AT LOS ANGELES
 
 CRISIS. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 * s>' Vi 
 
 PLAIN FACTS, 
 
 OR A 
 
 REI'IEW OF THE CONDUCT OF TflE LATE 
 MINISTERS. 
 
 THE FOURTH EDITION, 
 
 CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED, 
 
 SOI-l) I1V.IOI1.V UAF.I.V. HOOKSKI.I.KK, 
 
 HO.MK.H'S nKAn,>n nsoM-s*. HATH. 
 
 LONDON: 
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 THE 
 
 THE Continent having been subdued, 
 -less however by the arms of its oppressor 
 than by the folly and corruption of its 
 governments, and the pusillanimity or in- 
 difference of its people, it becomes a 
 question of the highest moment to the 
 welfare and safety of this empire, speedily 
 to determine on the mode of policy which 
 it is expedient to adopt, in consequence 
 of this melancholy alteration in human 
 affairs. 
 
 The causes of those complicated and un- 
 paralleled misfortunes which have befallen 
 most of the European states, and have 
 placed them entirely at the disposal of a 
 vindictive and merciless despot, are suffi- 
 ciently apparent. They may be plainly 
 traced in their own acts ; in the irrational 
 
 300978
 
 jealousies by which they have been domi- 
 neered, and the unmanly fears by which 
 they have been appalled. 
 
 Buonaparte's uninterrupted success 
 throughout his marvellous career, has in- 
 duced him, on all occasions, to confide in 
 its stability, and has seemed to justify in 
 him a departure from those prudential 
 maxims, which in other men would have 
 been deemed a desperation approaching 
 to insanity. After the disastrous issue of 
 the campaign in 1805 ; after the dreadful 
 examples which had in all quarters been 
 exhibited ; it was not to be conceived that 
 human nature could be so besotted, so 
 sunk in lethargic slumber, so regardless of 
 the ease and comfort and dignity of social 
 independence, as to shrink from combin- 
 ing in one great and magnanimous effort, 
 
 o o o 
 
 to rescue whatever is honorable or desirable 
 in life from the misery and disgrace of a 
 foreign yoke. 
 
 Buonaparte's easy conquest, in the fol- 
 lowing year, of the military (does it deserve 
 that name?) strength of Prussia; the rapidity
 
 of its total dispersion, added to the eager- 
 ness with which all the strong posts and 
 fortresses of that once potent and warlike 
 monarchy were betrayed into his possession, 
 so elated his hopes, and bewildered his 
 judgment, that he spurned every consider- 
 ation on which the retention of conquest, 
 or even the insurance of his political exist- 
 ence seemed to depend. By his victory at 
 Auerstadt and his subsequent triumphal 
 entry into the Prussian metropolis, he had, 
 one should have thought, accomplished 
 enough to satisfy the feelings both of pride, 
 and revenge over a humiliated and impotent 
 foe. The king of Prussia was completely 
 disarmed, and would gladly have submitted 
 to any terms short of total annihilation, 
 which the conqueror chose to dictate. 
 
 But this did not correspond with the 
 amplitude of Buonaparte's projects. The 
 king of Prussia had still provinces to flee- 
 to ; the Saxons were willing to separate 
 themselves from the confederacy ; the 
 Russians had provoked his anger ; and the 
 Poles were again to be revolutionised, in 
 order to make a provision for some branch
 
 6 
 
 of his upstart family. These were the 
 powerful motives, which, in defiance of all 
 caution, stimulated him still to advance, 
 and once more to risk the probability of 
 being utterly undone, 
 
 Mankind is so apt to reason from re- 
 sults, to be dazzled by the glare of pros- 
 perity, and to call that wise which turns 
 out to be successful, that it is scarcely 
 possible to prevail on them to contem- 
 plate, with any portion of sober reflection, 
 events such as have lately arisen. It must 
 nevertheless be observed, and indeed at 
 the time it was universally admitted, that 
 Buonaparte's presumptuous imprudence 
 implicated him, for several months, in a 
 position which was full of difficulty and 
 hazard. He was in a most embarrassing 
 
 o 
 
 and precarious dilemma. From his do- 
 mestic resources he was separated near a 
 thousand miles ; he was surrounded by 
 states, which had been delivered up to 
 the devastations of his troops, and which, 
 had he sustained any signal reverse, would 
 instantly have been in arms against him ; 
 and he was opposed by an army which,
 
 although inferior in numerical force, im- 
 pelled by gallantry and directed by skill, 
 maintained an equal conflict, and held 
 him completely in check. His battalions 
 which, for the last few years, had always 
 been accustomed to advance, and in ad- 
 vancing, easily to surmount every obs- 
 tacle as it presented itself, must have 
 been mortified and dispirited at an in- 
 terruption, which was not of an evanes- 
 cent nature, to be removed by a tempo- 
 rary additional exertion, but which, during 
 a long and active campaign, resisted the 
 utmost efforts of the bravery of his troops 
 and the tactics of his generals. 
 
 It does awaken most melancholy feel- 
 ings, feelings verging towards despair, 
 when we reflect what, at such a momen- 
 tous period, an auxiliary force might have 
 accomplished, and what, from the want of 
 such an aid, has been irrecoverably lost. 
 The Corsican chief, who, with his ruffian 
 but organised hordes, had been for so many 
 years the terror and the scourge of the 
 fairest portions of the civilized world ; the 
 rayages of whose destructive sword had
 
 been felt in every branch of human in- 
 dustry, and in every recess of human en- 
 joyment ; who had subverted every civil 
 institution, and dissolved every social tie ; 
 who had despised the prejudices, and 
 trampled on the rights of mankind ; who 
 had dethroned kings, and exterminated 
 people ; who had mutilated the beauty 
 and shaken even the constitution of na- 
 ture ; this man, the curse and execration 
 of his species, was, not merely for a day, 
 not merely for a week, but for several 
 months, so situated, that had there been 
 a particle of vigour or generosity, or 
 even of prudence or precaution, left in the 
 Austrian councils, as far at least as moral 
 reasoning can warrant an inference, might 
 have been overthrown. 
 
 If the Russians and Prussians were of 
 themselves sufficient to arrest Buonaparte's 
 progress, and even to contend with him 
 for victory in the field ; if, in their numer- 
 ous contests, each party claimed with equal 
 pretension the ascendancy ; if Buonaparte, 
 instead of fulfilling his gasconading pro- 
 mises, was reduced to the miserable expe-
 
 dient of subterfuge and falsehood, in order 
 to suppress the truth of events, and to 
 keep down the spirit of insurrection, which 
 was every day threatening to break out in 
 the north of Germany ; it is very evident, 
 that the accession of the military strength 
 of Austria to that of the allied army, would 
 have insured his total discomfiture. Un- 
 fortunately, however, Austria bore a more 
 rooted antipathy to Prussia than to France ; 
 and, in obedience to this malignant passion, 
 generated in distant times, but which ac- 
 tual circumstances might have moderated, 
 she secretly rejoiced at the total abase- 
 ment with which her rival was menaced. 
 The subjugation of Prussia was an event 
 so palatable to her feelings, that she pre- 
 ferred incurring, in her turn, the risk of a 
 similar fate, to any interposition, which, 
 by the reinstatement of the House of Bran- 
 denburg, would not only have secured her 
 own future independence, but might have 
 recovered for her whatever has been se- 
 vered from her empire, in all the disastrous 
 wars which she has washed in the course of 
 the last fifty years. Reduced and humbled 
 as Prussia was, and suing on all sides for 
 
 B
 
 10 
 
 aid, Austria might have negotiated on her 
 own terms. She might, by the expulsion 
 of Buonaparte from the old German em- 
 pire, have restored, in its full splendour, 
 the Germanic constitution, and for ever 
 have consolidated her ascendancy and her 
 fame. 
 
 But whilst Austria merits such bitter 
 censure, I cannot help, at the same time, 
 severely condemning the inexplicable re- 
 missness of our own Government. After 
 what had happened in the course of the 
 last two years, our reliance on the cordial 
 co-operation of Austria could not have 
 been very strong. That generous spirit 
 which is kindled and cherished by the 
 love of country, the thirst of glory, and 
 the pride of independence, had, almost 
 throughout the continent, completely eva- 
 porated. That holy fervour, which, in 
 happier times, had impelled men cheerfully 
 to endure every calamity rather than sub- 
 mit to the reproach of cowardice, had lost 
 its inspiring influence ; and they were 
 either sunk in an indolence which rendered 
 exertion the most intolerable of all evils,
 
 11 
 
 or overwhelmed by a stupor which to- 
 tally eclipsed both the mental and cor- 
 poreal sight. Man was no longer what he 
 had been, a being endowed with a quick 
 apprehension of his interests, attached to 
 his rights, resentful of injury, devoted to 
 the government under which he lived, and 
 to the community of which he was a mem- 
 ber, and prepared to encounter every 
 peril, and yield to every sacrifice, for the 
 glory of his country, the defence of his 
 property, or the protection of his family. 
 All these fine sentiments were extinguish- 
 ed, and he had become a sort of brute 
 inanimate lump of matter, alike incapable 
 of receiving or communicating any useful 
 or honourable impression. But even if 
 human nature had not degenerated into 
 this morbid state of degradation, and there 
 had been some fair reason to hope that 
 Austria would pursue that conduct which 
 her interests so plainly prescribed, yet 
 surely we ourselves were sufficiently con- 
 cerned in the issue of the contest, to be 
 induced to employ our own powerful 
 means, and not to leave to accident what 
 to a certainty we could secure.
 
 12 
 
 For several years past, but more parti- 
 cularly since Buonaparte's unqualified 
 usurpation, we have conducted the war on 
 principles most palpably erroneous ; and 
 that force which, concentrated, might have 
 be^n efficiently employed, has been either 
 frittered away in the inanity of colonial 
 expeditions, or has been cooped up in 
 places, which, from their position, have 
 deprived it of all possibility of active ope* 
 ration. But if this obvious mistake has 
 been long persisted in, at no period was 
 it pushed to such an extent, nor has it 
 been productive of such mischievous con- 
 sequences, as during the rule of the late 
 administration. If ever there was a mo- 
 ment pregnant with important events ; if 
 ever there was a crisis on which the destiny 
 of empires balanced, it occurred whilst 
 they were entrusted with the direction of 
 public affairs. Instead, however, of giving 
 proofs of that enlightened judgment which 
 Can alone wisely plan, or vigorously exe- 
 cute, the whole of their time, which was 
 not engaged in occupations that personally 
 concerned them, was consumed in arrange- 
 ments of domestic policy, which, without
 
 13 
 
 inconvenience, might have been deferred, 
 or in preparing and dispatching armaments 
 which it would have been infinitely more 
 judicious to have altogether omitted. Of 
 what consequence was it, whether we pos- 
 sessed a fortress or a few miles -of domain on 
 the coast of South America ; or whether we 
 occupied Egypt with five thousand men; 
 or whether we bombarded Constantinople 
 with seven sail of the line ? Our grand 
 enemy was Buonaparte : our grand object 
 was to rescue the continent from the grasp 
 of his domination. Had we kept our 
 troops collected in some convenient posi- 
 tion at home, with an ample provision of 
 transports ready to receive them at the 
 moment their services were wanted, so as 
 to have enabled us, a few weeks before or 
 even after the battle of Eylau, to land forty 
 or fifty thousand men in the rear of the 
 allied armies, is there a military character in 
 Europe, who will estimate at so low a rate 
 the value of such a detachment of British 
 soldiers, as to maintain that Buonaparte 
 would not have been exposed to the risk 
 of total destruction? This body of men oc- 
 cupying the left wing of the French army,
 
 and being more than its match, would have 
 enabled General Bennigsen, bv contracting 
 
 / o 
 
 his line, to strengthen his centre and his 
 left wing, and, by such a movement, to 
 out-flank the centre and right-wing of his 
 antagonist. Thus assisted, Dantzick would 
 have been speedily relieved ; and Buona- 
 parte, once overpowered in the field, ha- 
 rassed and pressed on every side, would, 
 in his retreat, have been assailed by such 
 a host of additional foes, that had he ef- 
 fected his personal safety, which would 
 have been very doubtful, he would have 
 been so reduced in strength, and so ble- 
 
 o ' 
 
 jnished in reputation, that he never again 
 could have become a formidable foe. Nor 
 would the destruction of his army, had it 
 been* accomplished, have been the greatest 
 benefit which Europe would have derived 
 from such an event. What would have 
 been of far greater consequence, that magic 
 spell, which has, for so great a length of 
 time, obscured and enchained all the fa- 
 culties of human action, would have been 
 at once dissolved, and human affairs, after 
 such tedious and distant deviations from 
 their regular course, would have reverted 
 
 '
 
 15 
 
 to their former channels. All the false 
 splendour which encircles Buonaparte's 
 character would have instantly vanished, 
 and he would have appeared in his native 
 baseness, as abject in adversity, as in pros- 
 perity he has been haughty, cruel, and 
 unjust. The satellites who have revolved 
 with him in his rapid and destructive 
 orbit, would with their primary planet 
 have disappeared, and those who are now 
 occupying thrones and principalities would 
 have returned to the humble avocations, 
 for which they are by birth and education 
 and manners best fitted. 
 
 Had Buonaparte used his fortune with 
 any degree of moderation, he might have 
 been entitled, if not to the applause^ at 
 least to the gratitude of mankind. Had 
 he made an honest use of it, and been as 
 sedulous to restore, as he has been zealous 
 to destroy, his memory would have been 
 embalmed in the everlasting gratitude and 
 veneration of his species. His friends ex- 
 claim, But why abuse him ? Why call him 
 by degrading names ? Why not allow him 
 at least that merit which no one in justice
 
 16 
 
 can deny him ? Nor am I at all inclined 
 to refuse him what I conceive to be his 
 due. I may differ with others about the 
 measure, which, in many respects, must 
 ever remain matter of judgment and opi- 
 nion. Nor do I pretend to scrutinize into 
 the hidden recesses of the human heart. 
 I know that we cannot analize it like a 
 mineral production ; that we cannot assay 
 it as we can a piece of gold ; that we 
 cannot accurately separate the dross from 
 the finer particles, or estimate its value in 
 carats and grains. Still there are visible 
 
 o 
 
 moral effects by which its intrinsic worth 
 may be calculated, and by these I jud^e. 
 Am I then to be told that I injure the 
 cause of virtue, when I designate vice by 
 those epithets which best express its de- 
 formity ? Am I to be told that I injure 
 the cause of my country, by making my 
 countrymen familiar with the character of 
 its bitterest foe, and by holding up to their 
 just abhorrence and indignation, a being 
 who has added more to the sum of human 
 affliction, than any other scourge that ever 
 infested the earth ? Is it only low wicked- 
 ness, regulated by vulgar contrivances, and
 
 limited to the casual destruction of a few 
 obscure individuals, that is to b : 3 exposed 
 to public execration ; and is the mighty 
 destroyer of nations and laws, of commerce 
 and arts, of justice and religion, to retain 
 his usurpation, and to pursue his profli- 
 gate career, impervious to reproach t I may- 
 lament, I may dread, but am I bound to re- 
 spect, that power which has been founded 
 in violence and fraud, and which can only 
 be preserved by the terrors and the havoc 
 of military despotism ? Am I bound to 
 esteem, or venerate, or love, the members 
 of an obscure and rapacious family merely 
 because they have been sharers in the spoils 
 of one great delinquent, who has invested 
 them with the rights and property of others, 
 and who, instead of denominating them by 
 their legal names, and confining them to 
 their proper stations, has decorated them 
 with the noblest titles, and raised them to 
 the most elevated offices ? Am I bound to 
 respect a court, where the sovereign is a 
 usurper of mean extraction and profligate 
 morals, and who is surrounded by courtiers 
 as vulgar and as infamous as himself ; where 
 honour and virtue are equally scandalized, 
 
 c
 
 18 
 
 and where a system of morals is exhibited, 
 
 from which all decency or elegance or refine- 
 
 ' ~ 
 
 inent is totally excluded ; where there is 
 nothing for honesty to approve, or for 
 gentility to imitate ; where the women have 
 formerly followed the professions of milli- 
 ners, players, opera-dancers, bawds and 
 strumpets ; and where the men have 
 figured away in the equally respectable 
 characters of shopmen, fiddlers, hair-dress- 
 ers, low clerks, gamesters, and common 
 swindlers ? Am I to respect such things, 
 because they have shouldered their supe- 
 riors from their places, and, tricking 
 themselves out in the frippery which many 
 of them once sold, they impudently ape 
 the manners of the antient and dignified 
 classes of society ? No ! As long as I re- 
 tain the birth-right of a Briton, and when 
 that is gone I care little what else fol- 
 lows, never will I so scandalously prosti- 
 tute my pen, or pervert and confound the 
 terms of language. In this country we 
 have still a free press, and wretched in- 
 deed would be the lot of mankind, if the 
 arm of power could universally stifle the 
 voice of truth, and if vice could always
 
 19 
 
 extort from subdued humanity the pane- 
 gyric to which virtue alone has a claim. 
 I judge Buonaparte by the fairest of arl 
 criteria, the general tenor of his acts : I 
 appreciate his merit by the inherent qua- 
 lities which he displays : and as long as I 
 am blessed with the faculty of speech, 
 thinking as I do, that he is deserving of 
 the bitterest execrations, I will never asso- 
 ciate any thing honourable, or virtuous, or 
 truly great, with his name. 
 
 It is a dreadful visitation on the corrup- 
 tions of mankind, that a being so endowed, 
 with passions and propensities which are 
 everlastingly propelling him to the com- 
 mission of acts destructive of all the most 
 valuable blessings of life, should be in pos- 
 session of a measure and : ascription of 
 power, that enables him to carry his bane- 
 ful resolves into such extensive execution. 
 And the consideration of this power is ren- 
 dered doubly mortifying and afflicting, 
 when we reflect how easily and how effec- 
 tually it might, at one period, have been 
 resisted.
 
 20 
 
 At the close of the late negotiations with 
 France, which were conducted with so 
 much affected courtesy and moderation, 
 but with so little real skill, and which 
 were even protracted long after the result 
 was obvious to the dullest capacity, there 
 was yet time to repair the mischief which 
 had been so studiously disregarded, or so 
 culpably sought. When Buonaparte quitted 
 Pans to take the command of his armies 
 against Prussia, secret intelligence, in 
 which we have ever been so miserably de- 
 ficient, was no longer of use. The deter- 
 mination which he had long privily made, 
 was now publicly proclaimed ; and it surely 
 required no great depth of penetration to 
 discover the progression of his plans. Was 
 not this then the moment to combine our 
 preparations, to organize our schemes, to 
 collect our resources, and to be ready, 
 with a powerful and commanding force, 
 effectually to assist those, who, by be- 
 coming his enemies, were sure to become 
 our allies ? The oi.iy foe we had to dread 
 was Buonaparte. Against him our whole 
 strength ought consequently to have been 
 directed. It we overcame him, every col-
 
 21 
 
 lateral object was gained : if he prevailed, 
 any advantages that we might gain in other 
 quarters, could be of little avail. To what 
 end then, on what principles of sound 
 judgment or prudent policy, could we so 
 inconsiderately engage in distant enter- 
 prizes from which, if we succeeded, we 
 conld derive no benefit equivalent to the 
 expence, and which moreover, by seriously 
 diminishing our strength at home, disabled 
 u* from effecting the attainment of all our 
 hopes and speculations, which was the 
 destruction of Buonaparte's continental 
 authority? The fate of our expeditions 
 to Egypt and Constantinople 1 KM been 
 such as, from the preparations, was to be 
 expected. By the former, many brave n>eii 
 have been uselessly sacrificed in occupvLig 
 a district, which they, eventually, will be 
 compelled to abandon : by the latter, ;:he 
 commercial world has been exposed to the 
 loss of a lucrative branch of trade, and the 
 country has been involved in a war with an 
 old and faithful ally. Our expedition to 
 South America, which was on a greater 
 scale, has been pregnant witii proportion- 
 ably greater follv, and lias had a nn;por- 
 
 / G V ' i i
 
 22 
 
 tionably disastrous termination. Inde- 
 pendently of the disgrace of failure, it has 
 been attended with very extensive incon- 
 venience and loss. The bravery of our 
 soldiers was never more conspicuous, and, 
 on that account, their slaughter is doubly 
 to be deplored. Yet however creditable 
 this expedition may have been to our na- 
 tional courage, it has certainly, in the esti- 
 mation of mankind, plucked many a leaf 
 from the wreath of our military skill. But 
 it partook, in its origin, of those palpable 
 defects with which every scheme concerted 
 by the late administration so surprisingly 
 abounded, and nothing but what has hap- 
 pened could have been calculated on by 
 any well-informed and reflecting mind. 
 
 A free trade with the extensive conti- 
 nent of South America, was certainly an 
 object of considerable political utility ; and 
 if, instead of aiming at conquest for our- 
 selves, we had assisted m the emancipa- 
 tion of the oppressed inhabitants of those 
 fertile regions from the Spanish yoke, the 
 force required for the purpose would have 
 been trifling, and the object would have
 
 23 
 
 been permanently secured. But engaging 
 in this expedition, in the view of extending 
 our empire, the motive became a selfish 
 one, and a determined resistance, on the 
 part of the Spaniards, was instantly creat- 
 ed. The affair presented itself to their 
 optics in its natural point of vie\r, and 
 they only perceived in our success a change 
 of masters, who, in addition to that rigor- 
 ous exercise of empire which conquest im- 
 plies, were surveyed with augmented jea- 
 lousy and dread on the score of religious 
 
 */ v? 
 
 prejudices. Heretics would have been 
 gladly received as deliverers ; but as in- 
 vaders, they were indignantly abhorred ; 
 and those advantages which, by a generous 
 policy, we might have obtained, by our 
 foolish ambition we have forfeited. 
 
 A blunder, still more ruinous in its 
 consequences, was committed by the as- 
 semblage of a numerous army in Sicily, 
 of whose services, from its position, we 
 were totally deprived. That kind of in- 
 fatuation which could have induced the 
 late ministry, to immnre in such a corner 
 *o powerful a force, it is impossible to ac-
 
 24 
 
 count for. A measure, so replete with 
 absurdity, betrays a degree of obstinacy 
 or of ig n , >rance, which in statesmen is al- 
 together inexcusable, and has been the 
 cause of disasters to this country, most 
 mournful in their nature, and in their con- 
 sequences irreparable. The moment is 
 now passed at which Buonaparte might 
 have been successfully attacked, nay at 
 
 / / 
 
 winch he might, to a iiK/ral certainty, 
 have been vanquished, nor is it likely 
 speedily to recur. Their total misap- 
 plication of the resources of the empire, 
 has, therefore, been accompanied with no 
 trifling or ordinary mischief. It has di- 
 verged in every i.'iroctioii : it has been felt 
 m every combination: it has injured the 
 essential interests oi he civilized globe : 
 and it has inflicted a v/ound on the glory 
 and prosperity of Great Britain, which all 
 the skill of science or art may be incom- 
 petent to heal. 
 
 Having thus failed through the incapa- 
 city and mismanagement of our late leaders, 
 both in policy and duty, our chief busi- 
 ness now is to consider on the means left
 
 25 
 
 to extricate ourselves (if it be still feasible) 
 from those augmented difficulties and dan- 
 gers in which we have been involved. 
 
 Oix all occasions of moment, success 
 greatly depends on decisive and vigorous 
 conduct. Under particular circumstances, 
 celerity of action frequently accomplishes 
 more than wisdom of deliberation. Promp- 
 titude of attack" displays such an undoubt- 
 ed proof of energy of character, that it 
 creates for itself advantages which, whilst 
 they surmount difficulty, diminish danger. 
 What the French have gained in the field, 
 has been chiefly from the quickness of their 
 movements. In every enterprize, they 
 have been beforehand with their oppo- 
 nents. Even the desperation with which 
 they have embarked, has often been the 
 instrument of triumph. Sunk in indo- 
 lence, indifferent to consequences, terrified 
 by imaginary fears, no firmness nor con-' 
 stancy, nor activity of spirit, has been any 
 where manifested, capable of repelling their 
 bold assaults ; and the mere audaciousness 
 of their demands has, in many instances, 
 extorted compliance. Not that I am wis'h- 
 
 D
 
 26 
 
 ful of recommending the conduct of France 
 as a pattern altogether fit for the adoption 
 of our government. But such is the present 
 melancholy aspect of affairs, that, to a cer- 
 tain extent, it must be so contemplated, and 
 indeed is the only apparent mode within our 
 reach, by which our safety can be secured. 
 
 Much as I feel inclined to venerate the 
 ancient public law of Europe ; that law 
 which, for a long series of ages, by pre- 
 serving a political balance, upheld the in- 
 dependence^ of the various states into 
 which it was divided, and, with their pre- 
 servation, contributed to the advancement 
 of every elegant refinement, or useful oc- 
 cupation ; ardently as I wish that that law, 
 and the innumerable benefits which it con- 
 ferred, were still in force ; yet when I per- 
 ceive one man, whose power or influence, 
 this flourishing and happy land excepted, 
 extends to every circle of civilized life, and 
 almost to every privilege of animated na- 
 ture ; when I perceive this man, thus gift- 
 ed, completely breaking up the old system, 
 by which nations, in their conduct towards 
 each other, have been hitherto regulated ;
 
 27 
 
 -Tvo &' " " V" ' tl'i ' f " 4 'r(^*r~V '.f** "** 
 
 when I observe him totally disregarding 
 the faith of treaties, 'the authority of local 
 habits, and the enthusiasm of national pre- 
 judices ; setting every ordinance, both hu- 
 man and divine, completely at defiance ; 
 and promulgating decrees which are uni- 
 versally to operate, according to the ca- 
 pricious inclinations of his base and irrit- 
 able passions ; when things are carried to 
 this extreme pitch, we are compelled, in 
 bur own defence, to consider how we can 
 best avert the mischief which he has in- 
 flicted on others, and which he is medi- 
 tating to extend to us. If we cannot pre- 
 serve ourselves by adhering to those pre- 
 scriptive rules which, from being deserted 
 by others, no longer protect us, we surely 
 are released from all obligation to obey 
 them ; and it depends entirely on our dis- 
 cretion to adopt that new mode which new 
 circumstances require. If others suffer 
 from this change in our conduct, we are 
 not to blame that is their misfortune, not 
 our crime; and the whole mischief is to be 
 imputed to him who forces us into this un- 
 avoidable state.
 
 28 
 
 In conformity to this ^reasoning, we are 
 not only justifiable in having recourse to 
 those regulations which are best qualified 
 to defeat and confine his; k but we are 
 guilty of an evident dereliction of a most 
 sacred duty, by postponing the determina- 
 tion so to act. Every society is indispen- 
 sably bound to watch over its perpetuation. 
 When that leading object of its solicitude 
 can be effected by the maintenance of mild 
 laws, and the observance of ancient usages, 
 a departure from them is a wicked, and 
 may become a dangerous experiment. But 
 when, by an adherence to them, its exist- 
 ence, from the previous desertion of others, 
 is endangered, it is not only weak but cri- 
 minal, to persevere in obedience. Self- 
 preservation supersedes every other obli- 
 gation, and to the safety of the common- 
 wealth inferior considerations must yield. 
 
 Buonaparte having therefore, in every 
 particular, totally annulled the public law 
 of Europe, and, in his principles and his 
 acts, far outstripped every occasional ex- 
 cess, which has ever been committed by 
 those in whose hands the power of empire
 
 29 
 
 has before resided, we must rescn$ to 
 the solitary alternative which his injus- 
 tice has left us, and endeavour to oppose 
 the profligacy and outrages of his designs 
 by the sternness of retaliation. Thus, 
 he having declared this country in a state 
 of blockade, and, by the most nefarious 
 edicts, compelled every port, over which 
 his authority extends, to be shut against 
 our manufactures, we should instantly re- 
 solve to cut off his means of supply, as 
 well as those of his dependents and friends, 
 by excluding all possibility of commercial 
 dealings from their havens. We should 
 convert our navy to the same use which 
 he makes of his army ; and, by putting a 
 complete hinderance to neutral interven- 
 tion, convince him that our power could 
 be more detrimentally employed than his. 
 Affairs have at length reached that aggra- 
 vating and outrageous point of enmity, 
 that it is worse than folly to be any longer 
 restrained in our proceedings by the deli- 
 cacy of sentiment, or the forms of cere- 
 mony. Buonaparte has in the plainest 
 terms declared, and he has acted up to the 
 declaration, that every nation which he
 
 io 'Great Britain, and shall, in concert 
 with him,' contribute its aid to augment 
 our 'embarrassments, and accelerate our p6- 
 Jitical extinction. This being the case, we. 
 should be guided in our actions towards him 
 according to the conduct which he observes 
 towards us ; and as long as he perseveres in 
 the enforcement of his pernicious doctrines, 
 we should retaliate by similar acts, till we 
 have impressed him with proper notions 
 of the folly of the experiment on his part. 
 
 Whilst we continue to persevere in our 
 present system 6? meekness and modera^ 
 tion, by confining ourselves to the obsolete' 
 public law of Europe, we evidently disarm 
 ourselves of half our power ; and Buona- 
 parte, who is restrained by no such squea- 
 mish disposition, derives signal and innu- 
 merable advantages from the severity of 
 his commercial regulations. But should we 
 interpose with our preponderating means, 
 and retaliate on him and his friends by the 
 same rigorous inhibitions, he would spee- 
 dily discover that the chief suffering re-
 
 31 
 
 eoiled on himself. Such is the singular 
 and afflicting position of Europe at this 
 moment, that, strictly speaking, there are 
 but two independent states. From the 
 continent which he has subjugated, Buo- 
 naparte has banished all neutrality. The 
 only neutrality remaining among the na- 
 tions of the globe is a maritime one, whicj* 
 of course exists by sufferance from .us. 
 From this sufferance France dejives all the 
 benefit, and we incur all the mischief. On 
 what principles of policy or justice we are 
 bound to tolerate such an unequal state of 
 things, it is needless to attempt to explain. 
 
 >,;r 
 
 The distresses and inconveniences, to 
 which our commerce is subjected, in con- 
 sequence of our tame acquiescence in Buo- 
 naparte's tyrannic ordinances, are suffi- 
 ciently evident. They are every day ac- 
 cumulating in number and weight, and, 
 
 o o 
 
 unless speedily redressed, may be produc- 
 tive of the most ruinous effects. The 
 exportation to the continent being nearly 
 at an end, our trade, in all its branches, has 
 sustained an alarming shock. It is in vain 
 t endeavour to conceal the consequences
 
 32 
 
 of Buonaparte's prohibitory laws. He may 
 Suffer from them himself, but with that we 
 have nothing to do : we suffer with him, 
 and to an infinitely greater extent. Our 
 oftfces of customs and excise, which used 
 to display such busy scenes, indicative 
 both of our industry and our wealth, are 
 now deserted places, where nobody is in 
 attendance but the clerks, who, for want 
 of better employment, are renewing the 
 sports and pastimes of their boyish days. 
 The docks and wharfs, which were formerly 
 crowded with ships loading and unloading 
 their valuable cargoes, and the streets on 
 the water-side, which were perpetually 
 thronged with carts conveying the richest 
 commodities from one repository to an- 
 other, now exhibit a silent and lifeless 
 scene. These are serious evils, and, un- 
 less soon remedied, must be the cause of 
 a defalcation in the revenue which will not 
 be easily repaired. West and East India 
 produce, those two leading branches of our 
 commerce, have also, for want of a foreign 
 market, become nearly a dead stock. Be- 
 yond our domestic consumption they are 
 totally unsaleable, and, from the immense
 
 33. 
 
 stores on hantl, are, so; lowered in price; 
 that .they yield scarcely sufficient to clear 
 the duties, and the expences\of freight, 
 commission, and other charges to which 
 they are Jiable. The planter and the mer*- 
 chant must consequently be deprived; -not- 
 only of alLprofit; foiit of the means of de-> 
 fraying those disbursements which they 
 must unavoidably incur ; and as no people 
 can be induced to labour- long without re- 
 ward, unless something be done to relieve 
 them from this insupportable pressure, 
 their occupations will be discontinued, and 
 the revenue, with other innumerable ad- 
 vantages derived from the intricacy and 
 variety of their extensive concerns, will be 
 withdrawn from the fund of our national 
 resources. 
 
 From the gradual progress of society, 
 the productions of the Eastern and West- 
 ern hemispheres have become articles of 
 general consumption, and the inhabitants 
 of the European countries have been so fa- 
 miliarised with their use, that they are as 
 indispensable to their comforts -and their 
 wants as those of indigenous- gr a wthu Un-
 
 34 
 
 less- then, tliere b^ a physical impossibility 
 of, -procuring them, they will never submit 
 t0fl$ift deprivation. But it is the spirit 
 of commerce, to rind out the cheapest me- 
 tl*drr>i> is tacking the different markets with 
 these i articles of general consumption and 
 demand. As long, therefore, ; as neutral 
 vesddsi ace permitted to cover the seas, 
 and to maintain nearly a direct correspond- 
 ence between the European statek;and the 
 distant; regions of the globe, it stands to Rea- 
 son,; that they will be resorted to <foy those 
 belligerents, who have no naval force for 
 the protection of their own shipping, as 
 the medium through which they transact 
 their foreign concerns. When the usual 
 
 O 
 
 mode is interrupted, the next best is re- 
 sorted to, and so on. Those whose -life is 
 spent in calculation, easily detect an error, 
 and rectify it by a fresh expedient. .Few 
 obstacles can paralyse their activity, or 
 outwit their acuteness. 
 
 According to these principles, the fo- 
 reign merchant, who is a member of a bel- 
 ligerent .state, as long as he can ascertain 
 thatiieutral vessels will furnish him with
 
 35 
 
 his wants at the cheapest rate, ,is not likely 
 to procure them through any other chan- 
 nel. Such, indeed, are the advantages and 
 
 J; .; VV 
 
 facilities, with which our impolitic lenity 
 has provided him, that the colonial pro- 
 duce of France, Holland, and Spain, can 
 be transported from their respective settle- 
 ments in the Atlantic to the mother-coun- 
 
 . i "' .' f ' J ir" [ 
 
 tries, and there delivered into the factor's 
 hands, on much lower terms than we, with 
 our decisive and acknowledged naval supe- 
 riority over the combined fleets of the 
 world, can obtain similar articles from our 
 own islands ; our convoy duty, with other 
 heavy imposts generated by a state of war, 
 together with freight, insurance, and com- 
 mission, amounting to a much heavier per 
 tentage on the prime cost than that which 
 the neutral merchant and ship-owner jointly 
 require. We thus deprive ourselves of one 
 of the chief advantages of our maritime 
 ascendancy ; our officers and sailors lose the 
 fair reward of their valour and their toiis, 
 by having a most lucrative branch of prize- 
 money cut off; the British merchant is 
 oppressed, and excluded from all chance of 
 competition with foreigners ; and, above
 
 36 
 
 all, pur national enemy and rival is assisted 
 in his resources, and providecj with 'his 
 wants. 
 
 To these crying evils there is fortunate- 
 ly a remedy of which it is to be hoped that 
 the courage and vigour of the present Ad- 
 ministration will, without further loss of 
 time, avail themselves. It is folly to be 
 cavilling like polemics, or moralizing like 
 casuists, when we should be acting like 
 statesmen. It is absurd to continue de- 
 bating on the nieans of defence, when 
 the enemy is at our door. Buonaparte's 
 arms are of that description, that we must 
 not confide in a coat of mail for resistance ; 
 we must repel them at once, by returning 
 the blow. If a man attack me with a blun- 
 derbuss, I cannot defend myself with my 
 fist. His conduct suggests mine : his wea- 
 pons are only to be successfully encoun- 
 tered by similar ones to which lie obliges 
 me to have recourse. 
 
 On these grounds, if we wish to be just 
 towards ourselves, and eventually towards 
 pthers, we can no longer hesitate about the
 
 57 
 
 measures which it behoves us to pursue. 
 Tiiis is not the moment for tardy delibe- 
 ration, but for instant action. This is not 
 the moment to be compassionate towards 
 others, but to vindicate ourselves. In con- 
 junctures such as this, indulgence bespeaks 
 want of spirit, and relaxation of authority 
 insinuates incapacity to enforce it. In- 
 stead, then, of receding from antient 
 claims, and surrendering antient rights, we 
 must assert them with additional vigour, 
 and carry them in a manner at once indi- 
 cative of our intention, and demonstrative 
 of our means. When we have enforced 
 obedience, then is the opportunity to shew 
 charity, and to cultivate conciliation ; but 
 we must first enforce it, and any subsequent 
 alteration in our demeanour must be en- 
 tirely an act of grace. \Ve must prevent 
 others, who, whatever their inclinations 
 may be, if they be not deprived of the 
 means of offence, we ma}' rest assured, will 
 be compelled by our inexorable adversary 
 to employ them to our detriment,, 
 
 Statesmen, of late years, expecting to 
 gain by moderation what is only to be ac- 
 
 300978
 
 38 
 
 quired by coercion, have been governed, 
 in their intercourse with neutral states, by 
 very opposite principles. As long as mat- 
 ters were not pushed to extremity, there 
 was an apparent generosity in their plan, 
 and they might also, in some degree, be 
 justified on the score of policy. But as 
 times have advanced, and circumstances 
 have revealed themselves, their justifica- 
 tion has diminished, and what was laud- 
 able, or at least excusable, a few years 
 back, at this moment would betray tokens 
 of a very contrary description. I have 
 ever been of opinion, that when it is 
 once determined that any strong measure 
 in politics will be eventually necessary, it 
 is much the best way to carry it into im- 
 mediate execution ; for however harsh and 
 unseemly it may appear at the commence- 
 ment, it spares in the end much trouble, 
 much expcnce, and frequently much blood- 
 shed. No momentary calamity can equal 
 the multifarious and accumulated evils of 
 protracted warfare, and it is the undoubted 
 duty of those who govern, by a proper use 
 of the weapons which are confided to their 
 discretion, to avoid as much as possible
 
 39 
 
 the anxiety of procrastination, and '%y 
 wielding them with fortitude, activity; and 
 address, to convert them to their most Ap- 
 propriate application. 
 
 Much has been indisputably Iost l; t6i 
 interests, and, I tear, to the character of 
 this country, from a failure, on the- part 
 of our governors, in these points. The 
 late administration was, in this respect, .un- 
 accountably 'defective. I say unaccounfr- 1 
 ably ; because many of its members were 
 men of undoubted talents, and in every 
 point of view entitled to our esteem. But 
 when they first came into power, their time 
 was too much occupied in making provi- 
 sions for their friends ; and when these ar- 
 rangements were gone through, their whole 
 attention was engrossed by speculations on 
 domestic policy. External affairs were 
 sadly neglected and mismanaged*. Instead' 
 of vigorously aiding our allies, all applica- 
 tions from them were either coldly listened 
 to, or disdainfully rejected. Instead of en- 
 forcing among neutrals an acknowledgment 
 
 O C 1 O 
 
 of antient maxims, and an obedience to 
 old established rights ; maxims and rights
 
 xvhicli have been long universally assented 
 to ; which have been supported by the au- 
 thority of every eminent expounder of this 
 branch of the law of nations ; and which, 
 for centuries past, have been practically 
 acted upon by every maritime state ; they, 
 in innumerable instances, most pitifully con- 
 ceded. It could not have been from fear ; 
 that would be a ridiculous supposition ; for. 
 the paltry means of defence with which neu- 
 trals are provided, could never have awak-t 
 ened any such emotion : yet they shrunk 
 from the contest, with as much apparent 
 alarm as if our cause were, in every respect, 
 defenceless. All neutrals have, throughout 
 this war, been suffered to trench, more 
 qr less, on our maritime rights. Their en- 
 croachments have been, generally, progres- 
 sive ; but the Americans, in particular, 
 have been permitted to carry them to an 
 extent, which has amounted both to a 
 contempt of our power and a total disre- 
 gard of the honour of our flag. They have- 
 been allowed to range, without molesta- 
 tion, wherever their enterprise or their 
 avarice has invited them ; and, by the 
 most gross and shameless frauds, to coyer
 
 41 
 
 the property of our enemies, and to admi- 
 nister to their most imperious wants. Our 
 unexpected forbearance has begotten in 
 them a species of insolence, which it has 
 been long necessary to repress. They now 
 venture to talk to us in a tone, as if not 
 only the privilege of action, but the power 
 of chastisement, resided with them. They 
 have preferred pretensions, which till lately 
 were never heard of, and have urged them 
 with a pertinacity which they never would 
 have dared to manifest, had not our un- 
 accountable acquiescence in their gradual 
 attacks encouraged them to proceed. If 
 the right of search has not been formally 
 abandoned, it has been exercised within 
 such narrow limits, that its efficacy is de- 
 stroyed ; and the immunities which neu- 
 trals have at length assumed, amount to an 
 almost total liberation from restraint. 
 
 The vessels of states, styling themselves 
 neutral, are now suffered to trade with the 
 colonies of our enemies, with such slight 
 molestation; the right of search or detention 
 is so little insisted on, and so easily evaded 
 by the unequivocal frauds which are prac-
 
 tised, that it is become an act of useless 
 trouble, and had better be altogether re- 
 linquished. These vessels, which we know 
 are laden with what till recently was ever 
 regarded as contraband property, may now 
 navigate the seas without danger of con* 
 fiscation. Thus, although not actually at 
 war with us, they contrive to injure us, 
 according to their means, in a far more 
 serious way. They are the secret agents 
 who distribute wealth to our ostensible foes. 
 By keeping up a constant intercourse with 
 their colonies, and carrying on with them 
 an extensive and destructive commerce, 
 they materially assist them in cultivating 
 those resources which are among the chief 
 sinews of war. The modes which they 
 practise have been sufficiently exposed by 
 the forcible and ingenious author of " War 
 in Disguise ;" a work which has been too 
 generally read to render any particular ac- 
 count -of their proceedings necessary here. 
 I shall only therefore just cursorily observe, 
 that, arriving at the numerous colonial 
 ports of our declared enemies in ballast, 
 or, at most, with a cargo of lumber worth 
 
 o 
 
 y few hundred pounds, they return ladeu
 
 43 
 
 with the most valuable productions. False 
 bills of lading are easily prepared ; false 
 Oaths are readily made ; and thus fortified, 
 they boldly set sail for France, Spain, or 
 Holland, where they deliver the cargo, from 
 the planter to whom it in reality belongs, 
 to the merchant to whom it is in reality 
 consigned. They can, if they are desirous, 
 avoid even their present trifling risk ; for 
 it was matter of convention between the 
 late government and the American states, 
 that cargoes of the above description, on 
 being landed in an American port, and 
 paying a small duty, should be exonerated 
 from all detention by our cruizers, and 
 permitted to proceed without molestation 
 wherever they thought fit. In this way 
 has the commerce of our enemies been as- 
 sisted, and that of Great Britain injured. 
 
 It is, however, to be hoped and expected 
 that these abuses, which are so lamentably 
 detrimental to many of our vital interests. 
 
 / 
 
 will be no longer tolerated ; and that we 
 shall, at length, not only assert our ancient 
 and acknowledged rights, but that we shall 
 
 O ~ ' 
 
 insist on an obedience to such supplemental
 
 44 
 
 regulations as the altered state of affairs, 
 at this eventful crisis, so imperiously de- 
 mands. We have the power ; and although 
 it is our duty to use it as moderately as 
 circumstances may admit, it is also OUF 
 duty to use it with efficacy. 
 
 There is, evidently, but one method of 
 bringing these abuses to a speedy and posi- 
 tive conclusion ; which is, as long as Buo- 
 naparte chuses to persevere in his intolerant 
 system, at once to interdict all neutral 
 trade whatever. I would completely assert 
 the ascendancy of the British trident ; and, 
 as far as the intercourse with France and 
 her dependents or her allies was concerned, 
 I would not suffer a neutral bark to float 
 upon the seas. What France wanted, she 
 should not acquire, till a duty had been 
 levied on it in some British port ; and thus 
 would I compel her to contribute to the 
 prosperity of our commerce, and the sup- 
 port of our maritime strength. 
 
 As I before observed, there are, strictly 
 speaking, but two independent nations left ; 
 and those who are not our friends, must be
 
 45 
 
 it present, or must speedily become, our 
 enemies. Buonaparte has the complete 
 rule over the continent, which he exercises, 
 according to his own free-will, in the man- 
 
 o 
 
 ner which, in his judgment, will prove most 
 injurious to us. We have the complete rule 
 over the seas, which we, in return, should 
 exercise, according to our own free-will, 
 in the manner which, in our judgment, 
 will prove most injurious to him. This 
 is the only mode which he has left us of 
 correcting his audacity, or of disarming 
 his malevolence. Can we then hesitate 
 to adopt it? The public law of Europe 
 is for the present gone. On the part of 
 the continent, it has been dissolved by 
 the tyranny of its usurper : on our part, 
 it has been superseded, by the necessity to 
 which the operation of that tyranny has 
 reduced us. It is not to be expected, that 
 we should continue to acknowledge the 
 validity of those restrictive maxims, which 
 our adversary completely rejects ; and, 
 whilst he is ranging at large, entirely re- 
 leased from all confinement, that we, from 
 bigotted scruples of conscience, should 
 fetter ourselves by an implicit obedience 
 to their authority. His acts exonerate us,
 
 in the strictest moral sense, from all obli- 
 gation. If it is our duty to be kind to- 
 wards others, that duty can only so far 
 apply as it is consistent with our safety. 
 The strongest law of nature is self-preser- 
 vation, and to that law, on. general prin- 
 ciples, every other must bend. 
 
 The law of nations must, from its 
 very constitution, be purely conventional. 
 Over the actions of independent states, 
 there can be no sovereignty. There can 
 be no permanent tribunal, to which they 
 can appeal for redress : there can be no 
 judicature to adjust their disputes, or to 
 punish their transgressions. If, therefore, 
 in the civilized parts of the wrld, a code 
 of laws has gradually grown up, and has 
 been generally acknowledged, it has been 
 from a sense of its utility, and from a con- 
 viction of the convenience which has re- 
 sulted by abstaining from its infraction. It 
 was, no doubt, while it lasted, of infinite 
 benefit to mankind. It has frequently pre- 
 vented hostility : it has always mitigated 
 the havoc of war, and facilitated the return 
 of peace. By moderating the passions of 
 men, and setting up boundaries which were
 
 47 
 
 respected by common consent, and which 
 even an hostile state was rarely provoked 
 to disregard, it imparted to the efforts of 
 an antagonist a character of justice and cle- 
 mency, which divested him of the violence 
 of ferocious hatred, and assuaged the fierce 
 animosity of national contention. By 
 tempering the malignant spirit of enmity, 
 its fatal effects were diminished, and its 
 resentments more easily appeased. Even 
 amidst the most melancholy ravages with 
 which wars were occasionally attended, in- 
 dividuals of adverse communities regarded 
 
 o 
 
 each other with sentiments of humanity. 
 They fomented no feeling of rancorous re- 
 venge ; and the moment peace was restored, 
 the wounds which had been inflicted were 
 at once healed, and even the memory of 
 them was obliterated. 
 
 But an enemy has now started up, who 
 is evidently determined to force back so- 
 ciety to the barbarous doctrines of savage 
 and untutored life, and completely to ex- 
 punge from the institutes of public law 
 every maxim by which man, in his civilized 
 State, has been hitherto controuled. The
 
 48 
 
 ravages of this cruel spoiler are only to he- 
 resisted by the arms which he himself em- 
 ploys. And the sooner he is repelled, the 
 better for suffering humanity ; for not till 
 then can they hope to be restored to the 
 enjoyment of those privileges, or the pro- 
 tection of those laws, under which they 
 have been accustomed to live, and from 
 which their most valuable blessings have 
 been indisputably derived. 
 
 Thus, with whatever reluctance and 
 grief, we absolutely must, in our own de- 
 fence, and as the last resource left to bind 
 down our antagonist to some state of rea- 
 sonable subordination, suspend the opera* 
 tion of public law. We must impede the 
 irregularity of his incursions, by letting him 
 feel the extent of the penalty which he is 
 striving to inflict on vis, and thus compel 
 him to abandon the profligacy of his ca- 
 reer. What in him is the basest and most 
 wanton depravity, is reduced in us to no- 
 thing more than justifiable retaliation. It 
 is, in fact, the only mode by which we can 
 rescue ourselves and others from impending 
 evils of no light complexion. It is only
 
 49 
 
 by a prompt and bold interference, that 
 what has been lost can be retrieved. If we 
 continue to yield much longer, recovery 
 may be placed beyond the horizon of 
 hope. When we have driven him back 
 within the prescriptive confines of justice, 
 we, who only overleaped them in his pur- 
 suit, shall voluntarily return, satisfied with 
 the proud distinction of having restored 
 to the practice of Christian nations the 
 doctrines of civilized and social exist- 
 once. 
 
 It is very evident that if we vigorously 
 enforce that extended right of search, which 
 is consonant to our political welfare, and 
 put a complete stop to ail neutral inter- 
 course with France and her allies, by ab- 
 solutely prohibiting vessels, navigating un- 
 der a neutral flag, from conveying thither 
 their colonial produce, we shall cut off the 
 only channel through which they are ac- 
 customed to receive every foreign com- 
 modity. In that case the underhand com- 
 merce, from which they at present derive 
 innumerable benefits, will be at once anni- 
 hilated, and Great Britain, becoming the 
 
 G
 
 50 
 
 only emporium, whatever France requires 
 from the stock of foreign lands, to feed her 
 wants, or to administer to her luxuries, 
 she must apply for to us. We should then 
 be totally independent of others, and most 
 of the advantages which we enjoyed would 
 be exclusively our own. We could then, 
 without hazard, fix an arbitrary price on 
 every article of exportation, and in propor- 
 tion as France opposed obstacles, would the 
 expence of procuring her necessities be in- 
 creased. She being the chief sufferer would 
 soon find it her interest to repeal her non- 
 importation laws, and diminish her re- 
 straining duties. Instead of endeavouring 
 any longer to thwart our trade, she would 
 court its conveniences, and the different 
 markets of Europe would again become 
 eager competitors for a commercial con- 
 nexion with this country. 
 
 With all his power, what, in fact, can 
 Buonaparte do to interrupt the pursuits 
 of trade compared with us ? lie can sub- 
 ject it to inconveniences ; but we can at 
 once destroy it, Niuliier his vigilance, 
 nor his authority, nur his malevolence,
 
 51 
 
 can extend beyond a partial prohibition ; 
 but we can completely impede its opera- 
 tion. Whilst he has his wants provided 
 through a neutral medium, he can no 
 doubt., with impunity, exclude our ma- 
 nufactures and produce from his ports ; 
 but we can, whenever we chuse, cut off 
 this medium, and shut his ports against 
 every supply. He can enforce his regu- 
 lations on shore ; but our jurisdiction is 
 more extensive. We can scour the seas in 
 every latitude, and deprive France of the 
 possession of every transmarine commo- 
 dity. We can banish her from the east, 
 and the west, from the north, and the 
 south, and, unless by our permission, she 
 cannot obtain an article of the produce of 
 nature but what her own soil affords. 
 Other nations would undoubtedly suffer 
 with her, but she would be the cause of 
 their sufferings as well as of her own. By 
 such considerations, therefore, we ought 
 not to be restrained. I artial evils are 
 often inseparable from great positive bene- 
 fits, and, in times of difficulty and danger, 
 we must not reject an evident advantage 
 merely because it is attended with col la-
 
 52 
 
 teral inconveniences. The system, in 
 our hands, would moreover be enforced, 
 whilst it lasted, with feelings of charity 
 and conciliation, nor should we persevere 
 in it beyond the term of its palpable ne- 
 cessity. 
 
 The well concerted expedition against 
 Zealand, which has had so brilliant a 
 termination, certainly augurs well. The 
 whole conduct and execution of this im- 
 portant aftair have been truly illustrative 
 of the virtues of the British character. 
 Throughout the operations both of our 
 army and our ileet, generosity accompa- 
 nied firmness, and courage was tempered by 
 humanity. Nothing was done but what was 
 
 *> 
 
 absolutely necessary for the attainment of 
 our object. Not a shot was fired till every 
 effort at negotiation had failed. Nor was 
 
 o 
 
 the triumph of victory sullied by any of 
 those excesses which are so frequently 
 committed by* an elated soldiery. T!u> 
 severest discipline was in all quarters main- 
 tained. Persons and property were equally 
 respected. Even the feelings of the inha- 
 bitants were spared, and the exultation of
 
 53 
 
 success gave way to the esteem which was 
 clue to their bravery, and the compassion 
 which was excited by their misfortunes. 
 What a contrast to the capture of a be- 
 sieged town by a French army ! The 
 seizure of the Danish marine is a masterly 
 stroke of political sagacity. Indeed, the 
 entire transaction redects infinite credit on 
 the present administration. Compared 
 with the pitiful or disastrous schemes of 
 their predecessors, it cannot fail to establish 
 their reputation on the broad basis of public 
 opinion. The preparations were made with 
 a celerity and a secrecy, such as, of late 
 years, have not very frequently character- 
 ised the measures of our cabinet, and what 
 was of still greater moment, the force dis- 
 patched was adequate to the accomplish- 
 ment of the object in view. It was a co- 
 herent and consistent plan, well digested 
 and organized throughout, and which has 
 been no less admirable in its developement 
 than in its conception. It has given proofs 
 of a decree of vigour worthy of the exhaust- 
 
 i- ' ^3 / 
 
 less resources with which this country is 
 blessed, and has evinced a determination 
 to depart from those creeping maxims, and
 
 54 
 
 to burst asunder those oppressive chains, 
 by which our best energies have for so lon<* 
 a time been shackled. It has also regene- 
 rated for us a character as politicians, which 
 the late administration had suffered to fall 
 into utter contempt ; and whilst the nations 
 of Europe were imagining that we were 
 crouching under the superiority of Buo- 
 naparte's genius, and were rendered inca- 
 pable of any important enterprise, it has 
 exposed the fallacy of their expectations, 
 and has taught them that we have still 
 sense left to contrive, courage to attempt, 
 and power to accomplish. 
 
 A great outcry has nevertheless been 
 raised by a particular set of partizans 
 against the immorality of these proceedings. 
 But it is natural, that those who would 
 destroy us by their inactivity, should loudly 
 carp at what is now the only policy left to 
 reinstate our affairs. It is in them a perfectly 
 consistent conduct. What their neglect or 
 mismanagement would lose, they regret to 
 see secured by the energy and skill of their 
 rivals. It is a fatal blow to their political 
 fame, and must remove to the vanishing
 
 55 
 
 point of perspective, all rational hope of a 
 return to power. We are thus asked a 
 whole string of questions, such as " what 
 right had we to invade a neutral state ; to 
 molest a friendly power ; to depart from 
 the law of nations :" with a multitude of 
 others equally significant and pertinent. 
 My answer to all these interrogatories, and 
 I mean it to apply to whatever else of a 
 correspondent nature we may think fit to 
 do, is this : That our interest, and by in- 
 terest I mean, in this instance, that defini- 
 tion of it, which amounts to necessity, re- 
 quired such a proceeding. Independently 
 of this, which however I do not purpose to 
 advance as having influenced the motive, 
 or induced the act, the Danes will ulti- 
 mately be gainers. It is however a satis- 
 factory coincidence in their favour. As 
 they must have fallen either to Britain or 
 to France, there can be question which 
 will prove the mildest aad most generous 
 master. France invades to destroy: we 
 invade to avert tiiat destruction. When 
 France conquers, she sternly places every 
 thing at the mercy 01 the sword : when we 
 conquer, the justice and benignity of our
 
 56 
 
 domestic laws equally shelter the persons 
 and the property of those, whom the for- 
 tune of war has placed at our disposal. 
 Wherever French power penetrates, all the 
 horrors of private pillage and public con- 
 fiscation, of insult and oppression of every 
 denomination, are dealt forth with unre- 
 lenting austerity : wherever British power 
 interposes, it faithfully upholds the sanc- 
 tity of religion, the authority of jurisdic- 
 tion, and preserves, with inviolable ho- 
 nour, every claim of private property and 
 of personal freedom. By our invasion of 
 Denmark, we have secured the prize which 
 the French chiefly coveted ; and, by thus 
 removing the principal motive for their 
 attack, have probably averted the frightful 
 outrages of their subjugation. By taking 
 possession of the Danish fleet, we have 
 prevented it from being delivered up to a 
 government already too strong, and which 
 would only have employed it as an addi- 
 tional instrument to tyrannise over man- 
 kind. In the hands of France, it would 
 have been forfeited for ever : in our hands, 
 it may possibly, at some future period, be 
 restored.
 
 57 
 
 It has been further demanded, how we 
 could be certain that France would have 
 molested the Danes ? But after what France 
 lias done, such an inquiry is almost too 
 childish to deserve a r, ply. After the 
 direful examples which, on every side, sur- 
 round us, are we then to wait till France 
 is in actual possession, before we begin tc* 
 suspect her intentions ? Has she approved 
 herself so scrupulous, so delicate in her 
 proceedings ; has she betrayed such a re- 
 gard for justice, and such a tenderness of 
 giving offence ; that we must be charged 
 with having committed against her an act 
 
 O O 
 
 of indefensible suspicion, when we imagine 
 that she may be prevailed on to swerve 
 from the path of political rectitude ? But 
 even if we were not allowed to guess at 
 her designs, has she not publicly declared 
 them ? Has she not told us, that she will 
 not suffer a European port to be open to 
 the reception of our commerce ? To carry 
 this threat into execution, has she not 
 annulled the jurisdiction and municipal 
 laws of all the free towns of Germany ; 
 lias she not barricaded every port in the 
 Mediterranean ; has she not entered into a 
 
 JH
 
 58 
 
 scheme with the emperor of Russia to shut 
 up the ports of the Baltic ; has she not obli- 
 ged the Turks to banish us from the ports of 
 the Archipelago ; has she not expelled the 
 Swedes from Pomerania ; has she not as- 
 sembled an army for the invasion of Hols- 
 tein, and concerted measures for closing the 
 passage of the Sound ; and has she not 
 published her intention of invading Portu- 
 gal, and of obliging the family of Braganza 
 to abdicate the throne, that her chief may 
 extend to that unfortunate and defenceless 
 country the curse of his sovereignty ? 
 When people ask what the Danes have done 
 to kindle Buonaparte's resentment, let 
 them also ask what the Portuguese have 
 done. They have done nothing: they have 
 even done less than the Danes ; for with an 
 equal impotency or desire to molest France, 
 or to resist her insult and oppression, they 
 have, more than once, purchased their 
 neutrality at an enormous expence. In 
 order to preserve, d ring Buonaparte's 
 pleasure, the fallacious appearance of in- 
 dependence, immense sums have been ex- 
 torted from them, and they have been 
 degraded to the rank of a tributary
 
 59 
 
 state. The allurement of Portugal is her 
 wealth ; her crime, keeping up with Great 
 Britain a commercial connexion. Buona- 
 parte, therefore, is stimulated to the ful- 
 filment of his denunciation by the three 
 most powerful motives which have hitherto 
 been the rule of his action : namely, his 
 ambition, his avarice, and his revenge. 
 Justice never enters into his contempla- 
 tion ; his doctrines are throughout Ma- 
 chiavelian. Artifice imposes on credulity, 
 stratagem supplants honour, and power 
 constitutes right. Whenever his vanity, 
 his cupidity, or his resentment is to be 
 gratified, it is equally idle to attempt to 
 awe him by the decrees of justice, or to 
 sooth him by the language of supplica- 
 tion. 
 
 The power of France has grown up on 
 the continent, chiefly, from the cowardice, 
 treachery, and stupidity of those states 
 which have been subdued ; but partly, 
 from the mismanagement and supineness 
 of this country. Such has been her unex- 
 ampled success, that all resistance, except 
 ours, is already crushed ; and she, has cer-
 
 60 
 
 tainly become sufficiently formidable, even 
 to this last barrier against universal domi- 
 nion. Danger is not to be avoided by 
 glancing at it side-ways. If we wish to 
 escape it, we must not disguise it by op- 
 tical deceptions : we must look it full in 
 the face, and minutely examine it in all its 
 properties and parts. And if we thus survey 
 it, we must confess it to be great. But if 
 our adversary has powerful means at his 
 disposal, and is actuated by a fixed deter- 
 mination to exert those, means in the way 
 most likely to prove fatal to us ; we have 
 the consolation to know; that we are also 
 blessed with powerful means, and with re- 
 sources which, if properly called forth and 
 applied, are not only completely adequate 
 to the maintenance of our independence, 
 but to impress on his mind a conviction. 
 th&Lwe are more than equal to him in, the 1 
 
 "*"^-%lT 
 
 contest. 'But to effect this, no timid policy. 
 no ordinary exertion, will be sufficient. 
 We must be strenuous in our resolutions, 
 energetic in our operations. Discarding 
 the tametiess of hesitation, we must boldly 
 step forth to action, erect in countenance^ 
 firm in our advances, and clad in the sto.ut-
 
 61 
 
 est armour of defence, the justice of our 
 cause. By making the country intimately 
 acquainted with its real situation, we must 
 infuse into its population that spirit which 
 is commensurate with the difficulty and 
 the magnitude of the occasion. By so 
 doing, by explaining every thing, and con- 
 cealing nothing, we shall familiarize them 
 with the contemplation of those great sa- 
 crifices to which they must be called upon 
 to submit, and which can alone secure a 
 triumphant issue to the arduous struggle 
 in which they are embarked. 
 
 "Whilst the present painful crisis lasts, 
 things should be so ordered and arranged, 
 that, whatever circumstances may ulti- 
 mately arise, we may be fully prepared to 
 meet them. Independently of our naval 
 superiority, and those numerous signal ad- 
 vantages which appertain to our Insular 
 situation, we should be defended by a mi- 
 litary force sufficient, without any confe- 
 derate aid, to combat the legions of our 
 enemy. And such a force might,' I con- 
 ceive, be raised, without any material 
 inconvenience to the civil pursuits of
 
 62 
 
 the country. The plans for this object, 
 which have been officially laid before 
 parliament, are obviously inadequate ; and 
 of ail those which have been submitted 
 to public consideration, that suggested 
 by Lord Selkirk is evidently the most 
 complete. With very trifling alterations, 
 which would best suggest themselves upon 
 experiment, I am convinced that it 
 might be carried into execution. It might 
 
 o O 
 
 occasion murmuring at first ; but as soon 
 as the nation was satisfied that their safety 
 depenxled upon it, that murmuring would 
 be changed into applause. Besides, if the 
 contrary were the case, no government 
 should be deterred from the pursuit of 
 what is ' right, by the dread of what is 
 unpopular. They should proceed, un- 
 moved by complaint ; and they should 
 reflect, that the time may come when, if 
 they shrink from their duty, they may have 
 more to fear from popular clamour and 
 resentment for having provided too little, 
 than for having provided too much. When 
 existence is at stake, it is better to err from 
 caution than from negligence. We then 
 mt least err on the right side ; and, in the
 
 63 
 
 mean time, the security which is afforded 
 amply compensates for the inconvenience 
 which is caused. It is impossible to dive 
 into the events of futurity. AH that hu- 
 man wisdom can do, is to conjecture by 
 reasoning from analogy. The best pru- 
 dence, at all events, is, by computing from 
 possible contingencies, to be fortified 
 against every reverse. The moment of 
 danger is not the moment of counsel, and 
 should we at any period be surprised by 
 the activity of a vindictive foe, however 
 advanced our preparations may be, we 
 shall have abundance left to occupy our 
 attention. We have now leisure to modify 
 fend arrange our plans, and by not post- 
 poning our exertions, whatever may occur, 
 we shall have nothing to dread. 
 
 Regarded as to means of defence, this 
 country is perhaps beyond every other on 
 earth calculated for resistance. It is in 
 possession of every advantage which can 
 enable it to assert, or which can tend to 
 confirm and perpetuate, its independence. 
 Surrounded by the sea ; furnished with in- 
 numerable strong positions ; abundant in
 
 64 
 
 i 
 population ; fruitful in soil ; inexhaustible 
 
 in wealth ; a free government ; and, above 
 all, a resolute, high-minded, and warlike 
 people ; a people generous as they are 
 brave ; impatient of domestic usurpation ; 
 and indignant at the thoughts of foreign 
 slavery ; equally signalized in arts and 
 arms ; devoted to their religion from the 
 conviction of reason; enamoured of their 
 Jaws, which have been acquired by their 
 blood ; indissolubly attached to their cus- 
 tomS; and averse to those of foreign lands ; 
 anxious to acquit themselves of those sacred 
 obligations, which belong to them as the 
 members of a great community ; inspired 
 by the example of recent achievements ; 
 and whose history unfolds to their imita- 
 tion a series of heroic exploits : with such 
 a people, a wise and paternal government 
 jean accomplish every thing. The mate- 
 rials are at hand, and if not found answer- 
 able to the occasion, the fault will lie in the 
 use to which they are put. It is my firm 
 and unalterable opinion, that, if this coun- 
 try should ever fall, the blame will not 
 belong to those who are ruled, but to those 
 
 o 
 
 who rule.
 
 65 
 
 When we consider what would be our 
 lot, should we be subdued by the present 
 government of France, there surely is 
 enough to awaken caution, and to excite 
 activity. When we recollect the threats 
 which our adversary has uttered against 
 us, and figure to ourselves how infinitely 
 those threats would be surpassed by his 
 acts, we surely can consider nothing as a 
 hardship which contributes to our safety. 
 No pen can describe, nor can imagination 
 well conceive, the misery of our fate, if we 
 were once at the disposal of the tyrant of 
 France. The sufferings of other countries, 
 which have basely received his yoke, have 
 been sufficient to harrow up the heart, and 
 to wring the very soul with anguish ; yet 
 mild have been their sufferings, to the hor- 
 
 O ' 
 
 rors of that destiny to which we should be 
 doomed to submit. Their calamities have 
 chiefly arisen from the temporary indul- 
 gence of base passions, from the licentious- 
 ness of victory, the avarice of plunder, or 
 the dissipation of pleasure. Having fa- 
 voured, rather than opposed Buonaparte's 
 success, they have been treated more with 
 a feeling 1 of contempt excited by weakness, 
 
 K
 
 66 
 
 than with a feeling of revenge provoked 
 by resistance. But we have acted a wor- 
 thier part. We have not only been the 
 opposer, but the rival of France. In feats 
 of prowess we have imitated her ; in every 
 thing else that is laudable we have surpass- 
 ed her. Our cause has been sanctified by 
 its justice, and has embraced every benefit 
 which dignifies or embellishes the blessings 
 of life : her's is founded in usurpation, 
 and has been maintained by every atrocity 
 of which human nature can be guilty. We 
 have aimed at the perpetuation of civil so- 
 ciety ; she has nearly completed its ruin. 
 Against the entire fulfilment of her designs, 
 we have been, and still continue to be, a 
 solitary obstacle. In proportion as that 
 obstacle has been effectual, has the ran- 
 cour of vengeance been kindled in her un- 
 relenting breast ; and, that obstacle re- 
 moved, she would rush upon us with all 
 the fury of which her diabolical nature is 
 capable. As our defence has been glorious, 
 so would our chastisement be severe. As 
 we have been worthy of her esteem, so 
 should we feel her resentment. It would 
 be the purport of our new master, to-
 
 67 
 
 tally to extinguish every noble or manly 
 feeling ; to train us to burdens and stripes; 
 to break us in to the endurance of his dis- 
 pensations, by subduing every humanized 
 sentiment of the soul. Our monarchy 
 would be subverted ; our royal family, our 
 bishops, our nobles, our judges, our most 
 distinguished naval and military officers, 
 our chief commoners, would be barba- 
 rously butchered ; our remaining gentry, 
 our yeomanry, our peasantry, would be 
 reduced to the most galling and abject ser- 
 vitude. Add to this, the profanation of 
 our altars ; the abolition of our laws ; the 
 destruction of our courts of justice; the 
 total ruin of our agriculture, our com- 
 merce,, our manufactures, and our arts. 
 We might weep over the recollection of 
 former happiness ; we might mourn over 
 the tomb of departed greatness ; but use- 
 less would be our tears, and unavailing our 
 regret ; they would only expose us to fresh 
 indignities, to the taunts and mockery of 
 our fell destroyers. No longer would the 
 house of an Englishman be his cattle, no 
 longer would it be a sanctuarv under the 
 
 */ 
 
 protection of the constitution. Neither
 
 68 
 
 this, nor any other privilege would con- 
 tinue to exist ; but every thing that we 
 have been taught to venerate or love, would 
 be indiscriminately delivered up to the 
 consuming rapacity of plunder, the gross 
 appetency of lust, and the exterminating 
 rage of tumultuous revenge. Every de- 
 scription of property would be wrested 
 from us ; not a shadow of personal free- 
 dom would remain; and, whilst our wo- 
 men were abandoned to the promiscuous 
 embraces of a brutal soldiery, the blood 
 of our parents and our children would 
 moisten the invader's sword. Every base 
 and baleful passion would be allowed an 
 unrestrained course, and the infernal agents 
 of the despot's will would be recompensed 
 in proportion as they diffused the havoc of 
 his vengeance. 
 
 It is to guard against such evils, it is 
 to shield us against such dire calamities, of 
 which this description is but a feeble de- 
 lineation, that the government and the 
 people of this hitherto free and happy land, 
 are called upon for exertion. Indepen- 
 dently of those considerations in which
 
 69 
 
 our own interests are more immediately 
 concerned, we have a glorious example to 
 hold forth to the world. We have to 
 convince other nations, how that misfor- 
 tunes might have been averted had they 
 sincerely struggled in the same cause, and, 
 through that conviction, to animate them, 
 at some future period, to attempt to re- 
 cover by courage what cowardice has lost. 
 We have further to consider, that this 
 
 land is now the last refuge of virtue, the 
 
 ~ 7 
 
 last asylum of liberty, the last sanctuary 
 of religion, the last barrier against the in- 
 roads of military despotism, and the utter 
 dissolution of political independence. We 
 have to consider, that if it perish, every 
 blessing and ornament of life will perish 
 with it, and that the wretched and degraded 
 state to which it will be reduced, will be 
 rendered still more intolerable by the re- 
 collection of former happiness. If, then, 
 there ever was any thing in human affairs 
 worthy of affection ; if ever there was any 
 thins; truly majestic and interesting in the 
 
 O V *J ~ 
 
 fate of humanity ; any situation worthy of 
 inspiring the holy fervour of enlightened 
 patriotism, the sacred resolution of
 
 70 
 
 mous devotion, it is that which this great 
 country at this tremendous crisis exhibits. 
 
 Nor must we flatter ourselves, that. we 
 are near the conclusion of our troubles. 
 We are possibly at the commencement of 
 far greater than any that we have yet ex- 
 perienced. This is a conjecture full of 
 awe, but not of a nature to dishearten us. 
 A brave and gallant people rise in spirit in 
 proportion to the trials which await them, 
 and always display qualities answerable to 
 the emergency which presents itself. Many 
 there are, I know, who are silly enough to 
 cherish hopes of a speedy peace : some 
 there are, who, from selfish views, are 
 wicked enough to wish to purchase that 
 event at any price. How indeed is it to 
 be brought about, except by the debase- 
 ment of our honour and the capitulation 
 of our rights ; by the acknowledgment of 
 Buonaparte's host of vagrant kings, and 
 the surrender of that high political ascen- 
 dancy which we have hitherto so proudly 
 maintained? Even with a submission to 
 these mortifications and disadvantages to 
 aid us in its accomplishment, could we
 
 71 
 
 hope to insure its duration ? It is absurd 
 to entertain such a notion. We should 
 only be the slaves of our baseness, or the 
 dupes of our credulity. We can never 
 live on terms of friendship with the pre- 
 sent government of France. The hatred 
 of her tyrant is too deadly, the causes of 
 that hatred are too deep-rooted, ever to 
 admit of repose to his malice, when we are 
 the subject of his meditation. We may 
 consent to a truce ; we may agree to a 
 treaty ; but we can never conclude a solid 
 and cordial peace. Never can we expect 
 the rancourous resentment with which he 
 surveys us to be immerged in oblivion, or 
 disarmed of its sting. He too well knows 
 that his security depends on our destruc- 
 tion. As long as we continue to hold out 
 the example of valour and freedom to Eu- 
 rope and to France, he is too well aware 
 that he can never be safe. Of such an 
 example he dreads the contagion. Whilst 
 we are prosperous and happy, we can never 
 tranquillize his fears by becoming the ob- 
 ject of his scorn. Our happiness makes 
 his crown totter on his brow, and under- 
 mines the perishable foundations of his
 
 72 
 
 throne. Our prosperity is a thorn which 
 is perpetually festering in his side : it is 
 a gangrene which Ulcerates his passions, 
 and corrodes his heart. As long, therefore, 
 as he lives, we must be prepared for war. 
 We must banish from our thoughts all sor- 
 did and reptile views, and assiduously cul- 
 tivate those masculine virtues which, by 
 rendering us conversant with danger., will 
 enable us to face it undismayed. We must 
 nourish our courage with the wholesome 
 aliment of endurance. We must foster the 
 cardinal virtue of patience. There is fre- 
 quently more intrepid fortitude displayed 
 in the period which precedes the attack, 
 than in the crisis which encounters it. 
 The former may be a momentary act of 
 desperation ; but the latter bespeaks that 
 true expansion and sublimity of soul, which 
 can contemplate peril under all its modifi- 
 cations with undaunted resolution. 
 
 Let us. then, whilst humiliating ourselves 
 before God, and devoutly craving his Al- 
 mighty protection, firmly resolve to per- 
 form our several parts, in a manner worthy 
 of the righteous cause which is committed
 
 73 
 
 to our defence, and which will be equally 
 calculated to sustain past celebrity and pre- 
 sent hope. Let all ranks emulate each other 
 in the conscientious discharge of these pious 
 obligations, and, suppressing the feelings 
 of domestic disunion, and the bitterness of 
 party animosity, unite, with one common 
 consent, in the most glorious of all human 
 occupations, the preservation of National 
 Independence. If, after such endeavours, 
 it should still be our destiny to tail, we 
 shall at least have reserved the best conso- 
 lation which adversity can afford, that of 
 having faithfully acquitted ourselves of our 
 duty. Instead of having cowered with the 
 dastardly humility of slaves, we shall have 
 contended with the generous courage of 
 freemen ; and, whilst our glorious resist- 
 ance will have diminished the value of the 
 conquest, it will rear a mausoleum to our 
 memory at which our posterity will have 
 no reason to blush. 
 
 London, Sept. 25, 1807-
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 HIS Majesty's declaration, on the sub- 
 ject of the invasion of Zealand, was in- 
 serted in the newspapers the day after this 
 pamphlet was published, and is of a nature 
 to remove the scruples of the most casu- 
 istical, and to neutralize the cavils of the 
 most querulous. It is one of the most 
 eloquent, energetic, and consistent state 
 papers that has for a long time appeared ; 
 and it affords an additional instance of the 
 vigour and talent which are resident in the 
 present cabinet. No doubts can possibly 
 beany longer entertained as to the justifi- 
 cation of the measure. We have his Ma- 
 jesty's royal word, that " he had received 
 the most positive information of the de- 
 termination of the present ruler of France 
 to occupy, with a military force, the ter- 
 ritory of Ilolstein, for the purpose of ex- 
 cluding Great Britain from all her accus- 
 tomed channels of communication with 
 the continent ; of inducing or compelling
 
 75 
 
 the court of Denmark to elose the passage 
 of the Sound against the British commerce 
 
 o 
 
 and navigation ; and of availing himself of 
 the aid of the Danish marine for the inva- 
 sion of Great Britain 'and Ireland."* The 
 incapacity of Denmark to resist, is appo- 
 sitely and legitimately deduced from her 
 own acknowledgment on a former occasion, 
 when the danger was by no means so im- 
 minent. How little, in fact, she was com- 
 petent to her own defence, our recent 
 operations have plainly demonstrated. The 
 whole affair was thus reduced to this simple 
 question: Whether we, positively knowing 
 that Buonaparte had matured a scheme, 
 to appropriate to his use, and to our an- 
 noyance, the naval strength of Denmark, 
 were not warranted in endeavouring to de- 
 
 o 
 
 feat this intention of his malevolent and 
 destructive ambition ? If the Danes had 
 been even strictly impartial in their neu- 
 trality, no one could well have pretended 
 to criminate us for an act in which our 
 safety was so deeply concerned. But 
 when we were in possession of pretty clear 
 
 * See Declaration dated Westminster, Sept. 25 3 1807,
 
 76 
 
 proofs that the French had been tamper- 
 ing with the Danes, and that the Danes 
 were, either from inclination or timidity, 
 tifcposed to listen to their proposals, the 
 Necessity of our interference became so 
 urgent, that had our ministers remained 
 inactive, they would have been guilty of 
 treachery to the state, and would have 
 justly merited the bitterest indignation of 
 their country. There is, however, a wide 
 interval between the different degrees of 
 activity which may be exerted in cases of 
 such extremity. Some might have been 
 active to the utmost of their ability, and 
 yet to very little purpose : but here was 
 an activity which secured its object, an 
 object which the French were at the same 
 time seeking, and for which they had been 
 long clandestinely making arrangements. 
 
 As the circumstances which led to this 
 determination of our cabinet are now un- 
 folded, we can fairly pronounce judgment 
 on its merits ; ana we must allow that it 
 exhibits one of the most dexterous strokes 
 of political address that was ever attempted. 
 Whilst it is thus calculated to meet the
 
 77 
 
 sterner views of the politician, it has also 
 been managed in a manner to satisfy the 
 most strenuous advocates for generous 
 moderation. The mild and conciliating, 
 yet manly sentiments which the declara- 
 tion throughout displays, must indeed 
 command the applause of all who feel a 
 genuine attachment to the honour and in- 
 
 o 
 
 terests of their country. Now that Den- 
 mark is at our feet, we do not trample upon 
 her, like the Corsican despot : now that 
 her capital is in our power, we do not 
 deliver it up to military carnage and plun- 
 der, like the revolutionary upstart of 
 France. These are not dispensations con- 
 sonant with the feelings of the monarch, 
 or the government, or the people of Great 
 Britain. A vanquished foe is with us a 
 foe no longer. Having obtained our ob- 
 ject,, in the acquisition of which our safety 
 was materially involved, we go not a step 
 farther ; but, on the contrary, we manifest 
 every disposition to alleviate distress, to 
 console affliction, to cultivate friendship, 
 and to repair the breach which we have 
 involuntarily, but unavoidably made.
 
 78 
 
 The necessity of that decisive policy, 
 which I have, in the foregoing pages, en- 
 deavoured to recommend, becomes every 
 day more cogent. Buonaparte pursues 
 his plan of usurpation with accumulating 
 power, and with unremitting zeal. To 
 his inordinate ambition nothing can mi- 
 nister repose. Neither truce nor peace 
 can avert his design, or arrest his pro- 
 gress. His determined aim is universal 
 dominion : his means are open war, or 
 secret intrigue, or treacherous negotiation, 
 as they are best adapted to his nefarious 
 purpose. When will the veil of delusion 
 be torn from the eyes of continental coun- 
 cils ? How long will mankind continue to 
 be so obdurately blind to their approach- 
 ing fate ? Buonaparte has at last com- 
 pletely overreached the three once formi- 
 dable continental states, Russia, Austria, 
 and Prussia ; and now that he has strength- 
 ened his position, and weakened theirs, 
 he is again provoking a rupture. Cattaro 
 and the Seven Islands have been ceded to 
 him by Russia, by treaty ; Trieste and 
 Fiume he has taken from Austria, by
 
 force ;* Prussia has lost half her territories, 
 after an inglorious war. We thus find 
 that Prussia is prostrate ; Austria is trem- 
 bling for her safety ; and if Russia now 
 renew hostilities, her capital may possibly 
 be captured, and every province of her 
 empire may become a prey to the horrors 
 of revolutionary destruction. Let us pro- 
 fit, whilst there is yet time, by these dread- 
 ful examples ! 
 
 Amidst the general wishes for the im- 
 mediate adoption of the vigorous system, 
 which I have ventured to recommend, there 
 are a few dissentient persons, who urge, 
 rather however boisterously than argu- 
 mentatively, two objections ; the first, on 
 the score of policy ; the second, on the 
 score of morals. 
 
 These objections are plausible, and, if 
 they were valid, would be conclusive. But 
 I think that I shall have little difficulty in 
 demonstrating their total futility. 
 
 * It does not seem certain that this event has yet 
 taken place. If, however, it has not, I have only, I 
 fancy, anticipated it by a few months.
 
 80 
 
 When I insist on the necessity of put- 
 ting an end to neutral traffic, I, of course, 
 confine my remarks to that branch of it 
 which contributes to the resources of our 
 enemies : what benefits ourselves, it is ob- 
 viously our policy, not only to tolerate, 
 but to encourage and protect. 
 
 In obedience to these principles, we 
 should instantly abolish every kind of in- 
 tercourse between France and her colonies, 
 and also between those colonies and neu- 
 tral states. This we are, inconteslably, 
 authorized to do, without deviating, in the 
 
 7 o 7 
 
 slightest degree, from old established max- 
 ims. The commerce which France did 
 not permit to neutrals during peace, 
 they can have no right nor pretension to 
 engage in during war, even though France 
 take off the restraint ; because, in that 
 case, the consent of France is granted solely 
 in consideration of the benefit which their 
 intervention confers. In proportion, how- 
 ever, as it aids her, it must injure us : we, 
 consequently, are perfectly justified in ob- 
 structing it. 
 
 The rigorous exercise of this preventive
 
 81. 
 
 measure, by materially diminishing the 
 supply of West India produce conveyed to 
 Europe, would, in an inverse ratio, en- 
 hance the value of that part of it which is 
 the growth of our own islands. Such, in- 
 deed, would be the increased demand on 
 us for these requisite articles, in conse- 
 quence of the great deduction from the 
 general stock, that we might safely lay 
 very heavy additional imposts on their 
 exportation, which our enemies would be 
 compelled to pay. Neutral vessels, in- 
 stead of visiting; the colonies of hostile 
 
 o , 
 
 countries as heretofore, which, under these 
 circumstances, would be attended with 
 considerable risk, would find their account 
 in coming in ballast to the ports of this 
 kingdom, in quest of commodities, for 
 'which the principal markets of Europe 
 will always insure a ready sale. 
 
 We should pursue a similar plan of pro- 
 hibition and controul with regard to the 
 productions of the East ; nor should we 
 suffer neutral vessels, of any description, to 
 touch at any port in Bengal, or in any of our 
 other settlements in that quarter, for the 
 
 L
 
 82 
 
 purposes of trade. And although we might 
 still permit their free communication with 
 China, as far as their own wants were con- 
 cerned, yet we should, on no account, allow 
 them to transport their cargoes frojn that 
 country, or from any other, directly to 
 Fiance, every haven of which empire 
 Should be instantly declared in a state of 
 rigorous blockade. Surely, when France 
 has issued a declaration to that effect 
 against us, there can be no question about 
 our right to retaliate. Most of the articles 
 which France receives from Russia and 
 the other northern states, being naval 
 stores, come under the denomination of 
 contraband, according to the old definition, 
 and are thus liable to confiscation. Rus- 
 sia indeed, in particular, after the treaty 
 of Tilsit, the most disgraceful that was 
 ever signed by an independent govern- 
 ment, in ancient or modern times, is not 
 entitled to much favour from us. Were 
 such regulations strictly and literally en- 
 forced, our own merchants and manufac- 
 turers would be speedily released from the 
 heavy pressure of their present difficulties, 
 and the public revenue would, at the same
 
 83 
 
 time, be, in various ways, greatly assisted 
 and improved. 
 
 Whilst we were deriving these manifest 
 
 O P 
 
 and important advantages, what, with ail 
 his power, could Buonaparte do to impede 
 their course ? What could he even do, to 
 extricate himself from such serious and in- 
 creasing embarrassments? There are nu- 
 merous articles of indispensable necessity, 
 whether of direct consumption, or for the 
 purpose of manufacture, which the soil of 
 France and of her continental dependents 
 does not afford. These they must still 
 have, and as they couid only procure them 
 through the medium of this country, both 
 the value and the quantity would be go- 
 verned by our discretion. 
 
 It may be a fanciful, but it is a most 
 preposterous hypothesis to suppose, that 
 Buonaparte could enforce prohibitory 
 edicts, or that he should even be disposed 
 to enforce them, to debar from the u^ of 
 these commodities tiie population of the 
 countries over which he rules. Nor is it
 
 84 
 
 likely that he would be inclined t6 in r 
 crease those charges and difficulties, which 
 \ve should take care to render sufficiently 
 burdensome. Even at this moment, with 
 all his vengeful disposition, what is neces- 
 sary to France, and can only be procured 
 from England, still rinds its way. In com- 
 mercial undertakings, where there is much 
 risk, there is generally a correspondent com- 
 pensation; and when the desire of obtaining 
 anything is very pressing, the ingenuity 
 of mankind readily discovers a method of 
 arriving at its end. Buonaparte's exten- 
 sive coast, which is so beneficial to him in 
 some points of view, is, in others, highly 
 inconvenient, especially in those respects 
 which regard the enforcement of oppres- 
 sive non-importation laws. We know per- 
 fectly well, from our own experience, that 
 custom-house and excise officers are not 
 among the most immaculate members of 
 society, and, under such a government as 
 that of France, without overstraining the 
 powers of imagination, or being at all libel-* 
 lously disposed, we may conceive, that
 
 85 
 
 the contagion of their vices contaminates 
 the conduct of their superiors.* 
 
 But supposing Buonaparte's power and 
 vigilance to be sufficient, totally to sup- 
 press the importation of our colonial mer- 
 chandize, and that his frantic vengeance 
 should induce the full exertion of that 
 power and vigilance, the consequences, 
 reverberating on himself, would be felt 
 with tenfold severity. How has France 
 been hitherto enabled to uphold her fi- 
 nances, but by the most arbitrary and 
 vexatious exactions from her general po- 
 pulation, and by the pillage of rich manu- 
 facturing and commercial towns which have 
 fallen under her sway, and which, if de- 
 prived of the means of subsistence, would 
 become a burden instead of a support ? 
 How would she be able to iced those ma- 
 nufactures which employ the industry of 
 her own artizans, even with what is ne- 
 
 * It is indeed notorious, that the salaries of the 
 higher officers on these stations, which are omimilly 
 very small, and are very irregularly paid, are chiefly 
 made up from the perquisites of bribery and other 
 wages ot corruption.
 
 86 
 
 cessary for her interior consumption, with- 
 out the raw materials from which they are 
 made ? And if Buonaparte is to domineer 
 over a ruined people, how is he to main- 
 tain his numerous armies, and to defray 
 those enormous expences which are inse- 
 parable from the profligate luxury and 
 tasteless profusion of usurped royalty ? I 
 am aware that it will here be objected, 
 that when I draw inferences from the sup- 
 position of financial embarrassments, my 
 premises are false ; and that long and fatal 
 experience has completely exposed their 
 fallibility. To this I reply, that if our 
 previous calculations on this head have 
 proved so deceptions, it is chiefly because 
 we have failed to pursue that system which 
 is most likely to produce the desired 
 effect. France has hitherto been abun- 
 dantly supplied with all her wants through 
 the channel of neutrality, and on such 
 easy terms, that they have come into the 
 hands of the consumer at a cheaper price, 
 than if she had maintained a protecting 
 navy, and imported them in her own ship- 
 ping. The rest of Europe, under her 
 dominion, has been provided in the same
 
 way, and on the same conditions. But 
 the moment we dissolve this illegal traffic, 
 these advantages must cease, and this 
 country must become the grand and ex- 
 clusive emporium from which transmarine 
 productions can be obtained. 
 
 Our complete supremacy at sea fits- 
 nishes us with other inexhaustible advan- 
 tages, which we cannot be too active in 
 
 ~ * 
 
 employing as the most effectual security 
 for their preservation. The vengeance 
 which it enables us to inflict, should be 
 exerted in every mode, and felt in every 
 direction. To such a foe as Buonaparte 
 we should allow no respite. 
 
 The possession of the Danish fleet has, 
 .at once, added a considerable numerical 
 force to our navy, which we should hasten 
 to convert to the most beneficial purposes. 
 This acquisition has been, by a particular 
 set of people, most ridiculously under- 
 valued. The truth however is, that many 
 of these ships are quite new, and, although 
 not so elegant in their form as our own, 
 they would, when manned by British sea-
 
 men, be able to keep tbe line, in an en- 
 gagement, as well as any others. Some, 
 which are not so fit for this service, 
 might be made use of as transports, by 
 which much time would be saved on any 
 emergency when this description of vessels 
 was wanted, and a considerable reduction 
 in hire would be also effected. The third 
 class, which would be least calculated for 
 the open sea, might be fitted up in dif- 
 ferent havens as floating barracks, on board 
 of which from 10 to 15,000 soldiers might 
 be constantly embarked. This body might 
 be changed every two or three months, so 
 that we should always have a force ready 
 to undertake any sudden enterprize, and 
 the whole of our army would, by degrees, 
 be habituated to a sea- faring life. Under 
 proper regulations, these barracks would 
 be attended with less expence than those 
 on shore, and might be rendered fully as 
 healthy and convenient. 
 
 Another object which, in my opinion, 
 should never be absent from the contem- 
 plation of our government, is the destruc- 
 tion of Boulogne, and of every other har-
 
 89 
 
 bour or fishing town which is exposed to 
 our annoyance along the whole range of 
 the French coast. Various reports have 
 been circulated, about the flotilla at Bou- 
 logne being in a decayed state. I have 
 heard a very different account, and which, 
 I am confident, approaches much nearer the 
 truth. Nor is it to be supposed that 
 Buonaparte, after having expended such 
 an immense sum in their construction,, 
 would suffer them to perish, by withhold- 
 ing the trifling sum which would be requi- 
 site to keep them in repair. But if they 
 were even in a state of rottenness, I would 
 still attack them in that state, because, if 
 we can once prove to France and to this 
 country that the bason of Boulogne, 
 where the means of invasion must be 
 chiefly assembled, is within our reach, 
 that question, which with the increased 
 power of Buonaparte must be viewed with 
 increased anxiety by us, will be, in great 
 measure, divested of its importance. And 
 that this desirable object may be effected 
 by the rockets, which have been so suc- 
 cessfully used at Copenhagen, and to which 
 the skill and ingenuity of Mr. Con^reve
 
 90 
 
 have given so sure a direction and so as-* 
 tonishing a range, I entertain very little 
 
 doubt. 
 
 / 
 
 To the destruction of Boulogne, if we 
 
 ~ * 
 
 can accomplish it, consent would, I fancy, 
 be unanimous. But when I talk of de^ 
 stroying fishing-towns, I fear that I shall 
 excite to instant insurrection the whole 
 host of pseudo-philanthropists. What ! 
 they exclaim, shall we pursue this ruthless 
 system of extermination ? shall we renounce 
 the finest sentiments of humanity ? shall 
 we eternally disgrace ourselves by waging 
 a predatory warfare with inoffensive fisher- 
 men ? This would be all very just, if 
 Europe were still divided, as it formerly 
 was, into separate communities, acknow- 
 leging the doctrines of the old code oi' 
 public law. But we have now, unhappily, 
 
 to ruminate over a new order of thing's, 
 
 i_, * 
 
 which, by a general convulsion of the 
 elements of civilized government, has 
 totally dismembered and dilapidated all 
 the ancient forms, and has accumulated 
 into one overwhelming mass all the hete- 
 rogeneous properties of which they were
 
 91 
 
 antecedently composed. We have to re- 
 flect, that their various resources, thus 
 consolidated, are at the entire disposal of 
 one man, who is incessantly bent on em- 
 ploying them in our destruction. We 
 have further to consider, that this man is 
 in possession of a line of coast which ex- 
 tends from Memel to Brest, and from 
 Brest to Cadiz ; which, in addition to this, 
 comprehends nearly the complete circuit 
 of the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and 
 the Archipelago. We also have to bear in 
 mind, that seven or eight hundred miles 
 of this coast run in a parallel direction 
 with Great Britain, and that nearly as 
 much more is most conveniently situated 
 for the invasion of Ireland. When we 
 have duly weighed these observations, let 
 us next examine how many fishing-towns 
 this length of coast contains ; and then 
 let us calculate how many fishermen these 
 towns may provide. Buonaparte's ships 
 of war keep, for the present, to their 
 harbours ; and the commercial ships of 
 France have been, long since, driven from 
 the seas. It is thus, in fishing boats alone, 
 that his subject* can. have an opportunity
 
 92 
 
 of exercising their skill, or of adding to 
 their experience as sailors. And when we 
 recollect what a hardy race fishermen usu- 
 ally are, how adventurous in fronting dan- 
 ger, and how expert in avoiding it, we 
 must admit the policy of obliging them to 
 recede from the coast, and to abandon 
 their occupations. We know that Buo- 
 naparte's most ardent wish is to rival us as 
 a maritime power, by which alone he can 
 ever hope to realize the schemes of his 
 atrocious ambition. We know that, in 
 this view, lie is building ships in every 
 harbour which is adapted to the purpose ; 
 and that the moment they are launched 
 he can, by a despotic ordinance, compel 
 every one of these fishermen to assist in 
 their navigation. We are bound, there- 
 fore, no longer to regard this race of people 
 as inoffensive villagers, gaining a livelihood 
 by their harmless industry, and furnishing 
 with a cheap and wholesome food a beg- 
 gared and famished population ; but as a 
 valuable fund of intrepid warriors, who 
 may one day be disputing with us the em- 
 pire of the ocean.
 
 93 
 
 Having thus discussed the policy of the 
 measure, I shall now take into consider- 
 ation the charge of immorality, which has 
 been so gravely alleged against a departure 
 from the ancient usages of the world. 
 Instead, however, of admitting it to be a 
 breach of morality, instead of bowing to 
 any one of those objections waich have 
 been started, I contend that it is one of 
 our highest obligations, that it is one of 
 our duties most consistent with the grand 
 interests of humanity, and with the im- 
 mutable principles of universal justice, so 
 to act. 
 
 If a man approach me with a declared 
 determination to destroy me, am I to de- 
 cline the use of a destructive weapon in 
 my, defence, lest, by killing him, I should 
 commit murder? When the interposition, 
 of the lav,- can save me, it is, undoubted- 
 ly, my duty to apply to it for protection ; 
 but \vhen, by being pushed to extremities, 
 there i< no time for its interference, I must 
 take my cause into my own hands, and 
 defend myself as well as I can. If this 
 reasoning hold good m the case of an in-
 
 94 
 
 dividual, it surely is infinitely stronger as 
 it applies to the contemplation and direc- 
 tion of national concerns. I hope that I 
 feel for the cause of humanity as deeply, 
 and lament its sufferings as sincerely, as 
 any of those advocates who make such a 
 
 */ 
 
 womanish and ill-timed publication of their 
 emotions. But I look to the welfare of 
 nations more than to the misfortunes of 
 individuals, and I am not to be deterred 
 from the recommendation of a measure 
 which I am convinced will contribute to the 
 general advantage of my country, because 
 it may occasion some few examples of par- 
 ticular distress. When I have only to 
 consider the insulated case of an indivi- 
 dual, I am bound to do strict justice to 
 that individual : but when I have to con- 
 sider the case of the public, individuals, 
 merely as individuals, must be banished 
 from my thoughts. The whole super- 
 structure of all wise and just government 
 
 *J O 
 
 must repose on this basis. 
 
 The crimes of mankind require restraint, 
 and, in the common concerns of life, it is 
 frequently necessary, for the sake of ex-
 
 95 
 
 ample, to inflict a severity of punishment 
 which we should otherwise be most desir- 
 ous to relax. If we cannot, in the ma- 
 nagement of human affairs, act up to ideal 
 perfection, we must approach as near to 
 it as circumstances will admit. But, in our 
 practice, circumstances must determine 
 our conduct. However, therefore, we may 
 be attached to the doctrines of public 
 law ; however readily we may acknowlege 
 their justice and utility ; yet, if we find our- 
 selves engaged in a most perilous and des- 
 perate contest, with an enemy who totally 
 rejects their authority, it cannot be ex- 
 pected that we should implicitly submit 
 to their controul ; because, if we did, we 
 should devote ourselves to inevitable de- 
 struction. We may lament the departure, 
 but we have no choice. With us it is a 
 measure of uncontrollable necessity, and 
 he who is the cause of it, is evidently re- 
 sponsible for its consequences. If then 
 our enemy refuse to recognise the long- 
 established principles of national law, we, 
 as opposed to him, are immediately re- 
 leased from their observance. If this 
 enemy compel other states to follow his
 
 96 
 
 footsteps, we are also released, as opposed 
 to those states. These are axioms which 
 require no elucidation, and to which, the 
 moment they are propounded, every one 
 must assent. It is now necessary that we 
 should consider the peculiar situation of 
 neutrals. 
 
 According to my conception, neutrality 
 implies, that all nations, so denning 
 themselves, are bound to act with strict 
 impartiality towards belligerents; that is 
 to say, are bound to conduct themselves 
 towards the respective countries at war, 
 exactly in the same manner as the} r did 
 previously to war. Their rights cannot 
 be extended by the unfortunate situation 
 of the conflicting parties. If neutrals, 
 therefore, had no riHit to tradf with the 
 
 o 
 
 Colonies of our enemies before hostilities 
 commenced, that hostile state cannot, of 
 itself, invest them with that. ri<dit. Con- 
 
 7 O 
 
 sequcntly we, the moment we discover ii> 
 assumption to be in any way injurious to 
 our interests, are warranted in prohibiting 
 its exercise. This tvo are empowered to 
 do, according to the old doctrines of nu~
 
 97 
 
 tional law, as they have long been recog- 
 nised and practised by all maritime states, 
 and as they are universally laid down by 
 the most eminent publicists of modern 
 times. Thus far we have, all along, been 
 authorized to go. But if a new state of 
 things arise, for which old regulations are 
 
 ~ * o 
 
 inefficient, we must ordain new regulations 
 which are more applicable to the change 
 of circumstances. This is the natural 
 progress of all law. Before an aggression 
 has been made, or an inconvenience felt, 
 the process which may be necessary to 
 prevent or controul it, is not likely to be 
 denned. We should in vain search the 
 statute-book for the punishment of a crime 
 which has never been committed. 
 
 Thus, when we find ourselves, in the 
 relation which we bear to the rest of Eu- 
 rope, placed in a situation which our his- 
 tory never before exhibited, it is not to 
 be expected that past occurrences should 
 afford rules and precedents for the regu- 
 lation of our present conduct. We must 
 bend to existing circumstances, and be 
 governed by their impulsive direction.
 
 95 
 
 When, therefore, we perceive that we are 
 engaged, in no ordinary war, with a pow- 
 erful and perfidious foe, who conquers as 
 much by the terror of his ordinances as 
 by the force of his arms ; who, at the 
 same time, conquers by diplomatic cor- 
 ruption and intrigue, by secret imprison- 
 ment, by torture, and assassination, as 
 well as by open assault ; by the execution 
 of his barbarous denunciations, as well as 
 by the propagation of his infamous false-? 
 hoods ; and whose chief aim in conquest, 
 is to elevate himself on the pinnacle of 
 human grandeur, that he may subject the 
 whole earth to the dominion of his de- 
 stroying sword ; that he may every where 
 establish an unrelenting military despot- 
 ism ; and that he may crumble into one 
 {indistinguishable heap of rubbish the 
 stately piles of political and civil liberty, 
 and the venerable temples of moral and 
 religious virtue ; it surely becomes in us a 
 most sacred and indispensable duty to 
 ward off, by any means with which God 
 and nature have blessed us, the dreadful 
 dispensations of such a destiny. If to 
 avert such deplorable calamities old modes
 
 99 
 
 be incompetent, we must adopt new modes* 
 if gentle measures be inadequate, we must 
 resort to rigorous measures: at all events, 
 we must endeavour to avert them. 
 
 Are we then, after so long an experi- 
 ment of forbearance ; after ttie practice of 
 the mildest moderation for fifteen years,, 
 an over-scrupulous adherence to which has 
 so infinitely strengthened the great adver- 
 sary of human kind, to be fearful of resum- 
 ing our rights ? Or should that resumption 
 be insufficient, which under present cir-* 
 cumstances I contend it would be, are we 
 to hesitate about proceeding a few steps 
 beyond those limits, which custom and law 
 have already authorized, and within which, 
 the moment the necessity ceased, we should 
 be most happy to return ? Ought we to be 
 deterred from this reasonable act of self- 
 defence, because, forsooth, neutrals, who, 
 for a protracted course of years, have been 
 immoderately enriching themselves at our 
 expence, would sustain some trifling addi- 
 tional inconvenience ? We have long been 
 fighting not only for ourselves, but for the 
 freedom of Europe, and for the great inte-
 
 100 
 
 rests of mankind all over the world. Our 
 sacrifices to sustain other states have been 
 far from inconsiderable; and if they had not 
 basely deserted their own cause, and re- 
 treated like dastards from the field, they 
 would not, at this moment, be groaning 
 under the ponderous chains of the meanest 
 and most sanguinary despot that ever 
 trampled on the pusillanimity of animate 
 creation. And if these neutrals, whom, 
 some insist, we should nurse with so much 
 tender dotage, had possessed a sentiment 
 of manly feeling, they would, long since, 
 have ranged themselves under our sacred 
 banners, and have cordially united with us 
 in this holy warfare. Had they been ac- 
 tuated by the nobler dispositions of our 
 nature, they would, long since, have vo- 
 luntarily foregone the sordid profits of 
 their mercenary and mendacious contri- 
 vances to elude and cheat us. But if they 
 are so dead to the loftier sensations of hu- 
 manity ; if they are so deaf to the pro- 
 phetic invocations of honour and of glory, 
 we must, at least, place them in a negative 
 position. If they are not to be incited to 
 duty, we must, at least, incapacitate them
 
 101 
 
 from impeding our nobler and more gene- 
 rous views. The losses and inconveniences 
 to which they may be exposed, beyond 
 what they would suffer from the exercise 
 of our rights, according to ancient usage, 
 cannot be very serious ; indeed, by the fa- 
 cilities which it would be our interest to 
 grant them in other ways, the balance 
 might be more than restored : nor could 
 
 o 
 
 we, at all events, deprive them, in a long 
 course of years, of a tythe of the profits 
 which they have reaped from previous in- 
 dulgence. But were their grievances an 
 
 o o 
 
 hundred times more extensive, such a 
 dreadful necessity as the present existing, 
 it would still be our most incontrovertible 
 and imperative duty to persist. Let me, 
 before I conclude, just put one plain ques- 
 tion, by way of further illustration. If 
 Buonaparte were to prevail over this 
 country, can the most bigotted supporter 
 of the system of effeminate moderation 
 conceive, even during the wildest parox- 
 isms of his fancy, that, in six months, 
 there would be a neutral nation upon 
 earth ? We are, therefore, contending for 
 their existence as well as for our own, and
 
 102 
 
 ultimately for their rights. We shall only 
 be suspending regulations for the eventual 
 preservation of the old order of things, the 
 fall operation of which it would be our 
 happiness and glory to reinstate, and. 
 which, if we unfortunately fail, will be 
 doomed to inevitable and irremediable ex- 
 tinction. 
 
 Much groundless clamour has been ex- 
 cited against the government, in conse- 
 quence of that part of the late proclama- 
 tion* which disavows the right of search- 
 ing national ships belonging to friendly 
 powers, it having been imagined, that we 
 have conceded an exclusive privilege, 
 which maritime states had hitherto allowed 
 us, and which we had long been in the ha- 
 bit of exercising. This clamour has pro- 
 ceeded from a natural and a laudable feel- 
 ing, viz. from a jealousy of any dereliction 
 of our naval rights. But the question has 
 been totally misapprehended, which a very 
 little explanation will shew. 
 
 * See Proclamation, dated Queen's Palace, Oct. 16, 
 1807.
 
 It is an invariable, and universally ad- 
 mitted maxim of public law, that, as long 
 as nations continue at peace with each 
 other, they are bound not only to refrain 
 from aggression against their respective 
 
 ~~ ~ L f 
 
 territories, but to hold inviolable their re- 
 spective flags, which are the representatives 
 of their independence at sea. The distinc- 
 tion between a ship of war and a merchant 
 ship, is this, that a ship of war is a part of 
 the sovereign power, and a merchant ship 
 is not. They consequently have distinct 
 offices and distinct rights : but they are in 
 no shape, on an equality. The one carries 
 within its precincts a component part of the 
 sovereignty and independence of the state, 
 to which the other can have no possible 
 pretension. It is this property which 
 authorizes the one to bring to, and exa- 
 mine the other at pleasure, a right which 
 is entirely derived from its character, not 
 from its strength. If a vessel, bearing the 
 flag of the state, be ever so small, holding 
 a commission from the sovereign power of 
 which that flag is the token, the deck from 
 which it is displayed, is to be considered 
 as independent of all foreign jurisdiction
 
 104 
 
 and coiitroul as the territory of the state 
 itself. No other ship can search her, or 
 detain her, or even board her against her 
 consent, without committing an open act 
 of hostility, and as direct a violation of her 
 rights, as if there had been an actual inva- 
 sion of territorial dominion. If a dispute 
 arise on any point whatever, a claim may 
 no doubt be preferred, but it cannot be 
 enforced, by an individual ; and, if not ami- 
 cably adjusted, the ultimate decision must 
 be referred to his government. In like 
 
 o 
 
 manner, if two friendly powers, whose do- 
 minions are contiguous, have each a for- 
 tress on their respective frontier, and part 
 of the garrison desert from one post to the 
 other, the commandant who has lost his 
 men, may certainly demand their restora- 
 tion ; but, should that be refused, he can 
 have no right, of his own free will, to in- 
 vest the fort, and to endeavour to recover 
 them by force. His duty evidently is to 
 transmit a representation of the injury to 
 his government, and to abide by its direc- 
 tions. If it were otherwise, it would be 
 in the power of any individual to convert 
 a trivial injury into an unpardonable of-
 
 105 
 
 fence, and, whenever he thought lit, to in- 
 volve his country in war. 
 
 We have indeed, at different periods of 
 our history, before the law of nations, as 
 to maritime rights, was properly defined 
 or understood, laid claim to various exclu- 
 sive privileges, particularly in the time of 
 Cromwell, and during one part of the reign 
 of William III. In remoter times, when 
 a great part of France was annexed to our 
 empire, we assumed a despotic maritime 
 sovereignty, which our power was gene- 
 rally able to enforce, but which was found- 
 ed on no principles of real justice, and 
 which was regularly resisted by every na- 
 tion which felt, and could maintain its in- 
 dependence. It would far surpass the. 
 bounds of a work of this kind, to go into 
 the history of tiiis celebrated question. 
 Among other pretensions however, that 
 of searching national snips was contended 
 for, and till the time of Charles II. it ac- 
 tually formed a part of the instructions to- 
 our naval commanders. But it was never 
 acquiesced in by other powers, and it was. 
 at length, found by us. to be so unjust in 
 
 o
 
 106 
 
 its principle, and so inconvenient in its 
 practice, that it was tacitly renounced. 
 Since that period it has never been reviv- 
 ed, except in a few desultory instances, 
 none of which have been authorized by the 
 government.* So far as to the principle. 
 With regard to the practice, if we reflect 
 for a moment, we shall at once perceive 
 its great hardship on others, and its trifling 
 importance to ourselves. If we acknow- 
 ledge the independence of neutrals, their 
 public rights, generally speaking, must be 
 placed on an equality with our own. Thus, 
 if we insist on searching their national 
 ships, we are bound to allow them the 
 same privilege, unless there be some parti- 
 cular motive, of a very cogent nature, for 
 the refusal. Now with regard to the Ame- 
 ricans, we, possessing an hundred ships of 
 war for every one of that description in 
 
 * This pretension, which was originally started in 
 very old times, was first abandoned in 1077. About 
 ten years afterwards, James if. attempted to revive it, 
 but it was finally dropped by King William. Since 
 then, which is now above a century ago, it has formed 
 no part of the instructions to our navy, nor has it bee 
 ever claimed bv anv solemn or recorded act.
 
 107 
 
 their service, surely cannot plead any rea- 
 son of sufficient weight to justify the ex- 
 ception in our favour. And, if we allow 
 the right to be reciprocal, the exercise of 
 it would be considerably to our disadvan- 
 tage, and would expose us to a very serious 
 additional proportion of molestation. Be- 
 sides, when we consider, how irritating 
 and vexatious would be the demand on 
 either side, how sensitive power is, and 
 how easily provoked to resistance, we must 
 be aware how frequently it might be at- 
 tended with bloodshed. It is, therefore, 
 no less consonant with interest than with 
 reason, mutually to relinquish the claim. 
 Even if it had been, on our part, an esta- 
 blished right, we could now abandon it 
 with credit, as, from the great disparity 
 between the strength of this country and 
 that of America, there could be no pos- 
 sible chance of our incurring the reproach 
 of timidity. From this spontaneous aban- 
 donment of a claim, which we could not be 
 justified in asserting, it must not, however, 
 be inferred, that we have conceded any 
 privilege to which we have a warrantable 
 title. Our dispute with America, and the
 
 causes of that dispute, cannot be in the 
 leas! affected by the agitation or settle- 
 ment of an extraneous and accidental oc- 
 currence. The question respecting our 
 undoubted right to demand, and to re- 
 cover British-born subjects in the employ 
 of neutrals, is precisely where it was; nor 
 do we admit of any pretension whatever, 
 on their part, to seduce our seamen from 
 their allegiance to their native land, or to 
 
 O ' 
 
 detain them, against our will, in their com- 
 mercial or national service. But such con- 
 duct being legitimate cause of war (should 
 redress on application be denied) we very 
 properly take the adjudication of the in- 
 jury out of the hands of an individual, 
 who, in all probability, would determine 
 it according to the impulse of momentary 
 feeling, and in whom, without the autho- 
 rity of the {supreme powers of the state, it 
 could never naturally nor legally vest, and 
 
 i/ O */ 
 
 we place it in the hands of the government, 
 which is the sole tribunal competent to 
 decide on questions of that momentous 
 import. 
 
 Nor let it be said, that I am arguing
 
 109 
 
 against my own principles, in order to 
 support the administration in a measure 
 which seems to contradict them. My 
 chief aim, in the foregoing pages, has been 
 to demonstrate the absolute necessity of 
 an immediate and rigorous resumption of 
 our established rights ; and also, to point 
 out what, in my opinion, under the pre- 
 sent critical circumstances of the world, 
 would be a justification of their extension. 
 But whilst I recommend a vigour beyond the 
 law, in cases in which that vigour is dic- 
 tated by imperious necessity, I also recom- 
 mend the observance of mildness and con- 
 ciliation, when it is not likely to be attend- 
 ed with prejudicial effects. In the case 
 before us, that extreme necessity is far 
 from apparent. In this instance, we re- 
 cede from no ancient right, nor is it re- 
 quisite that we should establish any new 
 one. The right of searching merchant 
 ships, which we always possessed, we still 
 retain. The right of searching national 
 ships, which we once claimed, but which 
 was never recognized, and which the go- 
 venment has, in point of practice, for 
 above a century? abandoned, we have now,
 
 110 
 
 in consequence of ah accidental circum- 
 stance, which has revived its discussion, 
 been induced formally to disclaim. Bri- 
 tish seamen, harboured in American mer- 
 chantmen, may be numerous, and them we 
 can claim, and take by prescriptive and 
 natural right, without risk of contest, and 
 without committing any offence against 
 
 / o 
 
 national honour. Deserters, sheltered by 
 American ships of war, must, from the 
 pitiful weakness of the American navy, be 
 few; and these we can also claim, in the 
 expectation of their voluntary surrender. 
 But, unless thus given up, we do not per- 
 mit, on the summary requisition of an in- 
 dividual, an attempt to recover them by 
 force, which could not be executed with- 
 out an open violation of the independence 
 of the state to which she belongs, and con- 
 sequently without incurring the risk of in- 
 stant contention, and of eventual hostility 
 between the two countries. The detri- 
 ment, generally speaking, can be, surely, 
 neither worthy of the immediate strife, nor 
 of the ultimate haxanl ; and it is evidently 
 becoming the dignity of all states, ac- 
 
 O O * 
 
 knowlcdged as independent, to refer casual
 
 Ill 
 
 complaints, which involve essential inte- 
 rests, to their respective governments,- by 
 which alone they are likely to be investi- 
 gated with sobriety, and settled according 
 to their intrinsic merits.* 
 
 * The right of claiming British subjects, who may 
 have engaged in the service of neutrals, or have takea 
 refuge on board their national ships, is perfectly clear 
 and incontrovertible. Should a formal demand of their 
 restoration be made, and rejected, there is indisputably 
 fair cause for war against the offending party, and the 
 government would be justified in instantly issuing in- 
 structions to naval commanders to recover them by 
 force. But until that order be given, no individual 
 can be warranted in having recourse to violence. The 
 proclamation is, therefore, under all points of view, 
 correct. What our cabinet may ultimately think fit to 
 do, must depend on the circumstances as they are laid 
 before them. If the Americans insist on any right to 
 detain our seamen in their service, it is evidently our 
 business to go to war, to resist such a pretension ; be- 
 cause then, it becomes a point of honour in the first in- 
 stance independently of all injury, and, if once esta- 
 blished as a principle, might, in an ulterior point of 
 view, lead to very prejudicial consequences. If, how- 
 ever, it be a case merely of an accidental nature, which 
 this apparently is, it may, on both sides, be easily ex- 
 plained and repaired. As the maritime strength of the 
 world is at present disposed, it is more for our inter- 
 est, if it can be done without any sacrifice of honour 
 or right, to either of which. I am satisfied, the present
 
 112 
 
 Thus, whilst the ready abandonment of 
 all pretensions to search neutral ships of 
 war evinces, on the part of our govern- 
 ment, a rigid regard to impartial justice, 
 when no countervailing duty interferes to 
 impede. that inclination, it betrays no dis- 
 position whatever to surrender ancient 
 
 government will never submit, that it should be amica- 
 bly settled. Our great object, after all, must be to put a 
 complete end to all neutral commerce, which, either 
 directly or indirectly, assists France. For this I have 
 chiefly contended. And when we consider the inso- 
 lent, unjust, and outrageous conduct of France towards 
 this country, we are clearly justified in the adoption of 
 any measures, whether authorized by custom or not, to 
 invalidate her views. We have but one enemy to con- 
 tend with, or to fear. That enemy seeks the accom- 
 plishment of his purpose, which is our destruction, by 
 <my means. We must, therefore, seek to defeat that 
 accomplishment by those means which are most likely 
 to insure our success. And this Ave can evidently do, 
 without in the least participating- in his guilt. It is t 
 on our part, not an act of free-will, but of com- 
 pulsion. The evident distinction is this. He departs 
 from ail rules ) and proceeds to all extremities , without 
 necessity ; we only depart from those rules, and pro- 
 ceed to tliose extremities, which are indispensable to 
 our preservation. And if this be not our duty, nothing 
 can be our duty, which tends to promote or secure civil 
 liberty, domestic happiness, or political independence.
 
 113 
 
 and incontrovertible rights. The expe- 
 dition to Zealand, indeed, not only re- 
 moves any such fear, but it affords an ade- 
 quate pledge that they will venture beyond 
 the literal construction of such rights, 
 whenever the safety of the country is en- 
 dangered, and the necessity of the case is 
 sufficiently urgent to justify the deviation. 
 Notwithstanding all that has been ad- 
 
 o 
 
 vanced, by misconception on one side, 
 and by party animosity on the other, I 
 maintain, that both these measures are the 
 result of a steady, wise, dignified, and 
 consistent plan ; that, instead of diminish- 
 ing, they ought materially to increase our 
 confidence in the exertions of the present 
 government ; and that they evince a firmness 
 which is resolved to act up to the discharge 
 of duty, unmoved by the ephemeral breath 
 of popular censure or applause. 
 
 In our conduct towards Copenhagen, 
 we have, indeed, been reproached, by a 
 small but active and vociferous faction, with 
 following the exact footsteps of Buona- 
 parte.* I have, I hope, already explained 
 
 * Without at all adverting to Buonaparte's innume- 
 rable acis of hostility against neutrals, to excuse our 
 
 P
 
 114 
 
 this measure* sufficiently to satisfy every 
 unprejudiced mind ; and such malignant 
 aspersions we shall, I trust, ever treat with 
 the disdain which they deserve.* We may 
 
 conduct towards the Danes, we can, in their own pro- 
 ceedings within the last few years, produce a case pre- 
 cisely in point. Daring our short rupture with them, 
 in the year 1801, as a member of the northern maritime 
 confederacy, which, under the auspices of the emperor 
 Paul, so suddenly started up against our naval rights, 
 they sent an army commanded by the Prince of Hesse to 
 take possession of Hamburgh, a neutral and independent 
 state, with which they had never had any dispute, and 
 which had never given them a cause of complaint, 
 urging as their reason for the measure, the necessity of 
 obstructing the trade and navigation of the English on 
 the Elbe, and justifying it, by the imperious and un- 
 avoidable pressure of circumstances. See Prince of 
 Hesse's declaration to the council of Hamburgh, on 
 withdrawing his troops, dated May 20th, 1801. 
 
 * It must be highly gratifying to every one who 
 feels an interest in the honour of the British charac- 
 ter to learn, that, on the evacuation of Zealand 
 by our army, general Peymann sent two letters to 
 lord Cathcart, expressive, not only of his approbation 
 but of his astonishment, at the rigid discipline which 
 Lad been every where preserved. A great many of our 
 troops Mere, from necessity, stationed in the palace and 
 gardens belonging to his Danish majesty at Fredericks- 
 berg ; but .such Avah their complete good conduct, that, 
 .iiot a picture nor a piece of furniture was in the least 
 .irtjurriij nor wus a tree in the gardens mutilated. Even
 
 115 
 
 be impelled to the adoption of a harsh or 
 even a violent measure, for the just at- 
 tainment of a grand political object, in 
 resisting and frustrating the designs of a 
 base and infuriated foe ; but, our object 
 secured, we shall commit no unnecessary 
 aggression, for the gratification of sordid 
 avarice, or unprincipled revenge. We 
 shall never, I feel confident, act with 
 cruelty towards other states, merely be- 
 cause they are unable to resist us ; nor 
 shall we ever make power, separated from 
 other considerations, constitute right. 
 This would be a barbarous exertion of 
 brutal strength, which is totally foreign to 
 
 the inhabitants of Copenhagen, civil as well as military, 
 were so thoroughly satisfied with the behaviour both of 
 our officers and men, that before they separated, the 
 greatest harmony prevailed. Let the opponents of go- 
 Ternment, \\ho have so malignantly endeavoured to de- 
 fame their country, compare this with the progress of 
 Buonaparte's arms. Let them recollect the excesses of 
 his troops in every quarter. Let them particularly 
 recollect the contributions which were levied at Ham- 
 burgh, and the horrors which were committed at Lu- 
 beck, and let them no longer disgrace themselves by 
 attempting to blend the principles or acts of British 
 policy with those of Fracce,
 
 116 
 
 British ideas ? which would reflect an in- 
 delible stigma on the hitherto untarnished 
 honour of the country ; and which would 
 assimilate us in character with the profli- 
 gate despot of France. 
 
 London > Nov. 4, 1807- 
 
 By the orders in Council, dated No- 
 vember 11,* our Government has at length 
 had recourse in part, to those just mea- 
 sures of retaliation, which the unprovoked 
 and insolent aggressions of our enemy have 
 so long and so loudly called for. As far as 
 these orders go,, they will, no doubt, be 
 found serviceable, both in assisting our- 
 
 * o 
 
 selves and in distressing France ; but I 
 cannot help lamenting that they have not 
 gone further. All commerce with the co- 
 lonies of our enemies, except perhaps such 
 as was permitted by France previously to the 
 commencement of the present war, should 
 have been strictly prohibited, nor should 
 
 * See the Supplement to the London Gazette, dated? 
 November 16 r 1807.
 
 any article, under any pretence whatever,, 
 have been suffered to be transported from 
 those settlements toEurope. Neutral states 
 being allowed, by the present regulations, 
 to keep up an unrestrained intercourse with 
 the colonies of our enemies, and to bring the 
 produce of them directly to Great Britain 
 or to the countries to which their vessels 
 belong, will easily contrive to convey a 
 considerable part of it to hostile ports. 
 They have already shewn the fertility of 
 their skill at deception, and, whenever they 
 meet with our cruizers, they will still have 
 their false certificates to produce. Trieste 
 and Fiume, if they are to be regarded as 
 neutral ports, are so contiguous to the 
 chief harbours of the Adriatic, that it 
 will be difficult to ascertain the real 
 destination of ships steering in that di- 
 rection, and the short distance of our 
 own coast from that of France and Hol- 
 land must expose us, in a far more serious 
 degree^ to the same inconvenience. The 
 risk, and with the risk the expence of neu- 
 tral aid, will, no doubt, be greatly increas- 
 ed to our enemies, but I fear that they
 
 118 
 
 will still reap from it considerable advarH 
 tages. 
 
 This measure of our government is, 
 however, for the present, avowedly ex* 
 perimental ; and unless found sufficient- 
 ly effective, materially to impede and cir- 
 cumscribe the illicit traffic against which 
 it is directed, a more rigorous mode will, 
 in all likelihood, be resorted to. Yet, 
 after the inconvenience and prejudice 
 which we have already experienced from 
 our indulgence, I cannot understand the 
 policy of hesitating about the full re- 
 sumption of our rights, by literally con- 
 fining the intercourse of neutrals to those 
 regulations which were prescribed by 
 France and her dependents, whilst they 
 remained at peace. In this instance, there- 
 fore, we continue to shew an ill-judged 
 lenity, and to concede incontrovertible 
 claims. 
 
 The only particular in which, by these 
 orders, we depart from established custom, 
 is in declaring France subject to the re- 
 strictions of blockade, without actually 
 keeping up a blockading squadron, and
 
 119 
 
 by such declaration, rendering every neu- 
 tral ship, which attempts to enter a French 
 port, unless' she have a clearance from this 
 country, liable to capture. But this we 
 are evidently justified in doing, not only 
 in consequence of Buonaparte's orders to 
 a similar effect against the British empire ; 
 but in consequence of the readiness with 
 which neutrals have obeyed it. The effect, 
 indeed, which has been given to his de- 
 cree, is entirely attributable to their ac- 
 quiescence. Without their assistance, it 
 would have been a mere verbal nullity ; for, 
 destitute as France is of naval vigour, she 
 
 o 
 
 could in no shape have rendered it effi- 
 cacious. With their assistance, however, 
 it has been converted into a most serious 
 grievance. The mere declaration of Buo- 
 naparte, that this country was in a state of 
 blockade, whilst at the same time he dared 
 not send a single ship to sea to attempt to 
 enforce it, as long as he continued desti- 
 
 o 
 
 tute of extraneous aid, could be regarded 
 as nothing more than a piece of empty 
 and nonsensical bombast, by its complete 
 impotency, exposing its author to ridiqule
 
 120 
 
 and contempt. But when the context 
 comes to be taken into consideration, 
 which subjects to confiscation, not only 
 all British property discovered on board 
 neutral ships, but even all ships and car- 
 goes, of whatsoever nation, if they have 
 visited a British port, a substance and 
 consequence are imparted to the decree, 
 which, through the contravention of neutral 
 rights, strikes at the very vitality of our 
 foreign trade. From their acquiescence, 
 therefore, Buonaparte's regulations derive 
 all their importance. 
 
 At first view, it seems quite incompre- 
 hensible, how neutral states could be 
 brought to a compliance with such an 
 outrageous violation of their most obvious 
 privileges. To resist an innovation, by 
 which the leading principles of neutrality 
 were completely subverted, was surely a 
 conduct to be expected from those who, 
 whenever Great Britain has been con- 
 cerned, have shewn the most stubborn and 
 sensitive jealousy of their maritime im- 
 munities. But our relations with them 
 happened to be on a very different foot-
 
 121 
 
 ing. By yielding to us, nothing was to 
 be gained. We had a commercial ship* 
 
 o * 
 
 ping to carry on our own trade, and a 
 warlike navy to protect it. France had 
 neither. She consequently required the 
 assistance of neutrals to bring home the 
 produce of her transmarine possessions. 
 The proposal was readily agreed to, and 
 the connexion having been properly me- 
 thodized, the parties have derived from it 
 a mutual benefit. The Americans in par- 
 ticular, who had secured the largest share, 
 had most accurately ascertained its value. 
 By yielding, therefore, to France, they 
 knew that they had much to preserve, 
 and, setting honour entirely out of sight, 
 the great balance of profit in their favour 
 easily reconciled .them to a metaphysical 
 forfeiture, especially as this country, which 
 they have always regarded with envy and 
 hatred, was chiefly exposed to its substan- 
 tial operation. They only had the disgrace, 
 which, from their insensibility to character, 
 they considered as nothing ; but we had 
 the pecuniary loss which, from their at- 
 tachment to lucre, they considered as every 
 thing,,
 
 122 
 
 This grovelling conduct on the part of 
 America, which IM a nation of mere traders, 
 may be easily accounted for, when the ex- 
 tent is stated to which she has carried on 
 this injurious traffic. Shortly after the 
 renewal of the war, in 1803, the French 
 government, in consequence of our decided 
 naval superiority, perceiving the utter im- 
 possibility of bringing home, under the 
 protection of the national flag, its colo- 
 nial produce* made over to America the 
 >yhole of its commercial marine, on con- 
 dition that it should be restored, at a 
 valuation, within twelve months after 
 the conclusion of the war.* These ships,, 
 though strictly belonging to France, have 
 been since suffered to navigate under 
 American colours, and have been the 
 principal carriers of the colonial produce 
 of our enemies to the mother countries. 
 We may form a judgment of the extent to 
 which this trade has been pushed, when 
 
 * See Mr. Lowe's Inquiry into the State of the Bri- 
 tish West Indies, in -which he cites the evidence of Mr. 
 Wilson, before the West India committee, in July, 
 , page 118.
 
 1*3 
 
 the Americans themselves acknowledge, 
 that the amount of their foreign exporta- 
 tion* (which with the exception of a few 
 European and East India goods, are al- 
 most entirely the produce of the colo- 
 nies of our enemies) annually surpasses 
 14,000,000 /. ster.* From other documents 
 it appears, that in the year 1806, no less 
 than 211 sail of American vessels entered 
 the port of Amsterdam alone, where they 
 unloaded, besides other articles to a con- 
 siderable amount, 45,000 hogsheads of su- 
 gar, and 34,000 hogsheads of coffee. We 
 have further to consider, that the whole 
 of this property is conveyed to our ene- 
 mies' ports at a peace freight and in- 
 surance, whilst we are paying a war 
 freight and insurance for every similar 
 article which we receive, making a dif- 
 ference against ourselves of at least 20 
 per cent. 
 
 The mystery respecting the conduct of 
 the Americans, is thus completely unra- 
 velled. Having no objection to barter na<- 
 
 * Se New York Gazette, dated March 13th, 1807.
 
 124 
 
 tional honour for commercial profit, they 
 receive the full price of their submission. 
 Such an example however, can never be 
 thought worthy of our imitation, nor can 
 any one pretend to assert that their acqui- 
 escence should be the forerunner of ours. 
 If they basely chuse to relinquish the 
 claims of their own independence, we must 
 at least take care, as far as we are involved 
 in the consequences, to provide a reme- 
 dy. If they are the chief instruments of 
 mischief, it is surely no more than fair 
 that they should sustain some part of the 
 penalty. What is due to Buonaparte's 
 insolence, is no less due to their pu- 
 sillanimity. Had they, in the outset, 
 manfully opposed the invasion of their 
 rights, we should have supported them 
 in the contest ; but influenced as they 
 have been in their determination by the 
 selfish motives of interest and fear, it 
 becomes our business to point out their 
 error, by shewing them that a nation 
 can never depart with safety from the 
 principles of honour and justice ; and 
 by convincing them, that if Buonapar-
 
 125 
 
 te's power can procure them a tempo- 
 rary advantage, our power can inflict on 
 them a lasting injury. 
 
 Scarcely was the ink dry with which I 
 had written the above, when intelligence 
 arrived of the fresh events which are un- 
 folding themselves on the theatre of conti- 
 nental politics, of which Buonaparte is at 
 length declared the sole and supreme ma- 
 nager. His associates will not, however, I 
 imagine, have much reason to congratulate 
 themselves on the appointment to which 
 they have subscribed, as his patent is dur- 
 ing life, and as from the specimen which 
 he has already given of his disposition, he 
 is not likely to arrange the drama to the 
 satisfaction of the spectators, nor to ma- 
 nage the fund for the general advantage of 
 the concern. By some fatality, every re- 
 presentation under his direction is stripped 
 of attraction. Comedy is without grace, 
 tragedy without dignity, and farce without 
 humour. These are, indeed, wonder-
 
 working times in which we live. The 
 
 C7 
 
 sphere of human action is retrograde, 
 and the nature of man reversed. Base- 
 ness and humiliation of sentiment are be- 
 come concomitants of elevated rank ; an<?l 
 in the ordinary occurrences of life, in the 
 most trivial as well as the most weighty, 
 there is a mixture of ferocious and clown- 
 ish extravagance, that overs hades every 
 amiable or commendable instinct of the 
 soul. If things proceed much longer in 
 this lamentable course, the corruption 
 will be universal ; and, amidst the trembl- 
 ing crowds of continental slaves, there 
 will not be the semblance of a gentleman 
 or of a man of honour left. 
 
 Every day continues to furnish accounts 
 
 of some act of increased outrage on the 
 
 ~ 
 
 part of* Buonaparte, and of increased ser- 
 vility on the part of his royal colleagues* 
 They seem to be trying which shall forge 
 the strongest chain, or advance, with the 
 jnost headlong precipitancy, to a state of 
 deplorable vassalage. Austria is already a 
 member of the confederacy, and Russia 
 may be expected soon to join the infatu- 
 ated and infamous phalanx. Portugal, for
 
 127 
 
 acting; with honour towards an old am! 
 
 O 
 
 faithful ally, is doomed to destruction; 
 and the king of Sweden, who among 
 
 all the continental sovereigns, has alone 
 
 <j ' 
 
 displayed the magnanimity of an hero, 
 surrounded as lie is by purchased or ter- 
 rified governments, can scarcely hope for 
 salvation. 
 
 But of all the plots which, in the records 
 of human villany, have ever been con- 
 trived to gorge the voracity of atrocious 
 ambition, that which has been determined 
 on, by the base and prolific ingenuity of 
 Buonaparte, to ruin the Spanish branch of 
 the house of Bourbon, has a just claim to 
 pre-eminence. To take advantage of the 
 imbecillity of a father, by insinuating sus- 
 picion into the sanctuary of domestic 
 confidence, and, by imposing on his credu- 
 lity, to provoke him to accuse his own 
 son of a design to assassinate him ; is 
 one of those complex productions of di- 
 abolical fraud, which could never have 
 entered into the imagination of any man, 
 who was not already totally lost to the 
 faintest feelings of humanitv, and wh^
 
 128 
 
 was not rendered familiar, by his crimes, 
 with every refinement of wickedness. 
 
 When we consider Buonaparte's suc- 
 cess, and the truly wonderful manner 
 in which it has been wrought, we can 
 
 c? * 
 
 hardly refrain from thinking, that, for 
 some mysterious, but just purpose, he 
 has been upheld by a power which^is 
 beyond the reach of human controul. 
 Yet when, on the other hand, we re- 
 flect on the infinite mercy of that Power, 
 how slow he is in wrath, and how quick 
 in forgiveness, the measure of suffering 
 seems irreconcileable with the ostensi- 
 ble principles of his government, and 
 the punishment apparently exceeds the 
 offence. Unhappily, we can trace a 
 great part of the misfortunes which have 
 overwhelmed the world, in the conduct 
 of the sufferers ; and until the generous 
 feelings of mankind are roused from tor- 
 pidity, and operate a complete change in 
 the tide of public opinion, it is in vain to 
 speculate on their emancipation, or even 
 to hope for a remedy against increasing 
 calamity.
 
 This nation is now the only point of 
 resistance left ; to overcome which, all 
 the energies of the world may perhaps be 
 soon concentered. Whilst Buonaparte's am- 
 bition is incessantly urging him to attempt 
 our subjugation, that he may indulge in 
 the unrestrained gratification of his envy, 
 his pride, his hatred, his avarice, his cru- 
 elty, and his revenge, those whom he has 
 enslaved, will possibly cordially assist him 
 in his object, that we may no longer be a 
 reproach to their pusillanimity, and that 
 we may share in their misery and disgrace. 
 It is the uniform characteristic of culp- 
 able degradation, to envy those who have 
 been preserved by their worth, and to be 
 desirous of reducing them to their own 
 ignominious level. But I firmly trust, that 
 we shall not shrink from the glorious dis- 
 tinction which, under the blessings of Pro- 
 vidence, our virtues have acquired for us, 
 and that, knowing the inestimable value 
 of the possession, we shall never submit to 
 its loss. Never, I am confident, shall we 
 desert the sacred cause which is intrusted 
 to our defence ; but, as our enemies in- 
 crease, we shall more strenuously assert 
 
 R
 
 130 
 
 our rights ; and more demonstratively 
 prove their inability to crush us. 
 
 Things cannot for ever continue in a state 
 of deterioration. There is fortunately a point 
 beyond which calamity cannot extend ; 
 and the effects of Buonaparte's rapacious 
 violence and sanguinary coercion, must 
 shortly reduce a great portion of mankind 
 to such consummate wretchedness, that 
 death will be preferable to life, and a des- 
 perate effort may then be expected to be 
 made, to rid the world of his intolerable 
 yoke. The period is possibly not Very 
 remote, when the hollow pedestal which 
 supports the column of his power, shall 
 give way, and when it shall be doomed 
 to crumble faster than it has been reared. 
 But should this desirable event be yet 
 long delayed, let us still resolve to ac- 
 quit ourselves of our duties. By yield- 
 ing, every thins* Must be forfeited ; bv 
 
 C^ ' \J > 
 
 persevering, every thing may be gained. 
 Can we then hesitate about the choice ? 
 
 If it be an awful, it is also a sublime 
 and majestic spectacle to contemplate 
 the progress of our fortune and our fame : 
 to observe this little but illustrious island.
 
 131 
 
 expanding in greatness, as its difficulties 
 multiply ; to observe it forming a soli- 
 tary exception in the midst of general 
 depravity, and deriving additional splen- 
 dour from the obscurity by which it is 
 surrounded ; to observe it, whilst as- 
 sailed by a host of confederate nations, 
 calmly surveying the storm, and indig- 
 nantly defying the utmost efforts of its 
 fury. 
 
 Let us, then, banish, not only from 
 our expectations, but from our wishes, 
 all thoughts of peace with Buonaparte. 
 Whilst, indeed, there is a particle of 
 masculine vigour about us ; whilst there 
 is a spark of generosity, of candour, or 
 of justice unextinguished in our breasts ; 
 whilst we retain the faintest attachment 
 to our religion or our laws, to our p /so- 
 nal freedom or our political independence ; 
 whilst, in fine, there is adrop of genuine Bri- 
 tish blood flowing in our veins ; we must 
 abhor an act that has the semblance of 
 reconciliation with a monster, who has 
 paved his way to power by the commis- 
 sion of every crime which can stain the
 
 132 
 
 human character ; who, as he has ad- 
 vanced in the career of fortune^ has re- 
 ceded from the standard of virtue ; and 
 who, in proportion as he has ascended in 
 the climax of rank, has plunged more 
 deeply into the abyss of wickedness. 
 
 London JV "ovcmber 25, 1806, 
 
 THE END. 
 
 8 2 
 
 T.Gillet, printer, Wild-cwurt.
 
 
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