, in the profecution 
 of its objects. Public credit atcained a 
 point ot elevation and permanence, un- 
 parelleled line, the commencement of the 
 unfortunate war with America. The 
 councils of England, conducted on prin- 
 ciples, not of a crooked duplicity, but of 
 rectitude and magnanimity, excited re- 
 fpect and approbation in the furrounding 
 
 M z flates,
 
 ( «4 ) 
 
 jrates, while they diffufed profperity and 
 felcity over every part of the ifland. 
 
 Political alliances and connections on the 
 Continent, added the profpect of {lability 
 to every meafure which was calculated for 
 internal fecurity or commercial advantage. 
 The calamities of LordNorth'sAdminiftra- 
 tion, and the anarchy which fucceeded that 
 unfortunate period : the defalcation of thir- 
 teen provinces, and of both the Floridas 
 from the empire : the difgraces of Sara- 
 toga, and of the Chefapeake : the tumults, 
 and conflagration of London ; in a word, 
 the varied and accumulated misfortunes, 
 which for a long feries of years qpprerTed, 
 and had almoft overwhelmed the com- 
 mon wealth, were already erafed from the 
 recollection. A mild and happy calm hacj 
 fmoQthed thefe troubled wayes. The 
 Sovereign was defervedly dear to every 
 rank and order of his fubjects, who united 
 in regarding him a* their father and bene- 
 factor. The Government, beloved at 
 home, was refpected abroad ; and the 
 people, happy beyond the example of 
 
 ^former
 
 ( »! ) 
 
 Former times, looked up with equal affecr 
 tion and veneration towards the fource of 
 thefe multiplied benefits. 
 
 But in the midft of this flattering afpecl: 
 of affairs, an unexpected and difaftrous 
 change was preparing to manifeft itfelf, 
 which no human prudence could have 
 forefeen, or precautions delayed. We 
 were deftined to experience in its fulleft 
 extent, the mutability of fortune, and the 
 fragility of greatnefs ; to hold out a me- 
 morable leffbn to our own, and to future 
 times, that the fplendor and felicity of 
 man, however folid the foundations on 
 which they may feem to repofe, are in 
 the hands of a fuperior Being, who con- 
 fers, or withdraws them in an inirant. I 
 am arrived at that awful and afTecnnc* 
 period, when the feelings of all thofe 
 who mail perufe thefe meets, will antici- 
 pate my own ; and which, from a variety 
 of motives, I mould wifh to cover under 
 a veil of oblivion, if the publicity of the 
 grrat leading facts, and fti.11 more, if the 
 inftruction conveyed by the narration itfelf,
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 as one of the moil interefting portions of 
 modem annals, did not fupercede my 
 perfonal inclinations. It is not, however, 
 either in my plan or my intention, to re- 
 late the private hiftory of that extraordi- 
 nary period ; or to drag into daylight facts 
 and anecdotes, which, curious and enter- 
 taining as they mult, appear to pofterity, 
 are, in every fenfe, unfit for the perufal 
 of the prefent age. Sentiments of duty, 
 delicacy, and refpect towards a Prince in- 
 expreflibly dear to his people : towards a 
 Queen, who during near thirty years, and 
 in every relation of domeftic life, has been 
 blamelefs and exemplary : towards thofe 
 illuftrious perfons, on whom the fceptre 
 of George the Third muft, in the ordinary 
 progrefs of even's, at fome future, and as 
 we truft, far diftant period, devolve : even 
 motives of prudence, decorum, and pro- 
 priety, arreft my pen; and prevent me 
 from fhading a picture, the outline only 
 of which it is either wife or necellary to 
 hold up to the public eye, placed as we 
 are fo near the object. 
 
 The very nature of thefubject is, indeed, 
 
 fuch
 
 ( «7 ) 
 
 fuch as to add peculiar embarraiTments to 
 thofe general ones, which prefent them- 
 felves in the way of every man who fhall 
 venture to relate the tranfa&ions of the time 
 in which he lives, and of which he forms 
 himfelf, though an imperceptible, yet a 
 real and efficient part. Nor is it even a 
 fufficient juftification or inducement to 
 undertake fuch a tafk, that the mild genius 
 of the century in which we write, or the 
 freedom which enables us to dictate with- 
 out apprehension, appear to liberate us 
 from every reftraint. There are feelings in 
 a generous mind, anterior to all written 
 law, and far fuperior in their operation to 
 thofe regulations which are impofed by 
 Courts of Judicature, or legiflative bodies. 
 It is to thefe reftrictions that I fhall fubject 
 my pen, while the great chain of events 
 may yet be prefented to the Englifh people, 
 and the fidelity of hiftoncal truth be pre- 
 ferved inviolate. *' Ut, non modo cafus, 
 eventufque rerum, qui plerumque fortuiti 
 funt, fed ratio etiam, caufTaequenofcantur." 
 Like the fublime writer whom I have jufl 
 cited, and who flourifhed under the golden 
 
 reism
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 feign of Trajan, we too, " rara tempo- 
 mm felicitate, ubi fentire quae velis, et 
 quae fentias dicere licet," may, unawed 
 by power, affix the fcntiment of approba- 
 tion arid of cenfure, in conformity to our 
 own conviction. Such is equally my 
 defign and my determination. But it is 
 only for thofe who can elevate their minds 
 above the little partialities and prejudices 
 of the day, that it belongs to appreciate 
 the performance of this promife ; and to 
 decide how far the prefent work may ven- 
 ture to lay claim to any portion of Roman 
 energy and freedom, or how far the im- 
 mortal writings of antiquity would be 
 fullied and degraded by a comparifon 
 with this production. 
 
 It is not eafy to imagine or to parallel 
 in the hiitory of the prefent century, a 
 period of more perfect ferenity than that 
 which England prefented in the autumn of 
 1788. The King, accompanied by the 
 Queen, and furrounded by his family, 
 after having tried the effects of a relaxa- 
 tion from public bufinefs, and of the medi- 
 cinal 
 
 3
 
 ( «9 ) 
 
 cinal waters of Cheltenham, had returned 
 to Windfor; not, indeed, in a ftate of 
 vigorous health, but by no means in 
 any fuch declining ftate of indifpofition, 
 as to excite alarm among his fubjects. 
 The Prince of Wales, as ufual, pafled the 
 fummer at his Marine Pavillion at Bright- 
 helmftone. Mr. Pitt, occupied in the 
 functions of his ftation, was detained in 
 the vicinity of the capital ; while Mr. 
 Fox, whofe faculties of body and mind 
 had been not a little exercifed and ex- 
 haufted, by a toilfome attendance in Covent 
 Garden during the extreme heats of Auguft, 
 which was thought requifite to fecure the 
 election of Lord John Townfend as mem- 
 ber for Weftminfter ; indulged a degree of 
 neceftary repofe, and withdrew for a fhort 
 time from the hurry of political life. He 
 quitted England, and repaired to Swit- 
 zerland and Italy, as a fcene calculated to 
 amufe and entertain, while it reftored 
 and invigorated a conftitution, impaired by 
 conftant exertion. The great leaders 
 of Miniftry and Oppofition. having laid 
 
 N afide
 
 ( 9° ) 
 
 an* -*e their political animofities, were dif- 
 peried in peaceful inactivity over every part 
 of the kingdom. From this ftate of public 
 recreation and felicity, the nation was 
 rudely and fuddenly awoke, by the reports 
 of his Majefly being attacked with an un- 
 expected and dangerous illnefs. The 
 precife nature of it was for feveral days 
 unascertained and unexplained, even to 
 thofe whofe residence near the court fhould 
 have enabled them to obtain early and au- 
 thentic information. Meanwhile, fame 
 augmented the evil, and the death of the 
 Sovereign was believed to have either 
 already taken place, or to be imminent 
 and inevitable. 
 
 The grief and diffraction which were 
 manifefted in every part of the ifland, 
 on the publication of this calamitous 
 event, can be only compared with that 
 of the Roman people, on the news of 
 Germanicus being feized with mortal 
 fymptoms at Antioch ; as the diftrefs- 
 ful iituation of the Queen bore fome 
 refemblance to that of Agrippina. 
 
 " Faflim
 
 ( 9i ) 
 
 ix Paflim filentia et gemitus, nihil compo- 
 fitum in oftentationem ; et quanquam ne- 
 que infignibus lugentium abftinerent, al- 
 tius animis moerebant." Time, however, 
 gradually divulged the truth, and changed 
 the apprehenfions of the nation for the 
 iituation of the King. His diforder was 
 underftood to have fallen upon the brain, 
 and to have produced, as might be ex- 
 pected, a temporary privation of reafon. 
 As the caufe of this alienation of mind 
 was extraneous and violent, it might be 
 hoped that it could only be of fhort dura- 
 tion : but the iflue was uncertain, while 
 the fufpenfion of ail government, and of 
 every function att?ched to the kingly dig- 
 nity, was immediate and indifputable. A 
 fpecies of interregnum in fad: took place ; 
 though unaccompanied by any of thofe 
 circumftances, which ufually characterize 
 and accompany that unfortunate flate. The 
 kingdom, anxious, and with eyes directed 
 towards their Sovereign, betrayed no fymp- 
 tomsof confufion, anarchy, or civil commo- 
 tion, The Firft Minifter continued to exer- 
 
 N % cife,
 
 ( 92 ) 
 
 cife, byageneralfubmifTionandconfent, the 
 powers delegated to him before the King's 
 indifpofition -, and the political machine, 
 well constructed, and properly organized, 
 fuftained no derangement or injury what- 
 foever from this mock, except thofe infe- 
 parably connected with delay in the trans- 
 actions or negociations pending with 
 foreign courts. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Heir to the monarchy 
 had quitted Brighthelmftone on the firft 
 information of his father's malady, and re- 
 paired to Windfor, whither he was fol- 
 lowed by the Duke of York. Phyficians 
 were called in, though ineffectually ; and as 
 the nature of the diftemper and of its final 
 termination opened a wide field to conjec- 
 ture, change and alteration, an exprefs was 
 ferrt to overtake Mr. Fox in whatever part 
 of the Continent he might be found ; and 
 to intreat that he would return without 
 delay to England. 
 
 The two Houfes of Parliament, in con- 
 fequence of the preceding prorogation, 
 met in a few days fubfequent to thefe ex- 
 traordinary
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 traordinary events. The general agitation 
 and curiofity, even if they had not been 
 aided by other emotions of hope and fear, 
 of ambition, an 1 of public duty, would 
 alone have produced a numerous attend- 
 ance. Mr Pitt opened the fubject of 
 their meeting in a very concife and pathetic 
 manner; lamented the occafion, exprefTed 
 his hope that the caufe would fpeedily be 
 removed, and in purfuance of that idea, 
 advifed an immediate adjournment of a 
 fortnight. The proportion was received 
 in deep filence by the oppofite fide of the 
 Houfe, and affented to in mute acquief- 
 cence. Their leader was not yet arrived; 
 and confequently time was wanted to ad- 
 jufr. and determine on their plan of action, 
 under circumitances fo delicate and unpre- 
 cedented. In the interval which took 
 place, his Majefty was removed to the 
 palace of Kew. The Prince of Wales re- 
 turned to Carlton Houfe ; and Mr. Fox, 
 impatiently expected, after a journey 
 which he performed with incredible ex- 
 pedition from Bologna, in a very infirm 
 
 and
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 and difordered ftate of health, arrived in 
 London, and affumed his juft pre-emi- 
 nence in the counfels of his party. 
 
 Thofe counfels evinced their nature and 
 object, as foon as the late adjournment was 
 at an end; and Mr. Fox, generoufly, 
 though perhaps injudicioufly ftepping for- 
 ward in the fenate, rather laid claim to 
 the vacant fceptre in the name and on the 
 behalf of the Heir Apparent, as belonging 
 and devolving to him of right ; than pre- 
 ferred his pretentions with modefly and 
 fubmiffion, at the bar of the affembled na- 
 tion. Perhaps a ftep more injurious to the 
 great perfonage whom it was intended to 
 ferve, or more pregnant with confequences 
 to be deprecated, of ev^xy kind, could not 
 have been devifed or executed. Perhaps, 
 too, when time ihall have withdrawn that 
 curtain which is ftill ftretched acrofs thefe 
 recent and interefling events, we may dis- 
 cover, that in advancing fo unqualified a 
 demand of the regency, he did not pre- 
 cifely follow the dictates of his own ele- 
 vated mind, and illuminated judgment. 
 
 It
 
 / 
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 It wakened a jealous fpirit of enquiry into 
 the fuppofed origin and foundation of that 
 afTerted right, in the brealis even of the moft 
 liberal and unprejudiced. It compelled 
 Administration to probe that problematical 
 and obfcure part of the Britifh Conftitu- 
 tion. It reminded thofe, to whom the 
 writings of Shakefpear were familiar, of 
 that affecting and pathetic fcene, where 
 Henry the Fourth, under a temporary 
 privation of his faculties, finds on his 
 recovery, that his eldeft fon has carried 
 away the infignia of his royal dignity, 
 which, had he only waited a few hours, 
 would have been his by devolution. 
 
 The difcernmentof Mr. Pitt faw, andin- 
 flantly enabled him to profit of this error in 
 his antagonift. He demanded thedifcuflion 
 and decifion of fo great and leading a 
 principle, which led to conclusions un- 
 limited and undefined, as well as fubver- 
 five of the tenure on which a King of 
 England had originally received his crown ; 
 previous to any ulterior difpofition and 
 distribution of offices. He was joined 
 
 by
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 by the majority of the Houfe in this re- 
 quisition, and thus commenced his refift- 
 ancc under aufpices and circumftances pe- 
 culiarly fortunate. It was in vain that the 
 Prince of Wales, already rendered fenfible 
 of the injury which his caufe had fuftained, 
 equally in Parliament and among the peo- 
 ple, by Mr. Fox's unqualified claim of 
 right, endeavoured to wave and prevent all 
 further difcuffion of fo invidious a fub- 
 jecl. It was in vain that the Duke of 
 York, in his brother's name, and by his 
 authority, renounced any fuch afTumption 
 of power, and made this public declara- 
 tion in the Houfe of Lords. Nor was 
 Mr. Fox's attempt to qualify his firfr. af- 
 iertion, and to give it a more mitigated 
 fenfe, received with better fuccefs in the 
 other Houfe. Parliament, roufed to a 
 fenfe of the neceffity of declaring itfelf 
 folely competent to fill the vacant throne, 
 proceeded to that great act without cir- 
 cumlocution or delay ; and having pro- 
 nounced upon this important preliminary, 
 then decided that the Prince of Wales 
 3 fhould
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 fhould be invited and requefted to accept 
 the Re<rencv, under certain limitations. 
 The month of December elapfed in thefe 
 contefts, and the year 1789 commenced 
 under the moll gloomy prefages. Mutual 
 afperity and reproach embittered every de- 
 bate. No appearances of convalefcence or 
 recovery, io ardently anticipated by the 
 nation, had yet manifefted themfelves in 
 the malady of the King. In addition to 
 the keeneft lenfations of private diftrefs as a 
 mother and a wife, the Queen favv herfelf 
 on the point of being placed in the moil 
 painful, though indifpenfably necefTary 
 fituation ; that of being entrufted with the 
 care of the Royal Perfon, and of ftanding 
 in a fort of rivality and competition to 
 her eldeft fon. The Prince, who afpired 
 to 1 Regency, unfettered by any reftrictions, 
 betrayed in his reply to a letter which the 
 Firfl Minifter addrefTed to him, and in 
 which the great features of that intended 
 delegation of the Royal power were deli- 
 neated, his warm refentment and diflatif- 
 faction at many of thofe defalcations. 
 
 O He
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 He concluded, however, by reluctantly 
 and coldly confenting to receive it, cur- 
 tailed and degraded as it might be by 
 Minifterial or Parliamentary diftruft. 
 
 A fecond examination of the phyficians 
 who had attended his Majefty during the 
 courfe of his diforder, which took place be- 
 fore a Committee of the Houfe of Commons, 
 and which was certainly not conducted on 
 the part of Oppofition with either delicacy or 
 judgment, tended to throw very little light 
 on the great object of public enquiry; the 
 probable duration and period of this afflicting 
 malady. Mr. Pitt conftantly and warmly 
 maintained the probability of its happy 
 termination; and regarding it as neither 
 diftant nor hopelefs, made the refumption 
 of the Royal power by the Sovereign with 
 facility and celerity, as foon as he mould, 
 be enabled to wield the fceptre, the firft and 
 leading principle of all his meafures and pro- 
 portions. The adherents of the Prince of 
 Wales faw the profpect of his father's re- 
 covery through a very different medium, 
 and conceived of it not only as improba- 
 ble,
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 ble, but as hourly augmenting in that 
 improbability. They were Curtained in 
 this opinion by Warren, as the Minifter 
 was confirmed in his oppofite fentiment by 
 Willis; two phyficians, on whofe contra- 
 dictory prognoftics and apprehenfions 
 each party implicitly relied. The former, 
 at the fummit of his profeffion, and un- 
 questionably poSTeSTed of great medical 
 fkill, was yet accufed by the public 
 voice of leaning in his inclination towards 
 the party of the Prince. The latter, 
 brought from a distant province to attend 
 the Sovereign under his fevere diforder, 
 and having been peculiarly conversant in 
 that fpecies of difeafe, boldly and early 
 aSTerted that he entertained fcarcely any 
 doubts of the King's perfect re-eStabliSh- 
 ment at no remote period. The event 
 fully juftified his prediction. 
 
 Meanwhile the introduction of the 
 propofitions upon which the Regency Bill 
 was meant to be founded, and the restric- 
 tions intended to be impofed upon the 
 power of the future Regent, which were 
 
 O a brought
 
 ( 100 J 
 
 brought forward by the Firfl Minifter in 
 the Houfe of Commons, carried the rage 
 and virulence of party to its utmoft height. 
 The negation of the power of creating 
 Peers : the nomination of a council to 
 aitift. "the Queen : and the complete referv- 
 ation of the Royal houfehold, were all 
 arraigned and condemned in the warmeft 
 terms by Mr. Fox, as dictated only 
 by ambition, and not originating in ftate 
 neceffity, or even in regard to the fituation 
 of the Monarch. The hiftory of France 
 under the unhappy reign of Charles the 
 Sixth, was cited, as bearing a manifeft 
 refemblance to the prefent difaftrous pe- 
 riod ; and a Queen, equally venerated and 
 beloved by the nation, was compared to 
 the unnatural Ifabella of Bavaria ; as her 
 fon the Dauphin's abandoned and perfe- 
 cted ftate was aiTerted to be fimilar to 
 that of the Prince of Wales. Unmoved 
 by thefe invectives, and fuftained by con-*- 
 fcious rectitude of intention, the Minifler 
 (teadilv purfued his way : nor was he, 
 jn this critical and diftreiiing moment, 
 
 deferted
 
 deferted by either Houfe of Parliament. The 
 Chancellor, who, at the commencement of 
 the King's illnefs, had been fuppofed to 
 have liftened to propofals for forming a 
 part of a new Administration ; anxious to 
 evince the falfehood of fo unjuft an afper- 
 fion, and to give the moil unequivocal 
 proofs of loyalty and of adherence to his 
 Sovereign under the prefent circumstances, 
 collected all the energy of his mind in the 
 various appeals, which he fuccefsfully made 
 to the honour and patriotifm of the Houfe 
 of Lords. 
 
 In this itage of the public bufinefs, at a 
 moment when the King's Situation appeared 
 moft to exclude hope, and while the Houfe 
 of Commons were fully occupied in fram- 
 ing the principal component parts of the 
 act which was to eftablifh the Regency, 
 Mr. Fox withdrew from the fcene, and 
 quitting London, retired to Bath. His 
 difordered Hate of health was amgned as a 
 pretext for this feceffion at fo extraordinary 
 and critical a juncture ; but the public con- 
 ceived the motives of it to originate in very 
 
 different
 
 ( 102 ) 
 
 different caufes. Diffention and jealoufy 
 had already pervaded the counfels of Carl- 
 ton Houfe. The diitribution of offices 
 under the approaching Regency had pro- 
 duced alienation among the chiefs. An 
 interior Cabinet, different in its views, and 
 oppofite in its objects to the great oflenfi- 
 ble leaders of the party attached to the 
 Prince of Wales, had fet up a feparate 
 ftandard, and formed a diflincl: intereft. 
 Difference of opinion had manifefted itfelf 
 upon fome very delicate, and perfonal 
 points. Cabal and intrigue had penetrated 
 into the clofet. His Royal Highnefs was 
 generally fuppofed to have experienced 
 difficulties, if not peremptory refufals of 
 gratifying his wifhes, on the part of the 
 Duke of Portland ; and that, in relation 
 to perfons and things peculiarly near his 
 heart. Thefe numerous fources of dif- 
 union were full however, in fome mea- 
 fure concealed from view, by their very 
 nature, and the mutual intereft or honour 
 of the parties themfelves. The great acts 
 of parliamentary legiflation proceeded, 
 
 and
 
 ( i°3 ) 
 
 and were nearly approaching to their ter- 
 mination. A very fhort period, probably 
 not exceeding three days, muft have com- 
 pleted the bill, which was to declare the 
 incapacity of the Sovereign to conduct the 
 national affairs, and to transfer the fceptre, 
 though with diminilhed influence, to his 
 fon. The members of Administration 
 were on the point of refigning their charges, 
 and the new Miniftry, already fettled, 
 prepared to enter on office : while the 
 Englifh people, fondly attached by every 
 fenfe of loyalty and affection to their 
 Monarch, as well as from gratitude and 
 efteem to the Firft Miniffer, in dejection 
 and iilence looked on, and faw the 
 Government transferred to others, who, 
 whatever abilities they might collectively 
 poffefs, certainly neither merited nor en- 
 joyed the general approbation and con- 
 fidence. 
 
 But the term of interregnum and mif- 
 fortune was now arrived; and the im- 
 pending calamity which had menaced 
 England with all the evils of a Regency, 
 
 far
 
 ( 104 ) 
 
 far more td be deprecated and dreaded than 
 thofe from which the country had efcaped 
 in 1784, was fuddenly and unexpectedly 
 diffipated. The diforder, under which 
 the King had Suffered during three months, 
 and whofe violence had hitherto appeared 
 to baffle all medical Hull and exertion, 
 gradually, but rapidly fubfided. Sanity 
 of mind and reafon refumed their feat, 
 and left no trace of their temporary fub- 
 verfion. Time confirmed the cure, and 
 reftored to his fubjects a Prince, rendered 
 fupremely and peculiarly dear to them by 
 the recent profpect and apprehension of his 
 lofs. The vifion of a Regency faded and 
 difappeared, as the Sovereign came for- 
 ward to public view, and was totally ex- 
 tinguished by his refumption of all the 
 regal functions. The demonstrations of 
 national joy far exceeded any recorded 
 in the Englifh annals, and were probably 
 more real and unfeigned than ever were 
 offered on Similar occasions. It was not 
 only that a King, beloved and refpected, 
 was recovered from the moil afflicting of 
 
 all
 
 ( ">5 ) 
 
 all fituations incident to humanity, and ena- 
 bled to re-afcend the throne. Sentiments of 
 difapprobation and of general condemnation , 
 affixed to the meafures and conduct of the 
 oppofite party, heightened the emotions 
 of pleafure, by a comparifon with that 
 ftate from which the kingdom had been 
 fo fortunately delivered. No efforts of 
 defpotifm, or mandates of abfolute power 
 could have produced the illuminations, 
 which the capital exhibited in teftimony 
 of its loyalty ; and thefe proofs of attach- 
 ment were renewed, and even augmented, 
 on the occafion of his Majefty's firft ap- 
 pearance in public, and his folemn pro- 
 ceflion to St. Paul's, to return thanks to 
 Heaven for his recovery. Serenity and 
 tranquillity, fo long banimed, refumed 
 their place, and foon effaced the recol- 
 lection of a calamity, not more awful and 
 alarming in its appearance and progrefs, 
 than fpeedily and happily extinguifhed. 
 
 The attention of Europe, which had been 
 fo powerfully attracted towards England 
 during the continuance of the fevereindifpo- 
 
 P fition
 
 ( io6 ) 
 
 fition of George the Third, was now to be 
 directed to another object fcarcely lefs pro- 
 ductive of change, and big with the molt 
 important confequences. France, folong 
 inured to fervitude, and only tracing the 
 exigence of her liberties in the page of 
 forgotten hiftorians, or antiquaries : whofe 
 fetters, originally impofed by Richlieu, and 
 itrengthened by Mazarin, had been rivetted 
 by the lapfe of near two centuries ; by the 
 proud tyranny of Louis the Fourteenth, 
 and by the profligate defpotifm of his fuc- 
 cefTor : France, Simulated by the writings 
 of genius and philofophy, which in de- 
 fiance of arbitrary power, have illuminated 
 and dignified the prefent age, afpired to 
 freedom. The weaknefs of the Sovereign ; 
 the incapacity or timidity of his Minutes ; 
 the exhaufted ftate of the treafury and 
 finances ; the unexampled and pertinaci- 
 ous oppofition of the Parliament of Paris 
 to regifter, or fanction the Royal edicts 
 for the impofition of new taxes; the 
 failure of the harveits, and confequent 
 augmentation in the price of bread ; all 
 
 thefe
 
 ( !°7 ) 
 
 thefe concurring circumftances contributed 
 to produce and accelerate a revolution. 
 
 The various Parliaments of the kingdom, 
 in terms of energy and rlrmnefs to which 
 they had been long difufed, clamoroufly 
 demanded the immediate convocation of 
 the " States General," as the only confti- 
 tutional, or adequate remedy to thediftem- 
 pers of the llate. They adhered to this 
 requifition, not only in defiance of the 
 difpleafure of the Crown, which was 
 manifefted by the banifhment of the Par- 
 liament of Paris to Troyes in Champagne; 
 but in oppofition to their own effential in- 
 terefts, and even eventual existence. The 
 nobility, attached by {o many ties to the 
 Sovereign, and the natural fupporters of 
 his prerogative ; irritated at the attempt 
 made by Calonne, and perfifted in by the 
 Archbifhop of Touloufe, to deprive them 
 of their exemption from the projected 
 land tax, or ' ■ impot territorial, "joined the 
 courts of judicature in their refufal to regifter 
 the meafures propofed, and forfook their 
 hereditary maxims of policy, to adopt 
 
 P 2 the
 
 ( io8 ) 
 
 the popular party. The irrefolute conduct 
 of the Firft Minifter under thefe delicate 
 and trying circurnftances, invigorated and 
 emboldened the enemies of Government ; 
 and the fpirit of remonftrance, complaint, 
 and menace, deffeminated with induftry, 
 became daily more general and alarming. 
 The Archbifhop, after many inefficient 
 or unfuccefsful plans for the re-eftablifh- 
 ment of the finances, and fome ill-con- 
 ceived exertions of feverity and power 
 againft his opponents, felt himfelf une- 
 qual to combat the gathering ftorm of 
 national indignation ; and retiring from a 
 fituation of danger and eminence, aban- 
 doned his matter to the mercy of events. 
 He even quitted France, and palled the 
 Alps into Italy ; as Calonne, under fimi- 
 kr exprefljons of general refentment, had 
 done in the preceding year ; when finding 
 the Royal protection withdrawn, and al- 
 ready impeached by the Parliament of 
 Paris, he retreated firft into Holland, and 
 from thence crofled the fea to England. 
 In this perplexed fituation, Louis the Six- 
 teenth
 
 ( io 9 ) 
 
 teenth, compelled to difmifs one Minifter, 
 and forfaken by another ; furrounded with 
 embarrafTments, and having only a choice 
 of evils ,♦ confciousthat the very foundations 
 of the throneand monarchy were crumbling 
 under his feet ; endowed with no talents or 
 great qualities which might enable him to 
 fuftain his own dignity, coerce his fubjects, 
 or reftore order and energy in the public 
 affairs : alarmed and terrified at the demon- 
 strations of difcontent which appeared in 
 the capital, and the provinces : under the 
 preffure of thefe various considerations and 
 apprehenfions, he embraced the refolu- 
 tion of meeting the vvifhes of the nation ; 
 and if driven to the laft neceflity, of lay- 
 ing the diltreMes of the Crown before the 
 reprefentatives of the people. 
 
 Neckar, who had conducted the finances 
 during the profecution of the late war with 
 England, and who had attained a very 
 unmerited degree of popularity fince his 
 difmhTion from office, was reinftated in 
 his employment of Comptroller General. 
 The avowed enemy of Calonne, whom 
 
 he
 
 C no ) 
 
 he accufed of peculation and malverfation, 
 he had appealed to the public by various 
 controverfial writings, defamatory of that 
 Minifter, and tending to criminate him as 
 a defaulter in the eyes of France and of 
 all Europe. The famous " Compte 
 rendu au Roi" in 178 j, in which he laid 
 open to his own Sovereign, and to all man- 
 kind, the expenditure, revenue, and re- 
 fources of his country, maybe regarded not 
 only as an unprecedented difclofure of the 
 hitherto facred and unrevealed arcana of 
 the French monarchy; but as having 
 operated much beyond the immediate and 
 oftenfible pretext of his own juftification, 
 by awakening, and directing the reflexions 
 of every clafs of men towards the profufe 
 diflribution of the public treafure. Sim- 
 ple in his exterior, and decent in his man- 
 ners, Neckar attained the fame ofdifin- 
 tereftednefs and probity. Equally repub- 
 lican in birth and in principles, he flattered 
 by thefe circumftances, the prevailing 
 fpirit and genius of the times. Avowedly 
 odious to the party of the Queen, and 
 
 of
 
 ( 1" ) 
 
 of the Count d'Artois, he could hardly 
 be fuppofed to pofTefs the real confidence 
 or attachment of the King, who had only- 
 been driven by his own diftrefs, and the 
 current of popular favor, to have recourfc 
 to his aflilt.ance and fervices. Deficient in 
 all the etfential qualities of a great Minifter, 
 and ignorant of thofe enlarged principles of 
 taxation and revenue, which were alone 
 competent to the extrication of fo vaft a 
 monarchy as France, he fupplied thefe de- 
 fects by little arts and narrow projects, 
 adapted to the exigencies of the day. In the 
 Canton of Bern his talents might have en- 
 titled him to refpedt, and they would have 
 been in their proper fphere. An able arith- 
 metician, but a feeble ftatefman, he only 
 appeared in the firft ftation of finance, to 
 evince how inadequate were his abilities to 
 that dangerous elevation ; and after vainly 
 attempting to fuflain an ill-founded repu- 
 tation, he has now retired to oblivion, un- 
 lamented, and almoft unnoticed by that 
 nation, among whom he was fo lately 
 idolized. 
 
 Although
 
 ( H2 ) 
 
 Although the recall and nomination of 
 Neckar appeared to give general fatisfac- 
 tion, and awakened the hopes of his nu- 
 merous and fanguine admirers, yet thefe 
 fymptoms of approbation gradually fub- 
 fided. The temporary effect of his name 
 in railing the public credit, produced no 
 permanent or beneficial confequence. 
 Languor and debility characterized every 
 operation of finance ; and Government 
 became lefs competent to refill the en- 
 croachments of the people, in proportion 
 as its embarrafTment multiplied. Paris, 
 rendered clamorous by the high price of 
 grain, and attributing this fcarcity more to 
 the arts of monopoly, and even to the 
 indirect interference of the Court in per- 
 mitting the exportation of corn, than to 
 any deficiency in the productions of the 
 earth, proceeded to acts of violence, bor- 
 dering on infurrection. The introduction 
 of a body of military forces into the capital, 
 quelled, not without a confiderable ef- 
 fufion of blood, thefe firft fymptoms of 
 revolt, and reflored a degree of tranquillity 
 3 and
 
 ( "3 ) 
 
 and fubmiffion. Notwithstanding this ap- 
 parent check to the fpirit of popular inno- 
 vation, every circumftance tended to evince, 
 that the numerous fubjects of complaint on 
 the fide of the People could not be extin- 
 guished, by any expedient fliort of uncon- 
 ditional fubmiffion on the part of the 
 Crown i or of an appeal to the fword, if 
 the former meafure lhould be thought too 
 degrading for a Prince born in the purple, 
 and accuftomed to regard his power as un- 
 limited and irrefiftible. The naked and 
 unprotected Majefty of the throne, no 
 longer environed, as under Louis the Four- 
 teenth, by a fplendid houfehold and the 
 pomp of royalty, formed a very inefficient 
 barrier againft a nation, enthufiaftic in their 
 demands of aconftitution ; and who feemed 
 to be determined to feize the favourable 
 moment, for curtailing the odious preroga- 
 tive of ifliiing " Le'tres de Cachet," and 
 raifing fupplies by arbitrary mandate. The 
 levities and profufion of the Queen; the 
 haughty tone which was allumcd by the 
 Count d'Artois on feveral occafions ; and 
 
 Q^. the
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 the fuppofed fubfervience of the King to 
 his wife and brother, encreafed the frenzy 
 for reformation, and added to the general 
 effervefcence. Yielding with ungracious 
 reluctance to thefe manifeftations of the 
 approaching ftorm, the King confented to 
 adopt the humiliating and unwelcome ad- 
 vice offered by his Minifter, of convoking 
 the States General at Verfailles : but, at 
 the fame time, Simulated to refinance 
 by his own feelings, as well as by 
 the exhortations of thofe who were con- 
 tinually near his perfon, he began to pre- 
 pare for extremities, and to affemble forces. 
 The Duke of Orleans, who, at an early 
 period of the prefent troubles, had been 
 ordered to retire to his feat at Reinfy, on 
 account of the active part which he had 
 taken in opposition to the Government, had 
 obtained, from the lenity or indulgence of 
 the Court, permiffion to reviflt Paris. 
 Lefs fenfible to this mark of favour, than 
 irritated by the act of feverity which pre- 
 ceded it, he determined on revenge, and 
 embraced with ardor the popular caufe. 
 His high quality and near alliance to 
 
 the
 
 ( "3 ) 
 
 the Sovereign ; his immenfe revenues ; 
 his central fltuation at the " Palais Royal," 
 in the heart of the metropolis ; his numer- 
 ous connexions, and extenfive influence: 
 this combination of circumftances enabled 
 him to become a very dangerous and for- 
 midable opponent to the Crown, in its 
 prefent fallen and debilitated ftate. He 
 probably did not apprehend the extremi- 
 ties to which his own intrigues might con- 
 duct a tumultuous afTembly ; or he might 
 conceive that he iliould always be able to 
 direct its operations, and to fuperintend its 
 movements. It is even pofiible, as his 
 enemies afTert, that the flattering profpect 
 of the Regency, which already opened it- 
 felf to his ambition as neither a remote nor 
 improbable event, conduced to determine 
 his line of action, and to prevent him 
 from feeing the precipices with which fueh 
 a purfuit was furrounded. He was elected 
 a member of the States General for Crepy 
 in Valois, and took his feat in the AfTembly. 
 This extraordinary convocation of all 
 the orders of the kingdom, which had 
 
 0^2 n«t
 
 ( n6 ) 
 
 not been fummoned fince the Regency of 
 Mary of Medicis, and whofe very ex- 
 igence feemed to have been annihilated by 
 three long reigns of arbitrary power, was 
 opened with the utmoft folemnity by Louis 
 the Sixteenth, aflifted by the Princes of 
 the Blood, and accompanied with all the 
 external fplendor becoming fo auguft a 
 ceremony. Many fources of internal dif- 
 cord and confufion, almoil inevitable from 
 the competition and oppofite pretentions or 
 intereft of the Nobility, Clergy, and Third 
 Eilate ; the facility of introducing corrup- 
 tion among {o vaft and mixed a body of 
 men; above all, the loyalty and adheience 
 naturally to be expected from the two firft 
 claffes of the fiates : thefe inherent vices in 
 their formation infpired the Court with a 
 confidence, that no unanimity or exertion of 
 vigour would ever characterize fo hetero- 
 geneous a mafs. The firft proceedings of 
 the AfTembly juftified thefe expectations. 
 Much time elapfed in difputes arifing 
 from the incompatibility of the refpective 
 demands of the different orders : and though 
 
 thefe
 
 ( 'i7 ) 
 thefe were at laft happily terminated by 
 the Nobility and Clergy renouncing, orac- 
 quiefcing in the claims of the delegates of 
 the people; yet the Sovereign ftill pofTefTed 
 great refources, and various means of pro- 
 tracting or averting any act militating 
 vitally againft his prerogatives. 
 
 Had Louis the Sixteenth been left to 
 the impulfe and direction of his own cha- 
 racter, it is probable that he would have 
 continued to yield to the encroachments of 
 the democratical fpirit, which had already 
 produced fo many involuntary conceffions 
 on the part of the Crown; and which, en- 
 creaiingin vigour as it proceeded, avowedly 
 aimed at giving birth to a free conftitution, 
 and a limited monarchy. He wanted all 
 that energy, elevation, and courage requi- 
 fite to fuftain him in a ftruggle againft his 
 people, and to enable him to reprefs their 
 attempts at emancipation. But in the 
 Queen and the Count d'Artois, refentment 
 at the inroads of a nation whom they had 
 long regarded only as formed for fervitude; 
 andthehabitualexercife of arbitrary power, 
 
 2 warmly
 
 ( "8 ) 
 
 warmly impelled to every exertion for its 
 prefervation ; while it dictated the moil 
 decided meafures for repreffing and chaf- 
 tizing a mutinous and discontented capital. 
 They united their efforts to fuftain the 
 irrefolution of the King, and fucceeded. 
 It was determined in the cabinet of Ver- 
 failles, to adopt the moil vigorous princi- 
 ples; to diflblve the National Affembly ; to 
 difmifs the Comptroller-General ; and to 
 punifh the infolence of the metropolis. 
 Prudence and addrefs were, however, re- 
 quifite to mature thefe counfels, and to 
 facilitate their execution, A great body 
 of forces, principally confirming of the 
 Swifs and German regiments in the fervice 
 of France, was gradually collected from 
 different provinces. The Marechal de 
 Broglio, an officer of high military repu- 
 tation, and of known attachment to the 
 Crown, was named to the fupreme com- 
 mand. Every necefTary preparation lor 
 maintaining the Royal authority, if necef- 
 fary, bv the moil fpirited and fevere acts 
 of punifhment, was made, without even 
 
 the 
 
 ■
 
 ( "9 ) 
 
 affectation of difguife or concealment. 
 
 The capital, incapable of refiflance, and 
 
 unconfcious even of its own capacities of 
 
 defence; deflitute of leaders, of arms, 
 
 and of troops, waited patiently the chaf- 
 
 tizement which impended. 
 
 Paris, involved in circumflances more 
 diflrefsful even than thole in which it 
 
 flood, when inverted by Henry the Third 
 in 1589, and under an equal neceflity of 
 fubmitting to the conditions which an 
 incenfed monarch might have dictated, 
 was fnatched from pillage by a revolution 
 not lefs fudden and unexpected, than that 
 which, two centuries preceding, had de- 
 prived Henry the Third of his life. The 
 frantic and fanguinary zeal of a Monk af- 
 fected this deliverance in one in fiance : in 
 the other, the Parifians were indebted to the 
 timidity, delays, and want of decifion in 
 the Court. During the firfl days of July, 
 the metropolis, though turbulent and 
 riotous, made no exertions to oppofe the 
 army by which it was encircled and fur- 
 rounded. The partizans and fupporters of 
 the Royal power were numerous, and 
 
 ready
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 ready to evince their zeal and loyalty. 
 The " Prevot des Marchands," who is 
 the firft municipal magistrate, was in the 
 interefts of the Crown. The Baftile 
 awed one part of the capital, as the " Ho- 
 tel des Invalides" did the other. Paris, 
 taken in the toils of arbitrary power, might 
 have been difarmed, and deprived of the 
 means to excite future commotion. The 
 imprudence, pulillanimity, and impatience 
 of the Court rendered thefe advantages of 
 no avail, and precipitated the unfortunate 
 Prince upon meafures which terminated in 
 irremediable difgrace and ruin. 
 
 Miftaking, or neglecting the moil ob- 
 vious principles of policy and wife precau- 
 tion, which dictated to commence the 
 plan of operations by fubjecting Paris, from 
 whence alone any danger was to be appre- 
 hended j the King was induced to difmifs 
 Neckar with expreflions of indignation, 
 which were accompanied by menaces and 
 infult on the part of his brother, the 
 Count d'Artois. This ftep, which evinced 
 a total change of refolutions, and which, 
 
 from
 
 ( '21 ) 
 
 from the popularity of the Minifter, was 
 likely to produce a violent fermentation 
 in every order of men, was followed by 
 others equally injudicious. The States Ge- 
 neral were driven into the " Salle des 
 Etats" where they held their meetings, by 
 detachments of the Guards ; who furround- 
 ed them, and who waited only the orders 
 of the Court, to proceed to greater extre- 
 mities againfr. the obnoxious reprefenta- 
 tives of the nation. 
 
 Had thefe man ifeftat ions of vigour been 
 only fuftained by inftantly attacking and 
 entering Paris, it is not to be doubted that, 
 unprepared as it ftill was, and unwilling to 
 expofe to the licence of an incenfed fol- 
 diery the lives and properties of its citi- 
 zens, the capital would have been without 
 difficulty reduced to obedience. But, an 
 ill-timed and fatal delay, equally injurious 
 with the preceding precipitation, gave the 
 inhabitants time to recover from their firft 
 emotions of furprize and apprehenfion. 
 They faw the timidity and imbecility of the 
 Government, who having founded the 
 
 R charge,
 
 ( 122 ) 
 
 charge, dared not advance to the attack. 
 They profited by this want of exertion ; and 
 pafling from one extreme rapidly to ano- 
 ther, they almoftunanimoufly took up arms 
 againft their rulers and oppreflbrs. Joined 
 by the French Guards, who, from a long re- 
 fidence in the capital, had been peculiarly 
 expofed to feduction, and who at this deci- 
 five moment abandoned their Sovereign, the 
 Parifians broke through every obftacle by 
 which they had hitherto been reftrained. 
 The fupplies of arms and ammunition 
 which had been provided for their fubju- 
 gation, were turned againfl the Crown; 
 and the ** Hotel des Invalides," the great 
 repofitory of military ftores, after a faint 
 refiftance, furrendered. 
 
 The Prince de Lambefc, who alone, of all 
 the officers commandingthe Royal troops in 
 the vicinity of Paris, attempted to carry into 
 execution the plan for difarming the capi- 
 tal, was repulfed in a premature and inju- 
 dicious attack, which he made at the head 
 of his dragoons, near the entrance of the 
 garden of the Tuilleries. Already the 
 
 et Prevot
 
 ( *«3 ) 
 
 " Prevot des Marchands," Monfieur dc 
 Fleffelles, convicted of entertaining a cor- 
 refpondence with the Court, and detected 
 in fending private intelligence to Monfieur 
 de Launay, Governor of the Baftile, had 
 been feized by the people, and fallen the 
 firft victim to the general indignation. 
 His head, borne on a lance, exhibited an 
 alarming example of the danger to which 
 adherence to the Sovereign mutt expofe, 
 in a time of anarchy and infurrection. 
 
 The Baftile alone remained ; and while 
 it continued in the power of the Crown, 
 Paris could not be regarded as free, or even 
 as fecure from the fevereft chaftifement. 
 It was inftantly inverted by a mixed mul- 
 titude, compofed of citizens and foldiers 
 who had joined the popular banner. De 
 Launay, who commanded in the caftle, 
 by an act of perfidy unjuftifiable under 
 any circumftanccs, and which rendered 
 his fate lefs regretted, rather accelerated, 
 than delayed the capture of this important 
 fortrefs. He difplayed a flag of truce, and 
 demanded a parley ; but abufing the con- 
 
 R 2 fidence
 
 ( 124 ) 
 
 dence which thefe fignals infpired, he 
 difcharged a heavy fire from the cannon 
 and mufquetry of the place upon the 
 befiegers, and made a con fiderable carnage. 
 Far from intimidating, he only augmented, 
 by fo treacherous a breach of faith, the rage 
 of an incenfed populace. They renewed 
 their exertions with a valour raifed to 
 frenzy, and were crowned with fuccefs. 
 The Baftile, that awful engine of def- 
 potifm, whofe name alone diffufed terror, 
 and which for many ages had been facred 
 to filence and defpair, was entered by the 
 victorious affailants. De Launay, feized 
 and dragged to the f Place de Greve," 
 was inflantly difpatched, and his head car- 
 ried in triumph through theftreets of Paris. 
 Few captives, either of inferior or 
 of eminent rank, were found in the 
 apartments of the Baiiile. The Count de 
 Lorges, at a very advanced period of life, 
 difcovered in one of the dungeons of the 
 ** Tour de la Bertaudiere," was liberated, 
 and exhibited to the public curiofity in the 
 c< Palais Royal." His fqualid appearance, 
 
 his
 
 ( i25 ) 
 
 his beard which defcended to his waift, 
 and above all, his imbecility, refulting 
 probably from the effecl: of an imprifon- 
 ment of thirty-two years, were objects 
 highly calculated to operate upon the 
 fenfes and paflions of every beholder. It 
 is indeed impoflible, however we may 
 lament or condemn the ferocious fpirit 
 which has characterized and ifgraced the 
 French revolution, not to participate in 
 the exultation, which a capital and a 
 country fo highly illuminated, and fo 
 long opprefTed, muff have experienced, at 
 the extinction of this deteftable and juftly 
 dreaded prifon of ftate. Nor does the 
 rapidity with which it was captured ex- 
 cite lefs admiration, when its powers of 
 refiftance are considered, and the fpeedy 
 relief which might have been afforded to 
 it by the numerous bodies of regular 
 forces, with which Paris was furrounded 
 pn every fide. 
 
 With the Baftile, expired the royal 
 authority and consideration. The defpot- 
 jfm of the French Princes, which long 
 
 prefcription,
 
 ( '»6 ) 
 
 prefcription, fubmiffion, and military 
 ftrength feemed to render equally facred 
 and unavailable : which neither the cala- 
 mities of the clofe of Louis the Fourteenth's 
 reign, the profligacy and enormities of the 
 fucceeding Regency, nor the ftate of de- 
 gradation into which the monarchy funk 
 under Louis the Fifteenth, had ever 
 fhaken : that power, which appeared to 
 derive its fupport almoft as much from 
 the loyalty and veneration, as from the 
 dread and terrors of the fubjecT:, fell prof- 
 trate in the duft, and never betrayed any 
 fymptom of returning life. 
 
 Paris, liberated from all reftraint, or 
 even wholefome police, appeared to riot 
 in the intoxication of freedom; and 
 ftained its acquisition by fcenes of violence 
 and blood, unworthy the firfr. capital in 
 Europe. Every trace of obedience difap- 
 peared; and even the promoters of the 
 late infurrection were not fecure from the 
 capricious fury of a frantic and favage popu- 
 lace, who filled the "Place de Greve" with 
 clamours, and frequently tore the victim 
 
 whom
 
 ( 127 ) 
 
 whom their indignation had felected, from 
 the hands of juftice. 
 
 But, at Verfailles, confirmation and 
 alarm filled the court on the arrival of this 
 extraordinary intelligence. Yielding at 
 once to the united impulie of his terrors and 
 his natural inclinations, the King, without 
 even preferving the forms of Majefty 
 however fallen, repaired to the National 
 AfTembly, rather as a fuppliant than a 
 monarch. Difordered in his drefs, and 
 unaccompanied by his guards or ufual at- 
 tendants, he betrayed his agitation in the 
 fpeech which he addreiTed to the States. 
 Only two days preceding this melancholy 
 exhibition of degraded dignity, he had 
 replied to a remonftrance which they pre- 
 fented to him, in terms of determination 
 mixed with menace. He now adopted 
 the language of diftrefs, invoked their af- 
 fiftance, difowned his intention to employ 
 force for the fubjection of the capital, 
 aflured them that he had already fent 
 orders to withdraw the troops which had 
 inverted Paris and Verfailles ; and pro- 
 
 feiTed 
 
 2
 
 ( "8 ) 
 
 fefled his defire to give the mod: unequi- 
 vocal proofs of his deference to the wifhes 
 of his fubjects. He concluded by implor- 
 ing them to make known thefe his paternal 
 difpofltions, to the inhabitants of the dif- 
 tracted metropolis. <* 
 
 The AiTembly, which trembled a few 
 hours before for its own fafety, and had 
 expected to be offered up as victims to the 
 vengeance of an irritated Sovereign, re- 
 plied with expreffions of loyalty and af- 
 fection to thefe gracious declarations, al- 
 though evidently extorted by fear. It 
 was however far otherwife at Paris, 
 where the populace, deeming their tri- 
 umph incomplete while the King remained 
 apparently tranquil in his palace; not 
 only exacted his perlbnal and immediate 
 prefence among them, to fanction their 
 outrages on his authority; but accom- 
 panied this demand with menaces, if 
 refufed, of fetting fire to Verfailles, and 
 at once extinguifhing the obnoxious Princes 
 of the Houfe of Bourbon in the flames. 
 Perhaps a monarch endowed with quali- 
 ties
 
 ( I2 9 ) 
 
 ties fuch as Louis the Fourteenth poffeiTed, 
 would perhaps have refufed compliance 
 Xvith this humiliating requifition; and while 
 his army was yet entire, and the royal dig- 
 nity not totally degraded, have embraced 
 the generous refolution of meeting the 
 ftorm, of trying the fortune of war, and 
 at leafl devolving to his fuccefTor the pre- 
 rogatives, which at his acceffion he had 
 received and exercifed. But Louis the 
 Sixteenth pofTefTed no abilities competent 
 to fo magnanimous and unequal a ftruggle. 
 He had already abandoned his attempts to 
 maintain the Royal power in its original 
 vigour ; and he had now fcarcely any op- 
 tion between the lofs of his throne, and a 
 complete fubmiflion to the arbitrary plea- 
 fure of a populace, thirfting for blood, 
 inflamed by fuccefs, and daily offering up 
 victims to its revenge. 
 
 Under thefe melancholy circumftances, 
 He did not hefitate to yield obedience to 
 the mandate, which it was no longer fafe 
 to refufc. After fuch a night as Charles 
 
 S the
 
 ( ^o ) 
 
 the Firft may be fuppofed to have paffed, 
 previous to his afcending the fcaffbld ; 
 but unattended with that ferenity and 
 fortitude, which eminently diftinguifhed 
 the Englifh Monarch in the laft act of 
 life, he fet out for Paris. Confcious 
 however, of the peril attendant on his ap- 
 pearance in the metropolis of his domi- 
 nions, and doubtful of efcaping from the 
 rage of the multitude to whom he was 
 to be prcfented, he prepared for death, as 
 at leail, a porlible event. He received the 
 facrament, made fomeprivate difpofitions of 
 affairs, and gave various orders in confe- 
 quence. Though defirous to fee and em- 
 brace his fon and daughter before his de- 
 parture, he yet had flrmnefs fufficient to 
 refufe himfelf this indulgence, as fearing 
 that it might too deeply affect, and dif- 
 qualify him for the part which he was to 
 perform. " J'en aurai plus de plaifir," 
 laid he, " fi je reviens." A gentleman 
 who was near his perfon on this occafion, 
 encouraging him, and venturing to anfwer 
 
 for
 
 ( «3' ) 
 
 for his fafety, the King replied, " Henry 
 Quatre valoit mieux que moi ; et cepen- 
 dant on Pa affaffine." 
 
 Though he quitted Verfailles at an early 
 hour, it was late before he entered Paris, 
 from the immenfe multitudes whoaffembled 
 to fee himpafs, and who teftifled no fenti- 
 ments of loyalty in their acclamations. 
 When arrived at the " Place de Greve," 
 and conducted to the " Hotel de Ville," 
 the new Mayor, Monfieur Bailli, who 
 had been elected to fupply the late unfortu- 
 nate firit magiftrate , in fultedthe fallenPrince 
 by a mock furrender of the keys of his capi- 
 tal -, which he accompanied with a farcaf- 
 tic and infolent reflexion on the different 
 fituation in which Henry the Fourth flood, 
 when he received a fimilar teifimony of 
 its fubmiflion and allegiance. The cries of 
 the people, who infifted that the King fhould 
 fhew himfelf on the balcony, compelled 
 him to give this laft proof of hisdetcrence 
 to their wifhes ; and to add to the conde- 
 fcenfion, he accepted from the hands of 
 t,he Mayor, the National cockade, which 
 
 S a he
 
 ( *33 ) 
 
 he firft carried to his lips, and then placed 
 in his hat. After having been detained 
 and exhibited as a captive to his own 
 fubjects during the greater part of the 
 day, without fuftenance or refreshment of 
 any kind, he was at length permitted to 
 return to Verfailles, and to conceal his 
 emotions in the privacy of his own 
 apartments. 
 
 While this humiliating fcene was act- 
 ing before the eyes of all France, which 
 were turned towards fo unufual and at- 
 tractive a light, the adherents to the late 
 meafures, terrified at the menaces thrown 
 out againft them, and dreading the moft 
 fatal confequences of popular fury, pro- 
 fited of the King's abfence and vifit to his 
 capital, to effect their own efcape. 
 
 The Count d'Artois, regarding himfelf as 
 peculiarly marked out for profcription and 
 impeachment, and apprehenfive that even 
 his proximity of blood to the Sovereign 
 might prove an inefficient protection to 
 his life, fled among the firft, carrying 
 with him his fons, the Dukes d'An- 
 
 gouleme
 
 ( *23 ) 
 
 gouleme and de Berri > two youths 
 who were fucceffively prefumptive heirs 
 to the Crown, in cafe of the demife 
 of the Dauphin. In the hurry of a pre- 
 cipitate retreat, it was found extremely 
 difficult to furnifh a few hundred louis d'ors 
 to a Prince, for whofe expenfive gratifica- 
 tions, only fome days before, the treafures 
 of the monarchy were infufficient. He 
 took the road to Flanders ; and was already 
 far advancedtowards the frontiers, before his 
 departure was known or fufpec'ted at Paris. 
 When fo diftinguifhed a perfonage, and one 
 fo nearly allied to the throne, deemed him- 
 felf no longer fafe even in the Royal refi- 
 dence, it caiviot excite wonder that thofe 
 of a lefs elevated condition, and who were 
 equally obnoxious to an enraged populace, 
 fhou)d confult their fafety by inftant flight. 
 The principal roads were covered with il- 
 lustrious fugitives, under every pofiible 
 difguife and concealment. The Prince of 
 Conde quitted Chantilly, followed by his 
 fon and grandfon, the Dukes of Bourbon 
 and Enghien. The Prince of Conti, the 
 
 lait
 
 ( *34 ) 
 
 Iaft in fucceflion of the Blood Royal* 
 after undergoing many extremities of 
 hunger and fatigue, arrived at Luxem- 
 bourg ; to which place likewife the Mare- 
 chal de Broglio, abandoning his army, 
 repaired without delay. 
 
 The Duchefs of Polignac, fo long un- 
 rivaled in the affections of the Queen, 
 and round whom ail the pleafures of the 
 Court of Verfailles were ufed to affemble ; 
 tearing herfelf from this fcene of diiiipa- 
 tion, attain'd with difficulty the city of 
 Bale in Switzerland j after having en- 
 countered numerous dangers, and been 
 preferved from the laft. degree of vio- 
 lence as me pafled through Sens, by the 
 happy prefence of mind which diftin- 
 guifhed an Abbe, by whom me was ac- 
 companied. At Bale, by one of thofe 
 fingular accidents which evince the power 
 of fortune, fhe found in the inn at which 
 {he alighted, the late Minifter, Neckar; 
 who having palled through Swabia after 
 his difmiffion, on his way to Geneva, 
 here firfl received from his enemies, the 
 
 intel-
 
 t 135 3 
 
 intelligence of the revolution. The Baron 
 de Breteuil, purfued by the mDil marked 
 deteftation of his countrymen, evaded, 
 as well as the Prince de Lambefc, the 
 fnares prepared to intercept them: the 
 former reaching Bern in fafety, as the 
 latter did Turin. Monfieur de Befenval, 
 lefs fortunate, was feized at Brie Comte 
 Robert ; and even the folicitations of 
 Neckar himfelf, who endeavoured to in- 
 terpofe in his behalf, were infufficient to 
 obtain his enlargement. 
 
 In this general confirmation, the Queen, 
 abandoned by all her deareft connexions, 
 remained with her two children, friendlefs, 
 and almofl alone, in the palace of Verfailles. 
 No Prince of the Royal Family ventured 
 to abide the ftorm, except the Count de 
 Provence; who during the continuance 
 of all thefe diforders, had enjoyed a dif- 
 tinguifhed fhare, at leaft of negative ap- 
 probation ; and whofe conduct through- 
 out the critical circumftances which pre- 
 ceded the fedition of Paris, had been fuch 
 
 as
 
 ( 136 ) 
 
 as to conciliate, in fome degree, r the popu- 
 lar favour. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans, to whofe in- 
 trigues, or oppolition to the Crown, may- 
 be greatly afcribed the rapid progrefs of 
 the general difcontent, and the excefles of 
 the people; viewed from the *' Palais 
 Royal" with fecret pleafure, the effects of 
 his machinations, and enjoyed his triumph 
 over the vanquifhed court. The military- 
 command of the National troops, and of 
 the capital, were conferred by almoft una- 
 nimous delegation on the Marquis de la 
 Fayette ; as the fupreme civil and muni- 
 cipal jurifdi&ion devolved on Bailli, 
 Mayor of Paris. The union of both 
 thefe powers, was however frequently 
 found unequal to impofing proper re- 
 ftraints upon the ungoverned paffions 
 and favage violence of a populace, new 
 to freedom, and who ftained its acquifi- 
 tion by daily acts of vengeance and cruelty. 
 The heads of Foulon and Berthier, one of 
 whom had occupied a high fituation in the 
 
 late
 
 ( i37 ) 
 
 late miniftry, and the other had been in- 
 tendant of Paris, were carried through the 
 itreets ; and the circumflances with which 
 the death of thefe eminent perfons were 
 accompanied, are only to be compared in 
 horror and atrocity with thofe attendant on 
 the manacre of St. Bartholomew, or the 
 anamination of the Marechal d'Ancre under 
 Louis the Thirteenth. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the inftigation and re- 
 queft of the National AiTembly, Neckar 
 was recalled, and invited by letters of the 
 moll: nattering, and even penitential tenor, 
 from the King himfelf, to refume the 
 fuperintendance of the finances. He 
 yielded, though with apparent reluctance, 
 to thefe entreaties ; and repaired to Court, 
 loaded with expreflions of general attach- 
 ment and veneration in every place through 
 which he paiTed : while the credulous and 
 deluded multitude expected from his pre- 
 fence, a fpeedy redrefs of all their griev- 
 ances, the revival of public credit, and a 
 remedy to the fcarcity of grain, which had 
 excited the clamours of the capital and 
 
 T the
 
 ( i3« ) 
 
 the kingdom. To the admiration and 
 aftonifhment of mankind, in an abfolute 
 monarchy fo ftrongly cemented as that of 
 France appeared to have been, and in which 
 loyalty was antientlyefteemed to be charac- 
 terise of every clafs of citizens, no efforts 
 were made to fupport the Royal power. An 
 cnthufiaftic paflion for liberty pervaded all 
 the provinces ; and the revolution, com- 
 menced on the banks of the Seine, fpread 
 with equal rapidity and unanimity, to the 
 foot of the Alps and Pyrenees ; to the 
 Rhine and the Mediterranean. 
 
 No permanent calm fucceeded to this ftorm 
 of popular indignation. Elated with the pof- 
 feffion of freedom, and exercifing in many 
 inflances, a tyranny more oppreflive and 
 fevere than that from which they had juft 
 efcaped, the people meditated new and 
 greater invafions on the dignity, as well as 
 the prerogatives of the Crown. The prefs, 
 freed even from that wholefome and necef- 
 fary reftriction, which Governments the 
 moil relaxed impofe upon the publication of 
 opinions, compenfated for the fetters which 
 
 it
 
 ( J 39 ) 
 
 it had fo long worn,bygivingbirth to every 
 fpecies of licentious production and infolent 
 attack upon perfons of the higheft rank. 
 The Queen was peculiarly the object of 
 thefelibellous invectives; and every accufa- 
 tion private or political, which malignity 
 could invent, to alienate the affections and 
 irritate the pafhons of mankind againft. her, 
 was circulated, and publicly expofedtofale. 
 Although all the pomp and majefly, which 
 inbetter times had furrounded and concealed 
 the Sovereign, was now entirely withdrawn: 
 though only guarded by the burgelTes of 
 Veifailles, and destitute of any militarypro- 
 tection againft. infult and outrage, Louis the 
 Sixteenth flood expofed to every enterprize 
 which a mutinous capital might undertake 
 or execute ; yet fome veftiges of perfonal 
 liberty he flill retained. He was free to 
 enjoy the diverfion of the chace ; and the 
 National AfTembly, convoked at Verfailles, 
 continued to hold its meetings there, under 
 his immediate fuperintendance and infpec- 
 tion. It was even thought decent and 
 neceffary, on the part of the new tribunes 
 
 T 2 of
 
 ( 14° ) 
 
 of the people, to march fome regiments, in 
 the month of September, on whofe adherr 
 ence they conceived that they could fafely 
 rely, to perform the ordinary functions of 
 ftate ; at the fame time that they prevented 
 any efcape, if fuch was intended by the King. 
 But, where fo many inflammable mate- 
 rials were collected, it was not poffiblc 
 that any confiderable time could elapfe 
 before they burfr. into a conflagration. 
 After one or two attempts, which the vigi- 
 lance and activity of La Fayette prevented 
 from being carried into full execution, the 
 populace of Paris, excited by various arts, 
 and i ncenfed at the Queen for having brought 
 the Dauphin, and prefented him to the 
 officers of the regular troops after a public 
 entertainment, rofe as by univerfal con- 
 fent, and determined to march to Ver- 
 failles. By what motives, or with what 
 intentions, the conductors of this armed 
 mob were actuated, it is perhaps impof- 
 fible at prefent pofitively to aflert. The 
 deepeft and blackeft defigns have, by 
 popular malignity, been attributed to the 
 
 Duke
 
 ( Hi ) 
 
 Duke of Orleans; no lefs than the at- 
 tainment of the Regency, at whatever 
 price, and by every mode, however trea- 
 fonable or flagitious. Many of the cir- 
 cumstances which diflinguifhed that ex- 
 traordinary fcene, unquestionably evince 
 a plan not more artful than nefarious ; 
 and which feemed calculated, by operating 
 on the fears of the Sovereign, to induce 
 him to abandon the throne, and feek his 
 fafety in flight ; while the Queen, who 
 was more an object of national obloquy 
 and aversion, might be instantly offered 
 up as a victim to the frantic multitude. 
 
 It is difficult to do juftice to the hor- 
 rors of a night, similar only to thole 
 which are furnifhed by the annals of 
 Charles the Ninth, and which reminds us 
 of the times of Catherine of Medicis. Pos- 
 terity will fcarcely credit, that at the con- 
 clusion of the eighteenth century, and in a 
 country eminently diftinguifhed by all the 
 fofter virtues of humanity, acts of blood 
 and ferocity more favage than the Janiza- 
 ries of Constantinople ufually excrcifc 
 
 against.
 
 ( 14* ) 
 
 againft their defpots, were performed with 
 impunity. The Angularity and incredibility 
 of the recital will be augmented by recollect- 
 ing, that many of the moft violent among 
 thefe ruffians, were women ; or, at leaf! 
 habited in a female drefs. Armed with 
 every deftructive weapon, they alTaulted the 
 guards who were ftationed at the door of the 
 Queen's apartments, burfl into them, mur- 
 dered thofe who oppofed their progrefs, 
 and penetrated to the chamber in which fhe 
 flept. The efforts which were made to re- 
 tard their fury, and the cries of f Sauvez 
 la Reine, " which echoed through the palace, 
 gave heran inftant in which to efcape. The 
 flrft. Queen in Europe was faved from a 
 death the moft ignominious, by the inter- 
 val of almoft a fingle moment. UndrerTed, 
 and nearly naked, lire gained a private 
 ftaircafe, which conveyed her to the King, 
 who received her in his arms, where ilie fell 
 fenfelefs with terror. The materials of the 
 bed from which fhe had juit rifen, after 
 undergoing the ftri&eft fearch, in hopes of 
 discovering the unhappy object of their pur- 
 
 fuit,
 
 ( H3 ) 
 
 fuit, were {battered over the room, as fome 
 gratification to their difappointedvengeance. 
 Louis the Sixteenth himfelf, appearing 
 on the balcony of his apartment, in the 
 language and attitude of fupplication, 
 vainly implored the populace to fpare his 
 guards, whom he faw maffacred at his 
 feet, without the power of extending to 
 them any relief. He as vainly befought 
 the Queen to yield to the necefiity of the 
 time, and to retire to Rambouillet, where 
 her perfon would at leafr. be fecure. Ex- 
 erting a courage fuperior to her fex, and 
 elevated above a fenfe of the danger to 
 which fhe was fo confpicuoufly expofed, 
 fhe firmly perfifted in her refufal to fly ; 
 and declared her determination to accom- 
 pany the King, and at leafr. to expire as 
 fhe had lived, a Queen of France. Yet, 
 confcious of the probability of her falling 
 a facrifice to the popular rage, fhe armed 
 herfelf with a poniard, as a laft refource 
 againft the degradation of plebeian vio- 
 lence and brutality. 
 
 It isimpoflible, how much foe ver we may- 
 condemn
 
 ( 144 5 
 
 condemn certain parts of her conduct and 
 character, not to admire the heroifm and 
 magnanimity of this deportment, in which 
 we feem to recognize the blood of fo many 
 Emperors from whom me defcended. The 
 weaknefsof the woman was notwithstand- 
 ing, mingled with the fortitude of the 
 Sovereign ; and when me entered the coach 
 which was to convey herfelf and the cap- 
 tive King from Verfailles to Paris, terri- 
 fied at the cries of a furious multitude 
 who feemed to demand her forfeit life, 
 flie threw herfelf into the arms of La 
 Fayette, who offered her his hand at the 
 door of the carriage ; and whofe protection 
 me invoked to preferve her from outrage and 
 death. Placing the Dauphin in her lap, and 
 feated by her hufband, the cavalcade moved 
 flowly towards the capital ; while the heads 
 of the murdered " Gardes du Corps," borne 
 on poles, and held op to her view, pre- 
 fented a melancholy profpect of her 
 own probable deftiny. They at length 
 reached the palace of the Thuilleries, 
 thus accompanied, and took pofTeflion of 
 
 that
 
 ( '45 ) 
 
 that part of it deftined for their reception 
 and refidence: while cannon, mounted at 
 the principal avenues, under pretence of 
 fafety and defence, fecured them from 
 refcue, and rendered efcape impracticable. 
 Perhaps no day fo ignominious to the 
 Royal dignity had been beheld, fince the 
 elevation of the Capetian Princes to the 
 throne of France. The capture and impri- 
 fonment of Louis the Ninth at Damietta, 
 of Kin?- John at Poictiers, and of Francis 
 the Firit at the battle of Pavia, however 
 unfortunate and humiliating, yet were at 
 lair, foftened by many confiderations. 
 Thofe Monarchs were all taken in arms, 
 after exerting the moil: heroic acts of 
 valour againft their conquerors, and owed 
 their misfortunes only to the chance of war. 
 Even Henry the Third, when he fled 
 from his capital, purfued by the Guifes, 
 yet retained his perfonal independence, 
 and foon returned to befiege and to chaf- 
 tife his rebellious fubjects. Louis the 
 Sixteenth, funk below eiteem orcommifer- 
 ation, and not having exerted cither abi- 
 
 U lity
 
 ( i 4 6 ) 
 
 Iity or courage in the defence of his in- 
 vaded prerogatives, only held a precarious 
 life at the mercy of a feditious and info- 
 lent populace, who having already impri- 
 foned, might in any moment of refentment, 
 terminate the reign of their fallen and de- 
 graded King. The palace in which he 
 was confined, having been in a great mea- 
 fure neglected for more than a century, 
 during which time Paris had rarely feen 
 any Sovereign refident in the metropolis, 
 was totally unfit for the reception of a 
 Court; and even the apartments which 
 were occupied by the King himlelf, were 
 in fo ruinous or decayed a condition, as 
 not altogether to exclude the inclemency 
 of the weather. To this {ituation was a 
 Monarch reduced, who only a few months 
 before, might be regarded as at the fum- 
 mit of human greatnefs ; and the founda- 
 tions of whofe throne, ftrengthened by long 
 poiTeffion and by habits of obedience, feemed 
 to bid defiance to all the ordinary convul- 
 fions which overturn empires , and deftroy the 
 firmefl fabrics of human powerand wifdom. 
 
 While
 
 ( H7 ) 
 While thefe fcenes of outrage and vio- 
 lence were exhibiting in France, it is dif- 
 ficult to imagine a picture of more com- 
 plete ferenity than England prefented ; and 
 this internal repofe was accompanied with 
 every circumftance of external profperity, 
 and augmenting national consideration. 
 The year which immediately fucceeded 
 the malady of George the Third, may 
 be ranked among the happieft of his reign, 
 whether it be conlidered as perfonally affect- 
 ing himfelf, or as productive of felicity to 
 his people. The recent danger from which 
 he had efcaped, rendered his health and 
 fafety peculiarly precious to his fubjects ; 
 as the animated expreffions of their at- 
 tachment and loyalty muft have deeply 
 touched the heart of a Prince, infinitely 
 fenfibleto thefe genuine marks of affection. 
 The character of the Sovereign was not 
 more formed to produce, than that of his 
 Adminiftration was to perpetuate the gene- 
 ral tranquillity. The conduct of Mr. 
 Pitt during the whole progrefs of the late 
 commotions in France, may be held up 
 
 U 2 as
 
 ( MS ) 
 
 as a model of political honor and rectitude i 
 perhaps, equally fo of wifdom. Unlike 
 to Richlieu, who fomented the caufes of 
 difcord between Charles the Firft, and his 
 Parliament : unlike to Vergennes, who 
 ftimulated the iVmericans to refiftance ; and 
 after a feries of indirect and infidious arts, 
 violated the moft folemn treaties in order 
 to afTure their final independence ; the 
 Englifh Minifter fteadily and fyftemati- 
 cally adhered to the moll; exact neutrality. 
 The native elevation of his mind, and the 
 magnanimity which has ever characteri fed 
 his meafures, rendered him incapable of 
 defcending to the little artifices of crooked 
 and vulgar ftatefmen. The probity of his 
 private life pervaded and marked his pub- 
 lic line of action ; nor did fo uncommon 
 and dignified a mode of proceeding, under 
 circumftances which might feem tojuftify 
 and authorize a more relaxed conduct, fail 
 to produce its full effect on the two nations 
 who were peculiarly affected by it, as well 
 as on the other ftates of Europe. Some ap- 
 probation, if not admiration, is indeed 
 
 due
 
 ( i49 ) 
 
 due to a Government, who have been able 
 to unite vigour, energy, and protection, 
 with the moil religious adherence to the na- 
 tional faith, and to every principle of found 
 and generous policy. 
 
 The period which is comprifed between 
 the months of May 1 789 and 1 790, like the 
 reign of Antoninus Pius, affords few mate- 
 rials for hiftory, drawn from the interior 
 events of the time. England, at peace with 
 all the world, in the bofom of repofe, faw 
 her commerce and manufactures expand, 
 her credit augment, and her name excite 
 refpect among the moll diftant nations ; 
 while many of the great furrounding Euro- 
 pean kingdoms were either involved in fo- 
 reign war, ordefolatedby domeftic troubles. 
 This tranquillity was not however allied to 
 an ignominious and enervate floth ; but, on 
 the contrary, was fecured by vigilance, acti- 
 vity, and exertion. In conjunction with 
 Pruflia and Holland, Great Britain indi- 
 rectly extended her attention and fuccour 
 to Guftavus the Third, finking under an 
 gnequal conteft with the vait empire of 
 
 Ruflia.
 
 ( '50 ) 
 
 Ruflia. She reftrained and arretted Denmark , 
 even after that power, as an auxiliary of the 
 Court of Peterfburgh, had already taken up 
 arms, and committed hoftilities againft Swe- 
 den. She fignified to Leopold, who had re- 
 cently fucceeded to the thrones of Hungary 
 and Bohemia, her defire that he would re- 
 call his troops from the Banks of the 
 Danube ; and flie fuftained by her negocia- 
 tions the firmnefs of the Ottoman counfels, 
 ■while fhe filently, but not lefs decidedly, 
 impofed limits on the ambition of their 
 great enemy Catherine the Second, by 
 prohibiting her fleet from prefuming fo 
 quit the Baltic, and to complete the de- 
 ftrudion of the Turks in the Archipelago. 
 In this exalted fituation, to which per- 
 haps no parallel in our annals can be ad- 
 duced, fince the termination of the fhort, 
 but fplendid protectorate of Cromwell, a 
 ft,orm unexpectedly and fuddenly arofe 
 from a quarter, where it would feem, that 
 no forefight or precautions could have anti- 
 cipated the danger. Among the new and 
 unexplored paths of commerce, which the 
 
 fpirit
 
 ( 151 ) 
 
 fpirit of a difcerning and adventurous peo- 
 ple had attempted to open fince the peace 
 of 1783, were particularly two, which 
 appeared to promife the molt beneficial 
 returns. The firit. was a whale fiihery, 
 llmilar to that which had been carried on 
 for ages near the coafts of Greenland; 
 but transferred to the Southern hemi- 
 fphere, near the extremity of Patagonia, 
 and in the ftormy feas which furround 
 Cape Horn ; as well as in the Pacific 
 Ocean. In the courfe of a few years, this 
 branch of trade had augmented rapidly, 
 and was found on trial to afford very im- 
 portant advantages j nor had it received any 
 impediment from the vague pretentions of 
 the Spanifh Crown to the fovereignty of 
 the mores warned by that ocean, which 
 was the fcene of their exertions. 
 
 The fecond of thefe enterprizes , original in 
 its own nature, able in its conception, bold 
 in its execution, and having no precedent 
 for its guidance, was directed to countries 
 and to objects almoft as much unknown to 
 geographical, as to commercial know- 
 ledge
 
 ( '52 ) 
 
 ledge or experience. It demanded many 
 qualities rarely and difficultly combined : 
 a confiderable capital ; minifterial appro- 
 bation ; faithful and capable conductors ; 
 dextrous navigators ; and above all, much 
 time and perfeverance to ripen, and ulti- 
 mately recompenfe the perfons engaging 
 in fo eccentric and expenfive an expedi- 
 tion. This extraordinary union of talents 
 and circumftances was, however, found in 
 men of no fuperior defcription among the 
 mercantile inhabitants of London ; and it 
 will remain a ftriking monument to future 
 ages, of the energy, capacity, and nauti- 
 cal ability, which diftinguifh the prefent 
 century and the Britifh nation, above the 
 moft enlightened periods of any antient or 
 modern people. 
 
 The North Well: coaft of America, the 
 part of the earth to which this embarka- 
 tion was deftined, was not only fo remote, 
 but fo undefined, if I may be allowed the 
 expreffion, that its very exiflence remained 
 unknown or doubtful, before the difco- 
 
 « 
 
 veries of the reign of George the Third. 
 
 In 
 
 2
 
 ( T 53 ) 
 
 At the commencement of the prefent cen- 
 tury, it was thought to be almoft as much 
 beyond the ordinary bounds of navigation, 
 as the iflands of the Hefperides appeared 
 to the Greeks; and Swift himfelf, only 
 eighty years ago, when he compofed 
 the entertaining voyages of Lemuel Gul- 
 liver, efteeming it the proper region of 
 fable and romance, felected it for the 
 polition of his imaginary Brobdignag. 
 The immenfe tract of land, extending 
 northward from California and New Ad- 
 bion to the Frozen Sea, had, indeed, in a 
 more recent period, been partly explored, 
 and faintly traced by Cook ; though much 
 remained for future enterprize and induftry 
 to aecomplifh, before this difcovery could 
 be converted to any purpofe of public utility. 
 He had, however, afcertained the exig- 
 ence of the continent ; and he had received 
 from the barbarous natives, with whom 
 he eftablifhed a fpecies of barter, fome 
 valuable fpecimens of furs, in exchange 
 for European commodities of a far infe- 
 rior nature. 
 
 X The
 
 ( 154 ) 
 
 The hope of procuring a confiderable 
 number of thefe rare and coftly (kins, for 
 the fale of which a very advantageous market 
 prefented itfelf at Canton in China, was the 
 leading inducement to the adventurers, 
 who engaged in the expedition. But, in 
 the purfuit of private emolument, objects 
 of general and national confequence were 
 necefTarily implicated and interwoven. 
 Behind this coaft, to the eaftward, lay the 
 vail: continent of America ; opening a field 
 to commercial activity and refearch, in 
 which the imagination itfelf was loft. 
 The difcovery of a communication through 
 this unexplored country, and which may 
 ultimately connect it, to a certain degree, 
 with our fettlements in Hudfon's Bay, 
 appears from their account, not to be 
 totally vifionary, though it was regarded 
 as fuch by Cook himfelf. 
 
 Conceptions and enterprizes more cal- 
 culated to enlarge the fphere of induf- 
 try ; to connect the molt remote parts 
 of the planet of the earth by the bands of 
 amity and commerce ; to extend the limits 
 
 of
 
 ( 155 ) 
 
 of the human mind ; and to immortalize, 
 while they enriched the nation which ori- 
 ginated them, have perhaps fcarcely ever 
 been imagined or executed. They were 
 not inferior to the moft fublime and 
 daring expeditions of antient Greece, and 
 feemed to partake of the fpirit of Co- 
 lumbus : though the prefent age, fami- 
 liarized to naval (kill and enterprize, no 
 longer fees with the fame admiration, or 
 confers the fame eulogiums on modern 
 candidates for fame ; who are feldom 
 regarded through any other medium 
 than that of utility, or pecuniary advan- 
 tage. 
 
 Animated by thefe views, and having 
 received the moft affirmative marks of 
 the protection of Government previous 
 to their departure, five mips were fitted 
 out from London in 1785, and the two 
 fucceeding years. Four of thefe veffels, 
 after doubling Cape Horn, arrived fafely 
 on the North Weft coaft of America. 
 The fanguine expectations which had 
 been entertained, of effecting a lucrative 
 
 X 2 exchange
 
 ( i5« ) 
 
 exchange of commodities with the natives, 
 were fully and fpeedily realized. Cargoes 
 of the fineft furs were procured, and 
 fold to the Chinefe, even under great 
 commercial difcouragements and pecuniary 
 impofitions, at fo high a price, as amply 
 to reimburfe and enrich the adventurers. 
 Other attempts, of a fimilar nature, were 
 made from Bengal ; and two veffels were 
 fucceflively difpatched from the Ganges to 
 the fame coaft, in the year 1 786. A factory 
 was eftablifhed at Nootka Sound, a port 
 fituated in the fiftieth degree of northern lati- 
 tude, on the more of America. PofTeffion 
 of it was folemnly taken in the name of the 
 Sovereign and Crown of England: amicable 
 treaties were concluded with the chiefs of 
 the neighbouring difrricts ; and a tract of 
 land was purchafed from one of them, 
 on which the new proprietors proceeded 
 to form a fettlement, and to conflrucT: 
 ftorehoufes. Every thing bore the ap- 
 pearance of a rifing colony, and each 
 year opened new fources of commerce 
 
 and advantage. 
 
 Although
 
 ( i57 ) 
 
 Although individuals, occupied in ex- 
 ertions of this private nature, could not 
 be expected to extend their views or 
 efforts to objects of public utility, yet 
 fome further information was collaterally 
 and incidentally acquired, refpecting :he 
 confine t of America, in the courfe of 
 their voyages. It is even pretended that 
 a floop, named the " Washington," 
 navigated for fome hundred miles along 
 a vafr. number of iflands, fcattered in 
 a fea, which interfects that continent in 
 a north-eaft direction ; and though the 
 accounts hitherto received or tranfmitted, 
 of this extraordinary and interefting fact, 
 are not either fo minute, or fo accurate, 
 as by any means to entitle them to be impli- 
 citly received, yet they appear to be not to- 
 tally destitute of foundation, or probability. 
 Every profpect, either of national advan- 
 tage, or of private emolument, which 
 the commerce of thefe coafts feemed to 
 promife to Great Britain, was, however, 
 deftined to experience a fudden and unex- 
 pected fufpenfion. 
 
 On
 
 ( i5» ) 
 
 On the 6th of May, 1789, two Spanifh 
 fhips of war entered Nootka Sound ; the 
 commanding officer of which, after making 
 every profeffion of ami ty during feveral days , 
 feizedon the Englifh vefTels, in the name 
 of his Sovereign, as they fucceffively arrived 
 from various parts of the coaft, im- 
 prifoned the crews, confifcated or plun- 
 dered the cargoes, and ultimately carried 
 them as lawful prizes to St. Bias, in 
 Mexico. Violations fo unprovoked, not 
 only of the peace fubfifting between 
 the two Monarchies, but of all the laws 
 eftablifhed between civilized nations, were 
 accompanied and aggravated by every cir- 
 cumftanceof duplicity, infolence, and cru- 
 elty; while they were contrafted with the 
 moft friendly affiftance and attentions , fhe wn 
 to the captains of two American mips, the 
 " Wafhington" and the " Columbia," who 
 had been brought by the fame commercial 
 inducements to the port of Nootka. Thefe 
 testimonies of protection and regard were 
 even carried fo far by the Spaniards, as to 
 compel the crew of one of the captured 
 
 Englifh
 
 ( 159 ) 
 
 Englifh vefTels to aflift in navigating the 
 V Columbia" to Canton; through which 
 channel, the firft regular and authentic 
 account of thefe acts of hoftility, was 
 officially tranfmitted to theEnglimAdminif- 
 tration, though they had been preceded by 
 fome vague and indiftinct intimations of 
 the fame nature, made by the Spanifh 
 embafTador at the Court of London. 
 
 The conduct of the Firft Minifter on 
 receiving this intelligence, evinced no lefs 
 the magnanimity than the decifion of his 
 character. Without defcending to the te- 
 dious and humiliating forms of requeit with 
 the Court of Spain, which might elude and 
 protract, if not ultimately refufe, according 
 to its ufual policy, any reparation for thefe 
 outrages ; he, in the firft inftance, by a mef- 
 fage from the King, informed the two Houfes 
 of Parliament of the whole feries of tranf- 
 actions. He clearly evinced the nullity and 
 inj uftice of any general pretentions on the part 
 of the Spanifh Crown, to a territory, difco- 
 vered, planted , and occupied by the Englifh ; 
 but in particular, to the Port of Nootka, 
 
 lltuated 
 2
 
 ( i6o ) 
 
 fituated at a diftance from any known 
 fettlement belonging to that nation. 
 He profeffed his anxious deiire to 
 terminate by amicable explanation and 
 treaty, the prefent caufe of difpute. He 
 at the fame time declared his determined 
 intention, not only to exact from the 
 Court of Madrid an adequate fatisfaction 
 and compenfation for the injuries recently 
 fuftained j but to compel Spain to renounce 
 decidedly and formally, any indefinite claim 
 which fhe might have fet up, either to the 
 exclufive navigation of the Pacific ocean, 
 or to the fovereignty of the whole North 
 Weft coaft of America. He called on the 
 loyalty, dignity, and honour of the Houfe 
 of Commons for fupport, in maintaining 
 thefe invaded rights by force of arms, if 
 Spain mould be infenfible to the language 
 of reafon. 
 
 The approbation which fo manly an 
 appeal to the nation excited, was general 
 and animated. The leaders of Oppofition 
 joined in that fentiment, and exprefled their 
 conviction of the wifdom as well as 
 
 neceiTity
 
 ( i6i ) 
 
 neceflity of fuftaining by every military 
 and naval exertion, the effect of nego- 
 tiation. The celerity with which thefe 
 refolutions were followed, in the equip- 
 ment of a powerful armament, was cal- 
 culated to augment the high reputation of 
 the Miniftry throughout Europe, while it 
 called into action all the refources of the 
 kingdom. A dilTolution of Parliament, un- 
 queftionably judicious under the circum- 
 ftance of a probably impending war, fol- 
 lowed thefe demonftrations of refentment, 
 and demands of reparation. 
 
 If we compare the energy and decision 
 of fo vigorous a line of conduct, with 
 that which was adopted by Sir Robert 
 Walpole or Lord North, in fimilar 
 fituations, the contrail muft be highly 
 flattering to the prefent Adminiftration. 
 The fluggifh and reluctant difinclination 
 of the former, to perceive or to relent 
 the depredations committed by the Spa- 
 niards upon theEngliiTi trade, during along 
 feries of years ; while it emboldened the 
 
 Y enemy,
 
 ( i6a ) 
 
 enemy, deprefled the genius of England : 
 until Parliament, roufed by fuch a conti- 
 nuation of infults and indignities, at length 
 vindicated the national honour, and drove 
 the Minifter from the fuperintendance of 
 affairs. 
 
 The temporiiing and pufillanimous 
 counfels of Lord North, in the difpute 
 refpecting the Falkland iflands ; and 
 the ultimate termination of it, which 
 left the right undecided, and even atTerted 
 by the Court of Madrid, at the fame 
 moment that from motives of political 
 convenience, Spain thought proper to 
 cede the contefted territory to England : 
 thefe humiliating meafures, expofed and 
 reprobated by the pen of Junius, ftand in 
 need of no comment, and are fufficiently 
 appreciated by a j Lift and difcerning people. 
 
 Spain was no longer governed by 
 Charles the Third, at the time when 
 thefe interefting events took place. 
 That Prince, after a reign of above 
 twenty years as Sovereign of Naples, 
 
 had
 
 ( i6 3 ) 
 
 had afcended the Spanifh throne on the 
 death of his brother Ferdinand the Sixth, in 
 1759; and expired at a very advanced period 
 of life, in December, 1788. His uncon- 
 cealed diflike of the Englifh nation, from 
 whom in his youth he had received fome 
 fignal benefits, as well as fome painful and 
 perfonal humiliations, had probably induced 
 him, even more than the ties of blood, or 
 connexions of policy with the Court of 
 France, to join that kingdom in two fuc- 
 ceffive wars which fhe carried on againffc 
 Great Britain. 
 
 To the counfels of his reign, and pro- 
 bably to a fyftematic plan in concert with 
 the Cabinet of Versailles, for attacking 
 the commerce, and fetting limits to the 
 enterprizes of England on the North Wefl 
 coaft of America, we may without injuftice 
 attribute the acts of violence, committed 
 by Don Martinez in the Port of Nootka. 
 The fhort period, cDmprifing fcarcely five 
 months, which elapfed between the death 
 of Charles the Third, and thofe infractions 
 of the peace previoufly fubiifting between 
 
 Y 2 the
 
 ( 164 ) 
 
 the two Crowns, leave no room to doubt 
 that the original orders were iflued during 
 the life of the late Sovereign. 
 
 Charles the Fourth fucceeded to theSpan- 
 iili monarchy under thefe circumftances. 
 Though of a mature age, his character was 
 little known or underflood beyond the 
 limits of his own dominions. In the 
 early part of his life he had appeared to 
 evince fentiments more Caftilian, than any 
 of the defendants of Philip the Fifth had 
 hitherto difcovered ; and to promifea reign, 
 in which the feelings of a common ori- 
 gin and defcent would influence lefs on 
 affairs of ftate, than a wife confideration 
 of the true policy and interelts, becoming 
 a genuine King of Spain. It may how- 
 ever be questioned, whether this anticipa- 
 tion of his maxims and fuppofed line of 
 conduct, will be confirmed by experience; 
 and whether he will emancipate himfelf 
 from the partialities, naturally connected 
 with his near affinity to Louis the Six- 
 teenth. The fame Miniflers feem to 
 govern, and the fame principles to ani- 
 mate
 
 ( i6 S ) 
 
 mate the Court of Madrid, which have 
 uniformly characterized it fince the ex- 
 tinction cf the Spanifh branch of the 
 Houfe of Auftria : and the time is probably 
 ftill diffant, when the pernicious effects 
 of the treaty of Utrecht in uniting two 
 monarchies, which for ages anterior to 
 that event had never acted in conjunction 
 againft Great Britain, will have finally 
 ceafed to operate. 
 
 Meanwhile, the efforts oftheFirft Minif- 
 ter to terminate the prefentdifpute by nego- 
 tiation, kept equal pace with the exertions 
 made to equip a formidable naval force. 
 At the fame time that a fleet, the command 
 of which was deftined to Lord Howe, 
 affembled at Portfmouth, Mr. Fitzherbert 
 was difpatched as ambaflador to Madrid, 
 in order to try the effect of remonftrance 
 and expoftulation. The Englifh people, 
 unanimous in their approbation of the mea- 
 fures purfued, and in their demand of repa- 
 ration for the injuries fuftained, loudly 
 called for inftant war, or for the moft un- 
 equivocal and fatisfactory conceffions. 
 
 The
 
 ( i«6 ) 
 
 The convulfions and embarrafTed flate of 
 the French monarchy, together with the 
 perfonal Situation of the King of France, 
 appeared to render an adherence to, or 
 completion of the family compact imprac- 
 ticable, however well inclined the Court 
 of Verfailles might be fuppofed, to affift 
 and fupport her ally. 
 
 Spain doubtlefs felt and regretted 
 this incapacity, which compelled her to 
 commence a war againfl England, unaf- 
 fifted by any European power; and the 
 event of which, in the prefent circumftances, 
 might be fatal to her grandeur or commerce 
 in every- part of the world. She feemed 
 to yield to thefe obvious considerations; and 
 the Spanifh Ministry towards the clofe of 
 July, agreed to make a compenfation for 
 the loSTes, fuStauied by the Englifh adven- 
 turers plundered at Nootka, as a balls or 
 preliminary to a final and amicable arrange- 
 ment. Notwithstanding, however, this ap- 
 parent defire of adjufting the points in dif- 
 pute, and of avoiding the ultimate appeal to 
 the fword, every exertion was not only made 
 
 in
 
 ( >6 7 ) 
 
 in the ports of Cadiz and Ferrol, to fit out a 
 numerous fquadron ; but the Spanifh am- 
 bafTador at the Court of France, expended 
 the treafures of his mafter, in endeavours to 
 induce the National AfTembly to adopt the 
 quarrels of Charles the Fourth, and to 
 fulfil in its whole extent the obligations of 
 the family compact. His labours, though 
 not equally fuccefsful, as, under more 
 propitious circumftances they might have 
 proved, yet produced a vote favourable to 
 the views and wifhes of the Crown of 
 Spain. A general profeffion on the part 
 of the National AfTembly, of adherence to 
 the ftipulations formed between the two 
 nations ; and a refolution inftantly to arm a 
 confiderable naval force at Brett, were pro- 
 cured and published. The hopes of a 
 fpeedy and permanent accommodation be- 
 tween the Courts of London and Madrid, 
 which the firft conceilion on the part of 
 the latter power had excited, gradually 
 grew more uncertain and problematical. 
 Autumn advanced, without any certainty or 
 decifion on this great point ; and though 
 
 the
 
 ( '68 ) 
 
 the fleet of England, which had cruized 
 in the Bay of Bifcay during near fix weeks, 
 returned again to Spithead, without hav- 
 ing feen an enemy, yet the expectation of 
 an eventual rupture was rather augmented 
 than diminilhed. 
 
 While thefe negociations and armaments 
 detained the Weft of Europe in fufpenfe, the 
 moft important and unexpected events had 
 taken place among the Princes of the 
 Germanic empire, in confequence of the 
 death of the late Emperor Jofeph the 
 Second. That reftlefsand turbulent Prince, 
 exhausted in body, and agitated in mind, 
 expired at Vienna in the commencement of 
 the prefent year. His vaft, but divided 
 and revolted provinces, devolved to his bro- 
 ther Leopold, Great Duke of Tufcany. 
 Few Sovereigns have ever acceded to a 
 throne under more critical and alarming 
 circumftances. Though Laudohn had 
 clofed his brilliant career of military 
 glory, and even ihed a luftre over the laft 
 ijours of Jofeph, by the capture of Bel- 
 grade : though the Turks had been driven 
 3 ' beyond
 
 ( 169 ) 
 
 beyond the Danube, and the Imperial 
 troops had at length penetrated into Servia 
 and Moldavia; yet thefe advantages, 
 bought with three campaigns, and pre- 
 ceded by defeats and difafters, offered a 
 very inadequate compenfation for the 
 calamities, which menaced or afflicted every 
 other part of the dominions of the Houfe 
 of Auftria. Hungary, fo renowned for 
 its enthufiaftic loyalty and attachment to 
 Maria Therefa, when that Princefs was 
 involved in the deepefl diftrefs, had been 
 alienated by her fucceflbr ; who inlultcd 
 their moft facred prejudices, while he in- 
 vaded their mofl valuable immunities. 
 Pofterity will fcarcely believe that this in- 
 judicious and infatuated Prince, foon after 
 his acceffion, from refentment to the Hun- 
 garians/ not only removed the crown and 
 regalia of that monarchy from Buda, the 
 antient capital, to Vienna : but, as a mark 
 of fcorn and contempt, caufed thefe ve- 
 nerable inflgnia of the kingly dignity, in- 
 expreilibly precious in the eftimation of 
 the people, to be conveyed from one capi- 
 
 Z ta!
 
 ( l 7° } 
 
 tal to the other, in the common itage 
 waggon. 
 
 The King of Pruffia hung over Bohemia, 
 with a prodigious army, ready to enter 
 that kingdom. The German Princes were 
 almoft univerfally difaffected to the late 
 Emperor, and had reprobated his in- 
 fidious projects for an exchange of 
 territory with the Elector Palatine. 
 The Netherlands, irritated by a long 
 feries of oppreflion, eonfifcation, and 
 violation of all their antient liberties, had 
 renounced any allegiance to a Prince, 
 whom they regarded not as a protector, 
 but a tyrant. Philip the Second, when 
 he recalled the fanguinary Duke of Alva, 
 was fcarcely more detefted, and had not 
 more completely loft the low countries, 
 than Jofeph the Second had done. Dalton, 
 though at the head of a regular and formi- 
 dable body of forces, had been compelled 
 precipitately to evacuate BrufTels, and to 
 feek his fafety in a diforderly and ignomi- 
 niousretreat. Luxembourg alone remained, 
 ef all the ten provinces, when Leopold 
 
 fucceeded
 
 ( '7i ) 
 
 Succeeded to his brother ; and Flanders no 
 longer even liftened to the proportions of 
 accommodation, which Jofeph in his dying 
 moments offered to his revolted fubjects. 
 
 In this fituation, furrounded with dif- 
 ficulties occafloned by the ambition and 
 defpotifm of his predecefTor, the new 
 King of Hungary, after fome months of 
 delay and irrefolution, wifely yielded to 
 the neceffity, impofed on him by the dif- 
 fracted condition of his affairs. The 
 Courts of Berlin and of London, acting 
 in concert, and fuftained by a Pruffian 
 army, gave law to the Houfe of Auftria. 
 Leopold confented to abandon the alliance 
 of the Emprefs of Ruffia ; to reftore to 
 Turkey the territories lately acquired ; and 
 to receive his Flemiih fubjects into favour, 
 after conceding and confirming, in the mofl 
 extended degree, all their liberties and 
 privileges. This vigorous and fuccefsful 
 interpofition was inftantly followed by a 
 peremptory requifition, on the part of the 
 fame Powers to Catherine the Second, by 
 which that haughty and enterprizing 
 
 Z z Princefs
 
 ( *7? 5 
 
 Princcfs was required to follow the ex ample 
 exhibited by the King of Hungary ; and to 
 grant an equitable peace to the Ottoman 
 Porte, as well as to conclude the war which 
 flic carried on againft Sweden. 
 
 From fo humiliating a neceflity, the Em- 
 prefs extricated herfelf by one of the moil: 
 rapid, unforefeen, and perhaps mafterly 
 ftrokes o c policy, which is to be found in 
 the annals of the pre fent century. She made 
 a peace with that King of Sweden, againll: 
 whom me had not fcrupled, a few years 
 fmce, to excite his own foldiers and fub- 
 jects to revolt : who had fcarcely efcaped 
 from captivity at Wybourg, by forcing a 
 paffage through the Ruffian fleet, with 
 which he was furrounded : and who had 
 not only committed hoftilities and waged 
 war upon her empire ; but was fup- 
 pofed to have drawn his pen againll: 
 her reputation, and to have accufed her 
 to Europe, and to future times, as an 
 ufurper, infatiable in her thirft of power, 
 and deftitute of faith or honour. Only a 
 few davs intervened between the moft 
 
 rancorous
 
 ( *73 ) 
 
 rancorous difplay of perfonal enmity, and 
 the folemn exchange of the ratifications 
 of peace : while Catherine, liberated by 
 this fuccefsful exertion from an enemy 
 who detained her fleet in the Baltic, and 
 who might prefent himfelf at the very 
 gates of her capital, aflumed new vigour, 
 difdained to fubmit to the mandates of 
 Pruflia, and continued her military opera- 
 tions againft. the Turks. 
 
 She did not flop here; but, irritated 
 by the attempt to fetter her arms and 
 limit her conquefts, me preffed Guftavus 
 the Third to enter into a confederacy 
 againft thofe powers, with whom he had 
 been fo lately in ftrict alliance ; and to 
 whofe timely interference or good offices, 
 he had been in a great meafure indebted 
 for his prefervation . She negociated 
 anew with the Prince Regent and Cabinet 
 of Denmark, whom the interpofition of 
 England had hitherto reluctantly retained 
 in neutrality. She corrupted, or perfuaded 
 the Polifh Diet to exprefs fentiments hof- 
 tile to Pruffia ; and encouraged Spain to 
 
 3 refufe
 
 ( '74 ) 
 
 refufe compliance with the demands of 
 the Britilh Government. 
 
 Under thefe circumstances and appear- 
 ances, hoftile or inaufpicious to the repofc 
 of Europe, the month of October com- 
 menced. During its progrefs, the hopes 
 and fears of the nation were painfully fuf- 
 pended, by the uncertainty of the final 
 event. The impatience and anxiety, natural 
 to, and infeparable from fucha fituation, 
 were infinitely augmented by the fecrecy 
 and filence, which furrounded and con- 
 cealed the operations of the cabinet. The 
 powers and energies of Government, con- 
 centered round the Firft Minifter, and 
 veiled in his perfon, exhibited to the 
 Englifh nation, all the vigor, celerity, and 
 decifion of a defpotifm, unaccompanied 
 with its characteristic and concomitant 
 evils. Though thefineftandmoft numerous 
 fleet which Great Britain had ever equipped, 
 lay at Spithead, ready to fland out into 
 the Atlantic upon the fhorteft notice; 
 though Admiral Cornifh, at the head of 
 eight fliips of the line, had already fet 
 
 fail ;
 
 ( '75 ) 
 fail j and, favored by an eafterly wind, 
 was clear of the Channel : though a de- 
 tachment of the Guards, to the number of 
 above two thoufand men, were under 
 orders to march to Portfmouth ; and 
 every preparation was made to facilitate 
 their prompt embarkation : though the 
 blow which impended over the Spanifh 
 monarchy, hung by a fingle thread, and 
 might every inflant fall ; yet, not a 
 whifper tranfpired, to gratify the curiofity 
 of an eager capital, and an expecting 
 country. 
 
 Univerfal ignorance, or fanciful con- 
 jecture prevailed, refpecting the deftina- 
 tion of thefe powerful naval and military 
 armaments; while the magnitude and 
 fcattered pofition of the Spanifh domi- 
 nions, from the mouth of the Miffimppi 
 to that of the river Plate, left an ample 
 field for the imagination, and afforded 
 fcope for unbounded affertion. To 
 thofe who recollected the delays, the 
 publicity, and the timidity which degraded 
 the counfels, and fruftrated the meafures 
 
 or
 
 ( '76 ) 
 
 Or exertions of England, during the Ad- 
 miniftration which conducted the Ame- 
 rican war, the prefent contraft was matter 
 of equal wonder and admiration. The 
 nation, confcious that its honour and its 
 interefts were committed to a a depositary 
 of tranfcendent integrity and firmnefs, 
 patiently waited the winding up of the 
 cataftrophe, with eyes fixed on its con- 
 ductor. Opinion fluctuated rapidly and 
 capricioufly from war to peace, as the 
 moft trifling events appeared to indicate 
 the one or the other ; and October expired 
 as it had begun, in uncertainty and fuf- 
 pence. 
 
 During the three firit days of the fuc- 
 ceeding month, as every hour might be 
 iuppofed to decide on this momentous 
 queftion, expectation feemed to have at- 
 tained its higheft point ; while the rapid 
 approach of that period, when Parliament 
 was fummoned to meet for the difpatch 
 of public buflnefs, and the advanced fea- 
 fon of the year, fuperadded to the length 
 of time which had already elapfed fince 
 
 , the
 
 ( l 77 ) 
 
 the commencement of the negotiation, ap- 
 peared to preclude the poftibility of any 
 further delay. It was not till the fourth 
 of November, a day already rendered 
 memorable and aufpicious in the annals 
 of Great Britain, that the meflenger fo 
 long expected, arrived with pacific intel- 
 ligence. Spain, after a refinance pro- 
 portioned to the magnitude and import- 
 ance of the objects contefled, and after 
 peremptory and reiterated refufals to con- 
 cede upon points, equally affecting her 
 pride and her intereils ; relaxed at once 
 from this tone, complied with the de- 
 mands of England, and figned a " -Con- 
 vention," which terminated every paft or 
 prefent caufe of difpute between the two 
 Crowns. 
 
 To the wifdom and moderation of the 
 Spanifh Firtt Minifter, the Count de 
 Florida Blanca, this timely and temperate 
 refolution, which arretted the fword al- 
 ready unfheathed, was attributed, by an 
 opinion, not only general, but unquef- 
 tionably fuftamed on high authority and 
 
 A a evidence.
 
 C '78 ) 
 
 evidence. If the hiftorian was permitted 
 to fpeculate upon the events of futurity ; or 
 if, from afcertained and exifting fads or 
 circumftances, we might be allowed to 
 predict refpecting thofe which would 
 have taken place > it is more than merely- 
 probable, that Spain muft have fuftained 
 very deep and lafting injury from that 
 war, which was thus unexpectedly and 
 fuddenly averted. 
 
 The naval power of England, which at 
 no period of paft time, had ever been fo 
 expeditioufly or vigoroufly called into ac- 
 tion : thefpiritand unanimity which pre- 
 vailed throughout the kingdom : the ac- 
 knowledged energy and capacity of the Ad- 
 miniftration : the very nature of the war in 
 which we were ready to engage, which muft 
 have been not only offenfive, but directed 
 to parts of the globe peculiarly calculated 
 to inflame the ardor of the alTailants", by 
 profpects of wealth and plunder : the de- 
 fencelefs and unprotected ftate of many of 
 the Spanifh colonies in both hemifpheres : 
 the anarchy, and confequent incapacity 
 
 of
 
 ( i79 ) 
 
 of France, to extend any prompt and ef- 
 fectual fupport to the Crown of Spain : 
 even the lefs important, but diftrefsful 
 and perplexing embarraffments, refulting 
 from the earthquake which demolifhed the 
 fortrefs of Oran upon the coalt. of Africa, 
 almoft precifely at the fame time when 
 the Emperor of Morocco commenced 
 hoftilities againft the Catholic King : this 
 combination of caufes or events, in which 
 there appears to be no exaggeration, may 
 perhaps, without the imputation of na- 
 tional partiality, juftify an opinion, that 
 the Spanifh monarchy was matched by the 
 wife and yielding policy of its Minifter, 
 from evils and calamities of no common 
 defcription. 
 
 While, however, I anticipate thefe 
 advantages, which might probably have 
 refulted from war, under the circumftances 
 already enumerated ; it is unqueftionable, 
 that to a country fo deeply involved in 
 debt, no feries of conquefts which the 
 wildeft imagination can fuppofe, had they 
 even been realized, could have compen- 
 
 A a 2 fated
 
 ( i So ) 
 
 fated for the misfortunes infeparably 
 connected with hoftilities. Peace, even 
 though only obtained upon the moft 
 moderate, and barely equitable terms, 
 muil:, to every reflecting mind, have been 
 far preferable to the acquisition of all the 
 provinces, which Cortez ever conquered, 
 or Pizarro fubdued. But the " Conven- 
 tion" recently figned, while on one hand 
 it made ample reparation and reftitution 
 to the injured Crown, and plundered 
 fubjects of Great Britain ; on the other, 
 opened new and unexplored fources of 
 wealth and commerce. After having 
 been fubmitted to the infpection and in- 
 vestigation of the people of England, 
 during many weeks : after having received 
 the moft authentic attenuations of public 
 gratitude and fatisfaction, in addreffes to 
 the Throne, from the great corporate 
 bodies of London, Edinburgh, and Brif- 
 tol ; neceflarily compofed of perfons 
 highly fenfible to, and highly enlightened 
 upon, the commercial interefls of the 
 country : after having been finally dif- 
 
 cuffed
 
 ( !«• ) 
 
 cuffed with all the feverity of political 
 criticifm, in the two Houfes of Parliament, 
 and attained the fanction of decided ap- 
 probation in both : having undergone thefe 
 rigorous difquiritions upon its merits, 
 the " Convention " may be examined, 
 like any other fact in the Engl if h annals, 
 with the candour, impartiality, and temper 
 of hiftory. 
 
 That Great Britain has obtained by it 
 points and objects, hitherto referved or 
 refufed by the Court of Madrid, in every 
 treaty fince the termination of the reign 
 of Philip the Fourth, is inconteflible. 
 Time alone can completely afcertain the 
 value and intrinfic worth of thefe con- 
 ceffions, which are, in a great degree, de- 
 pendant on the induftry and enterprize 
 exerted, in converting them to national 
 advantage. That jealous and tenacious 
 power, which originally difcovercd and 
 conquered the New World, over which 
 me has always endeavoured to draw the 
 deepeft veil, while me excluded every Eu- 
 ropean flate from any participation in her 
 
 vail
 
 ( i8* ) 
 
 vafr. acquisitions ; has, for the firir. time, 
 receded from her high and exclufive pre- 
 tentions. The pretended donation of the 
 See of Rome, and all the antiquated 
 claims which long prefcription had ren- 
 dered venerable, have been for ever relin- 
 quished and abandoned by the prefent Con- 
 vention. The navigation of the Pacific 
 Ocean is, in effect, declared to be as free 
 as that of the Atlantic. The right, claimed 
 by England, ofpurfuing thefifhery on thofe 
 parts of the coafl: of South America, un- 
 occupied and uncolonized by Spain, is not 
 onlv avowed : but a vaft. tract of the Ma- 
 gellanic regions, on either fide of Cape 
 Horn, comprizing the whole coafl below 
 the rnoft fouthern fettlement already made 
 by the Spaniards, is declared to be free 
 to both countries, for every purpofe of 
 temporary accommodation ; while the two 
 Crowns are equally interdicted and re- 
 trained, from forming future permanent 
 eftabliihments on that inhofpitable fhore. 
 In return for this liberal and ample con- 
 cefTion, England fubmits to the equita- 
 ble
 
 ( i8 3 ) 
 
 ble demand, of not permitting her vefTels 
 to approach within ten leagues of thecoafts 
 and countries, actually occupied by Spain 
 upon the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 On the North Weft Coaft of America, 
 the original difcovery, occupancy, and 
 fovereignty of which, appear to furnifh, 
 matter of infinite doubt and difcuffion, 
 frill greater advantages are fecured by the 
 Convention. Without recapitulating thepri- 
 mary ground of difpute, upon which clear 
 and immediate fatisfaction is itipulated: the 
 whole continent, north of the fettlements 
 already pofTefTed by Spain, is left open to 
 both nations ; with only a reciprocal right 
 of entry for purpofes of trade, into the 
 ports or places which either may occupy. 
 
 The fame general and equal principle is 
 laid down as the bafis of accommodation, 
 in the fouthern and northern hemifphere, 
 and forms the predominant feature of the 
 treaty. It was not denied by the Mi- 
 nifter, and it was juftly afTerted by his op- 
 ponents, when the Convention was agi- 
 tated in the Houfe of Commons, that to 
 
 render 
 
 2
 
 ( 184 ) 
 
 render it perfect, and exempt from future 
 poflible mifinterpretation, a precife limit 
 fhould have been drawn, both on the coaft 
 of North and South America. But the evils 
 infeparable from a prolongation of the dif- 
 pute, mull have fo greatly outweighed the 
 benefit to be derived from any line of demar- 
 cation which could have been inftantly fet- 
 tled , that no poflible cenfure can be affixed on 
 that account; fince its expediency was not 
 more obvious, than its immediate execu- 
 tion was difficult and impracticable. Nor 
 can it be reafonably doubted, that where 
 fo clear a principle is by mutual confent 
 eftablifhed, no effential obftacle can arife, 
 in the courfe of future negotiations be- 
 tween the two Courts, for the final fettle- 
 ment of their refpectlve boundaries. 
 
 To complete this great act of public 
 benefit and national glory, it only remained 
 to meet the expence occafioned by it, with 
 promptitude and alacrity. The Minifter, 
 fo far from avoiding or protracting that 
 neceflary, but painful and arduous talk, 
 followed the Convention, with the imme- 
 diate
 
 ( i8 5 ) 
 
 diatc production of the accounts refpect- 
 ing the naval and military armaments, 
 and the pecuniary impofitions which he 
 meant to propofe for their fpeedy liqui- 
 dation. Not more diftjnguifhed by the 
 magnitude and energy of his preparations 
 to humble the monarchy of Spain., when 
 war appeared inevitable ; than characta- 
 rifed by the moft falutary and fevere ceco- 
 nomy, when that neceffity no longer ex- 
 ifled ; his enlarged and active mind over- 
 came the difficulties, by which common 
 ftatefmen are impeded. He propofed to 
 raife, not merely the intereft of the debt 
 recently incurred ; but to extinguifh the 
 principal itfelf, in the fpace of four years, 
 though amounting to above three millions 
 flerling. The effect of fo judicious and 
 provident a meafure, which muft equally 
 evince the magnanimity of the Minifter 
 from whom it originated, and the refources 
 of the country which adopted it, will 
 be felt through every kingdom of Europe. 
 It is not exceeded by any of the acts of 
 wifdom, found in the annals of Eliza- 
 
 B b beth,
 
 ( 1 86 ) 
 
 beth, when the counfels of England were 
 directed by the forefight and policy of a 
 Burleigh. It is without precedent flnce the 
 beginning of the prefent century, and is cal- 
 culated to excite the admiration and in- 
 credulity of future times. 
 
 The ^iay, upon which Mr. Pitt fubmit- 
 ted to Parliament a fyflem, fo calcu- 
 lated for general advantage, was diftin- 
 guifhed by another act, which might have 
 rendered illuftrious a perfon, lefs confpicu- 
 oufly eminent above his fellow citizens. 
 The garter, which was conferred by the 
 Sovereign upon Lord Chatham, evinced the 
 indifference or fuperiority of the Minifter 
 to the higher!: external decoration and dis- 
 tinction ; as powerfully, as his renuncia- 
 tion of a lucrative office in favour of Colonel 
 Barre, at a much earlier period of his 
 administration, had proved his diiintereft- 
 cdnefs and contempt of emolument. 
 
 As it feems hardly pofTible to have 
 made greater facrifices, fo perhaps, it is 
 difficult to felect any example in modern 
 times, of fo early an acquisition of that
 
 [ «8 7 ] 
 
 glory, which isthe jufl: reward of rectitude 
 and talents. Whether the names of Cla- 
 rendon, of Godolphin, or of Pelham, 
 can be placed in any degree of com- 
 parifon or competition with that of Pitt, 
 it may be left to pofteri ty to deter- 
 mine. But it is competent to the hif- 
 torian of the prefent age, to affert and 
 to prove, that at no period fince the refto- 
 ration of monarchy in the perfon of 
 Charles the Second, has this country 
 permanently attained to fo high a point of 
 folid greatnefs and importance, as fhc 
 enjoys at the prefent moment. We mould 
 fearch in vain for any traces of national 
 confideration or honor, in the profligate 
 annals of that diffolute and dependent 
 Prince, whom 1 have jufl named ; or in 
 the bigotted and tranfitory reign of his 
 lefs criminal, but more unfortunate fuc- 
 ceffor. Shall we difcovcr greater fubject 
 for pride and exultation, even under the 
 temperate and elective government of 
 William the Third ? 
 
 Whatever obligations we may owe to 
 the Prince of Orange, as our deliverer 
 
 Bb 2 from
 
 ( i88 ) 
 
 from civil and fpiritual tyranny, his 
 arms were conftantly retrained by the 
 Generals, as his meafures were uni- 
 formly defeated by the policy and 
 power, of Louis the Fourteenth. 
 
 After a perpetual and unequal ftrug- 
 gle, in which her commerce was al- 
 moft annihilated, and in which the foli- 
 tary laurels of the Boyne and of La 
 Hogue, were contrafted with the annual 
 defeats received on the Continent, and 
 in the Channel, Great Britain nearly funk 
 under the exertion. Though the peace 
 of Ryfwick produced a fhort and de- 
 lufive calm, yet the Crown of Spain, in 
 violation of the molt folemn renunciations, 
 was quietly transferred, in the year 1700, 
 on the extinction of the Spanifh branch of 
 the Houfe of Auitria, to a Prince of 
 France : while the laft hours of William 
 were occupied by ineffectual efforts, to 
 prevent the fatal confequences of an act, 
 inconteftably injurious to, or fubverfive 
 of the fecurity, interefts, and greatnefs of 
 England. 
 
 It mult be admitted, that the female 
 
 reign
 
 ( i8 9 ) 
 
 reign which fucceeded, fo long as it was 
 conducted by the counfels of Godolphin, 
 and the genius of Marlborough, prefents a 
 ftriking picture of military glory, and fuc- 
 ceflive triumphs. The Court of Verfailles, 
 accuftomed to confer, condefcendcd to folicit 
 for peace ; and Torcy, at Gertruydenburg, 
 in 1 709, exhibited thehumiliatingiight of a 
 Minifter of Louis the Fourteenth, prof- 
 trate before England and Holland. But 
 the imprudence or prefumption of an Ad- 
 min iftrat ion, intoxicated with profperity, 
 and unmindful of the changes of human 
 affairs, allowed the moment to elapfe, in 
 which the fafety and interefts of their 
 country might have been forever fecured, 
 on the moft durable foundations. The 
 horizon foon became darkened, and the 
 profpect obfcured by clouds. 
 
 Villars refcued France from her ftate of 
 clanger and diftrefs, while Oxford and 
 Bolingbroke difgraced the government, 
 and accelerated the death of their feeble 
 miftrefs, by meafures of pufillanimity, 
 and breaches of national faith. The 
 
 trophies
 
 ( 190 ) 
 
 trophies of Blenheim and of Malplaquet 
 were obliterated by the defeat of Denain, and 
 the peace of Utrecht : the Houfe of Auftria 
 was betrayed in that difhonourable treaty ; 
 and the evening of a reign, fo diftin- 
 guifhed and fo fplendid, clofed in weak- 
 nefs, and is only recollected with regret. 
 
 If the annals of the lafl Princefs of the 
 Stuart line afford fo little matter for his- 
 toric praife, it is not in the labyrinth of 
 Continental Politics and alliances, which 
 characterifed and compofed thofe of 
 George the Firft, that we can look for 
 topics of eulogium, or fubjects for 
 admiration. The naval victory, obtained 
 by Byng in 1718, over the Spanifh fleet 
 in the Faro of Medina, however brilliant 
 and decifive ; fo far from being productive 
 of any advantage to the nation, counter- 
 acted every principle of wife and judicious 
 policy. It itands contrafted with the 
 fatal bankruptcy of the South Sea year; 
 with the melancholy facrifice of Hofier's 
 devoted fquadron, under the walls of 
 Porto Bello ; with a dereliction of the in- 
 
 terefts
 
 ( '9' ) 
 
 terefts and honour of the Crown of En<r- 
 land, rendered fubfervient to injurious 
 predilections, and foreign acquisitions. 
 
 The commencement of the reign of 
 George the Second, conducted, as the 
 greater part of that of his father had been, 
 by the counfels of Walpole, difclofes 
 fcarcely a more exhilarating profpect. It 
 was, indeed, pacific : but this peace was 
 the ignominious and fupine infecurity of 
 James ,• not the dignified and martial tran- 
 quillity of Elizabeth. I am at a lofs to 
 find, in the prefent century, any portion 
 of time lefs diftinguifhed by wifdom and 
 vigor; or during which, Great Britain was 
 fallen into more complete insignificance, 
 than in that interval which elapfed from the 
 death of George the Firft in 1727, to the 
 clofe, of Sir Robert Walpole's adminiflra- 
 tion, in 1742. Though the fubfervient 
 fleet of this country efcorted the younger 
 fon of Philip the Fifth, from Barcelona 
 into Italy • though we facilitated and ad- 
 vanced the grandeur of the Houfe of 
 Bourbon : though we tamely fubmitted to 
 2 the
 
 ( I 9 2 ) 
 
 the acts of violence, exercifed by Spain 
 againft our commerce in all the American 
 feas : though we abandoned the Emperor 
 Charles the Sixth, to the united force of 
 France, Spain, and Sardinia, who difmem- 
 bered Naples and Sicily from the dominions 
 of the Houfe of Auflria, info unequal a con- 
 teft : though, in order that the meafure of in- 
 capacity and mifconduct mould be com- 
 plete, we even permitted Louis the Fif- 
 teenth, by incorporating the Dutchy of 
 Lorrain with his hereditary poffeffions, 
 to cement and perfect the French great- 
 nefs ; yet thefe mighty and numerous con- 
 ccflions did not conciliate affection, or 
 procure refpect. Verfed in the arts of Par- 
 liamentary addrefs, and the fcience of 
 domeftic venality, but confcious of his 
 incapacity to conduct the veffel through 
 the ftorm which impended ; Walpole, 
 when he had exhaufted every endeavour, 
 to detain his Sovereign and his country in 
 difgraceful neutrality, reluctantly refigned 
 the reigns of power, which he had held 
 too long for the honor of his mafter, or 
 the glory and advantage of England. 
 
 Pelham,
 
 ( 193 ) 
 
 Pelham, after a fhort interval, fuc- 
 ceeded. His Administration, though 
 neither fortunate and fuccefsful in war, nor 
 fecure and undifturbed in peace, yet was 
 rendered refpectable, by the luftre of his 
 private and perfonal virtues. The inglo- 
 rious campaigns of Fontenoy, and of La 
 Feldt : the defeats of the allied army in 
 Flanders, followed by the capture of 
 Bergen-op-Zoom, and the (lege of Maef- 
 tricht : the peace of Aix la Chapelle, 
 humiliating and injurious to Great Britain : 
 the ravages, or hostilities, continued to 
 be exercifed by France againft our colo- 
 nies in America and the Eaft Indies, even 
 fubfequent to that treaty : thefe Subjects 
 of general complaint and diflatisfaction, 
 which clouded the Miniftry of Pel- 
 ham, confoled the nation for his lofs, 
 when removed by death in 1754, from 
 the fuperintendance of public affairs. 
 
 The fhort remainder of the reign of 
 George the Second, was equally calamitous 
 and difgraceful, 'till that memorable and 
 brilliant, but tranfltory sera, preceding 
 
 C c its
 
 ( T 94 ) 
 
 itsfinal termination, when the genius ofPitt 
 renewed the glories and fucccffes fo long 
 forgotten. The lofs of Minorca, and the 
 ignominious convention of Clofler-feven, 
 were erafed by the fucceffive conquefts of 
 Martinico, Canada, Plafley , Beflifle, and the 
 Havanna. But, thedemifeof the Sovereign, 
 in 1 760, and the transfer of ministerial au- 
 thority which fucceeded, prevented the bene- 
 ficial confequences, naturally to have been 
 expected from this chain of victories. A 
 peace, which never can be fufficiently 
 reprobated, and in which the ignorance of 
 the interefts of the nation, was only ex- 
 ceeded by the dereliction of the honor of 
 the Crown, reftored to the two branches 
 oftheHoufeof Bourbon, thofe provinces 
 and pofleffions, of which they had" been 
 deprived by the Earl of Chatham. 
 
 I lliall not enumerate the fleeting phan- 
 toms of Administration, which annually 
 appeared and vanifhed ; nor attempt to de^ 
 fcribe that period which elapfed, from the 
 refignation of Lord Bute, to the year 1 770, 
 when the reins of power were delegated 
 
 to
 
 ( '95 ) 
 
 to Lord North. There are certainly few 
 events, included within that portion of 
 time, which can induce us to lament that 
 it was not of longer duration. With ftill 
 greater reafon, I wifh to draw a veil acrofs 
 the feries of errors, incapacity, and mif- 
 conduct, which preceded and produced 
 that fatal war, terminated by the emanci- 
 pation of America ; and which ftill blazed 
 in every quarter of the globe, at the sera 
 when thefe memoirs commence. 
 
 From the elevation on which we are 
 placed, it affords a fort of melancholy 
 pleafure, to look down upon the anarchy 
 and calamity, which endear the prefent 
 Government, by a comparifon with that 
 ftate from which we have efcaped. The 
 actual fltuationof this country realizes the 
 warmeftwifliof a Miniffer, or a Sovereign, 
 to whom the pro fperity and glory of England 
 are fupremely dear. That object which 
 William vainly fought to attain ; which 
 Godolphin and Marlborough allowed to 
 efcape ; and which the Earl of Chatham 
 was not permitted to accomplish ; has 
 
 C c 2 been
 
 ( '9* ) 
 
 been referved for the prefent age to be- 
 hold. The monarchies of France and 
 Spain have been fucceiTively humbled and 
 retrained, without the neceffity of having 
 recourfe to the fword. Great Britain, at the 
 conclufion of 1790, is become by general 
 confent, the acknowledged Arbitrefs of Eu- 
 rope ; and to her polTeffion of external con- 
 fideration and refpect, unites every inter- 
 nal fource of wealth and felicity. 
 
 From the furvey of fo augufl and animat- 
 ing a fcene, it is natural to turn our eyes 
 towards the picture exhibited by France, 
 at the prefent moment. The convul- 
 fions which have agitated that diffracted 
 country fince the month of October 1789, 
 though fometimes apparently fufpended 
 or extinguifhed, yet may poffibly revive 
 with augmented violence. The laft fourteen 
 months feem to have been alternately dif- 
 tinguimed, by acts of feftivity and of 
 ilaughter; by the pageant of a Fcederation, 
 in the " Champ de Mars " at Paris, where 
 the national freedom was folemnly recog- 
 nized by a captive and degraded Sove- 
 reign ;
 
 ( *97 ) 
 
 reign ; and by the memorable carnage of 
 Nancy, which fo quickly followed. It 
 is perhaps impoflible for the wifeft ftatef- 
 man to predict the eventual confequence 
 of thefe conflicting caufes ; or to hazard 
 a decided opinion on the final refult, as yet 
 concealed in futurity, and obfcured by fo 
 many contradictory appearances . The de- 
 preffion and humiliation of the clergy; the 
 fale of the ecclefiaftical property ; the anni- 
 hilation of the orders of nobility, which 
 were almoit. coeval with the times of Clovis 
 and of Pharamond ; the abolition of the 
 peerage ; the renewal of the dangerous 
 experiments of Law, and the creation of 
 a paper currency, nearly as deftitute of 
 folid fupport, as was the fyftem of that 
 celebrated minifter : Thefe extraordinary 
 operations, or meafures of government, in 
 a great degree without precedent in the hif- 
 tory of modern European nations, have 
 not yet fufficiently unfolded and developed 
 their full effect, to enable the philofopher 
 and the hiftorian to confer on them his 
 cenfure, or his admiration. 
 
 It
 
 ( '98 ) 
 
 It has not even hitherto been afcertained 
 or exemplified, fince the extinction of the 
 Roman freedom by Marius and Sylla, that 
 a people whofe numbers exceed twenty 
 millions, are capable of being permanently 
 governed under a free conftitution. Nor 
 has mankind yet feen any inftance of a capi- 
 tal, and a country, habituated for ages to 
 defpotifm, funk in pleafures, loll to public 
 principle, deftitute even of the forms of 
 external refpect for the national religion, 
 and only intoxicated with the fpeculations 
 of a diftempered and vifionary philofophy, 
 which ever afpired or attained to a well- 
 regulated and wifely-cemented Liberty. 
 
 It was not in fuch a ftate of morals or 
 of fociety, that the Athenians broke the 
 fetters of arbitrary power, when roufed by 
 Harmodius and Ariftogiton. The elder 
 Brutus bore no fimilarity either to Mira- 
 beau, or to La Fayette. Rome vainly 
 aiiaffinated her Dictator, when public vir- 
 tue was no longer to be found in the fe- 
 nate, or among the people. The Moun- 
 taineers of Switzerland, who threw off 
 
 the
 
 ( *99 ) 
 
 the yoke of the Houfe of AufTria; and 
 the oppreffed peafants of the Low Coun- 
 tries, who revolted from the tyranny of 
 Philip the Second, were poor, hardy, and 
 martial. The Englifli Parliament, which 
 oppofed, and ultimately vanquiflied Charles 
 the Firif, called upon a nation, which how- 
 ever inflamed by fanaticifm, was unfubdued 
 by luxury, and uncorrupted by venality. 
 Times of effeminacy and refinement have 
 not hitherto been found to produce a plant, 
 of fo hardy and vigorous a nature, as 
 Freedom ; and if we are deftined to fee 
 in the hiitory of France, an example of 
 this extraordinary contradiction to the 
 refult of all experience, it will be a 
 ftriking lefTon of the infufficiency and 
 fallibility, of human wifdom or obferva- 
 tion. 
 
 The time which has elapfed fince the 
 Revolution of July, 1789, has not been fuf- 
 ficient, to afcertain all its confequences, or 
 to ripen and mature the many caufes, which 
 may ftill make the freedom of France, 
 before it attains to folidity. The yielding 
 
 and
 
 ( 200 ) 
 
 and paffive conduct of the King, which 
 has fo powerfully operated to produce 
 fubmifTion [in the two orders of the no- 
 bility and clergy, may be overborne by 
 events, or may be affected by the advice 
 and counfels of thofe who approach his 
 perfon. The natural levity, and characterif- 
 tic inconstancy of the nation, may conduce 
 to make them weary of apoHeffion, which 
 however ineftimable in its nature, is 
 neither to be attained, nor preferved, 
 without unremitting vigilance and ex- 
 ertion. The ceffation or ruin of many 
 branches of trade, neceiTarily refulting 
 from the late convulfions: thefeverityof the 
 taxes, which a free Government is com- 
 pelled to exact, in common with the moll 
 defpotic Monarch : the long habits of un- 
 conditional fubmiffion, fo forcible in their 
 operation upon the mind and character : 
 All thefe principles may ferment, and ul- 
 timately burfl: into action. 
 
 To the internal fources of change and com- 
 motion, external onesmayunite. Of thefe- 
 ven fugitive Princes of the Blood, who pre- 
 1 cipitately
 
 ( 201 ) 
 
 cipitately abandoned their country at the 
 commencement of the national troubles, 
 only one, the Prince of Conti, has yet ven- 
 tured to revifit Paris, or fubmitted to take 
 the Civic Oath, impofed by the new con- 
 ftitution. The malcontents, afTembled at 
 Turin round the perfon of the Count 
 d'Artpis, aided by the capacity and re- 
 fources of Calonne, and ready to be led 
 on by Maillebois, menace the duration of 
 the National Aflembly . Even though thefe 
 ftorms were difTipated, yet the Courts of 
 Vienna and Madrid cannot be fuppofed 
 to look with pleafure, or approbation, on 
 the fallen condition of Louis the Six- 
 teenth; and would, probably, aid with 
 more than vviihes, any effectual ftruggles 
 which might be made for the reftoratiori 
 of his antient prerogatives. Thefe reflec- 
 tions and confiderations may infpire fome 
 reafonable doubt, refpecting the final ilTue 
 of the fubverfion of the Royal Power, and 
 the permanency of a free constitution in 
 France. 
 
 Whatever may be the refult, and though 
 liberty mould even ultimately triumph, 
 
 D d its- 

 
 ( 202 ) 
 
 its attainment has been accompanied with, at 
 leaft, a temporary diminution, approach- 
 ing to total fufpenfion, of the political 
 ftrength, importance, and confideration of 
 the kingdom, as a European ftate. The 
 energy and activity of the Crown have 
 been withdrawn; and a fpirit of licen- 
 tioufnefs, the moll fatal to every national 
 and public effort, has prevailed through- 
 out all the naval and military departments. 
 The French colonies in the Weft Indies 
 are engaged in civil war, or become a 
 prey to infurrection and anarchy. The 
 frontiers, towards Germany, Savoy, and 
 Spain, are either expofed to infult and in- 
 vafion ; or protected by troops, upon 
 whofe fteady attachment and fidelity, after 
 the late defection from their Prince, no 
 fecure reliance can be placed. That 
 powerful monarchy, which for near a 
 century and a half has infpired terror, 
 and whofe reftlefs ambition has been fo 
 dangerous to every furrounding country s 
 which has twice, during that time, nearly 
 fubjeded Holland; which placed Philip 
 the Fifth on the Spanilh throne in 1700, 
 
 and
 
 ( 203 ) 
 
 and raifed an Elector of Bavaria to the 
 Imperial dignity, at a ftill more recent 
 period: that power, occupied in endlefs 
 metaphyseal difquifitions upon the rights 
 of men, or employed in defperate pro- 
 jects of revenue and finance, appears not 
 only to be incapable of invading the re- 
 pofe of her neighbours, but even of pro- 
 viding for her own internal fafety and 
 tranquillity. 
 
 Such is the ftriking contraft, which the 
 two monarchies of France and England 
 actually prefent. The one, ftruggling 
 through difficulties, to complete a fyftem 
 of liberty; and attempting to renovate 
 her difordered finances, plunged into 
 almoft irremediable confufion. The other, 
 enjoying all the advantages of eftablifhed 
 order; conducted by a Government equally 
 vigorous and popular; meeting every pe- 
 cuniary embarraflment orimpofition, with 
 new and unexampled refources ; ftrength- 
 ening her credit, and extending her com- 
 merce, while (he covers the ocean with 
 her navy, and fp reads the glory of her 
 name over every quarter of the eatth. 
 
 D d t I r.n
 
 C 2°4 ) 
 
 I am arrived at that period, where 
 the prefent work mufr, neceffarily ter- 
 minate. I am confcious that it : is only 
 an outline ; but the events of which* I have 
 treated, are not fufficiently removed, to ad- 
 mit of minute enquiry, or profound in- 
 vestigation. Yet, this imperfect pro- 
 duction may perhaps ferve » . to light 
 the iteps of fome future Hume or 
 Gibbon, to whom genius mall delegate 
 the fublime talk, of recording and per- 
 petuating the Englifh annals. My object 
 has been only to commemorate the facts 
 and characters, which have made the 
 deepest ; impreffion on. my memory, and 
 understanding, while a Spectator of their 
 full effect ; and to Stamp them with the 
 genuine fentiment which they excited, of 
 approbation or cenfure. * J Statui res geflas 
 Populi Romani," fays SalluSt, " carp- 
 tim, ut quaeque memoria digna vide- 
 bantur, perfcribere; eo magis, quod 
 mihi a Spe, Metu, partibus Reipublicae, 
 4t animus liber erat." 
 
 Whether I may be esteemed altogether 
 exempt from the emotions, difclaimed by 
 
 the 
 
 4 t 
 it 
 <i 
 l«
 
 { 205 ) 
 
 the Roman writer, I muft leave to thofe 
 who fhall perufe this work, to determine. 
 It is difficult to divert ourfelves of the pre- 
 dilections, which almoft neceflarily arife 
 in our minds, when engaged in the recital 
 or defcription of fcenes, acted in ages and 
 countries the moft remote. It would 
 rather imply a degree of apathy, and 
 defect of feeling, than any fuperiority to 
 common and vulgar prejudice, if I could 
 furvey with the fame tranquillity, the 
 calamities, which only a few years fince, 
 threatened the destruction of England, and 
 the prefent elevated ftate of fecurity which 
 we enjoy : or if in relating them, I mould 
 allow no portion of enthufiafm to mix 
 with the veneration, always due to hiftoric 
 truth. Gratitude is naturally excited in 
 every generous breaft, by private bene- 
 fits : but the Sovereign, or the Minifter, 
 who are the benefactors of nations, kindle, 
 even in the hiftorian who tranfmits to 
 future times the events of their govern- 
 ment, a venial partiality ; nor can the 
 
 reign
 
 ( 206 ) 
 
 reign of Trajan and Aurelius be written 
 with the fame indifference, as We feel in 
 describing the gluttony of Vitellius, or the 
 crimes of Caracalla. 
 
 F I N I S. 

 
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