m

'/-.

^'

\^i^

<^

J.i

^

speciAL coLLecdoNS

t)OUQLAS LilSKARy

queeN's uNiveRsiiy AT kiNQsroN

klNQSTON ONTARiO CANADA

TWO LETTERS

ADDRESSED TO

A MEMBER

OP

THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT,

ON THE PROPOSALS FOR

PEACE

WITH THE

REGICIDE DIRECTORY

or FRANCE.

■5«35<

BY THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE.

ICcntJon:

PRINTED FOR F. AND C. RIVINGTON, 3T. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD.

179(3.

ERRATA.

Page 24, 1. 15, inftead of " For as we have gone'* read ** Far as we have gone." &c.

39,1. 17, inftead of " with him,' read •• with Citizen Banhelemi"

57, 1. 25, inftead of "from her" read "from them."

LETTER I.

On the Overtures of Peace,

MY DEA"R SIR,

OUR laft convcrfation, though not in the tone of abfohite defpondciicy, was far from chear- ful. We could not eafily account for fome un- pleafant appearances. They were reprefented to us as indicating the flate of the popular mind; and they were not at all what we fhould have expedled from our old ideas even of the faults and vices of the Englifh character. The difaftrous events, which have followed one upon another in a long in:ibroken funereal train, moving in a proccflion, that feemed to have no end, thefe were not the principal caufes of our dejedlion. We feared more from what threatened to fail within, than what me- naced to opprefs us from abroad. To a people who have once been proud and great, and great becaufe they were proud, a change in the national fpirit is the moft terrible of all revolutions.

I fliall not live to behold the unravelling of the intricate plot, which faddens and perplexes the

B awful

"jt. rvra ->.«^ Ci '*!

( 2 )

awful drama of Providence, now ailing on tho moral theatre of the world. Whether for thought or for adlion, I am at the end of my career. You are in the middle of yours. In what part of it's orbit the nation, with which we are carried along, moves at this inftant, it is not eafy to conje6lure. It may, perhaps, be far advanced in its aphelion.— But when to return ?

, Not to lofc ourfelves in the infinite void of the conjectural world, our bufinefs is with what is likely to be affecled for the better or the worfe, by the wifdom or weaknefs of our plans. In all fpcculations upon men and human affairs, it is of no fmall moment to diftinguifh things of accident from permanent caufes-, and from efFc61s that cannot be altered. It is not ewerf irregularity in our movement that is a total devi- ation from our courfc. I am not quite of the mind of thofc fpeculators, who fcem aflured, that jiccelfarily, and by the conflitution of things, all States have the fame periods of infancy, manhood, and decrepitude, that are found in the individuals who conipofc them. Parallels of this fort rather furnilh limilitudcs to illuftrate or to adorn, than to fupply analogies from whence to rca- fon. The objc61s which arc attempted to be forced into an analogy are not found in the fame cloifcs of cxiftencc. Individuals are phyfical be-^

ings,

( 3 )

ings, lubje(5l to laws univerfal and invariable. The immediate caufe adling in thefe laws may be ob- fcure : The general refults are fubjeds of certain calculation. But commonwealths are not phylical but moral ellences. They are artificial combina- tions ; and in their proximate efficient caufe, the arbitrary produdlions of the human mind. We are not yet acquainted with the laws which necef- farily influence the ftability of that kind of work made by that kind of agent. There is not in the phyfical order (with which they do not appear to hold any affignable connexion) a difl:in6l caufe by which any of thofc fabrick« muft neceflarily grow, iiourilTi, or decay ; nor, in my opinion, docs the moral world produce any thing more determinate on that fubje6l, than what may ferve as an amufe- mcnt (liberal indeed, and ingenious, but ftill only -an amufement) for fpeculative men. I doubt whe- ther the hiftory of mankind is yet compleat enough, if ever it can be fo, to furnilb grounds for a furc theory on the internal caufes which ncceflarily af- fe6l the fortune of a State, I am far from deny- ing the operation of fach caufes : But they are in- finitely uncertain, and much more obfcurc, and much more difficult to trace, than the foreign caufes that tc/.d to raife, to deprefs, and fome- times to overwhelm a community.

It is often impoffiblc, in thcfc pol'tical enquiries,

to find any proportion between the apparent force

B 2 of

( * )

ofany moral caufcs we may ailign and their known operation. Wc arc therefore obUged to deliver up tl]at operation to mere chance, or more piouflj (perhaps more rationally) to the occafional inter- pofition and irrelil'tible hand of the Great Dif- pofer. We have feen States of conliderable duration, which for ages have remained nearly as they have begun, and could hardly be faid to ebb or flow. Some appear to have fpent their vigour at their commencement. Some have blazed out in their glory a little before their extinction. The meri- dian of fome has been the moft fplendid. Others, and they the greatcfl num.ber, have fluctuated, and -experienced at diflercnt periods of their exillence a great variety of fortune. At the very moment when fome of them fccmed plunged in unfathom- able abyfles of difgrace and difafter, they have • fuddcnly emerged. They have begun a new courfc 'Awd opened a new reckoning ; and even in the depths of their calamity, and on the very ruins of their country, have laid the foundations of a tow- oring and durable grcatnefs. All this has happened without any nppnrcnt previous change in the ge- neral circumflanccs \\'hich had brouglit on their diftrcfs. The death of a man at a critical junc- ture, his ditgull, his retreat, his' dilgrace, have brought innumerable calamitie? on a whole na- tion. A common foldier, a child, a girl at the door of an inn, have changed the face of fortuue, T.r'd ahnofr of Nature,

Such

< s )

Such, and often influenced by fuch caufes, has commonly been the fate of Monarchies of long duration. They have their ebbs and their flows. This has been eminently the fate of the IMonarchy of France. There have been times in which no Power has ever been brought fo low- Few have ever fiouriflied in greater glorv. By turns elevated and dcpreflcd, that Power had been, on the whole, rather on the encreafe ; and it continued not only powerful but formidable to the hour of the total ruin of the Monarchy. This fall of the Monarchy was far from being preceded by any exterior fymptoms of decline. The interior were not vifiblc to every eye ; and a thoufand ac- cidents might have prevented the operation of what the moft clcar-fighted were not able to difcern, nor the moil provident to divine, A very little time before its dreadful catafirophe, there v/as a kind of exterior fplcndour in the fituation of the Crown, which nfually adds to Government ftrcngth and authority at home. The Crown feemed then to have obtained fome of the moft fplendid objedls ofilatc ambition. None of tliC Continental Powers of Europe w^ere the ene- mies of France. They were all, either tacitly difpofed to her, or publickly connecled with her ; and in thofc who kept the moil aloof, theie wm.s little appearance of jealoufy ; of animofitv there was no appeaj-ancc at all. The Britifh Nation, her great preponderating rival, Oac had humbled; to

all

all appeir^rice fhe had weakened; cfcrtaihly had endangered, by cutting off a very largfe, and by fer the riioft growing part of her empire. In that it's flcme of hiiman profperity and greatnefs, in the high and palmy ftate of the Monarchy of France, it fell to the ground without a ftruggle. It fell without any of thofe vices in the Monarch, which have fometimes been the caufes of the fall of kingdoms, but which exifted, without any vifible effe6l on the ftate, in the higheft degree in many other Princes ; and, far from deflroying their power, had only left fome flight ftains on their chara6ler. The finan- cial difficulties were only pretexts and inftruments of thofe who accomplifhed the ruin of that Mo- narchy. They were not the caufes of it.

Deprived of the old Government, deprived in a manner of all Government, France fallen as a Mo- narchy, to common fpcculators might have ap- peared more likely to be an objc<5t of pity or in- fult, according to the difpofition of the circumja- cent powers, than to be the fcourge and terror of them all : But out of the tomb of the murdered Monarchy in France, has arifen a vaf^, tremendous, unformed fpeclre, in a (nr more terrific guife than any which ever yet have overpowered the imagina- tion, and fubdued the fortitude of man. Going ftraight forward to it's end, unappallcd by peril, un- checked by remorfc, dcfj'ifing all common max- ims and all common means, that hideous phan- tom

( 7 )

torn overpowerd thofe who could not believe it was poffible (he could at all exift, except on the prin- ciples, which habit rather than nature had perfuad- ed them were neceffary to their own particular welfare and to their own ordinary modes of adion. But the conflitution of any political being, as well as that of any phylical being, ought to be known, before one can venture to fay what is fit for it's confciTation, or v»hat is the proper means of it's power. The poifon of other States is the food of the new Rcpublick. That bankruptcy, the very apprchcnlion of which is one of the caufes affigncd for the fall of the Monarchy, was the ca- pital on which fhe opened her traffick with thi? world.

The Rcpublick of Regicide with an annihilated revenue, with defaced manufadlurcs, with a ruined commerce, with an uncultivated and half depopu- lated countiy, with a difcontcnted, diftreired, enflav- ed, and famifhed people, pafiing with a rapid, eccen- tiick, incalculable courfe, from the wildeft anarchy to the fterneft defpotifm, has a6luany conquered the fineft parts of Europe, has diflrefled, difunited, deranged, and broke to pieces all the reft; and fo fubdued the minds of the rulers in every nation, that hardly any refource prefents itfelf to them, except that of entitling themfelves to a contemp- tuous mercy by a difplay of their imbecility and meannefs. Even in their greateft: military efforts

and

{ 8 )

and the greateft dlfplay of their fortitude, they feem not to hope, they do not even appear to wifh, the extinction of what fubfifts to their certain ruin. Their ambition is only to be admitted to a more favoured clafs in th,e order of fervitude under that domineering power.

This feems the temper of the day. At firfl the French force was too much defpifed. Now it is too much dreaded. As inconfiderate courage has given way to irrational fear, fo it may be hoped, that through the medium of deliberate fober apprehenfion, we may arrive at fteady fortitude. Who knows whether indignation may not fucceed to terror, and the revival of high fentiment, fpurn- ing away the deluHon of a fafety purchafed at the expcnce of glory, may not yet drive us to that ge- nerous defpair, which has often fubdued diftem- pers in the State for which no remedy could be found in the wifeft councils.

Other great States, having been without any re- gular certain courfe of elevation, or decline, wc may hope that the Britifh fortune may fiu<5luate al- fo ; bccaufethe public mind, which greatly influences that fortune, may have it's changes. We are there- fore never authorized to abandon our country to it's fate, or to aS: or advife as if it had no refource. There is no reafon to apprehend, bccaufe ordinary

means

( 9 )

means threaten to fail, that no others can fpring up. Whilft our heart is whole, it will find means, or make them. The heart of the citizen is a pe- rennial fpring of energy to the State. Becaufethe pulfe feems to intermit, we mafl not prefume that it will ceafe inltantly to beat. The publick muft never be regarded as incurable. I remember in the be- ginning of what has lately been called the feven years war, that an eloquent writer and ingenious fpeculator, Dr. Browne, upon feme reverfes which happened in the beginning of that war, publiflicd an elaborate philofophical difcourfe to prove that the dillinguilhing features of the people of Eng- land had been totally changed, and that a frivolous effeminacy was become the national character. I^othing could be more popular than that work. It was thought a great confolation to us the light people of this country (who were and are light, but who were not and are not effeminate) that we had found the caufes of our misfortunes in our vi(pes. P)i:hagoras could not be more pleafed with his leading difcovery. But whilft in that fplcnetick mood we amufed ourfelves in a four critical fpeculation, of which we were ourfelves the ol^ccls, and in which every man lofl his par- ticular fenfe of the publick difgrace in the epide- mic nature of the diftemper; whilft, as in the Alps Goitre kept Goitre in countenance; whillt w& were thus abandonina: ourfelves to a direct con-

C fc

efiion

( 10 )

tcilioii of our inferiority to France, and vvhilft many, very many, were ready to a6l upon a fenfe of that inferiority, a few months effected u total change in our variable minds. We emerged from the gulph of that fpeculative defpondency ; and were buoyed up to the highelt point of prac- tical vigour. Never did the niafculine fpirit of Eng- land difplay itfelf with more energy, nor ever did it's genius foar with a prouder pre-eminence over France, than at the time when frivoHty and effe- minacy had been at leafi: tacitly acknowledged as their national character, by the good people of this kingdom.

For one (if they be properly treated) I defpair nei- ther of the publick fortune nor of the publick mind. There is much to be done undoubtedly, and much to be retrieved. We mufl walk in new ways, or we can never encounter our enemy in his devious march. We are not at an cndof ourflruggle, nor near it. Let us not deceive ourfelves : we are at the beginning of great troubles. I readily acknowledge that the ftatc of publick affairs is infinitely more unpromif- ing than at the period I have jull now alluded to, and the polition of all the Powers of Europe, in relation to us, and in relation to each other, is more intricate and critical beyond all comparifon. Difficult indeed is our fituation. In all fitua- tions of difficulty men will be in^uenced in the

part

( 11 )

part they take, not only by tlie rcafon of the cafe, but by the peculiar turn of their own character. The fame ways to fafety do not prcfcnt themfelvcs to all men, nor to the fame men in different tem- pers. There is a courageous wifdom : there is alfo a falfe reptile prudence, the refult not of caution but of fear. Under misfortunes it often happens tnat the nerves of the imderftandingarc fo relaxed, the prefling peril of the hour fo completely con- founds all the faculties, that no future danger can be properly provided for, can be juftlv cftimated, can be fo much as fully feen. The eye of the mind is dazzled and vanquiflicd. An abje6l dif- truft of ourfclves, an extravagant admiration of the enemy, prefent us with no hope but in a com- promifewith his pride, by a fubmiffion to his will. Thisfhort plan of policy is the only counfel which will obtain a hearing. We j)lunge into a dark gulph with all the ralh precipitation of fear. The nature of courage is, without a queftion, to be con- vcrfant with danger ; but in the palpable night of their terrors, men under conlternation fuppofe, not that it is the danger, which, by a fure infiincSt, calls out the courage to relift it, but that it is the courage which produces the danger. They therefore feek for a refuge from their fears in the fears them- felvcs, and confider a temporizing meannefsas the only fourcc of fafety.

C 2 The

( 12 )

The rules and definitions of prudence can rarely be exa6l; never univerfal. I do not deny that in fmall truckHng Hates a timely compromife with power has often been the means, and the only means, of drawling out their puny exiflence : But a great ftate is too much envied, too much dreaded, to find fafcty in humiliation. To be fecure, it mufl be refpcdlcd. Power, and eminence, and CO nfi deration, are things not to be begged. They muft be commanded : and they who fupplicate for mercy from others can never hope for jufliice thro' themfelves. What jufticc they are to obtain, as the alms of an enemy, depends upon his charadler; and that they ought well to know before they im-r plicitly confide.

Much controverfy there has been in Parliament, and not a little amongfi: us out of doors, about the inftrumental means of this nation towards the maintenance of her dignity ^ and the aflertion of her rights. On the moH elaborate and correal detail of fadls, the refult feems to be, that at no time lia^ the wealth and power of Great Britain been fo con- Hderable as it is at this very perilous moment. We have a vafl intercft to prefcrve, and we paffcfs great means of prcferving it: But it is to be remembered that the artificer may be incumbered by his tools, and that refourccs may be among impedim.ents. If wealth is tlie obedient and laborious flave of

\irtuc

( 13 ) (

virtue and of publick honour, then wealth Is in It's place, and has it's ufe : But if this order is chang- ed, and honor is to be facrificed to theconfer- vation of riches, riches which have neither eyes |

nor hands, nor any thing truly vital in them, cannot long furv^ve the being of their vivifying powers, their legitimate mailers, and their potent prote(5lors. If wc command our wealth, we iLall be rich and free : If our wealth comm.ands us, we are poor indeed. We are bought by the enemy with the treafure from our own coffers. Too great a fenfe of the value of a fubordinate intereft may be the very fource of it's danger, as well as the certain ruin of interefts of a fuperiour order. Often has a man loft his all becaufe he would not fubmitto ha- zard all in defending it. A difplay of our wealth before robbers is not the way to rcftrain their bold- nefs, or to leflcn their rapacity. This difplay is made, I knov/, to perfuade the people of England that thereby we Ihall awe the enemy, and improve the terms of our capitulation : it is made, not that we fliould fight with more animation, but that wc fliould fupplicate with better hopes. We are niiftaken. We have an enemy to deal with M'ho ne- ver regarded our conteft as a mcafuring and weigh- ing of purfes. He is the Gaul that puts h\s fzvord into the fcale. He is more tempted with our vvcalth as booty, than tcnified vvith it as power. But let us be rich or pcor^ let us be either in wliat

proportion

( '1 )

proportion we may, nature is falfe or this is true, that where the elfcntial pubhck force, (of which money is but a part,) is in any degree upon a par in a eonflidl between nations, that ilate which is re- folved to hazard it's exiftence rather than to aban- don it's objects, muft have an infinite advantage over that which is refolved to yield rather than to carry it's refiftance beyond a certain point. Hu- manly fpeaking, that people which bounds it's ef- forts only with it's being, muft give the law to that nation which will not pulli it's oppofition beyond its convenience.

If we look to nothing but our domeftick condi^ tlon, the Hate of the nation is full even to plethoiy ; but if we imagine that this country can long main- tain it's blood and it's food, as disjoined from the community of mankind, fuch an opinion does not deferve refutation as abfurd, but pity as infane.

I do not Know that fuch an improvident and ftupid felfifhnefs, deferves the difcuffion, whic'n, perhaps, I may beftow upon it hereafter. We can- not arrange with our enemy in the prcfcnt conjunc- ture, without abandoning the interefl of mankind. If we look only to our ov.'n petty pcculium in the war, we have had fome advantages 5 advantages imibiguous in their nature, and dearly bought. We have not in the flightcll degree, impaired the

ftrcr.2:th

( 15 )

ilrength of the common enemy, in any one of thofe points in which his particular force confifts ; at the fame time that new enemies to ourfelves, new allies to the Regicide Rcpublick, hav'e been made out of the wrecks and fragments of the ge- neral confederacy. So far as to the felfifh part. As compofing a part of the community of Europe, and intercfted in it's fate, it is not eafyto conceive a ftate of things more doubtful and perplexing. When Louis the XI Vth had made himfclf mafter of one •of the largeft and moft important provinces oi' Spain ; when he had in a manner over-run Lombardv, and was thundering at the gates of Turin ; when he had maftcred almoft all Germa- ny on this lidc the Rhine ; when he was on the point of ruining the augufl fabrick of the Empire ; when witli the Eledtor of Bavaria in his alliance, hardly any tiling interpofed between him and Vi- enna ; when tlie Turk hung with a mighty force over the Empire on the other fide; I do not know, that in the beginning of 1704 (that is in the third year of the renovated war with Louis the XIV) the Itate of Europe was fo truly alarming- To England it certainly was not. Holland (and Holland is a matter to England of value incftima- ble) was then powerful, was then independant, and though greatly endangered, was then full of energy and fpirit. But the great refource of Europe was in England : Not in a fort of England detached

fi-om

< 16 )

from the reft of the world^ and amufing' Iierfelf with the puppet fhew of a naval power, (it can be no better, whilft all the fources of that power, and of every fort of power, are precarious) but in that fort of England, who confidered herfelf as embo- died with Europe ; but in that fort of England, "who, fympathetick with the adverfity or the happi- nefs of mankind, felt that nothing in human af- fairs was foreign to her. We may conlider it as a fure axiom that, as on the one hand no con- federacy of the lealt effect or duration can exift againft France, of which England is not only a part, but the head, fo neither can England pre- tend to cope with France but as connedled with the body of Chriftendom.

Our account of the war, as a war of communion, to the very point in which we began to throw out lures, oglings, and glances for peace, was a war of difafter and of little elfe. The independant iidvantages obtained by us at the beginning of the \var, and which were made at the expence of that common caufe, if they deceive us about our largeft and our fureft intereft, are to be reckoned amoni^-ftour heavieft loflcs.

o

The allies, and Great Britain amongft the rcll, (and perhaps amongft the foremoft) have been mi- tcrably deluded by this great fundamental error;

that

( 17 )

that it was in dtir power to make peace with this monfler of a State^ whenever we chofe to forget the crimes that made it great, and the deligns that made it formidable. People imagined that their ceafing to refifi: was the fure way to be fe- cure. This " pale call of thought ficklied over all their enterprizes and turned all their politicks awry." They could not, or rather they would not read/inthemoft unequivocal declarationsoftheene- my, and in his uniform conducl, that more fafc- ty was to be found in the moft arduous war, than in the fricndfhip of that kind of being. It's hoftile amity can be obtained on no terms that do not im- ply an inability hereafter to refift it's defigns. This great prolific error (I mean that peace was always in our power) has been the caufe that rendered the allies indifferent about the dire6i\on of the war ; and perfuaded them that they might always rifque a choice, and even a change in it's objeds. They feldom improved any advantage; hoping that the enemy, affecled by it, would make a proffer of peace. Hence it was, that all their early vi6lo- ries have been followed almoft immediately with the ufual effcds of a defeat; whilft all the advantages obtained by the Regicides, have been followed by the confequences that were na- tural. The difcomfitures, which the Republick of AfTaffms has fuffered, have unifoiTnly called fojth new exertions, which not only repaired old

D ■ ' loffes

( 18 )

lofles, but prepared new conquefts. The lofics of the allies, oia the -contrary, (no proviiion having been made on the fpcculation of fuch an event) have been followed by dcfertion, by difinay, by dif- uilion, by a derelicSlion of their policy, by a flight from their principles, by an admiration of the ene- my, by mntual accufations, by a diftrnft in every meyib^r of the alliance of it's fellow, of it's caufe, it's poMcr, and it's courage.

Great difficulties in confequence of our errone- ous policy, as I have faid, prefs upon every fide of US. Far from defiring to conceal or even to palli- ate the evil in the reprefentation, I wifh to lay it . down as my foundation, that never greater exifted. In a moment when fudden panick is apprehended, it may be wife, for a while to conceal fome great publi«]| difafter, or to reVeal it by degrees, until the minds of the people have time to be re-colle6tcd, that their underftanding may have Icifurc to rally, and that more fteady councils may prevent their doing fomething defperate under the firll imprcf lions of rage or terror. But with regard to n gem'ml iVdtc of things, growing out of events and caufes already known in the grofs, there is no piety in the fraud that covers it's tme nature ; becaufc nothing but erroneous refolutions can be the refult of falfe rcprefcntations. Thofe nieafurcs which in connnon diftrefs might be available, in greater,

are

c 19 )

are no better than playing with the evil. That the effort may bear a proportion to the exigence, it is fit it (honld be known ; known in it's qnahtv, in it's extent, and in all the circiimltanees which at- tend it. Great revcrfes of fortune, there have been, and great cmbarraffments in council: a princi- pled Regicide enemy poffefled ofthemort important part of Europe and llruggling for the reli : within ourfelves a total relaxation of all authority, whillt a cr}- is raifed againft it, as if it were the moll fero- cious of all defpotifm : aworfe phaenomenon ; — our government difowned by the mod efficient member of it's tribunals ; ill fupported by any of their confti-J"' tuent parts; and the highefttribunalofaiI(t'iX)mcaufes not for our prefent purpofe to examine) deprived of all that dignity and all that efficiency which might enforce, or regulate, or if the cafe required it, might fupply the want of every other court. Public pi o- fecutions are become little better than fchools for treafon ; of no ufe but to improve the dexterity of cri- minals inthemyfteryof evaiiouior toihewwith what" fompleat impunity men mny confpire againlt the Commonwealth ; with what fafety allafiins may at- tempt it's awtiil head. Every thing, is fecure, ex- cept what the laws have made facred ; everv thing is tarnenefs and languor that is not fury and fac- tion. Whillt the diftempers of a relaxed librc prognolticate and prepare all the morbid force of eonvulfion in the body of the State, the fteadinefs

P2 0

C 20 )

of the phyfician is overpowered by the very afped ofthedifeafe.* The do6lor of the Conilitution, pre tending to under-ratewhat he i$ not able to contend with, fhrinks from his own operation. He doubts and queftions the falutiiry but critical terrors of the cautery and the knife. He takes a poor credit even from his defeat ; and covers impotence un- der the mafk of lenity. He praifes the moderation of the laws, as, in his hands, he fees them baf- fled and defpifed. Is all this, becaufe in our day the -ftatutes of the kingdom are not engrofied in as firm a chara6ter, and imprinted in as black and legible a type as ever ? No ! the law is a clear, but it is a dead letter. Dead and putrid, it is infufficient to fave the State, but potent to infect, and to kill. Living law, full of reafon, and of equity and juflice, (as it is, or it Ihould not exill) ought to be fevere and awful too 5 or the words of menace, whether written on the parch- ment roll of England, or cut into the brazen ta- blet of Rome, will excite nothing but contempt. How comes it, that in all the State profecutions of magnitude, from the Revolution to within thefe two or three ye^rs, the Crown has fcarcely ever retired difgraced and defeated from it's Courts ? Whence this alarming change ? By a connexion ea- sily felt, and not impoffible to be traced to it's caufe, all the parts of the State have their correfpon-

• " MufiTabat tacito ricdicina tiroore."

derice

( 21 )

43ence and confent. They who bow to the enemy abroad will not be of power to fubdue the confpi- ratof at home. It is impoffible not to obfen^e, that in proportion as we approximate to the pol- fonous jaws of anarchy, the fafcination grov/s ir- refiftible. In proportion as we arc attracicd to- wards the focus of illegality, irreligion, and def- yerate enterprize, all the venomous and blighting infedls of the State are awakened into life. The promife of the year is blafted, and Ihrivdlcd, and turned up before them. Our mod falutary and mod beautiful inftitutions vicid noihine; but dull and fmut : the harveft of our law is no more than ilubble. It is in the nature of thele eruptive dif- eafes in the State to link in Ijy fits and re-appcar. But the fuel of the malady remains; and in my opinion is not in the fmallcft degree mitigated in it's malignity, though it waits the flivourablc mo- ■ment of a freer communication with the fourcc of Regicide to exert and to encrcafe it*s force.

Is it that the people are changed, that the Com- monwealth cannot be prote6led by its laws ? I hardly think it. On the contrary, I conceive, that thel'c things happen becaufe men are not changed, but re- main always what they always were; they remain whatthebulkofusmuftevcrbcjwhcn abandoned to our vulgar propenfities, without guide, leaderorcon- troul t That i^, made to be full of a blind elevation in

profperity;

( 22 )

profperity; to clcfpife untried dangers; to be over- powered with unexpected reveries; to find no clue in a labyrinth of diilicultics ; to get out of a pre- fent inconvenience with any rifque of future ruin; to follow and to bow to fortune; to admire fuc- ccfsful though wicked cnterprize, and to imitate what we admire; to contemn the government which announces danger from facrilcgc and regi- cide, whilil they are only in their infancy and their ilruggle, but which finds nothing that can alarm in their adult ftate and in the poAver and triumph of thofe deftru(ftivc principles. In a mafs we cannot be left to ourfelves. We mufi: have leaders. If none will undertake to lead us right, we fhall find guides who w^ill contrive to conduct us to fhame and ruin.

"We are in a war of 2^ peculiar nature. It is not Vv^th an ordinary community, which is hoftile or friendly as paffion or as interefi: may veer about ; not with a State which makes war througlv wan- tonnefs, and abandons it through laffitude. We are at war v/ith a fyfiiem, which, by it's eflence, is inimi- cal to all other Grovernments, and which makes peace or war, as peace and war may beft contribute to their fubverfion. It is with an armed doctrine^ that we arc at war. It has, by it's efience, a faction of opinion, and of interefl^, and of enthufiafm, in every country. To us it is a Coloffiis which be- llrides our channel. It has one foot on a foreign

fhorc,

( 23 )

(Iiore, the other upon the Britilli foil. Thus ad- vantaged if it can at all exilt, it niuft finally pre- vail. Nothing ean lb compleatly ruin any of the old Governments^ ours -in particular, as the ae- knovvledgment, dire6lly or by implication, of any kind of fuperiority in this new power. This ac- knowledgment we make, if in a bad or doubtful lituation of our affairs, we iblicit peace ; or if we yield to the modes of new humiliation, in which alone fhe is content to give us an hearing. By that means the terms cannot be of our chooling; nOj not in any prut- It is laid in the unalterable confiitution of things: — None can afpire to a6t greatly, butthofc >\ ho are of force greatly to fuffer. They who make their -arrangements in the firft run of mifad- venture, and in a temper of mind the common fruit of difappointment and difmav, put a fcal on their calamities. To their power tlicv take a fe- curity again ft any favours which they might hope from the ufual iuconftancy of tbrtunc. I am there- tore, my dear friend, invariablv of vour opinion (though full of refpecl for thofe who think diffe- rently) that neither the time chofen tbr it, nor the manner of folieiting a negotiatic^n, were properly confidered; even though 1 had allowed (I hardly fhall allow) that vvltli the hord ol" Regicides we could by any felection of time, or nle of meanSj

obtaiu

C :* )

obtain any thing at all deferving the name of peace.

In one point we are lucky. The Regicide has received our advances with fcom. We have an enemy, to whofe virtues we can owe nothing; Ibut on this occafion we are infinitely obliged to one of his vices. We owe more to his infolence- !than to our own precaution. The haughtinefs by U'hich the proud repel us, has this of good in it ; that in making us keep our dil^ance, they mull keep their diftance too. In the prefent cafe, the jpride of the Regicide may be our fafety. He has jriven time for our reafon to operate ; and for Bri- tifh dignity to recover from it's furprife. From Airft to laft he has reie<5led all our advances. For iis we have gone he has ftill left a way open to our letreat.

There is always an augury to be taken of what 0. peace is likely to be, from the preliminary ileps that are made to bring it about. We may gather Something from the time in which the firlt over- tures are made ; from the quarter whence they come; from the manner in which they are received. Thefe difcover the temper of the parties. If your enemy offers peace in the moment of fuccefs, it indicates that he is fatisfied with fomething. It fhev/s that there arc Iimik> to his ambition or his

refentment.

( 25 )

fcfentmcnt. If he offers nothing under misfor- tune, it is probable, that it is more painful to him to abandon the profpeft of advantage than to en- dure calamity. If he rejects folicitation, and will not give even a nod to the fuppliants for peace, until a change in the fortune of the war threatens him with ruin, then I think it evident, that he wifhes nothing more than to difarm his adverfary to gain time. Afterwards a queflion arifes, which of the parties is likely to obtain the greater ad- vantages, by continuing difarmed and by the ufe of time.

With thefe few plain indications in our minds, it will not be improper to re-conlider the condu61: of the enemy together with our own, from the day that a qucftion of peace has been in agitation. In conlidering this part of the queftion, I do not proceed on my own hypothefis. I fuppofe, for a moment, that this body of Regicide, calling itfelf a Republick, is a politick perfon, with whom fomething deferving the name of peace may be made. On that fuppofition, let us examine our own proceeding. ■ Let us compute the profit it has brought, and the advantage that it is likely to bring hereafter. A peace too eagerly fought, is not always the fooner obtained. The difcovery of vehement wilbes generally fruflrates their at- tainment ; and your adverfiry has gained a great

E advantage

( ^6 )

advantage over you when he finds you impatient to conclude a treaty. There is in referve, not only fomething of dignity, but a great deal of prudence too. A fort oi i ourage belongs to nego- tiation as well as to operations of the field. A negotiator mufl often feem v/illing to hazard the whole ifHie of his treaty, if he wiflies to fecure any one material point.

The Regicides were the firfl to declare war. We are the firfl: to fue for peace. In proportion to the humility and perfeverance we have fhewn in our addrefTes, has been the obflinacy of their arro- gance in rejeding our fuit. The patience of their pride feems to have been worn out with the im- portunity of our courtlhip. Difgufted as they are with a condud fo different from all the fentiments by which they are themfelves filled, they think to put an end to our vexatious foUicitation by re- doubling their infults.

It happens frequently, that pride may rejeft a public advance, v.'hile intereft liftens to a fecret' fuggeftion of advantage. The opportunity has been afforded. At a very early "period in the diplo- macy of humiliation, a gentleman was fent on an errand*, of which, from the motive of it, what-

* Mr. Bird fent to flate the real fituation of the Due do Choifeul.

ever

( ^7 )

ever the event might be, we can never be afhamed. Humanity cannot be degraded by humiliation. It is it's very charader to fubmit to fuch things. There is a confanguinity between benevolence and humility^ They are virtues of the fame {lock. Dignity is of as good a race; but it belongs to the family of Fortitude. In thefpirit: of that benevo- lence, we fent a gentleman to befcech the Direc- tory of Regicide, not to be quire fo prodigal as their Republickhadbeen of judicial murder. We folicited them tofpare the lives of fome unhappy perfonsof the firft diftinftion, whofe fafety at other times could not have been an objed of felicitation. They had quitted France on the faith of the declaration of the rights of citizens. They never had been in the fervice of the Regicides, nor at their hands had received any llipend. The very fyftem and con- ftitution of government that now prevails, was fet- tled fubfequent to their emigration. They were under the proteftion of Great Britain, and in his Majefty's pay and fervice. Not an hoftile inva- fion, but the difafters of the fea had thrown them upon a fhore, more barbarous and inhofpitable than the inclement ocean under the moft pitilefs of it's ftorms. Here was an opportunity to exprefs a feeling for the miferies of war; and to open fome fort of converfation, which (after our publick over- tures had glutted their pride), at a cautious and jealous diftance, might lead to fomething like an E 2 accommo-

( ^8 )

accommodation. What was the event ? A ftrang« uncouth thing, a theatrical figure of the opera, his head Ihaded with three-coloured plumes, his body fantaRically habited, ftrutted from the back fcenes, and after alliort fpeech, in the mock-heroic falfetto of flupid tragedy, delivered the gentleman who came to make the reprefentation into the cuftody of a guard, with directions not to lofe fight of him for a moment ; and then ordered him to be fent from Paris in two hours.

Here it is impoflible, that a fentimentof tender- nefs fliould not ftrike athwart the fternnefs of po- liticks, and make us recal to painful memory, the difference between thisinfolent and bloody theatre, and the temperate, natural majefty of a civilized court, where the affli(fted family of Afgill did not in vain folicit the mercy of the higheft in rank, and the moft compaflionate of the compaflionate fex.

In this intercourfe, at leaft, there was nothing to promife a great deal of fuccefs in our future ad- vances. Whilft the fortune of the field was wholly with the Regicides, nothing was thought of but to follow where it led ; and it led to every thing. Not fo much as a talk of treaty. Laws' were laid down with arrogance. The mofl moderate politician

( ^9 )

m their clan ^ was chofen as the organ, not (o much for prefcribing limits to their claims, as to mark what, for the prefent, they are content to leave to others. They made, not laws, not Con- ventions, not late poireffion, but phyfical nature, and political convenience, the fole foundation of their claims. The Rhine, the Mediterra- nean, and the ocean were the bounds which, for the time, they afligned to the Empire of Regicide. What was the Chamber of Union of Louis the Fourteenth, which aftoniflied and provoked all Europe, compared to this declara- tion ? In truth, with thefe limits, and their prin- ciple, they would not have left even the (liadow of liberty or fafety to any nation. This plan of em- pire was not taken up in the firft intoxication of unexpefled fuccefs. You muft recolleft, that it was projefted, juft as the report has dated it, from the very firft revolt of the fadion againft their Monarchy; and it has been uniformly purfued, as a ftanding maxim of national policy, from that time to this. It is, generally, in the feafon of prof- perity that men difcover their real temper, prin- ciples, and defigns. But this principle fug- gefted in their firft ftruggles, fully avowed in their profperity, has, in the moft adverfe ftate of their affairs, been tenacioufly adhered to. The report,

■^ Boifly d'Anglas.

combined

( ^ )

combined with their condudt, forms an infallible criterion of the views of this Republick.

In their fortune there has been fome fluduatlon. We are to fee how their minds have been af- fedled with a change. Some imprefllon it made on them undoubtedly. It produced fome oblique notice of the fubmiffions that were made by fup- pliant nations. The utmoft they did, was to make fome of thofe cold, formal, general profeffions of a love of peace which no Power has ever refufed to make ; becaufe they mean little, and coil nothing. The firft paper I have feen (the publication at Hamburgh) making a fliew of that pacific difpo- lition, difcovered a rooted animofity againft this nationj and an incurable rancour, even more than any one of their hoftile afts. In this Ham- burgh declaration, they choofe to fuppofe, that the war, on the part of England, is a war of Go- vernment^ begun and carried on againji the fenfe and interefts of the people; thus fowing in their very overtures towards peace, the feeds of tumult and fedition : for they never have abandoned, and never will they abandon, in peace, in war, in treaty, in any fituation, or for one inftant, their old fteady maxim of feparating the people from their Go- vernment. Let me add — and it is with unfeign- ed anxiety for the charadler and credit of Mi- nifters that I do add— if our Government per-

fevere ,

C 3' ]

feveres, in its as uniform courfe, of afting un- der inftruments with fuch preambles, it pleads guilty to the charges made by o.ir enemies againft it, both on it's own part, and on the part of par- liament itfeif. The enemy muft fucceed in his plan for loofening and fiifconneding all the inter- nal holdings of the kingdom.

It was not enough, that the Speech from the Throne in the opening of the feffion in I795, threw out oglings and glances of tendernefs. Left this coquetting Ihould (eem too cold and ambigu- ous, without waiting for it's effedl, the violent paf- fion for a relation to the Regicides, produced a di- rect MelTage from the Crown, and it's confequences from the two Houfes of Parliament. On the part of the Regicides thefe declarations could not be entirely paffed by without notice: but in that notice they difcovered ftill more clearly the bot- tom of their charafter. The offer made to them by the meffage to Parliament was hinted at in their anfwer; but in an obfcure and ob- lique manner as before. They accompanied their notice of the indications manifefted on our fide, with every kind of infolent and taunting reflec- tion. The Regicide Direcflory, on the day which, in their gipfey jargon, they call the 5th of Pluviofe, in return for our advances, charge us with elud- ing our declarations under *' evafive formalities

and

( 3^ ■)

and frivolous pretexts." What thefe pretexts and cvafions were, they do not lay, and I have never heard. But they do not reft there. They pro- ceed to charge us, and, as it fhould feem, our allies in the mafs, with dired; perfidy ; they are fo conciliatory in their language as to hint that this perfidious charadier is not new in our proceedings. However, notwithftanding this our habitual per- fidy, they will offer peace " on conditions as mo- derate'*— as what ? as reafon and as equity re- quire ? No! as moderate " as are fuitable to their national dignity.''' National dignity in all treaties I do admit is an important confideration, Thgy have given us an ufeful hint on thatfubjedt : bu^ dignity, hitherto, has belonged to the fnode of proceeding, not to the matter of a treaty. Ne- ver before has it been mentioned as the ftandard for rating the conditions of peace; no, never by the moft violent of conquerors. Indemnification is capable of fome eftimate ; dignity has no ftandard. It is impoffible to guefs what acquifitions pride and ambition may think fit for their dignity. But left any doubt fhould remain on what they think for their dignity, the Regicides in the next paragraph tell us " that they will have no peace with their ** enemies, until they have reduced them ro a *' ftate, which will put them under an impqjjibiliiy oi *' purfuing their wretched projedls ;" that is, in plain French or EngliH:!, until they have accom- pli (lied

( 33 )

pli(hed our utter and irretrievable ruin. This is their pacific language. It flows from their unalter- able principle in whatever language they fpeak, or whatever fteps they take, whether of real war, or of pretended pacification. They have never, to do them juftice, been at much trouble in concealing their intentions. We were as obftinately re- folved to think them not in earned : but I confefs jefts of this fort, whatever their urbanity may be, are not much to my tafte.

To this conciliatory and amicable piiblick com- munication, our fole anfwer, in effedt, is ''his — *' Citizen Regicides ! whenever jy-ow find yourfelves ** in the humour, yoa may have a peace with us. ** That is a point you may always command. We *' are conftantly in attendance-, and nothing you *' can do fliall hinder us froiiil'the renewal of our ** fiipplications. You may turn us out at the '* doorj but we will jump in at the window.'*

To thofe, who do not love to contemplate the fall of human grcatnefs, I do not know a more mortifying fpedacle, than to fee the affembled majefty of the crowned heads of Europe waiting as patient fuitors in the anti-chamber of Regicide. They wait, it feems, until the fanguinary tyrant Carmt, fhall have fnorted away the fumes of the indigefled blood of his Sovereign. Then, when F fjnk

( 34 )

funk on the down of ufurped pomp, he fhall have fufficiently indulged his meditations with what Monarch he (hall next glut his ravening maw, he may condefcend to fignify that it his pleafure to be awake J and that he is at ieifure to receive the pro- pofals of his high and mighty clients for the terms on which he may refpite the execution of the fen- tence he has paffed upon them. At the opening of thofc doors, what a fight it muft be to behold the plenipotentiaries of royal impotence, in the prece- <3ency which they will intrigue to obtain, and which will be granted to them according to the feniority of their degradation, fneaking into the Regicide prefence, and with the reliques of the fmile which they had drefled up, for the levee of their maflers, flill flickering on their curled lips, prefenting the faded remains of their courtly graces, to meet the fcornful, ferocious, fardonic grin of a bloody ruffian, who, whilft he is receiving their homage, is meafuring them with his eye, and fitting to their iize the Aider of his Guillotine! Thefe ambafla- dors may eafily return as good courtiers as they went ; but can they ever rctur^i from that degrad- ing rcfidence, loyal and faithful fubjeds J or with any true affeclion to their mafter, or true attach- ment to the conftitution, religion, or laws of their country ? There is great danger that they who enter fmiling into this Trophonian Cave, will come out of it fad and ferious confpirators; and

fuch

[ 35 ]

fuch will continue as long as they live. They will become true condudors of contagion to eve- ry country, which has had the misfortune to fend them to the fource of that eleftricity. At beft they will become totally indifferent to good and evil, to one inditution or another. This fpecies of indifference is but too generally diftinguifhable in thole who have been much em- ployed in foreign Courts; but in the prelent cafe the evil muft be aggravated without meafure; for they go from their country, not vvith the pride of the old charader, but in a ftate of thelowd,i degra- dation; and what muft happen in their plac^bf reli- dence can have no effed: in laifing them to tht le- vel of true dignity, or of challe felf eftimatron, either as men, or as reprefentatives of crowned heads.

Our early proceeding, which has produced thefe returns of affront, appealed to me totally new, with- out being adapted to the new circumftances of affairs. I have called to my mind the fpeeches and meffages in former times. I find nothing like thefe. You will look in the journals to find whe- ther my memory fails me. Before this time, never was a ground of peace laid, (as it were, in a parlia- mentary record,) until it had been as good as con- cluded. This was a wife homage paid to the dif- cietion of the Crown. It was known how much

F 2 a nep-Q-

C 30 )

a negodation mull: fuffer by having any thing in the train towards it prematurely difclofed. But when thofe parliamentary declarations were made, not fo much as a ftep had been taken towards a negotiation in any mode whatever. The meafure was an unpleafant and unfeafonable difcovery.

I conceive that another circumflance in that tranfa(5tion has been as little authorifed by any ex- ample ; and that it is as little prudent in itfelf; I mean the formal recognition of the French Re- publick. Without entering, for the prefcnr, into a queftion on the good faith manifefted in that meafure, or on it's general polic}'', I do ibt, upoa mere temporary confiderations of prudence, whe- ther it was perfedly advifeable. It is not within the rules of dexterous conduct to make an ac- knowledgment of a ccntefted title in your enemy, before you are morally certain that your recogni- tion will fecure his ffiendQiip. Otherwife it is a meafure worfe than thrown away. It adds infi- nitely to the ftrength, and confequently to the de- mands of the adverfe party. He has gained a fundamental point without an equivalent. It has happened as might have been forefeen. No no- tice whatever \vas taken of this recognition. Iq ta6t, the Divedory never gave themfelves any con- cern about it; and they received our acknowledg- ment with perfed fcorn, With them, it is not for

the

( 37 )

the States of Europe to judge of their title : Bnt in their eye the title of every other power depends wholly on their pleafure.

Preliminary declarations of this fort, thrown out at random, and fown, as it were, broad-caft, were never to be found in the mode of our pro- ceeding with France and Spain, whiift the great Monarchies of France and Spain exifted. I do not fay, that a diplomatick rrieafu re ought to be, like a parliamentary or a judicial proceeding, according to ftri(ft precedent., I hope I am far from that pedantry : But this 1 know, that a great ftate ought to have fome regard to it's antient maxims; efpecially where ihey indicate it's dignity ; where they concur with the rules of prudence; and above all, where the circumftances of the time require that a fpirit of innovation fnould be refifted, which leads to the humiliation of fovereign powers. It would be ridiculous to afTert, that thofe powers have fuffered nothing in their eftimation. I admit, that the greater interefts of ftate will for a moment fuperfede all other coniiderations : but if there was a rule that a fovereign never (hould let down his dignity without a fure payment to his intereft, the dignity of Kings would be held high enough. At prefent, however, fafhion governs in more fe- rious things than furniture and drefs. It looks as if fovereigns abroad were emulous in bidding

agaiiUl

( 3S )

againfl: rheir eftimation. It feems as if the pre-emi- nence of Regicide was acknowledged ; and that Kings tacitly ranked themlelves below their facri- legious murderers, as natural magiftrates and judges ever theai. Ir appears as if dignity were the prerogative of crime j and a temporifing huniiliition the proper part for venerable authority. If the vileiT: of mankind are refolved to be the mofh wick- ed, they lofe ail the bafenefs of their origin, and take their place above Kings. This example in fo- reign Princes, I truft, will not fpread. It is the concern of mankind, that the deftrudion of order Ihould not be a claim to rank: that crimes Ihould not be the only title to pre-eminence and honour.

At this fecond flage of humiliation, (I mean the infulting declaration in confequence of the meflhge to both Houfes of Parliament) it might not have been amifs to paufe; and not to fquander away the fund of our fubmiflions^ until we knov/ what final purpofes of publick intereft they might anfwer. The policy of fubjefting ourfelves to fur- ther infults is not to me quite apparent. It was refolved however, to hazard a third trial. Citizen Barthelemi had been eftablilhed on the part of the new Republick, at Bafle; where, with his procon- fulate of Switzerland and the adjacent parts of Ger- many, he was appointed as a fort of fadtor to deal in the degradation of the crown«d heads of Europe.

At

( 39 )

At Bafle it was thought proper, in order to keep others, I fuppofe, in countenance, that Great Bri- tain (liould appear at this market, and bid with the reft, for the mercy of the People-King.

On the 6th of March 1796 Mr. Wickham, in confequence of authority, was defired to found France on her difpofition towards a general pacifi- cation ; to know whether ilie would confent to fend Minifters to a Congrefs at fuch a place as might be hereafter agreed upon ; to know whether they would communicate the general g'ounds of a pa- cification fuch as France (the diplomatick name of the Regicide power) would be wilhng to propofe, as a foundation for a negociation for peace with his Majefty and his allies : but he had no au- thority to enter into any negociation or difcuffion with him upon thefe fubjedts.

On the part of Great Britain this meafure was a voluntary ad, wholly uncalled for on the part of Regicide. Suits of this fort are at leaft ftrong in- dications of a defire for accommodation. Any other body of men but the Dire<5loiy would be fomewhatfoothed with fuch advances. They could not however begin their anfwer, Vvrhich was given without much delay, and communicated on the 2Sth of the fame month, without a preamble of infult and reproach. ** They doubt the fincerity

of

( 4^^ )

of the pacifick Intentions of this Court." She did not begin, fay they, yet to " know her real inte- refls," " (he did not feek peace with good faith,*' This, or fomething m this efFedt, has been the con^ llant preliminary obfervation, (now grown into a fort of office-form) on all our overtures to this power t a perpetual charge on the Briti.Ti Govern* ment of fraud, evafion, and habitual perfidy.

It might be afked, from whence did thefe opi- nions of our infincerity and ill faith arife ? It was, becaufe the Britifli Miniftry (leaving to the Direc- tory however to propofe a better mode) propofed a Congrefs for the purpofe of a general pacification, and this they faid " would render negociation end- lefs.'* From hence they immediately inferred a fraudulent intention in the offer. Unqueflionably their mode of giving the law would bring matters to a more fpeedy conclufion. As to any other me- thod more agreeable to them than a Congrefs, an alternative exprefsly propofed to them, they did not condefcend to lignify their pleafure.

This refufal of treating conjointly with the pow- ers allied againfl this Republick, furnifhcs matter for a great deal of fcrious reflexion. They have hitherto conflantly declined any other than a treaty with a fingle power. By thus difTociating every State from every other, like deer feparated

from

( 41 )

from the herd, each power is treated with, on the merit of his being a deferter from the common caufe. In that light the Regicide power finding each of them infulated and unproteded, with grcac facility gives the law to them all. By this fyftem for the prefent, an incurable diftriifl: isfown amongrt confederates; and in future all alliance is rendered impraflicable. It is thus they have treated with Pruflia, with Spain, with Sardinia, with Bavaria, with the Ecclefiaftical State, with Saxony; and here we fee them refufe to treat with Great Britain in any other mode. They mud be worfe than blind who do not fee with what undeviatins refyu- larity of fyftem, in this cafe and in all cafes, they purfue their fcheme for the utter deftrudion of every independent power; efpecially the fmaller, who cannot find any refuge whatever but in fome common caufe.

Renewing their taunts and refleflions, they tell Mr. Wickham, " that their policy has no guides " but opennefs and good faith, and that their ** condud ihall be conformable to thefe princi- " pies." They fay concerning their Government, that '• yielding to the ardent defire by which it is *' animated to procure peace for the French Re- " publick, and for all nations, it will not fear io " declare itjdf openly. Charg^ed by the Conilitu- " tion with the execution of the laivs, it cannoc

G make

( 42 )

^^ make o\' liften to any propofal that would be *' contrary to them. The conftitutional act does " not permit it to content to any alienation of ** that v\hich, according to the exifting laws, con- " flitutes the territory of the Republick."

" With refpecl to the countries occupied by the *' French armies and zvhich have not been united to " Frame, they, as well as other inteiefts political " and commercial, may become the fubjedt of a " negociation, which will prefent to the Directory ** the means of proving how much it defires to " attain fneedily to a happy pacification. That *' the Direftory is ready to receive in this refpedt " aay overtures that fliall be juft, reafonable, and *' compatible ivith the dignity of the F^epublick'* On the head of what is 7iot to be the fubjed: of negotiation, the Diieclory is clear and open. As to what may be a matter of treaty, all this open dealing is gone. She retires into her ihell. There fhe expeds overtures {xom ycu — and that you are to guefs what (he fiiall judge juft, reafonable, and above all, compatible with her dignity.

In the records of pride tliere does not exift fo infulting a declaration. It is infolent in words, ia manner, but in uibP.ance it is not only infulting luit alarming. U is a iptcimen of wh:it may be expedted from the maftcrs we are preparing .for

our

( 43 )

our humbled country. Their opennefs and can- dour confift in a direft avowal of their defpotirm and ambition. We know that their declared refo- lution had been to furrender no obicd belonging to France previous to the war. They had relolved, that the Republick was entire, and mufh remain To. As to what flie has conquered from the allies and united to the fame indiviiible body, it is of the fame nature. That is, the allies are to give up whatever conqueils they h.ivc m.ide or may make upon France, but all which ihe h:is vio- lendy ravilhcd from her neighbours and thought fit to appropriate, are net to becom.e (o much as objedls of negociation.

Tn this unity and indivifibllity of polTedion are funk ten immenfe and wealthy provinces full of ftiong, fiourifliing and opulent cities, the Aullrian Netherlands, the part of Europe the moft neLellary to preferve any communicrition between this king- dom and its natural allies, next to Holland the moft iRtereQing to this country, and wiihoui which Holland mud virtually belong to Fiance. Savoy and Nice, the keys of Italy, and ine ciui- del in her hands to bridle S'.vitzeilaiul, are in that confoiidarion. The important teni'ory of L.eige is torn out of the heart of the Empire. All thefe are integrant parts of the Republick, not to be fubjedl to any difculhon,. or to be purchaled

G 2 by

( 4+ )

by any equivalent. Why ? becaufe there is a law which prevents it. What law? The law of nations? The acknowledged public law of Europe? Treaties and conventions of parties? No! not a pretence of the kind. Jt is a declaration not made in confe- quence of any prefcription on her fide, not on any ceflionor derelidlion, aftual or tacir, of other pow- ers. It is a declaration pendente lite in the middle of a war, one principal objed of which was origi- ra'ly the defence, and has fince been the recovery Oi thefe very countries.

This ftrange lav/is not made for a trivial obje6V, not for a fingle port, or for a fingle forrrefs; but for a great kingdom; for the religion, the morals, the laws, the liberties, the lives and fortunes of millions of liuman creatures, who without their confent, or that of their lawful government, are, by an arbitrary a6t of this regicide and homicide Government, wliich they call a law, incorporated into their tyranny.

In other words, their will is the law, not only at home, but as to the concerns of every na- tion. Who has made that law but the Regicide Republick itfelf, whofe laws, like thofe (jf the Mcdes and Perhans, they cannot alter or abrogate, or even fo much as take intoconfidcration r With- out the leaft ceremony or compliment, ihey have

fent

( 45 )

fent out of the world whole Cats of laws and law- givers. They have fwept away the very conftitu- tions under which the LegiHatures aded, and the Laws were made. Even the fundamental facred rights of man they have not fcrupled to profane. They have fet tliis holy code at nought with igno- miny and fcorn. Thus they treat all their domef- tick laws and conftitutions, and even what they had confidered as a Law of Nature ; but whatever they have put their feal on for the purpofes of their ambition, and the ruin of their neighbours, this alone is invulnerable, impafTible, immortal. Afluming to be mailers of every thing human and divine, here, and here alone, it feems they are li- mited, " cooped and cabined in ;" and this omnipo- tent legiflature finds itfelf wholly withoufthe power of exercifmg it's favourite attribute, the love of peace. In other words, they are powerful to ufurp, impotent to reflore; and equally by their power and their impotence they aggrandize themfelves, and weaken and impoveriQi you and all other nations.

Nothing can be more proper or more manly than the ftate publication called a note on this pro- ceeding, dated Downing-flreet, the loth of April, 1796. Only that it is better exprefled, it perfectly agrees with the opinion 1 have taken the liberty of

fubmitting

( 46 )

fubmitting to your confideration.* I place it be- low at full length as my juftification in thinking that this aftonifliing paper is not only a dired negative, to all treaty, but is a rejedion of every principle upon which treaties could be made. To admit it for a moment were to ered this power, ufurped at home, into a Legillature to govern

■* " This Court has fren, with regret, how far the tone and fpirit of that anfvvcr, the nature and extent of the demands which it contains, and the manner of announcing them, are remote from any difpofitions for peace.

" The inadmilEble pretenfion is there avowed of appropri- ating to France all that the laws exifting there may have com- prifed under the denomination of French territory. To a de- mand fuch as this, is added an exprefs declaration that no pro- pofal contrary to it will be made, or even liikned to- And even this, under the pretence of an internal regulation, the provifions of which are wholly foreign to all other nations.

" "While thefe difpofitions fliall be perfifted in, nothing is left for the |iing, bwt to profecute a war equally juft and ne- cefiary.

^ Whenever his enemies fhall manifefl more pacific fenti- ments, his Tvlajefty will, at all times, be eager to concur in them, by lending himfJf, in concert with his allies, to ali fuch mcafures as fliall be calculated to re-eftablifh general tran- quillity on conditions juft, honourable and permanent, either by the eftabiiflament of a general Congrefs, which has been fo happily the means of reiloring peace ro Europe, or by a preli- minary difcyflion of the principles which may be propofed, on either fide, as a foundation of a general pacification ; or, laftly, bv an impartial examination of anv other way which may bt; pointed out to him for arriving at the fame lidutary end."

Dtr^vn'uig- Street, Af-rll lo, J 796.

mankind.

( 47 )

mankind. It is an authority that on a thoufand oc- cafions they have afferted in claim, and whenever they are able, exerted in practice. The dcrelid:ion of this whole fcheme of policy became, therefore, an indifpenfible previous condition to all renewal of treaty. The remark of the Britifli Cabinet on. this arrogant and tyrannical claim is natural and unavoidable. Our Mini ftry ftate, " That while thejs difpofitions Jhall be perjijled in, nothing is left for the King but to p-ofecute a "war that is jii/l andnecejj'ary.^'*

It was of courfe, that we fhould wait until the enemy (hewed fome fort of difpofition on their part to fulfil this condition. It was hoped in- deed that our fuppliant drains might be fuffered to fteal into the auguft ear in a more propitious feafon. That feafon, however, invoked b} fomany vows, conjurations and pnyers, did not come. Every declaration cf 1 ..'lility renovated, and every adt purfued with douDle animolity — the over-run- ning of Lombardy — the fu'i jugation of Piedmont— the polTefficn of its impregnable fortreffes — the feizing on all the neutral fiates of Italy — our expul- lion from Leghorn — infcances for ever renewed for ourexpulfion f:om Genoa — Spain rendered fubje(ft to chenl and ho(tile to us — Portugal bent under the yoke — half the Empire over-run and ravaged, were nhe only figns which this m.ild Republick thought proper to manifell of their pacific fentiments.

Every

t 48 )

Every demonftration of an implacable rancour and an untameable pride were the only encouragements we received to the renewal of our fuppHcations. Here therefore they and we were fixed. Nothing was left to the Britifli Miniftry but *' to profecute a war juft and necelTary"- — a war equally juft as at the time of our engaging in it — a war become ten times more neceflary by every thing which happened afterwards. This refolution was foon, however, forgot. It felt the heat of the feafon and melted away. New hopes were entertained from fupplication. No expedations, indeed, were then formed from renewing a dired: application to the French Regicides through the Agent General for the humiliation of Sovereigns. At length a ftep was taken in degradation which even went lower than all the reft. Deficient in merits of our own, a Mediator was to be fouo;ht — and we looked for that Mediator at Berlin ! The King of Prufiia's merits in abandoning the general caufe might have obtained for him fome fort of influence in ftivour of thofe whom he had deferted — but 1 have never heard that his Pruflian Majefty had lately difco- vered fo marked an affection for the Court of St. James's, or for theCourt of Vienna, as to excite much hope of his interpofing a very powerful me- . diation to deliver them from the diftrelTes into which he had brought them.

If

C 49 )

if humiliation is the element in which we live, if it is become not only our occafional policy but our habit, no great objedlion can be made to the modes in which it may be diverfified; though, I confefs, I cannot be charmed with the idea of our cxpofmg our lazar fores at the door of every proud fervitorof the French Republick, where the court- dogs will not deign to lick them. We had, if I am not miftaken, aminifter at that court, who might try it's temper, and recede and advance as he found backwardnefs or encourag-ement. But

O

to fend a gentleman there on no other errand than this, and with no afTurance whatever that he fliould not find, what he did find, a repulfe, feems fo me to go far beyond all the demands of a humiliation merely politick. I hope, it did not arife from a predelidion for that mode of conduct.

The cup of bitterncfs was not, however, drained to the dregs. Eafle and Berlin were not fufficient. After fo many and fo diverfified repulfes, we were refolved to make another trial, and to try another Mediator, among the unhappy gentlemen in whofe perfons Royalty is infulted and degraded at the feat of plebeian pride, and upftart infolencc. — There is a minifter from Denmark at Paris. Without any previous encouragement to that; any more than the other fteps, we fent through this H turnpike

( 50 )

turnpike to demand a paflport for a perfon who on our part was to folicit peace in the metfopohs, at the footftool of Regicide itfelf. It was not to be expected that any one of thofe degraded beings could have influence enough to fettle any part of th€ terms in favour of the candidates for further degradation ; befides, fuch intervention would be a direA breach in their fyflem, which did not per- mit one fovercign power to utter a word in the concerns of his equal. — Another repulfe. — ^We were dehred to apply diredtly in our perfons.— - We fubmitted and made the application.

It'mightbe thought that here, at length, we had touched the bottom of humiliation ; our lead was brought up covered with mud. But " in the ** lowed deep, a lower deep" was to open for us ilill more profound abyfles of difgrace and fhame. However, in we leaped. We came forward in our own name. The paflport, fuch a palTport and fafe condu(5t as would be granted to thieves, who might come in to betray their accomplices, and no better, was granted to Britilh fupplication. To leave no doubt of it's fpirir, as foon as the rumour of this aft of condefcenfion could get abroad, it was for- mally announced with an explanation from autho- rity, containing an invedive againft the Miniftry of Great Britain, their habitual frauds, their pro- verbial, pinkk perfidy. No fuch State Paper, as a

preliminary

(5' )

preliminary to a negociation for peace has ever yet appeared. Very few declarations of war have ever •fhewn fo much and fo unqualified animofity. I place it below * as a diplomatick curiofity : artd in order to be the better underftood, in the few remarks

1 have

^ Official Noie^ cxtraBedfrom tJje yourrtal of the Defenders of the Country. Executive DireSiory.

*' Differertt Journals have advanced that an Englidi Pleni- potentiary had reached Paris, and had prefented himfelf to the Executive Diredory, but that his propofitions not having ap- peared fatisfaclory, he had received orders inftantly to quit France.

" All thefe aflertions are equally falfe.

*' The notices given, in the Englifli Papers, of a Miniller having been fent to Paris, there to treat of peace, bring to re- colleftion the overtures of Mr. Wickham to the AmbalTador of the Republick at Bade, and the rumours circulated relative to the million of Mr. Hammond to the Court of PrulTia. The infignificancc^ or rather xhefulitle duplicity^ the PUNICKjii e of Mr. Wickham's note, is not forgotten. Aciording to the par- tizans of the Englilh Miniftry, it was to Paris that INIr. Ham- mond was to come to fpeak for peace: when his deflinatioii became publick, and it was known that he went to rrUiTia, the fame writer repeated that it was to accelerate a peace, and not- withllanding the object, now well kaovvn, of this negociation, was to engage Pruffia to break her treaties with the Republick, and to return into the coalition — The Court of Berlin, faitliful to its engagements, repulfed thefe peifidious propccfiiions. Ijuc in converting this intrigue into a miflion for pence, the Englifli IMiniftry joined to the hope of giving a new enemy to France, that of juffyltig the continuance of the ivar in the eyes of the Eriglijh nation^ and of tbroiving qll the odium of It on the French Gi^'eriiment.

}] 2 Su.h

( 5^ )

J have to make upon a piece which indeed defies all defciiption — " None but itfelf can be it's pa- rallel;'^

1 pafs by all the infolence and contumely of the performance as it comes from them. The quef- ition is not now how we are to be affeded with it

Such was alfo the aim of Mr. Wickham's note. Such is ft ill that of the notices gi^jen at this time in the Englijh papers.

" This aim will appear evident, if we refleft how difficult it is, that the ambitious Govei'nment of England fliould fincerely wifli for a peace that wowXA /natch fro!7i it it's maritime preponde- rancy, ivould re.-ejlablijlj the freedont of the Jeas^ivould gi-ve a ne-iu impulfe to the Spanifh^ Dutch, and French marines^ and would carry to the higheft degree of profperity the induflry and commerce ofthofe nations in which it has always found rivals^ and which it has confidered as em?nies of it's commerce, when they were tired of being it's dupes.

*' But there will no longer be any credit gi'ven to the pacific in- tentions of the Englijh Mrnifry^ ivhen it is known^ that i f s gold and it's intrigues, it's open practices ^ andit^s infnuatio7is, befege more than ever the Cabinet of Vienna^ and are one of the principal obfacles to the negociation nvhich that Cabinet 'would if itfelf be induced to enter 071 for peace.

" They will no Xqw^tx he credited^ finally, when the mo- ment of the rumour of thefe overtures being circulated is confi- dered. Thi Englijh nation fupforts impatiently the co7itinuance of the icar, a reply muji he made to it's co7nplai/its, it's reproaches : the Parliament is about to re-open it's fittings, the mouths of tha orators who will declaim againfi: the war muft be (hut, the de- mand of new taxes muH: be juftified ; and to obtain thefe re- fults, it is necelTary to be enabled to advance, that the French "uo'/ernmenL refufes every reafonablc propofition of peace.

in.

( 53 )

in regard to our dignity. That is gone. I Iliall fay no more about it. Light lie the earth on the aOies of Englifh pride. I (hall only obfervc upon IX. politically, and as furnilliing a diredion for our own conduA in this low bufinefs.

The very idea of a negociation for peace, what- ever the inward fentiments of the parties may be, implies fome confidence in their faith, feme de- gree of belief in the profeffions which are made ■concerning it. A temporary and occafional credit, at leaft, is granted. Otherwife men ftumble on the very threfhold. I therefore wifh to afk what hope we can have of their good faith, who, as the very bafis of the negociation, aflume the ill faith and treachery of thofe they have to deal with? The terms, as againft us, muft be fuch as imply a full fecurity againft a treacherous condud — that i» what this Dire^ftory ftated in it's firft declaration, to place us " in an utter impoflibility of execut- *• ing our wretched projects." This is the omen, and the fole omen, under whii:h we have confented to open our treaty.

The fecond obfervation I have to make upon it, (much connecled undoubtedly with the firft,) is, that they have informed you of the refult they propofe from the kind of peace they mean to grant you j that is to l^iy, I'ae .union they propofe among

nations

( 54 )

nations with the view, of rivalling our trade and dcfiroying our naval power : and this they fup- pofe (and with good reafon too) mufh be the inevitable effed of their peace. It forms one of their principal grounds for fufpeding our Mini- flers could not be in good earneft in their propo- rtion. They make no fcruple beforehand to tell you the whole of what they intend ; and this is what we call, in the modern ftyle, the acceptance of a proportion for peace 1 In old language it would be called a moft haughty, offenfive, and in- folent rejedion of all treaty.

Thirdly, they tell you what they conceive to be the perfidious policy which dictates your delulive offer ; that is, the defign of cheating not only them, but the people of England, againft whofe intereft and inclination this war is fuppofed to be carried on.

If we proceed in this bufmefs, under this preli- minary declaration, it feems to me, that we admit, (now for the third time) by fomething a great deal ftronger than words, the truth of the charges of every kind which they make upon the Britilh Mi- niftry, and the grounds of thofe foul imputations. The language ufed by us, which in other circum-. fiances would not be exceptionable, in this caf(^ t.ends very ftrongly to confirm, and realize the fuf-

picion

( Si )

picion of onr enemy. I mean the declaration, that if we do not obtain fuch terms of peace as fuits our opinion of what our interefts require, then, and in that cafe, we fhall continue the war with vigour. This offer fo reafoned plainly implies, that without it, our leaders themfelves entertain great doubts of the opinion and good affeftions of the Britifli people ; otherwife there does not appear any caufe, why we fhould proceed under the fcan- dalous conflruftion of cur enemy, upon the for- mer offer made by Mr. Wickham, and on the new oftet made directly at Paris. It is not, there- fore, from a fenfe of dignity, but from the danger of radicating that falfe fentiment in the breads of the enemy, that I think, under the aufpices of this declaration, we cannot, with the lead hope of a good event, or, indeed, with any regard to the common fafety, proceed in the train of this nego- ciation. I wifli Miniftry would feriouily confider the importance of their feeming to confirm the enemy in an opinion, that his frequent appeals to the people againft their Government has not been without it's effefl. If it puts an end to this war. il will render another impradicable.

Whoever goes to the direftorial prefence under this paiTport, with this otfenfive comment, and foul explanation, goes, in the avowed fenfe of the Court to which he is fentj as the inftrument of a

Government

( 56 y

Government diffociated from the interefti! and wiiliefr of the Nation, for the purpofe of cheating both the people of France and the people of England. He goes out the declared emiflary ofa faithlefs Minif- try. He has perfidy for his credentials. He has na>- tional weaknefs for his full powers. I yet doubt whether any one can be found to inveft himfelf with that charadler. If there fhould, it would be pleafant to read his inftrudions on the anfwec which he is to give to the Diredlory, in cafe they jQiould repeat to him the fubftance of the Mani- fefto which he carries with him in his portfolio.

So much for ihtfirjl Manifefto of the Regicide Court which went along with the paffport. Left this declaration (hould feem the effect of hafte, or a mere fudden effufion of pride and infolence, on full deliberation, about a week after comes out a fecond. In this manifefto, which is dated the fifth of O(5lober, one day before the fpeech from the Throne, on the vigil of the feftive day of cordial unanimity fo happily celebrated by all parties in the BfitilhPar». liament, the Regicides, our worthy friends, (I call them by advance and by courtefy what by law I fliall be obliged to call them hereafter) our worthy friends, I fay, renew and enforce the former declaration concerning our faith and fincerity, which they pinned to our paffport. On three other points

which

( 57 )

which run through all their declarations, they are more explicit than ever.

Firft, they more dire<5lly undertake to be the real reprefentatives of the people of this kingdom: and on a fu^.policion in which they agree with our parliamentary reformers, that the Hoiife of Com- mons is not that Reprefentative, the fundion be- ing vacant, they, as our true conflitutional organ, inform his Majefty and the world of the fenfe of the nation. They tell us that '* the Englifli people fee *' with regret his Majefty 's Government fquandering "■ away the funds which had been granted to him." This aftonifhing allumption of the publick voice of England, is but a flight foretafte of the ufurpation which, on a peace, we may be aflured they will make of all the powers in all the parts of our vaf- fal conftitution. " If it be thus in the green leaf, *' what will it be in the dry }"

Next they tell us as a condition to our treaty, that *' this Government muft abjure the unjull ha- *' tred it bears to them, and at laft open it's ears " to the voice of humanity." — Truely this is even from her an extraordinary demand. Hitherto it feems we have put wax into our ears to ftiut thetn up againft the tender, foothing ftrains, in the ajfet- twjo of humanity, warbled from the throats of Reubel, Carnot, Tallien, and the whole chorus of

I Confifcators,

( 58 )

ConfifcatorSj domiciliary Vifitors, Committee-men of Refearcli, Jurors and Prefidents of Revolu- tionary Tribunals, Regicides, Affaffins, Mafla- crers, and Septembrizers. It is not difficult to difcern what fort of humanity our Government is to learn from thefe fyren fingers. Our Govern- ment alfo I admit, with fome reafon, as a ftep to- wards the propofed fraternity, is required to abjure the unjuft hatred which it bears to this body of ho- nour and virtue. I thank God I am neither a Mi- nider nor a leader of.Oppofition. 1 proteft J can- not do what they defire, if I were under the guillo- tine, or as they ingenioufly and pleafantly exprefs *' it, looking out of the little national window." Even at that opening I could receive none of their light. 1 am fortified againft all fuch affedlions by the declaration of the Government, which I mull yet confider as lawful, made on the 29th of Odober 1793*, and ftill ringing in my ears.

This

* '* In their place has fuccecded a fyftem deftruAive of all " publick Older, maintained by profcriptions, exiles and confif- " cations without number : by arbitrary imprifonment ; by maf- " fhcres which cannot be remembered without horror ; and at *' length by the execrable murder of a juft and beneficent So- *' vcrtign, and of the illullrious Princefs, who, with an un- " ft)aken firmnefs, has fliared all the misfortunes of Irer Royal " Coniort, his protracled futt'erm-s, his cruel captivity and his " ignominious death." — " They (the allies) have had to en- *' counter a6ts of aggrellion without pretext, open violations ot '• .ul treaties, unprovoked declarations of war; in a word,

" whatever

( 59 )

This declaration was tranfmitred not only to all our commanders by fea and land, but to our Mi- nifters in every Court of Europe. It is the moft eloquent and highly finilhed in the ftyle, the mod

judicious

" whatever corniplion, intrigue or violence could effect for the *' purpofe fo openly avowed, of fubverting all the inftitutions " of fociety, and of extending over all the nations of Europe " that confufion, which has produced the mifery of France." — " This ftate of things cannot exift in France without in- " volving all the furrounding powers in one common danger, *' without giving them the right, without impofing it upon them *' as a duty, to flop the progrefs of an evil, which exifts only by *' the fucceflive violation of all law and all property, and which *' attaclts the fundamental principles by which mankind is united ♦' in the bonds of civil fociety."—" The King would impofe *' none other than equitable and moderate conditions, not fuch *' as the expence, the rifqucs and the facrifices of the war might "juftify; but fuch as his Majefty thinks himfelf under the in- " difpenfible neceflity of requiring, with 2. view to thcfe confi- " derations, and ftill more to that of his own fecuritv and of " the future tranquillity of Europe. Kis IMajeffy defires nothing " more fincerely than thus to tei minate a war, which he in vain " endeavoured to avoid, and all the calamities of which, as now " experienced by France, are to be attributed only to the ambi- " tion, the perfidy and the violence of thofe, whofe crimes have " involved their own country in mifery, snd difcrraced all civi- " lizcd n^.tjons."' — " The King promifes on his part the fufpen- " fion of hoftilities, friendfliip, and (as far as the courfe of " events will allow, of which the will of rnsa cannot difpole) " fecurity and prcteclion to all thofe who, by declaring for a ♦' monarchical form of Government, iliall Ihake off the yoke of " fanguinary anarchy ; of that anarchy which has broken all *' the moH facred bonds of fociety, difiblvcd all the relations of

I ^ " civil

( 6o )

judicious in the choxe of tonicks, the moft or- derly in the arrangement, and the moft rich in the colouring, without employing the fmalleft degree of exaggeration, of any ftat^e paper that has ever yet appeared. An ancient writer, Plutarch, I think it is, quotes fome verfes on the eloquence of Pericles, who is called " the on'y orator that " left ftings in the minds of his hearers." Like his, the eloquence of the declaration, not con- tradiding, but enforcing fentiments of the triieft hunianitv, hns ^eft (lings thai have penetrated more than ikin-deep into my mind ; and never can they be extracted by all tlie furgery of murder; never can the th.obbings they have created, be alTiiaged by all the emollient cataplafms of robbery and con- fifcation.

The third point which they have more clearly exprclTed than ever, is of equal importance with

** civil life, violated every right, confounded every duty ; vi^hlch *♦ ufes the name of liberty to exercife the moft cruel tyranny, *' to annihilate all property, to feize on all pofTeflions; which *' founds it's power on the pretended confent of the people, and ** itfelf carries fire andfwoid through extenfive provinces for *' having demanded their laws, their religion and their laiiful *' Sovereign."

Declaration fent by his Majefty's command to the Com- manders of his Majefty's fleets and armies employed againft France, and to his Majefty's jVIinifters em- ployed at foreign Courts. WbltJjally 0^. 29, 17,^3.

the

( 6i )

the reft ; and with them fvirni(hes a complete view of the Regicide fyftem. For they demand as a condition, without which our ambaffador of obedi- ence cannot be received with any hope of fuc- cefs, that he fhall be *' provided with full powers *' to negociate a peace between the French Repub- *' lick and Great Britain, and to conclude it defi- *' niti-vely between the two powers." With theif fpear they draw a circle about us. They will hear nothing of a joint treaty. We muft make a peace ieparatcly from our allies. We muft, as the very iirft and preliminary ftep, be guilty of that perfidy towards our friends and alibciates, with which they reproach us in our trania(flions with them our enemies. We are called upon fcandaloufty to be- tray the fundamental fecurities to ourfelves and to ail nations. In my opinion (it is perhaps but a poor one) if we are meanly bold enough to fend an ambalTador fuch as this official note of the enemy requires, we cannot even difpatch our emif- fary without danger of being charged with a breach of our alliance. Government liow undcr- flands the full meaning of the paflport.

Strange revolutions have happened in the ways of thinking and in the feelings of men : But. it re- quires a very extraordinary coalition of par- ties indeed, and a kind of unheard-of unanimity in publick Councils, which can impofe this new-

difcovered

( 6z )

difcovered fyftem of negociation, as found national policy on the undetftanding of a fpeftator of this wonderful fcene, who judges on the principles of any thing he ever before faw, read, or heard of, iind above all, on the underftanding of a perfon who has had in his eye the tranfadions of the lafl feven years.

I know it is fuppofed, that if 'good terms of capitulation are not granted, after we have thus To repeatedly hung out the whiie flag, the national fpirit will revive with tenfold ardour. This is an experiment cautiously to be made. Render pour mieux /aiitev, according to the French by- word, cannot be truftedtoas a general rule ofcon- dudt. To diet a man into weaknefs and languor, afterwards to give him the greater Rrength, has more of the empirick than the r^itional phyfician. It is true that fome perfons have been kicked into courage; and this is no bad hint to give to thofe who are too forward and liberal in bellowing in- fults and outrages on their pafiive companions. But fuch a courfe does not at hrft view appear a well-chofen difcipline to form men to a nice fenfe of honour, or a quick refentment of injuries. A long habit of humiliation does not feem a very good preparative to manly and vigorous fenti- ment. It may not leave, perhaps, enough of energy in the mind fairly to difcern what are good

terras

( 63 )

terms or what are not. Men low and difpirited may regard thofe terms as not at all amifs, which in another ftate of mind they would think intoler- able : if they grew peevifli in this fbate of mind, they may be roufed, not againft the enemy whom they Iiave been taught to fear, but ag-iinft the Miniftry*, who are more within their reach, and who have refufed conditions that are not unfeafonable, from power that they have been taught to confider as irrefiftible.

If all that for fome months I have heard have the lead foundation, I hope it has not, the Minlfters are, perhaps, not quite To much to be blamed, as their condition is to be lamented. I have been given to underftand, that thefe pro- ceedings are not in their origin properly theirs. It is faid that there is a fecret in the Houfe of Commons. It is faid that Minifters acl not accord- ing to the votes, but according to the difpofitions, of the majority. I hear that the minority has long fmce fpoken the general fenfe of the nation j and that to prevent thofe who compofe it from hav- ing the open and avowed lead in that houfe, or perhaps in both Houfes, it was neceffary to pre-occupy their ground, and to take their pro- pofitions cut of their mouths, even with the ha-

* Ut kthargicus hie, cum fit pugil, et medicum nrget. — Hcr.

zard

( H )

zard of being afterwards reproached with a com- pliance which it was forefeen would be injiLlefs.

If the general difpofitlon of the people be, as I hear it is, for an immediate peace with Regicide, without fo much as confidering our publick and folemn engagements to the p^.rty in France whofe caufe we had efpoufed, or the eng-gcmenis ex- prelTed in our general alliances, not only without an enquiry into the terms, but with a certain know- ledge that none but the word terms will be offered, it is all over with us. It is ftrange, but it may be true, that as the danger from Jacobinifm is increafcd in my eyes and in yours, the fear of it is leflened in the eyes of many people who formerly regarded it with horror. It feems, they a(5l un- der the impreflion of terrors of another fort, which have frightened them out of th' ir firfh appre- henfions. But let their fears or their hopes, or their defires, be what they v/ili, they (hould recoi- left, that they who would make peace without a previous knowledge of the terms, make a fiirren- der. They are conquered. They donotn-eat; they receive the law. Is this the difpofition of the people of England } Then the people of England are contented lo feek in the kindnefs of a foreign fydematick enemy combined with a dangerous faclion at home, a fecuriry which they cannot find

in

( 63 )

in their own patriotifm and their own courage. They are willing to truft to the fympathy of Re- gicides, the guarantee of the BritilK Monarchy. They are content t© reft their religion on the piety of aiheifts by eflablifliment. They are fatisfied to feek in the clemency of pradtiftd murderers the fe- curity of their lives. They are pleafed to confide their property to the fafeguard of thofe who are robbers by inclination, intereft, habit, and fyftem. If this be our deliberate mind, truly we deferve to lofe, what it is impofi!ible we (hould long retain, the name of a nation.

In matters of State, a conftltutional competence to a(fl, is in many cafes the fmalleft part of the queftion. Without difputing (God forbid I (hould difpute) the fole competence of the King and the Parliament, each in ii's province, to decide on war and peace, 1 venture to fay, no war can be long carried on againft the will of the people. This war, in particular, cannot be carried on unlefs they are cnthufiadically in. favour of it. Acquiefcence will not do. There muft be zeal. Univerfal zeal in fuch a caufe, and at fuch a time as this is, cannot be looked for ; neither is ic necefTary. A zeal in the larger part carries the force of tlie whole. Without this, no Government, certainly not our Government, is capable of a great war. None of the ancient regular Governments have wherewithal

K to

( OS )

to fight abroad wich a foreign foe, and athorhe to overcome repining, reluftance, and chicane. It miift be fome portentous thing, like Regicide France, that can exhibit fuch a prodigy. Yet even (lie, the mother of monfters, more prolifick than the country of old called Ferax moiijlrorumy ibevvs fymptoms of being almoft effete already j and fhe will be fo, nnlefs the fallow of a peace comes to recruit her fertility. But whatever may be reprefcnted concerning the meannefs of the po- pular {j-)irlt, I, for one, do not think fo defperately of the BiitiQi nation. Our minds, as I faid, are light, but they are not depraved. We are dread- fully open to delufion and to dejeftion; but we are capable of being animated and undeceived.

It cannot be concealed. We are a divided peo- ple. But in divifions, where a part is to be taken, we arc to make a mufter of our ftrength. I have often endeavoured to compute and to clafs thofe who, in any political view, are to be called the peo- ple. Without doing fomething of this fort wc mull proceed abiurdly. We fhould not be much wifer, if we pretended to very great accuracy ia our edinnte : But 1 think, in the calculation I have made, the error cannot be very material. In England and Scotland, I compute that thofe of adult age, not declining in life, of tolerable leifurc lor fuch difcufiions, and of fo.ne means of infor- mation,

C 67 )

mation, more or lefs, and who are above menial; dependence, /or what virtually is fuch) may amount to about four hundred thoufand. There is fuch a thing as a natural reprefentative of the people. This body is that reprefentative; and on this body, more than on the legal conftitiient, the artificial re- prefentative depends. This is the Britifli pitb- lick; and it is a publick very numerous. The reft, when feeble, are the objefbs of protedion ; when ftrong, the means of force. They who affecl: to confider that part of us in any other light, in- fult while they cajole us; they do not want us for counfellors in deliberation, but to lift us as fol- diers for battle.

Of tbefe four hundred thoufand political clti- zeas, I look upon one fifth, or about eighty thou- fand, 10 be pure Jacobins ; utterly incapable of amendment ; objects of eternal vigilance ; and when they break out, of legai conftraint. On thefe, no reafon, no argumetit, no example, no vene- rable authority, can have the flighteft influence. They defire a change; and they will have it if they can. If they cannot have it by EngliOi cabal, they will make no fort of fcruple of having it by the cabal of France, into which already they arc virtually incorporated. It is only their affured and confident expectation of the advantages of French fraternity and the approaching bleflings of K 2 Regicide

( as )

Regicide intercourfe, that fkins over their mif- chievous difpofuions with a momentary quiet.

This minority is great and formidable. I do not know whether if I aimed at the total over- throw of a kingdom, I fliould wifli to be encum- bered with a larger body of partizans. They are more eafily difciplined and directed than if the number were greater. Thefe, by their fpirit of intrigue, and by their reftlefs agitating adivity, are of a force far fuperior to their num- bers; and if times grew the leail critical, have the means of debauching or intimidating many of thofe who are now found, as well as of adding to their force large bodies of the more paffive part of the nation. This minority is numerous enough to make a mighty cry for peace, or for war, or for any objedt they are led vehemently to defire. By paf- ling from place to place with a velocity incredible, and diverfifying their charader and defcription, they are capable of mimicking the general voice. We muft not always judge of the generality of the opinion by the noife of the acclamation.

The majority, the other fcnir fifths, is perfcflly fou.id; and of the beft poflible difpofition to re- ligion, lo government, to the true and undivided intereft of their country. Such men are naturally difpofed to' peace. They who are in poflcfTion

of

{ 69 )

of all they wi(h are languid and improvidenti With this fault, (and I admit it's exiftence in all it's extent) they would not endure to hear of a peace that led to the ruin of every thing for which peace is dear to them. However, the delire of peace is effentially the weak fide of that kind cf men. AH men that are ruined, are ruined on the fiue of their natural propenfities. There they are un- guarded. Above all, good men do not fufpe(5l that their deflruclion is attempted through their virtues. This their enemies are perfecl'y aware of: And accordingly, they, the mofi turbulent of mankind, who never made a fcruple to fhiike the tranquil- lity of their country to it's center, raife a continual cry for peace with France. Peace with Regicide, and war with the reft of the world, is their motto. From the beginning, and even whilft the French gave the blows, and we hardly oppofed the ^'is inerti(€ to their efloi ts, from that day to this hour, like importunate Guinea-fowls crying one note day and night, they havs called for peace.

In this they ?ire, as I confefs in all things they are, perfedly coniiftent. They who wiQi to unite themfelves to your enemies, naturally defire, that you (liould difarm yourfelf by a peace with thefc enemies. But it pafTes my conception, how the)^ who wifh well to their country on it's antient fyf-

lem

( 70 )

tern of laws and manners, come not to be doubly alarmed, when they find nothing but a clamor for ]jcace, in the mouths of the men on earth the leafl difpofed to it in their natural or in their habitual characfter.

I have a good opinion of the general abilities of the Jacobins : not that I fuppofe them better born than others ; but flrong paffions awaken the facul- ties. They fuffer not a particle of the man to be loft. The fpirit of enterprife gives to this defcription the full ufc of all their native energies. If I have reafon to conceive that my enemy, who, as fuch, muft have an intereft in my deftruftion, is alfo a perfon of difeernment and fagacity, then I mufl be quite fure, that in a conteft, the objedl he vio- lently purfues, is the very thing by which my ruin is likely to be the moft perfeftly accompliflied. Why do the Jacobins cry for peace ? Becaufe they know, that this point gained, the reft will follov/ of courfe. On our part, why are all the rules of prudence, as fure as the laws of material nature, to be at this time reverfed .'' How comes it, that novv for the firft time, men think it right to be governed by the counfels of their enemies ? Ought they not rather to tremble, when they are perfuaded to tra- vel on the fame road ; and to tend to the fame place of reft ?

The

( n )

The minority I fpeak of, is not fufceptible of an impreffion from the topics of argument, to be iifed to the larger part of the community. I therefore do not addrefs to them any part of what I have to fay. The more forcibly I drive my arguments againft their fyllem, fo as to make an impreffion where I with to make it, the more ftrongly I rivet them in their fentiments. As for us, who compofe the far larger, and what I call the far better part of the people ; let rne fay, that we have not been quite fairly dealt with when called to this deli- beration. The Jacobin minority have been abun- dantly fupplied with fiores and provifions of all kinds towards their warfare. No fort of argumen- tative materials, fuited to their purpcfes, have been withheld. Falfe they are, unfound, fophiftical ; but they are regular in their direction. They all bear one way ; and they all go to the fupport of the fubftantial merits of their caufe. The others have not had the queftion To m'.:ch as fairly flated to them.

There has not been in this cciitury) any foreign peace or v»ar, in it's origin, the fruit of popular delire ; except the war that was made with Spain in 1730. Sir Pcobert Vv^ylpole was forced into Vne war by tlie people, who were inflamed to this meafure by the moft leading politicians. by tlie firlt orators, and the greateft poets of

the

( 72 >

the time. For that war, Pope fung Jiis dying- notes. For that war, Johnfon, in more energetic jftrains, employed the voice of his early genius. For that war, Glover diftingnifhed himfelf in the way in which his miife was the moll natural and happy. The crowd readily followed the politi- cians in the cry for a war, which threatened little bloodfhcd, and which promifed vi6tories that were attended with fomething more folid than glory. A war with Spain was a war of plunder. In the prefcnt conflict with Regicide, Mr. Pitt has not hitherto had, nor will perhaps for a few days have, many prizes to hold out in the lottery of war, to tempt the lower part of our chara61er. He can only maintain it by an ap- peal to the higher; and to thofe, in whom that higher part is the moil predominant, he mufl look the moft for his fupport. Whilll he holds out no inducements to the wife, nor bribes to the avari- cious, he may be forced by a vulgar cry into a, peace ten times more ruinous than the mofl dif- allrous war. The weaker he is in the fund of mo- tives which apply to our avarice, to our lazinefs, and to our laliitude, if he means to cany the war to any end at all, the ilronger he ought to be in his addrefles to our magnanimity and to our rcalbn.

In {tating that WaljDole was driven by a popular clamour into a mcnfurc not to be juftified, I do

not

( 73 )

not mean wholly to excufe his conduct!. My time of obfcrvation did not exactly coincide with that event ; but I read much of the controverlies then carried on. Several years after the contefts of par- ties had ceafed, the people were amufed, and in a degree warmed with them. The events of that £cra feemed then of magnitude, which the revolu- tions of our time have reduced to parochial im - portance ; and the debates, which then tliook the nation, now appear of no higher moment than a difcuflion in a veftry. When I was very young, a general fathion told me I was to admire fome of the writings againft that Minifler ; a little more maturity taught me as much to defpife them. I obferved one fault in his general proceeding. He never manfully put forward the entire ftrength of his caufe. He temporifed ; he managed ; and adopting very nearly the fentiments of his advcrfa- ries, he oppofed their inferences. This, for a po- litical commander, is the choice of a weak poft. His adverfliries had the better of tlie argument, &g he handled it, not as the.reafon and juftice of hivS caufe enabled him to m.anage it. I fay this, after having feen, and with fome care examined, the ori- ginal documents concerning certain important tranfa^tions of thofe times. They perfectly fatis- fled me of the extreme injuftice of that war, and of the falfehocd of the colours, v/hich to his own i-uin, and guided by a miftaken policy, . he fuf-

L fered

( 74 )

offered to be daubed over that meafure. Some yearn after, it was rily fortune to converfe with many of the principal a6tors againft that Minifler, and with thofe, Who principally excited that clamour. None of therri, no not one, did in the leaft defend the meafure, or attempt to juftify their condu6t. They condemned it as freely as they -would hav« done in Commenting upon any proceeding in hif- tory, in which they were totally unconcerned. Thus it will be. They who ftir up the people to improper delires, whether of peace or war, will be condemned by themfelves. They who weakly yield to them will be condemned by hiflory.

In my opinion, the prefent Miniftry are as far from doing full juftice to their caufe in this war, as Walpole was from doing juflice to the peace which at that time he was willing to preferve. They throw the light on one lidc only of their cafe ; though it is impoffible they Ihould not obfcrve, that the other fide which is kept in the fliade, has it's importance too. They muft know, that France is formidable, not only as Oie is France, but as file is Jacobin France. They knew from the beginning that the Jacobin party was not confined to that country. They knew, tJiey felt, the frrong difpofition of the fame faction in both countries to communicate and to co- operate. For fome time paft, thefe two points

have

( 75 )

have been kept, and even induftrioiifly kept^ out of fight. France is confidered as merely a foreign Power ; and the feditious Engliih only as a domei^ tick faclion. The merits of the war with the for- mer have been argued folely on poHtical grounds. To prevent the mifchievous do6lrines of the latter, from corrupting our minds, matter and argument have been fupplied abundantly, and even to fur- feit, on the excellency of our own government. But nothing has been done to make us feel in what manner the fafety of that Government is connected with the principle and with the iiTue of this war. For any thing, which in the late dif- cuffion has appeared, the war is entirely collateral tq the ftate of Jacobinifm ; as truly a foreign war to us and to all our home concerns, as the war with Spain in 1739, about Garda-Cojlas^ the Madrid Convention, and the fable of Captain Jenkins's ears.

Whenever the adverfe party has raifed a cry for peace with the Regicide, the anfwer has been littlp more than this, " that the Adminiflration wiflied for " fuch a peace, full as much as the Oppofition ; but " that the time was not convenient for making it." Whatever elfe has been faid was much in the fame fpirit. Reafons of this kind never touched the fub- Itantial merits of the war. Thcv were in the na- ture of dilatory pleas, exceptions of form, pre-

L 2 vious

( '75 .)

vious qaeftions. Accordingly all the arguments a'gainfl a compliance with what was reprefented as the popular defire, (urged on wdth all pofii- ble vehemence and eari'cftnefs by the Jacobins) have appeared flat and languid, feeble and eva- iive. They appeared to aim only at gaining time. They never entered into the peculiar and diftindHve chara6ler of the war. They fpoke neither to the undefllanding nor to the heart. Cold as ice themfdves, they never could kindle in our breads a fpark of that zeal, which is neceflary to a confli6t with an adverfe zeal ; much lefs were they made to infufe into our minds, that ftubborn perfevering fpirit, which alone is capable of bearing up againfl thofe viciffitudes of fortune, which will probably occur, and thofe burthens which mull be inevitably borne in a long war. I fpeak it empha- ticall}^, and v;ith a deiire that it fhould be marked, in a long war ; bccaufe, without fuch a war, no ex- perience has yet told us, that a dangerous power has ever been reduced to meafure or to reafon. I do not throw back m}'^ view to the Peloponnefian war of tv/entv-feven vears ; nor to two of the Pu- nick wars, the iirft of twenty-four, the fecond of eighteen ; nor to the more recent war concluded "by the treaty of Weflphalia, which continued, I think, for thirty. I go to what is but jufl fallen behind living memory, and immediately touches our own country. Let the poition of our hiilory

from

( 77 )

from the year l6S9tol713be "brought before us. We fhall find, that in all that period of twenty- four years, there were hardly five that could be called a feafon of peace ; and the interval between the two wars was in reality, nothing more than a very ac- tive preparation for renovated hoilility. During that period, every one of the prcpofitions of peace came from the enemy : The firfl, when they were ac- cepted, at the peace of Ryfwick ; The fecond, where they -were rcjedied at the congrefs at Ger- truydcnburgh ; The laft, when the war ended by the treaty of Utrecht. Even then, a very great part of the nation, and that which contained by- far the moft intelligent ftatefmen, was againft the conclufion of the war. I do not enter into the merits of that queftion as between the parties. I only ftate the exiftence of that opinion as a fa6l, from whence you may draw fuch an inference as you think properly arifes from it,

It is for us at prefent to recolle61: what wc have been ; and to confider what, if we pleafe, wc may be flill. At the period of thofe wars, our principal flrength was found in the refolution of the people ; that in the refolution of a part only and of the then whole, which bore no proportion to our exiPiing magnitude. England and Scotland were not united at the beginning of that mighty tlrug;>;!e. When, in the courfe of the conteft,

they

5Q-

( 78 )

they were conjoined, it was in a raw, an ill-cc-» inented, an unprodu6live union. For the whole dura; on of the war, and long after,the names, and other outward and vifible (igns of approximation, rather augmented than diminifhed our infular feuds. They were rather the caufes of new difcon- tents and nev/ troubles, than promoters of cordia- lity afid affe6lion. The now fingle and potent Great Britain was then not only two countries, but, from the party heats in both, and the divi- lions formed in each of them, each of the old king- doms within itfelf in effe6l was made up of two Iioftile nations, Ireland, now fo large a fource of the com.mon opulence and power, which wifely managed might be rpade much more beneficial and mu'h more efFe6liye, was then the heaviell of the burthens. An army not much lefs than forty thoufand men, was drayin from the geperal effort, to keep that kingdom in a poor, unfruitful, and re-^ fourpelefs fubje6tion.

Such was the ftate of the empire. The ftate of our finances was worfe, if poffible. Every branch of the revenue became lefs productive after the Revolution. Silver, not as now a fort of coun- ter, but the body of the ciirrent coin, was reduced fo low, as not to have above three parts in four of the value in the fhilling. It required a dead ex- pence of three millions fterling to renew the coin- age.

{ 79 )

age. Publick credit, that great but ambiguous principle, which has Co often been predicled as the caufe of our certain ruin, but which for a century has been the conftant companion, and often the means, of our profperity and greatnefs, had it's ori- gin, and was cradled, I may fay, in bankruptcy and beggary. At this day we have feen parties contending to be admitted, at a moderate premi- um, to advance eighteen millions to the Exchequer. For infinitely fmaller loans, the Chancellor of the Exchequer of that day, Montagu, the father of publick credit, counter-lecuring the State by the appearance of the city, with the Lord-Mayor of London at his fide, was obliged, like an agent at an eiecSlion, to go cap in hand from fhop to (hop, to borrow an hundred pound and even fmaller fums. When made up in driblets as they could, their bcft fecurities were at an intereft of 1 2 per cent. Even the paper of the Bank (now at par with cafh, and even fometimes preferred to it) was often at a difcount of twenty per cent. By this the ftate of the reft may be judged.

As to our commerce, the imports and exports of the nation, now fix and forty million, did not then amount to ten. The inland trade, which is com- monly paiTed by in this fort of eftimatcs, but which, in part growing oat of the foreign_, and connected with it, is more advantageous^ and more fubftan-

tially

C 80 )

tfally nutritive to the Statfe, is not only grown in ^ proportion of near five to one as the foreign, hut has been augmented, at leafi:, in a tenfold pro- portion. When I came to England, I remem- ber but one river navigation, the rate of car^ riage on which was hmited by an Acl of Parlia-r ment. It was made in the reign of Wilham the Third ; I mean that of the Aire and Calder. The rate was fettled at thirteen pence. So high a price demonllrated the feeblenefs of thefe beginnings of our inland intercoufe. In my time, one of the longeil and fnarpell contells I remember in your Houfe, and which rather refembled a violent con- tention" amongfl national parties than a local dif- pute, was, as well as I can recollec^^, to hold the price up to threepence. Even this, which a very fcanty juftice to the proprietors required, was done with infinite difficulty. As to private credit, there \y6Te. not, as I bell remember, twelve Bankers fhops ;it that timeout of London. In this their number, when I firit faw the country, I cannot be quite ex- a6t; but certainly thofe machines of domeflick credit were then very few indeed. They are now in almoft every market town : and this cir- cumfiance (whether the thing be carried to an ex- cefs or not) demonftrates the aftonifliing en- creafe of private confidence, of general circula- tion, and of internal commerce; an encreafe out ot all prop."^rtion to the growth of the foreign trade.

Our

( 81 )

Our naval ftrength in the time of King William's war was nearly matched by that of France ; and though conjoined with Holland, then a maritime Power hardly inferior to our own, even with that force we were not always victorious. Though fmally fuperior, the allied fleets experienced many unpleafant revcrfes on their own element. In two years three thoufand velTcls were taken from the Englilh trade. On the continent we loft almofl every battle we fought.

In 1697, it is not quite an hundred years ago, in that ftate of things, amidft the general debafe- ment of the coin, the fall of the ordinary reve- venue, the failure of all the extraordinary fupplies, the ruin of commerce and the almoft total extinc- tion of an infant credit, the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer himfelf whom we have juft feen begging from door to door — came forward to move a refo- lution, full of vigour, in which far from being dif- couraged by the generally adverfe fortune, and the long continuance of the war, the Commons agreed to addrcfs the Crown in the following manly, fpirited, and truly animating ftyle.

" This is the EIGFITH year in which your Ma- " jefly's moft dutiful and loyal fubje6ls the Com- " mons in Parliament aflembled,. have affiftcd your '-' Majelty with large lupplies for carrying on a jult

M " and

(82 )

^^ and ncceilary war, in defence ofour religion, and " pi-efcrvation of our laws, and vindication of the ^' rights and liberties of the people of England,

Afterwards they proceed in this manner :— " To flicw to your Majcily and all Chriftendom, " that the Commons of England will not be ^' (znwfed or diverted from their firm rcfolutions of " obtaining by War, a fafe and honourable peace, *' we do in the name of thofe wc reprefent, renew ••' our affurances to fupport your Majefty and your *' Government againft all your enemies at home " and abroad ; and that we will effedlually aflift *' you in cany^ng on the war againft France."

The amufement and dlverlion they fpeak of, was the fuggeftion of a treaty 'propojed hy the enemy, and announced from the Throne. Thus the people of England felt in the eighth, not in the fourth year of the war. No fighing or panting af- ter ncgociation ; no motions from the Oppolition to force the Miniftry into a peace ; no meilages from Minifters to palfy and deaden the refolution of Parliament or the fpirit of the nation. They did not fo much as advife the King to liuen to the propofitions of the enemy, nor to f.-ek for peace but through the mediation of a vigorous war. This addrcfs was moved in an hotj a divided, a fa<5lious, and in a great part, difatye61cd Houfe of Commons,

and it was carried mmhze CGntrad'icaitc,

Whils

( 8.3 )

While that firft war (which was ill fmothcrcd by the treaty of E.yfwick) fiepL in the thin adics of a feeniing peace, a new contlagration was in ii'> iin- mediate caufes. A frefli and a far 'greater war was in preparation. A year had hardly elapfcd when arrangements were made for renewing the contcft with tenfold fury. The lieps which were taken, at that time, to compere, to reconcile, to unitc^ and to difcipline all Europe againft the growth of France, ceitainly furnifh to a ftatefm.an the fmcfr. and mod interefting part in the hiftory of that great period. It formed the malier-piccc of King William's policy, dexteritv, and perfcvcrance. Full of the idea of preferving, not onjy a local civil li- berty united with order, to our countrv, but to embody it in the political liberty, the order, and the independence of nations uniicd under a natu- ral head, the King called upon his Parliament to put itfelf into a poilure " to frejcr-ve to England the " weight and ijijlufnce it at frejhit had on the coim- '' c'lh and affairs abroad. It will be rcquilite F.u- *' rope ijiould fee you will not be vvantiag to \our- " felves."

BatBcd as that Monarch wa^;, and almoft heart- broken at the difappointmcnt he met with in the mode he firft propofed for that great end, he held on his courfe. He was faithful to his objcv^ ; arid in councils, as in arms, over and over again

M 2 rcpulfed.

( 84 )

rcpulfed, over and over again he returned to the charge. All the mortifications he had fufFered from the laft Parliament, and the greater he had to apprehend from that newly chofen, were not ca- pable of relaxing the vigour of his mind. He was in Holland when he combined the vaft plan of his foreign negociations. When he came to open his defign to his Minifters in England, even the fober f.rmnefs of Somers, the undaunted rcfolu- tion of Shrewfbury, and the adventurous fpirit of Montagu and Orford, were ftaggered. They were not yet mounted to the elevation of the King. The Cabinet met on the fubje6l at Tun- bridge Wells the 28th of Auguft, 1698; and there, Lord Somers holding the pen, after expref- ling doubts on the ftate of the continent, which they ultimately refer to the King, as bell inform- ed, they give him a moft difcouraging portrait of the fpirit of thi-s nation. " So far as relates to " England," fay thefe Miniflers, '^ it would be " want of duty not to give your Majefty this clear *' account, that there is a cleadnejs and want ofjpi- " rlt in the nation unlverJaUy, fo as not to be at " all difpofed to entering into a new war. That " they fcem to be tired out ivith taxes to a degree " beyond what was difcerned, till it appeared upon ^^ occafion of the late cJeSiiom. This is the truth '' of the fact upon which your Majefty will deter- *' mine what refolution ought to betaken."

His

( 65 )

His Majelty did determine ; and did take and purfue his refolution. In all the tottering imbecility of a new Government, and with Parliament totally unmanageable, he perfevered. He perfevered to expel the fears of his people, by his fortitude — To ileady their ficklenefs, by his conftancy — To ex- pand their nan*ow prudence, by his enlarged \v\{- ,dom — To fink their faclious temper in his public fpirit. — In fpite of his people he rclblved to make them great and glorious ; to make England, in- clined to fhrink into her narrow felf, the Arbitrefs of Europe, the tutelary Angel of the human race. In fpite of the Minifters, who ftaggered under the weight that his mind impofed upon theirs, unfup- ported as they felt tbemfclves by the popular fpi- rit, he infufcd into them his own foul; he renewed in them their ancient heart ; he rallied them in the fame caufo.

It required fome time to accomplifh this work. The people were firft gained, andthroiigh them their diltradted rcprefcntatives. Under the influence of King Williarn Holland had refilled the allurements of every feducTtion; and had refuted the ten'ors of every menace. With Piannibal at her gates, fhc had nobly and magnanimoufly refufcd all feparate treaty, or any thing v\-hich might for a moment appear to divide her affection or her intercity or even to diltinguilb her in identity from England.

Having

( 86 )

Having fettled the great point of the confolida- tion (which he hoped would be eternal) of the countries made for a common interell:, and com- mon fentiment, the King, in his melTage to both HoufeSj calls their attention to the affairs of the States General. The Houfe of Lords was perfe6tly found, and entirely impreffcd with the wifdom and dignity of the King^s proceedings. In anfwer to the meffagc, which you will obfcrve was narrowed to a fingle point, (the danger of the States General) after the ufual profeffions of zeaJ for his fer\'icc, the Lords opened themfelves st large. They go far beyond the demands of the meflage. They exprefs themfelves as follows: *' We take this occafion further to j^fllire vour " Majefty, that we are fenfible of the grcc:t and ^^ iminineni .danger to ii>hlclt the States General are

o

*' expojed. And we perfecfly agree -with tkem in he- " Uevmg that their fajety and ours are Jo mjeparably '' xnited, that inhatjocver is rain to the one iv.ufl be ^^ fatal to the other.

'' We humbly defire your MajclTy will be plcaf- *' ed, not only to make good all the articles of any '^'farmer treaties to the Sates General, but that you *' will enter into a llricl league, otfenfive and de- " fenfive, with them, /or their common prefejrvation: *-^ and that you 'wUl invite i?ito it all Princes ayid

f' States

( 87 )

*^ States ci'Ao are concerned in the prefenf vijihle dan- ^' ger, aripr.g from the mnon of France and Spain.

" And we further defire your Majefiy, that you ** will be pleafed to enter into fuch alliances with '' the Emperor, as your Majefty fhall think fit, *' purfuant to the ends of the treaty of 1 680 ; to- **^ wards all which we alllire your Majefty of our " hearty and fincere afliftance ; not doubting, but *^ whenever your Majefty fhall be obliged to be " engaged for the defence of your allies, and fe- *' curing the liherty and quiet of Europe^ Almighty '" God will protect your facred perfon in fo rightc- " ous a caufe. And that the unanimity, wealth, " and courage of your fubje6ls will carry your Ma- " jelly with honour and fuceefs through all the *' difficulties of a just war."

The Houfe of Commons was more refervcd ; th^ iate popular difpofition was ftiil in a great degree prevalent in the reprefcntative, after it had been made to change in the confiituent body. The principle of the Grand Alliance was not diredtly recogiiized in the refulution of the CorrtjTions, nor the v\ar announced, though they v/ere well aware the alliance was formed for the v.ar. Hovrevcr, compellccl by the returning icnie of the people, they went (o fir as to lix the tliree great immove- able pillars of the lalety and grcatncis of England,

as

( S8 )

as they were then, as they are now, and as they mufl ever be to the end of time. They aiferted in general terms the necellity of fupporting Holland ; of keeping united with our allies; and maintain- ing the liberty of Europe ; though they reflricled their vote to the fuccours ftipulated by a(5iual treaty. But now they were fairly embarked; they were obliged to go with the courfe of the vellel ; and the whole nation, fplit before into an hundred adverfe factions, with a King at it's head evidently declining to his tomb, the whole nation. Lords, Commons, and People, proceeded as one body^ informed by one foul. Under the Britifli union, the union of Europe was eonfolidated ; and it long held together with a degree of cohefion, iirmnefs, and fidelity not known before or fince in any po- litical combination of that extent.

Jufl as the laft hand was given to this immenfe and complicated machine, the mailer workman died : But the work was formed on true mecha- nical principles ; and it was as truly wrought. It went by the impiilfc it had received from the firft move?-. The man was dead: But the grand alliance fusvived, in which King William lived and reigned. Tlvdt heartlefs and difpirited people, whom Lord Somcrs had rcprcfcnted, about two years before, as dead in energy and operation, continued that war to which it was fuppofed they

were

( 89 )

were unequal in mind^ and in means, for near thirteen years.

For what have I entered into all this detail > To what purpofe have I recalled your view to the end of the laft century ? It has been done to fhcw that the Britifh Nation was then a great people — to point out how and by what means they came to be exalted above the vulgar level, and to take that lead which they alTumed among mankind. To qualify us for that pre-eminence, we had then an high mind, and a conllancy unconquerable; wc were then infpired with no liafhy paffions ; but llich as were durable as well as warm ; fuch as cor- refponded to the great interefts we had at flake. This force of chara^ler was infpired, as all fuch fpi- rit mull ever be, from above. Government gave the impulfe. As well may we fancy, that, of itfelf the fea will fwell, and that without winds the billows will infult the adverfe fliore, as that the grof3 mafs of the people will be m.oved, and elevated;, and continue by a fleady and permanent direc- tion to bear upon one point, without the influence of fuperior authority, or fuperior mind.

This impulfe ought, in my opinion, to have been given in this war; audit ought to have been con- tinued" to it at every inftant. It is made, if ever war v.'as made, to. touch all the great fprings of

N adlion

( 90 )

action in the human breafl. It ought not to have been a war of apology. The Minilfter had, in this confli6l, wherewithal to glory in fuccefs ; to be confoled in adverfity ; to hold high his principle in all fortunes. If it were not given him to fup- port the falling edifice, he ought to bury himfelf under the rains of the civilized world. All the art of Greece, and all the pride and power of eaf- tern Monarchs, never heaped upon their aflies fo grand a monument.

There were days when his great mind was up to the crifis of the world he is called to a6l in *. His manly eloquence was equal to the elevated wifdom of fuch fcntiments. But the little have triumphed over the great ; an unnatural, (as it fhould feem) not an unufual vi6lory. I am fure you cannot forget with how much uneafinefs we heard in converfation, the language of more than one gentleman at the opening of this contefl, " that he was willing t® " try the war for a year or two, and if it did not " fucceed, then to vote for peace.'* As if war was a matter of experiment ! As if you could take it up or lay it down as an idle frolick ! As if the dire goddefs that prelides over it, with her mur- derous fpear in her hand, and her gorgon at her breaft, was a coquette to be flirted with! We ought with reverence to approach that tremendous

* See the Declaration,

divinitv,

( 91 )

divinity, that loves courage, but commands coun- {d. War never leaves, where it found a nation. It is never to be entered into without a mature deliberation; not a deliberation lengthened out into a perplexing indecifion, but a deliberation leading to a fure and fixed judgment. When (o taken up it is not to be abandoned without realbn as valid, as fully, and as extenfively confidered. Peace may be made as unadvifedly as war. No- thing is fo rafh as fear ; and the counfels of pufil- lanimity very rarely put off, whilll they are always fure to aggravate, the evils from which they would fly.

In that great war carried on agalnft Louis the XlVth, for near eighteen years, Government fpared no pains to fatisfy the pation, that though they were to be animated by a defire of glory, glory was not their ukimate objedl-: but that every thing dear to them, in religion, in law, in liberty, every thing which as freemen, as Englifhmcn, and as ci- tizens of the great commonwealth of Chriftendom, they had at heart, was then at flake. This was to know the true art of gaining the affections and confidence of an high-minded people; this was to underftand human nature. A danger to avert a danger — a prefent inconvenience and filter- ing to prevent a forefeen future, and a worfe .calamity — thefe are the motives that belong to

N 2 an

( 92 )

an animal, who, in his conllitutlon, ig at once ad- venturous and provident ; circumrpe6t and daring; whom his Creator has made, as the Poet fays, " of ^' large difcourfe, looking before and after." But nei^er can a vehement and fufiained fpirit of forti- tude be kindled in a people by a war of calculation. It has nothing that can keep the mind ere6l under the gufts of adverfity. Even where men are wil- ling, as fometimes they are, to barter their blood for lucre, to hazard their fafety for the gratification of their avarice, the paffion, which animates them to that fort of conflicSt, like all the fhort-fighted paf- fions, mufl fee it's obje(5ls diftin^l and near at hand, The paffions of the lower order are hungry andimrr patient. Speculative plunder ; contingent fpoil ; fu- ture, long adjourned, uncertain booty; pillage which mufl enricli a late pofterity, and which pofTibly may not reach to poflerity at all ; thefe, for any length of time, will never fupport a mercenary war. The people are in the right. The calculation of profit in all fuch wars is falfe. On balancing the ae^ count of fuch wars, ten thoufand hogihcads of fugar are purchafed at ten thoufand times their price. The blood of man fhould never be fhed but to redeem the blood of man. It is well flied for Gur family, for our friends, for our God, for our countiy, fpr pur kind. The refl is vanity ; the refl is criipe,

In

( S3 )

In the war of the Grand Alliance, moft of thefe coniiderations voluntarily and naturally had their part. Some v/ere prelTed into^ the fervice. The political intereft eafily went in the track of the natural fentiment. In the reverfe courfe the car- riage does not follow freely. I am fure the na- tural feeling, as I have juft faid, is a far more pre- dominant ingredient in this v^'ar, than in that of any other that ever was waged by this kingdom.

If the war made to prevent the union of two crowns upon one head was a jult war, thi-, which is made to prevent the tearing all crowns from all heads which ought to wear them, and with the crowns to fmite off the facred heads themfelves, this is a juft war.

If a war to prevent Louis the XlVth from im- pofing his religion was juft, a war to prevent tlie murderers of Louis the XVIth from im pofing their irreligion upon us is juft ; a war to prevent the ope- ration of a f)^tem, which makes life without digni- ty, and death without hope, is a juft war.

If to preijerve political independence and ci- vil freedom to nations, was a juft ground of war ; a war to prefeiTe national independence, property, liberty, life, and honour, from certain univerfal Jiayovk; is a war jult^ <Recefi;iry, manly, pious;

and

( 94 )

and wc are bound to perfevere in it by ever}' prin- ciple, divine and human, as long as the f)-item which menaces them all, and ail equally, has an exigence in the world.

You, who have looked at this matter with as feir and impartial an eye as can be united with a feel- ing heart, you will not think it an hardy aflertion, when I affirm, that it were far better to be con- quered by any other nation, than to have this fac- tion for a neighbour. Before I felt myfelf autho- rifed to fay this, I confidered the ftate of all the countries in Europe for thefe laft three hundred years, which have been obliged to fubmit to a fo- reign law. In moft of thofe I found the condition of the annexed countries even better, certainly not w orfe, than the lot of thofe which were the patrimony of the conquerour. They wanted fome bleffings — but they were free from many very great evils. They were rich and tranquil. Such was Artois, Flanders, Lorrain, Alfatia, im- der the old Government of France. Such was Silefia under the King of Pruffia. They who are to live in the vicinity of this new fabrick, are to pre- pare to live in perpetual confpiracies and feditions ; and to end at lall, in being conquered, if not to her dominion, to her refemblance. But when we talk of conqueft by other nations, it is only to put a cafe. This is the only jfewer in Europe by which

('95 )

it is pojjlbfe we fhoiild be conquered. To live under the continual dread of fuch immeafurable evils is itfclf a grievous calamity. To live without the dread of them is to turn the danger into the difafter. The influence of fuch a France is equal to a war; it's example, more wafting than an hof- tile irruption. The hoftility with any other power is feparable and accidental ; this power, by the very condition of it's exiftence, by it's very eflential conftitution, is in a ftate of hollility with us, and with all civilized people.*

A Government of the nature of that fet up at our very door has never been hitherto feen, or even imagined, in Europe. What our relation to it will be cannot be judged by other relations. It is a ferious thing to have a connexion wiih a people, who live only under pofitivc, arbitrary, and change- able inftitutions ; and thofe not perfected nor fup- plied, nor explained, by any common acknowledged rule of moral fcience. I remember that in one of my laft converfations with the late Lord Camden, we were liruck much in the fame manner with the abolition in France of the law, as a fcience of methodized and artificial equity. France, fince her Revolution, is under the fway of a feci, whofe leaders have deliberately, at one ftroke, de- molifhed the whole body of that jurifprudence which France had pretty nearly in common with

* See declaration, Whitehall, 0(5lober 29, 1793.

other

( 96 )■

vDther civilized countries. In that jurifprudence were contained the elements and principles of the law- of nations, the gi'eat h'gament of mankind. With the law they have of courfe deftroyed all leminarics in which jurifprudence was taught, as well as all the corporations eftablifhed for it's con- fervation. I have not heard of any country, whe- ther in Europe or Afia, or even in Africa on this fide of Mount Atlas, which is wholly without Ibme fuch colleges and fuch corporations, except France. No man, in a publick or private concern, can di- vine by what rule or principle her judgments are to be directed ; nor is there to be found a profcflbr in any Univerfity, or a pra6litioner in any Court, who will hazard an opipion of what is or is not law in France, in any cafe whatever. They have not only annulled all their old treaties ; but they have renounced the law of nations from whence treaties have their force. With a fixed defign they have outlawed themfelves, and to their poWcr outlawed all other nations.

Inftead of the religion and the law by which they were in a great politick communion with the Chriftian world, they have conftru6ted their Republick on three bafes, all fundamentally oppo- fite to thofe on which the communities of Europe are built. It's foundation is laid in Regicide; iu Jacobinifm; and in Atheifm; and it has joined to

thofe

( 97 )

llioie principles, a body of fyllematick manners which lecLires their operation.

If I am alked how I would be underltocd in the ufe of thefe terms, Regicide, Jacobinifm, Atheifm, and a fyllem of correfpondent manners and their cftablifhment, I will tell you.

I call a commonwealth Regicide, whicli lays it down as a fixed law of nature, and a fundamen- tal right of m.an, that all government, not being a democracy, is an ufurpation*. That all Kings, as fuch, are ufurpers ; and for being Kings, may and ought to be put to death, with their wives, fa- milies, and adherents. The commonwealth which a6ls uniformly upon thofe principles; and which after aboliihing every fcliival of religion, choofes the moft flagrant a6l of a murderous Regicide treafon for a feaR of eternal commemoration, and which forces all her people to obferve it — This I call Re- gicide by ejlahlijhment.

* Nothing could be more fi»lemn than then- prorrulgation of this principle as a preamble to the definitive code of their fa- mous articles for the decompoution of fociety into what-- ever country they fliould enter. " La Convention N?.ti onaie, apii-s avoir cntendu le rapport de fes Coniittcs de Firaiices, de Ja guerre, & diplomatiques reunis, fidelle au prhuip; de fowve- rainte de peuples qui ne lui permit pas de recoTfiioitre cv.cnne infiitution quiy porte atteinte^'' t^c. l^c. Decret fur le Rapport de Cambon, Pec. 1 8, 1792, and i-cz the fubfcqueiit proclamation.

O Jacobinifm

( 98 )

Jacobiuifin is the revolt of the entcrpridng fa^ Icnts of a country againft it's property. When private men form theinfclves into aflbciations for the purpofc of dellroying the pre-exifting laws and inftitutions of their country ; when they fecure to theinfclves an army by dividing amongft the people of no property, the cllates of the ancient and law- ful proprietors ; when a ftate recognizes thofe a6ls; when it does not make confifcations for crimes, but makes crimes for confi feat ion s ; when it has it's principal llrength, and all it's refources in fuch a violation of property; when it flands chiefly upon fuch a violation; mallacring by judgments, or othcnvifc, thofe who make any ftrugglc for their old legal gcvcrnment, and their legal, heredi- tary, or acquired poileilions — I call this Jacobinifm by EjIab/iJJmient,

I call it Atheifm by EjlabUflrmcnt, when any State, as fuch, Ihall not acknowledge the exiftcnce of God as a moral Governor of the World ; when it ihall offer to Him no religious or moral worfliip ; — when it fliall abolifli the Chriftian religion by a regular decree; — when it lliall perfccute with a cold, unrelenting, ftcndy cruelty, by every mode of ronfilcation, imprifonmcnt, exile, and death, all it's minillers ; — when it Ihall generally flmt up, or pull down, churches; wlicn the few buildings wliich re- main of this kind fhall bi.> opened onlvfor the purpofc

of

( 99 )

of making a profane apothcofis of monfters, whofc vices and crimes have no parallel amongft men^ and whom all other men confider as objects of general deteflation, and the feverell: animadvcrlion of law. When, in the place of that religion of focial bene- volence, and of individual felf-denial, in mockery of all religion, they inftitute impious, blafphemous, indecent theatric rite?, in honour of their vi- tiated, pen'ertcd rcafbn, and creel altars to the per- fonification of their own comipted and bloody Re- publick; — when fchools and feminarics are found- ed at publick cxpence to poifon mankind, from ge- neration to generation, with the hoiTible maxim>^ of this impiety; — when wearied out with inccilant martyrdom, and the cries of a people hungering and thirfting for religion, they permit it, only as a tolerated evil — I call this Atheijm by EJlabliJlj- 7nent,

When to thefe eftabliO^ments of Regicide, of Jacobinifm, and of Atheifm, you add the corre- fpo7ident Jyjlem of nianuers, no doubt can be left on the mind of a thinking man, concerning their determined hoftility to the human race. Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in a great meafure the laws depend. The law touches u^ but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or footh, ct)rrupt or purify, exalt or de- bafe, barbarize or refine u^, by a conftant, frcady,

Q 2 uniform.

( 100 )

uniform, infenfible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and colour to our lives. According to their quality, they aid morals, they fupply them, or they totally deftroy them. Of this the new French Legiflators were aware ; therefore, with the fame method, and under the fame authority, they fettled a fyfleni of manners, the mofl licentious, proflitute, and abandoned that ever has been known, and at the fame time the moft coarfe, rude, favage, and fe- rocious. Nothing in the Revolution, no, not to A phrafe or a geflure, not to the falbion of a hat or a fhoe, was left to accident. All has been the refult of delign; all has been m.atter of infti- tution. No mechanical means could be devifed in favour of this incredible fyllem of wickednefs and vice, that has not been employed. The noblclt paffions, the love of glory, the love of country, have been debauched into means of it's prefervation and it's propagation. All forts of thews and exhibitions calculated to inflame and vitiate the imagination, and pervert the moral fenfc, have been con- trived. They have fomctimes brought forth five or fix hundred drunken women, calling at the bar of the Aflembly for the blood of their own children, as being royalifts or conftitutionalifls. Sometimes they have got a body of wretches, c^alling themfelves fathers, to demand the murder of their fons; boafting that Rome had bat one JBrutus, but that they could fhew five hundred.

There

( 101 )

There were inltances, in which they inverted, and retaHated the impiet}'^ and produced foiis, who cal- led for the execution of their parents. The foim- dation of their RepubHck is laid in moral para- doxes. Their patriotifm is always prodigy. All thofe inftances to be found in hiltory, whether real or fabulous, of a doubtful pubUck fpirit, at which morality is perplexed, reafon is ftaggered, and from which affrighted nature recoils, are their chofcn, and almolt Ible examples for the inftnjclion of their youth.

The whole drift of their infdtntlon is contrary to that of the wife Legiflators of all countries, who aimed at improving inftincls into morals, and at grafting the virtues on the ftock of the natural affections. They, on the contrary, have onfitted no pains to eradicate every benevolent and noble pro- penfity in the mind of men. In their cultm'e it is a rule always to graft virtues on vices. They think every thing unworthy of the name of publick virtue, un- lefs it indicates violence on the private. All their new inftitutions, (and with them eveiy thing h new) ftrike at the root of our facial n.aturc. Other LegiHators, knowing that marriage is the origin of fill relations, and confequently the fii'il element of all duties, have endeavoured, bv every art, to make it facred. The Chriftian Religion, by corilining it to tlie pairs, and by rendering that relation indJHb-

luble

( 102 )

fubic, has, by thefe two things, done more towards the peace, happinefs, fettlement, and civiHzation of the world, than by any other part in this whole fcheme of Divine Wifdoni. The dire6l contrary courfe has been taken in the Synagogue of Anti - chrift, I mean in that forge and manufactory of all evil, the fecSI: which predominated in the Confti- tuent Afiembly of 1789. Thofe monflers em- ployed the fame, or greater induflry, to defecratc and degrade that State, which other Lcgiflators have ufed to render it holy and honourable. By a ttrange, uncalled for declaration, they pronounced, that marriage was no better than a common, civil contrail. It was one of their ordinary tricks, to put their fentimcnts into tlie mouths of certain perfonated characters, which they theatrically ex- hibited at the bar of what ouo:ht to be a ferious Afiembly. One of thefe was brought out in the figure of a proftitute, whom they called by the attc6ted name of " a mother without being a wife." This creature they made to call for a repeal of the incapacities, which in civilized States are put upon baflards. The proftitutcs of the Af-r fembly gave to this their puppet the lancftion of their greater impudence. In confequence of the principles laid down, and the manners authorifed, ballards were not long after putonthe footing of the liiue of lawful unions. Proceeding in the fpirit of the firfl authors of their conftitutio]i, liiccceding af-

feniblies

{ 103 )

femblles went the full length of the principle, and gave a licence to divorce at the mere pleafure of cither party, and at a month's notice. With them the matrimonial connexion is brought into fo de- graded a ftate of concubinage, that, I believe, none of the wretches in London, who keep warehoufes of infamy, would give out one of their victims to private cuitody on fo fhort and infolcnt a tenure. There was indeed a kind of profligate equity in thus giving to women the fame licentious power. The reafon they afligncd was as infamous as the a6t ; declaring that women had been too long under the tyranny of parents and of hufbands. It is not ne- ceflary to ol^fervc upon the horrible confequences of taking one half of the fpecles wholly out of the guardian(hip and protection of the other.

The practice of divorce, though in fbme coun- tries permitted, has been difcouraged in all. In the Eali, polygamy and divorce are in difcredit ; and the manners correcl the laws. In Rome, whilft Rome was in it's intrgrily, the few caufes al- lowed for divorce amounted in effect to a prohi- bition. They were only three. The arbitrary was totally excluded ; and accordingly feme hundreds of years pafied, without a fingle example of that kind. When manners Vv-ere corrupted, the laws were relaxed ; as the latter always follow the former, A\Jien they are not able to recrslate theiii,

or

( 10-5 )

«7r to vaiiquilTi them. Of this circumflance the Le- giflators of vice and crime were pleafed to take notice, as an inducement to adopt their regulation ; holding out an hope, that the permiffion would as rarely be made ufe of. They knew the contrary to be true ; and they had taken good care, that the laws fhould be well feconded bv the manners. Their law of divorce, like all their laws, had not for it's object the relief of domcilick nnealinefs, but the total corruption of all morals, the total difconnedlion of ibcial life.

It is a matter of curiofity to obferve the operation of this encouragement to diforder. I have before me the Paris paper, con-efpondent to the ufual regifler of births, marriages, and deaths. Divorce, hap- pily, is no regular bead of regiftry amongft civi- lized nations. With the Jacobins it. is remarkable, that divorce is not only a regular head, but it has the poll of honoiu*. It occupies the firft place in the lift. In the three lirR months of the year 1793, the number of divorces in tliat city amounted to 562. The marringcs were lySoifo that the propor- tion of divorces to marriao-es was not much lefs than one to three ; a thing unexampled, I believe, among mankind. I caufed an enquiry to be made at Doctor's Commons, concerning the num- ber of divorces ; and found, that all the divorces, (which^ except by fpccial Act cf Farlinment, ara

feparations.

( i^o )

ibpciratlons, aiid not proper divorces) did not amount in all thofe Courts, and in an hundfedyears> to much more than one fifth of thofe that pafled, in the fingle city of Paris^ in three months. I followed up the enquiry relative to that city through feveral of the fubfequent months until I was tired^ and found the proportions ftill the fame. Since then I have heard that they have declared for a revifal of thefe laws : but I know of nothing done. It ap- pears as if the contradl that renovates the world was under no law at all. From this we may take our eftimate of the havock that has been made through all the relations of life. With the Ja- cobins of France, vague intercourfe is without reproach ; marriage is reduced to the vilefl con- cubinage ; children are encouraged to cut the throats of their parents ; mothers are taught that tendernefs is no part of their charadler ; and to demonstrate their attachment to their party, that they ought to make no fcruplc to rake with their bloody hands in the bowels of thofe who came from their own.

To all this let us join the pra(5lice of cnnnika- lifm, with which, in the proper terms, and with the greatelt truth, their feveral fa<5i:ions accufe each other. By cannibalifm, I mean their devour- ing, as a nutriment of their ferocity, fome part of the bodies of thofe they have murdered ; their

P drinking

( 106 )

drinking the blood of their vi6lims, and forcing: the vi(ftims themfelves to drink the blood of their kindred flaughtered before their faces. By canni- balifm, I mean alfo to fignify all their namelefs, un- manly, and abominable infuits on the bodies; of thofe they flaughter.

As to thofe whom they fiifPer to die a natural death, they do not permit them to enjoy the lafl con- folations of mankind, or thofe rights of fepulturCy which indicate hope, and which meer nature has taught to mankind in all countries, to foothe the afflictions, and to cover the infirmity of mortal condition. They difgrace men in the entry into life.; they vitiate and enllave them through the whole eourfe of it ; and they deprive them of all comfort at the conclufion of their difhonoured and- depraved exilicnce. Endeavouring to perfuade the people that they are no better than bcafts, the T^'hole body of their infiitution tends to make them beafts of prey, furious and favage. For this purpofe the acPiive part of them is .difciplincd into' a ferocity which has no parallel. To this ferocity there is joined not one of the rude, unfafliioned virtues, v.'hich accompan;)- the vicds, M-here the whole are left to grow up together in the ranknefs- of unculiivatcd nature.. But notliing is left to na- ture in their f}fl.ems.

The

( ^0,7 )

The fame dlfcipllne which hardens their hearts' relaxes their morals. Whilft courts of juflice' were thnift out by revohitionary tribunals, and' filent churches were only the funeral monuments of depaited religion, there were no fewer than nineteen or twenty theatres, ^eat and fmall, mod ©f them kept open at tlie publick expence, and all of them crowded every night. Among the gaunt, hagard forms of famine and nakednefs, amidlt the yells of murder, the tears of affliction, and the cries of defpair, the fong, the dance, the mimick fccnc, the buffoon laughter, went or as regularly as in the gay hour of feftive peace. I have it from good authority, that under the fcaffold of judicial murder, and the gaping planks that poured down blood on the fpeciators, the fpacc was hired out for a fliew of dancing dogs. I think, without concert, we have made the very fame remark on reading" ibme of their pieces, which being written for other purpofcs, let us into a view of their focial life. It ftruck. us that the habifs of Paris had no rcfcm- blance to the finifhed viitucs, or to the poliflicd yice, and elegant, though not blamelcfs luxury, of the capital of a great empire. Their fociety was more like that of a den of outlaws upon a doubt- ful frontier ; of a lewd tavern for the revels and debauches of banditti, atlalhns, bravos, fmugglers, and their more defperate paramours, mixed with' bombaitick players, the refufe and rejecled offal of itroliing theati'CSj puffing out ill-lbrted verfes P 2 ' about

{ 103 )

about virtue, mixed with the licentious and blaf- phemous fongs, proper to the brutal and hardened courfe of life belonging to that fort of wretehos. This f)*flem of manners in itfelf is at war with all orderly and moral fociety, and is in it's neighbour- hood unfafe. If great bodies of that kind were any where eftablifhed in a bordering territory, we Ihould have a right to demand of their Govern- ments the fupprefHon of fuch a nuifance. What are we to do if the Government and the whole community is of the fame defcription ? Yet that Government has thought proper to invite ours to lay by its unjuft hatred, and to liften to the voice of humanity as taught by their example.

The operation of dangerous and delufive firft principles obliges us to have recourfc to the true ones. In the intercourfe between nations, we arc apt to rely too much on the inftrumental part. We lay too much weight upon the fonnality of treaties and compacts. Wc do not a6l much more wifely when we truil to the interefls of men as guarantees of their engagements. The interefts frequently tear to pieces the engagements ; and. the paflipns trample upon both. Entirely to truft to either, is to difregard our own fafety, or not to know mankind. Men are not tied to one an- other by papers and feals. They are led to allb- ciate by refcmblanccs, by conformities, by fym- pathies. It is with nations as with individuals.

Nothing

( 109 )

Nothing is fo ftrong a tic of amity between na- tion and nation as correfpondence in laws, cuftoms, manners, and habits of hfe. They have more than the force of treaties in thcmfelve^i. They are obli- gations written in the heart. They approximate men to men^ without their knowledge, and fome- times againft their intentions. The fecret, unfeen, but irrefragable bond of habitual intercourfe, holds them together, even when their perverfe and liti- gious nature lets them to equivocate, feuffle, and fight about the terms of their written obligations.

As to war, if it be the mc*ms of wrong and vio- lence, it is the folc means of jufTicc amonglt nations. Nothing can banifli it from the world. They who fay other\vife, intending to impofe upon us, do not inijDofc upon themfelvcs. But it is one of the greateft objc^ls of human wifdom to mitigate thofe evils which we are unable to remove. The confor- mity and analogy of which I fpeiik, incapable, like every thing elfe, of prefcrving perfecl truft and tranquillity among men, has a fhong tendency to facilitate accommodation, and to produce a ge- nerous oblivion of the rancour of their quarrels. With this fimilitude, peace is more of peace, and war is lefs of war. I will go fuilhcr. There have been periods of time in which com.munitics, appa- rently in peace with each other, have been more perfe(511y feparated than, in later times, many na- tions

( 110 )

lions in Europe have been in the courfG of long and bloody wars. The caufe muft be fought in the limiUtude throughout Europe of religion, laws, and manners. At bottom, thcfe are all the fame. The writers on public law have often called this aggre- gate of nations a Commonwealth. They had rea- fon. It is virtually one great Hate having the fame balls of general law ; with fomc diverlity of pro- Tincial cuftoms and local eftablifliments. The na- tions of Europe have had the very fame chriftian religion, agreeing in the fundamental parts, vary- ing a little in the ceremonies and in the fubordi- nate doclrines. The whole of the polity and ceconomy of every country in Europe has been derived from the fame fources. It was drawn from the old Germanic or Gothic cuftumary; from the feudal inftitutions which m.uft be confidered as an emanation from that cuftumary ; and the whole has been imjTrovcd and digefted into fyftem and dif- cipline by the Roman law. From hence arofe the feveral orders, with or without a Monarch, (which are called States) in every European coun- try ; the flrong traces of which, where Monarchy- predominated, were never wholly extinguifhed or merged in dcfpotifm. In the few places where Monarchy was caft off, the fpirit of European Monarchy was ftill left. Thofe countriesftill con- tinued countries of States ; that is, of claffcs, orders, and diftin6lions, fuch as had before fubfifted, or

nearly

( 111 )

nearly fo. Indeed the force and foi-m of the infti- tution called States, continued in greater perfc6lion in thofe republican communities than under Mo- narchies. From all thofe fcources arofe a fyltem of manners and of education which was nearly fimilar in all this quail er of the globe ; and which foftened, blended, and harmonized the colours of the whole. There was little difference in the form of the Univerfities for the education of their youth, whe- ther with regard to faculties, to fciences, or to the more liberal and elegant kinds of erudition. From this refemblance in the modes of intercourfe, and in the whole form and fafhion of life, no citizen of Eu- rope could be altogether an exile in any part of it. There was nothing more than a pleallng variety to recreate and inflrudl the mind ; to enrich the ima- gina tion ; and to meliorate the heart. When a man travelled or refided for health, pleafure, bufinef* or neceffity, from his 6wn country, he never felt himfelf quite abroad.

The whole body of this new fcheme of manners in fuppoit of the new fcheme of politicks, I con- fider as a ftrong and decifive proof of determined ambition and fyftcmatick hofiility. I defy the moil refining ingenuity to invent any other caufe for the total departure of the Jacobin Republick from every one of the ideas and ufages, religious,.

legal,.

( 112 )

legal, moral, or rocial, of this civilized world, and for her tearing herfolf from its communion with fuch fludied violence, but from a formed rcfolution of keeping no terms with that world. It has not been, as has been falfely and inlidioufly reprcfented, that thefe mifcreants had only broke with their old Go- vernment. They made a fchifm with the whole univerfe; and that fchifm extended to almoft every thing great and fmalL For one, I wilh, fince it is gone thus fu*, that the breach had been fo com- pleat, as to make all intercourfe impra(9:icable ; but partly by accident, partly by defign, partly from the refiftance of the matter, enough is left to preferve intercourfe, whilft amity is deftroyed of corrupted in it's principle.

This violent breach of the community of Eu- rope, we muft conclude to have been made, (even if they had not exprefsly declared it over and over again) either to force mankind into an adoption of their fyftem, or to live in perpetual enmity with a communitv the mofl: poteiit v.'c have ever known. Can any pcrfon imagine, that in offering to man- kind this dcfpcrate alternative, there is no indica- tion of a hoftile mind, becaufe men in poiicffion of the ruling authority arc fuppofed to have a right to ail witliout coercion in their own ter- ritories? As to the right of men to acl any where according to their plcafiire, without any moral tie, no fuch rigb.t exifts. Men are never in

a ftate

( 113 )

a ftate ot total independence of each other. It is not the condition of our nature : nor is it conceiv- able how any man can purfue a confiderable courfe of a6lion without it's having fome effe6l upon others; or, of courfe, without producing fome de- gree of refponfibihty for his conduct. The Jitn-' ations in which men relatively ftand produce tho rules and principles of that refponfibility, and afford diredtions to prudence in exacting it.

Diflance of place does not extinguifb the duties or the rights of men ; but it often renders theit" exercife impra61icable. The fame circumftancc of diflance renders the noxious effects of an evil fyf- tem in any community lefs pernicious. But there are fituations where this difficulty does not occur; and in which, therefore, thefe duties are obligatory, and thefc rights are to be aflerted* It has ever been the method of publickjurills to draw a great part of the analogies on which they fonn the law of nations, from the principles of law which prevail in civil community. Civil laws are not all of them merely politive. Thofe which are rather con- clulions of legal reafon, than matters of ftatutable provifion, belong to univerfal equity, and are uni- verfally applicable. Almoft the whole prastorian law is fuch. There is a Law of Neighbourhood which does not leave a man pcrfe6l mafler on hi? own ground. When a neighbour fees a nsw ereami,

Q in

( J14 )

in the nature of a nuiYance, fet up at his door, he has a right to reprefent it to the judge; who, on his part, has a right to order the work to be ftaid; or if eflablifhed, to be removed. On this head, the parent law is exprefs and clear; and has made many wife provifions, which, without deftroying, regulate and rclirain the right of ownerjhip, by the right of vi~ e'mage. No innovatim is permitted that may re- dound, even fecondarily, to the prejudice of a neiglibour. The whole do6lrine of that important head of prcTstorian law,'" De novi operis nunciaitione^'' is founded on the principle, that no new ufe ihoidd be made of a man's private liberty of operating upon his private property, from whence a detriment may be juftly apprehended by his neighbour. This law of denunciation is profpedlive. It is to anticipate what is called damnum infe^um, o.r damnum nondum faBwn, that is a damage juflly apprehended but not actually, done. Even before it is clearly known, whether the innovation be da- mageable or not, the judge is competent to ifTue a prohibiti<an to innovate, until the point can be de- termined. This prompt interference is grounded «n principles favourable to both pnrties. It is pre- ventive of mifchief difficult to be repaired, and ot ill blood difficult to be foftened. The rule of law, therefore,, which comes before the evily is amongll the very bed parts of equity, and j unifies the promptnefs of the remedy ; becaufe, as it is well

obferved.

( 1^5 )

obren^ed, Res damni infeBi cekritatem def.derat & periculofa efi dilatio. This right of denunciation does not hold, when things continue, however in- conveniently to the neighbourhood, according to the antient mode. For there is a foil of prefump- tion againft novelty, drawn out of a deep confide - ration of human nature and human affairs; and the maxim of jurifpnidenoe is well laid down, Vetujlas -pro lege femper habetiir.

Such is the law of civil vicinity. Now where there is no conflituted judge, as between indepen- dent ftates there is not, the vicinage itfelf is the natural judge. It is, preventively, the aflertor of it's own rights ; or remedially, their avenger. Neigh- bours are prefumed to take cognizance of each other's acls. ^^ Fuini, vicinorum facia pr^fumunfur Jcire^ This principle, which, like the reft, is as true of nations, as of individual men, has beftowed on the grand vicinage of Europe, a duty to know, and a right to prevent, any capital innovation whicli may amount to the ere6lion of a dangerous nuifance.*" Of the importance of that innovation, and the

* " This ftate of things cannot exift in France without ia» * volving all the furrounding powers in one common danger, *' without giving them the right, without impofing it on them *' as a duty, to ftop the progrefs of an evil which attacks the fun- " damental principles by which mankind is united in civil fo- " ciety.'* Declaration, zgth Ocl. 1793.

Q 2 mifchiof

( Ii6 )

mirchief of that nuirance, they are, to be fiirc, bound to judge not litigiouily : but it is in their competence to judge. They have uniformly a6led on this right. What in civil fociety is a ground of a61ion, in pohtick fociety is a ground of war. But the exercife of that competent jurifdic- tion is a matter of moral prudence. As fuits iq civil fociety, fo war in the political muft ever be a matter of great deliberation. It is not this op that particular proceeding, picked out here and there, as a fubjc<5t of quarrel, that will do. There muft be an aggregate of mifchief. There muft be marks of deliberation ; there muft be traces of defign ; there niuft be indications of malice; there muft be tokeris of ambition. There muft be force in the body where they exift ; there muft be energy in tjtie mind. When all thefe cir-r cumftances combine, or the important parts of them, the duty of the vicinity calls for the exercife of it's competence ; and the rules of prudence dq not reftrain, but demand it.

In defcribing the nuifarice ere6led by fo peftilen- tial a mxanufa6lory, by the conftru6^tion of fo infa- mous a brothel, by digging a night cellar for fuch thieveSj murderers, and houfe-breakers, as never in- fefted the world, I am fo far from aggravating, that I have fallen infinitely fhort of the evil. No mart

who has attended to the particulars of what has

becu

( 117 )

been done in France, and combined them with the principles there aflerted, can poffibly doubt it. When I compare with this great caufe of nations, the trifling points of honour, the ftill more con- temptible points of intercfi:. the light ceremonies, the undefinable puntlilios, the difputes about pre- cedency, the lowering or the hoifting ^f a fail, the dealing in a hundred or two of wild cat-fkins on the other fide of the Globe, which have often kindled up the flames of war between nations, I ftand aftonifhed at thofe perfons, who do not feel a refentment, not more natural than politick, at the atrocious infults that this monflrous com- pound ofi^ers to the dignity of every nation, and who are not alarmed with what it threatens to their fafety.

I have therefore been decidedly of opinion, with our declaration atWhitehall, in the beginning of this war, that the \-icinage of Europe had not only aright, but an indifpcnfible duty, and an exigent intereft, to denunciate this new work before it had produced the danger we have fo forely felt, and which we fliall long feel. The example of what is done by France is too important not to have a valt and extenflve influence ; and that example backed with it's power, mufl: bear with great force on thole who are near it ; efpccially on thofe who fhall re- cognize the pretended Republick on the principle

upon

( 118 )

tipon which it now ftands. It is not an old ftmc- ture which you have found as it is, and are not to difpute 0f the original end and defign with which it had been To fafhioned. It is a recent ivrong, and can plead no prefcription. It violates the rights upon which not only the community of France, but thofe on which all communities are founded. The principles on which they proceed are general principles, and are as true in England as in any other country. They who (though with the pureft intentions) recognize the autho- fity of thefe Regicides and robbers upon prin- ciple, juftify their ^6ls, and eftablifh them as pre- cedents. It is a queflion not between France and England. It is a queftion between property and force. The property claims ; and it's claim has been allowed. The property of the nation is the nation. They who mafiacre, plunder, and expel the body of the proprietary, are murderers and rob- bers. The State, in it's eflence, muft be moraj and jufl : and it may be fo, though a tyrant or ufurper fhould be accidentally at the head of it. This is a thing to be lamented: but this not- withftanding, the body of the commonwealth may remain in all it's integrity and be pcrfe6lly found in it's compofition. The prefent cafe is different. It is not a revolution in government. It is not the victory of party over party. It is a dc- ftruclion and dccompofition of the whole fociety ;

whieh

( 1^59 )

which never can be made of right by any factior?^ however powerflil, nor without terrible confequ^ces to all about it, both in the act and in the example. This pretended Republick is founded in crimes, and cxifts by wrong and robbery ; and wrong and rob- bery, far from a title to any thing, is war v»'ith mankind. To be at peace with robbery is to be an accomplice with it.

Mere locality does not conflitute a body po- litick. Had Cade and his gang got poflefllon of London, they would not have been the Lord- Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council. The body politick of France exifted in the majefty of it's throne ; in the dignity of it's nobility ; in the honour of it's gentry ; in the fan6lity of it's clergy ; in the reverence of it's magiftracy ; in the weight and conlideration due to its landed property in the feveral bailliages ; in the refpedk due to it's moveable fabltance reprefented by the corporations of the kingdom. All thefe par- ticular mokculx united, form the great mafs of what is truly the body politick in all cou^i- tries. They are fo many depoiits and recep-,- tacles of juftice ; becaufe they can only exiit by juftice. Nation is a moral eflence, not a geo- graphical arrangement, or a denomination of the nomenclator. France, though out of her tQrritorial pofTeilion, exiftH ; becaufe the fole

poflible

( 120 )

DoffitDle claimant, I mean the propnetar}% and the government to which the proprietary ad heres, exifts and claims. God forbid, that if you were expelled from your houfe by ruffians and alfaffins, that 1 fhould call the material walls^

doors and windows of -' , the ancient and

honourable family of . Am I to transfer to

the intruders, who not content to turn you out naked to the world, would rob you of your very- name, all the efleem and refpe^l I owe to you ? The Regicides in France are not France. France is out of her bounds, but the kingdom is the fame*

To illuftrate my opinions on this fubje^l, let us fuppofe a cafe, which, after what has happened, we cannot think abfolutely impoffible, though the augury is to be abominated, and ^the event dcpre* cated with our mofl ardent prayers. Let us fup- pofe then, that our gracious Sovereign was facri- legioufly murdered ; his exemplary Queen, at the head of the matronage of this land, murdered in the fame manner : That thofe PrinceiTcs whofe beauty and modeft elegance are the ornaments of the country, and who are the leaders and patterns of the ingenuous youth of their fex, were put to a cruel''tind ignominious death, with hundreds of others, mothers" and daughters, ladies of the firft diftin'61ion ;— ^'that the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, princes the hope and pride of the 5 nation,

C I'ii )

nation, ^vith all their brethren, were forced to fly from the knives .of aflaffins — that the whole body of our excellent Clergy were cither maflacred or robbed of all, and tranfportcd — the Chriftian Religion, in all it's denominations, forbidden and perfecuted; the law totally, fundamentally, and in ,all its parts dcftroyed — the judges put to death by rcvpiutionery tribunals—the. Peers and Commons robbed to the laft acre of their ef^ates; maflacred if they llaid, or obliged to leek life in flight, in exile and in beggary — -that the whole landed property fliould fhare the very fame fate — ^that every mili- tary and naval officer of honour and rank, almoft to a man, fliould be jilaced in the fame defcrip- tion of conflfcation and exile — that the principal merchants and bankers fliould be drawn out, as from an hen-coop, for flaughter — that the citizens of our greatefl and m.oft flourifliing cities, when the hand and the machinery of the hangman were not found fuflicicnt, fnould have been colle6led in thepublick fquares,andmaflacred by thoufandswith cannon ; — if three hundred thoufand others fliould have been doomed to a fltuation worfe than death in noifomeand peflilential prifons; — in fach a cafe, is it in the faction of robbers 1 am to look for my coun- try? Would thisbetheEngland that you and I, and even flirangers, admired, honoured, loved, and che- riflied? Would not the exiles of England alone be my Government and my fellow citizens ? Vv ould

R not

( 122 )

not their places of refuge be my temporary country ? Would not all my duties and all my affe6tions be tlierc and there only ? Should I conf.der myfclf as a traitor to my country, and deferving of death, if I knocked at the door and heart of every Potentate in Cliriftendom to fuccour my frfends, and to avenge them on their enemies ? Could I, in any way, -flicw myfelf more a Patriot? What fliould I think of thofe Potentates who infultcd their fufFering brethren ; who treated them as vagrants, or at Icaft as mendicants ; and could find no allies, no friends, but in Regicide murderers and robbers? What ought I to think and feel, if being geographers inftead of Kings, they re- cognized the defolated ciTies, the waited fields, and the rivers polluted with blood, of this geo- metrical meafurement, as the honourable member of Europe, called England ? In that condition what Ihould we think of Sweden, Denmark, or Holland, or whate\'er Power afforded us a churlifh and treacherous hofpitality, if 'they fhould invite us to join the ftandard of our King, our Laws, and bur Religion, if they fhould give us a dire6l promife of protc(6lion,— if after all this, taking ad- vantage of our deplorable fituation, w^hich left us no choice, they were to' treat us as tlie loweft and vilelt. of aH mercenaries ? If they were to fend us far from the aid of our King, and our fufFering Coimtry, to fquaudcr us away in tlie molt pellilen-

tlal'

( 1^3 )

tial climates for a venal enlargement of their own territoriGS, for the purpofe of trucking them^ when obtained, with thofe very robbers and murderers they had called upon us to oppofe with our blood ? What would be our fentiments, if in that mifera- ble fcrvice we were not to be eonlidercd cither as Englilb, or as Swedes, Dutch, Danes, but as out- cafts of the human race ? \^^hilft we were fighting thofe battles of their intereft, and as their foldiers, how fhould we feel if we were to be excluded from all their cartels r How m.uft we (cd, if the pride and flower of the Englifli Nobility and Gentry, who niight efcape the pefiilential clime, and the devouring f\^'ord, fhould, if taken pri- foners, be delivered over as rebel fubjedts, to be condemned as rebels, as. traitors, as the vileit of all criminals, by tribunals formed of Islaroon ne- groe flaves, covered over with the blood ot their matters, who were made free and organifcd into judges, for their robberies and murders? W' hat fhould we feel underthis inhuman,infulting, and barbarous pi'otecSlion of Mufcovites, Swedes or Hollanders? Should we not obteft Heaven, and whatever juftice there is yet on Earth ? Oppreffion makes wife men mad ; but the diftemper is llill the madnefs of the wife, which is better tlian the fobriety of fools. Their cry is the voice of facrcd mifeiy, exalted, not into wild raving, but into the fanctified phrenfy of prophecy and infpiration — in that bitternefs of

R 2 foul,

( 124 )

foul, in that indignation of fuffering virtue, in that exaltation of defpair, would not periccuted Englifh Loyalty cry out, with an awful warning voice, and denounce the deftru6lion that waits on Monarchs, who coniider fidelity to them as the moft degrading of all vices ; who fuffcr it to be punifhed as the moll abominable of all crimes ; and who have no refpe.6l but for rebels, traitors. Regicides, and furious negro flaves, whofe crimes have broke their chains ? Would not this warm language of high indignation have more of found rcafon in it, more of real- affe61:ion, more of true attachment, than all the lullabies of flatterers, who would hufh Monarchs to fleep in the arms of death ? Let them be well convinced, that if ever this ex- ample fhould prevail in it's whole extent, it will have it's full operation. Whilft Kings ftand firm on their bafe, though under that bafe there is a fure- wrought mine, there will not be wanting to their levees a Angle perfon of thofe who are attach- ed to their fortune, and not to their perfoHS or caufe : But hereafter none will fupport a tottering throne. Some will fly for fear of being crufhcd imder the ruin ; fome will join in making it. They will feek in the deftru(Stion of Royalty, itime, and power, and wealth, and the homage of Kings, with Reubel, with Car no/, with Revelliere, and with the Merlins and the Tall'iens, rather than fuffcr exile and beggary with the Cojidcs, or the Brogllos,

the

( 125 )

the Cajines, the D'Avra'is, the Serrents, tlie Ca- %alSs, and the long Hne of loyal, fiiifering Patriot Nobility, or to be butchered with the oracles and the victims of the laws, the UOnneJions, the d'EP- p}-emenils, and the Makjherhes. This example we ihaii give, if inftead of adhering to our fellows in a caufe which is an honour to us all, we abandon the lawful Government and lawful corporate body of Prance, to hunt for a fliamcful and ruinous frater- nity, with this odious ufurpation that difgraces ci- vilized fpciety and the human race.

And is then example nothing? It is every thing. Example is the fchool of mankind, and tlicv will learn at no other. This war is a war againft tlint example. It is not a war tor Louis tlie Eighteenth, or even for the property, virtue, fidelity of France. It is a war for George the Third, for Francis the Second, and for all the dignity, property, honour, virtue, and religion of England, of Germany, and of all nations.

I know that ail I have faid of the i}'ltematick unfoeiability of this new-invented fpecies of repub- lick, and the impoilibility of preferving peace, is an- fwered by atlerting that the fchcme of manners, m.d- rals, and even of maxims and principles of ftatc, is of no weight in a queftion of peace or war between communities. This •do(9:rine is fupported by ex- ample.

( 126 )

ample. The cafe of Algiers is cited, with an hint, as it it were the itronger cafe. I lliould take no notice of this fort of indueeinent, if I had found it only where firft it was. I do not want refpe6l for tliofe from whom I llrft: heard it — but having no controverly at prefent with them, I only think it not amifs to rcit on it a little, as I iind it adopt- ed with much more of the fame kind, by feveral of thofe on whom fuch reafonin^ had formerly made no apparent impreffion. If it had no force to pre- vent us from fubmitting to this neccfiary w\ir, it furnifbes no better ground for oar making an uu- neceflary and ruinous peace.

This analogical argument drawn from the cafe of Algiers would lead us a good way. The fa6f is, we ourfelves with a little cover, others more dire^lly, pay a tribute to the Republick of Algiers. Is it meant to reconcile us to the pay- ment of a tribute to the French Republick ? That this, wdth other things more ruinous, will be de- manded hereafter, I little doubt ; but for the pre- fent, this will not be avowed — though our minds are to be gradually prepared for it. In truth, the arguments from this cafe arc w^orth little, even to thofe who approve the buying an Algerine for- bearance of piracy. There are many things which men do not approve, that they muft do to avoid a greater evil. To argue from thence, that they

are

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are to ac^t in the fame manner in all cafes, is turning neceffity into a law. Upon what is mat- ter of prudence, the argument concludes the con- trary way. Becaufe wc 4iave done one humiliat- ing a6t, we ought, with infinite caution, to admit more aCts of the fam€ nature, left humiliation lliould become our habitual Hate. Matters of pru- dence arc under the dominion of circumftances, and not of logical analogies. It is fo abfurd to take it other wife.

I, for one, do. more .....;. uoubt the policy of this kind of convention with Algiers. On thofe who tiiink as I do, the argument ad Jwm'inem can make no fort of impreiiion. I know fomething of the Confritution and conipciition of this ver}^ extra- ordinary Republick. It has a Conllitution, i admit, iimilar to the prefent tumultuous militar\" tvrannv of France, by which an hiuidful of obfcure ruffians domineer over afeilile countr}'", and a brave people. For the compofition, too, 1 admit, tlie Alg^erinc community refembles that of France; being form- ed out of the very fcum, fcandal, diTgrace, and pefi of the Turkiili Afia. The grand Scignor, to dfibur- then the countrv, fufters the Dey to recruit, in. his <lominions, the corps of Janilhries, or Afapbs, vvhich form the Directory and Council of Elders of the Afiican Republick one and indiviftble. But notwithllanding this refemblaiicc, winch I allow, 1

never

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never lliall ih tar injure the JaniUmun Repub- lick of Algiers, as to put it in comparifdn for every fort of crime, turpitude, and oppreffion with the Jacobin Republick of Paris. There is no quefiion with me to which of the two I fliouid choofe to be a neighbour or a fubje6l. But iituated as I am, I am in no danger of becoming to Algiers either the one or the other. It is not fo in my relation to the atheiilical fanaticks of France. I am their neigh- bour; I ///^y' become their fubjedl. Have the Gen- tlemen v/ho borrowed this happy parallel, no idea of the different conduct to be held with regard to the very fame evil at an immenfe difr tancc, and when it is at your door ? when it's power IS enormous, as wlien it is ccsiiparativcly as feeble as i-t's diilanee is remote ? when there is a barrier of language and ufagcs, which prevents corruption through certain old corrcfpondences and ha])i- tudcs, fn)in the contagion of the horrible, novel- lies that are introduced into every thing clfe ? I can contemplate, without dread, a royal or a national tygcr on tlie borders of Pegu. I can look at him, with an eafy curiolity, as prifoner wdthin bar^ in the menagerie of the Tower. But if, by Habens C'orpus, or othcrwifc, he was to conic into the Lobl)y of the Houfc of Commons whilfi your door Wcis open, any of you would be more ftout than wife, who would not gladly make your etcape out of the back windows. I certainly

fhould

I i'^9 )

fhould dread more from a \\\\d cat in my bed- chamber, than from all the lions that roar in the deferts behind .Vlgiers. But in this parallel it is the' cat that is at a diltanee, and the lions and ty- gers that are in our anti-chambers and our lobbies. Algiers is not near ; Algiers is not powerful ; Al- giers is not our neighbour; Algiers is not infec- tious. Algiers, whatever it may be, is an old crea- tion ; and we have good data to calculate all the mifchief to be apprehended from it. When I find Algiers transferred to Calais, I will tell you wliat I think of that point. In the mean time, the cafe quoted from the Algerine reports, will not apply as authority. We fliall put it out of court; and fo far as that goes, let the counkd for the Jacobin peace take nothing by their motion.

When we voted, as you and I did, with many more whom you and- 1 refpecl and love, to refift 'this enemy, we were providing for dangers that were direct, home, prefiing, and not remote, contingent, uncertain, and formed upon loofe analogies. We judged ofthe danger with which v/e were menaecdby Jacobin France, from the whole tenor of it's condu(^l. ; not from one or two doubtful or detached acls or expreffions. I not only concurred in the idea of combining \\ith Europe in this v/ar; but to the beft of my power ever ftimulated Minifters to that conjunction of interefls and of efforts. I joined

S with

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with tiiem with all my foul, on the principles con- tained in that manly and malterly ftate-paper^ which I have two or three times refeired to,* and may ftill more frequently hereafter. The diploma- tick colle(51ion never was more enriched than with this piece. The hiflorick fadlsjuftify every ftroke of the mafler, *' Thus painters write their names at Co."

Various perfons may concur in the fame mea- fure on various grounds. They may be various, without being contrary to, or exclufive of each other. I thought the infolent, unprovoked ag- grcffion of the Regicide, upon our Ally of Hol- land, a good ground of war. I think his manifeft attempt to overturn the balance of Europe, a good ground of war. As a good ground of war^, I confider his declaration of war on his Majcfiy and his kingdom. But though I have taken all thefe to n)y aid, I confider them as nothing more than as a fort of evidence • to indicate the ircafonable mind within. Long before their a6ls of aggreflion, and their declaration of war, tlie faction in France had alfumed a form, had adopt- ed a body of principles and maxims, and had regu- iariy and Afrcmatically aclcd on them, by which ilic virtually had put herfclf in a poflure, which V.MS in itfclf a declaration of war againit mankind.

*■ Declaration, Whitehall, 0(5l. 29, I7g3.

It

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It is fald by the Dire<9:ory in their feveral ma- nifcftoes, that we of the people arc tumultuous for peace ; and that Minifters pretend negociation to amufe us. This they have learned from the lan- guage of many amongfl: ourfelves, whofe converfa- tions have been one main caufe of whatever extent the opinion for peace with Regicide may be. But I who think the Minifters unfortunately to be but too ferious in their proceedings, find myfelf obliged to fay a little more on this fubje6l of the popular cpinion.

Before our opinions are quoted aguinft ourfelves, it is proper that, from our ferious deliberation, they may be worth quoting. It is without re^ifon we praife the wifdom of our Conftitution, in putting un-» der the difcretion of the Crown, the awful truft of war and peace, if the IVIinlftcrs of the Ciown virtually return it again into our hands. The truff was placed there as a facrcd depolit, to fecure Ui=^ againft popular raflmefs in plunging into wars, and againft the efte(9:s of popular difmay, dif- guft^ or laftitude in getting out of them as im- prudently as we might firft engage in them. To have no other meafure in judging of thofe gre^at ob- jedls than our momentary opinions and defires, is to throw us back upon that very democracy which^ in this part, our Conftitution was formed to avoids

S2 It

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It is no excufe at all for a miiiifter, who at our defire_, takes a iiieafure contrary to our fafety, that it is our own ac't. He who docs not flay the hand of fuicidc, is guilty of muirder. On our part I fay, that to be inftruc^ted, is not to be degraded or enflavcd. Information is aw advantage to us ; and w^e have a right to de- mand it. He that is bound to a6l in the dark Cannot be faid to a6l freely. When it appears evi- dent to our governors that our deiires and our in- tereils are at variance^ they ought not to gratify the former at the expenee of the latter. Statefmen are placed on an eminence, that they may have a larger horizon than w^e can poffibly command. They have a whole before them, which we can contemplate only in the parts, and even without the necellary relations. Minifters arc not only our natural rulers but our natural guides. Reafon clearly and manfully delivered, has in itfclf a miglity force : but reafon in the mouth of legal authority, is, I may fairly fay, iiTcfiilible,

I admit that reafon of ftate will not, in many cir- cumftanccs permit the difclofure of the true ground of a public proceeding. In that cafe lilence is manly and it is wife. It is fair to call for truft when the principle of reafon itfelf fufpends it's public ufe. I take the diftin6lion to be this. The ground of a particular mcafurc, making a part of

a plan^

( i33 )

a plan, it is rarely proper to divulge. All tl:u.*. broader gi-ounds of policy on which the general plan is to be adopted, ought as rai-cly to be -coil- cealed. Thc}- who ha\c not the whole came be- fore them, call them politicians, call them people, call them what you will, are no judges. The dif- ficulties of thc'cafe, as well as it's fair fide, ought to be prefented. This ought to be done : and it i- all that can be done. "When we have our true si- tuation diirindlly prefented to us, if then we refolvc with a blind and headlong violence, to refill the admonitions of our friends, and to caft oui-fL^] /cr, into the hands of our potent and irreconcilcabiei foes, then, and not till then, tlie minillers ftand acquitted before God and man, for w hatcver ma'/ come.

Lamenting as I do, that the matter ha:i not liad fo full and free a difeuflion as it requires, I mean to omit none of the points whi(di feem to me neceilary for contideration, previous to an ar- rangement which is for ever to decide the form and the fate of Europe. In the cotirfe, there- fore, of what 1 fiiall have the honour to addrets to you, I propofe the following quefiions to your le- rious thoughts, i. Whether the prefent fvftem, which ftands for a Government in France, be Inch as in peace and war afreets the neighbouring States in a manner different from the internal Govern- ment

( 134 )

mcnt that formerly prevailed in that countr}- r 2. Whether that fyftcm, fuppofing it's views hotlile to other nations, poflefles any means of being hmiful to them peculiar to itfelf ? 3. Whether there has been lately fuch a change in France, as to alter the nature of it's fyftem, or it's effect upon other Powers ? 4 . Whether any publick dcr clarations or engagements exifl, on the part of the allied Powers, which Hand in ths way of a treaty of peace, which fuppofes the right and confirms the power of the Regicide faction in France ? 5. What the flate q( the other Powers of Europe will be with refpe^t to each other, and their colonies, on the concluficn of a Regicide Peace ? 6. Whe- ther we are driven to the abfolute neceffity of making that kind of peace ?

Thefe heads of enquiry will enable us to make the application of the feveral matters of fa6t and topicks of argument, that occur in this vail difr cuffion, to certain fixed principles. I do not mean to confine myfelf to the order in which they ftand. I fhall difcufs them in fuoh a manner as fliall appear to me the beft adapted for fliewing their mutual bearings and relations. Here then I clofe the public matter of my Letter ; but before I have done, let me fny one word in apology fox myfelf.

In

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In wiiliing this nominal peace not to be precipi- tated, I am fure no man living is lefs difpofed to blame the prefent Miniftiy than I am. Some of mv oldeft friends, (and I wifli I could fay it of more of them) make a part in that Miniltry. There are fome indeed, "whom my dim eyes in vain explore." In my mind, a greater calamity could not have fallen on the. publick than the exclulion of one of them. But I drive away that, with other melancholy thoughts. A great deal ought to be faid upon that fubjc6t ornothing. As to the diftinguifhed perfons to whom my friends who remain, are joined^ if benefits, nobly and gcneroully conferred, ought to procure good wiihcs, they are intitled to my bell vows ; and they have them all. They have adminiltered to me the only confolation I am capable of receiving, which is to know that no individual will fuffer by my thirty years fervice to the publick. If things fliould give us the com- parative happinefs of a flruggle, I fliall be found, 1 was going to fay fighting, (that would be foolitli) but dying by the fide of Mr. Pitt. I muft add, that if anv thing defenfive in our domeftick l\1tein can poffibly fave us from the difafters of a Regicide peace, he is the man to fave us. If the iinanccs in iiich a cafe can be repaired, he is the nnan to repair them. If I fliould lament any of his acts, it is only when they appear to me t%) have no refembiance to ads of Ins. But

let

( 136 )

let him not have a confidence in himfelfj which aio human abilities can warrant. His abihties arc fully equal (and that is to fay much for any man) to thofe that are oppofed to him. But if we look to him as our fccurity againfl the confe- quences of a Regicide Peace, let us be afllired, that a Regicide Peace and a Conftitutional Miniftry are terms tliat will not agree. With a Regicide Peace the King cannot long have a Miniller to fervc him, nor the Miniiter a King to ferve. If the Great Difpofer, in rc^^■ard of the royal and the private virtues of our Sovereign, fliould call him from the calamitous fpedacles, which will attend a ftate of amity with Regicide, his fuccetibr will furely fee them, unlets the fame Providence greatly antici- pates the courfe of nature. Thinking thus, (and not, as I conceive, on light grounds) I dare not tlattcr the reigning Sovereign, nor any Minifter he has or can have, nor his SuccefTor Apparent, nor any of thofe who may be called to ferve him, with what appears to me a falfe ftate of their fituation. We cannot have them and that Peace together.

I do not forget that th.ere had been a confider- rible diitercncc between feveral of our friends, with my intigniticant fcli, and the great man at the Iicad of Miniflry, in an early lliige of thefc difcuf- fions. But I am fure there was a period in which we iigreed better in the danger of a Jacobin exiil-

ence

( 137 )

ence in France. At one time, he and all Europe feemed to feel it. But why am not I converted with fo many great Powers^ and fo many great Minifters ? It is becaufe I am old and flow. — i am in this year, i 796, onlv where all the powers of Europe were in 1 793. I cannot move with this proceffion of the Equinoxes, which is preparing for us the return of fome very old, I am afraid no golden aera, or the commencement of fome new acra that must be denominated from fome new metal. In this crilis I miifl hold my tongue, or I muft fpeak with freedom. Falfiiood and delufion are allowed m no cafe whatever : But, as in the exercife of all the virtues, there is an occonomv of truth. It is a fort of temperance, by which a man fpcaks truth with meafure that he may fpeak it the longer. But as the fame rules do not hold in all cafes — what would be right for you, who may prefume on a feries of years before you, would have no fenfe for- me, who cannot, without abfurdity, calculate on lix months of life. What I fay, I vmji fay at once. Whatever I write is in it's nature teftamentary. It may have the weaknefs, but it has the fincerity of a dying declaration. For the few davs I have to linger here, I am removed completely from the bufy fcene of the world; but I hold myfelf to be ilill refponlible for everv thing that I have done whilft I continued on the place of aclion. If the rawcftTyro in politicks has been infiucnccd by the

T authority

( 138 )

authority of my grey hairs, and led by any thing in my fpeechcs, or my writings, to enter into this war, he has a right to call upon me to know why I have changed my opinions, or why, when thofe I voted with, have adopted better notions, I per- fevere in exploded errour ?

When I feem not to acquiefce in the a6ls of thofe I refpecl in every degree fhort of fuperfti- tion, I am obliged to give my reafons fully. I cannot fet my authority againft their authority. But to exert rcrifon is not to revolt i;gainft authority. Reafon and authority do not move in the fame parallel. That reafon is an amicus cur'ue who fpeaks d^ planoj not pro trllmnaVi. It is a friend who makes an- ufeful fuggeftion to the Court, without quellioning it's jurifdidion, Whilll: he acknow- ledges jt's competence, he promotes it's efficiency, I fhall purfue the plan I have chalked out in my Letters that follow this.

LETIER

( '29 )

LETTER II.

Oh the Genius and Character of the French Revolution as it regards other Nations,

MY DEAR SIR,

IClofed my firfl Letter with ferious matter ; and I hope it has employed your thoughts. The fyftem of peace muft have a reference to the fyftem of the war. On that ground, I muft therefore again recal your mind to our original opinions, which time and events have not taught me to vary.

My ideas and my principles led me, in this sonteft, to encounter France, not as a State, but as a Facflion. The vaft territorial extent of that country, it's immenfe population, it's riches of produdlion, it's riches of commerce and con- vention— the whole aggregate mafs of what, in ordinary cafes, conftitutes the force of a State, to me were but objefts of fecondary conlidera- tion. They mjght be balanced ; and they have T 2 bees.

( I40 )

been often more than balanced. Great as thefc things are, they are not what make the faction formidable. It is the fadlion that makes them truly dreadful. That fadiori is the evil fpirit that poffenes the body of France ; that informs it as a foul ; that (lamps upon it's ambition, and upon all it's purfuits, acharaderiftick markj which ftrongly diftinguiQies them from the fame general paffions, and the fame general views, in other men and in other communities. It is that fpirit which infpires into them, a new, a perni- cious, a defolating activity. Conflituted as France was ten years ago, it was not in that France to fliake, to fliatter, and to over- whelm Europe in the manner that we behold. A fure deftruction impends over thofe infatuated Princes, who, in the conflidl with this new and unheard-of power, proceed as if they were en- gaged in a war that bore a refembiance to their former contefts ; or that they can make peace in the fpirit of their former arrangements of pa- cification. Here the beaten path is the very reverfe of the fafe road.

As to me, I was always fteadlly of opi- nion, that this diforder was not in it's nature intermittent. I conceived that the conreft once begun, could not be laid down again, t.0 be refumed at our difcretion; but that our

firft

( >4i )

firft flru'ggle with this evil would alfo be our lail. I never thought we could make peace with the fyftem ; becaufe it was not for ihe 1 ke of an obje(fl we purfued in rivahy with each other, but with the fyftem itfelf that we were at war. As 1 underftood the matter, we were at war not with it's condud:, but with it's ex fb- ence J convinced that it's exiftence and it's hof- tility were the fame.

The faction is not local or territorial. It is a general evil. Where it Itaft; appears in adlion, it is ftill full of life. In it's Ileep it recruits it's ftrength, and prepares it's exertion. It's fpirit lies deep m the corruptions of our common nature. The focial oider which reftrains it, feeds it. It exifts in every country in Europe ; and among all orders of men in every country, who look up to France as to a common head. The centre is there. The circumference is the world of Eu- rope wherever the race of Europe may be fet- tled. Every where elfe the faflion is milit.mt j in France it is triumphant. In France is the bank of dcpofit, and :he bank of circulation, of all the pernicious principles that are forming in every State. It will be a folly fcarcely deferving of pity, and too mifchievous for contempt, to think of rei'i raining it in any other country vvhilfl it is predominant there. W ar, inflead of

being

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being the caufe of it*s force, has fufpended it's operation It has given a reprieve, at leaft, to the Chriflian World.

The true nature of a Jacobin war, in the be- ginning, was, by mod of the Chriflian Powers, felt, acknowledged, and even in the moft pre- cife manner declared. In the joint manifefto, publiQied by the Emperor and the King of Bruflia, on the 4th of Aiiguft 1792, it is ex- prefTcd in the cleared terms, and on principles which c-^!ild not fail, if they had adhered to them, of clailing thofe monarchs v ith rhe firft benefadors of mankind.. This manifefto was publiflied, as they themfelves exprefs it, ** to ** lay open to the prefent generation, as well as ** to pofterity, their .motives, their intentions, •* and the dijinterejiednefs of their perfonal views; " taking up arms for the pnrpofe of preferving ** focial and political order amongll all civilized ** nations, and to fecure tc each ftate it's reli- " gion, happinefs, independence, territories, «♦ and real conftitudon." — " On this ground, ** they hoped that all Empires, and all States, ** ought to be unanimous; and becoming the firm ** guardians of the happmefs of mankind, that •* they cannot fail to unite their efforts to refcue ** a numerous nation from it's own fury, to pre- " ferve Europe fiom the return of barbarifm, . ■■' ** and

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** and the Univerfe from the fubverfion and *' anarchy with which it was threatened." The whole of that noble performance ou^ht to be read at the firft meetmg of any Congrefs, which may aflemble for the pnrpofe of pacifijaiion. In that piece ** thefe Powers exprefslv renounce all views ** of perfonal aggrandizement," and confine themfelves to objedls worthy of fo generous, fo heroic, and fo perfeftly wife and politick an en- terprife. It was to the principles of this confe- deration and to no other, that we wiQied our Sovereign and our Country to accede, as a part of the commonwealth of Europe. To thefe principles with lome trifling exceptions and limitations they did fully accede.* And all our friends who did take office acceded to the Mi- niftry (whether wifely or not) as I always un- derdood the matter, on the faith and on the principles of that declaration.

As long as thefe powers flattered themfelves that the menace of force would produce the ef-